Presenting its maiden budget, the Captain Amarinder Singh government on Tuesday announced to provide 2,000 built-up houses for free to state's large number of poor urban Scheduled Caste (SC) and Backward Class (BC) families.

Opposition parties, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) alleged the Congress government for betraying the people of Punjab.

Earlier, claiming to fulfill his party's manifesto promise on 'Free housing for all homeless SCs,' finance minister (FM) Manpreet Singh Badal announced 2,000 houses for poor SCs and BCs.

He said the land for construction of the same number of house houses for would be taken up during the year 2017-18.

He said that the land for construction of such houses shall be made available free of cost by the state government.

"I have made an initial provision of Rs.25 crore for this scheme in urban areas. A similar allocation of Rs.25 crore has been made for providing houses to the homeless rural poor as well. Our government has also increased the reservation for SCs from 15 per cent to 30 per cent in all government schemes pertaining to the allotment of plots or houses in the state," Punjab FM Manpreet Badal said during his budget speech in the House.

He also said that his government will take up the development of new residential urban estates and industrial estates at various places in the state, including Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana, even as it expedites ongoing projects. "An amount of Rs.2,020 Crore will be spent on various development works in the state including Optimum Utilisation of Vacant Government Lands (OUVGL) Scheme works and development of Urban Estates by Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) and other development authorities," said FM.

Notably, were a total of 46,714 homeless people in Punjab. Out of this total figure, 28,340 were rural homeless and 18,374 were urban homeless as per 2011 Census.

Out of a total population of 31.94 per cent of SCs, the majority of the SCs (73.33 per cent ) live in the rural area, whereas, 26.67 per cent lives in the urban area of the state.

"The ruling government is betraying the common people. Only 2,000 units for a large population of SCs are enough to prove government's false manifesto claims," SAD president and former Punjab deputy chief minister (CM), Sukhbir Singh Badal said in a Press conference after the budget.

Similarly, AAP leaders also defamed the government claiming the budgetary allocations insufficient.
After shaking the old Congress bastion five years back, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally conquered the fort here for the first time in 31 years as it got its Mayor and Deputy Mayor elected in the prestigious Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) in Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday.

The BJP, which was one short of simple majority with 17 seats out of 34 in SMC, got the support of two independents in Mayors election, and three independents in Deputy Mayors election.

BJP-backed Kusum Sadret is the new Mayor and Rakesh Sharma, an independent, who contested as BJP rebel, was elected as Deputy Mayor.

They defeated the Congress candidates for coveted posts, even as the lone CPI-M councillor stayed away from the poll. The election was postponed on Monday for want of quorum as Congress backed councillors had abstained. The SMC polls were not held on party symbols, but the political parties had officially declared their candidates.

One of the oldest municipalities in the country since British times, Shimla became Municipal Corporation in 1986.

It was dominated by Congress for 26 years. In 2012 SMC polls, the BJP got maximum 12 out of 25 seats in SMC and Congress ten. While CPI-M got just three seats in the house then, it made it to top posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor in direct elections, an amendment made by the then BJP government for civic bodies.

Immediately after the declaration of results by Director, Urban Development, DK Gupta the BJP workers, led by state BJP chief, Satpal Singh Satti took out a victory procession. BJP MLA from Shimla, Suresh Bhardwaj and chief spokesperson and party incharge for Shimla MC polls, Rajeev Bindal also participated.

We could have expected a bigger victory, had the polls been on party symbols. But the people who were claiming to stop the Modi wave in Shimla have badly failed, former BJP chief minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal told mediapersons later. He, however, stressed the need for self-introspection by BJP as a political party after poll outcome.

He said the Congress government tried to postpone MC poll in connivance with State Election Commission. The polls were held on the directions of High Court on a petition by BJP worker, Raju Thakur. With the help of Shimla voters, the BJP has been able to oust the powers, responsible for supplying contaminated water and spreading jaundice that claimed several lives, he said. He said supply of clean and adequate drinking water will be the priority of BJP ruled MC in Shimla.

Dhumal said the party did not have difficulty in proving mandate. We were just cautious as we had learnt a lesson from 1998 assembly polls, when Congress had formed 13-day government forcibly.
Deaths of two more debt-ridden farmers were reported on Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh, taking the death toll in similar cases in the state in the past nine days to 15.

Police said Lakshmi Prasad, 70, a resident of Dhamana village in Narsinghpur district, consumed a pesticide. He succumbed while being taken to the district hospital.

The reason why the elderly farmer committed suicide was yet to be ascertained, Kotwali police station incharge Akhilesh Dahiya said.

The bereaved family said Prasad was under a debt of Rs.7 lakh.

The crop he sowed on seven acres of land was destroyed in a fire, following which he had been pleading with officials concerned for compensation but to no avail, they alleged. He was, therefore, anxious on this count.

Babulal, 40, of Randhal village in Hoshangabad district, set himself ablaze after dousing himself with kerosene on Friday. He succumbed to his burn injuries in Hameediya hospital in Bhopal late on Monday night.

His family alleged that he was facing harassment at the hands of moneylenders, who will be booked in the case, area police station incharge Ram Snehi said.
The Indian fashion industry that has been constantly evolving and growing with the touch of tradition and modernity in all its crease and seams may be set to roll out new twist and twirls soon, as few more days are left for GST implementation.

The textile sector, the backbone on which the fashion industry lies strongly, has been chipping in positive response to the five per cent rate on the sector, whether cotton, jute or silk.

As per reports, the industry has welcomed the rate which applies to the "sale of garments with a value of less than Rs.1,000", terming it "excellent tax structure".

"In the broad sense, there has been a lot of positive response from the industry," A Madhukumar Reddy, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles, had told reporters.

However, textile traders and weavers in Surat are strongly opposed to GST. They observed complete shutdown on Thursday, demanding withdrawal of GST. Around 80 textile associations across the country supported the sutdown, sources said.

Several traders and textile associations are likely to hold a meeting with the government in New Delhi from June 16 to June 26 over the issue.

Meanwhile, as the GST date nears, stakeholders are raising new concerns. A segment of the industry is seeking 12 per cent GST on textiles and garments. And as the government remains firm on 1 July GST rollout, states are also likely to seek lower rate on gold and footwear which are very much a part of the fashion industry.

Which way the wind may blow for the fashionistas, whatever rate would be stamped and rolled out, there surely is some new moves brewing in the Indian fashion industry which may either brighten or dampened the fashion scenario in the country.

Get ready for new wraps (pun intended) and rolls in different shades and styles.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday left on a three-day visit to Russia at the head of a high-level Indian delegation, to co-chair two meetings with the Government of the Russian Federation.

On Wednesday, he will co-chair the first meeting of the newly set up India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin to discuss cooperation in high technologies.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. The Defence Minister will also address the main Plenary Session of the Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On Friday, Jaitley will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, General Sergei Shoigu.

The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice CS Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, officials said.

Karnan's counsel Peter Ramesh Kumar also confirmed the arrest. The former judge was being brought to Chennai.

The Supreme Court had sentenced CS Karnan, at that time a judge with the Calcutta High Court, to six months imprisonment by holding him guilty of contempt.

Justice Karnan had on 11 May moved the apex court seeking recall of the order holding him guilty of contempt of court and sentencing him to a six-month jail term.

The seven-judge bench of the apex court had on 9 May passed the order sentencing Karnan to jail by holding him guilty of contempt of court and sentencing him to six months imprisonment, a day after he defiantly ordered eight apex court judges to be put behind bars.
Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen's visa has been extended for one year, with effect from July 23, 2017, by the Union home ministry.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday gave approval for the visa extension, official sources said.

Taslima, a citizen of Sweden, has been getting Indian visa on a continuous basis since 2004.

Her visa has been further extended on the basis of the Swedish passport, they said.

Taslima is living in exile since she left Bangladesh in a cloak of secrecy in 1994 in the wake of threats to her by fundamentalist groups.

She has also stayed in the US and Europe during the last two decades. However, on many occasions she had expressed her wish to live in India permanently, especially in Kolkata.

Taslima had also applied for permanent residency in India. "No decision has been taken on it by the home ministry," a source said.
The Congress on Monday demanded filing of a criminal case against the officers who ordered the "killing of farmers" in Madhya Pradesh during the peasants' agitation on June 6.

The party said that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre was anti-farmer and that they wanted to have a "kisan-mukt bharat" (India without farmers).

"We demand that a criminal case be lodged against those officers who ordered firing in Mandsaur that led to the killing of six farmers. Prompt action must be taken against them so that the farmers' families get justice," Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia told media persons here.

Scindia also said it was the responsibility of the central government to waive off the loans of farmers, adding that the Congress' campaign for the sake of rights of farmers would continue.

"If the government can waive off loans worth Rs.2.5 lakh crore of corporate houses, then why not Rs 5.3-lakh crore loans of the farmers?" said Scindia.

The farmers' agitation turned violent on June 6 in Mandsaur after a mob pelted stones at police. In retaliation, police opened fire in which five farmers were killed and one later succumbed to injuries.

"One will be surprised to see the key points of the inquiry commission set up by the Madhya Pradesh government. There is no mention of the point that the persons who fired at the farmers must be held responsible. People involved in firing are on the run," Scindia added.

He also said that 13 farmers had committed suicide in the past 10 days and they were "between 17 and 35 years of age". "They were the sole bread winners of their families. Out of these, four farmers were from Chief Minister (Shivraj Singh Chouhan)'s constituency."

Scindia alleged that the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government also indulged in a "bidding game" on the compensation amount to be given to the farmers' families.

"They first said, they would give Rs 1 lakh, then they went up to Rs 5 lakh and then to Rs 10 lakh. Finally, they said they will give Rs 1 crore each to the families of the killed farmers.

"The families were even threatened that if they did not attend Chief Minister Chouhan's fast in Bhopal, they won't be given the compensation money. This is the kind of sensitivity the government has," he added.

"The NDA government is anti-farmer, they want to have a 'kisan-mukt bharat'. They haven't yet fulfilled their promise of loan waiver for all farmers. There is a huge gap between what they say and what they do," he added.

Scindia sat on a three-day fast on Wednesday in Bhopal demanding loan waiver and "justice" for the farmers in Madhya Pradesh.

The farmers of state launched their agitation on June 1 demanding loan waiver and "appropriate price" for their produce.

"Outside every mandi, there is six to eight kilometre long queue of tractors in Madhya Pradesh and around 1,000 farmers can be seen waiting there for the buyers of their produce to show up. Demonetisation was the biggest reason for such a condition of the farmers," he added.

"If Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra can waive off loans, why can't Madhya Pradesh? why loan waiver is not an issue for the government despite 21,000 farmers committing suicide in three years in the state?" said Scindia.
India and Russia are expected to resolve their differences over the cost and work-share issues related to one of their most important defence projects, the co-development and production of the Sukhoi/HAL fifth generation fighter aircraft (FGFA) during Defence Minister Arun Jaitleys three-day visit to Russia from Wednesday.

An official source in Moscow said Jaitley will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu on Friday.

The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the special and privileged partnership between the two countries, the source added.

Jaitley would also co-chair the first meeting of the high level committee on science and technology between the two countries with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin during the visit. This is a newly established committee to discuss cooperation in high technologies.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. He will also address the main plenary session of Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition in Russia.

The Defence Ministers visit comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modis trip to Russia early this month to participate in St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) and hold his annual summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Jaitleys visit is being considered crucial as negotiations between the two countries over the FGFA have been stuck over a host of issues. Russia is said to be demanding an unaffordable price as part of its share in the development of the fighter jet, given that the work-sharing agreement currently under discussions includes the transfer of sensitive Russian defence technology.

India, the source said, was not in a position to pay the huge money being demanded by Russia. Also New Delhi believes that it is co-develop of the aircraft and there is nothing called technology transfer in the project.

In 2007, India and Russia had inked an inter-governmental pact for the FGFA project. In December 2010, India had agreed to pay $295 million towards the preliminary design of the fighter, which is called in India as the 'Perspective Multi-role Fighter' (PMF).
The soft-spoken 71-year-old Bihar Governor, Ram Nath Kovind, who on Monday was selected as the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliances candidate for the post of President of India, comes from a humble Dalit farmers family in Uttar Pradesh.

Born on 1 October 1945, at Derapur district, Uttar Pradesh, Ram Nath Kovind was elected twice to the Rajya Sabha in 1994-2000 and 2000-2006. For the larger part of his political career he was in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and went on to become the president of BJP Dalit Morcha from 1998-2002. He was also a BJP spokesman and practiced as a lawyer in the Supreme Court.

From 1977 to 1979, he was a Central government Advocate in the Delhi High Court and from 1980-1993, a Central government Standing Counsel in the Supreme Court. In 1978, he became Advocate-on-Record of the Supreme Court.

Kovind's Dalit background and the fact that he served as president of All India Koli Samaj from 1998 to 2002 might have come in handy for the BJP parliamentary board leaders to finally select him as the NDAs nominee for the post of President. It also fits in well with Prime Minister Narendra Modis Dalit outreach plan of action.

ovinds amenable and caring nature has endeared him not only to his own party members but also to political opponents. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had initially taken exception to his selection as Bihar Governor in August 2015, later developed a good relationship with him. Kovind held regular interactions with the cross-section of political parties in Bihar during the last three years in office.

Kovind served as member in the parliamentary committees on Home Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Social Justice and Empowerment, Welfare of Scheduled Castes/Tribes, Law and Justice during his stint in the Upper House besides being chairman of the Rajya Sabha House Committee.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar on Monday expressed his happiness over Kovinds selection as a NDA nominee but said a final call on the matter will be taken by the Opposition parties. Kovind also reportedly enjoys a good rapport with RJD leader Lalu Prasad.

Ram Nath Kovind served as private secretary to former Prime Minister Morarji Desai even before he joined the BJP in 1977.

After his selection he thanked everyone for giving him an opportunity to serve Bharat Mata.

Political pundits say Opposition parties have no choice but to accept Kovind or put up another Dalit candidate against him. But given the ruling BJP-led NDAs numerical superiority Kovinds appointment as the next President of India is almost a surety.
Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir, the two states that have not yet cleared the state GST laws, will lose out on the compensation package of the Central government if they do not accept the unified indirect tax regime.

"All GST Council decisions have been taken through consensus. SGST has been approved by all states barring J&K and Kerala. Kerala will consider it this week. Jammu and Kashmir is going through the process. It will have to do it separately as the State has different statutes," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

He added that consumers and traders both would suffer if states kept out of the GST. "They will not get input tax credit and consumers will get more expensive products than the rest of the country. There will be another impact on the compensation to states. Those who don't join don't get that benefit of revenue loss compensation for 5 years," Jaitley said.

Citing GST as a historic reform, he said, "I think that GST is a reform step for the better. All reforms in their initial phase have an impact and are seen as disruptive and in the long run are seen as result-yielding reforms. When you go for reforms, you should never blink. Because when you blink, you get derailed," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to meet President Donald Trump over the weekend. The relationship which Modi had with Obama is not there and so expectations from this visit are low.

However, for the US, India would be a key player. This is because the US is heading into security isolation, solely due to Trumps own policy of America First.

Since his ascent, President Trump has surprised many with his flip-flops. Never before has any head of state jumped from one opinion to the other in a flash leaving all guessing on what his intentions are.

His policy decisions appear to be based solely on creating jobs. The world which once looked upon the US as the guardian of democracy seeks alternative security groupings that ignore the US. His criticism of China during his election speeches changed as soon as China offered to invest, though he sugar-coated the new found bonhomie by stating that China was cooperating in reining in North Korea.

His criticism of Saudi Arabia vanished when he visited the country. He had condemned them for treating women as slaves, killing gays and maintaining ties with 9/11 hijackers.

His visit provided a remarkable reversal when he stated, we are not here to lecture, we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be.

The arms deal signed with Saudi Arabia was to create a thousand jobs, which was one of his aims. His relations with the Western world are frosty. His address to NATO allies asking them to spend more was quietly ignored. His pulling out of the Paris accord almost isolated the US from Europe.

Leaders in Europe have begun making increasing comments on the lack of reliability of the US for defence and military cooperation.

They have instead stated that they need to be linked closer and cooperate more to ensure their own security. The EU has enhanced its own defence fund, different from NATO. EU President Jean Juncker remarked, The US is no longer interested in guaranteeing Europes security.

Other close allies like Australia, Japan and Singapore are seeking closer collaboration and cooperation with India, basically because they have lost faith in the US since Trump cannot be trusted on continuing existing alliances. His refusal to honour the immigration deal which Obama committed to Australia made relations frosty.

Trumps obsession with North Korea due to its ability to target the American mainland is possibly the only reason why the US may be compelled to continue maintaining its bases in South Korea. His reliance on China to reel in the North Korean regime would enhance its influence and threaten its traditional rivals including Japan and India.

Even Canada, closely allied and working in tandem with the US and jointly operating NORAD (North American Aerospace Command), is seeking other options.

Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian foreign minister stated, The fact that our friend and ally has come to question the very worth of its mantle of global leadership puts into sharper focus the need for the rest of us to set our own clear and sovereign course. Canadas defence budget is on the rise.

Her words portray the feelings within the Western world and traditional US allies. The US is increasing its involvement in West Asia and Afghanistan, where it has limited options as it battles growing Russian and Iranian influence. Trumps animosity for Iran is well known.

He has continuously attempted to forge groupings against it.

His visit to Saudi Arabia was aimed at this. The Qatar crisis that followed has been aptly summed up as Trumpification of relations in the region by the German Foreign Minister, Sigmar Gabriel. His relations with Russia show no signs of mending, mainly due to internal pressures on his alleged illegal contacts with Russia during his campaign.

NATO allies presently supporting and participating in operations in West Asia and Afghanistan are hesitant to expand their deployment.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that she does not believe that Germany is first in line to send additional troops. The British opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn, stated, Britain should turn down NATOs demand for additional troops in Afghanistan.

A coalition government in Britain would have to toe a careful line. Internally Trump faces increasing hostility. His Presidential orders are being overruled by courts and internal policies are being blocked by a doubting Senate. Pressures have compelled him to frequently change his own advisors.

Investigations into his Russian contacts during elections would preclude his seeking closer cooperation in resolving West Asia and Afghanistan. To reconsider the nuclear deal with Iran, he would need Russian backing, which is unlikely and hence he creates anti-Iran alliances.

Racism is raising its ugly head in the US. There is a marked increase in hate crimes and a noticeable divide within the population. His immigration policies have drastically reduced the number of foreign students in US universities. There is uncertainty all around.

Trumps changing perceptions have created doubts within the US traditional support base across the globe. Possibly the only nation in sync with the US presently is Israel.

The US is heading for security isolation, which irrespective of the power of a nation is irrational in the present environment. It is time his advisors be more frank with him, before he pushes the US into a dark security corner, exiting which would be difficult.

Hence, Prime Minister Modis meeting with Trump is unlikely to result in any worthwhile statement or success. It is a low-key visit as compared to his previous ones. In the present context, the US needs India more than the other way around.

Simultaneously, Indias growing military and economic power would involve it in increased security groupings, side-lining the US and making it a key international player.

As the US moves into isolation, India rises to become a global player alongside China, which is happily filling the void caused by the US.

The Modi visit may end up with US seeking Indian cooperation in troubled spots, rather than the other way around.

The writer is a retired Major-General of the Indian Army.
For all the applause she might have drawn from acolytes, Nirmala Sitharaman overreached herself when demanding the Congress president apologise for a disparaging comment about the Army Chief made by an ex-MP of Sonia Gandhis party.

As a matter of principle all political leaders must mind their language, but Sitharaman must ask herself if she can claim the right to point fingers when she did not utter a word about the Father of the Nation being dubbed a chatur baniya by the BJP president, and also maintained a silence when a ministerial colleague spoke of ramzadas and haramzadas and another asserted that if they want to eat beef let them go to Pakistan.

Wearing her former hat as party spokesperson appears more fashionable to the more sedate posture she must adopt as a responsible minister.

For this happened to be one of those very uncommon moments when a party leader, in this case Sandeep Dikshit speaking for the Congress party, was reprimanded by the party vicepresident for loose-talk. If only similar correctives were issued to BJP loudmouths, the present chief minister of UP among them. In a rare display of political decency, Rahul Gandhi went beyond the inappropriate words from Dikshit and asserted, A leader of the Congress has made a statement regarding the Army Chief. It is wrong.

The Army should never be politicised. Political leaders should not make statements about the Army Chief. Mr Gandhi added: I want to make it clear that the Indian Army defends the country and so no statements should be made against the Army.

Rahul was, perhaps, also seeking to atone for another ex-MP who had expressed doubts about last years surgical strikes. Apologies do not always serve as compensation, but in declining to issue a conditional or qualified apology, Rahul did salvage a little reputation.

It, however, does take two hands to clap, and the BJP leadership cannot escape criticism for the shameless manner in which they latched on to the former DGMOs words surgical strike to create an impression that the Indian Army had avenged all the atrocities and transgressions committed by Pakistan during the UPA regime.

It had been a shameful ploy to whip up passions, project a super-hero image of M/s Narendra Modi & Co ~ though on the ground the situation has hardly changed. Surgical strikes have merely given way to retributive fire-assaults across the LOC.

There is also a third hand in the equation. General Bipin Rawat would not have found himself so openly muck-raked had he restrained himself from intemperate remarks with distinct political under-pinning.

No other Army Chief has been so openly criticised ~ not even the ones who presided over the debacle of 1962, the still-controversial Operation Bluestar, and the disaster that was sending the IPKF to Sri Lanka.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the United States is "an important part" of the Group of 20 summit, which her country is hosting next month, and that "they will be most welcome by the German government despite all differences in opinion."

Despite the warm words, Merkel, who was speaking at a pre-summit event in Hamburg on today, nonetheless renewed her criticism of US President Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord, which she called a "bitter blow."

Merkel and Trump have had an uneasy relationship since Trump took office in January.

The chancellor has criticized several of Trump's policy decisions including his project to build a wall against immigrants on the US's southern border. Trump on the other hand, has condemned Germany for its export-driven economy and for taking in so many migrants in 2015.
The death toll in the wildfire that devastated central Portugal has risen to 64, according to the latest assessment by the authorities.

They also said on Monday that 70 per cent of the fire that was raging since Saturday has been controlled, Efe news reported.

The official death toll was updated by a lieutenant of the Republican National Guard (GNR).

Portuguese Firefighters League President, Jaime Marta Soares, had confirmed a new death  a 40-year-old firefighter who received severe burn injuries while trying to save people trapped in a burning vehicle.

Besides, another man was found dead in one of the villages affected by the blaze.

In a press conference, Portuguese Civil Protection Agency commander, Elisio Oliveira, said that the 30 per cent remaining blaze was still a cause of concern to the authorities.

The fire broke out on Saturday afternoon in Pedrogao Grande of Leiria district when lightning struck a dry tree, according to the authorities.

The blaze then spread out to the districts of Coimbra and Castelo Branco, while more than 2,000 staff was deployed in the area along with air support from fire fighting planes from Spain, France and Italy.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cautioned Iran not to threaten Israel after Tehran said it launched missiles at Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.

"One message to Iran: Don't threaten Israel," Netanyahu said on Monday during a weekly meeting of his Likud faction.

Netanyahu, who has repeatedly claimed that Iran is threatening Israel, said Israel is following "their actions and we follow their words", Xinhua news agency reported.

"The military and our security forces are constantly monitoring the activity of Iran in the region," Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by the Likud.

"This activity also includes their attempts to establish themselves in Syria and, of course, to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah and other operations," he said.

Netanyahu has been a vocal opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, charging that Tehran is aiming to achieve nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Monday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that the Sunday attack on the "terrorists" in Syria's eastern region of Deir ez-Zor had been coordinated with the Syrian government.

Gen. Ramezan Sharif, head of the IRGC Public Relations Department, told Tasnim news agency that the IRGC fired six mid-range ballistic missiles at multiple targets, within a range of 650 to 700 km.

He confirmed that the missiles hit the targets, which included the headquarters, ammunition and logistic depots of IS operatives, saying "a large number of terrorists" were killed.

The attack came in the wake of a twin attack carried out by IS on Iran's Parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the capital Tehran on June 7, killing 17 and injuring dozens others.
At least eight Afghan security guards were killed when gunmen opened fire on them in the country's northern Parwan province, a provincial official said on Tuesday.

The Taliban later claimed the attack.

The shooting late last night also left two other guards wounded, according to Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the Parwan governor.

The guards were attacked while they were on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, she added.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement sent to the media on Tuesday.

The insurgents have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces, and an affiliate of the Islamic State group has been trying to expand its footprint in the country by launching large-scale attacks across Afghanistan.

Shahkar said the shooting is being investigated further.

Meanwhile, one person killed and six were wounded when Afghan security forces on Monday night moved in to dismantle the last remaining tent set up by protesters rallying in the capital, Kabul.

Abdullah Abdullah, the country's Chief Executive, first announced the incident during a live TV broadcast. He said the killings, which are under investigation, had "shocked us all."

The Kabul protest began earlier this month, after a powerful truck bomb killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 450 in the heart of the city. Since then, scores of protesters have spent almost three weeks under huge tents on a road near the presidential palace and the blast site, as well as in other parts of the city. BY Monday night, only the one, main tent had remained.

The protest prompted police to block all roads leading toward the presidential palace and diplomatic areas. Movement of vehicles and people was also limited during the past weeks.
President Donald Trump denounced North Korea as "a brutal regime" after the death of a 22- year-old US student released by the reclusive country in a coma last week.

Speaking moments after news of Otto Warmbier's death was announced publicly, Trump decried the Pyongyang regime.

"Bad things happened but at least he got home to his parents," Trump said during a White House event.
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley on Tuesday lashed out at North Korea over the death of a 22- year-old American student after he was freed by Pyongyang, saying his memory will serve as an "indelible reminder" of the "barbaric nature" of the regime's dictatorship.

"Countless innocent men and women have died at the hands of the North Korean criminals, but the singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other," Indian- American Haley said in a statement on the death of Otto Warmbier.

Warmbier was a student at the University of Virginia and had visited North Korea during a trip to China.

He was detained at the Pyongyang airport in early January in 2016 and charged with "hostile act" against the country's authoritarian government for trying to steal a propaganda poster.

Warmbier was released from a North Korean prison last week and was sent back home in a coma, a condition he had been in for more than a year in a coma. He died on Monday at the Cincinnati hospital.

Haley said while Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his family, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship".

She lashed out against the decades-long "inhumanity" of the North Korean regime, saying numerous investigations have been conducted and endless volumes have been written about how "that outlaw government has tortured and murdered generations of its own citizens".
Ho-Chunk Nation members Inez Rodriguez, 13, left, and Danae Rave, 15, practice balancing checkbooks during a financial education exercise at the tribe's House of Wellness facility in Baraboo in March 2014. Financial literacy education efforts are helping Wisconsin's youth be better prepared to manage money later in life.
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The last days of the Newfie Pride

There were many nights he didnt sleep. The numbers and scenarios turned over and over in his mind, making rest impossible. Id get up two, three oclock in the morning, night after night, come out to the kitchen table and work the numbers every ...
Organisation: United States

US Embassy, US Mission in Uganda

Duty Station: Kampala,

Uganda

Salary Grade: FSN-10 Ugshs

102,802,449 p.a. inclusive of allowances)

Vacancy Announcement Number: 15-17

About US Embassy:

The United States Embassy in Kampala, Uganda has enjoyed diplomatic

relations with Uganda for over 30 years.

Ambassador Deborah R. Malac currently heads the U.S Mission to

Uganda. The Mission is composed of

several offices and organizations all working under the auspices of the Embassy

and at the direction of the Ambassador.

Among the offices operating under the U.S Mission to Uganda are:

United States Agency for International

Development (USAID)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Peace Corps

Job Summary: The Security

Coordinator is the Regional Security Offices senior locally employed (LE)

staff in charge of the embassys defensive security portfolio, which includes

the embassys physical security program, the residential security program, the

local guard force (LGF), the surveillance detection unit (SD), and the security

receptionist team. As head of the

defensive security portfolio, the DSC directly supervises four LE staff: the

Residential Security Coordinator (RSC), the LGF Coordinator (LGFC), the SD

Coordinator (SDC), and the Security Receptionist Supervisor. In consultation with the supervising ARSO,

the DSC is responsible for resolving the defensive security portfolios

budgetary, procurement, and personnel issues directly with the relevant

management office.



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

NOTE: All applicants must address each selection

criterion detailed below with specific and comprehensive information supporting

each item.

The applicants for the United States US

Embassy Security Coordinator job placement should hold a Bachelors Degree

from a recognized university in the field of law, criminal justice,

security, military science, engineering, or applied sciences.

A minimum of three years in police,

military, or security position, two of which must be in a supervisory role

OR a minimum of 2 years Diploma studies with 5 years of specialized

experience two of which must be in a supervisory role in police, military

or security position.

Good leadership skills.

Previous experience with budgets and

manpower control.

Hold a clean and valid drivers

license.

Ability to use Microsoft Office Suite.

Be trained to carry a firearm and other

protective equipment, and be prepared to deal with an intruder or other

criminal on the compound. Typing

skills with speed and accuracy is required.

A high-level working knowledge of the

FAM/FAH, embassy procurement and contracting procedures, Diplomatic

Security physical, procedural, and operational security standards and

procedures, local laws, and local law enforcement tactics, procedures, and

chains of command.

Knowledge in budgeting, planning a

physical or residential security upgrade project (to include how to request

additional funds at post, from DS, or from OBO), and carrying out that

project.

Broad knowledge and understanding of local

working conditions and practices.

Familiarity with a wide range of

protective equipment.

Language: Level IV spoken and

written English ability (Fluent) is required. Level II in any of the following

languages; Luganda, Runyakitara and Swahili .

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested candidates who wish to join the

United States Embassy in Kampala are encouraged to Apply Online by following

the instructions below;



under the careers page for US Embassy Kampala using the link, Click

Here Applicants shall be required to registerunder the careers page for US Embassy Kampala using the link,

You will receive confirmation of

registration and proceed to apply.

On completion of this process you will

receive an auto response via your email.

NB: Applicants claiming a

U.S. Veterans preference must submit written documentation confirming

eligibility (e.g., Member Copy 4 of Form DD-214, Letter from the Veterans

Administration, or certification documenting eligibility under the VOW Act with

an expected discharge no later than 120 days after the certification is

submitted) by the closing date of the vacancy announcement. If the written

documentation confirming eligibility is not received in the HR office by the

closing date of the vacancy announcement, the U.S. Veterans preference will

not be considered in the application process. Specific criteria for receiving a

U.S. Veterans preference may be found in HR/OEs Family Member Employment

Policy (FMEP).

th June

2017 Deadline: 29June2017

The US Mission in Kampala provides equal opportunity and fair and

equitable treatment in employment to all people without regard to race, color

religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, political affiliation, marital

status, or sexual orientation. The

Department of State also strives to achieve equal employment opportunity in all

personnel operations through continuing diversity enhancement programs.
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.
Job Title: Senior Operations Officer

Organization: Mercy Corps

Funding Source: European

Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)

Duty Station: Uganda

Reports to: Head of Office

About Mercy Corps:

Mercy Corps is an International NGO that exists to alleviate poverty

and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Mercy Corps has been fully registered in Uganda as an operational NGO.

Currently Mercy Corps has an office in Kampala and is implementing Food

Security programs which comprise of Water and Sanitation, Livelihood and

Agriculture and Conflict Mitigation Management Program in North and North

Eastern Uganda. We implement programs in the northern districts of Pader,

Kitgum, Agago, Lamwo, Kaabong, Abim and Kotido with funding from USAID, USDA,

Walmart Foundation, SDC, DFID as well as other private donations.

About ECHO Program:

Mercy Corps is implementing an 18-month Directorate-General for

European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO) funded program

around Livelihood Programs for South Sudanese refugees in Bidibidi Settlement,

Rhino Camp and Palorinya Settlement in Uganda. The program will focus on

building Livelihood activities and Agriculture resilience through agricultural

inputs and trainings, creation of VSLAs and IGAs activities.

Job Summary: The Senior

Operations Officer will be primarily responsible for overseeing and ensuring

the operations and functions of the field office to ensure programs run

smoothly. The Senior Operations Manager will provide supervision and training

functions in the field office for staff in all aspects of logistics including

Procurement, Fleet, Asset (including warehousing and stock-keeping), Security,

and HR & Administration. The Senior Operations Officer is responsible for

compound/equipment maintenance as well as general day to day management of the

office.



Responsibilities: Key Duties andResponsibilities:

Fleet:

Reads and has a clear understanding of the

Mercy Corps Fleet Management procedures.

Works to make sure all vehicles are in

good repair, including insurance cover

Maintain administrative vehicle files for

each vehicle

Oversee fuel consumption purchase and

tracking including coordination with gas station(s)

Ensure major repairs are done in a timely

manner.

Actively participate in hiring and

disciplinary measures for drivers.

Ensure that accident reports are completed

and filed.

Asset:

Ensures that procedures outlined in the

Mercy Corps Asset Management Manual will be implemented in Field Office.

Ensure all new Mercy Corps assets in the

field office are in the asset register and ensure the appropriate coding

and tags are placed on each item.

Ensures the electronic database is updated

monthly and provide an electronic copy to supervisor; a hard copy is

printed, signed and filed in the assets folder;

Procurement:

Has a full understanding of MC procurement

policies and formats. Provide training to staff on these policies;

Enforce proper use of procurement ceilings

and approval procedures.

Support Program and Operational personnel

in regular procurement planning meetings.

Oversee the gathering of quotations and

bids from the market for PRs as per Mercy Corps standards and formats;

Security:

Act as security focal point for the field

office, update and implement security policies appropriate for the local

context

Ensure all national and international

staff are well-informed of security policies and procedures, including

emergency strategies and evacuation plans

Mentor and train the hired security staff

on Mercy Corps Security Standard Operating Procedures

HR/Administration:

Manage the smooth flowing of routine,

administrative work of the Mercy Corps Field Office and program support

operation

Ensure inventory list of all office

furniture, stationery and equipment is maintained and updated frequently.

Ensure office and personnel policies are

in compliance with Mercy Corps Field Administration Manual and National

Staff Policy Handbook

Coordinate all of Mercy Corps Human

Resource and recruitment requirements, to include recruiting national staff.



Experience: Qualifications, Skills andExperience:

The ideal candidate for the Mercy Corps

Senior Operations Officer career opporutunity must hold a Bachelors

Degree in a relevant field.

At least four years experience in

Logistics and Administration management required.

Previous exposure and experience managing

the development, implementation, administration, and compliance of US

Government, ECHO/EC, UN, private foundation, and corporate grants, and

related projects.

Background in humanitarian response activities

preferred.

Excellent community mobilization skills a

must.

Excellent writing, communication,

organization, prioritization and negotiating skills.

Computer literacy skills with a full

knowledge of office applications.

Keen attention to detail and ability to

complete tasks in a timely manner. l

Good (English) verbal and written

communication skills preferred.

How to Apply:

All prospective Ugandans who wish to join Mercy Corps are encouraged to

send their applications via email including a cover letter clearly stating your

salary requirements, CV (with 3 referees), and copies of academic

qualifications/certificates to ug-mcjobs@mercycorps.org addressed to the Senior

HR and Legal Manager, Mercy Corps Uganda.

st June

2017 Deadline: 21June2017
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 ...
As the presidential election campaign gathers steam, numbers seem to be in favour of Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA nominee. With the Shiv Sena extending its support to Kovind on Tuesday, the prospects of sending him to the Rashtrapati Bhavan have brightened.

Here is a quick peek into the election process

Who all will vote: Elected MPs and members of legislative assemblies of all states and UTs of Delhi and Puducherry

Total vote value: 10,98,903 votes

Individual vote value: Each MP carries a vote value of 708; Vote weight of an MLA depends on the population of the state he or she represents

Winning mark: More than 50 per cent votes (5,49,452 votes)

Voting mode: Ballot paper

Who all are supporting Kovind: Shiv Sena, BJD, AIADMK (Amma) faction, YSR Congress, TRS

NDA's vote value: 5,37,683

Vote value after the support of other parties: 8,83,578 (This is much more than the 50 per cent plus mark)

Last election: In the last elections, Pranab Mukherjee won by a margin of 3,97,776 votes defeating P.A. Sangma. He garnered 7,13,763 votes against 3,15,987 of Sangma, who passed away last year.
The opposition Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) have decided to meet on June 22 to discuss the Centre's decision on presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

"We don't want to talk about his (Kovind's) personality but will talk on merit. This is true that he is a hardcore BJP and we were expecting someone neutral. On June 22, we are having a meeting under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and then we will discuss whether to support or oppose this," said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Meanwhile, CPI leader D. Raja said they would collectively decide about their future course of discussion.

"We are discussing within our party and with other parties informally. All the parties in the opposition are likely to meet on June 22. We will decide collectively about what should be our future course of discussion," he added.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah had announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

Kovind, before leaving for New Delhi yesterday, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind.

Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

The Prime Minister said Kovind will make an exceptional president and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shev Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank.

Joining the critics of NDA's presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a dalit face for the upcoming presidential polls.

"If someone is trying to make a dalit a president with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them," Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee didn't seem happy with Kovind's candidature. She said someone of the stature of President Pranab Mukherjee or even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or BJP veteran L.K. Advani might have been the ideal candidate.

The decision, however, was welcomed by some of the political leaders including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of Ram Nath Kovind as the governor of Bihar a day after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) named him as its presidential candidate.

Keshari Nath Tripathi, governor of West Bengal, has been appointed as the new Bihar governor.

On Monday, BJP national president Amit Shah announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of president.

Kovind met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, PM Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind.

Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

The PM said Kovind will make an exceptional president and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties, with the Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shiv Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank.

Joining the critics of NDA's presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a dalit face for the president polls.

"If someone is trying to make a dalit a president with the purpose of gaining a vote bank, then we are not with them, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee too didn't seem happy with the Kovind's candidature. She said someone of the stature of President Pranab Mukherjee or even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or BJP veteran L.K. Advani may have been made the candidate.

The decision, however, was welcomed by some of the political leaders, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Kovind had worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and also has the backing of BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

A lawyer by profession, Kovind had also been BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha chief (1998-2002) and president of the All-India Koli Samaj.
We didnt shoot ourselves in the foot, we shot ourselves in the head!" said the astounded Tory MP Nigel Evans, summing up the fate of the ruling Conservative Party after the UK parliamentary elections.

British Prime Minister Theresa May called unnecessary snap elections expecting a landslide victory that would strengthen her hand ahead of the gruelling Brexit negotiations, scheduled to begin on June 19 and end by March 2019. Her gamble failed spectacularly.

Like an empress without clothes, the verdict left her without even the majority she earlier had. Her party lost 13 seats, diminished to a minority government with 318 seats in the 650-member parliament. Instead of her strong and stable slogan, she is now weak and shaky. On the eve of negotiating exit from the European Union, Britain has neither a secure government nor a coherent negotiating position. Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliaments chief Brexit negotiator, predicts Mays own-goal will make already complex negotiations even more complicated.

Two successive Tory prime ministers have inflicted more damage to their party and country than their worst enemies. Last year, David Cameron became the father of all catastrophic errors when he held the Brexit referendum. He was cocksure of winning it, remaining in the EU and silencing EU sceptics in his party. A political move that boomeranged when the Brexiters won, forcing him to resign.

His successor, Theresa May, who also wanted the UK to remain in the EU, inherited the tough responsibility of negotiating Brexit. With the opposition Labour Party in disarray, May was confident of improving her partys parliamentary majority. But by snatching disaster from the jaws of victory, she became the mother of all catastrophic errors. Says rebellious Tory backbencher Sarah Wollaston, This is the result of hubris and a failure to listen.

Public ire: Demonstrators near 10 Downing Street after results showed the Conservatives lost their majority | AFP

British politics now resemble classic literature: a modern-day Greek tragedy dramatising the fatal consequences of conceit. To the chagrin of her own Tory members, May and her secretive coterie ran a presidential-style election campaign projecting her as bigger than the party, a 21st century Margaret Thatcher. But she wound up like Princess Niobe, whom the jealous gods punished and turned into a weeping stone for wanting to be worshipped as a goddess. Like Icarus, May soared high on ambition, only to fall precipitously when the sun melted the wax in her wings. In seeking more, she secured less.

May's spin-doctored steely image was mocked, when she flip-flopped on issues ranging from holding snap elections to social welfare. She appeared stone-hearted and out of touch with a suffering public, scoring points on fox hunting, robbing children of lunches and making the elderly pay for their care from their graves. During visits to regions devastated by deindustrialisation, she seemed robotic, distant and insensitive. Sam Blackledge of the Plymouth Herald described his interview with May as three minutes of nothing. According to him, Mays meaningless platitudes sounded as bad as her clacking leopard print heels on the rain-swept pier as she sought the votes of fishermen.

And, as she drove home to 10 Downing Street after the election verdict, she looked like Tennysons lonely Lady of Shalott, returning to her desolate castle. The night was dark, the streets empty, the crowds gone. The stage is now set for a Shakespearean tragedy to unfold. Daggers are drawn in the Tory party and its MP Heidi Allen predicts May will be replaced within six months. As Bloomberg notes, Conservatives are an unforgiving bunch, unwilling to tolerate a loser at the helm. Potential topplers include Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond, Home Secretary Amber Rudd and Foreign Secretary and prominent Brexiter Boris Johnson. Observes columnist Nick Cohen, Mays authority is shot to pieces and the assassins smile is upon Boris Johnsons lips.

The only winner in this election is Jeremy Corbyn, the much-maligned, professorial leader of the Labour Party whom the Conservatives and the high-pitched right-wing media branded a radical Marxist and terrorist sympathiser. Blasting all predictions, he won an extra 32 seats, taking the Labour Partys tally to 262 seats. Last year, he faced civil war in his party with massive defections, surviving the Establishments nuclear attack to depose him for his outdated hard-left policies.

May ran a vitriolic campaign against Corbyn, warning that his victory would result in a coalition of chaos. The Labour Partys 43-page manifesto was lampooned as a long suicide note. But British voters chose to resurrect Corbyn and his flailing party. He is Britains Bernie Sanders. The youth voted for him in droves because he promised to scrap tuition fees, lower their debt burdens, and improve wages and social care by taxing the rich. The media that predicted a landslide victory for May and warned voters against throwing Britain into Cor-bin is clearly part of the UKs problem. They should be doing as much soul-searching as the beleaguered Theresa DisMay as The Sun headlined.

The hung parliament is the worst possible outcome. May stressed the need for certainty while negotiating Brexit. Instead, Britain lurches into uncertainty. Losing majority entails May heading a minority government, pursuing partnership with Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist Party. The Daily Mirror calls this a Coalition of crackpots. Unlike liberal British parties, the protestant DUP opposes homosexuality, denies climate change and disputes evolution.

The DUP even wanted certain bands banned because they played devils music, resembling the 20th century Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia who opposed bicycles as devils machine and the telegraph as devils tongue. Edward Green, a student, says, We were afraid of shariah, now we get DUP.

Abhorrent as the DUPs social policies are to most Brits, it is Brexit negotiations that plunge Britain into turmoil. The Europeans are emphatic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel asserts, We are preparing for Brexit and are going to defend the interests of our 27 countries.

Former Tory Chancellor George Osborne says a hard Brexit with the UK flaming out of the EU Common Market and Customs Union is now impossible. The DUP wants a soft Brexit, with porous borders, especially with EU-member Ireland. Many contentious issues need resolution in a deeply polarised Britainfunding the 100 billion divorce bill, dealing with job losses, GDP shrinkage and London losing its status as a financial hub, replacing banished EU nurses in British hospitals and fruit pickers in orchards, coping with trade barriers, funding hitherto EU-supported programmes in universities and municipalities, determining the fate of 30 lakh EU nationals living in the UK and the 12 lakh Britishers living in the EU, and so on.

Schisms run deep and wide in the UK between the losers and winners of globalisation, between rightists and leftists, between EU haters and supporters, and between the rich, ruling elite and the disempowered millions who have lost jobs, homes and communities. The civil war that ravaged the Labour Party last year now savages the Tory party. Says Manfred Weber, chairman of the European Peoples Party, EU is united, UK is deeply split. PM May wanted stability, but has brought chaos to her country instead.

May must reconcile the EU supporters and sceptics in her own party, neutralise party rebels, strike deals with the DUP, reassure fearful citizens and muster support from a deeply divided party, parliament and nation for an avalanche of legislations required for Brexit. She had vowed to be a bloody tough woman with EU negotiators. Now she herself is bloodied, battered and bruised. Having shot herself in the head and foot, an addled Prime Minister limps toward Brexit negotiations. A messy situation becomes messier. Words of conceit bite with cruel irony as Theresa May presides over a coalition of chaos.
Morning briefing: Why the Supreme Courts decision to review Wisconsins gerrymandering is such a big deal
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., right, shown here recently with Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., joined with Republican Sen. Rand Paul plus three other Republican senators and 42 other Democratic senators to oppose President Trump's arms deal with Saudi Arabia. The 47 votes were not enough to halt the deal, but the effort came much closer than the attempt last year to stop tank sales to the Saudis. PHOTO BY ASSOCIATED PRESS
Monticello, NY  Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff, Sullivan County Manager Josh Potosek, Sullivan County Legislature Chairman Luis Alvarez and District 5 Legislator Terri Ward are pleased to announce the coming addition of five new deputies to the Sheriffs Offices Road Patrol Division.

Unanimously approved by the Legislature on Thursday, June 15, the positions will augment the existing 35-man force now patrolling Sullivan Countys 1,000 square miles.

These five patrol positions are sorely needed to ensure countywide coverage and prepare us to handle the anticipated influx of visitors and new residents to our region in the years ahead, Sheriff Schiff explained. I thank the Legislature for agreeing that time is of the essence  these deputies will require more than a year of training and mentorship before being given responsibility for patrolling on their own.

As a retired Sheriffs deputy, I keenly understand the challenges which face a police agency even when it is fully staffed, noted Chairman Alvarez. Ensuring the Sheriffs Office has the resources it needs is crucially important in these times, and taxpayers can feel confident the County continues to make public safety a priority.

Providing for the safety and well-being of our residents and visitors is paramount to me, added Legislator Ward, who chairs the Public Safety and Law Enforcement Committee. With more people headed our way in the years to come, our Sheriffs Office will be busier than ever, and this Legislature is intent on providing them with the best staffing and tools in the most cost-effective manner possible.

These five new positions will require approximately $500,000 from the County budget in the first year, for which there are funds available, said Potosek.

We will draw upon monies set aside for unfilled vacancies elsewhere, Potosek explained. Those funds will cover not only the deputies salaries and benefits but also their outfitting and training.

Future costs associated with these positions should be more than covered by the savings anticipated from a reduction (through attrition, not layoffs) in the number of officers needed to staff the new County Jail vs. the existing facility, said Sheriff Schiff. Now under construction near Route 17s Exit 104 in Monticello, the new Jail and relocated Sheriffs Office may open as early as next year, with the Jail fully operational in 2019.

(YWN Sullivan County Newsroom)
Under the POST Act  short for Public Oversight of Police Technology  the NYPD would need to publicly disclose each items current and future impact and use policies, seek public feedback, and explain whether court permission is needed for deployment.

The NYPD opposes the bill, saying it would provide a road map for terrorists. Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller called it insane.

It would require the police department to list them, all in one place, describe how they work and what the limitations we place on our use of them, Miller testified. In effect, it would make a one-stop-shopping guide for understanding these tools and how to thwart them.

Garodnick said the bill sought only general, not operational, details.

The NYPD said the transparency bill was unnecessary. NYPD brass testifying Wednesday pointed to oversight already provided by the departments existing inspector general, a court monitor under a settlement catalyzed by the NYPDs past monitoring of Muslims, the patrol guide posted online and decades old Handschu guidelines, which constrain when and how the NYPD may conduct surveillance. The NYPD had once opposed these, Councilman Rory Lancman (D-Queens) noted.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
Two top House Democrats are questioning whether Michael Flynn failed to report a 2015 trip to the Middle East to federal security clearance investigators, a potential omission that could add to the legal jeopardy President Donald Trumps former national security adviser faces over the truthfulness of his statements to authorities and on government documents.

The lawmakers  Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.  said in a letter released Monday that they believe Flynn may have violated federal law by failing to disclose the trip, which they believe involved a proposal to provide nuclear power to several Middle Eastern countries, and any foreign contacts he had during another trip to the region that year.

The letter from Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, and Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is the latest to call attention to potential problems with what Flynn reported to the U.S. government about his foreign travel, contacts and business after he left the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2014.

Federal and congressional probes have been looking closely at Flynns foreign travel and contacts as part of investigations into Russias meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion with associates of Trump or his campaign.

Separately, federal investigators have been scrutinizing Flynns work for a Turkish businessman and the Defense Departments inspector general has been looking into whether Flynn failed to get U.S. government permission to receive foreign payments. Among those payments was more than $33,000 he received from RT, the Russian state-sponsored television network that U.S. intelligence officials have branded as a propaganda arm of the Kremlin.

Flynns attorney, Robert Kelner, declined to comment on the allegations in the letter.

In their letter, Cummings and Engel said they believe Flynn was not forthcoming about a trip to the Middle East in the summer of 2015.

They cited a recent Newsweek report that Flynn flew to Israel and Egypt that summer as part of an effort promoting a U.S.-Russian partnership to construct nuclear reactors for civilian power needs. They also point to Flynns June 10, 2015, testimony before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

During the testimony, Flynn told lawmakers he just came from a trip  fairly extensive trip to the Middle East, during which the issue of developing nuclear energy in the region came up. But Cummings and Engel said it does not appear that General Flynn disclosed this trip or any foreign contacts as part of his security clearance renewal process, noting that intentionally concealing such information from a security clearance form is a felony.

Cummings and Engel also raised questions about an October 2015 trip to Saudi Arabia, which Flynn did report as part of his security clearance review. The review took place in the early months of 2016.

The lawmakers said Flynn told security clearance investigators that he traveled to Saudi Arabia because as a business owner, he is working on developing business with another country.

Flynn reported that he went on the six-day trip with a friend, who was also American, to speak at a conference, stayed at a hotel called the King Khaled International Hotel and had the trip paid for by a work sponsor.

But congressional staffers could not confirm the existence of such a hotel, though they note the airport in Riyadh shares that name. They also could not find any evidence of a conference that Flynn would have attended during the time frame, noting that three speakers bureaus affiliated with Flynn did not report being involved with the trip or a conference in Saudi Arabia.

In the letter, the lawmakers asked Flynns former firm, Flynn Intel Group, to provide additional information about his foreign travel and his involvement with two other companies who spearheaded the nuclear power plan.

In financial disclosures Flynn filled out earlier this year, he reported serving as an adviser between August 2015 and last December to one of the companies, identified as X-Co Dynamics/Iron Bridge Group.

X-Co Dynamics is a Virginia-based consulting firm headed by former U.S. Rear Admiral Michael Hewitt, whose board of retired military advisers included former National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander and former Marine Corps General James Hoss Cartwright, who was prosecuted last year for lying to the FBI in a leak investigation.

A representative for Hewitt reached by the AP on Monday afternoon said he was not available because he was traveling.

Flynn did not detail his work with X-Co Dynamics in the disclosure, but the Newsweek report alleged that Flynns trip to Israel and Egypt in the summer of 2015 was part of a private effort by the firm to advance the idea of a massive ring of atomic reactors that would be built by the U.S. nuclear industry and the Russian government and largely bankrolled by Saudi Arabia.

According to an internal memo obtained by Newsweek, the project was the brainchild of ACU Strategic Partners, a U.S. firm promoting the idea of a partnership between the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to build and operate 40 nuclear power reactors across the Middle East. Russia would have financial incentive to join the project, according to the ACU plan, because it would take the lead in building the plants and providing a burial ground for their waste.

ACU Strategic Partners managing director Alex Copson did not immediately respond to an email from the AP seeking comment.

Newsweek reported that Flynns role in the project, via X-Co Dynamics, was to design and put into play a vast security network for the entire enterprise. Flynns financial disclosure did not show any financial payment from X-Co Dynamics for his involvement.

Newsweek reported that the proposed deal was scuttled by the Obama administration. Saudi Arabia later signed a deal with Russias nuclear agency, Rosatom, to build 16 reactors.

(AP)
(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The usually media-shy Jared Kushner opened his mouth and spoke before cameras for his first public remarks since joining the Trump administration in January.

The remarks came as Jared welcomed tech CEOs to the White House on Monday, to talk efforts by the Trump administration to modernize government.

Today weve assembled a very impressive group of leaders from the private sector and are putting them to work here today to work on some of the countrys biggest challenges that will make a very meaningful difference to a lot of its citizens, Kushner, President Trumps son-in-law and a top White House adviser told the crowd, reading his remarks.

Apple CEO Tim Cook, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty and venture capitalist Peter Thiel were among those attending an afternoon of working groups on issues like technology infrastructure, cyber security and visas for foreign workers.

The gathering was the first event for a technology-focused effort within the White House Office of American Innovation, which seeks to overhaul government functions using ideas from the business sector.

Also on hand was Trumps daughter and Kushners wife, senior presidential adviser Ivanka Trump.

Kushner said that while he had been warned that government change could be slow, he has found exactly the opposite and praised the talented civil servants he is working with. He also cited some examples of the current technology infrastructure, noting the use of floppy discs in Pentagon legacy systems.

Despite 16 years of failed efforts, the Trump Administration got it done in 5 months, Kushner said of unifying VA and DOD records systems.

Some technology executives have clashed with Trump over his decision to exit the Paris climate accord. Leaders at Apple and Google were among the American corporate executives who appealed to the president to stay in the pact.

Chris Liddell, a White House aide who directs the technology effort, said the executives would participate in a series of working groups, concluding with a session with Trump.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration was focusing on technology this week. He said there was a lot of room for optimization in the federal government.

(Nat Golden  YWN)
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

The OneFamily hall in Jerusalem hosted a Sheva Brachot for Renana Meir, daughter of Dafna Meir HYD, and Or Cohen, who got married on Sunday, 23 Sivan. Family members were present, headed by Dafnas widower Nathan, Renanas father, who got remarried three weeks ago with Zohar Morgenstern.

Among the guests were representatives of bereaved families from all across Israel, including David Hatuel, whose four daughters and first wife Tali were murdered in a shooting terror attach in Kisufim in 2004, and Meir Pavlovsky from Kiryat Arba, who was badly wounded in a stabbing attack in Hebron a year and a half ago, and after recovering from his injury  against all odds  married his sweetheart, Katya. Today I found here a new home, warm and supportive, he said.

Several weeks ago, Renana visited her mothers kever and laid an invitation to the wedding next to the grave. She posted a photo of the tombstone with the invitation next to it and wrote: Take me far, teach me to shout like there is no tomorrow, promise me that nothing ever ends, that G-d stays. I was never afraid of the sea, but now every wave is intolerable. We have put an invitation on your grave and I beg that you arrive. I leave one hand for you on the way to the chupah, please come to hold it.

The Onefamily Organization that organized the Sheva Brachos is an organization for supporting and helping rebuild the lives of terror victims in Israel with a combination of emotional, psychological and financial support. Today, the organization support more than 3,550 families of wounded victims, bereaved families and trauma victims. After the terror attack in which Dafna Meir was murdered a year and a half ago, Renana joined the activity of One Family and is today a volunteer in the organization.

Chantal Belzberg, CEO of OneFamily, said: We are so proud to host the Sheva Brachos for Renana and Or. It has been a tremendous experience getting to know Renana over the past year of her national service at OneFamily, and its astounding to watch her grow into a married woman before our eyes. We have all learned so much from her, just watching how she lives her life. She make everyone feel comfortable, even when they feel they should be the ones comforting her.

She speaks about choosing life despite the challenges, and she truly lives the way she speaks. We have grown very close as all of us at OneFamily have been able to envelop her with love on a daily basis..

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Investigators were suspicious in 2006 when they heard that a rural Texas judge was trying to exchange $450,000 in consecutively marked bills.

But Tommy Tipton, a Fayette County magistrate, told the FBI that his actions were innocent, if odd: He won the Colorado lottery but couldnt tell his wife because gambling was against their Christian faith. The FBI accepted the story and dropped its inquiry of Tipton, who soon bought a new truck and more property around the town of Flatonia, 110 miles (180 kilometers) west of Houston.

A decade later, the inquiry stands out as a missed chance to stop a jackpot rigging scandal that would corrupt the $70 billion lottery industry for years while enriching a tiny group of insiders. The FBI didnt uncover one fact that its informant knew but didnt see as significant: that Tiptons brother, Eddie Tipton, was a lottery industry employee. In fact, hed built the machine that picked the winning combination for the Colorado Lotto game.

I didnt add two and two together, said the informant, Tom Bargas, owner of Mr. B Fireworks in Schulenburg, Texas. I dont think I mentioned it to the FBI. Had I, they probably would have been smart enough to know then. It was a missed opportunity. It should have been stopped immediately.

Bargas recalled a conversation months earlier in his warehouse in which someone joked to Eddie Tipton that he could use his job at the Multi-State Lottery Association in Urbandale, Iowa, to rig up the lottery.

He just laughed about it, Bargas told The Associated Press. We didnt realize that he was actually thinking about doing it or had done it already.

Eddie Tipton, 54, admitted in a plea agreement with multiple states this month that he long profited off his position at the association, which helps run dozens of lotteries. Investigators say he designed and installed code that allowed him to predict winning numbers drawn every May 27, Nov. 23, and Dec. 29 of non-leap years. He conspired with his younger brother, friend Robert Rhodes and others to buy and claim winning tickets in five states between 2005 and 2011.

The brothers have agreed to tell investigators the full extent of their involvement in jackpot-fixing under the deal, which requires they pay back $3 million. Prosecutors will seek 25 years in an Iowa prison for Eddie and 75 days in a Texas jail for Tommy, who worked as a sheriffs deputy before being elected Justice of the Peace in 2002, presiding over traffic enforcement, misdemeanors and some civil disputes.

Tommy Tiptons lawyers argued that the FBIs old inquiry should bar his current prosecution because the statute of limitations had expired. But Iowa prosecutor Rob Sand responded that the FBI had no reason to think the lottery might have been rigged.

Doing so would have seemed harebrained at the time, Sand wrote, adding that agents had no knowledge of Eddie Tiptons existence.

The FBIs Houston office, which oversaw the inquiry, declined to comment.

The scandal has roiled state lotteries, which have vowed to tighten their security and face lawsuits from players claiming they were cheated.

The $4.5 million Colorado jackpot in late 2005 is the first prize suspected of being fixed.

Three came forward with winning tickets: Alexander Hicks, a friend of Tommy Tiptons whom he recruited to claim the prize in exchange for 10 percent; Texas lawyer Thad Whisenant, representing a newly formed Nevada limited liability corporation called Cuestion de Suerte; and a Colorado resident.

Hicks and Whisenant both had manual play tickets in which buyers select their own numbers  a statistical longshot. The third winner had the far more common easy pick ticket generated by a machine. The lottery paid each. Hicks took the $568,900 cash option, returning 90 percent to Tommy Tipton.

Bargas recalled Tommy showing him large piles of freshly printed bills on Dec. 31, 2005, and asking him to swap the money for cash his business brought in from New Years fireworks sales. Bargas declined and reported the suspicious encounter to police, noting that Tommy Tipton wouldnt tell him where the money came from but insisted it was legit.

Suspecting money laundering, the FBI asked Bargas to go undercover. He recorded a conversation in which Tommy Tipton claimed he won the lottery while in Colorado hunting for Bigfoot, a longtime hobby. Tipton told Bargas he wanted to hide the money from his wife because they were headed toward divorce. Bargas believed him. The FBI closed the matter after interviewing Tommy Tipton, Hicks and the lottery.

Investigators now suspect Whisenant is linked to the scheme. They note he and Tommy Tipton both have financial ties to Fayette County attorney Luis Vallejo, who tried to deposit $250,000 cash into anonymous corporate bank accounts in 2006. Whisenant and Vallejo havent been charged. They didnt reply to phone messages seeking comment.

After Eddie Tipton was convicted of fraud in 2015 for buying the winning ticket for a $16.5 million Iowa jackpot, a tipster called investigators suggesting they revisit the jackpot his brother won a decade prior. Other rigged jackpots emerged. Tommy Tipton, who testified that his brother was innocent at the 2015 trial, resigned his judgeship and was charged.

Bargas called Tommy Tiptons plea deal  in which hell be allowed to maintain employment as a firearms instructor  too lenient.

Hes a crook, period, he said. Guys like him need to be punished.

(AP)
Today, Monday, 25 Sivan, a new bill will be submitted to the Knesset Secretariat requesting the revocation of citizenship from terrorists and the revocation of permanent residency from terrorists and their families. The bill is being promoted by Yisrael Beitenu chairman MK Robert Ilatov and Im Tirtzu.

The bill seeks to immediately revoke the residency status of terrorists and their families who murdered and injured Israelis in terrorist attacks. According to the bill, which was submitted for the first time by MK David Rotem and received the support of the Minister of Defense, Mr. Avigdor Lieberman, anyone who was involved in carrying out hostile terrorist activity either indirectly or directly, his and his familys residency rights or any type of visa to live and work in Israel would be canceled.

Recently, there have been many cases in which Israeli citizens, including residents of the eastern capital were involved in terrorist attacks against citizens and residents of the state. In many cases, these terrorists held blue identity cards, allowing them to stay and move throughout the country.

The bill is being resubmitted to the Knesset Secretariat following the murder of Border Police officer Hadas Malka HYD on Friday night at Shar Shechem in Jerusalem. The proposed amendments will enable the Minister of Interior to automatically deny the terrorists and their family members the permanent residency permit in Israel. This is legally required in the wake of dozens of petitions filed in recent years seeking to stop the efforts to revoke residency status from terrorists. In addition, the bill is also necessary in terms of security, in order to limit the stay of terrorists and their families in Israel and the possibility of their movement in Israel.

However, before taking measures to revoke a permanent residence permit in Israel, the Minister of the Interior will allow the licensee or his family member to prove that he had no direct or indirect involvement in the crime and thereby prevent the decree of revocation.

Revocation of the aforesaid license will also necessarily lead to the revocation of rights under the National Insurance Law (Bituach Leumi), such as survivors allowances, burial fees, etc., since it makes no sense for the state to support them. Todays reality allows terrorists and their families to enjoy all the social and other benefits that they deserve as Israeli citizens. The addition of clauses as proposed in the law to the section on revoking the Israeli citizenship of terrorists who have been convicted of terrorist acts on a nationalistic background will serve as a proper punishment against those who oppose the existence of the state and do everything to harm it and its citizens.

Chairman of the Yisrael Beitenu faction, MK Robert Ilatov, submitted the bill saying: We will no longer allow the absurd situation. On the one hand, terrorists and terrorist collaborators holding a blue ID card will enjoy all the rights and benefits that come to the citizens of Israel. The bill is intended to convey a clear message: anyone who tries to harm the State of Israel will not be part of it.

If there is an extreme situation in which a terrorist knows that it is more profitable to kill an Israeli than to steal his car, Matan Peleg, director general of the Im Tirtzu movement, whose movement was a partner in promoting the bill, said: In prison, Israeli murderers enjoy far-reaching and far-reaching conditions compared to criminal offenders, in addition to the huge salaries the terrorists receive from the Palestinian Authority.

The absurdity does not end here, since with the murder the members of the terrorist family receive a royal honor and their status is immeasurably improved for those who have not chosen the path of terror. This dangerous absurdity must be stopped. The immediate revocation of residency status from all members of the terrorists family is a necessary step in the fight against terrorism. If the law passes, every terrorist knows full well that while he harms an Israeli, he denies the rights of his children and his family with his own hands, and therefore he will think twice. This is the only way to create real deterrence.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
On Monday morning 25 Sivan, a special additional session of the Knesset Foreign Affairs & Defense Committee was held to address the planned closure of Yeshivat Ohr Etzion, the nations only yeshiva military academy. After Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman announced the planned closure, graduates of the yeshiva launched a campaign to save the school.

The decision to shut the yeshiva aroused great criticism in dati leumi community against the decision of the defense minister and the Defense Ministry. The committee was attended by Deputy Head of the IDF Personnel Directorate Meirav Kirchner and representatives of the Ministry of Defense, at the end of which the representatives of the Ministry of Defense undertook to re-examine the matter.

Members of the committee, including committee chair Avi Dichter and Knesset members Moti Yogev and Knesset Member Shuli Muallem, attacked the Defense Ministrys representatives for the imbalance between the decision to close the religious school and leave the secular boarding military school open.

MK Moti Yogev, a member of the committee, said: No one has properly examined the data, no one has sat to examine how it is possible to streamline it instead of closing it, the data presented by the Defense Ministry is shameful, and this committee is accustomed to practical and apolitical committees.

This was the case in the IDF budget, and so it was on a variety of issues, but it is inconceivable that the IDF appears on the committee with distorted data, without thinking and without alternatives. The IDF is always endowed with creativity, where is all this gone? The defense establishment must not do such a serious job, its just sad. Yogev said, We are educating for dedication and mission, and this is the goal of the boarding school. We must turn the decision upside down, for the benefit of the State of Israel.

Rabbi Chaim Druckman added, Im just amazed at the fact that in the State of Israel after 70 years, its not pleasant to say, they want to discriminate against the religious youth. What is happening here, I do not understand. They fired an arrow and then they mark the goal. This is an unjust decision, and this is an unjust injustice, what is happening here? You yourself, the Defense Ministry, know that this is an injustice, and you wanted to close both of them but the matter is political as you are only closing the religious one.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Chief Rabbinate sharply attacked the Kosel arrangement and claimed that the governments decision to partition the Kosel is not valid. This is what emerged Monday 25 Sivan from a letter sent by Rabbi David Laus senior assistant to the legal adviser of the Chief Rabbinate, attorney Harel Goldberg.

According to the letter, the position of the Chief Rabbinate is that the issue of the Kosel is not justiciable, but rather a clear religious issue, in which the court has no means to decide. According to them, nobody has the authority to plan changes that have religious-halachic implications at the Kosel without consulting the Chief Rabbis and not in accordance with their recommendations.

It was reported on Sunday that the heads of the chareidi parties submitted a compromise proposal to the prime minister according to which the outline for the Kosel would be canceled, but an egalitarian prayer area would nevertheless be allocated, at Robinsons Arch near the Kosel.

The compromise was formulated by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, Health Minister Yaakov Litzman and Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafni, in cooperation with the Kosel Rav Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz. However, a letter from Rabbi Laus senior assistant indicates that the rabbinate is unwilling to accept any compromise.

The Kosel is not limited only to the northern square, the letter emphasized. The kedusha of the Kosel of Har Habayis applies throughout the entire length of the Kosel, including the Southern Prayer Plaza, which is mentioned in the government decision.

Rabbi Laus assistant asked Attorney Goldberg to act for the Chief Rabbinates independent representation before the High Court of Justice and to waive the representation of Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, wishing to represent itself.

With all due respect, writes Rabbi Raphael Frank, the Attorney General is not authorized to consider the position of the Chief Rabbinate, the Chief Rabbinate is the authorized body in the state to decide halachic religious issues, and therefore the Attorney General must authorize the Rabbinate to properly represent itself.

The Rabbinate believes that the Chief Rabbinate is the supreme halachic authority in the country and that the conduct of the Reform and Conservative movements in the area in question, which they claim is incompatible with Jewish law, only provokes strong opposition among the public.

According to Rabbi Frank, the mixed prayers and the many ceremonies of the Reform Movement harm the feelings of the vast majority of mispallalim at the Kosel, provoke strife and controversy, and violate the rights of most of the public and leads to halachic problems, and therefore, prevents most of the tzibur from exercising freedom of religion at the Kosel.

The letter also addresses Women of the Wall (WoW), citing It is clear beyond any shadow of the doubt that tefilos of WoW leads to rioting, violates public order, harms public domain and leads to desecration of the holy site. It is clear they these ceremonies should not be permitted at the Kosel.

The Rabbinate adds WoW is uninterested in tefilos, but advancing its feminist agenda in halacha and religious society. The letter continues The goal is not to daven but to demonstration and cause rioting.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A van plowed into Muslim worshippers leaving evening prayers at a London mosque early Monday, just one of a string of attacks in Britain in recent weeks and years. Here are some of the major ones:

 June 3, 2017: Three Islamic extremists ram a van into pedestrians on London Bridge, then stab people at bars and restaurants in Borough Market before being shot to death by police. In addition to the attackers, seven people are killed and dozens of others wounded.

 May 22, 2017: A British-born suicide bomber who returned from Libya days earlier kills 22 people and injures dozens during an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena in northern England.

 March 22, 2017: A man drives his rented SUV into pedestrians at Londons Westminster Bridge, killing four people, then stabs a police officer to death before officers shoot and kill him. Police believe the rampage is inspired by Muslim extremist ideology.

 June 16, 2016: Lawmaker Jo Cox is stabbed to death in the area of northern England she represented by a man with white supremacist views who shouts Britain First as he attacks her. The attack comes just days before Britain votes to leave the European Union. Cox had campaigned for the country to remain in the EU.

 May 22, 2013: Two al-Qaida-inspired extremists run down British soldier Lee Rigby in a London street, then stab and hack him to death.

(AP)
Spencer Black: Russia is only the tip of iceberg of Trump scandals
The mother of one of the terrorists in Fridays coordinated stabbing and shooting attack is proud of her son, and actually wishes he had killed more innocent Israelis.

We will meet in heaven. Im proud. I wanted him to kill 20, 50, 100 of them, she said. Transcripts of the TV interview were provided by Ambassador Dani Dayan, Israels envoy to New York.

Border Police officer Hadas Malka HYD was killed, and four others injured, when three terrorists carried out a coordinated stabbing and shooting attack Friday evening at Shaar Shechem, outside Jerusalems Old City.

ISIS and Hamas claimed the attack, but the IDF refuted both claims.




Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria as a precaution, after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week and Russia warned the U.S.-led coalition from flying over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.

The announcement from Canberra came as a brief, two-day truce collapsed in the southern Syrian city of Daraa and nearby areas where government forces have gained ground.

Australia is part of a U.S.-led coalition that has been waging war against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. military shot down the Syrian warplane on Sunday, saying it had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the IS extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa. That led Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, to warn that it would target U.S.-led coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Iran  another close Assad ally  fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Irans Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

With the skies over Syria growing increasingly crowded, a statement from the Australian Defense Department released in the capital, Canberra, said that Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

On Monday, a day after the downing of the Syrian plane, Russia threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the downing.

A spokesman for Irans Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to local sources and drone films.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Irans military power, though Iran has no intention of starting another war.

The remarks came amid questions whether the strike had been effective. It was not known what exactly was hit and Iran has provided no details. Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

In the Syrian capital, Damascus, rebels fired artillery shells from the suburbs into the city, wounding at least three people, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the eastern neighborhood of Jobar was struck on Tuesday by 12 airstrikes, adding that government forces are trying to push into the area.

Fighting and bombardment also resumed early Tuesday in the contested city of Daraa and nearby areas where a 48-hour truce went into effect on Saturday. The truce was meant to be extended but now appears to have collapsed.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The situation is back as it was in Daraa city and fighting is ongoing, said Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh. The regime made the truce and then violated it.

The Observatory also reported that government troops had captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where Syrias crisis first broke out in March 2011 as an uprising against Assads government. The crisis quickly became a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by the Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assads troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.

(AP)
US Special Mideast Envoy Jason Greenblatt was menachem aveil the family of border policewoman 23-year-old Hadas Malka HYD, who fell in the line of duty during the Friday night multi-pronged terror attack near Shar Shechem.

Greenblatt offered condolences from the Trump administration, highlighting President Trumps vision of a region void of threats of terrorism and extremism.

Border police responded to the attack which was perpetrated by three terrorists from the PA (Palestinian Authority), armed with knives and guns. While all three were killed, she was fatally wounded in the attack.

Today I paid a shiva call to family of Hadas Malka. She was murdered by terrorists. This violence is intolerable! pic.twitter.com/9IgSPq2LB2  Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) June 19, 2017

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
(PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Magen David Adom Ayalon District dispatch received the call for a vehicular accident on Highway 443 near the Maccabim Checkpoint at 9:27AM on Tuesday morning, 26 Sivan. The accident was a fatal one, claiming the life of the driver of a motorcycle who broadsided a tractor trailer.

When the first paramedics and EMTs arrived on the scene, they found an approximately 45-year-old male in traumatic cardiac arrest. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene following failed resuscitation efforts by MDA and IDF medical personnel.

The motorcycle driver was identified as prominent attorney Elkana Bishitz zl, 41, a resident of Bnei Brak with close ties to the chareidi community. He was raised in a chareidi home and maintained strong ties with the tzibur, particularly with askanim in the Gerre community.

I came to take care of the body of the deceased. I picked up the cover and discovered to my great surprise that this was an old acquaintance of mine, a well-known attorney says Central District Zaka Operations Officer Berela Yakobovitz. I have treated hundreds and thousands of bodies over the years, but in the case, I treated a person with whom I met only last night. It is chilling he concluded.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Chareidi faction leaders in Knesset; Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, Interior Minister Aryeh Deri and Knesset Finance Committee Chairman MK Moshe Gafne held a phone meeting on Monday evening with Chief Rabbis of Israel Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita and Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita. On the agenda was ongoing efforts to secure a deal that will ensure the Kosel area will remain in control of religious authorities exclusively. The Chief Rabbis oppose permitting Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to delay a decision, insisting the chareidi parties must demand the cancelation of the outline contained in the infamous cabinet decision that permits an egalitarian prayer area at nearby Robinsons Arch.

Deri and Litzman called on Gafne to deliver the message  that there will be no compromise. Later Monday evening, Gafne did just that, informing officials in the Prime Ministers Bureau that the deal permitting the egalitarian prayer area must be canceled and on this, there would be no compromise.

Gafne sent the message that the decision is final and there is no room for discussion. The leaders of the chareidi parties have threatened this is a deal-breaker and failure to comply, would lead to a coalition crisis.

The original cabinet decision was approved by the chareidim too, who at the time felt it was the least evil of options available as they were certain that if they do not permit the egalitarian prayer area at Robinsons Arch, the case would come before the High Court of Justice, which RL would permit egalitarian prayer at the Kosel itself. Hence their support.

However, the widespread outcry led to todays reality demanding the cancelation of the cabinet decision.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A mentally disturbed man who threatened rabbonim in Holon tried to actualize his threat on Monday, 25 Sivan. He tried to harm Rabbi Yosef Shashua, a neighborhood rav in Holon and a principal of a local school.

The would-be assailant arrived at the school but did not find the rav, finding his son instead. He began to engage him, confronting him and then attacking him with a knife. Bchasdei Hashem he was only scratched, spared from serious injuries despite the fact a knife was held to his throat. The attacker fled the scene. Police are continuing the search for him.

Other rabbonim under threat from the same individual include but not limited to Rosh Yeshivat HaMekubalim Nahar Shalom Rabbi Binayahu Shmueli. The yeshiva is located in the Nachlaot area of Yerushalayim. Also threatened are Rabbi Chaim Rebi, Rabbi Eliyahu Shmueli and Rabbi Yosef Shashua.

The suspects ex-wife explained to police that he spoke of harming the rabbis before they split, adding her former husband believes the rabbis are from the

seed of Amalek.

It is reported Rabbi Binayahu is planned to take part in an event in Bat Yam on Tuesday night 26 Sivan, which would place him closer to Holon. Some of his talmidim explain they have established around-the-clock protection for the rav.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Bringing the Aramco initial public offering to London would be a coup for post-referendum Britain.

It would underpin the role of the London Stock Exchange as one of the deepest markets for natural resources stocks, and strengthen the City as the best place in Europe for global investment banks to pursue initial public offerings and M&A.

There is concern on Downing Street and among bankers that if the UK is not careful this is an opportunity for the Square Mile that could be lost.

Doubts rightly have been raised about the initial $2 trillion valuation, which Saudi Arabia placed on the group.

Trade mission: Prime Minister Theresa May pitched the benefits of the London Stock Exchange during a trip to Saudi Arabia in April (pictured)

The FT argues a more realistic valuation could be $880billion to $1.1 trillion when the legal and financial risks, such as cross-subsidies to other parts of the Saudi administration, have been sorted.

Needless to say, as with all privatisations, polishing the accounts and assessing legal risks is a nightmare. This is especially true in a society not given to openness.

What cannot be doubted is the scale of the oil sector in Saudi Arabia. According to CIA data some 87 per cent of Saudi Arabia's budget is provided by oil revenues, the sector accounts for 42 per cent of GDP and the country has the largest oil reserves in the world estimated at 269bn barrels in 2016.

So the importance of Aramco, whatever the accounting niceties, is irrefutable.

The other purported obstacle to a London-float of between 5 per cent or more of Aramco are listing rules as run by the LSE and enforced by the Financial Conduct Authority.

At present companies seeking a 'premium' listing are expected to offer at least 25 per cent of their shares. This is intended to protect investors, including index funds, from ownership that may be less than scrupulous.

The two names most often mentioned in this regard are natural resources group ENRC, which was floated in London in 2006 only to crash out of the FTSE nine years later amid allegations of wrong-doing, and the Indonesian coal mining concern Bumi, which had its own difficulties with investors.

The idea that these two outliers are relevant to the company controlling the world's largest oil reserves is barmy.

It should not be beyond the skills of LSE chief executive Xavier Rolet and regulators to come up with a safe derogation of listing rules which would make even a 5pc stake in Aramco a top FTSE 100 company.

Britain has been given the nod that it is the preferred location for an IPO, probably with a parallel quote in Riyadh.

Clearly, the authorities have a duty to ensure that the quoted enterprise conforms to the very best of UK governance standards with a strong board, independent chair and senior non-executive and an audit by a top four firm, or firms.

No one wants a New York 'Snap'-style float where minority investors have no say. But having almost landed this large fish, it would be witless if the City threw it back in the water.

Hanging on

The departure of John Griffith-Jones as chairman of the FCA cannot come too soon.

The surprise is that he has been allowed to hang on to office at the City regulator until March 2018. That is an act of kindness which does no one a service.

As former chairman and senior partner at audit firm KPMG, Griffith-Jones was in charge during some of the most egregious errors in modern accounting history.

KPMG is under investigation by the Financial Reporting Council for its work on HBOS in the year to December 31, 2007.

The firm's audit of Rolls-Royce accounts between 2010-2013 is being probed and it was heavily criticised for work on the Co-op Bank merger with the Britannia.

It is extraordinary that with so much of KPMG's work under scrutiny that Griffith-Jones has felt it possible to remain in a post which requires an unblemished record.

He should have gone ages ago.

Out of office

When it comes to creating businesses and wealth, Travelex founder Lloyd Dorfman looks to have the Midas touch.

His recognition that the digital economy needs different, flexible workspace led to the rise of the The Office Group, which operates 36 buildings across London and includes AOL and Dropbox among its users.

Dorfman is selling a majority interest in TOG to private equity giant Blackstone, valuing the company at 500million and his personal stake at around 200million.

Nice work.
An 11billion mega-merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management has been overwhelmingly backed by investors.

The deal will create one of Britain's biggest investment houses  and trigger fees of nearly 100million for bankers, lawyers and spin doctors.

It will also allow the firms to save around 200million through cutbacks, including axing 800 jobs or 9 per cent of their total workforce.

Smooth sailing: The 11bn Standard Life and Aberdeen merger has been overwhelmingly backed by investors

Controversially, the business will be run by joint chief executives so that Standard Life boss Keith Skeoch and Aberdeen head Martin Gilbert can both stay on.

More than 95 per cent of voting Aberdeen shareholders backed the deal yesterday and nearly 99 per cent of Standard Life voters threw their weight behind it, paving the way for completion by August 14.

Aberdeen chairman Simon Troughton said the deal 'is an important step towards realising the company's ambition of creating a world-class investment business with a truly global footprint'.

Standard Life chairman Sir Gerry Grimstone said: 'Our new combined company will continue to put our customers and clients across the world at the centre of everything we do.'
RACINE COUNTY  At least three communities in Racine County are reviewing their sex offender residency ordinances after a federal judge found that similar rules in Pleasant Prairie were unconstitutional.

In recent weeks, the villages of Caledonia and Waterford, and the Town Yorkville have discussed tweaking their ordinances in the wake of the ruling, and pending legal challenges in other municipalities, including the City of Milwaukee.

Caledonia Village Trustee Kevin Wanggaard, who serves as the chairman of the villages Legislative and Licensing Committee, said examining their ordinance makes sense in light of the recent ruling.

We try to get out in front of these things, Wanggaard said. Its about making sure our citizens are safe, and making sure we are doing what we need to do to be lawful.

Civil rights

At issue with the ordinances under review are buffer zones that limit where registered sex offenders can live. Pleasant Prairies ordinance originally banned any sex offender from living within 3,000 feet of a school, park, day care or other area where children congregate. Also under review are original domicile restrictions that ban sex offenders from moving to a municipality if they didnt live there when their crime was committed.

U.S. District Judge J. P. Stadtmueller ruled in April that such restrictions in Pleasant Prairie essentially banished sex offenders without providing clear evidence that the restrictions would protect their citizenry.

The village failed to provide the court with any proof that a sex offender living in the village when his or her crime took place posed any less danger than an offender who lived elsewhere at the time of their crime, Stadtmueller found.

The bare  desire to harm a politically unpopular group cannot constitute a legitimate governmental interest, wrote Stadtmueller in his decision, citing case law.

The original domicile provision violated the constitutions ex post facto clause, because it made the punishment imposed for offenses committed before the ordinance was enacted more burdensome, Stadtmueller said.

Buffer zones

Pleasant Prairies large buffer zones also violated sex offenders civil rights, Stadtmueller wrote.

The 3,000-feet buffer zone in place in Pleasant Prairie at the time the village was sued made 90 percent of the village off-limits to sex offenders, the court found. Even after the village changed the buffer zone to 1,500 feet in September, the ordinance still cut offenders out of 60 percent of the villages land area and 75 percent of its residences.

Since the courts ruling, at least two southeastern Wisconsin communities have made moves to reduce the size of their buffer zones, sometimes called child protection zones. Last month, a Kenosha committee recommended the city reduce its buffer zones from 2,500 to 1,000 feet from a protected location. And in the City of Waukesha, a committee recently recommended the city reduce its buffer zones from 1,500 to 750 feet.

Waterford leaders are looking at everything in the villages sex offender ordinance that could be construed as unconstitutional. Modeled after Milwaukees ordinance, which is now being challenged in court, Waterfords law bans sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a protected location.

I think it is important for us to go back and look at our ordinance. I want to bring back a revised ordinance that changes some of the provisions that have been called unconstitutional, Village Attorney Marcia Hasenstab recently told the Village Board.

An adjustment to buffer zones could also be on the table in Caledonia and Waterford.

Under Caledonias current ordinance, sex offenders who were not living in Caledonia at the time their offense are banned from living within 2,500 feet of a protected area. In Yorkville, the buffer zone is 1,500 feet.

Appeals process

Aside from reviewing buffer zones and original domicile language, leaders in Caledonia and Yorkville are also looking at the addition of an appeals process that would allow sex offenders to seek special permission to live in areas that would normally be off-limit.

In Yorkville, which was recently sued by a Kenosha sex offender over its original domicile restriction, Town Chairman Peter Hansen said town officials are looking at adding a waiver opportunity that would allow a sex offender to go to a committee to have their case reviewed.

The City of Racine, which passed its sex offender residency ordinance in April 2013, has used such a process successfully for more than four years. Since then the citys Sex Offender Residency Appeals Board has fielded 108 appeals  10 of which have been denied, and five that have yet to be heard. In that time, no registered sex offender has formally complained about the process, which was modeled after Green Bays ordinance, said Stacey Salvo, a paralegal in the Racine City Attorneys Office.

In Caledonia, Wanggaard said his committee should start reviewing possible changes to the ordinance as early as next month.

With any ordinance of this nature you are always doing adjustments as time goes on ... It is always good to look at everything we are doing, Wanggaard said.
Membership of co-operatives has increased by 700,000 over the past year

CO-OP GROWTH Membership of co-operatives has increased by 700,000 over the past year, bringing the total to 13.6m, figures show.

There are more than 6,800 independent co-operatives, with the membership surge driven by the Co-op Group as well as community-owned businesses and credit unions.

FOOD FLOAT Online food delivery firm Delivery Hero hopes to raise 814.3million in its initial public offering. The firm is selling up to 39m shares priced between 1930p to 2230p per share.

STOCK SOLD Indian industrial giant Tata Steel rose by more than 3 per cent after selling more than 8m shares in sister firm Tata Motors.

It will sell the shares to fellow Tata Group member Tata Sons.

COSMETIC DEAL Beauty firm Sinclair Pharma has bought the global distribution rights to the Refine Support System, a new type of breast-lifting technology used in breast cosmetic and reconstructive procedures, for 8.8million.

SHARE PLACING Gas and electricity minor Flowgroup has raised more than 25million in a share placing. It will use it to pay off debt and invest in new business with the goal of becoming a mid-tier energy supplier.

CASH REJECTED Card payments have more than doubled in the past ten years as the public moves away from cash, a study by The UK Cards Association shows.

It said 16.4billion purchases were made by cards last year  a jump from 6.7billion in 2006.

SAVERS SERVICE Bank Investec has launched an online service for savers with at least 10,000.

The Click & Invest system will allow customers to sign up for financial advice and put their cash into a portfolio within around 15 minutes.

DEBT FEAR More than 25 per cent of adults are worried they could struggle to keep up debt repayments, a survey by tech firm TDX Group says.

SALES BOSS Asset manager Legg Mason has appointed Alexander Barry from JP Morgan as head of UK sales.

BANK STAKE Small bank Aldermore has bought a 48 per cent stake in privately-owned commercial finance broker AFS Group Holdings.

CARE DEAL British social care provider CareTech Holdings has snapped up Selborne, a service for adults with learning disabilities, for 17million.
For sale: The Co-op Bank was put on the market earlier this year

The struggling Co-op Bank is close to securing a 700million investment from US hedge funds.

Bosses are battling to keep the lender afloat amid speculation the Bank of England could wind it up.

The Co-op Bank was put on the market earlier this year but despite interest from rivals such as Virgin Money, no offers have been made.

It is thought likely the US hedge funds, which own 80 per cent of the lender, will stump up the cash to save it.

However, there are concerns over a 10billion pension pot it shares with the Co-op Group.

The hedge funds said they will pump 200million into this scheme, but the group is thought to be holding out for more.
Airbus will fight off flagging sales of its super-jumbo jet  by adding even more seats to the giant of the skies.

The plane maker has unveiled the A380plus, a more fuel-efficient version of its A380 jet, in order to entice carriers back to jumbo jets.

Airbus said the A380plus will feature a fuel-saving wing-tip design aimed at reducing fuel burn by up to 4 per cent  making it cheaper and more efficient.

It claimed it will also allow for up to 80 extra seats, with no compromise on comfort. The jet can currently have more than 800 seats, or 525 with a typical three-class configuration.

Flagging sales: Airbus has unveiled the A380plus, a more fuel-efficient version of its A380 jet, in order to entice carriers back to jumbo jets

It is the latest series of modifications to the jet announced this year  including stairways and an updated cabin rest area  and comes amid fears for the future of the super-jumbo, which has suffered from flagging sales.

Earlier this month Airbus reduced its forecast for the A380 by 6 per cent to 1,184 orders and the firm is reportedly considering lowering production rates for the A380 to below one-a-month from 2018 if it fails to secure orders this year.

Carriers have been turning to smaller twin-engine jets that cost less to fly and maintain in order to pass cheaper fares onto customers.

Rival Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, for example, has proven popular among budget long-haul carriers like Norwegian, which offers fares for a fraction of what traditional airlines charge.

The move has sparked a boom in low-cost travel, with Air France planning to launch its own low-cost brand Boost this autumn.

British legacy carriers have also been forced to adapt to the increasingly competitive pricing market, with BA owner IAG launching its own budget long-haul airline Level earlier this year.

GIANT OF THE SKIES The 400m Airbus A380 typically carries 525 passengers sat on two decks

It can carry 70,390 gallons of fuel, the same as six tanker trucks

It weighs 589 tons  as much as 18 Sherman tanks

Each plane has more than 310 miles of wiring

The aircraft is twice as long as a blue whale at 240 feet

First-class customers get their own cabin on Singapore Airlines A380s

Airbus's announcement came as Boeing announced the launch of its 737 short-haul jet at the Paris Air Show yesterday.

The plane, a longer version of its 737 short-haul jet, is tipped to be a challenger to Airbus's A321neo.

Boeing said it had received more than 240 orders for the narrow-bodied plane, which can carry up to 230 passengers, and commitments from at least ten customers.

Airbus's A321neo can carry 240. Meanwhile budget airline Monarch announced it had ordered an extra 15 Boeing 737 Max 8s as part of an upgrade of its fleet.

The planes, valued at around 1.3billion each, will increase the airline's fleet from 30 to 45.

Monarch, which owns some Airbus planes, said it plans to have an all-Boeing fleet by 2022.

Andrew Swaffield, chief executive, said: 'This is a momentous day for our business. The highly fuel-efficient fleet will also help Monarch reduce its environmental impact and add 100million-a-year to our bottom line from lower fuel and servicing costs.

'Furthermore, Boeing's willingness to partner with us to grow our maintenance and repair business is a tremendous endorsement of Monarch's expertise and experience in this area.'
British outsourcing firm Serco has won a 1.5billion contract to run Australia's largest prison for 20 years.

The group will manage the New Grafton Correctional Centre in New South Wales once it is built in 2020.

Serco shares soared 3 per cent to 122.4p as traders welcomed the firm's biggest ever deal.

The group will manage the New Grafton Correctional Centre (pictured is an artist's impression) in New South Wales once it is built in 2020

The prison will include a 1,000-bed male maximum security facility, a 300-bed female maximum security facility, and a 400-bed male minimum security facility.

Serco is part of the NorthernPathways consortium which will design, build and operate the prison for the New South Wales government.

The firm already manages jails in New Zealand, Australia and the UK including HMP Doncaster and HMP Thameside. This will be the firm's first facility to house women.

Rupert Soames, group chief executive of Serco, said: 'The contract award for NGCC clearly marks a further important expansion of our international justice business and by total contract value it also represents Serco's largest ever contract.'

It is welcome rest bite for Serco which is still recovering from a string of profit warnings in the wake of a prisoner tagging scandal in 2013.

The firm agreed to repay 68.5million to the British taxpayer after claims that together with rival company G4S it over-charged for tagging tens of thousands of criminals, including those who had left the country, been returned to prison or even died.

It was also hit by rising costs on a deal to provide accommodation to UK asylum seekers.

The prison will include a 1,000-bed male maximum security facility, a 300-bed female maximum security facility, and a 400-bed male minimum security facility

Joe Brent, analyst at Liberum, said the deal had been 'one of the elephants that Serco had targeted'.

But he added: 'It has been a slow period of contract-winning so far this year and the contract only starts in 2020.'

FTSE 250 company Serco, based in Hook, Hampshire, operates public and private transport and traffic control, aviation, military weapons, detention centres, call centres, prisons and schools on behalf of its customers.
MANZINI  The request for a post-mortem report by Almor Oliveiras alleged kidnapping suspects has been labelled disrespectful to the Swazi nation by the police.



Main suspect, Qing Ming He had recently asked that the Crown provide his legal team with a post-mortem report proving the kidnapped businessman was indeed dead after he was slapped with a count of murder.



The police wondered whether Ming He was denying the occurrence of the kidnapping by asking the crown to further inform the court who the complainant was, and if that was so, why was he looking for the complainant in the first place and how would this assist in the matter?



In an emotional statement, the police submitted that Ming Hes request was shameful and disrespectful and was also making a mockery of the painful situation surrounding Oliveiras disappearance. The police said Ming He should point out where the body was in order to enable the crown to provide such a document.



In fact, it is unethical on the part of the suspects legal team because even if this was in accordance with their instruction, they should have advised him about this since he is not Swazi. He may not appreciate some issues which may be insulting to Swazi people, submitted the police.



The police advised that the request should be strongly condemned by the court because the suspects legal team knew very well that the body of the victim had not been found to conduct or examine it.


LOBAMBA  The country has been plunged into further debt by Members of Parliament (MPs).



This is after the MPs yesterday approved four other loans of about E662 million. The loans accompany another of E202 million which was approved by the legislators towards the construction of the National Referral Hospital Project, which is expected to be at Elangeni in Lobamba.



The latest loans according to Minister of Finance Martin Dlamini who motivated them, would amount to US$51 million. This means that within two weeks, the country has borrowed about E1.9 billion after it borrowed about E1.2 billion for the construction of a five star hotel and the balance being for the referral hospital and LUSIP II Project. LUSIP is the Lower Usuthu Smallholder Irrigation Project.

The minister informed the MPs that the countrys Domestic debt now stood at E5.7 billion while the External Debt now stood at E4.4 billion, which totalled E10.1 billion.



Dlamini allayed fears by MPs that the manner in which the country was borrowing would land the kingdom in a similar situation as Greece as the legislators said they were alarmed by the rate at which the country was borrowing. We have never defaulted and we cannot be like Greece because we prioritise paying our external debts and paying salaries, said Dlamini.



The minister said the country would only be in trouble if the percentage would reach 35 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but it currently stands at around 18 per cent. However, several MPs had reservations about the non-seemingly ending loans.



Lugongolweni MP Joseph Souza said he was particularly disturbed that there was going to be another referral hospital when government had failed to complete the Lubombo Referral Hospital. He said government was also failing to even pay local suppliers yet it was going for more loans.
MANZINI  The new judgment on boMakhwapheni might not change the way royal kraals deal with adulterers.



Chief Lusendvo Fakudze shared a brief lesson on how things are done in the Swazi custom. He said this was normally practised when the couple who found themselves at the centre of an adulterous relationship were married through Swazi Law and Custom. Fakudze explained that according to the Swazi custom, when a person reports his or her spouse to the royal kraal for adultery, all parties were summoned.



He said if it was discovered that indeed the two were involved in an adulterous relationship, the man is required to pay 10 cattle as a fine and the womans family was expected to give up one cow from their herd. The woman is further sent back to her parental home to be advised by her family. Fakudze explained that this custom was called kugeza emacansi.



However, if the two were married through civil rights, they normally opt for courts, and when a matter has been sent to court, we have no power over who pays a fine and who doesnt, he said.



Fakudze explained that if the two were married through civil rights but still wanted the matter to be tested at the royal kraal, the decision would be made by either party with the help of their lawyer. He said the lawyer also had the power to advise that the matter be taken to the royal kraal.



We have also found that when a man has been found to have cheated, the woman will quickly opt for divorce and when they have gone that route, it becomes impossible for the royal kraal to interfere. However, the new judgment will not change how adulterous are persecuted in the royal kraal. If one comes to report their husband or wife at the umphakatsi, the matter will be dealt with as it always has in the royal kraal, he added.
Between them, the couple that recently opened Ogden's North Street Diner have 46 years of restaurant experience.

Cari Scott and Will Tracy opened their breakfast and lunch spot May 6, and it wasn't long before they had a wait list to get in. Part of that is because Ogden's only has 12 tables, or seating for 35, including four seats at a counter.

"So once we're full, we're full," Scott said. "We've been really lucky. The neighborhood has really embraced us. They started coming in right away. They had been watching the progress and were really looking forward to it, so that's nice."

The building at 560 North St., is kitty-corner from the Tip Top Tavern. It had been a two-bedroom apartment, so Scott and Tracy had to gut it and do a complete remodel.

"It's basically brand new other than the cinder-block walls," said Scott, who, with her parents, painted the wood paneling inside and whitewashed the pine for the inlaid ceiling.

Scott has worked at Lazy Jane's Cafe and Bakery, 1358 Williamson St., since 2004, and is still the cafe's general manager. Scott also worked for Lazy Jane's owner Jane Capito in the 1990s, when Capito owned Botticelli's. In fact, Scott met her husband working there. Tracy, meanwhile, was the kitchen manager at Lazy Jane's until he left to open Ogden's.

Both have worked at Mickey's Tavern and the former Wilson Street Grill. Scott has also worked at the Original Pancake House.

Tracy has always wanted to have his own small restaurant and he and Scott had long had their eye on the little, brick building at the corner of Commercial Avenue and North Street.

Capito was encouraging, telling them to write the owner a letter saying they were interested in the building. But, about three days later, before they had the chance, the property came up for sale, Scott said.

Scott and Tracy weren't in the position to move on it, so Capito helped them by buying it and selling it to them on a land contract. They took a couple of years to pay her off and then opened the place.

"We wouldn't have been able to do it without her. She was really helpful," Scott said about the woman whom she considers a second mother.

Ogden's is named after the couple's dog and the restaurant's logo looks just like him, Scott said. "He's a handsome boy."

People have been raving most about the restaurant's pancakes, many saying they are the best they've tasted, she said.

There's also a lot of love for the diner's single-serving pies. The flavors change daily, but it's usually apple, cherry or blackberry.

The recipe comes from Tracy's mother, a baker who won a blue ribbon for her pie crust at the Merced County Fair in California's Central Valley, where she lives.

Ogden's serves breakfast from open to close, and is closed on Tuesdays.

"We've lived in this neighborhood a long time and we opened this place as sort of an investment in this neighborhood," Scott said. "We felt like it was an underserved area for a while and we just want to be a nice community spot for our neighbors to come in and enjoy and get good service and good food."
Pa. Dems could flip the House of Reps. Here's what that might mean.
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Class rank at Guilderland High School isn't published until the last half of senior year, but students know well before then whose names will top the list.

By the end of junior year, many high-achieving students have already calculated their grade point averages and compared notes with their peers. They know, down to the tenth and sometimes hundredth of a point, where they stand compared to their peers and who they can edge out on their race to the top.

"When you're that obsessed with points, it's hard to really learn or appreciate learning for learning's sake," said Jonah Goldstein, a 17-year-old junior at the high school. "It's a toxic environment for the kids at the top."

As school lets out for the summer, a number of local public high schools like Guilderland and Cohoes are considering getting rid of class rank.

Once a time-honored tradition that gave hard-working students bragging rights and colleges another way to evaluate applicants, ranking students by GPA in comparison to their peers has become an increasingly obsolete practice that critics say can harm students in more ways than one. Today, more than half of all high schools in the U.S. no longer publish class rank.

The reasons go beyond curbing non-productive competition. How a school figures rank is also a factor. Is class rank based on an unweighted GPA? Or a weighted GPA -- with extra points given for more challenging courses? That differs from school to school. And some districts where an unweighted GPA is used for class rank have found that students opt not to take more challenging courses in order to boost their GPA. How colleges use or don't use class rank is also a consideration.

"We found in talking with college admissions officers that, if we give them rank, they'll take it and use it. If we don't, they won't," said Brian Wood, principal at Cohoes High School, which has proposed ditching its ranking system. "Obviously, if you're valedictorian that's going to look great. But you can be a straight-A student at a really competitive school and your ranking may not look so great."

A student with a 90 average at Guilderland High School, for example, would rank 182 out of a senior class of 419, according to a presentation delivered to the board of education last month.

Many colleges and organizations providing scholarships don't require class rank, but may use it if given the chance to help winnow down large applicant pools.

"Here's an extra number that could hurt a student just by giving the college information they don't even require," said Seema Rivera, a Guilderland school board member, at a board meeting last week.

Private schools were among the first to start axing class rank on the gamble that prestigious schools may not view talented students well if they rank low in a large class full of other talented students.

In the 1990s, some high-achieving public schools caught on and began doing away with rank as well. Tamarac Secondary School in Brunswick and Niskayuna High School both ditched their ranking systems in the '90s.

"We found it had just gotten too cutthroat," said Tamarac Principal Rich Pogue. "People were focusing too much on the numbers. And I believe we did take some heat for it. But learning should be a positive experience, not a competitive one."

As more schools began moving away from rank, college admissions officers began to place less importance on it. This happened at the same time that higher education began shifting to more holistic ways of measuring student ability  weighing things like essays, recommendation letters and extracurriculars alongside measures like GPA, SAT scores and school curriculum.

In a 2014 report from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, admissions officers said they considered a student's grades in college preparatory courses to be the most important factor when deciding which students to admit.

Of course, these classes tend to be more difficult. And students who prize their class rank may choose easier classes they can ace in order to preserve their status  a trend high school guidance counselors have noticed with dismay.

In a survey of students at Guilderland High School this year, 79 percent of students said they would feel more comfortable choosing challenging courses in high school if colleges would never see their rank.

The school board began considering the class rank issue this past year at the recommendation of the high school building cabinet, which comprises students, parents, teachers and administrators.

Goldstein, a student representative on the cabinet, was the first to propose the idea after noticing his classmates' obsession with rank had become unhealthy. In some cases, he said, the intense competition had even ended friendships.

But not everyone is warm to the idea  many students have been working on their class rank for years, and parents initially worried it would negatively impact their children come college admission time.

"The reaction was largely negative in the beginning," Goldstein said. "Back in the day, you know, everybody was ranked. Even the teachers remembered their ranks from high school and felt it might not be a good idea."

But districts that have moved away from rank say they can still calculate it and provide it to colleges and scholarship organizations if they specifically ask to see it. They simply don't volunteer it, they say.

Cohoes High School plans to eliminate rank starting this fall. Guilderland is considering the same timeline, though the board of education must vote on the matter first. The issue is on the agenda for July 5.

Cohoes school officials also recently changed the way courses are weighted for GPA, hoping it will inspire more students to take on a challenge.

"I know that in some ways, competition can be good," said Wood, the principal. "But I don't want to see kids so consumed with their class rank that they may opt out of certain classes just to protect it. Our No. 1 goal is we want students to take rigorous coursework and really challenge themselves."
ALBANY  The College of Saint Rose is the only Capital Region school to take the state up on a new tuition discount program designed to help students better afford the cost of education at a private college or university.

The Enhanced Tuition Award program will provide students whose families earn less than $100,000 with a $6,000 discount on tuition to a private, nonprofit college or university in New York. The award includes any discounts already provided through the state's Tuition Assistance Program, better known as TAP, and requires the school to split the rest of the discount with the state.

"Our historic commitment to college accessibility and affordability was too compelling to decline to participate in a program that provides additional financial aid," said Saint Rose President Carolyn Stefanco. "We could not overlook the return on investment for our students."

If the program sounds familiar, that's because it was modeled after the state's new Excelsior Scholarship, a program providing free tuition to students attending New York's public colleges and universities. Indeed, it was included in the state budget  which was approved in April  out of concern that free tuition to public schools would put smaller, regional private colleges at a competitive disadvantage.

This concern was certainly felt at Saint Rose, which charges $30,546 in tuition a year, not counting room, board and fees. Like other private colleges, however, Saint Rose is quick to point out that the $34 million it awards in scholarships and grants each year make it a competitive and affordable alternative to the state's public colleges.

"So far we haven't heard anything negative about our decision to opt into the program," Stefanco told the Times Union on Tuesday. "We're getting very positive messages from current students and from prospective students and their families. They're appreciative."

The program has not exactly been welcomed with open arms by private colleges, though.

Unlike the Excelsior Scholarship, which is covered wholly by the state after all other forms of financial aid are applied, the Enhanced Tuition Award is covered only partially by the state: The private institution has to match the state's contribution. Finding that money could be tricky, as many private colleges have already passed their 2017-18 budgets.

There are other complications, too.

"The details of the program were announced in mid-April and came after we had completed the majority of our financial aid packaging," said Heidi Weber, a spokeswoman for The Sage Colleges in Albany and Troy, which declined to participate in the program.

"There are many variables to this new program," Weber continued. "Students must proactively apply. The application is not yet available and students may not know if they will receive any aid until after the fall semester begins."

Applications are expected to become available in the coming weeks on the state's Higher Education Services Corporation website, and the window to apply will last 45 days. (Sign up here to become notified about applications.)

The Enhanced Tuition Award carries the same income and eligibility restrictions as the Excelsior Scholarship: Students must be New York residents, take at least 12 credits a semester and a total of 30 credits a year, and live and work in New York after graduation for the same number of years in which they received the award. The household income cutoff for eligibility will increase to $110,000 next year and $125,000 the year after that.

The deadline for private colleges to notify the state of their planned participation was Monday. Comprehensive data is not yet available on which institutions opted into or out of the program, state officials said Tuesday.

A survey of local institutions by the Times Union found that all but Saint Rose had chosen not to participate. Some, like Sage and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, said they would look anew at the program in coming years. Colleges can opt into or out of the program on an annual basis.

Siena College decided to offer its own version of a tuition discount program.

The small private college in Loudonville announced Tuesday it has launched the Saint Francis Scholarship Program to provide scholarships to students who would have been eligible for the Enhanced Tuition Award, minus all the stipulations and restrictions imposed by the state version of the program.

"I think an incredibly important conversation has been started at the state level, and it got us looking at what we need to do for our students on our own terms," said Ned Jones, vice president for enrollment management.

The award amount will be whatever Siena would have been required to pay as part of the state program. This will differ per student, depending on who qualifies for TAP and who doesn't.

Students don't have to apply either, Jones said. The college will automatically determine their eligibility and is already at work recalculating their financial aid packages, which will be mailed this summer.

As predicted early on, the state's highly ranked, highly selective private colleges don't seem to be sweating over the arrival of New York's free tuition program or the Enhanced Tuition Award program. For starters, the students they draw are more likely to be from out of state.

A tuition program that requires them to remain in the state after they graduate would cause an undue burden, said Union College spokesman Phil Wajda.

"We are preparing our students to be innovative and ethical contributors to an increasingly diverse, global and technologically complex society," he said. "We want them to consider careers that may take them to faraway places."

Wajda continued: "For those (private schools) who have significant scholarship resources available and maintain a policy of meeting full demonstrated need, there is minimal added value."
Albany

The interests and politics of upstate and New York City are often at odds and these tensions frequently play out in the Legislature. Upstate New York is mostly suburban or rural and large swaths are economically distressed. New York City is densely populated and booming.

The disconnect may have reached an apogee this week with the deadlock between the Republican-controlled Senate and Democratic Assembly over county sales taxes and control of the New York City Schools.

What does one have to do with the other? Nothing, unless one is talking about the state Legislature where any item on a lawmaker's wish list can be held hostage as a bargaining chip.

With just one scheduled day left in the legislative session, it appears that lawmakers may go home without passing sales tax extensions or permission for 53 counties to keep collecting their sales taxes after the end of November.

That's because they've been tied up in a dispute between Republicans  who want more charter schools in New York City  and Democrats  who want New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to get an extension of control over the schools there.

Assembly Democrats earlier in the month passed a bill that included mayoral control with the sales taxes. The Senate has rejected that since it contains no charter expansions.

The standoff could be seen as a battle not between lawmakers but the special interests behind them. A group of large Republican donors has long pushed for more charter schools, while the United Federation of Teachers, one of the state's major labor unions and a close ally of the Democrats, is against them.

With sales taxes set to expire at the end of November, county governments would be forced to develop their annual budgets without a written assurance that the revenue will continue.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said that he would call lawmakers back in the fall to renew the taxes if need be.

And few people doubt that would happen.

But the tying of a New York City battle between two well-funded and influential groups  charter school supporters and the teachers' union  to upstate county budgets may set a new bar for dysfunction, said Stephen Acquario, executive director of the state Association of Counties.

"It's unprecedented,'' Acquario said, adding that neither the counties nor the city of New York wanted the unrelated measures linked.

Do upstate lawmakers feel like they've been sucked into a battle that has nothing to do with them?

Maybe, but they've mostly taken the deadlock in stride, noting that they continue to push their own bills.

"We're doing our work here," said Sen. James Tedisco, a Saratoga County Republican. "Those negotiations are going on at a different level," he added, noting that the sales tax/NYC school debate is being negotiated by legislative leaders and the governor.

As well as being a New York City vs upstate scenario, the deadlock is a "classic example of leverage," said Democratic Assemblyman John McDonald of Cohoes. "Mayoral control vs the sales tax extender."

Like others, McDonald said he was confident that the governor would call lawmakers back in time to renew the sales taxes if the session ends without a resolution.

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Certainly, the mayoral/sales tax dispute is on peoples' minds, said Schoharie County Republican Assemblyman Peter Lopez. "Members are talking about it.'' But he noted that a lot of the items he wanted for his largely rural district were in the budget back in January.

"Things are moving along,'' said Saratoga County Democratic Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner. Like Tedisco, she sees a two-track system where local-interest bills are moving forward and hot issues like mayoral control are being fought over by legislative leaders.

She and counterparts in the Senate have been pushing on bills that would help raise money for snowmobile trails and a measure that would let the town of Malta set its own speed limits rather than the state.

Delaying the sales tax votes until summer or fall could have unforeseen consequences, though, Acquario said.

For one thing, if the governor were to call back the legislature, he could have extra powers in setting the agenda.

"He can pack in other things on his own terms,'' Acquario said.
TROY  The Rensselaer County Democrats have selected Andrea Smyth to run for county executive.

The party's search for a candidate to succeed Republican incumbent County Executive Kathleen Jimino ended Monday after weeks of hunting.

"All politics aside, it's not about party, it's the issues," said Smyth, 55, of Rensselaer.

Smyth is executive director of the New York State Coalition for Children's Behavioral Health. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida and the Rockefeller College Graduate School of Public Affairs and Policy at the University at Albany.

Smyth has been a candidate for the Rensselaer County Legislature and the East Greenbush Town Board. She's been active with the county Democratic Committee for five years, coordinating activities to get Democrats familiar with the Working Families Party and progressive efforts.

"Andrea Smyth is an exemplary professional with decades of executive leadership experience and a keen understanding of the important role that county government plays in the lives of Rensselaer County residents," said County Democratic Chairman Michael Monescalchi. "Andrea is a smart and effective leader who will help our county reach its fullest potential."

Smyth enters the campaign for county executive in which the Republicans have split between their endorsed candidate, Deputy County Executive Chris Meyer, and Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin.

Meyer and McLaughlin began circulating nominating petitions June 6. This that is expected to lead to a GOP primary in September.

The Democrats enjoy an enrollment advantage over the Republicans in the county by 32,463 to 26,128. There are 31,469 unaffiliated voters in the county.

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Public heath will be a major issue in this year's race, Smyth said. She pointed to issues with drinking water supplies in the county and the number of health service providers available to county residents.

Smyth praised Jimino for her budgeting and management skills. Smyth said she also brings budgeting and management experience that she will use to provide strong leadership for the county government to benefit residents.

In May, Jimino opted not to run for a fifth four-year term. Democrats had been focused on finding candidates to run for the County Legislature not anticipating Jimino would not run again.

Since then, the Democrats have hunted for a candidate. Nominating petitions for Smyth are due at the county Board of Elections by July 13. Democrats have held back circulating petitions until they had a county executive candidate.
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Albany

There was some movement on certain outstanding issues at the state Capitol on Monday  albeit in different directions.

With the major negotiating points  mayoral control of New York City's schools, local sales tax extensions, charter school provisions and the Child Victims Act  all still apparently hung up, a "Buy American" state procurement program was given life at the same time a bill to allow alcohol sales in movie theaters was given a bleak outlook.

Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeff Klein said legislative leaders and the governor were nearing a three-way agreement on some form of Buy American legislation, a proposal pushed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that fell out of the budget earlier this year.

Cuomos initial Buy American Act would have required that the state purchase U.S.-made products for state projects worth more than $100,000. Products with an end-manufacturing process done in the United States and 60 percent of their components coming from inside the U.S. would have qualified.

That proposal was opposed by some involved in international trade.

Were happy that we look like were coming to an agreement on a buy American bill, a three-way bill, that was something that was very important to myself and I know Sen. (John) Flanagans conference, Klein said after emerging from the governors office with Flanagan, the Republican majority leader, following an early evening meeting with Cuomo and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie. Were trying to work on something more to help with the heroin epidemic. Thats something that we hope to get done before the end of session.

Moving in the other direction was alcohol in movie theaters, with Heastie saying earlier in the day that the Democratic Majority Conference is not supportive of the legislation.

We want people to be able to take their children to a movie theater and not have to worry about the sobriety of the people sitting next to them in the movie theater, he said before the afternoon session.

Under state law, movie houses that have a licensed restaurant and seats with tables are authorized to sell alcohol. But patrons at the average theater cannot purchase an adult beverage.

The legislation would bar sales to G and PG film ticket holders.

Cuomo also supported alcohol in movie theaters in his executive budget proposal, though that too fell off the table.

Elsewhere at the Capitol, the scene was what would be expected for the final few days of the legislative session.

There was silent protest outside the Senate Republican conference room by women dressed as handmaids, similar to characters in the Hulu show "The Handmaid's Tale." They were there in support of legislation to codify the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision into state law and legislation to provide for insurance coverage of FDA-approved contraceptive drugs, devices and products.

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There were two Tesla vehicles on the Empire State Plaza concourse as the company and some lawmakers push for legislation that would allow the automaker to expand its sales reach in New York.

And of course there were the swarms of lobbyists scurrying through Capitol hallways making their last-minute pitches for clients.

Both the Assembly and Senate continued working late Monday evening.

As for what's next in the coming days, both the Assembly and Senate leaders have stated they are prepared to leave Albany on Wednesday.

But in the meantime, "We're talking, and there's two days left," Heastie said.

mhamilton@timesunion.com - 518-454-5449 - @matt_hamilton10
TROY  Five adults and five children were displaced late Monday afternoon after flooding hit Ninth Street in Troy, the Red Cross said.

Volunteers from the Northeastern New York Chapter of the American Red Cross provided immediate emergency aid to the 10 residents. The displaced children range from infant to age 5, the Red Cross said.
This story originally was published in the Times Union on July 11, 1989.

She was murdered in a hotel room seven years ago today, but the most dramatic advance in the investigation into the killing of Paula Durden occurred just seven months ago when Albany police detectives traveled to Florida and confronted the man they call the primary suspect.

Police said Monday that Bethlehem native Curtis E. Evans, 44, of Merritt Island, Fla., remains the focus of the probe into the brutal death of Durden, who used the pseudonym "Shannon White" on an identification card found with her body at the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge on Southern Boulevard on July 12, 1982. Detectives said they are trying to assemble a circumstantial case against Evans, who has not been charged in connection with the homicide and has insisted that he had no involvement in the crime. A string of grand theft charges brought against him in Florida at the time he was questioned in December have been dismissed, officials said, though he was convicted in April of one misdemeanor charge involving the possession of a false driver's license.

The Times Union learned Monday that Evans, while using the alias Brett Ford, had a Florida driver's license under yet another name. According to a court clerk in Flagler County, Fla., he had a license in the name of Vincent A. St. John on May 29, 1984.

Albany police said they believed that Evans may have used several aliases, but were not previously aware of the "St. John" pseudonym. Detectives said they would delve into the driver's license matter to determine whether it would yield any new leads in the Durden murder.

"Who knows what you can do with something like that five years later, but you can try," said Assistant Chief William M. Murray, who is directing the probe conducted by Detectives Joseph Hedgeman and Alden Manion.

Relatives and friends of Durden have said in interviews that she had been staying with Evans in Florida in June 1982, the month before she was killed in Albany. Detectives believe that Durden, the daughter of a retired Florida judge, was bludgeoned and strangled late July 11 for a $24,000 inheritance she withdrew from a Florida bank just days before she vanished.

When the body of the 21-year-old woman was found, police found no valid identification cards and the victim was referred to as "Shannon White" until she was positively identified as Paula Durden in September 1987. Her brother, J. Robert Durden Jr., had walked into a Florida police station, glanced at a missing person's poster and recognized one of the photographs as his sister.

"I was pessimistic years back in thinking we'd never be able to identify her," Hedgeman said.

"There's a possibility we'll get another break. We're going to continue to work on this."

Police said Evans has emerged as a leading suspect in the case because:

 In July 1982, the month of the killing, he addressed a letter to Durden to the home of her father, former Volusia County Judge J. Robert Durden, saying that he and Paula were "going our separate ways" and he was headed to "the Orient" for long-term employment. "I still can't understand how he could say I was after your money," Evans wrote.

 Traces of Vistaril, a prescription drug, were found in Paula Durden's blood, and Evans had been suspected of stealing quantities of Vistaril from a Florida hospital where he worked. The drug is used in the treatment of nervous and emotional conditions.

 Evans adopted the alias "Brett Ford" in late June 1982, when both he and Durden dropped out of sight from the Daytona Beach area. Also that month, Evans, while traveling with Durden, was linked by Florida police to the attempted theft of computer equipment from a car.

 Evans grew up in Bethlehem and had an arrest record there for burglary dating back to 1963. The motel where Durden was found is on the Albany- Bethlehem line.

"Of all the places in this country to go to, why would she travel to his hometown?" Hedgeman said.

Manion said the painstaking investigation will forge ahead. "In a homicide case like this, nobody jumps into the back seat and says, 'I did it.' You have to put together all the little pieces over a long period of time."

Evans could not be reached Monday for comment. Neither could his lawyer, Mark Peters.

According to the court clerk in Flagler County, Evans was fined $200 and sentenced to 20 days of "house arrest" in April in connection with the driver's license charge. In that program, he was required to wear an electronic bracelet that allows authorities to monitor the wearer's movements and enforce curfew restrictions.
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BETHLEHEM  Two Albany residents are accused of trying to cash a forged payroll check Monday at a Glenmont bank, town police said.

Employees at the Capital Communication Federal Credit Union, located on Bender Lane, called Bethlehem police at 1:13 p.m. and stalled the two suspects until police arrived, town police Deputy Chief Thomas Heffernan said in a Monday news release.
Washington

Jared Kushner has an expansive portfolio in the White House, he's a subject of a special counsel's probe of Russia's ties to the Trump campaign and, as President Donald Trump's son-in-law besides, he's often seen at the president's side.

But until Monday, he had never been heard by much of the public.

So Kushner's otherwise unremarkable voice proved to be among the more interesting things at the kick-off event of what the White House is calling "Tech Week." On the administration's 150th day, the 36-year-old adviser spoke before reporters and television cameras to discuss one of the initiatives he's leading: a review of how private-sector solutions could be adapted to modernize government's technological infrastructure.

His Office of American Innovation was leading a daylong forum at the White House that brought together administration officials and the CEOs of Amazon, Oracle, Apple, Intel and Microsoft, among many others.

"We are here to improve the day-to-day lives of the average citizen. That's a core promise and we are keeping it," he said.

"Together we will unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before," Kushner added, in words suggestive of Trump's own for their ambition and hyperbole. "We will foster a new set of start-ups focused on gov-tech and be a global leader in the field, making government more transparent and responsive to citizens' needs."

Kushner said that federal agencies maintain 6,100 data centers that could be consolidated. Some are more than a half-century old, he said, and some Pentagon systems still use floppy disks.

An effort to modernize electronic health records at the Veterans Administration was the first of many announcements to come, he said.

Later this week Kushner heads overseas to attend to another of his responsibilities  making peace in the Middle East.
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FORT EDWARD  New prosecutor. New jury. New evidence.

Same result.

A Washington County jury Tuesday convicted Matthew Slocum on all charges for murdering his mother, stepfather and stepbrother with gunshot blasts to the head and setting their White Creek home ablaze in the predawn hours of July 13, 2013.

"Thank God! Thank God!" family members of the victims cried after the verdicts were delivered to County Judge Kelly McKeighan about noon.

Jurors, who began deliberating the case Monday just before 1 p.m., spent roughly six hours over two days to find Slocum guilty of three counts of second-degree murder, third-degree arson, tampering with physical evidence, criminal possession of a weapon and petty larceny.

Slocum, 29, faces 75 years-to life for the murders alone at his sentencing by McKeighan on July 14. In 2012, a county jury took just two hours to convict Slocum of the triple slaying and the same charges. McKeighan sentenced Slocum to 88 years to life after the defendant was convicted at that trial.

Jurors concluded Slocum wielded a 12-gauge shotgun to execute his mother, Lisa Coon Harrington, 44; stepfather Dan Harrington, 41, and stepbrother Joshua O'Brien, 24, in 118 Turnpike Road in White Creek on July 13, 2011 about 3 a.m.

Evidence showed Slocum set the house on fire and escaped with his girlfriend, Loretta Colegrove, and their baby son Raymond, to her mother's home in Adams, Mass., a pawnshop in Springfield and later to New Hampshire, where Slocum hoped to stop at an uncle's home.

Instead, they surrendered to police in the New Hampshire woods. Slocum, who was arrested at the time, has now been convicted by two juries. Colegrove, who the defense attempted to pin the murders on, was the star witness for prosecutors at both trials.

"I'm glad the justice system worked again. I hope it's over," said John Harrington, brother of Dan Harrington. "(Slocum)'s a guilty man. He's where he belongs."

"I feel vindicated. I feel justice finally is done," said Ray Harrington, who lost his son, stepdaughter and grandson to Slocum's rampage. "Let him pay for his crime. Let us put him in the rear view mirror. Let us get back to our lives and go on."

His wife, Diana, stood nearby. They both were called to testify for prosecutors.

"It's been 2,192 days waiting for this," Diana Harrington tearfully told reporters. "Dan, Lisa, Josh!. We got you justice!"

The Harringtons praised the job of Albany County prosecutors Eric Galarneau and Linda Griggs, who tried the case because of a conflict with their counterparts in Washington County. Galarneau told reporters the victims' family members secured the conviction by testifying about their experiences with the defendant and victims.

"Ray Harrington told me, 'I'm not going to sleep any nights until this is done and I don't want you to sleep any nights,'" Galarneau said. "I think he cursed because I haven't slept many nights ....these are the kind of families you want to go the extra mile for."

In his closing argument Monday, Galarneau focused on love letters Slocum wrote to Colegrove from prison after the defendant was convicted at his first trial. Slocum apologized several times in the letters without specifically saying what it was for.

"He wouldn't come right out and say, 'I did it,' but it was clear if you read between the lines that he was apologizing for something terrible that he had done and wishing he had never been born," Galarneau told reporters. "Hopefully, the jury saw that what he was apologizing for was what he did on the early morning hours of July 13."

Slocum also wrote an apology note to his brother asking for forgiveness from the bottom of his heart.

Jurors delivered the verdict after re-listening to testimony from State Police forensic scientist Daniel Myers about DNA on rifles in the victims' home. They later asked to hear the definitions of second-degree murder and accessorial liability, which allows two defendants to be held criminally liable for "acting in concert" to commit a murder.

Washington County Public Defender Michael Mercure and assistants A.J. Messersmith and Michael Martin claimed forensic evidence showed Colegrove was the real killer and alleged that was why blood of Lisa Coon Harrington was on her shirt.

"If you follow the forensics and connect the dots, they lead you to Loretta," Mercure said in closing arguments.

Galarneau said forensics led to a dead end in a case where the crime scene was set on fire. He noted, in any case, that Lisa Coon Harrington's blood was also on her son Slocum's shorts.

Slocum was retried because the Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, Third Department, based in Albany, ruled police obtained Slocum's confession after he asked for an attorney.

Slocum had told police, "I just shotgunned my mother, dude."

The Court of Appeals affirmed the reversal.

Slocum won a retrial, not his freedom. John Harrington said the deliberations were nerve -racking.

"The hard part is when you know someone is guilty -- you know it -- and fate is in someone else's hands," he told reporters. "And what happens if he's acquitted? That's a whole new drama our family didn't need. We're just happy about the outcome."
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ALBANY  Dangerous bacterial infections have resulted from long-term antibiotic treatments prescribed for chronic Lyme disease, a new report states.

The report, published last week by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, includes accounts of five patients whose complications from the unproven treatments included septic shock, colitis, spinal disc infection, abscess and death.

A Capital Region advocate for further research and improved treatment for chronic Lyme disease, however, believes medical politics are behind the studys publication.

Holly Ahern, a microbiologist at SUNY Adirondack in Queensbury, said some of the reports authors are also engaged in updating Lyme disease treatment guidelines for the Infectious Disease Society of America, or IDSA. The influential doctors group does not acknowledge chronic Lyme disease as a legitimate diagnosis.

The authors looked for patients whose cases would confirm what they already believed, Ahern said.

They are simply trying to prop up the 30-year-old studies by rewriting it and publishing is as a new study, so that it can then be cited as evidence in their evidence-based treatment guidelines, she said.

The CDC estimates there are 300,000 cases of Lyme disease each year, most in the Northeast and Midwest where the ticks that carry the disease are most plentiful.

It is no surprise that a report on chronic Lyme disease is creating controversy. A battle has raged for decades over whether it even exists and, if it does, how it should be treated.

Chronic Lyme disease is a term used for a constellation of symptoms that can occur after an acute case of Lyme disease, which is caused by bacteria transmitted from a tick bite. Chronic Lyme is the exception rather than the rule: In most cases, Lyme disease that is caught early can be treated effectively with antibiotics.

But in 10 percent to 20 percent of patients, symptoms like headaches, joint and nerve pain, dizziness and fatigue can endure for months and even years. Thats undisputed.

Its the cause of those persistent symptoms thats at the heart of the debate.

IDSA sees these lingering symptoms as an aftereffect of infection. But doctors who diagnose patients with chronic Lyme disease believe the bacteria that causes the infection remains in the body, though it is not detected by standard tests. These doctors therefore use antibiotics, which combat bacteria, to fight it, usually by infusing the drugs through intravenous lines over extended periods.

The risk, however, is that antibiotics attack not only the bacteria that makes people sick, but also the bacteria that helps fight infection, explained Timothy Sellati, a former Albany-based immunologist who is now chair of the Department of Infectious Diseases at Southern Research in Alabama. Infections can also form at the site of the IV lines if they are not kept sterile.

For both those reasons, extended use of IV antibiotics should usually be avoided, Sellati said.

Doctors, public health officials and patients have contacted CDC with reports of serious bacterial infections resulting from such unproven treatment, according to the CDC report. The five stories in last weeks report highlighted these.

One patient was treated with two four-week courses of antibiotics after tests determined that she had Lyme disease. But two years later, with continued fatigue and trouble thinking, she was diagnosed with chronic Lyme and received a years worth of IV antibiotic treatments. A year after that, another months worth of antibiotics was delivered through a catheter.

She was admitted to a hospital after developing back pain and shortness of breath. Doctors found that her spine was infected by bacteria found at the catheter tip.

That is a whole long time on antibiotics, Sellati said of the case. I would ask that physician: What were you expecting to happen? Where do you think this bacteria is hiding from this assault?

Ahern, on the other hand, questioned the CDCs use of five extreme examples amid thousands of people treated with IV antibiotics for chronic Lyme disease. Lymedisease.org, a California-based group that advocates for patients with chronic Lyme disease, filed an ethics complaint three years ago against the research that led to the report.

One of the reports authors, a CDC epidemiologist, allegedly solicited IDSA doctors for evidence of harm from IV antibiotic treatments, offering co-authorship of the report if anecdotes were used, according to a blog post by Lymedisease.orgs vice president. No such solicitation was made for IV treatment success stories, according to the advocacy group.

Ahern sees that as a prime example of bias in the study, published in the CDCs Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

If you search the MMWR archives, there are no other examples of this sort of bias for ANY OTHER infectious disease requiring IV treatments, Ahern wrote in an email. None.
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Albany

In a recent column about the defeat of an anti-nepotism bill, I may have left the impression that a majority of Albany County legislators are ethically challenged stooges who are looking out for themselves instead of the public.

If I did ... great! Too many county legislators are just that.

But not all. There were several lawmakers who argued passionately for the anti-nepotism bill, and some are pledging that the fight isn't over. So today, let's give some attention to the legislators who want to do what's right and who aren't wed to the status quo.

More Information Contact columnist Chris Churchill at 518-454-5442 or email cchurchill@timesunion.com See More Collapse

David Mayo, a Democrat from Latham, deserves the loudest applause. He introduced the legislation, which would have prevented family members of elected officials from getting appointed to county jobs and also would have kept those officials from working in government for four years after leaving office.

The bill wouldn't have included civil service positions, and it was not retroactive  meaning existing nepotism hires needn't have worried about being thrown off public payrolls.

Mayo says too many lawmakers buy into the "arrogant and laughable" belief that "only a family member of a legislator or an elected official somehow has the intelligence to be able to do a certain job, that they have a certain DNA profile that allows them to do a better job than the other 300,000 people in the county."

I love the way he put that, because it captures the conceit necessary for government employment  and taxpayer money  to become a feeding trough for the selected few. It's how we end up with the rampant nepotism detailed in a recent Times Union investigation of family ties in local governments.

Mayo points out that there's a big flaw in the Albany County budget process: Legislators who have lost re-election or are retiring still vote on the next budget, which gives them the ability, he said, to create jobs for themselves or their friends and family.

Supporters of Mayo's bill point to the 2015 budget session, when three departing legislators appeared to have county jobs at the ready  including Shawn Morse, the legislature's outgoing chairman, who seemed set to get a $50,000 part-time gig in the comptroller's office to supplement his salary as mayor of Cohoes.

At the time, Morse denied the job had been created for him.

"I don't understand the whole concept of this being a story," Morse told me then. "I've watched people from legislative bodies all over the place go to work for the government they represent."

Bingo. That's exactly why Mayo's legislation is so necessary.

Of course, as I wrote last week, Morse associate Ralph Signoracci stunned his fellow county legislators during a debate on the anti-nepotism bill by pulling his pal out from under the bus.

"That job that was going to go in the comptroller's office was actually supposed to be a job for me, not Mr. Morse," Signoracci said. "That's how everything got legs."

Can you believe these guys?

But this is supposed to be about the conscientious lawmakers who took a stand against nepotism  Signoracci, of course, was not one  so let's bring the focus back to them.

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Thirteen legislators  nine Democrats and four Republicans  voted for the bill, and some are now pushing for a modified version that could attract more votes.

"This thing is not over," Mark Grimm, a Republican from Guilderland, told me Monday. "We can't have people getting jobs because they know somebody."

You know what's interesting? In recent years, the Albany County Legislature has developed a reputation for aggressively pushing for better behavior from its constituents. For better or worse, members have banned Styrofoam cups and trans fats, made it more difficult to smoke cigarettes, and even tried to curb cyber-bullying.

But when it comes to lawmakers curbing their own bad habits? Well, that's a step too far. Nepotism and favoritism get to stay.

In addition to Mayo and Grimm, here are other legislators who voted for the anti-nepotism bill:

Doug Bullock (D-Albany), Paul Burgdorf (R-Latham), Joanne Cunningham (D- Delmar), Charles Dawson (D-Glenmont), Chris Higgins (D-Albany), Lynne Lekakis (D-Albany), Frank Mauriello (R-Colonie), Alison McLean Lane (D-Menands), Richard Mendick (R-Selkirk), Joseph O'Brien (D-Loudonville) and William Reinhardt (D-Slingerlands).

What's wonderful is that legislators have unwittingly created a handy-dandy, easy-to-follow guide for voters who want a more responsive and ethical legislature.

If you live in Albany County and your legislator's name isn't on the above list, vote for someone else next chance you get. The person representing your district is part of the problem.

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
Two men from Cashel have been arrested and charged after three people were seriously assaulted in the Rockwood estate in the town over the weekend.

Gardai were called to Rockwood, located on the Old Road near the St John the Baptist Primary School, at around 9pm on Saturday evening (June 17th).

A number of people are alleged to have entered the house as trespassers and viciously assaulted three occupants.

One of the occupants had to be hospitalised, and was conveyed to South Tipperary General Hospital, Clonmel, before being transferred to Cork University Hospital (CUH).

That person has since been released from hospital and is recovering from his injuries in Cashel. A spokesperson for the Gardai said two persons were arrested within a short time.

They were detained in Cahir under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

They were charged with burglary, criminal damage, assault causing harm, and brought before Clonmel District Court on Monday morning (June 19th).

Superintendent Paul ODriscoll objected to bail before Judge Marie Keane, and the men were remanded in custody to appear before Cashel District Court next Thursday (June 22nd).

A spokesperson confirmed that investigations are ongoing, and a number of witnesses remain to be interviewed.

There is another suspect, a third suspect in the matter, added the spokesperson.

Anyone with information on this matter can call Cashel Garda Station on (062) 75840 or Cahir Garda Station on (052) 7445630, or the Garda confidential hotline on 1800 666 111.
Expelled Sinn Fein County Councillor Seamie Morris has vowed to fight the 'element' within the Comhairle Ceanntair which has initiated a move against him resulting in a major split in the party in Tipperary.

The sensational statement from the Comhairle Ceanntair which informed Cllr Morris that he was being expelled, has caused a massive rift in Sinn Fein with quite a number of the party faithful coming out in support of the embattled councillor who has been one of the party's leading lights in Tipperary for almost a decade and a half.

A series of serious allegations have been leveled against Cllr Morris by the Comhairle Ceanntair including ones hand delivered to The Tipperary Star in a statement this week. However, he is denying that there has been any wrong doing and says that he will deal with the issues. He was aware that rumours were circulating about him, but he wouldn't allow an element to take down my good name. Those slanderous rumours will be dealt with, he vowed.

I always paid for every election out of my own pocket. The cost of my elections has been borne by myself and my family, he stated.

Cllr Morris blamed a politburo made up of members of the party in South Tipperary for spreading" the stories.

There is a hostile environment in Sinn Fein's Comhairle Ceanntair in Tipperary that councillors are expected to operate in, he said and he described those who had initiated the move against him and two other councillors as an element in the local party.



Cllr David Doran says that he is standing by Cllr Morris.

Thurles Cllr David Doran has come out in support of Cllr Morris and we understand that Cllr Catherine Carey is also in his corner. Cllr David Dunne is remaining tigh lipped on the issue while Cllr Martin Browne is allied to the Comhairle Ceanntair.

The next meeting of the Sinn Fein Comhairle Ceanntair in Halla na Feile in Cashel next month will see a lot of 'blood letting' according to one source who added that this row had been building for months and will go all the way to party headquarters.

They had no mandate to do what they did - not in the name of Sinn Fein members anyway, our source said.

See this weeks Tipperary Star for much more on this story.
Carrick on Suir Musical Society stalwart Irene Malone was the toast of Tipperary at the annual AIMS Awards in Killarney at the weekend when she picked up her third award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her portrayal of Paulette in Legally Blonde.

The winners were announced at a glittering ceremony in the INEC, Killarney on Saturday evening in front of 1,300 seated guests and the magnificent and spectacular programme of events was overseen in a very efficient manner by AIMS President Colm Moules - a former member of Thurles Musical Society, and Vice President, Seamus Power of Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society, who is expected to take over the reigns at the end of the current season.

Irene Malone was up against Thurles Musical Society's Mairead Hackett who was nominated for her role as Miss Sandra in All Shook Up. There were also runner-up awards for Carrick-on-Suir for Best House Management, St Mary's Choral Society, Clonmel for Best Programme, and for Best Technical, Carrick-on-Suir Musical Society for Best Ensemble, while Carrick-on-Suir's Marian Grace was also nominated for the Unsung Hero Award.

The Best Director Award in the Gilbert section went to Kilkenny's Christine Scarry who will be the Director for Thurles Musical Society in 2018 - their show is yet to be announced.

Elsewhere, David Darmody, formerly of Phoenix Productions, was on stage representing Teachers Musical Society in the Best Overall Show category, but the award went to Leixlip Musical and Variety Group for their Legally Blonde production.

There was a very strong Tipperary contingent at the awards night which marked the 14th consecutive year in the Gleneagle, Killarney, which this years celebrates 60 years in business.
There is a major split in Sinn Fein in County Tipperary with the news that Councillor Seamie Morris has been advised to move to a 'neighbouring county'.

Tipperary Sinn Fein members have voted no confidence in Councillor Seamie Morris, it has emerged after a meeting of the Comhairle Ceantair Tiobraid Arann passed a motion.

Comhairle Ceantair Sinn Fein, Tiobraid Arann, after nine months of trying to resolve our difficulties with you [Seamie Morris] without success, with the support of the membership has decided you would be better affiliated with a neighbouring county. A vote has been taken by the membership to expel you from Tipperary Sinn Fein," - the motion read.

The contents of a similar motion were previously conveyed informally to Councillor Morris, a statement from Sinn Fein stated, but as he then chose not to respond to the genuine and honest concerns of the membership, the motion has now been conveyed formally to Councillor Morris by registered post after a vote of that same membership at the Comhairle Ceantair.

"The Comhairle Ceantair has expressed its deep disappointment that Councillor Morris has chosen not to make himself amenable to the members despite continued efforts on their part," the statement continued.

Cllr Morris expressed his huge anger and disappointment at the move and has vowed to 'fight tooth and nail' to resolve the issues within the party.

Further updates throughout the day and full reports, reaction and analysis on this weeks Tipperary Star.
There is great anger in Thurles following the closure of the walk-in service at the tax office in Stradavoher - an office which was catering for an average of sixty customers per day.

This matter had been raised a few months ago by Sinn Fein Councillor David Doran, who had it discussed in Dail Eireann through Deputy Pearse Doherty. And, the outcome of that series of discussions was that a consultation period was supposed to follow, where members of the public, local representatives and interested stakeholders could make submissions on the proposal.

However, according to Cllr Doran no such consultation took place and he has now called on the Tipperary members of Dail Eireann to fight for the re-opening of the office, the loss of which will be felt in many homes in the region.

The office was opened from 9:00am - 1:00pm and was dealing with up to sixty customers per day. These were people who might not be technology savvy and would much prefer to deal with a person rather than doing their work online - people like myself, if I'm honest. It was very easy to go in and do business there without any great problem and the workers in the office were totally professional in the way they deal with all enquiries. They are still there now, bu the office is closed and it is another denegration of services as far as I am concerned.

The fact that so many are using this service is proof that there was a requirement for it. Instead now, you go to the office and there is a sign up informing customers to ring a particular number or to go online. It's not always easy to do that for people and I am immediately calling for a reversal of the decision to close the office, Cllr Doran said this week.
Titusville City Manager Larry Manross (center) points out to the public, during a tour in August 2016, a hole in the zero-entry area of the Dick Kraffert Pool, at Burgess Park, while other city officials look on. During a meeting that followed the August tour, council members voted to earmark the 2017 Community Development Block Grant money to construct a splash pad in the footprint of a filled in Kraffert pool. On June 27, the public is invited to weigh in.
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CirrusMD Closes $7 Million Series A Funding

CirrusMD, which offers a text-first approach to telemedicine for large health systems and insurers, today announced the closing of a $7 million Series A financing led by Colorado Impact Fund, joined by Bootstrap Incubation, Three Leaf Ventures, Rockies Venture Fund, Service Provider Capital, Sand Hill Angels, and New York Angels.

The Denver-based company specializes in working with large health systems, integrated delivery networks, and health plans, particularly those focused on value-based care models. It will utilize the funds to support the high market demand for its offering through expansion of sales and marketing, increased investment in customer support, and continued innovation of its platform and data analytics.

"Five years ago, we set out to execute on the vision of my co-founder, Dr. Blake McKinney, to provide patients with instant, ongoing access to in-system doctors through secure text messaging. Our approach is proven to significantly lower total cost of care," said Andrew Altorfer, CEO and co-founder of CirrusMD. "We are pleased with the support of our investors at this critical inflection point in telemedicine. Health systems and payers are looking for virtual-care solutions that effectively engage patients and integrate provider workflows. CirrusMD is primed for rapid growth due to our ability to deliver value for our partners."

Currently, 1.3 million patients have access to the platform, representing 850 percent growth over last year. CirrusMD is taking advantage of a movement towards more care being delivered outside of the hospital and patients' growing comfort with virtual care offerings. According to a recent report by Mordor Intelligence, the telemedicine market is expected to reach $67 billion by the year 2021.

"The Colorado Impact Fund is proud to select CirrusMD as our first investment in the expanding digital health landscape in Colorado," said Ryan Kirkpatrick,Partner of the Colorado Impact Fund. "CirrusMD's virtual care platform lowers the cost of delivering health care while simultaneously increasing access to quality care in Colorado and beyond, both key criteria of our impact strategy in the industry. The founders, Andy Altorfer and Dr. Blake McKinney, have developed a differentiated platform that can scale rapidly and deliver value to all stakeholders of the healthcare system."







Useful Links:

CirrusMD: https://cirrusmd.com

Twitter (News - Alert): https://twitter.com/cirrusmd

YouTube (News - Alert): https://www.youtube.com/user/CirrusMD

Blog: http://blog.cirrusmd.com/

About CirrusMD, Inc.

Founded in 2012, CirrusMD develops virtual care solutions for value-based healthcare organizations. Our technology allows patients to access convenient, timely medical care with local physicians in the same way that doctors address concerns for their friends and family - through text and video chat. The company currently provides telemedicine services to over one million covered lives. Learn more about CirrusMD on our website: www.cirrusmd.com.

Websites of Investors

Colorado Impact Fund

Bootstrap Incubation, LLC

Three Leaf Ventures

Sand Hill Angels

New York Angels

Rockies Venture Club

Rockies Venture Fund

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005678/en/
[June 20, 2017] Former White House Counsel Jack Quinn Joins Manatt in Washington, D.C.

Manatt, Phelps & Phillips LLP today announced that Jack Quinn has joined the firm's Washington, D.C., office as a partner in the litigation group and as chair of the firm's federal regulatory and government practice. In his decades of experience as a Washington attorney, Quinn's strategic skills have enabled him to guide CEOs, candidates and office-holders through complex legal and policy challenges - and to secure critical victories for his clients. At Manatt, he will bring those skills to bear for clients involved in complex regulatory proceedings, government investigations and public policy campaigns. "Jack is a tremendous addition," said William T. Quicksilver, Manatt's chief executive officer and managing partner. "His experience both in and out of government adds a further dimension to our strong national practices, serving clients who face major crises that may involve litigation, regulatory, public policy or legislative elements. Companies and individuals under government scrutiny at all levels will benefit from his exceptional legal and crisis management counsel. Jack has honed truly extraordinary skills at the intersection of law, public policy, politics and communications, and his professionalism has earned im a great reputation and great relationships across partisan political divides."



Immediately before joining Manatt, Quinn chaired Quinn Gillespie & Associates, a bipartisan public affairs firm he co-founded in 2000 to provide government relations and strategic communication services. His clients spanned the high tech, financial services and insurance, telecommunications, industrial and healthcare fields. In recent years, he also practiced law as a solo practitioner and served as co-counsel in major mass tort litigation. "Jack is a Washington legend," said Douglas Boggs, Manatt's D.C. office administrative partner. "A definitive Capitol insider, he knows the executive and legislative realms from the inside out. When trouble strikes, Jack is who you want to help navigate the regulatory and political shoals inside the Beltway. We are thrilled to welcome him to Manatt."

Quinn added, "I have long been an admirer of Manatt's unique approach - bringing top-tier lawyering, notably in the litigation group, together with astute business consulting and strategic advocacy. This seamless combination of disciplines mirrors my own career to this point, and allows the firm to provide particularly creative, highly effective solutions for clients. The energy and engagement here are infectious, and I look forward to working with this talented team." Quinn's government service includes serving as counsel to the president of the United States. In that role, he advised President Bill Clinton and senior White House staff on the legal aspects of policy proposals, legislation, and certain classified and unclassified executive actions, as well as on investigations undertaken by both independent counsel and congressional committees. At the time of his appointment as White House counsel, Quinn was chief of staff and counselor to Vice President Al Gore. Quinn practiced law at an Am Law 100 firm for more than 20 years. Early in his career, he worked on Capitol Hill, serving on staff for the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs and for a member of the Senate Finance Committee. He has served on the boards of several companies, including Alternative Packaging Systems, The Water Company, Constellis Holdings Inc. (where he co-chaired the governance and compliance committee), the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, Fannie Mae and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial. After earning an undergraduate degree from Georgetown University College of Arts and Sciences, Quinn received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an editor of the Georgetown Law Journal. About Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, is one of the nation's leading law and consulting firms, with offices strategically located in California (Los Angeles, Orange (News - Alert) County, Palo Alto, San Francisco and Sacramento), New York (New York City and Albany), Chicago and Washington, D.C. The firm represents a sophisticated client base - including Fortune 500, middle-market and emerging companies - across a range of practice areas and industry sectors. For more information, visit www.manatt.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005426/en/

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[June 19, 2017] Cogeco Connexion honoured at the Fleches d'Or gala

MONTREAL, June 19, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - Cogeco Connexion received the "AMR-CROP Voice of the Consumer" award in the telecommunications sector, ex aequo with Virgin Mobile, at the 2017 edition of the Association du Marketing relationnel du Quebec's (AMR) Fleches d'Or gala held this evening at Scena in the Old Port of Montreal. The "AMR-CROP Voice of the Consumer" award is a new recognition introduced by the AMR and based on a survey of 800 Quebec respondents. It recognizes the service provider most appreciated by consumers for its prices as well as the quality of its products and customer service, the user-friendliness of its commercial environment and website, and the excellence of its client experience. "It is most gratifying to see our teams' efforts recognized with a Fleche d'Or award," stated Daniel Boisvert, Vice President, Marketing & Innovation, Cogeco Connexion. "This recognition attests to our unwavering commitment to providing our customers with a peerless experience and encourages us to pursue our efforts to serve them ever better." ? "Awarded in response to the opinion of surveyed Quebecers, this Fleche d'Or is a valued sign of confidence from our customers, and we wish to thank them most sincerely for their trust and loyalty," added Mrs. Johanne Hinse, Vice President, Sales Consumer market and Community relations, Cogec Connexion.



The Fleches d'Or competition is an annual event that seeks to recognize and celebrate companies that have developed the best relationship marketing campaigns in Quebec. Cogeco Connexion wishes to congratulate Videotron, Virgin Mobile, Telus and Koodo on their nomination in this category.

Cogeco Connexion at glance: Wholly owned subsidiary of Cogeco Communications Inc.

Employees: 2,550

Clients: Consumers and businesses

Offering: video, high-speed Internet, telephone service, voice and data fibre transmission and cloud computing solutions for companies

11,000 km of linear optical fibre between Windsor, Ontario , and Gaspe, Quebec

, and Gaspe, Hybrid network: fibre optics and coaxial cable

Optical fibre network since 1990

Available Internet download speeds: 120 megabits per second throughout the territory and up to 1 gigabit per second in some regions of Quebec and Ontario

Community television stations: Cogeco TV (15 in Quebec and 22 in Ontario , with close to 1,000 volunteers). ABOUT COGECO CONNEXION

Cogeco Connexion comprises the Canadian cable operations of Cogeco Communications Inc. Cogeco Connexion is the second largest cable operator in Ontario and Quebec in terms of the number of basic cable service customers served. It provides residential and small business customers with video, Internet and telephone services through its two-way broadband cable networks. Cogeco Communications Inc. is a communications corporation and is the 8th largest hybrid fibre/coaxial cable operator in North America, operating in Canada under the Cogeco Connexion brand name in Quebec and Ontario, and in the United States through its subsidiary Atlantic Broadband in western Pennsylvania, south Florida, Maryland/Delaware, South Carolina and eastern Connecticut. Through Cogeco Peer 1, Cogeco Communications Inc. provides its business customers with a suite of information technology services (colocation, network connectivity, hosting, cloud and managed services), through its 16 data centres, extensive FastFiber Network and more than 50 points of presence in North America and Europe. Cogeco Communications Inc.'s subordinate voting shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CCA). SOURCE Cogeco Connexion

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[June 19, 2017] Fin5ive Winners Selected, Top 5 Innovative Fintech Firms to Showcase at The 9th Banktech Asia in Kuala Lumpur

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Powered by Matchi, BankTech Asia recently launched the Fin5ive Challenge to source five groundbreaking fintech solutions to showcase at the 9th BankTech Asia conference and exhibition in Kuala Lumpur from 5th to 6th July 2017. "We've been running BankTech Asia for 9 years in Kuala Lumpur, and we are increasingly seeing banks being more open to collaborating with fintech companies and we've also observed fintech firms from around the world finding the Malaysian market more appealing as evidenced by an increased number of applications this year," said Vincent Fong, General Manager Knowledge Group which is the organiser behind the long running BankTech Asia Conference series. He then added "These shifting trends are precisely the reason why we've collaborated with a global fintech matchmaking firm like Matchi." The organisers stressed that relevance to the Asian market was key to this challenge. In preparation for the BankTech Asia Fin5ive Challenge, a fintech survey which comprised 70 participating financial institutions from the Asia Pacific region was launched to identify the key pain points. The survey responses were then collated to determine focus areas which formed the entry categories for the challenge. To ensure the market relevance of the winning solutions, BankTech Asia also enlisted the expertise of a panel of industry experts to join the judging panel. This year's panel includes major banks and well-known venture capitalists from the around the region: Amran Hassan, Head of Innovation at Maybank in Malaysia, Paolo Baltao, Senior Vice President at Union Bank in Philippines, Markus Gnirck, Co-Founder and Partner at tryb Capital in Singapore as well as Paul Ark, Managing Director for Corporate Venture Capital, Digital Ventures in Thailand. "We're very thankful for the support from our partner Matchi and our panel of judges for providing market insights and identifying fintech firms that are truly innovative and relevant to the Asian market," added Vincent Fong, General Manager Knowledge Group. From the many responders that entered the challenge, only 60+ fintech firms were shortlisted and the best-of-the-best were picked for the respective categories by analysts from Matchi, BankTech Asia and the panel of judges. The organisers noted that applications were received from around the globe including cities such as California, Johannesburg, Sydney, Malaysia, India, Switzerland, Ireland, Singapore and Hong Kong - indicating a strong interest in Malaysia's vibrant market. The BankTech Asia Fin5ive 2017 winners are:







Theme: Financial Inclusion Winner: Big Data Scoring, London Theme: Mobile/Channel Winner: Suitebox, Australia Theme: Process Automation Winner: Luminous, South Africa Theme: Payments Winner: Alpha Payments Cloud, Ireland Theme: Security Winner: ThreatMark, Czech Republic

In addition to a 10-minute lightning demo in front of 200+ participating bankers, the BankTech Asia Fin5ive winners will each be showcased in a special exhibition area throughout the conference where they are expected to be a highlight for the 500+ trade visitors attending the event. The awards ceremony will be held on the first day of BankTech Asia which is on the 5th July 2017. The organisers confirmed that the Deputy Finance Minister I, YB Dato' Othman bin Aziz will be handing out the awards to the winner to during the event. The organisers hope that through this challenge, more collaboration between bankers and disruptors can be established to lead the way to a much more robust financial services sector. Editor's Note: Matchi is a global fintech innovation match-making firm, since 2013. Matchi has worked with over 100 leading banks and insurance companies (FIs) around the world, and has a database of over 2,500 fintech firms. Matchi provides both a highly-curated portal of fintech solutions, as well as bespoke projects for FI clients to source targeted fintech solutions aimed at the FIs focus areas/pain points. The global Matchi team has run Fintech Challenges and Market Scans for multiple FIs around the world, in markets as diverse as Africa, Japan, Canada, Mauritius and India, as well as searches in more recognized fintech regions. https://matchi.biz BankTech Asia is one the longest running fintech and banking technology events in the Asia region. With a 9-year track record in keeping bankers and fintech professionals abreast with the latest trends and threats, BankTech Asia has been hosted in several countries including Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

http://www.banktechasia.com/9th-banktech-asia-kuala-lumpur-regional-series/ http://www.banktechasia.com/finmatch-2017/ For Media Enquiries, please contact: Vincent Fong

General Manager

Knowledge Group

+60321701588

[email protected] Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20170620/1880133-1 SOURCE Knowledge Group of Companies

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[June 20, 2017] Finastra and SIA partner to expand real-time payments in Europe

LONDON and TORONTO, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - Finastra today announced that it is partnering with SIA, European leader in payment infrastructures and services, to provide real-time payment capabilities to financial institutions operating all over Europe. This will enable financial institutions to use the Finastra (formerly D+H) payments solutions to connect via SIAnet to RT1, EBA CLEARING's pan-European Instant Payments infrastructure. Prior to EBA CLEARING's platform going live in November 2017, financial institutions will be able to experiment with real-time payments on the Finastra cloud-based testing environment. This environment will provide simulated connectivity to EBA CLEARING's RT1, and enable banks adhering to the SCT Inst Scheme to test instant payments quickly, easily and with low risk. "The collaboration with Finastra allows us to strengthen our path of innovation, supporting the access and onboarding of the banks on EBA CLEARING's pan-European instant payments inrastructure," said Andrea Galeazzi, Network Services Director SIA. "Financial institutions can now easily benefit from the high-speed, low-latency network infrastructure SIANet thanks to its reliability, solidity and security."



"The Finastra payments technology already supports the processing of millions of faster payment transactions throughout the world every day," said Moti Porath, Head, Product Management, Global Payments Solutions, Finastra. "SIA shares the Finastra vision of making faster payments a reality, and we are proud to expand our client's access to instant payments and Instant Clearing in Europe through SIAnet." About Finastra

Finastra unlocks the potential of people and businesses in finance, creating a platform for open innovation. Formed in 2017 by the combination of Misys and D+H, we provide the broadest portfolio of financial services software in the world todayspanning retail banking, transaction banking, lending, and treasury and capital markets. Our solutions enable customers to deploy mission critical technology on premises or in the cloud. Our scale and geographical reach means that we can serve customers effectively, regardless of their size or geographic locationfrom global financial institutions, to community banks and credit unions. Through our open, secure and reliable solutions, customers are empowered to accelerate growth, optimize cost, mitigate risk and continually evolve to meet the changing needs of their customers. 48 of the world's top 50 banks use Finastra technology. Please visit www.finastra.com.

Corporate headquarters

One Kingdom Street

Paddington

London W2 6BL

United Kingdom

T +44 20 3320 5000 SOURCE Finastra

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[June 20, 2017] ActiveOps Appoints CEO for North America

NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- To Meet Increasing Demand for Back Office Workforce Optimization Solutions ActiveOps, a leader in cloud-based back office workforce optimization solutions announces the appointment of Julian Harper as CEO of ActiveOps North America. Prior to his previous role as ActiveOps CCO, Julian was founder and CEO of RedOwl, a leader in strategic planning software for back office processing operations, acquired by ActiveOps in April 2014. Approaching 20 years' experience in providing software solutions to support operational transformations, Julian will be leading a rapidly expanding team to build on the ActiveOps track record in delivering significant, sustained productivity improvements in back office operations in the banking, insurance and shared service sectors. New roles in North America include; sales and marketing, implementation consultants and customer support, all based from the New York office. "Over the last year the demand for back office workforce optimization solutions has driven a 40% increase in global revenues for Workware and the supporting Active perational Management (AOM) method. The North American market is poised for significant growth and our investment in local capability and infrastructure positions ActiveOps to respond to this demand." Julian commented.



"There has been a wave of recognition of the changing role of back office operations in the market due to digital transformation projects, creation of shared service centers and the adoption of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) during the past twelve months. The need to plan, forecast and schedule software robots alongside their human counterparts is the new reality for operations managers. As the leading pure play back office workforce optimization software vendor in the market, ActiveOps is uniquely placed to support our North American customers in meeting these challenges." About ActiveOps

ActiveOps - Manage Differently Since 2005, ActiveOps has been enabling organizations to improve their operational efficiency by helping managers and teams deliver their best possible performance. ActiveOps provides cloud-based software and services to meet the increasing market demand for back office workforce optimization. Workware, our cloud-based software, is purpose-built for the back office to quantify work and time, manage capacity, and measure productivity for people and robots. It enables capacity to be optimized, reducing costs and improving service delivery across diverse and complex back office operations. The Active Operations Management (AOM) method enables teams to collaborate and sustain higher performance through a consistent management framework. Better communication and improved control results in increased staff engagement and well-being. ActiveOps operates across the globe from offices in the UK, Australia, India, South Africa and North America, supporting back office and shared service operations in financial services, shared service centers, government organizations and Business Process Outsourcers (BPOs). Contact

Zoe Rogers

US: +1-(212)-878-3643

UK: +44-(0)-1189-175-031

activeops.com SOURCE ActiveOps

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[June 20, 2017] Visioneering Technologies, Inc. Announces Dave Halverson as Territory Manager in Southern California

Visioneering Technologies, Inc. (VTI) announced that Dave Halverson has joined their sales organization as Territory Manager, Inland Empire/San Bernardino in Southern California. Halverson will be responsible for introducing the unique, patented technology of the NaturalVue (etafilcon A) Multifocal 1 Day Contact Lenses and other NaturalVue Brand products to eye care practitioners and practices across the metropolitan region. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005253/en/ Dave Halverson, Territory Manager, Inland Empire Visioneering Technologies, Inc. (Photo: Business Wire) "Dave is an exceptionally accomplished leader, and we are pleased to have a seasoned representative of his experience on our team," said Tony Sommer, SeniorVice President, Sales & Marketing for VTI. "He has demonstrated experience in the optical industry that will be invaluable in his role with our organization. His ability to effectively communicate the features, benefits and use of the NaturalVue Brand product line will enable eye care practitioners (ECPs) and support staff to best meet patient needs."



Halverson has more than 30 years of diversified experience in the optical industry. The majority of his career was spent conducting continuing education (CE) lectures and training ECPs on new vision care products. A licensed American Board of Opticianry (ABO) speaker, he attended Chaffey College in Rancho Cucamonga and Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, as well as the Valley College Optical Program in San Bernardino. "In my 30 years in the industry I've seen a lot of changes and many new products and services," said Halverson. "I see VTI as an innovative and revolutionary company that will improve patients' visual experience. I'm excited to be a part of the VTI team."

Halverson may be reached at [email protected] or 1-844-VTI-LENS (1-844-884-5367). About Visioneering Technologies, Inc. Visioneering Technologies, Inc. (VTI), headquartered in northern Atlanta, Georgia, is an innovative company dedicated to developing products that improve vision. With a portfolio of technologies, the company uses creative and differentiated design approaches to develop products that enhance practitioner and patient experiences. VTI optical designs have been awarded nine patents worldwide, with an additional ten pending. Strength in science, an entrepreneurial culture, and the ability to bring technology to life make Visioneering Technologies, Inc. a company to watch. For more information, visit www.vtivision.com/ or call 844-884-5367, ext. 104. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005253/en/

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[June 20, 2017] Telit LTE Cat 1 Module Receives Certification for T-Mobile's 4G LTE Network

LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Telit, a global enabler of the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced that the LE910-NA1, a LTE Category 1 (Cat 1) IoT module, is certified for use on T-Mobile's 4G LTE network and has been added as an option for T-Mobile's IoT Access packs, which combine simple IoT pricing with industry-leading Cat 1 chips. Telit's LE910-NA1 seamlessly enables a wide range of industrial and consumer IoT applications, including asset tracking, alarm systems, telematics devices, retail applications, smart utility meters and more. Availability of the Telit LE910-NA1 certified by T-Mobile solves a common problem for developers and integrators. Frequently, design teams developing new IoT devices focus on the products' functional requirements but underestimate the complexities of wireless network compliance, such as costly RF equipment, testing and certification schedules. With the pre-certified LE910-NA1 developers eliminate these steps, resulting in faster time to market, lower development costs, and world-class performance and reliability. "We are proud to support T-Mobile's IoT Access packs with Telit's top LTE Cat 1 module the popular LE910-NA1," said Dennis Kelly, vice president of Telit Americas. "The availability of this fully-certified module enables device makers to leverage the standard's current and future capabilities and accelerate the launch of IoT products powered by T-Mobile's nationwide 4G LTE network." With T-Mobile's IoT Access packs, new and existing customers can get everything thy need  including modules and data  to develop the next great IoT solution. For a limited time, new and existing T-Mobile IoT customers can get unlimited data at 64kbps for just $20 per year per device, with up to $16 per certified module covered via a bill credit from T-Mobile upon activation.*



"Bringing a connected IoT solution to market can be complicated  but T-Mobile is turning the industry on its head," said Doug Chartier, senior vice president, MVNO, M2M and IoT at T-Mobile. "With our low-cost IoT Access packs, customers can focus on developing their products for our 4G LTE network instead of worrying about managing their data usage." The LE910-NA1 is a dual-mode LTE Cat 1 IoT module positioned for developers and integrators looking to integrate future-proof low category LTE technology into their designs. Benefits of the technology include significant bandwidth, longer product lifecycle, cost savings, and an easy migration path to LTE from 2G and 3G in existing IoT devices. With speeds of 5 Mbps upload and 10 Mbps download, this model supports LTE bands 2, 4, 5, 12 and 13 and 3G bands 2 and 5. The LE910-NA1 is a member of Telit's best-selling xE910 family of pin-compatible modules, which serve as a drop-in replacement in devices that are based on the family's 2G and 3G models.

For more information about the xE910 family of wireless modules and other Telit solutions, visit www.telit.com. *Limited time offer, subject to change. While supplies last. Plus taxes and fees. Contact your T-Mobile rep for additional details and contract requirements. Redemption required for bill credit, may take 1-2 bill cycles. On all T-Mobile plans, during congestion the top 3% of data users (>32 GB/mo.) may notice reduced speeds until next bill cycle due to data prioritization. About Telit

Telit (AIM: TCM), is a global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement. The company offers the industry's broadest portfolio of integrated products and services for end-to-end IoT deployments  including cellular communication modules in all technologies, GNSS, Wi-Fi, short-to-long range wireless modules, IoT connectivity plans and IoT platform services. Through the IoT Portal, Telit makes IoT onboarding easy, reduces risk, time to market, complexity and costs for asset tracking, remote monitoring and control, telematics, industrial automation and others, across many industries and vertical markets worldwide. Copyright  2017 Telit Communications PLC. All rights reserved. Telit and all associated logos are trademarks of Telit Communications PLC in the United States and other countries. Other names used herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Telit Media Contact:

Leslie Hart

919-415-1510

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/telit-lte-cat-1-module-receives-certification-for-t-mobiles-4g-lte-network-300476183.html SOURCE Telit

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[June 20, 2017] Danaher Announces Pricing Of Euro-Denominated Senior Notes Offering

WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Danaher Corporation (NYSE: DHR) ("Danaher") announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, DH Europe Finance S.A. ("Danaher International"), has priced an offering of: 250 million principal amount of floating rate senior notes due 2022 at an offering price of 100.147% of the principal amount; and

600 million principal amount of 1.200% senior notes due 2027 at an offering price of 99.682% of the principal amount. Danaher estimates that the net proceeds from the sale of the notes in this offering will be approximately 845 million (approximately $946 million), after deducting the underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by Danaher. Danaher anticipates using approximately $560 million of the net proceeds to repay all of the outstanding 500 million aggregate principal amount of Danaher International's Floating Rate Senior Notes due 2017, which mature on June 30, 2017, and to pay accrued and unpaid interest, fees and expenses associated with the repayment. Danaher anticipates using the remainder of the net proceeds from the offering to repay outstanding commercial paper and for general corporate purposes. The senior notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed on a senior unsecured basis by Danaher. The offering is expected to close on June 30, 2017. The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The offering of senior notes may be made only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement. A copy of the prospectus and prospctus supplement relating to the securities can be obtained from BNP Paribas at 10 Harewood Avenue, London NW1 6AA, United Kingdom, Attention: Fixed Income Syndicate, Phone: 1-800-854-5674; Merrill Lynch International at 2 King Edward Street, London EC1A 1HQ, United Kingdom, Attention: Syndicate Desk, Phone: 1-800-294-1322; or Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch at Winchester House, 1 Great Winchester Street, London EC2N 2DB, United Kingdom, Attention: GRS, Phone: 1-800-503-4611.



This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, the senior notes or any other securities, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of any security mentioned in this press release in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. ABOUT DANAHER

Danaher is a global science and technology innovator committed to helping its customers solve complex challenges and improving quality of life around the world. Its family of world class brands has leadership positions in some of the most demanding and attractive industries, including health care, environmental and industrial. With more than 20 operating companies, Danaher's globally diverse team of over 62,000 associates is united by a common culture and operating system, the Danaher Business System. For more information, please visit www.danaher.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Statements in this release that are not strictly historical, including the statements regarding the offering of the senior notes, the anticipated use of proceeds and any other statements regarding events or developments that we believe or anticipate will or may occur in the future, may be "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual events to differ materially from those suggested or indicated by such forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements is available in Danaher's SEC filings, including Danaher's 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K and Danaher's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of 2017. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release and Danaher and Danaher International do not assume any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events and developments or otherwise. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/danaher-announces-pricing-of-euro-denominated-senior-notes-offering-300476564.html SOURCE Danaher Corporation

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[June 20, 2017] North America's largest taxi fleet celebrates a 50-year legacy of success

TORONTO, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - The largest and most successful taxi fleet in North America, Beck, has announced its plans to honour 50 years of dedicated customer service through a series of Toronto-wide celebrations. Running all summer long, interactive street activations and partnerships will say 'thank you' to the communities that have contributed to decades of achievement the company continues to experience. Beck, the female run company inspired by its people and community, is proud to celebrate its success with the drivers, dispatchers and riders that have helped shaped the business into what it is today. The first initiative, in partnership with Harbourfront Centre and Ryerson University's School of Image Arts, will see 150 Beck drivers be interviewed for an emotionally exhilarating exhibition to coincide with Multicultural Day and the country's larger Canada150 initiatives. In addition, Beck partnered with CP24 Breakfast for Bill About Town, a series of segments that guide Weather Specialist, Bill Coulter, in a Beck to a variety of summer activities around Toronto, displaying Beck's appreciation for the city and commitment to service. "For the last 50 years, we've been dedicated to the people who drive our city," says Gail Beck-Souter, owner of Beck. "The Torontonians in our back seats or behind the wheel are not only along for the ride, but part of our journey."

Beck isalso in partnership with Centennial College to deliver the first ever Taxi Driving Training Program, which includes an in-car defensive driving certification. The program is mandatory for all prospective Beck drivers to complete as part of the company's commitment to providing safe, professional and accessible service. As the only company truly offering on-demand wheelchair accessible service, Beck is proud to provide service for all Torontonians. This principle has been at the core of the business since 1967, when it was initially founded by Jim Beck. Today, the legacy is now driven forward by his daughter and grand-daughter, Gail Beck-Souter and Kristine Hubbard, who are continuously looking for new ways to perfect their service offering. In an industry dominated by men, the success of the powerhouse duo is evident in the 2,000 iconic orange-and-green Beck cars that tirelessly service the city.



Between drivers, dispatchers, call-takers and other staff, over 90 different languages are represented at Beck which sees over 30,000 phone orders per day and 10 million rides a year. This is a significant success factor. The Beck App, which allows customers to order an array of services through their iPhone or Android, such as customized rides, parcel deliveries and future scheduled rides, further displays the company's commitment to both convenience and continuous growth. "Our drivers, dispatchers and entire team are passionate about Toronto and the people who visit, work and reside here," says Kristine Hubbard, Operations Manager at Beck. "So much of what we do is community focused that we wanted to be able to share our 50th anniversary celebrations in a way that benefitted our customers and the city."

At one time, Beck has been there for every Torontonian. As part of its commitment to give back to the community, Beck is a proud supporter of an array of city focused programs. As of 2017, Beck supports WE Charity, Rethink Breast Cancer, The Lady Ball, Redpath Waterfront Festival, Contact Photography Festival, Ovarian Cancer Research and other community focused initiatives. ABOUT BECK TAXI

Founded by Jim Beck, Beck Taxi's excellence is a family tradition as daughter Gail Beck-Souter champions her father's passion for superior service. Beck Taxi is the largest and most successful taxicab company in the country with over 2,000 available taxis operated by professionally trained, independent contracted drivers. For the past 20 years, the organization has been the proud recipient of the Toronto Sun Reader's Choice Award for Favourite Taxi Company. ABOUT HADDON STRATEGY

Haddon Strategy is a full-service creative solutions and strategic consulting agency. Recognized as a leader in communications and creative strategy since 2008, we help brands grow and pivot in exciting new ways, and specialize in uncovering your next bold move. Haddon Strategy is planning and coordinating all celebrations for Beck's 50th Anniversary. SOURCE Beck Taxi

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[June 20, 2017] Rite Aid Celebrates Grand Reopening of Harrisburg Market Street Store in Strawberry Square

Today, Rite Aid Corporation will celebrate the grand reopening of its Harrisburg Market Street store, now located at 304 Market Street, inside Strawberry Square. Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse will join Rite Aid Executive Vice President of Store Operations Bryan Everett and other company and community officials for a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the store today at 9:30 a.m. "Since announcing our plans for this store last June, many people have worked diligently to bring this project to fruition. Today, we celebrate this new store and recognize those who played a role in this project including the City of Harrisburg, Harristown Development Corporation, our supplier partners and of course, many local Rite Aid associates," said Everett. "Thanks to their efforts, our relocated Market Street store offers a design and shopping experience as unique as Strawberry Square itself and perfectly illustrates our more than 40 year commitment to the city of Harrisburg and the people who live and work in the community." The new 14,000 square foot store showcases the Company's highly popular Wellness store format, now featured in nearly 2,500 Rite Aid stores nationwide. Rite Aid's wellness store format, which first debuted in spring of 2011, is part of the company's continued commitment to providing services, products and resources to help its customers and their families live healthy lives. From the street level entrance, customers will find a wooden floor path leading directly to the pharmacy department, the core of Rite Aid's business. Wellness stores have pharmacists with special training in diabetes care, medication management and the ability to immunize against about a dozen diseases including flu, pneumonia, shingles and whooping cough. Unique to the Market Street location is a one-of-a-kind in-store Hershey Sweet Shop that offers a variety of Hershey's candy and specialty merchandise. The custom displays, developed in partnership with The Hershey Company, celebrates the confectioner's most iconic brands includin Hershey's Kisses, Reese's and Twizzlers, and offers a selection of apparel, novelty gifts and of course, the latest chocolate and candy treats from the world's best-loved confectionary company, headquartered in nearby Hershey.



"The new Rite Aid store in Strawberry Square is another sign of the great things happening in downtown Harrisburg and throughout the city," said Papenfuse. "We applaud Rite Aid for investing in our city and supporting Harrisburg's economic vitality." Other key in-store design elements include overhead departmental rings designating each section of the store such as beauty, food, home care and seasonal; inside and outside entrances; a relaxing, warm color palette with soothing wood tones and softer lighting; hundreds of new health and wellness products including organic and gluten-free foods; and a private pharmacist consultation room adjacent to the pharmacy where Rite Aid pharmacists can have conversations with patients, administer immunizations and offer other clinical pharmacy services.

In honor of the grand reopening, The Rite Aid Foundation will present a $10,000 KidCents donation to Joshua Group, a local nonprofit organization and one of The Rite Aid Foundation's KidCents charities. The Joshua Group offers programming that addresses the academic and social needs of economically disadvantaged city youth of all ages living in the Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg, which is marked by concentrated poverty, an epidemic of crime, drugs and violence, and failing public schools. For more information about the organization, visit www.joshuagroup.org. "One of our earliest supporters, Joshua Group is proud of its more than 10-year relationship with The Rite Aid Foundation, and we consider their support vital to what we've been able to help Harrisburg youth achieve," said Kirk Hallett, Founder and Director of Joshua Group. "The Joshua Group is extremely grateful that The Rite Aid Foundation has once again thought of our kids with this most generous KidCents grant, and we are honored to stand with them today as they celebrate their grand reopening and reaffirm their commitment to the people of Harrisburg, especially our kids." As part of the grand reopening celebration, from now through July 14, the Market Street Rite Aid will host a variety of free customer events each week. This includes free health screenings, beauty events and product samplings. All events will take place from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.; see www.riteaid.com/strawberrysquare. Rite Aid Corporation (NYSE: RAD) is one of the nation's leading drugstore chains with more than 4,500 stores in 31 states and the District of Columbia and fiscal 2017 annual revenues of $32.8 billion. Information about Rite Aid, including corporate background and press releases, is available through the company's website at www.riteaid.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005814/en/

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[June 20, 2017] Whirlpool Corporation's Jeff Fettig to step down as CEO; remains Chairman of the Board

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. , June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeff M. Fettig, Whirlpool Corporation's Chairman and CEO since 2004, will step down as CEO and continue in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Whirlpool Corporation Board of Directors has elected Marc Bitzer, the company's current President and Chief Operating Officer, to succeed Fettig as CEO. These changes will become effective October 1. "On behalf of the Whirlpool Board of Directors, we are very pleased to appoint Marc as our next CEO, the 8th CEO in our 106-year history," said Jeff M. Fettig. "Marc has a deep understanding of our business throughout the world and has personally led our operations and delivered strong results during his 18-year tenure at Whirlpool. As we prepare for the future, I am very confident that Marc is uniquely qualified to lead our company in continued success." Fettig (age 60) will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. "My primary role is to support Whirlpool, Marc and our leadership team in this planned CEO transition. I am effectively stepping away from our day-to-day management after 36 years of service and the last 13 as CEO," said Fettig. "As a company, we have achieved significant milestones during this time through the great work of Whirlpool people throughout the world. Going forward, I believe we have more opportunities than ever before in our 106-year history. I know Marc, and our Whirlpool leadership team, will continue to achieve great things for our company in the years ahead. "For me, the opportunity to lead Whirlpool during the past two decades has been both an honor and a privilege. I am very proud of the great people here and in their dedication to our company, which has led to the success that we have all achieved." Bitzer (age 52) was named President and Chief Operating Officer and elected to the Whirlpool Corporation Board of Directors in October 2015. Prior to this assignment, he served as Vice Chairman, which included overall leadership of Whirlpool North America and Whirlpool Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Bitzer joined Whirlpool Europe in 1999 as Vice President, Bauknecht brand group. He became Senior Vice President of Marketing Sales and Services for Whirlpool Europe in 2000 and was named President of Whirlpool Europe in January 2006. Between 2009 and 2013, he went on to serve as President of Whirlpool North America and President of the company's U.S. operations. Before joining Whirlpool Europe, Bitzer worked for eight years at the Boston Cosulting Group in Munich and Toronto and was named Vice President of that organization in 1999.



Bitzer earned both his MBA and doctorate degrees from the St. Gallen Graduate School of Business, Economics and law in Switzerland. "I want to thank the Whirlpool Board of Directors and especially Jeff Fettig for their confidence in appointing me to this position," said Bitzer. "The foundation of success built by Jeff and so many within this company affords us an exciting future to exceed the needs and aspirations of our customers, expand shareholder value and create a unique and fast-paced workplace that people continually are proud to call Whirlpool Corporation."

Fettig is credited with the successful growth of the company both organically and through strategic acquisitions that increased sales by 75 percent -- from $12 billion in 2003 to $21 billion in 2016. The company's acquisition of Maytag Corporation in 2006 and of Indesit Co. SpA in 2014 added the prestigious brands of Jenn-Air, Maytag, Amana and Indesit creating an industry-leading portfolio that targets more than 90% of global consumers with seven brands garnering more than $1 billion in annual sales. Whirlpool's market value during Fettig's tenure increased from $5 billion to more than $14 billion, and the company's annual dividend increased from $1.36 per share to $4.40 per share. Fettig joined Whirlpool in 1981 as an Operations Associate. He held a number of managerial positions in operations, sales, planning and product development before being promoted to Vice President of Marketing for the KitchenAid appliance group in July 1989. In October 1990, he was named Vice President of Marketing for the Phillips Whirlpool Appliance Group of Whirlpool Europe BV, the company's European subsidiary. He was named Vice President of Group Marketing and Sales for the company's North America Appliance group in October 1992. In 1994, he was named an Executive Vice President of Whirlpool Corporation and President of Whirlpool Europe and Asia. Fettig served as President and Chief Operating Officer and was first elected to the Whirlpool Board of Directors in June 1999. He became Whirlpool Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in July 2004. A native of Tipton, Indiana, Fettig holds a Bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA from Indiana University. Fettig serves as the lead director of the Dow Chemical Board of Directors and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Kohler Company. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Indiana University Foundation and on the Board of Governors for Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He also is a member of the Business Leaders for Michigan and the Business Roundtable. Jeff Fettig bio: http://whirlpoolcorp.com/project/jeff-m-fettig/

Marc Bitzer bio: http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com/project/marc-bitzer/ About Whirlpool Corporation Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 93,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2016. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Jenn-Air, Indesit and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or find us on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp. Whirlpool Corp. Additional Information This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements that address developments that we or our management believes will or may occur in the future, including statements regarding financial performance, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management and are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including strategic, operational, financial, and legal and compliance risks. We identify the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our performance in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/whirlpool-corporations-jeff-fettig-to-step-down-as-ceo-remains-chairman-of-the-board-300477021.html SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation

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[June 20, 2017] New York High School Students Win 2017 U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize

Xylem Inc. (NYSE:XYL), a leading global water technology and solutions company, congratulates Rachel Chang and Ryan Thorpe of Manhasset, N.Y., the 2017 winners of the United States Stockholm Junior Water Prize (SJWP), the most prestigious youth award for a water-related research project. Xylem has been a long-time leading sponsor of the U.S. SJWP and is a founding sponsor of the International Stockholm Junior Water Prize. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006548/en/ U.S. Stockholm Junior Water Prize winners Ryan Thorpe (l) and Rachel Chang (r) of Manhasset, N.Y. (Photo: Business Wire) The competition empowers students to identify and research water issues, pursue careers in water sustainability, and raise awareness of global water challenges. The showcase contains a wide spectrum of projects that may include improvements in water quality, water resource management, water protection, drinking water and wastewater treatment. In the U.S., the Water Environment Federation (WEF) and its Member Associations organize the regional, state and national competitions with support from Xylem. Chang and Thorpe's winning paper, "A Novel Approach to Rapidly and Sensitively Detect and Purify Water Contaminated with Shigella, E. coli, Salmonella, and Cholera," highlights that waterborne diseases cause 3.4 million deaths annually. Chang and Thorpe's winning proect involved the development of an efficient and rapid method to detect minute levels of bacteria and purify the water of pathogens.



"As a leading global water technology and solutions company, we encourage and support innovative projects that focus on protecting our precious water sources," said Colin Sabol, Senior Vice President and Chairman of the Xylem Watermark Committee at Xylem. "Year after year, we continue to be amazed by the ingenuity and ambition of these bright students and we are proud to be a long-time supporter of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize." The project received the top honor at the national competition held June 16-17 at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, where students from 48 states and Puerto Rico competed for the revered prize. Chang and Thorpe received $10,000 as well as an all-expense-paid trip to represent the United States at the international competition in August during World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. There, Chang and Thorpe will compete with more than 30 other students from around the world for the global title.

The two U.S. runners-up were Ana Humphrey of Alexandria, Va., and Apoorv Khandelhal of Sammamish, Wash. The competition also recognized Luca Barcelo of Greenwich, CT, who received the Bjorn von Euler Innovation in Water Scholarship Award, which recognizes a project that demonstrates a unique passion for education, spirit of creativity and innovation. It honors the work of former WEF board member and retired Xylem Watermark Director, Bjorn von Euler. Xylem works to provide sustainable and efficient water solutions to the world's most pressing water challenges. Through its corporate citizenship program Watermark, Xylem helps provide safe water resources for communities in need across the globe as well as educate people about water issues. This competition fosters excitement in young people to pursue answers to water-related problems, supporting Xylem's mission of solving water. About Xylem Xylem (XYL) is a leading global water technology company committed to developing innovative technology solutions to the world's water challenges. The Company's products and services move, treat, analyze, monitor and return water to the environment in public utility, industrial, residential and commercial building services, and agricultural settings. With its October 2016 acquisition of Sensus, Xylem added smart metering, network technologies and advanced data analytics for water, gas and electric utilities to its portfolio of solutions. The combined Company's nearly 16,000 employees bring broad applications expertise with a strong focus on identifying comprehensive, sustainable solutions. Headquartered in Rye Brook, New York with 2016 revenue of $3.8 billion, Xylem does business in more than 150 countries through a number of market-leading product brands. The name Xylem is derived from classical Greek and is the tissue that transports water in plants, highlighting the engineering efficiency of our water-centric business by linking it with the best water transportation of all - that which occurs in nature. For more information, please visit us at www.xylem.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006548/en/

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November 2022 is Subscriber Appreciation Month

We're launching a full month of surprises to say thank you to our most loyal subscribers!
Amgen stock hits high on earnings, prospects of obesity drug In one of the worst years for the stock market since the 2008 financial crisis, Thousand Oaksbased Amgen is showing no signs of weakness. As of Wednesdays market close, the...

Council approves rules to limit self-storage growth Future self-storage facilities in the city of Thousand Oaks will be excluded from prime commercial areas, according to a new ordinance adopted by the City Council this month. In a...

Dealership does Distinguished thing SPECIAL TRIPChildren from Boys & Girls clubs in Camarillo, Simi Valley and Moorpark, and Oxnard and Port Hueneme attended Misty Copelands Oct. 18 appearance in the Distinguished Speaker Series at...
"The Justice Department said Tuesday it will help local authorities study crime patterns and come up with plans to reduce violence. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says officials will come up with data-driven, evidence-based strategies that can be measured over time.



"The cities are: Birmingham, Alabama; Indianapolis, Indiana; Memphis, Tennessee; Toledo, Ohio; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Buffalo, New York; Cincinnati, Ohio; Houston, Texas; Jackson, Tennessee; Kansas City, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan; and Springfield, Illinois."





Kansas City's plight against a spate of increased killing and rising crime in general has not been ignored by the new Administration.Like it or not, while. . . The new Prez offers more cash for law enforcement.Take a look:Check the links:You decide . . .
Like almost all branches of Christianity, the Catholic Church does not have a long history of being welcoming to gays and lesbians. Even today, despite a more enlightened pope who seems open to the idea that sexual orientation is not...
RIGHT NOW, ONE OF THE BEST BRIGHTEST FROM OUR TKC BLOG COMMUNITY OFFERS AN EPIC PERSPECTIVE ON HORRIBLE PLANNING FROM CITY HALL, ENSUING TOY TRAIN REVENGE ON DRIVERS & BEYOND!!!

KICK-ASS TKC READER: Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

Can anyone in this city think past next week? Everyone saw parking issues in River Market coming with the streetcar except those charged with anticipating them and preparing a solution. Now, those who work in the offices and restaurants are screwed. Why wasnt a parking facility planned that blends in with the historic architecture? Of course, thats another ball drop. The most historic heritage area we have has been allowed to be overrun with simplistic, modernist design. The character of the River Market is being taken away by the very people attracted there by its character. We should have exterior design codes like they do in the historic areas of Europe. Be as modern as you want on the inside but design for the ages on the outside.





Hopefully they will be more thoughtful in the West Bottoms before its too late.

Here's another example of rigged Kansas City voting impacting small biz and local drivers in order to push the agenda of a lame duck politico and his army of consultants.The bad news . . .And while the topic has been mostly overlooked . . .Checkit:############You decide . . .
The Greeks always wanted and will always want relations of friendship and good neighbourliness with Turkey, as there are :more things that unite us than divide us, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said on Monday in a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim in Athens. Yildirim told Pavlopoulos that the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has asked to visit Greece this year.

Pavlopoulos accepted, stressing that it is important the two sides to get well prepared for President Erdogans visit so that it will be successful and bring good results. Greece is Turkeys doorway and window to Europe, he said, noting that Greece has always viewed Turkeys European course positively. He also noted, however, that a country wishing to join the EU must fully respect both international law and the laws of Europe.

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

Source: mignatiou.com
Greek Deputy Foreign Minister welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim at Alexandroupolis airport and accompanied him to the city of Komotini

Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Amanatidis characterised the region of Thrace "an example of peaceful and harmonious co-existence of different religions, the Muslims and the Christians", speaking on Tuesday to Athens Macedonian News Agency PRAKTOREIO 104.9FM.

Amanatidis welcomed Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim at Alexandroupolis airport and accompanied him to the city of Komotini.

"We had a very interesting talk on the role of the religions in brotherhood, their role in the people and that the religions should not be used as pretext for conflicts", stated Amanatidis after his meeting with the Turkish prime minister.

"Dialogue is always helpful, it decompress the tension between countries. I believe that Yildirim's visit to Greece will help towards this direction and will support the development of the positive agenda we had set at the Supreme Greek-Turkish Cooperation Council held in Izmir" concluded Amanatidis.

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

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: SilentResident,Philly boy92 License: CC-BY-SA

Source: ANA-MPA
Conde Nast Traveler, the largest travel magazine in the world, presented the best beaches in Greece for 2017.The article focuses on the best beach holidays in Europe for 2017, by country. According to the editors of the magazine, Greeces beaches that stand out are in Crete, Falassarna, Vai and Elafonissi.

The beaches of Myrtiotissa in Corfu is also presented as visitworthy by the author of the piece, as it offers the relaxed Greek lifestyle from a bygone era. Another beach in the Ionian Sea is that of Myrtos in Kefalonia, while reference is made to the shallow waters and sand dunes of the beaches of Naxos. The sandy beaches and the warm waters of the beaches of Rhodes and the famous Shipwreck of Zakynthos, one of the most incredible vistas in the world, are also worth a visit, according to the magazine.

Greece has a number of quiet and unexplored beaches to offer the traveler all over, the atricle says, recommending the beacfh of Chalkidiki.
Dubai-based Al Tamimi & Company, a leading law firm in the Middle East, has announced the promotion of six new partners representing three offices in Bahrain, Kuwait and the UAE, thus taking its total number of regional partners to 60.



Divya Abrol Gambhir, Ahmad Saleh, Jeremy Scott and Willem Steenkamp (Dubai, UAE), Foutoun Hajjar (Bahrain) and Omar Handoush (Kuwait) will be promoted effective July 1, said a statement from the firm.



Gambhir joined the firm in 2005 and is part of the banking and finance team. She has extensive experience in areas such as financial regulatory, private banking, structured finance, banking M&A, financial technology and general corporate banking and advisory.



She is recognised as a financial services specialist in the UAE and in the financial free zones and pursuant to her appointment as head of financial regulation and securities in 2015, she has enhanced this practise area for the benefit of the firms clients.



Hajjar joined Al Tamimi in 2014 when the firm launched its Bahrain office. She is an English-qualified solicitor and barrister with over 25 years of professional experience specialising in corporate law. Since launching in Bahrain, the office has grown to a team of 15, including 11 fee-earners, under Foutouns leadership. The promotion demonstrates the firms long-term commitment to the market in Bahrain.



Handoush joined the firm in its Kuwait office in 2014. As a banking and finance lawyer, he is very well-regarded for his technical skills and ability to manage complex transactions. He has played a key role in several cross-border deals which have been recognised by leading organisations including IFN and IFLR.



Saleh leads the firms patents practice within the IP team. This practice was launched in 2013 and has grown rapidly since then. His skill set is quite unique, combining vast legal and engineering experience, enabling him to find a common language with academics and inventors who represent a large part of his client base.



Scott is a leading real estate lawyer and is recognised as a specialist in his field. Since joining the firm in 2008, he has focused on legal issues related to mixed-use developments, jointly-owned property structuring and complex commercial transactions. He has also taken on the responsibility to further develop the firms Saudi Arabia real estate practice.



Steenkamp is a lawyer in the firms commercial advisory team and has been integral to driving growth in the retail and franchising sectors. Willem joined the firm in 2008 and is seen as a technically strong lawyer who provides clear, commercially sound advice in the areas of franchising ventures, commercial agencies, commercial contracts and regulatory advice in both consumer protection and competition.



Husam Hourani, managing partner, Al Tamimi, said: It gives me great pleasure to announce the promotion of six outstanding individuals who are seen as quality lawyers providing exceptional advice and service to our clients.



We are committed to holding our position as the leading firm in the Middle East and a key strategy is to ensure we continue to focus on enhancing our cross-border capabilities. These appointments reinforce our commitment to this, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Al Sharqiya South Tourism Administration in Oman is organizing an Eid event called Farhat Eid, on the occasion of Eid Al Fitr.



The event aims to refresh the domestic tourism in the governorate during Eid Holiday by delivering fun and educational activities for families and kids including competitions, plays, cartoon character shows, face painting, henna, and others. The event will take place on the second day of Eid at City Walk complex, sponsored by City Walk administration and Al Ghalbi Engineering International.



Through such an event, the Ministry aims to raise awareness of the tourism aspects in the sultanate. The Ministry also aims to increase the occupancy rate in all the hotels in the governorate. - TradeArabia News Service
Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand and Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace have appointed Malek Fakhro as the cluster director of Business Development.

In his new role, Fakhro will develop and lead the commercial strategy of the group in Lebanon, overseeing the sales and marketing activities in view of maximising its performance.



Welcoming this appointment, Naif Zureikat, cluster general manager of Hilton Hotels in Beirut, said: We are extremely excited to have Malek join our team. He has extensive experience and proven successful track records in the hospitality industry which will further fuel our development pipeline and strengthen our presence in Lebanon.



Fakhro brings to Hilton Hotels in Beirut over 17 years of experience, out of which 15 years were spent in the GCC with international hotel chains such as Marriott, Starwood and Millennium. During this period, he played strategic roles in launching three hotels in Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.



Taking charge of the commercial department, Fakhro will oversee sales, marketing, banqueting, revenue and reservations. Among his key responsibilities is to reinforce the positioning of Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand and Hilton Beirut Metropolitan Palace as luxury business hotels with the favored venues for conferences and social events in Lebanon.



Previously, Fakhro served as complex director of sales at Marriott International for Aloft Riyadh and Dhahran. He also held various sales, marketing and business strategy roles at Millennium Hotel and Convention Center Kuwait, Al Jahra Copthorne Hotel & Resort, Riyadh Marriott, Renaissance Doha City Center and JW Marriott Kuwait.



After 15 years working in the hospitality industry away from Lebanon it feels good to be back in my home town and even better knowing I'm joining Hilton team, Fakhro said. I truly believe Hilton has the best performing portfolio and is delivering exceptional experiences - every hotel, every guest, every time. Im excited for what the future holds at Hilton, he added.



A Lebanese national, Fakhro holds a bachelors degree in Hotel Management & Tourism from Notre Dame University Louize. - TradeArabia News Service


Famed for the riches of its frankincense groves, coconut-fringed beaches and spectacular ancient landscapes, Salalah, on the southern coast of Dhofar offers intrepid travellers an emerging destination of breathtaking natural beauty.



(TRAVPR.COM) OMAN - June 20th, 2017 - March 2017: Famed for the riches of its frankincense groves, coconut-fringed beaches and spectacular ancient landscapes, Salalah, on the southern coast of Dhofar offers intrepid travellers an emerging destination of breathtaking natural beauty. One of the recently opened five-star hotels in Salalah, Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara brings a new level of luxury and refinement to the region, providing discerning guests with an elegant base from which to discover one of Arabias best-kept secrets.

While visitors flock during khareef, the regions period of intense rainfall that transforms the coast and mountain into tropical jungle, Salalah remains relatively undiscovered throughout the remainder of the year. However, with historic forts and citadels, endless dunes, untouched beaches and vibrant bazaars, and just a short flight from Dubai, this spellbinding Omani enclave is a year-round destination that takes guests on a colourful journey intertwined with history and legend.

Having grown up in a nearby village, the Salalah Guru at Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara has unsurpassed knowledge of the area, giving guests an authentic taste of local life and putting travellers in touch with the surrounding culture, history and landscape. With his assistance, the secrets of the land can be unearthed with a tailor-made itinerary, providing countless stories and the perfect holiday escape for friends and family alike.

Blissful Beaches & Fertile Waters

With miles of dramatic coastline, a multitude of deserted Robin Crusoe style beaches await, ensuring Salalah is a must-see on any beach lovers bucket list. Reached via a steep winding road, the picture-perfect Al Fazayeh Beach is a serene refuge strewn with large granite boulders and sheer cliffs, contrasted by power white sand and cobalt blue waters, with just the odd pod of humpback dolphins or fishing hut for company. Meanwhile, Mughsail Beach is a long stretch of beautiful sand backed by the rugged limestone mass of the Jebel Al Qamar plunging into the sea, with nearby blowholes spitting and hissing as the tidal waters swell into the cliffs cracks below. At Taqah Beach, travellers can watch as villagers pull in nets full of sardines and leave them to dry under the scorching Arabian sun. Brimming with marlin, mahi-mahi and hammour, the waters of Dhofar are ideal for fishing, with a Sea Festival in Taqah every March to celebrate the local livelihood with net making and fish catching competitions alongside music, dancing and traditional food.

Spectacular Landscapes

A place where the only traffic to be found is a caravan of camels wondering across the road, Salalah is the perfect place to get off the beaten track and witness hypnotising landscapes and towering sand dunes. Intrepid travellers can venture into the mountains to spot wildlife including gazelles and striped hyenas, whilst birdwatchers can witness vast flocks of flamingos, herons and egrets. Wadi Darbat offers excellent trekking as it carves its way through the hills, whilst Tawi Atayr (Well of the Birds) and the Taiq Sinkhole are also destinations to tick off the list, the first showing off various dramatic sinkholes that dot the porous limestone of the Salalah mountains, the second, even more impressive, is the worlds third largest sinkhole. Those looking to venture further afield can take a trip to the awe-inspiring Empty Quarter, one of the worlds largest deserts, to camp under the stars and immerse themselves into traditional Bedouin life.

The Frankincense Trail

Home to the revered frankincense tree, the cause for celebration, revelation and trade for millennia, Salalah has an intriguing past steeped in myth and folklore. According to legend, the Queen of Sheba derived great wealth through trading frankincense from her coastal palace, Samhuram at Khor Rori, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, not only is it used in medical practice, its fragrant scent pervades every shop, alley and mosque, with guests able to pick up bags to take home. The story is best told in the Land of Frankincense Museum, located adjacent to the resort, where guests can see an impressive collection of artifacts from all stages of Arabian settlement. Also neighbouring the resort is Al Baleed Archaeological Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site featuring ancient ruins belonging to the 12th century trading port of Zafar. Guests can pay a visit and wonder through the site, before heading out to explore other historical gems including the 19th century Taqah Castle and the Mirbat Fort. Those who would rather shop can visit the chaotic souks to get a authentic taste of local life and browse a treasure trove of Omani art and cultural curios whilst soaking in the heady aroma of frankincense.

After days uncovering the secrets of Salalah, guests can retreat to the luxurious surroundings of Al Baleed Resort Salalah by Anantara and relax in their villa complete with private pool, the first of their kind in Salalah. Inspired by the traditional villages of Dhofar, the resort reflects traditional Omani design whilst incorporating modern and contemporary elements to deliver a stunning retreat by the Arabian Sea. Days can be passed by strolling along empty white-sand beaches, indulging in locally inspired treatments at the acclaimed Anantara Spa, indulging in culinary delights at a choice of three restaurants, or taking part in one of the many watersports on offer.

For more information or to make a reservation, please visit: http://salalah.anantara.com/

Editors Notes:

About Anantara:

Anantara is a luxury hospitality brand for modern travellers, connecting them to genuine places, people and stories through personal experiences, and providing heartfelt hospitality in the worlds most exciting destinations. The collection of distinct, thoughtfully designed luxury hotels and resorts provides a window through which to journey into invigorating new territory, curating personal travel experiences.

From cosmopolitan cities to desert sands to lush islands, Anantara connects travellers to the indigenous, grounds them in authentic luxury, and hosts them with passionate expertise, currently boasting over 35 stunning properties located in Thailand, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, Mozambique, Zambia, the UAE, Qatar and Oman, with a pipeline of future properties across Asia, the Indian Ocean, Middle East and Africa.

For more information on Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, please visit www.anantara.com.

Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/anantara; Twitter and Instagram: @anantara_hotels

About Global Hotel Alliance:

Founded in 2004, and based on the airline alliance model, Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is today the worlds largest alliance of independent hotel brands. GHA uses a shared technology platform to drive incremental revenues and create cost savings for its member brands, and operates a multi-brand loyalty programme, DISCOVERY, which has over eight million members. GHA currently includes more than 30 brands, encompassing over 550 upscale and luxury hotels with 110,000 rooms across 76 different countries. For more information visit gha.com

About Musstir:

Musstir LLC is the property development arm of MB Group which, currently employs more than 6,500 employees of 51 nationalities in 20 countries worldwide and has annual turnover in excess of US$ 1 billion. Managed by a professional team with the necessary technical expertise to handle required hospitality, real estate projects and design management, Musstir is backed by its parent company, MB Holding, an Omani investment group with interests in Oil, Gas, Mining and other investments. Musstirs focus is to develop high-end exclusive luxury real estate and hospitality with several projects under development and construction including brands such as Cheval Blanc (Louis Vuitton Hotel Management), Anantara and PER AQUUM (Minor Hotels).

Musstir has a growing real estate portfolio, aiming to position Musstir as a major regional and international property developer in the near future, including several luxury resort destinations, residential and industrial facilities, with a total of 989 keys and more than OMR 400 Million investment. Musstir is also engaged in the field of facilities management of several real estate properties.

About Omran

Oman Tourism Development Company SAOC (Omran) drives the investment, growth and development of the rapidly growing tourism sector in the Sultanate of Oman. The company is the master developer of major tourism, heritage, urban and mixed-use projects, delivering some of nations most visionary and iconic destinations.

As the leading executive government arm for tourism development, Omran has a proven track record of delivering tourism and related projects to a world-class standard, due to our core philosophy of sustainability, transparency and partnering with renowned regional and international investors. Importantly, by working in close collaboration with the local communities, as well as the public and private sector, sustainability is built into every project. The companys portfolio of projects, asset management expertise and investment experience embraces the unique aspects of Omans culture and heritage, while safeguarding the natural beauty of the country for future generations.

###
Its been two years since a massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated Nepal, reducing thousands of houses and temples to rubble and claiming nearly 9,000 lives.

The earthquake similarly devastated tourism numbers, but Nepal is making a comeback. The country is seeing its tourism numbers get back to pre-earthquake levels, as tourists flock to its mountain trekking trails and famous temples.

The Independent reports Nepals tourism numbers have not only rebounded but are now exceeding 2014s pre-earthquake levels. And thats good news for a country that relies heavily on tourism for its GDP.

Nepal is outstripping growth because of the awareness raised, Michael Edwards, regional director for the UK and Europe, Intrepid Travel, told Travel Weekly. We have put extra resources into promoting the country, but the response from customers has been amazing.

Many monuments are still undergoing or awaiting restoration, but many trekking trails are back open for hikers. There are still many fascinating medieval sites to visit in the Kathmandu Valley, as well as lush jungles and mountaintop tea houses.
Tribune News Service

Panchkula, June 19

An eight-year-old boy was feared drowned in an overflowing seasonal nullah in Indira Colony, opposite Sector 16, Panchkula, this afternoon. The local administration and police officials were pressed into action to rescue the boy, but till the filing of this report, the boy had not been recovered and the search operation was on.

The police said the boy, Sameer Ahmed, a resident of Indira Colony, was playing with his sister and other children during rain in the afternoon. Eyewitnesses said there was a slope outside his house towards the overflowing nullah and he suddenly slipped and fell into it.

Local youths jumped into the nullah, but failed to rescue him. The nullah goes towards Baltana.

His inconsolable mother, Choti Ahmed, said she could not believe that her son slipped into the overflowing nullah. The boys father, Iftekhar Ahmed, a barber at a salon in Sector 14, said he, along with local residents, searched for his son, but failed to trace him.

Residents alleged that the tragedy occurred due to negligence on the part of the district administration and the Haryana Urban Development Authority. There was no fencing around the nullah. Had the authorities installed an iron fencing, the tragedy could have been averted, they said.

A local resident, Baljeet, said they had raised the issue of installation of railings with the authorities a number of times, but to no avail.
SD Sharma

Chandigarh, June 20

The anguish, horror and pangs of Partition were relived during the classic play Jiss Lahore Nahin Dekhea under the direction of acclaimed directors Veena Dhir and Sudesh Sharma on Day 2 of the ongoing fifth TFT summer theatre festival at Tagore Theatre today.

Written by Asgar Wajahat Mirza, the play analysed the fundamental causes of staking of hate and communal divide by cynical political and religious class to generate violence against the credulous masses.

The play opens to the looting, arson and massacre of hapless Hindu denizens in Lahore when both India and newly formed Pakistan were flooded with uprooted, tormented and devastated refugees.

The play describes the plight of Mirza family displaced from Lucknow and allotted a haveli once owned by famous jeweler Ratan. To their utter surprise the old mother of Rattan, believed to be killed, resists the occupation because of her emotional bond with Haveli while Mirzas insist her to migrate to India. This brews contempt and hatred while the evil forces like a Pehalwan appear on the scene only to threatens Mirza for dire consequences if Mai is not ousted.

After an initial grouse, Mirza family reconciles as hatred gets transformed to love and affection.

The Begum offering Namaz with shoes on was not desirable. However, the play was enlivened with powerful portrayal of characters by Souabh ( Maulvi), Rahul Chooudhri ( Shayer Nasir), Mirza Navdeep Singh (Mirza), Navjeet Kaur (Begum), Sarthak Bajaj (Javed) and above all Rajni Bajaj (Mai). Functional sets by Sudesh Sharma and Harwinder Saini recreated the right ambience.

TFT president Madan Sapthu welcomed chief guest Manish Grover, Haryana minister, besides RK Khullar, IAS. Dr KK Khandelwal, IAS, and others honoured the cast.
Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

A scuffle between two Panjab University professors over roof usage in the residential area on the campus will be taken up in the Syndicate meeting on Sunday. It was highlighted in these columns that the fight had reached the Registrar as the professors had refused to settle the issue amicably. A second case of sexual harassment against assistant professor Komal Singh of the public administration department will also be taken up at the meeting.

On June 9, Gurdip Singh of the applied sciences department of the UIET and chairperson of the human genome department Ranvir Singh were called to the Registrars office. The agenda for the Syndicate meeting stated that a committee was formed by the VC to resolve the issue, but Ranvir Singh showed contempt and utter disregard to the panel.

Ranvir had also alleged physical assault by Gurdip which might be forwarded to the police as the university had failed to solve the issue, stated the agenda item. It was recommended that both professors should resolve the issue amicably, failing which their allotment would be cancelled and the complaint would be forwarded to the police.

Komal Singh has already been dismissed from the university as he was found guilty in a sexual harassment case. He was also found guilty in another such case by PU CASH. A complaint was filed by a BSc third year student in April against Komal Singh. The complainant was at the house of Komal Singh when the incident occurred. The complainants witnesses told the committee that he was drunk at the time and that they had informed a security officer about the incident.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 19

Traffic snarls were witnessed on various roads in the tricity due to a downpour today. Several traffic lights conked out, adding to the traffic chaos.

Motorists had a tough time driving around waterlogged roads. Traffic snarls were witnessed on all major roads, including Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg and various roads in southern sectors, including Sectors 34, 35 and 36.

A gridlock was witnessed at the Press light point, Labour Chowk and the Aroma light point. Policemen were seen regulating the traffic at various intersections during rain. It took almost 45 minutes for the situation to normalise.

Panchkula roads waterlogged

After rain, roads in different sectors, colonies and villages in Panchkula were waterlogged. In Sector 16, residents complained that internal roads were inundated because of a blocked drain. Besides, roads in the Industrial Area, Indira Colony and old Panchkula were also waterlogged.
Yogendra Yadav

AS Punjab joins the list of states to declare farm loan waiver, political scales are now heavily tilted in favour of this idea. The government of Telangana, followed by Andhra Pradesh, had taken the lead in announcing loan waiver for farmers. But the latest round  Uttar Pradesh followed by Maharashtra, and now Punjab  has set the stage for a nationwide movement for loan waiver in the runup to the Lok Sabha elections.

At the same time, the world of opinion makers has almost unanimously rejected the idea. A number of economists and policy makers have warned against the spread of this virus. Editorial pages are full of arguments against this mindless populism and compulsions of electoral politics. Bankers have talked about moral hazard that such a decision might invite. Economists worry about its implications for the fiscal health of the governments. Many agricultural experts have described it as a gimmick that would not address the plight of the farmers. The RBI Governor has sounded a warning bell. The Union Finance Minister has washed his hands of the burden of such loan waivers.

Farmer movements tend to attack such arguments for their hypocrisy and as an evidence of political conspiracy against the farmers. Their suspicion is well founded. Did you hear this moral outcry when in 2009 the Manmohan Singh government gave a bailout of Rs 3 lakh crore to the Indian industry in anticipation of a possible effect of global meltdown? Or when the government restructured massive corporate loans on ridiculous terms? Do we hear fiscal warnings as the government considers a bailout to the telecom and power sector even as we debate ethics of loan waiver to the farmers? How come the RBI Governor, who was conspicuous by his silence during demonetisation, found his voice on this issue? Wasnt it the Finance Ministers boss who made this promise of loan waiver in UP?

Yet this is not an answer. Two wrongs do not make a right, as the TV anchors are quick to point out. We must face this fair and square: is farm loan waiver justified? In what follows, I hope to persuade the critics of farm loan waiver, without questioning their integrity.

Much of the criticism of the idea of farm loan waiver stems from asking a wrong question: is loan waiver the solution to the woes of Indian farmers? The obvious answer is no. Waiving of loan may be a full remedy for an industry facing a one-time, unexpected business cycle failure. It cannot solve all problems of the Indian farmer who faces an enduring crisis. Farming is unremunerative, often a loss-making business. Unless we address this fundamental issue of farmers income, mere loan waiver would only postpone the problem and would lead to yet another loan waiver. So, it cannot be anyones case that loan waiver is sufficient. The real question should be: can the crisis of income be resolved fully without wiping out the existing burden of debt? Is the waiver necessary, even if not sufficient?

Let us take up the moral contractual argument first: a loan once taken must be returned. Of course. Contracts should be respected, except when keeping it becomes impossible due to circumstances beyond ones control. Or when the entity is too big to fail. These are precisely the grounds on which bailouts and write-offs are given to big corporations. If this is a fair argument, it applies with greater force in the case of farmers. An overwhelming majority of Indian farmers are in no position to pay back their debts. Their income is below subsistence level, if not negative. This is not because they are lazy or inefficient. They are victims of circumstances beyond their control: adverse terms of trade, indifferent government policies, climate change. And they are surely just too many to be allowed to drown. Enforcing a loan contract in such a situation is inhuman and immoral; it renders the contract infructuous.

We need to take this argument further. Actually the farmer is not just a poor, helpless victim who deserves a waiver for he cannot pay. We need to look at the root cause of this debt trap. The farmer is sunk in loan as his income has not kept pace with his rapidly growing costs and expenses. This is mainly due to state policies over the last five decades. Beginning with the famine of 1966-67, policy makers were focused exclusively on ensuring adequate and cheap supply of foodgrains. This was a laudable objective. But the economic burden of this moral responsibility was transferred to the farmer. Government policies were designed to keep crop prices down, causing havoc to the farmers economy. So, over the last five decades, farmers have subsidised the national economy to the tune of hundreds of lakhs crores. So, the country owes a debt to the farmers. Farmers debt to the banks is a small fraction of this national debt owed to them. Writing off the existing debt is actually a cheaper option for the government. Instead of looking at loan waiver as a dole, it should be seen as partial payment of arrears or gratuity, long over-due.

Finally, let us take the fiscal argument: can we afford it? Well, this is a relative and a political issue. It depends on our priorities. And that depends on who we are, on what is India. Usually, this we is the TV watching, opinion-making class that has no connection with rural India. Even this tiny, but powerful class, must consider the fact that the Indian success story depends on rural consumption. If this we includes all Indians, including majority farmers, the issue of affordability appears in a different light. Surely, if we can afford bullet trains, tax waivers, bailouts, and loan restructuring for corporates and one of the biggest import budget for defence, we can also afford a big, one-time relief to the farmers.

This line of reasoning does not answer all possible questions and objections to farm loan waiver. There are many questions that ought to be considered carefully while designing a waiver: would we end up penalising those farmers who paid their dues in time? How do we prevent rural banking from collapsing in the wake of such a big waiver? How do we persuade any farmer to pay up the next time? How do we save the farmer from debt trap of the private money-lenders? And above all, how do we address the fundamental issue of securing a minimum level of income for the farmers, irrespective of the vagaries of nature and the market? A waiver that does not consider these issues carefully risks being a failure. That indeed is the biggest risk in the current wave of waivers.

That is what I wish to persuade the critics of waivers: instead of discussing rights and wrongs of farm loan waiver, let us shift to discussing when and how of a one-time waiver along with an assured income for the farmers.

yogendra.yadav@gmail.com
New Delhi, June 19

Bodies of premature twin girls were found dumped in a DDA Park in Keshavpuram, Northwest Delhi, a police official said today.

The hands of the babies had tags tied to them that read 'B/O Zohra', said a senior police officer. He said the babies were prematurely born and weighed 450 g.

With just the first name of the babies' mother available, the police have contacted hospitals and nursing homes across the national Capital to identify her, he said.

Till now, no hospital or nursing home has identified the mother.

The bodies were found without clothes in a park near the SDM court in Keshavpuram on the morning of June 16. They had been covered with leaves and left in a pit under the tree, the officer said.

He added that the police were informed about the infants following which they were taken to a hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.

The officer said they have registered a case on the charge of concealment of birth by secret disposal of the body, the maximum punishment for which is a term of two years along with a fine.

The police said apart from the name tags, they have not found any other clue that could help them identify the parents of the girls. There is no CCTV camera footage as well.

The officer said they were probing all angles and were looking into the possibility whether the twins were dumped since they had died after birth.

It is also possible that they might have died after being dumped in the park as they are girls, he said.

They also have not ruled out the possibility of an unwed mother dumping the girls in the park.

The police have preserved the bodies at the mortuary and have taken their DNA samples. The postmortem is yet to be conducted, he added.  PTI
THE dazzling Paris international air show provided the perfect setting for a head-turning deal between the Tatas and Lockheed Martin for manufacturing the iconic F-16 fighters in India. The Tatas, feeders to overseas military aviation supply chains, will be pitted against the Adanis who have partnered with a Swedish firm. More corporate houses, among them those of the two Ambani brothers and the Mahindras, may announce foreign tie-ups as they jockey for a $20 billion order for combat jets. The ongoing scramble is because of the Indian Governments anxiety over all-time low force levels. The Indian Air Force Chief has candidly admitted he doesnt have the numbers to fully execute a two-front war.

The record depletion of the IAFs fleet is hardly breaking news. The trend has been visible for more than a decade: the DRDO-piloted light fighter Tejas is still undergoing birth pangs and the Modi government messed up the purchase of multi-role fighters. The IAF primarily banks on the Sukhoi-30s but serviceability issues keep many of them grounded. Other countries, including China, are inducting stealth technology jets but India is yet to firm up even its partnership with Russia for the next generation fighter. The absence of a full-time Defence Minister and Indias growing strategic proximity with the US are also supplementary causes behind the continuing neglect of the IAF three years after this government took power.

Indias military aviation has made a quantum leap in its surveillance and heavy lift capabilities. But these were simpler, off-the-shelf purchases that the seller was happy to execute. Time is not an ally for the IAF as it tries to beef up its combat fleet. Manufacturing high performance fighter jets is an altogether different kettle of fish. It involves a bewildering number of component suppliers and tough IPR laws. The most important criteria for the transfer of such closely-guarded technology is a close politico-military relationship. PM Modi will have to be demonstrative about this aspect during his forthcoming US visit to convince its lawmakers to loosen export control laws. That would, in turn, have implications for Indo-Russia defence ties. The announcement may have been the easiest part.
New Delhi, June 20

A former Army man has moved the National Green Tribunal against the Haryana Governments sanction to chop trees in the eco-sensitive Aravalli Hills prompting the green panel to seek a response from the Centre.

A vacation Bench headed by Justice UD Salvi issued notices to the Environment Ministry, the Haryana Government, the National Capital Region Planning Board, Ajay Enterprises Pvt Ltd, Bharti Land Limited and others.

The green panel asked them to file their replies before July 3, the next date of hearing.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by Lt Gen Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi (retd), who alleged that the state government granted permission to two companies for felling trees for developing a housing society in Sarai Khawaja village in Faridabad without obtaining forest clearance under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

The plea raises the issue of direction to grant permission for felling of trees to Bharti Land Ltd in collaboration with Ajay Enterprises Pvt Ltd without obtaining forest clearance for the area which is recorded as gair mumkin pahar (land unfit for cultivation) and forms part of the Aravalli Hills and considered as deemed forest.

According to the plea, filed through advocate Meera Gopal, the two firms had approached the Divisional Forest Officer of Faridabad seeking permission for felling approximately 1,000 trees on the land acquired by them, measuring 52.2991 acres, in Sarai Khawaja village of Faridabad.

It contended that the Deputy Conservator of Forests of Faridabad wrote to the Conservator of Forests, South Circle, Gurugram, on September 30, 2015, that such permission could not be granted as it formed part of the Aravallis which were ecologically sensitive.

However, in another letter dated April 24, the Additional Chief Secretary, Forest Department, wrote to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests directing him to grant necessary approval for felling of mesquite trees to Bharti Land Ltd.

Direct an independent team of the Environment Ministry, Forest Survey of India and the Haryana Forest Department to assess the number and size of tree species and other bushes/shrubs actually present on the ground on the land recorded as gair mumkin pahar, extent of deforestation and conduct a satellite-based assessment, the plea said.

It has also sought directions to the Haryana Government to declare all Aravalli hills, including areas recorded gair mumkin pahar, as confirmed natural conservation zone, based on their Aravalli status alone, as shown in the Regional Plan-2021 and Haryana Sub-Regional Plan-2021 and to prepare a village-wise list of khasra numbers of such areas.  PTI
Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, June 20

Former Chief Minister PK Dhumal today said that CM Virbhadra Singh should resign and seek a fresh mandate after Shimla MC results.

Talking to mediapersons following the BJPs victory procession after its candidates were elected for the post of Mayor and Deputy Mayor, Dhumal said, The Congress-led government has lost the moral right to stay in power. The party suffered defeat in 59 Assembly segments in last Lok Sabha elections, followed by losses in Sujanpur and Bhoranj by-elections and now MC elections. The BJP secured a lead of 655 votes in Shimla rural constituency, which proves that the CM has lost the mandate to govern.

The press conference was attended by state BJP president Satpal Satti, Rajiv Bindal, Suresh Bhardwaj, Chopal MLA Balbir Verma and the newly-elected Mayor and Deputy Mayor, along with councillors.

Dhumal blamed poor governance for jaundice outbreak and failure to start the Kol Dam Water Scheme for last four years.

Replaying to a query that BJP-rebel Rakesh Kumar Sharma was made the Deputy Mayor while ignoring other candidates, Dhumal quipped, It was ghar wapsi of a BJP worker and there should be no problem for any one if the party has made him Deputy Mayor. He also said that it would have been difficult for the wrest the top posts without the support of the Independent candidate.
Amit Khajuria

Tribune News Service

Jammu, June 20

The first batch of pilgrims for the Amarnath yatra will depart from the Jammu base camp on June 28 under tight security. All arrangements have been made by the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) and the state government for the smooth conduct of the annual 40-day pilgrimage.

Security agencies are also on their toes to ensure safe and secure pilgrimage to the shrine located in south Kashmir. While the yatra will start on June 29, the first batch of pilgrims will be flagged off by Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh from Jammu on June 28.

In a security review meeting chaired by Inspector General of Police SD Singh Jamwal on Monday, all agencies were told to remain on their toes till the yatra was over.

In view of the prevailing law and order situation in Kashmir and tension along the Line of Control and International Border, the agencies have been instructed to remain extra vigilant along the border and the highway in Kashmir.

Security arrangements have been made. The deployment of personnel will be done within a couple of days, said Ashkoor Wani, DIG, Jammu-Kathua Range.

Security agencies from the Army and the local police have been roped in. The Army, the BSF and the police of border districts have been instructed to take anti-infiltration measures, he added.

The DIG said this year the security deployment would be increased along the route. Preparations have been made at the Jammu base camp at Bhagwati Nagar here also. This is the place from where all pilgrims leave for the Valley for the yatra. The Yatri Niwas at Bhagwati Nagar has been cordoned off by security agencies. The district administration has ensured basic facilities for the pilgrims.

Arrangements have been made and senior officers have been appointed at Yatri Niwas to ensure basic facilities for the pilgrims, said Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, Deputy Commissioner, Jammu.

The SASB had authorised 437 branches of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Punjab National Bank and Yes Bank across the country for registration of the yatra this year. However, the provision has also been made for on-the-spot registration in Jammu for those pilgrims who do not have advance registration.

Token counters have been established at Sangam Resort near the Jammu Tawi railway station for on-the-spot registration.
Mona

Yoga is not new to City Beautiful. From early morning sessions in parks to corporate modules, Chandigarhians have embraced its numerous forms with an open heart. As the world gears up for International Yoga Day, we talk to trainers, who have been imparting their knowledge for decades, to find whether yoga is being channelised to its true potential!

Apply the awareness

I appreciate that many people in the city dedicate an hour to yoga. What I am concerned about is if they are following the awareness thus gained in their homes and offices; in all walks of life!

Compared to other cities, Chandigarh has many takers for yoga. On the other hand, right from PGI to ordinary clinics are filled to their capacity. So, while there is awareness that yoga is good for one, not many are practising it. Even when you notice the traffic or markets, people are in a rush, that composure is missing which is a natural outcome of yog.  Balvinder Acharya

Be sensitive to yourself

Not many men show up for yoga for there is a preconceived notion that it requires flexibility and women are more flexible than men. Where it fails is that strength and flexibility are the same, take for example gold  its strength lies in its malleability.

The very first understanding of yoga is to be sensitive to oneself so that you are not looking for a guru outside always. While it is heartening that yoga is being lapped up by people from different age groups and different backgrounds, much to my dismay it is creating a dichotomy between the body and mind or body and spirit. Yog means taking ones physical, energetic, metal, intellectual and spiritual concurrently, if someone is not doing that and naming it yog, its sinful.  Meenakshi Sud

Do away with the frills

Now is the time when the entire world is looking at us to lead on and unless we tap the spiritual aspect of yog, we are only going to be making fool of ourselves.

Yoga has been way of life for us Indians. What bothers me, however, is the materialistic aspect over spiritual. Suddenly yoga today is all about fancy mats, yoga pants, yoga accessories, yoga photo-shoots with a stunning backdrop. While in the West, spiritually is the main stay of yoga, here we are shying away from it. When knowledge is just a click away, its about time that we went back to our scriptures  Gita and Upnishads and understand this ancient way in entirety.  Jasvir Kaur Chahal

Not without meditation

If yog is practised on whole, it shall have tremendous impact on the life quality of the people of City Beautiful.

Chandigarhians have been trendsetters and followers of International trends, be it fashion, food, music or yoga. Over the years, they have gradually seen yoga coming out of yog and warmly accepted its transformed forms. The city has a huge fan following for traditional yoga, power yoga, kundilini yoga, lifestyle yoga or hot yoga. Gone are the days when yoga was practiced only in the early morning but now the classes are available in different time slots . Doubtless that yoga classes in the city meet international standards but the focus of city people is on single aspect of it and they have missed out the concept of yoga as a whole. Meditation is the soul of it. Just focusing on weight loss through physical aspect of yoga has left no room for meditation in most of the classes of the city.  Anil juneja

mona@tribunemail.com
Kota, Jun 20

A 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped by her father at Haliya village in Rajasthan's Baran district, said police.

The girl was raped about 8-10 days ago by her father, who has gone absconding since the police registered a case against him on a complaint by the victim's grandmother on Sunday, a police official said.

The girl, who has two younger sisters, had lost her mother about 10 years ago, said Brijraj Nama, the station house officer at Chiparoad police station.

Over a week ago, the man raped his minor daughter at night while her two sisters were asleep, the SHO said, adding the victim narrated the incident the next morning to her grandmother who lives in a separate house in the same village.

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The grandmother at the time did not complain the matter to the police but kept the girl with her at her home, he said.

On Saturday, the man came to his mother-in-law's house and insisted on taking his daughter with him. Yesterday, she approached the police station and lodged a complaint against his son-in-law of raping his daughter, the SHO said.

The officer said the medical examination of the girl has been conducted.

On the complaint by the child's maternal grandmother, a case of rape under section 376 of IPC and provisions of POSCO Act was lodged against the 35-year-old accused, said the SHO.

PTI
Bhopal, June 19

Three debt-ridden farmers allegedly committed suicide in Madhya Pradesh in the past 24 hours, taking the number in the state since June 8 to 15.

In Sehore alone, the home district of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, five suicides have been reported.

Bansilal Meena, a 55-year-old farmer from Jamunia Khurd village in Sehore district, allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself from the ceiling at his home this morning, the police said.

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Meenas son Manoj said his father owned nine acre land and was unable to repay a loan of Rs 11 lakh. My father got a well dug up this year but it was dry. Besides, he was unable to repay the loan worth Rs 11 lakh taken from banks and private money lenders, he said. Sehore Assistant Superintendent of Police AP Singh said a case had been registered in connection with the farmers death.

Another farmer Jiwan Singh Meena (35) committed suicide yesterday by hanging himself from a tree at his farm in Sayar Bamor village in Vidisha district.

Tehsildar Santosh Bitoliya claimed that Meena took the extreme step following a scuffle with his wife. However, a family member of Meena said he was worried about the future of his three daughters amid his spiralling debt.

In a separate incident, farmer Pyarelal Oad (60) hanged himself to death in Neemuch districts Pipliya Vyas village on Sunday afternoon. Oads son Dev Karan said his father was under stress as he was unable to repay a loan of Rs 2.5 lakh taken from a nationalised bank.

City police station in charge Hitesh Patil said a case has been registered in this connection.

Neemuch Collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident and extended financial help of Rs 20,000 to the family.

Former MP and Congress national secretary Meenakshi Natarajan today visited the village and met Oads family. Madhya Pradesh is leading in farmers suicides after Maharashtra, according to the National Crime Record Bureau. It is sad that farmers are taking such steps due to increasing debt. They are also not getting proper prices for their produce in the state, Natarajan said.

MP recently witnessed farmers stir over loan waiver, farm produce prices and other demands. The death of five farmers in police firing in Mandsaur district on June 6 during the unrest triggered a series of protests in various parts of the state. Since June 8, 15 farmers have committed suicide in Sehore, Hoshangabad, Raisen, Dhar and Vidisha districts.  PTI
Beijing, June 20

China on Tuesday hinted at blocking a UN ban on Pakistan-based JeM leader Masood Azhar once again, saying that disagreements continue to prevail in the UN Committee related to terrorism issues in this particular case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang's comments came in response to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month.

China says that solid evidence is required to implicate the JeM leader. India has been asserting that it produced "solid evidence" for securing a ban on Azhar and actions of Pakistan-based terrorist is well documented.

"We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld," Geng told media briefing here.

Geng was responding to a question whether there can be a forward movement over China's repeated technical holds to block India's move to get a UN ban on Azhar.

"At present, some members have disagreement over the listing matter. And China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue," he said.

Beijing put a technical hold to a move in the UN by the US and other countries to declare Azhar a terrorist for his role in the Pathankot terror attack.

Last year, China had put technical holds on India's application to designate Azhar as a terrorist.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, who held strategic dialogue with Chinese officials in February here, said, "in the case of Azhar, Jaish itself is proscribed under 1267. So the proof is in 1267 committee action. In this case what he has done, extent of his actions are well documented."

"It is not that the burden of proof is on India to convince. The sponsors (US and other countries) seem to be very well convinced otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to move the proposal," he had said, referring to the US, the UK and France pressing for action on Azhar.

The 1267 Committee is consist of members of the UN Security Council.

Geng's response to the Azhar issue followed a two-day meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers who took a strong stand on countering terrorism and working out international mechanisms to curb terrorism.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, who took part in the meeting, said BRICS should back a comprehensive convention on terrorism in the UN shedding ambiguity about good and bad terrorists.

"We have a consensus among the BRICS countries that all (kinds of) terrorism must be condemned and various measures must be taken to cooperate so that terrorism does not spread and harm any one of our countries," Singh told a joint press conference with BRICS Foreign Ministers here yesterday.

Geng said today that BRICS countries had a working group on counter terrorism. China shares common position on the need for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

"As for convention on counter terrorism, I believe China and other BRICS counties have a similar position...We hope UN General Assembly can pass a compressive convention on terrorism...," he added. PTI
Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

A day after BRICS foreign ministers came together to condemn terrorism, China today stuck to its old tune of Masood Azhar and said its position on the issue remained unchanged. For India, it also translates into being back to square one as far as China is concerned.

The communique issued yesterday after the meeting between BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) ministers was emphatic in its resolve to combat terrorism.

However, in Beijing today Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said, At present, some members still have a disagreement over the listing matter.

Geng was responding to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month. The 1267 Committee comprises members of the UN Security Council. Interestingly, Jaish is, as an organisation, proscribed under 1267. India, in the recent past, has made several attempts to get Masood, chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), listed as an international terrorist at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

China has always vetoed any such move citing lack of evidence, but in effect really standing up for its all-weather friend Pakistan. Azhar is accused by India of being the mastermind behind the Pathankot attacks. We have talked about our position many times. We believe the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld, Geng said. China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties.

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For India, the challenge of going ahead remains China vis-a-vis Pakistan. Whether it is the matter of getting Masood Azhar designated as terrorist or India seeking a berth in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the main stumbling block for India is China. In the UNSC, India finds itself facing a defeat time and again because of Chinas veto power. And in matters of NSG that works on the basis of consensus among member states, the problem again is an adamant China.

Chinas statement should come as a wakeup call to the South Block mandarins. With a USD 50 billion Chinese investment in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor also happening, for India the worry is a growing China-Pakistan nexus where Indias interests are getting squeezed out.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

Symbolising the collective contribution made by political parties, past governments, states and lawmakers over the years in making the Goods and Services Tax (GST) a reality, the official launch of the new tax regime will take place at midnight on June 30 in the Central Hall of Parliament.

The biggest tax reform will see the official launch of GST mirror the time and setting of the Independence on August 15, 1947.

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Giving details of the switchover to GST at the stroke of midnight, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the hour-long function would reflect the contribution made by different political parties and states to the new tax regime.

President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the gathering in Parliament in which two films on GST will be shown. Also on the dais will be former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, apart from Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

All Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Members, Chief Ministers and state Finance Ministers and Chairmen and members  past and present  of the GST Council and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, too, had been invited, Jaitley said.

The Finance Minister said the GST was already showing results in augmenting revenue with undeclared goods coming into the system as indicated by tax receipts in the months before the GST rollout. He said in the long run, it would lead to a rise in revenues of the Centre and states as the size of the formal economy and the base of tax assessees grew.

GST being a more efficient system and prone to checking would also result in better tax compliance, the Finance Minister stressed. However, in the short term, there would be some challenges in the implementation of GST, he pointed out, adding that the government would not blink on its rollout from July 1.

Asked about industry and small and medium enterprises not being prepared for the switchover to GST, Jaitley said July 1 as the rollout date had been announced well in advance and so nobody had any business not to be ready. He said 65 lakh tax payers who had registered on GST were not complaining but a few people who had not were taking to Twitter.

Meanwhile, Cabinet Secretary PK Sinha today reviewed the preparedness for the GST rollout and expressed his satisfaction over the way things were moving in the right direction.
New Delhi, June 20

The electoral college numbers seem to be stacked in favour of NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and he may well end up getting more votes than incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee and his predecessor Pratibha Patil.

With Shiv Sena on Tuesday joining other NDA allies in backing Kovind and Odishas ruling Biju Janata Dal(BJD), the YSR Congress and Telanganas ruling TRS too extending support, the 71-year-old Dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.

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The BJP may also seek the support of rival factions of AIADMK or DMKparties dominating Tamil Nadu.

The Opposition parties are meeting on June 22 to decide on fielding a consensus candidate for the presidential election.

Read  Presidential poll: Narayanan to Kovind, a tale of 2 Dalit leaders

Opposition likely to field own consensus candidate: Left

CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told PTI in Hyderabad that the Opposition parties would certainly field a nominee.

The total strength of the electoral college which votes to elect the President comprises all elected MPs and members of legislative assemblies of all states and UTs of Delhi and Puducherry.

The total comes to 10,98,903 votes with each MP carrying a vote value of 708. The vote weight of an MLA depends on the population of the state he or she represents.

A candidate needs 50 per cent plus votes to win the poll.

Halfway mark comes to 5,49,452.

The NDA, led by the BJP, has 5,37,683 votes and this is including the Shiv Sena, and the shortage is around 12,000 votes.

But the promised support from the BJD, the TRS and the YSR Congress and likely backing from the AIADMK could offset the shorfall of the presidential votes by a substantial margin.

The voting is through a secret ballot, and party whip does not apply.

In the 2012 elections, Pranab Mukherjee garnered 7,13,763 votes while Pratibha Patil secured 6,38,116 votes in the previous polls in 2007. Both Mukherjee and Patil were Congress nominees.  PTI
Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

The Opposition was in a huff today over the BJPs surprise move to field Ram Nath Kovind, a senior Dalit leader from Uttar Pradesh, as its presidential nominee for the July 17 election.

Barring the Left, which continued to press for a contest, rest of the Opposition remained silent on its strategy. The larger Opposition ranks appeared scattered with no official word from either the JD-U or the BSP regarding what they want to do after leaders of the two parties expressed happiness over Kovinds nomination.

Amid weak Opposition unity, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad rushed to Patna today. Though the Congress officially said he had gone to attend an Iftar organised by a Bihar MLC, the buzz was Azad would talk to Bihar Chief Minister and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad about the future strategy ahead of the planned Opposition meeting on the issue on Thursday.

Nitish had yesterday said he was happy that Kovind had been named the official presidential candidate but stopped short of committing support to Kovind. The JD-U will meet tomorrow to take a stand on the issue.

Before that happens, Azad may speak to Nitish in an effort to keep the Opposition together. This is critical considering Nitish had initiated the Opposition talk on a joint presidential candidate in January.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad in all likelihood will take an anti-BJP stand. Within the Congress, meanwhile, voices emerged, though privately, over whether a contest was a must for the sake of a contest, especially after the government had announced a Dalit candidate.

The majority view in the Congress, however, is that a contest is crucial to send a message of solidarity to an arrogant government, which failed to consult the Opposition despite promising to do so. Azad officially lamented the governments unilateral move.

The Congress feels challenged by BSP chief Mayawati who said it would be difficult for her to oppose Kovind unless the Opposition too fielded an SC candidate.

This means the Opposition must go back to the table to decide whether to field Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Lefts previous choice, or a Dalit leader against Kovind.

Left leaders, meanwhile, said they were no longer insistent on Gandhi as a candidate. We are not insisting on GK Gandhi. We will be fine with a consensus Opposition candidate but we want a contest, CPIs Sudhakar Reddy told The Tribune.
New Delhi/Lucknow, June 20

The stage has been all set for grand celebrations of the third edition of International Yoga Day on Wednesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath slated to lead thousands of yoga enthusiasts here.

The main event of the celebration is to be held in Lucknow's sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar Ground under a partly overcast sky. The Met Office, however, has forecast chances of rain are low.

Some 51,000 persons, including several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, are expected to take part in the mass yoga demonstration in the Uttar Pradesh capital, where rehearsals have been going on for over a month.

Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik inspected the overall preparations, including the security arrangements, for the mega event, and attended full-dress rehearsals at the spruced up ground. Modi reached Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon.

According to private weather forecaster Accuweather, the sky will be "partly cloudy" and the mercury will hover between 28 and 30 degrees Celsius in Lucknow on Wednesday morning. The chances of rain are less as precipitation level will go down from 28 per cent to 20 per cent from 6 am to 8 am, but humidity will be around 80 to 90 per cent.

An ardent advocate of yoga, Modi during his monthly radio talk "Mann Ki Baat" had asked three generations of the families to do yoga together on the International Yoga Day  observed globally on June 21. The United Nations declared it on December 11, 2014, following a resolution moved by India and co-sponsored by a large number of nations.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015.

Yoga day events will also be organised in all states with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry directing universities and educational institutions to ensure elaborate arrangements to mark the event.

Modi's ministers will also perform yoga asanas across the country.

While Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will head the events in Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will preside over the celebrations in Manipur.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu is scheduled to lead the event at the national capital where at least seven main events are being organised by civic bodies and yoga organisations.

In Delhi, the main event will be held at the Cannaught Place. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will also hold an event to mark the day with faculty members and students performing yoga.

To familiarise citizens with yoga and its asanas, the Ayush Ministry had started one-month free yoga camp through the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy in almost every district of the country. The training programme started on May 21.

The central government has also launched a mobile application to enable people to share their day's experience with the ancient Indian practice of physical, mental and spiritual union.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan launched the 'Celebrating Yoga' app that also provides information to users about studies conducted on yoga by the ministry.

However, Wednesday being a working day, some may not be able to attend the mass yoga participation programmes.

Crediting the Modi government for popularising the practice across the globe, Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSSI) opined that the day should be celebrated on a Sunday instead of a working day.

"The government has of course done much to make it popular worldwide. Indian tradition of yoga is now recognised world over and millions of people practice it," YSSI Chairman told IANS.

He, however, suggested that it should not be done on a working day but on a Sunday either or before June 21. "This will enable the working population to participate." The day will also be celebrated across the globe at Indian missions and other places. Some countries have already observed the day while others plan the celebrations in coming days as Wednesday is a working day.

Some 1,000 Chinese yoga practitioners are expected to celebrate the day in Beijing, following a week of events across the country.

India's Permanent Mission to the UN as well as the Indian Consulate have also planned several events to mark the day.

A "Yoga Session with Yoga Masters" is planned for Tuesday at the UN with mass participation of diplomats, staff and visitors.

New York's Times Square, billed as the crossroads of the world, is holding the annual "Mind over Madness Yoga" celebrations on Wednesday, which is the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere.

In Israel, a yoga event will be held at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Thousands are expected to join in.

The Indian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago has already announced 12-day activities to mark the International Yoga Day, which includes 108 Surya Namaskars among others.  IANS
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 19

The Opposition intends to contest the presidential election despite the BJP-led NDA springing a surprise in deciding to field Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as its candidate, so it seems. Soon after the BJP made its move, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad called a meeting of the Opposition parties here on Thursday. The mood is to pick a person (for the July 17 election) who can pose an effective challenge to Kovind, a Dalit.

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Opposition leaders are not amused at the BJPs unilateral move to announce its candidate, especially after a panel of Union Ministers reached out to them, projecting it as a consensus-building process. When (Home Minister) Rajnath Singh and (Information and Broadcasting Minister) M Venkaiah Naidu met (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi, we had expected some names for discussion. But they gave no names. We had all hope that before making an announcement, they would discuss some names, Azad, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said.

Sitaram Yechury, the CPM general secretary, maintained the BJP leaders had said they would get back after a name was finalised. They never got back and today announced Kovind's name.

CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy, pointing out that Kovind too was from the RSS ranks, said: He was president of the Dalit BJP Morcha, a Sangh Parivar organisation. Definitely, we will put up a candidate. Anybody from the RSS...we will fight. The Opposition will have to recast its strategy. Indications are it could field a Dalit to blunt the BJP move and this could put BSP chief Mayawati in a quandary. Sources in the Opposition said former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar could be a candidate. Her name had sprung up once during discussions when the Left suggested Gopal Gandhis candidature.

In the changed circumstances, a formidable leader of political standing will be required to force a contest. In this whip-less election, the BJP is confident of bridging some 1.5 per cent gap in the 1,098,000 votes of the electoral college. The last date for nominations is June 28. In the event of a contest, the result will be out on July 20. The tenure of President Pranab Mukherjee ends on July 24.
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

Hailing the farm loan waiver announced by Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh as path breaking, state Congress chief Sunil Jakhar today asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to follow suit and ease agricultural distress.

Addressing reporters here today, Jakhar said, If debt-ridden Punjab can waive farm loans, what stops the prosperous BJP states from doing the same?

Jakhar had especially come down to Delhi to make the announcement that, he said, would directly benefit 10.25 lakh farmers in Punjab.

The loans we have waived are crop loans. The entire loan will be underwritten by the government and repaid to banks, Jakhar said. He did not say how.

Asked why he was in Delhi to repeat an announcement made yesterday by Amarinder Singh, Jakhar said, Because this issue has national implications. When Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi led a delegation of our leaders to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he had gone to request farm loan waiver for the entire country and not just for Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, where farmers had signed requests for the move. Punjab as you know is financially constrained and yet we have taken this much needed step by setting aside Rs 1,500 crore following an interim report on the matter. Why is the BJP escaping its responsibility? Is the Prime Minister awaiting 2019 so that he can take political mileage from a farm loan waiver move?

Jakhar also dared the BJP government to use windfall gains made on account of dip in crude oil prices to waive farm loans across the country. That windfall gain amounts to Rs 3 lakh crore and can be used for a farm loan waiver, he said.
New Delhi, June 20

Like the first Dalit president K R Narayanan, NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind has risen from a modest background but the two Dalit leaders took different paths to reach the zenith of their public life.

The election of Kovind, 71, as India's 14th President is a virtual certainty with several non-NDA parties too lending their support to BJP's surprise candidature of the low-profile dalit leader and a former lawyer.

While it is the right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which chose Kovind, Narayanan, a diplomat-turned-politician, became vice-president in 1992 and the president in 1997 courtesy active support from the Left, which had proposed his name first. Kovind's candidature was announced yesterday.

If Narayanan entered politics from the top-a noted diplomat he was asked by Indira Gandhi to join the Congress and contested his first Lok Sabha election at the age of 64 in 1984, Kovind has risen through the BJP's ranks and held various organisational posts.

The Dalit leader from Kerala won three back-to-back elections and was union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Kovind lost two elections -- one Lok Sabha and one assembly -- but the BJP ensured his political rise by sending him to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and then in 2000.

It is said the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao did not make Narayanan a minister because he was seen as too "Left-leaning" but the Left parties ensured that he became the vice-president as a trade-off for their support to Shankar Dayal Sharma's presidential bid in 1992.

As the vice-president, he was the natural choice for the president's post in 1997 and all major parties, from the Congress to the BJP, supported him.

Shiv Sena, which has now voiced its reservations to Kovind's candidature, had projected T N Seshan as its candidate who lost in a one-sided contest.

Educated in London School of Economics and an IFS officer, Narayanan's qualifications may be more impressive but Kovind too was a diligent student and had reportedly cracked the prestigious UPSC examination but opted out as he did not get the service of his choice.

He chose to practise law and was the central government's standing counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993.

Coming from Uttar Pradesh, a hotbed of caste politics and a state with maximum cases of atrocities against Dalits, Kovind has also been a champion of SC/ST rights and had taken up their issues at various fora.

As a Rajya Sabha MP, he is said to have lobbied hard for the passage of three amendments in the first NDA government to get some "anti-SC/ST" orders passed by the previous government annulled. Dalit rights bodies had said those orders adversely affected their interests.

There is also a stark difference in political environments under which both leaders rose to the top post.

The period between 1997 and 2002 was a time of seismic political churn as the BJP, then the main opposition, was a rising force while the so called secular front of the Congress and the Janata parivar was on a decline.

Kovind will take to office when the BJP is firmly entrenched in power and there is little instability of the kind which often confronted Narayanan, who had dissolved the Lok Sabha twice.

The leader from Kerala, who died in 2005 at the age of 85, distinguished himself by returning twice union cabinet's recommendations to dismiss elected state governments, sending a firm message that he was no 'rubber stamp President.

First, he did so when I K Gujral was the prime minister and the union cabinet sent him a proposal to dismiss the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

He did so again a year later in 1998, this time sending back the Vajpayee cabinet's recommendation to dismiss the Rabri Devi government. Both times he went by the book and won praise.

Kovind comes to the highest office after earning praise from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a political rival to the BJP, for his work as a governor.

Kovind brings to the table not just a marginalised caste background but also a clean image, solid if not spectacular compared at least to Narayanan's educational accomplishments, proven experience, as a governor and MP, in handling constitutional matters, and a disciplined political career devoid of the usual excesses.

But Narayanan, son of an "ayurvedic" practitioner always declined to draw special attention to caste as a factor in his election.

"Please do not overemphasise my caste background," Narayanan asked reporters during the run-up to the 1992 vice-presidential elections. "A creature of circumstances," was how Narayanan called himself.

As a lower caste member of Kerala society, he overcame poverty and public humiliation to become the top student in his masters degree examination in English literature in 1943.

He tried journalism in New Delhi before securing a scholarship to the London School of Economics. On his return to India in 1948 he was inducted into the foreign service and sent to Burma (now Myanmar) as a diplomat.

He was ambassador to Thailand, China and the United States before the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked him to enter politics. He was also vice-chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

It was during Narayanan's time in Beijing that political, economic and trade normalisation was established between India and China.

Narayanan, named minister of science and technology in Rajiv Gandhis cabinet in 1985, had also earned an image of being a "clean politician."  PTI
Coimbatore/Kolkata, June 20

Absconding former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was on Tuesday night arrested by the West Bengal CID from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

We arrested former high court judge Karnan at around 6.45 pm from a private resort at Malumichampatti in Coimbatore, a senior officer of the CID told PTI in Kolkata.

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Karnan (62), who retired from service on June 12, had been hiding in the resort for the last few days and tried to resist the team of CID officers from West Bengal when it went there to arrest him.

He (Karnan) resisted our officers and there was an argument also. Despite that, we arrested him, he said, adding that the former judge will be produced in a court in Chennai tomorrow before being taken to Kolkata.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore, around 550 km from Chennai, for the past three days and traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls.

The police in Tamil Nadu gave the technical support to trace his whereabouts, officials in Coimbatore said.

The apex court had sentenced Karnan to six months jail for contempt of court on May 9, when he was a serving judge of the Calcutta High Court.

Karnan, evading arrest since May 9, became the first high court judge to have retired as a fugitive.

A customary farewell by the high court administration to the retiring judge could not be held in the Calcutta High Court as Karnan was not present.

A farewell given by the administration is held, which is attended by judges and senior lawyers and speeches are made as per the custom. This was not held as he was not present, Calcutta High Court Registrar General Sugato Majumdar had said.

A seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, had asked the West Bengal director general of police to take Karnan, who has been on a warpath with the Supreme Court for the last several months, into custody.

He has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.  PTI
Rajmeet Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 19

Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today announced a waiver of crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers (up to 5 acres) and a flat Rs 2 lakh relief for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of their loan amount, paving the way for a total waiver of agricultural debts.

Making the announcement in the Punjab Assembly, the CM said the move would benefit 10.25 lakh farmers of the states 18.5 lakh farming families, including 8.75 lakh farmers with land-holding up to 5 acres. The initiative would provide double the relief announced by Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, Capt Amarinder pointed out.

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The decision is based on the interim report of an expert group, headed by eminent economist Dr T Haque, which was tasked with suggesting ways and means to help the states distressed farming community. To provide relief to the families of farmers who had committed suicide, the Chief Minister said the government had decided to take over their outstanding crop loan from institutional sources and to raise ex gratia from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

In case of loans raised from non-institutional sources, the government has decided to review the Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act to provide relief through debt reconciliation and settlement mutually acceptable to the lender and the borrower.

The CM asked the Speaker to set up a five-member committee to visit families of suicide victims, ascertain the reasons for the suicides and suggest steps to prevent these. He told the Assembly that his government had already decided to repeal Section 67-A of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, to end auction (kurki) of farmers land.

Meanwhile, the government has disbanded truck unions across the state. In the recent past, several Congress leaders have had bloody feuds with their rivals over wresting control of these unions.

The CM also announced a freeze on power tariff for all types of industry at Rs 5 per unit  one of the poll promises of the Congress government.

CM Sets example

The Punjab CM appealed to well-to-do farmers to give up power subsidy voluntarily. To set an example, he announced to give up subsidy on his own farm and appealed to his colleagues to do likewise.
Vibha Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 20

With the Shiv Sena falling in line on its presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, the ruling BJP has closed the last door on an already-divided Opposition. After playing hard ball yesterday, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today announced support for the NDA nominee.

The decision marks a major turnaround in the turbulent BJP-Sena relationship given its current status and the fact that in the past two elections the Sena had supported the Congress-led UPA choices. Sources say had the Sena not agreed to Kovind, it could very well had been curtains for the NDA alliance in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, the BJP is expected to complete the nomination formalities for Kovind by June 23, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarks on a foreign tour. Assembly legislators and Members of Parliament landed in the Capital to participate in the procedure of proposing and seconding the four sets of nomination papers the party has prepared and residences of senior leadersUnion ministers Anantha Kumar and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, BJP chief whip Rakesh Singh and Kota MP Om Birlaremained abuzz with activity throughout the day

With vote strength of 25,893 in the Electoral College, the Sena is a significant player, but BJP leaders were confident of Kovind winning, with or without its support. After all other allies, minus the Sena, and also several Opposition parties expressed interest in the BJPs choice, party leaders claimed close to 6.5 lakh of the 10,98,903 votes (total value of 4896 electors in the Electoral College) in support.

Soon after the nomination procedure gets completed, BJPs President-nominee Kovind is expected to embark on canvassing, visiting states and calling on electors and parties.
Chandigarh, June 20

The Punjab Government will provide free textbooks to all students, and introduce pre- primary classes, nursery and LKG, in government schools from the next academic session as part of its sweeping educational reforms.

It will also provide free Internet service in 13,000 primary schools and all the 48 government colleges.

Also read: Every 2nd boy, 4th girl fails in Punjab +2

Punjab govt to transfer school principals with less than 20% result

This was announced in the state Assembly on Monday by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh who said his government would accord the highest priority to school education and, notwithstanding the constraint of resources, seek to increase budgetary support to the education sector.

Five new colleges will be set up in the current financial year, he said.

He claimed that his government had inherited a virtually collapsed system of school education and expressed concern at the split in the society into haves and have-nots.

He said the children of a favoured few get good school education and the opportunity to study in top institutions while the others being left with poor educational grounding.

As part of the government initiatives to improve education in the state, textbooks would be posted online, thus enabling students/parents to download the same free of cost, the chief minister said.

A comprehensive digital education programme will be launched to improve access to quality school education.

Smart classes, computer hardware, free Internet for 13,000 primary schools and digitalisation of school records is already in progress, he informed the House.

Amarinder said special funds would be earmarked for providing proper infrastructure in terms of electricity, furniture, toilets and playgrounds in all government schools in the state.

English as the medium of instruction will be offered as an option in government schools. On a pilot basis, English medium will be started in atleast two primary, middle, high and senior secondary schools in each educational block from July onwards.

The government also proposes to set up two new sainik schools in districts Gurdaspur and Mansa, and another institute on the lines of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Academy, Mohali, to train youth to join the armed forces.

In a unique initiative, the government also proposes to launch a programme--'Padho Punjab. Padhao Punjab'--whereby young NRI graduates and people from across India and the world will be invited to dedicate upto one year by way of volunteer work to assist in teaching in the schools.

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The government, said the chief minister, will aim to provide one college in each sub-division of the state. The syllabi of various degree courses, both technical and non- technical, will be reviewed and brought at par with the best in the country.

To improve infrastructure, quality of learning and the capacity of teachers, the government proposes to set up an authority to regulate the functioning of private universities and colleges in the state.

This is also aimed at introducing greater transparency and accountability in the functioning of higher education institutions, said Amarinder, adding that the government will soon finalise a proposal in this regard in consultation with all stakeholders.

A Central Institute for Promotion and Development of Punjabi Language is proposed to be set up at Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda.

To promote technical education and skill development, the government has initiated a Mukh Mantri Vazifa Yojana for meritorious students studying in government polytechnics or PTU campus colleges, wherein 70-100 per cent rebate is provided on their tuition fee based on the performance of meritorious students.

The Department of Technical Education has already signed an MoU to provide free Wi-Fi on all campuses of government engineering colleges, government polytechnic colleges and government ITIs.

Skill development and industrial training in the state will be revamped in Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, and the department also proposes to set up a skills' university at Chamkaur Sahib (Ropar), which will award certificates, diplomas, graduate degrees, post-graduate degrees and PhDs, the chief minister said.

The government is also in the process of setting up a Regional Vocational Training Institute for Girls at Rajpura and Regional Directorate of Apprenticeship Training at Mohali at a cost of Rs 35 crore, he added. PTI
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

The Congress government in Punjab that came to power in March presented its maiden budget for 2017-18 here on Tuesday, with a focus on reducing the crushing debt burden and restoring fiscal stability.

Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal proposed the budget of Rs 1,18,237.9 crore, with an emphasis on education and social sectors.

He also proposed an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore for waiving the debt of distressed farmers of the state.

For the agriculture sector, the minister proposed to increase allocation by 65.77 per cent to Rs 10,580.99 crore in 2017-18.

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The government faces the daunting challenge of fulfilling its promises to the people of Punjab under extreme budgetary pressures. In the first year, our focus will be two-fold: to gradually reduce the crushing burden of debt...and restore its fiscal health while at the same time taking immediate measures to ensure efficient use of resources already allocated by minimising waste and improving accountability, he said.

Total outstanding debt of the state as on March 31 was Rs 1,86,618 crore, including informal debt of Rs 4,435 crore, which had been raised by previous state governments through various agencies without approval of the central government, Manpreet told the Assembly.

Revenue expenditure has increased to Rs 62,733.81 crore in 2016-17, from Rs 18,544 crore in 2006-07, a jump of 238 per cent, the minister said further.

During the same period, expenditure on salaries rose to Rs 19,800 crore from Rs 5,783 crore, pension to Rs 8,140 crore from Rs 1,905 crore and interest to Rs 11,982 crore from Rs 4,152 crore.

Thus, the growing share of salary pension and interest payments in its receipt expenditure prevented the state from achieving revenue surplus, he explained.

Keeping its pre-poll promise, the government proposed Rs 10 crore in the budget for providing smart mobile phones to the youth.

Stamp duty has been proposed to be slashed to 6 per cent from 9 per cent for registration of properties in urban areas, the state finance minister said.

The outlay of the urban sector has been raised to Rs 4,610.59 crore, from Rs 2,268.18 crore, a raise of 103.27 per cent over the previous year.

This includes programmes of Smart Cities, AMRUT, Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Fund and Swachh Bharat Mission.

As Manpreet spoke, SAD-BJP members rushed to the Well of the House demanding complete debt waiver. Former deputy chief minister and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia were also present.

The opposition members also took to sloganeering in support of their demand. At one stage, they tore off papers and hurled them towards the Chair though they fell short of the Speakers seat.

The main Opposition, the AAP, staged a walkout on the issue of debt waiver.

On Monday, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had announced waiver of entire crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers (up to 5 acres), and a flat Rs 2 lakh relief for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of their loan amount.

The Opposition demanded total waiver of agricultural debt, saying this was what the Congress had promised at the time of election in Punjab.

Meanwhile, Manpreet said a fiscal consolidation map for all states was one of the major recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission and the state is required to limit fiscal deficit within 3 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Unfortunately, this has not happened and rather than achieving the target of 3 per cent of GSDP, the fiscal deficit has jumped to 13.89 per cent during 2016-17..., he added.

He went on to say the current Congress regime had inherited a heavy debt burden from the previous government.

When this government took over in March, it was welcomed with the additional liability of Rs 29,919.96 crore (as on March 31, 2017) in the form of loans to settle the so-called Cash Credit Limit (CCL) legacy accounts. As a result, the state government shall have to bear an additional Rs 270 crore per month resulting in an annual liability of Rs 3,240 crore for the next 20 years, he said.

Further, the government of the day (previous SAD-BJP government) had been forcing agencies like PIDB, RDB, PUDA and others to incur debt on its behalf. Most of the time, this debt was used for purposes beyond the mandate of that agency, Manpreet pointed out. With PTI
Amaninder Pal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

Despite a hike of over 65 per cent in the budgetary allocation to the farm sector, a major chunk will go towards servicing power subsidy and farm loan waiver.

Citing agriculture as a priority sector, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal announced an increase in the allocation from Rs 6,383 crore during the last fiscal to Rs 10,580 crore for 2017-18.

Out of this amount, power subsidy to the farm sector alone would consume Rs 7,660 crore. Besides, Rs 1,500 crore earmarked to waive farm loans of marginal and small farmers will be consumed under this head.

Of the remaining Rs 1,420 crores, Rs 442 crore have been allocated for Agricultural Research and Education (meant for independent institutions) and Rs 125 crore for soil and water conservation.

This means that only Rs 853 crore will actually be spent on the farm sector this year through the Agriculture Department.

Besides, the government has also announced an increase in the rate of compensation in case of crop damage (kharaba) from Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000 per acre.

The Budget also provides for setting up of the Punjab State Horticulture Marketing Board to promote marketing of horticulture produce.

Meanwhile, reacting to the governments loan waiver announcement for farmers, Prof Kesar Singh Bhangoo, Economics Dept, Punjabi University, said: Even if the government once repays the farmers loan, he will still need finances to cultivate the next crop. The government should take concrete steps to increase farmers income rather than offering them freebies.

Partial waiver: Oppn tries to corner govt

Chandigarh: Opposition parties tried to corner the government during the hour long budget speech of Finance Minister Manpreet Badal on selective farm loan waiver. They refused to listen to the FM and created a ruckus in the house demanding complete waiver. In the very beginning of the speech, AAP MLAs led by Leader of Opposition HS Phoolka raised the issue of complete debt waiver and how the amount mentioned in the budget was lesser than the amount announced by the CM on Monday. When Phoolka was denied permission by the Speaker, the AAP MLAs raised slogans against the Speaker and trooped out of the house. When Manpreet started speaking on the issue, SAD- BJP MLAs including Parminder Dhindsa, Bikram Majithia and Sukhbir Badal stood-up and tried to make some points which were refused by the Speaker. Akali- BJP MLAs, including Sukhbir Badal, then walked to the well of the house. They tore copies of the budget speech and threw them towards the Speaker's chair. TNS

Total fraud, claims SAD

The Budget is a total fraud on innocent farmers. With Rs 1,500 crore provision, only loans worth Rs 14,705 per farmer can be waived, not Rs 2 lakh, as claimed by the CM on Monday  Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD president

No vision: AAP

The Budget lacks vision. There is allocation of less than 7% for education, whereas the AAP govt in Delhi allocated 23%. The Congress govts priorities are misplaced.  Kanwar Sandhu, AAP MLA

WHAT THEY SAID

Its a visionary, pro-people Budget aimed at giving a boost to the economy. It will ensure the revival of key sectors such as agriculture, industry and education. Sunil Jakhar, PPCC president

The Chief Minister had announced waiver of loans for Dalits, but no allocation was made in the Budget. The government is also misleading the people of the state on farm loan waiver. The figures are an eyewash and hyperbole. HS Phoolka, Leader of Opposition

There is nothing in this Budget for the common man. The Congress had promised to provide a government job to each family. The Budget is silent on this issue. Simarjit Singh Bains, MLA, Lok Insaaf Party

The Budget is pro-farmer and development-oriented. Fully aware of the condition of weaker and deprived sections, the Capt Amarinder Singh government has hiked the pension in various categories. Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, SC/BC Welfare Minister
Tribune News Service

Mohali, June 19

In a case of seizure of drugs, arms and ammunition from two former Punjab Police officials by the Special Task Force (STF), the Mohali court today extended the remand of dismissed cops Inspector Inderjit Singh and ASIAjaib Singh. They were arrested by STF sleuths recently.

The remand of Inderjit Singh in police custody has been extended till June 26.

Ajaib Singh will remain in police remand till June 22.

Earlier, STF sleuths produced the duo before the local court after their earlier police remand came to an end today.

According to sources, the Mohali Additional District Attorney (ADA) requested extension of their remand on the plea that Inderjit Singh had forcibly taken a .32-bore pistol and a .12-bore gun from a gangster and the police have to recover both the firearms.

The ADA also stated that Inderjit was lying in connection with the AK-47 rifle that the STF had seized from his possession.

The defence counsel reportedly raised suspicion on the polices story and requested the court to direct the police to produce certain documents and material in court.

Meanwhile, the court granted the request of the family members for a meeting with the accused.

The STF had arrested Inderjit on June 12 and Ajaib the next day.

Drugs had been seized from Inderjits quarters in Phagwara, while an AK-47 rifle and other weapons were recovered from his residence in the Jalandhar Police Lines.
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, June 19

A former acting jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo, Giani Gurmukh Singh, today claimed to have received a letter threatening him to stop opposing Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head and submit an apology.

Giani Gurmukh Singh said the letter, allegedly written by some dera supporter, was sent to his ancestral home at Arif Ke village in Ferozepur. The anonymous letter mentioned dera head Gurmeet Ram Rahim as Guru ji.

The former acting jathedar said he always opposed the dera in his preaching. I have been threatened to stop it and submit an apology, he said.

The letter was in a sack found near the main door of our ancestral home. The letter had some abusive and threatening terms targeting me. I can make out that it is from Sirsa deras side. Its writer advised me that since I have always opposed Guru ji , it would be good for me if I apologise, as Akali sarkar is out of power, he said.

He said the matter has been reported to DGP Suresh Arora, SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh and Amritsar Police Commissioner SS Srivastava.

They assured me all help. I stood up for Sikh religious tenets. Such threats cannot stop me from performing my duty as a Sikh preacher. I will conduct religious congregations as per maryada everywhere. I invite dera supporters to have an open discussion with me on any platform, he said.

SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh said, Steps would be taken to ensure Giani Gurmukh Singhs safety.
Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, June 19

The Gurdaspur police today arrested the brother of the PA of a former SAD MLA for facilitating the movement of Vicky Gounder and his accomplices during the April 20 Kahnuwan Chowk shootout in which three members of a rival gang were shot dead.

The police today arrested Manbir Singh Sabi, brother of Kamaljit Singh, a long-time personal assistant (PA) of former Gurdaspur SAD MLA GS Babbehali.

Officers investigating the case, however, ruled out the involvement of either the PA or the former legislator.

SSP Bhupinderjit Singh Virk confirmed Sabis arrest. But the police are not disclosing the place from where he was picked up.

Vicky Gouder, Manbir Sabi, Harry Majithia, Sukh Bhikhariwal, Gopi Ghanshampuria and Gian Kharal had shot dead three persons in broad daylight.

Sabi was arrested following the interrogation of Gian Kharal. Based on his questioning, we have tightened the noose around other gangsters, including the till-now-elusive Gounder, said Virk.

Both Sabi and Kharal are being interrogated by a team of senior officers at an undisclosed destination.

The audacity with which Nabha jail escapee Gounder planned and executed the April 20 killings had left the entire Gurdaspur police force gasping for breath.

Sabi has provided us some valuable clues on the whereabouts of the ones who are absconding. More arrests are likely within a day or two, added the SSP.

Meanwhile, the cyber wing of the Gurdaspur police has upped the ante following messages posted on social media by Gounders accomplices congratulating him on his birthday yesterday.
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

At Rs 1,358 crore, though the budget for health has been claimed to be 14.21% higher, it seems to be an old wine in a new bottle.

Health and Medical Education Minister Brahm Mohindra, meanwhile, hailed the Budget saying that despite acute financial constraints, the Punjab Government had reasonably increased the financial outlay under various health schemes.

The main allocation in the health sector include Rs 777 crore for affordable and accountable health care services to the community under National Health Mission Programme; Rs 38 crore for emergency response services (108-Ambulance Services), medical helpline (104) in the state; Rs 30 crore for the treatment of cancer patients under the CM Cancer Relief Fund; Rs 100 crore for Universal Health Insurance for the underprivileged; Rs 50 crore for the creation of cancer and drug de-addiction treatment infrastructure, Rs 50 crore for the establishment of Primary Rural Rehabilitation & Drug De-addiction Centres in the State. Most of these schemes are old and there are not many changes.

The good news for medical education is that work on establishing a new medical college in Mohali is likely to start with an additional outlay of Rs 10 crore for 2017-18. Besides, tertiary care centres are being set up at a cost of Rs 50 crore at Fazilka and Hoshiarpur. An amount of Rs 100 crore has been provided for the upgrade of infrastructure at Government Medical College and Hospital, Patiala.

A new re-structured Universal Health Insurance Scheme is being touted as one which will reduce out of pocket expenditure. An initial provision of Rs 100 crore has been made for 2017-18 to implement this scheme.

Expert view

There is no reference to updating the Civil Hospitals to modern super-specialty ones with the provision of modern gadgets for CT scan, MRI scan and ventilators. The patients will still have to go to private corporate hospitals for their treatment. There is no mention of coverage limit in the Universal Health Insurance Scheme. -- Dr Arun Mitra, Senior Vice President, Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD)
Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 20

The Tourism Department is set to get a boost with the government earmarking Rs 5 crore for 2017-18 with an aim to creating a brand image for the state.

Besides promoting major tourist spots, the department will be making a special effort on identification, listing and promotion of lesser known, but historically or culturally important sites.

The department has been sanctioned Rs 26 crore for the preservation and promotion of Qila Mubarak in Patiala and Bathinda. State-of-the-art tourist facilities will be provided at the museum in both cities.

The Budget has made a special provision of Rs 7 crore for organising heritage festivals during the current financial year. The government has underlined its vision to generate employment and business opportunities in tourism projects. There is also a provision of Rs 3 crore for showcasing cultural history and beauty of the Bein river near Sultanpur Lodhi.

In the last years Budget, the then Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa had allocated Rs 50 crore for celebrating the 350th birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, besides Rs 140 crore under the CMs pilgrimage scheme.

APS Chatha, president, Amritsar Hotel and Restaurant Association (AHARA), said: I cannot comment on what we should be expecting. The minister had not given me an appointment to listen to our point of view. We are hoping that something concrete happens on ground.
Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 19

The White Paper on the states fiscal condition tabled by the Punjab Government in the Assembly today states that the state is left with no money for development.

It says against every Rs 100 earned, the expenditure is Rs 102, if all committed liabilities, including salaries, pension, interest on debt, power subsidy, are taken into account.

The additional Rs 2 is raised by borrowings or by selling government property. Most alarming is the decline in capital expenditure.

Against 92.18 per cent revenue expenditure the capital expenditure was just 7.82 per cent during 2016-17, which shows meagre spending on development.

The states growth rate has been well below the national average since 2007-08 except in 2013-14. Punjab is far behind states like Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, MP and Tamil Nadu. In fact, it is one of the slowest growing states in the country.

The outstanding debt has risen to Rs 2,08,060.96 crore. The interest payment consumes a significant part of the revenue. The paper says the state has an unpaid liability of Rs 13,039 crore.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal claimed that Rs 1,747 crore worth of atta-dal was not given to beneficiaries, Rs 2,773 crore was not paid to the employees as dearness allowance, Rs 728 crore subsidy on power was pending and Rs 7,791 crore worth of bills were outstanding with the treasury.

He accused the previous regime of indulging in smart accounting wherein the integrity of the Budgets in the last 10 years had become questionable.

He announced that a special audit would be done to find out if loans raised by the government were in accordance with the norms. He termed the selling of government resources as an abuse of the system.

Further accusing the previous government, Manpreet said the revenue generated by various levies was deposited in a separate corpus fund, instead of depositing the same in the Consolidated Fund of the state. The White Paper states corpus fund was spent without sanction of the Vidhan Sabha or auditing by the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG). It says the decisions were unplanned, scattered and against the constitution of these entities.
Stating that the Atta-Dal Scheme would be restructured and a modified scheme would be launched by issuing Smart Ration Cards to the beneficiaries, the Finance Minister also announced that tea leaves and sugar would be provided to BPL families and an amount of Rs 500 crore has been provided for the scheme.

Rs 10 cr for smart phones

An allocation of Rs 10 crore has been made for providing free smart phones to the youth to encourage and incentivise them to use digital technology. "This will enable the youth to be a beneficiary and a partner in efforts to digitise the state through the Digital Punjab Initiative," says the Budget statement.

Aid for acid attack victims

The government has come up with a plan to provide financial aid to acid attack victims in order to make them self-reliant. Under this scheme, Rs 8,000 per month will be provided to the victims. Manpreet said the government was sensitive to the trauma experienced by acid attack survivors.

Major push to employment generation

According priority to employment generation, the Budget has proposed Rs 91 crore for the development of employment generation and training programme. The government expects to generate employment of 3 lakh under the Apni Gaddi Apna Rozgar and 1 lakh under Yaari Enterprises schemes, with 3 per cent interest subvention and a budget provision of Rs 50 crore. The government will launch the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Rozgar Sirjan Yojana, under which a tie-up with international operators such as Ola and Uber has already been made.

Paddy straw management fund set up

The government has decided to allocate Rs 5 crore for the Paddy Straw Management Challenge Fund for Innovation. It was also proposed to set aside Rs 20 crore in 2017-18 to motivate gram panchayats to stop burning paddy straw and to reward them for discontinuing with this environment-unfriendly practice.

Free power for freedom fighters

The government will provide 300 units of free electricity (period not specified) to every freedom fighter's house. The FM said, "The government wishes to pay tribute to thousands of young men who fought for India's freedom, who must have left their beautiful wives, smiling children, green fields and happy homes, so that people could live a life of honour and dignity.

Loan waiver: BKU factions for more relief

Two factions of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) have said that the farm loan waiver announced by the Chief Minister would not benefit farmers of the state. BKU (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh and BKU (Ekta) general secretary Sukhdev Singh have demanded that the benefit be extended for loans taken from commission agents and commercial banks. "The Capt Amarinder Singh government has failed to fulfil the promises made in the Congress manifesto," they said in a statement.

Deja vu for cycle valley

The announcement of a cycle valley and an exhibition-cum-convention centre for the city are old projects, which have been hanging fire for long. Badish Jindal, president, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association, said: These projects were being announced for the last 10 years, but nothing concrete has been done to turn them into reality.

No change in tax structure for now

Noting that GST would be an important structural change in the tax administration, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said, I envisage that Punjab would gain with the introduction of GST through a broadened tax base and improved compliance. Since it would come into effect from July 1, I dont propose to make any change in the tax structure at this stage.

36% of revenue for debt servicing

Over 36 per cent of what Punjab earns will go into servicing of its huge debt of Rs 1.95 lakh crore. Rs 22,396 crore will go into servicing debt this fiscal, from Rs 60,079.87 crore that the state expects to earn during 2017-18. The states debt in 2016-17 had reached Rs 1.82 lakh crore, with Rs 46,000-crore debt added in the last fiscal.

Salary, pension bill pegged at Rs 31,000 cr

Punjab will be using over 50% of its total earnings this fiscal ( Rs 31,019.53 crore out of Rs 60,079.87 crore) for paying salaries and pensions to its employees/retirees. The states own tax revenue is Rs 39,526.28 crore. Punjabs budget size is Rs 1.18 lakh crore, less than the final budget size ( Rs 1.44 lakh crore) for 2016-17. This is because the previous government, in the poll mode, overshot the total expenditure by Rs 58,127 crore, mainly because it raised debts and showered sops.

Another institute for armed forces training

The government will set up General Sham Singh Attariwala Armed Forces Preparatory Institute in Amritsar this year. For this, an initial budget provision of Rs 5 crore has been made. Rs 10 crore will be spent on renovation of Sainik School, Kapurthala.

Housing: SC quota up

The government has raised the reservation for SCs from 15% to 30% in its schemes pertaining to the allotment of plots/houses. The Aashirwaad scheme will see a 40% hike with a sum of Rs 21,000. Under the scheme, money is given to SC/BC/Christian girls and daughters of widows at the time of marriage.

Skill development varsity

The government has announced to set up the first skill development university of north India at Chamkaur Sahib. Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said the varsity would be set up on 100 acres, adding that Rs 100 crore would be spent in the first phase.

Rs 50 cr for cancer centres

A ray of hope for the early completion of Tertiary Cancer Care Centre in Fazilka has rekindled among residents of the district. In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Manpreet Badal has announced Rs 50 crore for the centres at Fazilka and Hoshiarpur.
THE ban on the Nation apparently still continues for we have not been receiving our copy of that journal. Our London correspondent, however, has sent us a cutting from the Nation of the 12th May containing Lala Lajpat Rai's disapproval of the action of the Government of Indian in contributing 100 million in aid of the war expenditure. Lala Lajpat Rai's letter is dated New York, April 4th. 1917, and it calls attention to the smallness of the average income per capita, the high prices of wheat and salt, want of funds for schemes of social development, inability of the people to bear increased taxation to meet interest charges and the general economic effect of the contribution on India.
Tribune News Service

Dehradun, June 20

Governor Dr KK Paul has expressed concern over the falling water level in Nainital Lake in Kumaon division of the state. He has also directed officials to set up a lake supervision committee for the purpose.

Presiding over a meeting of experts focused on addressing challenges confronting Nainital lake at Raj Bhawan in Dehradun today, Dr KK Paul said Nainital Lake was a major source of income for local residents through tourism and sought suggestions from the experts towards increasing the water level in the lake, which, he said, would resolve the water problem in Nainital.

The Governor said the local administration must make people aware of the need for rainwater conservation. He said people and hoteliers who would conserve rainwater should be awarded so that people could get inspired to do the same. He said a lake supervision committee should be constituted under the chairmanship of Kumaon Commissioner Chandrashekhar Bhatt.

Experts at the meeting admitted that the underground water from various sources that used to flow into the lake had now been decreased due to construction works in Nainital. They said rampant concrete works had blocked water sources to the lake.

There was also a strong opinion that traffic pressure and global warming had also led to the decrease in the water level, besides decreasing rainfall in winter. They said earthquakes and landslides had also led to sources not feeding the lake. The experts said the growing population and pressure of tourists were leading to more water being pumped out from the lake.

Uttarakhand Lake Development Authority Chairman Indu Kumar Pandey, Council of Science and Technology Director-General Dr Rajendra Dobhal, Nainital District Magistrate Deependra Chaudhary and experts and scientists from the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, National Institute of Hydrology (Roorkee) and the Indian Institute of Water Harvesting and Conservation were among those who were present in the meeting.
Pithoragarh, June 20

Fiftyfour members of the first batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims today crossed into Tibet from the 16,500-foot-high Lipulekh Pass.

However, one member of the first batch, Jaswant Singh from New Delhi, has returned from Gunji camp as he was found medically unfit to go ahead from there, KMVN and ITBP sources said here.

The first batch crossed the Lipulekh Pass at 7.20 am amid dense snow and was immediately received by Chinese security personnel at the northern end of the pass, said TS Martolia, general manager of the KMVN, the nodal agency for the yatra.

Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) sources said the pilgrims would stay in Chinese territory of Tibet for eight days and on the 9th day they would be back at the Lipulekh Pass.

According to ITBP sources at Mirthi near Didiihat, its technical team has established communication with Taklakot region of Tibet in China from today to take stock of the location of the Indian pilgrims in that country.

According to the KMVN sources, while the first batch has crossed into Tibet, the 47-member second batch has reached the Gala camp from Bundi and the 56-member third batch of pilgrims has reached Kathgodam from New Delhi today.

A total of 1,430 devotees will undertake the pilgrimage in 25 batches this year. Eighteen batches, each comprising around 60 pilgrims, will visit Kailash Mansoravar through the more arduous Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand) route, while seven batches with 50 pilgrims each will take the newly-opened Nathu La (Sikkim) route.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had received 4,442 applications this year as compared to last years 2,600. The pilgrims were shortlisted through a computerised draw of lots.  PTI
Brussels, June 19

Britain and the European Union finally began formal Brexit negotiations today, vowing to work constructively for a deal despite disarray in London over whether to go for a "hard" or "soft" divorce.

Almost exactly a year after Britain's seismic referendum to leave the bloc, the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier of France, welcomed his counterpart David Davis with a cheery handshake at the European Commission in Brussels. The smiles belied the fact that at stake is not just Britain's future but also Europe's postwar political order and its place in the world, which could be fatally undermined without an agreement by the March 2019 deadline.

"We must first tackle the uncertainties caused by Brexit," Barnier said, citing the rights of EU citizens in Britain and the possible impact on the open border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. "I hope today we can identify priorities and a timetable that would allow me to report to the European Council (summit) later this week that we had a constructive opening of negotiations," added the former European commissioner and French foreign minister, speaking against a backdrop of British and EU flags.

A key issue he did not mention was the EU's bill for Britain to leave, which Brussels estimates at a colossal 100 billion euros.

Davis, a prominent tough-talking figure in the "Leave" campaign, sounded a positive note, saying that while there would "undoubtedly be challenging times ahead" he wanted a good relationship with the EU.

There is more that unites us than divides us", Davis said.

We launch negotiations in a positive and constructive tone, determined to build a strong and special partnership between ourselves and our European allies and friends in the future."

European stocks rose today, partly on optimism about the talks actually getting underway after months of sniping and uncertainty, analysts said.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasised the unity of the remaining 27 EU countries, who have been alarmed in recent weeks by May's threats to walk out of the talks.

"I would like us to get a good agreement that is in both sides' interests. But the 27 of us will formulate our interests very clearly and hopefully, together," Merkel said.

Last years Brexit vote came as a profound shock to Brussels against a backdrop of rising anti-EU sentiment. British Prime Minister Theresa May officially triggered the two-year Brexit process in March when she was riding high in the opinion polls. Her gamble to seek a fresh mandate to give her the authority to push through Brexit went horribly long as she lost her parliamentary majority in June 8 election.

An increasingly concerned EU has been pushing London to hurry up, with time running out for a deal and three months already gone since May triggered the two-year Article 50 EU exit process. She will also have a chance to update the other 27 EU leaders on her Brexit plans in Brussels on Thursday. Many in Brussels fear that London has no real strategy, with May under pressure at home.  AFP

3 key divorce issues
Moscow, June 20

Russia said on Tuesday it could not yet confirm that the elusive ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a targeted air strike by its military in strife-torn Syria last month.

The liquidation of the leader of the Islamic State al-Baghdadi has not yet been confirmed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

"Not yet," the state-run TASS news agency quoted Russian diplomat as saying while responding to a question on the possible death of the ISIS leader, four days after the Russian Army announced that it may have killed Baghdadi on May 28 during an airstrike on the outskirts of the dreaded militant group's de facto capital Raqqa.

US defence officials last week said they were unable to confirm the reports about Baghdadi's death.

Col Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition's operation against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said the coalition "cannot confirm these reports at this time.

There have been a number of previous reports of Baghdadi's death or him being critically injured by US-led coalition air strikes.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which is a nom de guerre, was born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al Samarrai.

Baghdadi has not been seen in public since proclaiming himself "caliph" in the Iraqi city of Mosul three years ago.

In October 2011, the US officially designated Baghdadi as a "terrorist". It has offered a reward of up to $25 million for information leading to his capture or death.

The ISIS terror group is known for imposing a hard-line form of Islam that has included stoning, amputations and beheadings.

The ISIS seized Mosul, Iraq's second-biggest city, in June 2014 before claiming swathes of territory and launching deadly attacks on Western cities, including Paris and London.  PTI


Shutterstock Photo

Business property owners in a downstate community have filed a lawsuit with the county after their property taxes skyrocketed by up to 400 percent in one year.

The class action lawsuit on behalf of the more than 500 business properties in Mattoon Township claims the county hired an inexperienced assessor to update their property values, which hadn't been updated since 2000. If true, this would violate state law.

Plaintiff Robb Perry says they're seeking nearly $1 million that was collected in higher taxes last year in a federal class action suit.

"It's not because we're just whining about taxes," he said. "This is just ungodly wrong. It's just wrong."

Perry said Coles County reassessed the one township and left the others, leading to massive hikes on Mattoon businesses, while others actually dropped.

More HERE
Singapore, June 19

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong apologised to Singaporeans today for a bitter family feud over his late fathers legacy, saying it had damaged the countrys reputation.

Lee and two younger children of revered founding leader Lee Kuan Yew have been attacking each other on Facebook and international media for days as a dispute over the patriarchs estate became public, a spectacle that has shocked Singaporeans.

I deeply regret that this dispute has affected Singapores reputation and Singaporeans confidence in the government, Lee said in a statement he read in a pre-taped video aired by national broadcaster Mediacorp. As your Prime Minister, I apologise to you for this.

And as the eldest of the siblings, it grieves me to think of the anguish that this would have caused our parents if they were still alive.  AFP
London, June 19

A man rammed a van into worshippers coming out of a mosque in north London after special Ramzan prayers today, killing one person and injuring 10 others in what British PM Theresa May described as a deliberate and sickening terrorist attack on Muslims.

The attack  the fourth terror assault to jolt Britain in four months  occurred just after midnight outside the Muslim Welfare House, which houses a mosque, on the Seven Sisters Road when some people were helping a man who had collapsed.

The site of the incident is close to another mosque near the Finsbury Park on the same road. One man was pronounced dead at the scene and eight others were injured. Two others were treated for minor injuries.

A 48-year-old man, the driver of the van, was detained by members of public at the scene and then arrested by police on suspicion of attempted murder. He has been locally named as Darren Osbourne, a married father of four living in Cardiff, Wales.

In an attempt to counter some criticism over the delay in classifying the incident as a terrorist attack, May said: Officers were in the immediate vicinity as the attack unfolded and responded within one minute. Police declared it a terrorist incident within eight minutes.

This is being treated as a terrorist attack and the Counter Terrorism Command is investigating. At this early stage of investigation, no other suspects at the scene have been identified or reported to police, however the investigation continues, said Neil Basu, Londons senior counter- terrorism coordinator. All the victims were Muslim and there are currently no other suspects, he added.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said the suspect haf been taken to hospital as a precaution, and will be taken into custody once discharged. He will also be subject of a mental health assessment in due course.

Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, said the man who was arrested had to be rescued by the imam at the centre to stop him being attacked. Kacimi said when he did so, the driver said to him: Ive done my bit. Prime Minister May praised the resilience of the extraordinary city of London, which has suffered the second terrorist attack this month.

This was an attack that once again targeted the ordinary and the innocent going about their daily lives  this time British Muslims as they left a Mosque having broken their fast and prayed together at this sacred time of year, she said in a statement.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who is an MP from the area, visited the area and expressed shock over the terror attack. London Mayor Sadiq Khan said it was deliberate and targeted innocent Londoners, many of whom were finishing prayers during the holy month of Ramzan.  PTI

Britain bleeds: Four attacks in 4 months
Washington, June 20

President Donald Trump's administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, said US officials.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistan's support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistan's arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Precise actions have yet to be decided. The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistan's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistan's war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on America's longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

"We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other US officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behavior. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that US-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional U.S. troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

"I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at U.S. claims that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

"What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full," a senior Pakistani government source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: "They dont want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism."

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

Experts say Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

Is Pakistan an ally?

Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the US battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus US military hardware.

Some US officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.

"Pakistan is not an ally. Its not North Korea or Iran. But its not an ally," said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.

But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

"The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honor," said a former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

"Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one," said the February report.

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, US officials told Reuters.

US frustration over the Haqqani's presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in 2012.

US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.

The potential US pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when U.S. officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a "disaster."

"It didn't affect Pakistan's behavior one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan's behavior worse," Sedney said.

More drones, cash cut-off

Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in US assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a US Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.

Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorization that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

US officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.

Curtis' report also singled out the aid as a target.

But US aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, US officials and a Pakistan expert said.

"Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren't taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves," the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.

Pakistan's army chief of staff last week criticized "unilateral actions" such as drone strikes as "counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan". Reuters
Chicago, June 20

Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea, has died, leading President Donald Trump to decry the brutal regime in Pyongyang.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the US on Tuesday last week, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his home town of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible, the family said in a statement announcing Ottos death. The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the US decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following news of his death, while voicing compassion for his family. Its a brutal regime, he said during a White House event. Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents. In a separate statement, Trump said, Ottos fate deepens my Administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The US once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

Kim Jong-Uns regime said Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, claiming the student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill. Tests carried out last week in the US offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection.  AFP
June 20

An American university student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his parent said.

Also read: North Korea frees American student; parents say he's in coma

Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement after Warmbier's death at 2:20 p.m. EDT (1820 GMT).

His family has said that Warmbier lapsed into a coma in March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea.

Physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was being treated, said last Thursday that Warmbier showed no sign of understanding language or of awareness of his surroundings, and had made no "purposeful movements or behaviors."

There was no immediate word from Warmbier's family on the precise cause of his death.

The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.

The University of Virginia student and Ohio native was arrested, according to North Korean media, for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan.

North Korea released Warmbier last week and said he was being freed "on humanitarian grounds."

The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment on Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing "the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim." Trump told a group of corporate executives meeting with him at the White House that Warmbier had faced tough conditions during his captivity.

The president drew criticism in May when, in an interview with Bloomberg, he said he would be "honored" to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it," Trump said in the interview. "If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that."

The student's father, Fred Warmbier, said last week that his son had been "brutalized and terrorized by the Pyongyang government and that the family disbelieved North Korea's story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

Doctors who examined Otto Warmbier after his release said there was no sign of botulism in his system.

Warmbier was freed after the U.S. State Department's special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, traveled to Pyongyang and demanded the student's release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official said last week.

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year. Pyongyang has also vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

Susan Thornton, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said earlier on Monday that the United States was concerned for the welfare of the three other U.S. citizens still held in North Korea - Korean-Americans Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak Song.

(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)

Jonathan Bae, whose father, Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae spent two years in North Korean captivity before his release in 2014, expressed sadness at Warmbier's death.

"My heart goes out to the family. I will pray for them and hope they find peace," Jonathan Bae said.

Young Pioneer Tours, the group with which Warmbier traveled to North Korea, will no longer be organizing tours for US citizens to the isolated country, Troy Collings, a company director, said in a statement. Reuters
When you hear the word "transparency," what comes to mind? Maybe words like openness and honesty. But David French, Senior Writer for The National Review, shows how progressive activists, under the guise of "transparency," are ruining the lives of many good Americans.
Fleets were allegedly bilked out of rebates, prosecutors say. Photo: Jim Park

A date and location have been set for the trial of former Pilot Flying J executives in a fuel rebate scandal alleging a conspiracy and scheme to defraud customers, according to a report in the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Prosecutors and defendant lawyers agreed to hold the trial in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on Halloween of this year. However, a district judge is reportedly exploring moving the trial farther away from Pilots headquarters in Knoxville.

Ex-Pilot Flying J president Mark Hazelwood and seven other company executives are being accused of defrauding customers of millions of dollars by cutting the amount of rebates they received for buying certain amounts of fuel. Pilot owner and CEO Jimmy Haslam was not among those indicted in the case and he has denied any knowledge of the fuel rebate scheme.

Federal investigators found that Pilot promised fuel rebates to trucking customers but never actually paid them out, defrauding the 5,500 customers of more than $56 million. In 2014, the company reached a $92 million settlement with authorities and promised to help with the ongoing investigation. Pilot also settled with trucking customers that sued the company for $87 million.

In addition to fraud charges, Hazelwood has also been charged with witness tampering, and former vice president of direct sales Scott Wombold has been charged with lying to agents with the FBI and IRS. Ten former Pilot employees have already pleaded guilty to the scheme.
A Sweden-based company announced Tuesday that it will expand its operations in Broken Arrow by building a competence center to manufacture its spiral and air-cooled heat exchanger ranges.

Alfa Laval has chosen a parcel of land to construct a facility for operations for the Alfa Laval Spiral Heat Exchanger range. The project will begin this year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2018.

Further details about the expansion, including news about job creation, will be announced at a groundbreaking event planned in late July or early August, said Wes Smithwick, president and CEO of the Broken Arrow Chamber of Commerce.

The significance of this project is the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) component, Smithwick said in a telephone interview from Paris, France. Weve had that as a strategy of ours at our Economic Development Corporation and our city partners for the past five years. Any time you can get a foreign company to spend their money in your country and your city and grow jobs, its a good thing.

Smithwick is attending the Paris Air Show with Gov. Mary Fallin, the state Department of Commerce and other municipal leaders from across Oklahoma.

Alfa Lavals decision to concentrate some of its manufacturing in Oklahoma showcases that our state has much to offer international companies, Fallin said in a statement. We have positioned ourselves well in the global marketplace, and I am pleased that they have chosen to invest in our state.

The competence center will provide a greater critical mass of welded heat exchanger design and manufacturing expertise, better serving Alfa Lavals customers. The new facility will have expansion potential to accommodate future growth.

We are pleased that Alfa Laval selected Broken Arrow as the site of its planned manufacturing facility, Broken Arrow Mayor Craig Thurmond said in a statement. Broken Arrows skilled workforce, pro-business mindset and job acquisition efforts positioned us for this outstanding investment in our community.

The existing 150,000-square-foot facility in Broken Arrow will be improved to make it a more updated manufacturing space.

We no longer consider ourselves to be a bedroom community, Smithwick said. We have our own economy. We have our own job base. We employ people from all over the metro.

Headquartered in Lund, Sweden, Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and engineering solutions, based on its technologies of heat transfer, separation and fluid handling.

In 2014, Alfa Laval acquired Broken Arrow-based ACE Air Cooled Exchangers LLC, which was established in 1964.
Urbano Moreno purchased about a half acre at 714 E. 36th St. North in April, and hes been sprucing up the property ever since.

He is transforming the former restaurant on the site into Ameritops, his granite counter company.

Its not like a huge business, said Moreno, 63. Its maybe a trade.

Moreno has learned his share of trades.

He was a roofer 16 years ago when he made a permanent move to Tulsa from the Guerrero state of Mexico on the countrys Pacific coast. He worked five years in a machine shop before joining his younger sibling, Jesus, granite business.

My brother told me, If you want to have more free time, come do this, Moreno said.  Here you can go wherever and nobody can have you on their time clock.

The stint with Jesus gave Moreno the confidence to branch out on his own.

I was doubting, he said. But so far, I feel good.

To accommodate his granite work, Moreno has refurbished the 2,600-square-foot building, raising ceilings, upgrading the facilitys electric current and installing an overhead door to make room for a forklift that hauls the slabs. Also, surrounding the property is a new chain-link security fence.

I get the slabs, Moreno said. From there, its going to be installed in your kitchen and it will be sparkling.

Donna Jackson, a local businesswoman, is proud to see Moreno move into the spot formerly occupied by Reba Dales, a barbecue restaurant that has relocated. The pair met at a gathering of the Phoenix Development Council, a neighborhood association.

I thought that was great that we have a granite company, a new company, in north Tulsa, Jackson said. Its going to be different. Were looking for all different types of companies.

She is founder of NorthTulsa100, a plan to attract and nurture 100 new businesses in north Tulsa in time for the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot in 2021.

Its always good to see new energy, new businesses, new people doing things, Jackson said. It makes the community so much better.
Mayor G.T. Bynum met with leaders of We the People Oklahoma on Tuesday to develop an ongoing relationship with the group and discuss its most pressing issues, such as racial disparities and police policy.

The meeting came after social-media criticism of the mayor from We the People Oklahoma leader Marq Lewis, who challenged Bynum to address intense police-related incidents that have occurred in Tulsa recently.

My job as mayor is to listen to a broad range of viewpoints and identify ways the city can deliver better service to its citizens, Bynum said. The folks with We the People have spent a lot of time thinking about and studying issues relative to police-community relations, and we had a really helpful meeting.

Lewis was complimentary of Bynum after the meeting, saying his concerns voiced over social media recently have been assuaged.

Were encouraged to know the mayor wants an ongoing relationship, Lewis said. Its good to know hes passionate and wants to preserve life on both sides  both police and residents.

One of the topics of the meeting was a recent Tulsa World analysis of arrest records that showed a racial disparity in arrests by the Tulsa Police Department, Lewis said.

The Tulsa World reported June 4 on data showing that since 2012 African-American people have been arrested more than twice as often as non-black people.

Bynum and We the People also discussed Tulsa Police policy changes that the organization would like to see addressed, Lewis said.

I mainly wanted the opportunity to tap into their knowledge on these issues we both care about and to identify areas where we can work together, Bynum said. We agreed to make it a regularly recurring discussion moving forward rather than a one-time meeting.
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Heads up parents of Peppa Pig fans everywhere.

If your kids havent seen Peppa Pigs Australian Holiday its about to get an airing on ABC KIDS next month. And if they have, they can just watch it all over again.

This had a cinema release last year as 5 adventures in a feature length edition. ABC KIDS will debut a 20 minute episode on July 9, presumably with more to come.

Peppa, George, Mummy and Daddy Pig all head down under for an adventure of a lifetime as they visit Peppas friend Kylie Kangaroo and her family Joey Kangaroo, Mummy Kangaroo and Daddy Kangaroo. There will be many familiar sites and activities as the four part Aussie adventure sees Peppa chasing clown fish (aka little Nemos) around the Great Barrier Reef in a submarine, having a BBQ in the Outback, learning how to surf at a beautiful Australian beach and throwing a boomerang. Along for the fun are some well known Australian animals including Mr Wallaby, a platypus and of course no visits to Australia would be complete without meeting a koala.

5:00pm Sunday July 9 on ABC KIDS (ABC2).
Just how strong is local content over imports? Very.

Take a look at Mondays rankings and youll find just 1 title in the top 20 that was not Australian-produced: a Canadian doco screened by Four Corners.

Meanwhile a new episode of Big Bang is being thumped by the local jokesters of Have You Been Paying Attention?

At 7:30 True Story won with 1.03m ahead of House Rules (1.02m) and MasterChef (839,000) with Habibs at 638,000.

Around 8:40 Have You Been Paying Attention? took honours at 805,000 over Wanteds 759,000 -its best this season-, Four Corners 548,000 and Big Bang on just 446,000.

Earlier Seven News won its slot as did A Current Affair, in one of its better episodes this year.

Without Tony Jones hosting, Q&A took a dip at ABC.

Seven network won Monday with 30.6% then Nine 25.4%, TEN 20.8%, ABC 17.3% and SBS 6.1%.

Seven News was #1 with 1.22m / 1.11m for Seven then House Rules (1.02m), Home and Away (784,000), Wanted (759,000), The Chase (724,000 / 463,000) and Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares (373,000).

Nine News (1.06m / 1.05m) led for Nine then True Story with Hamish & Andy (1.03m), A Current Affair (960,000), Here Come the Habibs (638,000), Hot Seat (568,000 / 343,000) and The Big Bang Theory (446,000 / 352,000). Footy Classified was 168,000 in 3 cities. Botched was 141,000.

MasterChef Australia (839,000) was best for TEN then Have You Been Paying Attention? (805,000), The Project (605,000 / 429,000), TEN Eyewitness News (535,000) and Family Feud (415,000). Life in Pieces drew 229,000 and Prison Break slumped to a paltry 70,000.

ABC News (826,000), Australian Story (664,000), Four Corners (548,000), Media Watch (517,000), 7:30 (512,000) and Q&A (397,000) comprised ABCs night.

On SBS it was 24 Hours in Emergency (211,000), SBS World News (146,000) and Dr. Christian Will See You Now (132,000).

Shaun the Sheep showed off again with 234,000 topping multichannels.

Today: 289,000

Sunrise: 274,000

News Breakfast: 100,000 / 63,000

OzTAM Overnights: Monday 19 June 2017
College of Health Sciences

Marriage & Family Therapy

The Marriage & Family Therapy Clinic

The ULM Marriage & Family Therapy (MFT) Clinic is staffed by interns of the Marriage & Family Therapy program, under direct supervision by clinical faculty. The clinics goal is to provide clients the opportunity to learn, change, and develop through personal growth experiences. While clients work toward personal growth, the clinic strives to provide a therapeutic environment that will facilitate their exploration of new options.

Individual, group, and family services are provided to persons of all ages and cultures. The clinic provides services for those with personal, career, school, relational, addictions, grief and loss, parent/child difficulties, infidelity, issues related to divorce, sexual problems, difficulties with anger, hostility, or violence, individuals who have been diagnosed with a mental disorder (such as mood, anxiety, personality, behavioral, and sleep disorders), and other concerns.

The supervising faculty members hold professional mental health licenses in Louisiana, and/or clinical credentials as required by the respective MFT and Counseling accrediting bodies.

Therapeutic Services for Individuals, Couples, and Families

The idea that only those with a mental illness can benefit from therapy is a myth. Changes, stress, and problems are inevitable in each person's life. Marriage & Family Therapists and Counselors work to strengthen relationships and prevent problems from getting out of control. Not all family members must participate for successful outcomes. A wide variety of problems influence and are influenced by a person's ability to relate to others in his or her world. Individuals, couples, or families who want to improve their relationships, whether those relationships be with friends, lovers, spouses, parents, children, siblings, or work associates, may benefit from the expertise available in our clinic.

Consulting/Workshop Services:

Other services, designed specifically for agencies or businesses, such as individualized consulting or workshops are available upon request.

Confidentiality:

All information concerning clients will remain confidential within the guidelines of Louisiana law and the ethical standards set by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and/or the American Counseling Association. The sessions are recorded; however, recordings are used exclusively in individual and group supervision for purposes of intern training. After supervision has ended, all recordings will be permanently erased unless specific waivers and consents are signed by all parties.

About the Clinic

Therapists/Supervisors: Therapists and Counselors are senior graduate interns in Marriage & Family Therapy and Counseling and are supervised by qualified supervisors.

Referrals: The Marriage & Family Therapy and Counseling Clinic works in cooperation with area social service agencies, courts, physicians, attorneys, ministers, and schools. We welcome referrals from these sources when we can be of assistance to their clientele. Prompt referrals to these professionals are provided to clients who require services not offered at the clinic.

Eligibility and Fees: Services of the Marriage & Family Therapy and Counseling Clinic are available to the public at a maximum fee of $25.00. Military veterans as well as ULM faculty, staff, and students may use the clinic at no cost.

Therapy Process and Session Length: usually one session per week is scheduled for approximately 50 minutes each visit. The length of the session varies between interns, clients, and the nature and severity of the problem; however, most sessions are brief in nature.
UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets children and siblings of vulnerable female refugees in Nairobi.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie marked World Refugee Day 2017 visiting adolescent refugee girls in Nairobi.

Ms. Jolie met around 200 refugee girls, who are unaccompanied or separated from their parents and are now living in the Heshima Kenya Safe House and participating in a Girls Empowerment Project.

The girls have fled extreme violence or persecution in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, and Rwanda. Almost all have suffered sexual and gender-based violence, robbing them of their childhoods. Many have given birth after being raped, or are pregnant. They told the Special Envoy about their personal stories and their lives today.

Angelina Jolie said:

Over half of all refugees and displaced people worldwide are women and children. How we treat them is a measure of our humanity as nations. On World Refugee day my only ask is that people consider the pain and suffering of young girls like these. Not only have they had to flee extreme violence or persecution, lost everything and witnessed the death of family members, but they have also had to face so much abuse and intolerance and hardship. They are doing their best to carry on, with minimal support trying to live lives on dignity against impossible odds. It was an honour to spend the day with them.

It was Angelina Jolie's third visit to Kenya, home to nearly 491,000 refugees from neighbouring Somalia, South Sudan, DRC, Burundi and other countries in the region. Most of the 67,000 urban refugees in Kenya struggle to survive on handouts from UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations, and many are struggling to recover from horrifying abuse and terror endured before or during their flight.

Among the refugees in Kenya are 101,713 from South Sudan, which has now become the biggest new factor in global forced displacement after the disastrous break-up of peace efforts in July 2016 contributed to an outflow of 737,400 people by the end of the year.

The Special Envoy said: Kenya hosts close to half a million refugees and we at UNHCR are very grateful to the people and government of Kenya for that.

In all, Heshima Kenyas Girls Empowerment Project helps some 200 refugee girls, including those in the Safe House. They are provided with education, and training in a variety of skills to enable them to become self-reliant.

Benedict, who oversees the Heshima Kenya programme, described his motivation in helping the refugees: When I see them, I dont see refugees, I see human beings who are suffering not out of choice but because of circumstances beyond their control.

With the option of resettlement scarce, Heshima Kenya focuses on helping the refugees to fully integrate within the Kenyan community. This approach is also being championed by UNHCR and its partners in international talks that aim to forge a new Global Compact on Refugees next year.

When you empower them, you bring them dignity, Benedict said. They dont need to rely on anyone. The Kenyan government can also start to appreciate them  as taxpayers, employers and consumers with purchasing power.

News contacts:
One of our first events for Refugee Week was 'Gig in the Garden' in Hull where we supported Kate Daudy's (right) art installation 'Am I My Brother's Keeperg'  UNHCR/Maya Ghazal

In Britain, World Refugee Day has evolved into Refugee Week to accommodate the publics appetite to host and participate in hundreds of related events, which are taking place this year from Aberdeen in Scotland to Plymouth on Englands south coast.

Refugee Week is an umbrella festival started in 1998 and coordinated by Counterpoints Arts, a charity that engages with refugee and migrant experiences through arts and cultural programmes. The events are supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and other partners.

This year, the theme is Our Shared Future, and the week is being marked by a host of events from the traditional -- plays, concerts, lectures, screenings  to the more off-beat, like knitting for unity, a big sing and cartoon drawing.

UNHCR has been working with the artist Kate Daudy, who has turned an old refugee tent into an art installation called Am I My Brother's Keeper? It is decorated with crocheted flowers and quotes made by Syrian refugee women in Jordan.

The crochet elements of the Daudy's installation are made by women from Syria. It will be on display at London's Migration Museum 22nd - 25th June 

In 2016, UNHCR gave Daudy a tent from Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, which had been home to a refugee family from Syria. In Zaatari, she met refugees, activists, war-wounded, volunteers, doctors, diplomats and representatives of aid organisations. And she drew on their experiences of the Syria crisis, and their observations about home and identity issues arising from it.

The hope is that the tent can become a focal point through which to discuss and reflect upon the lessons that could be learned from the trauma of forced displacement and related loss. The first stop in the tents travels was Hull on Saturday, for a day long music and arts festival.

WATCH: an artist is bringing refugee messages to the streets of New York. Credit: Odessa Rae

On Tuesday, World Refugee Day itself, UNHCR is also hosting a one-day take-over of its Instagram account by Maya Ghazal (@ghazalmia), a refugee from Damascus, Syria, who has become a role model and spokesperson for young refugees and migrants since seeking shelter in Britain in September 2015.

Maya has already learned English, and is excelling in her education -- she currently studies aviation engineering at Brunel University London. She has worked to ensure that young refugee voices are heard, speaking at events across the country, educating audiences on the hidden dangers faced by young refugees and migrants.

Maya was in Hull at the weekend, alongside Daudy and UNHCRs James Bulman to help erect the tent and explain its story, as well as educating the public about the plight of refugees, especially those from Syria.

We, as refugees, didnt chose to be so, it just happened, Ghazal said in a video post. We are still humans, like you, like everyone else. We appreciate all support given; we will work hard to try to give anything in return. Spread love and hope, we live all together in one earth.

For World Refugee Day, Bread and Roses will have a special London-wide delivery service setup to deliver bouquets made by refugee women.

World Refugee Day also sees the launch of a flower delivery service with a difference. The social enterprise Bread and Roses - set up by two Londoners to help refugee women to build skills and confidence through floristry - will be delivering bouquets hand-tied by refugee and asylum-seeking women. All proceeds will help to fund future workshops.

On Thursday, UNHCR will host an event at the Migration Museum in London, where Daudys tent will form the centrepiece, accompanied by speeches and music from a Syrian ensemble.

Another refugee shelter installation was in London last week. AMP Art Collective brought its project Refuge/e to Londons Southbank Centre, as part of the Meltdown Festival curated by MIA.

Supported by UNHCR, Refuge/e uses a combination of emergency UNHCR shelter kits and local materials to replicate a refugee shelter from Lebanon. From the basic possessions cast in white plaster, to the unfiltered accounts from refugees themselves, it allows visitors to imagine the precarious existence of living as a refugee.

AMP Art Collective's 'Refuge/e' has been touring the UK, from Yorkshire to the South-East. It was on display at London's Southbank Centre, as part of the Meltdown Festival curated by MIA.  Amp Art Collective

The installation has been in the north of England, and has had around 10,000 visitors to date. The Collective hopes to move it to Europe in the coming months.

UNHCR is also sponsoring two films  Home and My Refugee Story -- to be screened at the Different Pasts, Shared Future festival at the British Museum on Sunday.

The London office of UNHCR will also host a stall at the Refugee Week event on Londons South Bank Centre on Saturday, where it will be showcasing Virtual Reality refugee-themed films to the public.
Some 350 migrants and refugees land at the Port of Messina in Sicily, after being rescued in the Mediterranean, May 17 2016,  UNHCR/Patrick Russo

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency received information last night about three new shipwrecks in the Mediterranean. We fear that at least 130 people are dead or missing.

The first and largest of these incidents involved a rubber dinghy that left Libya on 15 June and began taking on water just hours into its journey. From the Italian coast guard, and the four survivors - Sudanese and Nigerian nationals  we understand the boat was carrying at least 133 people. 129 people are missing.

The second incident involved a boat carrying at least 85 people which broke in two and sank yesterday. People who witnessed the sinking say the boat was among three that left Libya on the evening of 15 June. There were many families with children aboard. The nationalities of those lost are Syrians and people from North African countries.

A third shipwreck is reported to have left seven more people dead or missing. Survivors were disembarked yesterday in Messina, Sicily. Their boat left Libya on 14 June. A pregnant woman from Cameroon lost her husband in the shipwreck.

Today is World Refugee Day. These incidents are a reminder of the grave dangers that people confront when forced to flee their countries because of war and persecution. Since the beginning of the year, over 77,000 people have tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. This is among the worlds most dangerous routes  a journey that no one takes lightly.

Despite the heroic work of those involved in rescue at sea, the deal toll on the Mediterranean continues to rise. More than 2,000 people are reported to have died or gone missing since the start of the year. With so many lives at stake, UNHCR, the UN Refuge Agency, appeals again for enhanced rescue operations and more viable and safe alternatives for those in need of international protection so people are not compelled to take such dangerous journeys.

More efforts are also needed to address the root causes behind these movements of people to Libya, including by solving conflicts and reducing poverty.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
Reverend Bill Bigger, the pastor of Hope Valley Baptist Church, lives up to his name. At six feet, three inches (1.9 metres) tall, he easily fills a room and is not one to shy away from a challenge.

Convinced that more needs to be done to help those fleeing wars and persecution, he persuaded his congregation in this southern city to turn a rundown brick home on church property into a haven for refugees.

My flock is more conservative than I am, Bigger says, admitting that his plan to temporarily shelter refugees in the aptly named Hope House, adjacent to the church building itself, stirred an uproar in his congregation.

I dont see this as a risk for us except that it calls us to invest our time and our energy for caring for people.

That is because the Hope Valley Baptist Church is in Durham, North Carolina, a state that veers right on a range of political issues.

In a survey this year, the Pew Research Center found that that 76 per cent of white evangelicals  the profile of many in the Hope Valley congregation  approved of efforts to halt admittance of refugees from some Muslim countries.

There were absolutely some folks scared based on rhetoric they were hearing, Bigger explains. They would ask: What is the likelihood of terrorists getting through the process?

I certainly wouldnt want to endanger our community  I certainly wouldnt want to put members at risk in any way, Bigger recalls telling his flock. I dont see this as a risk for us except that it calls us to invest our time and our energy for caring for people.

Jacqueline Allen, a local retiree, works with Odette on her English twice a week.  UNHCR/Gabriel Silverman

In answer to his parishioners questions, he offered up stories of real people and real facts. We tried to share the facts about the number of people who have been coming into our community in recent years and have been settling here, have been making a living, have been establishing their families and havent caused any trouble.

Families like those of 16-year-old John Hertier, one of the first tenants of Hope House. He and his mother, Odette, and 13-year-old sister, Mariam, moved from across town after Odette fell ill and the church offered them the spot.

The family fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011. For five years, they lived in Kenya, waiting to be vetted and resettled, before finally traveling to the United States to start a new life in North Carolina.

It took months of dialogue and generous donations from the community to make Hope House happen. When it did, a local contractor lent his expertise and a carpenter built bunk beds for the children.

In March 2017, Hope House finally became a home. The facility will serve as a way station for refugees who are resettled to North Carolina but struggle to find a long-term family home.

"I preached  about what I see as the biblical call to welcome the stranger, to be a neighbor to people."

Although it is only temporary, Hope House gives the Hertier family the chance to make new friends and integrate. Jacqueline Allen, a local retiree, works with Odette on her English twice a week. Cara Bolton, who helped Pastor Bigger convince others to create Hope House, often hangs out with John, Mariam and Odette. Just last week we had a pizza party, danced and talked, she says.

We had conversations with folks who were convinced refugees were coming to take over our way of life, Bigger says. We had about a four- or five-month discussion and discernment and even prayer process. I preached, not regularly but several times, about what I see as the biblical call to welcome the stranger, to be a neighbor to people, no matter what their backgrounds. I have told them that refugees are not causing danger but they are escaping fear and that they are the ones at risk.

Bigger says the worlds growing refugee crisis requires action. My conviction is that the church needs to be involved, he concludes. People will say to me: Shouldnt we take care of our own? I say: It is not an either-or, but a both-and.
GENEVA  The worlds 65 million refugees deserve praise for their resilience and courage and those who receive them should be recognized for welcoming them into their communities, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Tuesday.

In a statement marking World Refugee Day, Grandi said the uncertainties of todays world could make people want to shut their eyes to the plight of those displaced by war, persecution and violence. However, he added that fear and exclusion would only lead to barriers, alienation and despair.

This week, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, issued its annual Global Trends report which showed the number of people displaced worldwide had risen to 65.6 million by the end of 2016, its highest level ever.

On June 20, World Refugee Day, we honour the resilience and courage of more than 65 million people who have been forced to flee war, persecution and violence, Grandi said.

But its also a moment to recognise those communities and people around the world who receive refugees and the internally displaced in their midst, offering them a safe place, and welcoming them in their schools, their workplaces and their societies.

Through its work, UNHCR has witnessed the courage, tenacity and brilliance of refugees, he added. Having lost their homes, their work, and sometimes their families, they dont give up, they find a way to start again.

Inclusion required a whole of society approach, he said, linking students, business leaders, athletes, activists, religious leaders, politicians and artists to share responsibility.

Grandi said there were outstanding examples in villages, towns and cities in countries on every continent where refugees had been welcomed.

In big and small ways, communities around the world are standing together #WithRefugees, recognising that when people work together, everyone wins.

World Refugee Day provides a moment to ask ourselves what each of us can do to overcome indifference or fear and embrace the idea of inclusion, he said, concluding: Because, when we stand together #WithRefugees, we also stand for respect and diversity for all.
UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie meets children and siblings of vulnerable female refugees in Nairobi.  UNHCR/Mark Henley

NAIROBI, Kenya  UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie urged people to consider the plight of millions of child refugees during a visit to a residential centre for adolescent refugee girls in Nairobi for World Refugee Day.

Jolie met about 200 refugee girls, who are unaccompanied or separated from their parents and are now living in the Heshima Kenya Safe House in the Kenyan capital, where they participate in a girls empowerment programme.

The girls have fled extreme violence or persecution in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi, and Rwanda. Almost all have suffered sexual and gender-based violence.

Many have given birth, or are pregnant, after being raped. They shared their stories and details of their lives with the Special Envoy during her visit, which took place at a time of record global displacement.

Over half of all refugees and displaced people worldwide are women and children. How we treat them is a measure of our humanity as nations, Jolie said. On World Refugee Day my only ask is that people consider the pain and suffering of young girls like these.

Not only have they had to flee extreme violence or persecution, lost everything and witnessed the death of family members, but they have also had to face so much abuse and intolerance and hardship.

"How we treat them is a measure of our humanity as nations."

Jolie said the youngstgers were doing their best to carry on, with minimal support trying to live lives on dignity against impossible odds. It was an honour to spend the day with them.

It was her third visit to Kenya, home to nearly 491,000 refugees from neighbouring Somalia, South Sudan, DRC, Burundi and other countries in the region.

Most of the 67,000 urban refugees in Kenya struggle to survive on handouts from UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and other humanitarian organizations, and many are trying to recover from horrifying abuse and terror endured before or during their flight.

In all, Heshima Kenyas Girls Empowerment Project helps some 200 refugee girls, including those in the Safe House. They receive education, and training in a variety of skills to enable them to become self-reliant.

"We just want to go back to the life we once had, to play like we used to."

Among girls living at the home run by Heshima  whose name means respect in Swahili, Kenyas national language  is 14-year-old Lucie from Burundi. After her parents were killed, and with nobody to look after her, she and a sister fled to Kenya by truck, and were subsequently referred to the shelter.

"We just want to go back to the life we once had, to play like we used to, she said.

Benedict, who oversees the Heshima Kenya programme, described his motivation in helping the refugees: When I see them, I dont see refugees, I see human beings who are suffering, not out of choice, but because of circumstances beyond their control.

With the option of resettlement scarce, Heshima Kenya focuses on helping the refugees to fully integrate within the Kenyan community. This approach is also being championed by UNHCR and its partners in international talks that aim to forge a new Global Compact on Refugees next year.

When you empower them, you bring them dignity, Benedict said. They dont need to rely on anyone. The Kenyan government can also start to appreciate them  as taxpayers, employers and consumers with purchasing power.

Jolie also praised the work of Heshima Kenya and thanked Kenyans.

Kenya hosts close to half a million refugees and we at UNHCR we are very grateful to the people and government of Kenya for that."
Researchers announced at a news conference that NASA's Kepler Space Telescope has discovered new exoplanets. The Kepler mission catalog is being completed by the planets that now consist of 219 new planets. Wherein, 10 planets are close to Earth-size and they are orbiting their stars in the habitable zone.

NASA's Kepler Space Telescope newly found exoplanets could possibly host life. The habitable zone is another way to describe the distance from the star where liquid water is located on a rocky surface, which means it could support life, Fox 6 Now reported.

This most recent announcement of data will be added to the original Kepler mission catalog. However, the conference started last Saturday as part of exoplanet week and transpired at the Ames Research Center in California.

Although one of the exoplanets is the closest to Earth in size, researchers still need a detailed investigation and analysis of the planet. Nonetheless, program scientist Mario Perez stated that the Kepler data set is unique, which contains a population of near-Earth analogs, CNN reported.

Meanwhile, Kepler research scientist, Susan Thompson, stated that the Kepler mission has found amazing things. Kepler has shown people these terrestrial worlds, but scientists still have all the work to do to better understand how common Earths exist in the galaxy. Thompson also said that she is excited to witness what individuals are going to do with this catalog.

Nonetheless, since the Kepler mission started way back in 2009, the mission had helped scientists to identify thousands of alleged exoplanets, and researchers had confirmed that more than 2,000 of those are exoplanets. In addition, researchers have determined that 21 of these exoplanets are in the habitable zone, which could allow humans to survive or thrive.

In spite of that, four researchers were involved in examining the new discovery. People who are watching at home through NASA's live stream can ask questions on Twitter by using the hashtag #AskKepler.

Watch The Video Here:
New York University is conducting what they call "The Human Project" which they claim will help humanity. To make this project a reality, they are inviting 10,000 people to become volunteers and share ALL their data for 20 years.

Yes, that is correct. The project will span 20 years and requires participants to share all information about themselves. When it says all, researchers involved in the project means ALL. These include blood samples, health history, card swipes, and life-changing events.

That means participants will not have any privacy for 20 years because the researchers will monitor and track all their activities within that span of time. It's like a Big Brother sort of thing but full scale and long-term.

How will "The Human Project" benefit humanity?

Dr. Paul Glimcher, the director of the project and a neural science, economics and psychology professor at New York University, says that it will bring great insight to various aspects of human life including health, aging, and education.

The $15-million a year project also aims to foster individualized treatment for people utilizing Big Data.

Participants will undergo different kinds of tests ranging from IQ to genetic tests. Aside from this, participants will be asked to wear trackers to monitor the places they go to and the activities they are involved in. They will also be given special scales and answer surveys via their smartphones.

The researchers will also have access to the participants' health and education records as well as all the cellphone data they have - who they call and the location they are calling to and from.

The participants will also be asked to submit urine and fecal samples every three years.

In return, participants will receive a $500 remuneration per family. They also have deciding powers where to channel some charitable money to community projects of their choice.
Researchers in UK and India claim that a "significant" lack of "editing" in microRNAs in the brain tissue of a person is a potential cause of cancer. What were the findings and how to prevent the disease from spreading? Read on to find out.

The scientists describe their finding as "small but important". For one, it will help doctors understand brain cancer progression. Eventually, it will also increase the possibility of using genome engineering techniques to slow down or reverse the effects of the disease.

To better illustrate, Science Daily reported that microRNAs are special types of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that do not code for proteins but participate in crucial regulatory functions. RNAs can introduce beset variations in the organization of their building blocks known as ribonucleotides. This process, therefore, is called "editing".

In return, "editing" will enable RNA molecules to grow their functional selection, a process that maintains cell diversity and helps the human body to adapt dynamically.

Dr. Arjit Mukhopadhyay, a human genetics and genomics researcher in the School of Environment and Life Sciences, said in earlier interviews that these certain "variations" are decreased in patients with brain cancer which potentially drive the development of the disease. Mukhopadhyay and his team also examined the normal microRNA editing spectrum in 13 human tissue types.

Per Science Alert, they found out that healthy brains tend to have the highest amount of "editing". This alludes to the importance of the observed drop in cases of brain cancers. Mukhopadhyay admitted that while they do not know what is happening precisely, they believe that cellular output can be significantly altered.

The findings of this research pose one vital question for medical practitioners worldwide. That question is: Can science biochemically re-establish the "editing"? If proven to be true, there are ways to accomplish it using genome engineering techniques like CRISPR. It targets specific cells to revert the biological outcome.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reveals the Top 10 findings of its MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution Mission). On June 17, NASA MAVEN celebrated its 1,000 Earth days in orbit around the Red Planet.

Foremost, NASA launched the mission in November 2013. It reached the Martian orbit in September 2014. Here are the Top 10 MAVEN discoveries on Mars:

1. The Martian atmosphere has been stripped away by the sun. Over time, the solar wind caused the early warmer and wetter environment on Mars. It eventually turned into the cold, dry planet that we know today.

2. MAVEN successfully measured the rate of atmosphere deterioration due to the solar wind. The removal process is now better understood as well. Stronger solar wind and the ultraviolet light indicate that large amounts of gas have been lost to space through time.

3. According to Science Daily, isotopes in the upper atmosphere were used to measure the loss of gas. Isotopes are atoms of the same composition but having different mass. Findings show that more than 2/3 or more of the atmosphere in Mars have vanished.

4. Scientists were able to observe the full seasonal variation of hydrogen in the upper atmosphere. It varies by a factor of 10 throughout the year. The source of the hydrogen is water in the lower atmosphere, split into hydrogen and oxygen by sunlight.

5. On the other hand, the interactions between the solar wind and the planet are due to the lack of a Martian magnetic field. The magnetosphere that results from the interactions varies on short timescales. As a result, it is quite "lumpy".

6. Per Astrobiology, MAVEN discovered two new types of aurora: the "diffuse" and the "proton". However, they are different from humans see aurora on Earth. the variations on Mars are unrelated to either a global or local magnetic field.

7. These aurorae are caused by an influx of particles from the sun ejected through solar storms. They then hit the atmosphere in Mars. Thus, they increase the rate of loss of gas to space.

8. First direct observations of a layer of metal ions in the Mars were made. Experts found that this layer is always present. Nevertheless, it was enhanced dramatically by the close passage of Comet Siding Spring in October 2014.

9. It is now known that part of the particles from solar winds could penetrate "unexpectedly" into the upper atmosphere. Before, it was believed that they are being diverted around the Martian ionosphere. The penetration is allowed by chemical reactions that turn the charged particles of the solar wind into neutral atoms.

10. Brilliant Imaging of the distribution of gaseous nitric oxide and ozone in the atmosphere reveals another complex behavior. Apparently, there are dynamical processes of exchange of gas between the lower and upper atmosphere. These are not yet understood at the moment.
Engineering Summer Program Kicks Off 30th Year at UW

Spencer Swift, from Elkhart, Ind., and Briley James, of Wheatland, participated in last years University of Wyoming College of Engineering and Applied Science Engineering Summer Program and got an inside look at the departments in the college. (UW Photo)

For one week every June, high school students from across the country get to experience the world of engineering at the University of Wyoming. It is all made possible by the 30th annual Engineering Summer Program (ESP).

The program, from June 18-24, is supported by the College of Engineering and Applied Science (CEAS), the Outreach School, the Kennedy Endowment, Kester Funding, Union Wireless and Halliburton.

We found that lots of students really have no idea what engineers do or what kind of careers and job opportunities exist, says Jeff Anderson, ESP director. They often do not realize that engineering affects nearly all aspects of our lives so, we try to show them that.

Established in 1988, the program is open to high school juniors from anywhere in the nation. The state of Wyoming is well-represented, and participants have come from Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, South Dakota, Arizona, Idaho, Maryland, Virginia, California, Montana, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Utah in recent years. While participating in the program, students receive hands-on experiences in various engineering fields, stay in dormitories and eat at UWs Washakie Dining Center, making for an experience that prepares them for college life.

This year, 36 students are attending the program to learn about a wide range of subjects. Electrical engineering topics include microcontrollers, communications, electric motors and robotics. Students are conducting experiments with a weather balloon to learn more about atmospheric investigations.

Classes available are in computer electronics and computer science, where students learn basic programming skills to create movies and simple video games with 3-D objects and characters. Classes also are offered in biomaterials, composite materials, solar energy and architectural engineering.

When they participate in these classes, they see what engineers do, Anderson says. They learn about many great career opportunities available for engineers. They enter college with a better focus on their studies and a better perspective of career goals.

Classes are taught by UW engineering faculty members and graduate students. Participating students decide what they want to focus on, and attend morning and afternoon sessions. In the evening, they are offered campus tours and visits to CEAS labs to talk to researchers.

While ESP doesnt feature specific petroleum and chemical engineering classes, students still learn about the industry. Thanks to support from Halliburton, a prominent oil field service company, participants have the opportunity to tour Halliburtons equipment yard and laboratories.

We are proud to support the Engineering Summer Program, says Cindy Bigner, Halliburtons senior director of corporate affairs and diversity initiatives. It is important that we work closely with educators to introduce students to the many potential careers in engineering. Giving these students the opportunity to see engineers at work can only help them and the industry in the future.

Union Wireless has provided generous support for ESP. The company provides several scholarships for ESP participants, funding for classroom supplies and the closing reception breakfast for participants and their families.

Quite honestly, the program wouldnt exist without the sponsors, Anderson says. We extend our sincere thanks for the support because we really couldnt do it if any of the main sponsors pulled out. It would really hurt the program. We appreciate what they do and the sacrifices they make for us.

Anderson adds the collaboration between public and private entities ensures that students receive tools and resources they need to be successful. He believes the support offers a head start in students education and their subsequent careers and, most importantly, helps them form relationships.

Program organizers have seen students who participate in the program form study groups that last throughout college and get to know professors and UW.

One thing we try to do is have them build relationships with faculty so when theyre trying to decide where they want to go study, they already have a connection at the University of Wyoming, Anderson says.

Students participating in the ESP camp are:

Arlington, Va. -- Danny Donate-Perez.

Burns -- Alex Williams.

Carlsbad, Calif. -- Emy Kiernan.

Cody -- Cody Edwards and Mac Simpson.

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- Wiley Neumeyer and Maegan Sowells.

Conifer, Colo. -- Sydney Walker.

Diamondville -- Louis Failoni.

Douglas -- Tim Pham.

Eagle, Colo. -- Collin Jenkins.

Evanston -- Colton Hatch.

Fremont, Calif. -- Rohan Niranjan.

Gillette -- Britney Thompson.

Golden, Colo. -- Mia Johnson.

Green River -- Samuel Bayles.

Hanna -- David Freeman.

Highlands Ranch, Colo. -- Barak Morris.

Lander -- Noah Gans and Connor Wilkinson.

Laramie -- Sarah Holles.

Longmont, Colo. -- Donovan Dean Whitehead.

Meeteetse -- Joshua Graybill.

Pinedale -- Jenna Roadifer.

Potter, Neb. -- JT Herboldsheimer.

Powell -- Hattie Pimentel and Rhett Pimentel.

Ranchester -- Skye Bensel.

Sedalia, Colo. -- Lisa Retzlaff.

Sheridan -- Katie Bammel and Aeriana Roth.

Sidney, Neb. -- Jordan Cook.

Sinking Spring, Pa. -- Ian Williams.

Sterling, Colo. -- Becca Miller.

Toms River, N.J. -- Paige D'Elia.

Yellowstone National Park -- Christina Webster.
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.


Actor Gilles Marini, known for roles in Sex and the City, Brothers & Sisters, Switched at Birth, Devious Maids, Dancing with the Stars, and others, celebrated Fathers Day early with a night out in Vegas on Friday, June 16 (Pictured: Gilles Marini with sons and nephews at Sugar Factory Las Vegas).

For his first stop, Gilles went to the Kelly Cardenas Salon located inside the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to get a fresh haircut by one of their amazing stylist, Salvador Rubio. Gilles talked about how much he loved his new haircut, how relaxing the experience was and would recommend anyone coming to Vegas to visit the salon.

After his haircut, Gilles visited the sweetest spot on the Strip, Sugar Factory American Brasserie at the Fashion Show. He joined his son and nephews for a delicious meal featuring items like Sugar Factorys big cheesy monster burger, tye die milkshake, caramel Sugar Daddy cheesecake milkshake, Giggles Snickers milkshake, dulce de leche milkshake, rainbow sliders, chicken & waffles, and virgin signature candy goblets Ocean Blue and Lollipop Passion. The group fell in love with all the different insane milkshakes and stopped to take a picture with them.

On the way out, the group brought home a variety of candies including M&Ms, rainbow sour belts, Swedish fish, and white chocolate covered gummy bears.

Also stopping into Sugar Factory this weekend was AJ McLean from Backstreet Boys. Joined by his mother, father, wife, and daughter, AJ celebrated Fathers Day with an evening of delicious items like the Ocean Blue and Ice Tea goblet (virgin), sampler platter, blue cheese burger, Sugar Factory signature burger, brownie sandwich, and a Sugar Daddy Caramel cheesecake milkshake.

AJ was overheard complimenting the restaurant and the food to the staff, saying that his experience was amazing and he would definitely be back soon. For the road home, AJ and family took several bags of candy which included Mike and Ikes, strawberry licorice, rainbow sour belts, and Reeses Pieces.


EDC weekend in Vegas truly lit up the desert, but the massive party weekend actually kicked off at Daylight Beach Club with a killer lineup from a special night-time pool party dubbed Dark Water which was in partnership with Insomniac and their Factory 93 brand, known for featuring curated underground parties.

Photo credit: Rockbear.

Dark Waters headline performance featured Nicole Moudaber and Chris Liebing playing back to back to the fully sold out crowd.

Berlin techno duo, Pan-Pot, elevated the night the moment they took the stage and played a set worthy of headline status, whilst still setting things up nicely for Nicole and Chris.

Insomniac founder Pasquale Rotella, along with his wife Former Playboy Playmate Holly Madison, were spotted letting loose with several DJs and Insomniac team members on stage to take in the scene and kick off the festival weekend.

Daylight Beach Club continued the party Friday with Laidback Luke for a high energy and sold out set. Jamie Jones and Curtis Jones aka Green Velvet ignited the party Saturday afternoon, playing their signature deep house beats.

International DJ, Flume, who turned down playing the EDC festival, instead decided to turn up Daylight Beach Club. Flume spun his hits Never Be Like You and Say It featuring Tove Lo. Throughout the sold out day party, Flume was seen hanging with close friend and famed DJ Diplo between sets.


Chateau Nightclub & Rooftop at Paris Las Vegas is extending its hours and keeping the party going with new Moon Tower Thursdays, hosted every Thursday night at 10 p.m. beginning Thursday, June 29 (Photo credit: Anthony Mair).

Every Thursday night, guests can party under the Eiffel Tower to hits from the 80s and 90s as part of the new throwback night. From 10:30 p.m. until midnight, Chateau will offer a power hour special featuring $3 select beers and cocktails.

Guests may elevate their experience with lavish VIP booths with bottle service on the Chateau rooftop, featuring panoramic views of the Las Vegas Strip.

Admission to Moon Tower Thursdays is priced at $30 and complimentary for locals with a valid Nevada ID.


Latin music icon Marc Anthony announced the dates for his new U.S. tour, including a Las Vegas stop at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Saturday, Sept. 16 at 10:30 p.m.

Titled Full Circle, the tour communicates Marc Anthonys expressed desire to offer his fans a truly special experience. I want to feel my people close and dedicate all my songs, one by one, to them. I want to give them a heartfelt thanks for having been with me since the beginning of my career, Marc himself explained.

To this end, the Cardenas Marketing Network (CMN) production team has designed a circular stage that will allow the artist to connect with his loyal fans in a more intimate way. The concert will feature hits from throughout his musical career along with some of his favorite songs.
By: Koushan Das

In May 2017, Vietnam and the US signed business deals worth US$8 billion. The majority of the deals were for aircraft engines and development of power generation capabilities, along with hospitality, science and technology, academia and energy. The deals are predicted to create more than 23,000 American jobs and help in reducing the US trade deficit with Vietnam, which stood at almost US$32 billion in 2016. To sustain its export-driven economy and minimize the effects of US withdrawal from the TPP, Vietnam is pushing for increased trade relations with the US, its largest export market.

The history of US-Vietnam trade relations

Since the US-Vietnam Bilateral Trade Agreement (BTA) in 2001, which extended MFN status to the Vietnamese market, trade and US investments in Vietnam have increased dramatically. Major US exports to Vietnam include agricultural products, machinery, yarn/fabric, and vehicles while imports include apparel, footwear, furniture and bedding, agricultural products, seafood, and electrical machinery.

Trade between the two has been growing by 20 percent annually since 2001, with 2016 trade reaching US$47 billion  33.5 times higher than 2001 figures. Vietnam is USs 16th largest trade partner and the fastest-growing market for US exports. Trade between the two nations is however tipped in Vietnams favor. In 2016 and 2015, Vietnams trade surplus stood at US$32 billion and US$31 billion respectively.

In the first four months of 2017, US accounted for 20 percent of Vietnams exports, an increase of 8.7 percent from the same period last year. Major export items included textile-garment, footwear, computers, seafood, farm products, timber and timber products, electronics and components.

Deals signed in 2017

In the recent exchange, deals worth U$8 billion were signed between the two countries. General Electric signed its largest single combined sale with the country worth US$5.58 billion for power generation, aircraft engines, and services. The agreement includes 20 jet engines made by CFM International, a joint venture of GE and Safran for VietJet Aviation. Also included is a 12-year engine service contract for 100 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft that VietJet has ordered. VietJet also signed a US$1 billion deal with GE Capital Aviation Services for aircraft financing.

In the power sector, GE signed a memorandum of understanding to build two 750-megawatt gas-fired turbine power plants in conjunction with state energy group PetroVietnam. Also included in the deal is a joint development agreement for an 800-megawatt wind power facility. Caterpillar and its Vietnam subsidiary agreed to provide generator management technology for more than 100 generators in Vietnam.The remaining deals focused on hospitality, science and technology, academia and energy.

TPP without the US

Vietnam would have been one of the major beneficiaries of the original TPPs reduced tariffs. TPP including US would have led to an increase in US investments and help Vietnam position itself as a viable alternative to China for low-cost manufacturing. However, with the new US administration favoring bilateral trade deals rather than multilateral, few TPP member countries are pushing to revive the agreement without the US.

Without the US, the scale and effect of the renewed agreement will be diminished considerably as US accounted for almost 60 percent of the groups total gross domestic product (GDP). According to recent data, the renewed TPP without the US, also called TPP11, would reduce trade amongst members to only a quarter of the original deal and reduce the market size by almost half.

Vietnam had implemented numerous changes in state-owned enterprises and deregulated key sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and retail in anticipation of gaining access to the US market. Even without the US, Vietnam believes that a renegotiated TPP will be feasible as TPP focused not only on market access, but also on reforms in labor, labor, transparency, IP protection, and anticorruption, which would help modernize its economy. The country will also benefit from increased market access in new members and a deeper integration in global supply chains. TPP11 will allow member states reduce their dependence on China, which backs the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which is a 16-nation trade pact that includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), along with China, Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand.

The Future of EU and US trade relations with Vietnam

US market

The USs withdrawal from the TPP has had no substantial effect on the trade between the two nations. Trade has been growing by almost 20 percent since 2001 and industry analysts believe the trend will continue. Vietnams exports to the US in 2017 are predicted to reach US$45 billion and over US$65 billion by 2020.

However, US have been trying to narrow its growing trade deficit and increase exports to Vietnam. In 2016, the deficit stood at US$32 billion, up from US$7 billion, only a decade earlier. The deficit highlights the importance of Vietnamese high-tech exports such as electronics and semiconductors along with traditional exports such as footwear, apparel, furniture, and textiles.

EU market

In 2016, EU-Vietnam trade stood at over US$47.7 billion, with US$37.2 billion in imports from Vietnam into the EU and US$10.5 billion in exports from the EU to Vietnam. To further increase trade relations, both parties have signed the Vietnam-EU Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), to be in effect from 2018.

Once in effect, it will provide Vietnam access to a potential market of 500 million people accounting for almost a quarter of the global GDP. In Vietnam, real wages of skilled laborers and common workers are expected to rise by 12-13 percent. Reduced and eliminated tariffs will increase the GDP annually by 0.5 percent annually, while exports are expected to grow annually by 4-6 percent. Major Vietnamese exports to EU such as textile, clothing, and footwear are expected to more than double by 2020 because of the FTA.

However, the benefits of the agreement will take time to be realized, as certain products that are sensitive for EU producers, particularly in the textile apparel and footwear sectors, will have longer liberalization periods of up to seven years.

Trade outlook

Trade experts predict exports to grow over 13 percent in 2017 driven by acceleration in global trade and higher import of raw materials and electronic parts. Largest export markets will continue to be US, EU, China, and Japan accounting for 22 percent, 18 percent, 12 percent, and 8 percent respectively of total exports.

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An Introduction to Doing Business in Vietnam 2017 will provide readers with an overview of the fundamentals of investing and conducting business in Vietnam. Compiled by Dezan Shira & Associates, a specialist foreign direct investment practice, this guide explains the basics of company establishment, annual compliance, taxation, human resources, payroll, and social insurance in this dynamic country.

Managing Contracts and Severance in Vietnam

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the prevailing state of labor pools in Vietnam and outline key considerations for those seeking to staff and retain workers in the country. We highlight the increasing demand for skilled labor, provide in depth coverage of existing contract options, and showcase severance liabilities that may arise if workers or employers choose to terminate their contracts.
# 2 Investments for Tax Planning: Choosing from a slew of investment choices available for tax planning, women investors need to pay heed to what their needs are. Remember that investments which give Income Tax benefits can also be made to yield a substantial return and serve as additional income down the years. So, the best thing to do is to chalk down the likely expenses that you will incur in the upcoming years, and smartly use income tax planning to cater to these. Also, ladies, remember to take a life insurance plan to insure your life. It is important and your life is precious! Your first investment for tax planning should be a life insurance cover which can be customized to become an investment for: your retirement, your childs college expense, a holiday with family, your own or your family members wedding and so on! There are enough investment options available for tax planning, and you can happily mix and match them to suit your needs!
Seven Sisters Road closed after a van rammed into people in north London. (Photo: Alec Wilson/Twitter)

The 48-year-old male driver of the van "was found detained by members of the public at the scene and then arrested by police," a police statement said.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the incident is being treated by police as a potential terrorist attack.

"Police have confirmed this is being treated as a potential terrorist attack," May said. "I will chair an emergency meeting later this morning."

"All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and the emergency services on the scene," she said.

The incident took place on Seven Sisters Road, near Finsbury Park station, in north London at 12.20am. The Muslim Council of Britain said on Twitter that a van ran over worshippers as they left Finsbury Park Mosque after prayers.

Witnesses told Sky News that at least 10 people were hit by the van.

"We have been informed that a van has run over worshippers as they left #FinsburyPark Mosque. Our prayers are with the victims," the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an umbrella body, said on Twitter.

According to counter-terrorism police co-ordinator Neil Basu, all victims were Muslim but the man who died at the scene may have been taken ill before it happened.

"The attack unfolded as a man was already receiving first aid at the scene, sadly that man has died," Basu said. "Any causative link between his death and the attack will form part of the investigation. It is too early to say if his death was as a result of this attack."

Harun Khan, the head of the MCB, said the van had "intentionally" run over people leaving night prayers for the holy month of Ramadan.

An AFP reporter could see a helicopter and many emergency vehicles at the scene, which was closed off by a large police cordon.

Traffic was shut down on a section of Seven Sisters Road, where the incident happened.

"We saw lots of people shouting and lots of people injured," David Robinson, 41, who arrived just after the accident, told AFP.

The leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, said he was "totally shocked" by the events of Monday morning. "I'm totally shocked at the incident at Finsbury Park tonight," Corbyn posted on Twitter.

"My thoughts are with those and the community affected by this awful event."

Police, including armed officers, could be seen manning a wide cordon around the area. Others searched the area with sniffer dogs.

A group of Muslim men could be seen praying on the pavement nearby. Traffic was shut down along a one-kilometre section of Seven Sisters Road.

Cynthia Vanzella, who lives near the scene, said on Twitter: "Horrible to watch police officers doing cardiac massage at people on the floor, desperately trying to save them. I just hope they did."

MCB deputy head Miqdaad Versi said the incident happened "outside the Muslim Welfare House", which is on Seven Sisters Road near the mosque.

In a statement, the London Ambulance Service said they "treated eight patients at the scene and taken them to three London hospitals", adding a number of patients were also treated at the scene for minor injuries.

It added: We sent over 60 of our medics to the scene including ambulance crews, advance paramedics and specialist responses teams and an advance trauma team from London's Air Ambulance."

This latest incident comes in the wake of two other attacks in London which involved pedestrians being mowed down by vehicles. On Mar 22, five people were killed and dozens injured after being run over and stabbed near the Houses of Parliament on Westminster Bridge.

The second incident occurred at London Bridge on Jun 3 when eight people were killed in a knife attack after assailants ploughed a van into pedestrians.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said following that attack that there had been a 40 per cent increase in racist incidents in the city and a five-fold increase in the number of anti-Muslim incidents.

On his Facebook page, Khan at the time called on Londoners "to pull together, and send a clear message around the world that our city will never be divided by these hideous individuals who seek to harm us and destroy our way of life".
Investors at ACB Securities Co. - VNS Photo Viet Thanh

The VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange increased 0.73 per cent to close at 766.83 points. The benchmark southern index expanded 1.5 per cent last week.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 1.12 per cent to end at 99.41 points. The northern market index rose 1 per cent a week ago.

Bank stocks were the major contributor to the market rise as all nine listed lenders on the two exchanges gained value.

Nam Viet Bank (NVB), the smallest capitalised bank among nine listed banks, hit the maximum daily rise of 10 per cent for a second session on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, closing at VND10,300 a share. These shares have climbed 110 per cent since early this year.

Other banks such as Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB), Military Bank (MBB) and Sacombank (STB) increased 4.1 per cent, 2.7 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively. These shares have also increased substantially since the beginning of 2017.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank has gained 64 per cent compared to December 30 last year; Sacombank, up 50 per cent; and Military Bank up 48 per cent.

Three biggest listed banks including Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID) rose by a more modest 0.5-1.5 per cent each.

According to Bao Viet Securities Co, the National Assembly will likely approve the new bad debt settlement resolution this Wednesday. Only one issue remains unresolved surrounding the time frame, on which there are currently two perspectives. One is dealing with non performing loans (NPLs) ending December 31, 2016 and the other is applied to bad debts arising before 2016 as well as during the period in which the bad debt settlement resolution takes effect.

With the high possibility that the resolution of bad debt will be approved, we think that the banking stocks may continue to gain momentum in the next two sessions. As a result, the overall performance of the indices will likely also receive substantial support, Tran Hai Yen, a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co, wrote in a report on Monday.

Apart from banks, many other large-cap stocks picked up and contributed to the market rise, including Vinamilk (VNM), brewery Sabeco (SAB), Petrolimex (PLX), VinGroup (VIC), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and PV Gas (GAS).

From our view, the overall market outlook is positive in the short-term, Yen said, but warned about rising profit-taking pressure on large-cap stocks lacking supportive information.

Liquidity was positive with a total of 265.3 million shares worth a combined VND5.1 trillion (US$224.1 million) traded on the two markets.
The BASF technical team demonstrating the advantages of MasterEase admixture

This new generation of polymers improves the rheological properties of concrete and reduces plastic viscosity by up to 30 per cent. In addition, it reduces the time and workload needed to pump and place concrete slabs, speeding along construction works.

Innovation is an important driver for our long-term growth. We collaborate with our customers to continuously work on new products and solutions as well as innovative technologies. With the launch of MasterEase, we are offering our most advanced and globally approved product in Vietnam to support our customers in overcoming construction challenges and realise the projects of their dreams, said Le Doan Trinh, head of Construction Chemicals at BASF Vietnam.

Concrete producers and users will benefit in many ways from the new technology, which is flexible and can be adapted to challenging situations, such as temperature and material variations. It is particularly suitable for concrete mixes designed and optimised for advanced engineering properties and sustainability.

High-strength concrete with low water/cement ratios, as well as mixes with higher levels of supplementary cementitious materials reduce the CO2 footprint. MasterEase makes it easier to produce and place these concrete mixes, helping engineers and developers to improve the sustainability ratings of their projects.

This admixture solution has been proven successful in a variety of landmark projects in Vietnam since its debut in Ho Chi Minh City a year ago. MasterEase is currently being applied, for example, in Coco Bay Resort in Danang and Ben Luc-Long Thanh Expressway.

Tanachart Ralsipirong, managing director of BASF Vietnam, said that, As one of the fastest growing countries in the Asia-Pacific, Vietnam is an important market for BASF. As the country is developing and becomes increasingly urbanised, better infrastructure and quality, affordable housing are crucial. As a long-term partner of Vietnam, BASF can help address these issues with our solutions and technologies. The launch of MasterEase shows how we support the rapid growth of the Vietnamese construction industry.
Except for instant noodle brand Hao Hao, whose ranking moved up from 654 to 636, and toothpaste P/S, whose ranking moved up from 917 to 808, the remaining nine, namely Vietjet Air (595), Viettel (596), Petrolimex (616), Vinamilk (621), Chin-su (668), Trung Nguyen (693), Vietnam Airlines (716), Mobifone (736), and Vietcombank (811) all scored lower in the ranking.

Most local brands dropped from their 2016 rankings

I feel proud that local enterprises now can make their brands known at the regional front, said Nguyen Huong Quynh, managing director of Nielsen Vietnam. However, the results this year were not as good as last year. As observed, most of the local brands ranks dropped since last year. To keep the momentum, it is important for our enterprises to continuously work hard on their brand reputation, keep their brand promises and offer the best products and service experience to customers.

The annual Asias Top 1000 Brands survey is the regions most comprehensive research on consumer brand perception presented by Campaign Asia-Pacific and based on an exclusive survey conducted by Nielsen. According to the results, big multinational companies continue to dominate the list of Top 1000 brands in Asia, but more local firms successfully improved their brand perception.

The top of the charts for the 2017 ranking remained unchanged since 2016. Samsung continued to hold onto the number one position for the sixth consecutive year, Apple came in at second followed by Sony in the third place, Nestle at the fourth and Panasonic at the fifth.

Five other players who fought their way into the Top 10 brands in Asia were LG, Nike, Channel, Adidas, and Coca-Cola. In fact, Coca-Cola was a new name in the Top 10 this year, while Canon, ranked number eight last year, slipped lower.
Wholesalers purchase lychees at a household business in Thanh Xa Commune in Hai Duong Provinces Thanh Ha District. - VNA/VNS Photo Vu Sinh

The Red River Delta province wants to encourage investors to set up modern agricultural practices that use state-of-the-art technologies and develop high-quality, competitive products.

Nguyen Manh Hien, secretary of the provincial Party Committee, said that businesses will get support in terms of credit, land rent, infrastructure development and administrative procedures.

At an agricultural investment promotion conference held in Hai Duong on Sunday, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong suggested that the province pay attention to providing training and encouraging farmers to connect with others to form agricultural businesses.

Identifying strategic products and outlining transparent, favourable policies for investors will help the local agricultural sector to improve and progress to a new stage of development, Cuong advised.

The province has around 11,700 enterprises, but of these, only 1,600 have invested in agriculture. The total investment in local agriculture is valued at around VND15 trillion (US$658.5 million), most of it focused on farm produce processing, animal-based food products and production linkages.
KDC held its annual shareholders' meeting on June 16

The information was released after the annual shareholders meeting of KDC on June 16.

Regarding the treasury share sales plan, Tran Le Nguyen, CEO of KDC, said, KDC now has strong financial capacity to carry out its investment plans in 2017, so we do not have to sell treasury shares. However, if we sold more than 50 million treasury shares, KDC could earn VND2.5 trillion ($110 million). In this case, we may share this amount with shareholders in the form of cash bonus, just like when KDC sold its confectionery business.

In August, KDC will join with a Thai partner to make high-quality chili sauce, taking the first step in the sauce sector and continuing to extend to the packaged food sector.

Besides, KDC will push cooperation with big foreign partners in the region like Indonesia to shorten product launch times and distribute banded products on the market.

The year 2017 is marked as a milestone as KDC officially entered the food processing industry by buying 50 per cent of Dabaco Group, which now owns a factory that slaughters 25,000 animals a day.

KDC can now call the shots on Dabacos products, brand name, and distribution channel. In the first step, Dabaco Group will use KDCs distribution and frozen systems for its products.

In 2016, KDC achieved a revenue of VND2.2 trillion ($97 million), 31.25 per cent lower than the previous year, and profit before tax of VND1.5 trillion ($66 million), down 78 per cent. Ice-cream and yoghurt were in the lead with 35 per cent market share, contributing 43.5 per cent of the companys total revenue and achieving 30 per cent growth rate last year.

At the end of 2016, KDC also increased its holding in Tuong An Company (TAC) to 65 per cent.

In 2017, KDC targets a total revenue of VND7.7 trillion ($339.6 million), VND490 billion ($21.6 million) in profit before tax, including the estimated revenue of VND5.8 trillion ($255.8 million) from packaged food, and VND240 billion ($10 million) in profit. The frozen food business set the target of VND1.9 trillion ($83 million) in revenue and VND250 billion ($11 million) in profit.
Workers check Nui Coc Lakes major dam in the northern province of Thai Nguyen. Experts believe that the dam could devastate downstream areas if it breaks. - VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Nguyen

Thai Nguyen City, Song Cong City, Pho Yen Township, Phu Binh District and part of Bac Giang Province would be seriously affected, they said.

The warning was made at a conference on repairing the dam held on Monday.

Last Friday, the provincial Peoples Committee announced a state of emergency as the 480 metre-long dam was leaking.

A report from the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development showed that the dam was leaking from its shoulder and from a downstream area.

Large volumes of water were leaking from parts of the dams left bank, with downstream drainage ditches suffering damaged and the upper sloping roof sagging.

Viet Nam Hydraulic Engineering Consultants Corporation has said it is necessary to drill to create a water-proof membrane for the entire dam, rebuild the dams downstream area, upgrade the downstream drainage system and restore the dam monitoring system.

In the long run, upgrading the whole dam should be considered.

Commenting on the corporations plan, PhD Pham Ngoc Quy, former deputy head of the Irrigation University said that water leakage was the main reason dams broke in Viet Nam. The unit must clarify the situation of the dam, including the limit of water leakage.

Quy expressed concerns about the units plan to remove the dams downstream roof, which poses the risk of 175 million cubic metres of water flowing downstream.

PhD Nguyen Canh Thai, vice rector of the university called for evaluation of the leaks on the dam body to devise solutions.

He also said that the unit should factor in the possibility of heavy rainfall during the repair work to ensure safety.

ong Van Tu, director of the Water Resource Directorates Department of Project Management and Dam Safety said that it was urgent to dismantle the downstream roof for monitoring and drilling of the leak spots in the centre of the dam before moving to other positions.

The corporation must prepare for possible flooding in the downstream area as high rainfall and flooding are forecast this year, he added.

oan Van Tuan, vice chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee said that a consultant council would be set up to investigate the leaks and conduct the repair work as soon as possible.

Tuan assigned Thai Nguyen Irrigation Exploitation One Member Co Ltd to revise safety measures during the repair work.

Nui Coc Lake is a human-made lake in Thai Nguyen Province. It was built in 1973 and has seven dams. It provides 30 millions cubic metres of water for irrigation per year, 30,000 cubic metres of water for residents per day and between 30,000 and 150,000 cubic metres of water for the Yen Binh Clean Water Plant per day.
Suntory PepsiCo inaugurates its fifth production facility in Vietnam

The plant has a maximum capacity of up to 850 million litres per year, with a total of 10 production lines, five of which have already been put into operation with 300 million litres per year, while the rest will be installed in the second phase. The factory is considered to be one of the largest and most modern Suntory and PepsiCo plants in the world.

The factory is located on 14 hectares, with a total investment of about $56 million. The factory was designed and constructed by world-leading international contractors from Japan (MAEDA) and Germany (KHS, SIDEL & KRONES).

The production lines, workshops, warehouses, and testing rooms met the global standards of both Suntory and PepsiCo as well as the strict food quality, hygiene, and safety standards of Vietnamese laws.

The Suntory PepsiCo plant at Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc Industrial Park, as well as all other plants of the company in Vietnam have been granted the Certificate of Eligibility by the Food Hygiene and Safety Department. Additionally, the Ministry of Health also issued a certificate of satisfaction of food hygiene and safety.

The new factory will be the best workplace in Quang Nam province

The Suntory PepsiCo plant provides jobs to about 300 direct and indirect employees, most of whom are locals. With the notion that employees are their most important assets, Suntory PepsiCo is constantly thriving to maintain a safe, secure, and healthy working environment.

The companys new plant is designed with accordance to modern standards, environmental sustainability, and maximum employee comfort. The design devotes 20 per cent of the area to greenery and flora, and the LED lighting technology employed throughout the plant saves 35-40 per cent on energy consumption due to light.

The company invested more than $2 million in the sewage treatment system meeting the output standard A (TCVN40:2011), demonstrating strong commitment to sustainable development, environmental protection, and corporate social responsibility. The plant is expected to become one of the best places to work in Quang Nam.

Delivering a speech at the plants inauguration ceremony, Uday Sinha, CEO and general director of Suntory PepsiCo, said, The plant in Dien Nam-Dien Ngoc Industrial Park is considered as the model plant of both Suntory and PepsiCo in the region and around the world. The operation of this new plant marks an important milestone in Suntory PepsiCos commitment to sustainable business development in Vietnam by bringing consumers the best quality products, creating the optimal competitive advantages, and helping us continue to consolidate our position as one of the leading beverage companies in Vietnam.

The new Suntory PepsiCo plant began construction in February 2016 and has been in operation since the first quarter of 2017. The manufacturing facilitys products are expected to serve the needs of the domestic market and company exports in the coming future.

Suntory PepsiCo expanded its production and business in Quang Nam through the acquisition of Dien Ban in 2004 to develop more markets to meet the needs of people across the country.

Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverageis 100 per cent foreign-owned and is a strategic alliance between PepsiCo Inc. and Suntory Holdings Limited. Suntory PepsiCo is one of the leading beverage companies in Vietnam, with five manufacturing facilities nationwide, five sales offices, and an office headquarter. The company now provides direct employment for more than 2,800 employees and thousands of indirect employees.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (second, right) meets representatives of Thailands TCC Group. - VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

Receiving TCC chairman Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi in Ha Noi on Saturday, the Prime Minister recognised the groups successful business activities and tax payment of US$100 million in Viet Nam.

He expressed his hope that TCC, a famous brand in Thailand, would serve as an example for foreign investors in complying with tax regulations, especially in preventing transfer pricing and tax evasion.

PM Phuc welcomed the groups intention to do long-term investment in Viet Nam, affirming that the country is a market economy where the State ensures business freedom and provides the best possible conditions for investors, including TCC, in the win-win spirit.

For his part, chairman Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi said his group was determined to expand its retail market share in Thailand, which could be seen through the recent purchase of Big C Thailand.

The move would help TCC sell Vietnamese products, including farm produce, in Thailand, he said, noting that the firm has set up a division specialising in export activities in Viet Nam.

He added TCC was very interested in the beer business and wanted to bring Viet Nams beer brands to international markets as the country had longstanding beer brands of good quality.

The entrepreneur said he hoped the Vietnamese Government would facilitate his groups investment and business activities in the country, including the export of Vietnamese goods to Thailand.
Many delegations of foreign experts have visited VWS every year to assess the firms performance and technology

According to Minute No.01/BB-VPHC on administrative violations in the field of protecting the environment released by the Vietnam Environment Administration under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE), Vietnam Waste Solutions Company (VWS) was accused of committing several violations. The facility was suspected of failing to install sewage treatment facilities as required, of discharging wastewater that did not meet safety standards, and of providing an environmental impact assessment report in which one item was left unfinished.

VWS was saddled with a hefty fine for these violations. The company was also required to stop storing waste water as well as to quickly handle waste discharge in its second landfill.

David Duong, chairman of VWS, said, We have sent two documents to the Vietnam Environment Administration after receiving the document dated June 9, 2017. We are striving to provide an explanation so that the authorities can understand our waste treatment technology and process. However, we have not received any response from the administration.

Kevin Moore, the firms managing director, shared with VIR a comprehensive explanation for the allegations. Primarily, he declared that MoNREs conclusion that VWS failed to equip the environmental protection facility as prescribed by the law should be reconsidered. The main reason being that Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex had raised its capacity on November 30, 2014. The increase happened before the environmental impact report (EIR) on the complex was released.

In addition, VWS was requested by the Ho Chi Minh City Peoples Committee to handle all of the garbage following the closure of the polluted Phuoc Hiep landfill. When a large amount of garbage was relocated to Da Phuoc, VWS had to raise treatment output from 3,000 tonnes of waste per day to 10,000. VWS is among a selected group of companies capable of treating all of the garbage in the city.

The EIR specifies that Da Phuoc installed additional sewage treatment facilities following the increase of the output. However, the report does not mention that the landfill upgraded all of the facilities at once.

VWS recognised the increasing amount of liquid waste dripping from hard garbage by the end of 2015. The companys American experts and local engineers worked together to develop a new technology for liquid waste treatment. VWS hired some contractors and negotiated for the upgrade project.

VWS decided to increase the waste water treatment output in the membrane bioreactor (MBR) factory from 1,000 cubic metres per day to 3,000 cubic metres per day, bringing the total daily capacity from 4,280 cubic metres to 6,280 cubic metres as committed in the EIR. Indeed, VWS followed the EIRs requirements by installing sewage treatment modules after raising the capacity.

Another allegation involved the firms failure to provide adequate evaluation reports regarding waste storage and processing procedures.

Moore said that waste water is stored in reservoirs before being processed. VWS has treated the bottom with a special layer and built dam systems surrounding the reservoirs. We have applied rigorous standards in developing waste water reservoirs to avoid dripping and environmental pollution, he said.

VWS has co-operated with the environment technology and management centre (ETM) to check the soil and air quality at the second reservoir. After studying samples collected in April 2016, the centre released good results for both soil and air at the site.

The air quality assessment indicates that the second reservoir does not contaminate the surrounding environment and affect the neighbouring households. Meanwhile, the analysis of soil quality shows that the reservoir is running efficiently without any negative impact on the environment, Moore said.

VWS is also accused of failing to submit a completion certificate for environmental protection projects. However, VWS already took immediate action after receiving the EIR in February 2015. The company completed all documents and reports on environmental protection to submit to the ministry in February 2016.

VWS managers expressed concerns about the gap between VWS regular environmental assessment and the administrations random testing results.

The allegations include that VWS discharged waste water surpassing the technical standards by one to three times, around 1,000 to 1,200 cubic metres per day (24 hours a day). However, both ETM and VWS laboratories have conducted sample testing at the same time, but achieved different results.

VWS has hired an independent company known as Water and Environmental Technology Institute (WETI) to double check ETMs analysis results. WETI and ETM constantly took waste water samples for testing at Da Phuoc throughout March 2017. Both of them achieved compatible results meeting national technical regulations on the environment like QCVN 40:2011/BTNMT.

To achieve objective results, VWS has hired independent companies to implement testing, said David Duong. We wonder why the results are different from those of the environmental administration. Further, VWS has installed automated monitoring systems at sluice gates TW1 and TW2 to check the quality of discharged material. The systems have been certified and accredited by the Centre for Environmental Monitoring under the Vietnam Environment Administration.

We believe that the results are based on proven expertise. If the disparity between environmental assessments is correct, VWS is willing to make suitable adjustments. Our principle is to operate in accordance with the laws to pursue long-term investments in our hometown, said Duong.
140 local farmers and other residents of the Da Phuc Village in Sai Son commune are performers in The Quintissence of Tonkin, a show directed by Viet Tu.

For one, it has humans perform roles played by puppets in traditional water puppetry shows.

Then, it uses actual farmers who till the fields, whose life is depicted by the art of water puppetry, to play the roles.

The play is a vivid cultural exploration of wet rice cultivation, which has not just fed people, but also created the Red River civilisation of Viet people.

Titled Thuo Ay Xu Doai or The Quintessence of Tonkin, the one-hour play amazed audiences when it was staged on a 1.5ha lake in Hanois Sai Son commune.

The commune is located in Hanois suburban district of Quoc Oai, called Xu Doai in the old days.

Tu said the play was inspired by Vietnams water puppetry.

Vietnamese water puppetry is very well known. Almost every foreign tourist coming to Vietnam has to see a show. However, I didnt want to create something similar to what exists. Instead, in my show, the humans perform and replace the characters of the puppets.

Tu has a reputation for doing things differently.

His Four Palaces, an artistic interpretation of hau dong, a traditional ritual in which a medium is possessed by several deities, was highly acclaimed by both domestic and foreign audiences when it was released at the end of 2015.

For his latest play, 140 locals, farmers and residents of the Da Phuc Village in Sai Son commune, have become performers.

During the day, they are farmers working in their fields, and in the night, they become different characters in the show.

I was very moved, and highly appreciate the effort theyve put in to rehearse the play for almost on year.

The show has many lively scenes that show the daily life of farmers, including tilling the soil and sowing rice. Herdsman play the flute, children fly kites or and real ducks swimming in the lake. Bamboo planted by the lake adds to the authenticity that The Quintessence of Tonkin tries to achieve.

The audience has been amazed with the thuy dinh (pavilion on water), which is a life-size replica of the one built during the Ly Dynasty (1010 - 1225) on the villages Long Chieu Pond.

The villages thuy dinh is the place where water puppetry is performed. Monk and zen master Tu Dao Hanh (1072-1116), who spent his life at the Thay Pagoda in the village, is considered the ancestor of this art form. Thats why I want to bring this idea to the show, Tu said, explaining why he decided to create a 10-tonne replica of thuy dinh.

Based on several famous water puppetry acts, the show opens with the Teu Giao Dau (The Prelude of Teu). Local life in Xu Doai is reproduced on the stage with puppetry acts like Duoi Cao Bat Vit (Expell Fox and Catch Duck), Ngu Ong (Fisherman), Chim Loan Phuong (The Phoenix).

In between the puppet scenes, farmers perform Nang Som (Early Morning Sunlight), Dao Lieu or the artistic demonstration of a village festival and vinh qui bai to  a tradition since the 15th century, which is the homecoming of a osuccessful graduate greeted by a jubilant village. The extravagant procession and ceremony highlights the sweat and tears needed to achieve such honours.

With the stage on water, the replica of thuy dinh and a modern laser lighting system creating amazing effects, The Quintessence of Tonkin is a striking visual feast.

Historian Duong Trung Quoc heaped praise on the show, saying: The producer and director have invested not only in a new stage concept, sounding and lighting system, but in real people. The decision to select local farmers to become performers has struck an emotional chord with the audience, including me.

Veteran artist Duc Hung of the Thang Long Water Puppetry Theatre said that the traditional puppetry acts have been given a fresh twist by The Quintessence of Tonkin.

I got goose bumps when I watched the show. I admire director Tu because he has used a very creative way to tell the cultural story of Xu Doai 1,000 years ago.

From now until September 30, The Quintessence of Tonkin will be staged from Friday to Sunday every week, starting from 7.30pm. For ticket information, please call 0904567766. Ticket promotion: Buy 1 get 1 until September 30.
Jet Airways said it was the first time a baby had been born on one of its flights and that it had given him free travel for life on the airline AFP/Sam Panthaky

The unnamed woman, in her 20s, went into premature labour on Sunday's Jet Airways flight between Damman in Saudi Arabia and Kochi in the southern Indian state of Kerala.

"The guest delivered a baby boy at 35,000 feet," Jet Airways said in a statement, adding that a paramedic on board and airline staff helped with the delivery.

The Boeing 737 flight, which had 162 passengers on board, was diverted to Mumbai where the woman and her newborn were rushed to a hospital near the airport. An official at Mumbai's Holy Spirit hospital told AFP on Monday that both the mother and baby boy were doing well.

The woman was believed to have been around 32 weeks pregnant when she gave birth.

Jet Airways said it was the first time a baby had been born on one of its flights and that it had given him free travel for life on the airline.

In August last year a woman gave birth on a flight from the United Arab Emirates to the Philippines. The plane made an emergency landing in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad so the mother and newborn could receive medical attention before continuing their journey to Manila.
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In the collective imagination, space weapons are those you find in science fiction movies such as the Star Wars series. What I find difficult to fathom is, why, even though almost no-one in the media talks about it, they have transitioned to reality.

The race to weapons, including nuclear weapons, has for some time now been extended from Earth to Space. Leading the pack is the United States, which aims increasingly at gaining military control over space. As soon as Heather Wilson (neo-secretary of the U.S. Air Force), took up her position, she makes an announcement on 16 June that the headquarters will be reorganized to empower space operations, integrating them even further into those of the Air Force. The declared intention:

to organize and train forces to be able to prevail whenever a future conflict may be extended to space.

The responsibility for military space systems lies with the Strategic Command (StratCom), which at the same time is responsible for nuclear-weapons and cyber-arms which are fundamental for the American style of war in every theatre across the whole globe. So writes General John Hyten, the commander of StratCom, last February. He emphasizes: our nuclear forces are secure and ready at any moment and adds that if deterrence were to fail, we would be ready to use nuclear weapons.

For Pentagon strategies, maintaining superiority in space equates to the following:

 having the capability to attack an enemy that is militarily strong;

 paralyzing this enemys defences;

 even striking the enemy with nuclear weapons; and,

 if the enemy happens to be equipped with such weapons, neutralizing its response.

To this end, nuclear weapons, space systems and cyber arms are integrated by the Pentagon into the full spectrum for the global capabilities for attack, on earth and in space. On 7 May, after orbiting a Earth for 718 days, the U.S. Air Forces robotic shuttle (X-37B) landed at Cape Canaveral. This shuttle can manoeuvre in space and re-enter the base independently. The X-37B, on its fourth top secret mission in space, probably serves (according to the opinion of most experts) to test out weapons for destroying enemy satellites and thus to overcome the enemy when it is under attack. At the same time, laser weapons are being developed, which have already been tested by the ship USS Ponce in the Persian Gulf. On 16 March, Lockheed Martin communicated that it has developed a powerful lazer, which within a few months will be installed on a special auto-vehicle belonging to the U.S. Army for a series of test. Yet again in March, General Brad Webb declared that within a year, an AC-130 airplane will be armed with a laser for attacking land targets.

On 3 April, scientists at Macquarie University announced that through their lab work, they have created a superlaser (similar to Black Death in Star Wars), for future space applications. In this field, the United States is streets ahead but, as happens with every other system of weapons, other countries, notably Russia and China, are developing similar military technology. In 2008, Moscow and Peking proposed an international agreement to prevent arms being deployed in space; but first the Bush administration and after that the Obama administration refused to enter into negotiations on this matter.

Thus, while negotiations are taking place in the United Nations on a legal ban on nuclear weapons (negotiations in which none of the nuclear powers nor any member of Nato (including Italy) are participating, the race to militarize space is gaining momentum, with the US being the pace-maker. For this race is functional to preparations for a nuclear war.
Chief Minister in Talks with UK Foreign Office as Brexit Negotiations Begin

The Chief Minister spoke over the phone on Bank Holiday Monday 19th June with UK Foreign Office Ministers Robin Walker and Sir Alan Duncan. Monday marked the first day of the Brexit negotiations, during which the terms of reference for the Article 50 negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union were agreed and published.

Mr Picardo discussed the opening of the Brexit negotiations with Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Exiting the European Union, Robin Walker MP, where he stressed the importance of the continued full involvement of Gibraltar in the negotiating process.

The Chief Minister and Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) Sir Alan Duncan discussed the general political situation, in particular the security incidents affecting the United Kingdom.

In the context of both conversations, Mr Picardo took the opportunity to welcome both Mr Walker and Sir Alan back to the Ministerial portfolios that they held before the 2017 UK General Election.
Better Call Saul Lantern Season 3 Episode 10 Editors Rating 5 stars * * * * *  Previous Next  Previous Episode Next Episode  Mark Margolis as Hector Salamanca. Photo: Michele K. Short/AMC Network Entertainment

Barring what Chuck might refer to as some serious storytelling chicanery, the eldest remaining McGill is dead. His fate was all but foreshadowed when the camera lingered on Chucks scar from last seasons copy-shop fall as he suffered the humiliation of his final exit from the firm he started. (That sendoff itself is a doomed bookend to the staffs ovation when Chuck first returned to work after falling ill.) There would be no close call this time, no margin for error or room for debate. A man whod spent decades in litigation left open-and-shut evidence of his suicide. Mere hours earlier, he stood firm and stubborn while offering Jimmy proof of life.

Jimmy will rightly reflect on Chucks brutal assertion about having never really mattered all that much to me as a protective gesture, like when they were kids reading The Adventures of Mabel and Chuck would console him with cool practicality. Its also hard to imagine Jimmy practicing law under the McGill name after this tragedy. He may even feel underserving of it. Nor does it help that, staked to his reputation alone, whats left of the family legacy is being dragged through the mud by a coalition of jilted seniors.

There were a handful of dressings down in Lantern, from Howard tearing up while paying Chuck recompense out of pocket and declaring, You won, to Chucks aforementioned, purposeful admonishing of Jimmy, to Jimmy getting shamed by Irene and the gals before Erin made sure he knew her part in unmasking him to the women at Sandpiper Crossing was no act. But the one person who never wavered on Jimmy  no matter how much his conscience bends any way the wind is blowing, as Irenes lady friends might say  is Kim. She hears his pleas to pass blame around for her accident, but has none of it. Shes well aware of his machinations inside Sandpiper, and her only concern is whether it all evened out. She even trusts him to sublease their now-former office space, well aware of the shenanigans that pulled him out of abject poverty to begin with. Kim truly believes he can be Atticus Finch, despite those whod contest hed fit in better with Monty Pythons Flying Circus. And as with Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird, shes a little bit in love.

Now that Kim has decided to take time off work for Relax-a-thon 2003 (which would have been far more streamlined with the near-futures streaming video options), her biggest woes are eating with one arm and choosing between ibuprofen for pain or the good stuff. Actually, that last one isnt much of a quandary. The answer is always the good stuff, she says. Hector would concur. Alas, Nacho swapped out his ticker pills for over-the-counter stuff, and the chickens have finally come to roost. Amid a simmering confrontation with Bolsa and Gus, the tempestuous Salamanca family don suffered what we assume is the cardiac incident that leaves him permanently paralyzed and mute. The man who fancied himself a vaquero come to conquer the Mexican-American drug business by bouncing between fronts in his Chevrolet is now face-down in the dirt.

Things could be looking up for Nacho, but the way Gus glanced over at him as the ambulance speeds away suggests that Mr. Fring has big plans for Hectors would-be assassin. Nachos father may be free of the cartel, but his own entanglement with the underworld has only deepened. Should he align himself with Gus, hes got some amends to make with Tyrus and Victor right off the bat.

Had Gus known what Chuck carried out across town as this drama played out, he may have admired it. A la Chuck, he detests being insulted or undermined, is overconfident in his intellect, and is determined to ensure that all events pertaining to him and his business play out under his complete authority. Pumping blood back through Hectors heart was far from an act of compassion. It was a way of regaining control. Hector will die when and how Gus decides, a single-mindedness that serves him well long enough, until it (spoiler alert for Breaking Bad virgins) boomerangs back with cruel intentions.

For all his assumed superiority, Chuck may have also been moved by Hectors fuming over who built the cartels empire all those years, not to mention the grievous injury of being pushed out before his time. Like Chuck, Hector was set for life so long as he squandered dignity and pride. With no one scheming to taint Chucks prescription or put up any kind of fight against his willful isolation, he came apart at the seams. His final undoing, a kind of virtuosic self-immolation, was hard to watch. By the time his house literally went up in flames, it was mercy. Well find out next season whether Jimmy can build a better wall, or if he, too, is ready to tear it all down.

Apart From All That

 Who were the two empty seats at HHMs conference table for?

 Again, cheers to Patrick Fabians underappreciated work.

 Well see how Kim feels about lines we dont cross soon enough.

 All Kim ever wanted to do was watch movies with Jimmy. (And save the world. That too.)

 ABC Bakery is real and, I assume, a crew favorite.

 Bet Gatwood wishes he could have those steaks back.

 The real drama: How will Jimmy get Francesca back?!

 Wheres Mike?

 Thanks for all the eyeballs, long reads, and tough love this season. Till next year!
Daniel Day-Lewis. Photo: Rabbani and Solimene Photography/Getty Images

Daniel Day-Lewiss upcoming collaboration with his There Will Be Blood director Paul Thomas Anderson will be his final role. The actor is retiring, according to Variety. Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor, Day-Lewiss spokeswoman, Leslee Dart, told Variety. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject. Day-Lewis has won three Academy Awards for Best Actor: for playing Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln, for playing the depraved, wolfish oilman Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood, and for playing the Irish writer Christy Brown in My Left Foot. His filmography is peppered with other notable collaborations: Hes worked with Martin Scorsese in The Age of Innocence and Gangs of New York, and sang and danced in Rob Marshalls Nine.

Day-Lewis is currently at work on a period drama set in 1950s London. The Paul Thomas Anderson movie is being filmed under the working title Phantom Thread, and focuses on a highly sought-after dressmaker. (Vulture guesses the movie is about Charles James.) Whats next for Day-Lewis? Maybe hell start sculpting with Brad Pitt, or hanging out with Charlie Hunnam, who told us hes a huge fan. In the words of his Blood character Daniel Plainview, Im finished.
They faked their hiatus. Photo: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

As it turns out, Foo Fighters headlining Glastonbury this year really is just a courtesy to make up for Dave Grohls broken leg forcing them out of the slot two years ago. They dont even need Glastonbury  the band just up and made their own music festival. Foo Fighters have announced that they faked that whole hiatus and are so sorry, but they actually spent the time making their new album, Concrete and Gold (out September 15), and, yes, creating a daylong festival called Cal Jam that they will obviously also headline on October 7 in San Bernardino, California. Queens of the Stone Age (who are also back!), Liam Gallagher, Cage the Elephant, the Kills, Japandroids, and more are all set to play the inaugural festival.

In a statement, Grohl says the idea for the festival came from the bands excitement to debut their album live in a backyard party for 50,000 people, and to also re-create the spirit of the original California jam. Therell be camping, carnival rides, a water park, a mobile recording studio, an outdoor movie theater, and general debauchery. Notably, Grohl says the new album marks the bands first-ever collaboration with superstar producer Greg Kurstin (the man responsible for most of Adeles 25), a meeting of two unlike minds (Kurstin mainly works with pop acts) that Grohl says resulted in an album that sounds like Motorheads version of Sgt. Pepper  or something like that. Which explains why its first single Run was so impossible to describe.
Photo: Rich Polk/Getty Images for Disney

Johnny Depp is having money problems, and he and his exmoney managers are squabbling in public trying to figure out exactly what he knew about his dire financial situation, and when. Was it before or after he paid $3 million  excuse me, $5 million  to have Hunter S. Thompsons ashes shot of out of a specially made cannon? Hes suing his former financial advisers at TMG, theyre countersuing him, and were just trying to keep track of the 14 properties and the 15,000 cotton balls that may or may not be in his possession. The Hollywood Reporter has obtained newly released correspondence between Depp and TMG, wherein the actor tries to reason that hell do his best to cut costs, as long as he can provide kids a good Christmas. i am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much i can do, Depp writes in all lowercase. as i need to give my kiddies and famille as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason. Which makes us wonder: What exactly does a Christmas bounty within reason look like when dad spends millions on guitars, artwork, and memorabilia?

TMG alleges that the messages prove that Depp was aware of the financial strain of his spending habits. In the email from December 2009, Joel Mandel, who is named in Depps suit, writes: I need to be able to sit with you on your return from this trip, and before you leave for France, so that we can talk about where we are financially, what we borrowed in order to sustain ourselves. Depp thanks Mandel for his work, circles back to holiday spending, and then offers to sell everything  including his soul  to right his debts. what else can I do??? i got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings and some semblance of a soul left. where would you like me to start??? Unsolicited financial advice: Could we maybe bring the $30,000 per month wine habit down to, like, a couple bottles of Yellowtail?

See the full exchange, below:
New Delhi, June 20 (IBNS): The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution to promotion and development of Yoga.

The instiution of the award was announced by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the Second International Day of Yoga at Chandigarh on June 21, 2016.

The Award was recommended by an Evaluation Committee (Jury) constituted under the Chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary and included Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, Secretary (AYUSH) and Dr. Veerendra Heggade as its members.

It examined the recommendations of the Screening Committee and also made its own analysis of the contributions made by the institutions and individuals and recommended Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune for the prestigious Award.

The Government of India has accepted the recommendation of the Committee to honour the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune with the Prime Ministers Award for Outstanding Contribution for the Promotion and Development of Yoga for 2017.

The nominations for the Awards were invited through open advertisement by the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India which had developed the guidelines for the awards.

Two committees were constituted, viz., Screening Committee (for preliminary evaluation) and Evaluation Committee (Jury), so that a transparent process is followed in finalizing the awards.

The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the Screening Committee.

The Screening Committee shortlisted 16 names from among the applications received, after detailed discussions and analysis of the contributions of the individuals and institutes, whose nominations were received.

In addition, the Committee also recommended for consideration 15 names of eminent yoga individuals/ organizations who have long standing credibility in the field of promotion and development of Yoga, but whose names did not figure in the applications received. After considering all relevant facts and other inputs, the Jury recommended that the Award for the current year be given to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, Pune.

The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has worked to spread Yoga, internationally, over a period of 4 decades. The Institute has published books on Yoga and these have been translated into multiple languages. There are thousands of Iyengar Yoga teachers popularising and propagating yoga across the world.


Excerpt from Drama. Art by Raina Telgemeier.

For the vast majority of my 31 years on this Earth, I was the only comics reader in my family. Ive been picking up funnybooks  most of them, Im slightly ashamed to say, of the superhero variety  for decades and, with the exception of some parental dabbling in NPR-approved works like Art Spiegelmans Maus and Alison Bechdels Fun Home, mine has been a solitary pursuit when it comes to my clan.

So when my 10-year-old half-sister and I found ourselves in a bookstore a few months ago, I thought Id be the cool older brother and see if I could introduce her to the world of sequential art. I grabbed a copy of Raina Telgemeiers kid-oriented, magical-realist graphic novel Ghosts, and handed it to her. Ive got something cool for you to read, I told her.

She gave me that cluck of the tongue and roll of the eyes that are all too familiar to relatives of children at that age. Ugh, Ive already read all of Rainas books, Abe, she said.

All of them? I countered, thinking she surely couldnt have consumed every one of the eight tomes Telgemeier has written and drawn  I mean, Id only read two of them, and I get paid to write about this stuff. But my sis proceeded to list, well, all of them. Hell, she was on track to outpace my lifelong comics habit, as Id only started picking up comic books at age 11. Theres a new comics connoisseur in the family, and given her appetite, shes a consumer force to be reckoned with.

Indeed, theres a whole new influx of those connoisseurs into the family of comic-book readers, and they all look like my sibling. Although the medium began as a killer app marketed to young folks in the 1930s and continued to appeal primarily to folks under 18 for a half-century afterward, comics publishers like Marvel, DC, and an array of smaller firms took a turn toward darker, more adult-oriented material in the mid-1980s. At the time, it was a wise decision: It reduced turnover by holding on to children of the Baby Boom after they might have otherwise tossed the habit aside.

However, by the turn of the millennium, that shift toward the mature became a demographic time bomb. The intended readership was getting older and older, and few young people were replacing them. As Telgemeier put it to me, You have this industry, comics, that has spent the past few decades fighting so hard to say, Were not just for kids, and it overcorrected to the point where there really wasnt anything for kids.

As of today, the average superhero comic relies on the enthusiasm of people well into their adult years, ones who enjoy  or at least tolerate  ever-more-convoluted twists on characters with whom theyre already familiar. Though they make occasional stabs at drawing new readers, Marvel and DCs business decisions have typically been based on the desires of a veteran core. Sales to those people are decent enough to keep those companies afloat for now, but theres usually been precious little in the way of vision for how to radically expand the market.

But less than a decade ago, a tectonic shift began  and Marvel and DC had nothing to do with it. Traditional buyers like me had nothing to do with it, either. Indeed, the comics Establishment is only just now starting to play a desperate game of catch-up. That shift was the result of decisions made by librarians, teachers, kids-book publishers, and people born after the year 2000. Abruptly, the most important sector in the world of sequential art has become graphic novels for young people. Call it the Youth-Comics Explosion. Its redefining the future of an entire art form.

Excerpt from Lumberjanes. Art by Brooke Allen and Maarta Laiho.

Although it hasnt been widely publicized, once you start asking around among people in the know, you find that theres a total consensus that the explosion is very real. Theres a huge boom going on, by all means, says Brian Hibbs, a respected market analyst, columnist, and retailer who owns a pair of stores in San Francisco called Comix Experience. When you look at BookScan  Nielsens estimates of national sales to bookstores  the top sellers are pretty much all kid lit, which is pretty fantastic.

You dont need to have access to BookScan to see evidence, though. Up until early this year, the New York Times published best-seller lists for comics  and Telgemeier, alone, would regularly have half of all the paperback slots. Executives at Scholastic will tell you that comics fly off the racks at their famed book fairs for young students. According to Milton Griepp of comics-industry analysis site ICv2, aggregated annual comics sales across different kinds of retailers for 2016 revealed that more than half of the top-ten comics franchises were ones aimed at kids. Eva Volin, a librarian based in Alameda, California, told me, Were in the middle of a graphic-novel renaissance inasmuch as not only are kids reading comics, but comics are being written for kids.

As a result, supply is rapidly rising to meet seemingly insatiable demand. DC is hiring for a new division targeted at young readers, and has already done a bit of a stealth launch by publishing youth-friendly takes on their fabled characters like Supergirl: Being Super and DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis. Marvel has built on the surprise mainstream-bookstore success of their young-adult comic Ms. Marvel by introducing more series in that vein, such as The Unstoppable Wasp and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Conventional book publishers are growing their youth-comics investments, comics publishers are doubling down on their production for youths (BOOM! Studios is relishing the ongoing success of its all-ages KaBOOM! line, for example), and kid-specific comics firms are expanding (youth-oriented publisher Papercutz just opened up an imprint for tweens called Charmz).

At a glance, it all makes perfect sense. Why wouldnt young readers gravitate toward a medium that can so brilliantly mix visuals and text in a way that makes a story relatively easy to digest? And why wouldnt publishers cater to them? And yet, up until recently, there was a near-total disconnect between kids and comics. Just ten years ago, DC tried to do a young-adult comics line called MINX, but it was shuttered after only a few months. Sources at DC told Comic Book Resources reporter Andy Khouri that this development should be seen as a depressing indication that a market for alternative young adult comics does not exist in the capacity to support an initiative of this kind, if at all.

DC was not alone in its frustration. Brigid Alverson, who runs the blog Good Comics for Kids, has been making trips to grade schools to talk to students about comics for 15 years, and struggled in the beginning. For the first few years, Id say, Who reads comics? and there was always the one kid who read Marvel, two or three who read manga online, and a few Calvin and Hobbes fans, but everyone else was completely unaware of comics, Alverson says. In the last few years, its gone from kids not knowing about them to clamoring for them. Ill produce a few of these books and read from them and kids will scramble and fight over them.

So, what changed? As with all market shifts, the Youth-Comics Explosion cant be pinned to any singular factor, but there are a few theories about which decisions and individuals triggered the phenomenon.

Promotional art for DC Super Hero Girls.

You can argue that it began with a foreign invasion. Id trace a lot of the beginnings of the under-18 market to the manga boom in the early aughts, says Griepp. Virtually everyone else I spoke to concurred. Manga (the catchall term for Japanese comics) experienced a spike in American interest at the turn of the millennium, powered by the crazes for their stylistically similar cousins in Japanese animation, most notably the cartoons Pokemon and Sailor Moon. In Japan, comics have long been accepted as mainstream literature of the high and low varieties  and readers both old and young consume them.

When manga-oriented American publishers such as Tokyopop  founded in 1997  set up shop, suddenly, swaths of young people found sequential art that appealed to them. Japan has a strong tradition of writing and drawing books about magical boys and girls, which is one of the favorite childrens and YA prose genres today, says Gina Gagliano, marketing chief for youth-targeting comics publisher First Second Books. When these things were published and brought over to the U.S. for the first time, there were comics that actually echoed the prose books that people could find.

Manga remained somewhat disdained by the American literary Establishment. However, members of said Establishment began opening their eyes to comics when English-language creators entered their domain in 2002. That year, a group of such creators  including luminaries like Neil Gaiman, Art Spiegelman, and Colleen Doran  were invited to attend the American Library Associations annual Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) pre-conference gathering. They expected your normal pre-conference turnout, but the room was packed, says Volin. At that conference, librarians officially embraced comics.

One comics creator at 2002s YALSA became particularly influential in triggering the Youth-Comics Explosion: Jeff Smith. From 1991 to 2004, Smith had self-published a black-and-white serial comics story called Bone, which followed the kid-friendly adventures of a group of mismatched anthropomorphic bones who journey through a wild fantasy land. It had enjoyed critical acclaim and a solid degree of popularity, but had never become a massive hit in mainstream bookstores. That changed thanks to David Saylor, a longtime executive at childrens-book titan Scholastic. Hed been pondering the notion of publishing graphic novels for kids, but needed something to act as a vanguard in his mission of market change. Bone, it occurred to him, could be that vanguard.

It was longer-form storytelling, epic storytelling, great narrative, and great artwork, Saylor recalls. Bone was finishing its long initial publishing run, and Smith was looking for something to do with it next, so Saylor proposed the idea of having Scholastic reprint the whole saga in color and use the companys considerable market savvy to get it in front of a new audience. Smith agreed, and not only did Scholastic begin publishing the colorized Bone in 2005, Saylor even got the higher-ups to approve the creation of a whole new imprint for comics, called Graphix.

That same year, established YA prose author Jennifer L. Holm and her brother Matthew Holm released a comic targeted at grade-schoolers called Babymouse, through Random House. That only came after years of rejection from other publishers. It was a hard sell, Holm recalls. There hadnt been a pure comic for kids. There were some hybrids like Captain Underpants  an illustrated kids novel series begun in 1997 that featured bits of comic-book art  but not full comics. When Babymouse finally found a home, comics for kids were so uncommon at mainstream publishers that Random House didnt even know how, exactly, to print a full-color comic. After what Holm refers to as some MacGyvering, they figured it out, and Babymouse became a smash.

The engine of change spun faster and faster in the following few years. YALSA debuted a Great Graphic Novels for Teens list. Gene Luen Yangs youth-friendly 2006 graphic novel American Born Chinese became the first comic-book finalist for the National Book Award. Longtime comics entrepreneur New Yorker art editor Francoise Mouly set up a publishing company for early readers called Toon Books in 2008. All of this success, however, can be seen as something of a prelude to the arrival of the woman everyone in the comics and kids-publishing industry mononymously refers to simply as Raina.

Perhaps the closest analogue for Telgemeier is Elvis Presley  a charismatic and visionary creator with a memorable name who became the face of a nascent movement and elevated it to unprecedented heights of popularity with deceptively simple pop art. Shed grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area, eschewing superhero material in favor of Sunday funnies like Bill Wattersons Calvin and Hobbes and Lynn Johnstons For Better or Worse in the 80s and 90s. A kid who liked to draw, she began emulating them at a young age. I think comics were really appealing because I could do them myself, she remembers. It didnt take many resources, just a pencil and paper. At the end of the day, I needed to sit down and process what had happened to me that day, and I would do it through comics. So, I was drawing journal comics from the time I was about 11.

Excerpt from Ghosts. Art by Raina Telgemeier and Braden Lamb.

Telgemeier continued those journal comics all the way through the end of college, building up a hefty corpus of juvenilia before meeting Joey Cavaleri, one of her teachers and an editor at DC Comics. He got her a slot for a short comic in DCs 2005 anthology Bizarro World, and her professional career began. It was a rocky start, largely consisting of personally selling self-xeroxed mini-comics at conventions, but at the San Diego Comic-Con, she caught the attention of Saylor, who saw in her a raw and untapped talent. They met again at a festival held by New Yorks Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art soon after, and he asked her to come meet with him. He needed someone to work on a Graphix initiative to make graphic-novel adaptations of The Baby-Sitters Club, and asked her to take it on. Nervous, she accepted the task.

She ended up being this perfect storm of talent and energy and content that just really worked, Saylor says of Telgemeiers Baby-Sitters Club work. Filled with deliciously thick lines and vivid facial expressions, the books raised her profile and the material flew off the shelves, but they were, at the end of the day, adaptations, not a pure expression of Telgemeiers vision. That only came in 2010 with the release of her first masterwork, Smile.

It was an account of the authors life from sixth grade through high school, with the running motif of her various tooth-related problems. As innocent as it was insightful, it was as good as any work in the Youth-Comics Explosion had been. Mainstream reviewers took notice: Drawing in a deceptively simple style, Telgemeier has a knack for synthesizing the preadolescent experience in a visual medium, wrote Elizabeth Bird in the New York Times; Kirkus called it [i]Irresistible, funny and touchinga must read for all teenage girls, whether en-braced or not.

Thanks to the deep market penetration of Scholastics book fairs, Smile became an insane hit, unlike anything that preceded it in the modern youth-comics market, going on to spend more than 200 weeks on the Times comics best-seller list. After it came 2012s Drama, 2014s Smile sequel Sisters, and last years Ghosts  all of them sensations. Though the quality of the books and Scholastics wise distribution efforts were key, so too was Telgemeiers personality and willingness to tour. On her nationwide jaunts, she started to see the human impact of her work.

I was seeing how many kids were coming to my events with these amazing dog-eared, falling-apart, taped-together copies of my books, she says. Even when they couldnt meet her in person, they showed their enthusiasm. Kids were sending me drawings and they were quoting my scenes and there were YouTube videos re-creating my stories, she says, sounding awestruck.

Telgemeiers brand of slice-of-life comics for grade-schoolers opened the door for an array of creators with similar instincts, such as Cece Bell, whose hit 2014 graphic novel El Deafo depicts her childhood struggle with hearing loss; or Svetlana Chmakova, whose manga-influenced Awkward and Brave chronicle attraction and rivalry within diverse student communities.

But the Youth-Comics Explosion has also brought a cornucopia of other options for young people of various ages. Want an elegant account of queer teen romance (created by an actual teen, no less)? Try the works of Tillie Walden. Looking for sci-fi action with a strong female lead? Check out Scott Westerfeld and Alex Puvillands Spill Zone. Interested in team adventure with a fantasy twist? Grab BOOM!s massively successful ongoing series Lumberjanes. Want some humor mixed with horror? Pick up Mariah Huehner and Aaron Alexovichs Stitched, published by Papercutz. Interested in a solid take on a classic? IDW Publishings My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles titles are aces. The list goes on and on.

Excerpt from El Deafo. Art by Cece Bell and David Lasky.

One of the most remarkable things about the Youth-Comics Explosion is how much it reaches out to young girls  a population long alienated by mainstream superhero comics. Thats due in no small part to another remarkable thing: A massive portion of the people creating these comics are women, something unheard of in the majority-male space of superhero-comics publishing.

There tends to be an attitude at some of the major publishers that its impossible to find women to work on books, and thats not true, says Huehner, who also edits Charmz. If youre gonna tell stories for young women and girls, I think having a creator who has experienced that matters a lot. Hibbs has set up a graphic-novel-of-the-month club for kids at his store, and has noticed that theres about a 70/30 percentage breakdown of girls and boys among his kids-comics buyership. Those kinds of numbers represent a drastic shift from the comic-shop buying demographics of even just a decade ago, and will change the future of the medium.

Indeed, for the first time in a long time, it seems like there is a long-term future for comics. No wonder Marvel and DC are trying to get in on the action: Those who think about what youths want in their sequential art have the opportunity to plan for holding on to comics readers who will still be alive 70-odd years from now. Holm has seen those generational effects already. Now its funny if I go to an event, because some college girls will say they grew up reading Babymouse, and its like, God, Im really old now, she says with a laugh.

Perhaps Lumberjanes co-creator and BOOM! editor Shannon Watters best sums up the promise of this vibrant moment. For kids, the media that they consume, but especially books  especially books  are extremely personal, she says. So when youre making these books that just speak to them in this very profound way, its really, really special. It makes everything worth it when you have kids coming up to you and telling you that your books changed their lives. And not only their lives, but the life of an entire medium. Id better start asking my sister for more book recommendations.
After drudging through all the muck and mire of President Trumps most recent snafu, Trevor Noah took a moment to discuss the death of Philando Castile. Last week, a Minnesota jury found the police officer who shot and killed Castile during a traffic stop  while his girlfriend in the car livestreamed the immediate aftermath on Facebook  not guilty. Every time I watch that video, the question I ask myself is How? Just how, Noah says. How does a black person not get shot in America? Because if you think about it, the bar is always moving. The goalposts are always shifting. Theres always a different thing that explains why a person got shot. Theres one factor about Castiles death thats unique: He was a legal gun owner, who alerted the officer to his firearm. In a story of a man being shot because he was lawfully armed, you would think that one group  one powerful group in America  would say something about this. There is one group youd expect to be losing their goddamn minds about this: The NRA, Noah says. But for some strange reason on this particular case, theyve been completely silent.
Guwahati, June 20 (IBNS): Assam government will appoint 20,000 teachers in next three months.

Assam education minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said the state government has decided to appoint 20,000 teachers in the state within the months September in this year.



Initially we will appoint 10,000 contractual teachers on July 1 next and next 10,000 teachers to appoint within next three months, Sarma said.



The Assam minister further said the state government has also decided to regular all TET passed contractual teachers within five years.



This decision was taken during the cabinet meeting and regularizing process will start from this year, Himanta Biswa Sarma said.



On the other hand, Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also holding the convenor of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) said NEDAs ally parties will support the president candidate of the NDA.

BJP president Amit Shah on Monday stunned the opposition by announcing Ram Nath Kovind as the NDAs candidate for president.



Before announcing the NDAs candidate for president, Amit Shah had discussed with all ally parties including Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) before announcing the candidate for president, the Assam minister said.

Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Assam BJP will seek support from the other opposition parties legislators, MPs for Kovind.

Apart from Himanta Biswa Sarma, AGP leader and state water resources minister Keshab Mahanta, BPF leader Biswajit Daimary also said that, AGP and BPF had already extended their supports to BJP for president election.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Texas Heat Wave Band will present a free concert at 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Gazebo at the Carleen Bright Arboretum, 9001 Bosque Blvd.

The concert is part of the city of Woodways annual Midsummer Nights Concert Series.

Lemonade will be provided by Raising Canes.

For more information, call 399-9204.

Library program

Hewitt Public Library, 200 Patriot Court, will host a performance by Paleo Maggie at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Paleo Maggie and her Dinosaur friend, Read-A-Saurus Rex, will present a program about the wonders of reading.

For more information about the free performances, call 666-2442.

BU Theatre show

Baylor Theatre will present Who Am I This Time? at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, in Theatre 11 at Baylor Universitys Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center, 60 Baylor Ave.

Tickets are $15. Visit http://baylor.edu/theatre or call 710-1865.

TSTC registration rally

Texas State Technical College will have a registration rally from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at TSTCs Student Services Center, 3801 Campus Drive.

Rallies also will be held July 14 and Aug. 11.

The event is geared to simplify registration .

Sudents should bring a copy of their drivers license, their high school transcript or GED, any college transcripts, proof of bacterial meningitis vaccination, housing application and TSI scores.

For more information, visit www.tstc.edu/rally or call 799-3611.

Wildlife management

The McLennan County AgriLife Extension Service and the McLennan County Small Landowners Committee will host a Wildlife Management Program at 8 a.m. Monday at the McGregor Research Center, 773 Ag Farm Road in McGregor.

Check-in will begin at 7:30 a.m.

Topics will be overview of wildlife practices, tax benefits, wild pig management and deer management.

A $10 registration fee includes breakfast and lunch.

Reservations are required by Thursday.

For more information, call 757-5180.

Summer food program

Waco Independent School District is sponsoring a Summer Food Service Program that provides free breakfast and lunch to any child, ages 1 to 18, on weekdays through Aug. 14.

For locations, times and dates of operation, visit http://bit.ly/2sjYooJ.

For more information, call 752-5522 or email CNS@wacoisd.org.
Austin-based DMA Housing has received the tax credits it needs to proceed with construction of an 88-unit, $13 million apartment complex in Hewitt exclusively for seniors who do not need assisted-living accommodations.

DMA Housing and Houston-based Blazer Building also have secured building permits to erect a three-story apartment building and nine single-story buildings, a leasing office and a clubhouse at 701 N. Old Temple Road, where those ages 62 and older can live in Reserve at Dry Creek.

I think DMA is in the final stages of getting its financing lined up, and I expect dirt to be turning by the first two weeks of July, Hewitt City Manager Adam Miles said.

The complex primarily is for those on fixed incomes and will include one- and two-bedroom apartments as well as cottages with lawns and carports for those with vehicles, he said.

This will be the first development of its kind in Hewitt, and I think its good for the city, Miles said. It should prove ideal for residents who are selling their home and downsizing, those who may have lost a spouse, or those wanting to relocate to a community where their children live.

DMA applied for and received Housing Tax Credits from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs, which is a very competitive process, said Janine Sisak, the companys senior vice president.

Those wanting to live at Reserve at Dry Creek, which will spread over about 10 acres, must meet state guidelines. Sisak said it should represent an option to those with modest retirement savings and those who cant afford full-service senior facilities. The property will not be Section 8 housing, a federal program that provides subsidies to landlords.

Were looking forward to having them on the ground, Miles said. Weve already had a couple of calls about the complex.

He said the opening this year of a 160,000-square-foot Walmart supercenter at Sun Valley Boulevard and the Interstate 35 frontage road may have helped as state officials weighed DMAs request for tax credits.

DMA has not yet announced the monthly rental rates for the development.

Elsewhere in Hewitt, slabs have been poured for a $30 million, 264-unit complex called The Icon at Hewitt, said Miles, adding he believes carpenters will begin framing the buildings within 30 days.

They are making a lot of progress, but are still a year out from being occupied, said Miles. We are happy to have them here.

Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Case & Associates Properties is placing the complex near the new public safety facility.

The complex will feature urban-style architecture with concrete exterior and include one- and two-bedroom apartments with stainless steel appliances. Rent will average $1,000 to $1,300 for a two-bedroom apartment with a garage, according to CEO Mike Case.

The facility will include a clubhouse, business center, fitness center, dog park, limited access gates, outdoor social areas, including fireplaces and grills and an outdoor swimming pool, Case said.
Kolkata, June 20 (IBNS) Colgate-Palmolive India Limited, the market leader in Oral Care, has launched its annual Colgate Scholarship Offer.

As a part of this limited-edition offer, valid till July 31, 2017, Colgate is offering more than 300 scholarships worth more than Rs. 52 lacs, to help children take small yet meaningful steps in fulfilling their dreams.

Since its launch in 2009, Colgates Scholarship Offer has been contributing to the lives of children by giving them and their families a future to smile about. So far, the programme has enabled more than 1000 Indian families, from across 100 cities, to give their children a bright future  be it in dance, sports, music, or academic educations.

The 2017 Colgate Scholarship Offer has more than just scholarships to offer. While purchase of the product is not mandatory to participate in the scholarship offer, those who buy a pack of Colgate Dental Cream (100gm and above) also get a free one-month video tutorial subscription, worth Rs. 999 each, of BYJUS  the education app for school students best known for its maths and science lessons.

To make education accessible for everyone, Colgate along with BYJUs has created special audio lectures for the deserving little ones who cannot access the app.

On this occasion, Issam Bachaalani, Managing Director, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited said, The Colgate Scholarship Offer is one of the many Colgate initiatives meant to give children and their families a future they can smile about.

"Since the launch of this annual program in 2009, Colgate has tried, in a small way, to impact the lives of Indian families across 100 cities. That, has been a motivation for us to scale up the program this year, by not only providing more scholarships but also by partnering with BYJUS, the Education Platform so that each pack of toothpaste offered free access to BYJUs content for a month - an offer worth Rs 999.

Commenting on this partnership, Byju Raveendran, Founder & CEO, BYJU'S said  At BYJUS, our main focus is to make learning accessible, effective, engaging and personalized for everyone. Our learning programs have been designed to address the gap in the way in which students learn concepts today and how it can actually be learnt. Our partnership with Colgate will offer us the platform to help students from various backgrounds, across the country, have an interesting, enjoyable and effective learning experience.
The county will start collecting a new 5 percent tax on short-term car rentals July 1 and a new 2 percent hotel occupancy tax Aug. 1, County Attorney Mike Dixon said Tuesday.

Voters approved the venue taxes last month with 67.4 percent approval.

The county also took steps Tuesday to prepare for a $34.4 million overhaul of the Extraco Events Center grounds that the taxes will allow. Leaders from the county, the city of Waco, the Waco Independent School District and the Extraco Events Center teamed up to support the tax.

The county has formally ordered the taxes be levied, established a mechanism to collect them and created a fund where revenue will be deposited, said attorney Lauren Ferrero, with Norton Rose Fulbright.

Well adopt a reimbursement resolution under federal tax law, Ferrero told commissioners. This allows the county to begin construction prior to the debt sale.

County Judge Scott Felton said the orders approved at Tuesdays meeting set up the rules to move forward with selling the bonds necessary for the projects.

One thing is you couldnt take the money and do something else with it, Felton said. Its specific as to what you can do with it.

The implementation dates differ because of who is setting up the taxes.

The county is working with the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts office on the rental car tax, and the agency is set up to complete that work quickly, he said. Orders for the hotel tax have to be done in-house, Felton said.

The city of Waco and McLennan County will hire a third-party vendor to collect the taxes, he said.

Were probably going to generate $150,000 a month, maybe a little less than that, Felton said. The quicker we start, the quicker we start building the fund up.

The county, city and school district have only discussed construction plans in general terms at this point. The first priority is getting the orders in place and preparing to sell bonds backed by the expected tax revenue, he said.

The plan is to implement a $10 million bond in fiscal year 2018, which starts Oct. 1, and issue more in subsequent years, he said.

Hotel tax collections will be reported on the last day of each month, and vehicle tax collections will be reported on the 20th of each month, according to county documents.
For more than 20 years I have been an advocate for small businesses through my appointments to statewide committees with the Texas Association of Business, National Federation of Independent Business and the Texas Small Business Advisory Council. As a seven-term legislator, Ive taken that advocacy to the Texas Capitol, having served on the Economic & Small Business Development committees and as vice chairman of both the House committees on Agriculture and Livestock and Energy Resources, as well as chairman of the Texas Legislative Rural Caucus.

Small business is the engine of our economy, yet it continually suffers from the heavy hand of government and onerous laws, regulation and taxes. Too many small businesses fail or suffer under the weight of the government when they could be focused on growing their business and creating more jobs.

Now Washington is poised to add one more bad idea that could be the nail in the coffin of many businesses and cause dramatic price hikes on consumers. To finance their tax reform plan, leaders in Washington are proposing a so-called Border Adjustment Tax which would slap a 20 percent tax on all goods imported into the United States.

This new federal tax would be the breaking point for many Texas businesses. There are very few industries today that dont rely on imports in some fashion. Retailers rely on imported textiles and clothing while grocers rely on imported foods and other products. Manufacturers rely on imported parts and equipment. Imported chemicals and fertilizer are big costs for the farmers in Texas. Imagine what a 20 percent hike will do to their bottom line.

Retailers have already faced a decline in Texas. Many of them will be unable to weather the burden of the Border Adjustment Tax. Those who can will have difficult choices to make  like raising prices and scaling back on hiring. All of this will have an impact on Texas consumers. The ripple effect of increased prices on imports will hit their wallets on the everyday items they buy at the store. Food, clothing, medicine will all see price hikes. Gas could also see 35-cent-per-gallon increase. In all, family budgets could pay an estimated $1,700 more per year for these necessities. For some Texas rural residents, these items arent as easy to come by and we must drive farther to get to them, so we will be feeling disproportionate pain from the Border Adjustment Tax.

Many U.S. Senate leaders have expressed doubts about the Border Adjustment Tax, including the two who represent our state in that body. Republican Sen. John Cornyn noted that there are many unanswered questions about the proposed border adjustment tax  and that when he first heard of it, the hair on the back of my neck started to stand up. Sen. Ted Cruz, an original supporter of the border tax concept, now says: Theres no doubt that one of the most controversial aspects of the House tax plan is border adjustability, and I think there are many folks in our economy who are concerned about the impact that it would have, particularly on retailers, and those arguments carry considerable weight.

Reforming our tax code is long overdue and it will be no easy task. But Im interested in lowering our overall tax burden rather than in increasing taxes in any area.
President Richard Nixon, the quintessential Cold Warrior, could pull off an opening to China because his anti-communist credentials were never in doubt. President Donald Trump, the quintessential anti-immigrant xenophobe who called Mexicans murderers, exploited victims of crimes allegedly committed by illegal immigrants and vowed to enact mass deportation, could be the one to bury the anti-immigrant rights agenda and its incessant crusade against amnesty, which amounts to any immigration stance that does not result in deportation of 11 million to 12 million people.

On Friday, Trump decided if you cant beat the amnesty crowd, you might as well join them. The Associated Press reported: The Trump administration said Friday it still has not decided the fate of a program protecting hundreds of thousands of young immigrants from deportation, despite a statement a day earlier that the program will continue.

The mixed signals reflect the political sensitivities behind the Obama administration program known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. As a candidate who put tough immigration policies at the core of his campaign, Donald Trump denounced the program as an illegal amnesty and said he would immediately end it.

Since taking office, Trump has expressed empathy for the participants often called dreamers, many of whom have no memory of living anywhere but the United States. Cancelling the program could mean trying to deport more than 787,000 people who identified themselves to the government in exchange for temporary protection.

The Homeland Security Department said Thursday that the program would remain in effect. 

President Obamas order, decried as amnesty and executive overreach, is now part and parcel of Trumps policy, at least for the foreseeable future. Even Trump recognizes that Americans do not have the will, the money or the heart to round up everyone no matter the circumstances. Put differently, some people should get to stay, to obtain legal status. The recognition that mass deportation is neither logistically nor politically tenable was ridiculed by Trump and the anti-immigrant crowd during the GOP presidential primaries. Now that the message comes from Trump rather than Jeb Bush, the right nods dutifully and moves on.

The same fate awaits the promise to build the southern border wall, a $67 billion (roughly) boondoggle that no border-state member of Congress of either party supports. The right-wing talk-radio crowd and other anti-immigrant mouthpieces scoffed when Sen. Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush said Mexico would not pay for the wall. They derided these and other candidates who pointed out it was a waste of money (albeit a boon to the ladder industry).

Yet the government funding bill that Trump released in early May takes the country to the end of the fiscal year but contained no wall funding. Do not expect anything different for the 2018 fiscal year budget. If an anti-immigrant hawk such as Trump and GOP majorities in the House and Senate wont fund the wall, do we really imagine any president and Congress would?

Trumps executive order threatening sanctuary cities was stymied by the courts and then narrowed by immigration hawk Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The initiative is now so narrow as to be meaningless. Trump has increased raids and doubled the incidence of non-criminal deportations, but thats about the only thing the anti-immigrant crowd has gotten. Truth be told, Trump and his anti-immigrant fans grossly exaggerated the extent of the illegal immigrant problem and porousness of the border.

With the illegal immigrant population on the decline, unemployment continuing to drop (these foreigners arent stealing jobs but rather participating in economic growth) and Trumps legal initiatives largely stalled, maybe its time to declare victory on the illegal immigration front and get on with legalization, at the very least for those people who have been here a decade, remained employed, learned English and committed no crimes. Allowing such people to pay a fine and back taxes to attain legal status is overwhelmingly popular with voters, according to multiple polls. Both parties could finally put this issue behind them.
If any incident can tug at the heart strings and beg for immediate and compassionate resolution, its that involving Nicki Stone, a gutsy young police officer and single mom of two fighting breast cancer who now finds herself at the center of attention over a city sick-leave policy. Its also another instance that more broadly highlights the hypocrisy of a society that so often claims to be pro-life but cant ever quite manage it day in and day out.

In this case, the flap involves a city of Waco policy that allows city employees to bank thousands of hours of sick-leave time. The city is even obligated to buy up to 720 hours of this unused sick-leave time when one who accrues it retires. Yet this policy precludes an officers awarding some of his or her stockpiled sick-leave time to fellow officers suffering serious maladies.

The complicated logic behind this prohibition appears to hinge on what happens if the officer donating the hours becomes sick later or encounters some situation where he or she needs lots of those hours. Then, as City Manager Dale Fisseler notes, a problem develops unless other officers individually donate their hours. Meanwhile, city officials fret about the taxpayer dollars paying for the intricacies in all this, especially in Wacos decidedly anti-tax environment.

Judging from public reaction to Trib staffer Tommy Witherspoons June 16 story about Stone, people strongly favor an exception being made for this 34-year-old police officer, given she has put her life on the line and done things many of us lack the courage and stamina to do. And fellow officers want to donate sick-leave time to her. Then again, what if this were a mother of two working in some other department at City Hall? What if this were a city refuse worker picking up our garbage? A street maintenance worker patching our potholes and working in extreme weather? Would these too qualify for exceptions to city policy? And what does this say of employees in the private sector  the backbone of our nation, after all  where similarly heart-rending crises can arise and threaten to devastate entire lives physically and financially?

Quite obviously, city officials must decide soon whether to make an exception in this case, then possibly re-evaluate a policy that could be irrelevant or absurdly expensive if too often ignored. How do other cities handle such sick-leave banks? Whats a reasonable compromise so costs dont escalate? How can sick-leave hours be properly and efficiently managed? How about a committee of police officers, city administrators, citizen-servants and other city employees to approve any and all sick-leave time transfers?

But beyond the question of how sick-leave banks operate in taxpayer-funded entities, this episode should spur all to reconsider health care in our country, particularly as Senate Republicans craft a national policy behind closed doors without any public hearings. One truth dominates all, something 18th-century philosopher Samuel Johnson noted: Very few of us care about health care till we or our loved ones become seriously ill. Then something we dismissed as peripheral and unlikely to affect us threatens to rob us of our loved ones, our livelihoods and our fortunes. Then we care.
On June 3, 2017, Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) 'commander' Gadda Nageswara Rao aka Chinnabbai (38), carrying INR 400,000 reward on his head, was killed in an exchange of fire between the Security Forces (SFs) and Maoists in the Kapatuti Forest under Chitrakonda Police limits in Malkangiri District. A huge cache of explosives, some ammunition, a 9 mm pistol, Maoist literature and a kit bag were seized from the encounter site after the gun battle.

On May 1, 2017, a tribal labourer, identified as Deba Madkami, a resident of Tamaguda in Malkangiri District, was killed by the Maoists who suspected that he was a 'Police informer'. According to Police, a group of armed Maoists stormed Tamaguda and forcibly took Madkami away from his home at gunpoint. His body was subsequently found with his throat slit, on the outskirts of the village.

On April 28, 2017, about 20 to 30 CPI-Maoist cadres barged into Sudhakanda village under the Kalimela Block in Malkangiri, and killed two villagers, suspecting them to be 'Police informers'. The deceased were identified as Bisu Kirsani and Rama Padiami.

On March 31, 2017, CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead a villager in Malkangiri District, suspecting him to be a 'Police informer'. The deceased was identified as Raghu Hantal from Cheliamunda village under Malkangiri Village (MV) 79 Police Station limits in the District.

On the same day, Maoists also killed one Jaga Rao, a Gram Rojgar Sevak (GRS) of Jantapali village under Chitrakonda Police limits in Malkangiri District by slitting his throat. The Maoists had earlier threatened Jaga, demanding that he leave his job.

According to partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least six civilians have so far been killed in Malkangiri in Maoist-linked violence since the beginning of 2017 (data till June 18). The total number of civilian killings in such violence across Odisha in the current year stands at nine. Overall Maoist-linked fatalities in the State stand at 22, including nine civilians, nine SF personnel and four Maoists (data till June 18, 2017).

During the corresponding period in 2016, only two civilians had been killed in Maoist-linked violence in the District. Through 2016 a total of seven civilians were killed in Malkangiri. The District has experienced varied trends in annual fatalities: four in 2005; three in 2006 and 2007; eight in 2008; seven in 2009; eight in 2010; seven in 2011 and 2012; 18 in 2013; 19 in 2014; 16 in 2015; seven in 2016 and six in 2017 (data till June 18). The most common reason given by the Maoists for killing civilians is that they were 'Police informers'.

Significantly, the District has not recorded an SF killing thus far in 2017. Of the four Maoists killed in 2017 in Odisha, only one (the June 3, 2017, incident) was killed in Malkangiri District. Of a total of 22 Maoist-linked fatalities in the State in 2017, Malkangiri alone accounts for seven, i.e. 31.81 per cent.

Since September 21, 2004, the day CPI-Maoist was formed through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War (People's War Group), and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), a total of 7,548 fatalities (including 3,013 civilians, 1,944 SF personnel, 2,591 Maoists) have been reported from 138 Districts across 14 States in India (data till June 18, 2017). Of these, Malkangiri alone has accounted for a total of 283 fatalities (113 civilians, 86 SF personnel, 84 Maoists), i.e. 3.75 per cent of the total, the 5th highest for any single District crossing triple digit fatalities in the country, preceded by Dantewada (Chhattisgarh), 1,132; West Midnapore (West Bengal), 593; Bijapur (Chhattisgarh), 569; and Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), 452. These were the worst among the 22 Districts where fatalities went into triple figures over this period.

Malkangiri alone accounted for 4.42 per cent of total SF fatalities during this period (86 out of a total of 1,944). SFs secured a positive SF: Maoist kill ratio of 1:1.33 across India, but in Malkangiri the ratio favoured the Maoists, at 1.02:1. Interestingly, out of the 68 Districts in the country from where fatalities in both these categories were reported, the kill ratio was in favour of SFs in 36; was at par in five; and favoured the Maoists in the remaining 27. There were another 34 Districts from where only Maoist fatalities were reported. 13 Districts recorded only SF fatalities. There were another 23 Districts in which fatalities were reported, but both these categories were absent.

Malkangiri, located on the troubled tri-junction of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, occupies an area of 5,791 square kilometres, with a population of 613,192 (Census 2011). The District shares its borders with Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh to the East; Sukma in Chhattisgarh to the West; Koraput in Odisha to the North and East; and Godavari in Andhra Pradesh to the South. Some 2,321 square kilometres of Malkangiri, about 40.08 per cent of its total geographical area, are under forest cover. Blocks like Podia, Maithili, Kalimela, and the Govindpalli areas of Khairput Block, and the 'cut-off areas' of Kudumulu Gumma Block, have dense forest coverage. Open forests areas also cover major portions of the Korukonda and Kalimela Block, and also, partly, of the Malkangiri Block. The geographical proximity to troubled areas of Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have made Malkangiri a major transit route for the Maoists to cross over from one State to the other.

A majority tribal and scheduled caste population, as well as widespread under development, poverty, malnutrition and illiteracy, make Malkangiri one of the most backward Districts of India. According to a joint survey conducted by the US-India Policy Institute and the New Delhi-based Centre for Research and Debates in Development Policy, found that among 599 Districts across India under the purview of the survey, Malkangiri ranked near the bottom, at 588. The report took composite development - measured in terms of economic development and the indices of health, education and material well-being - into consideration, and was released on January 29, 2015.

Surprisingly, in a letter released to media persons in Malkangiri on June 16, 2017, CPI-Maoist Korukonda Area Committee leader Ramana claimed that the Government had falsely accused Maoists of opposing development works such as electrification, drinking water and education projects in Malkangiri, and demanded power supply to all the villages under the newly-formed Chitrakonda Block. He alleged that health services were in disarray, that there were no health workers or anganwadi centres and schools in the villages. He alleged that some 'miscreants' had disconnected electricity supply at Hatguda and once the culprits were identified, their case would be decided by a praja adalat (people's court, a Maoist kangaroo court). The Maoist leader insisted that his cadres would never obstruct any development works.

Malkangiri is among the 35 worst Naxal-[Left-Wing Extremism (LWE)] - affected Districts identified by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) across the country.

The Maoists' writ runs across the District. In a recent incident, on April 18, 2017, seven tribal families of Elkanur village under Kalimela Police limits in Malkangiri District left their native village under Maoist threat. According to reports, members of the seven families, who were CPI-Maoist sympathisers, had recently surrendered before the Police expressing their unwillingness to continue their support to the rebels.

Further, the three-tier panchayat (village level local self Government institution) elections, on January 10, 2017, had to be rescheduled as the CPI-Maoist had warned the tribals of Malkangiri District to abstain from the polls. Later, on the rescheduled poll date, on February 19, 2017, even under tight security, there was no voting in 13 booths out of 19 booths in Malkangiri, for fear of the Maoists. Poll officials disclosed that a very small number of people exercised their franchise in the remaining six booths as well. According to a villager, who did not cast his vote, "We preferred not to vote fearing the Maoists. They would punish people who cast votes."

However, claiming that the CPI-Maoist activities had been curtailed to a great extent, Chief Minister (CM), Naveen Patnaik, stated, on March 28, 2017, "The Left-wing extremism remains largely contained to few pockets in the State, such as in parts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Nuapada, Kalahandi and Rayagada Districts. The security forces have been successful in handling the rebels on all fronts."

Unsurprisingly, according to Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) Annual Report 2016-17, Odisha stood fourth among 10 worst Maoist-affected States in India. Chhattisgarh topped the list, with 395 incidents and 107 fatalities, followed by Jharkhand (323 incidents and 85 fatalities), Bihar (129 incidents and 28 fatalities), Odisha (86 incidents and 27 fatalities) and Maharashtra (73 incidents and 23 fatalities).

The Maoists are struggling to maintain their sway in Malkangiri, as it lies at a critical tri-junction, which gives easy passage for the cadres to move across State borders between Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There is little in either the State's or the Centre's plans to suggest that things in Malkangiri are going to change dramatically, any time soon. At the present juncture, especially, after the twosuccessive encounters in the Bejingi Forest area between Ramgarh and Panasput in the Malkangiri District on October 24 and 27, 2016, in which SFs killed at least 30 rebels, CPI-Maoist has certainly suffered a major reverse. However, the ground situation in the District remains fragile, the Maoist sway significant, and SF vulnerabilities pronounced.
ASHLAND  A fresh face is bringing fresh ideas and from-scratch food to the restaurant at Mahoney State Park.

Chef Lee George started at The Lodge in late May and already started by adding more fresh ingredients to the popular buffet. He is joined by Tony Hayes, general manager of the restaurant, and together they are making a number of changes to the restaurant.

The buffet will remain in place throughout the summer, but there will be more variety, said Hayes.

I want to create a rotating menu throughout the summer, George added.

George said he is concentrating on presentation of the food so first impressions are favorable.

We want the wow factor, he said.

The chefs next goal is to make all of the desserts from scratch. Hes already started, serving a homemade bread pudding in his first weeks on the job.

Later, the chef will incorporate even more scratch cooking.

Down home cooking, what people are used to eating, George said.

Jack Conley, district manager for Company Kitchen, the company that operates the restaurant, is happy George will be integrating more fresh items in the menu.

Were going to stop busting open cans and start chopping vegetables, he said.

He will also integrate more kid-friendly items into the menu, something he is very familiar with.

Ive got seven kids, he said with a smile. I know what kids like.

As the busy season winds down during the autumn, George plans to transition the restaurant from all-buffet to include a la cart items that will be cooked to order.

Conley considers George and Hayes an all-star lineup for the restaurant.

Weve put together basically what I would consider the dream team, he said.

Hayes and George have worked together prior to coming to The Lodge, so he is familiar with the chefs work.

He takes different meats and different items and puts a twist on them, Hayes said.

George has been creating delicious food since he was 16.

Ive been in the business for 25 years, he said.

He worked in a variety of food service settings, including restaurants, country clubs and hotels before coming to Nebraska four years ago to work at a local college.

George earned a degree from the School of Culinary Arts at the Art Institute of Colorado, Denver. He is trained in many culinary areas, including pastry.

My background is very open, he said. Theres nothing I cant do. If I cant do it, Ill find out how to do it, he said.

George enjoys creating dishes so much he cant name a favorite food.

I like cooking, so its everything, he said.

Conley plans to utilize Georges expertise in the kitchen to its full advantage at The Lodge.

Our main focus will be definitely playing to Lees culinary vision and background, Conley said.

He hopes Georges food will help bring back the idea of going for a Sunday drive in Mahoney State Park and ending up at the restaurant with its amazing view of the Platte River valley.

Eat good food and look out at the scenery, he added.

They are gearing up for the Fathers Day buffet on Sunday, which is a big event for them, said Conley. Many restaurants charge more for buffet on a holiday, but The Lodge will charge its regular $13.95 for the meal on Fathers Day, he added.

There will be something special on the buffet but not a special price, he added.

George brought a cook who has worked with him for several years, but he is still assembling the rest of his team. The restaurant is advertising for a cook, and the chef said he is looking for someone who is experienced in all areas of the kitchen. There is also an opening for a salad prep person. Hayes said they have hired new employees in other areas of the restaurant, including cashiers.

Conley acknowledged there will be a lot of changes in the staff.

Itll be a total different vibe and atmosphere, Conley said.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission privatized the restaurant in 2010 in an effort to save money. Treat America was awarded the first contract to operate the restaurant. The Lodge Steakhouse was open for a year until Treat American asked to be let out of the contract. Jeff and Emily Parker opened Mahoney Grille in 2012, but opted not to renew their contract at the end of 2014. Treat America put in their bid again and was awarded the contract and have run The Lodge at Mahoney State Park since mid-2015. Treat America is now known as Company Kitchen.
On June 16th, 2017, a newly restored Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik took the skies over the Siberian Research Institute of Aviation (SibNIA) airfield in Novosibirsk, Russia. This WWII vintage attack aircraft is only the second of its type currently airworthy, with the other being Paul Allens Ilyushin II-2M3 based with the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum in Everett, Washington. The restoration was a cooperative venture between several Russian organizations, including the Ilyushin Foundation for the Promotion of the Preservation of Military-Historical Aircraft, the Ilyushin Aviation Complex and the Wings of Victory Foundation.

Vladimir Barsuk, director of SibNIA, was the test pilot for the initial flight.

The legendary Il-2 is back in the sky. This restoration has been a success for us. It is an incredible feeling to be able to see with our own eyes the airplane that our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought with during the war, said Alexey Rogozin, the general director of the Ilyushin Aviation Complex named after Sergey Ilyushin, the famed aeronautical pioneer.

In the next few months, the Sturmovik is expected to conduct an extensive program of demonstration flights, including one in Novosibirsk for the guests of the International Forum of Technological Development Technoprom-2017. Then, in July, the aircraft is scheduled to fly at the MAKS-2017 airshow in Zhukovsky outside Moscow.

Two groups named FROM and IKAR performed the search and recovery of the aircraft, which they discovered in December 2011 at the bottom of Lake Krivoye in the Murmansk region. Funding for the efforts came from the Wings of Victory Foundation, as well as relatives of the Il-2s last pilot.

Junior lieutenant Valentin Skopintsev with his rear gunner, Vladimir Gumyonny, flew this Il-2 with the 46th Assault Air Regiment of the Northern Fleet Air Force during an air battle on November 25th, 1943. The Sturmovik received damage in the engagement, which forced the crew to belly land her on a frozen lake. Both men escaped the aircraft, which eventually fell through the ice, sinking to the bottom of the lake where it would remain for the next seven decades. Now the Il-2 flies proudly once more, and she is sure to make an impression on all who see her.

Article and photos via www.ilyushin.org and Wings of Wing Foundation.
As previously reported HERE by WarbirdsNews, the Yankee Air Museum has launched the The Warning Star Rescue Project to save a Lockheed EC-121K Warning Star, and move it to their facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan. A team has been disassembling the aircraft at the sadly now-defunct Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum, located at the former Chanute AFB in Rantoul, Illinois. Jack Weber, a former navy crew chief on the type, was involved in this effort and kindly sent in these images and details. (Incidentally, Weber is also the webmaster for the fascinating willyvictor.com, a website dedicated to those who flew and maintained Warning Stars during the Cold War.)

The aircraft started life as a Willy Victor, or WV-2, the naval variant of the Warning Star. She joined with the US Navy in August, 1956 as Bu.141311. The type became an EC-121K with the amalgamation of military aircraft designations in 1962, and it is largely equivalent to its US Air Force counterparts. Bu.141311 spent the bulk of her career assigned to the Pacific Missile Test Center at NAS Point Magu in California. She retired to the boneyard at Davis Monthan Air Force Base in 1979, but a team ferried her to Chanute AFB for display in 1983. Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum volunteers poured 16,000 man hours into restoring the aircraft between 2000 and 2005, bringing her interior back to its former glory. She is still in great condition, even if her exterior paint is a little faded, and will make a marvelous addition to the Yankee Air Museum.

The Warning Star is supposed to arrive at The Yankee Air Museum this week for reassembly. The museum plans to unveil her at their Thunder Over Michigan Air Show during Labor Day Weekend (September 2nd thru 4th, 2017). Bu.141311 will be open to the public and the Yankee Museum has invited Willy Victor veterans to be part of the event.

When the Octave Chanute Aerospace Museum closed its doors in 2015, Bu.141311s future looked very bleak indeed. She is still owned by the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, but they already have a WV-2 in their collection and had no interest in moving her elsewhere. This is understandable, as it is a massive aircraft and hugely expensive to move. So full credit must go to the Yankee Air Museum for having the courage to save this aviation gem, and take on her upkeep. There are still a number of significant airframes in Rantoul awaiting new homes though, and their days must surely be numbered, so for those who can get involved saving them, please do!

The Yankee team plans to restore the EC-121 to static condition, to best represent the Star as she looked during her Cold War days. From here, the aircraft will continue to serve a vital role, though this time as an educational tool, rather than warrior.

Click on the image below to support this project.

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The Islamic State (IS, also Daesh) on June 8, 2017, claimed the killing of two Chinese nationals who had been abducted from the Jinnah Town area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, in the afternoon of May 24, 2017. Amaq, the IS propaganda agency, declared, "Islamic State fighters killed two Chinese people they had been holding in Baluchistan province, south-west Pakistan." The Chinese couple, Lee Zing Yang (24) and Meng Li Si (26), were studying Urdu in Quetta, where they reportedly also ran a Mandarin language course.According to Deputy Inspector General Police Aitzaz Goraya, unknown abductors, wearing Police uniforms, had forced the two foreigners into a vehicle at gunpoint and driven away. They also tried to overpower another Chinese woman but she ran away. A man present at the site attempted to resist the kidnapping, but was shot at by one of the abductors. So far no local group has claimed responsibility for the incident (abduction and subsequent killing). Reports speculate that the actual perpetrators were linked to the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi al Alami (LeJ-A), the international wing of the LeJ, which believed to be affiliated to Daesh.

The claim came hours after Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) released details of a three-day operation (June 1-3) by the Pakistan Army against Daesh-affiliated terrorists in the Mastung area of Balochistan, in which Security Forces (SFs) had killed 12 suspected terrorists, including two suicide bombers. ISPR claimed, There were reports of 10-15 terrorists of a banned outfit Lashrake-Jhangivi Al-Almi (LeJA) hiding in caves near Isplingi ( Koh-i-Siah/Koh-i- Maran) 36 Kilometer South East of Mastung." And further, "The suicide bomber used against Deputy Chairman of Senate Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haydri on May 12 was also sent by [the targeted group]." The ISPR statement asserted that SFs destroyed an explosives facility inside the cave where the terrorists were hiding, and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition, including 50 kilogrammes of explosives, three suicide jackets, 18 grenades, six rocket launchers, four light machine guns,18 small machine guns, four sniper rifles, 38 communication sets and ammunition of various types.

Pakistan initially denied the Chinese couple's death, perhaps due to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's presence, alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Astana on June 9, 2017. The first reaction from Pakistani authorities came four days after the Daesh claim. On June 12, 2017, Federal Minister of the Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan confirmed that two Chinese nationals who had been abducted from Quetta had been killed.

The killing of the Chinese couple has underscored questions about the security of Chinese workers in Pakistan, and the country's centrality to China's ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative. The centrepiece of the 'new Silk Route' plan, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), passes through insurgency-hit Balochistan. Earlier, on May 31, 2017, amid Beijing's growing concerns about the safety of two of its abducted nationals, the National Security Committee, presided over by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, reviewed the security of CPEC and Chinese nationals based in Pakistan. The NSC meeting released a press statement which gave no details, but noted that "security for CPEC projects also came under discussion".

On June 3, 2017, 11 Chinese nationals- three men and eight women - living in the Jinnah Town of the Quetta were shifted to Karachi, and then flown back to China. Abdul Razzaq Cheema, Quetta's Regional Police Officer, stated that these Chinese nationals had been living in Quetta for almost a year, and that two South Korean families had also been living in Quetta's Jinnah Town for four years. After the abduction of the two Chinese nationals, Police had increased security of Chinese and other foreign nationals working on different component projects of CPEC, as well as with NGOs and United Nations' organisations in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

The complex, multilayered, seemingly never-ending security crisis in Balochistan appears more dangerous with the entry of Daesh onto the scene. Balochistan has been under attack by separatists, insurgents, and Islamist terrorists for over a decade, and the situation can only worsen with Daesh's entry. The Government, however, continues to deny Daesh's existence in the Province and, most recently, on June 13, 2017, Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti insisted that the group had no presence in the Province.

While the abduction and killing of the Chinese nationals was clearly a security failure, Pakistan has given the crime a religious angle, diverting attention from issues relating to ongoing CPEC projects in insurgency-hit Balochistan. Thus, on June 12, 2017, Federal Minister of the Interior Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan claimed that the slain Chinese couple belonged to a group of Chinese people who had obtained a business visa for Pakistan but were engaged in 'preaching.' In a meeting held at the Interior Ministry to review issuance of visas to Chinese nationals and registration of international nongovernmental organisations (INGOs), Nisar was told the couple was part of a group of Chinese citizens who obtained business visas from the Pakistani Embassy in Beijing. However, instead of carrying out any business activity, they were engaged in evangelical activities in Quetta, under the garb of learning Urdu language at the ARK Info Tech Institute owned by a South Korean national, Juan Won Seo.

On June 14, 2017, however, South Korea rejected Pakistan's contention that the slain Chinese nationals were preaching Christianity under the guise of studying Urdu at a school run by a South Korean. An unnamed South Korean official asserted that there was no evidence to show the couple was involved in proselytizing under Seo's guidance.

Meanwhile, China's official media Global Times has criticized South Korean Christian groups for converting young Chinese and sending them to proselytise in Muslim countries. The kidnapping was a rare crime against Chinese nationals in Pakistan, but has alarmed the growing Chinese community in the country. A Global Times editorial argued, "while the atrocity" by the Islamic State in killing the two Chinese is appalling, it cannot drive a wedge between China and Pakistan, nor will CPEC construction be disrupted.

Behind the whole episode of Daesh's abduction and killing of Chinese nationals, there is a clear intention of hurting Chinese interests. This is just the latest instance of Daesh targeting China, which is home to more than 20 million Muslims, including Uyghurs, in the Xinjiang province. In 2014, Daesh leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi explicitly equated China with the US, Israel and India as an 'oppressor of Muslims'. That this was not mere rhetoric was demonstrated by the group's subsequent execution of a Chinese citizen, Fan Jinghui, in Iraq on November 20, 2015. In February this year, ISIS released a slickly produced propaganda video detailing for the first time "scenes from the life of immigrants from East Turkistan [Xinjiang] in the land of the Caliphate" in which an Uyghur terrorist promised to "shed blood like rivers" to avenge Beijing's alleged oppression in Xinjiang.

Arif Rafiq, fellow at the Centre for Global Policy, a Washington think tank, observed, on January 9, 2017, that "Balochistan provides IS with an opportunity to not only strike at Pakistani interests, but also those of China and Iran. Anti-state jihadis in Pakistan have previously sought to target Chinese citizens in Pakistan, knowing that this would strain relations between Beijing and Islamabad. Jihadis in Balochistan who've made the switch from al-Qaeda to IS are on a similar mission."

Apart from Daesh's abduction and killing of the Chinese couple, there has always been a lingering threat to Chinese engineers and workers associated with CPEC projects, as these have been rejected by Baloch nationalists who considers CPEC a 'strategic design' by Pakistan and China to loot Balochistan's resources and eliminate the indigenous culture and identity. Dubbing China as a 'great threat' to the Baloch people, UNHRC Balochistan representative Mehran Marri argued, on August 13, 2016, that "China really-really is spreading its tentacles in Balochistan very rapidly, and therefore, we are appealing to the international community. The Gwadar project is for the Chinese military. This would be detrimental to international powers, to the people's interest, where 60 percent of world's oil flows. So, the world has to really take rapid action in curbing China's influence in Balochistan in particular and in Pakistan in general."

Pakistan currently hosts a sizable Chinese population and the numbers are slated to grow as the project progresses. Concern about the demographic transformation of Balochistan was reiterated in a report by the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) on December 28, 2016, which noted that, at the current rate of influx of Chinese nationals into Balochistan and after completion of the CPEC, the native population of the area would be outnumbered by 2048.

Pakistan earlier beefed up security around Chinese citizens streaming into the country on the back of Beijing's OBOR infrastructure build-up across the nation. On February 20, 2017, the Government announced the creation of a special contingent of 15,000 personnel from the Maritime Security Force (MSF) and Special Security Division (SSD) to protect 34 CPEC related projects, including Gwadar and other coastal projects, and to ensure the safety of locals and foreigners working on CPEC projects. Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayeed, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on CPEC, after a committee meeting in Parliament House on February 20, 2017, disclosed, "The SSD is a force that will provide security to 34 CPEC related projects, while the MSF will safeguard the Gwadar port and other coastal areas of the country".

Despite these security arrangements, militants succeeded in killing 10 labourers on May 13, 2017 and three labourers on May 18, 2017, at CPEC related projects in the Gwadar District of Balochistan. Since the start of CPEC projects in Balochistan in 2014, at least 57 workers (all Pakistani nationals) connected with these projects, have been killed. With global terrorist formations such as Daesh and al Qaeda entering the fray, and a range of domestic Islamist terrorist formations, prominently including LeJ-A and Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, as well as Baloch nationalist formations, all opposing the Pakistani state in general, and Chinese projects in the country in particular, this pattern of violence can only increase.
A parliamentary committee has called on the Inspector-General of Taxation, Ali Noroozi, to conduct a review into the Australian Taxation Office after the alleged abuse of position by one of its highest-ranking officers, Michael Cranston.

The Senate Economics References Committee has requested a review into the ATO's people and processes amid the high-profile $130 million tax fraud case that's before the NSW Supreme Court.

Former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston stepped down from the agency in June. Credit:Peter Rae

A letter to Mr Noroozi, seen by Fairfax Media, calls on him to examine "how the ATO addresses the risk of fraud and associated issues". These include looking at the "practices, procedures and structures to detect and act on fraudulent activity, with a focus on staff conduct".

The committee has also called on Mr Noroozi to examine if "risk assessment techniques for identifying fraudulent activity or potentially fraudulent activity are adequate, with a focus on staff conduct", and "potential improvements" that could be made to detect it.
Rebel government backbencher George Christensen has crossed the floor and voted with Labor to protect workers' penalty rates, in an embarrassing blow to the Turnbull government.

It is extremely rare for MPs to cross the floor and vote against their own side, but Mr Christensen's move has been a long time coming, as he has threatened to do so on previous occasions.

On Tuesday night, the Queensland MP initially abstained when Labor attempted to amend the Turnbull government's Fair Work Amendment bill so that it protected workers' take-home pay.

But Labor then put forward Mr Christensen's own amendment to that bill, which is designed to stop the Fair Work Commission's order to cut penalty rates.
Australia's most senior Catholic cleric has intervened in the war over school funding to seek an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull before the government's Gonski 2.0 changes come to a Senate vote.

Fairfax Media can reveal that Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart wrote to Mr Turnbull on Monday to seek a meeting to hammer out a peace deal.

It came as the government agreed to delay introducing its new funding model for at least 12 months for Catholic schools in a bid to stop any of its senators from crossing the floor.

The concession  which has not been officially announced  will not win the support of the Catholic sector but is expected to be enough to placate Liberal Senator Chris Back, who had threatened to vote against the government's changes.
A 70-year-old London flame tree will have to be cut down from the South Perth foreshore after a mysterious vandal attempted to cut through its trunk in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

City Environment manager Bruce Moorman said the City of South Perth would be conducting a full investigation into the vandalism.

"Someone's come in the middle of the night and put a chainsaw to it," he said.

"We're in the process of removing the tree completely, because the cuts made to it have destabalised it - even if it were left there, it would have died on its own."
New Delhi, Jun 20 (IBNS): A staple piece of garment in cupboards in Muslim communities across the world, the (reliable) Burqa/Burka is finding it tough to stay in vogue!

A Burqa covers a wearers entire face and body and the Muslim women wearing it see through a mesh or grille screen over the eyes.

China has already banned the headscarf, veils and abnormal beards and stated that the same is a crackdown on religious extremism.

Singing in the same tune, Norway and Kazakhstan are the latest nations to put in place a similar restriction.

According to reports, the Kazakhi government is working on a legislation to ban the use of the veil.

Norway too has proposed a ban on the burka in educational institutions after the immigration minister claimed the ability to communicate was a 'basic Nordic value'.

The burqa hasn't found favour in many European nation as France, Belgium, the Netherland, Bulgaria and the German province of Bavaria have all denounced the use of the facecovering garment.

While most European countries have banned the burqa stating that it creates inequality, China's stance on the same has attracted cries from human rights activists.

Activists have slammed China for meddling with basic rights and disallowing people to follow one's religion but the country has strongly denied committing any crimes against Muslims.

Commonly worn in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Taliban regime between 1996 to 2001 in Afghanistan had made it mandatory for women.

However, many Islamic scholars and clerics have said that burqa is not obligatory for women in Islam.

(Writing by Sudipto Maity)
With the sponsorship of the Japanese Customs Cooperation Fund, a WCO National Workshop on the Revenue Package with focus on the Harmonized System (HS) 2017 was held at the headquarters of the Samoa Customs Service in Apia, Samoa, from 13 to 16 June 2017.

At the opening of the Workshop, Ms. FAUTUA'ALII Avalisa Viali, Chief Executive Officer of Customs Service, Ministry of Revenue, Samoa, highlighted the importance of effective and efficient revenue collection by Customs since, for an island nation as Samoa, revenue is the core means for development. The WCO Revenue Package tools would assist modernization and enhancement of the capacity and knowledge of Samoa Customs with respect of revenue collection. Samoa Customs is now in the final stages on the transposition to the HS 2017 with the aim of implementing it from July 2017. Therefore, this Workshop would support the proper application of the new Customs Tariff Nomenclature and also promote the preparation of Samoa Customs to be a signatory of the HS Convention. She thanked the WCO and the Customs and Excise of Indonesia for facilitating the Workshop.

The facilitators focused on the importance of a well-organized classification infrastructure as well as well-defined and effective classification practices for correct and efficient revenue collection and trade facilitation. In this context, the importance and benefits of becoming a Contracting Party to the HS Convention were also emphasized.

Presentations were made on the theoretical and practical understanding and implementation of the WCO Revenue Package tools, such as the Guidelines on Customs Infrastructure for Tariff Classification, Origin and Valuation and the Technical Guidelines on Advance Rulings for Classification, Origin and Valuation, with the experience of Indonesia Customs being shared.

Participants discussed and used the WCO Diagnostic Tool on Tariff Classification, Valuation and Origin Work and Related Infrastructure to assess the current situation and to identify areas for attention. As a result, a number of action points in relation to becoming a Contracting Party to the HS Convention, a classification infrastructure and an Advance Ruling System, including cooperation with other Government Agencies using the HS, establishments of a classification unit and classification database as well as promotion of the current Advance Ruling System were agreed and suggested by the participants.
Darjeeling, June 20 (IBNS) : As unrest continues to rage in Darjeeling over a fresh movement for statehood, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha has called for a meeting on Tuesday, of all political parties from the hills to decide the "next course of action," reports said.

Amid the presence of massive number of security personnel, an n indefinite shutdown, called by the GJM, entered its tenth day as life in the hills largely remained disrupted.

The internet was snapped in Darjeeling and nearby areas as a precautionary measure against GJM activists from using social media to spread "provocative posts"

So far, three people were killed and 35 policemen injured in clashes over the past one week.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who vowed not to succumb to any sort of threat or the demand for 'Gorkhaland', left the state on Monday on a three-day visit to the Netherlands to attend a UN meeting.

Before she left, Mamata appealed for peace. She has also called an all-party meeting called by the state Government in Siliguri on June 22 to discuss the Darjeeling situation.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has also appealed to the GJM not to resort to violence and hold dialogues to find a solution.

However, the GJM has ruled out any talks with the state Government.

The GJM, which had been more or less in a cordial relationship with Mamata Banerjee after she came to power in 2011, launched its agitation last week altogether on different issues when the Chief Minister and her ministerial colleagues were present in Darjeeling last week.

After the ruling Trinamool Congress got a toe hold in Darjeeling and Banerjee made a successful manoeuvring to woo few other hill communities, the GJM launched a protest against Bengali being made a compulsory subject in all schools in the state.

The violence flared after the home-cum-office of GJM leader Bimal Gurung was raided on June 16 and the agitation took the turn for reviving the statehood agitation that first took Darjeeling by a storm in the 1980s.
Guwahati, June 20 (IBNS): The sleuths of Assam police Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (V&AC) on Tuesday arrested an Education department official from Upper Assamas Sivsagar district after allegedly taking bribe.

A team of V&AC had arrested red handed the official from the Sivsagar District Elementary Education Officer (DEEO) office.

The arrested official was identified as Dharani Gogoi, who served as a Upper Divison Clerk (UDA) in the office.

According to the reports, several officials of the elementary education office have allegedly taken bribes from the teachers to sanction files and few allegations were submitted to the higher authorities against the corrupted officials.

Several teachers under Sonari Block Elementary Education Officer (BEEO) office in newly created Charaideo district alleged that the BEEO and some officials would not recommended files if any teacher fail to provide demanded bribes.

V&AC had arrested over 30 officials under Assam state government in connection with taking bribe cases in the state in past five months.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Gurgaon, June 20 (IBNS): An auto driver who raped a seven years old girl in the Dundahera village on Sunday was arrested by the Gurgaon police a day later, media reports.

The accused, Kamal, who stays in the same village, raped the minor on Sunday evening.

The police could manage to arrest him after launching a widespread manhunt.

According to police, Kamal lured the child with chocolates to know the timing when her parents leave home.

On Sunday too, the girl along with her younger brother were called upon by the accused with the offer of chocolates and eventually he committed the crime.

The complaint was lodged within one hour of the crime at Udyog Vihar police station. When police reached the spot, they saw the victim bleeding and immediately took her to the nearby hospital. The condition of the girl is stable now.

Police informed that they carried out a widespread hunt to search the man and literally went from door to door in a highly populated village. However, when they found the accused, he was acting like a psychological patient though a medical test will conducted to detect the truth.

Kamal was arrested according to the clues provided by the younger brother of the girl, who later identified the accused.
Kolkata, June 20 (IBNS): In the context of World Blood Donors' Day, Narayana Health Network, Howrah in association with Howrah Police launched 'Srijan' - the blood donorsa directory along with a blood donation camp at Panchla in Howrah.

Srijan aims to ease out the difficulty in accessing blood supplies in times of need.

Present on the occasion, Sumit Kumar IPS, Superintendent of Police, Howrah Rural District mentioned that: As part of police-community initiatives, we aim to create a bridge to better connect with common people in case of any blood urgencies. Shortages of blood also lead to a black market dealing with illegal blood buying and selling. Our endeavor is to stop that practice and start a reliable source of voluntary blood donors that people can access to when they have requirement for blood with help of the police department. Large number of police personnel have already enrolled themselves in this directory. We urge public to enroll here & also make best use of the facility.

As there has been no central agency for blood collection, the process of blood collection is generally on local bodies obligated to organize blood donation camps in association with blood banks. This method leaves a gap between demand and supply.

Hence the concept of a blood donors registry called Srijan was initiated by Howrah Traffic Police and supported by Narayana Health Network of hospitals in Howrah. Srijan is a blood donors directory where donors willing to donate blood can register themselves to maintain record of blood donors across the region. The records would be confidential and accessible to the Howrah Police.

About the initiative R Venkatesh, Zonal Director East, Narayana Health said, Srijan is a great initiative by the Howrah Rural District Police and we are grateful to them for trusting our services and partnering with us in this noble cause. This will encourage more people to come forward to donate blood.
By Adam Morton Jun. 19, 2017 | 08:56 PM | PADUCAH, KY

The City of Paducah hosted its first of three public meetings Monday night to discuss a comprehensive storm water drainage plan for the city.City officials along with the consulting firm Strand Associates hosted the meeting at the Robert Cherry Civic Center. Strand's Senior Planning Advisor John Lyons gave a presentation to show residents what steps are involved in the storm water plan."The engineers assigned to this project are not here to eliminate flooding. That's an impossible task," Lyons said. He said the goal is to reduce the flooding and its effects on property.Lyons said the main goal of Monday's meeting was to collect information from the public, and to share the first steps in the plan. He listed a few possible solutions, including retention ponds and pump stations, among others."We always open to creative solutions." Lyons said.During the summer of 2016, the city requested qualifications from interested firms, and received six submissions. City Engineer Rick Murphy, Storm Water and Drainage Engineer Eric Hickman, Joint Sewer Agency Executive Director John Hodges and Paducah Economic Development President Scott Darnell worked as a selection committee to score each submission, view presentations from firms, and make a recommendation. They unanimously chose Strand Associates, which has been in business since 1946 and has two offices in Kentucky.If you were unable to attend the meeting, there is still time send information. You can send photos of flooding to stormwateranddrainage@paducah.ky.gov. Please include dates of the flooding. A questionnaire can also be completed at the link below.Two other public meetings will be held at later dates.

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By West Kentucky Star Staff

Jun. 20, 2017 | PADUCAH, KY

By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 20, 2017 | 03:27 PM | PADUCAH, KY

Local residents are being cautioned about a recent phone scam involving someone impersonating a sheriff's deputy.



The McCracken County Sheriffs Department says it received several reports Monday from area residents who said they had received calls from an individual claiming to be a Sgt. Davis with the Department.



The caller reportedly tells would-be victims there are active warrants for their arrest, and that they need to call a telephone number to get instructions on how to send in money to get it "taken care of".



The scammer, who deputies say sounds like an American man, says he is with the civil division and is advising residents to go to Kroger and purchase Green Dot cards and give them the numbers off of the card to satisfy a fine or civil judgement to avoid arrest.



Sheriff Jon Hayden says law enforcement agencies do not under any circumstances handle arrest warrants this way. He says new technology allows scammers to make any telephone number they wish to appear on someones caller ID, which in some situations may help in trying to convince the caller that the call is legitimate.



Hayden says it is best to ignore these types of calls and hang up.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 19, 2017 | 06:42 PM | PADUCAH, KY







Once again, the annual Summer Harvest food drive was a "huge success."Wendy Cooper of HollandStivers & Associates in Paducah said they were excited with the amount of food collected for the food pantry at Paducah Cooperative Ministry."This year we wound up with about 4-1/2 truckloads, so the way we calculate that, I think we wind up with about 6,000 items," Cooper said.Cooper said they were able to coordinate with PCM to let people know what the pantry needed most.She said, "They got a lot of diapers this year, a lot of noodles and spaghetti sauce, tuna. That was a big, big difference, as far as filling their shelves with what they actually needed."Cooper said family food bills can double or triple during the summer because children aren't eating meals at school. This usually means more folks come to area food pantries for help, so their shelves get depleted quickly.The company asked their clients and other friends in the business community to collect food between May 29-June 2. They either brought items to the HollandStivers office on Olivet Church Road or called for them to come pick it up.Individuals could participate this year by donating food at local Kroger Stores on June 2. Cooper said that new opportunity did a lot to increase the total amount of collected food.
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By Keith Todd, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Jun. 19, 2017 | HOPKINSVILLE, KY

By Keith Todd, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Jun. 19, 2017 | 04:55 PM | HOPKINSVILLE, KY

Its an event that could rival the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for the title Greatest Show on Earth. A total solar eclipse will sweep across 14 states, including 10 Kentucky counties on Monday, August 21.



With the Hopkinsville area listed among the top 10 eclipse viewing sites along the path, state and local agencies are preparing for a massive influx of visitors during the total solar eclipse. They urge area business to take steps now to prepare for traffic issues that may impact routine food and fuel deliveries.



With NASA predicting between 100,000 and 500,000 visitors to the region for the eclipse, were urging businesses to think through some of the supply challenges that may be created by heavy traffic and several days of high demand for food, fuel and grocery supplies, said Mike McGregor, District 1 chief engineer. The time to plan is now.



Businesses may encounter the following challenges during the influx of visitors:



 The impact of heavy traffic on the ability of employees to get to and from work in a timely manner.



 Potential long lines at fuel pumps limiting access to fuel employees need to get to and from work.



 Ability of vendors to deliver food, fuel, groceries and other critical supplies due to traffic congestion.



Max Arnold and Sons, of Hopkinsville, operate convenience stores and truck stops at 22 locations, most within the eclipse corridor. During early June, western Kentucky gets a surge of traffic the week of the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, Tennessee, and Fan Fair in Nashville. The Max Fuels locations start preparing about a week ahead of time by stocking staple items, such as bottled water, and by keeping fuel storage tanks topped off along the busy Interstate 24 corridor.



According to dispatcher Eddie Prevette, the company plans to make similar preparations during the eclipse, scheduling extra fuel deliveries at night when traffic is light.



Prevette encourages area residents to treat the eclipse much the way they would an approaching snow or ice storm.



It would really be helpful if our local folks could fill up early in the week before the eclipse, Prevette said. Most people can go about a week on a tank of gas. Filling up early will help area stores maintain a fuel supply through the weekend before the eclipse and into the next week.



Several area restaurants have indicated they plan to stage extra food supplies nearby using rented refrigerated trailers.



While some area businesses like the Max Fuels stores have already developed strategies, McGregor says all businesses in the eclipse corridor should make plans for maintaining their supply lines and their inventory of high-demand items.



Transportation officials offered the following suggestions for businesses:



 Consider early and overnight delivery of critical supplies due to expected daytime traffic snarls.

 Consider increasing inventory of basic items with temporary storage space prior to the eclipse.

 Prepare for congestion and traffic jams.

 Consider flex work schedules to avoid expected difficult travel conditions.

 Encourage employees to have a full tank of gas prior to the time visitors begin to arrive in the area.



KYTC District 2 engineers have offered traffic control suggestions to several of the eclipse event venues across the region. Traffic engineers have also trained Hopkinsville police to operate traffic signal controllers manually so officers dont have to stand in the middle of intersections to direct traffic.



We want visitors to the area to have a good experience so theyll consider coming back for a vacation, McGregor said. By helping businesses to prepare for a number of contingencies based on traffic expectations, we can help minimize the potential for eclipse-related problems.



Over the weekend of Aug. 19 and 20, and on eclipse day Aug. 21, visitors and local residents alike can expect very heavy traffic and long lines at grocery stores, restaurants and service stations. The eclipse in Kentucky is expected to last from about 12 noon to about 3 p.m. CDT with totality of just over 2.5 minutes along the main path.



The Transportation Cabinet will offer additional tips for both visitors and local residents in coming weeks. To remain informed about eclipse-related traffic and travel information in Kentucky, connect with KYTC at twitter.com/KYTC, twitter.com/KYTCGoKY and facebook.com/kytc120.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jun. 20, 2017 | 11:24 AM | BENTON, KY

Chris Freeland has announced his intent to run for the Kentucky House of Representatives 6th district seat in next year's election.

The seat, which encompasses Marshall, Lyon and a portion of McCracken counties, is currently held by Will Coursey (D-Benton).

Freeland, a Republican from Benton, served four terms on the Benton City Council. He also spent 17 years as a member of the Benton Lions Club and six years on the Marshall County Chamber Board of Directors. Hes been employed with Freeland Broadcasting for 25 years.

Freeland says he wants to be a bipartisan voice for the people of the 6th District. He said Frankfort must look to western Kentucky, specifically the 6th District, when it comes to state funded projects, funding for infrastructure and economic development.
Wexford photographer Declan Roche is back among the best with stunning shot of hare on Curracloe Beach
COMPROMISE $23 BILLION BUDGET AGREEMENT MOVING THROUGH THE NC GENERAL ASSEMBLY

IN A PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY, DEMOCRAT GOVERNOR ROY COOPER CALLED THE BUDGET "IRRESPONSIBLE" AND INDICATED HE WILL LIKELY VETO THE COMPROMISE AGREEMENT.

Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) held a joint press conference Monday to announce details of the roughly $23 billion budget and tax relief agreement reached between the state House and Senate.

As a result of responsible budgeting decisions, millions of middle-class families and job-creating small businesses will keep more of their earnings under this plan. The 2017 state budget delivers $530 million in tax relief, with 99 percent of taxpayers either paying less or paying no state personal income taxes at all.

Under Republican legislative leadership, the state has seen hundreds of millions of dollars in budget surpluses  and billions in savings reserves  through tax relief and balanced budgeting that helped spur economic growth. Under previous leadership, North Carolina faced teacher pay cuts and furloughs, as well as historic budget deficits, despite Democrats raising sales tax rates in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009.

The 2017 compromise budget increases spending by three percent over last years budget and focuses that increase in key areas, like providing nearly $700 million more for public education. The budget continues implementing a plan announced last year to dramatically increase teacher pay  providing teachers an average 3.3 percent raise this year and 9.6 percent raise over two years, while also ensuring they earn far more over the course of their careers.

Along with substantially increasing school principal pay, it also directs more than $180 million in the first year alone toward compensation increases to state employees, providing them a $1,000 across-the-board raise. And it provides a permanent cost-of-living adjustment to state retirees.

It provides $100 million in disaster relief assistance to victims of Hurricane Matthew and adds $363 million to the states rainy day fund  bringing the savings reserve to its highest total ever.

And it includes provisions to fund public school construction in economically struggling, rural counties, add thousands of slots to the pre-K program, offer opioid and substance abuse treatment statewide and create a program for local communities to improve public infrastructure to help attract major industrial employers.

I commend my Senate and House colleagues for their commitment to delivering substantial tax relief to the middle class, continuing our multiple-year effort to dramatically increase teacher pay and improve education outcomes, and helping rebuild communities devastated by Hurricane Matthew  while saving for a rainy day, said Berger. Gov. Roy Cooper should support this plan that achieves what he has said are important priorities for our state.

Gov. Cooper will sign this budget if he cares about increasing the zero-tax bracket for low-income North Carolinians, keeping a long-term commitment to increasing teacher pay, providing disaster relief to hurricane-hit regions and protecting the state from future emergencies through smart savings and responsible spending, said Moore.

Additional key provisions of the budget include:

In Salaries and Benefits 

 Keeps the plan to dramatically increase average teacher pay from last years budget, investing more than $100 million in the first year alone. This is in addition to the substantial teacher pay raises legislators passed in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

 Incorporates a new plan to let highly-qualified new teachers begin at a higher pay grade on the salary schedule, providing financial incentive to those who accept positions in low-performing schools, are licensed in special education or STEM classes or meet other criteria.

 Includes roughly $25 million to expand a performance-based bonus program to top-performing 4th and 5th grade reading teachers and 4th-8th grade math teachers, based on EVAAS growth scores.

 Allocates $10 million over two years for a bonus program for veteran teachers with more than 25 years of experience.

 Provides more than $35 million to substantially increase principal and assistant principal pay, including funds for performance bonuses for principals.

 Includes $10 million in additional compensation for community college employees.

 Provides a $1,000 salary increase to state employees.

 Offers experienced-based step increases to teachers, State Highway Patrol troopers, clerks and magistrates.

 Provides $10 million in the biennium toward hard-to-hire positions across state government, such as health care technicians and nurses.

 Designates roughly $4 million to allow Gov. Cooper to increase the base salary ranges for many state workers.

In Education 

 Increases funding for public education by nearly $700 million over two years.

 Fully funds K-12, community college and public university enrollment growth.

 Allocates more than $100 million from lottery funds over the biennium for grants to economically struggling, rural counties to assist with critical public school building needs.

 Invests an additional $11 million in textbooks and digital resources and increases funding for children with disabilities.

 Codifies the legislatures intent to use data it is currently gathering from local school systems in accordance with state law to fund a new salary allotment for kindergarten through fifth grade program enhancement (music, arts, physical education) teachers beginning in the 2018-2019 school year.

 Supports the new N.C. Teaching Fellows Program through the N.C. Education Endowment Fund.

 Restores funding to Eastern North Carolina STEM and extends the "TA to Teacher" pilot program in the 14 local school districts originally designated for expansion.

 Protects the Read to Achieve, Teach for America, and Communities in Schools programs from being cut by the Department of Public Instruction to fund bureaucracy.

 Provides additional assistance to community colleges for workforce training programs.

 Honors the commitment to fully fund the N.C. Promise Program, which guarantees in-state undergraduate students at three schools across the state pay just $500 per semester for tuition.

 Includes over $18 million in new funding for medical education, including funding increases to the UNC School of Medicine and to the schools Asheville campus.

 Provides additional stabilization funds to Elizabeth City State University to help get the school on solid financial ground.

 Offers $2.5 million each year of the biennium to support doctoral programs at North Carolina A&T University.

 Directs $1.5 million to the Cheatham-White Scholarship Program, which will provide state matching funds for up to 20 scholarships at both North Carolina Central University and North Carolina A&T University, beginning in the 2018 fall semester.

In Health and Human Services 

 Provides more than $27 million over two years to add 3,525 new pre-K slots  eliminating 75 percent of the waitlist for at-risk children.

 Upgrades the Controlled Substance Reporting System that will use advanced analytics to detect and fight prescription drug abuse.

 Allocates $15 million over two years to community health centers, rural health centers, free clinics and other health services providers in rural and underserved areas that assist the uninsured.

 Invests $18 million to improve North Carolinas child welfare program, including new training and prevention programs, and nearly $4 million to improve accountability and oversight of the system.

 Earmarks close to $3 million to provide support for additional foster children in the system.

 Continues preparing for the transition to Medicaid reform by allocating $75 million to grow the Medicaid Transformation Reserve.

 Includes more than $12 million for 400 new innovation waiver slots for people with intellectual and other related developmental disabilities that are at risk for institutional care.

 Designates $10 million for opioid and substance abuse treatment statewide.

 Allocates $19 million from the sale of the Dorothea Dix property to fund behavioral health beds.

In Justice and Public Safety 

 Begins the process to raise the age in North Carolina, ensuring 16- and 17-year olds suspected of misdemeanor offenses and less serious felonies would be tried as juveniles instead of adults by December 2019, and establishes a Juvenile Jurisdiction Advisory Committee to develop specific plans for implementation.

 Strengthens laws against human trafficking and funds signage to increase awareness of the warning signs of trafficking.

 Funds needed additional positions in the state court system, including dozens of new deputy clerks of court and assistant district attorneys.

 Provides more than $4 million for law enforcement training for North Carolina officers.

In Taxes and Economic Development 

 Reduces the tax burden on North Carolina families and small businesses by cutting the personal income tax rate from 5.499 to 5.25 percent in 2019, and by increasing the amount of income that is exempt from state income tax.

 Lowers the corporate income tax rate from 3 percent to 2.5 percent in 2019, continuing the business tax reforms that have helped create more than half a million new jobs since Republicans took control of the state legislature in 2011.

 Simplifies and reduces the franchise tax on small businesses by cutting what is effectively a statewide property tax on small businesses and creating a flat $200 tax on the first $1 million of a businesss net worth.

 Provides over $4 million to support tourism advertising as well as domestic and international advertising to promote economic development.

 Allocates close to $4 million for revitalization grants in towns and cities across the state.

In Agriculture and the Environment 

 Increases funding for the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, the Tobacco Trust Fund and the Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund.

 Expands support for the aquaculture industry and provides funding for dredging to ensure valuable economic activity at the North Carolina coast can continue.

 Allocates over $750,000 to expand international marketing of North Carolina agricultural products.

 Provides funding for engineers to improve dam safety and review emergency action plans to help prevent catastrophic flooding.

 Sets aside $2.3 million to purchase a new firefighting aircraft in the wake of devastating wildfires in Western North Carolina.

 Provides $250,000 to the Department of Agriculture to continue fighting against federal overreach in the form of the new Waters of the United States definition after the Cooper Administration withdrew from the federal lawsuit challenging this unprecedented land grab.

In Transportation 

 Increases funding for the Strategic Transportation Investments Program (STIP) by $320 million over two years, which will allow 100 new highway projects to be added over a ten-year period.

 Includes $241 million to improve structurally deficient bridges across the state, adds $143 million to improve the condition and safety of existing roads, increases contract resurfacing by $20 million and increases funding for pavement preservation by $30 million, extending the life of thousands of miles of roads.

 Invests $100 million to fund immediate need construction projects across the state that improve mobility and safety, reduce congestion and spur economic development.

 Includes $208 million over two years for a Roadside Environmental Fund dedicated to ensuring the safety and beautification of the states highways.

 Modernizes the states transportation network by providing additional funding to airports across the state for infrastructure improvements, and to the State Ports Authority for infrastructure and dredging needs.

Elsewhere 

 Brings the rainy day fund to $1.838 billion, or 8.2 percent of last years budget  the largest dollar amount and percentage in state history.

 Adds $125 million to make needed repairs and renovations to state and university facilities.

 Helps preserve North Carolinas military operations by allocating $2 million for the next Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).

 Continues the commitment to improving government transparency by funding a website that makes every state agency, county, and local school district budget available for citizens to view online.

 Aims to make government operations more efficient by investing in a fully-consolidated statewide Enterprise Resource Planning system.

 Helps the office of the State Auditor conduct more specialized audits and allocates funding to assist the state Department of Revenue and Department of Insurance in identifying and preventing fraud.

Work on the full budget agreement is ongoing, and lawmakers hope it will be posted to the North Carolina General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net on Monday night.
Kolkata/Coimbatore, Jun 20 (IBNS): West Bengal's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials on Tuesday arrested retired judge of Calcutta High Court, C.S. Karnan, in connection with a contempt case, sources confirmed.

According to reports, taking assistance from Tamil Nadu police, a seven-man team of the CID booked former Justice Karnan from an 'undisclosed' place at Coimbatore.

A CID official told IBNS that Karnan will be produced in a Chennai court on Wednesday and he will be taken to Kolkata on a transit remand later.

Earlier in May, Supreme Court of India sentenced C.S. Karnan to six months of imprisonment, holding him guilty of contempt of court, and directed West Bengal Police's DG to arrest the controversial judge.

Supreme Court pronounced the order, days after Karnan found eight justices of Supreme Court, including Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar, guilty under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and awarded them with five years rigorous imprisonment.

Based on an suo-motto hearing, Karnan pronounced the order in a makeshift court at his residence in Kolkata's New Town area on May 8.

Since an arrest warrant was issued against him, Chinnaswamy Swaminathan Karnan went absconding and he retired as a judge of Calcutta High Court on Jun 12 while being untraceable.



(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)


Guwahati, June 20 (IBNS): Security forces apprehended a hardcore militant belonging to Gorkha Liberation Army (GLA) in Assamas Tinsukia district along with Arunachal Pradesh border on June 19 evening, officials said.

Kohima based Defence PRO Colonel Chiranjeet Konwar said that, the troops of the Jairampur battalion of Assam Rifles under the aegis of DAO division and Assam police jointly launched an operation at Six mile near Tirap Gate in the Upper Assam district and nabbed the militant.



The nabbed militant was identified as self styled Lieutenant Babu Konwar alias Babu Gogoi.



The militant was trying to terrorize and carryout extortion in Six mile Area near Tirap gate. Post spot interrogation he admitted allegiance to GLA and had come here for collection of money and extortion and to increase influence of GLA in the region, Colonel Konwar said.



This a second apprehension of a senior GLA cadre from this area within a week. It is an indicator that the underground outfit is trying to fan out and establish its influence among the villages in south Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.



Meanwhile, Tinsukia district Superintendent of Police Mugdhajyoti Mahanta said that, earlier security forces had apprehended another GLA militant named Rajesh Lama alias Ganesh Rai from Five mile area near Tirap gate on June 15 last.



Security personnel recovered a 9 mm pistol with ammunition in possession from him, Mahanta said.



(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
Darjeeling, June 20 (IBNS): The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) held the second joint meeting on Tuesday at the Gymkhana Club and decided to continue their indefinite strike in the hills of Bengal.

The meeting was concluded with the formation of All India Coordination Committee.

However, GJM put a condition to the state government as they said they would call off the strike, if central forces were withdrawn.

They even said they would not take part in the all-party meeting called by the state government on June 22 in Siliguri.

On Thursday, the Mamata Banerjee government asked all parties to meet and try to sort out issues in the hills.

The GJM clearly stated that the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) must be scrapped and they would not take part in the GTA election in future.

GTA was formed after Trinamool Congress came to power, and recently Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went to hills for the audits, which had actually sparked the violence. The GJM supporters were initially opposing the state government's decision of imposing Bengali subject in the curriculum, though the CM later clarified it to be optional.

The indefinite strike was called by the GJM from June 12. They even staked the claim to form Gorkhaland as a separate state.

The GJM urged the state government to resume the internet services immediately.

Tilak Chandra Roka has been nominated as the coordinator of the core committee formed on Tuesday.

The third joint meeting has been called on June 24.



(With inputs from Deepayan Sinha)
New York, June 20(Just Earth News): United Nations entities based in Colombia have strongly condemned Saturday's terrorist attack at a shopping centre in the capital, Bogota, and underscored that they aremain determineda to support the country and its peace process.

The UN in Colombia regrets and repudiates this act of violence and reiterates that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes a threat to peace and security, read a statement (in Spanish) issued by the UN Country Team over the weekend.

We remain determined to continue to support Colombians and their government in their efforts to build sustainable and lasting peace in the country, the statement added.

At least three people (one French citizen and two Colombians) were killed and another nine wounded in the terrorist attack that struck the Andino shopping centre, located in Bogota's Chapinero district.

The blast occurred at around 5 pm local time (GMT -5:00) on a busy Saturday, with many people shopping for Father's Day, the next day.

In the UNCT statement, the agencies also expressed their condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the people and Government of Colombia and of France and wished for a speedy recovery of those injured.

Photo: Dominic Chavez/World Bank

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg company that has been selling environmentally friendly dust-control products to mining and industrial facilities all over the world is hoping a new organic formulation will now become the go-to choice for dust suppression on unpaved roadways.

On Monday, Cypher Environmental opened a production facility for its new formulation, Dust Stop Municipal Blend (DSMB), with a delegation of government and industry representatives from Belarus on hand.

DSMB was developed in collaboration with Red River College with the assistance of a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.

Cyphers previous products were geared more towards industrial use  mines and other dust-spewing facilities around the world  but president Todd Burns said this new, less expensive application will allow municipal and regional governments to use it on a cost-effective basis.

And while he believes there is plenty of demand  a recent market analysis from Persistence Market Research estimated there is a US$12.3-billion global market  Burns believes the environmental benefits might be even more important.

Our biggest goal is to keep people from using highly corrosive chloride-based products (road salt) that are in widespread use around the world, Burns said.

He said millions of litres of road salt product are used annually in Manitoba alone just for dust control, not counting whats used to deal with icy roads.

A paper done for the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. more than a decade ago warned that if the use of road salt persists it will damage aquatic life in lakes all over North America and the same is true for its use elsewhere around the world.

Yuri Tarasov, a Toronto-based importer and exporter of mining equipment targeting markets in the former USSR, said there is a concerted interest in upgrading the roadway system in Belarus.

Their primary roads are quite good, but recently the president of Belarus mandated that they do something about their secondary roads, said Tarasov, who helped organize the delegation that is in Winnipeg this week.

They are very interested.

The concentrated liquid product  made with a combination of sugar, starches and a mineral component  is applied using a conventional water tanker with a mixture of nine parts water to one part DSMB.

The whole issue is to increase stability in roads and address road-maintenance costs, he said.

So its not just dust control. And its just a quick, easy spray on and youre done.

A week ago, Burns was in Chile and Mexico doing demonstrations.

The bulk of the competition selling products there meant to get rid of dust  which is an environmental hazard  are using products that are themselves environmental concerns, such as chlorides.

In Mexico he was at a mine site owned by a Canadian company that was using oil as a dust suppressor.

We are really excited not just to replace use of chlorides but oil and other secondary products, he said.

Cypher has about a dozen Winnipeg employees and a couple more at a Calgary location.

Burns said as the new production gets up and running and the expected demand grows, he figures the company will have to hire another handful of people in the next year and hopefully many more as Cypher continues its campaign to eradicate the use of road salt around the world.

Cyphers new product is a perfect example of how Red River College partners with industry to foster innovation right here in Manitoba, said Paul Vogt, president of Red River College.

Its a real success story, as students and faculty worked on this project, our facilities were used and both the Cypher president and company staff are college graduates.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BIRDTAIL SIOUX FIRST NATION  Members of the Presbyterian Church of Canada visited Birdtail Sioux First Nation Saturday to apologize for the churchs role in the Birtle residential school and the dark legacy it left behind.

As part of the denominations healing and reconciliation national tour, a 33-member delegation visited the area and moved toward forging a new, positive relationship with the First Nation, community members said.

Melody Bearbull, who led the local tour Saturday, said the churchs visit is an important step.

This is the first time they came to our community and said sorry for what they did, the atrocities they did, in the residential school, Bearbull said. Therefore, were moving forward now, in a healing way.

The Presbyterian Church of Canada ran the residential school in Birtle from 1889 to 1975.

In testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which chronicled the pain the countrys residential schools inflicted, former pupils of the Birtle school described abusive experiences. The school building is now abandoned and derelict.

David Phillips, who resides in Uxbridge, Ont., was asked by the national church to lead the reconciliation tour, which included stops in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Kenora, Ont. The delegation visited the sites of two of the churchs 11 former residential schools.

I think weve made it very clear that were sorry, Phillips said.

We certainly have to recognize the past, but what are we doing to rectify it? Wheres the reconciliation? Its not going to be on a piece of paper, its got to be with the activities we do  and I keep saying that: What are you going to do about it?

One example, Phillips said, is his church in Uxbridge redirecting its missionary work from overseas to Kenora to help indigenous people there.

The Presbyterian Church in Canada first confessed its role in the tragic legacy of residential schools in 1994.

During a walking tour of Birdtail with the delegation, Bearbull shared plans to bring the heartbeat back by providing youth activities, as well as efforts to build a community hall.

At one point, she pointed to the valley where Birdtail residents were laid to rest. The group bowed its heads in prayer, reflecting on the lives of those who went to the residential school.

Later, visitors were brought to a large canopy tent being erected.

An arson attempt in February damaged the local church and Presbyterian congregations responded by donating a tent to be used as a short-term replacement. It arrived a week ago.

On Saturday, indigenous and non-indigenous people worked hand-in-hand to set up the tent for the first time, while others volunteered to clean up and begin repairing the church, which still stands.

Were building things up, Jean Kim, a Presbyterian from Thornhill, Ont., said as she watched more than a dozen members of her denomination hold up tent poles.

Its been a really healing kind of experience for me, she said of the tour. You can just see the repairs happening, kind of one person at a time, one glimpse at a time, so theres this kind of hope.

Its funny, I was thinking to myself, I dont know if Ive felt the sense of community that was really here today, that Ive ever really felt.

Doug Hanska, a Birdtail councillor who played the drum at the honour song to thank the guests, likened the healing journey of residents to a blade of grass that grows time and again. In both cases, they continue on.

The stop they did in Birdtail, I know it may not mean much to a lot of people, but to some of us it means a lot, he said. We can forgive and move on, like our teachings tell us.

 Brandon Sun
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An indigenous accord committing local organizations to reconciliation efforts is, for some people, just a beginning.

Winnipeg mayor Brian Bowman pledged the accord last year and, during a ceremony at Oodena Celebration Circle at The Forks Tuesday, it came to fruition with more than 80 signatures.

The thing I look at is, whats going to happen after, said Joe Meconse, a Dene elder and military veteran.

JEN DOERKSEN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Ivan Flett Memorial Dancers perform traditional Metis jigs after the signing of the indigenous accord at the Oodena Circle at The Forks, Tuesday.

The accord didnt outline specific actions signatories can take to increase reconciliation. Instead, it asks each organization to set its own goals and report back to the city every year.

It really is up to each of the signatories to determine how far theyre going to go in their journey of reconciliation, Bowman said following the ceremony.

For the City of Winnipeg, this means completing the reconciliation training it began earlier this year.

It is going to take time Its a matter of years until everybody has transitioned to get the training, Bowman said.

The mayor didnt have details about other reconciliation goals the city will work toward.

Youll have to stay tuned for more steps were taking, he said.

Michael Redhead Champagne believes the city can do much more than reconciliation training.

My hope is that the City of Winnipeg would lead by example with its own list of measurable actions that it hopes to take within specific departments, said the North End activist and founder of Aboriginal Youth Opportunities.

Champagne wants these measurables presented in everyday language and made available to the public.

He also hopes indigenous youth can play a bigger role in the accord and the actions stemming from it.

For Monika Feist, CEO of the Success Skills Centre, action means expanding her education program on indigenous history. The centre helps newcomers get the training they need to work in Canada, and a part of that training is indigenous education.

We want them to enter the Canadian workforce being very aware of our indigenous community and their history to develop respect in the workplace and care in the community, Feist said.

Feist brings in elder Albert McLeod to lead these sessions. McLeod was on hand Tuesday to sign the accord for Circle of Life Thunderbird House. He believes the accord will benefit the signatories because it will encourage them to share resources and develop initiatives together.

We want to be able to guide this city to make Winnipeg a place that recognizes aboriginal culture, history, identity, and also to make it a home to indigenous people of Manitoba, McLeod said.

The accord is a living document, which means organizations that havent already signed can do so.

This is really just an important step to bring everyone together, to amplify it, and all the signatories will be judged based on their actions, including the City of Winnipeg, said Bowman.

Bowman understands the doubt some people have about the accords power to effect change.

Any cynicism is rooted in real issues in our community that we need to address, he said.

The accord is modelled after the one the city of Thompson uses to guide operations and planning. That accord was first signed in 2009.

stefanie.lasuik@freepress.mb.ca
New York, June 20(Just Earth News): The situation in the Central African Republic is aunsustainable,a an independent United Nations expert on Tuesday warned, urging the Government to stop the spread of armed groups and increasing human rights violations.

This situation is unsustainable and the country must regain the integrity and sovereignty of its territory without further delay, to ensure security and the rule of law, said the independent expert on human rights in the country, Marie-Therese Keita Bocoum.

Armed groups are spreading at a worrying rate in central and southern areas, particularly in the regions of Ouaka, Mbomou and Basse-Kotto, the expert added.

She noted that the violence and a lack of a Government response had sparked outrage in the population.

The State has an obligation to protect the population, said Keita Bocoum. The international community, especially the UN stabilization force MINUSCA, must work alongside the State to implement this responsibility effectively.

Recent human rights abuses in the country include killings rapes and targeting of UN peacekeepers, according to a recent mapping report of the violations.

The independent UN expert called for human rights violations to be investigated without further delay and invited the Minister of Justice to strengthen the resources of national courts.

The comments come one day after a reported deal between the Government and 13 of the 14 armed groups active in the country that has been ravaged by three years of conflict.

Clashes between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebel coalition and anti-Balaka militia, which are mostly Christian, plunged the country of 4.5 million people into civil conflict in 2013. According to the UN, more than half the population is in dire need of assistance. Despite significant progress and successful elections, CAR has remained in the grip of instability and sporadic unrest.

Fresh violence surfaced earlier this year. As of May 2017, there were more than 500,000 internally displaced persons nationwide, a figure that had not been reached since August 2014.

Special Rapporteurs and independent experts are appointed by the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a specific human rights theme or a country situation. The positions are honorary and the experts are not UN staff, nor are they paid for their work.

UN Photo/Nektarios Markogiannis

Source: www.justearthnews.com
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 19/06/2017 (1971 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  Three Manitoba parliamentarians are leading a showdown with the Liberal government over how many Canadians with indigenous roots are entitled to official Indian status.

Were headed toward an impasse, said Sen. Marilou McPhedran, whom the Liberals appointed in October. Its really a shock.

Bill S-3 aims to remove gender-based discrimination from the lineage provisions of the Indian Act, which prevent women who marry non-indigenous men from giving their descendants Indian status.

Marilou McPhedran, appointed to the Senate by the Liberal government, may now butt heads with them over indigenous womens rights. (Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press files)

The federal Liberals tabled the bill in November after a Quebec court case in August 2015 found the policy violated charter rights.

Known as the Descheneaux case, a judge gave Ottawa until Feb. 3 to rectify the situation, before extending the deadline to July 3. Thats when some 35,000 people would be able to sue the government if theyre not given a way to apply for Indian status.

In response, the Liberals wrote Bill S-3 to deal with those who lost their lineage from 1951 onwards. The bill also mentions a consultation process to look at older cases, but only commits to solving discrimination from the post-war era.

For decades, advocates have asked Ottawa to reverse lineage discrimination based on sex dating to the Indian Acts 1876 passing. The government has gradually loosened those grounds after four decades of court cases and United Nations proceedings.

McPhedran moved an amendment last month to extend Bill S-3 to cases dating to 1876, which the Senate approved in its final vote.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett said that would be a mistake and urged MPs to reject the amendment.

35,000 people have been waiting two years since the court decision to exercise their rights. We need to pass this legislation immediately, her office wrote in a statement. Bureaucrats have already been preparing 54 staff to deal with the new applications as the July 3 deadline looms.

Bennett warned McPhedrans amendment would overwhelm First Nations with an influx of requests, and leave status rules unclear. Her department pointed to a Winnipeg demographers 2005 study, which suggested such a move would mean up to two million people could suddenly be eligible for Indian status.

The demographer, Stewart Clatworthy, told the Free Press he agrees thats technically possible but says its an extreme scenario where the legislation passed without including any clarifying interpretations.

For example, a clause left too vague would eliminate the Metis population who have built their own history as indigenous people with mixed roots and fold them into First Nations groups. Clatworthy said he expects parliamentarians will tighten up the bill and suggested it might merit more time in Parliament.

People are running around trying to determine what this might mean and to put some precision to it, so the legislation doesnt create more uncertainty, he said.

Another Manitoba senator, Murray Sinclair, has stepped up for McPhedrans amendment, after initially voting against it for the same reasons. He now says the original bill doesnt go far enough.

In a letter obtained by the Free Press, Sinclair is urging the government to seek an extension. This will remove the urgency to pass what is another piecemeal bill.

Winnipeg Centre MP Robert-Falcon Ouellette, who has Cree ancestry, is pushing his Liberal colleagues to pass the bill. He told the Commons in a speech the bill was an emotional topic at a recent sun dance at Spruce Woods Provincial Park near Glenboro.

The women at this sun dance asked me again and again about Bill S-3. They asked me, What are you doing about Bill S-3 and why is the government willing to take away our rights?

Ouellette said it was absolutely shameful his party would deny the birthright of my cousins, of my brothers and sisters in the sun dance.

This is a debate that has been going on for many generations in this country and it is a painful thing for me to stand here, he said. I was hoping that it would not come to this moment, but I must have the courage.

Last week, the Liberal-dominated House committee removed McPhedrans amendment, curtailing the bills scope to cases dating from 1951 onwards and sending it to the House for a final vote, scheduled for Tuesday. Its expected to pass, which would send it back to the Senate for its final vote.

Traditionally, senators approve the elected governments decisions, but McPhedran says some are prepared for a fight. She claims an unnamed colleague told her this is a hill to die on. This is a matter so grave the Senate needs to stand up for indigenous women in this country if the government wont.

The Senate might be given more time. The government says it wont ask the court for an extension, but the plaintiff in the Descheneaux case has taken the exceptional move of doing so instead.

A lawyer familiar with the case says the judge seems likely to oblige. The judges decision is expected Tuesday.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 37-year-old man is in critical condition with head trauma after being seriously assaulted Monday night in the first 100 block of Martha Street.

Winnipeg police said cadets and Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service personnel happened to be in the area when bystanders called them to help a man who had been attacked.

A suspect in the incident was identified by witnesses and found in the area by cadets.

Sydney Eric Norman Fleury, 43, was charged with aggravated assault and is being held in custody.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 19/06/2017 (1971 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If his term as the medical staff president at St. Boniface Hospital wasnt at an end, Dr. Marcus Blouw likely would have resigned from the board after it was stacked to overturn a vote allowing assisted dying in rare circumstances.

Blouws internal memos, which were obtained by Dying with Dignity Canada and given to the Free Press last Friday, described a hospital in turmoil over polarizing discussions about whether the Catholic health facility should or shouldnt offer the service.

I have been told that I cannot understand the implications of this decision because I dont appreciate the value of redemptive suffering I dont comprehend how the strength of the community can overcome the suffering of the individual, Blouw told the Free Press Monday of high-level meetings at St. Boniface that hes been privy to for the last year.

JOHN WOODS / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS While St. Boniface is a publicly funded hospital populated by medical staff hired by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, it has a non-devolved board, meaning instead of WRHA oversight, it answers to the Catholic health corporation.

I think those are horribly antiquated statements that are inflammatory to a huge proportion of the Canadian populace.

Board members reminded of pledge of confidentiality

Despite a June 1 letter from Catholic Health Corp. of Manitoba CEO Daniel Lussier reminding board members of the pledge of confidentiality they each took and asking them to keep quiet about the initial vote, Blouw said he felt compelled to speak publicly because he no longer trusts the corporation.

Their actions in stacking the board with new membership who would follow the Catholic health corporation dictates without taking the time to get informed on the issue speaks to just the lengths that theyre willing to take to maintain the status quo, said Blouw, who will continue to practise at St. Boniface Hospital when his term as medical staff president expires at the end of the month.

Most people, Blouw continued, dont understand how the status quo works.

By and large, he said, patients wind up at a certain hospital because theyre in the facilitys catchment area or because they need a certain service in which the hospital specializes. While St. Boniface is the go-to centre for palliative care in the province, patients who need other services will likely go elsewhere.

Most patients and staff dont pick St. Boniface because of its Catholic underpinnings, Blouw said. They pick it because they need help, they need palliative care or  in his case  its a great place to work.

But when it comes to understanding the organizational structure that governs St. Boniface, Blouw said, thats a super complicated question.

Publicly funded with private oversight

While St. Boniface is a publicly funded hospital populated by medical staff hired by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, it has a non-devolved board, meaning instead of WRHA oversight, it answers to the Catholic health corporation.

When the hospital board met May 29 to consider a policy that would allow staff to advise patients on assisted dying  even directing them to the provincial team that advises, assesses and ultimately ends the life of the terminally ill  a small group on the board brought forward an amendment that would see the service allowed at the hospital under rare circumstances.

When that amendment narrowly passed, the corporation responded by adding 10 new members to the hospital board  all of whom are already members of the corporations own board  and forcing a revote. The boards chairperson resigned, writing any ability to influence St. Boniface Hospital policy has been eliminated with the new board composition.

According to a leading Canadian health-care ethics and law expert, the Manitoba governments response to the controversy so far fails to address the actual issue.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzens spokesperson rebuffed requests for an interview both Friday and Monday, instead sending a statement that failed to mention the board maneuvering, only reiterating the governments commitment to respecting the decisions of medical professionals and health-care facilities that may elect to not provide medical assistance in dying.

Thats not whats at stake here, said Jocelyn Downie, a health ethics and law professor at Dalhousie University. This is an institution not providers were fighting about supposed conscience rights of institutions.

The discussion thats needed, she said, is around the public funding of faith-based health care. By agreement, the WRHA has very little involvement in the operational control of facilities like St. Boniface. In Winnipeg, there are more than half a dozen facilities that receive funding and staff but are outside the authoritys purview: St. Boniface, Concordia Hospital, Seven Oaks General Hospital, the Misericordia Health Centre, the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Centre as well as the bulk of the citys personal care homes.

Faith-based agreement with govt not unique

Per a WRHA statement, the Manitoba government signed a faith-based agreement in 1996 that would fund the facilities while allowing them operational control so as to maintain their respective mission, vision and culture.

Such agreements are hardly unique across the country; faith-based health care has a long history in Canada dating back more than a century. However, institutional faith values increasingly conflict with the right-to-access services, such as abortion and assisted dying, giving rise to questions about whether institutions can have conscience rights. Downie said the Supreme Court has not conclusively weighed in  and what accountability those institutions owe to the public that funds them.

Downie described a situation in Nova Scotia where a faith-based maternity care facility was ordered to provide abortions and closed rather than offer the service. The Manitoba government should consider opening the door to negotiations for the transfer of business, she said, so the WRHA can take back operational control of faith-based facilities.

At minimum, Downie said, the provincial government needs to make it clear to the public that there are accountability measures in place.

When asked about accountability, Lussier said this is a rare situation on a fundamental principle and we thought it prudent to act swiftly and quickly so that there would be no confusion.

As to what accountability Lussier feels the Catholic corporation has to the Manitoba public, he cited the longstanding agreement it has with the provincial government that very clearly states were a valued partner in this integrated system.

Govt, WRHA says agreement must be obtained through formal Freedom of Information request

Manitoba Health declined to provide a copy of the 1996 faith-based agreement to the Free Press. When asked, the WRHA said it had been advised by the province to tell reporters to file a request for it through the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Right away we should have a concern that there is a binding agreement that is so opaque that we cant even as taxpayers, as the funders of this institution, understand what agreements have been made between the government and the governing body of the institution, Downie said.

If they think they have a contract right show us how that right is expressed because we all have a right to know how broad it is. What else are they going to claim that theyre not allowed to provide?

That question of access is one that most concerns Blouw. As he sees it, the Catholic health corporation is allowing the government to provide publicly funded services on their property but with these ethical strings attached that hurt some of the provinces most vulnerable patients.

I think that medically assisted dying, including the assessment and the procedure, should be available in any publicly funded health-care institution in this country, he said.

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @Jane_Gerster
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 20/06/2017 (1970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A handful of school painters, plasterers and floor installers has received nine per cent wage increases despite the provincial governments wage freeze.

Even as Premier Brian Pallister imposed wage controls on 120,000 public workers this month, Winnipeg School Division trustees gave a nine per cent wage increase over four years to trades employees.

Theyll be paid wage increases of two per cent for 2016, 2017, and 2018, and two 1.5 per cent raises in 2019, in a deal covering July 2, 2016, to June 30, 2019.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Winnipeg School Division trustees approved a nine per cent wage hike for various trades workers.

The division does not believe it violated Bill 28, WSD board chair Sherri Rollins said Tuesday. Its an unusual collective bargaining agreement  reached in the summer of 2015, with wages beyond the first year for a few job categories to be left blank and agreed to at a later date. As it turns out, a much, much later date, after wage controls had passed in the legislature.

But Amy McGuinness, press secretary to Finance Minister Cameron Friesen, said Tuesday that if the group is covered by the Public Services Sustainability Act (Bill 28), the provisions of the legislation would apply.

McGuinness would not say what happens next, or what action the province would or could take. These questions should be directed to the employer, she said.

The legislature passed the wage control bill June 1, WSD trustees ratified the wage deal June 5. However, provincial cabinet has yet to proclaim the wage controls into law, a move that Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck has said lets the province hold it back as a weapon in negotiations, while trying to delay labour from taking the bill to court on the grounds it is unconstitutional.

Rebeck said Tuesday there has not yet been legal action taken. Meanwhile, 30,000 health care workers have been without a new collective bargaining agreement since March 31.

Pallister said last week that cabinet has not yet proclaimed Bill 28 into law, because the province still hopes that organized labour will work with his government to get control of public spending and reduce Manitobas deficit.

To add even further complications, the Tories have also passed Bill 29, which significantly reduces the number of health care bargaining units. That would involve a lengthy process, including the naming of a commissioner to oversee the process. Rebeck has said labour fears that regional health authorities have not started bargaining because they assume that Bill 29 takes precedence.

Last week, Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen said that Bill 29 does not have to be implemented prior to health care workers in their existing bargaining units negotiating under Bill 28s provisions.

Meanwhile, WSD continues to bargain with its trades staff as though the wage controls are not an issue.

We needed to do what was best for Winnipeg School Division, Rollins said in an interview. Were watching and listening, we understand the government is trying to create public services that are affordable. We read the throne speech, the budget, we read what Minister Wishart (Education Minister Ian Wishart) was saying.

With the trades, were really concerned we dont want to lose any to the private sector, she said. Its really competitive.

The deal covers painters, plasterers, and floor installers. The division is still bargaining on wages through 2019 with bricklayers, welders, millwrights, roofers, and other trades, who Rollins said need wage increases if theyre not to jump to the private sector.

The division reached agreement on multi-year wages in the summer of 2015 with Local 110 of the Canadian Union of Public Employees and settled with caretakers, bus mechanics, and other staff who form the majority of the bargaining unit.

However, agreement on wages for other trades covered only one year, with the approved deal leaving subsequent years wages listed as TBD  to be determined.

Rollins said that trustees were aware through this past winter that the province would impose a wage freeze. For sure, the bargaining environment came up for trustees, she said.

nick.martin@freepress.mb.ca
Winona will be conducting a parking study as it continues to look at developing downtown.

The City Council approved an agreement Monday with Walker Parking Consultants, parking specialists with offices in 18 U.S. cities including Minneapolis as well as Abu Dhabi, for a comprehensive study and analysis of downtown parking needs.

The study, with an estimated cost of $34,000, is scheduled to start this summer and finish in 2018 in time to use the information before students return to Winona.

The costs will be split between the city of Winona and the Port Authority.

It will coincide with development plans in the area, including continued business promotion and improvements to Levee Park and the ongoing discussion of development at the lot at 60 Main St., which is tentatively proposed for a multimillion-dollar apartment and hotel combo and in early discussions between the city and developers.

Lucy McMartin, community development director, said parking had repeatedly come up as a concern in those conversations and other development discussions around downtown.

The last parking study was conducted by Bonestroo and Associates in 1997 and included Winona State University and the downtown area.

We realized ours was about 20 years old, McMartin said. We think a lot has changed since then.

City staff recommended Walker to conduct the study due to its exclusive focus on parking and parking solutions, experience with river cities and with potential future needs like parking ramp design.

The proposal was unanimously approved by the City Council.

The city included several changes in parking policy in its recently adopted zoning code update.

In downtown parking, council decided that rather than setting a four-unit threshold at which a development would need to begin providing one parking spot per unit, the threshold should be moved up to six units.

The city would also require one parking spot per housing unit for buildings with more than six units in the case of new construction or where an addition increases a buildings size by more than 50 percent.

Before final approval, the council also voted to adjust the parking requirements in the three newly created mixed-use neighborhood areas.

The areas include neighborhood business zones on Mankato Avenue and Fifth Street and are meant to stimulate business growth and encourage building reuse in the areas.

Council members voted to allow one spot per unit for up to six units for apartments in those areas, with the hope that those units would be upstairs from businesses.

The parking study is designed to provide data to help the city with downtown planning.
As Ive traveled across Minnesota in recent months, Minnesotans have made it clear to me just how important health care is to them, their families, and their communities. They want to know that when they are sick or injured they can get the care they need.

Because health care is so important, most people in Minnesotans understand whats at stake as theyve watched Congressional Republicans continue push to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and replace it with a plan that will rip health coverage from 23 million people, raise health costs, gut Medicaid, and eliminate nationwide protections for people with pre-existing conditions.

I have had meetings in large and small Minnesota communities during which Ive heard parents tearfully describe their struggle to get care for family members with chronic health conditions and their anxiety about the financial and emotional burden of supporting an elderly loved one in a nursing home. They are worried about what the Republican plan would mean to them.

Ive also heard from health care providers, who have told me they likely wont be able to deliver many of the essential services their patients and communities need if the Republican plan is enacted.

Unfortunately, Republicans are recklessly moving forward with their destructive efforts and may hold a Senate vote on their bill in just a few weeks, despite the fact that that this bill remains at its core a giant tax break for the wealthy at the expense of care for the poor and vulnerable. If this bill passes, millionaires would receive an average tax break of more than $50,000 apiece each year and the 400 highest-income taxpayers, with annual incomes above $300 million, will do even better, with an average annual tax break of $7 million each annually.

Nearly all major doctor, hospital, nursing, patient and consumer groups strongly oppose the plan because of the harm it will do to so many Americans. Now is the time to speak up and fight to oppose this bill so that all Minnesotans can maintain access to the high quality care we are known for.

Republican Medicaid cuts are personal

Minnesotans understand that this bill will harm the health and well-being of millions of people in our state and across the country.

The proposed Medicaid cuts offer a clear example. The Republican bill would cut $834 billion from Medicaid, which covers more than half of all nursing home residents, half of all births, and is the primary source of coverage for people with disabilities.

The program is jointly funded by states and the federal government, which means that under the Republican plan, Minnesota stands to lose $2.5 billion in Medicaid funding in the first 18 months alone, and those losses would climb to $5 billion per year over the coming years.

Make no mistake, people in Winona County will be hit hard. The state estimates that 7,729 Winona County residents who have health care coverage through Medical Assistance or MinnesotaCare would be at risk.

The Minnesotans Ive met with have described what these losses would mean to their loved ones, neighbors and communities. Angela, a full-time health care worker at the hospital in Perham told me that for her, the Medicaid cuts are personal. Through tears, she told me that her mother needs round-the-clock care, but if the Republican Medicaid cuts are enacted, her mother will have no place to turn to get the care she needs.

Later, at a Moorhead nursing home, I heard from Mari, who was able to care for her mother, Chrysann, at her home until declining health and complications required her mom to move to a nursing home. Mari said that without Medicaid, she, her husband, and their kids would not have had any other options. Chrysann is now worried about her own future, telling me that it seems like the Republican plan is not about taking care of people, but about survival of the fittest. This reform bill will take us in the wrong direction.

Need to work together

While the Affordable Care Act has not been without challenges, most Americans want Congressional Republicans to end their divisive effort to repeal it, and instead do what we should have been doing all along: working together to improve it and build on its progress.

I have urged my Republican colleagues to join me in an effort to bring down health care costs. For example by addressing skyrocketing prescription drug prices that are driving up premiums and forcing too many Americans to choose between buying need medications and paying for basic necessities like food or rent.

We also need to increase competition in the health insurance exchanges. We should increase subsidies for middle class families, support a public option, and provide support to offset the costs of the sickest and most costly patients.

This important health care debate will impact people in Winona County and across our state in profound ways. As millions of Americans struggle to keep their heads above water - pay their bills, raise their kids, care for their parents, and cope with health problems - they need our help, not a plan that undercuts those efforts. Thats why I oppose the Republican plan, and will fight to make health care better for all Americans.
In 1928, Merton Edwin Krug, author of History of Reedsburg and the Upper Baraboo Valley, also researched and wrote a story about a young drummer boy from La Valle. This short story was published in the Reedsburg Free Press on Aug. 30, 1928, and the Milwaukee Journal.

Krug visited the home of George Inman and his wife Mary, who were living in La Valle. George was 82 at the time, and the Civil War, in which he served, had been relegated to history books for more than 70 years.

During the interview, many interesting stories were related to Krug by George Inman. He indicated that he had been with William Sherman on his famous March to the Sea. They always called me the youngest man in Shermans entire army! I was a drummer, said George.

George, a native of England, was born in 1846, and came to America with his parents and 16 siblings in 1858 at the age of 12. They settled in Ironton Township.

Krug noted in his article, But they came at a time when the outbreak of the Civil War was imminent; and it was destiny that placed them in the land in time to fight for the nations unity. Mr. Inman remembers those days, and he cannot but feel proud of the part he played in the war.

It was during the warm autumn days of September 1861 that George Stevens of Reedsburg began recruiting a company of volunteers from the northwestern parts of Sauk County. George Inman was but a boy of 15 but he set his heart on going with the company, wrote Krug.

George was permitted to accompany the new recruits to Madison, but was not allowed to go any further, primarily because of his age. To join the Union Army, a soldier had to be at least 18.

Col. Bryant of the 12th Regiment told Inman to go back home and Wait a while. Krug noted that, The spirit, which can never be killed, and very seldom suppressed, was in his heart, the Union was calling him. A trait which seemed all too common among the youth who wanted to join up and help their countrymen beat those Rebs.

George would not be dissuaded, even though his parents attempted to convince him to remain at home until he was older. When he decided he could wait no longer, he formulated a plan with a neighbor boy his own age to run away and join the Army.

That day finally arrived in late December 1861. One night he went to bed as usual, and waited until his parents were fast asleep. Getting up at 11:30 p.m., George slipped out of his upstairs bedroom window and, along with his friend, took off for Madison to join the Union Army. The weather was undoubtedly cold, and we can assume that they probably walked all the way, hitching buggy rides as the opportunity arose.

Finally they reached Camp Randall, where new recruits were encamped. They were allowed to train with the troops, however after three days had passed, Georges father showed up to try to induce him to return home. It was noted that his father was heartbroken and his mother was heartbroken, but the pleas went unheeded. George would not be dissuaded; he was going to join the Army.

Krug wrote, Then, decided Jack Inman, if the boy must go, he would go to look after him. Accordingly, word reached Martha Inman that both her husband and her boy were in the army.

After Jack had been mustered into the Army, he received word that 15-year-old George had been rejected. In his desperation, George went to Col. Bryant, and told him of his plight, saying that because his father was now in the ranks, it would not be fair to reject him. Accordingly, the colonel took the matter under advisement. Well fix that! he told George, well make you a drummer.

Taking the place of a man from Boscobel who had been drafted, George received a bounty of $300 cash ($8,200 today) for enlisting and was allowed to join his home company.

Company B of the 12th Regiment of Wisconsin was duly mustered into the Union Army on Jan. 11, 1862, and left Camp Randall for Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. Right up front leading the way was George, beating out the marching cadence with his drum for the troops as they went off to war.

During the spring of 1862, they were stationed in Missouri, Kansas, and Kentucky. That summer, George was employed as a skirmishersoldiers who precede or rear-guard the troops against the advance of the enemy. In the fall, he was in actual battle, led by some of the Unions most notable generals. In November, hedoing his duty as a drummeralong with his company headed south with the Army of the Mississippi, under General Ulysses Grant. George also served under General James McPherson, whom he idolized and said was, the best general in the whole Union Army at the time of his death.

The Civil War adventures of La Valles drummer boy will be continued next month.
The Sauk County Board is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to begin a bidding process for privately funded solar energy systems at two government buildings.

A resolution would authorize the second phase of contract between the county and Hoffman Planning, Design & Construction at a cost of $55,000. The Appleton firm has been assisting the boards Property and Insurance Committee in its pursuit of a third-party solar agreement.

Approval of the resolution would allow the company to assist with the solicitation of bids and oversee all phases of the installation of solar systems at the countys Law Enforcement Center in Baraboo and its Health Care Center in Reedsburg.

Hoffman Planning said those two buildings could benefit from the installation of solar systems, and the firm applied for grants from the Wisconsin Focus on Energy program. The state program has promised the county $140,000 in grants that a private firm could apply toward the purchase of solar at the two facilities.

Under a third-party deal, a private firm would finance the purchase and installation of solar panels. The county would then purchase the energy generated from the systems, and likely would have the opportunity to buy the full system at a reduced price in the future.

At a meeting last week, the Property and Insurance Committee approved the resolution to enter the next phase of the countys contract with Hoffman Planning. The Sauk County Health Care Center Board of Trustees, which oversees the nursing home, took no action on the resolution.

The resolution says the county could save $1 million over a 25-year period thanks to the solar systems. Other energy efficiency measures within county buildings that Hoffman Planning has identified are anticipated to save $900,000 over 15 years.

Highway business

The board also is slated to consider a resolution that would increase the purchase cost threshold for which the countys Highway and Parks Committee must seek board approval. Currently, the committee must get board approval for any purchase over $30,000. The resolution would increase the threshold to $50,000.

A background statement attached to the resolution says the change is necessary due to the Highway Departments frequent need to replace equipment to maintain a safe, cost-effective and reliable fleet.

The same resolution also would establish two-year terms for highway commissioner.

Last week, Sauk County Administrative Coordinator Alene Kleczek confirmed that Highway Commissioner Steve Muchow was under investigation when he submitted his retirement notice April 27. The probe was then dropped, and Muchows last day with the county was June 2.

The boards Executive and Legislative Committee will meet at 5:15 p.m. tonight, 45 minutes prior to the full board meeting. The agenda for that meeting was emailed to the media Monday at 3:18 p.m., and includes an item listed as Discussion: Possible Special Item at July 18, 2017 Board Meeting.

Kleczek Bolin and County Clerk Becky Evert said they were not aware of what the agenda item entailed. Sauk County Board Chair Marty Krueger, who submitted the agenda item to Evert, did not respond to an email before the News Republics press deadline.

Other business

In other business, the board is slated to consider the following items:

creation of a full-time health educator position and eliminating a full-time public health nurse position

rezoning of land in the towns of Prairie du Sac and Troy

selling two foreclosed properties in the town of Woodland.

authorizing a $66,000 contract with Mally Roofing Company of Madison to replace the roof of the Sauk County Human Services Department building in Reedsburg

renaming the University of Wisconsin-Baraboo/Sauk County science building after former Dean Tom Pleger, who passed away in May
New York, June 20(Just Earth News): With a record 65.6 million people last year forcibly uprooted from their homes by violence and persecution, United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres on Tuesday called on the international community to provide support and solidarity.

We reflect on the courage of those who fled and the compassion of those who welcome them, the Secretary-General said in his video message for World Refugee Day, marked annually on 20 June.

He noted that more people than ever in our lifetimes are fleeing war, disasters and persecution.

Hardship, separation, death, Guterres said, recalling nightmare stories heard from refugees and displaced persons, whose number rose 300,000 since the end of 2015.

Conflicts have displaced 12 million Syrians, 7.7 million Colombians, 4.7 million Afghans and 4.2 million Iraqis, according to a report released yesterday by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Despite the hardships of fleeing with nothing, they never lose their dreams for their children or their desire to better our world, Guterres said. They ask for little  only our support in their time of greatest need and our solidarity.

The UN chief said it is so inspiring to see countries with the least doing the most for refugees.

According to the report, about 84 per cent of the people were in low- or middle-income countries as of end 2016. Of that figure, one in every three people, roughly 4.9 million people, were hosted by the least developed countries.

To mark the Day, Guterr will hold a press conference in New York later on Tuesday.

When we stand #WithRefugees, we also stand for respect and diversity for all

In his remarks, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the Day is also a moment to recognize those communities and people around the world who receive refugees and the internally displaced in their midst, offering them a safe place, and welcoming them in their societies.

In a world in which uncertainty often abounds; economic instability, political upheaval and violence close to home can make us want to shut our eyes or close our doors. But fear and exclusion will not lead us to a better place  they can only lead to barriers, alienation and despair, he stressed.

It's time to change this trajectory. And for the better, he stated, noting that in countless communities, including in the poorest countries that host the vast majority of the world's refugees, business people, faith communities, teachers, journalists and many more are joining together to provide refuge to the displaced and foster their inclusion in their societies.

Inclusion requires opening our minds, hearts and communities to refugees. It requires a whole of society approach, Grandi underscored.

World Refugee Day is a moment to ask what each of us can do to overcome indifference or fear and embrace the idea of inclusion, to welcome refugees to our own communities, and to counter narratives that would seek to exclude and marginalize refugees and other uprooted people, he emphasized.

Photo: UNHCR/Diana Diaz

Source: www.justearthnews.com
JUNEAU  An 18-year-old man made his initial appearance in court Monday on charges of sexually assaulting two young boys last summer and taking suggestive photos of them before returning to his Illinois home.

Seth D. Oltmanns, Mount Morris, Illinois, is charged with three counts of first degree sexual assault of a child and seven counts of possession of child pornography. He could be sentenced up to 355 years and a $700,000 fine.

Dodge County Circuit Court Judge Steven Bauer placed Oltmanns on a $5,000 cash bond. He may not have any direct or indirect contact with any minors without supervision. He also may not have any contact with the victims.

Oltmanns was released from the Dodge County Jail after making bail.

According to the criminal complaint, Oltmanns was staying at a relatives house in the town of Lomira in July and August 2016. Oltmanns watched two small boys in the home, 8 and 10. The two mothers of the boys contacted police with separate phone calls Aug. 22 and each reported that her son had been sexually assaulted by Oltmanns.

The 8-year-old boy attended a forensic interview Aug. 25 where he told of the alleged abuse to which the boys were exposed. The boy said that Oltmanns sexually assaulted him several times including insisting that the boys take a bath with him on one occasion. The victim also recalled several terms that Oltmanns used during the attacks.

The 10-year-old boy underwent a forensic interview on the same day and told a detective a similar story. He said Oltmanns would punch him in a private area of his body.

According to the complaint, the boy told police that Oltmanns had taken several suggestive photos of the boys and saved them in a secret file on his phone.

Dodge County Sheriffs Office attempted to reach Oltmanns beginning Sept. 20. They eventually were assisted with getting a hold of Oltmanns at his grandmothers house in Mount Morris Oct. 18. Oltmanns originally denied any contact with the boys and said the boys were inappropriate toward him, but he always left the area at those times. According to the complaint, he admitted knowing the terms the boys told the police and eventually admitted some of the activities.

Oltmanns allowed police access to his phone but denied having the photos on the phone or anywhere else. According to the complaint, he eventually admitted to having the photos and said he attempted to delete them but was unable to do so. He also admitted to having a secret file where he hid the photos. After the photos were found he allegedly admitted to touching one of the boys inappropriately.

On the phone, there were 37 images of young men being exposed. In addition police found that Oltmanns had done searches for little boys in underwear, gay boys ages 10 to 14 and picture hiding calculator apps.

A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 3.
JUNEAUFormer Mayville Police Chief Christopher MacNeill, 49, was charged Monday with misconduct in public office and obstructing an officer.

The complaint filed in Dodge County Circuit Court Monday, provides details about an investigation conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Justice. Division of Criminal Investigation agents started an investigation in the fall of 2016.

MacNeill, who resigned March 31, also was investigated by the Watertown Police Department at the request of Mayville Mayor Rob Boelk. Boelks request came after the DCI served a search warrant on the city of Mayville Feb. 6, 2017. Boelk placed MacNeill on paid administrative leave Feb. 9.

The criminal complaint offers many of the same details as the investigation report from Watertown. According to both, MacNeill altered a report about the son of a former Mayville police officer.

The report written by Mayville police officer Tony Trunkel originally stated that a 17-year-old boy had two Vicodin pills at Mayville High School on Jan. 13, 2011, and that he swallowed one with a soda and handed one to another student who did the same thing. A teacher caught them in the act.

The student served a five-day suspension, according to school officials interviewed by Watertown police.

The report originally classified the matter as a drug investigation and labeled the teen as a suspect.

MacNeill told DCI investigators during a Feb. 6 interview that he changed the report label from Drug Complaint to miscellaneous or high school complaint. The DCI investigators showed MacNeill a copy of the original complaint written by Trunkel. They had obtained that complaint from former Mayville Police Chief William Linzenmeyer Sr., who retired in 2011.

Linzenmeyer told DCI investigators that he made a copy of the complaint and preserved it when he left office because MacNeill had asked him to change the report at the time of the incident and he was concerned that it could be changed after he retired. According to investigators, the records were changed in August 2011, a few months after Linzenmeyer retired.

MacNeill told DCI investigators that he changed the report because the police officers son was trying to get into the military. But when he was provided the original complaint, MacNeill denied making changes to the extent he observed in the report.

Investigators found the report went from six pages to four and witness statements were removed. Also removed were any references to the drug in question being Vicodin.

Watertown investigators concluded that although MacNeill denies removing the statements or drug references. All of these changes ... are consistent with the changes Chief MacNeill admits to making and in the same spirit and intent Chief MacNeill says he used to justify making the changes he admits to.

MacNeill also said he discussed changes to the report with Trunkel, but Trunkel told DCI investigators that he did not discuss making any changes.

The investigation has sparked a secondary investigation into the actions of a Beaver Dam police officer. William Linzenmeyer Sr. had a medical problem while being interviewed on Feb. 20 by Watertown investigators.

The Watertown investigators ended the interview and 911 was called.

While they were leaving the two were told that Bill Linzenmeyer Jr., a police officer in Beaver Dam, was on his way to his fathers house. The report said they wanted to leave before having a confrontation with Linzenmeyer Jr.

But a few blocks away, at the corner of Emmer and Breckenridge streets, they were confronted by Linzenmeyer Jr., who was in a pickup truck and according to their report was wearing a Beaver Dam Police Department uniform including body armor. The report states that Linzenmeyer Jr. was using profanity and acted in an aggressive manner after he exited the truck and began to yell at the two Watertown officers.

According to the report, Linzenmeyer Jr. got back in his truck and left when one of the officers contacted the Dodge County Sheriffs Office via radio.

The Fond du Lac County Sheriffs Office and the Milwaukee County District Attorneys office are investigating that incident.
Ritchie Piltz, director of facilities and engineering was given approval from Beaver Dam Operations Committee to submit a grant application to help fund a $1.9 million street reconstruction project.

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation grant is intended to go toward the 2020 East Davis street reconstruction project. The grant would cover 80 percent of the cost. The local share of the project would be $250,000 for roadway and storm sewer work.
Daniel A. Kuntz

Daniel A. Danny Kuntz, 58, of Necedah passed away unexpectedly Sunday, June 11, 2017.

Danny was the son of Richard and Irene (Kariya) Kuntz, born Jan., 12, 1959, in Chicago Illinois. Danny attended the Necedah Area Public School, he worked on a family owned dairy farm for 40 years, and at the time he currently worked for Docking Solutions, while also working at The Reel Inn with his close friends. Danny was business partners with his best friend with the campground and lodging.

Danny was a very courageous man with a big heart; God broke the mold when he created this wonderful man. He was humorous and always made everyone smile with his silly jokes. He was a very good kind-hearted man, always made sure that everyone was taken care of. He would give the shirt off his back to any friend or stranger that was in need of help. Danny was also known by his nicknames; Jethro (for his unique binder twine and zip tied trouser belt), Bruce Lee, Daniel son, and Shirtless Dan.

He is survived by his best friend, Michele Baumel and family of New Lisbon; his mother, Irene of Necedah; brothers, Donald (Katie Rowley) Kuntz, Dean and Frank of Necedah; sisters, Debbie Sauter of Necedah and Vickee (Gary) Rose of New Lisbon; nephews, Joey Sauter and Jaxson Kuntz; and niece, Ava Kuntz.

He was preceded in death by his father, Richard, in 2008; and sister, Diane Herdon.

A celebration of his life will be held Monday, June 26, at the Reel Inn, N9671 Hwy. 80, Necedah. Family and friends are invited to a visitation from 3 p.m. until 6 p.m., with service at 6 p.m.

The Hare Funeral Home in New Lisbon is assisting the family with services. Online condolences are available at www.harefuneralhome.com.
As Republican Gov. Scott Walker looks to screen public-aid recipients for drug use, a Fitchburg Democratic lawmaker wants to extend the requirement to those with a stake in businesses getting state loans or grants.

First-term Rep. Jimmy Anderson, D-Fitchburg, is authoring Assembly Bill 385, which was introduced last week. Its Senate sponsor is LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee.

The bill would apply drug screening requirements to top officials at businesses that get economic development aid through the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. The agency administers a range of programs that include giving loans, tax credits or grants to businesses that create jobs in Wisconsin.

Anderson described his proposal as tongue in cheek, in a certain way. But its meant to respond to what Anderson calls a serious problem: Walkers broad-ranging proposals to apply drug-testing requirements to recipients of public programs including Medicaid, unemployment and food stamps.

If Walker and legislative Republicans want to impose such requirements for poor people, then we should hold individuals at the other end of the economic spectrum equally accountable, Anderson said.

Walker is using this opportunity to denigrate poor folks for no good reason, Anderson added.

Under Andersons bill, owners, officers, managers, partners and other officials at such businesses would be subject to a drug-screening process similar to the one that applies to other public-benefit recipients.

Applicants complete an initial screening, such as a questionnaire, and if those results provide a reasonable suspicion they are abusing a controlled substance, they would have to undergo a drug test. A positive drug test would require the recipient to agree to undergo drug treatment in order to maintain access to state aid.

The Walker administration earlier this month asked President Donald Trumps administration to let Wisconsin become the first state to require drug screening for poor, childless adults seeking Medicaid coverage through the states BadgerCare program.

And last year the Walker administration approved a rule implementing drug screening requirements for those seeking unemployment benefits.
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A Poynette woman on Monday was sentenced to 120 days in jail and three years of probation for trying to kill her dog that she thought was near death.

The prosecutor accused the woman of lying to authorities while drawing a link between her actions and a couple of notorious serial killers.

Terri Benson, 58, appeared in Columbia County Circuit Court for sentencing on charges of felony mistreatment of an animal, misdemeanor disorderly conduct and a county forfeiture citation for animal abandonment.

The case and groundswell of public involvement began on Jan. 21, 2016, when four teenage hunters in Fort Winnebago found a duffel bag that appeared to be moving, discovering it had a live black Labrador retriever inside that apparently suffered severe head trauma.

The story and requests for information went viral on the internet, followed by Benson coming forward as the dogs owner. According to court documents, she told a Columbia County Sheriffs Office detective that the dog, Misty, had been acting goofy, messing in the house, and at one point had a seizure. Benson told the officer that the she decided to put down the dog, which also had a massive mammary tumor, putting a blanket over her head and repeatedly hitting her with a hammer.

Thinking it dead, she placed the dog in the bag and took it to Frenchs Creek Recreational Area, where it was discovered by the boys the next morning.

When charges were filed, authorities issued an announcement to those invested in the case to stop threatening Benson, as well as another person in the area with the same name.

Assistant District Attorney Christine Genda opened Mondays hearing by calling a witness, Brenda Vesely, whose family adopted Misty from the Columbia County Humane Society after the incident until Misty died in October.

Genda asked Vesely about Mistys health, about whether she had seen the dog acting goofy, lose bowel control or suffered any seizures. Vesely answered no to all those questions. Vesely and her husband were among more than 30 supporters of the Misty Strong Family at the hearing.

Vesely was later called to the witness stand to deliver a prepared text as a victim impact statement. She was the sweetest, kindest, gentlest soul I have ever known, which I could not believe after everything she had endured, said Vesely. I cannot begin to imagine what goes through a person who does harm to an animal that has been good to them for the past 15 years of their life.

Genda quoted Charles Darwin in saying that there is no fundamental difference in the experiences of human beings and higher members of the animal kingdom, experiencing happiness and misery. She went on to quote Emmanuel Kant saying that we can judge the hearts of people by how they treat animals, telling the court that the FBI also agrees.

In 2016, the FBI began tracking and mapping incidents of animal abuse, Genda explained.

The FBIs website points to advocacy from the National Sheriffs Association and the correlation between animal abuse and other crimes, most famously, murders committed by serial killers like Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the Son of Sam killer David Berkowitz.

The case resulted in more than 100 letters sent to the district attorneys office. Judge Todd Hepler said he received a similar number and had read them all.

This was a crime that was thought out, said Genda. There were many other options than attempted murder. A shelter could have taken her at the least.

Genda requested a sentence of at least a year of prison or jail for Benson, with prolonged counseling, probation, 100 hours of community service and no ownership of any animal for five years.

Defense attorney Mark Lawton countered that the recommendation of the pre-sentencing investigation was fair and reasonable: 60 days conditional jail time with two years of probation.

Obviously, Terri should have handled this differently, said Lawton, describing it as a serious case, but also one that almost did not make it past the preliminary hearing. The state asked, Why did she do this? Well, she said right there on page 4. The assistant district attorney quoted something from page 4 and said, Well, we really dont know why. The sentence before says why: She was trying to put her sick dog down.

As part of the working poor, Lawton explained that Benson would not treat veterinarian bills and cremation fees as lightly as others might. In terms of risks posed to the community, he said Bensons only other brush with the law was a speeding ticket from like 20 years ago.

Benson dabbed at tears and cried during much of the hearing, apologetic for everything that happened.

I do feel horrible, this has been a weight on my head and I cry everyday, said Benson. I honestly did not do it viciously. I didnt go about it right and I am so sorry to everybody that I hurt.

Since the incident, Hepler noted that Benson lost her job, her house, her boyfriend and many of her friends. Hepler also quoted a letter from one of Bensons supporters who said, My friend has already been tried and executed nationally in public opinion.

After describing cases of true torture of animals that have come to the court, Hepler said the most serious punishments need to be reserved for the appropriate circumstances. Benson was ordered to serve 120 days in jail with three years of probation, including 80 hours of community service, to be started on June 30.
Faith Weix

Faith A. Weix, 72, passed away peacefully on Sunday, June 18, 2017, at her home in the town of Pacific, surrounded by her loving family.

Faith was born on April 4, 1945, in Antigo, the daughter of Oscar and Virginia (Schmidt) Utnehmer. She attended the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and then married her high school sweetheart, Thomas Weix, on June 11, 1966, in Antigo. Together, Faith and Tom moved nine times and Faith always made a home, no matter where they were. She worked in data entry, cooked and volunteered at a Catholic school, including the Home and School Boards and playground duty. While living in Ashland, she worked with recovering alcoholics. She received her CNA license and was a caregiver for her mother, mother-in-law, father, grandmother and brother. Faith was a person who always put the needs of others first and family took priority over her own career.

She grew up riding and showing horses, trail riding, and was a member of the Triple R Riding Club. She raised springer spaniels with her father and husband, Tom. Faiths hobbies included flower arranging, crafts, canning and, most of all, her grandchildren and newest great-grandchild were her most important hobby of all.

She is survived by her husband, Tom Weix of Portage; daughters, Heidi (Weix) Hauck of Weston, Amy (Keith) Hall of Portage; grandchildren, Kaite (Eliot) Waddell of Kronenwetter, Austin Hauck of Weston, Tanner Hall and Brandon Hall, both of Portage; great-grandson, Harvey Waddell of Kronenwetter; brother, John Utnehmer of King; other relatives and many friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Arthur Utnehmer; and sister, Barbara Leiterman.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 24, at St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Portage, with the Rev.. Gary Krahenbuhl presiding. Inurnment will be private. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 23, at Pflanz Mantey Mendrala Funeral Home (www.pmmfh.com) in Portage.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made toward a memorial that will be established in Faiths name.

A special thank you to Agrace Hospice, Dr. Brenda Blohm, and all the family and friends who gave support through prayers, kind words, meals and hugs.
A late afternoon basement fire at a home near downtown Wisconsin Dells was quickly extinguished by the Kilbourn Volunteer Fire Department with assistance from Lake Delton firefighters.

No one was injured in the blaze, which occurred at 1119 Bowman Road north of downtown. Everyone in the home at the time  including four international J-1 students, the homes owners and their house guests  exited the burning house safely, according to Kilbourn Fire Chief Scott Walsh.

A dog also survived, but the homeowners cat succumbed to smoke inhalation, Walsh said.

The fire was limited to the basement, where firefighters believe it began within one of the J-1 students dwellings, he said.

Four Kilbourn and two Lake Delton fire trucks responded to the scene, as did a crew from Dells-Delton EMS.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

We dont quite know what started it, Walsh said.

Flames coming from the basement were visible when firefighters arrived, Walsh said, but the fire was quickly contained.

There was a lot of fire damage to the basement, and smoke throughout the rest of the house, Walsh said.




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Oskarshamn 1 enters retirement

20 June 2017

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Unit 1 of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden has been permanently shut down. A decision not to restart the unit after an operational issue resulted in it closing ten days ahead of schedule.

Unit 1 of the Oskarshamn plant (Image: OKG)

German utility Eon - the major shareholder in OKG AB - decided in October 2015 that units 1 and 2 of the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in Sweden would be shut down permanently. At that time it said unit 1 would close between 2017 and 2019, and that there would be no future investments at unit 2 and the reactor would not be restarted. The company attributed the closure decision on low wholesale electricity prices, the burden of Sweden's tax on nuclear power and "additional requirements on extensive investments".

OKG announced in February 2016 that its board of directors had decided to shut down Oskarshamn 1 in conjunction with a planned outage at the end of this month.

However, the company announced yesterday that Oskarshamn 1 had suffered an "operational disturbance" on 17 June that led to its automatic shutdown. At a meeting yesterday, it was decided not to restart the unit ahead of the shutdown scheduled for 29 June.

There will be four phases to the decommissioning of Oskarshamn 1, OKG has said. In the first phase, fuel will be removed from its reactor and stored in its fuel pools for about one year, before being transported to Svensk Karnbranslehantering AB's near-by used fuel facility at Clab. When all fuel has been removed from the unit, it will enter a phase of care and maintenance. Later on, physical dismantling and demolition of the unit will begin. Once the site is cleared and classified as free from radioactivity it can be used for other purposes.

Oskarshamn 1 is a 473 MWe boiling water reactor (BWR) that started up in 1972. The unit's production manager, Mikael Wramsjo, said: "The unit has been part of a unique journey during its 45 years of operation. Approximately 110,000,000 MWh of climate efficient electricity have been delivered to the Swedish grid from unit O1 since the start in 1972."

Oskarshamn 2 is a 638 MWe BWR which began operating in 1974.

In January, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) was awarded a three-year contract by Sweden's OKG AB to dismantle the reactor internals of both Oskarshamn 1 and 2. Under the contract, GEH will segment the reactor pressure vessel internals of both units. The work includes dismantling, cutting and packing the reactor internals for final disposal.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

Related topics
Rosatom signs raft of agreements at annual forum

20 June 2017

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Rosatom and its subsidiaries yesterday signed agreements with a number of governments, companies and universities during the IX AtomExpo International Forum it is hosting this week in Moscow.

The agreements included Memoranda of Understanding on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy with newcomer countries to the industry - Ethiopia, Sudan and Uganda.

These agreements were signed by Rosatom deputy director-general Nikolay Spassky and, respectively, Afework Kassu Gizaw, the science and technology minister of Ethiopia, Yousif Hamza Yousif Abdullah, ministry of water resources, irrigation and electricity of Sudan, and Simon Giw D'Ujanga, the energy minister of Uganda.

Rosatom's nuclear fuel manufacturer TVEL signed a $30 million contract with the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) for the supply in late November-early December of a reserve batch of UTVS nuclear fuel for the first unit of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The contract was signed by Oleg Grigoryev, senior vice-president for commerce and international business at JSC TVEL, and Mohammad Ahmadian, managing director for nuclear energy and development at the AEOI.

Rosatom and the OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency signed an agreement that envisages the translation into Russian of NEA documents. It was signed by Rosatom Director-General Alexey Likhachov and NEA Director-General William D. Magwood IV.

"Implementation of the agreement will enable Russian nuclear organisations to obtain permanent access to reference and analytical materials of the Agency," Rosatom said. "It will both enhance Russian nuclear companies' awareness of the Agency's activities and enable the Agency to use the potential of Russian experts more actively."

Companies

Likhachov also signed an MOU and "cooperation program" with Bernard Fontana, CEO of France's Areva NP. These documents aim to further develop cooperation between the two companies in fuel fabrication, automated process control systems, as well as maintenance of equipment and machinery for nuclear power plants, Rosatom said.

Kirill Komarov, first deputy director-general for international business at Rosatom, and Peter Csiba, chairman and CEO of Hungary's MVM Ltd, signed an MOU aimed at strengthening the companies' cooperation in the maintenance, service and fuel supply of the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary.

Rosatom said the two sides also wish to cooperate in nuclear power plant development both in Russia and third countries, enhance their nuclear education and training activities and further advance common projects in research and development. In addition, they are seeking joint projects in renewable energy in the Central East European and Balkan regions.

Rusatom Service and MVM Paks NPP signed a two-year contract for consulting services on technical support and scheduled maintenance work on the plant's main circulating pumps. It was signed by Rusatom Service General Director Yevgeny Salkov, Paks NPP CEO Istvan Khamvash and Paks NPP Deputy Technical Director Geza Pekarik.

Alexander Merten, president of Rusatom International Network, and Igor Tarasov, chairman of the board of the Kazakhstan's ANTARES Group, signed an MOU on strategic cooperation. The companies plan to work together on projects covering the construction of small-scale hydro power facilities and the use of nuclear power in the medical and agricultural sectors, as well as cooperation in the supply of isotope products to Kazakhstan.

Merten also signed an MOU on cooperation with Denis Ivanov, deputy chairman of International Investment Bank. The agreement covers "joint assistance" in implementing Rosatom's projects in the high-tech, renewable energy, nuclear medicine, radiation technology applications, and the construction and maintenance of nuclear power plants, among other areas. According to the MOU, the two sides are interested in establishing bilateral cooperation in Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia, Russia, Romania, the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic.

ASE Group, Rosatom's engineering subsidiary, and Russia's National Research Nuclear University (MEPhI) signed an agreement on educational, scientific and technical cooperation. It was signed by ASE president Valery Limarenko and MEPhI rector Mikhail Strikhanov. Their cooperation will focus in particular on digital technologies, Limarenko said.

Limarenko also signed an MOU on strategic cooperation with Russian construction company Hilti to develop digital solutions to enhance the design and implementation of projects in the nuclear power industry, and with Russian State Expert Examination Board (Glavgosexpertiza), on cooperation in the application of digital end-to-end modelling technologies.

Gazprombank and VetroOGK, another Rosatom subsidiary, signed a ten-year RUB63.1 billion loan agreement on funding the corporation's wind farm construction project. Rosatom said it aims to commission 970 MWe of wind power capacity by the end of 2022.

Lagerwey of the Netherlands and OTEK, another Rosatom subsidiary, have signed licence agreement for Lagerwey wind turbine technology. Rosatom said the document "forms the basis for creating a professional and innovative wind industry in Russia". The two companies plan to announce a joint venture later this summer, it added.

ASE Group also signed an MOU with software developer SAP on cooperation in the life-cycle management of nuclear power facilities. Rosatom said the partnership will create a Competence Centre for Automation of Engineering Activities. This will introduce technologies such as Big Data analytics into the capital construction of nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities, it added.

Universities

Rosatom Latin America and the Higher University of San Andres (Bolivia) signed an MOU on cooperation. Rosatom said the document will "open up diverse opportunities for Bolivian students to gain extensive experience in the field of peaceful non-energy applications of nuclear energy and to communicate the benefits of modern nuclear technologies for the needs of the Bolivian population in agriculture, medicine, industry etc." The university also signed an agreement to work with MEPhI.

Rusatom International Network and Saint Petersburg State University signed an MOU on cooperation in fostering public acceptance of nuclear energy abroad, including sharing information on the advantages of Russian nuclear technologies.

The company also signed an MOU on cooperation with the University of Debrecen (Hungary) that will include student exchange programs with Russian technical higher education institutions.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Turkish consortium to buy into Akkuyu project

20 June 2017

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A consortium of Turkish companies yesterday signed an agreement with Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom on the main conditions for acquiring a 49% stake in JSC Akkuyu Nuclear, the company that will build and operate Turkey's first nuclear power plant.

The agreement - signed by Cengiz Holding, Kolin Insaat Turizm Sanayi ve Ticaret AS and JSC "Kalyon Insaat" - was signed on the side lines of the IX AtomExpo International Forum that Rosatom is hosting this week in Moscow. It sets out the main conditions for the companies to buy a 49% stake in JSC Akkuyu Nuclear, currently wholly owned by Rosatom subsidiary JSC Rusatom Energy International.

The signing of the agreement (Image: Akkuyu Nukleer)

JSC Akkuyu Nuclear was created as a project company subsidiary by Rosatom in 2010 to manage the project to build and operate the four-unit Akkuyu nuclear power plant in the Turkish province of Mersin. Although initially 100% Russian-owned, Rosatom said it would sell up to 49% of the company to other investors from Turkey and elsewhere, but will retain the 51% controlling stake.

Rosatom said the value of the transaction with the Turkish consortium will not be disclosed until a shareholders agreement is signed, which is expected before the end of this year.

Although not already involved in nuclear power projects, the three Turkish companies have all been involved in other energy projects and are the leading sellers and distributors in the Turkish electricity market. "The combination of such strong shareholders will lead to a great synergetic effect in the implementation of the Akkuyu nuclear power plant project," Rosatom said.

It said the Turkish consortium plans to take an active role in the construction of the plant and in the management of JSC Akkuyu Nuclear. Rosatom noted that one of the companies - Cengiz Holding - is already participating in the Akkuyu project as a contractor for the turnkey construction of offshore hydraulic structures.

Kirill Komarov, Rosatom deputy director-general for development and international business, told World Nuclear News: "This is a critical event for us as it the first time we are partnering with such a big consortium of private investors. In Finland, the model already existed and we are a junior partner, but in Turkey it's the opposite." He added, "What's important is that the companies that are partners that have joined this project are Turkish construction companies that have not yet constructed nuclear power plants, but have constructed large-scale industrial facilities, like bridges and airports."

The project to build four 1200 MWe Gidropress-designed AES-2006 VVER pressurized water reactors at Akkuyu is being financed by Russia under a build-own-operate model, in accordance with an intergovernmental agreement Turkey and Russia signed in 2010. The plant is scheduled to start operations on 29 October, 2023 - the centenary of the founding of the Republic of Turkey.

The Turkish grid operator TETAS has guaranteed investors in the project around $123 per MWh for 70% of the output of the first two reactors and 30% of the second two, with the remainder being sold on the open market. Rosatom is to pay 20% of its total profit back to the Turkish state after the first 15 years. Rosatom will provide the fuel for the lifetime of the plant, and manage its disposal.

A French-Japanese consortium between Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries plans to build Turkey's second nuclear power plant, in the northern Black Sea city of Sinop.

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by World Nuclear News

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Leaders urge collective effort to secure nuclears future role

20 June 2017

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The nuclear energy industry needs to work together to secure its future role in the fight against climate change and energy poverty, five of its most prominent leaders said yesterday at the opening ceremony of the IX AtomExpo International Forum in Moscow.

The leaders at the opening ceremony. From left to right, Chudakov, Regaldo, Likhachov, Magwood and Rising (Image: WNN)

Senior officials from the World Nuclear Association, the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), the OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom - which hosts the annual forum - said the global industry must cooperate to harness the attributes of nuclear power as a low-carbon, sustainable and reliable source of electricity.

Agneta Rising, director-general World Nuclear Association, noted that nuclear generation "continues to grow", with 10 GWe of new nuclear capacity connected to the grid last year. This is about the same level as in 2015 and more than double the rate seen in the previous 25 years, she said.

"Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all is one of the United Nations sustainable development goals. The need for electricity is growing as the global population increases and countries seek to develop their economies and improve the living standards of their citizens. It is impressive, but also important that Rosatom has invited and attracted delegates from 64 countries to this AtomExpo," Rising said at the opening ceremony.

She referred to the World Nuclear Association's Harmony initiative, which includes the goal to add 1000 GWe of new nuclear capacity by 2050, with nuclear power supplying 25% of the world's electricity by that target date.

"The AtomExpo International Forum is important to keep the momentum, bringing forward nuclear energy, nuclear technologies and supplying electricity also in new countries."

Thanking Rosatom for the event, Rising noted that the corporation's deputy director-general for international business, Kirill Komarov, becomes chairman of the London-based Association next year.

WANO Chairman Jacques Regaldo said nuclear power faces new challenges, but the organisation's continued focus is on safety.

"In a changing context all over the world, nuclear energy has to face new challenges: development of renewable energies, economic pressure, public acceptance, looking for a reduction in CO2 emissions. Most countries are rethinking their energy mix and nuclear energy is one of the main options to deal with this demand," he said.

"The challenges are different - for the operators who were the first to build a fleet, like Russia, the USA and European countries, they now have to deal with the issue of aging plants; for those who are building new plants on a large scale, as in Asia; and for those who are discovering a new industry, the newcomers, like the UAE - but in any situation, we all have to keep in mind as we face this changing context that nuclear safety remains our overriding priority.

"Relying on a strong international community, WANO's mission is to raise safety standards in operation all over the world. Safety is our first priority because it is the condition for the acceptance and development of nuclear energy. As WANO chairman I can say that, with the support of all our members, we have made tangible progress together through more challenging problems. But as I always say, we cannot be complacent; we must still go the extra mile, adapting our organisation to future developments in the nuclear industry."

Regaldo also underlined the importance of AtomExpo. "It is confirmation of our commitment to strengthen international cooperation in the nuclear power industry for the continuous improvement of nuclear safety. I noticed that this year one of the themes is innovation and I consider that this is a great challenge for the nuclear industry. In fact, the nuclear industry can be seen as a major industry, but new ideas are always welcome to improve the way of working and to improve safety. It is part of the WANO philosophy," he said.

NEA Director-General William D. Magwood IV noted that the Paris-based agency is "an association of governments that are working together to develop nuclear energy, working together to make sure that nuclear energy works safely and effectively, working together to deal with issues such as nuclear waste and radiation protection".

He added: "The NEA represents the most advanced of the nuclear energy countries that cooperate together to solve different problems. Among the difficult problems that we are working on is what happens to nuclear energy in the longer-term future. In many ways, nuclear energy is at an important crossroads around the world. While many countries are building their first nuclear power plants, there are other countries that are trying to phase nuclear power out. What nuclear power looks like in the long-term future depends on a few key issues. Most importantly perhaps, are we really very serious about climate change? Our analysis shows that without nuclear power solving the issue of CO2 emissions reduction becomes extremely difficult. Without nuclear power, energy security around the world also becomes more difficult.

"But we recognise there are important issues to solve, such as economics, disposal of nuclear waste and public perceptions of safety, and we can solve problems if we work together. And that is why conferences like this are so important. It's an opportunity for all of us to talk together about solving important issues so that we can provide for nuclear energy's use in the future and for future generations."

Mikhail Chudakov, deputy director-general of the IAEA's nuclear energy department, noted that there are 449 commercial nuclear power reactors in operation around the world, with a total of 392 GWe of installed capacity. This, he said, "is the highest number ever reached".

"In the last two years, we have put into operation 20 new units and this is also the biggest number since the 1980s. These 20 include Russian units - the BN-800 fast reactor and a Generation 3+ VVER 1200 unit. The Russian Federation is the only country that operates a nuclear icebreaker fleet. It is one of three countries that is creating small modular reactors. I strongly believe that this AtomExpo forum will be the bridge for the next generation of reactors, from evolutionary to revolutionary reactors, and to the new clean fusion energy," he said.

Chudakov congratulated Russia's civilian nuclear power plant operator Rosenergoatom on its 25th anniversary this year. The Rosatom subsidiary operates 35 reactor units in Russia.

Alexey Likhachov, who is attending AtomExpo for the first time as Rosatom's new director-general, said this year's event had attracted more than 6500 delegates and 653 companies, of which 100 have exhibition stands. There are also 33 official governmental delegations and, including Russia, 65 country-participants.

He gave a special welcome to newcomer countries that are participating in AtomExpo for the first time - namely, Sudan, Ethiopia, Columbia and Sri Lanka.

"We're going to analyse the challenges that we face today and to find a new solid place for nuclear energy in the future energy balance. I am sure we are going to find the right solutions and only together are we going to advance those solutions," he said.

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The European Union is known to enforce strict guidelines concerning the operations in its airspace. Countries that do not adhere to these guidelines have been banned completely from operating aircraft within the EU. Below is a list of some of these countries.

Countries Who Cannot Fly in the European Union

The Democratic Republic of the Congo

All airplanes from Congo have been banned from operating in the EU. This is because most of the airplanes that were used during the civil war have been converted to passenger planes and most do not meet the EU safety standards.

Sudan

All airlines based in Sudan are banned from operating within the EU due to the country's association with terror groups and Islamic extremists. Sudanese citizens have also been banned from entering the US because of the same reason.

Libya

Just like Sudan, airplanes from Libya have also been banned from entering the EU due to security reasons linked to Islamic extremism and terror groups such as ISIS. The UE consider airlines from Libya not safe enough to operate in their airspace.

Nepal

The EU banned Nepali airlines after the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) cited noncompliance with its regulations concerning flight operations and air accident investigation. Before banning the airlines, the European Aviation Agency had placed them in their aviation blacklist.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan airlines have been banned from operating in EU due to the poor state of their aircraft. Several observers started that corruption is rampant within the airline industry's and has led to losing of specialized labor to other countries leaving the sector operating below the ICAO standards.

Equatorial Guinea

Airlines operated from Equatorial Guinea have also been banned from operating in the EU. Just like the other Airlines, they failed to meet the safety standards set by the European Aviation Agency. Seven airlines from the country have been banned.

Sao Tome and Principe

Seven Airlines have been banned from operating in the EU due to poor safety standards. Due to the ban, The Portuguese airline Euro Atlantic Airways operates flights to the UE on behalf of the banned airlines.

Afghanistan

Airlines from Afghanistan were banned from the EU due to safety standards and terror-related activities that occurred in the countries. Ariana Airlines was only allowed to operate a French registered Airbus A310 before it was included in the blacklist in 2012.

Djibouti

Djibouti was also included on the EU blacklist for failing to meet the European Aviation Agency safety standards. The country has an ailing aviation history with the country's national airline Air Djibouti ceasing operations in 2002 but was relaunched in 2016. All the four airlines registered in the country suffered the ban.

Mozambique

All airlines that were issued an Air Operator's Certificate (AOC) by Mozambique suffered the EU ban in 2011. Most of the flights affected flew to Lisbon, and Portugal's Euro Atlantic Airways took the flight role operating flights from EU members to Mozambique.

Syria

The Syrian Civil War led to more than just death and destruction; it also led to sanctions including a ban on three airlines registered in the country. The ban prevented flights to Europe and the use of spare parts made in the European Union from being used in any of the airplanes registered in Syria.

Other countries affected by the ban

Other airlines affected by the ban include two Airlines based in Eritrea, and North Korea. In May, 2016, Airlines from Benin,and Mozambique were permitted to operate in EU airspace after adhering to the regulations set by the commission.However,other airlines including Nigeria's Med-View ,Zimbabwe's Air Zimbabwe and Ukraine's Aviation Company Urga, were added to the list of banned flights.
5. Early Life

Osama Bin Laden was born 10 March 10, 1957 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden is considered an ethnic Yemeni (a native of Yemen), but his family roots in Saudi Arabia go back over 100 years. Bin Laden's family were already billionaires by the time he was born due to their construction and highway contracts within Saudi Arabia as well as being considered as a part of the elite social circle of the country. Bin Laden was schooled at an elitist high school (Al-Thager Model School) and then studied civil engineering at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

4. Beginnings

In 1979, Bin Laden relocated to Pakistan in order to help the mujaheddin (forces fighting against Soviet Union occupation) in Afghanistan. He was able to get weapons, soldiers and money into Afghanistan to help the cause which gained him popularity among some Arabs. Just prior to the defeat of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, Bin Laden formed Al-Qaeda. As early as 1990, Bin Laden took issue with United States military bases in Saudi Arabia. The base of operations for Bin Laden's organization would shift from Afghanistan to Sudan in 1992, then back to Afghanistan in 1996. Bin Laden publicly declared a war against the United States once settled in Afghanistan. In 1998, Bin Laden claimed responsibility for 2 deadly United States embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya as well as the bombing of a United States naval ship, the U.S.S Cole, in the year 2000. The attacks of September 11, 2001 would be considered the most well known terrorist event in history, but Bin Laden did not fully claim responsibility until 2004.

3. Influence

Contributions from Bin Laden to the world are negative due to his indiscriminate violence in Tanzania, Kenya, Yemen, and the United States. After initially being known as a 'freedom fighter' having driven the Soviet Union out of Afghanistan, his reputation quickly declined due to his harsh interpretation and implementation of Islam. Bin Laden also inspired ISIS and their constant push for media coverage. This was due to Bin Laden's media presence. ISIS has created an advanced version of Bin Laden's videos and audio from the 2000s.

2. Challenges

Osama Bin Laden was on the FBI's Top 10 Most Wanted list from June 7, 1999 until his death in 2011. Although Bin Laden was accustom to living somewhat rough, according to reports his health was declining rapidly after 9/11. Sources claim Bin Laden had 5 or 6 wives and up to 26 children. After the September 11 attack against the United States, many of his family had to flee to Iran in order to avoid persecution.

1. Death and Legacy

Bin Laden was hunted down and killed in Pakistan on May 2, 2011, by the United States Navy Seals, ending a decade-long global manhunt. Osama Bin Laden is the most famous terrorist in history due to the copious use of his image within international media. Bin Laden's picture stirs emotion whenever it is seen and perhaps his legacy is that of a symbolic villain, similar to that of Hitler.
Ta Prohm is an ancient temple in the town of Angkor in Cambodia. It was formerly known as Rajavihara meaning "Monastery of the king". The temple was built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII of the Khmer empire. It was used as a university and Buddhist monastery. Approximately 12,500 residents lived in the temple.

5. Description

Ta Prohm is an incredibly spectacular sight located in the middle of the jungle, and the temple is covered by enormous roots and tall trees. The roots are firmly attached to the temples walls where they extract water. Tall trees dominate the scene at Ta Prohm and provide a magical effect to the temple. The temple walls have beautiful and intricate carvings. Piles of stones lie around the temple. Ta Prohm has 39 towers which are inter-linked by many galleries. Its outer walls enclose an area of 650,000 m2.

4. Habitat

The Ta Prohm monument is located in one of the largest archaeological sites in the world, Angkor Park. The monument is surrounded by indigenous trees that date back to the 15th century. The temple is bounded by numerous trees and winding roots. Figs, silk-cottons and ficus trees intertwine with the ancient structures to create a magical scene.

3. Uniqueness

The Ta Prohm temple complex has a unique blend of the ancient buildings and the intricate tree cover. The trees that rise out of the ruins and tower over the monument make Ta Prohm a distinct place. The buildings architectural designs are a masterpiece, and the detailed carvings on the walls give the temple a magnificent finish. The artwork on the building showcases the art of the 12th century. Additionally, Ta Prohm is unique in that it occupies a vast landscape the size of a small town.

2. Tourism

Ta Prohm is a world-famous tourist site. It is the number one tourist location in the Angkor region of Cambodia. It became famous after memorable scenes of the blockbuster movie Tomb Raider was shot at the site. The monument's proximity to Siem Reap- Cambodias tourism hub has also contributed to its popularity among visitors. The large network of buildings and overgrown trees make it an attractive tourist location. Due to the significant cultural and historical role of the Ta Prohm monument, UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1992.

1. Threats

Ta Prohm was a well-maintained temple before the fall of the Khmer empire. After the 15th century, the temple was neglected, and it slowly turned into a jungle. Many years of neglect led to the weakening of the structures at Ta Prohm. Conservation and restoration efforts began at the start of the 21st century. A French company leading in conservation efforts at Ta Prohm decided to retain the blend between the temple and the jungle. However, some of the huge trees weigh down on the Ta Prohm and pose a threat to the stability of the temple. Furthermore, the large number of tourists who visit the site annually are a threat to the temples delicate structures. Wooden walkways and roped railings are placed along visitors paths to reduce damage to the monument. Lastly, Inhabitants in the park surrounding Ta Prohm pose a threat to the monuments authenticity as they engage in unregulated agricultural activities.
Government Of Colombia

Colombia is located in South America and is known as the first independent constitutional government of the continent. Additionally, this country is home to two of the oldest political parties in South America: the Liberal Party (founded in 1848) and the Conservative Party (founded in 1849). Today, the government of Colombia is considered a republic, which means that members of the government are elected or appointed by the general public. To ensure a complete separation of powers, the government of Colombia is divided into 3 branches: executive, legislative, and judicial. This article takes a closer look at each one.

Executive Branch Of The Government Of Colombia

The executive branch of Colombia is made up of the President, Vice President, Council of Ministers, and Administrative Departments. The President is elected by the general population to serve a 4-year term and in 2010, the Constitutional Court decided on a 2 term limit. The person in this position is responsible for appointing and removing Ministers to the Cabinet. The President may also sign acts, but only with a recommendation from the Ministers, who would then be responsible for administering the act.

The President also works with the governors of each Department (similar to a Province) within the country to ensure proper administration of the government. These governors are also elected by the general population and once in office, they appoint a Department level Cabinet.

Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Colombia

The legislative branch of government in Colombia is responsible for enacting laws and policies. This is carried out by the bicameral Congress, which is made up of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The 102 Senate members and the 166 Representatives are elected by the general population to serve a 4-year term. Congress has the power to make amendments to the Constitution and to hold the executive branch accountable for carrying out public law correctly.

Members of Congress meet twice a year, from July 20th to December 16th and from March 16th to June 20th. Additionally, Senators and Representatives are assigned to 1 of 7 of the current, permanent Commissions. They then work together to address specific issues, depending on the Commission assigned. These issues range from finance to foreign policy and from social security to agriculture.

Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Colombia

The responsibility of the judicial branch of government is to make sure all citizens have justice under the law and to provide courts through which to resolve the conflict. Colombia has 1 jurisdiction and 4 High Courts to oversee legal interpretation. The High Courts of this country include the Council of State, the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court, and the Superior Court of Judicature. The following types of cases are seen in these courts: penal, disciplinary, administrative, constitutional, ordinary, military, and peace. Indigenous issues are addressed by special indigenous jurisdictions.

The Lower Courts are divided among various judicial districts. Each district has a Superior Tribunal that is administered by 3 judges, appointed by the Supreme Court. These courts oversee the Civil Municipal courts within their particular district. Other courts within the judicial branch include Regional Circuit Courts, Administrative Tribunals, and 1 Superior Military Tribunal.
French Guiana is an overseas region and department of France, and it is therefore governed by similar government institutions as those found in French mainland. Cayenne serves as French Guianas capital. The first European to dock in French Guiana was Christopher Columbus who found native communities. The Italians initially wanted to occupy the region after which the Dutch and French contested. The early French settlers faced hostility and succumbed to tropical diseases. The arrival of African slaves facilitated the establishment of plantations and triggered the development of French Guiana. The discovery of gold in 1853 created border disputes with Suriname and Brazil which were subsequently settled. The territory was declared an overseas region of France on March 19, 1946, although they have been calls for autonomy. The 2010 referendum saw the citizens voting against independence.

The Prefect Of French Guiana

French Guianas chief of state is the President of France who appoints a prefect to represent head the region. The prefect resides at the prefecture building situated in Cayenne. The Prefect handles various duties as the representative of the state in the local government. The prefect ensures that police and gendarmerie forces coordinate effectively, handles major crises, and determines emergency defense procedures. The prefect further oversees relief operations and decides when to evacuate zones at risk from natural disasters. He/she is responsible for legal documents including driving licenses, passports, identity cards, and immigration documents.

General And Regional Councils Of French Guiana

The General Council is one of French Guianas executive bodies. 19 members sit in the institution for six-year terms after being elected by popular vote. The council is headed by a President. A further 31 members are elected to the Regional Council for six-year terms, and it is also headed by a President.

Politics In French Guiana

The territorys politics features the Guianese Socialist Party as the key player, and it maintains close links with the Socialist Party in France. The Guianese Party has 29 seats in the Regional Council and three in the General Council. French Guiana is represented by two elected senators in the French Senate. The current ones are from the Guianese Socialist Party namely Jean-Etienne Antoinette and Georges Patient. Other parties which feature in Guianas politics are the Union for a Popular Movement which has seven seats in the Regional Council and three in the General Councils and Walwari which has one member in the General Council and seven in the Regional Council. French Guiana is represented by two deputies in the National Assembly of France.

Problems Facing The Government of French Guiana

The government of French Guiana has been trying to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants as well as illicit gold prospectors from Suriname and Brazil. The Maroni River serves as the boundary between Suriname and the territory, and it courses through rainforest making it hard for security forces to patrol. The French government has implemented numerous phases to deal with the problem of illegal mining in the region. Such phases include Operation Anaconda (2003), Operation Harpie (2008), and Operation Harpie Reinforce (2010). These operations prove to be temporarily successful since the end of one operation is followed by the return of Brazilian miners.
Iceland is a sparsely-populated island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is situated about half-way between North America and the European mainland, just above the Arctic Circle. Formerly a possession of Denmark, Iceland is a European country with unique geographic and geological features. The country is famous for its geo-thermal pools, volcanoes, and glaciers. It is also known for being one of the most peaceful countries in the world. In addition, Iceland has a rich culture and history.

Map of Iceland.

Contents:

How Did Iceland Get Its Name?

Icelands name is misleading, because the country is actually quite green and fertile. So why is it called Iceland? The answer lies in the story of one of the first people to visit the island, a Viking named Hrafna-Floki. He arrived on the island in the 9th century. During his time on the island, he climbed a mountain and saw a fjord full of icebergs. This sight led him to call the island Iceland. The exploits of Hrafna-Floki are actually referenced in the popular TV show, Vikings. Another Viking named Eric the Red further solidified Icelands name when he was banished from the country and made his new home in what is now Greenland. He gave Greenland its name because he felt it would attract new settlers to the large island. Thus, Iceland and Greenland were both given names that are essentially misnomers, as Iceland is very green, while Greenland is covered in ice.

Geography And Climate

Blooming lupine flowers on the Stokksnes Headland in the southeastern Icelandic coast.

Icelands total land area is 103,000 sq. km, making it the second biggest island in Europe after Great Britain. Its land mass is among the youngest in the world, which is why the country is home to a lot of volcanic activity. The island was created by a large volcanic fissure in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where the Eurasian and American tectonic plates meet. About 11% of Iceland is covered by glaciers. The largest of these glaciers is called Vatnajokull, which is also the largest glacier in all of Europe. Much of Icelands terrain consists of plateaux, mountain peaks, and fertile lowlands. There are also many long, deep fjords. Other features of Icelands geography include waterfalls, geysers, volcanoes, black sand beaches, and steaming lava fields.

Studlagil Canyon in Iceland.

In spite of Icelands location just above the Arctic Circle, Icelands climate is fairly mild. This is due to the current from the Gulf Stream. The average temperature in January, the coldest month in Iceland, is 0 degrees Celsius. In July, the warmest month, the average temperature is 12 degrees Celsius. Hot weather is rare in Iceland, though it is commonly rainy and windy in the country.

Demographics

Jazz band playing to the crowd of people on a street on the day of "Culture Night" of Reykjavik. Editorial credit: kondr.konst / Shutterstock.com

Iceland is the least populous country in Europe, with a population of approximately 343,000. This population lives on just 20% of the island. About a third of all Icelanders live in the countrys capital, Reykjavik, which is the northernmost national capital in the world.

Iceland's 10 Most Populous Cities/Towns

Reykjavik - 128,793 Kopavogur - 36,975 Hafnarfjorur - 29,799 Akureyri - 18,925 Reykjanesbr - 18,920 Garabr - 16,299 Mosfellsbr - 11,463 Arborg - 9,485 Akranes - 7,411 Fjarabygg - 5,070

Culture, Ethnicity, Language, And Religion

An abandoned Viking village in Iceland.

As one of the Nordic countries, Iceland has strong cultural ties to the ancient Vikings. The Icelanders are very proud of their Viking heritage, and they are not shy about displaying it. Tour operators often include the word Viking in their names. Their museums have a strong emphasis on Viking heritage. Old Norse mythology and Viking folklore are also important parts of Icelands culture.

Iceland is very homogenous, as 93% of its people are Icelandic (a mixture of descendants of Norse and Celts comprise 81% of the population). The remaining 19% represents population with foreign background that includes persons having at least one parent who was born abroad and immigrants.

Road sign in Icelandic.

The national language, Icelandic, which is a Germanic language related to Norwegian and Danish, is largely unchanged from the Old Norse language that was spoken by Icelands first Viking settlers. But Icelanders pride themselves on being multilingual, so they also speak other languages. For instance, the majority of Icelanders speak fluent English. Many also speak Danish, as Iceland was once controlled by Denmark. In fact, in Icelands schools, children are required to study both English and one other Scandinavian language.

Read MoreWhat Languages Are Spoken In Iceland?

Traditional Icelandic dish with salmon steak and baked potatoes and vegetables.

One other important aspect of Icelands culture is food. Some traditional foods include fermented shark, sour rams testicles, and cod tongues. Fresh fish, in particular, is a mainstay of the Icelandic diet. This includes cod, herring, arctic char, and tuna from salmon or Bluefin. Another mainstay of the Icelandic diet is lamb. It is no surprise, then, that sheep outnumber people in Iceland about three to one.

A church in Iceland.

In terms of religion, Christianity is the dominant religion in Iceland, specifically Lutheranism. Most Icelanders are members of the Lutheran State Church. Other Icelanders belong to other Christian denominations such as Roman Catholicism. There are also some Icelanders who still practice a traditional Norse religion known as asatru.

Religious Affiliation Of Iceland

Church of Iceland (Lutheran) - 62.28%

Free Lutheran Church in Reykjavik - 2.72%

Free Lutheran Church in Hafnarfjorur - 1.99%

Independent Lutheran Congregation - 0.88%

Catholic Church - 3.97%

Other Christian denominations - 1.92%

Heathenism - 1.40%

Humanism - 1.11%

Buddhism - 0.43%

Islam - 0.39%

Zuism - 0.23%

Other and unspecified - 15.05%

Unaffiliated - 7.57%

Economy

Tourists ride horses at the majestic Skogafoss Waterfall in the countryside of Iceland in summer.

Icelands principle economic sectors are tourism, aluminum smelting, and fishing. Tourism and international travel, in particular, make up close to one fifth of Icelands GDP. Thus, like many other countries that rely on tourism, Iceland has been severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Another important sector of Icelands economy is renewable energy, specifically geothermal energy, which is abundant in the country because of all its volcanic activity. Icelanders take pride in the fact that their economy does not expose them to a lot of harmful substances as it does in other advanced, industrialized countries. Another important aspect of the Icelandic economy is that compared to other advanced countries, there is much less income inequality. Iceland also has a strong welfare state.

Politics And Government

Alingi, the national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest parliaments in the world.

Iceland is a parliamentary democracy. In fact, Icelands parliament, the Althing, is the oldest parliament in the world. It was established in 930 CE. Todays Althing, which serves as the countrys legislative branch, consists of 63 members, who are elected to terms of four years. Icelands head of state is the president, who is charged with selecting a prime minister. The prime minister and cabinet comprise the countrys executive branch. There is also a judicial branch that runs independently of the executive and legislative branches.

A Brief History Of Iceland

Norsemen landing in Iceland  a 19th-century depiction by Oscar Wergeland.

There is a book that documents the countrys earliest settlements known as the Landnamabok, which translates as the Book of Settlements. According to this book, the first people to settle in Iceland were Irish monks. Afterwards, Norsemen such as the aforementioned Hrafna-Floki, sailed to the island. But credit for being the first to permanently settle Iceland, according to the Book of Settlements, belongs to a man named Ingolfur Arnarson, who settled in what is now the Icelandic capital city of Reykjavik in 874. The number of settlers grew rapidly in subsequent years, and by 930, an assembly, the Althing, was created to govern the rapidly-growing Icelandic society. One of the Althings earliest acts was to proclaim Christianity as the countrys official religion in the year 1000.

Ingolfr Arnarson (modern Icelandic: Ingolfur Arnarson), the first permanent Scandinavian settler.

In the mid-13th century, the Icelanders recognized the King of Norway as their ruler. In 1380, however, Norway and Iceland entered a union under the rule of the Danish crown. Hence, Iceland became Danish territory. Under Danish rule, Lutheranism was imposed on Iceland. The 15th century saw the Black Plague kill about half of Icelands population.

In the 18th century, a massive volcanic eruption took place between June 1783 and February 1784. This eruption killed about 9000 Icelanders, and destroyed the vast majority of the countrys livestock, leading to a famine that killed up to a quarter of Icelands population. Those that did not perish from hunger were often killed by the extreme heat and noxious gases from the volcanic eruption.

Iceland houses many volcanoes.

In 1874, Iceland was given limited autonomy by the Danish government. This autonomy was supplemented in 1904 by the establishment of home rule and rule by parliamentary majority. In 1918, Iceland achieved complete self-government as per a treaty with the Danish government that relegated the Danes to controlling foreign policy alone in regards to Iceland. This treaty came to an end in 1943. The next year, a referendum was held in Iceland asking voters if they wanted independence. A resounding 97% of voters voted in favor of independence. Thus, on June 17, 1944, the country became an independent republic. In the same year, Iceland also joined the defensive alliance known as NATO.

In 1951, a treaty was signed that committed the U.S. to defending Iceland for an undefined amount of time. Thus, the U.S. maintained a naval base in the country until 2006. The latter half of the 20th century saw steady growth in Icelands standard of living and economy. In the 1970s, Iceland began its economic integration with Europe, as it joined the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). In 1989, Vigdis Finnbogadottir was elected Icelands president, making her the worlds first democratically elected female head of state.

Aerial view of Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, in late winter season.

The 1990s saw steady growth in the economy, as well as economic diversification. In 1994, Iceland pursued further economic integration with Europe by joining the European Economic Area (EEA). Much of Icelands economic prosperity, however, came to a screeching halt in the 2008 financial crash, and it would take the country some time to recover. In 2009, Iceland formally applied for membership in the European Union (EU). But in 2015, the country withdrew its application for EU membership. Thus, Iceland is not a member of the EU today, though it is still party to several agreements that integrate it with the rest of Europe. These include being part of the aforementioned EFTA and EEA, as well as the Schengen area, in which goods and people move freely across international borders without the need for border and custom checks.
Macedonia is a parliamentary republic with the president as the chief of state and the prime minister as the head of government. Macedonia became a democratic republic after gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. The government headquarters for Macedonia are in Skopje. The government and administration in the country follow the constitution, the supreme law in the Republic. The constitution is important in regulating the activities of the government and the military. The government consists of three branches including the executive, independent judiciary, and the unicameral legislature.

The President Of Macedonia

The Macedonian president has little executive power. The president is elected by a two round system for a five-year term renewable only once. The president serves as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, appoints diplomatic representatives, and gives awards, honors, and pardons convicts. The president also works with the prime minister to decide on the cabinet ranks for the executive.

The Executive Branch Of The Government Of Macedonia

The government, consisting of the premier and the cabinet ministers is the executive branch of Macedonia. The prime minister is the head of government and the head of the executive who also appoints members of the cabinet. Cabinet ministers serve a four-year term after approval by the national assembly. The current executive is a coalition between the Socialist Party of Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration, the Party for the Movement of Turks in Macedonia, and the Social Democratic Union of Macedonia (SDSM). The president appoints the prime minister for an unlimited term in office. The current prime minister is Zoran Zaev who was appointed after the resignation of Nikola Kljusev.

The Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Macedonia

The Assembly is the legislative branch of the Macedonian government with the responsibility of proposing and adopting laws. The unicameral assembly consists of 120 elected officials and three other members elected by majority votes by the diaspora community. Elections for the legislature are by proportional representation with members serving for four-year non-renewable terms. All political parties have representation in the assembly. The speaker heads the assembly. The Great Hall of the Macedonian Parliament in Skopje is the meeting place for the legislature where all sessions are held.

The Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Macedonia

The Macedonian court system has the Supreme Court as the highest court followed by the court of appeal and the basic courts. Also within the upper court system are the constitutional courts and the Republican judicial courts. A seven-member judicial council nominates 22 Supreme Court judges and the nine constitutional court judges while the assembly appoints them. Constitutional court judges serve for a maximum of nine years. Macedonian legal system is based on a civil law.

Foreign Relations Of Macedonia

Macedonia engages in diplomatic relations with the international community and is a member of some regional and international bodies. Among these bodies are the IMF, the Central European Initiative, WTO, La Francophonie, the European Union and the Council of Europe. Macedonia has diplomatic relations with over thirty countries including the US, the UK, Russia, Liberia, Tunisia, Sudan, Lebanon, and Georgia. Most of the countries recognize the country as the Republic of Macedonia as opposed to the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Maldives is an island country situated in the Arabian Sea. The first settlement in the cluster islands can be traced to more than 2,500 years back with the Hindus and Buddhist fishermen and sailors arriving on the islands from India as early as 500 BC. The settlers came in small numbers and did not make any attempt to set up a formal government. In the 12th century, there were minor political battles on the island over the allocation of scarce resources and division of land. Maldives came under the control of British in the 19th century until 1965 when the country attained its independence. The country was ruled by Sultan and there was no democratic election until November 1968 when it became a republic.

The Modern Day Government

The current form of Maldives government was adopted in 1968 when the country became a republic. The politics take place in the context of a presidential representative democratic republic. The position of Sultan was scrapped off and replaced by the president when the country became a republic. There are three branches of government; executive, legislative, and judiciary. The local government is devolved and consists of 20 Atolls. Each of the inhabited islands is administered by an Island Councilor who is elected by the members of the island. In October 2008, 40 years after becoming a Republic, Maldives held its first ever multi-party presidential election.

The Executive Branch Of The Government Of Maldives

The executive branch is headed by the president who also heads both the government and state. The president and the vice president are directly elected by the citizen through a secret ballot for a five-year term up to a minimum of two terms according to the constitution. The president appoints the cabinet which must be approved by the parliament before taking an oath of office. The president is also the chief commander of the Maldives Forces and has the power to pardon. He represents the country in international meetings. The president is also considered the chief spokesman of the Islam in the country. The executive is responsible for formulating policies and implementing projects that enhance the living standards of the citizens.

The Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Maldives

The unicameral Parliament of Maldives is known as the Peoples Majlis. The Majlis enacts, amends, and revises laws except for the constitution. The current parliament is composed of 85 legislatures, one from each electorate. Initially, Majlis was controlled by the ruling party but not so today. Some of the Members are aligned to the opposition parties. Member of Majlis is elected for a 5-year term. The parliament is elected 30 days before the expiration of the existing one. Members are required to take an oath before transacting any business and are offered parliamentary immunity under the constitution. The Majlis is opened each year on the last Thursday of February by the countrys president. During this time the president outlines his policies and achievements. The Majlis also passes the annual budget.

The Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Maldives

The judiciary is a systematic institution in Maldives and has always been under the control of the Head of State. The legal system is based on Islamic Law with some elements of English common law. The judges are appointed by the President with the Chief Justice also responsible to the president. The Department of Judicial Administration is the Maldives judiciary administrative arm.
Trinidad and Tobago is a unitary state whose parliamentary democracy is similar to that of Great Britain and Ireland. Trinidad and Tobago was occupied by various powers including Spain, Dutch, French, Courlanders, and eventually the British. The state became independent in 1962 and was declared a Republic in 1976.

The Executive Branch Of The Government Of Trinidad And Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago have both a President and a Prime Minister. An electoral college is mandated to elect the President, and it is composed of members of the House of Representatives as well as the Senate. The Constitution vests executive authority on the President who also serves as the commander-in-Chief of Trinidad and Tobago's armed forces. The president further gives assent to Bills and proclaims specific pieces of legislation. The country's President also appoints Senators and other officials such as the Attorney General and High Commissioners. Other duties of the President of Trinidad and Tobago include granting pardons, proclaiming state of emergencies, and dissolving the Parliament. The President chooses a Prime Minister from the elected members of Parliament. In practice, the chair of the winning party is chosen. The Prime Minister subsequently nominates members of the Cabinet for the president's approval. The Prime Minister acts as the cabinet's head and coordinates the work of the ministries.

The Legislative Branch Of The Government Of Trinidad And Tobago

The countrys Parliament has two chambers. 41 members sit in the lower house which is the House of Representatives. These members represent single-seat constituencies for a five-year term. The House of Representatives official seat is in Port of Spain in what is known as the Red House. The speaker has a deputy and oversees the chambers sessions. The latest election in 2015 saw the Peoples National Movement get the most seats of 23. The Peoples Partnership Coalition has 18 seats. 31 members sit in the Senate, and 16 of them are appointed based on the advice of the Prime Minister. Six Senators are from the opposition and are appointed with guidance from the Leader of the Opposition. Nine independent Senators receive their appointment from the President and are tasked to represent the interests of other sectors of the civil society.

The Judicial Branch Of The Government Of Trinidad And Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago has a hierarchical judiciary structure and at its helm is the Supreme Court of Judicature. The Prime Minister and the leader of opposition advise the President on choosing the Chief Justice. The Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary. The Supreme Court is composed of the High Court in addition to a Court of Appeal. The magistracy has separate civil and criminal courts having original jurisdiction and headed by a Chief Magistrate. Final appeal in some particular matters is given by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council which sits in London. Members of Caricom chose Trinidad and Tobago to be home to the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), an institution intended to replace the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The government has however faced difficulties in instituting the necessary legislation to establish the CCJ.

Administration Of Trinidad And Tobago

Trinidad has five municipalities namely San Fernando, Arima, Port of Spain, Point Fortin, and Chaguanas and further nine Regional Corporations which include Siparia, Diego Martin, Rio Claro-Mayaro, Princess Town, Tunapuna-Piarco, and Penal-Debe. Local governance in Tobago is managed by the Tobago House of Assembly.
Nabra Hussein and Darwin Martinez Torres

By: Tanya Clark WorldWideWeirdNews.com

(Scroll down for video) Police in Virginia, were called after a man attacked a Muslim girl while she was with her friends.

17-year-old Nabra Hussein was walking home from a mosque on Saturday night, when she was assaulted.

Her friends managed to escape and call for help, but by the time officers arrived, Hussein and the suspect were missing.

Police said that Hussein and her friends exchanged harsh words with 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres.

He then got out of his car with a metal bat and attacked Hussein. He then placed her in his vehicle and drove away.

After an extensive search, the 17-year-old girl was found dead in a nearby pond in Fairfax County.

Police said that the investigation in ano way indicates that the victim was targeted because of her race or religion and that her death is not being investigated as a hate crime, but rather as a road rage incident.a

Torres was arrested for the murder. ICE has now filed a detainer against him as he is in the country illegally.

The All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) foundation set up a fundraising page to help the Hussein family. So far, they raised $260,800 of their $300,000 goal.
Sammy Mbatha

By: William Martin WorldWideWeirdNews.com

A woman who was left traumatized after her son died in a freak accident, decided to get rid of her tummy.

38-year-old Sammy Mbatha of Zimbabwe, said that she felt like her amommy tummya was a constant reminder of the son whom she missed dearly.

She revealed how the surgery on her stomach has changed her life. Mbatha lost his eight-year-old son, Victor, on Christmas Eve in 2011, after he was electrocuted during a holiday party.

Victor went to a barber shop, where he was spending Christmas with relatives. At some point, the power lights went out.

While running out of the shop, Victor tripped and fell on an exposed wire, causing him to get electrocuted.

Someone was arrested over Victoras death, but Mbatha said that she was atoo traumatizeda to talk about it.

Mbatha, a social worker, said that people often assume that she had children because of her stomach size, and strangers ask questions, which she found painful to answer.

Mbatha admits that she ate a lot after losing her only child and she gained over 100 pounds since his death, causing her to have a belly that made people think that she recently gave birth.

In a desperate attempt to get her life back on track, Mbatha decided to undergo Vaser Lipo to remove the belly fat.

Although her husband told her that she looked good the way she was, he gave his blessing to use their life savings on the $7,500 procedure.

Mbatha went to see the surgeon for a consultation on Victors birthday. When the surgeon heard her tragic story, he offered to do the procedure free of charge.

The surgeon said that this was a gift from Victor.

aHe didnt know at that time that it was Victors birthday. I told him afterwards,a Mbatha said. aIt really was a gift from Victor,a she added.
Tourists walking naked in middle of the street

By: William Martin WorldWideWeirdNews.com

Police are looking to arrest two tourists who were seen walking naked on the streets, which are popular with foreign nationals, according to police in Spain.

Magaluf police said that early on Saturday morning, they received numerous complaints about two women, who are apparently from Scotland.

Witnesses at the scene told police that the two tourists were seen stumbling out of a bar and walking naked. One of the witnesses recorded a video, which showed the two naked women speaking with their fully clothed friends.

When the naked women realized that they were being recorded, they quickly fled from the scene. Police said that the two women are facing criminal charges and fines for indecent exposure.

The video of the incident was uploaded to the Internet, where it went viral.
Convict Feroz started crying during the hearing and with folded hands he told the judge to not hand out death sentence to him.

By Vidya : The CBI counsel in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case was ready to open his arguments on the quantum of punishment but the special TADA court did not agree saying that the defense had said that they would start the arguments first.

While the prosecution has decided to ask for capital punishment for Feroze, the court last week had accepted all allegations levelled against him saying that CBI has proved its case against him. Feroze used to work at the office of Mustafa Dossa and had taken part in conspiratorial meetings in Dubai. He had also helped in landing of arms and ammunition and had managed the custom and police officers so that no one would raise objection to the landing of the dreaded consignment and then after the blast went ahead to destroy the arms and ammunition which could become evidence.

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As his last minute attempt to save his skin Feroze told the court that he did a course on human rights from IGNOU while he was in jail. He had topped the exam on the life of Mahatma Gandhi held in jails across Maharashtra. However he could not complete his studies due to transfer from Arthur Road jail few years ago.

"I have two children. Daughter is 11 and son is 9 and they still do not know where I am but my wife has told them that they father will come back one day. My family does not have any source of income. My wife puts henna on hands of people in Dubai and manages to survive while my father needs an urgent bypass but am unable to do anything," Feroze told the court. His mother had passed away in 2013.

Feroze also told the court that his own health was failing and that even in such situation he has taught goodness to his fellow inmates and even spoke about a case of a young man who was brought to jail for molesting a woman on a flight to Goa.

"After I spoke to him, he got bail and immediately went to meet the girl and her parents and asked for their forgiveness," he told the court. He also told the court that since the court has relied on various documents, the court should look at his own confession and that of a fellow convict Mohammed Salim Mira Shaikh, also known as 'Salim Kutta', in which he had refused to go for weapons training to Pakistan from Dubai and is said to have suffered remorse and repentance.

"I had also said that I wanted to become an approver. Though court had rejected my application, it should consider this as mitigating circumstance against me," Feroze pleaded to the court.

And while he finished saying all these he started crying and with folded hands he told judge G A Sanap to not hand out death sentence to him.

"Mujhe zindagi bhar jail me rakhiyega par death mat dijiyega. Mujhe 25-50 saal ka saza dijiyega, mujhe parole mat dena, furlough mat dena. Mere bachche jane ki main zinda hun. Mujhe death mat dijiyega," (Keep me in jail for entire life but don't give me death. My children should know that I am alive. I will live in jail. Don't give me any parole or furlough leave but don't give death to me.)

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CBI senior counsel Deepak Salvi sought time till Wednesday morning to see if he wanted to cross examine Feroze even as he added, "there was nothing extraordinary that Feroze presented as mitigating circumstances. I will see if I want to cross examine him." Other two accused will be in the witness box on Wednesday to plead the mitigating circumstances.

Also read:

1993 Mumbai blasts case: TADA court adjourns arguments on quantum of punishment till tomorrow

1993 Mumbai serial blasts: Abu Salem, five others found guilty by TADA court, Abdul Qayyum acquitted

Mumbai blasts verdict: How Rakesh Maria cracked 1993 serial bombing case with help of approver

--- ENDS ---
Britains Brexit Secretary David Davis and Michel Bernier of the European Union (EU) launched negotiations yesterday on the terms of Britains exit from the trade bloc.

Davis did so representing a government in the midst of an ever deepening crisis, with a question mark hanging over the survival of Prime Minister Theresa May, a party split down the middle on whether a hard Brexit involving leaving the Single European Market should be abandoned, and a majority of all the major trade and business organisations insisting that it must be.

Davis, who represents the pro-Brexit wing of the Conservatives, was on a back foot from the start. Talks will begin according to the timetable set by the EU, with the cost of Britains divorce settlement and the status of Northern Ireland among the separation issues to be discussed before trade relations post-Brexit.

Earlier Davis had pledged the fight of the summer over this sequencing, but folded without a murmur yesterday. Everything the government does is now with one eye on surviving in office. Mays disastrous performance in the UKs snap general election, the well of popular opposition expressed in Labours much better than expected performance under Jeremy Corbyn, and the hatred aroused by the Grenfell Tower fire has fuelled speculation of imminent leadership challenges. These are held in abeyance only by the threat of hastening a second general election that the party could lose.

It was in the midst of this febrile atmosphere that five major UK business bodies jointly demanded in a letter to Business Secretary Greg Clark that the government put the economy first and secure continued access to the European Single Market.

The comments from the British Chambers of Commerce, Confederation of British Industry, Education Endowment Formation, Federation of Small Businesses and Institute of Directors were scathing. Josh Hardie, the CBIs deputy director-general, said, It is a time for reflecting on how businesses are feeling. Stuart Rose of online grocer Ocado described the snap election as a proxy re-referendum against hard Brexit. Karan Bilimoria of Cobra beer said May had zero credibility and Britain could now rethink leaving.

Within the Tory Party, Chancellor Philip Hammond went on TV Sunday to denounce Mays electoral campaign and stake his claim to be the soft Brexit candidate in a future leadership contest. He described Mays no deal is better than a bad deal stance as a very, very bad outcome for Britain.

On the other side of the divide, newly appointed Environment Secretary Michael Gove said May was right to insist that the UK would not sign up to anything which harmed the UK.

The problem for the bourgeoisie is that May is more in thrall to the pro-Brexiteers than ever. Along with pro-Remainers Hammond and Home Secretary Amber Rudd, those spoken of as most likely to replace May are Davis and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

The internal fighting between them is toxic.

The Sunday Times wrote under the headline, Tories tell May: Youve got 10 days, that confidence in her was in freefall with constituency party bosses telling ministers and MPs to force her from power.

Up to a dozen MPs are ready to demand a vote of no confidence in May by submitting letters to the backbench 1922 committee... Cabinet ministers have also let it be known that they will oust the prime minister if it looks like she is in danger of losing the vote on the Queens speech on June 28.

A cabinet minister told friends he was worried about her state of mind, while another said, She had better stop feeling sorry for herself, pull up her socks and start to leadand if she cant do that she should go. Shape up or ship out.

The Sunday Telegraph wrote of a stalking horse challenge if May waters down Brexit. An influential former minister said, If we had a strong signal that she were backsliding I think she would be in major difficulty, while another former minister said, If she weakened on Brexit, the world would fall in all hell would break loose.

May has fear of political disaster on her sidefor the moment. Rupert Murdochs The Sun insisted, The Conservatives must put aside their differences, rally around Theresa May and make Brexit a success... Sniping from the sidelines wont force her into a soft Brexititll weaken the Government and hand Corbyn keys to No10. It insisted, Mrs May needs to insist, as she has all along, that we must leave the single market and customs union.

Corbyn has long been the subject of a political witch-hunt by the ruling elite, but is determinedly wooing them with promises that he can bring stability for British capitalismincluding by suppressing social discontent using his left reputation but also by prioritising access to the single market in what he terms a jobs Brexit.

There will be an audience for such an approach in the EU, especially with reports already of backdoor discussions between Hammond and Berlin and Paris.

The EUs major powers cannot be seen to give an inch to Britain if it pursues a hard Brexit for fear of weakening the cohesion of the continent. But they cannot afford the luxury of schadenfreude either given the dangerous implications of political instability in the UK.

Berlin and Paris would welcome a retreat if this becomes a possibility given the economic and political impact of Brexit.

In April, investment bank ING sent a note to clients warning that a bad deal for the UK would likely backfire on the EU. Quoted in Business Insider, the note warned,  A severe downturn in the UK would be particularly felt in the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland given the importance of trade with the UK, but stressed above this political uncertainty.

It warned that if there is electoral success for anti-EU parties, the prospect of EU break-up could return. Bad politics, combined with economic dislocation and financial contagion would likely lead to recession across Europe.

Italy goes to the polls within the next twelve months. The concern is that the first and third place parties in opinion polls are both decidedly anti-EU. In a worst-case scenario, fears of EU break-up could see toxic politics combine with economic dislocation and financial contagion, which would spell disaster for the European economynot just the UK economy.

Such concerns led French President Emmanuel Macron to stress this month in a meeting with May that the door is also open as long as the Brexit negotiations arent over and German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble to pledge that if the UK wanted to change the decision, of course, they would find open doors.

However, from the standpoint of the working class in Britain and Europe, the factional struggles within the bourgeoisie promise only political and social reaction.

At stake is whether the UK cuts itself adrift from the other European powers in the hope that the Trump administration will find its services useful in rising trade conflicts with Germany and France, or whether the EU can exploit Britains economic and political crisis to force a retreat and to insist on a greater degree of collusionabove all as the EU sets about securing a military capability independent of NATO, which London has up to now opposed.

In either case, the working class on both sides of the Channel will be urged to accept more austerity, greater sacrifices of jobs, wages and essential social services on the altar of competitiveness and security.
Since Emmanuel Macrons victory in the French presidential elections and the historic collapse of the Socialist Party (PS) in the presidential and legislative elections, the media is insisting that a great transition is taking place from the PS to Macrons Republic on the Move (REM). In this narrative, the old left around the PS is giving way to a new Start-up Nation governed by Macron.

It is my absolute sadness. I am 66 years old and I have the feeling that everything Ive done in my life is damaged, broken, everything Ive believed in, lamented PS heavyweight and Lille Mayor Martine Aubry during the legislative campaign.

She was not speaking about the social and industrial devastation of the Lille region, for which the PS is largely responsible, but the fact that the election would benefit supposedly new politicians from REM and not the PS: I dont know how to speak to the French people anymore. But look who you are dealing with!  The little newbies around Macron who were just chosen on a lark or because they are friends, is that better than left-wing people who have been fighting for five years? It makes me sick!

And last week, at the Vivatech conference in Paris, Macron insisted that during his presidency, France would take on new life, along the lines of a young tech company: I want France to be a nation of start-ups, a nation which thinks and acts like a start-up.

This fantasy-narrative, on which the media based their promotion of REM and Macronand which provoked legitimate distrust, doubts and hostility in the populationis misleading from top to bottom. The PS was a reactionary party that attacked the working class, and REMs legislative candidates, carefully selected by conservative politician Jean-Paul Delevoye, proved to be as a body an integral part of the old ruling establishment.

A large number of the REM candidates came from parties that had carried out policies of austerity and war over the past several decades. Nearly half of them, 244 out of 525, had already held political positions at various levels, from municipal office to ministerial posts or seats at the National Assembly. Of the 281 who had not directly held office, many had participated in electoral campaigns or in non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through which they were in contact with the established parties.

The ties connecting the PS to REM, whose founder Macron was economy minister under the PS presidency of Francois Hollande, are myriad. Macron was supported from the beginning by top PS officials or former ministers, including Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, Lyon Mayor Gerard Collomb, former Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, Jacques Attali, former prime ministers Manuel Valls and Bernard Cazeneuve, former presidential candidate Segolene Royal, Hollande administration advisor Bernard Poignant and Hollande himself.

Macrons parliamentary personnel is largely composed of PS politicians or politicians from parties allied to the PS in numerous governments since 1981. A fifth of Macrons legislative candidates were PS members. A dozen came from the Radical Left Party, from ecological parties, or from the Republican and Citizens Movement (MRC) of Jean-Pierre Chevenement. One was the former general secretary of the Stalinist French Communist Party (PCF), Robert Hue! In several districts, REM did not stand candidates against PS candidates whom it supported.

The REM list included 79 candidates who were members of the right-wing Democratic Movement (MoDem) of Francois Bayrou, the current justice minister, though not all ran officially as MoDem members. A contingent of approximately 70 candidates came from the right-wing Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), a composite organization led by Jean-Louis Borloo, who was a minister in several governments under President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Ten candidates came directly from Sarkozys party, The Republicans (LR). A former candidate of the far-right Arise France (DLF) party, which allied with neo-fascist Marine Le Pen during the presidential campaign, was also on the REM legislative slate.

The elected REM legislators are even more socially removed from the mass of working people in France than the PS majority in the old legislature. They are drawn virtually exclusively from the most privileged forces and will run a government whose social base is limited to the layers closest to the financial aristocracy in the affluent middle class and the security forces.

The startling 57 percent abstention in Sundays legislative election underscores again their isolation from the vast majority of the population, a fact that even the media outlets closest to REM are compelled to admit.

The daily Liberation noted, According to interior ministry data, more than half of the candidates nominated by REM are in management or higher-level intellectual professions  three times their weight in Frances working population. It added, REM is also the party which has the most forces drawn from management in the private sector (18.4 percent), doctors (21 of 537 candidates), and university professors (17).

Approximately one-third of Macrons candidates, or 156 people, ran their own businesses, a fact that provoked the following comment from Le Monde: In general, the so-called civil society represented in REM is made up of CEOs, doctors, lawyers, private-sector managers or advisers to political officials. The Republic that is on the march there is that of the higher social and professional categories, of dynamic managers, and important people in the provinces.

LObs for its part observed the large weight in REM of business owners, CEOs, leaders of start-up firms, and small business leaders and quoted Mediapart: The Republic on the March is a  world of people who are doing pretty well, or rather very well, just like the main electoral base of Emmanuel Macron.

The educational backgrounds of the REM candidates was equally revealing. According to Le Monde, around 40 percent of them came from the so-called grandes ecoles, major schools where entrance is dependent on special examinations that provide leading personnel in state administration, industry, commerce and finance. These include the Paris Institute of Political Studies [or Sciences Po] (50 candidates), the National Administration School (ENA, 10) and the High Commercial School (HEC, 9).
As a restructuring of Aucklands 55 public libraries continues, the Public Service Association (PSA) is collaborating fully in slashing jobs. Some 194 jobs have been or are being eliminated, out of a total workforce of 1,120, to save $1.8 million per year.

A petition to reverse the job cuts organised by the group Love Our Libraries has gained 4,400 signatures, reflecting widespread support for library workers. Auckland Council, led by mayor Phil Goff, a former Labour Party leader, rejected the petition on May 8. Defending this decision, chief operating officer Dean Kimpton declared that from early on, the PSA has contributed to [the restructures] design and supports the process we have adopted.

The unions national secretary Glenn Barclay attempted to save face in an interview with Newstalk ZB on May 29, saying the council made the statement without consulting us, and we dont think that thats an accurate representation of our involvement. He claimed the PSA had been advocating strongly for members.

This is manifestly false. The PSA, like other unions, has collaborated for decades with the pro-business downsizing and restructuring of the public service. Nationally, it has already overseen more than 5,000 redundancies since the 2008 financial crisis as part of the governments austerity program. This is continuing at Auckland libraries.

A number of library staff gave anonymous written testimonies as part of a further complaint against the restructure, submitted by Julia Schiller, of the Love Our Libraries group, to the Auditor-General. The complaint was rejected after less than one day. The workers comments reveal their anger and frustration over the PSAs acceptance of the cuts.

One staff member said the union has been ineffectual to say the least and that there has been no factual reporting of exactly how the PSA are representing staff interests.

The worker noted that the PSA have been involved all the way through in implementing the cuts. Indeed, the councils business case for the restructure, released last December, was written with the explicit assumption that the PSA will be supportive of the changes we need to make.

The staff member further stated that during negotiations over shift times the PSA failed to inform staff of the likelihood they would be expected to work late nights and weekends under the new structure. They also criticised the inadequate amount of time staff were given to read through documentation before reapplying for a job.

The worker said that staff had standard job descriptions to work from which in effect meant they were applying for jobs with only the vaguest notions of what exactly they were applying for. Union delegates were not given more detailed information to answer questions from staff.

Even before the restructure officially began, there had been a hiring freeze since early 2016. A different worker wrote that this has been called natural attrition but was really just staff getting fed up with the uncertainty and unpleasantness hanging over us, combined with dismal pay, and getting out." This has led to a reduced workforce and increased pressure on staff.

A council document given to library staff indicates that it will pay out as few redundancies as possible, as this is considered a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. In certain circumstances if a staff member rejects a new role offered to them, they would not be eligible for redundancy.

The PSA has accepted this condition. Its own fact sheet distributed to members informs them: If you are offered a role you do not want to accept due to personal circumstances, before declining, please contact your PSA Rep  as this may affect your entitlements.

The fact sheet also told workers that when they received their initial work schedule following the restructure this is ONLY for the first period of time and  in the future your work location (within a board), days of work and hours of work can still change. In other words, workers who are rehired have no guarantee of stable and secure hours.

One library staff member wrote that this first period of time is only three months, making it impossible for workers to properly plan their lives within their new positions.

The oppressive atmosphere, in which library workers are being forced to compete against their colleagues for the remaining jobs, has reportedly driven some workers to tears. They have been cautioned by the council against speaking publicly or engaging with groups opposing the restructure.

The restructure of Auckland libraries is part of a broad wave of job cuts, including the closure of the Cadbury chocolate factory in Dunedin and the Silver Fern Farm meatworks in Ashburton. Transport workers, meat workers and fast food workers have all taken industrial action in recent months to oppose attacks on wages and conditions.

In every case, however, workers face union bureaucracies which are allied with big business and the political establishment and committed to the defence of the profit system.

Regardless of who wins the upcoming election in Septemberthe current National Party government or the Labour Partyincreasingly brutal austerity measures will continue to be imposed throughout the country, with the assistance of the trade unions.

The urgent need is for workers to break from the unions and create new forms of organisation to carry out a struggle against the cuts. Worker-run rank-and-file committees must be formed in Auckland libraries, independent of, and in opposition to the PSA and the Labour Party, to unite workers nationally and internationally who are facing similar attacks.

The demand must be raised for billions of dollars to be spent on new libraries, schools, and other cultural and educational facilities throughout the country. The fight for these basic rights requires the fight for a workers government and a socialist perspective to overturn the profit system and replace it with a planned economy based on human need, not private profit.

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The CIAs principal house organ, the New York Times, published a lead editorial Sunday on the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election that is an incendiary and lying exercise in disinformation aimed at whipping up support for war with Russia.

The editorial was well-timed, coming on the morning of the same day that the US military shot down a Syrian warplane, setting off a dramatic escalation in the US conflict with Russia. The editors of the Times have the closest ties with US military and intelligence officials and no doubt were aware that something was being planned, if they were not briefed about the details.

Under the headline Mr. Trumps Dangerous Indifference to Russia, the Times uses the language of war to assert: A rival foreign power launched an aggressive cyberattack on the United States, interfering with the 2016 presidential election The unprecedented nature of Russias attack is getting lost in the swirling chaos of recent weeks, but it shouldnt be.

The Times presents zero evidence to back up a wild reference to the sheer scope and audacity of the Russian efforts. The editorial simply declares, American intelligence agencies have concluded, followed by a long list of allegations:

Under direct orders from President Vladimir Putin, hackers connected to Russian military intelligence broke into the email accounts of senior officials at the Democratic National Committee and of Hillary Clintons campaign manager, John Podesta. They passed tens of thousands of emails to the website WikiLeaks, which posted them throughout the last months of the campaign in an attempt to damage the Clinton campaign.

Even more disturbing, hackers sought access to voter databases in at least 39 states, and in some cases tried to alter or delete voter data. They also appear to have tried to take over the computers of more than 100 local election officials in the days before the November 8 vote.

Editorial page editor James Bennet presents not a single fact that supports the Times  assertions. What is the evidence that there were direct orders from Putin, or that hackers linked to Russian intelligence raided Democratic email accounts and supplied material to WikiLeaks, or that (other?) hackers tried to access voter databases and the computers of local election officials? The entire mountain of accusations is suspended in air.

If one traces back the charges to their original sources, they all turn out to be factually unsupported claims by US intelligence agencies, made either in public findings issued in October 2016 and January 2017, or in a series of leaks from within the military-intelligence apparatus, mainly to the Times and the Washington Post.

The most recent allegations, about alleged hacking into voter databases and local election computers, are based on a National Security Agency (NSA) report leaked to The Intercept web publication, which even The Intercept admitted contained no underlying evidence to substantiate the NSAs claims.

Not a single one of the reports in the Times or Post is the product of a genuine investigation by journalists. Instead, the main reporting on the Russian hacking affair consists of taking dictation from unidentified intelligence officials. In not a single case did these officials offer evidence to substantiate their claims, invariably made in the form of ambiguous phrases like we assess, we believe, we assess with high confidence, etc. Such claims are worth no more than previous assertions that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destructiona lie used to justify a war that has killed more than one million people.

In its brazen contempt for basic standards of evidence, the Times ignores more plausible sources of the leaked Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic Party information, such as an individual or individuals within the Democratic Party. The newspaper makes no mention of the content of the leaked emails, which document the efforts of the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to sabotage the primary challenge of Bernie Sanders.

For all the rhetorical heat about a supposed Russia assault on the integrity of American democracy, as the Times puts it, there is no such outrage over the dozens of interventions by Washington to manipulate elections all over the world.

One recent study found 81 instancesnot counting outright CIA-backed military coupsin which the US government financed political parties, organized disinformation campaigns, carried out assassinations, blackmailed candidates, or otherwise sought to install its own nominees by rigging elections in countries on every continent.

One of the most flagrant such examples was the 1996 presidential election in Russia, won by the US-backed Boris Yeltsin (See: Bill Clinton and Boris Yeltsin: When the White House fixed a Russian election).

Apart from its continuous interference in elections, the US government is engaged in non-stop snooping operations against foreign governments, even those with which it is supposedly allied. Just a few years ago, it was revealed that the Obama administration had hackedyes, HACKEDthe cell phone of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Then-US President Obama acknowledged that the US does all sorts of stuff and offered a phony apology.

As for the Times, it has no reservations about serving as a conduit for fact-free propaganda from the US intelligence agencies. This points to the newspapers putrefaction in recent decades, seen above all in the fact that its leading personnel, particularly on its editorial pages and foreign affairs staff, consist of ex-officio spokesmen for US imperialism, including a stable of CIA flacks such as Nicholas Kristof, Roger Cohen and Thomas Friedman.

The editorial page editor, James Bennet, is the brother of right-wing Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado and son of Douglas Bennet, a top State Department official in the Carter and Clinton administrations, whose career includes a stint heading the Agency for International Development (AID), a frequent instrument for CIA provocations.

The Times, channeling the intelligence agencies, has a definite political agenda. Powerful factions of the ruling class want to continue and intensify the anti-Russian foreign policy adopted by the Obama administration, particularly in the wake of the 2014 campaign to bring down the elected pro-Russian government in Ukraine and install an ultra-right, pro-US stooge regime.

A recent Times article, focused on Senate passage of new sanctions against Russia, spells out the issues relatively clearly. In Leaders Wary of Trump May Have an Ally: Congress, the Times asserts that congressional leaders, both Democratic and Republican, are working to ensure that American foreign policy remains rooted in the trans-Atlantic alliance against traditional rivals like Russia. It praises Republican efforts to advance an anti-Trump foreign policy and impose sanctions against Russia for its actions in backing the Syrian government.

In the eyes of the factions of the ruling class for which the Times speaks, the problem is not that Russia is interfering with American democracy, but that it is interfering with critical geo-strategic interests of American imperialism in Syria and the broader Middle East. The newspaper is attempting to condition American public opinion and overcome popular opposition to an escalating military confrontation with the worlds second-largest nuclear power.

For the working class, the fight against the Trump administration and the fight against its opponents in the political establishment is the same fight. It is a fight against the capitalist ruling class, which is preparing to inflict on the people of the entire world a new and catastrophic world war.
By Press Trust of India: Srinagar, Jun 20 (PTI) Authorities here today said that 24 rescue teams and 35 dog squads would be deployed along the twin routes of Pahalgam and Baltal in south Kashmir Himalayas as part of efforts to ensure smooth and peaceful Amarnath pilgrimage.

The 40-day annual yatra to the 3,880 metre high holy cave shrine of Amarnath is set to commence next week.

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"A total of 24 rescue teams will be deployed during the forthcoming Yatra. These teams would be drawn from the personnel of J&K Armed Police, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and equipped with all rescue equipment including Oxygen Cylinders," Chief Executive Officer of Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) Umang Narula said.

The yatra is scheduled to commence from traditional 28.2 km Pahalgam route in Anantnag district and 9.5 km Baltal track in Ganderbal district on June 29 and will end on Raksha Bandhan on August 7.

Narula, who reviewed the arrangements to be made for providing rescue facilities in case of any emergent situation during the Yatra here, said eight mountain rescue teams from the Armed Police would be deployed to help women and sick pilgrims in negotiating difficult stretches on the Yatra routes.

In addition, a total of 12 avalanche rescue teams, 11 teams of the SDRF and one team of CRPF, would be deployed along both the routes, he said.

"Seven teams would be deployed along the Pahalgam route at Chandanwari, Pissu Top, Zojibal-Nagakoti, Sheshnag, Mahagunus Top, Panjtarni, Holy Cave and five teams along the Baltal route at Baltal, Domel, Railpatri, Brarimarg and Sangam Top," he added.

Besides, four search and rescue teams of the NDRF are also being deployed at Pahalgam-Chandanwari, Sheshnag, Panjtarni and Baltal, he said.

Narula said 35 Dog Squads would be deployed by the Army, state police, BSF and CRPF along the Pahalgam and Baltal routes, of which 27 would be on the Pahalgam axis and eight will be stationed on the Baltal route.

"These dog squads are used for carrying out anti-sabotage checks and other security related duties," he said. PTI MIJ RCJ

--- ENDS ---
More than 60 people have died, 62 have been injured and five villages evacuated in Portugals worst-ever forest fire. The fire, which started on Saturday, has more than doubled the deaths recorded in the countrys previous worst fire in 1966.

Last year, four people died and more than 100,000 hectares (400 square miles) were destroyed in fires. Between 2000 and 2013, Portugal, which comprises less than 10 percent of the landmass in Europes Mediterranean region, recorded a third of the fires. The number of fires has increased from around 3,000 in 1980 to around 20,000 a year today.

Saturdays fire broke out in Pedrogao Grande in central Portugal and spread to the neighbouring municipalities of Figueiro dos Vinhos and Castanheira de Pera. Most of those killed had been driving on the main road between the two municipalities.

The national director of the Judiciary Police, Almeida Rodrigues, told reporters the immediate cause was lightning from a dry thunderstorm, in which rain evaporates before it hits the ground. It set a tree on fire and spread rapidly, in conditions of an intense heatwave affecting the country, low humidity and high winds.

Announcing three days of national mourning, Socialist Party (PS) Prime Minister Antonio Costa described the blazes as the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires and warned, We will certainly find more victims on the ground. This abnormal situation surpasses the normal response capacity of our forces, he added.

Interior Minister Miguel Constanca Urbano de Sousa told reporters, We are under extraordinary meteorological conditions that cannot be forecast, and are impossible to control by human beings.

Catarina Martins, leader of the Left Bloc which along with the Communist Party keeps the minority PS government, elected in 2015, in power declared, The fire that is occurring in Pedrogao Grande and Castanheira de Pera has assumed the dimensions of a tragedy that we have never seen before.

Attempting to deflect criticism away from Costa and the PS, Martins said at the moment it was necessary to concentrate on national and international solidarity towards the local population, for everyone to comply with safety rules and to be alert to Civil Protection appeals and for the media, to ensure the necessary respect towards the victims.

She added, Of course there will be an evaluation later. We know that we have problems in the country that have been badly resolved for a long time, but Well have time for everything else later.

The truth is that there have been countless evaluations after previous disasters, which have been ignored by successive governments.

Former Alentejo firefighter, Nelson Rosado, on the Facebook site, Special Unit for Combating Forest Fires 2017, said, Does anyone know, or better, the international press know that a prisoner earns twice as much to clean the beaches as a firefighter puts out fires?

We do not want money, we want the Government once and for all to know how to give us the due value and respect.

As long as there is business in our forest every year people will die and lose their lives. As for us firemen, we will always be despised, Rosado concluded.

Writing on the firefighters website Bombeiros.pt, former Fireman Sergio Cipriano declared, What failed on Saturday? Everything, as it has failed for decades.

It was not known where the lightning was going to fall, but many warned that wherever it fell it would be a disaster.

There is strictly nothing new to say. Everything has been studied, explained and written in the last decade and a half. There were commissions of all shapes and sizes. And a lot of serious work was done. But everything else was missing. They did not want to deal with forest fires The integration of prevention and fire-fighting was lacking They did not think long term. And everything has been postponed the same as always: making the forest a priority, making a third of the national territory a priority.

Cripiano is referring to the dozens of inquiries held and reports produced after fires in 2003 that destroyed 425,000 hectares (1,650 square miles), nearly 5 percent of the country, and 340,000 hectares (1,300 square miles) two years later.

They identified the problems associated with the fact that Portugal is particularly vulnerable to fires, not only because of its Mediterranean climate but also because of climate change, which has extended the wildfire season from two to up to five months over the last 50 years. Portugal has the highest proportion of forest area in Europe (38 percent), most of which (85 percent) is in private hands and poorly managed or abandoned or planted with acres of highly flammable Eucalyptus trees, owned by paper production corporations.

According to academics Paulo Mateus and Paulo Fernandes, The Portuguese forest service (PFS) went through copious and frequent changes in the last four decades, which clearly signals lack of understanding of its role by policy and decision makers. The PFS organization is highly volatile since 2003, with consecutive organic restructuring and changes in objectives and strategies that disturb functioning and compromise the definition and attainment of long-term goals (Forest Fires in Portugal: Dynamics, Causes and Policies, August 2014).

The reports called for a forest fire defence plan that focused on prevention and completely overhauled and co-ordinated firefighting.

A Forest Fire Protection Plan (PNDFCI) was implemented by the PS government of Jose Socrates (2005-2011) but according to Cipriano, it was seen as too ambitious and reduced to its smallest expression. The Fire Analysis and Use Groups, which were created and had an essential performance in the early years were by 2008 already being demobilized and the rules governing forest management were being forgotten and the plantations authorised haphazardly. The Ministry of Internal Administration responsible for firefighting at the time was led by none other than Antonio Costa, the current prime minister.

Since it came to power in 2015, the PS government, despite all protestations that it has rejected austerity, has continued on the same path. This year it has cut the Environment Agencys paltry 1.5 billion budget by 10.5 percent.

Mario Centeno, the PS finance minister, has won the plaudits of the European Union and International Monetary Fund for his unwavering commitment to cutting the fiscal deficit to the lowest since democracy was restored in Portugal in 1974. Portugal has repaid loans more than it was required to at the same time as bailing out a series of banks.

A recent report stated that international businesses were returning to Portugal because of its low wages and lack of industrial strife. Bond ratings agency Moodys said it is considering moving Portugal from junk status to investment gradebut only if the government make further ambitious strides to bring down the deficit with faster fiscal consolidation, i.e., more austerity.

This is the government that the pseudo-left Left Bloc and Stalinist Communist Party are maintaining in power.
ABC NEWS (NEW YORK)- The death of Otto Warmbier, the American student held captive by North Korea for 17 months, has died just days after being released.

He arrived in the U.S. less than a week ago, carried off a plane suffering from extensive brain damage after more than a year in a coma.

It's been more than a year since the world heard his plea for mercy.

Warmbier, "Please save my life. Please think of my family. "

In a statement Monday, his parents say when Otto was carried off that airplane "he looked very uncomfortable, almost anguished?.." But "within a day the countenance of his face changed, he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that"

Warmbier could not walk, talk or respond to verbal commands.

Monday, he passed away surrounded by his family.

Since the moment their son was sentenced to hard labor for stealing a propaganda poster.

The Warmbier's were fighting for his release.

"We're thrilled that our son is on american soil and I'm able to talk to you on otto's behalf and I'm able to wear the jacket that he wore when he gave his confession," said Warmbier's father.

The family blames North Korea for Otto's death, saying Monday, "The awful, torturious mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible."

On Monday, President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier, who died Monday after being held for more than 17 months by North Korea.

22-year-old Warmbier was in a coma when he was released by North Korea last week.

"I just wanted to pass on word that Otto Warmbier has just passed away. He spent a year and a half in N Korea, a lot of bad things happened but at least we got him to be with his parents. They were so happy to see him even though he was in very tough condition but he just passed away a little while ago. It's a brutal regime, and we'll be able to handle it, " said President Donald Trump.
PHENIX CITY, AL (WTVM) - A mother in Phenix City is looking for answers after she says her son was mistreated at a local daycare.

It is a scenario that no parent wants to imagine -- their child being mistreated by a daycare worker.

Sydney Zimmerman says that is exactly what she discovered when she walked into her child's home daycare and found him in a dark un-air-conditioned closet strapped in a car seat.

He could have overheated and died," says Zimmerman.

She says she was in shock at what she found at her son's daycare when she arrived early to pick him up.

"I followed her in and then she goes to Cindys closet, opens the closet door, turns the light on and my son is sitting there strapped in a car seat that is not his and the first thing he says when he sees me is 'mama.'

That is when Sidney left with her 22-month-old son, Slade, and went to see her mom to call the police.

Before officers could arrive, Cindy Duman, the owner of the home daycare calls to try and explain what happened.

"She's all...sometimes he doesn't want to take a nap. Sometimes he doesn't this or that," says Zimmerman.

Sidney Zimmerman says her fear now is that this is not the first-time Slade had been locked in the closet.

"That tells me sometimes this happens," she says.

Mary Pruett, the worker accused of putting Slade in the closet lives in front of the home where the daycare is located.

News Leader 9 stopped by to ask Pruett about the incident.

No one was home and no cars were in the driveway.

Zimmerman says she is planning to press charges against Cindy Duman and Mary Pruett for child endangerment, child neglect, and operating a business without a license.

She says she doesn't wish this on anyone.

News Leader 9 reached out to the Lee County Sheriffs office for more details but were told more will be available on Monday.

Copyright 2017 WTVM. All rights reserved. | For more news, download the WTVM app here.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - The City of Tallahassee is offering free sandbags to the community as it continues to monitor the weather.

Officials say that they are opening sandbag locations to assist citizens with preparing for heavy rainfall and potential flooding.

There will be sandbags available at the following locations:

James Messer Park South (2830 Jackson Bluff Road

Winthrop Park (1601 Mitchell Avenue)

The only thing you are asked to bring is a shovel to fill the bags yourself. Locations will not be staffed, but crews will monitor and provide additional sand and bags as needed.

Find more sandbag locations throughout Leon County here.

To stay informed about City services as this weather system develops, follow @COTNews on Twitter and check Talgov.com.

MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go.
By Press Trust of India: Amaravati, Jun 20 (PTI) The Andhra Pradesh government today removed retired bureaucrat I Y R Krishna Rao as chairman of the AP Brahmin Welfare Corporation.

TDP leader V Anand Surya has been appointed chairman in Raos place.

No reason was assigned for removing Rao from the post, but what apparently triggered the sudden action were a few posts that the former chief secretary shared on his personal Facebook page that were found to be critical of the Chandrababu Naidu administration.

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Rao was appointed chairman of the corporation for a three-year period in February 2016.

The retired bureaucrat said he had been seeking an appointment with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for the last six months to discuss issues related to Brahmin welfare.

"I have not been granted the appointment with the chief minister despite repeated pleas and I told the CMO officials that my ego was hurt. Neither the chief minister nor his office sought any clarification from me on the Facebook posts. Had they sought my resignation, I would have obliged," Rao said.

The former IAS officer said he had himself sought the post to serve the Brahmin community. PTI DBV ARS RSY

--- ENDS ---
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - Chiles High School and SolutionSkills of Tallahassee are co-sponsoring a very special event called A Community Forum on the SAT & ACT: A Conversation with the Test Makers happening on Tuesday, June 20 at 6:30 p.m. at Chiles Auditorium.

This forum is designed to help students prepare and understand the importance of SAT and ACT testing. The guest speakers will be corporate representatives of the college boards of SAT and the ACT.

Mr. Brian Barnes, from College Boards Florida Partnership, and Mr. Wes Gentry, the state lead officer for the ACT office for North Florida, will be the headline speakers.

These two will also be joined by a panel of educators, a parent, and a student to discuss scholarships and admission information.

The event is free and open to the public, but pre-registration is highly recommended to reserve seating.

Middle school students, high school students, and their parents are encourage to attend this presentation. To pre-register for the forum, please click here.
JACKSON CO., FL - The Jackson County Sheriff's Office has an escaped prisoner, who's been on the run since Saturday, now back in custody.

Shannon Lee Harrison, 25, was reported as an escapee from Houston County, Alabama after he ran from work detail.

JCSO said with the public's held, Harrison was arrested without any issues.

He has outstanding warrants in multiple counties and faces charges, including burglary and theft.

Harrison is currently being held in the Jackson County Jail.
PERRY, Fla. (WTXL) - Hundreds of employees at the Foley Cellulose pulp mill could go on strike, if the union representing them rejects a contract offer from Georgia-Pacific, which has owned the mill since 2013.

For more than a year now, United Steelworkers Local Union 1192 has been in talks with Georgia-Pacific to finalize the contract.

Union president Howard Pickels said the current proposal would significantly hurt the local economy, estimating a $4-5 million loss. He said the cuts to employee wages and benefits hurt their bottom line.

"When our salaries and healthcare and so on -- our other benefits are cut, that's that much more that we don't get to spend here in the community," he said. "We have always encouraged our members to keep their money here in the community. When our money is gone, the community's money is gone."

The mill accounts for more than $230 million annually to Florida's economy -- and serves as Taylor County's largest manufacturing employer. Nearly one-fifth of Taylor County's workforce is based at Foley Cellulose, according to public affairs manager Scott Mixon.

"We believe that the long-term success of the mill is one of the most important things on our minds at this time, and we'll continue to invest," Mixon said. "We'll continue to work with the employees and the community on that particular issue."

Pickels declined to go into detail about the current offer but mentioned the union has concerns about a clause in the contract that relates to employee safety.

The union will hold special meetings Tuesday and Wednesday to inform all members of the contract negotiations.

A vote is scheduled for next week. If the union chooses to strike, Georgia-Pacific says it has a contingency plan in place.
LEON COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Due to the potential for heavy rain and possible flooding, Leon County officials say they are giving away sandbags to the community.

Leon County emergency management officials say that they have set up stations providing sand, bags, and ties. The only thing you are asked to bring is your own shovel.

The sandbags will be available at the following locations starting at 10 a.m.:

 Tekesta Park, at Tekesta Drive and Deer Lake Road in Killearn Lakes

 Apalachee Regional Park (Landfill), 7550 Apalachee Parkway

 J. Lee Vause, 6024 Old Bainbridge Road

 At the intersection of Oak Ridge Rd at Ranchero Rd

Officials say that these posts will not be staffed but residents are asked to take no more than 15 bags so that there's enough for others.

Leon County officials advise that you should monitor the latest forecasts and be prepared to take the necessary safety precautions.

They warn that any and all flood water should be considered to be contaminated and warn parents not to allow children to play in, wade through or swim in flood water.

Updates on official road closures can be found by downloading the Leon County Citizens Connect on Apple or Android.

If you need more information or help, call Leon County Emergency Management at (850) 606-3700.

MOBILE USERS: Download our WTXL news app on your Apple and Android devices for the latest from South Georgia and North Florida. Also, download our WTXL Weather Now app for Apple and Android devices to get the latest local weather wherever you go.
THOMASVILLE, GA - Police are searching for a man they believe is responsible for putting a woman and her 23-month-old child in danger.

Investigators said Dervoski Morgan is now wanted on charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, and aggravated sexual battery.

According to police, the woman said Morgan choked her until she was unconscious and made threats involving her child.

The woman told police Morgan made her and her child get in the car against their will and drive him back to Alabama.

According to investigators, she stopped at several gas stations, begging store clerks to call the police.

"She was telling them that she was in danger and she feared for her life and child's life and she needed police to stop her vehicle. She also had bruises and marks on her neck," said Capt. Maurice Holmes.

Morgan was last seen at the gas station in Lee County.

If you have any information, contact Thomasville Police.
(RNN) - Tropical Storm Cindy has formed in the Gulf of Mexico.

Forecasters said the system will reach the Gulf Coast by Thursday, with little strengthening possible.

The National Hurricane Center extended the Tropical Storm Warning westward to High Island, TX, and the Tropical Storm Watch from west of High Island to San Luis Pass, TX.

Located about 265 miles south of Morgan City, LA, and 355 miles southeast of Galveston, TX, Cindy is stationary, packing winds of 45 mph.

Forecasters expect it to resume a northwest track at about 10 mph.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect from Cameron, LA, to the mouth of the Pearl River. A Tropical Storm Watch has been issued for west of Cameron, LA, to San Louis Pass, TX.

Storm surges are expected of 1 to 3 feet above ground level and possible tornadoes from south-central Louisiana to the western Florida Panhandle.

The National Hurricane Center said that interest from the Texas coast to the Florida Panhandle should monitor this storm.

Weather threats associated with this storm include storm surge of one to three feet, rainfall of four to eight inches in portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida with some heavier downpours possible in isolated areas and the possibility of tornadoes.

Tropical storm-force winds are expected to reach the warning area by late Tuesday.

Elsewhere in the Atlantic basin, Tropical Storm Bret is forecast to weaken as it churns off the coast of South America, 185 miles east-southeast of Curacao.

A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba.

The storm is moving swiftly west at 23 mph as it brushes past the northern coast of South America.

Bret is encountering an upper-level trough in the Caribbean, and it will eventually degrade to a tropical depression before dissipating over the western Caribbean.

Copyright 2017 Raycom News Network. All rights reserved.
TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) -- Very grey skies Monday kept our temperatures slightly cooler than average for much of the area. Moving into the next few days, that overcast condition will remain on hand, as well as increased rain chances. The reason for this weather pattern holding so steady is because of an area of broad low pressure that has been slowly moving into the Gulf of Mexico. This low pressure has large areas of rain and thunderstorms that are spread far away from the center. This means that as this low nears land in the coming days, we'll likely see more rain move through the area, even if it does not track directly toward us. It's because of this additional rain that the Nation Weather Service has issued a Flash Flood Watch for Florida counties west of Leon County and Georgia counties west of Thomas and Mitchell counties, including Leon, Thomas and Mitchell counties. This watch begins Tuesday morning and will last until Thursday morning.

Tonight, we'll keep about a 50 percent chance of rain on hand with a possibility of hearing a rumble of thunder or two. Otherwise, mostly to partly cloudy skies will be seen with overnight lows dropping to the the lower and mid 70s.

Tuesday will be another rainy day with highs reaching the upper 70s and lower 80s due to the extensive cloud cover. Winds are forecast to stay light to moderate from the east at about 5 to 10 mph. Tuesday night will likely see more rain as well due to the disturbance in the Gulf. Lows will fall back into the lower and mid 70s.
A man who got high on a drug called ice, along with with his friends, lost control over his mind and tried to have sex with a crocodile. He is now missing and is feared dead.

By India Today Web Desk: A man in Australia smoked a lot of an illicit drug called ice and then, did the unimaginable.

The fellow tried to have sex with a crocodile.

Quite obviously, he is now missing.

The drug -- ice -- can produce an increased sex drive and maybe that's what triggered the urge in the man, but we cannot think of a reason why he would have wanted to make love to a crocodile.

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The man's identity cannot be confirmed but an Australian media portal reached out his friends. They have a story to tell.

"He gets completely out of control when he's on the gear," told one of the man's friends to Cairns Times.

"We kept telling to cut back a bit, because we were a bit worried. To be very honest but we never expected anything like this."

The 26-year-old missing man's friend shared how he began acting strangely after smoking a load of the drug.

"We tried to get him to calm down but he was running all over the beach and acting like an idiot."

The same friend told Cairns Times that the man had lost his calm after taking the drug in the past as well, but things had never gone out of hand.

Until this time.

"He was a few hundred metres down the beach when he started pulling his clothes off," said the friend.

And that's when they spotted the crocodile.

ICE, CROCODILE AND SEX

The man tripping on ice stripped naked and leapt at the crocodile, said the friend. It seems, he soon started trying to have sex with the giant.

Some fetish, we say.

"We were still a fair distance back, but I reckon he just about got it in."

"Of course, the croc wasn't having a bar of it, and it started thrashing around like crazy."

The crocodile had its jaws around the man's torso and took him into the water.

The group of friends were then quick to alert the search party but they have not yet found him.

"To be taken by a croc in those circumstances I wouldn't be optimistic for him surviving it," said one of the rescue team members.

FYI || Karma is a crocodile: South African hunter, known for killing exotic wild animals, eaten by crocodiles ||

FYI || Bihar: Snake bites man, man bites wife because he wanted to die together ||

FYI || Watch: Deadly python swallows man, police cuts open snake's stomach to retrieve his body ||

--- ENDS ---

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YAKIMA, Wash. -- Fred Hammes and a small army of supporters have battled the problem of abandoned and feral cats in Yakima County for years by trapping them for spaying or neutering or adoption.

Its a challenge, though. No one knows how many abandoned and feral cats live in Yakima County, but local animal control experts estimate it could be more than 41,000.

One cat can have up to three litters of kittens a year, with four to six kittens per litter. Because theres no single large-scale countywide effort for unowned cats, nearly half of felines that enter the shelter are euthanized despite the best efforts of animal lovers.

A $90,000 donation aims to change that. Pet Net Washington, a Seattle-based family foundation dedicated to ending the euthanasia of adoptable animals and reducing their overpopulation, will distribute the funds to the Yakima Humane Society in equal amounts over three years, with the first check of $30,000 coming Thursday.

The funding will be used to develop and implement the Valley Katz Program, which will employ a trap-neuter-return (TNR) strategy to humanely manage cat populations.

It will establish a comprehensive TNR program to reduce the number of cats entering the shelter system along with stabilizing and improving the health of cat colonies. The goal will be to save lives by providing a viable, humane and cost-effective alternative to euthanasia.

This $30,000 is a huge start for this program, said Vaughn Merry, executive director of the Yakima Humane Society. Starting off, it will feature TNR services and free spay/neuter surgeries, with much more down the road.

Theres a lot involved in this program. This is not just trapping cats; theres a ton involved in it, he said.

Among the plans will be a barn cat program, which will place cats on farms to control rodents. There will be a staff member tracking colonies, if there are signs of illness in those colonies, if theyre being fed properly and more, he added.

Hammes, who has worked to curb the unowned cat population for about seven years, is excited with the possibilities.

Weve got a wonderful group of ladies; most of us have been doing this on our own for years ... were just now working together, she said.

For example, Hammes and several others transported 39 cats and kittens to West Side rescue organizations on Monday, with more going Tuesday.

Weve got weekly transports to several different rescues, Hammes said.

This year, volunteers have picked up and transported 572 cats.

Our shelter cant handle anywhere near the number of cats we have, so Seattle has been wonderful. (The cats) get medical and whatever they need taken care of.

Cat colonies include a mix of feral cats that avoid people, strays and kittens. Volunteers take as many of the kittens as they can to tame, rehome and transport them to shelters. Feral cats are returned to the community.

Because there are so many unwanted and homeless cats in Yakima County, overpopulation persists though those volunteers and others have helped get thousands of cats fixed and rehomed over the years, Hammes said.

Its going to take something on a very big scale just to get the problem in hand, said Hammes, who works with several organizations to reduce the number of cats. This is going to be a huge, huge help. I work entirely off donations and some (funds) from our own pockets, with some spending up to hundreds of dollars a month, she said.

Yakima Humane Society's clinic helping keep pet population down YAKIMA, Wash. -- Holly didnt know it at the time, but she set a big milestone in the operat

Hans and Cindy Koch, who established the foundation providing the grant, are visiting the Valley on Thursday to personally present the first check.

Yakima Humane Society has been diligently working to get its low-cost spay and neuter clinic up and running, Cindy Koch, president of Pet Net Washington, said in a news release. Now that the clinic is operational, Pet Net Washington wants to support Yakima Humane Societys efforts to provide services to community cats  the group of animals most at risk of being euthanized in the shelter.

The Humane Society opened the regions first high-volume, low-cost spay and neuter clinic in Yakima in late December. The clinic has since performed more than 2,500 surgeries.

The opening of our spay and neuter clinic was the first step in Yakima County becoming a no-kill community, Merry said in the news release.

Establishing a program dedicated to providing a humane solution for community cats is the next logical step. We are delighted that Pet Net Washington sees value in our initiative and has confidence in our ability to succeed.
By Preeti Choudhry: On the eve of the International Yoga Day, Yoga Guru Ramdev dedicated this year's celebrations to Indian farmers. He said that being a farmer's son, he knows the hardships that a farmer and his family bears. He said, "The Indian farmer is going through a very tough time, the government should do everything to help. I have decided to dedicate this year's International Yoga Day to the Indian farmer."

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On International Yoga Day, the PM will lead yoga celebrations in Lucknow and Ramdev in Ahmadabad. Lakhs of farmer across the country will mark the day performing the shavasana, known as the 'corpse pose' to signify the ensuing agrarian crisis.

Ramdev further added that Madhya Pradesh, the current epicentre of farmer protest, has actually been one of the most robust agrarian economies and it is the Congress that fueled the farmer unrest. However, he added that the CM should give in to the demands of loan waiver to the farmers. He said, "Shivraj Singh Chauhan should listen to the famers and give in to the demands of a loan waiver."

Speaking to yoga disciples at the India Today Mediaplex, Ramdev credited PM Narendra Modi for making a International Yoga Day a reality. He said, "Yoga represents the Indian culture and our PM has made yoga international with its epicentre in India."

Speaking about the virtues of yoga, the yoga guru talked about how BJP party president has shed a considerable amount of weight by practicing yoga and Yogi Adityanath get his stamina and vigour as he is a true yogi.

On a lighter note, he dispensed some yogic advice to political leaders like Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejrwial. "Rahul Gandhi could learn patience from breathing exercise anulom vilom also the shoulder stand will help him centre his mind. Arvind Kejriwal could learn to meditate to rid himself of a persecution complex."

To mark the International Yoga Day, Ramdev said he has planned to launch 10,000 patanjali wellness institutes globally to popularise the practice. Morever, in collaboration with the Gujarat government, Ramdev hopes to create a new world record this year on yoga day. He said, "The aim is to set a new world record for the highest number of people performing yoga at one place."

ALSO WATCH | Baba Ramdev: Due to India's initiative, 200 nations celebrate International Yoga Day

--- ENDS ---
Lecturers in the academia definitely need an ethical code, but they already have one. And the ethical code of lecturers in the academia is much stricter than the ethical code of politicians and government ministers, for example.

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As scientists, our commitment is first and foremost to the truth, to facts and evidence. If the evidence contradicts our personal view, we are committed to present the evidence as is. When we discuss a complicated political issue in class, we are committed to present to the students a variety of theories and opinions, and we are committed to allow the students to respond, to ask questions and to voice different opinions. Even if a students political views are different from our own, we must not offend him, mock him, silence him or punish him by lowering his grade.

Do all lecturers always obey these rules? Of course not. Show me one institution in which all members always obey its rules. But is that a reason to forbid lecturers to discuss political issues in their classes? It will be the end of freedom of speech and freedom of research in the academia. For the sake of comparison, government members ethical code forbids them to take public funds and put them in their own pockets or to transfer public funds to their associates. Do all ministers always obey this code? Not really. So should we perhaps forbid ministers to made decisions on public funds?

In the academia, students are taught how to conduct a political debate based on evidence rather than on wishful thinking, and how to distinguish between propaganda and the truth (Photo: Shutterstock)

The ethical code suggested by the education minister determines that a faculty member at an academic unit will beware the possibility that his remarks in class will be naturally interpreted by students as political activity, and defines political activity as any activity which includes direct support for a certain stance in a known public controversy, which has been expressed over an extended period of time in the Knesset and in the public discourse.

Should this code be accepted, I will personally violate it in almost every class, because its simply impossible to teach history without talking about opinions in a known public controversy. Is it possible to teach a course about the Bar Kochba Revolt, about the Inquisition in the Middle Ages or about the communist revolution in Russia without addressing controversial political issues? After all, we dont study history to know the dates of ancient battles and to remember the names of kings who died 1,000 years ago. Who cares about that? We study history because its relevant to our lives today.

Its not that a lecturer in a history class stands in front of his students and says to them, Dont vote Bibi! But a lecturer in a history class should not have to be afraid and censor himself when he asks his students, What ways do rulers use to incite the population against minority groups? or how is it possible that when a regular person goes bankrupt, he carries his debts around for life, and when a billionaire goes bankrupt, his debt is written off?

As a lecturer with tenure and an international reputation, I have almost nothing to be afraid. Even if lecturers are forbidden to discuss political issues in class, I will keep doing it, and if I am fired from the Hebrew University as a result, I believe I will find a different workplace.

A young lecturer without tenure, however, is in a completely different position. When she faces her students in class, she will think 10 times before saying something that could be interpreted as a political statement, lest a student will complain about her to the discipline board and she will gain a reputation of a troublemaker. Not only will she be afraid to express an opinion on political issues, but she will avoid teaching courses on dangerous issues like the inquisition to begin with. After all, what if a lesson on the persecution of Jews in Spain of the 16th century develops, God forbid, into a discussion of issues that are under a known public controversy such as the persecution of minorities, religious fanaticism or censorship?

How does censorship work?

Censorship publicly punishes one person for a radical comment, thereby intimidating thousands of people who avoid making much more moderate comments. And then todays moderate comment becomes tomorrows radical comment.

All this applies not only to the Department of History and not only to the Faculty of Humanities. There is hardly any academic field that doesnt deal with political issues. Dont economists deal with views that are under a known public controversy?

The ethical code suggested by the education minister determines that an academic discussion as part of a course on an issue that touches on subjects which include political activity, while presenting the different arguments in a professional and dignified manner, does not harm the students in any way. Thats all fine and well. Does that mean that every time a professor of economics discusses an economic policy without presenting the arguments of Marxian economists in a professional and dignified manner, she is harming her students and should be reprimanded? Does that mean that every time an professor of agriculture talks about the milk production process, he should devote an appropriate amount of time to a dignified presentation of the vegan opinion, and that if he fails to do so, his students will file a complaint against him with the discipline board? Does that mean that every time a historian teaches the history of the War of Independence, he should present the Palestinians claims in a professional and dignified manner, and that if he fails to do so, he will get a black mark on his record?

Does the education minister think that after 12 years of studying in the Israeli educational system, students are incapable of thinking in a critical manner? (Photo: Gil Yohanan)

Some say that the solution is to ensure that the academic departments include lecturers with a variety of political outlooks to being with. Does that mean that the Department of Economics will be forced to reserve positions for Marxists, that the Department of Agriculture will be forced to reserve positions for vegans, and that the Department of History will be forced to reserve positions for Palestinians? Capitalist lecturers must, of course, let a socialist student talk in class, and they must not punish him for it with a low grade. But if it turns out that professors of economics occasionally silence students who voice a socialist opinion in class, should the solution be to forbid professors of economics to discuss economic policies in class?

And what about computer science? In the 21st century, artificial intelligence might be the most important political issue in the world. Will we create fully autonomic weapons, like a remove-piloted vehicle that opens fire on its own? Will employers give an advanced computer software the authority to fire people, just because the computer reached the conclusion that a certain employee is not efficient enough? Will governments collect huge amounts of biometric information on their citizens? Will the Facebook and Google algorithms shape our political discourse? And do we want to forbid professors of computer science to voice their opinions on these issues?

The elephant in the room

And there is of course the elephant in the room. It isnt hard to predict that the ethical code advanced by the education minister wont be used to regiment capitalist lecturers at the Department of Economics, lecturers from the Department of Agriculture who love their steak, or historians who teach the 1948 war without presenting the Palestinians' claims in a professional and dignified manner. The code will likely be used, almost exclusively, to punish lecturers who dare criticize the government. And that is the most serious problem. Under the guise of an impartial ethical code, they are basically creating a tool for political persecution of the governments opponents.

Those who seek to impose an ethical code on the academia on behalf of the government are acting all innocent and claiming that they simply want every academic institution to defend its students against political activity. But students know how to defend themselves, as we saw in the case of the female students who have led battles against sexual harassment in academic institutions in recent years.

Students are not small children. Children usually lack critical thinking skills, and when a Bible teacher tells a 10-year-old boy that God created the world in six days, the child has trouble addressing it in a critical manner. On the other hand, 25-year-old students dont believe everything their lecturer tells them. Does the education minister think that after 12 years of studying in the Israeli educational system, students are incapable of thinking in a critical manner? The best way to defend students is to keep developing their critical thinking skills and their political instincts so that they wont believe everything they are told by a person of authorityand that is precisely what we are trying to teach students in the academia.

That is exactly why the government is so afraid of the academia. The government is afraid that citizens will learn how to think in a critical manner, and it is even more afraid that citizens will learn to think based on facts. Politicians like to engage in a simplistic political debate based on slogans and propaganda. In the academia, on the other hand, students are taught how to conduct a complex political debate based on a wide variety of facts and evidence. Want to present a political stance? Go ahead, but this is the academia, so bring us some kind of evidence supporting your stance.

You say that cutting taxes for the rich benefits the poor? Okay, bring us some evidence. You say that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza? Bring evidence. You say that the global warming claims are actually a Chinese scheme against the US economy? Bring evidence. Anything can be discussed, as long as the discussion is based on evidence.

Fine political debates in the academia teach students how to conduct a political debate based on evidence rather than on wishful thinking, and how to distinguish between propaganda and the truth. Is that the real reason for the education ministers objection to political debates in the academia? Is it possible that he is afraid of the truth? My suggestion is that all lecturers in Israel, whether in the Department of Philosophy or in the Department of Computer Science, devote their next class to a short discussion of politics.
Belgian troops shot a suspected suicide bomber in Brussels Central Station on Tuesday, but there were no other casualties.

By Reuters: Belgian troops shot dead a suspected suicide bomber in Brussels' central train station on Tuesday but there were no other casualties, in what authorities were treating as the latest terrorist incident in Europe.

The man set off a small explosion at the city's Central Station, prosecutors said, and was then shot by one of the routine military patrols active in Brussels since attacks more than a year ago. They declined comment on witness accounts that the man had shouted Islamist slogans first.

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Only hours later, after bomb disposal teams had cleared the area, was the man confirmed dead. There was no word on his identity.

"We consider this a terrorist attack," prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt told reporters by the nearby Grand Place. Police had cleared streets around Brussels' landmark Renaissance town square after the blast, which occurred around 8:30 pm (1830 GMT) as tourists and locals were enjoying a hot summer's night.

The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell organised the attack that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015. Four months later, associates of those attackers killed 32 people in their home city.

Since then, attacks in France, but also in Germany, Sweden and, most recently, in Britain, have been carried out in the name of the Syria-based Islamist group by other young men, many of them locals, raising fears of more violence in Brussels, where almost a quarter of its population of 1.2 million are Muslim.

Witnesses spoke of a man who shouted Islamist slogans, including "Allahu akbar" - God is greater - in Arabic, in an underground area of the station still busy with commuters making their way home and seemed to set off one or two small blasts that filled parts of the building with smoke.

'ISOLATED ACTS'

Security experts said Tuesday's incident could have been similar to "lone wolf" assaults carried out by radicalised individuals with limited access to weapons and training.

"Such isolated acts will continue in Brussels, in Paris and elsewhere. It's inevitable," Brussels security consultant Claude Moniquet, a former French agent, told broadcaster RTL.

With Islamic State under pressure in Syria - where Belgium has been the most fertile European recruiting ground for foreign Islamist fighters - he said attacks in Europe could increase, though many of these would be by "amateurs" doing little harm.

He compared Tuesday's incident to that on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue a day earlier, when a man was killed when he rammed his car, filled with explosive and weapons, into a French police convoy. No one else was injured.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, an employee at the Brussels Central Station, told Reuters that he was heading downstairs toward the underground platforms of the compact, 1930s station, which serves long-distance and suburban lines running under the city centre.

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"There was a man shouting, and shouting and shouting," he said. "He was talking about the jihadists and all that and then at some point he shouted 'Allahu akbar' and blew up the little suitcase he had next to him. People just took off."

He described the man as quite dark and with short hair and said he was wearing a white shirt and black jeans.

Remy Bonnaffe, a 23-year-old lawyer who was waiting on the concourse for a train home to Ghent, said he was startled by an explosion as he listened to music on his headphones. He took a photograph of flames shooting up from what he thought was a briefcase. There was a second blast further away, which he could not see, followed by what sounded like gunfire, prompting him to run.

"I think we had some luck tonight," he told Reuters. "I'm happy that no one was injured and that this was basically a failed attempt." People just feet from the explosion appeared unhurt and he said he saw no obvious damage to the walls around.

As Prime Minister Charles Michel consulted with his security advisers, the national alert was maintained at its second highest level. Michel, who convened a National Security Council meeting for early Wednesday, tweeted his thanks to the security forces and railway staff for their professionalism and courage.

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ALSO READ | Don't differentiate between good and bad terrorists, VK Singh urges BRICS in China

ALSO READ | China may once again block India's bid to UN ban on Jaish chief Masood Azhar

ALSO WATCH | Breakthrough in London attack investigation: 2 attackers identified, 1 was born in Pakistan

--- ENDS ---
After much deliberation, the Kingdom of Jordan has decided not to bar movie theaters from screening the film Wonder Woman, starring Israeli actress Gal Gadot.

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Lebanon pulled the movie at the last minute as a result of pressure by the BDS Movement, while Tunisia issued a temporary ruling against the screening of the film.

Objections arose to the movie in Jordan as well, with claims being made screening it would mean "normalization with Israel."

Wonder woman placard in Beirut, Lebanon (Photo: Reuters)

The Jordanian parliament's National Guidance Committee, which has been leading the opposition to the movie, met on Sunday with the Minister of Communications and Information, Mohammad al-Momani, to hear from him why the film was approved for screening in the country.

The committee members were unconvinced, however. "The content of the film is not consistent with the Arab culture and Jordanian culture in particular," the committee said, and even claimed Gadot, who served in the IDF, expresses her hatred through filmmaking. They also wrote to Prime Minister Hani Al-Mulki, asking him to prevent the screening of the film in the country.

Communications Minister al-Momani, who also serves as the goverment's spokesman, defended the movie, explaining it met the criteria of a Communications Ministry committee examining the issue, and that no one can interfere in the committee's decisions.

According to him, "the citizenship of the actor" cannot be grounds for preventing the screening of any film, as many other films should be banned if that were the case.

Wonder woman poster in Beirut, Lebanon (Photo: AP)

"Jordanian culture is deeply rooted and cannot be influenced by any film, whatever its positions," the minister said.

He also argued the decision to prevent or allow artistic content such as films cannot be made based on the whims of politicians, but in accordance with what the law stipulates.

The director of the Communications Ministry's committee, Mohammed Al-Kutishat, also tried to explain the decision to screen the film, noting that there were 16 films screen in Arab countries that starred Israeli actors.
MARAWI CITY -- Philippine aircraft bombed rebel positions and ground troops launched a renewed push against Islamist militants holed up in a southern city on Tuesday, and a military spokesman said the aim was to wrap up the fighting before the weekend Eid festival.

The offensive came amid worry that rebel reinforcements could arrive after Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

"We are aiming to clear Marawi by the end of Ramadan," said military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla, as army and police commanders met in nearby Cagayan de Oro city to reassess strategy and operations against the militants, who claim allegiance to Islamic State.

"We cannot definitely say when we could end this because we are fighting door to door and there are booby traps which pose danger to our troops."
Jason Greenblatt, President Trump's Middle East envoy, arrived in Israel Sunday and paid a visit to the family of Hadas Malka, the border policewoman who was killed in Friday's Jerusalem twin terror attack

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A message from the US government on the visit read, "Jason Greenblatt, the president's special representative on international negotiation, visited the family of border policewoman MSgt. Hadas Malka, sitting shiva for their daughter. Malka was murdered by terrorists in an attack near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem. Greenblatt expressed his condolences on behalf of the Trump administration. Such incidents underscore why it is vital to realize President Trump's vision of a Middle East free of the threats of terrorism and extremism."

Greenblatt (Photo: EPA)

PM Netanyahu visiting the Malka family Sunday (Photo: Kobi Gidon/GPO)

Greenblatt arrived in Israel on Sunday for a visit focused on meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leadership. The visit was originally supposed to take place several days ago, but the Americans decided to postpone until after Ramadan. However, the meeting was urgently rescheduled following Friday's terror attack and the controversy swirling around the Qalqilya Plan.

Greenblatt at the Western Wall

Apart from visiting the Malka family, Greenblatt also visited the Western Wall. On his Twitter account, Greenblatt posted, "Today at the Kotel I prayed for an end to violence and the blessing of peace."

As part of efforts to renew negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, Jared Kushner, husband of Ivanka Trump and the president's close adviser, will arrive in Israel shortly after.
In cooperation with the Strategic Affairs and Information Ministry

Like the majority of their friends who are starting summer vacation, these high school kids will also work, have fun and maybe travel abroad with their families. However, they have another mission that they have taken upon themselves: to defend Israels name.

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There is a limit to what the government can do, says Tal Namet, 17, who will begin 12th grade next year at Herzog High School in Kfar Saba. According to Namet, he was drawn to current affairs from a young age, and as such, when he heard about the Israeli Center for Young Leaders, he was quick to join. I thought to myself that if I wanted to enrich my knowledge while volunteering and serving my country, I want to be there.

The Young Leaders programwhich is headed by former foreign ministry official Yitzhak Eldanoperates in the Ramat HaHayal neighborhood of Tel Aviv. The program is intended for students in grades 9-12 and trains Israeli youth from all walks of life to become young ambassadors for the State of Israel.

:  ,  :   

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As part of the three-year program, participants learn various communication skills, acquire knowledge of current eventsespecially the Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflictand embark on a six-day delegation to another country where they meet with young people their age. The program's planners hope that the connections they forge abroad will help spread the truth about Israel on social media and help fight the de-legitimization campaign waged by boycott movements around the world.

Our advantage is that we meet these kids right at the critical age, says Namet, who travelled to Madrid, Spain on a delegation during Passover vacation. They meet us when they are still in high school, before they get to colleges and universities that are full of incitement. At this stage, it is easier for them to connect to us and listen to us than it is for adult politicians.

The ambassadors at work

Big changes start small and I feel weve made a change, says Sean Dinor, 17, a student at Katznelson High School in Kfar Saba. I came back from Madrid with the feeling that we had a lot of influence. We tried to deal less with politics, instead focusing on just being with them, talking to them and showing them that Israelis are exactly like them. Its enough if one person is influenced, tells their friends that they have an Israeli friend and all of a sudden it doesnt sound as bad as it is portrayed in the media.

Even in the Ministry of Strategic Affairswhich has been leading the fight against The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement for the last two yearsunderstands the potential value of the program and last year adopted it. As part of this adoption, the ministry funded the aforementioned delegation to Madrid and has already committed to funding two more trips to Sweden and Ireland; two countries in which a serious struggle over Israels image is underway.

Every day we encounter de-legitimization as well as unfair and unjust treatment that movements like BDS espouse, says Dolev Zeichner, 17, from Rabin High School in Kfar Saba. Therefore, I have both an obligation and a desire to fix the situation.

Adi Yehezkel, 17, Dolevs friend from school, agrees. The students from Madrid thought we lived in a war zone. They were really surprised to hear that were kids, just like them, and we arent afraid to walk in the streets," Yehezkel says. We showed them that we are the only democracy in the Middle East and that we support human rightsbut like every other country in the world we have the need for an army to protect us.

All the kids emphasized that the activities are completely apolitical. The whole secret here is the encounter, meeting one another, forming a friendly connection, says Snir Dolev, 31, Director of the Public Diplomacy Program at the Israeli Center for Young Leaders. The innocence that kids bring with them breaks barriers, even among adults, said Dolev.

These youth diplomats are already starting to have an impact, as evidenced by the recent delegation in Holland, the participants of which were subject to a hateful Facebook post published by a city councilman in The Hague, Abdoe Khoulani, who called the Israeli youngsters "future Zionist terrorists, occupiers and those who murder children."

According to Yehezkel, incidents like that only serve to motivate them and strengthen their resolve. For exactly that reason, our activities are crucial, she explained. Today, almost everything is conducted on social media. The second one of us has a few Facebook friends from another country, all of our activities for Israel become viral. That is our biggest victory and that is why we constantly strengthen these connections.
A memorial to six Israeli Air Force (IAF) members who died during a training exercise seven years ago in Romania has been renovated a year after it was smashed and vandalized.

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The memorial was erected in dedication to the six IAF members who were killed in a Sikorsky CH-53 helicopter training accident in the Carpathian Mountains in 2010.

Photo: Yad LaBanim

The renovations were carried out by the Israeli ministry of defense and the IDF in cooperation with the Israeli embassy in Bucharest. The Romanian government assisted by paving access roads to the memorial so it would be more accessible to visitors.

Last summer, the memorial was defaced with graffiti reading "you are pigs" and swastikas.

Eli Ben-Shem, Director of Yad LaBanimorganization commemorating fallen IDF soldierssaid, "Harming a monument is a grave and ugly phenomenon that we encounter in Israel too. Vandals damage memorial sites either maliciously or by negligence. Each time we get a picture like that, the bereaved family's heart is pinched. For the families, a memorial is oftentimes the only remnant of their fallen child.

Vandalized monument

"I am proud that the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the IDF have not given up and have restored the monument. I also thank the Romanian authorities who helped to pave the way for access to the site."

The accident occurred on July 26th, 2010, when the IAF CH-53 crashed during a high-altitude training flight in the mountains. The entire crewfour pilots, two mechanics, an observation officer and a Romanian Air Force officerwas killed in the crash.

Bereaved parents during the memorial ceremony (Photo: Yad LaBanim)

Roughly 200 bereaved parents and Yad LaBanim officials on vacation in Romania hastily put together a memorial service at the monument. The Israeli Consul in Romania, Rina Dvir, also laid a wreath at the ceremony.
QUETTA -- Pakistani separatists riding motorcycles killed two naval officers in the restive southwestern province of Baluchistan, police officials said on Tuesday, near the site of a major Chinese-funded project.

Senior police officer Abdul Hafeez Baloch said four armed men on Monday attacked a vehicle taking food to a naval base in the costal town of Jewani, about 80 km (50 miles) west of the port city of Gwadar.

"One officer died on the spot while another succumbed while being moved to hospital," Baloch said, adding that three officers were wounded in the attack.

A spokesman for the separatist Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack.
The ultra-Orthodox parties of Shas and United Torah Judaism warned Monday afternoon that they may quit the coalition if the government continues to allow work to be carried out on the Israel Railways infrastructure during Shabbat.

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During a joint meeting, the two parties called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to act against permitting such work to take place on Shabbat, as took place this past weekend, and urged him to prevent local initiatives to operate private transportation alternatives to public transport services on Saturdays. According to the parties, overlooking it constituted a violation of coalition agreements.

Consequently, United Torah Judaism Chairman Yaakov Litzman said during the meeting that Netanyahu was obliged to intervene on the matter and to put a stop to the phenomenon before delivering his ultimatum.

Haredi parties meet to discuss work on Shabbat

If this continues, it is a violation of coalition agreements and I am not sure we will be able to remain in it, he threatened. The prime minister has to interveneboth in the Transportation Ministry and also with Minister Haim Katz (Welfare and Labor Ministered.) who supervises the work permits.

Shas Chairman and Interior Minister Aryeh Deri also weighed in on the matter expressing his regret over the work being carried out on Shabbat. Our heart bleeds when in Israel they have turned Shabbat into a day of strengthening and fixing infrastructure, said Deri, who is currently embroiled in a police investigation over suspected undeclared assets.

For his part, MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) insisted that It is absolutely clear that a large part of the work can be done during the week. There is no doubt about this. If the situation doesnt return to how it was, we will go to the sages and ask them if we are permitted to sit here (in the coalition).

Photo: Asaf Zagrizak

In a joint statement published at the conclusion of the meeting, the two parties were forthright about their positions, concisely listing their set of demands.

We demand that the prime minister abide by the coalition agreement, return to the status quo as it was, immediately stop the unnecessary infrastructural work on the train, both regarding the additional lines on Shabbat and the lack of enforcement of pirate companies operating public transportation on Shabbat. the statement read.

The dispute is not the first of its kind to have taken place over the last year. Indeed, last September Litzman and Deris protests over work being conducted on Shabbat on the trains, to which they objected on the grounds that they were not essential to saving lives, threw the coalitions future into uncertainty, causing the prime minister to intervene directly on the matter.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not a leftistfar from it. He is, however, at the farthest left of the Likud party. Granted, his statements on settlement construction are causing tremendous damage to Israel, but the man is singlehandedly stopping the rampage.

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The Right is insisting on fulfilling the vision of one large state, and Netanyahuat least in private conversationsunderstands that this is a creeping disaster. And when most of Likuds Knesset members try to sounds more right-wing than the Bayit Yehudi party, Netanyahu is one of the only people there showing signs of sanity. But as we're about to see, it isnt working out for him.

The Qalqilya construction plan is the new bone of contention between Netanyahu and the Right because it means an expansion of the citywhich is under the Palestinian Authoritys jurisdiction in civil matterstowards Area C, which is under Israeli security and civil control and includes about 60 percent of Judea and Samaria's total area. According to Bayit Yehudi leader Naftali Bennetts plan for addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, this area is to be annexed to Israel.

When Netanyahu has to choose between Bennetts stance and the national interesthe chooses Bennett (Photo: Emil Salman)

The construction plan involves the expansion of 2,500 dunams (about 617 acres), out of the 3.3 million dunams in Area Cin other words, less than a hundredth of a percent. But it annoys those who think that as part of the one large state they are establishing, in which Jews and Arabs will live together in the perfect harmony the Middle East is accustomed to, there is a need to totally suffocate the Arabs. This may be the image of their coexistence fantasy.

The focus, however, is on Netanyahu. Last week, he reprimanded Bayit Yehudi and Likud ministers for denying decisions that they themselves had voted for. The only one who backed him was Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman. The expansion was, naturally, coordinated with security officials, likely led by Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the oordinator of government activities in the territories.

Mordechai, by the way, is the person who has been making the most serious effort to allow the Palestiniansat least those who want toto live as normal a life as possible.

The thing is that last weeks Netanyahu is not this weeks Netanyahu. It takes just a little resistance from within the coalitions for him to show signs of caving. According to Channel 2 News correspondent Amit Segal, the prime minister said he doesnt recall the decision on the Qalqilya construction plan. The Security Cabinet, therefore, will hold another discussion on the issue.

The Qalqilya crisis characterizes the current governments conduct. The Rights representatives argue that the people of Israel elected a right-wing government to fulfill right-wing values and that permits for construction in Qalqilya are definitely not part of the Rights platform.

But this is a false argument, and can even be seen as deception. Its true that Israel has a clear national Zionist majority, but in Netanyahu and Liebermans dispute with Likud ministers Tzipi Hotovely and Zeev Elkin and the Bayit Yehudi ministers, they knowand Netanyahu knowsthat the majority would choose the statesmanlike Netanyahu.

A vote for Likud is not a vote in favor of suffocating the Palestinians, and certainly not in favor of annexing all the territories to fulfill the vision of one big state.

The public is in favor of the statesmanlike Netanyahu. The question is whether Netanyahu is actually choosing a statesmanlike approach, whether he has any backbone, whether every scream from Yossi Dagan of the Yesha Council makes him cave, and whether he is capable of leading to the implementation of a decision that was made in the Security Cabinet, likely on behalf of defense establishment officials.

Over the past two years, we have repeatedly learned that in the quarrels between Netanyahu and Bennett, the latter eventually emerges as the winner. The Regulation Law is a clear example.Netanyahu knew that its a harmful law for Israel, but when he had to choose between Bennetts stance and the national interest, he chose Bennett. The law, of course, only caused damage and didnt benefit the Right in any way.

And what about Qalqilya? In light of Netanyahus updated stance, we will likely witness a similar display.
A petition filed by Yedioth Ahronoth Sunday to the Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court is shedding light on the investigation into former prime minister Ehud Olmert for using classified information in a book he is writing.

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When police raided the offices of Yedioth Books to confiscate files related to the book, they also seized unrelated material. However, police are unable to read and examine any of the material seized due to a technical problem with the files themselves.

As a result of the seizure of unrelated materials, Yedioth Books has asked the court to either cancel or amend the seizure order. In addition to demanding the return of unrelated material, the publishing house is also demanding that until such a time, police secure the material so that no one may see or copy it.

Olmert (Photo: Ohad Zwigenberg)

"The seizure of any other material (not relevant to Olmert's case) is disproportionate and inappropriate in a democratic country," said Yedioth's lawyers. The petition also claims the police's International Criminal Investigation Unit (ICIU) seriously violated the basic principles of freedom of expression, noting this was a precedent-setting case for the seizure of journalistic materials.

The petition also states that on June 14, Judge Oded Moreno acquiesced to a police request to issue a search warrant for "any material, whether hard documents or digital media, related to Ehud Olmert's book." The reason for the request was the suspicion the former prime minister disclosed classified information in his book.

The next day, police raided the offices of Yedioth Books and confiscated computer files, including copies of the book. In addition, materials unrelated to Olmert's book were copied from the computers of Yedioth Books' CEO and editor-in-chief in a manner not approved by the court, the petition claims.

On the day of the raid, lawyers for Yedioth Books asked police to destroy materials unrelated to the search warrant. Police ignored the request and only after a letter was sent to State Attorney Shai Nitzan did police invite the publishing house's lawyers to witness them destroy irrelevant materials taken during the search.

Copy of the search warrant

After hours of waiting at the ICIU's office, police representatives informed lawyers that due to a technical malfunction, the files could not be viewed or used. Before lawyers left the offices, police informed them the digital files were destroyed.

As a result, police representatives asked to return to the publishing houses' offices in order to recopy files included in the purview of the warrant, i.e., only those related to Olmert's book. Simultaneously, lawyers representing Yedioth Books requested police return all copies and "hard" documents that were taken.

On Sunday afternoon, police investigators returned to the Yedioth Books offices with boxes of hard documents that were taken in the previous search. Representatives of the publishing house made it clear to police that "due to the principle of freedom of expression, all the hard and digital materials must be reviewed and filtered out, leaving only those materials which arouse suspicions of being classified information."

Despite that, police refused to narrow the warrant's focus for materials in their possession. Meaning, police now have materials from Olmert's book that have nothing to do with allegations of secret information, such as a chapter on Olmert's tenure as mayor of Jerusalem, a chapter on familial relations within the Olmert family, a chapter on the criminal case against him and criticism of the prosecution. All these materials are of a journalistic value, the petition argues.
NAIROBI -- An explosion caused a number of casualties in the south of the Somali capital Mogadishu on Tuesday, a government official said.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab said it was a car bomb targeting a building housing government officials.

"We heard a huge explosion in Wadajir district, there are some casualties, but the number is unknown," Abifutah Omar Halane, the spokesman for Mogadishu's mayor, said.

Al Shabaab said they were behind the blast.

"It's a suicide car bomb in Wadajir District building in which Somali officials and their staff stay. There are government and their staff who have died at the scene. We will tell you the number of dead later," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab spokesman for military operations, said, giving no further details.
Traffic police sub-inspector M L Nijalingappa's quick thinking and swift action was praised and rewarded by the city police as he saved a critical patient's life.

By India Today Web Desk: A traffic cop deployed at Bengaluru's Trinity Circle did something that others of his department would think twice before attempting. The traffic police officer was rewarded for his act later.

Traffic police sub-inspector M L Nijalingappa's quick thinking and swift action was praised and rewarded by the city police as he saved a critical patient's life.

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HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED President Pranab Mukherjee was in Bengaluru on Saturday for the inauguration of Namma Metro's Green Line. Nijalingappa, who is attached to Ulsoor Traffic police station, was deployed at Trinity Circle on the special duty for VVIP convoy movement. As President Pranab's convoy was moving towards Raj Bhavan, he spotted an ambulance desperately trying find a way in the heavy traffic to a hospital nearby. The traffic cop immediately swung into action and contacted his seniors over wireless. Nijalingappa asked for permission to stop traffic and allow the ambulance a safe and hindrance-free passage. Deputy Commissioner of Police -Traffic East Division, Bengaluru City Abhei Goyal later took to Twitter to praise the officer's presence of mind.

PSI Sh Nijlingappa is rewarded for deftly allowing the ambulance before the 1st citizen of India. @blrcitytraffic gives way to ??, do you? pic.twitter.com/KoI2nap14N DCP Traffic East (@DCPTrEastBCP) June 18, 2017

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With Inputs from ANI

--- ENDS ---
Police announced on Tuesday morning that the body of Natan Hajani (25) has been found in the Kinneret after he went missing on Friday evening.

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Since Hajani was reported missing, rescue teams launched a huge search effort which included the use of divers and sonar systems. After pulling his body from Israels northern water jewel, Magen David Adom teams from the Jordan Valley declared his death before his body was officially identified by his family.

Search for Natan Hajani (:  )

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Hajani and his wife Mor travelled at the end of the week to the Kinneret with their friends and before they arrived at the hotel they decided to stop at the Coco Hut beach near Tiberias Hot Springs. Natan, who was with his friends in a boat hundreds of meters from the coast, jumped into the water and never returned.

It is not the first time Mor has been struck by a tragedy of this kind. Eighteen years ago, she watched her father drown in a pool in Yehud.

Natan Hajani (Photo: Courtesy)

On a post she shared with her friends on Facebook, Mor described her distress and made an emotional appeal for help in locating her husband.

Dear Israel. I beg you for your help. I lost my father at a young age in a pool and now for the second time I am going through the same nightmare with the love of my lifemy new husband who married me three months ago, she wrote. My heart is broken to pieces and the tears dont stop falling. I beg anyone who can to come and help in the search. I just want to bring my husband back to me.

Rescue teams search for Natan (Photo: Tzvika Laval)

Speaking in an interview with Ynet, Mors family said: It has simply broken our hearts. She saw her father drown right before her eyes and now her husband. Everything has come back and she is crying non stop. For four days she has been in an utter state of uncertainty. She isnt eating or sleeping.

In April, two bodies were found in the Kinneret on the sixth day of searches for three young men who went missing amid treacherous currents.
GENEVA -- The government-backed Bana Mura militia in Congo has committed horrific crimes in ethnically-motivated attacks in the past few months, including cutting off toddlers' limbs and slicing open pregnant women, the U.N. human rights chief said on Tuesday.

"Refugees from multiple villages in the Kamonya territory indicated that the Bana Mura have in the past two months shot dead, hacked or burned to death, and mutilated, hundreds of villagers, as well as destroying entire villages," he said.

"My team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off; many babies had machete wounds and severe burns," Zeid told the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.
A prison doctor was called to the cell of former prime minister Ehud Olmert Tuesday afternoon after he was reported to have fallen sick. After conducting preliminary checks, the doctor decided that he should be transferred to Tel Hashomer hospital for further treatment.

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Olmert, who has served two-thirds of his 27-month sentence for corruption-related charges, is expecting to receive a ruling on Thursday on whether he will get out of jail early.

Photo: Dana Kopel

The State Prosecutor's Office issued a statement on Sunday, referring to the police search of the Yedioth Ahronoth Publishing Thursday, in search of sensitive information on matters of national security that may be included in the upcoming book of the former prime minister.

In its statement, the State Prosecutor said that it had requested the court issue a warrant to allow it access to Yedioth Ahronoth Publishing, in an effort to find out whether Olmert's memoir contains information that could constitute significant security risks for Israel. After the court's granting the warrant, the Prosecutor's Office handed them over to the police for review.
A Palestinian pulled out a knife and attempted to stab soldiers from the Home Front Command on Tuesday afternoon in the West Bank, the IDF has reported.

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The soldiers were carrying out a routine check near Adam Square in Benjamin, north of Jerusalem. The soldiers managed to shoot their would-be attacker before he could stab anyone. The IDF declared his condition as critical at the scene and later stated that he had died from his injuries.

A Border Police officer over the body of the Palestinian attacker

The attacker's knife

Friday night, Border Police officer Hadas Malka was stabbed to death in an attack at the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City.
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Tuesday expressed his support for the "Polygraph Bill," according to which the members of the Security Cabinet would undergo a polygraph examination once a year. However, Erdan made it clear that apart from the ministers, the security experts involved in the discussions would have to pass the test as well.

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"I think it is wrong for us to mark the ministers only because (we think) it is certain that the leak came from the ministers. I often see briefings leaked, which neither I nor any of the ministers knew of and apparently did not come from any politician. I support the proposal if anyone present at the meeting will also undergo a polygraph test."

The ministers supporting the bill, from left to right: Bennett, Shaked and Erdan (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) also expressed support for a polygraph test, and she also said that this is on condition that everyone present at the meeting, including the security experts, undergo the test.

The leader of her party, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, also supported the measure but did not insist on the condition set by Erdan and Shaked. Bennett and Shaked also wrote a number of times to the prime minister to encourage conducting polygraph tests.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Yisrael Beiteinu), whose member MK Robert Ilatov proposed the legislation, addressed the issue this morning : "I think it's right for every member of the Cabinet to be tested once a year  a polygraph test with one single question: Did you leak from Cabinet meetings? Yes or no. No investigations needed. This will contribute greatly to the work of the Cabinet. Prevention is always better than a cure."

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Photo: Yair Sagi)

In previous talks with Minister Yuval Steinitz, Lieberman clarified that in principle he supports the proposal, but added that it depends on its implementation.

Lieberman believes that the goal should be to prevent the leak of confidential material and not to prevent the possibility of conducting arguments, if necessary, within the Cabinet, so that there will be no suppressing of opinions, nor will a discriminatory policy be adopted against the person who is supposed to undergo the examination.

MK Robert Ilatov

Ilatov explained his reasons for spearheading the legislation. "The law was proposed as a result of repeated leaks from the Cabinet, which is a dangerous trend that can harm the security of the citizens of the State of Israel," he said. "Cabinet discussions cannot be a tool for political leverage. As a member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, the severity of the acts chills me, and we must put an end to this."

(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
Activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists in Mexico filed a criminal complaint on Monday following a report that their smartphones had been infected with spying software sold to the government to fight criminals and terrorists.

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The complaint to the attorney general's office by nine people followed a report by the New York Times that some of them had been spied on with software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group sold to Mexico's government.

The plaintiffs during a press briefing (Photo: Reuters)

Those claiming to be targeted by the software included Carmen Aristegui, a journalist who in 2014 helped reveal that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife had acquired a house from a major government contractor, as well as Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist at leading television network Televisa.

Others included in the complaint were anti-corruption activists and lawyers representing the families of 43 trainee teachers whose disappearance and apparent massacre in 2014 created a huge public relations headache for Pena Nieto.

Carmen Aristegui (Photo: Reuters)

Daniel Millan, a spokesman for Pena Nieto's office, issued a statement saying that there was no proof the Mexican government was responsible for the spying described in the New York Times story. "We condemn any attempt to violate the right to privacy of any person," the statement said.

A Reuters report in 2015 showed government surveillance requests were gathering speed in Mexico, raising concerns about a lack of oversight in a country plagued by corruption and collusion between security forces and criminal gangs.

Mexico's government purchased about $80 million worth of spyware from NSO Group on condition it would only be used to investigate criminals and terrorists, the Times said.
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the United Nations Office at Geneva hosts an exhibition by Israeli artist Orna Ben-Ami entitled "Entire Life in a Package." The exhibit, which includes welded iron sculptures combined with Reuters photographs of refugees in various situations, focuses on the plight of refugees and migrants around the world.

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Displayed at the UN European Headquarters from June 20 to 30, 2017, the opening took place on World Refugee Day, Tuesday, with the support of the permanent missions of Israel, the United States and Canada, and the participation of Michael Mller, UNOG director-general, and Kelly Clements, deputy high-commissioner for refugees.

(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

Orna Ben-Ami and Aviva Raz Shechter (Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

"I was shocked and moved by the view of the refugees over the past few years and I wanted to bring this sad and painful subject to the forefront of world opinion," said Ben-Ami. "Iron expresses the will of the displaced to hold on strongly to their identity and renders them eternal and meaningful, like metal monuments."





(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

Israel's ambassador to the UN and other organizations in Geneva, Aviva Raz Shechter, saw special significance in hosting this exhibition at the UN headquarters in Geneva: "Here at the United Nations, the words 'refugee' and 'migrant' are at the center of so many discussions.  But these discussions are void if we forget the individuals behind them, their stories, and their physical and practical needs."





(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

(Photo: Eric Bridiers/US mission)

"The State of Israel has absorbed hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants since its establishment. It is an inspiring example of the invaluable contribution they brought to our nation." the ambassador concluded.

Ben-Ami's work has appeared in galleries and museums in the United States, Italy, France, Taiwan, Mexico and Israel. Forty of her outdoor sculptures are placed in public spaces in Israel and Germany.
President Donald Trump says the death of a 22-year-old college student who was detained for nearly a year and a half in North Korea is a "total disgrace."

The president says if Otto Warmbier had been returned home to the US earlier, "I think the result would have been a lot different."

Trump spoke briefly about Warmbier during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Ukraine.

Trump says he spoke with Warmbier's parents and says it's "incredible what they've gone through."

Trump adds, "he should have been brought home a long time ago."

The college student died shortly after his return to Ohio after being held for more than 17 months.

Warmbier's parents haven't cited a cause of death, but "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea.
The US military said it shot down an Iranian-made, armed drone in southern Syria on Tuesday, marking the third time this month that that the US has downed aircraft affiliated with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

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The US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said a US F-15 fighter jet shot down the drone "after it displayed hostile intent" while approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. A similar drone was shot down in the same location after it dropped munitions near coalition forces on June 8.

The repeated incidents in the vicinity of the Tanf camp, where US forces train and advise local ground forces in the fight against IS, add to soaring regional tensions that could spiral out of control just as the fight against the extremists enters a crucial phase, with US-backed forces pushing into the group's de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The US on Sunday shot down a Syrian jet near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, which are battling IS. Russia condemned the US action and in retaliation suspended a hotline intended to prevent such incidents.

The US has also fired on Syrian government ground forces in the east on two occasions in just the last month.

A defense official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the drone shot down Tuesday was a Shaheed 129 and appeared to have been operated by "pro-regime" forces.

There are concerns that further confrontations could lead to a breakout of hostilities that would hinder the battle against IS.

Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against IS targets in Syria as a precaution, after Russia announced it was suspending the hotline and warned the US-led coalition not to fly over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Irananother close Assad allyfired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Iran's Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

Iran's missile launch into Syria (Photo: AP)

A spokesman for the Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, citing "local sources" and drone footage.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran's "military power," though Iran has no intention of starting another war. It is still unclear what the missiles struck, and Iran has provided few details.

Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

Iran's missile launch into Syria

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Fighting and bombardment meanwhile resumed early Tuesday between Syrian government forces and rebels in the southern city of Daraa and nearby areas, where a 48-hour truce had gone into effect on Saturday. The truce was meant to be extended but now appears to have collapsed.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

"The situation is back as it was in Daraa city and fighting is ongoing," said Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh. "The regime made the truce and then violated it."

The activist-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government troops captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where the March 2011 uprising against the Assad family's four-decade rule began. The conflict quickly descended into a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assad's troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.
President Donald Trump says that he appreciates China's efforts to exert pressure on North Korea, but "it has not worked out."

Trump tweeted Tuesday, "While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!"

His tweet comes a day after learning that Otto Warmbier, an American student who was returned from North Korea to the US in a coma last week, had died.

Trump said Tuesday that it was a "total disgrace" what happened to Warmbier, but doctors and the administration haven't offered an explanation for the student's condition preceding his death.

Trump has called repeatedly on China to help exert pressure on North Korea, particularly with regard to its nuclear ambitions.
On Monday, soon after BJP president Amit Shah stunned the Opposition by announcing Kovind as the NDA's candidate for President, Nitish showered praise on Governor Kovind.

By Supriya Bhardwaj: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today called Congress president Sonia Gandhi and ally Lalu Prasad to tell them that the Janata Dal-United is most likely to support BJP's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind since the Bihar Governor "had a great repo with him".

According to sources, Nitish has decided that while he will support the Opposition in all other issues, but the Bihar leader will make an exception for the Presidential election. "He will have a positive attitude towards Kovind," the sources have told India Today.

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On Monday, soon after BJP president Amit Shah stunned the Opposition by announcing Kovind as the NDA's candidate for President, Nitish showered praise on Governor Kovind, saying he is "personally glad" over his candidature.

Nitish said he congratulated Kovind, a Dalit leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party, on his nomination as the National Democratic Alliance candidate, and added: "I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate".

"Kovind has discharged his duties in an unbiased manner as the Bihar Governor. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the Governor's post. His was an ideal relation with the state government," Nitish said.

However, Nitish was non-committal on Monday on whether his party will support Kovind and said the Opposition leaders will decide that in their meeting, scheduled on June 22.

"It will not be fair to answer this question as discussion will soon take place among Opposition leaders on the issue of a candidate for the President's post," he said, skirting a volley of questions by reporters.

Also Read:

India's next President: Opposition may field joint candidate against Ram Nath Kovind. 4 names in the race

Ram Nath Kovind: Why BJP's presidential pick may face Supreme Court test after he is elected

Also Watch:

Presidential election: Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind is NDA candidate

--- ENDS ---
BEIRUTIsrael's military Chief of Staff is disputing Iranian claims of successfully launching missiles at militants in Syria.

Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot said Tuesday the "operational achievement was much smaller" than what has been reported.

Speaking at an annual security and policy conference in Herzliya, he said they obtained "far from precise hits." He added the rare missile strike expressed Iran's aspirations in the region.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas are responsible for the electricity crisis in Gaza, not Israel, Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Tuesday at the 17th Annual Herzliya Conference. Shaked called on the Palestinian public and the international community to put pressure on the Palestinian leadership to resolve the issue.

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"The blame for the power cut must be directed at Hamas and the Palestinian Authority," Shaked said in an interview with Tal Shalev, political correspondent for the Walla News website. "The PA has money and Hamas has money. We got to this situation because of a political struggle between them  and Israel refuses to be an instrument in their power games."

Shaked noted that former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had first announced his disengagement plan from Gaza at the 2003 but said it had yet to disengage completely from Gaza. "We did not do so completely. We are still supplying them with electricity, water and other goods."

Gaza in the dark (Photo: AFP)

Israel on Monday began implementing a cut in supply of electricity, a move that the Bayit Yehudi minister said was aimed at removing Israel from the equation.

Shaked said Israel would be happy to completely disengage from Gaza and noted Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz's proposal for an artificial island off the Gaza coast to supply the Gazans with their needs without endangering Israeli security.

"However," she said, "we must remember that Gaza is controlled by a terrorist organization holding the bodies of our soldiers and civilians, and we certainly will not engage in large projects as long as that is the case," said Shaked.

Shaked said Israel must make Hamas realize that holding Israeli civilians ( Abera Mengistu Hisham al-Sayed and Jumaa Ibrahim Abu-Ghanima ) and the bodies of Israeli soldiers ( Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul ) is a policy that will not pay. "The last governments have changed their perception of kidnappings. Hamas saw kidnappings as valuable, and we want to change the equation so that they will see it as a burden," Shaked said.

"In recent years, we have begun to do that, whether by returning the prisoners released during the Shalit deal to prison, by enacting laws making it more difficult to release incarcerated terrorists, or by cabinet decisions that have reduced the conditions of Hamas prisoners to a minimum."

"We have to show Hamas that as long as they hold our soldiers, they will not receive anything from us," Shaked concluded.
As part of an examination conducted on the election campaign, investigators found, among other things, pictures of opposition leader MK Isaac Herzog (Labor) portrayed as a woman with the title "revolution," and another picture of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who is presented as calling for people to vote for MK Tzipi Livni (Zionist Union).

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Herzog said on Monday that the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was behind the humiliating campaign.

Herzog's response: 'The Bibi Method'

"The exposure is definitely unsettling, but it mainly shows Netanyahu's very problematic natureserious flaws in his personality that accompany his entire public work," Said Herzog. "What began as the whispering of incitement into the ear of Rabbi Yitzhak Kaduri against many (of his political adversaries) has since become a policy aimed at delegitimizing, inciting and separating the people.

"First it was the disabled, then it was the single mothers, then the leftists, the secular, the kibbutzim, the Arab public, the courts, academics and cultural figures, journalists, media people and civil servants. Every season brings with it another for Netanyahu to sacrifice."

Isaac Herzog (Photo: AP)

"Netanyahu is strong in propaganda and weak in deeds," added Livni.

The head of the Likud's information campaign in the 2015 elections, Nir Hefetz, said that "the materials never reached me, and in any case they did not reach Netanyahu, and if they had, the prime minister would not approve them.

"If such materials have been produced, they are probably shelved at a lower level and never approved for publication, like many other ideas put forward by advertising people during the campaign and shelved. The prime minister is absolutely opposed to any such campaign."

Tzipi Livni (Photo: Eli Segal)

The Zionist Union party responded Tuesday to the Likud campaign.

Herzog published in his Twitter account a combined picture in the Likud's propaganda photo of him is seen next to a famous propaganda photo of the late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin with a kaffiyeh atop his head.

The picture read "The Bibi (Netanyahu) Method," meaning that there is no big difference between the incitement that preceded Rabin's assassination and the picture that was shelved from the campaign of the ruling party ahead of the 2015 elections.

Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Yonatan Zindel/Flash 90)

The details of the campaign were published on Channel 2 last night and caused a great uproar in the political system. Opposition parties accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the denial, of methods designed to divide.

Finance Minister and leader of the Kulanu party Moshe Kahlon expressed his reservations about the matter.

Moshe Kahlon (Photo: Motti Kimchi)

During a conference held at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, Kahlon said, "This is terrible. Unfortunately, they used dishonorable tactics.

"They also went against me and took a recording of me from 2013 when I was in the Likud and called to vote for Netanyahu. They cut it and passed it on (as if it was) from 2015. The judge fined them NIS 20,000, which I then went to collect. I do not give up."

(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
Agriculture is Nebraskas number one industry, and every day its helping to grow our state. Over the years, our farmers and ranchers and ag equipment manufacturers have grown food and created equipment that is helping feed the world. In more recent years, biotechnology, biofuels, and other value-added ag operations have also helped to grow the industry, and keep Nebraska on the forefront of ag innovation and production. The last two weeks, Nebraska has received a lot of very exciting news from our number one industry that is helping grow our state and create new good-paying jobs.

Last week, the United States and China finalized a protocol, reopening the Chinese market to American beef. This is big news for our state. Nebraska is the countrys top beef processor as well as beef exporter, and China is the second largest importer of beef in the world. Within 48 hours of the news that the market had reopened, I visited Greater Omaha Packing to load the first shipment of beef from Nebraska to China since 2003. Access to the Chinese market allows Nebraska farmers and ranchers to sell our quality beef to 1.4 billion new customers, helping to grow our state for years to come.

The China announcement is particularly significant because we know the countrys growing middle class has an increasing appetite for high quality beef. At the time the market closed in 2003, Chinese beef imports were $64 million, which has since grown to $2.5 billion in 2016. Overall, Nebraska exports 18 percent of the beef leaving the United States. If we captured the same market share in China, we would export $200 million to China annually. Additionally, our success right next door in Japan is another reason to push hard in China: Between 2015 and 2016, our beef exports to Japan jumped 36 percent. Thank you to the countless federal, state, and industry partners who worked together to reopen the Chinese market.

While Nebraska is known as the Beef State, other commodities continue to help grow our state as well. This week, I helped break ground on a new chicken plant in Fremont that will provide chickens for Costco. This project will create 800 new jobs and have an estimated annual economic impact of $1.2 billion, which is about 1 percent of our states GDP. Projects like this are so important because they help provide Nebraskas ag producers with additional opportunities to grow their income. It also gives a new entry point for young Nebraskans seeking a career in agriculture.

Nebraska is seeing significant investments in the area of agriculture biotechnology as well. Just this past week, Germany-based Evonik announced a new $200 million investment in Blair where they plan to develop a manufacturing facility to produce omega-3 fatty acids for aquaculture. This comes right on the heels of the announcement of a $36 million expansion by Novozymes of their biofuels plant, which is also located in Blair. This announcement follows a 2015 trade mission to Denmark during which I visited Novozymes headquarters to urge them to consider Nebraska for future expansions.

Other biofuels operations have also experienced growth in the last year. Last week, I visited Beatrice to celebrate a $100 million investment in the Duonix biodiesel plant. In September, KAAPA Ethanol will complete a $40 million expansion of an ethanol plant they operate in Ravenna. As the second largest ethanol producing state in the nation, this renewable fuel is not only providing clean fuel for drivers around the world, but it is also adding value to our corn and growing Nebraska. Overall, Nebraskas 25 ethanol plants carry 2.2 billion gallons of capacity and directly employ 1,300 Nebraskans.

These are just a few of the big investments in Nebraskas number one industry that are helping to grow our state. While this is a lot of great news, we must continue to work together to grow agriculture. This fall, I will be leading a trade mission to Japan to promote our commodities and attract new investment to our state. Since our last trade mission in 2015, weve already seen a lot of success in the Japanese market from growing beef exports to a new $12.5 million investment from Kawasaki in Lincoln.
The Sandhills Cattle Association met in Ord, Neb. recently for their annual convention. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting with generations of ranchers, including those whose faces had become worn from years of ranch work and wind blowing over the largest sand dune formation in the Western Hemisphere. However, despite the lure of ranch tales, one of the most compelling moments occurred when Shelby Kittle, a young woman from the Ord FFA Chapter, captivated the hearts and interest of the ranchers with her confidence and acumen regarding the art, agriculture and science of beekeeping.

On June 25, Shelby, the daughter of Tammy and Rod Kittle, will be crowned the Nebraska Honey Queen. An honor much deserved after one learns how this Queen Bee worked so hard with her own resolve to embark upon her bee adventure.

Ever since I was little I have always had a fascination to become an entomologist, she wrote to me in an email exchanged after I reached out to her. When I became a freshman, I owned a business painting mailboxes and fishing lures for quite awhile . . . I had been thinking about starting beekeeping but I had no clue how I was going to talk my parents into letting me start. When I was a freshman, I was also finally old enough to join the local FFA chapter and one of the options we had was to start a Supervised Agriculture Experience (SAE). Most of the kids that were doing these lived outside of town so they could keep cattle or hogs. I live in town, so these werent viable options. I used this reasoning to convince my parents to let me start bees instead.

Shelby then began her research and eventually found out that the Nebraska Beekeepers Association offers a scholarship for beekeepers her age. This scholarship provides one beehive (including bees), a free membership to the association and a mentor who is a member of the association.

The program is run close to Lincoln and since Im from Ord there werent really any close members in the association that could mentor me, Shelby went on. Then I remembered attending a Future Business Leaders of America meeting where there was a presenter that was speaking about his commercial beekeeping operation. . . . I found his information and asked if he would be willing to mentor me and he agreed.

For the past three years now, Shelby has been running her beekeeping operation and she just, loves it, especially talking to other people about the value of bees. She wrote, Theres also nothing like putting your ear up to a beehive and hearing that steady, calming hum of the bees inside busy at work. Theres also the heavenly, sweet scent you catch as soon as you open your hive and the pride you feel when you finally have honey to share with friends and family.

Bees are invaluable to our daily sustenance, she explained, One out of every three bites of food comes from the direct or indirect pollination of bees. Meaning that food such as almonds, blueberries, apples and coffee have to have bees in order to produce a crop.

The color and even taste of honey are directly related to the nectar source that the bees used to make it. Orange blossoms make orange blossom honey. Alfalfa blossoms make alfalfa honey and so forth. In order to be classified as a certain type of honey it has to be at least 80 percent nectar from that floral source. My all-time favorite type of honey is what I take off alfalfa. It is almost completely clear and very mild. But that is just my preference.

The proficiency award application Shelby submitted on her beekeeping SAE won the state level and will be representing Nebraska in the Specialty Animal Production category at the national level. If anyone would like information on the scholarship or how to get in touch with Shelby to present to your school, group, organization or other event visit www.nebraskabeekeepers.org.

Shelby opened the eyes of many ranchers. Some did not know bee populations are being threatened. There is certainly a lot to learn from the Queen Bee, a great beekeeping agriculturist who I know will have a wonderful future wherever life takes her. You may not live on the farm Shelby; however, you have much to teach the farming and ranching community as you positively impact the growth of the food that sustains all of us with your passion for bees. Way to bee you Shelby!
YORK  Prosecutors are asking that an appeal bond be revoked for a woman who, after being convicted of having sex with a boy at the group home where she worked, has now allegedly been making contact with him despite court orders not to do so.

The state has filed a motion to revoke bond with the York County District Court, which could put Jamie Bishop, 38, of Seward, immediately behind bars at the Nebraska Center for Women, because shes already been convicted. She is currently allowed to be out of custody while the appeal of her 10-16-year prison sentence is underway.

Bishop was sentenced in January for first degree sexual assault. She admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old boy who had been a client at Epworth Village while she was employed there.

She became pregnant and paternity testing showed the boy is the biological father of the child.

Bishops attorney, Chad Wythers, appealed the sentence, arguing that it was excessive. In March, he argued that an appeal bond was appropriate.

Judge James Stecker agreed, setting the appeal bond at $250,000, 10 percent. After the bond was posted, she was allowed to temporarily leave prison. If her sentence is affirmed by the higher court, she will be returned to prison to serve out the original sentence. If her sentence is not affirmed by the higher court, she will then be resentenced.

But now, that the motion has been filed  if the appeal bond is revoked, she will have to continue serving her prison sentence while the appeal process is underway.

In the most recent court filing, the York County Attorneys office says a condition of that bond is to not have contact with the victim.

However, according to court documents filed by the prosecution, the York County Sheriffs Department was contacted by the victims mother on June 7. Investigators said the mother produced information from the treatment group home where the boy currently resides. The telephone records showed the boy was contacted and he spoke with a person on the telephone for 34 minutes  investigators said the telephone number was traced back to an account in Bishops husbands name, with whom she currently lives.

Investigators said further that Bishop allegedly was accessing another persons Facebook profile in order to have communication with the boy via the internet.
STROMSBURG  The past weekend was chock full of all things Swedish in Stromsburg and why not? The Polk County community was declared the Swede Capital of Nebraska by no less than Gov. Frank B. Morrison in 1966.

According to Wikipedia, Stromsburg was settled early in Nebraska history. A group of Swedish settlers coming from the town of Ockelbo arrived in the 1860s after several years in Illinois.

This group had a leader named Lewis Headstrom, who was a real estate agent. Seeing some similarities to their old Swedish homeland the settlers formed what would be called Stromsburg, named after a section of Ockelbo, Sweden.

By the 1880s two brickyards were in operation in the town. Many buildings from native brick still stand, including the Viking Center, now a community center that was originally The Opera House; the Cornerstone Bank; two businesses on the east side of the square; and several homes.

Brick streets still surround the city square in Stromsburg and a brick Carnegie library was built in Stromsburg in 1918. The downtown area of Stromsburg has a town square in its center which forms a park, with lawns and mature trees, where festivals and events are held.

In the center of the square is a two story Swedish style building made of brick with decorative toll painting and the phrase Valkommen (Swedish for Welcome).
Much to the surprise of Stalin while he staged a walkout from the Assembly, 3 more MLAs supported him.

By Pramod Madhav: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is once again countering Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami over Centre's restriction on cattle sale and the response of EPS on the matter.

But much to the surprise of DMK's working president MK Stalin's surprise, he had the support of the AIADMK allied MLAs in the Assembly today.

The Opposition leader raised the issue on amendments brought by the Centre to the Prevention of Cruelty Towards Animals Act, by which cattle owners cannot sell the animal in a market for slaughter. Stalin claimed that it would affect dairy farmers and indirectly affect the food pattern of many Indians and demanded an answer from the chief minister over the issue.

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CM Palaniswami, however, explained that various cases are pending in the Madras High Court, its Madurai branch and the Supreme Court as well, and that he will reveal his stance soon.

STALIN WALKS OUT OF ASSEMBLY

As usual, unhappy with the chief minister's response, Stalin staged a walkout but was quite surprised to be followed by three MLAs but not from DMK. The MLAs included Karunas, Thameemun Ansari and Thaniyarasu who fought the election under 'twin leaves' symbol and pledged their allegiance to Jayalalithaa.

The AIADMK MLAs gave the same reason as Stalin for staging a 'walkout' and in fact Thameemun Ansari even had a banner in his hand to emphasize on the situation.

However, sources said that these three MLAs were unhappy over the fact that team EPS did not side with them when they were alleged to have taken money to vote for EPS in the 'vote of confidence' motion held on February 18 in the Assembly. This also led them to side with TTV Dinakaran boosting his MLA numbers to 37.

Also read: Tamil Nadu Speaker Dhanpal rejects Stalin's demand for debate on horse trading, quotes DMK leaders from past

Also read: How cattle slaughter rules threaten economy, revolt in South India

--- ENDS ---
This has been a long time in the making, but in our continuing pursuit to bring only the best of firearms, 2nd Amendment and defence related news to our readers, we are very excited to announce the next step in our evolution as a company.

As of 2020, Minuteman Review is now the proud owner and operator of Your Defence News, a website with a long history of breaking huge news stories and investigative journalism.

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This means that now the teams of Minuteman can combine with the firepower of Your Defence News to stay at the absolute forefront for our readers.

Keep an eye. Big things are coming soon. We couldn't be more excited.

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As a homeowner, you probably already know that you should be working to maintain your home. But, chances are, you Read More
Zabka, Warszawa, 166 m2

Lokal znajduje sie w budynku apartamentowym Unimax Development w inwestycji Viva Vitolin, przy ul. Grochowskiej 87 w Warszawie. Bedzie dostepny w 4Q 2023 roku (podpisanie umow przeniesienia wasnosci).
Around 50 people were killed in the town of Bria, around 580 km northeast of the capital Bangui, after fighting erupted between rival armed factions.

By Reuters: Around 50 people were killed on Tuesday in the Central African Republic town of Bria when fighting erupted between rival armed factions despite the signing a day earlier of a peace deal aimed at ending years of bloodshed, the town's mayor said.

Bodies lay in the streets of Bria, around 580 km (360 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui, and dozens more people were treated for wounds including gunshots, aid workers after clashes broke out at dawn.

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Thousands have died and a fifth of Central Africans have fled their homes in the conflict that broke out after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka militias.

Thirteen of the 14 armed groups along with representatives from the government signed Monday's accord in Rome. The deal, brokered by the Roman Catholic Sant' Egidio peace group, called for an immediate ceasefire.

But the fighting in Bria broke out between former Seleka members and anti-balaka fighters less than 24 hours later.

"I can say there are around 50 dead. There are 42 bodies that were taken to the hospital. There are also bodies in the neighbourhoods that have not been picked up yet," mayor Maurice Belikoussou told Reuters.

35 WOUNDED RECEIVED, SAYS DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS

Witnesses said houses were looted and set on fire during the clashes. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had already received 35 wounded by 9.30 am (0830 GMT) at the hospital it runs in the town. Most had been shot.

The presence of rival factions in Bria has made the town a regular flashpoint, including during fighting that killed around 300 people and displaced 100,000 last month.

Tuesday's clashes broke out near a camp housing people who had been forced to flee previous bouts of violence, according to the country's UN peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA.

"We regret the presence of armed elements in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, which causes problems not just in Bria but also in other locations. It's a reality," said MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro.

Monday's peace deal is only the latest in a series of agreements aimed at putting an end to the conflict in Central African Republic, which has in recent months witnessed some of the worst bloodshed in years.

The office of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected last year, applauded on Tuesday what it said was "an historic accord". However, other reactions in the capital Bangui were less optimistic.

"(This accord) simply follows the same scenario repeated over and over," said Joseph Bindoumi, president of the Central African League of Human Rights. "Those who signed are mocking the people."

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ALSO READ | Egypt: 26 Christians shot dead, 25 others injured in Minya province

ALSO READ | Belgian troops shoot man after Brussels station blast: Police

--- ENDS ---
Rwanda: A UN tribunal has agreed to review its appeals judgement against a former Rwandan minister found guilty of genocide crimes, a case blocked for months by the detention of one of the court`s top judges.



In a statement released Monday the UN`s Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said in a rare legal move it would review its ruling convicting Augustin Ngirabatware for his role in Rwanda`s 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.



Ngirabatware, planning minister at the time of the genocide, was found guilty of inciting, aiding and encouraging militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill their Tutsi neighbours.



He was sentenced in 2012 to 35 years in jail, but this was cut to 30 years on appeal in 2014.



In 2016 he filed a request for a review of his convictions "on the basis of a new fact, which he claims exonerates him," said the statement by the court set up in 2012, which took over from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after it closed in 2015.



Ngirabatware was found guilty of inciting, aiding and encouraging militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill their Tutsi neighbours.



His case has been held up for months by the detention of Turkish bench judge Aydin Sefa Akay.



Akay was last week sentenced to over seven years in jail on charges of links to a group blamed for an attempted coup in Turkey last year in a case which caused an uproar in the international legal community.



He has been released pending an appeal and "confirmed his ability and willingness to exercise his judicial functions in this case," said the UN court.
Washington: Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Aizaz Chaudhry today faced some blunt and tough questions from his Afghan counterpart about Islamabad's destabilisation and terrorist activities inside Afghanistan.



"We call it an undeclared war because the objectives are not set. We don't know what the objectives are for Pakistan. And that's something that we have been trying to discover," Afghan Ambassador to the US Hamdullah Mohib told an audience at an event organised by Indus Think-tank here.



In an unusual aggressive mode, reflecting the new tough approach being adopted by the Afghan government, Mohib said that Kabul is not sure who to talk to in Pakistan.



"But which Pakistan? The Pakistan that occupies by a militant group, by a military, or the Pakistan of the civilians?" Mohib asked.



He said the Pakistan government led by the civilians doesn't have a voice and the reality is that policies are made by the military which uses militancy as a foreign policy.



The Afghan diplomat warned that there is a new generation on the rise in the military, the generation that has been trained by former dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq and that is going to take over Pakistan in the next decade or so.



"Once it does, this is no longer going to be a military that's trying to use extremism as a tool for foreign policy," he said, adding that it will be an extremist military that is going to be over a million strong, with very sophisticated intelligence, plus nuclear arms.



He said it will take four decades to clear Pakistan from that generation of extremists.



"We're not just worried about today's militancy...We're worried about next four decades of our lives...Not just us, the world should worry. Every weapon, anything you sell to Pakistan today, will be used against it," he warned.



The Afghan diplomat said this is a message to the Chinese, a message to America and a message to Europeans.



Mohib said the Afghan government is confused. "If we cooperate with the military more, are we emboldening, are we encouraging more of a military Pakistan? Or are we solving our problem because it's always difficult on who we are talking to that has the authority to resolve the problem" he asked.



A visibly upset Chaudhry took an exception to the remarks of his Afghan counterpart and alleged that Afghanistan has now resorted to blame game against Pakistan.



"It's not something new. We have heard for the last one and half years to two years...A mantra along these lines. And much more hostile rhetoric has been voiced. But it has been our view that we would not respond to that hostility...We do not think that blame game would get any country far," he said.



Stating that it was too easy to say that all the ills of today's Afghanistan are because of his country, the Pakistani diplomat said that there are a host of issues that pervade Afghanistan, including government issues, corruption issues, weakening of the Afghanistan national security forces issues, graft, production and debt paid issues, and economic issues.



He told the Afghan diplomat that putting the blame on Pakistan would, at best, deflect attention from the real causes of instability in Afghanistan.



Chaudhry said Afghanistan needs to focus inward, and see in itself what is it that it needs to do.



"We need to be realistic, instead of hurling blame all the time, as we say, we need a friendship, we need a cooperative spirit," he said, highlighting a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.



Chaudhry said the two countries would now be holding consultations to prepare some kind of mechanism to coordinate the actions against terrorist.



"These terrorists are nobody's friend. We would not like to see Taliban come to power by force in Afghanistan. And we have made it very clear that they do not represent Pakistan in any manner. And we are squeezing space on them. Therefore, we would humbly suggest to curb this tendency of scapegoating Pakistan, because that will not solve the issue," he said.
Chicago: President Donald Trump slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.



The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.



"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement yesterday announcing Warmbier's death.



Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.



Trump condemned Pyongyang following news of his death.



"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."



He then added with no explanation: "We'll be able to handle it."



In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."



"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."



Added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."



Ex-Vietnam war POW Senator John McCain said in a statement that Warmbier "was murdered by the Kim Jong-Un regime," and added that the United States "cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."



On Twitter, Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote that Warmbier "should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it."



Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who spent almost two years in a North Korean prison before he was released in November 2014, asked people to pray for Warmbier's family.



"For Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in - and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family," Bae said in a statement.



"This did not have to happen and should never happen again."



Doctors last week said that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.



His family said that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."



Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, and that he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.



Tests carried out in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.



They said that Warmbier's brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.



Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."



His death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record.



The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea tied Warmbier's fate to "millions of unknown North Koreans" who are "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."



Warmbier's family said they believed the student had found peace after being flown home.



"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.



"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.



Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.



Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.
China says that solid evidence is required to implicate the JeM leader.

By India Today Web Desk: Once again China may block India's bid for a UN ban on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar. China today hinted at it by saying that disagreements continue to prevail in the UN Committee related to terrorism issues in this particular case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang's comments came in response to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month.

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Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar, his brother Rauf and others have been identified by India as 'handlers' behind the pre-dawn Fidayeen attack on the IAF air base Pathankot in Punjab on January 2, 2016.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ON CHINA'S STAND: China says that solid evidence is required to implicate the JeM leader. India has been asserting that it produced "solid evidence" for securing a ban on Azhar and actions of Pakistan-based terrorist is well documented. "We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld," Geng said when asked whether there can be a forward movement over China's repeated technical holds to block India's move to get a UN ban on Azhar. "At present, some members have disagreement over the listing matter. And China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue," he said. Beijing put a technical hold to a move in the UN by the US and other countries to declare Azhar a terrorist for his role in the Pathankot terror attack. Last year China had put technical holds on India's application to designate Azhar as a terrorist. Geng's response to the Azhar issue followed a two-day meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers who took a strong stand on countering terrorism and working out international mechanisms to curb terrorism. Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, who took part in the meeting, said BRICS should back a comprehensive convention on terrorism in the UN shedding ambiguity about good and bad terrorists. "We have a consensus among the BRICS countries that all (kinds of) terrorism must be condemned and various measures must be taken to cooperate so that terrorism does not spread and harm any one of our countries," Singh told a joint press conference with BRICS Foreign Ministers here yesterday. Geng said today that BRICS countries had a working group on counter terrorism. China shares common position on the need for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism. "As for convention on counter terrorism, I believe China and other BRICS counties have a similar position...We hope UN General Assembly can pass a compressive convention on terrorism...," he added.

(PTI inputs)

Also read:

EXCLUSIVE: India will pursue resolution against Masood Azhar to its logical outcome, says Syed Akbaruddin

Wanted terrorist Mustaq Zargar claims responsibility of attacks in Kashmir Valley

Masood Azhar: China editorial admits 'regional stability' more important than terror

Also watch:

China favours JeM chief Masood Azhar, blocks UN ban on him for second time in a row

--- ENDS ---
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets US President Donald Trump next week in Washington, a senior government official said on Tuesday.



Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possible changes ahead.



The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.



"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM`s visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.



Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former U.S. President Barack Obama.



However, Trump`s focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.



Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.



Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.



The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the U.S. trade deficit with India also widened.



The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.
Tokyo: The United States Coast Guard will on Tuesday start interviewing the crew of a Philippines-flagged container ship which collided with a US warship in Japanese waters killing seven American sailors.



The US coast guard investigation is one several into the incident on Saturday involving the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald and the much larger ACX Crystal. The cause of the collision at night and in clear weather is not known.



"We are scheduled to interview the crew members," said US Lieutenant Scott Carr told Reuters, referring the crew of the merchant ship. The USS Fitzgerald crew will also be interviewed.



The U.S. coast guard, which is undertaking the investigation on behalf of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, will gather electronic data and ship tracking information from the USS Fitzgerald and ACX Crystal.



The investigation will also look into a time discrepancy in the ACX Crystal`s initial report of the incident south of Tokyo Bay, said Scott. "There is a contradiction. It will be part of the investigation," Carr said.



The Japan Coast Guard has already spoken to the Filipino crew and is also probing the inconsistency. It is in talks with the U.S. Navy for access to its crew members and data from the destroyer, a spokesman for the organisation said.



The U.S. Navy did not immediately respond when asked if it would release tracking data to the Japan Coast Guard.



The ACX Crystal reported the collision at 2:25 a.m. (1725 GMT) prompting Japanese authorities to initially log the incident at 2:20 a.m.



The Japan Coast Guard subsequently revised the time to 1:30 a.m. meaning the container ship waited 55 minutes before contacting the coast guard, according to the Japan Coast Guard.



Shipping data in Thomson Reuters Eikon shows the merchant ship chartered by Japan`s Nippon Yusen KK, made a complete U-turn between 12:58 a.m. and 2:46 a.m. on June 17.



The Fitzgerald did not contact local authorities. The Japan Coast Guard radioed it after receiving the first report of the collision.



Many of the crew on the U.S. ship were asleep when the collision tore a gash under the waterline on the warship`s starboard side, flooding two crew compartments, the radio room and the auxiliary machine room.



Maritime rules suggest vessels are supposed to give way to ships on their starboard.



When asked on Sunday if the damage indicated the U.S. ship could have been at fault, Seventh Fleet commander Vice Admiral Joseph P. Aucoin declined to speculate on the cause.



Complicating the inquiries could be issues of jurisdiction. Although the collision occurred in Japanese waters, international maritime rules, could allow the U.S. Navy to claim some authority over the investigations.



The incident was the greatest loss of life on a U.S. Navy vessel since the USS Cole was bombed in Yemen`s Aden harbour in 2000, when 17 sailors were killed and 39 injured.
Patna: The anxious wait for Class 10 students who appeared for the Bihar state board exam 2016 is likely to get over on Tuesday. If released, the students who are waiting for the BSEB Bihar Board 10th Result, Bihar Matric Result 2017, can check their result on biharboard.ac.in

However, there has been no official confirmation by the Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) on the date of announcement of Bihar Matriculation Class 10 Result 2017, Bihar 10th Result.

Around 14 lakhs students from across the state are waiting for Bihar Board 10th Result 2017, Bihar Board Matric Results 2017.

Students are advised to keep a tab on the above-mentioned website to get an official update on Bihar Class 10 Board Result 2017, Bihar Board 10th results.

Step-by-step guide to check Bihar Class 10 Results 2017, Bihar Board Matric Result 2017:

- Open the official website

- Click on result page

- Fill your roll number, other details

- Press submit button

- Download and take a print of the result.

Bihar School Examination Board

The Bihar School Examination Board is established for holding and conducting an examination at the end of the Secondary School stage, for prescribing course of studies for such examination and for carrying out such other objects and duties as may be considered necessary for the purpose as stated in the Act, Rules and Regulations of the Board.

Normally every year the Bihar School Examination Board conducts Annual Secondary School Examination in the month of February/March and Supplementary School Examination in the month of August/September on the basis of course/syllabus as prescribed by the state Government.

Apart from the aforesaid Secondary School Examination, the Board also conducts departmental examinations (not on yearly basis) such as Diploma in Physical Education, Certificate in Physical Education and Teachers Training Examination on such terms and condition as laid down by the State Government.
Jaideep Sarin/IANS

Chandigarh: Although many in the political sphere had written off the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab after it failed to match up to the hype and expectations of winning the assembly elections in Punjab earlier this year, things are turning out to be different.



The party, which virtually went into a shell for a few weeks after the electoral results in early March, is clearly trying to get its act together and is making its presence felt in Punjab`s political scene on the ground and in the assembly.



The AAP is making itself heard with a louder voice. This can be seen after the suspension of its lawmaker Sukhpal Singh Khaira and another lawmaker, Simarjeet Singh Bains, of the Lok Insaaf Party, which is an alliance partner of the AAP, from the Punjab assembly for the remainder of the ongoing budget session which is under way.



Both Khaira and Bains are relatively young leaders and quite vocal and aggressive in their demeanor. While Khaira has termed his ouster from the assembly as a "pre-meditated" move by the ruling Congress, Bains has said that the Congress government will not be able to "silence his voice".



Both these leaders, as also other AAP leaders like legislator and lawyer-activist H.S. Phoolka and Punjab AAP president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, have been politically active and vocal on Punjab`s political scene in recent days.



"There is an attempt to muzzle the voice of the AAP legislators. We will not allow that to happen. We will raise all issues which are relevant to the people of Punjab," said Phoolka, AAP leader in the Punjab assembly.



Khaira has been particularly vociferous after a multi-million rupee sand mining scam was "unearthed" recently, alleging involvement of Punjab`s senior cabinet minister and millionaire industrialist Rana Gurjit Singh.



The AAP accused the minister, who holds important departments of power and irrigation, of benami transactions in mining and money laundering. Former employees of Rana`s companies, including an alleged cook, invested crores of rupees to pick up lucrative mining contracts allotted under the new Punjab government headed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.



Amarinder Singh is hardly amused by the actions of AAP leaders. Last week, he lashed out at the AAP for the "unruly and obnoxious conduct" of its MLAs inside the assembly. Terming it an "unprecedented act amounting to `Constitutional sacrilege`", Amarinder said: "I have not seen such disrespect being shown to the chair (assembly speaker) in my 50 years in politics."



The party, which emerged as the single largest group in the assembly, with 20 legislators (plus two legislators of the Lok Insaaf Party), after the ruling Congress, is taking its role as the principal opposition party quite seriously. The Shiromani Akali Dal, which ruled Punjab for 10 years (2007-2017), was relegated to a poor third position in the assembly polls.



It was widely speculated that in Punjab the AAP would disintegrate soon, after its shocking defeat. But the party`s leadership in the state is trying to project a united face inside and outside the assembly.



Some AAP leaders still have issues on who should be the party leader in Punjab, how much control should the AAP central leadership have on the Punjab unit and also what is the future of the party in the state.



The party which comes from nowhere to wrest decisive power in Delhi has still a long way to go in Punjab. But a beginning has been made.
James Fahn/thethirdpole.net/IANS

The first ever UN Ocean Conference came to a close on June 9 with a "Call For Action", over 1,300 voluntary commitments made to support ocean health, and aspirations for a new convention to protect biodiversity in the roughly half of our planet which lies beyond national jurisdictions.



The commitments range from vague policy intentions to declarations of marine protected areas extending for millions of square kilometres. Many of these conservation zones are being set up by small island developing states whose fate in a world being altered by climate change was the subject of much attention at the conference.



Efforts to staunch the massive flow of plastic pollution into the seas, one of the most visible signs of the oceans` decline, were another major point of emphasis. The threat of micro-plastics to human health, as small beads used in cosmetics and other industries end up being ingested by marine life and passed up the food chain, received particular attention.



Considered to be the largest such gathering for the oceans ever convened, the Ocean Conference that took place at the UN headquarters in New York was designed to boost support for Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14), which lays out ambitious targets to conserve and sustainably use marine resources.



"SDG14 is arguably the most ambitious of the goals, with targets not just for the year 2030, but also 2020 and 2025," explained Andrew Hudson, head of Ocean and Water Governance for the UN Development Programme (UNDP).



"We`re supposed to go from 30 per cent of global fish stocks being overfished down to zero per cent by 2020. That`s a six per cent decrease every year from 2015. Has that been happening?"



The answer is almost certainly no, and underlying the conference was a general concern that progress on this sustainable development goal has been lagging.



The commitments made at the conference will help, but they`re non-binding. The treaty negotiations over rules that will govern the oceans in the future instead are taking place outside the conference. Notably, global delegates are due to gather in New York next month to decide whether to pursue an international agreement on managing the high seas: Roughly 70 per cent of the oceans -- nearly half the world`s surface area -- lie beyond national jurisdiction.



Heralded by Sir Richard Branson and Leonardo DiCaprio -- two of the many celebrities who participated in the week`s ocean-related festivities -- as a potential "Paris Agreement for the Ocean", formal negotiations on this Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdictions (BBNJ) agreement would take place under the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), according to Lisa Speer of the Natural Resources Defense Council.



"We began talking about a high seas convention about 10 years ago," said Speer.



A convention would try to coordinate and sustainably manage all kinds of activities on the high seas -- not just fishing, but mining, energy development, even carbon sequestration efforts -- to try and maintain the immense biodiversity found in the oceans.



The real question, noted observers, is likely to be the position of the US. With the start of the UN Ocean Conference overshadowed by the Trump administration`s announcement of its intention to leave the Paris Agreement on climate change, no one seems sure how it will engage in ocean-related treaty talks.



Although the US is not signatory to UNCLOS, explained Speer, it can participate in the negotiation of implementing agreements under the convention, and has already signed another such agreement (on fisheries management).



US officials, like those from China, kept a low profile at the UN Ocean Conference, which was co-hosted by Sweden and Fiji. A brief statement made by a US official at the conference plenary emphasised the need, and the country`s efforts, to fight illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and lauded the recent entry into force of another treaty, the FAO Port States Agreement, which requires signatory parties to prevent vessels from landing illegally caught fishing products in port.



The UNDP`s Hudson, meanwhile, lauded another convention recently agreed to which will set rules for the disposal of ballast water from ships, a major vector for the introduction of invasive species.



"The price tag for the global shipping industry (to follow these rules) could end up being $35-50 billion, so you might think they would be opposed," explained Hudson. "But they are more concerned about all the different standards they currently have to face when entering different ports; so in the end they embraced the convention."



The other major ocean-related negotiations currently under discussion are the subsidies that governments provide to fishing fleets, which critics say have been spurring over-fishing and illegal activities on the high seas.



It`s estimated that the fisheries industry benefits from $35 billion in subsidies every year, most of which are considered to be "harmful", including fuel subsidies for China`s distant water fishing fleet. But these talks are being carried out under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation, and will be the focus at a ministerial meeting in Buenos Aires in December.



China is also the biggest source of plastic pollution in the oceans, responsible for an estimated one quarter of all the plastic flowing into the seas. The key to solving this problem, say experts, is improving solid waste management.



"The Chinese government has announced it will take action on this problem, although it is not clear yet what it will do," said Erik Solheim, the UN Environment Director. "Historically, China has looked more to its rivers than its oceans, so taking on ocean issues is new to China. But the country is moving so fast, I`m absolutely confident they will do this."
Rajendra Shende/IANS

"Tear down this wall," Ronald Reagan, former Republican President of the US, challenged Mikhail Gorbachev in his speech at Brandenburg Gate, in Germany, exactly this week of June in 1987.



Reagan was speaking next to the iconic Berlin wall. He was referring not only to the brick and mortar wall erected in 1961 by the then communist East Germany with unflinching support from Soviet Union, but also to the ideological firewall that separated an inward-looking, isolated, centralised, socialistic economy from the capitalist West. It was a time when open market globalisation was blazing a trail towards a New World Order.



During his candidacy announcement speech this month in 2015, Donald Trump, also Republican, first proposed the idea of building a real wall along America`s southern border with Mexico. He boasted that due to his real estate experience, he was uniquely qualified for the job.



A little over a year after Reagan ended his tenure, again this month in 1990, the demolition of the Berlin wall officially began and was completed within two years. The open market economy and waves of globalisation started sweeping eastward. Regulations started taking a back-seat and creativity draped in innovation began proliferating.



Trump, in his bid to "Make America Great Again", has isolated Americans at a crucial time, depriving them of the opportunities offered by a globalising and digitalising world. He is doggedly firm that fulfilling election promises -- at any cost -- is his urgent priority. His unilateral decisions, without multilateral consultative dialogue, is poised to make a serious impact on the social, economic and environmental fabric of planet Earth.



When the world, in the 1980s, was strengthening multilateralism, the foundation on which the UN was built, Reagan was riding a wave that was demolishing the archaic walls of unilateralism that dotted the globe. Those dots were the unfortunate post-war memorials of the bilateral and unilateral treaties that started the wars in the first place. Reagan, alarmed by the risks to the planet, engaged his administration in negotiations on multilateral environmental agreements.



Reagan`s record on environmental protection at the national level may not be without controversies. As Governor of California during 1967-75, his environmental record was highly appreciated by many, particularly his path-breaking California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).



But his first term was marked by "Reaganomics" -- tax reduction, economic deregulation, reduction in government spending and an aggressive policy of issuing leases for oil, gas and coal development on tens of millions of acres of national land. Later, in his second term, he signed into law 38 bills that added more than 10.6 million acres of spectacular forests, mountains, deserts and wetlands to the National Wilderness Preservation System.



Trump has a "hate at first sight" relationship with multilateralism, particularly its recent product -- the Paris Climate Agreement. That starkly contrasts with Reagan`s consultative and multilateral approach. Trump is wading through unilateral processes by connecting the dots of American job-loss, rise of China and India, and loss of US` manufacturing base and trying to present the climate change crisis as a diversion from his "America First" slogan.



The multilateral negotiations under the UN held 30 years back to carve out the global environmental treaty, the Montreal Protocol, skilfully traded by Reagan in the wake of threats to American industry and jobs, was an extraordinary example of Republican stewardship. The Montreal Protocol was aimed at protecting the life-saving Ozone layer threatened by man-made chemicals. Without Reagan`s leadership, a depleted ozone layer could have resulted in millions of deaths due to skin cancers and other diseases.



More than $125 billion worth of equipment in American supermarkets, buildings, automobiles, electronic instruments and foam blowing relied on the Ozone-depleting man-made chemicals which were proposed for phase-out under the Montreal Protocol were at risk of premature obsolescence when the Reagan administration was negotiating the treaty under the umbrella of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).



American chemical industries sold about 100 ozone-depleting chemicals at the time of negotiations. Just one of them -- CFCs -- was valued at half a billion dollars annually. The value of goods and services from these chemicals was $28 billion every year.



The predicted American job losses due to provisions of the Montreal Protocol were threatening not just base of Republican popularity, gained by Reagan over his two terms, but the very tenets of American superiority and competitiveness. The "hoax" cries against the science of Ozone layer-depletion by human interference echoed all over America, just like what we hear today from the lawns of the White House on climate change.



Reagan, in partnership with British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and, surprisingly, USSR President Gorbachev, held a number of informal consultations on the possible options of negotiations of the Montreal Protocol, including financial and technical support to developing and emerging countries like India and China.



Many diplomats have termed the Reagan-Gorbachev summits of 1987-88 that included ozone and climate issues as "Ozone-Glasnost". Reagan and Gorbachev even collaborated on stratospheric ozone research through joint satellite missions. For the troika, "Planet First" was the slogan.



The Trumpian stance today on Paris Climate Agreement, his alleged cyber space-affair with Russia and his buzzing campaign of "America First", in comparison to the Reaganian past, appears to be in pitiful defiance of the gravity of the situation.



Thirty years back, Reagan sent the Montreal Agreement for the Senate`s ratification stating that, "In this historic agreement, the international community undertakes cooperative measures to protect a vital global resource of ozone layer." The Senate approved Reagan`s recommendation unanimously.



Three decades after, Reagan, an actor-turned-politician is remembered as the key contributor to the unique success of the Montreal Protocol, implementation of which averted a global catastrophe.



Wonder how, 30 years from now, Trump, real estate businessman-turned-politician, would be described by historians.
New Delhi: The Congress on Monday condemned the alleged "false depiction" in Madhur Bhandarkar's film Indu Sarkar based on the Emergency and said the film is "fully sponsored".

"This film is fully sponsored. The organisation and the individual who is behind the film is known to us. We totally condemn the false depictions in the film," said Congress spokesperson Jyotiraditya Scindia.

Bhandarkar on Friday said he made Indu Sarkar as it was important to tell about the Emergency to today's generation.

Some initial sneak peeks into the movie showcased how Neil and Kirti's looks resemble that of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son and party leader Sanjay Gandhi.

Indu Sarkar will release on July 28.
New Delhi: The Delhi Government on Tuesday rejected the mercy petition of Gopal Ansal, who is the accused in Uphaar tragedy case.

Ansal in his petition had stated that jail term will have an ill-effect on his health.

A Delhi court has already reserved its order on the basis of the chargesheet filed by the police on charges made by Neelam Krishnamurthy, who lost her children in the Uphaar tragedy.

Sushil and Gopal Ansal had approached the High Court challenging the charges framed against them for tampering with evidence.

The district court earlier had ordered framing of charges against seven accused for abetment of offence, causing disappearance of evidence, criminal breach of trust by public servant and criminal conspiracy.

All the accused had denied allegations against them but the court dismissed their petition.

Earlier in April, Gopal Ansal surrendered before the Tihar jail authorities after the Supreme Court refused to grant him more time.

The apex court also refused Ansal's plea, for more time to surrender and ordered the real estate baron to undergo the rest of his jail term.

The apex court directed senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who appeared for Ansal, to ask the real estate baron to complete the rest of his jail term.

The apex court sentenced Ansal to one-year jail term on February 9, while, his elder brother Sushil was ordered to skip his prison term citing old age and ill-health.

At least 59 people died of asphyxia and over 100 others were injured in the stampede after fire broke out in Uphaar cinema in Delhi on June 13, 1997, during the screening of J.P. Dutta's film 'Border'.
London: Police on Tuesday questioned a man suspected of deliberately mowing down Muslims in London, as the interior minister said Britain was "bruised but not broken" by a series of terror attacks.



Britain was coming to terms with the aftermath of its fourth bloody assault in three months following Monday`s van attack on worshippers leaving the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.



The string of attacks had "bruised but not broken the heart of this great nation", Home Secretary Amber Rudd said.



The family of Darren Osborne, the man suspected of deliberately driving into the Muslim group, said he was "troubled", describing his action as "sheer madness".



Osborne, 47, a father of four from Cardiff, was arrested.



Police believe the suspect acted alone and searches were being conducted at a residential address in the Welsh capital.



Police are treating the incident as a terror attack and British Prime Minister Theresa May described it as "sickening", vowing Monday to fight extremism in all its forms.



The attack raised fears of retaliation against Muslims after a series of deadly assaults in Britain by Islamist extremists.



One man who was already receiving first aid at the time died following the assault, while nine people were taken to hospital and two others were treated for minor injuries.



"I`m sorry that my brother has been that troubled that it has taken him to this level of troubledness," said the suspect`s sister Nicola Osborne.



"He has just been troubled for a long time."



His mother Christine, 72, said she screamed when she saw her son in television footage.



"My son is no terrorist -- he`s just a man with problems," The Sun newspaper quoted her as saying.



In a statement on behalf of his family, his nephew Ellis Osborne, 26, said: "We are massively shocked.



"Our hearts go out to the people who have been injured."



His uncle was "not a racist", he said. "It`s madness. It is obviously sheer madness."Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gathered late Monday at the scene of the attack, some carrying signs reading "United Against All Terror".

Another vigil is planned for Tuesday.



The van driver was pinned down by locals before being shielded from retaliatory violence by an imam and detained by police.



The man suspected of driving the van was arrested on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder", police said.



London police chief Cressida Dick said the incident was "quite clearly an attack on Muslims" and promised a stepped-up police presence near mosques as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close.



Rudd said Muslims needed to feel safe in Britain and the government was working to tackle all forms of hate crime and extremism.



"Indicative figures suggest that over half of those who experience hate because of their religion are Muslim. Any hate crime is unacceptable but this stark figure is something we will not shy away from," she wrote in The Guardian newspaper.



"We stand with the Muslim community -- you are not alone, we share your pain and we will not let you down."One victim of Monday`s attack has no memory of what happened, according to a nephew who did not wish to be identified.



"He is bleeding out of his ear, but in general his health was stable," he said after visiting his uncle Hamza Sharif in hospital.



"He has a fracture in his skull -- but they still don`t know why the bleeding from his ear is not stopping yet," the Somali-born man said.



Sharif "does not remember anything" of the attack and kept asking "what was wrong".



The three previous terror attacks in recent months were all Islamist-inspired.



A car and knife attack on March 22 in London killed four pedestrians on Westminster Bridge and a police officer guarding the British parliament.



Two months later, on May 22, 22 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside a pop concert in the northern city of Manchester.



On June 3, eight people were killed in a van and knife attack on London Bridge and nearby Borough Market.
Geneva: The government-backed Bana Mura militia in Congo has committed horrific crimes in ethnically-motivated attacks in the past few months, including cutting off toddlers` limbs and slicing open pregnant women, the UN human rights chief said on Tuesday.



"Refugees from multiple villages in the Kamonya territory indicated that the Bana Mura have in the past two months shot dead, hacked or burned to death, and mutilated, hundreds of villagers, as well as destroying entire villages," he said.



"My team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off; many babies had machete wounds and severe burns," Zeid told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The plan also envisages strengthening connectivity through port projects along the routes, some of which China is accelerating under the OBOR.

By Ananth Krishnan: China on Tuesday proposed constructing a first-of-its-kind oceanic corridor linking the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, as it released a new maritime plan under President Xi Jinping's 'One Belt, One Road' (OBOR) initiative.

The plan, released in Beijing by the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration, calls for building three "blue economic passages", one of which is a "China-Indian Ocean-Africa-Mediterranean Sea" passage, running "westward via the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean".

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The plan further suggests it will "link with the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, and connect with the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridor".

The two other oceanic routes listed under the plan are a China-Oceania-South Pacific passage running southward from the South China Sea and to the Pacific Ocean, and a passage linking Europe via the Arctic Ocean.

UNILATERAL PLAN

As with the OBOR, this plan appears to be unilaterally conceived by China and it remains unclear how it will be received by countries in the region. India, for instance, is unlikely to back a South China Sea-Indian Ocean corridor that the document says will link up with the CPEC, which India has opposed as it runs through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The South China Sea, most of which Beijing claims, is itself contested by as many as 10 parties, who are far from certain to back this initiative.

China, however, could still go ahead with the corridor that aims to link Asia with Africa through its already on-going port projects in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

One proposal calls for "jointly setting up marine disaster warning systems in the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden".

PORT PROJECTS

The plan also envisages strengthening connectivity through port projects along the routes, some of which China is accelerating under the OBOR, which comprises a land belt through Central Asia and Europe and a maritime silk road to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

"Efforts are needed to strengthen international maritime cooperation, improve shipping service networks among countries along the Road, and to jointly establish international and regional shipping centres," it says. "Countries along the Road are encouraged to enhance cooperation through pairing sister ports and forging port alliances. Chinese enterprises will be guided to participate in the construction and operation of ports. Projects for the planning and construction of submarine cables will be jointly advanced to improve connectivity in international communications."

The plan listed several OBOR projects as having made progress, such as the Malaysia Malacca Seaside Industrial Park, the Pakistan Gwadar Port, the port-industrial park-city mode of integrated development of the Kyaukpyu port in Myanmar, the Colombo Port City and the Phase II Hambantota Port Project in Sri Lanka, the railway linking Ethiopia and Djibouti, the railway between Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya, and the Piraeus port in Greece.

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Also read: China backs India's tsunami warning system in South China Sea

Also read: US Senator John Mccain calls for South China Sea drill to challenge 'bully' China

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

--- ENDS ---
Paris: French Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard announced her resignation on Tuesday over a fake jobs scandal that has hit her small centrist MoDem party, allied with President Emmanuel Macron`s party.

Goulard, who was previously a member of the European Parliament, said she could not remain in the government while there was a possibility that she could be investigated over alleged misuse of expenses at the parliament.
London: A man arrested outside the British Parliament in central London has been charged with possession of an offensive weapon and assaulting an officer, police said on Tuesday.



Eniola Mustafa Aminu, 27, was detained last Friday by officers who used a Taser stun gun near one of the gates to Parliament where a militant killed a policeman less than three months ago.



Unlike the previous attack, Aminu`s case is not considered a terrorist incident, authorities have said.



Aminu appeared at Westminster Magistrates` Court on Monday and was remanded to appear at the same court again on Tuesday following a mental health assessment.



British police are on high alert after a man drove a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge, killing four, and then stabbed a policeman to death in the grounds of parliament in March.



That attack was followed by a suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester which killed 22, a deadly attack on London Bridge this month, while on Monday a van was driven into Muslim worshippers leaving prayers in north London.
Washington: US sanctions on Russia will remain in place until Moscow withdraws from eastern Ukraine, a White House spokesman said on Tuesday.



"It`s part of the reason there are sanctions, because until they are out of eastern Ukraine, we`re going to continue to have sanctions on Russia, and we believe that is part of Ukraine, and so therefore those sanctions will remain," White House spokesman Sean Spicer told a regular press briefing.



President Donald Trump met earlier on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in talks that the White House said were about ways to resolve peacefully the conflict in eastern Ukraine.


Mumbai: Sridevi dazzles on the cover of Filmfare July issue and looks absolutely stunning.

The 53-year-old diva, who is all set to return to the silver-screen with Mom, her 300th film, looks drop-dead gorgeous in a black off-shoulder dress.

Check out the Filmfare cover here:

Sridevis upcoming flick- Mom  which also stars Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Akshaye Khanna and Pakistani actress Sajal Ali, is slated to release on July 7.
New Delhi/Mumbai: In a big boost for BJP, its oldest ally Shiv Sena on Tuesday said that it will support NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the presidential election.

The announcement in this regard was made by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai.

"We fully support Kovind. He has a nice personality. He has done a lot of good work," Thackeray said.

The Shiv Sena had earlier refrained from spelling out its stand on supporting Kovind for president.

Thackeray had earlier said that his party will not back Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.

"If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner Dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone. We shall decide on whether or not to support the candidature of Kovind on Tuesday," Thackeray had said.

He, however, added that they would extend their support only if the decision was taken for the development of the nation.

The ruling NDA had on Monday nominated Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit, as its candidate for the Presidential elections to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 25.

Meanwhile, Ram Nath Kovind today resigned as the Bihar Governor and his resignation was accepted by President Pranab Mukherjee.

West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was given additional charge of Bihar.

Though the main opposition Congress party, Left parties, Bahujan Samajwadi Party ( BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), and Janata Dal (United) have not extended support to Kovind, other opposition parties like Odisha's Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and Andhra's YSR Congress Party have supported Kovind's candidature.

Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav also extended his support to Kovind by saying that he is a deserving candidate.

The NDA, including Shiv Sena and the PDP of Jammu and Kashmir, which also extended support to Kovind, commands the support of 48.93 percent in the electoral college made up of MPs and MLAs.

With the backing of parties outside the alliance like TRS (2 percent), AIADMK (5.39 percent), YSR Congress (1.53 percent) and BJD (2.99 percent), the NDA's support would cross the half way mark comfortably to reach nearly 61 percent in the July 17 battle.

It remains to be seen how the JD(U), BSP and Samajwadi Party, with a total vote value of over 5 percent, vote.

The names doing the rounds as possible opposition candidates include former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, both of the Congress and both Dalits.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad today flew to Patna to consult Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD-U, which reportedly is said to be not averse to backing Kovind. Azad's meeting comes ahead of a JD-U meeting on Wednesday on the Presidential election.

Kovind was till Monday the Bihar Governor and shared a warm relationship with Nitish Kumar.

The Bihar Chief Minister is known to take a line different from other political parties as was reflected on the demonetisation decision.

Azad would also meet RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, who leans towards the Congress.

The names of Meira Kumar and Shinde have been floated to counter the NDA so that parties like the BSP would have no problem going against the NDA Dalit candidate.

Congress sources feel Shinde could be a better candidate due to his record in public life.

The Left parties are keen on the Opposition putting up a candidate because they see the Presidential election as an "ideological battle" and the NDA candidate as an RSS-backed man.

"For the Left, the President's election has became a battle of ideologies and a battle for safeguarding the Constitution and secular democracy. This is how we look at it," CPI National Secretary D. Raja said.

A final call on the anti-Kovind candidate will be taken at a meeting of the opposition front on June 22, Raja said.

The Left parties, which were earlier garnering support for former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, are slated to meet on the morning of June 22. Among the candidates the Left is looking at is Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the iconic B.R. Ambedkar.

But with the TRS, AIADMK and BJD swinging Kovind's way and the BSP speaking in two voices, the opposition's strength certainly looks depleted.

With Agency inputs
Beijing: A day after saying it shared India`s concern about terrorism, China on Tuesday said it still had issues in declaring Pakistani militant Masood Azhar as an international terrorist.



"At present, some members still have a disagreement over the listing matter," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said here.



Beijing has in the past vetoed India`s proposal at the UN Security Council to add Azhar to the list of international terrorists, citing lack of solid evidence against the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief who is accused of plotting the Pathankot terror attack.



"We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld," Geng said.



"China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue."



Beijing`s reaction comes a day after India and China expressed growing concerns over terrorism and forged consensus with BRICS countries to step up the fight against terrorism.





At the BRICS Foreign Ministers` meet on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China was a victim of terrorism and shared India`s concern.



Indian Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh said India and China agreed that terrorism posed a challenge to the whole world.
Lucknow: In yet another indication of growing fissures in the opposition ranks over BJP's choice for the country's highest constitutional post, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav has now heaped praise on BJP's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

Talking to reporters, the veteran Socialist leader said, ''BJP has given a good candidate.''

Talking about his good equation with the BJP presidential pick, Mulayam said, ''I have very old relations with him.''

The SP patron also expressed confidence that the ruling BJP will not face much difficulty in sending Kovind to the Rashtrapati Bhawan.

BJP has majority, if 1% or say 5% votes are required then BJP can manage it, he said.

When asked about what will be the Opposition's strategy to counter BJP in the presidential election, Mulayam said, ''I can't say what will Opposition decide.''

:Notably, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had on Monday lauded Ramnath Kovind, saying the latter has done an exceptional job as the Governor of the Janata-Dal-United-ruled state.

Talking to reporters, Bihar CM said, ''He has done exemplary work as Governor of Bihar, he worked with impartiality and maintained an ideal relationship with the state govt.''

It's a matter of happiness for me personally, he told reporters.

However, the Bihar CM stopped short of announcing his support to Kovind, whoo was hand-picked by a high-powered committee including BJP chief Amit Shah, PM Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Ananth Kumar, M Venkaiah Naidu and several top leaders.

As far as support is concerned, I can't say anything right now. it is too early to say, Nitish Kumar said.

Opposition parties have called a meeting on June 22 to take a decision on the issue.

The final decision on the presidential nominee was taken at the BJP Parliamentary Board meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, including Union Ministers Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Ananth Kumar, M Venkaiah Naidu and several top leaders.

BJP's Parliamentary Board is the party's highest decision-making body.

While addressing a press conference in the national capital, Shah announced the decision.

Shah said there has been no discussion yet on names for the vice president post.

The BJP chief said political parties had been informed of the NDA's choice. "I hope all will agree to the name," he said at a press conference.

The BJP had on Sunday stepped up its efforts to gather support for its unnamed Presidential nominee, with its top leaders talking to allies Shiv Sena and LJP as well as the Trinamool Congress and BJD, even as it disclosed that the NDA candidate will file the nomination before June 24 after the opposition is conveyed its choice.

Bharatiya Janata Party and allied MPs are being called to New Delhi by Tuesday to sign the nomination papers. Each nomination paper has to be signed by at least 50 proposers and an equal number of seconders who can also be MLAs.

The National Democratic Alliance's attempt is to file at least three-four sets of nominations of its candidate so that all allies can get to sign.
New Delhi: Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen's visa has been extended for one year, with effect from July 23, 2017, by the Union Home Ministry.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today gave approval for the visa extension, official sources said.

Taslima, a citizen of Sweden, has been getting Indian visa on a continuous basis since 2004.

Her visa has been further extended on the basis of the Swedish passport, they said.

Taslima is living in exile since she left Bangladesh in a cloak of secrecy in 1994 in the wake of threats to her by fundamentalist groups.

She has also stayed in the US and Europe during the last two decades. However, on many occasions she had expressed her wish to live in India permanently, especially in Kolkata.

Taslima had also applied for permanent residency in India. "No decision has been taken on it by the Home Ministry," a source said.

The writer also had to leave Kolkata in 2007 following violent street protests by a section of Muslims against her works.

Taslima had said if she is not able to stay on in India she will suffer from an "identity crisis" which will affect her writings and championing the cause of women's rights.
Chennai: India`s first indigenous-built floating dock for the Indian Navy was launched at shipyard here on Tuesday, signalling a a milestone in Indias quest for self-reliance in shipbuilding, a defence statement said.



As per traditions, Yard 55000, was launched by Anjali Deshpande, the wife of Indian Navy`s Controller Warship Production & Acquisition, Vice Admiral D.M. Deshpande at a ceremony at Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) Shipyard at Kattupalli, a Defence Ministry statement said.



She applied `kumkum` on the floating dock, wishing it good luck and launched the vessel.



Vice Admiral Deshpande said the indigenous-built dock was testimony to the capabilities available in India for realising the `Make in India` vision.



The Ministry said the floating dock built by the L&T Shipyard was an indigenously-designed and built platform "with state of the art machinery and control systems" capable of docking warships of up to 8,000 tons displacement.



"It has high-capacity Ballast Pumps, along with advanced automated Ballast Control System. The dock covers provided with the dock facilitate repair and refit activities in inclement weather conditions," it said.



According to L&T, the floating dock would be put through a series of harbour trials before delivery to the Navy.



Once operationalised, it would enhance the technical repair infrastructure of the Navy for ships based at the Andaman & Nicobar Islands as well as for visiting Naval ships.



The floating dock, which is the first Naval shipbuilding project for L&T, is 185m long and 40m wide, and is designed for docking Indian Naval ships and submarines of up to 8,000 ton displacement with draughts of up to seven metres, during both day and night.



Simultaneous docking of multiple ships, and off-centre docking options are also feasible, the company said in a statement.



"While winning our first mandate from the Indian Navy was satisfying, I am particularly delighted that we have also been able to execute and deliver the FDN-2 well within schedule," S.N. Subrahmanyan, Managing Director (Designate) and President, L&T was quoted as saying in the statement.



L&T was mandated by the Ministry of Defence in May 2015 to design and build the floating dock for an order value of Rs 468 crore. The floating dock will be delivered at Port Blair well within contracted schedule.
Colgate-Palmolive India Limited, the market leader in Oral Care in India, has launched its annual Colgate Scholarship Offer. Colgate is offering more than 300 scholarships worth more than Rs 52 lacs.

By India Today Web Desk: Colgate-Palmolive India Limited, the market leader in Oral Care in India, has launched its annual Colgate Scholarship Offer. As a part of this limited-edition offer, valid till July 31, 2017, Colgate is offering more than 300 scholarships worth more than Rs 52 lacs, to help children take small yet meaningful steps in fulfilling their dreams.

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Since its launch in 2009, Colgate's Scholarship Offer has been contributing to the lives of children by giving them and their families a future to smile about. So far, the programme has enabled more than 1000 Indian families, from across 100 cities, to give their children a bright future - be it in dance, sports, music, or academic educations.

The 2017 Colgate Scholarship Offer has more than just scholarships to offer.

While purchase of the product is not mandatory to participate in the scholarship offer, those who buy a pack of Colgate Dental Cream (100g and above) also get a free one-month video tutorial subscription, worth Rs 999 each, of BYJU'S - the education app for school students best known for its maths and science lessons.

To make education accessible for everyone, Colgate along with BYJUs has created special audio lectures for the deserving little ones who cannot access the app. To know more rush to your nearest store and pick your pack today!

On this occasion, Mr. Issam Bachaalani, Managing Director, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited said, "The Colgate Scholarship Offer is one of the many Colgate initiatives meant to give children and their families a future they can smile about.

Since the launch of this annual programme in 2009, Colgate has tried, in a small way, to impact the lives of Indian families across 100 cities. That, has been a motivation for us to scale up the program this year, by not only providing more scholarships but also by partnering with BYJU'S, the Education Platform so that each pack of toothpaste offered free access to BYJUs content for a month -- an offer worth Rs 999."

Commenting on this partnership, Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO, BYJU'S said, "At BYJU'S, our main focus is to make learning accessible, effective, engaging and personalised for everyone. Our learning programmes have been designed to address the gap in the way in which students learn concepts today and how it can actually be learnt."

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--- ENDS ---
Kolkata: The West Bengal CID on Tuesday arrested former Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan, who was sentenced to six months by the Supreme Court in a contempt of court case and was on the run since was absconding since last month from Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore.

Justice Karnan, who is facing six months imprisonment for contempt of the Supreme Court, was on the run since May 9. He was transferred to Kolkata after he had kicked up a row by raking up issues against other judges of the Madras High Court, including the Chief Justice, has been untraceable ever since the apex court sentenced him for contempt.

A seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar held Karnan guilty of contempt and ordered six months imprisonment for him.

A team of West Bengal police had rushed to Chennai and other places in Tamil Nadu looking for him but without success.

Probably the police may lay its hands on the controversial judge now that he has retired.
Lucknow: With India still importing 65 percent of its military requirements, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday strongly favoured making the country self-reliant in the defence sector.

"We are moving forward with the dream of making India self-dependent in the field of defence and security," he said while addressing a gathering after inaugurating the APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) here.

We are marching ahead with this dream and for this we have made policy changes and allowed 100 percent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the defence sector, Modi said.

He lauded the successful launch of 104 satellites by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and said the world took notice when it was done.

We have such potential and have to take it forward, Modi said.

Upon his arrival, the PM was greeted by UP CM Yogi Adityanath and other senior ministers of his government at the Lucknow airport.

PM Modi arrives in Lucknow to inaugurate building of APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University & to attend an event on #InternationalYogaDay tmrw pic.twitter.com/jzzHRK8RXN  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 20, 2017

Shortly after his arrival, the Prime Minister inaugurated the newly developed campus of Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in the evening.

Prime Minister Modi inaugurated the new campus of Central Drugs Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow. pic.twitter.com/uXo4P1YsFc  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 20, 2017

He then proceeded to unveil the new building of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University.

Lucknow: PM Narendra Modi inaugurates the campus of Abdul Kalam Technical University in Lucknow: UP CM & Guv also present pic.twitter.com/bfasbllAxv  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 20, 2017

During the function, the Prime Minister will handover allotment letters of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna to 20 beneficiaries.

He will also dedicate to the nation of 400 KV transmission line between Lucknow and Kanpur.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi will participate in the International Yoga Day function at Ramabai Ambedkar Ground with over 60,000 participants.

The 80-minute yoga session is expected to begin around 6:30 in the morning. Several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats will participate in the event.

Massive security arrangements have been made for the Prime Minister's visit.

A large number of police personnel and 25 companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) have been deployed.

Over 400 CCTV cameras have been installed, with drone cameras also pressed into service at different venues.

The stage is all set as Prime Minister Modi, Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Deputy Chief Minister Keshaw Prasad Maurya will be performing Yoga along with above 60,000 participants including students of several schools, paramilitary personnel, government officials and volunteers.

Several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats will also gather at the Ground to participate into the function.

In an attempt to make the International Yoga Day programme a success, various organisations, NGOs and Yoga gurus have held camps and practice sessions.

Through LED TVs installed all across the ground, there will be a live telecast of the yoga session.

Those who will not be able to make it to the Ramabai Ambedkar ground will have an opportunity to perform yoga at any of the 11 parks across the city, selected for the event, where the event will be telecast live through LED TVs.
New Delhi: All the Chief Ministers of BJP and its allies besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party President Amit Shah will be present during the filing of nomination by NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind on Friday.

This became clear after Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday spoke to Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states and of allied parties, requesting them to be present at the time of filing of nomination by Kovind on June 23.

He also spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik. While thanking him for his party`s support to Kovind, Naidu invited him to be present during the filing of nomination to which he agreed.

Earlier, reaching out to more parties, Naidu sought their support for Kovind.

Naidu spoke to former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular leader H.D. Deve Gowda, DMK leader M.K. Stalin, PMK leader Anbumani Ramdoss and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who extended her party`s support to the NDA candidate.

Gowda said that party president and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy was away on a tour and on his return the matter will be discussed.

Stalin and Ramdoss too said that the issue will be discussed among the leadership of their parties.

Naidu met Indian National Lok Dal chief and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and he responded positively, said informed sources.
New Delhi/Lucknow: To make the third edition of International Yoga Day a grand success, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and 51,000 yoga enthusiasts will perform various yoga 'asanas' in Lucknow on Wednesday.

The main event of the celebration will be in Lucknow`s sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar Ground under a partly overcast sky.

The Met Office, however, has forecast chances of rain are low.

Some 51,000 persons, including several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, are expected to take part in the mass yoga demonstration in the Uttar Pradesh capital, where rehearsals have been going on for over a month.

CM Yogi Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik inspected the overall preparations, including the security arrangements, for the mega event, and attended full-dress rehearsals at the spruced up ground.

Interestingly, PM Modi reached Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon.

According to private weather forecaster Accuweather, the sky will be "partly cloudy" and the mercury will hover between 28 and 30 degrees Celsius in Lucknow on Wednesday morning.

The chances of rain are less as precipitation level will go down from 28 percent to 20 percent from 6 am to 8 am, but humidity will be around 80 to 90 per cent.

An ardent advocate of yoga, Modi during his monthly radio talk "Mann Ki Baat" had asked three generations of the families to do yoga together on the International Yoga Day -- observed globally on June 21.

The United Nations declared it on December 11, 2014, following a resolution moved by India and co-sponsored by a large number of nations.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015.

Yoga day events will also be organised in all states with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry directing universities and educational institutions to ensure elaborate arrangements to mark the event.

Modi`s ministers will also perform yoga asanas across the country.

While Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will head the events in Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will preside over the celebrations in Manipur.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu is scheduled to lead the event at the national capital where at least seven main events are being organised by civic bodies and yoga organisations.

In Delhi, the main event will be held at the Cannaught Place. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will also hold an event to mark the day with faculty members and students performing yoga.

To familiarise citizens with yoga and its asanas, the Ayush Ministry had started one-month free yoga camp through the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy in almost every district of the country. The training programme started on May 21.

The central government has also launched a mobile application to enable people to share their day`s experience with the ancient Indian practice of physical, mental and spiritual union.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan launched the `Celebrating Yoga` app that also provides information to users about studies conducted on yoga by the ministry.

However, Wednesday being a working day, some may not be able to attend the mass yoga participation programmes.

Crediting the Modi government for popularising the practice across the globe, Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSSI) opined that the day should be celebrated on a Sunday instead of a working day.

The day will also be celebrated across the globe at Indian missions and other places. Some countries have already observed the day while others plan the celebrations in coming days as Wednesday is a working day.

Some 1,000 Chinese yoga practitioners are expected to celebrate the day in Beijing, following a week of events across the country.

India`s Permanent Mission to the UN as well as the Indian Consulate have also planned several events to mark the day.

A "Yoga Session with Yoga Masters" is planned for Tuesday at the UN with mass participation of diplomats, staff and visitors.

New York`s Times Square, billed as the crossroads of the world, is holding the annual "Mind over Madness Yoga" celebrations on Wednesday, which is the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere.

In Israel, a yoga event will be held at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Thousands are expected to join in.

The Indian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago has already announced 12-day activities to mark the International Yoga Day, which includes 108 Surya Namaskars among others.

With IANS inputs
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena will on Tuesday announce its stand on the National Democratic Alliance's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

On Monday, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had said that his party would not back Kovind if he has been chosen with an intention to garner Dalit votes.

Addressing the 51st Foundation Day function of Shiv Sena in suburban Matunga last evening, Thackeray said: We have never played politics using anybody as a shield. We had suggested the name of MS Swaminathan so that farmers get benefited. We will always support the cause of farmers.

"There are attempts being made to play politics over a Dalit presidential candidate. If that is so, we are not interested in backing him. We will give our final decision on the NDA nominee tomorrow (Tuesday)," Thackeray, the oldest and most prominent ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said.

He had, however, added that if the next President proves to be beneficial for all the people of the country and not just Dalits, "then make anybody. We will openly support".

On two occasions in the past, the Shiv Sena had deviated from the NDA line by supporting UPA candidates: in 2007 when Pratibha Patil won the election and in 2012 when incumbent Pranab Mukherjee was elected.

Ram Nath Kovind, NDA's presidential nominee, meets PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah; seeks support of all parties

On the first occasion, Sena supremo Bal Thackeray had thrown his lot behind Patil on grounds that she was the first Maharashtrian and a woman to occupy the top constitutional post.

Patil defeated NDA candidate and Vice President BS Shekhawat.

In 2012, Mukherjee personally called up and later met Thackeray soliciting his support, which the Sena chief offered, going against the BJP-supported NDA candidate, PA Sangma.

This time round, the Sena stance on Kovind's candidature would be considered crucial as it is a partner both at the centre and in Maharashtra.

(With Agency inputs)
Shimla: What a strange twist of fate! Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, who on Monday emerged as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) choice for the President's post, was denied entry to the Retreat Building, part of the presidential estate, during a trip to Shimla with his family late last month.

A few weeks from now, the low-profile Kovind, whose family roamed around in hired taxis in Shimla, could well be the custodian of the sprawling presidential summer retreat, about 15 km from here.

71-year-old Kovind arrived in Shimla on May 28 and visited several places in and around the Himachal Pradesh capital. However, when he reached the Retreat in a high security zone in the leafy Mashobra hills, he could not enter the complex as he did not have the required prior permission.

The Retreat was made a part of the presidential estate after the Viceregal Lodge, which was turned into Rashtrapati Bhavan after Independence, was handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS).

The president visits the Retreat at least once a year and the core office shifts during his stay.

Shashi Kant, advisor to Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat, said, "The Bihar governor visited the Kalyani helipad, constructed especially for the president, and I suggested he should visit forests of Shimla water supply catchment area, known as one of the best maintained forests in the world. He was fascinated by the greenery and scenic beauty."

Kovind maintained a low-profile. Though he and his wife used an official vehicle, other family members went sightseeing in hired taxis.

Ram Nath Kovind  All about NDA's presidential candidate

The governor went to Mall Road and the Ridge. He expressed concern over increasing traffic congestion in the hill town and said steps should be taken to decongest the roads for the convenience of tourists.

It took him five-and-a-half hours to reach Shimla from Chandigarh by road against the normal two-and-a-half hours.

A close friend of the Himachal Pradesh governor, Kovind gifted a box of mangoes and an idol of Lord Buddha to him.

The Presidential Election, if required, will be held on July 17.

If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit President after KR Narayanan.

A former head of the BJP Dalit wing and a two-time Rajya Sabha member, the low-key Kovind, who hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, became the Bihar Governor after Modi stormed to power in May 2014.

An advocate by profession, Kovind was a Rajya Sabha member for 12 years and a member of several parliamentary panels. He had practised law in both the High Court and the Supreme Court.

An unassuming man, Kovind worked through the ranks to become a national spokesperson of the BJP. He headed the BJP's Dalit wing for three years from 1999.

(With Agency inputs)
San Francisco: Google is trying to turn its search engine into an employment engine.

Beginning today, job hunters will be able to go to Google and see help-wanted listings that its search engine collects across the internet.

The results will aim to streamline such listings by eliminating duplicate jobs posted on different sites.

Google will also show employer ratings from current and former workers, as well as typical commute times to job locations.

This detailed jobs information is a departure from the way Google's main search engine has traditionally shown only bare-bones links to various help-wanted sites.

Google is teaming up with a variety of help-wanted and employer-rating services, including LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, and Facebook.
Pulwama: Terrorists on Tuesday hurled two grenades and opened fire on Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)`s 180 battalion camp in Tral area of Jammu and Kashmir`s Pulwama district.



However, there is no report of injury or casualty so far.



The security forces have cordoned off the area and are trying to smoke out the militants.



Meanwhile, the Jammu and Kashmir police recovered four grenades and two magazines in Srinagar`s Baba Demb.Earlier on June 13, at least nine CRPF personnel were injured in a grenade attack on its camp in Jammu and Kashmir`s Tral.



The terrorists lobbed grenade at a camp of the CRPF`s 180 Battalion.In view of the multiple grenade attacks at the security forces last week, Jammu and Kashmir`s Director General of Police (DGP) S. P. Vaid had claimed that the multiple grenade attacks taking place in Pulwama district were carried out by the terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad as per intelligence reports gathered so far.
Naxals suspected Chhannuram Mandavi, who had served as president of Dantewada district unit of the Congress, to be a police informer.

Chhannuram Mandavi was suspected to be a police informer by the Naxals. (India Today Photo)

By India Today Web Desk: Heavily armed Naxals stormed into the house of former sarpanch and Congress leader and hacked him to death in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada. Maoist suspected Chhannuram Mandavi to be a police informer

Mandavi was attacked with sharp weapons at his house late on Monday night. He also served as president of Congress's Dantewada unit.

HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED:

Reports said some armed Naxals stormed into Mandavi's house in Cholnar, around 450 km from state capital Raipur. The attackers slit his throat while he was asleep, killing him on the spot, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap said. Soon after getting information, a police team was rushed to the spot and his body was brought for postmortem, Kashyap told PTI. Some Maoists pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which Mandavi was branded as a police informer, the SP said adding that a search has been launched in the forests to nab the assailants. The SP also said that Mandavi was earlier arrested and jailed in connection with the Naxal attack on the house of Congress leader Avdhesh Gautam in Nakulnar village of Dantewada in 2010. Gautam's family member and one of his employees were killed in the incident.

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--- ENDS ---
Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh Police have arrested at least 15 people who were shouting pro-Pakistan slogans after India's crushing defeat in the Champions Trophy finals.

According to ANI, 15 Muslims were arrested and slapped with sedition charges for allegedly celebrating Pakistans victory against India in the finals of the Champions Trophy in the states Burhanpur district.

MP: 15 arrested in Burhanpur for raising Pro-Pak slogans & bursting crackers after Pakistan's win in final match against India on 18th June. pic.twitter.com/CRprlDQ256  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

These people were arrested on Monday evening on charges of shouting slogans in favour of Pakistan and bursting crackers, according to police.

The incident occurred in Mohad, nearly 24 kms from the Burhanpur district headquarter.

The police action came following a complaint by a local resident identified as Subhash who alleged that some people shouted slogans in favour of Pakistan and burst crackers after Pakistan handed India a shock 180-run defeat in the finals on Sunday.

Following the complaint we investigated the matter and found that 15 people were involved in it. By late Monday late evening we arrested all 15 people, Sanjay Pathak, Inspector of Shahpur Police Station, was quoted as saying by HT.

Those arrested have been booked under 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy )and 124A (sedition) of IPC, he added.
New Delhi: The crippling financial implications of online banking security incidents have been brought to light by the latest Kaspersky Lab report into cyber security threats in the financial sector.

The report shows that an accident involving a bank`s online banking services costs the organization USD 1,754,000 on average - that`s double the price of recovering from a malware incident, which costs as much as USD 825,000 on average to resolve.

The study shows that 61 percent of cyber security incidents affecting online banking come with additional costs for the institution targeted - including data loss, the loss of brand/ company reputation, confidential information becoming leaked, and more.

These findings, and others in the report, are urging financial institutions to consider the cost implications of cybersecurity threats and put appropriate measures in place to protect themselves and their customers from incidents involving online banking - particularly from DDoS attacks, which can threaten online banking services.

DDoS attacks against financial institutions are often designed to cripple banking websites.

The report shows that when organizations are attacked by DDoS, customer-facing resources suffer more in banking, than in any other sector.

For example, 49 percent of banks that have suffered a DDoS attack have had their public website affected (compared to 41 percent of non-financial institutions) and 48 percent have had their online banking affected when they`ve been targeted by DdoS.

Banks worry about attacks against their online banking services more than about many other threats.

However, DDoS, according to the report, only ranks third place, being superseded by concerns about malware and targeted attacks, despite the fact that DDoS is more costly to recover from than malware.

Recovering from DDoS is also more expensive for banks than non-financial organizations.

The report shows that a DDoS incident can cost a financial institution USD 1,172,000 to recover from, compared to USD 952,000 for businesses in other sectors.

With the most feared consequence of a cyber incident being the loss of brand/ company reputation for almost one-in-five (17 percent) financial institutions, Kaspersky Lab is urging businesses in the sector to be more aware of the dangers they face, to protect their services, customers and brands from harm.

Kirill Ilganaev, Head of Kaspersky DDoS Protection, Kaspersky Lab says, "In the banking sector reputation is everything, and security goes hand-in-hand with this.

If a bank`s online services come under attack, it is very difficult for customers to trust that bank with their money, so it`s easy to see why an attack could be so crippling.

If banks are to protect themselves effectively from the price tag of an online banking cybersecurity incident, they first need to become more prepared for the dangers DDoS attacks pose to their online banking services.

This threat should be featuring higher on banks` security priorities.

"To be better prepared for dealing with the threat of an attack on their online banking services, Kaspersky Lab is encouraging financial institutions to share security intelligence.

For more information, read the report here.
Coimbatore: BJP in Tamil Nadu today joined issue with CPI(M) for the party's 'irresponsible statements' of blaming Hindutva forces and BJP and RSS for petrol bombs being hurled at its district party office here recently.



"The incident of hurling a bomb at the CPI(M) office, for that matter any party office, is condemnable. But CPI(M) has blamed Hindutva forces, BJP and RSS without proof.It is not in good taste.The party should have reacted in a responsible manner," BJP State General Secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan told reporters here.



She recalled that during the DMK regime,petrol bombs were hurled at the BJP Headquarters in Chennai and even now many demonstrations are held in front of that office.



On June 17, some unidentified persons had hurled a petrol bomb at the CPI(M) office in Coimbatore, drawing strong condemnation from opposition parties in the state.



None were injured in the incident, but a car parked there was partially damaged.



CPI(M) had blamed 'Hindutva' activists for the attack and claimed it was a "continuation" of the recent attempt to attack party General Secretary Sitaram Yechury in Delhi.



Vanathi lauded the Tamil Nadu government for passing the GST Bill and said Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Nirmala Seetharaman would be on a three-day visit to the state to highlight various advantages of GST, particularly among traders and industrialists.



Nirmala would have an interactive session in the city on June 22 where she would respond to queries and clear doubts Vanathi said.



The minister would go to the textile hub of Tirupur where textile associations will facilitate her that evening.The next day Nirmala will go to Tiruchirapalli the next day, where she will have interaction with all stakeholders.



Vanathi also welcomed the Presidential candidate announced by NDA and appealed to all political parties in Tamil Nadu to extend support to him.
Delhi: Apple Inc broadened a legal attack on Qualcomm Inc, arguing to a U.S. federal court that license agreements that secure the chip maker a cut of every iPhone manufactured were invalid.

If successful, Apple`s attack would undermine a core tenet of Qualcomm`s business model.

Apple sued San Diego-based Qualcomm in January, saying the chip maker improperly withheld $1 billion in rebates because Apple helped Korean regulators investigate Qualcomm.

Apple`s initial lawsuit was a relatively narrow one focused on whether it violated a contract with Qualcomm by helping regulators that were investigating Qualcomm`s business practices. But the new filing expands Apple`s claims and seeks to stop Qualcomm`s longstanding business model using a legal theory based on a ruling last month.

The U.S. Supreme Court made it harder for manufacturers and drug companies to control how their products are used or resold, ruling in May against printer company Lexmark International Inc in a patent dispute over another company`s resale of its used ink cartridges.

In a Tuesday brief seen by Reuters, Apple took aim at Qualcomm`s practice of requiring customers to sign patent license agreements before purchasing chips, known in the industry as "no license, no chips".

The license allows Qualcomm to take a percentage of the overall selling price for iPhone in exchange for supplying the modem chips that let phones connect to cellular data networks.

Apple argued that the ruling involving Lexmark showed that Qualcomm was entitled to only "one reward" for its intellectual property and products.

Qualcomm should be allowed to charge for either a patent license or a chip, but not both, Apple argued.

Apple wants to be able to buy chips without signing the license agreement that forces it to pay a part of the overall iPhone sale price.

Apple also asked the court to stop lawsuits that Qualcomm had filed against Foxconn Technology Group and three other contract makers that assemble the iPhone on Apple`s behalf and are the formal buyers of Qualcomm`s chip, as is standard in the electronics industry.

Apple argued that the court fight should be between Apple and Qualcomm.
New Delhi: Indian companies could lose Rs 11 crore to data breaches this year, up 12.3 percent from last year, a report by tech giant IBM on Tuesday IBM, said.

A breach is described as an event where an individual's name and a medical/financial record is potentially put at risk - either in electronic or paper format.

Interestingly, the average cost of a data breach globally is expected to decline by 10 per cent this year to USD 3.62 million (Rs 23.35 crore) compared to last year.

The study, conducted by Ponemon Institute, found that the average per capita cost of data breach increased from Rs 3,704 in 2016 to Rs 4,210 in 2017.

Forty one per cent of the Indian companies said they experienced a data breach as a result of malicious or criminal attacks.

Another 33 per cent experienced a data breach as a result of system glitches, while 26 per cent of data breaches involved employee or contractor negligence (ie human factor).

"Services, financial, industrial and technology companies had a per capita cost well above the mean of Rs 4,210, while public sector, research and transportation companies had a per capita cost well below the mean," the study added.

The study, in its sixth edition this year, examined the costs incurred by 39 Indian companies in 13 industry sectors.

"The study clearly outlines the rapidly changing threat scenario through a significant rise in both number and sophistication of breaches," IBM India/South Asia Integrated Security Leader Kartik Shahani said.

He added that securing data on cloud is of top priority as cloud services have become the key for digital enterprise transformation.

"Enterprises need to ensure that robust security practices are adopted, incident response plans are in place and regular security training given to all stakeholders of the company," he said.

The study found the average number of breached records was around 33,167. Both indirect and direct costs related to data breaches have surged over the past year.

Indirect costs, which refer to the amount of time, effort and other organisational resources spent to resolve a breach, increased from Rs 1,923 to Rs 2,212 per capita.

Direct costs -- expenses like purchasing a technology or hiring a consultant -- rose from Rs 1,781 to Rs 1,998 per capita.
Lucknow: Setting aside political differences, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has sent a dinner invitation to former state chief ministers, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.

PM Modi, CM Adityantah will perform yoga along with 51,000 participants in Lucknow during the third edition of International Yoga Day on Wednesday.

UP Governor Ram Naik and CM Adityanath on Monday visited the Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan here to review the preparations for the International Yoga Day event.

An elaborate security arrangement would be put in place with commandos and paramilitary personnel keeping a close watch on the venue.

The first International Yoga Day function held on June 21, 2015, at Rajpath in the national capital witnessed Narendra Modi performing Yoga along with over 200 million people across the country and over 37,000 people in Delhi alone.
Lucknow: Scores of Muslim men and women will participate in the mega International Yoga Day event here tomorrow performing along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi various yoga asanas at the sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan.



"At least 300 Muslim men and women will be participating in the International Yoga Day celebrations along with Modi. This will be undoubtedly a historic moment in the life of each and every member of our organisation, as they would share precious 80-minute period with the Prime Minister," Raees Khan, the incharge of Muslim Rashtriya Manch for UP and Uttarakhand, told PTI.



Spokesperson of the All India Shia Personal Law Board Maulana Yasoob Abbas, when contacted, said, "Several students of Shia PG College will be going to Ramabai Ambedkar Maidan to participate in the Yoga Day event. Apart from this, parallel sessions will be held on the college campus. We will make efforts to ensure that yoga sessions are held on a daily basis in the college."



On March 29, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, while addressing the three-day UP Yoga Mahotsava in Lucknow, had said that Surya Namaskar was similar to namaz (prayers) offered by Muslims and those opposing the yogic exercise wanted to divide the society on religious lines.



Adityanath, who had in the past lashed out at a section of Muslims for terming the practice of surya namaskar as "un-Islamic", said the sun salutation was a beautiful example of religious harmony.



"The namaz offered by Muslims resembles different postures and asanas of surya namaskar including pranayama. What a beautiful example of harmony (between two religions). But some bhogis who do not believe in yoga, indulged in dividing the society on lines of caste, creed, religion and region among others," he said.



"All asanas (postures) in surya namaskar, pranayama activities are similar to the way namaz is offered by our Muslim brothers. But nobody ever tried to bring them together because few people were interested only in bhoga not yoga," he said.



"Before 2014, even talking about Yoga was considered communal. But things changed after Modi took steps to make Yoga popular across the world," he said.



Lauding the prime minister for making yoga a global phenomenon, Adityanath had said, "PM Modi deserves all the credit for the global recognition which yoga has got."



"The number of countries which participated in the International Yoga Day celebrations in 2015 was 175, which went up to 192 in the subsequent year," he said.
Darjeeling: The indefinite bandh in the Darjeeling hills, which entered its sixth day, will continue until security forces are withdrawn, a GJM-sponsored all-party meeting decided on Tuesday.

The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), spearheading the agitation for a separate Gorkhaland since June eight, also decided to withdraw from the tripartite accord on the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA).

Security forces patrolled the streets of the bandh-hit hills as the indefinite strike crippled normal life. Internet services remained suspended for the third day in the region.

Except medicine shops, all other shops remained closed.

Meanwhile, in Gangtok, the Sikkim Democratic Front, the ruling party in this north-eastern state, extended its support to the "democratic demand" for a separate Gorkhaland.

It expressed its opposition to the "illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional" acts committed in Darjeeling.

Thousands of people from all walks of life took out candle light march in Gangtok in solidarity with the people of Darjeeling.

GJM spokesperson T Arjun told reporters in Darjeeling after the all-party meeting, "The indefinite shutdown will continue as the onus is on the West Bengal government to restore normalcy in the hills. They have to withdraw security forces -- both the state, central and all repressive forces."

Several political parties in the hills, including Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which was till recently an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress, attended the meeting here, besides some NGOs and apolitical organisations.

Arjun said, "It was also decided at the meeting that the GJM will withdraw from the tripartite accord on the GTA."

The tripartite agreement paving the way for the setting up of the GTA, an elected body for the Darjeeling hills, was signed in 2011. The parties to the agreement were the Union home ministry, the state government and the GJM.

The GTA administers Darjeeling, Kurseong, Mirik, some areas of Siliguri subdivision of Darjeeling district and the whole of Kalimpong district.

The GJM spokesperson said, "We will send letter to the state and the central governments stating that the GTA stands scrapped as the GJM, being one of the signatories, is pulling out of the the agreement."

Asked whether the GJM members will resign from the GTA, he said "We are pulling out of the accord."

The parties, which attended the meeting, decided not to participate in the June 22 all-party meet called by the West Bengal government to discuss the prevailing situation in the hills.

"We will not attend the all-party meeting convened by the state government. (Chief Minister) Mamata Banerjee should stop using repressive forces against us. The police should stop violating human rights and making arbitrary arrests," the GNLF spokesman, Niraz Zimba, who was present at the meeting, said.

Arjun said that it was also decided that an all-party coordination committee will be formed which would soon send a delegation to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to press for the demand for Gorkhaland.

Besides, an all-India panel comprising noted intellecutuals and politicians, would be formed to mobilise opinion regarding a separate state, he said.

Arjun said that the suspension of internet services in the hills amounted to violation of human rights.

"Internet services in the hills should be restored", he demanded.

A meeting of the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) leadership in Gangtok, without naming anyone, hoped that peace would return to the Darjeeling hills soon and demands of the Gorkha people would be fulfilled.

The Sikkim Assembly had on March 29, 2011, passed a resolution in favour of a separate Gorkhaland.

The SDF appealed to the Centre, the West Bengal government, the people of Darjeeling and the political parties in the hills to ensure that National Highway 10 (Siliguri-to- Gangtok), about a 70-km stretch of which passes through the Darjeeling and Kalimpong sub-divisions, was left open as it was the "lifeline" of land-locked Sikkim.
The MP today said that he was talking to Gorkha representatives every day in Delhi.

By Poulomi Saha: At a time when the citizens of Darjeeling have been questioning where their Member of Parliament, Union Minister SS Ahluwalia, has been in the wake of escalated tensions in the hills, the later today held a press conference in New Delhi to explain his absence.

"I'm working as a bridge here (Delhi). I talk to the Gorkha representatives. I speak to their representatives here everyday. It is my moral duty to tell the Centre the concerns of my people," he told mediapersons.

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He said he was worried that when sitting in Delhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee could accuse him of stoking fires in Darjeeling, what would she say if he were to travel to the epicentre of the Gorkhaland debate.

Tensions escalated in Darjeeling recently when three civilians were killed in police firing when GJM (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) supporters tried to march the house of party chief Bimal Gurung. Mamata Banerjee, who reluctantly sent the Centre a report on the situation, claimed only one civilian had lost his life in the clash.

She accused the GJM of harbouring anti-social elements and asked aloud where were they allegedly accumulating arms and ammunition from.

Responding to these allegations, Ahluwalia, who is allied with the GJM asked, "Unarmed people were only shouting slogans. Government had information about the march and their destination. Did they follow all provisions under 144 CrPC before firing? If they didn't, then it's unfortunate and illegal. There should be a high level probe and action should be taken against errant policemen."

Mamata Banerjee is currently in the Netherlands.

Also read: Darjeeling unrest: Disappointed with Centre's role, GJM questions BJP MP SS Ahluwalia's absence

Also read: Gorkhaland unrest: Indefinite shutdown to continue in Darjeeling, GJM decides to pull out of GTA

WATCH THE VIDEO HERE

--- ENDS ---
Kinshasa: More than 3,300 people have been killed in the volatile Kasai provinces of central Congo since August, according to a document released today by the Catholic church, as the UN called for an international investigation.

The new death toll came as the UN human rights chief called for an independent, international probe into hundreds of recent killings there, faulting the government for failing to protect civilians.



Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein cited "harrowing" reports from U.N. rights experts he deployed this month to interview refugees from the central Kasai provinces.

"My team saw children as young as 2 whose limbs had been chopped off; many babies had machete wounds and severe burns," he said in his report to the UN Human Rights Council.

"One 2-month-old baby seen by my team had been hit by two bullets four hours after birth; the mother was also wounded.

At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their fetuses mutilated."

The government will soon publish its own report on the crisis, Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told The Associated Press today.

"Beyond verifying whether these figures are true or not, it demonstrates that this is a real security situation that must absolutely lead to an appropriate government reaction to put an end to this," he said.

The region in central Congo exploded into violence after a traditional chief known as Kamwina Nsapu was killed in a military operation in August 2016 after his militants had revolted against Congolese authorities.

The subsequent fighting had previously been blamed for 400 deaths before the Catholic church released the figure of 3,300 today. Among the victims were two foreign UN experts American Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, a Swedish-Chilean national.

Militants loyal to Nsapu filmed themselves killing the two, who had been investigating allegations of human rights abuses in the area. Their bodies were later found in a shallow grave along with the body of their Congolese colleague.
Cairo: Egyptian jets bombed a gathering site of Sinai-based Islamist militants, killing 12 and destroying several four-wheel-drive vehicles, the military said on Tuesday.



An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt`s oldest Islamist movement, in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.



The air strikes "resulted in the killing of 12 highly dangerous . leaders of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis", the military said in a statement. It did not say when the aerial bombing took place.



Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt`s most active militant group, swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks since then. The group has turned its guns on Egyptian Christians in recent months, killing around 100 in bombings at Coptic churches.



President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi carried out air strikes on militants in Libya in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians last month that left at least 29 killed.



Egypt`s military says it has killed thousands of militants in operations in Sinai. Residents of the Sinai say the high death rates include civilians.
Tehran: Iran has called in the Swiss charge d`affaires, who looks after US interests, to protest against comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson backing "peaceful transition" in the Islamic republic.



The administration of President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly hawkish position towards Iran since taking office in January but Tillerson`s testimony to a Congressional committee last week appeared to be the first expression of support for a change of government.



"The Swiss charge d`affaires was summoned to the foreign ministry to be a handed a strong protest from the Islamic Republic of Iran against the comments by the US secretary of state.... which were contrary to international law and the UN charter," ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi told Iranian media.



Alongside Monday`s summoning of the Swiss envoy, Iran also sent a protest letter to UN chief Antonio Guterres, the ISNA news agency reported.



In last Wednesday`s testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Tillerson accused Iran of seeking "hegemony" in the Middle East at the expense of US allies like Saudi Arabia.



"Our policy towards Iran is to push back on this hegemony... and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government," the US top diplomat said.



"Those elements are there certainly, as we know," he added, without elaborating on the groups he was referring to.



Iran was, with North Korea and Saddam Hussein`s Iraq, part of the "axis of evil" that the George W. Bush administration earmarked for "regime change" after it took office in 2001.



But when Saddam`s ouster in the US-led invasion of 2003 triggered a deadly insurgency that continues to this day, the policy fell out of favour.



In his testimony, Tillerson also raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on the whole of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran`s main military force and a major player in the country`s economy.



Currently, Washington has only blacklisted the Guards` foreign operations arm -- the Quds Force -- and some individual commanders.



"We continually review the merits, both from the standpoint of diplomatic but also international consequences, of designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in its entirety as a terrorist organisation," Tillerson said.



The Guards have played a major role in training Shiite militias in Iraq that are a significant force in the fightback against the Islamic State group, and have also trained thousands of "volunteers" to battle alongside President Bashar al-Assad`s forces in Syria.



The United States has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since the aftermath of the Islamic revolution of 1979 and its interests are looked after by Switzerland.
Erbil: Iraq`s army said it encircled Islamic State`s stronghold in the Old City of Mosul on Tuesday after taking over an area to the north of the densely populated historic district.



The army`s 9th armored division seized al-Shifaa district, which includes the city`s main hospitals, alongside the western bank of the Tigris river, a military statement said.



The fall of Shifaa means the Old City in the eastern half of Mosul is now surrounded by US-backed government forces, deployed north, west, south and east, across the river.



The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month old U.S.-backed offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State`s de facto capital in Iraq and the largest city the group came to control in the country.



Aid organisations are expressing alarm at the situation of more than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water and medicine and no electricity.



The International Committee of the Red Cross on Monday said sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines are dying in "high numbers."



The militants are moving stealthily in the Old City`s maze of alleyways and narrow streets, through holes dug between houses, fighting back the advancing troops with sniper and mortar fire, booby traps and suicide bombers.



They have also covered many streets with cloths to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.



The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city



when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17.



A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air and ground support.



The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared three years ago and which once covered swathes of Iraq and Syria.



The Iraqi government initially hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the campaign took longer as militants reinforced positions in civilian areas to fight back.



The militants are also retreating in Syria, mainly in the face of a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition. Its capital there, Raqqa, is under siege.



About 850,000 people, more than a third of the pre-war population of the northern Iraqi city, have fled, seeking refuge with relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.



Iraq`s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi headed on Tuesday to Iran, the second leg of a Middle East tour after Saudi Arabia to pursue efforts to foster regional reconciliation and coordination against terrorism.



Iraq and Saudi Arabia agreed to set up a coordination council to upgrade strategic ties, a joint statement said on Tuesday at the end his talks with Saudi King Salman a day earlier. After Iran, he will visit Kuwait.



Iraq lies on the fault line between Shi`ite Iran and the mostly-Sunni Arab world. Deep-running animosity and distrust between the two sides is fuelled by sectarian divides.
Beijing: The number of Chinese student applicants to the University of California San Diego (UCSD) might drop after the 14th Dalai Lama delivered a commencement speech at the university on Saturday despite strong objections from Chinese students, according to an overseas study consultancy.

Chinese students at the UCSD were against the university`s decision to call the Dalai Lama as a commencement speaker as well as the school`s description of him as "the exiled spiritual" and have been protesting since then.

The Global Times quoted the founder of overseas study consulting company Reborn Education, Fu Yingdong, as saying that two of his students told him that they would not include UCSD as one of their options due to Dalai Lama`s speech as one of the reasons.

He said Chinese students have many options if the UCSD continues to ignore their appeal, adding that the number of Chinese student applicants is expected to drop.

Addressing about 6,000 graduates and 15,000 guests at the university, the Dalai Lama urged the students to work together to create a less divided and a more peaceful world.

According to a report in the San Diego Union Tribune, about 3,500 Chinese nationals attend the Dalai Lama`s speech in UCSD and some even said that they felt insulted by his appearance.

Chinese students have expressed concerns saying that attending the university might affect their future careers if China`s Ministry of Education decides not to recognize the university`s degree.
Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday said North Korea should swiftly return South Koreans and Americans detained in the reclusive nation and that Pyongyang had "a heavy responsibility" in the death of a US university student.



Moon, who is scheduled to visit Washington next week, also said in an interview with CBS that he hoped to draw North Korea into negotiations on its nuclear program by the end of the year even as talks with the United States over a possible pre-emptive strike could wait.



Dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year have heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula. Pyongyang has vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.



Moon`s remarks on CBS`s "This Morning" program came the day after the death of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months. Warmbier died at a Cincinnati hospital just days after North Korea released him from captivity in a coma, his family said.



Warmbier was arrested while visiting as a tourist and accused of trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan, according to North Korean media. Doctors caring for him last week described him as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."Moon said that while "we cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr. Warmbier ,I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to Mr. Warmbier`s death.



"I believe we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime," said Moon, who was elected in May.



South Korea`s Blue House on Tuesday cited Moon separately as saying: "It is very deplorable that North Korea does not respect human rights."



North Korea has detained two Korean-American academics and a missionary, a Canadian pastor and three South Korean nationals who were doing missionary work there.



The South Korean government will make every effort for the return of those held in North Korea, presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun told a briefing.



U.S. President Donald Trump blamed the "brutality of the North Korean regime" for Warmbier`s death.



North Korea said last month that it was its sovereign right to "ruthlessly punish" U.S. citizens it had detained for crimes against the state.



Moon is scheduled to meet with Trump on June 29 and 30 for a summit that will prominently feature the North Korean nuclear and missile tests.



Pyongyang continued to test-fire missiles since South Korean leader Moon took office pledging to engage in dialogue with North Korea.



Asked about the possibility of any pre-emptive strikes against Pyongyang, Moon told CBS that the issue could be raised at his summit with Trump but that such discussions were more likely to come later.



"When it comes to preemptive strike ... this is something we may be able to discuss at a later state when the threat has become even more urgent," he said, adding that the North Korea nuclear missile threat was a matter of life or death for the South Koreans who live next door.



He said that if Trump could resolve the North Korean nuclear issue as well as bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and overall greater security in northeastern Asia, it would probably be the U.S. president`s greatest diplomatic achievement.



Moon, who was elected on a plan to engage in talks with North Korea, said he agreed with Trump on being willing to participate in a dialogue with North Korea under certain conditions, given that sanctions and international pressure have not resolved the situation.



"First we must vie for a freeze of North Korea`s nuclear and missile programs," Moon said. "And then, as a second phase, try to achieve the complete dismantlement of North Korea`s nuclear program. And I believe there are voices supporting such a step-by-step approach even within the United States."



Signaling a major shift in U.S. policy, Trump earlier this year said he was willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang`s nuclear program.



"He mentioned that it would be an honor to be able to meet Kim Jong Un," Moon told CBS. "So I believe President Trump went much further than I did."
Washington: President Donald Trump`s administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, US officials tell Reuters.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan`s status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistan`s support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistan`s arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Precise actions have yet to be decided.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistan`s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistan`s war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on America`s longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

"We`ve never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other US officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behavior. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that US-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional US troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

"I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan`s role in Afghanistan.

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at US claims that Pakistan`s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

"What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full," a senior Pakistani government source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: "They dont want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism."

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

Experts say Pakistan`s policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

Is Pakistan ally?

Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the US battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus US military hardware.

Some US officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.

"Pakistan is not an ally. Its not North Korea or Iran. But its not an ally," said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.

But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

"The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honor," said a former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan`s former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

"Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one," said the February report.

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistan`s capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan`s main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, US officials told Reuters.

US frustration over the Haqqani`s presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in 2012. US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.

The potential US pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when US officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obama`s deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a "disaster."

"It didn`t affect Pakistan`s behavior one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan`s behavior worse," Sedney said.

More drones, Cash cut-off

Pakistan has received more than USD 33 billion in US assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a US Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.

Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan USD 300 million in CSF funding after then-US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorization that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

US officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.

Curtis` report also singled out the aid as a target.

But US aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly USD 60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, US officials and a Pakistan expert said.

"Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren`t taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves," the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.

Pakistan`s army chief of staff last week criticised "unilateral actions" such as drone strikes as "counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan".
United Nations: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres suggested today that he is engaged in bringing about a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue through his meetings with the prime ministers of the two countries.



"Why do you think I met three times the prime minister of Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif) and two times the prime minister of India (Narendra Modi). For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings," Guterres said with laughter here, responding to a question whether he is engaged in bringing about a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.



Guterres was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office as the UN chief in January.



Modi and Guterres met in St Petersburg this month on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.



During the meeting, Modi had stressed on multilateralism to address global challenges such as terrorism.



Sharif and the UN chief met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos in January and again this month in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.



Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked about the Secretary-General's response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.



Dujarric has said that the UN chief reiterates his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue.



There are strains in relations between India and Pakistan over a number of issues including the cross-border terrorism, unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and the death sentence given to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying.
Illinois: Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea, died on Monday, prompting President Donald Trump to slam the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement announcing Warmbier`s death.

The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the United States decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following news of his death.

"It`s a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."

In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto`s fate deepens my Administration`s determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."

Added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier`s unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."Doctors last week revealed that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."

Kim Jong-Un`s regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying the college student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests carried out last week in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection. Warmbier`s doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that given his young age, Warmbier`s severe brain injury was most likely caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain. Warmbier`s release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, focusing attention on an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

The young man`s death also brought attention to North Korea`s human rights record. A Washington-based rights group tied Warmbier`s fate to many others "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea`s political prison camps."

"Millions of unknown North Koreans are subjected to the brutality of the Kim regime," the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said in a statement.

Warmbier`s father, Fred, lashed out at North Korea last week, telling a news conference, "there is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long."

In their statement Monday, Warmbier`s family said they believed the young man had found a peace of sorts after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier`s death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.

"The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier`s life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists. There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result," China-based Young Pioneer Tours said in a statement.

"Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high. The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated," it said.
By Press Trust of India: Gangtok, Jun 20 (PTI) The unrest in Darjeeling in the peak tourist season has come as a boon for Sikkim with tourists thronging the neighbouring hill state instead of Darjeeling in view of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha agitation.

"The tension in Darjeeling has led to a sudden boom in the tourism industry here," Secretary, Sikkim Tourism, C Zangpo said.

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The GJM agitation in Darjeeling led to the cancellation of bookings by domestic and foreign tourists in the Queen of hill stations and make travel arrangements in Sikkim, he said.

"Tourism related establishments in Gangtok are currently packed with customers and have full bookings in the coming days as well," Zangpo states.

The Sikkim Tourism secretary said that almost all the tourists who are now visiting Sikkim were supposed to visit Darjeeling on the second leg of their journey or had been there before reaching Sikkim.

Travel operators, however, are worried as it is difficult to manage so many tourists at a time, and the secretary also echoed similar views.

"We have asked travel operators and hotels to try and accommodate as many tourists as they can without compromising on the service standards as any mismanagement at this time could give a bad name to the tourism industry," Zangpo said.

Hotels presently have bookings upto mid-July and they have now started cancelling new booking enquiries, one of the travel operators said.

Santanu Bose, a tourist from Kolkata, said, "We had been in Darjeeling for holidaying when all this happened. Our travel agent immediately contacted operators in Sikkim and we were lucky to get reservations."

Many tourists, however, had to cut short their visit and return, Bose told PTI at the Mall here.

"We spent only one night in Darjeeling. We are enjoying our stay here now," he said.

As the tourists from Sikkim were now being provided Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses every day with security, they are feeling secure that they will not get stuck in the hills because of the ongoing bandh.

Since June 8, Darjeeling has witnessed clashes between GJM activists and police over the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state.

Sikkim government sources they had requested their West Bengal counterpart on Sunday to provide security to vehicles passing through NH 31A in Darjeeling district in view of the agitation.

The West Bengal government had assured them that security would be provided to Sikkim-bound vehicles and the police would carry out extensive patrolling on the highway. The 92 km long NH 31A connects Sevoke in Darjeeling district to Gangtok and is considered the lifeline of Sikkim.

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Around 30 km of the highway passes through West Bengal. PTI COR NN MM MM

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. According to the decision of the UN General Assembly June 20, 2000 has been declared as World Refugee Day, reports Armenpress.

Over the years various countries have their memorable days dedicated to refugees. One of the most famous days was the African refugee day which was celebrated on June 20 in several countries. In 2000 the UN General Assembly, by showing assistance to Africa which had great number of refugees, unanimously adopted a decision to celebrate June 20 as World Refugee Day every year.

This day is the confirmation of the fact that wars on Earth do not cease. As a result of this, the number of refugees and displaced people increases year by year. Based on the 2016 latest data, 65 million persons have appeared on the sidelines of concern of the UNHCR. They are both refugees, asylum-seekers, internally displaced and stateless persons. The 65 million figure is the greatest number that has been recorded after the Second World War. In 2009 this number was 30 million, and in 2012 it was 45 million. There were great number of asylum-seekers from Syria, since 2012 12 million displaced people have been registered in Syria. The other countries from where great number of people were displaced are Afghanistan, Somali, South Sudan and Sudan. As for the countries hosting great number of refugees, Turkey is ranked 1st, hosting 2.8 million refugees, majority of whom were Syrians. Turkey is followed by Pakistan and Lebanon. The specialists say every second displaced person is a child.

Armenia as well hosted displaced people as a result of the Syrian War. Since the beginning of the Syrian War, 22 thousand Syrian-Armenians have re-located to Armenia. They are not treated as refugees in Armenia. The procedure of obtaining citizenship has been maximally facilitated. The majority of them have received Armenian citizenship.

According to the UNHCR, in a world where violence forces thousands of families to flee for their lives each day, the time is now to show that the global public stands with refugees.

To do this, the UN Refugee Agency launched the #WithRefugees petition in June 2016 to send a message to governments that they must work together and do their fair share for refugees.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The US student held in captivity for more than 15 months in North Korea has died a week after returning home, BBC reports.

Otto Warmbier, 22, was serving 15 years hard labour, accused of attempting to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.

He was returned to the US last Tuesday, with North Korea saying it was on humanitarian grounds.

North Korea said he had been in a coma for a year after contracting botulism but his family say he was subjected to "awful torturous mistreatment".

A team of US doctors have also disputed North Korea's version of events.

Mr Warmbier had suffered severe brain damage, and was medically evacuated from North Korea on 13 June to a hospital in his home city of Cincinnati, Ohio. It is unclear how he fell ill.

President Donald Trump said Mr Warmbier's death had deepened his administration's resolve "to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency".

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," the presidential statement added.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The National Institution for Human Rights of Uruguay (INDDHH) sent a letter to the countrys chancellor Rodolfo Nin Novoa expressing concern over the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministrys decision to include human rights advocate Oscar Lopez in the black list for the fact that the latter has worked as an observer during the constitutional referendum in Artsakh, Prensa Armenia reports.

The National Institution for Human Rights is concerned over the impacts the Azerbaijani governments this resolution can have on Oscar Lopez rights, in particular, in terms of freedom of speech and free movement. The Institution asks the chancellor to take necessary steps to quickly stop the violations of rights of Uruguays citizen, the letter reads.

Earlier human rights advocate Oscar Lopez condemned Azerbaijan for including him and a group of other figures in the black list. He announced that Nagorno Karabakh is a country with an Armenian population which is independent for already 25 years by the decision of its people. It is a democratic, republican state with an institutionalized framework of rights, ombudsman and democracy mechanism which really works.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyans yacht has made headlines in Turkish media as it was docked in the port of Bodrum.

The Turkish Hurriyet newspaper was seemingly so impressed by the Armenian entrepreneurs yacht that they put it on the front page.

The newspaper said the 120 million dollar yacht of ethnic Armenian, Russia-based billionaire Samvel Karapetyan docked in Bodrum for refueling.

Hurriyet also mentioned the specifications of the yacht, which is 87 meter long and is equipped with 6 super luxurious rooms. In addition, the yacht has a Russian bath, a Jacuzzi and even a disco, with 28 crew members on board.

It also has a helicopter pad.

Billionaire Samvel Karapetyan denies Turkish media reports on luxury yacht
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Arpine Hovhannisyan  deputy speaker of Armenias parliament and head of the Armenian parliamentary delegation to PACE held a meeting on June 20 with Council of Europe Directorate of Internal Oversight evaluators Collin Wolley and Maria Goldman, Ms. Hovhannisyan's Office told ARMENPRESS.

The Council of Europe officials mentioned that the purpose of their visit is to evaluate the efficiency of CoEs work in member states, with the key study being the fight against corruption.

Ms. Hovhannisyan highly praised the cooperation with the Council of Europe in various directions and highlighted the continuity of joint projects also in the parliamentary format.

At the request of the guests, deputy speaker Hovhannisyan briefed on the ongoing reforms in the fight against corruption, including the regulations under certain laws passed by the parliament.

In this context, Ms. Hovhannisyan highlighted the assistance of international partners, namely the Council of Europe, in productively initiating anti-corruption laws from an institutional point of view.

The sides discussed numerous other issues of mutual interest, including the reforms in the judicial branch and cooperation programs.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Recently the Bavra customs check point officers prevented the import of several Azerbaijani products to Armenia, the State Revenue Committee of Armenia told Armenpress.

The customs officers found more than half of tons of Azerbaijani food salt and tea in vehicles arrived in Armenia from Georgia.

The passengers said they were unaware of the origin of products, but after being informed they refused to transport the cargo to the republic.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission Federica Mogherini chaired the EU member states and Eastern Partnership participant states ministerial conference in Luxembourg.

Foreign ministers of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as European Neighbourhood Policy & Enlargement Negotiations Commissioner Johannes Hahn participated in the conference

The main issue of the conference was the preparation of the upcoming Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels in November of 2017.

The ministers discussed the main achievements which were reached after the latest  2015 Riga summit  emphasizing the main benefits which the program had for the citizens of the six participant countries.

Today we reaffirmed the strong commitment of the EY and Eastern partners on continuing our cooperation. The upcoming summit in November will show our union and focus on specific results, Mogherini said.

The ministers confirmed that the upcoming summit must ensure the further ways of strengthening cooperation in the four main directions outlined in the Riga summit  enhanced administration (strengthen institutions and good administration), enhanced society (increase mobility and interactions), enhanced economy (boost economic development and benefit from market economic opportunities for ensuring prosperity), enhanced communication (expand communications, namely in transportation and energy branches).

Mrs. Mogherini and Commissioner Hahn briefed the ministers on the jointly designed working document  Eastern Partnership  focusing on main priorities and results. The 20 main results, which the EU and the Eastern partners must achieve by 2020  are emphasized in the document.

The ministers also discussed the issue of making the Eastern Partnerships multilateral structure more efficient.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The Egyptian Air Cairo airline launched the first regular flight from Hurghada to Armenias Zavrtnots airport, reports Armenpress.

During the entire year the Hurghada-Yerevan-Hurghada flights will operate every Monday and Sharm el-Sheikh-Yerevan-Sharm el-Sheikh every Thursday. The flight will last nearly three hours.

Photos by Eduard Sepetchyan

About 25 citizens arrived in Armenia on the first flight: there were political and cultural figures of the Armenian community of Cairo, Chairmen of the Armenian National Committee, as well as representatives of Armenian Catholic community, diplomatic community and famous journalists.

They were welcomed in Armenia by the Ambassador and Consul of Egypt, Tourism Director of the Development Foundation of Armenia (DFA) and other officials.

Tareq Maaty, Ambassador of Egypt to Armenia, said today is a happy day and it is a very important step to expand the friendly relations between the two countries. According to the Ambassador, this is a very good beginning for celebrating the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. As far as I know all the seats of the first flight are already ordered. Flow of thousands of Armenian tourists, as well as Egyptians to Armenia is expected. In this sense I am optimistic. Every time we try to develop the visa granting mechanisms. Armenians face no problems here. I trust the one who is an Armenian and grant him/her visa, the Egyptian Ambassador said. According to him, Armenia is a perfect place, has beautiful nature, the resorts are convenient here, and this is a good opportunity for Egyptians to visit Armenia which in its turn will boost the economic and trade ties.

Hripsime Stambulyan, Director of Anriva Tour agency said the flights from Egypt to Armenia turned into reality thanks to their efforts. Air Cairo airline will operate regular flights to Armenia two times a week which will be a bridge for the Armenian community, as well as for those who are interested in tourism. We have worked for two years to open this flight. This route is important in a sense that the Armenian people will not have to depart for Tbilisi then to Egypt, she said, adding that Armenia offers Christian tourism for Egyptians: the company offers tour packages starting from 220-230 thousand drams which covers the ticket, reception, departure, hotel and insurance.

Spokesperson of the General Department of Civil Aviation Satenik Hovhannisyan said Air Cairo airline previously operated irregular flights in Armenia. We are convinced that the regular flights will positively affect the development of economy and tourism. We are also sure that the frequency of these flights will work not only in the summer navigation period, but also in future. We believe that there will be a great demand for this route thanks to the large Armenian community of Egypt, Satenik Hovhannisyan said.

Tourism Director at the DFA Ara Khzmalyan said the direct flight opens such market and opportunities which will contribute to increasing Armenias recognition, flow of tourists. He said Armenia is a safe country, and it is not criminalized, people can freely go for walk at any time and any place they want.

Representative of the Armenian National Committee of Egypt Armen Mazlumyan, who was among the passengers, said the flight was very good and lasted nearly three hours.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Samvel Karapetyan  the Russia based Armenian billionaire responded to Turkish media reports, which said that the entrepreneurs yacht has docked in a Bodrum port for refueling.

Member of Parliament Karen Karapetyan, the brother of the billionaire, released a statement denying the Turkish media reports.

In particular, the statement said This report of the Turkish media is absurd, because Samvel Karapetyan doesnt own such property, moreover he doesnt even desire to. It is noteworthy that an almost literally similar report was put into circulation last year, which was also denied.

Turkeys Hurriyet newspaper earlier reported that Samvel Karapetyans luxury yacht has docked in the port of Bodrum for refueling. The article made headlines in the newspaper.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenias tourism official website will be ready soon, Ara Khzmalyan  tourism director at the Development Foundation of Armenia (DFA), told Armenpress, adding that the website is designed in a way that a person unaware of Armenia will have a complete picture about the country.

The website will contain information on where the tourist can visit, live, who can host him/her, how much it will cost and etc. In other words, the more the information, the more confident the tourist will feel himself/herself in Armenia. In a digital space we work on attracting potential tourists, he said, adding that the website is created by the cooperation of the State Tourism Committee and the DFA.

Ara Khzmalyan informed that at the moment the DFA is at the stage of structural changes: the tourism department is being separated from the Foundation and becomes a separate foundation. After these structural changes it can be supposed that the foundation will have the authority to operate the website.

According to him, the first step to make Armenia visible for tourists is the digital marketing. In other words, Armenias positioning in internet space, so that the people will be informed about Armenia not only by visiting the country but also via internet. We create a remote recognition field in digital space. This is the most significant step, he said.
Authorities of St Joseph's School North Point and Mount Hermon School have been getting frantic calls from parents not only from India but from neighboring countries too.

By Indrajit Kundu: On the Lebong Cart Road outside the picturesque campus of St Joseph's School North Point the remains of two burnt cars bear witness to the violence on June 17 which claimed three lives.

On Saturday, the school authorities had hurriedly put the school students in five study rooms so that they could not witness the mindless violence. Despite the best efforts of the school authorities to shield the students from the panic which had gripped the streets of Darjeeling the students have not been untouched by the imbroglio.

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'MY PARENTS ARE CALLING ME EVERY DAY'

Authorities of St Joseph's School North Point and Mount Hermon School have been getting frantic calls from parents not only from India but from neighboring countries too. "My parents are calling me every day and if I do not have mobile they are calling teachers. They are worried if they get any vehicle they will come to receive me," Saloni Mahato, a class XI student of Mount Hermon School, who hails from Nepal, told India Today.

Mint from Thailand, said, "My parents have told the local guardian to come and take me away but they are not getting any vehicle."

Partha De, the principal of the school, said parents of students from Thailand, Korea, Nepal and Bangladesh were worried and the school authorities were trying to calm them.

"We had to postpone the examination as we also several day boarders. The summer vacations will start from June 23 and we have spoken to district authorities to arrange for transport," the principal said.

A few hundred metres away at St Joseph's North Point, principal Shajumon CK also admitted that parents have been making frantic calls.

200 FOREIGN STUDENTS

The school has 514 students in the school and almost 200 are from foreign countries. 102 are from Nepal 46 from Thailand and seven from Bangladesh among others.

Nahoom Sherpa, a student of Class XI from Nepal left with her aunt, a local resident. The student wants to return to his home but does not know how to return home.

There are about 12 boarding schools in Darjeeling from where students not only from India but also many countries from south Asia. These schools over the years the number of students have come down in certain schools. About a decade ago the number of students at Mount Hermon School was about 1,000 and now the figure stands at 300. About three years ago when there was a strike on the statehood demand, St Joseph's School North Point also lost a number of students.

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The schools have enough provisions to sustain for a few weeks but it's more than food that the authorities are concerned about. The principal for both the institutions said that they want a permanent solution to the vicious cycle of bandhs and shutdowns.

Also Read:

Darjeeling GJM unrest: Uneasy calm as Mamata Banerjee calls for peace before heading abroad

Darjeeling unrest latest: GJM takes out rally, Rajnath appeals for calm

Also Watch:

Darjeeling unrest: We are willing to have a dialogue, state government is not, says GJM leader Swaraj Thapa

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan on June 20 hosted Peoples Artist of Georgia and USSR, composer Giya Kancheli who arrived in Armenia to take part in the festival dedicated to him in Yerevan on June 18-20, press service of the Presidents Office told Armenpress.

Welcoming the guest, the Armenian President said Armenia highly appreciates and loves Giya Kanchelis art, the evidence of which is the Yerevan festival dedicated to him. According to the President, the festival is the best manifestation of love and recognition of Armenian audience towards Kanchelis musical heritage. Serzh Sargsyan added that Armenia is always happy to host the renowned composer who has his significant contribution in strengthening the friendship of Armenian and Georgian peoples.

In his turn the Georgian composer said a major period of his creative activity has been directly liked with Armenia: he wrote 6 out of 7 symphonies in the Dilijan Composers Creative House and for that purpose he spent a lot of time in Armenia, acquiring many Armenian friends. Giya Kancheli remembered with warm the meetings and contacts with his friends, adding that till now he is proud of this.

The sides highlighted that the Armenian-Georgian relations today are at the highest level, both countries further strengthen and deepen the friendly ties, stating that its necessary to continue educating and upbringing the young generation based on the friendship examples of senior generation representatives, by promoting the active contacts in cultural sphere.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The financial-economic and budgetary affairs committee of Armenias Public Council will appeal to the minister of energy infrastructures and natural resources regarding the exploitation of the #1 site of the Artinler obsidian mine.

Chairman of the committee Mr. Vazgen Safaryan said Obsidian V.E.J. has all components for the mines operation. They received the relevant documents and now for unknown reasons the ministries of nature protection and energy infrastructures & natural resources dont grant them a license, Safaryan said.

He said that 100 jobs will be created if the mine gets exploited, and the annual GDP will be provided with 1 million dollars.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The European Union is concerned over the regional situation, Ambassador Piotr Switalski, the head of EUs delegation to Armenia told a press conference, speaking on the situation in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone.

The OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs are doing a very good job in this rather difficult environment, where challenges are numerous. We, as the European Union, express our support to the Minsk Group Co-chairmanship. Within a few days, in early July, the Designated European Union Special Representative for the South Caucasus Herbert Salber will arrive in Armenia. His visit is the proof that the EU greatly highlights and is concerned about whats happening here. Our main role is assisting the efforts of the mediators, but we are also ready to support the peace process, including in the restoration period following the conflict, the Ambassador said.

The Ambassador extended condolences to the families of the fallen servicemen, who were killed as result of Azerbaijani aggression in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact. Switalski emphasized that establishment of peace must be one of the priorities of the region.

It is sad, of course, because its about the loss of human life  they are young, whose lives were still ahead of them. Regime violation incidents are of concern, because this kind of peace can be very fragile. Lets try to work for peace and not lose hope, he said.

In the evening of June 16, Azerbaijani forces violated the ceasefire regime in the Artsakh line of contact. The Azerbaijani military used anti-tank grenade launchers and shelled a position of Artsakhs forces, killing three Defense Army soldiers.

On the next day, the Azerbaijani forces made another violation, killing an Artsakhi soldier in the morning of June 17.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Its necessary to ensure a constant interest of tourists towards Armenia, over which the Development Foundation of Armenia (DFA) has serious works to do in the countries of Persian Gulf, Egypt and India, Ara Khzmalyan  tourism director at the DFA, told Armenpress.

He brought an example when recently reporters from India arrived in Armenia and they were unaware that Armenia is part of Europe and services are cheaper here and the environment is safe. Khzmalyan assured that there are few cases when tourists are dissatisfied of not being treated well in Armenia.

We carry out different marketing events in targeted countries. They can be exhibitions, rod shows which present Armenias tourism diversification and cuisine. We need to work with people of different preferences and expectations, he said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The leadership of Azerbaijan continues to attribute any absurd fictional thing or discoveries to Armenians. This is proved by the statement of Azerbaijans state border patrol, which said that allegedly an RPG 7, which was found on the banks of the Araks River, belonged to Armenians.

Whatever the Azerbaijanis make up or find, they must definitely link it to Armenians, Artsrun Hovhannisyan, spokesman of the Armenian defense ministry told ARMENPRESS.

The Azerbaijani statement said that allegedly the grenade launcher was tied to a tree branch, similar to a booby trap.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia Ara Babloyan received on June 20 Judith Farnworth, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to Armenia.



As Armenpress was informed from the press service of the parliament of Armenia, welcoming the Ambassador, Ara Babloyan talked with pain about the terrorist attacks that occurred in London during the last one month, which caused numerous casualties.

The Speaker of the Armenian parliament noted: Armenia strictly condemns the crimes committed against mankind by the terrorist groupings and highlights the unification of the international communitys efforts for fight to eradicate that evil.

Ara Babloyan documented with satisfaction that the bilateral agenda of the relations between Armenia and the United Kingdom is gradually expanding, recording the activation of the Armenian-British political contacts and cooperation.

The Speaker of the National Assembly of Armenia highly assessed the activities of the British Council in Armenia, due to which numerous educational and cultural programmes are implemented in our country, promoting the strengthening of the Armenian-British relations.

Ara Babloyan has stated that Armenia goes on developing democracy, protection of human rights, being part of the civilized community fighting for peace and democracy in the world.

Speaking about the Nagorno Karabakh problem, Ara Babloyan thanked the Ambassador for the position of the United Kingdom over that issue and noted that Armenia is resolute to solve the conflict within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group.

Ara Babloyan documented: As a doctor I mostly highlight the human life and feel pain, when in peaceful conditions, young people die during the ceasefire. This is inadmissible in the 21st century and in the civilized world.

Judith Farnworth, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the Republic of Armenia congratulated Ara Babloyan on being elected the Speaker of the parliament.

The Ambassador noted that the United Kingdom has great experience of parliamentary government and can support Armenia in developing the mechanism of parliamentary oversight and strengthening democracy.

Judith Farnworth expressed her condolences on the death of the four servicemen, who died on the frontline in recent days, noting that those young peoples death is really painful and inadmissible in war and ceasefire conditions. In this context Mrs Farnworth has stated that the United Kingdom supports the approaches of the OSCE Minsk Group and sees the solution of the conflict exclusively through negotiations.

The Ambassador has stated that the countries cannot choose their geographical position, but can choose their future: the steps being taken in direction of democracy, protection of human rights, and freedom of speech are visible in Armenia.

At the end of the meeting the interlocutors touched upon the issues regarding the parliamentary system of government, the development of democracy in our country and the Armenian-British parliamentary cooperation.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is very promising from economic perspective at different spheres, Tareq Maaty, Ambassador of Egypt to Armenia, told Armenpress.

He said he had an honor to attend the meeting of the Armenian Prime Minister and Ambassadors during which many ambitious programs on economic development were presented.

I think Armenia has great potential to achieve economic success and attract foreign investments. We had a joint program with Armenia in pharmaceuticals field. We welcome this and are open for cooperation. There are great chances to increase trade turnover between the two countries. We have certain investments from Armenians of Egypt, the Ambassador said, adding that there are many investment programs from Egyptians. According to him, the role of the Embassy and the government is to assist the business.

Our goal is to show a political will, and when the businessmen meet, they start to better understand each other, the Egyptian Ambassador said.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Member of the European Parliament Frank Engel (Luxembourg) considers the installation of investigative mechanisms for incidents in the Artsakh-Azerbaijan line of contact as a necessity.

In an interview with Armenpress, the MEP expressed hope that the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs discussed its necessity during their meetings with the Azerbaijani leadership.

Frank Engel doesnt see something new in the Co-Chairs June 19 statement.

I don't think there's much real news, at least not on the visible side of things. The Azerbaijani side is keeping up a certain threat momentum, and that involves boasting about "enemies killed". They stick to their logic of showing their public opinion their capacity to inflict damage and harm. I remain convinced that a contact line surveillance mechanism should be urgently put in place - and I do hope that the co-chairs insist on this when they speak with the authorities of Azerbaijan, MEP Frank Engel said.

The Co-Chairs of the OSCE Minsk Group - Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Stephane Visconti of France, and Richard Hoagland of the United States of America, as well as the Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk issued a statement on June 19 based on the results of their regional visit. In Yerevan the Co-Chairs met with President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan (June 10), and in Baku with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (June 19). In both capitals the Co-Chairs held consultations with the ministers of foreign affairs and defense. During their talks in Baku, the Co-Chairs expressed deep concern over the recent ceasefire violations on the eve of their visit to Azerbaijan which resulted in casualties in the line of contact. They appealed to the leadership of Azerbaijan to avoid further escalation.
YEREVAN, 20 JUNE, ARMENPRESS. The Central Bank of Armenia informs Armenpress that today, 20 June, USD exchange rate down by 0.54 drams to 480.54 drams. EUR exchange rate down by 2.14 drams to 536.28 drams. Russian Ruble exchange rate down by 0.14 drams to 8.15 drams. GBP exchange rate down by 5.78 drams to 610.19 drams.

The Central Bank has set the following prices for precious metals.

Gold price down by 133.80 drams to 19283.57 drams. Silver price down by 1.68 drams to 257.55 drams. Platinum price down by 93.27 drams to 14182.84 drams.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski expresses satisfaction with the completion of the technical part of the negotiations on Armenia-EU agreement and expects the signing of that agreement in November, during the Eastern Partnership summit in Brussels.

Armenia has a constructive stance on the signing of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement. The EU has completed the technical and legal amendments, Armenpress reports Ambassador Piotr Switalski saying. He added that the same process takes place in the Armenian side. The Ambassadors of Italy and Bulgaria were also present.

He also noted that the document outlines all the main directions of upcoming cooperation between the EU and Armenia.
According to officials, a team of experts said in a report that a major road project to decongest the entire central Delhi area was "unworkable" because of "multiplicity of authorities." A top Delhi government official confirmed that the project has been scrapped.

By Rakesh Ranjan: A major road project to decongest the entire central Delhi area including the busy ITO intersection has hit an apparent railblock.

The railways and other land-owning agencies have denied permission to the Delhi government for constructing the elevated east-west corridor that would have connected Anand Vihar to Punjabi Bagh. Officials said a team of experts submitted a negative feasibility report, saying the project was "unworkable" because of "multiplicity of authorities" and should be scrapped.

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If completed, the 20-km long corridor would have unclogged heavily congested areas such as Anand Vihar, Vikas Marg, ITO, New Delhi railway station, Karol Bagh, Janakpuri and Punjabi Bagh. This would have brought down the travel time between east and west Delhi to nearly 30 minutes as compared to nearly 90 minutes at present. A top Delhi government official confirmed that the project has been scrapped.

According to sources, the railways also wanted a loop of the corridor to be extended up to Old Delhi railway station but the viability could not be worked out.

They said this would require massive construction along the densely populated Walled City. "Railways do not have the land required for constructing the corridor. At best we could have provided land along the railway tracks for erecting pillars. The project involved several ministries including railway ministry, road transport and highways and urban development ministry apart from Delhi government," said a railway ministry official.

It was an inter-ministerial issue and consensus could not be reached, he added.

LAND ACQUISITION, OBTAINING CLEARANCES WERE CHALLENGES: REPORT

The official said the feasibility report found land acquisition for the project was extremely difficult. It said obtaining clearances from multiple agencies was another hurdle that could have delayed the project and led to cost escalation. The project spending was initially pegged at Rs 2,500 crore.

Sources said cost-sharing was another contentious issue between the agencies involved.

"The east-west corridor is proposed to start from Anand Vihar railway terminal and traverse along the railway track to New Delhi railway station and then to Punjabi Bagh up to Tikri Border in West Delhi. This elevated corridor will provide connectivity and multi-modal integration at Anand Vihar and New Delhi railway stations," the PWD proposal to Northern Railways said.

SCRAPPED TWICE

This is the second time the project has been scrapped. It was shelved also in 2009 when a Sheila Dikshit-led Congress government was in power.

Conceived in 2005, the project was to start near Akshardham Temple. However, in 2008, the Delhi Urban Arts Commission (DUAC) raised certain objections to the construction of a stretch of the elevated road on Deen Dayal Upadhyay (DDU) Marg. The Delhi government at that time too did not take up the project ahead of the 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG). It was eventually dropped in 2009.

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A Northern Railways official said the department had also suggested modifications to the Delhi government to make the project beneficial to train travellers. It was proposed that the elevated corridor would have at least six access roads to points such as Karkardooma, ITO, DDU Marg, New Delhi railway station and Punjabi Bagh.

This would have decongested Ajmeri Gate and Paharganj that often choke the entry to the New Delhi railway station. Northern Railways also wanted the Delhi government to modify the alignment in a bid to connect the Old Delhi railway station through an access road. This, according to officials, aimed to eliminate the traffic mess at SP Mukherjee Marg in front of Old Delhi railway station.

It also requested the city government to construct road overbridges to get rid of traffic congestion at Old Delhi station that often result into passengers missing trains.

PWD sources said owing to the revival of the Anand Vihar railway station as a world class station - with emphasis on multimodal integration and the upcoming transit-oriented development (TOD) at Karkardooma in east Delhi - the department had decided to revive the corridor. Decongestion of ITO, considered the busiest intersection in India, was another key feature of the project.

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ALSO READ | Delhi: Rains bring respite from sweltering heat but with traffic snarls

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--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. MEPs want a temporary freeze on EU accession talks with Turkey. In a resolution voted on Thursday, they say Turkey should nonetheless remain anchored to the EU. They also pledge to review their position when the "disproportionate repressive measures" under the state of emergency in Turkey are lifted, Armenpress was informed from the official website of the European Parliament.

"Turkey is an important partner of the EU, say MEPs. "But in partnerships, the will to cooperate has to be two-sided (...) Turkey is not showing this political will as the governments actions are further diverting Turkey from its European path", they add.

A temporary halt of the negotiations would entail that no new negotiating chapters be opened and no new initiatives be taken in relation to Turkeys EU Negotiation Framework.

The re-introduction of the capital punishment by the Turkish government would lead to a formal suspension of the accession process, say MEPs, pointing out that "the unequivocal rejection of the death penalty is an essential element of the Union acquis."

MEPs strongly condemn the "disproportionate repressive measures" taken by the Turkish government since the failed coup attempt in July 2016. These "violate basic rights and freedoms protected by the Turkish Constitution" itself, they say.

The resolution was approved by 479 votes to 37, with 107 abstentions.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. The EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis adopted new projects on June 20 totalling 275 million. These projects will support refugees and their overstretched host communities in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, the Western Balkans, and Armenia, Armenpress was informed from the press service of the European Commission.

Projects will focus on education, health care, support of local community, social inclusion, gender equality. The newly adopted assistance package brings the current overall volume of the EU Trust Fund up to over 1 billion which was the goal set by President Juncker on 23 September 2015 at the Informal meeting of the European Council on migration and in the Communication on Managing the Refugee Crisis.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy / Vice-President of the Commission, Federica Mogherini said: "We are giving a lifeline to millions of Syrians inside the country and across the region, helping create a future for Syrian refugees and host communities. By enabling girls and boys to access quality education, we are helping to prevent a lost generation of children whose lives have been devastated by the Syrian conflict. It is a moral duty, and it is also the smartest investment we can do in the security, stability and prosperity of our own region. So, ultimately, it is an investment in our own future."

The new 275 million aid package focusses on better access to livelihoods, healthcare, education and protection services. 3 million out of the 275 million will be allocated to Armenia to support Syrian refugees by enhancing access to health and psychosocial services, improving housing conditions, increasing access to economic opportunities, and by facilitating the integration of schoolchildren and students.

According to the data of the Ministry of Diaspora of Armenia, Armenia has received 22 thousand Syrian refugees since the outbreak of the war in Syria.
YEREVAN, JUNE 20, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia presented the new Cabinet Program to his party members headed by the President of Armenia and the leader of the Republican Party of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan.

After the meeting head of the RPA parliamentary faction Vahram Baghdasaryan told the reporters that the Premier touched upon the details of the Cabinet Program and on behalf of the Cabinet members and himself assured that the goals of the program are achievable. All the spheres are encompassed in the Cabinet Program in detail. A predictable, realistic, and ambitious Program with precise timetable of measures has been presented. On behalf of his team and himself the Premier confidently expresses readiness to bring the Action Plan into life and achieve the numerical indexes presented in the Plan, Armenpress reports Baghdasaryan saying. He added that the new Program differs from the previous ones in its nature.

The head of the RPA parliamentary faction expressed confidence that after 5 years Armenia will be like the one presented on paper at the moment. We will have growing Armenia, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for International Economic Integration and Reforms Vache Gabrielyan introduced on June 19 the Government Program for 2017-2022, which features large-scale reforms aimed at ensuring Armenias sustainable development.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the Program is based on the Presidents message, the principles and programs of the pre-election coalition agreement as signed by the Republican Party of Armenia and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation, as well as a wide variety of progressive ideas circulating in society.

The individual is the programs main concern, while the citizens initiative and active participation in the reform process is considered to be the key to success. The Government Program is based on the vision of building a safe, fair, free and intelligent Armenia.

According to Vache Gabrielyan, each section of the program addresses the problems identified over the past 9 months while the Government tried to diagnose the existing challenges and find practical solutions to them. The Program seeks to build on those initiatives implemented during the past 9 months, as well as outline the complex of those long-term development objectives that the Government is going to implement over the next 5 years within the specified time frames.

The Program clearly states the goals and the vision of the Government in foreign policy and security issues, namely to build up closer relationship between free and independent Armenia and Artsakh, as well as to ensure Armenias security as a prerequisite for economic development.

The Program consists of 4 main sections: public governance and legal system, foreign policy and defense, economic progress and social issues. Each section contains a list of reforms and accurate timelines as proposed by individual agencies to ensure the long term development of our country.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill.Remember how, back in March, Standard Innovation, the manufacturers of the We-Vibe line of products (not to mention the We-Connect tracking phone app that goes with them), settled a privacy violation lawsuit filed them by two women who didn't want the company to be able to track online how much fun they were having with the company's products?

See, the We-Connect app would allow the purchaser to use their smartphone to control the speed and some other qualities of the vibrator, but what some apparently didn't realize was that the app was also broadcasting user data back to Standard Innovation, including intimate user preference details such as date and time of each use, the chosen vibration intensity and pattern, and the email addresses of users who registered with the app. When they found out, some felt this was a violation of their privacy.

And remember how AVN reported at the time that the plaintiffs and a bunch of other folks who could have have been included in a class action suit against S.I. if it had been so certified were going to split a settlement totaling $3.75 million, with the two named plaintiffs getting $5,000 each, leaving quite a bit of cash left over for the rest of S.I.'s 300,000 customers, only a third of whom actually used the We-Connect app?

Eh, not so fast.

Seems that the attorneys for the actual plaintiffs, identified only by their initials N.P. and P.S., are looking for $1.1 million in attorney fees for the case, which since its filing last September has yet to see the inside of a courtroom, while all of the other purchasers of We-Vibe products would each get a maximum of $100, or possibly as little as $20, depending on which product they bought.

"The settlement secures extraordinary relief for the settlement class," the three attorneys from Edelson PC wrote in their motion filed last Thursday. "The fruit of class counsel's efforts compares favorably to the majority of privacy class action settlements, which often result in nominal amounts of money being paid directly to the class or indirect payments through cy pres donations. ... By contrast, many class action settlements in the privacy space to provide no monetary relief to class members at all."

In any case, the attorneys argue that the $1.1 million represents about one-third of the total award, which is "comfortably within the going market rate" for a settlement of this sort.

No word yet on what Standard Innovation thinks for the proposed fee. Same goes for the judge in the case, Judge Virginia M. Kendall of the Northern District of Illinois.
CHATSWORTH, Calif.Known in adult industry circles as the onetime manager of retired porn luminaries Dee and Carmen Luvanathe latter of whom held exclusive contracts during her tenure with both New Sensations and Adam & Eve Pictures55-year-old Robert Baker was arrested and charged last week with the January murder of high-profile hairstylist Fabio Sementilli in his Woodland Hills home.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Baker was arrested Wednesday along with the victim's wife, 45-year-old Monica Sementilli, who according to LAPD Robbery Homicide Capt. William Hayes was "involved in an intimate relationship for a year and a half" with Baker. The pair was charged Friday with capital murder with a special circumstance of murder for financial gain, the Times detailed, as resulting from a months-long investigation that led detectives to determine the murder was carried out with the motive of collecting a $1.6 million life insurance payout.

Fabio Sementilli, who was also 45, was found stabbed to death January 23 on the patio of his home. The murder was initially thought to have been committed as part of a home-invasion robbery. Two men were seen jogging up to the house prior to the killing, and were captured afterward by a surveillance camera five miles away getting out of and abandoning the victim's Porsche. DNA matching Baker's was found at the crime scene and in the vehicle, turning up in the database due to a 1993 conviction against him for "lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor," which placed him permanently on the books as a registered sex offender.

The second man suspected in the crime has not yet been identified and remains at large. Monica Sementilli is not thought to have been present during her husband's actual killing; however, she faces the charge of taking direct part in plotting it. She and Baker, who reportedly met at LA Fitness in Woodland Hills, are being held without bail. If convicted, they would be eligible for the death penalty.
Hummingbird Bakery founder Tarek Malouf has been awarded an MBE in the Queens birthday honours list for his services to baking and confectionery.

Malouf told British Baker it was a wonderful accolade to receive and said he hopes it encourages others to embrace entrepreneurship.

The baker, who immigrated to London from Lebanon as a young child, opened his first Hummingbird Bakery in Notting Hill in 2004 to promote his style of American baking, which was virtually unknown in the UK at that time.

Thirteen years later, the company has six branches across London and Richmond, and recently launched its fourth branch in The Middle East through a franchise agreement with Gourmet Gulf Company.

Cupcakes and American baking in general were considered particularly sweet to British taste buds. Despite this, four cookbooks and many cupcakes later, Im glad I followed my instincts and took a risk, Malouf told British Baker.

Luckily this demand has been sustained and Im delighted classic American goodies, such as Red Velvet, are now widely recognised and enjoyed across the country.

He also attributed the success of his bakery to his family.

With the belief and support of my family I have been able to create a business, The Hummingbird Bakery, which provides employment for over 130 people in the UK and one that continues to grow.

Hummingbird announced last month that it will be opening its first bakery outside London, in Guildford, this summer.
In wide-ranging interview, former GOP governor accuses current Governor Cooper of playing to liberal base and fighting with legislature rather than solving problems



Former Gov. Pat McCrory sounded a lot like a candidate when he spoke Saturday to Carolina Journal and to the Conservative Leadership Conference in Raleigh. (CJ photo by Dan Way)

Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory says Roy Cooper, his Democratic successor, is repaying his trial lawyer campaign contributors by hiring them for expensive, politically motivated lawsuits against the GOP-led General Assembly.In a wide-ranging interview with Carolina Journal, McCrory also accused Cooper of massive firings of people hired during McCrory's term in office, spoke of regrets of unfinished business during his four years in office, and hinted that he might run again for governor in three years.McCrory said. Before making that decision, he said, he would need to feel certain he would be the best change agent for state government.McCrory said.But he seemed to be in campaign mode as he ticked off components of his Carolina Comeback that he said people appreciate, if belatedly: Reducing unemployment from the fourth-highest rate in the nation to one at or below the national average. Cutting income taxes. Paying off debt. Championing a bond for university, state parks, military and infrastructure projects. And funding teacher pay raises for the first time this decade.McCrory said.Not getting a bond issue for roads was his biggest disappointment, McCrory said. Both conservatives and liberals removed it from the agenda, he said. He thinks the public would have passed the referendum with 95 percent support.he said.McCrory said Cooper has not reached out to him for advice or consultation. Instead, the current governor has fired as many McCrory hires as he could,McCrory said Cooper is filing "lawsuit after lawsuit." He noted the irony, because as attorney general, Cooper refused to defend the state in lawsuits as its top attorney.McCrory said.The former governor also filed lawsuits, the biggest of which accused Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, of separation-of-powers violations involving legislative appointments that wrested control of three executive branch commissions from the governor.McCrory said he stood by that lawsuit, upheld by the state Supreme Court. But he said it was ironic Cooper is using the McCrory v. Berger decision to bolster his own legal claims against the General Assembly, even though the circumstances are different.McCrory said.McCrory said, because his liberal base wants to fight, andHe thinks last year's shift of the state Supreme Court from Democratic to Republican control has emboldened Cooper, who's convinced the high court will rule in his favor.Some of Cooper's lawsuits involve bills McCrory signed into law. One merged the State Board of Elections and Ethics Commission into a new entity. Another challenged the legislative appointment of the wife of McCrory's chief of staff to the Industrial Commission. The State Board of Education filed suit over a law stripping it of some of its powers, and transferring them to the state superintendent of education.McCrory said he signed those bills because they passed with veto-proof margins, and he believed the General Assembly was within its authority on the measures.He said education reform is sorely needed because there is no accountability either in secondary or college levels.McCrory said.He also took some shots at the media.McCrory asked.He said mainstream media outlets played a role in his defeat, diverting attention from his administration's successes, and following Cooper's lead on magnifying the House Bill 2 bathroom dispute, the coal ash controversy, and the controversy over adding toll lanes to Interstate 77 north of Charlotte.He said the toll lanes were mistakenly called toll roads, and the backlash caused him 30,000 votes in northern Mecklenburg County. He lost the election by about 10,000 votes. He said stepping on toes to break up the good old boys system of doing transportation projects probably cost him some votes as well.McCrory noted that President Trump has been suggesting public-private partnerships for highway projects, which include toll lanes.McCrory said. He has spoken to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao several times on the political consequences of supporting toll lane construction, and the long-term financial consequences of not building necessary transportation infrastructure.
The Democrat leadership has made constant, profound and incredible pronouncements that one's supportive vote for Republicans is tantamount to surrendering Democracy forever. Understanding their sincere thinking in their extreme position: How will you still vote on this election day?

Democrat; because the continuance of this Democracy from the existential threat of extreme Republicans is paramount.

Republican; the process of having a choice is the democratic method within what so called "Democracy" does exists.
US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

By Reuters: President Donald Trump's administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighboring Afghanistan, US officials tell Reuters.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistan's support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistan's arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

PRECISE ACTIONS YET TO BE DECIDED

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistan's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistan's war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on America's longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PUTS EMPHASIS ON RELATIONS WITH ISLAMABAD

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

"We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other US officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behavior. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that US-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional US troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

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"I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

KABUL CRITICAL OF PAKISTAN'S ROLE IN AFGHANISTAN

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at US claims that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

"What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full," a senior Pakistani government source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: "They don't want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism."

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

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Experts say Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

IS PAKISTAN AN ALLY?

Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the US battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus US military hardware.

Some US officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.

"Pakistan is not an ally. It's not North Korea or Iran. But it's not an ally," said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.

But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

"The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honor," said a former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

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"Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one," said the February report.

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

DEADLY TRUCK BOMB ATTACK IN KABUL

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, US officials told Reuters.

US frustration over the Haqqani's presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in 2012. US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.

The potential US pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when US officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a "disaster."

"It didn't affect Pakistan's behavior one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan's behavior worse," Sedney said.

MORE DRONES, CASH CUT-OFF

Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in US assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a US Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.

Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorization that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

US officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.

Curtis' report also singled out the aid as a target.

But US aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, U.S. officials and a Pakistan expert said.

"Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren't taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves," the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.

Pakistan's army chief of staff last week criticized "unilateral actions" such as drone strikes as "counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan".

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--- ENDS ---
Air Canada named best in North America.

Its been 150 years since Confederation, but Canadians were also the blessed recipients of another milestone award today: The nations flag carrier was named Best Airline in North America at the International Paris Air Show.

Independent research firm Skytrax survey of 20 million air travellers names AC Best Airline in North America! More: https://t.co/nBdVsICi60 pic.twitter.com/91deOr6ViB  Air Canada (@AirCanada) June 20, 2017

This is far from Air Canadas first brush with the global benchmark for industry excellence. The airline has been named the continents best by the Skytrax World Airline Awards six times in eight years, in a survey of almost 20 million flyers.

The title, while not elusive, is a coup for the airline that only yesterday made headlines for reportedly refusing to let a three-year-old girl use the nearest bathroom on a Nova Scotia-Calgary flight, resulting in the toddler having to sit in her own urine for three hours.

Benjamin Smith, President, Passenger Airlines at Air Canada, said in a press release: This award shows customers are enthusiastically embracing the significant investments Air Canada is making in its products and services. These include the introduction of the state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner into our fleet, a widening choice of destinations to choose from in our expanding global network, refurbished aircraft interiors featuring our next generation lie flat Business Class seats on all of our Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft and dedicated Premium Economy cabins, as well as other enhanced amenities ranging from sharply restyled Maple Leaf Lounges to signature dishes and wine pairings onboard.

An independent, scientific Twitter probe revealed unforeseen results. At least some of the signature dishes did not delight passenger palates:

Story continues

Typical #AirCanada #bullshit. Gouged for crap food & wifi that wont work by rude indifferent flight attendants. #WorstAirline #NeverAgain  Jeremiah Tamburrini (@JeremiahT_TW) June 19, 2017

Dear Air Canada, just because you make your employees wear chefs hats, doesnt mean your guests will be any more impressed with the food  Kristina (@stinaknits) May 29, 2017

Others felt the fare may have benefitted from longer cooking time:



Thanks @AirCanada for giving me frozen and inedible food one way, and food poison on the way home! Much love  Riley Noik (@rileynik) June 4, 2017

And some did not get to experience the culinary reverie at all:



.@AirCanada left 4 people off 3 flights and stby for the morning. No compensation, food or hotel vouchers offered. @WestJet #getusoutofla  Cassandra Topuzoglu (@casselmas) June 20, 2017

Other passengers tweeted about their experience with Rouge, the new leisure airline with stylishly affordable service owned and operated by Air Canada:

Getting a rouge plane when you think youre in normal air Canada is like finding a hair in your food  SHAUN FRANK (@Shaun_Frank) May 21, 2017



But its not all negative press for North Americas finest. Air Canada also achieved a top spot on J.D. Powers North America Airline Satisfaction Study for 2017. It landed in fifth place, right behind United Airlines.

Air Canada ranked worst airline in North America for satisfaction, but best for joke set-ups.  22Minutes (@22_Minutes) May 12, 2017

What do you have to do to be the worst? United has broken guitars and people and they cant claim the title. Just cant catch a break!  lady em (@garbagelady69) May 12, 2017

When Air Canada is voted the best airline in North America, that does tell you how bad the other ones actually are.  Millie MvK (@millie_elle) April 11, 2017

But its really not all bad press. At least one discerning customer was delighted with the experience:
Teaching and Learning

University of Michigan Commercializes Gameful Learning Tool

A "gameful" instructional tool created at the University of Michigan is now available for purchase by K12 schools and universities across the country. Known as GradeCraft, the software uses gaming elements such as competition, badges and unlocks to help students progress through their courses.

To use GradeCraft in a course, instructors create a course shell as they would in a typical learning management system. Students use a tool called the "Grade Predictor" to plan their own path through coursework; when assignments are completed, the system then nudges students to revisit their plan based on their interests and performance. Students also receive analytics to help gauge their overall progress.

GradeCraft's "Grade Predictor" tool helps students plan a personalized pathway toward their learning goals.

GradeCraft was co-developed in 2012 by Barry Fishman, professor at the University of Michigan's Schools of Information and Education, and Caitlin Holman, doctoral candidate in the School of Information and lead software developer at Office of Academic Innovation's Digital Innovation Greenhouse. The project was recognized with a Campus Technology Innovators award in 2016. To date, the system has been used in 56 courses across the university, including a series of massive open online courses  serving more than 10,000 students overall, according to a university statement.

"We believe gameful is a great way to reconnect students to learning and we're excited to bring it to a larger audience," Fishman commented.

The University of Arizona has become one of the first universities to purchase a site license for GradeCraft. "We are excited to partner with Gradecraft and the University of Michigan. It is fantastic to find an educational technology that is built from the ground up with faculty leadership and based upon cutting-edge scholarship," said Vincent Del Casino Jr., UA vice president of academic initiatives and student success, in a statement. "The University of Arizona looks forward to deepening our partnership over time as we push toward a more comprehensive vision of gameful learning on our campus."
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New York, June 20, 2017Azerbaijani authorities should immediately release Fikret Faramazoglu, chief editor of the news website Journalistic Research Center, from prison and investigate the journalists claims that he was severely beaten in custody, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Faramazoglu was sentenced on June 14 to seven years in prison for extortion and banned from working as a journalist for two years after serving his prison term, according to media reports.

Faramazoglu was detained on June 30 last year for allegedly receiving a large amount of money from a restaurant owner whom authorities claimed the journalist extorted, pro-government local media reported at the time. Faramazoglu denied in court that it is his signature on a police report stating that 3,000 manats (US$1,700) was found in his pocket. The journalist told the court he and his family were on a trip when the first incident of alleged extortion took place and requested that he be allowed to call witnesses. The judge denied his request. The judge also dismissed Faramazoglus request for authorities to investigate the beating, according to reports.

We condemn the jailing of Fikret Faramazoglu and call on Azerbaijani authorities to release him without delay, said CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina Ognianova. Authorities should thoroughly investigate claims that Faramazoglu was beaten in jail and ensure that those responsible be punished to the full extent of the law.

The journalists lawyer, Elchin Sadygov, told CPJ that the arrest came soon after Faramazoglu reported that restaurants were allegedly operating as brothels under the protection of law-enforcement agencies. Sadygov told media following the Baku courts verdict that he thinks the case was retaliation for Faramazoglus reporting. Sadygov said Faramazoglu will appeal the verdict.

Faramazoglus wife Faiga Nusrati told CPJ in December last year that her husband told her he was beaten so severely while in detention that he lost several teeth.

Faramazoglu has previously endured politically motivated prosecution and harassment in retaliation for his critical reporting on government corruption. CPJ documented how in 2006 Faramazoglu, then chief editor of the Baku-based opposition weekly 24 Saat, was found guilty of libel and sentenced to a one-year suspended prison term in retaliation for his reporting on alleged corruption in Azerbaijani law enforcement.
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Bogota, Colombia, June 20, 2017The Committee to Protect Journalists today called for the immediate release of two Dutch journalists who were abducted while reporting from a lawless region of northeastern Colombia.

Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender, 58, were abducted yesterday, according to a statement from Colombian police circulated among journalists on Whatsapp. The office of the Colombia Human Rights Ombudsman confirmed the abductions on its Twitter account, but said the two were detained on June 17.

We call on those holding journalists Derk Johannes Bolt and Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender to release them immediately, Carlos Lauria, CPJs program director and senior program coordinator for the Americas, said from New York. Colombian authorities should do their utmost to locate the journalists and bring them to safety, and all sides in the Colombian civil conflict must respect the internationally recognized status of journalists as civilians.

The police statement and a report from the Colombian weekly Semana attributed the kidnapping to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, a Marxist rebel group involved in a more than 50 year conflict with the Colombian state.

The kidnappings took place near the village of El Tarra in Norte de Santander state, which lies along the border with Venezuela and is home to the ELN, which is estimated to have about 1,500 fighters. The area is also home to drug-trafficking groups, according to the police statement.

The Colombian organization Foundation for Freedom of the Press (FLIP, by its Spanish acronym) wrote on Twitter that there were reports that the ELN could be behind the kidnapping, but cautioned that the information had not been confirmed.

On one of its official Twitter accounts, the ELN said it was investigating to help clear up the case, according to news reports. When the BBC asked an ELN spokesman about the kidnappings he responded: There is nothing to say.

Broadcast journalist Bolt and camera operator Follender work for the Dutch TV program Spoorloos, which traces the whereabouts of relatives. They were in the region attempting to track down the biological mother of a Colombian child adopted in The Netherlands, according to news reports.

Police said a unit specialized in abductions has been dispatched to the region. In a statement, the Colombian army also said that it had sent soldiers to the area to search for the two journalists.

Last year, ELN rebels in Norte de Santander abducted Spanish-Colombian journalist Salud Hernandez-Mora as well as two Colombian reporters. They were freed unharmed after about a week in captivity.

Colombias larger rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, signed a peace treaty last year to end its 52-year insurgency, and is currently disarming its 7,000 fighters. Peace talks with the ELN, which were launched in February, have since stalled, according to news reports.
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Beirut, June 20, 2017French cameraman Stephan Villeneuve and Iraqi fixer Bakhtiyar Haddad were killed in an explosion that also injured French journalists Veronique Robert and Samuel Forey as they covered Iraqi soldiers efforts to retake control of the old city of Mosul yesterday, according to news reports and the French journalists employers.

The journalists were embedded with elite Iraqi soldiers, traveling on foot through Mosul when an improvised explosive device exploded, news reports said. Alex Kay Pottera nurse who was on the initial treatment team and who acts as director of communications for Global Response Management (GRM), an international nonprofit that provides medical care on the frontlines of conflictstold CPJ that Haddad, Forey, Villeneuve, and Robert were initially treated at a trauma stabilization point run by GRM and Iraqi Special Operations Forces. Villeneuve, Robert, and Forey were then transported to a nearby military medical facility for further treatment, Potter said. Kurdish broadcasters Rudaw and Kurdistan 24 reported that Haddad died of his injuries soon after the explosion.

Villeneuve, Robert, and Forey were subsequently flown to a medical facility in Al-Qayyara, some 76 kilometers (47 miles) south of Mosul, and then to Baghdad for further treatment. Villeneuve died of his injuries hours later, according to news reports and the Metro Center for Journalists Rights, a northern Iraqi press freedom group. Foreys injuries were less serious, Le Figaro reported.

The deaths of Stephan Villeneuve and Bakhtiyar Haddad and the injuries sustained by Veronique Robert and Samuel Forey testify to the enormous risks journalists take to bring the news from Iraq, CPJ Middle East and North Africa Program Coordinator Sherif Mansour said from Geneva. Iraqi and foreign journalists daily show immense courage and determination to bring vital information to the world.

Haddad had worked as a translator and fixer for French journalists in northern Iraq for more than a decade. Villeneuve and Robert were on assignment for the production company #5bisProduction, filming a report for the public broadcaster France 2. Forey is a freelance journalist who has regularly contributed to Le Figaro and the cultural magazine Telerama, among other media outlets.

Haddads left hand was hit by a snipers bullet while he reported from the western Iraqi city of Fallujah on June 23, 2016, according to Liberation and a post Villeneuve, an experienced conflict journalist himself, wrote on Facebook. U.S. soldiers detained Haddad alongside French photographer Corentin Fleury on suspicion of collaborating with Iraqi guerrillas on November 8, 2004, according to Liberation. He was released on December 5, Liberation reported.

More journalists have been killed in Iraq than in any other country since CPJ first began keeping records in 1992.
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Mexico City, June 20, 2017Attempts to spy on Mexican journalists and human rights activists by infiltrating their mobile devices with spyware threaten press freedom in the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. A report released in Mexico City yesterday by the press freedom group Article 19 and open internet researchers R3D and the University of Torontos Citizen Lab documented the attempts.

Journalists, human rights defenders, and anti-corruption activists were targeted by sophisticated spyware capable of accessing their contacts, emails, and other sensitive information stored on their mobile phones, the report found. The software was also capable of recording keystrokes on the devices and of effectively turning the devices microphones into a listening device, according to the three groups.

The surveillance of journalists threatens press freedom in Mexico, and potentially the safety of their sources for sensitive stories, Carlos Lauria, CPJs program director and senior program coordinator for the Americas, said from New York. The Mexican government should credibly investigate this intrusion and make the results of that investigation public.

Targets received text messages to their mobile phones that contained seemingly credible warnings about, among other things, the wellbeing of family members. The recipients were invited to follow a link to an empty web page that sent the spyware to their phones, where it could operate undetected.

Among the targets were investigative journalists Carmen Aristegui and Carlos Loret de Mola, the director of the human rights group Centro PRODh, and the director of the think tank IMCO, the report found. Families were also targeted: The researchers found that Aristeguis 16-year-old son received the phishing text messages, as did the wife of IMCO director Juan Pardenas.

Citizen Lab identified the spyware as Pegasus, a program developed by Israeli company NSO Group as a digital tool to combat terrorism and organized crime. According to news reports, the NSO Group sells Pegasus only to governments. NSO did not respond to CPJs phone calls seeking comment.

Carmen Aristegui and her investigative team in 2014 reported that the presidents wife had bought a mansion in Mexico City from a contractor with ties to the government. Carlos Loret de Mola investigated alleged extrajudicial executions by Federal Police in the town of Tanhuato, roughly 430 kilometers (267 miles) northwest of the capital. Centro PRODh, meanwhile, provided legal support to the families of 43 students who disappeared in Guerrero state in 2014, whereas IMCO has in recent years been a strong proponent of federal anti-corruption legislation, The New York Times reported yesterday. According to the report, the targets of the spyware received most of the phishing text messages while they were investigating or supporting issues that directly involved government institutions.

Citizen Lab stressed that the software cannot be traced back to its original senders and that there was no conclusive evidence as to who was behind the cyberattacks.

Mexicos federal government denies it spied on the journalists or activists. A spokesperson for President Enrique Pena Nieto referred CPJ to the governments statement to The New York Times, in which it categorically denie[d] that any of its members engages in surveillance or communications operations against defenders of human rights, journalists, anti-corruption activists or any other person without prior judicial authorization.
Education counsellors in the Capital are witnessing a rise in the footfall of parents seeking guidance on various courses and tips on how to deal with anxiety.

By Mail Today Bureau: With only four days left in the release of Delhi University's first cut-off list for admission, more than the students it's the parents who are battling anxiety and seeking assistance from counsellors.

Education counsellors in the Capital are witnessing a rise in the footfall of parents seeking guidance on various courses and tips on how to deal with anxiety. Pervin Malhotra, career counsellor and founder of Career Guidance India (CARING), said, "This year we have seen a rise in the cases of anxiety where surprisingly parents are more anxious than their children regarding admissions."

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PARENTS FEEL THE PRESSURE

Megha Gupta, whose daughter is aspiring for Sociology Hons in Lady Shri Ram College, shared, "Although my daughter has scored 96 per cent and I am really proud of her, I am unsure about her chances of making it to her dream college in the first list." Megha's anxiety is echoed by several other parents whose children have applied in DU to pursue undergraduate courses. Most are afraid of the forbidding cut-offs and the cut-throat competition. Sunetra Banerjee, an academic counsellor at Cambridge School, Noida, said that students experience pressure because "they have to deal with heavy workload, peer pressure and personal ambitions to make it big in their chosen careers.

Then, parents often impose their own aspirations on children by being inconsiderate of their child's wishes and capabilities." Pervin agreed, "Parents who are anxious behave lost and confused. Tragically, confused children get stuck with anxious parents unwillingly." Rishabh Chaturvedi, a student of Banyan Tree Public School, who scored 92 per cent aggregate, is yet to lift his dampened spirits.

"I was pretty happy with my marks, but now I'm worried about my admission as the Delhi University cutoffs are extremely dynamic," Rishabh said. This is not just Rishabh's story, a lot of students who have done extremely well in the board exams are going through similar situation.

Counsellors across the Capital have witnessed a spike in anxiety among students wanting to make it to the best colleges. St Stephen's College had recently announced the first cut-off list with the highest for English (honours) and economics (honours) at 98.5 per cent for commerce students.

Also read: Bihar class X girl, out for open defecation, abducted, gangraped, left fighting for life

Also read: Bihar: Man invites girlfriend home, only to rape and burn her to death

Also read: Delhi: Fake call center racket busted, kingpin arrested for duping over 200 job seekers

--- ENDS ---
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On June 20th, we observe World Refugee Day. It is an occasion to highlight the plight of refugees around the world, commend their resilience, and express gratitude to their hosts.

According to the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees, a refugee is someone who, "owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to, or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country." In 2016, the worlds refugee population topped 22 million, more than ever before.

The displaced come from all walks of life, singly and in families, across a wide spectrum of ethnic, religious, economic and educational backgrounds. But they have one thing in common: all have been forced from their homes and homelands. They flee to escape persecution or violent conflict, including terrorism. Often, people flee because their towns have been turned into battlefields and staying means nearly certain death.

This is a global crisis that is affecting more men, women, and children than ever before and for longer and longer periods of time.

We are committed to easing the suffering of Syrian refugees and supporting the countries that host them.

As we observe World Refugee Day, we are reminded that as long as violence and persecution continue, there will be a pressing need for comprehensive humanitarian action and a global response. That is why the United States is proud to continue its leadership in providing humanitarian aid around the world. This life-saving assistance protects refugees, feeds those who might otherwise starve, shelters those who would otherwise be exposed to the elements, and ensures access to safe clean water and basic healthcare.

As U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley wrote in the Wall Street Journal, we are committed to easing the suffering of Syrian refugees and supporting the countries that host them. In the face of dire needs, horrible violence, and unbearable persecution, our commitment to the worlds most vulnerable people remains a critical component of U.S. policy.
By Michio Watanabe, KYODO NEWS - Jun 20, 2017 - 10:48 | Feature, All

An innovative distribution method has made it possible to bring fish to consumers in Tokyo on the day they were caught, not via the controversy-mired Tsukiji or Toyosu market but through Haneda airport.

At 10:20 a.m. on a day in late May, a container of fresh fish arrived at the Fresh Fish Center in the airport's East Cargo Terminal aboard a plane that had left Fukuoka, southeastern Japan, nearly two hours earlier.

"These are cherry salmon caught just this morning," Shuichi Miyamoto, who is in charge of the center, said of the container's contents.

Miyamoto, 45, said about 30 kinds of fish totaling 3 tons, including sea bream and yellowtail amberjack, were expected to arrive at the center by air from all over Japan that day.

"After checking, we will pack 8 kilograms each into one polystyrene foam box for shipping," he said, showing a box containing five kinds of specialty fish from four locations in Japan, priced at 10,800 yen.

Shipping of the boxes began shortly after 11:30 a.m. directly to restaurants, bars and supermarkets in Tokyo, bypassing conventional fish markets, for consumers to enjoy later in the evening.

The center was launched in September 2015 by Chihou Sousei Network Co., the operator of an online fish market for business customers called "Tokyo Haneda Market."

Customers place orders with the online market and receive boxes containing fresh fish from all over Japan. The Tokyo-based company says it deals only in fresh fish, not in frozen or farmed fish.

The number of client restaurants has exceeded 5,000. They say "Tokyo Haneda Market" offers quality fish caught from various seas in Japan that may otherwise be unavailable in Tokyo.

"By conventional means, it takes as many as three days for fish to reach consumers," said the company's president, Ryohei Nomoto, 51.

"They are first transported by truck from local wholesale markets to Tokyo's Tsukiji market. And then wholesalers deliver them to supermarkets or fish stores."

"We can do it in six hours at the shortest," Nomoto said. "The air transport cost is lower than the expenses related with wholesaling and transportation and the good thing is that more money goes to fishermen."

"With our ingenuity, the earnings of fishermen can be substantially raised," he said.

The president said he spends about 100 days a year boarding fishing boats to talk with fishermen all around Japan.

"To keep fish fresh, you should kill them immediately after catching them and remove the nerves," he said. "I sometimes tell fishermen how to do it."

He said Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike commended his method as "eye-opening" when he had a chance to tell her about Haneda Market. Koike was faced with a decision over the planned relocation of Tokyo's central fish market from the current Tsukiji in Chuo Ward to the nearby Toyosu waterfront district.

Nomoto was born in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo. After graduating from high school, he joined a food wholesale company run by his family.

He later changed job to work for a conveyor belt sushi restaurant and learned how to handle fresh fish. Then he became a director at a bar chain operator where he promoted new dishes featuring fresh fish.

He founded his own company in 2014.

"The number of (Japanese) fishermen currently totals 160,000, a plunging sharply from the level soon after the end of World War II when there were more than one million," he said.

"Besides, not many people seem interested in becoming fishermen partly because of the low wages."

Nomoto said supermarkets have the upper hand in fish distribution and keep prices low to fishermen's disadvantage.

"I hoped to deal with fresh, high-grade fish at a fair price in Tokyo to improve the level of their wages and boost their numbers," Nomoto said.

"My simple wish is that the system will benefit all three parties -- fishermen, consumers and our company," he said.

In January, the company opened an outlet in Tokyo's popular Ginza shopping district, not far from the Tsukiji market, offering fish not just to professionals but consumers.

"We see some businessmen coming after 3 p.m. when freshly caught fish arrive here," its shop manager said.

Uozen, a nearby bar and restaurant, receives a box of fish from Haneda Market every day, but relies on the Ginza outlet to get more when necessary.

Its master, Kozo Matsumoto, 53, said, "Our strongest selling point is the freshness of our fish and our customers love it."

Nomoto's company also exports about 500 kilograms of fish to North America, Southeast Asia and elsewhere each day, and plans to expand sales abroad.

Noting that annual sales in its second fiscal year came to 450 million yen ($4 million), Nomoto said, "We are aiming to take the figure to 10 billion yen in fiscal 2020."

"The current fish markets are closed on Sundays and during New Year's holidays when fish are supposed to fetch a high price," Nomoto said. "It's like letting a great chance pass by."

"If it's profitable, fishermen should be willing to work even during New Year's holidays," he said.
A core assumption in the study of disease-causing genes has been that they are clustered in molecular pathways directly connected to the disease. But work by a group of researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests otherwise.

The gene activity of cells is so broadly networked that virtually any gene can influence disease, the researchers found. As a result, most of the heritability of diseases is due not to a handful of core genes, but to tiny contributions from vast numbers of peripheral genes that function outside disease pathways.

Any given trait, it seems, is not controlled by a small set of genes. Instead, nearly every gene in the genome influences everything about us. The effects may be tiny, but they add up.

The work is described in a paper published June 15 in Cell. Jonathan Pritchard, PhD, professor of genetics and of biology, is the senior author. Graduate student Evan Boyle and postdoctoral scholar Yang Li, PhD, share lead authorship.

The researchers call their provocative new understanding of disease genes an "omnigenic model" to indicate that almost any gene can influence diseases and other complex traits. In any cell, there might be 50 to 100 core genes with direct effects on a given trait, as well as easily another 10,000 peripheral genes that are expressed in the same cell with indirect effects on that trait, said Pritchard, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator.

Each of the peripheral genes has a small effect on the trait. But because those thousands of genes outnumber the core genes by orders of magnitude, most of the genetic variation related to diseases and other traits comes from the thousands of peripheral genes. So, ironically, the genes whose impact on disease is most indirect and small end up being responsible for most of the inheritance patterns of the disease.

"This is a compelling paper that presents a plausible and fascinating model to explain a number of confusing observations from genomewide studies of disease," said Joe Pickrell, PhD, an investigator at the New York Genome Center, who was not involved in the work.

From a polygenic to omnigenic model

Until recently, said Pritchard, he thought of genetically complex traits as conforming to a polygenic model, in which each gene has a direct effect on a trait, whether that trait is something like height or a disease, such as autism.

But last year, while putting together a paper on the recent evolution of height in northern Europeans, Pritchard was forced to rethink that idea.

In the earlier work on the genetics of height, Pritchard and his colleagues were surprised to find that essentially the entire genome influenced height. "It was really unintuitive to me," he said. "To be honest, I thought that it was probably wrong." His team spent a long time trying to understand the surprising result.

Instead, he said, "I gradually started to realize that the data don't really fit the polygenic model." That work led directly to the current Cell paper, he said. "We started to think, 'If the whole genome is involved in a complex trait like height, then how does that work?'"

Therapeutic implications

The polygenic model leads researchers to focus on the short list of core genes that function in molecular pathways known to impact diseases. So, therapeutic research typically means addressing those core genes. A common approach to gene discovery is to do larger and larger genomewide association studies, the paper notes, but Pritchard's team argues against this approach because the sample sizes are expensive and the thousands of peripheral genes uncovered are likely to have tiny, indirect effects. "After you get the first 100 hits," said Pritchard, "you've probably found most of the core genes you're going to get through genomewide association studies."

Instead, he recommends switching to deep sequencing the core genes to hunt down rare variants that might have bigger effects. For clinical use, Pritchard said, there's still a rationale for genomewide association studies: to predict the peripheral gene-based risk factors in individual patients in order to personalize medicine.

Implications for basic science

Pritchard's omnigenic model promises to take basic biology in new directions and means biologists need to think a lot more about the structure of networks that link together those thousands of peripheral disease genes.

"If this model is right," said Pritchard, "it's telling us something profound about how cells work that we don't really understand very well. And so maybe that puts us a little bit further away from using genomewide association studies for therapeutics. But in terms of understanding how genetics encodes disease risk, it's really important to understand."

###

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant RO1 HG008140), the National Science Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Stanford's Department of Genetics also supported the work.

The Stanford University School of Medicine consistently ranks among the nation's top medical schools, integrating research, medical education, patient care and community service. For more news about the school, please visit http://med.stanford.edu/school.html. The medical school is part of Stanford Medicine, which includes Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children's Health. For information about all three, please visit http://med.stanford.edu.
By Press Trust of India: Shimla, June 20 (PTI) The first 50 MW unit of 100 MW Sainj Hydro Power project of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL) today commissioned and synchronised with northern grid through Parvati-Kol Dam transmission line.

The impounding of water in the reservoir was started on February 2 this year and mechanical testing was done successfully on April 25.

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The second unit of 50 MW would also be commissioned soon and the project would produce 322 million units of electricity every year accruing an income of Rs 100 crore to the state government.

Sainj Hydro Power Project has been constructed on Sainj River, a tributary of Beas river and its barrage has been constructed near village Niharini while the underground power house was located on the right bank of Sainj at Siund village.

A 6.36 km long tunnel with 3.85 metre diameter and two turbines of 50 MW each have been installed.

The families affected by the project would get 100 units of power per month free of cost for ten years. The affected families would also get 1 per cent of income from the project while 1.5 per cent of income would go to LADA (Local Area Development Authority). PTI PCL AAR MKJ

--- ENDS ---
chuck schumer

Senate Democrats plan to go all out in their protest against the GOP healthcare bill starting Monday night.

Lawmakers in the party plan to use a series of stall tactics to try to draw attention to the way Republicans are writing their version of the American Health Care Act and to protest the policy changes that are expected to be in the bill.

A Democratic Senate aide told Business Insider the move would consist of four measures:

Objecting to nearly all unanimous-consent requests, which are used to more quickly act on requests or resolutions that have bipartisan support. While this will not prevent any measure from passing, it can slow down proceedings significantly. The Democratic aide said some resolutions would be allowed through, such as a resolution honoring the victims of last week's congressional baseball shooting. Submitting a series of unanimous-consent requests designed "to attempt to force the House-passed healthcare bill to committee," delay a series of votes on the legislation, "and increase transparency, forcing Republicans to publicly defend their 'no hearings strategy.'" Using a series of parliamentary procedures "to highlight the difference between the open process used to pass the Affordable Care Act and the process Republicans are pursuing now." Highlighting healthcare issues "late into the evening in a series of speeches."

While none of these measures can hold up the bill indefinitely, the Democratic protests would slow down the Senate business and most likely bring more attention to the issue.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and top Republicans are writing the bill in private to avoid intense publicly scrutiny.

Despite reports suggesting McConnell intends to bring the bill to the floor for a vote by the weeklong July 4 recess, there is no public text, no Congressional Budget Office score, and scant details on what the bill will contain.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that the moves were designed to shed a light on the bill and that the secretive process showed Republicans to be "ashamed of it, plain and simple."

Story continues

"These are merely the first steps we're prepared to take in order to shine a light on this shameful Trumpcare bill and reveal to the public the GOP's true intentions: to give the uber-wealthy a tax break while making middle class Americans pay more for less healthcare coverage," Schumer said. "If Republicans won't relent and debate their health care bill in the open for the American people to see, then they shouldn't expect business as usual in the Senate."

While a good number of Senate GOP members have also expressed frustration about the closed-door process being used to create the bill, none have publicly rejected the tactic. In a statement, the Republican National Committee called the move a "pure partisan game aimed at placating the far-left."

NOW WATCH: Listen to the leaked audio of Australia's prime minister mocking Trump





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June 16 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Wall Street Journal. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

- Nestle SA put its U.S. confectionery business up for sale, looking to shed its Butterfinger and Crunch candy bars as it grapples with how to cater to U.S. consumers' increasing demand for healthy snacks. http://on.wsj.com/2rC2Cpy

- Pressure on U.S. grocers increased after a lower earnings forecast from Kroger Co sent shares in the nation's biggest supermarket chain down 19 percent. http://on.wsj.com/2rCl7dt

- Facebook Inc said that it has expanded its use of artificial intelligence in recent months to identify potential terrorist postings and accounts on its platformand at times to delete or block them without review by a human. http://on.wsj.com/2rC1nqB

- A woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India is suing Uber Technologies Inc and three current and former executives, claiming they breached her privacy by obtaining and publicizing her medical records. http://on.wsj.com/2rCeR5D

- Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp said that federal regulators have given it a green light to produce an emergency injection treatment for allergic reactions, providing a potential competitor to Mylan NV's EpiPen. http://on.wsj.com/2rC7Wco

- Nike Inc is cutting more than 1,000 global jobs as part of a restructuring to help the sneaker giant battle slowing sales. The company said that the layoffs would affect 2 percent of its global workforce. http://on.wsj.com/2rCbn2S

- Takata Corp, the Japanese automotive supplier of rupture-prone air bags linked to numerous deaths and injuries, is in the final stages of preparing to file for bankruptcy protection to address mounting liabilities stemming from an unprecedented recall, said a person familiar with the matter. http://on.wsj.com/2rC0xtG

- The Department of Energy said it would award $258 million over three years to be shared by six tech companies, as part of a plan to develop new supercomputers that can crunch data at least 50 times faster than the nation's most powerful systems today. http://on.wsj.com/2rClG7n

(Compiled by Bengaluru newsroom)
Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the president and son-in-law, and Christopher Liddell, director of strategic initiatives, speak at the White House. Source: AP

Amongst the tasks in his portfolio, President Trumps son-in-law Jared Kushner is overseeing the White House Office of American Innovation, a new agency charged with modernizing the governments dated technology. Kushner has said he wants the government to be run like a great American company.

On Monday Silicon Valley heavy hitters descended on Washington, DC, to strategize these changes to the governments tech infrastructure, with Kushner and former Microsoft (MSFT) CFO Christopher Liddell, Trumps director of strategic initiatives, leading the charge.

The guest list was a whos who of Silicon Valley CEOs. Mastercards Ajay Banga, Amazons Jeff Bezos, Oracles Safra Catz, Apples Tim Cook, Palantirs Alex Karp, Intels Brian Krzanich, SAPs Bill McDermott, Microsofts Satya Nadella, Adobes Shantanu Narayen, IBMs Ginni Rometty, Accetures Julie Sweet, and more. Alphabets executive chairman Eric Schmidt was also present.

Liddells strong ties to Silicon Valley make it possible that this government modernizingwhich was a goal of the Obama administration as wellstand a greater chance of happening, especially since Kushner carries significant Trump influence as a family member.

We certainly know the problems, Liddell said at the White House. At the meeting, the grievances with vintage technology were aired, including the go-to complaints about floppy disks for the US nuclear program. We have some of the ideas about what the solutions are. But we really want to engage your minds and get the best of the private sector applied to these problems, Liddell said.

Given Silicon Valleys tech prowess and the pro-private sector stance of the Trump administration, implementation of new IT infrastructure would be a massive opportunity for tech companies.

According to Ian Shafer, founder and CEO of Deep Focus, a digital strategy firm, the businesses most likely to get involved are companies with extensive database experience.

The businesses that are most able are likely to be these companiesMicrosoft, Oracle, IBM with rich history with complex databases that communicate with each other while having security, Shafer told Yahoo Finance.

Story continues

This puts companies like Microsoft, Oracle (ORCL), Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), and Salesforce (CRM) in a good position to benefit, given their extensive experience in providing large-scale tech solutions.

This doesnt necessarily mean more consumer-facing companies like Apple (AAPL) are going to be left out of the fun entirely, though the iPhone maker may be relegated to providing user experience insights because it doesnt have the B2B experience of the other tech giants.

A changing time

The modernization Kushner and Liddell are championing is a continuation of goals set by President Obama, but increased bipartisan worries about computer system vulnerabilities following the 2016 election have brought a new urgency to strengthening tech infrastructure. More than ever, security is an issue. For these companies, user-friendliness is the easy part, given the customer service obligations of the private sector.

Tech is the new battleground and hacking is the new warfareits something everyone has to get comfortable with, said Shafer. One of the things weve learned is that one of the greatest challenges is getting databases to work together and ensuring theyre not compromised. The more connected, the worse the problems become if they do become compromised.

One way to tackle the difficulties of robust security for the governments essential services is redundancy. This means there could be many winners from these tech initiatives if backups and overlapping systems are created and implemented.

You see what happens to the internet when Amazon Web Services goes down, said Shafer. We dont want the same thing to happen to the government. That could be where redundancies come into play.

Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance focusing on consumer issues, tech, and personal finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Got a tip? Send it to tips@yahoo-inc.com.

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Spam phone calls are getting worse. But they could get better soon. Source: Reuters

Robots and computers arent just taking peoples jobs, theyre also calling everybody and leaving messages about sweet business loan opportunities that you have been chosen for. Recently, these annoying spam calls have been on the rise, leaving people increasingly frustrated.

Its hard to measure robocall volume directly. Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, put the figure at 2.4 billion calls each month. If there isnt great data about the number of unwanted calls which feature a recorded message instead of a live person, a good proxy is the number of consumer complaints.

Both the FCC and Federal Trade Commission work to fight robocalls. Janice Kopek, the coordinator of the FTCs Do Not Call program, told Yahoo Finance the agency typically receives about 5 million complaints and about 3.4 million of those come from robocalls.

The robocall epidemic has a very simple cause: Moores law and technological advances. The tech to make these calls is readily accessible and inexpensive, so years ago it would cost you to pay telemarketers to sit and make the calls, and the calls themselves would expensive, Kopek said. Now through voice and internet technology you can blast out billions of calls with prerecorded messages from anywhere in the world and that can cost you pennies.

The ever-growing flood of robocall puts the FTCs robocall enforcement division at an incredible disadvantage. Its a small US government agency against a pest that can be outside the commissions jurisdiction. Many of the robocalls  the free cruises, IRS scams, and business financing  come from beyond US borders, from far-flung locals in Eastern Europe, Asia, or pretty much wherever there is internet.

Its not just annoying, its expensive

Robocalls arent just prank calls on an industrial level. They cost people in the US hundreds of millions each year due to scams. The first type is a telemarketing call thats trying to get you to buy something or assess your interest, said Kopek. And even if youre not on the Do Not Call list, Kopek says that call is illegal.

Story continues

The second type is pure scam, trying to lure people using fear or a tantalizing opportunity. We see all sorts of impostor scams where people are calling and pretending to be a [legitimate] government [agency], corporation, relative and try to get you to send money, said Kopek. Microsoft technical support, IRS scams, lottery scams, elderly grandparents scams are all popular  and malicious  options that unfortunately succeed.

Fighting the good fight

Though youd never notice due to the deluge of calls, the FTC has been tracking down robocallers and slapping them with lawsuits. Kopek told Yahoo Finance that the agency has made 131 law enforcement actions going after over 700 companies and individuals who it has alleged are responsible for illegal calls to consumers.

The FTC isnt alone. The FCC has brought 13 formal actions of its own since 2013, most notably hitting a Florida travel agency with a $3 million fine for calls that promoted travel deals.

According to Kopek, cracking down begins with looking into the complaint database, a vital tool for the agency. Filing a complaint may seem like a futile exercise, but it can make a difference. [Consumer complaints] go into our decision-making about what to pursue, said Kopek. Some call centers arent in the US so that can present challenges, but we do try to reach them in other ways. We try to develop international relationships to encourage local law enforcement abroad.

The only solution is a tech solution

Both the FTC and FCC understand that going after robocallers individually is an incomplete strategy. The FTC realized the limitations of law enforcement a few years ago, Kopak says, and pivoted its key strategy to facilitating technology solutions. If tech can make robocalls, the thinking goes, tech can stop them.

Fighting fire with fire isnt something either commission can do on its own, or without the heavy hitters like phone and device companies. According to Kopek, a big portion of both the FTC and FCCs strategy is enabling these private companies to fix the problem. To that end, the FCC has begun looking into ways to give carriers more authority to block more calls.

Another strategy is to stoke startups to devise a solution. The FTC has held competitions for the best anti-robo app and winners have included apps like Nomorobo, which won in 2013. The free-for-landlines ($1.99-a-month for iPhones) might help some people, but its far from the sweeping solution that the public craves.

Regulators have attempted to prod major private companies to fix the annoyances, and some progress is being made. AT&T (T) has data scientists who look for robocall patterns in around 1.5 billion calls each day, finding and blocking about 12 million. And according to the company, help from potential rule changes that the FCC is looking into could allow them to block literally billions more unwanted calls from reaching consumers.

In 2016, telecom industry groups launched a strike force on robocalling, focusing on how to deal with spoofing, which is when a caller impersonates someone elses caller ID. The groups have developed an anti-spoofing protocol called SHAKEN, and when its implemented, it would add a level of authentication to calls, potentially crippling robocallers using false numbers.

A US Telecom spokesperson told Yahoo Finance the company was hoping to implement the program at the end of the year.

The strike force also detailed an enhanced trackback protocol that allows telecom companies to get better at weeding out robocallers by learning more about them and where the calls originate. With that information, the industry can suppress the VoIP gateways, the links from the computers to the phone networks, crippling robocallers.

The devices

Tech solutions dont just come from the networksthey come from devices and operating systems as well. Apples (AAPL) iPhone iOS operating system has an option to retroactively block a number that the user identifies as spam, the same way one could block a phone number from some crazy guy who wont stop calling.

Apples response hasnt been particularly pro-active, but the company has provided a way third-party apps can curb annoying robocalls. Apple introduced an extension for its phone app that lets third-party apps access the phone apps inner-workings. With access to the devices calls, these third-party apps can intercede should a spammer try to robocall.

On the Android side, Googles (GOOG, GOOGL) phone apps for its Pixel, Nexus, and Android One phones have built in spam call protection that seem to work well. Other proprietary versions of Android may use their own systems outside of Android.

Google wouldnt get into specifics of how it blocks spam robocallers or manages to flag suspicious incoming calls as suspected spam caller. But the company did note that feedback reports play a role in the process  meaning you should flag any bad calls.

What you can do now

There isnt too much you can do except wait and hope for the industrys projects to succeed, unless you want to buy one of the third-party apps that blocks robocalls. (CTIA, an industry group, has a good lists for Android and iOS). But Kopek did say that it is still worthwhile to add your number to the Do Not Call list even if you think its not doing anything.

Putting your number on the Do Not Call list still helps, says Kopek. Legit companies who telemarket do scrub your numbers for their list. Every month, telemarketers are required to check the list for new additions, so if you add your name, you should get fewer calls.

Until it gets better, its nice to remember one thing: Though we are living in a deluge of robocalls, it could be worse. The phone companies are pretty good at blocking robotexting.

Ethan Wolff-Mann is a writer at Yahoo Finance focusing on consumer issues, tech, and personal finance. Follow him on Twitter @ewolffmann. Got a tip? Send it to tips@yahoo-inc.com.

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Otto Frederick Warmbier (C), a University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea since early January, is taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016. REUTERS/Kyodo

President Donald Trump offered he and his wife's 'deepest condolences' to the family of Otto Warmbier, the US student medically evacuated from North Korea after slipping into a coma.

"There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ottos family and friends, and all who loved him," read a statement from Trump on Monday.

Trump said that his administration was determined to "prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

Warmbier was tried and detained for "anti-state" activities which amounted to an attempt to steal a propaganda poster from a North Korean hotel. North Korea sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor, but Warmbier went into a coma shortly after his trial.

The Trump administration had secured the release of Warmbier over a long period of diplomatic negotiations. Upon Warmbier's release, Trump called his family.

Trump also commented on Warmbier's death during a technology roundtable event at the White House on Monday.

"He spent a year and a half in North Korea. A lot of bad things happened," Trump said of Warmbier. "But at least we got him home to be with his parents, where they were so happy to see him, even though he was in very tough condition. But he just passed away a little while ago."

He added: "It's a brutal regime, and we'll be able to handle it."

Warmbier died at 2:20 p.m. on Monday "surrounded by his loving family," according to a statement from the Warmbiers.

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," the Trump statement concluded.

The State Department also released a statement on Warmbier's death, saying the US holds North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment." The department also demanded the release of three other Americans who had been "illegally detained."





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Syria Badia al Tanf tank Bashar Assad

This weekend, for the fourth time in a month, US-led coalition forces clashed with forces backing the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The incident  the downing of a Syrian army jet in northern Syria  is another lurch toward what could be a fight that draws powers like Iran as well as the US and Russia into a conflict spanning the region.

On Sunday, US military officials said Syrian pro-government forces attacked the village of Ja'Din, south of Tabqah and west of Raqqa.

The strike reportedly wounded members of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which is a coalition of mostly Arab and Kurdish fighters who have become important US partners in the fight against ISIS.

Coalition fighter jets reportedly halted that outbreak of fighting with show of force.

About two hours later, a Syrian SU-22 jet again struck SDF fighters, dropping munitions with little warning, according to US Central Command spokesman Col. John Thomas, who said there were US forces in the area that were not directly threatened. US aircraft tried to contact the Syrian jet but failed to do so, Thomas said.

After that, according to a coalition statement, "in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, [it] was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet."

Syria Iraq Raqqa al Tanf Tabqah map

Previous clashes between the US-led coalition and its partner forces and the Assad regime and its allies, Russia and Iran among them, took place in southeastern Syria around an outpost near al Tanf, on the border with Iraq.

On May 18, coalition airstrikes hit pro-regime forces "that were advancing well inside an established de-confliction zone" northeast of al Tanf, US Central Command said in a release at the time. That strike came after "apparent Russian attempts to dissuade Syrian pro-regime movement south towards At Tanf were unsuccessful."

Story continues

Weeks later, on June 6, pro-Assad forces again entered the deconfliction zone, which covers a 34-mile radius around al Tanf.

A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter gestures towards an armoured vehicle in Hawi Hawa village, west of Raqqa, Syria June 11, 2017. REUTERS/Rodi Said

"The Coalition issued several warnings via the de-confliction line prior to destroying two artillery pieces, an anti-aircraft weapon, and damaging a tank," the coalition said at the time.

On June 8, coalition forces again struck pro-Assad forces that entered the deconfliction zone.

Hours after that engagement, a US aircraft shot down a regime drone that dropped bombs near coalition partner forces.

As after those incidents, the US-led coalition said on Sunday:

"The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat ... The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated."

Despite that sentiment, the US, Iran, and Russia all appear to be edging closer to a deeper conflict in Syria.

Moscow has provided air support to the Assad regime since 2015, and this month it launched attacks on US-backed fighters that were attacking Iranian-backed forces near al Tanf.

In a statement on Monday, the Russian Ministry of Defense called the shoot down of the Syrian jet "a cynical violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic" and said the US did not use the established communication line with Moscow beforehand.

The statement also called some US combat air operations "blatant breach[es] of the international law" and "military aggression" against Syria.

russian military jets syria

It also said Russia had stopped cooperating with the US to prevent incidents in the air over Syria and that going forward, "In the combat mission zones of the Russian aviation in the air space of Syria, all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by the Russian [surface-to-air missile] systems as air targets." (Though that statement was reportedly amended.)

The US said Monday that it was repositioning its aircraft over Syria to ensure safety in its operations against ISIS, but the Pentagon also said US pilots would defend themselves against the Russians if attacked.

Events in Syria in the last 24 hours have been complicated by Iran firing medium-range surface-to-surface missiles from western Iran at ISIS targets in northeast Syria's Dier Ez-Zur province.

Iran, which has long backed Assad with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps advisers and support from the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, justified the strike as retaliation for a recent ISIS attack in Tehran that left 18 dead.

Syria Iran

But the nature and timing of Iran's strike was also likely calculated to send a message to a wider audience, demonstrating that Tehran would hit back against terrorism and that it had the capability to strike throughout the region  the latter message almost certainly intended for the US, Saudi Arabia, and Israel.

The US's sharply intensifying involvement in Syria has triggered alarm among US observers.

"The cult of credibility is as popular in DC as it is dangerous. Watch Syria. The risk of sliding into a big war is rising," Colin Kahl, who served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East as well as national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and deputy assistant to President Barack Obama, said on Twitter on Monday.

"For years, hawks have argued that Assad & Iran (& Russia after 2015) were essentially paper tigers in Syria" who could be deterred by the US, Kahl added. But, he said, despite Trump's strikes on an Assad airfield and the recent clashes, the regime and its allies "keep pushing, probing, testing, countering. They haven't been cowed & deterred."

"Why?" Kahl continued. "Because the terrain they are fighting over, & the US coalition is now operating near, is very important to the Axis of Assad."

Syria Badia militias

The al Tanf area specifically is strategically valuable to Assad and Iran because it would provide Tehran an overland link to move men and material through Iraq to Syria and Lebanon. Intelligence sources have told Reuters that the coalition's presence near al Tanf is meant to prevent such a route from opening.

The situation is made more fraught by reports that White House officials have pushed to expand US involvement in Syria and confront Iran more forcefully.

Two National Security Council officials  Senior Director for Intelligence Ezra Cohen-Watnick and Derek Harvey, the council's top Middle East adviser  want to go on the offensive the war-torn country, and their fervor has reportedly left other Iran hawks, like Defense Secretary James Mattis, uneasy. (Cohen-Watnick is reportedly suggested using US spies to overthrow the Iranian government.)

Mattis, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, and Brett McGurk, the diplomat overseeing the anti-ISIS coalition, have all pushed back. So far their vision of the campaign has won out.

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis (L) and Joint Chiefs Chairman Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford hold a press briefing on the campaign to defeat ISIS at the Pentagon in Washington, U.S., May 19, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Some in the administration have pushed to confront Iran in Yemen, where Tehran is backing the Houthi rebels against a Saudi-led coalition in a fight that has pushed the country to the brink of famine.

The US is supporting Saudi forces in their campaign. (There are also tensions simmering between Riyadh and its partners and Iran.)

With the US's deepening involvement in Afghanistan  where the US is set to send thousands more troops several months after dropping the biggest weapon its arsenal on an ISIS affiliate camp there  some have expressed concern that Washington could soon find itself deeply involved in conflicts stretching from the Pakistani frontier to the Mediterranean coast and down to the tip of the Arabian Peninsula (and even in the nearby Horn of Africa).

All this has come as Trump has taken a decidedly hands-off approach to military operations.

Some have cast that in favorable contrast to Obama's "micromanagement" of operations abroad. Others, like Ilan Goldenberg and Nicholas Heras of the Middle East Program at the Center for New American Security, have said Trump may be "blindly stumbling into this conflict with no public discussion of the consequences."

The risks of "what could potentially mutate into a vastly expanded American military intervention in the Middle East" might not be worth what may be limited gains in Syria, Goldenberg and Heras write.

With his administration looking for solutions in Syria, weighing deeper involvement in Afghanistan, poised to deal with the fallout of ISIS' defeat in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul, Trump has yet to speak with his commanders in either of the latter two countries.

NOW WATCH: Watch Jared Kushner speak publicly for the first time since joining Trump's administration





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The Foreign Press Centers (FPC) issue its own press credential that is recognized by various organizations in the area and allows access to FPC facilities and services in Washington, DC and New York, NY. The FPC credential is typically valid for three years and renewable at the end of that period for members of the media on continuing assignment in the United States.

Credentialing
French English

CGG Wins Renewal of

Dedicated Center Contract for

PTT Exploration & Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) in Thailand

Paris, France - June 20, 2017

CGG announced today that PTT Exploration & Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP) has renewed its contract for the dedicated processing center (DPC) CGG has been operating in Bangkok on its behalf since November 2013. The new contract will run for a further three years, from 1 March 2017 to 28 February 2020.

The DPC is a key component in PTTEP's strategy to invest in new technology to be more precise in petroleum exploration and more efficient in production. CGG will continue to support PTTEP by delivering high-quality processing services, including advanced time and depth imaging, for 2D and 3D onshore and offshore seismic data acquired in PTTEP's operating areas worldwide. As part of its longstanding commitment to Thailand's E&P industry, CGG will also provide in-house processing training, technology updates and mentoring support to develop PTTEP's seismic processing experts required for PTTEP's growing business in Thailand and overseas.



Jean-Georges Malcor, CEO, CGG, said: "CGG has been involved in most of the discoveries made in Thailand over the last 50 years. During that time, we have gained very deep in-country operational experience and developed a strong long-term business relationship with PTTEP. We are delighted that they wish to continue benefitting from our advanced subsurface imaging technology, expertise and service excellence in house to help them explore for new discoveries and increase recovery from their petroleum reservoir assets to secure domestic supply and support country growth."

About CGG

CGG (www.cgg.com) is a fully integrated Geoscience company providing leading geological, geophysical and reservoir capabilities to its broad base of customers primarily from the global oil and gas industry. Through its three complementary businesses of Equipment, Acquisition and Geology, Geophysics & Reservoir (GGR), CGG brings value across all aspects of natural resource exploration and exploitation.CGG employs around 5,600 people around the world, all with a Passion for Geoscience and working together to deliver the best solutions to its customers.

CGG is listed on the Euronext Paris SA (ISIN: 0013181864) and the New York Stock Exchange (in the form of American Depositary Shares. NYSE: CGG).

Contacts
Ocean View, Delaware, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --



The Industry Share report LNG Bunkering Market By Product (Truck-to-Ship, Port-to-Ship, Ship-to-Ship, Portable Tanks), By End-Use (Container Vessels, Cruise-ships, Bulk Carriers, Ferries, Offshore Support Vessels), Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Norway, The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, UK, China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia, Singapore), Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017-2024 by Global Market Insights, Inc. forecast LNG Bunkering Market share is expected to to reach USD 12 billion by 2024.



Growing demand for cleaner fuel coupled with strict emission regulations to reduce the airborne emissions predominantly in North America and Europe will stimulate LNG bunkering market. In 2015, International Maritime Organization (IMO) introduced Tier III norms to curb NOx emissions from marine vessels among Emission Control Areas (ECAs) under maritime boundaries.

U.S. LNG bunkering market is predicted to exceed 3,000 kilotons by 2024 owing to the advent of shale gas. Increasing liquefaction plants has spurred the production of liquefied natural gas in the U.S. enabling its adoption as marine fuel. Strict government norms against emissions will further complement the business landscape. In 2015, the EPA implemented the MARPOL Annex VI norms with an aim to limit NOx in marine fuel oil to 0.5% from current levels.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/702

Rising environmental concerns along with government initiatives towards adoption of natural gas as ship fuel will augment the LNG bunkering market. The EU introduced Climate and Energy Package 2020, with an aim to achieve 20% reduction in GHG emissions. In 2014, Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) announced funding of USD 138 million towards the development of seven bunkering stations across Western Europe.

Shifting trends towards low-cost and eco-friendly marine fuel will drive the LNG bunkering market size. LNGe-380 is comparatively less expensive than IFO-380 fuel that help companies to recover the cost of retrofitting fleets. Positive outlook towards maritime trade along with rising investments toward the deployment of floating liquefied natural gas will further complement the industry outlook. In 2016, Petronas invested USD 1.16 billion for FLNG project in Malaysia with a capacity of 1.2 mtpa.

Browse key industry insights spread across 200 pages with 239 market data tables & 11 figures & charts from the report, LNG Bunkering Market in detail along with the table of contents:

https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/lng-bunkering-market

Container vessel is set to expand by over 40% through to 2024. Germany holds the largest container base in Europe with over 170 new builds container vessels orderbook. High speed transfer rate, location flexibility and ability to transfer large volume of gas will drive the ship-to-ship LNG bunkering market. Standard operation accounts for a transfer rate of 1,100 cu. m/ hr.

Increasing investment towards development of infrastructure along with government initiatives to encourage the natural gas adoption will positively impact Singapore LNG bunkering market. In 2017, Ministry of Port Authority of Singapore announced the funding of USD 1.45 million for six vessels under pilot programme.

Abundant availability of LNG along with measures to reduce carbon footprints will stimulate Qatar LNG bunkering market. Qatar will be the prime source for flexible liquefied natural gas supply with the capacity of 77.8 mtpa. In 2016, Qatargas, Shell and Maersk group signed a Memorandum of Understanding for developing LNG bunkering industry in Middle East.

Notable participants in LNG bunkering market include Skangas, Korea Gas, Crowley Maritime, Evol, Royal Dutch Shell, Engie, Harvey Gulf, Bomin Linde, ENN Energy, Prima LNG, Fjord Line and Polskie.

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The interior designer and star wife opens up about the right ambience and setting for dining.

By India Today Web Desk: The pre-opening dinner of Arth, Gauri Khan's first restaurant design venture, was a star-studded affair. With everyone from husband Shah Rukh Khan and daughter Suhana in attendance--along with Bollywood biggies like Alia Bhatt, Karan Johar, Farah Khan and Anil Kapoor--Gauri has created a lot of buzz about the soon-to-open restaurant in Mumbai's Bandra.

The interiors of Arth, designed by Gauri Khan. Picture for representative purpose. Picture courtesy: zomato.com

advertisement

The interior designer, who entered the field back in 2010 with friend Suzanne Khan, teamed up with Aallia Hospitality Pvt Ltd for this restaurant's design. And while she is quite new to restaurant design, Gauri seems to have the right ideas about what a restaurant space needs.

The interiors of Arth, designed by Gauri Khan. Picture for representative purpose. Picture courtesy: zomato.com

Also Read: Sonam Kapoor to Jacqueline Fernandez, the hottest looks from Gauri Khan's party last night

Also Read: Gauri Khan gets candid about her love for designs

"Dining should be a delightful and a beautiful experience," Gauri said in a statement. "We wanted to create an inviting atmosphere. The space is rustic-chic with soft lighting. Stunning, old-world chandeliers are central to the design. The ambience beautifully complements the food," she added.

Zoya Akhtar posted this picture of Arth when Gauri Khan took her there for a visit. Picture for representative purpose. Picture courtesy: Instagram/zoieakhtar

Even before the launch, Gauri had been taking friends to check out her designs for the restaurant space. Chief among them was Zoya Akhtar, who even posted some pictures on social media. Arth will be opening its doors to Mumbai's foodies soon, and we hope the guests love Gauri's creativity.

With inputs from IANS

--- ENDS ---
English Danish

Referring to Company Announcement no. 8/2017 Hans-Christian Meyer has been appointed new CEO of Tiger of Sweden.

Hans-Christian comes from Ralph Lauren where he has been since 2006 latest as President Retail, EMEA as well as part of Global Senior Management. Prior to this, Hans-Christian has worked as International Retail Director at Sand CPH A/S.

Having worked with strong and well-established fashion and apparel brands, Hans-Christian has gained vast experience from the industry, especially within retail operations and expansion. Hans-Christian will be a strong character heading Tiger of Sweden in a more international direction in the years to come.

Hans-Christian is Danish but has been living in Stockholm with his family for many years. He is expected to take up his new position on September 1st.

IC Group A/S

Henrik Heideby

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Please direct any questions regarding this announcement to:

Jens Bak-Holder

Head of Investor Relations

+45 21 28 58 32

This announcement is a translation from the Danish language. In the event of any discrepancy between the Danish and English versions, the Danish version shall prevail.
English Latvian

Joint Stock Company Reverta has completed evaluation of binding bids and has approved a portfolio buyer as recommended by the financial advisor KPMG Baltics. In line with usual procedures, Reverta has submitted the offer of the potential investor to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Latvia. Agreement with the selected investor on sale of Revertas loan portfolio could be signed in the coming days.

Taking into account that the potential investor is a respected international company operating in a free market and under competition, the principles of good practice and the agreement of both parties require disclosure of the investor immediately after the signing of the agreement.

The decision of the Management and Supervisory Board of Reverta regarding the selection of the potential investor was made based on such criteria as industry standards and a transparent sales process organised in line with the accepted practice in the world, as well as evaluation of the received best binding bids to identify risks related to financial issues and the structure of the transaction, as well as legal risks arising from the agreements. Reverta also evaluated good reputation and trustworthiness of the potential investor.

As reported before, in 2016, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a decision to commence a sales process of Revertas loan portfolio. In order to implement this decision, Reverta concluded an agreement with the best tenderer KPMG Baltics for the organisation of the sales process. In 2016, of 64 potential investors that were addressed, 15 interested parties signed non-disclosure agreements, and already in November 2016 they were granted access to a data room. Having examined the presented information, seven potential investors submitted their non-binding bids. Following the evaluation of the submitted offers, four best bidders were invited to participate in in-depth examination of Revertas loan portfolio to be able to submit their binding offers.

As a result of intensive work of almost seven years, Reverta has recovered EUR 754 m which is 67 % of all distressed assets that were allocated to Reverta after the takeover and split of Parex Bank. Currently, only most distressed loans with a long history of repayment and liquidity problems remain in Revertas portfolio  average number of delayed payment days under these loans exceeds 2500 days. These and other circumstances were made known to the potential investors so that they would be able to evaluate the possibility to recover the issued loans and to make their calculations of the portfolio purchase price.

Additional information:

Revertas main competencies are loan restructuring, debt recovery and real estate management. According to the Restructuring Plan approved for Parex Bank by the European Commission, Revertas economic activities will be discontinued at the end of 2017. By the end of this term, Reverta has to complete the workout of its portfolio and cease all operations.



To learn more about Reverta, please visit our web page: www.reverta.lv.



For more information contact:

Marita Ozolina

Head of Communication and Marketing Department

Tel.: 67779142 or 29287169

E-mail: marita.ozolina@reverta.lv


VANCOUVER, B.C., June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cypress Development Corp. (TSX-V:CYP) (OTCBB:CYDVF) (Frankfurt:C1Z1) (Cypress or the Company) is pleased to announce, further to its News Releases on June 6th and May 15th, that the Company has received final assay results from a 2017 Phase 1 core drilling program completed at Cypress 100% held 2,700 acre Dean Lithium Project in Clayton Valley, Nevada.



Cypress Dean Project is located to the immediate east of the Albemarle Silver Peak Mine, with Cypress' Glory Project, under option to Pure Energy Minerals, located to the immediate south.

Cypress Clayton Valley, Nevada Lithium Projects location map:

http://www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com/i/maps/CYP-Clayton-topo-satalite-small.jpg

Highlights:

Results for step-out Dean drill holes DCH 6, 7 and 8 are being reported here;

All vertical mineralized intercepts at Dean start at near surface;

Drill data to date outline a mineralized zone of roughly 4 km x 2 km;

The thick, tabular zone of pervasive lithium mineralization is considered to be open in all directions;

Targeting of more core drill holes is being planned;

Laboratory studies continue to explore the highly soluble and reactive nature of the large volume of lithium-enriched rock seen outcropping at Dean.

Outcropping Li-rich mudstone at Cypress Dean Project:

http://www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com/i/maps/CYP-Dean-Lithium-Project-Outcropping-Green-Claystones.jpg

The mineralization at Cypress Dean Project is continuous from surface as has been seen in previously reported holes from the Phase 1 core drilling of the project. As with other reported holes, the lithium is concentrated in a thick, tabular body of volcanic ash and pumice rich mudstones. These mineralized, uplifted, sediments present an attractive target with the potential of defining a large scale and potentially highly reliable source of lithium.

Cypress is continuing with ongoing laboratory studies to explore the highly reactive and soluble nature of the large volume of lithium enriched rock seen on the Dean Project, so as to further understand a method of extraction and ultimately production.

It is important to note that the uplifted and well mineralized lake bed sediments that outcrop widely in the eastern portion of the Clayton Valley, including those on the Dean Project, do not occur at surface elsewhere in the basin. Cypress, through its 100% held Dean Project, as well as the contiguous Glory Project area to the south, controls the heart of this newly discovered, large-scale slab of outcropping mineralization.

Dean drill holes DCH-6, 7 and 8 are situated in a north-south fence pattern in the middle portion of the Dean Project area.

Dean Project 2017 Phase 1 drill hole location map:

http://www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com/i/photos/CYP-Dean-Phase-1-Drilling-Satellite-Plan-Map.jpg

Table for Dean Drill Holes DCH-06, DCH-07 and DCH-08:

Hole ID From Ft To Ft Interval Ft Li PPM DCH-06 2 128 126 903 DCH-07 6 162 156 859 DCH-08 1.5 248 246.5 714

*Note: Li=Lithium Metal, Li Grade is the average grade from continuous sample assays taken on 10 foot intervals.

Cypress has discovered an extensive 60 to 100 meter thick blanket of lithium mineralization underlying a large portion of its 2,700 acre Dean Property. The mineralization covers an area of approx. 2 kilometers by 4 kilometers. The consistent mineralized volume evident on the explored portion of the Dean Property averages in excess of 1000 ppm Li.

Donald Huston, President of Cypress Development stated, The discovered mineralization at Dean sits within a basin that hosts the only significant lithium production in the United States. Cypress Clayton Valley, Nevada lithium project is well located in close proximity to essential mining infrastructure. Cypress Development believes this discovery has the scale to significantly impact the future production of lithium in the Clayton Valley. Cypress also believes this developing zone could very well represent a long term, reliable supply of lithium given the known size, chemistry and geometry of the discovery.

The outcropping and consistent nature of the currently known lithium mineralization at Dean is highly encouraging for both the potential size and potential resource extraction methodologies. The drill data to date, which outlines an area of roughly 2 kilometers by 4 kilometers presents a starting point for planning a resource estimation process.

Cypress maintains this large claim block known as the Dean Lithium Project as a 100% owned asset.

Cypress exploration and core drilling results received to date from its Dean Project have been very encouraging. A large amount of data has been gathered and is being analyzed. A 2017 Phase 2 drilling program on the Dean Property is being proposed for the 3rd and 4th quarters to provide further in-fill data.

Quality Control and Quality Assurance:

All samples were submitted to ALS Chemex Labs in Reno, Nevada, for analysis using an ME-ICP61, 33 element four acid digestion ICP method. Blind sample blanks were inserted into the sample sequences at a rate of approximately 1 per 20 samples.

Robert Marvin, PGeo, VP of Exploration and a Director of Cypress Development Corp., is the qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has approved of the technical information in this release.

About Cypress Development Corp.:

Cypress Development Corp. is a publicly traded lithium and zinc exploration company that continues to acquire and develop potentially viable mineral projects in the State of Nevada, U.S.A.

Cypress is very active in Clayton Valley, Nevada with its team committed to systematically exploring its Dean and Glory properties for both a lithium-brine resource and expanding exploration relating to a lithium resource that exists within the large area of non-hectorite claystone discovered at surface that has seen recent high lithium assays recovered from these same outcropping claystone.

Cypress Development Corp. has approx. 35.0 million shares issued and outstanding.

To find out more about Cypress Development Corp. (TSX-V:CYP), visit our website at www.cypressdevelopmentcorp.com.

CYPRESS DEVELOPMENT CORP.

Don Huston



DONALD C. HUSTON

President

For further information contact myself or:

Don Myers

Director

Cypress Development Corp.

Telephone: 604-687-3376

Toll Free: 800-567-8181

Facsimile: 604-687-3119

Email: info@cypressdevelopmentcorp.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT OF THIS NEWS RELEASE.

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management 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. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.
English French

PRESS RELEASE RELATING TO THE FILING OF A DRAFT OFFER DOCUMENT IN RESPONSE IN CONNECTION WITH THE SIMPLIFIED PUBLIC PURCHASE OFFER FOR THE SHARES AND THE REDEEMABLE SHARE WARRANTS OF THE COMPANY

CEGID GROUP



INITIATED BY



CLAUDIUS FRANCE





This press release has been prepared by Cegid Group, and is disseminated in accordance with the provisions of Article 231-26 of the General Regulation of the Autorite des marches financiers (the "AMF").







The proposed simplified public purchase offer, the draft offer document of Claudius France (the "Draft Offer Document") and the draft offer document in response of Cegid Group (the "Draft Offer Document in Response") remain subject to review by the AMF.







This press release is dated June 20, 2017.

1. PRESENTATION OF THE OFFER

Pursuant to Title III of Book II and, more specifically, Articles 233-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation, Claudius France, a simplified joint stock company with a sole shareholder (societe par actions simplifiee unipersonnelle), organized under the laws of France, having its registered office at 33 rue de Naples, 75008 Paris and registered with the Paris Trade and Companies Register under number 821 096 039 (the " Offeror "), which is indirectly wholly owned by Claudius Luxco S.a r.l., a limited liability company (societe a responsabilite limitee) organized under the laws of Luxembourg, having its registered office at 2, boulevard de la Foire, L-1528 Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (" Luxco "), has irrevocably committed to offer to all of the shareholders, holders of redeemable share warrants exercisable until November 5, 2017 included (the " BAAR 1 ") and holders of redeemable share warrants exercisable until November 5, 2018 included (the " BAAR 2 ", and together with the BAAR 1, the " BAAR ") of Cegid Group, a limited liability company (societe anonyme) organized under the laws of France, having its registered office at 52, quai Paul Sedallian, 69009 Lyon, registered with the Lyon Trade and Companies Register under number 327 888 111 (the " Company "), and the shares and BAAR of which are admitted to trading on Euronext Paris (under ISIN Code FR0000124703, ticker symbol CGD, for the shares, and respectively under the ISIN codes FR0010928093 and FR0010928119 for the BAAR 1 and the BAAR 2), to acquire, in cash, all of their Cegid Group shares at a price of EUR 86.25 per share and all of their Cegid Group BAAR at a price of EUR 68.25 per BAAR (the " Offer ").

Luxco is indirectly owned by Silver Lake and AltaOne Capital, as described in Section 1.1.1 of the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator.

Claudius Finance S.a r.l., a limited liability company (societe a responsabilite limitee) organized under the laws of Luxembourg, with registered office at 2, boulevard de la Foire, L-1528 Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register (" Claudius Finance ") holds 100% of the share capital and voting rights of the Offeror, as well as, directly, 3,470,156 shares of the Company, representing 37.58% of the share capital and 37.45% of the voting rights[1] of the Company.

As of the date of this press release, the Offeror holds, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 8,370,727 shares of the Company (including 4,900,571 shares directly held by the Offeror), representing 90.66% of the share capital and 90.33% of the voting rights of the Company, as well as 7,435 BAAR 1 and 19,782 BAAR 2 (all held directly by the Offeror), representing all (but one) of the outstanding BAAR 1 and 93.05% of the outstanding BAAR 2.

The Offeror is irrevocably undertaking to acquire, in cash, (i) all of the shares of the Company that are not already (directly or indirectly) held by the Offeror, alone or in concert, representing, to the knowledge of the Offeror, a maximum of 727,051 shares as of May 18, 2017 (excluding treasury shares of the Company (that the board of directors of the Company has decided not to tender into the Offer), except for the 1,478 treasury shares that may be delivered upon exercise of the BAAR by holders other than the Offeror) at a price of 86.25 euros per share and (ii) all of the BAAR issued by the Company that are not already (directly or indirectly) held by the Offeror, alone or in concert, representing, to the knowledge of the Offeror, a maximum of 1 BAAR 1 and 1,477 BAAR 2 at a price of 68.25 euros per BAAR.

In the event that, following the Offer, the minority shareholders do not hold more than 5% of the share capital or the voting rights of the Company, the Offeror will request the implementation of a squeeze-out in accordance with Article 237-14 of the AMF General Regulation. In this respect, it is reminded that on June 9, 2017[2], the Offeror entered into commitments to tender with four shareholders of the Company (namely, Kirao, Amplegest, HMG and Financiere Tiepolo), pursuant to which these shareholders have committed to tender to the Offer all of the shares of the Company they hold (as well as, as the case may be, any share acquired by them thereafter), representing in aggregate 5.04% of the share capital and 5.03% of the voting rights of the Company (the " Commitments to Tender "). Upon performance of these Commitments to Tender, the Offeror will hold, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 95.70% of the share capital and 95.36% of the voting rights of the Company[3].

Pursuant to the terms of Article 233-2 of the AMF General Regulation, the Offer shall be open for a period of 10 trading days.

Pursuant to the terms of Article 231-13 of the AMF General Regulation, Natixis, acting on behalf of the Offeror, filed the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator with the AMF on June 20, 2017. Natixis, acting as presenting bank of the Offer, guarantees the content and the irrevocable nature of the commitments made by the Offeror in connection with the Offer.

The Offer will be implemented according to the simplified procedure pursuant to the provisions of Articles 233-1 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation.

Background and rationale of the Offer

On May 18, 2017,[4] the Company announced that:

the board of directors of the Company has decided to start taking steps for a project to transform the Company into a societas europaea (" SE ") (the " Transformation "), which is aimed at modernizing the legal structure of the Company and providing it with greater maneuverability in its plan to develop its business outside of France, and will enable the Company to benefit from the other advantages of the SE (including in particular the ability to implement more easily a relocation within the European Union and transactions like mergers with companies located in other Member States of the European Union);

(" ") (the " "), which is aimed at modernizing the legal structure of the Company and providing it with greater maneuverability in its plan to develop its business outside of France, and will enable the Company to benefit from the other advantages of the SE (including in particular the ability to implement more easily a relocation within the European Union and transactions like mergers with companies located in other Member States of the European Union); the board of directors of the Company has also decided to actively evaluate whether to relocate the registered office of the Company to the Netherlands (the " Relocation "), which would provide the Company with the optimal financial, business, legal and regulatory framework for it to pursue its international growth and M&A strategy; and

"), which would provide the Company with the optimal financial, business, legal and regulatory framework for it to pursue its international growth and M&A strategy; and more generally, the board of directors of the Company would also welcome the take-private of the Company, which would enable the simplification of its legal structure and its internal procedures, and eliminate the costs and other burdens associated with running a publicly listed company, in a context where the listing has ceased to provide any meaningful benefit to the Company, in view of the limited free-float and liquidity, as well as quasi-non-existence analyst coverage.

During its meeting dated June 20, 2017, after having acknowledged in particular the opinion given by the employee representative bodies of the Company on June 19, 2017 on the plan for the Transformation, within the context of the consultation, the board of directors of the Company decided that the plan for the Transformation would be included in the agenda of a subsequent meeting of the board of directors, as soon as the ongoing analysis would be completed (which will be done after completion of the Offer), so that it may formally decide whether to pursue the plan for the Transformation.

The plans for the Transformation and the possible Relocation that are currently contemplated by the Company are further described in Section 1.3.1 of the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator.

3. MAIN TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE OFFER

Pursuant to Article 231-13 of the AMF General Regulation, Natixis, acting on behalf of the Offeror, filed the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator with the AMF on June 20, 2017.

The Offer will be implemented according to the simplified procedure pursuant to the provisions of Article 233-1 of the AMF General Regulation.

Pursuant to the provisions of Article 231-6 of the AMF General Regulation, and subject to the terms and conditions described in the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator, the Offeror irrevocably undertakes to acquire from the shareholders and holders of BAAR of the Company, during a period of 10 trading days, (i) all of the shares of the Company tendered into the Offer, at the price of 86.25 euros per share, as well as (ii) all of the BAAR tendered into the Offer, at the price of 68.25 euros per BAAR.

In the event that, immediately following the Offer, the minority shareholders do not hold more than 5% of the share capital or voting rights of the Company, the Offeror will request the implementation of a squeeze-out in accordance with Article 237-14 of the AMF General Regulation, and the price paid by the Offeror in consideration for the shares and BAAR acquired upon completion of the squeeze-out shall be equal to 86.25 euros per share and 68.25 euros per BAAR. It is reminded that the Commitments to Tender represent 5.04% of the share capital and 5.03% of the voting rights of the Company. The Offeror will, therefore, hold 95.70% of the share capital and 95.36% of the voting rights of the Company upon performance of these Commitments to Tender[5].

The terms and conditions of the Offer are further described in the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator.

4. RECOMMENDATION OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CEGID GROUP

The board of directors of the Company met on June, 20, 2017, and was chaired by Mr. Jean-Michel Aulas, Chairman of the board of directors, in order to review the Offer and issue a recommendation on the interest and the consequences of the Offer for the Company, its shareholders, and its employees.

Mr. Jean-Michel Aulas, Mr. Christian Lucas, Mr. Shahriar Tadjbakhsh and Mrs. Quitterie Lenoir were present or represented.

Mr. Joseph Howard Osnoss was absent and excused.

The recommendation of the board of directors issued on June 20, 2017 is reproduced in full below.

"Review of the draft offer document of Claudius France, of the independent expert's report on the valuation of the shares and redeemable share warrants of the Company within the context of the proposed public offer and the draft offer document in response to the proposed public offer, in order for the board of directors to issue a recommendation on the interest of the proposed public offer for the Company, its shareholders and its employees

Initial recommendation regarding the proposed simplified public purchase offer

The Chairman reminds that the Board met for the first time on May 18, 2017, in order to review the proposed simplified public purchase offer on the shares of the Company, at a price of 85.00 euros per share and the existing redeemable share warrants at a price of 67.00 euros per redeemable share warrant ("BAAR") (the "Offer"), that Claudius France, majority shareholder of the Company ("Claudius France" or the "Offeror"), was about to announce.

The Chairman reminds that on June 12, 2017 Claudius France announced that it had entered into Commitments to Tender with four shareholders of the Company who hold together 5.04% of the share capital and 5.03% of the voting rights of the Company, at a price equal to 86,25 euros per share. Upon performance of the Commitments to Tender, Claudius France will hold, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 95.70% of the share capital and 95.36% of the voting rights of the Company (and 97.19% of the share capital and 96.83% of the voting rights of the voting rights of the Company by taking into account the treasury shares of the Company, pursuant to article L.223-9 2 of the French Commercial Code). With regards to these Commitments to Tender, Claudius France has increased the price of the Offer to 86.25 euros per share and 68.25 euros per BAAR.

The Chairman also reminds that the Offeror filed a mandatory purchase offer on June 11, 2016, on the shares and BAAR of the Company at a price of 61.00 per share (ex-dividend) and 44.25 per BAAR (the "Mandatory Offer"); following the Mandatory Offer, the Offeror held, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 8,355,974 shares of the Company (including 4,885,818 shares held directly by the Offeror), representing 90.50% of the capital and 90.11% of the voting rights of the Company, as well as 7,435 BAAR 1 and 19,782 BAAR 2 (held directly by the Offeror), representing 94.68% of the outstanding BAAR; the Mandatory Offer followed the acquisition, completed on July 8, 2016 by Claudius Finance, of 3,470,156 shares of the Company representing 37.6% of the share capital of the Company pursuant to the terms of a share purchase agreement entered into on April 18, 2016, with Groupama SA, Groupama Gan Vie and ICMI; in this regard, the Chairman explains that upon completion of the Mandatory Offer the Offeror did not reach, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, the threshold with regard to the share capital and voting rights of the Company that would allow the implementation of a squeeze-out (i.e., a 95% threshold).

The Chairman then reminds that between the completion of the Mandatory Offer (i.e., October 6, 2016) and the date hereof, the Offeror purchased 14,753 shares of the Company and the highest price paid by the Offeror in connection with such purchases was 75.70 euros for the purchase of 13,435 shares completed on March 20, 2017; as of the date hereof, the Offeror holds, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 8,370,727 shares of the Company (including 4,900,571 shares directly held by the Offeror), representing 90.66% of the share capital and 90.33% of the voting rights of the Company, as well as 7,435 BAAR 1 and 19,782 BAAR 2 (all held directly by the Offeror), representing all (but one) of the BAAR 1 and 93.05% of the BAAR 2, respectively.

The Chairman reminds that on May 18, 2017 the Board decided to appoint the firm Farthouat Finance as independent expert to prepare a report on the conditions of the Offer and the squeeze-out in accordance with Article 261-1 of the AMF General Regulation. The Board also decided to entrust Mrs. Quitterie Lenoir, independent director of the Board, with the task of following and reporting to the Board the works of the independent expert to ensure the smooth performance of the expert's mission and the diligence that the independent expert must implement.

The President indicates that Natixis has been appointed as presenting bank of the Offer (being specified that Natixis was the presenting bank of the Mandatory Offer that took place in 2016).

The Chairman reminds that on May 18, 2017 the Board acknowledged the Offeror's intention to file the Offer. The Board supported the idea that minority shareholders would have the opportunity to access liquidity at a significant premium to market prices, and also at a time when the Company has decided to focus its financial resources on its operations and on its investment and development plans, including potential acquisitions, so that it is likely that there will be no or limited dividend distribution in the short or medium term (it being reminded that it is proposed to the 2017 annual shareholders' meeting not to pay any dividend in respect of fiscal year 2016).

The Chairman indicates that on May 18, 2017 the Board announced that it would also welcome the take-private of the Company, which would enable the simplification of its legal structure and processes, and eliminate the costs and other burdens associated with running a publicly listed company. Indeed, the listing has ceased to provide any meaningful benefit to the Company, in view of the limited free-float and liquidity, as well as quasi-non-existent analyst coverage.

The Chairman then asks Mrs. Quitterie Lenoir to present a summary of the valuation works that have been carried out within the context of the Offer by Natixis, acting as the presenting bank, and by the firm Farthouat Finance, acting as the independent expert.

Mrs. Quitterie Lenoir reminds that, in accordance with the mission entrusted to her by the Board during its meeting on May 18, 2017, she followed the work of the independent expert within the context of the Offer and reviewed the valuation report prepared by Natixis, and then presented the said work and valuation report.

The Chairman also asks the representatives of the firm Farthouat Finance to expose the key points and conclusions of their independent expert report.

The Chairman finally asks to the representatives of the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP to remind the main conditions and terms under which the Board must issue a recommendation on the Offer being presented to the Board, and make public this recommendation, according to applicable laws.

The Chairman indicates to the Board that it is therefore for the Board to issue, pursuant to Article 231-19 of the AMF General Regulation, a recommendation on the interest of the Offer and its consequences for the Company, its shareholders and its employees. He proposes to the Board to review the key documents relating to the contemplated transaction, i.e.:

the report of Farthouat Finance, independent expert, dated as of June 16, 2017;

the Draft Offer Document prepared by the Offeror, which includes in particular the background and rationale of the Offer, the Offeror's intentions for the next 12 months and the assessment of the price of the Offer prepared by Natixis;

the Draft Response Offer Document prepared by the Company; and

the Commitments to Tender to the Offer in favor of the Offeror.

Analysis of the Offer

After having reviewed the abovementioned documents and the additional elements that have been presented to the Board, the latter notes that:

The Offeror is wholly owned by Claudius Finance S.a r.l., a limited liability company (societe a responsabilite limitee) organized under the laws of Luxembourg, having its registered office at 2, boulevard de la Foire, L-1528 Luxembourg, registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register ("Claudius Finance"). Claudius Finance also holds directly 3,470,156 shares of the Company, representing 37.58% of the share capital and 37.45% of the voting rights of the Company.

The Offeror holds, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 8,370,727 shares of the Company (including 4,900,571 shares directly held by the Offeror), representing 90.66% of the share capital and 90.33% of the voting rights of the Company, as well as 7,435 BAAR 1 and 19,782 BAAR 2 (all held directly by the Offeror), representing all (but one) of the outstanding BAAR 1 and 93.05% of the outstanding BAAR 2.

The Offeror also benefits from Commitments to Tender from four shareholders with respect to 5.04% of the share capital and 5.03% of the voting rights of the Company. Accordingly, upon performance of the Commitments to Tender, Claudius France will hold, alone and in concert with Claudius Finance, 95.70% of the share capital and 95.36% of the voting rights of the Company (and 97.19% of the share capital and 96.83% of the voting rights of the voting rights of the Company by taking into account the treasury shares of the Company, pursuant to article L.223-9 2 of the French Commercial Code).

The Offeror announced its intention to request the implementation of a squeeze-out, in accordance with Articles 237-14 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation, since, upon completion of the Offer, the shares not tendered into the Offer should not represent more than 5% of the share capital or the voting rights of the Company.

The price offered by the Offeror within the context of the Offer is 86.25 euros per share of the Company and 68.25 euros par BAAR (as announced on June 12, 2017).

The Offer price of 86.25 euros per share represents a 15% premium over the closing price of May 18, 2017 (i.e., the last trading day prior to the announcement of the Offer), and of 39% over the volume-weighted average share price of the Company during the 12-month period ended May 18, 2017. This price also represents a 41% premium over the share price of the Mandatory Offer (i.e., 61.00 euros (ex-dividend)). In addition, the price of 68.25 euros per BAAR would represent a premium of 101% over the closing price of October 3, 2016 of the BAAR 1 (date on which the last transaction on BAAR 1 occurred on Euronext Paris) and a premium of 66% over the closing price of March 2, 2017 of the BAAR 2 (date on which the last transaction on BAAR 2 occurred on Euronext Paris), as well as a premium of 54% over the price of the BAAR of the Mandatory Offer (i.e., 44.25 euros).

The Offer price compares favorably with the valuation criteria as presented in the assessment of the Offer price prepared by Natixis and set forth in Section 3 of the Offeror's draft offer document.

The Offer represents an opportunity for the shareholders and BAAR holders who wish to tender their shares and BAAR into the Offer to access liquidity at a significant premium to market prices.

The Board also notes that the Offeror's intentions for the next 12 months as presented in the Draft Offer Document are as follows:

In terms of strategy, following the announcement made by the Company on May 18, 2017, the Offeror indicates that it supports the plans contemplated by the Company to transform into a societas europaea ("SE") and to relocate its registered office to the Netherlands;

In terms of employment, the Offeror states that it does not intend to modify the existing employment policy of the Company;

With regard to maintaining the listing of the Company following the Offer, the Offeror states that it will request the implementation of a squeeze-out following the Offer since the shareholders (other than the Offeror, Claudius Finance and the Company) not having tendered their shares into the Offer should not represent more than 5% of the share capital or the voting rights of the Company, in accordance with Articles 237-14 et seq. of the AMF General Regulation.

In terms of future dividend policy, the Offeror reminds that it supports the dividend distribution policy announced by the Company in a press release dated April 27, 2017. The Board indeed decided that, in light of the Company's strategy for growth and investment, it is important for the Company to improve its financial flexibility and to focus its financial resources on its operations and on the financing of its investment and development plans. As a result, the Board decided to propose to the general shareholders' meeting of the Company, which has been convened for June 29, 2017, to approve, inter alia, the financial statements of the Company for the 2016 fiscal year, that the Company pay no dividend in respect of the 2016 earnings. The Company has also announced that its future dividend policy will be based on its financial needs and on its growth and development prospects. Consequently, there can be no guarantees as to the distribution of dividends in future years. As announced by the Company in its press release of May 18, 2017, it is likely that there will be no or limited dividend distribution in the short or medium term.

The Board has reviewed carefully the independent expert's conclusion according to which "the Offer price of 86.25 per Cegid Group share is superior to all the criteria and results in significant premiums over certain criteria. The difference with the price of the mandatory tender offer initiated in 2016 results from the general increase of the financial markets which is reflected in the market index and the industry multiples, as well as from the improved return perspectives of Cegid Group and certain comparable companies. The Offer price of 68.25 offered for each of the BAAR 1 and the BAAR 2 is aligned with the Offer price per Cegid Group share (minus the exercise price), which affords equal treatment to all the holders of each different type of securities. This price results in premiums over all the criteria used for the purposes of assessing the value of the BAAR, and gives the holders of the BAAR the possibility to sell their BAAR without having to exercise them, at a time where there is no liquidity on the BAAR markets. The prices of 86.25 per Cegid Group share and of 68.25 per BAAR 1 and BAAR 2 of Cegid Group are fair for the minority shareholders of Cegid Group and the holders of the BAAR within the context of the Simplified Public Purchase Offer as well as the mandatory squeeze-out that should be implemented upon completion of, and at the same prices as, the Simplified Public Purchase Offer."

After further discussions, and in particular after having reviewed the Offeror's Draft Offer Document, the Draft Offer Document in Response prepared by the Company and the report of the independent expert, the Board unanimously considers that the contemplated Offer, as described in the Offeror's Draft Offer Document, is in the interest of the Company, its employees and its shareholders.

As a consequence, on the basis of the foregoing and after deliberation, the Board unanimously decides to recommend to the shareholders and holders of BAAR of the Company to tender their shares and BAAR into the Offer."

5. REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT EXPERT

In accordance with Article 261-1 of the AMF General Regulation, the board of directors of the Company has appointed the firm Farthouat Finance as independent expert in order to prepare a report regarding the financial conditions of the Offer and a potential squeeze-out.

The conclusion of the report dated June 16, 2017 is reproduced below:

"The Offer price of 86.25 per Cegid Group share is superior to all the criteria and results in significant premiums over certain criteria. The difference with the price of the mandatory tender offer initiated in 2016 results from the general increase of the financial markets which is reflected in the market index and the industry multiples, as well as from the improved return perspectives of Cegid Group and certain comparable companies.

The Offer price of 68.25 offered for each of the BAAR 1 and the BAAR 2 is aligned with the Offer price per Cegid Group share (minus the exercise price), which affords equal treatment to all the holders of each different type of securities. This price results in premiums over all the criteria used for the purposes of assessing the value of the BAAR, and gives the holders of the BAAR the possibility to sell their BAAR without having to exercise them, at a time where there is no liquidity on the BAAR markets.

The prices of 86.25 per Cegid Group share and of 68.25 per BAAR 1 and BAAR 2 of Cegid Group are fair for the minority shareholders of Cegid Group and the holders of the BAAR within the context of the Simplified Public Purchase Offer as well as the mandatory squeeze-out that should be implemented upon completion of, and at the same prices as, the Simplified Public Purchase Offer."

Tender procedure for the offer

The shares and BAAR tendered into the Offer must be freely tradable and free from any and all liens, pledges, charges and restrictions of any kind whatsoever restricting the free transfer of ownership. The Offeror reserves the right to reject any shares and BAAR tendered into the Offer which do not comply with this condition.

Pursuant to the terms of Article 233-2 of the AMF General Regulation, the Offer shall be opened for a period of 10 trading days.

The general shareholders' meeting of the Company convened for June 29, 2017, shall resolve upon the obligation to maintain in registered form all the shares of the Company, with all shares having to be registered in such form within a three-month period as from July 7, 2017.

The shares or the BAAR of the Company held in pure registered form must be converted and held in administered registered form in order to be tendered into the Offer. Accordingly, individuals holding their shares or BAAR in pure registered form (with the financial intermediary which manages the securities account of the Company, i.e., Credit Industriel et Commercial - CM-CIC Market Solutions) and who wish to tender them into the Offer must request the conversion into administered registered form of such shares and BAAR in order to tender them into the Offer. Individuals holding their shares or their BAAR in bearer form will be able to tender them into the Offer without having to convert them into administered registered form.

The shareholders or holders of BAAR of the Company whose shares or BAAR are registered on an account managed by a financial intermediary and who wish to tender their shares or their BAAR into the Offer, must deliver a transfer order to their financial intermediary to tender their shares and BAAR into the Offer, in accordance with the standard forms provided by their financial intermediary no later than the last day on which the Offer is open and in a timely manner so that their order can be executed within the relevant timeframe. The shareholders and holders of BAAR (other than the Offeror) of the Company should consult with their own financial intermediaries to confirm whether said intermediary requires the securities to be tendered at an earlier date.

In accordance with applicable laws, the acquisition by the Offeror of the shares and BAAR during the Offer period will be carried out through the purchaser's intermediary, Natixis, acting as intermediary on behalf of the Offeror. The shareholders and holders tendering their shares and BAAR into the Offer must sell their shares and BAAR on the market and the settlement-delivery will take place over the course of the implementation of the orders, two (2) trading days following each implementation, it being specified that the trading costs and expenses (including the brokerage fees and related taxes) shall be borne by the selling shareholders and holders.

The orders to tender the shares and BAAR into the Offer shall be irrevocable.

No costs, expenses or fees will be reimbursed or paid, and no commission will be paid, by the Offeror to any intermediary whatsoever or to any person whomsoever requesting the tendering of shares or BAAR of the Company to the Offer, except pursuant to a written agreement with the Offeror or its affiliates.

Indicative timetable of the Offer

May 18, 2017 Announcement of the proposed Offer



May 18, 2017 Appointment of Farthouat Finance as independent expert



June 16, 2017 Delivery of the report of the independent expert



June 20, 2017 Filing of the Draft Offer Document of the Offeror with the AMF and of the Draft Offer Document in Response of the Company with the AMF



July 4, 2017 Clearance decision of the AMF regarding the Offer and issuance of the visa of the AMF relating to the offer document of the Offeror and the offer document in response of the Company



July 5, 2017



Availability of the "Other Information" document relating to the legal, financial and accounting characteristics of the Company, in accordance with the provisions of Article 231-28 of the AMF General Regulation



July 6, 2017 Opening of the Offer



July 20, 2017 Closing of the Offer



July 25, 2017 Publication of the notice announcing the final results of the Offer



July 31, 2017 Notification to the AMF by the Offeror of its intention to implement a squeeze-out(1)



August 1, 2017 Publication by the AMF of the implementation of the squeeze-out(1)



August 3, 2017 Publication of a press release announcing the implementation of the squeeze-out(1)



August 7, 2017 Completion of the squeeze-out(1)

(1) In the event that, immediately after the Offer, the minority shareholders do not represent more than 5% of the share capital or voting rights of the Company

Pursuant to Article 231-32 of the AMF General Regulation, the opening date, the closing date and the results of the Offer shall be published by the AMF.

8. availability of the documentation relating to the Offer, investors contact

Copies of the Draft Offer Document in Response are available on the website of the AMF (www.amf-france.org) and of the Company (www.cegid.com).

In accordance with Article 231-28 of the AMF General Regulation, the information relating in particular to the legal, financial and accounting characteristics of the Company will be filed with the AMF and made available to the public at the latest on the day prior to the opening of the Offer.

Overseas shareholders, in particular shareholders in the U.S. and U.S. persons, are directed to Section 2.6 of the Draft Offer Document of the Initiator for important information about the Offer specifically applicable to them.

Calendar

The full calendar of publication dates and upcoming events can be found at the following address: http://investors.cegid.com/Releases/Financial-calendar.

This English translation is for the convenience of English-speaking readers. However, only the French text has legal value. Consequently, the translation may not be relied upon to sustain any legal claim, nor should it be used as the basis of any legal opinion. Cegid Group expressly disclaims all liability for any inaccuracy herein.

Financial Communication

Cegid Group

52 quai Paul Sedallian

69279 Lyon Cedex 09 (France)

Tel : +33 (0)4 26 29 50 20

dirfin@cegid.fr / www.cegid.com

Stock market: Euronext Paris Segment B

ISIN Code: FR0000124703

Reuters: CEGI.PA

Bloomberg: CGD FP

ICB: 9537 Software

Indices: CAC ALL SHARES - CAC ALL-TRADABLE - CAC MID & SMALL

CAC SOFT. & C.S. - CAC TECHNOLOGY - NEXT 150

Important information

This press release has been prepared for information purposes only.

The documentation relating to the Tender Offer (including the terms and conditions of the Tender Offer) will have to be reviewed by the AMF, which will decide on its compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Investors and shareholders based in France should read such documentation as well as any amendment or modification thereof, since such documentation would contain important information concerning Claudius France, Cegid Group and the contemplated transaction. The Tender Offer will not be made in any jurisdiction in which it would be restricted.

The Tender Offer will be made in the U.S. pursuant to Section 14(e) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"), and Regulation 14E thereunder, as a "Tier-I" tender offer under Rule 14d-1(c) of the Exchange Act, and otherwise in accordance with applicable French law.

This press release must not be published, distributed or disseminated, directly or indirectly, to any jurisdiction where the distribution of this information would be subject to legal restrictions.

The publication, distribution or dissemination of this press release in certain jurisdictions may be subject to legal or regulatory restrictions. Therefore, the persons located in the jurisdictions where this press release is published, distributed or disseminated must inquire on such restrictions and comply with them. Cegid Group disclaims all liability regarding a potential breach of these restrictions by whoever.









[1] Unless otherwise provided, the percentages of voting rights of the Company stated in this press release are calculated pursuant to the 2nd paragraph of Article 223-11 of the AMF General Regulation, i.e., based on all of the shares with voting rights attached, including shares without voting rights.

[2] Press release of June 12, 2017 of the Company, available on the website of the Company (www.cegid.com).

[3] And 97.19% of the share capital and 96.83% of the voting rights of the Company by taking into account the treasury shares of the Company, pursuant to article L.233-9, 2 of the French Commercial Code.

[4] Press release of May 18, 2017 of the Company, available on the website of the Company (www.cegid.com).

[5] And 97.19% of the share capital and 96.83% of the voting rights of the Company by taking into account the treasury shares of the Company, pursuant to article L.233-9, 2 of the French Commercial Code.





Attachments:

http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ea5e4f02-5b6b-426e-92d4-b7ee30d6753e
After moving to Switzerland in the 1890s, Albert Einstein attended [ #permalink

crejoc wrote:

After moving to Switzerland in the 1890s, Albert Einstein attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developing a foundation for his future work in mathematical physics.



(A) attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developing



(B) attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis and developed



Harshgmat wrote:

minwoswoh wrote: I believe answer choices A and B are very close...



However, answer choice B is not grammatically incorrect . It just changes the original meaning of the sentence.



Answer choice A says:

After moving to Switzerland, Einstein attended a school in Zurich. There, he did 2 things:

a- received in-depth training in quantitative analysis and

b- developed a foundation for his future work in mathematical physics.

These 2 things are consequences of Einstein attending that school in Zurich.



This makes sense. This answer is correct grammatically.



Answer choice B says .

After moving to Switzerland, Einstein did 2 things:

1- he attended a school in Zurich. There, he received in-depth training in quantitative analysis (the ING Modifier "receiving in-depth training..." modifies "attended the Swiss Federal...")

2- developed a foundation for his future work in mathematical physics.

This means that the foundation for his future work was not developed as a consequence of attending the school in Zurich but was indeed developed after moving to Switzerland.



This also makes sense and it is correct grammatically.



So, how you tell the difference?

1- You know the biography of Einstein cold (not required for the GMAT)

2- You refer to the intended meaning of the original sentence. In other words, answer choice A states the correct sequence of events. Answer choice B states a slightly different scenario and thus distorts the intended original meaning.



mikemcgarry , GMATNinja , generis



Is there possibility of having 2 grammatically correct choices on GMAT as in above case?



Can you please guide how to tackle such problems? Your expert insights will be very valuable.



Thanks. Is there possibility of having 2 grammatically correct choices on GMAT as in above case?Can you please guide how to tackle such problems? Your expert insights will be very valuable.Thanks.

Error #1: option A does NOT establish original or intended meaning

Quote:

How do you tell the difference [between A and B]?

. . .You refer to the intended meaning of the original sentence.

In other words, answer choice A states the correct sequence of events.

NO.

MYTH

FACT: Option A does NOT determine the meaning of the sentence

Show Spoiler No. The attorneys argued for that proposition.

2017

WRONG

"Notice how answer option C changes the meaning of the original sentence. ' Likely ' is not the same as ' most likely '. So, you can eliminate C."

Quote:

The highlighted portion of the above official explanation for this question is based on a myth. The myth is that the meaning conveyed by the sentence created via the use of the correct answer to a GMAT Sentence Correction question has to match the meaning conveyed by the original sentence, i.e., the version created via the use of choice A.



There is no such rule.



The correct answer to a Sentence Correction question is the one the use of which results in a sentence that makes sense - end of story.

Error #2: option B is NOT grammatical

"answer choice B is not grammatically incorrect"

NO.

B is grammatically incorrect

Developed

receiving

developed

attended

analysis

and

attended

developed

Any intervening phrase in a compound predicate must be set off with commas

attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis [,] and developed

one comma

What if the intervening phrase does not have TWO commas to set it off?

attended

developed

receiving

developed

Answer A

STRATEGIES: if two options seem equally correct

Quote:

Is there possibility of having 2 grammatically correct choices on GMAT as in above case?

PURELY HYPOTHETICAL EXERCISE

After moving to Switzerland in 1910, Einstein attended a school in Zurich, receiving XYZ, and developed the foundation for ABC.

After

attended the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, receiving in-depth training in quantitative analysis, and developed

for

future

WHAT TO DO?

again

future.

after

before

during

future

not

the development of the foundation happens while Einstein is in school.

while Einstein attended school.

not preceded by a comma

She studied the subject thoroughly and performed well on the test.

Same subject, two verbs

 If a sentence contains a compound verb and an intervening phrase, however, the

intervening phrase must be set off by commas

Same subject, two verbs, intervening phrase:

She studied the subject thoroughly, making hundreds of note cards, and performed well on the test.

The intervening phrase modifies only the previous clause. She was not making hundreds of note cards during the test.





With gratitude to * If a sentence contains compound verbs and no intervening phrases, the coordinating conjunction ispreceded by a commaSame subject, two verbsSame subject, two verbs, intervening phrase:The intervening phrase modifies only the previous clause. She wasmaking hundreds of note cards during the test.With gratitude to Harshgmat , whose advice about this edited answer I both sought and took. :thumbup:

The only thing more dangerous than ignorance is arrogance. ~Einstein





I stand with Ukraine.

Donate to Help Ukraine! Signature Read More
Kevalkhanna wrote:

which was characterized

by ornate gold decorations, large populations , and wonderful natural

beauties.

(A) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations

(B) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations

(C) which were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations

(D) being characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations

(E) characterized by ornate gold decorations, large population



please explain why C is wrong.





Thanks Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities,, and wonderful naturalbeauties.(A) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations(B) which was characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations(C) which were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations(D) being characterized by ornate gold decorations and large populations(E) characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populationplease explain why C is wrong.Thanks

Use WHICH only to refer to the noun immediately preceding it and never to refer to an entire clause.

Meaning :Conquistadors began the destruction of South American cities and these cities were characterized by ornate gold decorations, large populations and wonderful natural.Here which refers to the entire clause Conquistadors began destruction and this is characterized by something is wrong meaning and here cities are characterized by decoration and with large population. Hence here characterized is modifying the cities. Hence E is correct.Hope it clears.
akshayk wrote:

Hi There,



My question is regarding 'their' in option A Vs. 'his' in option C. According to me if we want to refer to everyone, we must ideally use 'his or her' as we are referring to both genders?



Any insights on how C is correct would be great.

I am not sure, but I don't think that the usage of "his or her" is a grammar issue, it is just a new trend that people use "his or her". The use of "his" is absolutely okay and if you look at the written materials that are several years old or even older, you will notice that "his" is used in 90% of the cases.
Re: To reverse the deterioration of postal service, the government should [ #permalink

I would also appreciate feedback.



The postal service has recently been in dire straits, a fact widely reported in the mainstream media. Numerous solutions have been proposed to maintain the speed of service and number of branches the current incarnation of the postal service provides. The author of this argument, for example, suggests that raising the price of postage stamps will reverse the deterioration of the postal service by generating larger revenues and reducing the volume of mail, actions which will eliminate the existing strains on the system and improve employee morale. This argument, however, is extremely poorly reasoned. It has a lack of supporting evidence and is filled with questionable premises and assumptions, which considerably weaken the overall argument.



A primary problem with the argument's reasoning is that it relies on questionable premises. The conclusion that raising the price will reverse the deterioration of the postal service relies on several sub-conclusions that operate as premises: the price increase will generate larger revenues and reduce the volume of mail, both of which will thereby eliminate strain on the existing system and improve morale. Two in particular are questionable. The third, that less mail will eliminate the strain on the existing system does not self-evidently seem true without further supporting evidence. The strain on the existing system could very well be relatively independent of the volume of mail. Some hypothesize that the postal system, unlike many other organizations, suffers from a culture of slow work and procrastination, that contribute to strain regardless of the load. The fourth premise is also questionable, that larger revenues with less mail will contribute to improved morale. It is not necessarily the case that morale could be improved by changing volume. It is in fact more likely, based on the evidence generally available, that the real cause of postal worker's low morale is their wages. Lower volume does not change the fact that their wages put them towards the bottom of the American earning spectrum. These questionable premises severely weaken the conclusion of reversing the deterioration of the postal service.



But not only are the premises questionable, the author also makes several leaps, or assumptions, that compromise the integrity of the argument. One glaring assumption is that price increases will generate larger revenues. Revenues are a product of price and quantity. Although price will increase, as the second premise of the argument itself indicates, quantity will decrease. The author fails to provide evidence that the price increase will overwhelm the quantity decrease. There is reason to believe it will be otherwise, because many people in the news media already complain about the price of the postage stamps. Another assumption the author makes is that the price increase will reduce the volume of mail. Although this is likely, this is hardly certain. There exist products for which the demand curve is upward sloping, or as price increases, quantity increases. Moreover, there are also products for which the fixes a price increase allows increases the quality of the product, in which case the demand for the product increases. That may very well be the case for this postal service. That is, if, as the author claims, the strain on the system will erode and employee morale will improve, the product of the postal service itself will likely improve through better and more timely customer experiences. As a result, quantity may go up instead of down. Were quantity to go up again, the strain may be recreated and morale may not increase, thus not stopping the deterioration of the postal service. These unwarranted assumptions compromise the whole argument.



Finally, although the author's claim may be accurate, the way s/he argues it is incredibly weak. Indeed, the author's argument may be strengthened in several ways. First and foremost the identified questionable premises could be provided supporting evidence. That is, for example, the author could provide evidence that there exists strain on the postal service due to a high volume of mail now, thus supporting the premise that reducing the quantity of mail will eliminate strains in the system. Similarly, the author could bridge the gap of the identified questionable assumptions. For instance, the author could make the claim that an increased price would decrease quantity much stronger by providing evidence from a consumer survey confirming that consumers would use the postal service less often if it were more expensive. But beyond the questionable premises and assumptions, the author could also do a stronger job of identifying the causes of the deterioration of the postal service. Simply listing off positive effects of a price increase does not constitute a compelling case to increase the price of the postal service's single product. The areas of improval, like employee morale for instance, could potentially be described as the causes of the deterioration of the postal service. Were the author to do this, and show that a price increase addresses the root causes of the deterioration, s/he would have a much stronger claim to having had argued that a price increase would reverse the deterioration of the postal service. With this changes, the author's line of reasoning may have been much more logically sound and persuasive.



This argument's reasoning was quite weak. It is filled with questionable premises, for example that lower volume would eliminate strains in the system or improve employee morale, questionable assumptions, for example that the price increase will increase revenues or decrease quantity, and unnecessarily weak argumentation, including a lack of supporting evidence where it was needed. The claim might be true with more logical, sounder reasoning. Given the importance of the postal service to freedom, commerce, and business, having a more well reasoned discussion of potential solutions would be extremely beneficial to the fate of America.
GJM central committee member P Arjun said that the joint forum of parties had decided that all elected members of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will pull out of the semi-autonomous body.

By Indrajit Kundu: An all party meeting called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to decide the future course of the Gorkhaland agitation has decided to continue the indefinite shutdown in the Darjeeling hills.

The meeting, which was held at the Darjeeling gymkhana club was attended by fourteen political parties and social organisations, including all major hill based Gorkha parties and the BJP. However, the Trinamool Congress decided not to take part in the meet. This was the second such all party meeting called by the GJM in the hills.

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The meeting unanimously decided the formation of an All India Coordination Committee for Gorkhaland, a body that will have representation of all political parties supporting the movement in order to carry the agitation forward.

GJM central committee member P Arjun said that the joint forum of parties had decided that all elected members of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) will pull out of the semi-autonomous body. The GTA was formed in 2011 as part of a tripartite agreement between the central government, GJM and the Mamata Banerjee led West Bengal administration.

With the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland as the single point agenda, the hills parties criticiSed the Bengal government's decision to suspend mobile internet services in Darjeeling, and called for immediate withdrawal of army and central para-military forces for restoring normalcy in the region.

While calling for a boycott of the all party meeting called by the state government in Siliguri on June 22, the forum decided to meet again on June 24. Meanwhile, a GJM delegation will be meeting Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in Gangtok on Tuesday evening to appraise the centre of the prevailing situation in Darjeeling.

Also Read:

Darjeeling unrest: As shutdown continues, schools forced to declare early vacation, cancel exams

Darjeeling GJM unrest: Uneasy calm as Mamata Banerjee calls for peace before heading abroad

Darjeeling unrest latest: GJM takes out rally, Rajnath appeals for calm

Also Watch:

Darjeeling unrest: We are willing to have a dialogue, state government is not, says GJM leader Swaraj Thapa

--- ENDS ---
By choosing to launch GST at midnight, the Modi government has now prompted many to draw parallels with Nehru's speech and India's Independence.

By India Today Web Desk: Narendra Modi government today announced a special midnight session of Parliament to launch the Goods and Sevices Tax (GST) on July 1.

Nearly 70 years ago, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru delivered his historic 'Tryst with Destiny' speech to the Constituent Assembly on the midnight of August 14-15, 1947.

The Modi government has left no stone unturned to push GST as a historic tax reform in the country. By choosing to launch it at midnight, the government has now prompted many to draw parallels with Nehru's speech and India's Independence.

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MANY SPECIALS AT THIS SESSION

The midnight session of Parliament will be special in ways more than one. It will see former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and Deve Gowda share stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The session, which is expected to start at 11 pm on July 30, will continue till 12.10 am of July 1.

Parliament's historic Central Hall, which had previously hosted a function marking 50 years of Independence, will be the venue for the joint Parliament session.

Besides former prime ministers, President Pranab Mukherjee will share the dais with Modi and address the session. Pranab Mukherjee, then finance minister, had piloted the first Constitutional Amendment Bill to bring in GST in 2011.

Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan too will be on the dais with Narendra Modi.

According to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, contributions made by different political parties and states to bring in the revolutionary tax regime will be showcased at the hour-long session.

Members of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have been invited by the government to the special session. Members of the GST Council, and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers have also been invited.

ALSO READ:

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Ram Nath Kovind for President: Nitish Kumar breaks ranks with Opposition, says will support BJP's nominee

ALSO WATCH: Special midnight session for GST on June 30, PM to share stage with Manmohan Singh

--- ENDS ---
A group of girls were chased by 7-8 drunk men at the Uttarakhand-Delhi highway on Sunday night. The men were punished by the cops for their actions and had to spend the rest of the night at a local police station.

The miscreants followed the girls at the Uttarakhand-Delhi highway in a white Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.

By Ruchi Dua: The divine land of Haridwar turned out to be not-so-divine journey for a group of girls who thought of taking a break from their usual lives by visiting Rishikesh and Haridwar in the Himalayas last evening.

A day after reaching Haridwar, the girls decided to attend the Ganga aarti before returning to Delhi. The aarti ended around 7pm and the girls started on their way around 7.20pm.

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About an hour on their journey, the girls, all aged between 25 to 29, realised that they were being chased by a group of 7-8 drunk men in a Maruti Suzuki Ertiga on the Uttarakhand-Delhi highway when the goons began circling their car at a petrol pump where the girls had stopped to refuel.

"Earlier, we were not aware of their intentions. We thought that we were seeing the same vehicles and faces time and again since all the cars seemed to be moving towards Delhi. Our memorable trip from Haridwar to Delhi turned into a nightmare when we realised that the men in the car were busy drinking and had even started passing lewd comments," says Namita.

HOW THE HORROR UNFOLDED IN THE WORDS OF ONE OF THE GIRLS

It was 7:20pm when we left the Parmarth ashram after attending the Ganga aarti. The men started following us somewhere around 8:50pm. According to Google Maps, Delhi was still nearly four hours away. The only thing that we could think of doing was call the Uttarakhand Police for help. The first call to the police was made at 9:24pm, and they were informed about the entire episode. Inspector Kuldeep Singh responded immediately to our distress call. The SUV with the drunk men was stopped by the cops at the nearest check post and we were informed of the same. In their defence, the men told the police that the girls got scared after seeing so many men together. "We are Jats, and we were playing loud music, they must have got scared because of this," one of them told Roorkee Inspector Kuldeep Singh. The men were punished by the cops for their actions, and had to spend the rest of the night at a local police station.

But the question that now arises is: although the miscreants were taught a lesson by the protectors of the land, why are we, normal working women, still so unsafe in our own country? When will the time come when women, who are also a part of this world so violently claimed by men, won't regret planning a trip?

WATCH: Men, harassing girl, dragged out of bus, thrashed on Pune-Nashik highway

ALSO READ | Kashmiri researcher returns home after harassment at BITS Pilani

--- ENDS ---
On 3-5 October 2017 Kyiv is going to host the Space and Future Forum to network international experts and youth, many of whom will also participate at the first CosmoHack in the world. Joinfo provides media coverage of the Forum, and some of its topics were already discussed ...


The death of an American college student is raising concerns about human rights violations in North Korea.

Twenty-two-year-old Otto Warmbier died on Monday.

Warmbier returned home to the United States last week. U.S. officials say he was unable to communicate and in a coma after his release from a North Korean prison.

Doctors said Warmbier had suffered severe brain damage while in North Korea.

In January of 2016, the student was arrested on a visit to Pyongyang. North Korean officials accused him of attempting to steal a propaganda sign at a hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor.

North Korean officials said Warmbier became sick from botulism while in detention and was given medication to help him sleep. They said he fell into a coma 15 months ago and never awoke.

After his release from North Korea, Warmbier was taken to a hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. Doctors there disputed the North Korean explanation of what happened. But they could not say what caused his brain damage.

His parents said in a statement on Monday their son was at peace.

Unfortunately, the awful, torturous treatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today, the statement said.

Sympathy and anger

U.S. President Donald Trump offered his sympathy to the family. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life, he said.

Trump added that Warmbiers death strengthens his desire to prevent future tragedies at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

Tensions between the two countries have increased in recent months because of North Koreas missile and nuclear activities. North Korea has launched more than 20 missiles and carried out two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year.

U.S. officials have said they are concerned about three Korean-Americans who are being held in North Korea. At least six South Koreans are also believed to be jailed there. Some were Christian religious workers. The North Korean government accuses them of spying. Others were reportedly kidnapped by North Korean agents while helping defectors in China.

The U.S. government says North Korea uses the detainees for political reasons. North Korea accuses the United States and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

Abuses in North Korea

The North Korean regime also wages war on their own citizens, noted Marion Smith, the director of The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.

In 2014, a United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) report compared current abuses in North Korea to those that took place in Nazi Germany during World War II.

The report said the North Korean government is holding between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners in four large camps. It accused the government of using torture during questioning. And it said North Koreans suspected of major political crimes often disappear without trial or judicial order into prison camps.

The report also noted that North Koreas policy of carrying out executions in public causes people to fear the government.

The ruling Kim dynasty has shown time and time again that they have no regard for human rights, said Phil Robertson of Human Rights Watch. They have no regard for human life, and that whatever is necessary for them to hold onto power, they will do, he said.

Robertson added that Warmbiers treatment should cause other countries to restart efforts to hold North Korea responsible for human rights violations.

After the COI report was released in 2014, the U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution to send North Korea to the International Criminal Court. It called for the North Korean government to face charges of crimes against humanity. But the Security Council has yet to approve the measure. Experts believe North Koreas allies, China and Russia, are stopping the Council from taking action on the resolution.

Im Jonathan Evans.

And I'm Ashley Thompson.

VOAs Smita Nordwall and Chris Hannas wrote this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted the report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

coma - n. a state in which a sick or injured person is unconcious for a long time

botulism - n. a serious illness caused by eating food filled with bacteria

torturous - adj. causing great pain

prime - n. a period in life when a person is best in health, strength, etc.

regime - n. a form of government

decency - n. behavior and attitude that show respect for other people

defector - n. a person who leave a country, political party, organization, etc.

dynasty - n. a family of rulers

regard - n. care or concern
UPDATE: British media have identified the suspect as 47-year-old Darren Osborne. He is from Cardiff, Wales.

British officials and Islamic leaders acted quickly to ease concerns among Muslims after an attack on a mosque early Monday.

A man drove his vehicle into a crowd near the Finsbury Park Mosque in North London early in the morning. At least 10 people were injured.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, called the incident "a truly horrific terrorist attack on our city." British Prime Minister Theresa May called it, "an attack on Muslims near their place of worship."

Police are treating the incident as a terror attack. The incident outside the religious center follows three attacks inspired by Islamic extremists over the past three months. The violence has fueled a rise in hate crimes across Britain.

The Metropolitan Police Service announced on Monday it was deploying extra officers on the streets of London to protect the public.

May announced that police will examine the security of mosques and provide any help needed before celebrations marking the end of Ramadan, Islams holy month.

The attack happened early Monday when a speeding van hit people who were giving medical care to a man near the mosque. That man later died.

A crowd of people gathered around the driver. Witnesses said the crowd began attacking him.

A local religious leader, Mohammed Mahmoud, and a few men protected the suspect until police could take him away.

By Gods grace," he said, "we were able to protect him from harm.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu praised the actions of those who detained him.

"What it proves to me is that Londoners will act together to protect themselves, but they will do so in a way that doesn't feed into terrorists' and extremists' hands," Basu said.

Harun Khan, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said that based on reports from witnesses, the driver was "motivated by Islamophobia."

"Given we are approaching the end of the month of Ramadan and the celebration of Eid with many Muslims going to local mosques, we expect the authorities to increase security outside mosques as a matter of urgency," Khan said in a statement.

Toufik Kacimi, head of the Muslim Welfare House, told Britains Sky News the attack clearly targeted Muslims leaving evening prayers during Ramadan.

But he said there was no need for the community to be frightened because police and government officials have been very, very supportive.

Britain, especially London, has been on edge over several recent incidents, including the terror bombing in Manchester and the vehicle attack and stabbings on London Bridge.

The police service is investigating these attacks and a deadly fire last week at an apartment building. At least 79 people are reported to have died in the fire.

Londons mayor called the fire a preventable accident. He has faced anger over the incident and questions about why the fire caused so much damage. The fire added to tensions in Britains capital.

Im Anne Ball.

Chris Hannas reported this story for VOANews.com. George Grow adapted his report for Learning English. His story also has information came the Associated Press. Mario Ritter was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

mosque  n. an Islamic religious center

inspire - v. to influence or guide; to affect

grace  n. a quality coming from God; a pleasing appearance; approval

Islamophobia  n. fear of Islam or Muslims

approach  v. to come near to; to move near to something

matter  n. a subject or substance

on edge  expression nervous or worried

apartment  n. a building with several rooms, used mainly for housing


A trial of 17 journalists opened this week at a courthouse in Istanbul.

The writers and media workers are accused of involvement in the failed attempt last July to overthrow Turkeys government.

The defendants face long jail sentences, of up to life in prison, if they are found guilty.

The first hours of the trial on Monday were spent reading from more than 200 pages of charges.

Journalists deny wrongdoing

Government lawyers say the journalists are followers of the Turkish Islamic religious leader Fethullah Gulen. The government blames Gulen for the overthrow attempt. He now lives in the United States.

Much of the evidence noted by government lawyers did not deal with the journalists activities, but with their suspected ties to the clergyman.

Gulen has denied involvement in the attempted coup.

Nazli Ilicak writes a newspaper column. She rejected the governments charges. Ilicak told the court that she was a supporter of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan before he came to power. She added that she opposed coups. She noted that her father had been jailed after the military seized control of the government in 1960.

Ilicak and the brothers Mehmet Altan and Ahmet Altan are among the most famous writers and journalists facing charges. They have been critics of Erdogans government.

All 17 reporters have been detained for months.

Rights groups voice strong concerns

Even before the trial opened, international observers criticized the quality of the evidence being presented.

The media rights group Reporters Without Borders strongly criticized the case. It said, This trial marks a new level in the growing absurdity of the charges being brought against journalists.

Many international and Turkish human rights groups sent representatives to the trial on Monday.

Milena Buyum of Amnesty International spoke after the first day of hearings. She said, "...People are really facing serious charges, with potentially three life sentences on the basis of very, very little evidence of criminal acts, and thats really worrying.

Human rights groups accuse Turkey of jailing more journalists than any country in the world. They say more than 170 reporters and media workers have been imprisoned since the failed coup attempt.

Emma Sinclair Webb is a researcher with the U.S.-based group Human Rights Watch. She said, A very legitimate task of trying to bring coup plotters to justice has been completely lost in a mass purge of those the government does not like.

The Turkish president dismissed criticism of the trial during a speech to national media leaders on Saturday.

Erdogan said that only two of the 177 people who have been identified as journalists have documents showing they work for the press. He said one of the people is in jail for murder and the others for involvement in terrorist organizations.

Last month, Erdogan warned that the current state of emergency put in place after the coup would not end because of terrorist threats and economic problems.

The head of the Turkish Press Council, Pinar Turenc, expressed support for the jailed reporters. The jailed journalists are inside because of their journalistic activities, because they chase the news, because they chase the truth, she said.

But rights groups are warning that journalists may not chase after the news when they see so many journalists on trial.

It sends a message to the rest of society, to other journalists, expressing your opinion, being critical of power, noted Amnestys Milena Buyum.

The Associated Press estimates that about 50,000 people have been arrested after the failed coup. It also notes that about 150 media organizations have been closed.

Im Mario Ritter.

Dorian Jones reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted his report for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

journalist  n. a person who collects, writes or edits news stories for the media

coup  n. a sudden attempt by a small group of people, or military leaders, to take over a government usually through force

absurdity  n. something that makes no sense

hearing  n. a meeting in which evidence is given and arguments are made

purge  n. to remove people from a group, organization or government

legitimate  adj. fair or reasonable

page  n. a document; part of a book, newspaper or magazine

column  n. a commentary or political opinion piece

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.


Investigators are looking into the crash of a U.S. Navy destroyer and cargo ship off the coast of Japan that killed seven sailors.

The USS Fitzgerald and a Philippine-registered container ship crashed early Saturday south of Tokyo Bay.

The United States and Japan have since launched investigations into what might have caused the crash.

U.S. Navy experts say collisions involving such ships are not common.

Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin is commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, based at Yokosuka naval base in Japan. Speaking to reporters Sunday, he said the crash happened at around 2:20 a.m., as many crew members slept. He added that it is Navy policy to have some crew members keeping watch throughout the night. No bad weather was reported.

Aucoin said he did not know if crew members heard a warning before the crash. He also said he was not sure what conditions the seven sailors who died faced.

So unfortunately, we don't have the details regarding the conditions during the final moments, but hope that the investigation may shed some light on that matter.

Three other U.S. crew members were injured in the accident, including the commander of the Navy ship, Bryce Benson. Benson was in stable condition with a head injury. The other sailors suffered minor injuries.

Aucoin praised crew members for fighting to keep the damaged ship above water and working to reduce flooding. He said the USS Fitzgerald can be repaired, but it will take many months.

The much larger container ship, the ACX Crystal, suffered less damage than the USS Fitzgerald. None of its crew members were injured.

Ralph Cossa is president of the Pacific Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Hawaii. He said the crash left many unanswered questions.

Im sure theres going to be a significant investigation to try to figure out how something like this could happen. It was in the middle of the night, but still theres somebody on watch and in command of the ship at all times. So I just dont understand how a vessel of that size could have managed to end up colliding.

Cossa said he believes the Navy ship was in the area after recently holding exercises with Japanese forces.

Normally you wouldnt expect a destroyer to be out there all by itself. There would be other ships that it would be accompanying or involved with.

He added that the location -- about 100 kilometers southwest of Yokosuka, Japan -- has a lot of shipping traffic all the time.

This is a very busy waterway, which is why people are always supposed to be quite vigilant in watching out when they are operating.

He said that the ACX Crystal likely does not have the monitoring ability of the Navy destroyer.

The USS Fitzgerald is one of the most advanced warships in the U.S. Navy. Such ships are equipped with modern monitoring tools that track other nearby ships. These tools can warn crew members of the danger of collisions.

Vice Admiral Aucoin said he could not provide information on what systems were operating aboard the destroyer at the time of the crash.

Along with the warships technical systems, the investigation is also expected to center on what crew members of both vessels were doing at the time of the crash.

Another focus will be on whether the container ship was following international rules covering shipping traffic. The rules are included in the United Nations Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea.

The convention provides guidelines on how to deal with many possible dangers. Among these are steps for how vessels should yield to each other when passing in order to prevent collisions.

Im Bryan Lynn.

Bryan Lynn wrote this story for VOA Learning English, based on reports from VOA News, the Associated Press and Reuters. Ashley Thompson was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

collision  n. crash when two or more things hit each other

unfortunately  adj. used by a person to say something bad or unlucky happened

accompany  v. go somewhere with

vigilant  adj. watching carefully for signs of problems or danger

guideline  n. rule or instruction for how something should be done

significant  adj. important or noticeable

shed light on  expression. to help to explain something by providing additional information

monitor  v. watch or observe over a period of time

yield  v. allow another car, ship, etc. to go ahead before you


Kristopher Larsen learned he was not an American citizen while serving time at a prison in the United States.

Larsen, in his early 40s, had never thought of himself as anything other than a citizen.

Born in Vietnam, he was four years old when he left the country.

The year was 1975. U.S. forces were still on duty in South Vietnam.

Before the end of the Vietnam War, President Gerald Ford ordered a military operation called Operation Babylift. The goal was to help Vietnamese orphans escape from the country.

Larsen was one of those children.

"To be honest, I don't have any memories," Larsen says. "When I was a child  Every time a plane would fly overhead, I would get scared and I would run."

The four-year-old became the adopted son of an American military family. They agreed to take responsibility and care for him as their son.

After his adoption, Larsen was raised in what he calls "an all-American family" in Alaska and the U.S. territory of Guam.

Larsen received a Social Security number from the U.S. government. He also had official documents, like a green card.

So he had no reason to think he was not a citizen.

Good times and bad times

As he grew older, Kristopher Larsen married, had two children, and moved to Seattle, a city in Washington State.

"At one time, I had everything I could possibly want," he said.

But Larsen started to have problems in his marriage. He drank too much alcohol. A short time later, his wife took the children and left.

Larsen said this made him very sad. He decided he would try to make a police officer kill him.

He kidnapped a young girl and demanded money for her release. Eventually, Larsen was captured and sentenced to 12 years in prison. News reports described his crime as one of the most "cold and heartless imaginable."

While in jail, Larsen began working a job. He taught other prisoners mathematics and Japanese.

One day, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers learned about him.

"I was called into the counselor's office, and they told me that I would lose my job in prison, Larson said. I wouldn't be able to do any educational services. Basically, all the rights that a typical inmate would have I ended up losing because I was told that I have an order of deportation."

Larson moved from a state prison in Washington to an ICE detention center.

Larsen's parents had thought he was a citizen through his adoption.

But to the U.S. government, Kristopher Larsen was a Vietnamese national with a criminal record.

Larsen noted that he had registered for possible military service. This is a requirement for young men once they reach the age of 18.

Larsen said he had paid his taxes. "So why couldn't I be a citizen?" he asked.

Adoption in the U.S.

Becky Belcore is the co-director of the Korean American Resource and Cultural Center. The organization directs the Adoptee Rights Campaign.

Since the 1940s, some 350-thousand children have been adopted from overseas by U.S. citizens, Belcore says.

She notes that adoptive parents are responsible for getting citizenship for their children. Some parents did not know they were responsible. Others knew, Belcore says, but the citizenship process was so costly and difficult that they did not complete it.

In 2001, the U.S. Congress passed legislation giving citizenship to children adopted from other countries  but only if they were born after 1983.

In an attempt to get citizenship rights for those born before 1983, the Adoptee Rights Campaign is supporting the Adoptee Citizenship Act.

Congress failed to pass the bill during the election campaign last year. Belcore says no members wanted to work on immigration issues. Activists are hoping to reintroduce the measure.

Uncertain Future

Kristopher Larsen was released from prison in 2015. He could be sent back to Vietnam  if the government agrees to accept him.

The United States does not have a return agreement with Vietnam that applies to Larsen.

In a 2008 agreement, Vietnam agreed to take back citizens who came to the U.S. after 1995. Whether a similar agreement that would apply to people born before 1995 - such as Larsen - will take place anytime soon is unclear.

Since his release from prison, Larsen has met several times with ICE agents. He now works at the non-profit Urban League of Metropolitan Seattle.

"Now I'm stuck," he noted while speaking to VOA from the group's headquarters. "I can't leave US soil. So even if I wanted to visit my family in Guam, I couldnt do that because I would be crossing international lines."

I'm John Russell.

And I'm Jill Robbins.

Aline Barros wrote this story for VOA News. John Russell adapted her story for Learning English. George Grow was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

orphan  n. a child whose parents are dead

Social Security number  n. a number that is given to each U.S. citizen by the government and that is used for official records

green card  n. a document showing that a person from a foreign country can live and work in the U.S.

adopt  v. to legally take a child of other parents to raise

apply  v. to have a connection; to make an appeal or request

reintroduce  v. to propose or bring forward a bill a second time
Im sorry this has been so frustrating for you you should know that you are not alone. Working for a design/build firm, I see this all the time. Before I share my favorite tip, I want to give you my best advice: hire an interior designer to style your shelves; it is not as easy as it looks, and if you have a lot of built-ins it can be downright overwhelming. A good designer will ask plenty of questions to gain an understanding of your vision and personal aesthetic and design the built-ins to work for you and any existing items you wish to incorporate. There are plenty of interiors firms, including Anthony Wilder, who will take on a smaller project such a shelf styling.

Having said that, here is my rule of thumb when it comes to shelves: if you have book shelves, books should be a part of the design. Decorative elements such as mirrors and other accent pieces can be incorporated to create the look you wish to achieve. For display shelving (often found in dining rooms), I select one or two statement pieces and then incorporate neutral, more uniform items, such as china or serving pieces, for the rest of the shelves. Make sure some of the items are personal to you or your family. Many factors, including the height and depth of the shelving will factor into the design.
A study by researchers at Columbia University Medical Center and the Mailman School of Public Health found that applying continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a form of non-invasive ventilation, decreased mortality in children with respiratory distress. Findings from the trial in Ghana indicated that the procedure especially benefitted children less than one year of age. Results of the study are published online in The Lancet Global Health.

CPAP can improve respiratory rate and survival in children with primary pulmonary diseases. The latest findings confirmed that no serious adverse events were associated with the treatment, it is safe and effective to use in district level hospitals, and a step forward in treating children with respiratory distress in resource-limited settings.

Sites for the Columbia study were two non-tertiary hospitals in Ghana where invasive mechanical ventilation was not routinely available, and nurses initiated and managed care with once or twice daily physician rounds. A sample size of 1025 participants in the CPAP group and 1175 in the control group was studied.

Two-week all-cause mortality in children 1 year of age and younger significantly decreased when non-invasive positive airway pressure was continuously applied3 percent of patients in the CPAP group versus 7 percent of patients in the control group who were not given the therapy. In children of all ages - one month to 5 years, respiratory rate was significantly lower in the CPAP group at 4 hour, 8 hour, 12 hour, and 24 hour time points.

"In addition to demonstrating the safety of CPAP and the children's improved survival rates, our study is unique in that CPAP was initiated and managed at the first hospital level by emergency ward nurses who work much of the day without direct supervision by a physician," said Rachel T. Moresky, MD, MPH, Mailman School of Public Health associate professor of Population and Family Health, associate professor of Medicine, Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, and senior author.

Dr. Moresky continued, "Other CPAP studies in low resource settings have been demonstrated at tertiary hospitals (or university hospitals) and with physician specialists applying the CPAP treatments. Our study demonstrates that by task sharing this skill to nurses, that lifesaving care can be brought closer to the community."

Pneumonia, sepsis, and severe malaria kill more than 2 million children younger than 5 years every year. These treatable illnesses can progress to respiratory failure. Most of these deaths occur in low-income and middle-income countries, where diagnostic and therapeutic interventions are often severely scarce.

The World Health Organization recommends redistributing health-care tasks to less highly trained individuals. With a nurse to doctor ratio of 8:1 in many African nations, successful training of nurses to effectively and safely apply CPAP will be crucial for its proliferation in non-tertiary hospitals.

"We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of CPAP in a setting where nurses care for patients with limited physician oversight, and where certain sophisticated diagnostic tests are not routinely done which added value to our study," said Dr. Moresky, who is also director of the International Emergency Medicine Fellowship program at Columbia.

"Our findings coupled with the results from two smaller studies in Bangladesh and Malawi support the use of non-invasive ventilation for children presenting with acute respiratory distress in low-resource settings and are a step forward in codifying best practices for treating them," noted Patrick T. Wilson, MD, MPH, Columbia University Medical Center assistant professor of Pediatrics, Mailman School of Public Health assistant professor of Population and Family Health, and lead author.

The results also suggest that the use of CPAP in young children with respiratory insufficiency is appropriate in other parts of the developing world, where diagnostic capabilities are similarly limited. The study showed that for every 25 children under the age of 1 year treated with CPAP, one life can be saved and most patients will have improved respiratory rates for at least 24 hours.

Dr. Wilson concludes "The results of the study are remarkable in that it included children with a wide range of disease processes, making it more generalizable to real life settings in low- and middle-income countries around the world."
Most U.S. employees are not prepared to handle cardiac emergencies in the workplace because they lack training in CPR and first aid, according to new survey results from the American Heart Association, the world's leading voluntary health organization devoted to fighting cardiovascular disease.

Two surveys reveal most workers do not have access to CPR and first aid training, and half could not locate an automated external defibrillator at workprompting the AHA to announce today a new campaign to promote first aid, CPR and AED training in the workplace, as well as public access to AEDs.

"Such training has the potential to save thousands of lives, considering there are 10,000 cardiac arrests in the workplace annually," said Michael Kurz, M.D., co-chair of the AHA's Systems of Care Subcommittee and associate professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine in the Department of Emergency Medicine.

Cardiac arrests occur when the heart suddenly stops beating, and survival chances outside the hospital can double or triple when CPR is immediately performed by a bystander.

More than 3,000 workers in various fields were surveyed between February and April 2017. In addition to 2,000 employees in corporate offices, hospitality, education and industry/labor, more than 1,000 safety managers in industries regulated by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration were also surveyed.

Some key findings from the employee study, commissioned by AHA and conducted by Edelman Intelligence:

More than half (55 percent) cannot get first aid or CPR+AED training from their employerand even if employers do offer this training, it is often one or the other.

Half of all U.S. workers (50 percent) cannot locate the AED at work. In the hospitality industry, that number rises to two-thirds (66 percent).

"The data suggests these untrained employees may be relying on their untrained peers in the event of an emergency, leaving employees with a false sense of security that someone in the workplace will be qualified and able to respond, when that is clearly not the case," Kurz said.

Not surprisingly, the safety managers in OSHA-regulated industries see a need for more frequent training, although one-third said first aid, CPR and AED training became important and offered only after an incident demonstrated the need. Other findings from the OSHA survey, commissioned by AHA and fielded by EHS Daily Advisor, include:

One-third (33 percent) of safety managers said lives had been saved at home and at the workplace as a result of first aid, CPR and AED training provided at workand three-quarters (75 percent) said injuries or medical conditions had been treated in the workplace with this training.

More than one-third (36 percent) of safety managers at OSHA-regulated businesses felt it would be valuable to offer training more frequently than every two years (the current requirement).

Younger generations at OSHA-regulated industries were less likely to participate in first aid, CPR and AED training, although the numbers are still high at over 44.5 percent. "This could be due to a sense of invincibility among younger workers," said Peter Fromm, MPH, R.N., co-chair of the AHA Emergency Cardiac Care Subcommittee on Systems of Care and administrator at the South Nassau Communities Hospital Center for Cardiovascular Health.

"First aid, CPR and AED training need to become part of a larger culture of safety within workplaces," Kurz said. "We are certainly seeing higher public interest in this training, and our campaign calls upon decision-makers in workplaces and popular public spaces such as arenas, fitness centers, hotels and churches to place AEDs in the same locations as a fire extinguisher."

Additionally, the survey results indicate more than 90 percent of employees would take first aid and CPR+AED training if employers offered it, and most (70 percent) believe training would make them feel better prepared for emergencies. The AHA's Workplace Safety Training Initiative urges organizations to proactively offer this training.

"We are disheartened that lifesaving first aid and CPR+AED training is often offered only after a serious incident that demonstrated need," Fromm said. "All businesses should be committed to proactively fostering a safe workplace environment, one that empowers people to take on a small social responsibility that can have a large community impact."

Nancy Holland is a perfect example of this impact. She collapsed in January 2015 while dining at a restaurant in Kansas City, Mo., and employee Richmond Carson responded immediately with CPR.

"Had Richmond not seen the value in being trained, I might not have survived," Holland said. "I can't stress enough how important and empowering these trainings and the availability of AEDs are for people."

Of more than 350,000 out-of-hospital cardiac arrests that occur each year, more than 100,000 happen outside the home. Holland now advocates training and public access to AEDs. The law firm at which her husband is a partner, Fisher Phillips, installed AEDs in all of the firm's 32 offices nationwide while providing CPR+AED training to all 700 employees.
(HealthDay)Novel biomarkers have been identified that may have utility for predicting prostate cancer in non-African-American men, according to a study published in the July issue of The Journal of Urology.

Padraic G. O'Malley, M.D., from the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, and colleagues examined the utility of urinary biomarkers added to clinical risk calculators for predicting prostate cancer in a cohort of 718 men who were part of the Early Detection Research Network (72 African-American men).

The researchers found that when combined with the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Risk Calculator, prostate cancer antigen 3 (PCA3) and transmembrane protease serine 2 and v-ets erythroblastosis virus E26 oncogene homolog gene fusion (T2ERG) added utility for the prediction of prostate cancer and clinically-significant prostate cancer. This utility was only seen in non-African-American men, with significant increases in the area under the curve values for prostate cancer and clinically-significant prostate cancer for PCA3 (0.64 to 0.75 and 0.69 to 0.77, respectively) and T2ERG (0.64 to 0.74 and 0.69 to 0.73, respectively). No added benefit was seen with the addition of biomarkers for African-American men.

"As novel biomarkers are discovered, clinical utility should be established across demographically diverse cohorts," the authors write.

Two authors disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Copyright  2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
The F16 Block 70 is more than an upgrade on the F 16 IN Super Viper, which was a contender in MMRCA competition.

If F16s win the trials, Lockheed Martin would move the entire production line from Texas to India. (Photo: Reuters)

By Arindam De: All the MiG 21s and MiG 27s in the Indian Air Force (IAF) arsenal is due to retire by 2025. IAF has 33 squadrons of fighter aircrafts and the numbers are dominated by single engine fighters.

India will be having 36 Dassault fighters but this number is not enough to cover operational requirements. So basically a search for a single engine replacement for the MiG 21 continues.

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News came in that the defence arm of the Tata Group has signed an agreement with American firm Lockheed Martin to produce and export new generation F-16 fighter aircraft. Tata Advanced Systems Limited-Lockheed Martin combine will be in direct competition with Sweden's Saab, whose Gripen fighter aircraft will be up for the trial too.

If F16s win the trials, Lockheed Martin would move the entire production line from Texas to India. If it so happens it will be a major, if limited boost for the 'Make in India' initiative. The move may feature in PM Modi's upcoming summit talks with US President Donald Trump.

The F16 Block 70 is more than an upgrade on the F 16 IN Super Viper, which was a contender in MMRCA competition. Now Saab JAS 39 Gripen E on offer to India for the trials is a formidable single engine fighter.

It is probably the most advanced in its category and its life cycle costs and maintenance costs are lower. However, this nifty Swiss offering uses an US engine and that could be an issue. Besides, a Gripen costs more than the Block 70 F 16 on offer.

F16 AIRCRAFTS PEERLESS

Thirdly if you are looking for a proven fighter then Gripen is not battle proven - and in that department F16s are peerless. The Block 70 version is in operation across 27 countries with the latest probably being Romania.

Another factor that can tilt the decision in favour of F16 is that currently about 32,000 are in service worldwide and if US and Lockheed Martin agree to make India the hub of manufacturing spares as well it could offset the investment cost of setting up the manufacturing hub.

Besides, the capacity of the F 16 to fly unrefueled for over 4,300 km or its ability to fly over the Himalayas and the prospect of interoperability with over 26 air forces worldwide gives it an edge, although the same will rule out plotting any strategic surprises with the F 16.

Then the F16 Block 70-72 will probably cost IAF around USD 10 million cheaper apiece than the Gripen which is in the bracket of USD 30-60 million bracket.

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ECONOMICALLY VIABLE

So basically we have a modern 4.5 generation multi role fighter that is costlier and a proven workhorse that has few surprises but is economically viable.

Over and above shifting of production line to India would ensure some reduction in maintenance cost and cost of spare parts.

That makes the F 16 Block 70s an economically viable replacement for the battle proven MiG 21s.

Also read:

F-16 fighter jets will now be made in India, Tatas sign pact with Lockheed Martin

Lockheed has Make in India plans for F-16 jets, Trump wants to take a 'fresh look'

WATCH | German fighter jets intercept Jet Airways flight over hijack fears

--- ENDS ---
The granular-jamming cap, left, compared to the current elastic headband that allows the computer to track the position of a patient's head during endonasal surgery. Credit: Joe Howell, Vanderbilt University

Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery?

In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of the sophisticated "GPS" system that surgeons use for these delicate operations. They have designed a "granular jamming cap" filled with coffee grounds that does a better job of tracking patient head movements than current methods. They are disclosing the novel design and data on its effectiveness at the International Conference on Information Processing in Computer-Assisted Interventions in Barcelona on June 20.

Of course, the coffee grounds are not loose: they form a thin layer inside a stretchy silicone headpiece, which looks something like a black latex swim cap decorated with reflective dots. After the cap is placed on the patient's head, it is attached to a vacuum pump that sucks the air out of the cap, jamming the tiny grounds together to form a rigid layer that conforms closely to the shape of the patient's head. (This is the same effect that turns vacuum-packed coffee into solid bricks.)

Before surgery, a special scanner is used to map the location of the dots relative to key features on the patient's head: a process called registration. Then, during surgery an overhead camera observes the position of the dots allowing the navigation system to accurately track the position of the patient's head when the surgeon repositions it. The computer uses this information to combine a CT scan, which provides a detailed 3-D view of the bone and soft tissue hidden inside the patient's head, with the position of the instruments the surgeon is using and displays them together in real time on a monitor in the operating room.

"These are very delicate operations and a sophisticated image guidance system has been developed to help the surgeons, but they don't trust the system because sometimes it is spot on and other times it is off the mark," said Robert Webster, associate professor of mechanical engineering and otolaryngology, who is developing a surgical robot designed specifically for endonasal surgery. "When we heard about this, we began wondering what was causing these errors and we decided to investigate."

When Webster and his research team looked into the matter, they were surprised by what they found. They discovered it wasn't the hardware or the software in the guidance system that was causing the problem. It was the way the reflective markers were attached to the patient's head that was at fault. Typically, these "fiducial markers" are attached by an elastic headband and double-backed tape and are subject to jarring and slipping. Their tests found that skin movement and accidental bumps by operating room staff both produced large tracking errors.

This animation shows how the granular-jamming cap is used in nasal surgery. Credit: Kara Bandy, CTTC Vanderbilt University

"The basic assumption is that, after registration, the spatial relationships between the patient's head and the fiducial markers remains constant," said Patrick Wellborn, the graduate student who is making the presentation. "Unfortunately, that is not the case. For one thing, studies have shown that the skin on a person's forehead can move as much as a half an inch relative to the skull. And accidentally bumping or dragging cables over the headband can also produce significant targeting errors."

In fact, previous research has found that when everything goes well, the guidance system produces targeting errors of about 2 millimeters but, in about one operation out of seven, the target error is much larger, forcing the surgeon to redo the registration process.

"Actually, we do have a solution to this problem but it involves drilling and attaching the markers directly to the skull...which we don't like to do because it is painful and it's a step backwards from the majority of what we are doing," said Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology Paul Russell, who is collaborating with the engineers on the project.

So the team began thinking up alternative, non-invasive methods to attach these critical markers. Webster recalled some experiments that were done using coffee grounds to help robots grip irregularly shaped objects. Bladders filled with coffee grounds were built into the robot's gripper. When it grabbed an object, the bladders conformed to its shape. Then a vacuum was pulled, the coffee grounds became rigid and locked the object into place. The researchers decided to see if this technique could be applied to the problem.

In the last three years, they have gone through a number of designs. They began with headbands that had coffee-ground-filled bags over the temples. Their tests showed that these models could reduce the targeting error by about 50 percent. But the engineers still weren't satisfied.

Then, Wellborn, who was taking over the project, had a brainstorming session with fellow graduate student Richard Hendrick. Among the materials that his predecessor had left behind was a latex bald cap. "That sparked the idea of caps in general," Wellborn recalled. "We wanted something elastic that was form fitting, which led to the idea of a swim cap."

Vanderbilt graduate student Patrick Wellborn viewing the granular-jamming cap that he has helped develop in order to improve the accuracy of the image guidance system surgeons use for endonasal surgery. Credit: Joe Howell, Vanderbilt University

In addition to fitting extremely tightly to the head, the new design had another advantage. The headband system has only three fiducial markers attached on the ends of three thin rods to form a triangle. The new design allowed them to attach several dozen markers directly to the surface of the cap, which the researchers believe will also contribute to improving the guidance system's accuracy.

They designed three tests to determine how well this "granular jamming cap" performed relative to the current headband in reducing targeting error:

They "bumped" both them from a number of different directions with a tennis ball filled with plastic particles swinging on the end of a string. They found that the cap reduced targeting errors by 83 percent.

They simulated the case where a cable or other piece of equipment is accidentally pushed against the two by applying forces ranging from four to six pounds in different directions. They determined that the cap outperformed the headband by 76 percent when the forces were applied to the headband and by 92 percent when they were applied to the markers.

They tested the effects of head repositioning by having an experienced surgeon reposition test subjects' heads six to seven times. In this case, the cap proved to have 66 percent lower error rates than the headband.

On the strength of these results, Vanderbilt University has applied for a patent on the design and the technology is available for licensing. (Interested parties should contact the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization.)

"It's a very clever waythat doesn't involve drilling holes in patients' skullsto greatly improve the accuracy of the guidance system when we are operating in the middle of a person's skull: a zone where the accuracy of the current system is inadequate," said Russell.
A depiction of the double helical structure of DNA. Its four coding units (A, T, C, G) are color-coded in pink, orange, purple and yellow. Credit: NHGRI

(Medical Xpress)A team of researchers from Iceland, Finland and Germany has found evidence of a gene mutation in a large family in Iceland that explains why so many of them suffer from psychosis. In their paper published in the journal Nature Genetics, the team outlines the process they used to find the mutated gene, how they used their findings to study cases in other families, and the ways their findings might impact research on psychiatric disorders going forward.

Psychosis is a broad term used to describe a condition in which a person experiences a disconnect between what their senses and the real world. Such people can experience hallucinations, have delusions and suffer from emotional extremes. Some ailments that cause psychosis are schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Because such disorders are thought to have a genetic cause, researchers studying how psychosis comes about look at the genes of not only people experiencing psychosis, but other family members, as well. Research efforts have uncovered genetic abnormalities associated with psychosis, but thus far, no definitive mutations have been found that pinpoint its exact cause. In this new effort, the researchers report that they have found a gene mutation that appears to be at least partly responsible for several members of a single family suffering from several forms of the disorder.

The researchers report that six of the family members were diagnosed with schizophrenia, two with schizoaffective disorder and two with bipolar-related disorders. The team conducted a genotyping and imputation-based long-range phasing genetic analysis on family members and discovered that each of the 10 psychosis patients had evidence of mutations in the RBM12 gene. The researchers report that not all of the family members had the mutations, but most of those that did reported experiencing some degree of psychic disorder.

The research team ran their findings through the Genome Aggregation Database and discovered no other such mutations were listed. They also searched medical records and found less than two dozen other people in Iceland with the mutations, all of whom were related to the family in which they were originally found. They conclude by suggesting that RBM12 appears to be important for normal brain function and suggest that further research on the gene might offer more insights into psychiatric disorders.

 2017 Medical Xpress
Infections during infancy are associated with increased risk for gluten intolerance (celiac disease) later on. Apparently the risk is particularly high in the case of repeated gastrointestinal infections in the first year of life. This conclusion was drawn by scientists of the Institute for Diabetes Research at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, a partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), after analyzing data provided by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Results from this study have now been published in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

In previous publications, a team of scientists led by Professor Anette-Gabriele Ziegler had already demonstrated an association between infections in early childhood and the development of type 1 diabetes. The highest risk for type 1 diabetes was observed in children with repeated respiratory infections in the first six months of life.

The current study showed that the risk of developing celiac disease is particularly high when gastrointestinal tract infections occur during the first year of life. To a lesser extent, an increased risk of disease was also demonstrated in connection with early respiratory tract infections. "Our data do not allow a conclusion whether the observed associations are causal or are based on changes in the microbiome or specific immune responses", said first author Dr. Andreas Beyerlein, commenting on the results. "However, it seems that the increased risk of celiac disease is associated with a permanent inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract in early childhood and is not caused by a specific viral or bacterial pathogen."

The scientists analyzed fully anonymized data provided by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenarztliche Vereinigung Bayern) of 295,420 children who were born between 2005 and 2007. Medically attended infections from birth until a median age of 8.5 years were considered in the analysis. A total of 853 children developed gluten intolerance, equivalent to 0.3 percent.

More information: Andreas Beyerlein et al. Infections in early Life and development of celiac disease, American Journal of Epidemiology (2017). Journal information: American Journal of Epidemiology Andreas Beyerlein et al. Infections in early Life and development of celiac disease,(2017). DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx190
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Research published in the British Journal of Psychology has found that parents who want their children to have prosocial values are the most successful in instilling all their values in their children compared to those who promote selfishness.

The collaborative study from Royal Holloway, University of London and the universities of Westminster, Vienna, and Bern assessed 418 German and Swiss families to see which parents most strongly transmitted their values to their children. They found that children whose parents wanted them to value helping, supporting and caring for others, were more similar to their parents in their overall value profile than those whose parents promoted striving for power and achievement.

Like father, like son?

Professor Anat Bardi from Royal Holloway's Department of Psychology and co-author of the study explained, "Ours is a test of how far the apple falls from the tree, or in other words, how similar are children to their parents in the values they hold?"

"We often take for granted 'like father, like son' and this is especially interesting when it comes to the inheritance of destructive values such as power-seeking and selfishness. We've now demonstrated that parents who foster more altruistic values, such as helping and caring more strongly pass on all their values down the family line," she added.

A first look at parent-child value similarity in middle childhood

"This is the first time a study that examined similarity between the values of children and their parents has actually assessed children's values when they are at the formative time of childhood, whereas previous research only asked teens and young adults to reflect back on their experiences. Therefore we are able to understand this key building block in the development of individual values, which are then taken forward through schooling and other important stages of value development," added author, Dr Anna Doering from the University of Westminster.

Kindness breeds kindness

In explaining the results, the researchers suggest that parents who focus on prosocial values may be more sensitive to their children's needs, thereby establishing a stronger bond with their children. The result of this stronger bond is that the children tend more to adopt the parents' values (including values that are not related to kindness, like values of curiosity or tradition).

By being more empathetic and supportive, these parents also demonstrate the importance of these values directly in their relationships with their children. As such, offspring are more likely to wish to replicate these positive experiences through their own values.

In conclusion, Professor Bardi commented, "This research really shows that where parents nurture positive, supportive and altruistic values their children will also take these characteristics to heart. Where being 'the best' is among the dominant interests of the parents, children tend not to express such connection to their parent's values. This research brings a positive message to the world: prosocial parents breed a prosocial next generation, but parents who endorse selfishness do not breed a selfish next generation."

"While there are always other influences on how we develop the values that make us who we are, there is no doubt that our parents have a huge role to play. How we then decide to take their values through our lives is, of course up to us as individuals."

More information: Anna K. Doring et al. Parent-child value similarity in families with young children: The predictive power of prosocial educational goals, British Journal of Psychology (2017). Anna K. Doring et al. Parent-child value similarity in families with young children: The predictive power of prosocial educational goals,(2017). DOI: 10.1111/bjop.12238
Meredith Coles is a professor of psychology at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Credit: Binghamton University, State University of New York

A late bedtime is associated with lower perceived control of obsessive thoughts, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Binghamton University Professor of Psychology Meredith E. Coles and former graduate student Jessica Schubert (now at University of Michigan Medical School) monitored twenty individuals diagnosed with OCD and ten individuals endorsing subthreshold OCD symptoms during one week of sleep. Participants completed sleep diaries and daily ratings of perceived degree of control over obsessive thoughts and ritualized behaviors. The researchers found that previous night's bedtime significantly predicted participants' perceived ability to control their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior on the subsequent day.

"We're really interested in how this kind of unusual timing of sleep might affect cognitive functioning," said Schubert. "One possibility is impulse control. It might be that something about shifting the timing of your sleep might reduce your ability to control your thoughts and your behaviors, so it might make it more likely that you're going to have a hard time dismissing intrusive thoughts characteristic of obsessions, and it might make it more difficult for you to refrain from compulsive behaviors that are designed to reduce the anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts."

On average participants in the study went to bed around 12:30 at night. Patients who met criteria for delayed sleep phase disorder, about 40% of the sample, went to bed around 3 a.m.

"I always knew you were supposed to get eight hours of sleep, but I was never told it matters when you do it," said Coles. "It's been striking to me that this difference seems to be very specific to the circadian component of when you sleep. That we find that there are specific negative consequences of sleeping at the wrong times, that's something to educate the public about."

The researchers are interested in exploring this phenomenon further. Coles plans on collecting pilot data using lightboxes to shift people's bedtimes. "It's one of our first efforts to actually shift their bedtimes and see if it reduces their OCD symptoms, and if this improves their ability to resist those intrusive thoughts and not develop compulsions in response to them."

The paper, "Later bedtime is associated with decrements in perceived control of obsessions and compulsions," was presented at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.

More information: JR Schubert et al, 1128 LATER BEDTIME IS ASSOCIATED WITH DECREMENTS IN PERCEIVED CONTROL OF OBSESSIONS AND COMPULSIONS, Sleep (2017). Journal information: Sleep JR Schubert et al, 1128 LATER BEDTIME IS ASSOCIATED WITH DECREMENTS IN PERCEIVED CONTROL OF OBSESSIONS AND COMPULSIONS,(2017). DOI: 10.1093/sleepj/zsx050.1127
Graph shows results from survey question assessing radiologists' opinions about different types of patient-centeredness. Credit: Radiological Society of North America

Despite constraints of time and workload, radiologists are looking for ways to become more directly involved in the care of their patients, according to the findings of a recent survey of radiologists, published online in the journal Radiology.

Communication between patients and radiologists is a key element of patient-centered care, a major focus of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for more than a decade. Such care, which focuses on the patient's needs and preferences, is fundamental to radiology's shift from a volume- to a value-based system.

Engaging with patients via social media and moving radiology reading rooms into the clinic present opportunities to help bridge the divide between radiologists and patients, researchers said.

"Patient-centered radiology is a lot more than giving results to patients," said study lead author Jennifer L. Kemp, M.D., from Diversified Radiology in Denver, Colo. "There are many other things we can do within the continuum of patient care, from scheduling all the way through billing, to improve the patient's experience."

In the radiology suite, a discussion of the appropriateness of the test, an explanation of the exam from the technologist and user-friendly radiology reports are key parts of this care continuum, added Dr. Kemp.

Graph shows results from survey question assessing barriers to patient communication. Credit: Radiological Society of North America

"It's rare for any practice to have full control of all the different aspects of care, but if we can chip away at some of those things, we can help make our specialty more patient-centered," she said.

Dr. Kemp and colleagues from the RSNA Patient-Centered Radiology Steering Committee surveyed RSNA members on various aspects of patient-centered radiology. Of the 694 respondents, 611, or 89 percent, agreed that promoting awareness of radiology's role in patients' overall healthcare is important to how they practice. However, only 31 percent of radiology practices regularly promote awareness of radiology's role in patients' overall healthcare. Only 21 percent of respondents said their radiology practices commonly deliver imaging results to patients in person.

"These results show that in radiology, our attitude has shifted but our practices are not entirely there yet," Dr. Kemp said. "We believe in the ideas, but we're encountering obstacles in how to implement them."

The survey showed that time and workload are by far the biggest barriers to wholly patient-centered care. The majority of respondents421, or 73 percentreported that time and/or workload frequently prevented them from communicating directly with patients, which potentially hampers both optimal patient-centered care and radiologist satisfaction.

Graph shows results from survey question assessing what would motivate radiologists to communicate more directly with patients. CMS = Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Credit: Radiological Society of North America

Dr. Kemp noted that social media offers busy radiology practices one avenue to direct communication with patients.

"Social media is where our patients are these days and where they get a lot of their medical information," she said. "Using social media to interact with patients regarding medical imaging procedures does not take a lot of time for radiologists and can potentially reach a lot of people."

Radiologists could also consider better integration into clinical practice settings by moving radiology reading rooms into patient clinics. Studies have shown that this change helps improve patient-radiologist communication.

"The key takeaways here are that radiologists are in agreement that patient-centered care is always our goal and that our efforts should continue to focus on how best to achieve that goal," Dr. Kemp said.

More information: "Patient-centered Radiology: Where Are we, Where Do We Want to Be, and How Do We Get There?" Radiology, 2017. Journal information: Radiology "Patient-centered Radiology: Where Are we, Where Do We Want to Be, and How Do We Get There?", 2017.
At a South Asia ICEMR community site in rural Assam, a health worker inspects a bed net during a community survey. Credit: P.K. Mohapatra

The National Institutes of Health has renewed a major grant that funds a University of Washington-led research center to understand malaria in India.

The initiativeMalaria Evolution in South Asia, which was first funded in 2010is one of 10 NIH-supported International Centers of Excellence for Malaria Research, or ICEMRs. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases announced that it would provide $9.3 million in funds to the South Asia ICEMR over the next seven years, beginning July 1, 2017. South Asia sits in the middle of the malaria corridor that cuts from Southeast Asia to Africa.

"India is a country of critical importance for understanding the spread of virulent malaria globally," said Pradipsinh K. Rathod, a UW professor of chemistry and the director of the Malaria Evolution in South Asia ICEMR. "While most deaths caused by drug-resistant strains of malaria have occurred in Africa, most drug-resistant parasites arise first in Asia."

Malaria in India remains underappreciated. The country has 1.3 billion people and more than 90 percent of the population live in areas where there is risk of malaria transmission. India had an estimated 13 million cases of malaria in 2015, according to the World Health Organization. Beyond that, the picture of malaria in India is one of diversity.

"There is enormous variation in the prevalence of malaria around the countryvariation in levels of immunity and variation in the species of mosquitoes that spread the disease," said Laura Chery, the South Asia ICEMR's associate director. "Most importantly, there is unexpectedly high genetic diversity in malaria parasites that are circulating in India."

In addition to researchers from the UW, the South Asia ICEMR also includes U.S. scientists from Harvard University, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Stanford University. But by far the largest contingent of researchers that make up the center's efforts are the dozens of scientists, clinicians and field workers at sites across India.

"We have formed wonderful, productive partnerships with hospitals, clinics, government agencies and community members," said Chery. "Together, we have learned to do advanced science on the ground at clinically important sites."

Through partnerships with local hospitals and research institutes, the center currently works out of six sites across India. The locations capture the diversity of this massive country: Four sites are in eastern and northeastern India, where malaria is endemic and cases can reach as high as 50 to 100 per 1,000 people. Two other sites are on the west coast, where the prevalence of malaria can be relatively lowfewer than 1 case per 1,000 people. But these sites include urban hospitals that attract and treat large numbers of malaria patients, including migrants from other parts of the country.

Pradipsinh Rathod, left, and Laura Chery, right. Credit: Dennis Wise/University of Washington

"We believe that movement of people within the country can partly explain the complexity of malaria in India," said Rathod. "However, we do not fully understand the basis for such variations."

At each site, staff enroll patients to obtain malaria parasite samples, as well as information on each patient's health history. From on-site laboratories in India, center staff and partners pursue a number of research projects: analyzing parasite samples for signs of drug resistance, understanding the basis for variations in disease presentation, sequencing parasite genomes and determining their genetic relatedness to one another, and testing how well different mosquito species take up various malaria strains.

In addition to setting up complex research infrastructure, in its first seven years the center has made some surprising conclusions about malaria in India. Parasites in India show more genetic diversity than parasites in the rest of the world combined, according to Rathod. As a consequence, some standard laboratory tests for drug resistance, developed elsewhere in the world, do not accurately predict whether Indian parasites will show drug resistance.

Drug resistance is a major concern in malaria. Chloroquine was once an effective drug to fight malaria. But a generation ago, malaria parasites began to evolve resistance to it, rendering it largely ineffective. Today, the drug artemisinin is considered the best treatment against malaria. But artemisinin-resistant strains of malaria already have been identified in Southeast Asia. The Indian government and the South Asia ICEMR are on the lookout for artemisinin resistance among patients in northeastern and eastern India. Beyond that, the South Asia ICEMR is looking for parasites that mutate at extraordinary rates, as seen in Southeast Asia.

"By getting a clearer picture of malaria in India, we're 'closing the gap' on how this complex parasite behaves globally," Rathod said.
The vaccine candidates used in the study mimic the trimeric envelope protein spikes on the surface of HIV. Rendering of HIV with envelope protein trimers clearly visible on the virus surface. Credit: Courtesy of La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology.

For decades, HIV has successfully evaded all efforts to create an effective vaccine but researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LJI) are steadily inching closer. Their latest study, published in the current issue of Immunity, demonstrates that optimizing the mode and timing of vaccine delivery is crucial to inducing a protective immune response in a preclinical model.

More than any other factors, administering the vaccine candidate subcutaneously and increasing the time intervals between immunizations improved the efficacy of the experimental vaccine and reliably induced neutralizing antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies are a key component of an effective immune response. They latch onto and inactive invading viruses before they can gain a foothold in the body and have been notoriously difficult to generate for HIV.

"This study is an important staging point on the long journey toward an HIV vaccine," says TSRI Professor Dennis R. Burton, Ph.D, who is also scientific director of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) Neutralizing Antibody Center and of the National Institutes of Health's Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Immunogen Discovery (CHAVI-ID) at TSRI. "The vaccine candidates we worked with here are probably the most promising prototypes out there, and one will go into people in 2018," says Burton.

"There had been a lot of big question marks and this study was designed to get as many answers as possible before we go into human clinical trials," adds senior co-author Shane Crotty, Ph.D., a professor in LJI's Division of Vaccine Discovery. "We are confident that our results will be predictive going forward."

HIV has faded from the headlines, mainly because the development of antiretroviral drugs has turned AIDS into a chronic, manageable disease. Yet, only about half of the roughly 36.7 million people currently infected with HIV worldwide are able to get the medicines they need to control the virus. At the same time, the rate of new infections has remained stubbornly high, emphasizing the need for a preventive vaccine.

The latest findings are the culmination of years of collaborative and painstaking research by a dozen research teams centered around the development, improvement, and study of artificial protein trimers that faithfully mimic a protein spike found on the viral surface. At the core of this effort is the CHAVI-ID immunogen working group, comprised of TSRI's own William R. Schief, Ph.D., Andrew B. Ward, Ph.D., Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil. and Richard T. Wyatt, Ph.D., in addition to Crotty and Burton. This group of laboratories in collaboration with Darrell J. Irvine, Ph.D., professor at MIT, and Rogier W. Sanders, Ph.D., professor at the University of Amsterdam, provided the cutting-edge immunogens tested in the study.

The recombinant trimers, or SOSIPs as they are called, were unreliable in earlier, smaller studies conducted in non-human primates. Non-human primates, and especially rhesus macaques, are considered the most appropriate pre-clinical model for HIV vaccine studies, because their immune system most closely resembles that of humans.

"The animals' immune responses, although the right kind, weren't very robust and a few didn't respond at all," explains Colin Havenar-Daughton, Ph.D., a scientific associate in the Crotty lab. "That caused significant concern that the immunogen wouldn't consistently trigger an effective immune response in all individuals in a human clinical trial."

In an effort to reliably induce a neutralizing antibody response, the collaborators tested multiple variations of the trimers and immunization protocols side-by-side to determine the best strategy going forward. Crotty and Burton and their colleagues teamed up with Professor Dan Barouch, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who coordinated the immunizations.

The design of the study was largely guided by what the collaborators had learned in a previous study via fine needling sampling of the lymph nodes, where the scientists observed follicular helper T cells help direct the maturation steps of antibody-producing B cells. Administering the vaccine subcutaneously versus the more conventional intramuscular route, and spacing the injection at 8 weeks instead of the more common 4-6 weeks, reliably induced a strong functional immune response in all animals.

Using an osmotic pump to slowly release the vaccine over a period of two weeks resulted in the highest neutralizing antibody titers ever measured following SOSIP immunizations in non-human primates. While osmotic pumps are not a practical way to deliver vaccines, they illustrate an important point. "Depending on how we gave the vaccine, there was a bigger difference due to immunization route than we would have predicted," says Matthias Pauthner, a graduate student in Burton's lab and the study's co-lead author. "We can help translate what we know now into the clinic."

More information: "Elicitation of robust Tier 2 neutralizing antibody responses in non-human primates by HIV envelope trimer immunization using optimized approaches." Immunity (2017). Journal information: Immunity "Elicitation of robust Tier 2 neutralizing antibody responses in non-human primates by HIV envelope trimer immunization using optimized approaches."(2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.05.007
Current flu vaccines are not always effective as the virus constantly mutates. Credit: Flickr/NHS Employers

Unreliable yearly flu jabs could be a thing of the past as researchers close in on technology that will take down the deadly virus once and for all.

Every year flu affects 5-15 % of the population in the northern hemisphere, according to the World Health Organization, and kills more people worldwide than Ebola and Zika combined.

Many countries recommend that over-65s and people with certain conditions get inoculated every season against the flu, yet vaccines are not always effective as the virus constantly mutates.

The panacea would be a universal flu jab that can kill any strain of the virus. However, that has proved elusive, until now. At a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, last week, several research teams said they were close to solving the puzzle.

"This EU-funded work has brought the development of universal flu vaccines to a crucial point," said Line Matthiessen, acting director of health at the EU's Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. "We are getting closer to our goal, but we must work together internationally to finish the job."

A number of potential new vaccines offer simultaneous protection against several forms of the flu  including pandemic ones. They have saved the lives of mice, ferrets and pigs exposed to strains as virulent as the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, and some are now being tested on patients.

Uncommon flu

"This year was particularly bad," Pasi Penttinen, from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, told the gathering. "Initial estimates suggest that a very high number of people have died of the common flu in the EU alone."

One of the big problems is that the protection offered by seasonal vaccines still hinges largely on blind luck.

"Flu outbreaks are hard to prevent because the virus keeps evolving," said Dr Alex Ramirez at iQur, a biotech start-up based in London, UK. "Each year, pharmaceutical companies prepare vaccines by predicting what the predominant virus strain will be in months to come."

Dr Ramirez said that the consequent time gap between design and delivery was necessary given preparation techniques dating back to the 1950s. Even today, drug companies use millions of chicken eggs to grow the virus that will go into the vaccine, reaping the vaccine no faster than natural processes can produce it.

"As they can only know for sure if the vaccine is on target once the flu outbreak starts, the prediction is sometimes wrong leading to a mismatch which results in poor efficacy," Dr Ramirez said. "By the time they find out, it is too late to start over."

As part of the EU-funded FLUTCORE project, iQur has pioneered a more adaptable production process.

Stalk

Rather than aim the vaccine at the constantly changing head of a protein in the influenza virus, the company has created a so-called tandem core structure that is nimble enough to strike at its more stable stalk.

"The tandem core is created by inserting conserved parts of influenza virus into spherical particles," said Dr Ramirez. "To piece them together, we modify the DNA of living yeast cells so that they synthesise the tandem cores like if they were a natural protein."

By farming the modified yeast, iQur can bring down the time it takes to produce a flu vaccine from months to weeks.

Dr Ramirez said that that FLUTCORE partners immunised mice with the new vaccine. The test subjects survived infection from a range of viruses, including the pandemic H1N1 strain responsible for the 2009 outbreak of swine flu. iQur is raising funds to soon test this versatility in its first clinical trials.

The three EU-financed projects which presented at the meeting, EDUFLUVAC, FLUNIVAC and UniVax, are exploring other innovative methods to fight new strains of the virus, including training the immune system to spot features that past strains had in common.

The EU-funded UNISEC project has begun testing the effectiveness of two particularly advanced universal flu jabs on patients. They've already moved on from small-scale trials and are doing mid-size, or Phase II, trials, as a precursor to large-scale tests. Results are expected this year.

In January, BiondVax, a start-up in Ness Ziona, Israel, published advances made by one of these two vaccines in the scientific journal Vaccine. The company inoculated trial participants in 2011, froze samples of their blood, and exposed them to a new flu strain several years later.

"Their blood contained more protective antibodies against the new flu strain than those trial participants who received a placebo," said BiondVax's Joshua Phillipson. "We essentially vaccinated people against a flu strain that did not exist at the time."

Cash injection

The European Investment Bank announced on 19 June that it would offer a EUR 20 million loan to the company to fund a large-scale trial and establish a manufacturing plant.

BiondVax has now received the cash it needs. However, many of these vaccine developers struggle to find the millions of euros required to pay for big trials.

"If the EU wants to keep leading the way towards a universal flu vaccine, it needs to align funders for the last steps of development," Dr Odile Leroy from the European Vaccine Initiative in Heidelberg, Germany, told the meeting.
In the days following abdominal surgery, patients' intestinal contents pass more slowly or not at all. New research at KU Leuven (University of Leuven), Belgium, has now shown that this phenomenonknown as post-operative ileus or bowel paralysisis not caused by the cells previously identified as the main players. Quite the opposite, in fact: the cells even help restore bowel function. The findings are very important for further research into post-operative patient treatment.

After undergoing abdominal surgery, patients have to stay in hospital for several days because the procedure causes post-operative ileus or bowel paralysis. As a result, the patients cannot tolerate food or empty their bowels. This leads to personal discomfort and prolongs the hospital stay, which in turn increases the economic cost.

Scientists have long been looking for ways to prevent bowel paralysis or to speed up bowel function recovery. The assumption has always been that monocytes, a specific type of white blood cells, were most to blame for the bowel paralysis. Professor Gianluca Matteoli and Professor Guy Boeckxstaens from the TARGID unit at KU Leuven have now shown that the opposite is true.

"Abdominal surgery always leads to a subtle inflammation of the intestinal muscle. This inflammation mostly consists of monocytes," says Professor Matteoli. "We did research on mice that were genetically modified to make it impossible for monocytes to leave the bloodstream and enter the intestinal muscle. We expected that this would enable us to prevent bowel paralysis. To our surprise, however, the mice still developed bowel paralysis, and their recovery was even slower than expected."

Further research confirmed that monocytes have a positive impact on bowel function recovery. "We noticed that monocytes initially contribute to inflammation. After a while, however, they start removing the damaged tissuethey clean it up, so to speak. After that, their function drastically changes and they even help to restore proper bowel functioning," Professor Boeckxstaens continues. "If we can speed up this switch from cleaning up to restoring, we may also increase the pace of the patient's recovery."

More information: Giovanna Farro et al, CCR2-dependent monocyte-derived macrophages resolve inflammation and restore gut motility in postoperative ileus, Gut (2017). Journal information: Gut Giovanna Farro et al, CCR2-dependent monocyte-derived macrophages resolve inflammation and restore gut motility in postoperative ileus,(2017). DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-313144
The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by a screening committee.

By Press Trust of India: The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute of Pune has been selected as the first recipient of the prime minister's award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of yoga 2017.

The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by a screening committee.

The jury, chaired by the cabinet secretary, with the additional secretary to the prime minister, the foreign secretary, secretary (AYUSH), and Veerendra Heggade as members, examined the screening committee's recommendations.

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"After considering all relevant facts and other inputs, the jury recommended that the award for the current year be given to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute," said a senior official from AYUSH ministry.

Last year, at the 2nd International Day of Yoga celebrations at Chandigarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the institution of awards for the promotion of the ancient Indian spiritual discipline.

Following this, the ministry of AYUSH developed the guidelines for the awards and two committees -- screening committee (for preliminary evaluation) and evaluation committee (Jury)-- were constituted so that a transparent process is followed in finalising the awards.

The nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisements.

The screening committee shortlisted 16 names from among the applications received after detailed discussions and analysis.

In addition, the committee also recommended for consideration of 15 names of eminent yoga individuals and organisations who have longstanding credibility in the field of promotion of yoga but whose names did not figure in the applications received.

The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has worked to spread yoga internationally. The institute has published several books on yoga and these have been translated into multiple languages.

Also read:

Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

Ramdev dedicates International Yoga Day to farmers

--- ENDS ---
Online stores in South Africa have listed pricing for Intels new Core X processors.

Intels new processors are based on the Skylake-X and Kaby Lake-X high-end CPU architectures, and are compatible with the new LGA 2066 socket on Intels X299 chipset.

The power consumption of the new processors is significantly higher than the current 7th-gen desktop chips, with the Core i9-7900X featuring a TDP of 140W.

The 4,6,8, and 10-core CPUs listed on Evetech and Rebel Tech are Coming Soon, and are set to release internationally on 26 June 2017.

More powerful versions of the Core X processors will be available later this year, including the Intel Core i9-7980XE Extreme Edition.

The South African pricing for Intels new Core X processor line-up is below.

Intel Core i5-7640X

Rebel Tech  R4,199

Evetech  R4,299

Intel Core i7-7740X

Rebel Tech  R5,699

Evetech  R5,899

Intel Core i7-7800X

Rebel Tech  R6,299

Evetech  R5,999

Intel Core i7-7820X

Rebel Tech  R9,699

Evetech  R9,999

Intel Core i9-7900X

Rebel Tech  R15,999

Evetech  R15,499

This article first appeared on MyBroadband and is republished with permission.
Azerbaijan blackmailing Armenia through Lachin corridor

Iran citizens injured in Armenia road accident

US embassy in Armenia closed today

Karabakh MOD: Defense Army did not fire at Azerbaijan positions located in occupied territories

Armenia ombudsperson meets with Belgium colleagues

Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition seats to no longer be empty

US intends to protect Azerbaijan from threats of Iran

Aliyev, Erdogan discuss results of tripartite meeting in Russias Sochi

Azerbaijan army fires at Armenia positions, uses mortars as well

Amazon becomes world's first public company to lose $1 trillion in market value

EU's odd couple: Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel can't stand each other

US, China set first benchmarks ahead of presidents' meeting

Iranian MFA summons Azerbaijani ambassador to carpet in connection with anti-Iranian propaganda

Washington to resist any attempt by new Israeli government to annex West Bank

Biden thinks Elon Musk's relations with other countries are worthy of being looked at

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister tells Polish senator about consequences of Azerbaijani aggression

Armenian deputy in Vilnius talks about goals of Azerbaijan's aggressive policy

Taliban bans women from gyms

U.S. to send Ukraine another $400 million in military aid

Ursula von der Leyen announces EUR 250 million support package for Moldova

Biden and Jinping meet on sidelines of G20 summit in Bali to be held on November 14

Riches of world get poorer suddenly

State Duma deputy: Interparliamentary format Yerevan-Baku-Moscow will be included soon to solve issues

IMF sees growing risk of economic fragmentation

Armen Gevorgyan to visit Strasbourg, Brussels and Paris

State Duma deputy: Upper Lars border crossing capacity has increased fivefold

UK government freezes over 18 billion pounds worth of Russian assets

State Duma deputy on Zatulin's ban on entering Armenia: These issues must be resolved

Borrell calls for retooling EU infrastructure for rapid transport of military equipment to East

European Parliament clears way for Croatia's admission to Schengen Area

European Council President Michel calls on EU member states to jointly purchase gas to reduce fuel prices

Alen Simonyan congratulates scientists on their professional holiday

Armenian President meets with leaders of several countries in Egypt

Greece accuses Turkey of profiting from the suffering of other countries under sanctions

USAID official says she personally saw how democracy, economic development are progressing in Armenia (VIDEO)

Spain court sentences civilian to prison for spreading fakes

Armenian Embassy in Russia issues statement on Azerbaijan's actions

Indian company to supply 155mm self-propelled artillery guns worth $155mln to Armenia

Japanese minister caught in scandal for talking about death penalty

France changes its ambassador to Azerbaijan

UN General Assembly draft resolution requires Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine

Belarusian State Border Committee: Poland creates tense situation on border

Joint meeting of Armenian National Assembly and Russian State Duma Committee takes place

Iranian President says attempt to destabilize country fails

Deputy: Russian side is informed about importance of withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from the territory of Armenia

State Duma deputy: We can't imagine Russia without Armenia

Georgian PM and Armenian Ambassador discuss cooperation issues

Bali is short of armored limousines for G20 summit participants

FLYONE ARMENIA to start flights between Yerevan, Dubai

Kyodo: Emperor of Japan revealed to have prostate hyperplasia

Iranian intelligence urges Saudi Arabia not to test Tehran's strategic patience

Kazakhstan intends to ship 1.5 mln tons of oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

Former Ombudsman: 2,700 ha of Kapan community of Armenia's Syunik Province are under occupation by Baku

Armenia to ratify cooperation agreement with China

Japan and the US begin major joint exercise

Armenia soldier sustains gunshot wound from Azerbaijan shooting

Armenia legislature speaker receives deputy chair of Russia State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration

PM: If anyone thinks peace agenda is peaceful annihilation of Armenia or Karabakh Armenians, they are sorely mistaken

Armenia Premier: We have 16 missing persons since September 13 military aggression by Azerbaijan

Bitcoin is trading just above $16,000

Armenias Pashinyan: Spreading of fake news by Azerbaijan becomes prelude to new aggression

Armenia PM: Azerbaijan, with its practices, reminds of Al Qaeda and Islamic State, which discredit Islam

PM: Armenia, Karabakh propose Azerbaijan to create demilitarized zone

Pashinyan: There is no Armenia army in Karabakh

All 10 fallen soldiers transferred on October 27 by Azerbaijan to Armenia are identified, buried

Pashinyan: Armenia is going to present new proposal to Azerbaijan

$25M allocated to Armenia MOD

Biden says he will discuss Ukraine conflict at G20 summit

Pashinyan: Armenia has no obligation to construct new roads

Pashinyan: Aliyev not only threatens but is already preparing genocide of Karabakh Armenians

Armenias Pashinyan: Azerbaijan president is attempting to create invented grounds for closing Lachin Corridor

Erdogan tells what relations between Turkey and Armenia depend on

Iran says it has developed first hypersonic ballistic missile

Armenias Pashinyan: Russia peacekeepers are deployed in Karabakh indefinitely

FM Lavrov to head Russia delegation at G20 summit

Erdogan: Ankara continues mediation efforts to resolve Ukrainian crisis

Armenia to get 100mn loan to fund budget deficit

IAEA head: Talks on Iran's nuclear program ended inconclusively

Armenia PM: Aliyev grossly violated tripartite written agreement of Sochi

This year 320 people seek asylum in Armenia, 213 are from Ukraine
Investigation of the criminal case into the murder of the four members of the Armenian Kachotyan family of Georgias Vachiani village is still in progress.

Although the investigation is ongoing for nearly a year, there is no finding yet in the criminal case, Vachiani mayor Fedya Torosyan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The investigation continues solely after the suicide of the defendant, he said. But there is nothing new.

Torosyan noted that Vaghinak Kachotyan, who lost his wife and three children in the murder, is not in the village and has gone to Russia.

Hes at work abroad, the village mayor added. There is nothing anymore to keep [him] in the village.

Even though Kachotyan left the village, he continues the fight to find out who are guilty in the murder of his three children and wife.

Nodar Akopov, who was charged with these murders, had committed suicide in prison, on August 27 of the year past.

The Kachotyans relatives, however, claim that Akopov could not have committed these murders all by himself, there were others with him, but they are not yet revealed.

Four members of the Kachotyan familythe 37-year-old mother as well as her 5-, 13-, and 18-year-old childrenwere found dead in their home in the aforesaid village in Javakhetia predominantly-Armenian-populated part of Georgias southeastern Samtskhe-Javakheti Province, by their relatives, on July 10, 2016.

According to preliminary information, the assailant had killed the mother and her daughters with a blunt instrument, whereas strangled the boy to death.

The table and chairs of the house were lying on the floor, and the house was sooty with smoke.

The father of the family, Vaghinak Kachotyan, was in Russia as a migrant worker.

To note, a Turkish-Georgian border checkpoint is nearby the said primarily-Armenian-populated village.
YEREVAN.  A strong wave of attacks on mobile gadgets can be expected in the coming years in Armenia.

Armen Karapetyan, Kaspersky Lab cybersecurity and anti-virus provider representative in Armenia and Georgia, told the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He noted that smartphones and tablets are becoming more interesting for hackers.

Hackers go where there is money, and the development of mobile banking creates such threats, Karapetyan noted. And thats why we [Kaspersky Lab] propose banks to integrate our solutions into their apps and offer them to [their] clients in an already-protected state.
Two Dutch journalists have been abducted by rebels of left-wing National Liberation Army (ELN) in a conflict area of northeastern Colombia, Reuters reported.

A TV journalist Derk Johannes Bolt and a TV cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie were seized while working in El Tarra in Norte de Santander, which borders Venezuela.

The armed forces have launched operations to find the two Dutch reporters.

As it was noted the 2,000-strong National Liberation Army (ELN), the second biggest insurgent group, is in peace talks with the government to put an end to more than five decades of war.
YEREVAN.  The import of several products of Azerbaijani origin into Armenia was prevented recently at the border with Georgia.

Customs officers at the border discovered more than half a ton of food salt and tea of Azerbaijani origin in vehicles coming from Georgia, the State Revenue Committee informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In the passengers words, they were not aware of the origin of these products. And after learning about it, they refused to transport the cargo to Armenia.
The National Institution of Human Rights (INDDHH) of Uruguay sent a letter to the Uruguayan Chancellor Rodolfo Nin Novoa expressing concern over the decision of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to blacklist Dr. Oscar Lopez Goldaracena after his work as monitor in the last constitutional referendum in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh Republic).

The INDDHH expresses its concern about the effects that this resolution of the Azerbaijani government may generate on the rights of Dr. Oscar Lopez Goldaracena, especially in the area of freedom of expression and freedom of transit, and requests the Secretary of State to carry out the relevant steps to ensure the immediate cessation of the violation of the mentioned rights of said Uruguayan citizen, said the letter.

On May, Uruguayan human rights lawyer Oscar Lopez Goldaracena denounced Azerbaijan for adding him to his blacklist, after Prensa Armenia agency reported that the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry added him and other deputies and authorities of Bolivia to the country's blacklist, after they officiated as international observers during the constitutional referendum in Artsakh.

Goldaracena said that Nagorno Karabakh is a country of Armenian population, independent for 25 years by history and by decision of its people; A democratic, republican country, with an institutional framework in rights, with Ombudsman and mechanisms of direct democracy that really work.

The National Institution of Human Rights is an autonomous state body that works under the legislative branch and is committed to the defense, promotion and protection in all its extension of human rights recognized by the Constitution and international law.
Studies done by AIIMS and RML indicate that the ancient Indian discipline can improve cognitive functions in a person suffering from mental disorder and can be an add-on therapy to reduce migraine attacks.

By Priyanka Sharma: Yoga can improve cognitive functions in a person suffering from mental disorder and can be an add-on therapy to reduce migraine attacks, two separate studies by top hospitals in the city indicate.

Research at RML Hospital suggests that mentally ill persons could benefit from simple yoga exercises if these are incorporated into their treatment regimens. This cognitive improvement may help them in their rehabilitation and adjustment in society.

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The study has now been published in the Journal of Acta Neuropsychiatrica, was sponsored by National Institute of Health (NIH), United States. Researchers across the world have been trying to determine the effectiveness of the ancient Indian discipline as a complementary intervention for conditions such as cancer, schizophrenia, asthma, and heart disease.

Dr Triptish Bhatia, principal investigator of Indo-US projects at the Department of Psychiatry, RML Hospital, told MAILTODAY, "This was a random study on 286 patients with schizophrenia admitted at RML. It was done to evaluate whether yoga training or any type of physical training enhance cognitive functions in schizophrenia."

Patients above 18 years who attended RML psychiatry clinics from 2010 to 2014 were included. "The results confirmed greater improvement in the speed index of 'attention cognitive domain' after yoga therapy in individuals with schizophrenia than physical exercise at six months followup," said Dr Bhatia.

'YOGA CAN BE CONSIDERED COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT THERAPY'

Dr Smita Deshpande, head, psychiatry department, RML Hospital, added impaired cognition is a hallmark of schizophrenia. "Current pharmacologic treatments produce improvement in psychotic symptoms, but do not improve cognitive impairments substantially. As yoga includes mindfulness training and physical exercise, it can also be considered cognitive enhancement therapy (CET)."

While yoga therapy improved "attention domain" among patients with schizophrenia, it showed good improvement in cognitive domain such as abstraction and mental flexibility, face memory, spatial memory, spatial ability, working memory, sensorimotor, emotions among such patients.

These cognitive functions were assessed with the University of Pennsylvania's computerised neurocognitive battery (CNB). Patients were on mediation and also practising yoga every day. Firstly, cognitive parameters were evaluated on 21 days and they showed improvement. With the same figures accessed on CNB, doctors evaluated their cognitive domain at the third month, which again showed much improvement, and at the end of sixth month, there was greater improvement in yoga following patients.

Dr Randeep Guleria from AIIMS said yoga was found to be as effective as standard pulmonary rehabilitation in improving dyspnoea, inflammatory markers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

"We are studying 160 patients with migraine who are following yoga practice along with medicine. Right now, what we can hypothesise is that yoga can be an add-on therapy to reduce migraine attacks as the relaxation techniques are believed to have a positive impact on certain chemicals in the body and brain," Dr Rohit Bhatia, neurologist at AIIMS, told MAIL TODAY.

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ALSO READ | Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

ALSO READ | Ramdev dedicates International Yoga Day to farmers

ALSO WATCH | Baba Ramdev: Due to India's initiative, 200 nations celebrate International Yoga Day

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN.  EU ambassador does not need public statements to send messages to the Armenian authorities, Piotr Switalski himself told reporters in Yerevan on Tuesday.

Commenting on the recent remarks made by justice minister Davit Harutyunyan and deputy speaker of the parliament Eduard Sharmaznov not to interfere with the domestic affairs of Armenia, Switalski first of all thanked the Armenians who supported the EU mission. There are many people in Armenia who believe the EU is doing a good job in the country and they have sent a lot of messages expressing their support.

His statement came after several remarks from the authorities calling EU ambassador not to interfere with Armenias election processes after the diplomat said the April 2 parliamentary elections were not perfect and called to make Central Electoral Commission more reliable. He added that the authorities are trying to subordinate the Electoral Code to themselves.

Of course, the EU also accepts that there are people who do not want and do not understand what we want to do in Armenia.

Secondly, I did not come here to participate in public discussions, it's not my job. But, of course, getting involved in the discussion on important issues is a positive development. We will always positively take this debate. But you need to follow certain rules: before you attack the interlocutor, you need to check the source, watch the video and think. Respect your interlocutor, the role that different people play, the EU ambassador said.

The diplomat said he will not send messages to the Armenian authorities through public statements, as they have very good working relations and ways of communicating with the government.

I can at any time engage in a constructive dialogue with the authorities. I do not need public statements for the messages to the authorities. Public statements are for the society, they concern what we are doing in Armenia as the European Union, he explained, adding that none of the opinions he expressed were a secret for his interlocutors and representatives of the country's leadership.
Azerbaijan blackmailing Armenia through Lachin corridor

Iran citizens injured in Armenia road accident

US embassy in Armenia closed today

Karabakh MOD: Defense Army did not fire at Azerbaijan positions located in occupied territories

Armenia ombudsperson meets with Belgium colleagues

Newspaper: Armenia parliament opposition seats to no longer be empty

US intends to protect Azerbaijan from threats of Iran

Aliyev, Erdogan discuss results of tripartite meeting in Russias Sochi

Azerbaijan army fires at Armenia positions, uses mortars as well

Amazon becomes world's first public company to lose $1 trillion in market value

EU's odd couple: Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel can't stand each other

US, China set first benchmarks ahead of presidents' meeting

Iranian MFA summons Azerbaijani ambassador to carpet in connection with anti-Iranian propaganda

Washington to resist any attempt by new Israeli government to annex West Bank

Biden thinks Elon Musk's relations with other countries are worthy of being looked at

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister tells Polish senator about consequences of Azerbaijani aggression

Armenian deputy in Vilnius talks about goals of Azerbaijan's aggressive policy

Taliban bans women from gyms

U.S. to send Ukraine another $400 million in military aid

Ursula von der Leyen announces EUR 250 million support package for Moldova

Biden and Jinping meet on sidelines of G20 summit in Bali to be held on November 14

Riches of world get poorer suddenly

State Duma deputy: Interparliamentary format Yerevan-Baku-Moscow will be included soon to solve issues

IMF sees growing risk of economic fragmentation

Armen Gevorgyan to visit Strasbourg, Brussels and Paris

State Duma deputy: Upper Lars border crossing capacity has increased fivefold

UK government freezes over 18 billion pounds worth of Russian assets

State Duma deputy on Zatulin's ban on entering Armenia: These issues must be resolved

Borrell calls for retooling EU infrastructure for rapid transport of military equipment to East

European Parliament clears way for Croatia's admission to Schengen Area

European Council President Michel calls on EU member states to jointly purchase gas to reduce fuel prices

Alen Simonyan congratulates scientists on their professional holiday

Armenian President meets with leaders of several countries in Egypt

Greece accuses Turkey of profiting from the suffering of other countries under sanctions

USAID official says she personally saw how democracy, economic development are progressing in Armenia (VIDEO)

Spain court sentences civilian to prison for spreading fakes

Armenian Embassy in Russia issues statement on Azerbaijan's actions

Indian company to supply 155mm self-propelled artillery guns worth $155mln to Armenia

Japanese minister caught in scandal for talking about death penalty

France changes its ambassador to Azerbaijan

UN General Assembly draft resolution requires Russia to pay reparations to Ukraine

Belarusian State Border Committee: Poland creates tense situation on border

Joint meeting of Armenian National Assembly and Russian State Duma Committee takes place

Iranian President says attempt to destabilize country fails

Deputy: Russian side is informed about importance of withdrawal of Azerbaijani units from the territory of Armenia

State Duma deputy: We can't imagine Russia without Armenia

Georgian PM and Armenian Ambassador discuss cooperation issues

Bali is short of armored limousines for G20 summit participants

FLYONE ARMENIA to start flights between Yerevan, Dubai

Kyodo: Emperor of Japan revealed to have prostate hyperplasia

Iranian intelligence urges Saudi Arabia not to test Tehran's strategic patience

Kazakhstan intends to ship 1.5 mln tons of oil via Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline

Former Ombudsman: 2,700 ha of Kapan community of Armenia's Syunik Province are under occupation by Baku

Armenia to ratify cooperation agreement with China

Japan and the US begin major joint exercise

Armenia soldier sustains gunshot wound from Azerbaijan shooting

Armenia legislature speaker receives deputy chair of Russia State Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, Eurasian Integration

PM: If anyone thinks peace agenda is peaceful annihilation of Armenia or Karabakh Armenians, they are sorely mistaken

Armenia Premier: We have 16 missing persons since September 13 military aggression by Azerbaijan

Bitcoin is trading just above $16,000

Armenias Pashinyan: Spreading of fake news by Azerbaijan becomes prelude to new aggression

Armenia PM: Azerbaijan, with its practices, reminds of Al Qaeda and Islamic State, which discredit Islam

PM: Armenia, Karabakh propose Azerbaijan to create demilitarized zone

Pashinyan: There is no Armenia army in Karabakh

All 10 fallen soldiers transferred on October 27 by Azerbaijan to Armenia are identified, buried

Pashinyan: Armenia is going to present new proposal to Azerbaijan

$25M allocated to Armenia MOD

Biden says he will discuss Ukraine conflict at G20 summit

Pashinyan: Armenia has no obligation to construct new roads

Pashinyan: Aliyev not only threatens but is already preparing genocide of Karabakh Armenians

Armenias Pashinyan: Azerbaijan president is attempting to create invented grounds for closing Lachin Corridor

Erdogan tells what relations between Turkey and Armenia depend on

Iran says it has developed first hypersonic ballistic missile

Armenias Pashinyan: Russia peacekeepers are deployed in Karabakh indefinitely

FM Lavrov to head Russia delegation at G20 summit

Erdogan: Ankara continues mediation efforts to resolve Ukrainian crisis

Armenia to get 100mn loan to fund budget deficit

IAEA head: Talks on Iran's nuclear program ended inconclusively

Armenia PM: Aliyev grossly violated tripartite written agreement of Sochi

This year 320 people seek asylum in Armenia, 213 are from Ukraine

Erdogan speaks on trusting relationship with Putin

Gold prices remain stable

Ombudsperson in Brussels, reflects on top Azerbaijan leaderships policy of Armenophobia

Indonesian authorities: Putin won't come to G20 summit in Bali

World oil prices falling

Washington demands part of Israeli Arrow 3 for sale to Germany, be produced in the U.S.

Armenia Security Council chief meets with Lithuania officials

Armenia FM heading for Paris

Egypt launches Tax Free system for foreign tourists

Washington, Brussels don't approve German plan to resume transatlantic trade talks

Newspaper: Armenias Mirzoyan makes it clear to Blinken that wording Artsakh should be included

Newspaper: Armenia parliamentary opposition decides to return to legislative body

Polar and brown bear hybrids may appear in Yakutia due to climate change

Volkswagen releases office chair with electric motor and klaxon

Israel reveals Pulcinella secret, admitting that it used drones not only for surveillance

Chinese woman makes dresses for her daughter out of trash bags

Poland and Slovakia will increase defense spending

Audi presents new crossovers Q8 e-tron

Benny Gantz: Israel has an opportunity to strike Iran's nuclear facilities

France National Assembly speaker reaffirms solidarity with Armenia, Armenians
YEREVAN.  If the European Union's presence in Armenia is unwanted anymore, we will not impose on it, Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski told reporters on Tuesday.

He noted that the EU provided large and substantial financial aid, more than 7 million, to Armenian parliamentary elections.

According to the Ambassador, 90% external financing transferred to Armenia came from the EU. He added that new technologies would not have been acquired without this help.

Switalski noted that the financial support is the least that EU did to make elections in Armenia better than before.

And I want to make it clear: everything was done by an open request of the Armenian authorities, Switalski said.

He said that they have never tried to force something. The Ambassador emphasized that the EU respects the sovereign choice of Armenia, nothing will be conducted without the will of the country.
Information was received on Tuesday at 12pm from Colonel A. Ghazaryan, the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) of Armenia representative at the embassy of Armenia in Moscow.

Accordingly, three of the people who were injured in the road accident in Russia, and who were hospitalized, are in moderate condition. In addition, Roza Geghamyan (born in 2005) will be discharged from hospital on Tuesday, her brother Karlen Geghamyan (born in 2002) will undergo surgery, and their mother Aida Hakobyan (born in 1983) is still in moderate condition.

A truck and a minibus, in which there were 20 people and was en route from Armenias capital city of Yerevan to Moscow, collided on June 18, on a highway in Tula Oblast (province) of Russia, the MES informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As a result, one personRussian citizen Otar Nasirov (born in 1961)died, and nine othersincluding Armenianswere injured. The injured were hospitalized; but later, some of them were checked out.

And the Ministry of Health informed that virtually of those still hospitalized have suffered concussion and broken bones. Four of the injured are in moderate condition, whereas another two are in satisfactory condition.
YEREVAN.  Threats to Armenia's sovereignty are not in the EU's friendly support, but somewhere else, Head of the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski told reporters on Tuesday.

According to him, there are issues about which the EU has not only a right, but an obligation to speak. He noted that their Armenian partners make certain agreements regarding certain spheres, adding that an agreement on financing has been concluded between Armenia and the European Union and if here are agreements between the two sides on the creation of an independent anti-corruption agency, the parties have a right and an obligation to speak about the problems.

Switalski said that a number of issues on combating corruption, human rights, the rule of law are based on the fact that these financing agreements have been signed between Armenia and the EU. According to the Ambassador, these agreements have no compulsory character, they have been agreed thanks to sovereign will of both parties.

Very soon another mission will arrive in Yerevan to check how Armenia fulfills its obligations under the agreement on financing in the field of justice and public administration, Switalski said, adding that they publish their opinion not because they have a right, but an obligation.

A few days ago, according to the European official, he sent a letter to the Minister of Economic Development and Investments of Armenia Suren Karayan, urging the authorities to publish the text of the agreement with the EU on financing, in order to inform Armenians that they the EU is obliged to speak about that.
Number of Britons, asking for French citizenship in connection with the Brexit, increased by 254% or 3.5 times (up to 1,400) in 2016, Le Monde reported quoting French Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Those applying for French citizenship are mostly elderly Britons who are already living in France.

During the interview, they say that Brexit forced them to ask for citizenship, as they are afraid that they will not be able to be in the territory of France legally after the end of negotiations on Brexit.

The procedure of obtaining the French citizenship takes on average one and a half years.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of France, 439 Britons officially received citizenship in 2016, Gazeta reported.
YEREVAN.  The charges brought against Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh Republic/NKR) former Defense Minister and Defense Army Commander Samvel Babayan and Karabakh War veteran Sanasar Gabrielyan, who are under arrest along the lines of the criminal case into smuggling Igla missile system into Armenia, have been mitigated at the end of the investigation.

Gabrielyans attorney, Karapet Aghajanyan, on Tuesday told about the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He noted that the charge of smuggling of military products has been removed, and his client is now charged solely with illegal acquisition, carrying or transporting of weapons, and ammunition. Aghajanyan noted that being a Karabakh war veteran, Sanasar Gabrielyan wished to purchase weapons for the armed forces of Armenia, but later, he was arrested in this connection.

Karapet Aghajanyan stated that the other defendant in the Igla case, Armen Poghosyan, is the person who attempted to mislead Gabrielyan, since he presented this missile system, which was actually acquired in Armenia, as a weapon that was imported from abroad, and attempted to make money in this way.

As reported earlier, Samvel Babayan, Sanasar Gabrielyan, and Armen Poghosyan are arrested along the lines of the criminal case into smuggling Igla missile system into Armenia. Criminal charges were filed against them, but, later, they were mitigated.

The investigation into this criminal case is completed, and its documents have been forwarded to the parties.
YEREVAN.  The Prime Minister of Armenia, Karen Karapetyan, received British Ambassador Judith Margareth Farnworth.

Noting that this year marks the 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Armenia and the United Kingdom, the PM stressed that a rich experience of cooperation has been built up over the past period, the press office of the government informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Highly appreciative of the assistance provided by the United Kingdom with a view to implementing economic and democratic reforms in Armenia, Karapetyan said the government of Armenia is keen to expand the ongoing cooperation, especially in the economic sphere. In this context, the Prime Minister touched upon the steps aimed at improving the business climate and the new government program. The Premier stressed that the new program clearly states the governments vision of and the ways for developing the country.

In turn, noting that the United Kingdom is interested in the development of cooperation with the government of Armenia in specific domains, Ambassador Farnworth noted that a program of increased assistance for Armenias judicial and legal system reform and the fight against corruption has already been approved. The diplomat stressed that several British companies are interested in implementing investment programs in Armenias industry and the energy sector.

Hopeful that the March 2017 meetings between 17 Armenian and 100 British IT companies would lead to the signing of business contracts, Farnworth said that respective specific steps are being taken.

Noting the importance of bringing in British capital and business management culture to Armenia, Karen Karapetyan stressed that the countrys government is open for close cooperation in specific domains.
European Parliaments Foreign Affairs Committee asked EU to suspend talks on Turkeys accession to the European Union, the annual report says.

The suspension was supported by all political Groups in the European Parliament, EU Reporter said.

The developments in recent years, which culminated in the Turkish Constitutional Referendum last April, have shown that this countrys EU bid has no future. This is why we are now calling to formally suspend the accession talks, EPP Group standing Rapporteur on Turkey said.

The committee members voted for the resolution, but the document still has to be considered by the European Parliament during the next plenary session.
The EU is concerned with the situation along the line of contact between Karabakh and Azerbaijani armed forces, head of delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski told reporters on Tuesday.

The co-chairs [of Minsk Group ed.} are doing a good job in difficult environment full of challenges. We support the Minsk Group co-chairmanship. Our main role is to provide support to the mediation of the Minsk Group, EU envoy said.

He said the constant cases of ceasefire violation are worrying, and the peace is very fragile.

Piotr Switalski added that EU special representative on the South Caucasus Herbert Salber will be coming to Armenia in beginning of July, and his visit is a demonstration that we care very much about what is happening.

Speaking about the losses at the line of contact, EU ambassador said it is sad because young people with the whole life in front of them are dying.

My words of sympathy to the families of victims of hostilities. Let's work for peace, the EU believes this should be one of the priorities. Let's not lose hope, he emphasized.
On Wednesday, around one thousand Chinese yoga practitioners will celebrate the International Yoga Day in Beijing, following a week of events held across China.

By Ananth Krishnan: Yoga has come to the Great Wall of China. For the first time, Chinese and Indian yoga lovers have come together to celebrate yoga at the iconic Great Wall of China, ahead of Wednesday's International Day of Yoga.

On Tuesday morning, dozens of young Chinese yoga lovers gathered at the Great Wall, in a first such event organised by the Indian Embassy in Beijing, along with the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Yogi Yoga Institute in Beijing.

'Great Wall of Yoga' advertisement Bird's eye glimpse of a never before event!#IDY2017 #YogaDay pic.twitter.com/Ba7DeZ27zV- India in China (@EOIBeijing) June 20, 2017

The idea is to promote yoga in China, where it already has wide following. On Wednesday, around one thousand Chinese yoga practitioners will celebrate the International Yoga Day in Beijing, following a week of events held across China.

Twenty young yoga ambassadors from India, 10 girls and 10 boys under 30 years of age selected by the Ministry of AYUSH and the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, are touring China and holding workshops in the lead up to yoga day in an effort to demonstrate authentic yoga techniques, in a country where there is wide popularity for yoga but also a dearth of trained teachers.

There are more than 10,800 yoga schools in China and millions of practitioners, according to the "China Yoga Industry Development Report", an official study that examines the yoga explosion in China that will be released this month.

Also Read:

How the world is gearing up to celebrate International Yoga Day

Delhi: Farmers mahapanchayat to hold yoga on highway protest on 21st June

--- ENDS ---
YEREVAN.  In return for free entry to the markets of the European Union, Armenia must provide standards for human rights and labor rights, head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski told reporters.

According to him, a very important mission from Brussels arrived in Yerevan to monitor the progress of Armenia in connection with the GSP + regime which Armenia had joined more than three years ago.

Implementation of the Convention on Human Rights and Labor Rights in Armenia is a part of the deal between Armenia and the European Union, he explained.

We believe that this is a win-win situation, Switalski emphasized.

This regime, he continued, contributes to the deepening of reforms in Armenia, and this is an investigation mission.

The deal is quite clear: in return for free access to the markets of the European Union, each country must provide standards for human rights and labor rights. Let me remind you that more than 6,000 Armenian goods are freely entering the European market. And, of course, in the case of a positive assessment, it is still possible to make the GSP + regime more effective for Armenia and Armenian exporters, in particular, he added.
YEREVAN. - The actions of Azerbaijan are terroristic and not military, former Armenian MP Hovhannes Igityan told journalists o Tuesday.

In his words, when one state tries to use the climate of fear for political purposes, it is a terror.

Unfortunately, all the guarantees, which were available before, are no longer effective. The sides agreed in due time to resolve the conflict peacefully but this agreement is not effective now. Azerbaijan sees that there are other states in the world too, which dont respect such obligations. [Thus,] Azerbaijan no longer conducts policy on its own but actively cooperates with Turkey, let alone the countries, which sell to Azerbaijan complex weapons and their specialists for the correct application thereof, Igityan noted.

According to him, from the very beginning the objective of the OSCE Minsk Group efforts was to establish peace but Azerbaijan gave up on that work by launching last years April War.
The OSCE Minsk Group is expected to make targeted statements for the sake of preventing new human losses and in favor of regional stability.

Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Relations of the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia, Armen Ashotyan, said the aforementioned on Tuesday at the meeting with Kazakhstan Ambassador to Armenia Timur Urazayev.

The Chairman praised the development dynamics of relations between the Armenian and Kazakhstan parliaments, expressing hope that during his term of office it will be possible to give new quality and efficiency to the existing relations.

Ambassador Urazayev, for his part, congratulated Mr Ashotyan on his important role in conducting parliamentary diplomacy and on being elected for the responsible office. He also expressed hope that the mutual efficient activity will contribute to the inter-parliamentary ties, in particular the intensification of cooperation between friendship groups.

At the meeting, the Chairman and the Ambassador also referred to the issues related to cooperation and common interest within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). Within this context, issues related to conducting efficient economic and investment policy were discussed. Special reference was made to the cooperation in the political sphere, which is a good basis for conducting more active investment policy.

Apart from this, the sides discussed issues concerning the cooperation in inter-parliamentary organizations.

Touching on issues of regional cooperation and stability, Ashotyan noted that in the regional level the success of almost all projects is jeopardized due to the destructive and adventurous policy of Azerbaijan. In this context, he spoke about the gross violations of ceasefire by the Azerbaijani armed forces on the contact line between Artsakh and Azerbaijan on June 16 and 17, noting that in this regard the OSCE Minsk Group is expected to make targeted statements for the sake of preventing new human losses and in favor of regional stability.

Ambassador Urazayev, for his part, noted that the military solution of conflicts should be ruled out in the 21st century.

By the end of the meeting, the sides referred to the objectives of the Analytic Council working group set up upon the initiative of the NA Standing Committee of Foreign Relations and discussed possibilities for cooperation.
YEREVAN. - Armenia should think whether time has not come to prepare the legislative framework for the liberalization of visa regime with the European Union, Head of the EU delegation to Armenia, Ambassador Piotr Switalski told reporters on Tuesday.

The Ambassador noted that he understands that this issue, which is very important for all Armenians, is still on the agenda.

According to Switalski, the experience of Ukraine and Georgia shows that the liberalization of visa regime requires very serious agreements. In case of Armenia, many people use the word patience, while this should be an expression of sincere interest, he added. Armenia should draft laws and introduce relevant procedures if it thinks about the liberalization of visa regime, the Ambassador concluded.
YEREVAN. - Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan did not meet with opposition Yelk faction of the National Assembly (NA) on Tuesday. Instead, the Government proposed the faction to discuss its program with Vice Prime Minister Vache Gabrielyan.

Secretary of the faction, MP Gevorg Gorgisyan, told the aforementioned to Armenian News  NEWS.am.

The prime minister on Tuesday introduced the Government program to Tsarukyan and Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) factions, and earlier to ARF representatives.

Meanwhile, the Government proposed Yelk (Way Out) Bloc to discuss the program with the vice prime minister, which the bloc faction refused to do. It will voice its questions regarding the program at the NA on Wednesday. In fact, the discussion on the Government program will kick off in the NA starting from Wednesday.

Gevorg Gorgisyan also noted that that is a program of declarative nature: the issues are described but there are no specific steps mentioned.

In short, there are promises but there is no answer to the main question: How? There are promises but there are no specific steps and a road map, he added.

According to the MP, they will not vote for the program, while the position of the factionwhether it will vote against or abstainwill depend on the Q&A with the Government.
Preparations are nearing completion for the mega International Yoga Day event to be held in Lucknow tomorrow. PM Narendra Modi will be accompanied by UP CM Yogi Adityanath on the dais where they will practise asanas on saffron-coloured mats.

By Shiv Pujan Jha: The stage is all set for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate the International Yoga Day in Lucknow on Wednesday. PM Modi will be accompanied by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and around 20 other people, all of whom will practise a number of yoga asanas on saffron-coloured yoga mats on the dais.

The around 52,000 other participants, who will be ferried by around 1,000 buses, who will join in the celebrations at the Rama Bai Ambedkar ground near the Lucknow airport, will be given mats coloured green and fluorescent orange. The event will begin at 6.30 am, with various yoga committees and the media being told to assemble and take their places by 3.30 am on Wednesday.

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Meanwhile, tight security has been put in place at the Rama Bai Ambedkar ground, which is located beside a highway near the Lukcnow airport. Four rings of security have been deployed around the ground and the senior superintendent of police and the district magistrate are monitoring arrangements 24x7.

Metal scanner and detectors have been installed while dog squads are making the rounds of the ground. The Special Protection Group, responsible for the prime minister's safety, has carried out multiple rounds of checks and passes to the International Yoga Day event have been issued only after background security checks.

Meanwhile, based on intelligence inputs, 27 student leaders from the Samajwadi Party and the All India Students' Association have been identified as probable protestors. Police teams carried out three raids in Lucknow, at Mahanagar, Hasanganj and Ashiyana, to place potential troublemakers under preventive detention.

ALSO READ | Beijing celebrates International Yoga Day at Great Wall of China

ALSO READ | How the world is gearing up to celebrate International Yoga Day

ALSO WATCH | 5 basic yoga asanas you can do anytime, anywhere

--- ENDS ---
ASSE Names 2017 Outstanding Safety Educators

Georgi Popov and Sathy Rajendran are the recipients of the award.

DENVER-- According to a news release, ASSE has named Georgi Popov and Sathy Rajendran as the 2017 William E. Tarrants Outstanding Safety Education Award winners.

Popov, Ph. D., QEP, CMC, is a professor in the safety sciences program at the University of Central Missouri (UCM). He is a consultant and advisor to committees at ASSE, NIOSH and AIHA.

"Without question, Dr. Popov is the role model for educators in the field of occupational safety and health," said Bruce Lyon, advisory board chair to UCM's safety sciences program. "I am continually amazed by his expertise in risk assessment, prevention through design, business concepts and overall critical thinking. He is highly regarded by his peers and students, and a thoughtful leader in our profession."

Rajendran, Ph.D., ARM, CSP, CRIS, is an associate professor and program director of the safety and health management program at Central Washington University (CWU). His research has been cited more than 500 times in science journals, according to the report.

"He's truly one of the few gems that one will encounter in a 40-year safety career," said Michael Fallon, chair of the Industry Advisory Council for CWU's safety and health management program. "He's inspirational and nurturing to his students while setting high expectations for performance. I'm hard pressed to think of better traits for someone who is educating the safety professionals of tomorrow."

Both educators will be honored during the 2017 ASSE conference & expo this week.
New Pig Introduces a Spill Risk Algorithm

Facility managers can use it, free of charge, to understand their premises' spill risks and ways to reduce unnecessary risks.

DENVER -- New Pig has developed a new algorithm to help facility managers understand their premises' spill risks and how those unnecessary risks and can reduced or eliminated. Company officials were discussing the new tool on June 19 at the opening day of the expo at ASSE's Safety 2017 conference and expo.

It's a free tool that companies can use to obtain a Spill Preparedness Report. To request one, they would email [email protected]

Data gathering for a company will take just a few minutes. The algorithm performs more than 600 calculations for each liquid area , asking six simple questions per area (such as battery storage areas and fuel stations), then a comprehensive report on risk factors in each area is compiled.

"Our intent was to provide physics-based guidance to facilities where regulations leave off," said its developer, Andy James, New Pig's sustainability manager. "We find that when provided with actual spill data, facilities are eager to take the steps to meet a more helpful, meaningful guidance."
ASSE House of Delegates Endorses New Name

The proposed new logo for the society was rejected in June 19 voting, however.

DENVER  The renaming of the American Society of Safety Engineers took a major step forward on June 19 when the ASSE House of Delegates voted in favor of the new name: the American Society of Safety Professionals. The name now heads to a membership vote lasting 45 days, with ASSE members worldwide casting their votes on electronic ballots that will be tallied in early August.

The delegates voted not to adopt a new logo, preferring to stay with its traditional green shield with the gold ASSE letters within the four angles of a gold cross.

Our members decide who we are and what were all about, and its always been that way, said ASSE President Tom Cecich, CSP, CIH. It seems that our delegates like the new name and feel a connection to our current logo. Its an objective process that has made us a strong organization for many years now.

The voting took place at the House of Delegates annual meeting at ASSEs Safety 2017 Professional Development Conference & Exposition at the Colorado Convention Center. If the new name is approved in the membership vote, implementation would occur in 2018, including a new website.

Engineers made up our entire membership when we were formed in 1911, but today the occupational safety and health profession encompasses many disciplines, Cecich said. Research conducted in the past year with ASSE members, customers, and stakeholders indicated that an updated brand with a clearer vision would better reflect the organizations current membership and position it for growth, as well as help to eliminate confusion about who could join the society.

More information on ASSEs branding initiative is available at www.assp.org.
The Love Shack, Milwaukees newest riverfront restaurant and bar, opens Saturday, June 24 at 11 a.m. It is located at 106 W. Seeboth St., next to Screaming Tuna.

"Im really excited to open the doors to The Love Shack," says Wes Shaver, managing partner. "Ive opened over a dozen new concepts in the last eight years, and Ive never seen such an organic excitement around a new property."

The Love Shack is a full-service Polynesian restaurant and tiki bar with a second floor space called The Rhum Bar. The tiki cocktail menu features 20 tiki drinks for both individuals and for sharing, made from hand-squeezed fruit juices, small-batch exotic syrups and flavors.

The Love Shack will also offer a 12-item menu directed by Chef Adam Pawlak, who is also the executive chef at Black Sheep. The Love Shacks menu will include island-inspired items such as scallops and Spam, melon salad, Hawaiian pork meatballs and more.

"The Rhum Bar" will feature a cocktail menu inspired by Vic Bergeron  founder of the world famous Trader Vics. Sample flights, single pours or individual samplings will be available.





"People have asked for our patio to be stellar, and were confident we delivered just that," says Shaver. "Whether youre inside or out, youre accompanied by larger-than-life plants, comfortable seating surfaces and incredible menu options."

The Love Shack will be open seven days a week. Monday-Thursday, from 4 p.m. to midnight; Friday from 2 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight.
A student uses a digitizer to record geometric morphometric sites on a skull. Credit: North Carolina State University

Skeletal evidence shows that, hundreds of years after the Roman Republic conquered most of the Mediterranean world, coastal communities in what is now south and central Italy still bore distinct physical differences to one another  though the same could not be said of the area around Rome itself.

Using state-of-the-art forensic techniques, anthropologists from North Carolina State University and California State University, Sacramento examined skulls from three imperial Roman cemeteries: 27 skulls from Isola Sacra, on the coast of central Italy; 26 from Velia, on the coast of southern Italy; and 20 from Castel Malnome, on the outskirts of the city of Rome. The remains at the cemeteries in both Isola Sacra and Velia belonged to middle-class merchants and tradesmen, while those from Castel Malnome belonged to manual laborers. All of the remains date from between the first and third centuries A.D.

The researchers took measurements of 25 specific points on each skull using a "digitizer," which is basically an electronic stylus that records the coordinates of each point. This data allowed them to perform shape analysis on the skulls, relying on "geometric morphometrics"  a field of study that characterizes and assesses biological forms.

"We found that there were significant cranial differences between the coastal communities, even though they had comparable populations in terms of class and employment," says Ann Ross, a professor of anthropology at NC State and co-author of a paper on the work.

"We think this is likely due to the fact that the area around Velia had a large Greek population, rather than an indigenous one," says Samantha Hens, a professor of biological anthropology at Sacramento State and lead author of the paper.

Map showing the locations of the three imperial Roman cemeteries in relation to modern day Rome and Naples. Credit: North Carolina State University

In addition, the skulls from Castel Malnome had more in common with both coastal sites than the coastal sites had with each other.

"This likely highlights the heterogeneity of the population near Rome, and the influx of freed slaves and low-paid workers needed for manual labor in that area," Hens says.

"Researchers have used many techniques  from linguistics to dental remains  to shed light on how various peoples moved through the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire," Ross says. "But this is the first study we know of in which anyone has used geometric morphometrics to evaluate imperial Roman remains.

"That's important because geometric morphometrics offers several advantages," Ross says. "It includes all geometric information in three-dimensional space rather than statistical space, it provides more biological information, and it allows for pictorial visualization rather than just lists of measurements."

"The patterns of similarities and differences that we see help us to reconstruct past population relationships," Hens says. "Additionally, these methods allow us to identify where the shape change is occurring on the skull, for example, in the face, or braincase, which gives us a view into what these people actually looked like."

The paper, "Cranial Variation and Biodistance in Three Imperial Roman Cemeteries," is published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology.

More information: S. M. Hens et al. Cranial variation and biodistance in three Imperial Roman cemeteries, International Journal of Osteoarchaeology (2017). DOI: 10.1002/oa.2602
The bacteria Thermus thermophilus lives in hot springs. Credit: Peter Brzezinski

Combustion is often a rapid process, as in the case of fire. How can cells control the burning process so well? The question has long puzzled researchers. Using bacteria from hot springs, researchers from Stockholm University now have the answer.

When cells burn fat, sugar or protein containing the same amount of energy, they do not vanish into fire and smoke, but use the energy to activate muscles. How does the body control the burning process so well? Researchers at Stockholm University have finally been able to monitor the process and to uncover the mechanism.

"We have shown how oxygen is combusted after it has been transported by blood to our cells. We have also shown how the combustion of oxygen provides energy, for example, for muscle contraction or to generate electricity in our nerve cells," says Peter Brzezinski, professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Stockholm University.

The combustion of oxygen in our cells takes place in the so-called respiratory chain, which carefully controls the process. Electrons, which come from digestion, are transferred to the oxygen we breathe. The oxygen molecules bind to an enzyme in our mitochondria, the cellular power plant. However, the bound oxygen is not immediately combusted to form water, as in an uncontrolled fire, but is converted to water gradually in a carefully controlled process. Up until now, we only had a very basic knowledge about the mechanism of this process, since the reaction is too rapid to be studied using available techniques. One possibility would be to follow the reactions at low temperatures, at about -50 degrees Celsius, where they would be sufficiently slow. However, this is not practically possible.

In this project, researchers Federica Poiana and Christoph von Ballmoos studied oxygen combustion in a bacterium that lives in hot springs  they thrive in nearly boiling water. When the research group performed their studies at 10 degrees, the bacteria found it extremely cold  comparable to human mitochondria exposed to -40 degrees. The reactions were sufficiently slow to allow studies using available instruments. By combining their experimental studies with theoretical calculations, the researchers could translate their observations to the equivalent processes in human cells.

"In addition to just being curious and wanting learn how the process works, our studies are also motivated by trying to understand mitochondrial diseases caused by malfunction in oxygen combustion," says Peter Brzezinski.

More information: Splitting of the OO bond at the heme-copper catalytic site of respiratory oxidases, Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700279 Journal information: Science Advances
Using the new satellite tomography, researchers can map the city of Berlin in 3-D and deformation and subsidence down to the millimeter. Credit: DLR & TUM

Three million measurement points in one square kilometer: Prof. Xiaoxiang Zhu and her team have set a world record in information retrieval from satellite data. Thanks to new algorithms, the researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) succeeded in making four-dimensional point clouds of Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and Washington, D.C. from images stacks of the TerraSAR-X radar satellite. Next the scientists plan to create four-dimensional models of all cities in the world.

The world's major cities are growing. According to United Nations estimates, today approximately half of the world's population is already living in cities. By 2050 the figure is expected to grow to two thirds of the worlds population. "This growth places high demands on building and infrastructure safety, since damage events can endanger thousands of human lives at once," says Xiaoxiang Zhu, Professor for Signal Processing in Earth Observation at TUM.

Together with her team she has developed a method for early detection of potential dangers: for example, subterranean subsidence can result in the collapse of buildings, bridges, tunnels or dams. The new method makes it possible to detect and visualize changes as small as one millimeter per year.

Three-dimensional radar views of the world's major cities

The data for the new urban images come from the German TerraSAR-X satellite, the most high resolution civilian radar satellite in the world. Orbiting the earth at an altitude of approximately 500 kilometers since 2007, the satellite sends microwave pulses to the earth and then collects their echoes. "Initially these measurements are only in a two dimensional image with a resolution of one meter," Zhu explains.

The TUM professor collaborats with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), where she is also in charge of her own working group. The DLR is responsible for operating and use of the satellite for scientific purposes. "The significance of the images is limited by the fact that reflections from different objects that are at an equal distance from the satellite will layover with each other. This effect reduces the three-dimensional world to a two-dimensional image."

Not only has Zhu developed her own algorithm which makes it possible to reconstruct the third and even fourth (time) dimension, she set a world record at the same time: Four dimensional point clouds with a density of three million points per square kilometer are reconstructed. This rich retrieved information makes it possible to generate highly precise four-dimensional city models.

Different perspectives produce a three dimensional radar image

The trick: The scientists use images taken from slightly different perspectives. The satellite flies over the region of interest every eleven days. However, its orbit position is not always exactly the same. The researchers use these 250-meter orbital variations in radar tomography in order to localize every point in three-dimensional space. This method uses the same principle as used by computer tomography, which creates a three-dimensional view of the inside of the human body: A variety of radar images taken from different perspectives are combined to create a three-dimensional image.

"Since this method processes only a poor resolution in the third dimension, we apply additional compressive sensing methods that make it possible to improve the resolution by 15 times," says Zhu.

Scientists can use the radar measurements from the TerraSAR-X to reconstruct urban infrastructure on the earth's surface with great precision, for example the 3D shape of individual buildings. The method has already been used to generate highly precise 3-D models of Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and Washington, D.C.

The fourth dimension

Since the images are taken at different times, it's possible to estimate the change over timethe fourth dimensionat the order of a fraction of the radar wavelength. The resulting 4-D model reveals the tiny changes with a precision on the order of approximately one millimeter per year, for example the thermal expansion of buildings in the summer or deformations resulting from subsidence below the earth's surface. Zhu explains, "The method is suitable for the detection of danger points. Satellite technology can thus make an important contribution to making our urban infrastructure safer."

In the future the researchers even intend to watch major cities grow. In the recently launched ERC project "So2Sat", all the world's metropolitan areas are being mapped and observed on a long-term basis. The investigations are centered on newly industrializing countries, where entire urban neighborhoods spring up almost overnight. Zhu and her team plan to use various Big Data sources for the first time: Measurements from satellites will be fused with map information from Open Street Map and the practically unlimited stream of images, text and activity patterns provided by social networks.

More information: Jian Kang et al, Robust Object-Based Multipass InSAR Deformation Reconstruction, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2017). DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2684424 Yuanyuan Wang et al. Fusing Meter-Resolution 4-D InSAR Point Clouds and Optical Images for Semantic Urban Infrastructure Monitoring, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2017). DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2016.2554563 Sina Montazeri et al. Three-Dimensional Deformation Monitoring of Urban Infrastructure by Tomographic SAR Using Multitrack TerraSAR-X Data Stacks, IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2016). DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2016.2585741
The Union Health Ministry recently filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court, giving a clean chit to an IAS officer accused in an alleged Rs 7000 crore AIIMS scam that took place during UPA II. India Today has exclusive access to documents relating to the matter.

Health Minister JP Nadda (pictured) previously said he was recusing himself and his ministry from cases involving Vineet Chaudhary

By Anand Patel: The Union Health Ministry has put a full stop to the investigations into the alleged Rs 7,000 crore AIIMS scam that took place when the United Progressive Alliance II was in power.

The ministry filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court last month, giving a clean chit to a Himachal Pradesh cadre Indian Administrative Services (IAS) officer who was accused of corruption during his tenure at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

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The officer, Vineet Chaudhary, was previously the secretary of health in Himachal Pradesh when current Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda was the state's health minister.

Interestingly, the affidavit came even though JP Nadda issued a memo two years ago distancing his ministry from the matter. Nadda sent the case to the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), which is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India Today has exclusive access to a set of documents related to the scam, which was highlighted by Indian Forest Service's Sanjiv Chaturvedi during his tenure as Chief Vigilance Officer at AIIMS.

THE SCAM

The alleged Rs 7,000 crore scam took place between May 2010 and November 2012, when Vineet Chaudhary was the deputy director of administration at AIIMS, New Delhi.

During Chaudhary's tenure, a Rs 7000-crore project for the infrastructure development at AIIMS and for the setting up of a cancer hospital in Jhajjar, Haryana were undertaken.

In September 2012, BS Anand, the then Superintending Engineer of AIIMS and the head of the Engineering Wing of the Institute, was given an extension beyond his superannuation, against laid-down norms.

AIIMS's vigilance wing investigated Anand's extension and found that Vineet Chaudhary had misled the then Union Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad to ensure that Anand's term was extended. On the basis of this enquiry, BS Anand's services were terminated.

Following this, AIIMS Chief Vigilance Commissioner Sanjiv Chaturvedi began an investigation into a number of projects initiated by Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand. Chaturvedi's report red flagged a nexus between the two top officials to misappropriate funds meant for the development of AIIMS.

On the basis of Chaturvedi's report then Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to register a case against Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand in January 2014.

ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THE TWO: PANDORA'S BOX

What were Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand exactly accused of? According to Right To Information (RTI) activist Raj Narain, Chaudhary and Anand colluded and were responsible for the poor quality of construction in the Convergence Block, underground multilevel parking, purchase of Porta cabins under the garb of development work at AIIMS Delhi campus.

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'A portion of the underground parking of Institute constructed at the cost of Rs. 50 crore collapsed within 2 months in the first rain itself, Porta cabins were given preference over permanent construction without seeking a mandatory clearance from the Fire Department,' Narain alleges.

Narain suggests that irregularities were found in the April 2012 land purchase that Vineet Chaudhary and BS Anand made in Gurgaon's Iqbalpur village near Jhajjar Campus for AIIMS' Haryana cancer hospital.

'On the basis of the CVO's complaint, the CBI registered case against both officials regarding the said illegal extension (of Anand's tenure), (irregularities in purchase of) properties and corruption in construction work,' Narain adds.

Click here to Enlarge Vineet Chaudhary (left) and BS Anand (right)

CBI REPORT

The Central Bureau of Investigation in its December 2014 report to the Union Health Ministry, found Vineet Chaudhary guilty of misleading then Union Health Minister Azad to illegally extend BS Anand's tenure. The agency recommended departmental action against Chaudhary.

A Self Contained Note (SCN) of the CBI, accessed by India Today, said it could not probe the corruption allegations against Chaudhary as no supporting documents were provided by the concerned department.

The CBI passed onus of further probe onto AIIMS's Chief Vigilance Officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

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Raj Narain claims, 'It appears there was considerable pressure on the investigative agency from certain quarters in the power corridor... had the agency completed its probe into the corruption allegations, (Chaudhary and Anand) would have been nailed.'

PARLIAMENTARY PROBE

The Parliamentary Committee on Health & Family Welfare Affairs, which conducted an enquiry into the allegations of corruption at AIIMS, came out with a detailed report in August 2015. The committee castigated the Health Ministry for failing to tackle corruption at the top health institute.

In its report, the committee noted, 'The Ministry is non serious (sic) in tackling corruption issues.' It went on to recommend that the ministry should ensure expeditious investigations into all allegations of corruption at AIIMS and furnish within three months a status report on the investigations into corrupt practices and embezzlement of funds at the premier health institute.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who is arguing the AIIMS corruption matter in the Delhi High Court says, 'The manner in which the Superintending Engineer (Anand) was involved in irregularities and therefore giving extension (that) he was not eligible for shows a clear intent on part of the then Dy Director Vineet Chaudhary to continue with the corrupt nexus.'

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He further claims that the CBI was denied access to vital documents and information and so, could not conduct an inquiry into the purchase of Porta cabins.

Bhushan went on to allege that the current Health Minister JP Nadda has attempted to quash the investigations against Chaudhary and Anand and that during Nadda's tenure, all investigations of large-scale corruption at AIIMS have been shut down.

'The minister has an unholy nexus with Vineet Chaudhary who was his secretary in Himachal,' Bhushan alleged.

THE COVER UP

Between May 2014 to June 2014, JP Nadda, then just a Member of Parliament, wrote a number of letters to the then Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan asking that all corruption-related enquiries initiated by the Vigilance Wing at AIIMS be halted.

In August 2014, Dr Harsh Vardhan went ahead an approved major departmental proceedings as punishment against Vineet Chaudhary for the illegal extension granted to BS Anand, as well as other charges of serious misconduct.

The file containing Dr Harsh Vardhan's approval was sent for further approval/first stage advice of the Central Vigilance Commission.

Click here to Enlarge Dr Harsh Vardhan

However, once JP Nadda took over as Union Health Minister in November 2014, the CVC expressed inability to proceed in the matter on technical grounds.

Shaken by a series of media reports on his involvement in the matter, in May 2015 JP Nadda wrote to the secretary of health and family welfare rescuing himself from the cases of alleged corruption and irregularities at AIIMS that involved Vineet Chaudhary.

'I am of the firm view that I must rescue myself and so must the Ministry which I head from investigating and deciding on the case relating to Vineet Chaudhary. Given that DoPT is the cadre controlling authority for IAS officers, it would be appropriate if DoPT is requested to handle the entire matters of Vineet Chaudhary,' Nadda wrote.

However, despite issuing orders to transfer the case to DoPT, the Health Ministry made U-turn after two years, filing an affidavit in the matter in the Delhi High Court on May 2 this year. The affidavit said that the charges of corruption against Vineet Chaudhary during his tenure at AIIMS were not established.

Essentially, the ministry gave him a clean chit.

'PM NEEDS TO LOOK INTO THIS'

Speaking to India Today, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said JP Nadda's writing letters to Harsh Vardhan asking for AIIMS vigilance probes to be halted was a case of intervention.

'This is a clear case of conflict of interest... When the CBI had conducted initial probe why was it not allowed to complete the probe?' Surjewala questioned, adding that PM Modi needs to personally look into the matter.

'All this is happening right under his nose... but nobody is being held accountable... in the high court, affidavits giving clean chits AIIMS administration... what happens to the public money that was lost,' Surjewala questioned.

MINISTER MUM

Health Minister JP Nadda did not respond to multiple requests from India Today seeking comment.

A detailed questionnaire asking for his response to the allegations against him was sent to both his official and personal email ids on June 3 and once again on June 16.

No response was received by India Today at the time of publishing this story. The report will be updated with the minister's comments if and when a reply is received.

ALSO READ | India most corrupt nation in Asia, most Indians believe PM Modi is checking it

ALSO READ | IAS officer's conviction for corruption sends shockwaves through bureaucracy, threatens to paralyse government

ALSO WATCH | Modi government has zero tolerance on corruption, says Jitendra Singh

--- ENDS ---
Credit: University of Manchester

On sunny days like this, a cloud full of ice-lollies sounds like the ultimate treat and researchers from the University of Manchester have discovered such clouds, twice.

The researchers, led by Stavros Keppas, from The University of Manchester's School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Science, describe their findings in Geophysical Research Letters.

The team spotted a significant concentration of curious ice formations in the shape of a stick with a spherical head at the end, resembling an ice-lolly, during a research flight over the north-east Atlantic Ocean last September. But this wasn't the first time the team had spotted such phenomena. They had also seen the unusual ice particles over south-west of the UK on a similar flight back in 2009, meaning this wasn't just a freak event of nature first time around.

Then, by studying where the so-called ice-lollies appeared and using past research about ice particle formation, the researchers figured out the ice-lollies' origins and how they may even affect the weather.

Stavros Keppas, lead author, explains: "Ice-lollies are the product of the collision between an ice column and a liquid water droplet in the air. Ice splinters are created at temperatures between -3 and -8oC in the cloud and instantly freeze any water droplet they touch, creating these unusual ice-lolly shapes. The Ice crystals grow into distinctive and somewhat predictable shapes, depending on the temperature, amount of water vapour and humidity."

Credit: University of Manchester

Stavros thinks this kind of ice-lolly particle form on a regular basis, especially at high latitudes. However, he concedes more research is needed in these kinds of clouds to see if it is a widespread phenomenon.

He added: "More measurements are needed in this region of a cloud system to see if this is a widespread phenomenon. But recent advances in measurement techniques allow us to see meteorological phenomena with more precision than ever before. Now we can identify unique formations such as these and begin to understand their complexity even more."

But if you're hoping to eat one of the ice-lollies, think again, the team says they are only around a millimetre long and found at altitudes between one and two kilometres in the air. So, it doesn't look like cloud-based ice-lollies will be replacing the more humble choc-ice and 99 cones just yet. In fact, the only chance of ever seeing one  if you don' have a research plane  could be if it falls to earth as rain, but even that isn't guaranteed.

Stavros added: "The ice-lollies slowly fall as precipitation to the ground. If the temperature increases above zero Celsius, then the lolly will melt and form a small rain drop. However, even if the temperature profile of the atmosphere is negative at all layers, ice-lollies might not reach the ground in their original shape or be deformed due to other microphysical processes occurring in the clouds. Also, even the temperature stays below zero Celsius, if the humidity drops below 100% then the particles could vanish."

But the ice-lollies do also have a purpose and could even affect the life-cycle of cloud. He added: "Ice-lollies can alter the balance between liquid water and ice in what we call mixed phase clouds, these are clouds which contain both liquid and ice. This may have a significant impact on the cloud lifetime. Ice-lollies can also impact on the precipitation formation."

More information: S. Ch. Keppas et al. Ice lollies: An ice particle generated in supercooled conveyor belts, Geophysical Research Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1002/2017GL073441 Journal information: Geophysical Research Letters
Maize field in Kenya. Credit: Nik Cunniffe

An international team of researchers has used mathematical modelling to understand new ways of combating maize lethal necrosis, an emerging disease that poses a serious threat to food security in sub-Saharan Africa.

Maize lethal necrosis (MLN) arises from the interaction of two viruses: maize chlorotic mottle virus (MSMV) and a virus from a group named potyviruses, often sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV). But traditional modelling has focused on understanding just one virus at a time. By modelling the spread of these two co-infecting viruses together, within and between growing seasons, the team has shed new light on the disease that will help farmers to manage it effectively.

The study, published this week in the journal Phytopathology, demonstrates that a combination of crop rotation, using virus-free 'clean seed', roguing (removing plants showing disease symptoms) and controlling insect pests is the best way to control MLN. It also highlighted differences in the ability of large and small growers to prevent loss of their maize crop.

"Larger growers have more money for insecticides and buying clean seed, both of which can greatly reduce disease levels. Crop rotation - an important component of control for smaller growers - disrupts transmission from season to season, but it requires coordination between farmers to ensure the virus doesn't build up in surrounding fields. Unless significant investment is made in farmer training, this unfortunately remains more realistic for larger farmers, who tend to be better organized and to have larger growing areas," said Dr Nik Cunniffe, an expert in mathematical biology based in Cambridge's Department of Plant Sciences, who contributed to the work.

Modelling the effects of two viruses infecting the same plant is rarely done, despite this happening frequently in the real world. The approach is highly relevant for other regions of the world where Maize Lethal Necrosis is an emerging threat to maize production, such as South East Asia and South America. It could also inform the management and control of other destructive plant diseases caused by combinations of pathogens, such as sweet potato virus disease in Africa and rice tungro disease in Asia.

"We've developed a new framework to model co-infecting viruses, such as those causing Maize Lethal Necrosis, even when there's not very much biological information available. When two viruses infect a plant they can interact with each other to cause much worse symptoms and greater losses of yield. If you're a subsistence farmer relying on income from the maize you're growing, infection of the crop with MLN can be devastating," Cunniffe said.

Maize is one of sub-Saharan Africa's staple food crops, and MLN has been spreading in Kenya for the last six years, causing devastating harvest losses of up to 90% in heavily affected regions. This affects not only direct availability of food, but also local income and employment. The study focused on Maize Lethal Necrosis disease in Kenya, where crop losses are particularly high, although the disease has spread to other countries in Africa. Infected corn plants die prematurely or are frequently barren, drastically reducing the yield. Most of the nation's maize supply comes from small to medium-size farms, which are less able to withstand threats to their food production than large resource-rich farms.

With the global population estimated to reach nine billion people by 2050, producing enough food will be one of this century's greatest challenges. Cunniffe is a member of the Cambridge Global Food Security Initiative at Cambridge, which is involved in addressing the issues surrounding food security at local, national and international scales. The Initiative recognises that expertise from many disciplines is required to develop effective solutions.

The research arose from the NIMBioS Working Group on Multiscale Vectored Plant Viruses, which included mathematicians, ecologists, plant pathologists, and evolutionary biologists who met over several years to develop novel mathematical methods for the study of plant pathology. It was funded by the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis.

More information: Frank Hilker et al, Modelling virus coinfection to inform management of maize lethal necrosis in Kenya, Phytopathology (2017). DOI: 10.1094/PHYTO-03-17-0080-FI
Israeli illusionist and magician Uri Geller shows a letter from Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein he bought at a Jerusalem auction on June 20, 2017

Letters written by Albert Einstein about God, Israel and physics fetched nearly $210,000 at a Jerusalem auction Tuesday, with the highest bid going to a missive about God's creation of the world.

Eight letters, written in English between 1951 and 1954 and signed by Einstein, were sold by Winners auction house which had initially estimated their combined value at between $31,000 and $46,000.

The highest bid of $84,000 was for a letter to eminent physicist David Bohm.

In it Einstein wrote: "If God has created the world his primary worry was certainly not to make its understanding easy for us".

In another missive to Bohm, which sold for $50,400, Einstein discussed the link his colleague made between quantum theory and "relativistic field theory".

"I must confess that I am not able to guess how such unification could be achieved," Einstein wrote.

The typewritten letter includes an equation added in neat handwriting and the writer's signature.

Bohm, born in the United States to Jewish immigrant parents, had worked with Einstein at Princeton University before fleeing to Brazil after losing his post in Senator Joseph McCarthy's anti-communist witch-hunts.

Israeli illusionist and magician Uri Geller bought a 1954 letter in which Einstein discusses the possibility of Bohm moving to Israel.

"Israel is intellectually alive and interesting but has very narrow possibilities and to go there with the intention to leave on the first occasion would be regrettable," wrote Einstein.

Bohm took up a visiting professorship at Israel's renowned Technion technological institute in 1955 and moved to England two years later.

The auction house said the letters came from the estate of Bohm's late widow.

 2017 AFP
A European Space Agency director urged nations Tuesday to unlock concealed data on the whereabouts of hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk, or "ticking time bombs" threatening spacecraft in Earth orbit.

The United States and individual European nations are among those keeping information close to their chest, partly for fear of revealing strategic or military secrets, ESA Director of Operations Rolf Densing told AFP at the International Paris Air Show.

"Right now, we do have about 750,000 pieces bigger than one centimetre (0.4 inches)" in orbit," he said. Many were caused by explosions of abandoned satellites and rocket bodies.

The number could grow to about 1.2 million by 2030.

There are also "several big, uncontrollable spacecraft"including thousands of non-responsive satellites left behind in space.

This, mingled with an estimated 1,500 operational craft in orbitincluding the manned International Space Stationmakes for a hairy situation.

"The highest risk are big, uncooperative objects" over which ground crews have no control, said Densing.

"You can imagine if they hit each other, or if they hit the space debris, break up further, this will cause an avalanche effect."

Yet, knowledge about space debris is similarly "scattered"held by national space agencies and often furnished only when a collision threatens their own space assets, said Densing.

Snowball effect

The US is believed to hold the most complete catalogue, listing an estimated 20,000 pieces of junk, he said, and Europeboth ESA and its individual membersfewer than 10,000.

ESA contributing states withhold certain debris data even from one another, and from the 22-member agency, said Densing, who also heads the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

The only information needed is when, and where, a piece of debris will find itself in the orbital region, he explained.

No need to divulge trade or military secretsand "this is not what we're asking for".

But there is a fear, he said, that "if you look for space debris, inevitably you will find things that nobody wants you to find."

Having a global, open database on space debris would allow experts to compile collision warnings and give spacecraft time to take evasive action.

"What I am advocating... is that we all overcome our vanities, we all open our catalogues," he said.

"This is about protecting our orbits, and it's in the interests in everybody."

A "snowball effect" of debris crashing with debris to create more and more pieces of dangerous junk, is already underway.

In 2009, two satellitesKosmos and Iridiumcollided at a speed of some 11.7 kilometres (7.3 miles) per second, destroying both and creating a debris "cloud" around Earth.

This "cloud", in turn, is thought to have yielded a small particle that smashed into Europe's Sentinel 1 satellite in August last year, knocking seven "splinters"yet more of debrisoff a solar panel.

"I am not sure that the problem is fully understood," Densing lamented.

"Those that have the most satellites, it's those that probably have contributed on a bigger scale to space debris, and I think also are the same ones that could profit the most if we avoid future collisions."

In recent years, spacefaring nations have adopted guidelines which determine that every spacecraft must be moved out of harm's way within 25 years of ending its life.

 2017 AFP
Despite being a male-dominated field, a recent study has found no evidence for gender bias against women in philosophy, in terms of securing tenure-track positions as college professors. Good news, but why aren't there more women in philosophy?

Gender imbalance is prevalent in many fields. In the humanities, one discipline stands out for its underrepresentation of women - philosophy. So, why the imbalance? One idea receiving a lot of attention is that subtle forms of prejudice in philosophy departments act to reduce the opportunities for women to advance professionally, and color how people perceive women's academic credentials.

These proposed prejudices include things like unconscious bias, which can affect how someone from a stereotyped minority is perceived, without the explicit awareness of the person assessing them. This could manifest as peers and superiors perceiving women negatively, which might put them at a disadvantage for professional development and advancement.

But are there any concrete data to demonstrate that these prejudices are present in philosophy departments, and are the reason for the gender imbalance? Sean Allen-Hermanson, of Florida International University and author of a recent study in Frontiers in Psychology, doesn't think so. "It was becoming accepted that women are automatically downgraded by advisors and hiring committees despite the absence of data," says Allen-Hermanson. "I saw an opportunity for investigation and critique."

Allen-Hermanson set about analyzing data on the proportion of men and women who secured tenure-track professorships in philosophy from 2004-2014. If significant bias was at work, you would expect a lower proportion of women to obtain these desirable positions. He studied the publication records of early-career men and women in philosophy, where publishing scientific articles is often a crude measurement of career success and a factor when someone is assessed for an academic position.

For candidates who had not had a previous academic appointment, women applying for tenure-track positions had about half the number of publications as their male counterparts, and the male candidates were about three times as likely to have published in a highly regarded journal. However, both men and women from prestigious institutions were more likely to have published in highly regarded journals and were much more likely to obtain a position at another prestigious institution, suggesting a two-tier employment market based on prestige where gender was not a significant factor.

Interestingly, from 2008-2013, 40% of men in the employment market were successful in landing a tenure-track job compared with 50% of women, meaning that women were represented among those securing tenure-track employment 25% more frequently. Women made up 26% of the employment market, but represented 31% of the tenure-track placements.

So, what does this all mean? "We should be reassured," explains Allen-Hermanson. "Going back at least a decade, there is no evidence women are downgraded when they are up for jobs as professors in philosophy, and in recent years women actually appear to be overrepresented." So why are there less women in philosophy overall? Some studies have found that less women are choosing to major in philosophy at the undergraduate level, and so other factors may be turning them off the discipline at an early stage, which will require further work to identify.

Increasing diversity in philosophy is important. "Philosophy is universal, and it's a bit weird if it is dominated by one demographic slice," says Allen-Hermanson.

More information: Sean Allen-Hermanson, Leaky Pipeline Myths: In Search of Gender Effects on the Job Market and Early Career Publishing in Philosophy, Frontiers in Psychology (2017). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00953 Journal information: Frontiers in Psychology

Provided by Frontiers
Credit: Texas Tech University

Danny Reible and Denny Bullard in the Whitacre College of Engineering examined the impact of shale oil and gas production on water quality.

The discovery late last year of what the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) described as the largest continuous oil and gas deposit ever uncovered in the United States could prove to be a large boost to an oil and gas industry seeking to recover from its most recent downturn.

The finding in the Wolfcamp shale area of West Texas is estimated to contain up to 20 billion barrels of oil and 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, all of which the USGS said is recoverable using available technology and industry practices.

But doing so will have both economic and environmental impacts on the communities around the Wolfcamp shale. While not focused solely on the Wolfcamp shale development, The Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) commissioned a study to examine such impacts.

TAMEST formed the Shale Task Force to examine the environmental and community impacts of shale oil and gas development in Texas, releasing a report on its findings on Monday. The 19-member task force, which included experts from across the state with diverse knowledge and expertise, is touted as a first-of-its-kind, comprehensive review mechanism of scientific research and related findings regarding impacts of shale and oil and gas production in Texas, focusing on six areas  seismicity, land resources, water, air, transportation and community impacts.

Two members of the Edward E. Whitacre Jr. College of Engineering served on the Shale Task Force, titled the Environmental and Community Impacts of Shale Development in Texas. Danny Reible, the Donovan Maddox Distinguished Engineering Chair and professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental and Construction Engineering, and Denny Bullard, an instructor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering, both served as subject matter experts on the task force that helped prepare the report.

Both Reible and Bullard have expertise in the area of water resources, another topic that is of extreme importance to residents in this part of the state. Reible's research focuses on the transport and fate of contaminants in the environment, their assessment and remediation. Bullard's expertise is in production operations with oil and gas companies.

According to the section of the report dealing with water quantity and quality, led by Reible, hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, uses 1-5 million gallons of water per well on average. While the water used for fracking accounts for less than 1 percent of total statewide water use, it could account for a majority of total water use in some rural counties.

"Even though the overall amount of water used for hydraulic fracturing processes in Texas is low, there are areas within the state where the amount used is much more important and will be of more concern," Reible said.

The report says more research is needed to increase the usage of poor-quality waters instead of freshwater, helping to increase and ensure an adequate supply of drinking water while also minimizing possible incidences of contamination.

And while the report states the depth and separation between oil-bearing and drinking water-bearing zones underground makes contamination of the water unlikely, it also calls for a need to increase prevention of leaks and spills on or near ground surfaces, which are most likely to contaminate drinking-water sources.

"Texas could benefit by better tracking of spills and leaks, particularly of salty produced water, which may pose the greatest risk of shale development to land and water resources," Reible said.

TAMEST brings together the state's best and brightest scientists and researchers. Membership includes all Texas-based members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine and the state's Nobel Laureates.

The task force found that Texas leads the nation in oil and gas production, with 1.1 billion barrels produced in 2016. Oil and natural gas production in 2016, with 250,000 oil and gas wells covering 215 of the state's 254 counties, generated more than $1.7 billion in property tax revenue for Texas schools.
Escherichia coli. Credit: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH

Researchers in Ireland have taken a major step forward in the battle against medical implant infections.

They developed a new type of implant scaffold to provide localised drug treatment and prevent infection, which has already proven effective against two types of major problem bacteria.

Publishing their results today in the journal Biomedical Materials, the team from the National University of Ireland Galway show that stabilised collagen scaffolds loaded with a particular antibiotic were able to prevent both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis from forming.

Lead author Dr Dimitrios Zeugolis, from NUI Galway's Regenerative, Modular & Developmental Engineering Laboratory (REMODEL) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Centre for Research in Medical Devices (CURAM), said: "Implant infections remain a major healthcare problem. They can require long hospitalisation periods to disturb and treat bacterial biofilm formation. There can also be a need for additional surgeries to remove or replace the infected implant, which if not done in time may lead to sepsis.

"Although localised drug treatment, via an implanted scaffold has shown promise, the ideal scaffold cross-linking (to initially withstand the aggressive infection environment) and drug (to fight against infection) have not, until now, been found."

The team first developed a collagen scaffold, with a 0.625 per cent concentration of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) used to stabilise it. They then tested the scaffolds with variable concentrations of the antibiotics Cefaclor and Ranalexin.

Dr Zeugolis said: "Both drugs showed similar loading efficiency, release profile and cytocompatibility. However, only collagen scaffolds loaded with 100 g/ml of Cefaclor showed adequate antibacterial properties against both E-coli and Staphylococcus epidermidis.

"Our cross-linked collagen scaffold marks an important step forward against a problem that is both a major health problem and a severe economic burden to healthcare systems internationally."

More information: E K Tsekoura et al, Battling bacterial infection with hexamethylene diisocyanate cross-linked and Cefaclor-loaded collagen scaffolds, Biomedical Materials (2017). DOI: 10.1088/1748-605X/aa6de0
Credit: TU Ilmenau

Technische Universitat Ilmenau and the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (the National Metrology Institute of Germany) are developing a balance which is required for measuring the redefined kilogram that will be introduced in 2018. Called the Planck balance, this highly precise electronic weighing balance is not based on weights, but refers to the fundamental physical constant called Planck's constant. The balance will be used worldwide for calibrating other scales or balances so that they correspond to the system with this new method. The new balance will also be used in industry for measuring weights.

In many sectors, there is a significant demand for highly precise balances, including pharmaceutical companies for precise dosing of medical products, in official metrology service labs for calibrating scales for food, and in police departments, for the proof of toxic substances and in ballistics.

The original kilogram, a 4 cm cylinder made from platinum and iridium and stored under three glass domes in a safe near Paris since 1889, is becoming lighter. Over 100 years, it has lost 50 millionths of a gram. As all scales worldwide refer indirectly to this unique kilogram, they all weigh incorrectly, even if by minimal and negligible amounts. Although the original kilogram is becoming lighter, structurally identical copies of the prototype are used worldwide  which means that these copies are slowly becoming heavier relative to the prototype. Therefore, a new standard is required that does not change and cannot be damaged or lost.

In 2018, the new kilogram will be adopted at the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures. It is not defined by an object or a physical mass, but by Planck's constant. The highly precise, continuously measuring Planck balance, developed by the German university Technische Universitat Ilmenau, operates on the principle of electromagnetic force compensation. Simply put, a weight on one side is to be balanced by electrical force on the other. This electrical force is inextricably linked with the Planck's constant and can be directly referred to the new kilogram definition. As this balance is the first self-calibrating instrument of its kind, masses determined as reference or standard masses for calibrating scales and balances are no longer required. Another advantage of the Planck balance is its wide measuring range, from milligrams to one kilogram. At the end of the year, the first prototype of the balance will be available and ready for use.

Knowledge gained over the last decade on the basis of the development of the so-called 1-kg-prototype mass comparator was the direct key for research work in the field of the Planck balance. This highly precise mass comparator is already used in national metrology institutes all over the world for the comparison of kilogram-prototypes.

For redefining the kilogram on the basis of physical constants, two approaches are considered worldwide: the Avogadro experiment, where in an almost perfect crystal, the number of atoms was determined in a sphere of isotopically pure silicon. The second approach refers to the Watt balance. Similar to the Planck balance, it compensates the weight force of a mass in the Earth's gravitational field by an electromagnetic force. For both experiments the Planck's constant is determined so that the two approaches meet at the target. The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt has primarily chosen the silicon sphere, while other metrology institutes, e.g. the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Canadian National Research Council (NRC), favor the Watt balance. For supplying the industry with balances meeting both standards in the future, the PTB has developed together with the TU Ilmenau the Planck balance as the industry-compliant version of the Watt balance.

Provided by Technische Universitat Ilmenau
On June 20 at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0631 UTC), GPM showed that the potential tropical cyclone was producing bands of rainfall over much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Rainfall was measured in some of these intense rain bands falling at a rate of over 8.7 inches (220 mm) per hour. Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

NASA's Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core satellite passed over a developing low pressure area in the Gulf of Mexico and gathered two days of rainfall and storm height information. The disturbance could become Tropical or Sub-tropical Storm Cindy in the next couple days.

The developing storm has already triggered Tropical Storm Warnings and Watches along the U.S. Gulf Coast. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for High Island, Texas to the Mouth of the Pearl River. The Pearl River serves as the 115-mile (185 km) boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana in its lower reach near the Gulf of Mexico. A Tropical Storm Watch is in effect for West of High Island to San Luis Pass, Texas.

NASA's GPM satellite provides information on precipitation from its orbit in space and is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency known as JAXA. 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 to provide a total picture of precipitation events.

On June 19, 2017 at 1:11 p.m. EDT (17:11 UTC) GPM passed above the Gulf of Mexico. GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) instruments showed that the forming tropical cyclone was dumping heavy rainfall in an area from the center of the Gulf of Mexico into the north-western Caribbean. DPR data indicated that a line of powerful convective storms was dropping rain at a rate of over 10.4 inches (265 mm) per hour in the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba.

When GPM passed over the region the next day, June 20 at 2:21 a.m. EDT (0631 UTC), data gathered showed that the potential tropical cyclone was producing bands of rainfall over much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Rainfall was measured in some of these intense rain bands falling at a rate of over 8.7 inches (220 mm) per hour.

On June 19, 2017 at 1:11 p.m. EDT (17:11 UTC) GPM passed above developing Tropical Cyclone 3 and saw a line of powerful convective storms was dropping rain at a rate of over 10.4 inches (265 mm) per hour in the Yucatan Channel between Mexico and Cuba. Credit: NASA/JAXA, Hal Pierce

GPM's radar (DPR Ku Band) data collected with the June 20, 2017 pass were used to show the 3-D vertical structure of precipitation within Tropical Depression 3. Storm top heights in powerful convective storms east of the Yucatan Peninsula were found to reach heights greater than 10 miles (16.2 km).

At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC) on June 20 the disturbance was centered near latitude 25.9 North and longitude 90.5 West. That's about 265 miles (430 km) south of Morgan City, Louisiana and about 355 miles (565 km) southeast of Galveston, Texas.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) said "The system is moving toward the northwest near 10 mph (17 kph) and this motion is expected to continue through Wednesday night. A turn toward the north-northwest is forecast early Thursday. On the forecast track, the disturbance is expected to be near the southwest Louisiana coast late Wednesday or Wednesday night, and move inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday. Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (65 kph) with higher gusts. Some slight strengthening is possible before the system reaches the coast."

NHC noted that the depression will likely become a tropical or subtropical cyclone today, June 20.

For updated forecasts, visit the National Hurricane Center website: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
Simplified abdomen image from CT with 16 electrodes. Red color represents subcutaneous fat region, blue represents muscle region, white represent bone region, pink represents visceral region, and green represents abdominal organs. Credit: SIAM

Abdominal obesity, or fat that accumulates around one's stomach and abdomen, has long been considered to pose a high health risk in individuals. Hence, measurement of "central obesity"as it's often calledhelps predict propensity to disorders caused by excess weight in the abdominal area.

In a paper publishing next week in the SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences, researchers from ETH Zurich and Yonsei University in Seoul propose a new technique to evaluate abdominal obesity by estimating the thickness of subcutaneous fat.

"Recent studies have shown that abdominal obesity is linked with diseases such as congestive heart failure and metabolic syndrome," said author Jin Keun Seo. "Static electrical impedance tomography, or EIT, could be employed as a non-invasive surrogate of disease progression in these conditions."

In addition to being noninvasive, EIT, an imaging technique, provides real-time data without using ionizing radiation, which makes it preferable to computed tomography (CT) since it's less harmful to patients. Another imaging technique commonly used for this purpose, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has poorer spatial resolution than EIT.

"Compared to CT, EIT is more advantageous since it is non-ionizing and can hence be used for continuous patient self-monitoring to track body fat status in daily routines," Seo explained. "Unlike CT and MRI, EIT is a low cost, portable, and easy-to-use bedside technique to image electrical conductivity distribution."

Since electrical conductivity of biological tissue depends on its cell structure, it can help image different tissues in the body and distinguish them from each other. The cell structure of fat and muscle are quite different; hence, the electrical conductivity values of fat and muscle differ over different frequencies.

Multi-frequency EIT (MFEIT) reconstructs the image of conductivity inside the human body based on this dependence of tissue conductivity on frequency. And since bone, muscle, and fat conduct electricity differently over various frequencies, MFEIT can use data of the boundary current-voltage relationship at diverse frequencies to estimate the amount of fat. Again, since body fat is less conductive than water and tissues such as muscle, this difference can be used to estimate the thickness of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue.

The specific process involves a specially chosen current pattern, which generates a depth-dependent data set that is used to outline the borders between fat and muscle. Current is injected through one pair of electrodes, and the subsequent voltage drop measured at another pair of electrodes. The relation between the injected current and the voltage drop gives the transadmittanceor the ratio of current to voltage, which depends on the positions of the two pairs of electrodes, body geometry, and admittivity distribution, which combines both conductivity and permittivity. Assuming that the size of the electrodes is very small in comparison to the size of the border between the various tissue regions, the authors use a point electrode model, which provides a good approximation of the solution, while also simplifying the model considerably.

One issue with EIT is that the technique is prone to forward-modeling errors; these errors often include boundary geometry and electrode position uncertainties. In this paper, authors propose a new reconstruction method that compensates for this pitfall of EIT, using prior anatomical information at the expense of spatial resolution, and improving reproducibility. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the result of reconstruction is satisfactory in identifying subcutaneous fat.

"Existing approaches for static conductivity imaging are based on minimizing the difference between the voltage measured and that obtained from numerical simulations," Hyeuknam explained. "Therefore, obtaining reliable conductivity distributions requires both accurate modeling of the domain and the electrode configuration. This new method can obtain accurate imaging distribution by canceling out modeling errors."

Further research is needed to take advantage of the frequency dependent behavior of human tissue to estimate the distribution of visceral fat. "Current experimental work has shown promising results in detecting subcutaneous fat thickness as confirmed with ultrasound imaging," said Hyeuknam. "Future work is needed to determine the volume of visceral fat in patients with metabolic and cardiovascular disorders."

Abnormally high deposition of fat tissue in the abdominal area has been associated with disorders such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and malignancies. Quantitative assessment of visceral fat in the abdominal region using techniques such as the one described above can thus aid in evaluating the potential risk of developing such conditions.

More information: Mathematical Framework for Abdominal Electrical Impedance Tomography to Assess Fatness. SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences (2017) Journal information: SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences
According to a state intelligence report, Maoist sympathizers and Islamic radical groups are actively associating with raging people's protests in the state.

By Jeemon Jacob: Maoists and Islamic radical groups have agreed to be a part of a game plan in Kerala- discrediting CPI(M) led Left Front government by exploiting people's unrest against developmental projects. According to a state intelligence report, Maoist sympathizers and Islamic radical groups are actively associating with raging people's protests raging in the state.

"A group of extremists act as think-tanks and protest managers under the cover of social activists. They are using social media platforms for the misinformation campaign against police and the government and instigating social action against developmental projects. We have identified some of them and are monitoring their activities," a senior police official in state intelligence wing told India Today.

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'INVISIBLE PRESENCE' OF THE EXTREMIST GROUP

According to the senior police official, the "invisible presence" of the extremist group was noted first within Pempilai Orumai, an all women plantation workers solidarity, during protests in Munnar and later against GAIL pipeline projects in Malappuram and Kasargod.

"Police arrested J. Manoj, a former plantation worker who has suspected links with Maoist ultras on June 15. Manoj was one of key campaigners of Pempilai Orumai protests. He has links with banned organizations in Tamil Nadu and with Maoist leaders operating in Kerala. We started scanning his movements and operations after we found huge money transactions through his bank accounts from unknown sources," senior police official revealed.

PROTESTS AGAINST INDIAN OIL CORPORATION

While interrogating Manoj, police found that a similar game plan has been designed behind the people's protests in Puthuvype against Indian Oil Corporation plant in Kochi alleging that the construction of the LPG terminal was carried out violating National Green Tribunal orders. Police caned the protesters and arrested 80 villagers including women and children.

The chief minister became defensive after the opposition and his own party men criticised the police action. Kanam Rajendran, State Secretary of CPI blasted police for beating up the villagers. Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy visited the protest venue and demanded action against guilty police officials.

Sensing trouble, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan invited the leaders of protests for a discussion in Thiruvananthapuram on June 21.

"Extremist groups are building their support base where people's sentiments are against government. Similar game plan is used in Attapadi where infant mortality is very high. They are operating initially through their sympathizers working in the areas. Even some government servants are associating with them," the official said.

Chief Minister has directed the Home department to keep a tag on extremist groups working against the developmental projects and take prompt action.

Also Read:

Odisha: Maoists warn social activist Achyuta Samanta against educating tribals

Maoists threaten Akshay Kumar, Saina Nehwal over aid to kin of CRPF martyrs

--- ENDS ---
Fossil fuels have long been subsidized by tax policies, such as the oil depletion allowance, and by infrastructure construction, such as the interstate highway system. In light of these long-standing subsidies, it's always a little ironic when fossil fuel industry advocates complain about tax expenditures and other subsidies promoting the renewable energy business. In my view, in their time, all of these subsidies played a positive role in the nation's economic development. The Tennessee Valley Authority and other New Deal programs subsidized rural electrification and brought the modern energy economy to a part of the country that the free market in energy might never have developed. No one seems to argue for the free market when they receive a subsidy, but if a competitor gets an incentive, suddenly the government is dominated by socialists determined to "pick winners."

At this stage in our economic history, the global economy has begun to make the transition to renewable energy. While the Obama Administration took some modest steps to participate in that transition, the Trump Administration seems determined to reverse those initiatives. It began in May with the appointment of Daniel Simmons to lead the Department of Energy's renewable energy office. According to the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis:

"President Trump has appointed Daniel Simmons, a conservative scholar who sharply questioned the value of promoting renewable energy sources and curbs on greenhouse gas emissions, to oversee the Energy Department's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), according to an email distributed to department employees. The selection marks one of several recent Trump appointments to top energy and environmental posts, which appear to repudiate the Obama administration's policies aimed at shifting the nation to low-carbon sources of electricity."

In a similar move, Trump and his Department of Energy Secretary Rick Perry have closed a small office that worked to bring renewable energy to the developing world. Last week, Brad Plumer of the New York Times reported that:

"The 11 staff members of the Office of International Climate and Technology were told this month that their positions were being eliminated, according to current and former agency employees. The office was formed in 2010 to help the United States provide technical advice to other nations seeking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The small office also played a lead role preparing for the annual Clean Energy Ministerial, a forum in which the United States, China, India and other countries shared insights on how best to promote energy efficiency, electric vehicles and other solutions to climate change."

It is important to understand that most of the real action in energy efficiency and renewable energy is happening in communities, cities, states, corporations and large nonprofit institutions such as universities and hospitals. Even under President Obama, the Tea Party-dominated congress ensured that federal efforts to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency were relatively modest. We should not overstate the importance of these ill-advised actions by Trump team, but like the slow and persistent drip of a leaky pipe under the kitchen sink, the long-term effect will be corrosive and far from helpful.

The anti-renewable energy push by the Trump Administration is driven by a staggering degree of ignorance, as indicated by an astonishing statement by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry at a Bloomberg New Energy Finance conference in New York this past April. As reported by Time Magazine reporter Justin Worldand:

"During a question and answer period, Perrysuggested that increased reliance on renewable energy sources like wind and solar might make the grid unreliable given they only work when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing, creating national security concerns. The Trump administration might try to preempt state and local governments that use policy to encourage clean energy to address those concerns, Perry said. "There's a discussion, some of it very classified that will be occurring as we go further," Perry said. "The conversation needs to happen so the local governors and legislators, mayors and city council understand what's at stake here in making sure that our energy security is substantial."

No one pushing renewable energy is calling for an intermittent electrical grid. Distributed generation of energy is intended to allow renewable energy into the grid, but the use of renewables is being coupled with grid modernization and the development of smart, computer controlled grid technology. The entire dialogue around the smart grid and distributed generation of energy calls for the incremental construction of microgrids with renewable and fossil fuel sources of energy generation and substantial increases in energy storage. No one is advocating an unreliable grid. The goal is a more secure energy supply with a higher mix of renewables. By decentralizing the grid and diversifying the sources of energy, the goal is a more resilient grid, better able to compensate for interruptions due to extreme weather, human error or terror. The push for energy efficiency is simply an effort to continue to do more with less. Fossil fuels will be needed until renewable energy and battery storage is as cheap and reliable as fossil fuels. Renewable energy and smartgrids make our energy supply more, not less, secure.

The idea that the administration is even discussing pre-empting state greenhouse gas targets in the interest of national security is beyond absurd. Where does Perry get this stuff? Is this a serious conversation somewhere in the federal government? I can't imagine an executive order rescinding state energy targets that could possibly be upheld by a court, and I can't imagine any congress that would allow the federal government to preempt state greenhouse gas standards.

The reason to pursue renewable energy and to modernize the electrical grid is that energy is central to every aspect of the modern global economy. We can't do without energy and we will need more energy in the future. Fossil fuels helped to develop this modern world, and they will not be abandoned overnight, but their long-term price and impact on the environment drive the search for lower cost, less destructive alternatives. The development of renewable energy and energy storage technologies will continue with or without Trump and Perry.

It would be much better if our national government played a leadership role here, but the ideological biases and ignorance of Trump's energy appointees ensures that it will not. This is not simply about climate change. It is about air pollution, toxics, and also about the long-term price of fossil fuels when compared to renewable energy. There are plenty of fossil fuels beneath the surface of the earth at the moment, but as time goes on they will become less plentiful and more difficult and costly to extract. The price of the sun will always be zero and will never change, and the price of harnessing and storing its energy will go down as technology improves. Our use of energy will continue to grow, especially as automated labor replaces human labor. Any economy that is able to lower the proportion of its GDP devoted to energy will be better able to compete with other economies. Any company that can lower its energy costs while increasing its output will have an advantage over its competition.

The transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy will be long and difficult. Our investment in fossil fuels is massive and global and the industry has not been shy about converting its economic power to political power. Energy is as central to economic life as air and water is to human life. There are powerful economic, organizational and political forces at work resisting the transition to renewable energy. Yet, we live in an era of disruptive technologies and rapidly changing patterns of production and consumption. We carry computers in our pockets, drive cars that will someday drive us, and communicate and gather information at practically no cost. The powerful companies of the last generation are gone, and the powerful companies of the next generation are being invented in someone's garage. The companies that develop cheaper and more reliable renewable energy and energy storage technologies will drive fossil fuel companies from the marketplace. It would be better for the planet if that happened sooner rather than later. Since Trump's team won't help, let's convince them to end their attack on renewable energy and stay out of the way of the change that is on the way.

Provided by Earth Institute, Columbia University

This story is republished courtesy of Earth Institute, Columbia University: blogs.ei.columbia.edu .
ARS scientists found that a naturally occurring chemical, methyl benzoate, can kill brown marmorated stink bugs. Credit: Peggy Greb

You probably know methyl benzoate when you smell it. The natural compound's wintergreen-spicy, floral-fruity aromas make it a popular ingredient in perfumes, soaps, and shampoos.

Snapdragons and petunias emit methyl benzoate to attract bees for pollination. Many insects also produce it as an attractant.

But not all insects like this compound.

Chemist Aijun Zhang, with the Agricultural Research Service Invasive Insect Biocontrol and Behavior Laboratory in Beltsville, Maryland, has found a new use for methyl benzoate, namely as an environmentally friendly control for agricultural pests like the spotted wing drosophila fly (SWD), an invasive species from Asia.

First found in California in 2008, SWD has quickly spread across the United States and can cause significant damage to fruit crops, especially berries. There are currently few choices for controlling SWD. The possibility of a new bio-based pesticideespecially one based on an inexpensive chemical whose residue lasts a relatively short time in the environmentis exciting.

Originally, Zhang was identifying volatile compounds in apple juice that attracted fruit flies. "Rotted apples and other fruits usually attract flies, including SWD. We had isolated out several compounds which did that," Zhang says. "But we found one compoundNo. 19that strongly repelled SWD, and we later showed that it killed SWD as well."

ARS scientists found that a naturally occurring chemical, methyl benzoate, can kill tobacco hornworms (larva shown). Credit: Peggy Greb

Compound No. 19 turned out to be methyl benzoate, a compound approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in foods and cosmetics.

Zhang then tested methyl benzoate against other agricultural pests, including the brown marmorated stink bug (BMSB), diamondback moth, and tobacco hornworm. He found that the compound can kill all stages of these insectsegg, nymph, and adultthough it works better against smaller insects than larger ones.

Zhang focused first on SWD and BMSB because they are fast becoming important agricultural and household pests, even though they are relatively new invasive species. New controls for these pests are urgently needed.

According to Zhang's tests, methyl benzoate is 5 to 20 times more toxic to eggs of BMSB, diamondback moth, and tobacco hornworm than a conventional pyrethroid insecticide, a sulfur and pyrethrin mixture, and some organic products currently on the market.

Next, he is planning to test methyl benzoate's effectiveness against fire ants, gypsy moths, stored-product insect pests, and mosquitoes. All these insects are developing resistance to standard pesticides.

Zhang is also investigating whether low doses of methyl benzoate could control Varroa mites, the number-one problem of managed honey bees today.

A patent has been applied for methyl benzoate's pesticide uses. One company has already expressed interest in it.
Schematic illustration of the microfluidic channel (above) and the experimental result obtained using the nanorods (below, left) which is in good agreement with the computational result (below, right). Credit: Universiteit van Amsterdam (UVA)

A Franco-Dutch international collaboration involving researchers from the laboratories of Condensed Matter Physics and Hydrodynamics at Paris-Saclay University and the Van't Hoff Institute for Molecular Sciences at the University of Amsterdam has resulted in a new method for very precise determination of fluid flow in capillary networks in realtime. Their proof-of-principle is published in this week's edition of Nature Nanotechnology.

At HIMS Fred Brouwer, professor of Spectroscopy and Photonic Materials, together with research technician Michiel Hilbers contributed with confocal imaging and single-particle measurements of the nanorods. The collaboration was supported by LaserLab Europe.

The study of fluid flow in capillary networks is relevant to many fields. As an example, the determination of blood circulation in arteries is an important aspect of the study of plaque formation in atherosclerosis. Although hydrodynamic simulations can yield important information, experimental studies are needed for ultimate confirmation.

However, characterizing flows on the scale of a few hundred nanometers is rather difficult. The current technique of particle imaging velocimetry (PIV), tracking the displacements of fluorescent microspheres, cannot practically be used for local real-time observation of dynamic systems. Furthermore, in the case of velocity gradients (shear) common to capillary networks, PIV displays poor signal-to-noise ratios and scant spatial resolution.

In their Nature Nanotechnology paper, the French-Dutch research team now reports the use of nanorods rather than spheres. They show that instant detection of the collective orientation of the nanorods in a small focal volume enables the direct measurement and fast scanning of the local shear rate. As a proof of concept they demonstrate tomographic mapping of the shear distribution in a microfluidic model system using scanning confocal microscopy.

The researchers synthesized nanorods of lanthanum phosphate (LaPO4) crystals, doped with luminescent europium (Eu3+) ions. Like logs of trees floating on a river these nanorods, 10 nm in diameter and 200 nm in length, gradually orient themselves along the direction of flow. Thanks to the strongly polarized light emission properties of the europium ions their spatial orientation could be traced by means of their emission spectrum. Thus, it became possible to analyze, in real time and with unmatched resolution, the flow of a fluid in a small sized microfluidic channel.

This work opens promising perspectives for the fundamental understanding of phenomena related to the flow of a fluid in complex channels. Beyond this, these orientation probes could also be used in biology, to follow in-situ complex mechanisms related to the dynamics of orientation of bio-macromolecules in order to explain their properties and their modes of action.

More information: Jongwook Kim et al. Monitoring the orientation of rare-earth-doped nanorods for flow shear tomography, Nature Nanotechnology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/NNANO.2017.111 Journal information: Nature Nanotechnology
Asteroid impact near the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013. Credit: Alan Fitzsimmons

A leading astrophysicist from Queen's University Belfast has warned that an asteroid strike is just a matter of time.

Professor Alan Fitzsimmons from the University's Astrophysics Research Centre has said it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen.

Joined by scientist Brian Cox and astronauts such as Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and International Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott, Professor Fitzsimmons is highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event next Friday (30 June).

On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles. Professor Fitzsimmons is warning that a similar unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous.

Professor Fitzsimmons commented: "It is important to know that scientists and engineers have made great strides in detecting Near-Earth Asteroids and understanding the threat posed by them. Over 1,800 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far, but there are many more waiting to be found.

"Astronomers find Near-Earth Asteroids every day and most are harmless. But it is still possible the next Tunguska would take us by surprise, and although we are much better at finding larger asteroids, that does us no good if we are not prepared to do something about them."

Alan Fitzsimmons at the UK Telescopes on La Plama CREDIT ALAN FITZSIMMONS. Credit: Alan Fitzsimmons

More information: The discussions and presentations will be streamed live from Luxembourg on 30 June at asteroidday.org/live/ and experts will be answering any questions from followers via social media. Hundreds of supporting events will be held in over 70 countries.
Credit: University of Lincoln

One of Europe's leading climate change experts detailed the extreme challenges facing farmers around the world at the latest in a series of industry briefings at the University of Lincoln, UK.

Professor Pier Vellinga, one of the co-founders and first Bureau Members of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), joined a team of researchers from across the University's Lincoln Institute for Agri-food Technology (LIAT) to examine the water and flooding-related challenges facing the agricultural industry, and possible solutions to solve these pressing problems.

These solutions could include 'saline agriculture'  the process of adapting farming techniques to salted soils  which could prove key for coastal farms at risk of flooding, and is a new area of focus for researchers at the University of Lincoln.

Since 1996, Professor Pier Vellinga has been an advisor to the EU commission, recently taking on the role of vice chairman of the Advisory Committee on Green Growth for Europe as part of the EU's Directorate General for Research and Innovation. He is a member of the group which works to protect Venice and its lagoon, and is also engaged as scientific advisor in the development of climate policies in Vietnam, Indonesia, California and Florida.

Professor Vellinga joined Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands 10 years ago as a Professor in Climate Change, Water and Flood Safety. In 2014 he was appointed to the board of the Wadden Academy  a think tank that advises on research and policies regarding the management of the World Heritage Site the Wadden Sea, which runs along the Dutch, German and Danish North Sea coast.

As keynote speaker at the University of Lincoln event, hosted at its National Centre for Food Manufacturing in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, Professor Vellinga discussed 'North Sea coastal zone agriculture in times of sea level rise'. He presented key statistics on the rise in global temperature, the loss of ice mass from both Greenland and Antarctica, and the sea level deviation over recent years, before examining some of the successful tactics used by the Netherlands to defend at-risk coastlines and the farms that line them. These include so-called 'super-dikes', creating new barriers and islands, and developments in saline agriculture  for example, making existing fresh water crops more salt-tolerant through a process of breeding and selection.

Dr Gary Bosworth, Deputy Head of the School of Geography at the University of Lincoln, also spoke at the event, which was attended by invited guests from the region's food and farming industries. Dr Bosworth, a specialist in rural development and the creation of sustainable and 'liveable' rural communities, introduced 'SalFar' - a new European research project which will investigate opportunities for innovative agriculture that can adapt to climate change and sea level rise.

The Interreg North Sea Region project, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), will see the University of Lincoln work with a number of partners, including those in countries with vulnerable coastlines, to develop more salt-tolerant crops, create local food brands based around saline agricultural production, and carry out economic assessments for growth in saline agriculture both locally and globally.

Dr Bosworth said: "Resource consumption and carbon emissions are major drivers of climate change. In order to reduce these, we have to look for alternative methods of production in agriculture. Our new project aims to promote resource efficiency by re-using degraded farmland and reducing fresh water consumption  we will use a number of open field labs to demonstrate innovative methods of farming on saline soil with natural adaptation processes in plants and crops. 'Thinking green' in this way means a real change of perspective in farming and food production, a change of behaviour of the consumers of food, and, for authorities, re-thinking water management and changing policies on environment and agriculture in coastal areas."

Professor Edward Hanna, also from the School of Geography at Lincoln, spoke at the event about the possible causes and predictability of recent UK extreme weather events, while Dr Iain Gould, a soil scientist from the Lincoln Institute of Agri-food Technology, provided an update on the year-long research project at the University which aims to support farmers to bring back saltwater-damaged land after coastal flooding. Finally, Martin Collinson of Collinson and Associates and the Greater Lincolnshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) discussed the importance of water management to enable economic growth in the Lincolnshire region, and explored the economic importance of the agri-food sector to the local economy.

The briefing on Tuesday 30th May 2017 was the latest in a series of industry events hosted by LIAT at the University of Lincoln, which looks ahead to the future of farming and explores how the latest agri-tech research will impact on the agricultural industries.
A colorized scanning electron micrograph of MRSA. Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

A growing number of pathogens are developing resistance to one or more antibiotics, threatening our ability to treat infectious diseases. According to a study published June 20th in Biophysical Journal, a simple new method for measuring the time it takes to kill a bacterial population could improve the ability of clinicians to effectively treat antimicrobial-tolerant strains that are on the path to becoming resistant.

"These findings allow measurement of tolerance, which has previously been largely overlooked in the clinical setting," says senior study author Nathalie Balaban of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. "Routinely measuring tolerance could supply valuable information about the duration of antibiotic treatments, reducing the chance of both under- and over-treatment. Furthermore, data compiled from such measurements could give an estimate of how widespread the phenomenon of tolerance really is, which is currently a complete unknown."

According to the World Health Organization, antibiotic resistance is one of the biggest threats to global health and is putting the achievements of modern medicine at risk. Due to selective pressure, pathogens acquire resistance through mutations that make the antibiotic less effective, for example, by interfering with the ability of a drug to bind to its target. Currently, clinicians determine which antibiotic and dose to prescribe by assessing resistance levels using a routine metric called minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC)the minimal drug concentration required to prevent bacterial growth.

Although resistant strains continue to grow despite exposure to high drug concentrations, tolerant strains can survive lethal concentrations of an antibiotic for a long period of time before succumbing to its effects. Tolerance is often associated with treatment failure and relapse, and it is considered a stepping stone toward the evolution of antibiotic resistance. But unlike resistance, tolerance is poorly understood and is currently not evaluated in healthcare settings.

"The lack of a quantitative measure means that this aspect of the treatment relies largely on the experience of the individual physician or the community," says first author Asher Brauner, a PhD student in Balaban's lab. "This can lead to treatment being either too short, increasing the risk of relapse and evolution of resistance, or much too long, unnecessarily causing side effects, release of antibiotic waste into the environment, and additional costs."

To address this problem, Balaban and her team developed a tolerance metric called the minimum duration for killing 99% of the population (MDK99). The protocol, which can be performed manually or using an automated robotic system, involves exposing populations of approximately 100 bacteria in separate microwell plates to different concentrations of antibiotics for varied time periods, while determining the presence or lack of survivors.

The researchers applied MDK99 to six Escherichia coli strains, which showed tolerance levels ranging from 2 to 23 hr under ampicillin treatment. MDK99 also facilitates measurements of a special case of tolerance known as time-dependent persistencethe presence of transiently dormant subpopulations of bacteria that are killed more slowly than the majority of the fast-growing population. Like other forms of tolerance, time-dependent persistence can lead to recurrent infections because the few surviving bacteria can quickly grow to replenish the entire population once antibiotic treatment stops.

"A take-home message from this is that it is important to complete a course of antibiotic treatment as prescribed, even after the disappearance of the symptoms," Balaban says. "Partial treatment gives tolerance and persistence mutations a selective advantage, and these, in turn, hasten the development of resistance."

In future studies, Balaban and her team will use MDK99 to study the evolution of tolerance in patients. Moreover, the ability to systematically determine the tolerance level of strains in the lab could facilitate research in the field. "If implemented in hospital clinical microbiology labs, MDK99 could enable the efficient classification of bacterial strains as tolerant, resistant, or persistent, helping to guide treatment decisions," Balaban says. "In the end, understanding tolerance and finding a way to combat it could significantly reduce the ever-growing risk of resistance."
Researchers have discovered that Yosemite toads have surprisingly fine-scale preferences when selecting alpine meadow pools for breeding. Credit: U.S. Forest Service

The Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) is a rare species found exclusively in California's Sierra Nevada. While its range encompasses hundreds of miles, spanning five national forests and two national parks, the livelihood and future survival of this federally threatened species may come down to mere centimeters.

According to research by the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station and its collaborators, for pools within alpine meadows to be suitable habitat for laying eggs and sustaining tadpoles, little things mean a lot.

"Our research looked at pools across the toad's range, in a variety of weather and precipitation conditions across a number of years," said Christina Liang, a research ecologist with the Pacific Southwest Research Station and lead author of the study. "But no matter the year-to-year variations, we found relatively consistent and definitive characteristics were shared by the majority of pools supporting Yosemite toad offspring compared to those unoccupied."

As the snow pack begins to recede across the Sierras, now is the time mating pairs of Yosemite toads seek out pools with the right mix of length and width, depth, vegetation and temperature to bring forth the next generation of toadlets. In Liang and her colleagues' study, "Fine-Scale Habitat Characteristics Related to Occupancy of the Yosemite Toad," they found the following differences, on average, between occupied and unoccupied pools:

Depth of bottom debris: 1.62 cm (occupied) versus 1.69 cm (unoccupied)

Pool vegetation height: 13.20 cm versus 14.16 cm

Water depth: 4.35 cm versus 3.65 cm

Water temperature: 24.82 degrees C (76.68 F) versus 21.75 degrees C (71.15 F)

Percentage of surface water along the pool's width: 60.57 percent versus 40.07 percent

The patterns of occupancy were not necessarily surprising to researchers, but did verify that water depth, temperature and amount of surface water were significant predictors for a pool's suitability for Yosemite toad use.

"Relatively deeper, warmer and larger pools all contribute to quicker development of eggs and tadpoles," Liang said. "And while we don't fully understand the significance of the vegetation and detritus differences we observed, it could relate to other physical or chemical resources available in the pool that the toads need or prefer."

Yosemite toads only come together for about two weeks once a year in late spring to breed in shallow water areas located at elevations of 6,500 feet or higher in the Sierra Nevada. After toadlets emerge in the fall, it will take an additional three to six years for them to reach sexual maturity.

Researchers gathered their data by studying 143 pools across 19 meadows from 2005 to 2010 on the Sierra National Forest, Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park. Pools were surveyed three times a year to coincide with the various life stages of the toad: late spring for adult toads and eggs, early to mid-summer for tadpoles, and late summer for newly metamorphosed individuals. Researchers found when a previously occupied pool had less suitable characteristics the following year, that pool could go unused, which was a concern.

"Yosemite toads tend to be philopatric, meaning they typically return to the same pool year after year," Liang said. "So if a pool is no longer suitable, that means the toad has lost its prime breeding spot and the opportunity to reproduce."

This new understanding of microsite suitability, however, can provide land managers with valuable insights on how they can foster the species' future survival.

"Understanding the complexity of toad breeding habitat is critical to the conservation of the species," said Stephanie Barnes, an aquatic biologist on the Sierra National Forest, where 10 of the research meadows were located. "If you don't have the right kind of pool habitat for adults to select for breeding or to sustain the development of tadpoles through metamorphosis, it doesn't matter how hard you work to save the species."

While the specific cause of the Yosemite toad's decline is unknown, meadow restoration across the high Sierras is of importance to land managers focusing on watershed health to maintain clean and sustainable water supplies for the populations at lower elevations. Creating suitable breeding habitat for the Yosemite toad can be built into those restoration plans, Barnes said.

"Without this information, it's possible that a restoration project could do more harm than good for this species," Barnes said. "We want to create the right habitat for these toads wherever possible."

Liang and her research collaborators are working with land managers across the Yosemite toad's range to share their findings.

"We are sharing what we've learned so that the information can be applied to conserve this species," Liang said.

More information: Christina T. Liang et al, Fine-Scale Habitat Characteristics Related to Occupancy of the Yosemite Toad,, Copeia (2017). DOI: 10.1643/CH-15-290 Journal information: Copeia
The Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) was deployed from the end of the Canadarm2 robotic arm Sunday, June 18 outside the International Space Station. ROSA is an experiment to test a new type of solar array that rolls open in space like a party favor and is more compact than current rigid panel designs. Credit: NASA

Traditional solar panels used to power satellites can be bulky with heavy panels folded together using mechanical hinges. An experiment that recently arrived at the International Space Station will test a new solar array design that rolls up to form a compact cylinder for launch with significantly less mass and volume, potentially offering substantial cost savings as well as an increase in power for satellites.

Smaller and lighter than traditional solar panels, the Roll-Out Solar Array, or ROSA, consists of a center wing made of a flexible material containing photovoltaic cells to convert light into electricity. On either side of the wing is a narrow arm that extends the length of the wing to provide support, called a high strain composite boom. The booms are like split tubes made of a stiff composite material, flattened and rolled up lengthwise for launch. The array rolls or snaps open without a motor, using stored energy from the structure of the booms that is released as each boom transitions from a coil shape to a straight support arm.

ROSA can be easily adapted to different sizes, including very large arrays, to provide power for a variety of future spacecraft. It also has the potential to make solar arrays more compact and lighter weight for satellite radio and television, weather forecasting, GPS and other services used on Earth. In addition, the technology conceivably could be adapted to provide solar power in remote locations. The technology of the booms has additional potential applications, such as for communications and radar antennas and other instruments.

The ROSA investigation looks at how well this new type of solar panels deploys in the microgravity and extreme temperatures of space. The investigation also measures the array's strength and durability and how the structure responds to spacecraft maneuvers.

"When the array is attached to a satellite, that spacecraft will need to maneuver, which creates torque and causes the wing, or blanket, to vibrate," explains principal investigator Jeremy Banik, senior research engineer at the Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. "We need to know precisely when and how it vibrates so as not to lose control of the spacecraft. The only way to test that is in space."

Deployed wing image. Credit: Deployable Space Systems

The investigation will monitor the array deployed in full sun and full shade and collect data on how much it vibrates when moving from shade to light. This vibration, known as thermal snap, could present challenges in operating satellites with sensitive functions, and the researchers want to learn how to avoid those challenges with ROSA.

"This structure is very thin, only a few millimeters thick, and heats up very quickly, dozens of degrees in a few seconds," Banik says. "That creates loads in the wing that could cause it to shudder. That would create problems, for example, if a satellite was trying to take a picture at the same time."

The investigation will measure power produced by the array to see how ROSA's thin, crystalline photovoltaic cells hold up during launch. In addition, researchers want to see how the array handles retraction.

"We want to show that we can pull the wing back in in a predictable way," Banik says. "A practical reason is that we have to pull it back for stowage after this investigation, but it will be good to know it can be done for future applications, potentially for a highly maneuverable spacecraft."

The intent of this investigation, Banik explained, is to compare on-orbit ROSA data to model predictions previously validated by on-ground measurements in a simulated environment.

"Recognize that we are trying to learn how it behaves - this is an experiment and not a demonstration - so we'll glean useful data even if it doesn't behave the ways we expect," Banik said.

Investigators on the ground will initiate video of deployment and retraction, and sensors embedded on the array will record data on photovoltaic performance, temperature, and accelerations.

"When launching into space, mass and volume are everything, and ROSA is 20 percent lighter and four times smaller in volume than rigid panel arrays," Banik says. "You realize big cost savings from shaving off a little mass and volume, which makes it possible to raise bandwidth on a communications satellite and, for example, make GPS more accessible and reliable for everyone."

In other words, this little array could really change how solar power rolls.

Provided by NASA
The crew taking part in NEEMO 22, the 22nd NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission, consists of astronauts, technicians and scientists who are now on board the Aquarius underwater habitat off the coast of Florida.

How do you prepare for space missions on Earth? One way is to simulate an expedition into space underwater. Yesterday, six aquanauts dived almost 20 m to the sea floor where they will spend 10 days living and working below the waves.

The team taking part in NEEMO 22, the 22nd NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission, consists of astronauts, technicians and scientists who are now on board the Aquarius underwater habitat off the coast of Florida.

The habitat acts as a makeshift 'space base' for the aquanauts to make regular 'waterwalks' in full scuba gear and, by adjusting their buoyancy, they can simulate the gravity levels found on the Moon, Mars or asteroids.

NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren will be commander for this mission that will focus on exploration spacewalks as well as tasks based on the International Space Station. He is joined by ESA astronaut Pedro Duque, planetary scientist Trevor Gradd and research scientist Dom D'Agostino, along with two support technicians.

Moonwalk support

Objectives this year include testing technology to track equipment and studies of body composition and sleep.

The team will also assess new ESA hardware to help evacuate astronauts when on a lunar spacewalk. The Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA) concept was developed and tested at ESA's astronaut centre in Cologne, Germany.

Testing lunar spacewalk aid. Credit: NASA

When on a sortie in space, astronauts always head outside in pairs for safety. LESA will allow one astronaut to transport a colleague in need back to base and rescue. The system was tested in ESA's neutral buoyancy facility and will now be put through an operational test during NEEMO.

Underwater and above

A team of divers support the mission above ground acting as mission control as well as in the water as support divers. Complementing the NASA team are ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, who flew to the Space Station in 2015 and also a veteran aquanaut, ESA astronaut trainer Herve Stevenin and ESA Eurocom Andrea Boyd, Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide is joining as Capcom.

Space agencies are always looking for ways to prepare and train for spaceflight without leaving Earth. ESA sends astronauts underground in Sardinian caves and NASA goes underwater. Astronauts from all Space Station partners join to make the experience as realistic as possible  working efficiently and safely with a culturally diverse team is part of the package.

Last year Pedro took part in ESA's caves training course with Aki. Andreas and Kjell know each other well from when they were both on the International Space Station during Andreas' 10-day 'iriss' mission in 2015.

NEEMO 22 mission control. Credit: European Space Agency
Hiding your true self at work can damage your career and reduce your sense of belonging in the workplace, a new study suggests.

University of Exeter researchers examined "stigmatised" characteristics - being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or having a history of poverty or mental or physical illness.

They found that concealing such characteristics from colleagues resulted in lower self-esteem, job satisfaction and commitment at work.

"People may choose to conceal stigmatised identities because they want to be accepted, but in fact doing so reduces feelings of belonging," said Professor Manuela Barreto of the University of Exeter.

"When someone conceals their true identity, their social interactions suffer - and this has an impact not just on the individual but also on the organisation they work for.

"Our findings suggest that openness about one's identity is often beneficial for stigmatised individuals, the stigmatised group and their workplace."

Despite highlighting the costs of concealment, the researchers do not suggest that everyone must be open in all contexts.

"It is clear that there are times when revealing a stigmatised identity can be very costly," said Dr Anna Newheiser of the University at Albany, SUNY in the USA.

"Those effects are very real and worth avoiding in certain circumstances, but it is important to realise that there is also a cost to hiding your true self."

The paper highlights the "hidden ramifications of prejudice", which harm both individuals and organisations.

"What we need are environments where people don't need to hide - inclusive environments where people don't have to make a choice between being liked and being authentic," Professor Barreto added.

"Workplaces that push individuals to hide their differences do not erase difference - they simply encourage masking and concealment of diversity.

"Given that identity concealment is by nature an invisible act, its social and organisational costs may also be difficult to detect, explain and correct."

The researchers report studies carried out in the Netherlands and the USA.

In one, participants were encouraged to remember a time when they either concealed or revealed a stigmatised characteristic about themselves.

In the other, participants were presented with fictional scenarios that either involved concealing or revealing their stigmatised identity. In both studies, participants were asked how they would feel after concealing or revealing the stigmatised characteristic.

The paper, published in the Journal of Social Issues, is entitled: "People Like Me Don't Belong Here: Identity Concealment Is Associated with Negative Workplace Experiences."

More information: Anna-Kaisa Newheiser et al, People Like Me Don't Belong Here: Identity Concealment is Associated with Negative Workplace Experiences, Journal of Social Issues (2017). DOI: 10.1111/josi.12220
By India Today Web Desk: At first, the picture you see does not look like a brightly-lit room. Whatever light pours into the room is from the window. Once you take a glance outside, you will find a whole world beckoning you to take part in a culture marked by its diversity. This is the 'A Room with a View', welcoming you to none other than God's Own Country, Kerala.

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If there is something that could add to the manifestation of the beauty that Kerala is, it is it's new ad campaign, 'A Room with a View'. And it doesn't surprise us to know that this new film has been awarded for being the 'Best Ad film under 60 sec plus category', at Kyoorius Awards for Kochi Muziris Biennale.

The film was created as a promotional tool for Kochi Muziris Biennale. It has been directed by Sameet Thahir and conceived and scripted by Stark Communications, the creative and brand management agency of Kerala Tourism. Also, it was the only ad film to have been nominated from South India.

Also Read:This is why Kerala has ranked 8 on the '12 Destinations to Watch in 2017' list

What makes 'A Room with a View' even more significant is the double perspective that the visual provides. On one side of the window is the audience, witnessing the varying colours of the socio-cultural assimilation in Kerala. As you keep looking, there are multiple aspects of the state that walk past the window--people from different communities and religion, teenagers, a kathakali dancer, fishermen, an elephant parade and others. What adds to the perspective is the foreign tourist standing on the other end of the window, who is also observing the wonders of Kerala, while being a part of the scene. This emphasises the state's potential as a tourist destination both for the domestic and foreign visitors.

Besides, the room itself holds greater meaning that what initially meets the eye. The reading room named 'Yuvadhara' itself is a depiction of the deep rooted initiatives of the youth of Kerala, leading to high rates of literacy. On the wall of the library is a poster of Kurosawa, again hinting at the inclination of the people of Kerala towards artistic feats. Which also reminds one of his acclaimed movie, Rashomon, a narrative that proposed the possibility of multiple perspectives to a story. And here, it is the story of the benevolent magnificence of Kerala.

Watch the video here:

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Visualizations of the simulated distributions of gas and stars in the Universe from data provided by Cosmowebportal: The cube represents a space section of the Universe (more than 300 million light years), the bright spots on the cube faces show galaxies and galaxy clusters along the cosmic web. The first two disks zoom into the central galaxy cluster, the third disk (far right) demonstrates how an observation of the zoom area would look with an X-ray telescope ('virtual telescope'). Credit: P. Baintner u. H. Bruechle, LRZ

Scientists from the Excellence Cluster Universe at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich have established 'Cosmowebportal', a unique data center for cosmological simulations located at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ) of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. The complete results of a series of large hydrodynamical cosmological simulations are available, with data volumes typically exceeding several hundred terabytes. Scientists worldwide can interactively explore these complex simulations via a web interface and directly access the results.

With current telescopes, scientists can observe our Universe's galaxies and galaxy clusters and their distribution along an invisible cosmic web. From the exact measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with the Planck space observatory and many other measurements for example with the Hubble space telescope, the scientists were able to develop a precise model of our Universe. However, little is yet known about how these structures could form from the distribution of matter in the early universe.

In order to answer this question, theoretical astrophysicists work with cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations. They test their hypotheses about the universe by developing mathematical models that describe the underlying complex physical processes and run them on high-performance computers trying to reproduce the evolution of the Universe over billions of years. If the underlying assumptions are correct, the simulations should match the current astronomical observations and findings.

A group of astrophysicists led by Dr. Klaus Dolag from the Excellence Cluster Universe at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich in close collaboration with the LRZ have now initiated "Cosmowebportal". This unique data centre for cosmological simulations provides access to the results of the world's most extensive set of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, Magneticum Pathfinder, also developed by Klaus Dolag's team and carried out at the LRZ.

The complete simulations are saved at the LRZ in Garching on a data store for large datasets, which is connected to the supercomputer SuperMUC. Using a web interface, interested scientists can, for example, select objects from the raw simulation data, process it, and even create virtual observations mimicing existing or future space telescopes.

"Large astronomical projects such as the space telescopes Euclid or eRosita, which are to be launched in the next few years, will observe large areas of the Universe, as well as provide further insight into the evolution of the first structures of the Universe so that the significance of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations will even increase in future," says Klaus Dolag. "A data centre that pools and makes these simulations available therefore is an important facility for scientists working in the field."

More information: A. Ragagnin et al, A web portal for hydrodynamical, cosmological simulations, Astronomy and Computing (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.ascom.2017.05.001
A Wooden Toe: Swiss Egyptologists Study 3000-Year-Old Prosthesis Credit: University of Basel, LHTT. Image: Matjaz Kacicnik

It is likely to be one of the oldest prosthetic devices in human history: Together with other experts, Egyptologists from the University of Basel have reexamined an artificial wooden big toe. The find is almost 3000 years old and was discovered in a female burial from the necropolis of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna close to Luxor. This area is currently being studied using state-of-the-art methods.

The international team investigated the one-of-a-kind prosthesis using modern microscopy, X-ray technology, and computer tomography. They were able to show that the wooden toe was refitted several times to the foot of its owner, a priest's daughter. The researchers also newly classified the used materials and identified the method with which the highly developed prosthesis was produced and utilized. Experts from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo - where the prosthetic device was brought to after it had been found - and the Institute of Evolutionary Medicine at the University of Zurich were also involved in this study.

The artificial toe from the early first millennium BC testifies to the skills of an artisan who was very familiar with the human physiognomy. The technical know-how can be seen particularly well in the mobility of the prosthetic extension and the robust structure of the belt strap. The fact that the prosthesis was made in such a laborious and meticulous manner indicates that the owner valued a natural look, aesthetics and wearing comfort and that she was able to count on highly qualified specialists to provide this.

View of the excavation area in the cemetery of Sheikh 'Abd el-Qurna . Credit:  University of Basel, LHTT. Image: Matjaz Kacicnik

Life histories of a burial ground

The prosthesis from the Early Iron Age was found in a plundered shaft tomb that was cut into the bedrock of an older, long time idle burial chapel at the graveyard hill of Sheikh Abd el-Qurna to the west of Luxor. This chapel belongs to a group of monumental rock-cut tombs from the late 15th century BC which were built for a small upper class that was close to the royal family. Since the end of 2015, the University of Basel has been studying this ancient Egyptian elite cemetery, its long history of usage, and surroundings.

For this project, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation, microanalytic, scientifically oriented methods, as well as precision technology for surveying and photography were used. The researchers are looking into the materiality of archaeological remains and are thus gaining insight into the life histories of building structures and objects. These material biographies can provide information about the manufacturing practices, usages, personal skills, habits and preferences of people who were in contact with these objects.

A necropolis in 3-D

The oldest known tombs from Sheikh Abd el-Qurna date back to the early second millennium BC. The cemetery saw its heyday in the 15th century BC. However, many of these rock-cut structures were reused and in parts remodeled several times for burials during the first millennium BC. Much later, they served as dwellings mostly for locals - a process that began with the early Christian hermits and only ended in the early 20th century.

Together with the experts for geodesy and geology from the ETH Zurich, the Basel team of archaeologists is scientifically assessing the natural and artificial structures of the excavation area and its surroundings. The specialists are currently developing geometric precise digital elevation, landscape, and architecture models for this area. These will then be combined to an archaeological and geological 3-D map that will illustrate the morphology of the terrain as well as the investigated subterranean structures. On that basis, the researchers want to reconstruct and simulate the development of the cemetery and its use phases.
Erasmus Oware, PhD, assistant professor in the University at Buffalo Department of Geology, holds a multiple-depth soil moisture probe in his laboratory. Credit: Douglas Levere

A University at Buffalo professor has devised an ingenious way to more quickly test soil in farm fields to make detailed maps of differing soil types. Those maps can then be used to design more efficient farming practices.

Erasmus Oware, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Geology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), has designed a system to quickly measure the electrical conductivity of every square yard of a field to determine the boundaries of different types of soil. Then, a few traditional boring and testing techniques can ascertain the soil make up of a broad area. The project is in collaboration with Darcy Telenko, PhD, of the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The method greatly reduces the time to make a soil mapconventional techniques take a day to map 1 acre, but that time is reduced to 20 minutes with the new methodand produces a much more detailed map.

"It's faster, and you get a higher resolution soil map," Oware said. "We are collecting a lot of data points, many more than with traditional soil sampling."

His method won an $84,840 grant from the New York Farm Viability Institute, which has been augmented with support from the CAS. The money was used to purchase the equipment and will help pay for students to do field work on the project this summer.

Oware's system involves dragging an electronic wave emitter behind an ATV that traverses every yard of a field. A receiver in the vehicle records the conductivity of the soil and its precise location. The result is a detailed map of the different soil types, generated with thousands of data points.

Traditional field tests are then performed to determine the water holding capacity of the different soil types. Knowing how the soil holds water is crucial in determining how much irrigation and how much fertilizer is required.

"We will tell the farmer, 'This part of the field holds water for a longer time, so you can irrigate it less frequently. The other area does not hold water, so it needs to be watered less, but more frequently,' " Oware said.

Too much watering can cause several problems.

"If you over-irrigate a farm, the water will either create runoff and wash the fertilizer into nearby surface water bodies, or it will induce drainage whereby the fertilizer drains beyond the root zone and will contaminate groundwater resources," Oware said. "On the other hand, under-irrigation will create water stress of the plant, affecting plant quality and yield."

Thus, getting a precise handle on irrigation saves water, reduces the amount of fertilizer used and saves energy, he said.

"We are trying to design a sustainable and environmentally friendly way of farming."

The device measures soil conductivity at 20 and 40 centimeters deep, the heart of the vegetable "root zone."

Oware said farmers are eager to participate in his study. One farm in Niagara County and two farms in Erie County have been studied, and 12 more are going to be added.

He said farmers know from experience which areas of their fields produce differently, but the detailed maps give them much more accuracy and detail as to why.

Once the water needs of a farm field is mapped, the next step is to modify the irrigation system so that different areas of the field can be watered at different rates. Oware said he is working on developing a valve system for that purpose.

Because Oware's mapping method is so rapid, it can be used on large, industrial-sized farms, he said. He recently mapped a seven-acre field in three hours, generating more than 50,000 data points.
The recently inaugurated Kochi Metro has been setting examples ever since its inauguration proving it is different than any other Metro.

By India Today Web Desk: Kochi Metro which was recently inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has started setting examples ever since its inauguration. It is also India's first integrated multi-model transport system.

Kochi, in the past was facing issues with regional connectivity and traffic congestion, but the metro is said to improve the connectivity with its launch of the first phase (13 km). The total route length of the train will be 26 km.

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Kochi Metro is also solar powered and will generate 2.3 MW of power, about one-fourth of the total required. The solar powered Kochi Metro also has WiFi connectivity to cater the travellers.

Here are things that Kochi Metro is doing differently:

1. Appointing transgender employees

Facebook/KochiMetro Facebook/KochiMetro

Kochi Metro has appointed people from LGBT community as per state government's transgender policy.

2. Empowering women

Photo: Twitter.com/Chakkunews

The Kochi Metro has also decided to hire as many women as they can in their staff. Kerala government also initiated a self-help project known as Kudumbasree, to appoint women employees, the largest in comparison to any other metro.

3. Treating the worthy

Photo: Twitter.com/dibakarme

Kochi Metro treated the migrant workers who helped in the Kochi Metro project by honouring them with a traditional Kerala feast, Sadhya. Around 800 migrants from Bihar and Assam were treated before the inauguration.

4. Free rides for the disabled

Photo: Facebook/JomonChakko

Kochi Metro Rail Limited offered free rides to differently abled school students, elders from old-age homes and children from orphanages. The metro was filled with balloons and flags to create a happy environment for the travellers. The Health and Social Welfare Minister K K Shylaja and Social Department Director T V Anupama also were a part of the ride and interacted with the differently abled as well.

5. Free rides for the makers

Photo: Facebook/KochiMetro

Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) also provided free rides to all the workers who helped in the project just a week after the Sadhya feast, the workers travelled from Palarivattom to Aluva and back.

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Bihar Governor and the BJP's presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind wanted to visit the Retreat Building during a trip to Shimla with his family late last month but was denied entry.

By India Today Web Desk: Bihar Governor and the BJPs presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind wanted to visit the Retreat Building which is part of the presidential estate, during a trip to Shimla with his family late last month but was denied entry.

A few weeks from now, the low-profile Kovind, whose family roamed around in hired taxis in Shimla, could well be the custodian of the sprawling presidential summer retreat.

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Kovind, 71, who arrived here on May 28, visited several places in and around Shimla. However, when he reached the Retreat in a high security zone in the leafy Mashobra hills, he could not enter the complex as he did not have the required prior permission.

The Retreat was made a part of the presidential estate after the Viceregal Lodge, which was turned into Rashtrapati Bhavan after Independence, was handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS).

The president visits the Retreat at least once a year and the core office shifts during his stay.

Shashi Kant, advisor to Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat, said, "The Bihar governor visited the Kalyani helipad, constructed especially for the president, and I suggested he should visit forests of Shimla water supply catchment area, known as one of the best maintained forests in the world. He was fascinated by the greenery and scenic beauty."

Kovind maintained a low-profile. Though he and his wife used an official vehicle, other family members went sightseeing in hired taxis.

The governor went to Mall Road and the Ridge. He expressed concern over increasing traffic congestion in the hill town and said steps should be taken to decongest the roads to help serve the tourists better.

It took him five-and-a-half hours to reach Shimla from Chandigarh by road against the normal two-and-a-half hours.

A close friend of the Himachal Pradesh governor, Kovind gifted a box of mangoes and an idol of Lord Buddha to him.

The presidential election, if required, will be held on July 17.

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2017 Trustwave Global Report Reveals Point-of-Sale Breaches Increase

Fight Against Cybercrime Shows Both Improvements and Downsides



CHICAGO  June 20, 2017  Trustwave today released the 2017 Trustwave Global Security Report which reveals the top cybercrime, data breach and security threat trends from 2016. The report reveals both good and bad news in the world of cybersecurity as intrusion detection and breach containment times were relatively better, but other threats like malvertisements became cheaper and malicious spam saw increases.

Key highlights from the 2017 Trustwave Global Security Report include:

Intrusion detection gets better, especially when breaches are self-detected: The median number of days from an intrusion to detection of a compromise decreased to 49 days in 2016 from 80.5 days in 2015, with values ranging from zero days to almost 2,000 days (more than five years). For internally detected incident the median was 16 days, while 65 was the median number of days for externally detected incidents.

Once detected, victims contain breaches relatively quickly: The median number of days from detection to containment was 2.5 in 2016 with values ranging from 360 days, meaning the intrusion ended 360 days before detection, to 289 days. In cases where containment occurred after detection, the median duration was 13 days from detection to containment.

Intrusion containment remains stagnant: The median number of days from an intrusion to containment of a compromise stayed relatively the same at 62 days in 2016 compared to 63 days in 2015.

North America and retail lead in data breaches: Similar to previous years, 49% of data breaches investigated by Trustwave were in North America, while 21% were in Asia-Pacific, 20% in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and 10% in Latin America. The largest single share of incidents involved the retail industry, at 22%, followed closely by the food and beverage industry, at nearly 20%.

POS breaches increase: Environments most breached in 2016 again consisted of corporate and internal networks, at 43%. Incidents affecting POS systems increased to 31% in 2016 , from 22% in 2015, while incidents affecting e-commerce environments fell to 26% from 38%. Incidents involving POS environments were most common in North America, which has been slower than much of the world to adopt the EMV payment card standard.

Payment card data most at risk: More than half of the incidents investigated targeted payment card data: Card track (also called magnetic stripe) data, at 33% of incidents, primarily came from POS environments. Card-not-present (CNP) data, at 30%, mostly came from e-commerce transactions. Financial credentials, including account names and passwords for banks and other financial institutions, accounted for 18% of incidents, followed by other targets.

Attackers seek stiff prices for their zero-day vulnerabilities: In 2016, Trustwave discovered an alleged undisclosed Windows zero-day vulnerability and accompanying exploit code on sale for an initial price of $95,000.

Exploit market disruption: The most common exploit kits in the world  Angler, Magnitude and Nuclear  disappeared or went private in 2016, leading to a shakeup of the exploit kit market.

Malvertisements get dirt cheap: In 2016, the estimated cost for cybercriminals to infect 1,000 vulnerable computers with malvertisements was only $5  less than $.01 per vulnerable machine. Malicious advertising remains the number one source of traffic to exploit kit landing pages.

Malware tries to hide itself: 83% of malware samples Trustwave examined in 2016 used obfuscation, while 36% used encryption.

Malware-laden spam creeps up: In 2016, 35% of spam messages contained malware, up from 3% in 2015. Meanwhile, 60% of all inbound email was spam, up from 54% in 2015.

Database flaws increase: Database vendors patched 170 vulnerabilities in the most common database products in 2016, up from 139 vulnerabilities in 2015.

Applications are almost always vulnerable:99.7% of web applications Trustwave application scanning services tested in 2016 included at least one vulnerability, with the mean number of vulnerabilities detected being 11 per application.

Trustwave Chief Executive Officer and President Robert J. McCullen said, Cybersecurity in 2016 had both highlights and lowlights. As our data breach investigations and threat intelligence show attackers continue to evolve their tactics and focus on extreme paydays as cybercrime becomes more like genuine businesses. Meanwhile security skills and talent remain scarce. As an industry, we must continue to focus on key areas like threat detection and response, security scanning and testing and cloud security services that provide meaningful layers of protection from constantly evolving threats.

Trustwave experts gathered real-world data from hundreds of breach investigations the company conducted in 2016 across 21 countries. This data was added to billions of security and compliance events logged each day across the global network of Trustwave Advanced Security Operations Centers, along with data from tens of millions of network vulnerability scans, thousands of web application security scans, tens of millions of web transactions, tens of billions of email messages, millions of malicious websites, penetration tests, telemetry from security technologies distributed across the globe and industry-leading security research.

To download a complimentary copy of the 2017 Trustwave Global Security Report, visit:https://www.trustwave.com/gsr/.



Some info about Pointofsale.com:

* Now in our 8th year

* Over 100,000 visitors a month to our websites, served over 5 million pages to viewers last year.

* 65% SMB (small to medium businesses)

* 90% looking for a POS solution or POS information of some kind

* Average visitor reads 5 pages per visit

Pointofsale.com  Retail and restaurant POS systems and content  over 5,000 articles , case studies, how-to, POS resources galore.

POS-Advice.com  100% focus on restaurant point of sale

POSforum.net  a POS support forum where users share information and answer tech questions for various products including Oracle/Micros, Aloha and others  free since 2006.

Restaurantsoftwarelist.com  A list of technology solutions for restaurants and hospitality. Find developers, manufacturers, resellers and processors.

POS-Advicenewsletter.com  A weekly newsletter of technology advice and opinion for restaurants.
By Press Trust of India: Shimla, June 20 (PTI) Kusum Sardet of the BJP was elected as the mayor of Shimla as the party created history by bagging the post for the first time.

The position of the deputy mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) also went to the BJP.

The municipal election results are significant as they come at a time when the state Assembly polls in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh are not far.

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Sardet of BJP, who won from the Annandale ward, was elected mayor, defeating Simmi Nanda of the Congress by six votes.

The post of the Mayor was reserved for a Scheduled Caste woman and Sardet polled 19 votes against the 13 secured by Nanda. One vote was declared invalid.

BJP backed candidates had won from 17 out of the 34 SMC wards and with one party rebel and a Congress rebel joining, its strength increased to 19.

The lone CPI(M) member abstained.

For the post of deputy mayor also there was direct contest between the Congress and the BJP. Rakesh Kumar, a BJP rebel, who was taken back into the party sprang a surprise by securing 20 votes against 13 votes polled by Anand Kaushal of the Congress.

At least one Congress backed candidate cross-voted in favour of the BJP whose candidate won by seven votes.

The election of both the mayor and deputy mayor were held through a secret ballot and the media was not allowed inside.

BJP backed candidates, who were kept at some unknown place heaved a sigh of relief after the election of mayor and deputy Mayor as the perceived threat of poaching by Congress was over.

There was not much excitement in the Congress camp today but the BJP workers were present outside the Bachat Bhawan in large numbers and shouted slogans.

The BJP councillors were taken in a procession through the Lower Bazaar and thousands of workers joined the march to celebrate the victory.

In the first elections held for the SMC in 1986, both the Congress and BJP backed candidates polled ten votes each in the 21 member house and Adarsh Sood of Congress won by toss.

In successive elections held in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007, Congress swept the SMC polls and got its mayor and deputy mayor elected comfortably.

In 1992, the BJP failed to open its account while in subsequent polls also the Congress won by comfortably and bagged the top two posts.

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In 2012, the government held direct elections for the post of mayor and deputy mayor and the CPI(M) won both the posts inspite of the fact that it had only three seats in the 25-ward corporation.

The BJP had then emerged as the largest party with 12 seats and Congress was ousted for the first time as it won only ten seats. PTI PCL ADS

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Australia's military on Tuesday said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces. The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets", and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident. "As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement. No reason for the suspension was given, but The Australian newspaper said it was implemented as a precaution after the jet's downing. "ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," the spokeswoman added. "ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition." The United States has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation after the jet was downed on Sunday evening when regime forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS. A top US general said the country would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline established in 2015, after Russia said Washington had failed to use the line -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before targeting the plane near Raqa. Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in late 2015 extended air operations into Syria, with a total of 780 defence personnel based in the Middle East. The staunch US ally in September said it would widen the scope of targets in the air war against IS by allowing its pilots to strike jihadist support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria. Australia's Air Task Group consists of 300 personnel, six F/A-18 Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker and Transport plane.
By Khalid Abdelaziz KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Qamr al-Dawla Abdullah had never met his niece and nephew who grew up in Libya, where their father Yehia was killed fighting alongside Islamic State, but he stood tearfully at Khartoum's airport on Tuesday waiting to pick them up. The Sudanese children were two of eight returning from Libya, where their parents had joined Islamic State in the coastal city of Sirte. The youngest of the children has not turned 1 yet, and the eldest is only 9 years old. After being placed in a corrective institution in Libya, the children were being sent to live with family members in their native Sudan, said Moataz Abbas, a Sudanese community leader in the Libyan city of Misrata. "The mothers are detained and the fathers are dead or missing... Six children are being picked up by their families, but there are two whose families we have been unable to locate," Brigadier General Al-Tigany Ibrahim told reporters at Khartoum airport. Islamic State captured Sirte in early 2015, turning it into its most important base outside its heartland in Syria and Iraq, and attracting large numbers of foreign fighters to the city, many of them Sudanese. The group imposed its hardline rule on residents and extended its control across some 155 miles (250 km) of Libya's Mediterranean coastline. "It is painful for the sun to rise and for you to not find your daughters or grandchildren at home and to not know where they went or why. We are simple people ... our daughters had never even left Sudan," Hassan Sughayroon, grandfather of four of the rescued children, told Reuters. Two of Sughayroon's daughters fled the country last year. He only learnt of their whereabouts when Sudan's intelligence agency called him four months ago. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Eric Knecht)
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday approved the appointment of a former Lebanese culture minister as the new U.N. envoy to Libya, diplomats said, ending an unusually contentious four-month search. U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Friday officially put forward Ghassan Salame, a professor of International Relations and Conflict Resolution at Sciences Po in Paris, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Saturday. The 15-member council must agree by consensus on the appointment of special envoys and members had until Tuesday evening to raise any objections. There were none, diplomats said. The search for a successor to Martin Kobler, a German diplomat who has served as the U.N. representative in Libya since November 2015, began in February when Guterres proposed former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for the job. The United States rejected Fayyad because of his nationality. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations had been "unfairly biased in favour of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel." Guterres described the U.S. rejection as "a loss for the Libyan peace process and for the Libyan people." Following that objection, Russia and other council members then rejected a British candidate and an American candidate, said diplomats. Kobler's posting was briefly extended until the end of June. Libya slid into turmoil after the 2011 overthrow of ruler Muammar Gaddafi, with rival governments and armed alliances competing for power. A U.N.-backed government in Tripoli has struggled to impose its authority and has been rejected by factions in the east. The U.N. envoy to Libya has been trying to broker peace. The political chaos and security vacuum has allowed Islamist militant groups to gain a foothold and human traffickers to thrive. Libya is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler)
By Yara Bayoumy WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department bluntly questioned on Tuesday the motives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their boycott of Doha, saying it was "mystified" the Gulf states had not released their grievances over Qatar. In Washington's strongest language yet on the Gulf dispute, the State Department said the more time goes by, "the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE." "At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns regarding Qatar's alleged support for terrorism or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, referring to the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. The State Department's comments came in contrast to the language taken by U.S. President Donald Trump who has accused Qatar of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are key American allies. The fact the State Department bluntly questioned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi's actions in public suggests Washington was keen for the parties to end the dispute. "We've just said to the parties involved: Let's finish this. Let's get this going," Nauert said. Qatar hosts a vital U.S. military base, Al Udeid, to which more than 11,000 U.S. and coalition forces are deployed or assigned and from which more than 100 aircraft operate. The United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed the measures to isolate Qatar, has said the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days. The State Department, headed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was encouraging "all sides to de-escalate tensions and engage in constructive dialogue," Nauert said. A U.S. official said Washington is urging Qatar to take steps to defuse the crisis, including signing on to proposals being drawn up the Treasury Department to strengthen controls against financing of militant groups. But this official and a second U.S. official said it was inaccurate to single Qatar out, and that the Saudis, Emiratis and other Gulf states face similar challenges in countering terrorist financing. Qatar's foreign minister, who is expected to travel to Washington next week, said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the Gulf dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago. He added that Doha still believed a solution was possible. "Now that it has been more than two weeks since the embargo started, we are mystified that the Gulf states have not released to the public nor to the Qataris the details about the claims that they are making toward Qatar," Nauert added. There was no immediate comment from Riyadh or Abu Dhabi. Qatar's ambassador to the United States, Meshal Hamad al-Thani, welcomed the State Department's statement, tweeting: "We are confident in the ability of the U.S. to resolve this crisis". Qatar has denied accusations by its neighbours that it funds terrorism, foments regional instability or has cosied up to their enemy Iran. The first U.S. official said the dispute is driven more by economic rivalries, historical tensions and the personal dynamics of Gulf leaders than by the specific demands the Saudis and Emiratis are making on Qatar. The dispute has opened a rift among some of the main U.S. allies in the Middle East. Since the dispute erupted, Trump has taken a tougher stance against Qatar, while the State Department had sought to remain neutral. Nauert said Tillerson had three phone calls and two in-person meetings with the Saudi foreign minister. Tillerson also spoke by phone three times with Qatar's foreign minister and with the Qatari emir. The UAE's ambassador to the United States said last week a list of demands for Qatar was being compiled and would soon be handed to the United States. He said they would broadly address support for terrorism, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms. The Pentagon has said the boycott was hindering U.S. ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. Al Udeid is where command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place. Meanwhile, Qatar's attorney general said on Tuesday his country has evidence that the hacking of Qatar's state news agency was linked to countries that have severed ties with Doha. (Additional reporting by Warren Strobel and David Alexander in Washington and Tom Finn in Doha; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and James Dalgleish)
Ministers from the Organization of American States failed Monday to agree on a resolution to address the crisis in Venezuela, as the death toll from weeks of clashes at anti-government protests rose to 74. New violence erupted in the South American nation as protesters marked the 80th day in their current campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro. Meanwhile, as the OAS opened its annual general assembly in Mexico, foreign ministers from the 34-nation regional group scrambled to adopt a joint response to the crisis -- and came up short. Since April 1, after Venezuela's Supreme Court tried to strip the powers of the opposition-majority legislature, the country has descended into running street battles between anti-government protesters and Maduro's security forces and supporters. Maduro's opponents accuse the president of clinging to power by repressing opponents, eradicating checks and balances, and seeking to write a new constitution. Violent scenes played out again Monday, as riot police and soldiers used tear gas and water cannons to block demonstrators from marching on central Caracas. A 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest and killed in Altamira on the capital's east side, while six others were wounded by bullets, officials said. - Three votes short - The crisis has the rest of Latin America increasingly worried. In the Mexican resort city of Cancun, OAS foreign ministers tried bridge their mistrust and ideological divisions to address the standoff. The ministers had two competing proposals on the table. On one side stood Venezuela's leftist allies and Caribbean countries that for years received discounted crude exports from the oil giant. They back a domestic resolution to the crisis. On the opposite side were the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Panama, which want to create a "contact group" on Venezuela -- comprising countries that would seek to make Maduro's government respect OAS democratic norms. Using the Caribbean states' proposal as a base, the two sides sought to forge a compromise in which the OAS would call on Maduro to halt the constitution-drafting assembly he has convened, guarantee human rights, and hold talks with the opposition mediated by a group of regional countries. But the proposal fell three votes shy of the 23 it needed. "It's sad," said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Fitzpatrick in Cancun. "We continue to extend our hand to the people of Venezuela and indeed to the government of Venezuela looking for a pacific and democratic solution." Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray persuaded his colleagues to adjourn the meeting to an unspecified date while they continue to negotiate behind the scenes. "While we're here failing to reach an agreement, in the streets of Caracas and other Venezuelan cities today the violence and repression continue," he said. It is unclear in any case how much power the OAS can wield over Venezuela, which is in the process of quitting the group. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, who is in Cancun, defiantly told journalists: "Venezuela recognizes nothing produced by this organization." - No end in sight - Pummeled by the plunge in oil prices since mid-2014, Venezuela is in the grip of an economic and political crisis that is causing desperate shortages of food, medicine and other basic essentials. Maduro says the crisis is a US-backed conspiracy. More than 1,000 people have been injured so far, prosecutors say, and more than 3,000 arrested, according to rights group Forum Penal. The OAS crisis talks are the latest in a series of foreign ministers' meetings that caused Maduro to announce Venezuela's withdrawal from the regional group in April -- a process that will take two years. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, a vocal Maduro critic, warned there would be no immediate solution. "The issue of Venezuela will continue, because the crisis in Venezuela isn't going to end today, either," he said.
When someone mentions Tuas, you probably think factories and, of course, the Tuas Checkpoint. But that doesnt mean the industrial district is as godforsaken as you think.

Ahead of the opening of four new stops along the west end of the green East-West MRT line, Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore explored areas near the Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link MRT stations and found a number of eateries that might whet your appetite. From a hipster eating house to a romantic restaurant, Tuas has it all.

Here are some eateries located minutes away from the respective stations by foot, which we think you might love:

1. Third Place (Rating: 3.5/5)

Third Place is an eating house located in Tuas, near to the new Tuas West Road MRT Station which opened on 18 June. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Third Place is just a few minutes away from the MRT. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

This could be one of the most-hip coffee shops in Singapore. Third Place is an eating house located about 700m away from the Tuas West Road MRT Station, according to Google. The eatery is done up in a contemporary style, with plenty of wood accents and plants livening up the place.

There are about 10 stalls at the eating house selling a wide range of cuisines, from western food, mini wok dishes, mixed rice to minced pork noodles. Each dish is priced around $5.

What we had: Stir-fried beef hor fun ($5.50) from the Mini Wok and Herbal Soup stall, which seemed to be one of the more popular stalls at the eatery judging by the long queue. The beef was thinly sliced and easy to chew, while the silky noodles were not overly greasy.

Stir-fried Beef Hor Fun ($5.50) from the Mini Wok and Herbal Soup stall at Third Place near the Tuas West Road MRT Station. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Nearest MRT station: Tuas West Road MRT Station

Address: 18 Tuas Avenue 7

Opening hours: Monday to Saturday, 6am to 8pm

2. Santoshimaa Indian Restaurant (Rating: 3.5/5)

Santoshimaa Indian Restaurant is located at the Tuas Amenity Centre, near to the Tuas Crescent MRT Station. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Located on the second floor of Tuas Amenity Centre, about 600m away from Tuas Crescent MRT Station, The Santoshimaa Indian Restaurant offers affordable and authentic Indian fare.

Dine on affordable dosai or prata priced from as low as $1 apiece, or a plate of tandoori biryani ($11), while being entertained by Bollywood movies screened on the restaurants television.

What we had: Chicken Tikka ($7.50) and two butter naans ($3 each). The chicken tikka was rich in flavour and spice, and the butter naans were soft and chewy.

Story continues

Chicken Tikka ($7.50) and Butter Naan ($3) from Santoshimaa Indian Restaurant at Tuas Amenity Centre, near to the Tuas Crescent MRT Station (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Nearest station: Tuas Crescent

Address: 71 Pioneer Road #02-06, Tuas Amenity Center

3. Captains Table (Rating: 3/5)

Captains Table at Raffles Marina, near the Tuas Link MRT Station. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Heres a gem that took us by surprise. Amid all the factories sprawled across Tuas, lies a luxurious and romantic side to the area as well. The Captains Table Chinese restaurant is located at Raffles Marina, just behind the Tuas Link MRT Station. Housed within the country club and lifestyle centre, the restaurant offers views overlooking the marina.

Prices are on the higher end, with the average cost of a dish being around $18, but there are promotions which offer slightly more affordable fare.

What we had: Executive Set Lunch Menu ($18++), which consisted of a herbal chicken soup in ginseng, pan-fried chicken chop with onions and black pepper, fresh pomelo in mango puree dessert and complimentary steamed rice, Chinese tea and Chinese pickles. While there was nothing particularly special about this set lunch, it was everything we had expected from a regular Chinese restaurant  so no disappointments here.

The Executive Set Lunch ($18++) at Raffles Marina, near Tuas Link MRT Station. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Nearest station: Tuas Link

Address: 10 Tuas West Drive

Opening hours: 12pm to 3pm, 6pm to 10pm

4. Broadway Canteen (Rating: 3/5)

Broadway Canteen is located near the Gul Circle MRT Station. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Broadway Canteen is a blink-and-youll-miss-it coffeeshop located in an alley nearly 500m away from the Gul Circle Station. There are around 10 stalls located here, and prices average at around $3 per meal. Portions seem slightly bigger than in typical coffee shops around Singapore. A majority of the patrons seem to be workers from the nearby factories.

What we had: Chicken noodle ($3) from the Golden Dragon Roasted Delight stall.

Chicken noodles ($3) from the Golden Dragon Roasted Delight stall in Broadway Canteen, near Gul Circle MRT Station. (Photo: Audrey Kang/Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore)

Nearest station: Gul Circle

Address: 60 Gul Lane

Take a look inside Third Place:



Related stories:

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By Press Trust of India: Colombo, Jun 20 (PTI) Six military intelligence personnel in Sri Lanka arrested for allegedly being involved in the assault and abduction of a prominent journalist in 2008 during the civil war against the LTTE were today granted bail by the high court here.

The six army men, including a Major, were arrested in February following a probe by the Lankan polices criminal investigation department (CID) into the abduction and assault of Keith Noyahr, former deputy editor of English weekly newspaper The Nation, in May 2008.

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The each suspect was ordered to be released on a cash bail of 35,000 Lankan rupees and three sureties of 1.5 million Lankan rupees each.

They were barred from leaving the country and the high court observed that bail can be cancelled if they interfere with evidence and witnesses in the case.

They were further ordered to appear before the CID on every Sunday.

On March 20, the Mount Lavinia Magistrate had issued an order to release the suspects on bail despite the strong objections of prosecution on which the CID was yet to conclude investigations.

However, the CID filed a revision application in the high court challenging the magistrates order to release the suspects on bail.

Following the revision application filed by the CID, the high court issued an order to suspend the magistrates order and further ordered to remand the suspects.

Noyahr was abducted on May 22, 2008 and a day later, he was dropped off near his residence, badly beaten up and bruised. After the attack, he fled to Australia with his family fearing for his life.

The abduction in 2008 came shortly after Sri Lankas bid to be elected to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva failed.

The role of military men was suspected as Noyahr had criticised military leaders in his writings as the defence correspondent of the daily.

The attack on him was one of the many high profile attacks against journalists during the regime of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

Sri Lanka was ranked among one of the worst countries to work for journalists during Rajpaksas regime.

Rajapaksas successor Maithripala Sirisena pledged to revive all investigations on attacks on media personnel which had been stifled under the former presidents rule.

The investigations include the assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunga, a high-profile Sri Lankan journalist who was critical of Rajpaksas regime.

Meanwhile, another journalist who went into exile due to alleged threats under Rajapaksa regime today lodged a complaint with the CID, claiming that he was assaulted in 2009 by a gang.

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The journalist, Poddala Jayantha, now lives in the US. PTI CORR PMS AKJ PMS

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Looking to promote your small business on social media, your website and in emails?

You might want to consider using GIFs for quick how-tos, product demos or even lighthearted ads.

How Popular are GIFs?

According to a recent study by Gfycat, a popular user-generated GIF platform, 63 percent of Americans are GIF users  and one in five Americans cant get enough of them.

GIFs are eye-catching and entertaining. People just cant seem to get enough of them. Just look at this GIF here:

Study Findings on American GIF Habits

Gfycat polled 1,000 Americans about their GIF engagement habits. Of the 63 percent of Americans that use GIFs, 43 percent said they use them sometimes, while 20 percent said they use them all the time. Only 14 percent said theyve never used one, and the other 23 percent dont know what a GIF is.

Gfycats users create hundreds of thousands of GIFs per month, Gfycat told Small Business Trends. Forty-four percent of Americans create GIFs for comic relief, and 13 percent to express creativity.

Interestingly, 39 percent of Americans create their own GIFs and just 23 percent said they didnt know they could create their own. Small numbers of Americans (23 percent) have created a GIF a handful of times, while 17 percent have done it many times.

Of Americans who have never created a GIF, 70 percent said they would like to try to make one, even though 47 percent of them admitted they dont know how.

Suffice it to say, we have come a long way since this:

One of the oldest GIFs on Gfycat site.

Small businesses already create and use animated GIFs on Twitter to attract more attention and tell their stories better. And with Pinterest also allowing users to post GIFs to the site, you might definitely want to consider using GIFs for your business communication more often. Incorporating humor in your own communication with animated GIFs can be a great strategy to make your brand go viral.

Gfycat conducted a survey of 1000 Americans on June 2, 2017 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the GIF, which was on June 15.
The storage industry in the U.S. is growing. According to IBISWorld, the industry brings in an estimated $38 billion annually. And if youre looking to break into this growing business niche, a franchise can be a great way to get the resources and know-how you need. Here are some storage franchise opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs to consider.

Storage Franchise Opportunities

Storage Authority

Storage Authority offers a franchise opportunity that focuses on consumer level self storage. The overall investment can vary depending on location and size. But the minimum upfront cost is typically around $400,000.

UNITS Moving and Portable Storage

A moving and storage franchise business, UNITS currently has open territories in metropolitan areas across the U.S. The initial franchise fee is $55,500. And multiple-unit franchises are also available.

PODS Portable Storage Units

PODS is another moving and storage franchise that provides large storage containers, boxes and other packing items that customers can use at their own locations. The company has offerings for consumers, businesses and more.

U-Haul

U-Haul offers a unique opportunity for existing business owners who want to add the U-Haul name to their moving and storage offerings. You can become a dealer to earn about 21 percent commission across U-Hauls product lines.

1-800-PACK-RAT

1-800-PACK-RAT offers partnership opportunities for businesses that want to add a trusted name to their packing and storage offerings. Cost can vary depending on location and type of services offered.

Big Box Storage

Big Box Storage is a storage and moving company based in San Diego, California. The company, which provides portable storage containers, started out with just a few company owned locations, but has since welcomed franchisees in other areas.

Smartbox Moving and Storage

Smartbox offers storage containers and moving services and has locations in states around the U.S. The initial franchise fee can vary depending on the size of your desired territory. But it usually starts at $40,000.

GarageTown USA

GarageTown USA provides a few different business opportunities for land owners and entrepreneurs in various markets around the U.S. You can provide the location for a new GarageTown franchise or partner with the company to find the right markets in your area.

Zippy Shell

Originally founded in Australia, Zippy Shell has franchise locations in a number of U.S. markets and is open to even further expansion. The moving and storage business offers location assistance and other support services to franchisees as they get started and grow their businesses.

CubeSmart Self Storage

This self storage property management business offers customizable opportunities for entrepreneurs. Those interested in partnering with CubeSmart Self Storage receive access to benefits like marketing support, access to management professionals, a sales center and more.

ClosetBox

ClosetBox is a full service storage business, offering services like pickup, security and delivery. The company has partnerships in states across the U.S. You can contact the company to learn more about current opportunities and integrating the ClosetBox name into your business offerings.

Extra Space Storage

Extra Space Storage offers a third party management solution for property owners looking for a trusted name to manage their business. The company provides marketing support, strategic direction, revenue management and more.

MyWay Mobile Storage

MyWay Mobile Storage offers a portable self storage option for consumers. The company provides marketing and customer service/sales support for franchisees. So you can use your time and resources to focus on running all the other aspects of your franchise business.

Guardian Storage

Guardian Storage offers some property management and consulting services to self storage business owners, currently with locations in Pennsylvania and Colorado. Some of the companys offerings include operations management, accounting, human resources support and more.

Universal Storage Group

Universal Storage Group also offers a variety of management and consulting services for self storage businesses. The company offers training, development, management and more all aimed at helping storage businesses increase earnings.
For consumers that want to live sustainable lifestyles, having an actual home thats sustainably built is a must. But if there are some areas where finding homes that are both sustainable and modern can be tough.

But if youre in the Catskills area of New York, theres a company that aims to provide both of those types of homes in one. Read more about Modern Catskills and what the business offers in this weeks Small Business Spotlight.

What the Business Does

Provides pre-designed, custom-built modern homes.

Business Niche

Offering sustainable architecture.

Sandra Riedel, partner for Modern Catskills told Small Business Trends, Sullivan County, NY is a rural area known mostly for old farmhouses and arts and crafts cottages. Modern sustainable architecture is only recently coming to the area. Modern Catskills is the first company in the Catskills to establish a brand to exclusively support such development.

How the Business Got Started

To serve an under-served market.

Riedel says, I was in real estate sales and Karl [Wasner, partner] is a builder and architect. We both heard the same feedback from our clients, there just wasnt enough quality inventory to support the influx of home buyers in the area. Karl came up with a set of plans and we worked on the design and business strategy for a few months.

Biggest Win

Launching a successful website.

Riedel says, Our website is the core of our marketing strategy, and so launching our Wix website is our biggest win. We waited until we had two clients signed and houses in development, which allowed us to launch the site and supporting assets with a proven business model while also surprise our entire community with a fully realized company. In small town America, this impressed a lot of folks!

Biggest Risk

Taking on their first client.

Riedel says, Our biggest risk was signing our first clients without knowing whether our designs would appraise at the value we gave it. Our clients took out a construction loan to finance their projects, and there was no way to know whether the appraisal would come in at the value we had given. Fortunately, it came in at just over so the clients were very pleased. The clients could have canceled and our business model could have failed before we even got started.

How Theyd Spend an Extra $100,000

Building a spec house.

Riedel says, We would build a spec house on a ridge overlooking the Delaware River.

* * * * *

Find out more about the Small Biz Spotlight program
The White House wants to improve technology across government agencies. And that could lead to some opportunities for small businesses.

Inside the White House Tech Summit

Jared Kushner, President Donald Trumps senior advisor and son-in-law, said at the White House Tech Summit Monday, We will foster a new set of startups focused on [government] tech and be the new global leader in the field, making government more transparent and responsive to citizens needs.

The White House Tech Summit featured a meeting of the American Technology Council and some big names in the tech world, including Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, Jeff Bezos, founder an CEO of Amazon and investor Peter Thiel, among others.

But small businesses also may want to pay attention to what came out of this event. Specifically, the government wants to modernize its technology by leveraging the creativity of the private sector. So tech startups that provide things like cloud programs and cybersecurity could have more opportunities for government contracts in the coming years.

The feds only recently hit some of their small business contracting goals, which aim to award at least 23 percent of government contracts to U.S. small businesses. But according to at least one advocacy group, the government is still short-changing small businesses when it comes to awarding those contracts.

This push for updated tech could take a while to enact across all government agencies. But if it leads to more government contracting opportunities for small businesses, it may well be worth the wait.
An international summer school of experimental archaeology open to experts and amateurs will help build a thematic archeo-park to be opened next summer.

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More information about travelling in Slovakia

Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide

The popular tourist destination of the northern-Slovak region of Liptov is offering the opportunity for the first time, the TASR newswire wrote. The Archeopark Liptov summer school will take place in July and August at the foot of the Low Tatras, near the lower-Liptov village of Partizanska Lupca, and will be organised by the Archeopark Liptov OZ civic association.

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Participants are offered a cycle of workshops, creative events and lectures focused on various technologies from the prehistoric times. Apart from Polish and Czech participants, also English-speakers are welcomed for the summer school.

Themed activities will be focused on architecture, pottery, chopping flints, textile production and processing of wool in the prehistory, head of the civic association Vitazoslav Struhar told TASR.

The summer experimental archaeology school is meant for people of all ages, and entire families are welcome, he said.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/t6etdvg6iLE

Our summer school is meant for students of archaeology or history, but also for folk artists who can present their work here, or for the scientific community who can enjoy various experiments, Struhar explained. But we are not excluding the wider public, either, and everyone can come and see  and even help. The youngest kids can also get to know our natural materials, so we will be happy to welcome families with children. People can camp here in tents and make nice trips in the area, he added.

One of the tasks will be the construction of the Liptovia Archeopark, to be finished and opened by summer 2018. The first 30 people to register will have their food, accommodation and travel costs covered, the civic association said.

Archeopark Liptovia is unique in Slovakia because, unlike in other museum expositions, guests can spend several days or weeks in our live park and try to live the life in prehistoric times, Struhar told TASR. The land plot, more than five hectares big, will gradually see wooden constructions built, which will chronologically document the settling of Slovakia from Palaeolithic times to the Slavonic period and include exhibitions with live animals and simple fields with period plants. The summer school has been prepared by the Archeopark Liptov in cooperation with the Polish district museum Nowy Sacz, within an EU-funded programme, INTERREG PL-SK.
Most state money goes to pensions.

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The amount of money Slovaks send to the state keeps increasing. The average person paid 6,157 to the state coffers in taxes and payroll levies this year, which is 500 more than last year.

This stems from the so-called special bill (or the bill for state services), calculated by the economic think tank INESS and the Sme daily.

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The annual increase of 500 is the highest since 2011, when INESS started issuing the special bills. The change in the 2015 and 2016 averages was only 405.

This is caused by the fact that the state collects more on taxes, INESS analyst Radovan Durana explained to Sme, specifying that the increase in the corporate income taxes, or new taxes, for regulated companies are behind this trend.

Another factor is the rising employment rate, which means that more Slovaks receive a salary and pay taxes and payroll levies to the state coffers. Moreover, state incomes are higher because Slovakia did not draw much money from EU structural funds last year, Sme wrote.

The biggest portion of state money is spent on pensions, to which every Slovak contributes 1,042 per year. This is because of demographic developments and the increasing number of pensioners. On the other hand, the number of people who earn money to pay these pensions is decreasing, Sme reported.

INESS also pointed to the fact that in 2017 the state will spend more money than it collects by a factor of 3 percent. As a result, the debt of every person will increase by 411, to a total of 8,151.

This is happening despite the governments claim that the debt is gradually decreasing. This year, the debt is expected to amount to 52.7 percent of GDP. Though the debt is decreasing as a percentage of GDP, the real amount of money owed is actually increasing. The approved state budget indicates that the debt will amount to 43.1 billion this year, while last year it was 41.3 billion, Sme reported.

Experts say that high debt poses a problem for Slovakia.
The run-off was won by the candidate supported by the coalition parties Smer and SNS.

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Jaroslav Reznik, the current head of the state newswire TASR, will become the new director of the public-service broadcaster RTVS.

He was supported by 95 MPs in the run-off vote that took place on June 20, while his rival and RTVS incumbent Vaclav Mika received only 50 votes, the SITA newswire reported.

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The successful candidate needed an absolute majority of the MPs present. The second round of the secret ballot was attended by 147 deputies.

Read also:

Read also: Run-off will decide RTVS boss Read more

Reznik was supported by the ruling parties Smer and the Slovak National Party (SNS). The number of votes indicates that he was also supported by some of the lawmakers from Most-Hid who had been critical of him prior to the first vote.

The TASR head has recently been criticised for signing an agreement with the Russian news agency Sputnik, which is known for spreading Russian propaganda and hoaxes.

Mika had been supported by the opposition and by seven non-affiliated MPs associated with Miroslav Beblavy, the Sme daily reported.
But some activities detected by the intelligence agency linked the country to terrorist groups.

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The migration pressure on the outer Schengen border eased off in 2016. Regarding illegal migration from Ukraine to Slovakia, no changes have been reported compared to the previous year, according to the report on the activities of the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency for 2016.

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Moreover, there exist no indications that the situation concerning illegal migration and related threats will significantly change this year.

Regarding terrorist threats, SIS evaluated the security situation in Slovakia in 2016 as relatively calm, reads the report, as quoted by the SITA newswire, adding that the intelligence agency did not report any immediate threat to Slovakia or its citizens during the monitored period.

Slovakia not a primary target of terrorists

However, the potential of terrorist threats to Slovakia increased mostly due to the growing number of terrorist attacks and individual violent incidents carried out successfully by Jihad supporters in the territories of other EU countries, according to the report.

The intelligence agency also detected cases where expansion weapons, i.e. once-live firearms mechanically deactivated to fire blanks for use as props, were under possession of individuals linked to radical Islamic groups active in other EU countries.

SIS has repeatedly warned against persisting loopholes in Slovak legislation concerning handguns and indicated a need to change this, the report reads, as quoted by SITA.

Though Slovakia did not appear among the primary targets of Islamic radicals or foreign fighters, SIS received information about the potential transit of people linked to Daesh through Slovakia. It informed the respective authorities and recommended the adoption of specific security measures, SITA stated.

Far-right extremists remain a problem

SIS also monitored the activities of far-right extremist groups in 2016. The migration crisis was one of the main topics they focused on, particularly in the first half of the year. The group, however, also returned to problems linked to the Roma community and criticism of the EU and NATO.

Regarding counter-espionage, SIS detected persistent efforts to infiltrate state administration bodies and security forces.

SIS also focused on the activities of agencies in countries currently under scrutiny due to their activities threatening global security, SIS wrote in its report, as quoted by SITA, adding that in this respect it has collaborated with intelligence services in NATO and the EU member states, as well as some Asian countries.

The intelligence agency also indicated the risks of using the internet and social networks to spread propaganda and to promote terrorism and extremism. To fight hybrid threats more effectively, SIS proposes the adoption of a cyber security law and the approval of a new security strategy, SITA reported.

Though the SIS annual report enumerated hybrid threats and addressed the activities of the Russian Federation, unlike the Czech report it is less specific and does not specify participants, said civil activist Juraj Smatana.
The strike has largely paralysed production in Bratislava.

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A few thousand employees of the Bratislava-based carmaker Volkswagen Slovakia (VW SK) gathered in front of the factory on June 20 at 6:00 to support the strike, the first of its kind to take place at the plant. Its organisers are asking for higher salaries and other bonuses for employees.

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The representatives of trade unions are ready to meet the companys management to discuss the situation.

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Read also: Last minute talks to avert strike at Volkswagen Slovakia have failed Read more

We feel sorry about VW management still not offering us a meeting, the Modern Trade Unions (MOV) organisation stated shortly before noon, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

The employees are ready to continue striking till the end of this week and into next week if necessary, MOV added.

The strike has paralysed the production of the Bratislava-based plant, with the only exception being the assembly of New Small Family vehicles. The plants in Martin and Stupava are operating without disruptions, VW SK informed.

Meanwhile, the trade unions are preparing for the arrival of the afternoon shift at 14:00. Further production at the carmaker depends on the number of people refusing to start work during this shift, the Sme daily reported on its website.

The trade unions declared the strike after disagreements with the carmakers management on salary increases. While the unions asked for a 16-percent raise, the management offered to increase salaries by 8.9 percent.
Militants hurled two grenades on the headquarters of 180 battalion of the CRPF camp and then opened firing.

By Ashraf Wani: Militants tonight attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Tral town of Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir.

Militants hurled two grenades on the headquarters of 180 battalion of the CRPF camp and then opened firing.

So far there are no reports of casualties and the area has been cordoned off.

Meanwhile, the security forces have launched a cordon and search operation at Pazal Pora area of Sopore's in north Kashmir's Baramulla district in which two Hizbul militants are reportedly trapped.

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Official sources told India Today that a joint team of 22 Rashtriya Rifles, SOG and CRPF laid a siege at Pazalpora Village this evening.

When reports last came the cordon and search operation was going on in the area.

Internet has been cut off in Sopore.

The Kashmir Valley has witnessed an increase in terror attacks in the recent times.

Also read:

Jammu and Kashmir: Srinagar on high alert over possible fidayeen attack on security forces in 48 hours

Stone pelters on hire in Kashmir: India Today nails Valley's insidious villains

Also watch:

Terror cloud over Jammu and Kashmir: Srinagar on high alert

--- ENDS ---
Online Learning

Missouri District-Led Program Expands Tuition-Free Summer School Courses

A program created by Grandview R-2 School District in Hillsboro, MO called the Missouri Online Summer Institute (MOSI) will be offering more than 100 tuition-free summer school courses for students in grades 7-12 this summer.

MOSI offers a range of courses from Fuel Educations online curriculum and all online courses are lead by state-certified teachers. There are core and elective courses in STEM, IT, business, healthcare and more, as well as newly added Advanced Placement and career readiness (CTE) courses, according to the program site. Students enrolled in the program will have access to a number of online tools in the virtual classroom, where they will be able to communicate with course instructors and peers. To ensure student success, MOSI holds an orientation for all students and parents and has dedicated support staff for the program.

In addition, students who enroll in the program gain free access to an interactive resource portal called Career Cruising, which helps students identify career strengths and passions."

Online courses became available to students May 22 and MOSI is accepting applications for enrollment through July 3. Find out more on the program site.
LONDON (Reuters) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Tuesday against any measures that could weaken the Tehran-backed Shi'ite paramilitary groups, saying such actions would endanger Baghdad's stability. At a meeting in Tehran, Khamenei said the Shi'ite militias were Iraq's main forces pushing back Sunni jihadist groups, and Baghdad should not trust the United States in the fight against the Islamic State, Iranian state media reported. The Shi'ite militias, known as Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) helped Baghdad defend the country against the Islamic State militant group when Iraqi military and police divisions deserted en masse in 2014. Since then, the Iran-backed militias, estimated to comprise more than 60,000 fighters, have continued to attack the Islamic State, also known as Daesh, which has declared a Caliphate across swathes of Iraq and Syria. But Sunnis in areas freed from Islamic State control say the Shi'ite militias have carried out looting, abductions and murder. Some Arab leaders in northern Iraq have asked for the PMF to be dissolved or expelled from their Sunni-majority provinces. "The Daesh is retreating from Iraq and that is thanks to the governments trust in these young devoted forces," Khamenei told Abadi in Tehran. "The Americans are against Popular Forces because they want Iraq to lose its main source of strength," he added. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces have also dislodged Islamic State from Iraqi cities the militants captured, and are about to fully capture Mosul, which used to be their de facto capital in the country. AFTER SAUDI ARABIA Abadi met Khamenei a day after his visit to Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional rival, in a Middle Eastern tour that will also include Kuwait. Iraq lies on the faultline between Shi'ite Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world. Deep-running animosity and distrust between the two sides is fuelled by sectarian divides. Abadi belongs to the Dawa party, a Shi'ite group with close ties to Iran. But he has managed relations with the Sunnis better than his predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki, and also improved Baghdad's ties with Saudi Arabia. Khamenei asked Abadi not to trust the Americans in their fight against the Islamic State, as "they and their regional allies (Saudi Arabia) have created Daesh with their money and do not wish to fully eliminate them" in Iraq. He said Iran was against the presence of American forces in Iraq under any circumstance including training Iraqi forces. "We should remain vigilant of the Americans and not trust them. The Americans and their followers are against Iraq's independence, unity and identity," Khamenei said. Khamenei also reiterated Iran's disagreement with any measure that threatened the territorial integrity of Iraq and divides the country. Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region announced this month that it would hold a referendum on independence, a move that Baghdad's Shi'ite-led government has rejected. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
BJP president Amit Shah on his visit to Mumbai asked each minister to adopt a constituency where the BJP is not in a strong position.

By Kiran Tare: Three days after BJP president Amit Shah left Mumbai, the details of his interaction with the Maharashtra BJP ministers have started coming out in public. According to a senior minister, Shah warned each and every BJP MLA not to take his position in the party for granted. He also has asked them to focus on strengthening the booth level network.

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"Amit bhai has asked every minister to adopt a constituency where the party doesn't have a strong presence," said the minister. He added that Shah also has asked them to adopt the page booth system from the Gujarat BJP.

Under the page booth system, every BJP worker is assigned a task of remaining in contact with 46 voters whose names appear on one page of the voters' list. "Establish contact with these 46 people, ask them about their problems so that benefits of government schemes reach to them," the minister quoted Shah as saying.

REMAIN IN CONTACT WITH VOTERS

He also said that Shah asked every MLA to build rapport with the voters. He expected them to be prepared for the organisational work. "Tell me if you are unable to complete this. I will find your substitute in that case," the minister quoted Shah suggesting that the BJP chief will not take easy if any legislator fails to discharge his duties as assigned by the party.

"BJP will go on becoming stronger and stronger even if you don't work. Don't think that the Modi wave or Fadnavis wave will help you win the election all the time. You will be at the losing end if you don't build personal rapport with the voters," the minister quoted Shah as saying.

Also read: Ram Nath Kovind is BJP nominee for President: 5 other times Amit Shah-led party surprised us

Also read: Amit Shah's 'chatur baniya' remark on Mahatma Gandhi sparks political row in Kolkata

--- ENDS ---
HOBBS, N.M.  Oil and gas companies need water to drill and produce, but State Land Commissioner Aubrey Dunn has taken action to cut back the use of fresh water from the Ogallala aquifer, which is a source of drinking water serving Hobbs and other cities in southeastern New Mexico.

Dunn sent a letter May 23 announcing that he will stop issuing or renewing easements intended for use of freshwater for oil industry activities.

Dunns action was in response to the City of Eunice selling water for hydraulic fracturing or fracking, he told Hobbs News-Sun (http://bit.ly/2rETUeZ) Wednesday. He will continue to issue easements for water going to citizens, he said.

What my concern is that the Ogallala is a depleting resource, Dunn said.

He recommended drilling into the Capitan Reef for access to non-potable water as an alternative.

Mayor Matt White brought up the issue at Tuesdays city council meeting. He sees the move as a threat to the city of Eunice, which heavily relies on the oil and gas industries.

He cant control the water because we own the water rights, but he can stop us from pumping across his land by pipeline, he said. The way I look at it, the lifeblood of this town is the water. If we cant use it for any oil- and gas-related activities, what are we going to do?

Water used in oil and gas operations accounts for about 3 percent of freshwater in the whole state, White said. He pointed out that farmers use much more water for agriculture, and he said Dunn, who is a rancher himself, should be going after them instead.

Dunn countered by saying that water used in agriculture does not have the lasting impact that fracking does.

___

Information from: Hobbs News-Sun, http://www.hobbsnews.com
AUSTIN, Texas  Though construction is in high demand in Texas booming capital city, Oscar Martinezs drywall company is suddenly struggling.

One-third of the approximately 20 employees Martinez uses to build new homes and commercial spaces have recently fled the state, spooked by a combination of a federal immigration crackdown by the Trump administration and a tough anti-sanctuary cities law approved last month by Texas Republican-controlled Legislature.

I took a big hit since my workers started hearing crazy stories about being deported, and they panicked, said Martinez, who relies on immigrants in the U.S. illegally for labor and has failed to find replacements for the physically grueling, precise work.

The Americans I hire cant last in this job more than half a day, Martinez said.

Similar fears have sent shockwaves through many sectors of the U.S. economy. In most cases, demographers and economic experts say its too early to quantify the full impact of workforce shortages fueled by immigration fears, but anecdotal evidence is widespread.

Ive heard from growers, construction, and the service industry about a destabilization of the workforce in Texas and around the country, said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a Washington-based immigrants rights advocacy group. Its definitely happening more in states that are considering major immigration enforcement policies.

The issue is particularly pronounced in Texas because its a conservative state and has one of the largest populations of immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally. Texas new law has exacerbated more general fears among immigrants about immigration policies becoming stricter nationwide under President Donald Trump.

Opponents have dubbed it the show me your papers law because it allows police to ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop and requires them to turn over immigrants to U.S. immigration authorities upon request. Sheriffs and other police officials who dont comply could see their departments fined and could personally face criminal charges and be booted from office. The law is aimed at so-called sanctuary cities  a term with no legal definition that loosely refers to jurisdictions where police have traditionally refrained from enforcing U.S. immigration law.

The biggest industry to take a hit from the immigration crackdown is construction. About half of that industrys workers are in the U.S. illegally, according to the immigrant rights organization Workers Defense Project.

Projects are coming in late because we dont have enough labor, said Frank Fuentes, chairman of the U.S. Hispanic Contractors Association, based in Austin. When paranoia hits this segment of the community, it truly affects the industry as a whole.

Fuentes said he gets calls of concern on a daily basis from states including California, Georgia, and Florida about staffing shortages. But Texas new law has triggered an extreme crisis, said Fuentes.

Its funny because they know these workers are needed, Fuentes said of state lawmakers. Yet they dont want them.

Faced with the labor deficit, Martinez has recently lost contracts with two big clients. One of his workers was deported; others told him they were moving to Mexico, California, and other states with more forgiving immigration policies.

It just breaks my heart when they have to leave because of the situation, said Martinez, whose employees typically work 15-hour days and six or seven days a week. Its not fair.

Immigrant fears have also rattled other industries.

Everyones on pins and needles, said Craig Regelbrugge, vice president of horticulture industry group AmericanHort, noting that farms were already in need of more employees.

Hotel and restaurant owners have also reported losing workers, said Cathy DeWitt, a spokeswoman for the Texas Association of Business. But she said the bigger economic impact could be from the loss of customers.

Were more concerned about the buying power of this population, she said, pointing to the estimated 1.1 million people in Texas who are living in the U.S. illegally, second only to California. When you have over a million people not feeling welcome theyll move somewhere they are welcome.

Texas for many years led the nation in job growth, though its economy has slowed more recently, in part due to a slump in oil prices. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has defended the new law, and the measures author, state Sen. Charles Perry, said its key to ensuring security in the state.

Banning sanctuary cities is about preventing those who commit terrible crimes from being released back into our community while affording protections to undocumented victims and witnesses of crime, said Perry, a Republican from Lubbock.

Steven Camarota, director of research for the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, said businesses may suffer, but U.S. citizens and other workers living here legally should benefit.

The poorest American workers may see an increase in wages and employment, Camarota said.

Randy Capps, director of research for U.S. programs with the Migration Policy Institute, a bipartisan think tank based in Washington, predicted that most immigrants ultimately would remain in the state.

I think, as long as the economy is strong in Texas, youre less likely to see that impact, he said.

Martinez, for one, desperately hopes thats true.

At the end of the day, we need these people, he said.
CHICAGO  Four people were killed and 14 others were wounded in Chicago shootings between Sunday and Monday morning, according to police.

The youngest homicide victim was 16. He was fatally shot on the West Side in the 1200 block of South Avers Avenue in the Lawndale neighborhood about 7:25 p.m. Sunday, according to police. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The boy was standing outside when a red sedan pulled up and someone inside shot him, police said.

Also on the West Side, a 33-year-old man was fatally shot in the back in the Humboldt Park neighborhood about 2:30 a.m. Monday, police said. Officers found him on the sidewalk in the 1000 block of North Lawndale Avenue while responding to a call of a person shot. The man was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

About 1:45 a.m. on the West Side, a 25-year-old man was shot in the back and found dead in an alley in the Lawndale neighborhood. The man was walking down the street in the 1800 block of South Kildare Avenue when a black sedan pulled up and someone inside fired shots. A family member came to the scene and screamed, No, but police had already removed the body.

In the South Sides Chatham neighborhood about 3:45 p.m. Sunday, a 27-year-old man was shot in the head in a road rage incident in the 600 block of East 82nd Street, police said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn initially in serious condition, police said. He was later pronounced dead.

The man was driving when someone in another vehicle took out a gun and shot him, according to police. A suspect was in custody and charges were pending, police said.

In the Near West Side neighborhood, the sound of nearby gunfire interrupted officers working on reports for a shooting that injured two people in the 2500 block of West Jackson Boulevard about 11:10 p.m.

About 40 minutes later, shots rang out in the 200 block of South Western Avenue  less than three blocks northeast of their location.

The officers ducked and called for an emergency response over police radios when they saw an offending vehicle speed away after someone inside had opened fire.

A 65-year-old man who lives in the 2400 block of West Jackson between the two shootings said he was outside on his porch when both of them happened.

Thats pretty arrogant to do so much shooting when the police are there. Thats indicative of the attitude of these people, said the man, who did not want to be identified.

Its ridiculous but its been going on forever, said the man, who has owned a home on the block for 33 years. He spoke to a reporter from the concrete steps leading to his red-brick home, behind an iron gate with pointy tips.

Earlier in the day, members of the neighborhood gathered on the block for a Fathers Day barbecue, he said.

He blamed the prominence of crime in the neighborhood on a number of vacant lots where people congregate and slow police response times to nuisances calls, like loud music or drug deals, that arent shootings but can lead to them.

Its unfair that you can call and you dont get a response until a person is shot, he said.



2017 Chicago Tribune

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A judge on Monday released a man to pretrial services in a pending murder case, though he remains in custody unable to post a $100 cash-only bond in a separate shoplifting case.

Cory Chandler, 30, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Harvey Beast Saavedra, who was shot to death in late April near Zuni and Pennsylvania, according to court documents.

At his arraignment Monday, Judge Christina Jaramillo ordered that Chandler should be released in the murder case, though she also required intensive supervision by pretrial services.

The risk assessment instrument adopted by 2nd Judicial District Court this month, when applied to Chandler, recommended release with pretrial supervision. Chandler, who has failed to appear in court once and has another pending case but no prior convictions, scored three out of six for potential to re-offend and four out of six for potential to skip a court hearing.

Early this month, Judge Jacqueline Flores denied the states request to detain Chandler pending trial. Flores pointed out that Chandler has no criminal record and remains in custody because he cannot make the $100 bond in his shoplifting case.
SANTA FE  Santa Fe Community College filed a court petition last week seeking a restraining order to keep a self-proclaimed gun guy and former student off campus after the man wrote three taunting, racially and religiously charged letters to college officials that are described as threatening.

The lawsuit alleges that the man believes his financial aid was suspended because of an alleged Christian scheme to radicalize him and make him become a terrorist.

The Journal is not publishing the mans name in this article because he has not been charged with a crime.

According to the court filing, the man, who has an Arabic name and is either 27 or 28 years old, had been receiving financial aid since he started attending classes at SFCC in August 2010. The colleges Financial Aid Committee received a letter from him in August 2016 after it had suspended his financial aid on grounds that he did not complete 67 percent of his courses, as required.

You have asked me to, for the sake of appealing your decision to remove me from your school to write a statement indicating the reason why my completion ratio has become so very poor, the man began the letter. I will give you one: the intrinsically bigoted people of christianity.

The man goes on to rail against privileged white people and Christians. He concludes by saying, Remember, how you went out of your way in attempts to ruin me, remember it well.

According to the court complaint, the man admitted to leaving an anonymous letter in the computer lab a few months later and sending another letter to SFCC staff and the governing board that he signed as (Former) Deans List Student. In that letter, he calls whites and Christians cockroaches and tells them their efforts to make him become a terrorist have failed.

An incident report from the Santa Fe County Sheriffs Office attached to the court filing says a deputy spoke with the man at his home in February. During that interview, the man said he writes when hes angry and its his outlet to express himself. The man told the deputy he feels he is being harassed and pushed to do something he doesnt want to do. He also told the deputy he was a gun guy and had access to several weapons.

The report says the man voluntarily agreed to meet with a mental health professional. I feel better when I have someone to talk to, the man said. Since medical records are confidential, its unclear whether the man is receiving treatment. His name has been placed on FBI and Homeland Securities watch lists, according to the report.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer is expected to transition to a more behind-the-scenes role overseeing communications strategy, part of a broader overhaul of the administrations most public-facing operation that has long been the subject of President Donald Trumps ire and criticism.

Spicers anticipated move away from the briefing-room podium, confirmed by a senior White House official, comes amid weeks of Trumps frustration with his communications team, and after the White House had made overtures to a range of Republicans about taking jobs within the West Wing press operation.

We have sought input from many people as we look to expand our communications operation, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement. As he did in the beginning, Sean Spicer is managing both the communications and press office.

Politico and Bloomberg first reported the likely press-shop changes.

No official announcement has been made about Spicers move, and discussions concerning his role are ongoing, including whether he would still occasionally appear from the podium.

Spicers retreat from public view has occurred slowly  yet publicly  over the past month.

Early in Trumps presidency, Spicers on-camera briefing was an almost-daily, must-watch occurrence  a combative, freewheeling spectacle between the press secretary and the restive press corps. Trump boasted that the Spicer show got incredible ratings, and NBCs Saturday Night Live parodied it week after week.

But recently, the White House briefing had receded from its place of daily prominence, and Spicer with it. Spicer took to holding some briefings off-camera, as he did Monday, or deploying Sanders as his substitute, or inviting a Cabinet official to brief reporters. Some days, there has been no briefing at all.

At one point, the White House considered deploying a rotating cast of briefers, in part to prevent the president, who has a short attention span, from growing bored or angry with his press secretary. And if Spicer ultimately steps away from the podium, it remains unclear whether the West Wing would fill the press secretary role with just one person.

White House Communications Director Mike Dubke  a longtime Republican operative with an establishment pedigree who never quite jelled with Trumps chaotic, insurgent operation  resigned from his post last month, and Spicer has unofficially taken on some of Dubkes off-camera messaging duties.

Spicer, who has years of Washington, D.C., communications experience, is expected to focus more on message development and strategy, rather than serving as one of the administrations most visible public figures.

Even before Dubkes resignation, the president had been frustrated with his communications team, which he felt was not always defending him as forcefully as he would have liked, or offering a clear, powerful message.

And in recent weeks, the White House reached out to a number of seasoned Republican hands, feeling them out about jobs, from press secretary to the communications director role, according to someone familiar with the conversations. The Trump administration, however, has had trouble filling a number of posts, and the communications shop is no different.

Trump officials approached Laura Ingraham, a conservative talk-radio host and friend of the president; Geoff Morrell, who served as the Pentagon press secretary for more than four years under former Defense Secretary Robert Gates; and Scott Reed, the senior political strategist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, among others.

David Martosko  the U.S. political editor of DailyMail.com, who during the campaign earned a reputation for flattering coverage of Trump, with whom he had a personal relationship  also recently spoke to West Wing officials about the communications operation but is not expected to be offered a role, a senior administration official said.

The press shake-up underscores the presidents dissatisfaction with his communications team  in February, he graded himself a C or C-plus on messaging  and Spicer as its most public figure from his perch behind the podium.

Nonetheless, Trump had long provided mixed signals to Spicer, at times calling him to congratulate the press secretary on what a great a job he was doing, only to begin polling his friends and confidants about whether he should fire Spicer. On Monday, during his off-camera press briefing, Spicer seemed to inadvertently channel some of the uncertainty that comes from working under Trump. Asked if the president still has full confidence in his Deputy Attorney General, Rod Rosenstein, Spicer replied, The president has confidence in everyone who serves him in this administration.

But, just moments later, he added, The broader point here is that everyone who serves the president serves at the pleasure of the president.
The Mithi river development authority has not had a single meeting since Devendra Fadnavis assumed charge as Maharashtra chief minister in October 2014, reveals an RTI query.

By Mayuresh Ganapatye: For Mumbaikars, a mention of Mithi river will bring back the memories of the 2005 floods when the polluted and choked river had overflown on to the streets.

In the wake of the devastating floods in 2005, the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority was formed to restore the river and ensure that a repeat of the 2005 episode is avoided.

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The Mithi River Development and Protection Authority is chaired by the Maharashtra chief minister. The authority, however, has not had a single meeting since Devendra Fadnavis assumed charge as the state's chief minister in October 2014.

The information was shared by the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority in response to an RTI query.

"Mithi river is a crucial asset for Mumbai. If the body, which has been specially constituted for the river restoration, is not holding meetings, then it is cause of concern and shows lack of political will," said Anil Galgali, who had filed the RTI application.

Besides the chief minister, the chief secretary is the chairman of an empowered committee formed to implement the policies of the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority.

The river flows for 17.8 km before merging into the Arabian Sea. Of the entire stretch, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai is tasked with looking after 11.8 km (from Vihar Lake to CST bridge) while the Mithi River Development and Protection Authority has to oversee the remaining 6-km stretch.

"I strongly feel that we have to re-develop Mithi River, and only then can we develop Mumbai. We cannot ignore Mithi and think of development of Mumbai," said Gautam Kirtane, an expert on the Mithi river issue.

A copy of the response to RTI query.

A copy of the response to the RTI query.

ALSO READ:

Bombay High Court raps civic authorities for deplorable state of rivers

Maharashtra: You are only interested in removing the mangroves, Bombay HC raps civic body in Thane

An entire river in Canada vanished in four days due to climate change

ALSO WATCH: It is 'snowing' in Bengaluru: Varthur lake starts foaming after spell of rains

--- ENDS ---
Dangerously hot weather is expected to grow more intense as the week wears on, with highs of 100-plus expected across much of the state through Friday.

Drink plenty of water this week, wear light, breathable clothing, avoid alcohol, and limit outdoor activity to early morning and late in the day, meteorologists warned Monday.

A northern front should bring cooler, wetter weather into New Mexico later in the week, but dont expect much relief before Friday night or Saturday.

One bit of good news: Subdued winds should help firefighters keep wildfires under control this week.

The Middle Rio Grande Valley and many other areas will swelter with highs of 100 degrees or higher today through Friday, said Andy Church, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albuquerque.

It is pretty remarkable to see this kind of heat for several days in a row with no relief, Church said during a weekly weather briefing Monday.

Albuquerque can expect highs to build from 100 today to 102 on Thursday, which is likely to be the hottest day this week statewide.

The last time Albuquerque recorded 100-degree highs for three consecutive days was in July 2010.

Forecast highs around the state on Thursday include: Rio Rancho, 103; Los Lunas, 107; Socorro, 106; and Tucumcari, 108.

Roswell is expected to hit a high of 109 on Thursday, 1 degree short of the citys all-time high of 110.

Tucumcari racked up an all-time high temperature of 109 degrees on Saturday.

New Mexicans can look forward to a pretty remarkable cool-down on Saturday, Church said, together with scattered and numerous thunderstorms.

The front, expected to push into the state starting Friday, should lower highs to the 70s and 80s in northeastern New Mexico before spreading into the eastern plains on Saturday.

Temperatures across the eastern part of the state will be 20 to 30 degrees cooler than they were on Friday, Church said. All that cold air works west on Saturday night into Sunday.

By Monday, highs in Albuquerque should be in the 80s, with thunderstorms possible, he said.
SANTA FE  It appears that a second Colorado man has lost his life looking for Forrest Fenns treasure in New Mexico near the Rio Grande, spurring New Mexicos State Police Chief Pete Kassetas to call the treasure hunt stupid and implore Fenn to finally call it off.

I think its stupid, Kassetas told the Journal on Monday. If there is indeed a treasure out there, he should pull it. He has the moral obligation at this point to stop this insanity. Hes putting lives at risk.

Fenn, a Santa Fe author and antiquities collector/dealer, published a poem in an autobiographical book in 2010 said to include clues on where to find the treasure. Interest in the treasure exploded when Fenn appeared on NBCs The Today Show in 2013. The poem includes reference to warm waters, a creek and water high.

State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo said 52-year-old Paris Wallace of Grand Junction, Colo., last had contact with his family June 13 and was reported missing the next day. Wallaces wife told officers that he went to New Mexico to look for Fenns treasure  a chest with over $1 million worth of gold coins, jewels and artifacts that Fenn says he hid somewhere in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe.

Wallaces car was found Thursday around 2:30 p.m. near the Taos Junction Bridge on N.M. 570 near Pilar, Armijo said. Sunday, State Police recovered a body in the Rio Grande about seven miles downstream. Authorities were still trying to positively identify the body Monday. But Armijo said all evidence thus far indicates the deceased is Paris Wallace.

In January 2016, another Colorado man, 54-year-old Randy Bilyeu of Broomfield, disappeared while searching for the treasure along the Rio Grande west of Santa Fe. His raft was found soon after, but the body wasnt recovered until about six months later, in the river just north of Cochiti Lake.

State search and rescue crews, made up of about 1,000 volunteers, were involved in the searches in both cases. Kassetas voiced frustration Monday with having to take volunteers away from their day jobs to look for people whove gone on a treasure hunt that he said Fenn should put an end to. Every time this happens, we send people out into the wilderness, taking valuable time and effort to find these individuals, the chief said. Those resources are better used elsewhere. Kassetas said he plans on contacting Fenn personally to ask him to call off the hunt.

Fenn on Monday declined to answer emailed questions from the Journal about whether he should call off the treasure hunt, how many people should die or be injured before he calls it off or whether he plans on releasing more clues on the treasures whereabouts. I dont care to answer your questions, sir, Fenn wrote.

Last year, he told the Journal, As with deer hunters and fishermen, there is an inherent risk that comes with hiking the canyons and mountain trails. The treasure is not hidden in a dangerous spot, and I have said that no one should search in a place where an 80-year-old man could not hide it.

Fenn did tell Westword, a Denver weekly, on Monday that his heart is heavy with the news of Wallaces death. I pray for his family, his friends and his congregation, he said. He added, Yes, there is always some risk in whatever you do, but millions of people successfully hike in the mountains each year.

Sacha Johnston, a Fenn treasure enthusiast from Albuquerque who helped coordinate a volunteer search for Bilyeu last year, said Monday that Fenn should absolutely not call off the hunt. People die driving to work everyday, she said. Should people stop driving? I think its a matter of care and proper planning. You should never go anywhere hiking alone. My deepest condolences to (Wallaces) family. I hope theyre able to find peace.

Linda Bilyeu, Randy Bilyeus ex-wife, has said that she believes the treasure is a hoax and reiterated Monday that the hunt should end. Ill be critical until this madness ends, Bilyeu said. Another family is left behind to grieve. This treasure hunt will forever haunt my daughters and grandchildren.
At least one agent was involved in a shooting in northwest Albuquerque during an operation Monday evening, according to Frank Fisher, an FBI spokesman.

And a task force officer is in the hospital after being struck by the suspects vehicle, Fisher said.

Fisher said FBI agents were conducting an operation around 5 p.m. Monday at the Home Depot parking lot near Interstate 40 and Coors NW.

Thats when the shooting occurred. Fisher didnt say who opened fire.

The suspects vehicle got away after striking a task force officer, he said. The agent was hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries.

No other law enforcement officers were injured, he said.

Fisher said he didnt know if the suspect was injured.

Around 9:30 p.m. Fisher said the vehicle had been located but no other information was available.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of this vehicle is asked to call the FBI 505-889-1390.
It turns out Roundhouse fears that the gross receipts tax overhaul proposed by Rep. Jason Harper would have significant unintended consequences on state operating revenues were overblown, according to the latest analysis of House Bill 8.

The estimate was a $30 million to $44 million deficit in general fund operating revenue. However, with a few wording fixes, the legislation would have come between $3 million to $16 million of being revenue neutral. And, that doesnt take into account the estimated additional $41 million that would go into the road fund courtesy of an increase in the excise tax on vehicle sales. Throw that in and its virtually revenue neutral even without the tweaks.

Hardly the harbinger of fiscal doom many had predicted.

This was the latest Legislative Finance Committee analysis of Harpers House Bill 8, which outlines an extensive revamping of the states gross receipts tax system.

The legislation by Harper, R-Rio Rancho, would have trimmed the roughly 130 existing tax breaks by about 100, and lowered the gross receipts tax rate overall.

The bill also seeks to eliminate some of the worst parts of pyramiding taxation, the business-to-business taxes that drive up the cost of goods and services for consumers. The burden weighs heavily on small businesses.

The overall goal is to develop a simpler, revenue neutral taxation plan for the state thats more business-friendly and reduces reliance on the volatility inherent in the states heavily oil and gas-dependent revenue streams.

The LFC analysis said Harpers bill, with a few wording fixes, would have come close to that goal during the fiscal year that begins July 1.

And thats without legislators summoning up the political will to reinstate the GRT on food  which would leave poor people better off because it also would lower overall GRT, raise the low-income tax credit and exempt SNAP purchases.

The LFC analysis also said HB 8 would have produced new money for sorely needed road projects statewide. The report estimates the bill would have funneled an extra $41 million next year into state and local road funds by increasing the excise tax on motor vehicle sales from the current 3 percent to 6 percent.

Part of the new revenue would also help lower the overall gross receipts tax rate and some new money would have gone into a tax stabilization reserve fund that could be used to shore up the general fund.

Having missed the opportunity to finally fix the gross receipts tax system in both the regular and special sessions  a system likened to Swiss cheese for all the holes caused by tax exemptions  lawmakers fallback was to fund a $400,000 study of the system, the results of which are expected sometime in the fall.

Perhaps that study will finally convince legislators that our broken GRT system really is fixable if they can lay aside partisanship and make a few tough choices.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
The district attorney said he is frustrated with deadlines in Bernalillo County criminal courts that prosecutors say are almost impossible to meet.

He said several cases against Nicholas Tanner illustrate his point.

In a span of about six weeks in 2015, four criminal cases against Tanner, 35, were dismissed because prosecutors didnt meet discovery deadlines to share evidence.

District Attorney Raul Torrez is trying to make changes to a case management order that sets deadlines for cases in the countys criminal courts. His proposal includes giving judges more discretion about what to do when prosecutors fail to meet certain deadlines.

On Monday, the District Attorneys Office released a report that outlines several problems that arose since those deadlines went into effect in February 2015.

The report specifically mentions Tanner, who had four cases against him dismissed in a matter of weeks.

The first two cases involved shoplifting. Tanners attorney filed motions to dismiss in both, arguing that prosecutors hadnt turned over lapel camera footage, computer-aided dispatch reports, 911 calls, surveillance video and other evidence.

The first case was tossed out on Feb. 2, 2015, and the next was thrown out a week later.

The next month, Tanner was back in court for a scheduling conference in another shoplifting case, and his attorney again argued that not all the evidence had been turned over. A judge dismissed that case, too, according to court documents.

Two days later, another case against Tanner, this time for suspicion of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and battery on a household member, was dismissed because prosecutors didnt meet discovery deadlines, according to court documents.

There are additional felony cases against him that are pending.

While there may have been technical violations of the CMO in all four instances, all four cases were dismissed early in the life of the case, without allowing the state the opportunity to remedy the minor violations and keep the cases on a trial track, the District Attorneys Office report states. Indeed, in a particularly perverse irony, repeat and multiple offenders often reap the greatest windfalls by district court decisions.
SEATTLE  The fatal shooting of an African-American woman in front of her children after she called police for help was met with widespread outrage and condemnation Monday, even as people struggled to learn more about the events that led to Charleena Lyles death at the hands of two white Seattle police officers.

The reaction, locally and nationally, was notable for its breadth and depth, as individuals and activists across the spectrum of social justice and mental health groups demanded answers to the killing of the 30-year-old mother of four.

This young woman was shot down like a dog, said KL Shannon, a community organizer who chairs the Seattle King County NAACPs police-accountability efforts. The question is why? They could have Tased her. She was 75 pounds. They could have overpowered her.

Shannon said reports that police knew of Lyles struggles with mental illness raised additional questions about the police response after Lyle called them to report a suspected burglary at her apartment in Magnuson Park. The family also said she was pregnant.

If you know in advance that the individual youre dealing with has mental health issues, why didnt you bring someone with you who knows how to deal with that? she asked.

Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner of Seattle, executive director of MomsRising, a national, grass-roots political-action group, called the shooting an unacceptable tragedy.

There is no question that the Seattle Police Department could have and should have used de-escalation tactics instead of shooting first and asking questions later, she said in a prepared statement. It is clear that the historic reforms within the Seattle Police Department, a department with a long record of racially discriminatory violence, have fallen far short of what was needed to keep Lyles and her family safe.

Rowe-Finkbeiner called for all people to stand with African-Americans who are demanding justice, saying structural racism permeates our criminal justice system from the moment the police are called (as this mom did), all the way through sentencing and beyond. This has to stop.

Lauren Simonds, executive director of NAMI Washington, an advocacy group for people with mental illness, said Lyles death is likely to exacerbate existing concerns about calling police to deal with situations involving people with mental illness and substance-abuse disorders.

Family members are increasingly reluctant to call police into a situation, and do it only as a last resort, she said.

Simonds said the central questions for her focus on the use of lethal force, and whether the officers who responded had more than the minimum of eight hours in crisis-intervention training.

Not knowing the details of the situation, I cant comment on the actions of the officers, she said.

A Boston-based, disability-rights foundation, however, had no such reservations.

It is heartbreaking and unacceptable that Charleena Lyles died at the hands of those she had called on to help her, said Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation. There are millions of people with disabilities in the country, and they are members of every community. We must demand that our police become much better prepared to effectively interact with people with various disabilities.

In a widely shared series of tweets, former civil-rights attorney Beth Caldwell of Seattle wrote, This is not the first time the cops have shot and killed a mentally ill person carrying a knife. And this is not the first time they have shot a person of color carrying a knife. This is a case that screams of intersectional discrimination.  And whats most depressing and rage-inducing is that Im not shocked it happened right here in liberal Seattle.

In an interview late afternoon Monday with The Seattle Times, Seattle Police Chief Kathleen OToole said neither officer was armed with a Taser.

However, its unclear whether either officer had the two other less-than-lethal weapons, pepper spray or a baton.

Caldwell called out the North Police Precinct, where the shooting occurred, noting that officers at that precinct were opposed to federally mandated reforms. In 2012, the city negotiated a consent decree after the U.S. Department of Justice found that Seattle Police Department officers routinely engaged in excessive use of force, most often against people with mental health issues or substance-abuse problems. Federal investigators also found evidence of biased policing.

Officers at the North precinct circulated a petition against the decree and represented the majority of the 123 officers, detectives and sergeants who filed a federal law suit in 2014 asking the court to block the reforms. The suit was filed without the approval or support of the police union, the Seattle Police Officers Guild. It was dismissed, but it is now on appeal.

Shannon of the local NAACP said the shooting marks a complete rollback of whatever progress the police have made toward reform.

The consent decree is in place, and then you do something like this?! she asked. The fact that she was 75 pounds, and pregnant, and you killed her in front of her children?

The consent decree is supposed to hold them accountable, she added. It will be interesting to see how they respond to this now. Still, she said she was troubled that the shooting had not been publicly addressed by OToole or one of her deputies by noon Monday.

A news conference should have happened last night, she said, when people at an impromptu tribute to Lyles turned out.

What was soothing, it wasnt just black people that came out, she said. It was across the board: young and old. White people. Black people. Brown people. They all wanted to know why?
WILLCOX, Ariz.  Authorities say Interstate 10 is closed in southeastern Arizona due to blowing dust in the area and a vehicle crash in New Mexico.

Arizona Department of Transportation officials say I-10 is closed for about 60 miles, with eastbound traffic stopped just east of Willcox.

Westbound traffic is stopped at Lordsburg, New Mexico.

Theres no immediate word Monday evening on how many vehicles were involved in the crash and if there were any injuries.

ADOT officials say traffic in both directions may take a 105-mile detour through Safford and Duncan by using U.S. 191 and U.S. 70.
LAS CRUCES  A group of officers from the Las Cruces Police Department assisted in the operation that ultimately led to the safe release of 14 hostages held captive for several hours Sunday by a gunman at a popular pistachio farm in Alamogordo.

Deputy Chief Justin Dunivan said various officers from LCPDs SWAT and Hostage Negotiation teams and K-9 unit were dispatched to the hostage scene at McGinns Pistachio Farm around 10 a.m. The officers assisted in both negotiations and overall tactical operations led by New Mexico State Police, Dunivan said.

After about four hours of negotiations, the 21-year-old gunman, Kaleb Scroggins of Alamogordo, surrendered to authorities, and the 14 hostages, including a 3-year-old child, were released unharmed, police said.

Our teams played a vital role in assisting in the rescue of the hostages, Dunivan told the Sun-News. We are grateful of the collaborative effort with both agencies in resolving this incident and safeguarding everyones lives. This is a great example of our continued working relationship with NMSP.

While Dunivan said its nothing new for LCPD to assist state police in such operations, he added that he was extremely pleased with the outcome  especially considering that none of the hostages or any of the responding officers were injured as the ordeal played out.

Overall, the operation went great, he said. We were able to rely on each others resources  and the officers did an outstanding job.

LCPD and New Mexico State Police have had a very good working relationship since the early 2000s, according to Dunivan. We recognized the fact that in rural areas, we needed more resources, he said.

Since then, officers from the two agencies have trained on a monthly basis to better prepare for critical incidents like Sundays hostage situation in Alamogordo. And now, because of the ongoing partnership, Both state police and LCPD have some of the most highly trained HNT (Hostage Negations Team) officers, Dunivan said.

Shootings lead to standoff

Before the standoff began in Alamogordo, Scroggins had been identified as a suspect in a shooting on Sunday morning.

After responding to a shots fired call, officers with Alamogordo Police Department learned that a man, later identified by witnesses as Scroggins, had fired three gunshots at a man, New Mexico State Police Officer Carl Christiansen said.

Court records indicate that the gunshot victim, who survived the shooting, was found in the 700 block of South Canyon Road in a mobile home park.

Soon after the shooting, Alamogordo police began searching for Scroggins, who was driving black Nissan.

A police detective and a sheriffs deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop when the Nissan was spotted on Appler Road in the Otero County limits, according to a police affidavit filed on Monday, but Scroggins evaded the detectives patrol unit.

The Nissan fled west on Dog Ranch Road and drove through a stop sign onto U.S. 54/70, colliding with a white vehicle that was traveling north on the highway.

The crash scene then turned into a shootout between Scroggins and police officers, including Alamogordo police Chief K. Daron Syling, according to the affidavit. Scroggins allegedly opened fire on the police chief and detective as they were checking for occupants in the crashed vehicle.

A sheriffs deputy who witnessed the shootout said he saw the officers and Scroggins exchange gunfire, the affidavit says. Scroggins then fled by foot from the crash scene and headed to McGinns Pistachio Farm.

Witnesses told police they saw Scroggins running toward the store carrying a handgun, the affidavit says. As he ran toward the building, a store manager had locked the doors to the business and secured the people inside, according to witness statements.

But, the affidavit says, Scroggins shot the glass door on the front door and entered the store, where police said he barricaded himself and held more than a dozen customers hostage for about four hours before he surrendered.

On Monday, Scroggins was charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, shooting at an occupied building, breaking and entering, aggravated fleeing law enforcement and criminal damage to property, according to a criminal complaint filed by New Mexico State Police.

However, he had not been charged with any crimes related to the hostages, and it was unclear if police were planning to file such charges. That will be determined by the investigations bureau, Christiansen said.

Scroggins also was charged with aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm in connection to the shooting before the police chase, court records show.

Carlos Andres Lopez may be reached at 575-541-5453; carlopez@lcsun-news.com; @carlopez_los on Twitter.



2017 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.)

Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at www.lcsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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SILVER CITY  An attempt to serve an arrest warrant on Antonio Hernandez ended up in a nine-hour standoff Friday evening. Eventually, the 40-year old Hernandez was arrested and transported to the Grant County Detention Center where he is being held on no bond.

According to a police report, Hernandez was believed to be staying in the 1600 block of Virginia Street. Officers of the Silver City Police Department had prior knowledge and dealings with Hernandez and they made sure they had the intersections of Virginia and Hill and Virginia and Howell blocked off before they attempted to serve the warrant.

As officers approached the residence at about 4:30 p.m., they made contact with a resident of the residence who advised them that Hernandez was inside and didnt have any firearms, but was trying to obtain one. While at the door, detectives could hear someone run upstairs, possibly toward the attic.

The New Mexico State Police SWAT team was contacted and arrived on scene a short while later. Verbal commands were given to Hernandez to exit the residence where he did not comply. The SWAT team took over the incident at about 9:45 p.m. After several hours of trying to get Hernandez to peacefully come out of the residence, flash bangs and tear gas were utilized and then a K-9 was sent into the home where the suspect was eventually drug out.

The police report stated that Hernandez had several lacerations to his arms, legs and chest area. He was treated at the scene and then transported to the hospital where he was later cleared for detention at the jail.

A State Police captain did confirm that Antonio Hernandez had been arrested. Public Information Officer for the State Police Carl Christiansen stated, NMSP provided manpower and equipment at Silver Citys request.

Note: Members of the Grant County Sheriffs Office and New Mexico State Police also assisted in the apprehension of Hernandez.



2017 the Silver City Sun-News (Silver City, N.M.)

Visit the Silver City Sun-News (Silver City, N.M.) at www.scsun-news.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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SEOUL, South Korea  The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The U.S. often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesdays flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seouls Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater.

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the U.S. and North Korea and compound efforts by South Koreas new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, to improve ties with the North.

Moon said in an interview with CBS television broadcast Tuesday that Warmbiers death showed we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime, but that talks are still necessary because we were unable to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only the sanctions and pressure.
US President Donald Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States. The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys and Tata

By Reuters: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets US President Donald Trump next week in Washington, a senior Indian government official said today.

Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possible changes ahead.

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The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM's visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former US President Barack Obama.

However, Trump's focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.

The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the US trade deficit with India also widened.

The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.

ALSO READ:

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ALSO WATCH:

Indian diaspora cheers for PM Modi in Washington

--- ENDS ---
WASHINGTON  The Chinese government has invited Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trumps daughter and son-in-law, to visit Beijing later this year, a U.S. official confirmed Tuesday morning.

Chinas invitation is an apparent effort to cultivate closer ties to the Trump administration and is an indication of the young couples expanding role in foreign affairs on behalf of the president. It was first reported by Bloomberg and confirmed by a U.S. official, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because no formal announcement had been made.

Kushner plans to travel to the Middle East this week as a Trump envoy to meet with Israeli and Palestinian officials in hopes of crafting a lasting peace deal. He also visited Iraq in April, while Ivanka Trump made a solo trip to Germany earlier this spring to speak at an economic forum. Both Kushner and Ivanka Trump are presidential advisers with West Wing offices and have been a regular presence in the presidents visits with foreign leaders and also have attended meetings and functions at foreign embassies across Washington.

Kushner has helped manage the administrations relationship with China, as well as Canada, Mexico and countries in the Middle East. He helped orchestrate Trumps summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April at Mar-a-Lago, Trumps private estate in Palm Beach, Fla.

Trump has not visited China as president, though presumably a visit there by his daughter and son-in-law could help lay the groundwork for an eventual presidential trip. Trump is scheduled to visit Asia in November to attend summits in Philippines and Vietnam, and he also has committed to visiting Japan before the end of the year.

The Chinese invitation to Ivanka Trump and Kushner comes as the newly sworn-in U.S. ambassador to China, former Iowa governor Terry Branstad, prepares to set off for Beijing.

Kushner and Ivanka Trump are no strangers to China. Kushners family real estate business, which he ran before joining the White House, drew scrutiny this spring over its attempts to court Chinese investors by offering green cards through a U.S. visa program. Meanwhile, Ivanka Trumps line of fashion and accessories has won approval in recent months from the Chinese government for sought-after trademarks.
SAN FRANCISCO  Uber is enabling passengers to tip its U.S. drivers with a tap on its ride-hailing app for the first time, part of a push to recast itself as a company with a conscience and a heart.

Besides the built-in tipping option announced Tuesday, Uber is giving drivers an opportunity to make more money in other ways too.

Riders will be charged by the minute if they keep an Uber car waiting for more than two minutes. Uber also is reducing the time that riders have to cancel a ride to avoid being slapped with a $5 fee from five minutes to two minutes after summoning a driver.

Uber wont take any of the tip money. The San Francisco company will continue to collect part of ride-cancellation fees, as well as the new waiting-time charges.

The tipping option, long available in the app of rival Lyft, will be available beginning Tuesday in Seattle, Houston and Minneapolis. Uber plans to make it a staple in all U.S. cities by the end of July. The other features will roll out in August.

The attempt to smooth over its sometimes testy relationship with drivers is part of a broader effort to reverse damage done to Ubers reputation by revelations of sexual harassment in its offices, allegations of trade secrets theft and an investigation into efforts to mislead government regulators.

These drivers are our most important partners, but we havent done a very good job honoring that partnership, said Rachel Holt, regional general manager in the U.S. and Canada. She is part of the leadership team running Uber while CEO Travis Kalanick is on leave.

The expanded earnings opportunities are the first step in what Uber is billing as 180 days of change for its U.S. drivers. Holt wouldnt reveal the rest of the campaign.

While building the worlds biggest ride-hailing service over the past eight years, Uber developed a reputation for cutthroat tactics that have occasionally outraged government regulators, drivers, riders and even its employees.

The companys hard-charging style also has caused legal headaches. The U.S. Justice Department is investigating Ubers past usage of phony software designed to thwart regulators. Uber also is fighting allegations that its relying on a key piece of technology stolen from Google spin-off Waymo to build self-driving cars.

Drivers arent the only people Uber is trying to treat better. After an internal investigation uncovered multiple instances of sexual harassment, bullying and other boorish behavior, Uber fired more than 20 employees and pledged to create a more harmonious culture.

A more extensive report compiled by the law firm of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder chastised Ubers leadership and recommended multiple changes that Ubers board adopted. When it released the Holder report, Uber also said Kalanick was taking an indefinite leave amid criticism of his management style and following the death of his mother in a boating accident.

As part of its penance, Uber emailed a letter to riders in New York City last week apologizing for its missteps.

In expanding so quickly, we failed to prioritize the people that helped get us here. Ultimately, the measure of our success is the satisfaction of our riders, drivers, and employees  and we realize that we have fallen short, the company wrote.

Uber also has wrangled with drivers in the courts over its insistence on classifying them as contractors instead of employees to avoid paying benefits and overtime. The company so far has prevailed.

Holt said the company talked to thousands of drivers before moving to boost driver income. Uber also is trying to make it easier for drivers to transfer earnings into personal accounts faster. Its also allowing more drivers to designate the routes that they want to travel to keep them closer to a destination.

Uber has business reasons to improve its image. The widespread publicity about the companys bad behavior threatens to turn off drivers and riders alike, giving them incentive to switch to Lyft.

Its difficult to determine whether Ubers misdeeds have cost ridership nationally. In New York City, ridership has grown, but Ubers growth rate is slowing when compared with Lyft.

In early January, Uber accounted for 56.8 percent of all rides in the city, while Lyft had 9.5 percent. By the end of April, Ubers share rose to 57.2 percent, but Lyft grew 2.2 percentage points to 11.7, according to data from the Taxi and Limousine Commission.

A rider boycott in late January knocked Uber ridership down to 52.7 percent, while Lyft grew to a 12.8 percent share. But Uber has since recovered.

A backlash could deepen Ubers losses, which totaled $2.8 billion last year alone. Uber was valued at nearly $70 billion the last time it raised money.

____

Krisher reported from Detroit. AP data journalist Larry Fenn contributed from New York
PHOENIX  Federal prosecutors urged a judge to reject a bid by former Sheriff Joe Arpaio to call Attorney General Jeff Sessions to testify at the Arizona lawmans upcoming criminal contempt trial.

Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice made the argument in a court filing Monday involving Arpaios subpoena of Sessions, whose agency is prosecuting the retired sheriff on a misdemeanor contempt-of-court charge for defying a judges 2011 order to stop his immigration patrols.

Prosecutors said the subpoena was an attempt to divert attention from key issues in the case.

They also said Arpaio hasnt shown any extraordinary circumstances to justify calling Sessions to testify on a matter in which he had no involvement or firsthand knowledge.

Arpaios trial is scheduled to begin Monday in federal court.

The former sheriff has acknowledged prolonging the patrols but insists his defiance wasnt intentional. If convicted of the charge, the 85-year-old could be sentenced to up to six months in jail.

Arpaios attorneys say they want to call Sessions to testify so he can illustrate a contradiction between current federal immigration policy and the 2011 court order that their client is charged with violating.

The 2011 order was issued in a racial profiling case and forbid sheriffs deputies from detaining people based solely on the suspicion that they were in the country illegally.

The judge presiding over the profiling case concluded that Arpaios officers continued to detain such immigrants over a 17-month period and turned them over to federal immigration authorities.

Arpaios lawyers have said the prohibition on detaining immigrants who hadnt been suspected of committing state crimes conflicts with a federal policy backed by Sessions that calls for all adult immigrants who are caught near the border to be apprehended, rather than being released.

Arpaio, who made immigration enforcement a fixture in his stump speeches, has tried unsuccessfully to bar prosecutors from mentioning comments he made about immigration while on the campaign trail.

The judge in the profiling case has said Arpaio ignored the order because he believed his immigration enforcement efforts would help his 2012 campaign.

___

Follow Jacques Billeaud at twitter.com/jacquesbilleaud. His work can be found at https://www.apnews.com/search/jacques%20billeaud.
BEIRUT  The U.S. military said it shot down an Iranian-made, armed drone in southern Syria on Tuesday, marking the third time this month that that the U.S. has downed aircraft affiliated with Syrian President Bashar Assads government.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said a U.S. F-15 fighter jet shot down the drone after it displayed hostile intent while approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. A similar drone was shot down in the same location after it dropped munitions near coalition forces on June 8.

The repeated incidents in the vicinity of the Tanf camp, where U.S. forces train and advise local ground forces in the fight against IS, add to soaring regional tensions that could spiral out of control just as the fight against the extremists enters a crucial phase, with U.S.-backed forces pushing into the groups de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The U.S. on Sunday shot down a Syrian jet for the first time during the conflict near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, which are battling IS. Russia condemned the U.S. action and in retaliation suspended a hotline intended to prevent such incidents.

The U.S. has also fired on Syrian government ground forces in the east on two occasions in just the last month.

A defense official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the drone shot down Tuesday was a Shaheed 129 and appeared to have been operated by pro-regime forces.

There are concerns that further confrontations could lead to a breakout of hostilities that would hinder the battle against IS.

Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against IS targets in Syria as a precaution, after Russia announced it was suspending the hotline and warned the U.S.-led coalition not to fly over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Iran  another close Assad ally  fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Irans Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

A spokesman for the Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, citing local sources and drone footage.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Irans military power, though Iran has no intention of starting another war. It is still unclear what the missiles struck, and Iran has provided few details.

Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

The U.S. military meanwhile confirmed Tuesday that top IS cleric Turki al-Binali was killed in a coalition airstrike on May 31, in Mayadeen, Syria. The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of hundreds of women from Iraqs Yazidi minority and helped establish the IS branch in Libya.

Activists and IS supporters reported his death at the time but Tuesdays statement from Central Command was the first U.S. confirmation.

Fighting and bombardment meanwhile resumed early Tuesday between Syrian government forces and rebels in the southern city of Daraa and nearby areas, where a 48-hour truce had gone into effect on Saturday. The truce was meant to be extended but now appears to have collapsed.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The situation is back as it was in Daraa city and fighting is ongoing, said Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh. The regime made the truce and then violated it.

The activist-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government troops captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where the March 2011 uprising against the Assad familys four-decade rule began. The conflict quickly descended into a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assads troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.

___

Burns reported from Washington, DC. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
The space formerly occupied by Macys at Cottonwood Mall has sold after 154 days on the market.

The 164,800-square-foot box was sold to Washington Prime Group, for an undisclosed amount, according to Jim Dountas of CBRE, the commercial broker representing Macys in the transaction. Washington Prime Group manages and owns the Cottonwood Mall.

The question remains, what will Washington Prime do with the newly purchased space?

Im not sure if there is a specific plan, but my understanding is that all options are on the table, Dountas said. According to Dountas the space is planned for redevelopment with the intention of bringing in new retailers.

Dountas was unable to say whether redevelopment means bringing in a new large department store, something other malls across the nation have struggled to do, or dividing up the space to suit smaller retailers.

Macys announced the Cottonwood location closure in early January as part of a nationwide cost saving effort after lower than expected sales last holiday season. The store space went on the market in April.

Macys has one New Mexico location remaining, at Albuquerques Coronado Center.

Macys, Sears, J.C. Penney and Kmart are just a few of the large retailers that have announced major cutbacks this year.

Washington Prime could not be reached for comment.
WASHINGTON  President Donald Trumps White House is putting the brief in press briefings.

Sean Spicer, the embattled press secretary, spoke for 30 minutes Tuesday and didnt answer a number of basic questions, including whether the president believes Russia interfered in the 2016 election and whether Trump had seen the hotly debated Senate health care bill.

Once more freewheeling exchanges, White House press briefings have been shrinking both in length and content as Trumps senior aides clamp down on information and contend with the presidents own lack of message discipline and preference for speaking directly to his fan base.

The administration has erected other barriers to transparency as well, such as refusing to make its visitor logs public. And Trump hasnt held a full press conference since February or participated in interviews since the end of April.

The White Houses less-is-best approach to public information has become more pronounced since Trump returned from his nine-day, five-nation tour in late May.

White House officials believed the trip garnered good coverage even though the president eschewed a longtime presidential tradition of holding a news conference overseas and provided only limited public press briefings. About the same time, probes into Russian election interference and the Trump campaigns possible role in it provided fresh incentive for the president and White House officials to avoid question-and-answer sessions sure to be dominated by the unwelcome topic.

Those developments may have reinforced what was already on Trumps mind: On May 12, he had tweeted, Maybe the best thing to do would be to cancel all future press briefings and hand out written responses for the sake of accuracy???

White House communications officials obviously feel it has ceased to pay dividends to follow their predecessors press strategy, said Eric Dezenhall, who worked on President Ronald Reagans communications team and leads a public relations firm in Washington. Theyve decided to bypass the media completely and stop pretending theres anything to gain.

Dezenhall said that while he understands the strategy, its terrifying from a democracy standpoint.

David Boardman, chairman of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said Trumps method of communicating via Twitter creates a compelling need to follow up on those 140-character proclamations with questions.

He said a trend toward less transparency has rippled through all levels of government, and the approach is set at the top.

For many decades, it has been accepted that the White House is the peoples house, and that the administration has an obligation to come before the people as represented by the press, Boardman said. This is far more than just a spat between reporters and the White House. Its something people really ought to care about.

Trump has swapped open discussion about politics and policy for his favored forms of one-way communication.

His frequent social media posts  more than a dozen Monday and Tuesday alone  are read by millions of Twitter followers. The Fake News Media hates when I use what has turned out to be my very powerful Social Media  over 100 million people! I can go around them! Trump boasted last week on Twitter.

The president has a long history of communicating directly with people through social media that has worked out very well for him in the past, said Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign spokeswoman. Many people are no longer getting their information from traditional media sources anyway.

On Wednesday hes headed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for his fifth political rally since taking office. Such events are attended by thousands of Trumps fans, an audience that is screened and selected by his re-election campaign. The remarks are often carried live by cable stations.

But those forms of communication are eroding discourse, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

You get assertion but no argument. You get attack but no justification, she said. These are ideal formats for someone who does not want to be held accountable. Youre being asked to accept on authority that this is all that you need to know.

Meanwhile, press briefings are taking on an increasingly diminished role.

Through the end of April, Spicers briefings averaged 48 minutes, according to an NBC analysis. Ten of those ran more than an hour, NBC found.

As of June 5, the communications staff stopped referring to the briefings as a daily event in archives on the White House website. Spicer spoke with members of the media for 34 minutes Monday in an appearance that the White House barred from being televised or recorded. Even then, Spicers answers to basic questions in many cases offered little or no new information.

Asked whether Trump is comfortable with senators hashing out in secret the details of their rewrite of President Barack Obamas health care law, Spicer responded, I cant say Ive actually asked him.

Asked again Tuesday, Spicer said he still did not know whether Trump had seen a draft of the Senate bill.

Spicer also sidestepped a question Tuesday about whether Trump believes Russians interfered with the election, as U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded. I have not sat down and asked him about his specific reaction, Spicer said, echoing his response to similar questions at previous briefings.

Trump has been considering moving Spicer to a less public role, and senior aides have been speaking with outside advisers about how to revamp the White House communications shop.

Pierson said that whoever serves in the press secretary role should have one trait above all others: Firmly believe in the president and his goals.

Spicer was asked Tuesday to address reports about his potential job change.

Smiling, he replied, Im right here.

___

Associated Press writers Vivian Salama and Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.
Central New Mexico Community College is launching a commercial software development business in Downtown Albuquerque.

The new startup, Ingenuity Software Labs Inc., will begin operations on July 1 as a for-profit, spin-out business created by CNM Ingenuity, a nonprofit that manages all of CNMs commercial activities. The new business will sell its services nationwide, offering custom software, mobile app development, website design and strategic consulting, said CNM Ingenuity Executive Director Kyle Lee.

CNM is converting an existing service into a commercial business. The college created CNM Ingenuity Software Labs last year to offer students in the Deep Dive coding program at CNMs STEMulus Center Downtown work experience after graduation.

That service has to date managed about 15 commercial contracts, generating close to $500,000 in revenue and providing temporary jobs for about 20 Deep Dive alumni. CNM Ingenuity now believes it can now grow those services into a thriving, independent business that could offer far more jobs to students and others in Albuquerque.

We originally launched it inside CNM Ingenuity as a workforce development program to give students work opportunities, Lee said. But theres very high demand for these services, too much so to be run by a nonprofit entity. By spinning it out as an independent commercial business, it can grow much faster and give more students opportunities.

John Mierzwa, CNMs director of STEMulus initiatives who founded the Deep Dive program, will leave the STEMulus Center to take over as CEO of Ingenuity Software Labs. Lisa Adkins, director of the FatPipe business incubator, will join Mierzwa as chief operating officer in the new business, although shell continue to run FatPipe.

It will be housed at FatPipe, at least to start.

John and Lisa will offer great leadership to get this up and going and grow it quickly into a profitable operation, Lee said. Theyve both led successful ventures in the past.

CNM is the lead investor in Ingenuity Software Labs, which will be run as a public-private entity. Additional investment will come from Nick Truyol, founder and CEO of the Albuquerque staffing and recruiting company Sabio Systems.

The startup will take advantage of Albuquerques low cost of business to offer high-quality services at an affordable price, Mierzwa said.

The goal is to get as much work from out-of-state contracts as possible while taking advantage of our low-cost environment here, Mierzwa said. Well help brand New Mexico as a place for top-quality software development services at lower cost than is available is elsewhere.

CNM sees the venture as an economic development initiative to grow high-paying jobs for both students and local developers.
The Berlin School of Creative Leadership today announced Collette Wasielewski, Creative Director, FCB Johannesburg, as winner of the 2017 "Helga and Michael Conrad Scholarship for Women in Creative Leadership." Wasielewski will receive a full-tuition scholarship (worth 53,000 Euro) to attend the Berlin School's prestigious global Executive MBA in Creative Leadership Program starting September 2017.

Supported by the IAA, the global scholarship competition was founded by the Berlin School of Creative Leadership's President Michael Conrad and his wife, Helga, to further the development of women in leadership positions and advocate for greater diversity within the creative industries. The coveted scholarship was promoted by the global IAA community and was open to nominations and applications for any female creative leaders in the advertising industry. The winner was selected from a shortlist that was reviewed and evaluated by a dedicated team of industry experts, Berlin School alumni and donators, including Carla Michelotti and Norkor Duah of IAA, Kitty Lun of Facebook, and Helga and Michael Conrad.

"We are very pleased about the strong response to our joint scholarship announcement. Big thanks to all applicants for their wealth of thinking and ideas to change the status quo on the very issue! We'd love to have all of you at the school and very much hope you can find support. Collette focused her bid on the very special complexity women face in her country of South Africa and offered a promising research and engagement approach. Congratulations Collette! Welcome to Class 21 in September in Berlin!"

- Helga and Michael Conrad

"The IAA is honored to have an important role in this worthy initiative. Diversity cannot be something people in our industry simply talk about, instead we all have a duty of active engagement to make a real improvement and a real difference. The IAA aims for diversity itself - in our chapters around the world, and on our own association leadership team. Congratulations to Helga and Michael and all at The Berlin School-as always looking ahead, and looking in the right direction!"

- Felix Tataru, IAA Chairman and World President on behalf of all IAA members

"Winning the scholarship still feels a bit like a dream. Going through the scholarship application process in itself provoked so many new perspectives and thoughts, and I can't even begin to imagine the new directions and ideas that the entire EMBA course will unlock for me. I am really pleased to be doing the course in my capacity as an employee of the FCB Group - a progressive environment when it comes to female empowerment and diversity and a place where my learnings can be implemented and supported."

- Collette Wasielewski

The part-time EMBA program-which Wasielewski will start in September 2017 - is designed for senior executives in the creative industry who have a track record for creative excellence. Comprising of five separate two-week modules spanning over 18-24 months across the USA, Asia and Berlin, the flexible, multi-disciplinary leadership program is the first Executive MBA to be built around the specific needs and challenges of the creative industries.

If you have any questions, please contact the Berlin School at tel. +49 (0) 30 884 980 80 or via email: info@berlin-school.com.
Practo, a leading healthcare platform, has been strengthening its presence in the social media space with a series of campaigns around global health events. For International Fathers Day, Practo had a quirky take on Accidental Dads. The digital campaign involved a funny, tongue-in-cheek video of a condom expanding and exploding in confetti with the hashtag, #BaapReBaap and the message, Happy Accidental Fathers Day.

Promoted on Facebook and Instagram, the video was widely celebrated by the viewers and saw traction of:

1.35 million people reached

0.5 million views

1,000 shares

On World Blood Donation Day, Practo used ketchup and tomatoes in its digital campaign to draw parallels to blood and humans. The idea was simple: Sharing is caring, donate a blood to save a life.

Practo came up with a quirky and relatable digital campaign for World No Tobacco Day as well. Created in association with digital agency Blue Bot Digital, the video shows a popular Snake game, but the snake is represented as an actual cigarette and how it is consuming people. The message conveyed is Dont let the habit win.

Practos social media campaigns have been inspired from daily life situations, cities, songs, special days of the year. The brand is known for its creative content, one liners, puns and interesting imagery, and the connect to pop culture. These are converted into interesting and often hilarious creatives that have a great shareable value. Practos social media positioning makes them a very approachable brand as evident from the high level of engagement for its content. Practo creates visuals that are light hearted, extremely relatable and has massive mass appeal.

In April this year, Practo underwent a rebranding and unveiled its new positioning  Your Home for Health. Practos platform is expanding rapidly and the new brand identity better represents the larger purpose and range of businesses that Practo now has around the world. The new positioning embodies the powerful concept of having a single, trusted and familiar place, where consumers can find doctors and book online appointments, chat online with doctors, order medicines and lab tests, store health records and even read health articles written by doctors. For healthcare providers, Practo is the platform that helps them connect with consumers, provide a better patient experience as well as provide tools that help them manage and grow their practice.

For the rebranding, Practo partnered with New York-based graphic design firm Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv (CGH).

Varun Dubey, VP - Marketing & Monetisation, Practo, informed that insurance is a big focus for the brand. He added, Although we will not be an aggregator of insurance companies or sell insurance policies, we will bring interesting products in that sector which will be announced in the coming months.

According to Dubey, The biggest challenge for the brand in India is that doctors here are not digital savvy and majority of them are not even technologically equipped. The out of pocket expenses is huge in India because people are not adequately insured by healthcare. Being technologically ahead, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia are growing faster than India and it is a market that Practo is bullish on. People take healthcare seriously in these markets, especially Singapore, as opposed to India.

Since the brand offers multiple services now post rebranding, a key challenge will be to manage the complexity of their offerings. Dubey added, Going forward, the brand will focus on opening the platform to more healthcare stakeholders, including insurers, pharmaceutical companies, medical devices companies and others so they can build new services on top of Practos platform and deliver a superior healthcare experience for both consumers and providers.

For the new brand identity, the brief to Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv was to create a global brand that symbolised the platform role Practo plays in healthcare. The identity needed to encompass the complexity of Practos offerings but at the same time, depict it with exceptional simplicity.

The new distinctive logo consists of two dots at either end with Practo in the center, denoting that Practo can connect any two stakeholders in the healthcare ecosystem  they could be a hospital and a patient, an insurer and a patient, an insurer or a provider and more. Each can now easily connect with the other through Practo.

In addition to the master brand, Practo also has four product sub brands for its products sold to healthcare providers  Ray, Qikwell, Insta, and Querent.
MetLife announced today that Sanjeev Kapur has joined the company as senior vice president and chief marketing officer (CMO) of Asia. Kapur will report to Esther Lee, MetLife executive vice president and global chief marketing officer and Chris Townsend, president of Asia. Kapur will also join the Asia Leadership Team.

As CMO of Asia, Kapur will lead the acceleration of MetLifes brand transformation across the region. His focus will be on strengthening MetLifes digital, data and design capabilities to help deliver personalized and engaging experiences to MetLifes existing customers and new prospects, with a particular focus on mobile. He will also lead the charge in bringing the new brand platform, MetLife. Navigating life together to life in Asia by building and delivering differentiated customer value propositions.

"MetLife's commitment to be a company that helps customers "Navigate Life Together" requires that we transform how we meet the changing needs of our customers," said Lee. "Sanjeev's deep understanding of insight and data-driven marketing, digital engagement and customer experience makes him the ideal marketing leader to drive this transformation across the Asia region."

Kapur brings a wealth of business and marketing experience to MetLife. Over his nearly 20 year career, he has held various management roles including sales, online distribution, marketing, product management and innovation through which he built iconic brands and drove business growth in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and financial services industries.

Sanjeevs significant experience and proven track record of driving strong business results will be a great asset as Asia continues to grow and drive value for MetLife. We are pleased to have him on board and confident that he will create competitive advantage for the company, said Townsend.

Most recently, Kapur was the Regional Head of Marketing at Citi, responsible for leading its regional and country marketing teams across 17 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle-East & Africa. Prior to his twelve years at Citi, he led the brand and product strategy at Hindustan Unilever Limited, a Unilever company. Kapur holds a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology and is a distinguished alumnus from the XLRI - Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur, India from where he holds an MBA in marketing and finance.

Im excited to join MetLife at such a transformative time for the company, said Kapur. I look forward to working with the team to build impactful consumer-focused strategies that will accelerate our transformation to a more modern, purposeful and digital company."
While addressing a press conference here, Nitish said he was not against yoga but did not approve of such publicity stunts.

By Asian News International: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday took a dig at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government over the International Yoga Day (IYD) preparations and termed the government's efforts in this regard a 'publicity stunt'.

Making these remarks while addressing a press conference here, Nitish said he was not against yoga but did not approve of such publicity stunts.

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"I am not against yoga day but I don't like publicity stunts on this (IYD). I also do yoga but have never advertised it," said Nitish.

He also announced that the Bihar Government won't participate in IYD by saying "we don't believe in advertisement".

Nitish shares sweet and sour relations with Prime Minister Modi, as the political tussle between the two leaders is not new.

Nitish's party Janata Dal (United) was an important ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led NDA for almost two decades.

For the first time, the rift between the two leaders came to fore when Nitish reportedly insisted the BJP top brass to keep then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi out of campaigning in 2005 Bihar assembly elections after the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) performed very well in Bihar in 2004 General Elections.

Reports said that Nitish was against the Gujarat Chief Minister's campaigning in Bihar over the 2002 Gujarat riots and believed his campaigning would keep Muslims voters away from the NDA.

The Bihar Chief Minister's distance from then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi continued during 2010 Bihar Assembly elections as well as the 2009 General elections.However, probably Nitish Kumar was the only opposition leader who openly supported Prime Minister Modi's decision of the demonetisation.

Modi Government has made grand plans for the forthcoming International Yoga Day.

The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) has been working tirelessly to make the International Yoga Day functions across the country and world a grand success.

Union government's 74 ministers would take part in Yoga Day functions in 74 cities on June 21.

Prime Minister Modi would take part in Yoga day function in Uttar Pradesh's capital Lucknow where AYUSH Minister Shripad Naik would also be present.

AYUSH Ministry is working day and night to make the International Yoga Day a big success not only at national level but also at international level. It has written letters to different Ambassadors and Embassies and urged to make the event successful.

International Yoga Day is celebrated annually on 21 June since its inception in 2015. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his UN address had suggested the date of 21 June, as it is the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere and shares special significance in many parts of the world.

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--- ENDS ---
Indigo 91.9, the radio station for a Fun Young Bangalore, is bringing world music to your homes. For the first time ever, RJs from the radio station will be connecting with the biggest radio presenters from around the globe as they celebrate all things music on World Music Day on June 21st.

Through-out the day, Indigo RJs Nathan, Lester and Shagufta will converse with well-known presenters including USAs Ryan Seacrest, Australias Joel Carnige, Canadas Blair Henatyzen and many more from across countries like UK, New Zealand, Malaysia, Switzerland and others. Listeners also get a chance to listen the top songs trending in these countries as the presenters converge on a single radio station for the first time and discuss all things music!

Tune into Indigo 91.9 and come celebrate the World Music Day with us as we take you on a spin around the globe, all at the comfort of your home.
The gender divide is fast dissipating in every sphere of business. There are several women business leaders today, leading from the front and inspiring an entire generation of young women to take up the mantle of leadership.

English Business News Channel BTVi - Business Television India has endeavoured to bring women thought leaders under one platform, celebrating their success stories, thereby motivating the millennial with their show, Women Mean Business. The second season of the show went on air on June 17, 2017 and airs every Saturday @ 8pm on the channel. The guests on the show this season will range from Media baron to Renowned Restaurateur, from award winning Gemologist and Jewellery Designer to Globally acclaimed artist.

Helmed by BTVi Consulting Editor, Fatima Mahdi Karan, Season 2 of Women Mean Business opened with Shobhana Bhartia, Chairperson and Editorial Director of The Hindustan Times Group, who has led the media group from strength to strength and has introduced several new concepts in journalism and the way the news industry operates today.

Adgully, in an exclusive tie-up with BTVi, brings the interviews with these pioneering women leaders.

You are constantly being awarded with titles, awards, what is the best way you would describe yourself?

As far as awards are concerned, I feel very honoured and dont undermine any awards. Awards are a very nice way of motivating your organisation and your team because the awards are not necessarily for you, but the collective work that you have produced over the years. Awards help in keeping the morale of the team high.

To Watch the full video, click here

How did you manage to navigate your family business?

It took a lot of time as those days and times were different. The entire work culture and environment, the external environment to be precise, was very different. Unions were very strong and militant, and there were some absurd demands, according to me.

I understood the role of the union as a collective voice for many. I did not understand the logic of many of the demands, but I had empathy. I felt this is not going to be business model for us or room for progression if we dont overcome some of these hurdles. We faced resistance in every stage. There was not only resistance in the union because when you change something you have to change formatting, the roles people have, change of shifts. All these issues had implications and a great deal of insecurity where our industry didnt want to change.

When I first entered this business and made my foray into HT, I also went overseas to see how companies out there work.

Secondly, we were termed as being creative, creativity cannot be measured and hence, there was no productivity and was open ended. I didnt understand that either because everything was measured and everyone was accountable. There was a framework set out for every individual as to what your job specs are, but that was unheard of in India. Because the creative media journalist had no boundaries and no framework, even the other part of HT thought they could just work the same way without any context.

I was fortunate in the end that we did manage to make changes, but it took a while.

How does one maintain credibility as well as the competitiveness?

Credibility and how to maintain it comes from your consumer. Its a business like any other and its a product where your capital is intellectual capital. If you are in a FMCG company with four competitors all making toothpaste but somebody does it better than you, you are losing your market share. My readers are my context and they are the ones who give me the validation and the ones for whom I have to maintain credibility because gone are the days when your news only comes from one source. At the end of the day its what you stand for and its your credibility.

Again great content comes with credibility and thats the filter of the editorial inputs that a brand and people belonging to that brand bring in.

The role and future of news and editors?

The role of the editor has completely changed since the time I stepped into HT. Earlier it was to define what the consumer needs to be told, what they thought was the correct position. Today, its a lot more interactive and you first have to understand what and for whom are you producing. You can have different kinds of products and each one can have their own space. If you are a mass product, it is important to understand the demographic breakdown of your data. Who are you catering to, what are their interests and then try to cater to what their needs are. Understand what they are interested in and give it to them. To think you need to dumb down news is stupid.

What is the next thing that you would be working on in terms of understanding your audience?

We dont have any concrete plans for anything different or new, but in the same space we have constantly got to evolve and get better understanding. Use technology to try and have greater penetration and to see if you can have more by products. Our newsroom is modern and state of the art, where we have been successful in integrating print and online and trying to leverage that. People no longer wait to pick up a newspaper in the morning, but start picking up their smartphone and other devices to consume news. Also, videos which are consumed on the go. We are in the business of generating content and that content has got to be platform agnostic, also trying to find newer ways of leveraging that content whether through print, social media or any other platform.

You come from a legacy with three girls. Do you think things could be different if there would be any male presence in the family?

I think that is a bit hypothetical a question, but assuming that there was a son, I dont think that things would be that different. It is difficult for me to say what I would be working at, whether its Hindustan times or something else. Essentially, my father decided to involve me with Hindustan Times because he found that I had a passion for media, for journalism, for public affairs, but its not like he pushed me into it. I could have had a more laid-back role in some of the other industries. In our family, we always believe that girls must also go out and work.

How did you develop the passion for journalism?

I think somewhere its a natural interest. The family was very political with my father and my grandfathers involvement right from the freedom struggle with Indian politics, and growing up as single child due to huge age difference  my sister was married and I was still young. So, I guess its more because of the conversations at home being with my father; all the discussions at home which were related to politics.

What were your insights when you were in Parliament?

Being in Parliament was an eye opener because I went in from outside. Especially from media, where we have a bit of a condescending attitude towards politicians... but when you are there, you realise the wealth of information they have. Their domain expertise and whole connect with what is happening in real India is fascinating. They have so much on-the-ground experience, you gain a huge amount of respect for them.

Was it tough being a publisher as well as a Member of Parliament?

Not at all, as I was a nominated Member of Parliament. I had a fortunate experience of being a presidential nominee and therefore, even on the bills introduced, on many occasions when I voted against and spoke against the bills. It was fine, there was no pressure at all. There were never expectations and pressure and I was fortunate to have freedom for those six years.

You engage with lot of fellow icons and powerful people around the world. Women leaders, world leaders or business leaders  who have you met lately that you found interesting?

You know there are many people you find intellectually engaging and most people you meet and go for conferences are so accomplished that you find them extremely engaging and you learn a lot from them. But among the other things I went for a conference in New York a year ago and it was a womens conference and what I found there was the spirit of many women who had gone through such a hardship and yet they face the world with optimism. There are so many stories that move you to see the resilience, the optimism. Stories which are not otherwise told or some scientific and medical breakthrough. I really find them engaging.

How do you keep everything sorted altogether?

I think we are all human; there are some things that make us agitated, but then tomorrow is a new day.
SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Red Bull Media House's award-winning documentary Blood Road, which follows ultra-endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch's 1,200-mile ride on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in search of her father's crash site, is now available worldwide.

Blood Road's official trailer: https://youtu.be/XCzVqiN950M

Blood Road is available on Blu-Ray, DVD, and as a digital download. Digital options include 4K through Vimeo On Demand and HD and SD on iTunes, Amazon, Vimeo On Demand, and Google Play. A 3-In-1 Collector's Edition of Blood Road including the film on Blu-Ray, DVD and a digital download is also available.

With the goal of reaching the site where Rebecca's father, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was shot down in Laos more than 40 years earlier, Rebecca and her Vietnamese riding partner, Huyen Nguyen, pedal the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail through the dense jungles of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. During this poignant voyage of self-discovery, the women push their bodies to the limit, while learning more about the historic 'Blood Road' and how the Vietnam War shaped their lives in very different ways.

"Sharing this film is more than another expedition for me, it's my opportunity to tell my father's story and make a difference in his honor," said Rebecca Rusch. "My journey down the Ho Chi Minh Trail changed me in more ways than I ever could have imagined. My hope is that by following along with my family's story, others can find their own path toward forgiveness and acceptance, as I did on the trail."

Blood Road is more than a history lesson, it's a daughter's love letter to her lost father, and a remarkable undertaking fueled by the power of a newly formed friendship. Although Red Bull Media House has been producing films for several years, Blood Road is Red Bull Media House North America's first feature film to be written, produced, directed and edited entirely in-house. The film won the Audience Award at Sun Valley Film Festival and "Best of Fest" at Bentonville Film Festival.

"What started for us as documenting an intense expedition, an exhibition of strength and endurance, changed into something much more," said the film's director Nicholas Schrunk. "This emotional journey is something far greater and more challenging than any physical quest. With this release, our team is honored to share Rebecca's journey with the world."

Check out BloodRoadFilm.com and follow Red Bull Media House films on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram for more glimpses into Blood Road. As the film becomes available on digital platforms and at retail today, Blood Road continues on a premiere tour in select cities.

Opportunities to screen Blood Road are available at BloodRoadFilm.com.

NEW photos from the making of Blood Road are now available for editorial use on Red Bull Content Pool.

ABOUT RED BULL MEDIA HOUSE

Red Bull Media House is a multi-platform media company with a focus on sports, culture, and lifestyle topics. It offers a wide range of premium media products and compelling content across media channels as diverse as TV, mobile, digital, audio, and print, with core media offerings that appeal to a global audience. Next to creating content and operating media platforms with direct consumer impact, Red Bull Media House also offers a vast range of targeted business opportunities for partnerships with other companies, media partners and affiliates. These include content distribution and licensing, brand partnerships, and advertising in our media.

www.redbullmediahouse.com

The company's centralized media hub, the Red Bull Content Pool, provides access to high-resolution imagery and HD moving images for editorial use, as well as licensable content in the Premium section. www.redbullcontentpool.com

For additional information including interviews with the cast and crew, photos or b-roll from "Blood Road" please contact Lora Bodmer at 307.690.1630 or lora@deep-communications.com.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/award-winning-documentary-blood-road-starring-rebecca-rusch-comes-out-today-300476083.html

SOURCE Red Bull Media House
AUSTIN, Texas, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Epiphany Dermatology (www.epiphanydermatology.com) announced today it has expanded its presence in the state of Oklahoma through its acquisition of Dermatology Associates of Oklahoma, LLC ("DAO"). Epiphany Dermatology is comprised of leading dermatologists committed to improving access to great dermatologic care and now operates four locations in Oklahoma, in addition to 18 locations in New Mexico and Texas.

DAO has a solid track record of providing quality dermatology services to patients at its three centers located in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Muskogee. Through this acquisition, DAO's dedicated providers and support staff have joined Epiphany in a partnership grounded in exceptional patient care.

Dr. Raymond Cornelison, a board-certified dermatologist who served as past President of the American Academy of Dermatology as well as Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Oklahoma, commented, "My staff and I are excited to form a partnership with Epiphany, which has proven itself to be a high-quality company comprised of dedicated professionals who are easy to work with. Epiphany shares our values and goal of providing high-quality and compassionate care across the entire spectrum of dermatologic needs. Through our partnership with Epiphany, we will expand our ability to effectively and expeditiously treat the thousands of skin cancers we are faced with annually. Epiphany has the infrastructure to help us manage the growing administrative burdens so we can focus on what matters mosttaking care of our patients and serving our community."

Gheorghe Pusta, Chief Executive Officer of Epiphany, said, "We are pleased and honored to form this partnership with Dr. Cornelison and the caring staff at DAO. Dr. Cornelison is a national leader in the dermatology specialty, having distinguished himself in both academia and private practice. He and his colleagues are committed to clinical excellence, just the same as Epiphany. As such, this is an exciting opportunity to expand our provider network and improve access to great dermatologic care across the state of Oklahoma."

Through this partnership, DAO's providers and staff gain additional resources to help with operations, managed care, marketing, human resources, compliance, recruiting, and areas of additional support services.

About Epiphany Dermatology

Epiphany Dermatology is a rapidly expanding dermatology company, driven by a passion to improve access to high quality dermatologic care in a values-based manner. Through its partnership with leading dermatologists at 22 locations in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, Epiphany provides general dermatology, skin cancer care, Mohs surgery, cosmetic services, and additional dermatologic services. Epiphany raises the standard of dermatology care by making clinical excellence accessible to all patients, promptly and in a warm and inviting environment. Epiphany Dermatology is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more details, please visit www.epiphanydermatology.com or call (512) 628-0465.

Ted Emmert

Chief Development Officer

Epiphany Dermatology

(512) 628-0465

temmert@epiphanydermatology.com

Gheorghe Pusta

Chief Executive Officer

Epiphany Dermatology

(512) 628-0465

gpusta@epiphanydermatology.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dermatology-associates-of-oklahoma-joins-epiphany-dermatology-300477123.html

SOURCE Epiphany Dermatology
HYCM has introduced a revamped affiliate program and new website incorporating enhanced features and higher CPA rates.

HYCM, a multi-regulated global leader in online capital markets trading, has launched an enhanced version of its affiliate program, HY Affiliates, as part of its strategic plans to develop its partnership program and improve its affiliates overall experience as they navigate the site.

Along with the launch of the upgraded affiliate program, HYCM has unveiled a completely revamped website where potential partners can navigate through each commission plan with ease and set up their registration in minutes.

Furthermore, HYCM will be offering new and improved CPA rates for referred clients to further incentivise affiliates who sign up to the program, delivering one of the most potentially lucrative affiliate programs in the industry.

Stavros Lambouris, CEO International for HYCM commented, As a multi-regulated broker with 40 years experience in the industry, HYCM partners benefit from working with a trusted broker with a solid industry reputation and an unparalleled range of compensation packages. The enhancements we have introduced are designed to offer our affiliates an even better experience, as well as the opportunity to benefit from higher CPA rates.

All HYCM partners benefit from a broad range of commission programs backed by a fully supported team at HYCM. The company offers multi-level marketing rebate tiers, customisable marketing and advertising tools and local office and events support, all geared up to help its partners grow their business and maximise their earning potential.

Affiliates also have a host of advantages at their fingertips and are able to access data relating to their referrals, get creative materials, keep track on earnings and performance, and manage all payments in a simple and unified manner.

The partnership program is ideal for those looking to broaden their online business and enhance their earning opportunities from tapping into the forex industry.

With HYCMs affiliate program, prospective partners will gain access to one of the most comprehensive schemes in the industry, specifically designed to suit their needs and requirements while maximising their earning-potential.

The updated version is mobile, tablet and desktop responsive and is accessible at www.hyaffiliates.com

HYCM

Notes to editors:

HYCM is a leading provider of online FX and CFD trading services to retail and institutional investors. With a 40 year operational history and a strong focus on client satisfaction and technological advancement, HYCM has become the online broker of choice for investors across the globe, providing access to a range of asset classes including currencies, commodities, metals, shares and indices.

HYCM offers clients a complete trading solution together with all the trading tools and analysis needed to make informed trading decisions. Backed by its state-of-the-art trading platforms, including the industry leading MetaTrader 4 and mobile app enabling clients to trade while on the go, HYCM has secured a strong industry reputation for delivering a trading experience that is second to none.

HYCM is part of the Henyep Capital Markets Group, an international conglomerate with businesses in financial services, property, education and charity and is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority of the UK (FCA reference number 186171 and the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC licence number 259/14).

The company is represented globally with offices in United Kingdom, Hong Kong, Cyprus and Dubai.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005666/en/

HYCM

Rosemary Barnes

Email: rosemary.barnes@hycm.com

Telephone: +357 25 24 5750

www.hycm.com
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- General Philip Breedlove, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, headlines a press briefing at the National Press Club on June 21 at 9:00 am, on providing more robust U.S. security assistance for Ukraine, including advanced defensive weapons, with the aim of deterring Kremlin aggression against Ukraine and allowing the people of Ukraine to defend themselves and our shared values.

General Breedlove will be joined by other members of a National Security Task Force of the Friends of Ukraine Network, who have authored a list of recommendations for U.S. military and security assistance for Ukraine.

Other task force members participating in the briefing include: Amb. Alexander Vershbow (former NATO Deputy Secretary General); Amb. John Herbst (Atlantic Council); Dr. Philip Karber (Potomac Foundation); Dr. Stephen Blank (American Foreign Policy Council); Glen Howard (Jamestown Foundation); Amb. Temuri Yakobashvili (former Ambassador of Georgia to the U.S.); Robert A. McConnell (McConnell & Associates); Nadia K. McConnell (U.S.-Ukraine Foundation).

The Friends of Ukraine Network is an initiative of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation.

Please note: The National Press Club, located at 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC, is a secure facility. All attendees/staff must have a valid QR code to pass through security gates at the entrance of the Club on the 13th floor. ALL GUESTS MUST HAVE A VALID CODE TO ENTER THE FACILITY. QR codes will be available at the entrance.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/press-conference-recommendations-for-arming-ukraine-presented-by-general-breedlove-and-others-300477124.html

SOURCE U.S.-Ukraine Foundation
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.
Google has now launched a promotion via the Google Store on two of its major hardware products, Google Home and Pixel by Google. In short, if you buy a Google Pixel XL from the Google Store, Google will now throw in a Google Home completely for free. Essentially, knocking $129.99 off the price of both products. It is worth noting that this deal only extends to the Google Pixel XL, the larger (and more expensive) of the two Pixel smartphones. So the total cost for both products does come in at $769 for the 32GB version of the Pixel XL, or $869 if opting for the 128GB model.

There is nothing too complicated in taking advantage of the deal, simply add both products to the cart and the discount will automatically be reflected in the cart before checking out. Generally speaking there are no major caveats to the promotion, although it should be noted that the deal is only available to buyers located in the US. Locality aside, all color and storage options do seem to be eligible for the deal. While Google has confirmed that the promotion started yesterday (June 19), the company has yet to provide any firm details on how long it will be available for. With the promotion T&Cs simply stating that it will be available while supplies last.

If you already own a Pixel or a Pixel XL then this is not going to be much of a deal for you. However, Google has also now discounted some of the cases that are available for the Pixel and the Pixel XL. On offer is the clear Pixel Case by Google and the clear Pixel XL Case by Google. Both of these normally retail for $30, although they are currently available at half that cost  $15. For those looking for a more colorful case, Googles silicone/polycarbonate cases for both models are also available at half price, down from $$35 to only $17.50. With all color options (blue, coral, green, grey, and peach) for both Pixel phones available at the discounted price. Of course, if you are planning on taking advantage of the main deal (Pixel XL and Google Home), there is nothing stopping you from also picking up some discounted cases as well.
The Nokia 9 has been leaking out for a long time now, and it seems like the company wont be releasing the 4GB RAM variant of this smartphone. The Nokia 9 flagship appeared in 4GB, 6GB and 8GB RAM variants, and according to a letter which HMD Global sent to the FCC, the 4GB RAM variant wont be happening. HMD Global basically asked the FCC to transfer the TA-1004 permits to the TA-T1012, and this seems to confirm that the company opted not to release the 4GB RAM model of this smartphone.

This means that the 6GB Nokia 9 variant is probably coming, and perhaps even the 8GB RAM model, though it remains to be seen. It is still not clear when will Nokia introduce its Nokia 9 flagship, but considering the amount of rumors and leaks weve seen thus far, the device is expected to arrive soon. Nokia had actually released three Android-powered smartphones this year, the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6, all of which are budget phones, and the Nokia 9 is expected to be a lot more powerful than them. Speaking of which, the Nokia 9 is expected to ship with the Snapdragon 835 64-bit octa-core processor, and a 5.3-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display is expected to be included in the package as well. The phone will pack in 6GB of RAM and two 13-megapixel shooters are expected to be available on its back. The device will probably be made out of metal, and we still do not know what will it look like. Android 7.1.1 Nougat will probably come pre-installed on the Nokia 9, and were looking at a rather clean version of Android here, Nokia does not have a habit of adding any bloatware on top of Android, nor skinning the experience.

Nokia announced the global availability of the Nokia 3, Nokia 5 and Nokia 6 back in February during the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, and the Nokia 9 is also expected to become available all over the world once HMD Global decides to announce it. In any case, stay tuned, the Nokia 9 will be introduced in the near future, well report back as soon as more info pops up.
The Galaxy Note 8 is one of the most anticipated smartphone of 2017, and according to the latest rumor, the device will launch on August 26. Yesterdays rumor said that the Galaxy Note 8 will be announced in the third week of August in New York, and todays rumor reveals the exact date, well, an alleged date of the Galaxy Note 8s announcement. This information comes from a Korean publication, The Investor, and the source also claims that the device will be announced in New York.

The source also mentions that Samsung is currently finalizing the venue, and that there could be some last minute changes, but it seems like that is unlikely. It seems like the Galaxy Note 8 will launch in August after all, despite the fact that some sources have been saying that it might arrive in September during IFA in Berlin. As a reminder, the Galaxy Note 7 was announced back in August last year, while its predecessor arrive in September, during IFA. The Galaxy Note 7 was quite a disaster for Samsung, as the company had to recall the phone twice, and it hurt Samsung quite a bit, the companys reputation suffered, not to mention how much money they lost because of it. Samsung is actually planning to release the Galaxy Note FE soon, which is essentially a refurbished model of the Galaxy Note 7 with a smaller battery. This handset will be released in only some regions, and it is expected to go on sale before the Galaxy Note 8, so it could be launched later this month.

Now, as far as the Galaxy Note 8 is concerned, the device will almost certainly resemble the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy S8 Plus quite a bit, it will sport the companys Infinity display, which comes with an 18.5:9 aspect ratio. The Galaxy Note 8 will sport a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display, is rumors are accurate, which means it will be a bit larger than the Galaxy S8 Plus display. The companys S Pen stylus will also be a part of the package, and Android Nougat will come pre-installed on the device with Samsungs UI on top of it. The Bixby AI physical key will be placed on the left-hand side of the Galaxy Note 8, and the device will be made out of metal and glass.
The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as Durand Line, is disputed and Afghanistan has vowed to never recognise it.

By Santosh Chaubey: Despite Afghanistan's strong reservations, Pakistan has started the fencing work along the whole Pakistan-Afghanistan border or Durand Line. According to Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, DG, Inter-Service Public Relations and Pakistan Army spokesperson, the work is part of Operation Radd ul Fasaad, Pakistan Army's countrywide anti-terror operation and has been ordered by Pakistan Army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bahwa.

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The whole work will be completed in two phases with high infiltration areas like Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber Agencies are being taken in the first phase. According to his Facebook post, besides building up the fence, the Pakistan Army is also building new posts and forts to further beef up the security measures.

His Facebook post read, "Measures to improve security situation along the Pak-Afg border continue. In line with the directions of COAS, phased fencing of entire Pak-Afg border has commenced. In phase 1, high infiltration prone border areas in Bajaur, Mohmand and Khyber Agencies are being fenced. In phase 2 fencing of remaining border areas including Baluchistan will be executed. Besides fencing, Pakistan Army and FC KP are constructing new Forts / Border Posts to improve surveillance and defensibility. A secure Pak-Afg border is in common interest of both countries and a well coordinated border security mechanism is essential for enduring peace and stability."

Nothing looks wrong with it. It is, in fact, within a sovereign country's rights to do all to secure its borders. But it is not so. The border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, known as Durand Line, is disputed and Afghanistan has vowed to never recognise it. Durand Line, drawn by Britain in 1893, is 2460 kms long and arbitrarily divides the geographical areas inhabited by Pashtun and Baloch communities. Afghanistan contends that the validity of the British era document that imposed the Durand Line on Afghanistan expired with the collapse of the British empire from the sub-continent in 1947.

Earlier this year, when Pakistan had closed its border with Afghanistan citing terrorists' infiltration, Afghanistan's former president Hamid Karzai had hit back using strong words, "The Government of Pakistan had no legal authority to dictate terms on the Durand line." He added that "while we wish freedom for the people of FATA from FCR and other repressive measures, we remind the Government of Pakistan that Afghanistan hasn't and will not recognise the Durand Line." Federally Administered Tribal Areas or FATA is Pakistan's north-western province that borders with Afghanistan. FATA was seen as a region beyond Pakistan's control which regulates it now through repressive special laws known as the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) and has announced to merge it with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

The Govt of Pakistan has no legal authority to dictate terms on the Durand line.while we wish freedom for the people of #FATA from FCR..1/2 Hamid Karzai (@KarzaiH) 5 March 2017

2/2 and other repressive measures, we remind the Govt of #Pakistan that #Afghanistan hasn't and will not recognize the #Durand line. Hamid Karzai (@KarzaiH) 5 March 2017

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Also read:

Trump seen hardening line against Pakistan after Afghan war review

Send troops to Pakistan: Chinese internet users vent anger over killings

A week on, China says still in the dark over 'killings' of its nationals in Pakistan

Pakistan under pressure as China 'highly concerned' over killings of its nationals

Watch Video: China, Pakistan hold joint military drills in Arabian Sea

--- ENDS ---
Samsung has expanded the card compatibility for Samsung Pay in the UK with three new types of banks. In a press release earlier this afternoon Samsung announced that customers with HSBC, First Direct, and M&S bank cards will now be able to link those cards up with Samsungs mobile payment solution, though notably absent is any indication of which cards from each bank are accepted and will work when trying to add them into the application. That said, customers will want to check with any of the three banks if they have a card from one of them to make sure that their card is supported.

Samsung also notes that customers with cards from any of the three banks listed above (as well as any of the banks that are already supported in the UK and elsewhere) can receive extra benefits by using Samsung Pay on a Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8 Plus, as they can use the fingerprint sensor or the iris scanner for authorizing mobile payments at accepted locations and retailers.

Though Samsung Pay is just one of the solutions on Android for making mobile payments, Android Pay will likely work in less locations thanks to the technology that Samsung Pay is based on as it can work essentially anywhere you can swipe a credit card or debit card. While only three new banking partners have been added with this new expansion, Samsung will continue to add more banks to the support list as time goes on, though it doesnt mention any details about which banks it may be working with to get support up and running, so anyone who doesnt already have support for Samsung Pay will simply have to continue waiting until Samsung makes the information public. HSBC, First Direct, and M&S bank cardholders join Visa, MasterCard, MBNA, and Nationwide and Santander customers who already have access to Samsung Pay and the simplified method of payment that it offers while shopping both in stores and online. Samsung also notes that support for American Express cards will be added soon, albeit without any mention of an exact time frame.
Samsungs battery manufacturing division, Samsung SDI, is pushing its Meister program harder than ever in light of the blow to the firms reputation caused by the troubles with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7. The program is a professional incentive program that rewards employees for improving their skills through certification. A number of technical certifications are on offer, and a meister is defined as any employee who gets three or more of them. Each certification normally takes a year or so to get, which means that it should come as no surprise that the number of employees who are certified as meisters is only 53. The recent push has shown real results in growth; the program has been live since 2013, and 17 of the 53 current meisters were certified as such within the first half of 2017.

Samsung SDIs new CEO, Jun Young-hyun, spoke highly of the program, saying that it gives employees a chance to better themselves, and fosters an environment of open learning within the company. The CEO also Meister Kim Song-hak also had kind words about the program, saying that the system helped him to better respond to situations at work, and to step up professionally. He is a 12 year company veteran, and has 10 certificates under his belt, more than three times the requirement to become a meister. The kind words and powerful push only produced 17 new meisters so far this year, but 150 employees are currently studying and working toward becoming meisters.

Samsung SDI had been supplying batteries to Samsung and various other companies without issue for quite some time, but found its reputation almost irreparably damaged when the battery units it made for the Galaxy Note 7 proved unfitting for the phones frame. Because of that, the batteries fractured, suffered thermal runaway, and in far too many cases, exploded. Samsungs immediate response was to distance the Galaxy Note 7 from Samsung SDI, but even when batteries from another manufacturer failed in a similar manner, the damage to Samsung SDIs reputation had already been done. The company has since taken a note from the rest of Samsung and implemented new safety and quality checks, and this renewed vigor on the meister program is just the latest in a line of planned improvements.
Sprint has announced three new initiatives that improve the carriers competitiveness and image to the consumers in the city of Milwaukee. The carrier intends to do so through improving its network within the city, increasing the carriers retail presence, and providing gadgets and free internet access to the students of the Milwaukee Public Schools. Aside from improving the experience of its subscribers in the area, the recent efforts of the carrier will result in additional jobs and better educational experience for the residents of the city of Milwaukee.

First, Sprint announced network improvements that will increase the data speeds it provides to its subscribers in the city. Some of these improvements include the deployment of more outdoor small cells, distribution of High-Performance User Equipment (HPUE) devices and Sprint Magic Boxes, and the roll-out of three-channel carrier aggregation. Together, these tools could substantially improve the carriers network through a wider coverage and increased data speeds. In terms of wider range, the use of HPUE-capable devices like the LG G6 and the Samsung Galaxy S8 extends the carriers 2.5GHz signal coverage by around 30%. Meanwhile, Sprints free Magic Box which is now available in the city of Milwaukee could improve data speeds by up to 200% in nearby locations. In addition, the roll-out of the three-channel carrier aggregation in Milwaukee can substantially increase the data speeds experienced by the user, with the peak download speeds reaching more than 200Mbps on compatible devices.

The carrier also announced that it will increase its retail presence in the city of Milwaukee through the opening of 38 Sprint and Boost Mobile stores. Opening retail stores is a positive development for both the carrier and the residents of the city. The increase in retail stores allows Sprint to market its services and devices more effectively while providing additional jobs to the citys residents. Last but not the least, Sprint announced that it will provide free devices and 3GB of high-speed LTE data to 2,800 students of the Milwaukee Public Schools. This latest effort to decrease the digital divide among the students of the MPS is a part of the carriers 1Million Project, which aims to provide a wireless device and data service to a million high school students in the United States.
Massive MIMO (Multiple Input, Multiple Output) technology has been tested by Sprint and its partner, Samsung in Suwon, South Korea. Since this is Samsungs home, its not that surprising to see Sprint take to the streets of South Korea for some field testing of this new technology on 2.5GHz spectrum, before deploying it in the US. Massive MIMO allows up to 100x more throughput than a traditional wireless network. This isnt going to be a huge deal for 4G LTE, but it is a building block for 5G networks which are coming in the next 5 to 10 years. Massive MIMO will also help Sprint propel its LTE Plus network to new heights, which is also super important for the wireless carrier.

In Sprints announcement today, the company announced that during its field testing in South Korea, the Massive MIMO Samsung radios, which were equipped with vertical and horizontal beam-forming technology, reached peak speeds of 330Mbps per channel using a 20MHz channel of 2.5GHz spectrum. This means that the capacity per channel increased by about four times, cell edge performance was increased by about three times and the overall coverage area also improved compared to the current radios being used. Massive MIMO is an important part of Gigabit LTE as well. Seeing as it uses more antenna elements. It uses 64T64R which is 128 antenna elements (64 transmit and 64 receive), which is far higher than the 2T2R, 4T4R and 8T8R thats used in most 4G LTE networks today. These Massive MIMO antennas also use advanced horizontal and vertical beamforming technology to focus and transmit cellular signals into some targeted locations. This can be very useful for sending more signal or bandwidth into high traffic areas.

What this means for current Sprint customers is very little. Sprint likely wont be rolling out Massive MIMO in a huge capacity for a little while still. The company is still in the testing stages with Samsung, and itll take time to perfect it before rolling it out. But Massive MIMO is going to be a huge deal for the future of wireless networks. This includes Gigabit LTE but also 5G networks, both of which are important network technologies, coming in the very near future.
Terrorists stormed the frontline fighter base of the Indian Air Force near the India-Pakistan border on January 2 last year.

By Sudhi Ranjan Sen: The Defence Security Corps soldiers who were mowed down by terrorist at the Pathankot airbase on January 2, 2016 perhaps could have been saved had the terrorist been pinned down, an internal inquiry has now revealed in a report accessed by India Today.

Terrorists stormed the frontline fighter base of the Indian Air Force (IAF) near the India-Pakistan border on January 2 last year. The operation to flush out the terrorist lasted for three days during which seven security personnel were killed.

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The inquiry was ordered after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a meeting with top security officials, expressed his displeasure and concern over the manner in which terrorist stormed the airbase. The IAF, which initially hadn't ordered an inquiry, was forced to order one. The inquiry conducted by Air Vice-Marshal Amit Dev is understood to have revealed that basic security protocol weren't followed at the airbase and has apportioned responsibility on senior IAF officials at the airbase.

The inquiry is understood to have concluded that the airbase wasn't able to come-up with comprehensive plan to defend the airbase although there was clear and precise intelligence about the attack.

The then Pathankote Airbase Commander Air Commodore J S Dhamoon, an officer who finds mention in the inquiry report, has put in his papers. Besides, some IAF officers and soldiers are likely to lose their seniority as a punishment for not following procedure, top sources said. The then security officer of the airbase has also come in for criticism.

Shockingly the route used by the terrorist to enter the airbase was flagged-up as a "vulnerable point" a few months prior to the attack. A mentally unstable man breached the security and entered the airbase using the same route, sources said the report has observed.

The report says that security of the 2000 acre frontline airbase had several gaps and standard operating procedure to secure installations had been violated making it easy for the terrorist to enter and hide within the base. For instance the inquiry says that trees and under-growth along the perimeter wasn't removed. Guard post along the perimeter weren't properly maintained and flood lights along the airbase to detect intrusions weren't functioning or maintained.

Interestingly, the inquiry has also found that the airbase security failed to detect ropes - used to climb the airbase wall, personal clothing item and food left behind by the terrorist when they entered the airbase even though base was on a high alert.

The Ministry of Defence didn't respond to queries of India Today.

Earlier last month, the Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa in a personnel letter to the IAF personnel had warned about lax standards, lack of professionalism in the force and favouritism creeping into the forces. The letter sent to 12000 officers of the IAF said that there was no room for slackness in the force.

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FALL-OUT OF THE INQUIRY

Garud commandos - the special forces of the Indian Air Force - who were first to interdict the terrorist on January 2, 2016, will now be deployed along the Indian Army in counter-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir. "The Garuds are a competent force, but they need to battle hardened. Based on the inquiry report the government has decided to deploy them in Jammu and Kashmir for battle inoculation," top sources said.

Also read:

Lt Colonel Niranjan's friend alleges politics at play in renaming main road after martyr

Terrorists who attacked Pathankot air base killed

Pathankot attack: What has happened over the last 50 hours

NSG names new auditorium after braveheart who lost life in Pathankot attack

Lt Col EK Niranjan was careless, says The Telegraph op-ed. Panned on internet

WATCH VIDEO

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Lawyers working for corporates generally feel that they enjoy the same status as those working in law firms according to a new report.The feeling is shared by in-house counsel across Asia-Pacific, the Americas, Middle East and Africa but not in Europe, the Association of Corporate Counsels global trends survey found.Most in-house lawyers (80%) said that their relationship with external law firms was positive, this is more likely among in-house teams of 50 lawyers of fewer.Respondents report that, with broader responsibilities within corporates, there is greater potential for career development and better compensation currently, although only 43% are happy with their formal career development plans.However, men are still faring better than women in corporate teams. With women more likely to have taken temporary leave from their work, often for dependent care, a third then find it hard to find a satisfactory job.Men are also more likely to occupy higher paid roles with women more likely to occupy lower paid ones.A pair of London lawyers who moved from King & Wood Mallesons to Ashurst a year ago, are on the move again.Corporate real estate specialists Darren Rogers and Patrick Williams will join Fried Frank, adding significant experience to the US-headquartered firm.The duo has been working together for more than a decade and have been responsible for many high-profile property investment transactions in the UK and Europe, advising leading domestic and international property investors and sponsors. Mark Lehmkuhler has joined the M&A and private equity team at Orrick in Hong Kong as a partner.He joins from Davis Polk where he spent almost two decades, the last nine as partner. His practice which focuses on M&A and private equity transactions, debt restructurings and other complex cross-border transactions.Squire Patton Boggs has hired Simon James, former global head of automotive at Eversheds Sutherland , as a partner in its IP and Tech practice.He will be based in Birmingham UK, the city where he led the tech and sourcing practice at DLA Piper prior to his role at Eversheds.
Over the past five years, we have been strategically building our Brisbane office through a series of senior partner appointments. The addition of Andrew will further cement Piper Alderman as a serious player in the Brisbane legal market, said Ted Williams, head of the firms Brisbane office. Culturally, Andrew is a great fit for our firm.

Ranking has more than 20 years experience in corporate and commercial law. He regularly works with domestic and international clients on mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings, competition law, and regulatory compliance matters. He is recognised by Best Lawyers Australia as a top lawyer in corporate, M&A, corporate governance, and competition law.

Piper Alderman has also scored two new senior associates from the in-house and private practice sectors.

It has appointed Andrew Barling as its newest senior associate in Melbourne. Barling, who joins from Fujitsu, where he was corporate counsel and commercial director, joins the firms national intellectual property and technology practice.

Piper Alderman has also appointed Angelina Kozary, who joins from ERA Legal, as a senior associate in Sydney. Moving from Melbourne to her new base, Kozary joins the firms dispute resolution team.
Rosalind Croucher AM has been appointed as the new president of the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC).Croucher, who is currently the president of the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC), will replace fellow academic Gillian Triggs. She will begin her seven-year term on 30 July.Croucher was first appointed a full-time ALRC commissioner in 2007 by the Howard Government, made president in 2009, and subsequently reappointed president in 2014 and 2015.Professor Croucher has had an illustrious career as a lawyer and member of the academy. She has an outstanding reputation for her pragmatic, constructive and analytical approach to law reform. Her strong leadership of the ALRC, and expertise in complex areas of the law, has enhanced its respected public image, Attorney-General George Brandis said.As ALRC president, Croucher has led nine significant law reform inquiries, including the Freedoms Inquiry, the comprehensive investigation into the consistency of Commonwealth legislation with traditional rights, freedoms and privileges.Croucher is a former Macquarie University dean of law. She held posts in law at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney . She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2015 for significant service to the law as an academic, to legal reform and education, to professional development, and to the arts.The nations top lawyer organisation has welcomed Crouchers appointment.She enjoys an outstanding reputation among her peers for her clear-sighted, pragmatic, and strategic approach to law reform. Her contribution this year to the Law Council's Justice Project, our national review into the impediments to justice in Australia, has been invaluable, said Fiona McLeod SC, president of the Law Council of Australia I have no doubt her seven-year term as President of the AHRC with be marked by the same insight and clarity that has defined her illustrious career to date, she added.McLeod also applauded Triggs for her leadership. She is ending her five-year term, which was marked by constant attacks from some camps in the government and the media.Professor Triggs served the AHRC with indefatigable passion and purpose. We are grateful for the way she has represented the legal profession and the promotion of human rights within and outside Australia. We trust that she will continue to make a positive contribution to the law and our national debate, McLeod said.
Hicksons Lawyers elevated two of its lawyers to the firms partnership, with Jennifer Parkes and Quincy Wong assuming their new roles on 1 July.The firm has also announced the promotion of a new senior associate and three associates. It also revealed it is moving its Sydney office to an up-and-coming financial and professional services hub in the city.Parkes, whos based in Newcastle, specialises in employment, industrial, and workplace health and safety issues, with a particular focus on discrimination, bullying, and harassment in the workforce. Parkes, who joined the firm in 2006, also focuses on workplace law in the higher education sector.Hicksons said that Parkess promotion shows the firms commitment to its growing client base in Newcastle and the firms need to diversify in the region.Wong, whos based in Sydney, is an expert in the information technology and intellectual property sectors. A registered trademark attorney and a Harvard-trained negotiator and mediator, Quincy joined the firm in 2007, advising on the firms most complex matters since then.The firm has also announced the promotion of Susannah Fricke to senior associate in Sydney. Promoted to associates are Cindy Shum and Samantha Townsend in Newcastle, and Patrick Hodgetts in Sydney.Later this month, the firm is moving its office in Sydney to Barangaroo, which is becoming the new financial and professional services hub in Sydney. The firm is moving into One International Tower Sydney.
SUV

Scheduled to be officially revealed in South Korea next month, the B-can be admired today in all its glory thanks to Worldscoop forum member GMU. From the exterior designs standpoint, the Stonic doesnt hold a candle to its half-brother from Hyundai. Whereas the Kona puts an emphasis on funkiness, the Stonic features sensibly conventional styling.Dont, however, get the idea that Kia is being daft. The uninspiring body color of the pictured vehicle, for example, is offset by orange-finished side mirror caps, A-pillars, and roof. Then theres the interior, where the sea of black and gray plastic is complemented by orange detailing here and there.Speaking of the interior design of the Stonic, here we can identify a Kia Rio -inspired touchscreen infotainment system with satellite navigation, the gear lever of a six-speed manual transmission, and aluminum-accented pedals. As for the exterior of the newcomer, well, fingers crossed Kia has nicer color combinations in the offing than this union of gray and orange.According to the most recent reports from South Korea, the automaker plans to get the Stonic into production in July, with sales expected to kick off sometime in August. Theres no official information on the subject of powertrain options right now, but chances are the newcomer will borrow most of its engines from the 2018 Hyundai Kona. In other words, expect anything from a 1.0-liter turbo to a 2.0-liter Atkinson-cycle plant. A diesel will come through too, as will the Stonic EV at some point in the near future.Following its official debut in July , the 2018 Kia Stonic will then be presented to the public at the 2017 Frankfurt Motor Show. The U.S. market will get its first glimpse of the all-new Stonic at the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show.
On Monday, on opening day at the Paris Air Show, Airbus revealed some new design features for the A380plus, now in development, while Boeing debuted its larger-capacity 737 Max 10. The enhanced A380plus will provide airlines with better economics and improved operational performance, Airbus officials said. New winglets and other aerodynamic refinements to the wing are expected to result in up to 4 percent reduction in fuel burn. These new winglets  shown for the first time on an A380 at the Paris Air Show  will be larger than the wingtips used today, but are designed to fit within existing airport structures worldwide.

An increase in takeoff weight of about 3 tons plus tweaks to the cabin design make it possible to add up 80 more seats, to 575 total, while maintaining the current range of 8,200 NM. In the cockpit, a new flight management system is offered. A modified maintenance calendar provides six extra days per year when the airplane can fly, producing about $27 million in added revenue, according to Airbus. The A380 is the worlds largest, most spacious airliner, Airbus says, with two full widebody decks. Every two minutes, on average  or 720 times a day  an A380 takes off or lands somewhere in the world.

Boeing announced the launch of the 737 Max 10 as the newest member of the 737 Max family. The 737 Max 10 will have the lowest seat-mile cost of any single-aisle airplane ever produced, Boeing said, delivering 5 percent lower trip costs and 5 percent lower seat-mile costs. Design changes for the 737 Max 10 include a fuselage stretch of 66 inches compared to the 737 Max 9, levered main landing gear and a modified wing to reduce low-speed drag. The airplane has the capacity to carry up to 230 passengers. The 737 Max continues to be the fastest-selling airplane in Boeing history, the company said, with more than 240 orders and commitments secured from more than 10 customers worldwide.
A strange bedfellows coalition, including four of the world's biggest oil and natural gas producers, environmental groups and political leaders, are announcing a unified push urging Congress to enact a carbon tax to address climate change on Wednesday.

Why it matters: The support of major oil and natural gas companies  Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP  will be needed to get Republicans to back a policy that remains politically toxic. The coalition represents the most diverse set of interests pushing Washington on climate policy in a decade.

Reality checking: Big oil backing is a prerequisite, but it may not be enough with strong conservative opposition to a carbon tax from powerful groups like Americans for Tax Reform and Competitive Enterprise Institute. Almost no elected Republicans, including the few who acknowledge climate change, publicly support a carbon tax. President Trump's moves on the issue, including withdrawing from the Paris deal and not acknowledging that climate change is a problem, are also making it harder and less pressing for congressional Republicans to talk publicly about the issue, let alone support a tax on carbon emissions.

Bottom line: This is going to be near impossible at least through the 2018 midterm elections.

The details:

The Climate Leadership Council, which launched in February with backing of conservative leaders from earlier GOP administrations, is rolling out its founding members. They include four major oil companies, General Motors, two environmental groups and influential policy and political leaders. Click here for the full list.

The founding members will hash out the policy details of the plan in quarterly meetings and annual meetings with the heads of the groups and companies, according to Ted Halstead, executive director of the group.

Funding doesn't come directly from those companies or any others. The group is instead getting money from individual donors and philanthropies.

"We expect that when the moment is right, the companies will lend their lobbying weight to our plan," Halstead said.

That's important. Even though Exxon has publicly supported a carbon tax for years, it hasn't actively lobbied Congress on it. If/when that happens here, it would be a game-changer.

Remember when? The last time a coalition this diverse with fossil-fuel backing pushed Congress on climate policy was in 2007, when a group called the U.S. Climate Action Partnership formed between corporations and environmental groups to lobby for legislation cutting carbon emissions. It dissolved a few years later when Congress didn't act. In its wake, companies, environmental groups and politicians all went their separate ways on climate. Interests are starting to realign again, despite Trump's moves to unwind federal action on climate change.

Read more:
Christopher Wray, President Trump's nominee to replace former FBI Director James Comey, deleted a line from his law firm bio referencing a 2006 case in which Wray represented an American energy executive who was being investigated by the Russian government, per CNN's KFILE.

What we know: Micheline Tang, a spokeswoman for the law firm King and Spalding, told CNN that Wray removed the detail in January 2017, before he was even considered for taking on the role of FBI Director, in an attempt to make the material on his page "more current." Tang also emphasized that the executive Wray was representing is an American citizen who lives in the U.S., and at the time the law firm, Wray, and the client were "adverse to the Russian Government" as Moscow was looking to exert leverage over the client by launching a criminal investigation.
The death of 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier, who was released last week from a North Korean prison, is sparking a greater political debate over how to hold Kim Jong-un's regime responsible. One option of retaliation is for Congress or the Trump administration to issue new restrictions on Americans traveling to North Korea.

Last month, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Joe Wilson (R-SC) proposed a new bill that, if passed in Congress, would require Americans traveling to North Korea to obtain a license, and Americans would be banned from visiting as tourists, per NY Mag.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also hinted to a House committee last week that the administration may introduce such a ban. "We haven't come to a final conclusion, but we are considering it," Tillerson said.

Involving China: Tillerson, who has vowed to take a more aggressive approach on North Korea, may also look to China as the administration has done in recent months, to ramp up pressure on Kim Jong-un's regime. Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis are set to meet with their Chinese counterparts later this week, and advancing work against North Korea is expected to dominate a large part of their meetings.

Lawmakers' calls for action:
Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence both addressed the National Association of Manufacturers' 2017 Manufacturing Summit this afternoon with a clear commitment to pass massive tax reform before the end of the year.

Ryan: "We are going to get this done in 2017because we have to get this done in 2017. We cannot let this once-in-a-generation moment pass us by."

"We are going to get this done in 2017because we have to get this done in 2017. We cannot let this once-in-a-generation moment pass us by." Pence: "We're going to pass the largest tax cut since the days of Ronald Reagan, and we're going to do it this year."

The big goals: Consolidating the current seven tax brackets into three, eliminating the alternative minimum tax and estate tax, implementing a new territorial system that doesn't tax overseas income for businesses, creating a new lower tax level specifically for small businesses, and using savings from closing loopholes to lower taxes for everyone.

More from Ryan:

His personal goal for tax reform: He thinks it can get done by the Saturday before Thanksgiving. "We really think it's very, very much doable to get this done by the fall."

He thinks it can get done by the Saturday before Thanksgiving. "We really think it's very, very much doable to get this done by the fall." His lofty rhetoric: "Once in a generation or so, there is an opportunity to do something transformational  something that will have a truly lasting impact long after we are gone. That moment is here, and we are going to meet it."

"Once in a generation or so, there is an opportunity to do something transformational  something that will have a truly lasting impact long after we are gone. That moment is here, and we are going to meet it." What can come from his tax plan: "We have to fix all of it, both for individuals and businesses because this will create jobs. This is what this is all about: jobs, jobs, jobs."

More from Pence:
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) said on Tuesday that it has signed a licensing deal with a handful of South Korean organizations to jointly develop a full-scale version of the ultra-fast train. HTT is one of several several startups working to develop these trains based on a concept devised by Elon Musk in 2013.

South Korean government's department of technological innovation and infrastructure, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), Hanyang University, and other organizations signed a deal in January to develop a hyperloop system that will be called HyperTube Express (HTX)

Global competition: HTT competes with a few other startups also building hyperloop train systems, and many have struck deals to build prototypes and full-scale systems around the world, including the United Arab Emirates, Europe, and the U.S.
Several White House officials, including Sean Spicer, stated the Trump administration will continue to put pressure on China in an effort to retaliate against Kim Jong-Un's regime following the death of Otto Warmbier. But the president seemed to dismiss those notions on Twitter Tuesday, writing that their efforts haven't worked out:

Why it matters: The Trump administration has looked to China in recent months to ramp up its aggression toward North Korea. But Trump's latest tweet suggests the WH may be switching gears now, and planning to deal with North Korea more directly.

A word of caution: Axios' Jonathan Swan writes that it's possible, even likely, that rather than abandoning his previous approach, Trump is publicly shaming Xi for his lack of success in changing North Korea's behavior and giving him one last chance to fix the situation.

Timing: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis are set to meet with their Chinese counterparts later this week.
20 June 2017 13:39 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Azerbaijan's Defense Ministry announced on June 20 that reports about the alleged killing of an Azerbaijani serviceman Natig Gurbanov is false and baseless.

The ministry stated that Armenians shared false news and misinformation on social networks. No Azerbaijani soldier called Natig Gurbanov serves in the army as Armenians claim," says the ministry's statement.

"The enemys use of such misinformation as part of its propaganda seems to be a last resort. The enemy who makes unsuccessful attempts wants to pretend as hero on paper or in the virtual space, said the statement.

The ministry further added that the Armenian armed forces lost six of its servicemen on June 16 and 17.

Now the enemy is reporting its numerous wounded soldiers on separate days giving different explanations so as to keep the public calm, the statement said.

Armenian armed forces intensified their attacks on the Azerbaijani positions over the past few days, thus killing an Azerbaijani soldier on the contact line of troops on June 15. The Azerbaijani side retaliated the provocations and six soldiers of the Armenian armed forces were eliminated on the line of contact, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on June 17.

The Armenian militaries use large-caliber machine guns, mortars and grenade launchers while breaching the ceasefire. Although the Azerbaijani side silences the enemy by return fire, the situation on the contact line remains unstable.

---

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
By Press Trust of India: Ahmedabad, Jun 20 (PTI)

Internationally recognised plasma physicist and pioneer of thermo-nuclear fusion in India, Prof P K Kaw died at his residence here.

He passed away yesterday after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 69.

Predhiman Krishan Kaw was the founder director of the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, and served as the Professor of Department of Science and Technology (DST) at the institute till he breathed his last.

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The veteran scientist was honoured with Padma Shri in 1985 for his contribution in the field of producing energy through thermonuclear fusion.

"It is a huge and irreparable loss to the whole nation at large and IPR in particular. His contribution to plasma and fusion sciences, and his tireless efforts in nurturing the IPR since its inception will be remembered for long," said Dean (R&D), IPR, D Chenna Reddy.

According to the acting Chief Administrative Officer of IPR, P K Atrey, Kaw died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home.

"He was the founder director of IPR and was serving as DST-Professor at the institute since 2013. He was very much active in research and other academic work at the institute till his end," said Atrey.

Prof Kaw is internationally knwon for his outstanding contribution to the physics of non-linear collective phenomena in plasmas with special emphasis on applications to thermonuclear fusion.

Born in January 1948, Kaw did his Ph.D in 1966 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He was just 18 when he achieved this academic milestone.

After completing his Ph.D, Kaw went to Princeton University, USA as a post doctoral fellow and later joined the university as an assistant professor.

From 1971-75, Kaw was back in India as associate professor and then as professor at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.

In this period he extended the theory of parametric instabilities to magnetised plasmas. He also made important contributions to the theory of ionospheric irregularities in the equatorial electro jet.

In early 80s, Kaw and some of his former colleagues at PRL succeeded in persuading the DST to set up a major programme of plasma physics at PRL.

He returned to India in 1982 to direct this programme. The programme was separated from PRL in 1986 and became the DST-funded Institute for Plasma Research.

Kaw was IPRs director between 1986 and 2012.

In 1996, IPR was taken over by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) with a considerable upscaling of the experimental efforts on thermonuclear fusion.

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Under his leadership, the institute has carried out the design/fabrication of an advanced steady-state superconducting tokamak SST-1. This machine is undergoing commissioning trials now and is one of the first machine of this kind anywhere in the world.

Kaw also guided the the institute in spearheading Indias case for participation in the prestigious ITER (fusion) experiment and is now the nodal domestic agency looking after this participation. PTI PJT PD DK KIS

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20 June 2017 15:43 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijan and Latvia pledged to further promote bilateral cooperation in various areas, as there is good groundwork for both countries to expand ties in trade, transport and logistics.

This was announced in Baku as the Azerbaijani-Latvian Intergovernmental Commission on economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation convened here on June 20.

Azerbaijans Ecology and Natural Resources Minister Huseyngulu Bagirov, addressing the meeting, stressed the necessity to bring the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Latvia to a higher level.

Bagirov, who is also a co-chairman of the Latvia-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission, noted that the current level of the trade turnover doesnt correspond to the high level of bilateral relations.

As of late 2016, the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Latvia totaled $8.75 million. The co-chairman noted that the import of Latvian products accounted for $7.9 million out of this amount, while the export of Azerbaijani goods accounted for only $0.85 million.

This is an unsatisfactory indicator and is a signal that it needs to be increased, added Bagirov.

The countrys trade turnover with Latvia amounted to $3.72 million in January-May 2017 that is by 11.5 percent more than in the same period of 2016, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

Meanwhile, the export of Azerbaijani goods to Latvia rose by 16 percent during the year and amounted to $312,010 and the import of the Latvian products increased by 11.1 percent  up to $3.4 million.

Latvian Transport Minister Uldis Augulis, in turn, emphasized that Azerbaijan is an important partner for Latvia, both in economic and political terms.

The minister said today there are many spheres that have big potential for bilateral cooperation.

We intend to develop and bring the relations in education, economy, transit and logistics, tourism, and other sectors to a new level, he added.

The expansion of bilateral relations in logistics is very important, according to the Latvian official. Latvia wants to join together with Azerbaijan the New Silk Road project, which will lead to the development of economy of all participating countries, said the minister.

Transportation and logistics provide an opportunity to develop entrepreneurship and increase trade turnover, added Augulis.

Azerbaijan and Latvia are preparing to sign a number of intergovernmental agreements in education, logistics and construction as well as financial and tax cooperation in July, said Deputy Foreign Minister Khalaf Khalafov.

Khalafov noted that in particular it is expected to sign an agreement on combined transportation, which is very important for the cargo transportations between Azerbaijan and Latvia.

Latvia is a significant element of the European transport and logistics sector, and the Latvian side regards Azerbaijan as an important partner in development of transport connections between Asia and Europe.

Latvia also sees Azerbaijan as Europes main source for energy resources in the Black Sea-Caspian region.

Azerbaijan attaches great importance to cooperation with Latvia within regional organizations, including the Union of the Baltic States. Azerbaijan is also keen to develop cultural and humanitarian relations.

Latvia recognized Azerbaijans independence in 1992. Bilateral diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1994 and the Azerbaijani Embassy in Latvia began to function in 2005, and the Latvian Embassy in Azerbaijan was opened a year later.

So far, 34 documents were signed between the two countries.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
20 June 2017 18:18 (UTC+04:00)

An Azerbaijani-Kazakh tourism forum will be held in Astana on June 28.

To be co-organized by Azerbaijan`s Embassy to Kazakhstan, as well as Azerbaijan`s Entrepreneurs Union operating in Kazakhstan the forum will feature presentations about tourism potential of both countries.

The bilateral meeting of businessmen will be held as part of the forum, Azertac reported.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on August 27, 1992. Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Turkic Council, Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Today, 37 Kazakh companies involved in different sectors of economy are successfully doing their business in Azerbaijan. In a western region of Kazakhstan alone, a total of 46 companies with Azerbaijani capital are registered.

The two countries have already signed over 100 agreements, which constitute legal basis for negotiations between the countries. More than 20 of those are in the field of economy.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan amounted to almost $124.4 million in 2016, including more than $26 million that accounted for the export to Kazakhstan, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.

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20 June 2017 17:24 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) has paid compensations worth over 734.25 million manats ($434.3 million) to depositors of Parabank, Zaminbank, Dekabank, Kredobank, Caucasus Development Bank, Atrabank, Bank of Azerbaijan, Gandjabank, Texnikabank, United Credit Bank and Bank Standard.

Banks Volume of paid compensations (million manats) Volume of paid compensation out of the total volume (pct) Bank Standard 437,433 99,2 Zaminbank 58,971 85 Dekabank 3,087 98,7 Kredobank 27,771 99,9 Caucasus Development Bank 2,004 96 Atrabank 14,35 98,2 Bank of Azerbaijan 24,191 97 Gandjabank 0,976 94 Texnikabank 120,458 98,2 Parabank 43,222 98,5

United Credit 1,778 83,7

Bank

The licenses of all 11 banks were withdrawn in 2016 due to the discrepancy of their total capital with the minimum requirements [50 million manats-$29.4 million] and default to the creditors.

Currently, 31 banks are implementing their activities in Azerbaijan.

ADIF was founded on August 12, 2007 after the Law on Deposit Insurance was adopted by the Parliament [Milli Majlis] of Azerbaijan.

The purpose of establishing the Deposit Insurance Scheme is to prevent the risk of losing money deposited by individuals and to ensure the sustainability and development of the financial and banking system whenever banks and local branch offices of foreign banks become insolvent.

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20 June 2017 10:31 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

Armenias recent provocations on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops are deliberate and aim at escalating the situation and disrupting the negotiations, Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov said at the meeting with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs in Baku on June 19.

The importance of changing the current status-quo, which is unsustainable and unacceptable, through substantive negotiations was emphasized at the meeting of FM Mammadyarov with OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Stephane Visconti, Igor Popov, Richard Hoagland and Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Andrzej Kasprzyk, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry reported.

Mammadyarov noted that in line with the proposals on the table, the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is crucial for achieving progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He also mentioned the illegal activities, including establishment of settlements, destruction of cultural heritage, organization of illegal flights and other illegal economic actions conducted by Armenia in the occupied Azerbaijani territories. Mammadyarov added that such illegal activities by Armenia seriously impede the negotiation process.

At the meeting, the sides also noted the importance of intensifying the negotiation process.

Previously, the Minsk Group discussed this Nagorno-Karabakh problem with the Azerbaijani president and defense minister in Baku as part of their visit to the region.

Armenia broke out a lengthy war against Azerbaijan by 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.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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20 June 2017 14:32 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs, tasked in mediation of the peace talks over the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, have finalized their visit to the conflict region to get acquainted with the real situation on the ground and mull the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict resolution.

During the visit, Ambassadors Igor Popov of Russia, Richard Hoagland of the U.S. and Stephane Visconti of France, together with Personal Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Andrzej Kasprzyk, traveled to Yerevan, Armenia-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh and then to Baku.

On June 19, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received the Minsk Group. President noted that Armenia committed another military provocation against Azerbaijan on the line of contact on the eve of the co-chairs visit to Baku, and killed one Azerbaijani soldier.

Armenian armed forces have intensified their attacks on the Azerbaijani positions over the past few days, thus killing the Azerbaijani soldier on June 15. The Azerbaijani side retaliated the provocations and six soldiers of the Armenian armed forces were eliminated on the line of contact, Azerbaijans Defense Ministry reported on June 17.

As usual the Azerbaijani army gave an adequate retaliation, and you are aware of the results, said the head of state. This has not come as a surprise to me because as always before some important event or your visit, Armenia commits such provocations.

The fact that the Armenian militaries intensified frontline provocations ahead of the co-chairs visit to Baku is the clear evidence that Armenia tries to undermine the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict through substantive negotiations and maintain the status quo in the occupied Azerbaijani lands.

President noted that the Armenian side incites the Azerbaijani side so that then they accuse Azerbaijan of violating the ceasefire. The head of state noted that Azerbaijan is committed to the ceasefire regime.

President Ilham Aliyev said the situation on the line of contact has been relatively calm recently, adding that this is an important factor for speeding up the negotiations. However, the developments have clearly showed that Armenia tries to disrupt the activities of Minsk Group co-chairs at all costs, he added.

OSCE Minsk Groups Russian co-chair Igor Popov, in turn, noted that this serious ceasefire violation during the visit of the co-chairs to Azerbaijan causes deep disappointment.

Later in the day, the Minsk Group met with Azerbaijans Defense Minister, Colonel-General Zakir Hasanov. The sides discussed the operational situation on the contact line between the Azerbaijani and Armenian troops.

The Armenian armed units daily breach the ceasefire regime by firing Azerbaijani positions, even settlements near the frontline. Moreover, Armenian units regularly try to carry out acts of sabotage on the contact line between the troops and by this aggravate the situation. The Armenian militaries use large-caliber machine guns, mortars and grenade launchers while breaching the ceasefire.

The Minsk Group co-chairs also met with Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov in Baku. The minister noted at the meeting that Armenias recent provocations on the line of contact between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops are deliberate and aim at escalating the situation and disrupting the negotiations.

The sides emphasized the importance of intensifying the negotiation process, as well as importance of changing the current status-quo, which is unsustainable and unacceptable, through substantive negotiations.

Mammadyarov also noted that the withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan is crucial for achieving progress in the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs also met with the Azerbaijani community of Nagorno-Karabakh in Baku.

Upon completion of their visit to Azerbaijani capital, OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs issued a statement on the results of the visit to the region.

The statement noted that the main purpose of the co-chairs visit was to discuss the position of the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides towards the next steps in the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process and the overall situation in the conflict zone.

In their talks in Baku, the co-chairs expressed deep concern over the recent violations of the ceasefire, resulting in casualties on the line of contact on the eve of their visit to Azerbaijan, reads the statement.

They encouraged the sides of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to consider measures that would reduce tensions on the line of contact and the international border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The co-chairs also called upon the parties to re-engage in substantive negotiations on the settlement of the conflict. This is the only way to bring a lasting peace to the people of the region, who expect and deserve progress in the settlement of the conflict, reads the statement.

It was also noted that the co-chairs will travel to Vienna to brief the members of the Minsk Group on July 3. They also plan to meet again soon with the Azerbaijani and Armenian foreign ministers to discuss modalities of the forthcoming work.

Meanwhile, the fact that there are no breakthrough results so far in the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is upsetting the Azerbaijani side. State officials periodically make statements aimed at increasing the involvement of the Minsk Group in the settlement of the problem.

Today, the Armenian side keeps attacking the Azerbaijani troops on the frontline every day. It means that Armenia, aggressor country that occupied 20 percent of internationally recognized Azerbaijani territories, keeps ignoring the visits of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the region and their calls. Baku has repeatedly expressed its consent to come to the negotiating table with Armenia to solve the conflict by peaceful means, but Armenia continues to play for time and avoids substantive negotiations in order to preserve the inadmissible status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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20 June 2017 17:39 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

As many as 250 people have already applied for living in the restored Jojug Marjanli village although only 50 houses have been built there so far, Azerbaijans Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs Ali Hasanov said on June 20.

He made the remarks at the event to mark the World Refugee Day in Baku.

The applications come from different regions of the country. People want to live in Jojug Marjanli, Hasanov noted. The village was liberated by the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from the Armenian occupation in April 2016.

Deputy Prime Minister also accused some Muslim countries of providing assistance to Armenia: Today, Armenians keep pigs in the Shusha mosque, and other states help Armenians. Is this the Islamic solidarity?

Hasanov noted that nowadays some terms are being used incorrectly. There are problems in the terms of refugee, IDP and migrant. I think there is also a legal void in the term of independent change of place of residence, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister also recalled that despite the existence of the International Refugee Convention, there is no such a Convention on IDPs.

For this reason, the rights of displaced persons are not regulated by any international instrument. These voids are created intentionally, Hasanov said. Why does not the European Parliament address the protection of the rights of refugees and IDPs in Azerbaijan?

He noted that Azerbaijan highly respects everybody, therefore Azerbaijan should also be treated with respect.

Deputy Prime Minister also stressed that last year's April fights showed once again that the Azerbaijani army is able to liberate all the occupied territories.

While addressing the event, Hasanov noted that predominant countries with a large territory and population are fighting for new geographical space, control of new regions and natural resources in the new territories. Countries with small territory and population are suffering from this struggle, he said.

Hasanov said that over the past 30 years the number of refugees and IDPs worldwide has doubled, and the number of conflict zones has tripled.

Hasanov noted with regret that Azerbaijan celebrates the World Refugee Day for the 16th year.

We would like to celebrate the day when the refugees return to their homes. However, global developments show that the situation becomes more severe, because today the number of refugees, IDPs and migrants worldwide reaches 65 million people, he said.

Hasanov added that one out of every 134 people living in the world is a refugee. This is a terrible figure, especially given the fact that the number of refugees has suddenly increased over the past six years.

Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Azerbaijan Furio De Angelis also addressed the event. He recalled that Azerbaijan is one of the countries with the biggest number of IDPs.

He noted that Azerbaijan has done a lot and continues to do for the citizens who became IDPs as a result of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Azerbaijan underwent the tragedy of war due to this conflict. Azerbaijan suffered human losses and faced economic deprivation, however, despite this, it managed to cope with the problems and turn into a modern country, said the UN official.

He also said that the measures taken by the Azerbaijani government to accommodate IDPs are worthy of approval and should be welcomed.

Refugees shouldnt be left without attention, said Furio De Angelis, adding that the UNHCR Office hopes that international donors will pay more attention to refugee problems.

He also expressed gratitude to the Azerbaijani government for the assistance in solving problems of asylum seekers from other countries.

Due to the ethnic cleansing policy carried out by Armenia and the Armenian occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding regions of Azerbaijan, the number of refugees and internally displaced persons in Azerbaijan hit more than 1.2 million. With a population of over 9.8 million, Azerbaijan is among the countries carrying the highest IDP caseload in the world in per capita terms.

With the growing economic and political situation of the country, Azerbaijan pays much attention to the most difficult problems once concerning the refugees and IDPs. The state improves the living conditions of refugees and IDPs and it has adopted relevant state programs and legislative acts.

Today, the level of poverty among IDPs has decreased from 75 to 12 percent in Azerbaijan as a result of the measures taken by the government over the past 13 years.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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19 June 2017 10:54 (UTC+04:00)

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos Saleumxay Kommasith in Baku on June 19, Azertac reported.

Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Democratic Republic of Lao Saleumxay Kommasith said: "It is my honor to pay my first official visit to your beautiful country. Taking this opportunity, we would like to extend President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Bounnhang Vorachith`s greetings to you. Please accept my best wishes for your new achievements and for prosperity of your people."

President Ilham Aliyev thanked FM Kommasith for warm words, saying Azerbaijan is keen to expand cooperation with the People's Democratic Republic of Lao. The head of state described Lao FM Saleumxay Kommasith's visit to Azerbaijan as a good indicative of mutual interest in strengthening bilateral ties between the two countries. President Ilham Aliyev expressed his hope that the issues of mutual interest and cooperation prospects will be discussed during FM Kommasith's visit to Azerbaijan.

FM Kommasith hailed the long history of Azerbaijan-Lao relations, saying this relationship started at the time of the Soviet Union. He praised Azerbaijan's significant contributions to the socio-economic development as well as to staff training in Lao People's Democratic Republic.

Lao FM Saleumxay Kommasith described Azerbaijan as the leading country in the region and praised its great strides. He emphasized the importance of reciprocal visits between the two countries.

They exchanged views on cooperation between the Republic of Azerbaijan and People's Democratic Republic of Lao in a number of fields, including education and tourism.

The head of state expressed his gratitude for the greetings of President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Bounnhang Vorachith and asked the FM to communicate his greetings to the Lao leader.

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20 June 2017 10:40 (UTC+04:00)

By Laman Ismayilova

A delegation of the Navy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam visited the Naval Forces of Azerbaijan.

The Vietnamese guests honored the memory of national leader Heydar Aliyev and laid flowers to his monument in the territory of the Naval Forces base.

During the meeting of the delegations, the sides discussed cooperation between the navies of the two countries, and stressed the importance of experience exchange, Azertac reported.

Then the Vietnamese delegation got acquainted with the territory of the Naval Forces, a detachment of warships and the educational base of the Naval Faculty of the High Military School named after Heydar Aliyev.

Azerbaijan and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam intend to strengthen the bilateral cooperation in the spheres of energy, transport, trade, and agriculture.

The cooperation between the countries is developing steadily in all spheres. Memorandum of understanding, signed by Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR and Vietnam Oil and Gas Group Petrovietnam, contributes to the development of energy cooperation between the sides.

The countries also have a potential for cooperation on alternative and renewable energy sources. Moreover, Vietnamese market is attractive for the export of Azerbaijans non-oil products.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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20 June 2017 11:00 (UTC+04:00)

By Trend

The EU reaffirms its strong commitment to cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said at Eastern Partnership (EaP) ministerial meeting in Luxembourg June 19, the European Council reported

The meeting brought together EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from the six Eastern Partnership countries to work on the preparations of the EaP summit to be held in November 2017 in Brussels.

"Today, we have reaffirmed the strong commitment of the EU and the Eastern Partners to our close cooperation. Our summit in November will show our unity and focus on concrete deliverables," Mogherini said.

The ministers confirmed that the upcoming summit should provide further guidance for strengthening cooperation in the four priority areas of engagement agreed at the last summit in Riga in 2015: a stronger governance; a stronger society; a stronger economy; and a stronger connectivity.

High Representative Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn presented the ministers with a working document, jointly prepared by the European External Action Service and the European Commission: "Eastern Partnership - Focusing on key priorities and deliverables".

The document identifying 20 deliverables for 2020 in the four areas was first presented in December 2016 and revised this month based on contributions from EU Member States and EaP Partner countries. It lays out, in concrete terms, tangible results expected of the cooperation and should work as a common work plan, for the summit, and for 2020.

A new visual identity for the partnership, to highlight this more structured approach around the 4 priority areas and 20 deliverables, will be launched, this week on 22-23 June, at the 3rd EaP Youth Forum in Warsaw.

The Eastern Partnership initiative was launched in 2009 with the main focus on regional cooperation in the EU's eastern neighbourhood. It sets out to promote political association and economic integration with the EU among six EaP countries:, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia.

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20 June 2017 11:53 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

The Governments of Azerbaijan and the Lao People`s Democratic Republic signed an Agreement on Exemption from visa requirement for holders of diplomatic passports.

The agreement was signed on June 19 by Azerbaijan`s Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov and Lao Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith.

Prior to the signing ceremony, the foreign ministers had a tete-a-tete and extended meetings with the participation of delegations.

The ministers emphasized the importance of renewal and further development of cooperation in all spheres. In this context, they noted the significance of exchange of high level visits in order to promote bilateral relations and cooperation.



In this regard, Mammadyarov pointed out that the visit paid by Kommasith is the first ever official visit between Azerbaijan and Laos and expressed his confidence that the visit would contribute to the development of bilateral relations in all spheres.

They also noted the significant role of parliamentary diplomacy in advancing bilateral relations and talked about the establishment of Friendship Group in legislative bodies.

Furthermore, both sides had a comprehensive discussion on perspective areas of bilateral relations and said that there are wide ranges of cooperation opportunities in the field of economy. They shared thoughts about the establishment of direct contacts between business communities and holding business Forums for defining those opportunities. The FMs also exchanged views on development of bilateral legal-treaty base.

They also stressed the importance of enhancing successful cooperation in human resource development, particularly in the field of education and continuation of exchange of students and researchers based on the traditions since the Soviet times.

The two ministers also exchanged views on regional and international issues, as well as touched upon the importance of cooperation between the two countries in framework of international institutions, including the UN and NAM.

Mammadyarov also informed his counterpart about the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and its consequences. The ministers voiced support to peaceful settlement of the conflict in accordance with the norms and principles of international law, and relevant resolutions of the United Nations Security Council, based on the sovereignty, territorial integrity and inviolability of recognized borders.

Parliamentary Speaker Ogtay Asadov also received the delegation led by Kommasith, who said that Laos is interested in overall development of cooperation with Azerbaijan.

The speaker said the visit of the FM will positively influence development of relations between the two countries. He noted reciprocal visits will play an important role in deepening relations. Asadov stressed the importance of signing the document between the two countries in terms of strengthening ties.

We are interested in developing the inter-parliamentary bonds, he added.

Kommasith highlighted his meetings held in Baku. The FM expressed hope that relations between the two countries in the political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural fields will further develop.

At the meeting between Prime Minister Artur Rasizade and Kommasith, the sides discussed prospects for cooperation.

Rasizade emphasized the fact that relations between Azerbaijan and Lao date back to the Soviet times. He highlighted the necessity of building a legal framework for revitalizing cooperation.

The PM hailed Laos` proposals on joint projects in a number of areas, including the non-oil sector, agriculture, transport, tourism and education.

In turn, Kommasith expressed his confidence that mutual visits and exchange of experience between the public and private sectors will contribute to the development of cooperation between the two countries.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



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The Congress-led Opposition is unlikely to support NDA's President pick Ram Nath Kovind and field its own candidate against him.

Opposition to meet on June 22 to decide on a name to contest against NDA's President pick Ram Nath Kovind. (File Photo)

By India Today Web Desk: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as NDA's President nominee. However, the Opposition may not support him. While parties like Mayawati's BSP and Mamata Banerjee's TMC are confused over their next step, insiders in Left parties said that the Opposition may field a joint candidate to contest against Kovind.

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Opposition parties are likely to meet and finalise a name on June 22. Sources said the Congress-led Opposition has shortlisted four names.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW:

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, former Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde, BR Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar, and Mahatma Gandhi's grandson and former bureaucrat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are said to be the frontrunners. The Opposition is of the view that the BJP's decision to field a Dalit leader for President must be challenged and that it should also announce a Dalit name to contest Presidential election. BJP chief Amit Shah hoped that there will be a consensus on Ram Nath Kovind's name. However, the Congress spurned the BJP's appeal for consensus on its choice and said the Opposition would take a call on contesting the election after a meeting on June 22. "Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections. The final call will be taken in a meeting of all opposition parties on June 22," Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad told reporters. Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said he was nominated only because he had been a leader of the BJP's Dalit Morcha in the past. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the BJP 'unilaterally' selected Kovind and the non-NDA parties will take the decision 'keeping in mind the country's history that the ruling and opposition parties contested the polls on all occasion except once. ' On the other hand, the BJP has issues of its own. While some allies like the TRS and TDP have announced their support to Kovind, Shiv Sena has kept the ruling party on tenterhooks. "If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone," party chief Uddhav Thackeray said. Sena had earlier rooted for the candidature of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Hindutva line and later proposed the name of veteran agriculturist MS Swaminathan for the top post.

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WATCH: Presidential election: Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind is NDA candidate

--- ENDS ---
20 June 2017 16:42 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

Today, cyber security has become a matter of urgency, as cyber crime costs the global economy over $400 billion a year. Almost every organization in the world has been subjected to cyber attack at least once in 2016.

Azerbaijan is one of the leading countries implementing high technology in the region. The South Caucasus country outruns many neighbors in the region according to recent survey that measures the commitment of Member States to cyber security in order to raise awareness.

Azerbaijan stands 48th in the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with 0.559 points.

The Global Cybersecurity Index is a multi-stakeholder initiative to measure the commitment of countries to cyber security. The recent GCI report covered 193 countries.

Among the CIS countries, Azerbaijan is leaving behind Ukraine (59th), Moldova (73rd), Kazakhstan (83rd), Tajikistan (91st), Uzbekistan (93rd), Kyrgyzstan (97th), Armenia (111th) and Turkmenistan (132nd).

The top five countries in the ITU index are Singapore, the U.S., Malaysia, Oman and Estonia.

The rapid development of technology and the widespread use of computer devices are changing the world every day and thus challenge all and every entity involved to rethink safety.

Provision of cyber security and fighting cybercrime remains one of the main challenges in the world as cyber threat continues to increase in severity and sophistication. All countries, including Azerbaijan take steps to eliminate effects of cyber-attacks as a damage caused by cybercrime committed every year in the world is estimated at several billion dollars.

Kaspersky Lab, a global cyber security company, earlier reported that some 11,000 corporate computers in Baku faced hacker attacks in 2016.

The total number of hacker attacks on companies in Azerbaijan, over the past year exceeded 2.2 million. About 84 percent of the attacks were recorded in Baku and 11 percent on Absheron peninsula.

Vice-President of Kaspersky Lab Anton Shingarev recently said that Azerbaijan may face cyber-attacks against the backdrop of geopolitical risks, APA reported.

Due to the fault of its neighbors, Azerbaijan is in a difficult geopolitical situation. From this point of view, it is very important for Azerbaijan to protect the IT infrastructure. Along with this, the country has strong industrial and financial sectors, which increases potential risks, he said.

Web threats pose a broad range of risks, including financial damages, identity theft, loss of confidential information/data, theft of network resources, damaged brand and personal reputation, and erosion of consumer confidence in e-commerce and online banking.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli

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20 June 2017 12:51 (UTC+04:00)

By Rashid Shirinov

The Azerbaijani troops and command control posts, which have been put on alert, are moving to the operational areas, in accordance with the large-scale exercises' plan.

The troops management is implemented in a covert and operative way in accordance with the requirements for their organization, the Defense Ministry reported on June 20.

All movements of military personnel and military equipment are regulated by the commandant's service.

The troops carry out actions under the terms of current stage of the exercises.

Azerbaijani Armed Forces started large-scale operational and tactical exercises on June 19 to check the combat readiness of the troops, organize the command and control of forces and assets, as well as their interoperability. The drills are being held in line with the plan approved by Azerbaijani President, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Ilham Aliyev.

The six-day exercises involve up to 23,000 military personnel, up to 120 tanks and armored vehicles, up to 180 rocket artillery systems of different caliber, multiple launch rocket systems and mortars, up to 30 combat aircraft for various purposes, as well as new electronic reconnaissance assets and unmanned aerial vehicles are involved in the exercises.

The Azerbaijani Army, which today is considered the most modern army in the Caucasus, consists of Air Force and Air Defense Forces, the Navy, and the Land Forces.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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20 June 2017 16:26 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev visited the Embassy of Germany on June 20 to offer condolences over the death of former Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Kohl.

The head of state signed a book of condolences.

Then President Aliyev spoke with ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Michael Kindsgrab, Azertac reported.

The head of state extended condolences to the people of Germany over the death of Helmut Kohl. President Aliyev hailed outstanding statesman, great and historical figure Helmut Kohl`s significant services to his people.

He played an indispensable role in the unification of Germany and strengthening of the European Union, the president said.

The head of state said national leader Heydar Aliyev and Helmut Kohl established Azerbaijani-German relations.

President Aliyev said that during his presidency Heydar Aliyev paid one of his first visits to Germany, adding that this visit and meetings held with the late Helmut Kohl laid the foundation of bilateral relations. The head of state said the national leader shared his good impressions from the meeting with Helmut Kohl with him.

Te President further said bilateral relations between the two countries successfully develop, adding that cooperation covers several fields and has good prospects.

Ambassador Kindsgrab thanked for condolences and kind words. He highlighted the development of Azerbaijani-German relations.

They exchanged views over preparations for the 200th jubilee of Germans` arrival in Azerbaijan.

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20 June 2017 12:45 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The European Union will continue to seek extension of the Southern Gas Corridor, designed to bring Caspian gas to Europe, to Central Asia.

The European Council on the EU Strategy for Central Asia announced that cooperation between the EU and Central Asia in the energy, infrastructure and transport sectors should prioritize the integration of the Central Asian countries with each other and into international markets and transport corridors.

The EU will continue to seek to extend the Southern Gas Corridor to Central Asia, and to further promote the EU's multilateral and bilateral energy cooperation, reads the document, published on the website of the Council on June 19.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. The project which is set to change the energy map of an entire region will bring Caspian gas to the European markets through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

The Shah Deniz gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline.

The European Council further stressed that the EU will also continue to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency in Central Asia by offering its expertise in the development of sound regulatory frameworks and by supporting investment cooperation with European financial institutions.

The Council noted that the countries of Central Asia have become significant partners of the EU. Ten years after the adoption of the Central Asia strategy, and more than 25 years after the five countries became independent, the Council welcomes the progress achieved in developing the EU's relations with Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as with the Central Asian region as a whole, the document said.

The Council reaffirmed the EU's commitment to develop stronger relations and highlighted the need to strengthen dialogue and cooperation on human rights, education, sustainability as well as on tackling emerging security challenges faced by the Central Asian countries.

The EU-Central Asia relations are being developed under the EU strategy for Central Asia, signed in 2007 and reviewed in 2015.

The ambitious SGC project, one of the European Union's priority energy projects, is assessed as a strategically important initiative that will allow Europe to secure its energy security.

Among the Central Asian countries, Turkmenistan has showed a greatest interest in supplying gas to Europe via connecting to the Southern Gas Corridor.

Turkmenistan is a landlocked country and thus it is dependent on pipelines to export its gas on world markets. Moreover, the country lost Russia as a customer one year ago, and has since provided gas only to China and Iran. Therefore, Turkmenistan began to look for alternative consumers in the European and Asian markets and expressed interest in joining SGC project.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
20 June 2017 11:13 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The next meeting on Syria will be held in Astana on July 4-5, said Anuar Zhainakov, the spokesperson for Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry.

"Kazakhstans Foreign Ministry in agreement with the foreign affairs agencies of Russia, Turkey and Iran, informs that the next high-level international meeting on Syria within the framework of the Astana process will be held on July 4-5," , RIA Novosti reported referring to Zhainakov.

The participants plan to discuss the situation in Syria implementation of the agreements reached on the basis of previous rounds of talks in Astana, including the creation of de-escalation zones in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, according to Zhainakov.

"The guarantor countries of the ceasefire - Iran, Russia and Turkey  are expected to consider the documents regulating the parameters of the de-escalation zones in Syria for their subsequent approval, as well as discuss issues of ensuring unhindered humanitarian access, restoration of infrastructure facilities within the framework of the memorandum on the establishment de-escalation zones in Syria," he added.

Kazakhstans first Deputy Foreign Minister Mukhtar Tleuberdi told journalists on June 20 that the guarantor countries will take part in the international meeting.

He said that invitations to participate in the talks were also sent to representatives of the Syrian government and the armed opposition.

"We expect the answer," he noted.

Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the next round of talks on Syria in Astana will be held on July 10 and that the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura intends to attend it.

To date, four rounds of negotiations on the ongoing Syrian conflict were held in the Astana, on January 23-24, February 15-16, March 14-15 and May 3-4.

During the most recent round, the guarantor countries of a nationwide Syrian ceasefire regime  Russia, Iran, and Turkey  agreed to establish four safety zones across the country.

The civil war in Syria between government and opposition with various terrorist groups involved, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), began back in March 2011.

Syrian President Bashar Assad managed to turn the tide of war in his favor after Russia started an air campaign in September 2015, while Iran is an uncompromising supporter of the Syrian leader.

According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the countrys pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.

--

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
20 June 2017 13:14 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The Gulf rift appeared to put long-term partnerships and alliances to the test, while also revealing Turkey as the main supporter of Qatar in the recently emerged crisis.

Since the first day of the crisis, Turkey has been trying with all its efforts to settle the conflict, said Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for the Turkish president.

Kalin said that Ankara hopes for an early solution to the Qatari crisis, Turkish media reported.

"The Qatari crisis for Turkey is a crisis between fraternal states," he said.

Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other terrorists and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East. They were later joined by Libya, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania, with Jordan and Djibouti announcing they would lower the level of diplomatic contacts with Qatar. Senegal and Chad recalled their ambassadors from Doha.

Doha denied allegations over its support to terrorism and extremism adding that the diplomatic rift was based on "baseless fabricated claims."

Turkey and Iran have been providing food and water supplies to Qatar. Moreover, Turkey has declared its full support to Qatar by adopting a bill on deploying Turkish troops in the country.

Turkey plays an important role and enjoys authority in the Islamic world and taking advantage of this, Ankara intends to resolve the Qatari crisis.

Ankara, in a bid to settle the rift among Arab countries, held a number of negations, while Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held several meetings with leaders and ambassadors of certain Arab countries to resolve the situation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously called for an early settlement of this crisis and stated that the confrontation does not fit the Islamic world, and all issues can be resolved through dialogue.

In this regard, Erdogan drew attention to the position of Saudi Arabia calling Riyadh "the key to solving the current crisis in the Persian Gulf."

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
20 June 2017 15:08 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Deserts occupy 80 percent of the territory of Turkmenistan, and both cultivated and uncultivated lands are subject to various degrees of desertification.

Aman Babaev, a leading research fellow at the National Institute of Desert, Flora and Fauna of the State Committee of Turkmenistan for Environmental Protection and Land Resources, said that desertification is aggravated by natural factors  mudflows, dust storms, fluctuations of the level of the Caspian and Aral seas, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported June 20.

Desertification is the persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems by variations in climate and human activities. Desertification is a destructive which becomes apparent mainly on arid lands, it includes degradation of land, water, plant and other resources together with demographic outburst and ecological stress.

Turkmenistan was one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1996, starting a year later to implement a national action plan.

Rational use of pastures, forestry development, afforestation, and improvement of irrigated lands are among the main aspects of this action plan.

"The Central-Asian country has accumulated unique experience in preventing land degradation and combating desertification, he said.

Remote methods and GIS technologies, as well as space images obtained from satellites are widely used in the monitoring studies.

Long-term scientific research has become the basis for the development of the concept of national monitoring of various types of desertification: degradation of vegetation cover, sand deflation, water erosion, soil salinization, pasture flooding, technogenic desertification.

As a result of desertification processes and pollution, biological productivity of the ecological systems in Turkmenistan has declined by 30 to 50 percent in recent decades, according to estimates.

Between 800,000 and 1,000,000 hectares of new desert now appears per year in Central Asia.

---

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
20 June 2017 16:53 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

The Committee of the European Parliament (EP) on foreign affairs urged the European Commission (EC) and the EU member states to officially suspend negotiations on Turkey's accession to the community.

This was stated in the annual report of the EP Committee on Turkey, TASS reported.

"Taking into account the results of the recent referendum in Turkey and the expansion of presidential powers, the foreign affairs committee calls on the EP and the national governments of the EU to officially suspend negotiations on Turkey's accession without delay if the package of constitutional reform is implemented without changes," the document said.

The members of the Committee almost unanimously voted for the relevant draft resolution.

The document is expected to be put to the vote of the whole parliament at the July plenary session in Strasbourg.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim recently said that Turkey wants to open a new page in relations with the European Union.

Earlier, EU minister and chief negotiator on the issues of accession Omer Celik said that Turkey should not refuse to join the EU.

Accession negotiations started in 2005, but until Turkey agrees to apply the Additional Protocol of the Ankara Association Agreement to Cyprus, eight negotiation chapters will not be opened and no chapter will be provisionally closed.

Turkey-EU relations, after years of deadlock following the opening of accession talks in 2005 have intensified in 2016 with parties closely cooperating to stem the flow of refugees into the EU.

The visa liberalization scheme for Turkish citizens and the speeding up of Turkeys EU accession negotiations are also part of the migration deal agreed upon in November 2015 and finalized in March this year.

However, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)'s recent decision to reopen a political monitoring process against Turkey deteriorated relations between Ankara and Brussels and put under the question Turkey's accession.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
20 June 2017 23:16 (UTC+04:00)

By Kamila Aliyeva

Kyrgyzstan and Russia, which marked the 25th anniversary since the establishment of relations this year, seek to deepen successful and fruitful cooperation as Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev paid an official visit to Moscow at the invitation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin expressed hope that good relations between Moscow and Bishkek will continue after the change of the Kyrgyz president in October this year, TASS reported.

"I want to express the hope that everything that was laid by you during your presidency, which is coming to an end soon, will be continued, and we will follow the path of strengthening bilateral relations," he said at the beginning of the talks.

Moscow and Bishkek are now "close allies and reliable friends," according to Russian President.

"We know what transformations Russia in its own time and Kyrgyzstan in the last decade had to go through, and we hope that the period of instability is already in the past," he said.

"The situation [in Kyrgyzstan] has not only normalized, but also has become irreversible in the direction of positive development," Putin said.

He congratulated the Kyrgyz colleague on this achievement.

The Russian leader proposed to discuss what has been done to build bilateral relations recently and what is to be done, including the multilateral format, in particular the Eurasian Economic Union.

Atambayev in his turn thanked the Russian side for the great support that has been rendered to Kyrgyzstan.

"I have always felt fraternal support from you. And this, of course, helped to overcome some difficulties and problems," he said.

He drew attention to the fact that Russian-Kyrgyz relations should develop dynamically.

Following the talks, the Declaration on Strengthening Alliance and Strategic was signed.

The sides confirmed their intention to develop a strategic partnership and continue to coordinate their foreign policy activities.

"The parties will strengthen cooperation in ensuring reliable joint defense within the framework of the common military-strategic space," the declaration said.

Moscow and Bishkek "will pay special attention to ensuring food security, development of production specialization and cooperation of enterprises in the sphere of water, energy and agro-industrial complexes, agriculture, engineering, light industry, transport and communications, and military-technical sphere," the document stresses.

The leaders also noted the intention to "expand cooperation in the fight against terrorism, its financing and other violent manifestations of extremism, various forms of transnational organized crime, corruption, legalization of criminal proceeds, illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, weapons, smuggling and crimes against cultural property."

An agreement on the development of military-technical cooperation was also signed.

Russia and Kyrgyzstan agreed to accelerate the work on the creation of the United Regional Air Defense System.

The declaration notes that the leaders highly appreciate the achieved level of cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres, including, Russia's military-technical assistance to Kyrgyzstan.

---

Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
When BJP-led NDA's nominee Ram Nath Kovind is sworn in as president on July 25, he will become the seventh youngest person to be anointed to the coveted post.

By Kumar Shakti Shekhar: In all likelihood, BJP-led NDA's nominee Ram Nath Kovind will become the 14th president of the country. Even if the Opposition fields a candidate, Kovind is likely to sail through successfully as numbers are stacked in NDA's favour.

When Kovind is sworn in as president on July 25, he will become the seventh youngest person to be anointed to the coveted post.

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YOUNGEST AND OLDEST PRESIDENTS

Born on October 1, 1945 in Kanpur Dehat, Uttar Pradesh, Kovind is 71 years old. Six presidents were younger than him when they ascended to the chair. The remaining seven were older than him.

Sixth president Neelam Sanjiva Reddy (July 25 1977 to July 25, 1982) was the youngest president, having taken over at the age of 64 years. He is followed by first president Rajendra Prasad (January 26, 1950 to May 13, 1962) who was 65 years when he was sworn in to office.

Seventh president Giani Zail Singh (July 25, 1982 to July 25, 1987) at 66 years came next. He was followed by fifth president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (August 24, 1974 to February 11, 1977), who was 69 years when he was sworn in as president.

Third president Zakir Hussain (May 13, 1967 to May 3, 1969) was 70 years and 3 months while 11th president APJ Abdul Kalam (July 25, 2002 to July 25, 2007) was 70 years 9 months when the two became the president.

Pratibha Patil (July 25, 2007 to July 25, 2012) was 72 years old when she was sworn in as the 12th president.

Both second president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (May 13, 1962 to May 13, 1967) and ninth president Shankar Dayal Sharma (July 25, 1992 to July 25, 1997) were aged 73 when they became president. However, while Radhakrishnan was 73 years 8 months old, Sharma was 73 years 11 months old.

VV Giri, the fourth president (August 24, 1969 to August 24, 1974), was 75 years of age when he took oath.

The maximum three presidents were of 76 years of age when they were sworn in to the post. However, there was a difference of a few months between them. While tenth president KR Narayanan (July 25, 1997 to July 25, 2002) was 76 years 5 months old, 13th president Pranab Mukherjee was 76 years, 7 months and 14 days old when he took oath on July 25, 2012.

Eighth president R Venkataraman (July 25, 1987 to July 25, 1992) was the oldest among all. He was 76 years, 7 months and 21 days when he became president.

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PRESIDENTS DYING IN HARNESS

Two presidents died in office. Third president Zakir Hussain died on May 3, 1969, just 10 days before he could complete two years in office. Fifth president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died on February 11, 1977, 13 days before he could complete half of his five-year term.

ACTING PRESIDENTS

VV Giri was the first acting president, having taken over after the death of Zakir Hussain on May 3, 1969. He was in office in acting capacity till he resigned on July 20, 1969 to take part in presidential election.

From July 20, 1969, Chief Justice of India Mohammad Hidayatullah served as the second acting president. He was on the post till VV Giri was elected as the fourth president on August 24, 1969.

India saw the third acting president when fifth president Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed died in office on February 11, 1977. BD Jatti, who was the vice president then, took over as the acting president. He served on the post till Neelam Sanjiva Reddy took over as president on July 25, 1977.

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ELEVATION OF VICE PRESIDENTS

Of the 13 presidents so far, almost half of them (six) rose from the post of vice president. They are Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussain, VV Giri, R Venkataraman, Shankar Dayal Sharma and KR Narayanan. The remaining straightaway became president. The same would be the case of Kovind if he becomes presidents.

CONSENSUS VS ELECTED

Of the 14 presidential elections held so far, the only one to be elected by consensus was Neelam Sanjiva Reddy. Otherwise, no other candidate, not even Rajendra Prasad or APJ Abdul Kalam, has been elected unopposed.

Hence, it is likely that Kovind, a Dalit, may also face contest. The Opposition, in all likelihood, will field a candidate to contest against Kovind. They may also field a Dalit such as former speaker Meira Kumar or former Union minister Sushil Kumar Shinde. They may also pit Mahatma Gandhi's grandson Gopal Krishna Gandhi against Kovind.

CASTE AND RELIGION

Of the 13 presidents so far, three (Zakir Hussain, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and APJ Abdul Kalam) were Muslims and one (Giani Zail Singh) was Sikh. The remaining seven were Hindus. A secular country like India is yet to see a Christian or a Parsi president or a president from other religions.

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As far as caste is concerned, people from upper castes have dominated the post. So far, the country has seen just one Dalit president in KR Narayanan. Kovind, if elected, would be the second one. No one from the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category has been anointed to the post so far. Had Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu made it, she would have been the first president belonging to the ST category.

ELECTION CHALLENGED IN SUPREME COURT

So far, election for the post of president has been held on 14 occasions. All but three elections were challenged in the Supreme Court. As per Article 71 of the Constitution, all doubts and disputes arising out of or in connection with the election of a president or vice president are inquired into and decided by the Supreme Court whose decision is final.

Except for Rajendra Prasad, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Pratibha Patil, the election of all other 12 presidents has been challenged in the apex court. Even in Rajendra Prasad case, his election in the second term was challenged in the court.

ALSO READ:

Ram Nath Kovind for President: Nitish Kumar breaks ranks with Opposition, says will support BJP's nominee

India's next President: Opposition may field joint candidate against Ram Nath Kovind. 4 names in the race

Ram Nath Kovind: Why BJP's presidential pick may face Supreme Court test after he is elected

Ram Nath Kovind as presidential candidate: How BJP continues to aggressively woo Dalits

Ram Nath Kovind is BJP nominee for President: 5 other times Amit Shah-led party surprised us

WATCH: JD-U to extend support to NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind

--- ENDS ---




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.

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5 Yoga Poses Before Getting Out Of Bed Wellness oi-Lekhaka

To practice yoga is to relinquish control - a revolutionary idea in our modern lives. But are you too lazy to draw the yoga mat out and put on your Lulu lemon pants? We can help.

You might have heard that practicing yoga early in the morning is good for your health. But how many of you actually adhere to this?

I am sure there would be just a handful of people who religiously practice yoga. While others would just be doing this for a month and take a break for a few months and then again start off.

Practicing certain yoga asanas early in the morning as soon as you wake up have plenty of health benefits.

Yoga isn't just for losing weight, it helps relieve asthma, back pain and other breathing problems as well.

Here is a set of yoga poses you can do right before you get out of bed.

1. Lord Of Dance Pose (Natrajasana ) Natrajasana (Nata - Dance, Raj - King, Asana - Pose) is a good asana for improving your spine flexibility and it is also beneficial for the digestive system. It should be the first asana to perform as soon as you wake up. How to do it? Lie on your back. Bend your right knee and place the right foot slightly outside of the left knee. Stretch the arms to the sides at the length of your shoulders.

Breathe in. Exhaling, twist torso to the left and head to the right to look over your right shoulder.

Keeping the shoulders on the ground, gently press right thigh towards the floor. You can use your left hand to press the thigh further down.

Hold the pose. Take 3-4 long deep breaths or as many as you can comfortably take.

Exhale and relax.

Repeat on the other side.

Benefits Of Natrajasana It increases the flexibility of the spine.



It is a good exercise for the ribs and lungs.



It exercises the large intestine. So it is most effective when practiced early in the morning as it normalizes the bladder and bowel movement.



It improves digestion.



It is very effective for relaxing the mind along with the body. Cross Legged Easy Pose (Sukhasana) As they say, don't underestimate the value of doing nothing' with awareness. Sukha' means joy, and Sukhasana is an easy pose. Sit up on the bed in a cross legged relaxed manner. How to do it? Sit with your ankle lined up comfortably into crossed leg position.

Softly close your eyes tuning into the rhythm of your breath.

Become aware of your breath. On inhalation, lengthen your spine and on exhalation, relax while holding the spine erect.

Take 20 breaths.

Benefits Of Sukhasana Loosens up the hip joint.



Lengthens the spine.



Experience the inner calm first thing in the morning. 3. Alternate Nostril Breathing technique (Nadi Shodhan Pranayama ) Alternate nostril breathing channelizes the life force in different plexus or energy channels of our body. It not only awakens our body but our nervous system as well. How To Do It? Sit comfortably and bring your attention to your breath. Spend a few minutes breathing naturally.

Make a Gyan Mudra with either your right or left hand, by gently touching your index finger with the thumb and extending the rest of the fingers as straight as possible (as shown in the image).

Begin this pranayama by inhaling through both nostrils and then exhaling out of one nostril. This is accomplished by closing off one of the nostrils using either the thumb or the ring finger.

Inhale in the same nostril you just exhaled from and switch nostrils using either the thumb or the ring finger and exhale from the opposite nostril. Inhale through the same nostril and switch before exhaling out of the other nostril.

Continue this for 5 minutes. Conclude by exhaling out from the opposite nostril that you first exhaled from.

Benefits Of Nadi Shodhan It increases the tidal volume of our respiratory system.



Helps bring the mind to the present moment, raising our awareness.



Helps harmonize the left and right hemispheres of the brain.



Maintains body temperature. Child Pose (Balasana) It relaxes our mind and squeezes out stress from the entire body. How To Do It? With your head down on your bed, let your hip sink back so you are sitting on your calf bones and feet.

Stretch your arms straight out ahead of you or rest them by your body on the bed.

Feel your back broadening and contracting with your breath, allowing tension to release from your body and mind.

Hold this pose for a couple of minutes.

Benefits Of Child Pose Helps us in deep exhalations as we hold the posture and breathe.



Creates space in the spinal vertebrae and improves blood circulation to all the nerves.



Forward bends massage your internal organs like abdomen, kidney and liver and help you to exhale completely, thus calming your mind. Cobra Pose (Bhujangasana) This is an easy stretch for the back but do not push too hard while trying to come up high. It feels relaxing especially if you are used to sleeping on your back. STEP BY STEP Lie prone (on stomach). Stretch your legs back, top of the feet on the bed. Spread your hands on the bed under your shoulders.

Press the top of the feet and thighs and the hip firmly into the floor or bed.

On an inhalation, begin to straighten the arms to lift the chest off the floor.

Press the tailbone toward the hip and then lift the hip toward the navel. Narrow the hip points. Let the buttocks be firm but relaxed.

Firm up the shoulder blades against the back, puffing the side ribs forward. Distribute the backbend evenly throughout the entire spine.

Hold the pose anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds, breathing easily. Release back to the floor with an exhalation very very gradually.

Benefits Of Cobra Pose Stretches the spine.



Strengthens the arms, forearms, shoulders, wrists and hands.



Opens up heart and lungs.



Relieves stress and fatigue.



Soothes sciatica.



Firms the buttocks.
Did You Know That People In Bhutan Paint Their Walls With Penis Art? Life oi-Syeda Farah

For years now a village in Bhutan is known to be liberal for its display of phallic imagery on walls, doors, pillars, windows and souvenirs around town.

Though this sounds crazy and dumb, this art of drawing penises has been practiced religiously!

We here at Boldsky are sharing some of the most shocking results as to why people follow this bizarre art of drawing penises on their house walls...

These Places Are Filled With The Art... Thimpu District and villages such as Punakha are places that are filled with abundant sightings of erect penis graffiti. These graffiti are often portrayed as a living entity, with each penis having a unique personality.

It Is An Art Since century This penis art owes its origins to a 15th century Tibetan spiritual teacher, Lama Kunley. He was on a mission to propagate his teachings and landed in Bhutan when he launched an arrow that marked his destination. His Arrow Landed In A Girls Room He found his arrow launched in a girl's room. Her name was "Pelsang Buti". He was instantly gratified by the girl's commitment to his cause, and he spent the night with her, after which she bore his offspring. His Anecdotes Which Were Fraught! His anecdotes are said to be fraught with references to over-indulgence in sex. He claimed "The best wine lies at the bottom of the pail," he said, "and happiness lies below the navel." He Indulged In It is learnt that he indulged in wine, women and debauchery and adopted blasphemous ways of teaching non-monastic Buddhism. He Was Known As Apparently he was also known as the "fertility saint". He spent his days drinking with the women and deflowering virgins. The Penis Art Depicts These images of phallus dispel evil, acting as a protective shield from malice. People Rush To The Temples As Well Here! It is noted that hundreds of childless couples make pilgrimages to Chimi Lhakhang, which is also known as the "fertility temple" where a Buddhist monk blesses them. Strange world we live in, must say! What is your take on it? Do share the thoughts in the comment section below.
The Congress is likely to propose leading agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan's name to contest against NDA's President pick Ram Nath Kovind.

By India Today Web Desk: The Congress-led Opposition is unlikely to support BJP-led NDA's pick for President Ram Nath Kovind and sources say it may field leading agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan in the July 17 election.

Congress leaders are still to contact Swaminathan, who is considered the father of India's Green Revolution. The party wants a consensus over his name after discussing it with other members of the alliance.

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WHAT WE SHOULD KNOW:

Congress insiders said the party wants a people's President rather than a 'political' one. Sources also said that the party is not so keen on contesting the President election. However, if other Opposition parties decide it may give a go ahead to field a candidate against Ram Nath Kovind. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar may also be considered as Opposition's nominee. Apart from her, former bureaucrat Gopal Krishna Gandhi's name may also come under consideration. A final decision in this regard would be taken during the big Opposition meeting scheduled to be held on June 22. Some Congress leaders admitted that numbers are certainly in favour of the NDA and the party may just offer a token fight and the main Opposition party's decision to contest the Presidential election is aimed at consolidating the front before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

ALLIES NITISH-LALU DIVIDED OVER SUPPORT TO KOVIND

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today announced that his party - Janata Dal United (JD-U) would most likely support Ram Nath Kovind since the Bihar Governor "had a great repo with him".

Nitish Kumar's decision to support Kovind is huge considering may saw a prime ministerial candidate in him who would take on PM Narendra Modi in 2019.

On Monday, soon after BJP president Amit Shah stunned the Opposition by announcing Kovind as the NDA's candidate for President, Nitish showered praise on Governor Kovind, saying he is "personally glad" over his candidature.

Nitish said he congratulated Kovind, a Dalit leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party, on his nomination as the National Democratic Alliance candidate, and added: "I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate".

Lalu Prasad, whose party the RJD, is part of the UPA, is likely to support Congress president Sonia Gandhi's decision.

ALSO READ:

Ram Nath Kovind for President: Nitish Kumar breaks ranks with Opposition, says will support BJP's nominee

India's next President: Opposition may field joint candidate against Ram Nath Kovind. 4 names in the race

Ram Nath Kovind: Why BJP's presidential pick may face Supreme Court test after he is elected

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Ram Nath Kovind as presidential candidate: How BJP continues to aggressively woo Dalits

Ram Nath Kovind is BJP nominee for President: 5 other times Amit Shah-led party surprised us

WATCH VIDEO

--- ENDS ---
The state government in order to allow highway hotels, restaurants and marriage palaces to serve liquor has decided to amend section 26A of Punjab Excise Act, 1914.

By Manjeet Sehgal: The Punjab government seems to be in a tearing hurry to fill the empty coffers. After kicking off a controversy by auctioning the sand and gravel mines at a whopping 10 times higher prices, the state government has now found a novel way to sell liquor in hotels and restaurants located on state and national highways.

The state government, apart from the liquor lobby, was facing big losses after the Apex Court in April this year banned sale of liquor within 500 metres of national and state highways.

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The state government in order to allow highway hotels, restaurants and marriage palaces to serve liquor has decided to amend section 26A of Punjab Excise Act, 1914.

"Yes Punjab government plans to amend section 26A of Punjab Excise Act, 1914. The Punjab government believes that the Supreme Court in its orders has only prohibited liquor shops from selling liquor and not the hotels, restaurants, marriage palaces or party halls which besides liquor also sell food and other drinks. However, the vends will not be allowed to sell liquor. The cabinet has already given its nod to the amendment and the Bill will become a law soon," said Manpreet Singh Badal, Finance Minister, Punjab

Manpreet Badal said that It is also in the knowledge of the government that social organizations including activists can challenge the government's law in the court, hence the advice of the state's Advocate Geeral Atul Nanda has already been taken. According to the government, the order of the Supreme Court on Highway liquor sale are ambiguous and only talk about liquor shops.

ACTIVISTS SLAM PUNJAB GOVERNMENT

On the other hand the state government's move has left Harman Singh Sidhu, founder of Arrive-Safe who played a key role in getting the liquor sale banned on highways, fuming.

Sidhu said that the Punjab government's decision will not only promote liquor on highways but will also result in accidents. He also plans to challenge Punjab government's decision in the apex court soon.

"I am deeply hurt by the state government's move. It is an effort to please the liquor lobby and the decision will not only encourage drinking on highways but will also add to the road accidents. I am waiting for the documents and will move the court soon," Harman Singh Sidhu said.

Law experts believe that the state's decision to amend the act to facilitate liquor sale will not only violate the apex court orders but may also lead to a crisis after the amendment becomes a law.

Well known PIL expert H C Arora , who has also decided to challenge the decision in the court, said that the Supreme Court has also banned hotels and restaurants from selling liquor, hence, the decision will amount to contempt of court.

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STATE GOVERNMENT VIOLATING APEX COURT ORDERS

"It is a clear violation of the court which has banned liquor sale not only in vends but also in hotels and restaurants. The state government will openly violate the court orders by amending the Act," said H C Arora.

This is not the first time that the Punjab Government has amended Section 26 A of Punjab Excise Act. Earlier in 2016 too, the section was amended to benefit the liquor lobby.

The amendment has already got state cabinet nod and the government may also bring an ordinance. The amended act will be sent to the governor for his approval. However, the NGOs and activists may approach the governor requesting him not to clear the Bill.

The road safety activists like Harman Singh Sidhu are of the opinion that other states may follow Punjab and resort to tactics like this to increase sale which will dilute the purpose of apex court decision.

Also read:

Patiala unpegged: Punjab Cabinet's new liquor law allows booze on highways

SC not to extend licenses of liquor shops on state, national highways for a year

For temperance, not prohibition: Kerala Minister to review UDF's liquor policy to revive tourism

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WATCH | Protests against liquor shops after Supreme Court's ban on sale of alcohol along highways

--- ENDS ---
Modified On Aug 22, 2017 01:55 PM By Raunak for Hyundai Verna 2017-2020

There's a burning question that needs to be answered: Will it be able to dethrone the Honda City again like the previous model did when it was first introduced in the country?

Update: 2017 Hyundai Verna has been launched at Rs 7.99 lakh

Hyundai has teased the all-new third-generation Verna in the country for the first time ahead of its launch. Technically speaking, this is the fifth-generation Accent, which is a global model, because the third-gen Accent was renamed the Verna for the Indian market.

The 2017 Verna made its world debut in China last year, but well be getting the version that is sold in Canada and Russia. It was revealed in February this year, and when compared to the Chinese version, this sedan features subtle differences to its front and rear profile.

In Picture: 2017 Hyundai Verna (known as the 'Solaris' in Russia)

The 2017 Verna looks like a miniature Elantra as its design is heavily inspired from the latter. It gets Hyundais latest signature cascading grille which is flanked by sweptback projector headlamps. The headlamps feature J-shaped LED daytime running lights like the Elantra. The 2017 Verna also gets projector fog lamps.

In Picture: Hyundai Elantra

Like the Elantra and the outgoing Verna, the new sedan too features a coupe-like roofline. The wrap-around, split LED tail lamps are identical to the bigger sedan as well.

The rear bumper features dual-tone treatment with reflectors. On the inside, the highlight of the 2017 Verna is the addition of Hyundais latest 7-inch infotainment system that supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

Compared to the outgoing model, the 2017 Verna is wider by 29mm and the overall length has been increased by 15mm. However, the height remains unchanged. Its the same formula that almost every manufacturer is implementing these days in an attempt to give their cars a low-slung appearance, in turn, providing a more grounded stance. Further, the wheelbase has also been increased by 10mm with the wheels placed at the extremities.

In terms of the mechanicals, the 2017 Verna is likely to remain unchanged and will carry forward the same set of engines  1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol and diesel motors. However, it is expected to ditch the ancient 4-speed automatic for a relatively newer 6-speed automatic found in the Creta and the Elantra.

Watch The First Look Of The New Verna

Stay tuned to CarDekho as Hyundai is set to release more info on the upcoming Verna in coming weeks.

Must See: 2017 Honda City: First Drive Review

Read More on : Hyundai Verna on road price
Photo: Twitter

Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in controlling a major wildfire that killed 64 people in the central area of the country, but the welcome news came as another blaze nearby grew in size and amid reports that a water-dropping plane had crashed.

The Civil Protection Agency said about 1,200 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft were fighting the deadly wildfire in Pedrogao Grande, which was raging for a third consecutive day about 150 kilometres north of Lisbon. Officials said the blaze was mostly contained, though still burning fiercely.

Later in the day, an official with Portugal's Air Accident Office said a Canadair water-dropping plane has crashed in central Portugal while fighting the wildfires.

A crash investigation team has been sent to the area, but no details about the plane or its crew were available.

Some firefighting resources were being diverted to Gois, about 20 kilometres from Pedrogao Grande, where almost 800 firefighters and four planes were battling the flames. Commander Vitor Vaz Pinto told reporters said the Gois wildfire was "very fast and very explosive" and had forced the evacuation of 11 hill villages.
Double-digit decline in Pakistan cement exports over 11FY17

20 June 2017

Pakistan cement exports during the first 11 months (July 2016 to May 2017) of the current fiscal declined by 21.27 per cent to 4.319Mt versus 5.486Mt a year earlier, according to latest data from the All Pakistan Cement Manufacturers Association (APCMA).

Exports to Afghanistan decreased from 0.206Mt in May 2016 to 0.097Mt in May 2017, representing a decline of 53.03 per cent. Exports to India also fell from 0.135Mt in May 2016 to 0.114Mt in May 2017, down 15.22 per cent YoY.



The APCMA expressed concern over falling exports to Afghanistan which have dropped by 31.24 per cent across the 11-month period. However, they have noted that cement exports to India registered an overall increase of 34.61 per cent over the same timeframe. (Source: The Nation, Pakistan)

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A lesson from Acts: You are not the saviour of the world

In 1992, when Glasnost and Perestroika came to the Soviet Union, a group of teenagers boarded a plane from London to Moscow to bring the gospel to that great city. Small Bibles were stuffed in their socks, and their suitcases contained hidden tracts. Arriving in Red Square, they marvelled at the architecture of St Basil's and Lenin's mausoleum. After singing Beatles songs in the historic Arbat artisan region to draw a crowd, they began to preach and tell their testimonies. They felt like they were back in the book of Acts pioneering the spread of the gospel in a new frontier. Until they met Alexander Ogorodnikov on the street and stopped talking and began listening.

Alexander was a Russian Christian who had been imprisoned in an asylum for the criminally insane because of his faith. He had spent years in the Russian Gulags including the notorious Perm-36 camp of death. He explained to the group of teenage missionaries how he had spread the gospel under severe persecution in prison even when he was placed in solitary confinement, using a broken pipe to share the gospel with his neighbouring prisoner.

At this point the English teenagers saw themselves less as 1st-century evangelists and more as 21st-century tourists. They were not, as they thought, bringing the gospel to Russia  there was already a rich history of Christian faith in its art, literature and architecture. And there were many believers in the country who were willing to pay the cost of discipleship.

I was one of the teenagers who had their lives changed that day on the streets of Moscow. My experience changed my understanding of mission and I began to read the book of Acts with new eyes.

It is not only teenagers who are quick to read themselves into the starring roles of the story of the spread of God's justice. Our churches and books and reading notes often encourage us to think of ourselves as Peter, Steven and Paul. We often fail to see what God is already doing in other countries and cultures and assume we are at the epicentre of God's work in the world.

But the journey of the gospel travelling from Jerusalem to Rome has already taken place. Now we are privileged to live in a time where we can join in with what God is doing in the world as a result of what he has already done.

When we read Acts, or indeed any of the Bible, we have a tendency to an egocentric anthropocentric approach. This is a double problem. First, it puts human beings as the most important players in the story  that's the anthropocentric part  and second it puts ourselves as the focal point; that's the egocentric part. As with the rest of the Bible, it should be God that is centre stage. What we need is a theocentric approach. And when we apply that to the book of Acts, there is a surprising result.

1. Read the book of Acts in God's cosmic context

The Bible's creation account starts on a cosmic scale, retelling the story of the beginning of the universe itself. The Genesis account zooms in on the formation of our earth and tells the origin story of all the nations. But then, only a few chapters later, we finally zoom into the story of a childless elderly couple in Ur of the Chaldeans: Abram and Sarai. The story moves from the universal to the particular, from the interstellar to the intimate.

The story of God's justice revolves around the choosing of one nation, Israel, for the sake of the world. (Genesis 12). In the book of Acts this process is reversed. Starting with an intimate reunion of the disciples with the resurrected Jesus in Jerusalem the story soon explodes across the world just as Jesus said it would as the gospel is taken to ' Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth' (Acts 1:8) The book of Acts demonstrates that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus have global consequences.

As the good news of the gospel bursts throughout the world we see farmers and city dwellers come to faith in Christ, we see both Jews and Gentiles come to find peace with God and with each other. We see a slave girl and a prison warden find freedom in Christ. We see a businesswoman and international dignitary come into the family of God. The book of Acts underlines the fact that all human beings whatever their gender, status or race are loved by God and have the possibility of receiving forgiveness for their sins, the presence of the Holy Spirit and a call to participate in the mission of God. Reading the book of Acts in cosmic context will help us to put the God the cosmic king at the centre of the story.

2. Read the book of Acts in its Canonical Context

The Acts of the Apostles was originally circulated together with Luke's Gospel because the two books share the same author and act as a comprehensive book of Christian origins. When the books were separated, as Luke's Gospel was circulated with three complementary biographies of Jesus  the four Gospels  the book of Acts was given its distinctive name. This name may have been a deliberate attempt to counter the heretical teaching of Marcion, who not only rejected the Old Testament but argued that Paul was the only apostle who faithfully recorded God's teaching. So even though Paul is the apostle with the most amount of airtime in Acts, the title underlines the role of all of the apostles.[1]

But some have argued that the book should have been called the Acts of the Holy Spirit, as the third person of the Trinity takes a very clear central role in the pages of this book. Right from the introduction where we are told: ' In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach' (Acts 1:1), the implication is that now in this latter book we will be told about the work that Jesus continued to do through his Church in the power of the Spirit. And just seven verses later there is the promise of the empowering of the Holy Spirit for the Apostles. Acts 1:8 acts as a manifesto and indeed a prologue for the structure of the entire book. The Spirit-empowered Church will witness to the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ by spreading the gospel from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth.

Reading the book of Acts in its canonical context means we recognise that Jesus continues his work through the Church in the power of the Spirit  and again we save ourselves from being the centre of the story.

3. Read the book of Acts in its continental context

The book of Acts is a travelogue of how the gospel spreads from Jerusalem, thoughout Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. It is not the story of how the gospel spreads from Europe to Africa, nor the story of how Christianity moves from America to the rest of the planet. Reading the book of Acts in its global context prevents us from putting ourselves in the centre of the story and helps us to recognise the role of our global brothers and sisters.

The book of Acts is full of challenges: danger from bandits, Jews and Gentiles; danger in the city, in the country and at sea; dangers from unbelievers and from false believers. But reading the book in its global context reveals that, sadly, it is the relationship between Christians and Jews that is at the heart of the on-going conflict in the story of the early Church. Acts shows us that Christ came to bring reconciliation between human beings and God, but also between people from different nations. And it also shows us that just as God chose the Jews to be a light to the nations, so now the Church is to take up this calling. In our fragmented world, the book of Acts has a lot to teach us about what it means to live together as God's people. Indeed five times we are informed of the unity of the believers and how they lived, prayed, shared and worked with one accord: (Acts 1:14, 2:46; 4:24; 5:12; 15:25).

On the streets of Moscow as a teenager that was a lesson I needed to learn  Christ only has one Church, made up of believers from the east and west, rich and poor, black and white  and we are all called by God to participate together with his people in his story of his justice.

Dr Krish Kandiah is the founding director of Home for Good. He contributed to 'God's Justice Bible' (Hodder), writing the commentary on the book of Acts.

[1] See Bruce, F.F. (1988) NICNT The book of the Acts, Eerdmans, p.5
Amoris Laetitia row: Rebel cardinals leak letter to Pope Francis lamenting Church's moral 'confusion'

Four conservative Cardinals have released a controversial letter they wrote to Pope Francis in April requesting a private meeting to discuss 'confusion and disorientation' in the Catholic Church following the publication of the Pope's April 2016 Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

In the letter the Cardinals lament alleged divisions in the Church on basic morality as a result of the Pope's exhortation, which translates as 'the joy of love'.

'And so it is happening  how painful it is to see this!  that what is sin in Poland is good in Germany, that what is prohibited in the archdiocese of Philadelphia is permitted in Malta,' they wrote.

The Cardinals reiterated five questions they had asked in November on whether or not Amoris Laetitia conforms to official Catholic teaching. The five 'yes-or-no' questions they asked  to which they received no response - were: whether adulterers can receive Holy Communion; whether there are absolute moral norms that must be followed 'without exceptions'; whether habitual adultery can be an 'objective situation of grave habitual sin'; whether an intrinsically evil act can be turned into a 'subjectively good' act based on 'circumstances or intentions'; and whether one can act contrary to known 'absolute moral norms that prohibit intrinsically evil acts' based on 'conscience'.

In their April 25 letter, the Cardinals wrote: 'Not having received any response from Your Holiness, we have reached the decision to ask You, respectfully and humbly, for an Audience, together if Your Holiness would like.'

They also asked the Pope if they could discuss the 'situation of confusion and disorientation' in the Church caused by 'objectively ambiguous passages' in the exhortation.

The letter, which was written by Cardinal Carlo Caffarra on behalf of Cardinals Walter Brandmuller, Raymond Burke, and Joachim Meisner, began respectfully. The Cardinals said they renewed their 'absolute dedication and our unconditional love for the Chair of Peter and for Your august person, in whom we recognize the Successor of Peter and the Vicar of Jesus: the "sweet Christ on earth"'.

They went on to state that it is the 'awareness of the grave responsibility' of their office as 'advisers of the Successor of Peter in his sovereign ministry' that moved them to ask the Pope for a meeting.

The Cardinals said that since Amoris Laetitia's release a year ago, amid speculation of a softening of the Church's position on homosexuality and Communion for divorcees, 'interpretations of some objectively ambiguous passages...have publicly been given that are not divergent from but contrary to the permanent Magisterium of the Church'.

They continued: 'Despite the fact that the Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith has repeatedly declared that the doctrine of the Church has not changed, numerous statements have appeared from individual Bishops, Cardinals, and even Episcopal Conferences, approving what the Magisterium of the Church has never approved.

'Not only access to the Holy Eucharist for those who objectively and publicly live in a situation of grave sin, and intend to remain in it, but also a conception of moral conscience contrary to the Tradition of the Church.'

Some in the Church have since interpreted Church teaching as allowing for divorcees to receive Communion. Earlier this month an Argentinian bishop, Angel Jose Macin of the Diocese of Reconquista celebrated a special Mass for civilly-divorced-and-remarried couples in which they were all invited to receive Holy Communion.

According to Lifesite News, the exhortation has been used by various bishops and bishops' groups, including those in Argentina, Malta, Germany, and Belgium, to issue pastoral guidelines that allow Communion to be given to civilly-divorced-and-remarried Catholics; while bishops in Canada and Poland have issued statements based on their reading of the same document that forbids such couples to receive Communion.

The letter concludes: 'Faced with this grave situation, in which many Christian communities are being divided, we feel the weight of our responsibility, and our conscience impels us to ask humbly and respectfully for an Audience.'

The full text of the letter reads:

Most Holy Father,

It is with a certain trepidation that I address myself to Your Holiness, during these days of the Easter season. I do so on behalf of the Most Eminent Cardinals: Walter Brandmuller, Raymond L. Burke, Joachim Meisner, and myself.

We wish to begin by renewing our absolute dedication and our unconditional love for the Chair of Peter and for Your august person, in whom we recognize the Successor of Peter and the Vicar of Jesus: the "sweet Christ on earth," as Saint Catherine of Siena was fond of saying. We do not share in the slightest the position of those who consider the See of Peter vacant, nor of those who want to attribute to others the indivisible responsibility of the Petrine munus. We are moved solely by the awareness of the grave responsibility arising from the munus of cardinals: to be advisers of the Successor of Peter in his sovereign ministry. And from the Sacrament of the Episcopate, which "has placed us as bishops to pasture the Church, which He has acquired with his blood" (Acts 20:28).

On September 19, 2016 we delivered to Your Holiness and to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith five dubia, asking You to resolve uncertainties and to bring clarity on some points of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.

Not having received any response from Your Holiness, we have reached the decision to ask You, respectfully and humbly, for an Audience, together if Your Holiness would like. We attach, as is the practice, an Audience Sheet in which we present the two points we wish to discuss with you.

Most Holy Father,

A year has now gone by since the publication of Amoris Laetitia. During this time, interpretations of some objectively ambiguous passages of the post-synodal Exhortation have publicly been given that are not divergent from, but contrary to, the permanent Magisterium of the Church. Despite the fact that the Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith has repeatedly declared that the doctrine of the Church has not changed, numerous statements have appeared from individual Bishops, Cardinals, and even Episcopal Conferences, approving what the Magisterium of the Church has never approved. Not only access to the Holy Eucharist for those who objectively and publicly live in a situation of grave sin, and intend to remain in it, but also a conception of moral conscience contrary to the Tradition of the Church. And so it is happening  how painful it is to see this!  that what is sin in Poland is good in Germany, that what is prohibited in the archdiocese of Philadelphia is permitted in Malta. And so on. One is reminded of the bitter observation of B. Pascal: "Justice on this side of the Pyrenees, injustice on the other; justice on the left bank of the river, injustice on the right bank."

Numerous competent lay faithful, who are deeply in love with the Church and staunchly loyal to the Apostolic See, have turned to their Pastors and to Your Holiness in order to be confirmed in the Holy Doctrine concerning the three sacraments of Marriage, Confession, and the Eucharist. And in these very days, in Rome, six lay faithful, from every Continent, have presented a very well-attended study seminar with the meaningful title: "Bringing clarity."

Faced with this grave situation, in which many Christian communities are being divided, we feel the weight of our responsibility, and our conscience impels us to ask humbly and respectfully for an Audience.

May Your Holiness remember us in Your prayers, as we pledge to remember You in ours. And we ask for the gift of Your Apostolic Blessing.
Are God and science at war? Not according to the priest behind the Big Bang Theory

The scientific hypothesis known as the Big Bang Theory has stoked controversy among some in the Church, but it's often forgotten that the idea was conceived by a Christian priest.

Born in 1894, Monsignor George Lemaitre was a Belgian, Catholic cosmologist. At a young age Lemaitre showed promise as a mathematician, earning a PhD in the field, but instead of seeking an academic career instead turned to the priesthood.

However, he still relished his science as a priest and would soon return to it: working in astronomy, earning a PhD in physics and becoming a professor of mathematics.

Lemaitre understood science, like his love of philosophy and theology, as part of the search for truth. As he put it: 'Man's highest activity is searching for the truth.'

In 1927 Lemaitre published a paper positing, controversially, that the universe was expanding  what scientists now accept and know as Hubble's Law. In 1930 he suggested that the universe has been expanding from one particular point, a 'primeval atom' from which everything began.

One sceptical scientist, Fred Hoyle, rubbished Lemaitre's idea as 'The Big Bang Theory'. Even Lemaitre's friend and contemporary Albert Einstein had trouble accepting Lemaitre's radical suggestion that the universe was not static.

In time, though, the priest's hypothesis gained traction, Hoyle's nickname stuck, and it is now widely accepted and taught in the scientific community. Lemaitre didn't see science and religion as being at odds, but was wary of confusing them. If accused of contradicting the book of Genesis, he insisted that the Bible was not given to be read as a science textbook.

Lemaitre's legacy was celebrated in May at the Vatican with a cosmology conference uniting the Church and science, seeking to better understand the mysteries of the universe.

Lemaitre died as one of the world's most renowned scientists on this day in 1966.

In his work on the primeval atom, he wrote: 'We cannot end this rapid review which we have made together of the most magnificent subject that the human mind may be tempted to explore without being proud of these splendid endeavors of Science in the conquest of the Earth, and also without expressing our gratitude to One who has said: "I am the Truth," One who gave us the mind to understand him and to recognize a glimpse of his glory in our universe which he has so wonderfully adjusted to the mental power with which he has endowed us.'
'Catastrophe' threatens East Africa as rains fail again

East Africa is on the brink of a 'monumental catastrophe' because the global community has failed to provide the funds needed to help starving people, according to Christian Aid.

Around 20 million people are at risk of starving to death and figure could rise further still, Christian Aid has said.

Last week the World Food Programme warned that emergency food aid for 7.8 million Ethiopians would run out by the end of June  a claim the government denies. Meanwhile Ethiopia's seasonal rains have failed once again, putting yet more strain on national and international relief efforts.

Christian Aid's Head of Humanitarian Programmes for Africa, Maurice Onyango, said: 'The recent disappointing rains in Ethiopia, and also in Kenya, have shattered any faint hopes for water sources to fill up, pastures to regenerate and harvests to be viable. It has left communities even more reliant on outside aid, stretching humanitarian agencies and local authorities to their limits.

'Christian Aid is reaching tens of thousands of people with life-saving assistance, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. If we are to avert an unprecedented famine in the region, then much more help is sorely needed. What is, today, a major crisis will tomorrow become a monumental catastrophe unless the international community find more funds to respond.'

Christian Aid is helping nearly 50,000 people in some of the worst affected parts of South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya. Onyango recently travelled to drought-hit regions in Kenya and Ethiopia to support this work.

He said: 'The scale and intensity of this crisis is like nothing I've ever seen in my 17 years as a humanitarian worker. Successive droughts and, in some cases, conflict, has stripped people of their ability to cope.

'Every day children, women and men starve to death, from lack of food and lack of water. In Kenya and Ethiopia, livestock are dying in their thousands, leaving pastoralist families with no animals, no food, no assets and no option but to hope and pray for help to come.'

He said: 'If the world wants to avert future catastrophes of this scale, we need to invest in helping communities become more resilient to disasters.'

Christian Aid launched a fundraising appeal for theEast Africa crisis in February 2017.
Former North Korea prisoner Kenneth Bae expresses 'outrage' over Otto Warmbier's death

A Christian missionary who was himself detained in North Korea has called for prayers over the 'outrage' and 'tragedy' of the death of the American student Otto Warmbier.

Kenneth Bae, who was held in North Korea from 2012-2014, also called on the secretive dictatorship to release the three Americans still detained there.

Bae, who ran a company specialising in tours of North Korea, was accused by Pyongyang of plotting to bring down the government through religious activities. In April 2013, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour, but was released in November 2014 with the help of Barack Obama's administration.

Last night, following the death of the 22-year-old student, Bae said: 'I grieve for the family of Otto Warmbier. This is a young man who had so much promise. He was a college student on a journey to see the world. For North Korea to detain him and sentence him to 15 years in prison was an injustice. But for Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in  and then for him to die because of it  is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family.

'I cannot understand what the Warmbier family is feeling right now. But I mourn with them, and I pray for them. No words can ease this pain, but we can pray for them. It's my hope and prayer that they also know others in America are mourning with them and will not forget their son and brother.

'As we grieve Otto's passing, I also want people to know that other Americans remain detained in North Korea right now. There are three Americans  Kim Dong Chul, Tony Kim, Kim Hak-Song  and the Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim. But there are certainly many other people living without freedom in the country of 24 million people  enduring horrible circumstances and forced labor  and we do not even know their names.

'We plead with the US government, the international community, and leadership in North Korea to value human lives. Every life is important  Otto's life, lives of the American detainees, and the lives of each person in North Korea. I am a Christian, and part of what that means is to act justly and to have mercy on the innocent. Although we don't know everything about life in North Korea, this much is sure: innocent people like Otto are suffering. I pray that these innocent people suffering in North Korea are not forgotten in this high-stakes game of weapons, sanctions, and international diplomacy.

'Please join me in prayer and be a voice for the innocent. Please join me in praying for Otto's family. This did not have to happen and should never happen again.'

Warmbier died just days after being returned to the US from North Korea in a comatose state.

Warmbier's death on Monday was confirmed by his parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier. In a statement, they blamed his death on the treatment he had received at the hands of North Korea, where he had spent the last 17 months in prison for trying to remove a propoganda poster from his hotel.

After arriving back in the US, it was revealed that the University of Virginia student had suffered extensive brain loss and was unable to communicate.

North Korean authorities blamed his condition on botulism and said they had freed him on 'humanitarian grounds'. His family and US doctors refused to accept the official explanation from North Korea for his deterioration.

'The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,' Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

'When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13, he was unable to speak, unable to see or react to verbal commands. According to the BBC, he had been in a coma for a year.

'He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed  he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

'We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too,' they said.

Warmbier was in Pyongyang on a tourist trip with other students from the University of Virginia when he was arrested on January 2, 2016, for trying to steal a propoganda poster from a hotel and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

According to the BBC, Warmbier had confessed to trying to take the propaganda poster as a 'trophy' for a US church.

The US President Donald Trump responded to his death in a statement condemning 'the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'

His local church had responded to news of his condition by praying for him and his family. Eric Miller, pastor of the Ascension and Holy Trinity Church in Cincinnati, said of Cindy and Fred Warmbier: 'I can't even begin to put myself in their shoes. [Otto's] imprisonment has touched people's lives in our church setting. It touches a lot of people in our community in a variety of ways.'
Fury as New Zealand festival removes word 'Israel' from Joseph musical

A New Zealand production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat sponsored by a local council hasbeen forced to apologise to the famous lyricist Tim Rice after removing the word 'Israel' from the lyric to one of the songs.

The apology came after a Twitter user, Kate Dowling, noted on Friday that in the song 'Close Every Door,' the line 'Children of Israel' had been replaced with 'Children of kindness'.

Dowling sought clarification by using Twitter to write to the Wellington city council and to Rice, who is one half of the famed musical writing team, together with Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The changed lyric came as part of the New Zealand capital's Artsplash festival, in which 10,000 elementary school pupils take part. They distributed song sheets to those who were taking part with the changed lyric to what is one of the best known songs.

The change has led an eminent Jewish academic, Dr Irene Lancaster, to tell Christian Today that it represents an 'antisemitic agenda currently at play in the West'.

The musical tells the biblical story of Joseph and the Israelites leaving Canaan and going to Egypt. In both the biblical story and in the musical, the word 'Israel' does not refer to the country, but to Jacob, who was given a second name, and 'children of Israel' originally meant Joseph and his brothers.

Rice was unhappy at the 'unauthorised' change, tweeting: 'This is a totally unauthorised change of lyric by @WgtnCC. Plus it's a terribly drippy and meaningless alteration.'

He then tweeted to the Wellington City Council asking them to explain. 'Please explain Joseph lyric change: "children of Israel" to "children of kindness". Permission not given. Tim Rice.'

The Artsplash event is partially funded by the council, but a council spokesman, Richard MacLean told the New Zealand news website Stuff that the council had no involvement in the changes made to the lyric.

Meanwhile, the Artsplash co-ordinator Mary Prichard told Stuff that the organisers wanted to 'keep life simple' for primary school children.

'We always look to have music that covers and looks after kids from all countries, from all backgrounds,' Prichard said. 'It was decided that small change of one word would be made. It's obviously gone down like a lead balloon.'

On hearing that three of the 10 songs were being removed from the musical, Rice tweeted that either Artsplash should produce the whole show or none of it.

The council was quick to apologise for the change, saying that it will rectify the situation and ensure that all the original unadulterated songs are in the production. It added that the incident was caused by an error of judgement.

Stephen Goodman, the president of the New Zealand Jewish Council, said the incident was a case of 'people trying to be politically correct where it's unnecessary to be so'.

However, Lancaster told Christian Today: 'The decision to drop the word "Israel" from the phrase "children of Israel", a generic term which all Christians know refers to the Jewish people and not to the State of Israel itself is simply part of the antisemitic agenda currently in play in the West and particularly where the indigenous Jewish community is weak and falling in numbers.

'That a small country such as New Zealand, and part of the Commonwealth should do this at this time, is shocking and thank goodness that a very perceptive member of the public alerted Sir Tim Rice, who has been rightly shocked and angry and demanded that the words be reinstated. Not to mention how educationally damaging this is for the children at whom this musical is aimed.'

Subsequently, Prichard issued a full apology, replying to a Facebook user by saying: 'You have my complete assurance that this was an unintentional and innocent error on the part of one of my team, and I apologise for it. The person concerned, and myself for that matter, are religious people and would never consider intentionally doing anything racist or anti any religion.'

She added that she had run Artsplash for 30 years, stressing that she has 'always included children of all sorts of backgrounds including Jewish'.
With the numbers on Ram Nath Kovind's side, he is unlikely to face a tough fight from a candidate nominated by the Congress-led Opposition.

By India Today Web Desk: Ram Nath Kovind, the Bihar Governor picked by the BJP as the NDA nominee for presidential election, is nearly set to become the country's next President.

In the race for Raisina, the BJP has a clear edge over the Opposition with more than 50 per cent of the electoral college pledging support to Ram Nath Kovind, a Dalit candidate.

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With the numbers on Ram Nath Kovind's side, he is unlikely to face a tough fight from a candidate nominated by the Congress-led Opposition.

NDA vs UPA IN NUMBERS

The electoral college, which elects the President, has a total of 10,98,882 votes. Assuming that all members of the National Democratic Alliance support Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA currently has 5,37,683 votes, marginally away from the halfway mark of 5,49,442.

The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has 3,91,739 votes, while another 1,44,302 votes are undecided or floating votes.

An electoral college comprises elected members of both Houses of Parliament and elected members of the Legislative Assemblies of all states, including Delhi.

This time, 776 MPs and 4120 MLAs are eligible to cast their vote for the presidential candidate. While an MP contributes 708 votes, the vote of an MLA varies for different states in accordance with their population in 1971.

The number game between NDA and UPA.

HOW NDA RACES PAST UPA

Several regional parties, who are normally fence-sitters, have come out in support of Ram Nath Kovind as the presidential candidate.

The K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), which has two per cent of the total electoral votes, backed the NDA nominee. The TRS has a strength of 82 MLAs in the Assembly and 11 Lok Sabha members, which does not include three MPs who recently switched loyalities to TRS.

The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha also declared its support for Ram Nath Kovind on Monday. "The office of the President of India is above political consideration and Biju Janata Dal wants to keep it above the politics," BJD chief Naveen Patnaik said while pledging his party's support to the NDA presidential nominee.

In terms of numbers, the BJD accounts for 2.99 per cent of the total electoral votes for presidential election. The party has 117 MLAs in the Assembly and 20 MPs in Lok Sabha.

The YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh also said that it will back Ram Nath Kovind for president's post. The party led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has 1.53 per cent of the electoral votes with 10 MPs and 66 MLAs.

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SOME FENCE-SITTERS MAY BACK NDA

Parties like the Janata Dal (United) and the AIADMK have not yet announced their decision on presidential support. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, however, seems to be giving enough hints about who the party will choose to back.

"In my capacity as the Bihar Chief Minister, it is a matter of happiness that our Governor has been declared as the candidate for the next President of India," the Bihar chief minister said after Amit Shah announced Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA pick.

The JD(U) has 1.91 per cent of the total electoral college votes; the party has two MPs in Lok Sabha and 71 MLAs in the Bihar Legislative Assembly.

The AIADMK, ridden by factionalism, may not have much choice but to support the NDA presidential candidate, given with both E Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam factions are inclining towards the BJP.

The AIADMK has 5.39 per cent of total electoral votes with 37 MPs in Lok Sabha and 136 MLAs (including all factions).

As the BJP-led NDA looks set to have a President of its choice, it remains to be seen if the Congress-led UPA would, at all, nominate a presidential candidate.

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ALSO READ:

Race for Rashtrapati Bhavan: This is how India's next president will be elected

Ram Nath Kovind: Why BJP's presidential pick may face Supreme Court test after he is elected

India's next President: Opposition may field joint candidate against Ram Nath Kovind. 4 names in the race

Presidential election: Will it be NDA's Ram Nath Kovind vs UPA's MS Swaminathan?

ALSO WATCH: Ram Nath Kovind is NDA's pick for president: Who said what

--- ENDS ---
Grenfell Tower: How the Church responded to tragedy  as it always does

In the sheer sense of desperation which follows news such as the Grenfell Tower fire, many of us are searching for something positive to cling on to.

In a similar way to the recent terror attacks in London and Manchester, much of that search for positivity has rightly focused on the role of the emergency services.

The bravery of PC Keith Palmer, the police officer killed in Westminster trying to protect friends, colleagues and strangers, was an inspiration to millions. Likewise the actions of the unarmed, off duty officer who tackled the London Bridge attackers.

The latest round of breathtaking bravery from the emergency services came this week in west London. The thought of running towards a burning building, and then into it, is quite astonishing.

Jesus said there is no greater love than that shown by someone who lays down their life for another. With a fire as deadly as the Grenfell Tower's was, the officers who ran towards the building did so knowing they may have been about to lay down their lives. We owe them more than we can put into words.

There has been another source of positivity this week though, amid the desperate images from north Kensington  the role played by local churches. Within a couple of hours of the fire starting, St Clement's was opened up to provide shelter to the shocked residents. As the morning went on and the full horror of what was happening became clear, more and more local churches got involved.

Joined by local Muslim, Sikh, Jewish and other faith groups, the Church swung into action in a major way. The Salvation Army arrived to provide food and refreshments to the emergency services who were physically as well as emotionally drained.

Donations began to pile up at St Clement's and at the Tabernacle Christian Centre from the local community. Soon, people from all over London and the country were sending supplies. Other local churches stepped up to provide space. St John's, Notting Hill, quickly set up beds, a play area for children and provided food for anyone who needed it. This was civil society swinging into action, led by the Church.

If you are in need of somewhere to rest up or eat in wake of #glenfelltower please come up to @StJohnNottHill pic.twitter.com/WmpbmbVsap  James JP Poulter (@jamespoulter) June 14, 2017

Sikh volunteers arrived to help with the effort. Collections began at mosques in east London and local synagogues were also active in the response.

The Guardian reported a local councillor commending the efforts of a local Methodist minister. 'Gesturing to nearby efforts by the Rev Mike Long at Notting Hill Methodist church, she [Cllr Judith Blakeman] said: "Mike has been running this centre, giving people food and water all day, and not a single person from the council has been here."' It isn't just material needs of course  spiritual needs are also being met. Prayer vigils, one-to-one listening and services are being held to help people through the devastation.

The Bishop of Kensington has spent the last couple of days on the scene comforting families, praying with those affected and co-ordinating the other clergy who'd come to help.

He said, 'Our local churches have done a fantastic job opening their hearts and homes and buildings for the local community.' The Archbishop of Canterbury arrived on the scene and spoke of the devastation but also the hope of an 'outpouring of the most extraordinary love and generosity, and people just getting stuck in  putting their own interests aside...It's just incredible.'

In the months and weeks ahead the Church will continue to be there for those who need it, of course. But this week we think about this stunning rapid response, which always, always happens. Whenever a tragedy happens, you can be sure of two things  the emergency services will be putting themselves in harm's way and the local church will be pretty close behind them.

Whenever disaster strikes, the Salvation Army is on the scene in amazingly quick time, the local vicar throws open the doors of the church and joins with colleagues of other denominations to provide for the material and spiritual needs of victims.

Christianity has a deep regard for the common good. It goes back to the Jewish tradition of helping the widow and the orphan and the alien, found throughout the Hebrew Bible. Deuteronomy 10: 17-19 contains a good summary. It says, 'For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.'

The Prophet Jeremiah commands the people in exile to 'seek the welfare of the city' where they find themselves. Around the world, that is what the Church does, time and again. In such tragic circumstances, we thank God for this shaft of light amid the darkness.
How you can help refugees: Community Sponsorship works, says Salvation Army

On World Refugee Day today, the Salvation Army is encouraging communities to help refugee families through the government's Community Sponsorship Scheme.

The Salvation Army has been calling, along with other groups, for people to support the scheme, under which the government pledged to resettle 20,000 refugees by 2020.

One of The Salvation Army's London churches welcomed its first refugee family into London earlier this year, after Lambeth Palace did the same last year.

Major Nick Coke, the Refugee Coordinator for The Salvation Army, said: 'Community Sponsorship offers people who have been in appalling circumstances sanctuary. All the children have known is fleeing war, now they have a roof over their heads, a school, and friends.

'It's profound to think that one of the children was living on a roundabout in Lebanon three months ago, yet since then they have sung in their new school choir at the Royal Albert Hall  and the parents went to watch.'

In the UK, many of The Salvation Army's church and community centres help refugees living in their communities on an individual basis.

Coke said: 'Community Sponsorship is a great way to help resettle refugees because the whole community can get involved. It opens up untapped resources within the community that can help people settle in and feel a part of our society for the long term. Community Sponsorship is something that works now, and will work for generations to come because of that integration with the local community.'

The appeal came as various Christians and others today took part in events around the number 20 to raise awareness and sponsorship funds for the resettlement of refugees.

Russell Rook, the founder and head of the Good Faith Partnership which campaigns on behalf of refugees, is running along with others across 20 bridges over the River Thames as part of the Church Response for Refugees.

Rook told Christian Today: 'Every three seconds someone somewhere is forced to flee their home by war, violence and disaster. UN figures released yesterday show that the current refugee crisis is growing by the day. This is the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe since World War II.

'Thanks to the work of churches, Christian charities, faith communities, civil society organisations and the government there is now a new opportunity for local community groups to play their part in welcoming refugees here in the UK. The Community Sponsorship Programme For Refugees enables local communities to sponsor, welcome and host a family of refugees in their own community.'

It is believed that so far, fewer than 5,000 refugees have been resettled under the scheme, and in January it emerged that only two Syrian refugee families had been resettled, while Canada had resettled more than 13,000 Syrian refugees through a similar private sponsorship programme since November 2015.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and the Home Secretary Amber Rudd launched the Community Sponsorship Scheme last July at Lambeth Palace.

Welby also confirmed that he is housing a family on the grounds of Lambeth Palace, the first community group to be approved for receiving refugees.

'It's an enormous privilege to welcome a family to live in a cottage in the grounds of Lambeth Palace,' he said. 'I am hugely grateful to the Home Office and Lambeth Council for their tireless work and support in enabling this to happen.'

He added: 'The Full Community Sponsorship Scheme presents churches and other civil society groups with the opportunity to provide sanctuary to those fleeing war-torn places. Refugees, like all people, are treasured human beings, made in the image of God, who deserve safety, freedom and the opportunity to flourish.'
Hymn writer Keith Getty: Nominal, shallow Christianity has no future, we must proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord

The first hymn writer to be honoured by the Queen for contemporary Christian music has described how his music is an expression of one thing  that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Keith Getty, awarded OBE in the annual Queen's Birthday Honours, told Christian Today that at the heart of all his remarkable hymns, which are among the most popular modern worship hymns ever written, is the conviction that we are all fearfully and wonderfully made  and that music is an expression of that.

'But even more than that  that it points ultimately to Christ  that even the rocks and the hills could cry out that Jesus is Lord,' he says.

Every new song or production or company or idea is aimed at drawing people towards Christ.

'We live in what John Stott described as the most exciting generation in history to be Christians, with the growth of Christianity around the world, the potential of the Bible in every language but, to quote Dickens, it is the "best and the worst of times". The challenges are so great that I don't believe nominal or shallow Christianity has any realistic future.

'We need to build believers, churches and children who are deep believers and part of how that happens is through the songs we sing. May all of us work together to share in that vision.'

The OBE was awarded in recognition of Getty's contribution to music and hymn writing through his re- popularising of hymns. It is the first such honour given to an individual who is actively involved in the world of contemporary Church music.

Getty's hymns, often written in collaboration with Stuart Townend, include the the popular In Christ Alone  the number one most-frequently-sung in UK churches for a record-setting nine consecutive years. An estimated 40-50 million people sing Getty hymns in church services each year,

Getty, raised in Northern Ireland, told Christian Today: 'I was introduced to faith and music by my parents and started to get involved while at our local church, Elmwood Presbyterian in Lisburn outside of Belfast.'

It grew from there  the music groups at his church grew to attract others from other areas. His parents had an open house for everyone and over time they created their New Irish Arts organisation, involving hundreds of people from throughout Ireland in music and particularly church music.

Although he's not now involved personally, it is still flourishing under the leadership of Jonathan Rea and regarded as a great example of how the arts can shape lives and communities.

Getty has always written music but it was meeting Stuart Townend that changed his life.

'He is just an unparalleled talent and really helped me shape and focus my writing through some pretty tough love and critique. Our first song was "In Christ Alone" and that really opened the doors for an interest and revival in hymn writing.'

Getty became a Christian as a child. 'Key to everything were great older Christians and having great older heroes.

'As I grew up those guiding stars continued to be an extraordinary help in everything we did. I think older Christians we can look up to is so crucial and vice versa - the responsibility to be encouraging the next generation in deep faith is profound.'

Along wth Stuart, his wife Kristyn is integral to the creative process.

'I've never been that good at creativity by myself and whether it's Stuart or Kristyn or Fionan who helped create the "Irish Christmas" show, I have always leaned heavily on others.

'Kristyn however has been the most influential person in my life  I often get asked, "Who is the most influential theologian?" or "Who are your closest confidants?" and Kristyn is the answer to all those questions. Even when I've heard a profound sermon, or read a deep book she actually shapes how I distill, practise and really adopt ideas and patterns at a daily level.

'That's the beauty of marriage. We were married 13 years on Friday and while not always easy, it has been a blast  we have never had a night apart  come to think of it she deserves an award.'

Music  singing in particular  helps them express and shape their faith

'What we sing affects our personal lives  how we understand, feel, memorise, pray and ultimately live our life; our family lives  the quality of family devotional life and ultimately both relationships and kids spiritual growth; our church and sense of fellowship with each other as well as our witness to those beyond the church.

'That's why it is so crucial and why every minister, pastor, elder and parent needs to take so seriously what they and those under their care sing.'

He offers no illusions that the writing process itself is the realisation of some fantasy of straightforward divine inspiration.

'I can't speak for others but for me I'm afraid it's just plain old hard hard work. I was never good enough for it just to "be inspired". I have to graft writing hundreds of tunes and Stuart Townend or sometimes Kristyn usually is the one who has the wisdom to know what works.

'Hearing them performed  well it's really wonderful. At one level, kind of like when someone cooks a meal and then gets to eat it and watch others eat it, as we have worked so hard to write something for families of believers to sing.

'But at an altogether deeper level the idea your creativity can help people sing to the Lord and enrich their spiritual walk is incredible.'
Local pastor says people 'are entitled' to protest the Government over Grenfell Tower fire

A local pastor has said that he understands why people are planning to protest the Government tomorrow over the disastrous fire at Grenfell Tower, which he described as a 'monument of shame to this country'.

Pastor Derrick Wilson of the Tabernacle Christian Centre on Latimer Road, who has been helping the victims of the fire since it broke out early last Wednesday, told Christian Today: 'We know that what is going on here in north Kensington is not being shown on the media. The majority of those affected are in trauma counseling. The victims are in three figures  not the figures being showed.'

The latest official death toll is currently 79.

'If people want to go on the protest they are entitled to  they want the truth, they want justice, they are grieving, they are angry,' said Wilson. 'I have talked to the victims myself and the traumatic stories that are coming out  you have no idea psychologically, mentally what they are going through. People are going to have a breakdown.

'Especially when it did not need to happen. It was predicted to the letter 18 months ago when the local association took their report to the council.

'When I look at this tower is a monument of shame to this country  like something out of Syria, Aleppo.'

The comments came amid fears among some that the protest, aimed at coinciding with the planned Queen's Speech, is being politicised.

Militant groups are planning to march on Parliament in a show of anger at the Government's austerity policies that they say led to the tragedy.

The protest is reportedly being led by the Movement for Justice By Any Means Necessary, formed in 1995 by a number of Marxist groups.

Campaigners are allegedly urging protesters to 'walk out of school, take the day off, call in sick, strike'.

The movement's Facebook page declares: 'We must escalate our actions to take down this rotten government, which has lost all authority to govern.'

Antonia Bright, a member of the SOAS Students' Union and one of the event's organisers, told The Sunday Telegraph: 'You have to ask what does it take to make this Government stand up and listen? This is about justice for everyone. I would expect people from all strands to be there.'

The calls for a mass protest this week came after an angry demonstration outside of Kensington Town Hall on Friday afternoon, when relatives and friends of those feared dead in the Grenfell fire forced their way into the building.

Several of the protesters carried banners reading 'The Tories have blood on their hands' and 'Kick Theresa May out of Downing Street'.

Pastor Wilson added: 'We are just paying for God's peace, that it doesn't spread over into a riot. You can feel the anger. The Church needs to pray for our nation  five disasters [four terrorist attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire] in four months. Unprecedented. The Church should be realising that something is wrong. These are dark times for the nation. As the Church goes, the nation goes. We must be a light in the darkness.'
Nearly 70 priests resign in Indonesia in protest at their bishop

Nearly 70 Catholic priests have resigned their posts in Indonesia after levelling accusations at their bishop that the bishop has condemned as 'slanderous'.

Bishop Hubertus Leteng is being accused of mismanaging $100,000, according to the Catholic Herald.

The 69 priests of Ruteng diocese accused church leaders of failing to meet their demands and address allegations against their bishop that they have been making over three years. Three years ago they presented a petition calling for his resignation to the Indonesian Bishops' Conference.

Bishop Leteng insists the claims are false and that the money was used to pay for educating a youth from a poor family. He also denies having an affair.

One priest said that reform was badly needed 'so the Church can be truly in line with the guidance of the Holy Spirit'.

He said, 'We demand renewal in pastoral work as well as in church and financial management.'

Bishop Leteng is alleged to have borrowed around $94,000 from the Bishops' Conference and a further $30,000 from his own diocese.

One priest told ucanews.com the bishop had told them it was to finance the education of the poor youth, who was studying to be a pilot.
Otto Warmbier dies days after being returned from North Korea in a coma; family thank supporters for prayers

American student Otto Warmbier has died just days after being returned to the United States from North Korea in a comatose state.

The 22-year-old's death on Monday was confirmed by his parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier. In a statement, they blamed his death on the treatment he had received at the hands of North Korea, where he had spent the last 17 months in prison for trying to remove a propoganda poster from his hotel.

After arriving back in the US, it was revealed that the University of Virginia student had suffered extensive brain loss and was unable to communicate.

North Korean authorities blamed his condition on botulism and said they had freed him on 'humanitarian grounds.' His family and US doctors refused to accept the official explanation from North Korea for his deterioration.

'The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,' Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

'When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see or react to verbal commands. According to the BBC, he had been in a coma for a year.

'He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

'We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too,' they said.

Warmbier was in Pyongyang on a tourist trip with other students from the University of Virginia when he was arrested on 2 January 2016 for trying to steal a propoganda poster from a hotel and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

According to the BBC, Warmbier had confessed to trying to take the propaganda poster as a 'trophy' for a US church.

US President Donald Trump responded to his death in a statement condemning 'the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'

His local church had responded to news of his condition by praying for him and his family. Eric Miller, pastor of the Ascension and Holy Trinity Church in Cincinnati, said according to Cincinnati.com: 'We've been praying for him, his parents, and now the people transporting him back home.

'[Warmbier's imprisonment] has touched people's lives in our church setting. It touches a lot of people in our community in a variety of ways. I think God hears our prayers.'

A member of the congregation, Jenni McCauley said: 'Our entire Wyoming community is thrilled that Otto is finally being returned to the US and to his family. Otto grew up here and we know him as an intelligent, personable, and wonderful young man. At the same time, we are saddened to learn that he is in a coma and we hope that he will soon be returned to full health.'
Pakistani Christian arrested for insulting Mohammad as state continues crackdown on 'blasphemy'

A Christian Pakistani man was arrested last week facing accusations of blasphemy, as the country's stringent, controversial crackdown on 'blasphemy' continues.

Repairman Ifshaq Masih, 23, was arrested June 16 in the Green Town area of Lahore after being accused of blasphemy, according to Morning Star News.

Muslim customer Mohammad Irfan had refused to pay Masih for a repaired bicycle, reportedly saying that it was not right for Masih to demand money from him.

Masih's brother Mahmood Masih described what followed: 'During the argument, Irfan said that he obeys only one master, Prophet Mohammad, to which Ishfaq said that he was a Christian and his faith ends at Christ.

'Upon hearing this, Irfan raised a clamour that Ishfaq had blasphemed against Muhammad. Soon a mob gathered at the spot, and someone called the police, who took Ishfaq into custody.'

Masih's attorney, Riaz Anjum said the report that had been filed against Masih under the country's blasphemy law was incorrect and vague. He was hopeful that Masih would be granted bail.

'The First Information Report is quite weak, as it does not contain any specific blasphemous words that my client may have allegedly said,' Anjum said. 'It also shows that the police did not even bother to investigate the charge before registering a case against the poor man. This is the routine practice of the police in blasphemy cases, and it's a shame that nothing is being done to stop it.'

The arrest comes after last month saw millions of Pakistanis began receiving text messages from the government warning against the sharing of 'blasphemous' content online.

The state-run Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said that 'uploading & sharing of blasphemous content on Internet is a punishable offence under the law', and provided contact details for reporting offensive content. The PTA has allegedly received more than 3,000 complaints about blasphemy online.

Rights activists warn that since anyone can create to fake social media account and post online in someone else's name, innocent citizens could easily be targeted and framed for 'blasphemy' that they never committed.

'All that needs to be done after that is registration of a case under the blasphemy law, and you will be in jail for a good number of years until the court decides your fate,' said Christian rights advocate Napolean Qayyum.

Pakistan's blasphemy legislation has been a major point of controversy in recent years. In April the majority-Muslim country's parliament called for reform to the laws after a student accused of blasphemy was killed in a mob lynching.
Charities have paid tribute to Lord Joffe, who was chair of Oxfam between 1995 and 1991, after he died on Sunday following a short illness.

As a young lawyer Joel Joffe defended Nelson Mandela at the 1963-4 Riviona Trial, before being exiled to Britian in 1965 when he worked at an insurance company which grew to be Allied Dunbar. He was involved with Oxfam for 20 years, including spending six years as the charitys chair. He was awarded the CBE in 1999, and in 2000 became a Labour peer as Baron Joffe of Liddington. In his later life he campaigned for assisted dying for the terminally ill.

He was born in 1932 in Johannesburg, South Africa and described himself as having a passion for justice.

The Joffe Charitable Trust, which was set up by Lord Joffe I and Vanetta Joffe in 1965, supports development in the developing world, primarily in Anglophone sub Saharan Africa.

In a statement on its website, it said: We are very sorry to announce that Joel Joffe died peacefully at home on 18th June 2017 after a short illness.

He was a friend, inspiration and support to many fighting poverty and injustice. The Joffe Charitable Trust will continue to work for these goals.

Joel's family expect to announce a memorial event later in the year.

Mark Goldring, Oxfam GB's chief executive, said: "Joel had an enormous influence on Oxfam and its staff for over the 20 years. His unswerving sense of justice and commitment to ending poverty was an inspiration to all those who worked with him. He was able to use his sharp legal mind and years of experience in business to challenge authority and increase the effectiveness of our work around the world.

His fearless campaigning for care of the elderly, corporate responsibility and global development shaped the world for the better, yet he always maintained his trademark self-deprecating sense of humour. Our thoughts are with his family and friends."

A statement from Dignity in Dying said: All of us at Dignity in Dying are devastated to hear of Lord Joffes death. Joel was a passionate campaigner and an exceptional advocate for the legalisation of assisted dying.

His death after a short illness is terribly sad for all of us, who will miss him dearly. Joels legacy as a pioneering campaigner and passionate advocate will live on for many years to come.

Stuart Etherington, chief executive of NCVO, tweeted: Very sad to hear of the death of Joel Joffe a campaigner for social justice and friend of the sector  condolences.
The Charity Commission has signed closer working agreements with two local authorities and a local fraud prevention partnership as part of a pilot to tackle misconduct and mismanagement, particularly around business rates avoidance.

The regulator yesterday published details of three memoranda of understanding agreements it has signed recently with the Kent Intelligence Network (a local partnership between Kent local authorities, the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner, and Kent and Medway Fire and Rescue Authority), Oxford City Council and with Broxbourne Borough Council.

Memoranda of understanding are intended to facilitate communication and promote co-operation between different bodies. The Commission already has a number with central government departments and other regulators.

A Commission spokesman said the memoranda with local bodies were part of pilot work which is exploring ways of working more closely with local authorities to tackle misconduct and mismanagement by charities, particularly regarding business rates avoidance.

In recent years a number of charities have been accused of helping landlords to avoid paying business rates by entering into short term rent agreements to occupy a building. Landlords have to pay full business rates on empty properties but if charities are occupying the building they can claim an 80 per cent discount, and local authorities have the discretion to increase this to 100 per cent.

Buildings occupied by charities have to be used for wholly charitable purposes to be eligible for the relief. If it is determined that charities are not occupying the property they can find themselves liable for the full business rates amount.

The Commission has been involved in investigating whether some of these charities involved in the schemes are operating within charity law. Earlier this year it published an inquiry report into the Africa Relief Trust, which had found itself in 800,000 debt after a scheme backfired.

Yesterday the Commission also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Information Commissioner. Last month it published a memorandum of understanding with the Big Lottery Fund.
By Press Trust of India: From Pritish Raj

Hawassa, (Ethiopia) Jun 20 (PTI) Indian fabrics and apparel major Raymond is looking to capture the stitched garments market in Europe and the US by exporting products from its new Rs 100-crore plant here.

The company has set a target of an annual revenue of about Rs 250 crore within a year from the plant here by exporting mainly to the two developed markets.

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It is looking to cash in on duty free access to the developed markets like the US and the Europe by setting up a plant here in Ethiopia, which has a trade pact with them.

"From this facility we are looking at an annual revenue of about Rs 250 crore from the exports to Europe and America in a year or so when the scale will reach to 4,000 suits per day," Raymond Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania told PTI.

He said the new plant here would be significantly cost competitive and the company is confident of luring global buyers to source the suits from Ethiopia.

"Ethiopia has a duty free access to Europe and America so the cost comes down significantly and also the government is very stable here" Singhania said.

Besides, unlike India, the country requires less capital expenditure due to low cost of land, subsidised power and availability of readymade industrial sheds, he said, adding low cost labour is also an advantage here.

The 27,000 square metre plant set up at the Hawassa Industrial Park has a capacity to produce 1.4 million suits per annum. It will only produce suits and exports will start from early next month.

The facility currently makes 500 suits per day and the company plans to increase it to 4,000 per day by the next year.

The garmenting plant was inaugurated today in presence of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

The company said it would create employment for 7,000 people towards the end of its final phase. It currently employs 500 locals.

The greenfield suit plant will be operated by Silver Spark Apparel Ethiopia PLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond. PTI PRJ RKL SBT

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The Pacific Explorer has made its debut for P&O Australia, arriving in Sydney, NSW, earlier this week. The former Dawn Princess was transformed into P&O Australia's newest ship following a drydock at a shipyard in Singapore.

Among the highlights, the Pacific Explorer has the two longest and wildest waterslides on an Australian-based ship, according to the cruise line. The ship also features a large aqua park and a barefoot lawn bowling green. Top-deck favorites P&OEdge Adventure Park and the Big Screen are also aboard.

According to P&O, the former 77,000-ton, 1,950-passenger Dawn Princess was transformed into a P&O ship with the help of more than 1,000 contractors who spent over 200,000 hours fitting 25,000 square meters of new carpet and painting 10,000 square meters of walls before installing over 3,000 items of new furniture and 1,200 pieces of artwork.

The Pacific Explorer has the signature Southern Cross livery emblazoned on her hull, which was also debuted by the Dawn in March this year.

New and exclusive to the Explorer are two new 'fast-casual' dining options: Luke's, a poolside grill by Australian chef and restaurateur Luke Mangan, and 400 Gradi, a traditional Neapolitan pizzeria by award-winning Melbourne chef Johnny Di Francesco.
Picture your life without your aha conveniences.

Youre thinking about costs, the time, the effort, but most of all the convenience of this item. Why are things convenience to us? They allow us to go through life and not have to worry about the details. I consistently strive to use the same rental car company because they do the one thing that all other rental companies dont do, pick me up and drop me off from my house. They go above and beyond. No worries with having to have a friend or family member drop me off or pick me up or costly daily parking fees. Certainly not me.

On my last pick up the representative, Morgan, and I visited and as the conversation went to credit unions she happened to mention how much she loves her credit union. She proceeded to share her concern about having to move her account when she moved from Houston to Austin. She continued to tell me she had an aha moment and was pleasantly surprised when she learned she was not going to have to close her account because of Shared Branching. Moreover she happily added that she was/is so grateful to her credit union for that unique phenomenon and convenience.

What if your members could take their credit unions with them wherever they go?
Snap-on Incorporated manufactures and markets tools, equipment, diagnostics, and repair information and systems solutions for professional users worldwide. It operates through Commercial & Industrial Group, Snap-on Tools Group, Repair Systems & Information Group, and Financial Services segments. The company offers hand tools, including wrenches, sockets, ratchet wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, punches and chisels, saws and cutting tools, pruning tools, torque measuring instruments, and other products; power tools, such as cordless, pneumatic, hydraulic, and corded tools; and tool storage products comprising tool chests, roll cabinets, and other products. It also provides handheld and computer-based diagnostic products, service and repair information products, diagnostic software solutions, electronic parts catalogs, business management systems and services, point-of-sale systems, integrated systems for vehicle service shops, original equipment manufacturer purchasing facilitation services, and warranty management systems and analytics. In addition, the company offers solutions for the service of vehicles and industrial equipment that include wheel alignment equipment, wheel balancers, tire changers, vehicle lifts, test lane equipment, collision repair equipment, vehicle air conditioning service equipment, brake service equipment, fluid exchange equipment, transmission troubleshooting equipment, safety testing equipment, battery chargers, and hoists, as well as after-sales support services and training programs. Further, it provides financing programs to facilitate the sales of its products and support its franchise business. The company serves the aviation and aerospace, agriculture, construction, government and military, mining, natural resources, power generation, and technical education industries, as well as vehicle dealerships and repair centers. Snap-on Incorporated was founded in 1920 and is based in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
CACI International Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides expertise and technology to enterprise and mission customers in support of national security missions and government modernization/transformation in the intelligence, defense, and federal civilian sectors. It operates in two segments, Domestic Operations and International Operations. The Domestic Operations segment offers information solutions and services to the U.S. federal government agencies and commercial enterprises in the areas, such as digital solutions, C4ISR, cyber and space, engineering services, enterprise IT, and mission support. The International Operations segment provides a range of IT services, proprietary data, and software products to the commercial and government customers in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, and internationally. The company designs, implements, protects, and manages secure enterprise IT solutions. It also offers software-defined, full-spectrum cyber, electronic warfare, and counter-unmanned aircraft system solutions; and platform integration and modernization and sustainment, as well as system engineering, naval architecture, training and simulation, and logistics engineering. In addition, the company provides enterprise cloud solutions for classified and unclassified networks; and intelligence support that ensures continuous advances in collection, analysis, and dissemination to optimize decision-making. CACI International Inc was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.
Justice Karnan has been evading arrest since May 9 and was caught by the police today.

By Pramod Madhav: Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, who had courted controversy with his defamatory remarks against the judiciary, was today arrested by West Bengal CID in Coimbatore for contempt of court.

Karnan was caught by a team of West Bengal Police from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from Coimbatore where he was staying for the last few days.

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Police said he resisted the arrest and argued with the cops before being taken into custody. Karnan will be taken to Kolkata later on.

Karnan, who retired on June 12 without a customary farewell, has been evading arrest since a seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar passed the unprecedented arrest order against him on May 9. He was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment for contempt of court by the Supreme Court.

Justice Karnan has the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.

Kolkata police were in search for him for more than a month. Karnan meanwhile was communicating with the President through letters seeking for his sentence to be suspended and also tried to garner the support of various Dalit leaders.

Karnan even called for a press meet in Chennai last week but didn't show up which became another disappointment for the Kolkata police who were ready to apprehend him there.

Karnan spoke at Coimbatore airport where he said that he was fighting against corruption. "I am not a terrorist. I'm fighting for the nation," he said. Karnan once again criticised the Supreme Court judges and claimed that casteism is deeply rooted into the legal system.

After being sentenced to six months jail, Justice Karnan had on May 12 moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Justice Karnan had said the Contempt of Courts Act was a "cathartic jurisprudence which belonged to the Dark Ages, the era of inquisition and torture, distinct from the classical Roman Law which constitutes the foundation of modern jurisprudence".

He had also sought a stay on all "further proceedings" pursuant to the May 9 order.

Karnan had appeared before the apex court on March 31, a first in Indian judicial history, and had asked for restoration of his powers as a precondition for his re-appearance, but the plea was rejected.

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Justice Karnan, who enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983, was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016.

He was transferred from the Madras High Court for his repeated allegations and run-ins with its then chief justice and fellow judges.

The high court judge had on February 15, 2016 stayed his transfer order, which was suspended by the Supreme Court.

The apex court had earlier even asked the chief justice of the Madras High Court not to assign him any judicial work.

Also read:

Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan to India Today: Am normal and stable, Supreme Court order harassment of a Dalit

Curious case of Justice Karnan: A history of controversies and mystery

ALSO WATCH VIDEO

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NGL Energy Partners LP is a vertically integrated master limited partnership operating a network of midstream pipelines and storage facilities. The company is a diversified play on mid-stream operations offering multiple services for producers and consumers alike. Founded in 1944, the company is headquartered in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The company, through a network of subsidiaries, is in business to transport, store, blend, and market crude oil, natural gas liquids, refined products, renewables, and water solutions in the United States. The company seeks to generate positive cash flow through its businesses and deliver returns to shareholders in the form of dividends, organic, and accretive growth. Organic growth is achieved by investing in new assets while accretive growth includes the acquisition of assets that complement the existing portfolio.

NGL Energy Partners operates in three segments that include Water Solutions, Crude Oil Logistics, and Natural Gas Liquids Logistics.

The Water Solutions segment transports, sells, reclaims, and recycles water for oil and natural gas production. This segment also aggregates recovered crude oil for sale, disposes of wastes, and performs cleaning services for trucks and fracking tanks along with other services.

The Crude Oil Logistics segment buys and transports crude oil and equivalents to refiners for processing and sale at pipeline heads and other trade hubs. This segment also provides storage and transportation services for third parties.

The Liquids Logistics segment supplies LNG, refined petroleum products, and biodiesel to commercial, retail, and industrial consumers in North America. This segment operates through a network of 24 terminals that are supported by third-party storage facilities, common carrier pipelines, and a fleet of leased railcars.








Tripura girl born with hydrocephalus which is a fatal condition that causes cerebrospinal fluid to clog in the brain making it swollen, died before her corrective surgery.

By India Today Web Desk: Roona Begum, five-year-old baby girl hailing from Tripura, has lost her fight with life just a month before her head surgery.

Roona made it to international headlines due to her rare condition which caused her head to bloat thrice the size of her head. Roona was suffering from hydrocephalus, a rare disease which causes cerebrospinal fluid to clog in the brain, making it swollen.

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Fortis Gurgaon was taking care of her medical treatment since 2013 and gave Roona eight surgeries to shrink her head from 94 cms to 58 cms, according to a media report.

Abdul Rahman and Fatima Khatun, the parents rushed Roona to hospital as she experienced breathing issues, but couldn't save her.

The doctors assured that she will become a normal kid, but the dream to see their daughter go to school did not materialise for daily wager father Abdul Rahman and homemaker mother Fatima Khatun.

"She had little breathing problem but before the child could be shifted to any other hospital for treatment, she was no more," Khatun told ANI.

Rahman said, "Roona's condition was very bad initially but after five surgeries at Delhi's Fortis hospital there was improvement in her condition."

Again, during the second visit more surgeries were conducted and there was further improvement but she could not walk, eat anything on her own or speak but the size of her head reduced. Yesterday, she had her food and I went for my work. At around 8 in the evening her mother called me that Roona has some complication and I rushed back and called her but within few minutes she breathed her last."

Roona's rare condition had also encouraged Nathalie Krantz from Norway along with Jonas Borchgrevink to raise money for the troubled child. Together, they collected $62,000 (Rs 40,00,000 approximately) for her treatment.

FYI || Bihar woman refuses to accept baby born with deformity, says he looks like an alien ||

FYI || Parents called him a witch: Abandoned 2-year-old goes to school and is happy now ||

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The Safdarjung Hospital clarified that the foetus was 20 weeks old, and the procedure was an abortion not a delivery. They added that fetuses less than 22 weeks do not survive.

By Priyanka Sharma: The case of a premature baby declared stillborn by doctors at Safdarjung Hospital but later found to be alive took a tragic turn on Monday as the newborn died after struggling to survive for 30 hours.

The institute also said that the medical procedure was actually an "abortion" and not a "delivery", as the mother was 20 weeks pregnant and the foetus weighed 460 grams.

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The matter got more clarity after the union health ministry intervened to take action against the hospital's "medical fault". The gynaecology department head terming the procedure a "delivery" had led to the confusion, said the institute.

MISSPELLED THE PROCEDURE?

According to WHO guidelines, babies born before 22 weeks and weighing less than 500 grams are not considered as deliveries and generally do not survive. Initial reports suggest the patient, Shanti, was 20 weeks pregnant. Her husband had brought her to the hospital for abortion, or medical termination of pregnancy (MTP).

Speaking to Mail Today, Safdarjung Hospital director Dr AK Rai said, "We have accepted the error and initiated an internal inquiry into the incident. As per the preliminary reports, it is a case of abortion and not a delivery." The central government-run hospital declared the baby dead on Sunday and the child was wrapped in a plastic bag in preparation for burial. It was only after relatives decided to take one last look at the baby and the bag was opened that they noticed the newborn's limbs twitching.

NO CLEAR GUIDELINES IN INDIA ON NEONATAL CARE

He was then shifted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Safdarjung Hospital. A copy of a letter from the hospital is with Mail Today, which states: "As per the resuscitative guidelines, foetus below 22 weeks of gestation are considered abortion and there is no hope of survival and active resuscitation and management is withheld. Since the present case is 20 weeks gestation, active resuscitation was withheld and baby was handed over when there was no sign of life."

The foetus inside Shanti's womb had developed like a full-fledged baby and sustained life too, which was poorly handled by duty doctors and nursing staff, say sources. The baby boy, whom doctors declared dead, was wrapped in a plastic bag and handed over to the family.

Experts say that a foetus turning into a baby in 20 weeks would live only for a short period with artificial life support. Dr Arti Maria, neonatal doctor at Delhi's RML Hospital told Mail Today that in India, there are no clear guidelines of neonatal care and such medical faults do occur. Doctors are unaware of proper procedures to take care of newborns and pre-mature babies, she said.

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Also read: 'My heart skipped a beat' Hours before last rites, father looks at stillborn son only to find him breathing

Also read: Man imagines neighbours accusing him of having sex with mom, chops his genitals

Also read: Peacocks don't have sex: Visitors flock Kerala peafowl sanctuary to see if Rajasthan HC judge was right

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By Press Trust of India: Bhubaneswar, June 19 (PTI) Internationally acclaimed sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik was today appointed brand ambassador of Orissa State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited (OMFED) today.

Pattnaik would play a significant role in popularising its products through his sand art in various fairs & festivals, Omfed Managing Director Vishal Gagan said.

The presence of the renowned sand artist would also go a long way in the uplift of poor milk producers of the state, he said.

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Omfed Chairperson Sarojini Mishra congratulated Pattnaik and said the milk cooperative was proud to have him as its brand ambassador.

Expressing happiness over his appointment, Pattnaik said it was an opportunity for him to serve the farmers of Odisha.

Omfed, an apex cooperative, has been striving hard since the eightees to provide self employment to 3 lakh farmers of Odisha for their sustainable livehood, an Omfed official said.

At present Omfed is selling 5.5 lakh litres milk and milk products in the state through its wide retail network. Omfed is a household brand name in Odisha. PTI SKN SBN

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Turkey-focussed gold exploration and development company Ariana Resources announced on Tuesday that it had raised an aggregate amount of approximately 1.87m by way of a placing of 133,846,154 new ordinary shares, and the subscription of 10,030,770 new ordinary shares at a price of 1.30p per placing and subscription share.

The AIM-traded firm said the placing, which was not underwritten, had been undertaken within the company's existing share authorities, and had been supported by both new and existing shareholders.

It said the placing was conditional on both the placing agreement between the company, Beaufort Securities and Panmure Gordon not being terminated prior to admission, and admission becoming effective on AIM.

The subscription, which was also made within the company's existing share authorities, was unconditional.

In addition, some of the directors intended to invest an aggregate amount of approximately 130,000 on the same terms as the subscription, including the issue price, the board confirmed.

A further announcement would be made once their participations had been completed.

The placing and subscription - when combined with the intended director participation - would result in the company raising gross proceeds of up to 2m.

Ariana said the net proceeds would be used in part for working capital support of its joint venture operating company, Zenit Madencilik San. ve Tic. A.S., a 50:50 partnership between Ariana and Proccea Construction, prior to the Kiziltepe operation achieving commercial production.

The proceeds would also be directed towards the continued exploration and development of the company's portfolio of advanced assets in Turkey, including Salinbas and Tavsan.

Operationally, the board said the ramp-up to full production capacity at Kiziltepe remained on track and is expected to be concluded by the end of June, following which quarterly production reporting would commence - and particularly once commercial production has been achieved.

This fundraising was completed with the support of existing and new investors, who have recognised the substantial progress made by the company during the past year, said Ariana chairman Michael de Villiers.

In that time the company has entered production at it JV-owned Kiziltepe Mine, substantially added to its resource base at Kiziltepe, completed scoping at the JV-owned Tavsan Project and acquired the 1Moz Salinbas Project outright.

Consequently, the company has significantly accelerated its project development across its portfolio in a short period of time and we are keen to ensure that this forward momentum is now maintained appropriately.

De Villiers said the funding would now enable Ariana to maintain progress across its portfolio, and in particular help support its JV operation at Kiziltepe with partners Proccea, until commercial production is achieved.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome our new shareholders and look forward to updating all shareholders further with further news from across its portfolio of assets in the coming months.
Chancellor Philip Hammond used his Mansion House speech to assure the City that he would try and press for a transitionary agreement keeping the UK in the customs union until new rules are implemented.

Speaking to an audience for the annual speech, which was delayed from last week due to the Grenfell Tower fire, Hammond identified four priorities that he said would allow Britain to achieve "a Brexit that works for the people".

Firstly, he said Brexit talks, which David Davis and his team began with their European Commission counterparts on Monday, will need to secure a comprehensive agreement for trade in goods and services.

"Secondly, by negotiating mutually beneficial transitional arrangements to avoid unnecessary disruption and dangerous cliff edges.

"Thirdly, by agreeing frictionless customs arrangements to facilitate trade across our borders  and crucially  to keep the land border on the island of Ireland open and free-flowing. To do this in the context of our wider objectives will be challenging. It will almost certainly involve the deployment of new technology," Hammond said, in the official text of his speech.

As a result there is likely to be an "implementation period" outside the EU customs union itself, but with current customs border arrangements remaining in place, until new long-term post-Brexit arrangements are up and running.

Finally, he said, there would need to be a "pragmatic approach" to the export of financial services.

He said "I am confident we can do a Brexit deal that puts jobs and prosperity first, that reassures employers that they will still be able to access the talent they need, that keeps our markets for goods and services and capital open, that achieves early agreement on transitional arrangements, so that trade can carry on flowing smoothly, and businesses up and down the country can move on with investment decisions that they want to make, but that have been on hold since the referendum."

The Chancellor said protectionist agendas were already being advanced from within the EU, "disguised as arguments about regulatory competence, financial stability, and supervisory oversight", with which he said Britain should have "no truck" but should "engage...be flexible and pragmatic" in acknowledging and resolving concerns from the EU financial industry as the UK will still provide a large market of vital financial services to EU firms and citizens from what would be outside EU jurisdiction.

The Institute of Directors welcomed the "pragmatic approach" on Brexit in the speech, with EU and trade policy head Allie Renison saying "the focus on jobs and the economy is a step towards shoring up shaky business confidence".

While Chancellor reiterated the governments intention to leave the EU customs union, she noted that he showed some flexibility on the process to do so.

"The emphasis on the need for an early agreement on transitional provisions  as opposed to sorting this out toward the end of the negotiations  is positive. Firms will need to know, at the latest by next summer, whether there will be substantive changes to trade and migration arrangements in order to have time to activate any contingency plans."

Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell claimed Hammonds speech showed how divided the government was on its approach to Brexit.

"We have seen the Chancellor again trying to distance himself from the position of his Prime Minister on Brexit. It just shows further disarray at the top of government. The fact that there is clearly such a serious split between Number 10 and 11 is very worrying and only helps to undermine our country ahead of the Brexit negotiations.

"It further shows just how weak a position Theresa May is in. And raises the serious question of: how can she negotiate Brexit when her own chancellor is so publicly disputing her position on Brexit and briefing against his own cabinet colleagues?"
A Saudi photographer clicked moments of security pilots ending their Ramzan fast above the Grand Mosque in a chopper as they patrolled the skies.

By India Today Web Desk: Millions of Muslims around the world are observing Ramzan. In this month of daily fasting from early morning to sunset, Muslims believe that the gates of heaven are opened, while those to hell are shut.

The city of Mecca is regarded as the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad and is Islam's holiest city. Mecca, where only Muslims are allowed, observe a great deal of hustle-bustle around Ramzan.

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The incredible bustle also calls for intense security measures. Watching over the skies in choppers is one of the security arrangements there.

Pilots who were on duty in choppers ended their Ramzan fast with a great view.

Photo: Twitter @AlBayanNews

A Saudi photographer shared photos of security pilots as they flew their Black Hawk chopper over the Grand Mosque. The set of photos has been doing rounds on the internet since then.

The pilots in the photos are shown eating dates and drinking water 2,500 feet above the ground, says a Gulf News report.

Photographer Yassir Bakhsh also tweeted photos of the 601-metre-tall Makkah clock tower which is the tallest building in Saudi Arabia.

Photo: Twitter @AlBayanNews

The tower is 35 times the size of Big Ben in London.

Photo: Twitter @AlBayanNews

FYI || Watch: Man caught assaulting fasting Muslim woman colleague in Karnataka ||

FYI || 1000 per cent rise in Muslim profiling by US Customs officials since Trump took office: Muslim group ||

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Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods Market showed it was very serious about entering the grocery market, putting it on a course to eventually become a direct competitor of all the main players in the space, analysts at Credit Suisse said.

In the short-term however, the tie-up was more of a concern for the main US grocers; indeed, Morrisons - and especially Ocado - might be set to benefit as a result.

The mainstream UK grocers all had extensive and somewhat entrenched online operations, the Swiss broker argued, so it left its estimates for them unchanged.

Morrisons was a "special case", according to the analysts, with its existing supply agreement with the American internet giant now more valuable.

Nonetheless, they did not believe it was an acquisition target.

As for Ocado, the merger would make its technology that much more attractive to grocers, particularly in the States, and increased the chances that it would be seen as a takeover target.

Ahold Delhaize was a different matter, with roughly 65% of its sales coming from the States it was levered to US market dynamics, the broker said.

Credit Suisse expected Amazon's move would trigger a "competitive response" from its new rivals, Wal Mart and Kroger. Then there was the arrival of low-cost rival Lidl's entry into the US and Aldi's refurbishment plans to contend with.

The broker stuck to its 'overweight' recommendation on Ahold but cut its estimate for the company's 2018 operating profits and lowered its fiscal year 2018 EBIT multiple for the shares to 10.0.

America's grocery market was set to become "increasinlt challenging", the analysts said.

Going forward, the main potential for Amazon.com in France and other markets was to pursue supply agreements with major suppliers, as it had with Morrisons.
Crude-oil futures went for a skate lower on Tuesday as traders sold the black liquid aggressively on renewed fears of oversupply, this stoked by burgeoning output from Libya and Nigeria and also US shale pumping concerns.

At 15:19 BST, Nymex-priced West Texas Intermediate crude plunged 3.05% to $42.85 a barrel. Intercontinental Exchange-traded Brent dived 2.77% to $45.61 a barrel.

"The assumption that extended Opec supply cuts would underpin the oil price is unravelling by the day," said Jasper Lawler, senior market analyst at London Capital Group.

"We would expect US crude to test $40 per barrel before any hopes of a sustainable recovery in oil prices," he said.

Hopes were now on the summer driving season drawing down US oil stores and easing some of the supply glut concerns.

Lawler added that Russian oil minister Novak's rubbishing of an emergency Opec/non-Opec meeting did not help the pricing, either.

"Brent crude is down $10 per barrel in less than a month so if they (Opec) really aren't planning an emergency meeting, perhaps they should."

All of this followed recent data at the weekend that revealed a still-rising US rig count -- for the 22nd consecutive week -- and comes ahead of this week's US stores data.

While Libya and Nigeria were exempt from Opec's production pledge, their feed into the global market did nothing to lessen the now chronic global glut.

Opec has already extended its output cap into 2018, but the market received this as an insufficient measure given the supply overhang.

Production from cartel Opec rose in May thanks to greater output from Nigeria, Libya and Iraq.

Libya's output rose over 50,000 barrels a day to 885,000 bpd, a source told Reuters. Exports of Nigeria's Bonny Light crude oil were set to rise 62,000 bpd in August, Reuters said.

John Kilduff, founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital, told CNBC that crude prices were "most definitely" heading to $40 a barrel, and would likely dip into the upper $30s.

Kilduff said the market appeared to be turning lower partially due to tanker-tracking data showing unsold crude oil cargoes from Nigeria, further noting concerns about US output.

Turning to metals, on Comex, gold lost 0.27% to $1243.3 an ounce. Silver fell 0.68% to $16.39 an ounce. Copper was 1.32% lower at 257.15 cents a pound.

On London Metals Exchange, three-month industrial metals were mostly ahead. Zinc rose 1.15%, copper added 1.08% and aluminum gained 1.04%. Tin, however, lost 0.46%.
US President Donald Trump has condemned the actions of North Korea after student Otto Warmbier died after returning from the secretive state in a coma following a stint in prison.

Warmbier was released back to his family last week after spending 17 months in detention for an incident during his time visiting the country with a tourism agency.

The 22-year-old returned home with severe brain damage, with Pyongyang authorities being blamed for his death.

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim, Trump said on Tuesday.

Trump added that the US would handle the North Korean regime, vowing "to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

Warmbier was released back to his family last week after spending 17 months in detention

The North Korean government has claimed that Warmbier fell into a coma after he contracted botulism and took a sleeping pill, but family members and US officials have disputed the regimes account.

Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today, the Warmbiers said following Ottos death.

Prominent Republican senator John McCain was highly critical of North Koreas actions in imprisoning the Ohio student.

"Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime, McCain said.

Warmbiers death is the latest in a series of events in recent months which have led to further tension between Washington and Pyongyang. Trump said in April that the US was preparing for a major conflict with the reclusive state.
Theresa Mays Conservatives could be hit with a legal challenge over a proposed deal to govern with Northern Irelands DUP , according to reports that emerged as two sides struggled to seal a final agreement.

The Guardian reported on Tuesday that a legal team has prepared the challenge to the coalition on the grounds that it breaches the Good Friday Agreement, the key document in the peace process in NI.

Various commentators on both sides of the Irish Sea have called into question the impartiality of any government in which the DUP is present in relation to the ongoing peace process.

If the so-called confidence and supply agreement is challenged in the courts, judges would have to decide whether such a government would be unable to exercise rigorous impartiality.

KINGMAKER

Prime Minister Theresa May's party sought out the largest party in NI after they failed to win a parliamentary majority in the general election earlier this month, with the DUP being projected into the unlikely position of kingmaker with its crucial 10 MPs.

The case would follow a similar legal challenge to the successful one led by investment banker Gina Miller, who forced the government into gaining authorisation from the Commons to proceed with Brexit.

According to the newspaper, a legal team has found a lead claimant for the case and it will proceed as soon as the deal between the Tories and the DUP is formally announced.

Northern Ireland has been without a government since March after the DUP and Sinn Fein could not reach a power-sharing agreement following Assembly elections, with the latter refusing to enter Stormont with Arlene Foster as first minister.

LATE WOBBLES

After 10 days of discussions since the snap election the continued failure of the two parties to reach an agreement was already raising worries ahead of the all-important Queen's Speech to open parliament on Wednesday.

Furthermore, leaks from the DUP suggested the party felt its side of the deal not being given due attention by the Tories and questioning May's ability to lead.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, senior DUP sources warned the party could not be "taken for granted" and that the negotiations havent proceeded the way we would have expected, according to the BBC.

They added that if May could not reach a deal, "what does that mean for bigger negotiations she is involved in?".

However, while the two parties have not reached a final deal, DUP leader Arlene Foster previously said it would be "right and proper" that her party lend its 10 votes to support the government's first Queen's Speech.
The value of Anglo American 's rough diamond sales fell 6% year-on-year in the fifth De Beers sales cycle of 2017.

The FTSE 100 group, which earlier this month appointed ex ARM and Tesco board member Stuart Chambers as its new chairman, sold $530m worth of rough diamonds in the sales cycle, up 1.5% on the $522m from the fourth cycle of 2017 but down on the $564m from cycle-five last year.

De Beers chief executive Bruce Cleaver said: "Following positive feedback from the Las Vegas trade show, and in line with recent trends, we saw continued good demand for De Beers rough diamonds in the fifth sales cycle of the year."

The fifth cycle represents provisional sales values as at 19 June 2017, while the fourth cycle from 2017 was restated from the $520m provisionally published in May.

Anglo's diamond production is being boosted by the continued ramp-up of the Gahcho Kue diamond mine in Canada, which has added to its major mines in South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.

In the first quarter, diamond production was up 8% to 7.4m carats, helped by increases in response to improved demand for lower value goods in stock.
Tullow Oil 's chief financial officer Ian Springett has resigned from the board with immediate effect due to ill health.

The news follows an announcement back in January that Springett had taken an extended leave of absence to undergo treatment for a medical condition.

Les Wood, who was made interim CFO in January, has been appointed as an executive director and CFO with immediate effect. Wood joined the company in 2014 and was vice president for commercial and finance before being appointed interim CFO. Before that, he held various roles at BP, including regional CFO roles in Canada and the Middle East.

Chairman Aidan Heavey said: "I am very sorry that Ians medical condition has led to his decision to step down from the board. He has been an invaluable and highly-regarded colleague and friend since he joined the Board of Tullow back in 2008. His financial acumen and industry expertise were evident from his first day as chief financial officer and he will be greatly missed. We wish him continued success in dealing with his illness."

At 0812 BST, the shares were flat at 158.30p.
Environmental organizations are calling foul on a carbon tax and dividend plan announced today that was supported by ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and other influential businesses, individuals and organizations.

The Climate Leadership Council, developed by former cabinet members James Baker and George Shultz, have crafted a plan designed to fight climate change by taxing carbon emissions and then redirecting that levy to taxpayers.

While the proposal has been touted as a free market, conservative climate solution, it also calls for the rolling back of Obama-era climate regulations and shields polluting companies from lawsuits over their contribution to climate change.

That sounds all-too convenient for a certain fossil fuel giant thats under investigation for exactly that, environmentalists pointed out. Experts also suggested that the chances that Congress would pass a carbon tax in the near future were low and would require bipartisan support.

Exxon is signing onto this carbon tax proposal because they know its dead-on-arrival, but hope it will distract from the ongoing investigations into whether the company lied to the public and its investors about climate change, Jamie Henn, 350.org strategic communications director, said.

We already know from the New York Attorney Generals investigation that Exxon misled investors about its internal carbon tax, stating one price externally but using a lower internal price to double down on fossil fuel extraction. Exxon has a decades-long track record of misleading the public on climate change, this is just more of the same delay and deceit.

As it happens, Exxon has historically lobbied against similar carbon tax proposals and contributed campaign funds to congress members who oppose a carbon tax.

ExxonMobil will try to dress this up as climate activism, but its key agenda is protecting executives from legal accountability for climate pollution and fraud, said Greenpeace climate liability project lead Naomi Ages.

Buried in pages of supposedly free market solutions is a new regulation exempting polluters from facing legal consequences for their role in fueling climate change.

Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter noted how such a carbon tax plan would allow fossil fuel corporations to continue business as usual.

That means continued oil and gas extraction, continued air and water pollution, and a continuing steady march toward irrevocable climate chaos, she said. This plan being promoted by notable conservatives and their industry allies is particularly absurd: It would scrap many existing pollution controlscommon sense rules that tackle carbon emissions at their sourcein favor of a market-based scheme that would push added costs onto consumers, not polluters.

Broadly speaking, there is no evidence that carbon taxes reduce carbon emissions, she added. Many tax advocates point to a plan instituted in British Columbia in 2008 as evidence of the methods success in lowering emissions. In fact, carbon emissions actually increased in B.C. under the plan. When carbon taxes increase costs on fossil fuel corporations, those costs are simply passed down to consumers at the gas pump or store shelves.

Only cutting carbon emissions at their sourceby keeping fossil fuels in the ground and transitioning rapidly to clean, renewable energywill quickly reduce emissions and effectively tackle the worst effects of impending climate chaos, she concluded.
Watch as Stephen Colbert on The Late Show mocks President Trumps call to the mayor of Tangier, Virginia concerning the rapid coastline loss of the island, roughly 15 feet per year.

According to local outlet Delmarva Now, Trump placed the call to Tangier Mayor James Ooker Eskridge after seeing a CNN report on the impact sea level rise is having on the island.

Trump said, Your island has been there for hundreds of years, and I believe your island will be there for hundreds more,' the mayor reported.

Watch above.
By Robert McSweeney

Up to three quarters of the worlds population could be at risk from deadly heat extremes by the end of the century, a new study suggests.

The research found that just under a third of the global population is currently exposed to heat extremes that have resulted in deaths in the past. This will increase as global temperatures rise.

Keeping global warming to less than 2C above pre-industrial levels would limit the number at risk from potentially lethal heatwaves to around half of the global population.

But, as other scientists told Carbon Brief, studies into heat-related deaths have a number of challenges to overcome before their findings can become widely applicable across both developed and developing regions.

Lethal threshold

Recent decades have seen some stark examples of how devastating heatwaves can be. For example, summer heat extremes caused more than 70,000 deaths across Europe in 2003, close to 11,000 in Moscow in 2010 (from both heat and air pollution) and around 740 in Chicago in 1995.

The new study, published Monday in Nature Climate Change, suggests that the number of people at risk from such deadly heat extremes will rise in the future.

The researchers trawled through the peer-reviewed literature for studies published between 1980 and 2014 about heat-related deaths. This turned up 911 papers that covered almost 2,000 case studies from around the world. Of these case studies, 783 focused on specific heatwave events in specific cities.

Using weather data, the researchers compared the conditions during those 783 events against those during other heatwaves in the same cities that didnt cause deaths. On this basis, they found that the combination of average daily temperature and humidity were the best way to differentiate between lethal and non-lethal events. Co-author Dr. Iain Caldwell, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, explained to Carbon Brief:

We were able to identify a threshold in temperature and humidity, above which conditions have become lethal in the pastwe call this threshold the deadly threshold in our paper.

You can see this in the chart below. The black crosses identify the reported temperature and humidity of lethal heat extremes, while the colored hexagons show the conditions during non-lethal heatwaves. The red line indicates the deadly threshold above which all events caused deaths.

Average daily surface air temperature and relative humidity during lethal heat events (black crosses) and during non-lethal heat event of equal duration from the same cities (the red to yellow shading indicates the number of such non-lethal events). Mora et al. (2017)

Overall, the researchers found humans are better able to withstand dry heate.g. at 20 percent humidity, heat becomes deadly beyond about 40Cbut as humidity increases, the lethal temperature threshold reduces towards 30C.

This is consistent with human thermal physiology, the paper said. In hot and humid weather, the air is already heavily laden with water vapor, so your sweat doesnt evaporate and your body can struggle to shed heat.

Deadly conditions

In the current climate, around 30 percent of the worlds population get 20 or more days per year above the deadly threshold.

This percentage is increasing as global temperatures rise, the researchers said, and will rise further through the centurydepending on how successfully we cut our carbon emissions.

For example, under the RCP8.5 scenario where emissions arent curbed, as much as 74 percent of the global population could be exposed to at least 20 days of deadly heat extremes a year by the end of the century.

However, cutting emissions to give a good chance of staying below 2C of global warmingknown as the RCP2.6 scenariowould reduce this percentage to 48 percent. At the moment, our emissions are tracking close to RCP8.5.

The study highlights the importance of cutting emissions to minimize how many people will be put at risk, said Dr. Jeremy Pal, from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Pal wasnt involved in the study, but co-authored a paper in 2015 about the potential for unbearable heat extremes in the Middle East. He told Carbon Brief:

The study is important because it shows additional strong evidence that climate change, if unmitigated, will result in an increase [of] deadly conditions to humans.

The researchers produced an interactive map of their results, for both the past and the future (see below). You can toggle between different decades and different emissions scenarios in the top right-hand corner. You can also watch a time lapse animation of the changing risk from 1950 to 2100 by clicking on the play icon in the bottom left-hand corner.

The shading indicates the scale of the risk of deadly heat days, from low (yellow) to high (red). Clicking on a location will give you a specific projection for the number of days above the deadly threshold.

The results suggest that tropical countries are likely to be worst affected by deadly extreme heat in the future. The findings were less conclusive for large regions of the worldshaded whitewhere either there wasnt sufficient data (e.g. North Africa), or the results had high uncertainty (e.g. much of the mid-latitudes).

Despite these gaps in the results, this doesnt mean these regions arent at risk. One example is Western Europe, noted Caldwell:

Based on the fact that there have already been severe lethal heat events in Europe in the recent past, I personally believe that the risk in these areas remains high. Fortunately, researchers in Western Europe seem to be developing early warning systems that should warn people when conditions are likely to become deadly.

Research challenges

As global temperatures rise, research on heatwaves and health is likely to become ever more pertinent. Yet, as scientists not involved in the study pointed out to Carbon Brief, there are some challenges that these sort of studies need to overcome.

One is that the bulk of the peer-reviewed literature on heat-related deaths refers to extreme heat in developed countriesparticularly Europe and North America. You can see this in the map from the study below.

Map of locations where links between heat and mortality have been documented (red squares) and where specific heat episodes have been included in this study (blue squares). Mora et al. (2017)

By basing their threshold for deadly heat and humidity on the available literature, the study is identifying relationships about heatwave risks from predominantly mid-latitude countries and assuming they are valid in other parts of the world.

This is a poor assumption, said Dr. Dann Mitchell from the University of Bristol, who led a study last year on the deaths caused by the 2003 European summer heatwave. He told Carbon Brief:

We know these relationships are highly city-dependent, changing due to local infrastructure, economy and lifestyle, amongst other things. Cities in Africa face very different challenges to those in Europe, and what is classed as deadly heat in one may not be the same as in another.

So, an increase in heatwaves will impact cities in European differently from those in Africa, said Mitchell. African cities may fare better in some ways, he added, but worse in others:

You have two competing effects in Africa. The study might overestimate heatwave risks because African cities are already used to higher heat extremes. But the study might underestimate heatwave risks, because African cities have less capacity to adapt to increases and to forecast them accurately.

The study did have some studies outside the mid-latitudes, noted Caldwell, such as in southern India and southern China. And the temperature-humidity threshold was surprisingly consistent across different latitudes, he added:

Of course, it would be more ideal to have incorporated data for more tropical areas but we had trouble finding such data. Hopefully this will prompt others to remedy this by collecting more data for those regions.

A second challenge is that the risks posed to health by heatwaves depend on socio-economic factors as well as the climate, said Professor Kristie Ebi of the department of global health at the University of Washington. These include, for example, the extent that people are exposed to heat extremes, how vulnerable they are, and whether they are able to prepare and manage for heatwaves.

In fact, there is evidence that in some parts of the world people are already adapting to worsening heat extremes, said Ebi:

There is growing literature that sensitivity to heatwaves has declined over recent decades, presumably because of some degree of acclimatization to ever higher temperatures, increasing access to air conditioning and cooling centers, better understanding and communication of the risks of high ambient temperatures, and changing infrastructure to reduce urban heat islands.

Including projections of recent and future changes in exposure and vulnerability would have been a helpful addition to the new study, Ebi added.

Reposted with permission from Carbon Brief.
From repealing and replacing Obamacare to constructing that border wall, President Donald Trump has broken a lot of promises that he made on the campaign trail. However, there is one area where Trump has been seemingly true to the his wordcrippling the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to the first of a series of reports from the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative (EDGI), the Trump administration poses the greatest threat to the EPAs 47-year history.

The groups stunning analysis, The EPA Under Siege, draws on institutional history and the insight of more than 50 interviews with long-term EPA staff, who are unidentified in the report for their protection. The reports authors have identified plummeting morale, mutual distrust between political appointees and career staff, and paralysis of operations within the EPA under current Administrator Scott Pruitt.

Twice before, presidential administrations in North America have targeted their own environmental agencies with comparable aggression, in the early Reagan administration (1981-1983) and under Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2006-2015), the EDGI reports authors state. Trumps assault is on track to surpass these.

The EDGI is an international coalition of academics and nonprofits organizations that formed after Trumps election to address potential threats to federal environmental and energy policy. You may know of their detailed work on tracking changes to federal websites.

There are many unsettling revelations from the report, but this section says it all:

From their front row seats, many agency veterans now think they see a gathering profile of the Trump administrations long game: to abolish the EPA. I think theres a general consensus among the career people, one tells us, that at bottom theyre basically trying to destroy the place. Another, working in a different office, elaborates: I think this is just phase one  I think theres a much bigger master plan [discernible] if you read into what came out of restructuring  were going to be structured out. I think theyre either going to break us up again and send us back to the  programs we came from, or combine us with Energy or strip even further programs from us so that theres just a real exceedingly small base thats doing this work. I think the plan is to get rid of EPA.

Here are some of the other allegations from the EPA staff (you can read the whole collection of quotes here):

Pruitt has never met with environmental groups. I dont believe hes met with any environmental groups to date, so hes still kind of sticking with his core business, government groups. Almost no one interviewed in the report has had contact with Pruitt himself or seen him around the office. Rather, they take note of his frequent trips around the country and visits with like-minded constituencies, such as Western governors, farmers and coal miners.

Pruitt has banned staff from taking notes. Theres a premium on, I would say secrecy. Meaning senior managers that are going into meetings with Pruitt. arent [allowed to compile] written materials. Theyre asked not to take notes, not to take a computer in and type notes Everything is just verbal. If its just verbal, then theres no record that you can get a FOIA to see what happened.

Pruitt has requested around-the-clock security. Pruitt is requesting in the 2018 budget that he have a security team, 24/7, made up of 10 people because he feels his life is I guess at risk because theres such internal hatred at EPA. This is scary and unfounded.

Pruitts first speech to the agency was carefully stage-managed to avoid dissent. His speech also never alluded to the EPAs longstanding work in safeguarding human health, science, scientists, ecology or even climate change. One staff member recalled, I can say that many of us were seething after watching his speech. Well, watching it live from the EPA TV. Junior staff were not permitted to attend in person. All staff were provided with the opportunity to rsvp to attend but apparently the rsvp list was reviewed with a fine toothed comb so only those certain to not cause a disruption during the speech, would be there. I assume that means old people with suits (which is what we saw on the EPA tv while watching the speech). Yes, I too was wondering when he would mention human health. Apparently never!

Trumps visit to the EPA was met with frustration from staff employees. During Trumps March 28 visit to the agencys headquarters to sign new energy revolution executive order to undo Obamas climate policies he was flanked by coal miners, Pruitt, Vice President Mike Pence and the new Secretaries of Energy Rick Perry and Interior Ryan Zinke. However, few people at the EPA were invited. One interviewee said, We were frankly insulted that the President would come to EPA to announce that he is overturning the work to battle the most urgent environmental problem of our generationclimate change. It was beyond comprehension that an Administration could be so arrogant and callous. Another veteran official described it as an in-your-face, insulting [a] thing as Ive experienced in my time here.

Some staff believe that Trumps draconian 2018 EPA budget proposal was influenced by conservative think-tanks. One EPA workers personal opinion was that its all from the Heritage Foundations report, almost verbatim  they just literally went through the list and said well this is climate change, boom this goes. EJ [environmental justice] we couldnt care less about that, this goes.
By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Inserting addl quote of Uddhav and other information)

Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) In a virtual U-turn, Shiv Sena, a key constituent of the BJP-led coalition, today extended its support for the NDAs presidential choice Ram Nath Kovind, saying he is a "simple and decent human being."

Interestingly, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray had yesterday stated that Sena was not interested in backing Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.

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If Senas verbal support for Kovind materialises into action, then it would be a departure from its previous stand wherein it had supported UPA nominees in presidential polls elections on at least two occasions after ditching the BJP.

Sena had supported the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the 2012 presidential polls against the NDAs P A Sangma. In 2007, it backed Pratibha Patil instead of NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawt.

"After holding discussions with our party leaders, we have decided to back the NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. After our support, I do not think it will be difficult for the BJP to get him elected," Thackeray told reporters at his residence Matoshree in suburban Bandra this evening.

When asked what made him agree to back Kovind, the Sena chief said, "We have studied his personality and found him to be a very simple and a decent human being. Thus, we decided to go ahead with his name."

The virtual climbdown came a day after Thackeray stated that "there are attempts being made to play politics over a Dalit presidential candidate. If that is so, we are not interested in backing him."

Referring to BJP president Amit Shahs visit to his residence on Sunday, Thackeray today said Shah had sought our support for their candidate, though his name was not declared then.

"In turn, I suggested him two names which he said the BJP will consider. After the BJP announced the presidential candidate, Shah once again called me and told me that the names which I had suggested were considered, but that they (BJP) had their reasons for not making them the BJP candidate," he said.

Sena had earlier proposed the names of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and veteran agriculturist M S Swaminathan.

Responding to a question that if Sena will support the opposition parties if they field a Dalit candidate, Thackeray said his stand will not change now.

"It is not necessary that Sena will always oppose the BJP," he said.

When asked if Sena will back opposition parties if they announce the name of either Bhagwat or Swaminathan, Thackeray said, "I had announced names of Mohan Bhagwat and Swaminathan a week back. Had they wanted my support, they would have declared one of the names till now. But time has passed now and I will not change my decision."

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Sena had earlier rooted for the candidature of Bhagwat on Hindutva line and later proposed the name of Swaminathan for the top post.

Bhagwat, however, didnt show any interest whereas Swaminathan chose not to react.

Thackeray had said Sena had proposed Bhagwats name while keeping in mind the concept of Hindurashtra (Hindu nation).

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP has 122 MLAs and claims to have support of some more MLAs. Sena has 63 MLAs.

There are 67 members from Maharashtra in Parliament - 48 in the Lok Sabha and 19 in the Rajya Sabha.

The BJP-led NDA (including Sena) has total of 52 MPs.

Sena has 21 MPs - 18 in Lok Sabha and 3 in Rajya Sabha, while the BJP has 23 members in Lok Sabha and 5 members in Rajya Sabha from the state, that corresponds to a total value of 19,824 votes.

The Congress-led UPA has 15 MPs from the state in both the houses of Parliament. The total value of MP votes of the UPA is 10,620.

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Sena had yesterday said that the party was ready to face the mid-term polls in Maharashtra.

"Hold mid-term polls if you want, we are ready... Shivsainik is not just a burning ember, but will rise like a forest fire," he had said. PTI MM NSK RAX

--- ENDS ---
Warnings of excessive heat in the American Southwest have forced airlines to cancel dozens of of flights this week.

American Airlines flies certain routes with the Canadian-built Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which is not permitted to fly in temperatures above 117 degrees Fahrenheit. In Phoenix, Arizona, where temperatures are around a scorching 119, American Airlines had no choice but to preemptively cancel seven flights on Monday and 43 for Tuesday.

Our smaller regional operationsthose that use our CRJ aircraft typeswill be most affected by the heat, the airlines communication specialist Kent Powell told CNN. We really arent expecting any change to the operation with our mainline aircraft.

According to National Weather Service meteorologist Tom Fisher, temperatures in Death Valley in eastern California and in the town of Needles near the Arizona border are expected to reach a whopping 127 degrees this week.

A strong high pressure aloft over the southwest states will create hot conditions away from the coast at least through midweek, peaking Tuesday and Wednesday, the National Weather Service reported on Monday. High pressure may weaken slightly the latter part of the week with inland temperatures slightly lowering through Friday.

Several Northern Californian cities broke heat records on Sunday, including Sacramento (106 degrees), San Jose (103 degrees) and San Francisco (88 degrees). The high temperatures have led to power outages in Californias Central Valley, the Bay Area and southern parts of the state.

Transportation officials are also looking into whether the extreme heat is behind the buckling of several freeway lanes in West Sacramento on Sunday.
By Carey Gillam

Another day, another lawsuit against global seed and chemical giant Monsanto Co. In a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Wisconsin, six consumers alleged that the companys top-selling Roundup herbicide has been falsely promoted as uniquely safe when it actually can have profound harmful impacts on human gut bacteria critical to good health.

The lawsuit, which also names Roundup distributor Scotts Miracle-Gro Co. as a defendant, specifically alleges that consumers are being deceived by inaccurate and misleading statements made by Monsanto regarding glyphosate, the active weed-killing ingredient in Roundup. Plaintiffs include residents of Wisconsin, Illinois, California, New York, New Jersey and Florida.

Glyphosate, which Monsanto introduced as an herbicide in 1974 and is widely used in growing food crops, has been promoted for years as a chemical that kills plants by targeting an enzyme that is not found in people or pets. The lawsuit claims that assertion is false, however, and argues that research shows glyphosate can target an enzyme found in gut bacteria in people and animals, disrupting the immune system, digestion and even brain function.

Defendants repeat these false and misleading representations throughout their marketing, including in video advertisements produced for their websites and YouTube Channel, states the lawsuit, which is filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

Monsanto did not respond to a request for comment and neither did Scotts. Monsanto is currently defending itself against nationwide claims that Roundup has caused hundreds of people to suffer from a type of blood cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma. More than 1,100 plaintiffs have lawsuits pending in state and federal courts with many of the lawsuits combined in multi-district litigation in federal court in San Francisco. Those lawsuits were triggered by a 2015 decision by the World Health Organizations International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) to classify glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen. IARC said research showed an association between non-Hodgkin lymphoma and glyphosate, with limited evidence from epidemiology data collected on humans and stronger evidence seen in laboratory animals exposed to glyphosate.

The lawsuit filed in Wisconsin is markedly different from the Roundup cancer claims, though some of the same attorneys are involved in both lines of litigation. Plaintiffs do not claim physical injury; rather they claim violations of trade and business practices laws, and allege Monsanto and Scotts were unjustly enriched as plaintiffs purchased and paid for more Roundup products than they would have in absence of the alleged false promotions.
When governments put oil before people, they need to be held accountable, said actress Emma Thompson in this powerful Greenpeace International video.

Thompson is teaming up with Greenpeace to take on Big Oil in the Arctic. She explains that the most important thing she learned after visiting the polar region is that what happens in the Arctic, doesnt stay in the Arctic. It affects us all.

Now, for the first time in 20 years, the Norwegian government wants to drill for oil in the Arctic region, but Greenpeace is taking the government to court. Thompson encourages viewers to add their name to Greenpeaces petition and join the the fight against Arctic drilling.
A group of former Republican officials (including James A. Baker, Henry Paulson, George P. Shultz, Marty Feldstein and Greg Mankiw) are proposing a carbon tax starting the tax at $40 per ton, that would gradually increase.

The proceeds of the tax would be distributed to every American.

The average family of four would receive $2,000 annually in dividends. As the tax rises, so would their dividends. Since everyone would receive the same amount of revenue from the tax regardless of their income level, the dividend would make a bigger difference for poorer families than for wealthier ones.

https://twitter.com/EcoWatch/status/774356804339953664

Its a win-win: Less carbon in the atmosphere and more equal distribution of income.

That its being proposed by Republicans doesnt make the idea any less worthy.

Im aware that some on the left would rather use revenues from such a tax to invest in clean energy and other social causes rather than return the revenues directly to the public. That detail can be worked out.

The idea is getting a hearing in the White House. And in these dreadful times, thats good news indeed.
President Trump plans to sign an executive order today intended to aggressively expand drilling in protected waters off the Atlantic and Arctic oceans.

The new EO will direct U.S. Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke to review the current offshore drilling plans, which limits most drilling to parts of the Gulf of Mexico and Alaskas Cook Inlet, and reexamine opening parts of the Atlantic and Arctic oceans to drilling. The EO will also roll back President Obamas permanent ban on drilling in the Arctic, issued in the last full month of his presidency. Zinke cautioned reporters that implementation of the EO will be a multi-year effort, and several groups have pledged lawsuits to further slow down the process.

Interior Sec. Ryan Zinke is dead wrong, said Greenpeace USA senior climate and energy campaigner Diana Best.

Renewable energy already has us on the right track to energy independence, and opening new areas to offshore oil and gas drilling will lock us into decades of harmful pollution, devastating spills like the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and a fossil fuel economy with no future. Scientific consensus is that the vast majority of known fossil fuel reservesincluding the oil and gas off U.S. coastsmust remain undeveloped if we are to avoid the worst effects of climate change.

Best added that Trumps latest executive order does not have popular support, and instead caters to Trumps inner circle of desperate fossil fuel executives.

Holing up at Mar-a-lago may protect Trump from an oil spill, she said, but it will not protect him and his cabinet of one percenters from the millions of people in this countryfrom California to North Carolinawho will resist his disastrous policies.

Waterkeeper Alliance Executive Director Marc Yaggi agrees. This attempt to greatly expand offshore drilling into the Arctic and Atlantic is a blatant prioritization of fossil fuel profits over the health of our climate and coastal communities, he said. President Trump is ignoring the cries of citizens who have said offshore drilling poses too great a threat to their economies and ways of life.

For a deeper dive:

New York Times, AP, Axios, Politico, NPR, LA Times, Bloomberg, USA Today, The Hill, ThinkProgress

For more climate change and clean energy news, you can follow Climate Nexus on Twitter and Facebook, and sign up for daily Hot News.
Pa. Dems could flip the House of Reps. Here's what that might mean.

elections
BEER-SHEVA, Israel...June 20, 2017-- An innovative technique using light and tiny bubbles to propel microparticles at forces many times greater than previously achieved has been developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers.

The new technique could have significant implications in the development of micromotors and optical devices for use in solar cell optics. "What we ultimately hope to achieve is a highly accurate, passive technology for use in a concentrated solar device that would follow the sun without the need for a mechanical tracking mechanism," says Dr. Avi Niv, study co-author.

According to the findings published recently in Nature Scientific Reports, the researchers converted the energy created from light into kinetic motion using nano-sized, laser-generated bubbles. As the bubble expands it acts as a propulsion mechanism for surrounding microparticles. Mechanical manipulation of micro- and nano-scaled objects is important in biology, surface science and microfluidics, and for micromachines in general.

View a video of the experiment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL9CUoSkYeU

Dr. Niv says, "In our study, a micron-sized object was propelled at unprecedented speeds of close to one meter-per-second, six times faster than what is common in present devices, while still maintaining motion direction control." Dr. Niv and co-author Ido Frenkel, a Ph.D. student, are part of BGU's Alexandre Yersin Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.

"After the bubble initiates movement and bursts, there is no trace of the vapor; the system returns to the original state and the same action can be initiated repeatedly, like a combustion engine."

###

This research was supported by the I-Core Program of the Planning and Budgeting Committee and the Israel Science Foundation, The Ministry of Economy and Industry of Infrastructure Energy and Water, as well as the Adelis Foundation.

About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision: creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. As Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) looks ahead to turning 50 in 2020, AABGU imagines a future that goes beyond the walls of academia. It is a future where BGU invents a new world and inspires a vision for a stronger Israel and its next generation of leaders. Together with supporters, AABGU will help the University foster excellence in teaching, research and outreach to the communities of the Negev for the next 50 years and beyond. Visit vision.aabgu.org to learn more.

AABGU, headquartered in Manhattan, has nine regional offices throughout the United States. For more information, visit http://www.aabgu.org.
When trying to memorize information, it is better to relate it to something meaningful rather than repeat it again and again to make it stick, according to a recent Baycrest Health Sciences study published in NeuroImage.

"When we are learning new information, our brain has two different ways to remember the material for a short period of time, either by mentally rehearsing the sounds of the words or thinking about the meaning of the words," says Dr. Jed Meltzer, lead author and neurorehabilitation scientist at Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute. "Both strategies create good short-term memory, but focusing on the meaning is more effective for retaining the information later on. Here's a case where working harder does not mean better."

Past studies have looked at repetition to create short-term memories, but these findings suggest that using the word's meaning will help "transfer" memories from the short-term to the long-term, says Dr. Meltzer. This finding is consistent with the strategies used by the world's top memory champions, who create stories rich with meaning to remember random information, such as the order of a deck of cards.

Through this work, researchers were able to pinpoint the different parts of the brain involved in creating the two types of short-term memories.

"This finding shows that there are multiple brain mechanisms supporting short-term memory, whether it's remembering information based on sound or meaning," says Dr. Meltzer, who is also a psychology professor at the University of Toronto. "When people have brain damage from stroke or dementia, one of the mechanisms may be disrupted. People could learn to compensate for this by relying on an alternate method to form short-term memories."

For example, people who have trouble remembering things could carry a pad and rehearse the information until they have a chance to write it down, he adds.

The study recorded the brain waves of 25 healthy adults as they listened to sentences and word lists. Participants were asked to hold the information in their short-term memory over several seconds, and then recite it back, while their brain waves were recorded. Participants were then taken to a testing room to see if they could recall the information that had been heard. Through the brain scans, researchers identified brain activity related to memorizing through sound and meaning.

As next steps, Dr. Meltzer will use these findings to explore targeted brain stimulation that could boost the short-term memory of stroke patients. Additional funding would support the exploration of which types of memory are best treated by current drugs or brain stimulation and how these can be improved.

###

This work was supported by funding from the Tony Hakim Award for Innovative Stroke Research from the Canadian Partnership for Stroke Recovery, a New Investigator Research Grant from the Alzheimer's Association and Baycrest Health Sciences.

About Baycrest Health Sciences

Baycrest Health Sciences is a global leader in geriatric residential living, healthcare, research, innovation and education, with a special focus on brain health and aging. Fully affiliated with the University of Toronto, Baycrest provides excellent care for older adults combined with an extensive clinical training program for the next generation of healthcare professionals and one of the world's top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience, the Rotman Research Institute. Baycrest is home to the federally and provincially-funded Canadian Centre for Aging and Brain Health Innovation, a solution accelerator focused on driving innovation in the aging and brain health sector, and is the developer of Cogniciti - a free online memory assessment for Canadians 40+ who are concerned about their memory. Founded in 1918 as the Jewish Home for Aged, Baycrest continues to embrace the long-standing tradition of all great Jewish healthcare institutions to improve the well-being of people in their local communities and around the globe. For more information please visit: http://www.baycrest.org

About Baycrest's Rotman Research Institute

The Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest Health Sciences is a premier international centre for the study of human brain function. Through generous support from private donors and funding agencies, the institute is helping to illuminate the causes of cognitive decline in seniors, identify promising approaches to treatment, and lifestyle practices that will protect brain health longer in the lifespan.
A new study suggests the existing drug D-cycloserine may enhance recovery for children during treatment for pediatric feeding disorders, by changing their brain's reaction to food. The results are reported in the June 20, 2017, online edition of Translational Psychiatry, from researchers at the Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University School of Medicine and Yerkes National Primate Research Center.

Children with feeding disorders who received behavioral intervention and D-cycloserine experienced more rapid treatment gains, with a 76 percent improvement in feeding after five days of treatment, compared with a 37 percent rate of improvement for children who received behavioral intervention and a placebo. This is the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of D-cycloserine in feeding disorders.

"While a growing body of research indicates D-cycloserine may improve outcomes for children undergoing cognitive behavior therapy for anxiety, this is the first clinical trial focusing on the use of this medication as an adjunct to feeding intervention for severe food refusal," says co-author William Sharp, PhD, director of the Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program at Marcus Autism Center and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine. "Our results suggest that D-cycloserine may play a similar role in augmenting the effectiveness of intensive behavioral intervention targeting chronic food refusal, which holds potential to reduce treatment time and cost to affected families."

Also in this publication, studies with mice showed that D-cycloserine increased food sampling and enlarged dendritic spines, or parts of brain cells that connect with other neurons, in the part of the mouse brain associated with decision-making. The authors suggest the brain changes account for the drug's ability to result in behavioral changes in both the mice and the children with feeding disorders.

Co-author Shannon Gourley, PhD, an investigator at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, conducted the mouse studies. "Our findings suggest that plasticity within this particular brain region is really important for extinguishing aversions. These findings could guide future studies aimed at assisting individuals in overcoming maladaptive food avoidance," says Gourley.

Children with feeding disorders avoid eating, often refusing most or all food presented during meals. This can lead to serious medical and developmental consequences, including faltering growth, compromised immune functioning and impaired cognitive development. Feeding disorders also negatively impact family functioning, with caregivers experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety surrounding meals. This intensifies the need to identify and test interventions that significantly improve the health and quality of life for children with debilitating feeding concerns.

"When faced with chronic food refusal, families often rely on artificial support - such as the use of a feeding tube - to assure growth and development," says Sharp. "A more long-term solution, however, requires an intervention that focuses on helping children develop a positive relationship with food while re-establishing a constructive parent-child interaction during meals."

Intensive behavioral interventions at multidisciplinary day treatment or inpatient hospital programs are well-supported treatments for children and families impacted by feeding disorders. Intervention, however, can be costly with limited availability at a handful of specialty centers, such as the Pediatric Feeding Disorders Program at Marcus Autism Center. Results from this study suggest that D-cycloserine - a partial N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor agonist - may help augment extinction of food aversion.

The study also provides important insights into possible neural mechanisms that underlie chronic food refusal in young children. Sharp teamed with Gourley, who taught healthy mice to avoid a certain type of food (while still consuming other types). She then allowed mice the opportunity to investigate the avoided food later. Because mice are inquisitive and opportunistic, they will overcome their prior training and sample the food they previously avoided. She found that, just as seen in the children treated with the drug, D-Cycloserine accelerated the sampling of foods. In tandem, the brains of the mice showed changes. After the drug treatment, dendritic spines, or small protrusions that extend from brain cells and form connections with other brain cells, were enlarged in a brain region important for decision-making, the orbitofrontal cortex.

"This study represents the first randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial examining D-cycloserine in the treatment of feeding disorders. Our results warrant additional large-scale efficacy studies with children with feeding disorders, as well as further investigation of the underlying neural mechanisms," Sharp advised. "This line of research holds enormous therapeutic potential for the most severely impacted children. More rapid uptake of food would permit more timely elimination of supplemental feedings via feeding tube or bottle dependence in affected individuals, coinciding with a decrease in problem behavior at mealtime, a significant source of stress for caregivers."

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Marcus Autism Center

Marcus Autism Center is a not-for-profit organization and an affiliate of Children's Healthcare of Atlanta that treats nearly 5,000 children with autism and related disorders a year. As one of the largest autism centers in the U.S. and one of only three National Institutes of Health Autism Centers of Excellence, Marcus Autism Center offers families access to the latest research, comprehensive evaluations and intensive behavior treatments. With the help of research grants, community support and government funding, Marcus Autism Center aims to maximize the potential of children with autism today and transform the very nature of autism for future generations. Visit marcus.org for more information.

About Children's Healthcare of Atlanta

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, a not-for-profit organization, is dedicated to making kids better today and healthier tomorrow. Our specialized care helps children get better faster and live healthier lives. Managing more than 850,000 patient visits annually at three hospitals and 24 neighborhood locations, Children's is the largest healthcare provider for children in Georgia and one of the largest pediatric clinical care providers in the country. Children's offers access to more than 60 pediatric specialties and programs and is ranked among the top children's hospitals in the country by U.S.News & World Report. With generous philanthropic and volunteer support, Children's has impacted the lives of children in Georgia, the United States and throughout the world. Visit http://www.choa.org for more information.

Emory University School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics

Faculty-physicians in the Emory Department of Pediatrics provide the highest quality state-of-the-art clinical care, with a commitment to improving treatment for children through scientific research as well as training the next generation of leaders in pediatrics.
By Press Trust of India: Mumbai, Jun 20 (PTI) BJP chief Amit Shah, during his recent cisit to the city, asked all ministers from Maharashtra to adopt one constituency each where the party was not strong, a senior state minister said today.

He said Shah had also asked the party MLAs to increase rapport with people as "the Modi wave would not always help them to win elections".

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"Shahs visit was completely dedicated to party organisation. He just asked us how many schemes from our department are proving to be beneficial for the common man and whether we are taking regular reviews on implementation of those schemes," the minister said.

The constituencies where party organisation was weak and did not have any MLA or Lok Sabha MPs would now have more focus according to the plan discussed at the meeting with Shah, the minister said.

He said the ministers would be made to adopt a constituency each to make the party strong.

"We will now have to dedicate four days a month to the adopted constituencies. Who should adopt which constituency would be decided by the party, Shah has instructed," the minister added.

Another minister said Shah gave party workers and the ministers a great deal of clarity on what was expected out of the organisation and what were the things to be done by those in the government.

When one of the party leaders tried to pursue with Shah an issue that was pending with a Union minister, Shah asked the leader to pursue it with the concerned minister and not the party organisation, he claimed.

As per the minister, to strengthen the party structure till the booth level, grassroot workers would be made page pramukh.

"They would be responsible for developing a rapport with voters on a single page of a voters list. The page pramukh will have to develop a system to get introduced to each and every voter on the list given to him," he said.

"That party worker would be expected to develop closeness with the families and understand whether they have all basic things like the ration card, AADHAR card with them.

"What are the government schemes that they are benefiting from, schemes they are eligible for etc. and there would also be a mechanism of instruction and feedback to keep the system rolling," the minister said. PTI MM NRB AAR

--- ENDS ---
Rain or shine has new meaning thanks to an innovative, inexpensive and simple tactic developed by researchers at Florida Atlantic University that will really change how people think about watering their lawns. The tactic? A straightforward road sign.

Outdoor water restrictions are a common water conservation strategy in the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries to address water use as it relates to maintaining lawns and greenspace. In fact, 29 states in the U.S. have outdoor water restrictions that only allow lawn watering on certain days or times. Conserving water is critical because 50 to 90 percent of household water is used for this purpose. Furthermore, to provide each South Florida lawn with the necessary one-inch of water per week, it takes more than 62 gallons of water for every 10-foot-by-10-foot area.

However, this one-pronged approach of water restrictions that involves pre-set and arbitrary lawn-watering schedules does not always result in actual water savings so Tara Root, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Geosciences in FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, and Felicia D. Survis, who recently earned her Ph.D. at FAU, decided to do some research.

For two years, which included two annual wet and dry seasons, they conducted a unique study in Wellington, a suburban village in South Florida, to demonstrate how you can save a lot of water by simply providing people with more information than just directives, schedules or guidelines about which days of the week they can water their lawns. Wellington provided the perfect venue for this study since the village is located in a region that has distinct wet and dry seasons and that is subject to permanent year-round mandatory water restrictions. Additionally, Wellington was interested in the research and helped to implement the pilot program. Results of their study are published in the current issue of the Journal of Environmental Management.

"The Rain-watered Lawn," a pilot program, was implemented as a weather-based add-on water conservation strategy to find out if informing lawn-watering behavior is more effective than just having mandatory water restrictions alone. The study involved a total of 627 households that were divided into two groups: 321 households assigned to an experimental group, and 306 households assigned to a control group who were subject to only the existing water restrictions.

For the study, the researchers created a highly visible road sign that matched existing road signs, and placed them close to the entrances of the experimental neighborhoods. The purpose of the signs was to communicate rainfall levels in the last seven days and to remind people that most South Florida lawns only need one inch of water per week. The bottom of the sign read: "Is rainfall alone meeting the water needs of your lawn?" At the same time that the signs went up, households in the experimental group received a postcard and leaflet about the signs and informed them that existing water restrictions were not being replaced or modified.

"We would significantly benefit from a new approach to outdoor water conservation to improve how we conserve water and to help people better recognize and synchronize with the regional water balance," said Survis. "People realize that there is something more meaningful that they could be doing to conserve water besides just following a watering schedule, but they have no clear idea about what to do."

For the study, the researchers gathered a long-term data set of residential lawn-watering frequency and lawn-watering behaviors, determined the scale of weekly lawn-watering frequency with water restrictions alone, and tested to determine if adding the weather-based conservation strategy could improve lawn irrigation efficiency and water savings over water restrictions alone. They collected rainfall data from a weather station located close to the study area so that the rainfall totals on the signs were as representative as possible of actual conditions.

Results of their research show the greatest impact during the rainier summer weeks with an astounding 61 percent decrease in lawn watering in the experimental households as compared to the control group.

"This was a particularly powerful finding because virtually all lawn watering during those rainier weeks was unnecessary," said Root. Findings also show that once the significant, initial 61 percent drop in lawn watering occurred shortly after the signs went up during the test year, the experimental group maintained a wide separation from the control group, where they stayed at about 41 percent below the control group. Root and Survis speculate that this continued pattern in the experimental group could be habitual because of the conservation behaviors that occurred during the wet weeks that were carried over into the dryer season.

"While this program was especially effective in South Florida, a region with distinct seasonal rainfall, this novel approach developed at Florida Atlantic University is broadly applicable to addressing a global issue in any region to better sync lawn-watering conditions with actual conditions," said Ata Sarajedini, Ph.D., dean of FAU's Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. "This program has the added benefit of getting people more in tune with the natural water cycle, which might help urban and suburban residents prepare for changes in water supply policy that may become necessary as the climate changes."

The researchers stress that because reductions in lawn water use are closely related to reductions in water contamination, a greater sense of environmental stewardship could be tied to everyday activities such as cutting back on unnecessary lawn irrigation.

"With some modifications and use of technology such as texting and the internet, a weather-based outreach project like ours could be scaled up for much larger metropolitan areas," said Root.

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About Florida Atlantic University:

Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University, with an annual economic impact of $6.3 billion, serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students at sites throughout its six-county service region in southeast Florida. FAU's world-class teaching and research faculty serves students through 10 colleges: the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters, the College of Business, the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the College of Education, the College of Engineering and Computer Science, the Graduate College, the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, the Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, the Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing and the Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. FAU is ranked as a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The University is placing special focus on the rapid development of critical areas that form the basis of its strategic plan: Healthy aging, biotech, coastal and marine issues, neuroscience, regenerative medicine, informatics, lifespan and the environment. These areas provide opportunities for faculty and students to build upon FAU's existing strengths in research and scholarship. For more information, visit http://www.fau.edu.
BERKELEY, CA (June 20, 2017): Are you buying antimicrobial or antibacterial soaps? According to over 200 scientists and medical professionals, you may want to save your money. A consensus statement published today in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives concludes that common antimicrobial products do not provide health benefits and cause health and environmental harm. The statement also calls for greater caution in using antimicrobial chemicals in everyday products.

"People think antimicrobial hand soaps offer better protection against illness. But generally, antimicrobial soaps perform no better than plain soap and water," said Barbara Sattler, RN, DrPH, FAAN, environmental health professor at the University of San Francisco. Last fall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that 19 different antimicrobial chemicals, including infamous triclosan and triclocarban, were not effective and should not be marketed for use in over-the-counter consumer wash products. Now, 200 scientists say the FDA's decision does not go far enough to protect consumers and the environment.

In consumer soaps and washes, brands are using different additives. "I was happy that the FDA finally acted to remove these chemicals from soaps. But I was dismayed to discover at my local drugstore that most products now contain substitutes that may be worse," said Arlene Blum, PhD, Executive Director of Green Science Policy Institute. Antimicrobials are also commonplace in products where you wouldn't expect them, including paints, exercise mats, flooring, apparel, food storage containers, home textiles, electronics, kitchenware, school supplies, and countertops.

"Customers may think added antimicrobials are a way to reduce infections, but in most products there is no evidence that they do," said Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. In 2016, Dr. Schettler authored a report on antimicrobials in hospital furnishings for the nonprofit Health Care Without Harm.

"Added antimicrobials are marketed as beneficial in building products from countertops to doorknobs and light switches" said Bill Walsh, President of Healthy Building Network, which recently produced a white paper on antimicrobial building products . "Antimicrobial preservatives are useful in certain products like paints, but we found claims about health benefits to be largely invalid." Nevertheless, sales of "antimicrobial" performance products are projected to grow.

Scientists and health professionals agree that non-medical uses of antimicrobials should be reduced. "Environmental and human exposures to triclosan and triclocarban are widespread, affecting pregnant women, developing fetuses, and breast-feeding babies," said Rolf Halden, PhD, PE professor of engineering at Arizona State University. "We must develop better alternatives and prevent unneeded exposures to antimicrobial chemicals."

###

Available for Interviews:

Avery Lindeman, Deputy Director

Green Science Policy Institute

T: (520) 241-6118

email: avery@GreenSciencePolicy.org

Arlene Blum, Executive Director

Green Science Policy Institute

T: (510) 919-6363

email: arlene@GreenSciencePolicy.org

Rolf Halden, Director of the Biodesign Center for Environmental Security and Professor at Arizona State University

T: (480) 727-0893

email: rolf.halden@asu.edu

Ted Schettler, Science Director

Science and Environmental Health Network

Email: tschettler@igc.org

Bill Walsh, Founder and President

Healthy Building Network

T: (202) 741-5717 ext. 709

email: bwalsh@healthybuilding.net

Barbara Sattler, Professor at University of San Francisco and co-founder of Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments

T: (410) 371-6965

email: bsattler@usfca.edu

For more information:

Watch/share this short animation about the Florence Statement.

Read about the 2016 FDA decision on antimicrobials in over-the-counter consumer antiseptic wash products.

The Green Science Policy Institute provides unbiased scientific information to government, industry, and non-governmental organizations to facilitate more informed decision-making about chemicals used in consumer products in order to protect health and environment worldwide.
Infections during infancy are associated with increased risk for gluten intolerance (celiac disease) later on. Apparently the risk is particularly high in the case of repeated gastrointestinal infections in the first year of life. This conclusion was drawn by scientists of the Institute for Diabetes Research at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, a partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), after analyzing data provided by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Results from this study have now been published in the current issue of the 'American Journal of Epidemiology'.

In previous publications, a team of scientists led by Professor Anette-Gabriele Ziegler had already demonstrated an association between infections in early childhood and the development of type 1 diabetes. The highest risk for type 1 diabetes was observed in children with repeated respiratory infections in the first six months of life.

The current study showed that the risk of developing celiac disease is particularly high when gastrointestinal tract infections occur during the first year of life. To a lesser extent, an increased risk of disease was also demonstrated in connection with early respiratory tract infections. "Our data do not allow a conclusion whether the observed associations are causal or are based on changes in the microbiome or specific immune responses", said first author Dr. Andreas Beyerlein, commenting on the results. "However, it seems that the increased risk of celiac disease is associated with a permanent inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract in early childhood and is not caused by a specific viral or bacterial pathogen."

The scientists analyzed fully anonymized data provided by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenarztliche Vereinigung Bayern) of 295,420 children who were born between 2005 and 2007. Medically attended infections from birth until a median age of 8.5 years were considered in the analysis. A total of 853 children developed gluten intolerance, equivalent to 0.3 percent.

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Further Information

Original Publication:

Beyerlein, A. et al. (2017): Infections in early life and development of celiac disease, American Journal of Epidemiology, DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwx190

Supporting publications:

Beyerlein, A. et al. (2016): Infections in early life and development of type 1 diabetes, JAMA, DOI: 10.1001/jama.2016. 2181

Beyerlein, A. et al. (2013): Respiratory Infections in Early Life and the Development of Islet Autoimmunity in Children at Increased Type 1 Diabetes Risk, JAMA Pediatrics, DOI:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2013.158

The Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches for the prevention and therapy of major common diseases such as diabetes and lung diseases. To achieve this, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich and has about 2,300 staff members. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 37,000 staff members. http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/en

The Institute of Diabetes Research (IDF) focuses on the understanding of the natural history of type 1 diabetes, on the identification of mechanisms and predictive markers of the disease, and the translation of findings into trials to prevent type 1 diabetes in man. In particular, the institute's aim is to develop an immune tolerance using antigen-based therapy. The IDF conducts long-term studies to examine the link between genes, environmental factors and the immune system for the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes. Findings of the BABYDIAB study, which was established in 1989 as the world's first prospective birth cohort study, identified the first two years of life as being most susceptible for the initiation of type 1 diabetes associated autoimmunity. The Fr1da study is the first population-based approach for the early diagnosis type 1 diabetes associated autoimmunity in childhood. The IDF is part of the Helmholtz Diabetes Center (HDC). http://www.helmholtz-muenchen.de/en/idf

The German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) is a national association that brings together experts in the field of diabetes research and combines basic research, translational research, epidemiology and clinical applications. The aim is to develop novel strategies for personalized prevention and treatment of diabetes. Members are Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen - German Research Center for Environmental Health, the German Diabetes Center in Dusseldorf, the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrucke, the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen at the University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus of the TU Dresden and the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen at the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen together with associated partners at the Universities in Heidelberg, Cologne, Leipzig, Lubeck and Munich. http://www.dzd-ev.de/en/index.html

Contact for the media:

Claudia Pecher, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Diabetes Research, Heidemannstr. 1, 80939 Munchen - Tel. +49 89 3187 2547 - E-mail: claudia.pecher@helmholtz-muenchen.de

Scientific Contact at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen:

PD Dr. Andreas Beyerlein, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Institute of Diabetes Research, Heidemannstr. 1, 80939 Munchen - Tel. +49 89 3068 5578, E-mail: andreas.beyerlein@helmholtz-muenchen.de
Researchers from the IIT- Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Lecce, Italy, and the Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, have developed a new optical microprobe able to control brain electrical activity by projecting light on wide volumes or selected portions of the central nervous system in an very controlled fashion. The study was published on Nature Neuroscience and it represents a first step toward low invasiveness devices for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

The research group was coordinated by IIT's researchers based in Lecce (Italy), Ferruccio Pisanello and Massimo De Vittorio, and by Bernardo Sabatini at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in Boston. Ferruccio Pisanello is in charge of the Multifunctional Neural Interfaces Lab at IIT in Lecce and has been funded by the European Research Council (ERC); Massimo De Vittorio is coordinator of the IIT Center in Lecce and is involved, together with Bernardo Sabatini, in a project funded by the US National Institute of Health (NIH).

The technology is developed for fully exploiting optogenetics, a combination of optics and genetics to activate or inhibit neurons activity by using light beams. One major limitation of optogenetics relies in the difficulty of distributing light into the brain in a controlled fashion, since tissue opacity does not permit light propagation. Italian scientists wanted to overcome this limit. The microprobe, built at the IIT and validated at HMS, is made up of a cone-shaped optical fiber whose tip is about 500 nanometers, 20 times smaller than a neuronal cell, and its design is conceived to adapt the light beam to the cerebral region of interest without moving the device. The great versatility of the device allows to irradiate brain areas with tunable light intensity, color, position, direction and frequency.

The microprobe allowed to access sub-cortical regions with a minimally invasive device, hihglighing the link between the electrochemical activity of spatially-separated groups of neurons and related effects on locomotion control in animal models. The probe, indeed, allows to activate or inhibit one or more neural microcircuits at the same time, representing a new paradigm for deep brain optical stimulation.

The results are part of the MODEM project, coordinated by Ferruccio Pisanello and funded by the European Research Council (ERC) with a Starting grant since 2016. The final goal of his research project is to develop a very low-invasive device, enabling a direct intervention on the brain to monitor its activity and to restore its proper operation. In the future, the microprobe may be the basis for a new generation of therapeutic and prosthetic devices for the control of neurological disorders and neurodegenerative diseases.

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New King's College London research suggests that sons of older fathers are more intelligent, more focused on their interests and less concerned about fitting in, all characteristics typically seen in 'geeks'.

While previous research has shown that children of older fathers are at a higher risk of some adverse outcomes, including autism and schizophrenia, this new study published today in Translational Psychiatry suggests that children of older fathers may also have certain advantages over their peers in educational and career settings.

The researchers from King's College London and The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the United States collected behavioural and cognitive data from 15,000 UK-based twin pairs in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS).

When the twins were 12 years old, they completed online tests that measured 'geek-like' traits, including non-verbal IQ, strong focus on the subject of interest and levels of social aloofness. Parents were also asked whether their child cares about how they are perceived by their peers and if they have any interests that take up substantial majority of their time. Using this information, the researchers computed a 'geek index' for every child in the study. Overall, higher geek index scores were reported in the sons of older fathers. This effect persisted after controlling for parent's social/economic status, qualifications and employment. In addition, they found that 'geekier' children do better in school exams, particularly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, several years after their geek index was measured.

?Dr Magdalena Janecka from King's College London and The Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai, said: 'Our study suggests that there may be some benefits associated with having an older father. We have known for a while about the negative consequences of advanced paternal age, but now we have shown that these children may also go on to have better educational and career prospects.'

Although the study did not directly investigate the role of environmental factors, there are a number of potential reasons why older fathers may have 'geekier' sons. For example, older fathers are likely to have more established careers and a higher socioeconomic status than younger fathers, meaning that their children may be brought up in more enriched environments and have access to better schooling.

These results also have implications for understanding links between higher paternal age, autism and characteristics typically seen in 'geeks'. Although the researchers could not measure it directly, they hypothesise that some of the genes for geekiness and for autism are overlapping, and that those genes are more likely to be present in older fathers. Dr Janecka added: 'When the child is born only with some of those genes, they may be more likely to succeed in school. However, with a higher 'dose' of these genes, and when there are other contributing risk factors, they may end up with a higher predisposition for autism. This is supported by recent research showing that genes for autism are also linked with higher IQ.'

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Notes to editors

For further media information please contact Jack Stonebridge, Senior Press Officer, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London jack.stonebridge@kcl.ac.uk/ 020 7848 5377.

About King's College London - http://www.kcl.ac.uk

King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (2016/17 QS World University Rankings) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 26,500 students (of whom nearly 10,400 are graduate students) from some 150 countries worldwide, and nearly 6,900 staff. The university is in the second phase of a 1 billion redevelopment programme which is transforming its estate.

King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) King's was ranked 6th nationally in the 'power' ranking, which takes into account both the quality and quantity of research activity, and 7th for quality according to Times Higher Education rankings. Eighty-four per cent of research at King's was deemed 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (3* and 4*). The university is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of more than 600 million.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, the sciences (including a wide range of health areas such as psychiatry, medicine, nursing and dentistry) and social sciences including international affairs. It has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA and research that led to the development of radio, television, mobile phones and radar.

King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas', King's College Hospital and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trusts are part of King's Health Partners. King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre (AHSC) is a pioneering global collaboration between one of the world's leading research-led universities and three of London's most successful NHS Foundation Trusts, including leading teaching hospitals and comprehensive mental health services. For more information, visit: http://www.kingshealthpartners.org.
LA JOLLA, CA -- For decades, HIV has successfully evaded all efforts to create an effective vaccine but researchers at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LJI) are steadily inching closer. Their latest study, published in the current issue of Immunity, demonstrates that optimizing the mode and timing of vaccine delivery is crucial to inducing a protective immune response in a preclinical model.

More than any other factors, administering the vaccine candidate subcutaneously and increasing the time intervals between immunizations improved the efficacy of the experimental vaccine and reliably induced neutralizing antibodies. Neutralizing antibodies are a key component of an effective immune response. They latch onto and inactive invading viruses before they can gain a foothold in the body and have been notoriously difficult to generate for HIV.

"This study is an important staging point on the long journey toward an HIV vaccine," says TSRI Professor Dennis R. Burton, Ph.D, who is also scientific director of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) Neutralizing Antibody Center and of the National Institutes of Health's Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Immunogen Discovery (CHAVI-ID) at TSRI. "The vaccine candidates we worked with here are probably the most promising prototypes out there, and one will go into people in 2018," says Burton.

"There had been a lot of big question marks and this study was designed to get as many answers as possible before we go into human clinical trials," adds senior co-author Shane Crotty, Ph.D., a professor in LJI's Division of Vaccine Discovery. "We are confident that our results will be predictive going forward."

HIV has faded from the headlines, mainly because the development of antiretroviral drugs has turned AIDS into a chronic, manageable disease. Yet, only about half of the roughly 36.7 million people currently infected with HIV worldwide are able to get the medicines they need to control the virus. At the same time, the rate of new infections has remained stubbornly high, emphasizing the need for a preventive vaccine.

The latest findings are the culmination of years of collaborative and painstaking research by a dozen research teams centered around the development, improvement, and study of artificial protein trimers that faithfully mimic a protein spike found on the viral surface. At the core of this effort is the CHAVI-ID immunogen working group, comprised of TSRI's own William R. Schief, Ph.D., Andrew B. Ward, Ph.D., Ian A. Wilson, D.Phil. and Richard T. Wyatt, Ph.D., in addition to Crotty and Burton. This group of laboratories in collaboration with Darrell J. Irvine, Ph.D., professor at MIT, and Rogier W. Sanders, Ph.D., professor at the University of Amsterdam, provided the cutting-edge immunogens tested in the study.

The recombinant trimers, or SOSIPs as they are called, were unreliable in earlier, smaller studies conducted in non-human primates. Non-human primates, and especially rhesus macaques, are considered the most appropriate pre-clinical model for HIV vaccine studies, because their immune system most closely resembles that of humans.

"The animals' immune responses, although the right kind, weren't very robust and a few didn't respond at all," explains Colin Havenar-Daughton, Ph.D., a scientific associate in the Crotty lab. "That caused significant concern that the immunogen wouldn't consistently trigger an effective immune response in all individuals in a human clinical trial."

In an effort to reliably induce a neutralizing antibody response, the collaborators tested multiple variations of the trimers and immunization protocols side-by-side to determine the best strategy going forward. Crotty and Burton and their colleagues teamed up with Professor Dan Barouch, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who coordinated the immunizations.

The design of the study was largely guided by what the collaborators had learned in a previous study via fine needling sampling of the lymph nodes, where the scientists observed follicular helper T cells help direct the maturation steps of antibody-producing B cells. Administering the vaccine subcutaneously versus the more conventional intramuscular route, and spacing the injection at 8 weeks instead of the more common 4-6 weeks, reliably induced a strong functional immune response in all animals.

Using an osmotic pump to slowly release the vaccine over a period of two weeks resulted in the highest neutralizing antibody titers ever measured following SOSIP immunizations in non-human primates. While osmotic pumps are not a practical way to deliver vaccines, they illustrate an important point. "Depending on how we gave the vaccine, there was a bigger difference due to immunization route than we would have predicted," says Matthias Pauthner, a graduate student in Burton's lab and the study's co-lead author. "We can help translate what we know now into the clinic."

###

Full citation:

"Elicitation of robust Tier 2 neutralizing antibody responses in non-human primates by HIV envelope trimer immunization using optimized approaches." Matthias Pauthner, Colin Havenar-Daughton, Devin Sok, Joseph P. Nkolola, Raiza Bastidas, Archana V. Boopathy, Diane G. Carnathan, Abishek Chandrashekar, Kimberly M. Cirelli, Christopher A. Cottrell, Alexey M. Eroshkin, Javier Guenaga, Kirti Kaushik, Daniel W. Kulp, Junyan Liu, Laura E. McCoy, Aaron L. Oom, Gabriel Ozorowski, Kai Post, Shailendra K. Sharma, Jon M. Steichen, Steven W. de Taeye, Talar Tokatlian, Alba Torrents de la Pena, Salvatore T. Butera, Celia C. LaBranche, David C. Montefiori, Guido Silvestri, Ian A. Wilson, Darrell J. Irvine, Rogier W. Sanders, William R. Schief, Andrew B. Ward, Richard T. Wyatt, Dan H. Barouch, Shane Crotty and Dennis Burton. Immunity (2017). Doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.05.007

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIAID-NIH Contract Number HHSN27201100016C) and CHAVI-ID (NIAID UM1AI100663).

About La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology

The La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology is dedicated to understanding the intricacies and power of the immune system so that we may apply that knowledge to promote human health and prevent a wide range of diseases. Since its founding in 1988 as an independent, nonprofit research organization, the Institute has made numerous advances leading toward its goal: life without disease.

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. TSRI is internationally recognized for its contributions to science and health, including its role in laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. An institution that evolved from the Scripps Metabolic Clinic founded by philanthropist Ellen Browning Scripps in 1924, the institute now employs more than 2,500 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientists--including two Nobel laureates and 20 members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering or Medicine--work toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards PhD degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. In October 2016, TSRI announced a strategic affiliation with the California Institute for Biomedical Research (Calibr), representing a renewed commitment to the discovery and development of new medicines to address unmet medical needs. For more information, see http://www.scripps.edu.
Laparoscopy is a surgical technique in which a fiber-optic camera is inserted into a patient's abdominal cavity to provide a video feed that guides the surgeon through a minimally invasive procedure.

Laparoscopic surgeries can take hours, and the video generated by the camera -- the laparoscope -- is often recorded. Those recordings contain a wealth of information that could be useful for training both medical providers and computer systems that would aid with surgery, but because reviewing them is so time consuming, they mostly sit idle.

Researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital hope to change that, with a new system that can efficiently search through hundreds of hours of video for events and visual features that correspond to a few training examples.

In work they presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation this month, the researchers trained their system to recognize different stages of an operation, such as biopsy, tissue removal, stapling, and wound cleansing.

But the system could be applied to any analytical question that doctors deem worthwhile. It could, for instance, be trained to predict when particular medical instruments -- such as additional staple cartridges -- should be prepared for the surgeon's use, or it could sound an alert if a surgeon encounters rare, aberrant anatomy.

"Surgeons are thrilled by all the features that our work enables," says Daniela Rus, an Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and senior author on the paper. "They are thrilled to have the surgical tapes automatically segmented and indexed, because now those tapes can be used for training. If we want to learn about phase two of a surgery, we know exactly where to go to look for that segment. We don't have to watch every minute before that. The other thing that is extraordinarily exciting to the surgeons is that in the future, we should be able to monitor the progression of the operation in real-time."

Joining Rus on the paper are first author Mikhail Volkov, who was a postdoc in Rus' group when the work was done and is now a quantitative analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo; Guy Rosman, another postdoc in Rus' group; and Daniel Hashimoto and Ozanan Meireles of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

Representative frames

The new paper builds on previous work from Rus' group on "coresets," or subsets of much larger data sets that preserve their salient statistical characteristics. In the past, Rus' group has used coresets to perform tasks such as deducing the topics of Wikipedia articles or recording the routes traversed by GPS-connected cars.

In this case, the coreset consists of a couple hundred or so short segments of video -- just a few frames each. Each segment is selected because it offers a good approximation of the dozens or even hundreds of frames surrounding it. The coreset thus winnows a video file down to only about one-tenth its initial size, while still preserving most of its vital information.

For this research, MGH surgeons identified seven distinct stages in a procedure for removing part of the stomach, and the researchers tagged the beginnings of each stage in eight laparoscopic videos. Those videos were used to train a machine-learning system, which was in turn applied to the coresets of four laparoscopic videos it hadn't previously seen. For each short video snippet in the coresets, the system was able to assign it to the correct stage of surgery with 93 percent accuracy.

"We wanted to see how this system works for relatively small training sets," Rosman explains. "If you're in a specific hospital, and you're interested in a specific surgery type, or even more important, a specific variant of a surgery -- all the surgeries where this or that happened -- you may not have a lot of examples."

Selection criteria

The general procedure that the researchers used to extract the coresets is one they've previously described, but coreset selection always hinges on specific properties of the data it's being applied to. The data included in the coreset -- here, frames of video -- must approximate the data being left out, and the degree of approximation is measured differently for different types of data.

Machine learning can be thought of as a problem of approximation, however. In this case, the system had to learn to identify similarities between frames of video in separate laparoscopic feeds that denoted the same phases of a surgical procedure. The metric of similarity that it arrived at also served to assess the similarity of video frames that were included in the coreset, to those that were omitted.

###

Additional background

PAPER: Machine learning and coresets for automated real-time video segmentation of laparoscopic and robot-assisted surgery

http://people.csail.mit.edu/rosman/papers/icra_17_medical.pdf

ARCHIVE: Making big data manageable

http://news.mit.edu/2016/making-big-data-manageable-1214

ARCHIVE: To handle big data, shrink it

http://news.mit.edu/2015/algorithm-shrinks-big-data-0520

ARCHIVE: Collecting just the right data

http://news.mit.edu/2014/new-algorithm-tells-which-data-to-collect-0724

ARCHIVE: Speeding algorithms by shrinking data

http://news.mit.edu/2012/compressed-gps-data-1113
WASHINGTON, D.C. June 20, 2017 - The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today announced seven grants totaling $6.8 million for research and extension projects to sustain healthy populations of pollinators, which are crucial to the nation's food security and environmental health. The funding is made possible through NIFA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) program, authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.

"An estimated $15 billion worth of crops, including more than 90 fruits and vegetables, are pollinated by honey bees alone," said NIFA Director Sonny Ramaswamy. "With the recent declines in pollinator populations owing to various factors, it is imperative that we invest in research to promote pollinator health, reduce honey bee colony losses, and restore pollinator habitats."

AFRI is America's flagship competitive grants program for foundational and translational research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. The grants in this announcement were made under the AFRI Food Security Challenge Area. Funded projects address the current problem of declining populations of managed and wild pollinators, such as bees, wasps, flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, and bats.

The recipients of fiscal year 2016 AFRI Pollinator Health grants are:

Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, $932,284

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa, $999,317

Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, $934,489

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, $999,960

Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, $999,882

The University of North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina, $999,319

North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, $934,749

Among these projects, Michigan State researchers will investigate ways to enhance Great Lakes regional landscapes to foster healthy pollinator populations. A North Carolina State University project will investigate the factors that affect the reproductive quality of queen bees and develop a 'Queen and Disease Clinic' to help producers and beekeepers generate healthier queens for robust colonies.

More information on these projects is available on the NIFA website.

Secretary Sonny Perdue declared June 19-25 as National Pollinator Week at a June 6 event at the Vice President's residence in Washington. Karen Pence, wife of Vice President Mike Pence, installed a honey bee hive on the grounds of the residence at the event and encouraged Americans to take similar steps to promote pollinator health.

Between 2008 and 2014, NIFA invested approximately $42 million in competitive grants on research, education, and extension programs on bee health. Among these projects, a team led by Michigan State University researchers is developing sustainable pollination strategies through the Integrated Crop Pollination project, funded by NIFA's Specialty Crop Research Initiative. NIFA also supported the Bee Informed Partnership, a nationwide, extension-led consortium of bee researchers and extension specialists, to gather data from beekeepers such as winter losses and management practices to control pests and diseases. This information will be used to develop best management practices to help produce healthier honey bee colonies.

###

NIFA invests in and advances agricultural research, education, and extension and promotes transformative discoveries that solve societal challenges. NIFA's integrated research, education, and extension programs support the best and brightest scientists and extension personnel whose work results in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that combat childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address water availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of energy, mitigate climate variability, and ensure food safety. To learn more about NIFA's impact on agricultural science, visit http://www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates or follow us on Twitter @USDA_NIFA, #NIFAImpacts.

USDA is an equal opportunity lender, provider, and employer.
SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2017 -- Johnson & Johnson today named Douglas Wallace, Ph.D., of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, winner of the 2017 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research, and launched a campaign for champions of science as part of the Dr. Paul Janssen Project -- a new year-long, multi-faceted program to recognize the impact of science on humanity. The full breadth of the program will be announced at the Dr. Paul Janssen Award ceremony in September.

Dr. Wallace won for his pioneering work in the field of mitochondrial genetics, and joins 14 other scientists who have received the Dr. Paul Janssen Award in the past 13 years, including two who went on to win the Nobel Prize.

Mitochondrial DNA is genetic material found in mitochondria - tiny power plants within cells -- and is passed down exclusively from mothers. Dr. Wallace's groundbreaking work has led to a treasure trove of insights into our genealogy, and has implications for understanding and treating a range of metabolic and degenerative diseases, cancer and aging.

"I am honored that such a distinguished committee has selected me to join the list of exceptional past winners of the Dr. Paul Janssen Award," said Dr. Wallace. "Of particular importance is that this Award focuses attention on the crucial role of mitochondrial DNA genetics and bioenergetics in the etiology of common metabolic and degenerative diseases. This perspective offers powerful new approaches for diagnosis and treatment of these ubiquitous maladies and thus for enhancing the health and well-being of all peoples." A video of Dr. Wallace's full acceptance comments can be viewed here.

"We are proud to honor the legacy of Dr. Paul by celebrating today's pioneers like Dr. Wallace," said Paul Stoffels, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer, Johnson & Johnson. "We are expanding our Awards program to a year-round commitment to recognize the contributions of scientists all over the world to advancing human health."

"Dr. Wallace's insatiable curiosity, tenacity, and passion for humanity exemplifies the spirit we hope to fuel by expanding our commitment to champion science through the Dr. Paul Janssen Project," said Seema Kumar, Vice President, Innovation, Global Health and Science Policy Communication, Johnson & Johnson. "This includes our longstanding support of programs like the Biotechnology Institute's BioGENEius Challenge, that inspire and encourage the next generation of innovators."

To celebrate dedicated researchers like Dr. Wallace, and to fuel the next generation of passionate innovators globally, the company will donate $5, up to $50,000, to the Biotechnology Institute every time someone shows support for science by using #ChampionsofScience on social media channels through September 30, 2017i.

Dr. Wallace is the founder and director of the Center for Mitochondrial and Epigenomic Medicine at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he holds the Michael and Charles Barnett Chair of Pediatric Mitochondrial Medicine and Metabolic Disease. He also is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, and the Accademia Nazionale delle Scienze detta dei XL (Italian National Academy of Science).

"Dr. Wallace was the first to understand the power that mitochondrial genetics could bring to the study of human disease," said David Julius, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, and Chair of the 2017 Dr. Paul Janssen Award selection committee. "It's great to recognize Dr. Wallace for his unique and groundbreaking research that has spanned nearly four decades."

The winners of the Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research are chosen by an independent selection committee of the world's most renowned scientists. The Award, which includes a $200,000 prize, will be presented to Dr. Wallace during ceremonies in the U.S. and Belgium in September.

###

About The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research

Dr. Paul Janssen was one of the 20th century's most gifted and passionate researchers. He helped save millions of lives through his contribution to the discovery and development of more than 80 medicines, four of which remain on the World Health Organization's list of essential medicines. The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research was established by Johnson & Johnson in 2004 to honor the memory of Dr. Paul. Since its inception, the Award has recognized fifteen outstanding scientists, two of whom have gone on to win the Nobel Prize for the same work.

Previous Award winners include:

2016 - Yoshinori Ohsumi, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate

2015 - Bert Vogelstein, M.D.

2014 - Emmanuelle Charpentier, Ph.D. and Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D.

2013 - David Julius, Ph.D.

2012 - Victor Ambros, Ph.D., and Gary Ruvkun, Ph.D.

2011 - Napoleone Ferrara, M.D.

2010 - Anthony S. Fauci, M.D. and Erik De Clercq, M.D., Ph.D.,

2009 - Axel Ullrich, Ph.D.

2008 - Sir Ravinder Maini, FRCP, FMedSci, FRS and Marc Feldmann, FMedSci, FAA, FRS

2006 - Craig Mello, Ph.D., Nobel Laureate

Learn more about the Champions of Science movement and The Dr. Paul Janssen Award at http://www.pauljanssenaward.com.

About the Selection Committee

The Dr. Paul Janssen Award independent selection committee is composed of some of the world's leading scientists, including National Medal of Science winners, Nobel Laureates, members of the National Academy of Sciences and past winners of the Dr. Paul Janssen Award.

The 2017 Selection Committee includes:

David Julius, Ph.D. (chairman), Professor and Chair of the Department of Physiology at the University of California, San Francisco

Bruce Beutler, M.D., Regental Professor, Director, Center for the Genetics of Host Defense, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Hans Clevers, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of molecular genetics, Hubrecht Institute, Netherlands

Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D., Professor of cell and molecular biology and of chemistry, University of California, Berkeley; Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair in Biomedical and Health Sciences; Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph.D., Malcolm Gillis University Professor; Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Professor; Director of Rice 360: Institute for Global Health

Richard P. Lifton, M.D., Ph.D., President of Rockefeller University

Dame Carol Robinson, DBE, FRS, FmedSci, Chair of Doctor Lee's Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford; Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire

Thomas Sudhof, M.D., Avram Goldstein Professor in the School of Medicine and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University

About Johnson & Johnson

Caring for the world, one person at a time, inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. We embrace research and science - bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Our approximately 130,800 employees at more than 250 Johnson & Johnson operating companies work with partners in health care to touch the lives of over a billion people every day, throughout the world. For more information, visit http://www.jnj.com.

Between June 20, 2017 and September 30, 2017, Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. will donate $5.00 to the Biotechnology Institute as part of the Champions of Science campaign for each eligible Facebook post, Tweet or other social media channel post using the "#ChampionsofScience" hashtag, with a minimum donation of $25,000 and a maximum donation of $50,000.
It seemed rather unusual that the largest tree genus, Syzygium, containing over 1500 species, was only represented by about a dozen of records on the biodiversity-rich island of Sulawesi, the latest new species description dating back to the mid-19th century.

One hundred and fifty years onwards, a new article published in the open access journal PhytoKeys, highlights the large portion of undocumented plant diversity on the island, by introducing not one, but five new species to add to the abundant tree genus.

Conducting fieldwork on plant diversity and ecology of the tropical mountain forests of Sulawesi in the period 2006-12, a team of ecologists from the University of Gottingen had difficulties identifying plant specimens of the myrtle family brought back from their field surveys. They noticed that only some 14 species of Syzygium were known to occur in Sulawesi, surprisingly few compared to around 200 each in neighbouring Borneo and the Philippines.

"In addition to the limited knowledge about plants in Sulawesi, we were dealing with what is probably the largest genus of trees in the world, the size of which was apparently putting off to many researchers of the past." comments PhD student F. Brambach. "This is probably why our basic knowledge of the taxonomy of Syzygium hasn't improved much since the early days of botanical exploration of the region in the first half of the 19th century."

The ecologists turned to Dr Byng, director of Plant Gateway and Visiting Research Fellow at Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands, who is coordinating a global revision of Syzygium, a genus best known for the clove tree. To him the possibility of what appeared to be undescribed species came as no surprise.

"After extensive screening of herbarium specimens from Sulawesi, I had estimated around 90 additional species to be present on the island, most of which are not yet named and probably only occur there. This would mean we only currently known around 13% of the island's real diversity," explains the expert.

The potential number of new Syzygium still waiting to be described raises concern, especially when considering the fast rate at which tropical forests in Indonesia are lost. Sulawesi is no exception, with three of the five newly described species considered to be "endangered" following the criteria of the IUCN.

"In this time of rapid species loss worldwide, cooperation between field ecologists and herbarium taxonomists is important to document the vast diversity of organisms in understudied regions, such as tropical mountain forests, especially for large and complicated groups like Syzygium," Dr Culmsee said.

Well-known for its unique fauna, the flora on the island of Sulawesi has received considerably less attention to date. With the publication of the new five species, the authors, Fabian Brambach, Dr Heike Culmsee, and Dr James W. Byng, hope to change this and instigate more botanical research in the area.

###

Original source:

Brambach F, Byng JW, Culmsee H (2017) Five new species of Syzygium (Myrtaceae) from Sulawesi, Indonesia. PhytoKeys 81: 47-78. https://doi.org/10.3897/phytokeys.81.13488

Additional Information:

The research was founded by by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and Evangelisches Studienwerk Villigst (Germany).
By India Today Web Desk: Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajput are one of B-Town's most popular couples. If their selfies make their fans go crazy, their PDA melts many hearts. The power couple has been the cynosure of all eyes in the last two years. And Shahid and Mira yet again grabbed eyeballs when they returned to Mumbai recently.

Shahid and Mira, who were in London to attend a family wedding, were spotted at the airport on Monday night. The couple, who has been busy giving their fans major relationship goals, were spotted hand-in-hand as they made their way out of the airport.

advertisement

While Shahid sported a casual look, Mira teamed up denims with black shirt and grey jacket.

On the work front, Shahid is currently busy shooting for Sanjay Leela Bhansali's period drama Padmavati.

(Photos: Yogen Shah)

ALSO READ: Shahid Kapoor turns fitness trainer for wife Mira Rajput

ALSO READ: Is Mira Rajput planning to work in films? Hubby Shahid Kapoor responds

ALSO WATCH: Media troubles my wife Mira, but she can handle it well, says Shahid Kapoor

--- ENDS ---
A leading astrophysicist from Queen's University Belfast has warned that an asteroid strike is just a matter of time.

Professor Alan Fitzsimmons from the University's Astrophysics Research Centre has said it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen.

Joined by scientist Brian Cox and astronauts such as Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and International Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott, Professor Fitzsimmons is highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event next Friday (30 June).

On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles. Professor Fitzsimmons is warning that a similar unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger asteroid could be more dangerous.

Professor Fitzsimmons commented: "It is important to know that scientists and engineers have made great strides in detecting Near-Earth Asteroids and understanding the threat posed by them. Over 1,800 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far, but there are many more waiting to be found.

"Astronomers find Near-Earth Asteroids every day and most are harmless. But it is still possible the next Tunguska would take us by surprise, and although we are much better at finding larger asteroids, that does us no good if we are not prepared to do something about them."

###

The discussions and presentations will be streamed live from Luxembourg on 30 June at https://asteroidday.org/live/ and experts will be answering any questions from followers via social media. Hundreds of supporting events will be held in over 70 countries.

Professor Fitzsimmons is a member of the NEOshield-2 project, funded by the European Research Council to study how to deflect dangerous asteroids.

Queen's University is also a partner in the Pan-STARRS project in Hawai'i - the most successful asteroid hunter currently in operation, as well as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project, which will provide a quantum leap in asteroid discoveries.
OAK BROOK, Ill. - Despite constraints of time and workload, radiologists are looking for ways to become more directly involved in the care of their patients, according to the findings of a recent survey of radiologists, published online in the journal Radiology.

Communication between patients and radiologists is a key element of patient-centered care, a major focus of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) for more than a decade. Such care, which focuses on the patient's needs and preferences, is fundamental to radiology's shift from a volume- to a value-based system.

Engaging with patients via social media and moving radiology reading rooms into the clinic present opportunities to help bridge the divide between radiologists and patients, researchers said.

"Patient-centered radiology is a lot more than giving results to patients," said study lead author Jennifer L. Kemp, M.D., from Diversified Radiology in Denver, Colo. "There are many other things we can do within the continuum of patient care, from scheduling all the way through billing, to improve the patient's experience."

In the radiology suite, a discussion of the appropriateness of the test, an explanation of the exam from the technologist and user-friendly radiology reports are key parts of this care continuum, added Dr. Kemp.

"It's rare for any practice to have full control of all the different aspects of care, but if we can chip away at some of those things, we can help make our specialty more patient-centered," she said.

Dr. Kemp and colleagues from the RSNA Patient-Centered Radiology Steering Committee surveyed RSNA members on various aspects of patient-centered radiology. Of the 694 respondents, 611, or 89 percent, agreed that promoting awareness of radiology's role in patients' overall healthcare is important to how they practice. However, only 31 percent of radiology practices regularly promote awareness of radiology's role in patients' overall healthcare. Only 21 percent of respondents said their radiology practices commonly deliver imaging results to patients in person.

"These results show that in radiology, our attitude has shifted but our practices are not entirely there yet," Dr. Kemp said. "We believe in the ideas, but we're encountering obstacles in how to implement them."

The survey showed that time and workload are by far the biggest barriers to wholly patient-centered care. The majority of respondents -- 421, or 73 percent -- reported that time and/or workload frequently prevented them from communicating directly with patients, which potentially hampers both optimal patient-centered care and radiologist satisfaction.

Dr. Kemp noted that social media offers busy radiology practices one avenue to direct communication with patients.

"Social media is where our patients are these days and where they get a lot of their medical information," she said. "Using social media to interact with patients regarding medical imaging procedures does not take a lot of time for radiologists and can potentially reach a lot of people."

Radiologists could also consider better integration into clinical practice settings by moving radiology reading rooms into patient clinics. Studies have shown that this change helps improve patient-radiologist communication.

"The key takeaways here are that radiologists are in agreement that patient-centered care is always our goal and that our efforts should continue to focus on how best to achieve that goal," Dr. Kemp said.

###

"Patient-centered Radiology: Where Are we, Where Do We Want to Be, and How Do We Get There?" Collaborating with Dr. Kemp were Mary C. Mahoney, M.D., Vincent P. Mathews, M.D., Max Wintermark, M.D., Judy Yee, M.D., and Stephen D. Brown, M.D., with acknowledgment to the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Patient-Centered Radiology Steering Committee.

Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (http://pubs.rsna.org/journal/radiology)

RSNA is an association of over 54,600 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)

For patient-friendly information on the role of radiologists in patient care, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
Abdominal obesity, or fat that accumulates around one's stomach and abdomen, has long been considered to pose a high health risk in individuals. Hence, measurement of "central obesity"--as it's often called--helps predict propensity to disorders caused by excess weight in the abdominal area.

In a paper publishing next week in the SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences, researchers from ETH Zurich and Yonsei University in Seoul propose a new technique to evaluate abdominal obesity by estimating the thickness of subcutaneous fat.

"Recent studies have shown that abdominal obesity is linked with diseases such as congestive heart failure and metabolic syndrome," said author Jin Keun Seo. "Static electrical impedance tomography, or EIT, could be employed as a non-invasive surrogate of disease progression in these conditions."

In addition to being noninvasive, EIT, an imaging technique, provides real-time data without using ionizing radiation, which makes it preferable to computed tomography (CT) since it's less harmful to patients. Another imaging technique commonly used for this purpose, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has poorer spatial resolution than EIT.

"Compared to CT, EIT is more advantageous since it is non-ionizing and can hence be used for continuous patient self-monitoring to track body fat status in daily routines," Seo explained. "Unlike CT and MRI, EIT is a low cost, portable, and easy-to-use bedside technique to image electrical conductivity distribution."

Since electrical conductivity of biological tissue depends on its cell structure, it can help image different tissues in the body and distinguish them from each other. The cell structure of fat and muscle are quite different; hence, the electrical conductivity values of fat and muscle differ over different frequencies.

Multi-frequency EIT (MFEIT) reconstructs the image of conductivity inside the human body based on this dependence of tissue conductivity on frequency. And since bone, muscle, and fat conduct electricity differently over various frequencies, MFEIT can use data of the boundary current-voltage relationship at diverse frequencies to estimate the amount of fat. Again, since body fat is less conductive than water and tissues such as muscle, this difference can be used to estimate the thickness of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue.

The specific process involves a specially chosen current pattern, which generates a depth-dependent data set that is used to outline the borders between fat and muscle. Current is injected through one pair of electrodes, and the subsequent voltage drop measured at another pair of electrodes. The relation between the injected current and the voltage drop gives the transadmittance -- or the ratio of current to voltage, which depends on the positions of the two pairs of electrodes, body geometry, and admittivity distribution, which combines both conductivity and permittivity. Assuming that the size of the electrodes is very small in comparison to the size of the border between the various tissue regions, the authors use a point electrode model, which provides a good approximation of the solution, while also simplifying the model considerably.

One issue with EIT is that the technique is prone to forward-modeling errors; these errors often include boundary geometry and electrode position uncertainties. In this paper, authors propose a new reconstruction method that compensates for this pitfall of EIT, using prior anatomical information at the expense of spatial resolution, and improving reproducibility. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the result of reconstruction is satisfactory in identifying subcutaneous fat.

"Existing approaches for static conductivity imaging are based on minimizing the difference between the voltage measured and that obtained from numerical simulations," Hyeuknam explained. "Therefore, obtaining reliable conductivity distributions requires both accurate modeling of the domain and the electrode configuration. This new method can obtain accurate imaging distribution by canceling out modeling errors."

Further research is needed to take advantage of the frequency dependent behavior of human tissue to estimate the distribution of visceral fat. "Current experimental work has shown promising results in detecting subcutaneous fat thickness as confirmed with ultrasound imaging," said Hyeuknam. "Future work is needed to determine the volume of visceral fat in patients with metabolic and cardiovascular disorders."

Abnormally high deposition of fat tissue in the abdominal area has been associated with disorders such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and malignancies. Quantitative assessment of visceral fat in the abdominal region using techniques such as the one described above can thus aid in evaluating the potential risk of developing such conditions.

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Source article: Mathematical Framework for Abdominal Electrical Impedance Tomography to Assess Fatness. SIAM Journal on Imaging Sciences

The Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an international society of more than 14,000 individual, academic and corporate members from 85 countries. SIAM helps build cooperation between mathematics and the worlds of science and technology to solve real-world problems through publications, conferences, and communities like chapters, sections and activity groups.
Would you rather be the big frog in a small pond or the small frog in a big pond? The decision rests on culture: Chinese are more likely to choose the big pond than Americans

When looking at new opportunity, do you choose an average place where you are among the top performers or do you choose a prestigious place where you might be average and not particularly remarkable? In other words, do you want to be the big frog in a small pond or a little frog in a big pond? According to recent research from the University of Michigan, your cultural upbringing ultimately affects your choice.

"Frog-Pond decisions represent important crossroads we all face: which university to go to, which internship to choose, which company to work for," says lead author Kaidi Wu. "What we end up choosing has downstream consequences and may significantly alter the paths of our lives. These consequences are not only individual, but cultural."

Past research in sociology and in educational psychology has focused on what happens to people after they've made the decision for what "pond" to join. The authors wanted to better understand how people choose which "pond" to join.

After testing the pond preferences between Asian and American students, the researchers recruited Chinese and U.S. adults and gave them the option between choosing to attend a top 10 ranked college while having below-average grades or attending a top 100 ranked college while having above-average grades. Chinese were more likely (58%) than European Americans (29%) to choose the first option, being below average at a top 10 ranked school.

They replicated the research in a third study, this time adding questions about people's reasoning behind their decisions. That's when they discovered that "Chinese didn't choose the 'big pond' because they are harmonious collectivists uninterested in standing out in a small pond." says Wu, "The real reason Chinese go for the big pond is that they are more concerned about prestige" than European Americans.

"The lesson here," says Wu, "is that as researchers draw cultural delineations, it is easy to end up with a reductionist way of construing opposing schemas: West -- individualism, independence, analytic thinking; East -- collectivism, interdependence, holistic thinking. But cultures are complex, porous, dynamic, ever-changing."

"The choices we make are the products of our culture," summarize Wu, "The next time you are faced with a frog-pond dilemma, take heart that there is not one right way of choosing; nor is there a universal standard of a single rational decision to be made."

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The study, "Frogs, Ponds, and Culture: Variations in Entry Decisions" is published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
More than half of school-age youth in the United States are members of ethnic minority groups, yet the nation's public schools are becoming less ethnically diverse. Recognizing these conflicting trends and the lack of research on the effects of ethnic diversity, a new study sought to determine how the diversity of middle school students and classrooms shapes students' self-reported well-being and their views on race. The study found that in general, as the ethnic diversity of a middle school increases, students of different ethnicities have better outcomes in these areas - but class composition also plays a large role in their views.

The research was conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and appears in the journal Child Development.

"Our study is the first to show such a wide range of personal and social benefits for students of all races and ethnicities from attending ethnically diverse schools," according to Jaana Juvonen, professor of psychology at UCLA, the study's lead author. "When multiple ethnic groups are of relatively equal size - the hallmark of school diversity - there may be more of a balance of power, with one or more large ethnic groups less likely to exert their influence over one or more small ethnic groups."

The researchers looked at 4,302 sixth-grade students from four ethnic groups - African American, Asian, Latino, and White - in 26 urban middle schools in California. They focused on middle schools because previous research shows that this is when race and ethnicity take on heightened meaning and adjustment problems (such as bullying) increase. The ethnic compositions of each of the schools differed, with some having two large and relatively equally sized ethnic groups, some having one clear numerical majority ethnic group, and some having four similarly sized and smaller ethnic groups. The students were from middle-income and working-class families.

The study assessed school diversity by considering both the number of ethnic groups and their relative sizes. A similar measure was used to determine the average level of ethnic diversity that each student encountered in academic courses. At the end of sixth grade, students rated how socially vulnerable (e.g., feeling unsafe, bullied, lonely) they felt at school, how close they felt to different ethnic groups, and whether their teachers treated all students fairly and equally.

Students from all four ethnic groups felt less vulnerable, reported better attitudes across ethnic groups, and believed teachers treated all students more fairly and equally in more diverse schools, the study found.

However, the findings on students' racial views and teacher treatment depended on whether the ethnic diversity of students' academic classes matched the diversity of their school. When students attended classes that were less diverse than their school, the benefits of school diversity for students' racial views and their perceptions of teachers' treatment disappeared. In contrast, being exposed in their classes to students from a range of ethnicities boosted the positive effects of school diversity on their race-related perceptions.

"Our findings also underscore the importance of class placement," notes Sandra Graham, distinguished professor of education at UCLA, who contributed to the study. "To reap the social benefits of ethnic diversity, students need to be placed in classes that reflect the overall diversity of their school. It may not be sufficient to focus solely on increasing the overall ethnic diversity of schools, which is the goal of most policy initiatives that address racial and ethnic segregation. Equally important is whether students of different ethnic groups are exposed to one another during the school day, even in very diverse schools."

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The study was funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, and by the National Science Foundation.

Summarized from Child Development, When and How Do Students Benefit from Ethnic Diversity in Middle School? by Juvonen, J, Kogachi, K, and Graham, S (University of California, Los Angeles).

Copyright 2017 The Society for Research in Child Development, Inc. All rights reserved.
When hundreds of thousands of American troops deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1990 and 1991 in what is now called the First Gulf War, they were exposed to a variety of chemicals. These chemicals -- especially when coupled with war-related stress -- seem to still be affecting nearly 200,000 Gulf War veterans -- or 25 to 32 percent of those who served -- more than 25 years later, and the constellation of resulting symptoms has been termed Gulf War illness (GWI). This condition is characterized by central nervous system impairments -- including cognitive and memory problems, mood dysfunction, sleep disorders and chronic fatigue -- and systemic symptoms such as gastrointestinal problems and hypersensitive skin.

Using an animal model of GWI, researchers at the Texas A&M College of Medicine and the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System were able to demonstrate how GWI occurs, and their findings, which were published in the journal Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience, hint at possible ways to mitigate some of the symptoms. This work was supported by grants from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense and from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.

The chemicals troops were exposed to in the Persian Gulf included pyridostigmine bromide, which was used as prophylaxis to prevent death in an attack with nerve gas agents. In addition, mosquito repellants, such as DEET, and pesticides, such as permethrin, were sprayed on their clothes and tents to keep potentially disease-carrying insects and rodents at bay. Some troops were also likely exposed to low levels of chemical warfare agents, due to demolition of Iraqi facilities storing those agents, and smoke from oil well fires.

Chemicals like DEET and permethrin can enter the brain through disruption of the blood-brain barrier, where they can inhibit the breakdown of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. "Essentially, they cause acetylcholine to build up in the brain, causing hyperexcitability of neurons as well as the death of some neurons, which leads to inflammation in the brain," said Ashok K. Shetty, PhD, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, associate director of the Institute for Regenerative Medicine, research career scientist at the Olin E. Teague Veterans Medical Center, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System and senior author of the paper. "At the same time, troops were also taking pyridostigmine bromide, which can sequester the enzyme that breaks down acetylcholine, compounding the problem."

To test the effects of such exposure, the researchers must first create an animal model. "We simulate what happened during the war," Shetty said. "We give pyridostigmine bromide orally and apply DEET and permethrin dermally, and then expose them to a mild stressor. When you do that, these animal models develop the symptoms of GWI, such as cognitive and memory problems, and have chronic low-level inflammation in the brain." Six months later -- which is about 17 years in human terms -- there was still evidence of persistent oxidative stress, even though they hadn't been exposed to either chemicals or stress in the interim.

"Our data in animal models matches very well with what has been seen in patients," Shetty said. They both had considerable systemic inflammation, which can be measured by levels of multiple pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood serum. Pro-inflammatory cytokines circulate all over the body and cause systemic inflammation, which, in turn, can cause considerable problems in certain vulnerable regions of the brain such as the hippocampus. These problems include declined production of new neurons important for making new memories.

"We examined changes in a type of housekeeping cell in the brain, called microglia, and they indicated inflammation, which looked similar to what we see in aging individuals with memory problems and other cognitive impairments," Shetty said. The animal models also had hyper-activated mitochondria (the 'powerhouse' of the cell), implied by increased expression of genes related to mitochondrial respiration -- the process by which mitochondria transform stored energy into a form the cell can use. The researchers also found that many genes related to inflammation were upregulated. "Together, these findings raise the possibility that hippocampal dysfunction in GWI is one of the adverse outcomes of persistently elevated oxidative stress and inflammation at the systemic level," he added.

Fortunately, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds may be able to treat systemic inflammation, and it is possible such treatment would improve memory and mood function, Shetty said. The next steps are to test antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory compounds on human veterans. For this, Shetty has established a collaboration with Dena Davidson, PhD, deputy director of research at the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 17 Center of Excellence for Research on Returning War Veterans in Waco, Texas, to purse clinical trials in GWI patients. Davidson and her team, along with Shetty, will begin a clinical trial funded by the Department of Defense in September to examine the efficacy of resveratrol in GWI patients. Shetty's earlier research has shown that this compound may be able to help prevent memory loss occurring with aging. Additional studies completed recently in Shetty's laboratory have also shown resveratrol as a promising compound for decreasing systemic and brain inflammation, as well as improving cognitive and memory function in animal models of GWI.

"This really does demonstrate that when someone is exposed concurrently to a whole host of nasty chemicals even at low doses, there are consequences that are not going away," Shetty said. "We hope that our research can help improve the quality of life in these veterans who were exposed while serving our country, and therefore are so deserving of whatever we can do to support them."

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With current telescopes, scientists can observe our Universe's galaxies and galaxy clusters and their distribution along an invisible cosmic web. From the exact measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) with the Planck space observatory and many other measurements for example with the Hubble space telescope, the scientists were able to develop a precise model of our Universe. However, little is yet known about how these structures could form from the distribution of matter in the early universe.

In order to answer this question, theoretical astrophysicists work with cosmological, hydrodynamical simulations. They test their hypotheses about the universe by developing mathematical models that describe the underlying complex physical processes and run them on high-performance computers trying to reproduce the evolution of the Universe over billions of years. If the underlying assumptions are correct, the simulations should match the current astronomical observations and findings.

A group of astrophysicists led by Dr. Klaus Dolag from the Excellence Cluster Universe at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich in close collaboration with the LRZ have now initiated "Cosmowebportal". This unique data centre for cosmological simulations provides access to the results of the world's most extensive set of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, Magneticum Pathfinder, also developed by Klaus Dolag's team and carried out at the LRZ.

The complete simulations are saved at the LRZ in Garching on a data store for large datasets, which is connected to the supercomputer SuperMUC. Using a web interface, interested scientists can, for example, select objects from the raw simulation data, process it, and even create virtual observations mimicing existing or future space telescopes.

"Large astronomical projects such as the space telescopes Euclid or eRosita, which are to be launched in the next few years, will observe large areas of the Universe, as well as provide further insight into the evolution of the first structures of the Universe so that the significance of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations will even increase in future," says Klaus Dolag. "A data centre that pools and makes these simulations available therefore is an important facility for scientists working in the field."

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Besides Klaus Dolag and Antonio Ragagnin, scientists from the following institutions were involved in the project: C2PAP, the data center of the Excellence Cluster Universe, LRZ, University of Trieste, the INAF Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste and the Max Planck Computing and Data Facility.
Three million measurement points in one square kilometer: Prof. Xiaoxiang Zhu and her team have set a world record in information retrieval from satellite data. Thanks to new algorithms, the researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) succeeded in making four-dimensional point clouds of Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and Washington, D.C. from images stacks of the TerraSAR-X radar satellite. Next the scientists plan to create four-dimensional models of all cities in the world.

The world's major cities are growing. According to United Nations estimates, today approximately half of the world's population is already living in cities. By 2050 the figure is expected to grow to two thirds of the worlds population. "This growth places high demands on building and infrastructure safety, since damage events can endanger thousands of human lives at once," says Xiaoxiang Zhu, Professor for Signal Processing in Earth Observation at TUM.

Together with her team she has developed a method for early detection of potential dangers: for example, subterranean subsidence can result in the collapse of buildings, bridges, tunnels or dams. The new method makes it possible to detect and visualize changes as small as one millimeter per year.

Three-dimensional radar views of the world's major cities

The data for the new urban images come from the German TerraSAR-X satellite, the most high resolution civilian radar satellite in the world. Orbiting the earth at an altitude of approximately 500 kilometers since 2007, the satellite sends microwave pulses to the earth and then collects their echoes. "Initially these measurements are only in a two dimensional image with a resolution of one meter," Zhu explains.

The TUM professor collaborats with the German Aerospace Center (DLR), where she is also in charge of her own working group. The DLR is responsible for operating and use of the satellite for scientific purposes. "The significance of the images is limited by the fact that reflections from different objects that are at an equal distance from the satellite will layover with each other. This effect reduces the three-dimensional world to a two-dimensional image."

Not only has Zhu developed her own algorithm which makes it possible to reconstruct the third and even fourth (time) dimension, she set a world record at the same time: Four dimensional point clouds with a density of three million points per square kilometer are reconstructed. This rich retrieved information makes it possible to generate highly precise four-dimensional city models.

Different perspectives produce a three dimensional radar image

The trick: The scientists use images taken from slightly different perspectives. The satellite flies over the region of interest every eleven days. However, its orbit position is not always exactly the same. The researchers use these 250-meter orbital variations in radar tomography in order to localize every point in three-dimensional space. This method uses the same principle as used by computer tomography, which creates a three-dimensional view of the inside of the human body: A variety of radar images taken from different perspectives are combined to create a three-dimensional image.

"Since this method processes only a poor resolution in the third dimension, we apply additional compressive sensing methods that make it possible to improve the resolution by 15 times," says Zhu.

Scientists can use the radar measurements from the TerraSAR-X to reconstruct urban infrastructure on the earth's surface with great precision, for example the 3D shape of individual buildings. The method has already been used to generate highly precise 3-D models of Berlin, Las Vegas, Paris and Washington, D.C.

The fourth dimension

Since the images are taken at different times, it's possible to estimate the change over time -- the fourth dimension -- at the order of a fraction of the radar wavelength. The resulting 4-D model reveals the tiny changes with a precision on the order of approximately one millimeter per year, for example the thermal expansion of buildings in the summer or deformations resulting from subsidence below the earth's surface. Zhu explains, "The method is suitable for the detection of danger points. Satellite technology can thus make an important contribution to making our urban infrastructure safer."

In the future the researchers even intend to watch major cities grow. In the recently launched ERC project "So2Sat", all the world's metropolitan areas are being mapped and observed on a long-term basis. The investigations are centered on newly industrializing countries, where entire urban neighborhoods spring up almost overnight. Zhu and her team plan to use various Big Data sources for the first time: Measurements from satellites will be fused with map information from Open Street Map and the practically unlimited stream of images, text and activity patterns provided by social networks.

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The Leibniz Supercomputing Center (LRZ) supports the researchers in handling the enormous amount of data.

Multimedia

https://mediatum.ub.tum.de/1362308?change_language=en

Publications:

Kang J., Wang Y., Korner M., Zhu X.: "Robust Object-based Multipass InSAR Deformation Reconstruction", IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, in press. DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2017.2684424 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7926387/

Wang, Y., Zhu, X.X., Zeisl, B., Pollefeys, M., 2017: "Fusing Meter-Resolution 4-D InSAR Point Clouds and Optical Images for Semantic Urban Infrastructure Monitoring", IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Volume: 55, Issue: 1, Jan. 2017; DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2016.2554563 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7587405/

Montazeri S., Zhu X., Eineder M., Bamler R., 2016: "3-D Deformation Monitoring of Urban Infrastructure by Tomographic SAR Using Multi-Track TerraSAR-X Data Stacks", IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Volume: 54, Issue: 12, Dec. 2016; DOI: 10.1109/TGRS.2016.2585741 http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7548332/

Contact:

Prof. Xiaoxiang Zhu

Technical University of Munich

Professorship for Signal Processing in Earth Observation

Tel: +49 8153283531

xiaoxiang.zhu@tum.de
PLATO, the largest European exoplanet research mission, was adopted today by the European Space Agency at the ESA Scientific Programs Committee meeting. Switzerland, through the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Berne (UNIBE), is heavily involved in this mission, which should enable astronomers to discover and characterize planets the size of the Earth and the "super -Earths" that orbit around solar type stars in their habitable zone.

Thanks to the twenty-six 12cm diameter small telescopes mounted on the satellite, PLATO will scrutinize about a million stars distributed on half the sky. We will thus know which planets look most similar to the earth and on which it will be necessary to concentrate on for the detection of life. In a way PLATO will determine VIPs (Very Important Planets) for our future research, said Willy Benz, professor of astronomy at the Center of Space and Habitability of the University of Bern. PLATO will also analyze the seismic activity of stars to determine their age, mass and size and thus have a better understanding of the stellar system as a whole.

The University of Bern, fortified by its reputation and experience acquired in particular as a prime contractor for the development of the European satellite CHEOPS, has been invested with the design of the mechanical structure which will support the 26 telescopes of PLATO and with the follow-up of their construction by Swiss industry. The structure and telescopes will then be delivered to the Italian space agency responsible for the integration of telescopes onto the satellite.

As for the University of Geneva, it is particularly involved in follow-up activities. Genevan scientists will first have to recognize and eliminate false planets (such as double stars, for example) and then determine the masses of planets detected. Indeed, PLATO will only measure the size of the planets, and if one wants to know their compositions, one will also have to determine their masses. A determination that will be made thanks to the method of radial velocities where the University of Geneva, since the first discovery in 1995, has been a world-leader. "Until now we looked out of the window into an orchard with a variety of magnificent fruits. With PLATO we can pick and appreciate all their flavors", said Stephane Udry, professor at the department of astronomy of the Geneva University.

After SOLAR ORBITER, which is due to be launched in late 2018 and EUCLID (2020), PLATO is the 3rd M-class mission of ESA's Cosmic Vision program. The adoption of PLATO will enable ESA to call for bids in the following months to the industries involved in the construction of the satellite. The launch of PLATO is planned for 2026.

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The Yosemite toad (Anaxyrus canorus) is a rare species found exclusively in California's Sierra Nevada. While its range encompasses hundreds of miles, spanning five national forests and two national parks, the livelihood and future survival of this federally threatened species may come down to mere centimeters.

According to research by the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station and its collaborators, for pools within alpine meadows to be suitable habitat for laying eggs and sustaining tadpoles, little things mean a lot.

"Our research looked at pools across the toad's range, in a variety of weather and precipitation conditions across a number of years," said Christina Liang, a research ecologist with the Pacific Southwest Research Station and lead author of the study. "But no matter the year-to-year variations, we found relatively consistent and definitive characteristics were shared by the majority of pools supporting Yosemite toad offspring compared to those unoccupied."

As the snow pack begins to recede across the Sierras, now is the time mating pairs of Yosemite toads seek out pools with the right mix of length and width, depth, vegetation and temperature to bring forth the next generation of toadlets. In Liang and her colleagues' study, "Fine-Scale Habitat Characteristics Related to Occupancy of the Yosemite Toad," they found the following differences, on average, between occupied and unoccupied pools:

Depth of bottom debris: 1.62 cm (occupied) versus 1.69 cm (unoccupied)

Pool vegetation height: 13.20 cm versus 14.16 cm

Water depth: 4.35 cm versus 3.65 cm

Water temperature: 24.82 degrees C (76.68 F) versus 21.75 degrees C (71.15 F)

Percentage of surface water along the pool's width: 60.57 percent versus 40.07 percent

The patterns of occupancy were not necessarily surprising to researchers, but did verify that water depth, temperature and amount of surface water were significant predictors for a pool's suitability for Yosemite toad use.

"Relatively deeper, warmer and larger pools all contribute to quicker development of eggs and tadpoles," Liang said. "And while we don't fully understand the significance of the vegetation and detritus differences we observed, it could relate to other physical or chemical resources available in the pool that the toads need or prefer."

Yosemite toads only come together for about two weeks once a year in late spring to breed in shallow water areas located at elevations of 6,500 feet or higher in the Sierra Nevada. After toadlets emerge in the fall, it will take an additional three to six years for them to reach sexual maturity.

Researchers gathered their data by studying 143 pools across 19 meadows from 2005 to 2010 on the Sierra National Forest, Stanislaus National Forest and Yosemite National Park. Pools were surveyed three times a year to coincide with the various life stages of the toad: late spring for adult toads and eggs, early to mid-summer for tadpoles, and late summer for newly metamorphosed individuals. Researchers found when a previously occupied pool had less suitable characteristics the following year, that pool could go unused, which was a concern.

"Yosemite toads tend to be philopatric, meaning they typically return to the same pool year after year," Liang said. "So if a pool is no longer suitable, that means the toad has lost its prime breeding spot and the opportunity to reproduce."

This new understanding of microsite suitability, however, can provide land managers with valuable insights on how they can foster the species' future survival.

"Understanding the complexity of toad breeding habitat is critical to the conservation of the species," said Stephanie Barnes, an aquatic biologist on the Sierra National Forest, where 10 of the research meadows were located. "If you don't have the right kind of pool habitat for adults to select for breeding or to sustain the development of tadpoles through metamorphosis, it doesn't matter how hard you work to save the species."

While the specific cause of the Yosemite toad's decline is unknown, meadow restoration across the high Sierras is of importance to land managers focusing on watershed health to maintain clean and sustainable water supplies for the populations at lower elevations. Creating suitable breeding habitat for the Yosemite toad can be built into those restoration plans, Barnes said.

"Without this information, it's possible that a restoration project could do more harm than good for this species," Barnes said. "We want to create the right habitat for these toads wherever possible."

Liang and her research collaborators are working with land managers across the Yosemite toad's range to share their findings.

"We are sharing what we've learned so that the information can be applied to conserve this species," Liang said.

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Headquartered in Albany, Calif., the Pacific Southwest Research Station develops and communicates science needed to sustain forest ecosystems and other benefits to society. It has research facilities in California, Hawaii and the U.S.-affiliated Pacific Islands. For more information, visit http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/.

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.
By Kiran Tare, Kamlesh Damodar Sutar: After having said that they will not support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential poll candidate Ram Nath Kovind if his candidature was for garnering Dalit votes, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray ended all speculations today by declaring the party's support to Kovind.

Speaking to newspersons at his residence Matoshree after consulting party leaders Thackeray remarked, "after our discussions we have decided to back the NDA presidential poll candidate Ram Nath Kovind. After our support, I do not think it will be much difficult for the BJP to get him (Kovind) elected".

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Replying to queries, he disclosed that BJP president Amit Shah had met him over the weekend and requested for support to their presidential poll candidate.

Thackeray added that he in turn had suggested two names which the BJP president said their party will consider. He further said that after the BJP announced the name of the presidential candidate, Shah once again called him (Thackeray) and told him that the name that he had suggested was considered but they had their own reasons for not making them their presidential candidate.

Thackeray stated that he has announced his decision to support the candidature of Kovind after due consultations with his party leaders. Asked whether if he will support the Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) if they too fielded a Dalit candidate, the Sena president stated that he will not change his decision now.

When asked if the opposition named one of those suggested by the Sena earlier, he added that he had announced the names of Mohan Bhagwat and Dr MS Swaminathan a week back. If the Congress led UPA wanted the Shiv Sena support then they should have declared one of the names by now.

The NDA, led by the BJP, has 5,37,683 votes and this is including the Shiv Sena. The numbers seem to be in favour of Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA nominee for the post of the President of India.

With the BJD, a faction of the AIADMK, the YSR Congress and the TRS extending support, the prospects of sending Kovind to the Rashtrapati Bhavan have brightened.

The total strength of the electoral college which votes to elect the President comprises all elected MPs and members of legislative assemblies of all states and union territories of Delhi and Puducherry.

The total comes to 10,98,903 votes with each MP carrying a vote value of 708. The vote weight of an MLA depends on the population of the state he or she represents.

Also read:

Declare presidential candidate, then seek Shiv Sena support, Uddhav Thackeray tells Amit Shah

Also watch:

Presidential election 2017: BJP President Amit Shah meets Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray

--- ENDS ---

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It's a cheesy pick-up line: "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?" It might also be something that profoundly alters how we perceive other people. According to new research from the University of California San Diego, familiar faces look happier to us than unfamiliar ones. Even when faces are objectively expressing the same emotion to the same degree, we judge the familiar one as more happy.

Researchers have been studying the effects of "mere exposure" for decades and have shown multiple times in multiple ways that we tend to prefer people and things we're familiar with. We like them more. We think they're more attractive. The current paper, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests we actually see them differently, too.

"We assume we're viewing everyone through the same lens but in reality our prior experience colors what we see," said Evan Carr, who led the research as part of his doctoral studies in psychology and cognitive science at UC San Diego. "It's very interesting, psychologically, that just being familiar with a face affects such basic emotional perception like how happy that face appears to us."

Carr, now a postdoctoral scholar at Columbia Business School, studies how people perceive and react to micro-expressions, or very brief facial expressions that can subtly influence our behavior. He was supported in graduate school in part by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Defense. Carr's co-authors are Timothy Brady and Piotr Winkielman, both in the UC San Diego Department of Psychology.

The study was undertaken to explore the mechanisms behind the effects of familiarity, which drive much of advertising and can make for a successful song, as the recent bestselling book "Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction" explains.

"Our brains like familiar things," said Winkielman, Carr's dissertation advisor and a social psychologist at UC San Diego. "They tend to be safer - if I see something again, it hasn't eaten me yet. They're also easier for us to process - and our lazy minds appreciate that. What's remarkable is that our brain's positive reaction to familiarity bleeds over to the seemingly objective assessment for how good something is. This means that observers can end up being honestly convinced that a familiar politician's face is genuinely friendlier or that a familiar song or product is truly better."

For this work, the researchers ran two related experiments with male and female faces. All the faces were white. Each face was digitally morphed to display a range of emotion from 50 percent angry to neutral to 50 percent happy.

In both experiments, all study participants came to the lab for what they thought was a memory task. They were asked to track the color and number of squares that appeared randomly on the screen, over images of faces with neutral expressions. This bit of trickery allowed the researchers to expose the participants to some of the faces in their set of morphs, familiarizing participants with them, without explicitly calling attention to the faces.

In the first experiment, 50 undergraduates then viewed a series of paired faces - one surreptitiously made familiar to them by the memory task and one brand new - and were asked to indicate which of the faces looked happier. The faces showed the same objective level of emotion, 25 percent angry, let's say, or 25 percent happy. Without knowing they were looking at a familiar vs. unfamiliar face, participants were more likely to identify the familiar one as the happier of the two.

Interestingly, the participants' selections showed a bias toward familiarity only on positive expressions. Familiarity made faces on the happy side of neutral appear more "smiley" but it didn't make faces on the angry side of neutral appear any less "frowny," Carr said.

In a second experiment, Carr and colleagues had 40 undergraduates look at faces one by one and decide each time whether that face looked "happy or angry." The participants also estimated on a scale of 0 to 100 how happy the face looked to them.

The results of the second experiment supported those of the first: Participants were more likely to identify familiar faces as happy compared with unfamiliar ones, but only when the faces were emotionally neutral or positive. Their estimates of how happy the faces were increased as the positive features increased. Also, a familiar face needed to have fewer objectively happy features for it to be classified as happy compared with an unfamiliar face.

The studies highlight how just how flexible emotion-perception processes can be, Carr said.

"Emotion perception isn't only the 'formulaic' combination of facial features; it also dynamically incorporates cues specific to the individual you're trying to decode," he said. "Even the judgment of 'how happy someone looks' is inherently subjective to some extent, depending on your previous experience with the person, along with the type of expression you're judging."

It still surprises Carr that familiarity made a difference only for positive expressions and not angry ones. Is anger special? Or would something similar apply to, for example, looks of disgust or fear? This bears further investigation, he said. Also interesting to study in future is the following: Do the effects of familiarity change depending on the gender of the face being looked at, or the race? What about if you think the person is part of your "in-group" - what happens then?

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Hiding your true self at work can damage your career and reduce your sense of belonging in the workplace, a new study suggests.

University of Exeter researchers examined "stigmatised" characteristics - being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT), or having a history of poverty or mental or physical illness.

They found that concealing such characteristics from colleagues resulted in lower self-esteem, job satisfaction and commitment at work.

"People may choose to conceal stigmatised identities because they want to be accepted, but in fact doing so reduces feelings of belonging," said Professor Manuela Barreto of the University of Exeter.

"When someone conceals their true identity, their social interactions suffer - and this has an impact not just on the individual but also on the organisation they work for.

"Our findings suggest that openness about one's identity is often beneficial for stigmatised individuals, the stigmatised group and their workplace."

Despite highlighting the costs of concealment, the researchers do not suggest that everyone must be open in all contexts.

"It is clear that there are times when revealing a stigmatised identity can be very costly," said Dr Anna Newheiser of the University at Albany, SUNY in the USA.

"Those effects are very real and worth avoiding in certain circumstances, but it is important to realise that there is also a cost to hiding your true self."

The paper highlights the "hidden ramifications of prejudice", which harm both individuals and organisations.

"What we need are environments where people don't need to hide - inclusive environments where people don't have to make a choice between being liked and being authentic," Professor Barreto added.

"Workplaces that push individuals to hide their differences do not erase difference - they simply encourage masking and concealment of diversity.

"Given that identity concealment is by nature an invisible act, its social and organisational costs may also be difficult to detect, explain and correct."

The researchers report studies carried out in the Netherlands and the USA.

In one, participants were encouraged to remember a time when they either concealed or revealed a stigmatised characteristic about themselves.

In the other, participants were presented with fictional scenarios that either involved concealing or revealing their stigmatised identity. In both studies, participants were asked how they would feel after concealing or revealing the stigmatised characteristic.

The paper, published in the Journal of Social Issues, is entitled: "People Like Me Don't Belong Here: Identity Concealment Is Associated with Negative Workplace Experiences."

###
Huddersfield contributes to a new book on former prime minister John Major examine the premier's 1997 General Election stance against Scottish independence

LECTURERS at the University of Huddersfield have contributed to a new book about an embattled Tory Prime Minister beset by political crises - including Europe - and facing the possibility of electoral meltdown.

But this was 20 years ago and the Premier was John Major.

Dr Shaun McDaid and Dr Catherine McGlynn teamed up to research and write a chapter for newly-published John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? - Reappraising John Major. In addition to historians and political analysts, its contributors include parliamentary big-hitters who were active in the Major years, such as Paddy Ashdown, John Redwood and Charles Clarke.

The two University of Huddersfield politics lecturers were asked by editors Kevin Hickson and Ben Williams to analyse a key issue during John Major's 1990-1997 premiership that remains an important factor in British politics today - the place of Scotland in the UK.

The resulting chapter is titled 72 Hours to Save the Union? - borrowing a campaign phrase used by John Major in the 1997 General Election, when he faced defeat by Labour's Tony Blair, who had promised Scottish devolution.

"Major was passionately opposed to devolution. He believed it would threaten the integrity of the UK," said Dr McGlynn. "He thought that Scotland was like a patient who was ill, and who mistakenly believed that devolution or independence was the best medicine."

The two University of Huddersfield lecturers are known for their work on politics and identities in Northern Ireland. Past collaborations have included a book chapter on Harold Wilson's policies towards the province. When they turned their attention to the issue of Scottish devolution in the 1990s they combed old manifestos, parliamentary debates and other archival sources.

They found that the prospect of Welsh devolution was a much lesser issue for John Major.

"Scotland was certainly the big focus for him," said Dr McDaid. "It was an issue he thought could be carefully managed, whereas he thought Wales could just roll along and look after itself."

Dr McGlynn and Dr McDaid contribute to a section of the 368-page book that deals with governance of the UK under John Major, who narrowly won an election in 1992 and - after an eventful five years - lost office in Blair's New Labour landslide.

Other sections of the book analyse the political and intellectual context of Major's premiership, examine the key policy areas in which the government was active, and provide a range of perspectives on John Major's premiership from some leading contemporaries.

So was John Major an unsuccessful prime minister?

"There were some aspects of his policy where you can see he was on the right track and some of the accusations made against him are a little bit unfair, but he will always be overshadowed by other events - with Europe the big issue - and losing the 1997 election in the fashion that he did," said Dr McDaid.

Dr McGlynn argues that Major could be regarded as a success because although in the 1990s he was pilloried as a dull or comic figure, he is now widely respected.

"I think his passionate involvement in the referendum campaign in Scotland managed to convince a lot of people to stay in the Union and I think his personal standing makes him a success, compared to how I would have viewed him at the time. He is someone whose reputation has genuinely improved over time."

###

* John Major: An Unsuccessful Prime Minister? - Reappraising John Major is published by Biteback Publishing.
Corn is grown not only for food, it is also an important renewable energy source. Renewable biofuels can come with hidden economic and environmental issues, and the question of whether corn is better utilized as food or as a biofuel has persisted since ethanol came into use. For the first time, researchers at the University of Illinois have quantified and compared these issues in terms of economics of the entire production system to determine if the benefits of biofuel corn outweigh the costs.

Civil and environmental engineering professor Praveen Kumar and graduate student Meredith Richardson published their findings in the journal Earth's Future.

As part of a National Science Foundation project that is studying the environmental impact of agriculture in the U.S., the Illinois group introduced a comprehensive view of the agricultural system, called critical zone services, to analyze crops' impacts on the environment in monetary terms.

"The critical zone is the permeable layer of the landscape near the surface that stretches from the top of the vegetation down to the groundwater," Kumar said. "The human energy and resource input involved in agriculture production alters the composition of the critical zone, which we are able to convert into a social cost."

To compare the energy efficiency and environmental impacts of corn production and processing for food and for biofuel, the researchers inventoried the resources required for corn production and processing, then determined the economic and environmental impact of using these resources - all defined in terms of energy available and expended, and normalized to cost in U.S. dollars.

"There are a lot of abstract concepts to contend with when discussing human-induced effects in the critical zone in agricultural areas," Richardson said. "We want to present it in a way that will show the equivalent dollar value of the human energy expended in agricultural production and how much we gain when corn is used as food versus biofuel."

Kumar and Richardson accounted for numerous factors in their analysis, including assessing the energy required to prepare and maintain the landscape for agricultural production for corn and its conversion to biofuel. Then, they quantified the environmental benefits and impacts in terms of critical zone services, representing the effects on the atmosphere, water quality and corn's societal value, both as food and fuel.

In monetary terms, their results show that the net social and economic worth of food corn production in the U.S. is $1,492 per hectare, versus a $10 per hectare loss for biofuel corn production.

"One of the key factors lies in the soil," Richardson said. The assessment considered both short-term and long-term effects, such as nutrients and carbon storage in the soil.

"We found that most of the environmental impacts came from soil nutrient fluxes. Soil's role is often overlooked in this type of assessment, and viewing the landscape as a critical zone forces us to include that," Richardson said.

"Using corn as a fuel source seems to be an easy path to renewable energy," said Richard Yuretich, the NSF program director for Critical Zone Observatories. "However, this research shows that the environmental costs are much greater, and the benefits fewer, than using corn for food."

###

The National Science Foundation supported this research through the Grants for Intensively Managed Landscapes Critical Zone Observatory.

Editor's notes:

To reach Praveen Kumar, call 217-333-4688; kumar1@illinois.edu.

The paper "Critical zone services as environmental assessment criteria in intensively managed landscapes" is available online and from the U. of I. News Bureau.
Imagine plopping six cups of coffee grounds on the heads of patients just before they are wheeled into the operating room to have nose or throat surgery?

In essence, that is what a team of Vanderbilt University engineers are proposing in an effort to improve the reliability of the sophisticated "GPS" system that surgeons use for these delicate operations. They have designed a "granular jamming cap" filled with coffee grounds that does a better job of tracking patient head movements than current methods. They are disclosing the novel design and data on its effectiveness at the International Conference on Information Processing in Computer-Assisted Interventions in Barcelona on June 20.

Of course, the coffee grounds are not loose: they form a thin layer inside a stretchy silicone headpiece, which looks something like a black latex swim cap decorated with reflective dots. After the cap is placed on the patient's head, it is attached to a vacuum pump that sucks the air out of the cap, jamming the tiny grounds together to form a rigid layer that conforms closely to the shape of the patient's head. (This is the same effect that turns vacuum-packed coffee into solid bricks.)

Before surgery, a special scanner is used to map the location of the dots relative to key features on the patient's head: a process called registration. Then, during surgery an overhead camera observes the position of the dots allowing the navigation system to accurately track the position of the patient's head when the surgeon repositions it. The computer uses this information to combine a CT scan, which provides a detailed 3-D view of the bone and soft tissue hidden inside the patient's head, with the position of the instruments the surgeon is using and displays them together in real time on a monitor in the operating room.

"These are very delicate operations and a sophisticated image guidance system has been developed to help the surgeons, but they don't trust the system because sometimes it is spot on and other times it is off the mark," said Robert Webster, associate professor of mechanical engineering and otolaryngology, who is developing a surgical robot designed specifically for endonasal surgery. "When we heard about this, we began wondering what was causing these errors and we decided to investigate."

When Webster and his research team looked into the matter, they were surprised by what they found. They discovered it wasn't the hardware or the software in the guidance system that was causing the problem. It was the way the reflective markers were attached to the patient's head that was at fault. Typically, these "fiducial markers" are attached by an elastic headband and double-backed tape and are subject to jarring and slipping. Their tests found that skin movement and accidental bumps by operating room staff both produced large tracking errors.

"The basic assumption is that, after registration, the spatial relationships between the patient's head and the fiducial markers remains constant," said Patrick Wellborn, the graduate student who is making the presentation. "Unfortunately, that is not the case. For one thing, studies have shown that the skin on a person's forehead can move as much as a half an inch relative to the skull. And accidentally bumping or dragging cables over the headband can also produce significant targeting errors."

In fact, previous research has found that when everything goes well, the guidance system produces targeting errors of about 2 millimeters but, in about one operation out of seven, the target error is much larger, forcing the surgeon to redo the registration process.

"Actually, we do have a solution to this problem but it involves drilling and attaching the markers directly to the skull...which we don't like to do because it is painful and it's a step backwards from the majority of what we are doing," said Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology Paul Russell, who is collaborating with the engineers on the project.

So the team began thinking up alternative, non-invasive methods to attach these critical markers. Webster recalled some experiments that were done using coffee grounds to help robots grip irregularly shaped objects. Bladders filled with coffee grounds were built into the robot's gripper. When it grabbed an object, the bladders conformed to its shape. Then a vacuum was pulled, the coffee grounds became rigid and locked the object into place. The researchers decided to see if this technique could be applied to the problem.

In the last three years, they have gone through a number of designs. They began with headbands that had coffee-ground-filled bags over the temples. Their tests showed that these models could reduce the targeting error by about 50 percent. But the engineers still weren't satisfied.

Then, Wellborn, who was taking over the project, had a brainstorming session with fellow graduate student Richard Hendrick. Among the materials that his predecessor had left behind was a latex bald cap. "That sparked the idea of caps in general," Wellborn recalled. "We wanted something elastic that was form fitting, which led to the idea of a swim cap."

In addition to fitting extremely tightly to the head, the new design had another advantage. The headband system has only three fiducial markers attached on the ends of three thin rods to form a triangle. The new design allowed them to attach several dozen markers directly to the surface of the cap, which the researchers believe will also contribute to improving the guidance system's accuracy.

They designed three tests to determine how well this "granular jamming cap" performed relative to the current headband in reducing targeting error:

They "bumped" both them from a number of different directions with a tennis ball filled with plastic particles swinging on the end of a string. They found that the cap reduced targeting errors by 83 percent.

They simulated the case where a cable or other piece of equipment is accidentally pushed against the two by applying forces ranging from four to six pounds in different directions. They determined that the cap outperformed the headband by 76 percent when the forces were applied to the headband and by 92 percent when they were applied to the markers.

They tested the effects of head repositioning by having an experienced surgeon reposition test subjects' heads six to seven times. In this case, the cap proved to have 66 percent lower error rates than the headband.

On the strength of these results, Vanderbilt University has applied for a patent on the design and the technology is available for licensing. (Interested parties should contact the Vanderbilt Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization.)

"It's a very clever way--that doesn't involve drilling holes in patients' skulls--to greatly improve the accuracy of the guidance system when we are operating in the middle of a person's skull: a zone where the accuracy of the current system is inadequate," said Russell.

###

Study coauthors also include graduate student Neal Dillon and former postdoctoral fellows Jessica Burgner, professor engineering at Leibniz University in Hanover, Germany, Ray Lathrop, senior consultant engineer at Eli Lilly and Company, and Raul Wirz, medical imaging processing research scientist/engineer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center,

The research was supported by National Institutes of Health grant R01 EB017467 and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship grant 144519.
Why do we construct nanocomposite for the photocatalytic oxidation desulfurization?

Current hydrodesulfurization (HDS) technology is hard to remove thiols and refractory thiophenic compounds to a minimum in fuels. Moreover, the HDS technology requires severe operation conditions, along with other disadvantages in deep desulfurization. Therefore, considerable attention has been paid to non-HDS techniques, such as adsorption, biodesulfurization and photocatalytic oxidation, etc. Among them, the photocatalytic oxidation desulfurization is the most ideal "green chemistry" technology for deep desulfurization with mild operating conditions. Some researchers have reported nanocomposite as an effective photocatalytic functional material than the host alone, such as Nb6O17@Fe2O3, Cu2O@TiO2 nanotube arrays, etc.

Titanate nanotubes attracted a wide attention for the high photocatalytic activity under UV light irradiation. However, titanates have a relatively wide band gap and is utilize only under UV light, thus the photocatalytic activity is limitation. Moreover, when Cu2O is used as a photocatalyst alone, it is a limitation what the electrons and holes excited by light cannot be transferred efficiently and are easy to recombine. Some team of researchers introduced an innovative strategy by compositing Cu2O nanoparticles with titanate nanotubes, which will result in the stronger visible spectral response and wider absorbance. This technology provides a new approach to reduce the bandgap energy and prolong the separation of photo-generated electron-hole pairs, which resulted in better photocatalytic activities for photodegradation of organic pollutants more thoroughly.

The most significant aspect of my study: Composting Cu2O nanoparticles with H2Ti3O7 nanotubes as an effective photocatalyst applied in desulfurization, it was rarely reported that the construction and desulfurization application of this functional materials before we research. At first, the photocatalytic oxidation desulfurization is the most ideal "green chemistry" technology for deep desulfurization with mild operating conditions than the current HDS technology. Next, We have synthesized the trititanate nanotubes. Previous researches demonstrated that some layered titanates were better photocatalysts, and the corresponding nanosheets and nanotubes even showed much higher photocatalytic activities than the original layered compound. In addition, we have constructed the Cu2O@H2Ti3O7 nanocomposite, the mesoporous nanoscroll composites possess obviously higher photocatalytic activities than guest oxide nanoparticles or host layered materials alone. The researches suggest that layered materials doped with guest nanoparticles can not only reduce the bandgap, but also inhibit the recombination of photoinduced electron-hole pairs. Therefore, we employ Cu2O nanoparticles integrated H2T3O7 nanotubes by a facile hydrothermal method, it shows that nanocomposite exhibits the excellent photocatalytic performance due to the stronger visible spectral response and wider absorbance, this research that could help develop new energy resources (solar energy) and oxidize organic pollutants for protection of the environment.

###

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21271008, 21071004).

Addition co-authors of the paper are Lei Xu, Jie He, Lifang Hu, Bin Wang and Liangguo Da, they all come from Anhui University of Science and Technology.

Corresponding author for this study is Jie He, jhe@aust.edu.cn.

This research (http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S1793292017500758) can be found in the NANO journal.
Tuesday, June 20, 2017

When the award-winning book A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Dont Plan to Die was published in 2010, funeral service was quite different. A lot has changed in seven years, and author Gail Rubin, Certified Thanatologist, wants funeral director input for updates to the second edition.

In November of 2010 when A Good Goodbye first came out, the national cremation rate was still under 50%, death discussion movements like the Death Cafe and Death Over Dinner had not yet started, and the term celebration of life was rarely used. Weve seen many funeral business changes over the past seven years, and the second edition of the book will reflect those developments, said Rubin.

Consider your advice youd give as a funeral director if you were chatting with a friend over a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, suggested Rubin. What would you want that person to know? Possible topics to weigh in on:

The impact of technology developments: mobile phones, online videos, communications apps, webcasting, crowd sourcing, website changes, and online collaboration for distant family members to participate in funeral planning.

How you reach out to your community to encourage preneed funeral planning.

Your responses to religious and cultural changes: cremation and religious traditions, a rise in multicultural populations and those who identify as spiritual but not religious.

The growth of pet loss businesses and the use of therapy dogs in funeral homes.

Ways your funeral home is addressing the rising cremation rate.

Those who provide quotes and suggestions may be featured in the second edition of A Good Goodbye, slated for release in the fall of 2017. The eBook version will feature links to contributors websites.

A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Dont Plan to Die provides the information, inspiration and tools to plan and implement creative, meaningful and memorable end-of-life rituals for people and their pets. The book addresses the baby boomer generation with gentle humor on the vital information about funeral arrangements most people dont learn about until faced with a death in the family. A Good Goodbye was Best of Show winner in the 2011 New Mexico Book Awards, and a finalist in ForeWord Reviews 2010 Book of the Year Award.

Gail Rubin, CT, is a pioneering death educator who works with companies and organizations to connect with baby boomers concerned about end-of-life issues. A featured speaker at TEDxABQ in 2015, shes the author of three books on end-of-life issues, including her latest title, KICKING THE BUCKET LIST: 100 Downsizing and Organizing Things to Do Before You Die.

Shes a Certified Funeral Celebrant and writes The Family Plot Blog as well as articles for funeral trade publications. Gail Rubin was one of the first people to host a Death Cafe in the United States, and she is coordinating the inaugural Before I Die Albuquerque festivalOctober 20-24, 2017.

To provide your thoughts on changes in funeral service today, contact Gail Rubin by email, Gail@AGoodGoodbye.com or call 505.265.7215 to arrange an interview.

Find more information online at www.AGoodGoodbye.com.

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The impact of Brexit is likely to be felt widely throughout Britain, and according to Green MEPs there is one group set to lose out - bees.

While the EU commission is poised to introduce a ban on neonicotinoid pesticides, Green MEPs say the Conservatives and the National Farmers' Union are keen to keep using them.

"Conservative ministers have also previously sided with the NFU who are keen to continue using neonicotinoids, widely blamed for sharp declines in bee numbers across the globe," Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said.

But the NFU say the pesticides are 'vital' in protecting England's oilseed rape crop from pests.

NFU Vice President Guy Smith said: "There is still no clear evidence showing that neonicotinoids, on crops like winter oilseed rape, cause widespread impacts on bee populations.

"Because of the neonicotinoid restrictions, pest numbers have increased in recent years.

"Highly targeted, highly controlled use of neonicotinoid seed treatment would help deliver significant benefits in controlling flea beetles and allow crops to establish and thrive."

'Evidence-based solutions'

The NFU has said it will continue the fight for evidence-based decisions as conclusion day for plant protection products approaches.

Three major decisions from Europe are to be concluded with the next six months that could have wide-ranging impacts on arable farmers.

But Green MEP Molly Scott Cato said the EU is presenting a great opportunity "to rid Europe of these hugely harmful and totally unnecessary pesticides."

She said: "Consumer pressure and undeniable scientific evidence has brought us to this point.

"Also, the hard Brexit, anti-red-tape brigade inside the Tory Party cannot wait to sweep away what they see as interfering rules; regulations that actually protect our wildlife, including essential pollinators like bees.

"With Brexit negotiations starting, I will continue to do all I can to defend crucial environmental regulations from attack by corporate giants and complicit politicians."
Broadcasting watchdogs have said an SNP political broadcast unfairly used footage of a farmer who did not know he was appearing in the film.

East Lothian farmer John Shedden knew he was being recorded but thought it was a Scottish government film, not a broadcast promoting the SNP.

Mr Shedden farms near East Garleton Farm near Haddington, East Lothian.

He complained that he was 'duped' into appearing in the broadcast aired by BBC Scotland in October last year.

Regulator Ofcom upheld a 'fairness and privacy' complaint about the film.

The farmer said he had been assured the video would be 'non-political' and was 'shocked' about it.

"I am furious. I am not a supporter of the SNP," he said.

'Unfairly represented'

In a written ruling, Ofcom said: "Mr Shedden said that he did not support the SNP, and that he would not have contributed to the programme had it been made clear to him from the outset that the footage would be used in the partys political broadcast.

"Therefore, it was our view that the inclusion of this footage in the SNPs political broadcast may have resulted in Mr Shedden and his political views being unfairly represented."

The BBC said that the content of such films was primarily the responsibility of the parties themselves, subject to compliance with the relevant editorial standards.

The SNP said the film had been made by a 'highly professional and reliable' company which it had used for more than a decade to produce party political and election broadcasts.

After complaining, Mr Shedden, who was paid 550 for allowing his land to be filmed, said: "My complaint was that this was to be non-political. We had a letter saying it was definitely non-party political and just a snapshot of life in Scotland."
The European Parliament has voted in favour of a ban on the use of pesticides in Ecological Focus Areas (EFAs).

The vote means the European Commissions proposals to ban the use of pesticides on nitrogen-fixing crops, fallow, cover and catch crops can now come into force.

Farmers who receive subsidies from the blocs Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and with arable land exceeding 15 hectares must ensure that at least 5% of their land is set aside for nature improvement.

This include measures that affect biodiversity such as field margins, fallow land, buffer strips and hedges and trees.

It is up to national governments to draw up a list of ecological focus areas, based on a common EU definition, and taking national circumstances into account.

A group of European Parliament lawmakers sought to block the spraying restriction, saying it would undermine the production of crops that are allowed to be cultivated in ecological focus areas.

However, the lawmakers objection fell short, garnering 363 votes.

'Urgency'

Ed Hutley, farm consultant at Strutt & Parker, said it is 'vital' that farmers are given clarity on how the rules will be implemented with 'some urgency'.

He said: People are currently looking at next years cropping plans and will need to know if adjustments are necessary to ensure they can meet their 5% EFA requirement when it comes to completing their 2018 Basic Payment Scheme application.

The majority of our clients use peas or beans to meet their EFA requirements, but without pesticides their viability as break crop will be questionable.

This means farmers will instead look to maximise any other fallow, buffer strips and hedges to use as EFA.

The ban on use of pesticides in certain ecological focus areas will apply beginning January 1 2018.
By Press Trust of India: By Gurdip Singh

Singapore, Jun 20 (PTI) Singapore has detained a radicalised auxiliary police officer for planning to travel to strife-torn Syria to take part in armed violence, while his colleague has been put under a restriction order for supporting him.

Muhammad Khairul Mohamed, 24, an auxiliary police officer at the traffic enforcement division at Woodlands Checkpoint on a causeway link with Malaysia, was arrested in May and detained under the Internal Security Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

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He was deployed by AETOS, the second-largest of three licensed auxiliary police organisations in Singapore, and his duties did not require him to be armed, the MHA said.

Khairul became radicalised as early as 2012 ?- prior to joining AETOS in May 2015 ? when he went online to gather more information about the conflict in Syria after reading about it on mainstream media.

"He developed the view that the conflict in Syria was a sectarian struggle between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, and being a Sunni Muslim, he wanted to fight against the Shiites in Syria by joining the Free Syrian Army," the ministry said.

Khairul perceived the Syrian conflict to be a holy war in which he was prepared to die in battle as a martyr and receive "divine rewards", the Channel News Asia reported.

In 2014, he tried to reach out to a foreign militant on Facebook, as well as two other individuals whom he believed to be Free Syrian Army (FSA) supporters, to find out how he could make his way to Syria.

At the time of his arrest, Khairul was still interested in joining FSA or any other militant groups operating in Syria and engage in armed violence there, the ministry said.

"His readiness and proclivity to resort to violence in pursuit of a religious cause makes him a security threat to Singapore," it said.

Khairuls colleague, Mohamad Rizal Wahid, was put under a restriction order last month for supporting his intentions to fight in Syria.

A person issued with a restriction order is not allowed to move, change jobs, or travel out of Singapore without the authorities? approval.

Rizal, 36, was also an AETOS auxiliary police officer at the Woodlands Checkpoint, and was deployed as an armed officer conducting security duties.

The ministry said that friends or relatives of a person who may be radicalised or intends to undertake acts of violence should report him to the authorities.

In the case of Khairul, several relatives and friends knew of his intentions but none of them came forward, the ministry said. PTI GS AJR AKJ AJR

--- ENDS ---

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The new Environment Secretary Michael Gove has been criticised for cancelling two planned meetings with farm leaders.

The meetings are about the post-Brexit future of the UK farming industry.

Mr Gove was due to chair the EU transition forum in London. The meeting's are to discuss Brexit concerns the farming industry has across all devolved nations in the UK.

They are due to be held tomorrow (21 June) and once more on 17 July.

A Scottish Government source told The Press and Journal: Michael Gove should be taking the concerns of Scotlands agriculture sector seriously  but in cancelling these key Brexit meetings, he is treating the nations farming communities with contempt.

At the same time as he has ditched these talks, he has found time to come to the Royal Highland Show instead.

While any opportunity to hear the concerns of farmers at first-hand is welcome, Mr Goves actions show that he is not serious about engaging with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

'Wholly committed'

However, a Defra spokesperson has responded saying Mr Gove is 'wholly committed' to working with all the devolved bodies throughout the Brexit negotiations.

Mr Gove has recently been seen at the Royal Highland Show and the Royal Three Counties Show this week and last.

The NFU President Meurig Raymond met with Mr Gove at the Royal Three Counties Show to talk about the scope of policy priorities for the farming sector.

For Michael Gove, DEFRA faces some of the toughest challenges of any Government department as Brexit looms.

The EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which many farmers rely on, will have to be replaced with a UK-focused system.
The dairy sector will face harsh realities in the short term after leaving the EU, according to a new report due to be published in October.

However, the study said the industry could gain significant opportunities from the need for supply chains to work together and from internationalising the industrys focus.

Interim findings from the Trehane Fellowship study, Identifying a Strategy for the UK Dairy Industry Post-Brexit, are resulted from a number of investigative meetings in the UK and US, as well as in the Netherlands and Belgium.

The Fellowship, which was awarded to Andersons Partner Mike Houghton in November last year, is due to conclude in October 2017.

Mr Houghton's first key finding is the dairy sector need to avoid Brexit-Obsession; the assumption should be there will be a trade deal of some kind, so the focus needs to shift to how the industry shapes itself over coming years.

We also have to assume risk management will be essential, explains Mr Houghton.

A margin protection scheme similar to the US could potentially be low cost when averaged across a number of years, but other risk management tools are likely to become more relevant in the future.

"Brexit gives UK more to gain if worlds largest dairy businesses  which are in fact farmer owned  collaborated pre-competitively to talk volumes"

These are not really available yet to the UK dairy farmer, but systems are being developed and training will be required so that dairy farmers understand the principle of risk management.

'Must increase productivity'

He also points out that the productivity gains made in pigs, poultry and horticulture in recent decades suggest that income support of one kind or another experienced by dairy has actually discouraged productivity improvements.

We must increase productivity, but need to think about the Producer Organisation system so successful in other countries which supports investment rather than giving people an amount of money for looking after the land, he explains.

It is worth reviewing how the produce organisation (PO) system has worked for horticulture in particular, as this has tended to encourage investment in technology and productivity, and has to be match funded by participants.

The National Farmers Union has previously renewed calls for dairy POs.

NFU dairy board chairman Michael Oakes said the UK must develop a 'collaborative dairy industry' that can compete effectively in the UK and on the world markets.

Supply chain communications

Other areas that stand out for Mr Houghton are the benefits of better supply chain communications, and the gains to be made from sharing pre-competitive supply and demand information in an effort to soften global price volatility.

Brexit could well force supply chains to work more closely. If the processor can run the factory at 98% efficiency, everyone would benefit.

But they never can because the supply of information from producers doesnt allow them to. More trust within the supply chain and better communication could solve this.

And while volatile prices due to imbalances of supply and demand is not a Brexit-specific issue, there would be considerable benefits to the UK industry in reducing the extremes of price fluctuations.

Brexit gives the UK more to gain if the worlds largest dairy businesses  which are in fact farmer owned  collaborated pre-competitively to talk volumes. In effect this could create an OMEC  an OPEC for milk. Sometimes less could be more!

The Trehane Fellowship was created in 2016 to fund independent studies in areas deemed of interest or concern by the Trustees. New Fellowships are expected to be awarded on a biennial or triennial basis.
AHDB publishes five-year plans for how levy will be invested
Summary

Company Announcement Date: June 20, 2017 FDA Publish Date: February 08, 2018 Product Type: Food & Beverages

Gravy/Sauces

Allergens

Food & Beverage Safety Reason for Announcement: Recall Reason Description Undeclared peanut Company Name: Fat Cat Gourmet Foods Brand Name: Brand Name(s) Fat Cat Product Description: Product Description Hot Sauce

Company Announcement

A single production batch of Fat Cat Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce, sold specifically to Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, BI-LO Supermarkets and Harveys Supermarkets in the Southeastern U.S., has been recalled due to a potential peanut contamination found in the product. People who have allergies to peanuts run the risk of serious or life-threatening allergic reaction if they consume this product.

The recalled Fat Cat-brand Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce was distributed exclusively to Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, BI-LO Supermarkets and Harveys Supermarkets in the Southeastern U.S. (464 stores in all). The stores that carried the product are located in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana specifically. A complete list of stores that carried the product can be obtained by request via the contact information listed above.

United Natural Foods, Incorporated (UNFI), the company who distributed the products to the Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, BI-LO Supermarkets and Harveys Supermarkets supermarkets listed above, is handling the recall of the product, in cooperation with Fat Cat Gourmet Foods and Southeastern Grocers, which manages the aforementioned Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, BI-LO Supermarkets and Harveys Supermarkets.

The recalled Fat Cat Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce comes in a 5 ounce glass bottle; the necks of the affected bottles display the lot number FCPPMAY092019 on them. A digital image of the product and its label are included at the bottom of this communication.

The recall was initiated after an ingredient supplier, Woodland Foods of Chicago, IL, notified Fat Cat Gourmet Foods via letter that there was a possible peanut contamination in the peri-peri peppers used in their product.

No illnesses have been reported to date in connection with this and the recall does not impact other releases of Fat Cat Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce sold in stores other than the aforementioned Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, BI-LO Supermarkets and Harveys Supermarkets in the Southeastern U.S. Only bottles of Fat Cat Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce with the lot number FCPPMAY092019 stamped on it are affected.

While Fat Cat Gourmet Foods will continue to produce the product, the company will no longer use per-peri peppers sourced from Woodlands Foods in doing so. Peri-peri peppers used in future productions of Fat Cat Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce will now be obtained from a different supplier, who has provided microbial clearance of allergens to the product prior to production agreement.

Consumers who have purchased 5 ounce bottles of Fat Cat Purry-Purry Sauce Hot Sauce with the lot number FCPPMAY092019 from Winn-Dixie Supermarkets, BI-LO Supermarkets and Harveys Supermarkets in the Southeastern U.S. between May 10, 2017 and June 8, 2017 are urged to return them to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact the company at 407-927-1771, Monday to Friday, from 9am  4pm EST.

Company Contact Information Consumers: 407-927-1771
What happened

Shares of Fang Holdings Ltd. (SFUN) were down 9.6% as of 3:00 p.m. EDT Tuesday after the company announced weaker-than-expected first-quarter 2017 results.

So what

Quarterly revenue fell 46.3% year over year to $109.8 million, which translated to an adjusted net loss of $10.5 million, or $0.03 per American depositary share. Analysts, on average, were expecting a narrower net loss of $0.01 per share on higher revenue of $120.5 million.

Within Fang Holdings' top line, revenue from e-commerce services declined 69.5% to $39.9 million, driven by lower transaction volume thanks to a downsized self-owned and operated brokerage team. Marketing services revenue also declined 10.2% to $27.3 million, driven by tightened government policies in the real estate market. Finally, listing services' revenue climbed 41.3% to $34 million, thanks to an increased number of paying members.

Now what

Fang Holdings opted not to provide specific forward financial guidance, primarily as it's "undergoing adjustments to its transformations and is returning to open-platform strategy." Recall shares skyrocketed earlier this year after the company initially made its shift in strategy known.

In the end, given Fang Holdings' disappointing performance and no evidence yet of success from its transformations, it's no surprise to see investors taking a step back today.
President Donald Trump has made sweeping proposals to change the federal tax system, including some provisions that would dramatically change the way small businesses get taxed. However, there's a great deal of disagreement in Washington, even among Congressional Republicans, about whether the backbone of Trump's small-business tax policy is sound. Throwing more fuel on the fire is the decision from the Republican-controlled legislature in Kansas to roll back similar measures in that state and effectively raise taxes, despite its having to override a veto from Gov. Sam Brownback in order to do so. Many fear that the experience in Kansas could lead some to conclude that similar aspects of the Trump tax plan simply aren't worth the risk.

What happened in Kansas

The Kansas tax changes date back to 2012, when Brownback advocated for tax changes that have several aspects in common with the Trump federal tax proposal. Among the provisions were tax simplification moves like raising the standard deduction, along with business incentives like lowering the corporate tax. In particular, owner-operated businesses received a complete tax holiday, essentially removing income taxes on money received through pass-through entities like sole proprietorships, partnerships, and many limited liability companies.

Advocates for the proposal argued that the move would essentially provide economic stimulus for businesses. The anticipated result was that those businesses would have more money to invest in growth opportunities, leading to an economic revival for Kansas that would help it keep up with neighboring states like Colorado, Missouri, and Oklahoma. The positive cycle would create more jobs, spurring more business growth and helping to reinvigorate the business environment in the Sunflower State.

Instead, the move gave Kansas businesses an incentive to take advantage of the new tax rules. Tens of thousands of new pass-through business entities were created, but many of them were from former employees who simply shifted to an independent contractor relationship with their former employers. By doing so, they were able to convert what would have been taxable wage income into tax-free pass-through business income.

In response, lawmakers suddenly found themselves with insufficient tax revenue to fund their budget. Earlier this month, after multiple attempts to reverse the tax cuts, Republican lawmakers overrode a gubernatorial veto and by doing so undid many of the previous changes.

Will the Trump tax plan suffer the same fate?

Currently, the president's latest tax proposals look similar in many respects to what Kansas did. Lower standard deductions, simplified tax brackets, and favorable provisions for corporations and small businesses all seem to hinge on the idea that economic growth will more than make up for any immediate reduction in tax revenue.

Yet the same question remains whether individuals will just make cosmetic changes in order to reap tax benefits without actually doing any of the business investment that the plan counts on to work in the long run. Reducing the federal tax rate on pass-through income to 15% would give high-income employees a huge incentive to leave their jobs and create their own business entities. With current tax rates stretching as high as 39.6%, the savings would be almost 25 percentage points. Even under the Trump tax plan, the differential between 15% on pass-through businesses and 33% on top-bracket regular income tax would provide a lot of reason for taxpayers to explore alternatives to traditional employment -- with absolutely no intention to make business-growing moves afterward.

Meanwhile, the Trump plan wouldn't actually tie any of the tax savings to reinvesting money into businesses. Indeed, by reducing the tax rate, small-business owners would actually get less of an incentive from spending money in ways that create immediate tax deductions, because the tax savings would be reduced. What many people increasingly believe is that those who benefit would simply pocket the extra cash, and there's nothing to prevent that from happening.

So far, Republicans in Congress have shown only small amounts of the internal party divisiveness that led to what happened in Kansas. However, with so much more at stake, even the experience of a relatively small state could be enough to give lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pause before passing tax cuts with fundamentally flawed policy positions.
By India Today Web Desk: Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja are busy painting the town red. The rumoured lovebirds are in no mood to keep their relationship under the wraps anymore, and have finally thrown caution to wind. From Instagram posts to public appearances, Sonam and Anand's proximity has grabbed eyeballs in the recent past.

Anand, whose Instagram feed has many pictures of Sonam, yet again shared adorable selfies with his rumoured girlfriend on social media, and the two look cute AF in these pictures.

????everyday A post shared by anand ahuja (@anandahuja) on Jun 18, 2017 at 8:42pm PDT

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Sonam and Anand's romance came in the spotlight when they made an appearance at Akshay Kumar's Rustom success bash. When the actor was asked on Koffee with Karan about the "conjecture" that she has been dating a "business-boy from London," she laughed, "I am always dating a businessman from London." She went on to say that she likes to keep her private life private and she will never talk about it.

On the work front, Sonam will be next seen in Padman opposite Akshay Kumar.

ALSO READ: Is this how Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja celebrated their first anniversary?

ALSO READ: Rumoured lovebirds Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja spotted on a lunch date

ALSO WATCH: I believe in ever afters and soulmates, says Sonam Kapoor

--- ENDS ---
Event barn sparks neighborhood war

An event space called the Barn at Tall Oaks should be finished by October.

Bill Crane is working long hours alongside his two older sons to get an event barn ready for an October wedding.

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The exposed beam structure is almost 4,000 square feet, with a picture window that gives it the look of a chapel. It has 1,800 square feet of outdoor deck and will have a catering kitchen. A bride and groom could descend down a staircase from a loft at one end of barn and walk west toward a setting sun.

The barn looks like a quality addition to the 15-acre piece of land the Cranes call Tall Oaks. But that belies the turmoil that has surrounded the effort by Crane and his wife, Tamra, to get a permit for the structure.

By the time the wedding day arrives in October it will have been two years since then Henderson County Zoning Board of Adjustment granted the Cranes a special use permit for the building, an option thats allowed in the countys land-use ordinance even for most residential property. Since then, the Cranes have fought a challenge brought by their closest neighbors, Stan and Jane Shelley, winning appeals in Henderson County Superior Court and at the N.C. Court of Appeals.

But the defendants win streak in court has not quelled the uprising against the event barn. If they cant score in the legal arena, Shelley and his allies are fighting in the political arena. More than 30 opponents, including a number of people who live miles from the Crane property on N.C. 191 across from Rugby Middle School, showed up at a Board of Commissioners meeting on May 1 to express their opinion.

Commissioners told the residents they had no authority to overturn a permit that had been upheld on appeal, twice. But several of the commissioners, including Chairman Michael Edney and Commissioner Charlie Messer, that they were appalled that the event barn had been allowed. The commissioners unanimously approved a motion by Commissioner Grady Hawkins directing the zoning administrator to make sure the Cranes were in compliance with the permit and directed the county Planning Board to review whether a small gathering place, as its called in the zoning code, should be allowed at all in residential zones.



Neighbors challenge permit

Even before the first processional rings out from the Barn at Tall Oaks, as the event space is to be called, Shelley filed a petition, also signed by 76 others, asking the county zoning administrator to revoke the special use permit.

The petition argues that:

 The countys Technical Review Committee approved the project on the condition that the facility use a public water supply. Crane doesnt plan to use public water, it said.

 The applicant misrepresented how much traffic would use Bradley and Country roads, which are not made for heavy traffic.

 The Zoning Board of Adjustment approved a site plan that was different from the one opponents commented on.

 A fence is not tall enough to block headlights from the parking lot.

 The Cranes are selling gazebos on their property.

Bill and Tamra Crane rebut the points one by one.

Public water was never a formal condition of the permit, Bill Crane said. The sites well water has been tested and blessed by the Health Department, he said. A homebuilder, Crane has sold gazebos on a corner of his yard on N.C. 191 when the construction trade was slow. Now, he said, hes too busy to make any new ones.

On May 22, Autumn Radcliff, Henderson County senior planner, sent Shelley a response to his petition to revoke the special-use permit.

On June 28 the Zoning Board of Adjustment will consider clarifying several conditions of the special use permit but wont take up whether the permit should be revoked or is valid because thats been litigated and settled, she said.

Among the points the zoning board will review are requirements for fencing and vegetative buffers, the sale of gazebos and the definition of the permits condition that no event may have more than 150 people. Specifically, What is the definition of attendees per this condition?



Opponents spread incorrect information

Tamra Crane said in an interview that she does not understand what the Zoning Board of Adjustment could take up.

The special use permit has already been passed in the court here and the North Carolina Court of Appeals, she said.

As for compliance with conditions, theres nothing to measure because no events have taken place.

Were not even in operation yet, she said. I understand that we have to abide by the rules of the permit. And we intend to. Were not going to stop it just Stan Shelley and Jane Shelley dont want us too.

The Cranes say the opponents have misrepresented their plans and scared neighbors with tall tales about alcohol use, traffic, light pollution and noise.

They have told incorrect information to all these people, she said. Bill and I do not drink. We will permit beer and wine but we wont have liquor. We will have the sheriffs department here during events. We are doing everything we can to make this a nice facility and theyre only telling them what they want them to hear.

The Cranes said they were told that during a meeting about the event barn at the Opportunity House, opponents sought to remove a woman who defended the event space.

It was only because she stood up and said, Have you gone out and looked at it? Do you really want the true story of what was going on? They didnt want to hear that and called the sheriff department to have her removed. They told her she was going to burn in hell, Tamra said.

Were not going to cause any disruption, she added. We havent been out door to door and asked people to sign petitions and put out letters and just telling people what they wanted them to hear. Thats all people know because thats all theyve heard. Theyd only heard one. Nope. Not now.
By Press Trust of India: London, Jun 20 (PTI) A 47-year-old man arrested after a terror attack near a London mosque had been kicked out of a pub for cursing Muslims just a day before the incident, a media report said.

Father-of-four Darren Osborne was arrested by police after a van ploughed into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London.

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One person was killed and 11 others injured in the attack.

The victims were all Muslims and the incident was declared a terror attack on the Muslim population. Witnesses said the driver shouted: ?I want to kill all Muslims?, before onlookers pinned him to the ground.

Shocked neighbours said Osborne had recently been kicked out by partner Sarah Andrews ? and was forced to live in a tent.

Others claim that he was ejected from the town?s Hollybush pub on Saturday night for drunkenly cursing Muslims.

"He got chucked out as he was so drunk," The Sun quoted a a regular visitor at the pub as saying.

"He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage," he said.

However, his mother Christine said her son was not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims.

"This is every mother?s worst nightmare," she said.

Christine said she screamed in horror after spotting her son in TV footage of the attack.

"As a mum my heart goes out to everyone in Finsbury Park," she said.

Two Muslim neighbours of Osborne said he had never showed any animosity towards them.

Mum-of-six Khadijah Sherazi, a British Islamic convert, moved next door to Osborne six months ago.

"This is a complete shock, I thought he was a normal neighbour, laughing and joking. He fixed my leaky tap the other day," she said.

"He seemed like a good dad, he takes the kids to school and back every day and walks the dogs,? she said.

Saleem Naema, who is from Iraq, lives on the same road.

He said: "I couldn?t believe when I realised it was him who was accused.

"We?d say hello everyday when dropping the kids off at school and he never had a problem with me at all. I?m a Muslim and he was never nasty or racist towards me," he said. PTI NSA

--- ENDS ---
McCrory not ruling out rematch in 2020

Former Gov. Pat McCrory sounded a lot like a candidate when he spoke Saturday to Carolina Journal and to the Civitas Institutes Conservative Leadership Conference in Raleigh.

RALEIGH  Former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory says Roy Cooper, his Democratic successor, is repaying his trial lawyer campaign contributors by hiring them for expensive, politically motivated lawsuits against the GOP-led General Assembly.

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In a wide-ranging interview with Carolina Journal, McCrory also accused Cooper of massive firings of people hired during McCrorys term in office, spoke of regrets of unfinished business during his four years in office, and hinted that he might run again for governor in three years.

When you lose the closest election in North Carolina history, and youre outspent 2-1, and you had everything thrown at you from the national level, why wouldnt you try again? McCrory said. Before making that decision, he said, he would need to feel certain he would be the best change agent for state government.

Its way too early at this point in time to make that decision  but I definitely want to keep that option, McCrory said.

But he seemed to be in campaign mode as he ticked off components of his Carolina Comeback that he said people appreciate, if belatedly: Reducing unemployment from the fourth-highest rate in the nation to one at or below the national average. Cutting income taxes. Paying off debt. Championing a bond for university, state parks, military and infrastructure projects. And funding teacher pay raises for the first time this decade.

We had major transportation reform, which took the politics out of transportation, and I hope to God the new governor and the legislature doesnt roll [it] back, and get back into the good old boy system to how we build roads, McCrory said.

Not getting a bond issue for roads was his biggest disappointment, McCrory said. Both conservatives and liberals removed it from the agenda, he said. He thinks the public would have passed the referendum with 95 percent support.

Im a little disappointed that the current governor and the legislature havent talked about putting roads on the ballot, he said. We should have at least put another billion dollars in roads this year.

McCrory said Cooper has not reached out to him for advice or consultation. Instead, the current governor has fired as many McCrory hires as he could, even down to administrative assistants that had no political connection whatsoever, so thats a little disappointing.

McCrory said Cooper is filing lawsuit after lawsuit. He noted the irony, because as attorney general, Cooper refused to defend the state in lawsuits as its top attorney.

Hes hiring a lot of his lawyers who contributed to his campaign, and millions of dollars are being spent, McCrory said.

The former governor also filed lawsuits, the biggest of which accused Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, of separation-of-powers violations involving legislative appointments that wrested control of three executive branch commissions from the governor.

McCrory said he stood by that lawsuit, upheld by the state Supreme Court. But he said it was ironic Cooper is using the McCrory v. Berger decision to bolster his own legal claims against the General Assembly, even though the circumstances are different.

Hes not being a leader. Hes just being a person who fights against a Republican legislature, McCrory said.

Its working politically to his advantage, McCrory said, because his liberal base wants to fight, and legislators tend to be more unpopular than anybody. He thinks last years shift of the state Supreme Court from Democratic to Republican control has emboldened Cooper, whos convinced the high court will rule in his favor.

Some of Coopers lawsuits involve bills McCrory signed into law. One merged the State Board of Elections and Ethics Commission into a new entity. Another challenged the legislative appointment of the wife of McCrorys chief of staff to the Industrial Commission. The State Board of Education filed suit over a law stripping it of some of its powers, and transferring them to the state superintendent of education.

McCrory said he signed those bills because they passed with veto-proof margins, and he believed the General Assembly was within its authority on the measures.

He said education reform is sorely needed because there is no accountability either in secondary or college levels.That was going to be one of my second term endeavors, to try to totally reform the accountability of education, McCrory said.

He also took some shots at the media. Its amazing that WRAL in Raleigh, the News & Observer, and Charlotte Observer havent done a coal ash story in six months. Does that mean that I solved [the problem] or it just disappeared? McCrory asked.

He said mainstream media outlets played a role in his defeat, diverting attention from his administrations successes, and following Coopers lead on magnifying the House Bill 2 dispute, the coal ash controversy, and the controversy over adding toll lanes to Interstate 77 north of Charlotte.

He said the toll lanes were mistakenly called toll roads, and the backlash caused him 30,000 votes in northern Mecklenburg County. He lost the election by about 10,000 votes. He said stepping on toes to break up the good old boys system of doing transportation projects probably cost him some votes as well.

McCrory noted that President Trump has been suggesting public-private partnerships for highway projects, which include toll lanes.

Id love to help President Trump in giving my advice on that, McCrory said. He has spoken to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao several times on the political consequences of supporting toll lane construction, and the long-term financial consequences of not building necessary transportation infrastructure.

-30-
The hotly anticipated hospitality technology show, HITEC, is around the corner once again. Hospitality technology companies from across the country (almost 400 of them) are getting set to unveil their latest innovations as well as new products and services at the event, which is convening in Toronto this year. Due to be another exciting and busy venue to learn everything you will want to know about the latest advances and trends in our industry, HITEC is sure to be success yet again.

Each year, we at ALICE run an analysis on the companies in attendance, and here are some of our findings:

The Categories

More so than 2016, companies in attendance this year at HITEC are more diverse than ever before. This includes a wide range of categories from hardware to marketing and everything in between. Last year, 2016, had a makeup that included 28.8% hardware companies, 9.6% technology services (which include services ranging from technical support to computer networking), and 8.6% media solutions. With hardware earning the top spot again in 2017, this majority is much smaller than past years (20.2%), and technology services have closed the gap now making up 14% of the event. Other top segments include media solutions (11.8%) and property management systems (10.2%). Although the top categories seem to have become more balanced, there is no sign of any new break-out product categories this year.

The Newcomers

Alongside 276 returning companies, there are a bunch of new and exciting companies joining the mix this year. Some interesting and impressive newcomers at HITEC 2017 include Nonius, Pure HD, and Dormakaba. Using booth size as a (questionable, but fun) gauge for company ambition, these newcomers have noticeably large booths.

A few years ago, HFTP started the popular E20X competition, a forum for innovative startups to pitch their cutting-edge ideas to a room full of attendees and a panel of expert judges (of which Dmitry, our CTO, was one last year). A few notable new entrants to this year's competition include Angie, HotelFlex and Bizly. All 13 entrants will be on the floor to meet with and are a great starting point for inspiration.

Angie - The soon to be released smart-room AI for guest voice control that took the HTNG 2017 Innovation Award a few months ago.

HotelFlex - An incremental revenue platform out of the U.K. that runs search on all flight times to help hotels offer early and late checkouts in already empty rooms for a fee.

Bizly - A beautifully designed and already popular meeting platform that empowers everyone across the company to book their own events.

Bigger Booths Than Last Year

Some returning companies worth noting with a significant increase in booth size include First Data, Active Networks, and DCI-Design Communications LLC. These are just a small sampling of companies whose booth sizes have increased, which may signal substantial company growth.

Going Big

The following companies have some of the biggest booths at HITEC this year:

As the conference comes to a close, it's certainly worth checking out some of the amazing sites of Toronto while you're there! Some of the most popular attractions the city has to offer include the CN Tower, St. Lawrence Market, and the amazing park located on the Toronto Islands. We recommend Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse for a world class steak and Canoe Restaurant & Bar for an amazing view!

Headed to HITEC? Share with us the companies you're looking forward to meeting!

And while you're there, we invite you to stop by our own (pretty big) booth (#1245) to learn how ALICE can improve your guest service, cut costs and drive revenue at your hotel.

Making the Most of HITEC

Along with learning about all the great tech companies and seeing what the future of the hospitality industry will look like, there are numerous panels, discussions, sessions, and keynote speakers worth checking out and learning from during your time at HITEC. Make sure to check out Dave Berkus start off the week with his session "Will Tech Kill Your Job?", Monday at 4:30, as well as other keynote speakers Alex Tapscott, Kevin Rosen, and Robert Villanueva. To learn more about these speakers and what they will be discussing, click here. Also, dont miss out on the event's opening party at 6:30 on Monday, as this will be a great place to network and meet the new faces of our rapidly expanding industry!

ALICE co-founders Justin Effron and Alex Shashou will also be speaking at HITEC this year. On Monday, June 26th, at 2.45pm, Justin will join the education supersession "How Are You Going To Pay For It?", to discussion the challenges of figuring out the right IT strategy for your company and the different methods of financing these plans. Later in the week, on Wednesday, Alex will join two panels on guest technology. During the 2.30pm "Text Your Guests?", Alex and other industry experts will share best practices for adopting a messaging strategy, plus benefits and challenges of doing so. On the 3.45pm panel "Are Mobile Apps in Hotels Dead?", Alex and his co-panelists will discuss which apps are best suited to meet guests needs, how hotels can differentiate their brands with mobile apps, whether mobile apps can keep guests happy and avoid negative reviews, and how apps can keep guests connected to the hotel before, during and post-stay.

With what is sure to be a hectic, and extremely informative week at HITEC, make sure you give the HITEC SCHEDULE a good glance to ensure you don't miss any of the awesome events that HITEC has to offer!

About ALICE

ALICE is the leading all-in-one hospitality operations platform that enables hotel staff to do their most impactful work. Task management, real-time communication, and operational analytics reduce the complexity and chaos of hotel operations providing the transparency and flexibility needed to run efficiently. Founded in 2013, ALICE works with more than 2,500 hotels and tens of thousands of hotel staff across many of the world's leading brands, including Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Graduate Hotels, and Grupo Posadas. ALICE won 7 HotelTechAwards in 2022: winner of Best Concierge Software & Best Housekeeping Software; finalist for its Guest Messaging, Maintenance, and Staff Collaboration Tools; Top 10 People's Choice; and Top 10 Best Places to Work in Hotel Technology for the fifth straight year. https://www.aliceplatform.com/.

Lola Feiger

Marketing Lead
Manchester's historic London Road Fire Station has sat largely vacant in recent years, but that may change soon.

Allied London and Levitt Bernstein, an award-winning property development company and architecture firm respectively, have collaborated on and submitted a design proposal that stands as a full-scale reimagining of the unique and storied property. This plan, if put into action, seeks to reinvigorate more than the just the fire stationit seeks to overhaul and vitalize the surrounding neighborhood as well.

Allied London has owned the building, which is a Grade II* listed Edwardian Baroque-style structure, since 2015. At the time of purchase, the property had fallen into wide-spanning disrepair. Levitt Bernstein's submission, however, is aimed at refurbishing and expanding the property to include a boutique hotel, bars, restaurants, communal workspaces and private residence apartments.

For those concerned about the history of the classic building, there is cause to celebrate, as the submitted plan goes to careful lengths to preserve the building fabric wherever possible. It seeks to accomplish this while still having the new hotel wing of the structure seated in front of the existing London Road courtyard elevation.

The original facade of the building will become a side of a corridor that will connect the new hotel wing. The designers at Levitt have conceived of the structure's new extension as a metal tableau, able to simultaneously reference the heritage of the site while creating a harmonious composition that is housed within the confines of the courtyard.

Another key component of this design is the Fairfield Street wing. In this section of the property, the old firemen's flats where the men once lived will be adapted to something more modern: a series of communal workspaces and private residency apartments. These properties will also response to the building's overarching layout, striving to maintain many of the interior details that were inherent to the original.

At the core of this reimagined building, however, are the modern trimmings that mark world-class global hospitality properties. There will be a spa, several themed bars, and restaurants for all manner of dining.

In the central courtyard, this design features a new pavilion, where visitors can access other bars as well as an event space, which has a proposed glass prism installation that creates a grand sweeping staircase that descends upon a subterranean area. This section will be festooned with semi-reflective glass, which means that during the day it will reflect the architecture surrounding it, blending it into the background. At night, however, it will be illuminated within, creating a truly stunning effect.

Currently in the planning stage, the London Road Fire Station will begin the renovation and construction process in late 2017. let's take a look at some of the other more interesting projects that are currently underway in the United Kingdom:

Hard Rock Hotel London:

The Hard Rock Hotel is an international chain of rock-and-roll themed hotels that has a visible presence in most major tourist cities. The Hard Rock Hotel and its 900 rooms is currently undergoing a major refurbishment, a conversion of the existing Cumberland Hotel that will be located directly at Marble Arch on Hyde Park, near the crossroads of the prominent Oxford Street and Park Lane intersection. This hotel will feature a lobby where guests and visitors alike can enjoy signature cocktails, live music, and an on-site Hard Rock Cafe complete with the brand's iconic merchandise.

Moxy Hotel London Heathrow: Marriott International's iconic and trendy Moxy brand is finally coming to the United Kingdom with a 425-room facility to be located on Bath Road near Heathrow Airport. Expected to open in the first quarter of 2018, this hotel will boast the signature style and cost-efficient rates that have made Moxy Hotels so appealing to young travelers throughout the globe.

Odeon Leicester Square:

With space in London at such a premium, hotels have begun to explore options that create more room underground. The Odeon Leicester Square is the latest facility to do so, offering eight stories for guests above ground, complete with bars and restaurants. Below ground, the hotel will also have a spa with a 20-meter swimming pool, an Odeon cinema, and a banquet space.

TOPHOTELNEWS is a platform which provides all the latest updates from the international hospitality industry. We are to the point, data driven and focus on what you love. Take a look at www.tophotel.news

Lennart Kooy

associate partner TOPHOTELMEDIA

TOPHOTELPROJECTS

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The travel industry is driven by inspiration - an industry that leverages curiosity, realizes experiences and opens us up to the world. If experiences are the currency of the travel sector, and inspiration is the key to loyalty, the use of virtual reality (VR) technology would seem like the perfect match.

Virtual reality could change the way people consumer travel content but are consumers ready to embrace this new technology and is it worth travel brands investing today? EyeforTravel's latest whitepaper titled 'Does Virtual Reality Have a Place in Travel?' takes a closer look at the budding area of VR to see if the next revolution was around the corner.

Gfk Consumer Research in the UK found that half of British consumers find the idea of owning a VR device appealing, with most (31%) finding the idea very appealing, while Greenlight VR's research highlights a very high interest in using VR for travel and tourism.

Despite this interest in VR and a recognition of functionality, sales in 2016 were disappointing when compared to forecasts made before the year began. For example, CCS Insight adjusted its forecast to reflect a slower start. Previously it expected 2 million units of dedicated VR headsets (such as the Oculus Rift or PlayStation VR, as opposed to smartphone units) to be sold in 2016  it now estimates 1.2 million were sold. Similarly, Digi-Capital expected a combined USD4.4 billion of VR/AR revenue in 2016 but revised that estimate down tobUSD2.7 billion (Digi-Capital, 2017).

When it comes to more complex dedicated systems, the numbers are far smaller. SuperData Research estimates that by the end of 2016 the following had been sold among the major VR headset players going for more expensive and complex offerings:

With shipments per year of VR devices in major markets expected to grow by more than 400% from 2017 to 2021, the user base will also expand into a viable market over the next few years. SuperData estimates that the number of average monthly unique users of VR was 16 million in 2016. It expects this to rise by 80% in 2017 to more than 28.8 million, and then up to 81.5 million by 2019 (SuperData, 2017). If this trend were to broadly continue to 2021 then this would mean approximately 120 million monthly unique VR users  a growth of more than 300% from 2017 to 2021.

The full whitepaper goes into detail about the business case for VR, case studies from leading travel brands currently using VR and much more. You can download the full whitepaper here.

About Reuters Events

Reuters Events is a community where the worlds top online travel brands  from hotels to airlines, online travel agents, cruise, car hire firms and more  come to meet to drive forward growth and innovation in the industry.

We know that working in the turbulent online travel industry is as exciting as it is challenging. In this constantly evolving market place, we appreciate that keeping up with the pace of change can be tough, not to mention time consuming. You need the right information, contacts and strategic insight to succeed.

Established in 1997, by Tim Gunstone, we offer a diverse product portfolio including industry analysis, insights, research, webinars, reports and conferences to suit the needs of our clients.

Our clients read as a whos who of online travel. From major hotel brands to new startups, we help our 80,000 strong customer base make better decisions, build better brands, close the most lucrative deals and ultimately sell more of their product. After all, increasing travel brand profit margins in the cutthroat travel industry is the name of the game!

No other online travel intelligence provider has been charting the growth of online travel as long as we have. We were here at the inception of online travel and we know the industry inside out. Whats more, were a small, friendly team. Forget impersonal hierarchies, we like to get to know our customers and work towards their exact needs.

Meredith Pistulka
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Timed to the 45th anniversary of the notorious Watergate break-in, The Watergate Hotel is announcing a new signature guest room to capture the infamy and intrigue of one of the most famous guest rooms in the world. The Watergate Scandal Room 214, where scandalous history was made, will be conceptualized, curated, and designed by Lyn Paolo, the costume designer of the ShondaLand hit series SCANDAL and the John Wells' show "Shameless", and Rakel Cohen, co-owner of The Watergate Hotel, to create a one-a-kind accommodation for hotel guests.

On June 17, 1972, E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who helmed The Watergate break-in team, stationed themselves in The Watergate Hotel's room 214. From there, they remained in contact with everyone involved via radio while the burglary at the Democratic National Committee in the Watergate Complex, adjacent to the hotel, was underway. A Watergate security guard named Frank Wills noticed suspicious activity, which prompted him to call the police and ultimately led to the discovery of the scandal.

"Because of the infamous break-in 45 years ago, The Watergate Hotel has been a household name with a scandalous past that can't be ignored," said Rakel Cohen, Senior Vice President of Design & Development, and co-owner of The Watergate Hotel. "We pay homage to the past with small details throughout the property, but everyone kept asking us about room 214, so we needed to do something bold with it. The decision to team up with Lyn Paolo, known for her award-winning work on the hit TV series "SCANDAL" was an easy choice  we couldn't have a better partner."

For Lyn Paolo's first hotel collaboration, she will work closely with Rakel Cohen to redesign room 214 with soft furnishings and in-room amenities and closet items that showcase the property's significant history and underscore the guest room's allure to so many global travelers.

"I am beyond thrilled to work with Rakel Cohen to design our own interpretation of The Watergate Scandal room," said Lyn Paolo. "I love interior design, politics and of course I am inspired to help design a room with such a scandalous history. Working with Rakel on this project is an unexpected dream, and it is the perfect fit for my next design adventure."

Today, The Watergate Hotel exudes refinement and glamour with a touch of scandal, and this guest room, slated to debut in late fall 2017, is the latest example of how the hotel acknowledges its storied past. Among the subtle nods to The Watergate break-in throughout the property, guests will find room keys that read "No Need to Break-In," the main phone number alluding to the break-in date (844-617-1972), Nixon speeches instead of hold music, in-room pencils engraved with "I Stole This from The Watergate Hotel," and more.

Originally designed by Italian architect Luigi Moretti to look like a sail on the Potomac, The Watergate Hotel made waves with its groundbreaking contemporary style and came to epitomize the fabulous lifestyle and sophistication of its time. Following a $200 million-dollar renovation by its current owners, Euro Capital Properties, The Watergate Hotel reopened in June 2016 with new vibrant spaces such as The Next Whisky Bar, Kingbird, Top of the Gate and Argentta Spa. The hotel's current design captures the essence of the property's retro roots, paying tribute to its past while simultaneously paving the way for a new chapter to be written. This year not only marks the 45th anniversary of The Watergate break-in, but also 50 years since The Watergate Hotel first opened its doors.

The Watergate Hotel is located at 2650 Virginia Ave NW in Washington, D.C. For more information about the hotel, please visit TheWatergateHotel.com.
Toronto  The Rainmaker Group (Rainmaker), the market leader in revenue and profit optimization solutions for the gaming and hospitality industry, is set to demonstrate its full suite of cloud-based solutions to attendees of HITEC 2017, taking place June 26th  29th in Toronto, Canada. In addition to demonstrations of the proven Rainmaker revenue management, intelligence and rate-shopping solutions platform, which includes guestrev, grouprev, revcaster and revintel, attendees visiting HITEC booth #1852 will get an in-depth look at several newly released enhancements to Rainmaker solutions, which provide additional features and functionality to help Rainmaker clients maximize profit from every segment of their business.

The next generation of Rainmaker's revcaster rate shopping solution brings hoteliers much needed insights on market, demand and property dynamics. This easy-to-use tool allows hoteliers to overcome common roadblocks to implementing a dynamic pricing strategy, such as insufficient staff time, budget and resources. The newly enhanced revcaster solution provides the ability to centralize and simplify the processing of all relevant data, ensuring that no information is overlooked when making pricing decisions.

"With revenue management technology playing such a critical role in ensuring business growth and sustainability, we look forward to connecting with attendees at HITEC 2017 to show them how our integrated platform of solutions not only optimizes profit and pricing decisions, but also drastically reduces the time needed to implement effective profit optimization strategies," said Tammy Farley, Rainmaker president.

Rainmaker will also be conducting demonstrations of group forecasting, a new functionality enhancement which has been added to both grouprev and guestrev, allowing hoteliers to project future group business demand, in order to further improve the accuracy of their pricing and boost overall profitability.

In addition to HITEC, Rainmaker will also be participating as a Platinum Partner in HSMAI's annual Revenue Optimization Conference (ROC), a co-located one-day event, also taking place in Toronto on Wednesday, June 28th. During the ROC General Session, Rainmaker's vice president of revenue analytics, Dan Skodol, will present an educational segment entitled, "Jedi Mind Tricks: What Every Revenue Manager Needs to Know about the Psychology of Pricing," which will address audience members on how understanding guest behavior can play a vital role in developing a working pricing strategy. Rainmaker is also a co-sponsor of the "HSMAI Helps" event on Tuesday, June 27th, during which ROC volunteers will prepare self-care kits for local shelters and emergency relief efforts.

For more information on Rainmaker's hotel revenue optimization and profit optimization cloud, please visit www.letitrain.com.

About Rainmaker

The Rainmaker Group, a Cendyn company, is the premier provider of revenue and profit optimization solutions to the hospitality industry. Rainmaker's intelligent profit platform helps hotels, resorts and casinos optimize revenue, drive increased profitability, save valuable time & outperform competitors. As part of Cendyn, Rainmaker offers a complete set of software services for the industry, aligning marketing, sales and revenue teams to optimize their strategies and drive performance and loyalty across their business units. To learn more about Cendyn and its suite of hotel revenue management and profit optimization solutions, visit LetItRain.com or www.cendyn.com.

About Cendyn

Cendyn is the leading innovative cloud software and services provider for the hospitality industry. With a focus on integrated hotel CRM, hotel sales, and revenue strategy technology platforms, Cendyn drives sales, marketing and revenue performance for tens of thousands of hotels across the globe. The Cendyn Hospitality Cloud offers a complete set of software services for the industry, aligning marketing, sales and revenue teams to optimize their strategies and drive performance and loyalty across their business units. With offices in Boca Raton, Atlanta, Boston, San Diego, London, Munich, Singapore, Sydney, Bangkok and Tokyo, Cendyn proudly serves clients in 143 countries, delivering over 1.5 billion data-driven, personalized communications on behalf of their customers every year. For more information on Cendyn, visit www.cendyn.com.

Dana Glaze

Marketing Manager

470-440-2041
DALLAS  Allyn Moeller, director of product management for DHISCO Inc., the world's leading hospitality distribution company, has been recognized as a "data hero" for his leadership in developing systems to speed up transactions and help customers better capture and analyze hotel booking trends and sales data.

Moeller was one of three winners of the Hortonworks 2017 Data Heroes initiative, taking top honors in the data scientist category.

Moeller and DHISCO were recognized for using Hortonworks products to improve upon the company's legacy distribution technology, turning data ingestion from an hours-long to a minutes-long process that has resulted in a 12 percent increase in bookings for hotel brands using the new system.

Moeller and his team are also developing new systems for tapping into and analyzing data from the more than 13 billion shopping requests DHISCO process every month for over 100,000 hotels and 400 brands.

DHISCO CEO Toni Portmann congratulated Moeller, saying he exemplifies the company's vision to connect the world.

"Our mission is to passionately provide intelligent distribution solutions to drive partner success," Portmann said. "These solutions developed by Allyn do just that. They are just a few of many exciting new initiatives underway here at DHISCO to arm hotels and their travel selling partners with reliable connections, the most up-to-date rates and availability information as well as rich content and the data they need to make smart decisions."

Moeller is an expert in data analysis, IT system architecture and business intelligence. Before joining DHISCO, he worked for Slalom Consulting as a consultant on big data, business intelligence and information technology management. Prior to that, he was corporate director of hotel technology and business intelligence for Omni Hotels. He earned a master of business administration degree at Texas A&M University, Commerce, Texas.

About DHISCO Inc.

DHISCO Inc. is the world's original and leading hospitality distribution company, providing the most reliable and advanced technology to connect hotels around the world with online travel agencies, global distribution systems, metasearch engines and other travel partners. Since 1989, DHISCO has built its reputation on providing the most efficient and affordable means to market, capture and book hotel reservations. Today, it moves more than 13 billion transactions a month for more than 110,000 hotels.

Jeri Clausing

RDR PR LLC
Where are your guests when they're not at your hotel? The answer is simple: they're on social media. But, the real question is: are they on your social media?

Social media is the go-to platform for many travelers who no longer want to visit websites, pick up the phone or even send an email. It's the fastest way to communicate information about a brand. Often, it's the first resource referenced for news. While social media will always have its share of window shoppers, more followers are turning to it for specific questions about pricing, availability, onsite amenities and destination activities. Your followers expect immediate responses, informative answers and ongoing information about hotel news, updates and offers.

As social media managers, we're also brand managers. We are responsible for knowing the ins and outs of the hotel we represent and creating a seamless experience for the online user. It's our job to make every follower feel like the hotel is talking directly to them and specifically addressing their interests or concerns. To do this, it's critical to open the line of communication and increase your focus on conversational messaging before, during and after a guest's stay.

Frederick Reichheld's book The Loyalty Effect, the Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits and Lasting Value says companies with the most loyal customers are the most profitable. Because of this, it's essential to take the hotel's relationship with the guests far beyond their stay and utilize social media to build and retain long-term relationships.

Ultimately, the bottom line is social media needs to help transform followers into leads, leads into guests, and guests into repeat guests.

Make it a Two-Way Conversation, or it's No-Way

As the name suggests, social media is intended to be "social." As tempting as it may be to control the conversation, this is the wrong platform for a one-way conversation. Don't talk to a follower, talk with them. The brand's image is defined by what a followers perceives it to be - not by what content you post.

Social media has quickly evolved into a platform where the audience can control the content and brand reputation. Listening to your audience is key, and social media managers should adjust their communications accordingly. Modify your content calendar, response plan and user-generated content strategy to create a foundation for meaningful relationships and conversation.

Auditing Your Audience, Listen Up

As the saying goes, "there's a reason we have two ears and only one mouth." It's imperative to listen, or in the case of social media, read, what your audience is saying.

To create the most significant two-way conversations, first determine what topics your audience finds most interesting and will respond to.

Over a few months' period, post a variety of photos that showcase the destination, accommodations, staff, pool, scenic landscapes, culinary experiences, cocktails, etc. Then, analyze which types of posts are receiving the most engagement - likes, comments and shares. After identifying the most popular themes, strategically, and naturally, incorporate them into your captions, pictures and comments.

For example, if followers engage the most when the subject is about staff, then highlight staff members in posts whenever possible. If a new dish is added to the hotel's menu, share the news with a picture of the beloved chef presenting the plated culinary delight.

It is still important to highlight a variety of topics to showcase a well-rounded viewpoint of the hotel. However, pushing content that the audience finds favorable is still more likely to boost comments, shares and likes, and open the possibility for more conversation.

Making it Real

It's expected for hotels to receive questions or observations in the "comments" section of a post, especially on the hotel's Facebook and Instagram profiles. How you interact with these comments will set your hotel apart from the competition and help create meaningful dialogue with your followers.

In response to these comments, include "likes" and "replies" in your response strategy. If a follower comments with a question or asks for more information, be sure to "reply" as soon as possible, ideally within a couple of hours. Provide a clear answer to their question, and it's generally appreciated to add relevant information or fun facts that the follower may find helpful. If you don't know the answer to a question, reach out to someone who will. A timely response is the most important thing, so even if it'll take a while to finalize the answer, be honest. Let them know you're researching it and provide any links or relevant details they can use in the meantime. Remember, even if someone never comments on your posts, he or she will still see how you are interacting with other followers. Timeliness, accuracy and positivity are key!

Alternatively, hotels receive many "comments" with general observations or remarks. Although you may not need to provide an actual answer, engagement is still vital. Reply back with warm wishes and share brief insight about something they may enjoy or how you hope to welcome them soon. Even better, ask an open-ended question about what they hope to experience.

While replying is important, be sure not to "over" engage. If the same person comments on your photo every single day and is not really asking for information, spread out your replies. You do not want to send them similar replies day after day. Further, you don't have to respond or "like" every comment. To make your followers feel like your comments are authentic and meaningful, it's imperative to find a perfect balance of engagement.

Tap Into Their Content and Win

Embrace user-generated content. Asking guests to share their photos is a great way to curate new and timely content and amplifies your one-to-one communication with guests.

A guest sharing a photo of your hotel provides authentic testimonial that is instantly exposed to the guest's friends and followers. This furthers your reach and provides the opportunity to engage with a new audience.

However, it's impossible to engage with posts you can't find. Encourage guests to tag your handle, check-in at your location and use your hotel's hashtag. There are easy ways to do this - create tent cards to place in the rooms, tell guests at check-in or even display handles and hashtags on your hotel's Wi-Fi login page. After your hashtag is established, monitor the tag on all platforms, so you know where and who to engage with. Sharing their posts onto the hotel's page is also a great way to strengthen your relationship with the follower. Ask permission to post and provide photo credit in the caption.

Although user-generated content may not be professional quality, photos from guests are considered more authentic and provide an accurate depiction of your resort. Sprinkling in user-generated content with regularly scheduled posts will help increase your engagement and build trust. Plus, you can typically count on the photographer/past guest to share the post they're featured in again on their own profile.

A Little Friendly Competition

Instead of searching for guests' posts, ask them to directly submit their photos and testimonials, which you can re-purpose in the form of social media content.

Many hotels have found ongoing photo contests to be successful. Ask past guests to email you photos for the chance to be featured on the hotel's social media channels, as well as potentially win a prize. The prize can be anything from a beverage credit to an overnight stay. A strong reward will encourage entries and increase the amount of new social content sent straight to your inbox.

Contests generate excitement and draw followers back to the hotel's communication platforms. This creates an opportunity to begin new conversations and discuss favorite memories. It's important to post contest winners on social sites as well as your website or newsletter, if you have one. Seeing that the hotel follows through with recognition and awards helps maintain credibility, encourages future participation and increases engagement.

The Payoff of Open-Ended Questions

One of the easiest ways to get guests to join the conversation is to pose a question on your regular posts. Ask guests for tips on a popular excursion, what their favorite on-site activity is or what menu item they most enjoyed. This creates a conversation not only with the hotel, but opens an opportunity for potential or past guests to connect and discuss experiences amongst themselves. While the brand should chime in with advice or acknowledgement, a conversation between two guests will be seen as much more authentic.

On Facebook, ask past guests to share their relevant and favorite photos in a comment. For example, post a photo of the hotel's bar and ask past guests to share their favorite cocktail picture in a comment. Unique shots are often shared that can be added to your photo library and later shared online (with permission and photo credit, of course). Comment on the shared pictures thanking the follower for their participation and even throw in a question about their experience. Keep the conversation flowing!

A Seamless Experience: Bringing the Magic to Life

Social media is a great platform to build and maintain ongoing relationships, but nothing truly beats a face-to-face experience.

Social media managers should keep notes about the important dialogue they engage in online, and discuss with the hotel's management on an ongoing basis. Then, when active social fans visit the hotel, the hotel staff can bring online conversation to life. Upon check-in, thank your active fans for engaging with your brand, surprise them with their favorite beverage they posted about, or reference a specific comment they made. A small token of appreciation or surprise conversation brings together a seamless experience for the guest and makes their social media involvement a bit more tangible. Often, they post about this genuine gesture, singing your praises. That endorsement has an exponentially higher ROI than other marketing initiatives.

Putting the "Social" in "Social Media"

There isn't one definitive formula for creating impactful engagement and meaningful conversations on social media, and the tactics will vary by hotel and constantly evolve. However, building and maintaining relationships online is certainly achievable and offers clear value for the hotel.

In conclusion, simply listening to your brand's followers and acting accordingly can provide followers with content and conversation that aligns with their interests, goals and lifestyle. Social media is no longer a convenient, nice-to-have platform in the hospitality industry, it is now an essential component of communication strategy. Use social media as a relationship-building tool for followers, leads and guests, and remember to stay "social!"

Reprinted from the Hotel Business Review with permission from www.HotelExecutive.com.
The US military said it killed Turki al-Binali, a top Islamic State cleric, on May 31. Al-Binali wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the IS branch in Libya.

By AP: The US military today confirmed it killed, Turki al-Binali, a top Islamic State cleric, in an airstrike.

Central Command said Al-Binali was killed on May 31. Activists and IS supporters reported his death at the time, but the military is only confirming it now.

The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the IS branch in Libya. He rose to be one of the extremist group's leading ideologues.

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The military said Binali was killed in Mayadeen, an IS-held Syrian town near the Iraqi border.

Several senior Islamic State figures have been killed in recent years as the group has been driven from large parts of Syria and Iraq.

US-backed forces recently pushed into Raqqa, the northern Syrian city that served as the group's de facto capital.

ALSO READ | ISIS attacks Iran, Qatar isolated by Saudi Arabia and allies: All about what's wrong with West Asia

ALSO READ | Is Pakistan indirectly paving way for ISIS in Kashmir by using its videos to fuel militancy?

ALSO WATCH | How youth of India have been lured by terror outfit ISIS in recent times

--- ENDS ---
Holiday Inn Express Chesapeake, Virginia

The latest designs from the brand were used to bring vibrancy and functionality to the transformation of all new collaborative spaces.

The Holiday Inn Express Chesapeake, Virginia, located at the entrance of the Chesapeake Conference Center is now open. LTD Hospitality Group purchased the hotel and invested significant capital to fully renovate and rebrand the hotel to complement the gateway to the City's hub for meetings and conventions.

"We are thrilled with the finished product of the hotel conversion, said Neel Desai, Managing Principal for LTD Hospitality Group, who also recently purchased the adjacent Delta Hotels by Marriott. "LTD has a long history of investing in Chesapeake and we look forward to the success of this hotel being added to our thriving portfolio, said Desai.

The 101-room hotel, located at 721 Conference Center Drive officially opened for business last Thursday, June 15th. The latest designs from the Holiday Inn Express brand were used to bring vibrancy and functionality to the transformation of all new collaborative spaces. Guest rooms include options of two queen beds, standard king beds or suites, which offer extra living space and a sleeper sofa. All rooms are equipped with mini-refrigerators, microwaves and Keurig coffee makers. The hotel offers a number of mobility-accessible and hearing-accessible rooms; all rooms are non-smoking.

Were excited to be one of the newest hotels in Hampton Roads, just in time for a projected busy tourist season, said General Manager, Rachel Rivas. We want to be a new, great place for people to stay that gives both leisure and business travelers many opportunities to explore and enjoy the area. Our prime location close to restaurants and shopping, is an ideal place to stay with proximity to many corporations and military installations, said Rivas.

LTD has significant experience in all of the industry leading brands and currently operates hotels in Virginia, Maryland, Illinois and Arkansas.

The Holiday Inn Express Chesapeake is owned and managed by LTD Hospitality Group and franchised

by an affiliate of IHG and is part of IHGs diverse family of brands in nearly 100 countries and territories. The scale and diversity of the IHG family of brands means that its hotels can meet guests needs whatever the occasion  whether an overnight getaway, a business trip, a family celebration or a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Reservations can be made by calling 1-800-HOLIDAY or by going to IHG.com/HolidayInnExpress.

The Holiday Inn Express brand participates in IHG Rewards Club. The industrys first and largest hotel rewards program is free, and guests can enroll at IHGRewardsClub.com, by downloading the IHG App, by calling 1-888-211-9874 or by inquiring at the front desk of any of IHGs more than 5,200 hotels worldwide. The hotel also participates in IHG Green Engage and offers unique programs to ensure sustainability. IHG currently has more than 2,500 Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide.

About LTD Hospitality Group:

Founded in 1983, LTD Hospitality Group is headquartered in Chesapeake, VA and is comprised of several key business units including Asset Management, Hotel Management and Development that specialize in the lodging real estate sector. LTD is proud to be recognized as a distinguished leader in the hospitality industry with a portfolio of the finest brands available. LTDs mission is to drive value by delivering first class service to each and every one of its partners, who are its customers, investors, team members, and brands.

For more information, please visit: www.ltdhospitality.com

Contact:

Kimberly Schlick

757.420.0900
Dallas/Plano Marriott at Legacy Town Center

Announces Agreement to Convert Courtyard Philadelphia to Marriott's Autograph Collection

Ashford Hospitality Prime, Inc. (NYSE: AHP) announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Marriott to convert its Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown hotel (the "Courtyard Philadelphia") to an Autograph Collection property. Additionally, the Company announced that it has begun marketing for sale its Marriott Plano Legacy hotel (the "Marriott Plano"). These announcements are consistent with the Company's refined strategy to either reposition or opportunistically sell its non-core hotels.

The agreement with Marriott calls for the Courtyard Philadelphia to be converted to an Autograph hotel by June 30, 2019 pursuant to a conversion Product Improvement Plan ("PIP") currently estimated to be approximately $23 million - including updates to the guestrooms, guest bathrooms, corridors, lobby, restaurant, and meeting space  which will create a distinctive theme and style for the property that is commensurate with the Autograph product. Marriott will continue to manage the property after the conversion under a management agreement.

The Company also announced that it is listing its Marriott Plano hotel for sale and has engaged Holiday Fenoglio Fowler to market the property to potential buyers. The sales effort was officially launched at the NYU Hospitality Investment Conference during the first week of June. For further information on the opportunity please contact John Bourret at the Dallas office of HFF.

"Consistent with the announcement of our refined strategy of focusing on luxury hotels and resorts, we have been exploring opportunities to either reposition our non-core hotels to better fit that strategy or to sell them if we think the timing is right and we have visibility into an accretive redeployment of our capital," said Richard J. Stockton, Ashford Prime's President and Chief Executive Officer. "With its prime location across from City Hall and historical building designation, the upbranding of the Courtyard Philadelphia to an Autograph Collection will occupy a desirable niche in the attractive downtown Philadelphia market. As for the Marriott Plano, the property has performed very well over the last several years in the dynamic and growing Plano market and we currently see an opportunity to capitalize on the growth and investment taking place in that market."

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."
How Boutique Hotels Are Delivering Their Own Brand of Luxury

Travelers searching for a luxurious hotel stay dont have to look far in cities like New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Hotels that include world-renowned spas and five-star restaurants are not hard to find in these primary U.S. markets  but in secondary and tertiary markets, the hunt can be a bit more challenging.

Luxury hotels have historically been located in cities like New York and Chicago because thats where hotel owners can charge room rates high enough to offset the hotels higher operating costs, explains Lauro Ferroni, Global Head of Research at JLLs Hotels & Hospitality Group. Running a Ritz-Carlton or a Four Seasons in a tertiary market usually isnt feasible from a business perspective.

But major hotel brands such as Marriott and Hilton are still bringing luxury experiences to hotel guests in smaller cities. How? By tailoring their offerings for each market and focusing on certain amenities.

Boutique brands fit the bill

Boutique and collection brands, like Curio by Hilton or Marriotts Autograph collection, have enabled the larger hotel companies to provide some of the luxury guests are looking for. These boutique brands arent bound to the same branding, design and operating guidelines as other hotels, which allows their owners to be more flexible and creative with their properties.

Boutique hotels have the ability to customize their offerings based on the market theyre in, says Ferroni. Owners can make decisions that prioritize guests desire for upscale food, modern design or access to the outdoors.

For example, 21c Museum Hotels boast contemporary art displays, fine dining and spacious guestrooms. With locations in cities like Bentonville, Memphis and Louisville, guests can enjoy some luxurious amenities in smaller, more accessible locations.

Luxury isnt one-size-fits-all

There are several features that are required for a hotel to retain its luxury status. High-end design in guest rooms and common areas, spacious spas and gourmet food and beverage options are the standard, with added touches like monogrammed bathrobes or champagne upon arrival.

Lifestyle hotels are embracing luxury qualities that are important to their guests  whether its a swanky bar in the lobby or modern art in guestrooms. By excluding some of the more traditional luxury offerings, theyre bringing luxurious experiences at price points that work for secondary and tertiary markets.

Though many of these hotels dont fit the traditional luxury mold, they still provide luxurious amenities and experiences in their own unique ways, notes Geraldine Guichardo, Americas Head of Hotels Research with JLLs Hotels & Hospitality Group. If a guest can enjoy dinner cooked by a prominent chef and then browse an art exhibit before bed, that experience will help them feel pampered, even if their room doesnt have any luxury qualities or features.

Continued growth for secondary markets

Luxury boutique hotels are popping up in non-gateway markets all over the U.S., in cities like Nashville, New Orleans and Charleston. By focusing on the luxury elements that are most important to guests and foregoing non-essentials, theyre bringing high-end experiences to new markets every day.

We expect this trend to continue as boutique brands continue to rise in popularity, especially among younger travelers, says Guichardo. We expect to see many of these hotels unveil new, creative ways of delivering selected high-end experiences at more affordable prices.

Source - JLL Real Views
How a Culture of Giving Back Inspires Something Better than Engagement

Posted by Ryan Scott on Tuesday, 06-20-2017 12:50 am

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A culture of giving back is not only one of the most inspiring ways to engage employees, it also offers something even better than engagement: worker passion. Every business leader is well versed in the benefits of employee engagement, with one study showing a 21% increase in productivity if employees are engaged in their work. But Deloitte leader John Hagel argues that employee engagement is a distraction and we should instead be focusing on employee passion. Why? Employee engagement has a limited impact, versus the sustained increased performance improvement that comes from a worker who is passionate about what he does. Hagel lays out employee passion as embodying these principles: A long-term commitment to achieving an increasing impact in a domainA questing disposition that creates excitement when confronted with an unexpected challengeA connecting disposition that motivates the individual to systematically seek out others who can help them to get to a better answer faster when...

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Latest EzPaycheck Software From Halfpricesoft.com Supports State And Federal Tax Tables

Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 06-20-2017 2:03 am

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Business owners are accommodated with state and federal tax tables in the latest ezPaycheck payroll software. Get the details and download by visiting http://www.halfpricesoft.com/index.asp. PITTSBURGH, PA (PRWEB) JUNE 19, 2017 It doesnt matter which state the business owner processes payroll from with latest ezPaycheck payroll software from Halfpricesoft.com. Developers confirm that the application will calculate state and federal taxes in just a few clicks. Simply add the employee address, and tax tables from that state will calculate automatically. This means employers can correctly process payroll from employees living in any state with the home address entered into the application. ezPaycheck 2017 payroll software has been updated to support both state and federal tax tables for customer satisfaction," said Dr. Ge, the founder of halfpricesoft.com. ezPaycheck is compatible with Windows 2003, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, 10 with .Net Framework v2.0 or later. If you have pre-printed...

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PrideStaff Akron Recognized for Stellar Growth and Performance by Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce

Posted by Press Releases on Tuesday, 06-20-2017 1:49 am

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PrideStaff, a nationally franchised staffing organization, is pleased to announce that their Akron office was recently named the winner of the 2017 Emerging Business Award by Greater Akron Chamber's Small Business Council.FRESNO, CA (PRWEB) JUNE 16, 2017PrideStaff, a nationally franchised staffing organization, is pleased to announce that their Akron office was recently named the winner of the 2017 Emerging Business Award by Greater Akron Chamber's Small Business Council.Each year, the Small Business Council recognizes businesses that demonstrate outstanding performance, growth, staying power, innovation and community leadership with their Excellence in Business Awards. PrideStaff Akron was honored with this year's Emerging Business Award, which is given to a company that: has been in business for five years or less; has demonstrated significant growth; and has shown profits in at least the last two years.Kevin Pratt, Owner/Strategic-Partner of PrideStaff Akron, thanked his clients for...

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About Webcast

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has led many employers like you to fundamentally reconsider every element of workforce management. You may be exploring new models for administering health benefits to your employees and looking for innovative ways to help reduce the cost of your health care plans  and one of those methods may be using a Private Exchange.



Employers may gravitate to Private Exchanges for many reasons: you want to outsource to experts the time consuming and expensive annual process of selecting and pricing benefits carriers and plans and obtain assistance with ACA regulatory compliance in an increasingly complicated environment. Or, you may want to help your employees become more value-conscious healthcare buyers.



But exactly what are Private Exchanges? And how do you know what to look for when selecting one? What are the benefits of a Private Exchange and how can you determine if it would be the right approach for your business?



To help you understand the role Private Exchanges can play in your overall benefits strategy, join Gerry Leonard, President of ADP Benefits Services, Arthur Hall, Senior Vice President - National Practice Leader Employee Benefits at USI, and Doug Field, CEO and founder of The Institute for Health Care Consumerism for an insightful and informative panel discussion where you will learn:



-The types of Exchange models available in the market;

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-The types of businesses that have been early adopters and why;

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-What to look for when evaluating an Exchange model;

-The role of user experience and decision support in employee engagement; and

-Emerging trends



ADP remains at the forefront of helping employers understand the complex compliance, financial, and strategic issues surrounding workforce management.



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Syrian civil war that is in sixth year with no signs of cessation of hostilities continues to force people out of their homes and country with 12 million Syrian refugees scattered across countries and continents.

By Santosh Chaubey: Wars, homegrown armed civil conflicts and disasters left 65.6 million people displaced in 2016, a United Nations report released on the World Refugee Day on June 20 says. "Global Trends: Forced Displacements in 2016 ", released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says that 20 people are newly displaced every minute or one person every three seconds. It puts the global refugee count at 22.5 million, internally displaced at 40.3 million and asylum seekers at 2.8 million.

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Syrian civil war that is in sixth year with no signs of cessation of hostilities continues to force people out of their homes and country with 12 million Syrian refugees scattered across countries and continents. They are followed by 7.7 million displaced Colombian refugees, 4.7 million Afghan refugees and 4.2 million Iraqi refugees. Children make for around 31 per cent of the world's population but 51 per cent refugees today are children including those 75,000 asylum seekers who were left alone or were separated from their families.

To make matters worse, South Sudan, that gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after years of civil war, has emerged as the new crisis spot to produce refugees. Despite independence, civil war has continued and according to the report, 3.3 million South Sudanese were forcibly displaced by the end of 2016. The report says that "South Sudan became the biggest new factor when peace efforts broke down in July 2016 resulting in some 737,400 people fleeing by the end of the year". South Sudan, in fact, has replaced Syria as the country with the fastest-growing displacement of people in the world. It is among the top three countries along with Syria and Afghanistan accounting for 55 per cent of refugees worldwide.

And it's the poor and developing countries that support them the most. They are home to about 84 per cent of refugees and asylum seekers. In fact, according to the report, "One in every three people, roughly 4.9 million people, were hosted by the least developed countries in 2016."

Europe saw millions of refugees and migrants reaching to its countries in 2015. But since then, the rich western nations have tightened their procedures to take in refugees and asylum seekers after a series of terrorist attacks involving refugees, migrants or their dependents. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) , the United Nations' migration agency, the number of migrants and refugees that entered Europe by sea routes saw further drastic reduction this year. 73,189 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 whereas the corresponding figure for January-June 11 was 211434, almost three times. In 2015, European countries had received 1,321,560 asylum claims.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has lauded the role of poor and developing countries saying "It is so inspiring to see countries with the least doing the most for refugees." At the same time, the UN report has warned on this huge imbalance that can create instability in the host countries saying "the figure illustrates the need for countries and communities supporting refugees and other displaced people to be robustly resourced and supported."

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Also read:

US warplane downs Syrian army jet in Raqqa province

Syria: US-led coalition airstrike mistakenly kills 18 allied fighters

Syria: Who is fighting who as United States rains missiles at Assad's airbase

US military strike on Syria draws mixed reactions from Trump administration

ALSO WATCH:

US launched over 50 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syria airbase in retaliation to chemical gas attack

--- ENDS ---
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
Former Bigg Boss contestants Mona Lisa, Nitibha Kaul, and Akanksha Sharma recently had a small reunion in Mumbai.

By India Today Web Desk: The girl gang of Bigg Boss 10---Akanksha Sharma, Mona Lisa, and Nitibha Kaul---partied hard recently, dressed in their best outfits.

The trio met in a Mumbai pub. Both Nitibha and Mona posted pictures on various social media sites from the night, and looking at the pictures, it is safe to assume that the girls had a ton of fun catching up with each other.

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While Nitibha's post had no caption, Mona Lisa's picture had a rather sweet description which said, "About Last Night. Great fun. Lovely reunion #partyplanner @nitibhakaul @karmasphere #masti #fun #girlsnightout can see a new entry in the pic, Riya."

Here are a couple of pictures from the party:

And then we called it a #girlsnight ??????? Top: @shoppersbuffet A post shared by Nitibha Kaul (@nitibhakaul) on Jun 18, 2017 at 6:14am PDT

Keep slaying, girls.

Also read: Nitibha Kaul dresses to kill for the first audition of Date to Remember

--- ENDS ---
Update 6.47pm: The driver who rammed a car carrying explosives into a police convoy on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris has died after the "attempted attack" on security forces, France's interior minister said.

Gerard Collomb told reporters that the man's motives were not immediately clear.

Bomb squad officers are at the scene on the city's most famous avenue, which is popular with tourists.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the incident.

No police officers or passers-by were hurt, the Paris police department said.

Two police officials said that a handgun was found on the driver, who they said was badly burned after the vehicle exploded.

Visitors to an art exhibit of Auguste Rodin's works in central Paris were confined inside the Grand Palais for an hour after the attack.

Victoria Boucher and daughter Chrystel came in from the suburb of Cergy-Pontoise for a Paris visit and were not afraid to go to the famed avenue.

Chrystel said that "we were better off inside than outside".

But both agreed, as the mother said, "unfortunately we now are used to this".

"The show must go on," the daughter said in English. "They won't win."

Update 5.17pm: The attacker was a 31-year-old man from a Paris suburb who had been flagged for extremism, police officials said.

They identified the man as from the suburb of Argenteuil, and said he had an "S'' file, which means authorities had been aware of potential links to extremism.

The interior minister said the incident shows the threat is still very high in the country and justifies the state of emergency.

Mr Collomb said he will present a bill on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting to extend the state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until November 1.

He said the current situation in France shows a new security law "is needed" and the measure would "maintain a high security level" beyond the end of the state of emergency.

France has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris.

A hooded police officer secure the area on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, Monday, June 19, 2017.

Update 16:45pm: A driver who rammed a car carrying explosives into a police convoy on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris has died after the "attempted attack" on security forces, France's interior minister said.

Bomb squad officers are at the scene on the city's most famous avenue, which is popular with tourists.

Two police officials said that a handgun was found on the driver, who they said was badly burned after the vehicle exploded.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the incident.

France is under a state of emergency after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks.

Eric Favereau, a journalist for Liberation newspaper who was driving a scooter behind the gendarmes, said he saw a car blocking the convoy's path, then an implosion in the vehicle.

Mr Favereau wrote that the gendarmes smashed open the windows of the car while it was in flames and dragged out its occupant.

Other gendarmes used fire extinguishers to put out the flames.

Rescue workers cover a body lying on the Champs Elyses in Paris, Monday, June 19, 2017. A driver rammed his car, partially seen at left behiong the police van, into a police vehicle in the Champs-Elysees shopping district Monday, prompting a fiery explosion, and was likely killed in the incident, authorities said. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation.

Earlier: The attacker on the Champs-Elysees in Paris is "most probably" dead and the bomb squad is on the scene, a French security official said.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the incident.

Police had earlier warned people to avoid the neighbourhood, one of the French capital's most popular with tourists.

Interior ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the driver, whose car exploded as he tried to ram a police vehicle, is "most probably" dead.

Mr Brandet said bomb squads were still securing the scene. He said the attacker appeared to have acted deliberately.

Le silence entre le Rond Point des #ChampsElysees et Concorde est impressionnant. Circulation stoppee.

Ambiance des mauvais jours. pic.twitter.com/PwTPXeoRKd  Louis M  (@louis_m75) June 19, 2017

#ChampsElysees : le conducteur age de 33 ans est fiche S, une Kalachnikov a ete retrouvee dans sa voiture https://t.co/C769Kx6Cgo pic.twitter.com/8CyiKb1pmV  RT France (@RTenfrancais) June 19, 2017

The public are being advised to avoid the area.

It is unclear why the attacker, who has been arrested, drove into the police.

The French national gendarmerie service said no-one was hurt in the incident.

#ChampsElysees: fifth time in four months that security forces are targeted in attack in #france. Anti terror investigation now opened  Melissa Bell (@MelissaBellCNN) June 19, 2017

More as we get it.
In Person Triple-Distinction Prison Graduate: I Decided Not to Give Up My Education

Ma Shun Lae Wai Kyaw, her identity protected for her privacy. / Zaw Zaw / The Irrawaddy

MANDALAY  During the 2016-2017 academic year, Obo Prison in Mandalay opened the first in-prison examination center, where the inmates could prepare for matriculation exams. Eleven inmates signed up to take the exam and seven passed. Of those, five inmates passed with honors. Ma Shun Lae Wai Kyaw, 19, from Kho Leik village, in Kachin States Shwe Gu Township, earned three distinctions, while the four others each passed with one distinction.

Ma Shun Lae Wai Kyaw is two years in to a 10-year sentence for drug charges. The Irrawaddys Zarni Mann talked with her in Obo Prison on Tuesday.

How did you feel when you heard about your exam results?

I was so excited on the day the results were out. When I was told by the prison officers that I had passed the exam with three distinctionsGeography, History and EconomicsI was overjoyed, because I thought that I would receive only two distinctions. At the same time, I was sad, because I am in prison and I know I will not have the chance to attend a professional university, although I scored high and am eligible for one.

The prison officers let me call my home and my parents and two elder sisters were surprised and happy for me. I take this as giving back the gratitude to my farmer parents who have worked tirelessly for me.

Will your parents come to meet you? How did they react to your success?

Since we are poor and our village is far from Mandalay, my family can come meet me only once every two or three months. Next week, the prison officers will do an honorary ceremony for all of us and then my family will come see meMy parents said they are so proud of me.

This was my second attempt to enter the exam. In the 2012-2013 academic year, I failed. I was arrested in the years after that.

What happened to you two years ago? How were you arrested?

I was working as a salesgirl at a store when the police came and seized drugs and wanted to arrest the stores owner. Since they didnt find the owner, I was arrested with 15 WY [methamphetamine] tablets and was charged under the Narcotics Law. I received [a sentence of] 10 years imprisonment. About two years have been served.

How did you feel at that time?

A: I was so afraid and so sad during the trial. When I was sentenced to 10 years, I was so disappointed and felt I had no future. After spending one year in the prison, our wardens told us we could re-enter the matriculation exam, so I joined the classes. The prison superintendent U Cho Win Tun and Warden Daw Tin Tin Maw encouraged us a lot, saying that we still could study even though we are in prison. So I decided not to give up my education.

How are the classrooms in the prison? Are there any difficulties studying there?

The prison officers made a hall into the classroom. There are many students studying, starting from Grade 6. For the matriculation class, we have a separate room. The teachers and doctors who are in prison teach us, and teachers from outside also come to us. As the exam date drew near, the prison officers gave us separate rooms to study in, and the teachers cared for us like their own children. We received every required material, from textbooks to stationery.

As you have now passed the matriculation exam with three distinctions, what would you like to do, concerning further studies?

I would like to go to the University of Economics. I believe my total marks will make me eligible to enter that university. I want to enjoy the life of a university student like the others do. I want to be a tutor in that University of Economics after I graduate. However, my dreams and my future are in the hands of the government officials, for I am a prisoner and I still have many more years to serve. I think I have to go to the University of Distance Education like my friends here.

I pray every day that the government officials will award us with a special chance to go to university like other students do. I wish for my prayers to be granted.

Most of the young people here who entered the exam, including you, were charged under the Narcotics Law. What would you like to tell others, concerning this?

I would like to urge youth to stay away from drugs. Do not use it, do not sell it. Please take us as an example for your life. Once you have a relationship with drugs, your life will become complicated and it will become a great barrier for your future goals and your dreams.
Lifestyle Yangon to Celebrate International Yoga Day

Yoga practitioners in Yangons Peoples Park. / Khin Mg Win / The Irrawaddy

RANGOON Some 400 yoga enthusiasts are expected to take part in a yoga practice in Yangons Peoples Park on Wednesday morning to celebrate the third International Day of Yoga.

We aim to promote yoga in Myanmar, which can help improve the health of our people, said Daw Kyi Kyi Lwin, an organizer of the event, adding that it will take place between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and is free to attend.

Daw Kyi Kyi Lwin also invited Yangonites to attend the free classes each morning at Peoples, Kandawgyi and Mahabandoola parks, offered by experienced Myanmar yoga trainer U Khin Maung Swe and his assistants.

The UN proclaimed June 21 each year International Day of Yoga on Dec. 11, 2014.

The Indian Embassy in Yangon, along with other yoga institutions in Myanmar, will organize a yoga demonstration on Sunday at Peoples Park from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. to mark the day.
Burma Drug Seizure Believed to be Largest Ever in Sagaing Division

Drugs seized in Monywa. / Ma Gyi Poe

MANDALAY  A sizeable amount of drugs including 100,000 methamphetamine tablets was found in two urban wards in Sagaing Divisions Monywa Township on Monday, believed to be the largest-ever drug seizure in the division, according to the Monywa Police Force.

It was the most weve ever confiscated in Sagaing Division. The drug squad is still assessing the value of the seized drugs, police lieutenant Ye Aung of the Monywa Police Station told The Irrawaddy.

Wrapped soap containers were discovered on Monday at noon outside a monastery in Htan Taw Ward of Monywa Township. Further investigation led to the seizure of 1,071 soap containers, each containing 10 grams of what is believed to be heroin as well as 100,000 methamphetamine tablets from eight different locations in Htan Taw and Nanda Wun wards, according to the police.

The government sets the value of heroine at 20 million kyats per kilogram.

Well first evaluate the value of the seizure and then search for the criminals, said police lieutenant Ye Aung.

The drug squad speculated that the drugs came from Shan State and were to be distributed to drug dealers who would sell to users working the oil fields in Monywa. But the carriers abandoned them for some reason, said the police lieutenant.

Daw Khin Pa Pa, the administrator of Htan Taw ward, told The Irrawaddy that he had never seen such a large seizure.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
Burma More Kachin Men Charged for Holding Prayers

Local residents and displaced persons from Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships participated in a prayer ceremony to mark six years of renewed conflict in Kachin State. / Hyun Awng Nlam / Facebook

YANGON  Two Kachin men from Hpakant Township in Kachin State were charged under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law on Monday for leading a commemoration of the six-year anniversary of renewed Kachin conflict on June 9.

Hpakant Township court set bail for the two defendantsLamawng La Tawng and Lating Sau Bawmat 1 million kyats each, said Lamawng La Tawng. Their next court hearing is scheduled for July 3.

Lamawng La Tawng said four town elders had to show proof of their properties to bail out the two men. He added that they had asked permission from local authorities to hold the ceremony but were told at the court that they had failed to act in accordance with procedure.

We do not understand why we are being charged, because we did not march or shout any slogans; we were just praying at the Kachin Baptist Church in Hpakant, he said, adding about 500 people participated in the service.

Three men in Kachin State capital Myitkyina were also charged under the same law and each fined 30,000 kyats, according to one of the defendants, on June 13 for holding prayers to mark the anniversary.

Myitkyina Township court fined the three men after the plaintiffMyitkyina Police Station No. 1, according to the defendantsaccused them of receiving internally displaced people (IDPs) living in IDP camps.

One of the defendants recounted being told that the IDPs had walked to Manau Park, where the prayer was being held, from Myitkyina and Waingmaw townships without permission. It looked like the worshippers were marching, he added.

More than 100,000 people in Kachin State have been displaced since the 17-year ceasefire between the Tatmadaw and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) collapsed in June 2011. Thousands more have fled their homes amid the latest tensions between the two armed forces in Tanai Township in June.

Locals and peace advocates have called for an end to Tatmadaw offensives against the KIA in the forms of protest and public events in the state and around the country since 2012.

So far this year, five people have been charged under Article 19 of the Peaceful Assembly Law in Kachin State for leading protests or prayer services. Another person was charged under the law last October.

Dashi La Seng, a lawmaker representing Hpakant Constituency No. 2, said protesters or event organizers should be aware of the legal procedures and follow the authorities instructions in order to avoid such charges in the future.
Burma Myanmar Contributes to Increasing Global Displacement

A Rohingya refugee looks on at Balukhali Makeshift Refugee Camp in Coxs Bazar, Bangladesh. / Mohammad Ponir Hossain / Reuters

Myanmars internal conflicts left 490,000 refugees and 375,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) by the end of 2016, according to the UNs refugee agency in Asia spokesperson Vivian Tan, adding to increasing global displacement worldwide.

Ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said in its annual Global Trends report that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide by the end of 2016.

War, violence and persecution worldwide are causing more people than ever to be forcibly displaced, the report stated.

The figure of 65.6 million comprises refugees, IDPs, and asylum seekers. Major countries that produce refugees and IDPs are Syria, South Sudan, Iraq and Colombia due to wars and violence.

UNHCR Asia spokesperson Vivian Tan told The Irrawaddy: Myanmar is the eighth-largest refugee-producing country in the world, with more than 490,000 refugees hosted mainly in countries like Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia and India.

There are also more than 375,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Rakhine, Kachin and northern Shan states as well as in southeast Myanmar, according to the spokesperson.

Despite the countrys ongoing peace talks, there are concerns that fighting shows no end in northern and eastern Burma.

As we watch the progress of the peace talks closely, we remain concerned about the continuing conflict in Kachin and northern Shan States which is entering its seventh year since the ceasefire agreement broke down in June 2011, said Vivian Tan, referring to the breakdown of a 17-year-old ceasefire agreement between the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) and the Tatmadaw.

She said decades of fighting in Myanmars border areas have resulted in one of the longest-running refugee and internally displaced situations in the region.

Many civilians have been displaced multiple times in recent years, and still have limited access to humanitarian aid, she added.

We hope that further progress on the peace talks can lay the groundwork for the peace and reconciliation needed for IDPs and refugees to return home voluntarily, in safety and dignity, in the near future, said Vivian Tan.

Meanwhile, there are some 120,000 people who lost their homes in the 2012 inter-communal violence in central Rakhine State and continue to live in dire conditions in IDP camps.

We remain concerned about the impact of the violence that started in northern Rakhine State in October last year, which has forced an estimated 74,000 people to flee to Bangladesh, added Vivian Tan.

The UNHCR said in its report that of the more than 65 million displaced, 17.2 million come under the responsibility of the UNHCR.

Syria is still the worlds largest producer of refugees with an estimated 5.5 million living in Turkey and elsewhere. But, South Sudan was the biggest new factor in 2016 due to a breakdown of peace efforts in July.

Syria, Iraq, and Colombia were home to the biggest internal displacement situations. At the end of 2016, the number of asylum seekers worldwide was 2.8 million.

The UNHCR reported that children, who make up half the worlds refugees, continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the suffering, mainly because of their greater vulnerability.

The UNHCR also estimates that at least 10 million people were without a nationality or at risk of statelessness at the end of 2016.
Burma Witch Doctor Sentenced to Death for Killing 3 Children

Witch doctor Tun Naing remanded in custody at a local court on Nov. 3 after killing three children in an exorcism ritual in a village in Twante Township. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

YANGON  A witch doctor who beat three children to death in October was sentenced to death on Tuesday, police confirmed.

The Yangon South District Court sentenced Tun Naing to death plus seven years in prison for beating three children to death in a purported exorcism ritual in a village in Twante Township outside of Yangon.

The convict will be hanged, but has seven days to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Union in Naypyitaw, said state prosecutor U Myo Thein.

The 30-year-old was charged with murder, grievous bodily harm and destroying evidence.

Last October in Twante Townships Pathi Gon village, the witch doctor beat and kicked a 3-year-old boy and two girls aged eight months and two years respectively to death, while also severely beating another 4-year-old girl.

The death penalty has not been implemented in Myanmar for the past four decades.

The last death sentence was given in 1977 to Cpt Ohn Kyaw Myint  a personal staff officer of the then commander-in-chief of the armed forces Gen Kyaw Htin  who plotted along with a group of army officers including founding National League for Democracy leader Gen Tin Oo to assassinate military dictator Gen Ne Win and other state leaders.
News Suicide Rate Alarming in Thai Camp for Myanmar RefugeesStudy

Refugees who fled Myanmar walk at Mae La refugee camp, near the Thailand-Myanmar border in Mae Sot district, Tak province, north of Bangkok on July 21, 2014. / Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters

LONDON, UK  The number of recorded suicides and attempted suicides has soared at Thailands largest camp for refugees from Myanmar, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday as it called for urgent action to treat high levels of distress.

Twenty-eight refugees in Mae La camp have killed themselves and 66 have attempted suicide in the last two years, more than three times the global suicide rate, according to an IOM study published on the eve of World Refugee Day.

The number of suicides is very alarming, and we urgently need to address this, said Harry Smith, IOMs project officer in Thailand.

There is a high level of distress in the camps which results from myriad reasons including lack of freedom of movement, uncertainty about the future, economic hardship and a lack of educational opportunities.

Mae La is the largest of nine refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border, which are home to about 100,000 people. Many have spent their entire lives in the camps in what is one of Asias most protracted refugee crises.

There were 14 suicides in Mae La in the last year compared to one in the period June 2014 to May 2015. But the IOM said the jump could be due to a change in data collection.

Men under 50 were most at risk, but one child had also taken his life and three had tried to.

Nearly four in 10 deaths were from drinking weed-killer, which is widely available in the camps where residents grow food.

Family problems were a factor in nearly half of suicides. Alcohol and substance abuse played a role in more than a third.

IOMs recommendations included training aid workers in suicide prevention and setting up a family counselling unit.

It also suggested deploying a psychiatrist and a counsellor with expertise on suicide in the camp, and limiting access to herbicides.

Refugees in the camps are feeling increasingly uncertain of their future amid a fall in resettlement to third countries and a decrease in support from the international community.

Most are ethnic Karen from eastern Myanmar who fled conflict and often persecution during decades of military rule.

A civilian government, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, took power last year. But Smith said many refugees were not confident of security if they returned, and worried about a lack of jobs and their childrens education.
By Press Trust of India: (Eds: Updating with fresh inputs)

Kathmandu, Jun 20 (PTI) China today said it will support Nepals efforts in safeguarding its sovereignty, promised not to interfere in its internal affairs and offered to provide assistance for the Himalayan nations socio-economic development.

China also appreciated the Nepal governments adherence to the one-China policy, Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said after talks with his Nepals Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi.

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Kong said that China will, as always, support Nepals efforts in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, Chinas state-run Xinhua news agency reported today.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, China and Nepal have set a good example in forging ties between the countries of different sizes and different social systems based on equal treatment and mutual respect, Kong said.

China will continue to uphold the principle of non- interference in Nepals internal affairs and is willing to provide assistance within its ability for its socio-economic development, he said, in an apparent reference to Indias alleged interference in the Himalayan nation.

Bairagi said Nepal treats China as a great neighbour and a great friend, and the two countries have forged solid ties based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence

Attaching great importance to developing ties with China, Nepal has been upholding the one-China policy (regarding Taiwan and Tibet) and will never allow any forces to use its soil to conduct anti-China activities, Bairagi said.

Nepal supports the Belt and Road Initiative and will take an active part in building the China-proposed initiative, he said, adding Nepal is also willing to earnestly implement the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries.

The one-day meeting also reviewed bilateral relations, political issues and the latest political developments in Nepal.

They also discussed bilateral economic cooperation, investment, trade and connectivity along with land and air route connectivity.

The 11th Meeting of Nepal?China Consultation Mechanism consist of a 11?member Chinese delegation and 20?member Nepali delegation.

The Nepali delegation was led by Foreign Ministrys Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and Chinese delegation was headed by Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuan You.

The meeting comes shortly after Nepal signed a memorandum of understanding on Chinas One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.

The OBOR aims to enhance connectivity and cooperation among countries, primarily between China and the rest of Asia and Europe through land as well as maritime routes.

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While the implementation of OBOR is one of the agendas, the meeting will also dwell upon a host of other issues, including those related to security, trade and transit, according to foreign ministry officials.

The 10th Meeting of Nepal ? China Consultation Mechanism was held in Beijing in 2013. PTI SBP UZM CPS AKJ CPS

--- ENDS ---
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By Brian Whitaker | ( Al-Bab.com ) |  

In a grotesque development earlier this week, Saudi Arabia  a world leader in the exploitation of migrant workers  won a seat on the governing body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

The ILO is a United Nations agency devoted to promoting social justice and internationally recognised human and labour rights, according to its website. It promotes decent work for all women and men and looks into complaints about violations of international labour rules.

As a member of its governing body, Saudi Arabia will be involved in setting ILO policies and establishing its budget and programme of activities.

On Monday, at the organisations annual conference in Geneva, the kingdom was elected for a three-year term with 168 votes out of a total of 253 votes cast.

This adds a further notch to Saudi Arabias growing influence in branches of the UN which are supposed to be protecting peoples rights.

Last October, despite its long history of abuses, the kingdom was re-elected to the Human Rights Council for a third three-year term. The British government was among those suspected of supporting its nomination.

In April, Saudi Arabia was also elected to the UNs Commission on the Status of Women  with support from at least three EU countries. The commission is described on its website as the principal global intergovernmental body exclusively dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women. Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, has a long history of institutionalised discrimination against women and is one of the worlds worst offenders in that respect.

In 2015 it was reported that Saudi Arabia, not content with being an ordinary member of the Human Rights Council, had begun lobbying to become its chair. The kingdom later abandoned this attempt but, in what some saw as a backroom appeasement deal, was instead appointed head of a panel that selects the experts reporting to the UN on various rights issues.

As far as labour rights are concerned, the kingdom has recently been trying to boost employment opportunities for women (usually under segregated conditions) but its overall record is dire  especially in regard to the vast numbers of foreign workers that its economy depends upon.

Many of the problems stem from the iniquitous kafala (sponsorship) system used in Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states. The International Labour Organisation has long been campaigning for kafala to be abolished or reformed.

One result of the kafala system is that foreign workers residence in the kingdom is tied to their employment, and in recent years hundreds of thousands have been summarily expelled  sometimes in mass deportations.

Last year tens of thousands of foreign workers became stranded in the kingdom, with no means to support themselves, after their employers  mainly in the construction industry  ran into financial difficulties and stopped paying their wages. The two biggest firms involved, Saudi Binladin and Saudi Oger, had depended heavily ongovernment contracts.

Saudi Oger, part of the Lebanese Hariri familys business empire, is now on the point of closing down, according to Agence France Presse:

An angry ex-employee, who asked to be identified only as Robert, told AFP that he understands Saudi Ogers last day of existence will be June 30. In two weeks, we will no longer talk of Saudi Oger, he said. I have lost my future. Since resigning from Oger in January Robert no longer has a residency permit to stay legally in Saudi Arabia, and he cant pay his childrens school fees. He says he hasnt received his salary since July last year and is owed 160,000 riyals (almost $43,000/39,000 euros).

AFP says that following negotiations between France and the kingdom, the Saudi government agreed to pay the equivalent of nine months salary to more than 200 French citizens employed by Saudi Oger, but it adds that thousands of Asian employees have not been paid.
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Yara Bayoumi at Reuters reports on the complicated minuet being danced by Russia, the Syrian Air Force, and the United States.

The Syrian Air Force was bombing positions of the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US euphemism for the leftist Kurds of the YPG. The US Air Force shot down the plane (apparently the pilot was able to eject and survive). The US is depending on the Syrian Kurds to take Raqqa city, where they already hold a few neighborhoods. It is the so-called capital of ISIL (ISIS, Daesh). Of all the military forces in the region, only the Kurds have been willing to provide ground forces to roll up ISIL in eastern Syria, with the help of US and coalition air support. If the US proved unable to protect the YPG Kurdish fighters from the regime and from ISIL, they would peel off.

The Kurds are generally considered neutral as between the Bashar al-Assad regime and the mostly Sunni fundamentalist rebels challenging him. The Syrian Kurds want at the least more states rights, from the regime, but for the moment they enjoy semi-autonomy given that the regime is weak and bogged down in the fight against the rebels. The YPG Kurds have some Arab allies, but most of the fundamentalist Arab militias hate them, partly for being Kurds and partly for being secular leftists.

It is not clear why the Syrian regime chose to bomb the Kurds. It likely fears that the latter are taking over Raqqa province permanently, despite its large Arab population. After ISIL is defeated, Damascus is not going to be sanguine about an expanding Kurdistan that permanently detaches large swathes of Syria from its government. The US military may be sanguine about a Kurdish semi-autonomous zone stretching south from Hasaka all the way down to the borders with Jordan and Iraq. But this development is not acceptable to the Syrian regime.

The development is also not acceptable to Turkey, which has also bombed the Kurds allied with the US, despite Turkey being a member of NATO and a US ally. It is possible that Ankara and Damascus are coordinating in hopes of rolling back up the Kurdish fighters as the war winds down and the US becomes restless and leaves.

The problem with the US shooting down that Syrian plane is that the Syrian air Force is allied with the Russian Federation, and the Russian Aerospace forces often fly alongside the Syrian pilots.

The Russians complain that the US did not warn them before bombing in east Syria, and they should have under the agreement between Washington and Moscow.

And, Russia announced that it would possibly shoot down any US air craft operating in western Syria.

Those are about the most dangerous words Ive heard in decades, since the era of the Cuban missile crisis or the dark Cold War film Fail Safe (1965) .

BBC Monitoring translated a statement of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:

Regarding what is happening on the ground in Syria, it is necessary to completely respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. So any actions on the ground  and there are many participants, including those who conduct military operations  must get Damascus approval. Source: TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 0555 gmt 19 Jun 17.

For its part the US military issued a statement saying it has no ambitions in Western Syria, doesnt intend to fight there, and is not intent on ousting Bashar al-Assad:

This is an unbelievable statement. Policy implications are profound pic.twitter.com/HyrAxaIE8P  Aaron Stein (@aaronstein1) June 18, 2017

The US said late Monday that it would try to reestablish deconfliction with the Russians. A lot is riding on whether they do.



Related video:

CNN: Russia: US planes in Syria are targets'
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The Bridge Initiative . |  

ACT for America hosted a series of marches against sharia in 27 cities across the United States. To many Americans  for whom sharia is synonymous with violence, oppression, and intolerance  these rallies will seem appropriate efforts to promote human rights and civil liberties. In reality, however, these protests are motivated by Islamophobia. They are organized by an anti-Muslim group, and are an attempt to further entrench and legitimate myths about sharia, Islamic law, and thus Muslims everywhere.

ACT, described by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as the largest anti-Muslim hate group in the United States, identifies itself as the NRA of national security. It claims a membership of 525,000 individuals with hundreds of chapters nationwide. On its website it boldly declares that no other organization has done more to combat the threat of violence from movements like radical Islam.

ACT for America

The organizations founder and chairperson Brigitte Gabriel has been described as the most influential leader in Americas increasingly influential anti-Islam lobby, and is a frequent public speaker appearing at rallies, conferences, and in the media. Gabriel has claimed that a practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America. Additionally, she has stated that every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim, and that Muslims are a natural threat to civilized people of the world, particularly Western society. Despite her anti-Muslim rhetoric, Gabriel reports that she has been welcomed at the Trump White House.

ACT describes the March Against Sharia as a pro-human rights event that is intended to protect and honor freedom of religion. Its claims that many aspects of Sharia law are completely incompatible with our laws and our democratic values echo Newt Gingrichs statement last summer calling for religious testing of all Muslims in America and suggesting that those who believe in Sharia should be deported.

To support its claim, ACT provides a top 10 list of reasons as to why Sharia Law is incompatible with American Law. They include cherry-picked and poorly translated verses from the Quran and traditional literature, and they cite only one book. Completely ignoring over a thousand years of legal scholarship and richly diverse interpretations of Sharia, an anti-Muslim grassroots organization focused on national security has attempted to re-define what this aspect of Islamic law is. For ACT, and many other anti-Muslim organizations, think- tanks, ideologues, and politicians, Sharia has been defined unilaterally as incompatible with Western law.

What is Sharia?

Sharia, Arabic for a path to life-giving water, can be best explained as an Islamic ethical code, a moral compass on all aspects of life  from how to pray to how to greet ones neighbors. It is more than a set of laws; legal scholar Dr. Asifa Quraishi describes it as a body of Quran-based guidance that points Muslims toward living an Islamic life. Sharia consists of the unchanging principles and values originating from divine revelation. It is composed of five main branches, one of which is punishments. Despite this common conflation of Sharia with punitive measures, the writings for this portion account for just three percent of all Sharia content. The human understanding of Sharia is called fiqh, legal opinions by scholars based on rigorous intellectual study of the Quran and Sunnah (examples from the Prophet Muhammads life). Fiqh is a body of legal opinion and is subject to change in response to new challenges and circumstances. Most importantly, there is no one book that outlines universally agreed upon Sharia. But in any case, in accordance with the Quran (2:256), Sharia cannot be imposed on any unwilling person.

Islamic law can be consulted in civil cases in the U.S. involving Muslim litigants, such as those involving marriage, divorce, or the probation of an Islamic will. These types of cases occur in all religious communities in the United States. For example, Halacha, or Jewish Law, can be consulted in cases involving Jewish Americans.

Sharia is a central part of the observance of Islam by a majority of Muslims. By organizing a March against a central feature of the religion of 1.6 billion people (around 3.5 million in the US), ACT violates exactly what it claims to be defending: religious freedom. Under the guise of promoting human rights, ACT continues to disseminate toxic anti-Muslim views during a time in which hate crimes against Muslims in the United States are becoming an almost weekly occurrence. On May 27 in Portland, Oregon, a white supremacist stabbed three individuals (killing two) who attempted to stop him from verbally assaulting two women (one of whom was Muslim and wore the hijab). On June 4, a Somali American woman was brutally beaten in Ohio after coming to the defense of a fellow Somali American woman.

ACTs history of anti-Muslim campaigns

These scheduled demonstrations are just the latest in ACTs long list of anti-Muslim campaigns. The organization, headquartered in Virginia Beach, VA, has previously drummed up support to push for legislation to ban Sharia from US courts. This step to outlaw Sharia was not in response to any measure by a Muslim or Muslim organization attempting to impose it. Yet, forty-nine bills have been introduced in 26 states proposing banning or severely restricting the practice of Sharia. Since 9/11, Republican legislators have submitted proposals in over 32 states to legally ban Sharia law. As of 2016, nine states have passed so-called foreign law bans that single out Sharia. The origin of this anti-Sharia legislation goes back to 2007, when anti-Muslim activist and lawyer David Yerushalmi unveiled the Mapping Sharia in America Project, targeting 2,300 Islamic institutions in the U.S. Yerushalmi also issued a policy paper that stated that adherence to Islam as a Muslim is prima facie evidence of an act in support of the overthrow of the US government, and that practicing Islam should be a felony that is to be punishable by 20 years in prison. It was Yerushalmi who offered templates of anti-Sharia bills to legislators in over 20 states.

It is frankly comical to assume that any foreign law would supersede the Constitution, since US law already prohibits the use of foreign laws to interpret the Constitution. Moreover, this argument, pushed by anti-Muslim ideologues, politicians, think tanks, and organizations, supports an additional complementary narrative: the stealth jihad anecdote, which maintains that Muslims are a fifth column who seek to replace Western constitutions and law with Sharia. Saturdays protest is part of a larger misinformation campaign that seeks to demonize and vilify the American Muslim community. The movement uses inflammatory rhetoric to create an us vs. them dichotomy, identifying Muslims as a group of individuals who are plotting to destroy the Western, civilized world.

The March Against Sharia

SPLC has documented a list of racist and anti-Muslim comments published on the official Facebook page for the March, and run by Scott Ryan Pressler, the organizer of this weekends protests. Comments include calls for violence, pictures of former President Obama with a noose around his neck, calls for murder, and references to Muslims as cancer and maggots. Additionally some of the protests have called upon anti-Muslim and anti-government militant groups, such as the three percenters (III%ers) and Oath Keepers, to provide security.

The March Against Sharia is a fear-mongering tactic employed by anti-Muslim campaigners. ACTs march only seeks to legitimize and embolden those who hold discriminatory and hateful views towards Muslims, at a time when the latest FBI numbers show that anti-Muslim hate crimes are at their highest since 9/11.

Via The Bridge Initiative

-

Related video added by Juan Cole:

CBBC: What is Islamophobia? CBBC Newsround explains
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2017) - Indigo Exploration Inc. (TSXV: IXI) (FSE: INE) is pleased to announce that it has reacquired the full original Kodyel permit area via the granting of the new Hantoukoura permit from the Minister of Mines of Burkina Faso. The Hantoukoura permit, covering 238 square kilometres, is valid for three years and renewable for up to 6 additional years. The Kodyel permit was the Company's flagship permit located near the Niger border but the Company had been denied access to the full area of the permit due to a border dispute, which has now been resolved. The restricted access through the term of the Kodyel permit justified a new permit.

The new Hantoukoura permit (as was the former Kodyel permit) lies close to the Niger border approximately 300km east of Ouagadougou. Access is by paved and laterite roads. The Hantoukoura permit, covering an extension of the Fada N'Gourma greenstone belt, is traversed by a regional northeast-trending fault that stretches from Ghana to Niger. There are several artisanal workings within the permit including: the extensive Tangounga pit, Hantekoura (CFA) and Kodyel 1.

Previously, the Company announced its rock and soil sampling results which are posted on the Company's website. The sampling work demonstrates a greater than 15 kilometre stretch of favourable geology, multiple soil anomalies and artisanal workings between the Tangounga pit (undrilled at this time) and the Kodyel 1 site drilled by Semafo in 1997. The east end of the Company's soil grid ended 2.5 kilometres short of the Tangounga pit, but will be extended over the pit in its future work. On the grid, the most significant soil anomaly measured 5.5 kilometres long by 600 metres wide, with values generally greater than 50 ppb Au.

"With such a long hiatus from our last work there, we are ecstatic to regain access to the site with more certainty and with an adequate timeframe to unlock its potential. We will resume exploration once the summer rains abate", says Paul Cowley, President.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - June 20, 2017) - First Mining Finance Corp. (TSX VENTURE:FF) (OTCQX:FFMGF) (FRANKFURT:FMG) is pleased to announce the fourth set of assay results from its 28,500 metre diamond drill infill program on its 100% owned Goldlund Gold Project ("Goldlund"), located near the town of Sioux Lookout in northwestern Ontario, Canada.

Highlights:

Hole GL-17-005 intersected 313 metres of 0.81 grams per tonne gold Including 2.0 metres of 42.15 grams per tonne gold

Hole GL-17-028 intersected 94 metres of 0.97 grams per tonne gold Including 2.0 metres of 14.64 grams per tonne gold

Hole GL-17-060 intersected 14.0 metres of 6.05 grams per tonne gold Including 2.0 metres of 38.54 grams per tonne gold

Hole GL-17-029 intersected 10.0 metres of 4.11 grams per tonne gold Including 2.0 metres of 10.66 grams per tonne gold



Note: Assaying for the Goldlund 2017 drill program is being done by SGS at their laboratories in Red Lake, ON, and Burnaby, BC. Reported widths are drilled core lengths; true widths are unknown at this time. Assay values are uncut.

The goal of the 2017 drilling campaign at Goldlund is to upgrade Inferred resources into the Measured and Indicated categories, with the majority of the drilling focused on Zone 7 and Zone 1 (Figure 1), and to gain further knowledge of the geology and gold mineralization in preparation for Phase 2 drilling. The Phase 1 drilling program, comprising 100 holes (24,300 metres), was completed at the end of May and the remaining assay results from the Phase 1 program will continue to be released in batches as they are received. The Phase 2 program, which will include step-out exploration drilling, is expected to commence by the end of July 2017.

Since the commencement of drilling last January at Goldlund the Company has previously issued three press releases (April 25, 2017, May 2, 2017 and May 24, 2017) comprising a total of 37 drill hole results. With this latest press release, the Company has now released the results for 49 drill holes of which 46 drill holes contain significant intervals of gold mineralization, a gold mineralization success rate of 94%.

Commenting on the results, Patrick Donnelly, President of First Mining stated, "When we originally acquired Goldlund, we knew it was an asset with significant potential for unlocking further value. With 46 out of 49 drill holes so far containing significant gold mineralization, we're confirming that Goldlund is one of our flagship projects."

In addition, Keith Neumeyer, the Chairman of First Mining, stated, "It is very nice to see that the drill results being announced today remain consistent with our expectations that we felt existed prior to our decision to acquire the Goldlund project. The 100 holes drilled in Phase 1 will lead us to a much better understanding of the mineralized systems at Goldlund and will assist us in planning an exciting Phase 2 program."

Table 1. Drill Hole Assay Results from Goldlund

Hole ID From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au g/t GL-17-004 94 100 6 0.38 GL-17-004 and 124 130 6 1.09 inc 128 130 2 2.89 and 162 164 2 1.49 GL-17-005 24 337 313 0.81 inc 24 28 4 4.44 and inc 38 42 4 2.30 and inc 72 74 2 6.65 and inc 82 84 2 1.55 and inc 103.5 104 0.5 13.57 and inc 112 124 12 1.47 and inc 120 120.5 0.5 15.83 and inc 150 156 6 5.43 and inc 154 156 2 12.67 GL-17-005 and inc 216 218 2 15.48 and inc 262 266 4 1.23 and inc 270 272 2 42.15 and inc 290 291 1 1.97 and 441 605 164 0.42 inc 461 463 2 1.17 and inc 475 477 2 1.36 and inc 545 575 30 1.44 and inc 555 569 14 2.19 and inc 567 569 2 8.07 and inc 571 573 2 2.68 and inc 599 601 2 3.86 GL-17-006 108 132 24 0.44 inc 114 120 6 1.03 and inc 130 132 2 1.32 and 182 212 30 0.52 GL-17-006 inc 182 186 4 2.67 and 242 244 2 1.99 and 270 272 2 1.07 and 282 298 16 0.47 inc 296 298 2 1.64 and 312 324 12 0.45 GL-17-027 GL-17-027 58 64 6 3.68 inc 58 60 2 8.87 GL-17-028 150 162 12 0.98 inc 150 152 2 2.10 and inc 154 156 2 2.13 and 170 176 6 0.48 and 188 282 94 0.97 GL-17-028 inc 188 190 2 4.65 and inc 200 202 2 12.00 and inc 226 228 2 14.64 and inc 234 236 2 2.73 and inc 252 254 2 2.48 and inc 270 272 2 1.37 and inc 280 282 2 1.14 GL-17-029 212 222 10 4.11 inc 212 214 2 10.66 GL-17-029 and inc 220 222 2 9.76 and 240 248 8 1.28 inc 244 248 4 2.15 and 306 310 4 2.18 GL-17-036 136 150 14 1.44 inc 136 138 2 8.55 and 196 232 36 0.55 GL-17-036 inc 208 210 2 2.66 and inc 212 216 4 1.51 and inc 230 232 2 1.29 and 382 386 4 1.65 inc 382 384 2 2.48 GL-17-037 197 235 38 0.36 inc 197 199 2 1.86 GL-17-037 and inc 211 213 2 1.84 and inc 233 235 2 1.38 GL-17-045 24 102 78 1.96 inc 38 50 12 10.81 and inc 38 40 2 61.37 GL-17-045 and inc 68 72 4 1.02 and inc 76 78 2 1.40 and inc 92 94 2 4.44 and 148 150 2 3.94 GL-17-057 10 44 34 0.68 inc 10 12 2 1.20 and inc 14 16 2 1.41 GL-17-057 and inc 18 20 2 1.30 and inc 36 38 2 1.81 and inc 42 44 2 1.42 and 62 66 4 0.81 and 126 128 2 1.47 GL-17-060 46 60 14 6.05 inc 46 48 2 38.54 GL-17-060 and 82 152 70 0.50 inc 88 94 6 1.93 and inc 88 90 2 4.07 and inc 115 116.5 1.5 1.51 GL-17-061 38 40 2 1.32 GL-17-061 and 130 132 2 0.92 and 154 156 2 2.54 and 178 182 4 1.04

Assaying for the 2017 Goldlund drill program is being done by SGS at their laboratories in Red Lake, Ontario, and Burnaby, BC. Prepared samples are analyzed for gold by either Bulk Leach Extractable Gold (BLEG) assay techniques or by lead fusion fire assay with an atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) finish. Multi-element analysis on the mineralized zones is also being undertaken by two-acid aqua regia digestion with ICP-MS and AES finish.

Figure 1. Plan Map





Table 2. Drill Hole Locations

Hole ID Azimuth  Dip  Length (m) UTM East UTM North Section GL-17-004 0 -90 257 545702 5527213 545700E GL-17-005 180 -80 656 545702 5527213 545700E GL-17-006 0 -90 326 545701 5527191 545700E GL-17-027 180 -90 218 545801 5527238 545800E GL-17-028 180 -77 299 545801 5527238 545800E GL-17-029 0 -90 320 545800 5527187 545800E GL-17-036 180 -80 548 545600 5527157 545600E GL-17-037 0 -90 365 545600 5527136 545600E GL-17-045 180 -80 302 545549 5527193 545550E GL-17-057 180 -80 233 545501 5527190 545500E GL-17-060 0 -90 278 545503 5527143 545500E GL-17-061 0 -90 269 545501 5527105 545500E

Figure 2. Cross-Section through the Goldlund Project





Gold observed during the current drilling program at Goldlund occurs both as fine disseminations in quartz vein stockworks and as more discrete larger grains up to 2 mm spatially associated with pyrite in the quartz veins. Calaverite, a gold telluride mineral, has been noted occasionally in higher grade intervals on fracture surfaces in the quartz veins. Higher grade gold distribution in the granodiorite dike is often, but not always, associated with zones of more intense quartz stockworking and potassic alteration. Figure 2 above displays a cross- section of the geology and gold mineralization with drill holes GL-17-30 to GL-17-37.

QA/QC Procedures

The QA/QC program for the 2017 drilling program at Goldlund consists of the submission of duplicate samples and the insertion of certified reference materials and blanks at regular intervals. These are inserted at a rate of one standard for every 20 samples (5% of total) and one blank for every 30 samples (3% of total). The standards used in the 2017 program consist of 5 different gold grades ranging from 1 to 9 g/t, and are sourced from CDN Resource Laboratories in Langley, BC. Blanks have been sourced locally from barren granitic material.

Field duplicates from quartered core, as well as 'coarse' or 'pulp' duplicates taken from coarse reject material or pulverized splits, are also submitted at regular intervals with an insertion rate of 4% for field duplicates and 4% for coarse or pulp duplicates. Additional selected duplicates are being submitted for screened metallic fire assay analysis and to an umpire lab for check assaying. SGS also undertake their own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration.

Dr. Chris Osterman, P.Geo., CEO of First Mining, is the "qualified person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects and he has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this news release.

ABOUT THE GOLDLUND PROJECT

The Goldlund deposit is situated within a land package of approximately 280 square kilometres (28,000 hectares) referred to as the Goldlund Gold Project. The Property has a strike-length of over 50 kilometres in the Wabigoon Subprovince. Goldlund is an Archean lode-gold project located in northwestern Ontario, approximately 60 kilometres from the township of Dryden. The claims that make up the land package cover the historic Goldlund and Windward mines.

On January 9, 2017, the Company announced an initial mineral resource estimate for Goldlund. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade, the Goldlund deposit contains pit constrained Indicated Resources of 9.3 million tonnes at 1.87 grams per tonne or 560,000 ounces of gold. At a 0.4 g/t Au cut-off grade, the Goldlund deposit contains pit constrained Inferred Resources of 40.9 million tonnes at 1.33 grams per tonne or 1,750,000 ounces of gold. The technical report for this resource estimate has been filed on SEDAR and is also available on the Company's website at www.firstminingfinance.com.

ABOUT FIRST MINING FINANCE CORP.

First Mining is a mineral property holding company whose principal business activity is to acquire high quality mineral assets with a focus in the Americas. The Company currently holds a portfolio of 25 mineral assets in Canada, Mexico and the United States with a focus on gold. Ultimately, the goal is to continue to increase its portfolio of mineral assets through acquisitions that are expected to be comprised of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and nickel.

For further information, visit our website at www.firstminingfinance.com.
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - June 20, 2017) - SEMAFO Inc. (TSX:SMF)(OMX:SMF) announces that it has drawn down the incremental $60 million of the credit facility with Macquarie Bank Limited for a total drawdown of $120 million. The recent visits to the Mana and Boungou Mine sites by Macquarie Bank Limited were key conditions for drawing down the incremental $60 million. The credit facility is repayable in eight equal quarterly installments of $15 million, starting March 31, 2019. Accessing the additional funds allows SEMAFO to maintain a high level of financial flexibility.

In addition, the Corporation announces receipt of the mining convention for the future Boungou Mine (Natougou Gold Project) from the Council of Ministers of the Government of Burkina Faso, which follows receipt of the mining permit in December 2016. Its fiscal and legal terms, which are based on the 2015 Burkina Faso Mining Code, were previously disclosed in the Natougou Technical Report NI 43-101 dated March 28, 2016 and filed on SEDAR. The convention is valid for the seven-year mine life of the initial mineral reserves at Natougou and can be renewed for additional periods of five years.

About SEMAFO

SEMAFO is a Canadian-based mining company with gold production and exploration activities in West Africa. The Corporation operates the Mana Mine in Burkina Faso, which includes the high-grade satellite deposit of Siou, and is targeting production start-up of the Boungou Mine in the second half of 2018. SEMAFO's strategic focus is to maximize shareholder value by effectively managing its existing assets as well as pursuing organic and strategic growth opportunities.
By Jun Ji-hye

Cheong Wa Dae cautioned President Moon Jae-in's security adviser Monday to refrain from making controversial remarks that could damage relations between South Korea and the United States.





Moon Chung-in

Moon Chung-in, the special presidential adviser for unification, security and foreign affairs, recently triggered a stir after suggesting a willingness to reduce the scale of the allies' joint military exercises and the frequency of the dispatch of strategic U.S. assets to the Korean Peninsula if North Korea stops its nuclear and missile programs.

He made the suggestion during a Wilson Center seminar in Washington, Friday, adding that President Moon had proposed the idea as part of a solution to the nuclear standoff.

With his remarks seen as undermining the allies' joint efforts to curb the North's threats, the presidential office said the adviser's statements were his personal opinion and were not cleared through prior consultation with the President.

"We talked to the special adviser who is currently visiting the United States, today" said a ranking official on condition of anonymity. "We told him that his remarks will do little to contribute to Seoul-Washington relations in the future."

The official noted that the adviser's opinion was just one of a variety of options being developed here to resolve the nuclear and missile threats from the North.

"Any decision needs to be made through close consultation between Seoul and Washington. It cannot be said a certain option is feasible simply because one person suggested it," the official said. He added that President Moon had made no response to the adviser's controversial comments.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Alicia Edwards also said Saturday that Washington viewed the adviser's proposal as a personal opinion, not the official stance of the South Korean government, according to Voice of America.

Despite Cheong Wa Dae's efforts to remove controversy, the opposition parties went all out to criticize the adviser, with the conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) even calling for him to step down from his position.

Rep. Lee Hyun-jae, the LKP's policy chief, pointed out that Moon Chung-in has been a mentor to President Moon on security and foreign affairs.

"If the special adviser's opinion was different from President Moon's official stance, the President should receive the adviser's resignation," Lee said.

Rep. Kim Dong-cheol, floor leader of the center-left opposition People's Party, said, "The U.S. is seriously concerned about the presidential adviser's unexpected remarks as well as the Moon Jae-in government's order to inspect a decision-making process involving the deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system here."

Ruling Democratic Party of Korea Chairwoman Rep. Choo Mi-ae said the opposition parties were overacting to his "brave" remarks.
By Ko Dong-hwan





Water shoots from a tube well under construction in Bogae-myeon, Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, on June 19. The 55th Army Division used 200 vehicles and 400 soldiers to supply some 2,100 tons of water to drought-hit farms in five cities in the province, including Gwangju, Yeoju, Icheon and Yongin. / Yonhap

Southern Korea's severe drought is having a heavy impact on farmers and causing drinking water shortages.

Farmers in Ulsan, South Gyeongsang Province, are seeking alternatives to bring water to their crops after streams dried up.

"We have been drawing water from wells but they only provide so much," a female farmer from Gadae Village in the city's Buk-gu said.

A farmer from Seongan-dong, Jung-gu, said he has not seen a drought this bad in 30 years.

"Drought and excessive heat made it impossible to farm," he said.

The city managed to get water from the Dongcheon River that runs through it and dug pits under reservoirs to secure as much water as possible.

The Korea Rural Community Corporation's Ulsan office said there has been less than half last year's rain this year and expressed concern the drought might persist.

Municipalities in South Jeolla Province have worked hard to ease the drought crisis. Sinan-gun, whose reservoirs are at only 18 percent of capacity, sought 87 billion won ($76 million) in emergency funds from the central government and provided 16 billion won from its own coffers to build basins and pipes to divert water from flowing to the ocean.

Coastal city Jindo-gun is drawing water from Geumho Lake in adjacent Haenam-gun to distribute across the city.

"Whenever drought hits, seawater from the West Sea permeates," a city official said. "The water from Geumho Lake will hopefully solve the problem."

Wando-gun plans to build a two-kilometer pipe linking farmland and the city's Chungryong Reservoir to help farmers.

"Everyone is trying to make ends meet to overcome this crisis," a Wando city official said. "But without the central government's help, there is only so much one municipality can do."
Thanks to the efforts of Stanford University's scientists, soon you will be able to wirelessly charge your electric car and mobile phones, while on the go.

By India Today Web Desk: Researchers in US have developed a device that can wirelessly charge a moving object at close range.

The technology could in the future be used to charge electric cars on the highway, or medical implants and cellphones as one walked nearby.

"In addition to advancing the wireless charging of vehicles and personal devices like cellphones, our new technology may untether robotics in manufacturing, which also are on the move," said Professor Shanhui Fan, according to IANS.

Importance of wireless charging:

According to the study wireless charging would address a major drawback of plug-in electric cars -- their limited driving range. A charge-as-you-drive system would overcome these limitations

"In theory, one could drive for an unlimited amount of time without having to stop to recharge. The hope is that you'll be able to charge your electric car while you're driving down the highway," Fan explained

How will wireless charging work?

He noted that a coil in the bottom of the vehicle could receive electricity from a series of coils connected to an electric current embedded in the road.

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"We can rethink how to deliver electricity not only to our cars but to smaller devices on or in our bodies. For anything that could benefit from dynamic, wireless charging, this is potentially very important," Fan said.

Mid-range wireless power transfer is based on magnetic resonance coupling.

"Just as major power plants generate alternating currents by rotating coils of wire between magnets, electricity moving through wires creates an oscillating magnetic field which causes electrons in a nearby coil of wires to oscillate, thereby transferring power wirelessly," the study said.

The team transmitted electricity wirelessly to a moving LED light bulb but the demonstration only involved a one milliwatt charge, far less than what electric cars require.

Scientists at Stanford University are now working on greatly increasing the amount of electricity that can be transferred, and tweaking the system to extend the transfer distance and improve efficiency.

"We still need to significantly increase the amount of electricity being transferred to charge electric cars, but we may not need to push the distance too much more," Fan added.

According to the research, the transfer efficiency can be further enhanced if both coils are tuned to the same magnetic resonance frequency and are positioned at the correct angle, but scientists found that was a complex process.

To address the challenge, the radio-frequency source in the transmitter was eliminated and replaced it with a commercially available voltage amplifier and feedback resistor.

"Adding the amplifier allows power to be very efficiently transferred across most of the three-foot range and despite the changing orientation of the receiving coil," lead author of the study Sid Assawaworrarit said.

The study is published in the journal Nature.

Watch here the major advances in wireless charging:

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--- ENDS ---
Veteran actor Amrit Pal, known for his roles in films like Pyar Ke Do Pal and Jaal, passed away on Monday evening.

By Press Trust of India: Veteran actor Amrit Pal passed away last evening at his residence here after a prolonged illness. He was 76.

The actor mostly played villainous roles in films and shared screen space with top yesteryear stars such as Vinod Khanna, Dharmendra, Mithun Chakraborty, Anil Kapoor among others.

"He was suffering from liver cirrhosis from a long time and was bedridden. He was hospitalised for quite a few days and was later brought home. He passed away at 5pm yesterday at his home in Malad (Mumbai)," Pal's daughter Geeta told PTI.

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He started his career in Bollywood with Jeetendra-Sridevi starrer Jaal as a villain.

One of his most notable performances was in Rajiv Mehra's Pyar Ke Do Pal, starring Poonam Dhillon and Mithun Chakraborty in the lead.

Pal is survived by two daughters, a son and grandchildren.

ALSO SEE: Vinod Khanna dead at 70, was suffering from cancer

ALSO WATCH: Vinod Khanna passes away at 70

--- ENDS ---
Science fiction vs. science fact

(Image credit: LuckyImages/Shutterstock)

Whether you're looking to scale skyscrapers like Spider-Man or wish you could have Wolverine's amazing powers of self-healing, researchers are devising ways to bring extraordinary abilities to the average mortal, and some of these amazing technologies may make you feel like a real-life superhero.

Flying exosuit | Superhero: Iron Man

A British oil trader has fashioned himself into a real-life Tony Stark, by building a jet engine-powered exoskeleton suit that lets him take flight. (Image credit: Gravity; Marvel)

A British oil trader has fashioned himself into a real-life Tony Stark, by building a jet engine-powered exoskeleton suit that lets him take flight.

Richard Browning created the exosuit by combining three sets of miniature jet engines and attaching them to his arms and back. He controls his speed and direction by changing the direction of the engines' thrust using only his upper body. There is no other steering mechanism.

The exosuit lacks some of Iron Man's fancier features, such as superhuman strength and repulsor rays, but it does allow Browning to fly for up to 10 minutes. In early experiments, Browning was able to soar 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 meters) above the ground at about 5 mph (8 km/h), but he said he thinks future prototypes could fly at speeds of up to 60 mph (100 km/h) at altitudes up to 330 feet (100 meters).

But, being Ironman doesn't come cheap. Browning said his prototype costs about $250,000.

Self-healing | Superhero: Wolverine

Wolverine's amazing mutant powers of self-healing may seem impossible for the average human, but the experimental research arm of the U.S. military is developing tiny implants that could indeed help humans heal themselves. (Image credit: DARPA; Ben Rothstein)

Wolverine's amazing mutant powers of self-healing may seem impossible for the average human, but the experimental research arm of the U.S. military is developing tiny implants that could indeed help humans heal themselves. (Although maybe not from a duel with Lord Shingen.)

The Electrical Prescriptions Program, or ElecRX, seeks to develop miniature implants that would continually monitor a person's physical condition and provide electric stimulus to any systems in need. The devices are so tiny they can be implanted right at nerve endings with a needle  unlike today's more invasive technologies  making treatments more targeted.

The implants could be used to treat painful chronic inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, systemic inflammatory response syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease. Alas, they won't give you Wolverine's remarkable longevity

Run fast | Superhero: The Flash

If the idea of owning a jetpack isn't cool enough, imagine one that can help you run lightning fast, like a real-life Flash. (Image credit: Arizona State University; Clay Enos)

If the idea of owning a jetpack isn't cool enough, imagine one that can help you run lightning fast, like a real-life Flash.

This battery-powered jetpack, worn like a backpack, helped one speedy test subject shave 20 seconds off of his mile time  already an impressive 5 minutes and 20 seconds.

The technology was originally developed as part of a DARPA program looking to find ways to make soldiers move faster on the battlefield, and now researchers are trying to help athletes improve performance.

"This is the future of where the jetpack is going," Jason Kerestes, a graduate student of engineering and robotics who leads the project at Arizona State University, told Live Science. "We feel that if we can enhance that technology, we can get somebody who can run a five-and-a-half-minute mile down to a four-minute mile."

Whether you use your newfound powers of superspeed for good or evil, however, is up to you.

Invisibility | Superhero: Invisible Woman

Invisibility cloaks may not allow you to hide anything with your mind like the Invisible Woman can, but in the event that you don't gain super-abilities from a cosmic storm, they're as close as you can get to making objects vanish. (Image credit: Courtesy of Xiang Zhang group, Berkeley Lab/UC Berkeley; Kerry Hayes)

Invisibility cloaks may not allow you to hide anything with your mind like the Invisible Woman can, but in the event that you don't gain super-abilities from a cosmic storm, they're as close as you can get to making objects vanish.

Older attempts at creating invisibility cloaks tried to make objects disappear by bending light around them, but newer technologies are taking different approaches. One uses a new kind of technology called a metascreen that cancels out light waves bouncing off a cloaked object. (So far it only works in microwave light, not visible light.) Another reflects light off of an object as if it were a flat mirror, rendering the cloaked object invisible.

So far, only very small objects have been successfully cloaked, and not in real-world situations, but scientists are continuing to work on both projects.

X-ray vision | Superhero: Superman

Superman's X-ray vision lets the Man of Steel see through walls (unless, of course, they're made of lead), and now thanks to the work of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, humans can too. Well, almost. (Image credit: MIT/CSAIL; Clay Enos)

Superman's X-ray vision lets the Man of Steel see through walls (unless, of course, they're made of lead), and now thanks to the work of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, humans can too. Well, almost.

MIT's RF Capture system uses short-wave radio signals to track movement through walls, and in experiments, scientists were able to identify 15 people through walls with up to 90 percent accuracy, tracking their movements within less than an inch. The system first gets the lay of the land, and then tracks for changes  as in those made by moving humans.

The technology's initial applications will likely be in healthcare, as researchers hope to create a system that can monitor seniors who are at risk of falling  a project Superman would definitely support.

Super strength | Superhero: The Hulk

If you've ever dreamed about having your very own 'Hulk Smash!' moment of super strength, a new high-tech suit of armor could make that dream a reality. (Image credit: U.S. Army; Marvel)

If you've ever dreamed about having your very own "Hulk Smash!" moment of super strength, a new high-tech suit of armor could make that dream a reality.

Called the Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, the suit "promises to provide superhuman strength with greater ballistic protection," according to the U.S. Army. The robotic suit can also help humans carry greater loads, rendering them super-strong.

In addition to improving strength, the suit can make its wearer bulletproof via an exoskeleton made of magnetorheological fluids that can change from liquid to solid in seconds.

Even the Hulk would be impressed by that.

Teleportation | Superhero: Nightcrawler

While researchers can't teleport matter across space, through the magic of quantum entanglement, a process by which subatomic particles are linked and can communicate instantaneously even when separated at great distances, they can beam information from one place to another. (Image credit: William Thomas Cain/Getty; Alan Markfield)

Bamf! Scientists have been able to make particles teleport just like Nightcrawler.

Welcome to the weird world of quantum teleportation. While researchers can't teleport matter across space, through the magic of quantum entanglement, a process by which subatomic particles are linked and can communicate instantaneously even when separated at great distances, they can beam information from one place to another. So far, scientists have been able to teleport particles between distances of up to almost 90 miles (145 kilometers).

Someday, they hope to create hack-proof quantum cybersecurity or quantum internet systems.

"A quantum Internet could allow you to establish communications channels that are much more secure than what we have with the standard encryption protocols we use everyday nowadays," Martin Stevens, a quantum optics researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colorado, told Live Science.

Walk on walls | Superhero: Spider-Man

Inspired by the sticky feet of geckos, the Pentagon has developed handheld paddles that allow humans to climb walls, just like Spider-Man. (Image credit: DARPA; Marvel)

Spider-Man may have no trouble scaling skyscrapers, but for the average human, such feats have remained the stuff of science fiction  until now.

Inspired by the sticky feet of geckos, the Pentagon has developed handheld paddles that allow humans to climb walls, just like Spider-Man. The paddles were developed to allow soldiers to gain access to higher ground in urban environments. At the same time, researchers at Stanford University created similar climbing paddles, also using gecko-inspired technology. Stanford's device consists of two plates covered with postage stamp-size tiles covered in tiny rubber hairs.

"I was the climber in the tests," said researcher Elliot Hawkes, a mechanical engineer at Stanford. "That was extremely exciting. To be able to climb glass felt a little bit magical  it feels like you're hooking this device onto a perfectly flat smooth surface, and it doesn't feel possible."

Telekinesis | Superhero: Jean Grey

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a brain-computer interface that could let users channel mutant Jean Grey and her ability to move objects with her mind. (Image credit: University of Minnesota; Alan Markfield)

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a brain-computer interface that could let users channel mutant Jean Grey and her ability to move objects with her mind.

The system allows users to fly a remote-controlled quadcopter with their thoughts.

Users wear a cap with attached electrodes that pick up electrical signals from the brain and transmit them to a computer, which then translates them into movement. Student volunteers first spent time learning how to move a virtual aircraft across a simulated model of the University of Minnesota campus using their thoughts, and then tried flying the quadcopter through an obstacle course.

Mind blowing.

Underwater breathing | Superhero: Aquaman

A device that promised to turn you into a real-life Aquaman turned out to be too good to be true. (Image credit: Triton; Clay Enos)

A device that promised to turn you into a real-life Aquaman turned out to be too good to be true.

The creators of Triton claimed their artificial gills could let humans breathe underwater for up to 45 minutes, at depths of up to 15 feet (4.5 meters), without the bulky equipment needed for scuba diving (like an air tank). But, scientists were skeptical. The device wouldn't be able to function unless swimmers were traveling at superhuman speeds and would still require a sizeable tank.

An Indiegogo campaign raised more than $800,000 to bring the product to market, but the company refunded its users in 2016. It re-launched the campaign, claiming it would have a product on the market in December 2016 that would retail for $399, but that didn't happen.

It looks like would-be Aquamen are still going to need their scuba tanks.
A striking 1,800-year-old sculpture depicting a Roman military officer has been sold at auction by the Denver Art Museum for about $930,000. The buyer is an art dealer in London who plans to resell it.

The sculpture likely depicts a senator or member of Rome's nobility who led the military during a campaign in the second century A.D., according to Susan Matheson, a curator of ancient art at the Yale University Art Gallery. Matheson is not involved with the sale.

The Denver Art Museum, a nonprofit organization that receives part of its funding through local taxes, sold the sculpture as part of a broader sell-off of art from its collections, which, later this year, will include art from Egypt. This is the latest example of an American museum putting part of its collection up for sale in an effort to fund the individual institutions; the Toledo Museum of Art (in Ohio) and the Delaware Art Museum also recently sold part of their collections. [The 25 Most Mysterious Archaeological Finds on Earth]

The money raised from the sale of the Roman sculpture, which the Denver Art Museum acquired in 1965 from an antiquities dealer in Rome, will go toward the museum's acquisition fund to purchase new art.

"Like acquisitions, deaccessions are standard practice for all art museums, and museums overall," Shadia Lemus, communication manager for the museum, told Live Science in an email. "As a result, this artwork was no longer considered to be a good fit for the collection. Funds received from this sale will exclusively go into the museum's Painting and Sculpture Department acquisitions fund."

The museum adheres to the American Alliance of Museums' and Association of Art Museum Directors' (AAMD) industry standards for choosing which artworks should be sold and the proper way to conduct the sale and use the money, Lemus said. The AAMD did not respond to a request for comment by the time this story was published. However, a policy manual from the organization says that museums can sell works of art, under certain conditions, if the funds are used to buy new works of art.

The sale of art and artifacts by museums is a controversial practice among archaeologists and historians who have argued about the practice in numerous journal articles.

Matheson said that she is not happy with the sale of this sculpture. "I am sorry that the Denver Art Museum chose to sell it. I hope it will remain in a public collection."

In 1996, Matheson wrote a short entry on the sculpture in an exhibition catalog called "Claudia: Women in Ancient Rome" (Yale University Art Gallery).

"The portrait represents a Roman military officer, distinguished by the cape he wears over his shoulder. He was probably not a professional soldier, however, but rather a member of the elite senatorial or equestrian class whose command during a specific military campaign would provide the opportunity for political advancement or financial gain," Matheson wrote in the catalog entry, noting that the man appears to be middle-age.

"At this stage of his life, it is likely that he would be married and have children. Unless his father was still alive, he would be the head of the household, a position of near absolute power in theory, but one subject to negotiation, persuasion and compromise in practice. While he was away on military campaign his wife would assume full command of both the household and the family business," wrote Matheson, who dated the sculpture to the second century A.D.

Matheson declined to comment on whether the amount of money the Denver Art Museum got was high or low, telling Live Science that "auction results are generally taken to establish fair market value."

The sculpture was sold at auction at Sotheby's to Daniel Katz Ltd., an art dealership in London owned by Daniel Katz. The company "will be offering it for sale," Katz told Live Science.

Original article on Live Science.
El Volcan in the Nepena Valley of coastal Peru has archaeologists stumped as to when and why this mound was built, though it may have served as a place for a ceremony related to a total solar eclipse.

From far away, El Volcan in the Nepena Valley of coastal Peru might look like a natural feature in the landscape.

But this volcano is artificial, a mound or pyramid built by human hands with a crater dug out of the top. And some archaeologists are trying to figure out what it was used for.

Robert Benfer, a professor emeritus at the University of Missouri who focuses on biological anthropology, had previously found a series of mounds shaped like orcas, condors and other animals in coastal valleys in Peru. He was looking for more of those earthworks by surveying valleys north of Lima when he spotted the volcanic cone that stands 50 feet tall (15.5 meters).[In Photos: Earthly Mounds Shaped Like Animals]

"I knew that a mountain in the valley had a large archaeological site, San Isidro, with platforms oriented to the solstice," Benfer told Live Science. "So with my team, we climbed it to get a better view of the surrounding valley, and I saw the Volcan site from a platform."

In the 1960s, archaeologists had noted the volcano-like mound and identified it as artificial, but Benfer and his team decided to investigate further. As the researchers report in the latest issue of the journal Antiquity, they dug a trench into the inner crater of the volcano, and found a collapsed stairwell that descends below a layer of adobe bricks to a mud-plaster floor.

Archaeologists dug a trench into the inner crater of the volcano-shaped mound, finding a collapsed stairwell that descended to a mud-plaster floor. (Image credit: Courtesy of Robert Benfer)

They also found a fireplace at the bottom of the stairwell, full of bits of charcoal and shell. Archaeologists can determine the age of such organic material using radiocarbon dating. A sample of burned material from the hearth showed that the last fire was lit sometime between A.D. 1492 and 1602.

Benfer believes this date range is important. During the 16th century, there would have been four total solar eclipses, visible from El Volcan, in short order: in A.D. 1521, 1538, 1539 and 1543. This would have been a rare occurrence. "The chances that four solar eclipses could occur during the probability distribution of the radiocarbon date of the hearth is less than 0.0003," Benfer told Live Science. (That's less than a 0.3 percent chance of occurring.)

In their paper, the researchers wrote that "the people of the northern and central coasts, the Yungas, unlike the later Incas, greeted eclipse[s] of the sun with joy, not fear." Benfer speculated that the fire might be all that's left of a ceremony linked to one of these eclipses.

The researchers are not sure when the mound was first built. It's possible that the original structure might be much older than the hearth. The nearby archaeological site at San Isidro was active during the Late Formative period (900 B.C.to 200 B.C.).

The meaning behind the mound's shape is also still unclear. Benfer noted that there are no volcanoes around El Volcan that would have served as models for its construction, if it was indeed meant to look like a volcano, and no other structures like it have been found in Peru.

Original article on Live Science.
Women who carry genetic mutations in the "breast cancer genes," called BRCA1 and BRCA2, have about a 70 percent chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetimes, according to a new study.

The findings are based on an analysis of nearly 10,000 women with mutations in either the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene, mutations that are known to increase the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The new study is more rigorously designed than some earlier research that looked at how much the risk for these cancers increases in women who have these genetic mutations.

But the new study also found that breast cancer risk in women with these mutations could vary  by as much as twofold  depending on whether the women had specific mutations within their genes. In addition, having close family members with the disease also indicated a greater increase in risk, the study found.

The findings suggest that health professionals who council women who have BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations about their risk of breast cancer should take into account both a patient's family history and the particular location on the gene of the individual's mutation, the researchers said. [6 Foods That May Affect Breast Cancer Risk]

The findings "demonstrate the potential importance of family history and mutation location in risk assessment" of breast cancer, the researchers said.

Prior to the study, scientists knew that women with mutations in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene are at increased risk for breast and ovarian cancer. Previous studies have estimated that the lifetime risk of breast cancer ranges from 40 to 87 percent for women with BRCA1 gene mutations, and 27 to 84 percent for women with BRCA2 gene mutations, according to the researchers. In contrast, the average American woman has about a 12 percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 85, according to the Susan G. Komen foundation, a nonprofit organization that funds breast-cancer research.

Many earlier studies on this topic were "retrospective," meaning they included information from women with these mutations who already had breast or ovarian cancer. Those studies used information about the women's family history to help estimate the genetic risk of these diseases. But these estimates could have errors if patients did not provide accurate family histories  for instance, if the women misremembered or didn't know that a certain relative had breast cancer.

Accurate estimates of women's breast and ovarian cancer risk are important because they can help inform patients' decisions about when to start getting breast or ovarian cancer screenings, and whether to undergo procedures to prevent cancer. Those procedures can include having a double mastectomy to prevent breast cancer.

The new study involved 9,856 women from Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand who had undergone genetic testing and were found to have genetic mutations in either the BRCA1 or BRCA 2 gene. Of these women, about 4,800 had been diagnosed with either breast or ovarian cancer before the study started, while about 5,000 of the women had not been diagnosed with either type of cancer. The women were followed for about five years to see if they developed cancer.

Most of the women were in their 40s or 50s at the start of the study, although they ranged in age from younger than 20 to older than 70 years old. [5 Key Nutrients Women Need as They Age]

The study found that:

Among women who had not been diagnosed with breast cancer before the study, those with BRCA 1 mutations faced a 72 percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 80, and the BRCA2 carriers had a 69 percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 80.

Among women who had not been diagnosed with ovarian cancer before the study, the BRCA1 carriers faced a 44 percent chance of developing the disease by age 80 and the BRCA2 carriers faced a 17 percent chance of developing it.

Among women who'd already had breast cancer in one breast, the risk of developing cancer in the other breast within 20 years was 40 percent for BRCA1 carriers and 26 percent for BRCA2 carriers.

The rate of new breast cancer cases increased rapidly among younger women, but leveled off around ages 30 to 40 years old for BRCA1 carriers and 40 to 50 years old for BRCA2 carriers.

The rate of new ovarian cancer cases was low for young women but rose as women reached their 40s and 50s.

The study also found that women with two close relatives who had breast cancer (a close relative could be a sister, mother or aunt) were twice as likely to develop breast cancer by the age of 70, compared to those women with no close relatives with breast cancer. And women with genetic mutations located at a certain spots within the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes were around 1.5 to 2 times more likely to develop breast cancer, compared to women with mutations located at other places in the genes.

The researchers noted that their analysis excluded women who had already undergone a mastectomy (to reduce the risk of breast cancer) or surgery to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes (to reduce the risk of ovarian cancer). But the study was not able to take into account whether the women used certain medications, such as the estrogen-blocker tamoxifen, to reduce their risk of breast cancer.

The study is published today (June 20) in the journal JAMA.

Original article on Live Science.
Update on June 20 at 10:15 p.m. ET:

Otto Warmbier's family has declined an autopsy, CNN has reported.

The Hamilton County Coronor's Office in Ohio received and examined Warmbier's body, but honored the family's request to not perform an autopsy, according to CNN. Instead, the investigators performed an "external examination."

Live Science published this article (below), earlier today:

An autopsy on Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American student who was imprisoned in North Korea in 2016 and died yesterday (June 19) in Cincinnati, will be conducted to further investigate his death, according to news reports.

An autopsy could confirm what doctors already suspect in the young man's case  that Warmbier experienced extensive brain injury  and potentially also offer some insight into what caused the brain injury, said Dr. Lori Shutter, the medical director of the neurovascular intensive care unit at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital. Shutter is not involved in Warmbier's case.

Warmbier was released back to the United States on June 13 after being held in North Korea for 17 months, the Los Angeles Times reported.

But when Warmbier returned home, he was in a coma, and doctors determined that he had suffered "extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain," which was most likely caused by cardiopulmonary arrest  meaning his heart stopped beating and didn't pump blood to the brain, The New York Times reported.

Shutter told Live Science that the coroner could potentially determine during an autopsy if there was a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain or a lack of blood flow to the brain. [3D Images: Exploring the Human Brain]

Generally speaking, a lack of oxygen in the brain causes widespread damage throughout the brain, whereas a lack of blood flow causes damage that is more pronounced in one part of the brain than in other parts, she said.

An investigator could also look for signs of trauma to the brain or blows to the head, which could also show up as a more localized injury, Shutter said. But the initial reports about Warmbier's condition don't indicate that there was direct trauma to his head or a skull fracture, she added.

Shutter noted that the information that doctors have so far about Warmbier's brain come from brain imaging. However, such images show only the big picture, she added. Actually looking at brain tissue under the microscope can reveal other changes that could possibly confirm assumptions doctors made based on the "big brushstrokes" of the brain images, she said.

An added challenge in Warmbier's case is the amount of time that has elapsed since his initial injury. There's evidence, from brain scans sent by the North Koreans, that Warmbier experienced this brain damage sometime before April 2016, according to The New York Times.

"This far out [from the injury], there's going to be a lot of scarring and changes over time, so you may not have quite as much information compared to an autopsy that was done shortly after the initial injury," Shutter said.

During an autopsy, investigators can also look at other organs besides the brain; a generalized autopsy would include an examination of each of the organs to see if there was damage. By looking at the heart, for example, it may be possible to find changes in the muscles that could point to a heart attack, Shutter said.

Ultimately, an autopsy can reveal structural changes in the body, Shutter said, but it can't tell you what caused these changes.

Normally, when doctors examine patients, they interview the patient or a family member about the patient's medical history  a thorough inquiry into the medical conditions a person ever had as well as what happened leading up to an injury or an illness, Shutter said.

"We try to put things together and say, 'We think this is what's going on,'" and then run tests, take images and watch how the injury or illness progresses, Shutter said. "Then, you can say, 'We're pretty certain that this is what it is.'"

But in Warmbier's case, "there's a big gap, of over a year long, where no one knows what happened to him," she said. "I don't know if we'll ever know," she added.

Shutter offered an analogy to help people understand the challenges investigators face. Somebody can break a bone when he or she is a child, and decades later when the person dies, you could do an autopsy and see that the bone had been broken. "You'd know I broke a bone, but you wouldn't know how I broke it," Shutter said. "There's no way you're going to know that."

Originally published on Live Science.
by Jess Nelson , June 20, 2017

Another marketing cloud vendor is announcing a new type of artificial intelligence (AI) technology with a branded name inspired from art history and science.

Marketing has become a combination of art and science with the rise of real-time data, and this theme has been the inspiration for various cloud vendors announcing new AI technology over the past two years. For example, IBM has Watson, Salesforce Einstein, Adobe Sensei, and Maropost has Da Vinci.

Following in their footsteps, Gravity4 unveiled an artificial intelligence digital assistant for the online advertising industry on Monday called Mona Lisa.

Rolling out over the next week across 19 countries, Gravity4s Mona Lisa leverages machine-learning algorithms to predict what media channels will achieve the best results for programmatic advertising. Customers can input data such as consumer demographics, interests, and purchasing history directly into Gravity4, and Mona Lisa applies a deep-learning neural network to display the most relevant and cost-effective marketing channels.

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Gurbaksh Chahal, the CEO of Gravity4, called Mona Lisa the most disruptive innovation of his career in a blog post announcing the news.

Gravity4s AI assistant is named after the most famous painting of a woman in the world, which is ironic considering Chahals own legal issues stemming from several domestic violence allegations. Gravity4 and Chahal have also both been sued for gender discrimination.

Chahal was fired as the CEO of RadiumOne after a domestic violence conviction in 2014, stemming from a 2013 incident where prosecutors say security footage shows Chahal kicking and hitting a woman more than 100 times.

Chahal was arrested again in 2014 for attacking another girlfriend, and a San Francisco judged ruled in 2016 that the new assault violates his original probation. The judge sentenced Chahal to one year in jail for the violation, but Chahal is currently free pending appeal.

Chahal stepped down as CEO of Gravity4 for a brief time in 2016 following the conviction, but has evidently taken the reins back up again at the company.
by Larissa Faw , June 20, 2017

CANNES, FRANCE -- Google's Jigsaw is countering the provocative, or toxic (depending on your point of view) environment created by trolls with its filter designed to flag abusive online comments.

Three in four Internet users have witnessed harassment, and 47% have been targets of abuse, said Jigsaw CEO Jared Cohen during his presentation at the Cannes Lions today. One in three self-censor in fear of what people might do or say.

"I worry about my kids," says Cohen. "Is this going to be their frame of reference in how people talk to each other? Is this what they are going to come to expect? It doesn't have to be this way."

Jigsaw is the Google incubator (formerly known as Google Ideas) that devotes time and effort to building better cyber security tools. One such tool, called Perceptive uses machine learning to rate text comments on a toxicity scale from 0 to 100; the score is generated by comparing a comment against a data set of hundreds of thousands of already-catalogued comments.

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Many of the flagged abusers aren't intentionally bad. "A lot of toxic comments just lack social awareness or are having a bad day," he says.

Publishers do the actual censoring (if they choose to) by setting the boundaries of their accepted toxicity threshold. For instance, a comment like "climate change is bullshit" is flagged by Perceptive, since 84% of comments in the tools data set have deemed similar statements as toxic.

Publishers will then receive notification of offensive comments that reach their toxicity threshold and can then decide what to do with them.

Google disputes charges that Perspective is limiting free speech by censoring comments. Technically, Perspective simply provides publishers with a method of doing so if they choose to. Right now, when trolls enter a conversation, the default position is increasingly to shut down comments entirely and sensible people are fleeing the conversation, says Cohen. "You are just getting one toxic person talking to another toxic person."

The API tool launched in February with clients Wikipedia and The New York Times, whose battles against trolls includes 10 full-time employees to monitor 10,000 comments a day, says Cohen. That only accounts for 10% of the total articles it publishes each day. Now, Perspective is enabling the newspaper to expand its comment forums to all top stories and opinion pieces.

The tool also has expanded to so users can set a specific toxicity alert to monitor their own personal messages. "Who hasn't fired off an unnecessarily obnoxious email while in a bad mood?" asks Cohen. "You never have to worry about the mood you are in."

Jigsaw is experimenting with other monitoring models, including obscenities, attacks on other commenters, and being off-topic. "Just because a conversation is civil doesn't mean everyone will participate," says Cohen. "We want to make sure it is coherent."
by Larissa Faw , June 20, 2017

CANNES, FRANCE -- Photographer and creative director Mario Testino has shot iconic campaigns for brands including Gucci, Burberry, Versace, Chanel and Michael Kors as well as with top publishers like Harper Bazaar and Vogue. During a conversation with Teen Vogue's Elaine Welteroth during the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity today Testino discussed his career and longevity as a creative partner in the fashion world.

"At the end of the day, there is no difference between editorial and advertising," he says. "They are all brands."

Testino channels the role of the client with each project. "As a fashion photographer, we try to present clothes to the customer. The idea of commerce is the basic idea."

Rather than serve as hired help, brands come to Testino to guide their imagery. "When I go to a client, I don't like offering them multiple possibilities. I am very clear about one direction, and I don't think they like having many options."

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He attributes his success to listening. "It isn't about me. Most people are used to people throwing their insecurities on them." Take the name away, everyone will recognize his Michael Kors ad, he says.

Living in this youth-crazed culture, Testino advises brands not to question themselves.

"You have to be true to yourself and not follow random things in fashion. There is a certain desperation today that doesn't necessarily need to be true. Whenever things go wrong, fingers point to the essence of the company. They need to believe in themselves," he says.

The 62-year-old still takes part in every step of a project, from pre-production through post-production. "The way I do most things is with a gut feeling," he says. He works alongside a seven-person entourage from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. six days a week. "The other day is for travel."
by Larissa Faw , June 20, 2017

CANNES, FRANCE -- "This American Life" has a cutthroat production cycle. Staff will work on 10-11 stories, with six eventually entering production. All but three will be killed to make it to the air.

"We are making stories that mean something to people, so they will recommend it to others," says radio host Ira Glass. He was introduced by Publicis Media's CEO Steve King to discuss his role in the evolution of podcasts during the Cannes Lions Festival on Tuesday June 20.

Podcasts attract large audiences. One in four Americans listened to a podcast last month, reports Edison Research, with the audience growing by one-fourth each year.

Yet despite those numbers, Glass says advertisers remain hesitant to invest in this channel.

"This American Life," a weekly public radio show, says its heard by 2.2 million people on more than 500 stations. Most weeks, it is the most popular podcast in the country, with around 2.5 million people downloading each episode. It attracts only direct-response brands, not mainstream ads from categories like automotive, credit card, airlines, travel, or alcohol.

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"Some brand could come in and own this space," he says.

"Serial," whose original business pitch to advertisers was 300,000 downloads, has exceeded 14 million viewers. By comparison, "Mad Men's" finale received only 3 million viewers and "Breaking Bad's" finale nabbed 10.3 million viewers. There have been more than 170 million downloads of "Serial" since the series launched in October 2014.

Similarly, "S-Town" promised advertisers 40 million downloads in six months. "We got there in one month." Now "S-Town" has more than 53 million total downloads.

"If you give people narratives that is the same quality as TV, then they will come to radio in TV numbers," he says. Storytelling is key to developing relationships with consumers.

Glass offers several insights for brands seeking to create compelling narratives. He recommends incorporating funny moments even in serious stories, talk like a person rather than journalist, and stop illustrating what has been said. Instead, use images to tell a second story that riffs on the dialogue. Don't be afraid to work with kids. Amuse yourself. And there is power in not seeing.

For instance, Glass finds that people aren't interested in Syrian refugees so we were really careful how we pulled people in. We asked, How do you get their kids on the raft? That hook could pull in any parent who understands the frustrations of dealing with wormy toddlers.
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, June 20, 2017

Engineers at Publicis Groupe plan to build an AI-powered virtual assistant named Marcel based on technology acquired from SapientNitro that will allow each agency group to match people with the right skills and experiences to work on specific projects. The idea is to form the perfect teams.

The platform will launch in June 2018 at Viva Technology in Paris. The announcement was made at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

Companies have begun to move in-house the same type of artificial intelligence that powers consumer-brand interactions.

Marcel will be the first-ever professional assistant platform powered by AI and machine learning that can search and connect 80,000 employees across 200 disciplines in 130 countries, according to the company.

"Marcel is another milestone in our ambition to become a platform at the service of our clients," stated Arthur Sadoun, Publicis chairman and CEO. "Make no mistake, it is an operational transformation. We are one of the last industries that has yet to unleash the power of every individual thanks to technology."

The project is named after Marcel Bleustein Blanchet, the founder of Publicis. A key feature will include the ability for employees to apply to work on projects worldwide.

To develop the platform, Publicis Groupe will shift its promotional budget from industry events to focus its investment in the AI platform.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 20, 2017

An ad industry watchdog says it will refer Verizon to the Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission for refusing to participate in an investigation of ads touting broadband service.

The move by the National Advertising Division, a self-regulatory unit administered by the Better Business Bureau, stemmed from cable company Comcast's challenge to Verizon's ad boasts, including claims that "Only FiOS gives you equal upload and download speeds" and that FiOS is the "fastest" and "most reliable" Internet service.

Comcast argued to the NAD that Comcast speeds were "faster and more reliable" than Verizon's, according to tests by the FCC.

Comcast also said that its top-tier service offers 2 Gbps in both directions, which would contradict Verizon's claim of being the only service to offer equally fast upstream and downstream speeds.

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A Verizon spokesperson suggested that the company didn't participate because it believed the NAD had a conflict of interest.

"Although we offered to respond to Comcast's frivolous complaint in the NAD process, NAD refused to resolve a conflict of interest," a spokesperson said.

Comcast and Verizon have challenged each other's ads in the past. Last August, the NAD told Comcast to stop boasting that it offers the "fastest Internet" in America, after Verizon raised objections to the claim. Two months before, the NAD responded to Comcast's complaints about Verizon by telling the telecom to revise FiOS ads boasting that its broadband service is the top-rated for speed.
by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, June 20, 2017

Charter is asking a New York state judge to dismiss a lawsuit by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who alleges that the company duped consumers by delivering slower-than-advertised broadband speeds.

The cable company argues that the Federal Communications Commission's comprehensive broadband regulations prevent Schneiderman from proceeding with the case.

The FCC "has developed a detailed federal regulatory regime governing broadband speed disclosures and interconnection practices," Charter writes in a motion quietly filed with Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Peter Sherwood late last month. "That regime includes a federal safe harbor for the disclosure of average broadband speeds measured during the peak period of demand. It also provides for FCC adjudication of interconnection disputes."

The argument comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Schneiderman in February, when he alleged that Time Warner -- purchased by Charter last year and subsequently renamed Spectrum -- fraudulently induced at least 640,000 subscribers in New York to purchase plans with speeds higher than the company could provide.

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Schneiderman's complaint included allegations that subscribers on a plan promising 300 Mbps typically received 15% of the promised speed when connecting wirelessly. Time Warner also allegedly failed to provide many customers with modems capable of enabling Web-surfing at the advertised speeds.

The lawsuit also alleged that Time Warner didn't do enough to prevent congestion -- apparently referring Netflix users' prior problems with choppy streams. In 2014, Netflix largely resolved the issue by entering into agreements to pay providers extra fees in order to interconnect directly with their networks.

Charter argues that the FCC's net neutrality regulations deprive Schneiderman of the authority to pursue his allegations. The company points to a 2010 rule requiring networks to transparently disclose matters like broadband speed, and the 2015 net neutrality rules, which refined the 2010 standard.

The cable company specifically argues that the FCC's transparency standards only require it to disclose the average peak-period speeds, which the FCC publishes in its Measuring Broadband for America report. Charter also contends that Schneiderman's allegations rely on "unofficial" speed tests by Ookla and M-Labs. "Neither of these tests has been recognized by the FCC as a reliable measurement of actual network performance," the cable provider argues.

Schneiderman is expected to respond to Charter's argument next week.

Charter isn't only pressing its claims in court. The company's chairman and CEO, Tom Rutledge, also serves on the board of directors of the trade group NCTA -- The Internet & Television Association, which is asking the FCC to side with Charter in a declaratory ruling.

"The Commissions authority to maintain uniform rules for the industry is threatened by state efforts to mandate different disclosures based on unreliable performance metrics," the NCTA argues in its petition. "The Commission should take action to avoid a patchwork of inconsistent requirements and to protect its authority to maintain a uniform national framework for this interstate service."

On Monday, Schneiderman and 34 other attorneys general urged the FCC to reject the NCTA's petition. "The states traditional consumer protection powers must be left undisturbed to protect consumers from false and misleading claims by broadband providers regarding the provision of services that are an essential part of 21st century life throughout the United States," they argue.
Krane lists a permanent U.S. address in Baltimore on the police report, according to the report by Miami New Times.

Two MDPD officers staked out the jet runway until Krane and Ilochonwu showed up. Police searched the pair and found seven cards in Kranes pants pocket. When authorities checked the cards later, all seven had numbers on the face that didnt match the numbers on the security strip on the back.

MDPD says Krane used one of those cards to book his flight and then gave TapJet two other fake cards when he was asked for backup cards for the travel.

His co-defendant, Ilochonwu, police soon learned, was out on bond on four other credit card fraud charges.

Hed been arrested in April on felony charges stemming from a case in Miami Beach.

Dammy Krane, who is now out on bail, has tried to exculpate himself from the arrest mess, blaming agents and assuring fans hes innocent.

I do not partake in fraud, Krane says. I do not partake in such activities. Agents booked my flights with fraudulent cards.

My life is all about my music, and thats what Im all about, he says. Im sorry I got caught up in this mess.

The Benue-born Krane rose to fame five years ago on the success of his hit single My Dear. He became a major player in the Afropop scene, with quarter-million followers on Twitter and regular chart-topping hits.
The Minister of Information, Mustapha Hamid, has appealed to the three porn television stations, TV XYZ, Ice TV and Thunder TV, to desist from showing pornographic movies on their networks.

According to the minister, showing such content on free-to-air stations is not right and offensive to the moral sense we have carved for ourselves as a nation.

The minister added that this is supposed to be private adult material to be accessed in private and not meant for public consumption.

Speaking on TV3's Hot Issue last Saturday, the minister pointed out that it is in our calendar to send the broadcasting law to parliament next year for passage. Hopefully when we get to the broadcasting law and we succeed in getting it passed, we will have proper regulation for what it is that people can broadcast and what it is that people cannot broadcast. But as I said, until that time comes, we are sort of handicapped a bit.

He stressed that for now, the government can at best appeal to the conscience of local television stations not to broadcast explicit sexual content on their various networks.

It would be recalled that two broadcasters, Tommy Annan-Forson and James Oberko, on Monday, June 12 presented a petition to the National Media Commission (NMC) and the Ministry of Information against the three private television stations they claimed are showing pornographic movies.

In addition to the petition, the petitioners also presented an album of compiled photos taken from porn scenes shown across the television stations in question.

According to petitioners, it is against the broadcasting standards for television stations to show porn materials irrespective of what time they are shown.
This year's edition of an event dubbed 'Fete de la Musique', a worldwide event, will on Wednesday, June 21 take place at the Alliance Francaise in Accra.

The event will witness live musical performances from a number of artistes, including Guinean star Soul Bangs.

Born Souleymane Bangoura, he started rapping at age 11 and later won the RFI 2016 award for discovery of the year for his fusion of traditional rhythms with an urban feel of R n B, and has since being creating waves in Guinea and beyond.

In 2014, Soul Bang's featured in a project dubbed 'Break The Silence', a call for the safe return of the Chibok girls by Now Musik, the label of 2face Idibia from Nigeria featuring 2Baba's and his Million Voices for Peace (MVP), as well as Sound Sultan, Samini, K.Slim, Ferre Gola and Machel Montano.

His first single, 'Fare M'Bai Bombo', and the upcoming album 'Cosmopolite' fuses languages such as Susu, Malinke and Fulani while mixing rap with R n B alongside traditional instruments such as 'kora', 'balafon', talking drums and 'tama'.

The all-day event will be divided into two parts where various artistes will perform different genres of music such as Afrobeat, hip-life, highlife, raggae, dancehall, Afro-soul, among others. Performers expected for the day include Wakili, Lamisi, Topboi, Stevielash, Bol3ro, Divinity, Nketia, Kwasi Klutse, Denkills and Obouka, who will delight and enchant fans with their recent artistic creations.

'Fete de la Musique' was created in 1982 at the initiative of Jack Lang, then French Minister of Culture.

The idea of organising a free music festival was concretised by Maurice Fleuret, a director of music and dance who observed that one child out of two in France played a musical instrument.

Since its creation, 'Fete de la Musique' has become an international phenomenon, and it is celebrated on June 21 in over 340 cities all over the world, including Australia, Chile, Germany, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Vietnam and the United States.
Some selected Ghanaian artistes such as Nero X, Nhyiraba Kojo, Ras Ebo, Sayvee, among others, have been invited to perform at this year's edition of a street jam dubbed 'Taadi Sallafest' on Monday, June 26 on Anor Adjei Street in front of MTN office in Takoradi.

The event forms part of activities lined up by Sleeky Promotions to entertain music fans and show love and support to all Muslims after their 30 days of fasting.

The 'Taadi Sallafest' is also expected to bring together all Muslims in Takoradi and its environs for a night of fun and excitement with various artistes.

The event is expected to the biggest Muslims streets carnival in the Western regional capital, Takoradi.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sleeky Promotions, Sadick Assah, said in a release that this is the event that you see musicians representing their communities in Takoradi.

According to him, the 'Taadi Sallafest' will be an annual event aimed at uniting Muslims and bring them under one umbrella. I will also seek to credit outstanding Muslim leaders, imams and associations in the Muslims communities who have impacted positively on the life of Muslim children and society.

The event will be used to unearth musical talents in the Western Region, organisers added.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

The Office of Fred Amankwah-Sarfo joins all Ghanaians to congratulate the Chief Justice, Her Ladyship Justice Sophia Akuffo for successfully taken her oath of office administered by the President of the Republic of Ghana, H.E Nana Addo Danquah Akufo Addo at the Jubilee House today.

This follow your approval by parliament after a brilliant encounter with the Appointment Committee of Parliament last Friday, 16th June, 2017.

You assume office as the 13th Chief of Justice in the history of Ghana, 5th under the fourth Republic and also the second lady to occupy this position.

Your nomination on the Thursday, 8th June, 2017 by the President choice to take over from your Predecessor, Justice Georgina Theodora Woode, who retired on the Wednesday, 7th June, 2017 as one of the best decisions taken by the President for your remarkable educational qualifications, apt verdicts in all cases you sat on and your giant judicial experiences both in Ghana and the African continent.

We are inspired by your great vision for the Judiciary Service and justice delivery in Ghana. These include:

i. The production of quality judges delivering quality Justice with technology

ii. The achievement of one district, one court, one Judge

iii. The strengthening of the Judiciary

iv. The enhancement of the working conditions of judges

The office of Fred Amankwah - Sarfo wish you congratulate you on your assumption of office as the Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana.

We wish you all the best in the high office of Chief Justice of the Republic of Ghana.

May the Lord guide and protect you and the entire Judiciary, the third arm of the Government of Ghana.

Long live Chief Justice Sophia Akuffo

Long live Ghana.

Fred Amankwah - Sarfo

(NPP National Chairman Aspirant, 2018)

Issue by

The Office of Fred Amankwah Sarfo
Emmanuel Tita Sama, Global Account Director, West & Central Africa, Orange Business Services

20.06.2017 LISTEN

Digital transformation continues to transform the businesses landscape, affecting business strategies, operations and the development of products and services. Emmanuel Tita Sama, Global Account Director, West & Central Africa, Orange Business services, explains the importance of aligning IT strategies with business operations.

Business IT alignment is an ongoing process, and certainly one that is worth pursuing in the modern business environment and remains one of the fundamental challenges of today CIOs. . Every organisation operates in an environment that is affected by evolving forces such as the economy, industry and competitors. Similarly, the knowledge and tools of IT are also continuously changing and evolving. To maintain differentiation and relevance, businesses need to adapt in response to their operating environments, or risk losing their competitive advantage.

Today, there are about 4.9 billion connected objects, and by 2020 it is estimated that there will be more than 25 billion. It is important to note that IT is not merely about connecting objects and businesses anymore; IT is treated as an enabler and leader of change that delivers flexibility and agility that business needs in todays fast changing commercial landscape..

In order to create maximum strategic value over time, it is important to achieve alignment between IT and business strategies. The five steps outlined below are critical to the alignment process regardless of organization size, management style or existing perceptions of IT across the business.

Step 1 - Plan

The planning step entails interpreting business objectives into measurable IT services. This phase assists in closing the gap between what business managers need and expect, and what IT delivers. IT management can translate service levels into underlying rules and priorities in a way that measures, tracks and empowers and guides at the same time.

You might start by compiling a list of all the strategic goals of the company from the CEO. The list should be short, about (3-5 items), below are some examples:

 Increase Revenue and Profit 25% within the next 2 years

 Increase customer based by 10 million new customers by the end of 2018

 Improve brand awareness by 20% with by the end of 2018

Step 2 - Model

The modeling stage identifies resources needed to deliver IT services at committed service levels. This step involves mapping IT assets, processes, and resources back to IT services, then prioritizing and planning resources that support those business critical services. It may be worth asking Business Unit leaders to talk about what they want to do to achieve the businesss strategic goals.

Banks in Africa for example are looking to accelerate their pace of growth and development - by thinking big, acting big and delivering big. The question becomes: do they want more branches, more Apps, more ATMs or more smart phones to reach out to the mass market. Traditional banking models are fast becoming obsolete as there is clear move from Brick and Mortar to Click and Mortar. Branches are being closed and branch managers are now moving to play a relationship management role while some are moving to the back office

The bottom line in measuring the success of alignment is the degree to which IT is working on the things that business managers care about. This means that IT must have processes in place for prioritizing projects, tasks, and support. Cooperation and teamwork is extremely important in this stage to achieve the overall business agenda.

Step 3 - Evaluate

The evaluation step is a critical phase to ensuring success. Very often, organisations under-plan for implementation and pay the price in terms of over budget, delayed or failed projects. Step 3 takes the list of initiatives and creates a roadmap for IT, as a result of careful planning driven by one primary consideration. Business managers and leaders can brainstorm the hidden opportunities that will help IT to build solutions that will directly or indirectly help accomplish the strategic goals identified for the business. The next stage is then to work to identify multi-faceted opportunities that are not currently pursued.

For example, in this phase, banks would be looking to think big in their digitalisation strategy and evaluate an approach that captures opportunities that are derived from mass market adoptions and that, typically, accelerate financial inclusion. One strategy to achieve this is to partner with big ICT players with the necessary experience in complex ICT solutions delivery to ensure the maximum value is understood and delivered, and that is fully aligned with their business.

Step 4 - Manage

The management step enables the IT staff to deliver on agreed levels of service. A single location for submission of all service requests is essential, as is prioritisation of those requests based on pre-defined business priorities. One can prioritise and select the best Ideas by ranking them according to projected returns They can also carry out proper assessment of the tangible and intangible benefits, to avoid ending up with tactical projects rather than strategic projects. Also businesses will need to pick top three benefits based on IRR from the list and figure out which ones will be resourced.

For example, Merck prioritised and signed a contract with Orange Business Services to deploy a 200-site, next-generation network that will support its digital transformation initiatives. Orange Business redesigned Mercks global network and incorporated optimisation technologies delivered via Enterprise Application Management Riverbed. It uses Riverbeds SteelHead CX to enhance the performance of all applications, including on-premise, cloud and SaaS, across multiple networks (MPLS, private VPN and public Internet).

Step 5 - Measure

Taking steps to define and implement measurement improves cross organisation visibility of operations and service level commitments. Traditional IT management tools operate in functional silos that confine data collection and operational metrics to focused areas of functionality. They typically relate more to technology than to business objectives. Businesses can plan for and institute a serious post project Audit Policy and define measurement matrices to determine if the set objectives were actually met. They can also be accountable and showcase how business success is or was achieved.

Reporting on the benefits and aligning on IT governance increases accountability. An audit process will also help the organisation adjust the plan midway if expected results are in question. This helps IT articulate value to the business and can achieve agreement on necessary funding for new projects. Outside of a business context, isolated functional groups can't get a holistic view of IT services that support business objectives.

By committing to and integrating these steps businesses can deliver can find a common ground for advancing towards overall business and IT alignment to support strategic ambitions.
The Data Protection Commission of Ghana has published the names of over 100 hotels and airlines it says have violated the Data Protection Act (2012).

The Data Protection Act mandates all entities (public and private, local and international), consultants and individuals who collect, hold and use personal data in Ghana to register with the Data Protection Commission in accordance with Sections 27(1) and 46(3).

The Act prohibits the collection, holding and using of personal data by data controllers that have not registered with the Commission in Section 53 and Section 56 of the Act states that:

A person who fails to register as a data controller but processes personal data commits an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than two hundred and fifty penalty units or a term of imprisonment of not more than two years or to both.

The Commission in a statement said in order to protect the interest of the public, the Commission has no choice but to commence the prosecution of the offending institutions and the publication of their names to prevent reckless misapplication, use and abuse of personal data.

According to the Commission, it will publish more names of offending institutions in the future prior to prosecution.

We are advising offending institutions to as a matter of urgency to register now to avoid prosecution said the Data Protection Commission.

The general public has also been cautioned against providing their personal information to such institutions since it increases the dangers associated with the unlawful processing of their personal data which includes sale of their information (such as credit card details, residential address, phone numbers, etc) to third parties for criminal and fraudulent purposes, lack of access or control over their information and identity theft.

See full list of offending institutions below.

AIRLINES

1. Arik Air

2. Royal Air Maroc

3. Goldstar Airlines

4. Starbow Airlines

5. Antrak Airlines

6. Air Namibia

7. Lufthansa Airlines

8. Iberia Airlines

9. Tap Portugal Airlines

10. British Airways

11. Afriqiyah Airlines

12. Britannia Airways

13. Ghana International Airlines Limited

14. Citylink Airline

15. Falcon Express

16. Alitalia

17. Air Burkina

18. Aero Contractors

19. Mk Airlines

20. Tropicana

21. Aerogem Aviation

22. Africa West Cargo

23. Cargolux

24. Air Ghana

25. Das Air Cargo

NO. HOTELS

1. The Royal Senchi Hotel

2. The African Regent Hotel

3. Aqua Safari Resort

4. Peduase Valley Resort

5. Volta Senera Hotel

6. Villa Monticello Boutique Hotel

7. The Aknac Hotel

8. MJ Grand Hotel

9. Amir Hotel

10. Royal Nick Hotel

11. Midindi Hotel

12. Best Western Premier Accra Airport Hotel

13. Royal Richester

14. His Majestys Hotel

15. Urbano Hotel

16. Prestige Suites Hotel

17. The Aknac Hotel

18. Roots Hotel Apartment

19. M Suites Hotel

20. Hill View Hotel (McCarthy Hills)

21. The Highbridge Guest Lodge

22. Best Western Plus Accra Beach Hotel

23. Niagara Plus Hotel

24. La Villa Boutique Hotel

25. Hotel Casarere

26. Rayporsh Hotel Limited

27. Okera Inn

28. Sonant Court Hotel

29. Accra Luxury Lodge

30. G.S Plaza Hotel

31. Deon Hotels

32. Ellking Hotel

33. Aristocrat Hotel

34. Kings Royal Atlantic Hotel

35. Sunlodge Hotel Limited

36. Eastgate Hotel

37. Olma Colonial Suites

38. Tropical Enclave Hotel

39. Maxlot Hotel

40. Nirvana Inn Hotels Ltd

41. Golden Key Hotel

42. Earl Heights Apartment Hotel

43. Lake bosumtwi hotel and apartments

44. Vis-A-Vis Hotel Limited

45. Hill View Hotel West Airport

46. Ridge Over Suite

47. Eden Vale Hotel and Executive Training Centre

48. The Congress Hotel

49. Charleston Hotel

50. Beauty Hotel Accra

51. Hotel Obama

52. Crown Liberty Hotel

53. Bharridan Royal Hotel

54. Lane Residence

55. Robinhood Hotel

56. Grace Land Lodge

57. Tenko Plaza Hotel

58. Acacia Guest Lodge

59. Silicon Lodge

60. Hotel Westgate

61. Crown Apartmento Hotel

62. Cresta Royale Hotel

63. Alexis Hotel

64. Lincoln Hotel

65. Manet Paradise Beach Resort

66. Nogahill Hotel

67. Ramada Resort Accra Coco Beach

68. Central Hotel Ltd.

69. Courtesy International Hotel

70. Blue Royal Hotel

71. Crystal Rose Hotel

72. Hotel Georgia

73. Royal Basin Hotel

74. Silicon Hotel & Conference Centre

75. Anita Hotel

76. Ashanti Gold Hotel

77. Lorneh Lodge and Beach Resort

78. Villar Cisneros Resort Limited

79. Greenland Hotel

80. Manna Heights Hotel

81. Capital Hill Hotel

82. Pempamsie Hotel

83. Little Acre Hotel

84. Modern City Hotel

85. Akayet Hotel

86. Gariba Lodge Limited

87. Mariam Hotel

88. Eusbett Hotels Limited

89. Upland Hotel

NO. HOSPITALS/CLINICS

1. Korle Bu Teaching Hospital

2. Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

3. Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

4. Tamale Teaching Hospital

5. 37 Military Hospital

6. Tema General Hospital

7. Ghana Police Hospital

8. Accra Psychiatric Hospital

9. Ridge Hospital Accra

10. Princess Marie Louise Childrens Hospital

11. General Family Hospital

12. Del International Hospital

13. Yeboah Hospital

14. Ghana-Canada Medical Centre

15. Sweden Ghana Medical Centre

16. Manna Mission Hospital

17. Airport Womens Hospital

18. Robert & Sons Limited

19. Lapaz Community Hospital

20. Inkoom Hospital

21. La General Hospital

22. Karikari Brobbey Hospital

23. Airport Womens Hospital

24. Eben Family Hospital

25. Cocoa Clinic

26. Faith Mission Hospital

27. Ark Clinic Ltd

28. Bemuah Royal Hospital

29. Holy Trinity Medical Center

30. Bethel Dental Ghana

31. Canada Optical Laboratories Ltd.

32. Egon German Clinic

33. Van J Eye Care

34. Iran Clinic

35. University Hospital - Legon

36. Beijing Clinic

37. Champion Divine Clinic

38. Third Eye And Vision Center

39. Danpong Medical Center

40. Universal Hospitals Group-Ghana

41. Healthnet Airport Medical Center

42. Family Health Medical School

43. Beaver Clinic Limited

44. New Generation Medical Centre

45. Lifehealth Care

46. Barnor Hospital

47. Nadkof Physiotherapy & Wellness Center

48. West African Rescue Association (Wara) Accra Clinic

49. Medicare Center Clinic & Laboratory

50. North Ridge Clinic

NO. SHOPPING CENTERS

1. Accra Mall

2. A&C Square

3. Marina SuperMarket Mall

4. Koala Shopping Centre

5. Maxmart Shopping Centre

6. West Hills Mall

7. The Junction Shopping Mall

8. Palace Hypermarket Interchange

9. Achimota Retail Centre (Accra)

10. Game Stores

11. MR. Price

12. Shop-N-Save

13. Citydia Supermarket

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | GN
The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia left Accra on Monday June 19, 2017 for a four day official visit to the Peoples Republic of China.

The visit is at the invitation of the Chinese government.

This is the first visit by a high level government official to China since the New Patriotic Party took office in January this year.

Ghana was among the first group of Sub-Saharan African countries that established diplomatic relations with China, and the two countries have enjoyed decades of strong ties. This high level visit is expected to further strengthen the friendly relations and boost economic and political ties.

While in Beijing, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia is expected to hold bilateral talks with the Chinese Vice President, Li Yuanchao, at the Great Hall of the People, and sign a number of agreements on behalf of Ghana.

Ghanas Vice President will also meet Chinese leaders including Mr Yu Zhengsheng, Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese Political Consultative Conference.

He will also meet with the President of the China Exim Bank, Mr Liange Liu; the Executive Vice President of China Development Bank, Mr Wang Yongsheng, as well as Chinese businesses already operating in Ghana or desirous of doing so.

Dr Bawumia is further billed to attend the China-Africa Industrial Capacity Cooperation-Ghana Promotion Conference.

The Vice President, who was accompanied by a government delegation including the Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo; Trade Minister Alan Kyerematen; Kwasi Amoako-Atta, Minister for Roads and Highways; Mrs Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, Communications Minister; Mr Joe Ghartey, Minister for Railways; Mrs Gifty Ohene Konadu, Coordinator of the One District One Factory initiative and Reginald Yofi Grant, Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, will also meet with the Ghanaian community in China and brief them on happenings back home.

H.E. Dr Mahamudu Bawumia returns to Accra on Sunday June 25, 2017.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

Accra, June 19, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Monday urged the Judiciary to uphold its reputation in order to command the respect of the people.

He said it was critical for the growth of the country that, that independent arm of government was not viewed as an institution associated with partiality, perversion of justice, corruption and impunity.

'It is critical for the growth of our nation that we have a Judiciary that commands the respect of the people by the nature of its delivery of justice, as well as by the comportment of its judges. It is vitally important that we have judges who are honest; possess integrity and a sound knowledge of the law.'

President Akufo-Addo said this when he was swearing into office, the thirteenth Chief Justice of Ghana, Justice Sophia Abena Boafoa Akuffo, at the Banquet hall of the State House in Accra.

Justice Sophia Akuffo, with over three decades experience as a jurist, is the second female chief Justice of the Republic. She took over from Justice Georgina Theodora Wood who retired from office this month.

The President said it was unacceptable, the situation where judges proffered judgements on the basis of decisions from lower courts and cited them as law, 'and even less so, when judges cite no authority at all for their rulings, and give orders without reasons.'

'Our judges must be learned, know their case law and ensure that their judgements are properly motivated...that is the only way the rule of precedent, the principle of stare decisis, can operate, which, according to the well-known common law doctrine, promotes the even-handed, predictable, and consistent development of legal principles, fosters reliance on judicial decisions, and contributes to the actual and perceived integrity of the judicial process,' he said.

President Akufo-Addo however stated that it was indisputable that the Judiciary, in the Fourth Republic, had generally discharged its duties creditably and responsibly, though he found himself on the wrong end of the decision in the famous election petition of 2013.

'A favourable decision on the day could have meant, perhaps, that this was my second term in office, rather than the commencement of my mandate,' he joked.

The attachment of the Ghanaian people to the rule of law made it possible for us, in the New Patriotic Party, to entrust our fate to the highest court in the land in the aftermath of the disputed elections of 2012. It also enabled the country to move on, in unity and stability, after the Court handed down its verdict,' he said.

GNA

By Ken Sackey, GNA
At the time the issue of whether or not the Flagstaff House should serve as office and residence of the President after its completion raged, one reason put out in opposition to the proposal originated from Sam Pee Yalley, a leading National Democratic Congress (NDC) member.

The nonsense gained notoriety in the public space because it was so offensive and lacked any trait or finesse, the kind politicians should use to veneer their public utterances. Coming from a man who sees himself as a politician worthy of respect, we found it difficult to grade him especially since he did not fit into any of the decency brackets.

A man who does not see anything wrong with attacking the sensibilities of members of one of the components of the country's population, does not deserve to be considered for public office and we mean it.

Sam Pee Yaley hardly admires anything Islam and we find it difficult fathoming why a politician of his pedigree does not still find anything wrong with such an unwholesome attitude towards Islam in this day and age when such remarks can easily be stored for future references.

Some Nima residents do remember when he said the Flagstaff House could not serve the purpose of a presidential residence and office because it was too close to Nima for comfort. If that did not suggest a contemptuous regard for Nima and its dwellers, we do not know what else does.

It is regrettable that residents of this sprawling suburb have been used by the NDC over the years as a ready source of votes for elections. Fortunately things are changing and the people are beginning to understand the realities of politics and what sincerity and the lack of it stand for with regards to the ilk of the Sam Pee Yarleys.

In his latest smelly remark full of hatred for Muslims, Sam Pee Yarley has attacked Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia for hosting Muslims at Iftar at the Flagstaff House last week.

Such communal breaking of fast is standard practice in Islam. Indeed the US Embassy in Accra has hosted Muslims at Iftar over the years as a way of bonding with members of the faith.

The Turkish Development Cooperation (TUDEC) hosts an annual Iftar to which members of both the Islamic and Christian faiths are invited.

When they have nothing to talk about let them shut up so they do not offend the sensibilities of adherents of other faiths. Sam Pee Yarley has gotten away with this nonsense for some time now and the earlier he is told to shut up, the better.

Taking cover in the confines of a notorious radio station and spewing garbage shows the stuff he is made of. Such characters define the future of the NDC. Not allowing them to talk on the public space will do the party a lot of good.

Dr. Bawumia has been engaged in a countrywide Iftars as a means of getting close to the people  a mark of a good political leader. If Same Pee Yarley thinks that the gesture is elitist that is his cup of tea. He has won many more hearts for the move.

Sam Pee Yarley should avoid the insults he indirectly heaps on Muslims because he cannot be sure that he would continue to get away with such pedestrian remarks indefinitely.

Such cheap propaganda and unrestrained verbal garbage would take he and the NDC nowhere. May the religious harmony existing between members of the two great faiths wax stronger.

Ramadan kareem!
Prof Kwesi Botchwey

20.06.2017 LISTEN

The report on why the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost the December 7, 2016 general election to then opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), has been released with startling revelations.

At the handing over of the 455-page report to the party's leadership in Accra yesterday, the Chairman of the 13-member committee, Professor Kwesi Botchwey, said it was time for the party to find means of collating its own results from the polling stations to the top 'independently'.

The assertion of the committee feeds into the widely held perception that the NDC had all along been having a 'secret affair' with the Electoral Commission (EC) when it comes to issues of election collation.

It's being alleged that during the keenly-contested December 7, 2016 general election, the NDC tied results collation platform to the EC's system and therefore when the commission suffered results transmission breakdown, the NDC was found wanting.

By the time the transmission glitch was restored by the commission, the then opposition NPP had collated more than 80% of the pink sheets which represented over 24,000 out of 29,000 polling stations and knew the (NPP) candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, was winning the election convincingly.

In the course of the transmission fault, the NDC told the public that then candidate John Mahama was in 'comfortable lead' and that he  who later became the first incumbent president to lose an election to an opposition candidate in the first round  was going to win.

The EC, at an Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) meeting recently, reportedly admitted that the commission had suffered IT system crash during the collation of the 2016 election results.

Kofi Adams, the Campaign Coordinator for John Mahama, also claimed that IT system failed the NDC, without providing any explanation since the country doesn't vote electronically.

The Prof Kwesi Botchwey Committee yesterday said the report submitted gives a detailed account of what led to the NDC's humiliating defeat that caused serious agitations in the party.

The committee has listed issues like divisions in the party, especially among the top echelon, the party's internal biometric registration of members, profligate campaign, diversion of campaign cash and materials, public perception of corruption and complacency among others, as some of the major causes of the party's defeat.

Division

The committee, in its report with the sub-title, 'Listening to the voices of the grassroots,' recounted how the divisions in the party led to its crashing defeat.

The NDC in the run-up to the December 2016 contest, reportedly spent heavily to fuel divisions in then opposition NPP to create the impression that Nana Akufo-Addo was not ready to govern the country.

However, recent utterances by leading members of the NDC have shown that the party was more divided at the top, constituency and grassroot levels than the NPP it had tried in vain to destroy.

Prof. Kwesi Botchwey was optimistic that the recommendations would help the NDC to re-capture power in 2020, if the party is able to follow what has been suggested.

Peace Tour

Suggestive of a heavily-divided party, the report said the party should take immediate steps to mend all broken fences and recommended a peacemaking and healing tour, describing it as very important.

Prof Botchwey said it would create the necessary conditions for any serious work that needs to be done in restructuring the party.

On the internal biometric registration which turned chaotic in many constituencies across the country as the party tried to expand its electoral college, the report said it should be worked on to restore the integrity of the biometric register.

The 13-member committee suggested the expansion of the electoral college to include ordinary party members who need to be re-examined to restore confidence in the democratic novelty.

In his 38th anniversary speech of the June 4th, 1979 uprising, former President JJ Rawlings who is the founder of the NDC, suggested in Wa, Upper West Region, that the biometric registration was fraught with irregularities and that might have created enemies from within the party for those who were shortchanged in the exercise.

The committee also touched on the many splinter groups that were formed alongside formal party structures  a situation believed to have resulted in competition for campaign resources  since some claimed the pro-Mahama groups even became more powerful in terms of campaign resources than the party's structures, including the national executive.

In the run-up to the crucial elections, the NDC, with state resource at its disposal, formed many splinter groups to promote the second term bid of President Mahama.

Groups likes 'Girls Girls for Mahama,' 'Zongo Girls for Mahama,' 'Zongo for Mahama,' 'Youth for Mahama,' 'Celebrities for Mahama,' 'Mahama Ladies,' 'I Choose JM,' 'Ambassadors for Mahama,' Doves for Mahama' and others, were formed with massive resources from the Flagstaff House to prosecute the agenda, which failed woefully in the end as Ghanaians overwhelmingly rejected Mahama.

The committee also recommended that the party needs to reconnect with its social democratic philosophy and further pointed out that the NDC has a weak intellectual and research base and recommended that steps be taken to crowd the party with critical thinkers.

The committee also wants the party to strengthen its youth and women's wings and in a remark, Prof. Botchwey said, My job is doneit is up to you to implement the recommendations.

Apart from Prof Kwesi Botchwey, other members were former Speaker Edward Doe Adjaho, former General Secretary Hudu Yahaya, Naval Capt. Asase Gyimah, William Ahadzi (director of research at the NDC headquarters) and Ibrahim Zuberu, (Lecturer at Accra Polytechnic and member of the NDC).

The rest are Razak Abu (Researcher at NDC's Development Challenge), Juliana Azumah Mensah (former MP for Agotime-Ziope), Barbarah Serwah Asamoah (former deputy minister) and four members from the NDC parliamentary caucus (including the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu).

By William Yaw Owusu
Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia VI leads dignitaries to cut the tape to officially open the factory

An ultramodern concrete products factory has been commissioned at Krapa in the Ejisu-Juaben municipality of the Ashanti Region.

Erduk Concrete Product Factory  a subsidiary of the Erduk Group of Companies  says it's a one-stop shop for building construction, civil engineering, real estate, haulage, mining services, as well as the sale of concrete products such as kerbs, pavement blocks, culverts, sandcrete blocks, solid and hollow blocks.

Samuel Atta Akyea, Minister of Works and Housing, who represented Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, commended efforts of Ghana's private sector to complement government's efforts at bridging the housing deficit, which stands at about 1.7 million.

We recall that the Erduk Company started operation as a sole proprietorship and has expanded with this huge investment, employing over 160 local artisans. As government, we see this company as a partner and will do our best to ensure it thrives to augment our 'one district, one factory' initiative, the minister averred.

Present at the inauguration were Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia VI, Bantamahene, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II; Simon Osei Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister; Serwaa Denkyi, Ejisu Juabeng MCE and a high-powered delegation from the Church of Pentecost led by the Chairman, Apostle Dr. Opoku Onyinah.

Also present were a delegation from GHACEM led by the Commercial Director, Nana Phillip Archer and the Board of Directors of Erduk Group of companies, led by the Chairman, Lawyer Kwame Owusu Sekyere.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Erduk Group of Companies, Eric Duku, said the company was born out of a commitment to fulfill the will of God by serving humanity, as such, it would continue to initiate projects and activities to boost the construction industry.

Mr. Duku acknowledged the support of all stakeholders such as Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and assured that the company would be inspired to do more to create employment opportunities for the youth in the area and beyond.

Lawyer Kwame Owusu Sekyere also recounted that the company started as a retailer of GHACEM cement and assorted iron rod products, then incorporated as a sole proprietorship, trading as Erduk Concrete Products and Building Works from December 2009 until February 2013 when it was elevated to GHACEM distributorship status.

It was given full distributorship status in August of that same year.

The Asantehene's representative said the achievement of Mr. Duku should inspire other young people to take bold business decisions to create employment opportunities not only for themselves, but others also.

He urged the people of Ashanti Region and beyond to support the company by patronizing its products.

Eric Duku (3rd left) briefing the minister and others on the operations of the company

Eric Duku (left) leads the minister and other dignitaries on a tour of the company
Ouagadougou (AFP) - A second set of tests on the suspected remains of Burkina Faso's iconic ex-president Thomas Sankara have returned inconclusive, with "no DNA profile" to confirm it was his body, the family's lawyer has said.

Sometimes referred to as Africa's "Che Guevara", Sankara died during a coup d'etat in October 1987 with the circumstances of his death a mystery.

Although the 37-year-old former army captain's death certificate said he died of "natural causes", several reports have suggested he was executed by a hit squad at government headquarters.

In May 2015, remains believed to be those of Sankara and 12 colleagues were exhumed from a cemetery in the capital Ouagadougou as part of an investigation into their deaths.

An autopsy conducted in October of that year showed his body had been "riddled with bullets" but further tests were needed to confirm a DNA match, the family said.

However, genetic tests carried out in southern France were inconclusive, with a police laboratory saying in December 2015 that due to the state of the remains it was impossible to detect any DNA.

The family contested the results and in July 2016 a judge ordered that a second round of testing be carried out in Spain.

But on Monday, the family's lawyer Benewende Sankara -- who is no relation to the former president -- said the Spanish tests had returned the same result.

'No match found'

Thomas Sankara's emphasis on pan-African solidarity and measures to end dependency on foreign aid made him an icon of nationalists across the continent

"Following this new analysis, no genetic profile match was found for these markers... which means the result was exactly the same as the first analysis, namely a negative result because it was not possible to identify the DNA," he said.

"This means that the request of president Thomas Sankara's family that the DNA be identified has not succeeded."

Family members would wait to see what the judge said before deciding what to do next, he said.

"It is unfortunate, even sad to realise that this has not been possible but it does not end the (investigation) procedure which will go on despite major difficulties in regards to the ability to confirm the DNA" is that of Sankara, he added.

A revolutionary figure who is still a hero to many in west Africa, Sankara was killed during a coup that brought his friend and former comrade-in-arms Blaise Compaore to power.

A 28-year wait

Compaore, who was suspected of ordering Sankara's assassination, went on to rule Burkina Faso with an iron fist for 27 years. During that time, he dismissed calls for an investigation into Sankara's death.

His family had to wait until Compaore's ouster in a popular uprising in October 2014 for their requests for an investigation to get the official nod.

Thomas Sankara's family had to wait until the ousting of Burkina strongman Blaise Compaore in 2014 before their requests for an investigation into his murder got the official nod

In total, 13 people have been charged in connection with Sankara's killing, with Ouagadougou issuing an international arrest warrant for Compaore who is wanted for complicity in an attack, murder and conspiracy to conceal a body.

The former Burkinabe strongman is currently living in exile in Ivory Coast.

Another international arrest warrant was also issued for Hyacinthe Kafando, one of Compaore's former bodyguards who is believed to have headed the unit which killed Sankara.
As part of its drive to promote digital inclusion in Ghana, Tigo Ghana is supporting the countrys largest and most prestigious competitive platform for secondary schools; the 2017 edition of the National Science & Match Quiz is one of many initiatives for the youth the company intends to pursue this year.

This was highlighted by the Director for Strategy & Planning at Tigo, Efuwa Quansah prior to the kick-off of the competition which is currently being held at the University of Ghana Business School premises from the 5th to the 29th of June 2017.

As a leading brand in the digital technology industry, we are always excited to pursue programmes that fall in line with our agenda of empowering the youth through access to digital tools and services.

Tigo is supporting the competition through various means, key among them being the provision of free WIFI and data access via the companys recently launched data product, Tribe Connect which offers comprehensive social media, data, and voice bundles for both new and existing customers, and can be accessed by sending START to short code 5060 to activate or by dialing *500# for Tribe Plus targeted at existing customers.

The internet has become the information cornerstone to most students; a gateway to form virtual study groups, gain access to materials beyond what the classroom offers and new opportunities to connect with other academicians. This is why ensuring affordable  or in the case of Tribe Connect -free, reliable access to the internet for these students is paramount.

She further explained that technology not only provides new forms of delivery for educational content thereby bridging the educational gap between the educated and un-educated but creates avenues for interactive teaching and learning.

We believe that the benefits of technology, coupled with education, specifically Math and Science will go a long way to groom tomorrows engineers, doctors, teachers and future leaders, and ultimately propel Ghanas development agenda, she added.

She also called on the students to take advantage of the mentorship sessions, a number of which will be led by representatives from Tigo and the maiden edition of a two-day Science and Technology Fair.

The national competition which is in its second week of play has generated much buzz among students and stakeholders of the participating schools, and the general public who have been following the competition on social media.
By Abubakari Seidu Ajarfor

The 10 nominees of the just ended MTN Heroes of Change season 3 have paid a courtesy call on the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Mr. Ebenezer Asante to express their appreciation towards the good works of MTN in showcasing their God talent and philanthropic works globally.

Addressing the entourage, the CEO of MTN, Mr. Ebenezer Asante used it as an opportunity to salute their great display of MTN values of Can-do, Leadership, and Innovation.

He stated, Your selflessness and commitment in making our communities a better place is admirable. Your projects are making a great impact and helping create endless opportunities for many people.

Presenting the cash cheques to the winners, Mr. Asante noted that they have fulfilled their promise and commitment with a token of their appreciation for the good work done.

He added that it is their hope that the prize money would be used to expand their projects and create more opportunities for more beneficiaries.

According to him, since the launch, they have seen the efforts of amazing people who bring hope to our communities and to individuals who have no hope.

Your contributions to development in our communities cannot be quantified by money. The time, energy, sacrifice and commitment are invaluable, he stressed.

The MTN CEO indicated that indeed, MTN Heroes of Change is one of the projects he is very passionate about and its a great pleasure to have the men and women who are championing community upliftment projects.

Mr. Asante emphasised that MTN initiated the project in July 2013 to identify and recognize unsung heroes who are making a difference in their communities, and by so doing, encourage others to emulate their example.

He finally congratulated all the nominees by stating that With a great sense of pride I wish to congratulate you all for your contributions towards the development of our country. The very important contributions you are making for the advancement of society have been duly been recognized by MTN and the country as a whole. We are indeed very proud to be associated with you.

BELOW IS A SHORT PROFILE OF THE FINALISTS

JOSEPH ASAKIBEEM (short code name JOSEPH): Based in Sirigu in the Upper East region, Mr. Asakibeem provides medical aid to children born with varying deformities. He also educates the community to about the true state of these children while encouraging them to desist from killing them as they are falsely perceived as spirit children. His project is supported by Afrikids UK through Afrikids Ghana.

DR. MICHAEL ADUSEI-NSOWAH (short code name MICHAEL): Through his rural eye health project, Dr. Adusei-Nsowah has helped numerous people with varying eye problems. While the project started with a loan, it is largely self-funded. Dr Adusei-Nsowah travels to health facilities in Asonomaso in the Ashanti region to give medical help to people who require eye treatment. Beneficiaries pay a token of 5 Ghana cedis for consultation services.

The overall winner of the MTN Heroes of Change, GENEVIEVE BASINGHA (short code name GENEVIEVE): Despite being deaf and dumb, Madam Basigha has set up a school in Obuasi in the Ashanti region which caters to children who are also deaf and dumb. The project is sustained through her own pocket as well as a GH70 fee paid per term by parents of the children.

IBRAHIM BAFARA ALHASSAN (short code name IBRAHIM): Operating from Wa in the Upper West, Ibrahim has helped eradicate poverty through his Vision Farms poultry project. By distributing birds to interested individuals who rear and resell them, the project has grown from just 10 birds to a movement spreading across 11 districts. The project is self-funded.

NANA PROF. OSEI KOFI DARKWA III (short code name NANA): Chief of Patriensa, professor and president of the Ghana Technology University College. He has established a 5 year developmental program to transform his community. He has helped construct a road that has significantly cut the time farmers commute from their farms to the market. This has helped them avoid long dangerous treks from farm to market and the issue of produce going bad. His project is self-funded and donations from friends.

JOANA MANSAH DEEGBE (short code name JOANA) She set up a community library in Shiashie to enable children improve their reading and literacy skills. She funds the project through donations from friends and family as well as the church. Shes a lawyer and educationist.

JOHN AMANKRAH ESSEL (short code name JOHN): Sets up schools within the Breman Asikuma region in very remote communities to give the children in its environs the required education. Over 300 children have benefited from his project which is funded through his personal income as well as a small token paid by the parents of the students.

REV. FR. MOSES ASAAH AWINONGYA (short code name MOSES): Through his NGO, Regentropfen Education Foundation, Rev. Asaah takes care of orphans and other needy children within Namoo in the Upper East by providing shelter and food. He set up a scholarship fund which helps brilliant but needy children through school, built a library and built a university in the village of Namoo with a hostel facility near completion. He funds the project through donations from individuals in Germany and Stiftung Regentropfen.

REV. MONSIGNOR. ALEX BOBBY BENSON (short code name BOBBY): Through funding from the Catholic Church, friends and other individuals, Father Benson has been able to cater for the needs of marginalized HIV/AIDS persons. His Matthew 25 house has provided spiritual, emotional and financial support to individuals affected by HIV/AIDS.

JACK JAMES DAWSON (short code name JACK): Operating in the Atitekpo in the Volta Region, Jack set up the APPLE foundation which seeks to rescue children from trafficking. APPLE stands for Association of People for Practical Life Education. Hes a graphic designer and social worker who uses his personal income and donations to run his project.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

(The Ghanaian Times 20 June 2017)

WE fought against powers and principalities!

SO said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, as he narrated to the nation, how he won the 2016 election.

He is still fighting them, I think!

For look at the battle he's engaged in against the galamsey operators, who are laying our water-bodies and farmlands to waste, in such a ruthless and unconscionable fashion.

One would have thought that every sensible person, with an ounce of patriotism in him/her, would realise that if we don't stop the devastation, there will be no water  or food  for us to hand over to the generations that follow us.

But although this country counts more so-called Christians amongst its populace than most other nations, and although the Bible tells us in sundry places about how the Israelites took great care of the land they inherited from Abraham, Isaac and other Patriarchs  we, despite our unsurpassed knowledge of the Bible  have been sitting down unconcerned whilst our heritage is despoiled by evil people.

The Israelites went to war on countless occasions to safeguard their heritage of lands and water.

We, on the other hand, just watch ours being wantonly destroyed. Yet we would claim to be disciples of Israeli Prophets!

Ah, don't we flock to churches?

Don't we give everything to God?!

But did not God endow the young David with power to go and confront ad defeat Goliath, when Goliath and his people invaded the land of Israel?

Remember the walls of Jericho?

Defend the land!  God seemed to be telling the Israelites all the time.

But we, fools that we are, have opened ourselves up voluntarily to foreigners and their local fifth columnists, who keep demonstrating their own cleverness to us, as they outwit us, not only in the bush theatres of galamsey, but even in the modern edifices of our own law courts.

Didn't the outgoing Chief Justice designate some courts to deal specially with galamsey offences? But did her edict go with instructions to judicial officials to be extra strict in applying the letter of the law to galamsey suspects?

I don't know.

All I know is that the queen-pin of galamsey, Aisha, was granted bail by a court, as were some of her employees!

In the process of obtaining bail, they unwittingly exposed to us, how clever they really are.

For two of the Chinese nationals charged with Aisha were allowed to go free on bail, although they claimed they had lost their passports and could thus not fulfil one of the bail conditions set by the court!

Ah?

They lost their passports?

Is that not one of the lamest excuses that a person who does notwant to surrender his passport to the authorities can give?

Be that as it may, WHO was it who allowed them to be freed in the first place, even though they had not fulfilled one of the bail conditions?

Answer: stony silencefrom the judicial authorities. And the police, who had opposed bail in the first instance.

Should whoever allowed them to go free without fulfilling the bail conditions not be queried, at the very least?

Yet another instance of stonysilence from the judicial authorities.

Was the magistrate who set the bail conditions not curious about why the court's order had not been fulfilled to the letter and yet bail had been granted to the accused?

We don't know! All we know is that the bail of the accused persons was revoked because the conditions had not been fulfilled.

Are we jokers or what?The court had been defied. But..... No questions. No action!

Is this how the officials of a nation that had declared war on a particular social evil, carry out the functions they have sworn to execute without fear or favour?

Where were these officials when the elected President of our country promised to defeat galamsey, even if it cost him the next election? What do they understand by the state's policy on galamsey, as publicly enunciated by the nation's President and Commander-in-Chief?

What view is taken of these lapses by the Director of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Ghana Police? Is he interested at al in finding out how exactly galamsey operates, in order that he may be able to provide the Government with authentic intelligence on how to fight it effectively?

If the Director of the CID was interested in the campaign against galamsey, the first thing he would have done, when he was told that Aisha and members of her gang had been bailed, would have been to say, Ahah! But who at all had the courage  or effrontery  to bail these people who are so much in the glare of public attention?

Why didn't those people fear that their reputations would be tarnished by publicly identifying themselves as people who had an interest in the freeing of the accused persons?

Are they the main culprits in the galamsey menace, although they have not themselves been caught in the police net?

A great lead in investigating the financing  and organisation  of galamsey operations, wouldn't you say? But the CID seems asleep or at any rate is not seeking answers to the right questions..

Okay, so the CID wasn't curious enough. What about EOCO? Or is galamsey not an  economiccrime? Are the rivers and streams of our country  and the farmlands  not the pivot around which our entire economy revolves?

Okay, so EOCO has its hands full trying to retrieve moneys stolen by our former political rulers. What about the BNI?

Isn't the BNI primarily concerned with gathering information about political developments in the country?

Is the BNI not aware that some galamseyers have been making open threats against the elected President of our country? If people make threats against the President, shouldn't the BNI try to find out all about them, in case their verbal threats are a small part of a nefarious conspiracy that could imperil the security of the state? Especially in the wake of the brutal murder of Major Max Manama?

Other bodies that claim to be interested in the anti-galamsey campaign should also have had their curiosity aroused by the fact that the sureties laid down by the court were fulfilled in a matter of hours.

For instance  the Media Coalition Against Galamsey. Is it not unusual that not a single reporter from a single media establishment; not a single member of the top brass of the media establishment; has been intrigued enough to get his organisation to pry into who it was that fulfilled the bail conditions of Aisha and her gang?

Are they not interested in who pays the gang's lawyers?

Are these not legitimate areas of enquiry, in the public interest?

It may be hyperbolical to put the battle against galamsey in the same category as the battle against powers and principalities spoken of in the Bible. But the hyperbole is only skin-deep.

For is it not  also  a marvelthat so many state institutions that are supposed to be taking care of our natural resources are themselves deeply involved in destroying these resources, and at the same time?

Think of the role played by the Water Resources Commission , in allowing some rivers and streams to be diverted and/or dredged, as emerged in an ongoing court case about how a group of persons carried out dredging in the Ankobra Basin without permits.

Permits?

What permits?

Why should anyone be given a permit to interfere with the natural flow of a river or stream from which thousands of people draw their drinking water?

Is the existence of such permits to dredge and divert rivers not an invitation for criminals to carry out similar operations  but without permits  and bribe their way out of trouble, when they are caught?

Whoinitiated such a diabolical policy of issuing permits for the diversion and dredging of water-bodies, without taking account of the corruption that is endemic in the country and which would turn the requirement for permits into an irrelevant academic exercise?

Next, think of the Forestry Commission , whose negligence  or complicity  can result in long-preserved forest reserves being destroyed, alongside the water-bodies that spring from the forests and are protected by them.

Days have gone by since a journalist, Mr Kweku Baako, openly alleged on TV that top people in the Forestry Commission were selling patches of land from the forest reserves to galamsey operators.

In view of Mr Baako's close association with Anas Aremeyaw Anas  a journalist whose credibility has been proved to be of diamond quality  shouldn't the Ministry that oversees the Forestry Commission have instituted an official enquiry into his allegation and the challenge emanating from it? Did he not offer to be a witness at such an enquiry?

Next, think of the Minerals Commission ..... (Sigh!)

Think of the Environmental Protection Agency ..... (Bigger sigh!

The list goes on.

At every stage in the galamsey devastation, state institutions have consistently failed to do their duty by the populace whose sweat puts food on the tables of the institutions' employees.

But we just sit and watch. Or try to reform them with words.

It's as if galamsey has procured powers and principalities of its own who have hypnotised us to sit down and watch as the wanton destruction of our country continues.

Given the glaring and unimaginable failures of state institutions across the board  it seems as if the powers and principalities have been transmogrified into new forces that wish to ensure that Nana Akufo-Addo should be politically felled  as he tries to fight galamsey.

They are probably laughing at him behind his back!.

Courage, then, Nana!

Surprise them!

The Nation waits to see the outcome of this inimitable battle of wits!
POLICE IN the Sefwi Asawinso District of the Western Region are reportedly investigating the circumstances leading to the alleged shooting and killing of a 32-year-old chainsaw operator.

The victim, Yaw Asante, was reportedly killed in the Bechema forest in the Juabeso District of the region.

According to police report, the victim was shot dead at a close range, leading to his instant death, whiles other colleague, Samuel Afrifa, who was said to be with him (Asante) in the forest, sustained injuries.

The District Police Commander for Sefwi Asawinso, DSP Richard Boahen, who confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE, said the two went to the Bechema forest to cut trees and spotted a flash light only to hear a gunshot which claimed the life of Asante and injured Afrifa at about 3:30 am on Sunday.

Reports from relatives of the two victims indicate that they were on their usual routine in the forest when the unfortunate incident happened.

DSP Boahen said the corpse of Asante had been deposited at the St John of God mortuary at Sefwi Asafo, whiles Samuel Afrifa was receiving treatment at the same facility.

From Alex Baah, Sefwi Asawinso
Affail Monney

20.06.2017 LISTEN

THE GHANA Journalists' Association (GJA)  the umbrella body of professional journalists in the country  has condemned magistrate Arit Nsemoh, who sacked journalists from her court on Thursday, June 15, and asked her to offer an unqualified apology to the said journalists.

GJA made the call in a statement signed by its President, Affail Monney, describing the magistrate's action as gross disrespect to the press corps in her open court.

The magistrate, during the trial of the two suspects  Daniel Asiedu aka Sexy Don Don and Vincent Bosso aka Junior Agogo  who have been accused of killing former Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa North in the Eastern Region, JB Danquah-Adu, ordered police officers stationed in the courtroom to prevent all journalists from entering to cover the proceedings.

Ms Arit Nsemoh is reported to have yelled at the newsmen, No journalist is allowed in my court.

She also asked newsmen standing at the entrance of the court to leave the premises.

In the statement, Mr Monney indicated that the magistrate said she ordered only a cameraman who was allegedly taking shots without permission at the court entrance, to leave the premises and that she never issued a blanket quit order to all the reporters.

However, the GJA said her account contradicted that of journalists who were at the court and quoted the magistrate as saying she did not want any journalist in her court.

The statement added, The GJA considers this action indiscreet, reprehensible and an affront to media freedom.

The JB Danquah-Adu murder trial is of a huge national and international interest, given the tragic circumstances under which the young MP was killed, hence to deny journalists access to open court is to deprive the public in general and the bereaved family in particular, the sovereign right to be informed about the proceedings to dispense justice in the case.

We demand an apology from the Judicial Service and a full assurance that reporters will no more experience any unnecessary hindrance and indignity in the coverage of the case, it said.

Meanwhile, the GJA commends the Judicial Press Corps for their tolerance and patriotic decision not to boycott the case. May their high sense of duty and social responsibility continue to be in glow until justice is done, it added

The court adjourned the case to June 29.

BY Melvin Tarlue
Nairobi (AFP) - A UN tribunal has agreed to review its appeals judgement against a former Rwandan minister found guilty of genocide crimes, a case blocked for months by the detention of one of the court's top judges.

In a statement released Monday the UN's Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said in a rare legal move it would review its ruling convicting Augustin Ngirabatware for his role in Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

Ngirabatware, planning minister at the time of the genocide, was found guilty of inciting, aiding and encouraging militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill their Tutsi neighbours.

He was sentenced in 2012 to 35 years in jail, but this was cut to 30 years on appeal in 2014.

In 2016 he filed a request for a review of his convictions "on the basis of a new fact, which he claims exonerates him," said the statement by the court set up in 2012, which took over from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after it closed in 2015.

A 1994 Rwanda genocide memorial guardian stands next to skulls of victims in Kibeho, Rwanda on February 21, 2004. The UN tribunal for Rwanda on Thursday handed a 35-year jail term to a former minister convicted of genocide, in the court's final trial ruling.

Ngirabatware was found guilty of inciting, aiding and encouraging militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill their Tutsi neighbours.

His case has been held up for months by the detention of Turkish bench judge Aydin Sefa Akay.

Akay was last week sentenced to over seven years in jail on charges of links to a group blamed for an attempted coup in Turkey last year in a case which caused an uproar in the international legal community.

He has been released pending an appeal and "confirmed his ability and willingness to exercise his judicial functions in this case," said the UN court.
Rome (AFP) - Nearly 2,000 people are believed to have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, the UN's refugee agency said Tuesday on World Refugee Day, as it reported fresh deaths.

"This is among the world's most dangerous routes -- a journey that no one takes lightly," it said, as witnesses described the horror of watching friends and loved ones drown.

After reports on Monday of a shipwreck off the Libya which claimed nearly 130 lives, the UNHCR said dozens of families with children were feared drowned in a separate incident after their boat snapped in two and sank off the North African country.

"According to witnesses, a boat carrying at least 85 people broke in two and sank shortly after setting off from Sabratha on Thursday," spokesman Federico Fossi told AFP.

Three wooden boats had set sail together from the conflict-hit country that morning: those travelling on one of them were rescued at sea and brought to Italy, where they described the fate of the other two.

One was intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and towed back to shore, while they saw the other snap in half, throwing many of those onboard into the sea, Fossi said.

"Some survived, later calling people they knew on the first boat to say they had been rescued by the Libyans. We don't know how many others were lost to the waves," he said.

There were many families with children from Syria and North Africa among those feared dead.

Migrants brought to Sicily on Monday told aid workers of yet another shipwreck in which seven people had died after falling overboard, including the husband of a pregnant survivor from Cameroon.

"These incidents are a reminder of the grave dangers that people confront when forced to flee their countries because of war and persecution," UNHCR's Cecile Pouilly said.

"Since the beginning of the year, over 77,000 people have tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe," said Pouilly, a spokeswoman.

"Despite the heroic work of those involved in rescue at sea, the death toll continues to rise. Close to 2,000 people are reported to have died or gone missing since the start of the year," she said.

The UNHCR said it was appealing for "enhanced" rescue operations and safe alternatives for those in need of international protection so that people are not compelled to take such dangerous journeys.

It also urged greater international efforts to address the root causes behind the movement of people to Libya -- conflicts and poverty -- as many of those arriving in the crisis-struck country find it difficult to leave again if not by sea.
Sydney Casley Hayford, a financial analyst, estimates that close to GH50 billion may have been lost to the State from 2008 to 2014 through misappropriation of funds at various state agencies.

Commenting on the Supreme Court's judgment on a pressure group, Occupy Ghana's suit filed against the Auditor General, he said mid-time calculation starting from 2008 to 2014 estimated that about 45 to 50 billion cedis had been taken by individuals.

The Supreme Court, on Wednesday, ordered the Auditor General to, with immediate effect, begin surcharging persons found to have misappropriated monies belonging to the state.

The court's order followed a suit filed by OccupyGhana in June 2016, seeking an order directing the Auditor-General to issue disallowances and surcharges to and in respect of all persons and entities found in relevant, successive reports to have engaged in misappropriation of state funds.

Occupy Ghana had explained that it sued the Auditor General for refusing to surcharge persons who are said to have misappropriated state funds to the tune of over GH40 billion.

Mr. Casley Hayford, speaking to Citi Fm said, Everybody believed to have committed an infraction sizeable enough will be prosecuted since the case is such an important part in the development of anti-corruption.

The significant point is that so many people have benefited from the laxity in the system and taken what is not theirs at the expense of national development, and it is important that we haul these people before courts and really test the system, he added.

He, however, admitted that there will be challenges in prosecuting corrupt officials since the Auditor General does not have the human resources and the logistical resources to be able to get things done.

The Attorney General, who is the main prosecutor, now has to find the persons and the bodies to assist in getting these things through the court rapidly and the judicial system itself is going to be challenged to do that effectively.

A number of corruption scandals, which involved public officials and private companies benefiting from state monies for less or no work done have been recorded in the country in the last few years .

Some of these scandals include the monies lost to Subah Info Solutions deal, the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Agency (GYEEDA), Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the GH3.6 million bus branding saga.

Citifmonline


Heritage Bank, a wholly-owned Ghanaian bank, has inaugurated its second branch at East Legon, a suburb of Accra, as part of its expansion drive.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the East Legon branch recently, Managing Director of Heritage Bank Ghana Limited, Patrick Fiscian, said the new branch will pave the way for other openings across the country.

Heritage Bank Limited obtained regulatory approval from the Bank of Ghana (BoG) to commence business operations as a universal bank and opened its first ultramodern branch at Accra's Airport City, which also serves as its headquarters.

According to Mr Fiscian, the bank would provide unique products to its customers to help their businesses grow.

He indicated that they would provide loans to private sector at relatively cheaper rate to help expand their operations.

Currently, we provide one of the lowest rates on loans, and I believe this is good for the industry since access to credit is important for the growth of businesses, he pointed out.

The MD observed that the bank's mission is to offer world-class banking services and create convenience for their customers to help them fulfill their goals and aspirations.

He further noted that the bank would focus on investing in highly skilled people and world-class technology to offer robust and safe services to customers.

With regards to meeting the Bank of Ghana's new capital requirement, he stated that even though the figure has not been quoted yet, the bank was optimistic of meeting it.

He pointed out that Heritage Bank has a long-term plan to provide good rates for players in various aspects of the economy.

Head of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Ghana, Raymond Amanfu, who graced the occasion, urged the bank to spread its tentacles across the country.

Mr. Amanfu also reminded banks to adhere to the Bank of Ghana's anti-money laundering laws.

Heritage Bank offers Personal, Private, SME and Corporate Banking services, and is set to roll out technological industry firsts to ensure customers' needs are met in a way that conforms to the growing digitized world.

The bank, as part of its proposition to make life more convenient for customers, offers extended banking hours from 8:30am till 6:00pm.

By Melvin Tarlue


20.06.2017 LISTEN

Unlike the European Union member of Parliament (MEP) who get his mandate directly on universal adult suffrage, the ECOWAS member of Parliament (EMP) gets his mandate indirectly by getting a mandate directly to a member state Parliament and end up as a part time member of ECOWAS Parliament. This fundamental differences of obtaining mandates of the two MPs explains why the EU MPs does the real job of law making of the EU, while the ECOWAS MP plays the dummy.

The impression I'm getting on why the West African is treated like a dummy is, most citizens of ECOWAS have the wrong understanding of why their country is a member of ECOWAS and why they are citizens of ECOWAS. Most think of ECOWAS to be about countries in West Africa and so if your country is located in West Africa, then you have no choice but to be in ECOWAS. Please, that is not true.

Our countries are not force to be member states of ECOWAS and we as its citizens simply because one''s country is located in West Africa. We are in ECOWAS by choice because of the great dream of success we are convince the ECOWAS is capable of achieving.

Countries do not form a union of associations of sovereignties of common fate simply by geographical location. For example, Britain is in Europe but has chosen to be out of the EU. Switzerland is right in the heart of Europe but choose not to be a member state of the EU. Morocco is in Africa but has chosen to be out of the Africa Union (AU). Muritania is in West Africa but has chosen to be out of ECOWAS. Morocco is not in West Africa but can choose to be in ECOWAS. So there is nothing wrong with Morocco to be in ECOWAS or Ghana to be out of ECOWAS.

The reason for this analysis is, some people in ECOWAS have the wrong impression that Ghana and Ghanaians have not got any choice than to in ECOWAS even if it continue to be an association of mere bureaucratic quangos. So, whether the ECOWAS is useful to Ghanaians or not, we just have to saddle our fate to the hopeless regional corps at such a huge waste of resources we monthly commit to the ECOWAS at the expense of our over burdened poor while it give us nothing back in return.

The fact about ECOWAS is the frustrating bureaucracy associated with the regional authority that no one seem to be doing anything visible about. The body simply depicts an embodiment of deceit to majority of West Africans that its authority means nothing to the citizens of the West African. So the only thing I can say about ECOWAS is the hopeless hope it gives the population while serving as a cash cow to a few.

At best, all one can say is, the ECOWAS is just another version of the AU (Africa Union) or UN (United Nations) but located in West Africa, to serve no one in particular than the ex colonial masters and their local collaborators. Some West Africans could add that the ECOWAS create a space for accommodating hopeless Wrest African politicians after the tenure of national office and to teach upcoming regional political players how to be dishonest while serving as ECOWAS MPs who get paid for doing nothing. So while we are at the grassroots mobilising the population on the ECOWAS as a regional authority of hope, the reality the people experience in their daily lives is an ECOWAS of Hoax.

Now that the ECOWAS citizens are divided on the Moroccan issue and public discussion are becoming unavoidable, is it not time we all stop accepting that we are hopelessly bond to the ECOWAS by fate and start addressing why we want our nation's to be in ECOWAS? Is it not time we make it clear to the ECOWAS authority that we must activate our right to direct vote for our regional MPs, who should in such instance have the legitimacy of putting our views into a better use?

I believe that over 75% of West Africans will vote against Moroccans becoming ECOWAS citizens. I however doubt such position will prevail in the ECOWAS final decision if France or any other powerful external body, prefer the ECOWAS to act against the unexpressed will of her peoole. Take the example of the EPA (Economic Partnership Agreement) that was super imposed on West Africans following debates that were not backed up by West Africans directly voting for their regional MPs. The majority of West Africans were against the EPA but the decision was taken in favour of the EU. Sure our regional MPs would have made better inputs to the decision if their mandate was from the electorates directly.

The popular participation in ECOWAS decisions we can only be certain, than a regional hoax, when we win the battle over our right to vote directly for our regional MPs base on universal adult suffrage. If ECOWAS citizens are allowed to be human beings enough to exercise their regional fundamental right on the basis of universal adult suffrage, as the recognised source of the righful sovereign authority of the ECOWAS authority, then the will of the West African shall be the will of the regional authority.

The decision of having Morrocco into ECOWAS is exactly as we did with the decision of the EPA. This kind of decision call for the view of everyone to be taken into consideration. Discussing critical issue without the people right to vote for their regional MPs, is undemocratic. The current indirect voting system to those who have no clue of what the ECOWAS is about is seriously disturbing, Sure if our current ECOWAS MPs have conscience than those driven by their selfish material gain they make by mere titles as ECOWAS MPs without any serious responsibility, then they will join us in ECRA (ECOWAS Citizens Right Advocates) to make the right thing done.

Kofi Ali Abdul-Yekin

Chairman ECRA.

[email protected]
Mogadishu (AFP) - At least 10 people were killed Tuesday when Shabaab Islamists drove an explosives-laden minibus into local government offices in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the security ministry.

The minibus rammed through a security barrier outside offices in the southern district of Wadajir, injuring nine people including the district's top government official.

"More than 10 people died in the blast which was carried out by the Shabaab group and nine others are wounded," said security ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed.

Most of the dead were civilians, he said.

"Security guards tried to stop (the minibus) but it managed to get in and the vehicle blew up," local security official Omar Adan told AFP.

Another security official, Abdi Jilibey, said more than 18 people were injured and that some of the bodies were so badly burnt as to be unrecognisable.

The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab militants.

"A martyrdom suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives onto the district headquarters which was the target, and where district authorities and intelligence officials were meeting at the time," said a statement carried by pro-Shabaab website somalimemo.net.

Somalia minibus bombing

It was the second major attack by the Shabaab this Ramadan, a time when there is often an uptick in extremist Islamist assaults in the country.

Last Thursday, at least 18 people were killed when six Shabaab militants launched a strike on two neighbouring restaurants in Mogadishu.

After a massive blast from a suicide car bombing, the gunmen roamed the restaurants, killing people they found trapped inside before security forces intervened and killed them.

The Shabaab group, which wants to impose a Taliban-style rule on Somalia, has been fighting for the last decade to overthrow successive internationally-backed governments in Mogadishu.

It has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda, both contributors to a 22,000-strong African Union force in the country.

Although pushed out of the capital in 2011, the group still controls parts of the countryside and launches regular suicide bombings and raids in the capital against civilian, government and military targets.
Takuya Kajiura handing over the equipment to Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah

Toyota Ghana Company Limited has donated six air conditioners and three flat screen TVs to the Korle-Bu Plastic Surgery and Reconstruction Centre.

The items which were donated to three burns wards of the centre are meant to make the wards more comfortable and conducive for patients recovering from burns and surgeries.

Takuya Kajiura, Managing Director of Toyota Ghana Company Limited, was hopeful the equipment would help raise the level of healthcare delivery for patients and also go a long way to better the lives and health status of Ghanaians in general.

At Toyota Ghana, we are of the view that an adequate and well-resourced health facility makes possible an efficient health service delivery. That is why we established and maintained a good relationship with this hospital over the years. We also believe that giving continuous support is more beneficial than making a cone-off donation, he said.

He, therefore, urged the staff and patients to take good care of the items so that they can serve the purpose for which they were purchased.

Dr Opoku Ware Ampomah, director of the centre, revealed that so many lives are lost through burns in Ghana due to lack of adherence to health and safety practices.

More than 90 percent of burns are preventable if we are able to take precautions and 51 percent of the burns we see are in children. Therefore, for a child to get burnt, it means that some adults are responsible for it, he said.

Dr Ampomah disclosed that because most burns are caused by domestic gas explosions and carelessness, parents must make sure that environments are always safe for children when they are around or when they are left to be on their own, emphasizing that children should be prevented from playing in the kitchen.

There has been an increase in burns casualties because the whole of last year, we saw almost about 500 burns and this year we have already seen about 300. This year's casualties have also been more severe than last year's, he pointed out.

He advised the general public to always keep their gas cylinders outside their kitchens and either stop using gas cylinders when they leak or use valves instead of stones to stop the leakage.

By Bridget Tenkoramaa Boateng & Jamila Akweley Okertchiri
The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archiebald Yaw Letsa, has expressed dissatisfaction with the unnecessary sale of government lands to individuals and groups in the region, particularly in Ho and other district capitals.

He therefore directed the Volta Regional Office of the Lands Commission to, as a matter of urgency, halt the sale of government lands until further notice.

Dr Letsa noted that the sale of lands had security implications for the region, which would eventually affect its development.

The Volta Regional Lands Commission has for some time been implementing a programme called Infilling in the region, which allows it to allocate government lands to people.

The project, according to the Commission, was approved by the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.

Under the programme, the commission surveys, creates plots and grants leases for land near the Volta Regional Ministers Residency. The leases are granted for as long as 99 years.

After assuming office, Dr Letsa bemoaned the negative effects of the concept whereby allocations had been made too close to the Residency, bungalows of government institutions and public officials to the total neglect of the attendant security implications.

He therefore called for an immediate halt to the exercise, but for some unknown reasons, the Volta Regional Lands Commission flouted that order and continued to lease the lands.

DAILY GUIDE has gathered that about three acres of land behind the Residency had been leased for the construction of a hotel.

I am shocked that the Commission is not protecting the lands for future state use nor moved by the basic knowledge that trees and green environment are necessaries in the effectual synergy of plant, animal and human life, which provoked the sages to say that when the last tree dies, the last man dies with it.

In order to halt the exercise, the Minister has sent a letter to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission to review or possibly halt the entire exercise.

He therefore assured all who might have paid for lands allocated them under the programme that should there be a review or outright cancellation, their monies would be refunded to them by the commission after proof of payment.

Dr. Letsa, who disclosed this during a press conference over the weekend, used the opportunity to advise public officials to serve the national interest.

From Fred Duodu, Ho ( [email protected] )


20.06.2017 LISTEN

By Maxwell Ofori

Workers of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) are suspicious over the recent fire outbreak, which razed down the stores of the media house, stating that the incident might be intentional.

According to the workers, they suspect foul play in the fire that destroyed computers and other important assets, as well as documents of the state institution.

The workers suspect that the fire might have been started intentionally, to, perhaps, destroy documentary evidence into transactions of the corporation, as far as procurement is concerned.

The workers, The Chronicle is reliably informed, had written petitions for an audit of the company, especially how much had gone into the TV license collection, amongst others, but up till now, nothing had been done, a deep throat source confided in this reporter.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the credible informant indicated that the corporation is rather spending more in the collection of the TV licenses, instead of the reverse.

The workers are perturbed over the debt the corporation had incurred as a result of the fire outbreak, especially when GBC is highly indebted, the source disclosed.

Though it is not clear as to what might have caused the fire, as the Ghana Fire Service is yet to produce its report, the workers suspect some foul play.

They have spent more in the TV license collection than what they have received, and because we were calling for [an] audit, before we realised the place is burnt, another source within the top management staff said.

Fire gutted the stores of GBC on Friday, June 16, 2017, around 19:00 hours, destroying almost every document of the company, as well as computers and other equipment in the stores.

The GNFS had to deploy three fire tenders before being able to bring the fire under control, by which time, important documents, including receipts, had been burnt into ashes.

The Chronicle can report that there are suspicions amongst the workers, because there were calls for an audit, only for the fire to burn down the stores.

The workers are, therefore, calling on the government to intervene and order for a thorough audit into procurements at GBC, as they believed due processes are not adhered to, in terms of procurements.

They told this reporter that many petitions had been written to the previous government, and that management had been verbally told at meetings to allow for an audit, but all actions had yielded no positive results, though they were yet to write to the current government.

Meanwhile, when The Chronicle contacted the Director General, via a telephone call, for his side of the story, Dr. Kwame Akuffo Anoff-Ntow assured the workers that management, led by him, would make sure the right things are done at any point in time.

Describing the fire outbreak as unfortunate, the Director General indicated that if I am convinced that this person is behind it, I will be the first person to arrest that person.

As far as I know, there was a fire outbreak, the Fire Service was called in to come and investigate. They investigated it, [but] they are yet to submit their report.

So, I think the best thing to do will be for us to hold on for them to submit their report, and on the basis of that, whatever action should be taken, will be taken. For now, we know it was an accident. That's what I can say for now, he responded.

Commenting on the veracity of the calls for a probe, Dr. Anoff-Ntow observed that the corporation does its activities in accordance with the law, because it is a state institution.

GBC is a public institution. Every activity that anybody performs is subject to the laws or rules of the financial regulations of the country. Whatever it is you do, there has to be paper work that allows you, because you will account for it.

There is due process; there is audit for everything that is done. So the point is not necessarily whether or not somebody has a suspicion; that is irrelevant. The point is, at the end of the day, due process ought to be followed, and somebody has to account for every penny of the public purse that is spent, and I can assure you that management and the Board of GBC would account for every pesewa that is spent in the TV license, Dr. Anoff-Ntow promised.

He continued that there were several ways of accounting for what is spent, which is not likely to be in the store.

The store is not where you can go and collet the data that will show how much you have spent and how much you haven't spent.

You go to the audit; you go to finance, the paper is also there, so even if that [the store] is burnt, you have other ways of finding out how much have gone into it. So there should be no cause for alarm at all, he assured.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is expected to leave the shores of this country today for a five-day working visit to the Republic of China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Li Yuanchao.

According to an official statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Dr. Bawumia will hold talks with Mr. Li Yuanchao.

Our Vice President will also hold discussions with Mr. Yu Zhengsheng, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), which is a political advisory body in China .

Since the news broke out on Sunday, many Ghanaians have expressed mixed feelings.

While some claim that the visit will enhance the relationship between the two countries, others are of the opinion that the Chinese could use it to attempt to water down the resolve of the Ghana government to carry on with the fight against 'galamsey' (illegal mining).

The Chronicle, however, believes that this visit should, in no way, jeopardise the government's tenacity to win the fight against galamsey, which has already given the Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo-led administration some political leverage.

Normally, since Ghana is one of the very first countries south of the Sahara to have established diplomatic relations with China, one would expect that the visit would improve the ties between the two countries.

Nonetheless, the paper is worried over the perception of a section of Ghanaians who belong to the school of thought that the Chinese Vice President may attempt to talk the government, through Dr. Bawumia, to relax its steadfastness to stop galamsey.

This is against the backdrop that when the government initiated moves to wage war against galamsey, the Chinese mission in Ghana expressed anger over the manner in which the Ghanaian media was dealing with the issue, and criticised it for targeting Chinese nationals in its reportage.

Even though other nationals are involved in the activities of galamsey, the Chinese, according to available statistics, are in the majority.

It is on record that in the last decade, thousands of Chinese illegal immigrants have been deported from Ghana, mainly because of their involvement in galamsey activities.

The mission, in a letter addressed to Mr. John Peter Amewu, Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, pointed out that if nothing changes in the nature of campaigns against illegal mining in the country, bilateral relations between Ghana and China would be affected.

The Chinese side is very concerned about this unhealthy tendency. We hope that the Ghanaian government will pay due attention to this situation, take the necessary action to stop such things from happening again, and guide the media to give an objective coverage on the illegal mining issue, so as to create a good environment for further development of our bilateral exchanges and cooperation, the mission said.

Soon after the development, the authorities in China started subjecting Ghanaian businessmen and women, who travel to the country to do business, to severe maltreatment, which attracted media headlines in Ghana.

The Chronicle does not believe that Dr. Bawumia's visit to China has anything to do with the country's quest to water down the intensity of Ghana's anti-galamsey campaign to give the Chinese illegal miners more room to operate.

If anything at all, it should afford the two countries the opportunity to discuss ways and means to carry out the campaign in the best interests of both countries, and not to be skewed towards giving the Chinese leeway to continue operating galamsey in the country.

In the opinion of The Chronicle, Dr. Bawumia must impress upon the Chinese, through their Vice President, that just as they (Chinese) obey and respect their laws, we, in Ghana, have our own set of laws, and they must be obeyed.

The Chinese must also be made to know that they cannot come to Ghana, engage in galamsey and destroy our beautiful water bodies, lands and forests, with the sole aim of making money at our expense.

We need to preserve our water bodies to avoid the importation of water in the future.
The Ada community has been charged to maintain their clean sheet status as one of the most peaceful communities to exist in Ghana even as the people gear up to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of its grand Festival, Asafotufiami.

This year's edition is a special 80th edition meant to remind the people of Ada of the rich cultural heritage, the heroism of their forefathers and its potential investor relations as well as tourism prospects.

TV Africa, a member of Groupe Ideal, is the official media partner for this years ASAFOTUFIAMI.

The 80th milestone also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the enstoolment of Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III -Paramount Chief of Ada Traditional Area.

This years event will be attended by highly ranked dignitaries including diplomats and representatives of foreign missions in Ghana.

According to the Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area, Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III, maintaining peace in his region was key as part of the transformational journey.

The Chief was particularly excited about the growing euphoria from across the country as well as fruitful co-operation from the diaspora community on the festivity.

Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III, was speaking at the official launch of the 80th Anniversary of the Ada Asafotufiami Festival held on Tuesday at the Labadi Beach Resort in Accra.

"For us the People of ADA, this event bring people from far and near to rejuvenate once again under one tradition. We therefore decided to make the 80th anniversary special to appeal to the larger audience and tourist as well," he said.

He further called on all Ghanaians to be part of the celebration with lined up of events from August 2017.

Director of Communications at Groupe Ideal, Ekow Blankson in his address expressed excitement acknowledging that supporting this year's Asafotufiami, was a wonderful ocassion and a great privilege to Ideal.

"Festivals portray our rich cultural heritage and as such an avenue to call in investor relations which can boost the economy if done right. Investors through this festival will have an experience of our various business sectors of the economy," Mr. Blankson said.

He also pledged Groupe Ideal's continuous support for the festival and development of the Ada community at large.

"We are making no small plans this year and our support for tourism through such festivities will continue. I am of the conviction that before we move from this room all corporate bodies will see the need to be a part of this years festivity due to the highly potential benefits to our mother Ghana."

What is the Asafotufiami festival all about?

The Ada Asafotufiami is a rich cultural heritage celebrated annually around the first week of August. It is celebrated mainly, in remembrance of the invaluable achievements of the Founding Fathers and Ancestors, especially in the many wars of the survival and development of Ada.

Brief background of the celebration

The expression Asafotufiami simply means company or Divisional Firing of Musketry. It is therefore a War Festival that commemorates the heroic achievements of their ancestors.

On that day all Adas start arriving in their respective homes. At early dawn on Friday the two main Asafo war dances of Akofode and Asorkor parade through town yelling and singing the war songs. In the morning of Friday, all the divisional clans move in orderly procession on the principal streets amidst musketry firing, drumming, war songs and dancing.

Significance of the festival

The mission is to inspire and empower one another using effective and innovative means to increase the living standard of people through common cultural practices and salt mining. To improve the living standards of people through education

The vision of Ada is a seven year development agenda which is focused on four areas which are Economic Growth, Infrastructural Development, Health Care and Education. By 2020 it will become the centre of economic activities of Tourism and Trade in Agriculture.

There are also the tourism prospects, and the pursuit to bring people from far and near and again showcasing ADA as well as Ghana as a country with rich culture heritage.

Projects from the festival

Songor Ramsar and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is one of the protected wetlands situated along the eastern portion of Ghanas 550km sandy coast. Songor Ramsar and UNESCO Biosphere reserve is the only natural entry point where the largest man-made lake the Volta River enters the Atlantic Ocean. The substratum of one of the biggest lagoon in Ghana Sangor provides excellent feeding and roosting grounds for wintering birds during their migratory journey.

The Asafotufiami Festival of the people of Ada Traditional area in the Dangme East District is a rich cultural heritage celebrated annually in the first week of August.

The festival is a remembrance of the achievements in the wars for settlement fought by our ancestors, hence the name ASAFOTUFIAMI. ASAFOTU, as the name implies, is company firing of musketry.

The celebration is mainly in remembrance of the invaluable achievements of the Founding Fathers and Ancestors, especially in the many wars of survival and development of Ada.

It is one of the biggest events in the region and draws over three (3) million people to Ada. The festival has become a homecoming event for the people of Ada in the diaspora as well as from all the 10 regions of Ghana. The colourful display of the rich culture of the Ada tradition attracts people from all walks of life to this festival.

2017 Asafotufiami Festival Event

The main event will be held at Ada August 3 to 10, 2017, with a line-up of interesting and heritage-centered activities.

Key Highlights of the Festival

 Floats from Tema to Ada.

 Food Bazaar - Cooking Competition

 Drumming and Dancing

 Royal Walk and Regatta

 Beach Games

 Party for the Aged

 Grand Durbar

PROJECTS

Proceeds from fundraising activities at this years event will be used for the following:

1. Build a modern & befitting Palace for the Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area.

2. Build a Community Health Post (CHPS Compound) for Ada Community.

SPONSORS

 Groupe Ideal is the main sponsor of this years Asafotufiami Festival.

 TV Africa is the Media Partner for this years edition of the festival
London (AFP) - Tributes were paid Tuesday to Joel Joffe, the lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela in the trial that saw the anti-apartheid icon jailed, following his death at the age of 85.

Lord Joffe died on Sunday, said Oxfam, the aid agency which he chaired. The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the human rights lawyer died in London.

Joffe was a key part of Mandela's defence team in the 1963-4 Rivonia Trial, which saw Mandela given a life sentence for sabotage against the apartheid South African state.

After leaving for Britain, he founded a big insurance firm and later became a parliamentarian spearheading the campaign for assisted dying for the terminally ill.

Leading British anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain said Joffe was an "iconic figure" who never sought the limelight -- "he just supported everybody else".

Joffe was "a totally generous person, warm, passionate, and he continued to fly the flag for the anti-apartheid struggle and subsequently the new South Africa," Hain said.

'General behind the scenes'

Joffe was born to a Jewish family in Johannesburg on May 12, 1932 and studied business, then law at Witwatersrand University, graduating in 1955.

Mandela's wife Winnie approached him to defend her husband in the Rivonia Trial, where several leading members of the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement were facing charges.

In his autobiography, Mandela described Joffe's role as being "the general behind the scenes in our defence".

Jailed for life, Mandela served 27 years in prison before his release in 1990, going on to become president of the new racially-equal South Africa.

"For me, it was about saving the lives of these wonderful people," Joffe told BBC radio in 2007.

"The nine members of the ANC were the finest people I had ever met -- such courage, such integrity, so committed... It was a great privilege to defend them."

Following the trial, South Africa offered him the opportunity to leave as long as he never returned.

Rejected by Australia, he moved to Britain in 1965.

Joffe co-founded what became the Allied Dunbar life assurance group in 1970. It was bought out by Zurich in 1998.

'Sharp legal mind'

Joffe was the chairman of Oxfam from 1995 to 2001.

"He was able to use his sharp legal mind and years of experience in business to challenge authority and increase the effectiveness of our work around the world," said Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam's UK branch.

"His fearless campaigning for care of the elderly, corporate responsibility and global development shaped the world for the better, yet he always maintained his trademark self-deprecating sense of humour."

Joffe was appointed a member of the British parliament's upper House of Lords in 2000, sitting for the Labour Party.

Joffe retired from the House of Lords in 2015 and was awarded the freedom of the City of London the following year.

In 2007, Joffe wrote a book about his experiences entitled "The State vs. Nelson Mandela: The trial that changed South Africa".

In its foreword, Mandela wrote that the book would serve as "one of the most reliable sources for understanding what happened at that trial and how we came to live and see democracy triumph in South Africa".
In a democratic government, the peoples views influence the laws and policies made by the government. Democracy is therefore seen as a system of government in which people decide matters as a group. Athens, the capital of Greece was the first city to allow ordinary citizens access to government offices and courts. In ancient Greece, the people of the city-state of Athens developed a way of making decisions that was different from the autocratic ways of the past.

However, modern democratic systems cannot accommodate the style of participatory democracy and inclusive governance as pertained in ancient Greece. The Athenian city-state form of democracy had long given way for the representative form of democracy. That notwithstanding, governments globally still institute various mechanisms such as Town Hall Meetings to interact and dialogue with citizens on pertinent national issues.

In Ghana, with the return of democratic governance in 1992 following the adoption of the Fourth Republican Constitution, successive governments have adopted various approaches to engage with the citizenry especially those at the lowest echelons.

President J.K Kufuor

The John Kufuor led government in 2001 instituted the Peoples Assembly concept, which is synonymous to Town Hall Meeting as used in some advanced democracies. This novelty offered the average Ghanaian the opportunity to engage with the President and his Ministers and to seek answers on questions bothering on national interest and development.

The Peoples Assembly provided a rare opportunity where the President opened himself up once in a year to the public and took questions from people of all social classes without any inhibitions at all. This innovation afforded Ghanaians to have a face-to-face interaction with their elected leader and to ask him questions on issues of governance and development.

Elitism and Governance

Beyond the fact that ordinary citizens have the rare occasion to put out issues of development before the President and his Ministers, it also avoids the temptation of running an elitist administration. An elitist doctrine posits of a government of a small minority of members of the economic elite and policy-planning networks with unbridled powers.

In an emerging democracy such as Ghana, the pluralist system in policy and decision-making is required in mirroring the micro issues of those at the lowest stratums. Pluralism appeals to the masses and the underprivileged and evens the scale from distant class orders. By connecting directly with the citizens, it affords the President to have first -hand appreciation of the implications of his policies and development programmes. This direct feedback is particularly helpful to the President and his government due to the proclivity of Presidents appointees to give a one sided positive feedback regarding the state of the national economy and the wellbeing of the citizens.

Editors Forum



President Mahama at the Editors Forum in 2015

The John Atta Mills/John Mahama governments replaced the Peoples Assembly concept with what they described as Editors Forum. This was equally laudable as far as the expansion of the frontiers of democratic accountability is concerned. The Presidents opened themselves up for questions from the media fraternity. The problem with this format however, was that it was restricted only to those in the media. No one outside the media fraternity had access to this platform. However, what was most nauseating was the behaviour of some partisan and ingratiating media organizations who would rather go and sing praises to the President instead of asking the hard questions.

Limitations

The Peoples Assembly concept also had its own challenges, chief among them being the fact that there was no sufficient time to take as many questions as possible. Of course, others also used the opportunity to malign the personality of the President instead. But, one would have to understand that democracy has space for the lunatic fringe.

Naturally, it is practically not possible for the President to be abreast with issues in all sectors of our national life. That is why with the Peoples Assembly, the President was often flanked by his Ministers who assisted by bringing him up to speed on issues he was oblivious of.

The writer is with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), in Accra.

Email; [email protected]
Geneva (AFP) - The UN rights chief on Tuesday accused authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo of backing a new militia behind "horrific attacks" in the Kasai provinces, including killing and mutilating hundreds of civilians.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels)," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council.

Over the past two months, the militia had carried out "horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups," destroying entire villages, and shooting, burning and hacking to death villagers, among them babies and young children.

Since last September, the armed followers of tribal chieftain Kamwina Nsapu -- who was killed a month earlier -- have rebelled against the authority of the central government.

Figures collated by the Roman Catholic church in a report dated June 19 show violence in the Kasai region has killed more than 3,300 people in eight months -- a casualty figure far higher than the "more than 400 dead" given by the UN peacekeeping mission in April.

On Tuesday, Zeid accused "various actors" in the conflict of "fuelling ethnic hatred, resulting in extremely grave, widespread and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population in the Kasais."

He called for an "independent, international investigation" to be set up to probe the situation in the region.

The Human Rights Council is due to vote later this week on a resolution tabled by the European Union and backed Tuesday by a number of countries including the United States to create such a probe.

Babies shot, toddlers dismembered

Congolese Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa-Likulia told the council Tuesday the government would allow UN investigators to help a national probe into the abuses, insisting it was the Kamwina Nsapu rebels who were committing "true human slaughter" in the Kasai.

Interviews conducted by UN rights experts found evidence of mutilation using machetes

Zeid meanwhile said he had already deployed a team of investigators to interview refugees from the region and had been horrified by what they learned.

In areas attacked by the Bana Mura militia, "my team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off," Zeid said, adding that "many babies had machete wounds and severe burns."

"One two-month-old baby seen by my team had been hit by two bullets four hours after birth. The mother was also wounded, (and) at least two pregnant women were sliced open and their foetuses mutilated," he said.

In one case, a "well-known" local leader reportedly provided machetes, hunting rifles and fuel to Bana Mura militia members for their attack on the village of Cinq on April 24, in which dozens of men, women and children were reportedly shot, hacked or burned to death, Zeid said.

"Hundreds of assailants also allegedly attacked the main health centre in the village and killed some 90 patients, medical personnel and others," he said, adding that more than 20 other villages had faced similar attacks.

Victims and witnesses had repeatedly said local authorities, and in some cases "state agents" and members of local units of the national army and police forces, had armed and organised the militia.

Zeid stressed that the Kamwina Nsapu were also accused of committing serious abuses, including targeted killings and using child soldiers as young as seven.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

An unprecedented 65.6 million people around the world have been forced from home. Among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of 18. By UNHCR

There are about 14,000 refugees in Ghana now. Out of the number, two-thirds live in Ampanin and Krisan in the Western Region, Egyeikrom in the Central Region and Fetentaa in the Brong Ahafo Region. Ghana Refugee Board (GRB)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states in Article 14 that. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

As we mark world refugee day let us not forget the 63 Ghanaians who were deported to Ghana and were treated like criminals.

We are calling on the United States to act in line with the understanding of global burden and responsibility sharing and take responsibility of asylum seekers human rights, when bring them home.

This day calls on the international community to remember the plight of the millions of people worldwide who have been forced to flee from their homes as a result of poverty and conflict persecution and to help them with sustainable solutions in the fields of protection and humanitarian assistance.

In a world where violence forces thousands of families to flee for their lives each day, the time is now to show that the global public stands with refugees.

As we mark world refugee day, I wish to call on Government and the United Nations system to safeguard and protect the rights of refugees.

I humbly urge all to join the fight against the inhumane treatment of asylum seekers. Because, when we stand together #WithRefugees, we also stand for respect and diversity for all.
A political scientist at the University of Ghana says the eight broad recommendations made by the Kwesi Botchwey Committee represented the cornerstones of the 2016 defeat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Dr Alidu Seidu said the NDCs stunning defeat in last years hotly contested elections was self-inflicted that was avoidable if leadership of the party had listened to the grassroots.

He told Joy News Tuesday, the now opposition party kept people in academia at arms length when it was in government.

Related Article: Kwesi Botchwey NDC C'ttee presents 455-page report; wants a healing tour

This, the political scientist believes impacted negatively on the quality of research the party undertook in the lead up to the 2016 election.

[L-R] NDC National Chairman, Kofi Portuphy and Professor Kwesi Botchwey

The Professor Kwesi Botchwey Committee tasked to research into the cause(s) of the NDC defeat has presented its report to the party Monday.

The Committee in its 455-page report made eight key recommendations which it believes will help the party to reconnect to its base.

They include the restoration of the integrity of the partys biometric register, going back to its social democratic philosophy, strengthening its intellectual and research base and listening to the voice of the grassroots.

Related Article: Kwesi Botchwey report re-echoed Rawlings' June 4 message  Koku Anyidoho

The Kwesi Botchwey Committee recommended steps be taken to crowd the party with critical thinkers.

NDC Deputy General Secretary, Koku Anyidoho told Joy News, recommendations by the Committee reflected the message by the partys founder, former President Jerry John Rawlings to mark this years June 4 uprising.

NDC Deputy General Secretary, Koku Anyidoho

The former President told a gathering in the Upper West Regional city of Wa, the NDC lost the 2016 election because it deserted its values.

Related Article: NDC didn't lose election because of 'lame horse' - Rawlings replies Mahama on June 4

He said the values  justice, probity and accountability - on which the party was founded in 1992, were disregarded.

If we cannot get our claws off to allow for fresh leadership to emerge, then we shall sink even further, he called for fresh leaders for the party ahead of the 2020 elections.

Former President Jerry John Rawlings

Mr Anyidoho said the NDC believes there is that core button that we need to press, to be able rally its grassroots to unseat the spineless government of Akufo-Addo.

Dr Alidu said the NDC will be competitive ahead of the 2020 general elections if it implements the recommendations made by the Kwesi Botchwey Committee.

"There is always a synergy between the broader grassroot people and those at the top," he said, adding for any party to better reflect the needs of its grassroots, it has to feed on the "intellect and the wisdom of research."

He said the "ability to know what the grassroots want...ability to feel the reaction or the acceptance of the grassroot to the party's ideas, programmes and philosophy" all depend on the work of research which could be better carried out if people in academia are brought on board.

Dr Alidu called on the leadership of the NDC to replicate its research departments at the Regions, Constituencies and branch levels in order to understand what its members are thinking at any particular time.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Austin Brakopowers | [email protected] | Instagram: @realbrakopowers
The Inspector General for the Nigeria Police Service, Ibrahim Kpotun Idris has revealed the arrest of a "billionaire kidnapper" to press home the need for bilateral intelligence sharing.

Speaking at the West Africa National Security Conference at the Kempinski Hotel in Accra, the Nigeria security chief said the kidnapper, Chikwudubem Onwuamadike was found to have a Ghanaian passport.

He said Nigerians have been celebrating the arrest of Chikwudubem Onwuamadike who also uses Evans to avoid the tongue-twisting name.

The arrest was made two weeks ago in Lagos state, Nigeria.

The Nigerian kidnapper was nabbed June 10, 2017 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport while he was about to leave the country.

He has two houses in Accra and "his family is based in Ghana here", Kpotun Idris told the meeting of security officers.

Chikwudubem Onwuamadike aka Evans is a big name in Nigeria for notorious high-end kidnapping pull-offs.

According to Nigeria's IGP, Evans is an expensive hostage-taker who has at one time demanded $6m ransom for the release of his victim.

Websites in Nigeria chronicle details of several succesful kdnapping in which a demand for $1m was paid.

On June 16th, 2012 at about 11.am, a 35-year old Mbarikatta William Uboma was kidnapped on his arrival from Hungary while he was close to his house.

He was in his Toyota Car 2010 model in the company of his brother to drop him at his house when a Passat car emerged from nowhere and blocked his car.

They blindfolded him and forcefully abducted him to an unknown destination. They later demanded a ransom of N10M. However, N2M was later paid while they collected other personal accessories. He was finally dropped at Okota on the third day.

The IGP said the rich kidnapper accepts payments in instalments until the ransom is paid in full. Evans has also kept a hostage for half a year while waiting for a ransom to be paid.

He is also married to Uchenna Precious Onwuamadike who lives in Accra. They have five children.

She has told the Vanguard, I was not aware that he was into kidnapping and all the criminal acts he has been associated with now".

"All I know about his business is that he was into haulage, buying engine and spare parts for trucks and imports exhaust pipes.

That was what he told me. The reason he kept me in Ghana was because he said our children should get quality education".

Story by Ghana|myjoyonline.com
President Akufo-Addo has sworn in the former Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood as a member of the Council of State.

This comes about two weeks after the President announced her appointment to the Council through a letter to the Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye.

Speaking at the swearing in, Nana Akufo-Addo said the former Chief Justice has a rich vein of information and experience to help him in the administration of the country.

He said he was confident that Georgina Wood will do a good job for the country. In her address, Georgina Wood expressed her appreciation to the president for the honour, and pledged her loyalty to Ghanaians and the constitution.

I do recognize that largely, the constitutional role of the Council of State is consultative and advisory, but I do also recognize the crucial importance it plays in the governance of this nation and having listened to you a number of times spell out your vision and the goals that you have for this country, job creation, improving the economy, job creation and fight against corruption and impunity, all which are meant to enhance the lives of the good people of Ghana, Mr. President you can count on my loyalty to the people of Ghana and to the constitution, she said.

Following her swearing in, Georgina Wood joins the Juabenhene Nana Otuo Siriboe II, Sam Okudzeto, Nana Kofi Obiri Egyir II, Stanley Adjiri Blankson, Mrs Alberta Cudjoe, Alhaji Aminu Amadu, Dr. Margaret Amoakohene, Alhaji Sahanun Moqtar, Mrs. Georgina Kusi, Alhaji Sule Yiremiah, and Mr. Paa Kofi Ansong who are all members of the council.

Other members are Lt. General J.B. Danquah, a former Chief of Defence Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, and Nana Owusu Nsiah, a former Inspector General of Police.

The President of the National House of Chiefs, Togbe Afede XIV, is also an ex-officio member of the Council in furtherance of Article 89(2) (b).

-Citifmonline
Goulaleu (CAte d'Ivoire) (AFP) - Hurbain Souomi was only five years old, but he still remembers the day he trekked 50 kilometres (30 miles) across the border into Liberia to escape gunfire strafing his Ivory Coast village.

"There was shooting everywhere. My big sister rounded us up and we ran away to go to Liberia," he recalled, caught up in a wave of violence linked to a disputed 2010 presidential election that would leave 3,000 people dead.

Now 11, Hurbain is nervous but excited to go home, ending six years as one of around 1,000 children growing up in neighbouring Liberia in refugee camps while separated from their families.

Setting off from Bahn, a village in northern Liberia, a Red Cross convoy snakes through the intensely green landscape of this border region to Goulaleu, where Hurbain was born in western Ivory Coast.

Accompanied by his two brothers Thierry, 10, and Oscar, 9, tears stream down Hurbain's face as a welcome party appears for the Souomis, with villagers waving mango tree leaves and rice plants in a festive ritual.

One old man dressed in traditional robes immediately jumps up, dancing towards the three little boys emerging from the Red Cross 4x4.

Sister died in camp

"My name is Lah Keuhoua Justin, and I am their grandad," he said. "I can't find the words to express my happiness to find myself in front of my grandchildren."

Justin said he didn't have the strength to walk the long distance across the border, but remembers the day they set off.

"We didn't have any idea where they went. Because of the Red Cross we eventually found out that they were in a Liberian refugee camp.

"Unfortunately their sister who took them over there died in the camp," he told AFP.

The children's mother also died giving birth not long after they left, their grandfather explained, and though their father was in hospital he would be home soon.

Hurbain is confused about his older sister's whereabouts. "I don't really know where she is," he says. He is too young to remember.

In his grandfather's arms, he closes his eyes.

Foster families' anguish

Since 2011, the Red Cross has reunited 300 children with their families, explains Varney Bawn, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Liberia.

Six-year-old Estelle and 10-year-old Salomon are reunited with their father Robert Sankan Rufin in Goulaleu village in western Ivory Coast after living with a foster family in Liberia for six years

"This is the fourth time we are reunifying Ivorian children with their parents this year," he told AFP.

The number of Ivorians living in Liberian refugee camps peaked at 220,000 following the 2010-11 violence, but has now dwindled to around 14,000.

The anguish is not only among families who have lost precious years with their children, but for the foster parents who took in the scared and unaccompanied youngsters who arrived at refugee camps on the Liberian side.

"I love these children," said Koulahi Sonni, who has been caring for 10-year-old Salomon and 6-year-old Estelle.

"I don't know how I will see them again."

The children's mother made it to the camp, but died weeks after giving birth to Estelle, leaving them in Sonni's hands.

'I searched everywhere'

As he waited for their return, their father Robert Sankan Rufin recalled the terrible years when he could not trace his children and had no idea about their fate.

"When there was an attack here, I told my wife to take the children and get ahead of me to Liberia. After I crossed, I started looking for them.

"I searched in almost all the refugee camps, but I did not find them," he told AFP.

After Red Cross staff passed through with photos of Salomon, he recognised his son.

Estelle has never lived in Ivory Coast and Salomon will barely remember it, but the brother and sister will now begin the process of getting to know their family.
Rome (AFP) - A Nigerian human trafficker known as "Rambo" has been arrested in Italy on charges of torturing and killing migrants held captive in Libya, Italian police said Tuesday.

The suspect named John Ogais, 25, was traced to a reception centre in Calabria in southern Italy and clapped in cuffs on charges of belonging to a transnational smuggling ring, specialising in human trafficking, murder and rape.

Detectives in Agrigento in Sicily have pulled together witness testimony from migrants who accuse Ogais of torturing people held captive in a makeshift prison, with at least two men reportedly dying at his hands.

Many of those rescued from flimsy dinghies in the Mediterranean as they try to make the perilous trip to Europe bear torture scars and tell rescuers they had no choice but to flee for their lives from the crisis-hit African country.

"While I was inside that ghetto, where it was impossible to escape, I heard that a man who called himself Rambo had killed a migrant," one of the witnesses said according to the police statement.

"My cousin and others tried to escape but they were caught and tortured nearly to death," the witness said.

Another said: "Once I saw Rambo the Nigerian kill a migrant he had gagged and tortured for a long time", while yet another said he "personally saw two people beaten to death, an underage boy and a man killed by Rambo".

Extortion, murder

The latter was "killed by Rambo in front of the victim's brother. When he killed the man Rambo pointed a gun at the brother and told him not to tell his family anything and to get them to immediately send money" for their release.

Ogais was found staying at a reception centre in Isola di Capo Rizzuto, one of the largest such centres in Italy, and the scene of mass arrests last month over a mafia scandal which capitalised on asylum seekers.

Libya has long been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe and people smugglers have stepped up their lucrative business in the chaos which has engulfed the country since its 2011 revolution.

People rescued at sea have described harrowing ransom situations in which captors lock up migrants and demand their families send money to buy their freedom. Those who fail to comply are executed.

Reports have also emerged of ruthless traffickers burying people alive on the beaches of Libya if they refuse to board unseaworthy dinghies and overcrowded boats.

Despite the dangers, many of those arriving in Libya -- fleeing conflict or poverty -- find it almost impossible to get out again, if not by sea.

According to the UN's International Organization for Migration, there are between 700,000 and one million people in Libya awaiting their chance to cross.

Over 77,000 people have tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe since the beginning of the year, the UN's refugee agency said Tuesday, while close to 2,000 people have died trying.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

The former Mayor of Accra, Dr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije, has staged a blistering defense and refuted claims by Dr. Bruce Wartford Snr that he owes him, asking him to come forward with evidence.

His rebuttal follows an allegation by the American national that Okoe Vanderpuije owes him a whopping $200,000, after he went into partnership with him, but Dr. Vanderpuije has debunked the claim as being false, because it cannot be substantiated.

Although Dr. Bruce did not show any evidence, he told The Chronicle, from his base in the United States of America (USA) through his surrogate, Mr. Yaw Kyei in Kumasi, that Mr. Alfred Okoe Vanderpuije owes him $200,000.00, claiming this happened after he (Dr. Watford) delivered a consignment to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), an allegation Okoe has vehemently rubbished.

But the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), who is now the Member of Parliament for Ablekumah South in the Greater Accra Region, has put up the defense that the partnership between he and Bruce ended as soon as he took over as AMA boss.

Speaking to The Chronicle, Okoe Vanderpuije accused Wartford of selling-off a house which did not belong to him, without the knowledge of Mr. Siaw Agyapong, CEO of Zoomlion Ghana Limited.

According to Okoe Vanderpuije, Bruce sold the house which his late wife furnished without informing either he or Mr. Agyapong.

He has, however, challenged Bruce Wartford to come forward with documentary evidence, which indicates that they, indeed, had a contract to honour.

From Richard Owusu-Akyaw, Kumasi
Tarkwa (W/R), June 20, GNA - AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem (AAI) mine has refurbished an infirmary at a total cost of GHE27,683.36 for inmates at the Tarkwa local prison to enable them access the primary health care.

The infirmary which used to be in a deplorable state has also been stocked with modern medical equipments and drugs.

Handing over the keys of the facility to the officer in charge of the prison, Mr Jasper Musadaizwa, Managing Director, said because the company attaches a lot of importance to health issues his predecessor, Mr Sicelo Ntuli promised to take up this project when he paid a familiarization visit to the prison.

Mr Musadaizwa said AAI had earlier on donated eight sets of 40 inch flat screen televisions and twenty wall fans which have since been mounted in the facility.

He said since the mine since inception of the community development programme considered primary health care as a major component of its community development programme.

Mr Musadaizwa said this has led to the provision of a health post, organizing periodic health outreach for its nineteen host communities, spraying of houses within the municipality by their malaria control programme, supply of intravenous medication and the construction of a voluntary counselling testing centre at the Apinto Government Hospital.

He said the AAI has began launching its malaria control programme in their host communities at a budget cost of GHE340,000.00.

He said for 2017 they have committed an amount of GHE1,062,983.36 towards health and sanitation projects.

Mr Musadaizwa on behalf of AAI pledged to re-equip the skills development centre at the Tarkwa prison to enable the inmates acquire some skills before they complete their prison sentence.

Mr Gilbert Kennedy Asmah, the Municipal Chief Executive for Tarkwa Nsueam, expressed gratitude to the management of AAI mine for their immerse contribution to the communities in which they operate.

He also promised to ensure that the skills development centre become operational as soon as possible.

Assistant Director of Prison (ADP) Mr Kwaku Ababio Ali, the officer in charge of the prison, thanked AAI mine for the gesture.

He said his office had already procured ten computers for the Information Communication Technology training centre and added that some staff from the University of Mines and Technology have stated their intension to train the inmates and officers.

Mr Ali promised to manage the facility effectively to ensure that inmates, officers and their dependents attain optimum benefit from it.

Mr Emmanuel Affelkum, the Municipal Health Director for Tarkwa Nsueam, said two physician assistants and a nurse have been sent to the run the infirmary.

GNA

By Erica Apeatua Addo, GNA
Nothing short of pure drama unfolded in the Amansie West District of the Ashanti region when some illegal miners attempted bribing a security taskforce with an amount of GHC1,300 (One-Thousand Three Hundred Ghana Cedis) during a special swoop led by the District Chief Executive (DCE) for the area.

The taskforce rejected the offer and arrested the three suspects believed to be Togolese.

They were caught in the act around the Keniago Essienkyem area of Amansie West.

The suspects will soon be put before the court to face full rigours of the law. Meanwhile, the money involved has been kept safely as evidence to be presented in court.

The DCE for Amansie West, William Bediako Asante, on Monday led a special taskforce and other security officials to some key areas in the district suspected to be Galamsey-prone.

"This was part of our sustained effort at combating the galamsay menace. In all about 9 Raft machines as well as 12 Chanfan machines were destroyed. Three people suspected to be Togolese were also apprehended," the DCE told journalists.

He revealed that the taskforce was made up of a team of police men from the Manso Nkwanta District and SWAT as well the anti-Galamsey taskforce numbering about 30.

Hon. William Bediako Asante assured nobody will be allowed to thwart the President's effort to bequeath to Ghanaians a clean and safer environment.

He warned some chiefs and people in the community to stop harbouring these miscreants or face the attendant consequences.
A leading member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) has described as false claims by party executives that it had collation centre for the December 7, 2016 polls.

Alhaji Mohammed Sani revealed that almost all the constituencies did not have any means to collate results from polling stations to the national headquarters.

His comment is in sharp contrast to claims by Deputy General Secretary (NDC) Koku Anyidoho during one of the party's dawn press conferences on Thursday December 8, 2016.

He stated that that given the results they have collated, the party is in a 'comfortable lead'.

But Alhaji Sani on Asempa FM's Ekosii Sen programme Tuesday said that comment by Mr. Anyidoho was borne out of malice.

He indicated that the comfortable lead comment was just to assuage the frustration of supporters.

We did not have a collation centre for the election. In the Ashanti region and other areas, we did not have any place to collate results he bemoaned.

Alhaji Sani who is also the former deputy Ashanti region Chairman of the NDC said the recommendations of the Kwasi Botchwey Committee only affirms their reasons which led to the party's humiliating defeat.

This notwithstanding, he called for all hands on deck to ensure a resounding victory in the 2020 elections.

We have now recognized the party belongs to the grassroots so we will correct our wrongs and move forward.

Adomonline
20.06.2017 LISTEN

From Michael Boateng, Sunyani

The Chronicle can authoritatively report that the current Medical Director at the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital would soon be replaced after serving the facility since 2009.

In its quest to have an eligible replacement, several names have come out, including Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah, but he's association with the vacant post has raised eyebrows among a section of the hospital staff.

In an interview with some concerned staff, who spoke to The Chronicle on condition of anonymity, they alleged that it would not be in the good interest of the hospital in terms of cordiality among staff, if Dr. Emmanuel Ampnsah was appointed for the position.

According to them, Dr. Amponsah and the current Medical Director, Dr. Jacob Abebrese do not have good working relations, which affected the running of the facility as was published by The Chronicle on November 11, 2013, with the headline: BA Hospital in Ruins

According to the said story, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Hospital was in a mess, following alleged factionalism that has emerged among the management staff.

Some concerned members of staff at the hospital had expressed grave concern over the manner in which the facility was being administered under the direction of the Medical Director, Dr. Jacob Abebrese.

In the said Publication, the concerned members of staff accused the Medical Director of gross mismanagement, seeking his own selfish interests, and resorting to misplaced priorities in the handling of affairs at the facility, which they claim, could lead to the collapse of the hospital if urgent steps were not taken by the advisory board to forestall the situation.

The concerned members of staff also alleged that since taking over the administration of the facility in 2009, he had embarked upon some projects which were not immediately viable and important, as compared to others, such as the construction of a garage at the Accident and Emergency (A&E) section, and converting the A&E doctors' rest room into an office.

When Dr. Jacob Abebrese, was contacted at the time, he described the attitude of the 'so-called concerned staff as dishonorable, explaining that the group was made up of a few people at the facility, who are aspiring to occupy his position. He indicated that those people were trying to damage his reputation and make him unpopular in the eyes of the public, so that he would be relieved of his post.

The Medical Director alleged that there was a political power play in the whole situation, saying You would be surprised to note that partisan politics have sharply divided the staff at the facility, with Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah leading the crusade.

He further went on to say that Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah is a management member and believes he is the best person for the medical director position, however, the approach being used by him was wrong, disclosing that Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah is the Vice Chairperson of the Concerned Staff Union of the facility, whose members were accusing the Medical Director of gross mismanagement at the Regional Hospital.

Based on this perceived animosity between Dr. Jacob Abebrese and Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah at the Hospital, which was visibly displayed on the airwaves, including Ark FM, some concerned staff are appealing to the appointing authority to consider the plights of the people of the Brong-Ahafo Region, staff at the hospital and the future of the facility to appoint a unifier, qualified and competent person to superintend over the facility.

According to the concerned staff, the appointment of Dr. Amponsah would rejuvenate the previous factionalism at the hospital, which puts the facility in a mess, because the staff who were in support of Dr. Jacob Abebrese would also revolt against the administration of Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah, to the detriment of the staff, facility and the people of Brong-Ahafo region and beyond.

They emphasized that the appointment of Dr. Emmanuel Amponsah to replace Dr. Jacob Abebrese would be the worst legacy the appointing authority would have done. They believe that there are more qualified, competent and better people currently at the hospital who can best manage the hospital to the admiration of the public.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

Local Ghanaian contractors and businesses have been tasked to develop a spirit of excellence in the execution of contracts in order to rub shoulders with their foreign counterparts to secure major contracts

Vice President Alhaji Dr Mahamadu Bamuwiah, who gave the advice in a speech read for him by the Minister for Works and Housing, Samuel Ata Akyea, during the commissioning of a block factory in the Ashanti Region recently, said the aim of Government was to empower Ghanaians to develop a culture of excellence so as to measure up to quality in the execution of projects

He observed that the integrity of local contractors had over the past years been suspect and that the government would empower such businesses to develop competencies that would improve their capacity to deliver quality job to meet required specifications and acceptable standards.

The Erduk Concrete Product factory under the Erduk Group of Companies, located at Krapa in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality of Ashanti Region, is a one-stop-outlet for the building construction, civil engineering, real estate, haulage, mining services, sale of concrete products such as kerbs, paving blocks, culverts and Sandcrete blocks, including solid and hollow blocks of all sizes.

Veep Bawumiah reiterated that the housing sector was currently faced with a housing deficit of 1.7 million units as such an investment targeted to wipe out such deficit was great news to Government.

We recall that the Erduk Company started operation as a sole proprietorship and has expanded with this huge investment employing over 160 local artisans. As Government we see this company as a partner and will do our best to ensure it thrives to augment our one district one factory initiative.

The event brought together top hierarchy of stakeholders; including traditional rulers, Ministers of State, District and Municipal Chief Executives in the Ashanti Region and the clergy.

Notable among them were; Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia VI, Bantamahene, who represented Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Mr. Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, Serwaa Denkyi, Ejisu Juabeng MCE and a high powered delegation from the church of Pentecost, led by the Chairman, Apostle Dr. OpokuOnyinah.

Also present was a delegation from Ghacem, led by the Commercial Director, Nana Phillip Archer and the Board of Directors of Erduk Group of companies led by the Chairman, Lawyer Kwame Owusu Sekyere

Chief Executive Officer of Erduk Group of Companies, Mr. Eric Duku in his address said the company was born out of a commitment to fulfill the will of God by serving humanity as such it will continue to initiate projects and activities to boost the construction industry.

With a dedicated team of experts in every engineering and construction discipline, available resources we are here to satisfy all infrastructural needs and looking forward to working with you to deliver cost effective and aesthetically satisfying project, he assured

Mr. Duku acknowledged the support of all stakeholders such as Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and assured the company will be inspired to do more to create employment opportunity for the youth within the area and beyond.

On his part, Mr Kwame Owusu Sekyere, Board Chairman of Erduk Group of companies recounted the Company started as a retailer of Ghacem cement and ventured into iron rod products, then incorporated as a Sole Proprietorship, trading as Erduk Concrete Products and Building Works from December, 2009, until in February 2013, when it was elevated to a distributorship status of Ghacem on probation and in the month of August 2013, by deed of high Ghacem cement liftings, it was approved and elevated to a fully accredited distributorship status, giving it the mandate to distribute the product nationwide and beyond.

He said the company has expanded to include civil engineering, real estate, haulage, mining services, sale of concrete products such as kerbs, paving blocks, culverts and sandcrete blocks in a bid to meet the fast growing market.

Baffour Asare Owusu Amankwatia VI, Bantamahene, who represented the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, said the achievement of Mr. Duku should inspire other young people to take bold business decisions to create employment opportunities not only for themselves, but others.

He urged the people of Ashanti and beyond to support the company by patronizing its products

Addressing the gathering, Mr. Simon Osei Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, observed that private sector development and growth was the surest way to speed up the nation's socio-economic progress.

He indicated that the effort to reduce poverty could struggle without the active support and participation of the private sector.

That was why the government was creating the right conditions for the sector to thrive, he added.

ERDUK Group is one of the leading providers of construction services and concrete products in Ghana.

Its quality services coupled with the state of the art facilities and products have elevated the company to be second to none in Ghana and in the West African sub-region and beyond.
20.06.2017 LISTEN

The Management of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority Driver (DVLA) says the price of the new Smart Driver's Licence is still being discussed and that the public will be duly informed when a decision is taken.

A statement issued in Accra over the weekend and signed by Mr Kwasi Agyeman Busia, the Chief Executive Officer, said management was sensitive to the concerns of customers and will, therefore, come up with an affordable price. The following is the full statement;

The attention of the management of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority has been drawn to speculations by certain groups of people pertaining to the cost of the new Smart Driver's Licence about to be launched and how the Authority intends to manage the old and new Licenses.

Management wishes to explain that the price of the new Smart Driver's License is still being discussed and the public will be duly informed when a decision is made. Management assures of its sensitivity to the concerns of our customers and will, therefore, come up with an affordable price.

Management again wishes to explain that the Smart Driver's License that will be issued after the launch of the product will be used side-by-side with the old License, until the old one expires and the customer is issued with a new licence. Besides, the new License will be issued under the following conditions:

When a customer misplaces his/her license When a customer applies for a foreign license to be converted to a local one When a license becomes completely defaced, and When an applicant successfully goes through a license upgrade.

In addition to those legally mandated occasions when Authority would have no choice than to issue a new Smart Driver's License to customers, all customers who voluntarily decide to change the old license for a new one, in order to enjoy the benefits that will accrue from the use of the Smart Driver's License, will be given the opportunity to do so and will pay a reasonable amount that is being currently discussed.

Last but not the least, management wishes to explain that it was still in the process of putting strategies together to adequately educate all its major stakeholders as well as the general public when information on the new smart Driver's License inadvertently got to the press.

Management assures that it will do everything possible to ensure that all Ghanaians, especially our major stakeholders, are effectively engaged and educated before the launch of the new smart driver's license.





Centre 4th

Negligence at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital

Central Regional Teaching Hospital (Cape Coast Teaching Hospital), which is popularly known as Interburton, is the pride of the region.

However, the attitude of some health professionals threatens the confidence and pride patrons have in the hospital. Patients who are in dire need of their services are often frustrated.

My personal experience was when my baby was severely sick and visited the hospital.

On that faithful day, I rushed to the emergency ward with my seriously sick child, but to my surprise there were some doctors chatting and just looking on, as I shouted and begged them to help me.

Upon all my calls for help, none of them came to my aid until a Good Samaritan Doctor, who saw how helpless I was, attended to us and that saved my child.

Again, a patient was neglected when a doctor instructed a midwife to prepare her for surgery. She, however, went on to do her own thing instead of adhering to the doctor's instruction, which nearly cost the life of the patient.

The neglect was extended to one of their own, a Senior Nurse, who a doctor mistook as an ordinary person.

The said patient underwent a surgical operation (evacuation of the feutus after a miscarriage). Unfortunately, she was not given any anesthesia (substance to relieve pain).

As the surgery was on-going, the patient could not withstand the pain and protested, but this rather infuriated the doctor, who threatened to leave her in that situation. True to his word, the doctor left her in that condition.

These and many others, which went on unnoticed have resulted in the death of breadwinners in many families. Pathetically, these medical professionals are usually left unpunished.

I am, therefore, appealing to the Ministry of Health to monitor the activities of some Medical Officers at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital in order to get rid of those unprofessional doctors from the hospital, so as to save the image of this enviable health facility.

Akosua Amponsah,

Kawanopado,

Cape Coast.
A group, calling itself Concerned Citizens of Savelugu-Nanton Municipality in the Northern Region, has called on traditional authorities, religious leaders, party executives and supporters, youth groups, and all well-meaning stakeholders in the area, to take bold steps to restrain the angry supporters of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), who are causing tension and retarding the development of the Municipality.

The NPP youth, backed by some constituency executives, have, in the last two months, staged a series of demonstrations against the President's Municipal Chief Executive (MDC) nominee for Savelugu-Nanton, Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, even though she had already been confirmed by the assembly members, with an overwhelming 78% majority votes.

Since her confirmation, Hajia Ayishetu Seidu, unlike her colleagues in other districts in the region, is yet to peacefully assume office to champion the development of the area.

The Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC), on June 14, this year, braved the storm and deployed heavy security to escort the MCE to commence work for the first time, but the move hit a snag, as it further infuriated the irate youth.

The NPP youth, the next day (Thursday 15th June 2017), went berserk, locking up the offices of the Savelugu-Nanton Municipal Assembly, in a bid to prevent the female MCE from coming to the office again.

Not even the application of maximum force from a combined team of armed military and police deployed to the scene could deter the angry NPP youth, as they pelted the security personnel with stones, and even ended locking up one of the police officers who had tried to restrain them from locking up the offices.

Their behaviour compelled the security personnel to fire rubber bullets and warning shots, and also seized their motorbikes. Even though there is still heavy security presence at the assembly complex, the MCE has still not been able to return to office, as the youth have vowed to resist her through every means possible, until her appointment is revoked by the President.

However, the Concerned Citizens of Savelugu-Nanton are calling for calm in the municipality, and the acceptance of Hajia Ayishetu Seidu as the confirmed MCE, and help her to advance the development agenda of the area.

At a press conference held at Savelugu to make the appeal, the group also suggested the use of dialogue to resolve the differences, to enable Hajia Ayishetu to start work as the MCE for the area, for the smooth implementation of the policies and programmes of the ruling NPP government.

The spokesperson for the group, who doubles as the Nanton Constituency NPP Communications Director, Mr. Alhassan Abdul Lateef, pleaded with the two members of Parliament (MPs) for Savelugu and Nanton constituencies to use their positions to prevail on the youth to respect the decision of the President and support the MCE, to start the implementation of the good policies and programmes of the government.

The group maintained that any further insecurity, violence and disorder in the Municipality, would derail the development opportunities the people could have benefited from the ruling government.

According to the group, it was high time the youth realised that Hajia Ayishetu was the legitimate MCE for the area, since she was duly confirmed by the assembly members, who are the true representatives of the people.

As ordinary members of this local government area, we have committed to make it known that the needless dragging of matters will not affect the person and personality of the confirmed MCE, but the entirety of the municipality.

Meanwhile, as some groups are fighting for calmness to prevail, the MP for Savelugu, Mohammed Abdul Samed Gunu, seems to be firing from all angles, apportioning blame and justifying the actions of the youth.

He accused the Chairman of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) Selection Committee, Peter Mac Manu, as the cause of the chaos in the area.

According to him, Mr. Mac Manu failed to heed the plea of the constituents, who were against the candidature of Hajia Ayishetu Seidu. He has also predicted doom for the NPP in Savelugu in the 2020 general elections.

From Edmond Gyebi, Tamale
Kinshasa (AFP) - The UN accused DR Congo on Tuesday of backing a militia that has mutilated toddlers and hacked pregnant women in the troubled Kasai region as the Catholic Church put the death toll there at more than 3,300.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels)," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The new group "has carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups," Zeid said.

"My team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off. Many babies had machete wounds and severe burns ... At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their foetuses mutilated."

A UN official told AFP that it was unclear which authorities were behind the new militia group.

Some 1.3 million people are estimated by the United Nations to have fled their homes in eight months of spiralling unrest in Democratic Republic of Congo's central Kasai.

The violence began in September when security forces moved in against followers of Kamwina Nsapu -- who had been killed a month earlier -- rebelling against the increasing authority of the central government.

Earlier Tuesday, the papal envoy to DR Congo said in a report that 3,383 people have been killed since October in Kasai, a far higher toll than the UN's previous figure of 400 dead.

The church report dated June 19 said 20 villages had been "completely destroyed", 10 of them by the DRC armed forces (FARDC), four by the tribal militias and six by unidentified forces.

It mentioned 30 mass graves, while the UN mission has spoken of 42.

Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chieftain in territory near the southern border with Angola, had openly challenged the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government, provoking a crackdown by security forces.

UN wants independent probe

Interviews conducted by UN rights experts found evidence of mutilation using machetes

Last February, the UN's Congo mission MONUSCO accused the Kamwina Nsapu militia of "atrocities ... including the recruiting and use of child soldiers," but also condemned "a disproportionate use of force" by the FARDC.

Two Western experts sent to investigate the conflict by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres went missing in March. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave by peacekeepers a fortnight later, one of them decapitated.

The government blamed the tribal militia for their murders.

On Tuesday, Zeid called for an "independent, international investigation" to be set up to look into the situation in the region.

But government spokesman Lambert Mende said DR Congo "is not disposed to agree to the idea of deploying an international committee of inquiry on its territory" that would function independently of Congolese bodies.

Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa-Likulia instead told the UN council in Geneva that the Kinshasa government would allow UN investigators to help a national probe into the abuses.

She insisted Kamwina Nsapu rebels were behind the "true human slaughter" in the Kasai and said that 1,333 civilians and 289 police had been killed in the unrest.

The UN quoted witnesses as saying local authorities, and in some cases "state agents" and members of local units of the national army and police forces, had armed and organised the Bana Mura militia.

In one case, a "well-known" local leader reportedly provided machetes, hunting rifles and fuel to Bana Mura militia members for their attack on the village of Cinq on April 24, in which dozens of men, women and children were reportedly shot, hacked or burned to death, Zeid said.

"Hundreds of assailants also allegedly attacked the main health centre in the village and killed some 90 patients, medical personnel and others," he said, adding that more than 20 other villages had faced similar attacks.
AngloGold Ashanti (Ghana) Limited (the Company) wishes to inform the general public that it has come to its notice that some parties and/or individuals, unrelated to the Company, have been posting online job vacancies in the name of the Company and its subsidiary, AngloGold Ashanti (Iduapriem) Limited.

These individuals and/or companies write to unsuspecting job seekers either on a fraudulently designed AngloGold Ashanti letterhead or the letterhead of an alleged South African mining and Construction company known as Belko-SA Mining & Construction Company, which claims to have branches in Tarkwa, Obuasi and South Africa.

These job vacancies are false and those involved have not been contracted to recruit on behalf of the Company or its subsidiary, AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Limited. All job opportunities in the Company and its subsidiaries are published on the Careers Page of the Companys official website www.anglogoldashanti.com

The general public is strongly advised not to respond to such vacancy advertisements. Persons may contact telephone numbers +233302743400-1 to verify the genuineness of any job vacancy advertisement.

Please take further note that AngloGold Ashanti will never request payment of any fees as part of its recruitment process. If any member of the public has fallen victim to this scam, please report to the Police. The Company has reported this to the appropriate authorities and are working with them to bring the perpetrators to book.
I have become aware of a scurrilous insinuation published by 3news.com that 'I kept vital information to my chest' and refused to release same to party communicators whiles serving as Minister for Communications.

Come again 3news.com and Dr Zuberu, I Did My Job Very Well as Communications Minister

This is untrue and most unfortunate, particularly at this time that our great party the National Democratic Congress is embarking on a healing process to recapture power in 2020.

In the tone and spirit of this objective, I wish to inform Dr Zuberu and all interested parties that to the best of our knowledge every information that was available to the ministry and fit for public consumption was released to our communicators.

We published a comprehensive book of government's achievements titled "Accounting To The People" (Greenbook), we regularly provided speaking notes on topical issues to communicators on several platforms which included platforms with elected Executives of our party, and we also disseminated widely, press statements on topical issues.

Furthermore, we embarked upon the innovative Government for The People (G4P) fora across the ten regions of Ghana ,not once, and additionally hosted series of live press briefings with the view to providing adequate information which were available to the Ministry of Communications to both citizens and party communicators. The list is endless.

As I have already indicated, I am guided by the tone and spirit of our noble and collective desire to heal, rejuvenate, reorganize, and to recapture power in the next three years and six months ahead.

I hope this provides enough information to dispel any wrong impression created by the said publication by 3news.com .

Edward Kofi Omane Boamah (Dr)

Yours-In-The-Service-of-Country-and-Party

Issued on Tuesday, 20th June, 2017
20.06.2017 LISTEN

A Leading Contender for the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) National Women's Organizer's position, Mad. Kate Gyamfuaa, has lauded the newly sworn in Chief Justice, Mad. Sophia Akuffo, for her lead role in the empowerment of women in the country.

Mad. Kate Gyamfuaa says the appointment of another female Chief Justice by the President in succession is a demonstration of the leadership capabilities of women in Ghana.

The leading NPP women's aspirant said she was very hopeful that the new CJ will continue the goodworks of her predecessor, Mad. Georgina Theodore Woode, whose reign saw massive facelift in the Judiciary.

Mad. Gyamfuaa, who is also the former National Deputy Women's Organizer, therefore declared her readiness to work hard in complimenting the efforts of Ghana's two illustrious female leaders and others alike in improving the development and contributions of women in governance and socioeconomic development.

The aspirant has expertise in political leadership, having worked at various levels of the NPP in ensuring growth of the party.

She has been a member of the National Executive Committee(NEC), National Council of Patrons, Eminent Group of Financiers, Life Patron of the Eastern Regional Council of Elders and Former Women's Organizer for the Akwatia Constituency.

The aspirant is also the Founder and Leader of the NPP Women For Change, the Wednesday's Club and Life Patron of the Eastern Regional Women's Wing of the party.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - France and the United States have reached agreement on a draft UN resolution that would pave the way for the deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region, diplomats said Tuesday.

A vote at the UN Security Council could take place as early as Wednesday on the draft resolution that welcomes the deployment but does not give it full UN authorization, according to the agreed text seen by AFP.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- which make up the G5 -- agreed in March to set up a special counter-terrorism operation of 5,000 troops for the Sahel region.

France had requested that the Security Council authorize the force in a first draft text circulated two weeks ago that would have given the G5 troops a UN mandate to "use all necessary means" to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and people smuggling.

The United States however had opposed UN authorization for the force, arguing that it was not legally necessary and that the mandate was too broad and lacking in precision.

The new draft resolution "welcomes the deployment" of the G5 force "with a view to restoring peace and security in the Sahel region" and drops a provision that invoked chapter 7 of the UN charter, which authorizes the use of force.

The United States had argued that a simple statement welcoming the regional force would have been sufficient, but France insisted that a full resolution was needed in line with a request from the African Union.

France carried out a military intervention in Mali in 2013 to drive out jihadist groups, some of which were linked to Al-Qaeda, which had seized key cities in the country's north.

Although the Islamists have been largely ousted from the north, jihadist groups continue to mount attacks on civilians and UN forces in violence that has engulfed parts of central Mali.
Every day many people, around the world, are compelled to flee their home or country for fear of persecution or to escape the effects of natural or man-made disasters. These people known as refugees are confronted with numerous challenges notably lack educational facilities for their children, shelters, work and skills. Their plights have been part of the numerous concerns of the International Community for a long time resulting in the adoption of the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention.

Africa Refugee Day, designated by the Organization of African Unity (OAU) has been widespread and marked on June 20 for a long time. And the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to express its solidarity with Africa on December 4, 2000.

The General Assembly therefore decided that June 20 would be celebrated as World Refugee Day from 2001 onwards. The Day was chosen to bring to the fore the predicaments of the millions of refugees in the world.

According to the United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), there are 65.3 million forcibly displaced people around the world; 86% of worlds refugees are hosted by developing countries and that the worlds largest refugee camp is located in Dadaab, Kenya, which is home to more than 329 000 people.

We, as people, should not for a moment fold our hands while our fellow human beings are suffering due to circumstances they are not responsible for. However as long as the root causes of their misfortunes are not addressed; the world will continue to host increasing number of refugees.

The time is now for the world to rethink its overall system of governance characterized by unjust economic relation, dishonesty for personal gains among other.

As we are commemorating World Refugee Day, the people of South Sudan are enduring widespread violence due to power struggle in that country which got independence barely 5 years ago.

AASU calls on the African Union (AU) to be further involved in the resolution of crises in Africa particularly in South Sudans conflict.

Let us genuinely support refugees!

Let us adopt policies and programmes in the interest of the majority!

Signed:

Peter Kwasi KODJIE

Secretary General

All-Africa Students Union (AASU)

Key Facts:

The civil war in Syria has led to one of the worst humanitarian crises of our lifetime.

More than 11 million Syrians are currently displaced. This amounts to 45% of the Syrian population.

86% of the world's refugees are hosted by developing countries.

This number has jumped by 16% in the last decade. Refugees only account for a tiny percentage of overall immigration.

The worlds largest refugee camp is located in Dadaab, Kenya, which is home to more than 329,000 people.

The Dadaab refugee camp was been threatened with closures due to potential security risks.

Of the 20 million refugees worldwide, 51% are under the age of 18.

This is the highest number of child refugees since World War II.

The first-ever Refugee Team competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

The team was comprised of athletes from Ethiopia, South Sudan, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Syria.

How You Can Help Share this article on Facebook or Twitter to spread the word about the millions of refugees that need support. Choose a project that speaks to you from the list below. GlobalGiving has a number of partners working on the ground to provide support in various waysfrom empowering refugees by sharing to stories to ensuring access to food for familiesand you can support any one of them today.

A refugee is someone who fled his or her home and country owing to a well-founded fear of persecution because of his/her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, according to the United Nations 1951 Refugee Convention. Many refugees are in exile to escape the effects of natural or human-made disasters.
Ghana needs a whopping $200 million to renovate dilapidated basic school structures across the country, Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh has said.

According to him, the country is sitting on a time-bomb and needs urgent action to renovate these structures.

Speaking on the floor of Parliament, Tuesday, the Minister said 20 of such deplorable schools are currently receiving attention as the country begins the execution of emergency projects across the country.

One of the 20 includes, the deadly Breman Jamra School building which collapsed and killed six pupils early January.

His response comes at a time when Joy News has revealed that pupils of Breman Jamra have been relocated to yet another death-trap structure as the Assembly races against time to renovate the old structure.

Joy News Justice Baidoo who followed up on the tragic Breman Jamra school building disaster reported the community may well be thrown into another disaster if nothing is done about the present classroom block into which the pupils have been relocated.

Under a leaky roof, and in a cracked building the pupils are unable to concentrate and study. What they do is to live in fear of experiencing the same disaster which led to the death of six other pupils in January this year.

The DCE of Odoben Brakwa Isaac Odoom confirmed the poor state of the building into which the pupils have been relocated but promised the old structure which collapsed on the school pupils will be completed in a weeks time.

When completed, the pupils will be brought back into the renovated building, he promised.

When the disaster happened in January, the Education Minister Mathew Opoku Prempeh visited the site and promised a quick fix solution to assuage the pain of the community members.

After more than four months, questions have been asked about the commitment of the government and the minister in providing solution to the problem.

On the floor of Parliament, the Minister minced no words about his commitment to resolve the deadly infrastructural challenges bedeviling basic schools across the country.

My first assignment unfortunately as a Minister of Education was to attend to a collapsed school building in the Central Region. Very deplorable.

We have done a comprehensive review of all these structures and we need a massive injection of funds to be able to attend to them.

We are coming up with a tender to rehabilitate the serious ones, about 20 of them.

Its a sitting time-bomb that we have to address and avert our minds to. So the government, I know for a fact is taking urgent steps to secure funding. It is going to cost us in a region of $200 million to fix it, he said.

As a first step to solving the problem, he said they have indicated in the GETFund formula, emergency projects that have to be attended to as urgently as possible.

The ranking member on the Education Committee of Parliament, Peter Notsu Kotoe said the country needs some international assistance in terms of funding to be able to resolve the problem.

He suspects the infrastructural defects are so widespread, the $200 million referred to by the minister will not be enough.

He called for a roadmap and urgent steps to be taken to address the problem.

Story by Ghana|Myjoyonline.com|Nathan Gadugah
Khartoum (AFP) - Sudanese authorities on Tuesday brought home from Libya eight children, including a one-year-old, whose parents are allegedly members of the Islamic State group.

The children were flown into Khartoum from the Libyan capital Tripoli, an AFP correspondent said.

"Thanks be to Allah, today eight children," were brought back from Libya, Brigadier Tijani Ibrahim of Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NSS) told reporters.

Six of the children will be handed over to relatives while the state will take care of the other two because authorities could not find any next of kin, he said.

Ibrahim said the children were brought out of Libya with help from the Libyan Red Crescent, and that four more children were expected to be flown back to Sudan at an unspecified time.

A representative for the Sudanese community in the Libyan city of Misrata, Motaz Abbas, accompanied the children home.

He said their parents "are members of the Islamic State group".

"Their mothers have been arrested by Libyan authorities and their fathers are listed as missing," Abbas said.

Libya descended into chaos following the NATO-backed ouster of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and militias vying for control of its vast oil wealth.

The infighting and lawlessness allowed extremist groups such as IS to seize several coastal regions, giving the jihadists a toehold on Europe's doorstep.

In February a four-month-old baby girl born to Sudanese parents who were IS fighters in Libya was also brought home and entrusted to the care of her grandfather.

Her mother and father were killed during fighting in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, which IS had transformed into a bastion to train jihadists before pro-government forces retook it in December 2016.

Sudanese officials says dozens of young Sudanese have joined IS in Libya, Syria and Iraq.
Accra, June 20, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday held his first meeting with the Council of State, urging the members of the Council to lend him the needed support to meet the aspirations of Ghanaians.

'The Principal responsibility that I have is to lead the government that is going to get our economy working again and that is the way that our young men and women are going to get jobs I am counting on all of you to give me the maximum assistance so that that brighter future that the Ghanaian people are expecting, that led them to vote for me and my party, on the 7th of December, will be realised,' he said.

The President had earlier on sworn into the Council of State, the immediate former Chief Justice Georgina Theodora Wood, who retired from that office, a fortnight ago. Her induction into the Council completes the mandatory 25-man body that would lend advice to the president on pertinent issues affecting the nation.

He thanked the Council of State for the efficient and expeditious manner that they had dealt with all the appointments that had been referred to it and for the pieces of advice they had given him.

The President said he was particularly pleased that the Council had initiated moves to examine the effects of the galamsey phenomenon across country, saying that this 'signaled your concern and determination to be part of the solution to the problem of the galamsey phenomenon.'

He reminded the members of the importance of the Council of State in Ghana's governance landscape, but urged them to ensure that their activities do not clog the operations of government and other institutions of our Republic.

'I believe that there is an underlying premise which is about the quality of those who should be members of this body - men and women of experience. People who know what is required to be done about the welfare of the Ghanaian people and therefore, the powers that you have would be exercised with circumspection.

'The Constitution requires that you meet in camera largely because of the confidential nature of the advice that you give the President or any other institution but again, where you think that it is appropriate, you can open your doors to the public for them to come and witness your proceedings,' he said.

'So it is clear that you are playing an extremely important role in the governance of our nation and it is underlined by these constitutional provisions,' the President added.

Fortunately for the nation, President Akufo-Addo said, the current composition of the council was reflective of a very broad spectrum of very eminent citizens of Ghana drawn from political life, public life, traditional authorities, security services, people from the world of business, other professions - a very broad spectrum of people who had come together and collectively meeting to give meaningful advice to the President and the various institutions.

'I am counting on you a lot to assist me. These are very heavy responsibilities that are imposed upon the President under our constitutional order. He is the executive and his authority is widespread.

'It is important that any human being given the power that has been reserved for the President under our constitution had people who can provide the needed support and be credible in order to make such interventions,' he said.

GNA

By Ken Sackey, GNA
Accra, June 20, GNA - President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday swore-in the former Chief Justice, Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, into the Council of State as the last of the 25-member council.

This is in accordance with Article 89 (2) of the 1992 Constitution, which establishes the Council of State to, requiring a former Chief Justice to be part of the Council.

President Akufo-Addo administered to Justice Georgina Wood the oaths of allegiance, secrecy, and that of membership to the Council.

She retired from office early this month as the first woman to have headed the Judiciary and the longest to have served in that capacity, during which she swore into office three Presidents.

President Akufo-Addo commended her for her unique contribution to the development of the country, expressing optimism that her experience would enrich the work of the council.

"I think that this is a body that will benefit considerably from your experience from all that you have been doing in your life, up till now.

'Myself and my government will cooperate with you fully. My doors are always open to you. I want us to work in a healthy and constructive manner and push forward the agenda of Ghana," he said.

Justice Wood on her part thanked President Akufo-Addo for the honour done her to serve on the council of State, assuring of her full cooperation and assistance in the service of the country.

"Mr President, I do recognise that largely, the constitutional role of the Council of State is consultative and excellent advisory. I have listened to you a number of times, spell out your goals for this country.

Mr President you can count on my loyalty to the people of Ghana and my modest contribution to the other members of the Council," she said.

She promised to serve the government and the country faithfully and work with her colleague members to improve the governance in the country.

The Chairman of the Council of State, Nana Otuo Siribuor, welcomed Justice Wood and thanked the President for strengthening the Council with her inclusion.

GNA

By Ken Sackey, GNA
20.06.2017 LISTEN

Accra, June 20, GNA - The Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mrs Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, has said the Ministry would mount tracking devices at Vessel Monitoring Stations that would monitor fishing boats and canoes that engaged in illegal fishing on the sea.

She said it formed part of efforts to enforcing the fisheries law and regulations, adding 'We will set up vessel monitoring stations that will track fishing activities'.

The Sector Minister made this known at a Stakeholders Meeting on Fisheries Law Enforcement in Accra, on Tuesday, to dialogue on finding solutions to unreported and unregulated fishing practices in the country.

Mrs Quaye said: 'There are two vessel monitoring stations in Ghana currently and these machines take video coverage of fishermen who practice light fishing on the sea, therefore, the culprits when captured in the video, would be arrested and prosecuted'.

She said it had constituted a taskforce to remove all Chinese and Korean trawlers from the sea and the move was in response to concerns raised by some local fishermen about Chinese invasion on the sea and their illegal practices of using bamboo and light to attract and catch fish.

Ms Zenator Agyemang Rawlings, the Member Parliament (MP) for Korle Klortey, who participated in the forum, expressed concern about indiscriminate dumping of rubbish in drains, especially plastics that ended up in the sea.

She noted that the lagoons entered the sea and eventually, the plastics ended up in the sea and cause havoc to the fish stock resulting in depletion of the fishes.

'I urge you all to practise proper hygiene and keep our coastlines and cities clean. When we all do this, we will once again experience bountiful harvest of fish at a less price,' she said.

Some chief fishermen and fishmongers who took part in the meeting expressed concerns about political interference and partisan politics as the bane affecting the enforcement of the fisheries laws and regulations.

They said there had been occasions where the fishery law enforcement taskforce had arrested fishermen for engaging in illegal fishing, but people often tagged those arrests as being politically-motivated and, therefore, the offenders were let off the hook.

They therefore suggested that all offenders of the fisheries laws and regulations should be made to pay huge fines or penalty to serve as deterrent to others.

Under the Collaboratory Fisheries Management, fishermen have been given the authority to regulate fishing activities in their respective areas and to deal with people practising illegal fishing methods.

Watch committee members in Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, for instance, testified that, since they made sure people did not practise light fishing in the area, it had yielded positive outcomes and enjoying bumper catch.

They suggested that the Ministry should replicate the setting up of such committees in other coastal communities, to protect marine life in the sea and other water bodies.

The meeting advised fisher folks to halt all forms of illegal fishing activities so that, the country's processed fishes would meet international standards.

The stakeholders meeting concluded on a good note with major players in the fishing industry agreeing that light fishing, use of -chemicals, under-sized fishing nets and bamboo for fishing should be barred.

Ghana has been battling light fishing for a number of years now and consensus reached by the stakeholders would help in bringing an end to all forms of illegal fishing practices in the country.

GNA

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah/ Bridget Denteh, GNA
20.06.2017 LISTEN

Accra, June 20, GNA - Mrs Elizabeth Naa Afoley Quaye, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, has warned fishmongers using Monosodium Glutamate to process expired fishes to halt the practice since it is harmful to human health.

She said fishmongers use monosodium glutamate on expired fish especially tilapia to let it look glossy to attract potential buyers.

The Sector Minister gave the warning at a Stakeholders Meeting on Fisheries Law Enforcement in Accra, on Tuesday, to deliberate on the best ways of halting unreported and unregulated fishing practices in the country

She said some fishmongers around the Volta Lake and other coastal communities had been buying rotten or expired fishes from some cold stores, the practice known in local parlance as 'Kodoso' and used Monosodium Glutamate to make them attractive to potential buyers.

The Fisheries Minister said the indiscriminate use of explosives, chemicals, under-sized fishing nets, light fishing and other aggregating devices for fishing would collapse the fisheries sector if serious and pragmatic measures were not taken to address the menace.

'The continuous use of various chemicals to harvest fish in the artisanal sector has serious health consequences for consumers.

"The practice of using chemicals is seriously wiping out our fishery resources because many of the poisoned fishes that are not harvested eventually rot at the bottom of the sea, and this pollute the environment'.

This she explained if not stopped would lead to the total collapse of the fishery industry.

She warned that individuals or fishers who would be caught in any form of illegal fishing practices would have a brush with the law.

Mrs Quaye promised to subsidise fishing nets to fishermen and canoe owners as part of efforts to enhance their work.

She also entreated all owners of seized fishing vessels to report to the Ministry for identification and collection and warned them not to indulge in any illegal fishing practices again.

The Minister said under the Collaboratory Fisheries Management, fishermen have been given the authority to regulate fishing activities in their respective areas and to deal with people practising illegal fishing methods.

She noted that light fishing affected the reproductive system of the fishes and changed the temperature of the water body and, thus, made the water uncomfortable for habitation by marine life.

She explained that the current exploitation rate of the fisheries resources was not sustainable and urged all stakeholders in the fisheries industry to collaborate to stamp out unreported and unregulated fishing practices.

The Sector Minister said that the collapse of the fishery industry would have grave consequences on the national economy such as job losses, malnutrition and other negative socio-economic repercussions that would be difficult to quantify.

In the efforts to arrest and reverse the situation, the Minister said, her outfit had developed a comprehensive Fisheries Management Plan to address the challenge.

She mentioned some key measures like the effective enforcement of Fisheries legislation, improving information on fisheries biology and stock assessment to support the re-building strategy and reducing the current levels of fishing efforts and capacity.

Other measures include protecting marine habitat to conserve biodiversity and product certification and reducing post-harvest losses.

Mrs Quaye advocated the need for fishers to collaborate with the Fisheries Law Enforcement Unit to clamp down on "galamsey in the fishing sector" for sustainable fishery conservation.

Watch Committee members in Prampram in the Greater Accra Region, testified that, their vigilance against light fishing in the area, had yielded positive outcomes and enjoying bumper catch.

They suggested that the Ministry should replicate the setting up of such committees in other coastal communities, to protect marine life in the sea and other water bodies.

The stakeholders meeting concluded ended with major players in the fishing industry agreeing that light fishing, use of -chemicals, under-sized fishing nets and bamboo for fishing should be barred.

Ghana has been battling light fishing for a number of years now and consensus reached by the stakeholders would help in bringing an end to all forms of illegal fishing practices in the country.

GNA

By Godwill Arthur-Mensah/ Bridget Denteh, GNA
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council will vote Wednesday on a draft resolution that would pave the way for the deployment of a five-nation African military force to fight jihadists in the Sahel region.

The vote was scheduled for 1400 GMT after France reached a deal with the United States on the proposed measure, which welcomes the deployment but does not give it full UN authorization, according to the agreed text seen by AFP.

Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger -- which make up the so-called G5 -- agreed in March to set up a special counter-terrorism operation of 5,000 troops for the Sahel region.

In a first text circulated two weeks ago, France had requested that the Security Council authorize the G5 force to "use all necessary means" to combat terrorism, drug trafficking and people smuggling.

The United States however had opposed UN authorization for the force, arguing that it was not legally necessary and that the mandate was too broad and lacking in precision.

The new draft resolution "welcomes the deployment" of the G5 force "with a view to restoring peace and security in the Sahel region" and drops a provision that invoked chapter 7 of the UN charter, which authorizes the use of force.

The United States had argued that a simple statement welcoming the regional force would have been sufficient, but France insisted that a full resolution was needed in line with a request from the African Union.

"We're pleased to have reached agreement with our French friends," said a spokesman for the US mission to the UN. "The outcome is a resolution that welcomes the deployment of troops that has caused so much suffering in the region."

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said the amended text was "stronger in terms of the support" it is expected to receive from council members, in a reference to US backing for the draft.

"This resolution will send a strong, very strong signal that the Security Council is united and firm against terrorism in the Sahel," Delattre told reporters.

"Such a force is more than ever needed in this region."

UN funding for the force?

Five people died in an attack Sunday on a resort near Mali's capital that was claimed by an Al Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance, the latest to shake the region.

The G5 force will have its headquarters in Mali, but will be under a separate command from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA and work in coordination with France's own 4,000-strong military presence in the region, known as Barkhane.

France had initially pushed for a report from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on much-needed logistical and financial support for the new force, but in negotiations that language was dropped.

The draft resolution instead requests that Guterres report on "challenges encountered and possible measures for further consideration" in the coming months, which could include funding.

The European Union has already agreed to give 50 million euros to the regional force, but the United States and Britain were unwilling to commit UN funds for the operation, according to diplomats.

As the leading financial contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, Washington wants to tighten overall spending.

France carried out a military intervention in Mali in 2013 to drive out jihadist groups, some of which were linked to Al-Qaeda, which had seized key cities in the country's north.

Although the Islamists have been largely ousted from the north, jihadist groups continue to mount attacks on civilians and UN forces in violence that has engulfed parts of central Mali.
Los Angeles (AFP) - Oscar-winning actor Daniel Day-Lewis, one of the most acclaimed performers of his generation, has announced he is retiring.

Citing the 60-year-old star's spokeswoman Leslee Dart, trade magazine Variety said he "will no longer be working as an actor."

"He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years," Dart said. "This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject."

Day-Lewis, a master of method acting known for being extremely selective about his roles, is the only performer to have won three best actor Oscars.

He has a yet untitled final film slated to hit theaters in December.

He earned a golden statuette for "My Left Foot" (1989), in which he plays writer and artist Christy Brown, who was confined to a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy; a second one for "There Will Be Blood" (2008), in which he plays a fierce oil man; and a third for "Lincoln" (2013).

He also earned Oscar nods for "Gangs of New York" and "In the Name of the Father."

Born in London, Day-Lewis is the son of British poet Cecil Day-Lewis and actress Jill Balcon.

He made his film debut in 1971 in "Sunday Bloody Sunday" but then turned to the stage. He appeared on screen again more than a decade later in 1982.

His strong on-screen presence and remarkable range set him apart, earning him praise from critics and audiences alike.

Some of his most memorable early roles were in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (1988) and "The Last of the Mohicans" (1992).
Shoppers and investors have one thing in common. They both love a sale. Whether it be clothing or a business, theyre always looking for bargains.

Well, it seems a retailer is now up for sale. OrotonGroup Ltd [ASX:ORL] announced this morning that numerous parties were interesting in buying the company.

As reported by The Australian Financial Review:

OrotonGroups board has now commenced a formal process to explore these options and will invite additional parties to participate in the process.

It is premature to comment in detail on potential structures, terms or outcomes, OrotonGroup said.

The 79-year old company is 21 per cent owned by the Lane family, descendants of founder Boyd Lane, and 17 per cent owned by Caledonia Funds chief investment officer Will Vicars, who was a long term non-executive director until he resigned abruptly last month.

The controlling shareholders have been under pressure from institutional investors to privatise the retailer so it can be restructured away from the glare of public markets.

What now?

Its not surprising Oroton is thinking of selling. The group said market conditions remain very competitive and challenging. Putting more pressure on the company is the lack of funding. Oroton has a $35 million facility with Westpac Banking Corp [ASX:WBC]. Yet this facility expires on 16 April, 2018.

Caledonia Funds CIO, Will Vicars, is prepared to put up $3 million to support the companys bank facility with Westpac. Yet at the moment, things are looking uncertain for the fallen retailer.

Regards,

Harje Ronngard,

Junior Analyst, Money Morning

PS: If youre interested in investing in smaller growth stocks, check out Sam Volkerings new report, Top Three Aussie Small-Cap Stocks.

Sam is a small-cap guru. Hes managed to find growth in a market where many investment professionals simply cant find any.

To get your free copy of Sams report, click here.
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.
Microphone and US Flag View Photos

In this weeks Democratic Weekly Address, Assistant Democratic Leader Representative James Clyburn (D-SC) argued the Republican healthcare bill would turn the clock back on civil rights and humaneness.

Clyburn was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

Hello. Im Congressman Jim Clyburn. I proudly represent the 6th Congressional District of South Carolina and serve as the Assistant Democratic Leader in the United States House of Representatives.

Let me begin by wishing House Majority Whip Steve Scalise a full and speedy recovery. I also wish the same for Matt Mika, the former staffer and volunteer who was also shot in last Wednesdays senseless and cowardly attack.

I cannot find sufficient words to express thanks and appreciations to Special Agents David Bailey, Crystal Griner and Henry Cabrera, members of the Dignitary Protection Corps, for their brave and sacrificial actions which contained and eliminated a clear and present danger to only God knows how many dedicated public servants. Having spent several years under their watchful protection, I know first-hand of their hard work and dedication. I wish for them speedy recoveries as well. Im keeping them and their families in my prayers.

No issue is more important to the people of America than their health, and the health of their families. And in my opinion, no issues are more important to the health care of Americans than accessibility and affordability. The ACA repeal legislation recently passed by House Republicans  without a single Democratic vote  would have devastating effects on families all across the country. President Trump pushed hard and relentlessly for its passage. Recently, however, he called the bill mean.

When President Obama proposed the ACA, he hosted a bi-partisan, bicameral town-hall type roundtable in the Blair House. It was broadcast, in real time, by C-SPAN, and when the bill was introduced in the House, it went to three committees that debated its pros and cons extensively. Republicans and Democrats offered scores of amendments and many of them were accepted.

I was serving as House Majority Whip at the time, and when the bill was debated on the floor, I called it the Civil Rights Act of the 21st century. I gave it that moniker because the ACA outlaws many forms of discrimination in health care. It outlaws discrimination against women who were often charged more for health care coverage than men. It outlawed discrimination against people with pre-existing conditions.

The ACA repeal bill that House Republicans passed and sent to the Senate would rip away health care from 23 million Americans, and raise costs and roll back protections for millions more.

Now, Senate Republicans are working in secret on their own Trumpcare bill. They wont tell you what it is, but they want you to believe its more moderate. Theres nothing moderate about undermining protections for people with pre-existing conditions by repealing the essential health benefits protections. Theres nothing moderate about gutting Medicaid by $834 billion and in the same bill give $900 billion in tax giveaways to a few wealthy families, and insurance and drug companies. Repealing the ACA would once again institutionalize the kind of discrimination against the sick and aged that has plagued hard-working families for generations. Passing the Republican bill would turn the clock back on civil rights and humaneness.

It does not have to be this way. Democrats are eager to work with our Republican colleagues to deliver accessible and affordable quality health care to all Americans, but Republicans must set aside their repeal efforts. It is my fervent hope that this is the path we choose going forward.

Thank you for listening and God bless.

The Newsmaker of the Day is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
What are the three arms of government in Nigeria and their functions? Do you know this? Check out Nigerian government structure right here!

Nigeria is a federal state with 3 levels of state power. There are - federal, state and local levels of government in Nigeria. According to Nigerian constitution, Nigeria is a presidential republic.

3 tiers of government in Nigeria

The Nigerian government structure implies that the life of a Nigerian society is controlled by people operating on various levels. This means that some of them are responsible for power in the a whole state, others are authorized to oversee control and order only in some small areas, whereas some of them are to provide lawfulness, peace, and order on the territory of all the country.

Among the levels of government in Nigeria, the most powerful is definitely the federal level.

Federal level includes such bodies as:

1. Federal Executive Council;

2. National Defence Council;

3. National Security Council;

4. National Mass Media Commission;

5. National Economic Council.

Three arms of government in Nigeria and their functions

 The Federal Executive

 The Federal Legislature

 The Judiciary

Executive power

 President

The president of Nigeria is the head of state, at the same time he acts as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He takes this position after a nationwide election for a period of 4 years and can hold office no more than for two consecutive terms. In May 2006, the Senate refused to approve a constitutional amendment that would allow a president to be elected for a third term of power.

The presidents main function is to bear responsibility for the sound job of the Nigerian government system. He is also in charge of managing the training of the Army, equipment, and skillfulness.

He answers for the readiness of the country to withstand enemies and to provide security to every Nigerian resident.

The President doesnt act as a member of the National Assembly, but he has the right to visit during its sessions and is required to approve laws in cooperation with this institution.

Nigeria current President position is held by Mohammadu Buhari.

 Vice-President

The Vice-President of Nigeria is the second most important official in the overall structure of the country's executive branch. The election of the vice president takes place at the presidential elections, as every candidate for the presidency goes to the elections along with a person who will hold the vice-presidential post. The vice-president is chosen from the same political party as the head of state himself.

READ ALSO: Solution to economic recession in Nigeria: 10 steps to be made

Under the constitution, his main function is to replace the president in case of his death, resignation or retirement.

Legislative power

The Federal Legislature is represented by the bicameral National Assembly.

 Senate

The Upper chamber is the Senate (109 senators). Senators are elected by a majority system in 36 three-mandate and one single-mandate district. The Chairman of the Senate is elected by indirect voting by senators.

 The House of Representatives

The lower Chamber is The House of Representatives (360 seats). Deputies are elected by majority system. The term of office of all deputies is 4 years.

73 seats in the Senate and 213 in the House of Representatives are under the control of pro-presidential People's Democratic Party (NDP). The National Party (conservatives)  has 28 and 95 seats respectively.

Distribution of power between the Senate and the House of Representatives in Nigeria largely follows the USA pattern. The National Assembly adopts bills by a simple majority of votes in each of the two chambers for subsequent transfer to the President of Nigeria for signature, after which the bills come into force.

If the head of the state refuses to approve the bill, it returns to the Senate and House of Representatives for further confirmation. After the second voting, if 2/3 of each chamber supports the bill, it automatically becomes one of the acting federal laws.

Judicial branch

Nigerian Supreme Court is the most respectable judicial body which functions in the country. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria heads this body. In addition to this, there are also 13 associated judges appointed by the President of Nigeria according to the recommendation of the National Council of Judges. Sharia courts operate in a number of regions throughout the whole country.

The main task of the court is to ensure compliance with legislation, strengthening the rule of law and democracy. Its decisions are not subjected to further appeal and are considered as binding for the executive and legislative authorities.

The Supreme Court considers certain categories of cases as a court and also acts as the highest appellate court, reviewing judicial acts of both the Court of Appeal and other lower federal courts.

The Supreme Court consists of the Chief Judge of Nigeria and has 21 associated judges.

Now you are understand the Nigerian Government structure and know the three main arms of the Nigerian government which are The Federal Executive, The Federal Legislature, The Judiciary.

READ ALSO: What are main features of democracy?

Source: Legit.ng
- Reno Omokri has reacted to a statement by the presidency, regarding the leader of the IPOB, Nnamdi Kanu

- The presidency had said that it does not consider Nnamdi Kanu a leader

- Reacting to the statement, Omokri said Nnamdi Kanu is more of a leader than President Buhari

Reno Omokri has faulted the presidency over comments made regarding Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra.

The presidency had in an earlier statement, said that Kanu is not one to be considered a leader.

In reaction to the presidency's comments, Omokri said: "Nnamdi Kanu has his own faults, but if the Presidency says they don't consider a man who shut down the Southeast a leader, as their statement says, it means they don't understand leadership".

According to the statement made via Facebook, the ex-aide to GEJ said: "No matter the title you have, if people do not follow you, you are not a leader. No matter the title you do not have, if people follow you, you are a leader. I think the Presidency has confused a ruler with a leader".

"Muhammadu Buhari is a ruler, but Nnamdi Kanu is a leader. A flawed leader, but still a leader nevertheless."

READ ALSO: Panic hits Kogi state as 188, 580 sign petition to recall Senator Dino Melaye

Reno Omokri in a series of posts on social media, recently reacted to several issues plaguing the nation at the moment.

He tried to point out the flaws of the Nigerian government at the moment, stating that the government's inadequacies are a major reason why the nation is unsteady.

Abdulsalami's birthday and Buhari's age scandal

In reaction to the 75th birthday celebration of General Abdulsalami Abubakar, Omokri stirred some dust over the age of President Buhari.

He said: "Yesterday General Abdulsalami Abubakar turned 75 years old. Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari, his former boss and military senior (who joined the army years before Gen. Abubakar) says he is 74.

"If I talk they will say I am a wailer! In any case, we have a President who told us last October 1st that (and I am using his exact words), 'Investors from all over the world are falling over themselves to come and do business in Nigeria.'

"This is despite the fact that under Buhari, foreign investment into Nigeria has fallen to a nine year low.

"Well I guess a man who can tell such a blatant lie can be relied upon to state his real age. Inconclusive age. Inconclusive certificate. Inconclusive elections.

"Please General Abdulsalami Abubakar, find time to advise your 'younger' brother to be more honest during this year's October 1 speech."

Senator Saraki's victory at the CCT

Lending his voice to the reaction over Nigeria's Senate president's victory at the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Omokri said: "The presidency calls the discharge of Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki by the Code of Conduct Tribunal an 'outrageous travesty of justice'.

"This is the same Presidency that was quiet when a Kano court freed the killers of evangelist Bridget Agbahime after the Kano state Attorney General withdrew the charges against them.

"I guess that was not a 'travesty of justice' to them. This is the same Presidency that sees nothing wrong with President Muhammadu Buhari hiring 13 SANs for his defense in the case challenging the authenticity of his WAEC certificate.

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"I do not need even one SAN if someone accuses me of not having my WAEC certificate. All I have to do is present it.

If it is lost all I have to do is apply to WASC or Cambridge University for a letter acknowledging that I sat for and passed my WAEC/GCE.

"This is coming only two days after the National Judicial Council exposed the Buhari Presidency as liars who lied about their appeal in the case of reinstated Justice Adeniyi Ademola and five other judges.

"That Presidency with such a record of dishonesty has the guts to point fingers at Saraki is the real outrage and travesty! The only thing good about this Presidency is Professor Yemi Osinbajo."

Watch this video in which Legit.ng visited Evans the kidnapper's house, and asked Lagosians how should the kingpin be punished?

Source: Legit.ng
- The clash reportedly led to the razing sown of a church and a mosque as well as the killing of two people

- It was learnt that the violence started when the Hausa traders refused to pay their daily levies to a task force set up to collect same

A major clash between Hausas resident in Rivers and indigenes of Onne in Eleme local government area of the state has left two people dead, reports have indicated.

Several other people also sustained injury while a church and a mosque were allegedly vandalized.

The Punch reports that members of a local government task force had gone to Opaku Park in Onne mostly inhabited by the Hausa community and asked the traders to pay their daily levies.

Part of the church that was razed and vandalised

According to the report, the tension began after one of the Hausa traders opted not to pay the daily levy.

In the fracas that ensured, a member of the task force was said to have been killed.

Legit.ng learnt that angered by the death of the community member, some indigenes were said to have joined in the fight allegedly leading to the razing of a mosque and the death of one of the Hausa traders.

READ ALSO: Billionaire kidnapper Evans advises those still in the business

The Hausas reportedly retaliated by razing down a church and vandalizing its property.

Giving a version of what led to the violence, Ledisi Menegbo, said the incident happened late Sunday, June 18 while a three-day revival program was ongoing in one of the newly established branches of The Apostolic Church Okpako, situated along Onne FOT road Rivers state.

Hausa boys from Trailer Park invaded the church well armed.

The church was said to have been vandalised in the heat of the violence

They destroyed the church building, cars parked outside the church, made away with valuable church properties, chairs, speakers and other sound equipment, money among others.

They left many wounded with varying degrees of machete and knife cuts, they walked on new born babies like normal floors, mothers were left in tears as they were separated from their babies, they killed one guy who was resisting them, some children's whereabouts yet to be known as I speak, they pushed down one of the buildings people ran in for refuge and the wall fell on people leaving many badly injured, he alleged.

Watch a video of the alleged devastation here:

He said one of the hoodlums was caught and handed over to the police, but alleged that no serious action was taken.

He also claimed that the hoodlums promised to come back to finish the work they started.

The spokesperson of the Nigeria Police Force in the state, Mr Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, but said it was a clash between Hausa traders and some members of a task force in Onne.

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He also confirmed that a mosque and a church were razed during the violence, but that peace had returned to the community.

We are aware of the development, though I am yet to get full details. We have swung into action and our men have been deployed in the area to maintain calm, he said.

Meanwhile, a 27-year-old well-trained killer identified as Nurudeen Kazeem also known as Onyabo, has been arrested by the Lagos state Rapid Respond Squad during a robbery.

Onyabo is reportedly well-known and feared by the residents of LASUIyana Iba axis as a member of the Eiye confraternity.

According to a report by police PRO, Malik Nasir, the notorious killer was reportedly hired by another man, a 30-year-old Wilfred Ehis, to help rob and killed unsuspecting delivery men.

Watch this video of a visit to the home of alleged billionaire kidnapper Evans in Lagos state:

Source: Legit.ng
- The police deploy officers to the farm of Olu Falae following an invasion by Fulani herdsmen

- A gun battle ensues between the policemen and the herdsmen who insisted that their cows would graze on the farm

- The Ondo state police spokesperson, Femi Joseph, says the policemen succeeded in driving out the herdsmen from the farm

The farm of a former secretary to the government of the federation, Mr. Olu Falae, has been invaded by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Kajola Village, in the Akure north local government area of Ondo state.

READ ALSO: 2 die, mosque and church burnt as Hausa traders allegedly clash with Rivers inidgenes

The herdsmen numbering about 10 opened also fire on some riot policemen who were deployed in the farm on the order of the commissioner of police in the state, Mrs. Hilda Harrison following the invasion.

Vanguard reports that the feud started after herdsmen over the weekend invaded Falaes farm and destroyed a portion of it.

The Afenifere chieftains then informed the police authorities in the state and 15 mobile policemen were hurriedly deployed to the farm.

However on arriving the scene, the herdsmen opened fire on the policemen and a gun battle ensued between the policemen and the herdsmen who insisted that their cows would graze on the farm.

During the gun battle, some cows were reportedly killed, while the herdsmen were said to have fled in different directions.

There was no report of casualty on from side of the policemen or the herdsmen.

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This Day reports that the herdsmen brought over 300 cows to graze on the farm.

Falaes confirmed that a portion of his farm was destroyed by the herdsmen.

He said: I invited the police to my farm because the herdsmen have been coming to the farm everyday for several weeks and they are no longer hiding.

They come into the farm around 5 a.m. till 9 a.m. and destroy the farm, so I went to the police for protection and some policemen were sent to the farm at the weekend.

They got to the farm and met three separate herds feeding fat on my crops, but when the police approached them they fired at the police.

The policemen went there to see if they could arrest them for trespassing and destroying farm produce. So, if the herdsmen fired at the police what would they do to me?

Speaking on the incident, the state police spokesperson, Femi Joseph, said the policemen succeeded in driving out the herdsmen from the farm.

Joseph said he was not aware of any exchange of gunfire by the police and the herdsmen.

He noted though no arrest had yet been made, the police was investigating the situation.

Legit.ng recalls that Olu Falae was in 2015 kidnapped by some herdsmen who were later arrested by the police and are currently facing trial.

Meanwhile, any herdsman caught breaching the anti-open grazing law in of Benue state would be dealt with according to the law, Governor Samuel Ortom has warned.

Ortom gave the warning on Monday, June 19, Makurdi while addressing members of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) and the Muslim community, who were protesting the threats issued by the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association against the new law, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

The governor said that the security agencies were ever ready to arrest anybody or group of persons that decided to resist the implementation of the law.

According to the governor, the law will be enforced fully in November after the grace period of transition which is to end in October.

In the video below, Legit.ng visits Southern Kaduna, where residents tell how herdsmen prevented them from getting Red Cross relief materials

Source: Legit.ng
- The United States ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, spoke when he paid a visit to Governor Abiola Ajimobi in Ibadan

- Mr Symington said the United States was interested in Nigeria and this was why he was visiting states within the country

The United States of America has spoken about Nigeria as the latter continues to battle with agitations from the south-eastern part of the country for secession.

According to the US ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Stuart Symington, the foreign country and one of the world powers would continue to support Nigerias unity.

Symington said his country will continue to work towards the promotion of unity in Nigeria.

Symington said the US is interested in Nigeria's unity

He described Nigeria as the strength of the worlds most populous black nation.

READ ALSO: 2 die, mosque and church burnt as Hausa traders allegedly clash with Rivers inidgenes

Vanguard reported that the ambassador made this known when he led top officials of the embassy on a working visit to the office of the governor of Oyo state, Senator Abiola Ajimobi, in Ibadan.

The envoy said that the US recognizes the strategic importance of Nigeria in Africa, adding that his visit was in the furtherance of his countrys mission to explore new frontiers of partnership for development with African countries.

This is why, he said, he was touring every part of the Nigeria.

He urged the government of Ajimobi to work with the US towards setting a new pace in socio-economic development.

This visit is not just a courtesy call; It is in continuation of Americas vision and mission. We are looking forward to working with your state to set up a new pace in development.

We are happy to be here and Im telling you that Nigeria as a country is loved by all Americans and even in the world for the sake of the unity the country uphold, he said.

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Legit.ng learnt that Ajimobi, while speaking earlier, sought the assistance of the US government in his administrations efforts to promote human capital development and technical education in the state.

The governor noted that technical education was the missing link in the countrys curriculum.

He said technical education was necessary for the countrys accelerated development.

Meanwhile, despite the hues and cries that greeted the three months quit notice given to Igbos by Arewa Youth Consultatives Forum (AYCF), a Coalition of Northern Youths has written a letter to the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, begging him to allow Ndigbo to go and have their Biafra Republic.

In a statement sent to Legit.ng, a Facebook user, Yazid Ahmed said the group lauded the peace and conflict resolution moves being done by the Acting President, but noted that it doubted the efficacy of it in bringing a lasting solution to the problem in question rocking the nation at present.

Watch this interaction with Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB, and what he says about the agitation:

Source: Legit.ng
Fox News pointed out that the ballistic missile strike was the first such strike carried out directly by Iran on foreign territory in 15 years. However, the Islamic Republic has been credited with supplying missile technology to a wide range of terrorist groups and paramilitary proxies, for use in other combat zones, including Yemen, Lebanon, and Palestine. The smuggling of weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen had apparently allowed them to penetrate deep into Saudi territory in the weeks before US President Donald Trump sought to strengthen ties with Americas Middle Eastern allies and to use those ties in the confrontation of Iran.

The threat of Iranian weapons reaching militant groups is a contributing factor to international demands for curtailed Iranian missile activity. It stands alongside the issue of those weapons being used in the possible future development of a nuclear weapon. Long-range ballistic missiles are capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and therefore the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution coinciding with last years implementation of the Iran nuclear agreement, in which it urged the Islamic Republic to avoid work on such weapons for the duration of the deal.

Iranian officials have publicly disregarded this urging, with the supposedly moderate President Hassan Rouhani recently declaring that the Iranian nation has chosen to be powerful and that the regime would not bend to any foreign pressure over its military buildup. Since the passage of the relevant UN resolution, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has conducted at least seven ballistic missile tests, sometimes accompanying them with provocative rhetoric as by declaring readiness for war against enemies or painting the weapons with the statement Israel must be wiped out.

The IRGC also directed clear rhetoric against the US and Saudi Arabia in the wake of the strike on supposed ISIL targets in Syria. General Ramazan Sharif, for instance, gave an interview to Iranian state television in which he said of the strike, The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message. The provocative message is made even clearer by the fact that the strike, although allegedly aimed at ISIL militants, struck the city of Deir el-Zour, which various recent reports have identified as an area of major competition between US-backed and Iranian-backed forces vying for strategically significant territory recaptured from ISIL.

Deir el-Zour is, however, not alone in bringing the US and Iran closer to direct conflict against the backdrop of the Syrian Civil War. The two adversaries are simultaneously escalating their own interventions into that conflict. Iran has been backing the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship virtually since the outset of the war, with the IRGC directly commanding local militias and also recruiting for them from across the region. American influence, meanwhile, has mostly been limited to logistical and financial support for moderate rebel groups, but recent reports have placed more emphasis on the presence of American special forces in northern Syria, which has compelled the Iranians to alter former plans for the movement of ground forces and the establishment of international supply routes.

Furthermore, American air support is working to enforce newly established deconfliction zones that will ostensibly protect US-backed forces organized under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces. The New York Times reported upon these efforts on Monday, noting that an American fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane that had dropped bombs near rebel forces in the area of the town of Tabqah.

The shoot-down was the first such act by American forces since the civil war began in 2011. And apparently by sheer coincidence, it occurred on the same day as the unprecedented Iranian missile strike. Such escalation is arguably to be expected at a time when, as the Times notes, Iran-backed forces in Syria and Iraq are trying to link up with each other and create a supply corridor leading directly back to Tehran. Success in this endeavor would naturally be regarded as harmful to the interests of the US and its allies, including Saudi Arabia and Israel.

At the same time, Iranian efforts to extend its arm across the Middle East are no doubt further motivated by the fact that key adversaries are coordinating to try to push back against such imperialism. The development of a joint strategy was made apparent last month when President Trump attended an Arab summit in Riyadh that yielded a final statement in which Tehrans regional activities were directly criticized. Furthermore, mutual anxiety over those activities has led to some signs of formerly unheard of coordination between Saudi Arabia and Israel.

In the wake of Irans ballistic missile strike, the government of Israel warned against further such activities and publicly declared that it was watching Iran closely, according to Agence-France Presse. Of course, this is far from the first recent instance of Israel warning that it is ready to act against the Islamic Republic if other world powers fail to do so. Yet the recent statements and actions by the US and Saudi Arabia strongly suggest that such failure is presently unlikely.

As one other apparent example of these actions, Reuters reported on Monday that Saudi Arabia had captured three members of the IRGC who had been on one of three vessels that approached Marjan oilfield. Saudi officials said that the three individuals were being questioned and that they were suspected of planning a terrorist act using explosives that were on the captured vessel.

On June 7, gunmen killed 17 people and wounded dozens of others in Tehran, in a pair of apparently ISIL-linked terrorist attacks. Despite the fact that Saudi Arabia has also been targeted by ISIL, Iranian officials quickly blamed Saudi Arabia for the attacks  an allegation that was reiterated on Monday by Irans English-language propaganda network, Press TV. Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, a special advisor to the speaker of the Iranian parliament, reportedly made the claim last week that the Tehran attacks were carried out by the request of Saudi Arabias security services. No evidence has been presented to substantiate these claims, which are indicative of the current state of rhetoric between the two regional adversaries.

In addition to serving as a message to the US and Saudi Arabia, Irans missile strike on Syria was also explained as an act of retaliation against ISIL for the Tehran attacks. In light of this and the allegations of Saudi responsibility for the same attacks, it is possible that the captured IRGC operatives were indeed attempting to strike Saudi Arabia on the basis of the same pretense.

As tensions continue to escalate in the immediate area, Iran is also looking elsewhere for support in its pursuit of wider conflict with longstanding enemies. Russia and Iran have remained close throughout their mutual contributions to the Syrian Civil War, and various warning signs have appeared in recent years regarding the possibility of greater Chinese support for Russian-Iranian antagonism of the West. This issue reemerged once again on Monday when the Associated Press reported that two Chinese warships, a logistics ship, and a helicopter had joined with an Iranian warship for joint maneuvers in the Strait of Hormuz, where IRGC vessels have antagonized passing American ships on numerous recent occasions.
Lawmakers in Iran have said that these firings are more than just a warning to terrorists  they are also an indication of Irans dismissal of US Congress initiatives to tackle issues with Iran.

The IRGC said that the firings at the weekend were Irans retaliation for the attacks that took place in the countrys capital. Just after the attacks, the IRGC said it would get revenge on the terrorists, as well as its supporters and affiliates. They say that several terrorists were killed and their equipment destroyed.

Although Iran is involved in numerous conflicts across the region, the Tehran Times said that this strike was Irans first direct military move since the eighties.

Since the civil war started in Syria, Iran has been involved. It has been propping up Assad and backing proxies to fight on their behalf for years. However, Iran is not thought to have used ballistic missiles on a foreign target since the Iran-Iraq war.

Iran said that this is the start of a new era in its fight against terrorists which it believes are helped by the United States and its allies in the region. A spokesperson said that Iran has dealt a shattering blow to ISIS but has also sent a warning that it will not accept plots against the Islamic Republic and more specifically, it will not pay any attention to the bills that the US Senate is passing.

The Trump administration is addressing the ballistic missile threats that the previous administration failed to acknowledge.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the main opposition, is planning a conference in Washington to provide information about Irans missile program which is advancing at a rapid pace. They will reveal the location of missile sites and will provide details about the actual missiles.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, recently said on social media that the countrys missiles are there to protect the people, saying that it is lawful self-defense and indicating that the regimes goal is to eradicate terrorist threats.

The chief of staff of the countrys armed forces said that the Islamic Republic is one of the biggest missile powers because of the blood of martyrs and efforts made by domestic scientists.

Another official said that the recent strike was a warning to those interfering in the region.
- Evans, the billionaire kidnapper, has dominated the cyberspace since Saturday June 10 when he was apprehended by the police in his Magodo palatial residence in Lagos

- Since his arrest, he has made stunning confessions to the amazement of Nigerians with the revelation of his clandestine activities

- His arrest and confessions, apart from giving the Nigeria police volume of commendations, have also shown him as the most intelligent, handsome and smartest kidnapper in the history of Nigeria

Since Saturday the 10th day of June, 2017 when Chukwudubem George Onwuamadike alias Evans was arrested by the police at 1pm in his Magodo residence, a lot has been said about him especially with the tag as billionaire kidnapper. In fact, on daily basis, more information is being unveiled about the 36-year-old billionaire kidnapper turned celebrity overnight. He has taken over the entire cyberspace for over 10 days and has continued to reveal stunning details about his clandestine operations to the amazement of Nigerians.

Legit.ng reports that since the advent of kidnapping which is said to have begun in the southern states through to the east in the early 2000s, there have been incidence of kidnapping where many have been arrested, convicted and jailed, none has ever held the nations attention or made banner headlines as Evans, who is said to be the most intelligent, smart and richest kidnapper in the history of Nigeria.

Evans, who was the leader of a highly organized kidnap for ransom syndicate, was said to have been responsible for several kidnap of notable and prominent Nigerians in Lagos state, including the western, eastern, south-south and some northern states. From his confession, he has representatives in Warri, Delta state, Abia, Anambra, Rivers and Edo states who work with him in a well synchronized system.

Evans and his gang members during parade by Lagos police

The 36-year-old kidnap kingpin who has been on the police watch list for about seven years, hails from Umudim, Nnewi in Nnewi north local government area of Anambra state. He attended Emmanuel Anglican Primary School, Umudim in Nnewi. He is reputed to be the most brilliant, richest but extremely notorious kidnapper in the history of Nigeria.

READ ALSO: Check out houses where notorious kidnapper Evans keeps his victims

Leader of the police team that trailed him, Abba Kyari, said he was the only kidnapper that gave him abundant headache since he began his career as a police officer. Even in the toilet, he said he was always drawing map on how to track down Evans but he has always evaded arrest following his sophisticated equipment which he uses to block every tracking device. Evans is said to have two phones he bought for N4.6million which he uses to block police tracking devices. Hence, he has remained elusive and tracking him has been a herculean task.

Evans, who appears simple, gentle, handsome and extremely innocent, was arrested alongside some other suspected members of his deadly gang. Even his gang members were also described as being very friendly and engage in political and social discourse with residents of the Igando area, where they keep their kidnap victims. They include 36-year-old Felix Chinemerem, believed to be his second in command, Nwosu Chikodi Chukwu, a.k.a Sudo, 42, who is believed to be the third in command, 42 year old Suoyo Paul, a.k.a Nwana, 28 year old Ikenna Emeka, Uchechukwu Amadi; and Ogechi Amadi.

Ogechi is the woman who cooks for the kidnappers and their victims. Paul allegedly supplies rifles and ammunitions to Evans. The gang is alleged to be connected to the late notorious kidnapper, Benjamin Osinachi aka China, who was killed along with his six members at Seme border in fatal gun duel with SARS operatives. Evans and China worked together in the abduction of the chairman of Ejigbo local council development authority, Kehinde Bamigbetan in 2013. They also kidnapped a Federal High Court judge in Lagos, among other prominent figures.

This is the palatial estate of Evans in Magodo area of Lagos

He had successfully carried out a number of operations with his gang, but his name came into the spotlight in August 2013, when the gang attempted to kidnap of Chief Vincent Obianudo, the owner of Young Shall Grow Motors in Festac, Lagos, after which he was declared wanted by the police. Since then, he has successfully evaded the searchlight, as sources say that he has always been one step ahead of the police with his excellent knowledge of surveillance technologies. It was even hinted that he may have been using satellite phones during his negotiations with relatives of the victims making it difficult for security operatives to track him and bring him to justice.

Besides the fact that the security operatives had no idea what he looked like, his system of running the kidnap syndicate using two separate gangs who did not know each other, with one group abducting the victim and another taking the victim to their hideouts, made arresting him even harder. According to his confession, Chinedu, Eyis and Kingsley used to get targets, while another group housed and watched over them. The members of the two groups dont know each other, neither did they know Evans residence. They only complied with Evans instructions and get the business executed.

READ ALSO: Please spare my husbands life - Wife of millionaire kidnapper Evans cries out

I have people who used to give me information about my victims. I dont know where I can reach anybody, but they usually call to give me information. We only meet when its necessary. When its time to meet, I call and give them location. When we are going for operation we wear army uniforms. The highest ransom I have collected since I started kidnapping is $1million dollars, Evans confessed.

With his booty accumulated from the ransom collected from victims families over the years, the 36-year-old has bought himself a luxurious lifestyle, purchasing for himself and his family every comfort that money could afford. Evans has two mansions in Magodo GRA Phase 2 worth about two hundred million naira. He also has two houses in the highbrow area of Accra City in Ghana.

Also listed among his properties are exotic cars, and expensive jewelries with one wristwatch costing as much as $170,000. In the course of his confession, Evans also confessed buying three out of his nine phones for $6000 each. These figures might not make much sense to the ordinary man until they are converted from dollar to naira, then the ordinary Nigerian will understand the quantum of money Evans forcefully took from hardworking Nigerians.

Evans, now a news maker, responding to questions from journalists at the police headquarters

Tracking him down proved so difficult that the inspector general of police, Ibrahim Idris, had announced N30million bounty for anyone with useful information that could lead to the arrest of Evans. Probably motivated by this incentive, the police got a tip-off which led them to one of his houses in Magodo area of Lagos.

Seeing as his house was surrounded by the operatives of the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT), Evans attempted to hid in the roof of the house, but the policemen caught up with him. While attempting to nab him, he reportedly slammed the door on them, injuring a police officer in the process. But it was too late for him. Who could tell if he had succeeded to get into his room, he might have become invisible and invincible. At his arrest in his house, he was quoted to have said he knew it would happen one day but not as sudden as this.

From his confessional statements, he has revealed that his victims over the years have ranged from expatriates, business moguls and public office holders. His exploits, victims are: Mohammed Jamal, a 22-year-old Lebanese who paid N7m ransom in 2012, 34-year-old Kingsley Nwokenta who paid N1.5m ransom in 2012, 41-year-old Anthony Ozoanidobi who paid N1.5m ransom in 2012 and Leo Abraham 58 who paid N5m ransom in 2012. Others are Chief Raymond Okoye  Odu- Na Ichida who secured his release with $1 million in 2015, Ojukwu Cosmas, 45, James Uduji who also paid $1 million in 2016, Uche Okoroafor also paid $1 million in 2015, Elias Ukachukwu who paid $1m in 2015 and Francis Umeh in 2016, among so many others.

Interestingly, he also revealed that not all of his wealth was gotten from kidnapping. Evans who has over 20 years experience in general crime with the last ten years being devoted to kidnapping, said a good part of his billions also came from drug trafficking and armed robbery. He had once been shot in South Africa. He treated the bullet wound at Cape Town.

READ ALSO: I have seen it all, I want to die now and have some rest  Evans declares

He claimed to have been into importation of spare parts before he diverted into kidnapping after the Nigerian Customs officers impounded his goods worth over N20million. He also revealed that he sent his wife away to Ghana when he realized that the police were closing in on him, as he also had plans to go and join them there.

Evans being led in handcuff from his palatial estate by police detectives

He, however, denied killing any of his victims as he operated with a base in Lagos area at House No. 21 Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, Lagos state where the victims could be kept for as long as six to seven months until their relatives paid the desired ransom. Hear him: I keep my victims for months because I want their families to pay the complete ransom I demanded. I have people who used to cook for my victims. One of my men, Uche, stays in the house with the victims. Another of our men stays in the house with Uche and the victims. I usually pay Uche N20million for every successful operation.

After his arrest, however, he has led detectives to his house in Magodo Estate, where huge sums of money in foreign currency was recovered. It was learnt that the foreign currencies were in Dollar, Pound and Euros, kept in white envelopes and concealed in white plastics in various parts of the house. Also, four AK47 rifles and over 50 magazines were recovered from the house.

He said he was introduced into kidnapping in Anambra state by a certain Kingsley who is now late, but got his weapons from another fellow Chinedu whom he met at Ago Palace, in a beer parlour. Smart as he was, he said collected his ransom in dollars and later converted it into the needed currency, as he only had one local account with GT Bank.

Speaking about the unsuccessful attempted abduction of Chief Vincent Obianudo, in Festac Lagos, on August 2013, Evans said: It was five of us that went for the abduction of Chief Vincent Obianudo, Uche and Hutch man were killed. Nnamdi, Nwoke and I survived. I was the person that drove on that day.

After that confrontation, some of Evans gang members were arrested, but he escaped. Evans regrouped with several gangs and became more vicious. The last one again which again brought police attention to him, leading to his arrest was the kidnap of Mr. Donatus Dunu, the owner of Maydon Company, Ilupeju, Lagos, on February 14 this year.

On that day, which coincidentally was celebrated all over the world as St. Valentines Day otherwise known as lovers day, Dunu had barely left his office in the evening when he was blocked by a vehicle. Before he knew it, Evans gun-wielding men had stepped out of the vehicle and bundled the pharmacist into their vehicle and sped off to No 21, Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, a Lagos suburb where he was kept for three months.

Billionaire kidnapper in handcuff leading police through his dens where he kept victims and tortured them until full ransom is paid

Evans subsequently demanded the payment of one million euros as ransom. Despite efforts to make Evans see reason and reduce the money, he would have none of it, even after N100 million had been paid to him. It was either the money was paid or Dunu paid with his life. At the gangs den in New Igando, where Dunu was kept, he had given up hope on the possibility of regaining his freedom. But he had a big break in the early hours of Friday, May 12, 2017, while his captors were deep in sleep.

Despite losing his weight, Dunu managed to wriggle out of the leg-cuff he was held with. He was only wearing a pair of shorts and white singlet. A perimeter fence with broken bottles was to become a major obstacle to his escape, but the victim used his bare hand to maneuver the shattered bottles and climbed his way to freedom.

It was learnt that when he landed into the adjoining building, he was mistaken for a fleeing robber or cultist. Security guards raised the alarm which attracted neighbors to the scene and it was providence that saved him from being lynched by a mob. With the escape of Dunu, he was able to make useful statements to the police about his kidnap which led them back to the house where the kidnappers had already escaped knowing the deal must be exposed.

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As can be expected, the young man is already being denied by relatives and associates. His father claimed to have received nothing at all from him, even though Evans claimed to have given him N3 million, a jeep and a pick-up van with which he established his piggery business. He blamed his father for his predicament as he said his father had refused to train him further in school, so he dropped out of school in JSS class 2.

Even his mother has gone into hiding to avoid speaking to journalists but it was learnt that she built a magnificent house in Akamili, her village in Anambra state. The traditional ruler of his community has also made bold to say that the community did not in any way benefit from the largesse.

Only his wife, Uchenna Precious Onwumadike who has come out plain to beg for his release. According to him, she did not know he was into kidnapping, but had advised him to stop the drug trafficking which she was aware of.

However, for the past 10 days, Evans has been the trending news in Nigeria, generating income for media owners and bloggers. It was learnt that a group emerged on twitter campaigning for the release of Evans as he is not as corrupt as politicians with specific reference to Senate president Bukola Saraki, who was acquitted of all crimes by the Code of Conduct Tribunal. But that move set twitter on warfare and the promoters went into hiding.

From evidences so far gathered, one could rightly agree that Evans has convicted himself before getting to the court. Police are, however, gathering evidences as to nail him in court and await the decision of the judges. Will Nigerian lawyers come out to defend him? Will he still plead guilty? Will the prosecution be able to present step by step case to lead to conviction? Will he say he made confessions under duress? And what will be the final judgment? In a few days time, the answers will be clear.

Legit.ng video team visited Evans residence in Magodo Lagos, watch the video and hear what Nigerians say on how Evans should be punished.

Source: Legit.ng
- A mortgage firm has returned N500 million to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)

- The money is said to be part of the Paris Club refund kept with it by a governor

- The EFCC is probing the London-Paris Club refund following allegations that some governors are misapplying the cash

A report by The Nation indicates that a mortgage firm has returned N500 million to the EFCC kept with it by a serving governor.

According to the report, the money is said to be part of the Paris Club refund kept with it by the governor.

Officials of the mortgage firm are said to have made a statement confirming that the governor owns the N500 million.

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A source quoted in the report, said: When EFCC detectives traced the governors loot of N500million from the London-Paris Club refund to the account of the mortgage company, the firm wasted no time in disclosing the source.

The mortgage firm has surrendered the cash to us; we have it in our custody. And on Monday (yesterday), we filed an application before the court for an interim forfeiture of the N500million in order to legalise its custody.

The purported owner of the cash has a two-week deadline to come forward to claim it or have it forfeited permanently to the federal government.

Responding to a question, the source said all those connected with the cash, including some consultancy firms had been named in court.

The identities of the governor, the companies involved and his proxies, the source added, would be unveiled when the matter comes up in court.

The governor, he said, has long standing mortgage collaboration with the firm where the N500million was wired.

Legit.ng checks reveals that the presidency has so far released about N1.3trillion to the 36 states in the past one year including N713.70billion special intervention funds to states.

Following protest by states over deductions for external debt service between 1995 and 2002, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of N516.38billion (first tranche) to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as refunds pending reconciliation of records.

Each state was entitled to a cap of N14.5 billion being 25% of the amounts claimed.

But media reports in the past few months suggests that many of the governors have diverted the monies into personal use and not for the benefit of their states.

The alleged deduction of about N19billion and $86million, meant for payment of consultants and legal advisers, by some governors is also under investigation by the EFCC.

READ ALSO: Nigeria may boil if you dont call your youths to order over quit notice - Imo speaker warns northern elders

Meanwhile, labour unions have called on the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to probe the states which defaulted in the first tranche of the N516bn Paris Club loan refund.

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) said in a statement that probing the states which defaulted in the payment would help check the utilisation of the second tranche of the refund.

Watch the Legit.ng TV video report of the anti-corruption walk of the EFCC that held in Abuja recently.

Source: Legit.ng
- Nigeria police have picked up notorious robbers causing havoc along the Badagry/Seme border of Lagos

- The gang of robbers was led by 22-year-old Rasaq Lawa a native of Lalate in Oyo state

- The police recovered from the robbers one Ak47 rifle, one locally made single barrel pistol, one locally made double barrel pistol, among others

A notorious gang of robbers terrorizing Nigerians along the Badagry/Seme border of Lagos have been arrested by the Nigeria police.

A report by Daily Post said the gang which is led by a 22-year-old boy were defeated a few months ago after attacking Garba Usman and Akubo Ibrahim, where they dispossessed them of their 2006 Toyota Corolla and Lexus 350 SUV and other valuables.

Legit.ng gathered that the two men are both officers of the Nigerian customs service.

READ ALSO: Finally Obanikoro dumps PDP, joins APC days after meeting with Tinubu

Nigeria police apprehend notorious robbers terrorizing Nigerians along the Badagry/Seme border of Lagos. Photo credit: Daily Post

The suspects are Tunji Adesanya, a native of Odojomo in Ondo State, Rasaq Lawal, 22 the gang leader, a native of Lalate in Oyo state, Hammed Lawal, 24, a native of Lalate in Oyo State.

Others suspects are Olanrewaju Wasiu 29, a notorious eiye confraternity member, a native of Ilorin in Kwara state, Kenneth Ohmai 39 years, a native of Benin in Edo state and Ibrahim Aliu 26, a native of Omuaran in Kwara State.

Kyari said: The suspects confessed to the armed robbery attacks on Mr Garba Babayaro and Akubo Idris respectively and several armed robbery attacks in Badagry/Seme areas of Lagos.

One Ak47 rifle, one locally made single barrel pistol, one locally made double barrel pistol, four Ak47 rifle magazines with 84 live ammunitions and one Beretta pistol magazine with 10 rounds of live 9mm ammunitions were recovered from the gang.

He added that serious effort to arrest other fleeing gang members was in progress.

Nigeria police apprehend notorious robbers terrorizing Nigerians along the Badagry/Seme border of Lagos. Photo credit: Daily Post

In a previous report by Legit.ng alleged billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudubem Onwuamadike, better known as Evans, warned his colleagues in the business to desist from it.

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"My advise to them is that as they are watching me standing here with policemen, they should stop everything about that, it doesnt pay," Evans reportedly said after leading police operatives to two of the houses where he kept his victims until they could pay ransoms.

The alleged kidnapper reportedly paid 700,000 yearly for one of the apartments, a three bedroom flat.

Watch this video as Legit.ng takes a more critical look at Evans and his way of life:

Source: Legit.ng
Tillerson said: Its not yet been delivered to the president, but I would tell you that we certainly recognize Irans continued destabilizing presence in the region, their payment of foreign fighters, their export of militia forces in Syria, in Iraq, in Yemen, their support for Hezbollah. And we are taking action to respond to Irans hegemony. Additional sanctions actions have been put in place against individuals and others.

He continued: We continually review the merits both from the standpoint of diplomatic but also international consequences of designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in its entirety as a terrorist organisation. As you know, we have designated the Quds [Force]. Our policy towards Iran is to push back on this hegemony, contain their ability to develop obviously nuclear weapons, and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government. Those elements are there, certainly as we know.

Despite Donald Trumps consistent statements that he does not trust the Regime, that they sponsor terrorism, and that they are a destructive influence on the Middle East, his administration still cant agree on a firm policy towards them.

Luckily, Jubin Katiraie, an expert in Iranian affairs, wrote an op-ed for Iran Focus in which he assessed that the right policy for Western lawmakers to adopt over Iran was to support the main opposition to the Regime.

Katiraie noted that the people of Iran are seeking Regime Change but the international communitys policy of appeasement towards the Regime along with the Regimes suppression have made it incredibly hard to overthrow the Regime.

However, Iran has an organised democratic resistance (MEK) which has been around for nearly 40 years, despite constant attempts to exterminate them by the Regime.

Katiraie wrote: Since June 20, 1981 Iranian regime has executed over 120000, mostly members and supporters of the MEK. Only in summer of 1988 over 30000 political prisoners, the majority of them from the MEK, were massacred. During this massacre the death committee was going to the prisons and asking the prisoners if they are still supporting the MEK, and if the answer was yes, they would immediately be hanged.

The Regimes attempts to do away with opposition continue to the present day, they still imprison members of the MEK and even family members of MEK supporters who are in exile. But the MEK and their supporters have persisted, disrupting the sham elections with banners advocating the Resistance and its leader Maryam Rajavi as the true opposition to the Regime and staging a campaign to get justice for their fallen members who were slaughtered in the 1988 massacre.

Katiraie wrote: The campaign has been so widespread and extensive that last week Khamenei, the supreme leader of the regime was forced to react against the MEK, defending the massacre of MEK members and supporters in the prisons.

This has led to the Regime-affiliated lobbies in Western countries to dig up long debunked rumours of terrorism and murder by MEK members. In fact, the MEK are more likely to be the victims of murder and terrorism from the Regime than the other way around.

Katiraie wrote:  In this campaign they deceitfully do not directly support the regime, but instead by demonizing the MEK, they are trying to say that this regime does not have any alternative so for any possible change, the solution is within the regime and the West must try to find moderates inside the regime. The deceptive tactic is to save the same regime with the same values, and the right policy is to ignore all these propaganda of demonising the MEK by the Iranian regime and its lobbies. The basis for any right policy towards Iran is to officially recognise the MEK as the main opposition to this regime.

More about the Peoples Mojahdin Organization of Iran (PMOI/ MEK)

The Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (Also known as MEK, or Mujahedin-e-Khalq / Mujahedeen-e-Khalq), was founded on September 6, 1965, by Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen, and Ali-Asghar Badizadgan. All engineers, they had earlier been members of the Freedom Movement (also known as the Liberation Movement), created by Medhi Bazargan in May 1961.

The MEKs quest culminated in a true interpretation of Islam, which is inherently tolerant and democratic, and fully compatible with the values of modern-day civilization. It took six years for the MEK to formulate its view of Islam and develop a strategy to replace Irans dictatorial monarchy with a democratic government.

MEKs interpretation of Islam

The theocratic mullah regime in Iran believe interpreting Islam is their exclusive domain. The MEK reject this view and the clerics reactionary vision of Islam. The MEKs comprehensive interpretation of Islam proved to be more persuasive and appealing to the Iranian youth.

MEKs founders and new members studied the various schools of thought, the Iranian history and those of other countries, enabling them to analyze other philosophies and ideologies with considerable knowledge and to present their own ideology, based on Islam, as the answer to Irans problems.

MEKs leaderships arrest during the 70s.

The Shahs notorious secret police, SAVAK, arrested all MEK leaders and most of its members in1971. On May 1972, the founders of the MEK, Mohammad Hanifnejad , Saeed Mohsen and Ali Asghar Badizadegan, along with two members of the MEK leadership, Mahmoud Askarizadeh and Rasoul Meshkinfam, were put before death squads and were executed after long months of imprisonment and torture. They were the true vanguards, who stood against the dictatorial regime of Shah. However, they are also recognized for their opposition to what is today known as Islamic fundamentalism.

The death sentence of Massoud Rajavi, a member of MEKs central committee, was commuted to life imprisonment as a result of an international campaign by his Geneva based brother, Dr. Kazem Rajavi (assassinated in April 1990 in Geneva by mullahs agents) and the personal intervention of the French President Georges Pompidou and Francois Mitterrand. He was the only survivor of the MEK original leadership.

Massoud Rajavis critical role in characterizing religious extremism

From 1975 to 1979, while incarcerated in different prisons, Massoud Rajavi led the MEKs struggle while constantly under torture for his leading position.

Massoud Rajavi stressed the need to continue the struggle against the shahs dictatorship. At the same time, he characterized religious fanaticism as the primary internal threat to the popular opposition, and warned against the emergence and growth of religious fanaticism and autocracy. He also played a crucial role when some splinter used the vacuum in the MEK leadership who were all executed or imprisoned at the time, to claim a change of ideology and policy. Massoud Rajavi as the MEK leader condemn these individuals misuse of MEKs name while continuing to stress the struggle against dictatorship. His efforts while still in prison forced these individuals to no longer operating under the name of MEK and adopting a different name for their group. These positions remained the MEKs manifesto until the overthrow of the shahs regime.

Release of Political Prisoners on the last days of the Shah

A month before the 1979 revolution in Iran, the Shah was forced to flee Iran, never to return. All democratic opposition leaders had by then either been executed by the Shahs SAVAK or imprisoned, and could exert little influence on the trend of events. Khomeini and his network of mullahs across the country, who had by and large been spared the wrath of SAVAK, were the only force that remained unharmed and could take advantage of the political vacuum. In France, Khomeini received maximum exposure to the world media. With the aid of his clerical followers, he hijacked a revolution that began with calls for democracy and freedom and diverted it towards his fundamentalist goals. Through an exceptional combination of historical events, Shiite clerics assumed power in Iran.

Khomeinis gradual crackdown on MEK in fear of their popular support

In internal discourses, Rajavi the remaining leader of the MEK, argued that Khomeini represented the reactionary sector of society and preached religious fascism. Later, in the early days after the 1979 revolution, the mullahs, specifically Rafsanjani, pointed to these statements in inciting the hezbollahi club-wielders to attack the MEK.

Following the revolution, the MEK became Irans largest organized political party. It had hundreds of thousands of members who operated from MEK offices all over the country. MEK publication, Mojahed was circulated in 500,000 copies.

Khomeini set up an Assembly of Experts comprised of sixty of his closest mullahs and loyalists to ratify the principle of velayat-e faqih (absolute supremacy of clerical rule) as a pillar of the Constitution. The MEK launched a nationwide campaign in opposition to this move, which enjoyed enormous popular support. Subsequently, the MEK refused to approve the new constitution based on the concept of velayat-e faqih, while stressing its observance of the law of the country to deny the mullahs any excuse for further suppression of MEK supporters who were regularly targeted by the regimes official and unofficial thugs.

Khomeini sanctioned the occupation of the United States embassy in 1979 in order to create an anti-American frenzy, which facilitated the holding of a referendum to approve his Constitution, which the MEK rejected.

MEKs endeavors to participate in the political process avoiding an unwanted conflict with government repressive forces

The MEK actively participated in the political process, fielding candidates for the parliamentary and presidential elections. The MEK also entered avidly into the national debate on the structure of the new Islamic regime, though was unsuccessful in seeking an elected constituent assembly to draft a constitution.

The MEK similarly made an attempt at political participation when [then] Massoud Rajavi ran for the presidency in January 1980. MEKs leader was forced to withdraw when Khomeini ruled that only candidates who had supported the constitution in the December referendum  which the MEK had boycotted- were eligible. Rajavis withdrawal statement emphasized the MEKs efforts to conform to election regulations and reiterated the MEKs intention to advance its political aims within the new legal system. (Unclassified report on the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran(PMOI/ MEK) by the Department of State to the United States House of Representatives, December 1984.)

However, the MEK soon found itself in a direct struggle against the forces of the regimes Supreme leader. The MEKs differences with Khomeini dated back to the 1970s, and stem from its opposition to what is known today as Islamic extremism. Angry at the position taken by the MEK against his regime and worried about the MEKs growing popularity, Khomeini ordered a brutal crackdown against the MEK and its supporters. Between 1979 and 1981, some 70 MEK members and sympathizers were killed and several thousand more were imprisoned by the Iranian regime.

June 20, 1981- Khomeinis order to open fire on peaceful demonstration of half-a-million supporters of MEK

The turning point came on 20th June 1981, when the MEK called a demonstration to protest at the regimes crackdown, and to call for political freedom which half-a-million supporters participated at. Khomeini ordered the Revolutionary Guards to open fire on the swelling crowd, fearing that without absolute repression the democratic opposition (MEK) would force him to engage in serious reforms  an anathema as far as he was concerned; he ordered the mass and summary executions of those arrested.

Since then, MEK activists have been the prime victims of human rights violations in Iran. Over 120,000 of its members and supporters have been executed by the Iranian regime, 30,000 of which, were executed in a few months in the summer of 1988, on a direct fatwa by Khomeini, which stated any prisoners who remain loyal to the MEK must be executed.

Having been denied its fundamental rights and having come under extensive attack at the time that millions of its members, supporters and sympathizers had no protection against the brutal onslaught of the Iranian regime, the MEK had no choice but to resist against the mullahs reign of terror.

Towards the end of 1981, many of the members of the MEK and supporters went into exile. Their principal refuge was in France. But in 1986, after negotiations between the French and the Iranian authorities, the French government effectively treated them as undesirable aliens, and the leadership of the MEK with several thousand followers relocated to Iraq. (Judgment of the Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission, November 30, 2007.)

MEK Today

The MEK today is the oldest and largest anti-fundamentalist Muslim group in the Middle East. It has been active for more than a half century, battling two dictatorships and a wide range of issues. The MEK supports:

 Universal suffrage as the sole criterion for legitimacy

 Pluralistic system of governance

 Respect for individual freedoms

 Ban on the death penalty

 Separation of religion and state

 Full gender equality

 Equal participation of women in political leadership. MEK is actually led by its central committee consist of 1000 women.

 Modern judicial system that emphasizes the principle of innocence, a right to a defense, and due process

 Free markets

 Relations with all countries in the world

 Commitment to a non-nuclear Iran

The MEK remains a strong and cohesive organization, with a broad reach both worldwide and deep within Iran. MEK is the leading voice for democracy in Iran, supported by its interpretation of Islam that discredits the fundamentalist mullahs regime.
- The officers reportedly accused the motorist of beating traffic rules before following him to an ATM where he withdrew and paid N15,000

- The motorist later reported to the police authority which ensured that the two officers faced orderly room trial before their eventual sack

Two traffic wardens, Musa Muktar with force number 394120 GDI and Shuaibu Suleman with number 10627 have been sacked for alleged extortion.

The announcement was made by ACP Abayomi Shogunle, the assistant commissioner of police in charge of the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit (PCRRU), in Abuja on June 20, 2017.

The statement obtained by Legit.ng showed that the sacked officers were attached to the Wuse Police Division in the Federal Capital Territory command.

The two officers during an orderly room trial

They were sacked with immediate effect for corrupt practice following an orderly room trial at the provost department of the force headquarters Abuja and in which both wardens were found guilty of abuse of office, soliciting and receiving bribe contrary to paragraph c, sub (IV), (VI) and (II) of the first schedule of the Police Act and Regulation CAP 370 of 1990.

READ ALSO: 2 die, mosque and church burnt as Hausa traders allegedly clash with Rivers inidgenes

According to the details of their sack, on May 30, 2017 a motorist, Mr AG (real name withheld), came to the PCRRU FHQ Abuja and reported that while driving his vehicle on 29th May, 2017 (12:30 pm) along Wuse market road, he was accosted by two traffic wardens who accused him of beating traffic light despite the fact that he did not.

The statement said the wardens started demanding for bribe before they would allow him go.

They led him to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) not far from the scene where he was forced to make a withdrawal of N15,000 from his account which he gave to the traffic wardens.

The complainant receives his money with an apology

He also stated that that one of the wardens forgot his mobile phone in his car.

PCRRU immediately launched an investigation (tracking number #PCRRU475669); both traffic wardens where identified and apprehended.

The sum of N15,000 earlier extorted from the complainant was recovered from both wardens (N7,500 each as money was already shared), the statement said.

As a result of this, both wardens were said to have been tried and found guilty.

Shogunle said the orderly room trial had been reviewed by the appropriate authority and the punishment was approved with immediate effect.

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The police said all official materials including uniforms, identity cards and all accoutrements issued to the men have been retrieved and all other dismissal procedure completed.

The complainant has also been handed back his N15,000 with an apology from the PCRRU," the statement said.

Reacting, the complainant said: I never thought this could happen in this country; the officers punished and my money returned to me. God bless the IG, I will go out and spread the news about PCRRU to everyone.

Meanwhile, the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, has commended the complainant for exposing what has been described as unprofessional and unacceptable conduct of the traffic wardens.

We will not allow corrupt practices to continue, Idris said urging members of the public to make use of the PCRRU platform which is available all the time.

Meanwhile, a 'boy' to the dreaded billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudubem Onuamadike, a.k.a Evans, has confessed to the police how he joined the dreaded gang.

Watch this video of a visit to the home of Evans, the billionaire kidnapper:

Source: Legit.ng
- According to unconfirmed sources, President Muhammadu Buhari might be unable to speak as a result of his illness

- The news report says he might also be suffering from memory lapses as he stays back in London to manage his ill health

- The president who has been away for 45 days is said to be out of touch with the aides who traveled with him

If reports from Sahara Reporters are to be believed, President Muhammadu Buhari has developed speech difficulties, although the report is yet to be confirmed or corroborated.

The president left Nigeria 45 days ago in order to resume treatment for an undisclosed medical condition and has not been heard from since then.

The report went further to say he is also suffering memory lapses as a result of his ill health.

Several of the aides who traveled with him are reportedly not in touch with him, while others were ordered to return to Nigeria.

Below are some reactions following the report:

READ ALSO: OPINION: How APC, Oyegun betrayed Buhari - Joe Igbokwe

READ ALSO: Buhari will not get automatic ticket in 2019 - APC

Legit.ng earlier reported that President Muhammadu Buhari departed for London, UK for medical treatment shortly after he received the 82 released Chibok girls.

Prior to his traveling out of the country, the president had rarely been seen in public, fueling speculations about the state of his health.

He left the country on Sunday, May 7 after he met with the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, Senate president, Bukola Saraki and Speaker Yakubu Dogara.

Meanwhile on June 17, President Muhammadu Buhari reportedly ordered some aides and minister seeking his approval on some files, asking them instead to meet with acting president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo.

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While it is not immediately clear of the order came from the president himself. It was maintained that since he duly handed over power to Osinbajo before he traveled, the the standard protocol was to be maintained.

Watch this Legit.ng video of what Nigerians think of the president's health problems and his travels below:

Source: Legit.ng
This is the first such incident between forces supporting President Bashar al-Assad of Syria and the United States, since the start of the civil war in 2011, and the confrontation highlights the escalation between the two opposing forces.

The US has been directing the military campaign in Syria and Iraq against the Islamic State, according to officials.

On Sunday, at around 4:30 p.m, when American-backed ground Syrian fighters, who are officially called the Syrian Democratic Forces, were attacked and forced from their positions in the town of JaDin, south of Tabqahby, by what the Pentagon described as pro-Syrian regime forces. Several of the American-supported fighters were wounded.

The main focus for the United States is battling ISIS, also known as ISIL. American advisers and air power supported Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters, this month beginning the battle for the militants self-declared capital, Raqqa.

In a New York Times article by Michael R. Gordon and Thomas Erdbrink, they write, Even before that battle is over, however, tensions have risen over control of eastern Syria as Iranian-backed militias, including the Lebanese group Hezbollah, have moved to extend their reach toward areas where the American-based fighters are also operating, and add, Not only are forces loyal to Mr. Assad interested in controlling the oil-rich Deir al-Zour Province and relieving the pressure on a Syrian military garrison that has been surrounded there, but the Iranian-backed Shiite fighters are also believed to be trying to link up with Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and establish a supply corridor that runs from Syria to Iraq and, eventually, to Iran.

In March, the United States had airlifted hundred of Syrian fighters and their American military advisers near Tabqah, in a successful push to cut off the western approaches to Raqqa.

American warplanes buzzed the pro-Assad troops in what the Pentagon called a show of force, to frighten away the adversary forces, and this appeared to put an end to the fighting. The Americans tried to defuse the situation by calling their Russian counterparts from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

However, at 6:43 p.m., a Syrian SU-22 warplane dropped several bombs near the American-backed fighters. Col. John J. Thomas, the spokesman for the United States Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East, said that all attempts to warn the Syrian plane away from the area using an emergency radio frequency failed. American advisers were not in the immediate vicinity of the bombing by the Syrian SU-22.

That was when the F/A-18 Super Hornet, patrolling the area after being launched from the George H. W. Bush aircraft carrier, shot down the Syrian plane. A statement by The American-led task force fighting the Islamic State stated that it was taken under rules of engagement permitting the collective self-defense of its Syrian partners.

Earlier this month, an American F-15E shot down an Iranian-made drone, after it attacked American fighters in southeastern Syria. The United States has set up A garrison, has been set up at al-Tanf in southeastern Syria, where Syrian fighters and American, British and Norwegian advisers have been based. The United States warned pro-Assad forces to stay out of a deconfliction zone that was declared around the garrison. The town of JaDin is only about a mile north of this deconfliction area, but the United States stated that the Syrian fighters it supports, and the American and other allied advisers that accompany them, are not limited to that buffer area.

An official statement said, The coalitions mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat.

Semiofficial Fars News Agency posted a video of the launch of one of the missiles, and Iran offered official statements about its military actions. The The Guards Corps said the strike had been carried out in retaliation for the terrorist attacks this month on the Iranian Parliament building and the shrine of the founder of the Islamic Republic.

American officials said that the Iranians made no effort to offer warnings about, or deconflict their missile strike, with the United States.
- Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has told Northern traditional rulers to speak up against hate speech

- He insisted that Nigeria is stronger and better together

- The acting president said that the traditional rulers had a great role to play in checking the divisive tendencies in the country

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday, June 20, met with Northern traditional rulers and charged them to always speak up against hate speeches and divisive voices in their respective domains.

In his opening remarks at the meeting held at the old Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Osinbajo said the meeting had become imperative in view of a spate of divisive statements in recent weeks, pitching the South-East against the North.

READ ALSO: BREAKING: Nigerians react as popular media alleges that Buhari is suffering speech impairment in London

He maintained that the divisive rhetoric and agitations were unjustifiable, unacceptable and often times illegal.

You are, by virtue of your vast knowledge, wisdom and experience, both a vital link with our past, and an important guarantee for the success of our future. This is why your role in national affairs is critical.

The acting president said that the traditional rulers had a great role to play in checking the divisive tendencies in the country

The reason for these series of meetings is well known to all of us; it became necessary in the wake of a spate of divisive statements, in recent months and weeks, pitching the South-East against the North.

We are all aware of the so-called ultimatum issued by a group of Northern youths, asking that all Igbos living in the North vacate the region.

Before then, there was the clamour, and its still on-going, by some south-eastern youths, operating as IPOB and affiliated groups, demanding secession from Nigeria at all costs and by any means.

In all our previous engagements with Northern and South-Eastern leaders, we all came to the consensus that Nigeria is stronger and better together, and that these hate-filled and divisive rhetoric and agitations are unjustifiable, unacceptable and often times illegal. And I would like to reiterate that today. he said.

The acting president said that the traditional rulers had a great role to play in checking the divisive tendencies in the country.

He stressed that Nigeria had already seen enough violence and bloodshed during its history.

According to him, the price of Nigerias unity has already been paid with the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians lost.

Recalling President Muhammadu Buharis commitment to one Nigeria from his experience in the military, Osinbajo said that Buhari fought side by side with Nigerians of every tribe and faith.

The acting president said: We must protect each other, put our lives on the line for each other; we were brothers even in the face of death. This is the type of nation we must maintain.

As royal fathers and leaders, I think you will agree with me that we all have a role to play in countering the voices of divisiveness, and the elements who seek to take us down a bloody path.

Let us continue to counsel the misguided elements among our youth, who think that ethnic confrontation is a game and that words can be thrown around carelessly without repercussion.

Osinbajo assured the traditional rulers that the government is not deaf to the legitimate concerns and frustrations in parts of the country.

Every part of Nigeria has its own grievances. But these have to be expressed graciously and managed with mutuality rather than with scorn and disdain.

I would like to assure you all that we are here to listen and to answer, and, very importantly, to reassure everyone that we are committed to the unity of Nigeria, and that upon the foundation of that unity we can together build a prosperous and great country.

He urged all Nigerians never take the nations diversity for granted, saying the fullness of the nations strength actually lies in that diversity.

And we must wield that diversity, not as divisive tool, but instead as a binding agent.

As we round up these consultations tomorrow with a meeting with governors, it is clear to me that we are all resolved to by words, conduct and action, promote the unity of our dear nation. he said.

He, however, assured that the government would ensure that the entire apparatus of government is deployed to ensure that no one threatens Nigerias territorial integrity and that no one threatens the lives or livelihoods of any Nigerian living anywhere in the country.

While thanking the traditional rulers for their unyielding cooperation and support, Osinbajo prayed that almighty God would continue to give them the wisdom and the strength to preside over their Kingdoms and the good health to reign long and reign well.

Among those who attended the meeting included the Sultan of Sokoto, Sultan Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III; Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi and the Etsu Nupe, AlhajiYahaya Abubakar.

Others were, Alhaji Muhammed Isah Muhammed, theEmir of Jamaa in Kaduna State; Justice Lawal Hassan, the Emir of Gummi; the Coordinator of the Northern traditional rulers council, Sakaruyi of Karo Dr. Emmanuel Kyauta, and the representative of the Emir of Katsina, Prof. Sani Lugga ,the Waziri Katsina.

PAY ATTENTION: Watch more videos on Legit.ng TV

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari; Alhaji Mustapha Agwai II, Emir of Lafia in Nasarawa State; Alhaji Kyari Umar El-Kanemi, Shehu of Bama representing Shehu of Borno and the Gbong Gwon Jos, Jacob Buba Jang, also attended the meeting.

Also at the meeting were Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar, Emir of Gombe; Ndakwo Ameh Oboni II,Attah Igala,Kogi State; Alhaji Muhammadu Ibn Abali, the Emir of Fika inYobe;, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmed Muhammed Emir of Anka in Zamfara and Prof. James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv.

Alhaji Adamu Baba Yinusa, theEmir of Abaji,FCT; the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonaya Onu; Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazzau; National Security Adviser, Babagana Munguno, and Speaker of the House of Representatives,Yakubu Dogara also attended the meeting.

Osinbajo will on Wednesday meet with the 36 governors of the federation as part of the on-going consultative meetings with stakeholders in the Project Nigeria.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reports that youths from Northern parts of Nigeria have written a letter to acting President Yemi Osinbajo, begging him to allow Igbos to secede from Nigeria and create Biafra.

Legit.ng learnt that this was contained in a letter by a coalition of Northern youths to the acting president signed by Ambassador Shettima Yerima, Joshua Viashman, Aminu Adam, Abdul-Azeez Suleiman and Nastura Ashir Sharif.

Watch a Legit.ng TV video below of Professor Osinbajo speaking about the issue of Biafra and Nigeria's unity.

Source: Legit.ng
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Even after just a short time in office it seems like President Trump is ensuring a strong and enduring foreign policy will be set in place for the Middle East and it has been said that he is supporting the overthrow of the current regime.

When former President Obama was in office, his administration led a policy of appeasement and let Iran away will all sorts of infractions, human rights abuses and malign activities, just so that the nuclear deal could go ahead.

Trump said that he would scrap the deal if he became president. Although the deal remains in place, his administration has imposed sanctions on Iran in other areas, not just with regards to nuclear activities.

Since the nuclear deal was agreed, Iran has shown that it is not a good neighbour and it cannot be trusted. Officials from the Iranian regime have boasted about their deceiving practices during the negotiations.

It is hoped by many that the Trump administration will make it clear what the intentions are so that other countries can follow suit. It is expected that the United States will not get involved in facilitating regime change, but it will support it.

President Obama pushed allies away while appeasing the Islamic Republic, whereas President Trump is now repairing relations.

Last month during his visit to Saudi Arabia, President Trump received the cooperation and backing of Saudi Arabia and many other nations in the Middle East.

The Iranian regime, apart from carrying out ballistic missile tests and continuing on its nuclear path, is a serious violator of human rights. There have been thousands of executions carried out over the past few years, and people are suppressed and denied freedom of faith and speech. Iran has been warned on numerous occasions by human rights organisations about its violations, but nothing ever changes.

Outside of the country, Iran is heavily involved in conflicts across the region, especially in Syria where it has been bolstering dictator Bashar al Assad. Iran has many proxy groups fighting on its behalf and is responsible for countless civilian deaths.

On 1st July, the Iranian opposition will be hosting a large gathering in Paris. This is its annual Freedom rally in which tens of thousands of people travel from afar to attend. There are prominent political figures from the United States, Europe and the rest of the world that will speak and pledge their support to the Iranian opposition and to the people of Iran who are desperate for regime change.
This blog generally follows traditional journalistic standards. It's not about opinions, though you may read one here occasionally. It's about facts that we think will be useful to rural journalists, non-rural journalists who do rural stories, and others interested in rural issues. We don't try to be provocative, so we don't generate as many comments as most blogs with the level of traffic we have, but we certainly invite comments -- and contributions, to

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REPUBLICATION
By Tyler Durden on 20 June 2017 for Zero Hedge -

Image above: Royal Australian Air Force flying American made F18 Hornets began making

their first strike on Islamic State forces in Syria in September 2015. From ( http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/09/09/first-raaf-strikes-syria-within-week ).

As a precautionary measure, Australian Defense Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased, Australias Department of Defense said in a statement, adding its operations in Iraq would continue as part of the coalition.





ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course.





Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats, the Department of Defense said.

"In areas where Russian aviation is conducting combat missions in the Syrian skies, any flying objects, including jets and unmanned aerial vehicles of the international coalition discovered west of the Euphrates River will be followed by Russian air and ground defenses as air targets."

"Russian Aerospace Forces' jets were conducting operations in Syrian airspace that time. However, the command of the coalition forces didn't use the existing channel between the air command of the Qatari airbase al Udeid and the [Russian] Hmeymim airbase to avoid incidents over Syria."

.

SUBHEAD: Australia became the first coalition member to suspend flights in Syria, claiming it's too dangerous for its planes.Russias Monday decision to suspend a memorandum of cooperation with the US-led coalition in retaliation after a US jet shot down a Syrian Army plane has rattled some US allies, who fear escalating tensions between Russia and the coalition. In what it called a "precautionary measure," Australia became the first coalition member to suspend flights in Syria, claiming it's too dangerous for its planes to fly without the agreement, according to BBC. Australia has deployed about 780 military personnel as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and SyriaThe BBC notes that Australia has a small but highly capable contingent of six F/A-18 strike aircraft; a tanker; and an E-7A Wedgetail early warning aircraft, all based at Al Minhad in the United Arab Emirates.Most of the Australian strikes have been in Iraq, though its aircraft do also operate over Syria. Australian commanders will reassess the situation in due course. The more fundamental question is what the Russian threat actually amounts to. Is it just rhetoric or does Moscow want to deny certain areas of Syrian airspace to US-led coalition aircraft?Australian aircraft will continue to fly missions in Iraq.As reported yesterday, Russia suspended cooperation under the Memorandum on the Prevention of Incidents and Ensuring Air Safety in Syria on Monday after the US shot down a Syrian Army fighter jet. The Russian Defense ministry called the attack an act of aggression, on the part of the US-led coalition. The US military neglected to use a communication line with Russia concerning this attack, despite the fact that Russian warplanes were also on a mission in Syrian airspace at the time, the Russian Defense Ministry alleged, conflicting with the Pentagon's explanation of events.The bilateral memorandum of understanding was signed between the United States and Russia signed in October 2015 to ensure the safety of flights during combat missions over Syria.In retaliation for the US attack, the ministry warned that Russian missile defense would intercept any aircraft in the area of operations of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria.The Russian Defense Ministry announced, quoted by Sputnik Contrary to the earlier statement by the US, according to which it "contacted its Russian counterparts by telephone via an established "de-confliction line" to de-escalate the situation and stop the firing", Russia claims the US-led coalition command didn't use the deconfliction channel with Russia to avoid an incident during an operation in Raqqa:We now wait to see which other US allies  Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Jordan and the UK also are contributing men and arms to the task of "liberating" Syria  will announce that they're temporarily pulling out of the conflict until tensions once again de-escalate.
By Carla Herreria on 18 June 2017 for Huffington Post -

Image above: The Hokoule'a returning to Honolulu harbor after three year journey. From original article.

Image above: The Hokoule'a return is welcomed by the public and Hawaiian indigenous practitioners. From original article.

Image above: The Hokoule'a finally at dock on Magic Island with the Ala Wai Boat Harbor in the background. From original article.

Video above: The Honolulu Star Advertiser video of return of Kokule'a to Hawaii. From ( https://youtu.be/Hvh5bX4iFHU ).

.

SUBHEAD: Hawaiian sailing canoe completes three-year voyage around the world to inspire people to take care of the Earth.Three years after setting sail from Hawaii using only the stars, the wind and ancient Polynesian navigation techniques to voyage around the world, the Hokulea , a traditional double-hulled Hawaiian sailing canoe, has arrived back home on the island of Oahu.Thousands of people welcomed the Hokulea as it docked in Magic Island in Honolulu early Saturday morning. Hawaiians greeted the canoe and its crew with traditional chants.The homecoming, which marks the end of a difficult and meaningful voyage, was an emotional one for many. As the canoe approached land, a rainbow could be seen just off the horizon.In 2014, navigators with the Polynesian Voyaging Society set sail on the Hokulea with one message: To inspire communities around the world to take care of  island Earth. In its voyage, the Hokulea and her crew traveled more than 40,000 nautical miles, visiting 150 ports in 23 countries, including stops in South Africa, Brazil, Tahiti and New York City. The Hokuleas unique mission is a point of pride for the Aloha State.Hawaii is one of the few states that has pushed back against the Trump administrations policies on climate change.This month, Governor David Ige, a Democrat, signed a bill that binds the state of Hawaii to the goals made in the Paris climate accord, despite President Donald Trumps decision to pull the country from the agreement. In 2015, Hawaii became the first state to enact a law requiring that 100 percent of its electricity come from renewable sources by 2045.Watching you on your epic voyage, you taught us that there is more than connects the world than divides us , Ige said to the Hokulea crew during Saturdays ceremony, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.See also: Ea O Ka Aina: New Sail Power in Mediterranean 6/15/17 Ea O Ka Aina: A houseboat that sails 67/9/16 Ea O Ka Aina: Larry Ellison - Oracle 6/21/12 Ea O Ka Aina: Our Brave Experiment 6/13/12 Ea O Ka Aina: Hokulea sister ship Hikianalia 10/10/12 Ea O Ka Aina: Moving local goods by boat 3/7/12 Ea O Ka Aina: Polyneisans again tour the Pacific 8/15/11 Ea O Ka Aina: Clear Sky over Polynesian canoes 7/12/11 Ea O Ka Aina: The Sail Transport Network 6/4/11 Island Breath: The future of ocean sailing 8/15/08 Island Breath: Sail Technology Reemerges 12/25/07 Island Breath: Rethinking the sail 12/25/07 Island Breath: THe Polynesian Package 8/24/07 Island Breath: The Future of Ocean Sailing 8/15/06
Tuesdays special election in Georgia is the most expensive House race in history, with candidates and outside groups spending roughly $55 million in the battle for the longtime Republican-held district in suburban Atlanta.

The race to fill the United States House seat vacated by Tom Price, the new health and human services secretary, cost nearly twice the amount spent in the second-most expensive House election, which was in Florida in 2012.

Ga.-6 special Top ten most expensive House races each cycle $50 million Spending by: Outside groups Fla.-18 Candidates Calif.-50 $25 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 Ga.-6 special Top ten most expensive House races each cycle $50 million Spending by: Outside groups Fla.-18 Candidates Calif.-50 $25 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16 Top ten most expensive House races each cycle Ga.-6 special Spending by: $50 million Outside groups Candidates Fla.-18 Calif.-50 $25 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 16

Sheila Krumholz, the executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said that the number is especially striking because the campaign has only lasted a few short months. But she also acknowledged that the race has become a referendum on the Trump administration.

There are other forces at work here beyond Georgia, she said.

The Democrat Received Significant Out-of-State Support

Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, and Karen Handel, a Republican, both advanced to a runoff after securing the top spots in the initial vote this April. Their campaigns raised about $28 million, with the bulk going to Mr. Ossoff.

Total raised by the campaigns Jon Ossoff $23.6 million Dem. $4.5 Karen Handel Rep. Jon Ossoff $23.6 million Dem. $4.5 Karen Handel Rep. Jon Ossoff Dem. $23.6 million Karen Handel Rep. $4.5 As of May 31.

These donors are disclosed only when their contributions are itemized in campaign finance filings, which generally means that donors gave at least $200.

Most of the itemized contributions to Mr. Ossoff were from large Democratic states like California and New York. Just 14 percent came from Georgia, compared with 56 percent of Ms. Handels contributions. Among open-seat House candidates who raised at least $100,000 in 2016, the median in-state percentage of contributions was 82 percent.

Where individual donations came from States won by: Trump Clinton Jon Ossoff $8.0m Calif. N.Y. Mass. Ga. Dem. Ill. Karen Handel $2.1m Ga. Rep. Calif. States won by: Trump Clinton Jon Ossoff Dem. $8.0m Calif. N.Y. Mass. Ga. Ill. Karen Handel Rep. $2.1m Ga. Calif. Jon Ossoff Dem. $8.0m Calif. N.Y. Ga. Karen Handel Rep. States won by: Ga. $2.1m Trump Clinton Calif. As of May 31. Data shows only itemized contributions, generally from donors giving $200 or more.

Ossoff is a huge outlier, as far as open-seat candidates go, for out of state support, said Mrs. Krumholz.

But the Republican Also Benefited From Outside Money

Although Mr. Ossoffs campaign far outraised Ms. Handels, she had much more outside support from party committees and super PACs. These groups spent more than $25 million on the race, primarily on advertising against the other side.

An Atlanta television station added a 7 p.m. newscast to profit from the deluge of ads in the race.

Spending by independent groups for each candidate Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Other groups Jon Ossoff $7.6m Dem. 5.0 2.6 Karen Handel $18.2m 6.2 6.0 6.0 Rep. Congressional Leadership Fund National Republican Congressional Committee Other groups Jon Ossoff Dem. 5.0 2.6 $7.6m Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Other groups Karen Handel Rep. 6.2 6.0 6.0 $18.2m Congressional Leadership Fund National Republican Congressional Committee Other Jon Ossoff Dem. $7.6m 5.0 2.6 Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Other groups Karen Handel Rep. $18.2m 6.2 6.0 6.0 Congressional Leadership Fund National Republican Congressional Committee Other As of June 19.

Most independent groups raise money from individuals, corporations and other political committees from across the country, so they are also not receiving the bulk of their support from Georgia.

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC that supports Republican House candidates, spent more than $6 million in favor of Ms. Handel. The organizations top donors include Steven A. Cohen, a billionaire investor; Paul L. Foster, a Texas oil refiner; and the American Action Network, a group with nonprofit status that is not required to disclose its donors.
Most of the victims were stranded in their cars as they tried to escape. It is unknown why the roads were still open, and the prime minister, Antonio Costa, ordered an investigation of the emergency response.
NOTE TO READERS: This is Part 2 of my two-part series "Fighting the McResistance--for Climate's Sake," in which I argue that leaving Democrats' astroturf "McResistance" in charge of the anti-Trump resistance movement will be a CATASTROPHE for our climate. While Part 2 is written to be understood on its own, readers will grasp it even better if acquainted with the "Good Cop as Judas" argument I made in Part 1.



Judas--betrays all of humanity, but still can't beat The Ogre.

(Image by Eva Rinaldi Celebrity and Live Music Photographer) Details DMCA



"A McResistance Summer Is Climate's Ultimate Bummer"

To be sure, even hard-core Clinton neoliberals may realize that Democrats' current shtick of serving corporate and plutocrats donors while betraying and stonewalling the party's voter base is doomed. That explains why they've put popular progressive independent Bernie Sanders--hoping he'll play progressive-herding "sheepdog" --in charge of party messaging.

But, whatever Sanders says or does, leading Democrats have clearly made an amazingly hard-core commitment to postponing the party's day of reckoning and reform as long as possible. Obviously, suckling at corporate oligarchs' teats is sweet for leading Democrats--to the extent even political suicide seems worth the risk. Nothing could be more politically suicidal than the Democratic National Committee's (DNC's) claimed legal right to rig primaries and deceive its voter base and small donors about the facts. Provided, of course, real progressives find a way to overcome mainstream media's blackout and publicize the DNC fraud lawsuit--an action campaign advocated in this article's closing section.

While the "Clintocrat" neoliberals now strangling Democratic Party reform sense no pressing political timetable for their party's reformist day of reckoning, a human race facing climate apocalypse has a vastly more urgent scientific one. Clearly, the "McResistance" agenda--promoting corrupt Democrats' return to power, despite their own stiff-necked rejection of reform, by focusing attention on Trump's sheer badness--is repulsive enough in itself. But what makes it especially dangerous--making a McResistance Summer "climate's ultimate bummer"--is the three ways Democrats already betray humanity by their climate policy and obviously will continue to without major reforms. Before Trump and his fellow "climate Visigoths" got a hold of climate policy, Democrats' climate betrayals were bad enough; after Trump's massive destruction, unreformed Democrats' continued climate betrayals will almost surely spell Armageddon.

Two of Democrats' climate betrayals are related to their own policy, one to their climate-specific policy and the other their policy on non-climate issues. The other is intimately tied to the inability of their betraying party--their Judas party--to consistently beat "climate Visigoth" Republicans.

Betrayal #1: Democrats' Climate Policy Is "Just Plain Silly"

When speaking publicly on humanity's climate emergency, world-renowned climatologist James Hansen is not a man to pull punches. With science, not partisanship, determining his choice of words, Hansen is almost unique among climate activists in calling out the climate irresponsibility of Democrats (not just Republicans) in the choicest of words. Thus, speaking with no false, politically correct reverence for Barack Obama, Hansen fiercely lambasted the talks culminating in Obama's supposedly signature climate achievement--the Paris Climate Agreement--as "bullshit," "worthless words," and "a fraud." Equally unsparing of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, then Obama's presumptive successor, Hansen ridiculed her expected climate policies as "just plain silly."

As evidence backing Hansen's claims--beyond what he himself offers in the links just cited--readers should peruse Carol Dansereau's fine CounterPunch article, contrasting Democrats' latest "climate fix" legislation ("boldly" offered, of course, at a time when it has zero prospects of passage) with one model of what effective climate action would actually look like. But rather than compile evidence--abundantly available--of why Democrats' climate policy is so inadequate as to be "just plain silly," I'll instead argue why the climate policy of an unreformed Democratic Party (the kind sought by the McResistance) is guaranteed to remain so.

Sonali Kolhatkar had laid the foundation for my climate-specific case against Democrats in a splendid,more general Truthdig piece--one that, without using the term, is a masterpiece in framing the issues surrounding the "McResistance." Right off the bat, Kolhatkar hits a "home run" of framing:

"Our current political moment is being interpreted as a battle between compassion and cruelty, between reason and irrationality. But it ought to be viewed as a fight between two limited sectors of the political spectrum: the extreme right and the center, both of which care more about corporate power than about ordinary Americans."

No two sentences could better explain the contrast between the false perception of Democrats the McResistance propaganda machine strives to impose and the stark duopoly reality we now face. A duopoly reality Max Mastellone has beautifully summed up under the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" model. And to which I've usefully added the realization--important in stigmatizing the DNC's scandalous legal argument (see this article's final section)--that "playing Judas" is virtually the Good Cop's job description.

But returning to Kolhatkar's "home run" framing of our disastrous duopoly, she immediately adds,

"The difference is the degree to which cruelty and irrationality reign. The weak reforms implemented and backed by Democrats have only provided fodder for their rivals instead of bulwarks against extremism."

Again, these two sentences are dead on. And Kolhatkar's own examples in the article are splendidly picked to illustrate how the halfhearted weakness of "reforms implemented and backed by Democrats" repeatedly sets them up for undoing by brutal Republicans. Cunningly, Republicans temporarily become as rational as Democrats' principled leftist critics--indeed, they often make the same critiques, even citing the principled left--in castigating Democratic Party half-measures doomed to failure. Then, Republicans substitute policies of their own that--from every perspective but a shortsighted oligarchic, social Darwinist one--set new standards of cruelty and irrationality. In reaction, voters then beg Democrats to "have a heart," and they respond with "half a heart" (if even that)--continuing the duopoly's "Good Cop, Bad Cop" vicious circle of exploiting American voters.

Next Page 1 | 2 | 3

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
In my last article before Trump went to Saudi Arabia, I wrote that the purpose of the massive get together between the Sunni leaders in Riyadh with Trump was to get him on board with an invasion of Assad's regime in Syria. Immediately after that gathering the big news in the world was the sudden Saudi led coalition calling for an ex-communication of Qatar from "the good guys of the world club," by the new alliance of the so-called Arab NATO which was called for at the meetings. The Saudis were calling for an end to all economic ties and all travel of all kinds in and out of Qatar unless they gave into a number of demands. At the top of the list after giving up all ties with Iran, was the dissolution of Al-Jazeera, the Qatar based news organization which dominates the Muslim world. Egypt then asked everyone to include Turkey in the boycott as well. The mainstream media around the world went into overdrive explaining the cause as Qatar being soft on Iran, or even supporting Iran and it's so-called proxy terrorist organizations; as well as Qatar support of terrorists in general.

The alternative media gave a number of other reasons for the new dissension in the Gulf. Prominent among them is the idea that Iranian ties and support of terrorist groups in Syria are not the real cause since so many other Arab states have many close ties with Iran, especially the prominent UAE member Dubai. Some have speculated the main cause as Al-Jazeera, which is said to be "hated" by the Saudis and Egypt because Al-Jazeera supports policies and organizations in its reporting that those countries are opposed to. The Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas are two examples of Al-Jazeera support.

Other commentators have claimed that the real reason for the rift is because Qatar seems to have shifted its alliances in Syria, noting that recently they have called off their "rebels" in Syria fighting against Assad and possibly joining the new Iran-Russia-Turkey axis in support of Syria. They claim this is why Turkey has been so supportive of Qatar during this crisis in the Gulf, even sending troops to protect them if need be. Commentators also claim that when the US informed Turkey that they were not invited to take part in the invasion of ISIS headquarters in Raqqa, that caused Erdogan to believe there was a Kurdish state in the planning for northern Syria. Having a Kurdish state right across the border of Kurdish parts of Turkey in Northern Syria, being created and supported by America, was seen as a betrayal of Turkey. With Qatar moving closer to Turkey; along with Qatar's recent large investment in Russian natural gas giant Rosneft; and also with their new closer economic ties with Iran in the Persian Gulf (the most valuable Gas field in the world); many commentators have claimed all of those recent events as the "real cause" of Qatar being isolated and demonized by the Saudi led coalition and Trump.

Now, with the recent direct attacks by America on a Syrian bomber in the news, along with previous attacks on Syrian proxy forces fighting ISIS in Syria, many have speculated this may be leading to more American involvement against Assad. The reasons the Pentagon have given for the downing of the Syrian bomber, along with the other attacks on Syrian forces, have been met with charges of outright fabrication by the Russians and Syrians. They claim the real reason is to make a show of force, to make it known that America is not beholden to any claims of Syrian sovereignty regardless of Russian or Turkish support of Syria.

I believe there is possibly another reason. I believe they are trying to get a military response from Syria because they want an excuse to begin a planned invasion supported by the newly minted Saudi led Arab NATO. Qatar is being isolated before the start of the invasion because of their closer ties to the Iran-Russia-Turkey axis supporting Assad, and also because they control Al-Jazeera. In an invasion scenario the ability of Al-Jazeera to counter Western and Saudi led propaganda due to their popularity in the Muslim world is quite worrisome. It appears they are trying to shut down Al-Jazeera by making Qatar public enemy #1 before the start of the invasion.

Like I wrote in my previous article, I believe Trump has been harassed with Russiagate by the American media and politicians due to the instigation of a Saudi led coalition of bribes and threats. It's the ol' Good Cop-Bad Cop routine being used on Trump. The American media and politicians are the bad cops, relentlessly and viciously denouncing Trump over Russian ties with the only relief from their onslaught coming after he bombed Assad's military. The Saudis are playing the good cop. They are offering "to help him" with their bribery power to stop Russiagate - but only if he invades Syria for them, and now also isolates Qatar. I believe Russiagate was concocted and controlled in order to get Trump to do the bidding of the Saudi led coalition in the Middle East, i.e., use America and by extension NATO to end the Iran supported regimes in Iraq and Syria in order to take covert and total control over their governments and then their natural resources. The Pentagon is resistant because of Russian involvement, and Trump is also resistant because he ran on the promise of a more isolationist policy, and after he sent missiles to Syria the last time he lost a lot of good faith among his base. The press and politicians eased up on him by command after that attack, but because he was reluctant to do more against Assad the onslaught began anew. I believe he has been made aware of who is controlling the Russiagate attacks and has been made aware that he has a choice: invade Syria or it continues to impeachment if necessary. With the recent direct attacks on Syrian forces along with the isolation of Qatar and Al-Jazeera at the same time, war against Syria may be closer than many believe.
Ordinary people who identify themselves as Democrats have a variety of mostly noble intentions and desires. Elected Democrats in Washington, D.C., are another matter entirely. When voters gave them majorities in Congress in 2006, telling exit pollsters that the top reason was to end the war on Iraq, Rahm Emanuel openly told the Washington Post they planned to keep the war going in order to run "against it" again in 2008. And they did. And it worked. And it was all open and transparent, but nobody really cared. Refusing to end the war or impeach Bush was ranked as "less evil" than being Bush.

If Democratic politicians had some desire to accomplish something (ending wars, saving the earth's climate, closing prisons, whatever) they would work to create a culture in Washington in which those who abuse power are held accountable, subpoenaed, held in contempt, impeached, removed, unelected. Because their only goals seem to be staying in office, pleasing funders, getting on TV, etc., they are the top supporters of keeping Donald Trump in office through 2018, after which they will tell us that it would really be best to keep him around and run "against" him again in 2020. Republicans, in contrast, are generally turned off by such prospects.

The Democrats' cynical calculation is the source of a great deal of the "Pence would be worse" malarkey we hear. In reality it doesn't matter who comes next in comparison to whether who comes next can be held to the rule of law. But you won't convince an elected Democrat of that. Instead you have to convince them that we will make their lives a living hell unless they impeach Trump, and that impeaching Trump will win them support.

If Democrats cared about either doing their job or removing Trump from office, they would be going after Trump right now for illegally shooting down a Syrian plane, illegally drone bombing numerous nations, conducting numerous illegal wars, illegal prejudicial bans on immigrants, illegal willful destruction of the earth's climate, unconstitutional domestic and foreign profiteering from his public office, and a whole laundry list of crimes from sexual assault to voter intimidation.

The Russia obsession has, I think, three clear motivations:

1) It shifts blame from a broken U.S. election system, a lousy Democratic candidate, and the DNC's rigging of its own primary to a foreign entity.

2) It sells a lot of weapons.

3) It keeps Trump in office.

Is that third one the hardest to understand? Think about it this way: If you wanted to "investigate" one of the other charges I list above, the investigation would be instantly over. The evidence is public and beyond dispute. But if you hold "investigations" of vague Russian something-or-other, you can go for months or years with the top news story being whose lawyer hired their own lawyer and other tangential cow pies, keeping "Trump did some evil treasonous thing" in the news for every crazed gun-owner and potential voter to hear over and over again, without actually removing Trump from office.

Of course, I'd love to be proved wrong. That would require action by members of Congress.


Qatar

(Image by espinr) Details DMCA



Qatari Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Monday (June 19) ruled out any talks to resolve the current Saudi-Qatari diplomatic crisis unless blockade is lifted.

"Qatar is under blockade, there is no negotiation. They have to lift the blockade to start negotiations," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani was quoted by Al Jazeera as saying. "Until now we didn't see any progress about lifting the blockade, which is the precondition for anything to move forward."

Sheikh Al Thani's statement came as the United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said in Paris Sunday that Qatar's diplomatic isolation could "last years."

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Egypt and a number of other countries severed diplomatic and economic relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting what they called "terrorism" and Iran. Qatar has strenuously rejected the accusations.

The actions Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt are taking against Qatar are a "publicity stunt" aimed solely at attacking its image and reputation, a senior Qatari official said in a statement Monday. Sheikh Saif Bin Ahmed Al-Thani, director of Qatar's Government Communications Office, said: The blockading nations are using terrorism as a publicity stunt.

Tellingly, activists on social media are circulating a legal opinion (fatwa) by late Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz, in which the former Mufti of Saudi Arabia backed the Muslim Brotherhood. Bin Baz served as the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia from 1992 until his death in 1999.

Bin Baz issued his fatwa in his role as chairman of Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Iftaa in Saudi Arabia. In Fatwa 6250 he said: "The most righteous Islamic groups and the closest to the teachings of the Prophet are Ahl Al-Sunnah, including Ahl Al-Hadith, Jamaat Ansar Al-Sunna and the Muslim Brotherhood. In general, all of the Islamic groups can be right or wrong at times, so you need to collaborate with them when doing the right thing and avoid the errors they make. I advise all Muslims to cooperate in order to achieve righteousness and piety."

Qatar must end its support for the Palestinian group Hamas (which rules Gaza) and the Muslim Brotherhood before ties with other Arab Gulf states could be restored, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister insisted on June 6.

Senior Iranian official visits Qatar

In other developments, the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) reported Monday that a senior Iranian official has visited Doha and met with Qatari officials to discuss the Arab blockade on the Gulf state.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qasimi, said Assistant Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Hussein Gabri Ansari, paid a short visit to Qatar where he met with Qatari officials and exchanged views on bilateral relations and international issues.

In an interview with IRNA , Qasimi stressed that Iran always seeks unity and solidarity among the Islamic world and helps establish the foundations of peace and security in the region, adding that this visit comes in continuation of previous consultations with Qatari officials .

Qatar Airways to run 300 daily trips through Iran

Director General of Fars Province Airports Reza Badiei- Fard said last week that Qatar Airways will run 300 additional flights through Iranian airspace daily.

Badeiei-Fard explained that Iran's airspace was the only option for Qatar Airways flights since the embargo imposed by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt amid a deepening diplomatic row that saw the four countries cut off sea and air links and diplomatic relations with the Gulf state. Qatar has also re-routed its flights over Turkey and Oman.

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From Reader Supported News

GOP goons grab reporter when he asks how 40,000 minority voter registrations vanished



Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel.

(Image by AJC file) Details DMCA



Karen Handel took a break from beating up Democrat John Ossoff to attack a reporter: me. In the televised debate between the two candidates vying for Georgia's 6th Congressional District, Republican Handel claimed, "a reporter supposedly representing some very liberal Democratic organization almost literally accosted me."

In fact, is was a trio of galoots working for Handel who accosted me.

But who accosted whom is less important than Handel promoting the dangerous new trend of attacking the press, sometimes physically, when questions are uncomfortable or challenging.

Handel is afraid I'll report what I began uncovering in my investigations in Georgia's 6th. I first came here in 2014 for Al Jazeera, when I interviewed an enthusiastic group of Korean-Americans based in the 6th, the Asian-American Legal Advocacy Center. When I returned to cover the current race, I found the Asian-American voting rights office shuttered and empty.

Apparently, the group which had launched a "10,000 Korean Votes" registration drive discovered that many of their registrants simply never appeared on voter rolls. Their lawyers' query about missing voters to the Secretary of State resulted in a raid by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and a threat of criminal charges.

Voting rights attorney Nse Ufot told me what happened:

"They were doing a campaign to register 10,000 Korean-Americans to vote, and had quite a bit of success. At some point during the campaign, they noticed that many of the folks that they were registering were not showing up on the voter rolls. So, they reached out to the Secretary of State to say, "Hey, where are our folks? Why aren't they showing up on the rolls?" They never got an official response. What they did get was the GBI kicking in the door and requesting all of their files."

While no charges were brought, the terrifying raid was enough to put the Korean voter group out of business. And Ufot's own group, New Georgia Project, has seen the registrations of new voters of color suspiciously...vanish.

Ufot told me, "We submitted 86,419 voter registration forms. There are 46,000 of the folks that we've registered who have made it, and 40,000 of them are missing."

So New Georgia Project contacted the Republican Secretary of State's office.

"You know what they told us? 'We don't know what you're talking about. What forms?' They did not disappear. We intentionally registered voters on paper forms so that we could make copies. We knew who they were. They were not on the voter rolls."

When African-American activists raised a ruckus over the disappearance, they got the same treatment as the Korean-Americans: a Gestapo-style raid on their offices, threats of criminal charges and jail term.

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End Islamophobia, Take Action, Silent Protest at Union Station, Washington DC

(Image by Lorie Shaull) Details DMCA



The seven-million strong American Muslim Community was alarmed at the killings of worshippers in Virginia and the British capital, London.

The Washington Post reported Monday (June 19) police found remains of a missing Virginia teenager who was assaulted and disappeared overnight after leaving a mosque in the Sterling area, and a 22-year-old man has been charged with murder in connection with the case.

The mosque, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in Sterling, and relatives identified the girl as 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston. Fairfax County police identified the man charged with murder in her death as Darwin Martinez Torres of Sterling, the Washington Post reported.

And across the Atlantic, in the British capital, London, one man died and 10 others were injured when a man drove a van into worshippers leaving a London mosque after prayers early on Monday (June 19).

Witnesses said the van driver was a "large white man", who was apprehended by members of the public soon after the incident near Finsbury Park. He was quoted as shouting: "I want to kill all Muslims."A man, who was already being given first aid at the scene before the van rammed the pedestrians, has died. At least two of the injured are in a very serious condition.

Virginia public officials condemn killing

The Washington Post said the Virginia killing rattled the Muslim community in the midst of celebrating Ramadan, a month of religious observance in which adherents fast from dawn to sunset.

ADAMS is Northern Virginia's largest mosque and, with 11 chapters around the District and Northern Virginia. According to ADAMS's website, the Sterling location is 25,000 square feet and can accommodate more than 700 people. It includes a youth weekend school, a gymnasium and multipurpose hall, the site says.

The ADAMS Center has a paid armed security guard at the Sterling site, according to Arsalan Iftikhar, an international human rights lawyer. He said many mosques have increased security since six Muslim worshipers were killed at a mosque in Quebec earlier this year.

Virginia officials condemned the killing Sunday night and expressed condolences to Nabra's family.

Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-Va.) said she visited ADAMS Sunday and met with leadership and law enforcement officials. "We are heartbroken and horrified by the news of the brutal murder of a beautiful 17-year old girl," Comstock was quoted as saying by Washington Post.

The congresswoman represents Virginia's 10th District, where the mosque is located. "We know there is no greater pain for any parent and I extend our prayers to her family and loved ones at this difficult time and the entire ADAMS Center community," she said.

Virginia Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said he and his wife, Pam, were "deeply disturbed" by the assault and killing. "There is absolutely no place for this kind of violence in our Commonwealth," Northam said in a statement. "Every Virginian should feel safe and welcome in our communities, and no parent should ever have to experience such a heartbreaking tragedy."

Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D) echoed Northam, urging Virginians to show compassion and kindness. "The ADAMS Center has always welcomed me and so many in Northern Virginia like family," Herring said. "This unspeakable attack feels like an assault on our entire community. Words fail at a time like this, so we'll all have to do the best we can to surround them with the love and support they've always shown each of us."

While condemning the death of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) pointed out that an unprecedented spike in hate incidents targeting Muslims -- and particularly Muslim women - and other minority groups since the November 8, 2016 election.

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This is a reprint from NewsBred.



Express story (left) and Dr. Syama Prasad Mookherjee

(Image by Newsbred) Details DMCA



Indian Express could barely suppress its glee and smirk when today it front-paged a tweet by Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy which stated that "Hindu-Muslim problem won't be solved without a Civil War." (see the image on the left).

The front-page story was neatly curated. The report omitted that Roy had mentioned "The Great Calcutta Killings' of August 1946 and the "Noakhali Hindu Genocide" of October 1946 as a backgrounder to the tweeted quote.

What Express needed to do was to dwell on these two tragic incidents of pre-Independent India and not take the tweets out of context.

About "The Great Calcutta Killings" it would've surely found out in Wikipedia that the call for "Direct Action Day" on August 16, 1946 in Kolkata by the Muslim League, in order to secure partition, "resulted in 4,000 dead within 72 hours in Calcutta."

That the "Noakhali Hindu Genocide" began on October 10, 1946 and left "more than 5,000 Hindus killed." Further, "Hundreds of Hindu women were raped and thousands of Hindu men and women were forcibly converted to Islam." That Hindus were forced to pay subscriptions to the Muslim League and jiziyah, the protection tax paid by dhimmis in an Islamic state."

It would've prevented Express from appearing sensationalist and mischievous if it had informed the readers that Hindus were in a minority in Bengal in 1946 which was then being run by the Muslim League. But perhaps to put out these facts would have hurt the agenda of making Roy appear as one seeking a Civil War between Hindus and Muslims in the country.

Roy ostensibly had tweeted in relation to the incendiary situation in Bengal where violence against Hindus has often been reported in recent times, including attacks when the community celebrates its major festivals such as Durga Puja. Muslims receive a preferential treatment. The incidents in Darjeeling has further stoked fires. Such tweets from a son of the soil that Roy is, reflects his anguish. Instead of projecting him as an extremist, it was worthy to analyse why a distinguished scholar of Roy's stature, if not a celebrated engineer, had chosen to tweet so.

Even in relation to Dr. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee, Express could've found out that all he wanted was to stop a repeat of these violent acts against Hindus and ensure that Bengal was partitioned so that the two communities could live in their own spheres without bloodshed. His ceaseless effort finally led to the creation of East Pakistan and West Bengal. Mookherjee had sought the Bengal partition to avoid the "Civil War" which had looked a reality in those dark days of 1946.

News reports such as these could incite communal violence and endanger the lives of millions, if not outright break-up of India. It's time the Press Council of India, if not the laws of the land, take a definitive stand on this mischief and call off this dangerous game. To stoke the fear of one community and project another as seeking violence through their leaders, all on the basis of "curated" tweets, is criminal and seditious.

And when the accusation of "muzzling the freedom of Press in India" comes in the wake of a punitive action, it ought to be a badge of honour shared by all conscientious citizens of this country.
See original here

The best-selling author speaks on the future of grassroots progressive politics.

By Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez



Over the weekend, more than 4,000 people gathered for the People's Summit in Chicago. Among those who spoke was Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who called the Democratic Party's strategy an absolute failure and blamed the party for the election of President Trump. This comes after the Labour Party in Britain won a shocking number of new seats in the British election. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is now poised to possibly become the next British prime minister. For more on these insurgent progressive politicians, we speak with best-selling author and journalist Naomi Klein, whose new book is "No Is Not Enough: Resisting Trump's Shock Politics and Winning the World We Need."

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This weekend, 4,000 people packed the McCormick Place convention center for a People's Summit. Independent senator, former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders delivered the keynote speech. During his speech, he repeatedly criticized the Democratic Party, calling it an "absolute failure" and blaming it for the election of President Trump.

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS: I'm often asked by the media and others: How did it come about that Donald Trump, the most unpopular presidential candidate in the modern history of our country, won the election? And my answer is -- and my answer is that Trump didn't win the election; the Democratic Party lost the election. Let us -- let us be very, very clear: The current model -- the current model and the current strategy of the Democratic Party is an absolute failure. This is not -- this is not my opinion. This is the facts. You know, we focus a lot on the presidential election, but we also have to understand that Democrats have lost the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate. Republicans now control almost two-thirds of the governors' chairs throughout the country. And over the last nine years, Democrats have lost almost 1,000 legislative seats in states all across this country. Today -- today, in almost half of the states in America, Democratic Party has almost no political presence at all. Now, if that's not a failure, if that's not a failed model, I don't know what a failed model is.

AMY GOODMAN: That's Bernie Sanders speaking on Saturday night at the People's Summit in Chicago at the McCormick Place convention center. It was an event that was organized by many different groups, primarily the Nurses United, nurses around the country. About a thousand nurses were there. Naomi, we were both there. Can you talk about the significance of what Bernie Sanders said? Now, remember, he is in the Democratic leadership --

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: -- right now of the Senate. He is supposedly like the outreach person. He was brought into it. But he's got a fierce critique of the Democratic Party.

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah. And I think he's been biting his tongue a little bit. I might speculate that he was inspired by what just happened in the U.K. with Jeremy Corbyn -- we know he just came back from a trip to the U.K. -- because there is an interesting parallel, in the sense that Jeremy Corbyn was elected by a grassroots, insurgent, youth-led movement. He was elected as leader originally -- a youth-led movement called Momentum in the U.K., many, many young people who joined the Labour Party in order to support Jeremy Corbyn. And there was this -- they were treated as, you know, invade -- like, instead of being excited about this wave of interest in the political party, the Labour Party establishment, the so-called New Labour party establishment, because Labour was rebranded by Tony Blair in the late 1990s to be the New Labour party, which is kind of like a labor-scented party as opposed to a party of actually working people, really using the tools of marketing as opposed to having a party that knows what it stands for and who it stands for.

And so, Jeremy Corbyn was elected, and there was just this campaign of sabotage. It was just the end of the world. He's unelectable. He was smeared. Then there was a coup to try to unseat him. He was sabotaged relentlessly by his MPs, while he was leader, who were constantly leaking damning information, trying to make him look bad in the press, sabotaging him at every front, right? But the insurgency was ultimately successful, in that this campaign was a tremendous upset. It was an -- sorry, this election was a tremendous upset in the U.K. [Theresa] May did not need to call the election. She said she wouldn't call the election. The only reason she called the election, because she was so convinced that she was going to get an overwhelming majority, which was supposed to give her this mandate to get the best deal possible under Brexit as they negotiated with the EU. And there's this huge upset, and, in fact, she loses all these seats, she loses her majority. Jeremy Corbyn wins about 30 seats.

AMY GOODMAN: Let's go to Jeremy Corbyn --

NAOMI KLEIN: Yeah.

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Pastes Jacob Weindling wrote a piece last week on the shocking decision by Donald Trump to essentially abdicate his authority on the war in Afghanistan to the Pentagon. That means the recent troop escalation was approved with very little oversight from the president, which presents a clear conflict of interestthe military will have a natural compulsion to escalate conflict, whether it stems from a prideful disdain for retreat, an economic attempt to justify its existence, or a subconscious urge to fulfill its purpose. Thats why we have checks and balances, and its also why, at least in theory, we dont live in a military junta where the Pentagon can unilaterally start or escalate wars.

But Weindlings secondary point is why Im writing today: Most Americans simply dont have a concrete understanding of international affairs, and, aside from outright war, seem disinterested. This is why a significant troop escalation in a conflict that has lasted twice as long as Vietnam has barely raised eyebrows domestically.

This post is not about Afghanistan, but it is about increasing knowledge. The Middle East of 2017 is a violent imbroglio in which the U.S. is hopelessly mired. What follows is an attempt to explain the relationships at play between the major powers of the region, and how the U.S. fits into the puzzle. Since this is a beginners guide, it will necessarily be a simplificationthe hope is that it will spur a reader on to further research, or at least paint a broad historical and contemporary picture of whats happening, and whats likely to happen next.

The text that follows will be divided into separate sections for each major relationship, with the American role clarified where necessary. Note that due to the ongoing Libyan Civil War, in which various elements control sections of the country, Libya has not been included here. Finally, it will help to consult a map like this one.

(Fair warning, this will be the longest sectionmake it through this one, and its all downhill.)

Heres the best framework with which to view Middle Eastern politics: Its a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two major denominations of Islam are Sunni and Shiathe theological schism began after the death of Muhammed in 632, and stemmed from a dispute over the prophets true successor as caliphand in Saudi Arabia and Iran, the split is made manifest. In short, Saudi Arabia is the major Sunni power in the region, Iran is the major Shia power, and both represent a fairly extreme version of their respective sectsthe ultraconservative monarchical Wahhabism espoused by the Saudi royal family, and the Iranian theocratic near-autocracy led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini. Between the two nations, there is total enmityno diplomatic relations, no cooperation, nothing except a state of affairs stopping just short of outright war.

But even if they dont engage in direct conflict, they fight elsewhere, through third parties, in places like Yemen and Syria. In places like Qatar and Egypt, where theres no overt violence, still the two countries vie for influence. And the battle for energy resources exacerbates the situationSaudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves of any nation, and advocates for moderate prices, while Irans economic situation dictates that they pursue higher prices worldwide for more immediate gain.

The hostility between the two nations began in 1979, when the Ayatollah Khomeinis revolution transformed Iran into a theocratic Islamic Republic. Sensing a threat to regional stability, Saudi Arabia supported Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi invasion of Iran, to the tune of billions of dollars. Relations began to improve after the waras much as they could, anyway, considering the Saudi alliance with Americabut Saudi Arabias intervention in Yemen, where a group of Shia rebels called the Houthis were attempting to overthrow the Sunni government, soured things again in the 2000s. The situation grew worse over the ensuing decade, and after Iranian protesters ransacked the Saudi embassy in Teheran (Irans capital) in 2016, diplomatic ties were suspended.

How America fits in: Iran was a major ally of the U.S. before the revolution, but Khomeinis victory transformed his country, almost overnight, into one of Americas foremost enemies. Diplomatic relations are not exactly nonexistent, but they are strained, and one of the U.S.s main areas of geopolitical concern is Irans ability to produce nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, aside from Israel, Saudi Arabia is the Americas chief strategic ally in the region, and has been for decades. The U.S. provides billions of dollars of weaponry, financial support, and even joint military supportas in recent engagements in Yemento Saudi Arabia, while the two work together to control international oil prices. The U.S. also has several military bases in the country, which have come in handy in various conflicts in the Middle East, including the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War.

This alliance began with the Iraq-Iran War shortly after the Iranian revolution, when Syria, ruled by the Baath party and Hafez al-Assad (father of current president Bashar al-Assad), risked the ire of Saudi Arabia by supporting Iran, even though Saddam Hussein was also a Baathist. The Baath party of Syria, while nominally secular, is run by Alawite Shiites like Assad, who rely on their Shiite base to keep the majority Sunnis from establishing dominance in the country. In the current Syrian Civil War, Iran has supported Assads government with billions of dollars, troops, and even missile launches. As Irans Supreme Leader Ali Khameini said, Wherever a movement is Islamic, populist, and anti-American, we support it.

Hopefully this is starting to make some basic sense. Since Syria and Iran are allies, its an easy jump from there to guess that Saudi Arabia and Syria should be enemies. They arediplomatic ties were cut off in 2012, and there is no longer a Saudi Arabian embassy in Damascus, Syrias capital. In the current Civil War, the Saudis have supported anti-Assad rebels with massive shipments of weapons and ammunition. There have also been reports that the Saudis sent death-row inmates to fight for the Syrian rebels. Inevitably, some of the arms meant for the rebels haveaccidentally or otherwisefallen into the hands of ISIS and al-Qaeda. (In a leaked 2014 memo, Hillary Clinton, for one, thought otherwise.)

How America fits in: Needless to say, some of the Saudi Arabian arms that have ended up in the hands of Syrian rebels, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, were supplied by the U.S or bought with U.S. moneyeven as Obama administration has directly funded anti-ISIS groups since 2014, attacked ISIS with airstrikes, and sent hundreds of special operations forces to the country beginning in 2015. Since Trump became president, the U.S. has engaged in airstrikes against the Syrian government, and recently decided to arm Kurdish fighters opposed to Assad.

Bahrain is a small country on the Persian Gulf, and shares a national border only with Saudi Arabia. Like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain is ruled by Sunni monarchs, but unlike their neighbors, Bahrain is unique in that its population is majority-Shia. In 2011, amid the wave of Arab Spring movements, Shia protesters in Bahrain antagonized for greater freedom for the majority population. Eventually, Bahrains King Hamad called on Saudi Arabia for help, and more than 1,000 Saudi Arabian troops came to his aid, concerned that a Shia revolution might bolster Irans influence and create further instability. Notably, the Fifth Fleet of the U.S. Navy is based in Bahrainthere was no opposition to Saudi intercession from the Americans. A crackdown by the government ensued, which included thousands of arrests and the destruction of 35 Shia mosques.

You get it: Bahrain, essentially a Saudi puppet at this point, severed diplomatic ties with Iran in conjunction with Saudi Arabia in 2016, and joined the Saudis in severing diplomatic ties with Qatar earlier this month. Speaking of which

This might be one of the most interesting emerging conflicts in the whole region. I recently wrote a longer primer on this situation, but the short version is that Qatar, a Sunni-led and Sunni majority nation, small and extremely wealthy, has been antagonizing Saudi Arabia for more than 20 years since a bloodless coup that installed Sheikh Hamad bin al-Thani as emir (note: the coup was against his own father). Among the alleged improprieties committed by Qatar are the establishment of diplomatic relations with Iran (they share an offshore natural gas field, the worlds largest) and Israel, the foundation and funding of the Al-Jazeera television network, and support for the Muslim Brotherhood organization, whose brand of Arab-Spring Islamist populism threatens the continued rule of Saudi Arabias royal family. Essentially, Qatar has sought to expand its regional influence, somewhat successfully, and it all culminated earlier this month when Saudi Arabia and four other countries severed all diplomatic ties with Qatar, and even imposed sanctions.

How America fits in: The U.S. has an air base in Qatar, but it appears that Saudi Arabia felt at least tacitly supported in its sanctions following Donald Trumps recent visit. But even as Trump accused Qatar of terrorist activity, the U.S. military took pains to laud Qatar for its enduring commitment to regional security, and made it known that the air base was still functional. It would appear that the military is opposed to its own president on this front. Just this week, the U.S. and Qatar are finalizing a $12 billion arms deal.

Since Qatar is located on the Persian Gulf and borders Saudi Arabia, and is a Sunni-led nation, things can only be so friendly between these two countries. That said, Qatars emir called to congratulate the newly elected Iranian president Hasan Rouhani, and in the aftermath of Saudi Arabias economic divestment, Iran sent 600 tons of fresh produce to Qatar to help prevent starvation. The shared South Pars/North Dome gas field also ensures, at least to some degree, continued cooperation between the two countries.

This one deserves an immediate caveattheres an ongoing war in Yemen between the Houthi rebels, a Shia group supported by Iran, and the government forces of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, supported by Saudi Arabia. The Saudis actually launched a military intervention in 2015 that included a bombing campaign and a naval blockade against the Houthis, after the Houthis had captured the capital city Sanaa, dissolved the parliament, and placed Hadi under house arrest. Hadi escaped, the Saudis attacked and restored Hadi, and a devastating military campaign has wracked the country ever since. When I speak of Yemen in terms of alliances and enemies, Im speaking of the Hadi regime, and not the Houthi rebels, even though the balance of trure power is constantly shifting.

How America fits in: The U.S. has supported Saudi Arabia in the usual ways, with money and weaponry, but has also engaged in joint planning and drone strikes, leading government lawyers to wonder if the U.S. is, in fact, a co-belligerent who would be subject to prosecution for war crimes committed by Saudi forces. Those alleged crimes seem to be manifold, including attacks on civilians that have left thousands dead, the use of white phosphorous, and attacks on aid organizations. Meanwhile, famine has spread, and medical care has been severely curtailed. U.S. attacks in Yemen have continued unabated since Trump took office, and in fact one of his first military actions as president was the disastrous February raid in the country.

Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and Hadis Yemeni government have repeatedly accused Iran of supporting Yemens Houthi rebels with money and arms, and Saudi Arabia claimed to find an Iranian boat loaded with weapons meant for the Houthis. In Aden, two Iranian officers were reportedly captured in 2015, and accused of advising the Houthis. Both the Houthis and Iranians deny the alliance, and even U.S. reports are conflictingin 2015, American officials reported that Iran actually discouraged the Houthis from capturing the capital. Later, John Kerry publicly accused the Iranians of providing arms to the Houthis.

Hezbollahconsidered a terrorist group by some and a political party by others, but which has definitely engaged in violence against Israelis a major force in Lebanon, and currently holds the fourth-most seats in the countrys parliament. Its formation in the early 80s was a response to Israeli incursions into Lebanon, and Iran played a massive role in uniting different Shia militias into one umbrella organization. In a divided parliament, and a divided country, feelings toward Iran depend on ones feeling toward Hezbollah. (It will be no surprise that there is a fairly even divide between Shia and Sunni Muslims in the country, and opinion on Iran splits pretty neatly down that divide.) That said, the two nations have a strong trade relationship, and the military relationship is only limited by Lebanons fear of incurring U.S. angerand by the fact that unlike most other nations on this list, Lebanon has a large Christian population. Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejads visit to Lebanon in 2010 stirred up a great deal of partisan rage inside the country, and triggered negative responses from Israel and the U.S.

Saudi Arabia and Lebanon enjoy a friendly relationship, with the predictable caveat that Saudi Arabia is perpetually concerned about Hezbollah taking over the country and transforming it into an Iranian proxy state. However, certain Saudi princes appear to have been involved in for-profit enterprises with Hezbollah, which came as a serious embarrassment to the royal family.

After the Egyptian Revolution in 2011, and a period of military rule, the Muslim Brotherhood took power in Egypt via Democratic elections. This was an enormous problem for Saudi Arabia, who feared that Islamist populist uprisings could lead to instability in their own country (as weve seen, Qatars support for the Brotherhood also exacerbated that relationship). As such, they supported the 2013 coup which took the Brotherhood out of power, and have given around $25 billion in aid to the new government in the ensuing years. Since the coup, the two nations have resumed their previous relations, which are amicable without being overly positiveas the Middle Easts most populous country, Egypt is always at least a minor threat to the Saudis regional influence. Nor was Saudi Arabia thrilled that the new Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, openly supported Assad in the Syrian Civil War, on the grounds that national armies are best suited to fight terror, and that a victory by Syrian rebels could have the negative effect of inspiring renewed support for the Muslim Brotherhood in his own country. Nevertheless, Egypt joined Saudi Arabia in severing diplomatic ties with Qatar this year.

Historically, these two nations have been opposed since the Iranian Revolution in 79. Egypt has closer ties with Israel than Iran likes, and supported Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. Things improved dramatically with the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, and direct flights between the countries were reinstated. Since the military coup, the situation has remained relatively stable, though Egyptian president al-Sisi must take pains to make it clear to Saudi Arabia that his support for the Syrian army, and his relations with Russia, are not the same as support for Iran. Its a delicate balancing act that likely rules out full diplomatic ties. Nevertheless, economic cooperation between the two nations has increased of late, especially in the arenas of oil shipments and tourism.

First, its important to note that Iraqs Civil War is ongoing, and the situation there is only marginally better than the one in Libya. Control is shared between ISIS, the recognized government of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, and Kurdish forces in the north. But with al-Abadis forces on the ascendancy against ISIS, and with a huge victory likely imminent in Mosul, Ill be referring to this government when I speak of Iraq.

Al-Abadi is a member of the Islamic Dawa party, which is a Shiite organization that has ties to Iran that reach as far back as the 79 revolution. His predecessor was considered divisive, by Saudi standards, made overtures to Iran, and made comments to the effect that Saudi Arabia and Qatar were essentially fomenting Civil Wars and supporting ISIS by supplying them with money and weapons. But since Al-Abadi took office in 2014, he has reached out to Saudi Arabia and struck a more neutral tone with the U.S., which led to a $1.5 billion deal with the Americans for military training. Al-Abadi visited Saudi Arabia this week, and a Saudi ambassador made an official visit to Iraq in 2016 for the first time in more than 25 years. Though Al-Abadi has made comments to the effect that he doesnt support the recent boycott in Qatar, he has bigger problems to worry about, such as the reconstruction of his own country and the defeat of ISIS, and therefore hasnt taken a firm stance.

Al-Abadis trip will also take him to Iran, where the two nations stand to have closer ties than ever before, at least theoretically. The Dawa Partys ties to the Revolution certainly make them better potential allies than the Baath Party, or any of the Sunni elements that threatened to take over Iraq after the war. And the Dawa Party owes much to Iran, which currently backs the so-called Peoples Mobilization Forcesa coalition of some 40 militias operating in Iraq, many of which receive direct funding and training from Iran. This union of militias was formalized in 2014 following the embarrassing defeat of the Iraqi army by ISIS at Mosul, and is now government-sanctioned. They have already proved themselves very useful in the Civil War, with a series of victories against ISIS forces. Iran is also providing tactical support, at Iraqs request. More recently, when a vice president in Iraq made negative comments about Iran, al-Abadi came to its immediate defense, saying that Iraq would never be hostile toward Iran. At the moment, it appears his government cannot function without Irans military support as the battle against ISIS rages on.

How America fits in: In one of the many displays of the complexities inherent to geopolitics in the Middle East, the U.S. is obviously interested in the stability of the Iraqi government, and the defeat of ISIS, and as such must look the other way in terms of Irans influence over the Shiite Iraqi militias. This has led to the absurd situation wherein the billion-dollar military aid deal struck with Iraq is largely directed at fighting ISIS in that country, while a portion of the billion-dollar weapons deals with Saudi Arabiaand Qatar, for that matterinevitably go toward supporting ISIS rebels in Syria.

Even Americans who know very little about Middle Eastern politics are familiar with the fact that Israel is a Jewish state, and a huge American ally, in the midst of a Muslim region. Currently, Israel is not even recognized as a country by, and has no official diplomatic relations with, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the U.A.E.a group, clearly, that cuts across all alliances, as well as the Sunni-Shia divide. The only Middle Eastern nations with relations that could be described as anything other than totally hostile, at least officially, are neighboring Egypt and Jordan.

As you might guess, though, the situation is not quite so simple. In reality, diplomatic ties run the gamut, from belligerent enemies like Iranwho actively support anti-Israeli groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, while Israel stands accused of running intelligence operations in Iran and supporting anti-Revolutionary groupsto quasi-enemies like Saudi Arabia, who have never participated in any of Israels wars, and whose shared ally in the United States has led to backdoor diplomatic relations and shared intelligence, especially as it pertains to Iran.

Fundamentally, Israels relations with any Arab country come down to the extent of the other countrys support for Palestinian independence movements. Israel has its strongest regional alliance with Egypt, they trade with Qatar (even though Qatar has been accused of supporting Hamas), they have a peace treaty and a $500 million natural gas supply deal with Jordan, and they maintain the aforementioned back-channel relationship with Saudi Arabia. On the flip side of that coin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently identified their other chief regional enemies as Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistanthough the fact that he failed to include Lebanonlabeled an enemy state by Israeli law enforcement, and with whom they fought a small war in 2006is faintly ridiculous.

It must be said, however, that the majority of citizens in almost every Muslim country have negative views of Israel, though an increasing number seem to support a two-state solution. And, of course, Israels primary political enemies are groups like Hezbollahwhich is an official political power in Lebanonand Hamas, which resists Israeli occupation of the State of Palestine.

Well leave it there for the momentit would certainly be possible to expand this list to countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Turkey, and nations like Oman and Kuwait have been largely left out due to their limited influence. Nevertheless, I hope it serves as a helpful starting point to understanding the byzantine geopolitics of a volatile region.
Researchers have found the oldest known evidence of Homo sapiens in Morocco. A skull was found in a cave called Jebel Irhoud, dating to the first appearance of the humanoid species back roughly 100,000 years more than was previously believed.

Until now, the oldest known human fossil dated to roughly 195,000 years ago, whereas the Jebel skull dates back to nearly 300,000 years ago.

Not only does this finding nearly double the species timeline of existence, but it also provides key details about the way that these early humans functioned. For example, the skull indicates that modern facial traits began evolving quite early on despite the back of the skull remaining elongated in a manner similar to that of archaic humans and a genus pre-dating H.sapiens. In addition, the location of this fossil indicates that the evolutionary processes of humans involved the entire African continent, not just an isolated region as was previously believed.

The skull was not the only fossil found at this site, though. Researchers were thrilled to find sets of partial jaws, teeth, leg and arm bones from at least five different individuals. Many of these fossils shared the same characteristics i.e. larger teeth, elongated skulls and more evolved facial features. In addition, tools found near the Jebel site also confirm that the early humans of this region could control fire, as was indicated by some of the burnt flint tools discovered at the archaeological site.

As it turns out, H.sapiens share many of the same facial features as Neandertals, not just the elongated skulls. This indicates to some researchers that facial features may evolve first before any other parts of the skeleton. Today, though, the closest living relatives to H.sapiens are chimpanzees and bonobo monkeys, our common ancestor for over six million years. The various species that have split from H.sapiens are known as hominins is what modern-day humans are currently classified as.

Top photo by Tim Dorr, CC BY-SA 2.0

Natalie Wickstrom is a freelance writer based in Athens, Georgia. She most likely wrote this piece to the tune of a movie score whilst chewing gum.
In February of this year, President Trumps administration granted Trump Vineyard Estates LLC an H-2A visa for immigrant labor. But major media outlets covering the winery (notably NPR, CNN, and The Washington Post) stopped their investigation a little short when they saw a seemingly contradictory legal disclaimer on Trump Winerys website: Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates.

Thats intentionally misleading: Eric Trump did indeed own Trump Winery (despite his dad claiming to own it 100% last year), but Donald Trump owns and, as president, profits from the vineyard the winery sits on, Trump Vineyard Estates LLC, which is registered to the Trump Organization and apparently worth between $5 million and $25 million dead presidents. Funnily enough, Trump apparently charges his son rent (per Trumps financial disclosure form last year) because ETs winery is on Trump Vineyard land. Hed also, I imagine, charge him for growing grapes there.

First, youre right: we can indeed call bullshit right off the bat. Of course the winery is affiliated with the Trump Organization. The Trump family intentionally tries to make this stuff impossible to understand. And thats the idea Im going to explore here, because its really fucking weird that no one in the world agrees on exactly how much the President of the United States is actually worth.

Its complicated, but if we just look at one asset, Trump Vineyards, we can get a feel for just how big and perilous Donald Trumps global debt scam might actually be. Ill do my best to lay it out simplywith visuals tooif youll stick it out with me for a couple of paragraphs first.

And if you stick with me until the end, I promise that Dave Matthews, of all people, will make a heroic cameo.

1. Its important to understand that even though President Trump resigned from the Trump Organization, he hasnt divested himself, and thats the company his business empire is underTrump Tower, Trump International Hotel, Mar-a-Lago, etc. This means Mr. Trump is still making all of that money. Hes also closely involved in the company and takes reports at least quarterly, as his son ET intelligently told Forbes some months back. In February, the Trump Organization quietly changed the presidents contract so that he can withdraw money from his businesses at any time without telling anyone. Really.

2. I want to be totally clear: the H-2A immigrant labor visas granted this February went to Trump Vineyard Estates LLC, which President Trump owns (Trump Org), and not to Trump Winery, which Eric Trump owns. This is a conflict of interest: Trump granted himself dozens of hard-to-get migrant worker visas, which will help him further enrich himself ever so slightly on the backs of about 30 non-American workers. Not only that, but Mr. Buy American, Hire American hasnt threatened to do anything to restrict the number of migrants who can come into the country to work on H-2A visas, which he coincidentally profits from. He is, though, making it harder to get H-1B visas, which are for skilled tech workers and the like, from which Trump doesnt profit.

Anyway, thats where most of the reporting about the vineyard has stopped and where I will pick it up. Or, where I would have, had I not seen something perhaps even weirder: the money is looking shady. Here come the pictures.

The story of Trump Vineyards is a damn dazzling one. Mr. Trump bought Trump Vineyardsa sprawl of billowing green hills in my old haunt of Charlottesville, Virginiafrom an heiress of the outrageously wealthy Kluge family. The Kluges initially wanted about $100 million for the vineyard and estate, but Mr. Trump eventually got the vineyard for $6.2 million and a little while laterfor another $6.7 millionhe got the prize: the mansion, now a luxury hotel. The deals involved a series of lawsuits and countersuits, lies, betrayals, broken friendships and mass unmarked graves of hawks and owls and other birds of prey, as well as your standard accusations of fraud and Trump stiffing his lawyers and welching on a contract and so on. You can and should read the full story here.

Anyway, as I was revising my big piece over the weekend, I found something had changed on the Trump Winery website. Here are some screen shots. At the bottom of the first shot, notice that tricky disclaimer (the one that says Trump Winery is owned by ET and not affiliated with the Trump Organization) that other journalists and I had seen months ago. The weird thing is you used to be able to access this pagethe one with the URL ending in /legalfrom within the winerys website. But the website had received a makeover since Id last visited and now those links are gone. You now have to enter the URL (/legal) to get to it. For what its worth, Brad Parscalethe Trump campaigns chief data/IT mandesigned this new site. The U.S. Congress is keen to talk with Parscale about his role in the campaign as it relates to Russian interference.

Heres that original Trump Winery disclaimer page. As of this writing (evening of June 19), its still up.

I then clicked and scrolled around a bit and noticed a fairly recent update on the Winery website: the terms of service. These terms of service seem to make it quite clear that Trump Winery is now somehow part of the Trump Organization. That is, the winery is indeed now owned by the President. The site says that these terms were apparently updated March 2, 2017. Im no expert, but heres a screenshot of the introduction. Seems to make it pretty clear that the Winery is now in Trump Org territory:

And down the rabbit hole we go. I pushed a little further and found that these same terms of service are pulled seemingly verbatim from the Trump Hotel website. Whats more, the terms of service on the Trump Hotel site were updated on the exact same date (3/2/2017) that they were on the winery site. Trump Hotels, as you remember, is owned by the Trump Org, i.e., by the President of the United States.

But it gets weirder still. Theres a privacy policy page on the Trump Winery website that still has the original disclaimer (Trump Winery is owned by ET, not Trump Org etc) right next to language that suggests the Trump Winery is now nested within the Trump Org.

But now get this: The Trump Winery website also links to / advertises for the new luxury hotel (called Albemarle House) that Trump built on his property. According to Trumps recent financial disclosure form, Donald Trump/Trump Org owns this as Trump Virginia Acquisitions LLC.

Whats more, the Trump Winery website (Eric Trump) calls Albemarle House our hotel. (Doubled its revenue last year, baby!) You can see that Our Hotel line and the convenient booking form in some of the screengrabs above. But those links take you away from the Trump Winery site to the Trump Hotel site. This means theres at least cross-pollination between Donald and Eric.

And for your enjoyment and personal improvement, heres all of Trumps vineyard-related financial disclosure stuff, which he voluntarily (how transparent!) released last week:

To my untrained eye, several lines are blurred here at once.

First take: it appears Trump Org might have taken over Trump Winery on March 2 of this year. Ah, but Trump Winery isnt listed anywhere on Trumps financial disclosure form. But its also possible that the Trump Org took over the winery after the financial disclosure form was signed. That is, sometime in the last week.

A company called Trump Wine Marks is on Trumps form, but thats listed as dormant/inactive (thats what the (3) next to the name means). Trump Wine Marks was also listed as inactive on Trumps 2016 form.

Okay, take two: the Trump Org did not take over Trump Winery, yet Trump Winery is maybe doing business as or with Trump Org, or cross-promoting or something. This would violate ETs disclaimer, though. Trump Winery is a registered trade name of Eric Trump Wine Manufacturing LLC, which is not owned, managed or affiliated with Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization or any of their affiliates.

Of course, Ive got a sneaking suspicion that was just a PR stunt all along.

One last important thing to note in this section because it will lead us into the next part: This whole vineyard deal for Trump was never about wine. It was only about the real estate. When Trump bought the rolling green vineyard in 2012 from heiress Patricia Kluge, he said, Im really interested in good real estate, not so much in wine. (Trump, who lost a brother to alcoholism, doesnt drink.) This place had a $28 million mortgage on it, and I bought it for $6.2 million. Its a Trump deal!

Indeed, today Mr. Trump lists the value of his vineyard land far above what he paid. But, as his 1995 tax records showed us, Trump loves to use real estate as debt collateral. Hell leverage one property to prop up another. The value of real estate isnt fixed; its always in flux, depending on the market and on whos buying. This means real estate value is like a balloon Trump can inflate and deflate at will. This is why Trump gave the winery to his son but kept the land it was on.

Until recently, that is.

Isnt it just a little weird to you that no one can seem to agree on how much money Mr. Trump is actually worth? While researching this piece, I came across assessments that ranged from broke to perhaps as high as many billions. He says hes worth ten fucking billion, which is impossible according to everyone but him.

As youve just seen, his Federal Election Commission financial disclosure forms arent helpful either. They dont require him to list all of his assets or all of his debts, just assets he fully owns and personal debts. He has a lot of debt on some marquee properties hes partnered up in. Whats more, the forms require no specific values. Hell, experts cant even figure out if hes got a massive $50 million loan to a mystery person.

I mean, the forms dont even ask for profits! Just revenue. That is, money made before paying costs such as labor and equipment.

Im no expert, but if no one in the world can agree on how much youre worth because youve purposefully made it impossible to figure it out, Id say theres something really wrong somewhere. And its bound to crack.

But Trump is ready for it. If youll notice, he splits almost everything he owns into an independent company. That means each of his assets has its own legal entity. Trump Vineyard Estates LLC, for instance, as compared to a separate asset owned by Trump Vineyard Estates Lot 3 Owner LLC. This means that Trumps other assetsand, to an extent, Trump himselfare more or less immune to catastrophic chain-reaction failure. See, if one company fails, all Trump has to do is sell it off and shut it down. Every other asset is completely sealed off. And it gets crazier. Check this out:

A bunch of different entities holding different portions of different assets. Trump Vineyard Estates LLC, for example, is 99% owned by DJT Holdings LLC, which itself is owned by another company called DJT Holdings Corporation. Trump owns 30% of the shares of DJT Holdings Corporation, and the other 60% is owned by Trump Family Associates LLC and the Trump Family Trust, where Mr. Trump is one of 13 trustees.

Again, this is all just for a vineyard. Not the most complex asset on here by a long shot. You can imagine how quickly this can scale, and how someone working fast enough and loud enough on a big enough stage could blow smoke all over the place. And whats smoke? An impression of something when theres nothing. And thats why Trump isnt afraid to release this thing instead of his taxes. Its not about what these forms show us. Its about what they dont show us.

That is, we see Trump properties, but we cant see all of his properties: just the ones in which Trump is the sole owner. More importantly: we dont see how Trump is using these properties.

Even though Trump has disclosed how much he makes from his assets and has given them a range of value, he doesnt say whether or how much hes used them for collateral: that is, whether hes taken out loans against these assets, or how much he owes on some of the other unnamed assets that themselves might be backing up still more loans, his or others. And we cant see whether hes putting properties up as collateral for more loans, then spreading that around from one to the other in a sort of self-inflicted Ponzi scheme of debt. Like this report says:

[E]ven as his companies did poorly, Mr. Trump did well. He put up little of his own money, shifted personal debts to the casinos and collected millions of dollars in salary, bonuses and other payments. The burden of his failures fell on investors and others who had bet on his business acumen.

Mr. Trump created his business empire using what the economist Hyman Minsky called Ponzi financing. In that arrangement, debt is supported by rising asset prices; when those prices come downin Mr. Trumps case, the value of real estatethen creditors discover that the debt will not be repaid.

...Bankruptcy has been the building block for Mr. Trumps wealth accumulation. Indeed, looked at in light of the presidency, Mr. Trumps record in real estate development is almost entirely based on financing methods that are contrary to the laws governing the nations debt.

And guess what? When you use debt for collateral, the interest is wait for it

Tax deductible.

So with all this bullshit now fouling up our minds, lets ask some final questions to try to make things clear again.

1. Why didnt Mr. Trump divest from his company?

2. Why is Mr. Trump taking his Presidential salary when he said repeatedly he wouldnt?

3. Why wont Mr. Trump release his tax returns?

4. Why is Mr. Trump taking quarterly reports from his son?

5. And perhaps most importantly: why did the Trump Organization quietly change the Presidents contract so that he can withdraw money from his businesses at any time without telling anyone?

That said, Trumps latest financial disclosure form shows his companies and properties are doing well. Mar-a-Lagothe Winter White Housefor instance, made $8 million more this go-around than it did in last years disclosure. It also doubled its membership rate after Trump got elected. And the revenue from his airplane company, which he used to shuttle around the country during his campaign, more than doubled to $7.7 million. Trump International Hotel in D.C. has raked in a cool $20 million since opening in September. And Albemarle House doubled its revenue, too.

But these arent profits. This is only revenue. Not the bottom line.

So, then:

1. Not knowing how any of this has been moved around;

2. Not knowing what Trumps taxes are;

3. Not knowing what Trumps real profits are;

4. Not knowing how and where hes leveraging his assets;

5. And seeing how hard Mr. Trump works to make it impossible to know any of those things:

Its not insane to think the president is, if enough creditors come a-calling, damn near broke. Cash poor. Perhaps he literally cant afford to let go of his real estate and brand collateral, and he needs the Trump Organizations assets should his creditors come knocking at the White House gates.

In other words, this form is pretty much useless. So naturally, I wondered who could take him to court.

If you wanted to sue Trump over his vineyard/winery operations, youd first need standing (a legit reason). It seems reasonable that a competing Charlottesville-area vineyard affected by Trump Vineyards advantages might be able to prove standing. And it turns out that Donald Trump isnt the only celebrity running a vineyard in Charlottesville. In fact, he isnt the only celebrity with a vineyard within a mile: just down the road is Blenheim Vineyards, run by Dave Matthews.

And so, Dave Matthews, if youre out there, I loved your first two-and-a-half records. Could you please do the world a favor and elevate Donald Trumps hypocritical, deceitful, greedy, petty, tiny, covetous heart up to the light of justice by taking his lyin Buy American, Hire American ass to court?

Ill admit I could be wrong about a lot of how I read these details. But at least I know now that it seems that Donald Trump, the self-professed billionaire President of the United States of America, who wont even pay his taxes, makes his own son pay him rent to run a business that Mr. Trump owns.

And if that doesnt make sense to you, if none of this makes sense to you, if youre overwhelmed by all the pettiness, thats my point: Trump isnt about being the biggest at all. Thats a deflection, a distraction away from his real secret: its about the smalls. Billions and billions of smalls. Pointillism, Ponzi style.

Because at the end of the day, the real sin here is that with all this overwhelming, suffocating smallness, the truly big things seem small, and they go forgotten. The thing I was so set on writing this piece about, the very thing that sparked it, has disappeared in the enormity of all this nothingness, and Im to blame for that, for losing sight of the bent backs of 30 hardworking people Mr. Trump doesnt want in his country unless theyre saving him a few bucks an hour.

Or $0.15/vine.

Roger Sollenberger is a writer and musician living in Austin, TX. Follow and then unfollow him a little while later on Twitter.
Human angel Lorde  and I will fight anyone who says otherwise  has apologised for an admittedly clumsy and insensitive analogy that having famous friends was like having a mate with very specific allergies or an autoimmune disease.

The original comments were part of a major profile published in The Guardian over the weekend.

Since shooting to fame in 2013, Lorde has noticeably picked up a few famous friends, in particular Taylor Swift. The whole schtick of her sophomore album Melodrama was about returning to hew New Zealand roots and figuring out who she was as an artist since shooting to fame. So naturally, The Guardian asked her to comment on how she manages her famous friendships vs her old ones:



Heres the exact pull-quote:

On the difficulty of maintaining a friendship with someone as famous as Taylor Swift: Its like having a friend with very specific allergies. There are certain places you cant go together. Certain things you cant do. There are these different sets of considerations within the friendship. Its like having a friend with an autoimmune disease.



Most media outlets  PEDESTRIAN.TV included  ran with the angle that Lorde specifically compared her friendship with Taylor Swift to having an autoimmune disease etc.

Since being criticised for her comments, Lorde has fronted up and apologised, saying she fucked up when giving a really insensitive analogy.

didnt mention taylor, but regardless, i fucked up & that was really insensitive. im sorry ??  Lorde (@lorde) June 20, 2017

She also says she never mentioned T-Swift, so it looks like we all jumped the gun there.

For the record, the term autoimmune disease is an umbrella term that includes diseases like lupus, celiac disease, type 1 diabetes, Graves disease, inflammatory bowel disease and multiple sclerosis. Lordes intention might have been to describe the uniquely difficult challenge of navigating a friendship with someone uber famous, but by doing so she made light of very serious and often difficult to manage diseases that affect thousands upon thousands of people.

Onya for apologising Ella.

Photo: Jim Spellman / Getty.
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In a few short weeks, the newest and richest enduro race ever held on the East Coast will become a reality. The first $10,000 Clif Enduro East event, brought to you by the Vittoria ESC crew, will take place at Vermont's Green Mountain Trails and Killington Resort on July 12. Here's what you need to know to be part of the big event.Day One of the two-day race will be held at Green Mountain Trails in nearby Pittsfield. This lesser-known riding destination offers over 1,000 feet of vertical and 25 miles of riding on its trail network. There's no lift at Green Mountain Trails so expect big transfers and taxing stages at this gem. The crew at GMT, the Vittoria ESC and Jay (Rosey) Rosenbaum have transformed the mountain into an enduro racing mecca. Building upon some existing sections they have added a wealth of fall line goodness. Expect great trails and a lot of fun on Day One. To make it easier for riders to get some practice laps in the race segments have been already been marked and can be ridden daily. Knowing the crew at the Clif Enduro East and Vittoria ESC you can expect a surprise come race day though.Day Two will be hosted by Killington Resort, long recognized as an ideal enduro venue. The mountain has been investing heavily in their bike offerings over the past few years and the length and variety of their lift-serviced trails are hard to match. The race sections will all be in the four-mile range but after all of Day One's pedaling the transfers will be minimal at Killington. We'll be racing everything from remote single track to Gravity Logic built trails in every corner of the massive trail system at Killington.This Clif Enduro East race is an official Enduro World Series qualifier. The winner of each class is automatically qualified for all 2018 EWS races. Additionally, qualifier events, like the three Clif Enduro East races, allow racers to earn points towards a place on the Enduro World Series Reserved List. Racers on the reserved list no longer have to apply to the EWS Lottery to gain entry to an EWS race. Top-ranked EMBA members competing in the 2017 Series (80 Men, 30 Women, 15 Master Men 40+, 15 U21 Men and 15, U21 Women) will be added to the EWS Reserved List and will be eligible for priority registration for all the 2018 EWS Rounds. Only a riders best three results will be counted in the final overall ranking. The Clif Enduro East events are the only three qualifiers that take place within a few hours of each other. Instead of trotting around the country or globe, racers can earn points with just a short drive between venues. In order to qualify or collect EWS qualification points, you need to have an EMBA license. Licenses can be purchased here . If you're not trying to qualify for the EWS, you do not need an EMBA license.The Clif Enduro East races offer big payouts: The per-race cash purse is a whopping $10,000 for a total of $30,000 to be paid to EWS categories for the three Clif Enduro East events.Maybe making it to the big EWS dance is a long shot, there is plenty of value for your entry fee. First off there are lift tickets to the Killington Bike Park for Friday and Sunday, a $110 value.You'll also get wined and dined (or beered and dined). On Friday night from 57, there will be the Long Trail Ale Kick Off Party at Killington with a free appetizer buffet courtesy of Killington Bike Park and your first Long Trail Ale or soda free. There will be raffles and contests but the free food and beverage buffet are only for Pre-Registered racers, so get your entries in. On Saturday night from 68 will be the Clif BBQ Bash at the Lookout Tavern. Results from Saturday's stages at Green Mountain Trails will be released and there will be a free BBQ courtesy of Clif. You can wash down your meal with another free Long Trail Ale or soda. Again, the free beverages and food are only for Pre-Registered racers so get your entries in. Camping at Killington will also be free.Big news for this event is the Vittoria ESC timing crew has invested in a new timing system so there will be fly-by finishes for all EWS Categories. All the amateur classes will still use the tried and trusted ESC chip timing system.The Killington/Green Mountain Trails event is also a stop on the IMBA National Enduro Series, the only venue in the northeast that's part of the series.The fields will be limited to 165 for EWS classes and 135 for amateurs so not to sound like a broken record but get your registration in ASAP.Early registration, which is the cheapest, ends soon. Late registration on BikeReg.com starts June 21 and is $10 more. Onsite registration will be available until class limits are met and will beThe Clif Enduro East events will also feature stops at Burke Mountain/Victory Hill in Northern Vermont and Thunder Mountain in Massachusetts. Each event will offer riders the East's finest terrain with eight to ten stages spread over two days of competition. All three races are official Enduro World Series Qualifiers and will likely lure some of North America's best racers.Here's the full schedule for the race:Green Mountain Trails open for ridingCourse will be markedKillington Open for ridingCourse will be marked (Lift Pass not included)Lift Pass for Killington Included92pm: Registration Killington57pm: Friday Night Long Trail Ale Kick Off Party/registration/racer meeting at Killington 57pm. First Long Trail Ale or soda free. Free Appetizer Buffet courtesy of Killington Bike Park. Free beverage and free Buffet is only for Pre-Registered Racers. Lots of raffles and contests.810am: Registration Green Mountain Trails9:00am: Racers Meeting Green Mountain10:00am: Race Start at top of Green Mountain Trails13pm: Racer Chip Check in Green Mountain trails68pm: Split Results Released/Racers Meeting Saturday Night Clif BBQ Bash at the Lookout/Saturday Results/racer meeting. First Long Trail Ale or soda free. Free BBQ courtesy of Clif. Free beverage and free Buffet is only for Pre-Registered Racers Lots of raffles and contestsLift Pass for Killington Included9:00am: Racers Meeting Killington10:00am: Race Start3pm: Awards
Dvorak, the Czech-based manufacturer of the Spider range of remote-controlled slope mowers, has launched its first global social media campaign featuring a giant version of Leonardo da Vinci's famous Mona Lisa portrait, mown on a hillside at Dolni Kalna in the Czech Republic.

The portrait, on a grass canvas measuring 200 metres x 250 metres with a gradient of 45 degrees, was created over a period of three days: two days of detailed surveying and one day mowing, using the company's Spider 1 and Spider 2 mowers. It was filmed by the creative motion picture and digital agency, Mustard, based in Prague.

Using their professional film crew equipped with the latest drone technology, the video shows how this remarkable feat was created. A scale drawing of the famous portrait was used to transfer reference points to the hillside using laser surveying technology and then the skilled Spider operators, including the company's Managing Director, Lubomir Dvorak, mowed the 50,000 square metre image taking direction from the video producer.

Pavlina Novakova, International Marketing Manager explained how the project was developed:

"We wanted to make a video to raise the profile of our product range and our company on a global stage. The germ of an idea was put forward at one of our regular marketing meetings and was gradually developed over a timescale of six months. We looked for an iconic image that would be recognized around the globe and decided on Leonardo da Vinci's most famous work. Not only was da Vinci a great artist, but he was also an exceptional engineer. That connection dovetailed perfectly with the innovative technology in our Spider mowers."

"We realised that it would require professional help, so we contacted Cream, a creative communications agency, also based in Prague who, along with Mustard, took the project forward."

"First, we had to find a suitable location, obtain permission from the landowner and then wait for the perfect weather conditions. We did consider doing it close to a motorway, but this would have removed the element of surprise for the campaign, as we were convinced many people would take photographs of the completed image and post it on social media before the official launch."

"We are delighted with the finished video and are hoping it will go viral. So many people were involved in the production and it was a great experience for all of us at Spider to be part of it."

The completed video can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/_Z9RmTR_P3Y
[Note: the following opinion is entirely the editor's own. Read at your own discretion.]



"Why is a a black life any more recuperable than a white life?"

June 16, 2017 will be one of those days that lives in infamy for many. You know, one of those days that when said aloud, you immediately start to recount something so heart warming or so heartbreaking that it shifted the way your world was viewed. For me, June 16 has always been associated with the birth of one of the most impactful rappers and social activists of all time. On this day, the son of a Black Panther, Afeni Shakur birthed Lesane Parish Crooks, who came to be known as Tupac Amaru Shakur. Beyond being one of the most celebrated and antagonized rappers of the 90's who would later be known as one of two martyrs in hip-hop, he was a gregarious, charming, paradoxical human who used his voice to boldly denounce mistreatment of blacks, youth and hip-hop culture in America. While Tupac's discography contained unrivaled party anthems, inspirational anecdotal songs of self love, and a few damning self prophesies over the span of his brief 5 year solo career, his interviews are another window into his soul; looking inside is simultaneously daunting, haunting, and fulfillinghis unabashed honesty and transparency, hypnotic. The very feelings we were often taught to hide, the east coast born, west coast heralded legend displayed unapologetically and eloquently--fear, anger, frustration with living in duality, and it was and still is enthralling to watch. It is a feeling that no other rapper has ever been able to consistently replace for me.

"The press and the media make you think that a black man arming himself is illegal, or criminal, or that he's arming himself to rob a liquor store or some shit. "

It was on what would have been Tupac's 46th birthday I was at Miami International airport, the dark grey skies more ominous than the delayed flights they brought with them. As I sat, re-watching uncut versions of timeless interviews a storm was brewing much larger than the one in Miami. On June 16, 2017, Philado Castile's murderer was acquitted of 2nd degree manslaughter, and two charges of Intentional Discharge of Firearms that Endangers Safety, In November, I watched angrily as Philando Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, held her smartphone and composure, as she fulfilled her mission to share the story of Castile's unnecessary death seconds after an on-duty officer shot him five times after Castile informed the officer that he had a gun. A gun that he was licensed to carry. A gun that he did not brandish at the officer or conceal the fact that he had it. It would seem that Castile would be the NRA and second amendment supporters poster child. That they would rally to defend the card carrying, legal gun owner who not only had his right to bear arms infringed but paid with his life in front of the woman and child he most likely carried to protect. How much more American can you get? But like Tupac said in his 1994 Interview with BET reporter Ed Gordon, when a Black person has a gun, then suddenly it's not for protection but for pilfering. His loss of life doesn't spur advocacy, but apathy. A jury of the purposely unnamed murderer's peers found him not guilty, understanding the murderer's fear. But what about the fear of Philando, Diamond, or the young girl who watched the man who was raising her with love and honor die right in front of her by a man who was wearing the uniform that matched he people she was told to turn to for help if she was ever in trouble?







"Once my life is gone, it's gone; can't nobody give it back to me. Not the judge, not the President, not the governor, not Calvin Butts, not Jesse Jackson. They can't do nothin' but come to my funeral and talk pretty about how Black people suffer."

The day after the verdict was handed over, Philando Castile's mother, Valerie Castile, used the same platform that documented her son's murder to clearly and unequivocally release her war cry. With the same music that voiced a generation's revolution against inequality, Valerie Castile lamented her role as newest mother in the "Fucked Up Mothers Club" over hypnotic hip-hop beats that moved in harmony with her words rather than distracted from them. She lost her son, grieved demurely for the cameras, and still saw no justice on watered down charges. Though her face was mostly covered in sunglasses, one glance at her mouth as she gave her unfiltered feelings on the verdict, Minnesota, the legal system, and police corruption, and you knew this mother bear was prepared to fight for her cub, and encouraged others to fight for theirs. Being a part of the mothers whose losses made them the faces of the Black Lives Matter movement wasn't a position that she was willing to play traditionally. She was clear, she had no sympathy for the man who murdered her son or anyone who thought like him. I felt empowered listening to her, moved to take action, just like I did as I listened to that Tupac interview. We weren't to be feared for just breathing, but we should fear those who want to take away our breath.

"Everything I'm saying is a warning, is a plea for help. If everyone is so goddamn worried about me, why didn't nobody come to help me."









It's not lost on me that some may think Valerie's message of acting before we are rendered inactionable is more damaging than helpful. That instead of saying "Fuck the police" she should have called for the community to forage better bonds with the police, or instead of condemning the justice system, she should have commended the prosecutors for giving a good fight. But Tupac said it best, "talking pretty" does nothing after the brutal loss of an innocent life. If everyone is so worried about the state of Black lives in America, where is the kinship, the change in legislation, the convictions? Directly after the verdict, Valerie stood tall in front of cameras, supporters, foes, and neutral bystanders ad warned the world that this injustice did not start with her son, and it will not end with her son, and that everyone needed to step up and speak up. Immediately I thought her speech reminiscent of the famed Martin Niemoller poem used in reference to the Holocaust, "Fist they came..."

In her most recent video, Valerie said, "Fuck the police. This is the real Valerie Castile. I don't give a fuck no more...They are going to keep on killing us as long as we sit down and take it." And she's right, a least about untrained, and , or hateful police having no regard for black and brown lives. Hashtags help to spread awareness, marches help to shape public opinion, and all are important, but none of these things bring our young boys and men back.I remember the sense of awe, admiration, and pain I had for Reynolds as she held that camera phone until the police took her out of the car and placed her into the squad car. It was the same feeling I had as I watched Philando's mother stand and not crumble, declaring "ya'll really don't know how a sister is feeling right now." With all of the empathy in the world, I can say I do not know this feeling, and feeling like my heart being ripped out of my chest for someone else's son, father, brother, boyfriend, husband pales drastically in comparison to if it were the brutal loss of my own. In the words of one of my favorite activists who will now forever be entangled with the legacy of your son, "I know you fed up lady, but you got to keep your head up."
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 18:41:13

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Argex Titanium Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---MONTREAL, Quebec (FSCWire) - Argex Titanium Inc. (TSX:RGX). has issued a press release with the following headline:Argex Titanium Becomes Member of the 8020 CommunityTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Argex Titanium Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Argex Titanium Inc.Source: Argex Titanium Inc. (TSX: RGX, WKN: A1J1GR, ISIN: CA04014T1021)Date: June 20, 2017Time: 12:41 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Argex Titanium Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
Sweet and Savoury Spreads Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 07:31:50

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Sweet and savoury spread includes Jams, Honey, Chocolate spreads, Marmalade, Bovril and other products. Some drivers are growing health awareness, increasing demand for convenience food and perceiving spreads as an indispensable ingredient used in food stuff. Increasing popularity of cereals, declining sales of bread and rising cost of raw materials such as fruits, sugar and cocoa are the restraints in the sweet and savoury spread market.Sweet and savoury spread market in India and China is expected to show double digit growth with a healthy CAGR.On the basis of type sweet and savoury spread market is segmented into Honey, Jam and preserves, Nut and seed based spreads, Chocolate spread, Yeast based spreads. On the basis of region sweet and savoury spreads market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europa and Rest of the world.Spread market in Brazil is highly fragmented owing to the presence of various regional players. Hindustan Unilever Limited launched various spreads such as Bread spread, Kissan creamy spreads. Some other spreads are mayonnaise based spreads that includes flavours such as classic mayonnaise, tomato twist and cheesy garlic. Kissan also added products such as Fruit Kick Spreads and fruity sweet spreads that were targeted at calorie conscious teenagers. In Russia changing lifestyle, busy schedule and shortage of time for making home-made preserves, storage issues promotes the usage of readymade spreads. In Russia manufacturers offer wide range of preserves and jams which is not feasible to be made at home. In China Frutarom set up new manufacturing unit in Shanghai in order to capture various opportunities in savoury sectorAsk For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-br-241 Key players in the Indian spread market are Dabur India Limited, Unilever, Good food group A/S Presently Kiviks Markmav Industria Alimenticia Ltd is the leading player in the Brazil that constantly launches new flavours such as Mulberry, Blueberry, and Blackcurrant. Some other versions are Ginger, Lemon and Mango chutney. Sweet and savoury market is highly consolidated as various acquisitions are there in the industry such as Hindustan Unilever limited acquired Kissan from the United Breweries Group. In Russia Ferrero is the leading player in the sweet and savoury spread industry. Nutella is the renowned brand of Ferrero. Despite of having only one well-known brand company has strong position in the market due to the strong distribution network, aggressive marketing activities and prominent role of Nutella in chocolate spread market. Ratibor is major player in the jams and preserve market in Russia. Recently Hindustan Unilever decided to separate its spread business into standalone business in order to boost the sale of spread brands such as Flora. Sweet and savoury spreads market in Brazil is expected to show growth with low CAGR owing to the changing preferences of the customers for other spread products such as cheese spreadsThe research report presents a comprehensive assessment of market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry validated market data and projections with suitable set of assumptions and methodology. Research report provides analysis and information by categories such as market segments, geographies, types, technology and applications.Report covers exhaustive analysis onMarket SegmentsMarket DynamicsMarket SizeSupply & DemandCurrent Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedTechnologyValue ChainRegional analysis includesNorth AmericaLatin AmericaAsia PacificJapanWestern EuropeEastern EuropeMiddle East & AfricaAsk For Table of Content@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-br-241
Egg and Egg Products Market

PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 07:28:04

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Products which are obtained from different blends and components of eggs and are ready for human consumption are known as egg products. Egg products can partly be complemented by additives or some other food products. They can be found in different forms such as concentrated, crystallized, deep-frozen, liquid, solid, and frozen with a shelf life of three weeks.About 70% of the eggs are mainly produce in the economies of China, India, U.S., Japan, Indonesia, Mexico, Brazil, and France. In which 36% of the eggs are produce in China and about 11% in Latin America. There are different types of eggs products available in the market which includes pasteurized liquid egg, pasteurized liquid yolk, pasteurized liquid white, dehydrated white, dehydrated egg, hardboiled egg, dehydrated yolk, and ready-cooked meals with egg as their main ingredient.As egg and egg products offers a source of protein to the consumers with the slightest environment impact is the major factor driving the growth of the market. Technology changes, government regulations are some of the factors contributing to the growth of the market. As the industry is continuously changing due to rising demand, increasing consumption and production of egg and egg products and technology advancement the market has huge growth opportunities in future. But, the insignificant growth in the international trade with some exceptions can act as a restraint for the market.Ask For Report Sample@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-217 Some of the key players of the market are Cal-Maine Foods, Inc., Land O'Lakes, Inc., Noble Foods Ltd, Tyson Foods, Inc., and Ningbo Jiangbei Dexi Foods Co. Ltd.This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data and statistically-supported and industry-validated market data and projections with a suitable set of assumptions and methodology. It provides analysis and information by categories such as market segments, regions, product type and distribution channels.The report covers exhaustive analysis on:Market SegmentsMarket DynamicsMarket SizeSupply & DemandCurrent Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedTechnologyValue ChainRegional analysis includesNorth AmericaLatin AmericaWestern EuropeEastern EuropeAsia PacificJapanMiddle East and AfricaAsk For Table of Content@ http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-217 The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 19:06:14

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Emerald Bay Energy Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Calgary, Alberta (FSCWire) - Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture:EBY). has issued a press release with the following headline:Emerald Bay Announces AcquisitionTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Emerald Bay Energy Inc., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Emerald Bay Energy Inc.Source: Emerald Bay Energy Inc. (TSX Venture: EBY, OTC Bulletin Board: EMBYF)Date: June 20, 2017Time: 1:06 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Emerald Bay Energy Inc. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
[June 19, 2017] How to Fix the H-1B visa program?

WASHINGTON, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- President Trump is having a formal White House meeting with tech CEOs today. According to the news media, one question tech employers were asked to be prepared to discuss with the President was: "How can the H-1B visa program be modified to ensure that visas are issued to the highest-skilled and highest-paid workers, while also eliminating examples of the program's abuse?" "Everyone knows what needs to be done  and in fact, the President has promised to do it," IEEE-USA's director of government relations Russ Harrison explained. "First, kill H-1B outsourcing. That will free up 50,000 H-1Bs a year for American employers who recruit out of US universities, so any increase in H-1Bs is unnecessary." "It would also be counterproductive," Harrison pointed out, "because more H-1Bs waiting for green cards just increases the already huge backlogs of hundreds of thousands of indentured foreign-born tech workers. That creates both a barrier to real immigration and an obvious disincentive to hire Americans." "We told then President-elect Trump in December how to kill outsorcing," Harrison went on to explain. "Because the H-1B lottery, the mechanism by which outsourcers dominate the program, was created by regulation, the President can start keeping his campaign promise to protect American high-tech employers by simply putting outsourcing companies to the back of the line."



IEEE-USA sent a memo to President Trump's staff in January, and a draft interim regulation to USCIS in February explaining how to do this. "We look forward to helping the President keep his campaign promise to kill H-1B outsourcing," said Harrison. "We will work with him to end the H-1B lottery next year, which does not require Congressional action."

"The President however, does need Congress to prioritize immigration over temporary visa. The IEEE-USA was instrumental in getting an overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House twice back in 2012 to set aside 55,000 green cards a year for international students with advanced STEM degrees from American schools. That is how they (Congress) can fix the high-skill visa system so that it serves all Americans." "We look forward to the President working with us to keep his promises on high skilled immigration, not only protecting US workers but recruiting from American schools to create and keep high paying jobs in the US." IEEE-USA serves the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of nearly 190,000 engineering, computing and technology professionals who are U.S. members of IEEE. Web: www.ieeeusa.org

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ieeeusa

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ieeeusa

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Join IEEE: www.ieee.org/join To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/how-to-fix-the-h-1b-visa-program-300476230.html SOURCE IEEE-USA (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

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PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 22:35:14

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Great Atlantic Resources Corp.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCWire) - Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture:GR). has issued a press release with the following headline:Great Atlantic to Initiate Excavator Trenching at Golden Promise Gold Property NewfoundlandTo view this press release on the FSCwire website, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:If you would prefer, you can also view this press release as a PDF file, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser:For more information on Great Atlantic Resources Corp., or to see additional press releases issued by this company, please either click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into your browser: http://www.fscwire.com/public-company/Great Atlantic Resources Corp.Source: Great Atlantic Resources Corp. (TSX Venture: GR, WKN: A1JZ4T, ISIN: CA3900871045)Date: June 20, 2017Time: 4:35 PM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Great Atlantic Resources Corp. and disseminated through FSCwire.About FSCwireFSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.), is a global newswire dissemination, SEDAR, SEDI, and EDGAR / XBRL service provider.FSCwire is a full service global newswire dissemination company and is fully approved by all exchanges in Canada and the U.S. Press releases can be distributed for all sizes of public, private or not for profit companies and any other organization requiring news distribution. In addition to individual companies; public relations, communications and investor relations firms trust FSCwire to distribute press releases for their respective clients.In addition to newswire dissemination FSCwire also offers EDGAR, XBRL, SEDAR, SEDI, and additional services for publicly traded companies. For more information, please go to our website: http://www.fscwire.com Maximum News Dissemination by FSCwire. http://www.fscwire.com Copyright 2017 - FSCwire (a division of Filing Services Canada Inc.)
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 21:43:01

New Research to Reveal the Impact of Gender Diversity Efforts on Women of Color

Breakfast to Feature Top Marketers, Media Partners and Global Film Icon Halle Berry

Cannes, FRANCE - June 20, 2017 - Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG) announced today that the company is hosting a summit at the Cannes Festival of Creativity to focus on the communication industry's gender diversity efforts and their impact on global women of color. "THROUGH NEW EYES: The IPG Women's Breakfast" will be available for viewing on Wednesday June 21st, beginning at 9:00 AM CET, via Facebook Live on IPG's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/InterpublicGroup/.

At the summit, new proprietary research co-commissioned by Refinery29, National Geographic and IPG will provide fresh insights into women of color - women from diverse non-white racial, ethnic, national and cultural backgrounds - who have been underrepresented in gender conversations thus far.

"THROUGH NEW EYES" will also feature a talk from comedian and disability advocate Maysoon Zayid; a panel discussion with top global marketers moderated by the BBC's Zeinab Badawi; and a one-on-one conversation with Editor-in-Chief of Teen Vogue Elaine Welteroth and Halle Berry, the Academy Award-Winning Actress, Producer and Founder of HALLEWOOD.

Michael Roth, Chairman and CEO of IPG and host of the breakfast, stated: "We launched our popular annual Cannes event in 2011 to raise awareness of the need for more gender diversity in the industry and to challenge the industry to make progress. Since then, gender equality has become a common topic at Cannes and at industry programs around the world. But when you look around these rooms - even at IPG's own events - you see that women of color are underrepresented in the conversations. It's a business imperative to change the status quo, and that's the process we want to begin with this summit."

"Our research shows that the range of unique aspects of identity that women use to define themselves now requires marketers and the content they create to begin addressing personal identifiers rather than traditional demographics," commented Brooke Hinton, Insights Manager at Refinery29, who will co-present the research findings at the summit.

Heide Gardner, Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for IPG, stated: "Global women of color make up the largest untapped labor force for our industry and the largest consumer marketplace for our clients. This year's breakfast will serve as a platform to build awareness and a call to action to adapt gender equality approaches to include women of more diverse backgrounds for our workforce, and to be more thoughtful in our marketing when it comes to the concerns and interests of these women."

"THROUGH NEW EYES" is intended to shed light on the truth that women have many group identities outside of gender - nationality, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, motherhood, work, skin tone and other dimensions of diversity. This summit will explore how intersections of identities can affect women's perceptions and experiences with media, brands, careers and fans.

# # #

About Interpublic

Interpublic is one of the world's leading organizations of advertising agencies and marketing services companies. Major global brands include Craft, FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding), FutureBrand, Golin, Huge, Initiative, Jack Morton Worldwide, MAGNA, McCann, Momentum, MRM//McCann, MullenLowe Group, Octagon, R/GA, UM and Weber Shandwick. Other leading brands include Avrett Free Ginsberg, Campbell Ewald, Carmichael Lynch, Deutsch, Hill Holliday, ID Media and The Martin Agency. For more information, please visit www.interpublic.com.



# # #

Contact Information

Tom Cunningham

(Press)

(212) 704-1326

Jerry Leshne

(Analysts, Investors)

(212) 704-1439





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: INTERPUBLIC GROUP OF COMPANIES, INC. via Globenewswire


"Browse And Choose From Our World Class Research Reports"

PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 12:03:08

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North America Mammography market is estimated to be USD 556 million in 2016 and is projected to reach USD 738 million by the end of 2021 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.8% in the forecast period. The higher mortality rate related to breast cancer has raised the need for diagnosing the patients, resulting in an increasing demand for mammography devices which helps in an early diagnosis of the cancer.Full report at: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-mammography-market-1349/ Mammography is a standard technique used in screening the breast for the presence of malignant tissues. Low dose X-rays are used to get a detailed imaging of the inside of breast and aids in early detention of breast cancer. Screening mammography are routinely administered among women who doesnt have any apparent symptoms. Diagnostic mammography are administered if there a lump or any other kind of symptoms that are suspicious. It is also used for evaluating the changes which are found through screening mammography.The primary drivers of the mammography market include rising incidences of breast cancer with every year, technological advancements in breast imaging, rising aging population, rising awareness impelling the people to have an early screening. However, huge costs associated with the imaging systems along with stringent government regulations regarding the health insurance coverage and side effects associated with these devices are effecting the growth of the mammography market.North America Mammography market is categorised based on the different products of mammography, technology and it applications. Based on products, the market is divided into analog systems, digital systems, biopsy, film screens and others. Based on technology, the market is segmented as digital mammography, analog mammography and breast tomosynthesis. By application, the market is categorised as diagnostic mammography and screening mammography. Based on geography, the market is segmented as United States and Canada. North America leads the mammography market currently owing to its higher affordability and rising cancer patients.Request sample: http://www.marketdataforecast.com/market-reports/north-america-mammography-market-1349/request-sample Some of the key players in the industry include Fujifilm, GE Healthcare, Hologic, Metaltronica, Philips Healthcare, Planmed, Siemens Healthcare, Sonocine and Toshiba Medical Systems.About Market Data Forecast:The publisher of this report is Market Data Forecast whose forte lies in Market research and Business Intelligence. Handling both individual and corporate clients across multiple business domains they offer syndicated/customized research to suit the clients research objective. Their research reports section offers a wide variety of market studies ranging from all-encompassing comprehensive market studies to product specific niche markets covering North America among other regions of the global market as well. For more info kindly visit, www.marketdataforecast.com Contact:Abhishek ShuklaSales Manager (International Business Development)Market Data ForecastDirect Line: +1-888-702-9626Mobile: +91 998 555 0206Mail: abhishek@ marketdataforecast.com Visit MarketDataForecast Blog @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/blog/ View latest Press Releases of MDF @ http://www.marketdataforecast.com/press-releases
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 04:03:01

Kapur will lead the acceleration of MetLifes brand transformation across the region

Sanjeev Kapur Joins MetLife as Chief Marketing Officer for Asia

Media:

MetLife, Inc.

Ashia Razzaq, +852-2277-4172

Head of Business Communications, Asia

ashia.razzaq@metlife.com

MetLife announced today that Sanjeev Kapur has joined the company as senior vice president and chief marketing officer (CMO) of Asia. Kapur will report to Esther Lee, MetLife executive vice president and global chief marketing officer and Chris Townsend, president of Asia. Kapur will also join the Asia Leadership Team.

As CMO of Asia, Kapur will lead the acceleration of MetLifes brand transformation across the region. His focus will be on strengthening MetLifes digital, data and design capabilities to help deliver personalized and engaging experiences to MetLifes existing customers and new prospects, with a particular focus on mobile. He will also lead the charge in bringing the new brand platform, MetLife. Navigating life together to life in Asia by building and delivering differentiated customer value propositions.

"MetLife's commitment to be a company that helps customers "Navigate Life Together" requires that we transform how we meet the changing needs of our customers," said Lee. "Sanjeev's deep understanding of insight and data-driven marketing, digital engagement and customer experience makes him the ideal marketing leader to drive this transformation across the Asia region."

Kapur brings a wealth of business and marketing experience to MetLife. Over his nearly 20 year career, he has held various management roles including sales, online distribution, marketing, product management and innovation through which he built iconic brands and drove business growth in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and financial services industries.

Sanjeevs significant experience and proven track record of driving strong business results will be a great asset as Asia continues to grow and drive value for MetLife. We are pleased to have him on board and confident that he will create competitive advantage for the company, said Townsend.

Most recently, Kapur was the Regional Head of Marketing at Citi, responsible for leading its regional and country marketing teams across 17 countries in Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle-East & Africa. Prior to his twelve years at Citi, he led the brand and product strategy at Hindustan Unilever Limited, a Unilever company. Kapur holds a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology and is a distinguished alumnus from the XLRI - Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur, India from where he holds an MBA in marketing and finance.

Im excited to join MetLife at such a transformative time for the company, said Kapur. I look forward to working with the team to build impactful consumer-focused strategies that will accelerate our transformation to a more modern, purposeful and digital company."

About MetLife

MetLife, Inc. (NYSE:MET), through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("MetLife"), is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world. Founded in 1868, MetLife is a global provider of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management. Serving approximately 100 million customers, MetLife has operations in nearly 50 countries and holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. For more information, visit www.metlife.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706190062
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 01:32:01

TNS Appointed by ATM2GO in Multi-Year Deal

TNS

Clare Cockroft, PR Director

T: +44 (0)114 292 0163

E: pr@tnsi.com

or

Jo Moorwood, Senior Director, Marketing Communications

+1 703 814 8065

Australian ATM operator ATM2GO has migrated its entire ATM estate to Transaction Network Services (TNS) in a multi-year deal that includes 4G coverage for both mobile and retail ATM sites.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706190060

TNS appointed by ATM2GO in Multi-Year Deal (Photo: Business Wire)

ATM2GO will use the TNSLink for ATMs solution to handle communications from the diverse range of locations its terminals serve which includes clubs, food outlets, festivals and sporting tournaments among others.

Jenny Marsh, Director at ATM2GO, said: Were enjoying an exciting period of sustained growth and expansion and needed to work with an ATM communications specialist that recognises the unique needs of our industry. We have chosen TNS because of its proven and reliable hardware, its reputation and the 24/7 support it offers. Many of our mobile terminals are deployed at weekends so as well as the ability to handle high traffic volumes we needed a network that came with round the clock support for peace of mind.

TNSLink is a fully managed service which helps to maximise uptime and reliability, while reducing capital and operating costs. The integrated TNSOnline and TNSVision analytic tools provide crucial visibility into ATM fleet performance in near real-time.

John Tait, Managing Director of TNS Payments Division for the Asia Pacific region, said: Were delighted to be working with ATM2GO. A significant proportion of its 270-strong ATM estate covers mobile sites which frequently change. We have extensive experience managing the demanding requirements of this type of ATM, such as the critical need to be able to connect quickly and easily when sited. Often deployed at a moments notice, we are able to support the communications requirements instantly, including high traffic locations which can see in excess of 1,000 transactions a day.

TNS extensive relationship with Australias telecommunications organisations means it can provide 4G service in the majority of locations. The TNSLink solution now supports more than 100,000 ATMs globally, including many hard to reach rural areas. This innovative technology can be set up with dual SIMs as well as wired with wireless backup to maximise performance. A new signal strength mobile application allows field technicians to improve the ability to deploy wireless ATMs successfully on the first attempt.

Mr Tait said: ATM2GO needed the migration to be completed within 8 weeks and our team easily met this objective through efficient planning and deployment. We look forward to supporting ATM2GO as it continues its growth this year and into the future.

Founded in 2011, ATM2GOs owners have over 25 years combined experience in the ATM industry. Its fleet of user friendly retail and mobile ATMs are operated by franchisees who can offer an added level of local knowledge and on-site expertise.

TNS was founded in 1990 and has expanded to provide services in more than 60 countries across Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific regions. The organization has secured a strong payments heritage and is a Level 1 PCI DSS certified service provider and a global board member of the ATM Industry Association (ATMIA). TNS secure network is supported 24x7x365 by multiple Network Operating Centers around the world. For more information about TNS, please visit www.tnsi.com.

ENDS

About Transaction Network Services:

Transaction Network Services (TNS) is a leading global provider of data communications and interoperability solutions. TNS offers a broad range of networks and innovative value-added services which enable transactions and the exchange of information in diverse industries such as retail, banking, payment processing, telecommunications and the financial markets.

Founded in 1990 in the United States, TNS has grown steadily and now provides services in over 60 countries across the Americas, Europe and the Asia Pacific region, with our reach extending to many more. TNS has designed and implemented multiple data networks which support a variety of widely accepted communications protocols and are designed to be scalable and accessible by multiple methods.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706190060

ATM2GO appoints TNS in multi-year deal which includes #4G coverage for #mobile & #retail #ATMs #payments
PR-Inside.com: 2017-06-20 19:21:02

Combined company will deliver an expanded set of front office products and services, including market access, risk management & analytics

Vela to Expand Trading Technology Capabilities with OptionsCity Acquisition

For media inquiries

Vela EMEA

The Realization Group

Melanie Budden, +44 7974 937970

melanie.budden@therealizationgroup.com

or

Vela North America

Forefront Communications

Michael Kingsley, +1-914-522-9471

michael@forefrontcomms.com

Vela Trading Technologies LLC (Vela), a global leader in high performance trading and market data technology, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OptionsCity Software, a global provider of futures and options trading and analytics solutions.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706200063

The OptionsCity acquisition will expand Velas front-office capabilities to include advanced analytics and risk management tools, enhance its market access managed services with additional trading and content solutions, and accelerate its data cloud strategy. The acquisition will also accelerate OptionsCitys growth strategy, providing its clients with access to additional asset classes, trading venues, geographies, low-latency data feeds, and market access products.

Jennifer Nayar, CEO of Vela, said, This acquisition will continue to enhance the value we deliver to our clients. We are delighted to enhance our award-winning managed services, development and support teams with OptionsCitys technical expertise and market knowledge. She added, The combination of Vela and OptionsCity enables us to accelerate both companies growth strategies, delivering an enhanced suite of trading and market data technology across multiple asset classes and geographies.

Vela, headquartered in New York, with offices in Europe and Asia, is a trading technology company that provides low-latency market data feed handlers, market access gateways, and consolidated market data feeds for access to global liquidity across North America, Asia, and Europe. Its clients include tier 1 banks, broker dealers, retail trading firms, investment banks, hedge funds, trading technology software providers, and proprietary trading firms.

Located in Chicago, OptionsCity specializes in powering the trading, risk management, and analytics needs of professional futures and options traders, market-makers, introducing brokers, and financial institutions worldwide.

Hazem Dawani, CEO of OptionsCity commented: We are excited to be joining Velas growing global family. Together we will be able to bring innovative technologies to our existing customers, and expand our solutions into new client segments, regions, and asset classes. Im proud of what our company has achieved and look forward to even greater accomplishments.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close at the end of Q2 2017.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP served as Velas legal advisors in the transaction. Marlin & Associates acted as the exclusive strategic and financial advisor to OptionsCity. DLA Piper LLP served as OptionsCitys legal advisors.

About Vela Trading Technologies

Vela is an independent global leader in high performance trading and market data technology. We provide the breadth of coverage and depth of expertise demanded by todays multi-asset, multi-region electronic trading environment. Our clients benefit from our award-winning managed services, white-glove global customer support, and world-class professional services from an experienced team comprised of seasoned financial services industry experts and cutting-edge technologists.

Providing premier market data and trading technology, Vela improves time-to-market, lowers costs and eliminates complexity. Vela delivers products that empower our clients to focus on their core business strengths, leveraging key trading infrastructure solutions via our technology, expertise and experience.

About OptionsCity

OptionsCity powers the trading, risk management and analytics needs of futures and options traders, market makers, financial institutions and other market participants worldwide. OptionsCity is a certified Independent Software Vendor and a leading source of electronic options trading volume on global derivatives exchanges.

Visit us at velatradingtech.com. Follow us on Twitter @vela_tt.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201706200063
[June 19, 2017] ETS-Lindgren Announces Industry-first Support of Signaling OTA Testing for IEEE 802.11 ac/n/a/g/b Devices Using Anritsu MT8862A Test Set

RICHARDSON, Texas, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Anritsu Company and ETS-Lindgren announce groundbreaking support of IEEE 802.11 ac/n/a/g/b Over-the-Air (OTA) testing with an enhanced solution that integrates the Anritsu Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A with the CTIA-compliant ETS-Lindgren EMQuest EMQ-100 Antenna Measurement Software. The accurate and flexible turnkey solution now supports 802.11 ac/n/a/g/b WLAN standards, providing device developers and manufacturers with a single solution to characterize and validate designs in accordance with current and emerging versions of the 802.11 standards. The MT8862A is the first solution for testing 802.11 in ac/n/a/g/b devices in full signaling mode with built-in communications protocols. The MT8862A can conduct fast and accurate RF receiver and transmitter measurements for WLAN without the need of any device control. It can also perform end-to-end data throughput tests, as well as capture real-time protocol messages. "Anritsu and ETS-Lindgren continue to develop leading-edge test solutions that enable developers and manufacturers to efficiently and confidently produce a new generation of mobile devices that are in line with market demands," said Paul Innis, Vice President and General Manager of Anritsu Company. "We are committed to developing solutions that meet and exceed future industry and carrier eco-system OTA test requirements. "Anritsu has a long-standing track record of providing innovative first-to-market technology products to leading wireless component and device customers globally. This latest development indicates our intent to maintain wireless test leadership and ensures continued growth in our target markets. We view the Anrtsu-ETS-Lindgren collaboration as a demonstration of our commitment in partnering with industry-leading companies," added Innis.



"Our customers rely on our expertise to provide turnkey, world-class wireless OTA test solutions that include the test chamber, and all associated software and hardware. With our in-house test capabilities, we can document the quality of the Anritsu Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A and its functionality with our wireless test systems," said Jari Vikstedt, Manager, Wireless Solutions, with ETS-Lindgren. "Recently we've had more requests for OTA test solutions per the IEEE 802.11ac standard. With the newly developed MT8862A, we can meet our customers' expectations." The MT8862A and EMQuest EMQ-100 provide a comprehensive solution that can test devices based on revisions of IEEE 802.11 technologies. Specialized calibration and validation methods are supported for WLAN OTA testing and other analysis, including TRP/TIS.

The Wireless Connectivity Test Set MT8862A is a multi-version IEEE 802.11 instrument with the capability for wireless device calibration, WLAN RF parametric testing and functional testing, including Network Mode. IEEE 802.11ac/n/a/b/g revisions are all supported for testing the transmitter and receiver performance of a multi-revision WLAN device. "Currently the CTIA only requires testing up to IEEE 802.11n, but that will change in the near future. With the built-in support for advanced IEEE 802.11 standards in the MT8862A our customers will be ready when that time arrives," said Vikstedt. ETS-Lindgren's EMQuest EMQ-100 offers a wide range of fully parameterized test methods for measuring basic antenna performance metrics, as well as testing both radiated and conducted performance of various wireless devices. Flexible in its design, the EMQuest EMQ-100 can be used to analyze antennas in stand-alone applications, or to test an embedded antenna system and radio module against any of the industry standard OTA radiated performance test requirements. About ETS-Lindgren

ETS-Lindgren is an international manufacturer of components and systems that measure, shield, and control electromagnetic and acoustic energy. The company's products are used for electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), microwave, wireless and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) testing, electromagnetic field (EMF) measurement, radio frequency (RF) personal safety monitoring, and control of acoustic environments. To learn more, visit www.ets-lindgren.com. Anritsu

Anritsu Company is the American subsidiary of Anritsu Corporation, a global provider of innovative communications test and measurement solutions for more than 110 years. Anritsu provides solutions for existing and next-generation wired and wireless communication systems and operators. Anritsu products include wireless, optical, microwave/RF, and digital instruments as well as operations support systems for R&D, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance. Anritsu also provides precision microwave/RF components, optical devices, and high-speed electrical devices for communication products and systems. With offices throughout the world, Anritsu sells in over 90 countries with approximately 4,000 employees. To learn more, visit www.anritsu.com. To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ets-lindgren-announces-industry-first-support-of-signaling-ota-testing-for-ieee-80211-acnagb-devices-using-anritsu-mt8862a-test-set-300476254.html SOURCE Anritsu Company

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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.




[June 20, 2017] Sucden Financial Goes Live with smartTrade Technologies' FX Platform

LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- smartTrade Technologies, a multi-asset electronic trading solutions pioneer, announced today that Sucden Financial, a leading London based institutional FX and derivatives broker, has implemented LiquidityFX, smartTrade's fully hosted FX solution. Sucden Financial acts as an FX liquidity provider to a wide variety of clients, including retail brokers, banks and hedge funds throughout the world. Their challenge was to find an experienced and proven technology provider with an in-depth understanding of their ambitions within e-FX and its technicalities. Achieving a quick time to market was another prerequisite which required a provider with out-of-the-box connectivity to tier-one banks, non-bank market makers, prime brokers and ECNS. Sucden Financial selected smartTrade Technologies for their capacity to deliver a sophisticated and complete solution within a challenging timeframe. smartTrade's LiquidityFX solution covers their needs for connectivity to multiple liquidity providers, aggregation, order routing, pricing and distribution as well as a fully integrated order management system. smartTrade is also providing Sucden Financial with its LiquidityFX credit margin module, which allows their end clients to trade larger amounts and leverage their cash margin while enabling Sucden Financial to monitor and manage their risk coverage in real time. "SmartTrade were well placed to provide us with the necessary tools to help us accomplish our expansion plans," commented Wayne Roworth, co-Head of eFX, at Sucden Financial. "Their ability to provide specific features such as an LD4 matching engine and EN connectivity for our non-bank prime products were critical milestones for us," he added.



"Our consultative approach enables us to understand clients' requirements and is key to a successful implementation and delivery," commented David Vincent, Chief Executive Officer of smartTrade Technologies. He added; "We believe that our strong experience in providing solutions for the FX brokers is a key asset in helping Sucden Financial achieve their growth objectives." About smartTrade Technologies:

smartTrade Technologies, a pioneer in multi-asset electronic trading solutions, delivers innovative and intelligent technology enabling you to focus on your trading and grow your business while lowering total cost of ownership and allowing you to quickly adapt to changing market requirements. smartTrade Technologies provides agile end-to-end trading solutions supporting Foreign Exchange, Fixed Income, Equities and Derivatives asset classes with connectivity to over 95 liquidity providers, aggregation, smart order routing, order management, pricing, distribution, risk management capabilities and a HTML5 user interface. We work with a variety of clients ranging from banks, brokers and hedge funds to proprietary trading desks. LiquidityFX for FX and smartFI for Fixed Income, are solutions available as software only or as a fully managed and hosted service, collocated in all the main market places globally. For more information, visit http://www.smart-trade.net. About Sucden Financial: Sucden Financial is a leading international derivatives broker providing access to a broad range of markets, including exchange and OTC traded products, as well as equities, foreign exchange and bullion. Formed in 1973 as the London brokerage arm of Sucres & Denrees (Sucden Group), the firm has since evolved into one of the largest brokers for traders, fabricators, producers, consumers, investment houses, hedge funds, commodity firms and retail brokers. Sucden Financial is a Ring Dealing/Category 1 member of the London Metal Exchange (LME) and provides clients with fast, direct access to global markets. Based in the heart of the City of London, Sucden Financial has offices in Moscow and a subsidiary in Hong Kong (Sucden Financial (HK) Limited). Sucden Financial Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Contact: Lise Grant - smartTrade Technologies - [email protected] - +44(0)782-684-7707 Contact: Robert Cantle - Sucden Financial - [email protected]

http://www.sucdenfinancial.com



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Fund Paragon's Correlation Algorithm FX Offers Higher Returns for Forex Traders

By: Fund Paragon

Fund Paragon

Contact

Peter Morris

***@fundparagon.com

003726683127 Peter Morris003726683127

End

-- Fund Paragon, a company that offers businesses offshore banking solutions along with powerful trading algorithms and other services, is announcing the launch of their new "Correlation Algorithm FX" for Forex traders.Correlation Algorithm FX was designed for Forex traders challenged by disappointing returns resulting from weak or ineffective trading strategies. The algorithm was designed to increase monthly returns with minimal exposure.With the help of former traders from tier one banks, Fund Paragon's trading algorithms provide customers with access to trading software back tested for 11 years and generating results from two years in real trading accounts.Fund Paragon is a brokerage firm that offers offshore bank accounts suited to individual companies' needs. They provide automated trading solutions, corporate tax assistance and offshore consultancy and can help set up investment funds, managing all stages of the process. In addition, they set up tailor-made private, public, and professional funds and sub-funds under the EU umbrella in less than six weeks. Fund Paragon's team serves customers all over the world, ensuring that their businesses remain compliant according to local laws and regulations."Fund Paragon is the place where your business plan starts," said Peter Morris, spokesperson for Fund Paragon. "In a world where regulatory bodies are getting more and more restrictive, especially within European Union, we provide solutions adapted to your needs, whether yours is a company abroad, a new bank account or a brokerage license. At the same time, we magnified the resources we had in-house, and with a team of ex-traders from tier one banks, we developed automated trading solutions that are generating incredible results. We see ourselves as a 'swiss army knife' for any corporation."Learn more about Fund Paragon and subscribe to their email newsletter at http://www.fundparagon.com . Follow Fund Paragon on YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Travel Night Ideas to Keep Learning Alive During Summer Vacation

By: Alphabet Kids/Wordeee

Julian English & Natasha Moulton-Levy.

Contact

Wordeee

Patrice Samara

***@wordeee.com WordeeePatrice Samara

End

-- Wordeee authors Julian English and his mom, Natasha Moulton-Levy were lucky enough to have traveled the world when writing their book,. Sam Glyn, B.S.Ed, M.S. Psy, Alphabet Kids' Director of Education, has devised "Travel Nights." Glyn states, "It's a new and easy way to give your children a first-hand, memorable journey to another culture from the comfort of your own home without having to board a plane, train, or even travel by car! A great way to keep your children engaged with learning during their summer vacation, these "Travel Nights," can surround your child with sights, sounds, smells and tastes of a new culture that will remain in a special place in your child's memory forever. Chose a night to do this weekly and fully immerse your family in the distant place and culture. Search for a map on the internet to show where the countries are located and your kids can learn geography in a fun way."Here are six "Travel Night" ideas with foods, key mealtime words, a movie, and a book you can read after dinner. You can expand on these by using internet searches for other cultures.Check outto read how Julian and Natasha did it on wordeee.com!Pizza or Linguini Bolognese: Linguini pasta with meat sauce named after the Italian town, Bologna; try a healthy roasted vegetable plate including peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, tomato. Use spices like basil, oregano, along with a drizzle of olive oil for flavor.per favore (please), grazie (thank you), prego (you're welcome), Buon Appetito (said before you start eating, enjoy the meal), delizioso (delicious), buona notte (good night)andMost Italian meals include three courses, a first course - cold or hot appetizers, then a pasta course and finally a protein course. If you have time, try to model your meal around the traditional Italian meal; and then, follow it with adessert, such as gelato (Ice cream) or sorbetto (Italian ice)!Tacos: tortillas, beans (black or refried), chopped tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese, peppers, ground meatpor favor (please), gracias (thank you), de nada (you're welcome), buen provecho (said before you start eating, enjoy the meal), delicioso/que rico (delicious), buenas noches (good night)orTortillas are not just eaten at dinner or lunch time. In Mexico, tortillas are eaten with every meal including breakfast.Tagine with cous cous: Named for the pot it is made in, tagine is a stew made with vegetables (squash, carrots, potato, tomato) and can include chicken or lamb, cinnamon and raisins. Cous cous is a rice-like starch made from wheat.afak (please), shocran (thank you), afwen (you're welcome), bil hana wish shifa' (said before you start eating, enjoy the meal), hadshi bneen (delicious), tesbah ala kheyr (good night)orTraditionally, the tagine and cous cous are mixed together into a ball with your hands and popped into the mouth without utensils.Rice is a staple of Chinese food, usually the rice is steamed. An easy way to bring Chinese cuisine to your table is to make a stir fry using chicken and vegetables. It is also common to drink tea during or after a Chinese meal.ching (please), shey shey (thank you), bu yong xie (you're welcome), ching siang yuong (said before you start eating: enjoy the meal), hao chyr (delicious), wan an (good night)orMuch of Chinese food is cut into bite side pieces in order for the food to be easily picked up using chopsticks. Try to use chopsticks for your Chinese cultural dinner.Largely based on rice, stewed vegetables, lentils and beans, chicken, lamb or goat. The main spices used in Indian cuisine are curry and cumin. Cinnamon and nutmeg are used in savory dishes. Yogurt is an ingredient in many Indian dishes, as well.: Kripaya (please), Shukhriya (thank you), _pak_ sv_gata hai (you're welcome), Bhog keejeeae (said before you start eating, enjoy the meal), swaadisht (delicious), Shubh raatri (good night)Short Stories FromMost Indians rinse their hands, legs, and face before eating a meal. Indians usually eat with their hands, and it is considered polite to eat with the right hand and not the left hand.Start your meal with dips and flat bread, a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers and feta cheese. Follow it with either skewered lamb, pork or chicken, Souvlaki or a ground meat/eggplant/potato casserole calledparakalo (please/you're welcome), efharisto (thank you), parakalo (you're welcome/please), Kali oreksi (said before you start eating, enjoy the meal), nostimo (delicious), Kalinikta (good night)It is said that the Greek cuisine found in Greece today has not changed since ancient times; it's still based on the local fresh fish, meats, and vegetables and cooked with local Greek olive oil and oregano.Inspired? Follow up with your "Travel Night" adventures on wordeee.com
With supportive programs, the most vulnerable show strength, courage, and resilience in face of enormous difficulties and despair

By: Malteser International Americas

www. orderofmaltarelief. org

End

-- Imagine having to run away from bombs, beatings, or bloodshed. Imagine fleeing in fear from the place you call home. Imagine being torn from loved ones, family and friends. Unfortunately, this is reality for hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year. On World Refugee Day, Malteser International Americas, an affiliate of Malteser International, the global humanitarian organization and relief agency of the Order of Malta, honors all people who have been forcibly displaced and have fled their homeland, yet have shown strength, courage, and resilience in the face of enormous difficulties and despair."In the Americas and around the globe, we do not turn our back on the children and families who are suffering the consequences of civil war or are caught in the crossroads of bloody conflict, rather we help them, uphold their courage, support their achievements, and treat them with the dignity and respect they deserve," said Ravi Tripptrap, Executive Director, Malteser International Americas.Over 65 million people are caught in the refugee crisis. In March, Malteser International Americas co-hosted a side-panel at the United Nations during the 61st Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, which highlighted Malteser International'sprogram in the Middle East, which empowers women and offers them a life-saving opportunity to create stability and normalcy for themselves -- and their families -- within refugee camps. The program offers trainings and cash-for-work for unskilled females, while offering renewed stability, better livelihoods and stronger family structure.But the crisis is severe and people continue to suffer greatly because of persistent political turmoil, religious persecution, and war, and they are in dire need of our relief, support, and encouragement. Through a reliable network of partners all over the world we reach those who are most vulnerable. And, together, we honor their resilience and willpower of refugees and internally displaced persons in many countries worldwide through appropriate measures.In the Americas: "Hopefully peace comes, hopefully. We do not want to live amidst this violence any more. Before we fled our home, we had to live with bombardments from the army as well as the Guerillas," said Jimmy Chacon, 45, who has been forced to take to the road with his family a total of four times for fear of violence  each time leaving almost everything behind. There are more internally displaced people in Colombia than in any other country in the world. Jimmy is one of over seven million who have been forced to live like refugees in their own country as a result of fifty years of bloody civil war. At the end of June 2016, the Colombian government and the leftist FARC guerilla organization, the two main parties to the conflict, agreed on a ceasefire. Only time will tell whether the peace will be a lasting one. In LaGuajira, where Jimmy now lives, he and his family benefit from our community-based health and nutrition programs, which serve a large internally displaced population. Jimmy has also become a community advocate and a voice for the environment as a result of our transformative trainings and workshops.An example from Turkey: Yasmine is only 9 years old, but has already lost so much: her father, her home, and the sight in one eye. Born in the Syrian city of Homs, she has lived through war and has been on the run for most of her life. She was seven years old when she survived a bombing which killed her father. Along with her mother and two brothers, she fled to neighboring Turkey. She lives in Istanbul with her family under difficult conditions. Nevertheless, for almost one year, Yasmine has been prepared to start schooling. Malteser supports an educational center in Istanbul where Yasmine is learning Turkish so that one day she may be able to attend public school in Turkey. The educational center serves up to about 700 children, offering classes from kindergarten to twelfth grade. This way, these children, even as refugees, are given the opportunity to attend school and learn an occupation.Around the globe in South Sudan: Julia Angelo Ucin is 50 years old. She has lost her husband, one of her sons, and her home as a result of the ongoing civil war in South Sudan. Her brother was abducted, and she still does not know if he is alive. Along with more than 10,000 other internally displaced people, Julia has been living in a refugee camp in the city of Wau since July 2016. Like most other people from her village, she fled her home to seek refuge in the city because of the conflict. To make sure she has enough to eat and to feed her family, Malteser International trained Julia on ways to grow basic food vegetables such as okra, cabbage and pumpkin in the urban environment. She also earns money from selling some of the produce harvested. This has helped Julia provide for her children. In four refugee camps in Wau, Malteser International also provides refugees with clean drinking water and has constructed 18 boreholes so far. According to Julia Ucin: "Now we have enough to eat and our children are doing better."From Colombia to Turkey to South Sudan, and everywhere in between, as a global organization, we remain committed to helping refugees, migrants, and internally displaced persons everywhere to overcome unconscionable difficulties and hardship, while we acknowledge and support their achievements and help them to live lives with dignity.To support the programs of Malteser International Americas,today: https://orderofmaltarelief.org/ donation/ About Malteser International Americas:Malteser International Americas is an affiliate of Malteser International, the humanitarian relief organization of the Order of Malta. Through its U.S. headquarters, Malteser International Americas provides immediate disaster response and preparedness, vital healthcare and nutrition, and clean water and sanitation to vulnerable people in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean. Visit www.orderofmaltarelief.org to learn more.
By: XpertDox

XpertDox at Alabama Launchpad

Contact

Sameer Ather

***@xpertdox.com



Photo:

https://www.prlog.org/ 12647385/1 Sameer Ather

End

-- Healthcare data analytics firm XpertDox won the first prize of $50,000 in an entrepreneurial competition, Alabama Launchpad.The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama sponsored the 2017 Alabama Launchpad L.E.A.P. Alumni Competition, which honors achievements of companies who have competed in previous Alabama Launchpad competitions. XpertDox had won $40,000 in a Launchpad competition last year.XpertDox is a website focused exclusively on improving care of patients with rare diseases . They have built a database of 130 specialties, 6,000 diseases and 200 procedures. Powered by their proprietary algorithm, XpertDox evaluates all doctors and hospitals in the U.S. in the five critical domains of clinical expertise, research, educational contributions, leadership role among peers and recognition as an expert.XpertDox offers its ' find a doctor ' tool to other organizations such as hospitals, medical group practices, and insurance companies that want to improve their search engine for doctors. XpertDox is also facilitating pharmaceutical companies and clinical research organizations to accelerate the enrollment of patients with rare diseases for clinical trials.
Orange County nonprofit to celebrate one million lives transformed through the gift of mobility at Miracle of Mobility gala on July 13

Media Contact

Delaine Moore

HKA Marketing Communications

delaine@hkamarcom.com Delaine MooreHKA Marketing Communications

End

-- Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) is celebrating a momentous milestone: one million wheelchairs given to those in need around the world since its beginning in 2001. The Irvine-based humanitarian, faith-based organization provides durable and adaptable wheelchairs at no cost to people with little to no mobility in developing nations.While the cost of a wheelchair in the western world is significant, Free Wheelchair Mission has devised a method of producing and delivering the wheelchairs at a cost of just $80 per wheelchair, with funding coming from generous donors throughout the United States and other parts of the world."We are both ecstatic and humbled to have reached one million wheelchairs,"said Don Schoendorfer, president and founder, FWM. "Each wheelchair represents a life changed, someone who can now go to school or to work and can enjoy a life of mobility. It also represents a great network of generous supporters and committed partners dedicated to giving back and creating opportunity for people in great need around the world. We would not be here today without this support and are truly grateful to everyone who has helped Free Wheelchair Mission reach this goal."The organization will celebrate the millionth milestone at its annual Miracle of Mobility gala Thursday, July 13, at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, Calif. Along with learning more about the organization's journey to deliver the millionth chair, gala attendees will also hear in-person, powerful stories from four wheelchair recipients who are traveling to Orange County from El Salvador, Jamaica, Uganda and Vietnam.Vo Thi Thuy Hien, the recipient traveling from Vietnam, dropped out of school in second grade due to the numerous treatments and surgeries required to treat a tumor on her spine. She eventually lost mobility, making it very difficult to not only return to school but care for herself. Now at 19-years-old, Hien can pursue an education in multimedia design, thanks to the mobility her wheelchair provides.Each wheelchair given represents a similarly heart-warming story. The statistics are daunting: there are an estimated 100 million people in need of a wheelchair and cannot afford one. Many are forced to live on the ground or must wait to be carried to meet their most basic needs. Receiving a wheelchair means more than mobility, it is a life-changing event that improves the health, well-being, and independence for the recipient and their family.Schoendorfer was inspired to begin Free Wheelchair Mission after a trip to Morocco, where he witnessed the plight of a woman struggling to drag herself across a busy thoroughfare. With this image seared in his mind, the engineer ultimately left a successful career in the biomedical field and turned his attention to solving this problem. He invented a basic, inexpensive, durable wheelchair that would fit the needs of this woman and the millions of others in similar situations across the developing world.The first wheelchair was essentially a plastic lawn chair with mountain bike tires designed to withstand the rugged terrain that many of the recipients live in. The wheelchairs have evolved to include two additional designs, including a foldable wheelchair. All three designs are available to recipients, and depending on the needs of an individual, the most appropriate is given for free.The wheelchairs have been distributed in 93 countries in partnership with a range of international humanitarian, government, and faith-based distribution partners. These partners also are trained to provide wheelchair maintenance and training to ensure each recipient knows how to use the wheelchair.Miracle of Mobility, which is open to the public, has emerged as one of the "Top 5 Dinners/Galas"in Orange County, drawing close to 800 guests and raising funds to provide more than 20,000 wheelchairs each year. Following a silent auction, dinner, and testimonies from the international recipients, guests will participate in a live mobility auction where they will have the opportunity to donate more wheelchairs and kick off the march to the next million."When we first started our work, the goal was to change the life of each individual in need," Schoendorfer said. "That is still our goal, however, reaching one million makes us realize that we can help another million -- and then another million after that. There is so much need in the world for mobility solutions, and together we can make a difference, one wheelchair at a time."Watch this video to learn more about Free Wheelchair Mission's journey to give away one million wheelchairs:Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM) is a humanitarian, faith-based, nonprofit organization providing wheelchairs at no cost to people with disabilities living in developing nations. In collaboration with a network of like-minded partners, FWM has provided one million wheelchairs since 2001 to people with disabilities in 93 countries. FWM provides dignity, independence, and hope through the gift of mobility at a price of only $80. Learn more at freewheelchairmission.org.
German pension fund has acquired a share in the asset manager Zeitgeist through its Luxembourg subsidiary. Zeitgeist Asset Management is a Real Estate Developer and Asset Manager operating in Germany and Central Eastern Europe (CEE). Zeitgeist focuses on the purchase of value-add objects, which are then being developed, renewed and

[]
[June 20, 2017] Dell Boomi's Latest Release Builds on Cloud Integration Platform to Drive Digitally Connected Experiences with Customers, Partners and Suppliers

ROUND ROCK, Texas, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dell Boomi (Boomi) announced the availability of the Spring 2017 release of the industry's most robust and comprehensive cloud-native, enterprise integration platform to move, manage, govern and orchestrate data across hybrid IT architectures. The latest release enables Boomi customers to more efficiently connect everything and enable everywhere, with new, no code application integration accelerators, new features to fortify DevOps at enterprise scale, and improve data governance and security. "Today's enterprise organization needs to create digitally connected experiences with customers, partners, and suppliers in order to stay ahead of the competition and remain relevant," said Chris McNabb, CEO of Boomi. "Integration teams are under ever increasing pressure to make this happen at an accelerated pace. With this release, our platform provides organizations with the industry's most comprehensive and robust integration foundation for rapidly building a digital business that's smarter, better and faster." Boomi's Spring 2017 release includes more than 150 features that have been added to the market-leading Boomi integration platform as a service (iPaaS) over several months and are now generally available. Highlights include the following. Low and No Code Integration Accelerators

Boomi accelerates implementations by providing a drag-and-drop data integration and application development environment, pre-built tools and reusable components, including: Workflow Automation - In March 2017 , Boomi acquired ManyWho, a low-code development platform for building and deploying workflow applications, making Boomi the most comprehensive cloud-native integration and application development platform to accelerate digital transformation. The latest release allows an application developer to easily invoke a Boomi integration process within a workflow.

- In , Boomi acquired ManyWho, a low-code development platform for building and deploying workflow applications, making Boomi the most comprehensive cloud-native integration and application development platform to accelerate digital transformation. The latest release allows an application developer to easily invoke a Boomi integration process within a workflow. No Code, Pre-built Integration Templates - Boomi offers citizen integrator support with 12 additional processes for the Boomi Process Library. The Boomi Process Library provides proven examples created by Boomi experts that any Boomi user can choose as a starting point to build their integration.

- Boomi offers citizen integrator support with 12 additional processes for the Boomi Process Library. The Boomi Process Library provides proven examples created by Boomi experts that any Boomi user can choose as a starting point to build their integration. Support for PaaS Integration - Boomi easily integrates with leading PaaS vendors and provides comprehensive support for PaaS solution integration. This release offers new connectors for Azure, AWS and Google.

- Boomi easily integrates with leading PaaS vendors and provides comprehensive support for PaaS solution integration. This release offers new connectors for Azure, AWS and Google. B2B Trading Partner Common Components - Three new types of EDI components provide increased reusability of common data among rading Partners. Re-using common components increases flexibility, reduces duplication and simplifies updates. This saves time and development effort, especially for organizations with varied businesses, organizations growing through acquisition, as well as conglomerates and organizations with semi-autonomous business units.



Fortified DevOps Features

DevOps teams are looking for the ability to simplify and automate the delivery and deployment of applications and integrations, allowing organizations to focus more of their resources on innovation. Boomi's fortified DevOps features provide new, robust enterprise capabilities, while reducing the complexity associated with IT operations, including: Docker Container Deployment - Easily create pre-configured containers. Docker containers simplify and provide flexibility to spin up and down instances of Boomi with pre-defined configurations to increase developer productivity and speed up application integration.

- Easily create pre-configured containers. Docker containers simplify and provide flexibility to spin up and down instances of Boomi with pre-defined configurations to increase developer productivity and speed up application integration. Programmatic Onboarding for Trading Partners - Simplifies and speeds up onboarding, dramatically reducing the time required from weeks and days to hours and making the setup error-free.

- Simplifies and speeds up onboarding, dramatically reducing the time required from weeks and days to hours and making the setup error-free. Data Stewardship Independence - Four new platform Quarantine API endpoints enable resolution actions outside of Boomi Master Data Management (MDM). This means data stewards can work in other applications, including cloud applications like Slack, to streamline governance tasks and approvals.

- Four new platform Quarantine API endpoints enable resolution actions outside of Boomi Master Data Management (MDM). This means data stewards can work in other applications, including cloud applications like Slack, to streamline governance tasks and approvals. Dynamic Integration Processes - With Boomi's Process Route Shape feature, users can break down multi-step processes into smaller, independent functional groups and dynamically execute sub-processes. This independence between the main process, sub-process, and routing rules enables reusability of repeated logic and actions, and facilitates seamlessly updating and testing integrations. Data Governance and Security

Organizations need technologies that provide ease of use to accelerate digital initiatives, while offering appropriate controls for the business units they support. Customers need to enforce the right data governance and security models that ensure compliance with business policies, contracts and regulations. Boomi's latest release includes:

Automated Data Governance - Data source rankings ensure that each Boomi MDM golden record is from the most trusted source system and propagated across all systems. Data stewards can easily enforce governance policies with automatic updates to all golden records when the data model and associated business rules are changed.

- Data source rankings ensure that each Boomi MDM golden record is from the most trusted source system and propagated across all systems. Data stewards can easily enforce governance policies with automatic updates to all golden records when the data model and associated business rules are changed. Identity Management - With Boomi API Management developers can now leverage third party Authentication Sources to support OAuth 2.0 and SAML authentication use cases.

- With Boomi API Management developers can now leverage third party Authentication Sources to support OAuth 2.0 and SAML authentication use cases. API Policy Management - With an unlimited number of API calls, an organization can be vulnerable to Denial of Service (DoS) attacks and potentially overwhelm or tax the infrastructure. Boomi API Management allows for the configuration of policies to define a Contract. These Contracts can be coupled with entitlement tiers (i.e. Gold, Silver, or Bronze) as a mechanism for API providers to define expected service levels across their customer base. Additionally, with Quota, Rate Limit and Throttling functionality, the API Provider can limit the number of API calls for a specific time period. To learn more about the Boomi Spring release or see a demonstration, please visit: https://boomi.com/blog/boomi-advances-speed-efficiency-application-integration About Dell Boomi

Dell Boomi (Boomi), an independent business unit of Dell, accelerates business agility by integrating the information organizations need whenever and however they need it. The Boomi integration platform dramatically transforms the way organizations connect, create, manage and govern all their applications and data. As a result, more than 5,800 organizations of all sizes use the Boomi platform to run smarter, faster, and better. Boomi also helps customers drastically reduce implementation times over traditional integration, MDM, API management and workflow automation solutions. Visit http://www.boomi.com for more information.  2017 Boomi Inc. Dell, Dell Boomi, ManyWho, and Boomi iPaaS are trademarks of Dell Inc. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Contact: Janine Kromhout

Dell Boomi

650-269-1417

[email protected] Kelsey Quickstad

Hotwire PR for Dell Boomi

415-820-4494

[email protected] Analyst Contact:

Beth Johnson

Dell Boomi

(415) 412-6891

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dell-boomis-latest-release-builds-on-cloud-integration-platform-to-drive-digitally-connected-experiences-with-customers-partners-and-suppliers-300476467.html SOURCE Dell Boomi

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These self-styled Queen of pop Madonna is just one of many celebrities to show interest in Lisbon property. She has posted an array of pictures on her Instagram account showing her family walking down the Lisbon streets already integrating themselves with the local culture and a Benfica T-shirt highly visible. Joking aside, there is growing concern in Lisbon because property prices have increased by 35% between 2012 and 2016 which is now a major problem for locals.

Hilltop palace

It is believed that Madonna visited a hilltop palace which belonged to Antonio Champalimaud who was hailed by many as Portugal richest person when he died in 2004. Interestingly it was Sothebys who confirmed that Madonna had visited the hilltop palace which offers some beautiful views over the city. Whether Madonna has will make an offer for the palace remains to be seen but she is certainly interested in acquiring a Lisbon property.

When celebrities such as Madonna show interest in Lisbon property this is something of a double-edged sword for the local public. On one hand it does give the area a greater profile within the media but on the other it does attract more celebrities and investors with prices having already dramatically increased since 2012. If we look at the cost per square metre it has now increased to 2318 which as we mentioned above is a 35% increase on 2012. Indeed this is the highest level since 2007 when the US economy crashed dragging the global economy down with it.

Other celebrities drawn to Lisbon

Italian actress Monica Bellucci, French fashion designer Christian Louboutin and former Manchester United favourite Eric Cantona are just three of the latest celebrities to acquire property in Lisbon. While some may compare Lisbon to places such as San Francisco, with a similar landscape, in reality it is the tax breaks offered to overseas investors which have turned the market.

Lisbon was empty in 2011

While it is a little dramatic to suggest that Lisbon was empty in 2011, it was an area which was literally on its knees with high unemployment and an economy which was struggling. In 2012 the government decided to offer resident permits to non-Europeans in exchange for the acquisition of real estate worth more than 500,000. Spain used a similar method to shore up its own property market in the short term to similar levels of success.

While government incentives have attracted a wave of overseas investors it is Chinese homebuyers who are again grabbing the headlines. Over the last few years we have seen a significant increase in Chinese investors switching from the domestic market to places such as the UK, Portugal, Canada and many other areas of the world. Even though the Chinese government has tried to reduce the outflow of funds to overseas real estate markets it struggling to make any real impact.

Conclusion

It seems almost inevitable that Madonna will acquire a Lisbon property as she has been looking at many in the area and seems to have bought into the culture. While some will criticise the Portuguese government for a variety of incentives offered to overseas investors, in reality this helped to stabilise the Portuguese real estate market in what were troubled times. It seems that the Lisbon property market is being invaded by the Americans, Italians, Chinese and French.
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Each April during National Library Week, the ALAs Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) releases its annual list of the top 10 most challenged books in the nations schools and libraries. A book is challenged when someone requests that it be removed from a library or that access to it be restricted. The OIFs goal in releasing the list is to inform the public about incidences of censorship in schools and libraries. Since 1990, the OIF has maintained a challenged materials database, collecting information on challenges from media reports and reports submitted by individuals via the Offices official form. We asked James LaRue, director of OIF, to share some insight on the trends reflected in the 2016 list, which was released on April 10.

In 2015, nine out of the 10 books were by and about diverse populations, LaRue says, and this year still half of them are, with a continued focus on LGBT and particularly transgender. He also notes that three out of the 10 books this year are graphic novels, reflecting the growing popularity of the format, adding, Graphic novels are now serious literary forces to be reckoned with.

According to OIF data, half of the books on the 2016 list were removed from the libraries where they were challenged, marking a significant increase. Typically we say that 10% of challenged books are bannedthat is to say that 10% of the time they are successfully removed, usually from the school where they are being challenged, LaRue says. This time, of these top 10, five of them were removed. This bump coincides with a 17% increase in the total number of reported challenges for the year.

LaRue notes that, in an uptick from 2015, the phrase most often used to complain about books in the past year was sexually explicit. He believes one reason is that most challenges now are reported not for books in the library but against books in the advanced English curricula of some schools. This change also represents a shift upward in the age of the readers of the most challenged books.

Weve moved from helicopter parenting, where people were hovering over their kids, to Velcro parenting, LaRue says. Theres no space at all between the hand of the parent and the head of the child. These are kids who are 16, 17; in one year theyre going to be old enough to sign up for the military, get married, or vote, and their parents are still trying to protect them from content that is sexually explicit. I think thats a shift from overprotectiveness to almost suffocating.

One of the challenges on the 2016 list breaks new ground. For the first time, to my knowledge, weve had a challenge to a book not because of the content but because of the author, LaRue says, referring to the Little Bill series of early reader books written by comedian Bill Cosby, recently on trial for sexual assault.

Another example LaRue cites is an Arkansas state legislators proposal of a bill to ban the late Howard Zinns booksincluding A Peoples History of the United Statesfrom all Arkansas public schools because of Zinns liberal views. The trend seems to be, if you dont like the person, or what has been alleged about that person, then they cannot write books, LaRue says.

Of the 323 challenges in 2016, only 46 were public challenges. LaRue says that according to studies conducted in 2011 in Missouri, Oregon, and Texas, between 3% and 18% of challenges are reported to the ALA, meaning that 82% to 97% are not. By that math, at the high end, he figures people are submitting at least 10,000 challenges total in America each year. LaRue adds, Of those not reported, do you think the likelihood is greater or lesser that the book was removed?

The OIF has been making a push to encourage more reporting of challenges, and as part of that effort streamlined its reporting form late last year, and offered an instructional webinar on how to use it. The new form also gives librarians an opportunity to check a box that allows the OIF to release information about the challenge so that people can discuss it.

In addition to book challenges, the new OIF form includes an area to report hate crimes in libraries. These types of incidents have seen a sharp rise in the months following the recent presidential election. On the whole, LaRue says, I hope that what our office is doing is bringing a greater authenticity and transparency to what it actually going on in our libraries.

To further spread the word about its mission, the OIF has teamed with the ALAs Office for Library Advocacy to run advocacy boot camps, which serve as a reminder that librarians have a responsibility to report challenges. We point out that it is part of the brand of librarianship that we stand up for your right to read, LaRue says.

He believes that the trends seen on the 2016 top 10 list harken back to the earliest days of the Library Bill of Rights, drafted in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1938 and adopted by the ALA in 1939. LaRue quotes a key phrase from the document: Today indications in many parts of the world point to growing intolerance, suppression of free speech, and censorship affecting the rights of minorities and individuals. And, LaRue adds, Here we are again. Its time for us to recommit to this fundamental value of librarianship and the First Amendment.

The Top 10 for 2016

1. This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki, illus. by Jillian Tamaki

Challenged because it includes LGBTQ characters, drug use, and profanity and was considered sexually explicit with mature themes.

2. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Challenged because it includes LGBTQ characters, was deemed sexually explicit, and was considered to have an offensive political viewpoint.

3. George by Alex Gino

Challenged because it includes a transgender child, and the sexuality was not appropriate at elementary levels.

4. I Am Jazz by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, illus. by Shelagh McNicholas

Challenged because it portrays a transgender child and because of language, sex education, and offensive viewpoints.

5. Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan

Challenged because its cover has an image of two boys kissing, and it was considered to include sexually explicit LGBTQ content.

6. Looking for Alaska by John Green

Challenged for a sexually explicit scene that may lead students to sexual experimentation.

7. Big Hard Sex Criminals by Matt Fraction, illus. by Chip Zdarsky

Challenged because it was considered sexually explicit.

8. Make Something Up: Stories You Cant Unread by Chuck Palahniuk

Challenged for profanity, sexual explicitness, and being disgusting and all around offensive.

9. Little Bill series by Bill Cosby, illus. by Varnette P. Honeywood

Challenged because of criminal sexual allegations against the author.

10. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Challenged for offensive language.

This article has been updated.
Venezuelas telecom authority Conatel plans to eliminate anonymity from Internet and social media platforms.





According to Andres Eloy Mendez, general manager, Conatel , anonymity enables users to carry out crimes against other users or larger groups of people, even countries.Anonymity cannot be the norm on social media. You can say whatever you want, but you have to be responsible for it and cant say it covered by anonymity, said Mendez. Were working on a procedure to unveil the identity behind any social profile.The announcement arrives at a time of growing political instability in Venezuela, with the Government facing strong accusations of censorship.In recent years, some media which dont toe the Government line have struggled. In February, CNNs Spanish-language feed was banned from the countrys pay-TV scene. Since then, the network has been airing regular programming through YouTube Venezuelas Government has not been the only administration to state its desire to control information on the Internet. Russia and the G7 countries (including the UK and the US) have also recently discussed this issue.
Authorities in Kabul have demolished a tent erected to protest insecurity in the Afghan capital, sparking street clashes that left at least one demonstrator dead.

Tensions have been high in Kabul since a truck bomb on May 31 killed more than 150 people and wounded at least 300 -- the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since the ouster of the Taliban following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

People angered by growing insecurity had built a protest tent near the bombing site, demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani's government.

Authorities moved after midnight on June 20 to pull down the tent, prompting a backlash from protesters as police used live rounds.

One of the protest organizers, Ramish Noori, said the clash lasted until about 4 a.m. local time.

Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said one person was killed and six wounded during what he called the "unfortunate incident," and promised an investigation.

However, protest organizers said two demonstrators were killed and 12 others detained by police.

"We assure the people that despite this barbaric attack by the government and this grave crime against humanity we will continue our civil movement," a statement from the organizers said.

On June 2, at least five people were killed and around 20 wounded in deadly clashes between police and antigovernment protesters.

And at least seven other people were killed and around 100 injured on June 3 after three suicide bombers detonated their explosives at the funeral of one of the protesters.

Protesters had set up eight tents around Kabul after the clashes between protesters and security forces. They later took down most of them after an agreement with the government, but refused to leave the tent erected near the bombing site.

With reporting by AFP and Tolo News
An Afghan official says eight Afghan security guards have been killed by gunmen who opened fire on them in the northern province of Parwan.

Two others were wounded, Bagram district Governor Abdul Shokoor Qudosi said.

The guards from Bagram air base were killed when their vehicle was attacked by unknown gunmen late on June 19, he said.

The incident took place on the main road near Shah Kah village, approximately 1 kilometer from the air base, Qudosi added.

The group of 10 security guards was on its way to work at the time of the attack, according to the governor.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting.

Bagram air base is the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan and is a regular target for attacks.

In November, a suicide bomb blast inside the base left two U.S. service members and two contractors dead and 16 others wounded.

Based on reporting by AP and dpa
A Chinese naval fleet held the first of two planned military exercises with the Russian Navy in the Baltic Sea over the weekend, with another show of force scheduled days after U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to NATO ally Poland next month.

Chinese state media said three ships, headed by the Changsha missile destroyer, linked up with Russian vessels near St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad on June 18, with the next exercise, which will include Chinese marines and ship-borne helicopters, scheduled for late July.

Trump is scheduled to visit Poland, which is on the Baltic Sea, on July 5-6 ahead of a G20 summit in Germany.

The Russian-Chinese Joint Sea exercises occur regularly, with another drill scheduled for mid-September in the Sea of Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk.

China and Russia hold similar views on many international issues, including the crises in North Korea and Syria, which often puts them at odds with the United States and Western Europe.

Previous joint military exercises have also been held in politically sensitive areas, including the South China Sea, where China has made territorial claims that conflict with those of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters


[June 20, 2017] Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 Exhibitor Profiles

Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2017 takes place 28 June - 1 July, 2017 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC). Exhibitor profiles are listed below. Links to important information: Mobile World Congress Shanghai Exhibitor News:

https://www.mwcshanghai.com/press-zone/exhibitor-online-news-centre/

https://www.mwcshanghai.cn/press-zone/exhibitor-online-news-centre/

Information for Press: https://www.mwcshanghai.com/press-zone/ ***







Company: a0paper Inc. Booth: W4.D45 Web: www.scrollads.net Scrollads is a mobile display ad that vanishes through a simple scroll. Scrollads generates 295% more impressions and up to 314% more clicks. Monetize your site with Scrollads. Company: Briteyellow Ltd Booth: W4.G39 Web: www.briteyellow.com BriteLocate3D interactive 3D indoor positioning and navigation application (3DindoorGPS) platform helps end users to find their way more easily inside buildings or places where GPS does not work accurately such as shopping malls, airports, museums. It uses 3D virtual and augmented reality on a smartphone to guide people to discover indoor places and things. This saves time as the user gets around more efficiently, reduces stress, increases productivity, and enhances their experience of the venue. It gives building managers better 3D information about usage of venues, and is also a great way for users to collect loyalty rewards and incentives. Company: CALLUP Booth: W5.B70 Web: www.callup.com Founded in 1999, CALLUP provides Value Added Services (VAS) and Mobile Device Management (MDM) Solutions. CALLUP is a subsidiary of the One1 Group, headquartered in Israel and listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE: ONE). CALLUP's customer base spans the globe and includes fixed, mobile, VoIP telecom operators, MVNEs and MVNOs, as well as leading telecom providers that CALLUP serves as an OEM. CALLUP's portfolio includes remote SIM cards management system, Wi-Fi Calling system, roaming products and more. CALLUP's systems and products are both on-premises and cloud-based. Company: Case Station Ltd. Booth: W4.G35 Web: www.casestation.com Case Station is the global market leader in the personalization and customization of consumer electronics products. We enable consumers to go online anytime, anywhere and create a case in their own style. We have webshops in 15 countries, plus instore operations in China, Korea, France, Germany, UK, North America, South Africa, Argentina, Mexico, Columbia, Chile and Sweden. We launched our mobile app at MWC Barcelona featuring an AR experience, which is a first for ecommerce and Case Station. Our IT solution enables customers to create a case anywhere, anytime. Instore, Online or on their Mobile & preview their design in AR. Company: CellMining Booth: W5.B70 Web: www.cellmining.com CellMining revolutionizes network analytics with a unique approach and patented Subscriber Network Analytics technology. It analyzes subscriber experience data, identifies usage patterns and correlates subscribers to cells, services, handsets, roads and more. CellMining's solutions - Behavior-Based SON and Network CEM - create the essential link between customer experience insights and network quality and optimization. The innovative Virtual Network NPS product predicts network detractors across the full subscriber base for effective marketing retention campaigns and prioritized network activities. The Connected Journey Experience maps highways and railways' segments by multiple, unique voice and data Key Quality Indicators to improve experience of fast-moving and driving subscribers. Company: Cellomat Booth: W4.G55 Web: www.cellomat.com Cellomat is a provider of disruptive technology that is revolutionizing customer care for the mobile device lifecycle. Our end-to-end solution includes a unique mobile app, self-service kiosk, and cloud-based software. These enable device OEMs, distributors, and after-market service providers to have a direct relationship with consumers, offering a never-before-seen wow service. This is an unprecedented anytime, anywhere service for mobile device repair and replacement, online purchase pick-up, diagnostics, device worth evaluation, trade up, and accessories purchase. For the first time getting a new phone or fixing an existing one is as easy as taking out cash from an ATM. Company: CommuniTake Booth: W5.B70 Web: www.communitake.com.cn CommuniTake is a software company that builds security, enablement, and management solutions to provide people and organizations with better, and more secure mobile device use. CommuniTake Intact Mobile Security is a mobile Endpoint Protection Platform that dramatically improves the level of security of connected devices, delivers powerful in-depth protection against mobile cyber-attacks, and ensures seamless device performance and remediation. CommuniTake solutions are geared towards wide-ranging enterprise mobile security needs, after-sales cost-reduction essentials and modular delivery methods. CommuniTake's competencies are in remote access and support technology, mobile operating systems, and security architecture, ensuring best-of-all-worlds mobile security and enablement solutions. Company: Giant iTab Booth: W4.G39f Web: www.giantitab.com Giant iTab is a complete Giant Interactive Tablet, Touchscreen and Smartphone solution which copies the hand-held devices we all use every day - but on a Giant scale. They are able to run and present any digital content including web and Apps and our clients include O2 (News - Alert), Sky, Xerox, BBC, Barclays Bank, Nespresso, Harrods, Volvo, Unilever, Genting Casino's, Scientific Gaming and other leading companies, marketing and design agencies and event planners. With a fast-growing global partner network Giant iTabs are available for sale and for hire anywhere in the world where mobile development and marketing are key to success. Company: GREAT Britain and NI Pavilion Booth: W4.G39 Web: www.tradefair.co.uk Visit the GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland pavilion to find business partners at the world's most important technology events. The British exhibitors at MWC Shanghai 2017 show a wide range of products, services & technologies. The GREAT Britain & Northern Ireland pavilion at MWC Shanghai 2017 is supported by Department for International Trade which helps UK based businesses to ensure their success in international markets through exports. For further information, please visit: www.great.gov.uk/us/ It is sponsored by techUK, the trade association for the UK Technology industry. Its members account for over 80% of these markets and include blue-chip multinationals & early stage technology companies. For more information on how techUK can help you, go to: www.techuk.org. Company: Huawei (News - Alert) Technologies Co., Ltd. Booth: W3.A01 & W5.E50 Web: http://www.huawei.com/ Huawei is a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider. Driven by responsible operations, ongoing innovation, and open collaboration, we have established a competitive ICT portfolio of end-to-end solutions in telecom and enterprise networks, devices, and cloud computing. Our ICT solutions, products, and services are used in more than 170 countries and regions, serving over one-third of the world's population. With more than 170,000 employees, Huawei is committed to enabling the future information society, and building a Better Connected World. Company: Mavenir Booth: W4.G33 Web: http://www.mavenir.com/ Mavenir is a leader in accelerating and redefining network transformation for Service Providers, by offering a comprehensive product portfolio across every layer of the network infrastructure stack. From 5G application/service layers to packet core and RAN - Mavenir leads the way in evolved, cloud-proven networking solutions enabling innovative and secure experiences for end users. Through its industry first VoLTE, VoWiFi, Advanced Messaging (RCS), Multi ID, Visual Voicemail and Cloud RAN solutions, and with 350+ CSPs across 3.5B subscribers, Mavenir's platform enables Service Providers to successfully deliver next generation vision today and realize new revenue streams and operational efficiencies. www.mavenir.com. Company: MELTEN INC. Booth: W4.E25 Web: http://www.melten.com/ MELTEN is the Taiwanese leading developer of healthcare communication solution, providing caregivers with clinical workflow improvement, efficient alarm management and vital sign integrated platform. Our development and application focuses on creating a solid nurse-centered solution for call system, medical device integration, and mobile nursing cart to support and optimize each critical process within hospital environment. Company: MyKronoz Booth: W5.H54 Web: www.mykronoz.com Founded in January 2013, MyKronoz is a Swiss company based in Geneva that designs and develops wearable devices intended to improve increasingly mobile, connected and digital lifestyles. MyKronoz strives to expand the mobile-user experience with stylish, intuitive and functional techcessories. Now present in 40 countries, carried by major retailers and partners worldwide, MyKronoz offers a full range of connected devices spanning across 4 product categories: activity trackers, smartwatches, hybrid smartwatches and watch phones. In 2017, MyKronoz marked crowdfunding history, by raising $5.3 million on Kickstarter with its game-changing timepiece ZeTime: the world's first hybrid smartwatch that combines mechanical hands with a color touchscreen. Company: OT-MORPHO Booth: W4.G01 Web: www.oberthur.com; www.morpho.com OT-Morpho is a world leader in digital security & identification technologies with the ambition to empower citizens and consumers alike to interact, pay, connect, commute, travel and even vote in ways that are now possible in a connected world. As our physical and digital, civil and commercial lifestyles converge, OT-Morpho stands precisely at that crossroads to leverage the best in security and identity technologies and offer customized solutions to a wide range of international clients. OT-Morpho is the result of the merger between OT (Oberthur Technologies) and Morpho and will unveil its new name in September of this year. Company: Pixoneye Booth: W4.G39.d Web: www.pixoneye.com Pixoneye is a core tech, AI specialist company, providing unrivalled data based on 150 characteristics obtained from the untapped resource of user photo galleries. We are the only company with this on-device deep learning and computer vision technology, scanning each new image as it is taken. This results in real-time, behavioural data of the consumers' lifestyle, such as moving home or having a baby. The technology teaches the customer's smart phone to condense its photo gallery into a 'feature vector'. Pixoneye uses the 'feature vector' in its machine learning recommendation engine to personalise the in-app experience specifically to each customer. Company: QCT Booth: W4.E70 Web: http://www.qct.io/ Quanta Cloud Technology (QCT) is a global data center solution provider. The company combines the efficiency of hyperscale hardware with infrastructure software from a diversity of industry leaders to solve next-generation data center design and operation challenges. QCT serves cloud service providers, telecoms, and enterprises running public, hybrid and private clouds. QCT's diverse product portfolio includes hyper-converged and software-defined data center solutions as well as servers, storage, switches, and integrated racks with a diverse ecosystem of hardware components and software partners. QCT designs, manufactures, integrates and services cutting edge offerings via its own global network. Company: Redbox Mobile PLC Booth: W4.G39C Web: www.blackbox-platform.com; www.redboxmobile.com/blackbox This is a Global First. The platform is delivering unparalleled success in acquiring the best downloads for any app in the iOS App store. The machine learning AI delivers the highest converting keywords in any country programmatically, seamlessly attributing customer ARPU. ROI is clear and positive. Our platform delivers dynamic keyword bidding in real time with download analysis in the US, UK, AUS and NZ store. Blackbox is already being used by the biggest brands in the world like WSJ, Kodak, Sky, Hulu and Red Bull. The success and growth of the Blackbox platform is outstanding and unsurpassed. It's powerful, intuitive and brilliant. Company: Samsung (News - Alert) Electronics Co., Ltd (System LSI Business) Booth: W5.B200 Web: http://www.samsungsemi.com/ Samsung Electronics is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere. Through relentless innovation and discovery, we are transforming the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, network systems, medical devices, semiconductors and LED solutions. System LSI business is a total semiconductor solution provider of hardware, software, system design and services. Based on the company's advanced technologies of fine process nodes and rich manufacturing experience, System LSI is positioned as a leading supplier of mobile processors, image sensors, display driver ICs and more semiconductor solutions including SIM card ICs, NFC, bio-processors and Power ICs. Company: Third Space Auto Ltd Booth: 4YFN Web: https://www.thirdspaceauto.com With a collective experience of 25 years in the industry, we are a team of seasoned tech veterans from Nokia, Microsoft, Garmin (News - Alert), Continental, HP, Jolla Ltd., Intex, the NSA, BAE systems and Sagar Defence. With teams based in the UK, Romania, India, Germany and USA we have a global footprint. Our focus is on injecting context awareness into connected devices so that they are able to adapt to the user and environment to service them in the most appropriate manner. We are specialized in creating proprietary machine learning algorithms and an offline speech engine which we license to our customers in the automotive, app based mobility and mobile devices space. Company: WaveIP Ltd. Booth: N1.E40 Web: www.waveip.com WaveIP is the technology leader of Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint Broadband Wireless solutions in the licensed and unlicensed sub-11 spectrum. WaveIP's WipAir series guarantees stable and rugged wireless networks via its unrivaled interference rejection technologies. With 1000 Mbps net capacity and ultra-low latency, WipAir is optimal for mission critical applications, public safety, oil & gas and carrier-class IP networks. Company: Wray Castle Training Booth: W4.G39b Web: www.wraycastle.com Delivering training and deep technical expertise in telecoms and emerging technologies across a range of industries, we are a key global training partner for telecoms operators, government agencies, transport, defence, energy, and emergency services. Established in the UK in 1958 as a radio communications college, we have now been delivering high quality training programmes for telecoms and related industries for 3 decades and act as a key training partner for many industry giants, including Vodafone (News - Alert), EE and Hutchison Whampoa. Our wide-ranging programmes rapidly develop and engage diverse audiences - from C-Level executives, through research and development teams, to highly technical engineers.

*** About Business Wire Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure. Investor relations, public relations, public policy and marketing professionals rely on Business Wire to accurately distribute market-moving news and multimedia, host online newsrooms and IR websites, build content marketing platforms, generate social engagements and provide audience analysis that improves interaction with specified target markets. Founded in 1961, Business Wire is a trusted source for news organizations, journalists, investment professionals and regulatory authorities, delivering news directly into editorial systems and leading online news sources via its multi-patented simultaneous NX Network. Business Wire has 32 offices worldwide to securely meet the varying needs of communications professionals and news consumers. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005728/en/

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Ukrainian troops continue to advance in the direction of Kherson city, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said on November 11, as Russian forces are leaving the southern region following Moscow's order to retreat from the west bank of the Dnieper River.

A Russian rocket attack on the southern city of Mykolayiv killed at least two civilians overnight, local officials said early on November 11.

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.

Russia said it began withdrawing troops from the strategic city on November 10. The General Staff said the withdrawal was taking place slowly to allow the Russian forces to reinforce positions on the other bank of the Dnieper River.

Kherson controls both the only land route to Ukraine's Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula and the mouth of the Dnieper, which bisects Ukraine.

The General Staff said retreating Russian forces have been looting homes and destroying critical infrastructure, while forcibly evicting residents from the settlements still under their control.

"The Russian invaders continue to loot the settlements from which they are retreating. The enemy is also attempting to damage power lines and other elements of the transport and critical infrastructure of the Kherson region as much as possible," the military said, adding that Russian mines continue to wound civilians.

"In the village of Zelenivka, the enemy forbade residents to move around and is reinforcing the system of defensive lines. In Tyahinka and Kozatskiy, the occupiers mined roads and infrastructure elements, there are instances of detonations [harming] the civilian population," the military reported.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that Ukrainian forces have liberated dozens of settlements in the south of the country, but noted the brutal struggle and the lives given for freedom for Ukrainians.

Fierce fighting continues in Bakhmut and Soledar in the eastern Donetsk region as well as in the adjacent Luhansk region, the military said, adding that heavy Russian shelling pounded about 20 settlements in the Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Mykolaiyv regions.

In his nightly address late on November 10, Zelenskiy said: "Today we have good news from the south. The number of Ukrainian flags returning to their rightful place within the framework of the ongoing defense operation is already dozens. He added that 41 settlements have been liberated.

But he said that, even as Ukrainians rejoice, they must remember that "every step by our defense forces represents...lives given for the freedom of Ukrainians. Everything that is happening now has been achieved by months of brutal struggle. It was achieved through courage, pain, and losses.

Zelenskiy did not specify the number of Ukrainian troops killed in the effort to reclaim the settlements, where he said stabilization measures have begun.

He said Russian troops left behind thousands of landmines and ammunition as they retreated from Kherson.

Presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said the landmines turned Kherson into a city of death and predicted they would shell it from occupied areas across the Dnieper River.

Vitaliy Kim, the regional military administration chief in the Mykolayiv region, said Ukrainian soldiers had already entered the outer suburbs of Kherson. He declined to give further details to avoid revealing the military's plans.

Kim said that Russian forces launched rockets on Mykolayiv city, hitting an apartment block and killing two people and wounding two.

He added that Russian troops "responded to our armed forces with a rocket attack on a five-story residential building. Two dead, two wounded."

The mayor of Mykolayiv, Oleksandr Sienkovych, said that the impact caused the destruction of the building from the fifth to the first floor.

Rescue workers were continuing with a search and rescue operation, Sienkovych said.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said it will take Russia at least a week to withdraw from the city of Kherson. He told Reuters in an interview that Russia had 40,000 troops in the Kherson region and that it still had forces in the city, around the city, and on the west bank of the Dnieper River.

"It's not that easy to withdraw these troops from Kherson in one day or two days. As a minimum, [it will take] one week," he said.

Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy said earlier that Kyiv could not yet confirm whether Russia was indeed pulling out from the southern Kherson region but said that Ukrainian forces were continuing their advance.

"We continue to conduct the offensive operation in line with our plan," he wrote in a post on Telegram.

Ukrainian officials said Moscows forces had no choice but to flee Kherson, yet they remained cautious, fearing an ambush.

Recapturing the city could provide Ukraine with a launching pad for supplies and troops to try to win back other lost territory in the south, including Crimea, which Moscow seized in 2014.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, and dpa
The European Union has joined in criticism of planned changes in Moldova's electoral system, saying a national consensus does not exist to make such far-reaching changes.

"The proposed changes raise serious concerns in the current political context," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said in a June 19 statement, noting that Moldovan political parties are "polarized around this legislative initiative," preventing a "broad consensus" in favor of the changes.

The spokesman warned that "democracy and the rule of law are at the core" of Moldova's Association Agreement with the EU, so if the Moldovan parliament adopts the proposals, the agreement will be reassessed.

Moldova currently elects its parliament under a proportional representation system. The Democratic Party, of which Prime Minister Pavel Filip is a member, wants a mixed system, with some lawmakers elected, as now, on party lists, and others running in first-past-the-post constituency races.

Supporters of the change say having legislators represent particular constituencies would improve the connection between parliament and voters. Opponents say it is an attempt to skew the electoral system in favor of the ruling Democratic Party.

The changes were criticized last week by the Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions, which singled out potential problems with inadequate representation of women and minorities and the risk of influence on political candidates.

The European organizations have also expressed concern that the plans do not contemplate regulation and oversight of political parties and campaign finance.

The shortfalls led the Venice Commission to conclude that "such fundamental change...is not advisable at this time."

Despite these warnings, Moldovan speaker Andrian Candu said the government will go ahead with revising the system.

With reporting by Reuters and AP
The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that Russias law banning the dissemination of gay "propaganda" to minors violates the right to freedom of expression, is discriminatory against gay people, and encourages homophobia.

The Strasbourg-based court said on June 20 that fines imposed on three gay-rights activists violated two articles on freedom of expression and prohibition of discrimination of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The activists -- -- Nikolai Bayev, Aleksei Aleksandrovich Kiselev, and Nikolai Alekseyev -- had been found guilty of holding separate protests against the law between 2009 and 2012 in front of a secondary school in the city of Ryazan, a children's library in Archangel, and an administrative building in St. Petersburg.

Russia said it would appeal the ruling.

Following legislation in several Russian regions, a federal law prohibiting the dissemination of "propaganda of nontraditional sexual relationships" among minors entered into force in June 2013.

Under the law, a private person found guilty of conducting such activities faces fines of up to 5,000 rubles ($85), while officials could pay 10 times more.

The law has been condemned as a ban on any public discussions of homosexuality, while authorities say it is in the interests of minors.

"The very purpose of the laws and the way they were formulated and applied in the applicants' case had been discriminatory and, overall, served no legitimate public interest," the court said in a statement.

The Strasbourg judges rejected the Russian officials claim that the law is needed to protect morality, saying the government "failed to demonstrate how freedom of expression on LGBT issues would devalue or otherwise adversely affect actual and existing 'traditional families' or would compromise their future."

The judges also said that by adopting the law, the Russian authorities "reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia," which they said is "incompatible with the notions of equality, pluralism, and tolerance inherent in a democratic society."

They ordered Russia to pay each of the activists damages of between 8,000 euros ($8,900) and 20,000 euros ($22,300).

In a statement, the Russian Justice Ministry expressed its "disagreement" with the conclusions of the ECHR, adding that it will prepare an appeal within three months.

Alekseyev, one of the three activists, described the court ruling as a "historic victory."

"The way this law has been applied shows that it is not aimed at protecting minors, but at removing LGBT people, an enormous social group, from the public space, and at stripping them of their right to speak out or fight for their rights," said Alekseyev, founder of the Moscow-based gay-rights group GayRussia.ru.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but antigay prejudice is widespread.

Denis Krivosheyev, deputy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, also welcomed the ruling and urged Russia to "repeal its homophobic legislation, end discriminatory practices, and fully respect every person's right to freedom of expression."

Krivosheyev said in a statement that the Russian authorities should also "effectively investigate all instances of homophobic violence," including the reports of a "terrifying campaign of mass abduction and torture of men perceived to be gay in Chechnya."

After an initial report in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta on April 1 that said gay men in Chechnya were being rounded up, tortured, and killed, several outlets including RFE/RL have spoken to Chechens who have fled the alleged abuse.

In a report on May 26, Human Rights Watch said it had confirmed that police in Russia's southern region tortured and humiliated dozens of gay or bisexual men during the spring of 2017 in "an apparent effort to purge them from Chechen society."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, and the BBC
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top-ranking U.S. military officer, said on June 19 that the United States is working to reestablish communications with Russia's military that Moscow said it had severed after an American jet shot down a Syrian warplane.

The so-called "deconfliction" hotline in Syria has been a vital tool in protecting both sides' forces as the risk of accidental clashes has increased with both sides conducting separate campaigns in the same increasingly crowded territory.

"We will work diplomatically and militarily in the coming hours to reestablish deconfliction" and try to lower tensions, said General Joseph Dunford.

"The worst thing any of us could do right now is address this with hyperbole," he said.

Dunford said he is focused on ensuring the United States can achieve its main purpose in Syria -- the defeat of the Islamic State extremist group.

"The Russian Federation has indicated that their purpose in Syria, like ours, is to defeat ISIS, and we'll see if that's true here in the coming hours," he said.

Russia's Defense Ministry earlier said it was suspending the hotline, which it said the Pentagon failed to use before it downed a Syrian Su-22 bomber on June 18.

Despite Russia's contention, Dunford said the hotline had been used "over the last few hours."

Russia also warned on June 19 that its air-defense systems would begin tracking all U.S.-led coalition aircraft in central Syria, prompting the Pentagon to move some of its planes.

"We have taken prudent measures to reposition aircraft over Syria so as to continue targeting [Islamic State] forces while ensuring the safety of our aircrew given known threats in the battle space," Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the United States is "going to do what we can to protect our interests," adding that Washington would keep an open line of communication with the Russians.

"The escalation of hostilities among the many factions that are operating in this region doesnt help anybody," he said.

Moscow has previously threatened to scrap the deconfliction line, after an April 7 U.S. cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack against civilians.

But that suspension proved to be brief. The line has been a life-saving though imperfect tool since it was set up soon after Russia entered Syria's civil war in late 2015 to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

The hotline connects U.S. military officers at an operations center in Qatar and their Russian counterparts operating in Syria.

Following the warning from Russia, Australia announced it was suspending air strikes into Syria as a precautionary measure.

"A decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," Australia's Department of Defense (ADF) said, adding its operations in neighboring Iraq would continue as part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the IS group.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters


Belarusian Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich has complained that a Russian news agency published an abortive interview despite her request to suppress it after she cut the discussion short.*

In the interview, published by regnum.ru on June 19, the journalist confronted Alexievich over her criticism of Russia's invasion and annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and Moscow's alleged backing of separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Alexievich told RFE/RL on June 20 that she had agreed to an interview with the Delovoi Peterburg (Business St. Petersburg) daily but asked that it not be published after she realized the interviewer behaved not like a journalist but like a propagandist."

"As soon as the reporter asked me the first three or four questions, I told him that I refuse to answer them and prohibit publication of the interview.

Reports said the journalist who conducted the interview took it to regnum.ru after Delovoi Peterburg declined to publish it.

After his question: "Why do you support Ukrainian bandits?" everything became clear, she said.

Alexievich made a literary name for herself weaving interviews into chronicles of some of the 20th century's great tragedies, including Nazi occupation, the Soviet nuclear disaster at Chernobyl, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, culminating in the 2015 Nobel Prize in literature.

Her work and outspoken criticism of authoritarianism have proved an irritant to governments in a number of countries, including Belarus and Russia.

*CLARIFICATION: This story has been amended from its original version to clarify that Alexievich agreed to the interview before quitting it and demanding that it not be published.
A Russian prosecutor has demanded a prison term of eight years for real estate tycoon Sergei Polonsky in a high-profile embezzlement case.

The prosecutor also asked the judge at a Moscow court on June 20 to fine Polonsky 900,000 rubles ($15,500).

Polonsky was charged in June 2013 with embezzling more than 5.7 billion rubles ($98 million) from dozens of property investors.

And in May 2015, he was extradited from Cambodia, where he was living in self-imposed exile.

Polonsky has rejected the charges, saying the case against him was aimed at taking control of his holdings.

Polonsky made headlines in 2012 after another Russian tycoon, Aleksandr Lebedev, punched him on a live television show.

Also in 2012, Polonsky and two associates were arrested in Cambodia and charged with beating sailors. The tycoon spent three months in detention there and later fled to Israel, where he unsuccessfully applied for Israeli citizenship, before returning back to Cambodia.

Based on reporting by rapsinews.ru and Interfax
Russian state nuclear energy conglomerate Rosatom agreed to sell a 49 percent stake in a giant nuclear project in southern Turkey to Turkish investors on June 19.

The stake in the Akkuyu project was sold for an undisclosed sum to three Turkish electricity distributors: Cengiz, Kolin, and Kalyon. The investment agreement will be signed by the end of the year, Rosatom said.

Rosatom began construction in April 2015 of the four-unit plant with an estimated cost of $20 billion. Its launch is scheduled for 2023, according to Rosatom's deputy chief Kirill Komarov.

Rosatom would keep 51 percent of the nuclear plant in the deal, but the company said the Turkish share of the project represents Rosatom's largest foreign investment to date.

Komarov said the parties aim to "close this deal before the end of the year" after signing a term sheet on June 19 and gaining approval from shareholders and the Turkish government, Interfax reported.

Akkuyu is Turkey's first nuclear power station on the Mediterranean, part of the hydrocarbon-poor state's drive to attain greater energy self-sufficiency.

Based on reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax


Authorities in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea have allowed a leader of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis to see his dying mother.

Akhtem Chiygoz's lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, wrote on Twitter on June 20 that his client was brought to the city of Bakhchisaray to see his mother.

On June 15, the Russian-installed High Court of Crimea rejected Chiygoz's request to see his mother, who is reportedly dying of cancer. The decision sparked an outcry from Crimean Tatar activists and human rights defenders.

Chiygoz, who has been held by the Russian authorities since January 2015, is charged with organizing an illegal demonstration in the Crimean capital of Simferopol in February 2014.

Lawyers say the accusations are absurd because the demonstration came before Moscow's illegal annexation of the Ukrainian region in March 2014 and that no Ukrainian laws were violated.

Chiygoz, 52, and two other Crimean Tatars charged in connection with the demonstration -- Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhy -- are recognized as political prisoners by Russia's Memorial human rights group.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and other international organizations have called for their release.
[June 20, 2017] Silent Circle Announces Vital Leadership Team Additions to Invigorate Enterprise Growth

Silent Circle, a pioneer in enterprise-class mobile security, privacy and compliance solutions, today announced the addition of three security leaders to their executive team. Hamilton Turner, Ph.D., will join Silent Circle as Chief Technology Officer; Patrick Geritz, as Vice President of Sales Americas; and Gerald Murphy, as Vice President of Sales International. Following two quarters of the company's strongest growth yet, these additions will contribute to the mission of transitioning Silent Circle from a consumer product to an enterprise solution that secures unified communications for employees, customers and partners. "The communications channel within an enterprise is often one of the weakest links when it comes to a targeted cyberattack and, while the industry has changed the way it approaches this problem, there is still more work to be done," said Gregg Smith, CEO of Silent Circle. "I am very pleased to welcome this esteemed group of industry experts to the Silent Circle team and to continue our work securing the enterprise with trusted communication solutions." As CTO, Hamilton Turner will play a critical role in the continued development of the company's innovative security products and solutions, assuring a frictionless communication experience for employees and executives. Turner is one of the leading authorities on android security and is the initial creator of GhostBox, a technology for securing Android (News - Alert) mobile devices in highly sensitive environments. Turner's doctoral work at Virginia Tech regarding secure mobile cloud systems, and experience as the former Senior Director of Research and Engineering and CTO of ptioLabs, will assist him in further enhancing Silent Circle's technology.



Newly appointed VP of Sales Americas for Silent Circle, Patrick Geritz, has over 20 years of successful software, hardware and professional services sales experience concentrating on building, developing and growing sales teams for long term growth and repeatable performance metrics. Geritz most recently served as VP of North American Sales for OptioLabs, and was previously the VP of Federal and North American sales at Appistry. In his new role, Gertiz will be responsible for overseeing product delivery to increase sales presence and customer base in the Americas. Gerald Murphy will lead global business as the VP of Sales International at Silent Circle. Previously, he held the VP International Sales position at OptioLabs, where he addressed the global market of secure communication of mobile devices. Additionally, Murphy has experience as a Lead Subject Matter Expert at Fujitsu (News - Alert) U.K. where he focused on U.K. Ministry of Defence (MOD) programs, as well as International Engineering, Program Management and Lead International Sales roles at Harris RF Communications Division.

Designed by some of the best minds in mobile technology, encryption, security and privacy, Silent Circle offers a comprehensive solution for secure business communications that empowers organizations to keep conversations between employees, customers, and partners private. To date, customer demand for Silent Circle's end-to-end encrypted, enterprise-class suite has never been stronger. About Silent Circle Silent Circle's enterprise-scale secure mobile communications solutions are deployed in hundreds of the most demanding networking environments worldwide, including the Fortune 100 and government agencies in 100+ countries. Delivered through a game-changing mobile ecosystem of software and services, the company's award-winning product family comprises: Silent Phone (News - Alert), a secure calling and messaging application; Blackphone, a hardened, secure handset; Silent World, a secure way to communicate globally outside of the Silent Phone network; and Silent Manager, a web-based administrative console for managing users. Company founders include former Navy SEAL and security expert Mike Janke; Internet Hall of Famer Phil Zimmermann (News - Alert), developer of Silent Circle's ZRTP cryptography protocol and co-founder of PGP Corporation; and Jon Callas, creator of Apple's whole disk encryption software and also a PGP (News - Alert) Corporation co-founder. Silent Circle is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia. www.silentcircle.com. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005896/en/

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DUSHANBE -- Tajikistans government says five Tajik citizens currently on death row in China could avoid execution due to a new agreement expected to go into effect on July 19.

The Foreign Ministry said on June 20 that Tajik and Chinese officials on June 19 exchanged documents in Beijing confirming that an agreement on handing Chinese and Tajik convicts to their respective countries had been ratified by the two neighboring states.

The agreement, which was signed by both sides in 2014, is to come into force 30 days after the ratification documents' exchange, meaning July 19.

At least 15 Tajik nationals are currently in detention in China. Five of them have been sentenced to death.

In January 2016, China executed a 51-year-old Tajik man, Hasan Yusufov, who had been convicted of drug trafficking.
U.S. President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in what White House officials called a "drop-in" visit to the Oval Office. The two posed together after Poroshenko's meeting with Vice President Mike Pence and Trump's national security team. Poroshenko said he was "confident that our effective coordination can bring peace" to his nation, which has been fighting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014. (AP)
Ukrainian lawmakers have stepped up pressure on Lviv's mayor to resolve the western city's garbage problem.

The parliamentary faction of the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko asked Andriy Sadovyy on June 20 to immediately address the issue or step down.

Problems linked to the city's overloaded dump site have been developing for more than a year.

Four people died there in May 2016 after being trapped under a huge wave of falling garbage triggered by a fire that lasted for several days.

The tragedy was followed by protests against Sadovyy in Lviv.

Also on June 20, the acting director of the Lviv regional department for internal and information policies, Olha Berezyuk, started a hunger strike demanding that Sadovyy immediately start removing garbage from the dump site.

Based on reporting by UNIAN and Ukrinform
Yet another report of highway horror from Uttar Pradesh, following last months incident when one man was shot dead and four women were gang raped at gun point on the highway near Jewar in Uttar Pradesh. This time it was a newly married couple Aditya Kumar and Vijaya Lakshmi, residents of Ramapuram in Chennai who were attacked by bike borne men on NH 58 in Muzaffarnagar.

This couple from Chennai was touring North India and had hired a Royal Enfield motorcycle. They visited Haridwar from Delhi, were returning from Haridwar and were on their way to New Delhi to catch a flight back to Chennai, when they were accosted by the goons on bikes.

The incident occurred at around 4 pm in an area under Nai Mandi police station in Muzaffarnagar. The attackers shot Aditya Kumar in the neck while his wife, Vijaya Lakshmi sustained serious injuries. The goons then fled the spot.

The injured couple was being accompanied by a friend Shyam Teja, who informed the police while a passer-by took the injured duo to a nearby hospital. Later they were admitted into a hospital in Delhi. Earlier today it was revealed that the husband died in the hospital.

Vijaylakshmis statement to the police

Both men had full-face helmets so we could not see what they looked like. We have no idea why they targeted us. They did not try to harm me or take our cash and belongings. There was also no cause for road rage. Perhaps it was a case of mistaken identity. As I fell from the motorcycle, I saw that my husband had been shot. Everything happened in less than 20 seconds. I could not note down the registration number of the attackers motorbike. Shyam was there to help us and passersby soon came to our assistance.

Police investigating the case state that it could either be a case of mistaken identity or road rage while other angles are also being probed. CCTV footage from hotels and markets in the vicinity are being scanned for clues of the killers.

This indeed is a shocking incident. There are hundreds of bikers across India who love the freedom of biking across the country. This incident puts a huge question mark on the safety of bikers on a road trip in Uttar Pradesh.
Territorial boundary patrolling by chimpanzees is a striking example of group-level cooperation displayed by our closest primate relatives.

Chimpanzees patrol in groups for the same reason wolves hunt in packs, because what they can achieve working together far exceeds the returns of more individualized efforts.

Patrols are conspicuous events that occur when multiple individuals, typically male, travel to the peripheries of their territory and sometimes deep into those of their neighbors. During these incursions, patrollers become hypervigilant and behave in other ways that suggest they are actively searching for neighbors. If the patrolling males find members of a rival group, they will attack and sometimes even kill them.

Unlike other animals, who will fight when groups happen to meet at the edges of their territories, male chimpanzees seem to deliberately search for neighbors while on patrols, potentially putting themselves in harm's way for uncertain gains.

So why do male chimpanzees choose to patrol when such forays may lead to violent, even lethal, encounters with members of neighboring groups? Patrols may benefit everyone by increasing the size of the territory and the food supply, but individuals also have the option to shirk patrol duty since unhelpful members are not punished or ostracized.

To determine how male chimpanzees manage to achieve and maintain this remarkable form of cooperation, researchers -- led by Kevin Langergraber of Arizona State University's School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins -- examined twenty years of data on who participated in patrols in a 200-member-strong Ngogo community of chimpanzees within Kibale National Park, Uganda. The results of this study are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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By combining analyses of patrol participation with results of paternity testing on 122 group offspring, Langergraber and colleagues found that, over the long run, patrolling paid off because it increased group size, which is important in determining success in competition against other groups.

"The Ngogo chimpanzees patrol and kill neighbors more frequently than any other chimpanzee group," says John Mitani of the University of Michigan, who has studied these particular primates for 22 years.

By 2009, the group expanded the size of their territory by 22 percent over the previous decade after killing 13 individuals from a neighboring group. Because of their success in competition against other groups, the Ngogo chimpanzees benefit from an unusually good food supply and long life expectancies.

But patrolling is a potentially dangerous as well as energy-sapping activity, and time spent patrolling is time that cannot be spent eating or mating with females in the safety of the territory. The study showed that males varied in how often they patrolled, and it was no surprise that high-ranking individuals, who were likely to be in good physical condition, participated frequently.

In addition, males who had more offspring living in the group, and thus more to gain by territorial expansion, patrolled often. However, not all patrolling events could be explained by such short-term benefits, as many males patrolled when they had no offspring or other relatives living in the group to protect.

Why should males pay the costs of patrolling to benefit the relatives of other individuals? In this large group, reproduction was not monopolized by a few high-ranking males. Males who patrolled when they had no offspring were thus very likely to reproduce in the future.

So even if a male has nothing to gain by protecting relatives now, by patrolling and thereby protecting and increasing the size of the group, he can gain in the long run.

"We know that humans have means ranging from gossip to drastic punishment to aid cooperation in group settings," Langergraber says. "The puzzle has been to explain cooperation in animal societies, where shirking would seem an attractive option."

Most studies have focused on short term benefits of cooperation, he adds, "but our study shows the benefit of long-term data collection, and also that we still have a lot to learn from these chimpanzees."
Wildebeest carcasses, casualties of the world's largest overland animal migration, pile up annually on the banks of the Mara River in Africa and play a crucial role in vibrant ecosystem of the Serengeti plains, a new Yale-led study has found.

Of the 1.2 million wildebeest making the annual migration which peaks from late July through September, an average of 6250 animals drown or are trampled crossing the Mara, which empties into Lake Victoria and is the key water source for wildlife of the greater Serengeti Mara Ecosystem of Kenya and Tanzania.

"It is the equivalent biomass of 10 blue whales dropped into the river," said David Post, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the paper, which appears the week of June 19 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The Yale team, led by Post and lead author Amanda Subalusky, showed this carnage feeds more than just crocodiles and vultures, which fly more than 100 kilometers to feast. The soft tissue decomposes over several weeks and provides as much as 50% of the food that supports fish populations in the river. The carcasses produce maggots that feed small animals such as mongooses. Bones decompose over years and provide a key source of phosphorus in the river, which in turn supports algae, insects, and fish after carcasses have decomposed. The nutrients are transported downstream in the river or transported inland by scavengers, helping support life throughout the entire river basin.

"The frequency and scale of these events suggest that mass drownings may have played an important role in other rivers historically, when large migrations and unimpacted rivers were more common features of the landscape," said Subalusky, postdoctoral associate at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Huge pulses of volcanic activity are likely to have played a key role in triggering the end Triassic mass extinction, which set the scene for the rise and age of the dinosaurs, new Oxford University research has found.

The Triassic extinction took place approximately 200 million years ago, and was proceeded by the dinosaur era. One of the largest mass extinctions of animal life on record, the casualty list includes large crocodile-like reptiles and several marine invertebrates. The event also caused huge changes in land vegetation, and while it remains a mystery why the dinosaurs survived this event, they went on to fill the vacancies left by the now extinct wildlife species, alongside early mammals and amphibians. This mass extinction has long been linked to a large and abrupt release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, but the exact source of this emission has been unknown.

Following the discovery of volcanic rocks of the same age as the extinction, volcanic carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions had previously been suggested as an important contributor to this extinction event. Previous studies have also shown that this volcanism might have occurred in pulses, but the global extent and potential impact of these volcanic episodes has remained unknown. These volcanic rocks covered a huge area, across four continents, representing the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).

Researchers from the Oxford University Department of Earth Science worked in collaboration with the Universities of Exeter and Southampton to trace the global impact of major volcanic gas emissions and their link to the end of the Triassic period. The findings link volcanism to the previously observed repeated large emissions of carbon dioxide that had a profound impact on the global climate, causing the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic Period, as well as slowing the recovery of animal life afterwards.

By investigating the mercury content of sedimentary rocks deposited during the extinction, the study findings revealed clear links in the timing of CAMP volcanism and the end-Triassic extinction. Volcanoes give off mercury gas emissions, which spread globally through the atmosphere, before being deposited in sediments. Any sediments left during a large volcanic event would therefore be expected to have unusually high mercury content.

The team sourced six sediment deposits were sourced from the UK, Austria, Argentina, Greenland, Canada and Morocco, and their mercury levels analysed. Five of the six records showed a large increase in mercury content beginning at the end-Triassic extinction horizon, with other peaks observed between the extinction horizon and the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, which occurred approximately 200 thousand years later.

Elevated mercury emissions also coincided with previously established increases in atmospheric CO 2 concentrations, indicating CO 2 release from volcanic degassing.

Lawrence Percival, Lead author and Geochemistry Graduate student at Oxford University, said: 'These results strongly support repeated episodes of volcanic activity at the end of the Triassic, with the onset of volcanism during the end-Triassic extinction.
Infections during infancy are associated with increased risk for gluten intolerance (celiac disease) later on. Apparently the risk is particularly high in the case of repeated gastrointestinal infections in the first year of life. This conclusion was drawn by scientists of the Institute for Diabetes Research at Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen, a partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), after analyzing data provided by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians. Results from this study have now been published in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

In previous publications, a team of scientists led by Professor Anette-Gabriele Ziegler had already demonstrated an association between infections in early childhood and the development of type 1 diabetes. The highest risk for type 1 diabetes was observed in children with repeated respiratory infections in the first six months of life.

The current study showed that the risk of developing celiac disease is particularly high when gastrointestinal tract infections occur during the first year of life. To a lesser extent, an increased risk of disease was also demonstrated in connection with early respiratory tract infections. "Our data do not allow a conclusion whether the observed associations are causal or are based on changes in the microbiome or specific immune responses," said first author Dr. Andreas Beyerlein, commenting on the results. "However, it seems that the increased risk of celiac disease is associated with a permanent inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract in early childhood and is not caused by a specific viral or bacterial pathogen."

The scientists analyzed fully anonymized data provided by the Bavarian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (Kassenarztliche Vereinigung Bayern) of 295,420 children who were born between 2005 and 2007. Medically attended infections from birth until a median age of 8.5 years were considered in the analysis. A total of 853 children developed gluten intolerance, equivalent to 0.3 percent.
New King's College London research suggests that sons of older fathers are more intelligent, more focused on their interests and less concerned about fitting in, all characteristics typically seen in 'geeks'.

While previous research has shown that children of older fathers are at a higher risk of some adverse outcomes, including autism and schizophrenia, this new study published in Translational Psychiatry suggests that children of older fathers may also have certain advantages over their peers in educational and career settings.

The researchers from King's College London and The Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in the United States collected behavioural and cognitive data from 15,000 UK-based twin pairs in the Twins Early Development Study (TEDS).

When the twins were 12 years old, they completed online tests that measured 'geek-like' traits, including non-verbal IQ, strong focus on the subject of interest and levels of social aloofness. Parents were also asked whether their child cares about how they are perceived by their peers and if they have any interests that take up substantial majority of their time. Using this information, the researchers computed a 'geek index' for every child in the study. Overall, higher geek index scores were reported in the sons of older fathers. This effect persisted after controlling for parent's social/economic status, qualifications and employment. In addition, they found that 'geekier' children do better in school exams, particularly in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects, several years after their geek index was measured.

Dr Magdalena Janecka from King's College London and The Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai, said: 'Our study suggests that there may be some benefits associated with having an older father. We have known for a while about the negative consequences of advanced paternal age, but now we have shown that these children may also go on to have better educational and career prospects.'

Although the study did not directly investigate the role of environmental factors, there are a number of potential reasons why older fathers may have 'geekier' sons. For example, older fathers are likely to have more established careers and a higher socioeconomic status than younger fathers, meaning that their children may be brought up in more enriched environments and have access to better schooling.

These results also have implications for understanding links between higher paternal age, autism and characteristics typically seen in 'geeks'. Although the researchers could not measure it directly, they hypothesize that some of the genes for geekiness and for autism are overlapping, and that those genes are more likely to be present in older fathers. Dr Janecka added: 'When the child is born only with some of those genes, they may be more likely to succeed in school. However, with a higher 'dose' of these genes, and when there are other contributing risk factors, they may end up with a higher predisposition for autism. This is supported by recent research showing that genes for autism are also linked with higher IQ.'
[June 20, 2017] Merchants Missing Out On Online Sales As Digital Security Concerns Influence Consumer Purchasing Behavior

Merchants may be losing out on potential ecommerce sales due to shoppers' concerns over the security of their information in the digital world, according to a survey released today by American Express (News - Alert) (NYSE:AXP). The 2017 American Express Digital Payments Survey shows that consumers are increasingly relying on online and mobile technology to make purchases, opening new opportunities for merchants to reach more customers and grow revenue. Among U.S. merchants that have both ecommerce and physical retail operations, 81% view online and mobile sales as the channel with the biggest growth opportunity for their business, according to the survey. To effectively capture that potential growth, the results show that merchants should prioritize the security of their interactions with customers online as much as the checkout experience, as many consumers say they have abandoned making an online purchase over security concerns. The survey findings are based on responses from 1,020 U.S. consumers1 and 401 U.S. merchants2 and reflect online shopping habits on desktop computers and mobile devices. The results show that merchants and consumers are increasingly conducting commerce through digital channels. Nine-in-ten (90%) U.S. consumers say they have made at least one online purchase in the past 12 months, and more than seven-in-ten (73%) have made three or more online purchases in the same time frame. Nearly half of online shoppers (47%) say they have increased the frequency of their online purchases in the last year. At the same time, 71% of merchants say the proportion of their annual sales generated through online and mobile channels has increased over the previous year. As consumers shift more of their spending to digital channels, they're also showing a strong propensity for using digital payment options. More than 70% of online shoppers say they have used digital-payment services, including mobile wallets, one-click checkout buttons and P2P payment apps. And four-in-ten (41%) say they always or sometimes use such digital solutions when they pay. Internet-connected, voice-activated devices, are also poised to further shape consumer purchasing behavior: 18% of consumers surveyed say they are very likely or somewhat likely to use voice-activated services to make a purchase in the future. With industry estimates predicting a surge in Internet-connected devices in the coming years, the number of consumers who may ultimately use such gadgets to make a purchase is likely to grow in the future. Security Concerns Put Purchases on Pause While consumers are doing more of their shopping online, they also place a high priority on payment security. Of consumers who have made three or more online purchases in the last year, nearly four-in-ten (37%) say they have abandoned an online purchase because they did not feel their payment would be secure. At the same time, 73% of merchants say their level of fraudulent online sales has increased or remained the same over the past year. This suggests that while consumers are increasingly shopping online, merchants have an opportunity to capture a larger share of their customers' online spending by taking steps to reduce fraud and enhance security in their digital channels. "Digital innovation is enabling consumers to buy from merchants when and where it's most convenient for them," says Mike Matan, Vice President, Industry Engagement, Product and Marketing, Global Network Business, American Express. "But the results of our survey show that for merchants to capitalize on consumers' continued shift to online and mobile commerce, they need to provide their customers with the confidence that their information is secure." Security Investments and Incentives Can Boost Sales Growth The survey found that investments in online security yield tangible benefits. Among the 71% of merchants that have experienced an increase in online and mobile sales over the last year, more than half (58%) say that enhanced security features have had a very significant impact on their sales. Other factors that have had a very significant impact on their sales include an improved checkout process (54%), the availability of free delivery (55%), marketing offers and discounts exclusively for online customers (53%), and a general consumer shift toward online shopping (54%). The good news is many merchants are prioritizing security investments. In the past year, merchants spent 31% of their IT budgets on payment security, according to the survey. In addition, more than half of merchants (54%) report that their budget for payment security will increase over the next year. But there are key steps that more merchants can take to boost securit in digital channels:



A little more than half (53%) of merchants take the simple step of requiring customers to enter the CVV code found on credit cards for online purchases.

An even smaller percentage of merchants say they offer technology to confirm customers are not robots (42%) or utilize data encryption for their online channels (40%).

Just four-in-ten (39%) merchants decline transactions when a verified billing address has not been provided.

Only 38% of merchants require customers to set up an account before making a purchase online. In addition to having peace of mind about the security of their payment information, consumers are also drawn to digital channels for other reasons. Nearly eight-in-ten (79%) consumers who say they would be more likely to purchase an item in-store rather than online say an offer for free delivery would cause them to reconsider and purchase the item online instead. Similarly, 75% of consumers say discounts available only for online purchases would prompt them to purchase online instead of in-store, while 50% say the ability to earn exclusive rewards for online purchases would prompt them to do the same. Consumers and Merchants Agree: Cash Is No Longer King

As online commerce grows and consumers continue adopting digital payments, more merchants and consumers are also turning away from cash. One-in-five (20%) consumers say they currently are not carrying any cash in their wallet, and nearly half (46%) say they rarely or never use cash for making purchases. This has not gone unnoticed by merchants: among those that currently offer cash/check payment options to their customers, two-thirds say they are very (36%) or somewhat (31%) likely to go completely cashless. Survey Methodology The 2017 American Express Digital Payments Survey was conducted among U.S. consumers and merchants that offer online/mobile payment options to their customers. The consumer portion of the study is based on an overall sample of 1,020 respondents weighted to U.S. census based upon gender, age, education, race and region. Unless otherwise noted, responses among consumers represent those who have made an online purchase three or more times in the past 12 months based on self-report. The sample size of n=775 has a margin of error of +/- 3.5 at the 95% confidence level. The anonymous survey was conducted online May 8-10, 2017. The merchant portion of the survey was conducted online among a sample of 401 business leaders in the U.S. who have responsibility for making decisions regarding customer payment options, IT/data security, or online sales strategy and planning. Respondent companies must offer credit/debit card or digital payment options to their customers through online/mobile channels. The sample for the study came from an online panel. The business sample has a margin of error of +/- 4.9 at the 95% confidence level. Fieldwork was conducted May 16-23, 2017. About American Express American Express is a global services company, providing customers with access to products, insights and experiences that enrich lives and build business success. Learn more at americanexpress.com and connect with us on facebook.com/americanexpress, instagram.com/americanexpress, linkedin.com/company/american-express, twitter.com/americanexpress, and youtube.com/americanexpress. Key links to products, services and corporate responsibility information: charge and credit cards, business credit cards, Plenti rewards program, travel services, gift cards, prepaid cards, merchant services, Accertify, corporate card, business travel, and corporate responsibility. ____________________________________ 1 Consumers refer to those who have shopped online three or more times in the past year.

2 Merchants refer to those businesses that accept payments on a traditional website, mobile website or mobile application. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005928/en/

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A late bedtime is associated with lower perceived control of obsessive thoughts, according to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York.

Binghamton University Professor of Psychology Meredith E. Coles and former graduate student Jessica Schubert (now at University of Michigan Medical School) monitored twenty individuals diagnosed with OCD and ten individuals endorsing subthreshold OCD symptoms during one week of sleep. Participants completed sleep diaries and daily ratings of perceived degree of control over obsessive thoughts and ritualized behaviors. The researchers found that previous night's bedtime significantly predicted participants' perceived ability to control their obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior on the subsequent day.

"We're really interested in how this kind of unusual timing of sleep might affect cognitive functioning," said Schubert. "One possibility is impulse control. It might be that something about shifting the timing of your sleep might reduce your ability to control your thoughts and your behaviors, so it might make it more likely that you're going to have a hard time dismissing intrusive thoughts characteristic of obsessions, and it might make it more difficult for you to refrain from compulsive behaviors that are designed to reduce the anxiety caused by obsessive thoughts."

On average participants in the study went to bed around 12:30 at night. Patients who met criteria for delayed sleep phase disorder, about 40% of the sample, went to bed around 3 a.m.

"I always knew you were supposed to get eight hours of sleep, but I was never told it matters when you do it," said Coles. "It's been striking to me that this difference seems to be very specific to the circadian component of when you sleep. That we find that there are specific negative consequences of sleeping at the wrong times, that's something to educate the public about."

The researchers are interested in exploring this phenomenon further. Coles plans on collecting pilot data using lightboxes to shift people's bedtimes. "It's one of our first efforts to actually shift their bedtimes and see if it reduces their OCD symptoms, and if this improves their ability to resist those intrusive thoughts and not develop compulsions in response to them."
Laparoscopy is a surgical technique in which a fiber-optic camera is inserted into a patient's abdominal cavity to provide a video feed that guides the surgeon through a minimally invasive procedure.

Laparoscopic surgeries can take hours, and the video generated by the camera -- the laparoscope -- is often recorded. Those recordings contain a wealth of information that could be useful for training both medical providers and computer systems that would aid with surgery, but because reviewing them is so time consuming, they mostly sit idle.

Researchers at MIT and Massachusetts General Hospital hope to change that, with a new system that can efficiently search through hundreds of hours of video for events and visual features that correspond to a few training examples.

In work they presented at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation this month, the researchers trained their system to recognize different stages of an operation, such as biopsy, tissue removal, stapling, and wound cleansing.

But the system could be applied to any analytical question that doctors deem worthwhile. It could, for instance, be trained to predict when particular medical instruments -- such as additional staple cartridges -- should be prepared for the surgeon's use, or it could sound an alert if a surgeon encounters rare, aberrant anatomy.

"Surgeons are thrilled by all the features that our work enables," says Daniela Rus, an Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and senior author on the paper. "They are thrilled to have the surgical tapes automatically segmented and indexed, because now those tapes can be used for training. If we want to learn about phase two of a surgery, we know exactly where to go to look for that segment. We don't have to watch every minute before that. The other thing that is extraordinarily exciting to the surgeons is that in the future, we should be able to monitor the progression of the operation in real-time."

Joining Rus on the paper are first author Mikhail Volkov, who was a postdoc in Rus' group when the work was done and is now a quantitative analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities in Tokyo; Guy Rosman, another postdoc in Rus' group; and Daniel Hashimoto and Ozanan Meireles of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

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Representative frames

The new paper builds on previous work from Rus' group on "coresets," or subsets of much larger data sets that preserve their salient statistical characteristics. In the past, Rus' group has used coresets to perform tasks such as deducing the topics of Wikipedia articles or recording the routes traversed by GPS-connected cars.

In this case, the coreset consists of a couple hundred or so short segments of video -- just a few frames each. Each segment is selected because it offers a good approximation of the dozens or even hundreds of frames surrounding it. The coreset thus winnows a video file down to only about one-tenth its initial size, while still preserving most of its vital information.

For this research, MGH surgeons identified seven distinct stages in a procedure for removing part of the stomach, and the researchers tagged the beginnings of each stage in eight laparoscopic videos. Those videos were used to train a machine-learning system, which was in turn applied to the coresets of four laparoscopic videos it hadn't previously seen. For each short video snippet in the coresets, the system was able to assign it to the correct stage of surgery with 93 percent accuracy.

"We wanted to see how this system works for relatively small training sets," Rosman explains. "If you're in a specific hospital, and you're interested in a specific surgery type, or even more important, a specific variant of a surgery -- all the surgeries where this or that happened -- you may not have a lot of examples."

Selection criteria

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The general procedure that the researchers used to extract the coresets is one they've previously described, but coreset selection always hinges on specific properties of the data it's being applied to. The data included in the coreset -- here, frames of video -- must approximate the data being left out, and the degree of approximation is measured differently for different types of data.

Machine learning can be thought of as a problem of approximation, however. In this case, the system had to learn to identify similarities between frames of video in separate laparoscopic feeds that denoted the same phases of a surgical procedure. The metric of similarity that it arrived at also served to assess the similarity of video frames that were included in the coreset, to those that were omitted.

Find the report online at: http://people.csail.mit.edu/rosman/papers/icra_17_medical.pdf
During the Great American Total Solar Eclipse on Aug. 21, millions of people will gaze at the sun to see the moon slowly pass in front of it, blocking out the light. But those who aren't careful risk doing some nasty damage to their eyes.

You've probably been told that it isn't safe to stare at the sun and that watching a solar eclipse without proper eye protection can make you go blind. That's because the light from the sun is so intense that it can literally burn your eyeballs  even during a solar eclipse, when part of the sun's disk is still visible.

Even the tiniest sliver of a crescent sun peeking out from behind the moon emits enough light to scorch your eyes, Ralph Chou, professor emeritus at the School of Optometry & Vision Science at the University of Waterloo in Canada, told Space.com. "I have seen instances where the patient has eventually shown up with crescents burned into the back of the eye, and you can almost tell exactly when they looked." [How to View a Solar Eclipse Without Damaging Your Eyes ]

This panel shows the various stages of the solar eclipse. The so-called "diamond ring" marks the beginning of totality (third from the left) and the end of totality (third from the right). Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre assembled this sequence from individual still frames they took of the March 29, 2006, total solar eclipse near El Salloum in Egypt. (Image credit: Imelda Joson and Edwin Aguirre)

How eyeballs get "sunburned"

Sunlight damages the eyes by triggering a series of chemical reactions in the retina, the light-sensitive part at the back of the eye. Retinas contain two types of photoreceptors: rods that help you see in the dark and cones that produce color vision.

When intense solar radiation hits the retinas, it can damage and even destroy those cells, in what doctors call a retinal photochemical injury, or solar retinopathy. Whether looking at the sun will cause this type of injury depends on both how long you look without protection and the sun's position in the sky. Overhead, the sun is brighter and more dangerous to look at than when it is close to the horizon during sunrise or sunset.

The left image shows a healthy eye. The middle is the eye of a young adult male who viewed a partial solar eclipse repeatedly without protection and suffered both thermal and photochemical solar retinopathy. Several crescent-shaped scars can be seen over and around the fovea (bright pinkish spot). He is legally blind in this eye. The far-right image shows an eye with several photochemical retinal lesions. The irregular pale "smudge" above and left of the fovea, plus the three smaller pale areas at the arrowheads, are the remnants of the photochemical injuries to that eye. The vision did recover eventually. (Image credit: Shutterstock/B.R. Chou/University of Waterloo/Used with permission)

"You can think of it in the same way as this: Let's suppose you decide to really pig out for dinner, and afterwards you're not feeling very well," Chou said. "Well, [it's the] same thing with all the light hitting the light-sensitive receptors at the back of the eye. They get so much of this light energy coming in that they really can't handle [it]."

In severe cases, this type of photochemical damage may also come with thermal injuries, or literal burns, that destroy the rods and cones in the retina. This can happen to people who repeatedly look at the sun without any protection, those who stare at the sun for an extended time, or even those who glance through a telescope or binoculars without solar filters.

Instinct vs. willpower

Not many people look at the sun long enough to be blinded by the light, Chou said, but the risk is certainly exacerbated during a solar eclipse.

Under normal circumstances, it's more difficult to look at the sun long enough to incur damage because of something called an aversion reflex. "We learn early on in life we just shouldn't be looking at something that bright, because it is uncomfortable and we can't see anything," Chou said.

"The problem when it comes to looking at a partially eclipsed sun is that you are trying to see something that you know is going on that's different, and willpower is an amazing thing to override an aversion reflex."

To make matters worse, it's possible to look directly at the sun "with a certain degree of comfort" when the sun is partially covered by the moon, Chou said. Even when the sun is almost completely covered, though, the tiny crescent that remains is still bright enough to burn your retinas.

You should never look directly at the sun, but there are ways to safely observe an eclipse. See how to safely observe a solar eclipse with this Space.com infographic (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor)

Seeing with eclipse blindness

One thing that makes eclipse blindness particularly dangerous is that a person who looks at the sun long enough to incur damage probably won't notice any of the effects until the next morning, Chou said.

"Let's say you take a look at the sun in the afternoon. The cells get overloaded, and they're actually still able to function for a little while, but overnight while you're asleep  the cells start lose their function, and then they even start to die depending on exactly how badly they've been affected," he explained.

People who wake up to discover their vision has become impaired may look in the mirror to find their face is a featureless blur, Chou said, or they may try to read the newspaper only to find that there are no words on the page. While peripheral vision is usually spared, the center of vision is affected the worst. That's the part of the retina responsible for seeing in high resolution and in color.

"Most people, they don't see a black spot," Chou said. "For the most part they have damaged photoreceptors that just aren't capable of doing more than just registering maybe the presence of light but can't really build up enough information for them to be able to see clearly."

An unclear path to recovery

Most patients with eclipse blindness are legally blind when they go to see an eye doctor, Chou said. Unfortunately, the prognosis for these patients is nearly impossible to determine.

"You just sort of end up having to wait it out, and that's the really unfortunate part about it," Chou said. "The typical person who's been injured is going to wait six to 12 months before they know what their ultimate status is going to be."

Statistically, about half of those who are diagnosed with eclipse blindness will recover full vision in six months, he said. The other half either partially recover or are stuck with the problem for the rest of their lives.

And when it comes to treatment, there really aren't any options. "Over the years, certainly ophthalmologists have tried various ways, pharmacological and otherwise, to try and reduce the amount of damage and swelling that is thought to be the main cause for the loss of vision," Chou said. "For the most part, those types of treatments don't seem to be effective."

The only thing doctors can do to help these patients is to treat the case as any other case of visual impairment, Chou said, by teaching the individuals how to get around in the world and function without central vision.

The "diamond ring" effect is seen in this view of the March 8, 2016 total solar eclipse, which was captured by the Slooh Community Observatory. (Image credit: Slooh Community Observatory)

When it's safe to look

The only time it's safe to look at the sun without eclipse glasses or other solar filters is during totality, when the moon is completely blocking out the sun's rays and only the corona is visible. If you're planning on watching any kind solar eclipse, whether it's of the total, annular or partial variety, you absolutely must use proper eye protection if you want to spare your eyes. Otherwise, you'll risk long-term or even permanent blindness.

But definitely don't forget to take off your solar eclipse glasses during totality, when the sun is 100 percent covered by the moon. In fact, if you don't remove your solar filters during totality, you won't be able to see anything at all.

While official recommendations by NASA and the American Astronomical society say you shouldn't look directly at the sun when any part of it is showing, experienced eclipse watchers like Chou say it's safe to remove your eclipse glasses during the 2-3 seconds before and after totality to see the so-called diamond ring effect, or "Baily's beads." During this phase of the eclipse, the light of the crescent sun forms points of light on the edge of the disk for just a few seconds.

Other safety tips

Anyone who plans to observe the eclipse with a telescope, binoculars or cameras should practice using the equipment before the eclipse, Chou said. Don't wait until the eclipse starts to figure out how to insert and remove the filters from your lenses. For those using eclipse glasses or handheld viewers, make sure to put the filters in front of your eyes before looking up at the sun, not the other way around, Chou said. And children observing a solar eclipse should always be supervised to ensure they're practicing proper eye safety, he said.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
NEW YORK  The California company Made In Space, known for providing the first 3D printer on the International Space Station, has big goals for space-borne manufacturing  for both people in space and those back on Earth.

Made In Space's Matt Napoli took the floor at the Dawn of Private Space Science conference here at Columbia University earlier this month to discuss the company's progress toward several goals: 3D printing useful experiments and tools on the space station, preparing to print fiber-optic cable to sell on Earth and designing a 3D-printing spacecraft to assemble large structures in the void.

"We've been doing it for a couple years now, so it's getting to be a bit day-to-day and kind of normal for us  but really, we're teleporting these things to the space station in a matter of hours," Napoli said at the meeting June 4. "It's still really cool." ['Archinaut' Spacecraft Could Build Huge Structures in Space (Videos)]

Building for space

The company sent its first 3D printer to the space station in September 2014, and then sent a more advanced one in 2016, in partnership with the store Lowe's. The printer can use three kinds of plastics and notifies the crew to retrieve a part when it has finished printing.

"Anyone that wants something in space, they come to us, and we'll work to get it up there," Napoli said.

So far, the space station printer has been used to print medical tools designed by doctors, tools to use around the station and even a game designed by students in Oakland, California, responding to an astronaut who wanted more to do while in space.

Made In Space has also printed plastic shielding to test with radiation sensors inside the station's inflatable BEAM module and send information back to the module's manufacturer, Bigelow. The process will help Bigelow determine whether more shielding is necessary.

The space-based printer is also experimenting with different kinds of plastics to use in space; eventually, using plastic made from sugarcane, astronauts could grow their own materials to build what they need, Napoli said.

Building for Earth

Besides building tools for use in orbit, Made In Space will also be building something in space for use on Earth: a super-efficient fiber-optic cable.

"We're going to build fiber optic fiber in space and take advantage of the microgravity environment to build a better product, bring it back to Earth and sell the product on Earth," Napoli said. "That's a revolutionary new thing, and something that usually has been limited to data [taken in space and sent back down]  a picture of the Earth or sensing information. Now it's going to be a physical item."

ZBLAN optical fiber is costly to make on Earth, because it forms with more impurities under the influence of gravity. But if it's purer, Napoli said, it can be 100 times better than other fiber optic cable: Light can travel further without needing a repeater to amplify, and more bandwidth can go through the fiber at once.

Because that fiber is so expensive to make on the ground, the company will be able to make a profit by sending it back from space once the process is refined, Napoli added.

"The interesting story about this is, on the research side, this isn't funded by NASA. They stopped funding it in the '90s," Napoli said. "This is funded internally by Made In Space. We've been able to leverage a lot of the hardware we used for our 3D printer to lower down the cost of it and partner with an expert in this material, and really do this grassroots, just from us, to show that it works.

"And then, from there, we'll figure out how to scale it up and build a whole business and industry out of it," he added.

Going long

Another project, called Archinaut, would act as a mobile 3D printer to build structures in space that are as long as needed.

"One of the core technologies is a 3D printer without a bottom, so we can build these trusses that just go infinitely long," Napoli said. Made In Space is testing out the process in a vacuum chamber on Earth, and the method could someday allow the company to construct things for space that can't be folded up and launched in a spacecraft, like large infrastructure or even space telescopes, he said. Simpler structures, like trusses, could be printed in lower resolution to build much more quickly than finer-grained tools and technology.

Napoli described a future in which most in-space construction is built using that kind of iterative process. A space habitat could even make use of a technology, like chains of solar panels, as they were being built out over time, he said. And using similar principles, people could someday print landing pads, roads and buildings on other planets that they visit, he added.

NASA selected Archinaut for funding in November 2015, and since then, the project has assembled and tested versions of the 3D-printing spacecraft on the ground; the next step will be to add robotic arms to help with assembly. After that, if Archinaut makes it to NASA's Phase 2 funding, the time may come for a demonstration flight in Earth orbit, Napoli said.

"Why do we print in space?" he said. "There's a lot of stuff up there, and we can reduce the amount of stuff into just digital files and raw material instead of spares and backup spares and backup, backup spares.

"Maybe you forgot something, an experiment, when you set it up there, or you want to iterate," he added. "You want to send an experiment, and then two weeks later do it again but slightly different, and then two weeks later, do it again slightly different. You can build your products up there as needed."

It would represent a huge step forward as humanity learns and grows in space, he said.

Email Sarah Lewin at slewin@space.com or follow her @SarahExplains. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.
The U.S. Mint has revealed its three designs for the reverse or tails side of its 2019 curved coins commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The central design above (R-03) is preferred by NASA and the Commission of Fine Arts.

The United States Mint has taken its first "small steps" toward striking coins to commemorate a half-century since the first moon landing.

As called for by Congress in legislation approved late last year, the U.S. Mint will issue curved gold, silver and clad metal coins to recognize the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in July 2019. The proceeds from the sale of the coins will benefit the Astronauts Memorial Foundation, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and the National Air and Space Museum. [Apollo 11's Scariest Moments: Perils of the 1st Manned Moon Landing]

On Thursday (June 15), the Mint revealed three proposed designs for the coins' reverse, or "tails side," at a meeting of the Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) in Washington, D.C.. The CFA advises the government on issues of design and aesthetics.

Following the criteria outlined in the law (Public Law 114-282, the Apollo 11 50th Anniversary Commemorative Coin Act), the Mint's sculptor-engravers based their concepts on "the famous 'Buzz Aldrin on the Moon' photo captured by Neil Armstrong on July 20, 1969."

"Their job was to try to represent the photo in as unique a way as possible," said April Stafford, director of the Mint's Office of Design Management.

The designs are all based on a close-up of Aldrin's helmet visor, showing in its reflection Armstrong taking the photo, with the lunar module Eagle to one side and the American flag that the two astronauts deployed to the other.

A close-up of an iconic photograph of Buzz Aldrin is serving as the basis for the reverse design of U.S. Mint coins commemorating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, as directed by Congress. (Image credit: NASA)

The reverse design will appear on the convex, or dome-like side, of the coins, to more closely resemble Aldrin's visor.

"The design is going to appear on hundreds of thousands of coins in a curved fashion, such that the efficiency or the ability to manufacture the design is a factor that has to be considered as well," Stafford explained in an interview with collectSPACE.com.

The three proposed concepts, though similar in their major features, differ in subtle but important ways. For example, one of the concepts reorients the lunar module from how it appears in the original photograph so that the hatch, porch and ladder used by Armstrong and Aldrin to descend from the cabin to the moon's surface is facing the viewer.

Another of the designs omits a solar wind experiment that is visible in the photo and moves the U.S. flag from behind Armstrong to a more prominent position.

"Our concern is to ensure the designs meet the legislative requirements and that the technical and historical accuracy and appropriateness is reviewed," said Stafford.

All of the designs include the inscriptions "United States of America" and "E Pluribus Unum" ("Out of Many, One"), as well as the denomination, either spelled out or in numerical format.

The CFA preferred that the denominations be spelled out, said Stafford.

Prior to presenting the designs to the commission, the Mint consulted with NASA. The members of the CFA expressed their preference for the same design as was favored by the space agency, though offered a suggestion.

"The CFA implored us to go back and check the reference imagery to be sure that the perspective of the lunar lander was accurate," Stafford described. "They wanted to ensure that the depiction of the lander's forward leg was correct." [NASA's 17 Apollo Moon Missions in Pictures]

Another, similar review with the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee (CCAC), is scheduled for Wednesday (April 21) in Washington, D.C.. The CCAC advises the United States Secretary of the Treasury on coin-related issues.

Stafford's office will compile the recommendations from the CFA and CCAC, as well as from NASA, and deliver it with the three designs to the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, who will make the decision as to what will appear on the coins' reverse. Once the selection is made, the Mint will begin the process of preparing the sculpt for the coins' dies.

In the meantime, an on-going public design competition is now nearing the end of its first phase to find the artwork for the coins' obverse, or "heads side."

The Apollo 11 50th anniversary coins will be domed, or curved, like the 2014 National Baseball Hall of Fame coins. (Image credit: U.S. Mint)

The Mint launched the two-phase competition in May. The first phase, open to all U.S. citizens over the age of 18, is still accepting art portfolios through June 29. From those, a jury of three CCAC and three CFA members, chaired by the Treasury Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget, will select as many as 20 artists to submit one design each.

"It is an interesting nexus," Stafford told collectSPACE.com. "It is now where a very specific design stipulated in legislation has been seen by the public and is moving forward into the research and development phase. But it's also at the same time the launch of a more creative competition, where we are calling for just pure inspiration."

The Mint hopes to have the coins' reverse design selected in time to share with the competition's phase two finalists, so they can see the flipside to their obverse designs.

"It is interesting to me that one side is very specific, down to it being based on an iconic photograph, while the other is wide open and simply needs to be emblematic of the United States' journey to get to the moon. I feel like those are two very different things  two sides of a coin, some might say  and I love how they're coming together at this particular intersection. I hope one yields inspiration for the other," said Stafford.

In a departure from prior similar contests, the CCAC and CFA will review the phase two submitted designs (at which point, they, too, will be made public), and then the jury will reconvene to pick a winner. All the phase two participants will receive a $500 fee, while the winning artist will receive $5,000 and have his or her initials appear on the coins.

See two more designs for the tails side of the U.S. Mints Apollo 11 50th anniversary coins at collectSPACE.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2017 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Comedian Bill Dana, as he appeared as astronaut "Jose Jimenez" on "The Bill Dana Show" in 1963. Dana, 92, died on June 15.

"Okay, Jose, you're on your way!"

With those words, radioed to Alan Shepard as he lifted off to become the first American astronaut to fly into space on May 5, 1961, Bill Dana's role in NASA history was sealed.

Dana, a comedian whose performance as "Jose Jimenez" was bestowed the title of being the eighth of the Mercury 7 astronauts, died on Thursday (June 15). He was 92. [Photos from Alan Shepard's Freedom 7 Spaceflight]

"He'll be missed not only by the astronaut family, but many more around the world," said Tammy Sudler, president and CEO of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. "Bill Dana was lovingly known as our honorary Mercury 8 astronaut."

First created in 1959 for "The Steve Allen Show" and later appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show," Jose Jimenez held several positions, including an elevator operator, a bobsled racer, a Navy submariner and a lion tamer, but it was as the shiny-spacesuited, reluctant astronaut that the Bolivian character became famous (Dana was of Hungarian-Jewish ancestry in reality).

"What do you consider the most important thing in rocket travel?" asked Ed Sullivan, playing the straight man during one of Dana's better-known skits.

"To me the most important thing in the rocket travel is the blast-off," said Dana.

"The blast-off..." repeated Sullivan.

"I always take a blast before I take off. Otherwise, I would not go near that thing," Dana quipped as Jimenez.

Dana's Jose Jimenez routine was later released on record albums, rising to the Top 20 on the Billboard charts, which drew the attention of the real-life Mercury astronauts.

"The astronauts, especially Shepard, absolutely loved the record, and listened to it in the office after intense training sessions," author Neal Thompson described in "Light This Candle" (Crown, 2004), his biography of the first astronaut. "Shepard even tape recorded the album and during lulls between training exercises or during test launches at the Cape would play the tapes at full volume near the Mission Control loudspeakers."

The astronaut and comedian first met at a Cocoa Beach night club, where Shepard  from out in the audience and without the prior knowledge of Dana  took on the role of the straight man, setting up Jimenez's replies. Soon, fellow astronauts Wally Schirra and Deke Slayton joined in.

"The club was roaring as the three astronauts took turns," wrote Thompson. After the show, Dana hurried to a phone to call his producer in New York.

"'They know us. They know every word. And they love us," exclaimed Dana, as described by Thompson.

Cover art for Bill Dana's "Jose Jimenez in Orbit." (Image credit: Kapp Records)

Shepard and the other astronauts' fondness for Dana and his character led to Jose Jimenez becoming the unofficial mascot of the Mercury program. In addition to inspiring the 1961 launch call between Slayton (in the blockhouse) and Shepard (on top of a Redstone rocket), Dana performed at President John F. Kennedy's inaugural ball with Shepard in attendance.

The comedian also inspired a "gotcha"  a practical joke  that Shepard arranged in secret for John Glenn to discover once aboard his Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft. Opening up a pouch while in orbit, Glenn was surprised by a small stuffed mouse floating free, a reference to the "leetle mice" Jimenez would cite as fellow test subjects in his routine.

Born William Szathmary in Quincy, Massachusetts on Oct. 5, 1924, Dana served as a gunner and mortarman in the U.S. Army during World War II. Dana began his career in comedy as a page and a writer for other comedians' stand-up routines.

Later, after gaining fame in his own right, Dana became a screenwriter for television and movies, writing the Emmy-Award-winning "All in the Family" episode, "Sammy Davis Visits Archie Bunker" (1972), penning jokes for the "Donny and Marie" show (1977-1978), and co-writing the script for the "Get Smart" film "The Nude Bomb" (1980). Dana also had a recurring role as Angelo, brother to Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty) on the NBC sitcom, "The Golden Girls."

Dana also showed up as Jose Jimenez in a number of TV cameos, including as part of a 1966 episode of "Batman," appearing alongside the late Adam West and Burt Ward.

The character eventually fell out of favor due to pressure from Hispanic groups and Dana retired the role in 1970, but he would later reunite with the astronauts through their Mercury 7 (later, Astronaut Scholarship) Foundation, and even reprised the skit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a 2002 gala celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first U.S. orbital spaceflights.

A voting member of the nominations committee of the National Aviation Hall of Fame, Dana was acknowledged in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. and in the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida. He was honored with the first Impact award by the National Hispanic Media Coalition and was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the Pacific Broadcast Pioneers of Radio and Television in 2006.

In 2005, Dana co-founded the American Comedy Archives at Emerson College, his alma mater, in Boston.

Follow collectSPACE.com on Facebook and on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2017 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
T he leader of Kensington and Chelsea offered to resign after the council was heavily criticised for its response to the Grenfell Tower disaster, the Standard has been told.

The town hall is also at the centre of a police investigation into the devastating inferno which is feared to have claimed the lives of at least 79 people.

Nicholas Paget-Brown is believed to have offered his resignation at a meeting of the council cabinet yesterday but it was unanimously rejected by fellow councillors.

In a statement to the Standard, he said: We are all heartbroken by the tragic fire and the appalling loss of life at Grenfell Tower.

Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and friends and to the residents and wider community. In the circumstances it has of course been appropriate to ensure that as leader... I continue to have the support of my colleagues.

Heartbroken: Nicholas Paget-Brown

They have said overwhelmingly that they back me and are behind my key priority at the moment, which is to work with Government, charities, volunteer and resident groups and the emergency services to rehouse and assist all those affected.

He praised the strength, compassion and resolve of residents and the community and the tireless and unsung work of huge numbers of council staff across the borough.

Yesterday No 10 sidestepped a question on whether Theresa May had confidence in Mr Paget-Brown.

Amid growing anger at the response to the disaster, a Grenfell Fire Response Team has been set up to improve support for victims.

It includes London-wide local and regional government, central government, the British Red Cross, the Metropolitan police and London Fire Brigade.

Inside Grenfell Tower 1 /17 Inside Grenfell Tower Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Sniffer dogs were sent inside to the tower today PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA

The full extent of residential blocks in the capital that have cladding and need urgent investigation started to emerge today.

Many town halls have called in specialist teams to check towers do not pose a fire risk, with more than 100 social housing blocks known to have external cladding in London.

Today firefighters continued to search through 24-storey Grenfell Tower following the blaze in which 79 people died or are missing presumed dead.

Mayor Sadiq Khan demanded residents be given a say in the public inquiry from day one and warned there was already considerable mistrust and anger in the local community.

Newham council has identified that the same firm which carried out cladding work at Grenfell refurbished one of its blocks, Ferrier Point, but an initial investigation showed the material used is of a different type which can tolerate high temperatures, is used to create firewalls, and meets safety standards.

A firefighter in tears before a minute's silence for victims / PA

A Westminster council spokesman said: We can confirm Harley Facades supplied the additional cladding at the Little Venice estate. There is no reason to believe the type of cladding is the same as that used at Grenfell Tower.

Having reviewed all records we are reassured the cladding fully complies with all building regulation requirements in regard to fire safety. The Little Venice estate includes six towers.

Candles held aloft at a vigil for victims / PA

Hounslow is liaising with the Communities Department on inspections of seven of 35 tower blocks where rain screen cladding systems was installed.

Katherine Dunne, the councils cabinet member for housing, has written to residents highlighting significant differences in the cladding compared with that reportedly on Grenfell Tower.

Emotional tribute from firemen to Grenfell Tower victims

In Barnet, three blocks have rain screen panels of aluminium composite material similar to that reportedly used on Grenfell, but the council said insulation used for them is non-flammable.

Enfield said external insulation cladding is on five of its blocks, adding: We believe the cladding is non-flammable but we are removing some panels this week to confirm this.

In Haringey, 12 tower blocks managed by the council have been externally clad. It stressed that none have the Grenfell-type aluminium system. Barking and Dagenham has identified four blocks with cladding but said the system is different.

Waltham Forest said it had several blocks with external insulation, but not the same cladding as Grenfell. Greenwich is checking cladding on 11 high-rise blocks, with five already known to meet fire safety regulations.

Camden has 13 cladded blocks but said it is a different design to Grenfell. Lambeth has 14 over six storeys high with cladding, and in Richmond there are two 15-storey social housing blocks with cladding.

But this is said to be non-flammable rockwool. In Brent there is one high-rise with cladding but it is different to Grenfells.

The figures are just for social housing and not private developments. Islington council has put a hold on all planned work to install cladding and Croydon council will install sprinklers in all blocks over 10 storeys, at a cost of 10 million.
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[June 20, 2017] Lenovo Embraces Personalized Computing Transformation

Today at its Tech World Transform commercial summit, Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) announced agile and reliable PC offerings for business customers that address the evolution of the workforce and workplace. The ThinkStation P320 Tiny offers Independent Software Vendor (ISV) certification to ensure customers' most critical applications run reliably in an incredibly small one liter form factor. Lenovo's (News - Alert) PC as a Service (PCaaS) offering provides a fully-managed, fixed monthly cost subscription model combining hardware and services into a single solution. Designed to eliminate the burden of buying, deploying and managing computing assets, PCaaS increases product lifecycle efficiency and reduce overall total cost of ownership. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005843/en/ (Photo: Business Wire) ThinkStation P320 Tiny: The world's smallest workstation with ISV certification1 Physical workspaces are becoming valuable real-estate, so it's necessary for workstations to be as adaptable as they are powerful in any setting. The ThinkStation P320 Tiny makes full use of tight spaces and delivers on the power expected from a workstation. Easy to set up and compatible with Lenovo's ThinkCentre Tiny accessories, the P320 Tiny harnesses the power of the latest Intel Core i processors and relies on NVIDIA (News - Alert) Quadro Graphics to achieve ISV certification to deliver the performance demanded across a range of professional applications. Whether developing the latest innovative products, designing a state-of-the-art skyscraper or educating future entrepreneurs, the P320 Tiny offers big business-ready power in the smallest of packages, so workspaces perform at their best,even in the most finite spaces.



The PC Process Simplified with PC as a Service As new generations of tech-savvy employees prioritize device flexibility and work mobility, organizations are adapting the way they approach and manage workplace technology. The shift towards agile IT, Choose Your Own Device and multi-device synergy is shaping our personalized computing future. PC as a Service (PCaaS) responds to this change by simplifying the financing, deployment, management and disposal process of computing assets by packaging it into a single, configurable solution with a fixed monthly cost. Businesses can select tablets, laptops, desktops, workstations or software and services, giving end users greater device choice and allowing capital investment to grow with the business.

Quote "The workspace is evolving and so is our PCSD business. The Commercial Business Segment has been created to service our customers through innovative solutions & tools that will help them harness the intelligence transformation," said Christian Teismann, senior vice president & GM, Commercial Business Segment, PCSD. "ThinkStation P320 Tiny and PCaaS are just two solutions within our tool kit we are launching to help IT organizations transform. PCs will continue to be the integral component of the personalized computing future." Pricing and Availability ThinkStation P320 Tiny is available now at $799

Lenovo PC as a Service is available now. To find out more and contact a Lenovo PCaaS expert, click here. For more information on news announced at Tech World Transform, please visit www.news.lenovo.com/TRANSFORM2017 or follow @Lenovo for live updates on June 20, 2017, using #LenovoTRANSFORM. About Lenovo Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a US$43 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial, and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode Yoga brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola (News - Alert) brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (News - Alert) (@Lenovo) or visit us at http://www.lenovo.com/. 1 Lenovo internal measurements compared to other industry leading ISV certified workstations View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005843/en/

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Israel announced that it was adding the new Skylark 3 to units who have long used the Skylark 1 long for border patrol duty. The Skylark 3 entered service in early 2016 and has proved capable of handling border patrol duties, where UAVs are often fired on or subject to electronic attack.

The success of earlier Skylark 1 led to Skylark 2 and now the Skylark 3 which is a 45 kg (99 pound) UAV with 10 kg (22 pound) payload, an electric motor and an endurance of six hours. Skylark 3 has much better sensors and communications than earlier models yet uses the same ground control system as Skylark 1. In fact an operator can operate a Skylark 1 and 3 from the same ground controller or two of either. Skylark 3 is launched via a vehicle mounted catapult and can operate up to a hundred kilometers from the ground station.

Skylark 3 is basically an improved Skylark 2, which entered service in 2007 and was a little smaller and had less range (60 kilometers from the base station). Like Skylark 2, Skylark 3 is intended for use by brigades and divisions. Skylark has served the Israeli military well, which makes it easier to get export sales.

In 2008, after four years of evaluation and further development, the Israeli Army adopted the Skylark 1 LE UAV as standard equipment for its combat battalions. While Skylark began as a slightly larger rival for the popular U.S. Raven (a 2 kg/4.3 pound aircraft with one hour endurance), the Israelis found that a slightly larger UAV (6.8 kg/15 pounds, three hours endurance) fit the needs of battalion and company commanders better. Each Skylark 1 system consists of three aircraft, three vidcams (two day, one night) and a ground control unit (a laptop and some radio gear). The Skylark 1 can fly as high as 450 meters (1,500 feet) and operate up to 30 kilometers from the operator.

Like the Raven, Skylark 1 is battery operated, and very quiet. It is launched with an elastic cord (a bungee cord will do), and lands with the help of a reusable airbag. The army bought several hundred systems, with each battalion getting two or more systems. Skylark had already been exported to countries that have used the UAV in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several Israeli police and paramilitary organizations have also been using Skylark over the past four years, and the system has proved very useful for counter-terror operations.
In northwest India (Kashmir) Internet service was restored after being largely unavailable for a week. This was another effort to curb local Islamic terrorists and separatists and their Pakistani sponsors from using the Internet to promote violence. The Indian government has experimented several times this year with different approaches to dealing with the problem and apparently some of the efforts work, but usually not for long.

Meanwhile Pakistan continues violating the ceasefire agreement while loudly insisting that India is the instigator of any violence. These violations currently occur several times a week. Usually Pakistani troops open fire on Indian police, soldiers or even civilians with machine-guns and mortars (82mm and 120mm). Some artillery (shells or rockets) are used and often the fire is a distraction for nearby attempts to sneak Pakistan based Islamic terrorists into India. Many, if not most of these illegal crossings are detected and stopped. India has lots of evidence (dead bodies of men tracked back to Pakistan who died carrying weapons and equipment from Pakistan) and improved use of border sensors and UAVs has become another form of useful evidence.

While casualty details are published on the Indian side, it is difficult to get reliable data on Pakistani losses. On both sides of this border the land is thinly populated, mostly by farmers and such. But the increased violence has led to nearly a hundred schools being closed, interrupting the education of a growing number of students. Several hundred civilians, on both sides of the border, are having their lives disrupted by the continuing border violence.

Kashmir border violence incidents were way up during 2016, as it was along the entire Indian border. But half of the nearly 600 ceasefire border violations in 2016 were in Kashmir. This was in violation of a 2003 agreement between India and Pakistan. In December 2015 Indian and Pakistani military leaders met on the Kashmir border to reaffirm efforts to reduce violence on the LOC (Line of Control) in Kashmir. Yet such incidents continued to occur despite the 20o3 ceasefire and subsequent pledges to behave. It was internal politics in Pakistan involving the Pakistan army that revived the border violence in 2016. This was all about the continuing battle between elected politicians and the military over the non-existent threat from India. The Pakistani generals justify their large budget and numerous other privileges by the perceived need to deal with the Indian threat. But there is no Indian threat. The Pakistani military refuses to accept that and the border erupts whenever the Pakistani generals need to justify their privileges and powers.

This is no longer seen as just a local issue. The Pakistani military is under growing domestic (by elected leaders) and international (especially American) pressure to cease all support for Islamic terrorism and that includes the border incidents with India. The Pakistani generals have not shown any sign of changing. For current head of the Pakistani military, appointed at the end of 2016, spent much of his career working directly with forces (military and Islamic terrorist) causing violence on the Indian border and in Kashmir. The growing LOC violence is hailed as a major victory for the Pakistani military against Indian aggression.

For India this means Islamic terrorist and separatist violence in Kashmir has been increasing since 2015 although the growth seems slower this year. In 2016 there were about twenty terrorism related deaths a month in Kashmir and it is about the same so far in 2017. It varies depending on how much Pakistan increases its efforts to send in Islamic terrorists, finance more violence and attack border guards. Because of that the border violence could increase 10-20 percent over 2016. Attempts by Islamic terrorists to cross the border in India are down by nearly half in 2017. That appears more related to better equipment (sensors, night vision and some new weapons) and tactics. These improvements have been underway for several years and the Pakistanis have not been able to respond other than to depend more on Internet based activities.

The Pakistan Solution

In Pakistan the priority is reducing local Islamic terrorism activity directed at overthrowing the government. That effort is having continued success and terrorist related deaths appear headed for a 30 percent reduction this year. The local Islamic terror groups have reorganized after three years of heavy attack by the security forces and demonstrated their capabilities by remaining active in 2017. There was a spike in Islamic terrorism related deaths in February (114 civilians, 23 soldiers and police and 125 Islamic terrorists) but that has since declined. The total Islamic terrorism related deaths for all of 2016 was 1,803 (150 a month), compared to 3,682 for 2015. Until the wave of attacks in February Pakistan expected to have, for the first time since 2005, a year where there were under a thousand Islamic terrorism related deaths. Back in 2005 there were 648 dead and in 2003 only 189. Pakistan blames the Americans, India and non-Moslems in general for the growth of Islamic terrorism violence in Pakistan since 2003. Pakistan blames the usual suspects for the current resurgence. Yet India, with six times as many people, has kept annual terrorism (mostly not Islam related) to under a thousand a year since 2012.

In response to the February attacks Pakistan ordered a countrywide offensive against all Islamic terrorist groups. Several major Islamic terrorist attacks were disrupted and so far there have been over 6,000 arrests, several hundred Islamic terrorists killed or captured and the counter-terrorism effort continues. This campaign is having some unexpected side effects. Many of those arrested turned out to be gangsters or businessmen who supplied gangsters and Islamic terrorists (it is often difficult to tell the two apart). It turned out that a number of those arrested (terrorists and non-terrorists alike) also worked for foreign governments. The most common ties were with Iran, but some had links to Afghan and Indian intelligence.

The 2014 counter-terror campaign was supposed to eventually cover the entire country but that never happened because the military believed it could control most of the Islamic terrorist groups outside of North Waziristan and keep terror attacks inside Pakistan down. That was working until February 2017. The military is again under pressure from Pakistanis and the neighbors to crack down on all Islamic terror groups. That is clearly not happening because there are still army supported Islamic terrorist camps in Pakistan, like those in northern Kashmir that produce a steady flow of Islamic terrorists who attempt crossing the Indian border. Most dont make it but enough do to replenish the ranks of Islamic terrorist groups in Indian Kashmir. More of these Pakistani Islamic terrorists are showing up in India because, thanks to adroit use of the Internet, there is a resurgence of popular support among Moslems in Indian Kashmir and the Pakistani Islamic terrorists are trying to use that to recruit locally and revive its revenge attack efforts, in which former Islamic terrorists and supporters in Kashmir are killed and prominent (or pro-government) Moslems threatened with the same if they do not actively support Islamic terrorism, at least as practiced in India against anyone who opposes Pakistan having control over all of Kashmir.

China Makes An Entrance

China has a grand strategic plan involving Pakistan and its no secret. But now the Chinese are going the overall effort a name and lots of publicity, For the last few years Chinese officials have been describing their economic and military expansion plan internally as Obor (One Belt, One Road). A new PR campaign for Obor describes it as a revival of the ancient Silk Road but thats not accurate as the ancient Silk Road was only partially run by the Chinese. Most of it was operated by other major powers (Iranian, Indian and Arabs) and was largely put out of business after the 16th century by European innovations in ship building and management of sea routes that provided a safer and cheaper way to move goods worldwide. Moreover, until the late 20th century Chinese leaders never encouraged (and often banned) foreign trade. For most of Chinese history the leaders believed China had all it needed (largely true) and considered all non-Chinese and their products as inferior. The big change now is that China needs international trade and Obor is the Chinese plan to control as much of it as possible. This is essential for a prosperous economy because without that the communists are in big trouble. Obor means China owning or otherwise controlling as many of the new roads, railways, ports, pipelines and sea routes as possible. China is investing nearly $200 billion in Obor construction. This includes land routes through Central Asia to Europe and the Middle East, another through the Himalaya Mountains to the Indian Ocean (soon to be under new management if China has its way) and new land connections into Southeast Asia. The key to Chinas new sea routes is asserting ownership of the South China Sea.

Another feature of Obor is that it offers business relationships that are more acceptable (than Western ones) to most of the nations Obor is investing in. The Chinese can, as they like to put it, be more flexible and respectful of local customs. In other words the Chinese dont see bribes and corruption as a defect but an opportunity. This is great for the foreign political and business leaders but less so with most of the others and this is causing problems. Africans and Asians living near many Chinese foreign operations complain that China is the major investor in illegal extraction of raw materials and keeping local gangsters and corrupt politicians in business. The Chinese also violate local labor laws with impunity and often hire their own armed security personnel who will shoot to kill if threatened by angry workers or local residents. Keeping local tyrants in power serves Chinese interests when it comes to things like establishing new military bases or preventing other nations from doing so. Corrupt locals also make it easier to carry out espionage operations (locally or in nearby areas). Helping to keep unelected leaders in power also serves to maintain the legitimacy of the current Chinese government which is basically a communist police state and the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) wants to keep it that way. All this is nothing new. For example once China got its seat in the UN back (from Taiwan) in 1971 it has been notorious for encouraging and using corrupt practices in the UN. Many nations play along and as China became wealthier they were willing and able to buy whatever they needed inside the UN. The latest example of this is how Chinese pressure has caused the UN to withdraw investigators (responding to local complaints of serious crimes) looking too closely at Chinese owned operations in Africa.

China and Pakistan are heavily publicizing the revival of this new Silk Road. In Pakistan the city of Peshawar, on the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, was a major gateway of the ancient Silk Road between China and the Middle East. But that version of the road went through the pass and into Afghanistan. The new Silk Road is not just Obor, in Pakistan it is officially called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and is a complex piece of work. In 2013 China agreed to spend $18 billion to build a road from Gwadar and into northwest China. This will require drilling long tunnels through the Himalayan Mountains on the border (in Pakistani controlled Kashmir.) The road and a natural gas pipeline are part of the $46 billion CPEC project. This will make it much easier and cheaper to move people, data (via fiber optic cables) and goods between China and Pakistan. China also gets a 40 year lease on much of the port facilities at Gwadar, which India fears will serve as a base for Chinese warships. This is how China would like all of Obor to be but the rest of the world does not always cooperate.

June 19, 2017: In the southwest (Baluchistan) Iranians apparently helped to find and kill Jalil Qanbar-Zahi, the leader of a local Sunni Islamic terrorist group called Ansar al Furqan which had recently pledged allegiance to ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant). Zahi had replaced Abu Hafs al Baloushi, who died in the same way in August 2016, by the end of 2016. This group has been around since 2013 and was involved with drug smuggling and working with Iranian Baluchi separatists. Iran declared that men like Zahi and Baloushi are actually mercenaries working for an unnamed foreign government. Iran portrayed Ansar al Furqan as paid killers rather than religious fanatics. No proof was presented but in this part of the world no proof is needed because many, if not most Moslems in the Middle East believe that groups like al Qaeda and ISIL were created and are controlled by Israel and the West as a means to attack Islam. In southeast Iran the reality is that the local Baluchis are Sunni and never got along with the Shia Iranians. Armed Baluchi groups often base themselves across the border in Pakistan, which has been unable to halt this sort of thing.

June 16, 2017: In northwest India (Kashmir) ten Islamic terrorists ambushed a police patrol killing six policemen and three civilians. Return fire killed three of the attackers.

June 13, 2017: In northwest Pakistan an American UAV used missiles to destroy a building used by the Haqqani Network. This attack killed two senior Haqqani commanders. The Pakistani military criticized the U.S. but cannot do much more. The Pakistanis criticized the U.S. for not sharing intel with them about Haqqani activity in the tribal territories of northwest Pakistan. The U.S. does not share intel with the Pakistanis because that intel will often be passed on to Haqqani.

June 12, 2017: Saudi Arabia told Pakistan it had to choose a side in the current Saudi feud with Qatar. Pakistan said it was remaining neutral.

June 11, 2017: After going back and forth a few times to clarify who said what at recent peace talks in Astana, Afghan and Pakistani political leaders agreed that both nations would cooperate in attacking Afghan Taliban who refuse to take part in peace talks. This cooperation would include regular meetings in Afghanistan and Pakistan by officials from both countries to discuss problems and opportunities. These arrangements are mainly for civilian officials, especially from Pakistan. Thats because the key problem many fear to even speak about openly is the fact that the Pakistani military (and ISI, its intel branch) continue to offer sanctuary for the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani Network. ISI is also trying to gain control of local ISIL leadership. The Afghan sanctuary has long been obvious to anyone visiting Baluchistan (southwest Pakistan) while the Haqqani Network has always been more concerned with concealing its operations in Pakistan.

The Pakistani military not only denies the sanctuaries exist but insists the main foreign sponsor of Islamic terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan is India. The Pakistani military has supporters in many government ministries that ensure that the Pakistani government does what the military requires (like official condemnations of India for supporting Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan). No one in Afghanistan believes that, viewing it as yet another Pakistani lie while many in Pakistan agree with that assessment but fear to speak out openly because the Pakistani military continues to threaten or even murder those who do. What these new agreements are doing is allowing the civilian leaders in both Afghanistan and Pakistan do what they can to deal with the rogue Pakistani military.

June 9, 2017: Pakistan will increase defense spending by about seven percent (to $8.8 billion) in the next annual defense budget. The army gets 47 percent of the defense budget, the air force 20 percent and the navy 11 percent. American military aid accounts for about ten percent of the annual budget but the U.S. has been cutting that support to pressure Pakistan to stop supporting Islamic terror groups. Pakistan is depending more on an alliance with China than its own defense spending. Thats because in 2016 India spent $56 billion on defense, the fifth largest defense budget on the planet (behind the United States, China, Russia and Saudi Arabia). Pakistan barely makes the top 20 with $10 billion a year. Indian spending is 3.3 percent of GDP while Pakistan is 2.7 percent. In 2016 Pakistan boosted defense spending 15 percent but was unable to sustain that growth rate. For the last five years Pakistan has, on average, increased its defense spending about 11 percent a year. Neighboring India spends more than five times as much. Chinas defense spending ($215 billion) is the largest in the region and second largest in the world. Defense spending in South Asia has risen nearly 50 percent since 2001. The main cause is the aggressive territorial claims of China and the continuing belief in the Pakistani military that India is engaged in a well concealed plot to take over Pakistan. The large portion of Pakistani government spending going to the military is under growing criticism inside Pakistan, mainly because Pakistan lags way behind India and China when it comes to spending on education, infrastructure and public health. The Pakistani government tries to justify the high defense spending by pointing out that since 2011 Pakistan has suffered $57 billion in economic losses because of Islamic terrorism. That is tragic but the neighbors (and the United States) point out that those losses are largely because Pakistan has supported Islamic terrorists since the 1970s and continues to do so even though many Islamic terror groups have declared war on Pakistan.

June 8, 2017: In southwest Pakistan ISIL revealed that they had kidnapped the Chinese couple that was taken on May 24th. The two Chinese were then murdered for being non-Moslem. Pakistan later found that the two were actually Christian missionaries who entered Pakistan without revealing their intentions. The killers were actually from Lashkar e Jhangvi al Alami, a Sunni Islamic terror group that had been around for a while and regularly carried out terror attacks against Pakistani Shia. Iran has been pressuring Pakistan to crack down on these groups. That crackdown was more of an emergency once it became apparent that that Lashkar e Jhangvi al Alami recently joined ISIL, a group that has had a difficult time establishing itself in Pakistan (and an even harder time in India and Bangladesh). Pakistan quickly shut down Lashkar e Jhangvi al Alami and declared it another victory over ISIL efforts to establish itself in Pakistan. Pakistan had assured China that the thousands of Chinese coming to Pakistan to build roads, a new port and other improvements, would be protected. As embarrassing as this incident was, the two victims were not part of the construction effort and China did not make a lot of it. Pakistan tracked down the group responsible and appears to have killed or captured most of them. Pakistan also said it would work more closely with China to improve the visa process for Chinese wishing to enter Pakistan.

June 7, 2017: In Pakistan the military is ignoring demands from elected officials for details on recent casualties suffered on the Indian border in Kashmir. On the Indian side the free press there makes it impossible to hide such casualties. But in Pakistan the military is allowed to terrorize (or even murder) journalists and Internet based critics and can lie to the civilian officials with little fear of contradiction. But apparently the border violence has been so intense for the last year or so that members of the national legislature are getting more complaints from parents wanting to know what happened to their deceased son who was serving along the Indian border. Meanwhile a side effect of the long-tolerated censorship by the military is tolerance of similar activity by criminals of all sorts (corrupt officials, terrorists, gangsters, government agencies).

June 6, 2017: In Afghanistan (Kabul) an RPG rocket landed in the Indian ambassadors residential compound and exploded. There was minor damage and no casualties.

June 5, 2017: The Afghan government revealed that analysis of the explosives used in recent Kabul terror attacks had come from Pakistan and that Pakistani intelligence (ISI) appears to have been involved. Moreover the tanker truck carrying 1.5 tons of explosives appears to have gone through Kabul without being inspected at any checkpoint. That may have been because the large tanker truck was used to collect human waste and remove it from the city. Then again perhaps key checkpoint commanders had been bribed.

June 4, 2017: In northern India two Chinese army helicopters flew across the border into Uttarakhand State and remained for about five minutes before flying back to China. India protested and China said it wasnt intentional and was no big deal. The Indians disagreed, largely because China has been sending troops across the border with increasing frequency. The border is actually called the LAC (Line of Actual Control). Also known as the MacCartney-MacDonald Line the LAC is the unofficial border between India and China. The LAC is 4,057 kilometers long and is found in the Indian States of Ladakh, Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal, and Arunachal. On the Chinese side it is mostly Tibet. China claims much territory that is now considered part of India. There have been hundreds of armed confrontations over the last few years as one side or the other accuses foreign troops of crossing the LAC.

June 3, 2017: In southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) a three day operation outside Quetta city came upon what appears to have been an ISIL (Lashkar e Jhangvi al Alami) base. Troops killed twelve ISIL fighters and six explosive vests and lots of ammo were found along with ISIL documents. Five soldiers were wounded in what was part of a search for two Chinese kidnapped in the area in May.

June 2, 2017: Pakistan announced that it had frozen the bank accounts (containing a total of $3 million) of 5,000 suspected Islamic terrorists in Pakistan. A close look at the list of account holders revealed that none of them were major figures in any Islamic terrorist group and some Islamic terrorist groups Pakistan claims to have shut down recently are still quite active on the Internet, including places like FaceBook. When it comes to pursuing questionable activity on the Internet the Pakistan military tends to ignore Islamic terrorist groups (particularly the ones on its payroll) and instead concentrate on Pakistanis who criticize the military via the Internet.

May 27, 2017: In southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) Iranian troops fired five mortar shells into Pakistan killing one Pakistani civilian. Elsewhere in Baluchistan Pakistan reopened the Chaman border crossing, which had been shut for three weeks because of border violence. The Chaman crossing is on the main road between Quetta (capital of Baluchistan) and the capital of Kandahar province in Afghanistan.

May 24, 2017: The U.S. admitted that it views the Pakistani military supporting Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan as part of an effort to ensure that India does not gain economic and military presence in Afghanistan. The Pakistani strategy is backfiring because many Afghans would rather work with Indian infidels (non-Moslems) than with Pakistan. In any event it is no secret that India has more Moslems than Pakistan and much less trouble with Islamic terrorism carried out by Indian Moslems.

In southwest Pakistan a Chinese couple was kidnapped near Quetta, the provincial capital. The two were operating a Chinese cultural center and learning how to speak the local language (Urdu). Local Islamic terrorists saw the two as Christian missionaries operating in an area full of groups that go after non-Moslems or Moslems considered heretics (usually everyone who is not Sunni). It was later revealed that the two were there to do missionary work.

May 23, 2017: In northeast India (Arunachal Pradesh) an Indian Su-30 fighter went missing while on a training flight near the Chinese border. The wreckage was found three days later, less than 65 kilometers from the base it took off from and a hundred kilometers from the Chinese border. As of late June the two pilots have not been found as they ejected and landed somewhere in the hills and forests near the crash site.
Ecopetrol S.A. operates as an integrated energy company. The company operates through four segments: Exploration and Production; Transport and Logistics; Refining, Petrochemical and Biofuels; and Electric Power Transmission and Toll Roads Concessions. It engages in the exploration and production of oil and gas; transportation of crude oil, motor fuels, fuel oil, and other refined products, including diesel, jet, and biofuels; processing and refining crude oil; distribution of natural gas and LPG; sale of refined and petrochemical products; supplying of electric power transmission services; design, development, construction, operation, and maintenance of road and energy infrastructure projects; and supplying of information technology and telecommunications services. As of December 31, 2021, the company had approximately 9,127 kilometers of crude oil and multi-purpose pipelines. It also produces and commercializes polypropylene resins and compounds, and masterbatches; and offers industrial service sales to customers and specialized management services. It has operations in Colombia, the United States, Asia, Central America and the Caribbean, Europe, South America, and internationally. The company was formerly known as Empresa Colombiana de Petroleos and changed its name to Ecopetrol S.A. in June 2003. Ecopetrol S.A. was incorporated in 1948 and is based in Bogota, Colombia.
CHARLESTON -- Prison time was required for a man reportedly caught at the scene of a burglary to a Mattoon auto service business last month.

John M. Shumbarger received a seven-year prison sentence when he admitted breaking into and planning to steal from Neal Tire & Auto Service at 1800 Lake Land Blvd. during the early morning hours of May 7.

Shumbarger, 30, for whom court records list an address of an apartment at 1817 S. Ninth St., Mattoon, pleaded guilty to a burglary charge that normally carried a possible prison term of three to seven years with probation as an option.

For Shumbarger, a prison sentence of six to 30 years was required because of his prior convictions, which include a 2000 burglary offense in Coles County for which he also served prison time.

Records show that he also has a pending burglary case in Shelby County and is scheduled to plead guilty during a hearing there set for July 10.

Whatever sentence he receives in that case if he is convicted will have to be added to his sentence from Coles County. That's because he was free on bond in the Shelby County case at the time of the Coles County burglary.

Records in Shumbarger's Coles County case indicate that police located and arrested him at the auto service business after they responded to a burglary alarm there.

Circuit Judge Brien O'Brien also ordered Shumbarger to pay just more than $800 in restitution to the business. A charge of possession of burglary tools accusing Shumbarger of having a pry bar and other items for the break-in was dismissed.

The judge imposed the sentence by accepting the terms of a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Tom Bucher and Public Defender Anthony Ortega recommended.

In other cases in court recently, O'Brien also accepted guilty pleas from:

Rhonda L. Ogden, 54, whose address on record is 218 Silver St., Oakland, to a charge of driving under the influence alleging she drove while intoxicated on Dec. 17.

A prison sentence was required because of Ogden's prior DUI convictions. She received the minimum sentence of three years for the conviction that could have brought up to seven years in prison.

An evaluation for alcohol treatment and payment of just more than $1,800 in fines were also ordered as part of Ogden's sentence.

O'Brien accepted a plea agreement that Bucher and Ortega recommended.

Danielle L. Sass, 31, for whom records list a Paris address, to a methamphetamine possession charge alleging she had the drug in Coles County on April 20.

Sass was sentenced to two years of probation terms that included an evaluation for substance abuse treatment and payment of about $2,000 in fines and court fees.

Jail time was also ordered but stayed, meaning she won't have to serve it now but some or all of it could be ordered later as a sanction in case of violations of her other probation terms.

O'Brien accepted a plea agreement that Assistant State's Attorney Joy Wolf and Ortega recommended.

Schuyler A. Eckel, 30, whose current address on record is in Sullivan, formerly of Mattoon, to a theft charge alleging he stole money from Spanky's tavern in Mattoon on Sept. 11.

The charge was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor and terms of Eckel's two-year probation sentence included payment of about $575 in restitution and about $600 in fines.

State's Attorney Brian Bower and Assistant Public Defender Jesse Danley recommended the plea agreement.
Canadas envoy to Washington says President Donald Trumps administration is interested in a quick deal to end a softwood lumber dispute although Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government sees no imminent agreement.

Ambassador David MacNaughton said last week U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross told him it would be good to get a softwood deal before renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement, due to begin as early as August.

However, MacNaughton said a deal is a long way away with a second round of duties on Canadian lumber expected this month. Canada Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland also said a new pact on softwood  one of the most persistent trade spats between the U.S. and its second-largest trading partner  isnt imminent.

The dispute is raising the cost of lumber in the U.S., contributing to a more than 18 per cent surge in wood prices from the end of January to mid-May, according to a Bloomberg Intelligence report. Additional U.S. duties are expected to further lift lumber prices as Canadian companies including West Fraser Timber Co. and Canfor Corp. offset the cost.

The U.S. is scheduled to decide on new anti-dumping penalties by the end of this month that may bring combined duties to more than 30 per cent, according to RBC Capital Markets, after an initial round in April of as much as 24.1 per cent. Canada announced an C$867 million ($655 million) funding package in June to cushion companies and workers. Final U.S. lumber duties are expected by January of 2018.

There is still a lot of work to be done, Freeland told reporters Friday in a conference call from Miami. Canadian officials are bracing for a lengthy dispute and continue to both threaten legal action and say they would prefer a negotiated deal.

Ross is rolling up his sleeves and is engaged personally on the lumber file, MacNaughton told reporters in Ottawa last week. U.S. industry needs to approve any deal, a reality that complicates any preference by Ross for a quick pact.

Everybodys going to have to figure out whether there is a deal to be done there, but at least when youve got somebody who is personally taking the time, making the effort, it gives me some hope, he told reporters. So well see.

It was another trade deal  the Trans Pacific Partnership  that ultimately destroyed the chances of a lumber settlement under the administration of former president Barack Obama, MacNaughton said. Obamas officials refused to risk delaying passage of the TPP, now effectively dead in its current form, by pressuring Congress on lumber as well.

MacNaughton called his talks with the Obama White House particularly frustrating on lumber  despite what he called the nice words and so-called bromance, or close rapport between Obama and Trudeau.

What I came to realize after several months is they actually had no interest in using any of their political capital to move that along, he said. Obama wanted TPP instead, and that was the priority with Congress. If they had to lean on any of them to get a softwood lumber deal, they just wouldnt do it.

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who signed the NAFTA accord and has acted as something of an adviser and intermediary to Trudeau on the U.S., said slow lumber talks could stall the upcoming NAFTA process.

I think both sides recognize that if we can, we must solve the softwood lumber case now, otherwise it runs the risks of poisoning the larger negotiations, he said on CTVs Question Period in an interview that aired Sunday.

Softwood remains a notoriously difficult and complex file, Freeland said. Canada argues American lumber producers cant meet domestic demand, and Canadian lumber will need to fill the void. The logic is in favour of a negotiated settlement, she said.

MacNaughton said last week the length of overall NAFTA talks will be determined in partly by the scope of changes being sought by the U.S., while Mulroney  who has regularly applauded Trudeaus approach so far  expects lengthy talks. Its not going to be short and sweet. We should be ready not for a sprint but for a long distance run.

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CALGARYCenovus Energy shares fell more than 10 per cent on Tuesday after the oil company announced plans for more asset sales, deeper cost-cutting and the unexpected retirement of CEO Brian Ferguson.

Its stock fell as low as $9.11 or 11.4 per cent from Mondays close and down about 48 per cent since it announced in late March a $17.7-billion blockbuster deal to buy assets from ConocoPhillips.

It has been a trying time for our shareholders, Ferguson said during a presentation to investors in Toronto.

Read more:Cenovus reports $211M first quarter profit, progress on ConocoPhillips deal

$17-billion Cenovus deal likely to be last oilsands blockbuster, analysts say

As he has since the deal was announced, Ferguson defended it, saying Cenovus paid a fair price for top-tier assets. He said he is confident the company will be able to sell assets to pay down debt before the end of the year and will then further cut costs to generate free cash flow to be returned to shareholders.

Energy analyst Rob Cooper of Acumen Capital said investors are doubtful that Cenovus has the expertise to develop the Alberta and B.C. Deep Basin assets it has bought from ConocoPhillips, nor does he believe the company will get the price it wants in asset sales given current low oil prices.

The fact that Cenovus announced Fergusons departure without naming a successor suggests a repudiation of his strategy, Cooper added.

Ferguson, 60, has led Calgary-based Cenovus since its launch as a public company in December 2009. He will retire as CEO and from the board of directors on Oct. 31. He plans to stay as an adviser until the end of March.

The companys focus since splitting from Encana, where Ferguson was the chief financial officer, has been mainly on oilsands production in Western Canada. It also has non-operating interests in two U.S. refineries.

It said it is working toward selling between $4 billion and $5 billion of assets by year-end, up from its previous plans to raise at least $3.6 billion to pay off a loan in that amount.

It now aims to sell its non-oilsands assets including Pelican Lake, Suffield, Weyburn and Palliser, which together produce about 112,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Cenovus said it also intends to cut up to an additional $1 billion in costs over the next three years. About half of the savings are expected from efficiencies from its increased size and redesigned drilling techniques.

The company also unveiled a five-year plan to grow free funds flow by 14 per cent per year and production at a 6-per-cent compound annual growth rate if benchmark U.S. oil prices average $55 (U.S.) per barrel. On Tuesday, that price hovered around the $43 (U.S.) mark, the lowest its been since November.

Ferguson said the company will throttle back conventional oil and gas capital spending if the price stays in the $40-$45 (U.S.) range for a prolonged period.

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SOUTHFIELD, MICH.Ford Motor Co. is cancelling controversial plans to build the Focus small car in Mexico, saving $1 billion (U.S.) by ending North American production entirely and importing the model mostly from China after next year.

The U.S. automaker will start making the next-generation Focus in China from the second half of 2019, a year after output ends at one of its plants in Michigan. Fords savings will come from cancelling plans to assemble the car at an existing factory in Mexico and a decision made in January to abort construction of a plant in Mexico.

With its latest move, Ford has fully abandoned its strategy of relocating small car production to Mexico that had been announced last year by then-chief executive officer Mark Fields. Fields was replaced as CEO last month by Jim Hackett, former CEO of office-furniture maker Steelcase Inc. The company will be testing both consumer appetite for China-built cars and the tolerance of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has criticized automakers for importing vehicles from overseas.

Read more:

Trump takes credit for saving a Ford plant from moving to Mexico  but that was never going to happen

Ford adds Michigan jobs, cancels Mexico plant

Trump tariff could be a nightmare for U.S. auto industry

Weve done a lot of research and consumers care a lot more about the quality and the value than they do about the sourcing location, said Joe Hinrichs, Fords president of global operations, in a conference call with reporters Tuesday. IPhones are produced in China, for example, and people dont really talk about it.

Ford said its also investing $900 million in its truck factory in Kentucky to build Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport utility vehicles, preserving 1,000 jobs.

After importing initial production of the new Focus cars from China, Ford will ship variants of the model later from Europe, the company said. The Michigan Assembly Plant now making the Focus will be retooled to produce the Ranger mid-size pickup in late 2018 and the Bronco mid-size SUV in 2020.

China gets a lot of attention, well see how this plays out, Hinrichs said in response to a question about possible criticism of the move from Trump. But we believe this is a much better plan for our business globally. And it frees up from the original plan about $1 billion of capital that we can reinvest in the business, including exciting things that were working on in autonomy and electrification and a lot of that work is done right here in the U.S.

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Jonathan who?

The last time Jonathan Litts name circulated through Canadas capital markets, he was barking up Peter Munks leg in a way Mr. Munk did not like.

Now hes back, with a plan for the Hudsons Bay Co. to, you know, unlock shareholder value.

In 2002, Litt was senior retail analyst with Salomon Smith Barney, with a specialty in real estate investment trusts, or REITs. Litt had some sharp views about the corporate governance at Peter Munks Trizec, which had converted its principal U.S. holdings  74 office towers  to a REIT in the spring of that year while retaining control through multiple voting shares of the initiating Canadian company.

Litt liked the conversion. What he didnt like was this crazy Canadian special voting structure. The root of the issue is the lack of corporate governance in place at the company as a result of Chairman Peter Munks control of the board, Litt wrote in an analysts note. This control has resulted in key decisions being made driven by a desire to preserve the tax basis rather than maximize shareholder value. We see no easing in the pain for TRZ shareholders until the current structure is collapsed and Mr. Munks control over the election of TRZs board is eliminated.

During an analysts call, Litt suggested Munk wake up to the new world of corporate governance  the WorldCom executives had just been arrested, he pointed out  and lowered his analyst rating from outperform to sell. The stock took a hit.

Munk sued for defamation. The case was settled in the spring of 2005 with Citigroup Global Markets  the renamed Salomon  apologizing for any embarrassment the statements may have caused. Citigroup additionally donated $2 million to the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital.

Just because we up here havent heard much from Litt in the ensuing years doesnt mean hes been quiet. He runs his amusingly named Land & Buildings investment management company from Stamford, Conn., branding itself as a REIT specialist with an activist focus.

Consider Litts march on Taubman Centers, Inc., the U.S. retail company that has grown into Asian markets and is still run by a Taubman nearly 70 years after its creation.

Few words have been minced. The Taubman shareholder experience has been nearly 25 years of abysmal corporate governance practices and repeated capital allocation mishaps, Litt said in an investor presentation last October. The push for governance reform has had the support of the high-profile Institutional Shareholder Services and has resulted in promises from the company for accelerated board refreshment. Litt lost the battle to attain a board seat. Last week, he called on the company to make good on the refreshment promise by committing to the replacement of three directors by no later than the 2018 annual meeting.

Litt founded his company in 2008 but, according to Forbes, didnt turn to activism until 2012. He examines hundreds of stocks in search of underappreciated real estate or asset-rich companies with operational problems and stretched balance sheets, the magazine wrote in a profile in June of last year. Then he proposes fixes, either through management change, portfolio disposals or outright company sales.

In putting HBC on his radar, Litt, who has accumulated about 4.3 per cent of the companys stock, appears to be taking a more courtly approach. No question, Hudsons Bay under Richard Baker saw impressive sales growth in earlier years, but finds itself now in straightened circumstances. Announcing a loss of $221 million (Cdn.) for the quarter ended April 29 versus a loss of $97 million the previous year, the company has embarked on a cost reduction and restructuring strategy that includes a significant slashing of its workforce, by 2,000 employees.

Litt thinks he has divined the path forward via the companys real estate holdings. With real estate this valuable, there are a myriad options for value creation, all of which must be explored, he wrote in a release Tuesday. In a bit of retail sacrilege, he asks whether the Saks across from the Rockefeller Center  likely one of the most valuable locations not only in Manhattan, but in the United States  is really reaching its best use potential. (HBC acquired Saks in 2013.) Why not turn it into a hotel!

Litt doesnt break out the specific potential for the companys Canadian assets. HBC sold its 189 Zellers leases to Target in 2011 for $1.8 billion, leaving a long list of Bay leases, a few owned Bay stores, and leased Home Outfitters properties. The companys Canadian imprimatur is evident in its heritage products  Hudsons Bay blankets, etc.  but has long since faded as a Canadian entity.

Richard Baker has consistently emphasized the important contribution of the real estate portfolio overall, particularly the financing options it allows the company to pursue. And I suspect that Mr. Litt isnt proposing anything that Mr. Baker hasnt already considered. But turning Saks into a hotel? Or, worse, an office? Why not just cede retail defeat?

The risk, of course, is that Litt is pushing for short-term results over the long-term view. He hasnt yet suggested that theres been anything amiss in Bakers leadership. At least not yet. But this is just round one.

Jennifer Wells can be reached at jenwells@thestar.ca .

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Allegiant Air on Tuesday announced flights to additional destinations from Omaha.

Low-fare carrier Allegiant, which already flies from Omaha to Orlando and St. Petersburg, Florida, and Oakland, California, will add Phoenix and Las Vegas flights to its offerings at Eppley Airfield.

The flights will run twice weekly, with service to Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport starting Oct. 4 and service to Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport starting Nov. 17. The Las Vegas service will be year round while the Phoenix flights will be seasonable.

For more information, go to www.allegiantair.com
Michael Gilbert loves Mexico. He owns a house near Guadalajara and plans to become a snowbird when he retires.

But he was upset with Rogers, his home phone provider, since it excluded Mexico from its unlimited North American long distance calling plan.

Ive explained to Rogers that Mexico is part of North America. Its that large thing attached to Texas, he said.

My goal is to have Rogers acknowledge that Mexico is an integral part of North America. This has been going on for years. Its insensitive.

Mexico is part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which includes Canada and the United States. Mexico City is known as the most populated city in North America.

Gilbert finally had enough. When billed last February and March for calls made to Mexico by his wife Diane, who stayed close to home for family reasons, he decided to file a formal complaint.

Though his complaint was turned down by Rogers and later by the telecom ombudsman, he eventually won the changes he wanted.

We have updated the plan description to make sure it more clearly outlines whats included for all customers, said Rogers spokesperson Sarah Schmidt.

Gilbert, a philosophy professor at York University who teaches argumentation theory, seemed eminently qualified to succeed with this campaign. But he batted zero at first.

Rogers turned down his request to include Mexico in its unlimited North American long distance calling plan or change the plans name.

His appeal to the CCTS, the industry-funded ombudsman that deals with complaints against phone companies, also went nowhere.

Gilbert started with Rogers, where he used the live chat function to press his case.

I spoke to a young man, who got frustrated when I kept telling him, Look at a map. He eventually dropped me. I dont know if it was intentional or not, he said.

Next stop: The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS). It told him to go back to Rogers, and connected him to an agent in the companys office of the president.

She urged me to drop the matter. She said the CCTS has no jurisdiction over advertising. And designating North America as including only Canada and the U.S. was an advertising point, Gilbert recalls.

She said Id get a refund if I said the matter was resolved. I demurred. I am, after all, a philosopher. Part of our job is to be a pain in the neck.

Rogers then sent an email to the CCTS. It argued that an advertising complaint was outside of the ombudsmans scope. (Phone companies must pay the CCTS to handle individual complaints.) The CCTS has the power to investigate a case even if the telecom supplier objects. With Gilberts complaint, it determined that the matter was within its scope after all, since it concerned billing.

The customer is, in part, claiming that Rogers billed him incorrectly as Mexico is part of North America. Therefore, calls made to Mexico should be covered in his North America long distance plan, the CCTS said.

Three weeks later, the ombudsman turned down his request for Rogers to amend its policy for the following reasons:

Gilbert added the unlimited North American long distance feature to his account in July 2015. He was billed for calls to Mexico for more than a year before he filed his complaint in early 2017;

With reasonable diligence, he should have known that calls to Mexico were not covered;

Rogers had supplied the CCTS with an internal memo to employees, telling them to mention that calls to Mexico were not included.

This seemed originally to be a billing complaint, says Howard Maker, the commissioner. But when we spoke to Prof. Gilbert, we discovered he knew hed be billed for the calls to Mexico. He wanted to get Rogers to change the name of the plan.

We dont tell companies how to run their business. If Rogers wants to call it the Toronto Maple Leafs plan, I dont really care as long as Rogers discloses that calls to Mexico are not covered.

Schmidt said Rogers customers expect the details of its packages to be clear and explain the value they offer.

We appreciate the feedback that it didnt happen in this case, as we look at how we can improve, she said.

Gilbert complained to the Competition Bureau, a federal agency that regulates misleading advertising. I suggested going to Advertising Standards Canada, a not-for-profit self-regulatory body that has a standards code.

But he wont have to proceed after all.

Rather than continuing to deny that Mexico was part of North America, Rogers took a closer look and changed the wording to Canada and U.S. calling.

Ellen Rosemans column appears in Smart Money. Contact her at eroseman@thestar.ca

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NEW YORKDaniel Day-Lewis, one of the most widely respected actors of his generation and a three-time Oscar-winner, says hes retiring from acting.

The 60-year-old actor announced Tuesday that he has shot his last film and performed in his last play. That makes Paul Thomas Andersons already filmed Phantom Thread, due out in December, his final film.

Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor, his representative Leslee Dart said in a statement. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.

The announcement sent shock waves through Hollywood, where Day-Lewis is revered as possibly the finest actor of his time. But Day-Lewis has also long been an exceptionally deliberate performer who often spends years preparing for a role, crafting his characters with an uncommon, methodical completeness.

I dont dismember a character into its component parts and then kind of bolt it all together, and off you go, Day-Lewis told the AP in 2012, discussing Steven Spielbergs Lincoln. I tend to try and allow things to happen slowly, over a long period of time. As I feel Im growing into a sense of that life, if Im lucky, I begin to hear a voice.

He has stepped away from film before. In the late 1990s, he famously apprenticed as a shoemaker in Florence, Italy  a period he called semi-retirement. Phantom Thread, which Focus Features will release Dec. 25, is his first film in five years, following Lincoln.

A five-time Academy Award nominee, Day-Lewis is the only one to ever win best actor three times. He earned Oscars for My Left Foot, Lincoln and There Will Be Blood.

Day-Lewis, who is married to writer-director Rebecca Miller with three children, broke through with 1985s My Beautiful Laundrette, by Stephen Frears. His films since then have included The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, In the Name of the Father and Gangs of New York.

His last play was in 1989, a National Theatre production of Hamlet, in London. Day-Lewis infamously walked out in the middle of a performance, and never returned to the stage again.

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OTTAWAThe federal government is staying firm on its plan to legalize marijuana by next summer, even if it has to backstop provinces that arent ready to distribute cannabis or tax it.

Worries about the readiness for legalization were aired Monday when a meeting of federal and provincial finance ministers ended with no clear agreement on a co-ordinated strategy to tax cannabis or even on the principles to guide how it should be taxed.

Indeed, behind the scenes several provinces appealed to Ottawa to delay legalization to provide more time to prepare the myriad law enforcement and health moves required by the change.

But Ottawa wont budge on its deadline to legalize marijuana by July 2018, a fact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made clear Monday.

We gave everyone lots of time, Trudeau said on Parliament Hill. Weve been working for a long time with all the provinces, with municipalities . . . It is time to move on.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau says the approaching deadline to legalization should spur the work necessary to make it a reality.

We know that to get things done, we need to set a timeline. Thats exactly what weve done, Morneau told reporters after the meeting.

But after a day of meeting with no agreement on the issue  an agenda that also included topics such as the state of the Canadian economy and Canada-U.S. relations  he conceded that work lies ahead.

Every province was not ready yet to get to a conclusion, even on principles, just because were at different states of review of this issue, he said.

Morneau said tax rates on cannabis should be kept low to avoid encouraging pot users from seeking out cheaper, illicit producers. He said the federal finance department has started to do some modelling around possible tax rates and the price levels that would deter the black market for cannabis. Whats the taxation level that actually has that impact? We didnt get to a conclusion on rates today, Morneau said.

The finance ministers tossed around some numbers for tax rates at their Monday meeting, but Morneau said the talk didnt touch on revenue estimates. What we did talk about was the fact that revenues shouldnt be our driving goal, he said.

But Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa says that provinces want to ensure the tax revenue on cannabis covers the substantive costs they will face in ensuring necessary law enforcement and public health and education initiatives are in place for legalization. And he wants to ensure that the provinces are able to recoup the costs of distribution too.

We have yet to flesh that out, but its certainly something we want to make certain is accommodated as we proceed, Sousa said in an interview after the meeting.

Sousa said Ontario will be ready to meet Ottawas deadline. Will the rest of Canada be at that point? I dont know, he said.

Morneau conceded that is a question mark as well. But he was firm that cannabis will be legal by next summer, even if Ottawa has to backstop provinces that arent ready with their own distribution networks by providing, for example, mail-order delivery of legalized cannabis.

We have an agenda, we have a timeline and we have a backup plan, he said.

The federal task force on cannabis legalization last November recommended that taxes be set high enough to limit the growth of consumption, but low enough to compete effectively with the illicit market.

The task force also recommended that the tax scheme should be designed to discourage purchase of high-potency products. Morneau said that concept was not discussed Monday.

We yet havent got to conclusions on how exactly cannabis should be taxed, whether its on volume or potency. But we will need to be practical as we get to those conclusions to ensure that we have a regime that works, he said.

He said he intends to meet with his provincial counterparts again in December when we hope to have made significant progress.

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The mother of a Canadian killed while secretly fighting Daesh militants in Syria says shes relieved shell finally be able to lay her son to rest months after his death.

Tina Martino says a funeral will be held at St. Andrews United Church in Niagara Falls, Ont., on Wednesday for her 24-year-old son, Nazzareno Tassone.

She says Tassones body, which was repatriated just over a week ago, will first travel from Toronto down the Highway of Heroes.

Martino says the memorial will take place exactly a year after her son left home and exactly six months after his death  a coincidence she says she was shocked to discover.

Read more:

Body of Canadian killed fighting Daesh in Syria returned home, mother says

Canadian who died fighting Daesh in Syria remembered as a hero

Canadian reported killed fighting Daesh in Syria

Tassone was killed on Dec. 21 in the city of Raqqa while fighting militants associated with Daesh, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

The young man had told his family that he was going to Iraq to teach English, but he secretly slipped into Syria to join forces with a U.S.-backed Kurdish group called the YPG.

The YPG told Tassones family that his body was taken by Daesh militants, and wasnt recovered until May.

A few weeks later, Martino received the results of an autopsy conducted in Iraq, which she said concluded her son died from a blow to the head, not a gunshot wound as she had previously been told.

The autopsy report also found her son had broken bones, cigarette burns to his body and face, and marks that suggested he had been bound, she said.

It confused the family, however, because it listed Tassone as having a different hair colour, being several inches taller than he was and more than a decade older.

Even after officials said they had confirmed his identity through dental records, Martino said she initially had her doubts that the man whose body had been brought back was her son.

An autopsy has since been conducted in Canada, and while the full results are not yet available, Martino said the coroners office confirmed the body is indeed that of her son.

Im relieved to know that it was him, she said Tuesday. On the other hand I was pretty depressed to find out from the autopsy that was done in Iraq what had happened to his body.

Martino said shes proud her son will be honoured in a procession and hopes saying goodbye will help her get closure.

Knowing that he was coming home, a different feeling came over me, that its time to get back to work, she said. All my answers have been answered.

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A bar patron turned into a suspect last weekend after swiping a dismembered human toe from a renowned establishment in the Yukon  and though alcohol was involved, what prompted the theft is anyones guess.

The Sourtoe Cocktail has been a signature, exclusive drink of the Downtown Hotel in Dawson City for decades. And the bizarre experience has drawn in travellers with audacious bents from all around the world  the severed toe must kiss the lips of the drinker when they slug the shot back.

Weve been advertising that (the toes are) really hard to come by these days because hospitals are reluctant to release them, said Adam Gerle, general manager of the hotel. We get them from people who have had a medical procedure, like if someone has frostbite.

The suspect entered the establishment around midnight, cracking jokes about stealing the toe to his buddies, Gerle said. He was there with his girlfriend and they paid the bar tab, so we have his Visa slip.

A hotel news release said the suspect is from Quebec and failed to cover his tracks on the evening of June 17: police have a name because he left his drink certificate at the hotel bar, a souvenir doled out to customers who drain the shots.

The Dawson City RCMP said the investigation is active and that they have yet to identify the suspect.

Its not every day that were investigating a theft of the Sourtoe, a Dawson City tradition, said Jeff Myke, who works for the detachment.

But rest assured: The hotel has five extra toes handy, so customers can still get their kicks.

Theyre still gross, Gerle said about the other dehydrated digits. They have the nails, twisted and gnarly.

The toes are an invaluable asset from a business standpoint, said Geri Coulbourne, the hotels manager. More than 70,000 people have tried the drink, enough to fill several log books.

Every night, all summer, between 9 and 11 p.m. we have lineups out the door coming in from all over.

This makes justice a high priority for the hotel, which has no qualms about laying charges.

Its a crime, said Coulbourne.

Others have had similar itches to steal the loathsome toes in the past. In 2013, a man downed a big toe and paid a $500 fine upfront, said Gerle.

Rules are strict when patrons sign up for a Sourtoe Cocktail round as is: if they swallow or steal the cured toe, they are smacked with a $2,500 fine, which was raised after the 2013 incident.

Were trying to discourage stunts and copycats, said Gerle.

The drink has been considered a Dawson City must-do since the mid-70s. As legend has it, a Dawson City rumrunner enroute to the Alaskan border during the 1930s prohibition era froze his big toe after stepping off his dogsled into an icy overflow. His brother chopped off the frozen toe with an axe and preserved it in a jar of alcohol, in an attempt to prevent gangrene.

It was discovered years later in a cabin, and to commemorate the find, the Sourtoe Cocktail Club was born.

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The deadly opioid crisis is in the crosshairs of Torontos auditor general, who warns of evidence that specific physicians over-prescribed highly addictive drugs to city staff under their benefits plan.

As a result, some doctors could be hearing from their governing body while, as a result of a related probe, 10 city staff reimbursed for massive amounts of Viagra in recent years will face tough questions from their boss.

The findings are in Beverly Romeo-Beehlers update, released Tuesday, of her 2016 probe of millions of dollars in questionable city staff claims for narcotics including fentanyl, a powerful painkiller central to the deadly overdose crisis, and for sexual enhancement drugs including Viagra.

The auditor general has since obtained, from the citys former benefits administrator, identification numbers for physicians who dispensed drugs in a sample of cases she examined.

Romeo-Beehler was not able to see medical records or drug receipts from the dispensing pharmacies which limited the citys ability to detect how many, if any, of the prescriptions were fraudulent for the purpose of resale. Her probe had raised the prospects of patients double-doctoring  getting prescriptions from multiple physicians.

Overall, we did not find clear signs of double-doctoring in the sampled claimants, but we noted many cases showing signs of potential over-prescription of fentanyl or oxycodone by physicians, the update states.

Recent research in Ontario has shown an unfolding opioid crisis and increasing trend of opioid prescriptions, and clearly demonstrated the risk of over-prescription leading to addictions and overdoses.

Her sample of claims found 27 staff and four retirees reimbursed for potentially excessive quantities of fentanyl, a painkiller 100 times more potent than morphine and 750 times stronger than codeine.

For morphine, 14 doctors prescribed nine patients at least quadruple the recommended watchful dose.

For oxycodone, another highly addictive painkiller, 17 doctors prescribed excessive dosages, with one patient getting more than 800 milligram equivalents per day from one doctor.

Based on consultations with a medical specialist and the College of Physician and Surgeons of Ontario  the watchdog for doctor conduct  we are in the process of referring to (CPSO) the names of physicians who appeared to have prescribed excessive dosages of fentanyl and oxycodone, Romeo-Beehler wrote, adding that information does not identify any patients.

The city is also referring cases to the Ontario College of Pharmacists for further review and consideration where pharmacists dispensed potentially excessive doses of fentanyl and oxycodone.

Health Quality Ontario recently warned the number of opioid prescriptions in Ontario and the number of patients filling those prescriptions continues to rise despite heightened awareness of overdose risk.

Opioid-related overdoses are believed last year to have killed more than 2,400 Canadians, hundreds of them Ontarians  triggering emergency plans by provincial and local governments to reduce the needless deaths.

The auditor general also updated her probe into city staff reimbursed for an excessive quantity of on-demand erectile dysfunction drugs (obtained) from different doctors.

They include one person paid back $15,300 over three years for drugs including Viagra and Cialis. Some city staff were reimbursed for daily doses of two types of Cialis which are not supposed to be taken together.

We have recently provided details of our analysis results on the suspicious claims to city management staff for follow up, wrote Romeo-Beehler, who earlier recommended the city follow the lead of many other employers and put a cap on the amount of erectile dysfunction drugs staff can claim.

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As a meeting of the executive stretched past midnight and entered its 15th hour at city hall, Toronto Mayor John Tory admonished some of his closest council allies for what he called a late-night attempt to scuttle a temporary shelter required to house some of the citys most vulnerable residents.

His words in the early hours of Tuesday morning appeared to save the lease required to house the temporary shelter for men at 731 Runnymede Rd., just south of St. Clair Ave., from being renegotiated at the final hour.

Staff recommended a lease of 10 years, totalling $11.2 million, with two options to extend an additional five years each after that, following drawn-out negotiations with the landlord of the former Goodwill site.

But local Councillor Frances Nunziata, who had previously railed against the proposed location at the southern edge of her Ward 11 (York South-Weston), said the lease was never meant to be more than 10 years total. She claimed her community, where some members have lashed out against a shelter being proposed in their backyards, were misled.

The temporary shelter is needed to house those displaced by the planned revitalization of George St. downtown. Staff said the earliest that project could be complete is 2025 and that the lease agreement leaves flexibility with construction timelines.

Some on the executive, including Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong, said they were prepared to back Nunziata on a motion to cap the lease at a maximum of 10 years.

This former Goodwill store at Runnymede Rd. and St. Clair Ave. W. is the proposed site of an emergency men's shelter.





This is not the agreement that we had with the community, Minnan-Wong said. I think the community is right and I think the councillors right to view this with a healthy degree of skepticism, if not suspicion.

The mayor was last up to speak.

Im very disappointed that this discussion is taking place because I dont think were being honest about whats really on the table here, Tory said.

Then he turned to Minnan-Wong: Deputy Mayor, with respect, youre a lawyer. An option that exists in the lease is our option. Its for us. If we choose not to exercise it then it wont be exercised.

Lets talk about the real issue here. Because really, by sending this lease back, probably, were going to put this arrangement that has been years in the making in peril. And I think thats really what the idea is here, Tory said in an extraordinary speech referring to the motion from Nunziata, tabled by Councillor Cesar Palacio, suggesting she was pandering to her residents in the midst of a crisis of shelter capacity.

Im the one more so than anybody else in this room, when people are homeless in this city, has to answer for it and Im not going to answer by saying, Well, Im terribly sorry, we just couldnt find anywhere to put a shelter because people kept pushing back. Our conscience as members of this city council, as people elected to come here and deal with these issues and deal with the problems of our most vulnerable people, should be whats on our mind now . . . My conscience is clear.

Palacio, Nunziata and Minnan-Wong then broke the regular meeting process by jumping in to clarify their positions.

I want to be very clear for you and anybody else, Palacio said. We are not against shelters in anyway whatsoever.

Nunziata said she also supports shelters.

I really dont appreciate some members of council thinking that I dont support a shelter. I support the shelter, Nunziata said, noting she didnt at first agree to the location and that she successfully pushed for the original plan of 100 beds to be reduced by half to 50 beds.

Its the way that we communicated to the community. Its wrong. And if it was your community you would be just as upset as I am.

Staff earlier, when questioned on it, rejected statements by Nunziata that the shelter would not be well served by both transit and services.

Just before 12:30 a.m., Councillor David Shiner suggested an amendment that staff come back to council in 10 years before renewing the lease on the shelter, if necessary.

After staff agreed there would be no harm in that, Shiners motion passed 6-2.

The shelter lease was passed unanimously with that amendment. It will be considered by council at a meeting next month.

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A 77-year-old woman seeking medical assistance in dying has a reasonably foreseeable natural death, a judge declared Monday in an attempt to clear up uncertainty that left her doctor unwilling to perform the end-of-life procedure for fear of a murder charge.

The decision has been hailed by advocates for clarifying a confusing part of the assisted-dying legislation.

Two doctors found that the woman, known under a publication ban as AB, qualified for medical assistance in dying.

But the first doctor later said he was uncomfortable performing the procedure because another doctor had disagreed that the woman met the requirement of a reasonably foreseeable natural death, and because of the vagueness of the term reasonably foreseeable.

Superior Court Justice Paul Perell said the issue is the doctors abundance of caution and apprehensive misunderstanding of the medically-assisted dying legislation put in place a year ago.

To be reasonably foreseeable, the persons natural death doesnt have be imminent or within a specific time frame or be the result of a terminal condition, he said.

The legislation is intended to apply to a person who is on a trajectory toward death because he or she a) has a serious and incurable illness, disease or disability; b) is in an advanced state of irreversible decline in capability; and c) is enduring physical or psychological suffering that is intolerable and that cannot be relieved under conditions that they consider acceptable, he said.

ABs case clearly qualifies as she is an almost 80-year-old woman in an advanced stated of incurable, irreversible, worsening illness with excruciating pain and no quality of life, he said.

She was diagnosed with osteoarthritis when she was 43 and the pain got progressively worse over her life. By 2015 the pain for which she takes fentanyl and morphine became unbearable  she could not sit up at a table and often woke up screaming in pain.

I will remain here in this room forever, in pain, until someone allows me to die, she wrote in an affidavit. I have lived a good life and a long life . . . I simply want to quietly move out of life, end my intolerable suffering and go home to God.

ABs lawyer Andrew Faith says the courts decision is a relief for his client and hopes her physician will have the reassurance he needs.

He also hopes the decision will bring much-needed clarity for other doctors with patients in similar circumstances.

It is quite clear now that we are not talking about specific time-frames like six months or a year, says Shanaaz Gokool, the CEO of Dying with Dignity.

The government has said repeatedly you dont have to have to be terminally ill, you dont have to have a time frame, the prognosis that you have doesnt have to be what leads to your natural death, she said.

We have found an inconsistent application when it comes to the eligibility criteria . . . and I think this decision will go a long way to extinguish that sort of myth.

Gokool says there remains a shortage of doctors and nurse-practitioners who are involved in medical assistance in dying and hopes this decision will provide some comfort for both patients and doctors.

Gokool has come to know AB over the past few months and says she admires her determination and her perseverance.

I will miss her if and when she decides to have a medically-assisted death, Gokool said. She is a woman of a lot of courage.

In the decision, Perell said that his declaration would not interfere with prosecutorial discretion as argued by the Crown and will not exempt a medical professional from following the criteria laid out in the legislation.

All the court can do in the circumstances of the immediate case is to clarify what Parliament meant in (the legislation) so the Physician-1 and other physicians have no misunderstanding about how to comply with the legislation, Perell said. There is no floodgates concern because the court need do this only once for whatever benefit it may provide to AB and others.

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What remains of 38 Kensington Pl. is still accessible through a short alley, in the heart of Kensington Market.

Cleansed of its graffiti and missing most, if not all of its original tenants, the low-rise building is little more than a shell of what used to be a vibrant artist and student community.

Most of the renters may be gone, but tourists are welcome to spend the night in renovated portions of the old apartments through the popular home-sharing site Airbnb.

My friends and I painted these stairs, said former tenant Chris Leithead, climbing the stairwell to view an Airbnb unit at 38 Kensington Pl., inside one of the three-storey apartment buildings where he used to live.

We ripped up the carpet on the stairs and painted it, said Leithead, 26, a visual artist.

The Star went with Leithead to see a unit rented by a member of the Fairbnb Coalition, a group that was formed to draw attention to the impact Airbnb is having on affordable housing.

A key issue for the coalition is the rise of ghost hotels  when a building is cleared of tenants so owners can rent out the apartments, creating what is essentially a hotel.

Read more:Toronto to move forward with proposed rules on Airbnb-style rentals

Existing city bylaws do not allow landlords to arbitrarily transform permanent apartments into short-term rentals, or create pop-up hotels, but exactly how Airbnbs can operate in Toronto is under debate at city hall.

Leithead moved into 38 Kensington Pl. in the spring of 2015 and about a year later his building was one of five Kensington properties sold to Claude Bitton.

Tenants allege that Bitton and his employees came knocking door-to-door, asking for illegal rent hikes and used threats of eviction and intimidation tactics to get them out.

Bitton, in 2016, told the Star he was seeking fair market rent and it was his staff who were being intimidated. He did not respond to questions about the current use of 38 Kensington Pl.

The Star did reach paralegal Peter Balatidis, who recently represented Bitton at the Landlord and Tenant Board, for a different Kensington property.

That is a heck of an accusation that you are making, said Balatidis on Friday, when told the Star wanted to confirm with his client if any part of 38 Kensington Pl. was being used as an Airbnb.

Balatidis responded to questions sent to Bitton on Monday, about 38 Kensington and a decision following the tenant board hearing, stating in an email that his clients have no interest in communicating with you or with any other media outlet and any future inquiries should be sent to him.

In Toronto, the rising use of Airbnb has resulted in proposed regulations for short-term rentals. The latest draft was presented to the mayors executive committee Monday. Public consultations will follow, with a final report due back later this year.

Included in those draft recommendations is a rule that people can only offer up Airbnb rentals in properties where they are the principal resident.

Thorben Wieditz, with Fairbnb, said the new regulations are needed to prevent property owners from cashing in on evictions.

Landlords are incentivized, by and large because of a lack of regulations, to dispose of residents, said Wieditz. Any potential rental unit should be on the long-term rental market.

The unit the Star viewed was rented on Airbnb for $127 a night, plus $65 cleaning and $24 service fees, for a total of $216.

The listing boasts that up to four can sleep in a unit in a building that has undergone recent renovations, in a neighbourhood with art and famous graffiti artists everywhere full of food and bohemian charm.

Dominique Russell, chair of Friends of Kensington Market, said people who give the market its flavour are being squeezed out. Russell also toured the unit with the Star.

The life of Kensington Market is the people, so to advertise that it has all these interesting artists, well, it doesnt anymore because you have kicked them out, she said.

On Monday, nine units at Kensington Pl., which tenants say were created from three larger apartments, were on offer on Airbnb, although the address is not listed. All are advertised as the home of Marina, originally from Moscow, who has lived in Canada for two decades and is a huge fan of the arts & literature.

Leithead showed the Star part of what used to be unit 202.

Former tenant Jessica Pisarek, 30, identified part of her former apartment inside unit 203 through online listings sent to her by the Star.

She lived in the building for six months, halfway through her lease, before the building was sold.

It is not sustainable because you are going to lose the vibrancy of the community, said Pisarek. It is a Catch-22. You will make money in the short term, of course, but you are losing a lot of the culture and the community members who make the neighbourhood what it is.

Leithead and his roommates left in the fall 2016, after the rent hikes and threat of eviction became too stressful, he said.

He said the biggest change to his old home was a wall separating parts of the second floor and a new stove to create a separate kitchen.

Some things remained the same.

That is the shower curtain we bought and left behind, said Leithead, of the blue and white nautical print curtain.

Lindsey Scully, press secretary for Airbnb in Canada, said the company is looking into operations at 38 Kensington Pl.

Airbnb is opposed to the practice of evicting tenants in order to list a property on our platform and we believe any home sharing regulations should uphold this principle. We are currently investigating this user, Scully said in an emailed statement.

Some tenants stayed and applied to fight the rent hike, before the Landlord and Tenant Board.

Anders Yates, who has lived at 35 Kensington Ave. since 2013, said Bitton tried to raise their rent from $2,350 to $3,500, and when they said no, he told them he considered them trespassers.

Last week, an adjudicator determined that Bitton made several requests for unlawful increases in rent to Yates and his roommates and ordered they be given an abatement of $1,175.

Yates described the decision as heartening, but more of a moral victory.

It has been a long and frustrating ordeal, so it is really validating to have it confirmed by somebody in a position to know best that these actions that felt so wrong that our landlord was undertaking, that they were in fact wrong, he said.

They could still lose their home. Bitton has applied to have the apartment taken over by one of his children, said Yates. Moving a family member in is one way a landlord can legally evict somebody from a property. A date for that hearing has not been set, said Yates.

Leithead found a new apartment close to the market, but said rising rents and what he sees as a lack of penalties for bad landlords has left him feeling hopeless about his future housing prospects.

I grew up in Toronto, said Leithead. I dont know if I can continue to live in the city I grew up in because this is happening all over.

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The final day of testimony at the Andrew Loku coroners inquest homed in on racism and implicit bias, though not before impassioned debate between lawyers and an 11th hour motion to allow for the explicit mention of racism.

Now into its third week, the inquest has explored the causes contributing to the police shooting death of Loku, a Black mentally man killed by Toronto police Const. Andrew Doyle while Loku walked toward him holding a hammer.

As the last witness called, Dr. Kwame McKenzie, a psychiatrist and the director of health equity at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, stressed the need for organizations to acknowledge that racism exists in their institutions as a first step to enacting change.

Its 2017. Everyone knows that racism exists, McKenzie told the inquest. Good people in good organizations put their hands up and say: We know it exists and were going to do something about it.

Prior to taking the stand, McKenzies testimony caused some last-minute debate amongst the inquest parties, which include lawyers for the officers involved, Toronto police chief Mark Saunders, and rights groups including the Black Action Defence Committee (BADC), the Canadian Mental Health Association and Across Boundaries, a mental health organization serving racialized communities.

While implicit bias had been approved as part of the scope negotiated by parties before the inquest began, racism was not. In discussions in the absence of the five-person jury Monday, lawyers debated the use of the word, which has been included in a summary of McKenzies anticipated testimony.

Howard Morton, lawyer for Across Boundaries, the group that called McKenzie as a witness, said there was nothing wrong with confronting a live issue like racism.

To deprive me of the use of the word racism . . . it just confounds me and Im flummoxed to the nth degree about why were all afraid of that term, he said.

Marianne Wright, lawyer representing Chief Mark Saunders, said parties should stick to the notions which are within the scope of the inquest, including issues of intercultural competence.

Im struggling with the emotional content of the word racism, she said.

Citing Ontarios Coroners Act, which states inquests can only deal with the circumstances of the death, Carlisle ruled late Monday that questions of the witness will not explore the topic of racism.

The move provoked a last-minute application from BADC lawyer Selwyn Pieters asking for reconsideration.

It is a manifest error in the context of this case to speak of implicit bias and exclude racism, Pieters wrote in the motion. Racism is the elephant in the room in this case.

While Carlisles ruling was not overturned, in the end neither McKenzie nor inquest lawyers were prohibited from discussing issues of institutional racism, on which McKenzie is an expert. Outside coroners court Tuesday after McKenzies testimony had wrapped up, Pieters said he was pleased with the result.

Today, the witness was able to be questioned unimpeded and to delve into the issue of racism, and anti-Black racism, and I think we made some headway, he said.

In an interview outside the inquest, Idil Abdillahi, ex-officio board chair for Across Boundaries, called for a change to the Coroners Act to allow for the examination of broader issues at inquests, including racism.

We cant ignore that this man was a Black man, she said of Loku, who was a client of Across Boundaries. This active refusal to engage race and racism is what we see playing out here.

On the stand, McKenzie stressed the importance of collecting race-based statistics on encounters that result in a police officer using force. Toronto police have to-date not collected this information, in part because the forms that are mandatory to fill out after every incident are controlled by the province and do not have a field for such information.

In August 2015, one month after Loku was killed, an analysis by the Toronto Star found that, of the 51 fatal shootings involving the Toronto police between 1990 and 2015, at least 18 involved Black men, representing 35 per cent of fatal police shootings. Torontos black population at the time was roughly 9 per cent. In 17 cases, or 33 per cent, it was not possible to identify for certain the racial background of the person killed.

If you dont count things then people dont count  and the people who are not counted really dont count, McKenzie said.

Earlier this week, jurors heard from Toronto police Insp. Chris Boddy, who said the Toronto Police Service is committed to collecting race-based data on use-of-force incidents and is in the midst of drafting of a new form. It will then advise the province for final approval, he said.

I can tell you that we are going to be collecting race-based data, he said, adding that changes are also being made to the Toronto polices own form on the use of conducted energy weapons, in order to capture race and mental health information.

Asked about whether the Toronto police wanted to gather this data in order to understand use-of-force issues surrounding the intersectionality of race and mental health status, Boddy said Toronto police are very interested to have and understand that information.

And I know the community is as well, so were going to do it, he said.

Boddy also stressed that there is an explicit goal within the police service, communicated to all officers in mandatory annual in-service training, to have zero harm and zero deaths in encounters with the public.

The inquest also heard Monday from Staff Sgt. Ali Virji, who told jurors about the bias-free policing training recently adopted by the Toronto police. Every one of the approximately 5,000 uniform officers have received the one-day training, and elements of it have also been incorporated into the annual in-service training.

We are hoping for zero bias, Virji said.

The inquest resumes Friday, when the coroner will formally charge the jury, who may make recommendations on how to prevent similar deaths.

Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca

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Jacob Christensen started Lawnhiro about a year ago, and he and his business partner, Alex Moon, say the business has been growing steadily every month.

In fact, the Lincoln pair just expanded their on-demand lawn service to Omaha.

They saw Tuesday's Inside/Outside Innovation Summit at Pinnacle Bank Arena as a chance to get their name out and connect with other "new innovation companies like us," Christensen said.

For Lienwaivers.io, there was more of a focus on finding investors.

"We're in a spot where we need to expand," Geoff Arnold, CEO of the Sioux City, Iowa, cloud-based construction payment platform that has clients in 12 states.

The two companies were among about five dozen startup businesses that were part of the Summit's Startup Showcase.

Most of the companies were from the Silicon Prairie area of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri.

But there also were companies from Atlanta, San Francisco and other parts of the U.S. And two overseas companies, one from Australia and one from Ireland, even made the trek.

For Brian Ardinger, the roster of companies and speakers that came to Lincoln for the event was more than he could have hoped for.

"This far exceeded our expectations, said Ardinger, managing director of Econic, a Lincoln-based consulting firm that helps corporations engage with startups.

Econic came up with the idea for something that is relatively new to this part of the country.

The idea behind the summit is to bring together high-growth startup companies with corporations looking to innovate, with the goal of creating new technologies and products.

The mission seems to have been accomplished. Among the sponsors of the event were some of Lincoln's most well-known companies, including Nelnet, Ameritas, Assurity and Sandhills Publishing.

Speakers included many local executives and startup experts as well as representatives of global companies such as LinkedIn, Samsung, Estee Lauder and Procter & Gamble.

The summit will continue on Wednesday, culminating with a pitch competition involving about eight to 10 companies, with the winner receiving a $100,000 investment from Nelnet.

Lienwaivers.io is one of the companies competing in the contest, and Arnold, the CEO, said it was a big reason the company attended the summit.

"It's a fairly sizable investment," he said.
Most Toronto parents know they have to sign up for child care the moment their babies are born if they hope to secure a licensed spot in time to return to work.

But many dont realize competition is equally fierce when kids start kindergarten and parents still need care for the beginning and end of the typical workday.

When Stephanie Nakitsas and her husband registered their daughter for junior kindergarten at Gledhill Jr. Public School in February, 56 others were already on the wait list for before- and after-school care.

The child-care centre in the school near Danforth and Woodbine Aves. has capacity to serve barely one-third of Gledhills kindergarten students. The only licensed child-care centre in the area that walks children to and from the school is also full.

We knew the early years were going to be really difficult, says Nakitsas. We just expected when we got our daughter into school, that the juggle would end.

The only viable alternative, she says, is nanny sharing, an unregulated and more expensive option Nakitsas and her husband arent keen on.

It doesnt seem to make sense, especially when the government is investing so much to make full-day kindergarten work, she says. I think they should really be making sure there is a regulated spot for every kid who needs one.

That was the vision in 2009, when the premiers early learning adviser Charles Pascal recommended full-day kindergarten and a seamless day of learning from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., for families who need it.

The Liberals under then premier Dalton McGuinty began rolling out the program in 2010, and by 2015, every elementary school in Ontario was offering it. But problems with the extended-day portion persist.

Pressure is particularly acute in the citys east end, where high demand for infant, toddler and preschool child care has grown into a crunch for school-age children.

Mother Nadine Blum of Toronto East Enders for Child Care queried members of parent Facebook groups in the area last month and found that a majority of 21 local schools mentioned by parents were not able to meet demand.

Every school seems to be different, says Blum, who struggled to secure a kindergarten spot for her son. In some cases, its first come, first served. Others use a lottery system  and in some schools parents are being told there is insufficient demand. Its very confusing and causing a lot of stress.

Christine and Meaghan Davies considered taking their toddler out of a licensed child care centre near their work and hiring a nanny so their 4-year-old daughter Fiona would have someone to care for her before and after school when she starts kindergarten in September. Late last week, the couple made arrangements with a neighbour to pick up Fiona. But they consider themselves lucky.

Its not like a few families are being left to find alternate arrangements. Its dozens of families, says Christine Davies.

Davies is particularly upset the province isnt allowing the local businesses that have sprung up to provide after-school programs for students in Grades 1 to 6 to also pick up children in kindergarten. Under provincial regulations, only licensed child care programs can serve more than five kids of this age during the school year.

For single mother Dawn Barclay who moved to an apartment in the area last month, the lack of licensed before- and after-school care for her daughter has put her in a serious financial bind.

Barclay has a child care subsidy for Layla at her downtown daycare, but will have nowhere to use it when the three-and-a-half-year-old starts kindergarten in the neighbourhood this fall.

I cant use my subsidy on unlicensed care, and I cant afford to pay a neighbour, she says. A friend has offered to help for free, but Barclay says she needs certainty. Informal arrangements can change.

Daycares say they are scrambling to add space to meet demand, but are having trouble attracting qualified staff for low-wage, split-shift work.

We know that we need to do more to support Ontarios world-class early childhood educators, particularly as we expand child care and before- and after-school care across the province, said Indira Naidoo-Harris, minister responsible for early years and child care.

As a result, the government is developing child-care workforce and affordability strategies to help transform the system, she said in an email.

Earlier this month, the province announced $1.6 billion to help create 45,000 new spaces in schools and the community by 2022. Another $200 million this year will make care more affordable for 24,000 families, she added. Torontos share is almost $34.5 million, mostly for children under age 4.

A federal-provincial agreement signed last week will provide an additional $100 million over three years and also supports the expanded duty for district school boards (to provide) before- and after-school programs, Naidoo-Harris said.

At Earl Beatty Public School near Danforth and Coxwell Aves., Beatty Buddies Daycare is expanding its 26-space kindergarten program by 13 spots this fall and adding room for 30 more in its 45-space program for students in Grades 1 to 6. But the daycare still has a wait list of 15.

It is not unusual for us to be sitting for half an hour with a parent who is falling apart because they cant find what they need, says Lisa Winters, the daycares manager director.

This was meant to be a program that was seamless  that would move us away from a patchwork system, she says. But they just created another one that is even more difficult to navigate. Not only for the parents but for the boards and for (child care) operators.

Jennifer Story, a Toronto District School Board trustee, thinks it is time to revisit Pascals original recommendation that envisioned two early childhood educators and a teacher caring for children in the same classroom from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m., for parents who need it.

Boards in Ottawa and Waterloo adopted Pascals model, but in the rest of the province, including Toronto, school boards chose to have on-site child care programs run the extended-day portion.

And if daycares cant find enough qualified staff willing to work split shifts, they cant expand to meet the need, Story says.

The trustee says she hopes a city-school board working group reviewing full-day kindergarten will come up with some viable strategies to address the problem when it reports in the fall.

Elaine Baxter-Trahair, general manager of Toronto childrens services, wants the city to apply for provincial funding under a recently announced innovation fund to test new models for school-age care.

I think were really coming to a point now where to really achieve true transformation, we need to work with the province and the (school) boards to get back to that seamless day, Baxter-Trahair says of Pascals model. Because the split shifts are becoming an increasing challenge.

BeachesEast York Councillor Janet Davis, a longtime child-care advocate, says she thinks the province needs to earmark funding to support expansion of school-age child care. Starting in September, schools boards are required to provide care for students up to Grade 6 where there is sufficient demand.

The introduction of before- and after-school programs for kindergarten and up has not been implemented with adequate funding, she says. Parents work full-time throughout the year. They need and want good quality for their children outside of school hours and that means before, lunch and after school, all holidays and summer break. This has not been looked at holistically.

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Rows of tables set cafeteria-style, the smell of burning sage from an Indigenous smudge ceremony, a devotional chant by members of the Rifai Sufi order and a dervish who whirled meditatively.

Some 200 people gathered at the 519, the community centre at Church and Wellesley Sts., for the 15th annual Peace Iftar, an event for Muslims and non-Muslims of all genders, orientations and abilities to break bread together during Ramadan, the month of religious observation that includes a fast from sunrise to sunset.

For those of you who are here for the first time, who are in a Muslim space for the first time, and are in a Muslim space that started out with an Indigenous smudge ceremony, yes it all does make sense, organizer El-Farouk Khaki told the Toronto group. The Quran teaches us that God the creator sent messengers and enlightened beings to all people at all times.

Read more:

London mosque attack suspect identified as U.K. authorities move to ease tensions

Some 5,000 kilometres away, scenes of chaos, people screaming, running helter-skelter.

Unbeknownst to the Toronto gathering, tragedy had shredded through the post-prayer calm of other Ramadan observers who had just broken their fast after a white man ploughed a white van into a group of worshippers near a mosque in Finsbury Park in North London.

Eventually one man was caught and pinned to the ground. An imam of the mosque, Mohammed Mahmoud, was lauded as a hero for making sure the mob did not seriously harm the man.

In Toronto, Khaki is a bit of a star in these surroundings. Hes a lawyer and a Muslim queer activist who, in 1991, founded Salaam, a support group for gay Muslims, and in 2009, an inclusive prayer space called El-Tawhid Juma Circle in the Toronto Unity Mosque.

He talked about the similarities of the spiritual cleansing in the Smudge Ceremony to the vidhu or tayammum in the Muslim tradition. So we see the interconnections and we hope you do too.

Sundays parallel events showed those interconnections are lacking when it comes to viewing Muslims.

Stepping out of that Peace Iftar onto Church Street to find my phone dinging with news of the London attack created dissonance, and then there was this headline from the Daily Mail:

White van driver injures at least 10 people after ploughing into a crowd outside Londons Finsbury Park mosque where hate cleric Abu Hamza once preached as Muslims finish their evening prayers.

Its a notably bad headline not just for its length, but also for victim-blaming. The mosque was known as a hotbed of extremism post 9/11, its true, but it overhauled its management and in 2014, became the first mosque to win a prestigious award for combating extremism.

Yet, that headline has a saving grace. It, at least, mentions the white van driver.

What about The Associated Press, that gateway of global journalism?

Vehicle strikes several pedestrians on London road.

Or this one from ABC (Australias equivalent of the CBC): One dead, terror probe launched after van targets Muslims near London mosque.

Because, you know, vans go around targeting people.

Terrorism, it appears, has a face. It is dark-skinned or it wears a beard, or a skullcap, or a veil. Those are the qualifiers for having race/ethnicity labels for terrorists.

Will the suspect be labelled a white terrorist as is the practice for Muslim terrorists?

Im not advocating two wrongs to make a right; but not acknowledging the hypocrisy here is wilful blindness.

A white terrorist does not represent all whites when he sympathizes with violent supremacist ideals (which at this point we dont know if the London suspect does). A white terrorist does not even represent those whites who secretly believe they are superior to other races but will not condone violence in that cause.

Can we accept that the same is true for Muslims?

It appears not. In Canada, hate crimes against Muslims in 2015 were up 61 per cent over the previous year. Some 11 per cent of the overall hate crimes in 2015 were targeted by sexual orientation. I dread to think of what those figures are post the U.S. election.

It is incredible, saddening, said Lisa Gore Duplessis, a director at the 519, on Sunday. She announced a new initiative that borrows from the Toronto For All poster campaign by OCASI, the Ontario agency serving immigrants.

The 519 will partner with Unity Mosque and OCASI to sort of twist and queerify that campaign and launch it in the summer time, she said.

Poster campaigns are a valiant effort at creating awareness, but pre-November 2016 strategies to combat hate are no longer adequate. What is needed now is accountability from those who foster division.

Shree Paradkar tackles issues of race and gender. You can follow her @shreeparadkar

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When Premier Kathleen Wynne raised the possibility of a high-speed train line between Toronto and London last month, the response was a resounding thud.

Can a government that has made such a mess of transit be trusted with a project as ambitious as this? And besides, why Toronto to London? Wouldn't Toronto to Montreal make more sense?

That's what former federal minister of transport, David Collenette, thought. But then in 2015, Wynne appointed him the province's special adviser for high-speed rail.

During my days in Ottawa, Collenette recalls, we always focused on the Toronto-Montreal corridor where the ridership was. After the premier asked me to do this, I quickly realized that there has been an explosion of growth west of Toronto. It became obvious there was a good business case for the line. The demand is already there, but it would increase once you have viable service.

For a population accustomed to getting around on Highway 401, high-speed rail is hard to take seriously. Talk of this sort has been heard since at least the 1970s; it goes in one ear and out the other. But in the meantime, Ontario has changed more than many realize. Old notions of a rural landscape dotted with a series of discrete cities and towns is giving way to a more regional configuration poorly served by public transit. At the same time, the 401 has reached a state of terminal congestion.

I get the skepticism, admits provincial transportation minister, Steven Del Duca. The big issue for us is how do we get democratic buy-in from people. The costs are not inconsequential. I believe there's a strong business case. In some cases, the shift away from the car has already started. We as a government have to prepare for whatever form that shift might take.

For this government that means autonomous vehicles as well as high-speed rail. More dubiously, it also includes widening parts of the 401 and extending Highway 407 in addition to the one-stop Scarborough subway extension.

Though most Ontarians probably prefer car-based measures to fast trains, we are quickly being overtaken by the realities of gridlock and global warming. Canada's rail reluctance is rooted in a mindset that favours cars and views trains as transit for those who can't afford to drive. That means it need not compete; schedules are inconvenient and service minimal. Passenger trains here share tracks with freight trains, which are given precedence.

What has eluded us, perhaps, is the idea that passenger trains can be run as a business. In the U.K., where railways have been privatized, many train lines are profitable. Indeed, what has Britons outraged is that rail operators, mostly foreign, are making out like bandits. Still, because the state retains ownership of the tracks, government can fine franchisees and/or cancel their contracts if they fail to meet contractual obligations.

So while Ontarians are busy pooh-poohing the idea of high-speed rail, global infrastructure investors, including some from the U.K., are licking their lips in anticipation. Given that there are more than 62,000 drives between Toronto and Kitchener daily, the idea of a 45-minute train ride suddenly seems very attractive. We have reached a tipping point in terms of congestion, Collenette says. So when you provide a rail alternative, people are quite happy to take it.

According to Del Duca, It's a quality-of-life issue. As he also makes clear, it's an economic issue, too. The benefits of cutting travel times between Toronto and London to 75 minutes goes beyond mere convenience. The expectation is that high-speed rail would connect a string of communities including St. Thomas, Chatham and Guelph as well as Toronto, London and Windsor. The result would be a huge regional conurbation whose potential now awaits realization.

Those with visions of Japanese bullet trains or the Eurostar zipping between London and Paris at 300 kilometres an hour might be disappointed with Ontario's more modest proposal. Maximum speeds here would be more like 250 km/h, still considerably faster than the 401.

Were such trains to be built, the most important result, aside from much improved connectivity, might be to create a sense of regionalism stronger than the psychology of separateness that currently prevails in towns and cities across southern Ontario. Toronto would sit at the centre of a vastly expanded network, both enhanced and enhancing. Knit together by a network of trains, transit and highways, this larger-community-in-the-making would enable Ontario  and Canada  to be fully part of the 21st century.

Christopher Humes column appears weekly. He can be reached at jcwhume4@gmail.com

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A rumble between Canadian airports and a Quebec-based corporation called Flight Claim is taking off this week, after Flight Claim was barred from advertising in Pearson International Airport and had their ads abruptly removed from Pierre Elliott Trudeau International.

Flight Claim  which was founded in July last year  aids passengers in securing compensation for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights. The company takes 25 per cent of the payout in successful cases. Until Friday, it had been running advertisements in the baggage claim area of the Montreal airport and was seeking to branch out into Toronto.

We find that its the airports responsibility to inform the passenger of their rights. Or at least not to stop us, Jacob Charbonneau, the companys general manager, told the Star on Thursday.

Read more:

Pearson wants funding, federal help to turn airport into mega hub

What you can claim during flight delays: Roseman

Flight Claims bid for a marketing spot in Toronto began on March 23, when Charbonneau approached Astral Media  the manager of ad space at Pearson. A brief phone call took place between Astral Media and Flight Claim, where Charbonneau said he was asked for details about the business  namely, whether or not they planned to sue airlines.

(It) is a possibility, because were there to defend the passenger rights, Charbonneau said in an interview. Shortly following, Flight Claim was denied its bid to advertise in the airport.

We were a bit surprised that we couldnt at Pearson, since its a public space, Charbonneau said. Though he is correct that the federal airport is currently run by not-for-profit authorities, the Star reported in March that the Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) is now open to letting private investors take a stake in Pearson.

After some thought, Flight Claim decided to appeal its case last week. On June 8, Charbonneau penned a letter to the GTAA, the operator of Pearson. The purpose of this letter is to seek a review of the GTAAs decision denying Flight Claim Canada the right to advertise at Toronto Airport, he wrote.

We ask to meet with the Board of Directors of Toronto Airport to present our company and our services, so that GTAA can review its position regarding our request to post advertising at Toronto Airport.

This Tuesday, at 3 p.m., Charbonneau met with the GTAA. But the decision was upheld. In a statement emailed to the Star, the GTAA wrote that at this time, the new passenger bill of rights is currently being debated at second reading in the Canadian House of Parliament, which will influence the final outcome of those regulations.

Before enabling businesses to profit by advertising to travellers, the GTAA has a responsibility to ensure that there is clarity for its passengers about what these new rules mean and how they can be protected by them.

When the Star contacted Aeroports de Montreal to inquire why the advertisements were allowed in their buildings, its media relations office responded that any Flight Claim advertisements have now been cancelled.

Since you brought it up, we looked at the video and it did not meet our criteria for advertising at the airport, it said. Its mostly our values and our politics. Further clarification was denied.

When informed of the change, Charbonneau was caught off guard.

Im disappointed that our ads designed to educate the public of their rights have been removed without any explanation, he wrote in an email.

Now, he plans to take the case to Transport Minister Marc Garneau. The company has retained the assistance of the PR firm Media Profile, and vice-president Adrienne Simic explained the companys stance to the Star.

When they attempted to secure advertising the first time, they were told that the airlines are (Pearsons) biggest clients . . . they dont want to take sides.

But, she added, the business feels that by not allowing them to advertise, they are.

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Andrew FitzGerald made a plea to Ottawa on World Refugee Day: please clear the backlog of the private sponsorship program by June 30, 2018.

Its a demand echoed across Canada by church and community groups, some having been waiting for as many as five years to resettle their matched refugees to Canada for a safe, stable life.

There is a backlog of 45,000 people sitting with the immigration department. Some are partially processed, said FitzGerald of Canada4Refugees, a grassroots advocacy group for the private sponsorship community.

The government has said its taking in 16,000 privately sponsored refugees a year and the goal was to clear the backlog by the end of 2019. But new applications keep coming. At the rate things are going, we are concerned it wont happen.

A petition launched by Canada4Refugees on Tuesday has already got the endorsement of the Office for Refugees, Archdiocese of Toronto, the Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims, as well as other refugee advocacy groups. The United Nations has designated June 20 as World Refugee Day.

Bernie Derible, spokesperson for Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, said the government inherited two-thirds of the backlog from its Conservative predecessor, which imposed a much lower annual quota for privately sponsored refugees from around the world.

Officials had to prioritize resources to handle the massive public interest in resettling Syrian refugees to Canada over the last two years, said Derible, but the government is committed to bringing the private sponsorship program operation back on track.

We need a disciplined approach to get the backlog done, Derible told the Star on Tuesday, adding that ongoing applications inflow had already been factored in with the governments 2019 timeline.

We are now back to a normal application level. We are focused on getting the processing time down. But clearing the backlog in June 2018 is not going to happen.

Canada4Refugees said the growing backlog is a result of the increased demand from those recently resettled in Canada for assistance in reuniting family members separated due to the Syrian and other international conflicts.

FitzGerald said the delay has serious consequences for those who live in danger and need Canadas protection, as well as for the countrys estimated 8,000 community sponsorship groups who may lose volunteers frustrated with the slow process.

Given it is the intention of the government to process all the backlog applications in three years, completing the process 18 months earlier would only mean shifting some of the expense from 2019 to 2018, he noted.

Earlier in June, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered strict timelines for criminal trials  18 months in provincial court, and 30 months in superior courts, said FitzGerald, and the same principle should apply to refugee sponsorship processing time.

These people are living in dangerous and uncertain situations and they have a right to have timely reviews of their sponsorship applications. The same humanitarian and judicial principles should apply, said FitzGerald, whose sponsorship group has two sponsorship applications for four individuals in the backlog.

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Two boards in Greater Toronto are receiving funding for new schools and renovations, which are among 38 projects announced this week that will also create 460 child-care spaces across the province.

The governments announcement was welcomed by the Ontario Public School Boards Association, which cautioned, however, that the province needs to be more open in how it decides which projects to fund from boards own lists of top priorities.

This is a much-needed and continued investment in the infrastructure of our schools and ultimately in our communities, particularly those that have gone through school consolidations and closures, said association president Laurie French.

However, while this funding is welcomed, we will continue to advocate for increased flexibility in infrastructure funding approaches for boards, transparency in the approval process for capital projects and better alignment between government priorities and capital funding to ensure current local infrastructure needs of all school boards are supported.

The money, announced Monday in Hamilton by Education Minister Mitzie Hunter, will fund 10 new buildings as well as renovations for 28.

By building the best possible learning environments for our students, we are laying the groundwork for their future success, Hunter said in a statement. These new and renovated schools will support the well-being and achievement of students across the province for years to come.

The Dufferin-Peel Catholic board will renovate four schools  St. Gregory, St. Herbert, St. Valentine and St. Bernadette  at a cost of $3.1 million, said Bruce Campbell, manager of communications.

These funds allow us to enhance infrastructure and hence the learning environments at four Mississauga schools that will be receiving students as the board closes or merges schools.

The Halton Catholic board will put an addition on St. Mark elementary, adding space for 124 students, as well as open a new elementary school in Oakville for 527 students.

In total, the province will spend $255 million on school construction this year, and says it has spent $9.3 billion since 2013.

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There will be no exemptions from Ontarios sweeping new labour reforms, including for public-sector employers like the LCBO, warns Premier Kathleen Wynne.

With the threat of a strike Monday by 8,000 unionized workers at the provincial booze monopoly, Wynne has put a stop to rumours the Liquor Control Board of Ontario would not have to abide by the changes.

I will just say the plan for fair workplaces will apply to everyone, she said Tuesday, referring to legislation that will force employers to pay workers equal pay for equal work, regardless of their full-time, part-time or temporary status.

The new law would ban firms from classifying workers as independent contractors when they are in effect full-time employees.

So in the LCBO situation, for example, there will be no exemption for Crown employees, said Wynne, unhappy that some are claiming the OPSEU members would not enjoy the same protections as other workers.

Its just not true and I want to make it clear, the premier told reporters at Amazon Canadas Toronto headquarters.

As Ive said before  government needs to lead the way on that. So Crown employees would not be exempted, she said.

But in terms of the negotiation at the table, Im not going to weigh in. I really believe that that has to unfold at the table and I hope that theyll find a resolution.

The LCBO, meanwhile, is warning Ontarians to stock up in the event of a walkout.

With the union in a legal strike position as of 12:01 a.m. Monday  the question we continue to hear from our customers is should they prepare for a potential labour disruption? the company said in a statement.

The strike deadline falls at one of the busiest times of the year when customers are planning activities with family and friends over the Canada Day long weekend, the 650-store chain said.

We expect an increase in customer traffic at LCBO stores this week. To ensure access to the best product selection and to avoid longer than normal checkout lines, we encourage customers to shop as far in advance of Sunday, June 25 as possible, it said.

Some LCBO stores across the province will operate on extended hours leading up to the strike deadline. Should a labour disruption happen, (the) LCBO is planning to provide some level of service across the province.

The Ontario Public Services Employees Union has noted that almost six out of seven LCBO workers are considered part-timers  even though many have worked decades at the company.

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NORRISTOWN, PA.The judge who presided over Bill Cosbys sexual assault trial will decide Wednesday whether to identify jurors who deadlocked in the case after a week of deliberations.

Judge Steven ONeill fears there would be a chilling effect on jurors needed for Cosbys retrial if the first jury discusses the deliberations with the media. Lawyers for several media outlets argued at a hearing Tuesday that jurors names should almost always be public to ensure transparency in the judicial process.

Lawyer Eli Segal, arguing on behalf of the Philadelphia Media Network and other outlets, said jurors should be free to discuss their backgrounds, the sequestration process and their individual views, even if  under ONeills order in the case  they do not disclose the jury split or other jurors comments.

This is a critical part of the justice system, Segal argued. We are entitled to them.

Read more:

Alternate juror in Bill Cosby sex assault case: I probably would have convicted him

Cosby team triumphant, but sex crime retrial, lawsuits loom

Cosbys wife lashes out after sex-assault case declared mistrial

ONeill, who has already had the case for nearly two years, sounded skeptical. He plans to retry the case within four months.

Cosby, who turns 80 next month, is accused of drugging and molesting a woman at his home in 2004. Dozens of other women have also accused him of sexual assault, but this was the only case to result in criminal charges.

When we were selecting a jury, we were very adamant about their privacy, the judge said at the hour-long hearing. Just because they have signed up to do their civic duty in this case should not necessarily impose a lot of media upon them.

Both prosecutors and defence lawyers opposed the medias request. Like the judge, they worry about finding 18 unbiased jurors for the retrial of the case, given the worldwide coverage of the comedians first trial. Hundreds of journalists descended on the Montgomery County Courthouse in Norristown for the trial.

Lawyers for more than a dozen media outlets, including The Associated Press and the major TV networks, argued that juror interviews would do little to exacerbate the situation.

The initial jury was selected from the Pittsburgh area and spent two weeks sequestered 300 miles from home. The seven men and five women deliberated for more than 52 hours without reaching a verdict on any of the three counts.

Also Tuesday, the woman whose police complaint led to the trial thanked supporters.

Thank you for the outpouring of love & kindness & support. I am eternally grateful for the messages I have received in recent days, Andrea Constand said in a tweet.

Constand, 44, of Toronto, met Cosby through his alma mater, Temple University. Cosby has called their sexual encounter consensual.

Alternate juror Mike McCloskey said Monday he was ridiculously sick when he found out the main jury couldnt reach a verdict. He says he probably would have voted to convict, though he did not take part in the deliberations. He found the taped phone call played in court between Cosby and Constands mother, in which Cosby described the sexual encounter with her daughter, particularly disturbing.

Pennsylvania law allows the public release of jurors names, but judges have discretion to keep them a secret under certain conditions. McCloskey first came forward to a Pittsburgh radio station.

ONeill advised jurors when the trial ended Saturday that they didnt need to discuss the case.

It can never be clearer that if you speak up, you could be chilling the justice system in the future if jurors are needed in this case, ONeill told them.

The AP does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they grant permission, which Constand has done.

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LONDONNeighbours and acquaintances described the man who allegedly attacked a group of Muslim worshippers as an unemployed lout who was drinking heavily and making anti-Muslim remarks in the days before the attack  details to be closely examined as the investigation widened Tuesday.

The attack unfolded Monday when the alleged assailant, identified by British media as 47-year-old Darren Osborne, drove a rental van into a crowd of Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in the north London neighbourhood of Finsbury Park, an area with a significant Muslim population. The larger Finsbury Park Mosque, which was once associated with several extremist preachers before it was shut down and reformed, is located nearby. Nine people were injured in the attack.

One man also died outside the Muslim Welfare House as evening prayers concluded for the holy month of Ramadan. Makram Ali, 51, died at the scene in his daughters arms. She told neighbours that the van had run over his legs.

Edward Gardiner, who lives in the alleged assailants neighbourhood outside the Welsh capital of Cardiff some 150 miles from where the attack occurred, said he called police early Sunday morning to report a man who appeared to be drunk sprawled inside a parked rental van. He said the man appeared to be sleeping across the vehicles front three seats with the door open. On Saturday, Osborne had been thrown out of the Hollybush pub after drinking heavily and getting into an argument.

I could smell alcohol on him and he was grunting and groaning, Gardiner said. I poked him but he didnt respond so I called (police). I didnt think anything about it but then I saw the news reports, and it was the same guy, the same van.

Read more:

London mosque attack suspect identified as U.K. authorities move to ease tensions

Vehicle strikes crowd outside London mosque, causing casualties: police

79 now believed to have died in Grenfell Tower fire

British authorities have said the attacker, who is being held on terror charges, was not known to them or associated with extremist groups, but investigators are exploring reported anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim remarks. Police are also looking into a statement made by his family that he was troubled for a long time. Police, who havent formally named him, said Tuesday they could not release details on whether the attacker was drunk at the time of the attack or whether he was on other medication.

In a statement on behalf of the family, Osbornes nephew, Ellis Osborne, said they were devastated for the families of the victims but said that his uncle was not a racist. Osbornes sister, Nicola, said her brother had been troubled for a long time.

The attack, which followed three Daesh, also known as ISIS, inspired attacks in Britain, drew criticism from the Muslim community, which said police were slow to call the incident a terror attack. They also complained that a recent spike in hate crimes targeting Muslims has garnered little attention. Since the London Bridge attack earlier this month, police say hate crimes against Muslims have increased five-fold.

The attacks, which have left 34 dead and scores wounded, have polarized some sections of Britain, already divided over the decision to leave the European Union in a vote that was largely fuelled by racist, anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric fanned by right-leaning tabloids.

During Mondays attack, witnesses described hearing the assailant shout: I am going to kill Muslims! He was detained by members of the public before police arrived.

Pub regular Phil Henry said Osborne was kicked out of the Hollybush pub on Saturday after shouting about Islam.

He came in here and he was just staring before he started shouting, he said.

Khadijeh Sherizi, who converted to Islam in 2003, said Osborne was usually polite and her children, who are Muslims, would play with his children most days.

But on Saturday, she said Osborne approached her 12-year-old son and called him inbred. The next day, Osborne repeated the insult to her 10-year-old daughter, Sherizi said.

We are Muslim, but I am white, Sherizi said. Sometimes I feel threatened with my veil on. I know exactly what people are thinking by their looks.

Neighbours said Osborne had been living in a tent after being kicked out of the family home. He has four children, according to British media.

After Mondays attack, the alleged assailant was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and later charged with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism, including murder and attempted murder.

Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, called the incident quite clearly an attack on Muslims.

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BRUSSELSThe European Commission wants all Belgians, and the world at large, to know: your famous fries are safe!

A regional Belgian minister had alarmed the nation with warnings that  sacrilege!  the EU would force fries to be blanched before they hit the fat to remove a cancer-causing element as much as possible. It would fundamentally change the family way of doing fries, which are raw, then dunked twice in fat of increasing heat.

The result should be soft on the inside, crispy and golden on the outside with enough fat to make sea salt  and slathers of mayonnaise  stick.

Blanch it first and the time-honoured process would become impossible.

It would be an enormous impoverishment of our fries culture, Flemish Tourism Minister Ben Weyts wrote to the European Health Commissioner. It would be a shame if the EU would ban this heavenly tradition, said the letter, obtained by The Associated Press.

Have no fear, EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Tuesday. The Commission has no intention whatsoever, I repeat, no intention whatsoever, to ban Belgian fries, or any other type of fries, he said.

Schinas fully knows the EU had burned itself before when trying to meddle too meticulously in the way its 500 million citizens eat. When EU plans were made public four years ago to ban the refillable olive oil jugs from restaurant tables and only allow non-refillable bottles, it was the proverbial drop that broke the jar of excessive legislation which meddles in peoples lives.

Since EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker came to power on a mandate to cut red tape and be big on big things and small on small things.

A recipe for making fries is definitely in the small category these days.

We are all very attached to the rich culinary heritage we find in our member states, Schinas said, before pronouncing a French riff on a disco classic Le frite cest chique.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will certainly smile. She escaped an EU summit last year, especially to head to the nearest fries stand and get a steaming heap of Belgian delight.

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Iowa's last health care insurer to sell policies to individuals statewide through the federal Affordable Care Act is seeking a 43.5 percent increase in premium rates for next year.

Minnesota-based Medica says the increase is necessary to remain in Iowa.

Company Vice President Geoff Bartsh said Monday that a number of risks remain with its decision to be the lone statewide provider. Medica will re-evaluate the decision in September before contracts to provide coverage in Iowa are signed.

The company insures about 12,500 Iowans through the Affordable Care Act exchange, which offers subsidies for those meeting income guidelines and about 1,400 who buy their own insurance off the exchange.

Medica's rate request in Iowa could be a sign of what's to come in Nebraska, where it also would be the lone ACA provider. The company filed policy forms last week indicating it plans to offer coverage in the state, but it does not have to submit rates until mid-July. The state expects to publish that request by Aug. 1.
MONTPELIER, VT.A Montreal man was brought to the U.S. to face charges he smuggled handguns into Canada, including some that were hidden in the bathroom of a public library that straddles the nations border, prosecutors said Tuesday.

Alexis Vlachos, 40, was taken into custody in Canada and then arrested by U.S. authorities on May 31 at the Canadian border.

Between July 2010 and April 2011, Vlachos worked with others to get about 100 handguns that had been purchased from licensed dealers in Florida into Canada via Vermont, U.S. prosecutors said.

Authorities say that in one instance, Vlachos retrieved handguns that had been left for him in the Haskell Library, which straddles the border in Derby Line, Vt., and Stanstead, Quebec. The entrance to the library is in Vermont and Canadians can visit the library without going through a port of entry.

The U.S. attorneys office did not say when Vlachos was arrested in Canada.

He pleaded not guilty earlier this month in federal court in Vermont, and he was being held pending trial. His lawyer did not return a call Tuesday seeking comment. If convicted, Vlachos faces up to 20 years in prison.

Canadian politicians have long blamed weapons smuggled in illegally from the United States for gun violence in Canada. Ownership of such weapons is severely restricted in Canada.

The five-count 2015 federal indictment against Vlachos said he gave cash to a Florida woman and another person to buy certain handguns. The weapons were purchased in the Tampa, Fla., area and then brought to Vermont by car, investigators said.

On March 25, 2011, Vlachos allegedly retrieved a backpack containing a number of handguns that had been left in the bathroom of the Haskell Library and took them back to Canada without going through a port of entry. Vlachos is also alleged to have carried handguns into Canada in April 2011 by hiking across the border in a remote section of northeastern Vermont.

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This past Saturday, the front page of the Toronto Star revealed the tragic story of Dr. Robert Chu, who struggled with Canadas broken medical education system before taking his own life.

Roberts story is not an anomaly; it is emblematic of a deeper problem that threatens the future of Canadas health care system by ignoring  or worse, abusing  doctors-in-training, and its only getting worse.

Provincial belt-tightening has led to a decrease in resident doctor positions, the apprenticeship new doctors must complete to be licensed to practice medicine. This decline has made it more difficult to ensure all medical students are matched to a residency program.

This year, a record-high 68 graduates were left unmatched by the Canadian Resident Matching Service, and offered little explanation as to why. Those left unmatched face overwhelming stigma, as Dr. Chu described before his death. Some are shut out of a medical career altogether.

The mental health impacts of this are clear; a JAMA study showed that one in four medical students face depression, nearly all experience burnout, and they are more prone to car crashes on their way home from shifts. Unfortunately for many of these students, personal and mental health supports are lacking.

The impacts of dwindling positions have carried over to affect resident doctors. Increasing demands for health care, with fewer residents, means more work split between fewer people. In some Ontario cities, a single resident covers patients at three or four hospitals for up to 30 consecutive hours, only to be asked to work the following morning without any sleep. The idea of seeing a call room bed on a 30-hour shift is now a concept of the past.

Rules set in place to protect patients from exhausted residents are frequently ignored to keep up with rising demand, creating an environment ripe for errors. The Libby Zion case, in which overworked residents were blamed for the death of a young woman in a New York hospital, led to increased focus on resident workloads in the U.S., but yielded less action in Canada.

Fortunately, Canadas medical students and residents have been on the forefront of trying to address these issues. Resident Doctors of Canada, a national advocacy group, has developed a Resiliency Training Program based upon a curriculum credited to the U.S. Navy Seals and Canadian Forces. The goal is to help young doctors manage the life-or-death pressures and emotional stresses faced during medical training.

Despite initiatives such as this, and evidence suggesting that medical training and patient care are suffering, our system still overburdens our medical students and residents.

In part, this is because residents are viewed as cheap labour, stuck in the awkward position of being employed by the same people who evaluate us. In addition, the hidden curriculum,  a term describing the real-world culture of medical education  perpetuates the belief that a physician must be invincible. Gruelling residencies are propagated as a rite-of-passage, regardless of any formal curriculum for wellness and work-life balance.

Medical schools, hospitals and provincial governments need to act now to ensure every Canadian medical graduate can enter residency training and address the ingrained culture that encourages self-immolation.

An old proverb is physician, heal thyself. Unfortunately, Canadas future doctors are too busy serving patients in a system bursting at the seams.

Blair Bigham is a second-year emergency resident in emergency medicine and advocates nationally for resident wellness.

Tanishq Suryavanshi is a medical student at McMaster University and a research assistant with the Global Strategy Lab at the University of Ottawas Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics.

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Yesterday, one man died and about ten people were injured after a van veered off the road and drove into worshippers leaving prayers outside the Finsbury Park mosque in London.

In the most recent wave of terrorist attacks the perpetrators either took their own lives or were killed and in several cases arrested by the police. This time, the deliberate attack to harm took a different route when a number of brave men at the scene arrested one of the terrorists and handed him to the police.

I believe the police cannot fight this ongoing global battle alone. Private citizens must help in this unprecedented age of terrorism.

There are rules, though, for citizen arrests. One cannot just detain a man on the street on suspicion of wrongdoing  an unpleasant scene I have seen numerous times during my work in the field as a journalist.

In Canada, the law once stated that members of the public must find a person either in the act of committing a crime, or escaping from and freshly pursued by persons who have lawful authority to arrest that person.

The laws have become more flexible in Canada to allow more citizen arrests.

In the past, a citizen could arrest someone only if the perpetrator was found committing the crime. More recent laws allows the arrest within a reasonable time of the offence. For example, it would be lawful to chase a shoplifter after he leaves a store and arrest him. The apprehension is only lawful if no police officer is able to capture the thief at the time of the incident.

The Canadian Citizens Arrest and Self-Defence Act does not clarify the reasonable time allowed  an ominous legislation leaving critiques demanding more clarity.

I think its subjective and it should be treated on a case-by-case. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association suggested a maximum limit of 24 hours on citizens arrests.

Some worry this may encourage vigilantism. Its a rather thin line to walk between the reality on the ground and the chains of the law.

Witnesses outside the mosque told reporters at the scene of the London attack that two more suspects were inside the van and fled the crime scene.

I wonder what the British counterterrorism police would say if one of those survivors of the mosque attack identified and arrested the rest of the gang a week later. Would it be an unlawful citizen arrest?

Some people have an immediate reaction and jump to intervene when a criminal is caught in the act. Others may choose to remain idle, fearing for their own lives.

Would I be able to turn over the suspect to the police without delay? That is the first question I would ask myself before deciding to take on a criminal.

Saeed Hashi, a worshipper outside the mosque, pulled one of the attackers out of the van as it stopped to back up.

He described to reporters at the scene how he grappled with the big muscular man for 10 minutes on the ground and pointed on camera to the wounds he received on his head and neck before the police arrived  a remarkable heroic story.

As much as vigilance is encouraged in similar situations, citizen arrests are potentially dangerous when a person is not trained to handle a suspect.

In the past three days, Muslims in U.S. and the United Kingdom have been murdered outside mosques. Nabra Hassanein, an Egyptian-American teenager was assaulted and killed in the early hours Sunday as she walked home after prayers at a mosque near Virginia in Washington.

As the breaking news developed in London, reporters on the scene focused on the labelling of the gruesome events: Terrorist attacks, hate crimes, Islamophobic attacks

Others wondered if Daesh and its affiliates are getting exactly what they want by turning people of different race, ethnicity, and religion on each other  sowing more sedition in our civilized world.

After each senseless terrorist attack I ask myself about the solutions moving forward and the lessons we can learn before the next one. This time around, the story I am writing is about the brave men outside the Finsbury mosque  lifesavers.

Citizen arrests are rare but they are necessary at times.

Mohamed Fahmy is an award winning journalist and war correspondent. He is the author of The Marriott Cell: An Epic Journey from Cairos Scorpion Prison to Freedom.

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Start a frank, candid conversation with anyone at the Ford Motor Co. (F) - Get Free Report and it's not long before you hear about layers of bureaucracy, internal competition for promotions and the counter-productive, sometime vicious maneuvering among co-workers for scarce resources and favor from bosses.

All of these are workplace and corporate behaviors that Alan Mulally identified, criticized and tried to assuage after Bill Ford Jr. recruited him from Boeing Co. (BA) - Get Free Report in 2006 to take over as the automaker's CEO. Under the "One Ford" banner, Mulally did make a difference at Ford during seven years, especially among top corporate officers. But did he achieve anything more than a temporary and limited culture change?

Evidently not, which is part of what cost Mulally's successor, Mark Fields, his job. Fields either couldn't or didn't prioritize Mulally's holy mission to drag the old-line automaker into the modern age. Ford's ability to deliver advanced mobility solutions such as driverless cars remains unproven as smaller, quicker upstarts in and out of the automotive business, such as Tesla Inc. (TSLA) - Get Free Report , attempt to steal a march on the incumbents.

Thus, the tricky task of cultural reform at Ford now falls to Jim Hackett, 62, appointed last month as Ford's new CEO. Hackett has distinguished himself as an effective corporate leader with a deep, creative streak when it comes to "design thinking" and innovation. Kudos to the Detroit Free Press for an extensive interview with Hackett, published this week, concerning the new CEO's plans for his first 100 days in office.

Hackett's initial four goals are: (1) to re-evaluate revenue opportunities for Ford in light of likely flat or falling sales as the U.S. automotive market softens, plus reviewing lines of business that are unprofitable; (2) to assess Ford's "fitness" in terms of the efficiency of operations and product creations; (3) to figure out if the company's capital is deployed optimally; and (4) to verify whether the automaker is doing all it can to become a leader in autonomous vehicle technology and mobility services, such as vehicle sharing.

"The good news is, we have plenty of capital. The sources of capital are not the problem. It's the uses," Hackett told the Free Press. "You can exit things -- it's well-known, competitors have been doing that -- and Ford has been on that already." So has General Motors Co. (GM) - Get Free Report , which faces many of the same organizational difficulties of incumbency.

While he didn't state the reduction of bureaucracy as a goal, Hackett narrowed the number of executives reporting to the CEO to eight from the 18 that reported to Fields. In that way, fewer important decisions must wait for approval from above, allowing a flatter organization to move more quickly. He also mentioned Ford management's reputation of holding frequent, long and indecisive meetings. (Here's an idea for him: A former boss Mike Bloomberg, used to hold meetings standing up. Not surprisingly, meetings tended to finish as quickly as possible).

Hackett elevated the status of Ken Washington, vice president of research and development, to a direct report, perhaps signaling a heightened emphasis on advanced mobility. Likewise, he carried the hiring and return to Ford of Sherif Marakby, a key mobility executive who defected to Uber Inc. in 2016 to become a corporate vice president.

Mulally did conduct frequent meetings of top executives, watching which displayed collaborative tendencies and which were bent on eliminating corporate rivals. He thinned the ranks of the latter group - it wouldn't be surprising if Hackett decides to do the same. But one innovation he may invoke in the meantime is his preference for so-called "two pizza" meetings, held with a small number of people that can be fed by two pizzas.

Ford's shares fell 1.1% to $11.12 by Tuesday's close.

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This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Snap Inc. (SNAP) - Get Free Reportwants to become a hub for TV-style video content.

A string of recent original show deals, the latest announced on Monday, suggests that media giants are beginning to buy into the social media company's vision. Time Warner Inc. (TWX) on Monday said it had entered a two-year partnership with Snap to produce up to 10 original shows per year. The deal is valued at $100 million, a person familiar with the matter told TheStreet.

"This partnership is another exciting step as we continue to branch out into new genres, including scripted dramas, comedies, daily news Shows, documentaries, and beyond," said Nick Bell, vice president of content for Snap, in a statement.

The media giant's Turner cable channels and Warner Bros. Studios will create shows that cover a variety of genres, including scripted drama and comedy, the companies said. Like Snap's other original content deals, the shows will be produced in Snap's vertical format, running three to five minutes long. Snap said it airs about one original show on Snapchat each day, but hopes to air three shows per day by the end of this year.

The deal sent shares of Snap climbing 1.9% to $17.88 on Monday, marking a reversal from when the stock fell to its IPO price of $17 on Thursday. Snap shares have slid 26.9% so far since the Snapchat parent company went public in early March. Investors have grown more and more concerned that it might not be able to reignite sluggish user growth or prove that it has a place in the digital ad market, which has increasingly taken on the form of a duopoly between Alphabet Inc.'s (GOOGL) - Get Free Report Google and Facebook Inc. (FB) - Get Free Report .

As part of the agreement, Time Warner will also buy ads on Snapchat for its HBO, Warner Bros. and Turner networks. Snap keeps 50% of the ad revenue from original content deals, while its media partners hold on to the other half, according to The Wall Street Journal. That's compared to when Snap would keep 30% of ad revenue in ad deals on its Discover platform, the Journal noted.

In response to investors' concerns, Snap has tried to reassure Wall Street that the company's users (most of which are in the 18- to 24-year-old cohort) are more engaged on it than any other platform. Building a library of original shows should help users stay on the app even longer, said Drexel Hamilton LLC analyst Brian White. So far, Snap has signed content deals with Disney Enterprises Inc.'s (DIS) - Get Free Report ABC, Comcast Corp.'s (CMCSA) - Get Free Report NBCUniversal, BBC, A+E Networks and Discovery Communications Inc., among others.

Alphabet, Facebook and Comcast are holdings in Jim Cramer's Action Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells GOOGL, FB or CMCSA? Learn more now.

On the company's latest earnings call, CEO Evan Spiegel said the platform's original shows are attracting audiences of more than 8 million users.

"I think [the deal] validates what this platform is trying to do," White explained. "If you can keep users engaged, the advertising dollars will follow. To get a deal this size with a well regarded media company like this is a huge deal."

Facebook, meanwhile, has also landed sizable content deals with Vox Media and BuzzFeed Inc., as well as smaller media companies including ATTN: and Group Nine Media. The social media giant doubled down on that focus when it secured two key hires for its video service: former MTV executive Mina Lefevre and Ricky Van Veen, former co-founder of IAC-owned CollegeHumor.

Facebook has proved to be a formidable rival for Snap, said Eric Kim, managing partner at venture capitalist firm Goodwater Capital. The rivalry has largely centered around the companies competing Stories products, but has now broadened into advertising and original content markets. The deal comes at a critical juncture for Snap, Kim said, as it tries to scale out its user base and ad business.

But the deal also adds some legitimacy to the platform at a time when brands and media companies may still consider Snapchat to be a part of their experimental budgets.

"They are starting to treat Snap as a real distribution partner for original content," Kim explained. "For Snap, this will hopefully allow them to graduate into the mainstream advertising budgets of large corporates, who have traditionally been focused on TV and more traditional forms of media."

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As Jared Kushner's Office of American Innovation looks to move legacy systems to the cloud, the Trump administration wants to launch a cloud marketplace where companies can sell software-as-a-service applications to the government. The Trump administration also has ambitions to improve services and security, although attracting tech staffers amid tightened budgets will present a challenge.

President Trump, Kushner and other administration staff were able to pick the brains of cloud and digital tech luminaries Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) - Get Free Report Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) - Get Free Report CEO Jeff Bezos, Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) - Get Free Report boss Satya Nadella, Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) - Get Free Report CEO Shantanu Narayen and Apple Inc. (AAPL) - Get Free Report CEO Tim Cook at a White House technology summit on Monday.

"The 'why' of the summit is pretty clear," said Katell Thielemann, a vice president of research in Gartner Inc.'s Public Sector group. "There is a tremendously challenging federal IT environment." The issues range from old equipment and skill gaps among staffers to arcane procurement rules.

"What I thought was fascinating was the 'Who,'" Thielemann added. "Who was in the room but also who was not in the room."

While there was plenty of Silicon Valley star power assembled, neither acting federal Chief Information Officer Margie Graves or deputy Chief Technology Officer Michael Kratsios were there. "Also absent were all of the established federal venders who have been working in the federal IT environment for decades," she said. Accenture LLP CEO Julie Sweet attended, but Thielemann noted that Leidos Holdings Inc. (LDOS) - Get Free Report , Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (BAH) - Get Free Report , CSRA Inc. (CSRA) and CACI International Inc. (CACI) - Get Free Reportwere not.

"We want to create a cloud marketplace to make it easy to sell [software-as-a-service] products to the government," states a document outlining discussion points that the administration distributed to the CEOs attending the summit. Bezos, Naraven and Cook could certainly give the administration tips on how to set up an online app market.

"This notion of creating a one-stop shop for software, that's all well and good maybe for enterprise," Thielemann said.

The concept might not work as well for some of the large government agencies. "If you're [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] and you are flying weather satellites you have an entire IT infrastructure that needs to be modernized, that will not be served by a marketplace of software-as-a-service solutions," she said.

The discussion points cite the "sprawl of legacy systems" in government IT, which the administration wants to update with cloud and digital infrastructure. Cloud spending in Washington is actually down this year, according to Forrester Research Inc. After reaching $2.6 billion in fiscal year 2016, or 3.2% of total Federal tech spending, Forrester expects Federal cloud spending to drop to $2.1 billion, or 2.6% of the total IT bill, in fiscal year 2017, which ends Sept. 30.

The Department of Defense is the biggest cloud spender among government agencies, with the cloud accounting for a little more than $1 billion, or about 3%, of its $30.3 billion IT spending tab, Forrester reports. The National Archives is the highest proportional spender, with $14 million in cloud spending, accounting for 12% of its $115 million fiscal year IT budget.

Apple,Alphabet and Adobe are holdings in Jim Cramer'sAction Alerts PLUS Charitable Trust Portfolio. Want to be alerted before Cramer buys or sells AAPL, GOOGL or ADBE? Learn more now.

In addition to a cloud marketplace, Trump said in remarks at the summit that he wants "dramatically better services for citizens, stronger protection from cyber attacks."

The government could provide more polished, app-like services that are closer to what consumers experience in the private sector, the backgrounder suggested. "[I]t should be as easy to apply for benefits as it is to deposit a check on your phone," the document listing discussion topics states.

The Russian hacking scandal and the WanaCry ransomware have demonstrated the political and business risks associated with cyber security. "Federal agencies are often operating legacy systems that are vulnerable to new threats," the backgrounder states. "As cloud services are adopted and industry manages more data for the government, new approaches are needed to protect against the most advanced adversaries."

As the Trump administration looks to tweak how the government spends an $80 billion IT budget, it can draw on resources the Obama administration put in place.

Former Defense Secretary Ashton Carter set up the Defense Innovation Unit Experimental, or DIUx, to help the military adopt new technology. Raj Shah, a former fighter jet pilot with the U.S. Air Force and a veteran of cyber-security company Palo Alto Networks Inc. (PANW) - Get Free Report , runs DIUx.

The Obama administration also created the U.S. Digital Service in 2014 to work on government tech projects such as stabilizing the Healthcare.Gov web site and improving the process for handling disability claims from veterans. Former Google engineer Matt Cutts runs the program.

Projects such as DIUx and U.S. Digital Services reflect the government's recognition that it needs talent from Silicon Valley to make its tech efforts work. Forrester suggests that keeping those staffers will be one of the governments' biggest challenges as it upgrades its IT systems, especially if budgets limit the compensation it can offer tech workers with valuable skills.

The federal government faces diverse information technology challenges, Thielemann noted.

"Some of them have to do with technology," she said. "Most of them have to do with culture, process, budgets and acquisition reform [or buying and managing IT]."
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Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (BABA) - Get Free Report is often compared to U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) - Get Free Report , but Alibaba President Michael Evans said he doesn't view Jeff Bezos' powerhouse company as a threat to Alibaba's globalization plans.

"We're very different," Evans claimed. "I think people compare us to Amazon sometimes because they don't actually understand what we do." Naturally, people in China understand Alibaba the best and people in the U.S. understand Amazon the best, he said.

Amazon isn't viewed as a competitor to Alibaba because the two companies have different target markets, Evans said. "Their most important markets are not where we're focused," he explained.

Alibaba currently has 500 million monthly active users in China but is aiming to have 2 billion users in 10 years. That means the company needs to expand globally, but its new users will mainly be coming from Asian and developing markets, rather than from Europe and the U.S., Evans said. "That's not to say we won't have consumers in the U.S. and Europe, but it won't be the priority focus of our globalization strategy," he explained.

Another reason Amazon isn't seen as a competitor is because Alibaba is focused on cross border trade running in both directions, Evans said. The company wants to help outside sellers get on its China e-commerce platforms and it wants to help Chinese sellers get their goods out to other countries.

In order for Amazon and Alibaba to stop being compared, people outside of China need to get a better picture of Alibaba, he said. The company is working to help investors and research analysts better understand its mission by hosting an annual investor day, an initiative that it started in 2016. The company's second investor day event happened earlier in June and was a big improvement over last year as the company learns what investors and analysts want to know about Alibaba, Evans said.

"I saw remarkable improvement in what we did in terms of presenting information, but I also saw remarkable improvement in the understanding that investors and research analysts are starting to develop," Evans said.

The Alibaba president spoke to TheStreet from Detroit, Michigan, where the company is hosting its two-day Gateway '17 conference to help U.S. sellers realize the big opportunity they have to sell their goods to Chinese consumers on the Alibaba platform.

To help readers gain a better understanding of Alibaba, TheStreet created a summary of the company's six core businesses.

Alibaba's share rose 0.8% to $139.51 on Wednesday morning.

TheStreet's Brian Sozzi contributed to this story.

Visit here for the latest business headlines.

Read More Trending Articles:
My name is Jodi and were going to get through this.

It was that reassuring sentence that helped a panicked wife save her husband's life in 2015. The Hickman woman frantically dialed 911 four days before Christmas when she found her 65-year-old husband sitting in a chair, not breathing.

Dispatcher Jodi Standley answered the call just before 5:45 a.m.

The woman pleaded for her husbands life, and had trouble breathing herself.

I need you to take a deep breath, Standley told the caller, trying to calm her down.

Hes not breathing, the woman shrieked.

Please breathe.

But Standley knew what to do.

Pull your husband off his chair. Dont be afraid to hurt him.

Unlock your door so paramedics can get inside.

Make sure hes lying flat on the floor.

Put one hand on the center of his chest. Place your other on top. Push. Push hard. And keep pushing.

Were gonna go hard and fast, Standley told her. Youre gonna get tired, but you gotta keep going for him.

Then Standley started counting  two pushes per second.

One, two, one, two, one, two.

The callers panic grew, her breathing heavy, her crying clear.

Hes going to be so proud of you and all your hard work, Standley assured her in a calm, soothing voice. Ive got a lot of help coming ... Ive got them coming from all over, but you cant stop.

Then the husband started making noises. His wife described them as snores.

Thats good, let me know if he starts breathing, but you gotta keep going, Standley told her.

Soon after, the woman told Standley, hes not so white anymore, hes getting his color back.

Reinforcements from Hickman Fire and Rescue then came through the door.

Establishing trust

Standley got the wife to start CPR 2 minutes, 30 seconds into the call. Hickman Fire and Rescue arrived about five minutes later.

He survived.

Dr. Jason Kruger, medical director for Lincoln Fire and Rescue and the 911 Communication Center, said calls like the one in 2015 are why he's worked with dispatchers over the last three years on how to recognize the signs of cardiac arrest and give directions on how to perform CPR over the phone.

Without Standley's direction, encouragement and assistance, it's likely the man wouldn't have survived. Kruger described her efforts as one of the clearest "saves" attributable to dispatcher-assisted CPR.

"Every minute that goes by without chest compressions, the survival rate drops about 10 percent," he said. "We're trying to improve getting hands on chests quicker."

The cardiac survival rate in Lincoln has increased from 23 percent in 2014 to 72 percent in 2016, significantly higher than the national average of 18 percent.

Standley said it's humbling when she gets positive feedback from Kruger, because she's just doing her job.

"It's a very random process in which we answer the phone, so whether it's random chance, I was put in a position to make a connection with that caller and it turned out for the best," she said.

A dispatcher for 17 years, Standley credits her calming demeanor to experience. Giving CPR instructions is the easy part.

"For that you just read off the card," she said.

The hard part is establishing a trust and bond with the caller.

"You have seconds to do that," she said. "You have seconds to establish what's happening. Is it a child or adult calling? Is it someone who can physically perform CPR? And then you follow the cards and go through the process. With (the 2015 call), I had a wonderful caller who was able to perform compressions."

At that point, Standley said, dispatchers become cheerleaders for their callers.

"You don't want to be on the phone for five minutes just counting," she said. "So you start encouraging them. I think it's important to put yourself in their shoes. What would I need to hear if I was on the other end of the line?"

Coaxing callers

Around 4:30 p.m. on Jan. 26, a woman in her 60s collapsed on Stadium Drive at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

A student who witnessed her fall quickly dialed 911. Larry Huisman answered.

The caller was scared and didn't think she could do much to help. She almost gave up, saying in a cracked voice that the woman was gone.

But Huisman kept the caller talking, and when she said the collapsed woman started breathing, Huisman asked more questions.

Is she breathing normally? Are her breaths labored or do they sound like gasps?

They did.

So Huisman told the caller to continue CPR. He encouraged her along the way.

"Keep going, you're doing great," he said several times, then he counted with her.

One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.

"You have a lot of help coming your way," he said. "Keep going until help gets to you."

Huisman was able to get the caller to start CPR less than a minute after the woman fell, and continue CPR during irregular breathing.

An officer with the University Police Department took over chest compressions about four minutes into the call, and medics arrived six minutes after the woman collapsed.

She survived.

"We've worked with dispatchers on how to improve their recognition of sudden cardiac arrest on the phone," Kruger said. "Frequently, the callers don't understand the patient is in cardiac arrest and needs CPR."

One of the biggest obstacles Kruger sees is that patients will still be breathing, so the caller thinks they don't need CPR, but until they're asked, they don't realize it's irregular, or agonal breathing.

"In the past that's really thrown off our dispatchers, but we've really focused on getting them to ask more questions," he said.

Kruger said Huisman did a great job that day getting the caller to perform CPR. Without his persistence, CPR may have been stopped.

"It's great to hear that feedback, because a lot of times we don't hear what happens on the other end," Huisman said.

A dispatcher for two years, he's also a volunteer firefighter and EMT in Weston.

"There are times, even at the fire department, where you never know what happened to someone," he said. "It's nice to have that closure."

A calling for taking calls

The job of a dispatcher can often be stressful. Someone's life is in their hands. They have to think quick, remain calm and hope everything works out.

Standley knew the job was meant for her. The daughter of former Lincoln Police Officer Steve Standley, she graduated from college and spent about a year figuring out where to go in life.

Then her dad took her on a tour through the communications room.

"I cried when I left," she said. "I thought there's no way I could do this. It was overwhelming, but I fell in love and there's nothing else I'd rather do. My mom was a teacher, so I was destined to be in public service."

Huisman has been a volunteer first responder in Weston since 1999 and decided he wanted to see how the other side works. He was named the 2015 Emergency Medical Dispatcher of the Year.

"I know what I want to ask my callers, as a first responder," he said. "I've been on those types of calls."

It's also given him experience with staying calm in stressful situations.

"You have to stay calm in order to relay what you want (the caller) to do," he said. "If I get worked up on the phone, it'll carry over through to that other person and then they won't be calm."
Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao engages in the retail of food, clothing, home appliances, electronics, and other products through its chain of supermarkets, specialized stores, and department stores in Brazil. It operates in Brazilian Retail, Grupo Exito, and Other Businesses segments. The company sells non-perishables, beverages, fruits, vegetables, meat, breads, cold cuts, dairy products, cleaning products, disposable products, and personal care products; and home appliances and other non-food products, such as clothing and baby items, shoes and accessories, household articles, books, magazines, CDs and DVDs, stationery, toys, sports and camping gears, furniture, mobile phones, mattresses, pet products, and gardening equipment and tools, as well as electronic products, including personal computers, software, computer accessories, and sound and image systems. It also offers medications and cosmetics at its drugstores; and non-food products at gas stations, as well as rents commercial spaces and e-commerce sales. The company operates its supermarkets under the banners of Pao de Acucar, Extra Supermercado, Mercado Extra, and Compre Bem; hypermarkets under the banner of Extra Hiper; and proximity stores under the banners of Mini Extra, Minuto Pao de Acucar, Pao de Acucar Adega, and Aliados Minimercado; and gas stations and drugstores under the banners of Extra and Pao de Acucar, as well as sells its products through its Websites. As of December 31, 2021, it operated 667 stores, 74 gas stations, and 68 drugstores in 16 Brazilian states and the Federal District, as well as 15 distribution centers and warehouses across Brazil. The company was founded in 1948 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Companhia Brasileira de Distribuicao operates as a subsidiary of Casino, Guichard-Perrachon S.A.
A volunteer firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion after rural fire crews responded Tuesday morning to a house on South 14th Street near Saltillo Road, authorities said.

A passer-by noticed the fire, stopped in the driveway to make sure no one was home, then called 911 around 11:30 a.m., according to deputies with the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office.

The lone resident wasn't home when the fire started, Lancaster County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Gaston said.

When firefighters arrived just before noon, they found the 100-year-old house at 10111 S. 14th St. fully engulfed, authorities said. Crews from Southwest Rural Fire Department and Southeast Rural Fire District battled the blaze and focused on preventing the fire from spreading to nearby trees.

Smoke could be seen rising from the scene for several miles.

As fire crews extinguished the blaze, one firefighter from Southwest Fire needed to be treated for heat exhaustion but he was expected to be OK, Gaston said.

The fire later rekindled just before 3 a.m. due to hot spots, Sheriff Terry Wagner said. The house was completely destroyed, causing about $100,000 in damage.

The fire's cause is being investigated by the Nebraska State Fire Marshal's Office.
An attorney for the Tecumseh prison inmate accused of strangling his cellmate in April has asked the Johnson County judge hearing his case to declare Nebraska's death penalty unconstitutional.

The move prompted a delay in Patrick Schroeder's arraignment, which had been set for Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors are seeking the ultimate punishment for the man accused of first-degree murder in the strangling death of his cellmate April 15.

At a hearing in Johnson County District Court, Schroeder appeared by video from the Tecumseh State Correctional Institution north of town with his attorneys from the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy.

Before Judge Vicky Johnson can take up Schroeder's arraignment, she'll have to address a motion to quash filed late Monday afternoon by attorney Todd Lancaster challenging the state's death penalty.

It came on the heels of Johnson County Attorney Rick Smith filing notice he would seek the death penalty. On June 9, he filed an alleged aggravating circumstance  that Schroeder previously was convicted of another murder  which, if found by a jury, would make the case death-penalty eligible.

Schroeder is serving a life sentence for killing a 75-year-old Pawnee City farmer in 2006.

On April 15, his cellmate, Terry L. Berry, 22, was found unconscious on the floor with a towel around his neck, according to court records. He was taken to a Lincoln hospital, where he died five days later.

An autopsy confirmed the cause of death to be strangulation, and the manner of death to be homicide.

In Lancaster's 31-page motion filed Monday, he laid out 11 grounds challenging the death penalty.

Among them, he said the way it's carried out in Nebraska is racially and geographically discriminatory, and the decision to seek it is arbitrary and capricious, because it is left to individual county attorneys.

Since 2002, it matters more if a defendant is Hispanic, black or Native American in determining whether aggravating circumstances are filed or a death sentence is imposed, he alleged.

Of the nine men sent to death row since 2002, only one is white. The rest are black or Hispanic.

Lancaster said the death penalty also appears to be sought or imposed disproportionately in Douglas, Scotts Bluff, Madison and Hall counties.

He said state law sets no guidance or standard to help determine which defendants the state will seek to impose a death sentence, leaving it to county attorneys.

"The decision to file aggravating circumstances can be effected by the legal experience of the prosecutor, the size and resources of the particular county, any prejudice or bias of the prosecutor, the political ambition of the prosecutor, or other political circumstances," Lancaster wrote.

He also challenged Nebraska's lethal injection protocol, which allows the director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services to determine the substance and quantity of it to be used in an execution, adopted in January; as well as the law that allowed for it, which he said improperly delegated a function of the legislative to the executive branch.

And he cited a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down Florida's sentencing procedures in capital cases, where a jury finds a defendant guilty but offers an advisory sentence to a judge who ultimately decides between a death sentence or life imprisonment.

In Nebraska, a jury must find a defendant guilty and decide whether aggravating circumstances are present to make the case eligible for the death penalty. Then, a panel of three judges makes the decision.

Lancaster said states once used nooses, bullets, gas and electricity all to carry out the death penalty. The rejection of those methods signals not only discomfort with the methods but also with the death penalty itself, he said.

"Our society can no longer kill to show that killing is wrong," he said.

The state will get a chance to respond to the motion before Johnson takes it up.
An official website of the United States Government
Poor sweet Louie the Lobster was returned to the sea after two decades in captivity at a Long Island clam bar.

As heartbreaking as it is to imagine this majestic old guy having to spend two decades in a tank with freakin' rubber bands around his claws, it's heartening to know that people do care  and now the old-timer will be retiring to the sea from where he came.

According to reports, a customer offered $1,000 for the 22-pounder, which he wanted for Father's Day dinner.

He was trying to negotiate with me. He said, I want to bring it home for a Fathers Day feast. I mean, that wouldve been some impressive feast. But I didnt want to sell it. Its like a pet now, I couldnt sell it, says Butch Yamali, owner of Peters Clam Bar in Hempstead.

Louie came with the establishment when Yamali bought the business four years ago; and apparently, Yamali has a heart. Instead of pocketing the cash, he granted the elder amnesty" and Louie was taken to his retirement home near an Atlantic beach reef.

Today Im announcing an official pardon for Louie the Lobster, announced Hempstead Town Supervisor Anthony Santino. Louie may have faced a buttery fate on a seafood lovers plate, but today we are here to return Louie to a life that is better down where its wetter, he added as his liberators lowered him into the sea.

Despite having lived in a tank for 20 years, Louie had 112 years before that to get the hang of things; one expert said that Louie will be fine in his new home.

Hell be just fine. There arent many predators who want to eat a big old lobster like that, says Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute in Maine. Hopefully, he finds a mate  and lives happily ever after.

Now about the other lobsters in the tank ... ?

Via Atlas Obscura
Our state has always welcomed immigrants with their pioneering spirits who are seeking a better life for themselves and their children.

My mom grew up in Tarnov, with its lively Polish community who worked their farms side by side with their German and Czech neighbors. Growing up in Lincoln, you might not think we were the hub of refugee relocation activity. In the 1960s and then the 1970s, we had displaced Cubans and then Vietnamese families from conflicts abroad.

Today, Lincoln has a diverse, multicultural and changed landscape. As Nebraska-based author Mary Pipher describes it, We are becoming a richer curry of peoples. We celebrate World Refugee Day today, on June 20, and Nebraska has much to be proud of.

As of April 30, Nebraska has accepted 909 refugees, accounting for 2.14 percent of the countrys total refugee admissions. Nebraska led the nation in resettling most refugees per capita in 2015 by welcoming 1,441 refugees from 35 countries, according to Pew Research Center data.

Omaha can boast of the largest Sudanese population outside of Africa with an estimated 15,000 former residents of South Sudan. Lincoln has resettled almost 5,500 refugees since 1983. According to the Asian Community Center, Lancaster County is the nations 18th-largest resettlement area for Asian refugees and immigrants.

However, new restrictive policies could profoundly affect our Nebraska economy. Many refugees have found jobs in meatpacking and food processing along with their significant contributions of farm labor in all other areas of our agriculture industry. Immigrant spending according to a UNO study, accounted for $1.6 billion worth of total production in Nebraskas economy and roughly 12,000 jobs for the state in 2006.

Refugees and immigrants are breathing new life into urban communities by establishing a diverse mix of businesses and revitalizing neighborhoods. We can enjoy the many Asian and Latino stores, markets and restaurants along 11th and 27th streets in Lincoln.

It is important to note that the U.S. resettlement program is the worlds largest and most stringent, with multiple levels of background verification and investigations. This complicated process of vetting by our nation's top security and counter-terror experts takes more than two years. Our national security is not an either-or proposition.

We need our political leaders to stop spreading misinformation that exploits fears and perpetuates prejudice about a group of vulnerable people. Unfortunately, the current administration has slowed the resettlement program, thus leaving the worlds most vulnerable people in a state of legal limbo.

In our city and throughout our state, we have seen the many contributions and benefits of our new Nebraskans. Some folks have expressed concerns about the potential economic impact of these refugees, but the fact is that these refugees and immigrants are revitalizing the communities in which they are living, from rural to city, bringing their many talents, experiences and energy to our workforce and creating new jobs and economic opportunity.

According to Robert Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz, from 2006 to 2010, there were 3,905 new immigrant business owners in Nebraska and new immigrant business owners had total net business income of $126 million.

As Nebraskans, we have opened our minds, hearts and borders to vulnerable refugees. A true cornerstone of the founding values of the U.S. has been to offer safe haven to the oppressed and shelter from violence and persecution.

When we welcome these new refugees to our community, regardless of race, religion or national origin, we are demonstrating to the world the best of what it means to be American and a global leader.

We can be proud of Nebraska, especially Lincoln, being a shining example of civility and opportunity. That's Nebraska nice.
Many people are installing "gas stations" in their driveways. Could they become publicly accessible infrastructure?

When I wrote about Tesla's rapid expansion of its supercharger network, I was equally surprised by the extent of its less publicly touted network of "destination chargers"slower, "Level 2" chargers that it is distributing to hotels, malls, restaurants and other locations so folks can charge while they shop/eat/sleep, and thus relieve some pressure from the faster superchargers which folks use for longer distance road tripping.

It got me thinking about another network of charging infrastructure which folks often don't talk about -- the Level 2 chargers which most of us electric vehicle drivers install in our homes and, sometimes, places of business. These chargers don't just enable our own electrified driving, but they also provide some peace of mind to any friends and relatives who may consider driving electric, and who can now be sure of a charge if they come for a visit.

In fact, I've noticed several private charging station ownersespecially businessesin my region are publicly listing their charging stations on the various apps that are available for locating charging spots. Interestingly, this isn't just limited to restaurants or shops offering charging as a perk for your business. We have real estate companies and industrial operations simply offering up their charge points as a free service to the electric vehicle community. (Often, they'll stipulatequite reasonablythat their own vehicles get first dibs.)

This got me wondering: How many electric vehicle owners out there are offering up their charging points for public use? How many of you find yourselves regularly allowing at least friends and relatives to charge when they come for a visit? And how many would consider making your charging point available if there were a platform for managing the relationship (and maybe making some money), like this peer-to-peer charging service in the UK?

I'd be very grateful for and curious to see any feedback or comments below. One thing is certain about the coming electrification of transport: Our charging/fueling infrastructure will look nothing like the gas stations we all use today. Just how much of the need gets met by informal networks of home/office/neighborhood charging will have a huge impact on how much commercial/rapid charging infrastructure we really end up needing.
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- Two KDF soldiers have been confirmed dead in an al-Shabaab attack

- The two soldiers died in an IED attack at Walcadey area in El Wak

- The attack comes just hours after a deadly IED attack on a KDF convoy in Wajir

Two Kenya Defence Force (KDF) soldiers have been confirmed dead in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack.

TUKO.co.ke has learnt that the attack occurred on Monday, June 19, at Walcadey area near El Wak in Somalia's Gedo region.

According to sources, the military vehicle the soldiers were traveling in hit the IED leaving it completely damaged.

READ ALSO: If you think you can threaten me with an arrest then you must be living in mars - Raila to Uhuru

Two Kenya Defence Force (KDF) soldiers have been confirmed dead in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack.

READ ALSO: Willam Ruto responds to Railas Land promise in a mean tweet

Several other soldiers are reported to have been injured during the evening attack blamed on terror group al-Shabaab.

The Kenyan government is yet release a statement on the attack on its soldiers.

The latest attack on KDF comes just hours after a bomb attack on a military convoy that left four soldiers seriously injured in Wajir county.

READ ALSO: Al-Shabaab in horror attack on KDF, casualties feared

According to sources, the military vehicle the soldiers were traveling in hit the IED leaving it completely damaged.

Install TUKO App To Read News For FREE

The terror group has been using IED's and remote controlled bombs against Kenyan, Somali and African Union forces in Somalia, as a military strategy in its losing battle to retain parts of Southern and Central Somalia that it once dominated.

In the last one month, al-Shabaab terror attacks have increased with the terrorist group carrying out several attacks in Northern Kenya near the border with Somalia.

The attacks have killed more than 40 people mostly security officers.

Have something to add to this article? Send to news@tuko.co.ke

Watch PLO Lumumba speak about the Raila conspiracy in the video below:

Source: TUKO.co.ke
- Interior Security Cabinet secretary Joseph Nkaissery has acknowledged his wife and her role in his political career

- Nkaissery was speaking to women in politics in a meeting on Tuesday morning, June 20

- Nkaissery's wife, Hellen, is known for women empowerment in the Maasai community

Cabinet secretary Joseph Nkaissery on Tuesday, June 20, deeply acknowledged his wife during women in politics meeting.

The Security CS during his speech encouraged the women aspirants and asked them to brush off any grudges on August 9, after the General Election.

Nkaissery also went on to pass his wifes regards acknowledging her role in his political career.

READ ALSO: NASA MPs bodyguard killed

CS Joseph Nkaissery

READ ALSO: Zari Hassan hospitalised after her mother and TUKO.co.ke has the details

My political career is dependent on my wife, she delivered almost 50% of the votes for me, the CS revealed in part of his speech.

Nkaissery was speaking to the women about security and assured safety as campaigns go on across the country.

We have identified 20 hot spots and we are going to ensure women candidates in those counties get security, he said.

The CS wished all the women vying for political seats all the best in the August 8, general elections.

READ ALSO: 14 candidates in hot soup after IEBC summons them for disciplinary

CS Nkaissery's wife Hellen

READ ALSO: Raila Odinga's cousin accuses Uhuru Kenyatta of hate speech, claims to have evidence

Hellen Nkaisssery is a woman with a bug heart, out to empower women in the Maasai community.

Hellen is behind the launch of Maasai Kajiado Women Dairy Cooperative Society that has an annual turnover of over KSh 50 million.

In a past interview, the cabinet secretarys wife left her job to venture in dairy farming and fulfil her passion of women empowerment.

Have something to add to this article? Send to news@tuko.co.ke

Watch PLO Lumumba speak about the Raila conspiracy in the video below:

Source: TUKO.co.ke
No Ukrainian soldiers were killed but four servicepersons were wounded and injured in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in eastern Ukraine over the past day.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Spokesperson for ATO issues Oleksandr Motuzianyk said this at a press briefing on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Ukrainian army sustained no losses as a result of combat actions over the past day. Four Ukrainian soldiers were wounded and injured, he said.

ish
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko says that the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement will pass the last procedure for ratification this week and will enter into force on September 1.

He noted this during the first day of his working visit to Washington, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"I am flying from Washington to Brussels to take part in the transfer of ratification certificates signed by His Majesty the King of the Netherlands. This is the last country that completes the ratification process. And since September 1 Ukraine has the great honor with the Association Agreement entering into force," the Head of the Ukrainian state said.

As Ukrinform reported, the President of Ukraine on June 19 began a visit to the United States, during which he met with the top leaders of the countries.

ish
PARIS -- While outsider U.S. President Donald Trump continues to battle establishment foes on all sides in Washington, newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron, who wasn't even on the radar as a candidate during most of Trump's campaign, has managed to annihilate the old-guard French political establishment. How did he do it?

France held the first round of its two-stage legislative elections on Sunday. Of the 577 seats up for grabs in French Parliament, Macron's party, La Republique En Marche, which didn't even exist a year ago, is set to win up to 455 of them. The good news for conservatives is that the only other party with any real voice will be former President Nicolas Sarkozy's center-right Les Republicains and their allies, with 70 to 110 seats.

As for the National Front, with its anti-immigration platform mooted by economic nanny-statism that scapegoats the European Union for socialist policies, let's just say that leader Marine Le Pen would have been better off spending all those millions of euros in campaign funds on a seat aboard Elon Musk's SpaceX moon flight. Le Pen will be one of the only members of her party to get elected.

Speaking of space, the 39-year-old Macron is a political UFO. He attended the top establishment schools, yet, unlike those who cling to power once they get a taste of it, Macron ejected himself from his position as minister of economy, industry and digital affairs last August after just two years and then formed his own political party.

Although Socialist incumbent Francois Hollande was unpopular, the field for the presidential election was crowded with heavyweight establishment contenders -- former prime ministers, ministers and Sarkozy himself. Then there was Le Pen, running primarily on an anti-establishment platform at a time when anti-establishment sentiment was a trend with voters, as seen in Trump's election and the Brexit vote.

Macron's decision to bail out of a minister's job to create a political party with the thought that he would not only win the presidency but also place enough largely unknown candidates in Parliament to obtain an absolute majority would seem to border on delusion. It's not the kind of thing that a French politician does, particularly once he gets a foothold on the establishment ladder. It's like quitting an executive job at Microsoft to found a startup.

Never mind that Macron was an investment banker for Rothschild in an anti-banking era and a government minister in an anti-establishment era. He leaves the impression that he's not of the establishment machine, yet understands the system well enough to be capable of subverting it.

And here is where Macron has an advantage over Trump. While Trump still struggles with the system, Macron has managed to bring it to heel.

It was remarkable to see former ministers from all sides pleading to be invested as La Republique en Marche candidates -- or to be spared from having to run against one. The first round of legislative elections has already eliminated much of the old guard in a bloodless revolt.

Evidence suggests that Macron views the world through a business prism. That's what Trump was elected to do and should be doing much more of. Rather than going to Saudi Arabia and railing against Iran, Trump should have been pitching the Saudis cooperative business projects with the Iranians. People fight less when they're busy counting money.

Macron has even turned climate change into a business opportunity. Rather than sell enviro-hogwash at face value, he set up a website, makeourplanetgreatagain.fr, to recruit entrepreneurs and scientists to France. I visited the site and identified myself as a "business/entrepreneur" from the USA.

When asked why I'm fighting climate change, I entered, "Because I want to make $$!" The site churned out a page with the heading: "Your new homeland," providing me with contacts from the Business France agency and a link to a website outlining the immigration process.

Macron's first order of business is to tackle the source of France's economic problems: French labor laws. If he's going to make France productive again, there's going to be a lot of resistance.

Only time will tell whether Macron can do what previous French presidents have failed to achieve, but it's already expected that he'll be ramming through labor reforms by decree -- bypassing parliamentary debate -- over the summer while potential protesters are at the beach, distracted by their sacred minimum 30 days' paid vacation.

With more than 51 percent of French voters considering last weekend's scorching-hot weather enough of a deterrent to keep them from voting in an important election, Macron may indeed manage to change the system by playing it like a fiddle and giving the French back their sovereignty in its most important form: personal freedom from the state.
Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Tuesday he will lead a trade mission to Canada in August to "say thank you" to Nebraska's No. 1 trade partner while developing new and expanded trading relationships.

The governor's trip comes at a time when the Trump administration is preparing to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, although recent language employed by the administration has morphed into a more-gentle description of "modernizing" the NAFTA treaty.

"We think NAFTA is working very well for Nebraska," Ricketts said in answering questions at a news conference where he announced the forthcoming trip.

Modernizing or improving the trade agreement seems reasonable, he said, as long as it doesn't "disrupt the relationship with Canada" that's already been developed in terms of trade.

"This relationship has worked very, very well for this state," he said.

Canada is Nebraska's fourth-largest agricultural export market, with ag exports in 2016 estimated at $468 million. The largest share of that market came in the form of beef and pork.

Ricketts will make stops in Toronto and Ottawa on his Aug. 7-11 trip.

That trade mission will follow earlier trade trips the governor has made to Japan, China and Europe.

"Trade is very important for Nebraska," Ricketts said.

"We export $8.5 billion worth of total exports every year, making international trade a vital part of the state's economy," he said.

"My administration will continue to focus on trade and the opportunities it brings to Nebraska farmers, ranchers and manufacturers to help grow our state."

State Agriculture Director Greg Ibach said trade missions give Nebraska farmers and ranchers an opportunity to interact with consumers and agribusiness leaders in other countries and showcase Nebraska's ag products.

"Canadian companies create jobs in Nebraska through long-term investment and Canada is also host to numerous investments from Nebraska companies," Department of Economic Development Director Courtney Dentlinger said.

"We want to say thank you to our business and agriculture partners in Canada," Ricketts said.
UNICEF/Ose

KAMPALA/NAIROBI/NEW YORK, 20 June 2017  As more than 1,000 children continue to flee South Sudan, on average every day in search of safety, the regions refugee crisis has become a childrens crisis, UNICEF said today, on World Refugee Day.



Since violence erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, more than 1.8 million people have crossed into neighbouring countries. In just one year the population of refugees in Uganda has more than doubled from 500,000 to more than 1.25 million, making Uganda now host to the fastest growing refugee emergency in the world.



More than one million children have been forced from their homes in South Sudan, often amid horrific violence, said UNICEFs Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Leila Pakkala. Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. Despite great efforts on many fronts, the systems in these countries are tremendously stretched.



Ahead of Ugandas International Solidarity Summit on Refugees (June 22-23), UNICEF noted that 86% of all refugees in Uganda are women and children. Indeed, Uganda is now Africas leading refugee-hosting country, having jumped from the eighth largest refugee-hosting country in the world in mid-2016 to the third largest today, after Turkey and Pakistan.



The Government of Uganda, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP and other humanitarian partners on the ground are working tirelessly to respond to the more than 740,000 refugees who have arrived in Uganda since July 2016. Such dramatic numbers are placing excessive pressure on State and host community resources, especially social services that are critical to childrens well-being.



The Ugandan Government has a progressive and generous open door policy to refugees, said UNICEFs Ms Pakkala. This approach provides better prospects for refugee children in Uganda than in many contexts globally. The very real hope is that such a model is supported widely across countries.



The Government of Uganda and the United Nations are appealing for $8 billion in funding for both emergency response and resilience interventions to Ugandas refugee and refugee-hosting population over the next four years. Within this appeal, UNICEF in Uganda requires nearly $50 million in 2017 as well as $30 million in each year from 2018-2020 to provide critical health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, early childhood development, adolescent development, and child protection interventions, to both refugee and host community children.



For Ethiopia and Kenya, as part of their Humanitarian Action for Childrens Appeal for Ethiopia and Kenya, UNICEF requires $13.6 million to respond to the new influx of South Sudanese refugees in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia, and $7.3 million for the refugee response in Kenya.



On World Refugee Day, UNICEF is also reiterating its call to governments to adopt its six-point agenda for action to protect refugee and migrant children and ensure their well-being, which was launched ahead of the G7 Summit in Italy in late May.



While refugee children in Uganda enjoy the full existing legal, physical and social protection system as the host population and use the same social services as them, UNICEF said more must be done to fully operationalize this agenda for action across the region, especially keeping families together, helping all uprooted children stay in school and stay healthy, and acting on the causes that force children to flee in the first place.



###



Notes for Editors:

Photo and video assets available for download here

In Numbers
UNICEF/UN066157/Rostkowski

AMMAN/BRUSSELS/NEW YORK, 20 June 2017 - On World Refugee Day, the European Union has renewed its commitment to a generation of children affected by the war in Syria. Through a donation of an additional 90 million, UNICEF will be able to provide critical services and support to vulnerable children and young people in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.



Through the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (the 'Madad Fund') UNICEF will continue working with host countries and partners to provide hundreds of thousands of children and young people with access to basic services including education and vocational training, as well as psychosocial support and protection against early marriage and child labour.



This latest contribution brings the total funding from the EU Trust Fund for UNICEFs work on the Syria crisis response to nearly 200 million. The announcement comes on the heels of the appointment of UNICEFs newest Goodwill Ambassador, Syrian Muzoon Almellehan, 19, the first person with official refugee status to become an Ambassador for UNICEF.



With the conflict now in its seventh year, around 2 million children from Syria live as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, adding pressure on already stretched support systems. A unique feature and added value of the EU Trust Fund is its support for both refugee and host communities affected by this protracted crisis.



The Madad Fund is already driving results for children affected by the conflict in Syria -- helping them return to school and learning, and providing them with the support they need not only to rebuild their lives, but someday to help rebuild Syria, said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. We need to build on the momentum  investing more today in reaching more children and young people, because the future of Syria depends on the future of the children of Syria.



We can and must do more to help, said Johannes Hahn, EU Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations. Our EU-UNICEF cooperation has already delivered tangible results: an increasing number of children are enrolled in schools and receive protective and psychosocial services. Inaction is not an option. The price of failure will fall not only on the children of Syria, but on the wider region and the world.



In line with commitments made in donor conferences for Syria over the past six years, particularly the London and Brussels Conferences, the EU and UNICEF share the determination to invest in those who will build a brighter future for Syria and the region: todays children.



Children like Nizar, 12. He dropped out of school in Aleppo, Syria because of the war and was behind on reading and writing after fleeing to Jordan with his family. His dream of returning to school came true recently after he attended a Makani learning centre for a year. The centre, which is supported by the EU Trust Fund through UNICEF, taught Nizar and hundreds of other children the basic skills to return to the classroom.

I want to continue my education and study engineering at university, said Nizar.



This latest contribution from the EU comes at a critical time. The current funding gap is the largest it has been since UNICEF started responding to the Syria crisis over six years ago.



Note to the Editors

The EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis and UNICEF

Since September 2015, UNICEF has worked with the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian crisis (the Madad Fund), to provide sustained, quality education for all children affected by the Syria crisis. The EU Trust Fund is part of a comprehensive strategy for a coherent and reinforced response to the Syrian crisis. In September 2015, the EU Trust Fund contributed 12.5 million to UNICEF in Turkey. In March 2016, the EU Trust Fund contributed 90 million to UNICEF to support children and young people affected by the Syria crisis in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

In the countries and communities most directly affected by the crisis, UNICEF works in close cooperation with the EU Trust Fund, host countries and partners to provide education, learning and protection from harm to hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugee children and vulnerable youth. The Fund aims to promote education, protection and engagement opportunities for children and young people, whether refugee children or members of vulnerable host communities, so they can enjoy quality education. The Trust Fund also aims to increase access to vocational training for youth and prepare young people for work, with equal access for girls and boys.

For more information please visit: http://www.eutf-unicef.org/.
VA has an exceptionally talented team of outstanding employees. We would like you to meet them, continuing this week with our regular feature on VAs Top Nurses.



Becoming a nurse and helping people is something she always aspired to do, even as a young girl in her home country of Macedonia. But being recognized as the best nurse for an entire health care system is something she never dreamed might happen.

Doca Merdjanoska, a surgical department nurse at the VA Central California Health Care Systems main hospital in Fresno, was recently selected as VACCHCS Nurse of the Year.

For Merdjanoska, its not about being the best. She said she just wants to be there to help people who need her assistance.

Helping patients, especially Veterans, is what I enjoy. I always want to help people and make people happy. Nursing allows me to that.

Before working at the VA, the Licensed Practical Nurse worked at an assisted living home in Fresno for seven years and before that she worked at an Ears, Nose and Throat specialty clinic in Macedonia for three years. With that much experience and her desire to help people, its no surprise Merdjanoska was selected as Nurse of the Year.

Its a huge honor for Doca to be selected as Nurse of the Year, said Michael Provencher, Chief of Nursing at VACCHCS. Im very proud of her.

I hired her and she was a star from the first day she started working at VA. Were very lucky to have her on our staff, said Provencher.

Helping patients is what I enjoy.



Doca Merdjanoska and family

When shes not working at the VA, Merdjanoska, who is married and has two children, enjoys going outside with her family and exploring the great outdoors, she said. She and her family like to ride bicycles and visit the parks and forests. Shes also an avid runner.

As far as the honor of being named VACCHCS Nurse of the Year, just like running Doca takes it all in stride.

I feel honored. Its a nice feeling, she said.

Editors Note: Heres an additional shout-out to the other VACCHCS Nurse of the Year Nominees:
One of the human rights workers jailed last year on charges widely believed to be politically motivated has fainted in his cell after suffering ill-health for months, according to his lawyers.

Ny Sokha, an Adhoc employee, was jailed along with three of his colleagues in May 2016 on bribery charges for allegedly trying to pay a witness not to testify in a case against the leader of the opposition.

Lor Chunthy, Sokhas lawyer, said his client had fainted on Sunday afternoon. He added that this legal team had made requests to the prison authorities for Sokha to be transferred to hospital for medical treatment but had not been granted permission.

Chunthy said on Tuesday that Sokhas blood pressure was dangerously low and he had filed a complaint to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court seeking intervention.

Judge Theam Chan Piseth, Chunthy alleged, had also banned medics from another local rights group from visiting his client in jail for the past three months.

Before, the doctor visited him once a week or once a month, so his condition improved. But over the past three months, there has been no medical attention or medication provided, Chunthy said.

Men Leakhena, Sokhas wife, said her husband suffered from several ailments, which were exacerbated by stress and other conditions picked up in prison.

Hes had no blood tests, so Im concerned about his condition, she said. He needs to be treated in a hospital.

If he stays in prison, it will kill him.

Am Sam Ath, monitoring manager at Licadho, the NGO whose medics were denied access to Sokha, said the prison had also stopped the group from visiting Sokhas fellow detainees, Lim Mony, Yi Soksan and Nay Vanda.

Until now ... the doctors have been unable to visit him, he said.

Sorn Keo, prisons spokesman, claimed Sokha was in good health, and said he was being treated by prison service doctors.

Hul Reaksmey contributed to this report.
Local communities in the Tonle Sap Lake region have appealed to the Laos government to immediately put on hold plans to construct the Pak Beng hydropower dam.

The 912-megawatt dam on the Mekong mainstream will significantly alter the water flow in the Mekong region, which feeds into the Tonle Sap, according to environmentalists.

Long Socheat, a community representative in the Tonle Sap region, told journalists this week that the dam would likely change the course of the Mekong river systems and negatively affect fisheries and other vital resources.

When there is biodiversity, there will be fish to export, he said, adding that the Pak Beng would lead to more dams being built.

He added that no officials had visited the communities on the Tonle Sap to discuss the fallout from the project if it goes ahead.

Den Volda, director of the Stung Treng community network, said: I would like to ask the government to stop the development project of the Pak Beng hydropower dam.

The dam will cost an estimated $2.3 billion and is scheduled to be completed in 2024.

Luy Reaksmey, executive director of the Culture and Environment Protection Association, questioned the economic as well as social and environmental logic of building the dam.

There are no reasons that prove the assertion that the master plan will be efficient. It will cause impacts on the river and fisheries that are worth about $17 million, he said.

The Laos government has signed power supply agreements with neighboring countries, including Cambodia, where it has agreed to send 1,500 megawatts per year by 2025.

Laos Embassy representatives could not be reached for comment.

Daovong Phonekeo, permanent secretary at Laos Ministry of Mines and Energy, said in an email that there was no chance that the Laos would reverse course, saying the project was part of the countrys poverty reduction plans.

The Lao government has set the hydropower sector development as priority to combat/eradicate poverty and to provide electricity access to more [than] 95% of its people by 2020. And the Pak Beng project is one of many in the power development plan to be implemented, he wrote.

Environmental groups have urged a fair balance when considering new dams on the Mekong, with International Rivers, an advocacy group, claiming that 6,700 people would be relocated as a result of Pak Beng.

Tek Vannara, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said more needed to be done to ensure the project was socially and environmentally responsible if it was to proceed.

But we see that the governments see more value in economic gains than environmental protection, he said.

Souridahak Sakonhninhom, a Mekong River Commission (MRC) spokesman, said the regional grouping welcomed the views of civil society and local communities as part of its prior consultation process.

Referring to a technical assessment of the dams likely environmental impact by the MRC, he said the Pak Beng dam could impact on fish passage, downstream sediment transport, and aquatic habitats. These may have knock on impacts on the people and economy of the Lower Mekong Basin.

Mitigation measures recommended will only partly be able to address any residual impacts on the people and economy of the area. Some impacts are unavoidable. More importantly, these impacts need to be seen in the broader development context.
The United Nations Refugee Day (June 20) seeks to bring attention to the unprecedented number of refugees worldwide. More than 65 million people have been displaced from their homes, mostly by war and violence, and more than 22 million of them are refugees. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports that refugees are supported largely by donations, and those are growing short.
Activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists in Mexico filed a criminal complaint on Monday following a report that their smartphones had been infected with spying software sold to the government to fight criminals and terrorists.

The complaint to the attorney general's office by nine people followed a report by the New York Times that some of them had been spied on with software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group sold to Mexico's government.

Citing a report by a research group that investigated the alleged spying, the complaint says the attorney general's office and the defense ministry were among government organizations that purchased the software.

Those claiming to be targeted by the software included Carmen Aristegui, a journalist who in 2014 helped reveal that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife had acquired a house from a major government contractor, as well as Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist at leading television network Televisa.

Others included in the complaint were anti-corruption activists and lawyers representing the families of 43 trainee teachers whose disappearance and apparent massacre in 2014 created a huge public relations headache for Pena Nieto.

Daniel Millan, a spokesman for Pena Nieto's office, issued a statement saying that there was no proof the Mexican government was responsible for the spying described in the New York Times story.

"We condemn any attempt to violate the right to privacy of any person," the statement said.

A Reuters report in 2015 showed government surveillance requests were gathering speed in Mexico, raising concerns about a lack of oversight in a country plagued by corruption and collusion between security forces and criminal gangs.

Mexico's government purchased about $80 million worth of spyware from NSO Group on condition it would only be used to investigate criminals and terrorists, the Times said.
On June 5, Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State.

In response, Qatar said it was the victim of a policy of domination and control by its larger neighbor and that Saudi Arabia was, in fact, the one responsible for backing extremism.



So what is the truth? Fundamentalist strains of Islam, including Saudi-born Salafism and Wahhabism, form the ideological bedrock for most terror groups. According to a study by Leif Wenar of Kings College London based on the Global Terrorism Database, three out of four terror attacks in the last 10 years have been conducted by people espousing Salafist ideology.



Wenar said Saudi Arabia is the chief exporter of Salafism around the world, spending tens of billions of dollars to build mosques, fund madrassas, finance preachers and offer scholarships to students to study the rigid form of Islam.



The effort is possibly the most expensive ideological campaign in human history, Wenar told VOA.



Saudi Arabia is not the only factor, of course, in the spread of violent extremism. But for 50 years Saudi Arabia has been funding schools and mosques and radical preachers worldwide who have set down their particular narrow and puritanical version of Islam, which has in many places mutated into the violent extremism we see today, Wenar said.



Saudi Arabia said it has changed, stating publicly that it wants to take a hardline stance against radical Islam. In May, it welcomed 50 world leaders to Riyadh to commemorate the opening of a new Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. It said it has also increased oversight of charitable organizations that may be linked to terrorism.



Ali Shihabi, executive director at the Arabia Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said that since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, Saudi Arabia has become a world leader in fighting terror.



It is extremely, actively involved in police and security measures in the region against terrorism, and it is using its religious establishment now to fight terrorism, he said. It is turning this whole infrastructure that it has, this whole religious, what some people even call Wahabi, infrastructure, into a tool to fight terrorism.



Shihabi draws a line between the quiet Salafism spread by Saudi religious organizations that teach respect for authority and rejects violence and the revolutionary Salafism that promotes attacks on authorities and non-believers.



There's a fundamental disconnect between Salafism as it is practiced in Saudi Arabia and the Salafism that terrorists have used or misused for their own purposes, Shihabi said.



Exporting religion to Africa



The impact of Saudi Arabias support of conservative Islam is felt across the African continent. Hussein Solomon of the University of the Free State in South Africa has studied the phenomenon and said Africas traditional Sufi form of Islam has been steadily pushed out of some countries in favor of Salafism.



This has given an ideological backing to terror groups who reject Sufi mysticism and forbid things like secular music, Western-style clothing and women speaking to unrelated men.



In some countries, such as Mali, Salafists have conducted attacks against non-Muslims or Muslims they consider to be heretics.

We are seeing a tremendous escalation of terrorist attacks, Solomon told VOA. We actually are seeing three terrorist attacks per day on the African continent, and [they] are linked directly to Wahabi ideology.



Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates offer scholarships to young Africans to attend religious schools in the Gulf states. According to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the number of East African students enrolled in Gulf state universities has grown from several hundred in 2010 to nearly 10,000 in 2014.



Solomon said he has interviewed parents whose children have returned home from these schools with radically changed, hardline views.



One Malian boy came home and denounced his father for listening to music and smoking cigarettes, and his mother and sisters for not wearing a full hijab. It caused tremendous ruptures just inside the family, Solomon said.



Saudi Arabia has also built hundreds of mosques around the continent. Solomon said the divisive form of Islam taught in these mosques has caused tension between Muslims and Christians in areas where they live side-by-side.



Part of the deal in terms of the construction of the mosques is that the Imam either comes from Saudi Arabia or [is] trained by the Saudis and is given a syllabus in terms of what to say and what to preach, and, of course, this is an ill-effect to a continent like Africa which is multi-ethnic, multi-racial and certainly multi-religious, he said.



Wenar said he has also reviewed textbooks published in Saudi Arabia that compared Christians and Jews to animals and taught children that they are prohibited from befriending infidels.



This really is quite an archaic and extreme ideology that the Saudis have been sending, and it seems [that] to check it, we should make the world more aware of whats going on, he said.



Fighting extremism



Shihabi said the rise of Islamic extremism in some African countries is not a result of textbooks or what is preached at Saudi-funded mosques. Mainly, he believes, extremists twist religious doctrine to fit their own local, political purposes.



And people realize that if you want to be a revolutionary today and you want to attract attention, you put on this Islamic cloak, and it gets you much more attention than if you just package yourself as a domestic player with no transnational reach, he said.



In a recent New York Times story, William McCants, a Brookings Institution scholar, accused Saudi Arabia of being both the arsonists and the firefighters when it comes to Islamic extremism.



Shihabi argues that is no longer the case. Saudi Arabia may have been... an accidental arsonist in ways in the past if part of its ideology was misused, but now it has certainly become a very dedicated fireman, and its been doing that for the last fifteen years.
Nigerian bakers love wheat grown in the United States.

Its the most consistent and highest quality wheat in the world, Mukaila Arowona, a quality assurance manager for Honeywell Four Mills in Nigeria, said Monday after a tour at a grain inspection business in Lincoln.

American wheat is the only wheat you can mill to flour and bake to bread and you can close your eyes and go to sleep and be sure the bread will come out well, Arowona said.

America wheat is the best wheat.

But wheat from Europe and the Black Sea can be easier to get and, until recently, was cheaper. Yet prices of U.S. wheat have become more competitive thanks to a bumper harvest last year, bin-busting stockpiles and lower-than-expected wheat production in Europe, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture reports.

Hoping to get an edge in the market and get insight into this years harvest, a group of seven flour mill representatives from Nigeria and South Africa arrived in Nebraska Sunday to kick off an 11-day U.S. tour sponsored by U.S. Wheat Associates, an industry group dedicated to market development.

Were getting to know our customers better. What they need. What they want. Are there concerns? Nebraska Wheat Board Executive Director Royce Schaneman said.

To make this whole thing work its got to be profitable for them, profitable for us. We want them to be successful. Because if they are, we are, he said.

Their itinerary Monday included places like the University of Nebraska Wheat Quality Lab and Lincoln Inspection Services, as well as dinner with Nebraska agriculture leaders.

On Tuesday they tour TMCO National Manufacturing, developer of cereal grain testing equipment, and visit the Knobel family farm near Fairbury before leaving Nebraska for Kansas.

Typically, half of all wheat grown in the United States gets exported. Nigerians for years have consistently been some of the biggest buyers of U.S. wheat.

This past marketing year (June 2016 through May 2017) Nigeria bought up 1.642 million metric tons of wheat, of which 1.177 tons was hard red winter wheat, a variety popular for making bread which is overwhelmingly grown by Nebraska farmers.

Nigerias appetite for hard red winter wheat was second only to Mexico last year.

South Africa has been more of a swing customer tending to buy more soft red and durum wheat, although purchasers from the country gobbled up 183,000 metric tons worth of hard red wheat last year after going several years without buying any.

The biggest challenge facing Nigerian flour mills eager for U.S. wheat, Arowona said, is getting their hands on dollars to buy it. The country has a well-documented shortage of access to foreign currency.

Its a major, major challenge to the baking industry today, he said. "You have to look for one, two, three, four, five, six banks to pull their resources together for you, which theyre not willing to do.
As South Koreas new leadership works toward easing long strained inter-Korean relations, U.S. experts are eyeing the countrys conciliatory overtures to the Kim Jong Un regime, worried that a possible resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex could provoke discord with the Trump administration.

Shortly after South Korean President Moon Jae-in named Cho Myoung-gyun to be his North Korea point man on June 13, Cho, who played a key role in launching the now-stalled economic cooperation project, told reporters, Operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex should be restored. I will speak after thoroughly looking into the details.

That statement caused a flurry of criticism in Washington, with many analysts saying reviving activities at the complex possibly could hurt Washington-Seoul relations and diminish their alliance coordination. Seoul closed the complex in February 2016 as punishment for the regimes nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

Reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex is very problematic from Washington's perspective, Sue Mi Terry, a former CIA analyst who specializes in North Korea, told VOAs Korean Service.

Launched in 2004 to enhance cooperation between the two Koreas, the jointly run industrial complex in Kaesong, just north of the border, has reportedly provided $100 million a year in wages to 54,000 North Korean workers and contributed almost $2 billion in trade for Pyongyang.

Terry said any conciliatory action that translates into significant financial benefits for Pyongyang contradicts Washingtons North Korea policy, which is focused on thwarting the Kim regimes nuclear weapons program by severing all possible revenue streams that fund it.

We don't know where the money is going, Terry said. It could be contributing to North Korea's WMD (weapons of mass destruction) missile program. There is no evidence that it's not.

Thomas Countryman, who served in the Obama administration as assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, said restarting Kaesong's activities would not only reward Kim for the continued provocations, but also throw cold water on international efforts.

It would be inconsistent with the [U.N. Security Council] resolutions if not in the letter, then in the spirit, Countryman said. There is simply no way that [South Korea] could convince China to have a strict enforcement of the U.N. resolutions, if South Korea is reopening a complex that provides tens of millions of dollars of hard currency every year to the North Korean regime.

Formerly the Obama White House coordinator for arms control and WMD, Gary Samore of the Belfer Center at Harvard University said Seoul should be more strategic and use Kaesong as a bargaining chip in response to or as part of a deal with Pyongyang to take steps toward limiting and eventually eliminating its nuclear activities.

It would be a big mistake to resume the Kaesong Industrial Park without getting something in return, Samore said. So if Kim Jong Un agrees to some limits on nuclear and missile activity -- for example, a freeze on testing -- then I think one response that [South Korea] could make would be to resume the Kaesong Industrial Park, with the understanding that the facility would be suspended if Kim Jong Un resumed nuclear and missile testing.

Negotiations on Pyongyangs nuclear program have been in limbo for almost a decade, with Washington and Seoul ratcheting up economic pressure and a stubborn Pyongyang persisting with weapons development. But since Moon took office last month, he appears to be easing conditions for talks with the North.

I make it clear that we will open dialogue without a precondition should North Korea stop launching missiles and testing nuclear devices, Moon said Thursday at an event marking the 2000 inter-Korean summit.

But when President Donald Trumps top diplomat Rex Tillerson led a U.N. Security Council special meeting in April, he rejected negotiations with Kim, saying North Korea must take concrete steps to reduce the threat that its illegal weapons programs pose to the U.S. and our allies before we can even consider talks. Those steps would be dismantling its nuclear and missile programs.

Moon Chung-in, South Koreas special presidential advisor for foreign and security affairs, commented at an event in Washington Friday that his president proposed scaling down the Washington-Seoul joint military drills if North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile activities.

The State Department downplayed the significance of the comments.

We understand these views are the personal views of Mr. Moon and may not reflect official ROK govern policy, said Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs spokesperson Alicia Edwards in an email to VOA.

A senior official at the South Korean presidential office said the advisor did not coordinate with the presidents office on the proposal.

This report originated on VOA Korean.
A suicide car bombing in the Somali capital has killed at least 10 people and injured 18, according to witnesses and local officials.

Militant group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attack on a local administration building in the Wadajir district of Mogadishu.

A minibus laden with explosives hit the building at about 12:40 pm local time, as a group of youth and women activists were meeting inside.

Witnesses said the driver forced the vehicle through the gate of the building and then set off a massive explosion.

He detonated it inside the building, there was one bomber, says Abukar Sheikh Ahmed, deputy district commissioner, who survived the attack.We lost several people, most of them were youth activists.

District commissioner Omar Abdullahi Hassan, the head of the womens organization, the leader of the youth group and the districts secretary were all wounded.

Rescuers are using bulldozers in an attempt to find survivors and bodies among the rubble.

Al-Shabab has stepped up its suicide attacks in the capital this year. Last week, the groups attack on two popular Mogadishu restaurants claimed the lives of 29 people.

The al-Qaida linked group has been fighting since 2006 to topple the Somali government and set up a strict Islamic state.
The seconds after the rented van sped through bus lanes, jumped the sidewalk and plowed through a group of Muslim worshippers marked a crucial moment in Britains bid to come to terms with its rapidly growing Muslim minority.



One person died in the incident, and at least 10 were injured.



A video shot by a witness shows a chaotic scene in which scores of people angrily shove and push toward the suspect, some trying to beat him as he fought back.



We grabbed him, said Abdikadir Warfa, who was a few meters away when the van slammed into people, pinning at least one victim underneath. Warfa said the suspect, now identified as 47-year-old Darren Osborne, was pulled from the van. We tried to hold him down. Hes a very strong man. He hit people and was trying to escape, Warfa told VOA.

It was then that an imam came to the scene and, by many accounts, kept the crowd from seriously harming Osborne.



Warfa, like others at the scene, expressed relief that matters did not escalate, but he worries that continued attacks by Islamist extremists, and a potential rise in retaliatory strikes on British Muslims, could drive a wedge between Muslims and non-Muslims.



It looks like it will start a division, except if the government does something. The government needs to do something, Warfa said.

Within hours of the attack, British Prime Minister Theresa May declared the incident a potential act of terrorism and visited the scene, as did London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who appealed for calm and announced extra police officers would be deployed to secure mosques during the remainder of Ramadan.



The scene of Muslim residents grabbing and beating the white suspect demonstrated how close Britain could come to an explosion of ethnic tensions, observers said. The anger on the streets surrounding the Finsbury Park Mosque were palpable in the afternoon hours of Monday, as warm temperatures hit an unusual 32 degrees Celsius.

Some residents, including British born Muslims, described the frustration and unease theyve experienced following the series of terrorist attacks.

Farhia Ali, an IT student walking past the area cordoned off by police Monday, said she should not be held responsible for the actions of those who commit violence in the name of Islam.



Ive been scared to be a Muslim walking the streets in a hijab for a very long time, but instances like this make me even more fearful of representing what (I) believe in, and that shouldnt be the case for anybody or any community in the United Kingdom, said Ali.

The prime ministers decision to declare the incident a potential act of terrorism, and assertions by police that Darren Osborne may face charges of committing, preparing or instigating an act of terrorism soothed Muslim community leaders, who have been voicing concerns about retaliation against innocent Muslims after the recent spate of deadly attacks claimed by the Islamic State group at Westminster, Manchester Arena, and London Bridge.



After the London Bridge attacks, the social media was [in] overdrive with hate against mosques, said Shaukat Warraich, head of Faith Associates, a Muslim non-profit group in London that recently issued a report to mosques recommending enhanced security measures in the wake of Islamist attacks.



Warraich told VOA that although Mondays attack is the first of its kind and an isolated incident, he sees it as an indicator of rising tensions that need to be quelled between Britains Muslims and non-Muslims.



Im so happy that the prime minister clearly stated that this was a terrorist attack, he said. ISIL and the far right are two faces of the same coin. ISIL is trying to radicalize Muslims but the far right is trying to radicalize white people against Muslims.



We will not allow this to divide the Muslim community and divide us against other non-Muslims, he said. London will not fold because of this. We will fight against this.
The government of the Central African Republic and 13 of the 14 armed groups in the country on Monday signed an accord aimed at ending an ethic and religious conflict that has killed thousands of people.

The deal, which was mediated by the Roman Catholic Sant' Egidio peace group and signed at their headquarters in Rome, calls for an immediate end to hostilities and recognition of the results of last year's presidential elections.

The country has been plagued by inter-religious and inter-communal conflict since 2013, when the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power, prompting reprisals from the anti-Balaka militia, many of whose fighters are nominally Christian.

The Sant' Egidio group, which is backed by the Vatican and Italy, negotiated the end of the civil war in Mozambique in 1992 during secret negotiations in Rome and has been trying to broker peace in Central African Republic for months.

Political crises have regularly rocked the country and tit-for-tat violence is on the rise again despite last year's presidential election that was aimed at ending the bloodshed.

In two weeks in May, fighting between militia groups killed about 300 people and displaced 100,000, the worst bout of displacements since 2013.

Around 2.2 million people, about half the population, need humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

.

The five-page accord, which was signed for the government by Foreign Minister Charles Armel Doubane, calls for the free movement of non-governmental organizations.

The armed militia that did not attend the Rome meetings was one of the smaller ones, the "Retour Reclamation et Rehabilitation" or 3R, Sant' Egidio negotiators said.

They added that its absence was due to logistical problems and that the other signatories were confident that they would be able to convince the group to join the pact.
1 A fire fighting aircraft drops water over a fire outside the village of Pedrogao Grande central Portugal. . More than 2,000 firefighters battled to contain major wildfires in the central region of the country, where one blaze killed dozens of people.
2 Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, left, smiles as she travels with Prince William, right and Prince Edward, in a open carriage to the parade ring on the first day of the Royal Ascot horse race meeting in Ascot, England.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming, a statement at odds with mainstream scientific consensus but in line with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency.



Asked on CNBC's "Squawk Box'' whether carbon emissions are primarily responsible for climate change, Perry said no, adding that "most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.''



Perry's view is contrary to mainstream climate science, including analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The EPA under President Donald Trump recently removed a web page that declared "carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas that is contributing to recent climate change.''



Taking down the web page came after EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, appearing on "Squawk Box'' in March, said "there's tremendous disagreement about the degree of impact'' of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases on the planet.



"So, no, I would not agree that [carbon dioxide] is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,'' Pruitt said.



The Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, organized by the United Nations, calls carbon dioxide the biggest heat trapping force, responsible for about 33 times more added warming than natural causes.



The panel's calculations mean carbon dioxide alone accounts for between 1 and 3 degrees warming, said MIT atmospheric scientist Kerry Emanuel.



Perry, like Pruitt, rejected the scientific consensus on climate change.



"This idea that science is just absolutely settled and if you don't believe it's settled then you're somehow another Neanderthal, that is so inappropriate from my perspective,'' he said.



Being a skeptic about climate change issues is "quite all right,'' Perry added, saying skepticism is a sign of being a "wise, intellectually engaged person.''



Recently, The Associated Press sent Pruitt's comments to numerous scientists who study climate. All seven climate scientists who responded said Pruitt was wrong and that carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming.



Perry, in his TV appearance Monday, said there should not be a debate about whether the climate is changing or if humans have an effect on the climate. Instead, he said the debate should be on "what are the policy changes that we need to make to affect that?''



NASA and NOAA reported in January that earth's 2016 temperatures were the warmest ever. The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, "a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere,'' the agencies said in a joint statement.



Earlier this month, Trump announced he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord. The agreement signed by 195 nations in 2015 aims to decrease global carbon emissions in an effort to head off the worst predicted effects of global warming, including worsening storms, catastrophic droughts and city-drowning sea level rise.



The Trump administration has also moved to roll back or delay numerous rules approved by the Obama administration to cut pollution from mining operations, oil and gas wells and coal-fired power plants.
It has a tough reputation, but for one entrepreneur Beiruts Ouzai neighborhood is the perfect canvas upon which to paint dreams of a better Lebanon.

Having left the area as a child and made his money working across the globe, Ayad Nasser has returned to Lebanon to create a place he has named "Ouzville".

And whether it is internationally renowned graffiti artists painting the walls, or local youngsters inspired to pick up paintbrushes and contribute their own efforts, Nassers ambitions go well beyond adding a splash of color.

Returning home

I think the universe had a way of bringing me back to this, reflects Nasser, who is in front of just one of the countless murals that have sprung up in this area over the past half year.

The 46-year-old only has dim memories of his early life in Ouzai, a place that, aged 5, he left with his family amid the onset of the Lebanese civil war.

Since then, both Ouzai and Nasser have changed a lot.

Having made his way from Lebanon to Monaco as a teenager in search of his mother, who he says walked out on his family when he was young, Nasser has gone on to build his name and his money in the world of property investment.

Ouzai, on the other hand, has transformed from a spacious coastal spot, Nasser recalls "beaches and greenery", into a slum.

Located in southwest Beirut just a few kilometers south of the pristine glass and metal apartments that make up some of the most pricey real estate in Lebanon, densely packed buildings with poor infrastructure house residents all too often plagued by poverty.

Long concerned about his home country, it took Lebanons trash crisis of 2015 to drive Nasser into action in the form of a plan to get international artists to create art from rubbish, a plan somewhat scuppered when the trash in question was eventually cleared away to be hidden elsewhere.

Undeterred, he formed a new plan focussed on getting the artists to instead turn their attention from the trash to the walls of Ouzai.

And in picking somewhere seen as a home to the poor, with strong political and religious ties - a place often ignored, dismissed or feared by some other Beirutis - he felt he was typifying many of the issues facing Lebanon today.

Its not about only beautifying the city. Its about unifying the citizens, its about breaking stereotypes, said Nasser, who added that he wanted people to put aside their differences and take control of their own futures.

Changing perceptions

Among those to have their preconceptions challenged was Mary-Joe Ayoub, who worked with local children to create a big, colorful artwork that sought to reclaim Beirut landmarks long associated with Lebanons civil war.

Ayoub said she disregarded warnings the area was dangerous, but confessed that although she lived 15 minutes away she didnt expect we could really communicate with people here.

But actually were very similar as we have the same aspirations for Lebanon and we all seek happiness at the end of the day.

Like others living in the neighborhood, Kassem Farhat admits he was curious about an influx of spray paint-wielding artists into a tight-knit community he describes as like a family.

In the past months, artists have come from as far afield as America and Russia, with renowned Lebanese graffiti artists Ashekman also contributing their efforts.

Meanwhile, every Saturday groups of volunteers and tourists gather at Ouzville, whether it is to paint, sightsee or eat food cooked by local residents.

But when we saw what was going on we really like the idea and started getting involved, said Farhat.

People even brought their kids and a nice atmosphere developed.

Kassem is aware of his neighborhoods reputation, and adds that he is glad people were getting more of an idea of the place that he gladly calls home.

I wish that everybody in Lebanon could do the same because the idea is really nice, he added.

Beyond Ouzville

That just so happens to be Nassers wish too.

Alongside commission people to paint the walls, Nasser has helped clear up the area by paying for a cleaner, just one of the expenses that contributed to an overall cost of so far of $100,000, a figure that he has paid out from his own pocket.

But though he cannot afford to keep on supporting Ouzville alone, he is currently in talks with other municipalities to find ways of launching and funding similar projects elsewhere across Lebanon.

For Nasser, what may seem like a whimsical idea is anything but.

Scathing of what he sees as everyday attitudes among the Lebanese people themselves, he is adamant that things need to change before it is too late.

Instead of looking to their political or religious leaders for help, he insists, people must look to one another.

People maybe they think I'm billionaire or naive and throwing my money, he said.

No ... this is going to be leading by example. if you are not going to do what I'm doing youre going to lose the country.
The son of Equatorial Guinea's president went on trial on Monday in his absence in Paris on charges of using money plundered from his country to buy Parisian luxury properties and exotic cars.

Teodorin Obiang, eldest son of President Teodoro Obiang and a vice president himself, denies charges of laundering embezzled public funds, for which he risks a sentence of 10 years in jail and huge fines if convicted.

The case is the first of several to reach court in a broader judicial investigation into allegations of illicit acquisitions in France by long-time leaders and family relatives in several African countries including Gabon and Congo Republic.

Obiang was already put on trial in January but the case, which has been 10 years in the works, was postponed after his lawyers argued their client had not had enough time to prepare his defense.

Among the acquisitions at the center of the trial is a large property bought for 25 million euros ($28 million) in 2005 on Paris's upmarket Avenue Foch, with gymnasium, hammam steam room, hair-dressing studio and a discotheque with cinema screen.

In addition to luxury clothing and jewels, prosecutors say Obiang, built up an exceptional collection of costly cars, which along with clothes, jewels and real estate took the value of all his assets to around 100 million euros.

Beyond Obiang's case, the broader French probe known as the "ill-gotten assets" investigation concerns purchases in France by the family of Gabon leader Ali Bongo as well as Congo Republic leader Denis Sassou Nguesso.

($1 = 0.8962 euros)
A third former Winnebago Tribal Council member has pleaded guilty to his role in stealing from the tribe's casino in Iowa.

Charles Aldrich, 48, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Omaha to aiding and abetting willful misapplication of casino funds. His sentencing is set for Sept. 18.

Aldrich is one of nine former council members accused of a conspiracy to siphon more than $327,000 from the WinnaVegas Casino in Sloan, Iowa. He is the third so far to enter a guilty plea.
Talks begin this week on Britains exit from the European Union, which will leave the bloc with only one heavyweight military power  France. EU moves towards a common defense policy have raised fears in Britain that it could be frozen out of future security arrangements.

Europes security is at a turning point. Threatened by Russian aggression in Ukraine and Islamist militancy on its southern and eastern borders, the bloc is about to lose one its major military powers.

After Brexit, France becomes the most important military power in continental Europe," said Edward Lucas of The Economist. "And I think that European security arrangements will have to reflect that.

Currently 4,000 French troops are fighting Islamist militancy in North Africa.

President Emmanuel Macron wants EU allies to do more.

Speaking on a trip to visit French forces in Mali last month, he said he wanted to strengthen European partnerships, in particular with Germany, and ensure the German engagement intensifies.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel does not want European security tied to a Franco-German military alliance, says Lucas.

Because she is very keen to keep America fully involved in the defense of Europe, he said.

The European Union is establishing a command center and $560 million defense fund, part of an emerging common defense policy. EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini says it will compliment existing military structures.

We are not suggesting in any way to substitute duplicate or compete with NATO. This has to be clear," she said.

NATO has deployed several thousand troops in Eastern Europe to deter Russia. The European Union is no substitute, says Michael Wolffsohn of the University of the German Armed Forces in Munich, who spoke to VOA via Skype.

Most of the continental European armies are simply unprepared for any military intervention with the possible exception of the French armed forces. But the Bundeswehr [German armed forces] is completely overloaded, underfinanced and under-equipped, he said.

Britain has long objected to an EU military force . But as Brexit talks begin, closer military integration is already underway, and France is taking the lead.
Republican Karen Handel won a special congressional election Tuesday in the southern U.S. state of Georgia, allowing her party to hold onto a closely contested seat and deny the Democratic Party a chance to chip away at the Republican majority in the House of Representatives.

The race between Handel and Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff was a major focus for both parties, sparking $50 million in campaign spending in what was by far the most expensive congressional race in U.S. history.

Handel won with about 53 percent of the vote to Ossoff's 47 percent.

That was much tighter than when the same seat was up for election last November and won by Republican Tom Price by 23 percentage points. Price stepped down after President Donald Trump picked him to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Trump barely won in the same district in November, topping his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by one percentage point, and he had used Twitter in the closing days of the campaign to both criticize Ossoff and urge voters to support Handel.

Republican Ralph Norman also won a special election Tuesday in the state of South Carolina, keeping another House seat in Republican hands. Earlier this year, Republicans won special elections in Montana and Kansas, while a Democrat won a race in California.

The result is that going forward Republicans will hold a 241-194 majority in the House. The party also has a majority in the Senate.

All of the 435 House seats will be up for re-election in 2018, and if Democrats want to reclaim control of the chamber they will need to gain at least 24 seats.
A new approach to foreign investment and aid in Africa by the worlds richest nations is being called for by Germany's chancellor, before she hosts a meeting of the world's 20 wealthiest nations next month. The so-called "Merkel plan" calls for more investment in Africa, as a way of stemming African migration to Europe.



This week, German Foreign Minister Gerd Muller said he fears 100 million African refugees might come to Germany if nothing is done.



So, Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to invest some $335 million to attract foreign investors to Africa, and will try to convince the other 19 nations attending the G-20 summit to show greater commitment to the continents struggling economies.

Germany has identified four countries as its focus: Ivory Coast, Morocco, Rwanda and Tunisia, but has also had discussions with other African leaders.



Talitha Bertelsmann-Scott heads the Economic Diplomacy Program at the South African Institute of International Affairs, and says Germany has worked hard to overcome its violent African colonial past and emerge as a business leader.



Germany has given so much, has been very inspiring in terms of how it emerged after the Second World War as this leading manufacturing powerhouse, she said. And Africa is really looking towards ways they can industrialize. And Germany does give leadership here.

But she said she has some reservations about the plan outlined by Germanys Finance Ministry, which she says did not involve consultation with African nations.



German business: all in the family

Marc Zander leads business consultancy Africon, a German-based company that focuses on helping businesses set up in sub-Saharan Africa.

He says German companies are looking to make serious, long-term investments and more are looking each day.

A lot of German companies are still family-owned so their approach to the African region might be on the one side be very cautious, but on the other side, a lot of German companies do properly work on the the strategies and also think-long term, he said from Stuttgart, Germany.

Christoph Kannengiesser, CEO of the Berlin-based German-African Business Association says 600 German companies are already working on the continent and he expects that number to grow. The continents booming population and growing consumer base make it an attractive business destination, he says.

The new German approach to Africa is first of all to accept and to take into consideration much more that Africa is a political and economic factor, and that Germany should strengthen the ties to Africa and build up more and more intensive relations to Africa in general and to important African countries, he said. And I think the second aspect is that we recognize Africa as a continent of economic opportunities and that we should engage as well.

The two-day summit will be held July 7 and 8 meet in Hamburg.
Developments in Washington, D.C., on Monday include President Donald Trump announcing plans to overhaul the federal governments technology meeting with technology industry leaders, Energy Department Secretary Rick Perry saying he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming, and the presidents son-in-law heading to the Mideast to continue peace talks with Israel and the Palestinians.

Tech Titans Gather at White House to Modernize Government  U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced he wants to see up to $1 trillion of tax savings over the next decade by a sweeping transformation of the federal governments technology. Trump told the American Technology Advisory Council in the White House State Dining Room that were embracing big change, bold thinking and outsider perspectives to transform government and make it the way it should be and at far less cost. A slew of high-tech heavyweights, some of whom have criticized President Donald Trumps policies, huddled at the White House on Monday as the administration kicked off its technology week.

Havana: Trump's Cuba Policy Speech 'Grotesque Spectacle'  Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez called Trumps recent speech on Cuba a grotesque spectacle that will only serve to strengthen the revolution, and criticized the Trump administrations decision to roll back some Obama-era policies toward the island nation. Cuba will make no concessions on its sovereignty and its independence, Rodriguez told reporters in Vienna on Monday. [Cuba] will not negotiate over its principles and will never accept [imposed] conditions. The comments were in response to Trumps speech last Friday in Miami, which is home to a large Cuban exile community.

Trump Welcomes President of Panama to White House  Trump welcomed the president of Panama to the White House on Monday, pointing to the United States' role in the construction of the Panama Canal at the start of his first face-to-face meeting with the Central American leader. Trump met with Panama President Juan Carlos Varela for a discussion on organized crime, immigration, drug trafficking and economic issues.

As South Korea Seeks Reconciliation With the North, Whats in it for the US?  As South Koreas new leadership works toward easing long strained inter-Korean relations, U.S. experts are eyeing the countrys conciliatory overtures to the Kim Jong Un regime, worried that a possible resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex could provoke discord with the Trump administration. Shortly after South Korean President Moon Jae-in named Cho Myoung-gyun to be his North Korea point man on June 13, Cho, who played a key role in launching the now-stalled economic cooperation project, told reporters, Operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex should be restored. I will speak after thoroughly looking into the details.

Obstacles at Bay, Beijing Steps up Control Over Disputed South China Sea  Beijing has reached a new peak in its bid to control the widely disputed South China Sea after pacifying rivals, keeping Washington away and building out artificial islands that are ready for military hardware. China will be able to keep three fighter-jet regiments on the same number of islets that it has constructed in the sea, according to a June 6 Pentagon report. Chinas estimated 3,200 acres (1,294 hectares) of reclaimed land in the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea will be used largely for military installations, a think tank forecast in March.

US Energy Chief: Carbon Dioxide Not Prime Driver of Warming  Energy Secretary Rick Perry said Monday he does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming, a statement at odds with mainstream scientific consensus but in line with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency. Asked on CNBC's "Squawk Box'' whether carbon emissions are primarily responsible for climate change, Perry said no, adding that "most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in.''

Kushner Heading to Mideast for Peace Talks  Jared Kushner is traveling to the Middle East this week to continue work toward a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. A White House official said the senior aide and son-in-law to President Donald Trump will arrive on Wednesday for meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah. Jason Greenblatt, Trump's international envoy, will arrive on Monday.

BRICS Meeting Highlights Climate Change, Trade, Terrorism  Climate change, trade and terrorism were highlighted Monday at a Beijing meeting of foreign affairs officials from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known collectively as the BRICS nations. The five nations are seeking to further align their views on key issues at a time when President Donald Trump is withdrawing the U.S. from multilateral arrangements such as the Paris climate accords and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.
Foreign ministers from across the Americas failed to reach agreement at a meeting on Monday on a resolution criticizing the government of Venezuela, which saw more violent protests in its capital as the discussions deadlocked in Mexico.

Ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States met in Mexico after they were unable to reach a consensus statement in May on the political and economic crisis rocking Venezuela.

Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Morales, the acting chair of the meeting, suspended a session to work out a joint statement on Venezuela and said ministers would resume discussions at a later, unspecified date.

"I do not want our hemisphere to continue breaking apart anymore," Morales said. "We need to look for solutions, to continue the dialogue and the only way to continue this dialogue is to keep this session open without a determinate date."

Mexico, the United States and other countries had been lobbying OAS member states to adopt a watered-down Venezuela resolution after seeing resistance from some of the socialist oil exporter's allies.

Mexico and Peru have led the push with the United States for a resolution that defends representative democracy in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is accused of leading the OPEC member toward dictatorship by delaying elections, jailing opposition activists and pressing to overhaul the constitution.

In Caracas on Monday, Venezuelan opposition activists battled security forces at one of the largest demonstrations in recent weeks after more than two months of almost daily street clashes.

"We don't expect much of the international community," said protester Luis Serran, 22. "We have seen cases like Syria, lots of talking and not much action."

At least 72 people have been killed in two months of violence between protesters and police as Venezuelans decry shortages of food and medicine. Maduro says the protests, along with the diplomatic efforts, are part of a plot by the United States to topple him.

"Venezuela needs an international humanitarian channel that provides drugs and food to the Venezuelan population," OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said.

Almagro called for an election timetable in Venezuela, for political prisoners to be freed, an independent judiciary and respect for the autonomy of the National Assembly legislature.

While Venezuela has said it was withdrawing from the OAS in protest, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez was in Cancun. "We don't recognize this meeting nor do we recognize the resolutions that come from it," she said.

Venezuela's socialists have long enjoyed the support of left-leaning governments in Latin America loath to back measures they see as meddling in a sovereign country by an organization they consider an arm of U.S. foreign policy.
U.S. President Donald Trump said the death of Otto Warmbier after the college student's lengthy detention in North Korea was disgraceful and suggested the outcome might have been different had Warmbier been returned home to the United States earlier.

"Its a total disgrace what happened to Otto," Trump told reporters at the White House. "That should never, ever be allowed to happen. And, frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different. But what happened to Otto is a disgrace. And I spoke with his family; his family is incredible what theyve gone through. But he should have been brought home a long time ago.

The 22-year-old Warmbier died Monday after being detained in North Korea for nearly a 1 years. His parents said in a statement he had "completed his journey home" and was "at peace" shortly before passing away.

Condolences

Trump on Monday offered his condolences to the family, saying in a written statement, "There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life."

He called the North Korean government "a brutal regime" and said the death deepens his determination to prevent future tragedies "at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.''

Trump suggested last month that he would be "honored" to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, "under the right circumstances." But White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that with Warmbier's treatment by North Korea and death within days of his release, "clearly we're moving further away" from any chance of the two leaders meeting.

Trump previously has pressured Chinese President Xi Jinping to rein in North Korea's actions. Trump, however, said in a Twitter comment that while he appreciated Beijing's efforts, "it has not worked out. At least I know China tried," without elaborating.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Warmbier's death will be a lasting reminder of "the barbaric nature of the North Korean leadership."

Ohio Governor John Kasich said "all Ohioans mourn" the death of Warmbier, a native of Cincinnati.

Kasich, too, lashed out at Pyongyang, saying, "This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime."

Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who worked to free Warmbier, called him a "promising young man," and said, "his passing today is a loss for Ohio and for all of us."

Death a 'tragedy'

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday Warmbier's death was a "tragedy" and hoped the United States and North Korea would "handle the matter appropriately."

Geng declined to comment on whether the death would affect issues regarding the North's nuclear program, but encouraged "all sides" to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Congressman Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, called for enactment of a law to place "effective limits on the travel of Americans to this pariah state, and to ban tourist travel entirely to North Korea.

Spicer said the U.S. is considering additional advisories on travel to the reclusive country.

The organizers of Warmbier's trip to North Korea say they will no longer take U.S. citizens to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours posted on its Facebook page Tuesday that Warmbier's death indicates the risk that American tourists face in North Korea "has become too high."

Warmbier was returned to the U.S. last week in a coma. Doctors in Cincinnati said he had suffered severe brain damage while in North Korea, but that it was not clear what caused it.

North Korea said Warmbier fell into a coma shortly after he was sentenced in March of last year for stealing a political poster from a hotel there. The government claimed the young man fell into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

The Warmbier family disputed that claim, saying North Korea had "brutalized" him.

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous treatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family statement said.

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year.

U.S. officials have said they are concerned about three Korean-Americans who remain held in North Korea. At least six South Koreans are believed to be in custody as well.

South Korea on Tuesday said it will make every effort to obtain the quick return of its detainees and the U.S. citizens being held in North Korea.

The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using the detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses the United States and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.
The Pentagon has confirmed the death of one of Islamic States leading ideologues in a coalition strike late last month.

Turki al-Binali, the terror group's so-called Grand Mufti, or chief cleric, was killed May 31 in an airstrike in Mayadin, Syria, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters Tuesday.

Al-Binali was central in recruiting foreign fighters to Islamic State and was a close confidante of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

He provided propaganda to incite murder and other atrocities, Davis said. His recruiting efforts for the terror group also included multiple recorded lectures attempting to justify and encouraging the slaughter of innocents.

Reports say al-Binali also provided religious justification for the enslavement of hundreds of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority.

Before Tuesdays confirmation, some reports had said the Bahraini cleric died in an airstrike in Deir-Ez Zur, Syria, while other supporters claimed he died in the groups de-facto capital, Raqqa.

The death signifies a major blow to the group as it struggles with intensified attacks in Iraq and Syria.

Officials say some IS leaders have fled to Mayadin as the group comes under attack in Raqqa and Mosul, Iraq.
More than 1,000 firefighters were still battling Portugal's deadliest forest blaze on Monday after it killed dozens over the weekend, and a fireman died from his injuries in a hospital, bringing the death toll to at least 63.

More than 70 people, including 13 firefighters, were taken to hospital on Monday with burns and injuries as the fires ravaged the central districts of Leiria and Castelo Branco.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who on Sunday visited the affected a mountainous area about 200 kilometers (125 miles) northeast of Lisbon, called it the biggest human tragedy in Portugal in living memory.

Despite government assurances that the first response by the emergency services was swift and adequate, media and residents questioned its efficiency and the strategic planning in a country which is used to wooded areas burning every year.

"So what failed this Saturday? Everything, as it has failed for decades," read a headline in the newspaper Publico. It blamed a lack of coordination between services in charge of fire prevention and firefighting and poor forestry reserve planning.

Xavier Viegas, an expert on forest fires, said the blaze spread too quickly and violently for firefighters to respond in some villages, but the deaths have mainly shown shortcomings in communications to evacuate people in time.

At least half the victims died in their cars as they tried to flee along a local motorway. Many other bodies were found next to the road, suggesting they had abandoned their vehicles in panic. The firefighter who died on Monday had been helping people out of their cars when he was badly burned.

"It's still hard to identify what failed, but it's a bit of everything," Viegas said. "Obviously, certain things that should have been done had not been done - especially in communicating with the population, telling them about the danger levels, areas to be avoided."

An online public petition demanding an investigation into possible failures by the authorities has gathered 440 signatures. Some local residents said they had been without the support of firefighters for hours as their homes burned. Many blamed depopulation of villages that left wooded areas untended.

Other countries prone to forest fires have systems in place to warn people of danger. Australia, for example, revised its fire warning system after fires killed 173 people in 2009 and now uses text messages and emergency broadcasts to warn people.

"There's an urgent need to organize that kind of alerting," Viegas said. "Here, at best, someone from the parish council goes knocking on doors telling people to leave."

Armindo Antonio, 67, was evacuated with his family on Sunday evening by civil protection workers who came to his village. He has no idea when he can go back and said he had received no information from authorities.

"All of this is so difficult to understand," said Antonio, whose five family members had been housed in a packed old-age home with other evacuees. "It could have been our village."

Civil protection commander Elisio Oliveira said the firefighting efforts were progressing well, but the fire was not yet under control. Water planes, including French and Spanish aircraft, flew overhead. Two army battalions were helping the emergency services.

"There is still a lot of forest that can burn," said Rui Barreto, deputy chief firefighter at the makeshift emergency services headquarters in Pedrogao Grande, where the blaze began on Saturday.

Police said a lightning strike on a tree probably caused the blaze, in a region hit by an intense heat wave and dry, gusty winds that fanned the flames. However, the regional prosecutor still ordered a criminal investigation into the causes. Many forest fires in Portugal are caused by arson or carelessness.
The sun had set, about 200 people had arrived, and evening prayers were about to start.



Members of the Bait-ur-Rehman Mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland, welcomed visitors Thursday evening for an iftar dinner during the holiest time in the Islamic calendar, when the faithful observe Ramadan fasting from sunrise to sunset.



Muslims, Christians, Jews, Quakers, Buddhists, and Sikhs were in the room listening to each other and sharing the meaning of fasting.



One by one they spoke. First came a pastor, a Quaker faith leader, then Gary Allen, a Christian and former local politician, who took the stage to share the meaning of fasting to him and his congregation. But he also shared something else.



It was Allens first time visiting a mosque.



"In fact, many people are like me: ignorant of the Muslim community, Allen said.



He said a few months ago members of his church shared "some of the anger and frustration and hate that they had in their hearts about other faith traditions.



"And as I listened to that I thought, 'Oh my God, what can we do about something like that?



The solution, Allen said, was to work to establish a series of interfaith dialogues, now set to begin in the fall.



So we can bring together people of different faith traditions ... which would help us understand what we share in common, he said.



Understanding each other

Soon after the speakers, Imam Hammad Ahmad opened the floor to questions. Again the idea was to help each other understand each other and gain more knowledge.



One attendee stood right away and asked, Weve seen that people are killing each other, killing individuals  What is jihad in Islam?



Imam Ahmad repeated the question to those in the room who could not hear. He said jihad is not a holy war.



Its not any kind of battle to slay a human being [or] to force anybody to convert to Islam.  Its none of those things. At its core level, jihad is in Islam is the struggle that all of us have in proving ourselves as human beings and becoming better worshipers of god, he said.



Joan Liversidge, a faith leader from the Quaker Friends House, took the microphone to follow-up, reiterating the need to reach out and talk about differences and similarities.



Some of the guests came in with other members of their congregations. Others heard from their Muslim friends and decided to attend for the first time. There even were those who, though not Muslims, visit the mosque every year.



I think personally we need to find more ways to do what were doing here tonight. ...Anytime that we can do anything like [this] is going to further our community, further our democracy here in this country, Liversidge said.



At 8:37 p.m., there was a call to prayer.

Its time to eat

Mohamad Deen, a 73-year-old Olney, Maryland, resident, is a Muslim born in Guyana, then British Guiana. His grandparents were from India and emigrated to South America. But crime, corruption and lack of opportunities led Deen to move with his family to the United States in 1976.



I love the U.S. I loved Guiana too.  I realized the U.S. had more opportunities he said.



He became a mechanic and eventually settled in the suburbs of Washington. Deen says Muslims break their fast with dates and water.



Eat, eat, he said. Take some home.

The polished white mosque sits on the corner of Good Hope Road and Briggs Chaney Road and is surrounded by at least 10 Christian congregations.



Deen leads the way upstairs to the prayer room. Men and women pray separately. About 15 visitors went to the mens hall and sat in the back observing the religious practice.



Now its time to eat dinner.



Dinner consisted of traditional Pakistani dishes that included butter chicken, spinach with potatoes, daal (a lentil soup), rice with vegetables, naan bread and salad.



When asked about being a Muslim, and people being prejudiced against him or his religion, Deen said it was all about equality and mutual understanding.



I am proud to say I am a Muslim. I am a human being just like you. I have the same feelings.  I respect everybody. Thats how I look at that.
Refugees are taking over restaurant kitchens in 13 European cities during the Refugee Food Festival, which coincides with World Refugee Day on June 20.

For two weeks, restaurant kitchens will occupied by refugee chefs from countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and others.

One popular and award-winning eatery in the center of the Belgian capital, Brussels, has been taken over by Syrian cook Abdell Baset.

On his first day in the restaurant's kitchen, he is preparing a typical Syrian dish, and one of his favorites.



Its called Molokia. Its with vegetables and coriander and garlic. And at the end, we put chicken on it, and we serve it with rice, he said.



Customer Jolien Potemans came to eat especially because of the food festival.



I think the perception of refugees in Europe is very bad at the moment, and also in Belgium," she said. "And I think thats why its very important to support events like these where refugees actually prepare meals, and this is my way to show my support to them.

Baset left war-torn Syria in 2015. He had worked most of his life in the food industry. But when he heard that soon he would be conscripted for the Syrian army, he decided to flee. Just like millions of other Syrians, he fled to Europe in search of safety.



Baset says his passion for cooking will help him build a new life in Europe, as it brings people together.



When it comes to cooking like now when I was cooking and I went to the people they were eating," he said. "And I ask them, and they ask me about my life, how it was in Syria. So I think its a very nice opportunity to come together and share our points of views.



Yannick Van Aeken, a well-known Belgian chef and owner of the restaurant where Abdel Baset is cooking today, believes the influences of foreign cooks can only improve the already high standards of the Belgian restaurant scene.



Its always nice to see different influences, and ingredients and the way theyre cooking from different parts of the world," he said. "And then everybody can learn a little bit more about their traditions, and their culture of the countries that they come from."

The food festival started as a citizens' initiative in Paris and is backed by the United Nations Refugee Agency.

Marine Mandrila, one of the co-founders from the Paris food festival in 2016, wanted the project to change the negative perception of refugees.



We saw we had to do something about all the negative images that are conveyed with the arrival of refugees," Mandrila said. "And we thought that sometimes we forget that they are humans like all of us with skills and talents and a huge cultural background. And we believe food is an amazing tool to connect people.

The hope is that the refugee cooks will find employment in the food industry, while also increasing cultural exchanges.

Eighty refugee chefs in 13 European cities are cooking in 84 kitchens until the end of this month. Next year, the Refugee Food Festival is expected to expand to include Canada and the United States.
RACINE COUNTY  Local public officials remained close-mouthed Monday about indications and news reports that Taiwanese electronics assembler Foxconn Technology Group is looking at area sites for a manufacturing plant.

According to recent news reports, Foxconn, which builds iPhones and other electronics, is considering investing somewhere in the United States and is looking for 1,000 acres for an expansion. The company said in January it is looking to make a $7 billion investment in this country and employ as many as 50,000 people.

As it did last Tuesday, the Racine County Board has another closed-session meeting scheduled for tonight about unspecified economic development matters. Both agendas cited as the reasons for the closed sessions, under Wisconsin statutes, as being to deliberate the investment of public funds regarding competitive multi-site economic development opportunities and the strategies associated with pursuing the same.

However, local officials were not willing to say whether any of those discussions involve Foxconn. I cant say anything about that, County Executive Jonathan Delagrave said.

Delagrave said last Tuesdays closed County Board meeting was about various economic development projects.

Other local officials also declined to comment when asked whether Foxconn is looking for a manufacturing site in this county. Mount Pleasant Village President Dave DeGroot, who attended last Tuesdays closed County Board meeting, simply said, No comment.

As is always the case with Racine County Economic Development Corp. when it is assisting municipalities with projects, RCEDC Executive Director Jenny Trick declined to comment Monday.

And Caledonia Village Administrator Tom Christensen, when asked if he could say whether Foxconn is looking at sites in Caledonia, said, I am unable to answer that question.

Last week President Donald Trump, speaking in Waukesha, said there have been negotiations with an unspecified company and said Gov. Scott Walker might get a very happy surprise very soon.
Researchers have developed a questionnaire for aid groups working with teenage Syrian refugees that measures resilience  the ability to overcome challenges. Aid groups, including Mercy Corps, are using it to identify obstacles to resilience, and factors that increase self-confidence.

Access to peers, access to mentors, family, education? What is helping young people overcome adversity? said Matt Streng, Mercy Corps Director of Youth, Gender and Girls.

With that information, his group is adapting its programs that build teamwork, vocational and life skills.

Working with young people in Afghanistan in 2005, Yale anthropologist Catherine Panter-Brick learned that for refugees, it is their future, much more than their past, that is most important to them. To her the tool represents a model that is focused on peoples strengths rather than their fragility; on their capabilities rather than on their vulnerabilities; on their resources rather than risk.

A concise, easy-to-use tool

To develop the questionnaire, Panter-Brick and colleagues partnered with Mercy Corps and Hashemite University in Jordan. There are more than 650,000 Syrian refugees in Jordan  half of them under 18.

The survey they came up with is short and simple - just 12 questions, which researchers carefully translated into Arabic, taking pains to make sure they used appropriate wording. For example, People think I am fun to be with was changed to People like to spend time with me because refugee youth claimed that a sense of fun was inapplicable to their current existence. My parent(s)/caregiver(s) watch me closely had a negative connotation for girls as it implied surveillance rather than supportiveness, so it was changed to really watch out for me.

Researchers also had to modify how responses were scored. For example, if a boy reported little participation in religious activities, it was an indicator of poor connection with the community. But there are few organized religious activity for girls, so a report of low religious participation from a girl would not be concerning.

Instead of just using 5 for a lot and 1 for not at all, glasses of water at varying level indicate degrees of wellness. This, researchers believe, is easier for children to readily understand.

Resilient results

The researchers found resilience was related to better mental health. For both Jordanians and Syrians, boys and girls, family support was far more critical for resilience than friendships with peers. Syrians named a hope for their future and education and their past success in overcoming trauma as sources of resilience.

While researchers from America, Canada, the U.K. and Jordan wrote this report, published in the journal Child Development, Panter-Brick explains that the original credit goes to the Syrian youth themselves.

We hadnt planned to do this. The people themselves tell you, youre focusing on trauma," she said. "This is not the whole of us and our life and our story. Why cant you ask us about things that make us more positive about ourselves? And that is resilience.
Scientists said on Monday they had pinpointed a particular type of immune system cell that could predict more precisely if cancer patients are likely to respond to modern immunotherapy medicines.

The discovery, reported in the journal Nature Immunology, suggests doctors and drug developers will need to get smarter in zeroing in on those people who stand to benefit from the expensive new drugs, which are revolutionizing cancer care.

Drugs such as Merck's Keytruda, Bristol-Myers Squibb's Opdivo, Roche's Tecentriq and AstraZeneca's Imfinzi can boost the immune system's ability to fight tumors, but they only work for some patients.

The current widely used benchmark when giving cancer immunotherapy is a protein called PDL-1. However, many experts view PDL-1 as a "blunt instrument", since it does not match precisely to drug response, leading to the consideration of other measures, such as the level of mutation in tumors.

The latest research adds a further twist by highlighting therole of so-called tissue-resident memory T-cells.

Researchers from the University of Southampton and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology found that lung cancer patients with lots of this cell type in their tumors were 34 percent less likely to die than others.

"Having made the first baby steps with PDL-1 testing, we need to be smarter by using new tests," said Christian Ottensmeier, a Cancer Research UK scientist who worked on the study.

"PDL-1 testing is a little bit like saying 'you've got a Ferrari because it is red.' Many Ferraris are red and many tumors that are PDL-1 positive will respond to immunotherapy, but on its own that is not sufficient."

Ottensmeier and colleagues now plan further clinical trials to see how well their biological predictor can pick out patients who will benefit from taking Opdivo.

Industry analysts expect the new generation of cancer immunotherapy drugs to generate tens of billions of dollars in annual sales by early next decade, with lung cancer the biggest single market.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation has paid tribute to the late Joel Joffe, a South Africa-born human rights lawyer who defended Mandela during a 1960s trial at which the anti-apartheid leader was sentenced to life in prison.

Joel Joffe, who died in London on Sunday at the age of 85, was part of the defense team for Mandela and other leaders of the movement against white minority rule who were tried for sabotage in the Rivonia trial. He later moved to Britain and was made a member of the House of Lords in the parliament.

The Mandela foundation on Monday expressed sadness at Joffe's death and said he helped many other people in his career.

Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years, became South Africa's first black president in 1994.
The nearly 1 million South Sudanese refugees in Uganda face shortages of food, water and medical care, but they have also brought with them the trauma of the war they fled. Aid agencies are struggling to meet the need for counseling for survivors of gender-based violence.

She was attacked in South Sudan six months ago, but she is still afraid to answer the door. VOA met this 35-year-old woman at the Pagirinya refugee settlement in Uganda. She spoke through a translator.



She said she doesn't know if it was government soldiers or rebels. She says there were four of them who walked into her house and one of them started raping her. The other three stood guard. After that, she says, they asked her for money. They started looking around and took 500 South Sudanese pounds and left.



She said when her husband came home, she told him what had happened. He told her to leave or he would kill her. She arrived in Uganda in February.



Insufficient trauma counseling



U.N. human rights officials said earlier this year that rape had reached epic proportions in the conflict in South Sudan. The impact is felt in the refugee settlements, though U.N. officials say funding for trauma counseling is insufficient.

We have about 20,000 women that have visited our center," said Alain Sibenaler, the Uganda Country Representative for the UNFPA. "Those are women that report abuse, that talk about, and thats of course very difficult to estimate how many more there are who have been silent, but its important to know that, before they cross the border, there is already a large amount of violence that they have been subjected to. Now, that violence sometimes continues on their way to the settlement or is even perpetrated within the settlement.



VOA spoke to a community facilitator working with abused women in the settlements. He said he sees food shortages intensifying domestic violence.



Domestic violence

One 30-year-old refugee from East Equatoria told VOA about the abuse she faces. She has seven children, two of them from her previous marriage. She said her husband beats her when he sees her feeding them from the familys rations.



She says he used a bamboo stick to beat me. He hit my hand and broke my wrist. He also hit my back, I am always in pain." She says the day I returned from the hospital, he raped me and while at it he said 'I want to see who will come and rescue you. You are my wife.'"



She says she threatened once to report him to Ugandan police, but he told her he would cross back into South Sudan to evade capture.

Ugandas government says it is aware of the problem of violence against women in the settlements.



When they struggle for resources in the areas that we give them, say, like water points, they become susceptible to all sorts of abuses," said Minister for Refugees Musa Ecweru. "I have had to go sometime as a minister responsible to speak very strongly to refugees, that some of you may have run from countries where law enforcement was weak, you have now run to a country where we take rights of others very strongly.



However, the minister said there have not been any recent arrests or prosecutions related to gender-based violence in the settlements. He said the government has placed priority on counseling survivors of abuse.
This U.N. World Refugee Day sees Turkey designated for the third consecutive year as the country that hosts the most refugees.While Ankara continues to stand by its policy of welcoming refugees, tensions within the country appear to be on the rise.

On Sunday, a factory dispute involving the factory owner and Syrian employees triggered rising hostilities between Syrians and Turks, along with violence that raged into the night in a suburb of the western city of Sakarya.

3 million Syrians in Turkey

There appears to be little remorse among some of those who took part in the violence.

These Syrians attacked the factory buses and burned down cars, explained one young man who was on the scene. We also heard that the Syrians harassed girls, so me and a number of Turks came together, walked to a Syrian neighborhood and started to beat whomever came our way. Then we went to another area and beat more people. Some had their faces really quite damaged. Then the police came and we got beaten by them.

The majority of the 3 million Syrians in Turkey live outside refugee camps. Many eke out a living in the main cities and the more prosperous western provinces.

Open threats to Syrians

Most cities and towns now have large Syrian populations and in many of them, tensions have been rising for some time.

We have witnessed in different neighborhoods in Istanbul, but also in the south of Turkey, where the Syrians are concentrated, in fact, there are very open threats to the Syrians, warned Professor Ahmet Icduygu, an expert on migration at Istanbul's Koc University. There were fights going and discrimination going on. And there is already debate, like in other Western countries, that they are taking our jobs, and also quite direct attacks to the Syrians, etcetera, still there ... a kind of tension growing.

Ankara's policy of providing welfare to the refugees, including free health care and education, also has added to the resentment.

They [Syrians] are getting some privileges that Turks don't get, such Syrian students can go directly to university without paying, notes Icduygu. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the cost to Turkey of hosting the refugees had surpassed $25 billion.

Tensions are now being exacerbated by rising unemployment  particularly among the young  running at more than 23 percent, which is close to being decade high.

Stabbing death results in riots

Last month, Istanbul, which is home to the largest Syrian population, witnessed some of the worst violence. Days of violent clashes against Syrians in an Istanbul suburb occurred after Syrian and Afghan refugees allegedly stabbed to death a Turkish youth who was trying to prevent the youngsters from harassing a girl. The violence was only quelled by a large police intervention involving water-cannon trucks and armored cars, and the evacuation of scores of Syrians from the district.

Salih Arslan, the uncle of the murdered Turkish youth, voiced frustration that the concerns of Turkish residents are being ignored.

These incidents and events happen all the time, though we always make complaints, nobody stops them, said Arslan.

On Sundays we can't go and sit in the parks with our families. Syrians come in groups of 20 to 30 and then you feel yourself in the middle of an Arab country. They stabbed the heart of my young nephew. And those who commit these crimes go without punishment because these people don't even have registration papers, he added.

Arabic signs removed

In the southern city of Adana, authorities have removed many Arabic signs in a bid to lower the visible presence of Syrians, but the government defends its policy of offering sanctuary, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu vowing no change in policy.

Erdogan's foreign affairs spokesman tweeted, "On this #WorldRefugeeDay, Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world. This is not a burden but a badge of honor for us.

But with thousands of refugees returning to Syria, albeit temporarily for the coming Eid religious holiday, analysts suggest that Ankara is hoping this could be a sign the burgeoning refugee crisis might be starting to ease.
Two Dutch journalists have been captured by Marxist ELN rebels in a conflict area of northeastern Colombia, the military said on Monday.

Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, a television journalist, and Eugenio Ernest Marie, 58, a television cameraman, were seized while working in El Tarra in Norte de Santander, which borders Venezuela, according to a military statement.

"We have established that members of the Frente Hector of the ELN appear to have kidnapped the journalists," the statement said.

The 2,000-strong National Liberation Army (ELN) frequently kidnaps Colombians and foreigners, many of whom work in oil operations, for ransom and political leverage.

The ELN, the second biggest insurgent group, is in peace talks with the government to put an end to more than five decades of war in the Andean nation.

The biggest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed a peace accord late last year and is expected to complete disarmament this week.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in a conflict that pit the military against FARC, ELN and right wing paramilitary armies since it began in 1952.

Last year the ELN seized a Spanish journalist, a long-term Colombia resident, and freed her six days later.

The area of Norte de Santander also has several crime gangs trafficking drugs.

The armed forces have launched operations to find the two Dutch reporters.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights called Tuesday for an independent international investigation into human rights violations and abuses committed in the Kasai region of Democratic Republic of Congo.

Zeid Raad Al Hussein made his urgent plea to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Last month, the high commissioner gave Congolese authorities a June 8 deadline to join an investigation with the U.N. to bring the perpetrators of human rights violations and abuses in Kasai to justice. The Congolese authorities rebuffed his plea, so he is now making good on his threat to urge the Human Rights Council to deploy an independent investigation.

"I will also remain in touch with the International Criminal Court," Zeid said. "This international investigation can establish the facts and determine individual responsibilities. ... By bringing justice to the Kasais we may be able to prevent further crimes elsewhere in the DRC."

The U.N. reports a serious deterioration of the human rights situation in Kasai since August. That was when a tribal chief was killed by police and members of the army. That triggered revenge attacks and counterattacks between the chief's Kamuina Nsapu militia and government security forces.

Stories of atrocities

Zeid said refugees from Kasai had told U.N. investigators harrowing tales of abuse by a Congolese-backed militia, the Bana Mura, against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups, including reports of hundreds of villagers being shot, hacked or burned to death.

"Serious human rights violations by members of the security forces themselves  including summary executions and rape  have been reported during several operations against villages allegedly controlled by the Kamuina Nsapu militia," he said.

The high commissioner also accused the Kamuina Nsapu militia of serious rights abuses. He said the militia allegedly had carried out targeted killings against members of the armed forces, police, public officials and civilians, using children as young as 7.

Zeid said Congolese authorities have a duty to protect the people and that those who violate human rights principles must be brought to justice.

The DRC minister of human rights, Marie Ange Mushobekwa, said her country would continue to cooperate with the Human Rights Office. She said undisciplined Congolese soldiers who opened fire on civilians had been identified and brought before the courts.
The U.N. Security Council is calling on Eritrea and Djibouti to peacefully resolve a land dispute along their border.

Djibouti accused Eritrea of deploying troops to occupy the contested area, known as Ras Doumeira, after a contingent of 450 Qatari peacekeepers departed last week. If true, the move could threaten a return to war for the first time since the countries fought over the land in 2008.

In a news conference Monday, Sacha Sergio Llorenty Soliz, the permanent representative of the president of the U.N. Security Council, said that council members supported an African Union initiative to deploy a fact-finding mission to the border and that all parties should work to "maintain an atmosphere of calm and restraint."

The U.N. assistant secretary-general for political affairs, Taye-Brook Zerihoun of Ethiopia, held a briefing for members to discuss the matter. Soliz said members were considering "future confidence-building measures." He added that members would continue to follow the situation closely.

Ethiopia, which fought a war against Eritrea from 1998 to 2000, currently holds a two-year nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

No 'speculative analysis'

On Friday, the Eritrean government issued a statement saying it would wait to get more information and not "engage in speculative analysis at this stage." Eritrea's ambassador to the African Union, Araya Desta, told The Associated Press his government didn't want to take any land from Djibouti, and "the last time, we had some skirmishes. It was unnecessary."

Djibouti officials agreed that the only way to resolve border tensions is through peaceful means. "We urge Eritrea to resolve the border dispute peacefully with Djibouti, as we've always said as a matter of priority and in a manner consistent with international law," Djibouti's ambassador to the United Nations, Mohamed Siad Doualeh, told VOA last week.

Ebba Kalondo, African Union spokesperson, told VOA's DayBreak Africa that the AU was ready to help resolve the matter.

"The chairperson of the AU Commission [Moussa Faki] also stands ready to assist Djibouti and Eritrea to normalize the relationship and promote good neighborliness within the framework of the relevant and current AU instruments," Kalondo said.

The International Authority on Governmental Development, an East African trade bloc, also threw its weight behind talks, saying it would "relentlessly work towards bringing peace" between the two countries.

Friction in 1996

Ras Doumeira has been a source of tension since 1996, when a Djiboutian official accused Eritrea of shelling the area. Tensions continued in 1999 when Eritrea accused Djibouti of supporting Ethiopia.

Djibouti also has accused Eritrea of hosting Djiboutian rebels. In 2008, the two countries had a skirmish resulting in an unknown number of dead and wounded.

Tensions appeared to be easing last year when Eritrea released four Djiboutians who had been held as prisoners of war for eight years.

VOA's James Butty and Abdulaziz Oman contributed to this report.
U.S. officials told VOA they were close to confirming that the Iranian-made drone shot down by an American fighter jet early Tuesday was being operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, multiple U.S. sources told VOA that the drone was being operated from an IRGC ground control station inside Syria. The station is located near Hama, according to one official.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain Jeff Davis said an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down the Shahed 129 drone about 12:30 a.m. local time as it approached an established coalition combat outpost near al-Tanf, where the U.S. is training local fighters battling the Islamic State group.

Davis said the drone destroyed Tuesday was located where another Iranian-made drone was shot down on June 8.

We do not seek conflict with any other party in Syria other than ISIS, but we will not hesitate to defend ourselves or our partners if necessary, he told reporters at the Pentagon, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group.

Deconfliction hotline

While the U.S. and Russia have used an established hotline to deconflict air operations in Syria and prevent miscalculations between the two major powers, Davis said that because of the urgency of the threat, the deconfliction line was not used prior to the action against the drone.

The pilot ... took immediate action to bring that drone down as it was approaching our forces with hostile intent, he said.

The downing of the drone came on the same day Australia announced it would temporarily suspend airstrikes by its forces in Syria, after Syrian ally Russia threatened to target planes from the U.S.-led coalition operating in the skies over Syria in response to the downing of a Syrian fighter jet by the U.S. Air Force on Sunday.

Monitoring 'air situation in Syria'

A statement from Australia's Defense Ministry said it would monitor the "air situation in Syria" and decide whether to resume airstrikes there "in due course." The ministry said strikes in neighboring Iraq, where the U.S.-led coalition campaign is also operating, would continue.

The Pentagon spokesman said the Syrian SU-22 jet had attacked U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces positions near the towns of Ja'Din and Shuwayhan.

Davis added that the U.S. on Sunday gave the plane several warnings, including multiple communications through the deconfliction line, launching flares and even performing a head-butt maneuver, where a U.S. plane flies just in advance of another plane to create heavy wake, in order to get the Syrians to leave.

The SU-22 went into a dive, dropped munitions anyway and was subsequently shot down, Davis said.

'Act of aggression'

Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the shoot-down an "act of aggression," but the U.S. said it would continue to protect its interests in Syria.

"The Syrian regime  needs to understand that we will keep the right of self-defense of coalition forces aligned against ISIS," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Monday.

When asked whether the hotline between the American and Russian forces remained open, Davis stressed that the Pentagon feels this communication is effective and should not be cut.

We remain available on our end. Ill leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation, he said.
Venezuelas political crisis loomed over the Organization of American States General Assembly meeting Tuesday, as heavy as the rain soaking this resort city.

Foreign ministers from OAS 34 member nations failed to reach agreement the previous day on a joint statement of how to help stabilize the South American country, rocked by more than two months of anti-government protests in which more than 70 people have died.

One proposal, introduced last month at a special OAS meeting on Venezuela, would involve assembling a "contact group" of representatives to work with the socialist-run country on restoring peace and democratic norms.

"This is a moment of challenge for this organization to prove its relevancy  to take a modest step that has been proposed," John Sullivan, the U.S. deputy secretary of state, told the assembly Tuesday. "If we cant take that step forward here, we seriously impair our ability to go forward as an organization."

'A swift response'

Venezuelas foreign minister, Delcy Rodriguez, accused the United States of seeking intervention to benefit from her countrys oil reserves.

"I think the only way [U.S. officials] can impose their will is with their Marines, who would be met with a swift response in Venezuela," she said.

Rodriguez, who walked out of the summit Monday, berated diplomats who endorsed oversight for her country and President Nicolas Maduros government. Peru and other countries that have condemned Venezuelas government "form part of the litter of lap dogs of imperialism," she said.

The Venezuelan foreign minister again emphasized that her country would go through with its plan to exit the OAS, a two-year process that it announced in April to protest what it considers OAS interference in the countrys internal affairs.

Anti-government street protests have roiled Venezuela almost daily since April 1, just after the countrys Supreme Court tried to strip the National Assembly of its legislative powers. Maduros political foes have called for him to schedule long-overdue elections, free political prisoners and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Monday brought the most recent fatality in clashes among Maduro opponents, government security forces and its backers. A 17-year-old man was shot in the chest during a demonstration in Caracas Altimara neighborhood.

End to parliamentary immunity?

In that capital city on Tuesday, Diosdado Cabello, a Venezuelan lawmaker and Maduro supporter, said the government would go ahead with its plan to have a citizen assembly rewrite the constitution beginning in late July.

Cabello said one proposal for the citizen assembly would be to strip parliamentary immunity from any congressional representative opposing the government.

Also Tuesday, Maduro announced new leadership for Venezuelas defense ministry and National Guard. The AFP news agency quoted Maduro as saying General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, heading defense, was "a loyal man, a moral man."

The president also said General Antonio Benavides Torres, leading the Guard, would undertake "new responsibilities and battles."

Venezuelas political crisis has overshadowed an OAS assembly agenda that includes regional challenges such as drug trafficking, illegal migration and limited leadership opportunities for women.

VOAs Gesell Tobias, Celia Mendoza, Mitzi Macias and Jean-Pierre Leroy contributed to this report from Cancun, and Alvaro Algarra reported from Caracas.
STURTEVANT  Wisconsin Womens Business Initiative Corp. and Gateway Technical College will host Strong Women, Strong Coffee Thursday from 7:30-9 a.m. at The SC Johnson iMET Center room 104, 2320 Renaissance Blvd.

This free daybreak networking event is for women who are focused on achieving something fresh for themselves and for their business, according to a news release. The event melds business professionals with entrepreneurs and encourages building and growing meaningful connections. The program is casual, and each session features a local womans story of success.

Guest speaker Abby Walker is president of Vivian Lou, a company dedicated to helping women look and feel better in high heels. She launched her company as a hobby business while being a full-time working mother of two children.

Since then, her flagship product, an insole for high heels, has been featured in O Magazine, Real Simple and USA Today. Its also been featured on The View and is sold on HSN. In May 2016, Walker quit her full-time job to pursue her dream.

Preregistration is encouraged; to register visit www.wwbic.com, call 262-898-5000, or email amanda.lipke@wwbic.com.
U.S. student Otto Warmbiers tragic death Monday, after being released from a North Korean prison in a coma, has again put an international focus on the widespread human rights violations allegedly being committed by the Kim Jong Un government.

This is a government that frankly is a human rights abomination. It is a human rights black hole, said Phil Robertson, the Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.

In January of 2016, Warmbier was arrested in Pyongyang for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster at a hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor, then fell into a coma 15 months ago from which he never awoke.

North Korean officials said the 22-year-old American university student contracted botulism while in custody and was given a sleeping pill that put him into a comatose state. Doctors at the hospital in Cincinnati, where he was being treated after being released, discounted the North Korean account but could not say what caused the severe neurological injury.

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement following his death.

Condolences and outrage

U.S. President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the family in a statement Monday saying, There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life.

The president also said the death deepens his determination to prevent future tragedies "at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.''

Other U.S. officials issued similar statements of sympathy for the family and outrage at what they described as Warmbiers brutal, inhumane treatment by the North Korean government.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in issued a statement offering condolence and consolation to Warmbiers family, and also condemned North Korea for detaining foreign nationals without regard for human rights guaranteed under international law.

North Korea is still detaining our citizens and American citizens, and it needs to return them to their families immediately, and our government will put utmost effort for this, said South Korean Presidential Office spokesman Park Soo-hyun.

There are six South Koreans currently imprisoned in North Korea. Some were missionaries who were charged with spying and others were reportedly kidnapped by North Korean agents while helping defectors on the Chinese side of the border.

U.S. officials have said they are concerned about three Korean-Americans who remain held in North Korea. The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

Atrocities at home

The North Korean regime also wages war on their own citizens, said Marion Smith, the director of The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, in a statement on Monday.

A 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report documented ongoing atrocities in North Korea comparable to those committed by Nazi Germany.

Among the findings:

* Between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners are currently detained in four large political prison camps.

*The use of torture is an established feature of the interrogation process.

*Persons who are found to have engaged in major political crimes are disappeared, without trial or judicial order, to political prison camps known as kwanliso.

*The inmate population has been gradually eliminated through deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide.

*The policy of regularly carrying out public executions serves to instill fear in the general population.

The ruling Kim Dynasty has shown time and time again that they have no regard for human rights. They have no regard for human life, and that whatever is necessary for them to hold onto power, they will do, said Robertson.

Warmbiers brutal treatment and tragic death, Robertson said, should motivate the international community to renew efforts to hold the Kim Jong Un government accountable for the widespread atrocities being committed in the repressive and opaque state.

Based on the 2014 COI report, the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, but the measure has since been stalled in the Security Council, where the Norths allies, China and Russia, are believed to be preventing any further action in this measure.

Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.
Sanctions against the Russians will remain in place until they are out of eastern Ukraine, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday as the Ukrainian president visited the White House.



Were going to continue to have sanctions on Russia, and we believe that is part of Ukraine, and so therefore those sanctions will remain," said Spicer.



Ukraines president, Petro Poroshenko, declared himself satisfied with the outcome of White House talks on Tuesday, characterizing the United States as the most reliable, supportive strategic partner for Kyiv.



I am absolutely confident that our effective coordination can bring peace to my nation, to my land, and can support our integrity and sovereignty, said Poroshenko, sitting alongside Trump in the Oval Office.



I think a lot of progress has been made, declared Trump, adding that Ukraine is a place that weve all been very much involved in.



Poroshenko, a billionaire businessman viewed as an enemy by Moscow, arrived without the usual fanfare for a visiting head of government at the White House. Trump did not meet him at the doors of the West Wing as he has done with most other such visitors.



The meeting between the two leaders Tuesday at the White House was to discuss support for the peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and President Poroshenkos reform agenda and anti-corruption efforts, according to a statement from the Trump administration.

Lethal Weapons

Ukraine has been engaged in a low-grade conflict for three years with Russian-led separatists in the eastern part of its territory.



A successful outcome for Poroshenkos U.S. visit would lead to American weapons flowing to Ukraine, scholar Taras Kuzio told VOA.



Trumps predecessor, Democrat Barack Obama, decided not to send lethal arms to Ukraine, worried it would escalate the conflict.



The icing on the cake would be Trump no longer following Obama in vetoing the delivery of defensive military equipment to Ukraine. The U.S. under Obama reneged on its moral duty to assist Ukraine's security under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Perhaps Trump will rectify this? said Kuzio, a senior research associate at the University of Albertas Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies and a non-resident fellow at Johns Hopkins University.



I think it was a mistake for the Obama administration not to arm Kyiv, a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, William Green Miller, told VOA.



We should provide the means for its defense because were committed to do that, said Miller, who served as ambassador from 1993 to 1998 under President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.



The White House did not immediately respond to VOAs request for comment on whether weapons were promised Tuesday by the administration to the Ukrainians.



Following the Oval Office discussion Poroshenko on Twitter said military-technical cooperation was discussed and more detailed talks would now take place with U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.



At his Tuesday confirmation hearing in the Senate, deputy secretary of defense nominee Patrick Shanahan said, I support providing lethal weapons to the Ukrainians.

Sanctions on Russia



Just before Poroshenkos arrival in the Oval Office, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it had sanctioned 38 people and organizations over Russias actions in Ukraine.

The latest round of sanctions targets Ukrainian and Russian officials and companies accused by Washington of helping Moscow tighten control of Ukraines Crimean peninsula, which Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, annexed in 2014.



These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution," said U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "This administration is committed to a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, and there should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements."

The two agreements, signed in Minsk in 2014 and 2015, are widely viewed as failures because they did not bring peace and now are not expected to lead to a political solution to the conflict.



The Minsk Accords are not working and Putin has never had any intention of implementing them, added Kuzio. Maybe the Trump-Poroshenko meetings will reach the same conclusions.



In order for the U.S. president to clearly understand the situation Poroshenko faces, Trump should go to Ukraine and the front and witness the war thats going on, said Miller, now a Kennan Institute fellow at the Wilson Center.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and volunteers are on the front lines of the undeclared war, in which an estimated 100,000 people live in a dangerous zone between the two sides.



Putin last week said he hoped the United States could play a constructive role in resolving the crisis.



Kuzio predicts Trump cannot do any deal with Putin even if he wanted to because he cannot be seen to be pro-Russian. With sanctions codified in the U.S. Congress and continued by the EU, Trump cannot drop them.



The U.S. Senate last week approved new measures against Moscow that limit Trumps ability to roll back sanctions against Russia.



The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives.



Trump is expected to meet Putin early next month during the G-20 leaders summit in Germany.

Skepticism



As far as adequate commitment by the United States to Ukraines defense under the Trump administration, Miller, the former U.S. envoy to Kyiv, said Ukrainians are questioning whether it will happen and we all are.



Some of the skepticism derives from Trumps personal ties to Ukrainians who oppose Poroshenko. The former head of Trumps presidential campaign, Paul Manafort, did work for Viktor Yanukovych, the former pro-Russian president of Ukraine.

A federal special counsel is looking into the extent of interference by Russia in last years U.S. presidential campaign and is believed to be scrutinizing Manafort and others who were part of the Trump campaign.
Iraqi military forces have launched an offensive to take the Old City of Mosul, the last area still held by Islamic State. Retaking the Old City is a challenge because of its narrow streets and the local residents who could get hurt in the attacks. VOA's Zlatica Hoke reports.
The parents of Otto Warmbier, the American college student who died Monday after being detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a-half, said in a statement he had "completed his journey home" and was "at peace" shortly before passing away.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday offered his condolences to the family, saying in a written statement, "There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life." Trump called the North Korean government "a brutal regime" and said the death deepens his determination to prevent future tragedies "at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.''

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Warmbier's death will be a lasting reminder of "the barbaric nature of the North Korean leadership."

Ohio Governor John Kasich said "all Ohioans mourn" the death of Warmbier, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He, too, lashed out at Pyongyang, saying, "This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime."

Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who worked to free Warmbier, called him a "promising young man," and said "his passing today is a loss for Ohio and for all of us."

Returned in coma

Warmbier was returned to the United States last week in a coma. Doctors in Cincinnati said the 22-year-old had suffered severe brain damage while in North Korea, but that it was not clear what caused it.

North Korea said Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced in March of last year for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel. The government claimed the young man fell into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

But the Warmbier family heatedly disputed that claim, saying North Korea had "brutalized" Otto.

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous treatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family statement said.

Tensions heightened



Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year.

U.S. officials have said they are concerned about three Korean-Americans who remain held in North Korea. There are also at least six South Koreans believed to be in custody as well.

South Korea on Tuesday said it will make every effort for the quick return of its detainees and the U.S. citizens being held in North Korea.

The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using the detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses the United States and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

The organizers of Warmbier's trip to North Korea say they will no longer take U.S. citizens to the country. Young Pioneer Tours posted on its Facebook page Tuesday that Warmbier's death indicates the risk of American tourists face in North Korea "has become too high."
This week, Uganda welcomes U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and other high-level international guests and donors for the two day Refugee Solidarity Conference (Thursday 6/22 and Friday 6/23). The conference in Kampala hopes to raise $8 billion to support refugees in Uganda for the next four years.

At the border separating Uganda from South Sudan, exhausted women and children arrive daily, hungry and dehydrated. Aid workers give them fortified biscuits.

Perry's view is contrary to mainstream climate science, including analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The local food supply is stretched to the limit.

The U.N. World Food Program was forced to cut food rations to refugees last month, says WFP country representative El Khidir Daloum.

"Yes, we have been forced to reduce the distribution for the month of May by 50 percent, but that is mainly due to the physical availability of food and arrival of food in the country, he said.

Funding is also inadequate.

The United Nations and 57 other aid organizations working in northern Uganda, appealed for $1.4 billion to provide food and shelter this year, but only 18 percent of the funds has been received.

Amnesty International researchers visited the refugee settlements in Uganda and Deputy Regional Director Michelle Kagari says the refugees have already suffered greatly.

"There is one woman who has nine children, her and her children witness their father being killed, not to mention the trauma of fleeing the Equatoria's," she said. When they arrived in Uganda, because there is no capacity for them to get additional support, she is now supposed to build a shelter herself, find food for the children, deal with the trauma of the children."

Uganda is known for its progressive approach to refugees, there are no refugee camps, but settlements where refugees build round mud huts and get small plots of land to farm. They are also allowed to work in Uganda.

But the massive influx from South Sudan, as many as 2,000 people a day during the past year, is taking a toll on the host communities.

Uganda is hosting this weeks Refugee Solidarity Summit in an urgent plea for help says Uganda State Minister for Refugees Musa Ecweru.

"A district that was supposed to host 300,000 people is now hosting 600 to 700,000 people. In that district, they are competing for trees that are used as fuel for energy," said Ecweru. "They are competing for drugs that are supposed to be used by the host communities in the health centers. ... So there are so many things that are under pressure, so we want the international community to support us and lift the pressure."

Food security is a particular concern given the hunger and famine in South Sudan and drought in East Africa.

At the Maaji refugee settlement 25-year-old Jennifer Fonne is eight months pregnant and struggling to have two meals a day.

As you can see, children are crying here because of hunger, we are not getting anything to buy for our children food. As I have three children, but food is not enough for us. We are just eating green vegetables, but no proteins, she said.

Back at he border, the scene is the same. More families arrive, sweating in the scorching heat, carrying their belongings.

The government says Uganda will not shut its doors to people in need, but the country cannot bear this burden alone.
An employee works last month at Zimmer Biomet in Warsaw, Ind. (AJ Mast/For The Washington Post)

Each day at Zimmer Biomet headquarters, machinists on one robot-assisted factory floor churn out about 3,000 metallic knee parts. They are facing pressure to crank up the pace as the population ages and demand soars.

But the artificial-bone giant is grappling with a steep downside of the nations low unemployment rate: It is struggling to find enough workers, despite offering some of the regions best pay and benefits. Forty positions sit open.

Other manufacturers in Kosciusko County, home to roughly one-third of global orthopedic device production, are running into the same problem.

The lack of laborers not only threatens to stunt the growth of these companies, experts warn, but it could also force them to decamp their home town in search of workers.

With the U.S. unemployment rate at a 16-year low of 4.3 percent, employers across the country are dealing with a dearth of potential hires. Economists say that talent shortages are growing constraints on the countrys economic expansion, especially as millions of baby boomers enter retirement.

The company is struggling to find enough workers, despite offering some of the regions best pay and benefits. Forty positions sit open. (AJ Mast/For The Washington Post)

But the shortage is particularly problematic in places such as Kosciusko County, where the unemployment rate rests at 2 percent. Of the countys 41,136 adults who can work, 40,311 are employed, according to government statistics.

This region  a land of clear lakes, duck farms and medical device makers  escaped the industrial decline that rocked other communities throughout the Rust Belt.

It prospered, thanks to a local industry that proved largely immune to competition from China and Mexico.

But without more people to grow Warsaws business, the chances of companies relocating is extraordinarily high, said Michael Hicks, a labor economist at Indianas Ball State University.

That would devastate the area, he said. We need to figure out how to bridge this rural place to the future.

Kosciusko is only one of 73 counties in the United States with unemployment rates of 2 percent or lower, according to the most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Many are in energy-rich counties in the Midwest and Colorado, where the fracking and natural gas booms have vacuumed up the workforce.

They also include communities that defy the heartland stereotype of industrial decay  like Warsaw, in northern Indiana, and Columbus, about three hours south.

(McKenna Ewen,Whitney Leaming,Whitney Shefte/The Washington Post)

Cummins, a global engine builder based in Columbus, recently opted to open its new distribution center an hour north in Indianapolis, where the labor market is much larger. (Columbus is the seat of Bartholomew County, which also has a 2 percent unemployment rate.)

Companies in Warsaw probably would not move manufacturing jobs abroad, said Hicks, who follows the region. Firms are more likely to transition to Indianapolis or Chicago, he said, since quality control is crucial for medical implants, and businesses want to protect their designs from foreign competitors.

Warsaws orthopedic device industry, a $17 billion cluster, started here in 1895, sprouting from a fiber splint company. Zimmer followed in 1927, bringing aluminum splints to the market (and merging with Biomet, another skeletal-part manufacturer, in 2015). Other firms flourished, peddling hip implants, artificial femurs and bone plates for children.

Over the past 18 months, Zimmer Biomet has updated its plant technology to further boost efficiency. The neatly manicured campus has one-legged robots that swoop up and down like yellow flamingos, as well as an employee gym, a cadaver lab and a coffee bar serving Starbucks.

The orthopedic sales market is expected to grow about 4 percent each year through 2020, analysts predict, and Zimmer Biomet also strives to hit that target. Thats thanks to the aging population, plus the fact that older people today live longer and are more active. Keeping up with consumer need, however, is already difficult.

Theres great demand for our product, said Matthew Linville, Zimmer Biomets director of human resources, but there is a limited amount of skilled labor in the area.

The company has asked machinists to log more overtime hours, he said. It has brought in 30 workers from Puerto Rico and a few more from New Jersey, paying for their apartments and cars. It has donated $50,000 to the local school systems STEM programs and $2 million for a nearby colleges science center. It has underwritten another $2 million for the citys YMCA.

Homegrown is great, but we know were growing fast, said Monica Kendrick, head of communications at the company, so bringing people into the community is important.

Zimmer Biomets president of the Americas, Rob Delp, said the company has no plans to move its headquarters beyond Warsaw.

This is where it all started, said Delp, whose grandparents worked at the company. To uproot that . . . Im not saying its impossible, but it would be very difficult.

A combination of factors has made Warsaw and other cities vulnerable to low unemployment.

Over the past decade, as manufacturing employment shrank across the Rust Belt, Warsaw displayed a rare resilience, steadily adding well-paying factory positions that do not require a college degree.

But many of those jobs were filled by baby boomers in the community who are beginning to retire in the same demographic wave that is driving more demand for orthopedic parts.

At the same time, young people are more drawn to bigger cities, keeping with a familiar pattern across the economy.

Manufacturing employment, meanwhile, has gradually dwindled nationwide, particularly in the Midwest.

By contrast, Warsaw has seen its population increase, ticking up to 14,289 from 12,689 in 2000. County data shows that surgical appliance manufacturing employment in the area  which covers orthopedic device production  swelled to 6,803 jobs in 2015 from 5,003 in 2005.

Growth, though, has slowed over the past year.

Ryan Christner, manager at Precision Medical Technologies, a spinal implant maker in Warsaw, said his company is having trouble filling 10 vacancies. That quashes productivity, he added.

If we dont feel like we can support our business in the local labor market, then we have to branch out, Christner said. Maybe we have to look at a different region. Maybe a different state.

Help wanted banners dot pristine company lawns across town, calling applicants to the local Menards, the Elk Lodge and a factory that produces movie screens.

Paul Osterman, a professor of human resources at MITs Sloan School of Management, said large firms tend to expand where the population is denser. That way, if a talent need emerges, they can simply beef up compensation and more easily attract workers.

Manufacturing companies, however, cannot depend on attracting folks from afar. Less-educated workers  that is, those without college degrees  are also less likely to move for a job, even for more money.

Mobility declines with education level, Osterman said.

Manufacturing vacancies at Warsaws orthopedic companies reached about 300 last year, not including open positions at local suppliers, said Brad Bishop, executive director at Orthoworx, a nonprofit organization that supports Warsaw businesses.

The number of jobs is growing faster than the population rate, Bishop said.

The industrys bind is also tightened by a common misconception that factory work is dirty or inferior to career paths a four-year degree will open, he said. But machinists certified in high school or local technical programs can step into jobs that pay about $50,000 annually  roughly the states median wage.

They can work up from there, Bishop said, or later seek higher education, which some companies in town, including Zimmer Biomet, help cover.

Tom Till, director of Ivy Tech Community Colleges Orthopedic and Advanced Manufacturing Training Center, said Zimmer Biomet and other local firms offered to pay the tuition of his first group of high school manufacturing trainees, who graduated last month with a machining certification.

The problem: Only a handful of students signed up for the program.

The partnership  run by the local schools and Ivy Tech, and funded by state grants and local businesses  attracted 15 students, all young men, with 11 completing the program.

None of the groups three seniors, however, intend to start work in the orthopedic industry. They are all heading to college.

The stigma comes from history: People have grandparents who worked in dirty, dingy factories, Till said. But that truly is not where our manufacturing is today. The first thing you notice is you can eat off the floors.

Across town, one day before summer break, Warsaw teachers hope they are training the next generation of workers.

Students at a STEM-focused elementary school learn to code on iPads. In the hallway sits a pipe-cleaner replica of the skier Lindsey Vonns knee.

Middle school students drive remote-controlled cars they built in a robotics course, slamming them together in a makeshift demolition pen. Juniors and seniors operate machinery that the local orthopedic companies helped fund, shaping titanium rods into polished discs.

David Robertson, the chief academic officer at Warsaw schools, said the community sees the future in these kids.

Theres a real sense of urgency, he said. If we dont provide a workforce . . .

Robertson trailed off. Sure, the orthopedic companies started here. Then international markets opened to them. They grew and grew.

Whats keeping them here in Warsaw, Indiana?
The Navy has filed criminal charges against an officer in the Fat Leonard scandal, setting the stage for the first military trial in a corruption investigation that has consumed the service for the past four years, documents show.

Navy officials have kept the officers name a secret since he was charged in March with conspiring with Leonard Glenn Francis, a rotund Malaysian defense contractor, to recruit and bribe other Navy officials to join a massive scheme to defraud the Navy.

On Monday, the Navy released charging documents that deleted the officers name but listed his rank as an active-duty commander and said he allegedly accepted prostitutes, travel and other gifts worth about $5,000 from Francis in 2012 and 2013.

Among the alleged bribes were a gift of four suckling pigs, as well as tickets to a Julio Iglesias concert and a Gucci fashion show for the officer and his wife, according to the charging documents.

Navy officials said the commanders name would be made public at a preliminary hearing next week in Norfolk. If the case proceeds to trial, it would mark the first time the Navy has court-martialed anyone in the scandal.

Francis was arrested by federal agents in 2013 in a sting operation in San Diego and has since pleaded guilty to bribing scores of Navy officials in a decades-long scam to overcharge the Navy at least $35 million for resupplying its ships in Asia.

Since then, the Justice Department has filed federal criminal charges against 21 current and former Navy officials, as well as Francis and five of his employees.

In court filings, the federal investigation has exposed an extensive level of corruption in the Navys 7th Fleet, which covers maritime operations throughout Asia. Francis ingratiated himself with senior officers and contracting personnel by throwing extravagant parties with prostitutes and, in some cases, bribing Navy officials with envelopes of cash.

[The Navy officials Fat Leonard took down]

In addition to those facing federal criminal charges, the Justice Department has referred 200 cases involving Navy personnel to the Pentagon for possible discipline or prosecution under military law.

The Navy, however, has been secretive about its investigations and has said little publicly about one of the most embarrassing episodes in its history.

Records show that four admirals have been reprimanded or disciplined for their ties to Francis since 2015, but Navy officials have declined to say how many other personnel have been punished or fined.

Two defense lawyers familiar with the Navys investigations said that charges have been filed against at least three other Navy officials and that more potential courts-martial are expected in the coming weeks.

In addition to conspiracy, the Navy commander who faces a military court hearing next week has been charged with graft, bribery, making a false official statement, violation of lawful orders and adultery, which is illegal under military law. He is currently assigned to the Naval Air Force Atlantic.

According to the charging documents, the commander accepted bribes from Francis in Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Hawaii between March 2012 and September 2013.

The last specific offense described in the documents occurred in August 2013, when the commander allegedly sent a message to Francis asking him for a bottle of Cristal Champagne.

Francis was arrested about a month later in San Diego, along with several other defendants in the case.
RACINE  Lightning and straight-line winds may be to blame for damaged properties in the City of Racine Monday.

Two dozen We Energies customers were without power in the 1200 block of Grand Avenue about 2:45 p.m. after two residents said lightning struck a power pole behind their homes.

Resident Julio Quroz said he was inside and saw what he described as a flash from his neighbors backyard right before the power went out.

I saw a spark and I looked. The (electrical) box was melting from the fire, Quroz said. The main cable that brings the power into the house is burned out. It grounded at the box on the side of the house.

Quroz said he was surprised by how hot the fire was.

The lightning melted the aluminum, Quroz said.

Quroz and his neighbor called 911 and the Racine Fire Department came out to put out the fire in the electrical box. Both We Energies and the Racine Fire Department said the incident is under investigation. No one was injured, but power was knocked out and now residents fear the damage to the wiring of the adjacent houses where the fire occurred may be a problem.

The fire was from the inside out, Quroz said. I told my neighbor she needs to get on the phone with the insurance company right away.

Straight-line winds

The lightning came with a short cloud burst of heavy rain. About the same time a couple of blocks away, Racine police responded to a wind event causing damage.

The top layer of the roof peeled off of a building at 855 Washington Ave. It was hanging off the back of a vacant building. The owner could not be reached for comment.

The National Weather Service reported at 2:50 p.m. that a weather buoy in Racine measured a wind gust of 55 mph. Ben Miller, a meteorologist at NWS, said straight-line winds of 40 mph were also reported at that time as the short-lived storm moved through.

For the gusts they were there and its gone. They were moving real fast but there wasnt a lot to them, Miller said.

Both Waukesha and Walworth residents reported 1-inch hail in some spots which managed to miss Racine County, according to Miller.

At the storms height in Racine County, about 137 We Energies customers lost power Monday afternoon.


Three-year-old Ragika from Syria plays with a toy horse at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 50 miles north of Athens, Ggreece. On World Refugee Day, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are stuck in Greece. (Photos by Petros Giannakouris/AP)

In either direction, the waiting line is stuck.

On World Refugee Day, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are stranded in Greece. Theyre eventually supposed to go forward to other countries in Europe or be sent back to Turkey, but the process is barely moving.

On the mainland, children take after-hours classes at Greek schools, while their families are moving out of tent camps and into trailers and apartments. Most will eventually be relocated to European Union (E.U.) countries, but the process is slow. Out of the total 63,000 places promised, just over 14,000 refugees have been moved out of Greece to 23 countries.

On the islands, where migrants are sent to wait for possible expulsion to Turkey, conditions for many have worsened as daily arrivals continue, though in smaller numbers than before. Another 14,000 people are waiting there.



A Syrian boy runs as he carries a giant tennis ball at Ritsona. Some of the children in the camps have been separated from their families.

Its all part of a refugee deal launched 15 months ago after more than a million people, most fleeing war and poverty in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, crossed into Europe in 2015 and 2016. Greece was a key transit point on that route, as refugees traveled from Turkey to nearby Greek islands, often using unsafe boats.

At first they were able to travel freely on to wealthier countries in northern and western Europe, but tens of thousands were stranded last year when the European Union began reintroducing border controls. Those who arrived before March 20, 2016, were allowed to move on to mainland Greece to seek relocation in an E.U. country. Those who arrived after are stuck on the islands. They can apply for asylum, or protection from being sent back but many are supposed to be sent back to Turkey. In practice, thats not really happening.

Shelters on Khios, a Greek island about five miles from the coast of Turkey, are filled beyond capacity. Many new arrivals, including infants, now sleep in tents on the beach.



A Syrian girl takes down laundry from a clothesline at the camp.

Jill Biden, wife of former U.S. vice president Joe Biden, visited refugees in Khios earlier this month as part of work by the aid organization Save the Children. She traveled with Nitzia Logothetis, a therapist and aid organizer, who said she was horrified by the conditions she saw.

There were over 100 unaccompanied minors on the island, between the ages of 8 and 17, and over 1,300 refugees in total, Logothetis told a conference in Athens, the Greek capital, after returning from the visit.

I saw parents, children, and people who looked so hopeless, she said. Some of the children are so stressed out. . . . The longer they stay, the more severe their symptoms.
Adapted from a recent online discussion.

Hi, Carolyn: I think I may have an undiagnosed case of anxiety. I often have panic attacks that seem to begin when some fears I have are triggered. My spouse says I have a tendency to rationalize my fears  which he believes are unreasonable  whenever I begin to spiral down a deep black hole of fear.

Im not sure what to do. Ive noticed that I become quite distressed when confronted with situations that I cannot control and try to overcompensate by trying to control whatever I can. I barely even leave the house now.

Can you recommend some reading to help me deal with this? I cant afford therapy right now, but Im tired of crying and being afraid of everything.

 Stressed and Afraid

(Nick Galifianakis/for The Washington Post)

Stressed and Afraid: Im so sorry.

A start-right-now answer: If you can stream video at home, then you have access to instruction in yoga and meditation. These can bring immediate and proven stress-reduction benefits, to the extent its almost shocking  you can feel muscles start to unclench.

Certainly its better as a beginner to have someone work with you in person, but if you stick to the very-beginner videos then you might reap enough benefits to get you out the door to a class.

The longer-term answer: Youre in crisis so please pursue therapy anyway, by seeking a provider who will work on a no-fee or sliding-fee basis. Your regular doctor can diagnose and start treating you in the meantime.

If either you or your spouse has employer-provided benefits, then see whether youre covered by an Employee Assistance Plan. If not, then find out whether your hospital or a nearby medical school offers a clinic. You can also check with the American Psychological Association (apa.org) to see whether there are providers locally who offer reduced-cost treatment. A support group might be a viable low-cost or no-cost option as well. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI, at nami.org) can help you find one.

To get more information on anxiety, NAMI also has a helpline, 800-950-NAMI, and its site includes general information on various mental health conditions. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America does, too (adaa.org/finding-help), and provides a list of recommended reading material, as you requested.

Navigating all this is a tall order while youre feeling anxious, possibly even overwhelming, so ask your spouse to help you. I hope he also does some reading himself; dismissing your fears as unreasonable is not productive, even if he is technically correct that logic doesnt support them. That you now barely leave the house says this is a matter for treatment, not just factual correction.

If willing, your spouse can help by adopting reflective listening techniques, ideally with a therapist but also with Dr. Google if needed. Reflective listening is a way to validate someone, where calling fears unreasonable or rationalized only negates  plus, it encourages you to talk your way to whats really bothering you, and therefore to a calmer state of your minds own making.

If your spouse is not willing to try this small adjustment to help you, then you might need to consider that a lack of support in your marriage is at least a small part of what ails you.

Take care and please let us know how it goes.
Its just eight words  Im only 19, but my mind is old  but it might be the most paralyzing rap lyric ever written, the kind of declaration that makes your pulse quicken while your blood cools in your capillaries, the kind of blunt-force poetry that activates an impossible swirl of excitement, dread, sorrow and sympathy. It arrived in 1995 on the lips of Prodigy, co-founder of the New York duo Mobb Deep, in a song called Shook Ones (Part II), which, amazingly, begins with dedication to those who aint got no feelings. By the end of Prodigys opening verse, youve felt everything.

Prodigy  who died on Tuesday at 42 after being hospitalized for complications related to sickle cell anemia  grew up in a rage. First, he was angry at his body, which always seemed to be losing a painful fight with the blood disorder that would ultimately end his life. Then, he was angry at a God who wouldnt intervene, therefore must not exist. Thats how a child becomes a nihilist, how a young mind becomes old.

I was an angry kid because of the sickle cell, he told NPR in 2013. So I liked the anger in hip-hop. Thats what attracted me to it; thats what made me want to do it. It helped me get my aggression out.

Music offered catharsis, but as a rapper, Prodigy quickly learned how to surface his personality with artful restraint. When Mobb Deep first formed in a Manhattan high school, his co-pilot, Havoc, said, Prodigy wore so much jewelry, he could hear him clanking down the hallway. But the music they eventually made together would prioritize grime over flash, and the groups two most extraordinary albums  1995s The Infamous and 1996s Hell on Earth  were instantly lauded for their shadowy grit. This was a rough-and-ready sound designed to leave bruises, stitched together from samples that crackled and hissed, noise contaminating signal. But even at its coarsest, Mobb Deeps music always had a certain elegance to it, and it was flush with mood.

Much of that had to do with Prodigys evocative rhymes, which made good on his stage name, recapping teenage tales of crimes and punishments that were almost too grim to believe. Im lethal when I see you, there aint no sequel, he warned on The Infamous, making you wonder how a young-old mind this callous could still arouse your sympathy.

To understand how is to try to understand how human beings survive the unfathomable cruelty of life  a cruelty formidable enough to make a child renounce his faith, but not enough to make a man forfeit his humanity. Maybe we should honor the request Prodigy made in the penultimate line of his Shook Ones (Part II) verse: Take these words home and think it through.


Tony Bennett arrives for his 90th birthday celebration at the Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Plaza in New York. (Evan Agostini/Invision/Associated Press)

The Library of Congress broke with tradition on Tuesday in announcing legendary jazz crooner Tony Bennett as the recipient of this years Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. The lifetime achievement prize has previously been awarded to talented performers who double as noted songwriters. Although Bennett does not fall under the latter category, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden cited his impact on popular music as the reason behind his selection.

Tony Bennett is one of the most accomplished and beloved artists of our time, Hayden said in a statement. His staying power is a testament to the enduring appeal of the Great American Songbook the Gershwins helped write, and his ability to collaborate with new generations of music icons has been a gift to music lovers of all ages.

Bennett, 90, has been performing for almost seven decades, first topping the charts in the 1950s with a number of Columbia singles. He has won 18 Grammy Awards  the first two in 1962 for his signature tune, I Left My Heart in San Francisco  and has been nominated for 34. Named a Kennedy Center honoree in 2005 and a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2006, Bennett has had 24 songs make the Top 40.

Congress created the Gershwin Prize in 2007, and recipients include Carole King, Paul Simon and Smokey Robinson. Bennett noted in the release that one of the earliest songs he recorded was George and Ira Gershwins Fascinating Rhythm.

To be receiving an award that was named in their honor is one of the greatest thrills of my career, he said.

Bennett has connected with younger audiences in recent years, collaborating with such artists as Carrie Underwood and John Mayer on Duets II in 2011. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard albums chart, rendering Bennett, then 85, the oldest artist to achieve the feat. He then teamed up with Lady Gaga at 88 to record the jazz duets album Cheek to Cheek, breaking the record once more.

Born in 1926, Bennett grew up in New York and pursued his interests of singing and painting in high school. He now supports students with similar aspirations through Exploring the Arts, which he founded in 1999 with his wife, Susan Benedetto. The organization works to bolster arts programs, with partnerships in 33 public schools in New York and Los Angeles.

Bennett will be honored in Washington in November.


A crowd waits in line to enter The Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library, last weekends pop-up project from The Daily Show that was made up of actual tweets by President Trump. (Justin Lane/EPA)

The first exhibit in the Donald J. Trump Presidential Twitter Library, which opened and closed here last weekend, was a series of a classically styled caricatures of prominent politicians. But instead of a witty caption, each picture bore the derogatory nickname that he or she had been assigned by President Trump on Twitter, including classics like Crooked Hillary Clinton, Lyin  Ted Cruz, and Low Energy Jeb Bush. Visitors to the library could enter their name into a generator and receive a name tag bearing a personalized insult straight from the commander in chief.

The pop-up library, meticulously modeled on real presidential museums, was presented by The Daily Show With Trevor Noah. It was designed to showcase the breadth and depth of the presidents Twitter career, which has been a particular focus of the late-night show. In February, the show released a browser extension called Make Trump Tweets Eight Again, which changed the font of the presidents tweets to look like childrens colorful scrawling. The following month, the shows staffers combed through Trumps 35,000 tweets for a March Madness-style tournament to decide Trumps greatest tweet of all time. The winner, from 2014: Are you allowed to impeach a president for gross incompetence?

The Daily Show is far from the only outlet taking creative inspiration from the presidents micro-blogging habit. Shannon Wheeler, a cartoonist for the New Yorker, has turned some of @realdonaldtrumps tweets into illustrations. Russel Neiss created a Twitter bot, @RealPressSecBot, to format all of Trumps tweets as formal statements, while the technologist David Neevel built a robot that methodically prints out the tweets and burns them, with video of the process posted at @burnedyourtweet. In art installations, apps and memes, both new and old technologies are grappling with Trumps words and their context in the wider world. Artists are drawing attention to this peculiar form of semiofficial communication to highlight the dichotomy of our new normal: that the presidents tweets can be mockably absurd while having far-reaching consequences.

[The viral bot that gives Trumps tweets the honor that they deserve]

I think some of it is because they are right from his brain and fingers to us, explained Jen Flanz, an executive producer at The Daily Show, about the fascination with the presidents tweets. Theres no crowd cheering that makes him say more. This is his thoughts, in his private bubble, and we get to see them.



The Twitter library was modeled on real presidential museums. (Justin Lane/EPA)

The Daily Shows library was a smash hit, reaching capacity the whole weekend and at times drawing four-hour waits outside the venue at 57th Street and Fifth Avenue, diagonal from Trump Tower. Fan reaction was so strong that the show hasnt ruled out bringing it back in another form, Flanz said. (A 360-degree digital tour can be found on The Daily Shows website.)

[A New Yorker cartoonist is creating a new book that illustrates President Trumps tweets]

Just five blocks south of the library, the Austrian Cultural Forum hosts a much more somber reflection of the presidents digital habits. The artist Martin Roths piece, titled In May 2017 I cultivated a piece of land in Midtown Manhattan nurtured by tweets, consists of a field of lavender growing under fluorescent lights. The lights are connected to a small computer, which automatically scans the presidents twitter feed and those in the sphere of his work, from @kellyannepolls to @foxandfriends. (The Posts feed, @washingtonpost, is one of them.)

The more retweets a tweet in that group is getting at the moment, the brighter the lights. It is not so important for me what the tweet is about but what momentum a tweet gets, Roth said in an email. While CNN and Donald Trump have the same amount of followers his tweets get a much larger number of retweets. So in a sense the light is visualizing a virtual organism reacting to impulses/tweets.

Roth said he was inspired by the Forums location so close to the presidents former home. I felt there was a certain collective anxiety that could be felt in the United States after the election and Trump Tower became kind of this symbol, he explained. The exhibit was meant as a sort of retreat from this tension, with lavender chosen for its calming effects.

Last August, the video production site Super Deluxe released Trumps Tweets as an Early 2000s Emo Song, a pitch-perfect pop-punk song with lyrics taken straight from Trumps tweets. The videos producer, Jason Richards, said he came up with the idea during one of Trumps tweetstorms about Clinton.

I just remember thinking, this is so unbelievably whiny, Richards said in an email. Especially for someone running for president. Tonally, it sounded exactly like the classic, nasal, suburban Hot Topic mall-punk emo that used to drive me insane, like, 15 years ago.

And while it may be easy to find comedy in the presidents messages, turning it into art can be trickier. Its already difficult to take nonmusical phrases and arrange them in a way that has some form of rhythmic and melodic repetition, said Nick Lutsko, who wrote the song. It doesnt help that his syntax is borderline nonsensical.

Back at The Daily Show library, it seemed that many of the attendees were having an equally hard time following the presidents writings. Its amazing to pull together everything hes said and try to make sense of it, said visitor Kevin Jordan-Deen. Thats impossible, he added with a laugh.

Forcing viewers to face up to these words was all part of the idea. When youre in the library, youre surrounded by his tweets, said Daily Show supervising producer Ramin Hedayati, whose digital expansion team was behind this exhibit. You cant just click to another tab, or read it and put your phone away like you would when youre just reading his feed. In the library, you have to confront the reality that he has said all these things, and he is now the president.
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, right, the Districts nonvoting representative in Congress, speaks at a news conference on March 1, 2017, announcing the Washington, D.C., Admission Act, legislation that seeks to have the District become the 51st U.S. state. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

If perception is reality, D.C. Council member David Grosso has an idea to jump-start the Districts stalled campaign to become the 51st state.

Grosso (I-At Large) wants to upgrade the names of the citys elected leaders to state equivalents. The mayor would become governor. The D.C. Council would become the legislative assembly. Council members would be representatives.

The city would continue to be called Washington, D.C., but instead of District of Columbia, D.C. would be short for Douglass Commonwealth, in honor of abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Grosso rolled out legislation Tuesday to legally change those names as a way to make it easier for the nation to embrace the idea of the District as a state.

It is very symbolic, but it also reflects the real work we are doing in the government, Grosso said. One of the arguments against us becoming a state is we are just a city and a city shouldnt be able to jump right to a state level. People dont realize we do the functions of a state, county and city; this will change peoples perceptions of us.

D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) is sponsoring legislation to change government titles in the District to match the jurisdictions statehood aspirations. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

[D.C. mayor concedes statehood effort dead  for now]

The nations capital is no closer to statehood. In fact, leaders acknowledged that the chances of the citys becoming the 51st state are virtually dead under a GOP-controlled Congress and White House.

Still, Grosso says, the fight goes on, and a change in nomenclature could be useful.

The District has nearly 700,000 residents  more than Vermont and Wyoming  and they pay more in federal income taxes than counterparts in 22 states but have no vote in Congress, which has the constitutional right to intervene in D.C. laws and spending.

The District has had a mayor and city council since the 1973 Home Rule Act authorized self-governance in the seat of the federal government. Even that terminology was a tough sell with home-rule skeptics, according to research by Grossos staff.

[Congress ramps up scrutiny of D.C. government]

Since then, statehood has been an elusive goal. Bowser convened a constitutional convention last year. It ended with a proposed constitution for a state named after Frederick Douglass and led by a governor and a 21-member legislature.

District voters in November overwhelmingly approved a referendum to petition Congress for statehood.

But the vote ended up being largely symbolic since Congress remained under the control of Republicans, long hostile to giving any new votes in the House or Senate to an overwhelmingly Democratic jurisdiction.

If theres any tool in the toolbox we can use to help break down barriers to get us closer to being a state, even if some of it is semantics in what we call ourselves, Im fine doing that, said Josh Burch, a statehood activist.

Grossos bill has picked up five council supporters: Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1), Vincent C. Gray (D-Ward 7), Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large), Anita Bonds (D-At Large) and Elissa Silverman (I-At Large).

Grosso said he heard concern that the public might think D.C. already won statehood if its leaders have state-government titles. But he argued for a new approach to the statehood effort since city terminology has not helped much.

I dont think there will be any more misunderstanding about the status of D.C. residents than there is now, said Bo Shuff, executive director of the statehood advocacy group D.C. Vote. If you change that title to governor, they will be stunned to find out we have no representation in Congress.

But others think the rebranding is a fools errand.

Chuck Thies, a local political operative allied with Gray, took to Twitter to pan Grossos proposed Washington D.C. Preferred Terms Establishment Act of 2017, saying it should instead be called the Self-aggrandizement Act of 2017.

And lets change the name of each ward to a county, right? Or maybe provinces and we can fool people into thinking were Canada, Thies tweeted.

Bowser seemed cool to the idea of prematurely changing job titles.

Though Governor Bowser has a great ring to it, she is more concerned with District residents having full access to our countrys democracy, said LaToya Foster, a spokeswoman for the mayor.

Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), who would become speaker of the assembly under Grossos bill, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Lori E. Parker, a former magistrate judge in D.C. Superior Court, said Monday she will challenge incumbent Brianne K. Nadeau for the Ward 1 seat on the D.C. Council.

Parker declared her intention to take on Nadeau (D) exactly one year before the citys Democratic primary.

We have 365 days from today to fully mobilize all of our get-out-the-vote efforts, Parker told more than 30 volunteers and Ward 1 residents gathered at the Josephine Butler Parks Center across from Meridian Hill Park.

Parker, 53, served from 2005 to 2016 as a magistrate judge and previously worked in the administration of D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D). She said Nadeau, 36, who defeated longtime council member Jim Graham in 2014, has not done enough to respond in a timely manner to the concerns of residents in Ward 1.

The constituent services in the ward range from quality-of-life issues like trash pickup to more challenging issues, which deal with things like complaints regarding alleged illegal construction or damage to property, Parker told The Washington Post. Those types of issues need to be responded to, and I dont think thats happening enough.

D.C. Council member Brianne K. Nadeau at a vote last month. (Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post)

If elected, Parker promised to fight for a Ward 1 for all.

Asked about Parkers criticism that she has been weak on constituent services, Nadeau said in a written statement: It has been an honor to serve the Ward 1 community for the past two and a half years. Together, we have made some great progress on critical priorities  securing more affordable housing, improving our local schools, and helping Ward 1 residents access the services they need. We are making great strides, and we have more work to do to make Ward 1 as prosperous as it can be for all our diverse residents. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, and I am running for re-election in order to build on that progress and continue to fight for the people of Ward 1.

The ward, which is the citys smallest in terms of area but its most densely populated, is already in a good position, Parker said.

Were on the upswing, but we can do better, she said. We need to do more to fulfill the wards true potential, which includes making sure that everyone benefits in and participates in the wards prosperity.

Ward 1 includes Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, Pleasant Plains, LeDroit Park and portions of the Shaw neighborhood.

Parker wants to encourage residents to become more politically engaged, and she said she aims to address systemic issues  including affordable housing and public education  to create long-term stability.

One of the top priorities throughout her career has been advocating for childrens issues, Parker said. In addition to serving in family court as a judge, she served under Williams in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Children, Youth, Families and Elders.

Parker, 53, is a third-generation Washingtonian and has lived in Columbia Heights for 17 years.

Parker attended D.C. public schools through middle school and went to Fairfax Countys Madeira School for high school. She graduated from Columbia University with a degree in psychology, attended George Washington University for law school and earned her master of science degree in developmental psychology from Johns Hopkins University.
Fish, as the song goes,got to swim, and birds, as the song continues got to fly. If ever those animal imperatives placed themselves in evidence in the Washington area it was Monday, when a famous bird took to the air, and a less celebrated fish kept on doing what it was born to do.

The incidents were separate and unconnected. The bird that took his first formally recognized flight is one of the two eaglets born this year to the adult eagles that have been nesting high in a tree in the National Arboretum.

A camera follows the exploits of this eagle family, and on Monday morning, it recorded a milestone in the life of any eagle, let along the young one named Glory.

This morning, at around 5:54 am Glory finally made the jump, the American Eagle Foundation said on its Facebook site.

Glory fledged the DC Eagle Cam nest! the foundation said. It said Glory, offspring of Mr. President and First Lady explored its woodsy environment for about an hour.

One of the two Bald Eagle chicks born this year at the National Arboretum took its first intentional flight on Monday. For an eagle, that first flight is known as fledging. (BirdImages/iStockphoto)

It then rejoined its sister in the nest tree. The sister is named Honor.

In online video, Glory takes a position on a tree branch, talons gripping the swaying perch. As a spring dawn casts an orange glow over the city, Glory spreads its wings, then retracts them. It waits for some seconds on the branch, as if overcoming hesitancy, and gathering determination. Then after those preliminary trial flaps, Glory spreads it wings again, and lifts off from the branch. It has tried its wings, as a young eagle must, and now those wings are carrying Glory aloft.

It is difficult not to describe it as an exhilarating moment.

Hours later, it becomes the turn of the fish to enact the role described in the celebrated song from Show Boat. As a reminder, what Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein asserted 90 years ago, was something known even before that.

Fish got to swim. Well, on a dark and storm afternoon in Montgomery County, at least one fish was enabled to overcome a sea of troubles to keep on swimming.

A tornado churned through the Northwood Park neighborhood of Silver Spring shortly before 4 p.m.. A house was struck by a tree, said Pete Piringer, spokesman for the county fire and rescue service.

The dwelling, on Northwood Avenue was left uninhabitable, Piringer said.

But if good news could be found, it was this: There were no injuries, Piringer said. And in the terse language of a Twitter message, he said fish ok, too

Just what that meant was made even clearer in Twitter message from Kevin Lewis of WJLA (Channel7). His words accompany photographs, which appears to show a firefighter transfering an aquarium, into the hands of a resident of the house.

The interior of the boxy glass aquarium seems dark green, and a bit murky. But through the green murk can be seen a heartening sight. Despite the turmoil of the day, a yellow fish appears to be continuing to swim.

It seemed to be a day to reflect not only on Show Boat, and also the words of Psalm 8, the one that refers to the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea.
Philosophy majors spend their college years pondering deep questions, such as: What is the meaning of life? Do we have free will? And what job am I going to get with this degree after graduation?

It turns out the last question isnt hard to answer: Just about anything.

The idea that philosophy majors arent prepared for professional careers is a little bit of a myth, to be honest, said Thomas Holden, chair of the philosophy department at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Philosophy is not about sages sitting on mountaintops speculating about the cosmos.

Graduates in philosophy inhabit Wall Street corner offices, roam the oak-paneled halls of the Supreme Court and reign over boardrooms in Silicon Valley.

Interest in the major has risen steadily in the past three decades. Although totals have dipped slightly in recent years, federal education data shows the number of students who received bachelors degrees in philosophy has doubled since 1987, peaking at 7,926 graduates in 2013.

Carly Fiorina, shown in April 2016, majored in philosophy before she became chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

Anna-Bella Sicilia, 22, a senior in philosophy at the University of Maryland, said she believes a philosophy degree will help her job prospects.

I think people are impressed by a philosophy degree, Sicilia said. The skills Ive learned are very transferrable. I dont feel like Ive studied philosophy and now what? I dont feel stuck with it.

Christopher Morris, chair of the U-Md. philosophy department, said the critical thinking, precise analysis and cogent writing required for a degree are rigorous training for any professional career.

Most people dont have much of an idea of what philosophy is, Morris said. People imagine us sort of sitting there casually yakking away with a glass of wine.

Some surveys show that philosophy majors perform better on average than most of their peers on exams for law, medicine and other graduate schools. And research by the salary data site PayScale showed that philosophy majors rank in the top 100 of all academic fields for average mid-career salary, at $84,100. Philosophy majors, ranked 95th, bested graduates who studied business administration, political science, pre-medicine, biology, psychology and journalism. The data probably reflects the earning power of many philosophy majors who later obtain advanced graduate or professional degrees.

Still, those who study areas such as ethics, aesthetics and epistemology are used to the misconception that their diplomas lack much value. If liberal-arts degrees are the target of jokes, philosophy majors are frequently the punchline.

Take Conan OBrien giving the 2011 Dartmouth College commencement address:

Sheila Bair, shown in 2013, leaned on her philosophy degree to make decisions as Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. chair during the financial crisis. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg News)

Of course, there are many parents here, and I have real advice for them as well. Parents, you should write this down, OBrien said. If your child majored in fine arts or philosophy, you have good reason to be worried. The only place where they are now really qualified to get a job is ancient Greece. Good luck with that degree.

Numerous examples tell another story.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen G. Breyer majored in philosophy at Stanford University. So did Carly Fiorina before she became chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. As chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Sheila Bair leaned on her philosophy degree from the University of Kansas to make crucial decisions during the financial crisis. NBC journalist Katy Tur said her background in philosophy helped her formulate probing questions of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Philosophy majors get a bad rap, Tur said. People like to assume we are bloviators. . . . I would argue that for the vast majority of people, an education of teaching you to think critically about the world you are in and what you know and what you dont know is useful for absolutely everything that you could possibly do in the future.

Tur said that her philosophy degree from UC-Santa Barbara proved vital on the campaign trail. She said one of the first questions she explored as an undergraduate concerned the nature of reality.

I love philosophy because I love trying to find a way to answer lifes biggest questions, Tur said. Are we not just brains in a vat? I think thats a fascinating concept.

Tur said she became enthralled by French thinker Rene Descartes and his explorations of existence: The first question is, what can we trust and what can we prove? Tur said.

As a journalist, Tur said, her daily pursuit is the truth.

There is a giant debate about what is fake news and what is real news and what can we trust, Tur said. Its super scary right now that we are in a time where people dont trust what is in front of their eyes and that they only trust what they want to be in front of their eyes.

Fiorina said that at Stanford she was interested in the roots of human understanding of knowledge, opting to read Plato and Aristotle in the original Greek.

You learn that the questions that we each struggle with, mankind has struggled with for eternity, Fiorina said.

Yet even today she sees the bad reputation philosophy majors must overcome.

Every time I tell people, they laugh, Fiorina said, noting that it was considered a dead-end degree. It meant I was unemployable.

Yet she credits her undergraduate studies for developing critical thinking essential in the business world.

I learned how to separate the wheat from the chaff, essential from just interesting, and I think thats a particularly critical skill now when there is a ton of interesting but ultimately irrelevant information floating around, Fiorina said.

As FDIC chair from 2006 to 2011, Bair was responsible for ensuring that bank customers did not lose their money as financial institutions teetered. She said her studies in philosophy helped her to distill what was most important amid all the clamoring and agendas swirling around.

It helps you break things down to their simplest elements, Bair said. My philosophy training really helps me with that intellectual rigor of simplifying things and finding out whats important.

For Larry Sanger, studying philosophy offered a window into how people think about knowledge  and also how it is shared. After earning a bachelors degree in the subject from Reed College and a doctorate in philosophy from Ohio State University, he was hired by Internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales to work on a new project  a Web-based encyclopedia  that became Wikipedia.

Sanger said his background helped him distill the outline of what a collaborative encyclopedia would be like.

Gavri Schreiber, 22, who graduated from U-Md. in May, said his family was skeptical at first when he told them he planned to major in philosophy.

The first thing they said was, What are you going to do with it?  Schreiber said. I said: Ill pick up a Chinese minor so Ill have a marketable skill. Dont worry about it. 

In the end, Schreiber said he realized that his philosophy degree would be an asset.

I dont think that employers and the job market realizes and values a background in philosophy as much as they should, he said.

Ultimately it worked out for Schreiber. By the time he graduated, he knew where he was headed. After completing a Fulbright program in Taiwan, he said, he will enroll in Harvard Law School.

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CALEDONIA  An ironworker and local activist formally announced he will seek House Speaker Paul Ryans seat next year.

After hinting at it in recent weeks, Randy Bryce announced his candidacy Monday in a video and accompanying fundraising email. Noting his and his parents battles against illness, Bryce emphasized health care issues and Ryan-led efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Im about building things, and hes about taking things away from people, Bryce, 52, said in an interview.

A U.S. Army veteran, Bryce is an ironworker with Iron Workers Local 8 who has been active in liberal politics in the Racine area. He ran for state Assembly in 2012 and state Senate in 2014.

The voters of Wisconsin have already rejected Randy Bryce multiple times, the Republican Party of Wisconsin said in a statement Monday. Instead of fighting for hard-working Wisconsin families, Randy Bryce will say and do anything to get to Washington and defend his liberal special interest friends.

Bryce joins David Yankovich, who recently moved from Ohio to Kenosha, as Democrats seek the U.S. House seat that Ryan has held since 1999. Paul Nehlen, a Delavan resident who challenged Ryan in the Republican primary last year, has said he also will run again.

A primary would be held in August 2018, followed by the November general election.

Bryce and others expect the race to draw national attention  and money  due to Ryans role as speaker. Bryce said he has traveled to other states and Washington, D.C., to advocate on issues, but he was also quick to note hes a lifelong southeastern Wisconsin resident.

Im very proud to say I have very strong community roots, Bryce said. People know who I am and know what I stand for.

Wisconsins 1st Congressional District encompasses all of Racine and Kenosha counties, almost all of Walworth County and portions of Rock, Waukesha and Milwaukee counties.

In 2016, Ryan won re-election against Democrat Ryan Solen with 65 percent of the vote.
Carla Fendi, one of five sisters who transformed the family leather goods business into a luxury fashion house that was one of Italys first to win global renown, died June 19 in Rome. She was 79.

The Rome-based fashion house confirmed her death but did not disclose the cause.

Her parents, Edoardo and Adele Fendi, founded the company in 1925 with a store fronting the workshop in via del Plebiscito in Romes historic center, but it was with the next generation that it surged to prominence as ready-to-wear took off in Italy.

The five Fendi sisters  Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda  took control of the family business after their fathers death and opened their first Fendi store in another location in Romes historic center in 1964.

A year later they hired a young, German-born designer, Karl Lagerfeld, who helped catapult the Italian brand into global fame by elevating fur from staid symbols of luxury to fashion pieces, acquiring lightness and softness, becoming easier to wear and less pompous.

Carla Fendi, left, and sister Anna Fendi in 2007. (Andreas Solaro)

Under Lagerfelds direction, Fendi arguably became the most famous furrier in the world. The brand also helped revolutionize leather handbags in the 1990s, making them softer and less rigid, while Ms. Fendis niece, Silvia Venturini Fendi, invented the famed Fendi baguette bag, inspired in shape by the traditional French loaf.

We said to ourselves: Today women are working. We need to change everything,  Venturini Fendi was quoted by La Repubblica as saying. No one had yet thought of the cross-body bag, practical, comfortable, soft, light.

The Fendi fashion house eased up on fur as pressure from animal rights activists diminished the market. While never abandoning completely its heritage, the brand started placing fur as the lining of silk coats, or weaving it into fabric or making patchwork pieces, while putting more emphasis on its accessories along with its clothing lines.

Each sister had her role, and Ms. Fendi, as Fendi president, was long the family businesss public face, becoming known as the signora della moda, or lady of fashion. The sisters sold to the French luxury group LVMH in a deal that was completed in 2001, and Ms. Fendi maintained her role as president until 2008. She was honorary president until her death.

Even as Milan became the center of Italian ready-to-wear, the Fendis maintained their ties to their native Rome, maintaining their headquarters in the Italian capital and sponsoring the renovation of famed landmarks, such as the Trevi Fountain.

Lagerfeld remains the brands womenswear designer, along with his other fashion pursuits at Chanel and his own brand, while Venturini Fendi, daughter of Anna Fendi, is the brands creative director.

Her latest menswear collection, for spring/summer 2018, showed Monday, hours before her aunts death.

Silvia Venturini Fendi, left, and aunt Carla Fendi in 2005. (Andrew H. Walker)

For her, nothing was impossible, Venturini Fendi told RAI state television. The challenges that she always confronted, also as a pioneer in her field. She always had a love of beauty.

Besides her contributions to fashion, Ms. Fendi will be remembered for her support of Italian culture, including the Spoleto Festival in Umbria. Fashion (and culture) have lost a star, La Repubblica wrote Tuesday. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini remembered her as a cultivated and sensible woman who was a major patron of the arts.

Ms. Fendi was long married to Candido Speroni. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
Jeanne Clarke Harris leaves the U.S. District Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy and obstruction-of-justice charges in July 2012. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

Jeanne Clarke Harris, a veteran advertising and public relations executive who upended District politics by publicly confirming the existence of secret spending that tainted the 2010 mayoral race, died June 15 at a hospital in Washington. She was 80.

She had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and died of an infection after a brief hospitalization, said her sister, Carrietta Butts.

Mrs. Harris revealed the existence of an illegal shadow campaign on behalf of then-Mayor Vincent C. Gray in 2012, when she pleaded guilty in federal court to charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice. She admitted to helping her associate, D.C. businessman Jeffrey E. Thompson, funnel $653,000 to help Gray defeat Adrian M. Fenty, the incumbent mayor, in the 2010 Democratic primary.

Her testimony ultimately helped federal investigators uncover $2.5 million dollars in illegal political contributions from Thompson to local and federal candidates and convict a half-dozen political figures.

The revelations derailed Grays bid for reelection in 2014. Thompson admitted that year to funding the secret efforts and was later sentenced to three months in prison. Gray, now a D.C. Council member, was not charged and maintains that he did not know about the secret spending.

In court, Mrs. Harris succinctly explained why Thompson had flouted campaign disclosure laws on Grays behalf.

He did not want the sitting mayor to find out he was supporting his opponent, she said. If somehow the sitting mayor won, he would be in some serious contractual problems.

The shadow campaign drama was the last public chapter in a long career that straddled the worlds of business and politics, both locally and nationally.

Eugenia Belle was born in Detroit on Jan. 8, 1937, and grew up in Milwaukee and Tuscaloosa, Ala.

After studying marketing at the University of Wisconsin, she worked for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees during the 1960s and became active in the civil rights movement, helping to feed and shelter prominent figures visiting New York and Washington.

She later worked in the advertising department of NBC in New York and moved to Washington in 1974 to continue her labor work. She joined the 1978 campaign of Walter E. Washington, the citys first home-rule mayor, and while Washington lost that race, she established close ties with the victor, Marion Barry Jr.

In 1980, she established a marketing firm, JAM, that grew to employ dozens by the middle of the decade. Much of her work focused on helping major businesses reach African American customers, including Coors Brewing, Avon Products and Ritz-Carlton hotels. But many of the news reports mentioning her firm pertained to her ties to Barrys administration.

Mrs. Harris hired Effi Barry, the mayors wife, who worked for the firm for three years amid questions about conflicts of interest. JAM declared bankruptcy in 1988 amid a ghost-payrolling scandal involving D.C. Council member H.R. Crawford, a Barry ally. Mrs. Harris admitted that year in court to concealing that misdeed and was fined and sentenced to probation.

Mrs. Harris subsequently started new firms that quietly thrived on city contracts and relationships with local business moguls. One of them was Thompson, an accountant who successfully maneuvered to win a lucrative city health-care contract in 1999. When Thompson moved to secretly funnel cash to political campaigns, he used Mrs. Harriss companies as a conduit.

Her first marriage, to William Buck Clarke, a jazz percussionist, ended in divorce. Her second husband, Bryant G. Harris, a businessman and past president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, died in 2003. Besides her sister, of Fayetteville, Ga., survivors include several stepchildren.

Prosecutors credited Mrs. Harris with offering substantial assistance in their investigation into Gray and Thompson, and recommended she do no jail time despite the serious charges to which she had pleaded. She was sentenced to three months in a halfway house and a term of home confinement.

The sharp-tongued, chain-smoking, Corvette-driving Mrs. Harris cut a memorable figure in the local business and political scenes  and, later, in the courtroom.

By the time she appeared in court over the Thompson affair, her declining health required her to use a wheelchair and cane. But her wry retorts and matter-of-fact declarations made clear she did not want to be seen as a victim of others malfeasance.

She did not quibble. She did not obfuscate. She admitted wrongdoing, her attorney, Frederick D. Cooke Jr., said in court.

She was also not in the habit of being told what to do. As investigators closed in, Mrs. Harris told the judge, Thompson suggested that she leave Washington for several years and resettle in Brazil to avoid scrutiny.

Thompson suggested at first she leave for five years, she said. Then it was three months. The answer to both was, No. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said that Bryant G. Harris was a founder of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. That was based on information from his obituary in 2003 but, according to the organizations articles of incorporation, Harris was not a founder. The story has been revised.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D), with D.C. police Officer Christopher Kinney, peers into a truck parked on Emerson Street NW. A police program in which officers leave notes reminding vehicle owners to keep valuables out of sight is aimed at reducing the number of break-ins. (Peter Hermann/The Washington Post)

The Districts mayor peered into the window of a white pickup truck and did not like what she saw: a bag on the front seat. Looks expensive, she said.

Trailing her, D.C. police Officer Christopher Kinney tore off a pink ticket labeled WARNING! and put it under the windshield wipers. It was not an infraction, but a reminder to the owner not to leave valuables, even bags, in plain sight in parked cars.

Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) and Kinney walked both sides of Emerson Street NW just off Kansas Avenue, which splits the neighborhoods of Petworth and Brightwood Park, to highlight a troublesome crime in the District and elsewhere  theft from autos.

D.C. police Cmdr. Wilfredo Manlapaz told residents at an outdoor news conference that crime in the 4th District, which he leads, is down this year, as it is across the city. But theft from autos, while declining, remains stubbornly high.

[Prince Georges County police battle rising theft from cars]

One of the warning notes that D.C. police officers are leaving on parked vehicles. (Peter Hermann/The Washington Post)

Its the one thing driving our crime now: thefts and thefts from autos, Manlapaz said. Dont leave anything in your car, even if it is something you dont think is valuable.

Police say there have been 4,893 theft from autos across the District this year, many accompanied by broken locks or shattered side windows. There were 5,305 recorded at this time last year, which ended with a count of 12,175. That was up from 2015.

The crime also is up in neighboring Prince Georges County, where police have grown so concerned that they have begun tweeting daily statistics in an attempt to keep residents alert and have started a public-relations campaign called Hide it. Lock it. Keep it.

Among the most-stolen items in Prince Georges, police said, are tire rims and disability placards that hang from rearview mirrors.

[Teenager fatally stabbed at bus stop at Kansas and Emerson]

In the District, Bowser said, the best way to prevent car break-ins is to make sure were locking vehicles.

But one longtime resident of Emerson Street NW, Vernelle Fitzgerald, had another idea. She pointedly asked the mayor for more streetlights, which she contended could deter more than thefts from vehicles.

She said some elderly residents have been attacked at the bus stop at Emerson Street and Kansas Avenue at night. In October 2016, Kaelia Minor, 17, was fatally stabbed at the corner during a dispute with another teen as she rode a bus on her return from a high school dance rehearsal.

The lighting is horrible around here, said Fitzgerald, who has lived on Emerson Street since 1965. Its mostly elderly around here, and theyre scared to get off the bus.

Bowser looked up at the light poles and agreed that there werent enough of them. She promised a study to assess the needs.
The Districts medical examiner office has ruled that two D.C. jail inmates died last month of opioid overdoses, raising the question of how inmates were able to access the drugs while incarcerated.

According to an autopsy report released Tuesday, Eric Terrell, 35, who was found unresponsive in his cell May 5, died of an overdose of heroin, the narcotic fentanyl and diphenhydramine, an antihistamine commonly found in cold and allergy medicines often used to cut heroin. Terrell had been jailed since last year on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and robbery.

[D.C. jail inmate found unresponsive, declared dead]

Kenneth Parker, 28, was found unresponsive in his cell on May 18 and died of an overdose of fentanyl and diphenhydramine, the medical examiner determined. Parker had been awaiting trial in the 2014 shooting of a 9-year-old boy, who survived being shot in the head.

The medical examiner ruled the deaths of both inmates accidental.

Fox 5 first reported on the opioid deaths.

Mainly because of the two deadly overdoses, city officials said they plan to put more drug detection technology in place at the jail.

D.C. Deputy Mayor Kevin Donahue said Tuesday that he hopes to expand the number of drug detection dogs at the facility that check on individuals and mail. He also said the jail is expected to deploy new security machines that would screen visitors and employees entering the facility for drugs.

Donahue was not able to give a time frame on when the new security equipment will be installed. As soon as we are able to procure it and have it shipped to the District, he said.

Quincy Booth, director of the Districts Department of Corrections, said officials have been aggressively monitoring for attempts by individuals to smuggle drugs into the jail but said they are prohibited by law from performing cavity searches on individuals, which is one of the means by which drugs are smuggled into correctional facilities.

Last week, Booth said jail officials were alerted that a female visitor was planning to smuggle in drugs. Booth said the woman was arrested and the drugs were confiscated.

Persons found in violation  visitors to staff to inmates to legal community found in violation  will be prosecuted in fullest extent of the law, Booth said.
Liliana Cruz Mendez, left, is seen in with her daughter, Danyca. (Family photo)

Federal immigration officials have deported a mother of two from Falls Church back to her native El Salvador despite eleventh-hour efforts by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and others to help her stay in the United States.

Liliana Cruz Mendez was deported Wednesday, according to CASA, the nonprofit group that represented her after she was detained in May at a routine check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE confirmed the deportation.

After she was taken into custody, McAuliffe (D) pardoned Cruz Mendezs 2014 conviction for a minor driving offense in hopes that it would spare her from having to leave the country.

The governor said she did not pose a public-safety threat. But federal immigration officials said she would be deported, noting that she had been in the United States illegally since 2006.

Cruz Mendezs husband, Rene Bermudez, said the family was shattered by the deportation. He sobbed as he recounted how their children, aged 10 and 4, wept when they heard Cruz Mendez was gone.

Liliana Cruz Mendezs husband Rene Bermudez, second from left, at a protest after she was arrested in May. Bermudez is holding his 4-year-old daughter Danyca and standing behind his son Steven , who is holding a placard that says in Spanish, I am a very sad boy. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)

How can they take away their mother? he said.

Bermudez said he cannot join his wife in El Salvador because he is in the process of obtaining a green card and must stay in the United States. He said he and his wife have been together for 15 years and have always paid taxes and gone to church.

He and his son and daughter last saw Cruz Mendez through a window at the immigration detention center.

People dont understand because they havent lived it. But believe me, he said, his voice faltering, I wouldnt wish it on anyone.

Cases such as Cruz Mendezs have infuriated advocates for immigrants and stymied Democrats in Congress who want ICE to focus on deporting criminals and others who pose a specific threat.

Some undocumented immigrants without serious criminal records also were deported during President Barack Obamas administration.

But such cases seem to be more of a priority under President Trump, whose top immigration officials have said they wont hesitate to oust anyone here illegally, including parents  like Cruz Mendez  whose children were born here and are U.S. citizens.

George Escobar, senior director of human services at CASA, said that Cruz Mendezs deportation confirms the inhumane and egregious intent of separating families that President Trump and Homeland Security Director John Kelly continue to pursue.

Immigration agents arrested Cruz Mendez on May 18 when she arrived at a regular check-in. Her two previous stays of deportation had expired.

Trump has vowed to increase deportations. In his first 100 days in office, ICE agents arrested 41,318 immigrants, an increase of 37.6 percent over the same period last year. Most are criminals, according to federal officials, but the biggest increase in arrests was among immigrants with no criminal records.Those arrests more than doubled to nearly 11,000.
To hear some lawmakers tell it, the female breast exposed in public has the power to destroy the moral fabric of the nation. A woman going topless would subject children to pornography, they say. Families would no longer have the right to enjoy public parks and beaches, which would constitute a threat to the democratic way of life.

Thats a lot of destructive power for a body part.

We have a responsibility to protect the rights of thousands of families who visit our beach and boardwalk each summer season, said Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan after that Maryland town recently made it a crime for women to bare their breasts in public.

But advocates for going topless have been winning, too. This year in Colorado, a federal judge rejected claims by city leaders in Fort Collins that the female breast was a private part and posed a threat to public sensibility. The local law criminalizing the exposed female breast was overturned  and so far, public sensibility appears to be unharmed.

Successful court challenges to these kinds of obscenity laws are being spearheaded by groups pushing for gender equity in a broader sense  equal pay for equal work and women being able to control their own bodies, including how they present themselves in public.

(Claritza Jimenez/The Washington Post)

Some have argued that laws prohibiting the baring of breasts are symbolic of the inequity. Men have the freedom to expose their breasts on some jobs and during myriad leisure activities. Why should a womans breasts be regarded any differently, the advocates say.

Brenna Helppie-Schmieder, writing in a 2015 issue of the DePaul Journal of Women, Gender & the Law, argues that laws prohibiting the public display of the female breast (but not the male breast) are harmful, outdated and unconstitutional under the 14th Amendments Equal Protection Clause.

Female breast censorship . . . perpetuates heterosexual male definitions of eroticism, contributing to the sexual and political subjugation of women, Helppie-Schmieder writes. It enforces dangerous body image issues [and] deprives women of the choice to be comfortable.

[Maryland says its ok to make bare-breasted women cover up in public ]

Her case is buttressed by the work of legal scholar Luke Boso, who notes that [s]ociety . . has carved out an exception to the general nonacceptance of female breast exposure: exposure to entertain or sexually arouse males. Women are often free to expose their breasts at times and in places in which men desire it: at topless bars and clubs, in pornography, and in the bedroom.

Moreover, local obscenity laws rarely include the whole breast, just the nipple and surrounding areola. The definition amounts to legal nitpicking. But clear thinking on formulating breast censorship laws can be hard to find.

In upholding a breast-censorship statute in New York, a judge found justification in the Bible and quoted extensively from the Book of Genesis:

So she took some of its fruit and ate it, the judge read, citing the story of Adam and Eve, and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked . . . 

The female breast, covered in fig leaves to conceal the immorality of the original sin.

Fortunately, the ruling was overturned.

While the government has an interest in protecting public sensibilities, Helppie-Schmieder writes, such sensibilities when applied to the female breast are likely just a proxy for stereotypes.

She adds, even though some may find the female breast arouses the prurient interests, such a perspective is itself a suspect cultural artifact rooted in centuries of prejudice and bias towards women. 

It is true, she concedes, that some may be surprised by the sight of an exposed breast in public. However, there is nothing illegal about being surprised.

The ban in Ocean City was affirmed last week in an opinion by the states attorney general. But there was recognition that the law had not been written in stone.

[Ocean City acts to keep women from going topless at the beach]

Helppie-Schmieder noted that relatively few women are actively pushing to end breast censorship, but the vast majority of women are certainly not opposing it.

Most do not feel that an exposed breast is a threat to Western civilization or that a child who sees a breast is, in effect, being exposed to pornography, she said.

Exposed womens breasts are becoming ubiquitous  in the fashion industry with its sheer, see-through outfits and in movies and even television shows where it appears no love scene is complete without a flash of breasts.

Although supporting the Ocean City law, Marylands attorney general concluded that the issue is not static.

Times are changing.

To read previous columns, go to washingtonpost.com/milloy.
A homegrown marijuana plant that is coming to harvest in an apartment in the District in August 2015. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

One of the nations leading marijuana legalization groups says PNC Bank has notified it that it will close the organizations 22-year-old accounts, a sign of growing concerns in the financial industry that the Trump administration will crack down on the marijuana business in states that have legalized it.

The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) lobbies to eliminate punishments for marijuana use but is not involved in growing or distributing the drug  an important distinction for federally regulated banks and other institutions that do business with such advocacy groups.

Nick Field, the MPPs chief operating officer, said a PNC Bank representative told him in May that the organizations accounts would be permanently closed July 7 because an audit of the accounts revealed that the organization received funding from marijuana businesses that handle the plant directly.

They told me it is too risky. The bank cant assume the risk, Field said.

Although marijuana businesses are legal in some states, many banks will not provide services to sellers or growers because the drug is banned at the federal level.

But policy and advocacy organizations such as the MPP have been spared. A banks severing ties with an organization that accepts donations from such businesses signals a new level of concern in the banking industry.

PNC Bank declined to discuss its relationship with the MPP, but a spokeswoman said that as a federally regulated financial institution, PNC complies with all applicable federal laws and regulations.

The bank has held the MPPs accounts since the organization was formed in 1995.

Some advocacy groups say the abrupt closing of the MPPs accounts is an unpleasant side effect of growing uncertainty about protections for the marijuana industry in states that have legalized it. The industry enjoys loose protection via a combination of legislative amendments and memos from the Justice Department that effectively allow states to operate medical and recreational marijuana businesses without federal interference. But many advocates worry that the Trump administration is changing course to enforce federal laws and dismantle key protections for the expanding industry.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions is a longtime opponent of marijuana legalization. During a Senate drug hearing in April 2016, Sessions  then a Republican senator from Alabama  said, We need grown-ups in charge in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized, it ought not to be minimized, that its in fact a very real danger.

When asked during his confirmation hearing in January whether he would enforce federal drug laws as attorney general, Sessions replied, I wont commit to never enforcing federal law.

The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment.

Last week, Sessions wrote to congressional leaders asking for the ability to prosecute medical-marijuana dispensaries. Sessions implored members of Congress to reconsider a rule enacted in 2014 to prevent the Justice Department from using federal funds to block state laws that legalize medical-marijuana cultivation and use.

The sale of recreational marijuana, in contrast, is loosely protected by the 2013 Cole memo. The memo, issued by Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole during the Obama administration, instructs state law enforcement agencies not to use their resources to prosecute the authorized sale of marijuana in states where it is legal.

The vice president for regulatory compliance at the American Bankers Association says these protections are not enough reassurance for financial institutions. Banks are subject to federal regulation to prevent fraud, money laundering or breaches of privacy.

Because marijuana is illegal under federal law, banks accepting any money associated with its sale could be investigated for money laundering, said Rob Rowe, the ABA executive, adding that many banks do not make a distinction between advocacy organizations and businesses that sell or grow marijuana.

But Fields organization, the MPP, and many other advocacy groups, such as NORML, say banks concerns are overblown. The Justice Department has never investigated a bank for offering accounts to state-legal marijuana businesses. In addition, Field said, advocacy organizations are legal entities that are subject to strict scrutiny by the IRS.

We are a registered 501(c)(3) and (c)(4). We have yearly audits. We are compliant with the IRS, he said. It doesnt get any clearer than that.

Field said the MPP is still seeking a new bank. John Hudak, an expert on marijuana policy and governance at the Brookings Institution, suspects that the MPPs difficulty in finding another bank reflects banks fears that Sessions intends to roll back protections for the industry and enforce the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Its no secret, Hudak said. Its a situation that is creating an increasingly uncertain policy environment.

Amid the uncertainty, Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.) introduced a bill to ensure protections for banks providing financial services to cannabis-related legitimate businesses. The Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, introduced in April, has 44 congressional co-sponsors.

The first provision of the bill would prevent federal regulators from terminating banks federal deposit and share insurance solely because the depository institution provides or has provided financial services to a cannabis-related legitimate business.

Many marijuana advocacy organizations hope the bill will pass, offering the industry the banking security it seeks.

Its one thing to take a position about making marijuana legal, said Mason Tvert, the MPPs communications director. Its something different to say these businesses should be able to be bank legitimately.

Marijuana advocacy groups point to public opinion as an indication of the industrys legitimacy. Last year, 60 percent of Americans surveyed by Gallup thought marijuana should be legal.

Justin Strekal, policy director at D.C.-based NORML, said the attorney general is fighting a losing battle against legalization. Strekal is optimistic that organizations such as the MPP, as well as marijuana businesses, will not face the setbacks they have dealt with in past. But he cautioned that things could become worse before they improve.

This is the death rattle of prohibition, Strekal said. While we are confident in the end that we will win, it does not mean that [Sessions] isnt going to do as much damage as he can to the industry between now and when he is no longer in power.
MICHIGAN

Governor to sign legislation outlawing female genital mutilation

Doctors and parents involved in female genital mutilation could go to prison for up to 15 years under bills overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by lawmakers in Michigan, who said harsher penalties are needed in a state where the first federal prosecution of the practice is ongoing.

Gov. Rick Snyder (R) is expected to sign the legislation, which would make Michigan the 26th state to ban female genital mutilation. It has been a federal crime for 20 years, punishable by five years in prison.

Legislators said the federal penalty is not severe enough and the Michigan bills would also apply to parents or others who knowingly facilitate genital mutilation, including by transporting girls to another state for the procedure.

The 13-bill, bipartisan package was introduced after two doctors and one of their wives were indicted in April in an alleged scheme to perform genital mutilation on two girls from Minnesota at a Detroit-area clinic.

Genital mutilation, also known as female circumcision or cutting, has been condemned by the United Nations and outlawed in the United States. But the practice is common for girls in parts of Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

 Associated Press

NEW MEXICO

Police chief urges treasure hunters to end search

New Mexicos top law enforcement officer is urging the author and antiquities dealer who inspired thousands to search remote corners of the American West for a hidden chest of gold and jewels to end the treasure hunt.

The plea from State Police Chief Pete Kassetas follows what authorities believe is the latest death related to the effort to uncover Forrest Fenns treasure.

Colorado pastor Paris Wallace, 52, disappeared last week while searching for the bounty in a rugged area along the Rio Grande in northern New Mexico. State Police believe a body recovered Sunday is Wallaces.

Kassetas told reporters that Fenn should retrieve the treasure from wherever he hid it and stop what he called nonsense and insanity.

Fenn claims to have hidden a cache of treasures somewhere in the Rocky Mountains and has dropped clues to its whereabouts in a cryptic poem in his memoir, The Thrill of the Chase.

He told the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper Monday that he has been considering how to make the search safer or cancel it altogether but has not made any decisions. He called Wallaces disappearance tragic.

 Associated Press

Six die in traffic pileup caused by dust storm: Six people died in a 25-vehicle pileup caused by a sudden dust storm along an interstate highway in New Mexico where such conditions have caused deadly collisions in the past, police said. Those killed in the incident Monday near the Arizona border were a 9-month-old girl and her parents from Phoenix, two people from El Paso, and a California woman.

Judge approves wage settlement for exotic dancers: A federal judge has approved a $6.5 million settlement in a wage dispute involving 28,000 current or former exotic dancers at a chain of clubs operating in 18 states. The class-action lawsuit accused Deja Vu-affiliated clubs of violating wage laws by treating nude or topless dancers as independent contractors who had to pay a fee to perform, instead of being treated as regular employees. Some dancers will receive less than $200, depending on their length of service, under the settlement approved Monday by U.S. District Judge Stephen Murphy III in Detroit.

 From news service
RACINE  A Racine man may have been under the influence of drugs when he decided to fire his gun at a group of people, including children, last summer, and, for his actions, he will spend more than a dozen years in prison.

Maurice D. Ward, 33, of the 1300 block of Prospect Avenue was charged on Aug. 3 with five felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety with the use of a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm by a felon, felony discharging a firearm from a vehicle, and seven felony charges of bail jumping after a homeowner called police to report that he had shot at their house with a group of people standing outside. Among them were three children between the ages of 7 and 10.

The incident occurred in the 1400 block of West Street with Ward firing as he drove past in a car. Racine police later found a single shell casing on the street near where the group had been. Ward reportedly shot at the group following a dispute over drugs.

Ward pleaded guilty in April to one count of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, two counts of bail jumping and possession of a firearm by a felon.

As part of the plea deal, Ward also pleaded guilty to a felony drug charge for dealing or manufacturing cocaine that was part of a separate case.

On Monday, Racine County Circuit Judge Faye Flancher sentenced Ward to 15 years in prison, and 13 years on extended supervision for the shooting-related convictions.

For the drug charge, she sentenced Ward to five years in prison and five years on extended supervision, but ordered that it be stayed, meaning he wouldnt have to serve it unless he violates the terms of his extended supervision.

Speaking to the court just prior to sentencing, Wards mother-in-law, Mary Francis Williams, said Ward would not have done what he did had he not been high.

What he did wasnt him. He was high on some type of drug or alcohol, Williams said, adding that she only called police because Ward had never behaved that way in the past.

He didnt mean to do what he did, because he didnt know what he was doing, she said. He is not a bad guy.

Flancher was brief in her sentencing remarks, but read statement made by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections presentence investigator, who stated that Ward minimized the danger of his actions.

This offense occurred on a summer afternoon. People were outside, including minor children  two of which were his own, Flancher read. All because he and another adult were having an argument over some drug money. Maurice put every single individual in that area at risk.
FRANCE

Attacker, on police radar, had gun permit

French authorities struggled Tuesday to explain how the Champs-Elysees attacker was able to keep his gun permit despite being monitored for links to extremism. Mondays incident in one of the French capitals busiest shopping and tourist districts rattled the city anew after multiple attacks targeting security forces.

Police officials have identified the dead attacker as 31-year-old Adam Djaziri of the Paris suburb of Argenteuil. Djaziri set off a fiery blast when he drove his car packed with arms and explosives into a police convoy. No one else was injured, and the Champs-Elysees reopened overnight after being closed for hours for security measures. Police said the attacker had been on police radar for ties to radicalism.

Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Tuesday that the mans gun permit was initially issued before he was flagged to authorities. Asked on BFM television why the attackers permit wasnt rescinded, Philippe said that if you take away a permit from someone who is the subject of surveillance or being monitored, he will quickly understand why it has been taken away. . . . Its a difficult decision.

Also on Tuesday, the Paris prosecutors office said that four people, all family members of Djaziri, had been detained overnight in the anti-terrorism investigation into the attack.

 Associated Press

RUSSIA

European court rules against anti-gay law

The European Court of Human Rights has declared a Russian law banning expressions of gay propaganda to be discriminatory, ordering Moscow to pay out compensation to three gay rights activists and setting the stage for further conflicts with Europe over Russias treatment of gays and lesbians.

The 2013 law violates articles of the European Convention on Human Rights  of which Russia is a signatory  providing for freedom of expression and a prohibition on discrimination, the court said.

The Russian Justice Ministry on Tuesday retorted that the anti-gay propaganda laws have the sole purpose of protecting morals and health of children.

 Andrew Roth

3,300 killed in Congo fighting, Catholic Church says: More than 3,300 people have been killed in central Congos volatile Kasai provinces since August, according to a document released by the Catholic Church. The death toll had been placed at 400 before the church released its figure. The higher number came as the U.N. human rights chief faulted Congo for failing to protect civilians caught up in the fighting between government forces and militias. The violence in central Congo erupted after a traditional chief known as Kamwina Nsapu was killed in a military operation in August after his fighters revolted against authorities. In recent months, another militia has arisen to defend civilians against attacks.

Egypt says 15 militants were killed in airstrikes, raid: Egypts security forces killed 15 militants, 12 of them in airstrikes in the restive Sinai Peninsula and three in the coastal city of Alexandria, according to two government statements. The military said the strikes in North Sinai also destroyed four vehicles as it targeted a terrorist stronghold of the local Islamic State affiliate. The Interior Ministry said it killed the three Alexandria militants, belonging to a shadowy group called the Hasm Movement, in an apartment raid. The group is suspected of ties to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Venezuelas chief prosecutor to face charges: Venezuelas supreme court cleared the way for the prosecution of chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz, who has became a hero to the opposition after breaking ranks with President Nicolas Maduro. The government-stacked court said it had approved a request from a socialist lawmaker to lift Ortega Diazs protection from prosecution for allegedly committing serious errors in her role as the nations top law enforcement official. Maduro foes say she is being targeted for criticizing the presidents plans to rewrite the constitution.

Vaticans first auditor general resigns: The Vaticans first auditor general has resigned abruptly two years after being appointed to help ensure transparency in the sometimes murky finances at the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. A brief Vatican statement gave no reason for the resignation of Libero Milone, but a Vatican source said there had been a clash of operational styles between Milone and the departments his office audited.

 From news services
An inmate uses a phone at the Cook County Jail in Chicago in 2014. (Charles Rex Arbogast/Asoociated Press)

Regarding the June 17 editorial The line goes dead for inmates:

Courts wont allow the capping of phone rates in prisons even though it would be the humane way to treat the incarcerated. The courts should then help inmates families and communities.

I spent 17 years of my life as a ward of New York states foster care system while my mother, struggling with heroin addiction, was incarcerated. There were times in my life when I went as long as two years without hearing her voice. I literally couldnt afford to. Neither can so many families with incarcerated loved ones.

Roadblocks to keeping these families connected dont stop with the telephone. New York state may have limited phone rates, but it then rescinded the free bus service families used to visit loved ones in prison. By the time food, lost wages and hotel and bus fare are taken into account, it can cost hundreds of dollars for a child to spend a day with his or her parent in prison.

Families must be part of the rehabilitation process. When theyre separated, the incarcerated lose their strongest support network and family members are punished, too.

Tiffany McFadden, New York

The writer is a volunteer with Alliance of Families for Justice.
THE UNITED STATES is committed to defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, but as that goal nears realization, another strategic question looms: What security order will replace it, and which of the outside powers enmeshed in the region will stand behind that order? The Trump administration doesnt appear to have a strategy for that, but others clearly do  which helps to explain the incidents over the weekend in which the United States downed a Syrian government warplane , while Iran fired intermediate-range missiles from its territory at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria.

Though the two incidents were nominally unrelated, they have a common cause: the drive by Iran and Russia, along with their Syrian and Iraqi Shiite clients, to dominate the space that will be left when the Islamic State is driven from its capital of Raqqa in eastern Syria, which is under assault from U.S.-backed Kurdish and Syrian Arab forces. At stake are both Syrias oil-producing area to the south of Raqqa and a land corridor between Baghdad and Damascus that Iran aspires to control. Russia, for its part, hopes to drive the United States out of the region.

In the past month, U.S.-backed forces in Syrias southeastern corner have come under pressure from Iranian-backed Shiite militias. U.S. commanders have twice bombed convoys that entered an exclusion zone around a border town where American advisers are based and they have destroyed a drone . The Syrian fighter bomber shot down Sunday violated another exclusion zone around the forces surrounding Raqqa. Meanwhile, Irans missile attack, which it said was in response to the Islamic States recent raid on the parliament building in Tehran, was a bold assertion of its willingness to escalate militarily in Syria and maybe elsewhere in the region.

Syria and Iran may calculate that the Trump administration can be induced to abandon the area rather than risk being dragged into a war in the Syrian desert unrelated to the Islamic State. Russias loud protests about the downing of the fighter  and its threats to challenge U.S. planes over Syria  show that Moscow is more than ready to support this gambit.

The United States doesnt have a strategic reason to control southern and eastern Syria, but it does have a vital interest in preventing Iran from establishing a dominion from Tehran to the Mediterranean with Russias support. That would pose an existential threat to Israel, which is already struggling to prevent Iranian infiltration of Syrian territory adjacent to the Golan Heights, and would undermine U.S. allies in Jordan and Iraq.

Countering Iran and Russia requires tactical defense by U.S.-backed forces, like that recently ordered by commanders on the ground. But it will also require a broader strategy to create a security order in the region acceptable to the United States and its allies. To achieve that, the administration may need to raise the military or economic pressures on Iran, Russia and the Syrian government while pressing for negotiations on a new Syrian political order. Not only should the United States reject Moscows bluffing about Syrian airspace, but also the Trump administration should make clear to Vladimir Putins regime that if it continues to ally itself with Iran in the region, it will forfeit any chance of resetting relations with Washington.
Members of Congress are asking for taxpayer funds to protect them from gun violence in the wake of yet another mass shooting [ We are targets: Officials mull extra protection, news, June 16]. I am saddened and outraged by this latest attack with legally purchased weapons . However, I am stunned that the people who cower before the National Rifle Association and have blocked even the mildest efforts to put reasonable controls on the sale of and safety regulations for firearms in this country now want more protection for themselves. What about the rest of us?

The American people would like some protection from this, too. When Congress asks for more of our tax money to protect members, we wont be able to hear them over the sound of their own hypocrisy.

Ann Riley, Baltimore
One of the great ironies of the political moment is that President Trumps sworn enemy has become, if not exactly an ally, an enabler of his agenda. For all of Trumps griping about fake news, the mainstream medias prevailing focus on palace intrigue and White House scandals has come at the expense of substantive policy coverage, allowing Trump and the Republican Party to advance harmful, hugely unpopular policies without the scrutiny they deserve.

Take climate change. This month, Trump officially announced the United States withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, joining Syria and Nicaragua as the only countries to reject the landmark agreement. While Trump has espoused denialist views in the past, claiming that climate change is a Chinese hoax, his decision to withdraw was made more likely by the medias utter failure to press him on his position dating back to the campaign. Not only was there not a single question about the issue in last years general election debates, but also the watchdog organization Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) recently noted that Trump has not been asked a single question about climate change in any interview or press conference since taking office. Twelve separate outlets that Trump has granted on-the-record interviews have simply failed to bring it up.

Or consider health care. Recent polls have identified health care as Americans No. 1 concern, but it has not been treated that way in the media. Since the Houses initial failure to pass a bill this spring, coverage of the issue has dwindled, with the exception of a brief spike when Republicans hastily pushed through a bill in May. Now, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) secretly maneuvers to gut the Affordable Care Act  without holding hearings or releasing any legislative details to the public  many in the mainstream media have responded with a collective yawn. Even as reports of McConnells machinations emerged last week, The Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Los Angeles Times each determined, for two consecutive days, that the rising likelihood of a bill passing did not warrant a front-page story.

At the same time, the wall-to-wall coverage of Attorney General Jeff Sessionss bumbling testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee was just the latest example of the medias myopic obsession with all things Russia. While the investigations into Trumps campaign and the presidents possible obstruction of justice are clearly newsworthy, they have denied oxygen to other issues that have a far greater impact on Americans daily lives. (On the day Sessions testified, Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) urged his Twitter followers to focus 90 percent of their attention on health care.) The fervor has also led to instances of overzealous reporting, including unsubstantiated claims of Russian hacking in Frances presidential election in May.

These are just a few examples of the media malpractice that continues to corrode our political discourse. Others include the fawning coverage of Trumps unauthorized missile strikes in Syria, the virtual blackout on television of Republican steps to unravel Wall Street reforms, and the cancer of false equivalence, as media columnist Eric Alterman of the Nation recently called it, that still infects the reporting of our most prestigious and influential news organizations. Indeed, it is the same blind worship at the altar of balance that leads to troubling and dubious decisions, such as CNN employing dishonest Trump mouthpiece Jeffrey Lord or NBC allowing Megyn Kelly to put conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on its airwaves.

(Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

As I have written in the past, one of the primary drivers of this behavior is simple. In a corporate media environment where ratings are prized above all else, the reality is that sensationalism and scandal play better  and, therefore, pay better  than substance. CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker recently admitted as much, saying, 2016 was the best year in the history of cable news, and 2017 is going to be even better. There is no evidence that the interest in [Trump] is waning in any way. Zuckers comment echoed CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves, who said last year that Trumps political ascent was damn good for CBS and bragged that the moneys rolling in.

And, of course, the corporate media could benefit from more than higher ratings under Trump; they also stand to gain from policies that give even more power to the massive conglomerates that already dominate the media ecosystem. As Lee Fang reported at the Intercept, that was Moonvess message to investors in February, when he said that he was looking forward to not having as much regulation and that Trumps appointment of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai would be very beneficial to our business.

Trump may be waging a war on the media, but many of his enemies are still committing media malpractice as they did in 2016, when the extreme dearth of policy coverage helped propel Trump to the White House. Perhaps they simply learned the wrong lesson from the campaign: that keeping the American people shocked, rather than informed, is the easiest path to the ratings they crave. Either way, its toxic to our democracy.

Read more from Katrina vanden Heuvels archive or follow her on Twitter.
MOUNT PLEASANT  An Illinois man was arrested early Saturday morning for reportedly urinating on a fence outside of a bar.

Leonard Larry, 29, of North Chicago, faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer, as a result of the alleged incident.

Officers who were monitoring traffic at Racine Street and 22nd Street just after 2 a.m. on Saturday reportedly witnessed Larry exit the On the Level bar, 2139 Racine St.

Larry then allegedly urinated on an outdoor fence that serves as a smoking barrier. The area is well-lit and visible even at night from traffic and residential houses, the report said.

Officers reportedly approached Larry and informed him he could not urinate on the street in public and asked his name. Larry allegedly told the officers his name was James Jones, born on Dec. 5, 1987. Larry later admitted his real name after officers discovered there was no James Jones with that birthday on record, the report said.

Dispatchers then reportedly alerted the officers that Larry had a probation warrant, so the officers took him into custody.
In this June 2011 photo, from left to right, Nick Anderson, Rick Anderson and Jeramie Mullis pose with a 143-pound blue catfish from Kerr Reservoir, also known as Buggs Island Lake, in Virginia. (Dallas Weston/Mecklenburg News-Progress via Associated Press)

The June 14 Food article Has Congress given blue catfish a free pass? reminded us that when money is the bait, Washington cannot help but go on a fishing expedition in search of a problem.

Like the introduction of the non-native species that overwhelmed the Chesapeake Bay, the free-flowing, swamp-soaked money that industries pour into Washington is flooding Congress with crony-capitalist solutions that only create more issues, not solve them. Why? Because as politicians are charged with raising millions of dollars for reelection each cycle, they look to interests they oversee to fill their war chests. When lawmakers inevitably reach the conflicting crossroads where public policy and campaign contributions meet, taxpayers and consumers suffer the consequences. Following a long day of fishing, after all, youre either at the table or on the menu.

Our free-market system relies on innovation, such as transforming an invasive species into the hottest food trend, to solve complex problems. The foolish and wasteful redundancy in the Agriculture Departments and Food and Drug Administrations dual fish-inspection services  a handout to Southern catfish farmers who wish to avoid competition  is an archetypal feature of the cronyism that has trapped our economy in murky waters. When government picks winners and losers by repaying campaign contributors, we all pay the price.

William Gray, Washington

The writer is deputy communications director for Issue One.
George P. Shultz, a former U.S. secretary of labor, treasury and state, is a distinguished fellow at the Hoover Institution. Lawrence H. Summers, a professor at and past president of Harvard University, was treasury secretary from 1999 to 2001 and an economic adviser to President Barack Obama from 2009 through 2010.

President Trumps decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord has induced a fateful pessimism about what can be expected of the country on this critical issue. Yet our long experience in Washington has taught us that the transition from the inconceivable to the inevitable can sometimes be very rapid.

The pressure on the administration to find an alternative to Paris will only mount, and its foundations have already been laid in the reasons the president cited for withdrawing. That is, any viable climate solution must promote growth and jobs, be fair to ordinary Americans and prevent other economies from taking advantage of us. It must also meet the broader test of American politics: the ability to appeal to the general public, corporate America and leaders in both parties.

(Bastien Inzaurralde/The Washington Post)

Such a climate plan is not only feasible but is now gaining traction. On Tuesday, the Climate Leadership Council announced its founding members, a group of companies, opinion leaders and nongovernmental organizations who have joined forces to promote a consensus climate solution based on carbon dividends. We are proud to be part of this distinguished group.

The companies involved represent a cross section of industries: BP, ExxonMobil, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Santander, Schneider Electric, Unilever, Total and Shell. Two top environmental organizations are also involved, as are other opinion leaders from across the political spectrum.

We are convinced that the carbon dividends approach first put forward by one of us (Shultz) along with former secretary of state James A. Baker III a few months ago can strengthen the U.S. economy in ways highly valued by both the left and right and simultaneously spur global efforts to address climate change. Adopting a carbon dividend approach would pay huge dividends for the global climate, the U.S. economy and U.S. leadership in the world.

Our carbon dividend strategy has four interrelated elements that account for its strength: a gradually rising and revenue-neutral carbon tax; carbon dividend payments made equally to all Americans, to be funded using all the carbon-tax revenue; rollback of costly command-and-control regulations that were implemented because the environmental costs of carbon fuels have not been incorporated into their price; and border adjustment to ensure a level playing field and U.S. competitiveness.

A carbon tax set at $40 per ton would achieve substantially greater reduction in greenhouse-gas emissions than all of the regulation now on the table. The application of a border carbon adjustment that levied a tax on the carbon content of imported products would incent other countries to adopt carbon pricing, increasing its impact and preventing free-riders. So the carbon dividend approach is best for the environment.

It would also be best for economic growth, which explains why prominent companies are backing it. The alternative to a carbon tax is not the application of the free market. It is the current extensive regulatory apparatus in which government judges the products and production techniques that businesses employ and mandates particular business practices. The enactment of a significant carbon tax justifies the removal of these regulations, thus taking a burden off the economy. And unlike regulation, carbon dividends are consistent with border adjustment, assuring that U.S. firms are not disadvantaged against foreign exporters and carbon-intensive products.

The carbon dividend also represents an important innovation in social policy. Unlike many advocates of carbon taxes, we do not believe this revenue should be earmarked for any form of government spending or for the reduction of other taxes. Rather, we believe it should be rebated as a monthly dividend equally to all Americans.

This approach ensures that working-class Americans benefit financially. Because energy use rises with income and the dividend would be equal for all, the Treasury Department estimates that the bottom 70 percent of Americans would be better off with a carbon dividend plan in a direct sense. At a time when uncertainty about technology and trade looms large for many workers, assuring every American a basic benefit of citizenship with no need to go through an income test or qualification process is desirable.

Finally, there is the question of alternatives. We do not believe the American people will for long wish to stand apart from the global effort to limit the damage from climate change. Nor do we believe that an ever-growing web of government regulation or a proliferating program of subsidies is in our national economic interest. And we share the presidents conviction that in approaching international economic policy, we need to ensure that other nations do not free-ride on the United States.

Only the carbon dividend approach is consistent with these convictions. What we said at the outset here bears repeating: Our experience is that the transition from inconceivable to inevitable can be surprisingly rapid.
NOTHING IS a more powerful symbol of the failure of the criminal justice system to take sexual assault seriously than the tens of thousands of rape kits that languish  untested  in police departments and crime labs across the country. So when authorities undertake to eliminate the existing backlog and prevent future ones, it is a sign of a new approach that prioritizes getting justice for victims and holding offenders accountable. That is what is happening in Virginia, and it should be applauded.

Virginia is in the middle of a $3.4 million program launched two years ago to test an estimated 3,200 sexual-assault evidence kits that have waited, some for decades, on police shelves. The kits contain evidence such as samples of blood and semen that can be tested for DNA. The first phase, funded from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vances $38 million initiative to tackle testing in more than 20 states, focused on kits collected prior to 2014. Of the 2,000 kits, more than 1,000 have so far been sent to the state lab, with results on 450 kits. There have been at least 44 matches to known profiles in the Combined DNA Index System database. No arrests or prosecutions have come from those hits, but the cases will be referred back to local law enforcement for further investigation, and the inclusion in the database may help in identifying serial rapists.

The second phase, announced this month by Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), will use a $2 million federal grant to deal with kits from between 2014 and 2016. Were keeping up the momentum on this project. Im not going to stop until every single kit gets tested, survivors know the result and each case gets a fresh look, said Mr. Herring. Going forward from 2016, there should be no backlog of cases because Virginia last year enacted new rules governing the collection, storage and analysis of rape kits.

Virginias push for testing is part of a national effort that has highlighted the value of the kits as well as the indignity suffered by rape victims who submit to an invasive exam only to see the potential evidence collect dust. First lady Dorothy McAuliffe, who helped lead a state task force that led to testing reforms and new supports for victims, said victims of sexual assault can now feel more confident about reporting their assaults to police. The work, she said, is making a difference.
South Koreas new president, Moon Jae-in, belongs to a progressive party that has been out of power for nearly 10 years. His formative political experience was working for another president, Roh Moo-hyun, whose government believed in cooperating with, rather than battling, North Korea  a policy on which Moon also campaigned. But North Korea seems eager to test the Western alliance since President Trump took office. In that time, the North has fired new long-range missiles that experts say could ultimately reach San Francisco. What happens when a dovish president in Seoul and a hawkish one in Washington disagree on how to contain North Korea? Ahead of Moons first visit to the White House this coming week, The Washington Posts Lally Weymouth sought to find out. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow.

Q: You seem to want to engage with North Korea. During the campaign, you talked about going to Pyongyang to meet Kim Jong Un. Do you think this is a good idea?

A: If the right conditions are met, then I still believe it is a good idea.

Q: What are those?

A: President Trump also mentioned that under the right conditions, he is willing to engage in dialogue with North Korea. Regarding exactly how, we do not have a detailed way forward. It must be in close consultation with the United States. But there is one thing I would like to stress: Korea should now play a larger and more leading role in this process. During the periods when South Korea played a more active role, the inter-Korean relationship was more peaceful, and there was less tension between the United States and North Korea. The last U.S. administration pursued a policy of strategic patience and did not make any effort to improve its relationship with North Korea. Also, the previous Korean government did not make any such efforts. The result is the reality you see today  North Korea continuing to advance its nuclear and missile program.

Q: Youve also discussed reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a joint North-South project from which Seoul withdrew early last year after another rocket test. But this would be a violation of United Nations sanctions. What is your plan?

A: The engagement that I am talking about is actually very similar to the engagement that President Trump is talking about. He has put the resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue at the top of his priority list, and he has employed a tactic of maximum pressure and engagement, but engagement [can only occur] if the conditions are right.

Q: Are you willing to collaborate with the United States on putting maximum pressure on North Korea?

A: Yes. As long as North Korea continues its provocations, I believe that we will have no choice but to apply additional and strong pressure on it. At the same time, it is also important to send out a message to North Korea that if it decides to denuclearize and to come to the negotiating table, then we are willing to assist them.

Q: What do you mean? Are you talking about a freeze of its weapons program?

A: For example, the reopening of Kaesong. This is something we can do at a later stage, when North Korea has made some progress on denuclearization. [For now] we must continue to strengthen our sanctions and pressure on North Korea.

Q: Wouldnt reopening Kaesong violate U.S. and U.N. sanctions?

A: Yes, that is true. But what Korea and the U.S. both ultimately seek to achieve is the dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear program.

Q: Do you think that is possible? North Korea has conducted five nuclear tests and is firing off more and more ballistic missiles. Why is Kim Jong Un going to denuclearize?

A: It seems Kim Jong Un firmly believes that developing nuclear missile capabilities will provide security and guarantee his regime. We must make it clear that it is not nuclear and missile programs that will protect Kim Jong Un and his regime. The goal of the international sanctions and pressure is to make it unbearable for Kim Jong Un if he does not accept this fact. On the other hand, we are continuously trying to send a message that giving up its nuclear program and coming to the negotiating table is the right path for North Korea to protect itself and achieve its development.

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear technology and will soon reach weaponization. Regarding its intercontinental ballistic missiles, it is continuously making progress. So currently, it is urgent for us to freeze North Koreas program so they will stop additional provocations and stop advancement of its technologies. I believe during my upcoming summit meeting in the U.S. I will be able to discuss a two-phased approach to the North Korean nuclear issue  the first being a freeze and the second being complete dismantlement.

Q: You are getting ready to meet Trump. What do you hope will come out of the meeting?

A: President Trump and I have a common goal  that is the complete dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear program and the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. In the process of working toward that common goal, the friendship and trust between the two of us will be very important. I hope we will be able to show the world that the collaboration between our two countries is strong and will continue to grow stronger.

Q: The United States sent an anti-ballistic-missile system  the Terminal High Altitude Air Defense, or THAAD  to South Korea, but some in Washington are frustrated that your administration has not fully deployed it.

A: The decision to deploy was made by the previous administration. I have made it clear that I will not take the decision [to finish installing the final four batteries] lightly.

Q: Does that mean you will deploy THAAD?

A: It is not that simple. We have deployed the radar component of the THAAD system and two launchers. But we must go through due process, which involves an environmental-impact assessment.

Q: When you go to Washington next week, President Trump is obviously going to ask you whether you intend to deploy THAAD.

A: Getting the environmental-impact assessment does not mean that we will cancel or reverse the decision to deploy.

Q: Before you became president, you were a famous human rights lawyer. People in the United States are very upset about the death of American student Otto Warmbier at the hands of the North Koreans. How do you feel about the overall human rights situation in the North?

A: It is very deplorable that North Korea still does not uphold human rights, which are universal values. That includes foreigners. There is still some speculation as to how Mr. Warmbier fell into a coma. [But] the North Korean authorities had the responsibility to immediately inform the family of this fact and to ensure he would receive the best possible treatment. Yet North Korea tried to withhold and hide this fact. This was a cruel act. I would like to extend my deep condolences to Mr. Warmbiers family and to the American people.

Q: In your current agreement with the United States, your wartime forces come under U.S. command. But your new defense minister has long wanted to reverse this policy. Do you agree with him?

A: As a sovereign state, we should have operational command of our forces returned to us at an appropriate time. Korea and the United States have already reached an agreement where we will receive operational control of our forces when the conditions are met. I would like to add that Korea and the U.S. have maintained a combined forces command system for a long time. Even if [we] were to get operational control back, as long as this combined system is maintained, our countries will continue to have combined security, and U.S. forces will continue to play their part in our security.

Q: What is your assessment of Kim Jong Un? Is he crazy? Or is he being smart by building a nuclear program so that he can have some importance? How do you see him?

A: He is an unreasonable leader and a very dangerous person. Yet he is the person who has effective control over North Korea, and he is the person who has the authority to denuclearize North Korea.

Q: Or to use the weapons.

A: That is correct. So we face the task of the complete dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear program while dealing with such a leader.

Q: It wont be easy to get Kim suddenly to decide to stop his missile tests. I assume he thinks his regime would go if his weapons went.

A: When it comes to getting rid of North Koreas nuclear missile capabilities, it is the Republic of Korea that faces the greatest threat. For the United States, this is a threat, but to us, this is a matter of life and death. Although Kim Jong Un is a very unreasonable leader and has a firm, unreasonable belief that nuclear and missile weapons will protect him and his regime, we will continue to employ all possible means  sanctions, pressure, as well as dialogue  to draw North Korea to the negotiating table for denuclearization. To resolve the issue, we have to add dialogue to the current menu of sanctions and pressure. Every time North Korea commits an additional provocation, the U.N. Security Council passes another resolution. But when it comes to dialogue, currently there is nothing set. I hope to have frank and open discussions with President Trump on this issue.

Q: Do you feel that your administration might have a way to conduct a dialogue with the North that the rest of the world  including the United States  might not have?

A: When it comes to dialogue between South and North Korea and between the United States and North Korea, these can go on parallel tracks. South Korea and the United States can each play a role.

Q: President Park Geun-hye, who was removed from office this year amid corruption charges, took a tougher line toward Pyongyang. She shut down money flows to North Korea from African countries like Uganda  where she stopped Ugandas military and security cooperation with North Korea.

A: Yes. . . . This had no effect, and North Korea continued to advance its nuclear and missile programs.

Q: So your message is that you have to have another approach to North Korea? And South Korea should play a bigger role?

A: Yes. The message that we must send to North Korea is twofold: If the North Korean regime believes that it can defend and protect itself through nuclear and missile programs, that is a misjudgment. But if North Korea gives up its nuclear program, we will help it secure and develop itself. We must consistently send these two messages.

Q: Does that start with family visits right now? A new kind of Sunshine Policy?

A: Humanitarian assistance and exchanges are still allowed, even under the sanctions regime on North Korea. Therefore, in parallel with sanctions and pressure, we must also employ humanitarian assistance. The meeting of separated families is also a measure to ensure human rights.

Q: Does humanitarian assistance include sending money and aid?

A: Sending money or hard currency to North Korea is prohibited under U.N. Security Council resolutions.

Q: Youve questioned the 2015 comfort-women agreement with Japan, in which Prime Minister Shinzo Abe apologized for his countrys use of Korean sex slaves before and during World War II  and established a $9 million victims fund. Are you going to revisit that?

A: The comfort-women agreement that we made with Japan during the last administration is not accepted by the people of Korea, particularly by the victims. They are against this agreement. The core to resolving the issue is for Japan to take legal responsibility for its actions and to make an official [government] apology. But we should not block the advancement of Korea-Japan bilateral relations just because of this one issue.

Twitter: @LallyWeymouth

Read more from Outlook and follow our updates on Facebook and Twitter.


Brigitte Gabriel, founder of ACT for America, signs copies of her book, They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It, in 2010. (Matt Nager/New York Times)

A controversial group that has held rallies against the spread of Islamic law is seeking to harness the allure of President Trumps brand as it raises money for its upcoming Washington conference.

For $10,000, sponsors of the ACT for America gathering can enjoy pre-conference cocktails and a private tour of the historic Trump International Hotel alongside the groups founder, Brigitte Gabriel, among other benefits, according to promotional materials published on the groups website.

The walk through the hotel, in the stately Old Post Office Pavilion a few blocks from the White House, is scheduled to take place before participants head to Capitol Hill to hold lawmakers feet to the fire on national security issues, according to plans posted on the groups website. The organization, which critics have decried as anti-Muslim, has repeatedly claimed that Judeo- Christian culture is under assault in America and that radical Islam is to blame.

The promotion represents a new twist in the story line of Trumps luxury hotel, which has sparked several lawsuits and criticism from ethics experts alleging that the president is improperly profiting from foreign governments and other interest groups holding events at the property. Groups typically pay to book meeting space and food service at the Trump hotel like they would at any event venue, but ACT is touting the chance to enjoy access to a signature business owned by the president.

The October event offers ACT, which has drawn headlines this month for its March Against Sharia rallies across the country, a chance to associate itself with a president who campaigned on banning many Muslims from entering the United States and has recently seen his efforts to restrict travel from certain majority-Muslim countries tied up in legal challenges.



The Trump International Hotel in Washington has sparked several lawsuits and criticism from ethics experts alleging that the president is improperly profiting from foreign governments and other interest groups holding events at the property. (Bill OLeary/The Washington Post)

Officials from the Trump Organization and ACT declined to answer questions about the event, including whether ACT was paying the hotel for the tour and, if so, how much.

Christine Da Silva, a Trump Organization spokeswoman, pointed to guest privacy in declining to discuss the event but said that, generally, private tours about the history of the building are organized periodically.

[Anti-sharia demonstrators hold rallies in cities across the country]

An ACT spokesman, David White, did not make Gabriel available for an interview, but in a statement to The Washington Post he defended the groups work.

ACT for America embraces the practice of all religions, including Islam, White said. We stand opposed to Sharia law, which is not a religion, but a barbaric code that executes LGBTQ people for their orientation, mutilates children, and subjugates individual rights.

The group has invoked Trump in its efforts to lure donors. Gabriel, who has shared photos of herself at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, Trumps Palm Beach, Fla., club, wrote to donors after the election saying that ACT has a direct line to Donald Trump, and has played a fundamental role in shaping his views.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Gabriel, whose legal name is Brigitte Tudor, describes herself on ACTs website as one of the leading terrorism experts in the world. ACT says it has more than 750,000 members. Its most recent tax filings list about 17,000 volunteers.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that tracks hate organizations, has labeled ACT an extremist group characterized by wild hate speech demonizing Muslims and a mission to advance anti-Muslim legislation around the country. Heidi Beirich, who runs SPLCs Intelligence Project, said that Gabriels national prominence has recently surged.

Her visibility is higher than its ever been, Beirich said.

Last summer, ACT announced that retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, who was advising then-candidate Trump on national security issues, had joined its board of advisers. In August, Flynn appeared at an ACT event in Dallas and referred to Islam as a cancer, according to a Dallas Morning News account of his speech. A person close to Flynn told The Post that he is not involved with ACT and has no plans to attend the groups conferences.

Flynn was fired this year as Trumps national security adviser after reports that he misled Vice President Pence on his meetings with Russian officials.

[This group believes Islam threatens America: Its a spiritual battle of good and evil.]

In March, Gabriel shared photos of her visit to the White House, where she was reported to have met with a staff member handling legislative affairs. On April 6, Gabriel posted a photo of a red carpet and said she was heading to dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Trump also dined at his luxury Palm Beach club that evening, around the time that U.S. forces launched a military strike in Syria.

Most of the events for ACTs 2017 United Against Terror conference are scheduled to be held on Capitol Hill and at a hotel in Arlington.

Political correctness and cowardness has no place in America, the group says on promotional materials for the gathering. We will not be silenced. We will not fail. We will ensure that America remains the brightest star shining on a hill over the world.

Katrina Pierson, who was a national spokeswoman for Trumps campaign, is listed as one of the speakers.

ACTs website lists the private tour of the Trump hotel as part of the Chairmans Circle sponsorship package, which is the top tier available to donors. It also includes four conference registrations, a private lunch with Gabriel and preferred seating for events.

The Trump International Hotel, which opened last fall, has emerged as one of Washingtons new attractions since Trump won the election.

Although he owns the hotel, he leases the historic building from the federal government. A clock tower remains open to the public through the National Park Service and is available through a separate entrance  giving visitors panoramic views of the city.

A wide array of special-interest groups has chosen the hotel for events in the months since Trump has taken office. Prominent bookings have included a conference on U.S. and Turkish relations, a PAC fundraiser for funeral directors featuring former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich and an event highlighting forklift safety issues.

Last week, the attorneys general of Maryland and the District filed a lawsuit claiming unprecedented constitutional violations by Trump, largely centered on allegations that he has refused to create a meaningful divide between his business and his presidency.
President Trump on Tuesday appeared to lose faith in Chinas ability to pressure North Korea, and his spokesman said the White House is moving further away from direct engagement with Pyongyang, throwing into question the administrations strategy to contain the rogue nations growing nuclear threat.

The death of American college student Otto Warmbier in Cincinnati this week, days after his release from 17 months of detention in North Korea, has injected new political complications into Trumps bid to persuade dictator Kim Jong Un to curb his regimes behavior.

Trump called the treatment of Warmbier, who reportedly was in a coma for most of his captivity, a total disgrace and suggested that he has given up hope that Beijing could exert meaningful leverage on Kim.

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out, Trump wrote in a tweet. At least I know China tried!

[Otto Warmbier dies days after release from North Korean detention]

(The Washington Post)

Trump had placed a heavy bet on China during a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping in Florida in April, personally lobbying him to impose sanctions on Chinese banks and other entities that do business with North Korea, whose economy and military program rely heavily on financial capital from its large and powerful neighbor.

At the time, Trump said he had chosen to hold off on campaign pledges to punish China over trade disputes, in part because of Beijings assistance on North Korea. Xi has sought to curry favor with Trump, and the Chinese government this week invited the presidents daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law Jared Kushner to visit Beijing later this year.

But President Trumps souring views on Chinas influence with North Korea could affect economic policy, including a pending decision on whether to impose new restrictions on steel imports, which could spark a trade war with China.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are scheduled to meet with Chinese officials in Washington to resume economic and security-related talks that began during the summit.

We have been very forceful in the political and economic pressure that has been applied to North Korea, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday afternoon, before the presidents tweet about China. Well continue to apply that. Obviously, China has played and can continue to play a greater role helping to resolve this situation.

Foreign policy analysts have long questioned Chinas willingness and ability to alter Pyongyangs behavior and slow its pursuit of a more sophisticated nuclear weapons program that could potentially reach the continental United States.

But they acknowledged that the administration has few other options.

The Chinese have limited capacity to do something, and I think they feel the weight of expectations beginning to burden them, said Christopher Hill, who led the U.S. delegation in the six-party talks with North Korea during the George W. Bush administration. Now the problem is they are really at a loss to come up with something short of direct action, which they were never prepared to engage in. Im sure theres a lot of serious thinking in China on this. Its important for the Trump administration to keep the heat on.

Senior White House aides declared early on that the administration would abandon President Barack Obamas policy of strategic patience, which relied on ramping up economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

In an interview in the spring, Trump said he would be honored to meet with Kim under the right circumstances, and he proclaimed that the United States was prepared to handle the threat from Pyongyang on its own if China was unable to do so.

Its a brutal regime, and well be able to handle it, Trump reiterated this week.

Warmbiers surprise release last week raised initial speculation that the Trump administration, which sent U.S. diplomat Joseph Yun to Pyongyang to oversee Warmbiers medical evacuation, would open a direct communications channel with Pyongyang aimed at paving the way for negotiations over the nuclear and ballistic missile programs that have made North Korea an international pariah.



But Warmbiers death has made the prospect of high-level bilateral talks, already fraught with diplomatic risks, even less politically feasible, administration officials and foreign policy experts said. Asked Tuesday whether Trump was still open to meeting with Kim, Spicer said the administration was clearly moving further away from direct engagement.

Trump, addressing Warmbiers detention during brief remarks in the Oval Office, said,It should never, ever be allowed to happen. He appeared to indirectly blame Obama for not doing more to free Warmbier: And frankly, if he were brought home sooner, I think the results would have been a lot different.

A senior Japanese diplomat in Washington said that Tokyo does not believe the time is appropriate for talks and negotiations with Pyongyang.

If anything, this has even strengthened our argument, said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to address a U.S. policy matter. I dont think human life is negotiable. We should not use this incident as a kind of opening for them.

At the State Department, Tillerson is weighing a ban on U.S. citizens traveling to North Korea, a rare step that would seek to stop the flow of an estimated 1,000 Americans who travel there each year.

Three U.S. citizens remain in detention in North Korea, and Tillerson called this week for their release.

Currently, there is no U.S. travel ban in place for any country.

Generally, Congress doesnt like to do that, said Victor Cha, a Korea expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies who served as senior Asia director at the National Security Council in the Bush administration. They believe Americans should be free to travel wherever they want. But its pretty obvious its necessary at this point.

Evan Medeiros, who served as the NSCs senior Asia director under Obama, said that the Warmbier case could alter the calculus not just for Trump but also for South Koreas new president, Moon Jae-in, who had campaigned on a platform to engage Pyongyang.

Moon is scheduled to arrive in Washington next week for a meeting with Trump.

If the administration is smart, theyll use this as one more reason why sanctions, isolation and coercion need to be the tip of the spear against North Korea, said Medeiros, now an analyst at the Eurasia Group. The question is, how does this change the trajectory? It makes the prospect of diplomacy, if thats something the administration is seriously entertaining, much more difficult.
After weeks of secret deliberations, Senate Republicans are in the final stages of a sweeping rewrite of the nations health-care laws amid growing frustration among the rank and file over how to fulfill the partys top campaign promise over the past seven years.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that GOP leaders will produce a discussion draft on Thursday and hinted that a final vote could come next week  even as key senators expressed concern about the emerging legislation, the lack of transparency surrounding it and the disagreement that remains.

McConnells desire to wrap up before the Fourth of July recess reflects the sense of urgency among Republicans, including President Trump, to show progress on health care after years of vowing to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

But McConnells strategy for achieving that goal  writing a bill with a handful of aides behind closed doors  has come at a cost that reached new heights on Tuesday: anger among Republicans who feel shut out of the process.

Do you know what the health-care bill looks like? Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) asked reporters Tuesday, her frustration evident. Because I dont.

(The Washington Post)

McConnell told reporters that he would lay out a discussion draft Thursday morning; youll be able to take a look at it  but he declined to discuss the specifics. He said the Senate would take up the bill on the floor once it receives a score from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office  possibly Monday.

[Heres what we know about the Senate health-care bill]

Trump has sent mixed signals to Capitol Hill and has played a more hands-off role in Senate deliberations than he did in the House. While the president has pushed for swift action on health care and celebrated the passage of the House bill in May, he also wants a bill that has heart in it, press secretary Sean Spicer said at the White House on Tuesday. And at a private meeting with senators recently, Trump called the version that passed the House mean.

Senate Republicans have vowed to repeal and replace key parts of the ACA, commonly known as Obamacare, the 2010 law that has provided insurance to about 20 million additional Americans through a combination of expanded Medicaid coverage and private insurance, much of which is federally subsidized.

But even among Republicans  no Democrats are expected to support the bill  competing ideological goals have complicated Senate negotiations. Among the challenges in a messy drafting process: how to lower insurance premium costs and eliminate what some view as burdensome coverage mandates without increasing the number of uninsured Americans. It has become both a political and a substantive question for some GOP senators  many of whom campaigned on a promise to repeal and replace but now face strong evidence that their constituents like their coverage and insurance protections under the ACA.

The more contentious issues have included how to slow spending growth in Medicaid and reducing requirements for health plans, such as mandated coverage for certain diseases or preexisting conditions.

Senate leaders hope to start debate by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, said two senior GOP aides who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe strategy  yet it remains unclear whether McConnell has the 50 votes he needs (plus the tiebreaking vote of Vice President Pence) to pass the bill. Democrats and Republicans will each have 10 hours to debate the bill before being allowed to offer an unlimited number of relevant amendments in what is commonly known as a vote-a-rama. If all goes as planned, a final vote could occur by the end of next week, the aides said.

Even lawmakers who have supported the idea of moving swiftly said they dont know what will be in the bill.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) told reporters that while he and his colleagues all understand what the tensions are in reaching a compromise, it was impossible to say whether they had resolved them yet.

Every single person is in the same place. They want to see the text, he said. Theres no way for anyone to know what we have until we have language.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), a key architect of a health-care working group that has been huddling regularly for weeks, said that while the senators continue to make good progress on crafting a compromise, a great deal of work remains to be done.

The critical test, Cruz said, is whether the bill would drive down premium costs. Right now, the current draft doesnt do nearly enough in that regard, he said.

As he left a working-group meeting Tuesday, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) was asked whether Republicans had moved any closer to completing their work.

Didnt seem like it to me, Hatch responded, with a chuckle. Theres still a lot of different points of view. And there are no simple answers to these problems.

One of the biggest and most divisive matters under discussion is how to structure Medicaid. Some GOP senators from states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA are trying to phase out higher federal payments at a slower rate than a bill that passed the GOP-controlled House in May. Some conservatives, meanwhile, are seeking to slow the growth of Medicaids costs.

Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.) called talks on the bill a work in progress on Tuesday. Toomey is leading the conservative Republicans who want to slow Medicaids costs.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who has been pushing for a seven-year phaseout of Medicaid expansion that he called a glide path. McConnell has been pushing for a three-year phaseout. Both would be more gradual than the House bill.

Republicans hold a 52-48 advantage over Democrats and thus can afford to lose only two votes, even under the maneuver known as reconciliation they are using to enable them to pass it with a simple majority rather than the 60-vote majority required of most legislation.

Asked whether negotiations were far enough along to allow for a vote next week, Cruz, who is more concerned with paring back regulations in Obamacare than he is in the Medicaid debate, said, I think our decision not to set artificial deadlines was the right decision.

Democrats have registered their displeasure this week with both the process and policy Republicans are spearheading. On Tuesday, they continued their protests, using a parliamentary tactic to slow other Senate business.

If the Republicans continue down this path, ignoring the principles of transparency and the open debate that define this legislative body, we Democrats will continue to do everything we can to shine a light on what our Republican friends are doing, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor.

In 2009, two key Senate committees held extensive hearings and votes on bills that eventually formed the basis of the ACA. Two separate committees adopted dozens of GOP as well as Democratic amendments in meetings that lasted 13 days and eight days, respectively. The final Senate bill passed in December 2009, after 25 days of consideration on the floor. All told, the Senate considered the health-care bill for a total of 160 hours.

Cruz dismissed the Democrats criticism as unfounded.

There has been no political issue in modern times more debated than Obamacare, he said, noting that controversy over the bill helped propel Republicans electoral gains in 2010, 2014 and 2016. The Democrats complaint that we havent talked enough is rich with irony.

The closed-door process has left many health-care advocates at a loss. Dick Woodruff, senior vice president of federal advocacy for the American Cancer Society, said in an interview Tuesday, Were doing what we can to communicate to the Hill what impact on coverage the health-care overhaul could have on its members.

Woodruff, who said his group was particularly concerned about potential cuts to Medicaid and the bills impact on people with preexisting conditions, added: The difficulty is that there isnt much coming back. Its like were talking to a black box.

The Senate is scheduled to go into recess at the end of next week. If Republicans do not finish their work on health care before then, they may risk losing steam, as senators return to their home states and potentially face fresh resistance to their efforts.

Still, some Republicans said they were confused about the bill taking shape and warned against rushing.

Im hearing lots of conflicting information, said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key centrist.

In a video he posted Tuesday afternoon on Facebook, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said he had not seen the bill, despite being a part of the Senate GOP health-care working group.

Id be fine, dont get me wrong, to be voting on something soon, Lee said. But we should be able to see it first.

Read more at PowerPost


Pullman Place at 911 2nd St. NE in Washington has 42 units. About 50 percent of the units have a balcony or terrace. (Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

When your building is adjacent to train tracks, a railroad-inspired theme is a natural fit.

We named our new condo development Pullman Place after the Pullman railroad cars, which were the Mercedes-Benz of rail cars, says George Chopivsky, managing principal of the Fortis Companies, developer of Pullman Place.

The lobby of the 42-unit Pullman Place at 911 2nd St. NE in Washington features a wall of reclaimed wood that is echoed with strips of reclaimed wood next to each unit that resemble railroad ties. Chopivsky plans to install black-and-white photos of some of the Pullman cars in the lobby when its complete.

Some of the units face the train tracks, allowing residents to watch the Acela arrive and depart for New York City.

Pullman Place is on a quaint narrow residential street, but within a five-minute walk you are in the epicenter of everything from the H Street corridor to Union Market and the Uline Arena, says Chopivsky. The building is above the train tracks behind Union Station, which are illuminated at night for a really animated view.

Ethan Clark, a buyer at Pullman Place with his partner, lived near American University when he first moved to the city for graduate school and has been renting near 14th and U streets NW for the past three years.

[Waterford Creek in Loudoun County offers country living]

Our priority was to stay in the city and be close to nightlife and restaurants but not necessarily live on top of them, says Clark. Our unit overlooks Parker Street which has applied for historic preservation status. Its a little street of rowhouses, each one painted a different color.

1 of 15 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Buying New | Pullman Place in Northeast Washington View Photos The condos are priced from $434,900 to $749,900. Caption The condos are priced from $434,900 to $749,900. When your building is adjacent to train tracks, a railroad-inspired theme is a natural fit. We named our new condo development Pullman Place after the Pullman railroad cars, which were the Mercedes-Benz of rail cars, says George Chopivsky, managing principal of the Fortis Companies, developer of Pullman Place. Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Clark says he is looking forward to getting to know the neighbors in the new building as well as the neighbors in surrounding homes. Pullman Place has a roof terrace with grills and a direct view of the U.S. Capitol building. Some units also have a view of the Capitol.

The site allowed us to design a wide building rather than a deep and narrow one, so the units are wide open and airy, with lots of glass, says Chopivsky. Were one of the first buildings to be finished on the west side of H Street, and we designed the building with about 65 percent of the units either a two-bedroom or a one-bedroom with a den because young buyers and empty-nesters want some extra space.

Movable island: Three upper-level duplexes are available, each with a large outdoor terrace.

Unit 502, a one-bedroom, two-bathroom residence with a den, has 923 square feet and is priced at $659,900. This unit has an open floor plan with a large but movable center island, a living area and dining area with a row of large windows overlooking a street of colorfully painted rowhouses. This level also has a half-bath and a closet with a stacked washer and dryer. A few steps up is an open den, which has open steel railings. Upstairs, a loft bedroom overlooks the den and has a row of skylights with operable blinds. Nearby are a storage closet, a walk-in closet and a full bathroom. Near the closet is a wall of windows and a glass door to a large roof terrace.

[Tavilah Station townhouses in North Potomac, Md., will have two-car garage and elevators]

Unit 504, which is similar to 502 but slightly larger at 958 square feet, is priced at $699,900.

The largest unit, 503, is a two-bedroom, two-bathroom residence with a den that has 1,163 square feet and is priced at $749,900. This unit has an open floor plan on the main level, with one bedroom and one bathroom. Upstairs are a loft bedroom with skylights, full bathroom, walk-in closet and den with a glass door to a private terrace.



Standard features include six-inch-wide plank floors, nine-foot-high ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows. (Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post)

One of the smaller units, 207, a one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence with 689 square feet, is priced at $449,900. This unit has an open floor plan with a private balcony off the living and dining area, an office niche near the bathroom and a walk-in closet in the bedroom.

Building amenities besides the rooftop terrace include a fitness center, bike storage and extra storage for homeowners. The building has 14 parking spaces available for $40,000 each to buyers of the two-bedroom and penthouse units.

Whats nearby: Clark says he and his partner are used to walking everywhere on 14th and U streets and are looking forward to walking to Union Market and to H Street.

Pullman Place is the edge of NoMa and H Street and Capitol Hill and near the Mall, which makes it easy to explore all those areas on foot, says Clark.

Residents can walk to bars and restaurants on H Street such as Le Grenier and Boundary Road and to restaurants in NoMa. Union Market, which has numerous cafes and specialty food shops under one roof, is less than one mile from Pullman Place. Residents can walk to the renovated former Uline Arena, where a 51,000-square-foot REI outdoors store has become a destination for events and shopping.

Four grocery stores (Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Giant and Harris Teeter) are within a three-block radius of Pullman Place.

Schools: Wilson Elementary, Stuart-Hobson Middle, Eastern High.

Transit: Residents can walk to Union Station for Red Line Metro service and VRE, MARC and Amtrak trains, and to NoMa Gallaudet Station for Red line services. The area is also served by several bus routes, the D.C. Circulator and the D.C. Streetcar.



Pullman Place has a roof terrace with grills and a direct view of the U.S. Capitol building. (Benjamin C. Tankersley/For The Washington Post)
Protesters throw stones at police during a demonstration in Kabul on June 2 over the countrys deteriorating security situation. (Massoud Hossaini/AP)

Suspected Taliban gunmen ambushed Afghan guards who were in a vehicle headed to work at the U.S.-run Bagram air base, killing at least eight people as part of a surge of attacks by militants around the country, officials said Tuesday.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, said the group carried out the late Monday assault and described the victims as spies for the U.S. military.

Attacks by the Taliban and its Islamic State rivals have been rising in Afghanistan as the United States completes plans to send several thousand more troops to bolster Afghan forces and the 8,500 U.S. troops already in the country.

We cannot rule out anything  enemy attack, local or tribal hostility, provincial Police Chief Mohammad Zaman Mamozai said by phone in reference to the attack on the Bagram guards. He said two other occupants of the vehicle suffered bullet wounds.

Meanwhile, violence flared in a series of attacks around the country and in the capital, Kabul, between security forces and protesters who had occupied a busy avenue for the past three weeks.

Videos of the Kabul clashes posted on social media showed the body of a man who protesters said was shot by police late Monday. A number of wounded men were also shown lying on the street.

A protest organizer, Ramish Noori, said several people were arrested.

Afghanistans chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, confirmed on live TV that one protester was killed and six others wounded. He called for an investigation into the clash.

Last nights event in Kabul has shocked all of us, he said.

Protesters have expressed frustration with U.S.-backed President Ashraf Ghani and his inability to stem the rising tide of violence, including a devastating truck bomb in Kabul that killed 150 people on May 31.

After police opened fire on an anti-government protest three weeks ago, protesters set up tents and vowed to remain until the president resigned.

Afghanistans Independent Human Rights Commission denounced the police response as illegal and said it raised concerns about intimidation and fear.

Tonights move against the protesters . . . is not acceptable, and the government is responsible for any legal and humanitarian violation, Fawzia Koofi, a lawmaker, said in a message.

Omar Ahmad Parwani, an organizer of the protest, called for massive anti-government marches and blockades of key roads in the capital.

While frustration with Ghanis government has been high among Afghans because of the poor economy, corruption and the rising number of attacks, the sit-in never attracted more than a few dozen protesters at a time, and many residents complained that it worsened the citys already congested traffic.

Police have opened fire on protesters twice now, which might discourage more from taking to the streets.

In Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold in southwestern Afghanistan, four police officers were killed when their car hit a roadside bomb Tuesday, Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told the Associated Press.

In eastern Nangahar province, a judge was killed when a bomb destroyed his vehicle, according to Attuhullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, the AP reported. The Islamic State claimed responsibility in a statement distributed by its media arm, the Amaq News Agency.

Read more:

Opium use booms in Afghanistan, creating a silent tsunami of addicted women

Afghan war faces flurry of setbacks as new U.S. military policy nears

Taliban attacks key Afghan police base, killing at least five officers

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
We are firm believers in the concept of government in sunshine, that the peoples business should be conducted where the people can see it.

Weve not been shy to criticize government activities conducted in secret, so it seems only fair that we praise any movement away from secrecy and toward openness. To that end, we say: thank you, state Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and state Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha.

Earlier this month, Sen. Nass and Rep. Allen sought support from their legislative colleagues for what theyre calling the Budget Transparency Act. Its intent is to make it more difficult for the Legislatures Joint Finance Committee to make sweeping budget changes outside of public view.

The proposal likely would have prevented the 2015 committee passage of a measure to curtail access to public records, Mike Mikalsen, a spokesman for Nass, said in a Wisconsin State Journal report.

Allen said his proposal shines a light on the committees deliberations for the benefit of the public  and for other lawmakers. Sometimes things happen very quickly in Joint Finance and the legislative body as a whole doesnt know much about it, Allen said.

One example, he said, was the proposed open records changes. They were made public via paper copies distributed inside the state Capitol a few hours before the finance committee voted to pass them in July 2015. Lawmakers then reversed course and removed them from the budget days later following a statewide outcry from across the political spectrum.

I had to respond to constituents all weekend long about something I didnt know much about, said Allen.

The Budget Transparency Act would require public notice of at least 48 hours for budget motions going before the budget-writing finance committee. There is no law requiring public notice of such motions, which committee members make to propose changing individual parts of the governors budget proposal.

The bill calls for the motions to be posted online at the website of the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Under the bill, lawmakers still could propose to alter budget motions during an executive session of the committee, and such proposals would not be subject to 48-hour notice, Mikalsen acknowledged. But at least the public could see the starting point for debate, he said.

Wed like to see Nass, Allen and any other members of the Legislature also take a big swing at ending abuse of the 999 motion, the traditionally last portion of Joint Finances work of the budget, bearing the names of the committees co-chairs. It is often introduced and passed in the middle of the night or early in the morning, which of course is the literal opposite of government in sunshine.

The 67-item wrapup motion in the 2015-17 budget was the source of the proposal to severely limit public access to legislative records. It took days to determine the source of that proposal, because the 999 motion doesnt attach legislators names to the individual items it contains. An open records quest revealed that the author of the proposal, much to our local disappointment, was Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester.

When theyre totally new policy decisions that should be standalone bills and are significantly controversial, I think they should be bills and not come in the 999, state Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, a current Joint Finance co-chair, said recently.

Agreed, Sen. Darling.

Wed like to see the Budget Transparency Act take center stage, and to see use of the 999 motion as a smokescreen exit stage right.

The people should know whats going into the state budget before any votes are taken. That seems so fundamental to representative government that it makes us wonder why it isnt the status quo.
Belgian soldiers shot a man at a central Brussels train station who they think set off a small explosion Tuesday, Belgian authorities said, in an incident that they described as a terrorist attack.

The apparent attack  which did not injure anyone other than the suspect  came after a series of terrorism-linked incidents in Paris and Britain in recent weeks, setting off fears of further violence across the continent as tourism high season begins.

But Belgian authorities did not raise the nations terrorism threat level, a sign that they do not think another attack is imminent.

The soldiers shot and neutralized the man Tuesday night after the explosion at Brussels Central Station, according to Eric van der Sypt, a spokesman for Belgian federal prosecutors. Authorities later said the suspect died.

Security forces think they may have foiled a larger attack, officials said, and soldiers and counterterrorism investigators were searching the train and metro station for more explosives.





Van der Sypt told reporters that a small explosion occurred about 8:30 p.m. in Brussels Central Station. The suspect has been neutralized by the military present at the scene immediately after the explosion, he said.

[Attacks show how Belgium became incubator of terror]

The incident is considered as a terrorist attack, he added.

Nicolas Van Herreweghen, a station agent, said he saw a man shouting on a mezzanine level of the station, which serves as both a national commuter train hub and a local subway stop.

He cried Allahu akbar and he exploded the small suitcase he had with him, Van Herreweghen told Belgiums Le Soir newspaper, using the Arabic term for God is great. Van Herreweghen said he sounded an alert to start evacuating the station over the station workers radio communication system. Then he ran down to speak to colleagues in a small control office inside the station. The attacker also ran into the office, then ran back out, Van Herreweghen said.

He said the short-haired attacker, dressed in a white shirt and black pants, was wearing what appeared to be an explosive vest and seemed to be between 30 and 35 years old.

Witnesses inside the station said it was crowded when the explosion occurred. Images posted on social media showed a small fire on the floor of a wide passageway that leads down to trains.

Some witnesses said they heard a second explosion followed by gunfire, which may have been a flash grenade thrown by soldiers as they attacked the suspect.

Fearful people ran from the station as security personnel evacuated it, witnesses said.

Belgium has been under high alert for terrorism, and armed soldiers routinely patrol train stations, public plazas and other high-profile targets.

Brussels Central Station, one of the nations busiest, was evacuated and sealed following the incident as police and soldiers swarmed the area and other parts of central Brussels.

The Belgian capitals medieval Grand Place, which is about 700 feet from the station, was also briefly evacuated, but it was quickly reopened on an evening that was unusually warm and steamy for the drizzly city. Many people were out enjoying the weather before the incident.

Sirens could be heard wailing across Brussels after the incident, and two subway lines were also temporarily closed.

[Terror in London seems to confirm Muslims growing dread]

Thank you to our soldiers, to the security services and to the SNCB personnel for their professionalism and their courage, Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel wrote on Twitter, referring to the SNCB national rail service. He said he would convene a meeting of his security advisers Wednesday morning.

Authorities were not sure whether the man was wearing an explosive belt, was carrying a bag filled with explosives or was transporting the material in some other way, said a spokeswoman for the federal prosecutors.

The incident comes as Europe is on high alert following a foiled attack on the Champs-Elysees in Paris on Monday and several attacks in recent weeks in Britain.

Brussels was most recently hit by coordinated suicide bombings in March 2016 of its airport and a subway station that killed 32 and injured more than 300. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the assault, which was linked to terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2015.

Read more

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The family of the man suspected of ramming a van into Muslim worshipers offered public condolences Tuesday in statements that gave little hint of possible motives behind the latest terrorist strike in London.

The suspect  identified by British media as Darren Osborne, 47  was heard by witnesses saying that he wanted to kill Muslims. But few other details have emerged on what caused Osborne to drive 160 miles from Wales and point his van at crowds outside two London mosques Monday following late-night prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

At least 11 people were injured before Osborne was wrestled to the ground and arrested. One man died, but police said it was unclear whether he was killed in the attack or collapsed moments before in the Finsbury Park district.

Osbornes mother, Christine Osborne, 72, told the Sun newspaper that her son had mental-health problems  which she did not detail  but that he had never expressed any political concerns.

My son is no terrorist. Hes just a man with mental issues, and I dont know how to cope with all this, she was quoted as saying. As a mum, my heart goes out to everyone in Finsbury Park.

Memorial tributes sit Tuesday at the scene of the Finsbury Park attack in London. (Andy Rain/European Pressphoto Agency)

We are massively shocked. Its unbelievable. It still hasnt really sunk in, Darren Osbornes nephew, Ellis Osborne, said in a statement on behalf of the family.

We are devastated for the families. Our hearts go out to the people who have been injured. Its madness. It is obviously sheer madness, he said.

[After attack, a local imam may have saved the suspects life]

But a neighbor told the Evening Standard newspaper that Darren Osborne had recently appeared drunk and was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage.

One man, Makram Ali, 51, died at the scene. Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, told Sky News on Tuesday that he believed the death was caused by the attack.

He was definitely conscious when the car hit the crowd, Kacimi said. He added that one of the injured was in a coma.

Osborne, who was not on any security watch lists, is believed to have rented a white van near his home in Cardiff, Wales.

(The Washington Post)

The attack may have taken authorities by surprise, but it appeared to substantiate growing dread among Londons Muslims that they could be targeted by extremists who call for revenge attacks.

Cressida Dick, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in London, said that the department was treating the incident as a terrorist attack, and promised to deploy extra officers near mosques in the British capital during Ramadan.

There is something rather depressingly inevitable about this, said Fiyaz Mughal, founder of Tell Mama, a group that tracks anti-Muslim incidents. Mosques are a visible target, even more so during Ramadan when more Muslims are visible because they wear religious clothing.

He said that hate crimes against Muslims spike after Islamist-inspired attacks. The week before the suicide bombing in Manchester last month that killed 23 people, Mughal said, his group received 25 reports of hate crimes. The week after, the number shot up to 141.

The cases are coming in thick and fast, he said.

The Finsbury Park situation is itself an indication of how much people unfortunately hate us, only because we are Muslim, said Mohammad Afzal, chairman of the Birmingham Central Mosque.

[Mosque attack is perfect scenario for Islamic State recruiters]

Muslims in cities around the country feel the need for safety, particularly from the far right, he said, adding that his mosque would be taking extra security measures during Ramadan.

Groups such as Hope Not Hate, an anti-extremism organization based in London, have long warned that the threats posed by extreme right-wing groups are not taken seriously enough. Last year, Britain banned National Action, the first right-wing organization to be proscribed under the nations Terrorism Act 2000. More than 70 groups, most of them Islamist, have been banned under that legislation.

At a vigil in Finsbury Park on Tuesday evening, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the areas representative in Parliament, urged the local community to stick together and to challenge people who utter racist remarks.

Not in an aggressive way. Just politely say to them: You wouldnt like that said about you; dont say that about anybody else,  he said as the large crowd applauded.

Writing in Tuesdays Guardian newspaper, British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said that Muslims must be made to feel safe and that the government was working to tackle all forms of hate crime.

Sadly, indicative figures suggest that over half of those who experience hate because of their religion are Muslim. Any hate crime is unacceptable, but this stark figure is something we will not shy away from, she said.

She challenged critics who said that Mondays attack was not given the same kind of attention as Britains three other recent assaults, writing: Let there be no doubt this attack is every bit as horrifying as the others we have seen. Our grief is no less raw.

This was the third attack in London this year involving vehicles, and it came a month after the Manchester bombing.

The attack came days after the first anniversary of the death of Jo Cox, a British lawmaker who was shot and stabbed by Thomas Mair, a man whose house was full of books on white supremacy and Nazism.

Writing in the Daily Mirror, Coxs husband, Brendan Cox, said Mondays attack was an awful reminder that we all have a responsibility to do our bit to tackle hatred, no matter what community we come from.

Read more:

Terrorist attack on London Bridge and nearby market

Knife and vehicle assault near British Parliament

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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French far-right candidate Marine Le Pen poses for a photograph after her speech during the second round of parliamentary elections in Henin-Beaumont, northern France, on Sunday. (Michel Spingler/AP)

A little more than a month ago, Frances far right seemed on the cusp of power.

But the populist fervor that swept Britain and the United States never reached the same pitch in France, and the National Front fell into disarray when Emmanuel Macron crushed Marine Le Pen in Mays presidential election. Now, the party is facing the reality that it will have minimal representation in Parliament.

While Le Pen had hoped that her party might serve as the principal opposition to Macrons majority, the National Front earned only eight of the 577 parliamentary seats, according to totals from Sundays second round of voting. The result was particularly stunning given that the party had gotten more than one-third of the votes cast in the final round of the presidential election.

There was, however, a silver lining: a seat for Le Pen herself, a small but symbolic victory that some said would enshrine the far-right leader in Frances political establishment.

In her victory speech, Le Pen, elected in the northern, industrial constituency of Henin-Beaumont, insisted that her party retained an important role. Facing a bloc that represents the interests of the oligarchy, we

are the only force of resistance, she said.

Le Pen has been a presence in French political life for decades, although she has never held a major office in the national government. While her father, the convicted Holocaust denier Jean-Marie Le Pen, and her niece, Marion Marechal-Le Pen, have both served in Frances Parliament, she never has.

For political analysts, her victory strengthened her personal brand and her chances of remaining party leader. The National Fronts total number of parliamentary seats also rose from two to eight  an expansion but far short of what the party had expected.

The victory of Marine Le Pen is an important thing for her personal image, said Jean-Yves Camus, a leading expert on the radical right. If her leadership is contested, she can say she was very comfortably elected.

The National Front had approached the presidential election in a confident mood, with polls showing Le Pen at No. 2 in a crowded field of aspirants. She had vowed to de-demonize the party, long associated with anti-Semitism and xenophobia.

But during the campaign, she denied Frances complicity in an infamous World War II roundup of Jews and named as an interim party head a man who once reportedly challenged the fact that Zyklon B was used in the Nazi gas chambers. She also performed poorly in a critical pre-election debate, and proved incapable of capturing the kind of anti-establishment zeal that contributed to the election of President Trump and Britains vote to leave the European Union.

Her crushing defeat by Macron led to a crisis in the National Front, with party aides  and even members of the Le Pen family  pointing the finger at one another in public.

After that debacle, there were those  even among the partys supporters  who said that the National Front would perhaps be better served by a total transformation, including a new name and a leader from outside the Le Pen family.

Her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, minced no words Tuesday when he insisted that his daughter should step down as party leader following the disappointing parliamentary results. You outlive your usefulness when you start harming your party by your policy stances or your stubbornness, the elder Le Pen told reporters, having been locked out of a party meeting at National Front headquarters outside Paris.

The partys co-founder, now 89, was expelled from his party in 2015 after reiterating, in an interview, his view that the Nazi gas chambers were a detail of history, and is nominally estranged from his daughter. But the elder Le Pen retains an honorary title, and the organization he controls contributed significantly to his daughters 2017 campaign.

Yet with Marine Le Pens ascent to Parliament, any such transformation is unlikely to come anytime soon, Camus said.

It gives the party a new voice in the National Assembly, said Camus, referring to the Parliaments lower house. He said that the party leader has been playing a long game for victory.

Le Pen had unsuccessfully tried four previous times to win a parliamentary seat.

In interviews with The Washington Post during the presidential campaign this spring, both Jean-Marie Le Pen and Marion Marechal-Le Pen, 27, emphasized that regardless of election outcomes, a majority of French voters agreed with their program. We won the battle of ideas, Marechal-Le Pen said in April.

But election results would suggest otherwise.

Marine Le Pen, in her victory speech, suggested that the National Front represented a silent majority of voters, if not any kind of significant parliamentary presence.

It is scandalous that our party  which won 7.6 million votes in the first round of the presidential election and 3 million more in the second round  cannot obtain a group at the assembly, she said Sunday.

A group in Frances Parliament requires at least 15 seats. Such groups help set the parliamentary agenda and are entitled to certain resources, such as extra office space and larger shares of public funds. Initially, pollsters had said Le Pen could win as many as 50 seats in the legislative elections.

In the end, she received about one-sixth of that number.

But if the political prospects of the National Front remain unclear, the party will have at least some kind of future, Camus noted, especially with Le Pen in Parliament.

As he put it: Its a party thats going to last for a while.

Read more

With Le Pen defeat, Europes far-right surge stalls

Marine Le Pen goes from fringe right-winger to major contender

The dark history at the heart of the French election

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to the media after his annual televised call-in show in Moscow on Thursday. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)

 Bots airing pro-Kremlin views have flooded the Russian-language portion of the social media platform Twitter, in what researchers from the Oxford Internet Institute say is an effort to scuttle political discussion and opposition coordination in Russia.

In a new study of political bots on the social media platform, the sheer scale of automation is staggering: Of a sample 1.3 million accounts tweeting regularly about politics in Russia reviewed by researchers between 2014 and 2015, around 45 percent, or 585,000 of them, were bots.

So if you were to mention or enter a flame war with a random account from that sample, there would be a nearly 1-in-2 chance youre not communicating with a real person.

The study, released on Monday by the Computational Propaganda Research Project housed at the the Oxford Internet Institute, investigates the manipulation of public opinion through automated processes on social media in nine countries: China, Russia, Poland, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Ukraine, Taiwan and the United States. The research was backed by U.S. and European Union government grants.

It shows, to varying degrees, how regimes, parties and politicians have repurposed social media accounts to direct streams of abuse against domestic rivals or foreign foes, quickly build massive political followings, game metrics on social media, or create bots to create more bots.

Those Internet campaigns are a threat to democracy, the authors claim.

For democracy to work, voters need to have high quality information, said Philip Howard, professor of Internet studies at the Oxford Internet Institute and the projects principal investigator, in an interview. Social media could provide that. But at the moment, it looks pretty bleak.

Some of the surprising findings: Right-wing bots in Poland outnumber those on the left by a factor of 2-to-1. In China, automation is more widely used by pro-democracy agitators than by the government. And in the United States, bots amplifying digital propaganda had a measurable influence during the 2016 presidential election that saw Donald Trump narrowly edge out Hillary Clinton in several battleground states.

Taken together, the studies point to a significant update in the narrative around social media: Once seen as a tool of democratization and protest, like as, for instance, during the Arab Spring, it has increasingly become a weapon wielded by established political actors and authoritarian regimes, simulating public opinion through memes and hashtag democracy.

Twitter has been criticized for the sites tendency to play down complaints about online abuse, often spouted from anonymous accounts. A March study from the University of Southern California and Indiana University estimated that as high as 15 percent of Twitter accounts may be automated.

Facebook, Howard said, should also take greater steps to identify and eliminate bots. He said the company should testify and release metadata about fake accounts in the investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

Weve seen they can adjust when authoritarian regimes ask them to comply with data authorization rules, he said. Maybe we can see if they would adjust to requests from democracies.

Additionally, the studys authors said, while Russian social networks like VKontakte or Odnoklassniki could be censored because they were based in Russia, bots are a way to muddy the waters on those social network platforms that remain out of the Kremlins reach.

The study does not provide direct evidence that the bots were created by the Russian government or how they were employed, relying heavily on media reports of bot farms in Russia where young employees in cubicles were paid to churn out comments by the hour.

But it does show the degree to which someone, or a bevy of actors, have deployed fake, online personalities devoted to sharing pro-government content.

In Russia, the bots were identified by a number of attributes, the authors wrote, including copying and pasting content, an abnormal number of retweets, high frequencies of hashtags, and a lack of biographical data.

A separate study by the group on Ukraine said that those bots had a number of functions: creating mass followings for politicians, amplifying favored political content, requesting accounts be blocked, tracking changes to Wikipedia articles, or automatically registering new bots.

In Ukraine, researchers found fake online profiles were widely used by a variety of political insiders across the political spectrum to target rival members of parliament, or even to target themselves and then claim they were the victims of a plot by Russian paymasters.

Automated activity vastly increased in July 2014, when a surface-to-air missile shot down a plane with 298 people on board over southeast Ukraine, a region held by separatist forces backed by Russia. That was the moment when Howard, then teaching in Budapest, said he hatched the research proposal.

It was really noticeable how social media was being used by [Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor] Orban and Putin to speak to many of my Hungarian friends, he said. They all started coming to me saying that Putin said the Americans had shot it down, that the Ukrainians had shot it down.

Read more:

I watched Moscow police arrest protesters while standing next to men dressed as medieval knights

Putin admits patriotic Russian hackers could have mounted attacks during 2016 election

In new sanctions list, Ukraine targets Russian social-media sites

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

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Gay rights activists take part in a protest event called the March against Hatred in St. Petersburg on Nov. 2, 2014. (Alexander Demianchuk/Reuters)

A European court on Tuesday declared a Russian law banning expressions of gay propaganda to be discriminatory, ordering Moscow to pay out compensation to three gay rights activists and setting the stage for further conflicts with Europe over Russias treatment of gays and lesbians.

In a statement, the European Court of Human Rights said that Russias adoption of the 2013 law had reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia, which was incompatible with the values of a democratic society.

The law, according to the court, violated articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, of which Russia is a signatory, providing for freedom of expression and a prohibition on discrimination.

The ruling comes just weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel separately pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin on numerous reports about the abductions of as many as 100 Chechens suspected of being gay. Three were reportedly murdered, and dozens more allegedly tortured in several secret prisons in Chechnya. Many have fled the Russian region to other parts of the country or for asylum abroad.

Russian officials in May said they would review the reports. In Chechnya, Moscow has empowered strongman Ramzan Kadyrov to carry out a conservative agenda by diktat. Kadyrov has disputed the claims, saying that there are no gay people in Chechnya.

The Russian Justice Ministry on Tuesday retorted that the anti-gay propaganda laws have the sole purpose of protecting morals and health of children.

The controversy over the persecution of gay people, and an increasingly conservative society under Putin that has emphasized the role of the Orthodox Church, has been an issue in Russia for years. Putins macho image has been part of his public persona since he first became president in 2000. In a recent series of softball interviews with movie director Oliver Stone, Putin was asked whether he would take a shower on a submarine next to a gay man.

Well, I prefer not to go to the shower with him, he said in the interview, laughing. Why provoke him? But you know, Im a judo master.

The three activists who brought the case to the court in Strasbourg, France, had staged protests against versions of the anti-gay propaganda law between 2009 and 2012, only to be arrested and then fined for those demonstrations.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993.

Read more:

Reports about torture of gays in Chechnya produce threats against journalists

Reports of anti-gay purges in Chechnya lead to international outrage

Trump-Pence policy is already affecting LGBT lives in Chechnya

Todays coverage from Post correspondents around the world

Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign news
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, introduces Republican presidential candidate former Florida governor Jeb Bush during a presidential candidate forum at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va. (Steve Helber/AP)

The combative lawyer who made the rounds defending President Trump on the Sunday talk shows is not well known to Washingtons criminal defense bar.

A new member of Trumps legal team, Jay Sekulow, 61, is, however, a fixture on conservative talk radio and a celebrity among conservative organizations for his high-profile First Amendment court battles over religious rights. He has argued a dozen cases before the Supreme Court.

Along with his own widely syndicated daily radio talk show, Jay Sekulow Live!  broadcast on more than 850 radio stations, satellite radio and on his website  Sekulow is also a regular guest on the Fox News Channel, The 700 Club and Sean Hannitys radio show, as well as provides commentary on the Christian Broadcasting Network.

In May, Sekulow dismissed the Russia scandal as a fraud on the American people.

On the Sunday shows, Sekulow repeatedly insisted that Trump is not under federal investigation. The Washington Post reported last week that the Russia investigation has widened to include an examination of whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice. But Sekulow said that Trump has not been notified of a probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. He then conceded on Fox News Sunday that he doesnt know for sure if there is an investigation or not.

[Special counsel is investigation Trump for possible obstruction of justice]

Sekulow could not be reached for comment.

Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, has often lined up against Sekulow on Supreme Court nominations and other legal issues. Seeing him on television defending Trump, she said, was totally in keeping with his career.

Hes often been the public face of the Republican establishment, Aron said. Hes been intimately involved in helping nominees like Samuel Alito and John Roberts get on the court, and its safe to say I would fundamentally disagree with his vision of justice, and his views on civil rights, womens rights and civil liberties.

A native of Brooklyn who grew up on Long Island, Sekulow is a self-described Messianic Jew and was a member of the board of the evangelical group Jews for Jesus. He earned his law degree from Mercer University School of Law in Georgia and a PhD from Regent University in Virginia Beach, where he wrote his dissertation on religious influence on Supreme Court justices.

Sekulow started his career as a tax litigator for the Internal Revenue Service. In 1987, Sekulow argued his first Supreme Court case when he represented Jews for Jesus and helped defeat a measure banning the distribution of religious literature at Los Angeles International Airport.

American Lawyer magazine wrote at the time that Sekulow was rude and aggressive and so nervous that at times he appeared nearly out of control. But for Sekulow, arguing before the Supreme Court was a formative moment, probably the most intense experience of my life.

I left the courtroom feeling like the Beatles must have felt leaving Shea Stadium, Sekulow wrote in an essay for Jews for Jesus. Or for those who might not know the Beatles, I felt like Rocky after the fight. Sekulow won the case in a unanimous decision that struck down the measure.

The victory turned Sekulow into a crusader for religious expressions and a celebrity on the Christian right.

He is very effective in the courtroom and a very effective advocate with the public, said Barry Lynn, the lawyer and pastor who leads Americans United for Separation of Church and State and has debated Sekulow more than 100 times in media appearances and on college campuses. I expect the president will use him frequently because he is a great deal more articulate than the other surrogates.

Several years after the Jews for Jesus decision, Sekulow became chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), founded by televangelist Pat Robertson and dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights, according to the groups website.

The group has worked against same-sex marriage and in favor of banning abortion. But, ACLJ does not limit itself to religious legal issues. Late last year, ACLJ sued the Justice Department, seeking records of the June meeting at the Phoenix airport between then-Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch and former president Bill Clinton. That tarmac meeting happened about a week before then-FBI Director James B. Comey announced that no charges would be filed in the probe of Hillary Clintons use of a private email server.

Despite his lack of experience in criminal defense work, lawyers who know Sekulow hail him as a leader of the religious conservative legal and policy community.

You definitely should not underestimate his abilities, said Mat Staver, the former dean of Liberty University Law School who collaborated with Sekulow on several Supreme Court cases. He is an exceptionally capable and intelligent lawyer who really knows how to win a case, Staver said. He is a very rapid-fire thinker and talker. He can get out an argument in one minute that would take two to three minutes for others to make.

Read more:

Trump lawyer insists there is no obstruction investigation --but then hedges

At height of Russia tensions, Manafort met with business associate from Ukraine

Trumps lawyers contradictory Sunday, annotated

Derek Hawkins contributed to this report.
Attorney General Jeff Sessions, left, and Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein at the Justice Department's National Summit on Crime Reduction and Public Safety in Bethesda, Md., on Tuesday. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a new plan Tuesday in which 12 cities will receive more federal manpower to combat violence in their communities.

Turning back the recent troubling increase of violence crime in our country is a top priority of the Department of Justice and the Trump administration as we work to fulfill the presidents promise to make America safe again, Sessions said in Bethesda, Md., at the beginning of the Justice Departments two-day summit on crime reduction.

The first round of cities chosen for the new initiative, the National Public Safety Partnership, are Baton Rouge; Birmingham, Ala.; Buffalo; Cincinnati; Houston; Indianapolis; Jackson, Tenn.; Kansas City, Mo.; Lansing, Mich.; Memphis; Springfield, Ill.; and Toledo.

Our nations violent-crime rate is rising, Sessions said. In many of our urban areas, this increase is staggering.

[How Jeff Sessions wants to bring back the drug war ]

Baltimore and Chicago, two large cities where violent crime is increasing, were notably not on the list.

Justice Department spokesman Ian Prior said the department is anticipating that more cities will be added later in the year. He said the department is considering reallocating prosecutors to Chicago and has already sent more than 20 additional agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The 12 chosen cities will not receive more money from the Justice Department. But the department will send agency employees and experts to work with them to develop strategies and tactics to best fight violent crime, Sessions said.

Crime in the United States is near historic lows, but according to the FBIs Uniform Crime Report, preliminary figures indicate that there was an overall increase of 5.3 percent in the number of violent crimes nationally for the first six months of 2016, compared with the same period in 2015. Meanwhile, many major cities have seen increases in homicides. The Brennan Center, a New York-based law and policy institute, released a report last year that found that Chicago accounted for a large share in the increase in the nations homicide rate.

Sessions was joined by the heads of the FBI, ATF and the Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein, who praised law enforcement officials in the audience for the risks they take to protect the public.

The attorney general and I understand that every time you pull a vehicle over, execute a search warrant or step out in your uniform, you are faced with a potentially fatal situation, Rosenstein said. It gives us the utmost respect for the work you do.

Tuesdays event was the first time the Justice Departments top two officials have appeared publicly since their high-profile hearings on Capitol Hill last week, in which they faced tough questioning on the Russia investigation.

On Tuesday, Sessions and Rosenstein received standing ovations from state and local law enforcement officials from across the country who came for two days of workshops and said they were pleased with the new initiative.

One thing the Department of Justice does very well is to identify what works in law enforcement and share those best practices with local law enforcement in especially hard-hit cities, said Chuck Wexler, the executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum. Whether it is using the latest in gun tracking or DNA analysis, this is a positive step that will be welcomed by local law enforcement.

Read more:

Sessions refuses to say whether he spoke to Trump about Comeys handling of Russia investigation

Trump takes a Twitter swipe at deputy attorney general, a key figure in Russia probe

Sessions vows crackdown on violent crime in first major speech as attorney general
Farmers & Merchants Bancorp operates as the bank holding company for Farmers & Merchants Bank of Central California that provides various banking services to businesses and individuals. The company accepts various deposit instruments, including checking, savings, money market, time certificates of deposit, and individual retirement accounts. It also offers range of lending products comprising commercial, commercial and residential real estate, real estate construction, agribusiness, and consumer loans, as well as equipment leases and credit card services; commercial products, including term loans, lines of credit and other working capital financing, and letters of credit; and financing products, such as automobile financing, home improvement, and home equity lines of credit. In addition, the company provides various specialized services consisting of credit card programs for merchants, lockbox and other collection services, account reconciliation, investment sweep, online account access, and electronic funds transfers through domestic and international wire and automated clearinghouse; and online banking services. Further, it offers investment products, such as mutual funds and annuities. The company serves its customers through 29 full-service branches and 3 stand-alone automated teller machines in the mid Central Valley of California, including Sacramento, San Joaquin, Solano, Stanislaus, and Merced counties, as well as the east region of the San Francisco Bay Area comprising Napa, Alameda, and Contra Costa counties. Farmers & Merchants Bancorp was founded in 1916 and is headquartered in Lodi, California.
Our portfolio of high quality UK commercial property is focused on London Offices and Retail around the UK. We own or manage a portfolio valued at 13.7bn (British Land share: 10.3bn) as at 30 September 2020 making us one of Europe's largest listed real estate investment companies. Our strategy is to provide places which meet the needs of our customers and respond to changing lifestyles - Places People Prefer. We do this by creating great environments both inside and outside our buildings and use our scale and placemaking skills to enhance and enliven them. This expands their appeal to a broader range of occupiers, creating enduring demand and driving sustainable, long term performance. Our Offices portfolio comprises three office-led campuses in central London as well as high quality standalone buildings and accounts for 65% of our portfolio. Our Retail portfolio is focused on retail parks and shopping centres, and accounts for 31% of our portfolio. Increasingly our focus is on providing a mix of uses and this is most evident at Canada Water, our 53 acre redevelopment opportunity where we have plans to create a new neighbourhood for London. Sustainability is embedded throughout our business. Our places, which are designed to meet high sustainability standards, become part of local communities, provide opportunities for skills development and employment and promote wellbeing. In April 2016 British Land received the Queen's Award for Enterprise: Sustainable Development, the UK's highest accolade for business success for economic, social and environmental achievements over a period of five years.
Virginia police say remains found in a pond in Sterling on Sunday are that of a 17-year-old Muslim girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted and murdered while heading to a mosque with her friends.

Darwin Torres, 22, has been arrested and charged with murder, police say. Although police have not named the victim, relatives of Nabra Hassanen, of Reston, and the teens mosque, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), have revealed her identity to several news outlets.

According to police, Hassanen and her friends had slept over at the mosque and went to a McDonalds early in the morning. They allegedly got into a dispute with Torres, who was in his car, near Dranesville and Woodson Roads, police say in a statement. Hassanens friends ran back to the mosque and reported that Hassanen had been left behind, according to the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, Torres allegedly got out of his car and assaulted Hassanen, police continued in the statement. The girls mother told the Post that detectives said Hassanen had been struck with a metal bat.

We are devastated and heartbroken as our community undergoes and processes this traumatic event, ADAMS said in a statement. It is a time for us to come together to pray and care for our youth.

Police tell PEOPLE there is no evidence that points to a hate crime.

A search for the teen ensued and police announced the discovery of the body Sunday afternoon, according to the statement, which adds that officers saw a car driving suspiciously in the area. Police stopped the car and took the driver, Torres, into custody. The medical examiner will confirm the identity of the remains.

In the hours after the gruesome discovery, celebrities and activists took to social media to send their condolences and remember the slain teen.

Nabra Hassanen, I wont forget you and what happened to you, actress and comedian Mindy Kaling wrote in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, activist Linda Sarsour wrote in a post that she is devastated as a result of the news.

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Nabra, you and your family will get justice, Sarsour wrote on Facebook. This is NOT OKAY. This is NOT OKAY. As a mother of a 17 year old daughter  I am HEARTBROKEN. SHATTERED. Nowhere is safe.

It is unclear whether Torres has entered a plea or acquired an attorney.

A fundraising page has been set up on behalf of Hassanens family.
President Donald Trump spent part of his meeting with the president of Panama on Monday praising the construction of the countrys famous canal, which was built by the U.S. more than a century ago.

We have many things to discuss. Were going to spend quite a bit of time today, the president said from the Oval Office, adding, The Panama Canal is doing quite well. I think we did a good job building it, right? We did a very good job.

Yes. One hundred years ago, President Juan Carolos Varela responded.

The Panama Canal, which opened in August 1914, is a waterway over the Panama Isthmus that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Trump continued his remarks, noting that things are going well in Panama.

Pres. Trump greets Panamanian Pres. Varela: "The Panama Canal is doing quite well. I think we did a good job building it, right?" pic.twitter.com/ufQKF7aNgl  ABC News (@ABC) June 19, 2017

The relationship has been very strong, he added. We are developing new things to do and only getting stronger. Also our friendship with [President Varela] is very, very good. So I just want to thank you very much. It is an honor to have you at the White House.

RELATED VIDEO: Exclusive: Natasha Stoynoff Speaks Out: I Dont Want Women to Feel Afraid

Valera  who will be in the nations capital for four days  was joined by his wife, First Lady Lorena Castillo de Varela, for the trip.

Valera and his wife posed briefly for photos with President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump upon their arrival at the White Houses south diplomatic entrance.
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - At least nine passengers and one crew member were injured by turbulence on a United Airlines flight between Panama City and Houston on Tuesday, the airline said.

"Paramedics met the aircraft to provide medical care, and initial reports are that nine customers and one crew member were transported to the hospital for evaluation," the airline said in a statement about its flight 1031.

There have been no reports on the condition of those taken to hospital.

"United Flight 1031, a Boeing 737, reported encountering severe turbulence in Mexican airspace, about 80 miles (130 km) east of Cancun," Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Lynn Lunsford said in an email.

He said the aircraft landed safely at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport just after 2:30 p.m.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Sandra Maler and Leslie Adler)
One lucky premature baby boy was given free plane tickets for life after being born mid-flight.

Read: Welcome Aboard! Crew Members on Turkish Airlines Flight Deliver Baby Girl in Midair

Cicymol Jose gave birth in the sky as her Jet Airways flight was on its way to Kochi, India, from Dammam, Saudi Arabia, Sunday.

With assistance from the crew and nurse Mini Wilson, Jose successfully gave birth to a baby boy at about 35,000 feet. The Boeing 737 made an emergency landing in Mumbai, where both mom and son were taken to Holy Spirit Hospital.

Jet Airways shared the news on Twitter with a tweet that said, Welcome to the World, with a letter that granted the baby a lifetime of free travel. The letter was addressed to the father in honor of Fathers Day.

Although this was Jet Airways first midair birth, other babies have been born aboard planes in the past year.

Read: Cabin Crew, Prepare for Delivery! Woman Gives Birth During Flight

A mom who was 28 weeks pregnant welcomed a baby girl while flying with a Turkish airline in April. Last August, a baby was born on a Cebu Airlines plane heading for the Philippines.

Both Jose and her baby are reportedly doing well.

Watch: Newborn Named After Airline 'Jet Star' Because He Was Born Mid-Flight

Related Articles:
Who was the first person to have a cat as a pet? Probably someone living in western Asia and Egypt about 10,000 years ago, research indicates.

Scientists analyzed the DNA of cat remains  feline bones and teeth, hair and skin  dug up from various geographic locations throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, and dating to different time periods across roughly 9,000 years, a study in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution said, finding domestic felines can trace their genes to the African wildcats of the Near East and Egypt. Wildcats were found all over the Old World, but that specific subspecies in those areas is the one that has a link to today's domestic cats.

Read: Why Are This Country's Men the Tallest in the World? Ancestors Who Hunted Mammoths

The fact that ancient Egypt was involved in this transformation from wild cats to domesticated ones may not come as a surprise, considering the well-known relationship between humans and cats in that civilization: Ancient Egyptians held cats in high regard and even worshiped a goddess who was part cat.

Both Near Eastern and Egyptian cat lineages contributed at different times to the maternal genetic pool of domestic cats, with one or other present in the vast majority of present-day cat breeds, the researchers said. While the cats worldwide conquest began during the Neolithic period in the Near East, the study said, referring to a time period also known as the New Stone Age that started about 12,000 years ago, its dispersal gained momentum ... when the Egyptian cat successfully spread throughout the Old World.

The Neolithic period was marked by a movement from hunting and gathering to a more settled lifestyle, with prehistoric humans raising crops, domesticating animals for livestock and building communities instead of wandering from place to place.

cat-bones

Photo: Hierakonpolis Expedition/KU Leuven

cat-bones2

Photo: Hierakonpolis Expedition/KU Leuven

Ancient peoples used a cat as a pest-control agent, object of symbolic value and companion animal, the study said. The way the domesticated cats seem to have spread to other areas suggests dispersal along human maritime and terrestrial routes of trade and connectivity.

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But even though cats have been human companions for thousands of years, more selective breeding came later. The study indicated a coat-color variant was found at high frequency only after the Middle Ages and it was likely the ancient Egyptians, for example, had only striped cats, the DNA analysis showed. And that makes sense since the civilizations paintings depict only cats with stripes, rather than spots or blotches, the researchers said.

It was only in the 18th century A.D. that the blotched markings were common enough to be associated with the domestic cat ... and physical traits started to be selected only in the 19th century A.D. for the production of fancy breeds, the study said. Thus, both our data and recent genomic data suggest that cat domestication in its early stages may have affected mainly some behavioral features, and distinctive physical and aesthetic traits may have been selected for only recently.

Read: These Ancient Human Sacrifices Were POWs Kept As Slaves

One thing that remains to be uncovered is if the Egyptians' domesticated cats on their own or used the animals that other people began to domesticate in the neighboring region of the Near East.

Its still unclear ... whether the Egyptian domestic cat descends from cats imported from the Near East or whether a separate, second domestication took place in Egypt, researcher and paleogeneticist Claudio Ottoni said in a statement from Belgian university KU Leuven. Further research will have to show.

Either scenario is possible given the connection the ancient Egypt civilization had to the Near East. Recent research showed those Egyptians were related much more closely to western Asians than modern Egyptians, who get more of their DNA from African ancestors.

Related Articles
Foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez says country will not return US fugitives who have asylum in Cuba as Trump tightens restrictions on travel and trade

Bruno Rodriguez, Cubas foreign minister, in Austria: Cuba will make no concessions on its sovereignty. Photograph: Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images

Cubas foreign minister has described Donald Trumps speech outlining a new policy towards the island as a grotesque spectacle, saying that we will never negotiate under pressure or under threat and refusing to return US fugitives who have received asylum in Cuba.

In a combative response to Trumps policy, the foreign minister, Bruno Rodriguez, said in Vienna that Trumps restrictions on transactions with the Cuban military would not achieve their objective of weakening the government.

Trump announced a partial rollback of the normalization of relations with Cuba on Friday, in Miami, the heartland of Cuban exiles, in a theater named after the leader of the failed US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of the island in 1961.

It was a grotesque spectacle straight from the cold war, Rodriguez said in Vienna, during a tour of European countries, in a news conference broadcast live in Cuba.

We will never negotiate under pressure or threat, he told reporters.



Cuba will make no concessions on its sovereignty and its independence, will not negotiate over its principles and will never accept [imposed] conditions, he added.

Rodriguez added that the islands government will continue working towards better relations with the majority of Americans who back detente.

Rodriguez also said that fugitives such as Assata Shakur  formerly known as Joanne Chesimard  would not be returned because the US had no legal or moral basis to demand their return.

Cuba conceded political asylum or refuge to US fighters for civil rights, Rodriguez said. These persons will not be returned to the United States.

Shakur was granted asylum by Fidel Castro after she escaped from the prison where she was serving a sentence for killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 during a gun battle after being stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike.

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Shakur  who has maintained her innocence  was Tupac Shakurs step-aunt and godmother.

The US president stopped short of breaking diplomatic relations with Cuba, restored in 2015 after more than five decades of hostility, and the Trump administration has left many recent agreements between the two countries intact.

However, it will tighten restrictions on Americans traveling to the Caribbean island, hurting the booming Cuban tourism industry and clamping down on US business dealings with Cubas military.

Trump announced that the US would impose new limits on US travelers to the island and ban any payments to the military-linked conglomerate that controls much of the islands tourism industry. Trump also declared: The harboring of criminals and fugitives will end. You have no choice. It will end.

He said the US would consider lifting those and other restrictions only after Cuba returned fugitives and made a series of other internal changes including freeing political prisoners, allowing freedom of assembly and holding free elections.

Rodriguez said the new measures would inevitably hit US companies and citizens by restricting their ability to invest in or travel to Cuba, while also hurting the Cuban people.

It will wreak economic damage not just on Cubas state companies but also on the cooperatives and private sector workers, he said.

Rodriguez response Monday was a clear signal that there could be very little, if any, high-level US-Cuba negotiation during Trumps time in office.



While working-level meeting on topics such as search-and-rescue have taken place since Trump took office, no meetings between top diplomats have occurred.



Its a sharp contrast to Obamas last year as president, during which top US and Cuban diplomats met regularly to discuss topics including law-enforcement cooperation and compensation for Americans whose property was taken during the 1959 Cuban revolution.

Cuba will not make concessions that harm its sovereignty, Rodriguez said. We have never done in the history of the revolution.
File photo of a Ukrainian Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighter: REUTERS

An armed Russian fighter jet flew within 5ft (1.5m) of a US plane in a "provocative" manoeuvre over the Baltic Sea, it has been reported.

The Sukhoi Su-27 jet approached an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane "rapidly" and flew "erratically", according to officials quoted by Fox News.

CBS said the fighter approached the wingtip of the larger aircraft before passing underneath it and reappearing by the opposite wing.

The US considers the incident, which took place some 25 miles north-west of Kaliningrad, an unsafe intercept.

Officials told Fox the Russian jet was armed with air-to-air missiles.

It was reportedly unclear how close the RC-135 was to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, both Nato members.

The Russian defence ministry said that a US reconnaissance RC-135 plane had swerved dangerously in the proximity of a Russian Su-27 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea, RIA news agency reported.

It said the Su-27 had also intercepted another RC-135 plane in the area.

The intercepts come a day after relations between the US and Russia regarding the war in Syria became frayed, following the US destruction of a Syrian government jet.

Russia, a close ally of the Assad regime, said its surface-to-air missile systems would track "all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River" as targets.

The US said the Syrian plane, an Su-22, had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the IS extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa.
The family and friends of Conrad Roy III spoke out following Michelle Carters involuntary manslaughter conviction Friday. Carter had been on trial for Roys death after repeatedly encouraging him to take his own life.

She knew exactly what she was doing and what she said, Conrads mother, Lynn Roy, said during an episode of 48 Hours Friday. The fact that she would say to him, Your family will get over you. How is that even  I will never get over him.

Read: Conrad Roy IIIs Suicide Note To Michelle Carter Released As Defense Rests

During the trial, prosecutors showed more than 1000 text messages between Conrad and Carter in which Carter urged him to commit suicide. Roy was found dead of carbon monoxide poisoning inside his truck after attaching a portable generator to the car in a Massachusetts parking lot in 2014. In some conversations before his death, Carter gave him ideas for how to commit suicide and then expressed frustration that he hadnt done so yet.

This has been a very tough time for our family, Conrads father said in a statement Friday. Wed like to process this verdict that were happy with.

A close friend of Conrads also spoke out about the verdict. Mike Harkins, a friend of Carters from high school, said he was glad to see Carter be convicted.

I think it was a good decision  the right decision, Harkins told People Friday. At the end of the day, she has to live with what happened for the rest of her life. I am happy she was found guilty, because you cant do stuff like that and expect to get away with it.

Prosecutors argued that Carter urged Conrad to commit suicide in order to cast herself as the grieving girlfriend to friends and family. They cited a conversation during Conrads last minutes in which he attempted to get out of his truck because he got scared. When he relayed his doubts and fears to Carter, she told him to get back in the truck.

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Youre ready and prepared, Carter wrote to Conrad. All you have to do is turn the generator on and you will be free and happy. No more pushing it off. No more waiting.

Read: How Michelle Carter Urged Boyfriend To Commit Suicide: Theres A Lot Of Ways

It also emerged that Carter had pretended she didnt know what was happening despite being on the phone with Conrad during his death.

She did nothing, the judge said at the hearing. She did not call the police or Mr. Roys family. Finally, she did not issue a simple additional instruction [to Roy]: Get out of the truck.

Carter was charged as a youthful offender, meaning that although she was a minor at the time of Conrads death, she was charged as an adult. Her sentencing was scheduled for August 3 and could land her in prison for up to 20 years. It remained unclear whether Carter would appeal the verdict.

Related Articles
Rome (AFP) - Four conservative cardinals who have publicly challenged Pope Francis over his reforms of Catholic Church teaching have published a letter escalating the row.

The red-hatted "Princes of the Church" had sent a first letter to the Argentine pontiff at the end of last year in which they questioned the head of the Roman Catholic Church over his teachings on the family.

The ringleader, American Raymond Burke, publicly warned Francis it may be necessary to make a highly rare "formal act of correction" if he did not answer the letter -- a bold and almost unheard of challenge to the pope's authority.

On Tuesday Vatican watcher Sandro Magister published a second letter written by the four cardinals -- Carlo Caffarra, Walter Brandmueller, Joachim Meisner and Burke -- which called on Francis to meet them face to face.

They decided to make public the missive, which was dated April 25, after it went unanswered, Magister said.

It was published on the website of the Italian magazine L'Espresso.

The four insist the pope's overtures in favour of allowing some remarried divorced people to take communion have sown confusion throughout the Church.

"What is a sin in Poland is correct in Germany, what is forbidden in the archdiocese of Philadelphia is lawful in Malta, and so on," the letter said.

The conservative arm of the Church has been thrown into disarray by a debate over whether those who have divorced and remarried can receive Communion at mass. Critics say it would be contrary to teachings on the sanctity of marriage.

While Francis has made no direct reference to the issue, some bishops have interpreted his words in family guidelines published last year as meaning some remarried people can be given Communion.

Burke in particular has been the face of opposition to change since Francis was elected in March 2013.

He was moved out of key Vatican positions at the end of 2014 and into a more ceremonial post as patron to the Knights of Malta -- but sidelined again in January after a row between the Vatican and the ancient order.
Boxer Daniel Twitch Franco has made dramatic improvement and is now out of intensive care, and is able to speak, after injuries suffered in a fight earlier this month. (Getty Images)

Featherweight boxer Daniel Twitch Franco, who suffered two brain bleeds following a June 10 bout with Jose Haro in Iowa, has made dramatic improvement and has been moved out of intensive care.

Al Franco, the boxers father and trainer, said his son is speaking and could return home to California in the next month or two.

Everything looks positive, Al Franco said. They removed the breathing tube so hes now breathing on his own. They removed all the IVs but one. They had to put one in his carotid artery. He had so many of them  I think he had nine IVs  and he starting blowing veins, is how they described it. Things started popping because he had too many, so they went straight to the carotid. And its just more for painkillers.

His speech is slightly slurred, but Al Franco said a speech therapist was surprised how well hes doing.

Hes got some numbness on the left side of his face, but he has normal function on his right side. The medication is causing the numbness on his left side, but the fact that he has normal function on the left side is positive, Al Franco said.

The side we need to be concerned with is normal: His right side, his right eye, theyre functioning, Al Franco said. Both hands, both feet, all his limbs, everything is normal.

He said the doctors havent directly told him that his son would return to normal, but hes optimistic that will be the case given the progress.

In three to six weeks, he may be ready to fly on a medical transport plane from Iowa to California. That will cost $18,000 at least.

Franco said hes estimating medical bills before all is said and done at about $2 million. He created a Go Fund Me page that has already raised $40,030.

Im still like, Wow, I cant believe the love weve gotten,  he said. Its honoring, its humbling. Strangers are coming into my gym. Some of them bring money to help us and some of them cant afford to make a donation and they came and pray. Were so touched by the outpouring weve received.




Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., one of many Democratic senators to speak out for open debate on the Senate health bill. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)

WASHINGTON  In a late night protest, Senate Democrats decried efforts by top Republicans to repeal the Affordable Care Act behind closed doors, pledging to disrupt proceedings in the chamber over the matter.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said that Democrats will break with normal procedure and object to routine movements and bills in an effort to slow down Senate business unless Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., agrees to allow debate on the controversial health care bill.

This radical departure from normal procedure on a bill of such consequence leaves [Democrats] with little choice but to depart from normal procedure as well, Schumer said.

Republican senators have been working for weeks to come to an agreement on their own version of the American Health Care Act, which was passed by the House last month. Their efforts have been a closely held secret among the Republican leadership and a working group of 13 senators.



As a result, many key stakeholders, including some other GOP senators and members of President Trumps administration, say they dont know what is in the bill. Leadership has been pushing for a vote before the July 4 recess.

McConnell said Monday evening that there would be a chance for the public to review the bill and for Democrats to offer amendments.

I think there will be ample opportunity to read and amend the bill, McConnell said in a spirited back-and-forth with Schumer.

Will it be more than 10 hours? Schumer shot back.

McConnell refused to say.

Democrats charged that Republicans were trying to hide a bill that would harm millions of Americans.

Why are only a select group of Americans able to have a voice inside that room? Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said in a fiery floor speech. My constituents are Americans just like the constituents in Republican states are Americans. They deserve to know whats about to happen to them. Youre breaking the Senate. And it wont get put back together that easily.

Story continues

In an effort to increase transparency, Democrats moved numerous times to refer the House version of the AHCA to the Health, Finance and Budget committees, but were struck down by Republicans.

We clearly are trying to shame our Republican colleagues into opening up this process, Murphy acknowledged in an appearance Tuesday on CNNs New Day.

In their speeches, which stretched until shortly after midnight, Democrats pointed to the unpopularity of the AHCA, which 21 percent of Americans support, according to a Quinnipiac poll last month. They also pointed to an analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that said the AHCA would result in 23 million more Americans going uninsured than under current law.

No parents or grandparents should have to lie awake at night worried that if their child has an illness or an injury, that they wouldnt have a way to pay to cover their care, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said. Its not right, its not fair and its not fundamentally who we are.

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., noted that while Trump initially cheered the passage of the AHCA, he remarked to a meeting of Republican senators last week that it was in fact mean.

Weve been told its about 80 percent the same as the bill passed by the House. A bill so catastrophic that even the president, who hailed its passage, now called it mean,' Harris said.

Monday was not the first time that Democrats in Congress have held the floor to draw attention to policy issues. In a protest of Trumps nomination of Betsy DeVos to be education secretary, Democrats mounted an all-night stand in an effort to drum up public pressure on Republicans to oppose DeVos.

Read more from Yahoo News:
Cancun (Mexico) (AFP) - Ministers from the Organization of American States huddled Monday on the crisis in Venezuela, a meeting that infuriated Caracas but which the regional group's chief insisted was not an "intervention."

The crisis talks are the latest in a series of OAS foreign ministers' meetings that caused an irate President Nicolas Maduro to announce Venezuela's withdrawal from the OAS in April -- a process that will take two years.

The leftist leader accuses the OAS of "interventionism" for seeking diplomatic solutions to Venezuela's deteriorating political and economic crisis. More than 70 people have been killed since near-daily protests erupted against his government on April 1.

"Defending democracy is an essential principle (of the OAS), it's not an intervention," the group's Secretary General Luis Almagro told a press conference as the talks got under way in the Mexican resort of Cancun.

Venezuela is in the grip of an economic and political crisis that is causing desperate shortages of food and medicine, as well as a soaring murder rate.

Maduro says the crisis is a US-backed conspiracy. The opposition accuses him of clinging to power by eradicating checks and balances and seeking to write a new constitution.

The OAS foreign ministers will be seeking to reconcile two opposing proposals on Venezuela and send them to the regional group's general assembly, which is holding its annual meeting here this week.

On the one side are Caribbean countries sympathetic to Maduro's government, and which for years received generous exports of discounted crude from oil giant Venezuela.

They are proposing a resolution that calls for an "internal" solution to the crisis, based on "dialogue" between the government and opposition.

On the opposite side are the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Panama, which want to create a "contact group" on Venezuela -- a sort of task force of countries that would seek to make Maduro's government respect the OAS's democratic norms.

Story continues

The ministers failed to find common ground at a previous meeting on May 31, kicking the can down the road to Cancun.

Almagro warned there would be no immediate solution.

"This process won't finish today, even if we come away with a very strong resolution," he said.

"The issue of Venezuela will continue, because the crisis in Venezuela isn't going to end today, either."
Most Americans believe James Comey is telling the truth and prosecutor Robert Mueller is impartial: Nicholas Kamm/Getty Images

Donald Trumps handling of the Russia investigation has pushed him towards an even lower approval rating, a new poll has found.

A CBS survey of more than 1,000 adults across the US discovered that just 36 per cent approve of the President, five months into his first term, the lowest point recorded so far.

One catalyst for those relatively poor ratings is the on-going investigation into ties between Russia and his administration before the election. CBS found that a third of Americans disproved of the Presidents approach to the issue  Mr Trump has repeatedly called the investigation fake news and a witch hunt and fired James Comey, former director of the FBI, who was leading the investigation.

Despite the President speaking against Special Counsel prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is now leading the Russia investigation, more than half of those surveyed  56 per cent  believe Mr Mueller is impartial and should be allowed to act unhindered.

Mr Trump appeared to have confirmed that he was being investigated for links to Russia himself when he tweeted about Mr Mueller: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

Americans are split, however, when it comes to whether the potential ties with Russians have serious consequences.

Most Republicans do not think the President did anything wrong at all relating to Russia, the survey found, but six in 10 Americans overall believe Russia tried to interfere in the presidential election.

Only one third of Republicans think the Russia links are a matter of national security, a view which is peddled by the likes of Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

When Mr Comey testified under oath about his dismissal this month, his account of meeting the President disputed Mr Trumps version, and both said they hoped that there were tapes of the conversation to prove them right. More than half of those surveyed by CBS, 57 per cent, are on team Comey.

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But even general support for Mr Trump among his party has dwindled, from 83 per cent in April to 72 per cent in June.

The CBS survey phoned 1,117 adults between 15 and 18 June by landline and cell phone, in English and Spanish.

The margin of error is 4 points.

Mr Trump tweeted on 18 June a new Rasmussen Poll, which found that he had a 50 per cent approval rating, a stark contrast to most other polls and higher than any other rating by at least eight percentage points.

The new Rasmussen Poll, one of the most accurate in the 2016 Election, just out with a Trump 50% Approval Rating.That's higher than O's #'s!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 18, 2017

Real Clear Politics calculated an average approval rating of 40 per cent, based on figures from several polls including Rasmussen, Gallup, CNBC and Quinnipiac.
For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

Donald Trumps encounters with world leaders have been anything but boring. From his infamous white knuckle handshake with the newly elected French President to reportedly hanging up the phone on the Australian Prime Minister mid-conversation after yelling at him, it would be safe to say he has upended the usual diplomatic order.

In a similar vein, the President has now used a bilateral meeting with Panama's President on Monday to boast about building the Panama Canal. For the record, the 48-mile waterway in the Central American country is a century-old canal he of course did not build.

Sat side by side while cameras flared, the mogul-turned-politico claimed he and Mr Varela had many important issues to discuss, but nevertheless found time to declare: The Panama Canal is doing quite well. I think we did a good job building it, right - a very good job.

Turning to Juan Carlos Varela, Mr Trump asked: "Right?"

The President of Panama made sure to interject with: Yeah, about 100 years ago.

Apparently keen to make his point again, Mr Trump later added: But things are going well in Panama.

The US transferred control of the canal to Panama in December 1999. The massive waterway connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and is an important conduit for international maritime trade.

Mr Trump also heaped praise on the relationship between America and Panama in the press slot, dubbing it very strong.

We are developing new things to do and only getting stronger. And also, friendship with the president is very, very good, he said.

Critics immediately seized on Mr Trumps decision to brag about the Panama Canal - judging it his latest gaffe.

In response to the Bowling Green Massacre, President Andrew Jackson hired Donald Trump to build the Panama Canal to keep out the Australians, quipped Marie Conner.

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This is a reference to the now notorious Bowling Green Massacre  a terrorist attack invented by senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway which never took place. She falsely claimed Iraqi refugees committed a massacre within the United States but most people didnt know about it because it didnt get covered by the media.

Another critic added: Did Trump just take credit for the Panama Canal? Does he know when it was built? Maybe he thinks Frederick Douglas was the head engineer".

The fact that Panama has a canal is literally the only thing Trump knows about Panama. And he probably found out about that this morning.

 Rich (@nimphier) June 19, 2017

Trump just took credit for building the Panama Canal.

Now he's pissed off the ghost of Teddy Roosevelt.

 John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 19, 2017
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, left. (Photo: Mark J. Terrill/AP)

LOS ANGELES  More than two years after leaving the Obama administration, former Attorney General Eric Holder is reentering the political fray.

His goal: to lead the legal resistance to Donald Trumps agenda  and perhaps even run against the president in 2020.

Seized by a sense of urgency to oppose Trump and restore what he regards as Americas best self, Holder is mulling a White House bid of his own, according to three sources who have spoken to him and are familiar with his thinking.

Up to now, I have been more behind-the-scenes, Holder told Yahoo News in an exclusive interview about his plans. But thats about to change. I have a certain status as the former attorney general. A certain familiarity as the first African-American attorney general. Theres a justified perception that Im close to President Obama. So I want to use whatever skills I have, whatever notoriety I have, to be effective in opposing things that are, at the end of the day, just bad for the country.

Now is the time to be more visible, Holder added. Now is the time to be heard.

On Monday morning, Holder launched this new phase of his career by traveling to California to speak out.

Nearly all of the officials who stepped to the podium in the lobby of Los Angeless Ronald Reagan State Building Monday were Californians. They showed up, and summoned the local press corps, in order to promote a piece of legislation called SB 54 (aka. the California Values Act), which is designed to prevent the Trump administration from forcing local police departments to assist in the deportation of undocumented immigrants. Critics  and even some supporters  have said it would transform the whole of California into a so-called sanctuary state.

The lineup included outspoken anti-Trump Democrat Kevin de Leon, president pro tempore of the California state Senate, who introduced SB 54 last December and is now working to push it through the legislature; Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck, who finally endorsed the controversial measure; other top cops from Long Beach and Sacramento; and Linda Lopez, head of immigrant affairs for L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti.

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The only outsider was Holder  the lanky lawyer with the short gray hair and the thick black mustache.

One of Barack Obamas closest friends and most prominent appointees, Holder isnt from California. (He lives in the Washington, D.C., area, where hes a partner at Covington & Burling.) He no longer works in law enforcement. And he isnt an immigration activist.

For the last few months, however, Holder has quietly been serving as outside counsel to the California legislature, working with de Leon and other Democrats to craft an aggressive legal response to what they consider President Trumps most threatening policies.

Holders presence at Mondays press conference was meant to emphasize that relationship  to dramatize the issue, to raise the consciousness of people, to help the legislation along, he told Yahoo News.

And so, in the Reagan building lobby, Holder explained why he thinks SB 54 is constitutional (the federal government does not have the ability to force states to do things that are inherently federal in nature) and why, in his view, the Trump administrations threats to withhold federal funding in response arent (the federal government cant coerce states into doing something states dont want to do by threatening to withhold support). Meanwhile, Holders team at Covington released a lengthy memorandum backing him up.

But Mondays event was also something bigger: a coming-out party of sorts for a figure who sees his work in California as a springboard to a new role as the key legal architect  and one of the major public faces  of the nationwide progressive pushback against President Trump.

Rarely mentioned as a 2020 contender and controversial while in office, Holder would enter any Democratic primary contest as a long shot. Even his engagement with the resistance is something of a surprise. For most of his career, Holder was seen as a conventional, mild-mannered figure. But he grew more pugnacious as attorney general, in part because Republicans never stopped attacking him, and he wound up pursuing a sharply progressive agenda during Obamas second term.

Even so, Holder insists that he never envisioned himself as an anti-Trump crusader.

I thought, frankly, along with everybody else, that after the election, with Hillary Clinton as president, I could walk off the field, he said. So when she didnt win, I thought, Well have to see how this plays out. But it became clear relatively soon  and certainly sooner than I expected  that I had to get back on the field and be in effective opposition.

California state Senate President pro tempore Kevin de Leon, left, and Holder on June 19, 2017, in Los Angeles. (Photo: Andrew Romano/Yahoo News)

In the months ahead, Holder plans to expand the scope of his opposition to Trump. Part of that expansion will center on the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a new, Obama-backed group thats working to prepare Democrats for 2020, when states will redraw the boundaries of their legislative and congressional districts for the first time in a decade.

Up until my now our efforts have been largely organizational  raising funds, generating support, Holder told Yahoo News. But now were moving into an operational phase where well be filing lawsuits and Ill be more visible talking about those issues.

Another part of Holders campaign will involve explicitly political appearances. On Saturday, for instance, the former attorney general waded into Virginias marquee 2017 gubernatorial race with a keynote address at the state Democratic Partys annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner, in which he excoriated Trump and embraced the resistance  the first of a series of such speeches, with North Carolina next on the calendar.

We have come too far as a nation, sacrificed too much, made too much progress, to allow the state of our nation to be undermined by the extreme part of a divided minority administration, Holder said, describing Trumpism as the worst of us. If opposition is to be the course  and it must be  we must recognize and remember that the power of the American people has been too often underestimated. Once roused we are a mighty force.

But the most intriguing  and perhaps most consequential  aspect of Holders ambitious new effort is a scheme, still in its early stages, to create a national, privately funded, PAC-like organization that would develop and coordinate legal resistance strategies among various states and localities that are determined to stymie Trump.

California is in so many ways a trendsetter, whether it is in pop culture or in politics, Holder told Yahoo News. Thats why it was such an attractive possibility for me to go to California and work with the legislators there in crafting their response to the Trump administration  because I think what California does gives courage to other states and other public officials in other parts of the country who might be thinking about principled opposition. It shows how that opposition can take shape.

So far, the legal resistance has been largely improvised, with young liberal lawyers spontaneously descending upon airports in the wake of Trumps Muslim travel ban and state attorneys general individually butting heads with Jeff Sessions, their federal counterpart.

Holder wants to change that.

You look at this as kind of a continuum, where you oppose the policy as it is proposed, you hope that it doesnt become law, but then, to the extent that it does, you use the courts to try to overturn it, he explained. As the different states and different public officials start to stand for the same things and take the same positions  as they start to use the same tactics  the opposition becomes that much more effective.

For now, Holder will continue to set the stage in California. (Earlier this month, the state Assembly decided not to renew his $25,000-a-month contract; the state Senate, however, plans to retain his services indefinitely.) And while immigration isnt the only hot-button topic on Holders to-do list  de Leon is also soliciting his advice on climate change and health care  its the one thats front-and-center right now, as Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents ramp up noncriminal deportations and the courts consider whether Trumps executive order on sanctuary cities is constitutional.

Were here with a very clear purpose: to underscore the undeniable truth that preserving and enhancing trust, real and genuine trust between law enforcement and the diverse communities they serve, is essential for the safety and well-being of all residents of this great state  indeed, this great nation, Holder said at Mondays event, alluding to the argument that undocumented immigrants will stop reporting crimes to the local cops if those same officers are also tasked with deporting them.

California is leading, Holder concluded. California is doing the right thing. This is something that needs to be done nationwide.

If Holder gets his way, he will spend the months and years ahead ensuring thats exactly what happens.

Read more from Yahoo News:
Luxembourg (AFP) - The European Union on Monday blasted US President Donald Trump for pulling out of the Paris climate change pact and said Brussels would continue to lead efforts to prevent global warming.

Trump caused outrage when he withdrew the United States -- one of the world's largest emitters of greenhouse gases -- from the 2015 accord which is meant to curb rising temperatures driven by human activity.

"The Council (of EU member states) deeply regrets the unilateral decision by the US administration to withdraw from the Paris Agreement," said a statement approved by the bloc's foreign ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg.

"The Paris Agreement brought us together in very challenging times... the Council reaffirms that the Paris Agreement is fit for purpose and cannot be renegotiated," it added.

Trump said the pact, signed by nearly 200 countries, hit the United States with "draconian financial and economic burdens" while competitors got off lightly.

"This agreement is less about the climate and more about other countries gaining a financial advantage over the United States," Trump said when announcing the withdrawal earlier this month.

Trump's decision was seen as a part of a new unilateralist approach in the White House, undermining international accords and especially the role of the United Nations.

In Monday's statement, the 28-nation EU repeated its "steadfast support for the United Nations as the core of a rules-based multilateral system".

"The EU and its member states remain united and absolutely committed to full and swift implementation of the Paris Agreement," it said.

"The world can continue to count on the EU for leadership in the global fight against climate change."
Luxembourg (AFP) - The European Union on Monday rolled over for another year sanctions imposed to protest Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, which the bloc deems illegal.

The Crimea sanctions prohibit certain exports and imports, and ban investment and tourism services by EU-based companies there.

"The Council (of member states) extended the restrictive measures in response to the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia until 23 June 2018," a statement said.

"The EU continues to condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation and remains committed to fully implement its non-recognition policy," the Council statement added.

The sanctions were imposed in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea in March 2014 as the Ukraine crisis deepened with the ouster of a pro-Moscow government.

Efforts to resolve the conflict have failed repeatedly, with the death toll rising to more than 10,000.

The EU insists Russia must be held to account for its support of the rebels but Moscow says Brussels is at fault for aiding and abetting the overthrow of a legitimate government in Kiev.

In addition to the Crimea measures, the EU imposed damaging economic sanctions against Russia after the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014, blamed by the EU on the rebels.

The EU extended these sanctions for another six months in December and they are widely expected to be rolled over again in July.

In March, the 28-nation bloc also extended for six months its asset freezes and travel bans on Ukraine and Russian figures held responsible for supporting the rebels.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, in a tweet, hailed the EU's move on Monday but said "the price" Moscow should pay "for this attempted annexation should be higher."

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dimitry Peskov said that for Russia, the sanctions were not "legitimate."

"These sanctions not only harm us but also the countries that initiate them," he argued.
First lady Melania Trump joined her husband President Donald Trump on Monday in welcoming Panamas President Juan Carlos Varela and his wife Lorena Castilla, upon their arrival at the South Portico of the White House.

The first lady wore a Carolina blue fitted dress designed by Michael Kors, priced at $1,695, reports said. Melania gracefully donned the knee-length dress that featured a high neckline and was adorned with three buttons on each side.

The dress also comes in black, according to the Michael Kors website. Both the colors are nearly sold out except in sizes 10, 8 and 0. A study in sophistication, the sheath dress is a wardrobe essential. This version is expertly tailored to flatter the figure in stretch boucle-crepe. A crew neckline, accompanying belt and buttoned details complete this forever style with a flattering effect, reads the description of the dress on the Michael Kors website.

Read: Twitter Reacts To Melania Trump Reuniting With Donald Trump After Move To White House With Son Barron

Melania Trump

Photo: Getty Images

Melania paired the dress with her signature pumps, this time a pair of floral Christian Louboutin heels. The 47-year-old wore minimal jewelry aside from her massive diamond engagement ring. She also let her golden brown hair down around her shoulders like she does during most appearances.

Panamas first lady donned a knee-length green dress featuring a lace peplum design and lace sleeves. She paired the dress with nude platform pumps. The two first ladies were photographed outside the Oval Office during the visit.

Melania Trump

Photo: Getty Images

Story continues

Melania, a former model, has been making fashion statements for years; however, after becoming the first lady she has been in the headlines more often. The baby blue coat dress that Melania wore at the presidents inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20 was considered to be a perfect outfit for such an occasion. She was compared to former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy, in a story published by CNN in January.

She was spotted in olive green skinny jeans paired with a white button-down top Sunday while returning from Camp David, where the first family celebrated Fathers Day.

GettyImages-697380236

Photo: Getty Images

Melania and her son Barron Trump moved to the White House on June 11, five months after her husband took office as the U.S. commander-in-chief. She showed her excitement about moving to the White House in a tweet posted from her official @FLOTUS account.

Read: Melania Trump Says Kathy Griffin's Beheaded Donald Trump Photo Was 'Disturbing'

"Things are going well in Panama"

Trump met Panamas president Monday to discuss how to curb transnational organized crime, illegal migration, and illicit substances, CNBC reported. They also discussed the continued political and economic instability in Venezuela.

Trump welcomed the president of Panama to the White House, and during the first face-to-face meeting with the Central American leader, spoke about the United States' role in the construction of the Panama Canal.

The Panama Canal is doing quite well. I think we did a good job building it, right? Trump told Varela, who responded by saying, very good job.

Trump added: Things are going well in Panama. The relationship is very strong.

Related Articles
On So You Think You Can Dance, 25-year-old Cody Ostrenga from El Paso, Texas took the stage and he brought with him a unique style of dance that he called belly dancing with a hip-hop fusion. Ostrenga is a three-time world champion mounted shooter horse rider. In this sport, the rider goes through an obstacle course and shoots two .45's at targets while going about 30 miles per hour. Ostrenga said, "You and your horse are just working together. And it's such a beautiful experience." Although Ostrenga was a champ at this sport he always had another dream. He said, "I was always bullied for being different and being gay pretty much. I didn't have the means to go to dance classes. So I would basically just hide in my room and watch Britney Spears, Shakira, and that's kind of how I learned how to dance, 'cause as a kid in Texas, you have to macho up, which is why I did the horse riding. But secretly, my passion was dance." And although the judges thought Cody's unique style wasn't quite refined enough for the Academy, Cody and his hip-hop belly dancing might just be the best thing to come out of Texas.
Republicans have held the seat since 1979: AP

Karen Handel - fighting to hold onto a seat the Republicans have occupied four decades - received a message of support on the eve of polling in a pair of tweets from Donald Trump.

Karen Handels opponent in #GA06 cant even vote in the district he wants to represent, wrote Mr Trump, in tweets in which he initially misspelled Ms Handels name. because he doesnt even live there! He wants to raise taxes and kill healthcare. On Tuesday, #VoteKarenHandel.

Ms Handel, 55, a former state official, could probably use all the help she can get as she seeks to win the battle for Georgias 6th congressional district. After weeks of hard campaigning, the race against her Democratic challenger, Jon Ossoff, has come down to the wire.

Karen Handel's opponent in #GA06 can't even vote in the district he wants to represent....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2017

A poll published by a local television network, WSB, put Mr Ossoff on 49 points and Ms Handel on 48.9. It said a mere 2.1 per cent of people were undecided, and said it contained a margin of error of 4.4 per cent.

Ms Handel, a social conservative who previously served as Georgias secretary of state, has been stressing her local roots and saying she has the better experience to deliver on local issues.

She and outside groups supporting her campaign have instead tried to link Mr Ossoff to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and money that has flooded into his campaign from out of the state. The race - made necessary when incumbent congressman Tom Price joined Mr Trump's cabinet - will be the costliest special election in US history and estimates suggest more than $50m will have been spent.

The strategy for this campaign has always been about who is best and the right fit for people of this district, Ms Handel told the Associated Press. The people of this district are not from a views and a values standpoint aligned with Nancy Pelosi.

Story continues

Ms Handel finished her campaign with an event at a restaurant in the upmarket suburb of Roswell, located around 20 miles of Atlanta. There she was joined on stage by Georgias Republican governor, Nathan Deal.

Those who spoke before her, sought to mock the California money that had gone to Mr Ossoffs campaign. Others joked that they never saw him in the district and could not be considered a local. (While Mr Ossoff grew up in the district, he lives with his fiancee, a medical student at Emory University, a few miles outside of the district boundary.)

Andra Martin, who lives in Roswell, said she was supporting Ms Handel because she had known her for a long time and believed she would put making the best decisions for local people over politics. She is 100 per cent the real deal, she said.

Al Mayer, 54, another of those in attendance, said she had integrity. She is going to hold true to the values of the district. They are good people, he said.

Both Mr Ossoff, who once studied at the London School of Economics, and Ms Handel have sought to stress the local nature of the contest. Some local have resent the national attention the contest has received.

Yet Democrats across the country are determined to turn the battle for the seat that Republicans have held since 1979, into a referendum on Mr Trump and his performance as president. They hope if they win here, it would give them the momentum to win the 24 seats they would require to take back control of the House of Representatives.

Ms Ossoff, who once described his bid to take the Republican-controlled district as an opportunity to make Trump furious, has more recently calmed such talk.

He has repeatedly downplayed Mr Trumps role in the race while rallying supporters at a campaign office in Chamblee on Monday but acknowledged that it motivates many people.

There are many in this community, myself among them, who have deep concerns about the direction of things in Washington, about the integrity and competence of this administration, he said.

I think that those concerns have only grown over time. And with a commitment to working across the aisle to get things done, to holding people in Washington accountable regardless of their political party, some fresh leaders can hopefully break through some of this nonsense.
Sean Hannity says the federal investigation into Russias interference in the 2016 presidential election is looking like the so-called birther conspiracy that was for years fueled by Donald Trump.

This has now become, like, Russia-Trump-conspiracy-birther-conspiracies,' Hannity told Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow during an interview on Fox News Monday night. You know, sort of truthers. Its gotten so bad.

Right, Sekulow said in agreement.

For more than five years, Trump led the movement questioning President Barack Obamas birthplace  even after Obama released his long-form birth certificate in 2011. And Hannity, one of Trumps longtime supporters, gave him the platform to do so.

In April 2011, Trump appeared on Hannitys Fox News show explaining the origin of the theory, saying that a team of investigators he had sent to Hawaii had uncovered some very interesting things. Trump never revealed what those purported things were, or presented any evidence that the investigators actually existed.

Nonetheless, Hannity  who has a habit of propping up unfounded right-wing conspiracies  continued to defend Trumps birther push on the air and lashed out at those who said the issue was an effort to delegitimize the countrys first black president.

Dont bring up race, Hannity once scolded Jerry Springer. Do not bring up race. Do not bring up race. It is a constitutional requirement.

Trump didnt drop the conspiracy either.

An 'extremely credible source' has called my office and told me that @BarackObama's birth certificate is a fraud.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 6, 2012

Why do the Republicans keep apologizing on the so called "birther" issue? No more apologiestake the offensive!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 27, 2012

How amazing, the State Health Director who verified copies of Obamas birth certificate died in plane crash today. All others lived  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2013

In January 2016, he told CNNs Wolf Blitzer that hed eventually reveal his theory on Obamas birthplace in a book.

Story continues

Who knows about Obama?  Who knows, who knows? Who cares right now? Trump said. I have my own theory on Obama. Someday, I will write a book. I will do another book, and it will do very successfully.

Then in September, Trump  under pressure from Republican leaders  finally admitted that Obama was born in the United States. But the then-Republican nominee offered no apology. Instead, he wrongly took credit for ending the issue  something Obama himself did when he released his long-form birth certificate  while falsely blaming Hillary Clinton for first raising questions about Obamas birthplace in 2008.

Hillary Clinton and her campaign of 2008 started the birther controversy, Trump said without taking questions from reporters. I finished it.

But there is no evidence Clinton played any role in pushing birtherism.

During the 2008 Democratic primary, a volunteer for the Clinton campaign was fired after forwarding a memo that suggested Obama was secretly a Muslim.

On the eve of the 2016 election, Hannity made a veiled reference to birtherism, offering to pay for a one-way flight to Kenya for the Obamas.

I have an offer for the president. I will charter a plane for you and your family, Hannity said on his daily radio show. I will charter it to the country of your choice. You want to go to Canada? Ill pay for you to go to Canada. You want to go to Kenya? Ill pay for you to go to Kenya. Jakarta, where you went to school back in the day, you can go back there.

Last month, Hannity stirred controversy by giving oxygen to the conspiracy theory that former Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich was killed for leaking documents to WikiLeaks. Washington authorities say Rich was killed in a robbery.

At least seven advertisers pulled their support from Hannitys show, and Fox News retracted a story about Richs death.

Hannity did not back away from the conspiracy, only telling viewers he would stop discussing the matter out of respect for Richs family.

Read more from Yahoo News:
U.S. Border Patrol stepped up heatwave warnings in the southwest of the country for migrants trying to cross the border from the Sonoran Desert, it was reported Sunday.

Authorities warned of an intensifying heatwave across the southwestern states and its potential jeopardy on the elderly, the infirm, the homeless, as well as migrants looking to cross the border into the U.S.

The National Weather Service said temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, could peak at nearly 49 Degrees Celsius (120 Degrees Fahrenheit) by Tuesday and an excessive heat warning is to remain in effect until Thursday, The Guardian reported.

Read: Wildfire Could Help Spread Fukushima Radiation

The U.S. Border Patrols division in Yuma said it had put its search, trauma, and rescue team on a high alert for migrants struggling to survive in the desert. It is physically impossible for the average person to carry enough water to survive several days of walking through the desert, an agency statement said.

Just after that statement was issued, border patrol agents were reported to have raided a medical center Thursday and detained four people near the town of Arivaca.

The move was criticized by activists as something that put lives at risk. The raid was conducted on a humanitarian aid camp run by the No More Deaths group around 60 miles to the south of Tuscon and 15 miles from the border.

President Donald Trumps hard stance on immigration was cited as a reason for the breaking of a supposedly longstanding agreement where border agents were expected to not interfere with the medical facility and view it as a camp under international Red Cross standards.

People crossing the deadly and remote regions of the US-Mexico border often avoid seeking urgent medical care for fear of deportation and incarceration. For this reason, a humanitarian-focused aid station in the desert is an essential tool for preserving life, read a statement from the group. "The targeting of this critical medical aid is a shameful reflection of the current administrations disregard for the lives of migrants and refugees, making an already dangerous journey even more deadly," the statement added.

Story continues

Meanwhile, if the heatwave gets up to the 120 Fahrenheit mark, it could match the record set on July 28, 1995, for the hottest day in the history of Phoenix.

Read: Wildfire Smoke & The Effect Of Air Pollution On Humans

Other parts of the southwest are also expected to continue experiencing what has been called a triple-digit heat wave. Furnace Creek in California saw a high of 119 degrees while Blue Water in Arizona got up to 113 degrees. Midland in Texas meanwhile was at 112 degrees, CBS News reported.

The conditions were reportedly making it difficult for crews tackling wildfires. Excessive heat warnings were issued in parts of Utah and Arizona, even extending to Nevada. A number of wildfires in Arizona even led to six firefighters needing treatment for heat-related illness. They were fighting a highland fire in Payson.

Monday is expected to witness the hottest temperatures in the southwest and the heatwave is expected to go on till the end of next week. Death Valley in the southern California Desert is expected to see a high of 127 Degrees Fahrenheit.

At the same time, air quality was another issue cited as a cause for concern. Heat-induced ozone pollution was expected to reach unhealthy to very unhealthy levels in a number of inland communities.

Related Articles
Amazon Fashion, the apparel arm of the tech giant, announced Tuesday on its website that it is launching Amazon Prime Wardrobe, a new benefit included in users Prime subscriptions.

Heres how it works: Prime users pick three or more items across categories like clothes, shoes, and accessories to fill a box thats shipped to your home. Youve got a week to try on the items and decide whether youll keep anything. If you do keep them, youre charged, and if you dont, you can return what you dont like for free  prepaid shipping labels are included.

The service is still in beta and has not yet officially launched, according to the Amazon company, which declined to say when the service would launch fully. Once it does, its likely to compete with existing subscription services like Stitchfix, where, for a fixed monthly price, shoppers can similarly purchase a handful of different items and return the ones they dont like. (Services that are more specific but work in a similar way include Andie, for swimsuits, and Warby Parker, for glasses.)

More than anything, Amazon Prime Wardrobe is a way of encouraging people to try Amazon Fashion risk-free, especially since some fashion insiders, like blogger Brittany Wallace (@thebrittkit), say theres a stigma about buying your clothes from a big-box retailer. Kind of how Bonobos fans reacted when they heard Walmart was buying that company. (Hint: Not well.)

Wallace, a Like to Know It Influencer, often posts photos on Instagram with captions indicating where she found her recent purchases. In one post, Wallace poses in a $26 bathing suit she purchased using Amazon Fashion, something she was skeptical about, but with the cheap price, she figured she didnt have much to lose. (Wallace says her post was not sponsored by Amazon Fashion.)

Her followers took note of the Amazon Fashion tag right away, and that post was one of her top performing in terms of engagement. I got so many DMs on the swimsuit, as well as friends reaching out asking me about it, solely because I bought it on Amazon, she tells Yahoo Style. They had the same questions that I did before purchasing, like How is the quality? Is it true to size? Whats the fabric like? How are the colors? Does it really look like the image shown?'

Story continues

Think of Amazon approaching fashion the same way it approached film and TV. At first, Hollywood types scoffed at the idea that Amazon Studios would ever compete with award-winning studio behemoths. Today, Amazon Studios is a fixture at the Emmy Awards, and its stacking its bench with movie industry insiders like former Tribeca Film Festival director Genna Terranova.

In fashion, its much the same. Amazon recruited Kate Dimmock, the former director of People Stylewatch magazine, to lead its fashion team (Dimmock declined to be interviewed for this story). Amazon also purchased a table at this years Council of Fashion Designers Awards Show, the Oscars of fashion, and sponsored Tokyo Fashion Week. And, most recently, it partnered with athlete-turned-fashionista Dwyane Wade to sell his existing sock, clothing, and tie collections.

Amazons other fashion experiments include the Amazon Echo Look Virtual Stylist (like the name suggests, a virtual voice-activated stylist to offer help getting dressed), which is still in beta, and in March it rolled out an Outfit Compare feature within the Amazon Shopping app.

To be sure, the company is dipping its toes carefully in the fashion pond, since not everything on the Amazon Fashion front has been a roaring success. Style Code Live, for example, the companys online QVC-like talk show, was shuttered a year after its premiere.

An Amazon spokesperson says it already has tens of millions of Prime subscribers in the U.S. alone, meaning all it has to do is convince shoppers it can be a go-to over other fashion-focused e-commerce sites like Farfetch, Net-a-Porter, and 24 Sevres, not to mention one of the many thousands of smaller Internet retailers.

A daunting task, but two-day shipping and free returns help.

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.

Alexandra Mondalek is a writer for Yahoo Style + Beauty. Follow her on Twitter @amondalek.
UPDATE: Ubers Travis Kalanick has resigned as CEO, saying I love Uber more than anything in the world and at this difficult moment in my personal life I have accepted the investors request to step aside so that Uber can go back to building rather than be distracted with another fight.



Marne Levine, Instagrams COO, could be a good candidate for Uber. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

To call last week a doozy for Uber would be an understatement, with CEO Travis Kalanick announcing a leave of absence from the ride-hailing business following a slew of scandals in recent months and the death of his mother in a boating accident.

Now that the dust has settled somewhat, the question remains: Who can steer Uber into a new chapter?

The onus could fall on a chief operating officer, which the company has actively searched for since March, following allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace from a former Uber engineer. The Wall Street Journal reported in April that Uber interviewed candidates including former Walt Disney Co. COO Thomas Staggs, former Wal-Mart CIO Karenann Terrell, and Helena Foulkes, executive vice president of CVS Health Corp (CVS).

Thomas Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, at the Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, Tuesday, July 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Two sources familiar with the matter said Staggs remains a favorite, due to a proven 16-year-track record at Disney (DIS). In the 12 years spent as CFO, Staggs reportedly worked on deals including the $7.4 billion acquisition of Pixar in 2006 and the $4 billion purchase of Marvel in 2009, the latter of which yielded a slew of blockbuster films, including Guardians of the Galaxy and The Avengers. Staggs also more than doubled overall theme park operating profits to $2.66 billion as chairman of Disney Parks and Resorts.

Uber may also be facing pressure for its COO to be a woman or minority, sources suggested, again, driven in part by recent scandals in its workplace, as well as controversies that include drivers sexually assaulting female passengers.

While several members of the 14-person committee currently running Uber were hailed by sources familiar with the matter as smart, strategic and well-respected inside Ubers offices and halls, none of them have the obvious C-Suite experience necessary to essentially run the company.

Story continues

One committee member, Rachel Holt, joined Uber in 2011 after a stint as Associate Marketing Manager at Clorox (CLX). She quickly ascended the ranks, from running operations in Washington, D.C. to running operations for all of North America. But that rapid ascent also means she may lack the experience necessary to run a business with an estimated $68 billion market cap and sprawling global footprint.

Rachel is absolutely brilliant, but the reality is that she probably is not ready, one source said.

Rachel Holt speaks at Fortunes Most Powerful Women Next Gen 2016 on November 30, 2016 in Dana Point, California. (Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

Dean Crutchfield, a New York-based branding specialist, suggested Uber recruit an experienced, respected female executive such as Pamela Nicholson, president and chief executive of Enterprise Holdings, which includes Enterprise and National car rentals. Otherwise, someone like Instagram COO Marne Levine, who helped evolve the popular photo-sharing app into a bonafide business, could also prove an excellent fit  if Uber could enlist her.

It would rapidly change the perception of Uber from a media, investor and consumer point of view and send a message that times are changing, Crutchfield contended. Plus you typically get a clearer sense of integrity from women execs, because women discriminate less. They generally set up more robust marketing teams, higher levels of publicity and a greater online presence, all things Uber needs for more desirable outcomes.

In a Medium blog post published on Tuesday, Uber co-founder Garrett Camp acknowledged Ubers fumbles: neglecting parts of its culture in lieu of rapid growth and failing to build systems that every company needs to scale successfully.

Perhaps intended as a first step towards redemption, Uber announced a slew of improvements on Tuesday, including the option to tip drivers. Riders will also be charged by the minute if they keep an Uber driver waiting for more than two minutes.

I believe that our business can have 10x the impact it has today  once we have additional leadership and training in place, and evolve our culture to be more inclusive and respectful, Camp wrote. We should still push hard for what we believe in, and be much more collaborative going forward.





JP Mangalindan is a senior correspondent for Yahoo Finance covering the intersection of tech and business. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

More from JP:

Uber is now being run by a 14-person committee

Uber HR chiefs comments on taking shots not wise move: Stanford professor

LEAKED AUDIO: Ubers all-hands meeting had some uncomfortable moments

The tech giants that made billions copying others

In San Francisco, $160,000 gets you a storage locker

Heres how much Nvidia will make off the Nintendo Switch

LEAKED PHOTOS: Fitbits new headphones and troubled smartwatch

Facebook exec: How Messenger can improve your social life
White House press secretary Sean Spicer dismissed reports that he would be stepping out of the public eye during an on-camera press briefing at the White House today, despite not taking questions on camera for a week.

Im right here, so you can keep taking your selfies, Spicer said when asked if he was leaving the position of press secretary.

A former strategist on the Republican National Committee, Spicer is reportedly considering taking on a more strategic role in the Trump administration that would keep him off camera, according to the Associated Press.

But look, its no secret that weve had a few vacancies, including our communications director, whos been gone for a while, Spicer said.

I dont think that should come as a surprise that were always looking for ways to do a better job of articulating the presidents message and agenda, and well continue to have those discussions internally. When we have an announcement of a personal nature, well let you know, he said.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer takes a question at a press briefing at the White House on June 20, 2017. /(Photo: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

President Trump has long considered making major staffing changes within the White House, the Associated Press reported, and reports have constantly swirled of top advisers being potentially replaced. But outside of communications director Mike Dubke, the press office has not seen any departures. Deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders started doing some of the White House briefings early last month.

The Associated Press also reports that conservative radio host Laura Ingraham and Daily Mail editor David Martosko have been in talks to fill senior positions in the White House communications office.

Spicer has frequently made headlines for his fiery responses and sometimes inaccurate statements at briefings. According to the Washington Post, Trump has also criticized Spicers performance in front of other top aides after his sudden firing of FBI Director James Comey sparked outrage across the nation.

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Eleven-year-old Safiyo Noor Hassan has spent the majority of her life as a refugee  ever since she and her family fled the war in Somalia in 2010 and landed in Dadaab, a massive refugee camp in eastern Kenya. It is there that she is growing up and going to school, where she and her friends like to draw flowers on each others arms and legs, as she explained to 11-year-old Dexy Payne of Boulder, Colo., in a letter.

One day, we will meet, and I will draw a flower on your hands and legs, Safiyo said.

Safiyo Noor Hassan, 11, of Dadaab, Kenya. (Photo: Carey Wagner/CARE)

Dexy and his classmates had been learning about the refugee crisis all winter when they decided to try to personally connect with kids their own age living in camps around the world. After brainstorming ways to correspond, the students reached out to several state government officials for help. They never received a response, so Zach Fink, the students fifth grade teacher at High Peaks Elementary School, reached out on behalf of his students to CARE USA, an international humanitarian agency that delivers emergency relief and long-term development projects. The NGO was originally founded to send parcels for people struggling and starving in the aftermath of World War II.

The premise of our letters will be that we sincerely care for their well-being, Fink pitched to CARE in February. We cant imagine how scary and saddening it must be, so we just want to send them our love.

I really wanted to help make it happen, Fink told Yahoo News. My students felt it was really important to let these kids who are refugees, an often-forgotten group of people, know that they cared about them.

This was entirely kid-driven.

Ben Rosenberg, 11, of Boulder, Colo., writes a letter to children in the Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. (Photo: Carey Wagner/CARE)

Dexy said he maybe fainted or at least fell out of the chair when, weeks later, Fink told the class that they would be receiving letters in the coming weeks from kids in Dadaab.

I was so happy, said Dexy. When the stack of letters arrived, he chose one from Safiyo. He read it once. Then he read it again.

I still miss my country, Safiyo wrote. We had many banana farms, but Im told they are all gone. At the camp, there are no rivers or lakes. Water comes from the borehole. Me and my sisters, we fetch water very early before we go to school.

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I love drawing, she added. When we draw on our hands and body, we look beautiful.

On the back of her letter was a giant, blue-stemmed flower with pink and white petals. This is the flower I will draw on you.

Fifth graders at High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder, Colo., participate in a Letters of Hope project to respond to letters written by Somali and South Sudanese children at Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. (Photo: Carey Wagner/CARE)

Dexy wrote back: I think you are an amazing drawer, and I think the flower you drew is so gorgeous. Do you take art class in school? In my school, we do. But you are a much better artist than me.

June 20 marks World Refugee Day, a day intended to commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees around the world. There are now more displaced people around the globe than there have ever been. An unprecedented 65.6 million people have been forced from their homes, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Among them are nearly 22.5 million refugees, and more than half of those are under the age of 18. More than half of refugees worldwide come from three countries: South Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria.

Dadaab, which is run by UNHCR, is made up of five camps and hosts more than 245,000 refugees, making it the second-largest complex in the world.

From left, Feisal Saney Zuber, Elisa Elisama Mangu, Safiyo Noor Hassan and Stella Poni Vuni are students at Illeys Elementary School who wrote letters to fifth grade students at High Peaks Elementary School in Boulder, Colo. (Photo: Carey Wagner/CARE)

Despite the many differences in the lives of children in Boulder and Dadaab, the letters from both sets of kids all shared the same themes: family, friends, hobbies and goals, said Fink. A kid is a kid.

Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of CARE, echoed Finks observations. When you ask children to write each other, no matter how far apart they may live, they end up talking about the same things: dancing, drawing, playing games and, perhaps importantly, what home means to them.

I think we adults can learn from them, Nunn continued. People in this world ultimately want the same things, and its up to us to connect with those in the human family who are facing incredible challenges, who have lost their homes and who simply want to know other people out there care.

Twelve-year-old Elisa Elisama Mangu wrote in a letter to Dexys friend Blake that his dream was to one day go to university, save the world and stop people fighting. He also told Blake that he loves to dance. Elisa found out that dancing is something Blake happens to love to do as well.

Blake, just be ready for me, Elisa said, challenging his American pen pal to a dance competition.

Elisa Elisama Mangu, 12, at Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya. (Photo: Carey Wagner/CARE)

I would do anything to meet Safiyo, Dexy said. And Blake would do anything to meet Elisa. It would be so amazing if Elisa and Blake could have their dance-off.

In his letter back to Safiyo, Dexy drew a sun. Underneath, he wrote, Everyone sees the sun. I do, too! The sun brings us all together.

Weeks later, when she received Dexys letter, Safiyo also received a set of photos. Unbeknownst to Fink and his students, in the days after receiving the letters from kids in Dadaab, CARE had created custom tattoos from the flower Safiyo had drawn. Dexy was among the first students to grab one from the stack, peel back the plastic and press it against his hand. A coordinator from CARE took photos of Finks class in Boulder, all smiles and covered in Safiyos flower, and sent them to Dadaab.

The tattoos were so cool  it was like Safiyo kinda did draw her flower on me, like how she wanted to, even though she was still halfway around the world, said Dexy. We really do like the same things. Were all just kids.

Students and their teacher show temporary tattoos inspired by the drawing of a flower from Safiyo Noor Hassan, a student in Dadaab Refugee Camp. (Photo: Carey Wagner/CARE)

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7 cadres of Chand-led Maoist arrested

Police have arrested seven cadres of Netra Bikram Chand-led CPN Maoist for carrying out anti-election activities from different places of Bhojpur and Panchthar districts.
WASHINGTON  In what was proclaimed as House Speaker Paul Ryans first major speech on tax reform, the Wisconsin Republican underscored Tuesday the need to overhaul the tax code this year but offered few specifics on how that would happen.

In a speech before the National Association of Manufacturers here, Ryan reiterated some of his most prominent proposals to simplify how Americans pay taxes and touted the measures as a key to bolster the economy.

Once in a generation or so, there is an opportunity to do something transformational  something that will have a truly lasting impact long after we are gone, Ryan said in the speech. That moment is here, and we are going to meet it. We are going to fix this nations tax code once and for all.

The core ideas Ryan discussed were part of a proposal championed by House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, last year. Among the proposals he cited were reducing the number of tax brackets from seven to three and winnowing the number of deductions taxpayers can claim, toward the goal of reducing tax forms to the size of a postcard.

But the speaker did not elaborate on how he would implement such bold plans. Ryan spoke at length about the importance of using the tax code to keep American jobs in the country but offered few details about how to accomplish it, beyond noting that it is one of the things that we are discussing with the administration.

We want foreign companies to become U.S. companies. We must think differently, so that once again we make things here and export them around the world, Ryan said in the speech.

In the past, the speaker has advocated a border adjustment tax (BAT) that would subject imports to the corporate tax rate, while exempting exports. The speaker and his allies have called this an important step to encourage domestic manufacturing.

But many conservative groups have criticized the BAT, saying it would stymy economic growth and would result in higher prices for consumers. Even President Trump is said to have dropped his support of the BAT given its politically fraught future.

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The biggest impediment to pro-growth tax reform is the Border Adjustment Tax (BAT). It is a political loser. The BAT has become a ball and chain that is dragging down real, pro-growth tax reform, David McIntosh, president of the conservative Club for Growth, said in a statement prior to the speech.

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan introduces his new tax policy Tuesday. (Photo: Aaron P. Bernstein/Reuters)

There are also concerns about how to pay for the package. While Bradys plan is not intended to add to the deficit, some of the most conservative members of Ryans caucus have expressed support for greater tax cuts rather than ensuring that the plan is deficit-neutral.

Democrats hit Ryan from the other side, saying his plan was too vague and helped businesses at the expense of average Americans.

I applaud @SpeakerRyan on his ability to give so many speeches on tax reform without ever sharing details of an actual plan, Senate Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi tweeted.

I applaud @SpeakerRyan on his ability to give so many speeches on tax reform without ever sharing details of an actual plan.  Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) June 20, 2017

Pelosi later sent another tweet saying changes to the tax code equated to more tax cuts for corporations at the expense of everyone else.

Even Ryan acknowledged past uncertainty about whether a tax overhaul would pass. If the speaker wants to fulfill his goal of passing reforms this session, he will have to juggle it with a host of other big ticket items, including repealing Obamacare, raising the debt ceiling and passing a budget.

Still, he emphasized that the issue would be a major priority for his caucus despite the long list of other issues.

The cynics and the naysayers will be out in full force, Ryan said. You will hear that tax reform is coming along one day, then you will hear tax reform is dead, then you will hear it is back on track and then youll hear that it is on life support.  Im here to tell you we are going to pass this reform in 2017.

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A Massachusetts man with Down syndrome now has a full-time job at the hospital that once helped him.

Nathan Simons, 28, has been working at Boston Childrens Hospital with the Down syndrome program for four years, but just a month ago, he became the hospitals first-ever full-time employee with the disorder.

Read: Mom Writes Open Letter to Parents After Child With Down Syndrome Is Ignored at Swimming Pool

Nathan first visited the cardiac unit of the hospital when he was a baby to be treated for a heart problem.

Two decades later, he has joined the staff at the very same hospital.

We started the position in 2009," Angela Lombardo, the Down syndrome program coordinator, told InsideEdition.com. "We intended it to be a temporary two-year person for a person with Down syndrome and then they would move on. But Nathan started with us and when his two years were up, we didnt want to let him go."

The hospital even made an apprenticeship position to fulfill what they had initially planned to do with Nathan. Now Nathan helps oversee and mentor recruits for that 2-year job.

But, thats just one of Nathans many responsibilities.

Nathan gets the rooms ready for the doctors every morning in the unit. Hes in charge of inventory supplies. He does mailing, medical records, and a host of other administrative tasks.

Nathan also greets and interacts with families of children with Down syndrome.

They are great," Nathan told InsideEdition.com. "The parents give feedback, see how Im interacting with their kids, and they really love that piece. I love working with them."

Nathan, who lives on his own and has a girlfriend, provides hope to parents whose children have Down syndrome, according to hospital staff.

He is really an inspiration for families who can see what might be possible for the future for their children," said Dr. Nicole Baumer, Director of the Down syndrome program. "Hes a great example of that. Ive had families whove said its so wonderful to meet Nathan because some families with children with Down syndrome just dont know what to expect for the future.

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Read: Mom Who Nearly Gave Up Twins With Down Syndrome Reveals Why She's Glad She Kept Them

Not only does he provide hope, but also joy, lighting up every room he enters.

Everyone loves him," Lombardo said. "Hes a sweet kid. He is priceless on the floor."

Watch: 3 Children Who Disappeared as Babies, Have You Seen Them?

Related Articles:
At a confirmation hearing Tuesday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., berated the deputy defense secretary nominee, Patrick Shanahan, for a wishy-washy answer to whether, in his position, he would advocate for providing lethal defensive aid to Ukraine.

McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, even threatened to block Shanahans nomination.

Not a good beginning. Not a good beginning, McCain cautioned at one point. Do not do that again, Mr. Shanahan, or I will not take your name up for a vote before this committee. Am I perfectly clear?

Shanahan, a Boeing executive, provided a prewritten answer on the subject of arming Ukraine, which is battling Russian-backed separatists in its east. He said he would have to look into the issue more before taking a stance. McCain, who supports giving more military aid to Ukraine, called that response inexplicable.

Its not satisfactory, Mr. Shanahan, McCain said in an even but stern tone. Would you wish to abridge or amend your statement?

I support equipping the Ukrainians, Shanahan responded.

Later in the exchange, McCain contended that Shanahans position at Boeing should beget more knowledge on the issue and unloaded on the nominee.

Your response to that question was, frankly, very disappointing to me, he began. You have been associated for the last I dont know how many years with one of the five corporations that provide 90 percent of the defensive weaponry to defend this nation. And your answer was, Well, Id have to look at the issue. Its not good enough, Mr. Shanahan.

Im glad to hear you have changed your opinion from what was submitted, but its still disturbing to me, he said. Its still disturbing to me after all these years that you would say that you have to look at the issue.

He continued: Have you not been aware of the issue? Have you not been aware of the actions of the Senate Armed Services Committee? Have you not been aware of the thousands of people that have been killed by Vladimir Putin? Have you missed all that in your duties at one of the major defense corporations in this country?

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Sen. John McCain said Monday North Korea murdered Otto Warmbier, the American student who was imprisoned by the North Korean government for over a year and died days after returning to the United States in a coma.

Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime, McCain said in a statement. The senator, who was captured and imprisoned in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War, is chairman of the Armed Services Committee. In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture and murder.

Warmbier died Monday at age 22, six days after being medically evacuated from North Korea and returning to the United States in a coma, which North Korea claimed was caused when he contracted botulism and took a sleeping pill in March 2016. Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Warmbier was being treated, said his condition was consistent with a cardiopulmonary arrest and brain damage from lack of oxygen.

In a statement announcing his death, Warmbiers family said, It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost  future time that wont be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man, whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.

Related slideshow: U.S. student Otto Warmbier dies after being released by North Korea in a coma >>>

He was at home and we believe he could sense that, they added.

President Trump reacted to Warmbiers death at a meeting with technology executives at the White House, where he said at least we got him home to be with his parents  even though he was in very tough condition.

A follow-up statement from Trump read, There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life.

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The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim, Trump added.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in also reacted to Warmbiers death in an interview with CBS. Though Moon said North Korea bears heavy responsibility for Warmbiers fate, he added, We cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr. Warmbier.

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Transgender activist Rae Nelson. (Photo: Jasmine Denton)

When transgender activist Rae Nelson, 26, found herself in the womens bathroom at the Arkansas Capitol Building with State Sen. Linda Collins-Smith recently, it was kismet.

It was March at the time, and the legislator was in the midst of trying to pass a bill in Arkansas to block transgender people from using public restrooms that matched their gender identity. (The bill was similar to one passed 2016 in North Carolina, triggering national outrage and leading to damaging state boycotts until it was imperfectly repealed this year.)

I turned to her, Nelson, of Little Rock, tells Yahoo Style, and asked, Do you know who I am? And she came up and hugged me like I was one of her constituents. What Nelson said next might surprise you only if you havent met her before.

So I turned to her and said, I just wanted to let you know that I am a black trans woman and we are in the bathroom together and you survived,' she recalls, laughing  which is how security reacted, Nelson says, when Collins-Smith called them over to claim she was being harassed.

Im a very assertive person, Nelson admits. Borderline aggressive, probably!

But its that assertiveness that has gotten her this far on a journey of personal and political discovery that began when she was 5, told by her grandmother that she wasnt supposed to play with Barbie dolls like her older sister. She told me that boys dont play with dolls, so that was my earliest realization that something different was going on, recalls Nelson, who is studying to be a transgender-specializing nurse practitioner.

As a teen, she came out as a gay man, which her family and friends took relatively well. But inside I felt that there was something more going on, though I hadnt really discovered words for it yet, she says. A turning point came in high school, when she saw a picture of Amiyah Scott, the transgender model and actress. I remember thinking, Oh, wow, a black trans woman, but I still didnt think, Thats me.'

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Soon after, Nelson joined the Navy Reserves and began studies at the University of Arkansas, where she met a black transgender woman. We hit it off instantly and thats when I realized, yes, Im definitely trans, too, and I need to figure out what I want to do about this and how to go about it. Around the same time, she had the chance to meet transgender author and activist Janet Mock, who directed her to a supportive website called Transsexual and Transgender Road Map.

That came just in time, as did others in her support system, as Nelson got to the point where the urge to transition was so unbearable that I was suicidal, she recalls. It was a life-and-death point.

Thus her transitioning journey began. In 2013, she changed her name to Rae and, a year later, with the help of a therapist, started hormone therapy. A major moment of strength came when the dean of her nursing program sat her down, said shed noted the name change, and asked how both she and the program overall could support her transition.

She asked if I wanted her to get faculty and staff to start addressing me as female, Nelson recalls. That was so affirming and beautiful.

Meanwhile, Nelson made it clear upfront to friends and family that they could either work to accept her transition or step aside. Some relationships continued that day, she merely says, and some did not.

But there was also the matter of her starting to show female traits while still being in the military reserves, which had not yet started allowing trans service members to serve openly. I was living a double life, where one weekend a month Id have to pretend not to be this woman whom I said I was, and still present as a boy.

Then, well into starting estrogen therapy, which breaks down muscle, she failed a military physical readiness test for the first time. So that settled that: She left the reserves. But by then the die was cast. With other trans service members nationwide, Nelson was starting to tell her story to the press, as part of a coordinated effort to get the military to drop its anti-transgender policy. She says she had the support of her commander, who would update her on behind-the-scenes progress.

By this point, she was living openly transgender  with just one problem. Most of her transgender friends were white. Theres such a unique set of challenges at the intersection of black and trans issues that I felt very isolated and alone, she says. (Major reports have shown that black transgender women face disproportionately high rates of unemployment, poverty and violence.) My only black trans friends were through Facebook.

Still, she would not turn back on her path. As a member of the Arkansas Transgender Equality Coalition, she began volunteering to speak publicly all over the state on trans issues and rights. Thats what Id been yearning for, she says. It felt very affirming for me and made my social transition that much easier. She says that her politicization was as much about speaking up as a black person as a trans person. With white activists, she says, even constructive criticism can be construed as questioning their authority. They dont like being challenged or pushed back on.

And then, early this year, amid the new national conservative resurgence of Trumps election, came not one but three bills in Arkansas to try to keep trans people out of bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity. The governor called the bills unnecessary and harmful to the state, but the battle in the capitol building was still on.

Thats where Nelson spoke out before lawmakers. I said, Trans women of color are dying every year and youre worried about what bathrooms we use? Youre trying to disenfranchise us even more, she says.

Thanks to the efforts of Nelson and other activists, the bills have been defeated  at least for this year.

But Nelson knows that facing down Collins-Smith like she did isnt the end of her individual or political journey. In addition to her nursing studies, shes on the boards of Lucies Place, which serves Little Rocks LGBTQ homeless youth, and of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute, named for the pioneering black trans activist from New York City. And she has no intention of leaving Little Rock. I have the ability to have real influence on policy here, she explains. We girls have a safe political space here now so we dont have to run away.

And thats due partly to the work Nelsons done so far  and shes only getting started. I want to keep using my voice and my skill set to benefit my community, she says. Once black trans women are free, everybodys free.

Read more from Yahoo Beauty + Style:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and@YahooBeauty.
On her Sunday night show, NBC News host Megyn Kelly defended the purpose of her interview with radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, telling her viewers he isnt going away, Fox News reported. She repeatedly pressed Jones to admit he shouldnt have said the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting was a hoax.

It was Jones outrageous statement that the slaughter of innocent children and teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School, one of the darkest chapters in American history, was a hoax that sparked the uproar against Kellys interview, the Hill reported.

20 children were killed when Adam Lanza opened fire at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut on Dec. 14, 2012.

Read: What Did Alex Jones Say About Sandy Hook? [WATCH]

For years, Jones has been spreading conspiracy theories, claiming, for instance, that elements of the U.S. government allowed the September 11 attacks to happen and that the horrific Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, Kelly said at the start of her interview.

Some thought we shouldnt broadcast this interview because his baseless allegations arent just offensive, theyre dangerous. But heres the thing: Alex Jones isnt going away. Over the years, his YouTube channel has racked up 1.3 billion views. He has millions of listeners and the ear of our current president. We begin our report with his reaction to the recent terrorist attack in Manchester, England, she added.

During her interview, Kelly asked Jones about his Sandy Hook claims stating, Youre trying to have it all ways, right? If you wrongly went out there and said it was a hoax, thats wrong, the report added.

"What I already answered your question was, listeners and other people, were covering this, I didnt create that story," Jones responded.

"Alex, the parents, one after the other, devastated, the dead bodies that the coroner autopsied," continued Kelly when Jones interrupted her saying, "Theyve locked all that, wont release any of it."

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All the parents decided to come out and about their dead children? What happened to the children? When you say parents faked their childrens death, people get very angry, Kelly said.

Oh, I know. But they don't get angry about the half million dead Iraqis from the sanctions. Or they don't get angry about all the illegal pouring in, he replied.

During the interview, Jones also said he had watched the footage of the incident. "Some of it looks like it's real but then what do you do when they've got the kids going in circles in and out of the building with their hands up. I've watched the footage. That looks like a drill," he said defending his statement.

Meanwhile, the families of those killed during the mass shooting denounced Kellys interview with Jones. Any time you give someone like Alex Jones a platform, their followers will double-down or increase their attack on grieving families. You cant just put him in a box and say hes just a character. Hes really hurting people, said Nelba Marquez-Green, whose six-year-old daughter Ana Grace was killed in the massacre.

Read: Sandy Hook Families Respond To Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones Interview

Alex and his followers have done nothing but make our lives a living hell for the last four-and-a-half years. This incessant need for ratings at the cost of the emotional well-being of our family is disgusting and disappointing. You should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing this behavior, family members of Vicki Soto, a teacher who was killed at Sandy Hook, posted a letter on Facebook regarding the interview.

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Shoutout to former First Lady Michelle Obama for continuing to inspire us to keep up with our #HealthGoals.

On Monday, Obama shared on Instagram that she frequently hosted workout bootcamps with her friends while she was in the White House. Even though she's no longer living on Pennsylvania Avenue, she decided to continue the tradition.

SEE ALSO: Michelle Obama celebrated Father's Day with this precious throwback photo

"Our bootcamp weekends were a reminder that if we want to keep taking care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first," she wrote in the post.

The real Squad Goal is finding friends who will wipe your tears away when that bootcamp becomes too real.
Vice President Mike Pence keeps filling Trump's pet-less White House with his own collection of animals.

SEE ALSO: Presidential pets, ranked

Over Father's Day weekend, Pence was back in Indiana where he was surprised with a new puppy, Harley.

And... for Father's Day, we surprised @VP with an Indiana puppy! Introducing: Harley! pic.twitter.com/ZlvNasOw9b  Karen Pence (@SecondLady) June 18, 2017

Harley already took a flight on Air Force Two and is getting the lay of Veep-land in Washington, D.C.

New Second Dog - Harley - got his first ride on Air Force Two with @VP. Next exploring the grounds & house at Vice President's Residence. pic.twitter.com/opmERCsii2  Marc Lotter (@VPPressSec) June 19, 2017

Harley joins the Pence family after their beagle Maverick died just before the election. Even though Harley is the first and only Second Dog, there are plenty of other Pence pets. This weekend in Indiana the family also brought home a new kitten, Hazel.

We welcomed a new kitten to our family during our trip back home to Indiana this weekend!Introducing: Hazel! pic.twitter.com/TWk6WeUQi6  Karen Pence (@SecondLady) June 18, 2017

Earlier this month Oreo, one of the family cats who had joined along on Air Force Two back in January, died. The black-and-white cat (the Pences got creative with the name) was 13 years old. But the Pences still have kitty Pickle, and we can't forget about their rabbit, Marlon Bundo  another gem of a pet name.

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Rest in peace Oreo. You touched a lot of hearts in your little life. Our family will miss you very much. pic.twitter.com/0Ar9Sr5kpz  Karen Pence (@SecondLady) June 10, 2017

Thanks to @usairforce for a great flight to Washington, DC with Karen, Charlotte, Oreo, Pickle and our rabbit, Marlon Bundo. pic.twitter.com/zKzZYcI9OE  Mike Pence (@mike_pence) January 9, 2017

And back in Mississippi with Pence's son, Michael, is the family pet snake, Sapphira. That's the one animal that hasn't made it to the capital yet.

We hope Harley's transition to political life isn't too stressful for a young pup. Harley's arriving as everything heats up in D.C.  and not just the weather.

WATCH: This 800-pound alligator wandered into shopping center
New exoplanets, some that could possibly host life, were discovered by NASAs Kepler Space Telescope, researchers announced Monday at a news conference. The planets complete the Kepler mission catalog that now includes 219 new planets, 10 of which are close to Earth-size and orbiting their stars within the habitable zone. The habitable zone is another way to describe the Goldilocks, or perfect, distance from the star where liquid water could hypothetically pool on a rocky surface, meaning it could support life.

This most recent announcement of data is the final announcement of findings that will be added to the catalog from the original Kepler mission. The conference was held at the Ames Research Center in California as part of exoplanet week, which began Saturday.

The original Kepler mission launched in 2009 and was completed in 2012. During that first mission, the craft lost the functionality of one of its reaction wheels. While this loss didnt hinder the travel of Kepler, a second failed wheel a few months after the mission was completed in 2012 did hinder it. Luckily, researchers were able to work out a new plan for the second mission, K2, with the craft's limited mobility.

Read: NASA Planet Concept Art: How Artists, Researchers Accurately Depict Exoplanets, Stars, Galaxies

With Mondays addition of planets, the original Kepler mission now has resulted in the identificatoin of 4,043 planet candidates. Of those, 2,335 have been verified as exoplanets. Of the verified planets, there are roughly 50 that are close to Earth in size and orbit their stars in the habitable zone. More than 30 of those have been verified, NASA said.

The closest of those identified planets is just about four light years away, NASA researchers said during Mondays press conference. That planet is situated around the closest star. Kepler directly measures the size of planets, and their distance from their stars, meaning there is no way to definitely know whether a planet is habitable. It just means it might be.

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The Kepler mission only looked at one particular part of the sky, so while it only identified a select number of planets and stars even though there are billions more out there. This number could have been very, very small, and I for one am ecstatic that we found 50 potentially habitable worlds orbiting nearby stars. Thats great, said Courtney Dressing, a NASA Sagan Fellow at the California Institute of Technology.

Read: A Planet Hotter Than Most Stars? Jupiter-Like Exoplanet KELT-9b May Be Just That

"What's exciting about today is we have taken our telescope and we have counted up how many planets are similar to the Earth in this part of the sky," Susan Thompson, Kepler research scientist, said at the conference.

The Kepler Space Telescope is still in space, with limited motion working on the K2 mission. While the catalog from the Kepler mission, the first four years Kepler was in space, will not change after Monday, the catalog from K2 may change and grow in the future. As researchers examine new data, and re-examine old data from the K2 portion of the mission, that catalog will likely expand.

You can watch Mondays briefing online on NASAs UStream to hear everything the researchers said about the new findings from Kepler.

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Jerusalem (AFP) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned Iran not to threaten Israel after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at a Syrian base of the Islamic State group.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it had fired six missiles from western Iran into northeastern Syria on Sunday, targeting "terror bases."

The Guard said the strike was "in retaliation" for June 7 attacks in Tehran that killed 17 people in the first IS-claimed operations in the country.

Netanyahu has repeatedly said Iran is a threat to the Jewish state, the Middle East and potentially the world.

"We follow their actions and we follow their words," he said Monday. "I have one message to Iran: Do not threaten Israel."

"The army and our security forces are constantly monitoring the activity of Iran in the region," Netanyahu told senior members of his Likud party on Monday.

"This activity also includes their attempts to establish themselves in Syria and, of course, to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah and other operations," a party statement quoted him as saying.

Netanyahu was a vocal opponent of the 2015 deal between Tehran and major powers that saw sanctions against Iran eased in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

Israel, which is itself believed to have atomic weapons, says the programme aims to produce a nuclear bomb -- something Iran denies.

Iran's homemade missiles, including some that are capable of hitting Israel or American military bases in the region, are a major point of tension with Washington and Israel.

Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Israel was not worried by Sunday's strike.

"Israel is prepared for every development," he told members of his right wing Yisrael Beitenu party on Monday.

"We are prepared, we have no concerns or worries."
Bajura headquarters shut over UML cadres death

The CPN-UML on Tuesday has shutdown Bajura district headquarters Martadi to protest the death of one of its cadres Hansa Bahadur Rawat who died in a clash with Nepal Congress (NC) cadres during a political rally at Chhededaha Rural Municipality last Sunday.
At the moment, the entry point to the Mercedes-Benz range in the United States is the CLA, which was launched there in 2013 and originally started under the magic $30k mark before delivery costs. However, the A-Class has been the entry model for the German luxury brand in much of the rest of the world for some time now, which is why there has been constant speculation over when or if the A-Class would ever be offered to American buyers. Well, it seems the time is now coming as Mercedes has been preparing its dealers for the arrival of the all-new A-Class next year.

Although the A-Class is a small car and compacts are struggling to find buyers in the US at the moment due to continuing low fuel prices, luxury compacts are actually doing quite well, so now should be as good a time as any to finally launch it. Mercedes isn't yet officially announcing its intention to sell the new A-Class in the US to the wider world, but reports indicate that officials from the German automaker did confirm it at a meeting of dealers in Miami recently.

Even though the A-Class is currently known as a hatchback at the moment, and the new 2018 model for Europe is also set to follow that format, it seems the model planned for American dealers will be an all-new sedan variant. The hatchback format is traditionally regarded as being unpopular with American buyers, which is why the A-Class hasn't made it across the Atlantic so far. Although a sedan version is vital to making the new car a success in the States, this new format for the entry-level Mercedes is also expected to be offered in China and other markets too.

Spy shots of what's believed to be the 2018 A-Class hatchback have been widely circulated recently, but a concept that's likely to be the blueprint for the A-Class Sedan was shown by Mercedes as recently as April in Shanghai.

Stephanie Brinley, who is an analyst with industry forecaster IHS Markit, says the A-class sedan is expected to be offered for sale in the US in September 2018, and that by as soon as 2020, the A-Class could represent as much as five percent of the brand's US sales.

On top of the A-Class sedan, Mercedes also showed dealers at the Miami event an AMG GT four-door high-performance variant of the sedan, and confirmed they will also have that to offer to their customers in the summer of 2018.
North Korea claimed a group of three delegates to the United Nations was mugged in a reckless act Friday night at JFK International Airport in New York. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state-run media wing of North Korea, released a statement Sunday detailing the incident.

At the airport, a group of more than 20 including those who claimed to be from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the police officers made a violent assault like gangsters to take away the diplomatic package from the (North Korean) diplomats who were in possession of a valid diplomatic courier certificate, read the statement, crediting the quotes to an unnamed spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Ri Yong-ho.

READ: North Korean Nuclear Program Talks? Secret Negotiations Happening With The US  Report

DHS said in a statement that three individuals were not diplomats, but that DHS did stop three people from North Korea and seize media items and packages.

According to the U.S. State Department, the North Korean citizens were not accredited members of North Korea's Mission to the UN and had no entitlement to diplomatic immunity. The package in question had no diplomatic protection from inspection, said DHS spokesperson David Lapan in an e-mailed statement to International Business Times Monday.

Lapan said that he was unable to provide details at this time about why the items were taken.

The reported aggression was initiated by the North Koreans, said Lapan. The individuals were released without further incident but subsequently refused to board their departing flight without the items that had been seized.

The North Korean statement contained the usual bluster and threats of KCNA statements which called the act a literal mugging, and said that New York is rampant with outrageous muggings.

This clearly shows that the U.S. is a felonious and lawless gangster state, the statement read. The U.S. owes the (North Korea) a good explanation of its act of infringement upon the sovereignty of the (North Korea) and an official apology on behalf of the U.S. government. If the U.S. fails to give its due response to our demand which is all too reasonable and fair enough, it will be totally responsible for all the consequences to be entailed.

Story continues

The statement comes amid heightened tension between the U.S. and North Korea. An American prisoner of North Korea, 22-year-old Otto Warmbier, was released back to the U.S. in a coma with a severe brain damage. He was held for 17 months.

Warmbier was a tourist in North Korea when he was detained for allegedly defacing a propaganda poster. He was sentenced in an hour long trial to 15 years hard labor. North Korea claims that Warmbier went into a coma after contracting botulism and was given a sleeping pill. Warmbiers medical team at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said there was no evidence of botulism.

READ: Dennis Rodman In North Korea: Why Is Former NBA Player There And What's His History With Kim Jong Un?

North Korea still holds three American prisoners.

North Korea has also held a series of missile tests this year. According to CNN last week, they have fired 16 missiles in 10 tests this year.

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Watch news, TV and more Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old college student who was a prisoner of North Korea for 17 months, died Tuesday, according to a statement from his family. Warmbier was released last week and returned to the U.S. in a coma. Warmbiers medical staff at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said that he had suffered severe brain damage, and was unresponsive.

It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost  future time that wont be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds, the statement read. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.

It added, You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched  Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two  that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.

READ: North Korea vs. USA: DHS 'Gangsters' Mugged Alleged UN Diplomats At JFK Airport

Warmbier was on a tour of North Korean capital Pyongyang on New Years Eve in 2015 when he was arrested. The University of Virginia student allegedly went to a prohibited part of a hotel and tried to steal a propaganda poster. In an hour-long trial, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today, the statement continued. When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace.

Story continues

Ohio Senator Rob Portman  who had worked to free Warmbier, according to the Washington Post Tuesday  also released a statement.

He was kind, generous and accomplished. He had all the talent you could ever ask for and a bright future ahead of him. His passing today is a loss for Ohio and for all of us, said Portman.

READ: North Korean Nuclear Program Talks? Secret Negotiations Happening With The US  Report

North Korea claimed that Warmbier contracted a case of botulism and then was given a sleeping pill and never woke up. Medical staff from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said that Warmbier was in a coma for at least a year, but found no evidence of botulism.

North Korea still has three American prisoners.

Warmbiers death comes at a time amid heightened tensions between North Korea and the U.S. North Korea has conducted numerous missile tests this year, and President Donald Trump has threatened that all options are on the table with North Korea.

Trump released a statement about Warmbier Tuesday afternoon.

[There] is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life, the statement read. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

Related Articles
University of Virginia student, held for 17 months in prison with hard labor for trying to steal a propaganda poster, had been in a coma since returning home

Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who was returned to the US in a coma last week after 17 months as a prisoner in North Korea, has died in a Cincinnati hospital, his parents announced.



It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2.20pm, Fred and Cindy Warmbier wrote in a statement on Monday.

They added that his death had been inevitable as a result of the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans.

Warmbier was arrested at Pyongyang airport in January 2016 and sentenced in March to 15 years hard labour for allegedly taking a propaganda poster from his hotel room, where he had been staying as part of an organised tour.

The University of Virginia student wept at his sentencing, saying: I have made the worst mistake of my life. The trial reportedly lasted less than an hour.

He was medically evacuated from North Korea last Tuesday and flown to the US. Doctors from the University of Cincinnati medical centre, where Warmbier was taken, said he had suffered injuries related to cardiopulmonary arrest and was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. Scans showed extensive loss in all regions of Warmbiers brain.

When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on 13 June he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands, his parents said in their statement. He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

The Warmbier family thanked the doctors for their efforts on Monday but added: Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.

Story continues

It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost  future time that wont be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds, the Warmbiers statement said. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person.

Speaking at a public event on Friday, Donald Trump took credit on behalf of his administration for getting Warmbier back.

Let me start by saying that Im glad Secretary of State of Rex Tillerson and I, along with a very talented team, were able to get Otto Warmbier back with his parents, Trump said in a speech in Miami. Whats happened to him is a truly terrible thing, but at least the ones who love him so much can now take care of him and be with him.

Commenting on Warmbiers death on Monday, President Trump said: Lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents.

Speaking during a White House event, he added: Its a brutal regime and well be able to handle it.

In a statement later, Trump offered his condolences to Warmbiers parents, and said: Ottos fate deepens my Administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

John McCain, the Republican senator, accused North Korea of murdering Warmbier.

Saddened by death of Otto Warmbier, tortured & murdered by #NorthKorea - US should not tolerate such hostile action https://t.co/91GnTgSh1h  John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 19, 2017

Republican senator Rob Portman, who is from Cincinnati, said North Korea should be universally condemned for its abhorrent behavior. Democratic senator Sherrod Brown said the countrys despicable actions  must be condemned. Portman added that the Warmbiers have had to endure more than any family should have to bear.

Three Americans remain held in North Korea. The US government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

Human Rights Watch said Warmbiers death after being abused in North Korean custody proved the regime was willing to brutalize and kill to maintain their hold on power.

Phil Robertson, deputy director of the groups Asia division said: North Korea again reaffirmed its position as one of the worst human rights abusing governments in the world.

Young Pioneer Tours, the travel company that took Warmbier to North Korea, has said it will no longer take US citizens into the country because the risk is too high.


Croatian Armed Forces continued to fight a major forest fire in the Makarska Riviera region of Croatia on June 20. The fire began on June 19.

The Croatian Defense Ministry said 75 members of the Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) battled the fire, along with four planes and 350 firefighters from the Makarska region.

The video shows two Canadair CL-415 planes refilling their water supply to douse the fire.

The latest statement from the Defense Ministry on June 20 said 84 members of the CAF and two planes were still active in fighting the fire. Credit: Instagram/Chris Wahlstrom via Storyful
Voters in suburban Atlanta are heading to the polls Tuesday to cast ballots in the most expensive House race in history, choosing between Jon Ossoff, a Democrat and former congressional staffer, and Karen Handel, a Republican and a former Georgia secretary of state.

The special election in Georgias Sixth Congressional District  sparked when President Trump tapped then-Rep. Tom Price to be his health and human services secretary  has been painted as a referendum on the president and his agenda. Democrats, fired up by anti-Trump feeling and anger over the GOP health care plan, and Republicans, eager to defend a seat that has been held by the party for decades, have poured a combined $50 million into the race.

With the contest too close to call, President Trump took to Twitter to urge Georgians to vote for Handel.

KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS. She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

Trump on Monday also called on his supporters to back Ralph Norman in South Carolinas Fifth Congressional District, where a special election is being held Tuesday.

But with Norman expected to win easily, far more eyes are on Georgia.



National Democrats have cast the Peach State race as a referendum on Trump, but the reality on the ground is more complicated. Ossoff needs to pick up at least some Republican voters if he wants to win the historically red district. He has avoided making the race about the unpopular president, saying he would stand up to Trump in Washington but eschewing most of the strong language of the keyed-up left. Handel, meanwhile, moved a bit closer to Trump after she won the Republican primary, accepting robocalls from him targeting voters in the district. But Handels posture is still far from a full-on embrace of Trump, and shes promised voters shed be independent from him if elected.

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The president flew down to the district on Air Force One at the end of April to headline a fundraiser for Handel. You better win, he told her in front of the well-heeled crowd, according to an attendee at the event.

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff and Republican hopeful Karen Handel. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Chris Aluka Berry/Reuters, David Goldman/AP, AP)

The president is less popular among Republicans in the once-solid GOP district than others. He won its voters by only 1.5 points in November, even as Price won reelection there by double digits. Handels GOP primary opponents criticized her for remaining somewhat distant from Trump, but the strategy paid off when she garnered by far the most votes of any Republican in the crowded field and narrowly prevented Ossoff from reaching the 50 percent he needed to win the election outright in the nonpartisan primary.

Though the election hasnt been explicitly about the president, it has been about health care. In a recent interview with Breitbart News, Handel said the GOP effort to repeal Obamacare hasnt been much of an issue on the ground, instead saying the biggest issue for voters has been the fact that Ossoff lives outside the district. A recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll suggests otherwise. More than 80 percent of voters said the cost of health care was extremely or very important in making their choice; the districts voters disapproved of the proposed Republican health care bill by 37 points, with just 25 percent of them supporting the legislation.

One of the testiest exchanges between the two candidates during the races televised debate earlier this month came when Handel declared that Obamacare was collapsing. Handel said she and her husband know the issue firsthand because they buy their insurance on the exchanges and have seen their premiums skyrocket. Ossoff countered with a story about a young boy with a heart condition who because of his preexisting condition could be priced out of health insurance under the Republican plan Handel supports.

My sister has a preexisting condition, Handel responded heatedly. She was born without an esophagus. And for you to suggest that I would do anything to negatively affect her is absolutely outrageous and unacceptable.

Candidates in Georgias 6th Congressional District race Republican Karen Handel, left, and Democrat Jon Ossoff during a debate on June 6, 2017, in Atlanta. (Photo: Branden Camp/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)

Slideshow: Ossoff vs. Handel: Georgias special election >>>

The Ossoff campaign has also criticized Handels past role in cutting off funding from the Susan B. Komen Foundation to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening. Handel hit back with ads that played up her commitment to womens health.

The race has been in a dead heat since the two candidates emerged from the primary in April. It will likely come down to who has the better turnout operation.

Weve known all along that this race was going to be too close to call, said Andra Gillespie, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta. She pointed to a recent poll that showed more than half of voters in the district reported being contacted in person by the Ossoff campaign  nearly double the portion of those who said they were contacted by the Handel campaign.

Its that kind of contact that drives up voter turnout, Gillespie said.

Nearly 140,000 people have already cast their ballots through early voting, according to the Journal-Constitution, with up to 250,000 total votes expected by the end of the day Tuesday.

There are more Republicans than Democrats in the district, a challenge Ossoff has attempted to overcome by explicitly reaching out to GOP voters with a moderate message.

A Handel loss would likely send shockwaves through Republican political circles. Many GOP lawmakers are already wary about what the fired-up Democratic base could mean for their chances in the 2018 midterm elections. But a Handel victory could also be demoralizing for the left, which has poured its heart and money into the race.

The reality is when Handel wins were going to be able to say, Look, you spent $50 million in this district with your new darling candidate and you still could not make up the percent and a half that Trump won this district by in November, said local Republican consultant Seth Weathers, referring to the total amount spent by both sides during the campaign.

If you cant make up a percent and a half with a $50 million election, Weathers added, its not going to happen, and it should be depressing to Democrats attending to this.

_____

Read more from Yahoo News:
A 30-year-old pregnant woman was shot dead by police officers who were responding to her call about a break-in at her Seattle apartment, authorities said.

Charleena Lyles was shot multiple times inside her home, where her four children were present. Police said the woman confronted them with two knives as they questioned her about a reported burglary.

Read: Ex-Psychologist Gets 3 Years for Shooting Husband as He Slept Just Feet From Their Kids

The department released an audio tape of Sundays encounter in which officers can be heard shouting, Get back! Get back!

"We need help," an officer says into his radio. A woman with two knives."

At one point, Lyles says, Get ready motherf***ers, according to a transcript of the tape provided by Seattle police.

There were several children inside the apartment at the time of the shooting, but they were not injured, the department said in a statement.

The shooting is under investigation, police said. The officers involved were not identified and both have been placed on administrative leave, authorities said.

Lyles relatives said she was three months pregnant and had been experiencing mental health issues and may have been having some kind of breakdown when she phoned police for help.

Even if my sister had a knife in her hand, she weighs like nothing, even if shes soaking wet, Monika Williams told reporters at a Sunday evening vigil," Lyles sister said.

Theres no way you couldve taken a Taser and taken her down? Theres no way you couldve taken a baton and knocked the knife out of her hand?

A GoFundMe page established by her family has raised more than $60,000.

According to the audio, one officer tells the other to Tase her.

I dont have a Taser, the second cop says. Get back! Get back!

Read: Suspect Arrested After Boy Celebrating 5th Birthday Is Shot in the Head on New York Street

Lyles had a previous run-in with police after calling them to her apartment, authorities said.

Story continues

On June 5, she reported a domestic violence incident involving the father of two of her children, police said.

When officers arrived, she was sitting on the couch with a 4-year-old daughter and holding a large pair of scissors, police said.

Aint none of yall leaving here today, Lyles told the cops, according to a police report of the incident. The woman also made unusual comments about wanting to morph into a wolf and cloning her daughter, the report said.

Eventually, Lyles surrendered the scissors and was arrested on a charge of harassment. Her family, called by officers to care for Lyles children, told police she had experienced a recent sudden and rapid decline in her mental health, according to the report.

Lyles case should be forwarded to a mental health court, the report said.

It was not clear what happened after that recommendation. A message left for the Seattle Police Department by InsideEdition.com Tuesday was not immediately returned.

Watch: GOP Baseball Shooting Spree Ended as Police Opened Fire

Related Articles:
The White House is likely to move Press Secretary Sean Spicer to a more senior role in a new department. Meanwhile, Spicer is searching for his replacement on the briefing room podium, a report said citing two officials familiar with the matter. The discussions over shuffling of the White House communications team are still in its earlier stages and no final decision has been made, the sources said.

The move would finally put to rest rumors of Spicer being ousted. Insiders have reportedly said that President Donald Trump has shown increasing confidence in Spicer's ability to improve the administration's communications.

The search for candidates for the role of press secretary has already started. Last week, Spicer and White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus reached out to Fox News contributor Laura Ingraham for the role of press secretary and Daily Mail editor David Martosko for the role of communications director, Politico reported citing a White House official.

Read: Will Sean Spicer Be Replaced By Fox News Kimberly Guilfoyle As White House Press Secretary?

The official also said Spicer and Priebus have had preliminary discussions with Ingraham, and Martosko met with chief strategist Steve Bannon last week.

While Ingraham declined to comment, Martosko said I can't hear you, and hung up. He did not respond to an email inquiry either, according to Politico.

Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle, who was also being considered for the role of the press secretary during the transition, did not show any interest and thus was not interviewed, sources said.

According to various reports, the White House has "sought inputs from many people" as is planning to expand communications operation, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, deputy White House press secretary said in a statement.

After Communications Director Mike Dubke resigned last month citing "personal" reasons, Spicer replaced him and is currently serving two roles  the White House press secretary and the communications director. Spicer, on several occasions, has also indicated that he felt "overtaxed," according to Bloomberg.

Story continues

Under the new proposed structure, Spicer would be senior to both the press secretary and communications director, reports said citing officials. Spicer has been handing over more of his daily briefing responsibilities to the principal deputy press secretary. "There are days that I'll decide that the President's voice should be the one that speaks, and iterate his priorities," Spicer said during a press briefing Monday.

Read: Sean Spicer Is Leading Contender To Be Next U.S. Ambassador To Ireland, Reports Say

Spicers briefings have been embroiled in controversies, beginning with his inaccurate claim that journalists "wrongly portrayed the size of Trumps inauguration audience." Spicer has also been the subject of frequent skits by comedian Melissa McCarthy on Saturday Night Live," reports said.

In April, Spicer received criticism when he suggested that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of Syria was guilty of acts worse than Adolf Hitler. Spicer also asserted that Hitler had not used chemical weapons, ignoring the use of gas chambers at concentration camps during the Holocaust. However, Spicer later apologized for his comments.

Related Articles
Colion Noir says Friday ruling that police officer Jeronimo Yanez would not be charged in the death of Castile is just wrong and covert racism is a real thing

Protesters hold an image Philando Castile on Sunday in St Anthony, Minnesota. Photograph: Courtney Pedroza/AP

Two days after Philando Castile was shot dead by a police officer during a traffic stop, the National Rifle Association issued a statement.

Castiles death was troubling, the group said, adding that it supported the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms, no matter their race. Rest assured, the statement added, the NRA will have more to say once all the facts are known.

On Friday in St Paul, Minnesota, close to a year on, police officer Jeronimo Yanez was cleared of all charges in the death of Castile, a beloved elementary school cafeteria worker who had a permit for the firearm he was carrying when he died. There were protests in St Paul. The NRA remained silent.

However, the groups most prominent black commentator, Colion Noir, is speaking out about the decision.

Yanez walking away from this case a free and clear man is just wrong, Noir wrote in an impassioned online post on Sunday. Though he despised race-baiting, Noir wrote, covert racism is a real thing and is very dangerous.

Philando Castile should be alive today. I dont feel [Yanez] woke up that day wanting to shoot a black person. However, I keep asking myself, would he have done the same thing if Philando were white?

On Monday, Noir  who works under a pseudonym and requested his real name, though widely reported, not be used  was filming for his NRA News television show in Utah. In a phone interview, he said Castiles death had touched him deeply. But he said he was speaking only for himself, not as a spokesman for the NRA or its leadership.

As a lawyer, Noir said, he understood why it was difficult to secure a manslaughter conviction in the Castile case. But as a young black man, he was outraged.

Story continues

Its not a clear-cut case, he said. Its not. [But] Yanez made mistakes that cost someone their life, period, and he didnt take the steps necessary to prevent that.

When Castile was killed, Noir said, he was 32  the same age as Noir at the time.

I had just gotten pulled over about a week prior, he said, the exact same way he had. It was almost eerie how similar, you know, the situation was  how easily that could have been me.

In his online post, Noir wrote that while accusations of racism can be overplayed, there is a problem with some people in this country dismissing racism wholesale when it isnt overt racial slurs or crosses burning on front lawns.

Since the verdict, critics have accused the NRA itself of racism, arguing that if Castile had been white, the NRA would have championed his cause.

For more news videos visit Yahoo View, available on iOS and Android.

Cedric Richmond, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, told the Associated Press that for African Americans, the Castile verdict suggested that the second amendment does not apply to them.

In an editorial entitled Gun rights for whites only, the board of the Baltimore Sun wrote: The NRA doesnt advocate for the second amendment, it advocates for the second amendment on behalf of those who have the correct skin color and political leanings.

Noir said he did not think the NRA needed to comment now.

I dont know what they would say, he said, adding that any NRA statement on the Castile case would be used to stoke divisions and likely twisted or excerpted to make it seem anti-law enforcement or anti-black.

I think for a lot of people its baiting, he said, its trying to cause a division, wanting them to say something [so] they can take a segment out and create a divide.

The NRA has several reasons to be leery of wading into the debate over police mistreatment of black Americans. Even supporters acknowledge its five million members are overwhelmingly older, white, male and conservative. Its members also include many law enforcement officers and the NRA law enforcement training division has, it proudly notes, trained more than 58,000 law enforcement firearm instructors in the past 50 years.

Nonetheless, critics say the NRA, which calls itself the nations first and largest civil rights organization, should take a stand for black gun owners. Last year, grassroots outrage over Castiles case was strong enough that the group took the rare step of making its public statement.

Jennifer Baker, an NRA spokeswoman, did not respond to requests for comment. As of Monday evening, the group had not mentioned the case on its main Twitter or Facebook pages.

Noir, said he became interested in firearms as a law student in Texas and built himself a brand on YouTube as an urban shooting enthusiast before being picked up by the NRA. He said he considered himself the NRAs millennial commentator, not its black commentator, but said his perspective as a black man was sometimes important to share.

Noir has repeatedly defended the NRA from accusations that it is a racist organization. In a video released after Castiles death, he said: The NRA doesnt need to make a statement about Philando, because they gave him his own show. Ive been fighting for gun rights under the NRA brand for years.

Over the years, he said, countless black people, gay people, hippies, whites, Mexicans, Asians, you name ithave appeared on his show.

Noir said he was frustrated by accusations that as a black supporter of the NRA he was a sell-out or a token, pointing to the cases of Shaneen Allen and Josephine Byrd, black women championed by the NRA.

The mainstream media promoted conflict and division over race in America, he said, adding: We need to have an open and honest dialogue about race  with sympathy or maybe empathy for both sides.

The Castile case, he said, reminded him of a time in high school when he and his friends got lost while driving and tried to ask a police officer for directions  only to find themselves at gunpoint. First the officer pointed the gun at him, Noir recalled, then his friend.

I could see the gun inches from his temple, he wrote in his online post.

While no one was hurt, he wrote, the whole ordeal messed me up. We were good kids who never got in any trouble. All we wanted to do was ask for directions. I couldnt understand why the cop felt so threatened.
Bharatpur counting row: SC directs EC to present torn ballot papers within a week

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission (EC) to come up with the torn ballot papers of Bharatpur Metropolitan City-19, Chitwan before the court within a week.
Doha (AFP) - Qatar on Monday demanded neighbouring states lift their "blockade" of the emirate as a pre-condition for crisis talks, even as the United Arab Emirates warned its isolation could last years.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called measures imposed against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and others "an act of aggression".

"We have to make it very clear for everyone, negotiations must be done in a civilised way and should have a solid basis and not under pressure or under blockade," he told reporters in Doha.

"Qatar under blockade -- there is no negotiation. They have to lift the blockade," said Sheikh Mohammed.

"Until now we didn't see any progress about lifting the blockade, which is the pre-condition for anything to move forward."

On June 5, Saudi Arabia and its allies cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar, pulling their ambassadors from the gas-rich emirate and giving its citizens a two-week deadline to leave their territory.

The measures also included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and others accuse Qatar of supporting and funding "terrorism" and of working with regional rival Iran, charges Doha firmly denies.

Asked if the ultimate aim of the Gulf countries was to enforce regime change, the foreign minister replied: "No one is in a position of imposing regime change in this country.

"Our system here is based on a consensus between the people and its ruler."

- 'Isolation could take years' -

Sheikh Mohammed's demand came as a UAE state minister warned Qatar's diplomatic isolation could "last years".

"We do not want to escalate, we want to isolate," state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash told journalists in Paris. "This isolation can take years."

Story continues

Gargash said that while Qatar's rivals were "betting on time", a solution could not be brokered until it abandoned its support for "extremist Islamists".

"They have built a sophisticated podium for jihadism and Islamic extremism," he said.

"They support groups linked to Al-Qaeda in Syria, Libya... and in Yemen.

"This state is weaponising jihadists and Islamists, it is using this as a weapon of influence," he added.

Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar had not received any demands from the Gulf states or from countries seeking a diplomatic solution, including Kuwait, the United States, France and Britain, as the conflict dragged into its third week.

"Why they didn't submit their demands yet? For us, there is no clear answer for this," he said.

"But what we have seen until now, there is no solid ground for these demands, that's why they didn't submit their demands yet."

The foreign minister said the economic impact on Qatar had so far proved to be minimal, but added: "We are not claiming we are living in a perfect condition."

On Monday, Yousuf Mohamed al-Jaida, chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, said the "blockade" had put at risk business deals worth $2 billion in Arab countries that have cut ties with Doha.

- 'Worrying crisis' -

The Gulf political crisis has also affected countries outside the region.

"France, UK or the United States -- they are strong allies of Qatar and we have a great deal of cooperation together in terms of military, defence, security, economically," said Sheikh Mohammed.

"So a blockade on Qatar and measures being taken against Qatar in this way is affecting the interests of those countries as well, directly."

Concern over the ongoing crisis also surfaced at a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, who said "the depth of the crisis is more worrying than at any time before".

EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini called for "de-escalation" and encouraged "all Gulf countries to engage in political dialogue without pre-conditions".

Experts fear the crisis could draw in other countries. Adding to the growing tensions, Qatar announced Monday it had begun joint military exercises with the Turkish army.

Amnesty International has flagged the humanitarian cost of the crisis, warning it was "spreading fear" across the region.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain had given their citizens a June 19 deadline to leave Qatar, a deadline which came into force on Monday.
Democrats plan to delay vote by forcing bill into committee, says party aide, as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren plan Facebook event

Chuck Schumer said Republicans were ashamed of the bill. Photograph: Eric Thayer/Reuters

Democrats have vowed to bring Senate business to a halt this week, in protest against secrecy around a Republican attempt to repeal Barack Obamas Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will affect access to coverage for millions of Americans.

Beginning on Monday night, Democrats will begin an effort to delay a vote on the Senate health bill by forcing the House-passed healthcare bill into committee, a senior Democratic aide said. Tactics will include procedural maneuvers that will disrupt routine order and late-night floor speeches demanding greater transparency.

Senior party figures, who were reported to be planning to focus on Donald Trumps reported description of the House bill as mean, also launched a campaign urging Americans to speak out against the healthcare plan and share their stories about how the ACA, known as Obamacare, has helped them. In a video, several female senators shared their constituents stories.



The White House press secretary, Sean Spicer, said he did not know whether legislative staff had been briefed on the Senate healthcare bill. He added that he was unaware of the presidents view on the lack of transparency around the Republican healthcare bill. He declined to comment on whether the president believed the House-passed bill was mean and said the administration felt very good about the progress the Senate is making on the bill.

Also on Monday, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts rallied supporters against the Republican plan in a Facebook Live event.

Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because theyre ashamed of it, plain and simple, said Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, in a statement.

These are merely the first steps were prepared to take in order to shine a light on this shameful Trumpcare bill and reveal to the public the GOPs true intentions: to give the uber-wealthy a tax break while making middle class Americans pay more for less health care coverage.

Story continues

If Republicans wont relent and debate their healthcare bill in the open for the American people to see, then they shouldnt expect business as usual in the Senate.

Its unclear how long Democrats will continue their protest, but the aide said the senators are unlikely to relent as long as Republicans continue to shield their bill from the public.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, has said he would like to hold a vote before the chamber leaves for a week-long recess over the Fourth of July holiday. That leaves just 10 business days to draft a final version of the bill, receive a score from the Congressional Budget Office and hold a vote. The Senate is not expected to hold any hearings.

In a floor speech on Monday, McConnell outlined why Republicans are working to move in a different direction on healthcare but did not offer any details on the substance of their plan.

The Obamacare status quo is simply unsustainable, McConnell said. The American people deserve relief and well keep working to provide it.

An all-male group of Senate Republicans has worked privately for months to craft its version of the House healthcare bill, which narrowly passed to the upper chamber in May, under increasing pressure from Trump. Sticking points for Republicans are centered around proposed cuts to Medicaid, taxes related to the ACA, and funding for Planned Parenthood.

The same lawmakers are facing growing criticism from both sides of the aisle for not releasing more details about the healthcare plan and refusing to hold public hearings. The Senate has said it will not vote without a CBO score. A CBO analysis of the House healthcare bill estimated that it would cause 23m Americans to lose health insurance over the next decade and said some of the countrys sickest people could face significantly higher premiums and out-of-pocket costs.

The Democratic effort to slow the agenda will begin on Monday afternoon, when the Senate reconvenes. The Democrats plan to object to all requests for unanimous consent and in turn offer their own requests for unanimous consent in an attempt to force the bill before a committee, where debate can take place in public, the senior aide said.

Democrats also intend to hold control of the Senate floor until late in the evening, delivering a series of speeches urging Republicans to make the health bill public.

McConnell has brushed off accusations that his party was crafting its bill in secret, a highly unusual move for legislation with such broad and sweeping implications.

Nobodys hiding the ball here, the Kentucky Republican said last week.

He added: There have been gazillions of hearings on this subject, when [Democrats] were in the majority, when we were in the majority. We understand this issue pretty well and were now working on coming up with a solution.

On Monday, Schumer and three other Democrats on the Senate committee on health, education, labor and pensions sent a letter addressed to Republican leaders demanding that they schedule hearings to discuss, debate and hear testimony about the healthcare bill that you are currently drafting in secret.

The Democrats then listed all the hearing rooms in the Senate where Republicans could hold a debate on the bill.

On Monday morning, Trump again said the ACA was dead, and that rising premiums were unaffordable.

The Dems want to stop tax cuts, good healthcare and Border Security, the president tweeted. Their ObamaCare is dead with 100% increases in [premiums].

Experts have said uncertainty among insurers over how the Trump administration will handle healthcare repeal has contributed to rising premiums.
With Adam Rawnsley

Syria ops normal. Mostly. Tensions remain high between the United States and Russia after Sundays shoot down of a Syrian jet, and Moscows threats to begin tracking all coalition flights west of the Euphrates River with its warplanes and missile defense systems. Theres already been a bit of fallout. Australia announced Tuesday it had suspended its flights into Syria, as a precautionary measure, Australias Department of Defence said in a statement.

Strikes continue. A daily roundup of airstrikes released by the U.S. Central Command Tuesday showed eight strikes around Raqqa, which sits directly on the Euphrates. Coalition aircraft continue to conduct operations [unescorted by Russian aircraft] throughout Syria, Col. Ryan Dillon, the Baghdad-based spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, told SitRep in an email Tuesday.

He added that despite Russian claims to have shut down the hotline between American and Russian military officers in Syria, we continue to use the de-confliction line with the Russians. The Coalition is always available to de-conflict with the Russians.

Syrians on the move. In southern Syria, government forces recently took the al Waleed border crossing, an ISIS-held crossing close to the al Tanf garrison where 150 U.S. Special Operations Forces are based. For the first time in years Syrians greeted Iraqi troops, who pushed the Islamic State from their side of the border crossing over the weekend. U.S. military officials said they believe the reports of the border meet and greet are true, but had no further comment. FPs Paul McLeary has more on the latest complications in the almost three-year American effort in Syria.

Plans? The White House has yet to be fully briefed on plans the Pentagon has drawn up for Afghanistan, but according to a Reuters report, the Pentagon and the Trump administration are considering options in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, and Washington appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighboring Afghanistan. Potential responses being discussed include expanding U.S. drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistans status as a major non-NATO ally, officials said.

Story continues

Baltic buildup. NATO forces and their Russian counterparts are putting the final pieces in place on the years-long buildup of their forces in the Baltic, a Cold War-style standoff that has troops on both sides on high alert. On Monday, troops from Latvia, Canada, Poland, Italy, Spain, Slovenia and Albania, marked the completion of the deployment of the fourth and final NATO battle group to the region. In all, NATO has positioned some 4,500 troops in Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland.

The Wall Street Journal notes that theres also an American tank brigade deployed to Central and Eastern Europe, and B-2 stealth bombers have been sent to Europe. Russia, too, is enlarging its forces. It is creating a larger permanent military presence in the region, including missiles and new army units, moves it says counter the NATO deployments. Russia and Belarus are also preparing for a large military exercise in September. More here from the Journals Julian Barnes who is in Lithuania watching a massive war game being planed out by NATO forces.

Many of those NATO allies are also clamoring for more U.S.-made F-16s, Defense One reports from the Paris Air Show.

Welcome to SitRep. Send any tips, thoughts or national security events to paul.mcleary@foreignpolicy.com or via Twitter: @paulmcleary or @arawnsley.

North Korea. The American imprisoned by North Korea for an act of vandalism has died after returning to the U.S. in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. The family of Otto Warmbier announced that he had died at his home in Virginia on Monday afternoon. President Trump issued a statement of condolence to Warmbiers family, saying his passing deepens my Administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The Washington Post reports that Warmbiers death may add support to legislation introduced by two Congressmen, Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Joe Wilson (R-SC), to tightly regulate Americans travel to North Korea.

Step up. The State Department is calling out China for not doing enough to combat terrorism and the threat from the Islamic State. Reuters reports that acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia Susan Thornton specified Iraq as a place China could be more active, saying it should be doing to more to contribute to the efforts of the international coalition to defeat ISIS. Thornton would like to see Beijing contribute more resources to countries struggling against terrorism and help out with capacity-building for police and military forces.

South China Sea. Chinas territorial claims in the South China Sea is leading to some new partnerships among its neighbors to push back against Beijings assertions. The Diplomat reports that Vietnam and Japan carried out a joint exercise off Vietnams coast aimed at stopping illegal fishing. The focus on fishing is likely a reflection of Chinas clashes with South China Sea countries over fishing rights. In 2017 China declared a moratorium on fishing in waters claimed by both Vietnam and the Philippines, with fishing rights proving a frequent flashpoint in Beijings territorial disputes with its neighbors.

Showdown in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia claims to have caught three Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps troops entering the Kingdoms territorial waters. According to a Saudi statement, the men were caught when three armed boats headed towards the the Saudi oil field of Marjan. Saudi naval forces managed to seize one boat while the other two escaped. A separate Saudi statement claims the boats were part of a planned terrorist attack. Iranian news outlets, however, claim that the boats were fishing vessels that drifted off course and were fired on by Saudi forces.

Factions. The Afghan government is trying to deepen the divisions within the Taliban by providing support to a breakaway faction of the group known as the Renouncers. The New York Times reports that the faction is comprised of followers of Mullah Mohammad Rasoul, who broke off from the Taliban after discovering that Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour had kept the death of his predecessor, Taliban leader Mullah Omar, a secret for years. The group is primarily based in Helmand and the Afghan government has been supplying it with money, weapons, and intelligence as it battles the Taliban for control of districts.

Springtime in Paris. Aerospace companies are in Paris and ready for their runway closeups as they show off the latest products for the Paris Air Show. Lockheeds F-35 stealth fighter jet is the it-girl thus far, making its Paris debut on Monday with some acrobatic showing off for onlookers. F-35 Integration Office Brigadier General Select Todd Canterbury described the jets appearance at the show as a demonstration of resolve to the NATO alliance and a statement that we have got the capability to respond to any action necessary.

Malware markets. Researchers at the University of Torontos Citizen Lab issued a new report uncovering what they say is malware sold by an Israeli cybersecurity firm being used to spy on reporters as well as human rights and anti-corruption activists in Mexico. The group says it found messages sent to the targets containing links to Pegasus spyware made by Israels NSO group. Citizen Lab researchers previously attributed malware to NSO Group after finding that it exploited a vulnerability in Apples iOS mobile operating system.

Photo Credit: MOHD RASFAN/AFP/Getty Images
By Ju-min Park and Susan Heavey

SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday said North Korea should swiftly return South Koreans and Americans detained in the reclusive nation and that Pyongyang had "a heavy responsibility" in the death of a U.S. university student.

Moon, who is scheduled to visit Washington next week for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, also told CBS in an interview that he hoped to draw North Korea into negotiations on its nuclear program by the end of the year, while talks with the United States about military options could wait.

Dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the start of last year and Pyongyang's vow to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland have put North Korea at the forefront of global security concerns.

Moon's remarks on CBS's "This Morning" program came the day after the death of Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months. Warmbier died at a Cincinnati hospital just days after North Korea released him from captivity in a coma.

Moon said that while "we cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr. Warmbier ... I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to Mr. Warmbier's death.

"I believe we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime," said Moon, who was elected in May.

"Even today, there are many Korean nationals and American citizens who are detained in North Korea," Moon said. "I also urge North Korea to return these people to their families."

North Korea has detained two Korean-American academics and a missionary, a Canadian pastor and three South Korean nationals who were doing missionary work there. Japan says at least several dozen of its nationals are being held in the country.

Moon, who was elected on a plan to engage in talks with North Korea, said he agreed with Trump on being willing to participate in a dialogue with North Korea under certain conditions, given that sanctions and international pressure have not resolved the situation.

Story continues

"First we must vie for a freeze of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs," Moon said. "And then, as a second phase, try to achieve the complete dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program. And I believe there are voices supporting such a step-by-step approach even within the United States."

Signaling a major shift in U.S. policy, Trump said earlier this year that he was willing to talk to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program.

"He mentioned that it would be an honor to be able to meet Kim Jong Un," Moon told CBS. "So I believe President Trump went much further than I did."

CONFLICTING RHETORIC

Trump has delivered conflicting rhetoric on North Korea and its leader, whom he has called a "madman with nuclear weapons." On Monday, he blamed the "brutality of the North Korean regime" for Warmbier's death. Warmbier was arrested while visiting North Korea as a tourist and accused of trying to steal a propaganda slogan, according to North Korean media. Doctors caring for him last week described him as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."

North Korea said last month that it was its sovereign right to "ruthlessly punish" U.S. citizens it had detained for crimes against the state. Warmbier's death has shocked many Americans, making any direct U.S. contact with North Korea politically risky any time soon.

A Japanese diplomat said Warmbier's death showed that now was not the time to talk to North Korea and that allies must maintain unity in pressuring Pyongyang with sanctions.

"We must not show them a weakness or a gap in our united front that they would exploit for their own purposes," said the diplomat, who requested anonymity.

North Korea will dominate Moon's June 29-30 summit with Trump.

Pyongyang has continued to test-fire missiles since Moon took office, despite his pledges to engage in dialogue.

Asked about the possibility of pre-emptive strikes against Pyongyang, Moon told CBS the issue could be raised at the summit with Trump, but such discussions were more likely to come later.

"This is something we may be able to discuss at a later stage when the threat has become even more urgent," he said, adding that the North Korea nuclear missile threat was a matter of life or death for the South Koreans who live next door.

He said that if Trump could resolve the North Korean nuclear issue and bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and overall greater security in northeastern Asia, it would probably be the U.S. president's greatest diplomatic achievement.

(For a graphic on Americans detained by North Korea, click http://tmsnrt.rs/2r5xYpB)

(Reporting by Ju-min Park in Seoul; Additional reporting by Susan Heavey and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Michael Perry and Lisa Von Ahn)
A top White House official said that Sean Spicer hasn't been holding press briefings because he has gotten 'fatter': Win McNamee/Getty Images

The White House press corps has become exasperated with the increasingly opaque methods of communications the West Wing employs to deal with reporters, but one senior official has a pretty simple explanation.

Sean got fatter, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon told an Atlantic reporter when asked why White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has been holding briefings and gaggles off-camera lately.

The comment came in a one-off text, and was not elaborated upon in a follow up message.

Whether the text was a joke, or if it was an appropriate one if so, the message was quickly criticised by the likes of former first daughter Chelsea Clinton.

The White House using fat shaming to justify increased opacity. 2017, Ms Clinton tweeted.

When the White House announced that they would hold a televised briefing after all, some joked that Mr Spicer wanted to do it to clear his name.

I have not gotten fat! Period, journalist Josh Barro tweeted, mocking Donald Trumps signature tweeting style.

Daily press briefings have been pared back since Donald Trump officially became president. Although a Washington tradition, the formerly daily event is not without its critics. That criticism comes from media observers  who have said that the exercise is mostly just grandstanding for the administration  and from the 45th President himself, who has discussed eliminating them altogether in favour of written briefings.

Still, reporters seem to be pretty annoyed.

It feels like were slowly but surely being dragged into what is a new normal in this country, where the president of the United States is allowed to insulate himself from answering hard questions, Jim Acosta, CNNs chief White House correspondent said this week after an off-air briefing. I dont know why we covered that gaggle today, quite honestly Brooke, if they cant give us the answers to the questions on camera or where we can record the audio. Theyre basically pointless at this point.

Story continues

Covering the White House, and the avenues of access available to the press, have evolved throughout the existence of the US. Back in the 19th century, the press didnt even regularly maintain a presence in the White House because the presidency wasnt really all that powerful back then. In the years since, and as the executive office has amassed more and more power in American politics, beat reporters began to be stationed exclusively to cover the president, and the first White House press secretary was named in 1929.

Even still, technology advances have had a major impact on the way in which the White House communicates with the public, and how the press does the same. Press briefings werent broadcast in their entirety until the 1990s during President Bill Clintons tenure  a move that was perhaps later regrettable for the administration during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Other major technological advances have greatly impacted the press corps in the 21st century. Mr Trumps predecessor, Barack Obama, was able to harness the power of social media during his campaigns and during the presidency to reach out to the public directly, just like Mr Trump does with his Twitter profile. That led to the perception that Mr Obama made himself personally less available for media interviews than past administrations.
Otto Warmbier, the college student held prisoner in North Korea who arrived home last week in a coma, has died, his family said Monday.

The 22-year-old Cincinnati-area native arrived home after 17 months in captivity with severe brain damage. He never regained consciousness.

Read: Imprisoned American Student, 22, Sent Home From North Korea Amid Reports He's in a Coma

Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today, his parents said in a statement Monday afternoon.

"At least he got home to his parents," said President Trump, speaking at an American Technology Council roundtable. North Korea, he said, is "a brutal regime and we'll be able to handle it."

In a formal statement released by the White House, Trump said "Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent that to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ottos family and friends, and all who loved him.

GOP Sen. John McCain, who spent more than five years as a POW during the Vietnam War, minced no words in reacting to Warmbier's death. "Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime."

The student had sobbed in court as he confessed to trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting the country last year. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in a North Korean prison.

Warmbiers father, Fred, accused the North Koreans of torturing his son.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier received no news about their son while he was behind bars in the communist state. The University of Virginia student was allowed no consular visits.

My full statement on the passing of Otto Warmbier: pic.twitter.com/KT538qw6tb  Sherrod Brown (@SenSherrodBrown) June 19, 2017

This month, his family and U.S. officials were told he had been in a coma for more than a year. He was flown to Cincinnati via a medical airlift and arrived at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center last Tuesday night.

Story continues

My heart goes out to the loved ones of Otto Warmbier. Thinking of Otto's family & friends, & wishing them strength during this tragic time.  Sen. Al Franken (@SenFranken) June 19, 2017

Read: Dad of Otto Warmbier Rips North Korea Over Son's Treatment: 'I Don't Believe Anything They Say'

University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan said, It is with great sadness that we learned of Ottos passing this afternoon. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with his family and friends during what has been an incredibly difficult time. He will be missed by all those who knew and loved him.

On Thursday, doctors at the Ohio medical facility said during a press conference that Warmbier had experienced extensive tissue loss in his brain and was unable to walk, talk or respond.

"He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished," family said in their statement. "Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home and we believed he could sense that."

Watch: Roommate Believes Otto Warmbier Was Set Up by North Korea

Related Articles:
High school senior Tori DiPaolo is now a hero on Twitter for using her senior quote to fight sexism.

DiPaolo's school, West Milford High in New Jersey, bans girls from wearing shoulder baring tops on most days, but the robes required for senior photos happen to show a whole lot of ... wait for it ... shoulder.

SEE ALSO: Rapper/philosopher T-Pain gives student a senior quote and it's glorious

DiPaolo called attention to this blatant contradiction with a self-quote: Im sorry, did my shoulders distract you from reading this quote?

Let's just say Twitter was here for it.

This is the best senior quote ever. You're a fucking iconic ass queen & I applaud the fuck out this shit FUCK IT UP QUEEN https://t.co/29vsd6JALw  Brittany PINNED (@LitLikeBrittt) June 17, 2017

You are an awesome young lady with the world at your fingertips. Never settle and don't let the system box you in. GL  Angel Valdez (@GiJoeValdez) June 16, 2017

yo Tori, this is hype a/f. I applaud this shit  Nik Latrone (@NikHasTricks) June 17, 2017

It really is the perfect quote coming from someone who describes themselves as infamous for fighting their school's dress code double standards.

DiPaolo finds that her school unfairly applies the dress code to girls but not boys.

Story continues

My schools dress code prohibits boys from wearing muscle shirts," DiPaolo told the Huffington Post. "But they do all the time and dont get in trouble yet, when my bra strap accidentally slips I have to miss class time to go change."

A+ trolling, Tori. Calling out sexism with honors.

WATCH:
Can only thin people celebrate their food binges on social media? [Photo: Getty]

A tweet about thin privilege  specifically as it relates to svelte women getting social media praise for posting pictures of how they indulge in highly caloric food  has been going viral.

Incase you wondered what fat phobia and thin privilege looks like. ???????????? pic.twitter.com/obmr6RbVoI  Gracie ???? (@GraceFVictory) June 15, 2017

The June 15 post, from UK-based YouTube star and writer Gracie Victory, author of the forthcoming memoir No Filter, notes, In case you wondered what fat phobia and thin privilege looks like, alongside juxtaposing images: first, screen shots of a tiny young woman proudly polishing off a hideous mountain of burgers and chips, boasting, still had room for dessert. Then there are images of a plus-size 13-year-old British girl, who recently made her own Instagram impact for facing her biggest fear by wearing a swimsuit to the beach.

The thin woman indulging in fast food inspired many impressed, supportive comments, including brain says marry her, wife material, my new hero, this is sexy, and f***in boss.

Meanwhile, the image of the British teenager in the swimsuit, whose name is Paris Harvey, elicited the following reactions (among many others of support): thats disgusting, I just see a whale, good to know we encourage obesity now, and its her fault for being fat.

Victorys post has resonated greatly, with more than 69,000 shares, 113,000 likes, and 640 comments  many totally getting the point:

The thin girl ate unhealthy and was applauded, the fat girl went outside and was shamed. Thats the point.  Elizabeth Papandria (@Ezbpapandria) June 15, 2017

THANK YOU TO SOMEONE FOR ADDRESSING THIS https://t.co/YWpVB3LlS6  whit???? (@notyourmcbae) June 15, 2017

WE NEED FAT ACCEPTANCE!!!! https://t.co/WsvYBY3rcQ  Hannah VA Clayton (@hvagclayton) June 15, 2017

Others, of course, couldnt help but use this moment as another fat-shaming opportunity:

Story continues

Thin privilege doesnt exist  Kinda Wanna Die (@Suchbandtrash) June 16, 2017

there is no privilege of being thin. Proper diet and exercise allow people to be healthy weights  orby (@LordOrby) June 16, 2017

Thin women getting kudos for stuffing their faces is not a new phenomenon, of course; this past spring, a Long Islandbased beauty queen, Miss New York contestant Sarah Gould, went viral after posting an Instagram video of herself downing a two-foot slice of pizza. The post inspired praise and media coverage around the world; shes since posted images of herself inhaling donuts, a huge pretzel, Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, and massive pancakes, with no evidence of shaming.

Its the rare social media user, in fact, who can get away with being both plus-sized and a proudly voracious eater. Mega-popular fat-pride activist Virgie Tovar has done it, becoming a body image hero to her 27,300 Instagram followers who adore her cheeky foodie, skin-flashing adventures. But it was hard won, as she had to wade through a lot of hateful trolling along the way.

Still, Tovar noted recently, dont mistake what shes aimed for as acceptance.

LIVING MY BEST GINORMOUS BROWNIE SUNDAE LIFE GORL A post shared by Virgie Tovar (@virgietovar) on Jun 18, 2017 at 10:04pm PDT

I dont want acceptance. I want bigots to shut up and stop hurting people, she wrote in an essay for Ravishly. I want the cultural forces that isolate and stigmatise people to cease. I want to be able to choose the life I want on my terms without fear of retaliation from mainstreamers.

Tovar added that, in the conversation around body size, fatness is always constructed as the space left behind by thinness or thin people. She called that a reductive binary, and one in which fatness can never be a stand-alone existence that requires no substantiation. In this paradigm, fatness can never be a choice, a preferred state, a manifestation of wholeness and desire. Fatness is always what resides in the negative space.

Thats not the way it should be, Tovar stresses  and certainly Victory, who has been a Nike model and who collaborated with the brand on the launch of its plus-size line this past spring, agrees. Fat shaming me and my girl on our Nike campaign is hilarious, she had tweeted at the time. We be laughing all the damn way to the bank.

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK.

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

The body positive hashtags taking over your social media feed right now

Plus-size models like Ashley Graham are having a positive effect on womens mental health

Why one model is choosing to share photos of her cellulite
Janet Mock

Janet Mock is a bestselling author and transgender advocate. Shes given a speech at the Womens March on Washington, high-fived Oprah on national television, and written articles for Marie Claire, including a stunning coming-out piece, and for the New York Times  most notably, an opinion piece in which she talks about how young people overwhelmingly get transgender rights.

Shes also an expert on frizz-proof hair and flawless mascara.

I believe glam is a gateway to survival, says the 34-year-old, whose latest gig is as a guest columnist for Allure. As a trans woman specifically, I feel like makeup helped me understand what I wanted to look like and who I wanted to be.

Mock details her journey through womanhood  and the beauty products that she carried along the way  in the new book Surpassing Certainty. A funny, fascinating, brutally honest look at Mocks early 20s, the book chronicles her time as an exotic dancer, a fashion intern, and a masters degree candidate.

Still, while cosmetics may boost confidence, Mocks not a bestselling author and Oprah BFF just because shes a lipstick whiz. Through magazine articles, political speeches, and her groundbreaking 2014 autobiography, Redefining Realness, the 34-year-old has become a pop-culture force thats 50 percent cool big sister and 50 percent serious social conscience. (Shes also a front-row fixture at fashion shows for Christian Siriano.)

Yahoo Beauty spoke with the native Hawaiian in New York City, and, yes, we asked for stripper advice. (Her tips are exceptional, because: #overachiever.)

Surpassing Certainty deals with major themes like identity and loneliness. But it also has one of the most genius beauty tips ever.

Oh, the toilet paper seat?

Yes! You describe using disposable toilet-seat covers as blotting paper

Use what you have available. Thats a key beauty tip from strippers!

Did you learn that from the other dancers?

No, I think I just figured it out. One day when I was in [the strip club], I went to the toilet, and I grabbed one, and I just looked at it for a second. I thought, Wait, this has the exact same consistency as a blotting paper. But its bigger than my entire face. And its free. So I put my whole face on it like it was a sheet mask. I rubbed my hands across the back, and then I peeled it off  again, just like a sheet mask. And I saw all the makeup, all the sweat, and all the oil just cling to it. Ive done it for years. To be honest, I still do it now in the airport.

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Please give me more stripper beauty tips.

People think [strippers] and girls who are regulars at the club  not just the strip club, but any club  put glitter everywhere. But the skilled ones, we know that the lights in clubs are very concentrated, and they hit your body and face at very specific points. So we save money and time by only putting shimmer where our high points are. Thats your clavicle, your cheekbones, the tops of your shoulders.

Even if I use highlighter on my clavicle, it ends up all over my chest and shoulders by the end of the night.

Oh, you should be carrying baby wipes in your purse at all times.

Stripper beauty advice sounds close to second-date advice.

Exactly. [Laughing] Stripper beauty advice is the same thing as second-date advice! Youre ready to get close to someone, youre beyond, Do you have any siblings? Youre ready to share your bodies. You get prepared.

There are many Lifetime movies about cutthroat strippers trying to take down one another. Was that your experience, or was it more of a Coyote Ugly kind of sisterhood?

I had a unique situation, because the club I talk about in the book was owned by a woman, who we called Mama. And she set the tone that this was not a place to get catty with each other, or to compete with each other for mens attention. Of course, there were some girls who kept to themselves more and werent as friendly as others. But there was no real infighting. We werent competing for mens money. We were working together to make the most money for the club, and [therefore] for all of us.

What did you learn about yourself from that experience?

What I loved so much is that I saw all different types of bodies. C-section scars. Stretch marks. Visible ribs. Everything. And I realized that the things women have been taught to Photoshop out of their bodies, if youre interested in attracting men, those flaws arent real. Heterosexual men dont care. I realized that at least in a purely physical sense, theyre looking at your entire package, and that includes your attitude. Understanding that is what makes you a successful stripper, and I think it also translates somewhat in the dating market, as well I learned at 20 years old that nobody gives a f*** about your stretch marks, even in a space of desirability. Nobodys obsessing about it except you. Certainly not the men you want to attract.

You were just a Miss USA judge. You were also a speaker at the Womens March on Washington. How do you reconcile your feminist convictions with a pageant that scores women partly based on looks?

You know, I was having a conversation with Ashley Graham. Shes a co-host of the pageant. This is her second year doing it. We share a hairstylist, and she said, Janet, I heard youre in negotiations to be a judge. And I told her, I am, but Im really conflicted about it because I dont think theyve ever had an openly trans woman in this space. And Ashley said, I feel similarly [as a plus-size woman]. I dont see my body up there [as a contestant] either. And we were like, Is this a part of our mission, to help the pageant as a whole accept more diverse kinds of female beauty? I think by engaging in the pageant, were disrupting the pageant. And thats the first step.

Did you ever do pageants in Hawaii?

A lot of my sisters in Hawaii engaged in pageants, but as trans women, the only pageants they could do were drag queen pageants. Because pageants for cis women were not open to trans women. But I mean, Ill tell you, there are cis feminist women who policed my decision to be a part of this pageant. Whereas a lot of trans women were like, Yes, girl! One of us is going to Miss USA!

What?! Women are bullying one another on the Internet? Shocking!

I know, right? So for me, its like, How can I bring my politics and the way I choose to live my life into the pageant space as a judge? Thats what I want to do. Yes, beauty and aesthetics are a huge part of pageants, but theyre also a part of my own life. And that becomes a gateway to say if I didnt have pretty privilege, and if I didnt have blending in and passing [as a cis woman] privilege, I probably wouldnt be seen and heard in the same levels that Im heard.

How do you rise above those Twitter onslaughts?

For me, Im always someone thats never policed other womens choices. And as someone whos engaged in activities that have never been respectable, that have always been outside of the framework of what folks have defined as womanhood, Ill never judge another woman for doing what she wants or needs to do. Now, is that colluding with the patriarchy? Maybe. But were all messy. Were all colluding because we exist in a culture thats racist, sexist, anti-queer, transphobic  but we also have to participate in culture to change it. Engaging in this space scares me. It makes me uncomfortable. And when that happens in my life, I challenge myself to say yes and to engage.

You talk in the book about feeling betrayed by the trans women you saw on TV and in movies, that you felt like they were freak shows. Honestly, I recoil at some people in my own communities. How do we accept others even if we think theyre making the rest of us look bad?

Your first step is what I call the Great Unlearning. When I was 20, the only trans women that were visible to me were those on Jerry Springer and Maury who reveal to some guy on camera, IM A MAN! Thats the portrait of young trans women that people who watched those shows would get. So low-income families, stay-at-home moms, my friends mothers, my peers, folk of color who are watching these shows  it was the most immediate, visceral portrait of young trans women. I was like, I do not want to be that. I have to overcome peoples immediate catalog of trans women. I have to be so much better than those people.

Exactly! Whats your advice to those who feel we have to be better than everyone else in our ethnicity/religion/orientation/political party?

My black grandmother taught me that as a black person, I have to do double or even triple the work to get half as much. Youre taught early to fight back with exceptionalism. I used to think I had to be a certain kind of woman to prove I wasnt one of those trans women. But now I have to reteach myself that Im not better than those women on TV. Theyre doing the best with what they have. Instead, I have to ask, How can I support these women? And how can I offer a different reflection of myself?

What would you tell your 20-year-old self about those Jerry Springer women?

You can be a completely messy bitch that lives for drama and wants desperately to be Joanne the Scammer. Or you can be somebody thats a talk-show host and an author and wants to be seen as respectable and academic. Or you can be neither. You can be whoever the hell you want. But you cant police other peoples wants, desires, needs, and how they represent themselves. But of course thats hard! We just have to keep working.

On TV and in books and magazines, youve been very honest about your personal journey. Whats one thing you dont want to discuss anymore?

My first book is largely about my transition. And Im so grateful for that book, but theres a lot of explanations in it. In 2014, our culture wasnt where it is now in terms of trans people. So I had to explain a lot of terms. I also had to go into real detail and explain my own body, my own medical history, and real details about my body in transition. Thats the only way people would get a full picture of a young person in transition. Its the first narrative written by a young person. Its the first by a trans person of color. It challenged a lot of stigmas. It made people confront the fact that were not a monolith. And because its out there, I feel like we can stop with the Trans 101 questions.

I want to name a punk band Trans 101.

Ha! But you know what I mean when I say Trans 101. Questions about my body and medical procedures. Questions about gender binaries and spectrums. I cant keep retracing my steps when theyre already out there. But also, Ill tell you something, I speak on a lot of college campuses, and these kids, theyd be bored by Trans 101 because they get it. Gen Z is woke. And part of why I wrote Surpassing Certainty is because after my lectures, these kids would come up to me and say, I already know about feminism and gender constructs and political consciousness. What I really want to know is, how did you bring your full self to your work, and also, what do you use in your hair?!

I mean, you do have great hair.

I straightened it for the GLAAD Awards, just to mix it up. And everyone there is like, Janet, this makes you look softer! I went home to my husband, and I said, I got so many compliments on my hair and how great I look tonight, and it makes me so angry.

As a fellow curly, I understand. Hearing youre so pretty with straight hair feels like getting stabbed.

Right?! I felt like I was being pushed toward a sameness. If you straighten your hair, youll get all these compliments from us, and youll be so much more marketable. Its this tiny shift in aesthetics, but the connotations can feel so big. I find it fascinating, but, yeah, it also makes me mad.

Do you think its true? Do you think that as a woman of color, and a woman in the media, you need to have straight hair to be marketable?

I mean, I literally had a woman come up to me at the airport and say, Are you Janet Mock? I bought your book because I saw the cover and I loved your hair. So  I think my curly hair is pretty marketable [Laughing].

Read more from Yahoo Beauty + Style:

Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest for nonstop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyle and@YahooBeauty.
Govt compelled to hold polls in three phases: Minister Sharma

Home Minister Janardan Sharma has said that the government was compelled to announce third phase of local level elections due to political circumstances.
President Donald Trump offered condolences Monday to the family Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student released from a North Korean prison last week after spending around 17 months in captivity for stealing a propaganda banner.

Trump blamed North Koreas brutal regime for the students death and said the incident increases the administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life, the president said in a statement issued shortly after Warmbiers death.

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," the statement read.

Read: How Many People Are Imprisoned In North Korea After Release Of Otto Warmbier?

During a tech industry roundtable at the White House on Monday, Trump said a lot of bad things happened to Warmbier while he was serving his time in North Korea, Bloomberg reported.

But at least we got him home to be with his parents where they were so happy to see him, even though he was in very tough condition. But he just passed away a little while ago. It is a brutal regime and well be able to handle it, Trump was quoted as saying in multiple reports.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement he received the news of the American students death with deep sadness.

The 22-year-old students death may escalate tensions between the two countries as the U.S. has been trying to block North Koreas push to secure a nuclear-armed missile, capable of reaching North America. Trump has been focusing on pressurizing China, North Koreas major ally and benefactor; however, the president has also warned that all options can be considered. The Trump administration is also working with South Korea, its ally, to counter the North Korean threat. Warmbiers death and the outrage regarding the incident in the U.S. might be capable of changing Trumps calculus in dealing with North Korea.

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This makes it extremely difficult for the U.S. to move forward to make any overture toward North Korea absent the release of the three other prisoners, said Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Honolulu. The public opinion will be played upon by those in power, and will prevent any kind of flexible response.

Read: Otto Frederick Warmbier, American Detained In North Korea, Gets Help From Trump Administration

Warmbier returned to the U.S. on June 13 after being released by North Korea. He had been in a coma since March 2016, according to mutiple reports. Ottos doctors at University of Cincinnati Medical Center described his condition as a state of unresponsive wakefulness and stated he suffered a severe neurological injury of unknown cause while in North Korean custody, a report published Monday by the New York Times said.

The economics student from the University of Virginia was visiting North Korea as a part of a student tour in December 2015. He was arrested in January 2016 at the Pyongyang International Airport. He was detained for allegedly stealing a North Korean political propaganda poster. He confessed to stealing the poster during his trial in March 2016 and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, BBC reported. His release after 17 months was celebrated by the Trump administration as an evidence of successful diplomacy between the two countries.

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The Cuban diplomat said that Mr Trump's efforts will only increase patriotism in his country: AFP/Getty Images

A top Cuban official says that Donald Trumps announcement last week that he would reinstate travel and business restrictions on the country was a grotesque spectacle straight from the Cold War.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez made the comment during a speech in Vienna on a visit aimed at strengthening relations between Cuba and Austria.

As for the real effects of policy, Mr Rodriguez said that he will need to wait for Mr Trumps measures to be implemented before he can completely assess their impacts. Mr Trump instructed the federal government to begin working on plans for restricting individual travel to Cuba, and on American investment in the country. The President signalled that Cuban human rights violations were a main motivation to try and keep cash from flowing to the Cuban government.

The Cuban Foreign Minister saw a silver lining in Mr Trumps announcement. He said that the US Presidents rollback would strengthen Cuban patriotism. In addition, Mr Rodriguez said that Cuba wouldn't send American fugitives back to the US, which Mr Trump said was a necessary condition to begin renegotiating the relationship between the two countries.

The Presidents decision last week was not without controversy in the United States. While most Republicans cheered the change in policy  including Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who engaged in a nasty fight with Mr Trump for the Republican nomination last year  many said that the changes were a brash political play to try and attract conservative Cuban voters in Florida.

This is not about the Cuban military, it is about politics, as evidenced by the Presidents decision to make this announcement in Miami, Sarah Stephens, an expert on US-Cuba policy, said, and the administrations unwillingness to make a serious strategic argument for the policy.

Critics similarly noted that the President had stopped in Saudi Arabia on his first trip outside of the United States while in office. Saudi Arabia, while a key US ally in the Middle East, is a well-known violator of human rights.
Donald Trump sent one of his attorneys, Jay Sekulow, out on Sunday to hit the major politics talk shows. Sekulow nearly completed the Full Ginsburghe missed only ABCs This Week, on which he appeared last Sundaybut aside from that achievement, it didnt go so well.

Sekulow insisted that President Trump was not under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. This denial was somewhat difficult to believe, given that the president himself had tweeted on Friday, I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! And indeed, Chuck Todd and Jake Tapper did their best impressions of Jeremy Paxman, lifting eyebrows and squinting in incredulity at Sekulows claims. So the president said, I am under investigation, even though he isn't under investigation? Tapper queried. The wily (and bemused) Wallace even got Sekulow to say both that Trump is and is not under investigation.

Related Story

Will Rod Rosenstein Recuse Himself From the Russia Probe?

Aaron Blake speaks for many observers when he writes, It was a tough day for a man with an impossible job. If White House press secretary Sean Spicer has the worst job in Washington, Sekulow might have the second-worst. And it showed on Sunday. But in his contradictory claims, Sekulow isnt so much struggling against the presidents words so much as he is reflecting Trumps own incoherent response to the investigation.

Trump and his team cant decide whether or not the president is under investigation. They cant decide whether media reports about the investigation are fake news, or whether they justify the president firing off missives from his turbocharged Twitter account. They cant decide whether Trump fired FBI Director James Comey of his own volition or on the recommendation of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. They cant decide whether Trump welcomes the investigation as a chance to clear his name or disdains it as a kangaroo court.

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The president isnt under investigation, Sekulow told John Dickerson, because we've received no notice of investigation. There has been no notification from the special counsel's office that the president is under investigation. While theres no guarantee that Sekulow is telling the truth, or even that hes in the loop, this is plausiblethough it doesnt explain the lawyer telling Wallace that now he's being investigated by the Department of Justice because the special counsel under the special counsel relations reports still to the Department of Justice.

Instead, Sekulow argued that Trump was simply reacting to a report in The Washington Post stating that the Mueller, a former FBI director, was investigating the president for obstructing justice. This, too, is plausiblethough not encouraging. Why would the president attack his own deputy attorney general publicly and lend credence to a report that he (allegedly) did not know to be true? And moreover, how can the president lambaste the press for pumping anonymously sourced fake news at the same time that he is taking anonymously Washington Post reports at face value?

In fairness to Sekulow, Trumps I am under investigation tweet was befuddling, in that none of it is true. On the one hand, he seems to be referring to Rosenstein as the man who told me to fire the FBI Director; yet it is Mueller, not Rosenstein, who is (depending on whether you believe the conflicting reports of Jay Sekulow, Donald Trump, and Jay Sekulow) investigating Trump. It is true that Rosenstein appointed Mueller as special counsel, and it is also true that he alone has the power to fire Mueller, though Sekulows claim that Trump is being investigated by the Department of Justice because the special counsel under the special counsel relations reports still to the Department of Justice is the sort of reasoning that gives legalese a bad name.

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But what about Trumps claim that Rosenstein told him to fire Comey? That, too, is subject to dispute. Rosenstein is an accomplished lawyer, and his memo reads as very carefully worded, unmistakably pointing toward firing Comey without ever making that explicit. But then again, who cares what Rosenstein wrote? Trump told Lester Holt in May not only that the decision was his alone, but also that hed come to it before he received the memo.

What I did is I was going to fire Comey, my decision, Trump told Holt, going on to praise the same deputy attorney general he now attacks. I was going to fire regardless of recommendation. [Rosenstein] made a recommendation. Hes highly respected. Very good guy, very smart guy, the Democrats like him, the Republicans like him, he made a recommendation. But regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey.

Trump wants to be seen as a bold leader, making his decisions without need of pesky aidesexcept when he wants to pass the buck and let a staffer take the heat for a decision that might be politically (or legally) damaging to himself.

All of this is symptomatic of Trumps general inability to pick a strategy for responding to the investigation. Recently, he has repeatedly described it as a witch hunt, and a set of GOP talking points recommended that Republican surrogates criticize the whole exercise as a fishing expedition and ask how long it was going to roll on. But those statements are at odds with congressional Republicans own approach, possibly an attempt to slow-walk the inquiry, which is to say that the investigation needs to be able to develop gradually. And as Bob Garfield noted on On the Media over the weekend, the investigation has barely begun by the standards of similar cases (from Whitewater to Benghazi)and besides, fishing expeditions tend to catch fish. In the past, however, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has said the president welcomes the investigation, seeing it as a chance to clear his name.

Recommended: How to Deal With North Korea

The lack of a single, coherent strategy bodes ill for Trump as the investigation moves forwardwhether he is currently a target or not. Veterans of the Bill Clinton impeachment have recently become frequent presences in the press, and a couple lessons come from their recollections. One is that Clinton survived thanks to the fact that his approval ratings remained high, whereas Trumps are already very low. A second is that Clinton triumphed because his staff were able to craft a coherent, disciplined message and to present the president not as an angry aggressor but as the hapless victim of vindictive opponents.

Yet Trump continues to believe he is best served by going on the attack and improvising his strategy from moment to moment. On Friday, the Associated Press reported that Trump is increasingly angry about the investigation in private, even shouting at televisions playing bad news. That might not help much, but its probably not any less effective than his public communications have been.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
The Trump administration slapped additional sanctions on dozens of individuals and companies tied to Russias slow-burning proxy war in Ukraine on Tuesday. The move could be a relief to many who worried Trump would renege on U.S. commitments to Europe to repairs ties with Russia.

The sanctions target 38 new individuals and organizations U.S. officials say are responsible for tightening the Kremlins grip over eastern Ukraine as Washington and its European allies push for a diplomatic solution to the countrys three year-long conflict. Theyre designed to maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement on Tuesday.

The move is conspicuous for an administration that has bucked international norms. U.S. allies and outgoing U.S. officials feared for months Trump would upend traditional commitments to Europe and sell Ukraine down the river for a rapprochement with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he lavished with praised during the U.S. presidential campaign. But the new sanctions list could dispel some of those fears by falling in line with former President Barack Obamas approach to Russia.

The Trump administration deserves some credit both for the timing and for the substance of these sanctions, said Daniel Fried, Americas longest-serving diplomat and State Department coordinator for sanctions policy up until his retirement several months ago. This is not a softball list. Nobody tried to water it down. Theres too much good stuff in here.

It looks like a list that would have come out under the last administration, said Sean Kane, an international trade and sanctions expert at Hughes Hubbard & Reed law firm.

And the timing couldnt be better. For starters, theyre in the wake of the European Unions new agreement to extend sanctions against Russia for another year, signaling transatlantic solidarity  something that appears to be a rare commodity in the Trump era.

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The new measures also come a week after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass another round of sanctions against Russia, a strong check against what was widely seen as Trumps plans to soften Washingtons stance toward the Kremlin. They also come on the same day Russia is trying to price its new bond issuance, which could scuttle Moscows plans to breath new life into its anemic economy.

As diplomatic icing on the cake, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko visited Washington Tuesday on the heels of the announcement, signaling the Trump administrations willingness to back Kiev after growing fears itd sell out the government there for some form of grand bargain with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The timing with Poroshenkos visit is likely happy coincidence, said Kane, as Treasury cant cobble together these types of lists overnight; they take months to prepare.

The sanctions target key government officials in the Kremlin-backed breakaway regions of Ukraine and financial institutions investing in Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula Russia illegally seized in 2014. The list includes Sergey Nazarov, the deputy chief of Russias economic development ministry, who is allegedly involved in bankrolling and supplying Russian-backed militias in eastern Ukraine; Wolf Holding of Security Structures, an organization that provides martial arts and tactical military training to pro-Kremlin fighters in eastern Ukraine and affiliated with an infamous pro-Putin biker gang known as the Night Wolves; and IFD Kapital, a multibillion-dollar private equity firm that invested in hotel complexes in Crimea.

Trump signaled a willingness to repair ties with Russia when he came into office, a bid made all the more difficult by the Russia-related scandals that continue to dog his White House.

Our relationship is at the lowest level its been at since the Cold War and its spiraling down, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told the Senate in a hearing last week. The two greatest nuclear powers in the world cannot have this kind of a relationship. We have to stabilize it and we have to start finding a way back.

But while the administration mulls that debate, the Treasury Department signaled Tuesday it would continue with Obama-era business as usual unless otherwise directed.

Todays action demonstrates that, under Trump, Treasury will continue to uphold this norm, said Edward Fishman, a former State Department official who helped craft U.S. sanctions on Russia under former President Barack Obamas administration. Its a good sign that Russia sanctions wont erode by dint of neglect during the Trump administration, he said.

Photo credit: SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images
Photo credit: Boeing

From Popular Mechanics

Cold War Two is suddenly getting a lot hotter, as the U.S. and Russia escalate toward a conflict over Syria.

On Sunday, an Su-22 fighter-bomber of the Syrian Air Force dropped bombs on U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. To the United States, that made the plane a clear and present danger "in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of coalition-partnered forces," as a statement from the coalition command put it. A U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet engaged and shot down the Syrian plane.

Assad's government claimed that the Su-22 had been attacking ISIS terrorists and denounced the shoot-down as "blatant aggression." The Russians predictably took Assad's side, and have pulled the plug on the communications channel meant to "de-conflict" air operations in the region. More seriously, the Russians plan to shoot down any aircraft intruding into their area of operations. "Any aircraft, including planes and drones belonging to the international coalition operating west of the Euphrates river, will be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets," it says.

If the Syrians made this kind of threat, the United States might shrug it off. But Russia is a different beast. As previously noted, Russia has recently beefed up defenses in Syria with some of their best surface-to-air missiles. The missile systems include the S-400 (also known as SA-21 , Growler or Triumf) and the S-300 (Grumble).

The S-400 in particular has a reputation as one of the most capable air defense systems in the world, and is a rival to the U.S. Patriot. It has a range of more than 200 miles, which effectively puts the entire area under its umbrella, including the air base at Incirlik in Turkey used by U.S. forces. The SA-400 can track at least a hundred targets and engage six of them at the same time. "Operating inside an SA-21 MEZ [Missile Engagement Zone] is a nightmare that will keep many U.S. and coalition aircrew up nights in the coming days, weeks, and months, " Air Force Intelligence Officer Tyson Wetzel wrote in November 2015.

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The S-400 relies on radar, which means that, in principle, stealth aircraft can stay safe and unseen. But this is a question of degree. Stealth is not absolute, it only reduces the range at which an aircraft can be detected. While the ultra-stealthy F-22 may be able to operate safely in the shadow of the S-400, any other aircraft is liable to be targeted. "Any illusions about 'invisible' jets will inevitably be crushed by disappointing reality," Major General Igor Konashenkov told the Russian news outlet Sputnik last year.

Russia has already been humiliated in Syria several times. There was the shooting down of a Russian aircraft by the Turkish air force in 2015, which prompted these missile deployments. Then there was President Trump's major cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base in April. (In theory, the Russian missiles could have shot down some of the incoming Tomahawks, but they were not fired. This might be interpreted as weakness.) In May, coalition aircraft bombed Syrian government forces, and now a Syrian government plane has been shot down.

Putin may now have decided the time has come to draw a line in the sand-and to start shooting if the U.S. crosses it. The new Russian threat leaves coalition commanders with several options for pursuing their objectives without getting into a full-scale conflict with Russia.

The first option would be to not use manned aircraft. Instead, artillery, missile strikes, and ground forces, plus expendable unmanned drones, would support friendly forces. This would remove the risk of a shoot-down and might help de-escalate the situation. But it would markedly reduce the capability of coalition forces, and might be seen as betraying a lack of commitment.

A second and much riskier option would be to counter the Russian defenses by non-kinetic, non-destructive means. A key player here might be the Navy's EA-18G Growler, a version of the Hornet packed with electronic gadgets to baffle, blind, and confuse radar systems. A skilled operator can play video games on the enemy's radar screen, conjuring up false targets, disguising real ones, and blanketing it with fuzz and static. In combination with unmanned craft like the 300-pound ADM-160 Miniature Air Launched Decoy, which is indistinguishable from a manned attack plane on radar, these could distract defenses and ensure that missiles are not directed at actual stealthy aircraft on real missions. Such an approach would have to be 100 percent effective every time to protect piloted aircraft, something no commander could ever guarantee.

Normally jamming and decoys would be deployed as part of a SEAD, or Suppression of Enemy Air Defense operation. During such an operation, while the radar are still confused, they would be rapidly destroyed by AGM-88 HARM missiles ("High Speed Anti-radiation missile"), which home in on radar emissions, or by other guided weapons like the Air Force's JASSM directed at missile sites. It is extremely hard to see this sort of deliberate escalation occurring-unless U.S. aircraft were shot down.

A more left-field approach would be to tackle the problem of Syrian attack aircraft at its source. April's cruise missile attack took out an estimated 20 percent of Syria's combat aircraft. Further strikes could eliminate the Syrian air capability entirely, removing any need to get into dogfights with them.

Whatever approach the U.S. and allies decide on, there is always the possibility that the Russians take further actions themselves. This might take the form of a cyberattack or other deniable but dramatic action to send a message about their resolve over Syria and even the score.

If things really go wrong, escalation over Syria could quickly spiral into a world war. There may not be any good options for the U.S. anymore, just a choice between bad and worse. We have seen repeatedly that getting into a war is frighteningly easy. Getting out of one is a different story. Some careful thinking will be needed before America takes any further steps.

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The casket of Otto Warmbier is carried The casket of Otto Warmbier is carried from Wyoming High School after his funeral, Thursday, June 22, 2017, in Wyoming, Ohio. (Photo: Bryan Woolston/AP)

A long line of mourners waited to enter funeral services early Thursday, June 22 for Otto Warmbier, the U.S. student imprisoned in North Korea who returned home last week in a coma that proved fatal.

The services were being held in his home state of Ohio, with the funeral at his former high school and burial at a Cincinnati cemetery.

Sentenced to hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, the 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in captivity.

Suffering from severe brain damage, he died Monday at a Cincinnati hospital. President Donald Trump slammed Warmbiers detention and eventual death as a total disgrace. (AFP)

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MANAN VATSYAYANA/AFP/Getty Images

A US fighter jet has shot down a pro-Syrian regime drone just outside the Syrian de-confliction zone, according to US Central Command (Centcom).

Centcom said an American F-15E fighter jet shot down a drone that was advancing on Coalition forces in Southern Syria and "display[ing] hostile intent". Officials told CNN the drone appeared to be armed and within firing distance of US troops.

"Given recent events, the Coalition will not allow pro-regime aircraft to threaten or approach in close proximity to Coalition and partnered forces," Centcom said in a statement.

This marks the third downing of an aircraft backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this month.

The incident comes just days after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian regime warplane that was dropping bombs near US-backed Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) fighters.

That downing drove the Russian government, which supports Mr Assad's regime, to announce they would treat American aircraft in some parts of the country as "targets".

Earlier this month, US forces shot down a similar drone that officials say fired on a military training camp housing US-backed troops.

These incidents indicate an escalating conflict near the training camp, located near the Syrian-Jordanian border, where the US says it is training troops to fight Isis.

Iranian-backed, pro-Assad troops have been encroaching on the area, adding to tensions.

The camp sits inside a roughly 50km de-confliction zone recently established by the US. Centcom said any "demonstrated hostile intent" toward their forces in the area "will not be tolerated".

The US has already launched two direct attacks on pro-Assad forces entering the deconflcition zone.

"The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat," Centcom said on Tuesday.

Inching toward major powers conflict inside Syria. https://t.co/FCBoHF5AKA  Evan Hill (@evanchill) June 20, 2017

The Russian Defence Ministry has contradicted this account of US operations in the country, calling the recent downings a "flagrant violation of international law" and "actual military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic".

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They Russians accuse the US of operating "under the guise of combating terrorism."

The UN, meanwhile, has said US-led airstrikes in Syria are killing a "staggering" number of civilians.

Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, warned that the war against terrorism in the country must not come at the expense of civilians who unwillingly find themselves living in areas where Isis is present.
US says fighter shot drone as it approached outpost near borders of Syria, Iraq, and Jordan, the same day Russian jet came close to US warplane over Baltic Sea

A US warplane shot down an Iran-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, the US says. Photograph: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

US forces in southern Syria have shot down an Iranian-made armed drone in the second such incident in 12 days, in a further sign that Washington and Tehrans agendas are colliding along the Syrian-Iraqi desert frontier.

A US F-15 fighter jet opened fire on the drone in the early afternoon because it was approaching a US outpost near al-Tanf where US advisors were training an anti-Isis local militia, according to the Pentagon spokesman, Capt Jeff Davis.

The F15 intercepted the armed UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] after it was observed advancing on coalition positions. It had dirty wings, meaning it was loaded with ordnance. The UAV did not make an attempt to divert, Davis said.

Al-Tanf is a strategic point near the Syrian, Iraq and Jordanian borders. In a similar incident on 8 June, an Iranian-made drone of the same kind dropped a bomb near US troops at the same training outpost before it was shot down by a US plane.

We have said before that demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces towards coalition partner forces in Syria that are conducting legitimate counter-Isis operations in Syria, will not be tolerated, Davis said. We do not seek conflict with any party in Syria other than Isis but we will not hesitate to defend ourselves or our partners if necessary.

Russia accused the US-led coalition of complicity with terrorism by shooting down the drone. In Syria this type of strike is akin to complicity with terrorism, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency.

And as Isis is dislodged from its current strongholds and outside powers compete for control of the vacated territory, the potential for clashes has escalated rapidly.

Tensions are also manifesting themselves in other arenas. On Tuesday, the US reported that a Russian fighter jet came within five feet of a US warplane over the Baltic Sea. US officials said the plane was armed and flying erratically. The incident is one of a long string of close encounters as Nato and Russian forces exercise in close proximity.



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UN secretary general Antonio Guterres warned that the recent incidents could be very dangerous and lead to an escalation of the war in Syria.

I strongly hope that there will be a de-escalation of the situation because these kinds of incidents can be very dangerous in a conflict situation in which there are so many actors and in which the situation is so complex on the ground, said Guterres.

In Syria, Russia announced on Monday that it had suspended a military hotline with US forces and threatened to shoot down coalition planes that flew west of the Euphrates river after the US shot down a Syrian-piloted bomber that flew too close to a US-supported force advancing on the Isis bastion of Raqqa in northern Syria.

Just before the shooting down of the Syrian bomber, US officials say there was a movement of regime ground troops with tanks and artillery towards two towns near Raqqa that were held by US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

According to the Pentagon, US warplanes conducted a show of force to try to warn off the advance including strafing runs near regime lines.

At that point the Syrian government Su-22 approached and the US aircraft also tried to warn it off by firing flares and carrying out a head butt manoeuvre, which entails flying just in front of an aircraft so it is jostled by the wake of the jet engines.

According to the Pentagon account the Su-22 pilot ignored the warning and went into a dive to bomb SDF positions. After that the Syrian jet was shot down by the US warplanes.

The US military said there were no signs on Monday that the deconfliction channel had been suspended and that they were keen to defuse tensions. On Tuesday, Davis said: We remain available on our end. Ill leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation.

The spokesman said that US air operations were continuing, including west of the Euphrates, with some changes to altitude and flight plans in order to mitigate risk. On a previous occasion in April when Moscow declared it was closing the deconfliction line as a response to a US missile attack on a Syrian regime air base, the channel was left open and continued to operate normally.

However, Australia announced it was suspending its flights as part of the coalition while there was uncertainty over the deconfliction channel. As a precautionary measure, Australian defence force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased, the Australian department of defence said on Tuesday.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

The Iranian drones shot down in the Syrian desert are of the time, Shahed-129, a relatively new addition to Irans substantial drone armoury. The Pentagon said it was not aware who was operating the drones shot down over the past two weeks but said that Iran has provided this drone type to the Syrian regime and to the Lebanese Shia militia, Hezbollah. But US officials said that units of Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were known to be in the area.

Galen Wright, an expert on Iranian armaments who runs a blog on the subject, the Arkenzone, said that the Shahed-129 required a runway to take off and land. Even if its Syrian, Iraqi or Lebanese personnel pushing the buttons, IRGC personnel or advisors are almost certainly nearby, Wright said. Especially given that Shahed-129s are still relatively rare.
Washington (AFP) - President Donald Trump called the death of one-time North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier a "total disgrace" Tuesday and appeared to take a swipe at the Obama administration for failing to bring the American student home before it was too late.

Sentenced to hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, the 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in captivity.

Suffering from severe brain damage, he died Monday in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, surrounded by family who decried his "awful torturous mistreatment" at the hands of Pyongyang, while taking solace in the fact he made it home before he died.

Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and handed a 15-year sentence in March last year, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.

"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto," Trump said during an event in the Oval Office. "It should never, ever, be allowed to happen. And frankly if he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different."

The young man's father, Fred Warmbier, previously criticized former president Barack Obama's administration for how little he did for their son, saying officials had counseled the family against speaking out to avoid antagonizing the North Korean regime.

"The results speak for themselves," the student's father said last week.

Trump paid tribute to Warmbier's family, with whom he has spoken personally, saying "it's incredible what they have gone through."

- 'Heavy responsibility' -

A day earlier, the president slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang, and said he was determined to "prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

Trump's stern language was echoed by South Korean President Moon Jae-In, who said in an interview ahead of a White House visit next week that North Korea bears responsibility for the student's death.

Story continues

"We cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr Warmbier, but I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to his death," Moon told CBS television's "This Morning."

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, in an arms buildup that Washington has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

Moon, a center-left politician sworn in last month after a landslide win, favors engagement with the North to bring it to the negotiating table, rather than the hardline stance of his ousted predecessor.

Asked how the Warmbier case would affect his efforts to engage North Korea, Moon added: "I believe we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime.

"Working with such a country, we must achieve the goal of the complete dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program."

- 'He was home' -

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed that Warmbier contracted botulism and fell into a coma soon after being sentenced last year.

Doctors last week said Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, for which tests did not conclusively reveal the cause.

They said Warmbier's condition was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

The young man was described as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."

"He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

The young man's funeral will take place at 9 am (1300 GMT) on Thursday at a high school in Cincinnati, and will be open to the public.

- Risk 'too high' -

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Monday that Washington holds North Korea "accountable" for Warmbier's fate, and demanded the release of three other Americans held by North Korea.

Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.

"Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high. The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated," said the China-based Young Pioneer Tours.
Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo.

From Popular Mechanics

This weekend's collision between the guided missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald and the cargo carrier ACX Crystal has highlighted the role Arleigh Burke-class destroyers play in U.S. naval operations worldwide. The collision, which occurred 58 miles off the coast of Japan, killed seven sailors and injured dozens more. Designed during the Cold War to help protect carrier battle groups, the Burke destroyers are the most capable surface warships ever put to sea by the U.S. Navy.

The Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers were conceived in the 1980s as anti-air warfare destroyers designed to shoot down Soviet missiles. During the Cold War it was widely believed that the Soviet Air Force and Navy would launch coordinated barrages of anti-ship missiles at U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, all of which carried extremely large warheads-and which could also carry nuclear warheads.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Craig Z. Rodarte.

In response, the U.S. Navy built up a layered defense system consisting of F-14 Tomcat fighters at the farthest edge, and Phalanx close-in weapon systems as a last-ditch defense. In between were the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers and backing them up, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.

The Burke-class destroyers were named after Admiral Arleigh Burke, who rose to fame commanding destroyer squadrons during World War II and later became Chief of Naval Operations. The first destroyer entered service in 1991, just as the Cold War was winding down, but construction continued on schedule and the last and 62nd ship in the class, Michael Murphy, was commissioned in 2012.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Patrick Dionne.

Like their namesake, nicknamed "31 Knot Burke," the ships are speedy, each powered by four General Electric LM2500 Gas Turbine Engines with a combined rating of more than 100,000 horsepower. This drives the 8,100 to 9,600 ton destroyer (depending on the variant) to speeds of more than 30 knots. The ships have extensive damage control capabilities, steel spaced armor to defeat shaped charges, and kevlar armor protecting key areas.

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The Burkes were designed around the Aegis Combat System, combining the AN/SPY-1 phased array air defense radar with the SM-2 Medium Range Block III surface-to-air missile. The combination of the two made the Burkes a potent anti-air platform capable of detecting and tracking hundreds of targets at once. The 90 vertical launch silos, later increased to 96, mean the ship could carry scores of air defense missiles, each of which had a high probability of kill against enemy aircraft, anti-ship missiles, and cruise missiles.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Ensign Justin Villasenor.

Unlike previous ships, which used dual missile launching rails fed from a central internal magazine, the Burkes were designed from the start with the Mk. 41 vertical launch system (VLS). Consisting of individual silos, each Mk. 41 can hold a single SM-2 surface-to-air missile, SM-3 ballistic missile interceptor, Tomahawk cruise missile, ASROC anti-submarine rocket torpedo, and Enhanced Sea Sparrow short-range surface-to-air missile. The distributed nature of the VLS system meant that the ship wouldn't lose firepower to a rail or magazine malfunction.

Despite the emphasis on anti-air warfare the Burkes can perform other roles, particularly anti-submarine warfare. Each has a AN/SQS-53C hull mounted sonar and a AN/SQR-19 tactical towed sonar array that is trailed behind the ship to aid in submarine detection to the rear, past the noise generated by the destroyer's props. The Burkes also have two Mark 32 triple tube anti-submarine torpedo launchers, for a total of six torpedoes, plus rocket propelled ASROC anti-sub rockets in the vertical launch silos for engaging submarines at longer ranges.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jay C. Pugh.

In the land attack role, the Burkes have a single 5-inch gun (127-millimeter) gun mounted in the bow. The Mk. 45 gun system has a range of 13 miles and is fed by a 600 round armored magazine deep within the ship. The Mk. 45 is useful against shore targets and other ships. New ammunition with proximity fuses is being developed to counter swarms of small armed boats, exploding in the air and peppering hostile, speedboat-sized ships with lethal shrapnel. A new hypervelocity round is also in the works designed to engage air, sea and land targets, and even incoming ballistic missile warheads.

The Burke class destroyers are also capable of carrying the Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles. The April 2017 strike on a Syrian airfield that carried out chemical weapons strikes was carried out by two Burke destroyers, the USS Porter and the USS Ross, which struck the Al-Shayrat Air Base with 59 Tomahawk missiles. This suggests each destroyer's 90-96 silos include 30 Tomahawks plus other missiles. The subsonic missiles are capable of flying up to 900 miles, staying low to evade enemy air defenses, and delivering a 1,000 pound high explosive warhead with an accuracy of within 10 meters.

Finally, the ship has a variety of light weapons to deal with smaller threats. The ship has a single Phalanx close-in weapon system for intercepting any "leakers" that manage to make it through the wall of defensive missiles, and the Phalanx is also useful against small boat swarms. It also has two M242 Bushmaster 25-millimeter rapid-fire cannons, the same that arm the U.S. Army's Bradley Fighting Vehicle, for the small boat threat.

Photo credit: U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Eric Coffer.

Despite the traditional role of the destroyer as an anti-ship platform the majority of the Arleigh Burke destroyers have no dedicated anti-ship missile at all. While 28 of the ships are armed with eight Harpoon anti-ship missiles, 34 of the ships were constructed with no Harpoon missiles at all. Built during an era that emphasized ship to shore firepower over ship to ship firepower, these 34 ships must rely on using SM-2 surface to air missiles to strike other warships.

The versatility of the Arleigh Burke destroyers has been enhanced with a series of modifications. Starting with the 29th destroyer in the class, USS Oscar Austin, hangars for the permanent basing of two helicopters were added to each ship. Typically, each ship carries one anti-submarine and one utility/light attack version of the MH-60 Seahawk. Fifteen of the destroyers, including the USS Fitzgerald, have been fitted with the ballistic missile defense variant of the Aegis combat system, giving the ship an additional capability to track and engage incoming ballistic missiles with SM-3 Block 1B interceptors. These destroyers are split between the Western Pacific and Mediterranean where they provide regional missile defense.

Photo credit: Sgt. Don L. Maes/U.S. Marine Corps.

In October 2000 the Burke-class vessel USS Cole was docked in Yemen harbor when a small craft came alongside and detonated an estimated 400 to 700 pounds of explosives. The explosion killed 17 sailors, injured 39 others, and created a gaping 40 by 60 foot hole in the ship's hull at the waterline. Despite the damage the Cole was repaired and still serves today.

The attack on the USS Cole-and the collision involving the USS Fitzgerald-demonstrates that these ships, armed to the teeth, are hardy, survivable ships capable of taking enormous damage and staying afloat. Still, as hardy as a ship can be it's the crew that matters, and by all accounts the crew of the USS Fitzgerald performed heroically to treat their wounded, search for the missing, and keep the ship afloat.

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Lufthansa Consulting proposes Rs688.67m fee to assist NAC

Lufthansa Consulting, which has applied to become a strategic management partner in Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC), has proposed a fee of Rs688.67 million for the services it will be providing in three different phases.
Washington (AFP) - US Vice President Mike Pence will meet Petro Poroshenko in Washington on Tuesday, the White House said, but there was no word on whether the Ukrainian president will be hosted by his opposite number Donald Trump.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said that Poroshenko would meet the US number two, but would not say whether a meeting with Trump is on the cards. Ukrainian officials also refused to comment.

"If we have any updates on the president's schedule we'll let you know later today," Spicer said.

A Poroshenko visit to Washington without meeting Trump is likely to be seen by Kiev as a diplomatic snub, and be cheered by Moscow.

Ukrainian officials have long been concerned about Trump's seeming unwillingness to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to solve the crisis.

For more than three years Ukraine has been fighting a pro-Kremlin insurgency in its eastern regions that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Last week Secretary of State Rex Tillerson suggested that the United States should not be "handcuffed" by an international plan to end the crisis in eastern Ukraine.

The United States, along with European powers, have demanded that both sides withdraw heavy weapons and observe a ceasefire.

Tillerson appeared to argue the United States no longer sees adherence to that accord as a precondition for Russian sanctions relief.
Apple CEO Tim Cook.(Photo by Stephen Lam/Getty Images)

Apple (AAPL) is tired of leaks. And according to a report by The Outlines William Turton, the company is employing individuals with experience through the likes of the N.S.A., F.B.I. and the U.S. military to stop its confidential information from being tomorrows big headline.

But in the irony to end all ironies, the information that Apple is trying plug its leaks comes from a leaked recording of an internal meeting about how to prevent leaks. So its a safe bet that Apple is quite unhappy right now.

The report not only touches on who is working with the tech giant, but also how successful its Global Security team has been in reducing leaks as of late.

Most interesting is the fact that Apple has cut leaks at its production facilities overseas so much that the main sources of information leaving the company are employees at its Cupertino, California headquarters.

We reached out to Apple and did not receive a response before publication.

Taking control

Naturally, Apple isnt the only company dealing with internal leaks. So how do they keep proprietary information from walking out the front door? According to Gartner Vice President Avivah Litan, organizations need to take both technical and non-technical actions.

Non-technical controls include security awareness, which comes down to employees being alert to changes in their coworkers behaviors; and workforce management.

Technical controls, on the other hand, involve things like behavior analytics.

It sounds really creepy, but basically you profile everything a user does, you put them in peer groups, you profile the peer groups, you profile other entries like desktops and databases and then you look at transactions relative to the profiles, Litan explained.

The leakers who leak

Why would someone risk their livelihood to leak information about their employers future products? In countries where Apple manufacturers its products, the main reason is cash, Litan explained.

Leakers at Apples campuses, meanwhile, could be trying to retaliate against the company for a poor performance review.

Story continues

But as Litan tells it, there isnt just one kind of leaker. In fact, there are several including pawns, goofs, collaborators and lone wolfs. Pawns are employees who can be tricked into leaking information via phishing attacks or honey pot schemes, while goofs leak information through simple mix-ups without any ill intent.

Collaborators are individuals who work with other parties to steal or leak proprietary information, while lone wolfs are people who act on their own to leak company data.

Whats so bad about a little leaking?

So why is Apple so hung up on making sure its future products arent leaked to the press? Because, the company says, it hurts its bottom line.

Thats not exactly off base, either. The company makes the bulk of its cash off of iPhone sales. And while consumers might purchase the latest handset when it first launches, sales slowly trickle off throughout the year as more and more information about the next iPhone release leaks.

If Apple can keep a tighter lid on the flow of information about its next products, it might be able to sell more current-generation phones.

On the flip side, though, consumers should have a right to know that what theyre spending their hard-earned cash on is exactly the product they want. If they want to get a next-generation iPhone, they should be able to do jut that.

But if they hear that a newer more advanced version is coming next year, then they should have the ability to decide if theyll wait for that handset to hit the market.

Its also worth noting that Apple isnt alone in its quest for product secrecy. Every major consumer manufacturer from video games to cars and trucks tries to keep their products under wraps for as long as possible. Apple, however, as one of the worlds richest companies, simply gets more attention.

It will be interesting to see if Apple can truly clamp down on leaks and turn its press conferences into the kind of incredibly surprising events they used to be. But chances are there will always be leakers ready and willing to share the information they have with the press regardless of their reasons.

More from Dan:

Email Daniel at dhowley@yahoo-inc.com; follow him on Twitter at @DanielHowley.


Marty Cooper is not nearly as famous as he should be.

Hes the former Motorola engineer we can thank for advances in liquid-crystal displays, two-way radios, WiFi, and pagers.

Andoh yeah. He invented the cellphone.

Hes also funny and sharp, and, at 88, still inventing. Last month, I had the chance to chat with him in Silicon Valley.

David Pogue and Marty Cooper (right).

POGUE: You are the father of, of course, the cellphone, and the pager, and MIMO Wi-Fi.

Marty Cooper with the Motorola DynaTAC 8000xthe first mobile phone.

What am I missing?

COOPER: Well, you know. Ive been in the same industry for like 100 years! Actually, only 60. So Ive had lots of opportunities.

POGUE: Well, brag a little. What else?

COOPER: Well, some of these things you wouldnt know about. The first radio traffic control happened in the 1950s. I built the first electronic device for ringing the telephone in a carbefore there was cellular, before there were even cellphoneswell, before there were any kind of phones. So you hang around long enough, and you can do a lot of stuff.

POGUE: When youre working on this stuff, do you have any idea where its going to go?

COOPER: Well, youve got to be a good dreamer. And thats what I do. Im not that great an engineer, but Im a very good dreamer.

POGUE: Youre not that great an engineer!?

COOPER: Well, you know, if youre going to dream realities, you have to know what youre dreaming about. The skill is ignoring reality and thinking about what really could be.

POGUE: So when youre working on something like a pager or the first mobile phone, are there naysayers?

COOPER: Everybodys a naysayer. Especially the bean counters. If you cant point to getting profits and revenues in a reasonable amount of time, then theyre negative, regardless of how great the story is. But even when we had proved the cellular concept, and we were ready to go public, I had a guy from London tell me: We think that the total market for portable phones in London is 12,000. And its more like 12 million now.

POGUE: Where is that guy today?

Story continues

COOPER: Yeah, exactly.

POGUE: And Im sorry to ask this question for the thousandth time in your life, but you made the first cellphone call. Do you remember what you said?

COOPER: The first public call.

POGUE: The first public call?

COOPER: Yeah, because we werent going to show something to the public that wasnt tested in a lab!

POGUE: Oh, I see.

COOPER: No, serendipitously, I was with a reporter, we were walking down the street, because thats how I like to demonstrate mobility. People are mobile, right? Thats my mantra. And I wanted to make a phone call, and I thought, you know, Im going to call Joel Engel, who is my counterpart at the Bell System. And the Bell System were our enemy. You know, theyre a monopoly, and we believe in competition. So I dialed the number, and remarkably, he answered the phone himself. And I said, Joel? He says, Marty! Hi, Marty. Im calling you from a cellphone. What, a real cellphone? A handheld, personal, portable, cellphone. Silence at the other end of the line.

You know that Im not above rubbing things in, but  To this day, Joel doesnt remember that call. I guess I dont blame him.

POGUE: Im sure Verizons got a record of it somewhere.

COOPER: Yeah, yeah, no doubt. No doubt.

Marty Cooper with the Motorola DynaTAC 8000xthe first mobile phone. (Courtesy Marty Cooper)

POGUE: Your work launched one of the biggest, most life changing, societally changing technologies the world has ever known. How do you not have this massive ego?

COOPER: Well, there are a couple of issues. First of all, I hope you know that I didnt do it all by myself. It was thousands of other people that participated. I happened to be the first one to think about actually building one like that.

But I dont live in the past. You know, if youre dreaming about the past, its not very interesting. So I still think a lot about the future. And Ive got more time on my hands now, so I think of more things than I ever did in the past. And its very exciting.

POGUE: What will the future bring?

COOPER: Well, we dont have enough time. But I think with the cellphone industry is still in its infant period. We are just barely getting started. In fact, the whole concept of computers, memory  these are all awkward. So what I see in the future is good technology. Good technology is invisible. You dont even know its there, but it serves you. And thats what the cellphone ought to do, thats what a computer ought to do. And so I think we are going to meld our minds with the machines.

Everybody keeps talking about theyre scared about the robots? Not really. If you think about the person of the future, his mind will be offloading the trivial things like remembering things. Computers do that so much better. And the focus for a human being will be abstracting, thinking.

But, on the other hand, when you need the memory, when you need the processing, its all part of your mind. No keyboards in between. And, if you could imagine a world like that, we are much, much more powerful as individuals. And then, when you add into that that were all connected, well, there is no problem in the world that will not be solved.

POGUE: Are you talking about implantable technology?

COOPER: Of course.

POGUE: You are? Youre a believer?

COOPER: Well, ultimately. But, you know, its going to happen gradually. But just think about the idea of  [grabs a phone] Does this look like a practical device? I mean, its flat. My face is curved. And Im in this awkward position. So when I envision a cellphone as being a bunch of optimum devices  this does a whole bunch of suboptimal things. And so, one of them, as an example, is talking and listening. Were never going to stop talking, especially guys like you and me. And the optimum place to put a telephone, for somebody thats talking and listening, is lets stick it, say, right behind your ear, right?

And have a powerful computer in it, and if I want to talk to David, I say, Get David on the phone for me. And they say, Well, you want your cousin David in Pittsburgh, or David Pogue? And I say, No, get Pogue on the phone. And, the next thing you know, Im talking to you. Thats, to me, an optimum phone. You dont have to think about it, you know, its just there.

And the next stuff after that, well, wait a second, now weve got a charging problem with this gadget behind you ear. What does your body do? Your body takes food in and it creates energy. Well, why dont we implant this phone under your skin behind your ear? I mean, you know, ladies puncture their ears all the time. And, once you do that, you use the chemistry of the body to keep the thing going. Now, its a real engineering solution. Never think about it, its there when you need it. When you dont need it, its not there. Thats my ideal.

POGUE: You really are an imaginative, forward thinker. I mean 

COOPER: Nice of you to say that. What is that you want? Every time you compliment me, I worry about that.

POGUE: A selfie, thats all I want. I mean, I think you should wallow in what youve created. You and your team. I mean, the world is transformed by cellular technology.

COOPER: Yeah, theres no question about that. The part that really inspires me is whats going on in the emerging countries. In a place where the real advantage of connectivity is, in Africa The fact that they can now move money around Well, the best example is: youve got to a village in India. Micro-financing. A poor woman buys a cellphone. She rents time on the cellphone for the farmers around there. So the farmers, now, can call the neighboring villages, find out where the market is. Their efficiency goes up. So shes making money, the farmers are making money, micro lenders are making money. You know, win win win.

POGUE: Thats amazing. All because of some Motorola engineer a few years ago.

COOPER: There you go. Engineers do good things on occasion. Theyre a little awkward from time to time, but we love them.

POGUE: Well take it. Thank you, Marty.

COOPER: Its always a pleasure, David.

More from David Pogue:

Apple polishes up 23 features in Mac OS High Sierra

The 27 most interesting features in iOS11

The DJI Spark is the smallest, cheapest obstacle-avoiding drone yet

The new Samsung Galaxy does 27 things the iPhone doesnt

The most important announcements from Googles big developers conference

Google Homes mastermind has no intention of losing to Amazon

Now I get it: Ransomware

Google exec explains how Google Assistant just got smarter

Amazons Alexa calling is like a Jetsons version of the home phone

David Pogue, tech columnist for Yahoo Finance, is the author of macOS Sierra: The Missing Manual. He welcomes nontoxic comments in the comments section below. On the web, hes davidpogue.com. On Twitter, hes @pogue. On email, hes poguester@yahoo.com. You can read all his articles here, or you can sign up to get his columns by email.
Dozens of demonstrators were injured over the weekend in Kiev, Ukraine in violent protests against the decision of the city council to replace the name a main street to that of an officer who was one of organizers of an anti-Polish ethnic cleansing.

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The street was named after General Nikolai Vatutin, who liberated Kiev from the Nazis, but now it was decided that it would be named after Roman Shukhevych, an SS officer responsible for the massacre of tens of thousands of Jews.

Protest in Kiev against the renaming

In October 2009, the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko even gave Shukhevych the title of hero of Ukraine, even though he took part in an ethnic cleansing.

The decision was passed by the city council on June 1 with a majority of 69 out of 120.

The mayor of Kiev, Vitali Klitschko, did not support the decision but did not object to it either, even though his Jewish grandmother was one of those whom General Vatutin had liberated from the Nazis.

In the past two weeks, Klitschko has been under heavy pressure to veto the decision and not to change the name of the street, but so far he has refused to intervene. The decision is due to take effect in the coming days.

This move drew the ire of many of Kiev's citizens.

On social networks, it won the name "National Day of Shame." A few days ago, hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the statue of General Vatutin in the center of Kiev, standing above his grave, calling for the name of the street not to be changed. Most of the demonstrators were World War II veterans who shouted "shame."

SS officer Roman Shukhevych

On Saturday, violent demonstrations took place in Ukraine, in which 20 people were injured. Police arrested several rioters.

Edward Dolinsky, one of the leaders of the Jewish community in Ukraine, said: "Is it possible to measure the depth of a moral decline? It is not easy when there are cases where the decline is so deep that it cannot be measured.

A decision by the Kiev city council to change the name of the street in the name of General Vatutin to the name of a Nazi officer, whose hands are stained with the blood of tens of thousands of Ukrainians, Jews and Polesis precisely a case of a moral decline, cynicism and contempt for humanity. This is a day of national shame. "

The Jewish community filed a petition with the Kiev Regional Court, which issued an interim injunction prohibiting the mayor from signing the order to change the name of the street until a final decision on the matter was made.

Alex Tantzer, a social activist among immigrants from the former Soviet Union, said: "For years, murderers of Jews have been titled as heroes. The Prime Minister of Ukraine is Jewish and he is silent. Mayor Klitschko, whose grandmother is Jewish, did not object, and even Israel is silent.

"I expect Israel to protest in the strongest possible terms against this decision.

"There is a limit to cynicism and moral decline. If Ukraine is looking for heroes, it should not find them among Nazi collaborators. The Ukrainian people are entitled to other heroes."

(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
An advisor to Iran's foreign minister said Monday the Islamic republic's missiles attack against ISIS in Syria also served as a message to Israel, adding "I think (Israel) understood the message... it now has to worry" about its actions.

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In an interview with the Al-Miyadin network, Sheikh Hussein al-Islam said the missile strike showed the strength of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, adding Tehran "will not allow terrorism to determine the future of the region." Showing his disdain for any outside interference, al-Islam determined "the presence of Americans in the region is illegal; the US should leave Syria sooner or later."

The Iranian missile launch

X

"We are targeting terrorists only, and the countries that support them must know what it means when we use these missiles," he added, hinting at Israel.

"The Saudis and Americans are the main recipients of this message," said General Ramzan Sharif of the Revolutionary Guards. "Several reactionary countries in the region, especially Saudi Arabia, have announced they are trying to bring insecurity to Iran."

The Iranian missile launch (Photo: AP)

Al-Islam also claimed that the missiles launched were "100 percent accurate."

Israeli sources contradicted this statement, claiming that the Iranians launched 4-5 missiles from two different locations into two target groups in Deir ez-Zor and in Palmyra but only a missile or two of them actually hit their target.

'Do not threaten Israel'

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Al-Islam's statements during a Likud party meeting. "The army and the security forces are continuously monitoring Iran's activity in the region," he said. "This activity is also about Iranian attempts to settle in Syria and, of course, transfer advanced weaponry to the Lebanese Hezbollah."

"I have a message to Iran: Do not threaten Israel," added Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Photo: Yonatan Zindel/Flash 90)

For the first time in thirty years, since the war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988, Iran launched Sunday missiles against a foreign country.

Six missiles were fired from western Iran to eastern Syria, targeting the "terrorist bases" in Deir ez-Zor.

The missile strike was retaliation for the combined attack perpetrated on June 7 in Tehran, in which two security personnel, ten government employees and five civilians were killed, and more than 50 people were injured. Authorities reported that the attackers were Iranian citizens.

Several dozen suspects have been arrested by Iranian authorities since the attack, with Tasnim quoting Iranian Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi as saying that Iranian security forces had liquidated the terrorist planner in the parliament and in the tomb of Ayatollah Khomeini.

(Translated & edited by Lior Mor)
Editor's Note: YEN.com.gh features a young woman in Ghana living with Fibromyalgia Syndrome, a incurable disorder that is widely unknown especially in Ghana. She agreed to be featured under the condition of anonymity. Her story seeks to bring awareness to the disorder and what it's like living with it.

What is this madness that makes me// carry myself into the future, // leaving happiness behind, // torturing myself this way?

K.

A writer, poet and literary enthusiast. Life on the outside looks pretty normal. She is on her way to earning her PhD, and is among the leading new faces in Ghanas writing scene.

I am a writer, I am a literary enthusiast, I blog. I am serious about building a writing career and Im also an academic. I also love food, which I want to develop and do something with, is how she introduces herself.

YEN.com.gh brings you the latest stories from around Ghana right here

K. is a young woman living with a condition called Fibromyalgia Syndrome. This chronic condition is still widely unknown, especially in Ghana. With the ongoing research about it, there are still differing schools of thought on whether it is an autoimmune disorder or a neurological one.

What is Fibromyalgia Syndrome?

FMS is characterized by chronic widespread pain, which affects the muscles, bones and soft tissues. The disorder which incurable, is generally accompanied by chronic muscle pain, fatigue, sleep and mood issues, and sometimes cognitive challenges.

Ks earliest recollection of any serious illness was in 2009, when she felt a sharp pain in her chest. Upon her visit to the doctor, she was prescribed Vitamin C and cough syrup.

I didnt think the doctors prescription was right. I was concerned about the pain I felt in my chest. So when I got home, I asked my parents to take me to a different hospital.

At the clinic, she was diagnosed with a severe kind of pneumonia, as instead of fluids filling up her lungs, it was blood. She was immediately admitted and spent some time in the clinic.

However, it was in 2010 that K. started to exhibit symptoms of her condition. It was a long road through these initial signs, as the doctors could not explain to her why she was experiencing these symptoms or what caused them.

She had to move from hospital to hospital, and take several tests.

It was after I met a neurosurgeon during one of my hospital visits, who then referred me to Korle-Bu, in 2015, that I was fully diagnosed. So before my diagnosis, it was nothing by treatments for whatever symptoms I was going through. I used to be in so much pain, with paralysis with legs, burning sensations. I had to be carried to the hospital often," K. says

It was until her official diagnosis two years ago, that she found out these symptoms were known as flare-ups.

READ ALSO: Sophia Akuffo is the 12th Chief Justice of Ghana

After years of going through several treatments for her various symptoms which only served to lessen her discomfort at the time, K. initially felt relief at finally putting a name to her condition.

However the relief was short-lived.

My immediate reaction when the doctor told me there was no cure, was not good. It was a lot to take in. Because after finally getting the diagnosis, I expected them to just scribble some medication but to find out the journey was actually just starting, it was a lot to deal with," she adds.

It was a numb feeling, as one would expect, especially with breaking the news to her loved ones. She wondered how to tell them, since they had all been through the pain and financial constraints together.

But they are very supportive, she states.

A typical day in her life

Living with a chronic illness, any chronic illness is not and would never be easy. One can only imagine what a typical day in the life of someone living with FMS is like.

I wake up like a zombie. Because of my previous night medication, I wake up in the morning but I cant leave my bed yet. Then I go through a morning stiffness. There is always a baseline pain you deal with, which I usually dont pay attention to. I can only tell whether there is a flare-up starting if it goes above that baseline. Sometimes I think I have diarrhea and constipation at the same thing. My blood pressure could drop just like that. You deal with chronic migraine and chronic fatigue.

READ ALSO: I loved it like God's creation- Asamoah Gyan talks about late expensive pet

Living with a chronic illness comes with certain strict measures to ensure severe symptoms are not triggered. Ks routine is to make sure she does not stress herself so much, as that leads to a flare-up.

These lifestyle measures are necessary to prevent bad days, like the last one K had, where she recalled passing out at work and being rushed to the hospital.

I wake up, take my medication. I get to work and I make sure I keep hydrated. I make sure to stay happy. Because the number one flare up trigger is stress, so I make sure to do these things every day," K. tells YEN.

The Rheumatology Initiative

Since finally find out what autoimmune condition she actually had, K. found herself in support group for persons living with similar conditions with The Rheumatology Initiative or tRi Ghana, which was founded by Dr. Dzifa Dey, one of TWO Rheumatologists in Ghana.

The core objectives of the organization is to raise awareness and raise funds for research on the autoimmune conditions that affect young people in Ghana.

It also offers a support group for persons living with these conditions. K. joined the initiative after her diagnosis in 2015, and now volunteers with the team, using her skills as a writer and social media enthusiast.

With supportive family and friends, K. also finds her writing to be a strong coping mechanism. She often blogs or rants about living with the condition.

My only motivation is God. Because in spite of all the good things that go on around me, I still struggle with my emotions, as I constantly struggle to stay in whatever good vibe is happening in the moment, she says.

The Health Service and People with FMS

In a country that is still facing challenges in terms of infrastructure development in its health sector, it comes as no surprise that there is very little to no awareness about autoimmune conditions and the people living with them.

K. believes it is necessary to get the conversation going about autoimmune disorders, as through her description of a typical review day, it is clear there is a need for more improvement in the health care delivery system for people with these conditions.

Review days are a nightmare. Rheumatology clinic is on Mondays. So its a challenge first of all to explain to your employer about why you cannot be present at work on a Monday.

Then theres the actual hassle of the day. You have to be at the clinic before 10am, then have your vitals taken at 10am not because the doctor is ready to see you, but because there are a lot of patients present for their review as well. Then you have to wait for the doctor to get in by 1 pm or later. So by the time you meet a doctor, its late afternoon. And its not a conducive environment for people with such conditions, because the number one trigger of the flare ups is stress and that place is stress headquarters, she adds with a chuckle.

PAY ATTENTION: Get all the latest news on the go with the YEN.com.gh app right here

Review days tend to be full days, because as K. explains, the consulting doctors are stretched out with many different obligations. They have to start off with their ward rounds, teach a class and review old and new patient files before they settle in to see the days list of patients.

K. hopes to see a society that becomes more aware of the disease and how it affects the people diagnosed with them, as well as see the state establish infrastructures that will make life better for people like her.

Living, Writing, Laughing

Living with a chronic illness may seem like a painful, unhappy journey to the outside world, but for K. her condition does not define her nor interrupt her plans for the future.

Sometimes I am surprised at myself. I realized that a flare up is a flare up no matter where you are. And thats how I handle every day. I take it one day at a time. So Im going to get that PhD, going to write that book, going to start that food business. Ill have the happy healthy children I want to have. I wont let this condition stop me from living the best I can," K. states.

And with a resolve like that, there is nothing stopping her from being the best of herself for the long life ahead.

READ ALSO: VIDEO: Kennedy Agyapong dances with his daughter to Lil Win's 'Mama Boss Papa'

And though hope may have died, // Gems rise // From charred things so // SomethingSomething must give. 

K.

Want to be featured on YEN.com.gh? Share your stories, photos or videos to info@yen.com.gh or send us a message via our Facebook page.

Source: YEN.com.gh
Nepal-China Joint Mechanism reviews status of bilateral relations

The 11th meeting of the Joint Consultation Mechanism held between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Nepal and the People's Republic of China in the Capital on Tuesday reviewed the status of Nepal-China relations and assessed the progress made in the implementation of agreements/MoUs reached between the two sides in the past.
Nepal, China to dwell on BRI, past deals

A month after signing up to Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Nepal and China are set to hold their first foreign secretary level meeting, which will bring together top officials from the two countries, on Tuesday.
Norwegian Ambassador calls on PM

Norway's Ambassador for Nepal, Kjell Tormod Pettersen, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday.
Ongoing election meaningless, say RJP-Nepal leaders

Leaders of the Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal have termed the second phase of local level elections as a drama staged by the government.
Parties counting on Muslim voters in Rupandehi and Kapilvastu

Almost all parties have selected their candidates from the Muslim community in the municipalities and village councils in Rupandehi and Kapilvastu districts.
People's war was not a romance of few individuals: Dahal

Chairman of CPN (Maoist Centre) and former Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal has remarked that the 'people's war' was not a romance of some individuals but an outcome of historical necessity.
Plug the loophole

Govt should remove controversial provision from the Tax Settlement Commission Act
RJP-N cadre injured in Sunsari clash dies

A cadre of agitating Rastriya Janata Party-Nepal, who was critically injured in a clash with police personnel in Inaruwa of Sunsari on Thursday, breathed his last during the course of treatment at the Dharan-based BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences on Tuesday.
Saarc secy gen, envoys meet Deuba

Saarc Secretary General Amjad Hussian B Sial, British Ambassador Richard Morris and French Ambassador Yves Carmona paid separate courtesy calls on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and talked about wide-ranging issues on Monday.
Students to greener pastures

Almost 1,500 Nepali youths are leaving the country daily to work in the Gulf or Malaysia. Most of them are unskilled and uneducated; their sole purpose is to earn money to survive.
Taxi booking services offer relief from hassles

A solution to the hassles of finding a taxi to take you to your destination has arrived in Kathmandu in the form of ONVER and Eddy Cab taxi booking services.
Tingla residents boycott election

The people at Tingla of Necha Salyan Village Council in Solukhumbu have announced to boycott the June 28 elections as a protest against local restructuring.
US hands over crisis management centre

The US Mission to Nepal, in partnership with the government of Nepal, conducted a handover ceremony for a Regional Crisis Management Center (RCMC) and commenced the bilateral special operations training exercise Balance Nail 17-3 at the Nepal Armys Chhauni barracks in Kathmandu on Monday.
Use of illegally imported paddy seeds on the rise

Many farmers in the district are forced to use paddy seeds illegally imported from India as the domestic seeds market is unable to fulfill the demand.
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.
By Damali Muhkaye

Uganda continues to perform dismally in maternal health with pregnant women accessing antenatal care only four times.

This is against the World Health Organizations recommendation of accessing antenatal care eight times.

Speaking to KFM, the ministry of health Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwiine says the fact that most mothers know about their pregnancies much later, makes it difficult to increase contact between them and health care providers.

She notes that majority of the mothers are not aware about the importance of visiting their doctors regularly requiring more sensitization.

A new antenatal care model released by WHO shows that increasing the number of contacts a pregnant woman has with health providers throughout her pregnancy up to at least eight times is associated with a reduced likelihood of stillbirths.
By Damali Mukhaye.

The East African Community has embarked on a campaign to redesign its symbols and emblems to align them with the current developments in the integration process.

Addressing journalists at the Uganda media center, the Minister of State for East African Community affairs Hon. Maganda Julius Wandera says that the campaign proposes several initiatives that include re-designing a new EAC logo and flag, and developing a common unique identifier for all organs and institutions of the community.

Wandera explains that the current flag and logo are not designed to be adaptive to the expansion of the community both in terms of geographical location and color scheme.
By Ruth Anderah

The grand-children of late former Buganda King Sir Daudi Chwa are contesting the decision of the Deputy Attorney General for directing the Uganda National Roads Authority to deposit money for land compensation for the family to Buganda Land Board Bank accounts.

The Family led by Prince Henry Karemeera Kimera wants their compensation money be paid to High Court Bank accounts instead of Buganda Land Board accounts until a land case they filed before court is disposed of.

The family says on May 8th 2017 the High Court advised the Deputy Attorney General that the estate of the late Sir Daudi Chwa II is under the supervision of Court and that the compensation monies be deposited to the High Court account.

The family contends that UNRA and Buganda Land Board have connived to fleece Sir Daudi Chwas estate in the Kampala Jinja Expressway road project.

The land is question is located at Massajja in Kampala.
By Benjamin Jumbe

The President of Malta, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has called for the promotion and respect of the dignity of the African people.

President Preca made the remarks while opening the 33rd Session the African Caribbean Pacific and European Union (ACP-EU) Joint Parliamentary Assembly at the Intercontinental Hotel in St. Julian, Malta, yesterday.

Preca said that there is need to create meaningful improvement for the communities and societies in Africa by facing the challenges blocking their capacity to gain full prosperity.

She said that development she aspires for the international community is that of the social, economic and political wellbeing of all peoples and communities in Africa.

There are alarming reports that more wealth is pouring out of the 48 countries which the World Bank classifies as sub-Saharan annually; than is actually being channeled in for development purposes, she said.

The Deputy Speaker of the Ugandan parliament, Jacob Oulanyah welcomed the Maltese Presidents remarks saying that she brought out the reality of what has been said about the exploitation of Africa for a long time.
By Benjamin Jumbe

The government has dismissed claims of buying food for refugees and neglecting starving Ugandans.

This has come as Uganda joins the rest of the world to commemorate the World Refugee Day, which is held every 20th June.

The day is dedicated to raising awareness on the situation of refugees throughout the world and honors the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence.

Now speaking to KFM, ahead of the day, the minister for relief, disaster preparedness and refugees Eng Hillary Onek said such claims peddled by sections of politicians were unfounded, clarifying that it is the UN agencies handling that.

National celebrations are to be held at Nsambya play grounds in Kampala.

Meanwhile, the European Union has called on all non-traditional donors to join Ugandas efforts to address the growing refugee crisis.

This comes as the country joins the rest of the world to commemorate the world refugee day.

The EU in a statement has applauded Uganda for standing at the forefront of efforts to support refugees by keeping its doors open to those fleeing persecution in their own countries.

The EU says it has stood with Uganda in these efforts, currently funding 47% of the humanitarian response to the South Sudan emergency.

It says further commitments will be announced during the Uganda Solidarity Summit on Refugees, taking place this week on 22 and 23 June.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 56F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy during the evening followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 31F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.
The event took place in one of the most beautiful buildings in Dubai - the Concert Hall of the Association of Culture and Science.
Almaty. June of 16th. Kazakhstan Today - The winners of the city competition "Myn boyauly kala - City of thousands colors" were awarded shortly before Communications Workers' Day in Almaty, Kazakhstan Today informs.



Mayor of Almaty Bauyrzhan Baibek, Vice Minister of Information and Communications of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alan Azhibayev, as well as heads of the leading mass media of the country awarded the best representatives of the megapolis in the information sphere.



According to the mayor administration, the competition was held in seven nominations: The Best printed media publications, The Best news agency (Internet resource) publication, The Best radio story, The Best publication in social networks (bloggers narratives), The Best photo content; The Best infographic and The Best Television spot.



Dinara Zheldibayeva, journalist of the newspaper "Turkistan" won the category "The Best newspaper material". The music editor of the radio "Astana" Aigerim Bilyalova and the journalist of "Kazak radiosy" Aman Tasygan have shared the prize in the nomination for the best radio material. Editor of the site of the World Association of Kazakhs Yerlik Kekbekbai took the prize for the best material in the Internet resources. The best in infographics has become the general director of design bureau "IGRAPHIC" Baglan Aidashov. Zhanna Akhmetova published the best post in social networks, the work of Maxim Zolotukhin was recognized in the nomination of the best photo content, and in the nomination "The best television spot" the journalist of the Almaty branch of Agency "Khabar" Ulan Narynbek and the journalist of the "Astana" TV channel Adil Onerbaev were awarded.



Mayor of Almaty Bauyrzhan Baibek also visited the new modern pavilion of the "Almaty" TV channel, the area of which is more than 500 square meters.



Over the past year and a half, work has been done to modernize the channel: the equipment and production line have been converted to a digital format of 16x9 high definition, modern television equipment has been purchased for a total of KZT 1.2 bn. from well-known world producers.



Today, the "Almaty" TV channel has a mobile television station with the ability to go live from anywhere in the city and show any complex events. The coverage area of the channel has expanded throughout the country, making it available in all broadcasting networks - analogue, digital, satellite, cable and Internet.



In the current year, the share of the TV viewing channel according to the agency "TNS Gallup Media" has grown by 26% compared with 2015.



All this makes the TV channel "Almaty" more attractive for advertisers. Therefore, by the end of 2016, the channel's own income grew by 112%, amounting to KZT 256 million. For the first time since its creation, the channel has shown positive financial activity. With the introduction of a new studio pavilion equipped with the modern equipment, the broadcasting of the Almaty channel is moving to a qualitatively new level, the press service of the mayor administration noted.



This information may not be reproduced without reference to Kazakhstan Today. Copyright of materials of News Agency Kazakhstan Today.


Michael Williamson, the Stetson-sporting, pickup-driving executive director of the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) for the past five years, will retire at the end of 2017.

A nationwide search will be conducted for his successor.

The investment board manages the Wisconsin Retirement System, the ninth-largest U.S. public pension fund, which serves 620,000 active and retired public employees.

Since Williamson has headed SWIB, the amount of money the agency manages has jumped from $86.5 billion to more than $108 billion. Most of that is Wisconsin Retirement System funds, which totaled $80 billion in 2012 and now stands at $99 billion.

David Stein, chairman of SWIBs board of trustees, said Williamson has delivered value to the state.

Michael provided steady and skillful leadership for the organization as it navigated through difficult financial times and a major transformation of its operations, Stein said.

The transformation has involved upgrading SWIBs computer infrastructure to make the agencys operations more efficient and to be able to manage risk across all of our investments, Williamson said.

It provides some of the most sophisticated investment tools in the industry and offers more real-time information on all of our investments, he said.

The three-year project cost $48 million and was funded from SWIBs operating budget  made up primarily from returns on investments  not from general tax revenue. The new system will go live at the end of June, Williamson said.

Over the course of Williamsons tenure, the funds managed by investment board staff earned $1.2 billion above comparable indexed market returns. The money managers also have received significant bonuses. Williamson, whose base salary is $315,350, received a $520,000 bonus for 2017.

Williamson said he is proud of SWIBs accomplishments. The reason that the WRS and the investment board are known worldwide is that we stay at the forefront of institutional investment practices in a financial world that is continually evolving, he said.

Williamson, 63, had been deputy director of the District of Columbia Retirement Board before he came to SWIB and had served as director of the North Carolina Retirement System, the 10th-largest U.S. public pension system.

He also had held key administrative positions on the staffs of several well-known power brokers in Wisconsin. In the 1980s and 1990s, Williamson was assistant to UW-Madison chancellors Donna Shalala and David Ward; policy analyst to Gov. Lee Dreyfus; and chief of staff for Madison Mayor Joe Sensenbrenner.

A native of North Carolina, Williamson said his time in public service has spanned 41 years, starting with a job with the town of Waynesville, N.C., obtaining rights-of-way from property owners so the town could build a sewer line.

Williamson said that when he leaves SWIB, he will divide his time between Wisconsin and North Carolina, where he plans to fix up the farm at the edge of Great Smoky Mountains National Park that he inherited from his mother.

In his early 20s, he raised tobacco on that farm and sold the crop.

It paid for my graduate school education, Williamson said. Its always been in my plans to go back there.
The Holland Town Board is moving forward a culvert replacement to alleviate washouts and other drainage problems along Flatten Road off of Hwy. B.

Town Crew Supervisor Dewaine Clayton said when he discovered the culvert it was almost completely filled while looking into a recent washout. He said he believed that had contributed to the ongoing drainage problems along the road.

The culvert was actually buried under the ground and wasnt in use, he said. It runs under the road and out to someones house....

He said it appeared that the culvert may have been covered up, but couldnt say when or why.

This should be a functional culvert, he said. We are having road problems because it is not.

He said the lack of defined ditches also contributing to washouts and other water problems, but the clogged culvert needed to be repaired.

This is probably the worst culvert issue in the town, he said. Being that it is such a steep hill we need to get it done.

Board Chair Steve Michaels said once the culvert is repaired that should the end of road work on Flatten road for the foreseeable future.

The board voted unanimously to approve the culvert repair not to exceed $7,500.

The repair would cover the cost of a new culvert and an extension if its deemed necessary to further alleviate water issues.

The Flatten Road culvert isnt the only problem culvert in Holland.

Clayton said the village should budget to replace two culverts on Wolf Road and two more a year for the next year.

He said most of the problem culverts exist on the coulee roads branching off of Hwy. V and TT.

Clayton also advised the board to hold off on any new repairs to the towns 2008 Ford F350 work truck in favor of trading it and one of their Sterling plow trucks in for a single F550 plow truck.

He said a single F550 with a plow attachment would be more effective at clearing the coulee roads without causing more damage to the pavement.
ARCADIA  Ashley Furniture Industries on Monday afternoon reinforced its presence in Arcadia by breaking ground on an approximately $30 million e-commerce fulfillment and distribution center.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker joined local, county and state officials, and Ashley Furniture employees at the official groundbreaking, a politician-studded affair featuring speeches by Arcadia Mayor Rob Reichwein, 92nd District Assembly Rep. Treig Pronschinske, Ashley founder and Chairman Ron Wanek, and Walker.

The center will be just off of Washington Street by the companys distribution services in Arcadia and will cover 500,000 square feet, the largest expansion in the Arcadia facilitys 47-year history. The facility is expected to be finished February 2018, according to Wanek.

The expansion answers the demand for more immediate online services. Wanek said Ashley faces competition that can offer customers a one- to two-day delivery. Online commerce accounts for 5 percent of the Ashley sales and will be able to grow with the expansion, Wanek said.

When others have failed, weve been successful, and thats because weve had the change and people have been willing to change, Wanek said.

The site will also serve as a way for Ashley to retain its 5,000-person job force in western Wisconsin an increasingly automated world, Wanek said, adding the company hopes to create a few jobs with the new site.

At the ceremony, Walker credited a partnership between Ashley Furniture and the state with the continuing expansion. The company boasts 700 locations in 36 countries. Continuing to expand in Arcadia, Walker said, will be an extension of a manufacturing tradition in Wisconsin.

What will be inside this great new structure is really a symbol of the future. Its not just saying that were good at manufacturing, Walker said. That were so good, that were going to make it even better.

The statewide unemployment level has fallen to just above 3 percent  the second-lowest in state history  and Walker also encouraged more funding and programming for manufacturing and career education and training, starting as early as sixth grade, to encourage more manufacturing careers in Wisconsin.

All of that is for one reason: workforce, Walker said to the crowd. And we understand that student success in and of itself is valuable, but the fundamental reason why we need to do even more of that going forward is we have incredible needs in our workforce.

According to the citys mayor, Reichwein, the expansion by Ashley is another progression in the companys long history with the town.

I think over the years weve done stuff to encourage it, Reichwein said. We have such a large infrastructure here already.

Reichwein said the expansion will also encourage more business growth for not only the city of Arcadia but also the surrounding areas as well. The unemployment rate in Trempealeau County is below the statewide average  at 2.8 percent.

The partnerships Arcadia, surrounding communities and Ashley Furniture have forged with state and federal have contributed to the employment boom, according to Walker, who said at the ceremony it is businesses who provide the workforce with jobs, not politicians.

Government can create a good environment, but we dont create jobs. Thats the myth, Walker said.... We create an environment where job creators like Ron Wanek and Todd Wanek and all the folks here at Ashley create more jobs and create more opportunity.
Two environmental protection groups have challenged the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approval of a Monroe County frac sand operation.

Midwest Environmental Advocates and Clean Wisconsin are seeking reviews of the decision last month to grant Meteor Timber permits to fill 16.25 acres of wetlands to make way for a proposed $65 million processing and loading facility that would serve a nearby mining site the Georgia investment company acquired in a 2014 purchase of nearly 50,000 acres.

That would be the largest single destruction of wetlands in the state for an industrial frac sand project, according to Clean Wisconsin.

In petitions filed with the DNR and in Dane County Court, Clean Wisconsin argues that destroying the pristine forested wetlands  home to several rare and endangered species  would open the door to the destruction of more rare wetlands.

Staff attorney Evan Feinauer noted the DNR granted the permit despite its own admission that doing so could set a precedent for filling rare wetlands.

Theyre really pushing on the boundaries of what the statute permits, he said. And theyre well aware of this.

MEA filed a separate petition in Monroe County Circuit Court on behalf of the Ho-Chunk Nation, which has significant tribal and trust land throughout Wisconsin and ties to land near the project site along I-94 near the town of Millston.

The Nations government is dedicated to protecting its people and its lands for this and future generations, the petition states. The expansive and permanent destruction of the landscape, including wetlands, for industrial sand mines threatens the Nations people, land, and cultural heritage.

MEA staff attorney Sarah Geers said the nonprofit legal group also plans to join Clean Wisconsins petition for a contested hearing with the DNR.

Both groups claim the agency granted the permit without all the information required to legally review the application. They note that the DNR requested additional information needed to assess the impact of the project and the proposed mitigation as a condition of the permit.

In an email to the Tribune, DNR communications director James Dick declined to answer questions, saying, We wont be commenting on pending litigation. A spokesman for Meteor also declined to comment.

After the proposal first received media attention, Meteor proposed to restore and preserve more than 640 acres of other land  including more than 296 acres of existing wetlands.

However, the DNR determined those mitigation efforts are not likely to fully compensate for what it calls permanent and irreversible secondary impacts from activity on the site and may not compensate for the direct loss of 13.4 acres of exceptional quality white pine and red maple swamp, which is considered an imperiled habitat.

The agency also acknowledged the permit approval may lead to increased applications to fill rare, sensitive and valuable wetland plant communities.

Regulators and opponents both questioned the projects economic viability, given the drop in demand for sand since domestic fracking peaked in 2014.

An economic analysis by a Pennsylvania consultant said the location would allow Meteor to efficiently ship trainloads of sand directly to oil fields in Texas, which have become some of the nations most productive. The company expects to ship about 1.5 million tons of processed sand each year using the adjacent Union Pacific rail line and has said it cannot find another location on the line to accommodate such a large plant.

Geers argues that Meteor failed to prove the project will have a public economic benefit and didnt do enough research on alternate, less destructive sites.

Meteor has also said permitting its project is the only way to prevent much of the 752-acre site from being clear cut.

About three quarters of the land is owned by the A&K Alexander Cranberry Co., which was cited in 2013 by the Environmental Protection Agency for illegally filling 5.6 acres of wetlands. In a letter to Meteor, A&K managing partner Marty Alexander said if he is unable to sell the land logging would be his only way to pay back a $321,470 loan he took out to settle the case.

Meteor still needs permission from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers before filling any wetlands. Section chief Jeffrey Olson said the Corps is awaiting an opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the potential impact to the endangered massasauga rattlesnake, which he expects to receive this summer.

Olson said neither challenge to the DNR permit will affect the Corps process.

Were still going to make our decision one way or another, Olson said.
WEST SALEM  Congress may have passed the Every Student Succeeds Act to replace No Child Left Behind, but that doesnt mean Wisconsin educators dont get a say in how the education requirements will be implemented.

About 20 educators, administrators and interested community members attended a listening session Monday afternoon at the CESA No. 4 offices to discuss Wisconsins draft plan, part of work to implement the Every Student Succeeds Act that Congress passed in 2015. Those in attendance reviewed the Wisconsin Department of Public Instructions accountability, school improvement, educator development and student support proposals, as well as providing their thoughts and feedback on the plans nuts and bolts.

According to the draft plan, Wisconsin will add chronic student absenteeism  students missing several days of school throughout the year  to its accountability indicators, which will be used to determine which schools and districts in the state need improvement. The plan provides for local control of improvement plans for those schools and districts that dont improve over a four-year period, while providing access to statewide resources and supports.

The plan also calls for the state to continue using its Educator Effectiveness teacher evaluation system and other state resources to evaluate teachers and promote their development. Finally, the plan lays out a number of supports schools will be able to use to help specific populations of students, from English learners to the homeless, succeed at school.

ESSA gave us a valuable opportunity to discuss the critical work the state does for kids and craft a plan for our schools that advances educational equity, State Superintendent Tony Evers said when he released the draft plan earlier this year.

Kristin Benz, a former Onalaska Middle School special education teacher, said she attended the forum to learn more about the law and its impacts. She just finished coursework that would allow her to pursue a career as a special education administrator and wanted to see what the law would mean for special needs students.

She said she was interested in the discussions participants had over whether the law should focus on school performance as a whole or look at the different subgroups. During table discussions, participants talked about how averaging performance results could mask whether some groups at a school were struggling while the school as a whole was performing well.

During discussion about the accountability measures, many educators brought up their concerns about the need for performance metrics, even though the federal law requires states to assess whether schools are under-performing or risk losing federal funds. Their concerns were whether metrics such as state test scores were overvalued and whether complex factors outside of schools control could affect their performance under the rules.

We shouldnt compare La Crosse to Viroqua or Viroqua to Milwaukee, La Crosse Central High School teacher and teachers union president John Havlicek said. We are not the Vikings and the Packers. We are not going to be ranking schools.

Members of the public interested in learning more about the states ESSA plan can view the draft or leave a comment through the DPIs website at dpi.wi.gov/esea.

ESSA gave us a valuable opportunity to discuss the critical work the state does for kids and craft a plan for our schools that advances educational equity. Tony Evers, state superintendent
Savannah, 12, made a decision this January; she was going to come out as lesbian at her Mormon Church. Nothing was going to stop her.

She's a normal almost-teenage girl in Utah: She loves to draw and make art. When she grows up, she wants to be a Disney animator. Her favorite bands are Imagine Dragons and Fall Out Boy.

On June 22, 2016, one day after her birthday, Savannah came out to her parents as lesbian.

Mom had suspicions and knew that day might come.

"I looked at her and said, 'OK, I love you. And I'll support you no matter what you do,'" said Heather, her mother.

The family felt strongly that they didn't have the right to prevent Savannah from telling her story publicly, including sharing it with CNN, but asked that their hometown and last names be withheld to give them a measure of privacy.

After coming out to her parents, Savannah began the process of coming out to her friends and extended family.

Six months later, she felt a calling.

"I had a feeling like I should come out to the church," Savannah said shyly. "I came out to all of my family and I just wanted to do something more."

Both her parents were taken aback by their daughter's desire to come out in front of her church.

"I was mostly nervous for her and where this would take her as a 12-year-old girl," said Josh, her father. Josh and Savannah are still members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the official name of the church.

Heather left the church a year and a half ago after official church policy documents were leaked online in 2015.

Those documents, confirmed by the church to CNN to be authentic, apostatize same-sex couples who marry and bar any of their children from blessings or baptism until they themselves reach legal age. They remain church policy.

Official church policy welcomes members of the Mormon faith that have same-sex attractions. They say it's possible to be "Mormon and gay."

Church teaching, however, mandates that members with same-sex attractions cannot act on those feelings. They must remain celibate and they cannot get married to members of the same sex.

"It resonated in my heart that it felt wrong," said Heather, speaking about those policies. Her "inklings" about Savannah's sexuality kept running through her mind.

The family gathered, walking Savannah through the good and the bad that could come from her speech. They walked through what the Mormon Church teaches about same-sex attraction.

"We let her make that decision, not us," Josh said pointedly. "I had nothing to do with ... coercing her or anything."

Heather remembers Savannah's rationale. "I want to be a voice for those that might be positive," she recalls Savannah saying. "I want them to know that I'm an ally. That they're safe with me. I want them to know that it's OK to be Mormon and be gay."

She also wanted to garner more respect for gays in her church, something she feels is lacking.

"We came to the conclusion it wasn't our place; we couldn't silence her," said Heather. "It would be giving her a bigger message that she wasn't allowed to speak or there was something wrong with her."

So, Savannah went to work writing. Draft after draft, she began crafting her message.

She decided on giving testimony on Fast Sunday, which is traditionally when Mormons hold testimony meetings.

"It's sort of what you believe in," Savannah says of testimony. "It's your spiritual talk."

An emailed statement to CNN from the local bishop, Judd Law, said, "It is common for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to stand before a congregation of families and share feelings and beliefs -- a testimony -- during a worship service."

As she prepared, her parents continued to think about what this could mean for Savannah.

"I was mostly nervous for her and where this would take her as a 12-year-old girl," said Josh. "I'm mostly really nervous for her and how people would react."

The day had arrived. Savannah put on a tie and battled her anxiety, making her way to the rostrum.

Friends of her's began quietly recording videos as a "keepsake," which they later gave to the family. The family then provided that unedited, raw video to CNN.

Edited versions of the video have since been published on social media; Savannah first told her story on an LGBT Mormon podcast, "I Like to Look for Rainbows."

She began speaking. "Hi, my name is Savannah and I want to share my testimony with you."

Her voice didn't betray her nerves. Savannah read slowly, focused on getting her testimony out. She was scared to see people's faces and their reaction to her testimony so she did not look up once to see their reactions.

Then Savannah said it; she came out as gay in front of her congregation.

"God loves me just this way, because he loves all his creations," she said in the speech. "I do believe he made me this way on purpose."

She didn't stop with theology. Savannah wanted her congregation to know about her hopes and dreams, too.

For Savannah, even at 12, it's simple. She wants to love herself and not feel shame for being who she is.

"I hope to find a partner and have a great job. I hope to get married and have a family," she said. "I know these dreams and wishes are good and right. I know I can have all of these things as a lesbian and be happy."

Shortly after that, the mic suddenly cut out. It's unclear what exactly happened, but one of the church leaders leaned over and began speaking to Savannah.

"I thought it was broken at first. So, I turned around to talk to him," she said. "And then he told me to sit down."

Despite repeated requests to church headquarters and Law, the bishop, they did not explain why Savannah's mic ceased to work.

On a Mormon Church website titled "Mormon and Gay," it offers the following advice on Mormons who want to come out: "If you decide to share your experiences of feeling same-sex attraction or to openly identify as gay, you should be supported and treated with kindness and respect, both at home and in church."

In the video, Savannah returns to her seat as murmured chatter continues around her.

"I was telling her that she was perfect and beautiful," says Heather.

A church leader stood up and made a small speech as Savannah was sitting down, in part saying, "I also want to recognize that we are all children of God. And that we are loved by our heavenly Father. And I have no doubt that heavenly Father has made us all unique in different ways. For that, I am grateful."

In the emailed statement to CNN, Law took issue with the recorded video, saying it was unauthorized.

Additionally, he said that a "group of visitors jubilantly left the service. ... Everyone is welcome and understands the standards of decorum and behavior if they decide to participate. It is unfortunate that this group of adults chose to violate them."

Law said the video was being exploited for "political purposes."

But Savannah's parents don't see it that way. They say they didn't witness anyone being disruptive. They also say there was no "group" present.

"Savannah invited a few close friends as allies," Heather tells CNN, responding to the statement from the local bishop. "There was no group."

The family did leave shortly after. Heather says Savannah was distraught and crying.

Savannah says she was feeling a mixture of emotions. She was confused because she didn't know what was going on, she was happy because she finally came out at church and "felt accepted."

But she was sad because she couldn't finish her speech.

Her parents, though, are proud. Josh responds, "absolutely," when asked.

"She has more courage than I've ever seen in anybody," Heather says. "To be able to share something so personal with everybody. That made my heart soar as a parent."

"This incident has created some tender emotions, first and foremost for a brave young girl," said Law in his emailed statement to CNN. "As a congregation, we continue to reach out, and do all that we can to make sure she knows that we love her and her family."

CNN's Laura Diaz-Zuniga contributed to this report.
All who are distraught at the state of U.S. politics should pay attention to the rise of French President Emanuel Macron.

The recently elected Macron, who had never before run for office, is set to win a parliamentary majority Sunday with a brand new centrist party. Its candidates are mostly political novices who have no ties to the two traditional French parties of the left and right.

Its as if a younger, more charismatic Michael Bloomberg had taken on both Democrats and the GOP and been handed victory by voters fed up with ugly partisan warfare. And as if he fielded a third-party slate of newbies for Congress that was then swept into power.

A fantasy? No doubt. And Macrons feats are rooted in aspects of the French system that differ from ours.

Yet this 39-year-old Frenchman has upended political mantras we now accept too easily  that the political center is passe, that populist movements will inevitably grow, and that conventional parties must gravitate to the extremes to win. So, despite the differences in our systems, its important to look at why and how Macron did what he did.

First a little history. As economics minister in the last socialist government, Macron sought to loosen restrictive labor laws that foster high unemployment, including a 20 percent rate for those under 25. Frustrated by rigid unions and an inept socialist president, he quit and founded a brand new party, En Marche (Forward). No one took him seriously at first.

But Macron was on to something important, says Pierre Vimont, former French ambassador to Washington and now a senior fellow at Carnegie Europe. He understood that people were looking for a new way of doing politics. He stepped outside both parties.

The two traditional French parties, the Socialists and the Republicans, were considered center-left and center-right, but were increasingly beholden to their militant wings.

Macron was trying something different, the idea that what we need is a government of national accord, to bring in people from both sides who put the good of the country ahead of (partisan) interests, said Vimont, The French are tired of politicians fighting each other all the time.

Sound familiar?

But why did the French trust Macron? After all, politicians calling for change are not a new invention, and populists have adopted that slogan. And, Ill admit, when I heard Macron in the first TV debate of the campaign, I thought he sounded too wonky.

Part of the answer, said Vimont, involved timing. This was possible in France because of the state of the country, he said. People had given up on economic reform  four previous presidents having failed to produce it  and the country was gloomy.

Then comes Macron, young, eager for change, saying France is still able to do great things, Vimont said. Macron radiated optimism, in contrast with the fear-mongering of the populist Marine Le Pen.

His youth helped, and the French were fascinated by his personal story: a long marriage to his former high school drama teacher who is 24 years his senior. But most important, his economic message crossed party lines: Loosen labor laws that discourage hiring and lower taxes on small and medium businesses, but keep a social safety net; open France to trade but also to immigration. Reform the European Union (in tandem with Germany), rather than reject it.

Of course, Macron was also lucky. The early favorite, Republican candidate Francois Fillon, tanked due to a corruption scandal and Le Pen proved unexpectedly inept.

But the novice pol took advantage of every opening. Many assumed his presidency would be hobbled by his new partys inability to gain many seats in the National Assembly. But he found candidates for every constituency _ half of them women, many young, many minorities (a rarity in French politics). His new party already has more members than traditional parties; the average age of En Marche candidates is 43, compared with the 60- to 70-year-olds that dominate the outgoing assembly.

The En Marche slate of nonpoliticians includes an economist who arrived in France as a 4-year-old refugee from the Rwandan genocide, a renowned mathematician, a famous female ex-bullfighter, a fighter pilot, and lots of owners of small- and medium-size businesses, according to the New York Times.

Of course, Macrons victory doesnt solve the problem of Frances rust belt, where Le Pen voters are still wary. And its far too early to know, whether he can change labor laws given the French history of union strikes and violent street riots that forced previous presidents to back off.

However, theres much that U.S. politicians can learn from the French presidents achievements so far.

First, the political center is not dead. Macron proved that elections can be won by a smart centrist who appeals to voters across partisan lines. True, U.S. election rules make it much harder to create a viable third party than in France. More attention needs to be focused on how to change these rules.

But bottom line, a centrist candidate who can rise above party divisions can woo disheartened voters and trump a populists appeal.

Second, Macrons successful recruitment of fresh faces for every available district should be taken to heart by Democrats if they want to make gains in 2018. Attractive, local candidates, not ideological purity, won him parliamentary control.

And last, a system that seems frozen and bitter  as Frances did, as Americas does now  can be changed if the right leadership emerges. If the French leader can follow through on his promises he may start a new trend among Western democracies. That is something Americans should ponder as they root for Macron to succeed.
Monday, June 19, 2017

A District of Columbia Hearing Committee has recommended a suspension with reinstatement on a showing of fitness for Larry Klayman in a ethics matter brought as a result of a complaint filed by Judicial Watch

Respondent Larry E. Klayman is charged with violating the Rules of Professional Conduct by representing three individuals in litigation against his former client Judicial Watch, Inc., a nonprofit organization. The three cases were brought by: a former employee of Judicial Watch (Sandra Cobas); a donor to the organization (Louise Benson); and a former client (Peter Paul). Disciplinary Counsel charges that the three matters were the same or substantially related to matters that Respondent handled as Judicial Watchs general counsel and that his conduct violated Rule 1.9 (or its Florida equivalent) and in one of the matters seriously interfered with the administration of justice in violation of Rule 8.4(d). Disciplinary Counsel recommends that Respondent be suspended for 90 days, with 60 days stayed, pending his completion of a continuing legal education course on conflicts of interest.

The committee (chaired by Theodore (Jack) Metzler) rejected a host of contentions in its 43-page opinion and considered aggravating factors

Despite having accepted Floridas reprimand [in an earlier matter], Respondent now denies responsibility for his misconduct there. Resp. Br. 36-37. He denies owing his client any refund in the first place and makes excuses for his repeated failure to abide by his promises to pay. Id. Remarkably, Respondent suggests that he agreed to the reprimand to simply put the matter behind [him], and claims that his conduct did not involve any . . . ethical violation. Resp. Br. 37 n.4. That simply is not true. Respondent appears to believe that denying responsibility for misconduct that he previously admitted somehow mitigates his present misconduct. We think the opposite.

We also find that Respondents conduct in this proceeding was dishonest and lacked candor in further aggravation of his misconduct. The most egregious examples of this are described above: Respondent testified falsely that he acted under the advice of counsel (Mr. Dugan) when he entered his appearance for Benson. He did not. Respondents post hearing brief repeatedly mischaracterizes Mr. Dugans testimony, particularly with regard to whether Dugan prepared the opposition to the motion to disqualify Respondent in the Benson case, agreed with the arguments it contains, and advised Respondent regarding his representation of Paul. We also find Respondents characterizations of the evidence lack the candor required of an attorney in a disciplinary proceeding. In one particularly inexplicable example, Respondent says the letter soliciting Bensons donation, which he signed as General Counsel, had nothing to do with his role as General Counsel of Judicial Watch. Resp. Br. 9 (Respondents italics)

Sanction

Respondents misconduct was serious and escalating. He does not recognize the seriousness of the misconduct or even agree that it is misconduct at all. His conduct since the three representations includes both the misconduct in Florida and his misrepresentations and lack of candor to this tribunal. In the view of this hearing committee, Respondents conduct raises serious concerns about whether he will act ethically after his period of suspension has run, and supports imposing a condition that he demonstrate his fitness before resuming the practice of law. See In re Cater, 887 A.2d 1, 24 (D.C. 2005)...

We find by clear and convincing evidence that Respondent violated Florida Rule 4-1.9(a) in Count I, and D.C. Rule 1.9 in Counts II and III of the Amended Specification of Charges. We likewise find that Respondent violated Rule 8.4(d) in Count III. In light of Respondents misconduct and the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, we recommend that Respondent be suspended from the practice of law for 90 days with readmission upon showing his fitness to practice law.

The opinion may be accessed at this link. (Mike Frisch)

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/legal_profession/2017/06/a-district-of-columbia-hearing-committee-has-recommended-a-suspension-for-larry-klayman-in-a-respondent-larry-e-klayman-is.html
Will Jon Ossoff deliver?

A congressional special election in spring's sultry last days would usually generate little excitement. Folks want to head to the beach, not worry about exercising their constitutional duty.

With national political passions raging beyond fever pitch, the Sixth District race between Democratic hopeful Ossoff and GOP warhorse Karen Handel has generated streams of money and media attention. Early voting turnout has been huge, and the final vote totals could surpass that of presidential or governor's elections.

The young Ossoff has come out of nowhere to excite the national Democratic Party, notorious for lax support of state elections. He has raised a record $23 million, allowing him to counter crazed attacks from national GOP groups. On election day, Donald Trump has engaged his Twitter finger against the Democratic contender.

When the frenzy over the race to replace Trump cabinet member and sycophant Tom Price dies down, whoever wins will have limited power in Congress.

If she ekes out a win, Handel will join the company of nearly anonymous GOP representatives following the party's program to comfort the rich and afflict the poor and middle class. In today's Republican Party, she might look like a moderate, following the direction of House Speaker Paul Ryan rather than the more extreme Tea Party members. Ryan's draconian plans to abolish Obamacare and slash taxes on the wealthy would be considered extreme except in the eyes of the most bloodthirsty GOP representatives.

Handel shows the potential to join the Tea Party crew, which counts several Georgia representatives as members. Her record shows that as Georgia's secretary of state under Gov. Tom Perdue - now Trump's agricultural secretary - she pioneered the party's voter suppression tactics, aimed mainly at black Democratic voters.

In this race, she's not tempered her virulent opposition to gay marriage. She's promised to support Trumpcare, with its severe cuts to Medicare. In a nationally noted gaffe in the race's first of two debates, Handel said she's against a "livable wage." Showing a streak of Southern chivalry, Ossoff with all of his millions never produced an ad to exploit this flub, telling a New Yorker writer it spoke for itself.

If the 30-year-old photogenic Ossoff wins, he's destined for high national visibility, appearing on Sunday morning talk shows and Rachel Maddow's MSNBC bellwether. It's doubtful whether he'll have the clout to convert his campaign promises into substantial legislation. But that won't matter; the Democratic Party is desperate for young talent. The congressional record won't make much difference.

As customary with Georgia Democratic candidates, Ossoff has run a "centrist" campaign, emphasizing government waste and willingness to work with Republicans. That strategy backfired in the disastrous U.S. Senate campaign of Michelle Nunn, who tried to avoid the Democratic label. While Bernie Sanders discounted Ossoff, liberals such as the Nation's Joan Walsh have justified Ossoff's "moderate" views.

While excusing Ossoff's opposition to tax increases and a single-payer health plan, Walsh in a revealing piece for the Nation on the women activists who have boosted the Democrat's race detailed how the district has grown more diverse, and Democratic.

For some insightful background on Ossoff's supporters, here is a link to Walsh's Nation article.

Even if Ossoff loses, his campaign gives Democrats long-term hope, on the state and national levels. The suburban district, one of the best educated in the country, is the type in which Democrats have made gains in recent years, especially with women professionals.

While Democratic supporters hope an Ossoff victory will be the harbinger for a Democratic surge in the 2018 midterm elections, that could fizzle. To regain control of the House, the Democrats will need to do well in a variety of districts, most of them with different makeups than Georgia's wealthy, mostly white Sixth.

On the Georgia level, Democratic strength in the Sixth, which has gone Republican since 1979 and once was represented by incendiary former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, shows that the Democrats really are making gains in the state. During last November's presidential race, Hillary Clinton barely lost to Trump in the district. If the Georgia Democratic Party can add more white suburban votes to their urban black base, perhaps they can again win governor's and U.S. Senate elections.

Polls show a tight race. Weary district voters hope it ends today, and that a recount or other complications don't arise. The worst case scenario would involve lawsuits and a Supreme Court decision.

The national political pundits and insiders are in a frenzy over what in normal times would be an obscure election. For political junkies, the Super Bowl has arrived in June.
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Construction work on the Caio deep-water port in Angolas Cabinda province is expected to be completed by 2020, said the president of the projects management company Caio Porto, Jack Helton.

Helton also told Angolan news agency Angop that work is still in the first phase, which consists of dredging the coastal area where the port will be built.

At the end of this phase there will be a terminal 630 metres long, connected to the coast by a 2-kilometre bridge.

The Caio deep-water port will have a 1,130-metre dock to moor up to four ships at the same time, which will be 16 metres deep. The port will have capacity to move about 60 containers per hour.

The project will cover an area of over 2,500 hectares, where customs facilities, workshops with port support and ship repair services, warehouses and commercial establishments will be built.

This port, which will be the first deep- water in Angola, has funding of USD180 million from the Angola Sovereign Fund and the Export and Import Bank of China has granted a loan of $600 million. Construction work was awarded to the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBD). MDT/Macauhub
A management system to handle complaints by public servants will come into effect in 90 days, according to a notice published yesterday in the Official Gazette. The system will improve communications between classes within the civil servant structure, as well as to improve the operations of public departments. A committee will also be established to address the complaints. The Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP) claimed that the original intention behind the system arose from the need to protect the rights of civil servants who filed complaints, and to avoid unfair situations within public departments. The SAFP added that employees will not be treated differently for filing complaints.

Macau group opens first branch in Zhuhai

The Macau Health Link Medical Group Co., Ltd (Healthlink) opened its first branch in Zhuhai. This is the first wholly Macau-owned medical organization to establish an office in Zhuhai under the Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA). The medical center occupies an area of 500 square meters and predominantly provides pediatric services at present. The group plans to offer more services such as dentistry, plastic surgery and Chinese medicine in future. Healthlink also plans to open more branches in Zhuhai as well as in other cities across Guangdong.

HKZMB artificial island with charging station

The China Southern Power Grid Co, Ltd. (CSG) is building a charging station site on the artificial island of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. The construction is expected to be finished by the end of this year, CSG announced yesterday. CSG has invested RMB400 million in the construction of a 110kV substation and a 10kV line grid, in addition to 550 charging points across the island. CSG stated that it took into consideration all three regions standards of electric vehicles when building the charging station. According to CSG, the station  which will be located at the checkpoints and the transportation center on the island  will provide services for tourist buses, cross-border shuttle buses and electric taxis.

Business climate survey receives mixed results

Business improved for restaurants and similar establishments in April 2017, according to a business climate survey by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC). Some 52 percent of surveyed establishments reported year-on-year growth in receipts, up by 5 percentage points from March. On the other hand, the proportion of establishments recording a year-on-year decline in receipts went down by 12 percentage points to 23 percent. The data collected by DSEC indicates a drop of 2 percentage points in the number of interviewed retailers who reported a year-on-year increase in sales in April, compared to sales in March. Auto sales saw the steepest drop, with only 22 percent of retailers reporting higher revenue.

MGTO attends APEC High Level Policy Dialogue

MGTO Deputy Director Cheng Wai Tong attended the APEC High Level Policy Dialogue on Sustainable Tourism yesterday in Ha Long, Vietnam. Vietnamese officials and representatives from international tourism organizations delivered remarks in the opening session. During the meeting, representatives from various member economies and international tourism organizations exchanged views and held in-depth discussions on a series of topics.

650 students graduate from Polytechnic Institute

The Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) held their graduation ceremony for the 2016-2017 academic year yesterday, involving a total of 650 bachelors degree students graduating from its 20 programs and various majors this year. IPM president Professor Lei Heong Iok said in his speech that IPMs enrollment and graduate employment rates have been very encouraging, and reiterated that the educational philosophy of Establishing Morality and Cultivating People has guided IPMs management since he became president in 1999. Chief Executive Chui Sai On officiated the ceremony and emphasized the governments commitment to establishing effective and sustained mechanisms for its education system and talent development.
China said yesterday it would ban a designer drug called U-47700 and three others, following U.S. pressure to do more to control synthetic opioids blamed for fast-rising overdose deaths in the United States.

In China, U-47700 has until now been a legal alternative to fentanyl and potent derivatives like carfentanil. Its usage has been growing among U.S. opioid addicts.

Last year, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration listed U-47700 in the category of the most dangerous drugs it regulates, saying it was associated with dozens of fatalities, mostly in New York and North Carolina. Some of the pills taken from Princes estate after the musicians overdose death last year contained U-47700.

The DEA has long said that China is the top source country for synthetic opioids like fentanyl and its precursors, assertions Beijing has said lack firm evidence. Still, the two countries have deepened cooperation as the U.S. opioid epidemic intensifies.

Deng Ming, deputy director of the National Narcotics Control Commission, said that U-47700 and three other synthetic drugs  MT-45, PMMA, and 4,4-DMAR  would be added to Chinas list of controlled substances as of July 1.

Yu Haibin, a division director at the Ministry of Public Securitys Narcotics Control Bureau, said China was making big efforts to deal with drugs known as new psychoactive substances. These substances are made by modifying the chemical structures of controlled substances in order to get around the law, and China has now restricted 138 of them.

However, as soon as one substance is banned, chemists create slightly different and technically legal alternatives and then market them online.

My feeling is that its just like a race and I will never catch up with the criminals, Yu told a news conference. Actually, we just want to make a breakthrough in dealing with this.

To counter the cat-and-mouse game, Yu said authorities had set up a system whereby information on new types of drugs gleaned during police investigations, customs clearances and medical treatment would be transferred to the national drug lab. An expert committee would then assess this information and send alert notices to relevant agencies in order to help speed up the control of new substances, he said.

Yu said suspects use the internet to communicate with customers and use the anonymized digital currency bitcoin to transfer money, and that authorities were working with internet companies to try to stop such trade and the advertising of drugs on websites.

To combat drugs being sent by post or express delivery service, authorities were carrying out real-name registration requirements and X-rays of parcels being delivered to high-risk areas, he said.

Addressing the news conference, Justin Schoeman, Beijing-based country attache for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said: I can tell you that when China controls a substance, [new psychoactive substances] or fentanyl-classed substance, it has a huge impact on seizures and availability in the U.S., so thank you very much.

The controlling of substances in China certainly saves lives in the U.S., he added.

He added that Chinas banning of additional substances means the U.S. and China can now carry out joint investigations on those chemicals, including the tracking of packages from the source through to the recipients in the U.S.

U-47700 is a synthetic opioid, a fast-proliferating class of drugs that have caused thousands of deaths in the United States. In 2015 alone, there were 9,580 deaths due to synthetic opioids other than methadone, accounting for almost a fifth of all drug overdose deaths. Louise Watt, Beijing, AP
Sands China Ltd. inaugurated the Sands Procurement Academy yesterday at the Adelson Advanced Education Center at The Venetian Macao.

The academy is providing tailor-made practical modules to local small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), with the first round being offered every Monday from June 19 to July 24. Classes will be facilitated by lecturers with various areas of expertise covering six topics including effective warehouse management, logistics management and supplier code of conduct.

The first training module was delivered yesterday after the inauguration ceremony.

According to the press release by Sands China, nearly 50 local SME suppliers are currently signed up to attend the six modules.

The academy is an initiative to develop local SME suppliers by sharing business knowledge and skills as part of the companys F.I.T. program (F.I.T. stands for financial support, invitational matching, and training and development).

Bene launches food and wine special

Bene, the Italian restaurant at Sheraton Grand Macao Hotel, is introducing the Food and Wine Mercato, a wine and dinner buffet inspired by markets across Italy.

The restaurant will source inspiration from different regions in Italy each month. In June, it will feature Veneto, a region of northeast Italy which, according to Sheratons press release, is best known for salami, cheese, prosecco and tiramisu.

The Veneto menu includes the dishes Amberjack Carpaccio, Squid Ink Risotto, and Pan Seared Stockyard Beef Tenderloin. The wine will be handpicked from Amorosso Fine Wines.

The Food and Wine Mercato opens on the last weekend of every month.

The dinner buffet is priced at MOP488 per adult and MOP200 per child
Four foreign inmates escaped early yesterday from a prison on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, police said.

Prison officers became aware of the escape while conducting a morning check of inmates at the Kerobokan penitentiary in Balis capital, Denpasar, said Putu Ika Prabawa, an officer at Balis Kuta Utara police station.

Prabawa said the four men were believed to have escaped through a 50-by-70-centimeter hole found in a wall that connects to a 15-meter-long water tunnel heading toward a main street.

He identified the four as Shaun Edward Davidson, 33, of Australia; Dimitar Nikolov Iliev, 43, of Bulgaria; Sayed Mohammed Said, 31, of India; and Tee Koko King bin Tee Kim Sai, 50, of Malaysia.

Davidson is serving a one-year sentence for an immigration offense, while Iliev is serving a seven- year sentence for money laundering and another offense. Said and King are serving 14 and seven years, respectively, for drug offenses.

Prabawa said police have distributed pictures of the escaped inmates to police stations across Bali.

Jailbreaks are common in Indonesia, where overcrowding has become a problem in prisons that are struggling to cope with poor funding and an influx of people arrested in a war on drugs. Most prisoners have been convicted on drug charges.

Last week, dozens of inmates escaped from an overcrowded prison in western Indonesia after floods caused a wall to collapse.

Last month, more than 440 prisoners escaped from an overcrowded prison on Sumatra island when they were let out of their cells to take part in Friday Muslim prayers. In July 2013, about 240 prisoners, including several convicted terrorists, escaped during a deadly riot at a prison in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province. AP
Japans coast guard is investigating why it took nearly an hour for a deadly collision between a U.S. Navy destroyer and a container ship to be reported.

A coast guard official said yesterday they are trying to find out what the crew of the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal was doing before reporting the collision off Japans coast to authorities 50 minutes later.

The ACX Crystal collided with the USS Fitzgerald off Japans coast, killing seven of the destroyers crew of nearly 300. The ships collided Saturday morning, when the Navy said most of the 300 sailors on board would have been sleeping. Authorities have declined to speculate on a cause while the crash remains under investigation.

A track of the much-larger container ships route by MarineTraffic, a vessel-tracking service, shows it made a sudden turn as if trying to avoid something at about 1:30 a.m., before continuing eastward. It then made a U-turn and returned around 2:30 a.m. to the area near the collision.

The coast guard initially said the collision occurred at 2:20 a.m. because the Philippine ship had reported it at 2:25 a.m. and said it just happened. After interviewing Filipino crewmembers, the coast guard has changed the collision time to 1:30 a.m.

Coast guard official Tetsuya Tanaka said they are trying to resolve what happened during the 50 minutes.

He said officials are planning to get hold of a device with communication records to examine further details of the crash. Japans Transport Safety Board also started an accident investigation yesterday.

Nanami Meguro, a spokeswoman for NYK Line, the ships operator, agreed with the revised timing of the collision.

Meguro said the ship was operating as usual until the collision at 1:30 a.m., as shown on a ship tracking service that the company uses. She said the ship reported to the coast guard at 2:25 a.m., but she could not provide details about what the ship was doing for nearly an hour.

Because it was in an emergency, the crewmembers may not have been able to place a call, she said.

Coast guard officials are investigating the case as possible professional negligence, but no criminal charges have been pressed so far.

Yesterday, the Navys 7th Fleet identified the seven sailors who died. Navy divers recovered the bodies after the severely damaged Fitzgerald returned to the fleets home in Yokosuka, Japan, with assistance from tug boats.

The victims were Gunners Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, Virginia; Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, California; Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Connecticut; Gunners Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Texas; Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, California; Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland; and Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., 37, from Elyria, Ohio.

In a statement, acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley said, We are all deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our fellow shipmates. [] As details emerge, we can all be proud of the heroic effort by the crew to tend to the needs of those injured and save the ship from further damage while returning safely to port.

He thanked our Japanese allies for their swift assistance, and said the Navy will fully investigate the cause.

The mother of a Navy sailor on board the ship said her son kept diving in his flooded berth to try to save his shipmates until it began running out of air pockets, while other survivors  believing their ship was under attack  hurried to man the guns.

Mia Sykes of Raleigh, North Carolina, told The Associated Press that her 19-year-old son, Brayden Harden, was knocked out of his bunk by the impact and water immediately began filling the berth.

Sykes said her son told her that four men in his berth died, including those sleeping on bunks above and below him, while three died in the berth above his.

She said she hopes her son, from Herrin, Illinois, can come home to be with family as he works through what happened. You have to realize most of them are 18-, 19- and 20-year- olds living with guilt. But I told him, Theres a reason youre still here and make that count. Mari Yamaguchi, Tokyo, AP
The submission period for the 11th Macau Design Biennial has begun and will be open until June 30, as revealed at a press conference last week at the Macau Design Center (MDC).

So far, over 550 pieces have been submitted to the competition for consideration, and more than 2,000 are expected before the submission period comes to a close.

The head of the organizing team behind the 11th Macau Design Biennial, Hong Ka Lok, said at the press conference that MDC expected fewer entries this year but they would be representative of a greater variety of countries worldwide.

Meanwhile, James Chu, the chairman of the Macau Designers Association and the curator of MDC, explained the greater representation by highlighting that there would be fewer entries from mainland China this year.

In the last biennial, we received a lot of entries from mainland China  around 6,000. But this year, we have made some changes. We dont expect the same huge number of entries, [instead] we expect a higher quality [of the entries], he told the Times.

It is hard to say [at the moment] the proportion of the designers [who are] local to the city, said Chu when asked about local participation. Macau is a very small city, with only a few thousand designers. Compare that to Hong Kong, with over 80,000 [designers] or Shenzhen with 240,000.

He said that he expects just 5 to 10 percent of the submitted works to be approved by the international judging panel. The judges select very seriously, said Chu. Only 100 to 200 pieces will be chosen maximum, I believe.

Founded by the Macau Designers Association, the Macau Design Biennial has been held every two years since 1994 and is now in its 11th edition, according to organizers. Some of the award-winning works will be collected in the permanent collections of the Macau Museum of Art, while others will be shown at the Handover Gifts Museum of Macau from the day of the Grand Awards Ceremony.

An MDC representative told the Times last week that at least one exhibition from the competition will be held in December. DB

MDC vacancies to open in August

The curator of the Macau Design Center (MDC) told the Times last week that some of the rental units in the organizations incubator program will become available from August this year. Some of the companies have now reached their three-year [maximum] working partnership with us, so in August some of the vacancies will reopen to the public, said James Chu. Of course, some of those companies can reapply, but they have to compete with new companies. He also added that the MDC is currently operating at maximum capacity, but is required by the Cultural Industries Fund to open the incubator space to new organizations at least every three years. The incubator program invites local design companies to rent office and creative spaces at below-market rates, in order to help support the fledgling industry. Asked whether he thinks some of these companies will reapply, Chu said: I think yes [they will], because everyone is quite happy working here. There are over 100 designers working here, so it is like a community.
Bakhsheesh Elahi was waiting for the morning bus when a lone gunman on a motorcycle pulled up beside him and shot him dead. Rana Tanveer had just taken his family to safety after radical Islamists spray-painted death threats on his door, when a car smashed into his motorcycle and sped away.

Taha Siddiqui answered his phone to hear a menacing voice from a government agency telling him he needed to come in for questioning, without saying why.

The three men are journalists in Pakistan, considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for this profession. But even by Pakistans standards, things have gotten worse, according to journalists, Pakistani and international human rights activists, and advocacy groups.

In addition to attacks from militants or criminals, Pakistani journalists are also facing threats from government agencies or the military itself.

Journalists are not threatened from one side alone, they are threatened by drug mafia, they are threatened by political gangs. They are also threatened by religious extremists, said Asma Jehangir, a human rights lawyer and the director of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. They are threatened by the military. They are also threatened by people who are deeply [involved] in corruption, but when it comes to the extremist elements, governments are very reluctant to move because they themselves are afraid of them.

Elahi, a determined investigative reporter in northwestern Pakistans Haripur, is just the latest example. The father of five, including a daughter born just 20 days earlier, was killed on June 11 while waiting for a bus a few hundred meters from his home.

Local journalists turned Elahis funeral into a protest, carrying his body through the streets and stopping traffic to demand that the killers be brought to justice, according to Zakir Hussain Tandi, president of the Haripur Press Club.

But impunity and a lack of prosecution has characterized many of the attacks on journalists in Pakistan. Elahi, who was bureau chief of an Urdu language newspaper and sister television station, was the fourth journalist killed in Haripur district in the last three years. All but one of the murders has gone unsolved.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says 60 journalists and 10 media workers have been killed in Pakistan since 1992.

Elahis Facebook page featured his relentless reporting against political corruption. One of the countrys largest television news channels to feature one of his stories.

We think his death is probably related to journalism, said Tandi of the press club. Lots of people didnt like his investigations, the drug mafia, corrupt politicians, car thieves. He wrote about them all.

Pakistani journalists and social media activists have been detained, often by intelligence agencies, tortured according to some who were released, and threatened with blasphemy charges, which carry the death penalty and routinely incite mobs of radical extremists to violence.

Last week, a social media activist was sentenced to death for allegedly posting an item deemed insulting to Islam.

That sentence sends a threatening message to all [] causing fear and leading to self-censorship, Steven Butler, Asia director of the CPJ, said in an email. Its clear that authorities  including investigative authorities, prosecutors, and the military  are keeping a close eye on journalists and ready to act when red lines are crossed.

Last month, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ordered a crackdown on those ridiculing the Pakistan Army on social media [to protect] the prestige, reputation and goodwill of the armed forces.

On May 18, Taha Siddiqui, Pakistans correspondent for France 24 TV, received a threatening call from someone claiming to represent the counter-terrorism wing of the Federal Investigation Agency, ordering him to come in for questioning. Siddiqui, who is also bureau chief of the World Is One News website, is an outspoken critic of Pakistans military and intelligence agencies.

My work is in the public domain, Siddiqui asked. What does counter-terrorism have to do with journalism, with free speech?

Siddiqui phoned colleagues for advice and stopped answering his door. He eventually spoke to Jehangir, the human rights lawyer, who advised him to file a petition demanding to know why he was being investigated. Siddiqui, who didnt go in for questioning, has already made at least one court appearance and was told by the FIA that he was being investigated because of his critical stories about the military.

On May 30, Rana Tanveer, a correspondent for the English- language daily newspaper, The Express Tribune, found death threats spray painted on his home in eastern Lahore saying he would die for writing stories about the plight of minorities in Pakistan  particularly Ahmedis, reviled by mainstream Muslims who label them as heretics because they believe in a messiah who arrived after the Prophet Muhammad.

Pakistan has officially declared them non-Muslims, making it a crime for Ahmedis to identify themselves as Muslims. Dozens are facing charges.

That was shocking for me, Tanveer said of the spray-painted threats. He went to the police, which didnt register a case but instead advised him against filing a formal complaint, saying it would enrage the radicals who had threatened him.

Tanveer has received several such threats over the years; even his landlord had been warned against renting to him because of his coverage of religious minorities

On June 9, Tanveer was riding his motorcycle after meeting a colleague from the Pakistan Union of Journalists to decide how to deal with the threats when a speeding car slammed into him and sent him crashing to the pavement. He suffered a fractured leg and believes it was no accident.

Today, he is in hiding with his family, unprotected by police and unsure when he can return to his job.

Jehangir said she believes the government crackdown is being done at least partially at the behest of Pakistans military.

They think that the image of Pakistan is being destroyed by the word getting out of here, she said. Now, if you stop picking up people, stop torturing people, the image will improve, but dont shoot the messenger. Kathy Gannon, Haripur, AP
The meeting of businesspeople from China and Portuguese-speaking countries was a huge step for investments to be made in Cape Verde, said the president investment agency Cabo Verde TradeInvest on Friday in Praia.

Ana Barber said the meeting, besides being a huge step, was also a success, giving the 10 protocols that were signed by several companies and organizations in China and Portuguese-speaking countries as an example.

The protocols include boosting exchange with China by Angola and Cabo Verde, the commercial representation of Cape Verdes coffee in China, the planning, construction and management of a private hospital in the city of Praia and creation of an alliance of legal services, among others.

At the end of the meeting, which on Sunday continued with visits to companies and the interior of the island of Santiago, Finance Minister Olavo Correia restated the governments commitment to creating conditions for the private sector to become the driving force behind development.

Cape Verdes prime minister, Ulisses Correia e Silva, said at the opening of the meeting that his government intends to make the archipelago a safe, attractive country to live, reside, invest and as a platform of economic circulation in the Mid-Atlantic.

[Cape] Verde should distinguish itself as a country with low political, security and economic risks, said the prime minister, adding that the natural wealth of the archipelago is its social and political stability and the fact that it is a country where one can trust business relations and relations between states.

Correia e Silva acknowledged that the small size of Cape Verdes financial market is a constraint on business development, but added that it will be overcome through the complete liberalisation of capital movements and the creation of a Sovereign Guarantee Fund for Private Investments for companies to have access to the external banking and capital market to finance larger investments.

According to Correia e Silva, in terms of markets and making the most of the countrys geographic and economic position, Cape Verde intends to play a relevant role in Chinas Belt and Road initiative, establishing the link between China, Europe and West Africa as well as Portuguese-speaking Africa. 

More than 400 representatives of institutions and companies took part in the Meeting of Entrepreneurs for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese- speaking Countries.

Portugal will host the next meeting, in Lisbon in 2018. MDT/Macauhub
Qatar Airways said it could go to court in a bid to claw back the additional operating costs its running up after neighboring states in the Persian Gulf excluded it from their airspace amid an ongoing political dispute with the carriers state owner.

The airline is keeping tabs on the business impact of its higher fuel bill as the blockade imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt compels its aircraft to take detours that can double the flying time on some routes, Akbar al Baker, its chief executive officer told Bloomberg TV.

Qatar Air is making sure that all our business streams are properly documented in order for us in future to go to international tribunals to reflect the pain, Al Baker said yesterday. The CEO added that hes unhappy with the response of the International Civil Aviation Organization in addressing what he says is in an illegal action in closing airspace.

They have been slow. But those countries have people on the board, Al Baker said. We are now waiting two weeks with this situation and nobody has upheld international law.

The four rival Arab states cut diplomatic and transport links with Qatar on June 5, accusing the nation of funding Islamist terrorism, something it denies. The measures have left Qatar Air excluded from 18 regional destinations and forced some long-haul flights to detour via Iran and Oman.

Qatar Airways will march on with plans to add new destinations and is successfully mitigating some of the impact of the network disruptions, Al Baker said at the Paris Air Show. The airline is seeing an increase in bookings and expects the busy Islamic holiday of Eid to be business as usual.

Qatar has no plans to defer any plane deliveries, the CEO said, describing the dispute as an intimidation game. He added that the spat wont affect relations with Boeing and that hes confident President Donald Trump will take the right steps in mediating between both camps.

ICAO, a United Nations agency, has been brokering diplomatic discussions that it says are aimed at securing a consensus-based solution to the fallout. Bloomberg
According to KTVB-TV, two juveniles traveling west on U.S. 30 near McCammon crossed the center line and collided with a separate vehicle, driven by 70-year-old Jay Lanningham, on Sunday. Law enforcement officials say all three died at the scene. A juvenile traveling in Lanninghams vehicle was injured and taken to a hospital in Pocatello.
WENDELL  Perhaps youve joined the crowds at the annual arts festival on Ritter Island. You probably stood on the bridge, admiring the extraordinarily clear spring water tumbling from the Snake River Canyon wall and forming the pretty channel that separates the island from the mainland.

But unless youve launched a kayak or a standup paddleboard into that cool water, you havent really seen Ritter Island.

Hidden in plain sight, the islands secret world is a wildlife and photography wonderland. But keep your feet on the ground, and youll see only the edges.

Its amazing whats out there, park manager Dave Landrum said, ticking off a few of the occupants: eagles, hawks, ospreys, pelicans, muskrats, river otters, deer. As soon as you get in a boat, it opens a whole different world to you.

On either end of Ritter Island, the spring water joins a sedate stretch of the Snake River, creating an inviting opportunity to circumnavigate the island. Its an easy paddle that constantly reveals something new.

That crystal-clear water plunging down the canyon wall is a scenic photographers dream, of course, but its also a constant 58 degrees. In the heat of summer, that means youll be a lot cooler paddling in the channel beside Ritter Island than you would be touring the island on foot.

Ritter Island itself, a gated unit of Thousand Springs State Park, is open to foot traffic from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays through Mondays, from June to September, Landrum said; a volunteer gives tours of the islands historical dairy barn and teaches visitors about the history of the island.

But you can paddle around the island anytime from dawn to dusk, any day of the week. Thats because youll park your vehicle and launch your boat in Idaho Power Co.s grassy public park connected with the adjacent Thousand Springs hydroelectric plant.

Sure, you can give Ritter Island a quick visit. But plan on taking the day, Landrum advises.

Dont rush it, and look up in the sky, look down on the ground, he said. Dont just stare at the water.

On the evening of June 9, to the distinctive soundtrack of red-winged blackbirds, my husband and I paddled our tandem kayak around Ritter Island, watching the fish in that clear water and cheered by the wild roses blooming on the banks.

Great blue herons rose gracefully from tall trees at the islands north end. A deer, wading at the channels edge to reach up for mouthfuls from the willows, made a leisurely retreat as we approached, giving us plenty of time for admiration. Late in the evening, we watched a sleek mink swim just in front of our kayak before ducking below the surface.

We are neither anglers nor experienced birders, but Landrum and Sarah Harris, president of the Prairie Falcon Audubon chapter, helped me out on those angles later.

Big trout lurk under the islands overhanging brush, Landrum said. You can fish from the bank, but theres nothing like fishing from the water to the bank.

Many visitors fish right by the bridge, from the grassy area of the Idaho Power park. Instead, Landrum advises, they should work the channel in both directions farther away from the bridge. Thats where youll find the fish.

And the birding? Its rich here, Harris said, but tends to get overlooked.

Among the more colorful species at Ritter Island: Bullocks oriole, black-headed grosbeak, yellow warbler, yellow-rumped warbler, MacGillivrays warbler (Its a cool one. Its worth seeing), several kinds of flycatcher, yellow-breasted chat and Wilsons snipe. Sometimes a Western screech owl.

In fact, birders who post their lists on eBird.org have reported 54 species at Ritter Island in the past two years. But only seven eBirders reported from Ritter Island in those two years, Harris said, surprised as she looked up that statistic.

The island is shady, with big trees, its surrounded by water, and its fairly quiet until the annual Thousand Springs Festival of the Arts in September. In short, a great place to bird.

We should take advantage of it, she said.

So why do birders  even Harris  tend to overlook it? The islands limited hours of pedestrian access have a lot to do with that, she said.

Just one more reason to see Ritter Island from the water.

Getting there

For the Ritter Island unit of Thousand Springs State Park, take Interstate 84 to Wendell, use exit 155 and head west on Hagerman Highway, then south on 1500 East (also called West Point Road). Turn west again on 3200 South, and watch for the Ritter Island signs.

Getting in

Like other state parks, Thousand Springs State Park charges a daily $5 motor vehicle entry fee year-round in most of its units  unless you have the $10 annual Idaho State Parks Passport available through the Department of Motor Vehicles. But the parks Ritter Island unit is a special case.

Visitors to Ritter Island leave their vehicles in the adjacent Idaho Power park, which charges no fee, and  when the gate on the footbridge is open  walk onto the island. Or they launch boats from the Idaho Power park. Either way, your vehicle wont enter the island, so youll never pay the $5 fee here.

Getting oriented

The fact that spring water creates the channel separating Ritter Island from the mainland has a startling result: Current in the channel flows in both directions, making the switch abruptly at a thundering waterfall beside the power plant. And its strong.

For the easiest paddle, youll want to circle the island clockwise to take advantage of the current once you reach the Snake River, which you cant see when you launch from the Idaho Power park.

The Snake here flows toward the north; head south (left) when you launch so you can join the Snake at the islands upstream end.

Thousand Springs State Park information: parksandrecreation.idaho.gov/parks/thousand-springs or 208-837-4505.
WENDELL  A fire burning 3 miles north of Wendell had reached 200 acres by 7 p.m. Monday.

The Bureau of Land Management Twin Falls District received the call of the fire at 5:30 p.m. and had five engines responding. The Gooding and Wendell rural fire departments were also on the scene.

The fire is burning in grass and brush and the cause is under investigation.

BLM spokeswoman Kelsey Brizendine said the fire was initially burning very aggressively, but by 8:30 p.m. was creeping more slowly. The BLM estimated the fire would be contained by 11 p.m. Monday, and completely out by 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Jerome fires

Jerome Rural Fire District responded to multiple fires Monday evening, including a controlled burn that got out of control and burned multiple structures, firefighter Rick Bernsen said.

At 7 p.m. the district responded to a fire at 325 South, 320 West where a homeowners controlled burn destroyed a motor home, a shed, and part of a single-wide trailer on the property.

The district had already gone out to a brush fire northwest of Jerome, when a persons weed burning encroached onto neighboring property, Bernsen said. The 2-acre fire was reported at 5:17 p.m.

Things look green, but I dont think people realize how dry it is underneath the green, he said.

At 6:30 p.m., shortly after responding to a crash on Interstate 84, the district was called out to a small brush fire at milepost 164 in the median. A mechanical problem from a vehicle had caused sparks, igniting the brush.

All fires were cleared that evening.
RUPERT  A Paul man has pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault after police say he imprisoned a woman and four children in a bedroom and later tried to force her vehicle into oncoming traffic.

Joshua Brock Winmill, 25, was charged last July.

Sentencing is set at 9 a.m. Aug. 14 in Minidoka County District Court.

Under a plea agreement, Winmill pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm by a felon and a misdemeanor count of violation of a no-contact order from another Minidoka County case filed in January 2017. Two counts of domestic battery will be dismissed, Lance Stevenson, Minidoka County prosecutor said.

In return, Stevenson will recommend a total sentence for all the charges of 10 years in prison with five years fixed and five years indeterminate.

A restitution order for $5,000 will be filed by the prosecutor.

In July, police said Winmill forced the woman and children into a bedroom while he went to work and watched them on Facetime, a video app that allows people to see each other over the phone.

The woman told police if the phone connection was broken Winmill would go to the home and beat her.

The woman said later that day she gave him a ride to pick up his vehicle and he tried to run her vehicle into oncoming traffic with his vehicle. A witness corroborated her account.

Police said the woman also had marks and facial bruising.
TWIN FALLS  Police say a 42-year-old woman hit her teen daughter with her pickup Sunday right before the teen went into diabetic shock.

Dana Charlene Strickland of Twin Falls was arraigned Monday on a charge of aggravated battery.

Police say Strickland showed up at her daughters boyfriends house to pick up some of her things and the two got in an argument. The daughter began spraying Stricklands truck with water.

Several witnesses told police Strickland drove into the front yard and hit her daughter with the truck, then peeled out, spraying gravel at people, court documents say. The boyfriend hit Strickland in the face, police said.

Soon after Strickland left, her 18-year-old daughter collapsed and began shaking uncontrollably.

She was treated by medics.

When officers interviewed her, Strickland told them a man she didnt know well had been driving and hit her daughter with the truck.

Police spoke with the man, decided that wasnt true and arrested Strickland.

Her bond was set at $10,000, and a preliminary hearing is set for June 30.
JEROME  A man with outstanding warrants has been charged with new crimes after he allegedly threatened to shoot law enforcement officers in an hours-long standoff Monday night.

John T. Lopez, 48, has been living in Jerome but was wanted on two warrants out of Ada County. Jerome County Sheriffs Office responded to a call about a disturbance at a residence around 8 p.m. when they discovered Lopez with a 9 millimeter pistol, Capt. George Oppedyk said.

He ended up barricading himself in a fifth-wheel trailer, he said.

Lopez reportedly threatened to shoot police and himself.

Twin Falls city/county SWAT team, plus negotiators with the Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office, arrived on scene at 232 N. 300 N. The Jerome Rural Fire District blocked off the roads at 300 East between 200 and 300 North. Residents were evacuated.

Negotiators were talking with him for several hours over the phone, and eventually he surrendered, Oppedyk said.

No injuries were reported.

Lopez was taken into custody around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. He is being held at the Jerome County Jail on a misdemeanor and a felony warrant out of Ada County, plus new charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and obstructing or delaying an officer.

His bond for both warrants was $150,000, plus $15,000 for the new charges.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 30.
TWIN FALLS  A Twin Falls man has been sentenced to two to 10 years in state prison for his role in staging a robbery at a Dominos Pizza on Super Bowl Sunday.

Nicholas Anthony Slane pleaded guilty to burglary and grand theft in April and was sentenced on June 19. He will also have to pay $245.50 in court costs. He will have 109 days taken off his sentence for time spent in jail before his sentencing.

Prosecutors said Slane pulled off the staged robbery Feb. 6 with the help of his relative, Dustin Camryn Farnworth, who drove and split the money with Slane, and Farnworths fiancee, Katelyn Nicole Plaster, who worked at Dominos. Authorities said earlier this year Slane entered the store with a gun and wearing a mask and made off with $1,800.

Farnworth is scheduled for trial in July, according to court records. Plaster pleaded guilty to three felonies in May and is scheduled to be sentenced in July.
BUHL  At-risk students in Buhl will soon have access to an alternative school.

The Buhl School District plans to open a new high school, Wakapa Academy, in September. The goal is to eventually take in students in surrounding Magic Valley west end communities such as Castleford, Hagerman, Filer and Wendell.

The school aims to reach teenagers who are at risk of dropping out or need another option to help them be successful in school. Its a population that may be under-served.

There isnt anything on the west end, said Ron Anthony, superintendent of the Buhl School District. Weve struggled.

The new schools name, Wakapa, is a word with American Indian origins that means to excel. It also used to be the name of Buhl High Schools yearbook.

The school will be housed in the Boys & Girls Clubs Buhl building.

The school district plans to spend about $150,000 from its general fund for initial school start-up costs. Once the school is up and running, it will receive state funding similar to other Idaho public alternative schools.

A school counselor is working to identify students who could attend the new school, Anthony said.

So far, theyve identified five teenagers who should have graduated with the class of 2017, but didnt and are only a few class credits shy of getting to the finish line.

The idea for an alternative school in Buhl isnt anything new. School district officials have looked into the possibility for at least four years as a way to address the high school dropout rate.

Typically, 20 students from each grade level are lost from freshman year to graduation, Anthony said. Thats way too many.

Buhls graduation rate was nearly 78 percent for the 2015-16 school year, according to the Idaho Department of Education. Thats the latest data available, which the state released in February.

Wakapa Academy will provide an option for kids who need something different, Anthony said, such as if their home life or other responsibilities make it too difficult to attend a traditional high school.

Buhl has two or three students each year who attend Magic Valley High School, an alternative high school in Twin Falls.

But the distance to Twin Falls is an obstacle, Anthony said, and there isnt school busing provided between the two communities.

The new Buhl school wont have an impact on the Twin Falls School District, district spokeswoman Eva Craner wrote in an email to the Times-News.

Very few students from Buhl enroll at Magic Valley High, she wrote, and any opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Magic Valley is a win.

During a Buhl school board retreat last year, a goal was to look into creating an alternative school. Then-Buhl High principal Ryan Bowman and Anthony visited Shoshones alternative school, High Desert High School, and learned how it and others across Idaho work.

They started a planning process in February to create Buhls own alternative school. They filled out an alternative-schools application in April and turned it into the state two weeks ago  well before the Thursday deadline.

The Idaho Department of Education has received the application, spokesman Jeff Church told the Times-News, and it should be reviewed and finalized by the end of next week.

Maggi Fortner, currently a Magic Valley High teacher, will be the head teacher and a high school vice principal in charge of Wakapa Academy. Shell start in her new role July 31.

Were going to use a lot of our online coursework this first year, Anthony said. That could include PLATO, an online credit recovery program.

Fortner is a certified English teacher, so she could teach some of the English coursework, Anthony said.

Another option for alternative school students could be to take agriculture classes at Buhl High or automotive classes through ARTEC Regional Professional Technical Charter School.

Buhl school officials are initially aiming to enroll about 20 students for the upcoming school year. And the district also plans to hire a paraprofessional for the school.

The long-range vision is to have 50 students. Eventually, the district may look into other building options, such as modular classrooms, moving into an existing facility or building a new one.
JEROME  Every day, the College of Southern Idaho sees an average of 800,000 to 1.1 million malicious attempts to get into its computer network perimeter.

CSI chief technology officer Kevin Mark gave a report Monday to college trustees. He told the board he doesnt know how that number compares with Idahos other community colleges.

But for CSI  and many other local agencies and businesses  cybersecurity is a huge topic these days.

Theres no rest from protecting CSIs systems, Mark said. Thats going to continue to be an ever-present threat.

Of the malicious attempts each day, it does not mean were getting infected that many times, Mark told trustees. And of the attempts, about 65,000 each day come from outside the United States.

In February, CSI reported a significant phishing scam after an employee inadvertently released W-2 tax information.

A person who was impersonating a college employee sent an email to a real CSI employee requesting W-2 forms. An employee released information later that day for all college employees for 2015 and 2016.

But there wasnt any evidence of hacking into CSIs computer system. CSI later learned the phishing scam originated oversees, Mark told trustees Monday.

During the presentation, Mark also gave updates on the institutional technology services departments key initiatives.

In August 2016, CSI trustees approved a nearly $400,000 project to improve the colleges website and operating systems.

Mark said Monday theyre a little behind on the project to update the website and should be done by late August or early September.

But theyre ahead on another project  wireless Internet for buildings across the Twin Falls campus  and most buildings in the main campus loop have been completed, he said.

In his report, Mark went over many statistics about college technology. One of them: There were 118 hours, 17 minutes of unplanned system outages and service disruptions from April 2016 to April 2017.

Thats not good, he said.

It may seem like a huge number, but thats less than 2 percent of the time during those two years. Systems were up and running for about 98.7 percent of the time.

Mark told trustees hed like to see the service uptime climb to 99.9 percent. It would mean having just 8.6 hours of unplanned outages per year by 2020.

Board chairman Karl Kleinkopf asked how the outages affected students, such as during classtime.

The student experience isnt just about classroom time, but also includes elements such as registration and accessing the Canvas online learning platform, CSI President Jeff Fox said. As things become more interconnected, its more probable that students will be affected.

Monday was the CSI boards once-a-year meeting in Jerome. The colleges taxing district includes both Twin Falls and Jerome counties.

Trustee Jack Nelsen was elected in November 2016 to fill a seat specifically representing Jerome County  the result of a new state law requiring geographic representation on community college boards.

During its Monday meeting, trustees also:

Approved updates to its board policies manual.

The changes cleaned up parts of the document that needed attention here and there, Kleinkopf said, but there werent any major policy changes.

Some of the changes included updating the meeting schedule, including the up-to-date college mission statement, adding information about the new geographic trustee zones and updating executive administrative assistant Kathy Deahls job description to better align with what she does.

Approved a board of trustees self-evaluation.

The board goes through the process every year and its a requirement as part of the colleges accreditation. In my experience, this is a pretty comprehensive evaluation, Fox said.

Kleinkopf said he found the board probably isnt taking advantage of the educational or training opportunities it could, and hed like to see them do better.

He said learning more about the colleges budgeting process is his number one training priority.

Heard an update about CSIs strategic plan.
TWIN FALLS  County Treasurer Debbie Kauffman is stepping down as of Aug. 1.

Kauffman, a Republican who was last re-elected in 2014, said in a news release she wants to spend more time with her family.

I have 90-plus year-old parents and three wonderful grandsons who I want to spend more time with, she said. I also want to attend more legislative functions with my husband Clark. I have enjoyed working at Twin Falls County for 22 years, with 16 years of service as Twin Falls County treasurer.

The county Republican Central Committee plans to meet to recommend three names to the county commissioners, who will appoint her replacement.
TWIN FALLS  A child custody dispute called in Sunday evening resulted in the arrest of a Twin Falls man who reportedly fired shots into an empty vehicle at a residence.

Kevin Duran, 28, was found in Mini-Cassia and taken into custody later that evening, Twin Falls County Sheriffs Office spokeswoman Lori Stewart said. He is being held at the Twin Falls County Jail for aggravated assault and felon in possession of a firearm.
This appeared in Mondays Washington Post:

Obamacare looks shaky, mostly because Republicans are sabotaging it. This, in turn, has rekindled calls on the left to create a European-style single-payer system, in which the government directly pays for every Americans health care. California lawmakers, for example, are considering such a plan for their state.

The single-payer model has some strong advantages. It is much simpler for most peopleno more insurance forms or related hassles. Employers would no longer be mixed up in providing health-care benefits, and taxpayers would no longer subsidize that form of private compensation. Government experts could conduct research on treatments and use that information to directly cut costs across the system.

But the governments price tag would be astonishing. When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., proposed a Medicare for all health plan in his presidential campaign, the nonpartisan Urban Institute figured that it would raise government spending by $32 trillion over 10 years, requiring a tax increase so huge that even the democratic socialist Sanders did not propose anything close to it.

Single-payer advocates counter that government-run health systems in other developed countries spend much less than the United States does on its complex public-private arrangement. They say that if the United States adopted a European model, it could expand coverage to everyone by realizing a mountain of savings with no measureable decline in health outcomes, in part because excessive administrative costs and profit would be wrung from the system.

In fact, the savings would be less dramatic; the Urban Institutes projections are closer to reality. The public piece of the American health-care system has not proven itself to be particularly cost-efficient. On a per capita basis, U.S. government health programs alone spend more than Canada, Australia, France and Britain each do on their entire health systems. That means the U.S. government spends more per American to cover a slice of the population than other governments spend per citizen to cover all of theirs. Simply expanding Medicare to all would not automatically result in a radically more efficient health-care system. Something else would have to change.

With monopoly buying power, the government could tighten up on health-care spending by dictating prices for services and drugs. But the government already has a lot of leverage. A big reason it does not clamp down now on health-care spending is that it is hard to do so politically.

Republicans have tarred the Affordable Care Acts Medicare cuts as attacks on the cherished entitlement program. Doctors and hospitals have effectively resisted efforts to scale back the reimbursements they get from federal health programs. Small-town America does not want to give up expensive medical facilities that serve relatively few people in rural areas. A tax on medical device makers has been under bipartisan attack ever since it passed, as has the Cadillac tax on expensive health-insurance plans.

A single-payer health-care system would face all of these political barriers to cost-saving reform and more. To realize the single-payer dream of coverage for all and big savings, medical industry players, including doctors, would likely have to get paid less and patients would have to accept different standards of access and comfort. There is little evidence most Americans are willing to accept such tradeoffs.

The goal still must be universal coverage and cost restraint. But no matter whether the government or some combination of parties is paying, that restraint will come slowly, with cuts to the rate of increase in medical costs that make the system more affordable over time. There are many options short of a disruptive takeover: the government can change how care is delivered, determine which treatments should be covered, control quality at hospitals, drive down drug costs and discourage high-cost health-care plans even while making the Obamacare system better at filling coverage gaps.
Filipino talent is well known around the worldfrom their drive and passion in sports, to their grace and beauty on the pageant stage, down to their world-class, well-crafted indigenous products. The world has come to know the Philippines as a place of immense talent and great promise. Filipinos are embraced abroad, and even more so at home, where there is a growing appeal in decor and furniture made from the countrys natural gifts.

This June, celebrating culture, creativity and nationalism, Rustans, in partnership with the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI), presents The Art & Soul of the Filipino, a showcase of all things proudly Pinoy.

LOCAL LUXURIES. Accents such as this Filipiniana Jeepney, along with other refined pieces that highlight Filipino creativity and ingenuity are displayed at Rustans and DTIs The Art & Soul of the Filipino exhibit.

Until July 9, visit the exciting displays of Rustans Filipiniana Our Very Own products, which highlight Filipino creativity and ingenuity in design through a wonderful selection of accents, dinnerware, and linens. Local luxuries such as carved wood tabletop decor and refined pieces made of delicate capiz shells reflect the distinguished history and cultural heritage of the Philippine islands. Find as well an array of elegant linens and fabrics that will definitely elevate the ambience of the home, bringing in a touch of warmth to any room.

Exceptional one-of-a-kind merchandise from the Go Lokal! showcase at Rustans

Alongside these designs, find other exciting creations at Go Lokal!, an inspiring initiative by DTI, which brings to the market new designs from aspiring designers and home brands. Rustans, as the leader in lifestyle luxury and a staunch supporter of arts and culture, opens up its doorsoffering opportunities and a great platform for these talented entrepreneurs.

ADVERTISEMENT

Launched by DTI in collaboration with select retail partners, Go Lokal! was initially developed as an opportunity for the countrys micro and small enterprises. Here, entrepreneurs can test their consumer appeal and gauge the marketability of their products for export. From bags and shoes to decor made from indigenous materials, Go Lokal! promises an exhibit of exceptional one-of-a-kind merchandise that are uniqely Filipino. Catch the Go Lokal exhibit on the 5th level of Rustans Makati.

Uniquely Filipino-made goods

During this month of patriotism and pride, also gain a deeper appreciation and love for the Motherland through compelling narratives as captured by the award-winning photography group, TP5. The photo exhibit, which will showcase the works of Adel Samson, Bien Bautista, Jijo de Guzman, Kakai Manotok-Arroyo, and Jan Aliling, on the 5th Level of Rustans Makati until July 9.

Rustans Filipiniana Small Kalesa Colored w Glass Base

See, feel, and experience the true breadth, depth, and beauty of Filipino creativity at Rustans The Art & Soul of the Filipino.

For more information, visit www.rustans.com.ph or drop by Rustans today.

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Indonesia, Malaysia & Philippines deploy navy, fighter jets to jointly combat terrorism



We want to convey a very clear message that if they want to set foot here, they don't only face one country, but at least three countries that have agreed to fight as hard as they can." - Malaysian defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein



Indonesia navy soldiers on warship and helicopter are seen during the launch of coordinated patrols to beef up security between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Philippine, Indonesia, June 19, 2017.  Antara Foto / Zabur Karuru / Reuters





Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have launched joint operations in the Sulu Sea off the north coast of Borneo, amid fears that the Islamist insurgency in the southern Philippines might spread throughout the region.





The Indonesian military said the joint maneuvers, which began on Monday from Tarakan island in North Kalimantan, Indonesia, were in the spirit and centrality of ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations], in maintaining stability in the region in the face of non-traditional threats such as piracy, kidnapping, terrorism and other transnational crimes in regional waters, read a statement to the media as quoted by the Straits Times.





Ministers and top army officials from the three countries, as well as defense ministers from Brunei and Singapore, attended the ceremonies which kicked off the mainly naval-based operation, although land and air forces are taking part as well.





A new Maritime Command Centre (MCC) was also inaugurated at Tarakan, at a ceremony witnessed by officials from all three countries. Tarakan is a port city just south of Borneo and facing the conflict-wracked island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.





Additional command centers are also being planned in Tawau in Malaysia, on Borneo, and in Bongao in the Philippines.





"We see these functioning as a triangle, like a spider's web, where everything inside the triangle will be monitored," Indonesian military chief General Gatot Nurmantyo said as cited by Reuters.





There has been renewed concern over Islamist activity in south-east Asia, particularly after extremists overran the city of Marawi on Mindanao island, Philippines nearly a month ago.





The attack on Marawi was carried out by the IS-affiliated Maute group, which together with other extremist groups like Abu Sayyaf have been carrying out terrorist attacks in the region, as well as other crimes such as hostage-taking, extortion and piracy.





As the Philippine military lay siege to Marawi, jihadist fighters, both foreign and local, may try to flee the battlefield to Indonesia, which has intensified security in the sea between their country and the Philippines.





"We need to watch out for the 500 to 600 terrorists there, 257 of whom have been killed already. The rest, based on information we are getting, are blending in with refugees to get out," General Nurmantyo explained.





Jakarta has deployed three Sukhoi fighter jets to prevent the militants from infiltrating Indonesia by sea, the head of the Tarakan air base told the state-run Antara news agency.





Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines also pledged to increase intelligence-sharing to prevent another Marawi-type incident happening again, said Malaysian defense minister Hishammuddin Hussein.





"What we want to avoid is a development of perceptions that there are certain areas in our region that are seen as Aleppo, Raqqa (in Syria), meaning these areas would become magnets, to which foreign fighters would be attracted to come," said Hussein, as quoted by the Straits Times.





We want to convey a very clear message that if they want to set foot here, they don't only face one country, but at least three countries that have agreed to fight as hard as they can." - RT




Qatars Foreign Minister Monday told reporters that his country will not be bullied into negotiations with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Egypt and allies if they do not lift the air, sea and land blockades they have imposed on the tiny Emirate over terrorism funding charges.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani underscored that Qatar has been unjustly singled out by the Saudi Arabia-led bloc on purported reasons.

We have to make it very clear for everyone, negotiations must be done in a civilized way and should have a solid basis and not under pressure or under blockade, al-Thani said.

Qatar under blockade  there is no negotiation. They have to lift the blockade.

Al-Thanis comments challenged UAE state minister for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargashs statement to reporters in Paris, pointing out that the blockades could take years should Qatar not meet demands.

We do not want to escalate, we want to isolate, Gargash said.

This isolation can take years.

On June 5, the Saudi-led bloc severed ties with Qatar, which they accuse of funding terrorism. The bloc pressed ahead to impose land, air and sea blockades and ordaining Qatari residents to leave their territories within two weeks  the ultimatum expired Monday.

Qatar indicated that it would not adopt the same measures against residents of the besieging countries.

Al-Thani pointedly indicated that the Gulf countries have not forwarded any demands adding that they have no ground to do so.

Why they didnt submit their demands yet? For us, there is no clear answer for this, he said.

But what we have seen until now, there is no solid ground for these demands, thats why they didnt submit their demands yet.

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and UAE are said to have recalled their citizens in Qatar.

Qatar Monday reassured companies belonging to residents of these countries that business would go on as usual.

Yousef al-Jaida, Chief Executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, which administers special rules for foreign-owned companies operating in Qatar, indicated that the Qatari government was also prepared to support local banks if foreign institutions withdraw deposits from them because of the economic boycott, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) reports.
Riyadh announced Monday it captured three Iranians, member of the Islamic Republics Revolutionary Guards, on a boat laden with weapons heading towards an oil platform, in the Arabian Gulf.

The three men, according to Saudi state-run news agency SPA, were arrested Friday aboard a boat loaded with weapons, in the Saudi internal waters.

The Saudi Ministry of Information said in a statement that the boat, which was sailing along two other boats, was heading towards the field of Marjan in what looked like a terrorist attempt.

The two other boats managed to flee after Saudi naval forces issued warnings, the ministry said, adding that the arrested men are being questioned.

In a separate incident, which occurred over the weekend, Iran accused Saudi Arabia of killing one Iranian fisherman after his boat mistakenly strayed into Saudi waters.

Tension between the two regional archrivals further hyped this month after Tehran pointed a blaming fingers at Riyadh for endorsing the twin terrorist attacks, which targeted the Iranian parliament complex and the shrine of the Islamic Republic founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, on June 7.

Both countries have been engaged in proxy wars in Syria, Yemen and support for oppositions in respective countries.
Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
Angolan authorities are eyeing foreign investments from Israel to revamp fertilizers industry in order to boost the oil-rich nation agriculture sector, National Director of Forests at the Ministry of Agriculture, Domingos Nazare Veloso, told reporters.

Speaking about the investment opportunities in the agricultural sector on the sidelines of the first Angola-Israel business forum, Domingos Nazare Veloso explains that the internal market is currently limited to a fertilizer volume between 70,000 and 100,000 tons, while demand stands between 200,000 and 300,000 tons.

According to Veloso, this reduced level of supply is one of the main factors limiting agricultural output in the Southern African country.

Since the end of the civil war in 2002, Angola has banked on the re-emergence of the agricultural sector to redevelop the eastern pert of the country.

Angolas overdependence on oil income has long been recognized but has been thrusted into the spotlight over the past two years because of low oil prices.

Agriculture accounts for about 12% of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to the USDA. Two-thirds of the Angolan population are active in farming but mainly at subsistence levels. The country only uses 10% of its cultivable land, or about 58 million hectares.

After nearly four decades in power, Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, the second-longest serving leader in Africa, has announced that he will leave office this year.
Two people have been killed in the Malian capital, Bamako after a suspected terrorist attack on a tourist resort on Sunday.

Local media reported that four gunmen arriving on motorbikes and a car stormed Le Campement Kangaba, near Dougourakoro in capital city Bamako. The resort is popular with foreigners and United Nations (UN) workers in the terrorism-stricken West African nation.

The attack was pushed out by Malian forces backed by French troops killing three attackers.

In a statement released by Malis Ministry of Security and Civil Protection, the resort attack was carried out by armed individuals, certainly terrorists. The statement said a Malian anti-terror force was on the scene.

They [the armed men] exchanged gunshots with members of the special anti-terrorist force (FORSAT) who had arrived just a few minutes after the attack. FORSAT managed to secure the surroundings of the site. The operation to secure the premises is in progress, the statement said.

In November 2015, gunmen raided a Malian hotel and killed at least 22 people, according to the UN Mission in Mali.

Fears of terrorist attacks have pushed Mali to extend a state of emergency on several occasions.

Earlier this month, the US Embassy in Bamako issued a travel warning, saying there was an increased security threat to Westerners.

The US Embassy informs US citizens of a possible increased threat of attacks against Western diplomatic missions, places of worship, and other locations in Bamako that Westerners frequent.
The Libyan Coast Guard intercepted boats with more than 900 migrants from Asia and Africa on board boats en route to Europe.

A coastguard patrol from Zawiya (west of Tripoli) intercepted five inflatable boats and a wooden vessel carrying 906 migrants at dawn on Friday, Libyan navy spokesperson told Al Monitor.

Among the rescued African and Asian migrants there were 25 children and 98 women, including seven who were pregnant, the same source said.

One of the rubber boats was holed and on the point of sinking, while the wooden one did not have a motor, the spokesperson explained.

People smugglers have taken advantage of the disarray in war-torn Libya since 2011, when their autocratic leader Muammar Qaddafi was killed.

Last weekend, the UN Said more than 50 migrants from sub-Saharan Africa went missing at sea and a further 2,500 were rescued leaving Libya grappling with an acute migrant crisis.

Few weeks ago, the Libyan Coast Guard came under harsh criticism after it was accused of shooting at a migrant-filled boat prompting many to jump overboard, and leading to the deaths of all 34, including children.
Georgia highlights de-dolarisation progress

The use of Georgias domestic currency, the lari, in Georgias economy is increasing thanks to the efforts taken by the government to strengthen lari-denominated economic activity.The share of the US dollar in loans taken by individuals has recently declined from 58 percent to 48 percent, while the share of the US dollar in total loans fell from 65 percent to 58 percent, says Georgias Finance Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili.In his words the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank positively praised Georgian Governments and the National Bank of Georgias (NBG) works in the de-dolarisation process.The high coefficient of dolarisation is a serious challenge for many countries and various governments and central banks try to overcome this challenge, said Kumsishvili.De-dolarisation was one of the main topics of discussions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Consultancy Meeting 2017 which took place on June 9-11 in Armenia.Kumsishvili also attended the meeting together with the Georgian delegation which included head of the NBG Koba Gvenetadze, Minister of Infrastructure Zurab Alavidze and other high-ranking officials.As of March 2017 a total of 5,617 loans worth up to $80 million have been converted into the lari within the framework of the Program on the Larisation of Loans.The Program on the Larisation of Loans was approved by the Government of Georgia on January 11 in a bid to ease the debt burden in the country caused by the fluctuation of the lari against foreign currencies in the second half of last year.The Program started on January 17 and continued for two months. This was a one-time measure for borrowers who were hit hard by the sharp depreciation of the exchange rate.Per the program, loans received in US dollars before January 1, 2015 and signed for against real estate collaterals were eligible for conversion into lari-denominated loans.In total 33,000 loans were identified as falling under the programs eligibility.
The News in Brief

Kremlin Aide Visits Tskhinvali, Speaks of Deeper Integration



Russian Presidents aide VladislavSurkov, who oversees Georgias Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, visited Tskhinvali on June 8-9, and discussed, among other issues, the regions further integration with the Russian Federation.



Surkov, who is deeply implicated in all political decisions of the two regions, held meetings with Anatoly Bibilov, new South Ossetian leader, as well as the new government and parliamentary chairman PiotrGassiev.



At a meeting with Anatoly Bibilov on June 8, Vladislav Surkov said that the purpose of cooperation between Moscow and Tskhinvali should ultimately be the common cultural, legal, defense, economic space. Surkov added that the goal was realistic, and would be reached in due time.



He also said that a new era was starting in South Ossetia with the election of Anatoly Bibilov, and thanked Bibilov for his consistent support of Tskhinvalis integration with Russia. You are the [new] president, therefore, there will certainly be some changes to the policy, be it economic, integration with Russia or other areas of state-building. We are open to dialogue, ready to accept these novelties, discuss them together and I think that, overall, we will support them, since we have long known each other, the Kremlin aide noted.



Vladislav Surkov spoke on South Ossetias further integration with Russia in the regions legislature as well. The Kremlin aide stressed that the integration needs to be deeper and comprehensive, since the present level of integration is far from the ideal, from the level of integration, which Russia and South Ossetia are objectively aspiring to.



We also have sceptics [in Russia], who think that the current state [of integration] is already sufficient and we can stop at that, but the prevailing position is that closer, tighter cooperation is necessary, including for greater security of South Ossetia and most importantly, for raising the living standards of the population, Surkov stated, adding that Moscow would strive to ensure that the living standards in South Ossetia come close to that of Russia.



I hope for your support in this matter, Surkov told the legislators. Back then [when the alliance and integration treaty was being negotiated], it was only thanks to the support and the principled position of the parliamentary chairman (Anatoly Bibilov served at the post in 2014-2017) and the parliamentary majority, that we managed to agree on the version of the treaty that was desirable for Russia, Surkov said.



Surkov added that the work on implementing Moscows alliance and integration treaty with Tskhinvali would continue, which would require adoption and ratification of a number of new laws.



During his two-day visit to Tskhinvali, Surkov and Bibilov together inspected a number of sites being constructed in the Region with the Russian funding, including the Holy Trinity temple of the Russian Orthodox Church in Tskhinvali. The two also co-chaired the meetings of Russian and Tskhinvali officials dedicated to the reconstruction of the Iryston hotel and the ongoing construction of a local theatre.



In Tskhinvali, Vladislav Surkov was accompanied by Denis Travin, deputy head of the Office of the Russian President for Social and Economic Cooperation with the CIS member states, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Alexey Filatov, chief adviser in the same unit.

(Civil.ge)







Azerbaijani MP claims Georgian intel collaborated on journalists abduction



A member of Azerbaijans parliament claims that Georgian and Azerbaijani intelligence agencies collaborated on abducting a journalist in Tbilisi and send him back to Baku to face jail.



Elman Nasirov, a member of Azerbaijans national assembly Mili Meclis, put forth the explosive allegations in an interview with Radio Free Europe.



Georgias intelligence agency, the State Security Service (SUS), publicly denied having had any involvement with the May 29 abduction of a journalist critical of Azerbaijans authoritarian President Ilham Alyiev. Afgan Mukhtarli was kidnapped in the center of Tbilisi, brought across the state border and rushed straight to a Baku prison.



The statement by Elman Nasirov, an Azerbaijanian member of parliament, that the detention of an Azerbaijani journalist Afgan Mukhtarli was the result of joint work carried out by Georgian and Azerbaijanian special forces, is not the truth. The State Security Service of Georgia strongly denies information spread by the member of parliament and any link with the Afgan Mukhtarli case, SUS wrote in a statement on Friday.



In the interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys Azerbaijani language service, Nasirov said that Muktarlis apprehension was a result of joint efforts by Azerbaijani and Georgian intelligence agencies.



Earlier, on June 2, Nasirov claimed that protests over Mukhtarlis arrest were a result of Armenian diaspora and anti-Azerbaijani elements.



The Armenian diaspora in Georgia, anti-Azerbaijani elements, based on the arrest of [Mukhtarli], are trying to damage Azerbaijani-Georgian relations. But their attempts have failed, because there are historically friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Georgia, Elman Nasirov told Trend news agency.

(DF watch)




@MaryEllenKlas

South Florida homeowners insured by Citizens Property Insurance Corp. will likely see annual premiums rise by more than 10 percent next year if the rate increase requested on Tuesday is approved.

The horizon looks really cloudy out there, said Barry Gilway, president and CEO of Citizens, the state-run insurer of last resort and the second largest holder of property insurance in Florida -- behind Universal Property & Casualty -- at a meeting of the insurers Board of Governors in the Orlando suburb of Maitland.

He was not referring to the start of what is expected to be an active hurricane season. Instead, he said, the soaring rates in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties are because of something regulators have been unable to track: excessive water damage claims buoyed by homeowners who assign their claims to a contractor doing the repairs, giving the contractor  and often the aggressive law firms they hire  the right to collect payments directly from the insurance company.

If approved by state regulators, the statewide residential rate increases will average 5.3 percent, but because each policy is based on the homeowners risk, no one pays exactly the average. The company wants an average rate increase of 10.5 percent for Miami-Dade, 10.4 percent for Broward, 9.3 percent for Palm Beach and 3.8 percent for Monroe.

Its a problem affecting not only Citizens, but most other insurers, too, and it has been mounting for years. But, for the third year in a row, the Florida Legislature left Tallahassee last session without doing anything to address the problem.

Citizens Board member Gary Aubuchon, a former Republican state representative from Cape Coral, placed the blame squarely on lawmakers.

Citizens Property Insurance is sailing into shark-infested waters in a ship that was created by the Legislature, he said. Each year they send us out, and we come back asking to fix our ship and they send us back out with duct tape.

Unlike South Florida, most counties are projected to see multi-peril rates go down. In Tampa Bay will be less than the state average next year.

Pinellas County will see its Citizens rates for multi-peril homeowners lines drop by 5.7 percent. Hillsborough County residents will see a 0.8 percent increase, Pasco County a 2.7 percent drop, and Hernando County a 2.2 percent increase.

"Outside of South Florida, we don't see the degree of assignnment of benefits abuses that we see in south florida and that's been reflected in the rates,'' said Michael Peltier, Citizens spokesperson. He said that the drop in reinsurance costs and more competitive pricing related to windstorm coverage has contributed to the rate declines in the other markets.

"We are concerned some of the trends we are seeing in South Florida are spreading to the Tampa Bay area and Orlando," Peltier said. "But the rate proposed for 2018 reflects the hard numbers we've seen in the last two or three years."

State law allows policyholders who need repairs to their homes to assign their rights to seek reimbursement from the insurance companies to third-party contractors. Some contractors persuade homeowners whose pipes or appliances have ruptured to assign over the benefits (AOB) and, working with attorneys, file lawsuits against the insurer if the claims are denied or payments are reduced.

The cost of the litigation, on top of the repairs, has increased the cost of an average Citizens multi-peril homeowner policy from $367 in 2011 to a projected $2,083 in 2017, the company reported.

Gilway said that 50 percent of the water claims in South Florida are litigated, which can make a case five times more expensive to settle. (Without litigation, the average cost per claim is $6,000 to $7,000, but if a lawyer takes the case, the cost rise to $30,000 to $35,000 per claim, the rate request said.)

In South Florida, water claims make up 95 percent of all litigation claims and 56 percent of the companys multi-peril homeowners exposure, Gilway said. For that reason, insurers have warned Florida lawmakers to tighten the rules in an attempt to curb the litigation, or the mounting losses will continue costing customers more.

State law limits Citizens to a maximum rate increase of 10 percent a year per policyholder, but doesnt include the portion of the rate included in the Hurricane Catastrophe Fund, so some rates will rise above the cap. The company predicts the cap will lead to a loss of about $124 million this year and $182 million in 2018 in its multi-peril homeowners lines, Gilway said. Profits from commercial lines of insurance will offset some of those losses in 2017, he said, but not in 2018.

Private insurance companies, which arent under the same restrictions, are seeking rate increases that are even higher than Citizens. Deerfield Beach-based Peoples Trust, which insured 54,267 single-family homes in South Florida asked for 14.5-percent average rate hike for multi-peril homeowner coverage in March. The Florida Office of Insurance Regulation rejected the companys request and instead improved a higher one  an average of 16 percent  to cover its losses.

In addition to rate increase, the Citizens board authorized the company to ask the Office of Insurance Regulation to also approve changes to the way the company handles claims, in an effort to persuade homeowners to avoid litigation and curb the costs. If the changes are not approved, Citizens said its losses and exposure will rise.

Among the changes:

Give homeowners a limit of $10,000 in non-weather related water damage repairs unless they voluntarily agree to follow Citizens repair guidelines, in which case they can overcome the cap and get full coverage.

Require any third part who elects to receive a homeowners insurance benefits to be subject to the same duties after a loss as the homeowner  something that is not currently required in law.

Limit coverage to one non-weather loss every two years and two in five years.

Waive the deductible in water claims if the homeowner agrees to work with Citizens managed repair program  often using the insurers contractors  when repairing the damage in an effort to avoid litigation.

In no way, shape or form will this issue ever be resolved without legislation, Gilway added. These are stop-gap measures.

Steve Bitar, chief of underwriting and agency services, emphasized that the changes they are seeking are voluntary for homeowners.

We dont want to take coverage away, so all customers will have the option to elect the managed repair program, he said. It is key to that partnership and that balance in our proposal.

This is the second time in three years that Citizens is seeking a rate increase for South Florida. This year, rates rose 8.9 percent to 10 percent for policyholders who renewed in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.

At the end of the day, the AOB situation not only continues, but it is truly getting worse, Gilway told the board. Its not just a Citizens problem. Its an industry-wide problem.

The House in April approved a bill (HB 1421) that attempted to curb litigation over the AOB claims. It had the support of Citizens and other insurance industry backers but was criticized by lawyers, restoration and repair companies, and consumer groups as too favorable to the insurance industry. The Senate did not hear a similar bill and lawmakers adjourned without addressing the problem.

Don Glisson said he had his doubts that the same Legislature will do anything different. We have to come up with assumption we are not going to get any relief next year, the year after, who knows?, he said.

Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier told Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet last week that excessive AOB costs, which had been a problem mainly in South Florida, is now becoming a problem in other parts of the state.

We are going to continue to see homeowners' insurance companies raise their rates for our consumers in a best-case scenario, and in a worst-care scenario just simply stop offering their products in certain regions of the state, he said.

Florida Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater also urged the Legislature to address the issue when it returns in regular session Jan. 9. but he described the situation as a balancing act.



We never want to harm any individual out there in getting the absolute quick and full coverage they deserve on a claim, Atwater said. But the majority of this right now is costing the honest Floridian tremendous pain.

Photo: J. Albert Diaz/Herald Staff, Miami Herald file photo




@martindvassolo

State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, a Republican candidate for Senate, is "closely" monitoring a federal affordable-housing investigation now examining the largest real estate developer in South Florida, the Related Group, which gave Diaz and his political committee $5,000 this month.

"There was no way I could have known" about the investigation, said Diaz, who is running in the District 40 special election.

The Miami Herald revealed the investigation on Thursday. The Feds are focusing on the Related Group and its involvement in a low-income apartment building for seniors in Miamis Shenandoah neighborhood. The publicly subsidized project was developed and built by its affordable housing branch, Related Urban Development Group.

The U.S. Attorneys Office, which is heading up the investigation, will determine whether the Related Group skewed construction costs through its wholly owned contractor and its subcontractors, and then pocketed money that should have gone toward other county-funded affordable housing projects, sources familiar with the investigation told the Herald.

The investigation is part of a larger federal look into South Floridas affordable housing industry, which has already taken down two large affordable-housing developers, Pinnacle Housing Group and Carlisle Development Group.

On June 6, Related Urban Development Group cut a $3,000 check to Diazs political committee, Rebuild Florida, according to the committee's finance records. A day later, it gave $1,000 directly to Diaz, as did Fortune Urban Construction, Related Groups wholly owned contractor.

If theyre guilty of any crime, obviously I will return the money, Diaz said. In our system, the premise is youre innocent until youre found guilty.

A self-described proponent of affordable housing, Diaz said like-minded developers have been very supportive of me.

Between 2012-13, Pinnacle Housing Group and its partners gave Diaz $2,500, state records show. An affiliate of the group was charged with affordable housing funds theft earlier this year.

Between 2013-15, Related Urban Development Group, Fortune Urban Construction, the Related Group and PRH Investments, Relateds parent group, gave Diaz $3,000, according to state records. Because those contributions were from past campaign cycles, Diaz cant return them, he said.

Diaz, who is the only candidate in the race to report receiving money from Related Group, is running against two Republicans in the primary to fill the seat left vacant by former Republican Sen. Frank Artiles. Artiles resigned amid controversy in April after using the word niggas before two fellow lawmakers and hiring a Playboy model and former Hooters calendar girl as consultants.

The primary will be held on June 25, followed by the general election on Sept. 26. Two Democrats and an independent candidate are also running.

This post has been updated

Photo credit: Steve Cannon, Associated Press
@doug_hanks

The latest legal skirmish between Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and Miami-Dade's police union resulted in a win for the mayor.

Florida's First District Court of Appeal ruled against awarding county police about $15 million in back wages tied to a disputed 2012 payroll deduction aimed at easing a budget squeeze.

The deduction, which reduced county healthcare costs, was imposed when Gimenez vetoed a labor contract approved by the Miami-Dade commission that lacked the pay cut. The commission proposed the contract after the Gimenez administration and the police union reached an official impasse in labor talks and were unable to sign a new three-year contract.

After the veto, commissioners relented and approved a contract with the deduction intact. It was removed in 2014 -- this time with enough commission votes to override the mayor's veto.

While the mayor can veto most commission actions, the union successfully sued to have the 2012 veto declared illegal since it involved an alternative to stalled labor talks with the Gimenez administration.

An appeals court in 2015 agreed, ruling it didn't make sense to give the mayor authority to veto commission action needed to resolve a labor impasse between a union and the mayor himself. That precedent-setting ruling led Miami-Dade's Police Benevolent Association to ask for a refund on two years worth of payroll deductions for its members.

Late last week, the First DCA ruled that while courts and labor boards eventually determined the mayor's veto should not have been allowed, legal interpretations at the time backed the adoption of the second contract with the deduction.

John Rivera, head of the Miami-Dade's police union, said the latest decision was wrong. ""When you have a victim who had property stolen, the remedy is either go to jail or get the property back. Neither of those things happened here," he said.

Michael Hernandez, Gimenez's top spokesman, said in a statement Monday: "Mayor Gimenez made difficult decisions during challenging budgetary times. When our financial outlook improved, the mayor proposed millions in investments in the Miami-Dade Police Department. We feel the court made the right decision."




@martindvassolo

Two of three Republicans running for a competitive Miami-Dade state Senate district found plenty to disagree on at a forum Monday, despite their shared political party affiliation.

State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz and attorney Lorenzo Palomares told about 100 people gathered at Miami Dade College Kendall Campus where they stand on key issues. Primary candidates tend to have few differences  but not in this case.

On recently passed education legislation known as House Bill 7069: Diaz supports it, Palomares doesn't. On a legislative deal to implement medical-marijuana rules: Diaz supports it, Palomares doesn't. On the future of transit in Miami-Dade County: Diaz envisions autonomous vehicles, Palomares wants to expand the Dolphin Expressway past the western edge of the Urban Development Boundary.

Both candidates expressed support for gun rights  but Diaz said Florida needs to increase funding for mental-health issues. Palomares, a self-described gun collector, didn't see it that way.

I support the Second Amendment; I will expand it if I can, he said. I dont believe mental health is an issue.

More here.

Photo: Charles Trainor Jr., Miami Herald
The rivers are still rocking and rolling, but there are opportunities to catch the salmonfly hatch on the Big Hole, Blackfoot and Madison rivers, as well as Western Montana's Rock Creek.

The Eastern Montana Bass Association NBAA Qualifier is Saturday and Sunday at Bighorn Reservoir, based on the Ok-A-Beh end. The Walleyes Unlimited Jordan Chapter Hell Creek Ladies Fishing Tournament is Saturday at Fort Peck Reservoir. Also, the Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival is Saturday and Sunday.

Anglers have been taking sturgeon on the lower Yellowstone and Marias rivers. However, remember that pallid sturgeon must be immediately released. Pallids are a fish of concern in Montana and listed as an endangered species. Montana FWP recommends that anglers release all sturgeon when not sure of the species. Anglers cannot keep sturgeon in the Western District. In the Central and Eastern Districts anglers can harvest five shovelnose sturgeon daily and in possession, none over 40 inches.

The salmon fishing has picked up on Lake Mary Ronan, and so has the perch bite.

Top picks

Big Hole River  As of Monday all sections were running at less than 5,000 cfs. With warm days ahead expect salmonflies and golden stones to be taking flight and lining the banks. In addition, there should be a lot of hatching caddis and PMDs. The dry flies recommended are the Extended Body PMD (14-16), PMDungs (14-16), the Troth Elk-Hair Caddis (12-14-16), salmonflies and golden stones (including a Stimulator with dropper loop flies in sizes 8 and 10 in an assortment of colors). Nymphs we recommend are green Holy Grail (14-16), lime, amber and pink MVPs (16 & 18) and brown and olive Rubber Legs (4 or 6).  Frontier Anglers, Dillon.

Cooney Reservoir  Water levels have been very high. Fishing has been picking up, especially for trout. Trout are being caught trolling cowbells with green blades and a crawler. The walleye bite has been getting better, although size is down from a few weeks ago, running in the 1- to 2-pound range. Some are being caught trolling crankbaits, but most are taking leeches or crawlers in about 10 feet of water. From shore try the Fishermans Point or Red Lodge campground area.  Boyd Store and Trading Post.

Hebgen Lake  Rainbows and browns were caught in 15 to 25 feet of water as the latest hatch begins to taper off. Anglers reported success from shore and trolling along the northern end of the lake. Madison and Grayling arms continue to deliver larger fish in smaller numbers. A 7-pound brown was boated and released. Brightly colored streamer flies work well along underwater ledges and boat anglers report light-colored spoons, Silverfish, Rapalas and KamLoopers working well in 15 to 20 feet of water. Larger fish were deep this week with several anglers reporting landing and releasing 4- to 6-pound browns and rainbows. The water is warming up and fish are active and moving into rocky shoals to feed. Water visibility and clarity is good to excellent with little bottom growth. Hebgen Lake is 99 percent full and the water temperature is 54 degrees.  Kirkwood Marina.

Lake Mary Ronan  The salmon fishing has picked up, and can be caught using the same setup as mentioned in last weeks report. Remove the hook from your Swedish Pimple and place a Glo Hook about 4 to 8 inches below the Swedish Pimple. Put a worm/shrimp/corn combination on the Glo Hook. Crawdads can be substituted for shrimp, and maggots can be used in place of the worms. Each piece of bait should be about the size of a corn kernel. A chartreuse or fluorescent orange Swedish Pimple are still the most popular colors. The fish are around 25 to 30 feet below the surface. The perch have formed schools, and anglers are having more success plus catching larger fish. One angler recently caught 60 perch. Try a jig tipped with a worm, or the setup used to target salmon. The perch are on the edge of the weed beds in about 14 to 20 feet of water. The area near the state park has been a popular location.  Camp Tuffit, Proctor.

Madison River, Lower  The flow has been averaging 3,400 cfs. As of Monday the water is a perfect green color and the fish are biting. Nymph rigs and dry dropper rigs have been the most consistent producers. A big olive Zirdle Bug with a PMD or Yellow Sally nymph behind it has been producing fish throughout the day. On the surface, PMDs have been out and about, especially on the cloudy days. There have also been some drakes dancing gently in the sky before sundown. A good rig is a bigger PMD or Adams with a Pheasant Tail behind it. The caddis have also been out and we are seeing White Millers, as well. The fishing has been sporadic with these bugs but a tan Snow Shoe Caddis will pick up the fish. Be aware of the crowds out here, especially on the weekends. It pays to fish early or late to avoid crowds.  Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman.

Rock Creek  Anglers are fishing the upper portion near Phillipsburg, and have been using salmonflies and golden stoneflies. A size 6-8 in the Rogue pattern for both Salmonflies and Golden Stoneflies has been popular. Also, try a Carnage or Bullet Head. Using a Prince Nymph or San Juan Worm as a dropper has been successful.  Blackfoot River Outfitters, Missoula.

Yellowstone National Park  On the Firehole  whether it be from cool air temps, cold water, or odd timing of cloud cover  emergences have been occurring in the afternoon. It's critical to pay attention to the weather and consider how it might affect emergence times. White Miller fishing slowed down during the cold, rainy weather, but it's likely to pick up again as warm temperatures return. The best emergences for these caddis have been in the afternoons, but we should find them hatching in the morning as soon as temps warm up. Likewise, PMDs will probably begin hatching earlier as snowpack diminishes and temperatures rise. If nothing is rising, swing soft hackles or strip a little black, olive or white streamer. The salmonfly season is a short-lived opportunity. As time progresses, PMDs and White Millers should be hatching by the junction.  Blue Ribbon Flies, West Yellowstone.

Montana

Ackley Lake  Bank fishing with night crawlers or spinners is producing rainbows. Trolling or pitching spinners in deeper water is working well for tiger muskies. Dons, Lewistown.

Beaverhead River  There have been some good PMD hatches. They were between Henneberry and Grasshopper. Extended Body PMD (16-18), PMDung (16-18), Barr's Emerger (16-18), Splitback PMD (16-18), Lawson's Halfback (16-18) and Bubbleback Emerger (16-18) will work. A good caddis pupae pattern is the Holy Grail (14-16). Nymphing is dominated by PMD, Scuds and Sowbugs (Splitbacks, MVP-Amber, Ray Charles, Soft Hackle Sow Bugs). Don't forget to pack some smaller San Juan Worms.  Frontier Anglers, Dillon.

Bighorn River  The flows were significantly decreased again last week and as of Monday were at 9,047.5 cfs. The water temp remains at 59.4 degrees. With the huge influx of water into Bighorn Lake, water clarity is down to 3-4 feet, but still quite fishable. Soap Creek remains a nonissue. Nymphing has been fair but not quite as good as last week. Streamer fishing remains solid. Patterns have changed slightly even though most are still crustacean patterns. Bighorn Scuds in either orange or pink (12-16) trailed with a beadhead Midge Larvae in red or black (16-18) have been producing best. Streamer fishing has remained good as emerald shiner minnows are still being washed over the spillway into the river. White Zonkers with pearl or silver bodies and either white or ghost Cousin It's are the top patterns.  Bighorn Fly and Tackle Shop, Fort Smith.

Bighorn Lake, Barrys Landing  On the Barrys end it is full of debris and trees so exercise caution. A handful of walleye and smallmouth bass were caught on jigs and minnows, or jigs and worms.  Pryor Creek Bait Co., Laurel.

Boulder River  The river continues its runoff seesaw as flows have fluctuated quite dramatically over the last several weeks. Early last week it was in prime float form for raft anglers. It is still too big to wade fish, unless one goes into the national forest. Even there it will still be high and fast but clear. Fly anglers on the float should focus on nymph and streamer fishing. Stonefly nymphs like Rubber Legs, Girdle Bugs or Bitch Creeks (8-10). Additional nymphs this time of year include Copper John in red or chartreuse as well as Wire Worms or traditional San Juan Worms. Streamer fishing on these river flows can be unbelievable. Recommended streamers include Sparkle Minnows, The Grinch and Krystal Flash Buggers in black or olive.  East Rosebud Fly Shop, Billings.

Canyon Ferry Reservoir  Rainbow trout are active throughout the north half of the reservoir. Troll cowbells and crankbaits in 5 to 40 feet of water. Walleye are being caught throughout the south half of the reservoir trolling crankbaits or worm harnesses, tipped with worms or leeches, in 20 to 40 feet of water. Yellow perch and rainbow trout are being reeled in while trolling for walleye. A few smallmouth bass are being caught in Hellgate Bay and adjacent bays pitching jigs near vegetation in 6 to 8 feet of water.  FWP, Helena.

Deadmans Basin  In between wind storms anglers are catching trout soaking worms from shore. Anglers are having luck at Broadview Pond.  Cozy Corner Bar, Lavina.

Fort Peck Reservoir, Big Dry Arm  Walleye are being caught but they are in 25 to 35 feet of water. Ones best bet is with bottom bouncers and worm harnesses tipped with worms. Leeches are starting to work. Minnows will still work. Smallmouth bass are active and being caught on rocky points. The northern pike are still biting. When the wind is blowing the fishing is slow.  Rock Creek Marina.

Fort Peck Reservoir, Crooked Creek  Fishing was slow over the weekend due to the wind and weather. A few small walleye, bass and crappie were caught by boat anglers in the Fourchette Bay area. Bottom bounce worms or leeches or try crankbaits from the boat. A few fish were caught off the bank at Crooked Creek using worms.  Crooked Creek Marina.

Fort Peck Reservoir, dam area  Some fat walleye are being caught, but the fish have moved deeper and are in 35 feet of water. Pull worms or leeches. The biggest walleye caught last week was 31 inches. The Pines area is pretty hot.  Lakeridge Motel and Tackle.

Fort Peck Reservoir, Fourchette Bay  Anglers are having some success running toward the Narrows. Once escaping the muddy water, walleye, northerns and crappie are being caught on bouncers and worms. Smallmouth are biting on swim baits cast onto submerged rock piles.  Westside Sports, Malta.

Fort Peck Reservoir, Hell Creek  Anglers are doing well for walleye and northerns in the Snow Creek area. Most are jigging with crawlers or leeches in the morning for walleye and pulling bottom bouncers with minnows in the afternoon. Northerns are hitting most presentations.  Hell Creek Marina.

Fresno Reservoir  It is fishing well with leeches and crawlers for walleye.  Stromberg Sinclair, Havre.

Gallatin River  The river isn't that great of a color from the Taylor Fork downstream but there are a few anglers throwing streamers in dark colors along the bank. With 90 degrees in the forecast and warm weather the next few days, there will be a spike this week. The color is better if you go above the Taylor Fork or even into the section in Yellowstone Park. Dark olive and black streamers swung into the bank are enticing rainbows. More of the fish up here have been gorging on nymphs. They are holding behind boulders and on the inside seams. Be bear aware in the Fawn Pass trailhead area. There was a grizzly on the river on Saturday.  Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman.

Hauser Reservoir  Rainbows are being caught by boat anglers around the Black Sandy and White Sandy area while trolling cowbells 20-feet deep. Some rainbows are also being caught from shore at Riverside and the Causeway Bridge on worms. Walleye and perch fishing was slow over the weekend with a few being caught in the Causeway while using bottom bouncers or jigs and leeches or worms.  FWP, Helena.

Holter Reservoir  Good rainbow fishing can be found by those trolling green crankbaits or cowbells in the lower reservoir at 15 to 20 feet deep. Shore fishing for rainbows is slow. Walleye are being caught while using bottom bouncers or jigs and leeches in 8 to 15 feet of water. The best walleye action is happening in the lower reservoir and in the canyon around Gates of the Mountains. Perch action is good around the docks, Oxbow Bend and in small bays while using a jig and worm in 10 to 20 feet of water.  FWP, Helena.

Lake Frances  The perch and walleye bite is good on leeches or crawlers. Jig or bottom bounce. An occasional northern will be caught. Water clarity is fair to good.  Roberts Bait & Tackle, Great Falls.

Madison River, Upper  It is still fishable but mostly above the West Fork. The West Fork is pumping mud into the river and causing low visibility for the lower reaches near Ennis. The lower stretches are still fishing. Up high, Beaver and Camp creek are also cranking some mud into Quake Lake and the water is brown but fishable. The best bet is to go high, up near Three Dollar and Raynolds Pass. Nymphing will be the most consistent producer but streamer fishing is a good option for picking up fish. Working a heavy black or white streamer tight to the banks or in the soft edges is a good way to tie into a few of the bigger fish in that portion of the river. There have been a few baetis along with a few small PMDs mixed in. There is a good number of green and brown caddis when the sun pops out, especially in the bushes on the sunny evenings. Golden Stones are also a good option as they are starting to make an appearance, especially as nymphs. A good rig would be working a big Golden Chubby with a heavy Rubber Legs dropper right along the banks. Hug those grass banks tight. A solid nymph rig would be running Rubber Legs and a Worm deep under an indicator. A Three Dollar Dip is also a good trailer pattern behind the bigger Rubber Legs. A Zirdle Bug will also pick up a few fish under the indicator. On the lower river, chuck bigger black streamers or nymph big heavy sculpins along the bank. Be aware, this river is flowing high and is difficult to wade. Exercise caution.  Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman.

Martinsdale Reservoir  Cowbells and worms fished at 10 to 15 feet will trigger strikes. Or, troll Thomas Cyclone spoons or Panther Martin spinners. From shore use marshmallows and worms or straight salmon peach PowerBait.  TeamMinnowBucket.com.

Marias River  It is running high and dirty. Anglers are taking a few sturgeon and an occasional catfish. Walleye, sauger and smallmouth fishing is slow.  Roberts Bait & Tackle, Great Falls.

Missouri River, below Holter  The flow was 11,700 cfs on Monday. There are PMDs. Match it with a DOA Cripple PMD. There are a few caddis out. Nymphing with Hot Bead Scuds or Tailwater Sowbugs has worked, as will Wire Worms.  Montana Fly Goods, Helena.

Missouri River, Fort Benton  It is running high and dirty. The bite is slow.  Roberts Bait & Tackle, Great Falls.

Missouri River, Fred Robinson Bridge  Its doing well for catfish with water temperatures holding around 64 degrees. Thread night crawlers on 1/0 or 2/0 hooks for a chance to catch nice-sized cats.  Dons, Lewistown.

Nelson Reservoir  Walleye fishing continues to be good. Try pulling a bottom bouncer and a worm or leech. Northerns are being caught on the weed lines. Smallmouth are also on the bite.  Westside Sports, Malta.

Rock Creek  It remains in spring runoff mode. The main body is still high and fast. The three forks are clear and potentially fishable with a fly, although still expect high and fast water. Should an angler venture and explore the Main Fork, Lake Fork or West Fork, recommended nymphs to fish include red Copper John, San Juan Worms or Pat's Rubber Legs.  East Rosebud Fly Shop, Billings.

Spring Creek  It is running a little high, but mostly clear. There have been some nice mayfly and baetis/BWO hatches. As always, beadhead patterns in Copper John, Prince Nymphs, Pheasant Tails, and Lightning Bugs have good results. Small flashing spinners work well on the creek.  Dons, Lewistown.

Stillwater River  Cooler weather dropped the flows and improved clarity. However, warmer weather this week will melt some of the higher-elevation snowpack and there will likely be a spike in flows and a decline in clarity. Runoff isnt over yet. There may be some fishing along the edges, particularly up higher. Dead drifted dark Buggers, Rubber Leg patterns and San Juan Worms are good choices. The volume, speed and temperature of the water can still be hazardous. Use caution near the banks.  Stillwater Anglers, Columbus.

Tiber Reservoir  Leeches, crawlers or minnows will work for walleye. Most anglers are jigging in 2 to 8 feet of water. Some are bottom bouncing in 17 feet of water. As the day progresses, fish deeper. The bite is fair lakewide. Water clarity is improving.  Roberts Bait & Tackle, Great Falls.

Tongue River Reservoir  It was windy all weekend so fishing was tough. Those few finding success were pulling Slow-Death rigs tipped with a half crawler or minnow at 1 mph for walleye. Crappie are in 20 to 30 feet of water. Try pulling tube jigs or vertical jigs tipped with a leech, crawler or minnow. The bass bite was OK from the shore during evening hours using plastics or live bait.  Tongue River Marina.

Yellowstone River, Columbus  While it dropped to a near normal level, the warmer weather is likely to cause another spike. It remains blown out. The river is unfishable, flowing at a level that is hazardous. Use caution if near the banks.  Stillwater Anglers, Columbus.

Yellowstone River, Huntley  Target the backwaters or feeder creeks for 3- to 5-pound catfish and use cut bait or shrimp. The river is muddy, but on the main channel anglers can try the edges, current breaks, near rocks or trees.  TeamMinnowBucket.com.

Yellowstone River, Livingston  The river is getting closer to being fishable, however with 90-degree weather in the forecast and over 100 percent snowpack still in the park, we will probably see a hard spike this week. There is still some time to wait before we can make it out on this river.  Montana Troutfitters, Bozeman.

Yellowstone River, Miles City  The water is really high. Some are catching catfish or sturgeon.  Red Rock Sporting Goods, Miles City.

Western Montana

The rivers across the western half of the state are slowing down, gaining clarity and becoming fishable.

The St. Regis River and Rock Creek remain popular places to fish, and the Kootenai River, Middle Fork of the Flathead, and South Fork of the Flathead are now becoming prime spots.

On the St. Regis fish have been striking flies on and below the surface. A decline in water level has made the river difficult to float. Salmonflies and golden stoneflies are popular on Rock Creek. Nymphing is still best on the Kootenai River, but a caddis hatch is expected next week due to an increase in water temperature.

Other rivers such as the Flathead and Clark Fork are expected to have favorable conditions soon. The Bitterroot and North Fork of the Flathead rivers should fish better by this weekend.

Bitterroot River  Fishing on the river has been OK to good, but inconsistent. The salmonfly bite is reaching an end and the fish are starting to hit on Green Drakes size 12-14, PMDs size 14-16, and Golden Stones size 8. Anglers have had more luck fishing in the afternoon. Favorable fishing conditions are expected on the entire river by this weekend.  FreeStone Fly Shop, Hamilton.

Blackfoot River  Last weeks rainstorm stalled the salmonfly hatch. The hatch had reached the Russell Gates access area before being delayed, but with nicer weather on the horizon the hatch is expected to resume. The water still does not have much clarity but the flows are decreasing.  Blackfoot Angler and Supplies, Ovando.

Browns Lake  The lake was crowded during Fathers Day weekend, and anglers were having success using mini Leeches size 10 or red/purple PowerBait. Anglers reported some fish caught were covered with leeches.  Blackfoot Angler and Supplies, Ovando.

Clark Fork River, Deer Lodge  The river is clearing up and the best action is below the surface. Olive or gray Scuds size 14-16 have been successful, along with small Pheasant Tails such as the Bubble Back Emerger or Flashback patterns. Try a size 16-18 Pheasant Tail.  The StoneFly Fly Shop, Butte.

Clark Fork River, Missoula  The river remains blown out due to the amount of water pushed in from tributaries. It is not ideal fishing, and better conditions can be found on nearby rivers.  Blackfoot River Outfitters, Missoula.

Clark Fork River, St. Regis  The river is dropping but still has no clarity. Expected to be fishable by June 28.  Joe Cantrell Outfitting, St. Regis.

Flathead Lake (North)  The fishing has picked up due to an increase in water clarity around the delta. Jigging has produced more fish, but bigger fish have been caught trolling. A - to 1 -ounce tube jig or Twister Tail in glow white or chartreuse patterns are successful. For trolling a firetiger Super Bait has been the most popular. Red and white, luminescent, or pikeminnow Flatfish plus glow Hoochies behind a dodger have been hot set-ups. The fish have been about 100 feet below the surface in the delta area and around Woods Bay Point.  Snappys Sport Senter, Kalispell.

Flathead Lake (South)  Better fishing has developed in the last week. A good population of perch have been found around the docks in Polson Bay. A bottom weight with a hook placed above (to avoid getting caught in the weeds) baited with a night crawler is a popular setup. Smallmouth bass are biting on perch crankbaits and plastic worms in a watermelon or dark color. Also try a whole worm setup wacky style. Lake trout are biting on whole fish in the Narrows about 50-80 feet below the surface. A 8 -inch to 9 -inch pikeminnow or peamouth are ideal whole fish to use. After feeling a bite, let the lake trout run for 30 seconds to a minute before setting the hook. Reminder: Permits are required by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes to fish the southern half of the lake.  Zimmer Tackle, Pablo.

Flathead River, Kalispell  The river is just now becoming fishable, but the conditions are fair to poor. Nymphs and streamers are the best flies. Brown and black Stonefly Nymphs along with red or pink San Juan Worms would provide the most success. There is about 3 feet of visibility, and the water is still high.  Bigfork Anglers Fly Shop, Bigfork.

Georgetown Lake  The fishing remains about the same as last week, and the fish are hitting on the same flies. Olive and red Buggers, black Leeches, and olive Damselfly Nymphs size 8-10, along with a red/black Chironomid size 14 are popular flies. The fish are still about 150 feet away from shore. The south and east shores remain closed until July 1.  Flint Creek Outdoors, Phillipsburg.

Glacier National Park  Lake McDonald and Avalanche Lake have been fishing great, along with McDonald Creek downstream from the lake. Avalanche Lake was closed at the beginning of the week due to grizzly bear sightings. Bait fishing is illegal on McDonald Creek, and is also a catch-and-release stream. Cut Bank Creek is also fishing well on the east side of the park. Reminder: Glacier National Park is currently closed to motorized boating, and hand-powered vessels must pass an inspection.  Arends Fly Shop, East Glacier.

Kootenai River  Reduced flows and improved water clarity has made the river very fishable and it is shaping up nicely for the summer. The water temperature is about 50 degrees, and should be about 52-53 degrees next week. A caddis hatch is expected next week due to the increase in water temperature. For now nymphing is still the best bet. Brown or black Rubber Legs, Hares Ears, a red or green Copper John, along with a San Juan Worm have been successful. A size 10-12 is ideal for all patterns. The fish are still hugging the banks and have been caught in walking-speed currents near cover.  Linehan Outfitting Company, Troy.

Lake Como  The fishing has been pretty good lately, and the water level on the lake is full. Fish the west side of the lake, and use a black or dark olive Woolly Bugger. FreeStone Fly Shop, Hamilton.

Middle Fork of the Flathead River  The fishing is picking up and the river is clearing. Fish have been striking dry flies such as orange Stimulators and Parachute Adams, along with Prince Nymphs, Natural Hares Ears and Egg Sucking Leeches for wet flies.  Arends Fly Shop, East Glacier.

North Fork of the Flathead River  The fishing is slow but should be prime by this weekend. The river has been affected by dirty water pushed in from forest fires in Canada.  Arends Fly Shop, East Glacier.

Noxon Reservoir  The bass fishing has picked up, but the perch and walleye fishing is slow. All largemouth and smallmouth bass must be released until July 15. A worm setup in the wacky technique, or a light-colored/bright Senko have been popular with bass. The lake has about 12 feet of clarity, and the water temperature is 58 degrees.  Lakeside Motel and Resort, Trout Creek.

South Fork of the Flathead River  The fishing has picked up and fish are striking the same flies listed for the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. Also, a bull trout permit is required to fish the South Fork drainage.  Arends Fly Shop, East Glacier.

St. Regis River  The river is producing great fish and anglers are having success using wet and dry flies. Rubber Legs and red San Juan Worms are successful for anglers fishing below the surface, and a red Chernobyl has been a popular dry fly. A steady decline in water level has made the river difficult to float. Fish the pockets of the river from Henderson to St. Regis.  Joe Cantrell Outfitting, St. Regis.

Swan Lake  The lake is still muddy and remains high. Nicer weather should bring better fishing.  Swan Lake Trading Post, Swan Lake.

Swan River  The upper river is still high, and the lower river is clear but not fishing great. Brown and black Stonefly Nymphs and red or pink San Juan Worms are the best flies.  Bigfork Anglers Fly Shop, Bigfork.

Wyoming

Bighorn Lake, Horseshoe Bend  There is quite a bit of debris in the water, including logs and sticks. Anglers can launch at Horseshoe Bend as the ramp is open. Along the beginning of the North Narrows would be a good spot for crappie. The South Narrows are producing some catfish in the open lake before Horseshoe Bend. With all the new water, anglers are catching sauger and catfish, but fishing is generally slow.  Horseshoe Bend Marina.

Bighorn River, Thermopolis  It is high and off-color, running at 8,100 cfs. Fishing is either hot or cold.  North Fork Anglers, Cody.

Boysen Reservoir  Anglers did well at the fishing tournament over the weekend. Jigging is a good bet. The water is still pretty dirty. A 15-pound walleye was caught below the dam. Fishing is excellent below the dam for walleye and trout jigging with worms or leeches.  Boysen Lake Marina.

Buffalo Bill Reservoir  It is starting to clear up. However, runoff is starting to enter the reservoir. Anglers are using canoes or smaller boats. Due to lake levels, big boats were still tricky to launch as of Monday. For trout try trolling Blue Fox spinners. At Upper and Lower Sunshine reservoirs use money clip lures or Panther Martin or Blue Fox spinners for trout.  Rocky Mountain Discount Sports, Cody.

Clarks Fork  Still in runoff mode with small patches of clear water.  North Fork Anglers, Cody.

Cody-area lakes  At East Newton Lake anglers are using olive Leeches and Damsel and Callibaetis nymphs. Damsel dries are also coming off. Woolly Buggers, Zonkers and midges will all work. At West Newton Lake present green Copper John or Iced Pheasant Tails. Very small Leeches, Prince Nymphs, Damsel Nymphs or Callibaetis will work. Luce and Hogan are fishing well on Damsels or Callibaetis. Beck Lake is off-color.  North Fork Anglers, Cody.

Lake DeSmet  Its been good with cowbells or Rapalas for rainbow trout, with a few brown trout mixed in.  The Lake Stop, Buffalo.

Lower Shoshone  The flow was 2,600 cfs on Monday, however, the water is very dark due to the water coming out of Buffalo Bill.  North Fork Anglers, Cody.

North Fork of the Shoshone  It is still pushing mud.  North Fork Anglers, Cody.
The Montana Department of Justice is conducting a use-of-force review after an incident involving the Missoula Police Department in May ended with a 73-year-old man hospitalized in a coma.

James Smith spent several days in Providence St. Patrick Hospital before he was committed involuntarily to the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs. He was released to his daughter following a court hearing May 30.

Stephanie Smith, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, said that in addition to the coma, her father sustained a skull fracture, multiple facial fractures, a concussion, respiratory failure, bruised ribs, organ damage, bruising and other injuries from the incident. While he was sometimes confused or disoriented before the incident, Smith said these symptoms, as well as amnesia, have become more prominent since he was hospitalized.

James Smith has been charged with two felony counts of assault on an officer in connection with the May 20 incident, and is set to make an initial court appearance on Wednesday.

According to a court affidavit filed in his case, two officers were sent to Smiths house early on May 20 after people reported Smith was shining a flashlight into the eyes of drivers passing his Higgins Avenue home.

When the officers arrived, Smith hit one in the head twice with the metal flashlight, and hit the other in the head and arm, according to charging documents. The affidavit said he continued to try to kick and trip the officers after he was detained.

Missoula police Detective Capt. Mike Colyer said on May 24 that he was called to the scene shortly after 2:30 a.m. on May 20. He confirmed that Smith had been hospitalized after being detained, and that due to the potential use-of-force issue, the department followed best practices and asked the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation to conduct an independent review.

We wanted it to be thoroughly investigated, he said.

Because of the investigation, Colyer declined to discuss specifics of the incident.

Eric Sell, communications director for the Montana Department of Justice, confirmed the DCI investigation is ongoing.

The Division of Criminal Investigation is getting involved because of the potential use of force, he said in late May. As the investigation is still open were not in a position to share details.

Sell said the review could take several weeks or even months. DCI will send copies of its investigation report to the Missoula Police Department and the Missoula County Attorneys Office, Sell said, although that report will not give a recommendation, only a statement of facts.

Smiths daughter Stephanie said she and her husband Richard Jones received a call from a family member on May 22 telling them her father had been hospitalized.

They came to Missoula but had difficulty finding out where he was being kept, eventually going through the appointed public defender in the involuntary commitment case for permission to visit her father at Warm Springs until the court hearing that released Smith to his daughter.

Smith said she was told by nursing staff that they werent sure her father was going to survive, but that he has made a dramatic improvement since going home at the end of May.

They said Weve never seen a 73-year-old man come in with these kinds of injuries, said Stephanie Smith, who remains in Missoula to care for her father.

She and her husband said they are concerned about how James Smith sustained all of his injuries, and agreed with the decision to have an outside agency investigate.

They reinforced that they appreciate the help they have received from the police department, as well as lawyers in the Missoula County Attorneys Office and the Office of the State Public Defender, since they arrived in Missoula.

The people that we dealt with are very nice, including the detective and evidence people. Over all this we do support law enforcement, we understand that they put their lives in harm's way, Jones said.
GREAT FALLS  A Montana sheriff charged with assaulting his girlfriend will take a personal leave from his job, and his attorney asked the public to keep an open mind and respect his privacy while the case is pending.

The statement emailed Monday by attorney Nathan Hoines is the first message from Cascade County Sheriff Bob Edwards since Edwards was cited for the misdemeanor on Thursday after being accused of pushing his girlfriend into a television stand in a hotel room.

The statement said Edwards is still the sheriff, has served in the office for 25 years, and plans to return to his duties. Undersheriff John Stevens will be taking over while Edwards is on leave.

"Sheriff Edwards would ask everyone to keep an open mind, respect his privacy and let this case progress through the legal system," Hoines' statement said.

Cascade County Chief Civil Deputy Attorney Carey Ann Haight confirmed to the Great Falls Tribune (http://gftrib.com/2smemAp) that Edwards will be paid during his leave.

"He's an elected official," she said. "Unlike other employees that earn vacation time, sick time, compensatory time, he's paid as an elected official. As long as he's in office he's paid salary."

The altercation happened in Helena, where Edwards was attending a Montana Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association convention.

Helena Municipal Judge Robert Wood arraigned Edwards in an after-hours court appearance the night of the altercation. Edwards pleaded not guilty.

Edwards' next hearing is set for July 19.

___

Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com
Police reports

From parking to the porch

A 33-year-old woman was arrested after a hit-and-run on the 100 block of Rampart Drive on Saturday evening at 8:36 p.m.

According to police, Teresa Brown crashed into a parked car and left the scene, eventually coming back to park nearby. The car she allegedly hit was pushed forward into the front porch of a house.

Undersheriff George Skuletich said Brown refused a breathalyzer test and was booked for first-offense DUI, driving without a license, driving without liability insurance, and a hit-and-run, all misdemeanors.

Shoplifting in sunglasses

Police arrested Shane McManamon, 29, for shoplifting on Friday evening at 8:45 after recognizing him by the orange sunglasses he had on, said Skuletich. McManamon was in the Happy Endings Casino near Walmart and was wearing flip-flops from the store that he had allegedly hidden inside his shirt. Police also discovered a scale in McManamon's possession. He was booked for possession of drug paraphernalia and shoplifting, both misdemeanors.
Dawn Gordon-Wilcox is a woman with a mission.

Breast milk is the most complete form of nutrition for infants, benefiting babies in various ways in their health, growth, immunity, and development and benefiting mothers as well, says Gordon-Wilcox.

So how to spread that word?

Gordon-Wilcox, an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant who is herself currently breastfeeding, thought an honest depiction of women breastfeeding would get people talking. So she asked four Butte women to model while breastfeeding. The modeling sessions resulted in the creation of standees, life-size cardboard cutouts, that show the women in a most natural act involving their babies. The results are spectacular  and currently on display at the Butte-Silver Bow courthouse rotunda.

Gordon-Wilcox, who works at the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department and coordinated the courthouse display, recently applied for and received a Breastfeed Montana grant from the Montana State Breastfeeding Coalition and used the grant proceeds to create the standees, which are very realistic. (One recent afternoon, I set the standees up in the Health Department conference room to show them off to the Board of Health early the next morning. Upon entering the building early the next morning, I turned on the light, and there were the standees, which gave me a fright. I didnt need coffee for the rest of the day.) In her effort, Gordon-Wilcox worked with the Butte Breastfeeding Coalition, the Health Department, and the four women to coordinate modeling. Butte photographer Hayes Novich donated the photography featured by the standees.

The purpose of the project is to promote breastfeeding by placing pro-breastfeeding imagery in places where the public tends to gather, Gordon-Wilcox said. The images blend into the crowd and at first glance appear to be nothing more than parents and children. Our hope is that these images of typical mothers caring for their babies will help to promote and normalize breastfeeding in our community.

Models for the project were Maria Bartoletti, Ivy Fredrickson, Jennifer Stearns DeLong, and Mystery Washburn-Gauthier. A ceremony thanking the models and celebrating the launch of the project will be held at noon tomorrow (Wednesday, June 21) in the courthouse rotunda.

The breastfeeding standees will be displayed at the courthouse for about a month and then will travel to various locations in Butte-Silver Bow so that a wider audience can see them. Gordon-Wilcox encourages people to take photos with the standees and post photos with a variety of hashtags, including #buttebreastfeeds and #rethinkbutte. Organizations or businesses wanting to display the standees throughout the coming year are asked to call Gordon-Wilcox at 406-533-5437.

Gordon-Wilcox said she hopes the project spurs discussion about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding protects infants against infections and illnesses and lowers the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and childhood mortality, she said. Breastfed infants have less a chance of developing allergies and ear infections and less a chance of developing diabetes, obesity, and other diseases later in life. For breastfeeding moms, there is improved healing post-childbirth, a lower incidence of postpartum depression, a lower risk of chronic illness and cancer later in life, and an incredible emotional closeness with baby.

Facebook features a page for the Butte Breastfeeding Coalition, where breastfeeding women may locate parent-to-parent support and information on how to reach Gordon-Wilcox for clinical support.

Thanks to Gordon-Wilcox for her tremendous effort on this project and her continued mission to extol the virtues of breastfeeding.
Wednesday, June 21

SUICIDE PREVENTION

All area veterans are asked to attend a Veterans Administration suicide prevention class at 5:30 p.m. at the VFW hall, Chestnut and Fourth, Anaconda. A moment of your time could mean a lifetime for a fellow veteran. The class is sponsored by the United Veterans Council. Details: Thomas Pozega at 406-563-8047.

BIG GAME DISCUSSION

Wildlife in the Big Hole Watershed is the topic of the Big Hole Watershed Committee meeting at 7 p.m. in the Divide Grange Hall. The talk is presented by Vanna Boccadori and Craig Fager, wildlife biologists with the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. They will give updates on the big game populations and research from around the Big Hole area. Details: 406-960-4855, bhwf.org, or info@bhwc.org.

WILDLIFE LECTURE

Laurie Wolf of the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is featured speaker at the Round Barn near Twin Bridges. Its part of the Beaverhead Watershed Committees fifth annual Summer Speaker Series Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with a cash bar followed by a free community dinner catered by The Shovel & Spoon at 6 p.m. Wolfs talk begins at 7 p.m. Details: Rebecca Ramsey at 406-842-5741 x 106 or Lucinda Morris at 406-682-3437.

CLUBS AND MEETINGS

BUTTE

Warped Weavers meet 6 to 8 p.m. at the Butte-Silver Bow Public Library, third floor, 226 W. Broadway St. Curious about weaving? Come watch, ask questions; there may be a loom for you to try. Details: 406-782-5784.

Butte Kiwanis meet at noon at Perkins. Guest speaker is Sarah DeMoney of Careeer Futures.

Butte Sunrise Kiwanis Club meets at 7 a.m. at Perkins. Guest speaker will be Theresa Rader from TRiO Student Support Services.

Overeaters Anonymous meets at 6:15 p.m. at the Gold Hill Lutheran Church, 934 Placer St. Details: 406-533-5454.

Al-Anon meetings: 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays, Gold Hill Lutheran Church; 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Sharing and Caring, 2100 Farragut (rear entrance).

DILLON

The Dillon Kiwanis meet at noon at Freckers Saddlery. Loncey and Jessie Jo Johnson of will be the featured speakers. They will take the club through the process, step by step, from start to finish, the making of a saddle.
Congress is moving full speed ahead to pass legislation that will increase healthcare costs for hard-working Montanans and their families, cut coverage for seniors and kids, and gut protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions  all behind closed doors.

Yes, you read that right.

If the U.S. Senate passes legislation similar to their counterparts in the House, thousands of Montanans will lose healthcare coverage, thousands will face higher insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and still thousands more will be out of a job.

The bill passed in the House, the American Health Care Act, is first and foremost an age tax. If you are 50 or older, youll pay more just because of your age. This bill allows insurance companies to charge older Montanans up to five times more than everyone else for the same coverage.

You read that right as well  five times.

And its not just folks over 50 who will pay more. The AHCA hurts almost all middle-class families.

 According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, if you buy insurance on your own, your premiums will go up 1520 percent in the first year alone.

 The bill eliminates protections for pre-existing conditions, so you could end up paying thousands of dollars more for insurance.

 It would gut Medicaid, so your child or your parent in a nursing home could lose their coverage.

 And while you and your family pay more, Congress will give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to millionaires and drug and insurance companies.

The Congressional Budget Office also concluded that 24 million Americans will be forced to live without health insurance if this bill passes. This includes more than 132,000 Montanans in the first few years alone.

It also threatens to reverse the bipartisan progress we have made in Montana to increase access to health care. I worked with Democrats and Republicans to pass a unique approach to Medicaid expansion, which led to a dramatic drop in the number of our friends and neighbors without insurance. Nearly 80,000 Montanans have gained access to health care through expansion and our uninsured rate has dropped from a staggering 20 percent in 2013 to 7 percent in 2016. Folks have finally started to receive the treatment they deserve.

This bill would decimate Medicaid, cutting Montanas funding by $4.8 billion over the next decade, kick thousands of Montanans off their insurance, and blow a hole in our states budget if we choose to continue coverage  leaving taxpayers with the bill. And in addition to pulling $500 million a year from our economy, these changes could result in more than 10,000 Montanans losing their jobs.

We can all agree that health care is still too expensive. But this bill wont fix it. It does nothing to solve the underlying causes of rising healthcare costs, like skyrocketing prescription drug prices. It only makes it worse by giving drug and insurance companies billions of dollars in tax breaks.

And now Republicans in the Senate are refusing to release details on their own bill, which is likely to mirror the AHCA. They may be the majority party in Congress, but they need to listen to the vast majority of Montanans and Americans, people who are at risk of increased healthcare costs and lost coverage because Republicans are more interested in catering to wealthy special interests.

The devastating impacts of these proposals are no secret. Weve seen the numbers. Its time for folks in Washington, D.C., to start working across the aisle, like we did here in Montana, and find meaningful solutions to actually increase the affordability and quality of health care across America instead of throwing millions of people off of insurance in order to line the pockets of millionaires and CEOs.

Anything less is unacceptable.

-- Steve Bullock, a Democrat, is the governor of the state of Montana.
In our work with the Montana Food Bank Network, we have the privilege of working with nearly 150 food pantries and other partner agencies throughout the state. We see firsthand the important role that donated food plays in keeping tens of thousands of Montanans from going hungry. We are constantly reminded how important a can of soup, a carton of milk, or a box of cereal can be to those who have fallen on hard times. We are humbled by the important work done every day by our network of partners.

However, we also understand that Montanas charitable food system cannot meet the need by itself  nor is it intended to. SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, is our states most important anti-hunger program. SNAP helps 120,000 Montanans put food on the table every month. Almost 70% of participants are in families with children, 30% are in households with seniors or individuals with disabilities, and 41% are in working households.

We hear frequently from people like Karen, who is working hard to provide for her son but struggling to make ends meet. Karen works for the school, which means she loses her main source of income when school is out. Over the summer, Karen utilizes SNAP to make sure that her son has the food he needs to grow, learn, and thrive. Karen shares that The impact of SNAP is huge, but it isnt easy to ask for help. Being on SNAP and coming to the pantry are two of the hardest things Ive ever had to do. But I wont let my son go without.

The benefits of SNAP reach far beyond Karens family and other participants to also support our local economy. Montana businesses, from grocery stores to farmers, see over $170 million pumped into our economy every year thanks to SNAP, creating jobs and opportunity for our neighbors.

As Congress works to draft the federal budget, we hope that Senator Tester, Senator Daines, and Representative Gianforte understand how important SNAP is to our communities and our state. President Trumps budget, released in late May, proposes cutting $193 billion (more than 25%) from SNAP over the next 10 years. Cuts of this magnitude would be devastating, leaving a gap that our charitable food system could not begin to fill. As Congress moves forward, we call on each of our Congressional members to reject any budget that includes deep cuts or structural changes to SNAP.

We are proud of the role that food pantries play when Montanans hit hard times. Together with SNAP and our other anti-hunger programs, we have helped to provide food to our neighbors when they need it most. Cuts to SNAP would reverse the progress we have made, leaving more children, seniors, veterans, low-wage workers, individuals with disabilities, and many other Montanans hungry. Please urge Montanas Congressional members to take a stand for their constituents by protecting SNAP and other poverty-reduction programs from cuts or structural changes in the federal budget.

Gayle Carlson, CEO, Montana Food Bank Network

Luke Jackson, MFBN Board Chair, Missoula

Minkie Medora, MFBN Board Member, Missoula

Tracy Worley, MFBN Board Member, Missoula

Paul Miller, MFBN Board Member, Missoula

Carol Allen, MFBN Board Member, Missoula

Mark Dvarishkis, MFBN Board Member, Missoula

Ross Tillman, Former MFBN Board Chair, Missoula

Mary Lehman, MFBN Board Member, Great Falls

Hank Hudson, MFBN Board Member, Helena
Lakeland, FL  Authorities arrested six men accused of stealing livestock, holding them without food or water and even selling some of the animals at auction.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office posted on their Facebook page that six men, called the Bovine Bandits, stole the cows and calves back in April.

Three men were arrested on Friday. The other three were arrested Saturday, according to deputies.

Jordan Ferguson, 19, Trevar Veltrop, 21, and Dalton Pelham, 22, were arrested and charged with felony grand theft of livestock and dealing in stolen property.

Deputies say the three stole eight cows from the pasture at West Bella Vista Street and Walker Road in Lakeland. Investigators say the perimeter fence had been cut. Three black cows, one brown cow and four calves, two black and two brown, were reported missing from the property.

The animals were worth $4,000.

Deputies received a tip on Tuesday that led them to the three suspects. Further investigations revealed that Pelham sold eight head of cattle at the Cattleman's Livestock in April.

Authorities say the cattle owners positively identified the animals as the ones that were stolen.

Deputies say all three men admitted to stealing the animals and selling them at auction.

Deputies have not been able to locate the animals yet.

After the first arrest, deputies received another tip of three men stealing calves from a pasture.

Deputies arrested 18-year-old Bryce Pickle, 18-year-old Leroy Hamilton and 20-year-old Dakota McClellan on Saturday.

According to the Sheriff's Office Facebook page, Pelham paid Pickle $50 to steal a calf from the pasture. On June 8, deputies say Pickle returned to the pasture with Hamilton and McClellan and stole two more calves.

Officials say the men duct-taped the animals' legs together and put them in a pen with no food or water.

A bystander told the three men that the authorities were on their way. The trio unwrapped the duct tape and fled the scene.

Deputies say that Pickle was arrested and charged with two counts of grand theft of livestock, dealing in stolen property and confining an animal without sufficient food/water.

Hamilton and McClellan were charged with grand theft and confining an animal without sufficient food/water.

Deputies say the calves are going to be okay.

All six of the Bovine Bandits are in the Polk County Jail.
Canadian County, OK - An Oklahoma man landed in jail for giving an underage girl alcohol and then sexually assaulting her at a sleepover party.

Jason Drylie, 35, was arrested last week after the victim told her mother she was sexually assaulted at the sleepover hosted at his home in Canadian County, Oklahoma.

Authorities said the girl, who is under 16 years old, claimed that Drylie had offered her multiple alcoholic drinks and sent her texts encouraging her to keep drinking, news station KFOR reported. She told investigators that she drank so many beers that she became numb and tingly.

It is unclear how the girl knew Drylie, but other children were also present at the sleepover.

During the investigation, officers met with Drylie for an interview and he allowed them to go through his phone.

When officers found the texts to the teen, Drylie admitted that he had climbed in bed with her at the sleepover wearing only underwear. He said that he touched and kissed the girl while she laid in bed.

The victim told authorities that she immediately ran and locked herself in the bathroom.

After the incident, investigators said that Drylie texted the teen to apologize.

This is a text-book example of how so many predators operate. They supply their under-aged victims enough alcohol to get them drunk, and then sexually assault them, Canadian County Sheriff Chris West told KFOR. I cant tell you how thankful I am that this young girl had the courage to tell her mother what this child predator had done to her, and hold him accountable for his actions.

Drylie faces charges for lewd acts with a child and providing alcohol to a minor.

He was taken into custody at Oklahoma County Jail, where he was released on $51,000 bail.
NOTICE:

TO BE CLEAR:

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MUSCATINE  The Iowa Supreme Court has denied the city of Muscatine's request to continue issuing citations from the traffic camera at the intersection of Highway 61 and University Drive while the city's appeal is heard.

The ruling is the second by an Iowa court rejecting the issuance of traffic tickets in Muscatine, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines. The cities are appealing an order to remove or turn off the cameras that the Iowa Department of Transportation has said do not improve road safety.

State Supreme Court Justice Brent Appel filed the ruling June 14, in which he refused to stay last month's Polk County District Court that required the cities to turn off the cameras immediately. The Supreme Court ruling also reaffirmed that the Iowa DOT has the authority to order cities or jurisdictions to remove or turn off cameras.

Muscatine officials said the city stopped issuing tickets from the traffic camera on Highway 61 and University Drive in late May. It must keep the camera turned off until a verdict is reached.

The ruling does not affect the other four traffic cameras at intersections in Muscatine. Those cameras will continue issuing speeding and traffic tickets.

For Cedar Rapids, Appel ruled the city can keep its camera on for data collection purposes but cannot issue tickets.

While Muscatine city staff and administration have yet to comment on the ruling, the city has previously argued the camera improves traffic safety on Highway 61 and reduces the number of violations for speeding.

According to the city's annual report to the Iowa DOT, 12,851 speed violations were issued in 2011, which dropped to 5,999 in 2016.

The city has argued the traffic camera is needed to continue enforcing the speed limit and reduce crashes.

City Administrator Gregg Mandsager said Wednesday, "the city is continuing the appeal process."
Christine Melissa Mills, 53, of Macon Georgia and formerly of Nichols, Iowa passed away from cancer in Macon, Georgia on June 16, 2017. Arrangements are pending at the Sorden-Lewis Home for Funeral and Cremation Services, Lone Tree, Iowa.
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 more people get onto the internet, more of them will part with their money. Conmen are coming up with new and creative ways to steal from unsuspecting Africans.

Most of these cons have been used in more developed countries in the past, and just recently in countries like India and Pakistan. They are then re-branded under a new name and introduced into the African market as a new service.

Case in point is Social trade. It was a huge con in India, and by the time it conveniently collapsed, more than 7 million Indians were hooked. Needless to say, they all lost their money.

Social Trade has now recently been launched in Kenya as Public Likes.

Read: Public Likes.. The Big Pyramid Scam Infecting Kenyans Right Now

Another pyramid/ponzi scheme that has been gaining followers in Kenya goes by the name D9 Club or D9 Clube.

This scheme has been asking investors to put in as little as Sh26,700 and as much as Sh213,000. They promise to multiply that money nearly 5 fold within the course of one year.

The Brazilian based sites has local recruiters, and reportedly holds daily session at Pioneer House in the city centre. Here, potential investors are taken through the workings of the programme and are asked to bring on board as many people as they can. They are promised cars and expensive holidays even on cruise ships.

Nation attended a session last week, and the minimum investment allowed was Sh26,700. This they say has returns of Sh1,300 per week. For obvious reasons, this lowest package was highly discouraged.

Reportedly, the recruiter keeps dropping shareholders names including that of a prominent Kiambu politician in order to add credibility to their scheme. Dont worry, just open a Gmail account and money will be sent to you every Monday for the next 52 weeks, said a female recruiter who spoke to the Nation.

When asked whether D9 Club is a pyramid scheme, one trainer said, What do you mean we are a pyramid scheme? Even the government can be described as a pyramid scheme. If you are just interested in spoiling our trade and not investing then please let those making money make their money. This is an international thing and we have more than 5,000 members here (in Kenya) already.

But even as thousands of Kenyans fall for this D9 Club as our financial regulator sits and does nothing, the rest of the region is not sitting pretty.

[showad block=6]

The National Bank of Rwanda, the equivalent of the Central Bank of Kenya, recently warned financial institutions operating in the country that D9 Club was an illegal pyramid scheme.

It has come to the attention of the National Bank of Rwanda that an organisation known as D9 Club which uses internet chain recruitment with the characteristics of a pyramid scheme is extending its operations in the region, especially in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Zambia, wrote Governor John Rwangombwa to all banks in his country.

The Governor further instructed banks to put strict measures in place to stop transfer of funds to accounts affiliated to D9 Club operators.

In Uganda, Equity Bank has frozen all accounts associated with D9 Club and its main promoters.

In Tanzania, the same bank has taken a step further. Through an internal memo, the human resource instructed all its staff enrolled in D9 Club to immediately withdraw from such illegal schemes.

A 2009 government inquiry found that about 270 pyramid schemes took Sh8.1 billion from 121,205 Kenyans in the preceding year. This trend has however not been checked and as more internet cons continue to take hold, more people will lose money.

Additional reporting by Business Daily
Here are links to the biggest stories today.

Man arrested after van ploughs into people outside London mosque A van ploughed into a crowd on Seven Sisters Road near Finsbury Park Mosque in London at around 12.20am One person was confirmed dead at the scene, eight were rushed to hospital and two suffered minor injuries Muslims were leaving taraweeh, late night prayers observed during the festival of Ramadan

Im very proud of what Ive done  kill me, kill me: The man is held by a police officer as an angry crowd gathers behind He is suspected in the attack that injured at least ten near Finsbury Park mosque Angry shouts can be heard in the background as pedestrians accuse him This is the moment the alleged driver of the van that ploughed into pedestrians outside Finsbury Park mosque was loaded away by police .

How boy, 9, became youngest Grenfell Tower hero Amiel Miller, nine, lived on 17th floor of Grenfell Tower with his mum and brother He woke up after smelling smoke and saw flames outside his bedroom window Brave Amiel ran into his parents room and said: Mum, I think theres a fire Met Police revealed that the official number of people missing and presumed dead  currently 79  is expected to rise following searches of the wreckage A hero nine-year-old boy saved his entire family from the Grenfell Tower blaze after waking up and smelling smoke, telling his parents: Mum, I think theres a fire.

Hilarious photographs show the secret to a successful marriage Some couples really are meant to be  and their shared sense of humour proves it Bored Panda has compiled hilarious pictures of couples pranking one another Capture the inside jokes that are part and parcel of married life The couple that laughs together, stays together, or so the saying goes.

Finsbury Park: Casualties as car drives into pedestrians in north London Emergency services are attending a number of casualties after a vehicle hit pedestrians in Finsbury Park, north London. Follow live updates here.

Trump defiant as pressure grows The investigation has taken a serious turn in recent days, raising the clear possibility that whether Mueller finds wrongdoing or not, a period of political stress and upheaval is inevitable. Trump appears willing to test the bounds of convention and his own powers against a legal and political establishment that he believes is conspiring against him.

The secret negotiations behind the Hong Kong handover Between them, a tiny twin flagpole bore the standards of the United Kingdom and the Peoples Republic of China. The crowd behind applauded as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang signed large red-bound documents with black fountain pens and then shook hands.

Macron on course for majority in French parliament With 97% of the vote in, Macrons La Republique En Marche party had won 300 seats. Its political ally, the Mouvement Democrate, MoDem, won 41 seats. That margin of victory would give Macron, a pro-European centrist, the large majority he craves to further his political revolution  and would inflict a further blow on the countrys traditional ruling parties.

Baby born on flight to India gets free plane tickets for life Jet Airways said it will give free flight tickets for life to a boy who was born on one of its flights between Saudi Arabia and India. The childs mother  whose identity the airline didnt reveal out of respect for her privacy  went into labor prematurely on Sunday at an altitude of 35,000 feet, Jet Airways said.

A veggie by any other name may actually get eaten Putting descriptive indulgent words in front of vegetables  such as dynamite, rich,  sweet sizzlin  and tangy  may help adults take and eat more of the food group, according to a study published this week.

Resort Outside Malis Capital Under Attack BAMAKO, June 18 (Reuters)  A luxury resort popular with Western expatriates outside Malis capital Bamako came under attack by gunmen on Sunday, the Security Ministry said. Gunmen stormed Le Campement Kangaba in Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako, a resort foreign residents often visit for weekend breaks.

How Obama Won The French Election French President Emmanuel Macrons party, La Republique En Marche, won a resounding victory Sunday in the final round of the countrys parliamentary elections, gaining a commanding majority in the National Assembly. The victory, which dramatically reshapes French politics, is particularly remarkable given that Macrons party is just a year old and many of its elected representatives are new to government.

Cars 3 Roars Past Wonder Woman To Finish At The Top Of The Box Office LOS ANGELES (Variety.com)  This weekend featured a heated race between four new films that opened in wide release. As of Sunday morning, it appears some have fared better than others. The big winner is Disney and Pixars Cars 3, which is speeding to $53.5 million from 4,256 locations, putting it in first place.

Jay Z Also Gives Birth  To New Album 4:44 Congratulations Jay Z, its a new album! On the heels of wife Beyonce delivering twins, the rappers streaming service announced Sunday he will be releasing a new album on June 30. At first it will be available exclusively to customers of Jay Zs Tidal service and Sprint, to which he sold a share of Tidal in January.

Google Launches Effort To Remove Extremist Content From YouTube (Reuters)  Alphabet Incs Google will implement more measures to identify and remove terrorist or violent extremist content on its video-sharing platform YouTube, the company said in a blog post on Sunday.

Wonder Woman Inspires Wild Sword-In-The-Dress Memes Wonder Woman knows that a sword tucked carefully down the back of a dress can come in handy. Now apparently lots of other women are imagining what that honed steel could do. Women and girls are popping up for photos on social media with some facsimile of Diana Princes handy-dandy sword  known as the  God killer   slipped down the back of their dresses.

Why people are calling on clean-shaven white men to condemn London mosque attack An incident near Finsbury Park Mosque in London in which a man died and 10 people were injured after a man drove a van into worshippers is being treated as a terrorist attack, Met Police confirmed.
Just like Grace Masalame did when she congratulated her ex-partner Paul Ndichu on his wedding, Lillian Muli too has earned praise for showing maturity with regards to her ex-husband Moses Kanene.

The popular Citizen TV news anchor took to Instagram on Sunday to send a sweet Fathers Day message to her ex.

Happy Fathers Day to the Father of my Child Moses Kanene we have an amazing son and he Loves you to Bits, wrote Lillian Muli alongside a shot of Moses Kanene.

The message appeared to take her followers by surprise as she is believed to have a bitter relationship with Mr Kanene.

The two have long been thought to be at loggerheads especially after Lillian Muli filed for divorce on January 7, 2016.

In her suit, Muli said that she and her husband had a troubled and turbulent marriage. She cited adultery, cruelty, and desertion from

She cited adultery, cruelty, and desertion from Kanene as the reasons behind her petition.

The 35-Year-Old screen siren further claimed that Kanene was a person of unpredictable moods, temper and violent in nature since the respondent had generally been cruel, abusive, rebellious and unwilling to recognize the petitioner as his wife and shunned all efforts by the petitioner to persuade him to live a normal family life.

RELATED: Why Screen Siren Lilian Muli has had Enough of her Husband Kanene

Lillians Instagram post was seen by many as evidence that she still enjoys a cordial relationship with Kanene for the sake of their 7-year-old son.

She was lauded for demonstrating maturity with some followers noting that Grace Msalame has been a good example to women in the country.

We have sampled some reactions below:

kish_sweet22: This is good @sowairina(Grace Msalame) uve been a good example to women lets bury hate and grow love.

mugambiwanjeru: Wah this is amazing. Youre strong lady.

beth_gatwiri: Happy fathers day to Mr Kanene.# Maturity is when you appreciate another partner for their good deeds even if you are not together. Congrats @lilmuli

teresian12: Kudos.maturity to the max!

v_mwachi: Thats a gud one ryt there single mums should learn from this.. put bitterness hatred aside for the sake of u kids big up @lilmuli

gicheronjege: @lilmuli now thats maturity. Much respect for you particularly for this. Hats off. God bless. Proud of you

brisky2014: Grown lady vibes?

robert.klim: @lilmuli I am touched. This is really really awesome. God bless you

rozymaryandrew: How i wish kyalo should learn from you, thats awesome @lilmuli
Dont confuse the hand-made, shaved ice creations by Napas Two Girls Shave Ice with the carnival snowcones of old. They are worlds apart.

All of our syrups are handmade from all-natural, fresh seasonal ingredients, said co-owner Hope Mendes.

Mendes owns the company along with longtime friend Jess Smeding. The two attended St. Helena High together, and have long thought about owning a business together.

It was Jesss idea originally, admitted Mendes. We went over some different ideas looking to find something that was fun and unique to the Napa area.

Shaved ice is great because we both love to cook and can use our skills, plus it easily works into our busy schedules. We both have families and full-time jobs.

We need very little equipment to start this, Mendes added, which is another reason this business was appealing to us. Theres very little overhead and there wasnt a lot of investment needed. We did months of research trying to figure out which machine would be the best for us and ultimately found one for $2,000, she said.

That was our biggest investment in equipment.

The two began the business in April, are always experimenting with new flavors, and usually dont have the same flavors twice when they set up their tent at Napas Farmers Market.

Lemon seems to be our most popular flavor, Mendes said, and we recently made a salty watermelon that people really liked as well.

We do a lot of testing and tasting, said Mendes, and were always excited when people challenge us to try new things. Its a lot of fun.

Even though not every flavor is a winner, Mendes says theyve had good feedback on most of the flavors with a lot of repeat business.

Making our own syrup is a pretty simple process, she said. Combining syrups and fresh fruit, sometimes well add an additional flavor like a hint of basil, or vanilla, to give the flavor a little more punch.

She also noted their products are served in a compostable and eco-friendly fiber bowl.

A bowl of their handmade shaved ice costs $6, but Mendes said the servings are generous and people are surprised at how big they are.

The two are hoping to do a lot more event business in the area and can make shaved, or shave ice, as it is also known, for us many as 300 people.

We attended a winery event recently where we created wine pairings from the flavor notes provided to us, like a blackberry shave ice to compliment the cabernet that was being poured. We can also blend wines into our syrups, Mendes said.

They charge event organizers a flat rate based on the number of people in attendance. Mendes also noted that they have a small footprint, bring all their own equipment and dont require power.

As the weather gets warmer, their shaved ice sales are getting better. It was really hot at the last farmers market and we sold out, Mendes noted. We probably made over 100 shave ices that day.

Wed love to have a storefront one day, she said.

Hotter days are ahead. If you want to know where Two Girls Shave Ice will be next, or wish to discuss an upcoming event, you can check our their Facebook page, follow them on Instagram @TwoGirls_ShaveIce, email them at twogirlsshaveice@gmail.com or call them at 707- 227-5337 or 707 -696-1829.

We attended a winery event recently where we created wine pairings from the flavor notes provided to us, like a blackberry shave ice to compliment the cabernet that was being poured. We can also blend wines into our syrups.  Hope Mendes
Someone using a blow torch set a 2014 Lexus on fire on the 1400 block of Sierra Avenue early Saturday morning, Napa Police reported.

The incident occurred at 12:30 a.m. An unknown person fixed a C-clamp vise onto a lighted blow torch to keep the trigger down, then dropped it through a window of the parked vehicle, Lt. Chase Haag said.

The interior of the vehicle caught fire, Haag said. The vehicle sustained approximately $3,000 in damage, he said.

Police are looking for suspects and a motive, he said.
A parks employee discovered spray-painted hate messages at Lake Park in northeast Napa early Monday morning, John Coates, the city's Parks and Recreation director said.

Insults painted on pathways were directed at Jews, gays and blacks. Images includes swastikas and penises.

The worker called in the incident at 6:40 a.m. A city crew on a trash run covered up the markings shortly after 8 a.m., Coates said. "They tried to abate it as quickly as possible," and not wait for routine graffiti cover-up, he said.

Coates said he visited the park at mid-day to assess the situation.

A Jewish family contacted the Register before 8 a.m. to say that they were shocked to see the anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas. While it seemed the work of a juvenile, there was no telling, they said.

The parks worker who discovered the graffiti assessed it as the work of youths, Coates said.

"It's unusual to see that type of graffiti" in city parks, Coates said.

Graffiti of all types picks up a bit in summer, he said.
School board trustees for Napa Valley Unified School District made no comments last week while adopting next years budget, which was balanced after cutting more than $12 million in jobs and operating expenses.

But one union leader had plenty to say about the cuts.

This budget has impacted the classified employees tremendously, Denise Gibb, president of the California School Employees Associations (CSEA) local chapter 184, told the Board of Education on Thursday.

Gibb was joined at the meeting by about a dozen district employees, mostly women, whom she said were hurt by the cuts.

To erase a $12.4 million deficit in the $167 million budget for next year, NVUSD decided to eliminate 110 full-time positions. Fifty were non-tenured teaching jobs, while 60 were classified positions, such as janitors, librarians, food service workers and others.

Gibb said in an interview that the budget cuts unfairly targeted the workers she represents, in comparison to the impact on the local teachers union, the Napa Valley Educators Association (NVEA).

The teachers union  they rule the roost around here, said Gibb. Were just the workers.

Two weeks ago, NVEA President Gayle Young told the Napa Valley Register her union wouldnt lose any members as a result of the budget cuts.

Young did express some disappointment with the deficit reduction plan, while overall saying, We did OK. She was not at last weeks school board meeting.

Gibb said shes upset over spending cuts that will either eliminate classified employee positions, or drastically cut back their hours.

Theyre dedicated to two hours a day, she said regarding certain food service workers whose work shifts will be reduced. They deserve a wage they can live on. Its ridiculous.

The CSEA chapter president also was critical of school district leaders, including Superintendent Patrick Sweeney.

Those guys at $313,000  what Patrick Sweeney makes, said Gibb. He wouldnt get out of bed and come here to work part-time jobs that make $17 an hour.

The website TransparentCalifornia.com lists Sweeneys total annual salary and benefits for 2016 as $313,971.

NVUSD did not respond to a query seeking a response to Gibbs remarks.

Gibb also said shes seriously considering a run for the school board after her term as CSEA chapter president expires next year.

The classified people need someone to stand up for them, she said.

Gibb is considering Area 1, currently held by Trustee Stacy Bratlien, as the seat she might pursue because it is closest to her home in the Lake Berryessa area. Bratliens term is up in 2018.

The $12.4 million deficit reduction should keep next years budget balanced, said Assistant Superintendent Wade Roach. But he said the district is still facing deficits in outlying years.

Because were going to continue to have the declining enrollment and the continued increases in pension contributions, said Roach, NVUSD is projecting a $1.89 million deficit for 2018-2019 and $2.28 million for 2019-2020.

Theres going to be lots of discussions about what we need to cut in 18-19, said Roach.

He acknowledged that one of the options calls for eliminating the seventh period at high schools, which has given students extra time to take electives while still taking required courses for graduation and college prep classes. Talk of possibly going back to a six-period day to reduce costs has privately concerned some teachers.

Were going to spend a lot of time in the fall looking at the different solutions, said Roach. Theres a dozen things on that list. Thats (ending the seven-period day) one of the things.

Roach said the good news is the district shouldnt have to order any budget reductions once school starts in the fall. That wasnt the case with the school year that just ended.

In October, Roach instructed principals and program directors to cut 9 percent from their budgets.

Looking ahead to 2017-2018, he said one-time dollars should cushion the district with enough money. We dont anticipate to have to make any midyear cuts next year.
SAN FRANCISCO  Google is trying to turn its search engine into an employment engine.

Beginning Tuesday, job hunters will be able to go to Google and see help-wanted listings that its search engine collects across the internet. The results will aim to streamline such listings by eliminating duplicate jobs posted on different sites.

Google will also show employer ratings from current and former workers, as well as typical commute times to job locations.

This detailed jobs information is a departure from the way Google's main search engine has traditionally shown only bare-bones links to various help-wanted sites.

Google is teaming up with a variety of help-wanted and employer-rating services, including LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, and Facebook.
Donald Trump's White House has slowly but surely reduced its presence in the White House briefing room during the first six months of his presidency -- with on-camera briefings all but disappearing from the schedule.

The Trump administration held an on-camera briefing 12 times in February, and then another 17 times in March. In May, there were 11 briefings on camera. Since then, those numbers have dropped drastically. Briefings are shorter, less substantive and rarely on camera these days. In June, there were only eight on-camera briefings. There have been zero in July.

When the briefing is off-camera, news outlets are typically barred from airing the audio live and must wait until the briefing is over to take it to air.

White House deputy secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has also had an increased presence at the lectern. She has handled most of the briefings since June 27, leaving many wondering about the role of her boss, press secretary Sean Spicer. He last briefed reporters on July 17 -- for the first time in three weeks -- because Sanders was not at the White House that day.

Spicer has justified off-camera briefings by saying he wants the President's voice "to carry the day," though he later admitted he preferred for the cameras to be turned off because "a lot" of reporters "want to become YouTube stars."

During an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network Wednesday, Spicer said the White House communications team is "very engaged with the press all day long doing interviews like this" and "communicating with the press."

"We do a briefing every single day," Spicer said. "I think for a lot of folks, they're more interested in getting the clip to put on the Internet, to put on their news, and we're interested in making sure that we communicate with the American people, that we give the press an opportunity to get their questions answered but we're not here to make it a spectacle, either."
Tuesday, June 13

2022  A caller asked police to check on a confused man who was walking in the middle of Madrona Avenue and asking where the hospital was.

2145  A strange package was delivered to someones front door with a note saying, Have fun with this stuff. To: You. From: ? The caller thought it might be for her 13-year-old daughter, but she wanted officers to check it out first. Police discovered that the package contained kids toys from a friend or admirer.

Wednesday, June 14

0015  Report of a man and a woman yelling at each other on Rosebud Lane.

0641  Someone started using a weed eater at 6:15 a.m. on Harvest Lane.

1435  A person came to the PD to talk to an officer about child custody orders.

1631  Merchandise was reported stolen from a display on Adams Street. Police arrested a 28-year-old Vallejo woman on suspicion of burglary.

2011  A caller said that while he was at the car wash a child about 5 or 6 years old threw a rock that scratched his windshield. He tried to talk to the childs mother, who just ignored him. Police determined it was a civil matter.

2145  A man driving a newer, large black car asked two female juveniles if they would like a ride. After they declined, the driver headed south on Main Street. Police took a report.

Thursday, June 15

1012  A man said a small German shepherd and another brown dog attacked his leashed dog while they were walking on Hillview Place.

1130  Report of a possible prowler on Peppertree Circle. It turned out to be someone involved in a painting project, who had permission to be on the property.

1720  Report of a neighbors dog barking for the last hour on Stockton Street.

Friday, June 16

0956  A French bulldog found near Vidovich/Main was released to its owner.

1106  A person reported receiving threats via text. While waiting for an officer to take a report, the person decided no further action was needed at this time.

1115  Five or six men were swimming in a pool at a Main Street hotel. They were not guests and had already been asked to leave.

1317  Report of a possible verbal disturbance on Charter Oak Avenue.

1358  A Pratt Avenue resident said that on Wednesday night her dog alerted her that someone was on her property. She found her car door standing open, but nothing was missing. Police encouraged her to lock her car and call the police right away if more suspicious activity occurs.

1429  Report of a man with a bar trying to enter a car near Starr/Hunt. Police checked the area extensively.

1625  Non-injury hit-and-run on Vintage Avenue.

2012  Report of a car passing at a high rate of speed in the center lane near Highway 29/Galleron Lane.

2043  A Charter Oak Avenue said an intoxicated man was yelling at his neighbor and challenging him to a fight. Police found the aggressor on his own property and told him to go inside for the night.

2117  Report of a possible drunk driver near Calistoga. Police later stopped the car near Main/Elmhurst and determined the driver was not drunk.

2228  Report of suspicious people in a silver car near Mitchell/North Crane.

Saturday, June 17

0027  Police responded to a loud party near Vintage Avenue.

0030  A white poodle mix, newly shaved, with a bandana around his neck, was found on Allison Avenue.

Sunday, June 18

0816  Police and fire units responded to Mariposa Lane for a report of smoke coming from a microwave.

1057  Report of a dog left in a car on Main Street. The car left before police arrived.

1949  Report of a reckless driver weaving near Pope/Main. Police checked the area.

Monday, June 19

0719  A caller heard construction noise near Spring Street, with tractors beeping while they backed up.

0818  A construction crew was using a gas generator on Vineyard Avenue. A caller was concerned that those are not allowed on Spare the Air Days. Police determined the gas generator was not prohibited.

1427  Report of a possible drunk driver weaving near Highway 29/Mee Lane.

1442  A car was reported stolen from Money Way. The report turned out to be unfounded.

1624  A caller requested extra patrol on Spring Street after a full tank of gas was siphoned from a car on Saturday night.

1702  Non-injury accident on Main Street.

1901  Report of a car blocking a driveway on Tainter Street.

2009  A silver Lexus was parked on the wrong side of Stockton Street.

2049  A caller asked police to check on a small child whod been crying constantly for at least 75 minutes on College Avenue.
NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller welcomed the Chairman of the Tri-Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mladen Ivanic; the Chairman of the Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdic; and Defence Minister Marina Pendes to NATO Headquarters on Tuesday (20 June 2017) for an exchange of views.

The Deputy Secretary General thanked Bosnia and Herzegovina for its valuable contribution to the Alliances Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and welcomed Bosnia and Herzegovinas defence reform efforts, including the adoption of the Defence Review last year. She encouraged Bosnia and Herzegovina to maintain momentum by continuing to register defence properties to the state in order to activate the Membership Action Plan. She said that NATO will continue to provide assistance to Bosnia and Herzegovina to achieve this and other goals on the path to Euro-Atlantic integration.
(As delivered)

President, Ministers, it is a great pleasure to be here together with you today.

We have just welcomed the arrival of Canadian forces which will lead the multinational battlegroup here in Latvia. So thank you, Minister Sajjan, for Canadas leading role in this deployment. And thank you, President Vejonis and Minister Bergmanis, for Latvia hosting this battlegroup. Thank you. These forces send a very clear message: NATO stands as one. Troops from Canada, Albania and Italy, Spain, Poland and Slovenia alongside Latvian troops. And these forces are just one part of a bigger picture. NATO has also deployed battlegroups in Estonia, Lithuania and Poland. All together more than 4.000 troops, well trained and well equipped. These battlegroups serve a common purpose: to defend our Alliance and deter aggression. They are proof of the enduring strength of the transatlantic bond; soldiers from North America and Europe serving together to keep our Alliance safe. More Canadian troops are on the ground in Europe than at any time since the early 1990s. Im happy to see this strong Canadian presence here today.

Our forces are here to prevent conflict and protect the peace. We have deployed these forces in response to the changed security environment, including Russias military build-up in the Baltic region and beyond. At the same time, NATO continues to seek meaningful dialogue with Russia. Especially when tensions are high, dialogue is important. To increase transparency, predictability, and to reduce risks.

I am very proud of what I see here today. It is only a year since Allied leaders decided to enhance our defence and deterrence in the eastern part of the Alliance. Today we see the results. NATO is delivering on defence and deterrence; and it will continue to deliver peace and security. Solidarity is our strength. All for one and one for all.

Thank you.

Q: Probably a question to Mr. Stoltenberg. So, as we know the United States are sending 600 more troops to Latvia prior to ZAPAD military drills in Russia this September. Should we expect additional troops from NATO countries in the near future, lets say in a couple of months or in a half year? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG (NATO Secretary General): What we have seen today is that for the first time NATO has decided to have a persistent presence of troops in Latvia with a multi-national battle group led by Canada and then many other NATO allies contributing forces. The size of this battle group is around 1,000. Then of course there will be times with exercises and with NATO allied forces where we can see more troops but we dont plan to increase the numbers of troops as part of the battle group. We think we have measurable defensive but also sufficient presence through the battle group and I think the battle group sends a very clear message about NATO solidarity, NATO presence and that an attack on all will be  that an attack on one ally will be regarded as an attack on the whole Alliance.

Q: Hello, my name is Anna (inaudible) from Latvian Public Television. Question for Mr. Stoltenberg I guess. We know that this is a peacekeeping operation but in case if during this time there is some kind of aggression from Russia will these soldiers actually defend Latvia?

JENS STOLTENBERG: Yes, but let me underline that. We dont see any imminent threat against any NATO ally including Latvia. And it is important to understand that the battle group in Latvia is only a part of a bigger picture. We have in total four battle groups, then of course we have the national home defense forces. Then we have also increased the readiness and the preparedness of our forces so we can easily reinforce, we can reinforce Latvia and other countries quickly because we have tripled the size of the NATO response force to 40,000 troops and we have established a spearhead force, a brigade which can move within a few days. So, if there is a need for reinforcement NATO is able to reinforce very quickly. We have also the air policing presence. We have increased our naval presence in the Baltic Sea and we have established the NATO force integration units, the NFIUs which are small headquarters in the three Baltic countries and in Poland that are key to strengthen that link between national home defense forces and NATO forces and also NATO reinforcements preparing for exercises, improving planning and improving the coordination between home defense forces and NATO forces. So, the battle group is important, the battle group sends a very strong message of NATO solidarity, NATO unity and multi-national presence, but its only one part of a bigger picture where we are able to reinforce if needed.

MODERATOR: One more question.

Q: Hello my name is (inaudible) from Reuters News Agency. I have a question to Mr. Stoltenberg. We know that theres going to be huge military exercise held by Russia in September, ZAPAD. What do you think, what are Russias plans when it comes to the Baltic States? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Again, we dont see any imminent threat against any NATO allied country, but what we have seen is a more assertive Russia, we have seen a significant military buildup also in the Baltic region and we have seen Russia being willing to use military force against neighbours as we have seen in Georgia and in Ukraine. And thats the reason why NATO is responding with the biggest reinforcement of collective defense since the end of the Cold War with the deployment of the four battle groups but also the increased readiness and preparedness of our forces as I just mentioned. Well of course follow and monitor closely the Russian exercise ZAPAD. We call on Russia to be transparent related to the ZAPAD exercise because thats part of what we seek in our dialogue with Russia: transparency, predictability and measures to achieve risk reduction. And of course, it is important to misunderstand [sic]  or to avoid any misunderstanding, to avoid any miscalculations and therefore we are now looking into the possibility of holding a meeting of the NATO Russia Council where well ask or call on Russia to brief on the ZAPAD exercise and at the same time we are calling on Russia to be transparent on the ZAPAD exercise in line with the Vienna Document which requires transparency, international observation of these kinds of exercises. So, we will follow and monitor closely but at the same time we have NATO presence in this region which enables us to also send a very clear message.

MODERATOR: Thank you that concludes our press conference.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Thank you.
(Natural News) There is an alarming rate of people  both children and adults  who are succumbing to health problems caused by obesity, according to a new study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington. Shockingly, more than two billion people around the world are afflicted with diseases that are related to being obese or overweight. The study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that theres a significantly huge number of people who are dying even though they are not technically obese. The research showed that 40 percent of the four million deaths observed were people whose body mass index (BMI) are not even above the threshold for obesity. The study authors are deeply concerned about the growing global public health crisis.

Obesity is a serious concern and its also very expensive. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than a third (36.5 percent) of adults in the U.S. are obese. These people are at risk of some of the leading causes of preventable death like stroke, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and certain types of cancers. More shockingly, the approximate annual cost of obesity in 2008 was $147 billion. Despite declines in the number of children who are overweight, obesity still remains high in this population. There are about 12.7 million (17 percent) of obese children and adolescents as of 2014.

The study involved 195 countries and used data from 1980 to 2015. It also analyzed other studies on the impact of excess weight and assessed the probable links between high BMI and certain types of cancers: rectum, esophagus, liver, gallbladder, pancreas, breast, biliary, ovary, thyroid, uterus, and even leukemia. Data showed that in 2015, 2.2 billion children and adults all over the world were affected by excessive weight. The pervasiveness of obesity has doubled since 1980 and has continued to rise in other countries.

People who shrug off weight gain do so at their own risk  risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and other life-threatening conditions, said Dr. Christopher Murray, author of the study. He further added: Those half-serious New Years resolutions to lose weight should become year-round commitments to lose weight and prevent future weight gain.

Junk food can be considered as one of the contributors of this epidemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes the cause of obesity: It occurs when there is an energy imbalance between calories consumed and the amount expended. Junk foods are addictive, have low nutritional value, and high calorie content.

The excess sugar and fat contained in junk food accumulates in the body, leading to weight gain. When this happens, you become susceptible to other conditions, like type-2 diabetes and heart diseases. Not only that, junk food affects your energy levels. The high sugar content disrupts your metabolism. Moreover, eating these unhealthy snacks can lead to liver damage, high cholesterol, poor performance, and obesity.

Excess body weight is one of the most challenging public health problems of our time, affecting nearly one in every three people, said Dr. Ashkan Afshin, assistant professor of Global Health at IMHE and lead author of the study.

The fight against obesity may require numerous interventions but, in theory, preventing it should be simple: Stop reaching into those bags of chips. Its hard, yes, because it requires a lot of self-control but if youre seriously concerned about your health, youd put an end to it. You can also look for natural and healthier snack alternatives.

Sources include:

ScienceDaily.com

HealthData.org

NEJM.org

CDC.gov

Febfast.org.au

FitDay.com
By the time she came to Emory, Maya Lakshman 19C already understood what it means to live in vulnerability and fear. She also knew how good it feels to be able to help.

Lakshmans mother started and ran a support and awareness organization for victims of domestic violence in their hometown of San Diego, and eleven-year old Lakshman would help in any way she could  doing administrative tasks, compiling email lists, and setting up for small events. The experience led to an early social and political awakening.

I saw my mother getting so passionate about it, she says. She really wanted to make a change.

Lakshman immersed herself in reading and learning about domestic violence, which led to information about sexual abuse, which led to the emerging topic of sex trafficking  heavy subjects for a preteen. So when she arrived at Emory in fall 2014, Lakshman was aware that human trafficking is a problem in Atlanta, and she wanted to follow her mothers example by reaching out into the community and doing something about it.

But, I didnt know if there was anyone else at Emory as eager to make a change in this field as I was, she says.

By the end of her first year, the anthropology and human biology major had met a classmate to help her cofound Red Light Emory, a student group that works with local nonprofits to help victims overcome the mental health consequences of child sex trafficking.

She had also fielded applications from more than 80 other students eager to join the effort. She also found faculty members, advisers and the Center for Civic and Community Engagement ready to offer support.

The faculty here are amazing. They have changed my perspective and been supportive of this work, says Lakshman. And there are also a lot of amazing students here  Red Light could not be putting on any of this stuff if there werent people making it happen.

Lakshmans proposal for Red Light Emory outlined a three-pronged approach to helping sex-trafficking victims in Atlanta.

The first is outreach through off-campus partners Youth Spark, which focuses on children, and Haven Atlanta, geared toward women. Red Light volunteers organize programs for victims such as health fairs, etiquette classes, even talent shows  anything that might help ease the stress that follows their experience.

Second is advocacy on and off campus, including events like public concerts and art shows to raise awareness.

And the third piece is education  training outside volunteers to interact with people who have experienced any type of trauma. At every step, Lakshman says, she drew encouragement from people she encountered across the Emory campus.

View Full Story in Emory Magazine 
Jessica Dugan sits at a computer in the Emory University psychology department in Atlanta, training a rhesus monkey in a lab at a university in Queretaro, Mexico, on the concept of transitive inference.



She watches the monkey in real-time on her screen. With a few clicks on her keyboard she can present the monkey with random images on a computer attached to its cage and see which image it chooses. The monkey is automatically rewarded with food pellets for correct choices. Eventually, the monkey begins to grasp that the computer game is based on a concept of transitive inference  the idea of a hierarchy based on a shared property.



Its pretty cool, Dugan says. As long as theres a wi-fi connection, we can remotely put a monkey on task and conduct a training exercise or an experiment. Technology can make collaboration across countries a lot easier.



The joint project between Emory and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Institute for Neurobiology is just one more in a series of doors opening for Dugan, leading to new ways of learning science and conducting research.



She entered Emorys Laney Graduate School under the mentorship of psychologist Patricia Bauer, who focuses on human development of memory from infancy through childhood. Dugan is particularly passionate about designing and conducting experiments with children to get at some of the key questions surrounding metacognition  introspection about thought processes.



Basically, Im interested in how someone thinking about thinking may be able to improve their ability to learn new information, she explains. Self-generation of new knowledge is something that we use every day. Its a process thats critical to success in education and beyond.



Dugan is simultaneously working with rhesus monkeys in the lab of Emory psychologist Robert Hampton. Studying the cognition of the relatives of our earliest ancestors may help us understand if there was some evolutionary demand that led to us being able to perform certain cognitive tasks, she says.

View Full Story in eScienceCommons 
Cancer patients who consider going on a cancer clinical trial often start out with fears: Will I be treated like a guinea pig? Will I get a real drug or just a placebo? Will they be experimenting on me?

Sometimes these fears keep people from enrolling on clinical trials. Kate Yeager, Winship Cancer Institute researcher and assistant professor in Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing, wondered if addressing those fears in a video could help breast cancer patients understand and be more receptive to clinical trials. A grant from the V Foundation enabled Yeager to produce two educational videos that explain key benefits and barriers in clinical trials, and feature breast cancer survivors who share their experiences and feelings about having participated in clinical trials.

Because studies show low levels of participation in clinical trials by minorities, Yeager designed one video to feature concerns expressed by African-American patients. The second video is more general. Over the past year, 50 breast cancer patients watched the videos and completed surveys asking if the information and patient stories were helpful.

"My favorite part of the project was working with the women who had participated in clinical trials as part of their breast cancer treatment. They let us video them as they told their authentic, heartfelt experiences. I know their voices will speak to women who face some of the same decisions and provide them with useful information," says Yeager.

The trial tested the feasibility of using educational videos in a busy breast cancer clinic and whether they can affect a patient's intention to enroll on a cancer clinical trial. Yeager says results will be released soon.

Second Video
Street Machine Ready  Andrew Krajecki and Alina Piton, seniors, both from Park Ridge, who are in Southern Illinois University Carbondales nationally recognized automotive technology program, hold the student-designed 2017 Best Integration and Use of Technology Award trophy. The trophy will be presented Sunday, June 25, at the General Tire Street Machine Nationals in Du Quoin. Krajecki and Piton both attended Maine South High School. (Photo by Steve Buhman)

Automotive Technology students take on Street Machines

by Pete Rosenbery

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Students in Southern Illinois University Carbondales automotive technology program will be busy once again at this weeks General Tire Street Machine Nationals in Du Quoin.

This is the fifth year students will have developed, judged and presented the Best Integration and Use of Technology Award since the event returned to Southern Illinois in 2013. Each year, students design and fabricate the one-of-a-kind trophy. They assemble a judging team, develop a plan and put into action their processes to evaluate thousands of show vehicles over one weekend.

Students will look at the more than 2,800 high performance street machines, hot rods and trucks expected in Southern Illinois Friday through Sunday, June 23-25. The trophy is a V-6 exhaust manifold with various timing gears designed by automotive technology students.

The interaction between students, car enthusiasts and professionals is important, according to Michael Behrmann, department chair. Students receive advice from professional judges prior to canvassing the event. Behrmann anticipates that about 20 students, including some who are returning to campus from summer internships, along with faculty and staff, will be involved.

One key is the interaction with individuals who are passionate about their cars, Behrmann said of the students. Once students graduate and are out in the work force they will need to interact with the end-consumer, and these also are people who are passionate about their vehicles. Having the ability to interact with them while the students are still in college builds a great communication skill set.

Another important component is the students ability to engage with different vendors and company representatives who also will be at the event, Behrmann said.

For a second year, SIU students will host a Hot Rod Hospital, where they lend a hand in making repairs or loan tools and equipment to event participants who need to make quick adjustments to their vehicles. Last year, this lead to important community engagement as students assisted several participants whose vehicles had breakdowns while on the grounds.

In addition, students will once again show off their 1966 Chevy Nova Super Sport, a project that started in 1985 with a $100 body. Students receive first-hand knowledge while working on the drag car, which competes locally in Benton, Paducah, Ky., and Sikeston, Mo. Last year, the car was the foot brake class track champion in Sikeston, Behrmann said.

The event is not just for muscle car and truck enthusiasts, but also for those interested in detail involved in fabrication and metalworking, Behrmann said.

Here in Southern Illinois we have a thriving creative and artist community. Anybody who is passionate about paints, colors and design and metalworking, can fulfill your dreams by going and looking at what people have produced and can produce, he said. Its just that we use the car and truck as the medium.
Life-altering treatments available to Tourette patients

The chairman of UFs department of neurology discusses the many life-altering treatments that have become available to patients with this tic disorder.

Tourette syndrome is a mysterious medical curiosity that has puzzled doctors for more than a century. People who have it suffer from tics and other behavioral problems, such as obsessive compulsive traits and attention deficit disorder.

In addition, they are cursed by a stereotype that they swear loudly and inappropriately. In reality, 10 percent actually experience these verbal outbursts, but many are stigmatized and isolated nonetheless.

I have studied Tourette syndrome for years, and recently published a book about treatments and the common spectrum of behavioral disorders associated with it. Swearing isnt even one of the more frequent ones.

The fact is that over the last several years, many exciting and life-altering treatments have become available to Tourette patients and their families. We have reached a crossroads in this disease where it will become increasingly critical to reeducate the public and to make new therapies widely available.

Twitches and tics

French scientist Jean-Martin Charcot, the founder of modern clinical neurology, coined the eponym Tourette syndrome after his student, Georges Albert Gilles de la Tourette, who in 1885 described nine patients suffering from the tic malady.

Researchers soon noticed that Tourette occurred among multiple family members across multiple generations.

Over the generations, however, new knowledge came slowly. Critical gaps in our understanding of the syndrome remain, and half of all cases remain undiagnosed.

Even the precise number of people affected has been hard to know. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that one in 362 children, or 0.3 percent, has Tourette. The Tourette Association of America, on the other hand, estimates the disease is twice as common, with one in 166 kids (0.6 percent) affected.

Some Tourette syndrome cases are mild, with symptoms such as nonbothersome eye blinking, or mild body twitching. In many cases, the motor tics will resolve in late adolescence or early adulthood. Many patients will even lead relatively normal lives.

Lessons from the brain yield advances

Knowledge of the syndrome has increased as scientists have learned more in general about the brain.

The normal functions of the human brain seem to be dictated by rhythmic oscillations that continuously repeat over and over, much like a popular song on the radio. These oscillations change and modulate, and they act to control various human behaviors.

If an oscillation goes bad, it can result in a disabling tic or other behavioral symptoms of Tourette syndrome.

An important secret to the development of new therapies for Tourette is that we can alter these oscillations with rehabilitative therapies, cognitive behavioral intervention therapy (CBIT), medications such as tetrabenazine or even deep brain stimulation, which involves a small straw-like probe being inserted into the brain. Electricity can be delivered through this probe to disrupt the abnormal oscillations responsible for tics.

Continued study also helping

The genetics of Tourette remain opaque. Despite the fact that the disease tends to run in families, no one has discovered a single DNA abnormality linking all, or even most, cases.

In the meantime, however, technology is offering new means of detection and treatment. Scientists have recorded tic signals from the human brain and even deployed the first smart devices to detect and suppress tics.

Some investigators are studying newer generations of medicines that decrease the complications that can occur with old-fashioned drugs, such as Haloperidol, that have traditionally been used to treat Tourette. Scientists are also looking for way to suppress or modulate inappropriate brain signals, spurring development of new drugs with novel brain targets, such as cannabinoid receptors.

Using marijuana to treat the symptoms of Tourette syndrome makes some scientific sense. Cannabinoids occur naturally in the body, and cannabinoid receptors are found throughout many brain regions. In fact, CB1 cannabinoid receptors are located in high concentrations in regions of the brain thought to be involved in Tourette syndrome.

Living with Tourette syndrome

While it may appear to the casual observer that someone with Tourette syndrome outgrows it in adolescence or early adulthood, in fact most do not. While the motor and vocal tics wane in most cases, the obsessive-compulsive and behavioral features may persist and even escalate.

These behavioral features in Tourette syndrome, if left undiagnosed and untreated, will make it harder to live a normal life and will affect the person more than the noticeable motor and vocal tics.

While new treatments may lie in the future, there are many things that patients and their families can do today. Many changes, often very simple, can be incorporated into patients lives.

Comprehensive care teams from different disciplines play a key role. For example, a social worker can help to set up an individualized school education plan and connect families to resources that can transform difficult school situations into success stories. A rehabilitative therapist can now in many cases successfully address tics without the use of a single medication.

Our care team has taken care of close to 10,000 movement disorder patients at the University of Florida and tens of thousands more with our colleagues in the Southeast Regional Tourette Association of America Center of Excellence, which also includes neurologists, psychiatrists, rehabilitative specialists, social workers and scientists at the University of South Florida, Emory University, University of Alabama and the University of South Carolina.

There are good reasons to try different treatments, even if none seems to work. Patients need to learn how to recognize when a plan or therapy isnt working and how to speak with their doctors and care team about trying something else. The point is that left unchecked, brain vibrations can, in some Tourette cases, lead to neck-snapping tics which can cause injuries, even paralysis. Today even the most severe cases have a chance for treatment with deep brain stimulation.

Though Tourette syndrome remains mysterious in the public eye, it is important that we teach families about the broad palette of options that provide tangible benefits for quality of life. That is definitely something worth shouting about.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Governments and individuals are widely using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter for promoting lies, misinformation and propaganda to manipulate public opinion around the world, an alarming nine-countries study has said. According to the new set of studies from the University of Oxford, countries like Russia, where around 45 per cent of active Twitter accounts are bots and Taiwan -- where a campaign against President Tsai Ing-wen involved thousands of heavily co-ordinated accounts sharing Chinese mainland propaganda -- contribute to the dirty politics on social media. The reports, part of Oxford Internet Institute's 'Computational Propaganda Research Project', include Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Poland, Ukraine and the US. Citing Philip Howard, Professor of Internet Studies at Oxford, The Guardian reported on Tuesday that "the lies, the junk, the misinformation" of traditional propaganda is widespread online and "supported by Facebook or Twitter's algorithms". One of the techniques to alter people's opinion is to build fake accounts to automate them to like, share and post on the social networks. According to the report, these accounts serve to game algorithms to push content on to curated social feeds and drown out real issues by populating social networks with untrue information. As the number of likes and shares is large, users tend to believe the content that manipulates their opinion. The researchers found that in the US, the propaganda took the form of "manufacturing consensus" -- creating the illusion of popularity so that a political candidate can have viability where they might not have had it before. "The illusion of online support for a candidate can spur actual support through a bandwagon effect. Trump made Twitter centre stage in this election and voters paid attention," said the US report. The report also found evidence of institutional support for the use of bots. "Bots massively multiply the ability of one person to attempt to manipulate people. Picture your annoying friend on Facebook, who's always picking political fights. If they had an army of 5,000 bots, that would be a lot worse, right?" Samuel Woolley, the project's Director of Research, was quoted as saying in The Guardian. One country that the researchers found different from others was Germany where fear of online destabilisation outpaced the actual arrival of automated political attacks. Germany has implemented world-leading laws, requiring social networks to take responsibility for what gets posted on their sites. "Germany leads the way as a cautionary authority over computational propaganda, seeking to prevent online manipulation of opinion rather than addressing already present issues," the report noted. Last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel accused technology giants Facebook and Google of "narrowing perspective" and demanded that they make public their privately-developed algorithms. "These algorithms, when they are not transparent, can lead to a distortion of our perception, they narrow our breadth of information," she had said. Ever since the results of the US presidential elections were declared, Facebook was accused of spreading and promoting fake news that favoured the win of Donald Trump. Though the company has taken a number of measures to prevent fake news from spreading, there are still concerns being raised. The findings were recently presented to a group of "senior" representatives from the technology industry in Palo Alto, California. --IANS sku/na/bg ( 546 Words) 2017-06-20-14:40:12 (IANS)
Infosys veterans on Tuesday launched GSTSTAR, a comprehensive solution catering to Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime needs of businesses, professionals and large organisations. "It caters to the GST needs of small and big enterprises. Minimum fee will be Rs 500 per month for the standard on cloud version and the on-premise customisable deployment for larger enterprises may range from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 40 lakh of a one-time cost based on the size of the organisation," GSTSTAR co-founder Shailesh Agrawal told reporters here. "Further, professionals may avail it free of cost for a limited period," Agrawal added. Based out of Bengaluru and founded by Infosys veterans Agrawal and Balaji G.S. Rao, GSTSTAR offers products and services for GST compliance and will help business transition to GST era smoothly. "The company is backed with seed funding of $1 million (Rs 6.4 crore) by software industry leaders and ex-Infosys directors T.V. Mohandas Pai and V. Balakrishnan among others," Agrawal said. He said the major chunk of the Rs 6.4 crore seed fund was received in the last few months while Rs 2.50 lakh was received in 2014. "The major chunk of the investment is from Pai and Balakrishnan," Agrawal said. With the GST regime coming into effect from July 1, the existing 80 lakh tax payer entities that are under the tax umbrella are expected to grow to 3.5 crore. "We expect to capture 10 per cent of Rs 3,600 crore market in the country by next year," he said. The GSTSTAR solution is offered both as a standard cloud based self-subscription version and full-scale enterprise version. "The GST is bound to grow the GDP alongside enhancing the ease of doing business in India and GSTSTAR is poised to help not only big companies but small and mid-size businesses steer into GST era seamlessly," GSTSAT investor mentor V. Balakrishnan said. Services and utilities of GSTSTAR are designed to provide businesses with Invoice management, tax calculator, harmonized system of nomenclature (HSN), service account code (SAC) lookup and goods and services taxpayer identification number (GSTIN) collector utility to ease the compliance processes of enterprises. "This solution is one technology that various industries can rely upon as it is simple, reliable and provides services to help businesses of all sizes," GSTSTAR co-founder Balaji G.S. Rao added. --IANS str/ksk/mr ( 401 Words) 2017-06-20-16:44:17 (IANS)
Just like it is with the accompanying instruments in the background or with the vocals or beat, lyrics too constitute an important part of a song. In Heavy Metal music, the style, which was rebellion against established norms and all that was popular, was both musically and lyrically the antithesis of pop music. Whereas the latter focused on more upbeat topics such as romance and partying, Metal focused on topics such as war, violence, carnage, politics, drugs and sex. Veteran American music critic had once commented: "Heavy Metal's main subject matter is simple and virtually universal. With grunts, moans and sub-literary lyrics, it celebrates... a party without limits. The bulk of the music is stylized and formulaic." Music critics have often deemed Metal lyrics juvenile and banal, and others have objected to what they see as advocacy of misogyny and the occult. During the 1980s, the Parents Music Resource Centre (PMRC) petitioned the US Congress to regulate the popular music industry due to what the group asserted were objectionable lyrics, particularly those in Heavy Metal songs. The PMRC used music professor Joe Stuessy to testify against Metal. Professor Stuessy alleged that these songs focused on violence, substance abuse, perversion, S&M, and Satanism. American musicologist Robert Walser then analyzed 88 Metal songs' themes to determine if Stuessy's claims were valid. In Walser's analysis, the dominant theme in these songs was "longing for intensity". He found that the negative themes described by Stuessy and the PMRC were uncommon. Also, psychologist Jeffrey Arnett analysed the lyrics from 115 Metal songs. He found that the top three messages were about violence, angst and protest. Metal artists have had to defend their lyrics in front of the US Senate and in courtrooms. In 1985, Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider was asked to defend his song "Under the blade" at a US Senate hearing. In 1986, Ozzy Osbourne was sued because of the lyrics of his song "Suicide solution". In 1990, Judas Priest was sued in American court by the parents of two young men who had shot themselves five years earlier, allegedly after hearing the subliminal statement "do it" in a Priest song. While the case attracted a great deal of media attention, it was ultimately dismissed. In some predominantly Muslim countries, heavy Metal has been officially denounced as a threat to traditional values. In countries such as Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, and Malaysia, there have been incidents of heavy Metal musicians and fans being arrested and incarcerated. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Metal "an expressive" mode. "It sometimes seems it will be with us for as long as ordinary white boys fear girls, pity themselves, and are permitted to rage against a world they'll never beat," Christgau had said. Writer James Parker states that while the use of Hell-and underworld-oriented themes in Heavy Metal can be "dark and disturbing", they are "honest about human nature", and as such, listening to Metal lyrics can be beneficial for listeners' mental health. Parker finds that such lyrics can "keep us sane". According to ethnographer Keith Kahn-Harris, the defining characteristics of extreme Metal can all be regarded as clearly transgressive: the "extreme" traits in Death Metal or Black Metal bands' lyrics are all intended to violate or transgress given cultural, artistic, social or aesthetic boundaries. Extreme Metal lyrics often describe Christianity as weak or submissive, and many songs express misanthropic views such as "kill every thing". A small number of Extreme Metal bands and song lyrics make reference to far-right politics; for example, the Swedish Black Metal band Marduk has an obsession with the NaziPanzer tank, which can be seen in works such as Panzer Division Marduk. The Swedish Power Metal band Sabaton's writing is based on wars of the past. The German group Blind Guardian, looked on to as one of the earliest Power Metal bands that wrote fantasy-based lyrics, primarily based on the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien. For example, "Nightfall in Middle Earth" is inspired by Tolkein's "The Silmarillion". Overall, a band's lyrics must be analysed in the wider context of their total sound and not just as an individual aspect. Contrary to what is believed, the negative attitude of lyrics in Metal is not glorification of anything, but in its totality, the music and the lyrics are simply an outlet for people to express their anger. What marks majority of the Metal lyrics is that they are highly 'symbolic' and must not be interpreted literally. (Anand Venkitachalam interned at IANS. He can be reached at jordanmetalhead@gmail.com) --IANS anand/rb/hs ( 774 Words) 2017-06-20-11:10:30 (IANS)
Coastal Security Group of Tamil Nadu Marine Police foiled a bid to smuggle 200 kilograms of sea cucumbers, an endangered marine species to Sri Lanka and arrested one person at Devipattinam seashore, here today. Police said acting on specific inputs, the Marine police team conducted a thorough search along the Devipattinam seashore and recovered sea cucumbers kept in three plastic containers inside a car, which was parked near the seashore. One Mohammed Naheem (27) was arrested for attempting to smuggle them to Sri Lanka in a clandestine boat. Investigations revealed that he procured the sea cucumbers from the local fishermen. The seized Sea Cucumbers were valued at Rs 20 lakh in the International market. Sea Cucumbers are in great demand in countries like China, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, not only as delicacy but also used for preparing traditional medicines. Poaching and trading of these marine species, listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 was banned in India and several foreign countries. UNI GSM CS 1821 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0275-940794.Xml
The opposition Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI) have decided to meet on June 22 to discuss the Centre's decision on presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind. "We don't want to talk about his (Kovind's) personality but will talk on merit. This is true that he is a hardcore BJP and we were expecting someone neutral. On June 22, we are having a meeting under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and then we will discuss whether to support or oppose this," Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad told ANI. Meanwhile, CPI leader D. Raja said they will decide collectively about their future course of discussion. "We are discussing within our party and with other parties informally. All the parties in the opposition are likely to meet on June 22. We will decide collectively about what should be our future course of discussion," he added. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah had announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President. Kovind before leaving for New Delhi yesterday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support. Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind. Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick. The Prime Minister said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised. However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shev Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank. Joining the critics of NDA's Presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming President polls. "If someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee didn't seem happy with the Kovind's candidature. She said that someone of the stature of President Pranab Mukherjee or even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or BJP veteran L.K. Advani may have been made the candidate. The decision, however, was welcomed by some of the political leaders including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao. Nitish Kumar expressed his happiness that the Bihar Governor would be the NDA's candidate for the President elections. He, however, said a detailed discussion would be held on the matter within the JD (U). Kovind belongs to the Dalit community Koli and had worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and also has the backing of BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS). A lawyer by profession, Kovind had also been BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha chief (1998-2002) and president of the All-India Koli Samaj. The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24. The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28. (ANI)
Tripura-born Roona Begum, who made headlines around the world after her head swelled up to 94 centimetres (circumference) due to hydrocephalus (water on the brain), passed away last night in her home. She was five-and-a-half years old and was supposed to go for another surgery next month. After eight surgeries at Gurgaon-based Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI), which has been treating her free of cost since 2013, the child could communicate in mono syllables with her parents. The doctors assured that she will become a normal kid, but the dream to see their daughter go to school did not materialize for daily wager father Abdul Rahman and homemaker mother Fatima Khatun. "She had little breathing problem but before the child could be shifted to any other hospital for treatment, she was no more," said Khatun. Only a month back they had gone for Roona's last check-up and in the coming month they were supposed to go again hoping for another miracle. Rahman said, "Roona's condition was very bad initially but after five surgeries at Delhi's Fortis hospital there was improvement in her condition. Again, during the second visit more surgeries were conducted and there was further improvement but she could not walk, eat anything on her own or speak but the size of her head reduced. Yesterday, she had her food and I went for my work. At around 8 in the evening her mother called me that Roona has some complication and I rushed back and called her but within few minutes she breathed her last." Nathalie Krantz from Norway along with Jonas Borchgrevink had spearheaded a social campaign via website MyGoodAct to raise fund for Roona in 2013. They collected $62,000 approximately for Roona's treatment. Though not an uncommon disorder, Roona's case has been one of the rarest since children with this disorder die before being treated. (ANI)
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has appreciated the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) decision to choose Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind as the Presidential nominee and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen a patriot who has always wished good for the nation. TRS MP K. Kavitha expressed her happiness over Kovind's selection, while hoping that India would find an extremely wonderful president in him. Kavitha said that after discussing with the party's senior leaders, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao had taken the decision to support the NDA presidential candidate. "We are very happy to know that Ramnath Kovind has been selected as the NDA presidential nominee. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has requested our party leader and Telangana Chief Minister KCR to support the NDA presidential nominee. We hope that India will find an extremely wonderful president in Ramnath Kovind," Kavitha told ANI. Similarly, another TRS leader Jithender Reddy also backed the NDA's decision and said Kovind is a good choice for the country. He said Prime Minister Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah have chosen a really good person, who is sincere and hardworking. "He is a patriot and has always wished good for the country and people. Definitely, he is a good choice for the country. Our Prime Minister had called Telangana Chief Minister KCR and told him that they have fielded a Dalit person to be the President of India. So, immediately Chief Minister KCR extended his party TRS' support to NDA," Reddy told ANI. Hours after being announced as NDA's presidential nominee, Kovind yesterday met Prime Minister Modi in Delhi. Shah had announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President. The Prime Minister said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised. However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with the Congress Party alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shev Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank. (ANI)
A special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court will on Tuesday continue to hear the arguments on the quantum of punishment for convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blast case. Defence lawyer Abdul Wahab Khan had moved application before the court to examine three witnesses for defence of his client Feroz Khan to which the TADA Court agreed. Abdul Wahab Khan had made an application and sought two weeks time to prepare arguments on quantum of sentence. TADA court rejected his plea and said that the matter was urgent and could not be adjourned for this long. However, the CBI lawyer asserted that he would argue for extreme punishment for all convicts Mumbai 1993 blast case "The opposition has filed five applications among those there is one application where he wants to examine the witnesses on mitigating circumstances. They have asked for a report of the probation officer. They have asked for health reports also. The Court has allowed the report of the probation officer. Among the prescribed punishments, I will argue for the maximum punishment," CBI lawyer Deepak Salvi said. TADA court last week convicted underworld don Abu Salem and others in connection with the 1993 blasts case. Addressing media after the court's order, Salve said, "Mustafa Dossa conducted a conspiracy meeting in Dubai which was attended by Dawood Ibrahim and others. They hatched a conspiracy of the Mumbai blast to take revenge of the Babri Masjid demolition." He further added that "the accused used to travel between Dubai and Pakistan for arms and ammunition training where Pakistan had given them green channel entry. Their targets were Indian politicians, high officials and Hindus." 257 people died while 713 others were injured after a series of bomb blasts rocked Mumbai City on March 12, 1993. Salem was convicted under charges of conspiracy and terror activities, but was acquitted of some charges of TADA which he was framed in initially. Accused Riyaz Siddique also convicted under TADA and other charges, but the court believed prosecution failed to prove conspiracy charges against Riyaz. Accused Mustafa Dossa was found guilty of conspiracy, murder and terror activities in the case. Accused Firoz Khan was convicted under charges of conspiracy and murder under sections of IPC, TADA and Explosives Act. Other accused Tahir Merchant, Karimullah Shaikh were also convicted. Accused Abdul Qayyum was acquitted of all charges in the case. Court ordered his release on personal bond. However, all accused were acquitted for the charge of waging war against the nation. (ANI)
London copper traded littlechanged on Tuesday, supported by upbeat sentiment over theglobal economy after confidence at Japanese manufacturersrebounded, but prices were capped by a stronger dollar. FUNDAMENTALS * LME COPPER: London Metal Exchange copper tradedlittle changed at $5,719 a tonne by 0140 GMT, following a 1percent gain in the previous session. Prices have found supportaround $5,645 a tonne and a ceiling around $5,800 a tonne. * SHFE COPPER: Shanghai Futures Exchange copper wasup 0.8 percent at 45,940 yuan ($6,734) a tonne. * JAPAN ECONOMY: Confidence among Japanese manufacturersbounced in June to match a decade-high level recorded in Apriland is expected to rise for several months, a Reuters surveyfound, providing more evidence of economic recovery. * INFRASTRUCTURE: State-owned China Railway Group has signed a $2.5 billion memorandum ofunderstanding with Russia to build a high-speed railway in thecountry, the China Daily reported on Tuesday. * NOBLE: A four-month credit extension for cash-strappedNoble Group Ltd sent the commodity trader's shares upalmost 50 percent on Monday, though traders, analysts andindustry sources warned the reprieve was likely to be onlytemporary. * Japan's copper cable shipments, including sales andexports, in May rose 3 percent from a year earlier to 50,700tonnes on an estimated basis, the Japan Electric Wire and CableMakers' Association said. * For the top stories in metals and other news, click or MARKETS NEWS * Japan's Nikkei rose more than 1 percent to hit anear two-year high on Tuesday following a rebound in U.S.hi-tech shares as investors bet on solid growth in the economyand corporate profits globally. REUTERS RSD 0737 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-941330.Xml
Despite rain the national highway, connecting Kashmir with the rest of the country, and historic Mughal road are through for traffic though heavy vehicles will continue to ply one-way.The national highway, lining Ladakh with Kashmir was also through despite overnight rain.Meanwhile, upgradation work was in full swing on Srinagar-Jammu national highway, including on some tunnels and by passes.Traffic on the Kashmir highway was through and traffic was plying normally despite overnight rain, a traffic police official told UNI. However, only light vehicles are being allowed to ply from both Srinagar and Jammu sides, he said adding restriction on heavy vehicles will continue.Today heavy vehicles are plying from Srinagar to Jammu, he said adding no heavy vehicle will be allowed from opposite direction. He said restriction on heavy vehicles will continue till a green signal is received from Border Roads Organisation (BRO), responsible for the maintaniance of the highway.Meanwhile, officials said that widening and upgradation work on 170 kms on the Highway has been completed at a cost of Rs 5011 crore while work is in full swing on the balance portion of the Highway, including some tunnels and by passes.They said that 67 per cent work on the 68 kms Srinagar-Qazigund stretch has been completed while as work is on to get the proposed Banihal tunnel through at the earliest. The tunnel is expected to be readied by the year end while as the entire stretch would be readied by next year . Similarly, Pampore and Bijbehara by pass projects are almost completed and likely to be thrown open by next month, she was informed. They said that the Jammu-Udhampur stretch of the National Highway has been completed while work is on at the Udhampur-Ramban and Ramban-Banihal stretches with varying degrees of completion. Officials said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to develop a quality wayside facility on the newly constructed highway after every 40 kms and also plantations would be made to make it one of the greenest corridors developed by them in the country.Despite rain, two-way light vehicle traffic was plying on the historic 86-km historic Mughal road, linking Shopian in south Kashmir with Rajouri and Poonch in Jammu, a traffic official said. However, he said heavy vehicle will ply from Rajouri and Poonch today only.The 434-km-long Srinagar-Leh national highway was also through for traffic with some restrictions. Kashmir-bound traffic is being allowed since early morning, while traffic from here to Leh in the afternoon as one-way traffic continued on Zojila pass, traffic police official said. He said this measure has been taken to avoid any accident and traffic jam on Zojila pass. UNI BAS RJ 1032 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-941394.Xml
The sleuths of Narcotics Control Bureau, Kolkata, in a joint operation with SSB, have seized some 10 kilos of Charas ( cannabis), worth Rs 1.1 crore, as thecontraband was bound for Hong Kong after being smuggled in from Nepal, police said today. A smuggler, identified as Javed Akhtrar (23), a resident of Budge Budge of South 24 Parganas, was arrested during the joint operation near Panitanki, Indo-Nepal border on Monday evening. Police said Jawed had collected the consignment of Charas from Kathmandu, Nepal and was supposed to deliver the same to one of his associates in Kolkata before smuggled out to Hong Kong. The seized Charas was concealed in the false bottom of trolley suitcase. "He has trafficked Charas a number of times through this modus operandi," the officials interrogating the smuggler, said. The price of seized drugs in illegal international market was around Rs 1.1 crore, NCB zonal director Dilip Kumar Srivastava said. Charas is the name given to a hashish form of cannabis which is handmade in India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Jamaica. It is made from the resin of the cannabis plant (Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica).UNI XC-PC BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-941500.Xml
The City of Nawabs is set to create a record of sorts, when over 50,000 participants would do Yoga, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries, on the occasion of the third International Yoga Day here, at the Ram Bai Ambedkar ground tomorrow. With possibility of rains in the next 24 hours in this capital city and its nearby areas, the district authorities and the Union AYUSH ministry are ready with plan-B, in case of downpour during the programme. This would be the third international yoga day function, after being organised in Delhi and Chandigarh. The inaugural event at Rajpath in Delhi in 2015 established two Guinness world records awarded to the Ministry of Ayush, which organises this event. The two records were for the largest yoga class, featuring 35,985 people and for the largest number of participating nationalities of 84 nations. During the second International Yoga Day at Chandigarh, around 30,000 participants had attended the event, along with the Prime Minister. Eleven parks in the state capital would also hold the Yoga programme tomorrow, simultaneously. "We are taking no chances and prepared for any eventuality, even if there is rain during the programmee," Lucknow District Magistrate Kaushal Raj Sharma said here today. The DM said, during the full dress rehearsal yesterday, the officials had observed some lapses like traffic management and other things, which will be taken care during the main event tomorrow. Except for making a water proof pandal for the VVIPs , the authorities were helpless in making the same arrangements for the 55,000 people, who are slated to do Yoga along with the PM, UP Governor Ram Naik, Mr Adityanath and Yoga Guru Baba Ramdev.The arrival of monsoon has been delayed in UP by a week and weather office has predicted that by this week it will active in the state. The website of the IMD too has predicted that rains are expected in next 24 hours in Lucknow.During the last International Yoga Day function in the state capital on June 21, 2016, which was attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh at the KD Singh Babu Stadium, the Yoga programme was disrupted due to heavy rains. But this time, Mr Singh would not be present as he has a fractured leg and would be in New Delhi.Meanwhile, the officials said the largest contingent for participants in the International Yoga day function at Rama Bai Ambedkar ground would be of 14,500 activists of Patanjali, followed by 10,600 of NCC-NSS volunteers, 8000 schools and college students, 5200 of Gayatri parivar, 4000 of Art of Living, 800 of Brahma Kumaris, 2500 of Defence and Central forces, 200 differently-abled and 80 foreign delegates.There would be dress code of white T-shirt with logo of 'Yoga for Harmony and Peace,' besides the area would have 50 big LED screens, 25 toilets, 19 water dispensing units and 3 medical booth.UNI MB RJ 1230 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-941415.Xml
Taking on chance, Lucknow police have started detaining student leaders of the Samajwadi Chatra Sabha and other student organisations apprehending protest by them during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lucknow for two days from this evening. Lucknow police have raided at the residence and other places of 27 student leaders today and had detained Samajwadi Chatra Sabha state president Digvijay Singh Deo and vice-president Monu Dubey. Though several of the students leaders were found absconding from their houses, their authorities are searching them everywhere. Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Kumar said it was a normal drill by the police to detain some identified elements who can create problem during the VVIP visit. "We are taking no chance and security would be maintained at any cost during the Prime Minister's stay in Lucknow," he said. Lucknow police had gone hyper against the opposition student leaders after they showed black flags to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in front of the Lucknow University on June 14 and they even blocked the convey of the Chief Minister for about 10 minutes. Later, 11 of the student leaders, including two girls, were arrested by the police under severe sections and presently they are lodged in the jail.UNI MB SW 1325 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-941565.Xml
Keeping in view the grim situation in thehills of Darjeeling following the indefinite shutdown by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) demanding statehood, hoteliers in Sikkim have been urged to provide free food and lodging until the stranded tourists were safely evacuated. The Sikkim government in association with its West Bengal counterpart arranged to ply its vehicles trough NH 10 with police escort from today. " It has been decided that there will be a police convoy accompanyingvehicles everyday starting from Rangpo, gateway to Sikkim, at 8 AM and 11 PM from Rangpo, and at 2 PM and 5 PM from SNT bus terminusat Siliguri, " according to a statement issued after a high level meeting held in Gangtok yesterday. " Tourists and local travellers alike can ask for a drop to Rangpowithin Sikkim and board any bus put in service by the Sikkim Government, besides those buses procured from pharmaceutical companies, NHPC,and other corporates, " the statement said. This was decided after a Sikkim-bound truck laden with essentialswas torched along with its driver near Kalijhora on Sevok Road. The driver was in a critical state battling for life after the suspectedGorkha supporters torched the vehicle while driver was inside. Superintendent of Police, East district, Sikkim, has requested hisKalimpong district SP to arrange police pickets at sensitive places like Kirney, Chitray, Lohapul, Kalijhora and other places for safe movement of Sikkim vehicles. NH 10 is the lifeline of landlocked Sikkim, connecting the nearest railhead Siliguri in North Bengal. Sikkim Hotels and Restaurants Association also requested the hoteliersand lodges to provide free accommodation and food to the stranded tourists in this emergency situation. " Hotels not helping tourists will be penalized and strict action would be taken by Sadar Police, " it added. The meeting was convened by Additional Director General of Police,Sikkim, Akshay Sachdeva, in which District Collector P Prabhakar Rao,SP East Tenzing Loden Lepcha among others were present. Officials from Department of Tourism, Department of Transport , DSPtraffic Ongmu Bhutia, O C Sadar Bijay Subba and representatives of TAAS, Luxury Taxi Vehicles Association, SHRA and representatives from the media attended the meeting.UNI XC-PC SJC -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-941612.Xml
Additional police personnel were deployed atRaghopur East village under Jurawpur police station area in Vaishalidistrict today in the wake of tension gripping the village followingmurder of a person and his grandson in a shoot-out. Police personnel from Raghopur, Jurawanpur and Rustampur policestations had been deployed at the village in Raghopur riverine belt ofGanga river following tension gripping the village due to the double murder. Police are conducting raids at the hideouts of the accused of thedouble murder case. Police said that one Munshi Rai and his brother Jitendra Rai openedfire at Bhagwat Rai and his grand son Mithilesh Rai yesterday whenthey were digging soil from a land plot, which was also claimed byMunshi Rai. While Bhagwat Rai and his grand son had died on the spot,his son Anil also sustained injuries in the shoot-out. The critically injured person has been admitted to Patna MedicalCollege and Hospital in serious condition, police added.UNI XC DH KK -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0212-941630.Xml
IT services provider HCL Technologies (HCL) today announced its Next Generation Research Platform (NGRP), a pre-competitive drug-discovery ecosystem built with open standards. The platform will provide research scientists with a collaborative ecosystem, greater computational resources, and the ability to mine research data to make more informed scientific decisions, while improving productivity by automating and eliminating manual administrative tasks, the company said in a statement."HCL is in a unique position to realise the vision to create a precompetitive platform for research IT. We serve seven of the 10 largest pharma companies today and have first-hand knowledge of the challenges in these research IT environments," said Abhishek Shankar, Vice President Life Sciences, HCL Technologies. "HCL's cloud-based NGRP is tailored to alleviate research pain points and enable additional focus on industry's science-driven core capability of drug discovery," he added.HCL introduced NGRP for broader market consumption in Boston at the 2017 BIO-IT World conference.UNI ASH SW 1438 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-941681.Xml
A civilian was injured in a firing incident in south Kashmir district of Pulwama, official sources said. However, conflicting reports emerged about the firing incident as locals alleged that it was unprovoked firing by security forces, while officials said the civilian was injured in an encounter between security forces and militants at village Drabjam in Pulwama last night.Sources said one Mohammad Altaf Zargar was injured when security forces opened fire at a vehicle at Firdousabad Drabjam last night. The injured has been hospitalised.However, officials said that the militants attacked a security force party. The fire was retaliated and in the exchange of fire, the civilian was injured. Locals alleged that there was no militant firing or stone pelting in the area when security forces opened fire.However, locals alleged that government forces fired without any provocation. UNI BAS RJ 1405 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-941558.Xml
According to police, accused Sai Kunkaikar, who was absconding after the incident on June 14 last, surrendered before Old Goa Police yesterday.

Other three accused arrested in the case were Vishal Golatkar, Lawrence Dias and Suraj Shetye.

The four accused had allegedly attacked a group of 47 tourists, who had come to Goa from Vasai in Mumbai after a petty quarrel.

An FIR was registered against four accused persons under various Sections of the IPC, including 307 (attempt to murder).

Following the incident, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked Goa police to crack down on anti-social elements and repeat offenders in the state within seven days.UNI AKM NV RJ 1406

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-941580.Xml
In a memorandum submitted to Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar yesterday, IMA Goa State unit President Medha Salkar said,'' We at IMA Goa state are deeply hurt at the continued violence and assault on doctors on duty.''

She said in an recent incidence at Community Health Centre (CHC) Sanquelim, one Dr Atul Pai Bir was assaulted and threatened by mob on June 17. On the same day, at night, one person came and told patient attendant Ashpak Ali,"We should not see this doctor back at PHC Sankhali on Monday. If he comes we will assault him."

Same person came next morning again and said if Dr Atul Pai Bir was seen on Monday in hospital premises, he would be assaulted, Mr Ali said.

Ali immediately reported to staff nurse on duty who in turn informed Dr Bir.

Police should book the culprits under Goa Medicare Act of 2013, he said and urged the Chief Minister to form a redressal committee under Section 7(1) of Goa Medicare Act 2013.UNI AKM NV SV RJ 1404

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-941581.Xml
Addressing his supporters here he said he would submit hisresignation letter to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC)President G. Parameshwar within a week.

He however clarified that he had not taken any decision yet toalign with other political parties.

Mr. Vishwanath, who launched a broadside against Chief MinisterSiddaramaiah during an address before announcing his resignation,said the Congress party with which he was associated for 40 years,will remain his 'mother' till his death. ''I am resigning from Siddaramaiah's Congress,'' said Mr.Vishwanath, also a Kuruba like Mr. Siddaramaiah, before publiclyexpressing regret for allowing him to enter the Congress party morethan a decade ago.

Regretting that at present situation in the Congress was verycritical with senior leaders of the party who have been serving theparty for many decades being neglected and sidelined. There are manyleaders inside the Congress also unhappy with the government andparty working style, however. they could not express their views,he claimed.UNI BSP CNR GM CS 1453

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0287-941734.Xml
Diplomacy will be at its peak tonight when Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath hosts a dinner in the honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where Opposition leaders will also be present, sources said here. Mr Modi and Opposition leaders are expected to have talks over the upcoming Presidential election after the National Democratic Alliance announced the candidature of Ram Nath Kovind, ex-Bihar Governor and a Dalit face from UP, for the post.Former chief ministers of the state, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, his son Akhilesh and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati are among the invitees for the high-profile dinner. The sources said 58 dignitaries have been invited for the dinner to be hosted by the Chief Minister. Leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, state ministers and Bharatiya Janata Party also figure among the guests.UNI MB AKC AE RP1548 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0432-941743.Xml
An undertrial who was being brought to the Thane District Central Jail escaped from the custody of the police escort team last night, the city police said. Police said Devendra Bably Mali (24) a resident of Nalla Sopara was arrested by the police on thecharges of offences under sections 398,458 of the IPC and also sections 4 and 25 of the Indian Arms Act and sections 37(1),135 of the BP Act. He was remanded into judicial custody and after a medical check-up he was being brought to the Thane Central Jail in a MSRTC bus from Vasai. Around 2100 hrs yesterday, Devendra asked to answer the nature's call, so he was taken out by the police. As he was brought out he gave a jerk and relieved himself form the custody of thepolice and ran away into the bushes in the pitched darkness. He was being brought to Thane by the MSRTC bus as the police van of the local police station was not available at the relevant time, it was stated.UNI XR NV SW 1516 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-941718.Xml
Along with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Jaitley on Wednesday would co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology, a government statement said.

The newly-formed committee would discuss cooperation in high technologies during the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk, it added.

Jaitley would also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On Friday, he would co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Sergei Shoigu.

"The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the statement said.

--IANS vv/vd

( 173 Words)

2017-06-20-16:28:11 (IANS)
According to police, accused Sai Kunkaikar, who was absconding after the incident on June 14, had surrendered before Old Goa Police yesterday.

Other three accused arrested in the case were Vishal Golatkar, Lawrence Dias and Suraj Shetye. They were already in police custody. The four accused had allegedly attacked a group of 47 tourists who had come to Goa from Vasai in Mumbai after a petty quarrel.

An FIR was registered against the accused under various Sections of the IPC, including 307 (attempt to murder).

Following the incident, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar had asked Goa police to crack down on anti-social elements and repeat offenders in the state within seven days.UNI AKM NV AE 1712

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Days after Goa topped Trip Advisor's list of best ten holiday destinations preferred by Indian tourists this summer, the monsoons have heralded in another recognition of Goa as the most popular choice for a monsoon getaway for Indian travelers in 2017. This comes from a survey conducted by online accommodation booking website Hotels.com. While the survey says that Goa is the most popular destination this monsoon, four of its towns namely Candolim, Calangute, Arpora and Baga, all of which are in North Goa, have made it to the top ten most popular towns. The village of Arpora registered a massive 91 per cent increase in hotel searches in comparison to 2016. The survey was conducted by analyzing the data on hotel searches made by users for stays during the period of June to September 2017, which became the foundation to develop the India 'Monsoon Travel Hotlist' for this year. Mumbai was spotted second in the list with a 49 per cent increase in searches as compared to 2016, followed by Delhi at 50 per cent increase in searches. Other places mentioned in the list include Udaipur, Bengaluru and Jaipur. Goa Minister for Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar said Indian travelers have found favour with Goa's seasons which is a big boon for the state. After choosing Goa as their summer vacation destination, Goa is now the most preferred choice for both domestic and international tourists during the monsoons. It is the state's pleasant atmosphere, scenic locales, picturesque backdrop and abundant greenery that attracts tourists from all over the world. Goa Tourism is doing a fabulous job with the conduct of adventure activities like white water rafting at Mhadei Rivers and Sunday eco-treks which give tourists a perfect feel of the monsoons, its hinterlands and nature. It is a privilege for Goa to receive another badge of recognition as the most popular choice for a monsoon travel destination. Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) Chairman Nilesh Cabral said Goa has a special appeal during the monsoons and it is proven that the natural beauty of the state along with added attractions has a magnetic effect on tourists. The weather is no barrier for travelers and the monsoon showers add a lot more gusto for young and adventurous tourists to experience the splendor of the state between June to September. Years off marketing and promotions of Monsoon tourism is pouring out dividends for Goa Tourism. "I am convinced that the monsoon season in Goa is no more an off-season and the four months from June to September will reap benefits for all tourism stakeholders as well."UNI AKM NV SW 1733 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-942010.Xml
A 35-year-old woman abducted from here in Haryana and dumped in Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh after her alleged gang rape in a moving car said on Tuesday she was asked to get into the vehicle by a man known to her brother-in-law. The woman was abducted from near her house in Sohna in Gurugram district around 8.30 p.m. on Monday by three men in a Swift car, police in Noida earlier said. The police quoted the victim as saying that the men raped her in the car through the night and then threw her out near Yatharth building in Kasna in Greater Noida. Locals saw her lying along a road and alerted the police on Tuesday morning. A team of Uttar Pradesh Police headed by a Deputy Superintendent of Police visited Gurugram on Tuesday to investigate the crime. At the Sector 29 police station, the woman registered her statement in the presence of legal advisers of Uttar Pradesh Police and Haryana Police, Deputy Commissioner of Police Deepak Saharan told IANS. Police said the woman, hailing from Bharatpur in Rajasthan, was living in Sohna town here with her relatives in a rented accommodation. She said she came to the Mehrauli-Gurugram Road on Monday evening in an auto-rickshaw, whose driver was known to her brother-in-law. The auto-rickshaw driver told the woman that she may have a joyride in a car, saying its three occupants were known to him. Police said the woman boarded the car at the IFFCO Chowk. "They started molesting me after half an hour, forced me to consume alcohol and sexually assaulted me in the moving car. I was dumped in Greater Noida on Tuesday morning," she said in her statement. An earlier version said the woman had been abducted by the car's occupants in Gurugram. In Noida, Senior Superintendent of Police Luv Kumar said earlier that although she sustained some abrasions on her body, they were awaiting a final medical examination. He told IANS: "We're examining CCTV footage to identify the three suspects." The woman told the police that she originally hailed from Rajasthan's Bharatpur. Informed sources said the woman was living separately from her husband and was working part time in a Gurgaon bar. --IANS pradeep-sp/mr/tsb ( 384 Words) 2017-06-20-18:30:30 (IANS)
Narcotics Control Bureau Kolkata along with SSB has seized 10 kg of charas worth Rs 1.1 crore and arrested one smuggler."A joint operation was conducted last evening at 1700 hrs by 41th Bn SSB, Ranidanga with NCB Kolkata and apprehended one smuggler," a SSB statement said here today."Acting on a tip-off, a trap was laid at the SSB check post, Panitanki. One person was intercepted for checking and frisking and 10 kg charas worth Rs 1.1 crore was recovered. He revealed that he brought the drugs from Kathmandu (Nepal)," it said.The apprehended smuggler along with seized charas was handed over to NCB Kolkata. UNI PY AE 1817 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-942172.Xml
On the occasion of 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and India, the largest yoga event will take place at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, tomorrow.In continuance of the 25 years of growing partnership celebration, yoga activities will take place in cities across Israel with a special event in the Yoga Capital of Israel Tel Aviv from 1800 hrs until 2300 hrs, an Israeli Embassy spokesperson said.Led by a renowned yoga teacher from the Art of Living stream of Yoga, Dr Rohit Sabharwal, thousands of individuals will participate in the event. On this 3rd international Yoga Day, 1500 yoga mats will puzzle together the city's dreams into one artwork, which will be revealed at 1600 hrs. The artwork visualises the future of Israel 30 years from now with an emphasis on the environment, culture & co-existence. At 2000 hrs, an official ceremony will be held, including a message of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and will end with Indian cultural performance of dance and music. UNI SHS AE 1807 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-942134.Xml
The Punjab Government today announced to establish the first Skill Development University of North India at Chamkaur Sahib. Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had earlier accorded his approval to set up World Class Skill Development University at Chamkaur Sahib and the announcement regarding the same was made during budget speech by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal in the Assembly. Disclosing this, Technical Education Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said that the establishment of skill Development University would prove to be a milestone in the development of Chamkaur Sahib. Mr. Channi informed that this would be the first skill development university in the North India. The Technical Education Minister said that as of now there are only two skill development universities in the country, but Punjab Skill Development University would be better than both the universities in the terms of hi-tech infrastructure and quality education. He said that this University would be set up on 100 acres of land and Rs. 100 crore would be spent in the first phase. He further said that 10th to PhD degree courses focussing on skill development would be run in the university. Mr Channi further said that the university's academic infrastructure would be created keeping in mind the national and international employment opportunities with 100 percent placement. 'The establishment of University would also create direct and indirect employment opportunities for the people of Chamkaur Sahib area', he added. Mr Channi also divulged that in another major decision, the Punjab Government has decided to restart the work of construction of 'theme park' in the memory of elder Sahibzada's Baba Ajit Singh Ji and Baba Jujhar Singh Ji and the other soldiers who were martyred during the war of Chamkaur. He said that this project was ignored by the previous Government for 10 years due to petty political reasons but would see the light of the day soon.UNI JS RSA 1830 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-942142.Xml
Nagaland Governor P B Acharya has appealed to the people of Nagaland to participate in the International Yoga Day to be celebrate all over the world tomorrow. According to a statement issued by the PRO of Raj Bhavan of Kohima, Mr Acharya said "on the special occasion of International Yoga Day, I appeal to all my beloved people of Nagaland to participate in this great movement initiated by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.I hope that this will continue to promote a healthy mind and body. Yoga is one of the most invaluable gifts of the ancient Indian tradition. It originated in India nearly 15000 years ago, which was universally accepted as one of the most ideal practices of mankind. Yoga embodies unity of mind and body and promotes harmony amongst the people and nature. It encourages more holistic approach towards good health and happiness. Yoga provides physical and mental well being of the people.For sound health and mind, we need to incorporate Yoga as part of our daily life. Let us participate in the celebration of the Day and start a healthier lifestyle," it said. UNI AS RN 1957 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-942505.Xml
The social media in Sikkim has been abuzz with vociferous condemnation of the killing of innocent protestors demanding Gorkhaland in the Darjeeling hills, along with strong protests against the Mamata Banerjee administration for her highhandedness in handling the situation. Member of legislative assembly from the sangha seat Mr Sonam lama has condemned the killing of innocent people and promised to take it up with union minister of state for home, Kiren Rijiju who is arriving in Sikkim tomorrow. Spokesperson of the ruling Sikkim democratic front Mr Bhim dahal has said if birds can build nests why can the Gorkha people not have a state of their own. Sikkim is the only state in India which had passed an assembly resolution in support of Gorkhaland and has as its chief minister Mr Pawan Chamling who has served for 25 years and is a much respected Gorkha leader in India.A candle light silent rally is being organised today evening for the support of the Gorkhaland demand in Gangtok and as a mark of respect for the martyrs who died in police firing. The civil society is organising the peaceful rally.UNI XC RN 2002 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0311-942517.Xml
Taking women safety and security on a priority basis, the Delhi government today gave its approval for installation of CCTV cameras in 6,350 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses from the Nirbhaya Fund. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The cabinet approved the Transport Department's proposal to authorise the DTC to call tenders and sign the agreement for installation of CCTV cameras in 6,350 DTC and cluster buses, utilising the Nirbhaya Fund, to be provided by the Central government with an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore.Under it, the DTC will appoint the Bid Process Manager through open tender enquiry.The decision was taken to instill a sense of security in the minds of women commuters and to ensure their safe travel in public service buses.Following the horrific gangrape and murder of Nirbhaya on December 16, 2012 in a moving bus, the issue of women safety in the national capital has been a major concern.In his first budget speech as finance minister for the financial year 2015-16, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had proposed installation of CCTV cameras in all DTC and cluster buses in the national capital.This was followed by the Delhi government's direction to the DTC for the installation of CCTV cameras in 200 buses on a pilot basis,which were installed in buses of Sarojini Nagar and Rajghat bus depots. Each of these buses have three CCTV cameras each and 15-day data is maintained.The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recommended detailed specifications for CCTV cameras under the project "National Level Vehicle Security and Tracking System". The specification of the proposed CCTV cameras would be either equivalent or higher to these specifications.Three IP CCTV cameras will be installed in each bus. The installation and maintenance will be for five years.UNI SHS ADG 1951 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-942407.Xml
Power and Irrigation Minister Rana Gurjeet Singh extended gratitude towardsPunjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal for making special provisions for Power and Irrigation sectors in the annual budget for 2017- 18, which was presented today in Punjab Assembly. He hailed the Punjab Annual Budget 2017-18 as progressive and people-friendly. In a statement issued here, Rana Gurjeet Singh said that the budgetary allocation of Rs. 3156.69 crore has been earmarked in the Punjab Annual Budget for Power sector. He said Punjab is a Power surplus state serving more than 89 lakh consumers, with installed capacity of 13,960 MW and energy consumption of 41,329 MUs per year and this welcome step would go a long way in strengthening the power generation, transmission and distribution network in the state to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the people of the state. He also thanked Chief Minister for announcing a freeze on power tariff for new and existing industries at Rs 5 per unit besides continuing the free power to farmers. Rana Gurjeet Singh also thanked Chief Minister and Finance Minister for the stress laid on the rejuvenation and revamping of canal network in the state. He said that with the completion of composite project of Rs 4,128.43 crore for Extension, Renovation & Modernisation of canal system in the State which has been submitted to CWC & JICA for approval and release of funds, majority of irrigation needs of the state would met.UNI JS AE 1917 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-942357.Xml
Amidst a burgeoning political crisis in Darjeeling, a major demonstration was held in Bengaluru city on Tuesday in support of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's (GJM) demand for Gorkhaland. Speaking to ANI, a protestor Rahul said, "This protest is all about identity, the people are in trouble. We wish to protest all over India and hope that our demand is provided. We stand here as a family and demand for Gorkhaland". Another protestor, Ramesh Rai accused West Bengal Mamata Banerjee of hurting their brother and sisters in Darjeeling. "We want justice and we demand Gorkhaland. It is our birth right and we should have it! Gorkhaland is a long pending demand and we just wish that this demand is fulfilled. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is hurting our brother and sisters there so we want peace and that can only come if we get our land- 'Gorkhaland'," Rai told ANI. Even as the indefinite strike called by GJM entered into its eighth day, Mamata Banerjee yesterday left for her Netherlands visit. Mamata, who left to address a United Nations meet, said her ministers were monitoring the situation in violence-hit Darjeeling. "Violent protests won't be tolerated. My ministers are monitoring the situation," she told ANI at Kolkata airport. Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said he has spoken to Mamata over the law and order situation in Darjeeling. Thirty-six policemen were injured on Saturday in clashes with the GJM supporters. The GJM announced an indefinite strike encompassing Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts and the Dooars protesting against Mamata Banerjee's decision to make Bengali language compulsory in state-run schools. The strike was called even after the Chief Minister assured that the new rule would not be imposed in the hill districts. The protestors are also asking for a separate Gorkhaland, a long pending demand of the people of the hills. Earlier in the day, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) chief Bimal Gurung claimed that the West Bengal Police are illegally entering their supporters' houses and torturing them and also accused them of killing two of his supporters. He said that GJM would further strengthen their agitation. Mamata Banerjee tore into the GJM supporters and said that they aren't listening to the court, even after it had passed an order citing the bandh was "illegal." Rajnath Singh reviewed the security situation in West Bengal's Darjeeling by sending more troops to help restore normalcy as the state government has not yet submitted its report on the situation. (ANI)
In its petition, the Congress has sought relief to restrainMr Rane from contesting ensuing bypoll in the state.

Mr Rane had resigned as an MLA and later joined BJP andbecame minister in the coalition government headed by ChiefMinister Manohar Parrikar.

When the case came up for hearing, the division bench,comprising Justices F M Reis and Prithviraj K Chavan, passed theorder admitting the disqualification petition, stating that primafacie there was merit in the prayers.

The court gave four weeks time to Goa Legislative SpeakerPramod Sawant and then pro-tem Speaker Siddharth Kuncalienkar toreply on the matter.

On May 19, the court had issued notices to the pro-temSpeaker and Speaker but they had failed to reply.

Mr Rane's objection that as per the Constitution, thepetitioner should have first approached the Speaker of theLegislative Assembly with the disqualification plea rather thanpleading before the high court was dismissed.

The Congress had approached high court with adisqualification petition praying that Mr Rane should bedisqualified for contesting assembly elections for next five years.UNI AKM SS RSA 2135

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Lashing out at Akali leader Sukhbir Singh Badal for playing petty politics over the budget through his false and misleading statements, Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar today said the former deputy chief minister was talking out of his hat without bothering to understand the budgetary provisions. Trashing Sukhbir's criticism of the budget as a desperate bid to cover up his own government's failures and misdeeds of the past 10 years, Jakhar said the former deputy chief minister's statements on farm debt waiver and other announcements made in the budget were totally unsubstantiated. The Captain Amarinder Singh government had categorically announced its decision to waive off loans up to Rs. 2 lakh of small and marginal farmers with up to 5 acres of land, and would be underwriting their loans. The Rs. 1500 crore allocation made for this purpose in the budget was merely the first instalment of the loans that the government would be paying off towards their bank settlement, Jakhar said, adding that it was surprising that Sukhbir could not work out this simple mathematics despite having led the government for 10 years. The extent of Sukhbir's ignorance shows how removed he and his colleagues in the erstwhile SAD-BJP regime were from matters of governance, having been busy all these years in looting the state and emptying its coffers to fill their own pockets, said the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president. Despite the empty coffers inherited by the Congress government from the previous regime, the Captain Amarinder government had shown visionary focus in coming out with a holistic budget addressing the concerns and needs of every section of the society, said Jakhar, adding that this was obvious unpalatable to Sukhbir, who was simply looking for ways to discredit the Congress government by hook or by crook. Budget is a serious exercise and not to be taken frivolously, which Sukhbir is doing by making unfounded claims on its provisions, said Jakhar, adding that this showed that the SAD-BJP government did not take any of its budgetary commitments seriously all these years and hence believe the same to be the case for every government. "Does Sukhbir think that every political leader and party is as corrupt and dishonest like he and his Akali Dal?" asked Jakhar, adding that Sukhbir was trying to make a mockery of a serious matter related to governance.MORE UNI JS RSA 2111 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-942482.Xml
This was conveyed by the company's CEO Arvind Tiku to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh at a meeting here today.

Tiku was accompanied by Experion CEO Rakesh Kaul, as well as Consultant Sanjiv Tyagi, an official spokesperson said after the meeting.

The Rs. 1000 crore company has around 100 acres of land close to National Highway 1 in Amritsar, where they plan to develop a residential project to provide affordable housing for the poor and accommodation for students. They have also proposed a senior living complex to cater to the large community of NRIs from Punjab.

Going forward, the company wants to expand into similar projects in other university towns such as Patiala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, said the spokesperson.

The company is also interested in setting up a need-based skill development centre in the state to address the growing demand for skilled workers, which is a key focus area of the Captain Amarinder government, according to the spokesperson. The proposed centre will be designed to accommodate 10,000 people, thus giving a major fillip to the state's skill development programme.UNI JS RSA 2205

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After the Income Tax department released a list of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's relatives' seized Benami properties, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday asserted tha the Centre was not being biased as it has proof. Speaking to reporters here, Prasad said, "Just one question to Lalu - be it Patna's property, Delhi's house or Sainik Farm, confirm it to us that these properties do not belong to him. And if all this belongs to his family then he should open up and say the sources that he is receiving it from". Prasad further stated that the government is not being biased, as the Centre has proof. "The government is not being biased in this issue as we have proof. If the property has been achieved through illegal means then Lalu should tell us rather than remaining silent," Prasad added. Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashvi Yadav rejected any wrongdoing by his family and stressed that rumours being spread are part of a political conspiracy and vendetta. "First it was reported that Misa Bharti was fined Rs 10,000 as penalty by the IT department. Then it was reported that Bharti was again penalised Rs. 20,000. I fail to understand what type of news is being reported in the media. If any news channel or newspaper has some proof, then they must show the said notices, or else those organisations should tender apology who had reported 'false' news," said Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister. Lalu's son further said they were ready to explain their side to the appropriate authority, but wanted to know who the real authority is. Earlier in the day, the Income Tax department attached a total of 12 plots of Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav and ex chief minister Rabri Devi, and sisters Ragini and Chanda Yadav. One farmhouse in Delhi and one bungalow in New Friends Colony are also attached. The market value of the total attached property is worth Rs. 175 crore, whereas the book value of the attached property is Rs. 9.32 crore. The I-T department had earlier seized Benami properties of Misa Bharti, Shailesh Kumar and Tejaswi Yadav. Two summons to Misa were also issued, but after she failed to appear, the I-T department proceeded to seize the properties which were raided in May. On June 13, the I-T Department summoned Shailesh Kumar, in connection with the benami assets and tax evasion case registered against him. On June 7, the I-T department slapped a fine of Rs. 10,000 against Shailesh on account of not appearing for interrogation. Earlier, Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh were summoned by the I-T department in connection with a 'benami' assets case. The summons were issued days after the arrest of Bharti's Chartered Accountant (CA) Rakesh Agrawal, in connection with an Enforcement Directorate probe into a Rs. 8,000 crore money laundering racket, involving two Delhi-based businessmen and a few political entities. Agrawal was arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly being instrumental in providing accommodation entries (illegal funds) to launder the money of businessmen brothers - Virendra Jain and Surendra Jain. The I-T department in its summons reportedly said it wishes to question Misa and her husband on transactions conducted by M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited. The I-T department had conducted raids and surveys at about 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas in connection with alleged benami deals of Rs 1,000 crore by Lalu's family. (ANI)
Former Calcutta High Court Judge C S Karnan was arrested this evening at Malumachhampatti village, outskirts of the city by a team of police officials from West Bengal.Police sources said team of three police officials has come from West Bengal to arrest Justice Karnan. With the help of local police technical support, West Bengal police arrested him.He will be taken to Kolkata in the next flight to be produced before court , sources added.UNI KS RSA 2214 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0104-942678.Xml
Managing Director of Kotak Mahendra Asset Management Co Ltd Nilesh Shah today said India has emerged as the fastest growing major economy in the world as per the Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) and International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said the Central Government has forecasted that the Indian economy will grow by 7.1 per cent in FY 2016-17. As per the Economic Survey 2016-17, the Indian economy should grow between 6.75 and 7.5 per cent in FY 2017-18. The improvement in India's economic fundamentals has accelerated in the year. Indian Stock market is now growing up like a phenomenon to the financial establishments and showing up a new trend to the global capital market. Mr Shah said to reconstruct the Indian Financial scenario initiatives such as Make in India, Invest India, Start up India and e-biz Mission Mode Project under the National e-governance Plan are expected to further improve the ease of doing business and provide a boost to manufacturing in the country. He also mentioned, "As per NITI Ayog's directional framework, the government plans to focus on 5 major areas of infrastructure in order to augment overall infrastructure, attract investments and facilitate overall growth. Railways, Roads, Sagarmala project (for ports and coastal development), Inland waterways and Housing for All by 2022." The Indian Stock market is undoubtedly depicting the new face of economic uplift for the corporate world. The entire new facet of Indian economic system has lessened the impact of the economic crisis to a greater extent. Stressing much on the emerging Sino-Trade trends of the two powerhouses of the world India and China, Calcutta Chamber of Commerce (CCC) president Dinesh Jain in a Talk Session on the agenda of 'Re-Architecting India: Where Will It Lead Sensex To?' held in the city today said the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce is the vanguard of development in trade and commerce serving since 186 years. We at the CCC believe discussions and dialogues lead to enhancement and resolution of self and the country. He said to reconstruct the Indian Financial scenario initiatives such as Make in India, Invest India, Start up India and e-biz Mission Mode Project under the National e-governance Plan are expected to further improve the ease of doing business and provide a boost to manufacturing in the country. Other steps taken by the government in recent times include - Smart City, Urban development, Digital India initiative, Financial and communications inclusivity, Revitalizing public sector banks. These have shown positive results. The Indian financial scenario is not re-building, but is in making towards something newer, way bigger and better, Mr Jain added. Also present at the session were State's top business leaders, leaders of civil society and senior members of the diplomatic core whose presence added special meaning to this occasion.UNI BM -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0214-942676.Xml
The accused were identified as Prashant Ramkrishna Karande (40) and his wife Ragini (34), residents of Manish Nagar.

Cops also booked two other persons in the case, identified as Yusuf Khan and Priyanka Vaidya.

According to police, the accused in connivance with each other forged an agreement with a Singapore-based company for recruitment and lured several candidates. The accused sent emails through G9 Consultant Pvt Ltd and won confidence of candidates.The accused took Rs 3 lakh each from 43 candidates for job in Singapore.

However, neither the candidates were offered jobs northeir money returned.

The Bajaj Nagar police have registered a case under sections 420, 468, 471, 34 of Indian Penal Code read withsub-sections 66(c), 66(d) of the IT Act and arrested them recently, sources added. UNI PK SS RSA 2253

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-942560.Xml
Accompanied by State Secretary BJP Punjab Vineet Joshi, Dharampal who moved with the support of at least two persons, narrated as to how Police Inspector Jai Inder Singh Randhawa posted as SHO Civil Lines Patiala mercilessly tortured him and broke his spine.

Explaining the issue to the SC Commission, Joshi told that abusing his power, the inspector tried to extract money on the pretext of nonpayment of land lease amount for the year 2010-11, which according to Dharmpal already been paid to the inspector's mother.

The aggrieved party submitted a complaint to IG Patiala who in turn marked inquiry to SP City Kesar Singh, who instead of taking action asked the complainant to pardon the inspector taking into consideration his young age, alleged Joshi.

SP City asked DSP traffic to inquire and when DSP traffic summoned complainant, his son pleading hospitalization requested him to record his father's statement in the hospital, for which DSP refused, added Joshi. Regional Director Raj Kumar assured the complainant of immediate justice. UNI JS RSA 2255

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-942502.Xml
Condemning the attack on trucks carrying rations for Amarnath pilgrims from Bathinda, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh today directed government officials to coordinate with their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir to ensure security of all such cavalcades going from Punjab. Captain Singh also urged the Jammu & Kashmir government to ensure total security along the entire pilgrimage route. More than 100 organisations from Punjab have been organising free langars for the yatra pilgrims for years and their security and safety is a matter of concern, said Captain Singh, following reports of stoning of the Bathinda trucks, causing damage to the vehicles and injuries to the driver as well as a manager of the `langar' organisation.UNI JS RSA 2209 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-942551.Xml
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday welcomed Shiv Sena for its support to National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. Downplaying the rift within the NDA following Uddhav Thackeray's criticism that the BJP was fielding Kovind to win over Dalit votes, Swamy said that it was natural of its "Hindutva brother" to side with the ruling dispensation. "In the end they are with us, they are with us in Maharashtra, Delhi and Uddhav Thackeray is a very sober person. He may make his notice here and there, but in the end we are Hindutva brothers and we will stay together," Swamy told ANI. Similarly, NDA's ally the Republican Party of India (A) leader Ramdas Athawale also welcomed Shiv Sena's support to the Dalit candidate. "I also express my gratitude to Uddhav Thackeray for supporting Kovind and because Bala Saheb believed that Bhim Shakti and Shiv Shakti work together and never would have I ever doubted that he would be against his candidature," Athawale told ANI. Earlier, Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray told media persons that his party has finally decided to support Kovind for the country's top post. It is notable that Thackeray had announced that Shiv Sena would not extend its support to Kovind if the Centre was eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming President polls. "If someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them," Thackeray said. He, however, added that they would extend their support only if the decision was taken for the development of the nation. Though the main opposition Congress party, Left parties, Bahujan Samajwadi Party ( BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), and Janata Dal (United) have not extended support to Kovind, other opposition parties like Odisha's Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and Andhra's YSR Congress Party have supported Kovind's candidature. Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of party leaders on Wednesday to discuss over the candidature of Kovind. Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday extended his support to Kovind by saying that he is a deserving candidate. (ANI)
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that though the Adivasis fought against the British for Independence and against exploitation, they have been losing the battle against their own governments for their own survival, Addressing at the inaugural meeting of Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch here today. Vijayan said the Adivasis played a major role in the fight against the colonial rule and the feudal system but their efforts sacrifices have been forgotten by the successive governments that ruled the country since Independence. Stating that the Adivasis are the most exploited lot in the country, Vijayan said the governments made no effort to improve their lot. Their lands have been encroached by the multi national companies and industries for mining and quarrying and the government on its part diluted the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and the provisions under the fifth and sixth schedule of the constitution. Citing the case of adivasis of Bastar region in Chhattisgarh, Kerala Chief Minister said the neo-liberal policy of thegovernment is allowing the capitalists to move into forest land and adivasi villages and till date 14 corporate companies have entered the Bastar region in the name of mining. The colonial policy of displacement which the Asivasis faced for decades before the Independence is still continuing. For them Indian government is no different from the British. ``Not only the lands, the Adivasis are losing their identity, culture and language. They became more vulnerable to exploitation and there is no security to their women and children,'' Vijayan said. Attacking the Congress, Vijayan said the party failed in its role as major opposition party and reluctant to take on BJP. It is now the onus of Left parties to intensify the struggle against exploitation of the Adivasis, he added. Former CPM MP Midiam Babu Rao delivered the welcome address. Vice-President of AARM Brinda Karat, CPM Politburo member B.V. Raghavulu and AP state secretariat member Ch. Narasinga Rao were present. Lok Sabha member Jitendera Chaudhury paid tributes to all the communist leaders who have passed away in the last one year including former Cuban president and revolutionary leader Fidel Castro. The Manch also honoured six prominent Adivasi activists who include Rajesh Jani,Soni Sori, Soren Hembrom, Debaleena Hembrom, Bhukia Virabhadram and Sunder Malekudiya.UNI BSR RSA 2306 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0104-942710.Xml
US President Donald Trump's speech on Cuba was a "grotesque spectacle," but the island's government will continue working towards better relations with the majority of Americans who back detente, Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said today.Trump announced a partial rollback of the normalization of relations with Cuba on Friday in Miami, the heartland of Cuban exiles, in a theater named after the leader of the failed US-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of the island in 1961."It was a grotesque spectacle straight from the Cold War," Rodriguez said in Vienna, during a tour of European countries, in a news conference broadcast live in Cuba.Trump's speech before an audience that included people Cuba considers terrorists, included dramatic flourishes like a Cuban- American exile playing the US national anthem on his violin.The US president stopped short of breaking diplomatic relations with Cuba, restored in 2015 after more than five decades of hostility and leaves many recent agreements between the two countries intact.However, it will tighten restrictions on Americans traveling to the Caribbean island, hurting the booming Cuban tourism industry and clamp down on US business dealings with Cuba's military."It is necessary to wait for the US government to announce regulations that implement these measures before opining on their reach and depth," Rodriguez said.He added, however, that they would inevitably hit US companies and citizens by restricting their ability to invest in or travel to Cuba, while also hurting the Cuban people."It will wreak economic damage not just on Cuba's state companies but also on the cooperatives and private sector workers," he said.Moody's Investor Service released a report on Monday saying the US revision of its Cuban policy was "credit negative" for the island, coming at a time when the country was already suffering liquidity problems due to weakening economic support from its crisis-wracked ally Venezuela.The Cuban foreign minister said Trump's hope of separating the people from the military, who were simply "the people in uniform," was "infantile."'On the contrary, these measures reinforce our patriotism, our dignity and our decision to defend national independence by all means," he said.Meanwhile, the partial rollback of the detente would fall flat with the majority of Americans, who supported the normalization of relations with Cuba, and with whom the country would continue working, Rodriguez added.In response to Trump's demand to return fugitives sought by the United States, Rodriguez said Cuba considered them fighters for civil liberties."These persons will not be returned to the United States," he said. REUTERS RSD 2250 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-941233.Xml
The mood was "incredibly positive" on the first day of Brexit talks between Britain and the European Union and both sides acknowledged it was time to move quickly, a British source said today."The mood of that room was incredibly positive," the source said."I think it was recognition by all sides that the clock is ticking and we do really need to push on with this now and start to make positive strides towards getting a deal that is in both sides' interests."REUTERS RSD 2253 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-941237.Xml
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will again meet his Turkish counterpart next week in Europe, the top US general said today, describing regular US efforts to address Turkish concerns over a US decision to arm Kurdish fighters in Syria.US Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Mattis also wrote a detailed letter to Turkey last week to provide a "routine update" on US efforts in Syria. REUTERS RSD 2256 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-941241.Xml
Internal Security Minister Mohamed Abukar Islow told the media on Monday that Abdiwahid Khalif Ahmed the Amniyat (intelligence) head in Mogadishu was captured in a sting operation by Somali security forces in Bakara Market, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Our security forces captured the head of Amniyat Abdiwahab Khalif Ahmed in Bakara market in Mogadishu following a tip off from the public," said the minister.

Ahmed is reported to have coordinated several attacks in Mogadishu which targeted hotels and government installations killing several and wounding others.

"Our forces did a good job and they always pursue Al-Shabaab militants hiding in the town," Islow said and called on members of the public to work with the security forces in ensuring their safety.

The militant group, Al-Shabaab has not commented on the latest development in regard to the alleged capture of the intelligence commander behind a series of suicide bombings of hotels, Africa Union bases and other public places in the Horn of Africa nation.

The capture of the intelligence chief comes barely a week after a deadly Al-Shabaab attack on a Pizza and Posh Restaurants in Mogadishu which claimed 29 lives.

Security forces in Mogadishu have intensified operations in various parts of the city and deployed several personnel along the major streets.

Al-Shabaab is known to ramp up attacks during the fasting month of Ramadan and security forces are now in heightened alert to avoid another attack as the Muslim holy month comes to a close in about a week's time.

--IANS vgu/

( 286 Words)

2017-06-20-04:18:20 (IANS)
The father-of-four from Cardiff was arrested for attempted murder at the scene and taken to a south London police station where he remains in custody, the Independent reported.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police said he was subsequently arrested for a second time on suspicion of terrorism offences.

Osborne is reported to have been living in Weston-super-Mare with his partner and children

The attacker, who is believed to have acted alone, struck as the area was busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers in north London.

At least eight people were taken to hospital, with one since discharged, while two others were treated at the scene after the attack early on Monday morning.

All of the casualties were Muslims. (ANI)
The sailors were transporting iftar items during a routine run from Jiwani city when their vehicle was ambushed by four assailants on two motorbikes, the Dawn reported.

The assailants opened fire on the vehicle indiscriminately, leaving one man killed and five wounded.

A Navy spokesperson, however, said that three personnel had been injured.

The official said that the five wounded were shifted to Karachi for medical treatment, adding that one of the wounded succumbed to his injuries, bringing the death toll to two.

Security was tightened after the incident and a search operation was launched in the area to apprehend those involved in the attack.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri condemned the incident and directed the levies and police to submit a report regarding the attack.

"We will not bow down before the terrorists," Zehri said in his statement.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. (ANI)
Two Dutch journalists have been captured by Marxist ELN rebels in a conflict area of northeastern Colombia, the military said.Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, a television journalist, and Eugenio Ernest Marie, 58, a television cameraman, were seized while working in El Tarra in Norte de Santander, which borders Venezuela, according to a military statement."We have established that members of the Frente Hector of the ELN appear to have kidnapped the journalists," the statement said yesterday.The 2,000-strong National Liberation Army (ELN) frequently kidnaps Colombians and foreigners, many of whom work in oil operations, for ransom and political leverage.The ELN, the second biggest insurgent group, is in peace talks with the government to put an end to more than five decades of war in the Andean nation.The biggest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed a peace accord late last year and is expected to complete disarmament this week.More than 220,000 people have been killed in a conflict that pit the military against FARC, ELN and right wing paramilitary armies since it began in 1952.Last year the ELN seized a Spanish journalist, a long-term Colombia resident, and freed her six days later.The area of Norte de Santander also has several crime gangs trafficking drugs.The armed forces have launched operations to find the two Dutch reporters. REUTERS RSD 0717 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-941327.Xml
South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said today North Korea should swiftly return South Koreans and Americans detained in the isolated nation.Moon expressed condolences to Otto Warmbier, an American university student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months and who died yesterday, according to the presidential office.The presidential Blue House cited Moon as saying "it is deplorable that North Korea does not respect human rights". REUTERS RSD 0749 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0435-941334.Xml
Heavy air strikes hit the Syrian city of Deraa today as a ceasefire declared by the government expired, a witness in the city and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment.Deraa is located at Syria's border with Jordan. US and Russian officials have been holding talks on creating a "de-escalation zone" in southwestern Syria that would include Deraa.REUTERS SDR 1322 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-941590.Xml
The provincial government in a statement said the explosion after a magnetic bomb planted in the vehicle of a judge went off, reports the Khaama Press.

The statement added that the judge serving with the preliminary court of the anti-corruption Sher Rahman was killed in the explosion and three others, including two of his brothers, were wounded.

No individual or group has yet claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Meanwhile, last night eight Afghan guards working at the largest American base in Afghanistan were killed in an attack.

The guards were ambushed near Bagram base north of Kabul as they were driving home in convoy late Monday. (ANI)
The Israel Securities Authority said today it had opened an investigation into the country's largest telecom group, Bezeq Israel Telecom and its controlling shareholder.The market regulator said in a statement that the probe "deals with suspicions of violations of the securities law and the penal code relating to transactions connected to the controlling shareholder". It did not elaborate.Trading in Bezeq and its parent companies was halted in Tel Aviv following the announcement.The company said it learned of the investigation today morning and that its offices were searched."The company does not have any additional information about the nature and circumstances of the investigation," it said.Bezeq is controlled by its chairman, Shaul Elovitch, through holding company Eurocom Group, which declined to comment.But another Eurocom subsidiary, Internet Gold, said it was suspending a planned bond issue as a result of the investigation.Eurocom gives Elovitch control over a myriad of assets like satellite operator Spacecom and Enlight Renewable Energy. He is also a close friend of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a relationship that bars Netanyahu from dealing with all things Bezeq."A prolonged trading halt is a rather rare procedure which requires approval from the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange's chairman and cannot exceed one trading day and gives the company a chance to provide colour to the market," Barclays analyst Tavy Rosner said in a note.Israel's financial news websites reported that investigators were focusing on a recent deal in which Bezeq bought control of its satellite TV unit from Eurocom.Bezeq has dominated Israel's telecom sector for decades and, with a generous dividend policy of distributing all its net profit, is a favourite among foreign investors.Looking to shore up its position further, Bezeq is lobbying the government to end a forced separation of its fixed-line, mobile and satellite TV units.However, opponents say that allowing Bezeq to combine its subsidiaries into a single company will stifle competition.REUTERS AKC 1528 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-941817.Xml
German Chancellor Angela Merkel today urged the European Union's remaining 27 members to stick together during talks on Britain's exit from the bloc.The talks on Britain's exit began yesterday.Merkel also said the talks were important for the future of European integration.Brexit was a setback but election results in the Netherlands and France this year have presented an opportunity to push ahead, Merkel said."Let's stay together, let's not divide from each other," she said, with reference to the remaining EU 27."This is not just about the exit of Britain, with which we want to remain friends, with which we want to live in a good partnership, but it is also about the future of the European Union," she said at a German industry conference."The four freedoms that give us the internal market must not be jeopardised," she said with reference to the EU's freedoms of movement of goods, capital, people, and services. "This will be significant at the exit negotiations."Merkel said she wanted the talks to be conducted "in a good spirit" and that Britain's position would become evident in the coming months."We will of course implement what Britain pitches, but in a way that the interests of the 27 member states are safeguarded."At their first meeting in Brussels yesterday, British and EU negotiators agreed on a timetable for the Brexit talks. Both sides stressed their goodwill but acknowledged the task's huge complexity and tight deadline.Almost a year to the day since British voters decided to leave the EU, the Brexit strategy debate within the UK government has intensified since Prime Minister Theresa May failed to win a snap parliamentary majority in the June 8 ballot.She had called the early vote herself, saying it was to strengthen her mandate in the Brexit talks.REUTERS AKC 1648 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-941969.Xml
An explosion caused a number of casualties in the south of the Somali capital Mogadishu today, a government official said.Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab said it was a car bomb targeting a building housing government officials."We heard a huge explosion in Wadajir district, there are some casualties, but the number is unknown," Abifutah Omar Halane, the spokesman for Mogadishu's mayor, said.Al Shabaab said they were behind the blast."It's a suicide car bomb in Wadajir District building in which Somali officials and their staff stay. There are government and their staff who have died at the scene. We will tell you the number of dead later," Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab spokesman for military operations, said, giving no further details.Al Shabaab frequently launches attacks on the capital Mogadishu and other regions controlled by Somalia's federal government. It aims to force out African Union peacekeepers, topple the Western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islam.REUTERS AKC 1643 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-941979.Xml
Moroccan authorities have arrested more activists involved in the country's biggest political protests since the "Arab Spring", lawyers and rights groups said today.For months, demonstrators have taken to the streets around the northern city of Al-Hoceima to vent frustration over the economic, social and political problems of a kingdom that presents itself as a beacon of stability in a turbulent region.Political demonstrations are rare in Morocco, where the king remains the ultimate power, but protests have spread to other parts of the country, reaching remote rural towns as well as major urban areas, including Rabat and Casablanca.The Hirak movement was born after the death in October of fishmonger Mouhcine Fikri who was crushed inside a garbage truck trying to recover fish confiscated by police. His death became a symbol of corruption and official abuses.Authorities have arrested as many as 100 leaders and members of the movement, called Hirak al Chaabi in Arabic, or the Popular Movement, since the end of May, said Abdessadak Elbouchattaoui, one of the movement's lawyers."There are arrests on a daily basis," said Elbouchattaoui, who is among approximately 300 lawyers defending Hirak. "On average, there were are about four arrests a day, sometimes reaching 10 a day."The ministry of justice did not immediately return calls or messages seeking comment.But Minister of Justice Mohamed Aujjar told a parliament session last week the government was acting with "maturity, responsibility, wisdom, and in accordance with legal provisions" in its management of Hirak protests in Al-Hoceima.A court in Al-Hoceima last week also sentenced 25 members of Hirak to 18 months in prison.Morocco's Ministry of Justice, which released regular statements about arrests and charges, has not published one since June 6 when it announced further charges against Hirak leader Nasser Zefzafi and others. These included "illegal and armed assembly, undermining territorial integrity, and threatening and insulting police".Last night in Rabat, members of the independent Moroccan Human Rights Association attempted to mobilise in a protest in solidarity with Hirak, but were violently dispersed with truncheons by authorities.Calls for a "historic march" in Al-Hoceima for the holy Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr next weekend have begun circulating, saying the march will be held "if Hirak protesters are not released from prison beforehand".Those calls came days after a publication close to the pro-palace Authenticity and Modernity party or PAM published an article suggesting the possibility of a royal pardon for the protesters on Eid al-Fitr which marks the end of Ramadan.REUTERS AKC 1647 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0387-941987.Xml
Exiled Baloch leader Munir Mengal has alleged that Hafiz Saeed, head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, has been threatening the local people in Balochistan under the patronage of Pakistan. Speaking during the ongoing 35th session of UN Security Council in Geneva, Munir Mengal, founder of Baloch Voice Association said, "On one side the state purposefully facilitated the ex-chief of Taliban Mullah Mansoor, and the head of Jamat-ud- Dawa Hafiz Saeed, roaming inside Balochistan preaching hate speeches and threatening the local secular people. Hafiz is using the religious terrorist organisations against the Baloch Nationalist Force who are struggling against annexation of their land to an Islamic state without their consent." "On the other side the attacks on the Baloch females to keep them away from education, threatening the western style coeducation institutes and killing of Mr. Zahid Baloch only for running a co-education institute in Gwadar needs the intervention of this high esteemed council and UN bodies," he added. On May 21, 2016, Mansour had been killed in a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan and after four days, Habatullah Akhundzada was promoted to the top position in the Taliban. "My NGO has expressed serious concerns that the Islamic state of Pakistan has failed to address the rights of persons affected by discrimination based on origin and descent, the discrimination and the degrading practice of 'race' the Baloch are facing from the controlling authorities, affecting more than 10 million people only in Balochistan," Mengal further added. Speaking on the atrocities on Baloch people, Mengal said, "The attack by the Frontier Corps state security forces on educational institutes, with grenade skilling some students and injuring hundreds including university professors just for celebrating their cultural day is a sign of the Islamic state strategic policy towards the Baloch people." "It subjects millions of religious minorities particularly zikris, to a life without de facto equal rights and opportunities. We regret that the people in Balochistan are subjected to biased judiciary system, situation of impunity, systematic use of force, and lack of political will to eliminate this form of discrimination has alleviated the situation to the slow motion genocide of the Baloch people," Mengal further said. Zikris, who are predominantly Baloch, have been living in the southern part of Balochistan called Makran. (ANI)
The government of China has invited US President Donald Trump's daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to visit Beijing later this year, a White House official said today. China's overture appeared aimed at deepening engagement with the influential young couple, who played a role in the first summit between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in April, which set an improved tone for relations between the world's two biggest economies. Kushner, a senior adviser who entered the White House with no government experience, has been assigned the job of conducting Middle East peace diplomacy and will visit the region this week for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Helping to manage relations with China is another part of his foreign policy portfolio. At the same time, Kushner has come under heavy scrutiny, with high-profile investigations into alleged contacts between current and former Trump aides and Russian officials. No further details were available on the Chinese invitation, which was first reported by Bloomberg News and confirmed by a White House official on condition of anonymity. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Trump railed against China, especially its trade practices, during the presidential campaign. A fence-mending phone call in February was arranged by Kushner and China's U.S. ambassador, Cui Tiankai, U.S. officials said, after Cui invited Ivanka Trump to the Chinese embassy's Lunar New Year reception, where her daughter sang in Mandarin. Kushner helped plan and attended the U.S.-China summit at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in April. Trump has since had warm words for Xi, praising him for cooperation with efforts to rein in Beijing's nuclear-armed neighbor North Korea. But analysts question how long rapprochement can last if North Korea continues its nuclear and missile development in defiance of international pressure. Reuters RSA 2328 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0104-942723.Xml
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 00:12:50|Editor: Yang Yi

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SAN FRANCISCO, June 18 (Xinhua) -- U.S. researchers are growing tiny functioning segments of organs, called organoids, in a bid to find ways to treat deformities of the craniofacial complex, namely the skull and face.

TISSUE REGENERATION USED TO IMPROVE TREATMENT OF CRANIOFACIAL DEFORMITIES

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), are using stem cells from patients with such deformities to figure out when and how such flaws occur in fetal development.

Organs of the craniofacial complex often go terribly wrong during fetal development. Deformities of these bones or soft tissues, the most common of birth defects, can cut life short by blocking the airway or circulation, or disfigure a face.

In addition, such deformities may lead to a lifetime of corrective surgeries and social isolation.

As director of the UCSF Program in Craniofacial Biology and chair of the Division of Craniofacial Anomalies, Ophir Klein has orchestrated a research endeavor to translate basic science findings in tissue regeneration into improved treatments for kids with craniofacial deformities.

While Klein is growing teeth, his colleagues are growing tissues that make up the face, or muscle, or salivary glands.

Klein's work to generate teeth is inspired by his patients with ectodermal dysplasia, a congenital disorder characterized by a lack of sweat glands, hair, or teeth. Being able to generate the roots of teeth would be remarkable for these patients.

A tooth can be regenerated in parts. Stem cells can be used to grow the roots. To grow an entire organ, Klein's colleagues are planning to partner with bioengineers who can produce a biocompatible material that could serve as a framing device to create dentin, one of the hard components of a tooth.

If they start with the right cells, then the scaffolding will help them create the right design.

As the reservoirs of human development, stem cells take it upon themselves to tirelessly renew and differentiate the myriad cell types required to build a body from an embryo.

"It is a self-organizing process," said Zev Gartner, an associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry, explaining that the process starts in the womb with embryonic stem cells (ESCs) or, in the case of organoids, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

These cells are mature cells that are stripped back to their earliest stage of development using a process devised by UCSF Professor of Anatomy Shinya Yamanaka, who won a Nobel Prize for discovering the process.

A SERIES OF SOLUTIONS INVOLVED IN MAKING ORGANOIDS

To make organoids, iPSCs are put through a series of solutions, then added to a gel that mimics the squishy 3D cellular matrix of the embryo. The gel provides the right conditions for them to get to work.

Gartner noted that people who work with stem cells tend to focus on either regenerative medicine or disease modeling. Those interested in disease make models of tissues so that they can understand how diseases work, while those interested in regenerative medicine try to make models of healthy tissue that could be transplanted.

Gartner straddles both camps, according to a news release from UCSF. He grows breast organoids.

"The mammary gland is great because we can simultaneously think about these two phenomena as two sides of the same coin," he said. "One is regenerative medicine through self-organization, and the other is understanding the progression of breast cancer through a breakdown in self-organization."

Jason Pomerantz, a plastic surgeon, falls into the regeneration camp, as he works to incubate small human muscles in animals for use in his patients' faces.

In a recent project, he inserted stem cells from human muscles into a mouse whose own muscle stem cells had been incapacitated. He then perturbed the muscle to stimulate regeneration.

As the muscle healed, the cells created new muscle tissue, which the mouse's nerves innervated to make a functioning muscle. It's exactly the size of the muscles he needs for full articulation of expression and function in a human face or hand.

For Edward Hsiao, an assistant professor, the goal is to engineer bone with the help of a 3D printer built with bioprinting technology, for patients with fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.

For these patients, bone grows like a runaway train, and the slightest bump or injury can set off a spurt of bone growth that can fuse their vertebrae, lock their joints, or even freeze up their rib cages, leaving them unable to breathe.

From iPSCs, Hsiao can make many of the essential ingredients of bone, including mesenchymal stem cells, endothelial cells, and macrophages.

"We are putting cells into the equivalent of an ink. Then we will print the structures with the ink, let the ink dissolve, and leave the cells," explained Hsiao. "The hope is that the cells can then recapitulate the normal developmental process."

If the approach is successful, he hopes to use the resulting models to test drugs and other treatments to halt or prevent bone deformities. Down the line, his progress also stands to transform bone and joint replacements.

The effort at UCSF is one of the most viable payoffs to date from stem cell science, the researchers claimed. With these organoids, physicians and scientists can not only trace the paths of normal and abnormal development, but also test drugs and other treatments for their effectiveness in humans.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 02:34:34|Editor: yan

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BUDAPEST, June 19 (Xinhua) -- "Promoting health for all" was the slogan of the 3rd CEEC-China Health Minister's Meeting, an international conference with the participation of more than 200 delegates coming from China and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), which started here on Monday.

The conference is jointly hosted by China's National Health and Family Planning Commission and the Human Capacities Ministry and the National Economy Ministry of Hungary.

Speaking on behalf of the Hungarian government, Zsolt Semjen, Deputy Prime minister, said that Hungary wanted to become the motor of the cooperation between the region of CEEC and China.

It is time to expand cooperation between China and the CEEC from financial and industrial sectors to health and medical fields. "And we want Hungary to act as an active builder and catalyst in this context," Semjen said.

He said that the conference was a feedback for Hungary, pointing at the fact that the medical performance of the country is noticeable on an international level, and can be seen as an example for many other countries.

"The region of the CEEC is one of the most rapidly developing regions of the European Union (EU) ...," he explained. "On the other hand, China is one of the world's largest economies, and when two great dynamically expanding regions decide to work together: great things can happen, even more when the area of cooperation is the health industry," he underlined.

He praised China for being open towards CEEC, thanks to its "One Belt One Road" policy, and recalled that Hungary, like many other countries, has opted for an Eastern Opening Policy, the aim of which was to draw the majority of China's European investments to the region.

He also stressed that the CEEC were always looking to build good relations with China by honouring its ancient culture and traditions. A good example for that was that prevention was at the heart of both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Hungarian health policy.

Zoltan Balog, Minister of Human Capacities, responsible for health in Hungary, said "The future is in the cooperation of East and West, and the future of the world is inconceivable without China."

He called the region of CEEC as one that was growing spectacularly, but was playing in a different league than China.

He then proceeded to list the main points of the Budapest declaration, adopted by the participants of the conference.

"We have a joint statement related to health development and cooperation. The essence is being able to move from an illness centered approach to a prevention centered approach. And an important part of this is the role of traditional medicine and related cooperation in this area," he concluded.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 04:05:21|Editor: Liu

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WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Huge pulses of volcanic activity are likely to have played a key role in triggering the end-Triassic mass extinction some 200 million years ago, which set the scene for the rise and age of the dinosaurs, a new study suggested Monday.

One of Earth's most severe known extinction events, the Triassic extinction resulted in the widespread loss of land and sea species, including large crocodile-like reptiles and several marine invertebrates, as well as huge changes in land vegetation.

While it remains a mystery why the dinosaurs survived this event, they went on to fill the vacancies left by the now extinct wildlife species, alongside early mammals and amphibians.

This mass extinction is suggested to have coincided with and been caused by one of the largest known episodes of volcanic activity in Earth's history, which might have occurred in pulses and covered a huge area, across four continents, representing the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).

In the new study, researchers from the Oxford University worked in collaboration with the Universities of Exeter and Southampton to examine sediments deposited at the same time as CAMP from four continents for fluctuations in mercury, which is emitted as a gas from volcanoes.

The mercury gas was spread globally through the atmosphere, before being deposited in sediments. Any sediments left during a large volcanic event would therefore be expected to have unusually high mercury content.

The team sourced six sediment deposits from Britain, Austria, Argentina, Greenland, Canada and Morocco, and had their mercury levels analysed.

Five of the six records showed a large increase in mercury content beginning at the end-Triassic extinction horizon, with other peaks observed between the extinction horizon and the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, which occurred about 200,000 years later.

Elevated mercury emissions also coincided with previously established increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, indicating CO2 release from volcanic degassing.

Lead author Lawrence Percival, a geochemistry graduate student at Oxford University said: "These results strongly support repeated episodes of volcanic activity at the end of the Triassic, with the onset of volcanism during the end-Triassic extinction."

"This research greatly strengthens the link between the Triassic mass extinction and volcanic emissions of CO2. This further evidence of episodic emissions of volcanic CO2 as the likely driver of the extinction enhances our understanding of this event, and potentially of other climate change episodes in Earth's history," Percival said.

The findings were published in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 06:16:30|Editor: yan

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HELSINKI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Road blocks were placed on Monday around the Rock Church, a popular tourist attraction in downtown Helsinki, to protect it from possible attacks.

The police suspected an terrorist attack had been prepared targeting the church. The criminal police announced on Monday the threat was being investigated, but gave no more details.

Police inspector Tero Haapala told national broadcaster Yle Monday evening that the possible plan had been at an early stage and it was not near operational level.

The church, built partially underground, was under major police control on Sunday. The police said on Sunday "a person of interest" was being sought but could not be found.

On Monday, the driveways and pedestrian walkways around the church were partially closed with concrete blocks. Access of the public to the church was not restricted.

Besides the Lutheran services for the Toolo district congregation, the church is also open throughout the day for tourists.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 06:21:32|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Parents of a 13-year-old boy in a northern German town have been called to court for preventing their son from visiting a mosque in a class trip, according to local media reports.

The parents, from Germany's northern town of Rendsburg, made the decision for their son for fear of "religious indoctrination," arguing no one can be compelled to enter a religious building, local newspaper Schleswig-Holsteinische Landeszeitung reported on Sunday.

The mosque lies about 100 meter away from the Kronwerk Gymnasium.

The school first issued a 300 euro fine for them but was rejected and the parents are set to appear in court in August.

The incident stirred wide discussions in the local media.

According to the school administration, the planned geography class trip was meant for the students to learn about "the orient."

Rector of the school Renate Fritzsche explained that "It is an important goal of our education is to awaken the willingness of the children to face foreign cultures and to tolerate them."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 08:01:33|Editor: Liangyu

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ABUJA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's southeastern state of Anambra on Monday confirmed the resurgence of Lassa fever, a disease transmitted by rodents, following the death of a medical student in the state.

Director of public health in the southeastern state Emmanuel Okafor said 65 others were being monitored following the resurgence.

Okafor told Xinhua that laboratory tests indicated two out of the 65 that were being monitored had already developed a fever.

He said the state government has the capacity to control the spread of the disease.

Lassa fever is usually transmitted to humans when they are exposed to food or water contaminated by the saliva and excreta of infected rats. In some cases, Lassa fever has similar symptoms with malaria.

More than 80 people were killed by a Lassa fever outbreak early last year in Nigeria.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 08:04:27|Editor: Liangyu

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KIGALI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda is committed to restoring land that have been degraded by human encroachment and charcoal burning, the Rwandan minister of natural resources said here on Monday.

"Rwanda is delighted to put in much effort in this ambitious target. Deforestation and land degradation are among the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions globally," said Vincent Biruta on the sidelines of the national environment and natural resources stakeholders joint sector review meeting in Kigali.

"Restoration of forest cover will help us protect our natural resources, promote biodiversity and sustainable development goals in our country and contribute to our carbon reduction targets," he added.

Biruta said the country targets to plant more than 23 million of trees in 2017 alone.

According to the ministry of natural resources, forests cover 29.6 percent of the country land and Rwanda seeks to have a forest cover of 30 percent by 2018. About 714,102 hectares of the country's landscape are expected to be entire forests reserves before 2020.

The country's Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy was launched in 2011 as one of the key steps to a sustainable, secure future and to ensure the country is prepared for the risks associated with climate change and population growth.

Rwanda is among only 20 institutions globally accredited to access the international Green Climate Fund from which the government will leverage substantial funding for climate change adaptation projects.

In 2008, Rwanda passed a law that banned the importation and use of polythene bags, while possession or smuggling them into the country attracted heavy penalties.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 07:21:59|Editor: Liu

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HAVANA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Measures announced by U.S. President Donald Trump to roll back American policies toward Cuba have been rejected by the island's private sector, which is now taking steps to protect its interests.

Since the opening of relations by former U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro, Cuba's new private sector has flourished, particularly in tourism and trade.

"Our business relies on American visitors, but since we heard about Trump's threats, we have begun negotiations with European tour operators," Melissa Ramirez, director of a small private travel agency, told Xinhua.

In 2016, Cuba received over 4 million visitors, but only 265,000 were Americans. The island received a similar number of American tourists in the first five months of the year.

But Ramirez said "even if that market stops sending us clients, we will survive."

Cuba has long been depending on foreign travelers before Washington and Havana restored formal ties, she said.

Although Washington still prevented official tourism to the island, the Obama administration allowed Americans to visit Cuba under 12 categories of travel.

Trump has now closed the door on several categories, including "people-to-people contacts," the main category under which tourists visited the island.

Trump's speech last week was broadcast live on Cuban television and was roundly rejected by those known as "self-employed workers."

"I have no fear. We have gone through more than 50 years of revolution, and we have survived all the punitive measures of previous U.S. administrations," said Jorge Delgado, an art gallery owner in Havana.

Delgado said that Americans have become his best customers but he began his business two decades ago, when visitors were mostly Europeans and Latin Americans.

Some small ventures which are admittedly imperilled by Trump's reversal are fancy restaurants and cafes in Old Havana, which have become highly rated and enjoyed the benefits of the American tourism boom.

One of these restaurants, Super Burger, was born from the vision of Victor Figueroa, 25, who divides his time between being a doctor and running his locale in the American fast food tradition.

"We had great hope due to an increasing number of customers from the U.S.," says Arlena Acosta, 18, who works as a waitress, cashier or manager at Super Burger, depending on its needs.

"After Trump's statements, we rapidly diversified our food offering and expanded the menu, aiming to attract other nationalities such as French or Chinese, beyond the traditional Cuban food of congri rice, black beans and pork meat."

An American customer, Stacy, told Xinhua that "it is a wonderful country to visit. People are very open and friendly, and it is very safe." She added that she strongly disagreed with Trump's decisions.

The Cuban private sector was virtually eliminated by late leader Fidel Castro in March 1968 but it was reactivated by his brother, Raul Castro, forty years later.

The current president sees the private sector as an important source of jobs, products and services, while also increasing income taxes for the national budget.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 07:57:09|Editor: Liangyu

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DETROIT, the United States, June 19 (Xinhua) -- More than 3,000 small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs flocked to Detroit on Monday, as they sought opportunities to reach out to millions of Chinese consumers.

The once deserted motor city came to life as people from 48 states across the country flew in to attend Gateway' 17, a conference held by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The conference, which will take place on June 20-21, will feature presentations and breakout sessions aimed at educating attendees on what and how to sell to China, especially through e-commerce platforms, so that they can grow their businesses and go global.

The number of attendees tripled conference organisers' original expectation. A Marriott hotel located in downtown Detroit received more than 700 guests on Monday, most of them came for the conference.

According to Alibaba, the participants are primarily from product categories most popular among Chinese consumers such as fashion and apparel, fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, household products, and fresh food.

The e-commerce company chose Detroit for a reason. The small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) there have the potential to lead cross-border e-commerce and set an example for SMEs around the world, Alibaba said.

The company added that Michigan, traditionally a manufacturing and agricultural state, may also be able the seize the opportunity to revitalise its economy.

China is the world's largest online shopping market, with about 467 million online consumers spending about 26.1 trillion yuan (3.83 trillion U.S. dollars) last year, up 19.8 percent year on year.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 08:02:11|Editor: Liangyu

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RIO DE JANEIRO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Brazil's President Michel Temer travels to Russia and Norway on Monday, with the goal of tightening relations between Brazil and these European countries.

Temer will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Vladimir Medvedev in Moscow, King of Norway Harald V and Prime Minister Erna Solberg in Oslo, and investors.

"President Temer will reaffirm his message of strong commitment to his reform agenda and to greater integration of the country with the global flows of trade and investment," said his spokesperson, Alexandre Parola, at a press conference.

In Russia, his agenda will focus on capturing investments for energy, railways, ports and other areas of infrastructure.

Temer and Putin will also oversee the signing of bilateral agreements in areas such as trade and investment promotion, cultural exchanges and political consultancies, with agriculture also set to play an important role.

In Norway, however, Temer's visit will be centered around the environment. The Nordic country is the largest contributor to Brazil's Amazon Fund, having provided 850 million U.S. dollars so far.

The Amazon Fund currently operates 89 projects covering areas such as the fight against deforestation, agricultural regulation, land management and the protection of indigenous lands.

Furthermore, Norway is also the eighth largest foreign investor in Brazil, especially in the energy sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 09:27:48|Editor: Liangyu

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SYDNEY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Australian market opened flat on Tuesday, despite a robust performance from Australia's trading partners as investor concerns continue about the negative outlook on Australia's economy.

At 1010 local time AEST, the S&P/ASX200 index was up 3.80 points, or 0.07 percent, to 5,809.00 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 4.40 points, or 0.08 percent, to sit at 5,839.90.

Despite the ongoing controversy surrounding the 6.2 billion Australian dollar (4.7 billion U.S. billion dollar) levy on Australian banks, the bill was passed on Monday night, and will come into effect on July 1, to the dismay of the banking sector which campaigns heavily against the tax.

Although the bank tax passed through the senate, IG market analyst Chris Weston told Xinhua on Tuesday the levy had little impact on the market on Tuesday, nor did the recent action by global credit ratings agency Moody's to downgrade 12 Australian banks.

"Financials are down, but to be honest, it's still one of the better performers. The Moody's downgrade is not a major market story, in my opinion, and the levy had already been widely priced into stocks, if investors are selling their bank stocks today (Tuesday), they are certainly very late," Weston told Xinhua.

"We have so many robust, bullish markets around us, Japan, China, Europe, and the U.S., are all looking very positive, so it's difficult to explain why we are down. There's a negative cloud hanging over the market today."

Capital may even move out of the Australia and into foreign financial markets, and Weston said investors may want to back away from the "soggy" Australian economy, and potentially move on to "more upbeat" prospects elsewhere, unless the current market situation trends upwards.

The banking sector experienced fairly flat performance in the early going, as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 1.14 percent, Westpac picked up 1.15 percent, the ANZ also made gains, up 0.92 percent, National Australia Bank was up 1.48 percent, and the Macquarie Group, which will have to face the bank levy alongside Australia's major banks, gained 0.74 percent.

The mining sector also experienced a quiet start to trading, BHP gained 0.04 percent, Rio Tinto was down 0.05 percent, Fortescue was up 1.28 percent, while Newcrest picked up 1.36 percent.

Among the energy giants, Santos rose 0.33 percent, but Woodside Petroleum fell 0.69 percent, and Oil Search dropped 0.44 percent.

The retail sector appeared to be struggling across the board, with Wesfarmers and Woolworths down 0.22 percent and 3.50 percent, meanwhile other prominent Australian retailers like Harvey Norman, JB Hi-Fi, and Myer also experienced a tough start to the day.

Qantas saw modest gains of 0.18 percent, and Telstra was up 0.68 percent.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 09:27:50|Editor: An

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JINAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Jaywalkers in China risk be identified by facial recognition technology and having their photo and personal information exposed to public to shame them for breaking the law.

Traffic management authorities in several Chinese cities have installed facial recognition equipment and screens at major intersections to tackle the ongoing problem of jaywalking and encourage road safety.

Since the equipment was installed in Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, in early May, it has captured photographic proof of more than 6,000 cases involving pedestrians and non-motorized vehicles crossing roads during red lights.

The facial recognition equipment takes several snapshots and a 15-second video when it detects pedestrians crossing the intersection on a red light. The photographs appear on the screen immediately so the offender can see they have been caught.

The photographs are then compared with the images in the provincial police department database and matches are checked by a police officer to confirm accuracy. Within 20 minutes, the offender's photograph and personal information such as their ID number and home address are displayed on the screen at the crossroad.

Traffic police then contact the offenders and give them a choice of three forms of punishment: a fine of 20 yuan (around 3 U.S. dollars), a half-hour traffic rule course, or 20 minutes assisting police in controlling traffic.

Offenders' information may also be published on social media, for example on the Jinan Traffic Police Weibo microblogging account. In the future, police may also inform the offenders' employers or residential communities of the violation.

"Since the new technology has been adopted, the cases of jaywalking have been reduced from 200 to 20 each day at the major intersection of Jingshi and Shungeng roads. Fewer people are crossing roads during red lights," said Li Yong with Jinan Traffic Police.

The city will install facial recognition equipment at 50 major intersections by the end of June. Each piece of equipment costs around 100,000 yuan.

A number of Chinese cities in the provinces of Fujian, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Shandong have also started using the technology to catch jaywalkers.

Facial recognition is becoming increasingly common in China, where it has been installed in ATM machines, KFC restaurants, female university dormitories and even public toilets to save toilet paper.

However, the rapid and extensive application of the technology has also triggered public concerns about privacy.

The measures have experimental value as they help traffic police to deal with minor offenses that are to some extent rampant and hard to penalize, said Liu Guanghua, a law professor at Lanzhou University.

"However, law enforcement agencies should be careful to stay within the boundaries of law. The use of personal information should be strictly controlled," said Liu.

In response to public concern, Liu Xiaojing from Jinan Traffic Police, pointed out screens only show the images of adults and hide several numbers or characters on the offender's ID number and address.

Other critics claimed that facial recognition is not a silver bullet to tackle jaywalking, as people may cross roads illegally because they have limited right of way in a country which had 300 million motor vehicles as of March.

"Traffic lights are designed to be more friendly to vehicles in China. I sometimes have to wait for at least three green lights before I can cross a road. It is the drivers who should be shamed on the screen," said a Weibo account under the name "A ZX".

Another Weibo account "Yaoyiyi" commented that many city roads are too wide and the green light changes too quickly.

"I am usually trapped in the middle of the road when the light suddenly turns red and have to run to the other side. It is good to be a runner!" "Yaoyiyi" said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 09:32:53|Editor: Liangyu

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CANBERRA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A controversial levy on Australia's "big five" banks passed through the Australian Senate overnight, with the 0.06 percent tax expected to raise more than 6.2 billion Australian dollars (4.71 billion U.S dollars) over the next four years.

In the coalition government's push to return the nation's budget to surplus by 2021, it announced the controversial changes in the federal budget in May. At the time, it drew fierce criticism from the banking sector, which declared the levy would be passed onto consumers, making it effectively another tax on Australian citizens.

But the measures, which will raise 1.6 billion Australian dollars (1.21 billion U.S. dollars) in the first year, passed the Senate late Monday night, with support from the Labor opposition and the Greens.

Under the final legislation, the levy will be subjected to a review after two years to determine whether or not it is doing its intended job.

One major point of contention regarding the legislation was the exclusion of major foreign banks such as HSBC and BNP Paribas, but Finance Minister Mathias Cormann dismissed the claims, saying they did not fall under the "major bank" category, at least within Australia.

The banks affected by the levy are the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, National Australia Bank, Westpac and the Macquarie Bank.

The measures were opposed by the One Nation party, with representative Brian Burston describing the levy as a "lazy" solution.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 09:58:01|Editor: Liangyu

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MELBOURNE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The influential Committee for Melbourne on Tuesday called for a "mega-region" to be formed along Australias eastern coast.

Martine Letts, chief of the committee, said that a rapid transport link between Melbourne and Sydney could see the "mega-region" become reality within a decade.

She said she believes the region, which would also include regional centers, could rival others in the world such as the Shanghai district and San Francisco-Los Angeles in the United States.

The proposal by Letts came after the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University announced it believed a hyperloop could provide the link between Melbourne and Sydney.

Championed by Teslas Elon Musk, hyperloop works by propelling a pod-like vehicle through a reduced-pressure tube at the speed of sound.

Zac McLelland, chief executive officer (CEO) of VicHyper, said the technology already existed to make hyperloop a reality, and it just needed to be supported by governments.

"If we really wanted to do it, we could do it now, and be built within three to five years," McLelland told Australian media on Tuesday.

He said that they would investigate the cost of hyperloop in 2017 and estimated it would cost around 30 billion U.S. dollars.

Letts said that if hyperloop was built, Melbourne and Sydney could become one region that shares an economy and co-hosted major events.

"The time for rivalry is over. To compete on the global stage and to deliver the best for our economy and people, it is imperative that Melbourne and Sydney work together," she said.

"A critical component for a successful eastern seaboard region is to bridge the geographical divide via an efficient intercity link.

"A rapid intercity link will support the vision. We have the technology to conquer the distance."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 10:03:04|Editor: Liangyu

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CANBERRA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has urged the opposition Labor Party to re-think its resistance to laws which would make it tougher for migrants to become citizens, after Labor decided it would not back the changes when they are introduced to Parliament this week.

Speaking at a forum on Tuesday morning, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten confirmed Canberra's worst kept secret in declaring that Labor would not support the bill in its "current form".

"We think that the government's citizenship laws do have flaws and we're going to kick it around at caucus and have a look at the matter," Shorten said at a National General Assembly of Local Government.

The government has previously said the re-vamped test would require migrants to show university-level proficiency in English and show that they align with "Australian values" on contemporary issues such as gender equality, family violence, and crime.

If the legislation was to pass Parliament, it would also require migrants to wait at least four years before applying for citizenship, while they would also need to demonstrate how they have "integrated" into society in that time.

On Tuesday, speaking to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), Immigration Minister Peter Dutton urged the opposition to re-think its stance on the changes, saying the legislation would only help those hoping to become an Aussie' integrate smoothly into Australian life.

"Every study demonstrates that people who have greater English capacity, there is the ability for them to get better jobs, do better at school and integrate better into Australian society," Dutton said on Tuesday.

"If people take the opportunities that are available to them, and over the course of the four years they know that at the end this is the language test and this is the requirement to pass, people will improve their skills."

Dutton said the migration landscape had changed significantly compared to the mid-20th century, explaining that modern technology and easier access to education makes it much easier for prospective citizens to get their English up to scratch.

"This is a very different scenario than it was post-world war two with people fleeing war-torn Europe coming to Australian in the late 1940s and 50s where people went directly into manual labor and had very little interaction with the education system or even broader society," the minister said.

"In the 21st century, there is a lot of assistance available online and the reality is that people do better across their working life if they have better English language skills."

Dutton's - and the government's - position was further backed by Liberal Democrat Senator, David Leyonhjelm, who on Tuesday said that many other nations had even stricter citizenship rules.

"A lot of countries in the world require a reasonable period of time before permanent residents can become citizens," told the press in Canberra.

"In Switzerland it's 10 years and in Japan, you won't necessarily get citizenship until after the second generation (of migrants).

"Citizens vote, that's the most important thing. Why do they need Australian values? Because they vote."

Overnight, Labor MP Linda Burney summed up her and her party's concerns with the stricter measures by saying that it was wasn't "fair for people who (were) escaping terrible situations".
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 10:03:05|Editor: Liangyu

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YANGON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Various kinds of items including one iron box and steward suits have been recovered in the vicinity of the sea area where the tail of the Myanmar military plane was found, Myanmar News Agency reported Tuesday.

The items of the victims were recovered by two fishing motor boats on Monday evening while searching for the remaining parts of the crashed plane.

However, two divers were injured by water pressure while conducting retrieve of parts of the plane wreckage in deep waters, the report said.

On Sunday evening, Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) and CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) were found in the already retrieved plane's tail section which was entangled with a fishing net of a local vessel under the sea off the country's southern coast.

Authorities are continuing to probe into the causes of the plane crash based on the black box.

So far, a total of 92 bodies have been recovered as of late Sunday.

With a load of 2.4 tons of cargo and 122 people aboard, including 108 military personnel and their family members and 14 crew members, the aircraft of the Myanmar Air Force lost contact with the ground shortly after taking off from Myeik on June 7.

The plane was believed to have crashed in the Andaman Sea off the southern Tanintharyi region on a flight to Yangon.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 10:38:20|Editor: Yang Yi

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SEOUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday sent a consolation letter to the family of the late U.S. student who died days after his release from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Moon's spokesman Park Soo-hyun told a press briefing that the president has sent the letter to the family of Otto Warmbier, 22, who was held prisoner in the DPRK while traveling, to console the bereaved family.

In the letter, Moon expressed regrets for the U.S. university student's death, conveying his words of deep condolence and consolation, according to the spokesman.

Warmbier, the University of Virginia student, was arrested in the DPRK in January 2016 for trying to steal an item showing a propaganda slogan, and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in March in the year.

Following a series of diplomatic contacts with the United States, the DPRK released him in a coma.

The president urged Pyongyang to return other South Korean and U.S. citizens held by the DPRK, vowing to make all-out efforts to their release.

Moon's comments came ahead of his scheduled visit to Washington later this month for his first two-day summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump from June 29.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 11:13:29|Editor: An

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SEOUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. strategic bombers planned to conduct a joint drill with South Korean fighter jets on Tuesday over the Korean Peninsula, according to local media reports.

An unnamed South Korean military source was quoted by local media as saying that two B-1B supersonic bombers would carry out a joint drill later in the day with South Korea's F-15K fighter jets.

The U.S. strategic bombers would make a sortie to the Korean Peninsula to show the United States will contain military threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the source was quoted as saying.

The B-1B Lancer bombers will be dispatched from the U.S. Andersen Air Force base in Guam in the Western Pacific. It reportedly takes about two hours for the bombers to get to the peninsula from the U.S. island.

The bombers would reportedly pass through the southern waters of South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju, before moving the East Waters of the Korean Peninsula and conducting the joint air drill with South Korean fighter jets.

The U.S. bombers allegedly planned to conduct mock bombing exercises at the Pilsung Range in Gangwon province, South Korea's eastern region.

The sortie followed the comments made by Moon Chung-in, a special advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in on unification, security and foreign affairs.

The special advisor said last week in Washington that if Pyongyang stops any further nuclear and missile activities, the deployment of U.S. military strategic assets and the South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises can be scaled down through discussions with the U.S. side.

South Korea's presidential Blue House dismissed it as the scholar's personal view, not an official stance of the South Korean government.

President Moon is scheduled to visit Washington later this month for his first summit meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump for two days from June 29.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 11:23:37|Editor: Yang Yi

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HANOI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's capital Hanoi will collect arrears of existing big trading businesses on Facebook and encourage smaller ones to pay taxes, local media reported on Tuesday.

"With big trading accounts (of Facebook, owned by people in Hanoi), we will collect arrears. For the rest, basically, we encourage people to register to pay tax," daily newspaper Tien Phong (Pioneer) quoted Nguyen The Manh, director of the Hanoi Department of Taxation, as saying.

The department has recently sent letters to owners of nearly 13,500 Facebook accounts which have trading activities, proposing them to pay taxes.

According to the department's latest statistics, in Hanoi, there are nearly 17,000 Facebook accounts which engage in trading products or services on Facebook.

Last month, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Taxation sent letters to owners of more than 13,000 social network accounts, mainly Facebook and Zalo ones, proposing them to complete tax registration at tax offices. However, most of the account owners have yet to show up.

By the end of February 2016, Vietnam had 35 million Facebook users, or one-thirds of the country's population, Facebook announced in late March 2016. Facebook is the dominant social network in Vietnam, with few Vietnamese people using other social networks.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 12:44:06|Editor: Yang Yi

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KABUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Eight local security guards were shot and killed following an ambush attack near a main U.S. base in Afghanistan's eastern province of Parwan overnight, a local official said on Tuesday.

"Ten night shift guards were travelling in a vehicle to Bagram airbase before being attacked by gunmen roughly at 10:00 p.m. local time Monday. The shooting left eight people dead and injured two others," a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The source did not detail the incident, only saying that "an investigation has been initiated into the incident and more information will be shared with media later on the day."

Bagram Airfield, some 50 km north of Afghan capital of Kabul, has been serving as a main U.S. and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 16 years.

The attackers fled the scene shortly after firing, according to the source.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, which took place in Bagram district's Shah Aqa locality.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since late April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different places of the country, which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 12:59:09|Editor: Yang Yi

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DOHA, June 19 (Xinhua) -- A new advertisement released by Qatar Airways said Monday that the skies should be free of restrictions, according to media reports.

"The sky, there should be no borders up here," a CNN report quoted the advertisement as saying. "As an airline we don't believe in boundaries, we believe in bringing people together."

The remarks came two weeks after Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen announced cutting diplomatic ties and severed transport links with Qatar for national security reasons, as they accused Doha of supporting terrorism. Qatar, for its part, said such moves are not "justified."

Qatar Airways has been hit hard, losing 18 destinations and about 50 flights a day, media reports said.

On June 12, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker told CNN that he called on the United Nations to declare the measures on Qatar "illegal."

Two days of technical talks, which involved transport ministers and aviation officials from several Gulf states and Egypt, along with senior officials from the UN's International Civil Aviation Organization, held last week, however, failed to resolve the Gulf airspace dispute.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 13:09:26|Editor: Yang Yi

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CANCUN, Mexico, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Luis Almagro, secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS), said Monday that the body will not complete its consultations about the crisis in Venezuela this week.

Speaking in Cancun during the 47th General Assembly of the OAS, Almagro said he would be seeking a consensus among the members during the three-day summit.

"The process will not end even if there is a resolution, and this is a strong crisis which will continue," he told a press conference, adding that the OAS will continue to inspect Venezuela's internal affairs.

Accompanied by Mexico's Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray, Almagro said that "the defense of democracy is an international principle and not interference."

Videgaray also said that the OAS is facing different scenarios about how to react to Venezuela. If this summit does not find a consensus, the topic will then be taken up at the OAS General Assembly.

The OAS is torn between two resolutions. One presented by 14 nations, backed by Mexico, the United States and Canada, criticized Maduro's government and demanded the release of political prisoners, respect for human rights and an end to Maduro's attempts to draft a new constitution.

The other one, backed by the Caribbean allies of Venezuela, made no such demands and rejected interference in Caracas' internal affairs.

Almagro also called on Venezuela to accept international humanitarian aid, to schedule presidential elections and to preserve the independence of the judiciary.

Venezuela announced in April that it would leave the OAS and accused Almagro of seeking regime change against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

The country has also refused to recognize any result coming out from Cancun. On Sunday, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez said that "the U.S. Department of State has deployed its ambassadors in the region to attack Venezuela. We will defeat the OAS even more strongly."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 13:34:33|Editor: An

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Promoting maritime connectivity. Efforts are needed to strengthen international maritime cooperation, improve shipping service networks among countries along the Road, and to jointly establish international and regional shipping centers. Countries along the Road are encouraged to enhance cooperation through pairing sister ports and forging port alliances. Chinese enterprises will be guided to participate in the construction and operation of ports. Projects for the planning and construction of submarine cables will be jointly advanced to improve connectivity in international communications.

Facilitating maritime transport. Exchanges and coordination with relevant countries are encouraged in this area. Closer cooperation will be carried out to improve the market environment for international transportation and to facilitate maritime transportation. China is willing to enhance customs cooperation with countries along the Road, and to promote information exchange, mutual recognition of customs regulations,and mutual assistance in law enforcement.

Strengthening the connectivity of information infrastructure and networks. Information networks will be improved in countries along the Road by jointly building a system with broad coverage for information transmission, processing, management and application, a system for information standards and specifications, and a network security system, thus providing public platforms for information sharing.

Participating in Arctic affairs. China is willing to work with all parties in conducting scientific surveys of navigational routes, setting up land-based monitoring stations, carrying out research on climatic and environmental changes in the Arctic, as well as providing navigational forecasting services. China supports efforts by countries bordering the Arctic in improving marine transportation conditions, and encourages Chinese enterprises to take part in the commercial use of the Arctic route. China is willing to carry out surveys on potential resources in the Arctic region in collaboration with relevant countries, and to strengthen cooperation in clean energy with Arctic countries. Chinese enterprises are encouraged to join in sustainable exploration of Arctic resources in a responsible way. China will actively participate in the events organized by Arctic-related international organizations.

4.3 Maritime security

Maritime security is a key assurance for developing the blue economy. Efforts will be made to promote the concept of common maritime security for mutual benefits. Cooperation in maritime public services, marine management, maritime search and rescue, marine disaster prevention and mitigation and maritime law enforcement will be strengthened in order to enhance capacities for minimizing risks and safeguarding maritime security. [ Strengthening cooperation in maritime public services. China proposes an initiative for jointly developing and sharing maritime public services along the Road, encouraging countries to jointly build ocean observation and monitoring networks, sharing the results of marine environmental surveys, and providing assistance to developing countries in this area. China is willing to strengthen cooperation in the application of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and remote sensing satellite system to provide satellite positioning and information services.

Cooperation on maritime navigation security. China will shoulder its due international obligations, participate in bilateral and multilateral maritime navigation security and crisis-control mechanisms, and work with all parties to combat non-traditional security issues such as crimes on the sea.

Conducting joint maritime search and rescue missions. Under the frameworks of international conventions, China will shoulder its due international obligations, and strengthen information exchange and collaboration in joint search and rescue missions with countries along the Road. Countries are encouraged to expand cooperation in exchange visits, information sharing, personnel training and joint drills in order to enhance capacities in dealing with emergencies at sea including major disasters and security threats to tourists.

Jointly enhancing capabilities to prevent and mitigate marine disasters. We propose jointly setting up marine disaster warning systems in the South China Sea, the Bengal Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, and suggest jointly developing marine disaster warning products for transportation, escort, disaster prevention and mitigation. The IOC South China Sea Tsunami Advisory Center(SCSTAC) will play an active role in providing services to neighboring countries. Efforts will be made to work with countries along the Road to build cooperative mechanisms, set up training centers, conduct joint research and applications in marine disaster prevention and catastrophe response, and to provide technical assistance for countries along the Road.

Strengthening cooperation in maritime law enforcement. Dialogue with countries along the Road will be intensified and differences managed. Maritime law enforcement will be boosted under bilateral and multilateral frameworks. Cooperative mechanisms for joint maritime law enforcement, fishery law enforcement, and anti-terrorism and anti-violence on the sea will be developed and improved. Liaison networks for maritime law enforcement will be established and emergency plans developed through collective efforts. Exchanges and cooperation among the maritime law enforcement agencies of countries along the Road will be promoted, and necessary assistance provided for training. (more)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 13:44:37|Editor: Yang Yi

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SUVA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A pilot program will be introduced in six Fijian primary schools in July to ensure students live a healthy lifestyle and to reduce Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

Reach 4 Your Future Foundation, a charity organization in Fiji, will organize this program that will focus on good nutrition, exercise and movement, as well as rest.

The Foundation will work closely with RMIT University based in Melbourne, Australia.

Health Minister Rosy Akbar said on Tuesday the program aimed to reduce the prevalence of NCDs among the younger generation and to build a healthy population by nurturing young Fijians to understand the importance of their health.

This week statistics released by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services revealed there were 669 limb amputations for 2015 and 791 in 2016 due to diabetes.

Akbar said the statistics showed the alarming consequences of diabetes among Fiji's population and the increasing cases of NCDs were a great burden to the country.

"Top of the list of the NCDs concerns is diabetes and its complications which is a major cause of death and disability in Fiji," said Akbar.

Akbar admitted that many cases were undiagnosed, resulting in many Fijians accessing healthcare services at a late stage when the conditions became too complicated and expensive to manage.

She said it was important for Fijians to take ownership of their health as doctors could only advise on what needed to be done, but real changes to prevent NCDs, was about the choices made by individuals.

She appealed to every individual and their families to choose to live a healthier and happier life.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 13:54:42|Editor: An

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by Xinhua Writer Liu Si

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- "Thucydides' trap," a phrase explaining the likelihood of conflicts between a rising and a currently dominant one, is often used regarding China-U.S. relations, but a renowned scholar remains skeptical and has pointed out that it is a dangerous theory.

The Thucydides' trap, popularized by Professor Graham Allison of the Harvard Kennedy School, refers to the theory that a rising power causes fear in an established power which escalates toward conflicts or wars.

"This (Thucydides' trap) can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's dangerous because you start thinking that somehow this part of the concept has some analytical value," Amitav Acharya, a notable Indian-born Canadian scholar on international relations and writer of the popular book "The End of American World Order," told Xinhua in a recent interview.

The idea of Thucydides' trap was "very simplistic and a little sensationalistic," Acharya said, explaining that a trap basically means no other choices or an inevitable conflict.

"That means neither the U.S. nor China can do much," he said. However, he believed even if there is tension, suspicion or lack of trust in U.S.-China relations, "there's also a certain amount of understanding."

Referring to dialogues established during the leaders' summit between China and the United States in April as "a good step," he said that the two countries would keep talking and try to find a way for the rest of the world.

"The two countries are so closely interdependent," he said, further eleborating that China-U.S. trade now has reached half a trillion U.S.dollars, with more than 1.5-trillion-dollar Chinese investment in U.S. treasury bills.

"When you think about a scale like this, where you come and try to have dialogue and manage this, you don't go to war," said the scholar.

Acharya's view was echoed by quite a number of scholars who questioned the hypothesis of the "Thucydides' trap."

For example, Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, argued persuasively that "there is no Thucydides Trap."

The "Thucydides' trap" analogy was used worldwide in 1914. Acharya pointed out that Allison was "using some of these historical analogies and what happened only in the early 20th century as a way of building his argument, making his case for U.S.-China relations today."

There were theories that make similar arguments such as "the security dilemma" or "power transition theory" which predicts a rising power and a status-quo one might get into conflict, said Acharya.

He argued that the world was so different today, thus "a term like the Thucydides' trap is a false analogy and kind of misuse of history."

One important reason behind the changes, as Acharya emphasized, has to do with nuclear weapons. "Nuclear weapons make countries, especially large powers, very careful about getting into a war. That's a huge factor," he said.

A second reason is that the culture for war has changed. In the 19th and early 20th century, war was still considered as an acceptable and useful means to solve problems. "Today nobody thinks like that. Neither the U.S. nor the Chinese falls into that category," he said.

In addtion, Acharya said in 1914 there were very few institutions in Europe or the world to influence geopolitical rivalry. For instance, only one institution called the Concert of Powers existed in Europe at that time. Today, "there are many international institutions that provide avenues for dialogue and conversation," he said.

Economic interdependence is another reason that makes the world very different from the past. Achaya said China and the United States have so much common interest in each other's economic stability and "that's not what the Thucydides' trap is about."

Acharya warned that academics had a very terrible record of making predictions. "People need to look at the limitations of this concept analytically and also bear in mind of the dangers of using metaphors like this," he said.
South Sudanese refugees are seen at Ngomoromo in Lamwo, northern Ugandan, April 12, 2017. Since the start of the year, some 192,000 South Sudanese have fled to neighboring Uganda, a country currently hosting 832,000 refugees from South Sudan, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported. (Xinhua/Ronald Ssekandi)

by David Musyoka

NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Uganda received the largest number of new refugees in 2016 in the world, said new figures released by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Monday.

According to the UNHCR report, Uganda received 532,725 new refugees last year. Most fled the conflict in South Sudan.

The UN's major annual survey of displacement said at the end of 2016, there were 65.6 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, some 300,000 more than a year earlier, due to war and persecution.

Turkey was the country hosting the largest number of refugees in the world, with 3.1 million, followed by Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon and Pakistan.

"By any measure this is an unacceptable number, and it speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises, and ensuring together that the world's refugees, internally displaced and asylum seekers are properly protected and cared for while solutions are pursued," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi.

According to the report, South Sudan, the world's fastest growing refugee crisis, has by now forced 1.9 million people to flee across the border.

More than 737,000 people fled the conflict in South Sudan last year. Only Syria witnessed a larger number of new refugees at 824,000. According to the report, about half of these people are currently finding safety in Uganda.

Despite this, the country has received only 17 percent of the money needed to provide the most basic support to refugees and host communities so far this year.

Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) that tracks displacement across the globe said the system protecting refugees will collapse "if we do not step up our support to countries like Uganda."

"The richest and most stable countries from Europe to the U.S. do their uttermost to keep refugees away. At the same time, they are not adequately funding reception of refugees in poor host countries," Egeland said.

Syria's conflict remains the world's biggest producer of refugees (5.5 million), however in 2016 the biggest new factor was South Sudan where the disastrous breakdown of peace efforts in July that year contributed to the outflow of 739,900 people by year's end (1.87 million today).

Syria, Iraq, and the still very significant displacement inside Colombia were the biggest internal displacement situations.

"The refugee crisis continues unabated behind the walls and barriers Australian, U.S. and European leaders have erected. It may have disappeared from their view, but remains a stain on our global conscience," said Egeland.

In the shadow of the ongoing crises in Syria and Iraq, conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria and South Sudan forced millions of people to flee their homes.

Egeland called on all countries to step up to the challenges the world is currently facing.

"The historic high displacement figures must foster more dedicated work for political solutions, increase funding to meet humanitarian needs, and bring a larger willingness among all countries to take their share of the responsibility," Egeland said.

He said about 2,000 people crossed the border from South Sudan into Uganda each day over the last twelve months.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 14:29:48|Editor: Yang Yi

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BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Results in European countries' elections so far this year are expected to help bring Europe back on the track of reform in further efforts towards integration after disruptions of a surge in populism.

A clear majority in parliament for new French President Emmanuel Macron as a result of Sunday's elections in France represents the latest setback for populism out of a series in Europe.

A 39-year-old president with the parliamentary support of his one-year-old party has turned out to be the French electorate's final choice. It joined answers elsewhere in Europe to a worrying surge in populism in Western countries highlighted by the Brexit and Donald Trump's taking presidential power in the United States.

European Union advocates first breathed a sigh of relief when the Dutch elections in mid-March put the far-right Party for Freedom PVV in disadvantage with parliament seats far fewer than projected.

They further relaxed earlier in June when Italy's anti-establishment Five-Star Movement known in Italy by its Italian acronym M5S lost the latest round of municipal polls deemed as the weathercock of general elections.

Europe's next key elections scheduled for September in Germany seems to have no suspense due to the strong performance by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party in local votes, which supports her re-election, said Zheng Chunrong, director of the Germany studies center at the Shanghai-based Tongji University.

Such a scenario has undoubtedly dismissed a predicted populist tsunami to sweep Europe.

A Washington Post article commented that the string of election results showed the European public support for pro-EU leaders and a rise in pro-EU sentiment.

Merkel congratulated Macron on a "clear parliamentary majority" for his five-year presidency while wishing for "further good cooperation for Germany, France, Europe."

As early as after Macron winning the presidential race in May, European media reports have shifted to a return to the Germany-France engine in further efforts towards European integration.

The Macron victory was also deemed as reinforcing the European pillar of the U.S.-dominated Western military alliance NATO, something to benefit the Western world as a whole.

Zheng believes that Paris and Berlin would have to coordinate efforts in pushing forward the European integration, because "they have different priorities," namely a multi-speed Europe in collective defense for Berlin, and eurozone reforms for Paris.

The Chinese expert also noted that the EU's pressing challenge is how to cope with the Brexit negotiations begun on June 19 in Brussels, and to convince Europeans that the EU is a trouble shooter instead of a trouble maker.

Meanwhile, as the election results bring up new opportunities, the EU should not underestimate the uncertainty and instability it faces in consequence of interweaving political, economic and social problems within as well as complexities and changes on the global landscape.

Just as what French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has commented, that "French voters have in their vast majority preferred hope to anger, optimism to pessimism, confidence to withdrawal," the conditions for populism to grow, including economic slump, society splitting, refugee crisis and terror attack threats.

For example, discontents in voters were marked by a projected historic low turnout and the first-time entry into parliament by Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigration far-right National Front, in the French parliamentary elections.

Feng Zhongping, vice president of the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, believes that whatever election results this year, an emerging shift to the right in Europe would impact both of the EU's internal and external policies.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 14:45:02|Editor: Yang Yi

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HAVANA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez lambasted the U.S. turnaround on his country during a visit to Austria on Monday.

At a press conference broadcast live in Cuba, the minister said that "the changes needed in Cuba will be decided only by the Cuban people, (and) we will not ask for opinions or permission."

According to Rodriguez, the island will neither accept any conditions from Washington and negotiate under pressure or threats, nor any foreign interference in its internal affairs.

He lambasted U.S. President Donald Trump's "double policy" on human rights and viewed Trump's speech on Friday in Miami as "a grotesque spectacle taken from the Cold War."

He accused Trump of presenting himself as a "renovator" but of "going back to a failed policy."

To Rodriguez, Trump's step-back will have a negative impact on U.S.relations with Cuba and the rest of Latin America, and civil organizations, trade and business in the United States.

He described Trump's decision to block trade between American firms and Cuban companies related to the government and military as "childish" and said it would have "the opposite effect" by uniting the country with patriotism.

The foreign minister also accused the United States of setting up obstacles for Americans to visit Cuba and referred to polls that show more than 70 percent of U.S. citizens against obstacles, especially among young people.

Rodriguez said the recent years had witnessed peaceful coexistence between the two countries.

"There is a willingness (in Cuba) to dialogue, negotiate and resolve bilateral matters, but on a basis of absolute equal sovereignty and respect for our sovereignty and independence," Rodriguez added.

Rodriguez was confident that "history will force a president of the United States to lift the blockade and normalize ties with Cuba. We will have patience and work until this happens."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 14:50:08|Editor: Yang Yi

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MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Philippine Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said on Tuesday that his country will benefit from the Belt and Road Initiative, noting it dovetails with the infrastructure buildup plan of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Dominguez said the initiative, particularly the revival of the maritime silk road, will help improve the Philippines' competitiveness in the global trade arena.

With the airports and seaports as part of Duterte's envisioned "Golden Age of Infrastructure," he said the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road component of the initiative will open new markets for the Philippine products in Beijing's planned corridor between China and the Middle East and Europe.

Dominguez said the initiative is a "powerful idea," adding that it will promote free trade and integrate economies across Asia and Europe.

"We think that the Philippines will definitely benefit in participating in this Belt and Road project particularly in the maritime Silk Road section of the project," Dominguez said in a statement.

He added "the Philippines is building a lot of infrastructures, of course with the help of China, and among the infrastructure that we are building are ports and airports. That will help lower the cost of shipping our goods to (China's) Hong Kong or to (China's) Shanghai and that will open markets to us along the corridor between China and the Middle (East) and Europe."

He said the Philippines' manufacturing industry, particularly companies producing electronics, and its food exports sector, especially those selling tropical fruits, will have more and quicker access to new and profitable markets under the Belt and Road project.

"We are the largest exporters of tropical fruits (in Asia) so definitely there will be a lot of benefit to us if we are able to open markets in let's say Kazakhstan (and other countries), along the Belt and Road area. And that's aside from our manufactured goods," Dominguez said.

The Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013 consists of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. It aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient Silk Road trade routes.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:10:14|Editor: ying

Portuguese soldiers gather at the Fire Department in the area of Pedrogao Grande, some 150 km northeast of Lisbon, Portugal, on June 19, 2017. By Monday, 64 people including a young fire fighter were killed and 135 others were injured in the fires which erupted in Pedrogao Granda on Saturday and quickly spread into neighboring towns, making it the biggest tragedy in Portugal in more than four decades, as President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated. (Xinhua/Zhang Liyun)

LISBON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Two days after the devastating forest fires in Pedrogao Granda, some 150 km northeast of the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon, fire fighters were on Monday still battling the remnants in areas where appalling blazing traces can be seen.

Along the highways a large swathe of tall trees was burnt with telecommunications cables down to the ground as wooden poles were destroyed in the fires. Smokes were seen rising above forests in some areas with temperature reaching nearly 40 degrees celsius.

At a construction site a high crane turned black with its painted coat burnt. Besides it, survived swarms of bees were flying and buzzing around a pile of beehives. A dead hare was spotted out there.

Houses, small and big, destroyed in the fire, stood amid burnt trees, with some of them roofless.

A rescue helicopter is hovering to put out a fire in the forest. Several vehicles carrying fire fighters are moving to areas where fires are still raging.

On the 362 national highway, the wreckage of cars gutted in fire have been cleared but black marks left on the ground are reminiscent of the tragedy that 47 people -- including 30 trapped inside the cars and 17 outside -- were engulfed by a deadly fire there.

By Monday, 64 people including a young fire fighter were killed and 135 others were injured in the fires which erupted in Pedrogao Granda on Saturday and quickly spread into neighboring towns, making it the biggest tragedy in Portugal in more than four decades, as President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated.

A Spanish reporter told Xinhua that on the day when the fires erupted Portuguese fire fighters were not guaranteed good logistic service and the government failed to coordinate resources well. That was among the reasons why there have been so many victims.

A 61-year-old former Portuguese special force officer, who only gave his name as Antonio, somewhat agreed. He also said things have improved and that fire fighters are now well logistically supported.

At a disaster relief center in Pedrogao Grande, volunteers are busy loading trucks with water, food and fruits for distribution among fire fighters. In neighboring Avelar, there are volunteers packing clothing, blankets and shoes for people affected by the fires.

At the command post in Avelar, Portuguese and foreign media reporters are waiting for government updates on the firefighting situation.
Source:Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:42:55|Editor: Mengjie

Combo photo shows the college graduation picture of Zhang Yu in 2008 (L) and Zhang posing at his own bar in Taiyuan, capital of north China's Shanxi Province, June 8, 2017. Zhang, who graduated from School of Literature of Shanxi University in 2008, now is the owner of a bar in Taiyuan. Many Chinese college graduates will leave campus and start their careers this summer. (Xinhua/Cao Yang)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:30:24|Editor: Mengjie

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NANJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Everyone has something with sentimental value: a movie ticket yellowed with age, a report card from primary school, or a first love letter.

In east China's Jiangsu Province, local archives are encouraging residents to collect these items, offering free file boxes and guidance on how to preserve them. The provincial archive bureau has developed free software for residents to manage and digitize the documents.

With the help of the archives, 64-year-old Xu Xiaozhen in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu, has sorted his belongings into 20 archive boxes and stowed them away on top of his bookshelves.

The oldest document was a letter he wrote to his father in 1961.

"I was in primary school while dad worked away from home," Xu recalled. At that time, educated young people like his father were encouraged to go to poor areas.

He wrote the letter just before Spring Festival on a page torn from his school workbook.

"You should take good care of yourself while alone," Xu had written, adding that the family had bought two ducks for the holiday.

Half a century later, his father gave the letter back to him.

Xu also kept the letter from his workplace required for his wedding trip, paper cuttings made for the wedding, and his father's graduation certificate.

Xu, a retired judge, said his most valuable collection consisted of meeting notices from the past decade.

"In one year we had to attend more than 100 meetings," he said. "It was sheer formalism. I knew it was going to change. Look, it's much better now," he said.

"What I have preserved are not just old things, but part of history," Xu said. "As time passes, we may form new ideas about old matters."

According to the Jiangsu archive bureau, about 2,000 households in Nanjing have consulted the bureau about starting their own family archives.

"We plan to add another 1,000 households by the end of this year," said Cui Liping with the Nanjing municipal archive bureau.

While most of the files are stored by residents at home, they may keep valuable ones at the archive bureau. The files could include diaries, letters, manuscripts, photographs, tapes, and diplomas.

"Documents from each family reflect the changes they went through over the decades, while the collections from many households taken together reflect the development of society," Cui said.

He Xingyun, 84, began keeping financial accounts for her own family in 1958, jotting down their income and expenditures every day. The 22 books hold records ranging from two cents for a needle to 600,000 yuan (about 88,019 U.S. dollars) for a house. During the past 59 years, the price of a steamed bun rose from 20 cents to one yuan.

"Thanks to the diary, we have never quarrelled about financial issues," she told Xinhua. "The books offer a small glance at China's economic growth."

Xu Yun, a retired teacher in her 70s, her daughter and granddaughter have all kept detailed records of their daily lives. Their diaries have been published as a set, showing the changes in the women's experiences from generation to generation.

"With the diaries I would like to tell people, our descendants in particular, about the loyalty and love in our family," said Xu.

Xu Xiaozhen has provided leaflets published during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) to the provincial archive bureau. He hopes his son will preserve the rest of his collection in the future.

"I don't expect that everything will be handed down," he said. "The later generations may lose something, and add other things to make the family archive timeless."

Of all the things he has saved, he hopes that an article written by his father will be passed on to his descendants. His father wrote the article during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961), questioning a frenetic steel production campaign that was later acknowledged as unrealistic.

"He was honest and outspoken throughout his life, which I hope the younger generations can learn from," Xu said. "With the family archive, we are not only passing on memories, but also the merit of our ancestors."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:40:30|Editor: ying

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JALALABAD, Afghanistan, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A judge was killed and three others, all civilians sustained injuries as a blast rocked an eastern Afghan city on Tuesday, according to a government official.

The blast took place in eastern Nangarhar provincial capital Jalalabad city, 120 km east of Kabul.

"A magnetic bomb planted on the car of a judge of Nangarhar court went off today morning, while the judge was on his way to office killing him on the spot and injuring three others, all civilians," spokesman for provincial government Attaullah Khogiani said.

Without pointing finger at any particular group, the official blamed the enemies of the country for organizing the attack, saying investigation has been initiated into the case.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:40:32|Editor: Mengjie

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QUITO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- In the lead up to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), Ecuadorian political observers on Monday praised the initiatives and decisions the party has taken in recent years to promote economic and social development.

Legislator Doris Soliz of the ruling left-of-center PAIS Alliance told Xinhua that Ecuadorian lawmakers will be watching the CPC's congress with interest, as the "Communist Party of China is a great political organization that has for decades led Chinese society towards increasing progress and well-being."

"The CPC's agenda consolidates a more prosperous China, the strength of a country that watches out for the basic rights of its inhabitants," said Soliz, who is a former executive secretary of the PAIS Alliance.

"Socialism with Chinese characteristics, as they call it, has many interesting features that have garnered the interest of countries in Latin America, a region with which China today maintains close ties," she said.

"China is a great developing country that is overcoming poverty, developing technology at an accelerated pace, and seeing unprecedented economic growth oriented towards meeting the needs of the Chinese people," she added.

China's economic growth is driven "not by hegemony ... or the domination of other countries," but "by national dignity" and a desire to forge "peaceful ties," she said.

China has been keen to boost exchange and cooperation among the world's different political parties, with the first ever China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum of Political Parties held on Dec. 8 and 9, 2015 in Beijing.

The gathering, organized by the CPC in conjunction with Ecuador's ruling party, drew 58 delegates of 27 political parties in 26 countries from the two regions.

Representatives from both regions exchanged ideas and opinions on the role of political parties in the 21st century, including economic development, poverty reduction and cooperation between China and Latin America.

"China has gotten closer to Latin America, and the Communist Party (of China) has played an important role there through the China-CELAC forum of parties," said Soliz, who was actively involved in the event.

"This exchange between parties that the Communist Party promotes has also been very useful for Ecuador's ruling PAIS Alliance, to understand and learn about the dynamics and way in which Chinese society functions," said Soliz, describing ties between the CPC and PAIS as "close and very positive."

"I think we are living in a time of great closeness between China and Latin America and Ecuador, in all aspects, (not only) in the economic realm, but also in political ties, due to the political vision of the Communist Party now under President Xi Jinping's leadership," said Soliz.

This exchange between parties is "horizontal, with each side being able to learn from the other what it can contribute in terms of knowledge. It is a reciprocal learning," she said.

The CPC has established ties with 90 parties in more than 30 Latin American countries, including both ruling and opposition parties.

Marcelo Fernandez, a former deputy foreign affairs minister of Ecuador and expert in international relations, said the interest in promoting political exchange is "useful for both China and countries with which it wants to strengthen ties."

Regional countries are keenly interested in certain CPC initiatives, such as the campaign to combat corruption, he added.

Soliz, who traveled to Beijing in 2015, when then Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa made his first state visit to China, also highlighted the CPC's anti-corruption drive.

"As part of the internal exercise of power, it proposes to openly fight ethical lapses and corruption, with very severe measures and a permanent clearing out of the bad elements in society," said Soliz.

Fernando Casado, an expert in international relations, spotlighted China's Belt and Road Initiative, a global development scheme that Xi unveiled in 2013.

"This project is today the leading-edge of globalization," said Casado, noting that more than 100 countries have expressed interest in taking part in the innovative plan.

According to political scientist Daniel Kersffeld, Ecuador should make the most of its ties with China to try and participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, which he called "the most important geopolitical and geoeconomic undertaking in recent years."

"Should the Chinese materialize it, it is going to revolutionize the economic world of a lot of countries in Asia and Europe. What China is proposing is the increasing unification of markets," said Kersffeld.

The Belt and Road Initiative centers on coordinating public policies and boosting interconnection of infrastructure among countries along the Belt and Road to increase trade and drive development.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:50:35|Editor: ying

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CANBERRA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has allocated an additional 15 million Australian dollars (11.41 million U.S. dollars) to provide humanitarian support to Afghanistan and Pakistan, the nation's Foreign Minister announced on Tuesday.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the package as part of World Refugee Day.

"The United Nations (UN) estimates over 3.3 million Afghan people are currently displaced across Afghanistan and Pakistan," Bishop said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Australia's assistance of 15 million Australian dollars will provide vital protection services, healthcare and nutrition to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, people returning from neighboring countries, people displaced by conflict and host communities in Pakistan. It will focus on protecting the most vulnerable, including women and children and people with disabilities," she said.

Bishop said the assistance would be allocated to and provided by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the UN Children's Fund, the International Organisation for Migration, and the UN Population Fund.

The minister's announcement comes just hours after the Australian government announced a similar, 1 million Australian dollar (750,000 U.S. dollar) humanitarian assistance package for Filipino civilians caught up in the conflict in Marawi City.

"Our support includes the provision of tarpaulins, sleeping mats, mosquito nets, and water and sanitation kits through the Philippine Red Cross to assist 1000 displaced families," Bishop said.

"We are providing over 500 tonnes of pre-positioned rice through the World Food Programme, which will help feed 60,000 children over the next three months.

"We are also providing hygiene items, torches and whistles for protection, sanitary supplies and clothes, and clean birthing kits through the United Nations Population Fund, to assist over 6,400 women and girls."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:50:36|Editor: ying

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WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. and British trade officials on Monday discussed the possibility of signing a new bilateral trade deal soon after Britain leaves the European Union (EU).

"Both ministers committed to strengthen the economic link between the UK and U.S., including a discussion about the possibility of laying the groundwork for a potential new trade agreement soon after Brexit," said a joint statement by Robert Lighthizer, chief of the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and visiting British trade secretary Liam Fox.

The meeting underlined the shared interest in forging "a closer trade and economic relationship" between the two countries, said Fox.

Given the trade volume between the two countries, they have a strong foundation to build on "as we start preparation on joint work to explore a future ambitious trade agreement once the UK has left the EU," Fox said in the statement.

Lighthizer also pledged to work with the U.S. Congress to lay the groundwork for the future trade relationship with Britain, "including exploring the possibility of a new U.S.-UK trade agreement" as Britain began negotiations with the EU to strike a Brexit deal.

The EU and Britain on Monday launched the long-awaited Brexit talks at the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels, nearly one year after Britain voted to leave the bloc by a narrow margin on June 23, 2016.

British Prime Minister Theresa May sent a notification letter to the EU in late March, triggering a two-year countdown to Britain's withdrawal from the bloc after more than 44 years of membership.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 15:55:41|Editor: ying

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COLOMBO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's health workers on Tuesday warned that the country was facing a dengue epidemic with over 63,000 people affected by the virus and at least 200 patients killed.

Health workers at the Epidemiology Unit said there was a tremendous rise in the Type 2 virus and urgent preventive and curative measures were ongoing to prevent the numbers from rising further.

Hospitals had also been geared with the necessary facilities to treat the patients and hospitals were working on equipping additional beds to treat emergency patients.

"Mosquito breeding places are abundant throughout the country. With 63,987 patients reported in the first six months of this year alone, what we are facing is an epidemic," health workers at the Epidemiology Unit said.

"This situation warrants regular removal of possible mosquito breeding sites from the environment. It is also important to seek medical attention in the event of fever by day three of the illness," health workers added.

Last year a total of 54,727 dengue patients and 78 deaths were reported throughout the island.

So far this year, the most number of cases have been reported from the Western Province, with 27,272 patients.

The Colombo district recorded the highest number with 14,189 patients while Gampaha district recorded the second highest number with 9,370 patients.

The Trincomalee district, in eastern Sri Lanka, recorded a total of 4,318 dengue patients.

On Monday, the Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital in Colombo stopped taking in dengue patients due to overcrowding.

Director of the Hospital Susitha Senaratne told local media the hospital had the capacity to treat 460 fever patients including dengue patients and as of Tuesday, all beds were occupied. However, he said the hospital will admit new patients when in-house patients were being discharged.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 16:41:05|Editor: ying

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MEXICO CITY, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Nobel Prize winner and renowned economist Joseph Stiglitz said Monday it would be "extraordinarily foolish" for the United States to walk away from or weaken the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

Speaking at the 18th World Congress of the International Economic Association in Mexico, Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia University in New York, said the United States should instead try to expand its trade ties with Canada and Mexico, its NAFTA partners.

U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized NAFTA as unfairly benefiting Mexico at the expense of American jobs and industry, and called for a renegotiation of the accord that entered into force in 1994.

Mexico and the United States, which share a 2,000-mile (roughly 3,200-km) border, maintain a natural economic integration largely thanks to NAFTA, which has allowed both sides to thrive, said Stiglitz.

"The interdependence of the United States and Mexico is very good and it would be extraordinarily foolish of the Trump administration to distance itself from NAFTA, to undermine NAFTA," Stiglitz told reporters covering the congress.

The three countries may renegotiate the trade agreement as early as August, as part of Trump's efforts to fulfill his campaign pledge to secure a better deal for U.S. workers by ditching the treaty that he called a "disaster."

However, he has softened his stance since then, saying that he would "not terminate" the pact after he had phone conversations with leaders from Mexico and Canada in April.

Stiglitz said the "ugly rhetoric" of the campaign trail has given way to a growing awareness of the importance of bilateral partnership for the economy.

"I am less concerned now about NAFTA's fate," said Stiglitz, "because I think politics in the United States has evolved in a positive way."

At the conference, Mexico's Finance Minister Jose Antonio Meade told the dozens of economists gathered there that the economies of Mexico and the United States complemented each other.

Mexico is the emerging economy with the largest investment from the United States, and the first or second biggest trade partner of 29 out of 50 states in the United States.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 16:46:08|Editor: ying

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WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Secretary of Commerce Department Wilbur Ross said on Monday that he hoped renegotiation on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) could be done by the end of this year.

"There are plenty of reasons to try to get this done quickly," Ross said of trade talks with Canada and Mexico at the SelectUSA Investment Summit, citing of Mexico's presidential election next July and U.S. congressional midterm elections next fall.

"In an ideal world, we try to get it done by the end of this calendar year, that would be a record speed for any big trade negotiation," Ross told reporters, adding the trade promotion authority, the congressional authority for renegotiating trade deals, would also expire next year.

"I don't know whether we're able to do that, but we are certainly mindful of the calendar and the fact that the calendar is fundamentally not our friend," he said.

The Trump administration in May formally notified U.S. Congress of its intent to renegotiate the NAFTA, triggering a 90-day consultation period before the renegotiation can start.

U.S. President Donald Trump has called NAFTA a "disaster" and blamed it for hollowing out the U.S. manufacturing sector. He has also threatened to quit NAFTA so as to ramp up pressure on Canada and Mexico to renegotiate the trade agreement.

Initiated by the Obama administration, the SelectUSA Investment Summit is the highest-profile event dedicated to promoting foreign direct investment in the United States. This year's summit, scheduled from Sunday to Tuesday, attracted around 2,800 participants, including about 155 representatives from Chinese companies.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 16:56:14|Editor: ying

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HANOI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two Lao men were detained when transporting one ton of marijuana at the Vietnam-Laos border area, Vietnamese media reported on Tuesday.

When transporting 1,000 cakes of dried marijuana weighing one ton by car on Sunday, the two men, aged 25 and 26 from the Lao province of Bolikhamxay, were arrested by border guards of Vietnam's central Ha Tinh province in coordination with Lao relevant agencies, online newspaper Thanh Nien (Young People) reported.

Earlier, realizing that the two men had involved in a transnational drug trafficking ring, the Vietnamese border guards informed the Lao agencies for coordination.
A refugee mother and her child look outside of a window at a hospital in Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya, May 8, 2015. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A paradigm shift is required urgently to break the cycle of droughts that are to blame for acute hunger and malnutrition in the East and Horn of Africa region, a senior charity official said on Monday.

Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, Regional Director for Africa at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), regretted that countries in the East and Horn of Africa continue to grapple with ravages of famine despite decades of humanitarian support.

"Famine and starvation are threatening the lives of tens of millions of people in Africa today. As we respond to the current crisis, it is imperative that we fast-track efforts aimed at investing in longer-term solutions, if we are to break the endless cycle of food insecurity," Traore remarked.

The UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in its latest update said that an estimated 26.5 million people in the greater Horn of Africa are food insecure.

During a recent media briefing in Nairobi, UN officials said that Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi and Kenya are the epicenters of food crisis occasioned by failed rains and conflicts.

Traore proposed radical measures that harness modern technologies to promote climate-resilient food production in the region.

"It is inexcusable in the 21st century to say that Africa is surprised by drought, one of the leading causes of food insecurity. With new technologies, climate prediction, historical data, we can anticipate the onset of drought," said Traore.

He urged governments in the region and their multilateral partners to invest in drought resilience projects that would improve nutrition status of local people.

Local residents wait to collect water in Marsabit, one of the most severe drought regions in Kenya, on March 3, 2017. Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday vowed to enhance drought mitigation measures to ensure all those affected are assisted. Kenya government declared drought a national disaster in February, inviting international community to help in addressing the situation. (Xinhua/Pan Siwei)

"We need to invest in long-term community-level capacities and systems so that local communities are prepared for any future shocks," said Traore, adding that international solidarity is required to strengthen action on desertification and other ecological vagaries responsible for chronic hunger and malnutrition in the region.

International charity Christian Aid said countries in East and Horn of Africa region are staring at a large-scale humanitarian crisis occasioned by acute food and water scarcity.

According to the charity, an estimated 20 million people are at risk of starvation in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia unless provision of relief food is stepped up by national governments and bilateral donors.

"The recent disappointing rains in Ethiopia, and also in Kenya have shattered any faint hopes for water sources to fill up, pastures to regenerate and harvest to be viable," said Christian Aid's Head of Humanitarian Programs for Africa, Maurice Onyango.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:06:00|Editor: ying





A soldier checks a vehicle during a military operation in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, June 19, 2017. Afghan security forces conducted a military operation to find two missing Pakistani diplomatic officials since last Friday. According to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry, the officials have gone missing while commuting to Pakistan by road. (Xinhua/Rahman Safi)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 17:16:19|Editor: ying

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Hi, here's what you need to know about China for the past 24 hours.

WASHINGTON -- China's Sunway TaihuLight and Tianhe-2 are still the world's fastest and second fastest machines, but America's Titan was squeezed into fourth place by an upgraded Swiss system, according to the latest edition of the semiannual T0P500 list of supercomputers released Monday.

Sunway TaihuLight, described by the T0P500 list as "far and away the most powerful number-cruncher on the planet," maintained the lead since last June, when it dethroned Tianhe-2, the former champion for the previous three consecutive years.

It means that a Chinese supercomputer has topped the rankings maintained by researchers in the United States and Germany for nine times in a row.

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BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that BRICS cooperation would be more productive and usher in a new "golden decade."

Xi made the remarks when meeting with the heads of delegations from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, who are in Beijing to attend the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting.

- - - -

BEIJING -- China unveiled a historical book series on Monday to disclose the atrocities of Japanese forces, as the 80th anniversary of the 1937 "July 7 Incident" approaches.h The 51-book series collects data such as cipher telegrams and secret documents from the Japanese military and government at the time.

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DETROIT, the United States -- More than 3,000 small- and medium-sized U.S. businesses and entrepreneurs flocked to Detroit on Monday, as they sought opportunities to reach out to millions of Chinese consumers.

The once deserted motor city came to life as people from 48 states across the country flew in to attend Gateway' 17, a conference held by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

- - - -

QINGDAO -- Chinese bicycle-sharing giant Mobike said Monday that it had 100 million users worldwide.

Mobike started its business in Shanghai in April last year, before expanding into major Chinese cities and branching out abroad. Users access a Mobike account and unlock the bicycles by scanning a QR code on the bicycles.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 17:21:20|Editor: ying

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Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (R) meets with Republic of Korea First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Ding Lin)

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) voiced willingness to improve bilateral relations during a strategic dialogue between foreign ministries.

China hoped the ROK would show political will and resolution, honor its commitment, and work together with China to properly handle relevant issues, to improve relations as soon as possible, said State Councilor Yang Jiechi while meeting with ROK First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam here on Tuesday.

Lim's visit comes at a crucial period of China-ROK relations, which have been severely affected by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

Yang said that the two countries should stick to friendly cooperation, and respect each other's core interests and major concerns.

Lim cited ROK President Moon Jae-in saying the ROK hoped to improve relations with China.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the China-ROK diplomatic relations. The ROK hopes to use the opportunity to strengthen communication and coordination with China, Lim said.

Lim, who used to be the chief ROK delegate to the six-party talks, is visiting Beijing to co-chair the eighth high-level strategic dialogue between China and ROK foreign ministries with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, the two sides will discuss the bilateral relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and other issues of common concern.


Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 17:31:24|Editor: ying

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COLOMBO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's newly appointed Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake on Tuesday commended China's Belt and Road Initiative, saying it would be advantageous for the island country.

In an interview with the local Daily Mirror, Karunanayake said the Silk Road had been in existence for over 3,000 years and Sri Lanka was definitely going to be a part of this ambitious project.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at building an infrastructure and trade network that spans across the globe, linking Asia with Europe and Africa, along the ancient Silk Road trading routes.

"Sri Lanka is in a pivotal point," Karunanayake said, adding that with its strong geographic location in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka aimed to attract more investment and trade.

"All the countries are looking at us. Singapore is a small country emulated by many. They have taken maximum advantage of their location," he added.

The minister said Sri Lanka had a higher edge over Singapore due to its strong location, and the island country would soon make a strong comeback despite suffering the blows of a 30-year civil conflict against Tamil Tiger rebels which ended in 2009.

"Though 30 year aberration of peace kept us out, we will make a comeback. We will even invite Singapore into the system. Nobody should feel threatened," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 17:51:28|Editor: ying

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DHAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh has cut import duty on rice to 10 percent from 28 percent in a bid to rein the instability in prices of the staple food item in the domestic market.

Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed made the announcement at a press briefing Tuesday in capital Dhaka, a move hailed by experts.

He said prices of rice are expected to fall by 6 taka per kilogram as a result of the duty reduction.

Officials say a gazette will be issued in this regard soon.

Owing to higher import duty placed back in 2015 and 2016 in a bid to safeguard local farmers amid cheap prices from neighboring countries, rice import has dropped to a four-year low this year.

Local importers blamed a 28-percent tariff on rice import for the decline.

As the domestic rice market has again become volatile in the wake of reports that paddy production is likely to fall this year due to flash floods and rice blast disease, prices of rice continued to soar since April.

Against this backdrop, the Bangladeshi government has strengthened its efforts to build buffer stock of rice through quick import.

The Bangladeshi government last week decided to import rice from Vietnam for more than 39 taka a kilogram.

The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh reportedly recorded a 47-percent hike in the prices of coarse rice this month compared to the same period last year.

Price hike of food items particularly staple rice is a key concern for the Bangladeshi government as nearly 31.5 percent of its around 160 million people still live below the national poverty line and spend a large part of their incomes on food purchase.

Flash Flood struck the country's northeastern region in March, causing huge loss of Boro (Winter) rice. Apart from this, rice blast disease has also affected boro rice production elsewhere in the country.

Against such circumstances, prices are seen rising in the short term on a supply shortage.

Experts hailed the duty reduction decision, saying it would surely help the government's effort to rein in the market through boosting imports by both the government and private channels. (1 U.S. dollar equals 81 taka)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 18:01:33|Editor: ying

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COLOMBO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka on Tuesday slammed a report by a special United Nations (UN) envoy, saying she has misled the international community on the judicial process currently followed in Sri Lanka.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, delivering a statement in parliament, said the UN must act with responsibility when appointing top officials.

He said the report by the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers Monica Pinto was a harm to Sri Lanka's sovereignty.

The justice minister said Pinto was misled by non-governmental organizations when compiling her report.

Pinto undertook an official country visit to Sri Lanka, at the invitation of the government, together with the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment from April to May last year.

It was the first visit to the country by a Special Rapporteur on the subject of the independence of judges and lawyers.

Pinto submitted her report to the UN Human Rights Council when it convened for its June session in Geneva.

Rajapakshe questioned as to how Pinto could compile a full report on Sri Lanka based on a short visit to the country.

He also accused Pinto of double standards, saying she did not submit similar reports or statements on some other countries.

The minister said the government has sent its response to the report through the foreign ministry to the UN.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 18:16:37|Editor: Yurou Liang

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by Njoroge Kaburo

NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN Children's Fund said Tuesday it requires 13.6 million U.S. dollars to respond to the new influx of South Sudanese refugees in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia, and another 7.3 million dollars in Kenya.

In a statement issued to mark the World Refugee Day, UNICEF called on the governments to adopt its six-point agenda for action to protect refugee and migrant children and ensure their well-being.

Leila Pakkala, UNICEF's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said more than 1 million children have been forced from their homes in South Sudan, often amid horrific violence.

"Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. Despite great efforts on many fronts, the systems in these countries are tremendously stretched," Pakkala said.

According to the UN, more than 1.8 million people have crossed into neighboring countries since violence erupted in South Sudan in December 2013.

In just one year the population of refugees in Uganda has more than doubled from 500,000 to more than 1.25 million, making Uganda now a major host to the fastest growing refugee emergency in the world.

The UN says more than 1,000 children continue to flee South Sudan on average every day in search of safety, making the region's refugee crisis a children's crisis.

The UNICEF noted that 86 percent of all refugees in Uganda are women and children.

"Uganda is now Africa's leading refugee-hosting country, having jumped from the eighth largest refugee-hosting country in the world in mid-2016 to the third largest today, after Turkey and Pakistan," it said.

Such dramatic numbers are placing excessive pressure on the receiver nation and host community resources, especially social services that are critical to children's well-being.

Pakkala praised the progressive and generous open door policy to refugees by the Ugandan government.

"This approach provides better prospects for refugee children in Uganda than in many contexts globally. The very real hope is that such a model is supported widely across countries," she added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 18:36:46|Editor: Yurou Liang

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PARIS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- French journalist Stephane Villeneuve has died in Iraq following an explosion in Mosul, France's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

Villeneuve succumbed to his injuries after a mine exploded in Mosul earlier this week where he was reporting the battle in Iraq' second main town of Mosul for news program Envoye Special which is aired by state-run France 2 television, according to the ministry.

Two other French journalists were injured and an Iraqi reporter was killed in the explosion, it added.

The ministry sent condolences to the victim's family, adding that French embassy in Baghdad "provides all the necessary support" for the two wounded journalists.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 18:41:58|Editor: Mengjie

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by Peter Barker, Gui Tao

LONDON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Britain-China relationship will not be harmed by Brexit, on the contrary, it will be reinforced, foreign affairs adviser and private secretary to two former British prime ministers Charles Powell has said.

"I believe that it is Mrs May's intention that Britain should continue to have a very close and substantial relationship with China," said Powell in a recent interview with Xinhua.

"She will be reinforced in that view, I believe, by the success of the summit meeting between (U.S.) President (Donald) Trump and (Chinese) President Xi Jinping," he added.

"I think if Britain and the U.S. are both simultaneously trying to forge a stronger relationship with China, that essentially is to the benefit of all three countries, and perhaps with Mrs May the relationship with China will be slightly less high-profile, simply because that is more her nature."

Powell said China would "find it useful" to have Britain not just as a trade partner but also as an "important country with which it can have useful, significant strategic discussions", as after Brexit, Britain will be able to speak clearly on its own instead of having to compromise to form a common stand if staying in the European Union (EU).

China has yet to reach a free trade agreement with the EU, and while that's still a possibility, a free trade agreement is something Britain would certainly seek after Brexit takes place.

"Both options will be on the table for China," said Powell.

Powell worked for Margaret Thatcher and then John Major as their private secretary from 1983 to 1991, and saw at first hand how foreign relations were created and handled by Britain.

"If you look at all her time as prime minister, Mrs Thatcher negotiated very hard with Europe, but always to make it possible for Britain to stay in."

Thatcher would have fought to improve Britain's terms of membership of the 28-nation bloc, and would have regarded Brexit "as quitting," said Powell.

As to the upcoming negotiations between Britain and the EU on Brexit, Powell thinks it depends on 27 other EU countries as much as on Britain.

"I think a satisfactory outcome, which enables Britain to continue with a tailor-made relationship with Europe, is perfectly possible if people approach the negotiations sensibly and moderately, and I think both sides should be able to claim victory, if you like, at the end of the negotiations," he suggested.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:02:09|Editor: Yurou Liang

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JERUSALEM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Israeli authorities began on Tuesday to carry out infrastructure works in Amichai, the first new Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank in about 25 years, officials said.

The works are made to prepare the ground for the construction of about 100 housing units for the former settlers of Amona, an illegal outpost built without permits on private Palestinian land that Israeli authorities evacuated in February under a court order.

The site is located next to the settlement of Shilo, south of Nablus city.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the beginning of the works. "Today, ground works began, as I promised, for the establishment of the new community for the residents of Amona," he wrote in his tweeter account.

"After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister who is building a new community in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu tweeted. Judea and Samaria is a common Israeli term for the West Bank.

Amichai is the first settlement that Israel has built since it signed the Oslo peace agreement with the Palestinians in 1993.

The move comes about four months after U.S. President Donald Trump asked Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements for a little bit" to give a chance for the White House's efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

Netanyahu has been under constant pressure by far-right members of his right-wing coalition to step up the expansion of the settlements and even annex parts of the West Bank.

On Monday, Israel's official bureau of statistics published a report revealing that the number of settlement homes Israel began to build in the occupied West Bank rose 70 percent over the past year.

Between April 2016 and the end of March 2017, Israel began to build 2,758 new housing units, compared to 1,619 new units between April 2015 and March 2016, according to the report.

During the first quarter of 2017, 344 settlement homes were put into construction in Israel, it said.

Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East war and has since been controlling them despite wide condemnation. The settlements are illegal under international law and are seen as a major obstacle to peace sought by the Palestinians and the international community.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:07:12|Editor: Yurou Liang

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NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A car bomb explosion rocked the Wadajir district in Somalia's capital of Mogadishu on Tuesday, local media reported.

According to local media, there are some casualties but the number is still unknown. Eyewitnesses told Xinhua some houses were destroyed in the heavy blast.
Workers go about their work at a construction site in Hawassa, Ethiopia, Feb. 3, 2016. The Hawassa Industrial Park is being built by China Civil Engineering Corporation (CCECC) with a focus on garment manufacture and agro-industry.The park is located 280 km south of the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa at the out skirts of the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNP) capital Hawassa. (Xinhua /Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As part of its vision to become the manufacturing hub of Africa, Ethiopia is set to inaugurate the first phase of its flagship Chinese-built Hawassa Industrial Park.

The industrial park is said to be the first Sustainable Textile and Apparel Industrial park in the African continent with state-of-the-art infrastructural capacity.

It is one of the many projects in Ethiopia commissioned by Chinese companies that are engaged in various activities ranging from building industrial parks, setting up factories, constructing railway and other infrastructures.

Built by China Civil Engineering Corporation (CCECC), the Hawassa industrial park located in Hawassa city some 275 km south of the capital Addis Ababa was initially completed in a record time of nine months back in July 2016.

Arkebe Oqubay, Special Advisor to the Ethiopian Prime Minster, speaking in connection with the inaugural ceremony to be held on Tuesday, said that the park would be considered as a model for other industrial parks under construction in the east African country.

He said that the development of sustainable, world class specialized, export-driven and competitive industrial parks is the major target of Ethiopia so as to realize its vision towards economic development and become the manufacturing hub of the African continent.

In addition to the Hawassa industrial park, the east African country has further embarked on the development of similar other industrial zones in Kombolcha, Mekele, Kilinto, Bole Lemmi II, Dire Dawa and Adama among others, of which Mekele and Kombolcha industrial parks to be inaugurated soon.

The Ethiopian government has planned to construct 10 industrial parks across the country aiming at enhancing job opportunities, earning revenue and promoting technology transfer, while majority of the parks are under construction or constructed by Chinese companies.

CCECC, in addition to the Hawassa Industrial Park, is already constructing another industrial park in Adama city, the capital of Oromia regional state, located 99 km southeast of Addis Ababa.

The company has also recently signed a contract agreement to build industrial park in the resort city of Bahir Dar, some 552 km north of Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, at a cost of 60 million dollars.

A construction worker is seen at the Arerti Industrial Park, Ethiopia, March 23, 2017. The industrial park is being built by the China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

Li Wuliang, general manager of CCECC Ethiopia, during the signing ceremony this month, affirmed that the company will strive to finish the 75-hectare Bahir Dar industrial park, which is expected to host eight factory sheds and basic infrastructure utilities, within the agreed nine-month period.

Designed and being built by another Chinese company, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), Arerti Industrial Park located some 140 km east of the capital city Addis Ababa, is another hope of Ethiopia in its quest to become Africa's manufacturing sector excellence.

Woody Lau, Business Manager at CCCC, has recently told Xinhua that Arerti Industrial Park is expected to employ about 400 persons when the first phase incorporating a ceramic plant is finished at a cost of tens of millions of U.S. dollars.

CCCC is not new to building projects that have had strategic changes to Ethiopia, with its trademark Addis Ababa-Adama expressway, Ethiopia's first toll road, inaugurated in April 2014.

Africa's second most populous nation, with a mostly young population of about 100 million, is presently betting on investments in industrial parks to meet the demands of job market and keep the nation stable and prosperous, while the contribution from Chinese companies is massive and highly visible across the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:12:15|Editor: Yurou Liang

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by Wang Xiaopeng and Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The past few weeks had been a surprise for Kassim, a worker at Fort Jesus, as the UNESCO's World Heritage Site in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa saw an increase of visitors in a usually low season.

Francis, a reservation official with Voyager Beach hotel, which sits on rocks overlooking the Indian Ocean, told Xinhua that "the hotel recorded 10 more reservations each day on average from the figures in May."

All this is attributed to the launching of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) train service on May 31.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the modern train dubbed Madaraka Express to replace a century-old locomotive nicknamed "Lunatic Express" that was introduced by British colonialists to link Mombasa and the resource-rich hinterlands.

The passenger service of the 480-kilometers line, built by China Road and Bridge Corporation, has caused quite a stir in the Kenyan society given its exemplary service.

Recent media reports indicated that Kenyans have been scrambling for tickets to travel from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa using the SGR train whose speed and comfort is unrivalled by the old trains or the inter-city buses.

Since first week in service, local dailies have reported that SGR train tickets have been sold out at unprecedented rates in both Nairobi and Mombasa terminus. Images of excited passengers enjoying the SGR train ride have dominated evening news bulletin in local television stations.

Nearly 12,000 passengers had traveled on the newly launched SGR in the week ending June 7, according to operators, indicating the popularity of the service.

HOPE FOR CHANGE

Long before its launch, the railway had triggered high hopes that it will transform Kenya's transport and hospitality sectors.

The biggest beneficiaries of Madaraka Express are local traders, blue and white collar professionals as well as tourists visiting Mombasa for its scenic beaches and heritage sites.

Kenya's tourism stakeholders in their latest assessment of the impact of the SGR train said it has unleashed massive benefits to a sector that contributes about 14 percent to the country's GDP.

Head of Kenya Coast Tourism Association Mohamed Hersi said at a recent media interview that both local and foreign travelers are enjoying a ride through the SGR train specifically to sample the natural wonders along the route.

"SGR train, since its inauguration, has brought new benefits to the tourism industry in the coast region. We have discovered a huge number of domestic tourists are using this train to travel to Mombasa and adjacent towns," said Hersi.

The SGR train takes about four and a half hours to travel from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa as opposed to the old train that took almost 12 hours.

It has brought down the cost of transportation from Mombasa to Nairobi while decongesting the highway connecting both cities.

Many Kenyans who had made a journey using the modern train were upbeat that a new era of speedy and risk-free travel had dawned in the country.

Those who spoke to Xinhua aboard the SGR train said they looked forward to a monumental transformation in their country thanks to the modern train.

In addition to revolutionizing transport and commerce in Kenya, the SGR train service is also expected to impact positively on the country's investments climate.

Local observers believed that the SGR project would attract foreign direct investments in strategic sectors of Kenya's economy, including manufacturing, hospitality, agriculture, mining and financial services. The SGR project, they noted, dovetails with the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China in 2013 to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes.

Peter Kagwanja, CEO of a Nairobi-based pan African think-tank Africa Policy Institute, recently wrote in a local daily that Kenya stood a higher chance of becoming a continental economic powerhouse thanks to the launch of the SGR train.

Madaraka Express is also an artery of the northern development corridor linking Kenya to a market of nearly 350 million people in countries including Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi, said Kagwanja.

Some estimates also expected the phase one of SGR project that is currently operational to boost Kenya's GDP by 1.5 percent.

Kenyatta and other Kenyan officials have stated that the modern railway will facilitate development of special economic zones and dry ports in the Kenyan hinterland. These industrial hubs that are embedded in Kenya's vision 2030 are expected to create new jobs for the country's bulging youthful population.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:12:19|Editor: Yurou Liang

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SINGAPORE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs said on Tuesday that two auxiliary police officers were arrested for terrorism-related offences under the Internal Security Act.

One of the two auxiliary police officers is 24-year-old Muhammad Khairul bin Mohamed, who was issued with an order of detention for his intention to undertake armed violence overseas.

Khairul was radicalized and had the intention to undertake armed violence in Syria. His path to radicalism began in 2012 when he went online to gather more information about the conflict in Syria after learning about it in mainstream media reports.

The other is 36-year-old Mohamad Rizal bin Wahid, who was issued with a restriction order for supporting Khairul's intentions.

Singapore's auxiliary police officers are private contractors hired to do police duties such as carrying out security checks at buildings and crowd control.

The uniformed officers have powers similar to that of police officers while on duty. Some of them are armed with revolvers, according to the Straits Times.
South Sudan refugee children share a meal at Uganda's newly opened Palabek Refugee Settlement in the northern part of the country, April 13, 2016. (Xinhua/Ronald Ssekandi)

NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN Children's Fund said Tuesday it requires 13.6 million U.S. dollars to respond to the new influx of South Sudanese refugees in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia, and another 7.3 million dollars in Kenya.

In a statement issued to mark the World Refugee Day, UNICEF called on the governments to adopt its six-point agenda for action to protect refugee and migrant children and ensure their well-being.

Leila Pakkala, UNICEF's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said more than 1 million children have been forced from their homes in South Sudan, often amid horrific violence.

"Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. Despite great efforts on many fronts, the systems in these countries are tremendously stretched," Pakkala said.

According to the UN, more than 1.8 million people have crossed into neighboring countries since violence erupted in South Sudan in December 2013.

In just one year the population of refugees in Uganda has more than doubled from 500,000 to more than 1.25 million, making Uganda now a major host to the fastest growing refugee emergency in the world.

The UN says more than 1,000 children continue to flee South Sudan on average every day in search of safety, making the region's refugee crisis a children's crisis.

The UNICEF noted that 86 percent of all refugees in Uganda are women and children.

File photo shows Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) wait to be airlifted to the South Sudanese Northern State of Eastern Nile, in Juba, capital of South Sudan, Jan. 7, 2017. (Xinhua/Gale Julius)

"Uganda is now Africa's leading refugee-hosting country, having jumped from the eighth largest refugee-hosting country in the world in mid-2016 to the third largest today, after Turkey and Pakistan," it said.

Such dramatic numbers are placing excessive pressure on the receiver nation and host community resources, especially social services that are critical to children's well-being.

Pakkala praised the progressive and generous open door policy to refugees by the Ugandan government.

"This approach provides better prospects for refugee children in Uganda than in many contexts globally. The very real hope is that such a model is supported widely across countries," she added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:42:40|Editor: ying

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LAMU, Kenya, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Several people are feared dead after a passenger boat heading to Ndau village in the coastal region of Lamu capsized on Tuesday.

Local residents said seven women and three children were among those killed after the boat carrying 35 passengers capsized. However, the Kenya Red Cross Society put the death toll at six.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:47:45|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists have discovered a new type of fermion that opens up a way of exploring the interplay between unconventional fermions in condensed-matter systems.

The research team was led by scientists with the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), whose findings were published in the online version of the academic journal "Nature Communications" on Monday.

In quantum field theory, Lorentz invariance leads to three types of fermion -- Dirac, Weyl and Majorana. The existence of Dirac and Weyl fermions in condensed-matter systems has been confirmed experimentally, and that of Majorana fermions is supported by various experiments.

In condensed-matter systems, however, fermions in crystals are "constrained by the symmetries of the crystal space groups rather than by Lorentz invariance," giving rise to the possibility of finding other types of fermionic excitation that have no counterparts in high-energy physics.

The CAS scientists used a technique to observe the distribution of electrons, called angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, which demonstrated the existence of a "triply degenerate point in the electronic structure of crystalline molybdenum phosphide," -- a brand new discovery in field of fermion research.

They have also observed pairs of Weyl points in the bulk electronic structure of the crystal that coexist with the three-component fermions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 19:57:52|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- To contain risk in the financial sector, China's insurance regulator issued a draft of rules to standardize insurance businesses and cushion against credit risks.

Insurers that offer protection against credit risks may have a core solvency adequacy ratio of at least 75 percent in the most recent quarter, while their comprehensive solvency adequacy ratio should stay above 150 percent, according to the draft released by China Insurance Regulatory Commission.

Companies that fail to meet the requirement should stop offering new insurance on credit risks, according to the draft.

Insurance companies will also be prohibited from offering credit risk insurance to companies rated AA or lower.

To ensure that insurance companies have the ability to pay off their obligations, the draft also details the upper limit of outstanding liabilities.

The companies should also establish a mature system of internal risk control and conduct due diligence on the client's willingness and ability to pay.

The draft is currently open for revision, and the public will have until June 25 this year to provide opinions.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:02:58|Editor: ying

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DAR ES SALAAM, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said Tuesday that Tanzania remained the largest host of Burundi refugees.

"Tanzania has become host to more than 241,000 refugees and asylum-seekers from Burundi since the outbreak of violence in 2015, making it the largest host of Burundian refugees in the region," said the UNHCR in a report to mark the World Refugee Day published on Tuesday.

The UNHCR's new Global Trends report, the organization's major annual survey of displacement said at the end of 2016 there were 65.6 million people forcibly displaced worldwide, some 300,000 more than a year earlier.

Two years after the outbreak of violence in Burundi, children account for more than 60 percent of Burundian new arrivals in Tanzania, said the report.

"Significant numbers of new arrivals continue to flee to the country, with 44,487 having arrived in the first five months of 2017," it said.

Tanzania is currently home to more than 315,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, mainly from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They are hosted in three refugee camps of Nyarugusu, Nduta, and Mtendeli, which face severe pressure.

Nyarugusu camp, which is now one of the largest refugee camps in the world, hosts more than 139,000 individuals and needs to urgently resume a decongestion program, which was halted last July due to limited space in the other camps, said the report.

"UNHCR remains firmly committed to support the government of Tanzania in ensuring refugees continue to receive vital humanitarian assistance, in an environment that allows them to live in safety and with dignity" said UNHCR Representative in Tanzania Chansa Kapaya.

She said the response to Burundian refugees in Tanzania remained severely underfunded, with resources needed across all sectors to respond to the urgent needs of refugees and asylum-seekers.

The Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan in Tanzania is funded at approximately 6 percent as of the second quarter of 2017, with a gap of more than 203 million U.S. dollars, said Kapaya.

The report said children, who make up half the world's refugees, continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the suffering, mainly because of their greater vulnerability.

UNHCR estimates that at least 10 million people were without a nationality or at risk of statelessness at the end of 2016.

However, data recorded by governments and communicated to UNHCR were limited to 3.2 million stateless people in 75 countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:18:16|Editor: ying

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SINGAPORE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Singaporean police have arrested four teenage boys who are suspected of involving in a case of sharing-bike abuse near a mass rapid transit (MRT) station and a bus interchange, the Straits Times reported on Tuesday.

The teenagers, aged from 16 to 18, were arrested for committing a rash act and public nuisance on Monday, police said.

A snapchat clip recently circulated on social media showed a shirtless man hurling an oBike sharing-bike into a canal. He was then filmed riding around a MRT station and near a bus interchange, on an Ofo sharing-bike.

If convicted of committing a rash act, the suspects can be jailed up to six months and fined up to 2,500 Singapore dollars (about 1,800.75 U.S. dollars). If convicted of public nuisance, the penalty is a fine of up to 1,000 Singapore dollars (about 720.3 U.S. dollars).

The Straits Times reported last week that a 14-year-old boy who allegedly threw an Ofo sharing-bike down from the 30th level of the building he lives in was arrested. A 13-second video showing his act was also circulated on social media.

By now, three companies - oBike, Ofo and Mobike - have launched dock-less bike-sharing business in Singapore.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:18:17|Editor: ying

UNHCR spokesman Nadir Farhad receives an interview with Xinhua News Agency in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, June 19, 2017. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is continuing to assist the Afghan returnees and displaced persons at a time when the country has been suffering from armed conflicts and economic woes. (Xinhua/Rahmat Alizadah)

by Farid Behbud

KABUL, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is continuing to assist the Afghan returnees and displaced persons at a time when the country has been suffering from armed conflicts and economic woes, an official from the aid agency has said.

"The UNHCR remains committed and engaged in providing the assistance needed, including protection assistance as well as non-food and food assistance, as a humanitarian agency, for the displaced population, as well as returnees," UNHCR spokesman Nadir Farhad told Xinhua in a recent interview.

Against the backdrop of the World Refugee Day which falls on June 20, Farhad noted that the long-term solution to the Afghan Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and refugees' life had been directly linked to the overall level of stability, peace and harmony in Afghanistan.

"There is no doubt that more stability, peace and tranquility in Afghanistan will provide the situation for more people to come back to their country, for more people to be absorbed back into their communities and more ground will be paved for them to facilitate the sustainable reintegration back into their community," he said on Monday.

More than 1.1 million people have been displaced by the conflict over the past 16 years in Afghanistan, including more than 600,000 people in 2016, according to official statistics.

"No doubt security situations everywhere, not only in Afghanistan, but in every country can play a major factor for the repatriation of the people to their communities. In Afghanistan sadly more recently we have seen an increase in the numbers of those displaced. In Afghanistan, last year we had over 600,000 people that became displaced within their country, we also have had a large number of people who came back to their country in the last quarter of 2016, especially from Pakistan," Farhad noted.

In March this year, China offered 100 million U.S. dollars in efforts to assist the Afghan returnees and to further boost bilateral ties with the neighboring country.

The fund provided by China to Afghan returnees was channeled through the UNHCR and had been rendered to the refugees who recently returned to the country.

Continued Taliban-led insurgency, insecurity incidents, high rate of unemployment and poverty have been the main obstacles to delay the return of more than 4 million Afghan refugees from abroad.

"In the past five years, we have seen an increase in the number of displacements. last year we saw about 650,000 people becoming displaced internally within the country, so far this year, in the past six months we have seen over 100,000 that became displaced in Afghanistan," he said.

Farhad said the main reason for the displacement is armed conflicts, "because of the ongoing clashes in some parts of the country, especially in provinces where they are witnessing an increase in the level of insurgency and violence."

Afghan Minister of Refugees and Repatriation Affairs Sayed Hossein Alimi Balkhi recently said that the government would provide land for the returnees to build homes and reintegrate into their communities.

However, the returnees are doubtful about the government's ability to efficiently provide shelter and new opportunities for the former refugees returning home.

Since 2002, Afghanistan has seen the largest assisted voluntary repatriation operation in the world with some 5.8 million Afghans, or approximately 20 percent of the population, being repatriated from Pakistan, Iran and other countries, according to Farhad.

"Repatriation of such a massive number in less than 12 or 13 years to Afghanistan has certainly posed the issue of the pressure on absorption capacity of the government and the country."

"What they need the most is long-term, sustainable development so that they could eventually be able to be absorbed back into their country, and to be able to restart their lives in their home village," he said.

The aid agency official said the challenges are "enormous" for returnees and IDPs, "not only from a security perspective, but also from a humanitarian development point of view."

"What we are doing as the UNHCR is to ensure that the returnees' needs and the IDPs needs are met, however enormous these needs are and it requires long-term and sustainable development programs," he noted.

The Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of armed conflicts as 715 civilians were killed and over 1,460 others injured in conflict-related incidents across Afghanistan in the first three months of this year, according to figures released by the United Nations mission in the country.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:34:14|Editor: ying

An Afghan refugee woman with her child waits before returning to her home country, at the registration center of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on World Refugee Day on the outskirts of northwest Pakistan's Peshawar, on June 20, 2017. Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nations refugee agency reported Monday. (Xinhua/Umar Qayyum)
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:28:27|Editor: Mengjie

Aerial photo taken on June 11, 2017 shows a castle hotel in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province. Dalian is one of the host cities of the Summer Davos meeting. (Xinhua/Pan Yulong)

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Over 2,000 prominent leaders from politics, business, civil society, academia and the arts will convene in China's northeastern coastal city Dalian, from June 27 to 29 for the 11th Annual Meeting of the New Champions, also known as Summer Davos.

The meeting, themed "Achieving Inclusive Growth in the Fourth Industrial Revolution," will focus on how technology and policy innovations can accelerate a more inclusive style of economic growth that prioritizes meaningful job creation and sustainable development.

Established in 2007, the meeting has become a key gathering on science, technology and innovation.

"Technology and innovation have a huge role to play in helping to build societies that are resilient, prosperous and inclusive. The Annual Meeting of the New Champions is unique not only in its ability to equip leaders with the insights needed to successfully navigate this period of change, but also in the way it convenes leaders from across all stakeholder groups. We hope in this way that it provides leaders with a platform to build meaningful, multi-stakeholder partnerships to address the critical challenges our world faces," said David Aikman, chief representative officer, Greater China, World Economic Forum..

The 2017 program focuses on four themes that will shape more than 200 sessions over the three-day meeting: focusing on scaling up human-centered technology, leading continuous reinvention, creating sustainable systems and responding to geo-economic shifts.

"The Annual Meeting of the New Champions is an important platform for Dalian and China. Dalian is honored to successfully host five of the last 10 meetings. Dalian Municipal Government attaches great importance to the preparation of this year's meeting with new innovative ideas in order to ensure that, once again, the meeting can best present the city as well as of the international standard," said Lu Lin, vice mayor of Dalian.

"The theme of this year's meeting reflects a strong will of the international community to share the opportunities and face the challenges arising from technological innovation together. We expect the discussions and insights on the impact of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to bring us valuable inspiration and suggestions on how to build the world economy to be more creative, inclusive and sustainable," said Liang Linchong, deputy director-general, International Cooperation Department, National Development and Reform Commission.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:33:29|Editor: Mengjie

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HAWASSA, Ethiopia, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia on Tuesday inaugurated the first phase of its flagship Chinese-built Hawassa Industrial Park dedicated to textile and apparel making.

Built by China Civil Engineering Corporation (CCECC), the industrial park, located in Ethiopia's southern city of Hawassa, was completed in July 2016 in a record time of nine months.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony on Monday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that the Hawassa industrial park can be seen as a "foundation in Ethiopia's ambition to be the manufacturing hub of the African continent."

"Ethiopia has attracted huge foreign direct investment (FDI), despite the global decline," he said.

Eighteen companies have already started operations inside the industrial park, and six of them are presently exporting their products to the global market. Once operational at its full potential, the park is expected to generate 1 billion U.S. dollars for the East African country annually.

The Ethiopian government has planned to construct ten industrial parks across the country aiming at creating more jobs, earning revenue and promoting technology transfer. The majority of the parks are being constructed by Chinese firms.

CCECC is also building another industrial park in Adama, the capital city of Oromia regional state.

The company has also recently signed a contract agreement to build an industrial park in the resort city of Bahir Dar at a cost of 60 million dollars.

Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Industrial Parks Development Corporation (IPDC) on Friday announced that two other industrial parks built by Chinese firms will be inaugurated next month.

The Mekelle Industrial Park and the Kombolcha Industrial Park, under construction by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and CCECC respectively, are dedicated to the textile and apparel sector.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:33:29|Editor: ying

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DHAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Education could be a vehicle for children of sex workers to break the vicious cycle of exploitation their mothers face.

The Bangladeshi government in collaboration with development organizations has been supporting children of sex workers so that they get a proper education.

Officials said that hundreds of children of sex workers over the past few decades have been oriented into mainstream society through work-based learning, which can lead to higher education.

Sixteen-year-old Poornima lives at a Safe Home, which provides a protective environment for the daughters of sex workers from the country's largest "Daulatdia brothel."

As a resident of the safe home, Poornima attends a local high school from where she can easily mix with other children.

While children living in the largest Daulatdia brothel have difficulty sleeping and reading due to the noise, Poornima can study in peace and a quiet place at the Safe Home.

Along with close to hundreds of students staying at the safe home, she enjoys regular meals, music lessons, religious instruction and free time to play games.

She meets her mother regularly and has become a member of a local Child Council where she discusses issues of concern with other children.

"When I was at the brothel home, I always felt insecure. Many people talk dirty. It was bad. I did not want to stay there, I used to cry. I was so excited when I came here. I'm fine now," Poornima told Xinhua on Monday.

Poornima now wants to become a paramedic.

"After studying the paramedics courses, I want to become a paramedic doctor. In the future, I want to study more, I want to take my mother away from here (brothel)," she said.

"I want to keep my mom happy and healthy in the future. And in this place I'm in a good environment that is worthwhile."

Sex work is prevalent in Daulatdia, with over 1,000 sex workers employed at the brothel located in Bangladesh's Rajbari district, some 118 km west of the capital city of Dhaka.

Life for children living inside the brothel, which consists of a community of tin or brick and bamboo homes, is difficult, with many girls pressured into sex work as they get older.

Ataur Rahman Manju, a project officer of a local Mukti Mahila Samity (female society), said sex workers can not easily mix with other people in society.

Children could not study here at all previously, she said, adding they had no opportunity to play and engage themselves with other social activities.

"We have been working so that the brothel children can study and are not pressured into sex work like their mothers. Still some of the children born in the brothel are immersed into this profession by their mothers."

Manju said, "Once the mothers in brothels used to increase the physical looks of young girls by feeding them cattle-fattening drugs. Now they do not do it anymore. They understand the harmful effects of such medicine. They also now understand the bad effects of early marriage."

Local development organizations with government and non-government support run the safe homes for children of sex workers, who themselves contribute to some extent by providing money for the better future of their children.

Safe home girl Mousumi Islam has been studying for her higher secondary school certificate examination.

"My future plan is to study paramedical courses and become a paramedic doctor," she said.

Another, Kaniz Fatema, has also been residing at the safe home and received her higher secondary school certificate examination from a local school.

"I want to be a paramedic doctor and that is my future aim. I want my family members and the authorities of the safe home where I stay now to feel proud of me. I want to take my family out of the prostitute brothel. I want to do something so that everybody feels proud for me," Kaniz Fatema said.

Another girl Rumi said the Safe Home is really safe for her. "We are very safe here. We have a good education environment, it's fairly good all round. I'm a new comer at the Safe Home.

Rose is a class two student bearing roll number 15. "I read in the KKS Government Primary School. And I live in the Safe Home. Before I was with my mother in a brothel home. I had problems with my mother. So I feel better to stay here," she said.

"My mother comes to see me every Friday with meals."

Rajbari District Board Chairman Fakir Abdul Jabbar said they bring children from the brothel when they are six-seven years old.

"We ensure a higher education for them in the safe home. We help them find a job after they complete their higher education. And finally we arrange marriages for them and they are established in the society."

"I would say that I am successful. Perhaps I am not 100 percent successful. We have established at least 100 girls in mainstream society so far," said Jabbar, also an executive director of the local development organization KKS, which has been working for the welfare of sex workers' children since 1985.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:33:31|Editor: ying

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LONDON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Britain's Security Minister Ben Wallace said Tuesday the suspect in the Finsbury Park attack was not known to the country's security services and it was believed he has acted alone.

The van driver ploughed into Muslim worshippers after midnight Monday near a mosque in the Finsbury Park area in London, leaving one dead and nine injured.

The man who died at the scene was a father of six, according to local reports.

Although the Metropolitan Police of London have not released the name of the suspect, every national newspaper in Britain, as well as broadcast outlets, have identified him as Darren Osborne, a father of four who lived in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

The 47-year-old man is being held on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

The van used in the attack is undergoing forensic examination by the police. Preliminary investigation found that the vehicle was rented over the weekend from a company in Cardiff.

Osborne's family issued a statement earlier to the media expressing their shock and disbelief at what had happened. In the statement Osborne's mother, sister and nephew said: "We are massively in shock. It's unbelievable. It still hasn't really sunk in. Our hearts go out to those who've been injured."

Detectives are now urgently trying to establish what prompted the man to make a journey of almost 250 km from South Wales to the Finsbury Park area of London, where he carried out the attack.

The victims had just enjoyed a meal to signal the end of their fast during the holy month of Ramadan. As they were heading to their homes on foot, the van swerved toward them while they were walking on the sidewalk near the Finsbury Park Mosque.

A group of Muslim men managed to capture him and handed him over to the police.

Some of the national newspapers hailed the actions of an imam from the mosque who kept the angry crowd calm, amid fears they may attack the van driver.

The tabloid Daily Mirror captured the mood with an editorial saying: "In every terrorist attack we find evil is countered by bravery and London Muslim imam Mohammed Mahmoud is a hero for avoiding potentially more bloodshed by protecting the suspected assailant.

"He is a man of peace and his call for calm, respected by those around him, was inspirational. Worshippers were justifiably seething after a van driver had mown down innocents before reportedly shouting he was going to kill all Muslims."

Prime Minister Theresa May described what had happened as an evil act which had left the community devastated.

It is being viewed as a revenge attack after the recent acts of terrorism by Islamic terrorists in London and Manchester.

A vigil Monday night in Finsbury Park was attended by faith leaders as well as the head of the Metropolitan Police, Commissioner Cressida Dick.

Hundreds of people gathered at the vigil, many holding up banners with the words "Love will win" and "Terror will lose."

Chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque Mohammed Kozbar said at the vigil: "These people, these extremists, their aim is to divide our communities, is to spread hatred, fear and division among our communities. We all have harmony in this area, and these people try to divide us, but we tell them that we will not let you do that."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:43:33|Editor: Mengjie

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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (2nd R) meets with a group of U.S. business leaders and former U.S. officials, who are here for the ninth dialogue with their Chinese counterparts, in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang Tuesday welcomed the U.S. business community to share investment opportunities in China and encouraged them to contribute to bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Li said China welcomed foreign companies to continue investment in the country and grasp opportunities in the fast growing service industry and transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, to promote balanced development of economic and trade cooperation and reciprocity.

He made the remarks while meeting with a group of U.S. business leaders and former U.S. officials, who are in Beijing for the ninth dialogue with their Chinese counterparts scheduled Tuesday to Wednesday.

Li said China supported free trade and fair trade, and encouraged two-way openness and fair competition of the market. He pledged to enlarge market access and improve the business environment.

"The Chinese side is willing to strengthen communication with the U.S. business community, jointly send positive signals for the bilateral trade cooperation, and give stable and positive prospects for the market," the premier said.

Calling trade cooperation an important cornerstone for bilateral relations, Li said the two countries shared more common interests than differences. "Bilateral relations will keep moving forward so long as the two sides improve cooperation in a principle of equality and mutual respect, and settle differences via dialogue and consultation."

The U.S. delegates, headed by Chairman and CEO of ConocoPhillips Ryan Lance, include former U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, former U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and a group of senior business executives.

The delegation spoke positively of China's market prospects, and voiced willingness to contribute to enhancing understanding and solving differences, to promote two-way equal openness and create more growth opportunities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 20:53:35|Editor: ying

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by Christine Lagat

Nairobi, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya will not waver in its commitment to provide a safe haven for refugees from neighboring countries, a senior official said Tuesday during an event to mark World Refugee Day.

Cabinet Secretary for Interior Joseph Nkaissery said Kenya will abide by international treaties on refugee protection amid budgetary constraints linked to dwindling external support.

"Our support for refugees' welfare remains firm despite socio-economic challenges that are hobbling efforts to provide a new lifeline to displaced people globally," Nkaissery said, adding that Kenya has prioritized provision of security, education and health services to refugees living in the country.

Senior government officials, diplomats and humanitarian actors attended the event to mark the 2017 World Refugee Day whose theme was "We stand together with Refugees".

Nkaissery said the theme resonated with Kenya's quest to offer a safe landing to populations displaced by conflicts and natural disasters in the East and Horn of African region.

"Kenya will continue offering protection to refugees and will invest in livelihood projects that benefit them directly. We will also engage our partners to address conflicts that trigger forced migration," said Nkaissery.

Kenya hosts an estimated 500,000 refugees from strife-torn neighboring countries including Somalia and South Sudan.

The East African nation in March hosted a regional summit where it reiterated its commitment to shelter forced migrants.

Nkaissery clarified that Kenya will rally behind humane and voluntary repatriation of Somalia refugees in line with an agreement signed with Mogadishu and the UN refugee agency three years ago.

"We have always supported voluntary repatriation of refugees and so far, 72,000 Somalia refugees have returned home while a good majority have expressed desire to return home. However,this process has been carried out in a humane manner," said Nkaissery.

He urged the international community to scale up support for refugees escaping new conflicts in the region.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:13:48|Editor: Mengjie

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BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping Tuesday underscored centralized and unified leadership to boost integrated military and civilian development.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at the first plenary meeting of the central commission for integrated military and civilian development, which he heads.

Upgraded as a national strategy, integrated military and civilian development is a major achievement of China's long-term coordinated development of economic and national defense construction, Xi said.

It is also a major decision concerning national development and overall security, and a major measure to deal with complicated security threats and gain national strategic advantages, Xi said.

Li Keqiang, Liu Yunshan and Zhang Gaoli, all members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy heads of the commission, also attended the meeting.

Working rules and recent tasks of the commission as well as a guideline on setting up local leading and working organs for integrated military and civilian development, were adopted at the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:18:51|Editor: ying

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MANILA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The spokesman of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday it is "unlikely" that the southern Philippine city Marawi would become a hub of Islamist militants in the region.

He also rejected some American senators' proposal that the U.S. should send more troops to the Philippines.

"It's unlikely for Marawi to become a new hub for IS fighters. The Philippine military has already pre-empted the Maute group from establishing a wilayah or province in Marawi," presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told a news conference.

U.S. lawmakers have reportedly expressed concern about the growing threats from the IS militants, particularly the possibility of making Marawi a center of their terrorist operations in the region. They also called for a bigger role for the U.S. forces in the campaign.

Abella reiterated that the U.S. role in the Philippine government's ongoing military offensive against the militants lies in providing technical assistance. The militants, belonging to the Maute group and the Abu Sayyaf group, have been inspired by the IS.

"The role of the U.S. in relation to IS, is to provide technical assistance as prescribed by the Constitution and we will abide by that," Abella said, implying there is no need for more U.S. troops here.

The Philippine military has been battling the militants in Marawi City since May 23.

Meanwhile, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said Tuesday the military "is aiming to clear Marawi by the end of Ramadan," in case that rebel reinforcements may arrive after Eid al-Fitr, the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

However, asked when the conflict will end, Padilla said the military is not putting a timeline due to the "complexity of the environment."

"We cannot definitely say when we could end this because we are fighting door to door and there are booby traps that need to be taken apart," Padilla said.

The military said as of June 19, 349 people have died in the 29-day firefight, including 258 terrorists, 65 soldiers and 26 civilians.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:23:54|Editor: Mengjie

Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou (R) shakes hands with Nepal's Foreign Secretary Shanker DAS Bairagi before the 11th meeting of Nepal-China Joint Consultation Mechanism held at the office of Foreign Ministry at Singhadurbar in Kathmandu, Nepal, June 20, 2017. China and Nepal on Tuesday pledged to further deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields. China and Nepal on Tuesday pledged to further deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields. (Xinhua/Sunil Sharma)

KATHMANDU, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Nepal on Tuesday pledged to further deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields.

At the 11th round of diplomatic consultations, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said China and Nepal are traditional, good neighbors and the two countries have fostered time-tested friendship.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, China and Nepal have set a good example in forging ties between the countries of different sizes and different social systems based on equal treatment and mutual respect, Kong said.

China appreciates the Nepali government's adherence to the one-China policy, said Kong, adding that China will, as always, support Nepal's efforts in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Noting that Nepal is at the key stage of political and economic transformation, Kong said China will continue to uphold the principle of non-interference in its internal affairs and is willing to provide assistance within its ability for Nepal's socio-economic development.

Regarding Nepal as an important partner in building the Belt and Road, China, with the guidance of the consensus reached between the leaders of the two countries and within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, is willing to align development strategies between the two sides and further deepen mutually beneficial cooperation so as to better benefit the two peoples and create more opportunities for the development of the two sides, he said.

For his part, Nepal's Foreign Secretary Shanker DAS Bairagi said his country treats China as a great neighbor and a great friend, and the two countries have forged solid ties based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Attaching great importance to developing ties with China, Nepal has been upholding the one-China policy and will never allow any forces to use its soils to conduct anti-China activities, the foreign secretary said.

Nepal highly appreciates China's non-interference in its internal affairs as well as China's full respect and understanding of its political process, Bairagi said.

Nepal supports the Belt and Road Initiative and will take an active part in building the China-proposed initiative, said Bairagi, adding his country is also willing to earnestly implement the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries.

The two sides also explored the potential in cooperation in the fields including high-level exchanges, trade and investment, communication and connectivity, energy and post-disaster reconstruction.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:39:03|Editor: Mengjie

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KUNMING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A narcotics control cooperation office was opened in the border county of Jiangcheng in southwest China's Yunnan Province Tuesday.

China has kept good cooperation with Laos and Vietnam on narcotics control, according to Wei Xiaojun, deputy director of Narcotics Control Bureau of Ministry of Public Security.

The office was founded to strengthen cooperation between China, Laos and Vietnam on combating illegal cross-border drug crime.

Since 2002, a total of 10 such cooperation offices have been established by China, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, covering the most serious drug-plagued regions along the borders.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:49:11|Editor: ying

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PHNOM PENH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Cambodia on Tuesday approved the new Law on Senate Election which adds a provision that allows Senate seats to be stripped from any political party that boycotts Senate after an election.

Ninety-seven out of 108 lawmakers in attendance adopted the law.

Ouk Bun Chhoeun, senator from the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) and chairman of the Senate's legislation commission, said under the new law, any political party that boycotts the first Senate session after the king convenes would see its Senate seat(s) taken away and redistributed to other political parties.

He added that the new legislation also increased the number of the Senate seats from the current 61 to 62 in the Senate election on Jan. 14, 2018, and the campaign period for the Senate election was reduced from three weeks to two weeks.

He said the new law replaced the old one that was made in 2005.

Held every six years, the Senate election will be voted by lawmakers and commune councilors across the country.

The current Senate, or the Upper House, has 61 seats, including 46 from the ruling CPP, 11 from the opposition Sam Rainsy Party, and two each from the king's institution and the National Assembly.

The Sam Rainsy Party merged with the Human Rights Party in late 2012 to form a new party called the Cambodia National Rescue Party, which is now the country's main opposition party.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:49:13|Editor: ying

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LAMU, Kenya, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Rescuers have retrieved eight bodies from a passenger boat that capsized in the coastal region of Lamu on Tuesday.

Lamu East County Administrator Shee Kupi Shee said the bodies were recovered by the Kenya Red Cross Society and Kenya Navy personnel who were leading search and rescue operations.

Kupi said three people have not been accounted for while over 20 others have been rescued after a passenger boat capsized in the Indian Ocean near coastal town Lamu.

The boat was sailing from Lamu Island to Lamu East when it was swept away by strong current.

Police and local residents said seven women and three children were among those killed in the boat that carried 35 passengers.

"We suspect the boat may have capsized because it was overloaded," a police officer told Xinhua.

Coast Deputy Regional Commander Akello Odhiambo said the boat was loaded with both passengers and cargo when it capsized due to heavy storm.

Police says the ocean has recently witnessed heavy storms and waves forcing them to suspended fishing activities.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:54:18|Editor: ying

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JAKARTA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- National police of Indonesia has taken measures for the possibility of attacks on scores of vital facilities and police offices launched by militants ahead of Islamic festivity.

National police spokesman Inspector General Setyo Wasisto disclosed on Tuesday that an operation has been undertaken to counter the potential of the terrorist threats.

"This is prepared for the possible strikes on vital objects and police stations," he said at the police headquarters.

National Police chief General Tito Karnavian ordered the police's anti-terror squad of Densus 88 to intensify observation and monitoring on the movement of the terrorist cells prior to the Islamic festivity of Eid al-Fitr which falls on June 26 and 27.

"Take a preemptive act, do a quick respond should it is found an indication of the movement linked to terrorist cells," the general stressed.

Indonesia has suffered from several suicide bombings launched by militants affiliated with the IS terrorist group.

The latest strike was the suicide strike in the country's capital of Jakarta on May 24 that killed three police officers.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:54:21|Editor: ying

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PHNOM PENH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Five dangerous inmates escaped from the Kampong Speu provincial prison in southwestern Cambodia early Tuesday, the National Police website reported, citing a local police chief.

Sam Samoun, police chief of Kampong Speu province, said the five men were spending their prison terms for premeditated murder, robbery, and drug trafficking.

"Currently, the authorities are searching for them," he was quoted as saying by the website.

Kak Savun, director of the Kampong Speu provincial prison, said the five prisoners had been sent to the prison's health center for medical treatment, and they escaped by cutting a hole in the roof of the health center at about 2:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

It was the second jailbreak in Cambodia within four weeks. On May 27, five inmates broke loose from the Ratanakiri provincial prison in northeastern Cambodia after they used a blade to cut the bars of their prison cell. One of them was recaptured hours after the escape, as the remaining four are still at large.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:59:26|Editor: ying

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GENEVA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As global events mark the World Refugee Day on Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reveals in a latest report that the majority of deaths resulting from armed conflicts are now taking place in cities.

The report, titled "I Saw My City Die", shows that "21st century wars are taking place in cities", urban warfare has become the norm, and the battles are happening in people's homes, on their doorsteps, in the streets, schools and hospitals.

"In urban conflicts, civilians have few chances to stay safe," the report says.

The report shows that in the last three years, 70 percent of all civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria took place in cities, while between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

In Syria, millions of people have been subjected to medieval-style sieges during which no aid can get in, together with high-tech aerial bombardment, the report says.

According to the report, all too often, urban warfare doesn't allow families to flee safely. In Iraq, hundreds of thousands of people have been trying to escape the city of Mosul, while the battle rages around them.

When people do manage to flee, they give up their homes, jobs, and for many, the dignity of being able to provide for the family.

"War in cities destroys not just the homes people live in, but the very fabric of family life," the report says.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 21:59:31|Editor: Mengjie

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- It is not the intention of BRICS countries to form a "clique" that targets or replaces anyone, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Tuesday at a daily press briefing.

Spokesperson Geng Shuang was responding to a comment from a journalist, who posited that "BRICS countries, originally grouped as an economic cooperation mechanism, [were] strengthening political and security cooperation to counteract western influence."

"BRICS countries have always been [unified by] a spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, and there has never been any intention of forming cliques or political or military alliances, to target, slander, challenge, or replace anyone, and [the bloc] stands ready to work with all countries for a community of shared future," Geng said.

The BRICS foreign ministers' meeting was held Monday in Beijing, and ministers from the five BRICS countries exchanged views on a wide range of global political, security, economic and financial issues, and pledged to enhance pragmatic cooperation.

BRICS was initially formed as an economic concept. All five members -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- are developing countries and emerging markets, and share the same or similar positions on some major international issues.

"It is natural for them to exchange opinions on international situations including some regional hot spot issues and coordinate positions," Geng said.

BRICS cooperation is underpinned by political security, economy and finance, and people-to-people exchanges.

Cooperation between BRICS countries not only contributes to safeguarding international peace and security, but also helps protect the common interests of developing countries and champions the democratization of international relations.
A picture taken on July 13, 2017, from the Israeli side in the southern Negev desert shows an Egyptian army post on the Israel-Egypt border in Sinai. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

CAIRO, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian military airstrikes killed 12 militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Egypt's North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Gaza Strip, the military spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Based on confirmed intelligence information on a gathering of members of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group in North Sinai, the airstrikes targeted their terror den, killing 12 highly dangerous leading members and destroying four vehicles belonging to them," military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said in the statement.

Anti-government terror attacks in Egypt have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the mid-2013 military overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule.

Later security crackdown killed hundreds and detained thousands of Morsi's supporters while his Muslim Brotherhood group was blacklisted as "terrorist."

Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which changed its name to Sinai State and declared loyalty to the IS, claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks, including those against Coptic churches that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

On Sunday, a roadside bomb attack targeted a police vehicle in Cairo, killed two officers and wounded three conscripts. Later on Monday, army raids in North Sinai killed three extremists and arrested 23 suspects.

Security campaigns in Sinai have killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects over the past few years as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's removal.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 22:29:49|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- German producer price index (PPI) for industrial products fell back in May, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported on Tuesday.

According to Destatis, PPI in May rose by 2.8 percent from the same month 2016, down from a year-on-year increase of 3.4 percent in April.

On a month-to-month basis, PPI fell 0.2 percent in May, compared to an increase of 0.4 percent in April and unchanged in March.

In the reported month, energy prices rose 3.0 percent year-on-year. Prices of petroleum products increased by 6.7 percent and prices of electricity up 5.6 percent, whereas prices of natural gas (distribution) decreased by 5.5 percent.

Excluding energy prices, PPI in May climbed 2.7 percent from May 2016 and rose 0.1 percent from April.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 22:45:00|Editor: MJ

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SOFIA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The political stability and territorial integrity of Macedonia are paramount for the country's path to the European Union (EU) and NATO, Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said Tuesday.

Macedonia's possible membership in NATO, the EU and united Balkans is contingent upon the country first achieving domestic political stability, and solving the issues by the political elite of the country, Borissov said at a press conference after bilateral talks with his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev.

"We are for a united Macedonia, we are for its membership in NATO, and subsequently in the EU," Borissov said.

He said his country would do everything possible to help fix the problems in Macedonia because its destabilization meant instability at the borders, Borissov said.

Zaev said in turn that Macedonia would rely on Bulgaria's help to join NATO and the EU.

When Macedonia's neighbors pitch in to help, this gives the country better prospects, Zaev said.

However, Borissov said in response that everything depended on the political elite in Macedonia. If the country fails to make the important steps, help would not be enough, Borissov added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 22:50:12|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) on Tuesday denied the arrest of three of its members by Saudi Arabia in the Persian Gulf, semi-official ISNA news agency reported.

"The arrest of a number of the IRGC forces (by the Saudi coastguards) in the bordering area of Saudi Arabia and Iran in Persian Gulf is a mere lie," Sardar Sanaei, the political deputy of the IRGC, was quoted as saying.

On Monday, the Saudi navy announced that it had arrested three members of the IRGC in the Persian Gulf, as they were approaching its offshore Marjan oilfield.

The announcement by the Saudi navy said that some explosives and weapons were seized from their boat.

On Tuesday, Iran's government spokesman, Mohammad baqer Nobakht, confirmed the detention of three Iranian nationals by the Saudi coastguards, saying that they were fishermen.

Iran's Interior Ministry's director general for border affairs Majid Aqa-Babaei said Saturday that Saudi Arabia's coastguard killed an Iranian fisherman in the Persian Gulf.

The incident happened after two Iranian boats fishing in the Persian Gulf strayed from their course due to big sea waves, Aqa-Babaei said.

The coastguard of Saudi Arabia opened fire on the Iranian boats and a fisherman was killed due to a bullet hitting him in the waist," he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 22:50:14|Editor: yan

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HARARE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Motorists and other travelers on Tuesday welcomed government plans to reduce the number of police roadblocks along Zimbabwe's highways that had made journeys tedious.

Home Affairs Minister Ignatius Chombo said Monday that the roadblocks would be limited to four per province within the next week, except for exceptional cases calling for more.

"We have told the Commissioner-General of Police to reduce or remove all unnecessary roadblocks and leave the necessary ones," Chombo was quoted in the state media as saying.

"We do not want to be seen as torturing our citizens," the minister said.

Motorists and tourists had complained about the number of police roadblocks in the country. Some alleged that they could encounter as many as 10 on a single journey of less than 300 kilometers.

Motorist Peter Kawadza told Xinhua that he was happy with the move but remained skeptical on the numbers mentioned.

"Harare Province has at least five highways out to Nyamapanda, Mutare, Masvingo, Bulawayo and Chirundu. So how many roadblocks are we going to see along each of the highways and over what distances? Let's wait and see how they will do it," he said.

Another motorist Tapiwa Chikumbindi said while he welcomed the reduction of the number of roadblocks, police presence on the highways was still necessary to deter criminals.

"The roadblocks had become too many and were hindering the smooth flow of traffic, especially in urban areas during peak hours. However, we need them here and there to stop highway criminals who are pouncing on travellers everyday," he said.

Tourism promotion authorities earlier this year engaged the police over the same matter arguing that the roadblocks had become an obstruction to the tourism industry.

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has also demanded a balance between the need to protect the security of the country and promotion of tourism.

Zimbabwe received 2.1 million visitors in 2015 and is targeting to reach 5 million, bringing in 5 billion dollars in tourism revenue, by 2020.

Police have defended the high number of roadblocks saying that they are there for security reasons and also serve to reduce road carnage.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 23:00:17|Editor: Song Lifang

A visitor views a photo exhibition in Jakarta, Indonesia, on June 20, 2017. The photo exhibition was held here Tuesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China. (Xinhua/Du Yu)

JAKARTA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A photo exhibition was held here Tuesday to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to China.

Organized by Chinese embassy in Indonesia, the exhibition displayed nearly 40 big photos unfolding Hong Kong's great achievements in politics, economy, social affairs and culture in the past 20 years.

More than 100 people attended the opening ceremony, including Indonesian officials, experts and journalists.

Sun Weide, Charge d'Affaires and Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia, said that over the past two decades, the successful implementation of "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law have delivered continuous progress in Hong Kong's democratic politics and helped maintain Hong Kong's stability and prosperity.

Sun said Hong Kong has further consolidated its status as an international hub for shipping, finance and trade.

"I believe today's exhibition will give you a clear impression of the significant development of Hong Kong over the past two decades and its unique charm as the 'Pear Of the Orient'," he added.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Do Pang Wai-yee, head of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Jakarta said over the past 20 years, cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong had become increasingly close.

She said Hong Kong will continue to fully support the Belt and Road Initiative, leverage "one country, two systems" and other advantages to give full play to Hong Kong's role as a "super-connector" between the Chinese mainland and Indonesia as well as ASEAN.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 23:05:19|Editor: yan

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VIENTIANE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Lao tourism sector should work hard to improve its competitiveness and integrate more with other ASEAN countries in order to attract more international visitors, an official said Tuesday.

Hartmut Janus, Project Director of the Regional Economic Integration of Laos into ASEAN, Trade and Entrepreneurship Development project made the remarks while addressing the opening ceremony of a workshop on ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2025 in Lao capital Vientiane.

The translation of the ASEAN Tourism Strategic Plan 2016-2025 into a national action plan and its implementation are decisive for Laos, said Hartmut Janus.

"For Laos, the integration into regional ASEAN tourism is particularly important. The vast majority of tourism arrivals in Laos are from neighboring countries. However, the average length and spending of these sub-regional visitors are rather low. For visitors from Australia, America and Europe, Laos is often not yet a stand-alone destination," Janus said, quoted by Lao state-run news agency KPL.

The role of tourism sector in the socio-economic development in Laos is particularly relevant. The exports of the country are mainly accounted for by natural resources including mining, wood, and hydropower, which are rather capital intensive and do not create a large number of employment opportunities for Lao people, he said.

The number of overseas tourist arrivals in Laos decreased by 12 percent in the first three months of 2017, falling from 1.24 million people in the same period last year, according to Sounh Manivong, Director General of the Tourism Promotion Department under Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.

The first quarter of 2017 saw an 11 percent year-on-year decrease in the number of ASEAN visitors coming to Laos, plunging from 866,000 people in the first quarter of 2016. Meanwhile the number of visitors from Europe, Americas, Africa and the Middle East showed a decrease of 29 percent, 30 percent and 29 percent respectively.

Last year, just over 4.23 million foreign visitors came to the Southeast Asian country, a drop of 10 percent compared to 2015.

ASEAN has envisaged that by 2025 it will become a quality tourism destination committed to responsible, sustainable, inclusive and balanced tourism development.

However, the challenges facing the sustainable development of quality tourism and its integration within the ASEAN economy are numerous. These include making cross border formalities more convenient and less costly, reducing the high cost of travel industry services in the region, increasing the participation of local communities in the tourism value chain, especially in the less developed yet tourism rich areas, and developing destinations that are inclusive, green and knowledge-based, according to KPL.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 23:15:22|Editor: yan

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A still image taken from footage shot on June 18, 2017 and broadcast on Iranian Television IRINN, purports to showmissilesbeing fired fromIraninto eastern Syria. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A statement by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that at least 65 militants of the Islamic State (IS) were killed in its recent missile attack on Syria's eastern region, Press TV reported.

Among the casualties of the IS, there were Kazakh, Saudi, Libyans and Afghan nationals, the statement availed to Press TV read. Senior Saudi IS commander, Sa'ad al-Qosaibi, was among the dead people, it added.

In the attack, four IS positions were struck by the IRGC's mid-range missiles.

Among the targets, a weapon and munition cache of IS in northern Deir ez-Zor was "precisely struck and completely annihilated," it said, adding that several tanks, military vehicles and suicide cars and a huge number of missiles were also destroyed.

Meanwhile, an IS command and operation center in the eastern Syrian city of al-Muhassan was also targeted, which the IRGC described as "one of the key and crucial IS centers in the region."

On Sunday, the IRGC said that it fired missiles at the "terrorists" command centers and logistic depots in Deir ez-Zor to punish the "Takfiri terrorists" for their recent twin attacks in Iran's capital Tehran.

On June 7, 17 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in twin terror attacks perpetrated by IS militants on Iran's Parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-20 23:20:24|Editor: An

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PHNOM PENH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Some 360,783 Chinese holidaymakers had visited Cambodia in the first four months of 2017, up 31 percent over the same period last year, the Tourism Ministry's latest data showed on Tuesday.

China ranked the largest source of foreign tourists to Cambodia, the data said, adding that the Chinese visitors accounted for 18.8 percent of the 1.9 million foreigners visiting the Southeast Asian country during the January-April period this year.

Kong Sopheareak, director of the Tourism Ministry's statistics and planning department, told Xinhua last month that the excellent relations between Cambodia and China, Cambodia's attractive tourism sites, and direct flights between the two countries are the key factors attracting more Chinese tourists and business people to Cambodia.

He said, currently, 12 airlines are operating about 120 flights per week between Cambodian and Chinese cities.

"It is expected that Chinese tourists to Cambodia will reach 1 million in 2017," he said.

Cambodia is famous for the 12th century Angkor Archeological Park in northwestern Siem Reap province. Besides, it has a 450-km pristine coastline stretching across four provinces in the country's southwestern part.

Tourism is one of the four pillars supporting the Cambodian economy. In 2016, the country welcomed 5 million foreign tourists, including 830,000 Chinese, earning gross revenue of 3.4 billion U.S. dollars, according to the Tourism Ministry.
A still image taken from footage shot on June 18, 2017 and broadcast on Iranian Television IRINN, purports to show missiles being fired fromIran into eastern Syria. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A statement by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said Tuesday that at least 65 militants of the Islamic State (IS) were killed in its recent missile attack on Syria's eastern region, Press TV reported.

Among the casualties of the IS, there were Kazakh, Saudi, Libyans and Afghan nationals, the statement availed to Press TV read. Senior Saudi IS commander, Sa'ad al-Qosaibi, was among the dead people, it added.

In the attack, four IS positions were struck by the IRGC's mid-range missiles.

Among the targets, a weapon and munition cache of IS in northern Deir ez-Zor was "precisely struck and completely annihilated," it said, adding that several tanks, military vehicles and suicide cars and a huge number of missiles were also destroyed.

Meanwhile, an IS command and operation center in the eastern Syrian city of al-Muhassan was also targeted, which the IRGC described as "one of the key and crucial IS centers in the region."

On Sunday, the IRGC said that it fired missiles at the "terrorists" command centers and logistic depots in Deir ez-Zor to punish the "Takfiri terrorists" for their recent twin attacks in Iran's capital Tehran.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:00:44|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned the recent terrorist attack on a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in the British capital London, Press TV reported.

"Violence and extremism are deplorable and unacceptable everywhere," the Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.

He expressed sympathy with the British people and the bereaved families of the victims and stressed the importance of remaining vigilant and adopting significant measures against terrorism.

A man drove a van into a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in north London around midnight Monday. The vehicle crashed pedestrians near Finsbury Park Mosque as they left Ramadan night prayers.

At least one was killed and 10 others were injured in the attack.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:00:46|Editor: yan

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by Alessandra Cardone

VICENZA, Italy, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Similar to a haute cuisine recipe, many varied ingredients are needed to make a great chef.

This is the concept behind the Master of Italian Culinary Arts program held in Vicenza in the northeast Veneto region of Italy, which recently closed its 2017 edition.

The program this year featured sixteen students, 48 lecturers -- among which were 24 Michelin-starred chefs -- and some 800 hours of theory and practical lessons, to be followed by a four-month internship in an Italian restaurant.

Waiting in the school's auditorium to be awarded for the first phase of their master, Marta, Alessandro are in their late 20s and came from different regions of the country to attend the course and are soon to embark on traineeships at 16 Michelin-starred kitchens in Italy.

"I worked as a cook for seven years before enrolling in the Vicenza master," Marta Sbaffi, from the town of Recanati in the Marche region, told Xinhua.

"When I got to a certain point, however, I realized I still missed some basics in order to make a real leap forward," Sbaffi explained.

Yet, Italy is a land of good food and good cooking. It has plenty of schools in the sector. So, what makes this master course somehow special?

One factor might be the allure of one of the founders -- three Michelin-starred chef Massimiliano Alajmo -- who launched the school with his brother Raffaele.

But the real secret seems to lie in what students here learn: food science, cooking techniques, and haute cuisine, of course, but also food chemistry and physics, arts and aesthetic, sensory analysis, livestock farming, agriculture, and fishing, and even cross-cultural contamination.

This interdisciplinary approach was the hallmark of the initiative, organizers said. "Our aim is not to bang out new chefs: it is to offer each student a chance to express himself," Alajmo said.

"We teach cuisine in all of its aspects at the highest level, thanks to the best professionals in Italy."

"Yet, our lessons also stretch from perfumery to chemistry, from aesthetic to history of Italian gastronomy," he said.

Understanding the mechanism of sensory perception -- for example, how the sense of smell influences the sense of taste -- or what chemical reactions take place during a specific preparation may make the difference between a good cook and an excellent one, according to the chef.

Organized since 2013 by the Chamber of Commerce of Vicenza, the Master of Italian Culinary Arts has seen almost 90 students graduate from its program so far.

Alessandro Brusamento is about to intern at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant of Massimo Bottura, which ranks second on the list of the world's 50 best restaurants 2017, a challenge that both electrifies and fills him with terror, he said.

He said he would treasure the first rule he was taught in Vicenza: work hard, stay humble, and persevere...but do not be scared of your own creativity.

"The basic lesson is that nothing is fully wrong, or fully right ... The crucial thing is to do what you have in mind, but paying respect to quality, to raw materials, to the client, and to your own work," the student from Padua said.

Brusamento seemed positive the master's multidisciplinary approach could make a difference for him.

"Take food chemistry and physics: it helps you understand how to enhance some properties of a food rather than others, or how your tongue detects tastes, or how cooking temperatures can change tastes," he said.

To Brusamento, cuisine is one of the best forms of art, as it is "a unique act of creation that takes place every single time you perform".
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:05:49|Editor: yan

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RAMALLAH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A young Palestinian man was killed on Tuesday afternoon near an Israeli army road barrier close to the West Bank city of Ramallah, medical officials said.

The Palestinian Health Ministry in the West Bank said in an emailed press statement that the young man was killed after Israeli soldiers stationed at Jabba'a checkpoint of the Israeli army near the city.

The Israeli army has meanwhile said the young man was shot after he tried to stab one of the soldiers at the checkpoint.

Three Palestinians were killed last Friday by Israeli police forces in east Jerusalem after carrying out two attacks; one was a stabbing attack and the other was a shooting one. An Israeli female soldier was killed in the attacks.

Since October 2015, tension has been growing up between Israel and the Palestinians. According to official figures, 372 Palestinians, two Jordanians and 48 Israelis were killed during the period.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:10:57|Editor: yan

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KIGALI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has started on reforming business environment in order to create conducive investment climate for both foreign and domestic investors.

The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) on Tuesday announced 14 business reforms that are currently under implementation, a move that is creating an efficient, better legal environment, incentives and creating a sound and stable macroeconomic environment.

The 14 reforms that fall under seven indicators evaluated by the World Bank Doing Business Report are expected to further improve the investment climate for both local and international investors.

Among the reforms are reduction and costs and time to obtain a construction permit which had previously been termed as costly and time consuming.

Addressing a news conference on Tuesday, Clare Akamanzi, chief executive officer of RDB said one of the significant reforms is the passing of the new company law of 2009 that was repealed and replaced to incorporate global best practice.

The new company law enhances the rights of minority shareholders and introduces lean management structures for small and medium enterprises in the country.

"A friendly business environment provides an opportunity to attract Foreign Direct Investments. Rwanda continues strong doing business reforms to boost investment and private sector growth," she said.

Akamanzi added that doing business reforms like the reduction in the time and costs to obtain construction permits have greatly reduced the burden for SMEs growth in Rwanda and increased transparency and corporate governance.

RDB will continue to engage the private sector and other stakeholders to find ways to further improve business environment, said the CEO.

According to RDB, the city of Kigali authorities have introduced an online system, the Construction Building Permitting System that cuts down the number of days taken to acquire a construction permit to between five and seven days.

The new reforms have also made it easy to trade across border by scrapping off some documentation required and easing the access of other documents.

With that traders no longer have to go to the Rwanda Revenue Authority Offices to get a certificate of origin and can acquire it at any exit point or border.

The small central African country that targets to reach upper middle income status by 2035 has boosted investment opportunities by introducing a new investment law.

The new investment law, launched in Kigali in 2015, replaced one enacted in 2005, seeks to enable the Rwandan to be more accessible to foreign businesses.

The country boasts a good business environment that is corruption free and reducing the hours of registering a business from 24 hours to 6 hours, hence attracting both local and foreign investors.

In the World Bank Group report, Doing Business 2017, Rwanda ranked 56th out of 190 countries' economies in ease of doing business, further encouraging investor confidence.

Rwanda has also opened strategic business offices in different countries like Turkey, Canada, UK, the United States, South Africa, Singapore and China, with the aim of promoting investments in those countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:16:00|Editor: yan

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NAIROBI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is currently reviewing all its bilateral trade agreements it has signed with other countries with a view to enhancing exports, officials said on Tuesday.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Cooperatives Chris Kiptoo told Xinhua in Nairobi that the review follows the approval of the National Trade Policy by the Cabinet early this month.

"We hope to complete the review of bilateral trade agreements by the end of the year," Kiptoo said on the sidelines of a consultative meeting between Kenya and Commercial Attaches representing foreign countries in Kenya.

The East Africa nation has so far signed over 35 trade agreement with other nations. "The objective of the exercise is for Kenya to reap maximum benefit from agreements that it has signed," Kiptoo said.

The review will help Kenya to identify those agreements which we can fully implement and those that that have difficulties in implementation.

The government official noted that Kenya's exports have grown slightly or stagnated over the past decade while imports have more than doubled.

The PS said that despite Kenya signing a lot of bilateral agreements, Kenya's exports are not growing as expected.

"Unfortunately, imports are growing faster than exports meaning other countries could be benefiting more from Kenya, than Kenya is reaping from the relationships," he added.

The Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry has signed over 120 agreements with counterparts of other nations.

The ministry of industry has set a target of increasing exports as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product from the current 15 to 30 percent by the year 2020.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:21:04|Editor: An

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Zhang Dejiang (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, holds talks with President of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power Esteban Lazo Hernandez in Beijing, capital of China, June 20, 2017. (Xinhua/Zhang Duo)

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China and Cuba Tuesday pledged to deepen parliamentary exchanges to serve the development of bilateral relations.

The pledge came after talks between top Chinese legislator Zhang Dejiang and Esteban Lazo Hernandez, president of Cuba's National Assembly of People's Power.

"Since China and Cuba forged diplomatic ties 57 years ago, bilateral relations have withstood the test of an ever-changing international situation, and bilateral friendship has been continuously consolidated and developed," Zhang said. "China has always given Cuba an especially important position in its overall diplomacy."

Zhang said that China would work with Cuba to steadfastly deepen their friendship, treat each other with sincerity, carry out mutually beneficial cooperation and forge partnership in reform and development.

China firmly supports Cuba's pursuit of the socialist path, he added.

He said China's National People's Congress (NPC) attached great importance to developing friendly relations with Cuba's National Assembly.

Zhang, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, called on the two sides to enhance multi-level exchanges, implement the consensus reached by both leaders and boost friendship between the two parties, the two peoples and the two nations.

He suggested that the two sides strengthen political mutual support and trust, reinforce experience-sharing on state governance, facilitate pragmatic cooperation and deepen people-to-people exchanges.

Lazo underscored the strategic significance of Cuba-China ties, saying Cuba hoped to learn from China its successful experience in deepening reform, developing its economy and attracting foreign investment.

"Cuba's National Assembly is willing to enhance contacts with the NPC to advance bilateral cooperation," he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:21:05|Editor: Zhou Xin

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LUSAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Zambia was set to unveil its new development plan which will chart the country's development path for the next five years, a senior official said on Tuesday.

Minister of National Development Planning Lucky Mulusa said the Seventh National Development has been finalized and will be launched on Wednesday, June 21, 2017.

The plan runs from 2017 to 2021.

The Zambian minister said the plan, like the three national development plans that precede it, was aimed at attaining long-term objectives as outlined in the Vision 2030 of becoming a 'prosperous middle-income country by year 2030'.

The plan, which was approved by cabinet in March this year, was based on the integrated multi-sectoral approach which recognizes the multi-faced and inter-linked nature of sustainable development, he added.

According to him, the new plan calls for intervention to be tackled simultaneously through a coordinated approach to implementing development programs,

He pointed out that it was envisaged that the efforts will culminate into the creation of a diversified and resilient economy for sustained growth and socio-economic transformation driven by agriculture, mining and tourism.

"The contents of the plan will have an impact on the well-being of Zambians from all walks of life," he told reporters during a press briefing.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:26:11|Editor: yan

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LUSAKA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Zambia's broadcasting regulator on Tuesday summoned 29 radio stations to exculpate themselves for failure to comply with regulations.

The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) summoned the radio stations from the different parts of the country for failure to comply with IBA Act which regulates the operations of the broadcasting industry in the southern African nation, according to a notice sent to the radio stations.

The summoned radio stations have, among other things, allegedly failed to pay license fees in line with the law, according to state broadcaster, the Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation.

According to the notice, the regulator said it has written to the radio stations in order to allow them an opportunity to exculpate themselves for violating the law before any action could be taken.

The hearings have been set for July 14, 2017.

Among the summoned radio stations, 11 are from Lusaka, the country's capital.

There are about 99 radio and 33 televisions operating in Zambia since the opening up of the airwaves.

Last year, the regulator suspended the broadcasting license of the country's leading private television, Muvi Television, and two other radio stations for alleged unprofessional conduct in the run up to and after the general elections held on August 11. The licenses were later restored.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:31:12|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Tuesday called on public security organs to speed up sci-tech innovation.

Meng Jianzhu, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks at a work conference on sci-tech and informationization in the country's public security organs.

Meng asked public security organs to accelerate the use of sci-tech achievements and prepare for the 19th CPC National Congress scheduled for later this year.

He also asked them to remain loyal to the CPC, serve the people and carry out law enforcement fairly.

Public security minister Guo Shengkun also attended the meeting.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:46:28|Editor: ZD

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by Xinhua writer Zhi Linfei

DOHA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The ongoing crisis between Qatar and several Arab countries seems to have no sooner solution as the rivaling parties hold their unyielding ground.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, as well as several other Muslim nations including Egypt, cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar and closed off sea, air and land links to the tiny Gulf country.

The Saudi-led alliance accuses Doha of sponsoring terrorism, harboring extremists, interfering in their internal affairs and cultivating warm ties with Iran, a Saudi rival. Doha has dismissed the claims as unjustified.

Refusing to buckle under the pressure from the Saudi-led alliance, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani stated Monday it would not hold talks with any of those countries, unless they lift the sanctions first.

At the same time, the Saudi-led alliance is drafting a list of complaints about Doha, which they say should be fully addressed by Qatar before resuming diplomatic ties with it.

SAUDI SETS A HIGH BAR FOR ENDING CRISIS

After cutting its diplomatic ties with Doha and imposing sanctions, Riyadh immediately spelled out its conditions for resuming diplomatic relationship with Qatar.

Among the demands are calls on Doha to cease interference in internal affairs of other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), expel anti-GCC elements, ban its media from inciting against the GCC and Egypt, stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood and harboring its members, reject to grant citizenship to opposition figures in GCC countries, and ban religious people from engaging in anti-GCC activities in mosques and through the media.

Saudi Arabia has apparently set a high bar for ending the current Gulf crisis, as Doha might find that Riyadh's conditions are hard to fulfill.

To make things worse, media reports revealed that Saudi Arabia intends to present more demands as preconditions for ending the blockade, including extraditing leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood to Egypt and shutting down the Al-Jazeera TV station.

GAS-RICH QATAR'S DEEP POCKET

Despite heightened pressure from the political and economic blockade imposed by its Arab neighbors, Qatar, a gas-rich nation, has refused to back down so far.

One one hand, Doha has portrayed itself as an innocent victim of this crisis, in bid to win sympathy from the world.

While keeping relatively calm, Doha has criticized the sanctions as unfair, unfounded and inhumane, while insisting that as a GCC member it respects other nations and has never meddled in their domestic affairs.

Sheikh Mohammed said that Qatar's foreign policies are unnegotiable and no one has the right to interfere in its internal affairs.

On the other hand, Qatar, one of the richest countries in the world, has enough capability to offset the economic blockade. The tiny Gulf nation not only is the top exporter of natural gas, but also ranks third in natural gas reserve in the world.

For example, about 40 of natural gas used by the UAE is supplied by Qatar. Thus, the UAE has been relatively cautious in dealing with the dispute with Doha.

With foreign currency reserves totalling 43.6 billion U.S. dollars and a sovereign fund of 335 billion dollars, Qatar has more than enough financial capability to import goods from other countries to break the blockade by its neighbors.

Moreover, Qatar is not completely isolated in the region. Turkey, as a regional power that shares some of Qatar's ideological views and has close economic ties with Doha, has openly sided with Qatar.

Turkey, as well as Iran, a Saudi rival, have also provided humanitarian aid to Qatar to help it fight the blockade. Two GCC members, Kuwait and Oman, have not joined the Saudi-led alliance.

Other countries in the region, such as Iraq, Morocco, Algeria and Tunis, have remained neutral or refused to cut their ties with Qatar.

THERE IS STILL WAY OUT OF QATARI CRISIS

Despite the intensified diplomatic mediation efforts by Turkey and Kuwait, the crisis has not shown signs of easing. However, there is still a way out of the stalemate, analysts said.

The real cause that triggered off the crisis is the hacking of Qatar News Agency, in which top Qatari officials' statements of criticizing Riyadh and expressing support to Iran and the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip were revealed to the public.

But U.S. media reports said that many of the statements were fake and implanted by foreign hackers in attempt to create division among the Gulf nations.

It's believed that the major way out of the current Qatari crisis is for the United States, which so far sides with Riyadh while trying to maintain a good relationship with Doha, to play the role of mediator.

By blaming Russia for the hacking, Washington might try to pave the way for the parties to back down and bring an end to the standoff, especially if Doha is willing to make certain compromises.

U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to resolve the Qatari crisis, by proposing to hold a meeting of the leaders from the countries involved. This could help strengthen the momentum created by Turkey and Kuwait to seek a diplomatic solution to the dispute.

In a related development, Sheikh Mohammed plans to travel to the U.S. next week to discuss the effects of the blockade, as well as ways to end the crisis.

Nevertheless, due to the historic and geopolitical complexity of their disputes and the current crisis, patience is needed as it will take time for the concerned parties to achieve the goal of reconciliation.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:56:31|Editor: MJ

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BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The European Commission on Tuesday said in a latest report that innovation performance of the European Union (EU) has improved last year, but more progress is needed.

According to the annual European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS), Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden are innovation leaders who perform 20 percent or more above the EU average.

At the same time, Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, and Slovenia are strong innovators who are above or close to the EU average.

The EIS shows that innovation performance has improved most in the areas of international co-publications, broadband penetration, the number of university graduates and doctorates, and Information Communications Technology (ICT) training.

It is predicted by the report that over the next two years, innovation performance is expected to increase by 2 percent.

However, venture capital investments and the share of Small and Medium Enterprises introducing innovations have been in strong decline, says the report.

The EIS provides a comparative assessment of research and innovation performance and the relative strengths and weaknesses of national research and innovation systems.

It allows policy-makers to assess relative strengths and weaknesses, track progress, and identify priority areas to boost innovation performance.

It covers the EU member states as well as Iceland, Macedonia Israel, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland, Turkey, and Ukraine. It also rates Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States.

The report points out that China showed the fastest progress among international competitors.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 00:56:32|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. on Tuesday imposed additional sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, the U.S. Treasury Department said.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:01:34|Editor: An

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BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China began importing U.S. beef on Tuesday in fulfilling its pledge on the U.S.-China 100-day action plan to boost bilateral economic ties.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, announced on its website that eligible U.S. beef has been allowed to enter China since June 20. It is the first such move since 2003.

The Chinese authority published relevant quality and quarantine details Tuesday. The age of the beef cattle should be younger than 30 months. Beef importers should be registered at the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China.

Cattle must be traceable to their birth farm. Beef destined for China must be sourced from cattle that were born, raised and slaughtered in the United States, or cattle that were imported from Canada and Mexico before being slaughtered in the United States.

Offspring of cattle with or suspected with mad cow disease is banned. Other details include veterinary drug regulation as well as packaging and shipment standards.

During a meeting at the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in April, leaders of the two nations agreed to establish a comprehensive economic dialogue and initiate a 100-day plan to boost bilateral economic cooperation.

As the results of the action plan, China will allow imports of U.S. beef and the United States will import poultry from China. Most of the agreements are expected to be implemented by July 16.

China imposed a ban on U.S. beef in December 2003 after mad cow disease was found in U.S. cattle. Before the ban, the United States was China's largest supplier of imported beef.

China has become one of the largest import markets for beef. Lifting the ban means new opportunities for the U.S. cattle producers, who will be regaining access to an enormous market with an ever-expanding middle class.
by Zheng Jianghua

BRUSSELS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- "Stupid War!" Mahmoud Qeshreh, a Syrian refugee living in the Belgian town of Liege, aired his grievance in an anxious and helpless tone, when talking about the reasons for being forced to leave his homeland.

"I do not support any party in the war. All the parties are making mistakes. My father died in October last year because of the war. (There was) no doctor, he died of a simple sickness."

FORCED TO FLEE

The 27-year-old Qeshreh grew up in a middle-class family in Syria's eastern city of Aleppo. His father had been a lawyer for nearly 40 years before death; his mother has been a teacher in a primary school for around 30 years.

Qeshreh has two elder sisters, both of whom are English teachers in local elementary schools. His elder brother works in Oman as a revenue manager.

In 2015, Europe witnessed an unprecedented refugee crisis since the World War II, as more than one million refugees from Middle Eastern countries flocked to Greece through Turkey, before threading their way to other European countries. Qeshreh was one of the refugees at that time.

Recalling his pre-war life, Qeshreh said: "At that time my life is very good, I often go out drinking coffee with my friends, and sometimes go for a drive."

However, the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011 brought to a close the then Aleppo university student Qeshreh's good days.

As his family's three houses and a building were razed to ground in the war, he and his parents moved to a sister's home temporarily, before moving to the house of his uncle who at that time was living abroad.

In dread of being conscripted to the army, Qeshreh, due to graduate in 2011, applied for a postponement of graduation. At the meantime, he opened up training courses on Project Management for the university students.

In 2013, as the war showed no sign of abating, Qeshreh decided to graduate because "if I continued to postpone, then it is difficult to graduate".

But he carried on running the training course in the university, while working part time for an education organization in Allepo.

He said the fighting between the Syrian government forces and the opposition in Aleppo is fierce at that time, and many young men, fearing to be enlisted, fled.

"In Syria, I did not have any hope." In May 2014, Qeshreh bid a sad farewell with his family and headed to Istanbul, Turkey. "This is my only option; Turkey was the only country at that time which grants Syrians visa-free entry."

In Istanbul, Qeshreh spared no effort to look for a job, but most of the time he banged his head against a brick wall. After lurching from one bad luck to the next for almost 15 months, the frustrated young man mulled returning to Syria.

"Even to be conscripted as a soldier, even if it means that I would die," he said.

Qeshreh told his mother the idea, but the shocked mother ordered him to dispel it instantly, saying she could finance him to leave for Europe.

RISK JOURNEY

At the beginning of August 2015, Qeshreh came to the city of Izmir in southwestern Turkey. After paying 1,200 U.S. dollars to a human trafficker, Qeshreh, huddling with more than 60 people in a boat, embarked on his first risky journey.

However, in the midway to Greece, they were intercepted by Turkish coast police, who took them back to Turkish coast. After several days, they went to Bodrum, southwest coast city of Turkey, to have another try.

Druing the first voyage from Bodrum, the boat, advancing less than 100 meters from the coast, capsized after being hit by a huge wave. Fortunately, Qeshreh swam to the cost.

A few days later, under a good weather, they boarded another boat at dawn. This time, no unfavorable things happened. After two and a half hours of voyage, they arrived at the Greek island of Kos.

From Kos, Qeshreh trudged to Athens, the capital of Greece, and then to Macedonia, Serbia, Hungary and Germany, before eventually setting his feet on Belgium at the end of August 2015.

Asked what impressed him most after going through such a rough patch, Qeshreh narrated a sad story. It was in Serbia when he, together with 14 others, planned to secretly cross into the territory of Hungary. One of his friends was shot dead by the Hungarian border police when he was fleeing.

"Whenever I recall this scene, I would cry," he said.

However, the Hungarian embassy in Beijing denied the accusation of border police killing refugees, saying the incident "has never happened".

According to the EU's Dublin regulation, refugees can only seek asylum in the first member states they set foot in. "We do not want to stay in Hungary and having fingerprints there. Refugees registered in Hungary have to stay in Hungary."

He said he intended to seek asylum in Belgium because "the Belgian and Syrian cultures are similar and Belgiam people are helpful, irrespective of whom you are, where you come from".

After arriving in the capital of Brussels and being registered for personal information at police station, he was sent to a refugee center in Nonceveux village, around 128 kilometers southeast of Brussels. Qeshreh lived there for 11 months before moving to Liege.

HARD TO RETURN HOME

Talking about his life at the refugee center, Qeshreh is full of gratitude. By his accounts, the refugee center accommodated around 220 people, providing every refugee free meals per day and 7.4 euros (8.2 U.S. dollars) per week.

"The refugee center offers everything for us, even laundry services, and the price is very cheap. There is cafe; the price is also very cheap. If we want to see a lawyer, they can make an appointment for us. Every month the center provides us a round trip ticket for holiday."

After two interviews with the competent departments of Belgium in January and March 2016, Qeshreh was granted refugee status and work permit in Belgium, valid for 5 years.

He said that the Belgian government provided an allowance of 860 euros per month for those who had obtained refugee status but had not yet found jobs. But they had to move out of the refugee center, thereby making room for newcomers.

In July 2016, Qeshreh rented an apartment of about 40 square meters in Liege with a monthly rent of 365 euros. A mirror on the wall of his apartment was dripped with self-motivated short notes like "I am smart", "I am strong".

For the time being, Qeshreh has not yet found a job and all his expenses rely on the allowance provided by the Belgian government. "Deducting the house rent, it's enough for my daily expenses," he said.

To integrate into local community, Qeshreh has worked as a volunteer for the Belgian Red Cross since last October.

What's more, he has been taking French courses since February. Due to his refugee status, Qeshreh only needed to pay 46 euros for the tuition fees which totaled 150 euros. He said the CPAS (Center Publique d'Aide Social) would pay the rest for him.

In his leisure time, Qeshreh often walks in the city of Liege. "Liege is beautiful; the residents here are very friendly," he beamed.

Having said that, living alone inevitably leads to homesickness. Qeshreh said that the fighting in Aleppo is now abating and he contacts his family members mainly through Whatapp, a social network App.

Asked whether he has any plan to return to Syria once the war ends, he said: "The war may end after 10 years. Now the children of nine or ten years old know how to use guns, but they have not been educated.

"After 10 years, they may be more professional. When they kill someone, they don't care. That's fun for them. I don't think it's good."

"I may go back to Syria for a visit, but I will not stay there. It's too dangerous," he said, adding that he is planning to bring his mother to Belgium for a reunion.

"It's hard (to get a reunion visa) ... but I will apply and let's see what will happen," he said, shrugging his shoulders.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:06:36|Editor: yan

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TEHRAN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Italian Eni Energy Company signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran's National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on Tuesday to conduct technical surveys on Iran's Kish gas field and the Darkhoveyn oilfield, Financial Tribune daily reported.

"Eni's performance and pace of work has been outstanding in Cairo (Egypt) and the Mediterranean region. They are in a good position to study the Kish and Darkhoveyn fields," Gholamreza Manouchehri, NIOC's deputy for development and engineering, was quoted as saying.

Based on the agreement, Eni will have six months to study the fields and submit its development proposals.

"The Kish gas field is a suitable project for Eni because the company's expertise fits the bill," said Eni's chief upstream officer, Antonio Vella.

According to the daily, Eni was involved in the development of several oil and gas projects in Iran a decade ago before the U.S.-led sanctions, which barred international oil corporations from investing in the country.

Eni is one of the world's major oil and gas contractors in engineering, construction and drilling projects both offshore and onshore.

It is also active in exploration and production sector as well as refining and marketing of petroleum products.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:11:39|Editor: yan

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WASHINGTON, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. on Tuesday imposed additional sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, blacklisting 38 individuals and entities, the U.S. Treasury Department said.

The targeted individuals and entities include an entity that has engaged in the evasion of existing sanctions, two Russian government officials and two individuals acting for or on behalf of a government official, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

The blacklist also includes two entities that are owned or controlled by an individual previously designated, and 11 individuals and entities that operate in the Crimea region.

As a result of the move, any property or interest of the designated persons in the U.S. will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:11:40|Editor: yan

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BERLIN, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Criminal Police (BKA) conducted house searches in 14 German states on Tuesday, investigating punishable cases of online hate speech, according to a BKA statement.

23 police stations were involved in the searches, and 36 suspects were interrogated.

The majority of the alleged, criminal offences being investigated are acts of right-wing, politically-motivated hate speech.

"The still large amount of criminal hate posts continues to show the need for police action. Our free society must not tolerate a climate of fear, threat, punishable incitement and violence, neither on the street nor on the Internet," said BKA president Holger Muench.

After similar investigations last year, the raids were carried out for the second time on Tuesday, Day of Action against Hate Postings, initiated by Federal justice minister Heiko Mass in 2016.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:16:42|Editor: yan

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KIGALI, June 20 (Xinhua) -- A 35 year-old Rwandan woman who seeks to challenge incumbent President Paul Kagame in August's presidential poll Tuesday presented her candidature to the National Electoral Commission of Rwanda (NEC).

Diane Shima Rwigara is the first female to show presidential ambition in this year's presidential elections.

The independent competitor arrived the commission accompanied by her mother and other relatives. In her brief to journalists, Rwigara said she would focus on poverty reduction, security, and ensure free political space once elected in the poll.

Rwigara joins Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, Gilbert Mwenedata, independent and Fred S. Barafinda, said to be the representative of Rwanda Revolutionary Union Democratic Advancers (RRUDA), who had presented their credentials to the commission. RRUDA is not known among registered parties in Rwanda.

Rwigara is a daughter of a fallen Rwandan tycoon Assinapol Rwigara, who died in a road accident in 2015.

The National Electoral Commission chairperson Kalisa Mbanda said Rwigara presented all the required documents required of an aspirant.

A provisional list of qualified candidates will be announced on June 27, the names of qualified candidates will be published on July 7, a week before campaigns start, according to the NEC.

Campaigns for the qualified candidates will officially begin on July 14 and end on August 3, just a day before the elections.

It is estimated that about 6.8 million Rwandans will vote in the upcoming elections, according to the NEC.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 01:57:02|Editor: yan

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BISHKEK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Two Chinese citizens working in a mining company in Kyrgyzstan died from an accident, a mining official said on Tuesday.

Eldar Tazhibaev, chairman of the mining union of Kyrgyzstan, told Xinhua the two Chinese were drillers of the mining company and killed after falling from 30-meters height in the vertical trunk Tuesday morning at Taldybulak Levoberezhny field of Altynken LLC.

"Currently, investigative measures are being carried out," he said.

Taldybulak Levoberezhny gold mine is jointly developed by the state-owned Kyrgyzaltyn company OJSC and Chinese Superb Pacific Limited, a subsidiary of Zijin Mining, the largest mining group of China.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 02:07:07|Editor: yan

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VILNIUS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attended on Tuesday Lithuania's largest international military drill Iron wolf 2017 to observe the readiness of allied enhanced forward presence (EFP) battlegroups deployed in the Eastern Europe amid security tensions.

NATO Secretary General says the battlegroups deployed in Lithuania as well as Poland, Latvia and Estonia "send a clear message."

"An attack on one Ally is an attack on all. They show the continuing strength of the transatlantic bond," Stoltenberg said after attending Iron wolf 2017, the largest military training in Lithuania this year.

EFP multinational battalions have been deployed in the Baltic countries and Poland under last year's agreements made at NATO's Warsaw summit. EFP battlegroups have been stationed in the NATO's Eastern flank to conduct joint training with local forces and respond in the case of military conflict.

The EFP battlegroup stationed in Lithuania is led by German troops.

"And for the first time these forces are on exercise with the NATO battlegroup based in Poland," Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite.

On Tuesday, the NATO secretary general and the Lithuanian president observed a water obstacle crossing operation in central Lithuania.

Iron Wolf 2017 is attended by around 5,300 troops from Lithuania and nine allied NATO countries, including the United States, Britain and Germany. This year allied forces train in the Suwalki Gap, a 100-km-long stretch between Belarus and Russia's enclave Kaliningrad connecting Lithuania with neighboring Poland.

The Baltic country with a population of less than 3 million has stepped up its defense capabilities and asked for an increased allied military presence on its soil since 2014 following conflicts in eastern Europe.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 02:47:33|Editor: MJ

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KIEV, June 20 (Xinhua) -- About 500,000 families, which were displaced by the conflict in eastern Ukraine, are in dire need of housing aid, a senior Ukrainian official said here on Tuesday.

"According to optimistic calculations, it will require at least 5 billion U.S. dollars to provide housing to all those affected," Georgy Tuka, Ukrainian deputy minister for the temporarily occupied territories and internally displaced persons, told reporters at a press conference.

The government plans to attract funds from local and foreign investors to provide housing in other parts of the country to those who left their homes in eastern Ukraine, Tuka said.

The conflict between government troops and pro-independence insurgents in eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions since 2014 has uprooted more than two million Ukrainians from their home.

About 1.6 million of them found a shelter in other cities across Ukraine, while the rest applied for refugee status or temporary asylum in the neighboring countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 03:33:04|Editor: yan

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GABORONE, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Refugees in Botswana have appealed to the international community to assist them with scholarships after the government of Botswana imposed a stricter encampment policy recently.

This call was made by the Dukwi Refugee Camp chairperson Bhekimpilo Weza in his speech delivered Tuesday during the World Refugee Day 2017 at the refugee camp, situated some 540km north of Botswana's capital city, Gaborone.

Botswana has been always implementing an encampment policy on refugees on her shores but it was not that strict until April this year. The government decided to make the policy stricter last year following Islamic terrorist threats.

Botswana has 2,113 recognized refugees from 14 countries throughout Africa. And most of the recognized refugees are from Islamic states of Somalia, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

However, refugees here have complained that the stricter encampment policy has put many persons in exile at a greater risk of failing to further their studies. It is against this backdrop that the refugees are appealing for scholarships.

"Botswana government's stricter encampment policy has forced many refugees back into the camp wandering around with nothing to do," observed Weza.

Weza added: "We are therefore asking for the international community to assist with scholarships so that who finished the secondary education can have an opportunity to further their studies."

Because of the stricter encampment policy, refugees are not allowed to leave the camp into nearby cities to look for jobs. Refugees are also not allowed to start some income generating projects that may help them raise enough funds to sponsor their own higher education.

Weza revealed that a number of refugees are forced to quit school soon after secondary education due to lack of funding.

He urged the international community to propose further solutions, granting quick and effective shelter and protection for the refugees through resettlement or other humanitarian measures.

This year's World Refugee Day was commemorated under the theme "We stand Together With Refugees."
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 03:48:21|Editor: yan

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ADDIS ABABA, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, on Tuesday praised efforts made by the Ethiopian government in handling the regional refugee crisis.

Grandi made the remarks during the World Refugee Day commemorative ceremony held in Ethiopia's Gameblla regional state, which is housing most of the South Sudanese refugees.

""Ethiopia is a very good model of how a country with a limited resources and a great challenge of its own keeps its doors open, its arms open to people from neighboring countries that are in trouble and seek protection here," Grandi asserted.

Ethiopia currently hosts more than 850,000 refugees from 21 countries with South Sudanese, Somalis, Eritreans, and Sudanese making up the majority.

The east African country has registered an additional 54,107 refugees in just the first five months of 2017, with most of the arrivals being Eritreans, South Sudanese and Sudanese, according to recent figure by the Ethiopian Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA).

"We must help Ethiopia carry out this heavy responsibility and also be inspired by Ethiopia because it is a very shining example of African hospitality and international hospitality," Grandi stressed.

Grandi, prior to his arrival to Ethiopia, on Sunday visited a camp for internally displaced people in the South Sudan's city of Bentiu, and pledged the global community to do more in helping the world's youngest nation, a country with the fastest growing displaced population in the world.

Ethiopian officials also vowed to continue the country's open door policy for people affected by war and looming famine in South Sudan.

With the world home to more than 65 million refugees, Ethiopia is playing its dutiful part as one of the top five refugee hosting countries globally, said Zeynu Jemal, Deputy Director of ARRA.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 04:14:08|Editor: yan

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BUDAPEST, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto Tuesday stressed the importance of the signing of a letter of intent for creating a Hungary-Croatia two-way connection for natural gas.

He said from the point of view of energy safety, it is of the most importance that Hungary be able to purchase natural gas from the South.

According to the minister, in Central and Eastern Europe, the safety of energy was still an extremely critical question, and it was in the best interest of the countries of CEE to establish an energy corridor linking the North with the South.

"For the time being, our southern infrastructure is incomplete: while we can send gas to Romania and Croatia, we cannot buy natural gas from the South," he explained.

The letter of intent specifies a roadmap, according to which, Croatia is going to expand its natural gas conduit in order to make it suitable for a two-way transportation.

"According to these plans, Hungary will be able to purchase natural gas from Croatia as early as the first quarter of 2019," Szijjarto added.

Before the press conference of Szijjarto, the letter of intent was signed by Andras Aradszi, State Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry for National Economy, and by Mario Siljeg, State Secretary at the Croatian Ministry of Environment and Energy.
The file photo shows that refugees from South Sudan rest at a refugee camp in Sudan's White Nile state near the border with South Sudan on May 17, 2017. (Xinhua/Mohamed Babiker)

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- As more than 1,000 children continue to flee South Sudan, on average every day in search of safety, the region's refugee crisis has become a children's crisis, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday as the world is marking World Refugee Day.

Since violence erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, more than 1.8 million people have crossed into neighboring countries. In just one year the population of refugees in Uganda has more than doubled from 500,000 to more than 1.25 million, making Uganda now host to the fastest growing refugee emergency in the world.

"More than one million children have been forced from their homes in South Sudan, often amid horrific violence," said UNICEF's regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Leila Pakkala. "Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya."

"Despite great efforts on many fronts, the systems in these countries are tremendously stretched," Pakkala said.

On World Refugee Day, observed every year on June 20, the international community commemorates the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. This year, World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee.

Ahead of Uganda's International Solidarity Summit on Refugees, scheduled for June 22-23, UNICEF noted that 86 percent of all refugees in Uganda are women and children.

Indeed, Uganda is now Africa's leading refugee-hosting country, having jumped from the eighth largest refugee-hosting country in the world in mid-2016 to the third largest today, after Turkey and Pakistan.

The government of Uganda, UNICEF, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian partners on the ground are working tirelessly to respond to the more than 740,000 refugees who have arrived in Uganda since July 2016.

Such dramatic numbers are placing excessive pressure on State and host community resources, especially social services that are critical to children's well-being.

"The Ugandan government has a progressive and generous open door policy to refugees," said Pakkala. "This approach provides better prospects for refugee children in Uganda than in many contexts globally. The very real hope is that such a model is supported widely across countries."

The government of Uganda and the United Nations are appealing for 8 billion U.S. dollars in funding for both emergency response and resilience interventions to Uganda's refugee and refugee-hosting population over the next four years.

Within this appeal, UNICEF in Uganda requires nearly 50 million U.S. dollars in 2017 as well as 30 million dollars in each year from 2018-2020 to provide critical health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, early childhood development, adolescent development, and child protection interventions, to both refugee and host community children.

For Ethiopia and Kenya, as part of their Humanitarian Action for Children's Appeal for Ethiopia and Kenya, UNICEF requires 13.6 million U.S. dollars to respond to the new influx of South Sudanese refugees in the Gambella Region of Ethiopia, and 7.3 million U.S. dollars for the refugee response in Kenya.

While refugee children in Uganda enjoy the full existing legal, physical and social protection system as the host population and use the same social services as them, UNICEF said more must be done to fully operationalize this agenda for action across the region, especially keeping families together, helping all uprooted children stay in school and stay healthy, and acting on the causes that force children to flee in the first place.
Source: Xinhua| 2017-06-21 06:40:25|Editor: yan

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MINSK, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Belarus will purchase a batch of Sukhoi Su-30SM jet fighters from Russia, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

With the purpose of renewing the fleet of combat aircraft, Belarus has signed a contract with Russia on buying a batch of Su-30SM aircrafts.

The contract will be implemented in stages in accordance with the terms specified in the contract.

The supermaneuverable Su-30SM fighter of the 4+ generation is intended for gaining air superiority, blocking enemy airfields at great depths, destroying air, land and sea targets at any time and in any weather.
Tobago battens down

The THA 2017/2018 budget, due to be delivered this morning, has been postponed to Thursday, said Chief Secretary Kelvin Charles, speaking at a press conference at the Tobago Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) headquarters at Bacolet yesterday.

Charles assured that Tobago was ready to deal with any eventualities as a result of the storm.

He said according to a Threat Analysis, the situation was not expected to exacerbate to an instant where Tobago would require assistance from Trinidad. The press conference was also attended by Acting Supervisor of the TT Meteorological Office, Gary Benjamin, THA Chief Administrator Ray Sandy and TEMA director Allan Stewart.

STORM MOVING QUICKLY Benjamin said the storm was moving fairly quickly towards the west at 25 miles per hour, which would take the centre along the east coast of Trinidad, which means Tobago would be north of the system.

The strongest effects of this system should be between 9 pm (last night) and 3 am today and the duration of it should last until 8 am, but that is not to say we would not continue to see convective activity after this, he said.

Sandy said the THA has considered the potential disruption from the cyclone and has decided all schools would be closed and all non-essential Tobago House of Assembly Offices would also remain closed out of an abundance of caution.

We are trying to ensure that any damage on the island, that it will be minimize and we will be in a position to treat with the after of this tropical cyclone that is expected to visit us over the next 12 hours, he said. Charles advised Tobagonians to take all precautions against the storm.

We are not sure of the damage that may ensue and we are not sure as to the speed of recovery and therefore to facilitate speedy recovery and getting things back to normal, it is advised that we take these precautions.

TEMA IS READY TEMA and the first responder agency are ready and we are making an appeal to residents to organise themselves in such a way that they are safe, he said. Steward said Tobago will experience flash flooding, landslides and damage to unstable structures. There are eight emergency operations centres stocked with emergency kits and these will aid in the immediate relief of those persons who will be sheltered during the passage of this system.

The 211 call centre will be ready to provide you with the necessary emergency mode with transferring information to us.

We ask members of the public during this period to stay tuned to radio and televisions for updates, he said.

Emergency centers are located at Delaford, Moriah, Charlottesville, Speyside, LAnse Fourmi, Carnbee and Mt Pleasant. In addition, there are 72 primary, secondary and alternative shelters at community centres, schools and churches.

Up to yesterday afternoon Tobago had not experienced any landslides or flash flooding, and no heavy rainfall.
Cruel treatment of working class

In her Labour Day address, sent via an emailed press release, she hailed the labour movement and workers who continue to perform an integral role in national development.

As we mark this important occasion, I am disappointed with the cruel treatment meted out to workers in Trinidad and Tobago by a callous, brutal and uncaring Rowley administration manifested in the closures of several private and public sector companies and the retrenchment and dismissal of tens of thousands of workers, Persad-Bissessar said.

This year, the trade union movement marks 80 years of advocating for workers rights and Persad- Bissessar applauded their many accomplishments with regard to improving working and living conditions for workers.

However, despite the progress made, we marked Labour Day in a time of increasing economic uncertainty, and are faced with the troubling fact that the country is being led by an inept and incompetent Government that has failed its citizens, and who have absolutely no strategy or plan to deal with the critical and fundamental issues that face us, the Siparia MP said.

HUMAN RESOURCE CRITICAL In order for TT to become globally competitive, she added, the development of TTs human resource capital is crucial. This Rowley administration has shown however, that people are not a priority. The Rowley-led Government continues to disregard the needs of citizens, and has presided over massive job cuts in the public sector, loss of business and investor confidence, and an economy that has experienced its sharpest decline in three decades. In the 20 months since the Rowley-led Government came into office, the former prime minister said, it is estimated that more than 25,000 persons have lost their jobs and income. In addition to growing unemployment and underemployment, severe cuts to social services has worsened conditions for many citizens.

Further, the Governments move to increase taxes and the rush to implement the draconian property tax will add to the increasing burden of workers and their families.

Added to this, rising crime levels are affecting business and investor confidence, and we are seeing a worrying development where business people are targets for criminals. The Government has failed to provide a safe and secure environment for citizens, and is yet to put forward a single initiative or measure aimed at reducing crime in our country.

The Government which I led had a plan to continue our thrust of people-centred development, by diversifying the countrys economy, creating sustainable jobs in new industries, and improving the standard of living for all citizens. Our focus was on improving the distribution of wealth through cross-country, multi-industry diversification, and by building a shareholding democracy.

Our growth pole strategy of economic development in the seven clusters for diversification was aimed at ensuring that job opportunities and economic activities are not concentrated in just one area of the country or one industry, but dispersed nationwide, allowing for a deeper level of economic participation for our workforce, Persad-Bissessar said.

TIME FOR TALK IS OVER After 20 months of a Rowley Government, the time for talk is over  the country requires action.

With regard to the issues affecting workers, I reiterate my partys call for a complete and comprehensive revision of the Industrial Relations Act, the development of a comprehensive Labour Code, an enhancement and upgrading of the Occupation Safety and Health Act, amendments to the Retrenchment and Severance Benefits Act, upgrading the Maternity Act, as well as working towards the establishment of a living wage for the disorganized Labour force, and the establishment of an Unemployment Insurance Fund.

Urgent amendments to the Registration Recognition and Certification Board are also required to speed up the recognition of Trade Unions.

This Labour Day, I take the opportunity to recognize the efforts and contributions of the working class and ordinary people of this country who have toiled in the fields, factories, industries and the various services sectors to advance the interests of the nation. May I take this opportunity to encourage them to recommit to the construction and development of our great nation on the basis of justice, equality and humanity. On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the founding of the modern Trade Union Movement, my Party and I salute the working class and ordinary people on their rich and meaningful contribution to the development of our great nation, the release ended.
Gadsby-Dolly: Sando is culture capital

Thats ok as all is fair is love and war, especially when it comes to culture. Because it is a war meant to see who can do better, she said, adding that her ministry fully supports this secondary school competition festival as it promotes the youths in art and culture of TT.

She went on to say that we face difficult time in world today and TT is not exempted from that.

Being involved in culture gives us that gravitas that allows us to be resilient and helps us to overcome times when we can get depressed, she said, noting that Sanfest helps the participating students to excel in the arts and this brings promise of greater things to come in the future. Dr Gadby Dolly made the trip to south on Saturday evening to opened the 2017 NGCs Sanfest competition at the council on Circular Road, San Fernando. Director of Sanfest 2017, Avion Crooks said that Sanfest is celebrating its 47 years and the initial objective remains to present a forum for the many cultural groups and individual performers to showcase their talents in a safe and nurturing environment. While competition is inherent in the human spirit, the ideal of Sanfest was to introduce a stage where southerners could perform our traditional dances, stories of our heritage, skills in recitation and various musical abilities in an entertaining and collegial environment, she said. She noted that the council forms a financial partnership with the National Gas Company of TT in 2003, and the their involvement with the festival has grown from strength to strength. NGC has done and continues to do, what we believe all business organisations should do  invest in the greatest resource of our country, our youth, in a tangible and sustainable way, she said.

Each year from September to November, she says, the council witnesses the coming together of excited, anxious, passionate and often perspiring people, bringing the product of hours of training and rehearsal to a stage that I hope is warmly accepting and nurturing. This year Sanfest pays tribute to Calypso Rose, (Linda McArtha Monica Sandy- Lewis) by having her music form the body of work featured in our pan competition.

This year the council honours Torrence Mohammed whom is a recipient of the Medal of Merit in 1976. Mohammed has worked steadfastly in areas such as Best Village, in theatre and drama, in Carifesta. He served the community of San Fernando as a Deputy Mayor and he is a former chairman of the San Fernando Arts Council and the National Dance Association.

Crooks mentioned the Mr and Miss Sanfest which offer opportunities for overall growth and development of students in the performing arts. Students must be concerned with building elaborate portfolios showing their involvement with activities other than academics, Crooks said, adding that they at the council have long come to understand that holistic education builds a better world citizen and a more socially adaptive person.

Employers, she says are interested now in an employees understanding of fair play, competition, beauty in design, team work and passion. This , she noted is difficult to teach in the classroom but that is the foundation of the festival.
The population of once extinct storks living in the wild in Japan has reached 100, an official at a specialist conservation facility said Monday.

The number of storks, designated as a special national treasure, hit the threshold 12 years after artificially bred birds were released into open skies for the first time from the facility in western Japan -- Hyogo Park of the Oriental White Stork in Toyooka city -- as part of efforts to return the species to the wild.

Staff at the facility, which also has observed breeding in the wild since 2007, confirmed that a male chick had flown from an artificial nest in the city to nearby rice fields on Monday morning, making it the 100th living stork in the wild.

"I couldn't be happier and hopefully they will continue flying in the skies all over the country and make other people happy too," Satoshi Yamagishi, chief of the facility, said in reference to a myth about storks delivering happiness.

In 1971, the city in Hyogo Prefecture saw the last domestic stork die after it was taken into protective captivity due largely to the impact of the country's rapid economic expansion and development.

In an attempt to bring storks back to Japan, the facility in Toyooka received six chicks from the Russian Far East in 1985 and began breeding under protection before starting to release their offspring in 2005.
The Imperial Household Agency said Monday it will officially announce the engagement of Princess Mako, the first granddaughter of Emperor Akihito, to a university classmate of hers on July 8.

Following agency chief Shinichiro Yamamoto's announcement, Princess Mako, 25, and her fiance-to-be, 25-year-old Kei Komuro, will hold a news conference together the same day, the agency said.

The agency has selected the day, which falls on Saturday, in light of possible impact on Komuro's work. He currently works as a paralegal at a law firm in Tokyo and attends Hitotsubashi University's graduate school.

The couple are expected to marry sometime next year, according to agency sources.

Komuro was a classmate of the princess while they were attending International Christian University in a Tokyo suburb.

They met about five years ago through a mutual friend and soon started going out, before Komuro proposed about a year later, according to a source close to the matter.
Japan has become world-famous for its incredibly polished customer service, which isnat something youall find only at premium-priced hotels and leisure resorts. Just about any shop or restaurant you go to in Japan, right down to convenience stores and fast food joints, will be staffed by courteous clerks and servers.

To explain this phenomenon, sociologists often point to the importance of respect and humility that are so deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. In our increasingly cynical world, it's refreshing to see the concept of "you should treat the people who support your livelihood with polite kindness" be treated as such an obvious truth, but it turns out there's also a less warm and fuzzy reason for Japan's stellar service standards.

American Express International recently conducted a survey, collecting responses from 1,000 people each in Canada, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Singapore, the U.K., and the U.S. regarding their customer service expectations. Specifically, researchers asked the participants how many times they'd have to experience poor customer service from a company before taking their future business elsewhere, which produced some startling data in the strictest category.

See if you can spot the outlier:

I take my business elsewhere after one bad service experience.

a Canada: 32 percent

a Hong Kong: 23 percent

a India: 31 percent

a Italy: 32 percent

a Japan: 56 percent

a Mexico: 30 percent

a Singapore: 33 percent

a U.K.: 37 percent

a U.S.: 32 percent

Despite significant cultural differences, the strictest customers made up around 30 percent of most nations' totals (with Hong Kong being slightly more forgiving and the U.K. a bit more demanding). In Japan, though, the majority, 56 percent, of the respondents said that after one case of bad customer service, they'll simply spend their money somewhere else from then on.

Taken from the perspective of a business owner, a single service screw up means you can probably kiss that customer goodbye permanently, so employee training and work process management has to make service a priority if the business is going to have any chance of succeeding. Business owners can't count on their patrons shrugging their shoulders and coming back again after even one brusque interaction with a frontline worker. In a way, it's a quintessentially Japanese way of dealing with the problem, keeping with the society's distaste for direct confrontation.
The nation's hotel operators and real estate firms are ramping up their hiring of foreign workers to capitalize on booming in-bound tourism and increasing property investment from wealthy overseas buyers.

Liang I-ting, a Taiwanese clerk, greets guests in Chinese, Japanese and English at an Apa Group hotel near JR Nippori Station, which is close to Ueno, one of Tokyo's more popular tourist destinations.

After studying Japanese at a Taiwanese university, the 36-year-old became a flight attendant for a local airline. Liang started working at the hotel last December.

"Working for Japan's travel industry is very demanding in terms of customer service," she said. "But my experience at the airline helped me get through it.

"I like my job and wages are good. It was the right decision that I came to Japan."

Apa Group has been riding the boom despite China's tourism administration calling for a boycott of its hotels in January over historical revisionist views published by Apa Chief Executive Toshio Motoya, including denial of the 1937 Nanking Massacre.

TKP Corp., a Tokyo-based meeting room rental company, operates Liang's hotel under a franchising contract with the Apa Group. It has been recruiting several Chinese and Taiwanese nationals every year in response to increasing foreign tourists to Japan. Their pay is the same as that for Japanese employees.

Hotels operated by TKP have received large-lot group-tour orders from people in other Asian countries thanks to the personal connections of foreign employees working there. Some of them hail from wealthy families, according to a TKP official in charge of personnel affairs.

Syla Co., a Tokyo-based real estate company that mainly sells condominiums for investment, has intentionally sought to hire individuals from Taiwan, China or South Korea over the past three years. They are tasked with selling condominiums to Taiwanese, Chinese and South Korean investors.
Algeria must halt its clampdown against members of the minority Ahmadiyya religious movement, said Amnesty International, ahead of the appeal hearing on June 21 of six Ahmadis sentenced to up to four years in prison for charges relating to the exercise of their religion.

At least 280 Ahmadi men and women have faced investigation or prosecution over the past year, since a wave of arrests began after failed attempts to register an Ahmadi association and inaugurate a new mosque in 2016.

The clampdown against Ahmadis over the past year is alarming. This wave of arrests and prosecutions of Ahmadis is a clear indication that the authorities are stepping up restrictions on religious freedom in the country, said Heba Morayef, North Africa Research Director for Amnesty International.

Algerian authorities should ensure that the cases against Ahmadis which are solely related to the peaceful practice of their religion are dropped, and immediately release those detained.

There are an estimated 2,000 Ahmadis in Algeria. Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslim, however, Algerian officials have made public statements calling them heretics and a threat to Algeria.

In March 2016, Algerian authorities refused an attempt by Ahmadis to register as an association under Algerian law. On 2 June 2016, the police raided a newly-built Ahmadi mosque in Larbaa, in the province of Blida, on the morning of its planned inauguration, and shut it down.

Since then, Algerian authorities have initiated judicial proceedings against more than 280 Ahmadis. The charges they face include membership in an unauthorized association, collecting donations without a license, practicing worship in unauthorized places, disseminating foreign propaganda harmful to national interest and denigrating the dogma and precepts of Islam.

According to members of the Ahmadi community, over a third of those facing criminal proceedings have already been convicted and sentenced to prison terms of up to four years or fines of up to 300,000 Algerian dinars (about $2,750).

These have been the harshest sentences so far handed to Ahmadis for the peaceful exercise of their religion.

Most are at liberty pending the outcome of their proceedings, and four are currently imprisoned.

On 21 June, six Ahmadis will appear before the Court of Appeals in Batna. They were convicted in first instance of administrating an unregistered association, collecting donations without a license, and distributing foreign literature threatening national interest.
A criminal court in the Egyptian capital Monday pressed a ten-year condemnation against First Lt. Yaseen Hatem accused in 2015 for killing political activist Shaimaa Al-Sabbagh on the fourth anniversary of the Egyptian 2011 revolution.

The Monday ruling is the second verdict on the case after another court condemned the officer to 15 years in prison. The ruling was overturned by the Court of Cassation, which had ordered a retrial of the case in February 2016

Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, 32, member of the Socialist Popular Alliance political party, was killed on 24 January 2015, on the eve of the fourth anniversary of the January 25, 2011 revolution.

She was killed as police tried to disperse protesters trying to lay a wreath of flowers at Tahrir square. She was shot at close range by Hatem who fired birdshots.

Her lawyer Sayed Abu Al-Ela hailed the ruling though it is still subject to appeal.

From a personal standpoint, we will not be satisfied with any verdict to avenge the martyr, but from a legal standpoint, we are, for the first time, witnessing the punishment of a member of the police force for harming or killing a protester since 2011, he said.

Human rights groups have voiced concerns over police brutality against activists and the near total impunity under President al-Sisis rule.

Hundreds of activists have been thrown in prison, several have gone into hiding and others left the country.
The visit by Angolas Foreign Minister Georges Rebelo Pinto Chikoti to Rabat will help open a new chapter in Angolan-Moroccan relations, breaking away with the animosity that characterized ties between the two countries due to the Sahara issue.

The agreements signed during the visit of the Angolan official set the tone for ushering a new era in bilateral ties after a period in which Angola was an adversary of Moroccos territorial integrity in African fora.

The two countries signed a visa exemption agreement for their respective diplomats. They also agreed to hold regular political consultations on bilateral, African and international issues of common concern.

At a press briefing following talks with his Moroccan peer, Nasser Bourita, the Angolan Foreign Minister expressed his countrys stand on the Sahara issue saying that today we have to take into consideration the efforts Morocco is undertaking within the African family. Open prospects for dialogue should be maintained, he said.

We, Africans, should help the parties to the conflict to make progress, he stated.

Speaking on the same occasion, Bourita welcomed the rapprochement with Angola, which has been until recently a defender of the opponents of Moroccos territorial integrity.

Today, Morocco is interested in launching a dialogue to explain Moroccos position so that Angola breaks free with the one thesis, he said referring to the Algerian-sponsored separatist thesis in the Sahara.

Morocco and Angola have also decided to reinforce bilateral cooperation ties in the fields of agriculture, tourism, energy and training. The two countries will hold later this year the 3rd high joint committee to explore further cooperation prospects.

The rapprochement between Morocco and Angola will deal another blow to the Polisario and their Algerian mentor who see that Morocco has been winning new allies and friends on the continent since returning to the African Union.

Last July at the African Union Summit in Kigali, 28 African countries submitted a motion demanding to freeze the Polisarios membership in the continental organization. A course that is set to continue as more countries in the African Union see the Polisarios membership as an aberration in contradiction with international law because the Polisario is not a state and lacks state attributes.

Recently, several African countries that once supported the Polisario separatist endeavor are backtracking. After a diplomatic offensive coupled with win-win partnerships led by King Mohammed VI in Africa, several countries have ceased to support Algerias plot to create a separatist entity in Morocco and affirmed support for the UN-led political process. These countries include African heavyweights such as Nigeria and Ethiopia, which now see new cooperation opportunities with Morocco.

Overall, Moroccos return to the African Union has set the tone for a gradual demise of the Algerian-sponsored separatism in the Sahara as the Kingdom and its friends will act as a bulwark against any attempt to use the pan-African body to simmer tension and instability in the continent.
You are beautiful, no matter what they say. Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images

Donald Trump campaigned against transparency and an adversarial press, and now hes governing against them.

The GOP nominee didnt just break decades of precedent by declining to release his tax returns  he also refused to be transparent about his own lack of transparency. Instead of stating plainly that he felt the public had no right to see his finances, the mogul endlessly regurgitated the demonstrable lie that he needed to wait for the IRS to complete its audit before he could release them. Meanwhile, Trump framed the media as his movements enemy, called for increasing the presss exposure to libel suits, and tacitly encouraged his supporters attempts to intimidate campaign reporters.

Trumps attitude toward the Fourth Estate has only soured since taking office. He has explicitly declared the mainstream media the enemy of the American people, refused to hold regular press conferences, and allowed his cabinet officials to ignore historic standards of media accessibility.

So, when the White House began phasing out routine press briefings in recent weeks, most saw the move as a logical extension of the presidents contempt for press scrutiny.

But what if the slow-death of on-camera press briefings has less to do with the shriveling of our democratic institutions than with the expansion of Sean Spicers waistline?

Chief White House strategist Steve Bannon has asked us to contemplate the latter possibility. As The Atlantic reports:

Neither Spicer nor deputy press secretary Sarah Sanders responded to queries about the changes to the briefings. Asked why the briefings are now routinely held off-camera, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon said in a text message Sean got fatter, and did not respond to a follow-up.

There are a few reasons to question Bannons story. For one thing, Spicer isnt the only person who gives press briefings, and its hard to see how his weight gain would have forced Sarah Sanders off camera. For another, Steve Bannon is a notorious liar who despises the media.

But the idea that Sean Spicer has been body-shamed out of the spotlight still holds a patina of plausibility. After all, the president infamously mocked the White House press secretary for his sartorial failings early in his tenure. And when Melissa McCarthy impersonated Spicer on Saturday Night Live, Trump was (reportedly) disgusted that his press secretary could be so convincingly caricatured by a woman.

So, sure: Bannon was joking. Press briefings are not being held off camera because Sean Spicer hates his body.

But some punch lines can leave a bruise. And some propagandists dont like what they see in the mirror. And if you think that body-shaming your political opponents is funny, then imagine Sean Spicer watching this video through tear-glazed eyes.
Make America a Lifeless Mass of Molten Rock Again Photo: Pool/Getty Images

Sometimes, Donald Trumps Twitter account publishes major presidential announcements. Other times, it posts whatever the nations most prominent Fox News addict just yelled at his television screen.

The media has often mistaken the latter for the former. And on first blush, the presidents latest tweet about North Korea seems a likely candidate for overinterpretation.

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

On Monday, University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier died, days after being released from a North Korean prison in a comatose state. During a trip to North Korea in January 2016, Warmbier was detained at the Pyongyang airport on charges of trying to take down a propaganda poster. He was convicted less than two months later and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. When Warmbier was returned to his family in Ohio last week, he was unable to see, speak, or acknowledge verbal commands.

Its a total disgrace what happened to Otto, Trump told reporters Tuesday.

The president once argued that China was more than capable of coercing North Korea into abandoning its nuclear program and belligerent behavior  if Beijing only wanted to. But after listening to Chinese president Xi Jinping for ten minutes, Trump realized its not so easy.

Still, the president had expressed confidence that China would do its best to discipline North Korea through diplomatic pressure. So, its quite possible that Trump was watching news reports about the death of an American student at North Korean hands Tuesday, and felt compelled to express his disappointment with the limitations of Chinas efforts. Which is to say: He was just spouting off about cable news  not signaling that America has given up on seeking a diplomatic solution to its conflict with Pyongyang.

People are still sharing this like it means anything other than he watches TV all day https://t.co/VO9zH4QPP9  Zeddediah Springfield (@Zeddary) June 20, 2017

But if Trumps tweet is just mindless bluster, that hardly makes it less unnerving. In their joint military exercises, the United States and South Korea have rehearsed preemptive strikes against North Korea, ones designed to kill Kim Jong-un before he has a chance to press the proverbial button. Arms-control expert Jeffrey Lewis has warned that the implication of these exercises arent lost on Pyongyang: Kim knows he has to go first, if he is to go at all.

Just because savvy news consumers in the United States are comfortable assuming that Trump is merely talking trash doesnt mean that North Korea is. In April, the president suggested that the day Beijings efforts to rein in Pyongyang failed would be the day that America took action against Kim Jong-uns regime.

Well if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will. That is all I am telling you, Trump told the Financial Times.

The fact that the American president is an emotionally volatile reality star  who publishes his foreign-policy musings directly to the internet  has always been dangerous. In the context of a military standoff with a nuclear-weapons state, it may prove fatally so.
With all the attention being paid to the June 20 special election in Georgia, Republican Ralph Norman and Democrat Archie Parnell have toiled in the relative obscurity of another special election on the same day and one state over. Photo: Ralph Norman for Congress; Archie Parnell for Congress

On June 20, a Democratic and Republican candidate will square off in a Deep South state in a special U.S. House election produced by the ascension to the Trump cabinet of an incumbent who won his previous race by over 20 points.

Yes, the insanely expensive and intensely watched Handel-Ossoff race in the Sixth District of Georgia fits that description. But so, too, does the special election in the Fifth District of South Carolina  a mostly rural and suburban district in the northern part of the state  which has received little national money or attention.

Unlike the jungle primary in the Georgia district, the Palmetto State special election to replace Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney proceeded through party primaries  and for Republicans, a runoff. Former congressional staffer and Goldman Sachs executive Archie Parnell easily won the Democratic nomination (defeating online favorite and perhaps future star Alexis Frank). The large GOP field produced a runoff between two state legislators, hard-core conservative Ralph Norman and the less abrasively ideological Tommy Pope (also well known as a former prosecutor). Norman narrowly won, and quickly earned partywide support, although Parnell has labeled him an extremist.

So why is this race not widely considered a lively prospect for a Democratic upset, unlike GA-06 and other 2017 special elections? Well, for one thing, Mulvaneys big 2016 margin in the district was actually matched by Donald Trumps, who did better in the Fifth than did Mitt Romney four years earlier. That is the reverse situation of the one in GA-06, where Trump nearly managed to lose to Hillary Clinton despite the districts long-standing Republican tradition. Not coincidentally, the South Carolina district also has a much lower percentage of white voters with college educations (21 percent as opposed to 56 percent in GA-06), and a correspondingly higher white-working-class segment of the electorate, all making for a Trump-friendlier district at a time when the 45th presidents popularity nationally is sagging. In addition, SC-05s Democratic electorate is a lot more African-American than GA-06s (or that of previous special-election electorates in Kansas and Montana). And so far African-American voters do not seem to have completely tuned back into electoral politics in the post-Obama era.

As a result of all these variables, the national parties (and the online activists who have done so much for Jon Ossoff) have not invested that much in SC-05, with the National Republican Congressional Committee spending just under $100,000 on Normans behalf, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee actually surprising some observers by handily exceeding that with $250,000 for Parnell. Both the candidates are personally wealthy, though Norman has reportedly spent $1.1 million of his own money compared to $500,000 for Parnell.

The only public poll in this race, in mid-May, showed Norman with a healthy 53/36 lead. The Parnell campaign released an internal poll at the end of May showing him within ten points of the Republican, who led 50/40. Perhaps the most important non-poll indicator is that turnout in the GOP primary was more than twice as large as that in the Democratic primary. And Republican turnout held up quite well in the runoff as well.

But turnout in a June special election is a tricky thing, with a lot of voters being on vacation and still others thinking, as one local commentator put it, that the election has already happened. To keep enthusiasm up, Norman is really tying himself to Trump, and the president has reciprocated with a robo-call for Norman. If somehow Parnell wins or (much more likely) keeps it close, Team Trump will not be able to disclaim Norman  if anyone outside South Carolina even notices in the wake of the giant waves of hype from the state next door.
Ossoff and Handel have something in common. Photo: WSB-TV

Both candidates in the Georgia special congressional race got into disputes with members of the media on the eve of Tuesdays election  though, thankfully, this time neither incident involved physical assault. First Kira Lerner of ThinkProgress said shed been barred from Republican Karen Handels final event of the day after asking her about the GOP health-care bill. Then Brent Scher of the Washington Free Beacon, who questioned Democrat Jon Ossoffs claims about how far he lives from the district, said he was not allowed into Ossofs campaign event on Monday night.

On Monday afternoon Lerner reported that Handel had avoided discussing the GOP health care overhaul, claiming that people in Georgias Sixth District arent that concerned about it. (Her previous reports on the candidate include Dark money is fueling Karen Handels campaign for Cognress, and Georgia Republican enraged at court order making it easier for people to vote.) Handel did answer a health care question from Lerner at an event around lunchtime, saying that while Senate Republicans are crafting their Obamacare replacement behind closed doors, shes confident that theyll provide transparency before pushing for a vote.

After the story was published on the liberal blog, Lerner asked her Twitter followers what questions theyd like her to raise at Handels last event of the day. Then about 90 minutes later, she said the Handel campaign wouldnt let her in:

My day in summary:



Asked @karenhandel about unpopular health care bill.



Got blocked from Handel campaign events https://t.co/0Zi7onNXFb  Kira Lerner (@kira_lerner) June 19, 2017

A few hours later, Scher tweeted that elsewhere in Georgias Sixth District, he was escorted out of an Ossoff event:

.@ossoff comms director @sachalouise just escorted me out of his event tonight...I was inside for 30 seconds pic.twitter.com/V4FkkEuVJ3  Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 20, 2017

There is currently a "This is what democracy looks like" chant going on during an event that I am barred from  Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 20, 2017

On the bright side, @Ossoff was inside his event for only 5 minutes and likely didn't say much  Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 20, 2017

Asked @Ossoff comm team whether I was only person barred from event. He ignored first few times, then said "I don't know"  Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 20, 2017

The @FreeBeacon has been told that it is not welcome at tonight's @ossoff event pic.twitter.com/lzXfForIGG  Brent Scher (@BrentScher) June 20, 2017

Scher noted in a report on the Free Beacons website that, during the event, Ossoff made the ironic remark: Politics does not have to be about fear and hate and deception and division.

Scher said the campaign offered no explanation for why he was escorted out of the event, or whether any other outlets were barred. Hes published a number of articles on the right-leaning site that were critical of Ossoff, and on Monday morning he posted a video showing that it took him two hours to walk from Ossoffs home to Georgias Sixth District. Ossoff has tried to downplay the fact that he doesnt live in the district, saying he moved closer to Emory University to accommodate his fiancee, but as soon as she concludes her medical training, Ill be 10 minutes back up the street into the district where I grew up.

Several journalists came to Lerners and Schers defense, noting that the last thing we need is another D.C. politician who cant handle tough questions from the press.

this is crap and outlets who arent on the blacklist should express their objections. https://t.co/2NEvI9GDJa  Sam Stein (@samstein) June 20, 2017

This wouldn't even be acceptable if the @FreeBeacon reporter in question was @FBillMcMorris https://t.co/TSCTLMymKK  Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) June 20, 2017

I think the issue is less one's opinion of the outlet and more the question of who gets to decide https://t.co/5b1gM5jd8E  Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) June 20, 2017

Bipartisan petulance and thin skin https://t.co/CEQ0DLHWEu  Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 20, 2017

Ossoff should let Free Beacon in, Handel should let Think Progress in. Members of congress should be able to handle questions they dont like  Kate Nocera (@KateNocera) June 20, 2017

On Election Day Sacha Haworth, a spokeswoman for the Ossoff campaign, responded with this statement:

At previous campaign events, this person intimidated volunteers, took photos of campaign documents, and published them online. His credentials were not visible to staffers, nor did he identify himself as a journalist while attempting to record our volunteers conversations. This has nothing to do with his outlet, and unlike our opponent, we have made it our mission to run an open, accessible campaign, and in that spirit, we look forward to welcoming him at our watch party tonight and at future events.

Scher attended Ossoffs watch party on Tuesday night.

This post was updated to include the response from the Ossoff campaign.
Former Syrian army MiG-23 fighter jets at the Abu Duhur military airport, after Al-Qaedas Syrian affiliate seized the base on September 9, 2015. Photo: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images

Until two days ago, the last time an American pilot shot down a foreign military plane the United States was at war with Serbia. Bill Clinton was the president. The U.S. military didnt have weaponized drones. And Yankees rookie star Aaron Judge was a 7-year-old who rooted for the San Francisco Giants.

What happened on Saturday in the air over eastern Syria, when an American F/A-18 brought down a Syrian SU-22 fighter jet, is a very big deal.

Two factors have made situations where U.S. pilots might be forced to take down an enemy aircraft unlikely. First, most of our adversaries in the post-9/11 world have simply lacked an air force. But because U.S. air power is so overwhelming, even opponents who have jets have mostly chosen not to match them up with ours. Iran, for example, uses its Navy to harass smaller American patrol boats in the Persian Gulf  but leaves the planes at home.

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad chose to test our pilots, even after, reports say, the U.S. warned both Syrian and Russian military contacts. That suggests it will not be possible to keep the U.S. fight against ISIS separate from the Syrian conflict anymore.

Americans should understand why the downing over the weekend happened, and why the U.S. is in a position where it is likely to enter more and more military exchanges with Syrians  and perhaps with their main backers, the Russians and Iranians.

Through a civil war that has lasted six years and killed well over 300,000 civilians, Assad has hung onto power, regained the initiative, and recaptured large parts of Syria by making careful choices  including, for the most part, leaving U.S. forces alone. He had seemed quite content to allow ISIS to control large swathes of Syria. But now ISIS is under pressure from multiple sides, and Assad likely feels he cannot allow the U.S. and its allies to gain control of a substantial chunk of Syrian territory by ending ISISs reign.

Interactions between Assads forces and the U.S. have spiked over the last month, both near ISISs capital of Raqqa  where the plane was shot down  and further south, where the U.S. has carried out three self-defense strikes and shot down a Syrian drone. But instead of pulling back, Syrian forces kept coming for American-allied groups.

That should tell us just how badly Assad and his Russian allies want to prevent U.S., Syrian opposition, and Kurdish forces from taking control of any sizable chunk of Syria. Washington, remember, wants ISIS deprived of the safe zone where, it believes, the terrorist group is developing laptop bombs and promoting  if not actually masterminding  terror attacks in the region, Europe, and beyond. But our Syrian and Kurdish allies want something quite different  to build up their own power against Assads regime, and then expand into other parts of Syria.

So Assad cannot allow them to win. That means we should not expect the loss of one airplane to deter him, any more than the bombing of an airbase did earlier this spring. He will keep coming.

Americans are used to the idea that U.S. involvement in the conflict in Syria is limited and remote. But that is less and less true. Because the Trump administration ended the practice of announcing numbers of Americans on the ground in Iraq and Syria, we arent sure how many U.S. personnel are in the mix. There were 500 Americans on the ground in January. News reports say an additional 400 have been sent under the Trump administration so far, and a proposal for an additional 1,000 was on the table this spring.

Thats a lot of targets, and not just for Assad; former White House official Colin Kahl notes that Iran too is starting to up its game in the contest for the carcass of the caliphate. Theres no reason to doubt that Assad will spend 1,000 lives to prevent Washington and its allies from gaining control of a swath of Syrian territory  or that Russia and Iran will continue to support him in doing so. Who does the Trump administration believe will hold the territory after ISIS is driven out? That isnt a job that can be done with U.S. fighter jets. And the job of determining what the ultimate goal of U.S.-Syrian fighting is, and how many American lives its worth, is not one that ought to be left to events, or outsourced to the Pentagon.
Otto Warmbier arrives at court for his trial in Pyongyang on March 16, 2015. Photo: Lu Rui/Xinhua/Getty Images

Following the death of University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier on Monday, shortly after he was released from a North Korean prison, President Trump said in a statement that his passing deepens my administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. Obviously Warmbiers death increased tensions between the two nations, but its unclear what Trump might do to retaliate against Kim Jong-uns regime.

Warmbiers family said they learned last week that the 22-year-old had been in a coma since March 2016. The North Koreans claim that he fell into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill, but U.S. doctors say it appeared the oxygen supply to his brain was cut off. Though doctors could not say what exactly drove Warmbier into a state of unresponsive wakefulness, several lawmakers said he was murdered by the North Koreans.

Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime, said Senator John McCain. In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder.

McCain added that in addition to its other hostile actions, the dictatorship has escalated to brutalizing Americans, including three other citizens currently imprisoned in North Korea. The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.

Similarly, Democratic senator Benjamin Cardin said, Otto is dead because of Kim Jong-uns repressive, murderous regime, and North Korea must be held accountable for their continued barbaric behavior.

Most of the lawmakers who expressed their sadness and outrage over Warmbiers death werent specific about how exactly the U.S. should respond. One option is for Congress or the Trump administration to place new restrictions on Americans traveling to North Korea.

While studying abroad in China, Warmbier decided to take a five-day trip to North Korea with Young Pioneer Tours, which says it offers budget tours to destinations your mother wants you to stay away from. He was arrested while headed back to China for allegedly removing a propaganda poster. The company announced on Monday that in light of the tragic outcome they will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea.

Last month Representatives Adam Schiff and Joe Wilson introduced the North Korea Travel Control Act, which would require licenses for American citizens to travel to the country. Americans would be barred from visiting as tourists.

Tourist travel to North Korea does nothing but provide funds to a tyrannical regime  that will in turn be used to develop weapons to threaten the United States and our allies, Wilson said. Worse, the regime has routinely imprisoned innocent foreign civilians and used them as bargaining chips to gain credibility with the West.

Only Congress can impose a full travel ban, and theyre usually hesitant to do so. But as Gordon Chang notes in Forbes, federal law states Americans foreign travel can be restricted in certain instances:

Section 211a of 22 U.S. Code is interpreted as allowing the Federal government to maintain such bans with regard to only three instances: countries at war with the United States, where armed hostilities are in progress, and the instance relevant here, where there is imminent danger to the public health or the physical safety of United States travelers.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told a House committee last week that the administration may implement such a ban. We have been evaluating whether we should put some type of travel visa restriction to North Korea, Tillerson said. We havent come to a final conclusion, but we are considering it.

On Monday, Tillerson said that the U.S. holds North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbiers unjust imprisonment, and demands the release of the three other Americans still being held by Pyongyang. However, he did not mention a travel ban.

Warmbiers death may also put more pressure on the U.S. to urge China to rein in its neighbor, though the situation had already escalated in recent months due to new North Korean missile tests. Trump declared China must solve North Korea or we will, but so far its unclear what that means, and how his policy differs from that of previous administrations.

Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis were already set to meet with their Chinese counterparts later this week. On Monday, Susan Thornton, the State Departments acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said the goal is to advance concrete cooperation with China towards a peaceful resolution of the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea. She added that the U.S. is still urging China to use its leverage against North Korea, including by fully implementing all UN Security Council sanctions.

Last week Tillerson said the U.S. is moving into this next effort of are we going to have to . start taking secondary sanctions, but so far the Trump administration has held off on placing sanctions on Chinese companies that do business with North Korea.

Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundations Asian Studies Center, told CNN that the Trump administration isnt imposing secondary sanctions due to the naive belief that President Xi will do more than China has in the past, but its time to stop holding back on China. If ever there was a wake up to call to greater action, its Ottos death, Klingner said.
Photo: Facebook

A man in Algeria was sentenced this week to two years in prison after posting photos that show him dangling a baby out of a building window. 1,000 likes or I will drop him, the man reportedly captioned a photo of the incident he shared on Facebook. The window was on the 15th floor, Al Arabiya reports.

The man is related to the baby, BBC reports, and claimed that the photos had been digitally altered to make the child look as though they were in danger. The picture was taken in a balcony with protective barriers. These were removed, he reportedly said. The babys father asked the court to forgive the man, but the judge ignored those pleas.

Fortunately, the baby in the photo was not harmed. In an incident earlier this year, a Thai man killed his 11-month-old daughter after hanging her out of a resort window in Phuket. He streamed the murder on Facebook Live and later killed himself.
The political standoff in the Middle East between Qatar and other powers in the Middle East enters its third week, and the conflict shows no signs of abating.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and also tried to close off entry to Qatar by land, sea and air. They argued that Qatar is a major funder of terrorism.

U.S. President Donald Trump backed the move. The nation of Qatar, unfortunately, has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level, and in the wake of that conference, nations came together and spoke to me about confronting Qatar over its behavior, Trump said on June 9. I decided, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, our great generals and military people, the time had come to call on Qatar to end its funding -- they have to end that funding -- and its extremist ideology in terms of funding.

Of course, there is much more to the spat than Qatars terrorism links  the tension between Qatar and Saudi Arabia goes much deeper. Qatar supported the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, sparking the intense ire of the various monarchies and authoritarians in the region. Qatar has a friendly relationship with Iran, a major rival of Saudi Arabia. There is also just a plain old competition for power in the region. Needless to say, its complex.

Tensions are heating up. In a show of force, Qatar held military exercises on June 19 with Turkish troops.

As is often the case with the Trump administration, there have been mixed signals from Washington. President Trump has strongly supported the isolation of Qatar over its alleged funding of terrorism, ignoring the fact that although the relationship is complicated, Qatar is an ally of the U.S. in many ways. Not only does the U.S. have a large military base in Qatar, Qatar is also home to the U.S. regional Central Command headquarters. The location is critical to the U.S. campaign to fight ISIS, among other security objectives. Moreover, the Pentagon just signed off on a $12 billion weapons deal to Qatar last week. Shortly after Trumps public comments, the Pentagon felt the need to issue a statement thanking Qatar for hosting 10,000 U.S. troops. Related: Daimler vs Tesla: The Electric Truck War

The U.S. has friends and military assets on both sides of this fight, which likely means that Washington will try to ratchet down tensions, despite President Trumps comments. Recognizing the gravity of the situation, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson cancelled a planned trip to Mexico in order to try to deal with the conflict.

For now, the struggle has not yet led to a major disruption in the flow of oil and gas. Qatar Petroleum said in recent days that it would not cut off natural gas exports to the UAE, despite having the legal option of doing so. "The siege we have today is a force majeure and we could close the gas pipeline to the UAE," Qatar Petroleums CEO said on Al Jazeera on June 18. "But if we cut the gas, it does great harm to the UAE and the people of the UAE, who are considered like brothers ... we decided not to cut the gas now," he told the Doha-based channel in an interview aired on Sunday.

But regional experts do not see this conflict going away anytime soon. A protracted battle raises the chances of escalation into tit-for-tat reprisals that ultimately lead to some sort of supply disruption. Qatar is the largest LNG exporter in the world and is also a non-trivial oil producer and a key member of OPEC. Qatar recently rerouted some LNG tankers away from Egypts Suez Canal.

A broader regional conflict would have huge implications for oil prices, although whether positive or negative remains to be seen. The bullish case is more obvious: any supply disruption would push up oil prices, and the effect on LNG markets would likely be even greater. An outright hot war between multiple Middle Eastern countries  for now a remote possibility  would be catastrophic. "If the conflict develops into a military confrontation ... I would expect a very large spike in prices to around $150 a barrel of oil," Jean-Francois Seznec of the US-based Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center, told Al-Jazeera. Related: Oil Sands Output Growth Second Only To Shale

The bearish case is more counter-intuitive, although quite obvious once you think about it. A regional conflict, particularly if tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran pick up, could lead to the breakdown of cooperation within OPEC. That is, everyone starts producing as much as possible again. That would be decidedly negative for oil prices.

Still, it is hard to imagine a Saudi military incursion into Qatar without the consent of Washington, which makes U.S. policy crucial. News that Sec. of State Tillerson is prioritizing de-escalation is a positive sign that things wont spin out of control.

Perhaps that is why the oil markets have thus far responded with a shrug to the brewing conflict in the Middle East.

By Nick Cunningham of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Crude oil started the week with a loss, which may be extended today as U.S. shale drillers continue to add rigs, and Libya and Nigeria ramp up production, undermining their fellow OPEC members efforts to reduce output and support prices. Oil prices are now at a 7-month low.

Oil prices were pressured when last Friday, Baker Hughes reported the 22nd week in a row that US drillers have added rigs  a record-long streak despite prices falling by 15 percent since late May, when OPEC and Russia announced the extension of their oil output cut deal.

An addition blow came on Libyas announcement that its crude oil production has hit 885,000 bpd after the National Oil Corporation struck an interim agreement with German Wintershall, which led to the unblocking of some 160,000 bpd in daily production, shuttered during a dispute between the two. Indifferent to OPECs efforts to curb the glut to push up prices, Libya is eager to raise its production as quickly as possible, eyeing 1 million bpd by the end of July.

Meanwhile, cargo tracking updates from energy data provider Kpler revealed that global crude oil floating storage had hit the highest level since the start of 2017, at an average of 102 million barrels over the ten-day period to June 16. The amount of crude in floating storage increased the most in the North Sea by some 32 percent, in Singapore by 23 percent, and in Iran by around 16 percent. Related: Oil Sands Output Growth Second Only To Shale

An additional factor driving prices down this week is the expiry of the July futures for West Texas Intermediate today, according to Reuters, as last Friday saw 70,000 contracts outstanding. This means 70 million barrels of WTI would have to go into the Cushing storage after the expiration of the contract. There are only few traders who would want to physically buy crude, so the difficult task of selling the 70,000 contracts in two days added to the pressure on WTI.

At 6:35 am EDT Brent crude was trading down US$46.15 a barrel and WTI was at US$43.68.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The forced shutdown of one-fifth of the Ukrainian capitals power grid last December was caused by a new Russian cyber-weapon called CrashOverride, according to a new report by an American cybersecurity firm.

The weapon, with modifications, could be used to target the United States power grid as well, Dragos threat intelligence director Sergio Caltagirone said in the document. His comments reflect months of research completed after a Slovak anti-virus firm shared their analysis on CrashOverride with their American counterpart.

A regime sanctioned by Ukraines European allies has managed to increase energy production 2.1 percent year-over-year from January to April of this year via nuclear energy, Interfax said earlier in June. Previous bouts of cyber-aggression against Ukraines power system have only strengthened Kievs resolve to pursue nuclear and renewables energies  a move that would insulate it from Moscows geopolitical dance with former Soviet republics.

The new energy independence, supported in the short-term by the importation of coal from third-parties, angers Russia, which controversially annexed the Crimean Peninsula back in 2014. Hackers backed by Moscow have been developing cyber weapons to debilitate Ukraines power system as it trends away from Russian reliance.

A number of iterations of the disruptive software have been deployed in the past against a range of targets, lending credence to the reports conclusion that a modified virus could, with a little bit of elbow grease, affect the U.S. grid. The Stuxnet virus, for example, assumed to be an American-Israeli cyberweapon, disrupted Irans nuclear program before the nation signed a deal with Western allies.

The most important thing to understand though from the evolution of tradecraft is the codification and scalability in the malware towards what has been learned through past attacks, the report said. Related: Inside The Worlds Most Sophisticated Refining Industry

Analysts believe that the perpetrator of the first attack on Ukraines power back in December 2015 was the Sandworm team, a group of hackers who have targeted Europe and the United States in the past. An updated version of their most lethal software, Blackenergy 3, was at the root of Ukraines initial power crisis.

Fast forward one year to last December, and that same country faced the virus CrashOverride, which could be the hackers silver bullet weapon, the researchers said. Deployed by Sandworm and a related group known as Electrum, it builds off of the malware capabilities in Stuxnet and the espionage nature of another virus known as Dragonfly. Like Blackenergy 2, the virus connects to the internet, which allows it to leverage systems against themselves in a sophisticated, multi-stage attack.

Adversaries are getting smarter, they are growing in their ability to learn industrial processes and codify and scale that knowledge, and defenders must also adapt, the report said.

Over the past few years, the U.S. has made moves to strengthen the national grids fortifications, but concerns remain.

Reliability is reinforced with regular training and events such as the North American grids GridEX, where grid operators train for events from hurricanes, to terrorist incidents, to cyber-attacks and how they will respond to such outages, the report read.

Still, authorities and citizens must remain vigilant. In the internet age, assaults against electric grids are unlikely to diminish any time soon.

By Zainab Calcuttawala For Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
The Libyan oil port of Es Sider saw a failed attack on Tuesday, ending with the perpetrators demise via suicide bomb, according to a security official and a witness who both spoke to Reuters.

It is unclear whether the attacker acted alone or as part of a plan by one of the local organizations scheming to wrest control of the major port away from the National Oil Corporation (NOC) and its allies. No damage to the port has been reported.

Photos of the site of the explosion, which occurred several miles away from the Oil Crescent port, showed a blue car with its doors flown open and the attackers disfigured body parts on the ground nearby. Rocket casings have been found inside the vehicle as well.

Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army (LNA) handed control of the 340,000 bpd Es Sider and three other oil ports to the NOC after gaining control of them last September. The LNAs opponents have launched several campaigns to retake the facilities since then, but none have met with lasting success, which has allowed oil exports to continue their rise through 2017.

The NOC aims to spend $550 million to increase crude production to 1.31 million barrels per day by the end of this year, up from the current 885,000-bpd rate.

But according to Helima Croft, the head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, its too early to call Libyas tentative oil production recovery a sustainable return of many more barrels on the market.

[W]e strongly caution against uncorking the champagne just yet as some of the most powerful armed actors are not party to the agreement (most notably the western militias) and the previous political settlements have proved to be short-lived, Croft said in a note in early May, as quoted by Business Insider

By Zainab Calcuttawala for Oilprice.com

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The tender for the development of Irans Azadegan oil field has been delayed by several months, according to Ali Kardor, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Company, who spoke to news agency ISNA, as quoted by Reuters. Already there are three foreign companies interested in developing the countrys biggest oil field, including Japans Inpex, Frances Total, and Malaysian state oil and gas major Petronas.

The Azadegan field, which Iran shares with Iraq, has reserves of 37 billion barrels of crude. According to Kandor, the tender will have to wait until the new Iranian government is formedwhich will happen in Augustas the current, outgoing cabinet has not signed any memoranda of understanding with the interested parties and they need three to four months to study the field.

This is the latest in a series of delays in the tender for Azadegan, Reuters notes. It is the first tender for an oil field to be launched after the lifting of Western sanctions in 2015.

Before the sanctions, Azadegan was operated by Inpex, but the Japanese company left Iran in 2010 when economic sanctions against Tehrans nuclear program were tightened. At the end of May, when Inpex said it was interested in taking part in bidding for the development of the field, NIOCs managing director said that the tender would take place at the beginning of June. The company sent invitations to 29 international oil companies  most likely the same ones that Tehran shortlisted as eligible for oil and gas bidding in early 2017.

Iran is OPECs third-biggest oil producer, pumping around 3.8 million bpd to date, as per its agreement with OPEC and its partners in the production cut agreement. However, by 2021, the country will seek to increase its daily crude output to 4.7 million bpd, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh told Iranian media near the end of May.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Frances energy giant Total will commit US$1 billion to the development of the South Pars offshore gas field in Iran, after the U.S. extended a sanction waiver. In an interview with Reuters, CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that The U.S. waivers have been renewed and they will be renewed every six to eight months. We have to live with some uncertainty.

Total took part in the initial development of South Pars back in the 1990s, but was forced out of the country when international sanctions were imposed on Tehran on suspicions it is developing nuclear weapons. Now the company is back for the Phase 11 of the fields development, estimated to cost some US$5 billion. It has a 50.1-percent stake in the field, partnering with Chinas CNPC with 30 percent, and Petropars, which holds the remainder.

The company expects to benefit from the new Iranian Petroleum Contract, promoted by Tehran as a major improvement on the old production-sharing scheme that greatly limited foreign operators returns on investments made in the countrys mineral resources. In all, Total is aiming for a minimum of 15 percent in returns on new investments globally. The new contract it inked with the Iranian government for South Pars offers much better conditions, Pouyanne said.

Related: Can Canadian Crude Compete In Asia?

The South Pars field, which Iran shares with Qatar, which calls it the North field, holds an estimated 14 trillion cu m of natural gas in the Iranian section, and 18 billion barrels of gas condensates. This, according to Pars Oil and Gas Company, represents 7.5 percent of the worlds gas reserves and half of Irans.

Meanwhile, another Western energy company, Italys Eni, signed a preliminary contract with the National Iranian Oil Company, under which it will carry out feasibility studies at two fields, Kish and Darquain. It will also solicit partners for the two fields development both in Iran and abroad.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Job hunting can be a tedious job in itself but Google is here to make it as easy as a simple search. The internet giant wants you to "find your next job with Google".

Google has officially entered the employment-search industry with 'Google Careers'. Earlier, a Google search for specific jobs would yield independent sites offering various disorganized and duplicate results. Now, with the new search engine in place, Google has a dedicated page with the options to select your field of work and location.

Google's new AI-based search engine will collect data from various sites across the internet and filter out the redundant openings. Further, the website will also show employer ratings from both current and former workers in the

company/organization. The new search engine will also provide typical commute times to specific job locations.

Though introduction of a rating system for employers is nothing new, to streamline it and introduce it at a mass level can help job seekers make decisions based on the ratings. Google is teaming up with a variety of help-wanted and employer-rating services, including LinkedIn, Monster, WayUp, DirectEmployers, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, and Facebook.

The feature has not been launched in the Indian market so far but is available in the United States. The service was first showcased by Sundar Pichai at the Google I/O event earlier this year.
Handset major Motorola is accelerating its efforts to cash in on the affordable smartphone (Rs 6,000-10,000) segment in India with the launch of 'Moto C Plus' for Rs 6,999.

Earlier this month, Motorola had launched Moto C for Rs 5,999, which is the cheapest device in Motorola India's current portfolio.

"The USD 100-150 segment is the second largest in the Indian smartphone market. Over 35 million units have been sold in the category in the last four quarters and is growing at 25 per cent year-on-year. We see a lot of potential and therefore, we are expanding our presence in this segment," Motorola Mobility India MD Sudhin Mathur told PTI.

Besides, 85 per cent of smartphones sold online in India are in this price category, he added.

Mathur said Moto C Plus will be available online, while Moto C will be available through retail stores across the country.

Motorola -- which is a part of Lenovo's Mobile Business Group (MBG) -- had started its Indian operations by selling exclusively through e-commerce.

However, it is now working on expanding its sales through brick-and-mortar retail stores as well. India is among the top three markets, along with the US and Brazil, for Lenovo MBG.

India is one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally. Driven by increasing data consumption and falling data prices, a huge number of feature phone users are also migrating to smartphones and seek affordable devices.

Players like Samsung, Micromax, Xiaomi and Lava have a number of smartphones in their portfolios, especially in the affordable segment.

According to research firm IDC, Lenovo -- along with Motorola -- had a 9.5 per cent share of the Indian smartphone market in the January-March 2017 quarter.

Motorola also has the 'E series' that has products in the affordable category.

Moto E and Moto G (Motorola's flagship series) account of a majority of Motorola's sales in India.

The Moto C Plus will be available exclusively on Flipkart, priced at Rs 6999 from June 20.

The Android Nougat-powered Moto C Plus features a 5-inch display, up to 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB internal memory (expandable up to 32GB), 8MP rear and 2MP front camera and 4,000 mAh removable battery.
June 20, 1992

Issued June 19, 2017

tonight

Tuesday

major inland flooding

Thursday

Wednesday

Tuesday

8 am

8 pm

Tuesday

tonight

Tuesday

on Tuesday

File photo

It's June. California Is Still Covered in Snow. The summer solstice is just around the corner, but someone forgot to tell . After years of wallowing in drought, this winter walloped Californias Sierra Nevada mountains in a major, record-setting way. And while the calendar says summer, winter still has its grips on the granite spine of the Sierras. NASA Earth Observatory Climate Central reports: " Californias snowpack . After years of wallowing in drought, this winter walloped Californias Sierra Nevada mountains in a major, record-setting way. And while the calendar says summer, winter still has its grips on the granite spine of the Sierras.released satellite imagery on Thursday that shows what a difference a year makes. Snowpack is at 170 percent of normal when averaged across the state and some areas are reporting way higher totals than that, according to the California Department of Water Resources. Alpine Meadows, located just west of Lake Tahoe, reported 288 inches of snow on the ground (no, thats not a typo) as of early June. Deep green hues of healthy vegetation also extend down the Sierra Nevada western slope, another benefit of all that precipitation..."





Map credit : " Snowpack around the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in California in June 2016 vs. June 2017." Left: June 7, 2017. Right: June 20, 2016. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory : "

The Radical Idea Behind Trump's EPA Rollbacks. Politico reports; here's a clip: "...

Scott Pruitt Vows to Speed the Nation's Superfund Cleanups. Communities Wonder How. . Communities Wonder How. The Washington Post reports: "... In Bridgeton and elsewhere, others are asking similar questions with various degrees of hope and hesitation. In his previous role as Oklahomas attorney general, Pruitt had long-standing ties to oil and gas companies and a litigious history fighting the EPA. And although he has called the federal Superfund program vital and a cornerstone of the EPAs mission, the Trump administration has proposed slashing its funding by 30 percent. With more than 1,300 Superfund sites nationwide  some of which have lingered for decades on the EPAs ever-growing priorities list  its unclear how Pruitt will back up his professed commitment in an age of scorched-earth budgets. Critics worry that a single-minded focus on speeding up the process could lead to inadequate cleanups..."





Photo credit

Activists Dawn Chapman, right, and Karen Nickel wear protective masks at the Superfund site near their homes in Bridgeton, Mo. Known as the West Lake Landfill, it includes underground waste that has been smoldering for years adjacent to nuclear waste from the World War II-era Manhattan Project." (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post).

Should You Join the Charge and Buy an Electric Car? I've owned 34 gas-powered cars since I got my driver's license back in 1974 (ugh). Buying an electric vehicle was the best decision I ever made with a very real return on investment. Here's an excerpt from I've owned 34 gas-powered cars since I got my driver's license back in 1974 (ugh). Buying an electric vehicle was the best decision I ever made with a very real return on investment. Here's an excerpt from The Guardian : "...

Illustration credit

123 Klan for Fortune .

Image Source : Flickr user Jeremy Noble Work as if you were to live 100 years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow .  Ben Franklin

Work as if you were to live 100 years. Pray as if you were to die.  Ben Franklin

Photo credit

A deer tick under a microscope in the entomology lab at the University of Rhode Island." (Victoria Arocho - Associated Press).

U.S.

Photo credit : Marko Drobnjakovic "U.S. Army soldiers move through Qayara West Coalition base in Qayara, some 50 kilometers south of Mosul, Iraq."

Seen from above, the Pine Island Ice Shelf is a slow-motion train wreck. Its buckled surface is scarred by thousands of large crevasses. Its edges are shredded by rifts a quarter mile across. In 2015 and 2016 a 225-square-mile chunk of it broke off the end and drifted away on the Amundsen Sea. The water there has warmed by more than a degree Fahrenheit over the past few decades, and the rate at which ice is melting and calving has quadrupled.

On the Antarctic Peninsula, the warming has been far greaternearly five degrees on average. Thats why a Delaware-size iceberg is poised to break off the Larsen C Ice Shelf and why smaller ice shelves on the peninsula have long since disintegrated entirely into the waters of the Weddell Sea. But around the Amundsen Sea, a thousand miles to the southwest on the Pacific coast of Antarctica, the glaciers are far larger and the stakes far higher. They affect the entire planet..."

Photo credit : " A startling sunset reddens the Lemaire Channel, off the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. The continents coastal ice is crumbling as the sea and air around it warm." Camille Seaman.

Not Your Mother's Jersey Shore. It seems Superstorm Sandy has brought about new, higher-risk real estate opportunities along the New Jersey coastline. Here's an excerpt from . It seems Superstorm Sandy has brought about new, higher-risk real estate opportunities along the New Jersey coastline. Here's an excerpt from The New York Times : "...In response to Hurricane Sandy, New Jersey has instituted new construction regulations that follow federal standards and then some. Those people building new homes or rebuilding damaged homes in designated flood zones are required to raise their houses to the base flood elevation levels determined for each community by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, plus one extra foot, as set by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection..."

Photo credit

. maximum temperature yesterday in the Twin Cities.. average high on June 19.. high on June 19, 2016.: Abnormally cold conditions occur across the north. Temperatures drop to 26 at Embarrass, MN and Hayward, WI, but the cold spot is 24 at Brimson, MN.The weather. It flavors our moods, complicates our commutes, dictates how we dress, impacts the food on our tables & makes planning anything outdoors the rough equivalent of a weekend in Las Vegas.As much as half a TRILLION dollars of the U.S. economy is impacted by swings in temperature and moisture. Weather causes 32 percent of all airline flight delays. 2017 has unleashed 5 weather and climate disasters across America, according to NOAA NCEI.Congress just passed the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, the first major weather legislation since the early 90s. We need to stay on the cutting edge of meteorological research and technology. Money (and lives) are at stake.Frequent puffs of Canadian air keep Minnesota relatively comfortable into next week; highs mostly in the 70s. While metro Phoenix bakes at 120F this afternoon. How do people live like that?I still see 80s and T-storms in time for the 4th - more lake-worthy weather for the big holiday. In the meantime a tropical system will soak the Gulf Coast with flooding rains. It's that time of year.. NOAA's 3 km NAM model brings a full-blown hurricane into Houston within 60 hours, by late Wednesday. We're not buying this solution (yet) but know that there is still an outside possibility of (Cindy) reaching hurricane strength within a couple of days. Models do a fairly good job predicting tropical tracks, but intensity is a much bigger challenge. Water temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico are warmer than average, but there is considerable wind shear, which may prevent rapid strengthening.* The ECMWF (European) model, which often does a better job with tropical systems, brings a strong tropical depression or weak tropical storm into Galveston area Wednesday night or Thursday morning.* Tropical Storm potential in the Gulf of Mexico over the next 72 hours. "Cindy" may form as early asor early* "Atmospheric River" of tropical moisture being pulled northward toward the Gulf Coast.* This will be a persistent, slow-moving, long-duration rainfall event capable ofinto at least* It bears repeating: the primary threat is not high winds or even storm surge flooding, but torrential/prolonged inland rains capable of urban and river/stream flooding.* Metro areas fromandtoandshould pay close attention - facilities that have experienced flooding in the past may be disrupted.. Americans are (rightfully) fixated on hurricanes, but on many occasions tropical storms can be just as damaging, especially ones that move slowly, as this system is forecast to do in the coming days. Slow forward motion will prolong heavy rains, increasing the risk of runoff and flash flooding. Image: NOAA and Aeris AMP.. Here is the projected track from the National Hurricane Center, showing a possible landfallnight between Galveston and Lafayette, Louisiana. Storm surge damage may be minor to moderate, although flood-prone parishes of coastal Louisiana will experience major problems over the next 72 hours. The primary threat is inland flooding from persistent rains. Map: NOAA NHC.. Here is rough timing from NOAA, showing tropical storm (39 mph+) winds reaching New Orleans bymorning at, the Houston area by. There may be minor power outages, but right now this system is not expected to reach hurricane intensity.. June tropical storms are often prolific rain-makers, and this system will be no exception. Models print out as much as 10" from near Houston and Galveston to New Orleans, Gulfport and Mobile. That's 2-3 months worth of rain falling in 3-4 days. The result will be urban flooding, and many streams and rivers leaving their banks. Image credit: Tropicaltidbits.com.: Sustained winds are 40 mph, right at the threshold for a tropical storm. There's a good chance Tropical Storm Cindy will be named later, with impacts increasing along the Gulf Coast during the day. Repeated bands of heavy showers and T-storms sweeping in off the Gulf of Mexico, an "atmospheric river" type event, will focus over 10" of rain on some communities; possibly more than that. The result will be minor to moderate storm surge flooding for coastal communities, but potentially major inland flooding in the days to come. Stay alert, more updatesPaul Douglas, Senior Meteorologist. Praedictix. NOAA's GFS model print out as much as 5-10" of rain for some counties in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama as a tropical system surges north out of the Gulf of Mexico.. Here is the prediction of what the combination of temperature + humidity will feel like on Saturday, according to NOAA. 105F heat indices are possible from the Carolinas to Texas, maybe 115F over southern Georgia.Welcome to the longest day of the year. Then again, they're all 24 hours. OK, longest daylight of the entire year. Let's go with that. The Guardian has more details on the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, and why there's a need to keep upgrading NOAA: "...Its the Weather Research and Forecasting Innovation Act of 2017, the first major weather legislation that Congress has passed since the early 1990s. The legislation empowers the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to boost its ability to predict major weather-related events, such as hurricanes, droughts, floods and wildfires. To accomplish that, NOAA plans to use new technology and data and to work more closely with academic and industry groups. It will also aim to improve the public warning system, such as issuing alerts earlier or using new technology for broadcasting those messages. NOAA, which runs the National Weather Service , is the primary government agency that collects and analyzes weather data. It holds the worlds largest archive of weather and climate data , which is widely used by other public agencies, businesses and academic institutions..."The Duluth office of the National Weather Service has a post on the historic rains that swept across the North Woods of Minnesota and Wisconsin 5 years ago: "...In the week leading up to the flooding rains of June 19-20, parts of northeast Minnesota had received 2-4 inches of rain as numerous storm systems moved across the area. This helped to saturate the soil which primed the Duluth area for runoff in the extreme rain event that we received. On Tuesday, June 19a cold front that had move through the previous day began to return north as a warm front, setting up stationary just south of Duluth. This front helped provide continuous lift for thunderstorms that developed over east central Minnesota tracking northeast into the Duluth area, the north shore of Lake Superior and into northwestern Wisconsin. The official rainfall in Duluth on the 19was 4.14 inches. The thunderstorms finally ended when a strong cold front moved through Wednesday afternoon June 20, but not before dumping another 3.11 at the airport. The official Duluth total rainfall for the event was 7.25. Duluth International Airport broke several rainfall records during this flooding event. Locally high amounts in the 8-10 inch range were reported throughout Duluth neighborhoods and along the North Shore of Lake Superior...". I wonder what on Earth could be triggering this? USA TODAY reports: "The U.S. endured a record number of days of high-tide flooding last year largely due to rising seas from man-made climate change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. Across the USA, coastal cities and towns racked up a combined 520 days with high-tide floods, far above the annual average of 275 days over the past couple decades, NOAA oceanographer William Sweet said. That broke the previous record set only a year earlier when 513 flood days were tallied in 2015, he added. The report only examined coastal flooding, not inundation brought on by sudden, heavy rain or overflowing rivers. As sea levels rise, it no longer takes a strong storm or hurricane to cause coastal flooding. It now occurs with high tides in many locations..."of tidal flooding in Ft. Lauderdale in October, 2016 courtesy of NOAA. CNN.com has details on a horrific story unfolding in Portugal: "A raging wildfire has ripped through central Portugal, killing 61 people and injuring dozens more in what officials there describe as the "greatest wildfire tragedy of recent years." At least 54 people were injured in the blaze Saturday, including eight firefighters and a child. Four of the firefighters were in critical condition Sunday, according to Paulo Santos, an operations and emergencies official with the National Relief Operations Command in Lisbon. The government has declared three days of mourning...". A wall of flames heading for your location, with no obvious safe retreat? This almost makes an EF-3 tornado seem like an acceptable risk. Photos courtesy of The Atlantic Pruitt has labeled this vision EPA originalism, in a nod to someconservatives long-running arguments that judges should interpret the Constitution as the Founders understood it. But several former EPA chiefs say Pruitt and Trump have it wrong  and that the agencys mission was never as narrow as the current administration wants it to be. I dont personally think you can say, Im somehow going back to what the basic responsibilities of EPA are, said Lee Thomas, who led the agency during Ronald Reagans second term. Thats not what EPA is, thats not where the laws are, and thats not where the risk is...: "Once youve got used to living with an electric car, most people say theyd never go back to a conventional one. You are driving the future, says Melanie Shufflebotham who runs NextGreenCar, a website dedicated to low-carbon vehicles. An enthusiastic Nissan Leaf owner, she says improvements to the charging infrastructure, a greater awareness of the benefits of going electric in cities, and the fact that the technology is now proven have all allowed electric cars to move into the mainstream. Range anxiety is largely a thing of the past..." Bloomberg breaks down the trends, and a fairly radical prediction: "Bloomberg New Energy Finance has just published its fourth annual New Energy Outlook , a comprehensive forecast of the power industry from now to 2040. And every year, it is full of wonders. First among them for 2017 is an extraordinary showing for solar energy technology. Electricitys future is sunny -- and windy, too -- to the tune of trillions of dollars of new investment. According to the latest report, $10.2 trillion in power generation technologies will be invested worldwide in the next two decades, of which almost three-quarters will flow into renewable generation sources. Wind power will garner more than $3 trillion, and solar power will attract more than $2.5 trillion..." Fortune.com explains: "...For starters, a logo isnt just a name or an icon or other visual signature on company letterhead or a billboard or other promotional venue anymore. Take that device out of your pocket or bag and swipe through the screens, as you probably do many times a day anyway. You now carry dozens of brand icons wherever you go. People are literally, physically interacting with those symbols in a way that they never did, says Michael Bierut, partner in the prominent design firm Pentagram. For the Facebooks and Airbnbs and Snapchats and Ubers of the world in particular, he continues, that means their customers are having a really, really intimate sort of relationship not just with those brands, but with the symbols that represent the brands.... Following up on the implications of Amazon swallong the world; here's a clip from The New York Times : "Imagine this scene from the future: you walk into a store and are greeted by name, by a computer with facial recognition that directs you to the items you need. You peruse a small area - no chance of getting lost or wasting time searching for things - because the store stocks only sample items. You wave your phone in front of anything you want to buy, then walk out. In the back, robots retrieve your items from a warehouse and deliver them to your home via driverless car or drone. Amazon's $13.4 billion purchase of Whole Foods, announced Friday, could speed that vision along..." Popsugar.com breaks out some of the best hikes in all 50 states, with a non-obvious option for Minnesota: "...From forests and grasslands to marshes and wetlands, in the Lebanon Hills Regional Park , you'll find it all. Hiking in this 1,869-acre park is a great way to escape the city and fully immerse yourself in the natural world. And with 14 miles of heavily wooded trails right at your fingertips, chances are you'll need to visit this park more than once to experience all the serenity the Lebanon Hills have to offer..."TODAY: Sunny peeks, quick shower possible. Winds: NW 8-13. High: 74TUESDAY NIGHT: Partly cloudy and comfortable. Low: 59WEDNESDAY: More showers, a few T-storms late. Winds: SE 8-13. High: 78THURSDAY: Some sun, a bit less humidity. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 62. High: 81FRIDAY: Partly sunny, PM showers up north. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 58. High: 75: Showers and T-storms arrive. Winds: NW 7-12. Wake-up: 57. High: 74: A little better. Sunny breaks but cool. Winds: NW 10-15. Wake-up: 55. High: near 70MONDAY: Fresh air! Plenty of sunshine. Winds: NW 8-13. Wake-up: 57. High: 75 Climate Central has details on new research: "If emissions continue on their current path, that proportion will jump to three-quarters of the worlds residents, due to both rising temperatures and humidity, a new study detailed Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change , finds. That future is what study author Camilo Mora calls a choice between bad and terrible, but crucially, it is still a choice. If the world reduces emissions, it can reduce the impacts of warming as much as possible. Societies will also have to adapt to rising temperatures and the higher risks to human health they bring, but it is the developing countries that are least able to adapt that are likely to be hit the hardest..."The Law of Unintended Consequences - a shifting climate has implications many of us haven't thought about. Here's an excerpt from The Washington Post : "...The dangerous trifecta of mice, ticks and Lyme disease might seem like a problem for only rural and suburban areas, but climate change is increasingly making it an issue in cities as well. We know were at risk in the country for getting Lyme, Wood says, although people living in concrete jungles should know that they can get it there, too. Large city parks provide preferred habitat for white-footed mice: small parcels of land, grassy knolls, shady oak trees, brush for safely making nests, and few natural predators. Leo Galland, an internist practicing in New York City, says he treated a woman for acute Lyme after she found a blacklegged tick in her Park Avenue apartment. She had not left the city for months, but she often spent hours in nearby Central Park with her young child, and Galland says he believes a tick may have come home with her...": " Madison.com has the story: "Deep in Gov. Scott Walkers budget proposal is a seemingly benign item formalizing the transfer of 15 scientists within the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Two years ago, Walker and lawmakers enacted a budget that cut 18 DNR science service bureau researchers amid complaints that their research related to climate change, pollution and wildlife habitat were controversial and unneeded. Now the science services bureau is being dissolved and its remaining scientists moved to program offices that use their research..."Here's an excerpt from Defense One : "...Choosing not to take action against climate change will put our troops in harms way more often in the not-so-distant future. Heres why: The Pentagon has long acknowledged climate change as a threat multiplier because its effects make the work of our men and women in uniform around the world even more difficult than it already is. More frequent and severe storms and droughtsand their consequences, including resource shortages and mass migrationmean themilitary will be asked take on more humanitarian relief missions, there will be stronger extremist groups on the battlefield, and possibly worse. These arent fringe views. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made the argument himself in his confirmation hearing testimony..."What can possibly go wrong. Here's an excerpt from National Geographic : ": "Bill and Michele Garofalo and their children, Amanda and Billy, on their top deck in Ortley Beach." Tony Cenicola - The New York Times.
We have a customer that is looking for Douglas fir lumber as below:

thin - 24mm & up

width - 140/150mm

length - 3700/4200mm

grade: no kmots, no bluestain, K.D. 8-12%

quantity: 10 X 40' container/month

Pls send your offer FOB West Coast US Port
Donald Trump has been such a disruptive agent during his first few months as President that its easy to dismiss him as hopelessly incompetent. That would be a mistake: one common way MEPs (mega-entrepreneurial personalities) prevail is because other people write them off as unhinged lunatics. Ill get to the lunatic aspect of our MEP President in a minute, but, first, lets give the devil his due. Lost in all the chaos is the fact that some of Trumps bewildering behavior accomplishes useful things. For example:

Social media

Every President since George Washington has complained about having his every action and utterance intermediated by an often-hostile press. But for an MEP President its much worse because such a personality doesnt ever speak softlyhe speaks loudly and often and having that speech intermediated (or, as Trump would put it, disintermediated, or disinter-media-ated) is simply insufferable.

Fortunately for Trump, if not for the rest of us, he was elected during the heyday of social media, which means that he can bypass the press and speak directly to the American people. This is so powerful a weapon that we can be sure every President in the future will make use of it (albeit presumably more responsibly). Trumps misuse of Twitter has gotten so bad that there is now talk of having White House lawyers review the tweets before they go out. Too hilarious! We all know how that will work, namely:

Trump (having summoned his lawyer to the Oval Office): Listen up, shyster, Ive written a new tweet and I think its my best ever! Here it goes: @POTUS Anti-American Dems and their traitor allies in the press will never prevail!

[Stunned silence.]

Trump: Well? Pretty damn great, no?

Lawyer (swallowing hard): Uh, Mr. President, I think that tweet is, well, its, its a very nice sentiment, but Im wondering, you know, maybe if it sounded a little less incendiary, then

Trump: A little less in-what?

Lawyer (wiping the sweat from his forehead): Strike that, sir, I was meaning to say that, well, let me just be as blunt as I can be. I think it would be a terrible idea to

Trump: TWEET!

One-China Policy

For four long decades every new American President has hardly sat down in the Oval Office before he was harangued by his foreign policy experts about the need to adhere to the so-called One-China policy. In other words, the President of the U.S. was always to pretend that there was only one China in the world. And so it was: Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, Obama. True, these Presidents asked awkward questions: Wait, arent there 25 million people living on Taiwan? Isnt Taiwan a democracy, while the Peoples Republic is a Communist dictatorship? Isnt Taiwan our loyal ally? But never mind, it was crucially important (said the foreign policy experts) to kowtow to the Peoples Republic because they were sensitive on the subject.

But the foreign policy experts forgot to reckon with the possibility of a MEP President. No sooner had Trump finished being harangued by the foreign policy experts than he was on the phone with the President of Taiwan. Jaws dropped all over Washington, D.C., and especially down at the Foggy Bottom part of it. Is this man insane? Is he trying to launch a nuclear war?

But the experts soon had egg on their faces the size of a Spanish omelet: the Chinese reacted mildly, as though to say, Well, what the hell, we had it our way for 40 years, you cant expect even the Americans to stay stupid forever! And a few days later President Li was on a plane to Mar-a-Lago, where he talked sense about trade policy, currency manipulation and even North Korea.

What America now has is the One-and-a-Half-China policy: so long as Beijing remains constructive, Trump wont throw Taiwan in their faces. But if the Chinese backslide you can take it from Your Humble Bloggerthat is to say, you can take it to the bankthat Trump will be on the next plane to Taipei.

Health care repeal

Im already on record as opposing the repeal of the Affordable Care Act, but for Trump and the Republicans repealing Obamacare was the signature policy initiative. Failing in the repeal effort would seriously undermine Trumps credibility. And so it was that Trump went at the repeal with all the zeal only a MEP can bring to the party. But he didnt have the voteshis own party, in the form of its Freedom Caucus, deserted him. Trumps enemies had a field day. He failed in his major legislative priority! This means none of his legislative agenda will be passed! Trumps Presidency is over!

Except that it wasnt. A few weeks later the House voted to repeal the ACA, although of course the repeal faces an uncertain fate in the Senate. Still, Trump delivered on his campaign promise. His opponents had underestimated him because they forgot that, however, passionately a MEP pursues Plan A, a MEP will always, always have a Plan B.

Unfortunately for people who held high hopes for the Trump Presidency, Trumps bizarre iconoclasm results more often not in success but in utter chaos. Can he turn it around? Well take a look at that interesting question next week.

Next up: Explaining Donald Trump, Part VI
ARGYLE  The new National Comedy Center is under construction in Jamestown in the Southern Tier, but $2.9 million of the work for making and installing custom cabinetry, fixtures and exhibits will be done by Adirondack Studios.

The company, which is located in Argyle, in Washington County, after initially moving to Warren County in the mid-1970s, has a 125,000-square-foot facility with separate areas for design, carpentry, metal, paint, electrics and project management.

The announcement was made Monday by Gov. Andrew Cuomos office.

The National Comedy Center is expected to open in 2018. Construction began on the 37,000-square-foot exhibit space and a new 6,000-square-foot building similar in size to the Hannaford in South Glens Falls.

The project also includes the renovation of two historic buildings, which, along with an exterior screening area and an adjacent Comedy Park, will comprise the National Comedy Center campus.

The historic Jamestown Gateway train station will be renovated as well, and when it opens, the National Comedy Center is expected to draw 114,000 visitors annually and support 184 jobs, according to the state.

The National Comedy Center, once completed, will boost the local economy and spur job creation for Western New York, while creating a world-class cultural hub for visitors and residents alike, Cuomo said in a prepared statement. This contract with Adirondack Studios brings us one step closer to completing this project, which will add further momentum to this regions renaissance.

Adirondack Studios Vice President Michael Blau said in a news release that Adirondack Studios is proud to be an important member of the National Comedy Center team, and he noted that the company made a deliberate decision to be based in upstate New York to support regional economies with workforce development.

Blau was not available for direct comment because of a power outage that hit the Argyle area Monday afternoon.

The center, a $50 million initiative, with half of that going to building projects, will be a nonprofit cultural institution offering year-round experiential and interactive exhibits and programming. The center will also support aspiring artists through educational programming in comedic arts.

The center has received $4.35 million in funding from Empire State Development and New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, through rounds 4, 5 and 6 of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative. Cuomo also committed an additional $5 million to the National Comedy Center through phase II of the Buffalo Billion initiative.
GLENS FALLS  A Glens Falls man faces numerous charges after he allegedly threatened a man with a knife during a dispute on North Pearl Street on Friday, police said.

Scott M. Lemery, 37, was arrested after he threatened to kill a man, police said. The two men exchanged words when the victim walked by a home where Lemery was, police said. The victim was walking with a child, and Lemery asked him what he was looking at, then displayed a knife as he made a threat, according to Glens Falls Police.

Lemery was charged with felony criminal possession of a weapon and misdemeanor counts of menacing and endangering the welfare of a child, according to Glens Falls Police.

Lemery, who police said has at least one prior felony conviction, was arraigned and sent to Warren County Jail for lack of bail.

Glens Falls Police Officer Donnie Long made the arrest.
FORT EDWARD  Matthew Slocum was found guilty of all charges late Tuesday morning for the deaths of his mother, stepfather and stepbrother, the second time in about 5 years he was convicted for the brutal killings.

The seven-man, five-woman panel came back with a verdict in Washington County Court just before noon, ending a nine-day retrial for the brutal 2011 shotgun killings and arson in White Creek that claimed the lives of Lisa Harrington, Dan Harrington and Josh OBrien. Slocum was convicted of three counts of second-degree murder, one of arson and three lesser counts.

A large contingent of state court officers and Washington County sheriffs officers lined the court gallery before the verdict was read. Dozens of members of the Harrington family have religiously attended all proceedings in the case, and they packed the courtroom for the verdict.

Several wept and audibly said yes as the jury foreman read the verdict. Slocum was handcuffed just before Judge Kelly McKeighan set sentencing for July 14 at 9:30 a.m., and relatives of the victims broke into applause.

Dan Harringtons mother, Diana Harrington, pointed to the sky outside the courthouse as she recounted how long the family has waited for justice.

Two thousand, one hundred and ninety-two days waiting for this, she said. Dan, Lisa and Josh, we got you justice!

Slocum had no noticeable reaction as he was handcuffed and led back to Washington County Jail.

Jurors had been deliberating since early Monday afternoon. They were sent home Monday night and returned Tuesday morning, and spent about six hours deliberating before coming to a verdict that was delivered at 12:03 p.m.

Special prosecutor Eric Galarneau, an Albany County district attorney, said he planned to ask for the maximum prison term, which is likely at or close to the 88-years-to-life term that was imposed after Slocums conviction in 2012.

He praised the Harrington family and said their assistance was one of the main reasons for the conviction this time around.

They are the type of family you go the extra mile for, he said. This was a conviction by the family for the family.

The jury came out of its deliberation room twice earlier Tuesday morning, once for a read-back of testimony related to DNA evidence and the second time to hear the law on the murder charges Slocum faces as well as accessorial liability.

Slocum and his girlfriend, Loretta Colegrove, were the only two adults in the home at the time, besides the three victims. Colegrove was treated as a witness and testified against Slocum. The defense has blamed her for the killings, but the prosecution has theorized that he may have acted in concert with her.

Colegrove testified she saw Slocum shoot his stepbrother in the familys White Creek home before he set fire to the home on July 13, 2011.

Slocum, 29, was on trial for the shotgun killings of his 44-year-old mother, 41-year-old stepfather and 24-year-old stepbrother in the family home on Turnpike Road. The house was set on fire after the shootings.

He was convicted of murder, arson and lesser counts following a trial in 2012, but the convictions were overturned when appeals courts determined he was denied his right to counsel when questioned by police.

That ruling led to a confession he gave being barred from evidence at the retrial. But the prosecution this time around did have a series of 10 bizarre letters that Slocum wrote from jail to Colegrove, which included numerous apologies and requests for forgiveness from her, despite his contention that she was to blame.

Slocum did not testify during the retrial, which included five days of testimony last week. He was represented by the Washington County Public Defenders Office, and Public Defender Michael Mercure said he will look into a possible motion to set aside the verdict before sentencing, and Slocum will appeal.

He said he had no comment on the verdict.

Galarneaus office was appointed as special prosecutor because the Washington County District Attorneys Office had a conflict of interest that arose after the first trial.

Slocum had a long criminal history before the murders. He never enunciated, even in his barred confession, why he shot his family members. Testimony showed the Harringtons had been urging him and Colegrove to find their own place in the days before the murders.

My best guess is there was some tension in that house, some growing tension, Galarneau said.
QUEENSBURY  One person was hurt in a Monday morning crash involving a bus driver on Quaker Road, police said.

The Warren County Sheriff's Office said a bus carrying clients of Community, Work & Independence Inc. hit a car from behind at the intersection of Quaker Road and Glenwood Avenue.

The driver of the car that was hit, Theresa Philion of Queensbury, was taken to Glens Falls Hospital after the collision. Her injuries were not believed to be serious.

No one on the bus was hurt. Its driver was identified as Jean Donnelly of Fort Ann.

As a result of the investigation, Donnelly was issued a traffic citation for following too closely.

The accident was investigated by Sheriffs Patrol Officers J.Grenier and J. Bateholts and assisted by Queensbury Central Fire Department.
Youth Center making a difference

Bravos to the Glens Falls Area Youth Center for continuing to make a difference in the community. We were reminded of that this past week as the Youth Center held its annual graduation ceremony. Glens Falls Police Officer D.J. Long spoke about how the Youth Center made a difference in his life. We believe there are countless numbers of stories just like this.

Mental health to be addressed locally

Bravos to the Adirondack Health Institute for putting some big-time grant money in the hands of local institutions such as Glens Falls Hospital and the Open Door Mission. What we liked about the funding is that the grants relate specifically to mental heath issues. Were trying to de-institutionalize support for behavioral health problems, American Health Institute CEO Margaret Vosburgh said. We believe addressing mental health concerns has long been an overlooked part of the health care system and this $1.36 million in funding will be put to good use locally.

Environmental groups lobby for grant

Bravos to the representatives of the various environmental groups  Lake George Park Commission, Lake George Association, Fund for Lake George and the Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board  who showed up at the Town Board meeting in Queensbury to convince the board that while the work of the Lake George Watershed Coalition was tainted by the arrest of its executive director, the mission is still an important one worth pursuing. The groups would like the town to go forward with one final grant that was secured by the executive director before his arrest, saying that no payments had been submitted and they had a clean slate. We hope the board follows the lead of the environmental agencies and goes forward with the grant.

State sponsors job fairs locally

Bravos to the state of New York for sponsoring a series of job fairs around the state. The first one was held in Glens Falls, where representatives of 29 local companies accepted applications and conducted interviews for nearly 600 jobs.

Fort Edward to explore school merger

Bravos to Fort Edward school officials for beginning talks with a consulting firm to address whether merging the district would make any sense. The school district is facing an eroding tax base with the closing of the dewatering plant from the dredging project while enrollment also continues to shrink. Fort Edward could be looking at significant tax increases for residents down the road.

Moreau to look at sewer options again

Bravos to the town of Moreau for again trying to address a sewer plan that would spark economic development in the Exit 17 corridor. Getting sewers on Route 9 has been discussed for years and a plan to go forward was voted down by voters two years ago. This time, the board is hiring an engineering company to look for out-of-the-box ideas.

Town Board behavior hits new low

Boos to Moreau Town board for its unruly behavior at its last meeting. If this was high school, the entire board, and perhaps some of the spectators, would be serving detention after the meeting. There were at least three occasions when board members suggested they step outside for a fistfight. Supervisor Gardner Congdon and board members Todd Kusnierz, Gina LeClair and Alan Van Tassel should be ashamed of their behavior and make a renewed commitment to civility.

Moreau board gives residents refund

Bravos to the Moreau Town Board for offering seven homeowners refunds for being overcharged for town water for the past six years. The controversy has been percolating for some time, but the board finally resolved it by voting unanimously to refund the money. It proved the board can be reasonable.

Warren County will try to get money

Bravos to the Warren County Board of Supervisors for taking another look at the $552,000 in unpaid bills associated with the county nursing home to see if could still be collected. The Finance Committee had voted to write the money off as lost, but the full board decided it should take another look.
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Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will lead the trade and investment mission to Israel Sept. 6-13 to expand trade and investment opportunities for Iowa.

The mission, coordinated by the Iowa Economic Development Authority, includes stops in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv and will feature foreign direct investment opportunities, meetings with government and industry association officials, market briefings and Growing Iowas Global Partnerships events.

It coincides with WATEC Israel 2017 - the Water Technology & Environment Control Exhibition & Conference, Sept. 12-14, which offers attendees to learn what Israel has done in the areas of water treatment and water quality.

Iowa companies in all industries that seek to expand exporting opportunities are invited to participate in the mission. Participating companies may choose to have one-on-one, pre-qualified appointments targeted to their objectives.

The United States is Israels largest single-country trading partner. Iowa exports to Israel exceeding $30.6 million in 2016, a 14.5 percent increase over 2015. Exports from January to April 2017 increased nearly 300 percent over the same period last year. Key sectors in Israel providing opportunities for Iowa companies include information and communication technology, agtech, biotechnology and animal feeds.

The development authority markets Iowa products and services, educates Iowa businesses on exporting and assists global companies in establishing or expanding operations in Iowa.

The deadline for companies to apply is Friday, July 7. Additional information and application details are available at iowaeconomicdevelopment.com/missions.
If you frequent the Freight House Farmers Market in downtown Davenport on Saturday mornings, then you know it's not all fruits and vegetables.

There's plenty of fresh produce from area farms, but fresh homemade doughnuts, cupcakes and cookies also show up on every corner.

And the sweet side of the market only seems to be growing.

Last year around this time, I went on a search for sweet things at the Freight House Farmers Market. The results included cookie monster cupcakes from Eising on the Cake Bakery, a man who has served roasted almonds since 1988, plenty of homemade pies packed with whatever fruit was seasonal and a Vietnamese iced coffee from Deb's Daily Grind that proved to be addicting.

The 2017 edition of my search featured those and more -- from staples such as The Crepe Guy to brand new vendors.

Read on for some sweet-treat highlights:

Real ice cream

Since the 1980s, Lorraine Tygrett and her husband have sold produce from their farm, based in Atalissa, Iowa, at area farmers markets.

This year, the couple took a different direction.

They brought Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream, an ice cream company based in Madison, Wisconsin, to the Freight House.

"My husband got this idea, because we realized it's very difficult to find hard-scooped ice cream here," Tygrett said. "It's not soft serve and there's no added junk. It's real ice cream."

She was scooping a variety of "super premium" flavors, such as Mackinac Island Fudge, Mint Avalanche and Old Fashioned Vanilla, out of a company ice cream cart on Saturday -- and giving out plenty of free samples.

"It's a niche," she said. "There are no other vendors selling hard scooped ice cream here."

Another new vendor is Q-C Pops, which offers more than a dozen flavors  from pineapple coconut to strawberry rhubarb to Chai tea latte  of homemade ice pops.

And these pops come without the guilt. Owner Lisa Miranda, a personal chef, says she makes her "gourmet" pops with natural ingredients.

"They're gluten-free, vegan and made in small batches," she said.

Q-C Pops, Miranda said, is her way of introducing herself to the community with hopes of opening a restaurant. She also serves Latin American food, such as pork belly tacos, on Saturdays.

"People are always walking around the farmers market," Miranda said. "They can hold an (ice pop) while they do that."

Bakeries

Before she opened Oh So Sweet, a bakery on Main Street in downtown Davenport, Tiphanie Cannon tested her chops at the Freight House Farmers Market for two years. Business picked up; her brick-and-mortar shop opened in May 2014.

This season, however, Cannon is back at the market. She has sold out of her loaves of bread, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls, cookies and jams on recent Saturdays.

"I wanted to come full circle; that was always the plan," she said. "It's nice seeing people here again."

Tommy's Cafe and Baked Beer & Bread Company, both of which have brick-and-mortar establishments, also served baked goods at the market over the weekend.

Why?

"You can't beat the marketing," Cannon said. "It helps people put a face with the name. And it's just fun."

Popcorn

There were at least three busy popcorn vendors at the market, including Nancy's Corn and Homefront Kettle Corn, a vendor originally based in Indianapolis, Indiana, who joined the Quad-City scene in 2015.

Nancy Remrey had already sold about five tubs worth of her namesake popcorn, including kettle corn and caramel corn flavors, by about 11 a.m. Saturday. She also has cotton candy for sale. Remrey, who is from Reynolds, Illinois, has been selling her treats for 28 years.

"I have a dedicated popcorn kitchen at home and it's spilling over into the craft room," she said. "It just keeps getting bigger."
The Community Foundation of the Great River Bend has awarded more than $100,000 to eight local organizations to help them build their capacity.

The foundation's Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants provide funding to local organizations for staff training, board development, strategic planning, succession planning, technology, and critical equipment needs to help them transform their ability to carry out their mission. For more information about starting a fund to support the region, or on how to apply for a grant, visit www.cfgrb.org.

Organizations awarded Nonprofit Capacity Building Grants in spring 2017 include:

 Center for Alcohol and Drug Services, Inc., technology upgrades: $15,000

 Dress for Success Quad-Cities, board training and education: $15,000

 Humility of Mary Shelter, Inc. , technology upgrades: $7,014

 Quad-City Arts, technology upgrades: $15,000

 Quad-City Botanical Center, staff training: $15,000

 River Music Experience, strategic planning: $14,900

 Susan G. Komen of Greater Iowa, strategic fundraising plan: $6,100

 WQPT Quad-Cities PBS/Western Illinois University Foundation, technology upgrades: $15,000

The foundation will award up to $120,000 in additional non-profit Capacity Building Grants in the fall. Online letters of interest for fall grants are being accepted now through Sept. 1, 2017, at www.cfgrb.org/npcapacitybuildinggrants.
A Davenport man was in the Rock Island County Jail Tuesday morning following a shooting and a chase that began in Davenport.

Around 12:36 a.m., Davenport police were called to the 1100 block of West 8th Street for a report of shots fired. Witnesses on scene provided descriptions of the suspect and suspect vehicle, which fled the scene as officers arrived, according to a news release.

Shell casings were located on scene. Officers quickly found the suspect vehicle and attempted to stop the vehicle, which failed to stop, according to the release.

Police initiated a pursuit and coordinated communications with Illinois police as the vehicle fled into Illinois over the Interstate 280 bridge, according to the release.

Illinois police were able to deploy spike-sticks to disable the vehicle. The driver, identified as Keshawn Lavone Reed, 29, fled on foot but was apprehended after a short chase.

According to a Rock Island Police arrest report, Reed is charged in Rock Island County with aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer and resisting/obstructing a peace officer.

Charges also are pending in Davenport.

No injuries were reported during the incident. No other information was available Tuesday morning.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125 or submit an anonymous tip via the mobile app CityConnect Davenport, IA or CrimeReports by Motorola."

Reed was sentenced in December to 24 months of conditional discharge and 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated fleeing, a Class 4 felony, and driving without a valid driver's license in Rock Island County.

He was sentenced in August 2010 to 24 months conditional discharge and 54 days in jail after pleading guilty to criminal trespass and misdemeanor battery.

Reed was sentenced in 2007 to three years in prison after pleading guilty to unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.
The newest bike path section in Bettendorf is so popular with bicyclists, officials said it was a challenge to have lines painted along the path, separated several yards from U.S. 67 on the east edge of the city.

The segment represents Bettendorf's last section of the Mississippi Riverfront Trail, and it was celebrated on Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting event.

Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher talked about the "connectivity" that exists between Bettendorf and communities up and down the Mississippi River.

Currently, cyclists can travel from Princeton, Iowa, to Concord Street in west Davenport. Some of the trail is separated from U.S. 67, some of it is in the form of four-foot-wide shoulders along the highway.

From start to finish, the Mississippi River Trail stretches more than 3,000 miles of on-road bike lanes and pedestrian and bicycle paths from the river's headwaters in Itasca, Minnesota, to the Gulf of Mexico.

Bettendorf's portion on Tuesday featured a new bridge over Crow Creek and cost $670,000. It was designed by Bryce Johnson of J&M Civil Design, Bettendorf, and built by Valley Construction, Rock Island.

Johnson described the site as somewhat challenging, as it involved a ditch and a creek and was along a busy highway.

The permitting process, with the Iowa Department of Transportation, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and other government bodies was more complex, but it ended with a steel-and-concrete bridge that is placed high over the creek.

These bike trails add to the overall health of the Quad-Cities and are attractive to tourists, the Bettendorf mayor said.

Decker Ploehn, Bettendorf city administrator, is with the Quad-City Health Initiative and Be Healthy Quad-Cities. The trail project is a collaborative effort to promote overall health in the community, he said.

The trail transitions to the highway shoulders east of 62nd Street Court, according to Steve Grimes, director of the Bettendorf Parks and Recreation Department.

Talks are going on now with LeClaire and the Bi-State Regional Commission, Denise Bulat said, while sitting on her bicycle on the new trail portion. A separate trail from the highway will wind through LeClaire, and ultimately, Princeton as well.

But Bulat, an avid bicyclist in addition to being executive director of the Bi-State Regional Commission, said the wide shoulders on U.S. 67 are a "huge improvement" on the route, overall.

Bettendorf now has 13 miles of separated trails, two miles of bike lanes along a roadway and 12 miles of recreation trails along greenways and the Mississippi River.

In addition to the separate trail celebrated in Bettendorf on Tuesday, a trail along Forest Grove Road from Utica Ridge Road to International Drive is to be completed this year. There also are bike lanes that will be built along Forest Grove Road.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has a problem, and it resides in Topeka, Kansas.

Reynolds already is ramping up her re-election bid after less than a month in office. There's a campaign website. She's touring the state and meeting with potential donors.

But over the next year, Reynolds will have to govern. And that will be the tricky bit, as a dearth of cash continues to eat at state government.

Conservative factions of Reynolds' GOP are clamoring for tax cuts. No surprises there. Next year's legislative session will be as much about maintaining Republican dominance in Des Moines as it is about policy. Ideologically motivated bills were the hallmark of the 2017 session, the first in two decades in which Republicans wielded total control over Iowa. Next year's could be much of the same, but cranked to 11 faster than the guitarist from Spinal Tap.

Last week, Reynolds said that Iowa's tax code "does not align with todays economy and that the state must must strive for bolstered business investment.

Translation: Tax cuts would be grand.

Yet, just last week, Reynolds had to grab $50 million from reserves just to square the budget. Already-dire predictions about tax revenue came up short. The governor's options were limited. It was either call back the Legislature for a last-minute session of slashing and burning or grab the money from a rainy day fund.

Thing is, transferring that kind of cash isn't a long-term strategy. Schools need funding. Roads need paving. Highways need patrolling.

The traditional Republican orthodoxy is to winnow government to its bones and then hope the private sector  motivated by generous tax rebates  fills the gaps.

Kansas tried just that over the past five years. And it resulted this month in a full-on revolt against Gov. Sam Brownback from within his own party.

Kansas' GOP-run Legislature last week foisted spending increases on Brownback's desk. State courts had ruled that schools were unconstitutionally starving. Private gains fell well short of predictions. The Legislature reacted, finally, by raising taxes by $1.2 billion over the next two years.

Grudgingly, Brownback said he would sign the new education funding formula, too. The Legislature, recently, had overridden his veto of the spending increases.

It was the death rattle for Brownback's "real live experiment" of conservative principles, which didn't pan out.

There's an argument for "competitive" tax structures. But the claim that low taxes are the be all, end all of economic development don't bare out. If that was the case, high-tax states, such as New York and California, would be veritable economic deserts. New York is seat to one of the world's most powerful stock markets. California's GDP is on par with France, a member of the G8. Both have their issues with bloated, costly government, mind you.

But states such as this don't simply thrive in spite of taxes and regulation. They probably exist because of them.

Wall Street and Silicon Valley not only prove that taxes aren't everything. Especially California's tech boom provides evidence that services and lifestyle are key factors. Employees appreciate things like clean water.

And it's those offerings that suffered in Kansas. Now, officials in Iowa are wondering if state parks can stay open. Plunging revenue killed a movement to right Iowa's inequitable funding for public education.

All jobs aren't created equal. Some build wealth and develop vibrant communities. Others don't. Brownback's model chose the latter.

Reynolds has just a year to make a name for herself. And many around her will push hard for "comprehensive tax reform," even as Iowa can't pay its bills.

Reynolds would be wise to study Brownback's failure and act accordingly.
DES MOINES  Officials at Methodist Manor Retirement Community in Storm Lake were planning a renovation project.

Then along came a federal loan program that gave them the resources to not only complete the renovation but also construct a new facility.

A $25 million loan, offered through the U.S. Department of Agricultures Rural Development program, helped Methodist Manor construct a three-story, 93-bed long-term care facility expansion, demolish some portions of the facility and remodel others.

That program could be in danger, some fear, because of a reorganization at USDA under President Donald Trump and the administrations proposed 21 percent reduction to its ag budget.

The Trump administration has restructured the USDA under Secretary Sonny Perdue. One change was to eliminate an undersecretary position that was devoted to the rural development program, creating instead an assistant secretary under Perdue who will focus on the program.

The rural development program provides loans and grants to help rural communities and organizations with many non-farm projects. The program has provided financial assistance for, among others: community facilities such as hospitals, assisted-living facilities, fire stations and community centers; telecommunications projects such as broadband expansion; and water-quality projects. The program also provides loans for rural businesses and homebuyers.

The bottom line is rural development helps communities do projects they might not be able to do otherwise without their help, said Bill Menner, the former Iowa state director for the rural development program.

The program awarded more than $4.5 billion in financial assistance to various rural Iowa communities and projects from 2009 to 2016, according to figures provided by the USDA.

Included in that total is the low-interest, 40-year, $25 million loan awarded to Methodist Manner in January 2016. The new facility is scheduled to open in the summer of 2018.

When we first were evaluating an addition to Methodist Manor, to the nursing facility side, we were looking at doing a smaller-scale addition and utilizing our current building, said Nick Landgraf, the facilitys CEO. As I started looking through what the (USDAs rural development) program offered, the terms that were available, there were some things that we could do that we couldnt do traditionally. And that allowed us to go back to the drawing board, and that allowed us to do a completely new facility instead of just an addition.

Quite frankly, we wouldnt be able to do what were doing without that rural development program.

Program is a major boost

Officials who have worked with the rural development program say its value is the funding that might not otherwise materialize for projects in rural areas.

The Charles City Area Development Corp. has received several grants from the program. In 2015, for example, a $26,000 grant helped the group perform due diligence on a business development park.

Tim Fox, with the Charles City economic development group, said the groups work with USDA in Iowa has been a very positive experience.

Sometimes, its the only source of gap financing to do the project, Fox said. Were expected to come up with our share, but the USDA is there to fill the gap. And without that, a lot of projects are not going to get done.

Menner was Iowa state director during former President Barack Obamas administration, during which former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack served as USDA secretary. Menner said he is concerned with the elimination of the undersecretary position because of its focus on rural development and the accountability that comes with being a Senate-confirmed position.

Menners concerns multiply when the reorganization is coupled with the Trump administrations proposed 21 percent reduction to the ag budget.

(Secretary Perdue) is moving forward to restructure USDA in a way that he thinks makes sense. And I think by eliminating that undersecretary, whose only purpose is to focus on rural communities, is a mistake, Menner said. And it comes on the heels of a Trump budget that decimates USDA, especially rural development. ... Its just a sign that rural communities are not a priority right now.

Menners concerns are shared, including by a group of national rural organizations that wrote leaders of the congressional ag committees a letter expressing their opposition to the reorganization.

The groups said a program like rural development, with such a wide scope, should have direct accountability to Congress in the form of a Senate-confirmed leadership position.

Dropping the administration of these vast programs on to the laps of typically overburdened advisors in the Secretarys office increases the chances of mismanagement and waste, said the letter, which was signed by more than a dozen organizations.

Direct access

Perdue has said the ag department under his watch will maintain a focus on the rural development program. In announcing the USDA reorganization in May, Perdue said eliminating the rural development undersecretary elevates the program to directly under his purview.

This reorganization recognizes and promotes the importance of rural development by placing it under the direct oversight of the Secretary, says a report submitted to Congress in May to explain the departments reorganization. Placing rural development under the direct supervision of the Secretary will ensure the Secretary is also able to leverage USDAs expertise with rural communities and new Administrative initiatives to focus on infrastructure investments in rural America.

A spokesperson for USDA reiterated that the reorganization elevates rural development closer to Perdue by removing the undersecretary.

Instead, the new Assistant to the Secretary for Rural Development, Anne Hazlett, has walk-in privileges with the secretary himself, rather than having another layer of reporting installed, a USDA spokesperson said in an email. Focusing on whether or not there is an undersecretary is also worrying about nomenclature. Simply calling someone an undersecretary does not elevate the mission area; attaching it directly to the secretary does.

Sonny Perdue is a son of rural America and he is absolutely convinced that this elevation of Rural Development will lead to better opportunities for rural residents.

Craig Hill, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said he is less concerned with USDAs reorganization and more concerned with two other factors: still-empty positions in USDA leadership and the presidents proposed budget.

Aside from Perdue, all other Senate-confirmed USDA leadership posts remain unfilled, according to a Washington Post/Partnership for Public Service tracker.

Hill said he thinks Hazlett will be a good advocate for rural development and the program will not necessarily suffer under the departments new structure.

These structural changes, its yet to be seen how it will impact the distribution and the success of our rural development programs, Hill said. And as an assistant to the secretary, I think Anne Hazlett will carry probably the same type of prominence and access that an undersecretary would have. I dont think weve diminished that focus in the least.

That is the hope of officials whose communities and projects have benefited from the rural development program in the past.

Weve been very satisfied with the service of the USDA offices in Iowa, Fox said. I think its going to be quite detrimental to the states rural areas should that not continue to transpire.
PIERRE | South Dakota doesnt have a state law that explicitly requires companies to provide workers' compensation insurance coverage for employees, according to a Rapid City lawyer who represents people who say theyve been hurt while at their jobs.

This is unfair not only to the employees, but its unfair to the other employers, attorney James Leach told state governments Workers Compensation Advisory Council members Monday.

Leach suggested businesses have sidestepped responsibility, sometimes by declaring bankruptcy after a claim was made, but he didnt know the frequency.

I dont think its a large number. Its a small number, Leach said. I dont know what the answer is.

Council members by consensus decided to let lawyers discuss the matter during their state-bar convention later this week in Rapid City.

Employment in fields such as agriculture, household service and baby-sitting is exempt from coverage in South Dakota, according to James Marsh, director for the South Dakota Division of Labor and Management.

He described those cases as a strict liability type where the worker directly brings a lawsuit against the employer. That has always been the incentive for employers to have coverage, Marsh said. In that sense we are not a mandatory state.

He described South Dakotas condition as more of a no-fault type of liability.

Marsh researched how other states respond when employers dont have workers' compensation coverage. He said fines are commonly used. States sometimes use cease-and-desist orders to shut down business activities and sometimes charge daily penalties, Marsh said.

Some states require employers to submit proof of coverage, he said.

Carol Hinderaker, a council member from Watertown, asked whether there is a distinction between business and employer. Im curious about, are those words interchangeable? Hinderaker said

Thats a very good question, Marsh replied. We probably struggle with those literally every day.

Some states have minimum requirements for employment relationships, Marsh said. But here there is none.

Hinderaker asked how many cases occur without coverage. Marsh said the department has tried to find them but the definitions blur.

Were not exactly sure how many of these there are, bottom line, Marsh said.

Daniel Tribby, a council member from Sturgis, asked what would prevent a business from picking up coverage for a month and dropping it.

Shawn Lyons, the chief executive for the South Dakota Retailers Association, said his concern remains taking the sales tax license away from a business. He also wondered about the frequency.

If it is a widespread issue, its certainly something that needs to be addressed, Lyons said.
IPSWICH | Authorities are investigating the cause of a weekend house fire in Ipswich that injured a person.

Fire Chief Tracy Hutson tells the American News that firefighters who responded to the blaze about 1:30 a.m. Saturday rescued the person from the home.

The victim was taken to an Aberdeen hospital. The person's identity and condition weren't released.

Hutson says the single-story home was extensively damaged.
BELLE FOURCHE-The Belle Fourche Common Council made the decision at the regular meeting held Monday evening to approve of the City Funding Guidelines and application form. After being perused by the Legal and Finance Committee twice and being discussed by the council earlier this month, the final form was accepted with one dissenting vote from Councilwoman Kayla Kinard.

Kinard was voicing her issues with the wording of the document when the question was called by Councilman Fred Ager. A voice vote was taken with the dissenting vote, making a roll call vote necessary.

The purpose of the Funding Guidelines is to establish an open, fair and equitable procedure for the Common Council to provide funding to support events, services and programs that are provided by non-profit corporations and organizations to promote the City of Belle Fourche for the benefit of its residents or to promote, establish and maintain recreational, educational or other activities of the elderly. The document goes on to state that the primary determination for awarding any monies will be return on investment and how much the community is benefited by the enterprise.

The application process has been streamlined, according to Mayor Gloria Landphere. She and City Attorney Dwight Gubbrud spent a good deal of time making sure the guidelines followed state law and were clearly worded. Landphere told the council that she had checked with other entities concerning the wording of the guidelines.

The use of the word Funding was a very positive way to put these guidelines together, said Mayor Landphere.

According to the mayor, Gubbrud had told her the importance of the guidelines for the council to use. She added that he appreciated that the council was always working forward to new mayors and councils.

Evidence that the applicant is a non-profit organization and is in good standing in the State of South Dakota must be provided with the application.

Financial statements from last year must also be attached. The statements must include all sources of revenue. The City reserves the right to request supplemental information to support the application.

Applicants will be able to present their application to the full council and answer any questions regarding the request.

The application deadline has been set for July 1 this year, giving organizations more time for the application process.

Several variances were granted by the council including those for Jim and Bonnie Vanzant, Donald Zacher, Chad Truax, and Donald and Gneita Henry.

The Vanzant variance was for a five foot rear yard setback for the placement of a 12 x 24 foot garage.

Donald Zacher had requested a variance to place a new sign at the corner of Hwy 85 and 5th Avenue. The present signs will be taken down and a new lighted sign will take their place. The sign will be approximately 25 feet high and 126 sq. ft.

There were several residents at the council meeting to present their opinions on the variance request from Chad Truax. He had requested a variance to establish multi-family dwellings on his property in Morningside Addition. He plans to place pre-fabricated single units on the property for rental use. Each unit will have concrete parking, fenced in yard, and storage units.

Councilman Jim Smit passed out copies of examples of the units. After seeing the photos, one dissenting city resident said that it made a difference to see what could be used.

After hearing from the audience, the council voted to approve the variance.

A variance was given to Donald and Gneita Henry to place a mobile home at 911 Butte Street.

Max Main was on hand to explain to the council concerning the Belle Fourche Banner Supplement Fund. The funds are from an investment made in South Dakota Community Foundation following the rewards from a law suit against Banner Health. Belle Fourche received $100,000. Each year, 4.5% can be granted to organizations that are involved with elder care or health care.

This year BFACC received $1160 for a defibrillator near the pool area. The Belle Fourche Masonic Cedar Lodge received $532 for the Child Chip program. The Belle Fourche Ministerial Association received $552 for the Compassion Cupboard. St. James Episcopal church received $800 toward the Delta Dental project. Good Shepard Clinic in Spearfish also received $1500. Even though the clinic is not in Belle Fourche, Main explained that many residents of Belle Fourche take advantage of the free clinic.

In other city business:

*The next Common Council meeting will be Wednesday, July 5 at 7 p.m.

*Belle Fourche Chamber meeting was moved to July 12 at 7 a.m.

*Officer Dylan Goetsch resigned from the BF police department, effective June 23.

*The Branding Iron was granted two special liquor licenses.

*The Council acknowledged the Belle Fourche FFAs pig raffle.

*Melvin Ward, heavy equipment operator, resigned effective June 16.
A group of feedlot operators in the state has asked a federal judge to declare the Nebraska Livestock Brand Act unconstitutional and to prevent the state from enforcing it.

The Nebraska Beef Producers Committee, a nonprofit group representing cattle producers with feedlots across the state, filed a civil complaint against the Nebraska Brand Committee and executive director William Bunce in U.S. District Court earlier this month.

The evolution of the cattle industry has rendered the regulatory scheme codified in the Brand Act ineffectual and obsolete in its ability to protect the interests originally intended by the Legislature, said Lincoln attorney Katherine Spohn.

The Nebraska Brand Committee, which is named in the suit, has about 100 employees and records ranchers brands, inspects cattle to verify ownership and investigates missing livestock and cattle rustling.

Bunce, who has led it since late last year, said last Wednesday afternoon that the lawsuit hadnt yet reached his desk and that, due to the newness, it would be inappropriate to comment on it at this point.

He said he would study the case and look for resolution.

Spohn, who represents the beef producers, said when the Legislature formed the Brand Committee in 1941, cattle theft was a serious concern.

To address the vulnerability of cattle being stolen from large, open cow-calf operations, lawmakers designated a portion of the state, roughly the western two-thirds of Nebraska, as a brand inspection area.

The Brand Act requires cattle being moved outside the brand area or sold within it to be inspected.

But, Spohn said, waiting for inspectors leads to weight loss to cattle, lost profits and sometimes lost contracts. Some of the delays can be avoided by becoming a registered feedlot. But that costs money, too.

She argued the evolution of the cattle industry has rendered the act ineffectual and obsolete.

Cattle producers who operate feedlots now use things like electronic identification devices and ear tags, along with brands, to track and identify animals, reducing the risk of thieves passing off stolen cattle as their own, Spohn said in the lawsuit.

She said the Brand Committees own records show a 60 percent drop in cattle recovery in less than a decade and, of the 1,915 head of cattle recovered in the past two fiscal years none had been stolen.

All had strayed, according to reports on the Brand Committees website.

For members of the NBPC, brand inspections come at a high cost: cattle operations owned by members of the NBPC vary in size, with some members paying between $75,000 and $90,000 in brand inspection fees for 2016, Spohn said.

She said Nebraska Beef Producers Committee members derive no benefit from the fees, nor does the public.

Spohn said the Brand Act also puts an excessive burden on interstate commerce for those who buy and sell cattle inside and outside of the western Nebraska brand area.

Kansas, Texas and Iowa have similar cattle industries, she said, yet only Nebraska requires mandatory brand inspections for all beef producers in a particular part of the state.

Last year, a July report released by the state auditor raised questions about the management of the brand inspection agency at the time.

In response, the governor-appointed board that oversees it proposed sweeping policy changes and hired Nebraska Interactive, the states computer application designer, to develop web-based bookkeeping software in an effort to modernize its operations.
RAF Fairford, U.K. | A pair of lethal, supersonic birds of prey roar past the Air Traffic Control Tower as spectators turn their attention to the two-ship performing a flyby before making their descent to the dark pavement below.

With their charcoal-gray, metallic skin and retractable wings, the B-1B Lancers from Ellsworth Air Force Base, S.D., take turns landing and taxiing to their nest on the flightline where crews from the 28th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron stand-ready to receive them at Royal Air Force Fairford, U.K., June 7.

Aircrew from the 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron and Airmen from the 28th AMXS are participating in strategic bomber missions in the European theatre including annual, joint-multinational exercises BALTOPS and Saber Strike.

Were here to participate in these exercises and represent Ellsworth and the B-1 community, said U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class John Parker, 28th AMXS assistant crew chief, Were playing a small role in the big picture while working with other bases and entities in a new environment.

B-1s are the second set of bombers to arrive to RAF Fairford in support of bomber assurance and deterrence missions, tailing three B-52H Stratofortresses from Barksdale AFB, La.

Carrying the largest payload of both guided and unguided weapons in the U.S. Air Force inventory, the multi-mission B-1 can rapidly deliver massive quantities of precision and non-precision munitions against any adversary, anywhere in the world, at any time.

Weapons crews from the 28th AMXS play a crucial role ensuring their bombers remain capable of this capability.

As part of the load crew, our job is to safely and effectively load and unload munitions onto the aircraft, said Tech. Sgt. Bobby McMillian, 28th AMXS expediter. We make sure that the launchers that this weapon system is able to carry are functioning properly so that there arent any issues when theyre in the air. This ensures that our flight crews are able to participate and get the training and real-life experiences that they need.

Crew chiefs work right next to the weapons team, receiving jets and preparing them for their next sortie.

Day-to-day, we take care of the Air Forces fleet, Parker said. Im just an assistant crew chief on one jet, but that one jet is a part of a bigger picture that assures our allies and deters our enemies.

Maintainers like Parker work around the clock to complete the mission no matter the conditions.

There is a lot of preventative maintenance and hard work, he said. Through any weather, 24/7, we have people working on [B-1s] to keep them ready.

The 2017 iteration of BALTOPS and Saber Strike provide unique opportunities for personnel from several nations to engage in realistic training to build experience, teamwork, and strengthen interoperability.

What our Airmen do every day has a national and global impact, said U.S. Air Force Maj. Jared Tomlin, 37th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron director of operations. The 28th AMXS Airmen help us make sure we stay on time and are able to get airborne to accomplish our mission. If they werent here, we wouldnt be flying. They make the mission possible.

For the roughly 800 Air Force Global Strike Airmen deployed to RAF Fairford, the combined training opportunities give them a chance to prepare for real-world contingencies.

Im pretty excited, Parker said. Its just getting started, but we have a lot to do right now and Im looking forward to gaining from the experience and representing Ellsworth.
July 16, 1935  June 12, 2017

Barbara Annette Barb Craig, 81, passed away June 12, 2017, at her home in Buffalo Gap.

Barbara was born July 19, 1935, in Alliance, Neb., to Mark and Helen (Olsen) Dulin. Shortly after her birth, her parents moved the family to the Buffalo Gap area to farm and ranch. Her father was the first person to introduce registered Black Angus cattle to South Dakota.

Barb completed her primary education at Buffalo Gap School then attended college at Rapid City Business College and obtained her Bachelors Degree. She then moved to Denver and worked at the Bell Telephone Company. Barb met and married to USAF Msgt. Donald Craig while in Denver. They traveled with their five children during Donalds military service.

Barb returned to Buffalo Gap with her five children while Donald continued to serve overseas. Donald and Barb divorced in 1978. Barb was a very strong woman who overcame many challenges and hardships while singlehandedly raising her children. Family was always a predominant force in Barbs life. She ensured her children understood the value of family by maintaining close relationships with her mother and siblings. Barb also instilled a strong work ethic in her children by example. Barb worked many years in restaurant and food service business in Hot Springs and Custer.

While family was very important to Barb, she was able to come into her own through her long-lasting friendship with Penny Morris. The two would be involved in a number of antics while they lived in Hot Springs.

Barb was known to many as a lifelong friend and someone who spoke her mind plainly. She enjoyed a good laugh and funny stories and relished the leisure times spent with family and friends during holidays and special celebrations. She would help people in need with whatever resources she could offer.

Barb is survived by her two sons, Scott Craig of Buffalo Gap; Shawn Craig of Douglas, Wyo.; three daughters, Terri Williams of Caputa; Angie Wager of Hot Springs; Gerri (Tim) Velder of Sundance, Wyo.; brother, James Dulin of Norwich, Conn.; sister, Donna Willis of Victorville, Calif.; eight grandchildren and one great grandchild.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Jerry Dulin and her sister Shirley Dulin.

A celebration of Barbaras life was held at 10 a.m., Saturday, June 17, 2017, at Chamberlain McColleys Funeral Home in Hot Springs with Dr. J. Edwin Coates officiating. Interment followed at the Buffalo Gap Cemetery. Fellowship was held at the Prairie View United Methodist Church.

A memorial has been established.

Arrangements have been placed in the care of Chamberlain McColleys Funeral Home in Hot Springs.
HOT SPRINGS - The Harlou Building, located at 407 N. River Street, in Hot Springs, was recently awarded an historic preservation grant from the South Dakota State Historical Society.

The Deadwood Fund Grant, totaling $16,329  a local match will join this  will assist with the repair of windows, the installation of storm windows on the second floor, and the replacement of a non-historic storefront window.

The Harlou Building was constructed in 1893 with Hot Springs iconic building material, local sandstone.

There are four large arched windows with prominent keystones across the second-story facade of the building.

It is called the Harlou Building because HARLOU is carved into a central plaque at the top of the building. The name is a union of the names of the two men who had it built, Dr. Hargens and S. Loudenback.

The second story is from the Victorian era and architecturally, it borrows from Romanesque design, with extremely tall, found, arched windows with large keystones and triangular cornice decorations.

The Harlou Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 as contributing to the Hot Springs Historic District.

It previously housed both grocery and furniture stores, the public library, a bakery, Masonic rooms and professional offices.

The Harlou Building joins four other properties that received Deadwood Grants this year. These include:

Wylie Park Pavilion, Aberdeen -- Built about 1912, this pavilion received a $10,000 grant to assist with repair and replacement of wood siding and for painting.

Mortimer Cabin, Oakwood Lakes State Park. This 1869 structure received $13,000 grant award to assist with the replacement of chinking and to repair logs, the stone foundation, and the gable roof ends.

Gale & Ward Bank Building, in Canton was built in 1880. It will receive $12,000 to aid with the re-pointing of the brick masonry as part of a larger rehabilitation project

Ipswichs First Baptist Church, built in 1926, will receive $12,000 to help with replace the roof.

These new recipients represent a total award amount of more than $63,000 with planned matching funds topping $157,000.

The grants are awarded through the State Historical Societys Deadwood Fund grant program. Funding for the program is from Deadwood gaming revenue earmarked by state law for historic preservation projects throughout the state. The program is administered by the State Historic Preservation Office at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre.

This is the 20th year for this historic preservation grants program, said Jay D. Vogt, director of the State Historical Society. In 2016 we awarded $108,204 between 11 projects which had matching funds of $291,301. The resulting total public-private investment is $399,505. This program is designed to encourage restoration or rehabilitation of historic properties and is one more way we can promote and protect our history and culture.

Deadwood Fund grants are awarded twice annually. Grant application deadlines are Feb. 1 and Oct. 1, with applications reviewed at the spring and winter meetings of the State Historical Societys board of trustees.

The South Dakota State Historical Society is a division of the Department of Education, and is headquartered at the Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. The center houses the societys world-class museum, the archives, and the historic preservation, publishing and administrative/development offices. Call (605) 773-3458 or visit www.history.sd.gov for more information.

For more information on the Deadwood Fund grant program, contact the State Historic Preservation Office at the Cultural Heritage Center, 900 Governors Drive, Pierre, SD 57501-2217; tel. (605) 773-3458; or website history.sd.gov/Preservation.
BELLE FOURCHE - Members of the Sturgis Rodeo Team did well at the weekend State High School Rodeo Finals in Belle Fourche.

Winston Brown qualified for the National High School Finals and was runner up in the state with his partner Nolan Smith of Rapid City Central in the team roping.

Wacey Brown was runner up in the pole bending also qualifying for the National High School Finals Rodeo.

Bodie Mattson was named Rookie Cowboy of the year.

Saturday night at a South Dakota High School Finals Rodeo is a special experience for the 280 or so youngsters who have earned the honor of participating.

For the select few who have made it into the top 15 in their event and are vying for a gold buckle or a top-four spot on the South Dakota National Team, there is the stepping out onto the biggest stage of finals rodeo and performing at their very best.

There is always a little more pressure than other rodeos, Emilee Pauley said as she prepared for a busy night having qualified in the short go in reined cow horse, breakaway roping, goat tying, and barrel racing. You can see what the girls ahead of you are doing and what you have to do to make it to Nationals. And you want to end the rodeo on a good note. Last year the short round didnt go as well as I wanted it to, so Im trying to keep my mind focused and have a better short round this year.

Taking advantage of experience and a watchful eye, Pauley posted the quickest goat tying run of the short go (7.86 seconds) and with it the finals average vaulting her to second in the final average standings behind event winner Karissa Rayhill (Martin). The National Finals qualification was the Wall juniors second of the rodeo as she had qualified in girls cutting  winning the short go as well--earlier in the week. Sawyer Gilbert (Buffalo) and Mary Risse (Martin) earned spots on South Dakota National Team as well.

Myles Kenzy, last years boys' all-around champion, a two-time National qualifier, and a Saturday short go qualifier in rein cow horse, tie-down roping and team roping, acknowledged the pressure as well though pointing out that the ever improving quality of his rivals perhaps played as much a part as concern for his own abilities.

Its a little different this year maybe then when I first competed because the competition is better which adds to the pressure of having to do well, Kenzy said. And that makes a difference in how you approach an event. In team roping, we (partner Blasius Steffen) made the short go but we are not sitting very well, so we will need to go all out. But in the tie-down, Im setting good so I just need to go make a solid run and let the cards fall where they may.

The evening short go perhaps a had a little less pressure for Kenzy after the Gregory grad turned in the best score in the rein cow horse short go in the afternoon thereby earning a second gold buckle to the boys cutting crown won on Wednesday.

In other results, Carson Good (Long Valley) successfully defended his 2016 steer wrestling crown while short go winner Carter Kennedy (Beresford, 5.45) joined Trig Olson (Prairie City) and Sterling Lee (Rhame, N.D.) on the National Team.

There is a little more pressure, but the way that I look at it, I just have to stick to the basics that I know and everything will be alright, Good said of a 7.48 second run that was good enough for 5th in the short go and the state finals average title.

Saturday nights short performance closed completion in the 2017 South Dakota High School Finals Rodeo. And for the numerous seniors attending their final State Finals, the days of friendly competition and fun times came with tinged with bitter sweetness.

Since this is my last one, I wont get to see some of these kids for a long time and there are some I may never see again, Kenzy said. Thats a little sad.

Kenzy can perhaps take solace in the fact that the rodeo community is a tight knit group, and never a far journey away.

Saturday short go Leaders: Bareback  Lantel Swallow, Batesland, 70; Barrel racing  Karissa Rayhill, Martin, 17.309; Breakaway roping  Kate Heimer, Andover, 2.20; Bull riding  Chris Fisher, Buffalo, 73; Goat tying  Karissa Rayhill (Martin, 7.51); Pole bending  Riley Donnelly, Elk Points, 21.026; Saddle bronc  Cash Wilson, Wall, 67; Steer wrestling  Carter Kennedy, Beresford, 5.45; Reined cow horse  Myles Kenzy, Iona, 88.50; Tie-down roping  Trevor Olson, Mud Butte, 9.59.

2017 State Champions: Boys Cutting  Myles Kenzy, Iona; Girls Cutting  Kailyn Groves, Faith; Bareback  Colt Hokana, Columbia; Barrel racing  Jill Donnelly, Elk Point; Breakaway roping  Sawyer Gilbert, Buffalo; Bull riding  Lyle Dillon, Allen; Goat tying  Karissa Rayhill (Martin, 7.51); Pole bending  Emily Mendel, Baltic: Saddle bronc  Cash Wilson, Wall; Steer wrestling  Carson Good, Long Valley; Reigned cow horse  Myles Kenzy, Iona; Tie down roping  Cord Roberts, Rapid City.
LEAD | In far-reaching projects ranging from extreme northwestern South Dakota to five of the states Native American reservations, some 2,400 service members are making a real difference this week during the annual Golden Coyote training exercises.

Hosted by the South Dakota National Guard, the contingent includes 30 military units from 13 states, Guam, Canada and Denmark, as well as a handful of servicemen and women from Germany and the United Kingdom.

These projects provide service members with an opportunity to train on their specific skill sets and equipment, while simultaneously providing a direct benefit to our local communities, Maj. Anthony Deiss, director of public affairs for the state Guard, said Monday afternoon.

For National Guard members and allied partner nations that come and participate in the exercise, its great to get real-world training. But its even better when that training provides a direct benefit to the people in the area were able to train in.

At Leads mile-high Sanford Underground Research Facility, about 20 Guard members have spent the past week working on road access for the facilitys water treatment plant, located on the top of a ridge on the SURF property. By Monday afternoon, crews were putting the finishing touches on grading and improving stormwater drainage channels, said Surface Operations Foreman Dan Regan.

We have to maintain our access roadways, and we just havent had the money or equipment to do it, so they get the training and we get the repairs on a roadway that we needed, Regan said. What a great bunch of young men and women, and they are all working together to get the job done.

Scattered throughout the 1.2-million-acre Black Hills, some military units have committed their time to reducing fuel loads and transporting 300 to 400 loads of firewood to five South Dakota tribal reservations, said Black Hills National Forest Public Affairs Officer Scott Jacobson.

Dubbed the timber haul project, Jacobson said the work gave military personnel on-the-job training while reducing the potential for wildfires.

Its a great benefit for both, because it reduces the fuel load by removing the fire hazard from the forest floor and provides dried timber for tribal needs, he said. There is a cost of time and money for us to burn those piles, so there is a cost savings as well.

Gathered at several locations east of Custer, the timber is being delivered to drop-off sites on the Cheyenne River, Standing Rock, Pine Ridge, Crow Creek and Rosebud reservations and will be used by community members for heating, construction and ceremonial purposes, according to the Guard.

Jacobson said he had been impressed by the caliber of personnel with whom he had come in contact since the exercise began last week.

They are professional, they are trained, and they are awesome, hardworking military men and woman intent on completing their mission, he said. They have been great partners.

In the 110-square-mile Custer State Park, Danish military engineers were working to relocate a 40-by-6-foot-wide pedestrian bridge from its visitor center to its new home near the Black Hills Playhouse, Maj. Deiss said. Engineers also will reconstruct a new bridge at the visitor center as well as a 120-foot-long by 6-foot-wide elevated boardwalk, he said.

In extreme northwestern South Dakota, military engineers were working this week to recondition and reconstruct portions of the trail bed and road network on six different sites on National Forest Service roads throughout Custer Gallatin National Forest, Deiss noted.

The projects included reshaping trail templates, reconstructing and constructing drain dips, spot surfacing, cleaning culverts and cleaning out cattle guards, he explained.

In addition, crews were building new picnic tables for Custer Gallatins Picnic Springs Campground, with wooden tops and benches with concrete bases, Deiss said.

One of the things that makes the Golden Coyote training exercise so successful year after year is our partnerships with organizations like Custer State Park, Black Hills National Forest and the Black Hills community, the 21-year member said. The Guard is a community organization, so its great to have that kind of a relationship. Without that support, we wouldnt be able to do these types of projects.

Golden Coyote exercises conclude on Saturday.
The Black Hills Chapters of the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR) is a proud participant in the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration Commemorative Partner Program.

The Commemorative Partner Program is designed for federal, state and local communities, veterans' organizations and other nongovernmental organizations to assist a grateful nation in thanking and honoring our Vietnam Veterans and their families. Commemorative Partners are encouraged to plan and conduct activities that will recognize Vietnam Veterans and their families' service, valor, and sacrifice.

The Black Hills Chapter NSDA Revolution has partnered with the Rapid City Vet Center to thank and honor the Vietnam Era Veterans within the area. The Black Hills Chapter NSDAR has loaned its 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Memorial exhibit to the Rapid City Vet Center to be displayed at the Center and in the mobile veterans unit which travels to events around South Dakota and the Nebraska panhandle.

The exhibit includes display panels with the timeline of the Vietnam War, two large binders containing biographies of South Dakota veterans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, copies of the Presidential proclamation, and South Dakota Governors proclamation, and a Vietnam Veteran lapel pin for living U.S. military veterans who served on active duty during the Vietnam War from November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975 as a lasting memento of the nations thanks.

Contact Mike Green office manager of the Rapid City Vet Center to see the Exhibit which is housed at the Center at 621 6th Street, Suite 101 in Rapid City, SD, and will travel with the mobile veterans unit.

For more information regarding the Black Hills Chapter, NSDAR, please contact Gena Parkhurst at blackhillsnsdar@outlook.comor (224) 715-8405.
Much of South Dakota now is experiencing a significant drought. Ranchers are struggling to feed their livestock and farmers are concerned about their crops. In many counties, the hay and forage being harvested is yielding one-third or less of normal production. Despite recent rainfall across much of the state, these dry conditions are expected to continue into the summer.

The drought underscores the importance of the farm bill, the primary ag and food policy legislation that directs U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) programs and is generally up for reauthorization every five years.

The current farm bill runs through 2018 and ideas on how to improve the next one are being discussed in Congress, especially among those in rural states. Those discussions include the importance of safety-net programs such as crop insurance and the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP), which are designed to help farmers and ranchers during adverse times.

I recently joined Sen. John Thune in urging USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue to provide timely assistance to the South Dakota counties facing extreme drought conditions. In our letter, we asked him to be ready to provide expedited assistance to counties that will likely soon be in extreme drought conditions and eligible for assistance from the Livestock Forage Program (LFP). We also requested that CRP acres be made available for emergency haying and grazing as soon as possible due to the substantial loss of grazing and forage for feed.

Because much of the state is experiencing D2 category drought conditions, we asked that USDA be prepared to take LFP applications and issue payments when any county reaches D3 category. We also asked USDA to open up CRP acres for haying and grazing no later than July 15, which is several weeks earlier than normal. Timely assistance is needed in order to preserve foundation grazing livestock herds in the drought-stricken areas of our state from further downsizing due to lack of feed and forage, we wrote.

Last week, Gov. Dennis Daugaard declared a statewide emergency because of the ongoing drought conditions. As part of the state of emergency, the state will ease haying and transportation restrictions to assist agriculture producers.

In South Dakota, our farmers and ranchers are not immune to challenging conditions. This year, however, the challenges are being compounded by the sluggish ag economy in which net farm income has fallen 50 percent in the past four years.

During these times, it is important we give our producers all the tools possible to manage these difficult conditions. We will continue to closely monitor the drought. Additionally, I will continue working with my colleagues to make sure these important safety net programs are preserved and strengthened. As always, if you have concerns or recommendations, please feel free to contact one of my offices.
553

NOTICE

In the County court of Dawes County, Nebraska

Estate of Gilbert D. Nitsch, Deceased.

Case No. PR 17-12

Notice is hereby given that on May 22, 2017, in the County Court of Dawes County, Nebraska, Charles Nitsch, whose address is 1992 Myrtle Bend, Germantown, TN 38139 was informally appointed as Personal Representative of this estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court on or before August 7, 2017, or be forever barred.

/s/ Lori Miskimins

Clerk Magistrate/Registrar

Patrick M. Marty Connealy #15366

Matthew R. Watson #24735

Crites, Shaffer, Connealy, Watson, Patras & Cullers, P.C., L.L.O.

201 East Third Street, P.O. Box 1070

Chadron, Nebraska 69337

Publish June 7, 14, 21, 2017

554

NOTICE

In the County Court of Dawes County, Nebraska

Estate of Rick E. Stetson, Deceased. Case No. PR 17-13

Notice is hereby given that on May 26, 2017, in the County Court of Dawes County, Nebraska, Sandra D. Stetson, whose address is PO Box 1069, Chadron, Nebraska, 69337, has been informally appointed as Personal Representative of this Estate. Creditors of this Estate must file their claims with this Court on or before August 7, 2017, or be forever barred.

/s/ Clerk Magistrate

Matthew R. Watson - #24735

Crites, Shaffer, Connealy,

Watson, Patras & Cullers, P.C., LLO

201 East Third Street, PO Box 1070

Chadron, Nebraska 69337

(308) 432-3339

Publish June 7, 14, 21, 2017

570

NOTICE

In the County Court of Dawes County, Nebraska

Estate of Lloyd Goldstedt, Deceased. Case No. PR 17-15

Notice is hereby given that on June 6, 2017 in the County Court of Dawes County, Nebraska, John Goldstedt, whose address is 7611 Hayes Rd., Hemingford, NE 69348 has been informally appointed as Personal Representative of this estate. Creditors of this estate must file their claims with this Court on or before August 21, 2017, or be forever barred.

Clerk Magistrate / Registrar

Patrick M. Marty Connealy #15366

Crites, Shaffer, Connealy, Watson, Patras & Cullers, P.C., L.L.O.

201 East Third Street, P.O. Box 1070

Chadron, Nebraska 69337

Publish June 21, 28, July 5, 2017

571

NOTICE OF TRUSTEES SALE

The following described property will be sold at public auction to the highest bidder at the East Door of the County Courthouse in Chadron, County of Dawes, Nebraska, on July 31, 2017, at 10:00 a.m.:

Lots 1, 2, 3, and all that part of Lots 4, 5, 6 and 7 lying north and west of the West line of the Highway known as Highway No. 20, traversing Block 5, and the West  of the vacated alley along the East line of Lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 described herein, all in Block 5, Birdsall and Leahys Addition to the Original Town (now City) of Chadron, Dawes County, Nebraska.

SUBJECT TO any and all easements, rights of way, and other restrictions of record.

The property is also known as the Chadron Super 8 Hotel.

The terms of the sale will be twenty percent (20%) of the bid payable by check at the close of the sale on July 31, 2017, with the balance due not less than thirty (30) days thereafter. Conveyance will be by Trustees Deed. At closing, the successful bidder will be responsible to pay the documentary stamps, if any, together with all recording fees. This sale, and its closing, is made without any warranties as to title or the condition of the property.

DATED: June 19, 2017.

Brendan J. Rice, Trustee

Chaloupka, Holyoke, Snyder,

Chaloupka & Longoria, PC, LLO

1714 Second Avenue, P.O. Box 2424

Scottsbluff, Nebraska, 69363-2424

Telephone: (308) 635-5000

Facsimile: (308) 635-8000

Publish June 21, 28, July 5, 12, 19, 2017
Court upholds sentence given to Russian Press Agencys ex-head for extremism

MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI, Lyudmila Klenko)  The Moscow City Court had upheld a sentence given to ex-head of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media (Rospechat) and one of the founders of Rossiyskaya Gazeta Boris Mironov, for extremism, RAPSI correspondent learnt in the courtroom on Tuesday.

By its decision, the court dismissed an appeal against the sentence and upheld an earlier ruling of the Moscow Basmanny District Court of December 22, 2016, by which Mironov was fined 100,000 rubles (about $1,600) for instigation of extremism. Therefore, the sentence has taken effect.

The court began hearing the criminal case against Mironov last July.

Mironov was charged with making calls for forced regime change. Prosecutors claimed that the defendant in his book Battle against Jewish Yoke had intentionally incited readers to armed rebellion, hatred of the Jewish people and sought to dismantle the Russian statehood.

The abovementioned book written by Mironov has prompted initiation of the case against him. Russian publishing house Algoritm has issued about 2,000 copies of the book.
Russian government files bill on tax free system with State Duma

MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI)  Russian government has filed a bill introducing tax free system in the country to the State Duma, the official statement reads on Tuesday.

According to the government, the bill seeks to allow citizens of countries outside the Eurasian Economic Union to receive compensations for value-added tax (VAT) paid in Russia.

The bill also envisages that retailers are to be granted the right to deduct VAT pertaining to the goods sold to foreign citizens from the total amounts of VAT payable. The bill establishes 0% VAT rate for organizations providing VAT compensation services to foreign citizens.

On June 13, the bill was approved by the governmental legislative commission.
Ex-producer of Russian theater company arrested in embezzlement case

MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul)  Russian investigators have arrested former chief producer of the Seventh Studio stage company Alexey Malobrodsky on suspicion of embezzling public funds allocated for promotion of art, RAPSI learnt from the Investigative Committee on Tuesday.

On June 8, ex-chief accountant of the company Nina Maslyayeva pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with investigation.

On May 23, police raided the Gogol Center, a popular contemporary theater in Moscow, as part of investigation into the case. Searches have also been conducted in premises of the theaters artistic director, Kirill Serebrennikov. Later, he was questioned as a witness in the case.

According to investigators, unidentified persons from management of the Seventh Studio, a stage company created by Serebrennikov on the basis of his acting and directing course in the Moscow Art Theatre School, embezzled 200 million rubles (about $3.5 million) allocated by the government for development and popularization of art in Russia from 2011 to 2014.

Investigators claim that damage caused by Maslyayeva is estimated at about 1.3 million rubles (about $23,000).
MISSOULA  The Montana Department of Justice is conducting a use-of-force review after an incident involving the Missoula Police Department in May ended with a 73-year-old man hospitalized in a coma.

James Smith spent several days in Providence St. Patrick Hospital before he was committed involuntarily to the Montana State Hospital in Warm Springs. He was released to his daughter following a court hearing May 30.

Stephanie Smith, of Allentown, Pennsylvania, said that in addition to the coma, her father sustained a skull fracture, multiple facial fractures, a concussion, respiratory failure, bruised ribs, organ damage, bruising and other injuries from the incident. While he was sometimes confused or disoriented before the incident, Smith said these symptoms, as well as amnesia, have become more prominent since he was hospitalized.

James Smith has been charged with two felony counts of assault on an officer in connection with the May 20 incident, and is set to make an initial court appearance on Wednesday.

According to a court affidavit filed in his case, two officers were sent to Smiths house early on May 20 after people reported Smith was shining a flashlight into the eyes of drivers passing his Higgins Avenue home.

When the officers arrived, Smith hit one in the head twice with the metal flashlight, and hit the other in the head and arm, according to charging documents. The affidavit said he continued to try to kick and trip the officers after he was detained.

Missoula police Detective Capt. Mike Colyer said on May 24 that he was called to the scene shortly after 2:30 a.m. on May 20. He confirmed that Smith had been hospitalized after being detained, and that due to the potential use-of-force issue, the department followed best practices and asked the Justice Department's Division of Criminal Investigation to conduct an independent review.

We wanted it to be thoroughly investigated, he said.

Because of the investigation, Colyer declined to discuss specifics of the incident.

Eric Sell, communications director for the Montana Department of Justice, confirmed the DCI investigation is ongoing.

The Division of Criminal Investigation is getting involved because of the potential use of force, he said in late May. As the investigation is still open were not in a position to share details.

Sell said the review could take several weeks or even months. DCI will send copies of its investigation report to the Missoula Police Department and the Missoula County Attorneys Office, Sell said, although that report will not give a recommendation, only a statement of facts.

Smiths daughter Stephanie said she and her husband Richard Jones received a call from a family member on May 22 telling them her father had been hospitalized.

They came to Missoula but had difficulty finding out where he was being kept, eventually going through the appointed public defender in the involuntary commitment case for permission to visit her father at Warm Springs until the court hearing that released Smith to his daughter.

Smith said she was told by nursing staff that they werent sure her father was going to survive, but that he has made a dramatic improvement since going home at the end of May.

They said Weve never seen a 73-year-old man come in with these kinds of injuries, said Stephanie Smith, who remains in Missoula to care for her father.

She and her husband said they are concerned about how James Smith sustained all of his injuries, and agreed with the decision to have an outside agency investigate.

They reinforced that they appreciate the help they have received from the police department, as well as lawyers in the Missoula County Attorneys Office and the Office of the State Public Defender, since they arrived in Missoula.

The people that we dealt with are very nice, including the detective and evidence people. Over all this we do support law enforcement, we understand that they put their lives in harm's way, Jones said.
17800 Royalton Rd Main Pic.jpg

A New York-based buyer recently purchased Strongsville Corporate Center, a 125,000-square-foot office building that has been empty for roughly a year.

(Cushman & Wakefield/Cresco Real Estate)

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio - The new owner of Strongsville Corporate Center is hoping that a financial reset and potential for nearby development will turn vacancy into an opportunity.

An affiliate of Somera Road, Inc., a New York-based buyer with an appetite for troubled real estate, bought the 125,000-square-foot office building on June 8, according to property records.

The building, at 17800 Royalton Road, has been empty since the middle of last year. The sole tenant, Medical Mutual of Ohio, moved its Strongsville office elsewhere in the suburb after the health insurer and its landlord failed to reach a deal on a short-term lease renewal.

It's not clear how much Somera Road, which also owns the 45 Erieview Plaza office building in downtown Cleveland, paid for its recent acquisition.

Real estate records show a price of $8.3 million - close to what Cuyahoga County estimates Strongsville Corporate Center is worth, for tax purposes. But the behind-the-scenes deal was a complicated one, involving many sellers and negotiations over a discounted payoff of a distressed mortgage.

Ian Ross, founder and principal at Somera, wouldn't say what he paid for the property.

"It was over-leveraged, and it needed to be freed from that," Ross said, referring to the debt previous owners took on. "It has been kind of off the grid and off the market."

On top of trying to line up a large office tenant, or a few smaller ones, Somera is looking at development prospects for the surrounding land. The building sits on 21.5 acres west of Interstate 71, near SouthPark Mall and other shopping centers.

A recent debt settlement and the sale of Strongsville Corporate Center kept the vacant office building from ending up in foreclosure.

Going beyond offices - to other uses along Royalton Road, perhaps - is essential to making the property more appealing to tenants sizing up Strongsville against other suburban locations, said Rico Pietro of Cushman & Wakefield/Cresco Real Estate. Pietro and colleague Jim Krivanek recently picked up leasing responsibilities for Strongsville Corporate Center.

Strongsville's economic-development director, Brent Painter, didn't return a phone call about the city's conversations with Somera.

Built in 1989 and long occupied by an arm of insurance company Ceres Group, Inc., the building went vacant after Ceres merged with a Cincinnati-based competitor in 2006. Medical Mutual filled the space under a sublease agreement with Ceres. But that lease arrangement expired in July, according to records compiled by Trepp, a company that monitors securities tied to commercial loans.

The previous owners, scattered investors who each held a fractional interest in the property through a structure known as "tenants in common," weren't able to hang onto Medical Mutual. And in August, they missed a payment on a $16.5 million loan that had been bundled with other mortgages as backing for bonds sold to investors.

In October, Wells Fargo Bank, on behalf of the bondholders, launched foreclosure proceedings in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court. At that time, the borrowers owed more than $8.7 million, court filings show. Judge Stuart Friedman agreed to appoint a receiver - an outside party - to oversee the property, preserve its value and market it for lease or sale.

On June 6, Wells Fargo and attorneys for the tenants-in-common group asked the court to dismiss the case and end the receivership. With Somera's involvement, they'd reached a settlement agreement including a partial repayment of the debt. Trepp records indicate that the payoff was $7.9 million.

A tenants-in-common structure can make it difficult to refinance or reinvest in a property, since all of the owners must agree and, potentially, put up more cash or take on more risk. Such investment arrangements were popular at the peak of the real estate market, prior to 2008, with retirees who wanted to own a piece of prime commercial real estate.

Strongsville Corporate Center might have been tied up in litigation for years if, for example, one of the investors in the group couldn't meet his financial obligations and filed for bankruptcy protection.

But the sale to Somera simplifies things and charts a cleaner path.

"It has the potential, once filled, to provide a lot of jobs in the market," Ross said of the building. "And we'd like to provide the capital and the management to get it filled."
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BAJURA, Jan 20: The CPN (UML) in Bajura has today shutdown the district headquarters Martadi to protest the death of one Hansa Bahadur Rawat in a clash between the Nepal Congress- UML cadres during political rallies at Chhededaha Rural Municipality last Sunday.

The party has accused NC cadres of stoning Rawat to death. The tragedy happened on the day of the filing of candidacy nominations for the second-round local-level election.

Earlier on Tuesday, the UML delegation reached the District Administration Office, Bajura, seeking action against the guilty.

The party has submitted a memorandum to Chief District Officer Devendra Lamichhane, demanding that the guilty should be brought to book.

Main market areas in the district including the district headquarters have remained closed since this morning due to the banda. The agitation would continue until a process to punish the guilty was initiated, said CPN ( UML) Bajura publicity department chief Amar Khadka.

However, the NC Bajura has denied the accusation and claimed that Rawat, who was suffering from asthma, collapsed before breathing his last.

The police administration has arrested Nar Bahadur Rawat, NC candidate for Chhededaha Rural Municipality chief, other party leaders Padam Bahadur Rawat and Dev Bahadur Rawat on the charge of their involvement in the killing. The party has demanded a fair probe into the incident and brought those found guilty to book, according to NC district president Kabiraj Pundit

Following the closure, the police administration has beefed up security there to avert any untoward incidents, according to CDO Lamichhane. RSS
Kathmandu, Nepal: The 11th meeting of the Joint Consultation Mechanism (JCM) between Nepal and China kicks off in Kathmandu.

The meeting held after a gap of four years is being focused entire issues of bilateral relations between the two neighboring countries and review the implementation status of bilateral deals reached in the past between the two countries.

In the meeting, foreign secretary Shankar Das Bairagi is leading the Nepali delegation while Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kong Xuanyou has led the Chinese delegation.

A six-member Chinese delegation led by Xuanyou, who heads the Asia and Consular Affairs Department at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had already arrived in Kathmandu.
Kathmandu, Jun 20, 2017- Norway's Ambassador for Nepal, Kjell Tormod Pettersen, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba on Tuesday.

The ambassador reached the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers, Singha Durbar today. On the occasion, Pettersen apprised the Prime Minister that he was returning home as his tenure in Nepal has come to an end.

The ambassador expressed his belief that the bilateral-relations existing between the two countries would grow further in the days ahead.

Likewise, Resident Coordinator of the United States in Nepal, Ms Valerie Julliand, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' representative Kevin J Allen called on the Prime Minister today. RSS
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Northam Platinum mulls acquisition of remaining RBPlat shares Northam Platinum is planning to acquire all remaining shares in Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) at R172.70 a share. It currently controls a 34.52% stake in RBPlat and, together with call options and a right of first refusal secured with...

10th Annual Dubai Precious Metals Conference to explore impact of trade, tech and regulations on the industry DMCC has announced that the 10th edition of the annual Dubai Precious Metals Conference (DPMC) will be held on 22 November 2022 at Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai. This years edition will bring together a plethora of speakers and participants from...

New record HPHT diamond sample The largest and purest diamond in the world weighing 16.04 carats was synthesized in Russia. The world's largest white diamond "Champion" is cut from a diamond grown by the HPHT method by the Russian company Advanced Synthetic Research...

WGC Report: Climate change adaptation and resilience strategies for the gold mining industry The Gold and climate change: Adaptation and resilience report from the World Gold Council identifies the key physical climate-related vulnerabilities of the gold mining industry and outlines a range of adaptation strategies to support the industry...
via Facebook

by Sonia Jabbar

For nearly 30 years the Darjeeling Hills suffered a near war situation because of the Gorkhaland agitation. TMC came to power and an energetic CM brought peace to the hills. There was grumbling from time to time by the GJM that found itself regularly upstaged and outmanoeuvred by Mamata Bannerjee, but they did not have the guts or resources to challenge her.

Here in the District of Darjeeling we have been witness to the machinations of the Centre. Modi is not satisfied with UP. The RSS has tasted blood in Assam. In the last two years they have sent their minions out to buy property and the loyalty of people and the media. Money is not an issue. Hundreds of crores have been spent in Bengal in an attempt to widen its base.

Mamata skilfully brushed off the challenge on several occasions, making new friends, even winning the civic elections from Mirik. The people of Mirik were simply thanking her on delivering on promises.

What went wrong? The TMCs decision to make Bengali compulsory in schools. What she was slow to clarify was seized by the BJP-GJM combine and exaggerated: Bengali would be made compulsory even in Nepali speaking areas like the Darjeeling Hills, Gorkha identity would get eroded, Mamata was trying to wipe them out. In short, every trick used by separatists was used here. No amount of pacifying and clarifying was going to help, because now the GJM has decided and the Centre agrees that nothing short of Gorkhaland will suffice.

So where there was peace and prosperity now there is murder, mayhem and anarchy. And this is being supported by sections of the media. Grand articles have appeared in national dailies on how Bimal Gurung is the undisputed leader of the Hills. But then so is Yogi Adityanath in UP. And then our Hon. PM. No word of these gentlemens unsavoury past. Or the fact that each commands an army of thugs to terrorise the people into submission.

Bimal Gurung has openly challenged the law to try and arrest him for the murder of his rival, the gentle and erudite Madan Tamang. He threatens that the Darjeeling Hills will burn for a hundred years if they do. Please understand who you are supporting when you are supporting the GJM to "teach Mamata Bannerjee a lesson."

Other articles have mushroomed on the history of Darjeeling and how it was never part of Bengal and how it was "unnaturally appended" to Bengal by the British. Those who advocate its separation on historical grounds, please be ready to extend your largesse to Kashmir, because this is the same argument made by Kashmiri separatists who cite the Treaty of Amritsar between Britain and the Dogra Raja Gulab Singh as an unjust imposition.

Second, the articles citing the history of the Darjeeling Hills fail to mention that the "Gorkhas" are not the original inhabitants. If Bengalis, Marwaris and Biharis, those who have made Darjeeling their home in the last century and toiled to make it what it is today are outsiders, so are the Nepali speaking people. Darjeeling was thinly populated by Lepchas when the British "discovered " it. When they began planting tea the Lepcha population was too small to help so they settled Nepali speaking people from the relatively more populous Nepal.

These Nepalese settlers have long outpaced the Lepchas who are today a minority in Darjeeling as well as in Sikkim. It is not for nothing that Bhutan keeps a hawk eye on its Nepali migrants. Those advocating a separation from Bengal and a return of land to Darjeelings original inhabitants would do well to remember it is the Lepchas who are the original inhabitants and who are quite comfortable being part of the state.

Those who dont give a damn about the facts and just want to see Mamatas nose bloodied know that you are lighting a fire where there was none. Know that India no longer has the kind of influence it once did in the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal and that from Gorkhaland to Greater Nepal under the benign suzerainty of China is only a step or three away.
Thank you for reading!

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Okada Susumu (Hamada Gaku) works part time cleaning buildings with his friend Ando Yuji (Muro Tsuyoshi). Ando asks Susumu to be a go between for himself and Abe Yuka (Satsukawa Aimi), a cafe worker. When they go to the cafe they notice Morita Shoichi (Morita Go) sitting on the patio looking at Abe. It turns out that Susumu and Morita went to the same high school. Yuka, though, informs Susumu that Shoichi is stalking her so he spends more time with her. Out of their friendship a romance blossoms and more than just Andos and Moritas feelings will be hurt by the end.

The first half is a gathering of awkward and unsettling characters. Okada is the lovable oaf. He a bit absent minded, shy, the kind of guy that has to read the instructions on the box of condoms. Ando is just as awkward socially, if not more, and cannot take a hint that Abe is not interested in him. Abe however finds Okadas insecurities charming and latches onto him quickly, much to the chagrin of Ando and even worse Morito.

If you did not do your homework ahead of time it would be wasy to presume that Himeanole is a romantic drama. As their romance grows you find Okada and Abe to be a charming couple finding love and romance. There are even a few laughs along the way. All of it aims at disarming the audience and lulling us into a false sense of comfort.

There is a hint of menace however as we discover that Morito has secrets from his past that haunt him. Wagusa, the son of a hotel owner, is also a former classmate but these two also share a dark secret. They were both relentlessly bullied by a classmate in high school and after no one would help them they took it upon themselves to bring it to and end. It is because of this secret that Morito extorts him for money. Wagusas girlfriend Kumiko eventually learns of this dark secret and they decide that they will kill Morito to make the problem go away.

We are at the halfway point of the film and director Yoshida Keisuke finally runs the credits. From this moment Yoshida turns away from the romantic drama of the first half and effortlessly moves into a straight up terrifying suspense thriller. The transition is so smooth that when the story goes to hell, very quickly, it is with exceptionally brutal acts of violence as Morita works his way to Abe. Anyone who stands in his way, absolutely anyone, will not live long to tell of it. Morito leaves in his wake a trail of death that is astonishing.

Every murder is more unsettling than the one before it. Most of the deaths are not immediate, the victims slowly and painfully slip away after each brutal stabbing or bludgeoning. When Morita gets his hands on a gun, well, death becomes more definitive. There is no simpler way to put it, the second half of this film is brutal as fuck, near to the very end.

Himeanole stands as a condemnation of bullying and the long lasting effects of it. To think that the impact of bullying ends when high school is over is clearly folly as the portrayal of events we see in Keisukes film how even years later how Morita was affected by it, that he still bears the emotional and psychological scars of it into adulthood. This is the type of film that should be shown to high school students to show just how long lasting the effects of their taunts, jeers, lies, gossip and physical manifestations of their bullying have.

Himeanole also condemns those who empower the bully by their acquiescence, by not saying or doing anything when these verbal or physical attacks happen.

While a lot of western films want to show or capture the shattering effects of bullying at the teen level few have ever ventured into adulthood like Himeanole has to show how long lasting those effects are. There often isnt a Hollywood ending. Not everyone who was bullied, socially outcast, hurt physically, emotionally and psychologically, creates their own software company and dates international super-models. For most of us this is never the ending we got. Reality is this, the effects of bullying last forever. I speak out of personal experiences. It comes back.

Himeanole strikes a particular nerve in victims of bullying when it does not shock with its sudden outbursts of graphic and stunning violence. The message is important. The delivery is exceptional and also jarring, an excellent example of emotional manipulation by Keisuke and his adaptation of Furuya Minorus manga Himeanoru.
 Prison videoconference visitation program expanding in New York | Main | Oh what a higher sentence she received, when found to have pleaded to deceive 

August 29, 2012

"Pricing Amy: Should Those Who Download Child Pornography Pay the Victims?"

Under the Crime Victims Rights Act, the government must notify Amy and other child pornography victims anytime anyone is arrested by federal authorities for possessing their images. Her attorney, James Marsh of New York City, says his office has received at least 1,500 required notices of federal prosecutions for possession of those images. The day after we were retained in 2008, we had someone open up all these notices she received in the calendar years 2006 and 2007, Marsh says. It took two days just to open the envelopes.... The restitution portion of VAWA requires full compensation for victims losses, regardless of the defendants ability to pay. The D.C. Circuit noted this in April 2011 in U.S. v. Monzel, when it remanded a partial restitution order so the trial court could calculate the full amount of the victims losses. However, the full-restitution requirement creates another problem with using VAWA in cases like Amys: how to split the restitution payment among all of the defendants who may be charged with possession of the same images. The act provides for joint and several liability among defendants in the same case, but what about defendants in multiple cases, in numbers nobody can predict? How should responsibility be apportioned between each of them, plus the original maker of the child pornography? And how can the justice system track what the victims actually receive? Legal experts say theres no precedent for these questions under VAWA or anywhere else in criminal law or in tort law. Several appeals courts have dedicated parts of their opinions to the problem, and federal district courts have struggled, with some developing a flat-rate scheme on their own. These include the Eastern District of California, which in three cases awarded $3,000 per victim, extrapolating from a provision in 18 USC  2255 that minor victims of sexual exploitation may be deemed to have suffered civil damages no less than $150,000. In another case, a court in the Western District of Washington awarded $1,000 per image in U.S. v. Kennedy (later reduced to zero by the 9th Circuit at San Francisco). Marsh says its his policy to file for full restitutionthe full amount of Amys lost income, past and future psychiatric treatment, loss of enjoyment of life and attorney feesin nearly every case, regardless of what other orders his client has received and regardless of the defendants means. He says Amy doesnt care where the money comes from as long as she is made completely whole. He and Carol Hepburn of Seattle, Vickys attorney, argue that the system should not put the burden of working out these details on victims. Complicating matters further, Hepburn says, is the problem of collecting. Just because an order is entered doesnt mean one is going to get payment, she points out. In fact, I can remember early on a prosecutor telling me: I got you a $10,000 order, but good luck getting anything because this guys going to get deported after he gets out of jail.  Even without immigration problems, defendants may have no money left after their defense, and no way of earning it while serving the long prison sentences typical in child pornography cases. Hepburn and Marsh say they receive some large checks as well as a few regular payments from prison wages. In some circumstances, particularly when the defendant is indigent, they may also work out arrangements with prosecutors or defense counsel.

The title of this post is the headline of this lengthy and effective new article in the latest issue of the ABA Journal. Here is a small excerpt from a piece that merits a full read for any and everyone concerned with issues surrounding child porn sentencing or restitution punishment:

August 29, 2012 at 08:23 AM | Permalink

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"the government must notify Amy and other child pornography victims anytime anyone is arrested by federal authorities for possessing their images"

There's the problem right there.

Posted by: anon | Aug 29, 2012 11:05:39 AM

"He says Amy doesnt care where the money comes from as long as she is made completely whole"

Should read.... "He said he doesn't care where the money comes from as long as he gets his cut and gets paid"

Posted by: anon | Aug 29, 2012 11:09:20 AM

The circuits have ruled (and the 5th circuit is reconsidering and likely will follow suit) that proximate cause is required. This is as it should be for the reasons those courts of appeals have given. And in any event, as alluded to in the article, determining restitution amounts from so many defendants to so many victims simply is unworkable regardless of causation, at least in strict child porn possession cases (child porn production cases, of course, inherently are different). Rather, if continued psychological harm from the knowledge that third-parties still are trading a victim's images is a major concern, then perhaps congress can create a special fund for offenders to pay into (akin to the nominal special assessment already ordered). that pool of funds could then be allocated to those victims who apply and qualify. much more feasible than seeking same through thousands of resitution orders (which likely will be uncollectable in vast majority of cases anyway as article also alludes).

Posted by: mark | Aug 29, 2012 2:13:51 PM

"if continued psychological harm from the knowledge that third-parties still are trading a victim's images is a major concern, then perhaps congress can create a special fund for offenders to pay into"

Or, Congress could just stop forcing further psychological trauma upon the victims by not requiring notification.

Posted by: anon | Aug 29, 2012 2:38:55 PM

I don't necessarily have a problem with putting judgments on multiple defendants across separate cases to make sure that she gets paid, because a lot of these defendants are going to be judgment-proof so it'll be a bit like squeezing water out of a stone.

What I do take issue with is the whole requirement of proximate causation in that did THIS defendant's actions cause her harm? It seems like, in the vast majority of cases, the answer has to be no. She is harmed by the knowledge that somewhere, out there, someone could possibly be viewing images of her abuse as a child but that the actual act of a defendant viewing those images does not cause her harm. It seems to me that the one she needs to collect from is the man who originally abused her and sent those pictures on to the WWW -- that being her uncle.

Posted by: Guy | Aug 29, 2012 3:24:34 PM

And, also, as anon posted, it seems at least arguable that the act of notification from the government would be at least as if not more traumatic than the act of someone viewing the image. Doesn't the continual re-notification force her to keep reliving that whole period in her life?

Posted by: Guy | Aug 29, 2012 3:33:03 PM

Would be curious to know what percentage of these 'restitutions' actually do eventually end up getting paid off in full or what the non-payment default rate in general is for court ordered restitutions as a whole are after all sentencing conditions have been met including fulfilment of parole conditions if there's still a remaining balance to be paid. Could wage garnishments really be enforced after full release and completion of sentence requirements. I suspect the percentage of 'walk aways' is probably quite high and not something that would be advertised by the DOJ in fear of influencing even more to default.

Posted by: Carl J. | Aug 29, 2012 4:42:24 PM

It seems kind of counterproductive in cases where the pictures were taken in exchange for money to the victim already. e.g. underage prostitution. It might even encourage the victim to distribute photos themselves.

Posted by: Kizzle | Aug 29, 2012 5:47:17 PM

Society here is also a victim of its own extremes. By making it nearly impossible for sex offenders to ever obtain employment, it all but ensures that most of these payments will never be made.

Posted by: Garvey | Aug 29, 2012 6:38:02 PM

After reading this article, my thought was that "Amy" should consider suing the federal government for intentional infliction of emotional distress, as it makes clear that the revelation of the existence of the photos, courtesy of the Rights Act that is mentioned, severely and permanently affected her, not the later disclosure that particular persons had viewed them. This harm is obviously foreseeable, and there's no doubt about proximate cause.

It seems unlikely that she would ever have discovered the images on her own. Worse, the article mentions that due to the internet the images will survive forever, so that the disclosure doesn't really serve any constructive purpose (e.g. it doesn't help in removing the photos). Saying that it provides her with restitution is perverse -- that is like hitting someone in the face and saying you did it for their benefit since you'll pay the full hospital bill and any lost wages.

Posted by: Rog | Aug 30, 2012 12:44:14 AM

...the government must notify Amy and other child pornography victims anytime anyone is arrested by federal authorities for possessing their images. Her attorney, James Marsh of New York City, says his office has received at least 1,500 required notices of federal prosecutions for possession of those images. The day after we were retained in 2008, we had someone open up all these notices she received in the calendar years 2006 and 2007, Marsh says. It took two days just to open the envelopes....

To expand on anon's point, these notifications are foreseeably upsetting. She may have been traumatized by the producer, but once, a while ago. She is being traumatized by the government hundreds of times. The government should be paying her $10,000 per notification.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Aug 30, 2012 8:34:13 AM

Victim notification is mandatory in every case, not just child pornography cases. Notably, however, victims an opt out of the notifications. So if a victim feels like the notifications are harming them in any way, they can opt out.

Posted by: domino | Aug 30, 2012 1:31:26 PM

Forty four United States Attorneys General voiced their support on Wednesday for a Congressional proposal that is aimed at getting financial support for victims of child pornography.

http://www.naag.org/assets/files/pdf/signons/Final%20Amy%20and%20Vicky%20Letter.pdf

What's causing the harm? How does Amy and Vicky know people are looking at their images? Every time someone downloads an image intentionally or not of Amy or Vicky and they are caught with one of those images on their computer the government sends a letter to the girls and their attorneys(why do they have an attorney in the first place; follow the money) that someone has been caught with Amy and Vicky images and they need VICTIMS for a crime. Essentially the government is perpetuating a self fulling prophecy because the all knowing government never gives the poor girls a chance to recover by playing with their angst and antipathy reminding them daily that someone is looking at images of abuse caused by one of their OWN FAMILY members that made it onto the internet. The viewer is looking at a crime scene image that they were not complicit in producing; crime scene images of a crime that has occurred in the past. With consistent notifications the government enables them to stay sick and if anything should happen to the girls the government should be held accountable for driving these poor girls INSANE. Do you really think, deep down these politicians care that much for the plight of Vicky or Amy? They feel badly for them, but not as much as they would like you to believe. What this does is just gives the politicians another platform to pass more laws and say that they are "tough on crime" by ridding the internet of all those "perverts, pedophiles, and predators" on the internet. Politicians never pass up a chance to look good to the general public as it gets them re-elected. So Vicky or Amy gets paid, their lawyers get PAID, the DAs win a conviction, and the politicians keep getting re-elected.

Also There is NO market for child porn(CP) period. If you can find CP so can the police. If you paid for CP on the net it would most likely be in the form of credit card, bitcoin etc. and the police will find that also. My research has discovered from reading the myriad of arrests everyday for CP that 99% is downloaded via person to person (P2P) software which the police can also detect. There is NO charge for downloading it other than your internet access fee. There is NO money to be made from CP, period and as I stated above the only way an alleged victim finds out their photo, video or both was viewed is when the government tells them so creating essentially a self filled prophecy enabling the victims to stay sick. Only the creators should be punished and go to jail but today CP VIEWERS are getting more time in jail and paying more in restitution than the original offender.

A person that GIVES images power to influence or control the behavior of people is called VooDoo; Witchcraft. Unknowingly many use their authority for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure but they are practicing VOO-DOO nevertheless. I can appreciate that the actual creation of CP victimizes children, I cannot agree that looking for, viewing, or collecting CP actually victimizes anyone. If you were to apply the same reasoning to any other crime, than looking at a photo of any crime would be re-victimizing someone. If the simple act of viewing a crime scene image (CP) is harmful perhaps an appropriate punishment would be to simply take a photo of the perpetrator n jail, then set him free, but have some look at the photo that was taken while they he was in jail; same LOGIC. Legislators have drawn upon pre internet pseudo research without any empirical evidence when people actively had to exert effort and seek out the contraband; However with the INTERNET the contraband is but a click away. Today CSA crime scene photos can be found for FREE on the INTERNET using P2P software and Journalist have posited nothing but what they are told by Law Enforcement who create Gothic Melodramas and monster stories of child molesting. I do not see how anyone can justify this punishment with the so called crime; its insanity in an insane nation when you can go to jail because the law practices voodoo.

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January 27, 2013

Fascinating NY Times magazine cover story on child porn victims and restitution

Six months after [the first] sentencing [which included a restitution award in October 2008], [Amy's lawyer James] Marsh went after another child-pornography defendant, Arthur Staples, a 65-year-old sheriffs deputy in Virginia, who had chatted online with an undercover detective and expressed an interest in young children. Staples sent one image of a young girl (not Amy), and he was caught with more than 600 pictures on his computer, including hers. Staples agreed not to appeal any sentence or restitution judgment. The judge sentenced him to 17 years, and made the unusual move of ordering him to pay all of Amys claim. To Marshs surprise, Staples turned out to have $2 million in assets. He has since paid $1.2 million to Amy. (Marsh says the government let Stapless wife keep part of the estate.) While Amy has been turned down for restitution by some courts, which have stated that there was not enough proof that any one man who viewed her pictures was responsible for the harm she has suffered, she has won more than 150 cases, totaling $1.6 million. Most of the amounts arent large: $1,000 or even $100, paid out in checks as small as $7.33. Nicole has also been pursuing restitution. Her lawyer, Carol Hepburn, did her own research and got in touch with Marsh when she learned about the claims he was bringing for Amy. The two lawyers now collaborate on ideas and strategy, though they represent their clients separately. Since receiving her first check for $10,000, Nicole has collected more than $550,000, mostly in small amounts from 204 different men. So far only a few other child-pornography victims have gone to court for restitution. Many may not know there is a legal remedy; others dont know their images have circulated.... Study after study links child sexual abuse to psychological trauma, addiction and violent relationships in adulthood. There is almost no research, however, that deals with the specifics of Amy and Nicoles experiences: What additional harm comes from knowing that pictures of your childhood exploitation are circulating widely? The Supreme Court actually addressed this question in its 1982 decision upholding child-pornography bans. Pornography poses an even greater threat to the child victim than does sexual abuse or prostitution, Justice Byron White wrote, quoting from a book about abused children. Because the childs actions are reduced to a recording, the pornography may haunt him in future years, long after the original misdeed took place. David Finkelhor, a sociologist who directs the Crimes Against Children Research Center at the University of New Hampshire, sees the moral weight of the Supreme Courts proclamation, but not the empirical proof. The evidence doesnt yet tell us to what extent the experience of being a pornography victim aggravates the experience of the sexual abuse itself, he told me. How do you separate it out? Courts have disagreed on this question. In at least a dozen cases, defendants have appealed restitution decisions and mostly won. In five of those cases, federal appeals courts have expressed skepticism that Amy and Nicole should receive more than nominal restitution. Two other appeals courts have allowed the young women to recover from individual defendants as members of the group of viewers but, so far, only for amounts of $10,000 or less. (Amy collected a far greater sum from Arthur Staples because he waived his right to appeal.)

Today's New York Times magazine has this remarkable cover story headlined "The Price of a Stolen Childhood," which provides a fascinating profile of the two young women now at the center of legal disputes in federal courts nationwide over restitution sentences imposed upon defendants who download child pornography. The lengthy article has too many interesting facets to effectively summarize, but here is one snippet telling early parts of the legal aspects of the story:

January 27, 2013 at 10:41 AM | Permalink

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I don't question the need for restitution. I do question how restitution is determined. When a jury hears claims for restitution and makes a determination, I can abide by that, since a jury, in theory hears all the facts. When restitution is determined by some other method, I am not so sure. There is also the issue of when does time run out on restitution? Are the victims and their attorneys going to collect continuously for the rest of their lives. Is restitution like an annuity in this case?

Posted by: Jardinero1 | Jan 27, 2013 1:26:18 PM

Amy has received $1.6 million, so says the article, and Nicole has collected more than $550,000.

I'm guessing that's not the whole story. What's the lawyer's cut from those amounts???

Posted by: Mark | Jan 27, 2013 1:48:35 PM

Joint and several liability will just keep the legal system bound up for eons, keeping lawyers, and judges in a never-ending stream of cash. Requiring someone to pay the full amount and then sue everyone else to help pay for it? Sounds like a lawyer's dream!

A general compensation fund is the way to go. Seems like it would allow the victims to be compensated quicker and stop having to prove over and over again that they are victims.

Perhaps then they could become survivors.

Posted by: Brian G. | Jan 27, 2013 3:42:56 PM

ugh. Doug, you need an "undo" button!!

I meant to omit the "and judges" part in my previous post. I started with one thought then finished with another. Slopping reviewing on my part.

But the overall point still stands. J&S just keeps the legal profession paid up.

Posted by: Brian G. | Jan 27, 2013 3:45:48 PM

"Study after study links child sexual abuse to psychological trauma, addiction and violent relationships in adulthood."

Except, of course, those studies don't exist but so long as we say "study after study" we don't have to look too closely at what those studies say, who their subjects where, or what the results indicated. And "linking" is another great verb. What does it mean to link two things together? Correlation? Causation? The fact that the researcher decided to study them together.

Frankly, it's this type of tripe that is simply a regurgitation of what "everybody knows" that does real harm to children.

Posted by: Daniel | Jan 27, 2013 5:34:39 PM

Daniel, I think you make a very good point. These studies are quite complex, as are there assumptions and limitations. And I find it interesting that conservatives seize these studies, but reject, as liberal psycho-babble, contrary ones (Note: many liberals do these same things, particularly with respect to foreign policy and economics).

I think that the biggest predictor of trauma is how society treats an activity. One posted, I think Anonymous or something like that, argued once on here that circumcision is a good example. It is a violent act, and these poor infants cannot possibly consent, but nobody feels trauma from it, not even when they see pictures of it or know that relatives have such pictures of the ceremony (or, in my case, a video!). The point is that children will be traumatized if they are taught to be.

Of course, these children, or adults now, are traumatized. And that is awful. But I think we are missing the bigger picture. As a society, we get to create our victims. We've created these.

All I can do is thank G-d that I don't live in a society that shuns the violent act of circumcision, or I'd probably need therapy now too.

Posted by: Subethis | Jan 27, 2013 6:55:51 PM

The more that I learn about this topic, the more it sounds like the real harm comes from NOTIFICATION that the photos are being viewed. THE HARM IS IN THE NOTIFICATION. This article confirms that conclusion. These people were undoubtedly victimized by the abuser and producer of child pornography. They deserve abundant restitution from such perpetrators.

But maybe it's time to stop notifying these victims of their repeated re-victimization. We need to honestly ask ourselves the following: What good is done by the notifications? How much better/worse off are these individuals as a result of the notifications?

As demonstrated in this article, the victims are living their lives as best they can until -- BAM -- notifications start appearing in the mail and pile up in a corner of a room. It's at that moment when, after struggling so much to overcome the initial abuse, the abusers must now deal with this new KNOWLEDGE. Why interrupt their lives with the notifications? Why stir up the past? It seems to me any restitution is owed from the notifier.

Posted by: Evan | Jan 27, 2013 7:32:01 PM

Excellent comments today, with which one must agree. No studies showing harm (Daniel). Notification is the proximate cause of any hurt feelings and stress (Evan). Lawyers will take the lion's share and nothing will be left for the victims (Mark). Forced reliving of trauma by the legal system is harmful (Subethis).

Getting back to lawyer praxis. The following should become standard of professional due care, or else the defendant should sue the defense lawyer for malpractice. In their absence, representation has not been adequate, a violation of the Sixth Amendment.

1) Do not waive right to appeal. At this late point, a plea bargain is a contract, and duress should be asserted as a contract defense, making the plea voidable. Both physical and economic duress apply. Under the dual inquiry test of the Supreme Court, a second prosecution may represent prosecutorial vindictiveness and should be dismissed. Naturally, this dual inquiry test justifies and requires total e-discovery of prosecutorial computers. Refer all child porn found to the FBI for investigation.

2) Daubert hearing to address the comment of Dan (absence of scientific evidence of harm). A cross claim against the federal court victim notification service as causing the harm and stress.

3) The benefits of child porn. It decrease the sexual abuse of real children by 40%. A value should be placed on this public benefit, and the value of the trauma prevented by child porn should be deducted from any liability. Because predators have dozens if not hundreds of victims, the prevention of real child sex abuse is of extreme value, except to government workers. They benefit with jobs if children are sexually molested.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 27, 2013 8:21:53 PM

Supremacy Claus, do you have a study or a source cite for the proposition that child porn reduces child sex abuse by 40%?

Posted by: anon | Jan 27, 2013 9:12:28 PM

i found this article that references at least one.

http://phys.org/news/2010-11-legalizing-child-pornography-linked-sex.html

Legalizing child pornography is linked to lower rates of child sex abuse: study November 30, 2010 Could making child pornography legal lead to lower rates of child sex abuse? It could well do, according to a new study by Milton Diamond, from the University of Hawaii, and colleagues. google_protectAndRun("render_ads.js::google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); Results from the Czech Republic showed, as seen everywhere else studied (Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Sweden, USA), that rape and other sex crimes have not increased following the legalization and wide availability of pornography. And most significantly, the incidence of child sex abuse has fallen considerably since 1989, when child pornography became readily accessible  a phenomenon also seen in Denmark and Japan. Their findings are published online today in Springer's journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. The findings support the theory that potential sexual offenders use child pornography as a substitute for sex crimes against children. While the authors do not approve of the use of real children in the production or distribution of child pornography, they say that artificially produced materials might serve a purpose. Diamond and team looked at what actually happened to sex-related crimes in the Czech Republic as it transitioned from having a strict ban on sexually explicit materials to a situation where the material was decriminalized. Pornography was strictly prohibited between 1948 and 1989. The ban was lifted with the country's transition to democracy and, by 1990, the availability and ownership of sexually explicit materials rose dramatically. Even the possession of child pornography was not a criminal offense. The researchers monitored the number of sex-related crimes from Ministry of Interior records  rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, and child sex abuse in particular  for 15 years during the ban and 18 years after it was lifted. Most significantly, they found that the number of reported cases of child sex abuse dropped markedly immediately after the ban on sexually explicit materials was lifted in 1989. In both Denmark and Japan, the situation is similar: Child sex abuse was much lower than it was when availability of child pornography was restricted. Other results showed that, overall, there was no increase in reported sex-related crimes generally since the legalization of pornography. Interestingly, whereas the number of sex-related crimes fell significantly after 1989, the number of other societal crimes  murder, assault, and robbery  rose significantly. More information: Diamond M et al (2010). Pornography and sex crimes in the Czech Republic. Archives of Sexual Behavior. DOI:10.1007/s10508-010-9696-y Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2010-11-legalizing-child-pornography-linked-sex.html#jCp

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2010-11-legalizing-child-pornography-linked-sex.html#jCp

Posted by: rodsmith | Jan 27, 2013 10:55:10 PM

Rod: The lawyer cannot hear you in the upside down, Twilight Zone world. The feminist witch hunt has a business model. It cannot be derailed by any fact once the lawyer starts the plunder.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 27, 2013 11:02:07 PM

Excuse me, not 40%, 60% during the internet era, and in the USA. Enforcement has almost no effect on crime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/29/us/rate-of-child-sexual-abuse-on-the-decline.html?_r=0

Many children who are molested, like it, and do it to other children, often dozens or more. A lot of sexual abuse of children by other children may stem from sex education in the most graphic detail, at ever younger ages. This sex education is part of the feminist lawyer assault on the family, promoting sex among children to increase teen pregnancy and government dependency.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 27, 2013 11:25:39 PM

SC --

"Do not waive right to appeal. At this late point, a plea bargain is a contract, and duress should be asserted as a contract defense, making the plea voidable. Both physical and economic duress apply."

It's hard to argue duress when the government has it on the record that the defendant knows he has the unconditional right to go to trial and that he is giving up this right, with the advice and assistance of counsel, in order to obtain what he views as the superior benefits of the government's concessions contained in the plea agreement.

Or, to put it more succinctly, if you don't like the bargain or any of its terms, fine, go to trial.

Then watch what happens when the jury hears the evidence.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Jan 28, 2013 1:48:20 AM

Evan - I agree with you 100%! I have said this for a long time. A victim will always be a victim when they are constantly told someone else has seen the picture. That person can NEVER get to the survivor stage because it is always being forefront in the person's mind and life over and over and over again. These files will be on the internet forever! There should be no notification. The restitution should come from the abuser, just like every other crime.

Posted by: Jill | Jan 28, 2013 7:32:37 AM

I would also like to state that these files were left on Limewire for years after they were found by the FBI. If these children are re-victimized every time a person looks at them, then why didn't the government shut down Limewire before the music industry did? Who is really re-victimizing these kids?

I know there are many different file sharing sites, but why not continue to shut them down every time the FBI finds child porn on them, until those sites figure out a way to keep them from leaving the server to others?

Posted by: Jill | Jan 28, 2013 7:42:06 AM

One of the curious things for some to come out of the innocence movement and the discovery of so many innocent persons that have been sentenced to death or to long prison terms are the seemingly large number who have plead guilty to the crime for which they were innocent. Why would anybody do such a thing, people wonder.

Well, if you are one who so wonders, read Bill Otis's post of 1:48:20 AM and wonder no more. This last line is not coming from left field - it is coming from a person has been on the front lines and who knows very well of what he speaks.

Posted by: C60 | Jan 28, 2013 11:34:56 AM

C60 --

As one who has, as you say, been on the front lines, I can tell you (and anyone else who's interested) why defendants avoid trials and take plea bargains.

The answer is simple. They're guilty and they know the government has the evidence to prove it; that the likelihood of a conviction at trial ranges from large to overwhelming; that the judge is just going to get madder and madder as he hears the witnesses testify about Mr. Nicey did to them; that getting the judge mad is not very useful for when sentencing comes up; and (last but hardly least) that the prosecutor has got too many cases and too little time and is therefore usually willing to give away a whole bunch to save himself the considerable trouble of trial preparation.

As you say, I've been there.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Jan 28, 2013 1:44:10 PM

Bill Otis (Jan 28, 2013 1:44:10 PM):

C60 asked why an innocent person would plead guilty to crime that he/she did not commit. You didn't answer his/her question at all. And I believe he/she is exactly right when he/she says that all a person has to do is look at some comments from people like you and it does help a person understand why.

You know as well as I do that our criminal governments don't always care so much about whether or not a person is innocent or guilty. You also know that people take plea bargains when their chance of winning a trial is 75% or better. There is often just too much at risk. There are lazy lawyers and many people know that juries are FULL of stupid people who wouldn't know the difference between a fact and opinion if their lives depended on it. Going to trial is a dice roll, facts be damned.

So spare us your "government is great and righteous" BS. Most of us know better.

And anyway, you can talk to me until your last day and never convince me. Do you know why? Because I pleaded guilty to a crime that I did not commit. The criminal government, in fact, had NO evidence at all that I had committed that crime (because it didn't happened). But they did have a "victim" who told them huge lies on several different occasions until she finally arrived at the "true" story. They would have been fools if they believed her. But that didn't matter, of course. What did matter is that they could threaten and coerce someone into taking a plea bargain for crimes that they did not commit.

And do you know how they did that, in part? By promising things that they probably knew the judge would reject later. By the time a person gets to that point, he/she has already accepted X punishment, so what is just a little bit more? And who has the fortitude to just reject it all then and start over from the beginning? And give your attorney another $30K while you at it? And at the point, a person has been fighting it forever and just wants it to end.

I was lucky that I had the means to not be in jail during the entire "negotiation", "wrap-up" period. People who are not so lucky would have taken a much worse plea bargain than I did a year earlier than I did.

There are some facts for you.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 28, 2013 5:30:55 PM

I haven't thought much about this type of restitution (even though I do find it fairly interesting). One thing that I have wondered about is why isn't anyone who views a crime later (pictures, video, etc.), liable for restitution to the victim? Why is child porn unique? Why is it not illegal to watch a video of someone being murdered? That person was surely victimized, why is the viewer not re-victimizing the victim? Doesn't make much sense to me.

What I suspect this is mostly is a grab for money. That is what most people are about. These victims like money, they are angry about people looking at their victimization, and they can take money from them. And for sure, the lawyers love it. And they can all get away with it because it involves sex crimes. We can all get behind twisting/changing laws in order to harm people who commit sex crimes. That's fun.

I was horribly victimized as a child and I did not get a single dollar for it. Makes me kind of mad when I see stuff like this. Why do they get it and I don't? They should have to share.

Also, I think if I believed I was traumatized for life by my childhood and I'm never healed, then perhaps I would have some good excuses for some bad choices that I've made. That would make me feel better. To not be responsible to not be a victim. But alas, I don't believe that. Maybe I need some good lawyers and victim advocates to fix my thinking?

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 28, 2013 5:36:15 PM

FRegistry Terrorists --

Do you even hear yourself?

Here's your story: You pleaded guilty to a crime you didn't commit. The government had NO (your capitalization) evidence against you. The government also promised a sentence but the judge jacked you up (pssst...the government can't promise a sentence. It can only promise a sentencing recommendation). The victim was a complete liar, a fact only you recognized.

Then, in your next post, you tell us that you were "horribly victimized as a child," and that if you'd gotten some money for it, you might have avoided some (conspicuously unidentified) "bad choices" you made later on.

You don't identify yourself and you give not a single detail from which any interested person could check the veracity of your wildly implausible but thoroughly self-serving story.

Do you think this leaves some room for skepticism?

Posted by: Bill Otis | Jan 28, 2013 9:15:39 PM

All crim law I professors must have a disclosure at the beginning of the course.

1) The criminal law is in utter failure. There are 20 million FBI Index felonies and 2 million prosecutions. That means a 90% chance of never being inconvenienced in any way after committing a serious crime. Then when the prosecution has a guy, there is a 20% chance it is the wrong guy;

2)These feminist inquisitors and their male running dogs are very successful at one thing, rent seeking via hyper-proceduralism under the leadership of a treasonous hierarchy in out of control insurrection against the constitution;

3)These traitors have dealt themselves absolute immunity from any accountability to the victims of their carelessness. If torts is a substitute for violent revenge, then its contra-positive must be true, that legal immunity is a justification for violence in formal logic.

In the absence of such initial disclosure,one is misleading and indoctrinating.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 29, 2013 4:18:22 AM

"C60 asked why an innocent person would plead guilty to crime that he/she did not commit. You didn't answer his/her question at all."

I did not ask anybody, this question. I merely stated the fact many convicted people found later to be factually innocent pled guilty to the crime despite that innocence. Many people wonder why a person would do such a thing. I merely pointed out that the identified comment answered that question.

Nobody really questions why factually guilty people plead guilty to crimes they have actually committed. There is no mystery there. Numbers dictate prosecutors in most jurisdiction make deals and guilty defendant often, but not always, know they can do better cutting their own deal than going to a jury.

My comment (not question) addresses what some people, non or casual observers mostly, mistakenly regard as a mind-blowing mystery - that is - why do factually innocent people plead guilty under a plea bargain for crimes they know the did not commit. Bill Otis's referenced post answers that question, which on examination is not really a mystery at all, fully and completely.

Posted by: C60 | Jan 29, 2013 9:11:38 AM

Bill Otis (Jan 28, 2013 9:15:39 PM):

Don't be so pompous to think that I give a squirt whether or not you are skeptical about my facts. I have no need for a "self-serving story". I was simply telling you that it doesn't matter how much BS you throw out, I'm not going to believe you. I didn't have to explain why.

I personally find it impossible to believe that you were around the legal system and don't know what I described is exactly how the system works often enough. If you don't know that, don't know the facts, don't believe me, I don't care. That is your impairment, your loss. Believe a different reality if you want.

Further, simply to illustrate how when you don't know all the details about something, you just fill in whatever you need to fit what you want to believe, I will give you some more facts. The criminal government did not have ANY evidence against me. Do you know why? Because what was said happened didn't happen, therefore, by definition, there was no evidence.

Also, you said "The victim was a complete liar, a fact only you recognized." I didn't say that. In fact, the government was completely aware that the "victim" had told them huge lies on numerous occasions. The first lie that she told them was that there were two people there and that I never touched her. Had the criminal government been able to find the other person, *any person* literally, that they could have charged and convicted, then they would have and that would have been the end of the story. But they couldn't, so they had to force the "victim" to change her story, which she easily did and they eagerly accepted it. The criminal government didn't believe her and they would have been fools if they did. Maybe they were as biased as you and couldn't think straight.

Lastly, you didn't understand my last two paragraphs. Maybe I didn't explain it very well. One of my points was that some people say they are lifelong victims and they use it as an excuse for bad behavior (and to get money). I was saying that I can't buy into that but facetiously that perhaps I should (to justify any of my bad behaviors).

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 29, 2013 10:40:57 AM

C60 (Jan 29, 2013 9:11:38 AM):

Right, I was technically wrong to say you asked a question. But Bill was responding to you and his response read to me like he was dismissing/refuting what you said and saying instead that he was going to tell us why people really take plea bargains. He didn't address what you said. (I know, Bill, you didn't *technically* say that C60 was wrong or misleading, so calm down.)

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 29, 2013 10:43:55 AM

So basically FRT, your defense amounts to your having merely watched some other dude commit the rape and then your having done nothing about it even after being charged with the crime - and then plead guilty.

Lame and extremely incredible. Unless of course your involvement in the rape was much more than you are letting on and that by informing the police who that other dude was you would incriminate yourself.

i do sincerely hope that you are receiving counseling for what you went through as a child and i do deeply sympathize with you and hope that eventually you can find peace in your life and get over your obvious anger issues, but i do have to side with Bill Otis here :)

Posted by: Erika | Jan 29, 2013 11:30:55 AM

Bill: "Then watch what happens when the jury hears the evidence"

me: in these cases, its actually what happens when the jury sees the evidence :)

Once the jury finds out that the defendant was caught with pictures of young children being violently raped on his computer the jury is going to see the defendant as a dangerous icky perv who is likely to rape children and its curtains for the defendant. Good luck trying to argue that the images got on your computer becasue someone else put them there - the jury isn't going to care - all they will care about is stopping the dangerous icky perv before he rapes any more children.

Posted by: Erika | Jan 29, 2013 11:48:37 AM

Erika (Jan 29, 2013 11:30:55 AM):

Wow, I guess I do have to literally tell an entire story to keep Bill and Bill Jr. from jumping to completely wild, baseless conclusions.

No, Erika, the problem for the criminal government was that there was no second person, let alone any rape. No one touched the "victim" in any way. No crime was committed against this "victim". In fact, she saw me for no more than 1 minute, twice. I won't bother to give any further details, let's see what conclusions you people can jump to with that.

The "victim" was a disturbed person. If it had been a male, I would bet the odds were over 90% that the person has since been arrested at least once and probably incarcerated.

I don't need any counseling for what I went through as a child. I am not a victim. I am a very strong, well-adjusted, very successful adult who takes care of many people and things. I am an angry person though and the Registries are continuing to help increase and cultivate that daily. But I fully embrace that because I've gotten great motivational use out of it and I believe I will continue to do so.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 29, 2013 12:15:21 PM

FRT --

"Wow, I guess I do have to literally tell an entire story to keep Bill and Bill Jr. from jumping to completely wild, baseless conclusions."

Rather than continuing to give selected parts of the story -- a selection in which you have an interest, to say the least -- why not just cite the case so interested readers can look it up for themselves?

Convicted defendants ALL THE TIME tell concocted stories about how The Really Bad Government Set Me Up. There are, to hear them tell it, few if any guilty men in prison.

Maybe you are innocent and were the Victim of a Government Plot. But there is no way to know that simply from the self-interested story of a person who chooses anonymity and declines to provide any more neutral account.

What is the citation to your case?

P.S. Anyone who can read can see that Erika is right about your anger.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Jan 29, 2013 1:48:15 PM

FRT, while i continue to find your story to be inheriently implausible, i believe that your anger is completely misplaced. Quite simply, assuming argumendo that your story that you plead guilty to a sex crime despite your being actually innocent and not having strong evidence against you the only person you have to blame for your predictiment is yourself.

If what you are saying is true that your placement on the sex offender registry is not the fault of the police, prosecutors, politicians, etc. - it is 100% your fault. If you are angry at anyone your anger should be directed at you for not even attempting to fight the great injustice that you claim occurred in your case.

Of course, you do not do that - instead, you rail against society, the police, prosecutors, judges, etc. who you claim were simply out to get you. Of course, most people who claim to be railroaded by the criminal justice system plead not guilty and then are found guilty. When you voluntarily plead guilty against charges that you claim to be extremely weak based upon the testimony of a non-credible witness it makes me believe that you are in fact guilty as can be and are simply minimizing the extent of your criminal activity.

OF course, if you are telling the truth, you really do have nobody to be mad at but yourself - and self anger can destroy a person just as much as anger at another. You really should consider going to counseling for your anger issues - if left as is they will destroy you (and likely hurt others around you) in the end.

And if you think that i am anything like Bill Otis who i almost always disagree with, you are even more delusional than what would be indicated by the fact that you expect us to take your incredible story at face value :)

Posted by: Erika | Jan 29, 2013 3:48:34 PM

Bill Otis (Jan 29, 2013 1:48:15 PM):

I'm not trying to tell my story. I am completely uninterested in trying to convince anyone that what I say is true. If people don't believe me, it's their loss. It's not in my "self interest" to tell my story in any particular way because I absolutely do not care if people believe me or what they think of me. (Do you not realize that Registration cures people of that?)

And let me guess, you believe that if you could read about the case then you would have a clue about what happened? People who believe that literally crack me up. People who read police reports and believe them are insanely naive.

The simple point that I was trying to make is that I know for certain that people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit. I know it, you know it, we all know it. We also know that our criminal governments work to get that done.

I know the "few guilty men in prison" and "everyone minimizes" are both very popular story lines among the people "who understand sex offenders and/or criminals" but I find that to be so lame and boring. I don't know how true those are but I have personally met a lot of people who said they were guilty and were very forthright about what they had done. I'm one of those people. People who automatically assume that a person is not telling the "whole story" are lazy.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 29, 2013 4:55:12 PM

Erika (Jan 29, 2013 3:48:34 PM):

I don't have the energy to try to explain this all to you in a way that you could understand. Just please try to open your mind. I did not say that I did not commit ANY crime. I said that I pleaded guilty to a crime that I did not commit. The prosecution used what I did do as leverage to pretty much force me to plead to something I didn't do. I pleaded guilty to something much more serious than what I actually did (talking felony versus misdemeanors). The prosecution flat-out told me that if I accepted their deal, I would get penalties X (including 0 days jail time) and if I did not, I would get penalties probably 20X. It's that simple.

And they had no evidence that I had done what I pleaded to (because there was none) but it would not have surprised me at all to have been convicted of it at a trial. Because you don't really need much evidence, you know. It was a risk that no one suggested I take.

I didn't say that the criminal governments, criminal law enforcement, etc., etc., etc. were "out to get me" or whatever. Never said that. I have said that they are immoral criminals.

Putting all that aside, even if a person is 100% guilty of a sex crime, being listed on a Registry is the fault of government. People commit crimes, governments choose how to handle that. Our governments have chosen Registries and they have acted immorally, illegally, un-American, you name it. People listed on the Registries should treat them as enemies.

I am not going to get counseling for my anger. It has served me quite well for the duration that I have been on the Registries. I expect it will continue to do so in the future and I expect the only people it will continue to harm are the people who support the Registries, as it should.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jan 29, 2013 5:01:02 PM

FRT, i wrote an earlier response which got zapped somehow, but please seek counseling before your anger destroys you and likely hurts those around you.

And the reason why we do not believe you is that we are almost all attorneys here - we actually know what the law is and know that it is often extremely murky and there are rarely clear situations. The fact that you provide no details of your case - and won't even provide the state statute you were convicted under and what statute you claim you should have been convicted under speaks volumes. And what is says is that your story lacks veracity.

Posted by: Erika | Jan 31, 2013 10:31:18 AM

Erika --

Nailed it.

Posted by: Bill Otis | Jan 31, 2013 1:25:29 PM

Nailed it, huh? That's hilarious.

We know that people plead guilty to things that they didn't do. Bill and Ericka, you two just don't believe that I am one of those people. But the problem is that you have no reason not to believe that. You don't want to and that says something about you two.

What exactly did Ericka "nail" anyway? Saying that I said something that I didn't? Good job.

I didn't say that I would not state any statutes that I was charged with or pleaded to. Please explain exactly what that would show the genius attorneys here anyway. What you would see is nothing but a bunch of charges and that I pleaded guilty to something lesser than all of them. Please explain to all of us stupid non-attorneys exactly how that would tell you what crimes were or were not committed.

I have had great "anger" for almost the entire time that I have been Registered, well more than a decade. It has not harmed me, my family, or people close to me. Quite the contrary, it has made me very successful and harmed people who support the Registries. Those are two very large goals of mine that I work on every day. There are absolutely no reasons to believe that the future is going to occur any differently then the past. Again, quite the contrary, I am only getting more powerful and better at it.

I know, I know, you don't believe me. Good. I've known for quite a while that your grasp on reality is not as good as it should be. You have done me a favor by helping me understand that better.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Feb 3, 2013 3:54:46 PM

The notifications are a part of the Crime Victim's Rights Act (2004) passed by George W. Bush (retard). To me I think the whole idea was to get money back into the government. This is what I think. FBI or some federal child protection group sends out the letter (no charge for them), victim receives letter, goes to court, may or may not get restitution, if victim receives restitution in the amount of $100k+ the government will tax that as well as the money the lawyer is going to get from it. So basically the higher the restitution the higher taxes will be for that victim, who will probably spend it on things for themselves instead of getting therapy. So yes the notifications are causing the problem, but I don't think anyone has really questioned it before because law enforcement draws the attention away from that by claiming viewing the pictures of the victim "re-victimizes" them in a never ending cycle. No one has proved that and it sounds like a bunch of balogna to think so. What they are saying is equivalent to saying voodoo is real and no one even has to physically murder anyone they hate anymore..

Posted by: VeryStrange | Mar 21, 2013 11:00:58 AM

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January 20, 2014

Explaining why I am rooting so hard for "Amy" in Paroline

Oral argument in the fascinating Supreme Court case of Paroline v. United States now is just a couple of days away, and this new AP article provides effective background on the case while also helping to spotlight some reasons I am rooting hard for "Amy" and her advocates to prevail:

The case being argued at the Supreme Court on Wednesday involves a Texas man who pleaded guilty to having images of children engaged in sex acts on his computer. Doyle Randall Paroline is appealing an order holding him responsible for the full amount of losses, nearly $3.4 million, suffered by the woman known as Amy. Of the several hundred incriminating images on Paroline's computer, just two were of Amy. Advocates for child pornography victims say that holding defendants liable for the entire amount of losses better reflects the ongoing harm that victims suffer each time someone views the images online. The threat of a large financial judgment, coupled with a prison term, also might deter some people from looking at the images in the first place, the advocates say. Thirty-four states, dozens of victims' rights and child advocacy groups, local prosecutors and members of Congress are urging the court to uphold the ruling against Paroline by the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. No one has intervened on Paroline's behalf. But his lawyer, Stanley Schneider of Houston, said in court papers that there is no link between the restitution ordered by the appeals court and Paroline's conduct. "An award of $3.4 million against an individual for possessing two images of child pornography is punitive and grossly disproportionate," Schneider said.... The Obama administration is trying to steer a middle course. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli Jr. said the government agrees with Amy that her injury comes from the widespread viewing on the Internet of the assaults by her uncle. "The real question is whether ... a court must impose all of Amy's aggregate losses on each defendant. On that issue, Amy and the government take different views," Verrilli told the court. The administration said the correct answer is greater than zero and less than the entire amount and said trial judges should make the determination.... Regardless of the outcome of the court case, Congress could change the law. The U.S. Sentencing Commission recommended that lawmakers consider doing just that to eliminate confusion among federal judges about the right way to calculate restitution.... Since 2005, there have been about 2,000 prosecutions in federal court that, like Paroline's, included images of the rapes, for which Amy's uncle spent about 10 years in prison and paid a few thousand dollars for counseling sessions for Amy.... Courts so far have awarded restitution in 182 cases and Amy has collected $1.6 million. Of that total, $1.2 million came from one man. Typically, the court-ordered awards and the amounts collected have been much smaller, as little as $50 in one case, according to Justice Department records. Many judges have ordered no payments at all, Marsh said. The restitution law does not allow Amy to receive more than the lifetime estimate of her losses, Marsh said. But until the 5th Circuit ruling, Marsh said, "She has been forced to go around the country endlessly seeking out defendants with assets. It's endless, and it takes a toll on the victim." If upheld, the ruling would change the equation. Courts would not have to determine exactly how much harm any one defendant caused Amy. Instead, all defendants would be liable for the entire outstanding amount, raising the possibility that a few well-heeled people among those convicted might contribute most, if not all, of the remaining restitution. Marsh said such an outcome would be just, and wealthy defendants could fight among themselves about who should pay what. "It's really about shifting the burden from the innocent victim to the people who are responsible," Marsh said.

Long-time readers know that I take a consequentialist view on most sentencing and punishment issues, and I strongly believe better consequences will prevail if all persons convicted of unlawfully downloading Amy's picture are all jointly liable for the full amount of her documented economic losses. As the AP article suggests, if Amy wins then only the richest porn downloaders will end up paying her the most money in restitution. But if DOJ's vague approach prevails, the richest porn downloaders will likely end up spending lots of money on lawyers in order to aggressively argue at sentencing that they should not have to pay much or any restitution to Amy or other victims.

More broadly, I actually think better consequences can and will ultimately prevail for future federal defendants convicted of unlawfully downloading child porn if Amy prevails in this case. This is because I think, in light of the instructions of 18 USC 3553(a), federal judges would in the future be fully justified (and arguably even required) to generally impose a shorter federal prison sentence on a child porn defendant if and whenever that defendant is to be held jointly liable for the full amount of documented economic losses. (Intriguingly, Doyle Randall Paroline himself got sentenced only to two years in prison, while the average downloader of child porn prosecuted in federal court these days gets a prison term of nearly a decade.)

In her reporting and commentary on this issue (noted here and here), Emily Bazelon has rightly suggested that having child porn downloaders pay for their crimes through full restitution award (rather than through very lengthy prison terms) makes for better outcomes not only for victims but also for society. As she has explained:

[J]oint and several liability ... works like this: Other victims following in Amys footsteps would target the rich child-pornography defendants. Then it would be up to those men to find the others who are also legally responsible. This would allow many more victims to recover than the alternative: The victims have to sue the defendants they can find one by one, while courts award restitution in what would probably be relatively small amounts. If the Justice Department is really worried about fairness, it could create a compensation fund defendants could pay into for the benefit of more victims. Money can make a huge difference for victims of sexual abuse. For Amy [and other like victims], it has meant access to counseling and a safety net when they have struggled with school and work, as they both have at times. Restitution makes far more sense than the enormously long prison sentences men often serve for collecting child pornography. Congress was right to see the value of restitution. The Supreme Court should too. And then lawmakers and judges should also recognize that the prison terms for possession of child pornography have become too harsh.

Because DOJ is not completely on Amy's side, and because some of the more conservative Justices have in the past expressed some constitutional concerns about some victims getting big awards in tort suits, I do not think it a certainty that Amy will prevail in this matter. But because this is technically a statutory interpretation case, and because the briefs on Amy's side have done such an effective job highlighting reasons to think Congress would want Amy to prevail in this battle of equities, I think she has a pretty good chance to prevail.

A few (of many) prior posts on Paroline and child porn restitution issues:

January 20, 2014 at 05:40 PM | Permalink

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Comments

Isn't this a change in your position Dough? I recall a lengthy post a while back on this issue in which you argued for expropriate causation in these types of cases. What gives?

Posted by: justme | Jan 20, 2014 7:40:19 PM

The issue in this case, it seems to me, is whether the 8th Amendment imposes any restriction on the common-law joint and several liability.

In this case, it seems to me, liability is clear--he definitely harmed the victim. That fixing of liability was done in a criminal trial or guilty plea. So, the only issue is whether the 8th Amendment imposes a substantive restriction of when seriatim harms can be lumped together.

Posted by: federalist | Jan 20, 2014 8:38:24 PM

The theory sounds good.

But in practice, it looks to me like it'll just pile on bankruptcy and permanent insolvency to everything else thrown at those sorry bastards.

Posted by: Pete | Jan 20, 2014 8:44:34 PM

I have always been iffy about the causal link between the downloading and harm to Amy (e.g., if I were to download the offending pics now, would her harm increase?) But if that link is considered sufficient for any restitution liability under the statute, I think the best "remedy" is full restitution in all cases.

In addition, Pete, I do not think bankruptcy and permanent insolvency is really in play: my understanding is that judges can and will create payment schedules for restitution to prevent offenders with limited means from having to pay every last dollar to restitution.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 20, 2014 8:54:06 PM

Doug,

With all due respect, I think it absurd to impose $3.2 million of liability on a single defendant for collecting two images, when if that were the only defendant, we could not possibly say he had cause $3.2 million of harm (because the harm would have been that of a single person seeing two images). This type of joint liability is unlike anything anywhere. To view these crimes as joint is almost as absurd as saying that if a person lives in a bad neighborhood and is robbed a dozen times, each robber should be liable for what the other took. These crimes are disconnected in space and time, and the joint criminals don't know each other.

To me, the push for joint and entire liability is part of the trend to do everything possible to destroy the lives of those convicted of looking at images. It's about bending notions of joint liability (beyond recognition) so as to achieve a desired goal, whatever the cost. It is quixotic of you to suppose that sentences would ever decrease if monetary liability increased. Instead, what will now occur is that these defendants, who can never earn much income anyways, will be guaranteed perpetual penury once they've left decades of prison.

AO

Posted by: AnonymousOne | Jan 20, 2014 9:44:33 PM

Doug:

I hope you are ready to pay billions of dollars in damages to the descendents of slaves based on your reasoning, even if your ancestors came from other countries in the 20th century.

Many defendents claim they did not "knowingly" download CP images when they down-loaded from the internet (say such as a site like SSRN that may have been corrupted).

If they "paid" for CP images, throw the book at them. If there is no evidence that they knowingly did as you suspect, do not throw the book at them. Please explain the reasons for the differences in outcome for receipt, possession and distribution. They are basically prosecutorial "gotchas", and you complain about the uneven, overly powerful distribution of powers given to prosecutors.

AO's position above make 100 times more sense than yours. You are asking the Justice system to be fair, just and have reasonable mercy when the circumstances present themselves and Congress to pass reasonable laws. It is easier to crap gold.

Links can be hijacked, just ask the NSA.

Posted by: albeed | Jan 20, 2014 10:10:30 PM

Doug:

One further comment:

You seem to be against the death penalty. Why don't you just stick a knife in Paroline and end his misery. Any life he has or would possibly have is over.

The DP would be more merciful!

Posted by: albeed | Jan 20, 2014 10:19:11 PM

Could Paroline try an equal protection challenge? He is treated differently under the same statute only because he was previously more successful in terms of income.

The hot and dry climate sizzles with unintended consequences. See for example The First 48 Makes Millions Off Imprisoning Innocents. A little bit reminiscent of its cousin To Catch a Predator that helped fan the flames of extremism. The climate is what makes it relevant. While well intended, this restitution law also burns with unintended consequences. Somebody has to put the put out the fire sometime or trial by media will burn the Bill of Rights.

Posted by: George | Jan 20, 2014 11:34:37 PM

Doug:

Do you make that post to just be controversial? Your essential argument is that its better to be a slave than in prison. It will be the rich who will be able to buy their way out of prison, making my point that once again despite all the feminist claims to the contrary that such restitution laws are merely an approval of child prostitution in disguise. The only debate is whether the prostitute is going to get paid upfront or after the fact. The rich have more money so they can afford to pay while the poor will be cast in the modern mines, which is life-long debt.

This type of "solution" shouldn't be shocking to anyone since it is what we have done with student loans and education. But it reveals not only the financial bankruptcy of this country but its moral bankruptcy as well.

Posted by: Daniel | Jan 21, 2014 12:34:55 AM

Albeed: if the defendant did not know he received or possessed CP, he is not guilty of the federal offense. Prosecutors have to prove BRD knowing possession or receipt, and folks can and have been acquitted when claiming they only accidentally came in to possession of CP. (In addition, if he would rather be dead, he can take his own life. Notably, more than a few CP offenders do this after getting caught.)

AO: I think if the evidence is that only one person saw this, the damages to Amy is much less. This is like industry liability in the tort setting and the amicus briefs all suggest it is not all that unusual at all if the goal of Congress was to ensure full restitution to victims.

Daniel: Paroline and others would not be slaves but indentured servants only until Amy collects full restitution. I do think that is better for Amy and society AND offenders than if Paroline and others have to spend decades in prison. Consider the choice yourself: would you rather have to pay 10% of your earnings for an extra 5 years to Amy or instead have to spend those 5 years in prison? And if all those convicted in federal court of possessing Amy's picture were required to pay, the average actual total payment would end up being only a few thousand dollars. So the question really is would you rather be required to pay Amy $3000 or spend years in prison.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 21, 2014 6:48:33 AM

Doug:

"Consider the choice yourself: would you rather have to pay 10% of your earnings for an extra 5 years to Amy or instead have to spend those 5 years in prison?"

Five years in prison would not be so bad considering that 10% of 0 is still 0 and a life-long indebture.

There is something out of whack when you have to throw yourself at the mercy of a federal jury to prove your unknowingness versus having the feds prove your knowingness.

Posted by: albeed | Jan 21, 2014 7:37:14 AM

I find it beyond bizarre that someone who looks at one of these images could be forced to pay millions when the person who actually raped the girl pays nothing. My bet is that on average, the downloaders get more prison time that the men and women who rape these kids. As long as SCOTUS maintains proportionality, these penalties seem disproportionate.

And federalist, you know that the fixing of liability upon a plea is for knowingly downloading, not the liability that downloading caused the mental harm claimed by the victim.

Posted by: 312 | Jan 21, 2014 7:57:17 AM

albeed: the Feds do have to prove your knowingness to a jury BRD, and they typically can and do based on number of images downloaded, web searches for CP and chat room discussions.

312: you raise a good practical point, but SCOTUS has to apply the law and legislatures must deal with these practicalities. If prosecuted in federal court, the abuser would certainly also be fully liable for the full restitution amount. So too would be those who aided the making and distribution of the CP. I think an LWOP prison term would be disproportionate for this offense because contact offenders rarely get LWOP. But federal law clearly requires full restitution awards for contact offenders.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 21, 2014 10:16:28 AM

If a federal official downloaded the Amy recording, the government should be held jointly liable.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Jan 21, 2014 11:28:11 AM

shame on you doug!

"Prosecutors have to prove BRD knowing possession or receipt,"

this is a joke considering 90% + of all convictions is via plea bargain.

as for this!

"would you rather have to pay 10% of your earnings for an extra 5 years to Amy or instead have to spend those 5 years in prison? "

No I would sooner put a bullet through the brains of both amy and her con artist lawyer and maybe a few of the judges who are going along with this theft.

Posted by: rodsmith | Jan 21, 2014 1:04:53 PM

Doug:

You can draw a distinction between "slavery" and "indentured servitude" if you would like. I think it is a theoretical distinction without a practical difference in this case. The reality is that convicted pedophiles are (a) de facto employable in nothing more than the most basic occupations and (b) the award amounts are so huge that (c) practically speaking they will have a life-long sentences in indentured servitude. And a life-long sentence in indentured servitude is only slavery under a polite name.



"would you rather have to pay 10% of your earnings for an extra 5 years to Amy or instead have to spend those 5 years in prison? And if all those convicted in federal court of possessing Amy's picture were required to pay"

This is a morally bankrupt question to begin with because it should never by the criminal's place to choose. The people who make the rules should be bearing the cost of enforcing the rules. People seem to be engaged in willful blindness about this truth. If Party A has the the power to both make the rules and then impose the costs of enforcing those rules onto Party B that is slavery. Pure and simple. The fundamental moral objection to slavery isn't that it involves whips and chain to people of color. It's that slavery is an abuse of power. It is despotism.

Any excuse will serve a tyrant. In the 1800s in was blacks. In the 1940s it was Asians. At the turn of the century it is pedophiles. Your essential argument Doug is that if evil can't be fully defeated it should be fully capitulated to. Rubbish.



Posted by: Daniel | Jan 21, 2014 3:39:29 PM

I just ran some calculations.

Assume an award of 3.5 million dollars. Assume the minimum wage of $7.5. Assume a full time job @ 2000 hours. It would require one person 233 years to pay off that award. Now, I do not know exactly how many people have been convinced with this specific person's pictures. My impression from the documents is that it is less a dozen, round it off to ten to make the numbers easier. That means each person convicted would have to work 23 years at minimum wage just to pay their share. To get to anything close to five years of restitution vs five years of prison there would have to be 46 convictions. I do not think that is anywhere close to true.

That's the optimistic solution. Because in truth many of those people are going to come out of prison, go on welfare, and not have any incentive to find work because any free money is going to go to someone else. So the only people who will pay restitution as a practical matter are those who have assets, homes, cars, etc.

I'll stand by my remarks. These laws are just child prostitution aided and abetted by the legal system to make all the parties feel better about the process.

Posted by: Daniel | Jan 21, 2014 3:56:31 PM

From a purely torts perspective, what about intervening causation? Amy and other fellow victims have to choose to be notified by the Department of Justice when images are found on a computer. Some families opt not to know.

Also, restitution under the MVRA is mandatory and imposed regardless of ability to pay. Joint and several restitution with large awards have a real and counterproductive impact on inmates and those on sueprvised release that is counter-productive to prosocial behavior, continued reporting and registration and successful re-integration into society. That being said, victims like Amy deserve all of the counseling and other support they need, so this is a complicated issue for indigent defendants and the courts.

Posted by: defendergirl | Jan 21, 2014 4:48:10 PM

Doug, could you maybe highlight a specific amicus brief or page reference in the gov't briefing that draws out the analogy to what you refer to as above as "industry liability in the tort setting"? If that's a reference to the line of tort cases I'm thinking of (Sindell v. Abbott Labs etc.), it strikes me as a quite weak analogy to the result being sought here, but perhaps I'm just not thinking of the same line of tort cases you are.

Posted by: JWB | Jan 21, 2014 4:51:47 PM

Daniel, did you read about this case as posted above before running your numbers? The article reports that "since 2005, there have been about 2,000 prosecutions in federal court that, like Paroline's, included images of the rapes, for which Amy's uncle spent about 10 years in prison and paid a few thousand dollars for counseling sessions for Amy.... Courts so far have awarded restitution in 182 cases and Amy has collected $1.6 million. Of that total, $1.2 million came from one man."

So, let's do the REAL math here based on real numbers: $3.5million / 2000 = $1750 per offender (OR roughly $30 each month for 5 years). Plus, given restitution already secured, the real number really now for Amy/Paroline is $2million / 2000 = $1000 per offender OR about 50 cents each day. So Paroline has to get a small rather than a large coffee for five years. I do not think this is "slavery" or "indentured servitude" or as bad as spending 5 years in prison.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 21, 2014 5:15:42 PM

To answer your inquiry, JWB, I think pp. 19 to 25 of the US brief covers the "aggregate causation" concept effectively and at length.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 21, 2014 6:35:49 PM

I may be a knave, but if you take this decision to its logical conclusion, wouldn't EVERY case that involves a victim be subject to this criminal court-sanctioned restitution that civil court would normally entail? A statutory rape victim, for instance, could claim millions of dollars in criminal restitution. Certainly, the nexus of the crime is certainly more direct, and not arbitrarily held to a standard that gives millions of dollars to attorneys rather that actual damage payments.

Well, I'm speaking a bit soon. This process is on the way.



Posted by: Eric Knight | Jan 21, 2014 6:38:30 PM

Culpability should definitely be at the heart of internet downloading of child porn. There are definitely different level of culpability now that the internet is being used for the transport of these files. If you download from a pay site, you know what you are getting when you sign up. If you are using a file share program, especially when Limewire was up, you didn't know for sure what was going to show up on your computer until it was there. I think Todd Stabenow has addressed that issue in regard to child pornography.

As far as restitution how much is for attorneys and how much if really for counseling? I agree that these victims need counseling because of what the abuser did, but the abuser should be paying that, plus plenty of time in prison. But that doesn't work very well either, does it? A prisoner really can't pay much restitution as long as he is incarcerated. I know that the victims have to sign up to be notified, but how do you ever move from victim to survivor if you are constantly reminded that the images are out there. At what point is the notification the re-victimization to the victim, rather than the mere downloading or viewing of the image from 20 years ago that prosecutors try to push?

Posted by: Jill | Jan 21, 2014 6:46:51 PM

The "desired" outcome is a lawyer's wet dream... hold one person fully responsible for the "millions" of dollars in damage, and have him either pay it, or more likely, sue other offenders to help him pay it, thus creating more jobs for the lawyers. I think SC would call this "Rent-seeking." Its a litigious nightmare with no end in sight, that doesn't bring the victims any closer to being whole, or getting money they are due.



I don't argue that defendants shouldn't be held responsible, but there should be some uniformity in who pays what; perhaps make it proportional to the amount of incriminating photos/videos? I don't know. A solution that makes sense, and one I've surely voiced here in one of the very few previous posts is this:

Create a Victim's Fund of some sorts, administrated by ANYONE but Ernie Allen at NCMEC, and as part of the sentence, order the offender to pay "restitution" directly to the fund. The monies would then be disbursed to the victims as needed. They are already forced to prove the monetary damage they have already, or will eventual incur, so this changes nothing on the victim's end instead of constantly fighting day after day in court after court all around the country for what is, I feel, rightfully owed them. And perhaps the pouring of salt into the wounds that is the repeated notifications they get when yet another defendant is found to have their photos, could end as well.

Posted by: Brian G. | Jan 21, 2014 7:16:30 PM

But the gov't (whose brief I have now skimmed) seems to think that its theory on causation (notably long on cites to treatises and short on cites to decided real-world cases) doesn't get you to joint-and-several liability. Maybe this is what you meant by its position being vague? I haven't been following this issue, but the gov't's brief reads like they're engaged in the thankless task of proposing a seemingly moderate/reasonable/avoiding-extremes-at-both-ends application for a poorly-crafted statute.

Posted by: JWB | Jan 21, 2014 7:41:43 PM

I know how to handle this. My kids will be millionaires by being "victims".

On my deathbed, I will post some bathtub photos of them when they were infants on the internet. You might even be able to see a little of their bottoms. Anyone who downloads will have to pay them for "damages".

How can we solve this problem when we cannot even come up with a working definition of CP. Like the judge said, I can't define pornography but I know it when I see it.

To the feds, everything is pornographic, when they want it to be.

Posted by: albeed | Jan 21, 2014 8:17:45 PM

Doug.

You seem to think you are contradicting me when your remarks prove my point. $1.2 million out of 1.6 million /collected/ came from one man. Which means that out of the other 400K on average she collected $20 in total from each offender. But she didn't actually collect $20 in total from each offender. Most offenders paid her nothing at all. Rather it is the offenders with assets she is collecting from, not wages earners. This is why such calculations as $30 a month are ridiculous; such remarks are a good example of using an average without considering the variation. 75% of the money already /collected/ came from one man and yet mystically the rest of the money /collected/ is going to be averaged. That's preposterous. You remain fixated on math that does not reflect reality. That's my point.

BTW, I do not want anyone to misunderstand the nature of my objections. When viewed as payment for services rendered $3.6 million dollars is not outrageously unfair compensation in the present economic situation. Many well-known adult porn stars make in the million of dollars and I fail to see why a (presumably) well-known child porn star should make any less. I say presumably well-known because if they have caught 2000 people with her pictures I would assume there are many more who have not been caught. My objection is the hypocrisy in it all. we should be honest as a culture about what we are doing instead of gussying it up with fancy words like "justice" and "restitution".





Posted by: Doug | Jan 22, 2014 12:52:00 AM

The poster ignores that the government's definition of child porn can include non-nude,non-sex, photos of a 17 year old, such as in a sexting case, a prosecution can convince that the photos or lewd or lascivious. Yes its more like a copyright violation as well as a criminal matter, but a few photos should not render that high, is the victim "profiting" from being a victim or being "compensated", clearly the latter BUT suppose in a sexting case what compensation can render amongst teenagers, similary there was an episode on dr phil where he told a teenager that she could face child porn charges for posting private photos, clearly not her being molested (the victim), but sexual photos in which the victim blamed her lose on a pageant, clearly it should be illegal many would agree.

While viewing and possessing photos should be against the law, a clearer standard needs to be done, in addition, a judgement per photo, raises questions, multiple photos in the same area, vs a 1 hr video, can 3-4 photos and a more brutal 10min video be more damaging.

A blanket definition of children as well as the quantity rather than what's taken place in the photos should not be allowed in assessing damages.

Posted by: Kris | Jan 22, 2014 2:30:23 AM

May I also add if a child or teen is executed,amputated,etc should the photos and videos be illegal? Some may say theres no comparison to sex crimes, but remember the blanket and broad definition of child porn, can include 17 years olds sharing nude photos, as well as child modeling in suggestive poses which some would argue should be illegal to a higher punishment but not as much as an actual molestation.

Posted by: Kris | Jan 22, 2014 2:32:34 AM

Doug who makes point about numbers et al.: I did the average math to highlight that poor offenders will not get stuck with an actual multi-million dollar lifetime liability. Rather, already rich folks will end up paying the bulk of the award. And at issue practically is whether Amy should have to chase down the rich CP downloaders herself OR instead get a full award in each case so that the defendant have an economic reason to point to the rich offenders to pay the bulk of the restitution.

As others here suggest, some kind of statutory fixed $$ punishment that goes into a restitution fund administered by the govt would likely be the best way to handle these competing issue. But until Congress creates such a scheme, I am rooting for Amy to win based on the law and practical consequences now in place.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 22, 2014 7:23:04 AM

"But until Congress creates such a scheme, I am rooting for Amy to win based on the law and practical consequences now in place."

That's OK Professor Berman. You are just exhibiting B. Otis syndrome and we all know and understand what that's like. I agree that AMY should be compensated for her abuse and subsequent mental, physical and spiritual disabilities and rehabilitation but the government's methods are unreasonable, irrational and probably violate many forgotten Amendments in the Bill of Rights (excessive fines?), but who really cares about those ANYMORE, only ignorant non-law practitioners?

There are NEVER anything like bad laws or "unfair" established judicial practices, like plea bargaining. You can't polish a t_rd so just take it as it is.

This is American Exceptionalism - deliberate disregard for "just a piece of paper"!

Posted by: albeed | Jan 22, 2014 9:31:49 AM

Doug writes, "I did the average math to highlight that poor offenders will not get stuck with an actual multi-million dollar lifetime liability."

Just because the poor offender doesn't have the assets to shell out $1.2 million doesn't mean that there are no consequences to the restitution order. There are real world consequences to such an order. For one, they serve as a disincentive to work which serves to make reintegration of offenders harder. As I said in one of my posts above, the point about the lack of liability rests of the false premise of conflating "slavery" with whips and chains because t is as much slavery to to be confined to one's public housing unit living off welfare without any hope in the world of being able to improve one's situation. In Doug's would view of noblesse oblige the poor offender is no longer "waiting around to die" in prison the poor offender is now waiting around for a rich person to get caught so the offender can get on with his life. Oy Vey. Remarkably, Doug considers this an improvement in the offender's situation. Maybe he should go to a public housing unit and live off of welfare for awhile. He might find he would prefer prison.

The truth is that behind all of Doug's rambling he simply finds the woman in this situation a sympathetic victim and the pedophile an icky perv.

Posted by: Daniel | Jan 22, 2014 1:17:26 PM

Doug,

I stand by my view that this form of liability is essentially unprecedented. In the context of mass torts committed by numerous companies, the analogy falls apart. Imagine a mom-and-pop store that produced toffee for only a single day, and released about a liter of pollution. Now imagine that store being held jointly liable for a billion dollars of damage caused by massive amounts of pollution by others. That is a proper analogy, and I doubt such liability has ever existed in the mass tort context.

You seem to suggest that it makes sense for the defendant, not Amy, to locate and seek contribution from other wrongdoers. But how? Only Amynot CP defendantsare notified of each new prosecution. And it would be somewhat difficult for CP defendants to spearhead nationwide litigation from jail cells.

To the extent one believes that Amy should recover millions of dollars from those who view images of someone committing a crime against her, the only sensible solution is a government-run restitution fund, with liability capped at some reasonable amount for each offender, representing his true share of liability. This is fairest, and also cuts out rent-seeking middlemen (i.e., plaintiffs attorneys).

AO

Posted by: AnonymousOne | Jan 22, 2014 1:24:29 PM

I stumbled upon this blog. I have so much to catch on. Recently in my State, a young 21 yrs old former college student pleaded guilty of distributing child-porn. ( source: http://nj.gov/oag/newsreleases14/pr20140117b.html) His family has made plea bargain with the State agreed to have him serve 3 years in prison and register with national sex offender registry. Arguably and personally, I don't believe his offense is severe enough to enter his profile permanently into national sex-offender registry according to this published guideline. ( http://www.njsp.org/spoff/so-offense-chart.html). Communal life is always going to be harder for those who neither have money nor have common sense and knowledge to seek protection from the over-reaching righteous party. Compare this young offender with Amy's uncle, justice served whose interest the most. I have to wonder about that.

Posted by: sye | Jan 22, 2014 2:39:56 PM

The principle in tort cited in the US brief is this (emphasis mine): When the conduct of two or more actors is so related to an event that their combined conduct, viewed as a whole, is a but-for cause of the event, and application of the but-for rule to each of them individually would absolve all of them, the conduct of each is a cause in fact of the event. But the italicized passages make it clear why it can't apply: There is no relation to a singular event (the harm is ongoing); and ignoring the aggregate harm rule would not absolve those who commit individual harms.

As for norms of "industry liability," they are, as far as I can tell from the briefing, not on. The case I see cited in one of the amicus briefs is Dobbs, Hall v. E.I. Du Pont

De Nemours & Co., Inc., 345 F. Supp. 353 (E.D.N.Y. 1972). But as noted in the brief, Dobbs concerned industries that were associated through, well, a trade association. Moreover, as a look at the case itself reveals, the harm at issue turned (among other things) on the existence of a "joint control of risk," which involved, at the very least, "adher[ance] to an industry-wide standard or custom." Id. at 37374.

This theory is poorly suited to extracting restitution from unrelated persons who independently engaged in downloads of images. The apt comparison isn't to industry liability. It's to the dude who illegally downloads a copy of a song he really likes, and finds himself liable not just for the copy he downloaded, but for every illegal copy of the song that's ever been downloaded. That is crazy.

Posted by: Michael Drake | Jan 22, 2014 3:59:41 PM

Daniel: I am not asserting that "there are no consequences to the restitution order," rather I am asserting that I think the various consequences of even a big restitution order for the victim, the offender and society are better than the are the various consequences of a decade-long prison sentence.

You are right that I have never had to live in public housing or in prison, and so I have no basis to compare the two. But I do know anyone in public housing who wants to go to prison can simply sell some crack to the "right people" and the feds will pay for all his moving expenses. Also, you sound a bit like Rand Paul when suggesting it is modern day slavery "to be confined to one's public housing unit living off welfare" --- I think Senator Paul claims he wants to end all these government programs because, in his view like yours, they perpetuate a modern form of slavery.

Ultimately, I agree 100% with AO's assertion that the "sensible solution is a government-run restitution fund, with liability capped at some reasonable amount for each offender." But at issue in the current case is how to apply existing law until Congress adopts this solution. Ironically, I think if Paroline or Amy win, Congress may be likely to respond this way. But the government now wants this run via the courts, rather than via congressional creation, and I do not think what Congress has enacted can be fairly read the way the government advocates.

Finally, I think your comparison, Michael Drake, is fitting, though needs to be tweaked to include the reality that the song itself is illegal AND the downloader is facing either being jointly liable for all the downloaded copies OR having to spend a decade in prison for seeking and downloading the song. I think having the downloader spend a decade in prison is even more crazy (and a lot more expensive for the taxpayer and a lot less helpful to the victim) than a big restitution award.

What is most telling about all of this is how when the punishment is liberty deprivation that does nothing for the victim, few seem to get all that worked up about how we punish the perv (e.g., there are folks serving LWOP merely for downloading CP and like possession offenses). But in this case, because the almighty $$ is the topic of discussion, crazy harsh punishments make people ask all these hard questions.

And this is why I am rooting for Amy: only when $$ is involved do people really seem to sit up and take notice of how extreme our modern scales of punishment has become.

Posted by: Doug B. | Jan 22, 2014 5:07:52 PM

"And this is why I am rooting for Amy: only when $$ is involved do people really seem to sit up and take notice of how extreme our modern scales of punishment has become."

Doug, I appreciate this sentiment, and hope you are correct. However, I fear that increases in restitution will not do a thing to decrease punishment.

Posted by: AnonymousOne | Jan 22, 2014 8:16:23 PM

Doug.

Two final thoughts.

(1) I agree with Rand Paul on part of the problem. Where we mostly disagree is on the solution. I think the real problem is not welfare itself but the lack of upward mobility. There is no incentive for people to get off welfare when 48 people own 50% of the wealth in the world.

(2) I understand your attentional point about money. The problem is that this solution creates worse problems that it solves. It turns everything into mercenary behavior. That's part of my objection to Rand Paul and Libertarianism in general. If the law is supposed to have a moral or ethical aspect, then money can never represent that aspect.

Posted by: Daniel | Jan 23, 2014 12:18:15 PM

Doug B., the hypothetical song-downloader is subject to statutory damages that are far, far higher than actual damages. To that extent, at least, his case maps onto both the restitutional and punitive aspects of the CP downloader case.

Posted by: Michael Drake | Jan 24, 2014 9:54:22 AM

Given the unprecedented liability, this will encourage more money laundering, shielding of assets, off the books income, which is never a good thing, also child porn can be of teenagers sexting, and folks neglect other issues.

For instance in Syria, a teenager was executed for making statements against islam, should viewing that video be a crime? What if amy was set on fire, amputated, or tortured but not sexually, folks would get off scott free viewing those videos?

One could argue that people would not like watching those videos as there's nothing sexual about it, but there are folks who may and should a religious muslim be sentenced to prison for possessing a torture video of a child (note in us law a child is under 18)?

Of course "child porn" is not necessarily, and I need to stress and repeat this in the legal sense very broad, including nude photos of teens in poses.

Any thoughts?

Posted by: Kris | Feb 18, 2014 5:01:45 AM

I am completely against this registration scam! Yes, I said scam, perpetrated by attorneys and others who profit from it. The men who have been convicted of possessing Amy's picture never met her, do not know anything about her and, most importantly, did not perpetrate her sexual abuse. Which, by the way, took place decades ago.

Ruling that anyone who is convicted of possessing said photos must be financially responsible for the losses and damages she suffered is akin to ruling that any time someone looks at a person, or a photographic reproduction of that person, who has been terribly disfigured in an accident makes the disfigured person

relive their disfigurement and the pain and humiliation of having others see it, and that person should have to pay for the victims losses! In this case only the person who caused the accident would be financially responsible. It is my belief that the wrong people are paying the bill!



Posted by: Margaret Moon | Apr 26, 2014 3:09:58 PM

Post a comment
 "Not just clemency, but smarter sentencing: Congress must act to make criminal justice more just" | Main | "What botched executions tell us about the death penalty" 

April 26, 2014

Will Congress fix (quickly? ever? wisely?) the "puzzle of paying Amy" after Paroline?

The questions in the title of this post is a by-product my reaction to the Supreme Court's work this week in Paroline (basics here) and draws from the title of this Slate essay by Eric Posner headlined "The Puzzle of Paying Amy: Congress has to fix the problem with restitution for child pornography victims that stumped the Supreme Court." The analysis of the Paroline issues in this article is effective (though I disagree with some of it), and I recommend a full read. Here are brief excerpts to set up the question in the title of this post, with a key issue and concern emphasized at the end:

The Violence Against Women Act provides for restitution for child pornography victims, so Amy sought payment from the people convicted of possessing her images. She proved that she had lost almost $3.4 million in therapy expenses and future income as a result of the abuse and the viewing of the images, but because of the collective nature of the wrongdoing that caused her harm, she could not prove how much of the loss could be attributed to any specific defendant. Doyle Randall Paroline was convicted of possessing two images of Amy. This weeks puzzle for the Supreme Court: How much should he have to pay her? Zero, three of the conservative justices argued in dissent Wednesday. All $3.4 million, argued Justice Sonia Sotomayor, also in dissent. Something, held the majority, in an opinion written by Justice Anthony Kennedy. The conservatives got the law right, Sotomayor got the morality right, and Kennedy  characteristically trying to have it both ways  created a muddle.... The problems with Kennedys and Sotomayors approaches stem from the same source: When Congress drafted the provision about restitution in the Violence Against Women Act, it thought about traditional types of harms  when one person directly injures another  and not the unusual collective injury in this case. Thats why the justices efforts to twist the statutory language lead to unfair and bizarre outcomes. Congress created this mess, and only Congress can fix it. Every person who is convicted of child pornography should pay a large fine into a government trust. The fine would be tailored to the wealth of the defendant and the magnitude of his wrongdoing. Then this fund would be used to compensate all the identified victims of child pornography, who would share it in proportion to the severity of their injuries. That way, not Kennedys or Sotomayors, lies fairness.

Two quick responses right away, with a lot more to write on this topic in the days and weeks and months ahead:

1. Ironically, the basic substantive proposal for a statutory Paroline fix emphasized above is, in many significant respects, really something of a variation of the new judicial restitution doctrine functionally embraced/created by the Paroline court through Justice Kennedy's majority opinion, though it changes the key sentencing term a fine rather than restitution and would presumably require every CP defendant to pay rather than just the (vast majority of) defendants who have a picture of an identified victim.

Consequentially, I believe DOJ can (and should) on its own operationalize the post-Paroline restitution sentencing process somewhat along the lines Posner suggests: DOJ could (and should) announce formal guidelines concerning the amount of restitution it will request in each CP downloading case involving Amy (or Vicky or other victims) based on the the wealth of the defendant and the magnitude of his wrongdoing (with some reference to factors mentioned by the Paroline majority). With such a restitution schedule created, Amy and other victims can reasonably expect DOJ will be mostly responsible for making sure she and other identified victims collects restitution reasonably efficiently and effectively without actually requiring these victims and their lawyers to be actively involved in every CP case.

2. Though there are lots of good reasons to contend that Congress should try to fix Paroline in some way via statutory reform, the fact that some (many? most?) proposals for such reform may look similar to the new judicial restitution doctrine functionally embraced/created by the Paroline court, I am not at all confident that Congress will get around to enacting a wise statutory fix anytime soon. If the statutory interpretation proposed by CJ Roberts in dissent, which concluded Amy and other victims get nothing based on the existing statute, then I suspect even our divided/dysfunctional Congress would have gotten a lot of pressure from both victims and DOJ to enact a statutory fix. But with the split-the-difference outcome (which was urged by DOJ) now the new post-Paroline status quo, I am not at all confident there will be the same momentum to push Congress to act.

Notably, one of Amy's lawyer, Professor Paul Cassell, has been talking up a legislative fix in posts here and here at The Volokh Conspiracy since Paroline was handed down. In the first of these posts he states that he and "crime victims advocates around the country ... intend to take up with Congress the cause of Amy and the many other child pornography victims who suffer real, quantifiable losses from these serious crimes." Because Paul and other "crime victims groups can be very effective advocates, I certainly believe it may be possible that Congress will respond in some way after Paroline. But if (when?) the Justice Department is disinclined to join the call for statutory reform, I would predict that the post-Paroline status quo is could stay in place for some time.

A few (of many) prior posts on Paroline and child porn restitution issues:

April 26, 2014 at 12:14 PM | Permalink

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Doug.

I agree with point #2. Nevertheless, Congress is political and they may feel the need to be "doing something" to placate their supporters especially in an election year...so who knows...time will tell on that score.

At a philosophical level I have serious disagreements with point #1. Your comments seem to endorse the idea expressed in the article of "collective injury" which is indiscernible from collective guilt. Collective guilt is simply not the way that our justice system has ever worked. It poses significant problems both at the moral and practical level...in fact there is no major religious or moral tradition that endorses collective guilt. I could get long-winded here but I will not--I will simply say that I strongly disagree with the premise.

The second issue I disagree with is the notion that an individual's wealth should make a difference in the fine or punishment they receive. This recent trend started in Finland with speeding tickets and has moved to England now too. In should stay in Europe. In my view it confounds two real and genuine problems that should not be confounded. Income inequality is a problem. Just punishment is a problem. They have nothing to do with each other. Criminal justice should not be a mode of wealth distribution--the long term effects are pernicious, it is easily abused, and it is fundamentally incompatible with any notion of merit. Just punishment begins with the idea that a punishment is in proportion to the /crime/ not the idea that punishment is in proportion to the resources of the /criminal/.

Posted by: Daniel | Apr 26, 2014 12:59:50 PM

Are you against all financial crininal punishments, Daniel, including forfeiture and restitution? Necessarily, these punishments end up having a wealth distribution effect, even if that is neither their goal or how they are designed.

I would especially like to challenge your points even with respect to fines with a focus on another arguably collective crime, namely drunk driving. Would you be comfortable if the punishment for first offense drunk driving was $1000 if nobody was physically harmed and no property damages, $10,000 if any property was damaged, $100,000 if a person was hurt, and $1,000,000 if someone was killed? I am trying to make the fine/punishment proportional to the crime, and I wonder if you think doing it like this does the trick and would be appropriate for a legislature eager to deter DUI and also eager to avoid wasteful incarceration resources on a crime like this.

Posted by: Doug B. | Apr 26, 2014 1:14:55 PM

Daniel effectively brought out points that essentially funnel down to one conclusion: criminal sentencing cannot provide for an efficient mechanism for determining exact compensation. This is what CIVIL courts are for. Such courts are set up to provide damages commensurate with all factors, and include lower jury threshholds of liability than criminal court (typically 3/4 of the jury). Criminal courts determine the punishment and rehabilitation/reintegration components of a sentence.

The only reason the criminal court is involved with restitution with regard to child pornography is that sex offenders represent a different, post-constitutional offender whose punishments can be determined by emotion more than fact. Ironically, registration is a "civil" manner, which should be the court for monetary compensation, but instead is used to mandate a criminally-liable sanction, along with its inevitable residency, technological, and travel restrictions against the offender backed with 3rd-strike-level criminal punishments.

Posted by: Eric Knight | Apr 26, 2014 1:19:20 PM

Doug.

My objection is grounded in a theory of power, not economics. I believe that the only proper way to determine a just punishment for a crime is to evaluate the nature of the crime in isolation from the characteristics of both the defendant and the victim, an inspiration I take from Matthew 6:3. So it follows that I disagree with all pleas for sympathy from both sides that occur at capital trials but I disagree in more mundane areas as well. For example, my state imposes increasing fines from increasing deltas over the speed limit--that makes sense to me because the faster the speeder the more dangerous the speeder is. What disgusts me is that almost every dollar of those fines are pre-allocated: there is an amount set aside for court computers, an amount set aside for blind education, and amount set aside for workers comp fund etc. None of these things have anything to do with the nature of the crime committed (unless the speeder was a blind disabled worker hauling a court computer in their car).

It is not a coincidence that excessive fine clause appears alongside the ban on cruel and unusual punishments. The goal of the 8A is to limit the government's power to punish and the Founders rightly rejected the "well, it's just money" argument. Although Kennedy did not state it openly, my sense from the references to the 8A in the majority opinion is that they felt that the amount of money awarded to Amy was excessive. A concern that is not new to Kennedy as he is the one that struck down the death penalty for child rapists. There is a current majority on the court that is unwilling to buy into the "but..but...but THE CHILDREN" to justify the most extravagant of government abuses. Any excuse will serve a tyrant and "the children" or "sex crimes" is just the latest excuse.

Therefore I am not opposed to forfeiture or fines in the abstract yet it necessarily follows there has to be some theory as to how the government's power to punish is to be limited. My own concern is that considerations of the characteristics of the defendant or the victim are in fact back door efforts to undo the limitations imposed by the 8A. The Founders were so concerned about prior abuses of the government's ability to punish they devoted an entire amendment to it. We shouldn't palter with that legacy.

Posted by: Daniel | Apr 26, 2014 3:26:39 PM

1) I am going to confess to downloading from Youtube, 1) an Al Qaeda clip of killing an American soldier from a distance, with patriotic music; 2) a clip of a knockout game victim; 3) a Mexican gang member beheading a woman accused of stealing with a kitchen knife.

Each depicts a crime. Should I be fined? Should I owe any money to the estates of the victims?

2) The prohibition of child porn downloading is associated with higher rates of real world child sexual abuse, say 30%. Should a victim of child abuse file a Federal Torts Claim against the government for increasing his chance of being victimized?

3) Obviously, Amy may have been traumatized by the violent sexual abuse by her uncle. That real experience may comprise 90% of the cause of any PTSD symptoms. Judge Cassell is now saying, she was also traumatized by the knowledge that someone else got sexual pleasure from viewing that trauma. Compared to the original trauma, how bad was that traumatic knowledge. If she learned about the viewing from the Federal Victim Notification System, how responsible were they for her foreseeable distress from the knowledge? Should Paroline have filed a cross claim against the Notification System for negligent notification? The Victim Notification System is automated, meaning messages are generated by computer and sent out automatically. If the information is traumatizing, is this negligent computerization?

4) Paroline appears to be a witch hunt via a trivial gotcha of the productive male by feminist lawyers, and their male running dogs. You have one picture of child sex abuse, you owe a $million, and the lawyer ends up with the lion's share.

5) Is the compensation like a tort settlement? Did Judge Cassell properly inform Amy she could not deduct his expenses from the taxable portion of her settlement, and that she could potentially end up owing money to the IRS, greater than any she may have collected? If he failed to do so, shouldn't that lawyer deception make him responsible for her excessive tax liability? Example. She collects $million. It is fully taxable, perhaps up to $500,000. Prior to getting her hands on any money, the lawyer has deducted $400,000 in expenses, then a third of the remaining $600,000 for his contingency pay. That leaves the plaintiff with $400,000 in cash but a $500,000 tax debt.

Here is the tax code:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/104

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 26, 2014 5:09:48 PM

Crime victims were being photographed in the very act of their victimization by the Germans at death camps. Other Nazi perps get enjoyment looking at the photos of the starved, gassed, dead bodies. The Holocaust Museum has those same photos. Millions of people around the world have those photos. Are all of the owners of the photos criminals? By the logic of Carolyn or Parolyn or however you spell it, yes.

Posted by: Liberty1st | Apr 26, 2014 8:53:41 PM

personally I think the almost 1,000,000 people on the illegal registry and their 2 or 3 million family should pool their money and create an autopay hit list. "x amount for each confirmed kill of a congress critter and x amount for each confirmed kill of a judge as well as x amount for each confirmed kill of the 1,000's of hatefilled assholes who work for the media."

I'd be willing to bet that once less than 5% of the possible federal lvl targets are down. these laws would be done. as those chicken shits fell over themselves repealing them in the hope the attacks stop.

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 26, 2014 11:50:57 PM

Doug,

I know you like to have an unmoderated and free-wheeling comments policy. One or more of these comments is treading on dangerous ground. Please start exercising a tiny modicum of managerial discretion. At least as to the potentially criminally actionable garbage passing as opinion.

I'm not even going to bother with my thoughts on the issue raised in this post. You are allowing lunacy to drive away cogent debate.

Posted by: Wayne-O | Apr 27, 2014 12:45:06 AM

The point regarding brutal photos and videos of folks being killed or tortured even if they are teenagers has a point,

By contrast, a non-nude photo of a teenager in a "Suggestive pose" could under certain circumstances be considered child pornography, or "sexting".

While I am not saying that child porn should be legal(note of course "child" can be defined legally in a different way or porn as scalia says he knows it when he sees it), the criminalization of it with its justification and distribution theory that folks who view it or likely to commit the actual offense and need to be locked up for decades and pay lots of money in net worth, while ignoring other violent photos or videos doesn't pass muster.

If there was a video of amy being amputated or held in a nazi torture camp, would advocates want laws treating material like child porn? Obviously one could make the argument that folks won't be sexually attracted to their desires, however there are folks who are masochistic in that sense who could kill children in that fashion, hence the idea that a murder of a child sparks more sex crime laws, and of course islamic jihadist watching a video of a teen getting killed for making of the religion allegedly.

Unfortunately, this debate in unlikely to get much attention in our congress, public, and probably even the courts but it should.

Posted by: alex | Apr 27, 2014 5:28:07 AM

Wayne-O.

The Supreme Court has protected speech that you deplore in Schenk (1919), and clarified their rule in Brandenburg (1969).

Eugene Volokh considered his blog to be private property, like a diner pparty at your home. He reserved the right to expel anyone, to delete any comment. Again, another lawyer fiction. You cannot have a dinner party at your home if a billion internet users are invited, i.e. open to the world, running profitable advertising. One may have a private forum oipen to seleced participants, but his blog was not one of those.

I did not sue Volokh. If I had, I would claim he ran a public accommodation, and the regulation of speech applied accordingly, not like in a private home.

Although your comment was inappropriate, it was still welcome. Laws against downloading child porn may violate the First Amendment, the same as censorship of speech in a public forum. Free speech is a coin with 2 sides. There is a right to produce speech, the one familiar to most. There is a right to receive speech, one less well known. The downloading of depictions of other crimes as described above may be protected by the Free Speech Clause.

Just a little advice from high school debating. Name calling makes you look cheap and frustrated in the traverse. It is a kind of resignation, like knocking over your King in a hopeless chess position. The facts abandoned the Left 100 years ago. All it has is personal attack. But when it comes to personal attacks, the Left dishes it out, and does a cry baby act if it receives any. I blame the lawyers. All PC is case.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 27, 2014 6:08:30 AM

The talk of a hit-list, Wayne-O, does make me very uncomfortable. But I think the expressions of lunacy are a telling indication of the frustration and anger that a lot of criminal laws help produce. That is one, of many, reasons why I do not moderate the comments.

That said, if you believe any comment here or elsewhere is illegal, I will take that comment down immediately. I am not an expert concerning what speech is or is not illegal, so I welcome guidance on this front.

Posted by: Doug B. | Apr 27, 2014 8:02:02 AM

"But I think the expressions of lunacy are a telling indication of the frustration and anger that a lot of criminal laws help produce."

Ironic. Lawyers, after just 1L, a slight amount of pressure and indoctrination, come to believe in mind reading, future forecasting. and that the standard of conduct should be set by a fictitious character. Why fictitious? Because these standards must be objective, of course.

Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Ding.

This triumvirate of lawyer delusion is just the beginning of a list of hundreds of lawyer fictions, all imposed on the owners of the law, at the point of a gun, devoid of any other outside validation, save threat of government violence. When we say, government, we now mean, a wholly owned subsidiary of the criminal cult enterprise that is the lawyer profession, and that has totally infiltrated the three branches, making 99% of the policy.

One of the biggest fictions is that judges and prosecutors should be immune from tort liability. These incompetents, these careless, tortfeasors allow 90% of serious crime to go unanswered. When they have a guy, there is a high chance they have the wrong guy. Then they induce a false memory in him, and he confesses to a crime he did not do. Idiots.

Tort immunity justifies violence in formal logic if one believes the contra-positive of a true assertion must also be true. (A then B is true. Not B then not A must always be true. Tort liability is a substitute for violence is true. Then it is absolutely true that tort immunity justifies violence.)

Another relevant feminist lawyer fiction is that the downloading of child porn promotes child abuse. The opposite is true. The legalization of child porn has consistently been associated with substantial decreases of actual child sexual abuse, in real life. No mention that the biggest subscriber to child porn, and the biggest sponsor and subsidizer of child porn is, of course, the government itself. Without their vast government subscriptions, child porn production would likely go out of business. No defense lawyer has ever moved for e-discovery of prosecutor computers. As a result of these prosecutions, the number of child porn websites has exploded to 4 million, likely to try to get governments to subscribe.

Ironic. The feminist lawyer and its male running dogs has put the productive male on the hit list, and not a word of questioning from any lawyer. This is the business model of the Inquisition 2.0 being run by the vile feminist lawyer and its male running dogs. The 1.0 version lasted 700 years with its robust business model. It ended when French patriots beheaded or deported 10,000 high church officials during what the lawyer calls The Terror, but was really the ending of the Terror, out of love of their nation and liberty. Now we have courts resembling churches, judges wearing clerical robes, religious oaths, standing up and sitting. All we are missing are white powdered wigs to complete the Halloween party.)

Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Cuckoo. Ding.

Ironic. The purpose of the criminal law is Job One and Job Last for government, safety. Yet, only one lawyer here defended the safety of the public. He is driven out by personal remarks, and the lack of support, and the lack of condemnation of remarks impugning the morality of his family, by frustrated Left wing rent seeking members of the defense bar.

Ironic. It is illegal to threaten specific government officials. Yet, year after dreary year, these government incompetents allow the murder of 15,000. They do nothing about it. This number is dropping because of non legal developments, such as trauma care, dropping blood lead levels, or just neighborhood fashions. The government threatens to put people in a cage if they make a joke in an airport screening line. The government can threaten people. They cannot be threatened. These screenings are the biggest joke, when they miserably fail to detect smuggled weapons in quality testing, but grope buxom blondes in their underwear. They cost us $billions in worthless transfer of tax money to job market rejects.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 27, 2014 9:30:52 AM

Mr. Claus: It is amazing to me to see you resort to the SAME TACTICS as the "feminist lawyer" you so routinely criticize. And I specifically mean citing case law that is not on point. Schenck (that's the correct spelling) was about distribution of leaflets urging young men to resist the draft with no reference, even implicit, to violence. Brandenburg was about a Klansman giving a speech in which, at most, a vague and implied call for violence occurred. Here we have a clear advocacy for the systematic murder of public officials. It's different and I know you know it's different.

Posted by: Wayne-O | Apr 27, 2014 11:37:23 AM

I think Prof. Berman pretty clearly cultivates this blog for purposes of media (and to some extent, judicial/academic) influence. He knows reporters, judges, etc, are not likely to even look at the comments, much less read them, and so doesn't spend much time worrying about them.

Posted by: Jay | Apr 27, 2014 11:49:36 AM

(I suspect also that seeing the non-stop nuttiness in the comment section provides a nice smug feeling of superiority for many readers, and perhaps the operator as well. I'm guessing SC is an attorney by day who finds the trolling a nice way to blow off steam.)

Posted by: Jay | Apr 27, 2014 11:55:26 AM

I actually wish, Jay, that the comments were less crazy and more substantive most of the time. But I am very disinclined to play censor and I do not have time to keep track of all the crazy talk while doing everything else I need to do.

Posted by: Doug B. | Apr 27, 2014 1:14:25 PM

Wayne-O.

This is from real life. I once reported a frustrated defense lawyer who during a trial stood in front of press microphones, and called for a mob to come, and to behead the Federal judge of his case. It was in the papers, across the country.

I know that judges are fair game before and after a trial. What I did not know was that calling for a judge to be killed inside a tribunal was not only not a crime, it was not even a violation of that state's Rules of Conduct. Nothing, zero happened to that lawyer, not even a friendly letter asking for more temperate behavior.

Jay. It is a great source of frustration, embarrassment, and shame. Many people I meet, ask me, are you a lawyer? No one asks me if I am what I really am. I am not a lawyer. I love the lawyer, the rule of law, and I am the savior of the legal profession from the Medieval cult hierarchy now grasping it in its clutches. I am also an owner of the law, as you are. If the public is oppressed, the lawyer is double oppressed, and the regular working judge triply oppressed. You will thank me later when you are making 4 times your current salary, and are held in 10 times the public esteem, because what you do is so productive, beneficial, and plain wonderful.



Getting back to being nuts.

If you can, think about Paroline. A crime is committed, child rape. A depiction of it is sold. Someone buys it years after it took place. Now the buyer must pay the victim. Who is nuts here? The lawyers or the commentators?

OK. I will pay you $10 for pictures if you commit any crime, shoplifting, murder, robbing a liquor store, littering. Could I get you to do it if you did not want to? Now, here is the nutty part, I pay you $millions in government subscriptions to a series of videos depicting crimes. Now could I get you to do it? Say you run out of videos. You know, I will not renew and keep the $millions coming unless fresh ones are produced. Now, could the government get you to commit more crimes to keep the videos and the subscriptions going? Who has the bigger subornation of child sexual abuse, the government officials subscribing or Paroline?

Who is nuts here, the lawyers or the owners of the law commenting?

There is something worse than being nus, believing in supernatural doctrines, and making bone headed decisions. That is called bad faith. The underlying problem of these seemingly nutty decisions is not lawyer insanity. It is lawyer rent seeking. These are designed to make money, and not nutty in any way, once the rent seeking theory is understood. Rent seeking is a synonym for armed robbery, a crime by very slick, intelligent, respectable, seemingly pious middle class people.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 27, 2014 3:20:58 PM

Prof. Berman.

Bill invited me over to Crime and Consequences, to bring news from earth to that blog. Kent said, you must change your tone. I said, I couldn't. He did not track me, read my comments, block me, nor delete comments. I was told I was not welcome, and never returned.

That is all it takes to end the comments. Whatever you decide, you have been hearing things from my high school education that you have never heard from any lawyer and that are appellate plea ready. You must also admit that I have been generous with innovative ideas as often for the defense as for the prosecution. And you must admit that their simplicity usually fully rebuts the standard lawyer points. Example, the exoneration rate. While appalling, the error rate is similar to that of any human enterprise, and compensation should be made available to the victims of lawyer carelessness, especially in the death penalty. (I agree with Bill, no one who has been executed could be shown to have been innocent.) The exoneration rate has no validity as an anti-death penalty argument unless one will abolish transportation, medicine, and all other human activities, each killing innocent people by the thousands.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 27, 2014 3:31:10 PM

Actually Wayne-o we are will within our legal and constitution rights to threaten gov't agents to get their shit together. Hell the 2nd amendment proves it. That's one of the reasons it was placed in the constitution to begin with. This gov't was considered and experiment that had never been tried before and we didn't know if we would have to remove it if necessary.

as for creating a hit list! so what! I'm just following our gov't. They started it. Last time I looked they get their power from US. Therefore if they can make em! so can we. the police shoot 1,000's every year and kill 100's with no possible legal justification and little or no punishment. Our CIA kidnappes people off the street and lock them up for nonths or years even when they KNOW they have the wrong person with no punishment and the courts refuse to correct them. 3/4ths of the American public legally live in a 4th amendment free zone and don't even realize it and you have a problem with me?

and I'm the nut?

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 27, 2014 4:02:15 PM

I'm sure you don't agree but as far as I'm concered when a senator passes a law and then announces on national ty that it's probably unconstitution but we'll let the courts sort it out.

As far as I'm concerned that gov't fuckup has just announced to the world that I'm just too damn stupid to live and someone should kill me now!

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 27, 2014 4:04:14 PM

"But I think the expressions of lunacy are a telling indication of the frustration and anger that a lot of criminal laws help produce."

Such lunacy is counterproductive because it switches the debate from substance to form. This thread is a good example--the first handful of comments were substantive and then the thread was knocked off course into a debate about what is proper debate and has not nor ever is going to recover. My own point of view is that actions speak louder than words and the derailing of this thread was an intentional tactic but those who would rather not have a substantive discussion because doing so would reveal that the actually oppose what they fain to support.

Posted by: Daniel | Apr 27, 2014 6:13:01 PM

SC -- What kind of law do you practice IRL? I'm thinking you're probably in the immigration field; they have a keen sense of absurdity.

Posted by: Jay | Apr 27, 2014 6:37:18 PM

I will give you that one Daniel. the problem is that sooner or later those tired of the idiotic and patently illegal rules and laws and court decisions coming out of our useless gov't will eventually decide it's time to give up on the so-called election process and take a more direct hand in cleaning house. 1,000's of years of history prove this. hell the last few years of "arab summer" also prove it.

as for this

"My own point of view is that actions speak louder than words and the derailing of this thread was an intentional tactic but those who would rather not have a substantive discussion because doing so would reveal that the actually oppose what they fain to support."

the 100's if not 1,000's of retarded laws and court decsions and our do-nothing congress pretty much guarantees of substance will come out of them.

1,000's of lawyers have spent a decade or more trying to slow this criminal stupidity and it just get's farther out into the twilight zone with every new years set of illegal laws.

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 27, 2014 9:23:47 PM

Daniel: In fairness to me, my first comment was completely about the posting, gonzo, and strange, perhaps, but completely relevant, in an appellate creative way. Each point could be the basis of an appellate debate.

Jay: I just love the lawyer and the rule of law. Not a lawyer. I would be personally destroyed by the hierarchy, perhaps even assassinated were I ever to challenge them at this fundamental level. Imagine taking away $trillion a year from a criminal cult enterprise, a Mafia, then excluding them from all policy positions in the government. The assassination would be stealthy, such as during a false resistance of arrest, but I would be gone.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 27, 2014 10:11:16 PM

Wayne-O. The criminal cult enterprise has immunized itself. It is like a Mafia protection racket, with men with guns helping you pay your taxes if your try to refuse.

Is there any moral problem, when the Mafia comes around to local merchants demanding protection money, any moral problem in capturing, torturing, and sending their heads to the Cappo? Is there any room for negotiation for accommodation with the most powerful criminal enterprise in history, now in full control of the three branches of government of our empire class nation, or is there a duty to protect the constitution from their out of control insurrection? Can you think of an alternative to beheadings to end the Inquisition 1.0?

They are the cause of all serious crime, of 9/11, of the destruction of the family, of the siege on all institutions exerting moral authority in competition with the government, of the horrific morbidity of the economy. How much can you take before direct action is needed.

You may reply, elect other officials or run for office. Not a remedy. Officials who are not lawyers have staff who are lawyers and who draft all statutes to the advantage of lawyer rent seeking. There is no legal recourse.

Public pressure about jungle like crime statistics in the 1980's resulted in the mandatory guidelines. They worked, and I have acknowledged them as the greatest lawyer success of the Twentieth Century, a monumental achievement of dropping crime 40% across the board. What happened? Lawyer unemployment. So they had be reversed, with the charge led by ultra-conservative Justice Scalia. There is no difference between the parties when it comes to rent seeking.

No legal recourse, no one to go to, none.

During Stalin's reign, one could make a joke. If you do that in front of a TSA agent, you will get arrested. Not even jokes are allowed.

I have patience. You will let me know when you have had enough.

Naturally, my first comment contained appellate, constitutional problems with Paroline never even broached by the lawyers. You can only call people names in reply, and demand that dissent be silenced as an expression of insanity. I think you can do better.

Posted by: Supremacy Claus | Apr 27, 2014 10:28:03 PM

@Rodsmith

I agree with your reading of history. The question I ask myself is what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Spit into the wind? It may be that by trying to get the system to behave in a somewhat rational manner I'm only prolonging the death throes of an arteriosclerosic culture. It may be, as Doug B. has asserted, that tampering down the worst of the government's excess only makes it that much less likely that structural reform happens. What I can't forget, however, is that behind every name on a court case is a real human being who suffers and that but for the grace of God go I. So I'm not willing to throw the individual onto the funeral pyre of the collective. I do not simply ask myself what difference it makes to the world whether or not Paroline pays 10K or 50K or 3.4 million--I ask myself what difference it makes to Paroline himself. Justice is not simply an abstract quality--it has a personal dimension and it is this personal dimension that I think many people are all too eager to overlook as they obsess over the big picture.

Posted by: Daniel | Apr 27, 2014 11:29:45 PM

I agree with you Daniel. this is not some time of one mind collection. each and every individual in this country and the world have the same rights and needs. we need to remember that at all times. We have no right to strip anyone else of their rights or needs to boost ours. I agree you can't spit in the wind. you have to do what is right for the client in front of you. But at the same time you can't reward criminal actions on the part of the gov't. If they are cheating call them on it. if they then try and punish your client call them on that as well. we have the same problem with law enforcement today. Thanks for decades of "yes sir master" they pretty much expect it from anyone. Each time some one confronted with law enforcement trying to blow smoke up their ass with some illegal lieing bullshit that just accepts it makes it that much harder for the next person to look them in the face and say "just where did you pull that bit of lieing bullshit from?"

that especially goes for gov't. Sorry it was put here to serve us. Not the other way around. I have to laugh about lawyers and judges and politicians who talk about soverign imunity and state secrets doct. Sorry Your an employee. My employee you don't get immunity from me and you sure as hell don't get the right to keep something done in MY name secret from ME! Plus as my employee I reserve the right to remove you if you fail to do the job I set for you any way I have to. I deal with employes daily. I've had to fire 1,000's over the years. Most of them we have a talk and everything is nice and civilized. Others have had to use security or law enforcement to drag them off the client's property by their hair. needless to say if one was stupid enough to pull a weapon they would have been dropped. Not because I wanted to or liked it. But because they don't have the right to threaten mine or my client's other employees or myself.

Posted by: rodsmith | Apr 28, 2014 2:15:45 AM

While this proposal sounds reasonable, there are numerous problems with a DOJ led fine-based fund:

1. The VAWA law in question was passed in 1994. It wasn't until 2008 that anyone at DOJ or anywhere else bothered to request restitution for victims like Amy. That's why crime victims need representation in these cases. Criminals are guaranteed it, the government has it, while most crime victims do not. In the absence of any push by victims for restitution, the government has no incentive to request restitution, a fine, or anything else. Base on my experience with thousands of child pornography cases, DOJ rarely IF EVER requests even the statutory fine (and even fewer judges award it). This is despite the fact that year after year, the Attorney General's guidelines for federal prosecutors make victim restitution and victim rights a "high" priority for AUSAs in the field. They can request significant fines in every single child pornography case now. The AG wants them to do it. And it simply does not happen. I don't see how a fund or regulations are going to change that.

2. If the fund is such a good idea, why tie it to recoveries in individual cases (see point #1 above). There are a handful of victims now. If we really want to fully support these vulnerable victims, let's do what we do for foster children, the disabled, and the elderly; create a federal fund to support these child victims. If the government wants to recoup the money spent on this "fund," then they will have a good incentive--and probably the only real incentive--to seek fines in the first place. Let them take the "fund" money from the DOJ budget and there will be a clear motivation, without the need for one further directive, to recoup that money by any means possible, no regs required.

3. If a fund is created, victims need the ability to opt-in or opt-out. If they opt-out, then they need a workable system of restitution which only Congress can provide. DOJ had its chance (see #1 above) and they failed for almost 15 years. Democrat or Republican, a big government solution is not always the answer.

4. Finally there are serious constitutional problems with a fund. Given the current issues with restitution which are obvious from the Court's decision in Paroline, what will happen when one defendant is paying for the crimes of another defendant for victims he did not even possess or desire? I foresee years if not decades of further litigation based on Hughey and the Eighth Amendment and Due Process for a fund-based system supported by restitution-like "fines" in wide-ranging cases.

Once again if a fund is such a good idea, let's do what we do for other powerful constituencies. Whether it's corporate tax breaks, Social Security, or the military budget, if it's worth doing let's do it right. Why make child victims get in line behind everyone else for a DOJ dependent handout?

Posted by: JamesMarshLaw | Apr 28, 2014 9:44:01 PM

I am surprised to hear that DOJ had the power all along to request restitution for the victims but did not. Although I assume it was due to a lack of resources, which is understandable given how many of these cases there are, it leaves me skeptical that a government administered fund would work and/or effectively serve the best interests of the victims.

Posted by: Laura Bernstein | Apr 29, 2014 12:26:28 AM

In the first place, many of these defendents or their families will never have the means or resources to pay restitutions in these sorry cases and secondly why should they when they had no direct physical involvement in the attacks. Also take into account that many of these files have been circulating online for decades with no effort by the feds to shut down the websites promoting them or even prosecuting the many foreign and domestic sites involved in the mass distribution of this material. A common belief is that many if not most of these continuing prosecutions entail downloading and viewing offenses. Why is there also the perpetuation of the original crime by repeatedly re-victimizing the victims through the feds continual notification whenever new cases are filed. Why aren't or weren't the original perpetrators being punished monitarily originally? No amount of money will ever erase the mental damages that have been done to these victims while the continual reminders by the feds that yet another individual has downloaded their files continues and little appears to be done to reduce or eliminate access to these files in the first place.

Posted by: Why | Apr 29, 2014 6:14:35 PM

Post a comment
 Wondering about judicial "wild-ass guesses" when considering child-porn restitution since Paroline | Main | Seventh Circuit panel again finds below-guideline sentence for abusive police officer unreasonable 

June 20, 2017

Intricate disputation of AG Sessions' recent defense of his new tougher federal charging/sentencing policy

As noted in this weekend post, the US Attorney General today took the the editorial pages of the Washington Post to make the case for his new tough charging and sentencing guidance for federal prosecutors via this opinion piece. Today, the Washington Post has this new opinion piece by Radley Balko under the the headline "Here are all the ways Jeff Sessions is wrong about drug sentencing."

The headline of the Balko piece serves as something of a summary of its contents, which involves an intricate "a line-by-line review" of all the key points made by AG Sessions in his piece. Rather than try to capture all the particulars of the Balko piece here, I will just quote some of his closing commentary:

Certainly, drug trafficking lowers the quality of life in a community. Turf wars between drug gangs can make those communities more dangerous. But again, Sessions himself concedes that prohibition itself creates these problems. Its pretty rare that liquor store employees erupt in gun fights over turf. And if prohibition begets violence, the only way the solution to an increase in violence can be more prohibition is if the new prohibition wipes out drug trafficking entirely. Otherwise, more prohibition usually just means more violence. Knock out one major dealer, and new dealers will emerge and go to war to take his place. We all know that rescinding the Holder memo isnt going to end drug trafficking. It isnt going to affect the opioid crisis. It isnt going to move the needle either way on the violence in Chicago or Baltimore. The most likely outcome is that a few hundred more nonviolent offenders spend a lot more time in federal prison than they otherwise would have. I suppose it will also give Sessions the satisfaction of having rolled back one of the few substantive criminal-justice reforms of the Obama administration. But the crime rate and the violence in Americas cities will rise or fall independent of the Holder memo. The one thing we can all depend on  the one sure thing: Illicit drugs will continue to be available to pretty much anyone who wants to use them.

Prior recent related post:

AG Jeff Sessions makes the case for his new tougher federal charging/sentencing policy

June 20, 2017 at 02:08 PM | Permalink

Comments

I oppose prohibition. Mostly because there is little public support for it. Bill disagreed. However, on his side is this landmark study of Vietnam combat vets. In Vietnam, their rate of opiate addiction went to 15%. Upon return to the US, where it is prohibited, it dropped by 90%. During our Prohibition era, prohibition had no public support and minimal enforcement, Elliott Ness movies notwithstanding. Yet, alcohol consumption dropped by a half. The consequence of alcohol abuse also dropped by that fraction, and the 1920's was a boom time, with a lower overall crime rate. Prohibition has historical support, even when mismanaged.

Posted by: David Behar | Jun 20, 2017 2:21:14 PM

If anyone has beem watching the series "war on drugs", you would think the feds are responsinle 100% for the crack epidemic, along with freeway Rick.

Who knows how much is factual, but the feds looked awfully bad.

Why bother having a fedral court for drugs. At least thats the slant.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | Jun 21, 2017 10:09:37 PM

Post a comment
 Intricate disputation of AG Sessions' recent defense of his new tougher federal charging/sentencing policy | Main | Fascinating new OIG report examines implementation of former AG Holder's "Smart on Crime" initiative 

June 20, 2017

Seventh Circuit panel again finds below-guideline sentence for abusive police officer unreasonable

Especially because it can sometimes seem that post-Booker reasonableness review of sentences has little bite, it still seems blogworthy whenever a circuit court finds a federal sentence unreasonable. The work of a Seventh Circuit panel yesterday in US v. Smith, No. 16-2035 (7th Cir. June 19, 2017) (available here), struck me as doubly blogworthy because it represents the second time the same sentence has been reversed and because the defendant here is an abusive local police officer. Here is how the opinion gets started:

A jury convicted Terry Joe Smith, a police officer, of violating 18 U.S.C.  242, by subjecting two men to the intentional use of unreasonable and excessive force, and violating their civil right to be free of such abuse. The district court sentenced Smith to fourteen months imprisonment, less than half the low end of the applicable guidelines range. In the first appeal of the case, we affirmed Smiths conviction but vacated the sentence and remanded for full resentencing, concluding that the court had failed to justify the below-guidelines sentence. United States v. Smith, 811 F.3d 907 (7th Cir. 2016). On remand, the court again sentenced Smith to fourteen months imprisonment and once more failed to adequately explain or justify the below-guidelines sentence. We again vacate and remand for a complete re-sentencing.

Here are the essential basics from the opinion of the defendant's crime and recommended guideline punishment:

Smith was a police officer employed by the Putnam County Sheriffs Department. In two separate incidents, Smith violently assaulted arrestees who were already under control and not actively resisting arrest. At trial, Smiths fellow police officers testified against him, describing the unwarranted [and brutal] attacks.... Smiths guidelines range was thirty-three to forty-one months imprisonment. Smith was in Criminal History Category I, based on one prior conviction for misdemeanor battery of a three-year-old child and the childs mother, who was then Smiths wife.

The lengthy Smith opinion follows with lots of notable and interesting discussion about how the sentencing court justified a sentence of 14 months and why the circuit panel believe this below-guideline sentence was unreasonable even at a second sentencing with additional evidence. And, as sometimes happens in the post-Booker world, the circuit panel officially ruled the sentence procedurally unreasonable, but it seems pretty clear that the panel was troubled by what it perceived to be a substantively light sentence under these circumstances.

June 20, 2017 at 02:35 PM | Permalink

Comments

Given the prior misdemeanor I would say the 33 to 41 month guideline range is already incredibly light.

Posted by: Soronel Haetir | Jun 20, 2017 4:32:30 PM

Given the fact society puts trust in a police officer, allows them to carry a gun and give them way too much authority to begin with....I have to concur with Soronel Haetir's comment above.

Posted by: Book38 | Jun 20, 2017 6:44:21 PM

So. The court of appeals wanted a heavier sentence?

Posted by: Liberty1st | Jun 20, 2017 7:55:53 PM

Prof. B: Attending this?

http://www.10tv.com/article/judge-grants-injunction-allowing-women-be-topless-comfest

Posted by: David Behar | Jun 20, 2017 9:03:07 PM

What a joke. It is criminal stupidity like this that has all but killed the two of law enforcement. If this had been some citizen first charge would have been assault and battert. Second if he had used a weapon would have been of course assault with a deadly wrapon. Let us not forget that according to law enforcement and the courts that when used against law enforcement even the light touch of a finger counts. But the real killer is his own brother officers witnessed these assaults and did Jack shit.

Posted by: rodsmith3510 | Jun 21, 2017 12:33:10 AM

David: I have never been to ComFest, but I never realized what I might be missing. And for all your anti-lawyer rhetoric, you have to give it to the lawyer who secured his client's right to take off her shirt. Quoting the article you linked: "Forman said Tuesdays ruling is a win for human rights."

Posted by: Doug B. | Jun 21, 2017 8:22:19 PM

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 Pew analysis finds no relationship between drug imprisonment and drug problems | Main | Intricate disputation of AG Sessions' recent defense of his new tougher federal charging/sentencing policy 

June 20, 2017

Wondering about judicial "wild-ass guesses" when considering child-porn restitution since Paroline

Long-time readers may recall a period about five year back when I was regularly blogging about notable federal district and circuit opinions struggling in various ways to figure out whether and how federal courts could impose restitution awards/punishments on federal offenders convicted only of downloading illegal images. (As blogged here, a New York Times Magazine cover story in January 2013 nicely covered the legal and social issues involved in what was ultimately a sentencing question.) Because the issue produced various splits in the lower courts, the Supreme Court took up and resolved the question in Paroline v. US, No. 12-8561 (Apr. 23, 2014) (available here).

But while Paroline resolved some measure of legal uncertainty surrounding this child-porn restitution issue, it did so in a way that largely punted a host of factual challenges back to district courts at the time of sentencing. This new local article in my local paper, headlined "Judge doesnt want to guess on child-porn restitution," reminds me that Paroline did not really end the messy questions surrounding child-porn restitution determinations, it just made the litigation here much lower profile. Here are excerpts from the local article:

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson doesnt like wild-ass guesses, according to federal courts Reporter Earl Rinehart. Watson presided over a restitution hearing last week during which a civil attorney representing a child pornography victim called Andy had petitioned Watson for $58,415 in damages. The attorneys client wasnt the underage teen the defendant had photographed nude and was convicted for, but Andys picture was on the defendants computer. In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that child-pornography defendants could be liable to pay victims an amount proximate to the harm caused by having and/or distributing the image. Watson has said Congress needs to set standards to help judges calculate how much restitution to approve. A bill that would set those minimum amounts was passed by the U.S. Senate but has languished in the House Judiciary Committee since February 2015. Although he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Heather Hill for her valiant effort in arguing for restitution, he agreed with Assistant Federal Public Defender Rasheeda Khan, who argued there was no evidence the defendant had shared Andys image and there was no way to accurately figure how much he owed now and for the victims future therapy costs. Another 158 defendants have either agreed to pay restitution to Andy or were ordered to do so. Watson said the petition was based on a 2014 report thats not subject to cross examination and would not be admissible in a civil litigation. There is no evidence Andy is a victim of this offense, the judge said. He called again on Congress to give us some direction. Its essentially a wild-ass guess for me to figure the appropriate restitution, Watson said before denying any to Andy.

A few (of many) prior posts on Paroline and child porn restitution issues from years ago:

June 20, 2017 at 01:00 PM | Permalink

Comments

Well it's free on the internet. Yes, I said the internet. A P2P site can't operate without an ISP. Since CP is illegal let's prosecute, demand restitution from all the indirect parties in this mess BTW...What has the actual abuser paid out so far?

Posted by: tommyc | Jun 20, 2017 8:10:34 PM

I am deeply troubled by this set of laws that seems to place non-producers of CP in pari delicto with producers of CP, i.e. child molesters who film their actions.

All this nonsense about the "market" for CP is just that, nonsense. Markets, and economics, presume rational action by the participants. Nothing could be less rational than molesting a child, even less so filming it. These nuts film this and post it on the internet for the same unfathomable reason that teens post selfies and nude selfies. The existence of a "market" for these wares is way down at the bottom of the list of reasons for this occurring and without a commercial market, ie actual paying customers, analogies break down.

That said, I have little doubt that knowledge of the continued distribution/possession/viewing of the images contributes to the psychological distress of the victims. But it absolutely pales to the vanishing point compared to the initial acts.

Notions of joint tortfeasors are seductive, but really have no place here without a rational consideration of the degree of harm inflicted by the act in comparison to other actors in the chain of harm, i.e. consideration of comparative fault.

But, where children are involved, rationality goes out the window in so many ways.

Posted by: Fat Bastard | Jun 21, 2017 11:21:32 AM

How much does the FBI have to pay child pornography victims for running 3 different child pornography websites since 2012 [the most recent website it ran was for "Operation Pacifier"]?

....

Posted by: Huh? | Jun 27, 2017 6:01:08 PM

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It's not often that one hears about an exorcism going wrong. But that was the case when a Centerville, CA mom hit, bit, and choked her 11-year-old daughter during the extreme and archaic religious practice of exorcising demons from the body of the possessed. Or at least that's what the mom claimed she was up to.

The Sacramento Bee has the most detailed report we could find of this weird and tragic incident that took place on a secluded beach near Ferndale, in Humboldt County. Apparently 10 to 12 people watched as 45-year-old Kimberly Felder stripped her child naked, shoved sand in the kid's eyes and mouth, and hit the child with a piece of driftwood  all in the process of what Felder insisted was an exorcism and not just an excuse to beat a minor.

A local resident named John Marciel tried to stop Felder and someone eventually called 9-1-1 at approximately 9 a.m. on Friday. Needless to say, as soon as we obtain audio of that 9-1-1 call, we will post it because can you imagine?

Marciel told the Associated Press that Felder continued to hit her child with the stick even as he restrained her. "She questioned me about my faith," Marciel said.

When a sheriff's deputy arrived, Felder was taken to jail and charged with suspicion of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, felony child abuse and aggravated mayhem. The child was taken to a hospital and treated for her injuries, which included severe damage to one ear. She'll remain in child protective custody.

CBS 5 adds that Felder was given a toxicology test to determine if she was under the influence of any substances.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office believes that Marciel saved the child's life and plans to give him the Red Cross Life Saving Award. Meanwhile, investigators have yet to release Felder's toxicology report which just might reveal exactly who had the possession issue in this particular situation.

Related: Woman Arrested For Child Abuse Following Bay Bridge Toll Plaza Scene
At least in 2017, the annual Pride parade and Civic Center celebration on Sunday isn't going to be just about straight teens and allies wearing rainbow socks.

SF Pride announced Monday that this year's LGBT Pride Parade is going to be led by "a large collection of resistance groups displeased with the lack of LGBT acceptance and support, and the imminent threats to destroy recent human rights gains." This opening parade contingent, entirely on foot, will follow the traditional Dykes on Bikes and bicycle contingents, and will consist of an array of groups including the Bayard Rustin LGBT Club, SF Black Community Matters, Justice for Mario Woods, African Human Rights, DeGenderettes, Bay Area Queer People of Color, Guardian Group, Action Action, Indivisible, International Migrants Alliance, Mission High School Queer Students Alliance, Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club, and the Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club. Also included will be several local unions and a cohort from The Brady Campaign that will include survivors of last June's Pulse nightclub shooting.

Says SF Pride in a release, "In January of this year, the SF Pride Board of Directors began discussing how to express these growing concerns [with the new administration in Washington]. After careful consideration, they collectively made the decision to lead off the 47th Annual Parade with a protest contingent. Eschewing the usual floats and music, representatives from about 20 diverse organizations will lead the Parade with an all-on-foot March down Market Street. Highlighting concerns ranging from women's rights to immigration policies and the profiling persecution of African Americans, these voices will lead the normally celebratory event with a political statement reminiscent of the very milestone it commemorates  The Stonewall Rebellion."

This is a refreshing change and one that is sure to garner some national press, particularly in light of complaints within the LGBTQ community about a lack of diverse representation in Pride events  which this year bubbled over with fights about adding brown and black stripes to the iconic rainbow flag  and in light of complaints in recent years (including my own) that the Sunday Pride celebration feels increasingly dominated by young, albeit accepting straight people.

Just this past weekend the New York Times published an op-ed that expressed this same idea, with writer Krista Burton noting, "You dont hear much about Stonewall at Pride events. At my first Pride, in 2003, there wasnt a hint of anger that I could see. Righteous fury had been replaced by corporate-sponsored floats; nearly naked gay men threw glitter sunscreen into the crowd while Nellys 'Hot in Herre' blared."

SF Pride further announced that immediately following this opening protest contingent will be the "We Fought Back" contingent, "comprised of 1977-78 SF Gay Freedom Day organizers who challenged the Briggs Initiative and notorious homophobe Anita Bryant."

Pride weekend, which we celebrate simultaneously with New York, Seattle, and multiple other cities on the last weekend in June in order to commemorate the Stonewall Riots, was once a celebration of newfound gay freedoms and a protest about the discrimination and homophobia that LGBTQ people faced with far greater intensity four decades ago. While huge strides have been made, and Pride weekends are traditionally now more about partying and shows of corporate support for LGBTQ causes, the past year  including both the election and the Orlando shooting  have been a wake-up call to the community that complacency is more dangerous than ever.

All this makes me want to actually go down to the parade this year for the first time in about a decade, and maybe that's saying something.

The parade kicks off at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, June 25, from Market and Beale Streets.

Related: When, Exactly, Did Pride Become A Party For Straight Teens?
Russian River Brewing's Pliny the Elder is no longer tops among the beer aficionados and homebrew cultists who vote in the annual Zymurgy Magazine poll on the Best Beers in America. As SFGate notes today, Pliny has lost the number-one spot on the list that it has held for the past eight years, and that spot now belongs to an IPA called Two Hearted Ale from Kalamazoo, Michigan-based Bell's Brewery. Pliny the Elder remains the number-two favorite among the 4,000+ members of the American Homebrewers Association, and among California members it is still number one.

All members are asked each year to list 20 beers available commercially that they consider the best in the country, and for years the list has been dominated by IPAs and double IPAs, including the Pliny-like Heady Topper from Vermont brewery The Alchemist which has in recent years been crowned the Best Beer In the World by other publications like RateBeer and Beer Advocate, earning a perfect score of 100 from both.

Coming in third this year on Zymurgy's list is another Michigan beer, Founders Brewing Co's Breakfast Stout, with Zombie Dust from Indiana's 3 Floyds Brewing and another Bell's brew, Hopslam, rounding out the top five.

Previously available more locally, Bell's has been gaining wider distribution over the past two years, as SFGate notes, arriving in stores in California, Texas, Nebraska, and elsewhere, thereby raising its national profile among the beer cognoscenti.

Meanwhile, the humble Sierra Nevada Pale Ale still clocks in at 11th place (in a tie) on Zymurgy's list, with Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale landing in 8th, and one other California beer makes the top 10: Ballast Point's Sculpin IPA.

Pliny the Elder, which remains a small-production brew available by the bottle throughout the year, should not be confused with Russian River's other cult favorite, Pliny the Younger, an even smaller-batch triple IPA that the brewery only releases locally once a year, typically coinciding with Beer Week here in Northern California in February. As attendees at the annual Beer Week opening gala are familiar by now, the Russian River booth always attracts the longest line at the event because of the rarity of tasting Pliny the Younger, which also gets dropped off in "surprise" keg deliveries at bars around SF, and is served at the brewery's Santa Rosa brewpub, where it also attracts ridiculous lines.



Related: Russian River Brewing Reveals Expansion Designs, Readies Pliny The Younger For Beer Week


Flex Alert: Californians Urged To Conserve Electricity Amid Heat Wave  CBS San Francisco - https://t.co/Gwh5kayTwH (In triple digit temps.)  Blue Beach Song (@BlueBeachSong) June 20, 2017

Thousands of PG&E customers in the East Bay lost power early Tuesday, and while the cause of the outage is not yet clear, it seems likely related to strained power grids amid a heatwave  something that also led to an even larger outage that affected over 40,000 homes and businesses on Sunday. Late Monday evening a Flex Alert was issued statewide asking all residents to shut off all unnecessary lights, set air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher, and generally conserve power between the hours of 2 p.m. and 9 p.m.

The alerts, which call for voluntary power conservation, are issued by the California Independent System Operator or ISO, which oversees the state's electrical grid.

As NBC Bay Area reports, hours after the alert was issued, more than 3,800 PG&E customers in Fremont and 2,500 or more customers in Walnut Creek lost power. Other outages were reported in San Jose, Morgan Hill, and Benicia.

The current heatwave, which is expected to last through Thursday and possibly longer, may not seem that dramatic in San Francisco, where temperatures are just above normal and things are still pleasant. But with triple-digit temperatures persisting for multiple days elsewhere in the Bay Area, a meteorologist with PG&E is now saying this is the single most impactful heat event to hit the region since 2006, as ABC 7 reported.

Meanwhile, dangerous heat is gripping Southern California this week as well, thus the entire statewide grid is feeling the strain. Temperatures in the mountains around LA are expected to exceed 105 in some cases, as the LA Daily News reports. Also, a truck carrying almost 1,000 birds was found in Fresno with the suffering creatures inside, over two dozen of which were either already dead or subsequently died after sitting in 107-degree heat.

And I hope you already own a fan, because as ABC 7 notes, stores all over the Bay are running low on stock, if they have any left at all. Also, good luck finding an air conditioner repairman.
A man who worked at several San Francisco school campuses was arrested earlier this month, following an investigation into an alleged sexual battery at an area middle school.

In a press release sent Monday afternoon, the San Francisco Police Department says that 35-year-old Novato resident Donovan Harper was arrested on June 8, eight months after police say their Special Victims Unit "launched an investigation into a report of a sexual battery upon a minor at a middle school in the Bayview District."

According to the SFPD, school officials contacted police regarding the incident in October of 2016, and "also immediately contacted families to inform them an investigation was underway, encouraging students and families to report any concerns."

Eventually, police say, "a suspect was identified and a District Attorney's Warrant was issued." The suspect in question was Harper, who on June 8 was arrested in Novato and brought to SF, where he was booked into San Francisco County Jail under one felony count of forcible lewd act upon a child under fourteen years and one felony count of lewd act upon a child under fourteen.

According to the SFPD, Harper has worked on multiple SFUSD school campuses, but is no longer employed by the school system. Police ask that "if you believe you may have been a victim or had any suspicious contact with" Harper, you should contact SFPD's SVU at (415) 558-5500, their anonymous tip line at (415) 575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 with SFPD at the beginning of the message.
The wildly anticipated trippy Summer of Love light show at the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park has its grand lighting ceremony Wednesday night, but the technical and artistic aces of Illuminate and Obscura Digital did a series of test projections Monday night in preparation for these evening displays of color scheduled to run every night through October. SFist was there to capture pics and video of the illuminated magic to come, getting a sneak preview of how the project uses the exteriors of the 1879 Victorian greenhouse as a canvas for 1960s-inspired psychedelia. In all, ten different projectors will implement six different themes (some of them animated) to create a dazzling, high-tech yet retro feast for the eyes to honor the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love.





Wednesdays ceremony coincides (arguably) with the Summer Solstice and the first day of summer, and Rec and Parks tells us the countdown and and official lighting will occur at dark oclock Wednesday night. (Thats currently projected to be 9:18 p.m.) The festivities kick off at 6 p.m. with a free Surrealistic Summer Solstice Concert, for which youre encouraged to come early, bring blankets, and RSVP.



Photo Credit: Joshua Brott, Obscura Digital

The psychedelic sorcery of this display is powered by contraptions called gobo projectors. These are typically used to spin a bad corporate logo on a showroom floor, says Ben Davis, founder of Illuminate, the arts nonprofit behind our beloved Bay Lights project. Here theyve been taken to bizarre extremes by the technical team at Obscura, who have taken ten of these things and networked them together across the skin of this building.



Photo Credit: Joshua Brott, Obscura Digital

The entire project is paid for not with your taxes, but by a philanthropic group called the SF Parks Alliance. This is all privately funded, SF Rec and Parks general manager Phil Ginsburg told SFist. The Conservatory has always been spectacular inside, [and] using the exterior face as a canvas of art and light, our hope is to bring more people to the Conservatory and engage the next generation in the Conservatory.

Davis calls the display an absolutely non-commercial expression that is 100 percent based on generosity, a free experience for everyone involved. In the spirit of Summer of Love, this is a radically accessible gift.



Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

The projections are run from the two modest little kiosks seen above. Logistics on the project started back in March, with a team of technical lighting specialists, software engineers, and infrastructure experts. We 3D mapped the building, said Obscura Digitals Ann Brilz, the executive producer on this project. We scanned it and created a model and learned how to map our images to the architecture. Actual construction and testing have been underway for the last six weeks, generally between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.



We were limited to the darkness, Brilz told SFist. But once Wednesdays Grand Lighting takes place, the projections should essentially work on auto-pilot.



We have timers set,Brilz said. A timer will turn on all of the projectors, all of the lights with the shutters closed will warm up. We time it with the darkness, so that will be a progressive thing based on the sun, it will come up on its own. There are security lights out here, those are also on a timer. So those will go down as the lights go up.





The video above should not be considered a finished product display of the lights animated capabilities. Monday night was just a dry-run test, and not all of the hardware pieces have even arrived yet. Further, this is just one small section of a very large animated illuminated canvas.







Here we see lighting technicians making last-minute alterations to the display. You'll notice how they have to map individual bits to fit together into a larger piece, and if you listen closely you can hear the lighting techs trying to coordinate the razzle-dazzle.



Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

Its to bring whats happening inside the Conservatory out, said Obscura Digital head of communications Will Chase. The inspiration was to illuminate whats happening inside the Conservatory, the butterflies, the orchids. A lot of it is about showing off things inside the Conservatory and making it more of an attraction. It will act like a billboard or illuminated preview of whats inside.



Obscura Digital was also behind the City Hall 100th anniversary display, and theyve done projections at the Vatican and New Yorks Empire State Building. While this display is currently scheduled to run until the end of October, the Obscura people have big plans for more projections.



Photo Credit: Joshua Brott, Obscura Digital

This piece is intended to be here for a long time. Were not thinking short-term, Obscura Digital founder and chief creative officer Travis Threlkel told SFist. I expect this field will have people making out here every night for the next fifty years.

One cool aspect that hasnt gotten much attention is a planned, Fridays-only exhibit called Be in the tunnel outside the Conservatory. On Friday nights, the Illluminates Ben Davis is planning a sort of candles, chimes, and meditation installation that uses the tunnel's unique capacity for sound art. Musicians tend to gather there. I thought, what an amazing space because its so perfectly frames the Conservatory of Flowers, Davis told SFist. Its a chance to use ritual to create a sacred space. Its an emotional palate cleanser to bring you into the Summer of Love.



We live in an era where fear and darkness seem to spreading around the globe, Davis said, explaining his philosophy on this illumination project. San Francisco has this opportunity to bring our light and love powerfully out to the world. It is important to protest, but it is also important to celebrate.



You can celebrate the lighting of the Conservatory of Flowers from 6-10 p.m. Wednesday at the Surrealistic Summer Solstice Concert from 6-10 p.m. (RSVP here), and nightly at sundown through October.


A man who was shot in San Francisco Sunday has died, taking the city's homicide count for 2017 to 33.

As previously reported, a man was shot on the 1500 block of Folsom Street, which is between 11th and 12th Streets, at 2:04 a.m. Sunday.

According to the San Francisco Police Department, the victim was leaving an area "business with a group" when "an argument ensued."

During the argument, police say that a suspect believed to be in his late 20s fired a shot, striking the victim, whom spokesperson with the San Francisco Medical Examiner's office says has been identified as 31-year-old Carlo Tateo, a resident of Oakland.

Tateo was subsequently transported to San Francisco General Hospital, for injuries police said Monday morning were not life-threatening. However, according to a Chron report from Tuesday morning, Tateo had actually "died within hours" of his arrival at the hospital.

Police said Monday that Tateo's shooter has not been arrested, an assertion the Chron also reports. As of Tuesday, no additional suspect information was available, police say, nor was the nature of the argument that sparked the violent confrontation known.

According to an SFPD spokesperson, Sunday's shooting marks the city's 33rd homicide for 2017. This follows last Wednesday's shooting at a Potrero Hill UPS facility, during which 56-year-old Wayne Chan of San Francisco, 46-year-old Michael Lefiti of Hercules, and 50-year-old Benson Louie of San Francisco were killed by co-worker Jimmy Lam, who took his own life at the scene.
According to Vietnams Trade Office in Australia, the Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has officially accepted Vietnams applications for importing raw shrimps that are caught naturally in Australia for processing, and then re-exported to Australia.



The new requirements have been updated in Australias Biosecurity Import Conditions System (BICON).

On January 7, the Australian Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources announced the suspension of prawn and uncooked shelled shrimp imports from Asian nations, including Vietnam, in fear of white spot disease outbreaks in Australia. The ban took effect on January 9 and lasts for six months.

Vietnams Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has proposed Australia remove the ban soon and support Vietnam in exporting fresh whole shrimps to the market as soon as possible.

According to Vietnams Trade Office in Australia, Australia is the 7th largest import market of Vietnamese shrimps, which consumes 3.6 percent of the countrys total shrimp export volume. In 2016, Vietnam earned 114.6 million USD from shipping shrimps to Australia, 78 percent of which was processed shrimps.

In the past five years, Vietnam has been the largest supplier of processed shrimps for Australia. Despite the markets strict requirements, it is considered a promising market for Vietnamese firms due to high and increasing demand. Meanwhile, Australia tends to narrow down its import markets and focus on only major ones, which is also an advantage for Vietnam.

VNA
The State leader said the development of the two countries relations can be seen through a recent State visit to Vietnam by Israeli President Reuven Ruvi Rivlin. Israel also recognised the full market economy of Vietnam, received more agricultural apprentices and increased scholarships for Vietnamese students.



The two sides negotiated a free trade agreement, signed a memorandum of understanding on setting up a joint research fund, and enhanced cooperation in hi-tech agriculture and security-defence industry.



Those outcomes have turned Israel into one of the leading partners of Vietnam in the Middle East, President Quang noted.



He appreciated the ambassadors efforts and contributions to the reinforcement of bilateral multi-faceted ties, asking her to continue to boosting Vietnam-Israel relations in her new posts.



The two countries cooperation potential remains huge, especially in science-technology, security-defence, agriculture, training and trade, the President said, voicing his hope for the continued effective implementation of the commitments made by their senior leaders during President Rivlins visit, thereby bolstering bilateral cooperation in a substantive manner.



Vietnam attaches importance to the promotion of the friendship and multi-faceted cooperation with Israel, the President added.



For her part, Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar said during the five years working in Vietnam, she exerted efforts to contribute to bilateral partnership in economy, trade, culture, science-technology, education, and security-defence.



She affirmed that after returning to her homeland, she will continue to help foster the two countries relations.



On this occasion, she conveyed President Rivlins invitation to pay an official visit to Israel to President Quang, who thanked and accepted the invitation with pleasure.
The ministry was reporting at meeting, chaired by deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and attended by leaders of ministries, agencies, associations and representatives of agricultural businesses.



The meeting aimed to get opinions about a new draft circular to supplement and replace some limited items of Decree 210 on encouraging businesses to invest in agriculture and rural development.

The decree has been implemented since February 2014 but as of September last year, the number of agricultural, forestry and fishery businesses accounted for less than 1 percent.

They are most small and medium sized enterprises with the capital of less than VND5 billion (US$220,000). Nearly 50 percent of them are super small scaled with below 10 workers.

According to the draft circular, a slew of policies will be implemented to give agricultural investors financial aids such as rent exemption and reduction, assistances in science and technology application and processing and preservation.

Those investing in hi-tech field will be supported with VND300 million a hectare or a maximum of VND10 billion ($440,000) a project to develop infrastructures.

Deputy PM Vuong Dinh Hue said that the decree had been carried out inefficiently with only 64 projects having been built for the last three years.

The key matter in encouraging businesses to invest in agriculture was not financial assistances but mechanisms, which difficulties and problems should be solved to facilitate agricultural investment. Administrative procedures are complicated while ministries have pushed responsibility to each other raising difficulties for investors.

Mr. Hue required to review regulations on collaterals to create more advantageous conditions than for businesses before they access to supportive loans.

By VAN PHUC  Translated by Hai Mien
ELK POINT, S.D. | Rich Jochum, general counsel and administrator for a South Dakota beef company, said that despite numerous attempts to provide ABC broadcasters with accurate information about the companys product, they refused to use it.

Jochum testified about his interactions with ABC on the stand Friday in BPI's $5.7 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC for a series of news reports in 2012 that questioned the quality and safety of lean finely textured beef.

Jochum said initially he was apprehensive about responding to ABC broadcasters following a segment about the beef product on ABC's series Jamie Olivers Food Revolution that he said inaccurately portrayed the way the beef is produced.

Jochum said he replied to questions an ABC producer emailed to him. After watching the ABC news report about textured beef, he was surprised that almost none of the information he provided had been used in the broadcast, he said.

I was shocked, outraged and couldn't believe what I had seen, Jochum said of ABC's first news report that aired March 7, 2012.

Jochum, who had worked for BPI at its headquarters in Dakota Dunes for 17 years, said he then learned that ABC was following up its initial report with another story about the companys product. Again, he said, he attempted to provide ABC with accurate information about the companys product and how it is produced.

Still, none of the information was used, he said.

Eric Connolly, one of BPIs lawyers, walked the 16-member jury through a graphic detailing the information Jochum sent to ABC. Statements, potential experts and links to research about the textured beef were submitted, yet ignored, Jochum said.

The first news report produced by ABC was played for the jury to help bolster BPI's claim.

Were any quotes or statements provided to ABC ever used? Connolly asked Jochum.

No, he replied.

Jochum said he then contacted outside counsel about a possible defamation claim.

Jochum said that before the ABC reports aired, the company was doing damage control after BPI's product had become associated with the term pink slime.

The company created a website to provide consumers with information about the product and how its made, posted an information video on YouTube and offered tours.

Jochum said before ABCs news reports, the company was selling about 5 million pounds of lean finely textured beef a week. Sales bottomed out at about 1.2 million a week pounds after the reports began to run.

Jochum said he and outside legal counsel attempted to stop ABC from referring to BPI's product as pink slime, from saying it was not nutritious or from describing it as filler. However, the legal notices sent to ABC were ignored, he said, and reporters continued using the term and reciting inaccurate facts on evening broadcasts.

Day 11 of the trial resumes Monday with the remainder of Jochums testimony.
SIOUX CITY | For decades, no one who visited Floyd Cemetery knew Joel Rogers was buried here, much less that he had served with the Union Army in the Civil War.

Now the name of Rogers and 19 other Civil War veterans are visible to anyone who visits the cemetery's Grand Army of the Republic Section, in which 72 Civil War veterans are buried.

Gleaming white tombstones anchored in fresh concrete have filled in gaps among the three rows of military markers. The graves of those men recently identified will be rededicated at 10:30 a.m. Saturday during a ceremony featuring members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War dressed in Civil War-era military attire.

Not only are many of the gaps in the section now filled in, the area, established by the city in 1885 for the Grand Army of the Republic Post No. 22 as the final resting spot for former Union soldiers, is undergoing improvements.

"It had not been really touched much since 1904, and there were improvements that could be made," said Tim Tushla, the city's cemeteries supervisor.

Old trees have been removed. Others were trimmed. Old concrete is being replaced. A flagpole was moved from near the street to its original position near a monument inside the section. Sod will be put in. Older veteran grave markers were cleaned and will be straightened if necessary. There are plans to install a metal arc bearing the words "Grand Army of the Republic" over the entrance to the section.

The area will look a lot greener and dignified, but the most meaningful change will be the new tombstones marking graves that for reasons unknown had remained unmarked for so many years.

Tushla considers the case of one of the veterans, who died in 1878.

"For 139 years, no one knew this man had served and was even here. It seemed appropriate and justified what we were doing," Tushla said.

In 2015, Tushla was notified by Roy Linn, of Correctionville, Iowa, about a Veterans Administration program to provide free military gravestones for grave sites that are missing them. The great-grandson of a civil war soldier, Linn, the state graves registration officer for the Iowa chapter of the Sons of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, and his wife, Linda, visit cemeteries to find the graves of Civil War veterans and post their locations on a national website.

Floyd Cemetery has 275 Civil War soldiers buried there, and the city's other two cemeteries also have a number of them. Tushla knew there had to be veterans missing grave markers in the Grand Army of the Republic burial section at Floyd Cemetery, and research by city staff confirmed it. His staff was able to confirm the military service of 20 men. A 21st veteran was identified, but his military service could not be verified to the extent necessary to qualify him for a marker.

In the meantime, West High School students have researched the men buried there, trying to find out more about them. Some of the students' findings will be presented during Saturday's ceremony.

Tushla hopes the publicity and ceremony might attract relatives of these veterans to come forward with more information about them.

"We've already had two people contact us in connection with one of the gentlemen," Tushla said. "Obviously, we'd like to have more. We'd love to recognize them."

He'd like to recognize even more, because empty spots still remain amid the Civil War veterans' graves, an indication there are more unidentified soldiers buried there.

"I think there probably are because there are still gaps there, but we filled 20 of those gaps," Tushla said. "It looks more complete now."


 :     ,   ,   

  ,        , -     28         .
JEFFERSON, S.D. | A Jefferson police officer will begin serving a two-day sentence in the Union County Jail on Wednesday in connection to an incident at a party in April.

On April 1, officer Melvin "Dan" Engel, 38, "was waving his gun around" in the direction of another individual at the party in a threatening way, according to court documents. Some time after brandishing the .40-caliber weapon, Engel drove away from the altercation, still intoxicated.

A warrant was issued for Engel's arrest on June 5. He pleaded no contest on June 15 to simple assault and driving under the influence. A third charge of possession of a firearm while intoxicated was dismissed.

Judge Tami Bern sentenced Engel to 30 days for the simple assault charge and five days for the driving under the influence charge. All but two of the 35 days were suspended, with the sentence set to begin Wednesday morning.

Engel was also ordered to pay $1,518 in fines and fees, and will be on probation for 11 months.

The Jefferson City Council is scheduled to meet on July 3 to discuss Engel's status within the police department.
* Robert Fox, 21. Fox is 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighs 160 pounds. He is wanted by the Iowa Department of Corrections for escape from the Residential Treatment Facility in Sioux City. Fox was in the Residential Treatment Facility after being convicted of assault causing serious injury. Fox also goes by "Robbie."
ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa | A stove fire at an Arnolds Park condominium was the result of unattended cooking, Arnolds Park and Okoboji Fire Department said in a press release.

The fire department was called to West Oaks Resort and Condominiums around 1:10 p.m. Friday afternoon. At the scene, firefighters encountered heavy smoke but were able to extinguish the fire within minutes.

No injuries occurred at the fire, and the department remained at the condominiums for 2 1/2 hours clearing smoke from the building and examining the building.

Two or three families were displaced by the fire, the release said, and the resort is working to accommodate them.

The building itself sustained between $250,000 and $300,000 worth of damage.
SIOUX CITY | In a vote meant to ensure job security to future applicants for the position, the Sioux City Council unanimously chose to continue employing its own city assessor, keeping the office distinct from the county's.

The 5-0 vote in effect declined a formal request from the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors to merge the city and county assessor's offices once current city assessor Al Jordan retires July 1.

This marks the second time in three years the city and county have discussed consolidating the two offices to potentially save taxpayer money. The proposition has sputtered both times.

Mayor Bob Scott on Monday cited the competence of the current city assessor's office in avoiding equalization orders, which are issued when the state steps in and determines assessment values need to be changed, as a reason for his vote.

"We've got a reasonably good system because we've not gotten any state (equalization) orders," Scott said. "That means the city assessor's done a reasonably good job."

Discussion at the council level on a potential merger began last month when the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors sent the council a request to consider consolidating the two offices, following a 4-1 vote of the board.

After finding that the majority of Iowa's largest cities keep their assessor's offices distinct from their respective county assessor's offices, city staff had recommended the council opt to keep the status quo.

Councilman Dan Moore requested the item be put on Monday's agenda for a vote to let future applicants know that, despite the public discussions, they would continue to have a job if they applied for the opening.

"I do not want them to be applying for the job thinking that this can be eliminated at any time," he told the council Monday.

Woodbury County Board of Supervisors Chairman Matthew Ung, who had proposed the consolidation last month, told the Journal Monday evening that he found the council's decision "disappointing."

Ung said in an email that he believed the past consensus of the Sioux City Conference Board was that hiring a new city assessor would result in a tax increase, due to the starting wage necessary to attract a replacement.

"Its been coming up year after year, and we've passed the opportune moment with (Jordan's) retirement," he said. "It's kind of an elusive goal."

Council members during Monday's meeting disputed whether consolidating the offices would actually save Sioux City taxpayers money. No cost analysis of a potential merger was shared with the public by the city, and multiple council members said they hadn't seen specific numbers themselves estimating how much, if any, a merger or lack thereof would save.

While he voted to keep the offices distinct, Scott said he would side toward merging the two offices if the city doesn't receive any quality applicants.

"If were not able to secure the services of a competent city assessor, Im probably going to change my vote," he said.

Scott said he also believes the Conference Board -- which includes representatives of local city, county and school governments -- should consider ceasing to search for a city commercial appraiser, a position the city has been unsuccessfully attempting to hire for the past 1 1/2 years.

While a city assessor is hired and dismissed by the Sioux City Conference Board, a group that includes representatives of the city, state and county governments, the City Council has the sole authority to either create or abolish the position itself.

City attorney Nicole DuBois said the city will receive a list of candidates who meet the state's requirements within seven days of the vacancy.
SIOUX CITY  Construction-related delays will push back the projected opening of the Seaboard Triumph Foods pork plant by at least a month, officials said Monday.

The $300 million plant had been forecast to go online by around July 31. Chief Operating Officer Mark Porter said the company will need more time to get equipment in place and complete the commissioning process before the 925,000-square-foot plant plant in the city's Bridgeport West Business Park becomes operational.

New potential start-up dates are either Aug. 28 or Sept. 5, he said. The company, a joint venture between Seaboard Foods and Triumph Foods, broke ground in September 2015 on the state-of-the-art plant, which will have the capacity to slaughter 21,000 hogs per day.

Porter said the delay is not related to hiring for the plant, which will start with a few hundred workers and quickly ramp up to about 1,100 for the first shift. A second shift, scheduled to start in May 2018, will increase total employment to around 2,000.

STF has been hiring about a dozen people a week to fill the 200 salaried positions, but has not started hiring for the 900 hourly production and maintenance workers. Porter said the company has received numerous applications for the hourly jobs since it started advertising earlier this year.

We are feeling really really good about hiring for the hourly positions, he said.

With metro Sioux City's unemployment rate at a near historic low, Porter also confirmed STF has reached out to a state agency to see about making the city a primary site for refugee resettlement.

This is going to be a long process; years in the making, he said. The refugee thing is not something thats going to impact us here at startup  thats going to take awhile to generate any real folks relocating to the area.

In addition, STF has contacted local staffing agencies, including J&L Staffing and Recruiting, which Porter said is working on creating an EB3 Visa program to bring Vietnamese immigrants to the area.

Bringing more workers into the region, Porter said, also could help other large Siouxland employers looking to expand. The jobless rate in the metro area was at a 16-year low of 2.9 percent in April.

Porter emphasized that STF is looking locally first for employees and projects that potential workers will come from as far away as 60 miles. He also said the company hopes to lure people from outside the region and people from other larger Midwestern cities who are looking for a chance to earn a good wage in a region with a lower cost of living and good environment for raising a family.
ELK POINT, S.D. | A former scientist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said he considered himself an internal whistleblower when he raised concerns about a product that had been mixed in the nations ground beef supply for more than a decade.

Gerald Zirnstein, a microbiologist with the USDA, first used the term pink slime in an internal 2002 email to describe the Lean Finely Textured Beef product made by Dakota Dunes-based Beef Products Inc. Zirnstein and fellow USDA microbiologist Carl Custer testified in videotaped depositions Thursday in BPIs $1.9 billion defamation lawsuit against American Broadcasting Corp. for a series of news stories in 2012 that questioned the quality and safety of LFTB.

A third witness, former BPI Director of Quality Kit Foshee, also began his testimony Thursday. Foshee emerged as a public critic of BPI and LFTB after he left the company under acrimonious circumstances in 2002.

Zirnstein, Custer and Foshee were among the original parties sued by BPI in September 2012 after the company was forced to close three of four plants and lay off half its workforce. The three were eventually removed from the lawsuit as defendants, leaving ABC and correspondent Jim Avila as the remaining defendants.

Custer, who worked for USDA from 1972 to 2007, first became acquainted with what would be called LFTB in about 1989 when he was asked to review safety data of the new product. Initially, Custer wrote a report that said the product was safer than a similar product, but he testified that he changed his mind after two of his fellow USDA employees objected vehemently to his report.

Ultimately, an under secretary declared the product to be meat only because LFTB was pink in color, Custer said. He chalked up the decision as a political one that favored the meat industry at the expense of science.

Custer said he didnt think about the product for the next decade until USDA embarked on a new study of products used in ground beef in about 2002. By then Zirnstein was also on staff and had made his objections known about LFTB to members of their agency.

A key issue for both scientists was the difference between beef and meat. Beef, they said, included any part of a bovine animal, but meat was more specific to the trimmings from an animals skeletal muscles.

Technically, I would consider the hooves to be beef, Zirnstein said

Custer repeatedly referred to LFTB as a salvage product that was low in quality.

It is a low-temperature rendered byproduct, he said. It is not meat.

Custer also repeatedly testified that LFTB had lower nutritional value than beef ground from muscle because it contained less protein and fewer minerals and vitamins. But he was also forced to admit that he was not a nutritionist or an expert in the area.

Both men argued in their testimony that LFTB should have been identified on labels because as an additive, it adulterated what consumers would regard as pure ground beef. Zirnstein said that LFTB was a lower-quality additive substituted for grounded beef in as much as 20 percent of some mixes.

That, without labeling  so everybody knows thats happening  thats in violation of U.S. code, he said.

Zirnstein denied that he launched a crusade against LFTB with the ABC reports. A picture on his Facebook page that portrayed he and Custer as Batman and Robbin battling pink slime was a joke, he said. In an April 2012 email to a food industry journalist, he wrote, As far as Im concerned long live the term pink slime.

By then, he said, the meat industry had attacked them with vicious lies.

Both men also stood by ABCs reporting as accurate.

I guess I could have cowered in a corner and not talked to them, Zirnstein said.

Foshee, who described LFTB as a pink blob, answered questions about his fallout with BPI and its founder, Eldon Roth, after he left the company in 2002. He lost a subsequent lawsuit for wrongful termination, and in June 2012, BPI, Roth and his wife got a protective order against Foshee after he was spotted in the companys Dakota Dunes parking lot.

Foshee testified that he was forced out of BPI after he disagreed with a new safety regimen for LFTB. He was also critical of BPIs use of anhydrous ammonia to kill illness-causing bacteria.

But when asked if he knew of one illness caused by ammonia among the millions of pounds consumed, he answered, No.

Day 10 of the trial resumes Friday morning with the remainder of Foshees testimony.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa  President Donald Trump has added a tour of Kirkwood Community College to his Technology Week visit Wednesday to Cedar Rapids.

Trump will tour agricultural facilities at the southwest Cedar Rapids campus. He is scheduled to be joined there by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross.

Following a tour and remarks there, Trump, who will be making his first trip to Cedar Rapids as president, will head to a 7 p.m. campaign-style rally at the U.S. Cellular Center, 370 First Ave. NE. For free tickets, visit donaldjtrump.com.

The visit is part of the administrations emphasis on helping businesses grow and prosper. Monday, Trump met with tech company leaders he has invited to be part of his American Technology Council. He also will focus on drones, driverless cars and 5G wireless technologies that enable the internet of things.

As part of Technology Week, the president is taking the conversation to rural America to talk about how the newest technology is changing the way food is produced, harvested and marketed, according to the White House. Technology also can make farming safer, more efficient and environmentally friendlier.

Among programs offered at Kirkwood is training for ag specialists who work with farmers to reduce pesticide and fertilizer use by matching application rates with needs.

Kirkwood is at forefront of teaching students how to use these tools in the field, said Justin Hoehn, the colleges marketing coordinator. Were very excited to show the president a very important part of what makes Kirkwood the No. 1 ag two-year program in the nation based on the number of graduates.

Several groups are planning a protest from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the Cellular Center to address a range of issues including health care, the border wall, immigration wall, corruption, ties to Russia and the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, according to Chris Schwartz, an organizer for Americans for Democratic Action Iowa.
ELK POINT, S.D. | Jurors in the defamation trial against ABC News were released early Tuesday after plaintiff's attorneys objected to the use of earlier news reports of the South Dakota company.

Beef Products Inc. attorney Eric Connolly repeatedly objected to New York Times references during cross examination of the company's general counsel. The newspaper wrote about BPI's Lean Finely Textured Beef product years before ABC News' reporting would land the broadcaster in a multi-billion dollar defamation suit.

The judge called a recess until attorneys could develop limiting instructions for the jury. The instruction would explain to the 16-person jury how much weight to give the new reports published by media outlets other than those from ABC.

Union County Judge Cheryle Gering gave both lawyers about a half an hour to develop the instructions or shed dismissed the jury for the remainder of the day. But, an agreement could not be reached.

This is only week three and this is a very important issue we have been discussing with counsel, Judge Gering told the jury before dismissing them.

The jury was expected to reconvene Wednesday morning.

Earlier Tuesday, BPIs general counsel Rich Jochum was asked about an expert list the company provided ABC after a request for an interview about Lean Finely Textured Beef.

ABCs lawyer Dane Butswinkas questioned Jochum about the connections the company had to each name provided. The questioning revealed the company had direct connections with all of the names, including consultants and groups the company had made significant financial contributions to.

One of the first names on the list sent to ABC works for an law firm that assists the company when needed.

Its a firm we use or have used when we are having regulatory issues with the USDA, Jochum conceded.

Some of the information that was sent to or recommended to ABC had been partially crafted by BPI and Jochum. This included a company-commissioned study from an Iowa State University professor in which Jochum suggested changes to the way LFTB was referenced.

Jochum acknowledged ABC reached out multiple times for a phone interview. However, Jochum said he choose to send the information he included with his statement.

When asked if he ever called ABC regarding its 2012 news reports, Jochum replied: No, he never called me either.

Jochums testimony will continue Wednesday in BPI's $5.7 billion defamation lawsuit against ABC for a series of news reports in 2012 that questioned the quality and safety of lean finely textured beef.
Who is responsible for the inflamed, polarizing rhetoric that too often leads to violence? I wish it were that simple. If only it was just the inflamed rhetoric.

The injustice that Republicans feel about the recent shooting of a Republican congressman is real and true, so was the injustice Democrats felt when Gabby Giffords was shot, and so is the injustice black people feel concerning police, and so is the injustice police feel when they are then targeted  it is all real and true injustice.

We understand injustice directed toward us and those we love from a very young age. If we mature enough to develop some humility, it isnt hard to see that we are often unjust as well. From elementary school playgrounds to the halls of government, we as human beings can easily misjudge and dishonor our fellow human beings. Becoming a successful, mature person means we recognize our own need to act with a sense of humility when judging others.

If men were angels, we would have no need of government, but none of us are angels, so we also need our governments to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility. All levels of the government from local public schools to city, county, state and national government must seek to establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility if we are to have a stable and safe society, just as we as individuals should also seek to act justly to others - particularly when we hold leadership roles. - Jerry Eaton, Sioux City
As a millennial who caucused for Bernie Sanders, I find it unfortunate that Ms. Holub would rather patronize and condescend to my generation than engage us in thoughtful discourse. It's also unfortunate that she is unable to distinguish between Communism (as in Cuba) and social democracy, the economic policy advocated by Sen. Sanders and practiced virtually everywhere else in the developed world, including the United Kingdom. Winston Churchill, who Ms. Holub extols as an exemplary anti-socialist, wrote in 1944, "Our policy is to create a national health service in order to ensure that everybody in the country, irrespective of means, age, sex, or occupation, shall have equal opportunities to benefit from the best and most up-to-date medical and allied services available." The NHS, Britain's system of universal health care, owes Churchill its existence.
After the Steve Scalise shooting last week, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.) received an email that yammered about wage inequality, adding, One down, 216 to go  Its creepy if a robot sent it; its crushing to know a human did.

Im obviously a Republican - and to the chagrin of some colleagues, an occasional Donald Trump critic. But the disagreement is on ideas  as a holder of the office and a red-blooded American, I pray for him to repent and succeed.

We live in a moral-relativist, ends-justify-the-means, feelings-worshipping world. But rather than blame the lowlifes gun or melanin concentration, blame his twisted ideas held in nascent form by countless neighbors.

The outright sensationalism that writes pulling out of the Paris agreement is a death warrant for Earth. The delusion that shouts anyone but Hitler is literally Hitler. The worship of government that declares the tiniest policy disagreement treason. The postmodernism that replaces liberty or death with vote or die. When your politics is larger than life, when politics is your religion because youre too educated for organized religion, when fearmongering is your absolute truth, you betray the fairness you seek.

Its not enough to love unity. You must hate the jealousy of Cain  which gets offended at a moral standard being shoved down your throat to the point that you kill your brother. The jealousy of class warfare was born thousands of years ago and its been killing ever since. And bucking the Republican or Democrat labels wont shield us from our own bed we made. The shooter was in the middle, as we like to say  a self-proclaimed Independent, according to his own letters to the editor.

I make a plea not for a temporary show of unity, but a preeminent worldview that destroys bad ideas. Tolerance applies only to persons, never to truth. - Matthew Ung, Sioux City
About Me Sandpoint, Idaho, United States Visit wwww.mariannelove.com to learn more about my three books "Pocket Girdles," "Postcards from Potato Land" and "Lessons with Love." visit www.mariannelove.com. For autographed copies, contact me at potatohead89@hotmail.com. Books are also available at www.amazon.com. I'm old, married, mother of two, retired English/journalism teacher and freelance writer. Besides writing, I enjoy gardening, photography, geocaching, horses and traveling. My quirky, sometimes irreverent sense of humor comes naturally through family genes. So, bear with me. View my complete profile

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ANNOUNCING THREE BEAUTIFUL NEW TRADE PAPERBACK EDITIONS FROM THE COLORADO MOUNTAIN SERIES. RELEASING TODAY!

THE GAMBLE

Life isnt meant to be perfect. Its meant to be lived . . .

Nina Sheridan thought shed found the perfect man who would become the perfect husband. She was wrong. When Nina realizes the man she planned to grow old with doesnt know her at all, its time to rethink her idea of perfect. And what better place to get her life in order than a remote Colorado mountain town halfway around the world?

Gnaw Bone, Colorado, may not be flashy or cosmopolitan, but its got a brand of hospitality all its own. Nina isnt entirely sure shes ready to trade the life she thought she wanted in England for cozy evenings in her mountain retreat, and she definitely isnt sure shes ready to handle the connection she feels to the owner of her rental house, Max Holden . . .

Nina didnt come to Colorado to find love, but even the best-laid plans can go awry. Now, if Nina can let go of her past, Max-and a future in Gnaw Bone-might just be the perfect second chance shes been waiting for.

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SWEET DREAMS

When you lose everything, anything is possible.

Lauren Grahame needs a whole new life. A simpler life. After leaving her cheating husband, she moves to Carnal, Colorado, takes a job as a waitress, and realizes she might have finally found the hometown shed been searching for. Except things are about to get a lot more complicated . . .

Laurens fresh start does not include her growing feelings for her boss, Tate Jackson. Shell take the new friends, the new job, not to mention the incredible banana bread from the local coffee shop, but love is not on the agenda.

However, the people of Carnal know chemistry when they see it, and theyre not about to let Tate and Lauren miss their chance.

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LADY LUCK

All you need is a little luck.

Lexie Berry has had nothing but bad luck. You name it, Lexie has probably survived it-or worse. But theres only so much bad luck a girl can take, and now one promise is all that stands between her and a brand-new life.

When that promise brings her to Carnal, Colorado, Lexie isnt sure the rough, yet strangely charming, town is for her. But theres something Carnal has that might just make staying around worth it . . . and thats Ty Walker.

For five years, Ty was imprisoned for a crime he didnt commit. Now he wants revenge on the people who framed him. Lexie knows theres a difference between vengeance and justice, and shell do everything she can to make sure Ty gets the latter. And with the good people of Carnal on their side, Lexie and Ty might finally find their luck is changing for the better.

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About the Author

Kristen Ashley grew up in Brownsburg, Indiana, and has lived in Denver, Colorado, and the West Country of England. Thus she has been blessed to have friends and family around the globe. Her posse is loopy (to say the least) but loopy is good when you want to write.

Kristen was raised in a house with a large and multigenerational family. They lived on a very small farm in a small town in the heartland, and Kristen grew up listening to the strains of Glenn Miller, The Everly Brothers, REO Speedwagon, and Whitesnake.

Needless to say, growing up in a house full of music and love was a good way to grow up.

And as she keeps growing up, it keeps getting better.

Social Media Links

www.kristenashley.net

www.facebook.com/kristenashleybooks

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Lawrence Arnold Shorback Sr., 80, of Hollywood, MD passed on Friday, June 16, 2017 at Medstar Georgetown Hospital in Washington, DC, following his battle with Mantle Cell Lymphoma. Born and raised in Dameron, he is the son of the late William and Eleanor Shorback. He was a lifelong resident of St. Mary's County.



Lawrence served in the United States Air Force from 1960 until his Honorable Discharge is in 1964. He was stationed in Fairfield, CA, where he met his wife. He moved to Brooklyn, NY where he pursued a career in cabinetry. In 1972, he moved back to Dameron and worked at Patuxent River Naval Air Station until his retirement. Whether you called him Husband, Dad, Grandpa, Pop, Brother, Uncle, or Friend the world lost an amazing man who was loved by all. He met the love of his life, Aurora, 54 years ago and married her on February 17, 1963.



In addition to his beloved wife, he is also survived by his daughter, Julia (Mark); son, Buddy (Chrissy); granddaughter, Alicia (Michael); granddaughter, Ashly; grandson, Patrick; great granddaughter, Maddyson and great-grandson, Tucker. He loved spending time with his family, fishing and building cabinets. His craft skills in the kitchen led him to make a mean stuffed ham for family celebrations. He was a member of Alcoholics Anonymous for 30 years and took pride in being a sponsor and helping his second family overcome their struggles.



Family will receive friends for Lawrence's Life Celebration on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., with prayers recited at 7:00 p.m. at St. Michael's Catholic Church, 16566 Three Notch Road, Ridge, MD 20680. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Reverend Peter Giovanni on Thursday, June 22, 2017 at 1:00 p.m. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. Arrangements by the Brinsfield Funeral Home, P.A.
WASHINGTON

(June 20, 2017)The U.S. Department of Defense recently announced the following contract awards that pertain to local Navy activities., are each being awarded firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for sea-and land-based unmanned aircraft system (UAS) intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) services in support of the Department of Defense and other government agencies. Services to be provided include trained personnel, UAS ISR non-developmental equipment, certifications, installation, operation, maintenance, sustainment, spares/product support, and other related support services. The aggregate amount for all contracts is, with the companies having an opportunity to compete for individual task orders. AAI and Insitu are eligible to compete for both sea-based and land-based task orders. Academi Training Center and PAE ISR are only eligible to compete for land-based task orders. Work will be performed at each awardee's facility sites in Moyock, North Carolina; Bingen, Washington; Chantilly, Virginia; and Hunt Valley, Maryland, as well as various sea-and land-based locations, and is expected to be completed in June 2022. No funds are being obligated at time of award; funds will be obligated against each delivery order they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; four offers were received. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded acost-plus-fixed-fee, cost-reimbursable contract for services in support of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division's Ship and Air Integrated Warfare Division. Services to be provided include technical, systems engineering, project management, organizational management, administrative and acquisition support. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland. The ordering period is expected to be completed in September 2022. No funds are being obligated; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals; two offers were received. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0035)., is being awardedfor modification P00008 to a previously awarded firm-fixed-price contract (N00019-16-C-0054) to exercise an option for the procurement of one full rate production Lot I RQ-21A Blackjack Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) for the Marine Corps. The UAS consists of air vehicles, ground control stations, launch and recovery equipment, air vehicle support equipment kit, and systems engineering and program management. Work will be performed in Bingen, Washington (70 percent); and Hood River, Oregon (30 percent), and is expected to be completed in January 2018. Fiscal 2017 aircraft procurement (Marine Corps) funds in the amount $8,029,090 will be obligated at time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded ancost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for warfare analysis, modeling and simulation, software development, Department of Defense architectural framework products, acquisition analysis and support, and analytic program support. These services are in support of the Naval Air Systems Command's Mission and Engineering and Analysis Department naval and joint warfighting capability assessment and warfighting analytic efforts. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and the ordering period is expected to be completed in June 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, two offers were received. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0036)., is being awardedfor modification P00029 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive-firm contract (N00019-15-C-0092) for procurement of 180 AIM-9X Block II all-up-round tactical full-rate production Lot 17 missiles for the Air Force (52); Navy (8); and the governments of Poland (93); Indonesia (14); Romania (10); and Belgium (3). In addition, this modification provides for the procurement of 19 captive air training Missiles for Air Force (11); and the Navy (8); 50 AIM-9X missile containers for the Air Force (14); Navy (1); Marine Corps (1); and the governments of Poland (26); Indonesia (4); Romania (3); and Belgium (1); three special air training missiles for the Marine Corps' Harrier program; two spare active optical target detectors for the Air Force; two spare tactical guidance units (live battery) for the Air Force; two spare captive air training missile guidance units (inert battery) for the Air Force; seven spare active optical target detector containers for the Air Force (6) and Navy (1); four guidance unit containers for the Navy (2) and Air Force (2); and associated lots of spares for the Navy, Air Force and government of Poland. Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona (43.74 percent); Andover, Massachusetts (10.08 percent); Valencia, California (6.63 percent); Ontario, Canada, Midland (5.54 percent); Rocket Center, West Virginia (5.49 percent); Vancouver, Washington (5.07 percent); Goleta, California (2.86 percent); Cheshire, Connecticut (2.05 percent); Heilbronn, Germany (1.88 percent); Simsbury, Connecticut (1.61 percent); San Jose, California (1.48 percent); Anniston, Alabama (1.31 percent); Cincinnati, Ohio (1.22 percent); Maniago, Italy (1.21 percent); Chatsworth, California (1.11 percent); San Diego, California (1.04 percent); Montgomery, Alabama (0.60 percent); Orlando, Florida (0.55 percent); Newbury Park, California (0.50 percent); El Segundo, California (0.50 percent); Claremont, California (0.43 percent); Joplin, Missouri (0.39 percent); Lombard, Illinois (0.28 percent); El Cajon, California (0.15 percent); and various locations inside and outside the continental U.S. (4.28 percent). Work is expected to be completed in March 2020. Fiscal 2017 weapons procurement (Navy); 2017 research, development, testing and evaluation (Navy); 2015, 2016, and 2017 missile procurement (Air Force); and foreign military sales funds in the amount of $82,818,665 are being obligated on this award, $10,167,882 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract combines purchases for the Air Force ($25,334,798; 30.59 percent); Navy ($5,035,299; 6.08 percent); and the governments of Poland ($40,644,915; 49.08 percent); Indonesia ($6,118,683; 7.39 percent); Romania ($4,372,156; 5.28 percent); and Belgium ($1,312,814; 1.58 percent), under the Foreign Military Sales program. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded ancost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for warfare analysis, modeling and simulation, software development, Department of Defense architectural framework products, acquisition analysis and support, and analytic program support. These services are in support of the Naval Air Systems Command's Mission and Engineering and Analysis Department naval and joint warfighting capability assessment and warfighting analytic efforts. Work will be performed in Patuxent River, Maryland, and the ordering period is expected to be completed in June 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposals, two offers were received. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0036)., is being awardedfor modification P00012 to a previously awarded cost-plus-incentive-fee, fixed-price-incentive-fee contract (N00019-15-C-0004). This modification provides for the procurement of one F-135-PW-100 and one F-135-PW-600 propulsion systems in support of the F-35 Lightning III low-rate initial production Lot X aircraft in support of international partners. Work will be performed in East Hartford, Connecticut (67 percent); Indianapolis, Indiana (26.5 percent); and Bristol, UK (6.5 percent), and is expected to be complete in September 2019. International partner funds in the amount of $41,843,781 will be obligated at the time of award, none of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity., is being awarded afirm-fixed-priced contract for procurement of 8,973 laser guided training rounds (LGTR) and refurbishment of 3,411 government furnished metal containers in support of LGTR production for the Navy and Marine Corps. Work will be performed in Archbald, Pennsylvania (45 percent); Marlton, New Jersey (10 percent); Vaudreuil-Dorion, Canada (6.5 percent); Rochester, New York (5.5 percent); Westford, Massachusetts (3 percent); Plainville, Connecticut (2.75 percent); Joplin, Missouri (2.75 percent); Hauppauge, New York (1.5 percent); Quakertown, Pennsylvania (1.5 percent); San Jose, California (1.5 percent); Laconia, New Hampshire (1.5 percent); and various places within the U.S. (18.5 percent). Work expected to be completed by December 2019. Fiscal 2015 and 2017 procurement ammunition (Navy and Marine Corps) funds in the amount of $26,587,722 are being obligated at time of award, $623,154 of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured pursuant to 10 U.S. Code 2304(c)(1). The, is the contracting activity (N00019-17-C-0022)., is being awarded aindefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for procurement of the manufacture, maintenance, installation, upgrade, and fabrication of items necessary to support the Naval Air Systems Command Simulation Division teams, facilities, and supported projects for the Navy. Work will be performed in Lexington Park, Maryland, and is expected to be completed June 2022. No funds will be obligated at time of award, funds will be obligated on individual task orders as they are issued. This contract was competitively procured via an electronic request for proposal, one offer was received. The, is the contracting activity (N00421-17-D-0040)., is being awardedfor modification P00043 to a previously awarded fixed-price-incentive contract (N00019-13-C-9999) for procurement of recurring and non-recurring engineering efforts for implementation of fiber optic improvements into the full-rate production lots 5 and 6 E-2D Advanced Hawkeye program for the Navy. Work will be performed in Methuen, Massachusetts (40.94 percent); Melbourne, Florida (34.49 percent); and St. Augustine, Florida (24.57 percent). Work is expected to be completed by August 2021. Fiscal 2015 aircraft procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $6,884,890 are being obligated at time of award, all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The, is the contracting activity.
(EDGE) Reporters from Vice News were granted permission to film inside a building in Argun, Chechnya that once functioned as a military base and reportedly was used as a concentration camp where gay men were imprisoned and tortured.

The footage comes after reports surfaced in April, claiming officials from the Russian republic were targeting men believed to be gay. In the Vice News segment, which aired on HBO, reporter Hind Hassan spoke with military officials and police, who all denied abuse against gay men. She also visited a location alleged to have held victims.

"We are currently being escorted by six [police] cars who are taking us to one of the locations where it's alleged the victims were held," Hassan says in the 9-minute clip. "As far as we're aware, we're the first foreign journalists being taken here."

Ayub Kataeve, the warden of a prison in Argun, showed Hassan around the warehouse, claiming it has not been used in some time.

"There are no footprints," he says. A few moments later, Hassan discovers footprints on the dusty floor.

"There are people who have been walking around here," she says.

"There are no signs of any window bars, no signs of door bars," Kataeve says.

Chechen officials have denied the existence of gay men in the region and Kataeve backed up that bizarre assertion.

"Imagine there are gays: Would we, the Chechens, communicate with them at all? My officers would not even want to touch people let alone beating or torturing them," he says.

Hassan later speaks with Tatiana Lokshina, the Russian program director for Human Rights Watch. She explains the decision to allow Vice's cameras and crew into Argun was granted by high-level government officials, who are eager to calm fears and avoid an international outcry. She also says that Human Rights Watch is not getting new reports of abuse from gay men in Chechnya, and she believes an investigation launched by the Kremlin made Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov stop the abuse.

Hassan also speaks with victims of the abuse, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"Many of the victims we spoke with say they still don't feel safe, even after leaving Chechnya," she says.

One of the victims describes what it's like being an out gay man in the region.

"If you start saying openly that you are gay, it's the same thing as suicide," he says.

Watch the clip below.
Le Collectif Cheikh Yassine a organise un certain nombre dactivites et de festivites pour les enfants de Gaza sous le theme  La joie des enfants de Gaza pour lAid . Ces activites ont commence le premier jour de lAid et continue jusquau 4eme jour de lAid dans la bande de Gaza.



Plusieurs activites, ont ete organisees parmi lesquelles : des competitions recompensees par des prix, des jeux, des animations et des chants presentes par un groupe ainsi que des distributions de cadeaux et daides financieres.




NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 15 June 2017 - Photographing Mold and Bacteria Samples. NASA

Russias Progress 67 (67P) cargo craft is orbiting Earth and on its way to the International Space Station Friday morning carrying over three tons of food, fuel and supplies.

Meanwhile, the three member Expedition 52 crew researched a variety of space science on Thursday while preparing for the arrival of the 67P.

Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin and Flight Engineer Jack Fischer will monitor the automated docking of the 67P to the Zvezda service module Friday at 7:42 a.m. EDT. NASA TV will broadcast live the resupply ships approach and rendezvous beginning at 7 a.m. The 67Ps docking will mark four spaceships attached to the space station.

Fischer spent the morning photographing mold and bacteria samples on petri dishes as part of six student-led biology experiments that are taking place inside a NanoRacks module. In the afternoon, he removed protein crystal samples from a science freezer, let them thaw and observed the samples using a specialized microscope.

Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson tended to rodents Thursday morning cleaning their habitat facilities and restocking their food. In the afternoon, she moved to human research swapping out samples for the Cardiac Stem Cells study that is exploring why living in space may accelerate the aging process.

On-Orbit Status Report

Neutron Star Interior Composition ExploreR (NICER) Status: Yesterdays planned NICER deployment was not completed due to a problem with releasing all four of the NICER launch locks. Following several attempts, the NICER team successfully released three of the four launch locks. The team continues attempts to release the fourth lock.

NanoRacks Module-52: The crew performed a status check of subexperiments inside NanoRacks Module-52. Photographs were taken of the petri dishes and video was downlinked. NanoRacks Module-52 is a collection of 6 student-led biological experiments photo-documenting the life-cycle of various molds and bacteria on petri plates in microgravity.

Cardiac Stem Cells: In support of the ongoing Cardiac Stem Cell investigation, the crew changed out media in one of the BioCell Habitats and fixated cells from the other two Habitats. They placed the fixated cells into a MELFI for return on SpX-11. Cardiac Stem Cells investigates how microgravity affects stem cells and the factors that govern their activity to clarify the role of stem cells in cardiac biology and tissue regeneration. This investigation also supports research into the possible acceleration of the aging process in microgravity.

Rodent Research-5 (RR-5) Systemic Therapy of NELL-1 for Osteoporosis: Two of the four Animal Habitats wiere restocked by the crew today. The other two were restocked yesterday. The habitats were emptied, cleaned, and new food bars were installed. The rodents were transferred back to the habitats and returned to their individual stowage locations.

Node 3 (N3) Common Cabin Air Assembly (CCAA) Water Separator: Water carryover had been previously noted in the N3 CCAA on May 3 and 4. The Low Temperature Loop (LTL) set point was raised, reducing the condensation rate in N3 and the carryover stopped. In the last few days, the N3 Water Separator Liquid Sensor Wet indication has been received multiple times, therefore, ground teams have declared the N3 CCAA Water Separator failed and are requesting to Remove & Replace the unit. Ground teams moved condensation collection to the Lab to account for the failed N3 unit. Condensation collection can remain in the Lab for approximately 28 days prior to requiring a dryout of the Lab unit.

Advanced Resistive Exercise Devise (ARED) Crank Handle Remove & Replace (R&R): The crew completed installing a new design of ARED crank handle. The new design will eliminate torqueing the crank handle center cap screw and inspecting witness marks which results in crew time savings.

Todays Planned Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

ISS HAM Radio and Video Power Down

XF305 Camcorder Setup

JEM Camera Robot Activation

JEM Camera Robot Photo

SPHERES Battery Swap

Glacier 4 Sample Remove

FAGEN. Activation of ???-? No.4 at +4 deg ?

Columbus Video Camera Assembly 1 Adjustment

IMS Tagup

Preparing For Upcoming MagVector Science Run

Combustion Integrated Rack Hardware Return

Verification of ??-1 Flow Sensor Position

Foam Bag Relocate

Measuring Partial CO Pressure in RS using US portable CSA-CP device

JEM Camera Robot Deactivation

Crew Support LAN Client Power On

JEM Camera Robot Target Marker Relocate

NanoRacks Module-52 Status 1

SPHERES Battery Swap

Rodent Research Node 2 Camcorder Video Setup

Rodent Research Habitat 3 & 4 Restock

Installation of Progress 435 (DC1) docking mechanism

Conference on specifics of Progress 436 docking

SPHERES Battery Swap

Cardiac Stem Cells SABL Insertion

Cardiac Stem Cells Media Change and Fixation

SPHERES Battery Swap

LMM MELFI Sample Retrieve

Cardiac Stem Cells MELFI Sample Insertion

Fluids Integrated Rack Doors Open

LMM Biophysics Plate Installation [Aborted]

Fluids Integrated Rack Doors Close

Rodent Research Habitat 2 Water Check

Flight Director/ISS CREW CONFERENCE

METOX Regeneration Termination

METOX Regeneration Initiation

SPHERES Battery Swap

Completed Task List Items

Controller Panel Assembly Protective Cap Installation

Ground Activities

All activities were completed unless otherwise noted.

Rodent Research Habitat restock

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Friday, 06/16: 67P dock, JEM Small Satellite Orbital Deployer (SSOD) Install

Saturday, 06/17: Crew off duty, housekeeping

Sunday, 06/18: Crew off duty
Smallholder farmers are receiving tailored training and financial advice from a social enterprise that guarantees them a good market price for their seed. Expanding to work with over 5,000 small-scale farmers, the company is training a cohort of extension workers to help farmers profit from the international seed industry.

A community out-grower approach to seed production and marketing in Zambia is facilitating smallholder farmers access to the lucrative and high-impact market of legume seeds. To help smallholders tap into the seed market, 5,200 farmers are receiving a personalised bundle of services to grow quality seed to then sell under the brand, Good Nature Seeds.

A social enterprise operating in eastern Zambia, Good Nature Agro, identified seed as a missing link in the legume value chain and saw an opportunity for smallholder farmers to fill this void. As seeds are traditionally difficult to grow and expensive to buy, smallholder farmers have, until now, been excluded from the multi-billion euro seed industry that is dominated by multi-national interests.

The initiatives holistic model is providing farmers with three key services that are generally hard to access: personalised financing for inputs, reliable information, and a profitable market. The company coordinates farmers access to one trained extension agent for every 40 growers, customised advice on inputs and financing, and a guaranteed market through their commitment to buy the produce.

We know that the challenge of increasing smallholder farmers yields and incomes is essentially limitless in scale, but that doesnt mean that we need one-size-fits-all solutions, says Carl Jensen, co-founder and CEO of Good Nature Agro. Farmers deserve a business partner that supports their individual goals and who is willing to customise a path that helps farmers achieve them. That is what we do differently.

Samson Tembo of Chikwanda village in eastern Zambia is among those already benefitting from the approach. The 37-year old is expecting to earn over 760 from the 1,275 kg of cowpea he harvested in early 2017. Last year, I bought two cattle, six bags of fertiliser and paid all school fees for my children. My plan this year is to extend my iron roofed house, states Tembo.

By the end of the 2018-19 season, Good Nature Agro aims to have 50,000 farmers growing for them, supported by around 1,000 agents.
Cross the bridge to Skye and drive north towards Portree, the largest town on the island. Wind along the main road, past a landscape of heather and sheep. The Cuillin, the enormous mountain range which dominates the landscape, rises ahead. This stretch of road is modern Skyetiny crofting cottages and traditional pubs sit side by side with holiday homes and incongruous, glass-wrapped new builds.

At Sligachan, take a left off the main road and head west, following signs for the Talisker distillery, the twists and turns becoming ever more dramatic as the road rises into the mountains. At the sign for Carbost take a sharp left and dip into the glen that contains Loch Harport and, at the end of a one-lane road, the enormous white Talisker distillery.

The air smells malty and tourists are everywhere, but whisky isnt the only reason to visit this tiny village. Across the car park from the distillery, perched on the edge of the loch, is Caora Dhubh Coffee Company. Pronounced Coo-ra Doo, and meaning Black Sheep in Scottish Gaelic, Caora Dhubh is a takeaway coffee shop and the brainchild of Skye native Jamie Fletcher.

While working as a design engineer for GE, Fletcher developed a taste for coffee on his many visits to Edinburgh. After the oil downturn led to cutbacks, he looked into opening a coffee shop on his grandmothers land next to the distillery. However, he was a little too late: When I was looking through planning permission, Carbost Pier Limited had just got permission to put some kind of food outlet here. So I scrambled to get a business plan ready and pitched to them. He kitted out the tiny space, one half of a building also housing a public shower and bathrooms, and opened in early March.

Specialty coffee has taken a relatively long time to reach this part of the world, but the scene in Scotland has flourished in the last few years. Starting in the cultural and population centers of Edinburgh and Glasgow, where today nearly every street has its own quality cafe, it has slowly crept out towards the corners of the country. Now its here, in the small town of Carbost on the isle of Skye.

Fletcher spends the early morning cleaning the public showers and bathrooms that adjoin his cafe, part of the deal when he won the lease. He opens at 9, ready to greet the first of the visitors who come from all over the world to visit the Talisker distillery. The size of his space means that seating is impossible, save for a bench outside and some picnic tables near the loch, so every drink is made to-go.

For the moment, Caora Dhubh serves only espresso-based drinks from a white, three-group La Marzocco Linea FB70. Fletcher chose to work with Artisan Roast, a roaster in Edinburgh and one of the originators of the specialty coffee scene in Scotland, due to his fondness for their Janzoon blend and his affinity for their graphic design (Artisan Roasts design team also developed the website and graphics for Caora Dhubh).

His use of the darker Janszoon blend is also customer focused. I reckon 99 percent of people are here for a coffee, not a delicately roasted coffee, so the Janszoon works for both of those markets, he says. That doesnt mean, however, that coffee aficionados dont exist on the island. The handful of Australian residents in particular seem to have taken to Caora Dhubhone couple drives nearly an hour for a cup of coffee.

The local interest has been surprising to Fletcher, although as spring moves into summer and the tourist season heats up, that will probably changeas with most tourist spots, the locals tend to stay away during peak season. He also has to close on Sundays, a legislative holdover from an earlier, more traditional era. Although, as he notes somewhat ruefully, the distillery and local pub are exempt from this rule, it does give him a day off to rest, and to explore his breathtaking home.

Drive back up out of Carbost and, after winding along the rising road, stop and look back down the glenthe loch stretches out below, small white houses dotted among the heather, sheep grazing wherever they see fit. Caora Dhubh is down there somewhere, on the banks of the loch, ready to introduce Scotlands coffee scene to visitors from all over the world.

Fionn Pooler is a journalist based in Aberdeen, Scotland, and the publisher of The Pourover . This is Fionn Poolers first feature for Sprudge.
Hello,





Welcome to the Thailand Incentive Trip Achievers Blog Hop for June 2017. This month our theme is the "Our Annual Catalogue Favourites". The new Annual Catalogue is incredible! We want to give you some more ideas on how you can make the most of all your wonderful new products or to show you how to use ones that you haven't purchased as yet.



You may just be starting the blog hop here at my blog - Anne Granger or may have come from the person previous to me in the list. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all the projects. At the moment you are visiting Anne Granger and I'm from Canada!!

One of my favourite bundles from the Annual Catalogue is the Coffee Cafe! The funny thing about this is that I'm NOT a Coffee drinker. Corrie was a big coffee drinker and loved his Tim Horton's and me on the other hand love my hot chocolate!! But the girls and I have discovered Teavana Iced Tea Lemonade drinks from Starbucks and we are hooked!!

Now when we do go to Starbucks for a nice treat, Emily loves to get her Frappuccino , Alison and I are hooked on their Mango Black Iced Tea Lemonade!!





I can't stress how important it is to take pictures and document those little moments in life. You just don't want to document events like birthdays, or holidays. You want to document those little moments from your day to day interactions!

Our new Memories and More product line is the perfect way to do that. I'm a big fan of traditional scrapbooking but love to add the quick and easy pocket pages to my albums! You get the best of both worlds!!

I decided to use the new Coffee Cafe Bundle ( Coffee Cafe stamp set and Coffee Cups Framelits Dies), the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper, and Corrguated Elements to create my pages and I LOVE how it turned out!! This new bundle is a MUST in our collection. There is so much you can do with this bundle, you can create cards, scrapbook pages, gift cards, treat bags, and 3D items. I can't wait to share the other projects that I have made with this set with you!!

Thanks for taking part in our blog hop, there are so many amazing ideas and inspiration you don't want to miss. Remember that currently you are at my blog - Anne Granger, so check the blog hop line up list to see who is next in the list.

I have listed all the supplies that I have used for you at the bottom of this post, and the best part is that you can either click on the clickable images, or the supply list PDF.
Mohawk Racetrack played host to an eight-pack of qualifiers on Tuesday morning (June 20) and Arsenal Seelster went on to record the fastest win time of the session.

With Jonathan Drury in the sulky for trainer Colin Johnson, Arsenal Seelster kicked off the mornings festivities with a one and a half-length victory in 1:53.4 over a fast track. The Artistic Fella three-year-old started from Post 5 and earned the lead on the turn after opening fractions of :29 and :57.2. He then spun off three quarters in 1:25 and came home with a :28.4 final quarter. His mile was the quickest of all the pacers on the morning docket.

The quickest trotting miles of the session  1:57 performances  were recorded by Glencove Zani in Race 2 and Dream Together in Race 7. The latter, who is owned by the Determination stable of Montreal, Quebec, won four of seven starts last season for trainer Luc Blais and driver Sylvain Filion. The three-year-old Muscle Hill filly was fetched at auction in 2015 for $240,000. Dream Togethers Tuesday performance was her third qualifying effort off the shelf.

The session also featured the first charted mile of Dont Stop Believins career, and the result was a half-length victory in 1:58.2 for trainer/driver Jack Moiseyev.

The largest margin of victory during the session was recorded by Dad Leads, who romped by 27 lengths in a 1:59.3 performance for trainer Gary Rivest and driver Mike Saftic.

To view the harness racing results for the Tuesday qualifying session at Mohawk, click the following link: Tuesday Results  Mohawk Racetrack (Qualifying).
For the first time ever, Yonkers Raceway is importing races from the world-class Thoroughbred meeting at Britains Royal Ascot.

Simulcasting shall be offered Wednesday through Saturday (June 21 through 24, wagering offered on the last five races each day). Yonkers mutuel windows open daily at 10 a.m., with the first Royal Ascot race each day scheduled shortly thereafter (note the early opening is for Royal Ascot simulcast [fourth floor only], usual 12 noon opening for all other days).

Among the Royal Ascot highlights are:

Wednesday  Prince of Wales Stakes (distance one and a quarter miles)

Thursday  Gold Cup (distance two and a half miles)

Friday  Coronation Stakes (distance one mile)

Saturday  Diamond Jubilee Stakes (distance six furlongs)

Any number of standout North American-based horses are scheduled to complete during the prestigious meet.

(Yonkers Raceway)
Point 27 Awards Little Elm First Responders Shields of Strength to Honor Detective Jerry Walker, Killed in the Line of Duty January 17

Contact: Marcia Davis, 972-834-5898LITTLE ELM, Texas, June 20, 2017 / Standard Newswire / -- Point 27 , a national nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia, honored Little Elm Police Officers and Firefighters at the Public Safety Center this week with gifts of Thin Blue Line silver scripture-inscribed Shields of Strength www.shieldsofstrength.com/about-us/ for police and Thin Red Line Shields of Strength for firefighters.Photo: Following gifts of Thin Blue Line Shields of Strength given by Atlanta-based nonprofit, Point 27, to the Little Elm, Texas Police Department Monday, Sgt. Nicole Shaw prepares to do a television interview in the public safety center, in front of a display case with mementos honoring a fellow- and fallen-officer Detective Jerry Walker. Walker was shot in the line of duty January 17.For the surviving family members of fallen Detective Jerry Walker, Point 27 presented Folded Flag Pendant Necklaces inscribed with John 15:18, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."In the Public Safety Center foyer, facing a glass case displaying Walker's photo, a folded flag and mementos honoring him, Little Elm Police Chief Rodney Harrison and Fire Chief Brian Roach received the gifts on behalf of their departments.A letter signed by U.S. Army (Ret.) Col. David Dodd, director of Point 27, to Harrison, read: "Thank you for your leadership, courage, and perseverance in the face of great adversity. We pray for God's mercy, comfort, and strength for you and the brave men and women you lead."We know the loss of one of your own, Detective Jerry Walker in the line of duty January 17, has taken its toll upon each member of your department and all the first responders that served alongside him."Police Chief Harrison expressed appreciation for the recognition and encouragement from Point 27, and the nonprofit's remembrance of Walker's sacrifice.The Thin Blue Line dog tag necklaces are inscribed with the scripture Mathew 5:8 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God."The Thin Red Line Shields of Strength are inscribed with Isaiah 6:8, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Who shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"Last summer, following the Dallas police shootings, Point 27 awarded Dallas Police Thin Blue Line Shields of Strength and honored the families of those fallen officers with Folded Flag Necklaces.
What on earth made President Donald Trump identify Qatar  with its longstanding relationship with the US and host to 10,000 American military personnel on the biggest airbase in the Middle East  as a funder of terrorism? Did someone misinform him of Qatars role in the region? Or was Mr Trump embittered because, as Qatari businessmen are asking themselves, a real estate deal between the future US president and Qatars rulers fell through in 2010?

Clayton Swisher, the investigative journalist who broke the Palestine Papers story in 2011  detailing secret talks between the Israelis, the Palestine Authority and the Bush-era US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice  says that Mr Trump and his daughter Ivanka came to Qatar seven years ago. There, he says, they approached two senior Qatari officials for investment help. One was Hussein Al-Abdullah, executive board member of the Qatar Investment Authority. The other was Sheikh Hamid bin Jassem al-Thani, a member of the royal family who was then prime minister.

Writing in the Huffington Post , Swisher says that the talks failed. Mr Al-Abdullah was allegedly shocked at the way Mr Trump presented his pitch for a distressed real estate fund, although Sheikh Hamid apparently heard him out  but no Qatari money was forthcoming. The QIA is the worlds second largest sovereign wealth fund with assets of $338bn (265bn).

Swisher adds, however, that Ivanka Trump later returned to Qatar with her husband Jared Kushner seeking a different real estate deal over Mr Kushners 666 Fifth Avenue property and that talks went on up to 2016. Swisher also believes  and says he has just found this out  that Mr Kushners father Charles was in discussions with Sheikh Hamid, now an independent businessman and no longer prime minister, over funding, and sought $500m but that Qatar said Charles Kushner would have to find $1.2bn from elsewhere. These talks, according to Swisher, were going on until a few months ago.

If Mr Trump has turned against Qatar  and no-one has yet explained why he should have done so  the tiny emirate has discovered regional friends it never knew it had. Oman is sending a fleet of merchant ships to carry food to Doha. So is Morocco. In the latters case, King Mohammed VI is seeking to suppress  ever so softly, as is his manner  widespread public demonstrations in and around Hoceima in the Rif district of the country.

The uproar began after a fishmonger was killed (with or without the help of the local police) and a popular politician arrested. The mans death has eerie parallels with the individual deaths which lit the Tunisian and then the Egyptian revolutions. And as a cynical Qatari suggested a few hours ago, the kings gesture to Qatar could help his political popularity at home. Its Ramadan  and [King] Mohammeds gesture will be seen sympathetically by the people, he said. He knew what he was doing when he decided to send food to us.

Another less ironic Qatari also pointed out that Turkeys food imports are helping to ease the shortages in Doha. We used to import from Saudi Arabia  but Turkish food is much better, he said. Which might be true. Iran has also tried, rather artfully, to help Qatar by offering to open its airspace to Qatar Airways which can no longer overfly Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates. Kuwait, which helped to found the Gulf Cooperation Council, doesnt want the alliance it strived so hard to bring about to collapse. Hence Kuwaiti attempts to mediate

Most intriguing, however, is Vladimir Putins reaction to the Qatar crisis. He quickly expressed his support for Qatar  although avoiding any criticism of Saudi Arabia. And no wonder. For just days before almost all the Gulf Arabs broke relations with Qatar, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman  hero of the disastrous Yemen war  visited the Kremlin for talks with Mr Putin. Ostensibly, these evolved around Syria and oil prices. But now Qataris, and no doubt Saudis, are wondering if bin Salman did not tell Mr Putin of the crisis-to-come  and whether Mr Putin warned the Saudis not to invade Qatar.

After all, its one thing for Mr Putin to be accused of the violent suppression of rebels in Syria. Quite another if he can show himself to be the peacemaker of the Arab Gulf.






I will not get all of these books read over the summer BUT they are the pile that I have set aside to attempt to get through.

MARTIN MCKEEVER C.Ss.R - ONE MAN, ONE GOD

My friend Whitney Wilkinson told me not to read books about work on vocation! Good advice! BUT Whitters would make an exception for a book about Fr Alec Reid, a Christian hero of peace building in N. Ireland. I might have that read before I head to Uganda. Seeking inspiration and clues to how Fr Alec did the Jesus thing in bringing his warring people to the peace we have enjoyed for almost 25 years. A review WILL be written!

NOVELS IN GENERAL

PHIL HARRISON - FIRST DAY

Phil was around Chaplaincy back in the day and I have followed his career with real interest. I loved his short films Even Gods and The Good Man and look forward to reading this debut novel. Phil is one of many of his generation who have wrestled with issues of faith and so I look forward to engaging with a novel set in my home city that has been described as a "a short, intense, questioning novel about marriage, love, family and religion.

J.D. VANCE - HILLBILLY ELEGY

This book was gifted to me by my friend Joe Ferrara. He told me that it would give me a handle on how the Trump phenomenon came about. I look forward to getting my head into a Memoir about white working class Americans.

DENIS JOHNSON - TRAIN DREAMS

Johnson passed away in May and had local rock journalist Stuart Bailie and songwriter Anthony Toner waxing lyrical. I look forward to a new discovery in this short, lyrical and literary novella about early twentieth century America.

FOR MY TRIP TO UGANDA

AKPAN UWEM - SAY YOURE ONE OF THEM

I love reading books about the locations I am in. There are sadly very few books about Uganda so I am making do this year with this book of short stories set in five African countries. What grabs me most of all, is that they are about children. For over a week in Arua, West Nile, Uganda I will spend my day in a school working with such children. I look forward to surrounding my work with readings from this.

RICHARD J REID - A HISTORY OF MODERN UGANDA

I imagine I will not read this one cover to cover but I always like to get to know as much as I can about a location. This will give me an over view of Ugandan life under three decades of Yoweri Musevenis Presidency.

BEN OKRI - THE FAMISHED ROAD

A classic set in Nigeria, Okris Famished Road has been on my shelf since I heard him speak at Greenbelt, over 20 years ago. If I get Say Youre One of Them finished this is what Iw ill read next in Uganda. More likely I read it afterwards as I deal with withdrawal symptoms.

POETRY

MICHAEL LONGLEY - ANGEL HILL

I have made vague attempts at poetry in my life but have never been a fan of poetry itself. I have been more influenced by songwriters. However, I picked this up in No Alibis recently and am going to carry it with me for some pondering and proper reading.

ROCK BIOGRAPHIES

My favourite genre of writing!

TOM DOYLE - CAPTAIN FANTASTIC

I am not a mad fan of Elton John but have always been fascinated by the records he made in the 70s. They seem to be a songwriting treasure trove that I should know more about. So, I am going to read Tom Doyles account of those years hoping to fall more in love with Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and Captain Fantastic and The Brown Dirt Cowboy, with the albums beside me on my mp3 player.

PETER AMES CARLIN - HOMEWARD BOUND - THE LIFE OF PAUL SIMON

I love Paul Simons writing and hope that at last I can get down to reading this Christmas gift. He has a live record due out in the summer too which might make this jump up the pile! I enjoyed Carlins books on McCartney and Springsteen so hoping this one gets me closer to the songwriter!

GEORGE HARRISON - I ME MINE

I nearly always end up with some Beatles book or other. Last year Steve Turners The Beatles 66 was my very favourite. This August I will be delving into Harrisons autobiography and song lyrics with commentary that has just been updated. I will be dipping into this one and the John Blaney one as I listen to the records from my Ballycastle sofa!

JOHN BLANEY - GEORGE HARRISON: SOUL MAN VOL 2

To accompany Harrisons own reflections on his songs, heres the second volume of Blaneys song by song. A little over the top with photos of labels and record sleeves but still a mine of info around the records. Between novels these Harrison books will be slight and light relief!
Measures to allow such shops in El Segundo, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach are all on their way to failing, based on semi-official election results
Four Southwest Washington firms faced environmental penalties in the first quarter totaling $22,000 dollars, according to Department of Ecology press release Monday. Throughout the state, Ecology issued $150,000 in penalties for the first quarter. The Southwest Washington penalties include:

Longview-based Nippon Dynawave Packaging Co. paid a $9,000 penalty for violating air quality emission limits for sulfur dioxide for two weeks in July and August 2016.

Vancouver-based Tapani Underground, Inc. paid a $9,000 penalty for allowing muddy water to enter a wetland by failing to properly manage storm water runoff from construction activities and to implement practices to stabilize bare soils.

Vancouver-based Teiton Homes LLC paid a $2,000 penalty for allowing muddy water to enter a wetland by failing to properly manage storm water runoff from construction activities and to implement practices to stabilize bare soils.

Lewis County-based Onalaska Wood Energy, Inc. paid a $2,000 penalty for discharging stormwater contaminated with dangerous waste into state waters. The company failed to take corrective action for low pH stormwater discharges, and it failed to implement best management practices and conduct monitoring as required by the Industrial Stormwater General Permit.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Donald Trump and one of his personal lawyers have contradicted each other over whether the president is under investigation by the special counsel probing Russians' meddling in the 2016 election and possible links with the Trump campaign.

A look at recent statements by Trump and lawyer Jay Sekulow on the Russia investigation and a variety of other matters:

TRUMP tweet Friday: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

THE FACTS: This apparent slap at Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, is at odds with Trump's own account of how James Comey was fired. Trump said previously that a memo from Rosenstein recommending the FBI director's termination didn't matter. "Regardless of the recommendation, I was going to fire Comey," he told NBC News in early May.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified to Congress that Trump wanted a memo laying out the case for firing Comey. But the president took sole responsibility for doing it, at least until he seemed to try to shift it Friday to the deputy.

It's also an oversimplification to say he's being investigated for firing Comey. Presidents have the authority to get rid of the FBI director. The issue is whether Trump criminally obstructed justice.

By Comey's account, the president leaned on him to back off the FBI's investigation of his former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, and fired him three months later as a way to alter the course of a broader probe into potential coordination between Russia and associates of the Trump campaign. Trump's tweet seems to confirm that his interactions with Comey now are part of the special counsel's expanding investigation  except that his own lawyer says that is not so.

SEKULOW, on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday: "The president is not a subject or target of an investigation."

THE FACTS: You can decide whether to believe the lawyer or the president and the multiple unidentified sources who told The Washington Post that the special counsel's investigation had grown to include Trump.

Sekulow said Trump was merely reacting to the newspaper story, suggesting the president had no first-hand knowledge whether he was being investigated. Indeed Trump is known to react viscerally to what he sees on TV or reads in a paper. On the other hand, he can tap the vast information-gathering capabilities of the White House and administration.

SEKULOW, explaining on CNN why Trump did not dispute the Post's story saying he was under investigation: "There's a limitation on Twitter, as we all know."

TRUMP: When Trump wants to say more on a subject than one tweet's 140-character content limit allows, he simply does what other Twitter users do: He writes more tweets about it. There's no limitation on doing that.

TRUMP tweet Sunday: "The new Rasmussen Poll, one of the most accurate in the 2016 Election, just out with a Trump 50% Approval Rating. That's higher than O's #'s!"

THE FACTS: No other pollster has released a recent survey putting Trump's approval rating anywhere close to 50 percent. Most other estimates are near or below 40 percent. Rasmussen's final 2016 poll found Hillary Clinton up about 2 points nationally. That's very close to the final popular vote margin, but other polls conducted within the final two weeks before Election Day were also quite accurate on average.

Rasmussen's methodology uses automated phone calls, which have a mixed track record of accuracy in election polling. Federal law prohibits automated phone calls to cell phones, so Rasmussen must supplement its main sample with online interviews to reach the more than half of Americans who do not have landline phones. The details of how that online sampling is done are not clear.

TRUMP tweet Friday: "After 7 months of investigations & committee hearings about my 'collusion with the Russians,' nobody has been able to show any proof. Sad!"

THE FACTS: The president once again shows a lack of understanding of how law-enforcement investigations work, or a willingness to misrepresent the process. He's done this on several occasions.

Investigators follow evidence, interview witnesses and track down leads to assemble the most complete picture of events possible, then turn over their findings to prosecutors to assess whether a criminal case is warranted. Only if they decide to file charges and go to court is evidence shown.

The government's investigation, begun by the FBI last summer, is far from that stage and is still growing.

TRUMP: "Effective immediately, I am canceling the previous administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba."  remarks in Miami on Friday.

THE FACTS: Not so. He's preserving most of the important elements of Barack Obama's opening to the island.

Trump's policy keeps a U.S. Embassy open and allows U.S. airlines and cruise ships to continue service to Cuba. Cuban-Americans can still send money to relatives and can still travel to the island without restriction. U.S. farmers can continue selling their crops to the Cuban government. The policy also allows Americans to continue patronizing state-run hotels and other businesses that are not directly linked with Cuba's military and state-security services.

The policy does, though, restore a requirement for most American travelers visiting Cuba to be with tightly regulated tour groups. The Cuban government has traditionally steered those tour groups to state-run business, meaning the majority of American travelers to Cuba will probably no longer be able to patronize private restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts and taxi drivers.

TRUMP: "You see the unemployment rate is at a very, very low level. Job enthusiasm and manufacturing, business enthusiasm is at record levels; never been higher... We've got it going."  remarks at a White House apprenticeship event Thursday.

THE FACTS: Trump has gone from "hoax" to hype on this statistic. Running for president, he took a swipe Aug. 8 at a just-released unemployment number, saying, "This 5 percent figure is one of the biggest hoaxes in modern American politics." (The actual figure then was 4.9 percent.) Five months into his own presidency, the rate he now welcomes stands at 4.3 percent, arrived at by the same Bureau of Labor Statistics through the same methodology.

Through his campaign, Trump asserted the official jobless rate is phony because it leaves out millions who stopped looking for work. He vastly overstated that case, counting retired people and others who are choosing not to work as part of the problem. But now that a healthy official rate is reported under his watch, he grasps it as evidence of his success.

___

Associated Press writers Emily Swanson, Julie Bykowicz, Alicia A. Caldwell, Matthew Lee, Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Josh Boak in Washington and Michael Weissenstein in Havana contributed to this report.
tech2 News Staff

On June 19, 2017 the Mars Orbiter Mission (MoM) has completed 1,000 Earth days, or 973.24 Mars Sols  Martian Solar Days, in orbit around the red planet. MoM has completed 388 orbits, and continues to take observations that has lead to the publication of several scientific research papers. The original planned mission duration was only six months. The Mars Colour Camera has captured more than 715 images of Mars, some of which were used to compile an Atlas of Mars.

MoM was part of the Mangalyaan mission, the first interplanetary mission by ISRO. The mission was hailed for the indigenous miniaturisation of the five scientific payloads, the short period over which the mission was realised, and enabling India be the only country to succeed in a maiden interplanetary spaceflight. The mission was realised at a low cost of $74 million, which is about a tenth of the cost of NASA's Maven spacecraft.

On 26 September 2016, MoM celebrated the second anniversary of the insertion maneuver into Mars orbit. All the scientific instruments on the spacecraft are in good health, and there is about 13 kg of propellant left for the remainder of the mission. ISRO has initiated studies into the options available for future interplanetary missions to our nearest neighbours in the solar system, Mars and Venus.
IANS

Police rushed to a US vacation resort after a bystander livestreamed a shooting incident on Facebook Live in which several people were injured.

The injured were being treated at South Carolina hospitals after a gunman opened fire at Myrtle Beach, CBS News reported on Sunday. According to Myrtle Beach Police, a fight broke out and one of the belligerents pulled a gun and fired.

Meanwhile, a bystander livestreamed the incident that alerted the police. An armed security officer fired at the gunman but he carjacked a vehicle and got away from the scene. The police later arrested the attacker.

"Footage of the violent incident remained online as of Sunday afternoon. A representative for Facebook did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment," the report added. There have been several cases of livestreaming shooting incidents on Facebook in the recent past.

This comes after recently, The Guardian revealed slides from a supposed rulebook created by Facebook on how to handle sensitive content on the platform.

Unlike a proactively moderated platform, like say a comments section of a website where each comment is approved by a moderator before appearing on the site, social networks like Facebook use reactive moderation. This means any form of text, images or videos that contain content like violence, hate speech, terrorism, pornography, racism, etc, appears on the network by default.

The leaked slides from Facebooks alleged rulebook suggest actions on a variety of offensive content, and the choices for what stays and what gets removed sometimes appear odd.
Telangana State Government today launched the Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project also known as Hy-Fi, with over 1000 hot-spots across the state capital. Inaugurated by the Honble Mayor of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation, Shri Bonthu Rammohan, the ambitious project will eventually cover 3000 hotspot locations within the city. The launch ceremony was attended by many senior state government officials and dignitaries including Shri Jayesh Ranjan (IAS), Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Govt. of Telangana and Shri. B. Janardhan Reddy (IAS), Commissioner, GHMC.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Shri Rammohan said, Being the newest state of the country, Telangana aspires to be the best state in all aspects. Hyderabad has been an inspiration for other cities in IT, business and living standards, and this city will continue to adopt new technologies to uplift the lifestyle of each citizen. Hy-Fi will set another example making Hyderabad a truly connected city even on the digital front.

In June 2015, under the Digital Telangana umbrella, the Government of Telangana has launched the pilot version of Hyderabad City Wi-Fi Project (Hy-Fi). The pilot project saw the government partner with ISPs to provide free Wi-Fi for 30 minutes at approximately 100 public category locations across Hyderabad. These locations include malls, tourist spots, public offices, police stations, government schools and colleges, etc. Over the last two years, the number has more than doubled to cover about 250 locations. Given the tremendous success the pilot project has seen, the Govt. of Telangana has decided to scale up the project to cover more than 3000 locations across Hyderabad. In fact, a separate Government Order has been brought out specifically to enable smooth execution of the program for ISPs. The Government has agreed to take a two phased approach to complete the Wi-Fi project which is a unique example of government and industry participation for enriching community life and enhancing public safety. At present, over 1000 hotspots are being installed with an assured bandwidth of 5-10 Mbps offering 30 minutes of free Wi-Fi.

Addressing the gathering at the occasion and announcing the launch of second phase of the program, Shri Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Govt. of Telangana said,Digital India is the future and Telangana is marching ahead to achieve this dream. Hy-Fi is another pro-people initiative where citizens will avail free Wi-Fi to do their work. Businessperson, shopkeepers, entrepreneurs, students, women and tourists will benefit from this essential service.

Shri. B. Janardhan Reddy, Commissioner, IAS, GHMC seconded the Mayor and said: Hy-Fi is another major achievement for the city with the citizens being the major benefactors of the service. With the high penetration of smartphones, free Wi-Fi will be a boost for the people. It will surely enhance the lifestyle of the citizens.

COAI, apex industry association of telecom services providers, mobile and internet companies, is the technical advisor to the Government of Telangana in this ambitious project, was represented by Shri Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI on the panel. Shri Mathews was joined by several leaders from the telecom industry including Shri Venkatesh Vijayraghavan, Circle CEO  Bharti Airtel, Shri Bala Malladi, CEO of ACT and Shri Sujit Sen, Circle CEO Indus Towers.

Shri Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI said With successful completion of the Hy-Fi project, Hyderabad and Telangana will emerge as an example for rest of the country. It is a proud moment for the state and the telecom industry as well. As partners in this ambitious project, the telecom industry will partner in the timely completion of the project. This will provide high speed internet access connecting citizen with education, commerce and opportunities.

Mr. Mathews further added that COAI represents the leading telecom and technology companies across the country and Hyderabad is the city of choice for everything IT. We look forward to working closely with government of Telangana and are proud to be consultants of the government in its endeavour for a fully connected Digital India.

The program will also be seen as an example of the expertise from government and industry coming together for the larger good of the masses. Highlighting the significant role of the telecom industry, Shri Venkatesh Vijayraghavan, Circle CEO  Bharti Airtel said, Airtel has been a partner in the Governments Digital India vision and we are delighted to support Hy-fi, the countrys largest and fastest public WI-FI network. With this digital initiative, Hyderabad has further cemented its reputation as one of Indias technology capitals. Together with the Government of Telangana and the industry we are committed to demonstrating endless possibilities of new digital experiences to the citizens of Hyderabad.

Another unique aspect of the program is the participation of private players who provide the last mile or home connectivity from Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Bangalore-based Atria Convergence Technologies, has been selected for bridging the last mile gap in the project. Addressing the gathering Mr. Bala Malladi, CEO, ACT Fibernet said, With the growing number of citizens moving towards digital economy, our partnership with the Telangana government will bolster the internet connectivity in Hyderabad. With more than 1000 hotspots to be installed in the coming months across the city will enable users to access high-speed internet both inside their homes and on the go throughout Hyderabad.

The Hy-Fi project is a successful example of how the government and the industry can collaborate for a meaningful partnership together which benefits all stakeholders. Speaking about the project, Shri Sujit Sen, Circle CEO, Indus Towers said, We are committed to ensure a robust infrastructure for deploying this project and hope that this will act as the foundation stone for other programs driving Digital India in the state.

With the launch happening on the momentous occasion of World Wi-Fi Day, the CEO of Wireless Broadband Alliance, Shri Shrikant Shenwai said, With billions of people still unconnected, the greatest threat to the global economy is the vast gap between the connected and unconnected world. World Wi-Fi Day has the vision to ensure everyone get connected and encourages cities, governments and operators to collaborate in ensuring affordable, sustainable connectivity for all. Connectivity is now an essential commodity, much in the same category as power and water and the City Hy-Fi project seeks to address these issues  we congratulate Hyderabad.

Technuter.com News Service
Intensified action needed to reduce leprosy

Nur-E-Alam Siddique :

Leprosy, the world's oldest disease, has been synonymous with stigma and discrimination due to the hideous deformities it produced. The most important step in eradication of any communicable disease is to knock out the last case. This can be achieved essentially by community participation for which vigorous information, education, communication (IEC) activities are required. It is only the enlightened public that can provide the solution to any social or public health problem.

Global leprosy strategy aims at detection of all new cases before they develop disabilities and prompt initiation of treatment so as to ensure they are cured without any residual disability. This will have an impact on the transmission of infection in the community. Efforts need to be made to reduce deformity through early detection, self care, physiotherapy and reconstructive surgery and developing sound surveillance systems.

According to The Leprosy Mission International-Bangladesh (TLMI-B), the current reality is that there is a need to sustain and provide quality leprosy services to all persons through general health services, including good referral system. All these provisions in the integrated health care approach will go a long way in further reducing the stigma.

The Enhanced Global Strategy for further reducing the disease burden requires endorsement and commitment from everyone working towards the common goal of reducing the disease burden due to leprosy and its detrimental physical, social and economic consequences to move closer to achieving the common dream of "world without leprosy".

Early detection and treatment with Multi-drug therapy (MDT) remains the best strategy for preventing the occurrence of disabilities. Other measures include training of leprosy patients to perform self-care practices, providing them with protective aids and referring the cases for surgery if indicated. Counselling and holding care and concern camps for prevention of disability (POD) are very much integrated with the prevention of disabilities. The problem, in social, economic and human terms is enormous and will need many partners to solve it, including the affected communities.

A comprehensive approach to rehabilitation is needed to maximize the benefit for the individual, family and society at large. Physical rehabilitation includes physiotherapy and occupational therapy, orthotics and prosthetic services, assistive and protective devices and sometimes corrective surgery. Social and economical rehabilitation aims at social integration, equal opportunities and economic advancement.

Community based rehabilitation (CBR) approach emphasizes community participation and empowerment of the individual involved. The government should have more schemes for providing financial support to disabled persons. We have to ensure that persons affected with leprosy are also included in these schemes.

Persons affected by leprosy, who are in need of rehabilitation, should have access to any existing (general) rehabilitation services. Similarly, where leprosy specific rehabilitation services are available, people with other disabilities should be given access. This facilitates integration, helps to break stigma and promotes sustainability of rehabilitation services. Harmonization of rehabilitation services provided by public and private sectors would be crucial in making such services a realty.

The ultimate goal of all these rehabilitation activities is empowerment of the disabled by providing them with the tools they need to attain independence and self-determination.

TLMI-B said, "For sustainable prevention of disability the ownership of prevention of disability has to pass to people and communities. Advocacy must play an increasing role to bring about change. It involves influencing those who are responsible to ensure that leprosy is included in health care and social care, and that people affected are fully included in all aspects of society".

Challenges

Meaningful engagement of stakeholders including persons affected by leprosy using innovative media and marketing approaches will be required in order to overcome public apathy and political neglect.

Early detection of all patients before they develop disabilities, prompt treatment with uniform MDT regimen shortening the duration and inclusion of persons affected by leprosy will be the key tenets of the global leprosy strategy for the next five years (2016-2020).

Global research agenda also needs to be developed to ensure development of new tools for interrupting transmission of infection and reduce disability burden in the community.

The primary responsibility for leprosy control rests with the government. There is a need for different approaches including levels and intensity of collaboration at the national levels. The government should act through institutional partnership with NGOs, community-based organizations as well as people affected by leprosy. The collaboration should result in support to sustainability of expertise, resource mobilization and institutional development.

Persons affected by leprosy are an important resource for leprosy programmes and have a potential role to play in leprosy control. Strategies should focus on building the capacity of affected persons in advocacy skills.

Intensified action is needed to reduce leprosy and its transmission. Promote early case detection and ensure near 100% treatment completion rates, improve disability prevention and care, strengthen patient and community awareness on leprosy, improve case management, strengthen laboratory capacity for early detection of antibiotic resistance.

Sustain leprosy knowledge among the health workforce, promote societal inclusion through addressing all forms of discrimination, empower communities through participation in leprosy control and care, promote coalition building among people affected by leprosy, support social rehabilitation for leprosy affected people with disabilities, ensure that fundamental human rights can be enjoyed by all people affected by leprosy, and policy changes to improve quality of life of persons affected by leprosy.

The following preventive measures are important in the control of leprosy:

Health Education

Health education should be directed towards the patients and their families, and the general public. The patients and their families should be educated about the need for regular treatment, repeated examination of contacts, self-care regarding the prevention of disabilities, and protection of children. Generating awareness among people that leprosy is curable, not all leprosy patients are infectious, regular and adequate treatment is essential to obtain cure and prevent disabilities, and that the patients need sympathy and social support.

It should be impressed upon them that leprosy is not hereditary, casual contact with a patient does not cause leprosy. This can help remove some of the social stigmas associated with the disease. Health education aims at ensuring community participation in order to achieve these objectives. There is a growing realization that technological advances alone cannot solve the leprosy problem, unless we succeed in involving the public in the control programme. They should be made aware that leprosy is a bacterial disease like tuberculosis and that it is curable.

Socio-economic considerations

Preventing contact with infectious cases is an accepted method of controlling the spread of any communicable disease. It is difficult to envisage effective leprosy control without a significant improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the affected communities. The economic and social problems of the patients and their families should be identified and met.

Leprosy control is a long-term activity. Therefore, planning and program management are essential ingredients. An important aspect of leprosy control is to assess the impact of the control operations on the endemicity of the disease, and to compare results between different times and places. Indicators are required for such an evaluation. It is important that these indicators can be easily used.

It is hoped that with the efforts of all the stakeholders and strong political will, the disease will be eradicated in the near future, ensuring a better life for all the people.

(The writer is a journalist)


Modi, Justin Trudeau agree on commitment to Paris climate deal

PM Modi reaffirmed India\'s commitment to the Paris climate deal to Justin Trudeau.

PTI, New Delhi :

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Monday talked to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and reaffirmed India's commitment to take forward the Paris Climate Agreement, the Prime Minister's Office said.

Mr Trudeau had called up PM Modi on Monday evening where the issue of the Paris Agreement came up for discussion.

Sharing details of the conversation through PM Modi's Twitter handle, the PMO said the two exchanged views on developments of mutual interest, specifically climate change.

"Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India's commitment to take forward implementation of the Paris Agreement," the statement said.

PM Modi congratulated Mr Trudeau on the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation this year, the PMO said. He also appreciated the steady all round progress in diverse areas of bilateral engagement with Canada, it said.

Both leaders agreed to continue communication and cooperation to promote stronger ties, the PMO said.

"Both leaders exchanged views on developments of mutual interest, specifically climate change. Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India's commitment to take forward implementation of the Paris Agreement," the statement said.

Modi also congratulated Trudeau on the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation this year, the statement said. He also appreciated the steady all-round progress in diverse areas of bilateral engagement with Canada, it said.

Modi's reaffirmation of India's commitment to climate change comes after the US last month pulled out of the Paris pact, saying it was disadvantageous to the US and that the current deal could cost the US as many as 2.7 million jobs by 2025. Citing the examples of India and China who would be allowed to use coal to fuel power plants as well as receive billion of dollars to clamp down on emissions, Trump had said that the pact was unfavourable to the US.

The Paris pact was a common theme of discussion during Modi's May-June visit to Europe during which he visited Germany, Spain and France. In Germany and France, Modi had affirmed India's commitment to the Paris climate change pact. Modi said preservation of the environment was "part of the world's shared heritage" and that India would "continue working on this... above and beyond the Paris accord".
Merkel to consider Macron eurozone reform ideas

AFP, Berlin :

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was prepared to consider proposals by new French President Emmanuel Macron for a shake-up of the eurozone.

Speaking to business leaders in Berlin, Merkel acknowledged that the "economic cohesion of the eurozone member states leaves something to be desired".

Merkel, who is running for a fourth term in a September general election, said Germany would be open to an "economic government" to pool "best practices" for promoting jobs and growth among the 19 eurozone members.

"We could of course consider a common finance minister, if the circumstances are right" with the proper balance among risk, liability for debt and the power to dictate policy, Merkel said.

"We could also consider a euro-budget if it is clear that we are really strengthening the structure of the economy and doing sensible things," she added, backing another suggestion by the French leader.

Merkel, who also holds the rotating presidency of the G20 club of big economies, said she would fight to achieve the "broadest accord possible" on a free-trade pact at a summit in Hamburg next month.

But she admitted this would "not be easy given the new American administration" of Donald Trump, which is championing an "America First" trade policy.
News in brief

Trump slams N Korea after US student's death

AFP, Chicago :

President Donald Trump slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.



Police question 'troubled' anti-Muslim van attacker

AFP, London :

Police on Tuesday questioned a man suspected of deliberately mowing down Muslims in London, as the interior minister said Britain was "bruised but not broken" by a series of terror attacks.

Britain was coming to terms with the aftermath of its fourth bloody assault in three months following Monday's van attack on worshippers leaving the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.



Taliban kill 8 Afghan guards working at US base

AP, Kabul :

Taliban gunmen opened fire on Afghan security guards in the country's northern Parwan province, killing at least eight guards, a provincial official and the insurgents said Tuesday.

The late Monday night shooting also left two other guards wounded, according to Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the Parwan governor. The guards were attacked while they were on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan, she added.



Myanmar court gives exorcist death for killing 3 children

AP, Yangon :

A court .in Myanmar sentenced a self-styled exorcist to death on Tuesday for killing three children during a ritual he carried out after telling their parents their offspring were possessed by evil spirits.

A police officer in Thanlyin, the township where the trial was held, said the court sentenced Tun Naing for the deaths of two girls, aged 8 months and 2 years, and a 3-year-old boy. The children suffered fatal injuries last October when Tun Naing punched and kicked them. The officer, contacted by phone, declined to give his name.
US urges bigger Chinese role to combat global terror

The US wants China to become more involved in supporting the global fight against terrorism.

Reuters, Washington :

The United States wants China to become more involved in supporting the global fight against terrorism and efforts to defeat ISIS, including in Iraq, a senior U.S. official said on Monday ahead of high-level security talks with Beijing.

Susan Thornton, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said that China has taken only a limited role in counter-terrorism efforts, although it appeared to be becoming more interested.

"We would like to see them step up and take more responsibility," Thornton told reporters as Washington and China's diplomatic and defense chiefs prepared for a meeting in the US capital on Wednesday.

"They have a lot of interests, for example in Iraq, and we think they should be doing to more to contribute to the efforts of the international coalition to defeat ISIS," she said.

Thornton said Beijing, which is not a member of the 68-member coalition, was increasingly affected by terrorism, as was seen by the recent killing of two Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

Beijing has sent out "early feelers" about getting more involved, Thornton said.

"We'd like to have a good discussion with them about what more we think they can do, certainly in the way of providing resources to governments that are battling against terrorism and trying to help with capacity-building for governments and security forces in various places," she added.

Wednesday's talks will involve US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis as well as China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of state of the People's Liberation Army.

The State Department says they will focus on ways to step up pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs, but also cover areas such as counter-terrorism and territorial rivalries in the strategic South China Sea.

The United States has been at odds with China over the latter's building and fortifying of islands in the disputed waterway.

Thornton said now that there were moves towards agreeing a code of conduct over the South China Sea, Washington would like to see a freeze on all such construction activity.

She reiterated a call on China to fully implement UN sanctions on North Korea and, while praising Beijing for imposing a ban on North Korean coal imports, added: "We would like to see China do more."

AP report adds: North Korean threats, trade tensions and global terrorism are expected to be among the issues discussed at the inaugural U.S.-China diplomatic and security dialogue being held in Washington this week.

Trade and investment are also due to take a high profile following President Donald Trump's repeated complaints about the U.S. trade deficit with China, which hit $310 billion last year, by far the largest imbalance with any country.

The deficit with China represented about 60 percent of last year's total deficit of $500.6 billion.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday that Beijing is hoping for "positive outcomes" from the dialogue, which replaces a former, more wide-ranging series of talks known as the Strategic and Economic Dialogue.
Aparajeya Bangladesh formed a human chain in front of the Jatiya Press Club on Tuesday in protest against attack on BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir in Rangunia.
Ensure democratic environment for fair politics, says B Chowdhury

Barrister Mainul Hosein, Bikalpadhara Bangladesh President Prof Dr AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury, Barrister Aminul Islam along with other distinguished persons at an Iftar Mahfil organised by Bikalpadhara Bangladesh at All Community Club in the city\'s Gulshan

Staff Reporter :

Former President Dr AQM Badruddoza Chowdhury has said a peaceful and a democratic environment would have to be created in the country for doing fair politics.

"If a peaceful and a democratic environment are created, people will be encouraged to franchise their voting rights. And the dream of participatory elections will come true," he said while addressing an iftar party at a city hotel recently.

Badruddoza, also President of Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh, said as a serious solidarity crisis is now prevailing among the politicians, it would have a negative impact on country's common people.

"Besides, attacking political remarks against each other will also divide the country. As a result, instead of competitive politics, a politics of vengeance will be established in the country," he said.

Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh hosted the iftar party.

Bikalpa Dhara Bangladesh Secretary General Major (Retd) Abdul Mannan, Joint Secretary General Mahi Chowdhury and other leaders were also present.

A former Adviser to the caretaker government Barrister Mainul Hosein, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal President ASM Abdur Rob and leaders of different political parties took part in the iftar party.
Achieving water and sanitation for all

Nathaniel Mason :

Eliminating inequality is integral to the Sustainable Development Goals , from 'universal access' to water, to ending poverty 'everywhere'. Yet in a world where the politics of who gets what is increasingly polarised, leaving no-one behind is fundamentally a political project.

In a recent study with WaterAid in Nepal , for example, we found that in rural areas a combination of poverty, caste, and geography have shut the poorest fifth out of politics. While access to water has increased significantly for others, they are lagging behind.

Every city, country or district has its own political rules, most of which aren't written down. Yet despite all this complexity, experts working on essential services like water, sanitation, health or education can avoid some common political missteps, wherever they work. Here are four most typical ones:

Error 1. If something is an 'essential service', it's a top priority for people and politicians

Poor people live with high levels of risk and face hard choices every day. In urban Ghana , poor residents told us that they choose to buy water from street vendors, as getting connected is too expensive. Meanwhile, politicians have crowded agendas - and delivering services doesn't always win votes. In Ghana we found more gets spent on grand, visible water treatment and storage projects, than on small pipes connecting homes.

Error 2. Self-interest trumps grand narratives and values

Experts in essential services often assume that politicians, civil servants and citizens will respond the way they expect, if the personal incentives are right. They fail to talk about the big idea or tell a story. Softer ideas and values can be important drivers in the narrative of reform. In other research for WaterAid we found that sanitation is being sold to India and Indonesia's political classes as a matter of collective pride and modernity. The same approach in East Asian countries like South Korea and Singapore revolutionised sanitation in the 1960s.

Error 3. I'm talking to the minister so I've got politics covered If you're focused on a particular topic, it's tempting to think about the politics of your sector. In water and sanitation, we have a tendency to focus on water and health ministries. But how government and society interact in the wider sense can be more important. In Cambodia, politicians strike bargains to get into power; the need to pay back supporters can trump investing in health or sanitation for citizens. In Ethiopia , local officials involved in sanitation can be more reactive to orders from the ruling party than their bosses in the ministry.

Error 4. Being pro-poor means working only with poor people

Because power and resources are often stacked against poor people and communities, it is essential to keep a focus on their rights. But there are cases where pro-poor strategies need to line up with improvements to wider services, so that wealthier people feel included and support reforms. World Bank research across a number of water utilities in Africa shows that pro-poor reforms tended to start with wider performance improvements, closely followed by dedicated (and well resourced) strategies to serve poor people.

For anyone dedicated to a particular issue like water, health or education, facing the truths behind political priorities can be hard. But if the goal is structural reform to tackle deep-rooted inequalities and the power and interests behind them, we need to confront them. That will call for realism about why, and for whom, your issue matters.

(Nathaniel Mason specialises on water security, looking at issues ranging from implications for local livelihoods to questions of planetary boundaries. He previously worked for WaterAid and did an extended consultancy for the World Bank Water and Sanitation Programme).
Rice import duty more than halved

The government has cut the import duty on rice to 10 percent from the existing 25 percent to encourage private traders to purchase more from abroad.

The duty cut is the latest in a series of steps the government has taken to bring down rice prices.

Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed announced the decision on Tuesday and said a formal notice would follow soon.

The government also decided to withdraw the 3 percent regulatory duty, a contentious issue that discouraged the traders from importing rice.

Rice imports by private traders slumped 58 percent year-on-year to 103,200 tonnes between July 1 and May 25 of the outgoing fiscal year, according to the Food Planning and Monitoring Unit. The imports are the lowest in four years.

In December 2015, the government increased customs duty on rice imports from 10 percent to 25 percent to discourage imports. The total duty amounts to 28 percent when 3 percent regulatory duty is added.

"We hope the decisions will help ease prices very soon. The government has already decided to import rice," Ahmed said.

Separately, the government seeks to import more food grains as it has floated new tenders to procure 100,000 tonnes of rice and wheat amid criticism over the price shock.

The Directorate General of Food posted two separated tender notices on its website on Tuesday,just ten days before this fiscal year ends.

The government has invited bids from international traders to import 50,000 tonnes of non-basmati parboiled rice.

The rice tender, which closes on Jul 9, is the fourth in the outgoing fiscal 2017.

The latest tender brings the amount of rice to 200,000 tonnes Bangladesh is seeking to procure from outside in the year ending Jun 30.

The second tender floated by the state grains buyer on Tuesday is to import 50,000 tonnes of wheat. Suppliers have been told to submit bids by Jul 11.

Until Jun 18, the government had 486,000 tonnes of food grains in stock, with rice amounting to around 181,000 tonnes.

The depleting reserves have caused rice prices to spiral out of control with millers and wholesalers blaming each other.

Bangladesh also gave the green light for a purchase of another 250,000 tonnes of rice from Vietnam under a government-to-government deal.

The government hopes rice prices will ease once imports arrive in the market.

Government data, often lower than market prices, shows a 47 percent rise in the price of coarse rice while a fine variety saw around 20 percent rise in a year.

Bangladesh Bank on Monday instructed banks to allow private traders to import rice without any deposit against letters of credit or LC margin.

The decision is meant to ensure rice supply to local markets in the aftermath of crop losses in recent flash-floods, the central bank said in a statement.

The new rules will remain in force until Dec 31, which will allow the traders to import rice first and make the payments afterwards.
126 migrants feared dead

Boat sinks in Mediterranean Sea with Sudanese workers

Reuters :

At least 126 migrants are feared to have died at the weekend after their boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, citing survivors' testimony.

Two Sudanese men who arrived with around 1,000 other migrants at the Sicilian port of Palermo, Italy on Monday told IOM staff what they witnessed, IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo said.

The two survivors said they left Libya in a rubber boat packed with 130 people, mainly Sudanese.

After a few hours at sea, they said a group of Libyans caught them up. "They described (the Libyans) as pirates, but they are basically traffickers," Di Giacomo said.

"They stole the motor - something which has happened a few times recently - and at that point the boat started to take on water and sank," he said.

Passing Libyan fishermen rescued the Sudanese pair along with two Nigerian men who were the only other survivors, and put them on another migrant boat. They were eventually rescued and brought to Sicily.

"They were in shock, traumatised by what had happened, and exhausted," Di Giacomo said.

He added that there were no official witnesses to what had happened though migrants from the second boat confirmed the account.

Gangs in Libya have built a lucrative trade out of packing migrants into rickety boats heading for Italy, where more than 65,000 have arrived so far this year.

As of June 14, 1,828 were believed to have died in the attempt, according to IOM figures.

Debate over dealing with the migrant influx is becoming increasingly bitter in Italy, whose economy is lagging behind its European peers ahead of national elections due next year.

Most of the people attempting the journey originally come to Nigeria, followed by Bangladesh and other sub-Saharan countries.


BD yet to get back $66.37m



Bangladesh did not get back USD 66.37 million of the stolen money of $ 101 million from Bangladesh Bank reserve till now.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith disclosed this while responding to a question of M Abdullah from Laxmipur-4 constituency in the Parliament on Tuesday.

Of the total money, he said, $ 20 million was reimbursed from Sri Lanka to the Federal Reserve Bank, New York.

Of the $ 81 million that went to the Philippines, $ 14.63 million has been deposited in the Federal Reserve Bank, New York in Bangladesh Bank's account, he added.

"Till now $ 66.37 million of the stolen money is yet to be found out," the Finance Minister said the House.

He said that to realise the money, Bangladesh Bank, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, Finance Ministry, Office of the Attorney General, Foreign Ministry and Criminal Investigation Department of police are working together.

"To realise the rest of the stolen money legal initiatives are going on in the Philippines," he said.
Vendors record low Eid sales this time

Sanwar Hossain :

Makeshift shops on pavements in the capital city recorded low sales this time because of thin turnout of shoppers, especially the low-income group who depend on such shops to collect outfits to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitre, the biggest festival of the Muslims.

Low to mid-income city dwellers who are heavily depended on such vendors remained missing from shopping unlike earlier years to keep them dry and tidy from sudden rain.

The vendors expressed their dissatisfaction over the low sales to this correspondent who came across them Gulistan, Paltan, Farmgate, New Market, Chadni Chawk and different points of Mirpur are some hot spots for such vendors.

Robust sales were expected during the holy Ramzan, but frequent shower over the month and traffic chaos had lowered sales, traders said.

Jabbar Ali, a men's shirt vendor in-front of the Gulistan shopping Complex told the New Nation: "Most of the products I've gathered for sales are still unsold. Customers are a few in the markets due to frequent rain, water logging on the streets and heavy traffic jam this year".

"We are installing our stalls every day on the footpaths and sheltering our products under plastic shades to keep our products dry from sudden rain," he added.

Frequent eviction drive by the city corporations has displaced these vendors and natural calamity made the situation worse, some vendors pointed out demanding that the city corporations take proper rehabilitation scheme for them.

However, they did not experience such eviction drives from the twin corporations in the city.

"Earlier years we had a fixed position in the footpaths which attracted the customers most to buy essentials at cheap rate," said Najir Hossain, a shoe vendor in front of the Baitul Mukaram market.

Hossain also said they need a stable settlement of trading space soon to keep their business safe, as the mayor promised to provide the vendors a permanent space for trading earlier.

When contracted, Jakir Hossain, the public relations officer of the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC,) said, "We are keen to relocate street vendors to suitable locations. By this time we have declared holiday market spaces in different parts of the city."

He also said, "Street vendors are not willing to leave the footpaths of the city and continue their business over there. It's not acceptable because they are creating blockage to the routes used by the passers-by, grabbing spaces illegally.

The DSCC will continue eviction drive regularly right after the Eid-ul-Fitr to keep city footpaths useable by the dwellers, Jakir added.

A buyer also suggested the city corporations take proper steps to fix marketplaces for vendors from whom they could collect the products of their choice.

"We come to street vendors to buy products at cheap rate. Various offers are available here and we can bargain with the vendors to get the products at a rate much lower than the rate offered by other markets," said, Maria Jahan, a housewife searching for new dresses for her 3-year old kid in front of the Baitul Mokaram market.

She also expressed despair that products are becoming costlier even in the footpaths and in the shopping malls those are much higher than earlier years.

The increased cost of living is also pushing them to spend less this year, she also pointed out.






Muhith continues to face MPs` wrath

JP demands his resignation: Decision on VAT after discussion at JS, says Finance Minister

Staff Reporter :

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Tuesday continued to face lawmakers' wrath in Parliament with Jatiya Party's demand for his resignation.

JP lawmaker Ziauddin Ahmed Bablu also criticised Muhith for his proposal for providing Tk. 2000 crore to the state-run banks, demanding his immediate resignation.

Bablu pointed finger at Muhith who said he would infuse Tk 2,000 crore into state-run banks in the fiscal 2017-18 to recoup 'the losses incurred for looting'.

"A criminal charge should be brought against him. How can he make such a proposal? It goes against ethics and law', he said.

"He is a respectable person. Now he should resign from his post. Please give relief to the 16 crore country people by quitting with dignity," Bablu said.

Earlier on Monday, treasury bench members in Parliament came down heavily on Muhith for proposing excise duty on bank accounts and a unified VAT.

In his budget speech on June 1, the Finance Minister proposed the new VAT, which is going to impose a uniform 15 percent VAT rate.

Muhith also proposed imposition of Tk 800 excise duty instead of the existing Tk 500 in cases where the balance, whether debit or credit, exceeds Tk 1 lakh but does not exceed the limit of Tk 10 lakh.

Similarly, Tk 2,500 excise duty will be imposed instead of the existing Tk 1,500 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 10 lakh but does not exceed the limit of Tk 1 crore; Tk 12,000 will be imposed instead of the existing Tk 7,500 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 1 crore but does not exceed the limit of Tk 5 crore and Tk 25,000 will be imposed instead of the existing Tk 15,000 in cases where the balance exceeds Tk 5 crore.

The JP lawmaker also said he (Muhith) has no right to provide taxpayers' money to the banks to make up for the capital deficit caused by plundering.

"The finance minister also provided fund from the public money to the banks in 2014, 2015 and 2016 fiscal years. But he or the government was not supposed to recapitalise the banks with the taxpayers' money," Ziauddn said.

Expressing doubt over the fulfillment of the huge budget deficit, the Jatiya Party MP said the budget deficit is Tk 112,275 crore. "But where the money will come from to make up for the deficit and what will be the sources of the money?"

"Don't live in the fantasy world. Come down to the earth," Bablu said, pointing at Muhith.

Noting that banks have been kept alive with oxygen and taken to the intensive care unit (ICU), Bablu said the country's banks have classified loan of Tk 116,000 crore.

"The banking sector is now on the verge of destruction. The money from the sector is being plundered and siphoned off, but the Finance Minister said nothing about it in his budget speech," he added.

The opposition MP said the government now takes credit for the high GDP growth rate but the GDP growth is not only the parameter for development as it is one of the parameters.

Noting that the rate of educated unemployed is now three times higher than non-educated unemployed ones, he said if the GDP growth had been very high, huge jobs would have been created as there is a correlation. "This is, in fact, a budget of sufferings."

JP MP Kazi Firoz Rashid also demanded Muhith's resignation for his proposal for infusing a hefty amount of taxpayers' money into losing state-run banks.

Muhith on Tuesday said the decision regarding changes in the new value added tax (VAT) law implementation will be announced on June 28 after discussions in the Jatiya Sangsad.

"Discussions on implementation of the new VAT law are underway in the national parliament. We will announce the decision on new VAT law implementation when the proposed budget will be passed," he told journalists at a function at the Finance Ministry in the city.

Regarding the proposed excise duty on bank deposits, he said, the decision will be changed when the budget will be passed in the Jatiya Sangsad.
Int'l community enquires about EC's capacity

Staff Reporter :

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda on Tuesday said the International Community enquired about the Election Commission's (EC) capacity in holding the free and fair election.

"We have discussed with the foreign diplomats. They wanted to know whether the EC has the capacity to conduct free and fair election," said Nurul Huda in a joint briefing after a meeting with them at Nirbachan Bhaban in the capital.

UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh Robert Watkins and some 30 foreign diplomats took part in the meeting.

The four election commissioners and EC Secretary were also present on the occasion.

The CEC said that they had informed the international community about EC's branches and strength to make any election fair and transparent.

"We have many examples of holding fair and credible polls in the past," he said.

"We hope that all the political parties will take part in the upcoming election to help stabilise democracy," he said.

Nurul Huda said that the international community assured that they would support us with technical assistance for the purpose.

The Commission also sought financial assistance from the community, the CEC said.

He, however, said they had no talks regarding electronic voting machines (EVMs) at the meeting.

Turning to the delimitation of constituencies, he said, the EC is mulling whether the constituencies can be re-demarcated on the basis of voters size instead of population size.

If the delimitation of constituencies is redesigned on the basis of population, the discrimination among the constituencies would increase.

In the briefing, Robert Watkins, also the UNDP Resident Representative, said they want to provide technical assistance to the Election Commission to arrange free and fair election.

Replying to a question, he said they had no discussion about formation of the 'election-time' government as it is beyond their jurisdiction.

He said the EC has specific laws to arrange fair election, but participation of all political parties is essential.

Robert Watkins said it was important for the international community to meet the members of the new Election Commission in person to learn about their planned activities for ongoing and future elections in Bangladesh.




Labour rights situation not up to mark

GSP to EU may face hurdle

Badrul Ahsan :

The country's Generalised System of Preference (GSP) to EU countries may face hurdle as global unionists alleged that Bangladesh showed anti-union behavior last year, sources said.



Citing last December's Ashulia incident, they alleged that Bangladesh showed anti-union behavior and urged the European Union (EU) to investigate Bangladesh's GSP status.



Industrial Global Union, UNI Global Union and International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) with their European affiliates have evaluated the progress recently and said Bangladesh failed to address the commitments regarding labour issues of Sustainability Compact.



Earlier on January 18 last, the groups in a joint letter to the European Parliament made the similar call.



The Sustainability Compact was signed among the EU, Bangladesh, the US, Canada and the International Labour Organization (ILO) to improve labour rights and factory safety in the garment factories after the Rana Plaza building collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers in 2013.



"It is time to initiate a GSP investigation," the evaluation report said.



The investigation process is lengthy and provides ample time for the government of Bangladesh to take the measures necessary to comply with the GSP, said the report.



"We are confident that EU-based brands, which benefit from the lower tariff on these goods, would become fully engaged in finding solutions, along with trade unions," they said.



Despite the sustainability compact and international assistance towards improving industrial relations, the government of Bangladesh has demonstrated that continued dialogue mechanisms have failed and will do little if anything to improve conditions of more than four million garment workers, the report added.



Year on year, Bangladesh has failed to meet its commitments to the compact, according to the report.



This situation worsened further with the arbitrary arrest and detention of at least 35 trade union activists and workers in December last year.



More than 1,600 garment workers were dismissed and union leaders threatened and intimidated by police. An 'IndustriALL campaign' helped secure the release of the detainees, but the charges still remain.



Quoting the ILO 'special paragraph,' the assessment also found that compact commitments on freedom of association and collective bargaining have not been met, with half of all union registrations denied.



In addition, the government has still failed to hire the necessary number of factory inspectors cited in the compact.

The assessment also criticised the national initiative's ongoing garment factory safety measures, saying there is little evidence that the crucial remediation efforts under the national initiative are in process, and the financing of the remediation of the factories under the national effort is unclear.



Meanwhile, the government has continued to ignore unions' complaints over hazardous working conditions in sectors like ship-breaking, it added.



IndustriALL's assistant general secretary Jenny Holdcroft, in a statement, said, "The European Union is Bangladesh's most important trading partner. It must not and cannot turn a blind eye to the deteriorating conditions for workers and trade unions in the country."



He added: "An investigation into Bangladesh's preferential trading status with the EU would send a powerful message to the government of Bangladesh to clean up its act."



However, Mahmud Hasan Khan, Vice President of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), disagreed with the rights groups' evaluation of worsening situation.



He said the situation has improved in terms of safety and labour rights in the last one year.



"Labour right situation in Bangladesh largely improved. It is a continuous process. We are working for more improvement of the situation," the BGMEA VP said.
Flanked by criminal justice reform advocates, Gov. John Bel Edwards signs the 10 bills that will make sweeping changes in the state criminal code, sentencing practices and parole programs  reforms that represent the chief accomplishment of the Legislature during the regular session. Photo by Robin May

It took a costly special session, but Louisiana will enter the new fiscal year on July 1 with a budget in place.

A week and a day after the regular session ended in chaos and acrimony on the House floor after the leadership there blocked a vote on a Senate compromise budget offer, the House and Senate agreed on a budget that was nearly identical to the one available on that final day.

After a weekend cooling off period, the House returned to work Monday, June 12, with the Appropriations Committee doing what it did not do in the regular session  listening to department heads on the impacts of the cuts proposed in its original version of HB1.

On June 14, Rep. Walt Leger III picked up where hed been cut off at the end of the regular session and put together a bipartisan coalition that reshaped HB1 to reflect the offer made by the Senate the prior week. Leger won the support of 13 Republicans and two independents to win House approval (56-46) of what had been the Senates version of HB1 from the regular session.

Senate Finance Chair Eric Lafleur won approval of the new House version of the bill without amendments, which set up the June 16 Senate floor debate on HB1. Despite a push by some Republicans to amend the bill, which would have forced more votes on it in the House, the Senate voted to approve the version of the bill Leger convinced the House to adopt without changes by a 26-9 vote.

The Senate did tweak HB2, the Capital Outlay bill, but Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Chair Jean-Paul Morrell told members that the tweak had been made in consultation with House Ways and Means Chair Rep. Neil Abramson and the change would not provoke another skirmish on the House floor.

On June 15 in the Capitol Park Welcome Center, Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the 10 bills at the heart of the Justice Reinvestment Task Force criminal justice reforms. The enactment of those reforms was the chief accomplishment of the Legislature during the regular session.

The bills make changes in the state criminal code, sentencing practices and parole programs in a push to have Louisiana relinquish its title as having the highest rate of incarceration in the country.

The bills, which ultimately drew the support of the Louisiana District Attorneys Association, were the work of a broad, if unlikely, coalition of criminal justice reform allies. Supporters included the ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the Pelican Institute, Right on Crime, Louisianians for Prison Alternatives and the Louisiana Family Forum. The broad support of the reforms across the political spectrum was in stark contrast to the highly partisan fighting over the budget and tax issues during the session.

The reforms focus primarily on nonviolent criminals and providing better preparation for them to re-enter society after serving their sentences. The reforms will reduce Louisianas inmate population by about 10 percent over the next decade, saving the state $262 million over that time. The bills signed into law by Edwards obligate the state to reinvest 70 percent of those dollars in inmate rehabilitation and educational services.  Mike Stagg
The northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico, including all of South Louisiana, under tropical storm warning.

National Weather Service

Forecasters say a tropical storm warning has now been extended further westward for a disturbance in the central Gulf and it now covers an area from High Island, Texas, to the mouth of the Pearl River between Louisiana and Mississippi.

The National Weather Service also says the biggest threat from the disturbance is the likely heavy rainfall over wide areas of the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

At 11 a.m. EDT, the center said disturbance No. 3 was centered about 265 miles (430 kilometer) south of Morgan City, Louisiana  or about 355 miles (565 kilometers southeast of Galveston, Texas. Its maximum sustained winds are at 40 mph (65 kph) and the storm is moving toward the northwest at 10 mph (17 kph).

The tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere in the warning area in the next 24 to 36 hours.

A tropical storm watch is also in effect on the upper Texas coast from west of High Island to San Luis Pass.

Coastal residents are already feeling the effects of the system: Police say flooding already is being reported on Dauphin Island south of Mobile, Alabama. The main road leading to the islands narrow western end is partially covered with water, and the city is moving vehicles and equipment to higher ground.

Red flags are flying on the main public beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a warning for people to stay out of the water. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency Tuesday morning because of the flooding threat.

Bands of heavy rain are coming through as far east as the Florida Panhandle.
Higgins faced up to his rhetoric in a meeting with the left, but how can he abandon the tough talk that made him?

James Proctor, left, talks unity and political violence with Higgins. Photo by Walter Pierce

It all began with a look in the mirror, said Rep. Clay Higgins of his joint statement with local progressives on violence. That naturally begs the question: What did he see? Higgins has rarely been without controversy, particularly among folks on the left, for his penchant for rhetorical grandstanding with biblical overtones. When he plays the captain, a character weve known since his St. Landry Parish Crime Stoppers days, Higgins knows only black and white. He speaks in polarities, the necessary condition of waging a righteous war.

Appearing chastened, his thinning hair mussed and his glassy blue eyes sullen, Higgins had arrived with his hat in hand to greet his photo-op interlocutor, local Indivisible chapter head James Proctor, a fellow veteran. Higgins' entrance to a cramped conference room in Chase Tower was presaged by the looming but friendly presence of two meaty security guards. While the gathered progressives and media waited, the pair of body men helped sort out the lack of air circulation in the room.

Once in the meeting, Higgins intoned with humbled contrition. All of us need to look into our own heart and ask ourselves, do we grasp the fact that our words have meaning? said Higgins.

Higgins is a complicated man. Whether hes sincere about this rapprochement with the left is between him and his God. You cant know what a man has in his heart. But despite his rather vague mea culpa  that come-to-the-mirror moment  Higgins fell short of any tangible indication of a change in tone. Proctor seems to believe his intentions well-founded, which should count for a lot given Proctor's role.

I think Congressman Higgins recognizes, like we do, that heated rhetoric is like an unguided missile, he said in an interview. You dont know who its going to hit, or what the result is going to be, but you can be pretty sure its not going to be good. When tough talk turns into trigger pulling, our democracy is in danger. I think Clay Higgins reached out with that in mind.

What predicated all of this was the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise, shot through the pelvis with a high-powered rifle by a deranged Bernie Sanders supporter with a list of GOP congressman on his person. Maybe that explains the added security. But miles away from Virginia, the peace-making between Proctor and Higgins had a change in rhetoric on the accord, and there Higgins fell short of full penitence.

Pressed with what he called a pointed question about his infamous kill them all statement a few weeks ago, following a terror attack in London, Higgins didnt so much dig in as he maintained his pre-Virginia-shooting party line. Directed at Islamic terrorists, he argued, his statements must be construed in the context of war against people who want to do us harm.

Well, that is a very pointed question that I think is deserving of a great deal of conversation, maybe over a cold beer. But, the bottom line is that words have impact, and that is what came into my heart, Higgins answered.

Call it the cold beer dodge: the plea that, faced with a tough, soul-searching question, we ought to defer such quarrel to the peace of a shared drink. That would make sense except that the meeting with Indivisible was predicated on precisely that kind of soul-searching.

In any case, that pointed question, by my colleague Walter Pierce, doesnt actually touch the more problematic rhetoric that Higgins has produced, and which he has yet to address directly. Its one thing to get hot-headed about Islamic terror  worth noting that even some conservative commentators, like Kevin Boyd at The Hayride, felt like he went too far  but Higgins has blown up on constituents in Facebook rants, challenging critics to back up their barbs in the schoolyard.

Last month, he told one constituent that he aspired to her eventual absence, an oratorical twist thats as vaguely threatening as it is meaningless. Whether he actually hoped her dead is swept under by his next sentiment: Cowardly lot ye are, ye and your ilk. In my face then...dont sing it, bring it.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what's sentiment and what's satire. His persona is crafted around straight-talk.

That Facebook thread is appended to a video of a shirtless, SWAT-vested Congressman Clay blasting an assault rifle and rallying viewers to vote Republican. Its one thing to call politics a fight, its another to say it holding a deadly weapon.

Its doubtful that those flare-ups really hurt him with his base, many of whom have very much bought into the us-versus-them rhetoric that Higgins face-to-face with local progressives ostensibly decried.

After the kill them all controversy took flight onto national media, Higgins used the episode to ask for campaign contributions. Do you have my six? the campaign lit says. In that light, youve got to wonder if his peace-making with Indivisible is a play to the political middle. If he wants another term in office, hes already in a new campaign. And Higgins has shown himself adept at presenting the right face to the right crowd.

Its difficult to imagine that Higgins will step all the way back from his straight-talk swagger, and in fairness, combat metaphors fall well short of provoking violence. But considering the conversation with Proctor revolved around the heated rhetoric that divides Americans, Higgins put little on the record to suggest that he intended to abandon his stock and trade. Sure, he took a look in the mirror. But he fell short of promising to change what he saw.

His office has not yet replied to requests for comment regarding his social media flare ups.

After he left the room, his guards held up the crowd while the congressman went to the bathroom, securing the hallway until the congressman relieved himself and loaded onto the elevator.

Maybe they were protecting him from others wanting to harm him, or protecting him from further harming himself by saying something else off the cuff. Either way, as he ambled off to his next engagement, he left the rest of us to wonder.
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The wineries of the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail are adding a little more hardware to their trophy cases this year.

Shawnee Hills Wine Trail members brought home six double gold awards, including three Governors Cups, from this year's Illinois Wine Competition.

For the second year in a row, Pomona Winerys Strawberry Dessert Wine brought home a Governors Cup. Hickory Ridge Vineyards Norton and Blue Sky Vineyards Rose also received the distinguished Governors Cup awards in their class.

Other awards include double gold medals for Alto Vineyards' Vignoles and Blue Sky Vineyard's Chambourcin Reserve. Blue Sky Vineyards Shawnee Cream Sherry and Cabernet Franc took home gold medals. Shawnee Hills members also collectively took home 21 silver medals and 14 total bronze medals.

Blue Sky Vineyard also recently competed in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition and received the Best in Class Award for their 2013 Estate Grown Chambourcin Reserve, a gold medal for their Vintners Select and a bronze medal for their dry Vignoles. That competition is hailed as the largest competition of American wines in the world and featured over 7,000 entries from 28 states across the country.

This years Indy International Wine Competition featured over 2,000 entries from 11 countries and 40 U.S. states, and Shawnee Hills Wine Trail wineries brought home 18 awards from that competition.

Blue Sky Vineyard was awarded two double gold medals for their Chambourcin Reserve and Rose and a silver medal for their dry white blend, Vintners Select. StarView Vineyards received silver medals for their Estate Grown Red Star and their dry Rose wine, and two bronze medals for their Chardonel and Super Nova. Kite Hill Vineyards received silver medals for their Chambourcin and Rose wines. Pomona Winerys Golden Oak Aged Reserve, Orchard Harvest, Kir, Orchard Spice and Strawberry Dessert wines each received a silver medal, and four more of their wines took bronze medals in the competition.
PINCKNEYVILLE  Least of the Brethren Food Pantry celebrated 20 years of feeding the hungry in Southern Illinois on Tuesday morning. George and Betty Culley operate the pantry.

George Culley said the pantry might not be in operation if he had kept his job as a coal miner working for Sahara Coal. He estimates losing his job cost him around $600,000, the amount he would have made until his retirement 15 years later.

Rather than focus on what was lost, he decided to help others and believes God asked him to do just that.

Jesus' hands feed the hungry, George Culley said.

I love the Lord, Betty Culley said. We serve him, and we serve his people.

George Culley first opened a food pantry in June 1997 in West Frankfort, where he lived. He named the operation Least of the Brethren, which was taken from a passage in the Bible, Matthew 15:35-40, which talks about feeding the hungry.

In 1997, he packed up the operation and moved to Pinckneyville, in part because the need was so great in that area, he said.

The pantry originally operated at 401 W. Water St., and moved eight blocks to 1100 Kennedy Drive in 2002. In December 2011, an anonymous donor gave the operation a former supermarket building at 407 S. Douglas St. The building was five times larger than the original location.

George Culley married Betty Culley in September 2009 after a brief courtship.

The pantry still operates out of the building on Douglas Street. In addition to the pantry, the building houses living quarters for the couple and a small chapel for Least of the Brethren Ministries.

Pinckneyville Mayor Robert Spencer called Least of the Brethren Food Pantry a very much needed organization and said George Culley plays an important part in the community.

Cars line up all the way around the block. Hes just amazing, Spencer said.

One of our responsibilities is to provide food in the area. Without George, we could not do it, Frank Finnegan, president and CEO of St. Louis Area Foodbank, said.

St. Louis Area Foodbank delivers food to Least of the Brethren Food Pantry every month. Finnegan said the pantry is one of the larger pantries in the area.

Ive been around George and the pantry for a number of years, and they do incredible work. What they do is needed now more than ever, State Rep. Jerry Costello II, D-Red Bud, said.

The Rev. Charlie Smith of Paradise Baptist Church has been involved with the pantry since 2001.

He (George) works really hard at it, and he has good help, Smith said.

State Rep. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, arrived at the pantry with a donation. She brought 12 cases of canned vegetables and half a case of macaroni and cheese.

George Culley spoke briefly, thanking those gathered, which included pantry volunteers and donors.

Alysia Culley, George Culleys youngest child, has been working at the pantry since she was a teenager and now serves on its board.

Theres not really much better you can do than serve others, Alysia Culley said.

Least of the Brethren Food Pantry is open from 9 a.m. to noon Monday and Friday. For information, call 618-357-9530.
Warnings abound every summer: Don't leave a dog in a hot car. But the Illinois State Police have a new warning about trying to rescue those hot dogs: Don't break into a car to save it.

Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Jason Bradley said this is the time of year when people get very concerned about animals left inside cars.

Bradley said leaving a dog in a hot car can be a crime. But it is absolutely a crime for someone to break a car's window, regardless of why.

"The best course of action if you believe there is an animal that is the victim of being exposed to prolonged heat and is in danger of death or serious injury, is to call the police," Bradley said.

Illinois does not have a Good Samaritan law to protect people who want to rescue an animal themselves.

"There are three organizations that are legally allowed to break a car's window or cause damage to a vehicle in order to rescue the animal," Bradley explained. "Those are animal control organizations, law enforcement, or the Illinois Department of Agriculture."

Bradley said Illinois has a humane care law that makes it a crime to leave animals in the extreme heat or cold, but you have to prove an animal is in real danger to act. He says just seeing a dog in a hot car isn't enough.

Leaving a dog in a hot car can be a misdemeanor crime, but Bradley said breaking into a car certainly is a misdemeanor.
CAIRO  Documents signed last year by Sterling Moody and the Missouri Office of the Secretary of State give some details on the financial history of the man poised to provide relief to Cairos food desert.

On Sept. 27, 2016, Moody, who is the driving force behind Harvest Market, the grocery store slated to be filling the void Wonder Market left in Cairo when it closed in 2015, signed a consent order agreeing to repay $62,500 in restitution to an unnamed Missouri resident.

The documents allege he offered or sold unregistered securities while acting as an unregistered agent. While doing this, the document also alleges he failed to disclose several pertinent personal financial details to the complainant. A representative for the Securities Division of the Secretary of States Office said that by signing the document, Moody did not assume guilt but instead agreed to the terms of restitution.

According to the consent order, Moody built a relationship with a Missouri woman identified as MR in early 2013. Later that year, it alleges Moody and an associate asked MR for a loan to support Bremen Investment Co. MR loaned $3,336 to Moody and Bremen Investment Co. with the understanding it would be repaid in four months with 10 percent interest.

The order alleges Moody returned to MR in February 2014 to ask for a $7,000 loan to open what would be known as Harvest Market in East St. Louis. Moody allegedly told MR he had the repayment lined up.

Moody told MR, among other things, the loan was guaranteed to be paid back because Moody was expecting to receive a federal grant specifically allocated for opening grocery stores in poor neighborhoods. MR allowed Moody to use MRs credit card for the $7,000 investment. However, when MR received MRs credit card back from Moody, MR found that Moody had charged $18,000 on the card for such things as personal utility payments and operating expenses for Bremen Investment Co., the document reads.

According to the document, Moody returned to MR on Feb. 14, 2014, to ask for another $10,000, which the document said she took from her Edward Jones account. He then allegedly gave MR a promissory note.

On or about February 24, 2014, Moody and Bremen Investment Co. issued MR a $32,000 promissory note that promised payment on or before February 24, 2015, the order reads.

It is alleged that in May Moody came to MR again, asking for a, $50,000 loan for predevelopment expenses related to Harvest Marketplace, according to the consent order, which it said MR took from her 401(k). One month later, Moody is alleged to have issued a, $50,000 promissory note that promised repayment by May 31, 2015.

According to the order, MR was not paid in accordance with the issued promissory notes. It also states that MR sent a note to the Securities Division complaining of Moodys actions. In her note, she stated that, All checks received from MR were not deposited into a financial institution, rather, the checks, were converted to cash at a check cashing institution, MR willingly supported Moodys efforts to open a grocery store and subsidized Moodys personal living expenses, MRs funds were used for Moodys personal living expenses, expenses related to operating Bremen Investment Co.s business, and expenses related to Harvest Marketplace, approximately $3,700 of MRs funds were used to pay Associated Wholesale Grocers for a market survey, approximately $5,000 of MRs funds were used to pay Inkosi Design, for creation of a design concept for the venture, Moody and Bremen Investment Co. have paid MR back approximately $18,800 and the Harvest Marketplace project will be difficult to achieve without new investors, but plans are to start building the grocery store sometime in the spring of 2016. MR will be paid back after Harvest Marketplace becomes operational.

A representative for the Securities Division said that Moody did complete a voluntary, on-the-record interview. According to the order, Moody did confirm that he discussed investing in Harvest Market and that, was mostly mine and hers. In his interview, the document also said that he confirmed the use of funds for personal expenses and acknowledges that he did owe the money to MR.

The document also outlines a list of significant financial details pertaining to Moody, which in a subsequent interview with The Southern, Moody did not dispute.

The document makes the following outline of omissions:

 Moodys bankruptcy filing on Oct. 15, 2005;

 Moodys arrest and subsequent conviction for passing a bad check on Jan. 8, 2009;

 a $1,395.92 judgment against Moody in favor of American General Financial Services on April 8, 2009;

 a $1,205.24 judgment against Moody in favor of Capital One Bank on Oct. 22, 2009;

 a $9,281.48 judgment against Moody in favor of Superior Bank on Feb. 22, 2010;

 a $22,658 judgment against Moody in favor of LJH Enterprises LLC on March 7, 2010;

 a $140,540 judgment in favor of Regions Bank and against Moody on June 16, 2010;

 a $152,557 Missouri tax lien filed against Moody on June 28, 2010 and a $60,456 Missouri tax lien filed against Moody on June 28, 2010;

 Moodys bankruptcy filing on Sept. 28, 2011;

 a $1,806 judgment against Moody in favor of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District on Jan. 19, 2012;

 a $10,691 Missouri tax lien filed against Moody on Oct. 23, 2013;

 a $5,000 judgment against Moody in favor of James Childress on July 30, 2014;

 and a $4,924.84 judgment against Moody in favor of the city of St. Louis on May 28, 2015.

In an interview with The Southern about the consent order, Moody said neither the order nor its contents had a bearing on his ability to operate either his grocery store in East St. Louis or in Cairo.

We are in the process of paying back her initial investment and thats it. That has nothing to do with that, thats different things, Moody said of the more than $210,000 in tax liens filed in 2010 against Moody and his operation of Harvest Market.

Moody said such debts were not uncommon for an entrepreneur, which he said he has been since he was 24. He described it as an entrepreneurial rap sheet.

Its just a fact that is easy for someone to figure out, Well, lets take a look at since he was 20-something years old, and thats kind of what it is, Moody said, adding that it has nothing to do with the project, referring to the grocery store he is working on in Cairo, which is slated to open in early 2018.

Moody met with The Southern on location of the Harvest Market location in East St. Louis, which was scheduled to open in 2016; he now anticipates opening its doors later this year. He said he he is trying to do good for the people of Cairo.

Cairo Mayor Tyrone Coleman acknowledged that he knew about the consent order when he started helping Moody get established in Cairo.

Im not going to deal with that silliness, Coleman said when asked about any concerns he or the city had when learning part of Moodys financial history.

Everything is a go, Coleman said of the project.

Moody said he plans to file for tax increment financing from the city, but said that process is not yet complete as he needs final construction costs for the renovation of the NAPPA building on Sycamore Street in Cairo.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, helped arrange Moodys debut in Cairo. In an April interview, Moody indicated that he had been working with Durbins office for nearly a year.

A representative from Durbins office briefed to discuss the issue said he has been advocating for grocery store companies to move in to Cairo, but they were not aware of the consent order filed last year until only recently.

We only recently learned of these documents and of course he has been advocating for Cairo for years now, Durbin's office said. "Our office was disappointed upon hearing the news, but Sen. Durbin will continue to advocate for the Cairo community," Durbins office replied when asked of their response when finding out about the documents detailing part of Moodys past financial history.

Moody said despite how things might look on paper, the consent order has nothing to do with Harvest Market. He also said that there is, no one actively seeking any funds from me, so we are fine.

Moody said he just wants to do some good for the people of Cairo and that he knows how fast bad news can travel.

Bad travels faster than good, he said. Still, he said he does not want that to overshadow the positive change he hopes to bring to the struggling community.
Google yourself. Curate your online photos. The general rule of thumb, as one private high school advises its students: Don't post anything you wouldn't want your grandmother to see.

Guidance counselors have warned college applicants for years to mind their social media posts but can now cite a high-profile example at Harvard University, which revoked offers of admission to 10 students for offensive Facebook posts.

Colleges rarely revoke admission for online offenses, but social media's role in the college admission process is a growing reality. Here are some experts' tips on what to post  and not post  if you're trying to get into college.

WHAT RESEARCH SHOWS

Research from Kaplan Test Prep suggests online scrutiny of college applicants is increasing. Of 365 admissions officers surveyed, 35 percent said they check Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites to learn more about applicants, according to a poll released in February. Kaplan Test Prep has conducted annual surveys on the subject since 2008, when 10 percent of admissions officials said they checked applicants' social media pages.

The Harvard case highlights that "admissions doesn't necessarily end at the acceptance letter," says Yariv Alpher, executive director of research for Kaplan, the test-preparation company.

The case included jokes about the Holocaust and sexual assault that were shared on a private Facebook group for incoming Harvard freshmen, according to The Harvard Crimson, which broke the news earlier this month. Harvard has declined to comment but says it tells new students that admission offers can be withdrawn if their behavior calls into question their maturity or moral character.

THE GRANDMOTHER RULE

San Francisco University High School seniors are given a warning each fall to clean up their online presence  and nix any posts they wouldn't show Grandma, said Jon Reider, director of college counseling at the elite private school.

"The mythical grandmother is held up as an icon of moral standards," Reider said.

Another word of wisdom: Don't make jokes online.

"Unless you are certified as being the funniest kid in the class, don't be funny," Reider said. "A sense of humor can be dangerous online."

DON'T BRAG, ESPECIALLY ABOUT WRONGDOING

Colgate University admissions officers don't routinely cruise prospective students' social media sites, says dean of admissions Gary L. Ross.

"However, there are occasions, very rarely, were something might be brought to our attention, and it would be foolish for us, if the matter is serious enough, not to check that out," Ross said.

He cited a case from a few years ago where a student bragged on social media that she applied early to Colgate and another institution, which violates an agreement students sign to apply early to only one school.

"That was brought to our attention. I was in touch with the other dean of admission, and we both agreed it was in violation of each institution's rules, and the student was denied at both."

EDIT ONLINE USERNAMES

Make sure your email address is appropriate, says Nancy Beane, associate director of college counseling at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, and president of the National Association for College Admission Counseling.

Silly, vulgar or otherwise unprofessional usernames might look good to teenagers but send the wrong message to adults.

Beane also advises students to be mindful of how they treat others online, including comments and trolling of other accounts.

MORE DO'S AND DON'TS

The Princeton Review offers social media tips for college applicants, including "Google yourself" to see what turns up.

"Maybe you've made a comment on a blog that you'd rather not have show up, or a friend has tagged you in an unflattering photo," Princeton Review says in a tip sheet on its website.

It also advises students to check their privacy settings to know what can be seen publicly, and to edit their online photo galleries.

"A picture is worth a thousand words, so make sure you're OK with what those words might be."

___

Associated Press writer Sally Ho in Las Vegas contributed to this report. Follow Jocelyn Gecker on Twitter: twitter.com/jgecker
A university professor is searching in Orangeburg County and surrounding areas to find the missing pieces of a puzzle associated with the origins of a slave-era artifact that has been described as a "national treasure."

Central Washington University Professor Dr. Mark Auslander, who teaches in the Department of Anthropology and Museum Studies at the university and is director of the Museum of Culture and Environment, has spent the past year and a half researching "Ashey's Sack," a cotton sack that features a multi-colored, embroidered text recounting the slave sale of a 9-year-girl named Ashley and the gift of the sack to her by her mother.

Mark Auslander's research traces Ashley's Sack from the initial gift during the era of slavery to the present, including its connection to Orangeburg County's Goodland Township.

On loan from South Carolina's Middleton Place, the sack is now on display in the new Smithsonian National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.

Auslander has researched the lineage of the three women whose names were stitched into the sack, which was created by Ruth Middleton in 1921. Middleton presented an account of her family's legacy, including tracing the story of Ashley, who was born a slave; being sold to another owner, and how Ashley's mother, Rose, provided her with family keepsakes. Ashley was Ruth's grandmother.

The sack that Ashley was given by her mother contained a tattered dress, three handfuls of pecans and a braid of Rose's hair.

The original object was found in 2007 at a flea market in the small town of Springfield, Tennessee. Little was known of its history, but Auslander became intrigued by who the females listed on the sack actually were.

"It's now displayed very prominently in the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, but it was still a great mystery. So that's how I got involved about a year and a half ago as an anthropologist and someone who works a lot on history in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and so forth," Auslander said.

"We all knew there was a Rose and an Ashley in South Carolina, but we didn't know when it was or where they came from. We had a few hints, and one of the things is when a 9-year-old girl is sold, it could be for a lot of reasons, but often it was because the old master died and the estate, of course, was being broken up," he said. "It's a terrible thing."

The professor found that Rose and Ashley had been owned by a wealthy slave owner named Robert Martin who lived in Charleston. Martin also had a plantation near Allendale on the Savannah River with more than 100 slaves, including Ashley, Auslander said.

"But Rose was held as an enslaved house servant in Charleston. And then Martin died in December of 1852 and under those circumstances, his widow made the obvious decision to sell off some enslaved people," he said. "So all of that made sense in terms of what was actually written on the sack."

That was the first piece of the puzzle, but the second part was trying to figure out who Ruth Middleton was. The search led Auslander to Orangeburg County.

"The sack had obviously passed down through generations of black women in slavery and freedom. We know from my research that Ruth was a young single mom living in Philadelphia, and must have made the decision to keep telling the story of how her family came from this line of strong black women because that was the oral story that had been passed down all those generations in South Carolina," the professor said.

"We know that Ruth's daughter lived until 1988 in Philadelphia. She died in a nursing home, I think, without any next of kin, and the sack gets passed on. It must have been given to Goodwill and then just ends up in flea markets and things like that," including the flea market in Tennesee where the sack was purchased, Auslander said.

After he found Ruth's marriage license, the connection to Orangeburg was made.

"On that you see that her mother was named Rosa Clifton, and that's really how it got connected to Orangeburg, because the African-American Cliftons were mainly concentrated around the Goodland Township," Auslander said.

"You find some (Cliftons) in Blackville, some in Springfield and some in the Goodland area of Orangeburg. Some are also extended into Bamberg. So they sort of spread out from the plantation that was along the Savannah River where Ashley was," he said.

The professor said his goal is to find as many Cliftons as he can and connect them.

"There are a lot of Cliftons. Some of them moved down to Florida, but a number of them stayed in Orangeburg County. Everybody at the Smithsonian would just be thrilled if we could connect actual descendants of the family up," Auslander said.

"Here we have this object that people are now talking about as a national treasure, and the question is: Could we find some real, live descendants on the Clifton side of the family that are connected to this amazing story?"

Auslander said he's excited about where his research might take him.

"I'm still working at it and hope to get down there to chat with people. There are very helpful people in the different geneological societies in Bamberg, Allendale and Aiken," he said.

The sack's story is a compelling one, Auslander said.

"What's amazing is we have a lot of stories about slavery, but we have very few that were written down within a family of enslaved and free families themselves. It was very hard for enslaved people to own anything, but here we have an object that was given to this little girl and held on to all the way through slavery into freedom," he said.

"It's been passed down through the generations, and then Rose's great-granddaugther turns it into this wonderful work of art. So it's kind of unique in American history to have all those things happening at the same time," Auslander said.

Anyone with information about the Clifton family that may aid in Auslander's research can contact him by email at auslanderm@cwu.edu.
Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 may have to pull $4 million from its fund balance next year to pay for items such as school nurses and maintenance department raises.

Revenues for the 2017-2018 school year are projected at $64.2 million, Deputy Superintendent for Finance and Operations Donnie Boland said.

Trustees gave second reading last week to a budget draft that anticipates spending $3.2 million more than district expects to take in.

But the district trustees may spend even more, with the extra money coming from its fund balance.

Boland said he already made some changes to the budget to reflect that the state provided more revenue than expected in some areas.

Expenditures went up in the areas of technology, purchase services and charter schools, he said.

The district will now look at individual department budgets to make cuts before third reading.

But the difference could be lessened by transferring $1.7 million left over from the building fund, Boland said. Or it could be totally covered by transferring money from the districts $8.7 million unassigned fund balance.

So we could absorb that amount and still be in good financial position, he said.

After looking over budget figures, trustee Samuel Farlow said that money should not be cut for the school nurses program.

Im not in favor of moving the $100,000 out of the budget for school nurses, Farlow said. If funds are cut for their salaries, were going to lose more of our school nurses.

If we do not take care of our school nurses, whos going to be here to take care of our students? he said.

Trustee Julius Page said he wants to keep a $2 per hour pay raise for maintenance workers, which will cost $680,000.

I think we can do a lot of things other than that, Page said.

He said that he would rather take some of the funds for nurses and give it to the maintenance workers.

Farlow said the $100,000 for nurses should remain, but asked if the maintenance pay raise could be reduced to $1 per hour for the coming year. Another $1 per hour could be added the following year.

Something is better than nothing, Farlow said.

I dont want to divide the maintenance workers by nothing, Page said. We got the dirtiest schools in the district area.

Keeping the maintenance raises and the school nurse funds will require the district to take about $4 million from its fund balance to make up for the shortfall, Boland said.

After further discussion, the board agreed to add those funds back into the budget for third reading.

Trustees voted to approve second reading of the budget, with the stipulation that the funds for school nurses and maintenance workers will be added back in for third reading.

In other business at last weeks nights meeting:

 Boland gave a budget status report for the month of April. Although he said interest income figures were over budget for the period, other areas were on target.

Trustee Vernon Stephens asked if Boland foresees a significant increase to the fund balance.

I wouldnt call it significant, Boland said. I do think that well see a favorable balance at the end of the fiscal year, I just dont know how much.

Significant is kind of a relative term, but I do think we have good news, he said.

 Trustees approved first reading of a revised district wellness policy and competitive food sales/vending policy to meet current federal guidelines. Competitive foods are foods sold outside of a schools breakfast and lunch programs, Boland said.

 The board heard pitches from two architectural firms vying for an indefinite delivery contract with the district. An indefinite delivery contract is used when an entity like a school district cant determine, above a specified minimum, the exact quantities of supplies or services it will require during the contract period.

Such a contract provides for an indefinite quantity of services for a fixed period of time. Its used for small projects requiring an architect.

Representatives of McMillan, Pazdan, Smith Architecture and AAG Architects made presentations to the board. The district plans to use one of the firms for some small projects yet to be determined, according to OCSD5 spokesman Bill Clark.

 Trustees approved a policy regarding promotion, retention and acceleration of students. They also approved first reading of two policies dealing with credit recovery and content recovery courses.

 State Rep. Russell Ott, D-St. Matthews, reported that he looks forward to having the opportunity to override Gov. Henry McMasters veto of the Orangeburg County school consolidation bill.

He also said he will vote to override the governors veto of $20.5 million appropriated to the state Department of Education for new school buses.

Ott said he would urge Lt. Gov. and Senate President Kevin Bryant to bring legislators back to session soon to deal with the issues.

 The board entered closed, executive session to discuss personnel recommendations and personnel matters. After returning to open session, trustees voted to approve the items discussed and then adjourned.
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By Azernews





By Sara Israfilbayova

Azerbaijans economy is rapidly developing and over the past 12 years has grown by 3.5 times, said Deputy Prime Minister Ali Ahmadov during the meeting with entrepreneurs in Sumgayit on June 20.

Ahmadov noted that the basis of this development was laid by the national leader Heydar Aliyev and is also the result of the successful policy being continued by President Ilham Aliyev.

"Economic development is the basis of development of all spheres in Azerbaijan. The resources obtained as a result of economic development made it possible to reduce poverty in Azerbaijan from 50 to 5 percent, the well-being of the population significantly improved, wages increased, pensions grew threefold, the towns and cities of the country changed and modernized. Without economic development, it would be impossible to achieve this," Vice-Premier stated.

The Deputy Prime Minister went on to say that the implementation of all works envisaged in the future is also connected with economic development, further adding that the priority of the policy of President Aliyev is economic development.

Today, it is planned to implement radical reforms in the economic sphere of Azerbaijan. Henceforth, a new stage is beginning in the development of the country's economy, which requires from entrepreneurs greater responsibility and an increase in the coefficient of activity," he concluded.

Encouraging business doing in the country remains to be one of the priorities for the government, which supports entrepreneurs through creating necessary conditions for the development of a healthy business climate in the country, and issuing concessional loans.

In this regard, it is planned to create the Agency of Small and Medium Enterprises and the Guarantee Credit Fund in 2017-2018. Similar agencies already operate in Europe, the UK, the USA, China, Singapore and other countries, stimulating the development of small and medium-sized businesses.

So far there is the National Fund for Entrepreneurship Support (NFES) under the Azerbaijani Economy Ministry that has been operating since 1992 to provide preferential loans from the state budget for small and medium business in an effort to develop entrepreneurship in the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The NFES allocated 190 million manats ($111.6 million) for financing projects of local business entities in 2016.

Since early 2017 the Fund has issued concessional loans worth 13.8 million manats ($8.1 million).




By Azernews





An Azerbaijani-Kazakh tourism forum will be held in Astana on June 28.

To be co-organized by Azerbaijan`s Embassy to Kazakhstan, as well as Azerbaijan`s Entrepreneurs Union operating in Kazakhstan the forum will feature presentations about tourism potential of both countries.

The bilateral meeting of businessmen will be held as part of the forum, Azertac reported.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established on August 27, 1992. Both countries are full members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Turkic Council, Joint Administration of Turkic Arts and Culture, Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Today, 37 Kazakh companies involved in different sectors of economy are successfully doing their business in Azerbaijan. In a western region of Kazakhstan alone, a total of 46 companies with Azerbaijani capital are registered.

The two countries have already signed over 100 agreements, which constitute legal basis for negotiations between the countries. More than 20 of those are in the field of economy.

Trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan amounted to almost $124.4 million in 2016, including more than $26 million that accounted for the export to Kazakhstan, according to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee.
Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev visited the Embassy of Germany on June 20 to offer condolences over the death of former Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Kohl.

The head of state signed a book of condolences.

Then President Aliyev spoke with ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Michael Kindsgrab, Azertac reported.

The head of state extended condolences to the people of Germany over the death of Helmut Kohl. President Aliyev hailed outstanding statesman, great and historical figure Helmut Kohl`s significant services to his people.

He played an indispensable role in the unification of Germany and strengthening of the European Union, the president said.

The head of state said national leader Heydar Aliyev and Helmut Kohl established Azerbaijani-German relations.

President Aliyev said that during his presidency Heydar Aliyev paid one of his first visits to Germany, adding that this visit and meetings held with the late Helmut Kohl laid the foundation of bilateral relations. The head of state said the national leader shared his good impressions from the meeting with Helmut Kohl with him.

Te President further said bilateral relations between the two countries successfully develop, adding that cooperation covers several fields and has good prospects.

Ambassador Kindsgrab thanked for condolences and kind words. He highlighted the development of Azerbaijani-German relations.

They exchanged views over preparations for the 200th jubilee of Germans` arrival in Azerbaijan.




By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

The Gulf rift appeared to put long-term partnerships and alliances to the test, while also revealing Turkey as the main supporter of Qatar in the recently emerged crisis.

Since the first day of the crisis, Turkey has been trying with all its efforts to settle the conflict, said Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson for the Turkish president.

Kalin said that Ankara hopes for an early solution to the Qatari crisis, Turkish media reported.

"The Qatari crisis for Turkey is a crisis between fraternal states," he said.

Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt cut off diplomatic relations with Qatar, accusing the latter of supporting ISIS, Al-Qaeda and other terrorists and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East. They were later joined by Libya, Yemen, the Maldives, Mauritius and Mauritania, with Jordan and Djibouti announcing they would lower the level of diplomatic contacts with Qatar. Senegal and Chad recalled their ambassadors from Doha.

Doha denied allegations over its support to terrorism and extremism adding that the diplomatic rift was based on "baseless fabricated claims."

Turkey and Iran have been providing food and water supplies to Qatar. Moreover, Turkey has declared its full support to Qatar by adopting a bill on deploying Turkish troops in the country.

Turkey plays an important role and enjoys authority in the Islamic world and taking advantage of this, Ankara intends to resolve the Qatari crisis.

Ankara, in a bid to settle the rift among Arab countries, held a number of negations, while Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held several meetings with leaders and ambassadors of certain Arab countries to resolve the situation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously called for an early settlement of this crisis and stated that the confrontation does not fit the Islamic world, and all issues can be resolved through dialogue.

In this regard, Erdogan drew attention to the position of Saudi Arabia calling Riyadh "the key to solving the current crisis in the Persian Gulf."
By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

Deserts occupy 80 percent of the territory of Turkmenistan, and both cultivated and uncultivated lands are subject to various degrees of desertification.

Aman Babaev, a leading research fellow at the National Institute of Desert, Flora and Fauna of the State Committee of Turkmenistan for Environmental Protection and Land Resources, said that desertification is aggravated by natural factors  mudflows, dust storms, fluctuations of the level of the Caspian and Aral seas, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported June 20.

Desertification is the persistent degradation of dryland ecosystems by variations in climate and human activities. Desertification is a destructive which becomes apparent mainly on arid lands, it includes degradation of land, water, plant and other resources together with demographic outburst and ecological stress.

Turkmenistan was one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1996, starting a year later to implement a national action plan.

Rational use of pastures, forestry development, afforestation, and improvement of irrigated lands are among the main aspects of this action plan.

"The Central-Asian country has accumulated unique experience in preventing land degradation and combating desertification, he said.

Remote methods and GIS technologies, as well as space images obtained from satellites are widely used in the monitoring studies.

Long-term scientific research has become the basis for the development of the concept of national monitoring of various types of desertification: degradation of vegetation cover, sand deflation, water erosion, soil salinization, pasture flooding, technogenic desertification.

As a result of desertification processes and pollution, biological productivity of the ecological systems in Turkmenistan has declined by 30 to 50 percent in recent decades, according to estimates.

Between 800,000 and 1,000,000 hectares of new desert now appears per year in Central Asia.








By Azernews





By Kamila Aliyeva

The Committee of the European Parliament (EP) on foreign affairs urged the European Commission (EC) and the EU member states to officially suspend negotiations on Turkey's accession to the community.

This was stated in the annual report of the EP Committee on Turkey, TASS reported.

"Taking into account the results of the recent referendum in Turkey and the expansion of presidential powers, the foreign affairs committee calls on the EP and the national governments of the EU to officially suspend negotiations on Turkey's accession without delay if the package of constitutional reform is implemented without changes," the document said.

The members of the Committee almost unanimously voted for the relevant draft resolution.

The document is expected to be put to the vote of the whole parliament at the July plenary session in Strasbourg.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim recently said that Turkey wants to open a new page in relations with the European Union.

Earlier, EU minister and chief negotiator on the issues of accession Omer Celik said that Turkey should not refuse to join the EU.

Accession negotiations started in 2005, but until Turkey agrees to apply the Additional Protocol of the Ankara Association Agreement to Cyprus, eight negotiation chapters will not be opened and no chapter will be provisionally closed.

Turkey-EU relations, after years of deadlock following the opening of accession talks in 2005 have intensified in 2016 with parties closely cooperating to stem the flow of refugees into the EU.

The visa liberalization scheme for Turkish citizens and the speeding up of Turkeys EU accession negotiations are also part of the migration deal agreed upon in November 2015 and finalized in March this year.

However, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE)'s recent decision to reopen a political monitoring process against Turkey deteriorated relations between Ankara and Brussels and put under the question Turkey's accession.
By Azernews





By Sara Israfilbayova

Rail is a favorite mode of tourists who are willing to explore a country and enjoy adventures. Rail tourism in Azerbaijan will be a best way to uncover the mystique of the country in the true essence. Trailing around all the directions of the country, these trains link almost all amazing tourist spots in the Land of Fire.

Azerbaijan Railways now offers tourists visiting the country to take advantage of RailTravel, offering tours to the beautiful regions.

The head of RailTravel company, established under Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, Ogtay Aslanov told reporters that the advantage of traveling by rail is safety.

Those, who want to travel with comfort, will be able to pre-order the tour packages, he said. The tours are planned to be organized in the direction of southern, northern and western regions. Orders on organization of such tours will be accepted no later than 12 days before departure, since it takes time to resolve various issues with documents.

Speaking about the prices, Aslanov said that the tariffs are more than acceptable. Thus, price for a wagon-lit (for 18 people) is 1,100 manats [$646], carriage for 36 people - 1,200 manats [$705], couchette car for 54 people - 1,512 manats [$888] and administration car, which is designed for family trips - 900 manats [$529], Aslanov said.

As part of the first rail tour organized for reporters to Ganja, there were organized excursions to Lake Goygol, Maralgol Reserve, Ganja Gates, Nizami Ganjavi Mausoleum, famous Bottle House, Javad Khan's Tomb and Khan Bagy Park.

Situated on the Great Silk Road, and divided partially between Eastern Europe and Western Asia, Azerbaijan blended the best from both cultures, forming its own unique rich culture, thats why its people are neither totally Eastern, nor totally Western.

The government of Azerbaijan today works on developing rail tourism, a favorite mode of many tourists worldwide. Experts are sure that after the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars and Astara (Iran) - Astara (Azerbaijan) railways, Azerbaijan can develop the rail tourism on the Silk Road tourist route.

Besides, Azerbaijan Railways is developing a design of railway lines to the Baku International Airport Heydar Aliyev, as well as to the Shahdag and Gabala tourist centers.








Destination Canada: #WelcomeRefugees

World Refugee Day is marked each year on June 20. This day encourages us to focus on the causes that displace people all over the world, to reflect on Canada's role in helping those seeking refuge, and to celebrate the contributions that refugees have made and continue to make to Canada.

On display now until July 30 in the Toronto Reference Library's TD Gallery, Destination Canada focuses on the stories of newcomers throughout our history who have come to Canada for many reasons. For some, leaving their country of origin was not a choice. They came seeking refuge from forces outside their control: war, famine, disaster or political persecution. The exhibit is free and it is open during regular library hours.

Here are just a few of the items in the exhibit that speak to the experiences of displaced peoples who sought refuge in Canada.

Depopulation of Ireland, Illustrated London News, May 10, 1851

In the 1850s, thousands of Irish emigrants departed for British North America each week. This image comes from an Illustrated London News article illustrating the journey from the emigration agents office, to the bustling quay at Cork to the cramped quarters on ships bound for New York, Boston and Quebec. Mass emigration from Ireland was fuelled by the devastating effects of the Great Famine.

photo of Hungarian settlers in Canada, 1968, unknown photographer, Toronto Star Photograph Archive

Between 1956 and 1957, more than 37,000 Hungarian refugees came to Canada after the collapse of the anti-Soviet uprising. In response to public pressure, the Canadian government offered free transport and each province established programs to assist with accommodating the refugees.

Czech refugees Jiri Janojsek and son Ivo arrive at Toronto International Airport in 1968, photo by Frank Lennon, Toronto Star Photograph Archive

Following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, 11,000 refugees were admitted to Canada between 1968 and 1969.

Chileans apply to come to Canada in 1974, photo by Rosemary Devitt, Toronto Star Photograph Archive

After the fall of the Allende government in Chile in 1973, the Canadian embassy in Santiago received 300 applications a day to immigrate to Canada.

Reunited after five years away, 1970 photo by Frank Lennon, Toronto Star Photograph Archive

Dr Fidel Ezemenari and his sister Mary were reunited with his three children, Kene, Chinyere and Uzo following a five-year separation. Canadas first refugees from the Nigerian Civil War, the three siblings arrived from the Republic of Biafra in 1970. Since the 1970s, about half of all newcomers to Canada have come to be reunited with their families.

Vietnamese refugees arrive at Dorval Airport in Montreal, 1978, photo by Bob Olsen, Toronto Star Photograph Archive

After the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975, as many as one million refugees fled Vietnam and the neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia. Many escaped in small, rickety fishing boats headed for refugee camps and became known as the boat people. 110,000 Vietnamese refugees had settled in Canada by 1985.

Historica Canada recently released a new Heritage Minute about the story of one family who fled persecution in Vietnam, travelling by boat to a Malaysian refugee camp before finding a new home in Montreal:

When you visit the Destination Canada exhibit, be sure to leave a note of welcome for newcomers and refugees who have recently arrived!





What is your World Refugee Day Story?

Join in the conversation on social media today with #WRD2017 and #WelcomeRefugees or let us know in the comments below.
In the first five months of 2017, the cement sales volume in Saudi Arabia fell 18.7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 22.6 million tonnes, while clinker production declined 11.3 per cent y-o-y, a report said.



Northern and Najran cement witnessed the highest y-o-y decline during the period by 50 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, said the Saudi Cement Sector Monthly by Al Rajhi Capital, a leading financial services provider in the kingdom.



For the remainder of the year, demand is unlikely to pick up steeply given that construction activities are bound to remain weak.



Thus, we continue with our 2017 estimate of 14 per cent y-o-y decline in sales volumes (~47 million tons), Al Rajhi said.



Saudi, Yamama, Yanbu and Najran cement hold 50 per cent of the total inventory in the sector by 4.9 million, 4 million, 3 million and 2.8 million tons, respectively. Hail and Najran cement hold the highest inventories as compared to last 12 month dispatches by 178 per cent and 129 per cent, respectively, while Arabian cement holds only 10 per cent which is the lowest in the sector.



Saudi Cements board of directors recommended dividend of SR2.25 ($0.61) per share for the first half of 2017 (vs. SR2.75 for the same period last year).



The cement sector witnessed a YTD decline by 21 per cent (vs. -5.2 per cent in TASI). Companies under our coverage are currently trading at an aggregate forward PE of 14.2x above three-year average of 13.1x.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Municipality has launched the largest geological project in the Middle East, the Soil Map Project, that involves production and extraction of interactive soil maps using soil survey data and saving them in a centralised and unified database, said a report.



The project is particularly significant because of the maps' importance in the design and construction of buildings and for conducting geological studies before the establishment of large projects such as dams, bridges, tunnels, high-rise buildings and towers, reported the state news agency Wam.



The key objectives include simplifying the work procedures for the end user, reducing paper consumption, conservation of natural resources, cutting per capita consumption of gasoline and achieving the vision of the municipality through its initiative, Zero Visit to the municipality, stated the report, citing a top official.



"Its important to provide comprehensive records supported with maps of each area in Dubai in a central and unified database," said Hussain Nasser Lootah, Director-General of Dubai Municipality.



According to him, the key benefits of the project include contribution to the transparency required in order to obtain the correct and accurate information about the soil.



The project is also aimed at facilitating the use of soil maps in the study and analysis of soil and soil data, soil type, soil layers, the groundwater level, chemical and physical properties, in the form of interactive maps, it added.
Siemon, a leading network infrastructure specialist, joined forces with several key partners to discuss the latest developments in intelligent buildings and converged infrastructures at the recent Smart Buildings Summit 2017 in Kuwait.



The highly successful event kicked off with the slogan Convergence. The Future of Tomorrow where it saw speakers from Siemon, Cisco and Philips Lighting, and was supported by Mart Network Solutions and Alghanim Engineering.



Over 70 delegates attended the Smart Buildings Summit 2017 to hear about the ideas and technologies that are making next-generation buildings a reality. With an ever-increasing range of internet protocol (IP) enabled applications now available including security, VoIP, lighting, audio-visual, digital signage and HVAC, the immediate challenge is to understand how best to design and implement the right solutions for organisations of all kinds.



Siemons technical manager for Middle East and India, Narender Vasandani, kicked off the seminar with a look at the companys ConvergeIT intelligent building infrastructure solutions. His presentation identified the benefits of a converged approach against traditional siloed platforms and how a zone-based shielded structured cabling infrastructure can facilitate power over ethernet (PoE) applications, as a part of a digital building. Drawing on Siemons ConvergeIT expertise, he went on to discuss how cutting-edge structured cabling solutions are facilitating an ever-increasing portfolio of IP-enabled applications.



Hani Sweidan, Siemons business development manager for North Middle East, was then joined on stage by Fatih Simsek, Philips Lightings marketing manager for Middle East and Turkey, and Rathish Ramachandran, Philips Lightings segment sales manager, who discussed how IP-enabled lighting is revolutionising the IT environment, covering how connected lighting systems can serve office, industry and retail segments.



They also demonstrated how financial savings are achievable with these solutions by presenting the Edge Building in Amsterdam, which is using Philips Lightings PoE technology. This building servers as a best practice of the most sustainable building in the world with the highest Breeam (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) rating of 98.36 per cent.



Philips Lighting representatives were followed by Ahmed Elghobary, senior systems engineer at Cisco, who discussed how the insatiable appetite for data will result in an exponential rise in the number of connected devices and users and how the Internet of Thing (IoT) is driving monumental change in technology architectures and further revolutionising the way we live, work and enjoy leisure time.



Smart Buildings Summit 2017 follows Siemons participation at Cisco Connect UAE, a series of proprietary, in-country live and virtual events held throughout the emerging markets, which took place in Dubai in April. The event addressed current technology business issues, and featured some of the latest technological innovations from Ciscos partners.



We are delighted with the response to the Smart Buildings Summit 2017 in Kuwait, which highlighted the clear interest there is in intelligent buildings and converged infrastructures, concluded Prem Rodrigues, Siemons sales and marketing director for India, Middle East and SAARC and Hani Sweidan.



Siemon is at the forefront in providing cabling systems that provide a scalable foundation to enable convergence of a building's systems on to a common IP platform, and we are proud to be able to work closely with our technology partners to deliver information that will help to open more doors for our solutions, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) said its 132/11-kilovolt (kV) substation being implemented within the Expo 2020 Dubai Park is 80 per cent complete and due to be operational by the end of August.

The substation named Mobility with a conversion capacity of 150 megavolt amperes (MVA) is one of the three major 132/11 kV substations being built by Dewa for the mega global event.

The other two substations have been named Sustainability and Opportunity after the three subthemes of Expo 2020, whose main theme is Connecting Minds, Creating the Future.

The substations, with high-voltage 132 kV cables extending over 45 km, are being developed at an estimated total cost of Dh420 million ($114 million).

The Sustainability station is due to be operational in October, while the Opportunity station will be active from December.

In addition, Dewa is working on a project to extend major water transport networks, using 600- and 1,200mm-diameter pipes, as well as pumping stations and distribution networks, at an estimated total cost of Dh515 million ($140 million), to raise water flow and ensure the continuity of adequate supplies to meet the increasing demand for water.

"In line with the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to host the best expo that the world has ever seen in Dubai, and to emphasise its commitment to sustainability, Dewa has also allocated Dh3 billion ($816 million) for clean-energy-related projects," remarked Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, the managing director and CEO of Dewa.

"This is part of our support the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 that aims to provide seven per cent of Dubais total power output from clean energy by 2020, 25 per cent by 2030, and 75 per cent by 2050," stated Al Tayer.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park will provide 400 MW of clean energy to Expo 2020 Dubai, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
UAE-based Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Dubai to strengthen links of cooperation with the educational institution.



The agreement aims to develop and qualify national human resources capable of working in space science technology sector, said a statement from MBRSC.



The MoU was signed by Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, director general of MBRSC and Dr Eesa Bastaki, the president of University of Dubai, in the presence of a number of executive officials from the centre and the university, it said.



As per the agreement, both sides will co-ordinate to design and prepare educational, training or qualification programmes in the scientific specialties related to the space sciences technologies and satellites.



In addition to that, the centre and university will cooperate in providing students practical training opportunities, scholarships under MBRSCs Entaliq scholarship programme and job opportunities for outstanding students.



Al Shaibani said: The signing of the agreement coincides with our centre's mission and strategy in building qualified national cadres in space field to support developing a unique UAE space sector.



Also, such partnerships will direct these institutions towards new educational programmes and disciplines that will serve both UAE national strategies and UAE National Space Program, he added.



We believe that MBRSC as a scientific and research centre specialised in space and advanced technology and higher education institutions have a complementary role to build capabilities and develop human resources and research activities in space science, Al Shaibani concluded.



Bastaki said: Space is the future and we seek to establish a generation of pioneers, engineers and intellectuals aiming for the top.



Our role as an educational institution is to provide knowledge, the necessary tools and equipment, and stimulate scientific research, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Swift and effective action is needed to create new, sustainable economic models to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change on the world's working population, according to a recent report published by the International Bar Association Global Employment Institute (IBAGEI).



Titled Climate Change and Human Resources Policies Report, the 38-page analysis focuses on the relationship between climate change and employment, and aims to contribute to nascent discussions anticipating structural changes to business and the training needs of workforces transitioning to low-carbon economies.



The report also highlights potential issues in relation to employment policies, labour law, 'weak' jobs, 'expanding' jobs and new jobs.

Further, it draws attention to what some countries are doing to help their nations' employees adjust to industrial change, and how trade unions, employers and educators are working together to deliver green skills training.



Pascale Lagesse, the co-chair of the IBA GEI, said: "Among industry leaders there is increased recognition that the consequences of climate change will affect their business models at a fundamental level as a result of needing to comply with laws passed at a national level, following the ratification of the Paris Agreement."



"Each country will need to decipher how to implement the Agreement - principally, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and limit global warming to below two degrees Celsius - into domestic law," noted Lagesse.

"Subsequently, many multinationals and large companies, while generally maintaining their culture, will need to adjust their organisations in a number of ways to conform to new legislation," he added.



Illustrating the point, Lagesse said: "For example, if during its manufacturing process, a tyre plant produces an amount of pollution above newly legislatively-permitted levels, it will have to address its operations to make it compliant with the law."



"This may take the form of: greater investment in the area of research and development; altering the process of waste disposal; re-training existing staff; hiring people who are more skilled; or purchasing more, or different, machines, etc. Whichever aspects are addressed, the business model will need modifying, thus making climate change a significant issue for employers," he stated.



The report notes that the complexity and magnitude of the topic makes difficult the drawing of general conclusions. It also provides examples from countries in Western Europe and Canada, and of companies taking proactive measures to mitigate climate change issues.



Country examples include:

France, in 2000, made the fight against global warming a 'National Priority', and enacted this political will in the French Environmental Code in 2001;

Germany integrated the 'national state objective (Staatsziel) of protection of the environment' into the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany;

The United Kingdom has adopted the Climate Change Act of 2008, which provides the broad framework in the UK for tackling global warming;

Italy has adopted a Climate-Energy package, which provides for the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 18 per cent by 2020;

Finland passed a Climate Change Act, which establishes the planning of the country's climate change policy and monitors its implementation; and

Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario and Manitoba have implemented similar carbon market systems that set a price on carbon, allowing emitters to purchase and sell emissions allowances according to their needs.



In the business arena, the report stated that multinational companies Accenture and Volvo have adopted various measures to adapt to new global environmental challenges, including the implementation of 'green guidelines' and the integration of environmental skills in training policies.



Graeme Kirk, the co-chair of the IBA GEI, said: "Importantly, debates around the changing climate are expanding to include the link between the topic, employers and employees. A more holistic approach to climate change is underway, with thought being given to increasing cooperation between governments, companies, trade unions and society in general, and to defining the green skills needed in a low-carbon economic model."



"It is clear that much work is required to transition existing employees to, and prepare a new generation of employees for, green jobs that reduce the environmental impact of economic activity. At the same time, there are also opportunities to create new jobs. In the broadest of terms, a multifaceted approach by businesses of securing, creating, substituting and eliminating jobs will be required," he noted.



"For CEOs of multinationals in particular, it is evident that climate action is adding another layer of complexity to the management process," pointed out Kirk.



"The paradigm for tackling climate change through legislation, specifically in relation to employment, is of an inverted pyramid: from the global to national level, then to the company and individual level. The 'think globally, but act locally' mantra has never been more apposite," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Germany-based ELA Container Offshore announced that it has appointed three new business development managers for Northern Europe and the Middle East.



Since its founding in August 2014 the company now counts 15 employees.



Next to our Sales Representative in the Netherlands and Belgium we decided to expand our activities within Northern Europe and the Middle East, said Hans Gatzemeier, managing director of ELA Container Offshore.



Within the first six months the new employees will complete a training at the headquarters in Haren (Ems), Germany, to learn everything about the offshore container business: from production and transportation up to assembly and customer service.



According to Gatzemeier these basics are essential for explaining and highlighting the different types of ELA Offshore Containers and its benefits to potential clients.



Working in a Blue-collar in the production line helps to get familiar with the container and its structure by heart. This training gives me great insights that I will need for my future tasks, said Niels Albers, new business development manager Northern Europe at ELA Container Offshore.



Also the Middle East region will now be served by a business development manager. Seif El Guindy recently joined the team and is doing his traineeship in Germany right now. For me this new job is a very exciting opportunity and challenge. I arrived from Egypt last week and already fell in love with Germany, said El Guindy.



The ELA group already has a subsidiary in Dubai, UAE and Seif El Guindy will join the local team to expand offshore business within that region.  TradeArabia News Service
Ericsson, a world leader in communications technology and services, said it has been awarded an extension of its managed services contract by major telecom services operator Zain Iraq until 2021.



The extension comes following Ericsson's successful implementation of managed services for networks, IT and value-added services to the Iraqi operator since 2012.



As per the terms of the new contract, Ericsson will strengthen its role as a trusted business partner by supplying a service operation center and energy network operations center to Zain Iraq.



The expanded scope means the operator will be able to provide a better user experience by managing the quality of service from an end-to-end perspective.



Zain Iraq CEO Ali Al Zahid said: "Based on our first five years together, we know that Ericsson reflects our own core values in maintaining standards and service delivery. During the next five years, as we continually upgrade and expand our network, we expect even greater success by ensuring that exceptional network and service performance is available for our customers."



Rafiah Ibrahim, the president and head of Ericsson Middle East and Africa, said: "Making these improvements to our existing deal with Zain Iraq will greatly assist the operator to transition from network performance to service performance, and we look forward to facilitating this evolution as a trusted partner and supplier."



Ericssons Managed Services are designed to meet the unique needs of each operator in terms of cost efficiency, service performance and technology evolution, ultimately to improve operators abilities to meet consumers expectations, she added.-TradeArabia News Service
South Korea will build small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants in Iran to meet energy needs in remote areas of the country, media reports said.

The construction of the plant could begin within the next four years, Press TV reported.



A consortium from Iran and South Korea will be involved in the scheme, Saeed Pakseresht, director for research and development affairs of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) was quoted as saying in the report.



We do not have the technology to develop Mini-LNG plants, but joining hands with companies like South Koreas Oceanus and KOGAS is an important step to develop our LNG sector, Xinhua quoted Pakseresht as saying.



The plan to build the plants envisages a production capacity of 15 tonnes per day, he said, adding that it could rise to as high as 300 tonnes per day at a later stage.



The South Korean companies involved in the project are Oceanus, Kitech Institute of Industrial Technology and Korea Gas Technology Company, according to the report.



The Iranian parties involved are the NIGC, the LNG Institute of Tehran University and the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry.
The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) has issued an official circular to all tourism establishments operating in the kingdom, including hotels and restaurants, banning all facilities from airing any Al Jazeera Channels.



In a statement released by BTEA, it stressed the importance of removing all channels running under Al Jazeera Network from the list of channels available in the hotel rooms and all other touristic facilities.



Tourism facilities running such channels will be penalized with fines including imprisonment and the revoking of licenses.



The circular also stated: "The Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority mandates that all television receivers available in tourism facilities must be reprogrammed to remove all channels related to Al Jazeera Network. Facilities include hotels, restaurants or other tourist establishments. The violation of this circular is punishable by law either by imprisonment, fine or both. Facilities who fail to comply with the circular will face closure and their tourism license will be revoked immediately." - TradeArabia News Service


Oregano, a Ligurian cuisine-inspired dining outlet, is expanding its foorprint in the UAE with the launch of its first restaurant in Abu Dhabi at Al Forsan Village Town Square.



The Oregano menu offers plenty of authentic Italian dishes including pasta, ravioli, gnocchi, pizza, calzone, risotto among many others. Apart from their regular Italian food, they offer artfully presented delectable dishes from the chefs special that will whet one's appetite.



The seeds of Oregano go all the way back to the mid 1900s when Siegfried, a German chef, left home in Cologne and traveled around Europe in search of flavours. When Siegfried reached Liguria in the North West coast of Italy, he discovered a cuisine that captured his palate and he started his own restaurant. It was only when his son, Maurizio, along with Tony and George, who had a passion for cooking, worked together to replicate the flavours from Liguria, that they decided to embark on their journey to open a small restaurant in Dubai.

The ambience at Oregano is that of a casual Italian restaurant with interiors that will invoke the desire to take a stroll on the streets of Italy whilst gorging on their traditional food. Wooden seating in a dimly lit set up and a menu that offers a wide range of Italian delicacies to choose from are sure to take you to the foothills of Liguria.



Now with eight restaurants in Dubai, the Italian brand is looking to branch further with its new restaurant in Abu Dhabi.



The restaurant opens from 11 am- 12 am daily and endeavors to cater to the foodies of Abu Dhabi apart from the residents of Al Forsan Village. - TradeArabia News Service
Around 1,000 of the worlds aerospace, space and defence industry leaders will address some of the key challenges facing the aerospace industry during the fourth edition of the Global Aerospace Summit 2018 in Abu Dhabi, UAE.



Hosted by Mubadala, the premier thought leadership forum will be held from 27 to 28 February 2018 at St Regis Hotel, Saadiyat Island.



A range of important issues will be assessed, such as the future of aircraft and new technologies that will revolutionise manufacturing, as well as the threats posed to incumbent businesses by a distributed, digital world. The event will analyse sources of game changing tech platforms and disruptive business models, in addition to focusing on their wider implications for the industry and related sectors.



Oisin Commane, managing director, SMG Aerospace, the organizers of the summit, said: The 2018 Summit will focus on what the aerospace industry means for people  how aerospace helps advance mankind and how we can build the human capital we need to develop our industry.



We will look at what Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), airlines and policy makers need to do to enable people to thrive in a data driven, connected planet. Space, cyber security and national workforce development will all be high on the agenda.  TradeArabia News Service
Mafraq Hotel, a premier four-star hotel located in Abu Dhabi, is celebrating Eid Al Fitr with a delectable dinning option for adults and children alike.



Relish in a scrumptious spread of international dishes and refreshments in commemoration of the end of the holy month of Ramadan.



For Dh130 ($35.3) per person, guests can delight in an indulgent family brunch from 12:30 to 15:30 during the two days of Eid at the all-day dining destination, The Olive Branch Restaurant. Children between the ages of six to 12 dine for Dh65 ($17.6) while children under the age of six dine for free with a maximum of two children per family. Mafraq Hotel has made brunch experiences even better as each guest is given a complimentary access to the premiere hotels temperature-controlled swimming pool for a perfect summer escapade.



Step into an Arabian setting for an unforgettable Eid Al Fitr dinner at the Oasis Oriental Restaurant. Buy two main courses and get one main course for free from 6:00 pm to 11:30 pm at the a la carte restaurant.

Make this Eid a memorable one with Mafraq Hotel. - TradeArabia News Service


A year ago, tempting investment in Wyoming coal was little more than a dream. Now, a group of investors plans to raise $80 million to build a coal treatment facility in the Powder River Basin that they say would increase the value of local coal.

The idea to treat and dry Powder River Basin coal so that it burns hotter and increases in value has been around for years, but the developers of Clean Coal Technologies claim to have perfected the method so that the coal doesnt spontaneously combust or immediately reabsorb moisture from the air.

The Wyoming facility would be the first commercial plant employing Clean Coals technology, which was modeled and tested at a site in Oklahoma. Details such as location and number of jobs were not available by press time Monday.

Wyoming New Energy Corp. signed an agreement to raise $80 million in debt financing with investment bank Piper Jaffray to build the 2 million-ton plant.

Wyoming coal is some of the cheapest in the country, one of its key selling points in the electricity market. Its downside, however, is that it burns cooler than its counterpart from places like Appalachia. The treatment would allow producers to increase the value of their coal, potentially making it enticing to foreign markets, leaders from Clean Coal Technologies have said in early interviews with the Star-Tribune.

This is a U.S.-designed, engineered and tested technology and we are very pleased to see it deployed here in the U.S., where we will continue to work with Wyoming on additional agreements and locations, said COO for Clean Coal Technologies Aiden Neary.

The company announced the investor agreement at a recent Wyoming Mining Association meeting in Sheridan.
Agents with the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation will take over Kristi Richardsons missing persons case at the request of Casper police leadership.

The statewide law enforcement agency agreed to take the case after Interim Police Chief Steve Schulz wrote a letter seeking the change, DCI Deputy Director of Operations Frosty Williams said Monday. The division is authorized to investigate cases at the request of local law enforcement.

Richardson disappeared nearly three years ago. Her case remains unsolved despite a $250,000 reward offered by her family and Richardsons story being featured on national television.

We want someone to take a look at it with new eyes and a new perspective, said Casper Police Sgt. Mike Ogden, who leads the departments detectives.

Casper police will continue to take new information on the case and will then give that information to the divisions investigators, he said. While its not common for Casper police to refer a case to the statewide agency, the two have worked together closely on many cases, Ogden said.

After confirming that the division had taken the case, Williams said Monday morning he would consult with DCI Director Steve Woodson about what further information he could release. Williams did not return a reporters follow-up calls in the afternoon.

Richardsons daughter reported the 61-year-old missing on Oct. 7, 2014, when Richardson didnt show up for work at her trucking business. Her home was found locked, with her purse and cellphone still inside. Police and volunteers searched the area near her east Casper home without success.

Authorities with the Casper Police Department have considered the disappearance a missing persons case rather than a criminal one, though they have stated that Richardson disappeared under suspicious circumstances.

She was last seen the day before she was reported missing.

Both DCI and the FBI had previously been assisting Casper police in the investigation.
Educators and lawmakers balked Monday at the idea of raising the cap in Wyomings relatively small elementary classrooms to 25, a suggestion put forward by the Wyoming School Facilities commission.

Officials have for months looked at increasing class sizes as a way to cut funding to education, which finds itself on the precipice of a massive shortfall. Two bills proposed during the most recent legislative session wouldve raised elementary class sizes, which were pegged at 16 students per teacher for lower grades. While both of those bills failed, a final omnibus bill repealed the 16-to-1 requirement.

But the facility commissions goal is different. Rather than stretching resources, its hoping to maximize square footage, officials said. While day-to-day education operations could face a $530 million hole in the coming years, school construction and maintenance is staring at a shortfall of as much as $205 million by 2022.

We gotta find a revenue stream, said Rep. David Northrup, a Powell Republican and member of the Select Committee on School Facilities. Construction and maintenances primary source of money, coal lease bonuses, has run dry.

Education here is a web. Though construction and operations are paid for almost entirely separately, theyre linked by statute, attendance figures and the complicated series of accounts that keeps schools coffers full. In this case, the state pays districts so schools elementary classrooms have 16 students. Older students are funded for classrooms of 21.

The school facility commission would, theoretically, allow that number to grow. In order to get the most out of each schools space (theres roughly 26 million square feet of those facilities in Wyoming), the commission would allow districts to have as many as 25 students in elementary classrooms, so long as the space is available.

Were moving forward with the commission to say at the kindergarten level, for example, you can go up to ... 25 to 1 for kindergarten, said Del McOmie, the state Construction Department director.

McOmie and Sen. Bill Landen, a Casper Republican and the vice chair of the facilities committee, stressed that move wouldnt mean that kindergartners would suddenly have 24 classmates. It would leave the option open and is a signal that officials are working to maximize every square foot of usable space while allowing them to avoid spending money  which they soon will not have  on new schools in overcapacity districts.

Though most of the 48 school districts in the state are shrinking, the change could help  again, theoretically  those districts that are over capacity. In Laramie County School District No. 1, the largest district in the state, hundreds of students are learning in modulars  essentially trailers on school grounds.

But the square footage capacity change, if approved and followed by Laramie No. 1, would leave the district with 705 empty seats in its elementary schools, McOmie said. Without it, the district would be over capacity by more than 100 students.

Matt Willmarth, a senior school finance analyst with the Legislative Service Office, said the projections show Laramie 1 has larger spaces in its classrooms and could accommodate larger class sizes if the cap was lifted.

Thats significant for Laramie 1. The district had hoped for more than $40 million to build a new school to tackle its growing capacity problem, but the money was eventually removed by lawmakers during the most recent legislative session. Still, the prospect of ballooning Wyomings small classrooms was not greeted with uniform enthusiasm.

Sen. Chris Rothfuss, a Laramie Democrat who spoke against stripping Cheyenne of its construction funding during the session, spoke against the class size proposal. He pointed out that though schools are not required to have K-3 classes capped at 16 students, the state still provides funding to have that number of kids in a class.

In other words, just because it isnt required doesnt mean the state isnt still paying for it. Should classes be allowed to expand further, as a way to utilize all space and save dollars, then what would be the point of funding small class sizes at all?

The model is supposed to be driving the ideal classroom and what it looks like, Rothfuss said, referring to the system by which the state pays for education in Wyoming. If we fund a model that allows 16 to 1 in K-6, but we dont give them the classrooms for it, then thats kind of pointless for all decision-making we make in the Legislature.

He and others pointed out that lawmakers are in the process of examining the model anyway, a process that could very well result in class sizes being expanded. But if that happens, itll be a tweak, Rothfuss said. Maybe 18 or 19 to 1, but theres no advocacy for 25 to 1.

The commission expanding sizes to a more extreme degree months before lawmakers settle on a solution would only create confusion, argued Rothfuss and Dave Bartlett, the assistant superintendent in Laramie County 1.

This moves contrary to our own standards, Bartlett said.
A Pima County judge has ordered the well-known doughnut shop Le Caves Bakery to shut down until it obtains a permit from the health department.

Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Bergin also approved a fine of $2,000. If the bakery continues to operate without a permit, it could be subject to daily fines of up to $1,000, according to Arizona statute.

Le Caves, 1219 S. Sixth Ave., has been operating without a permit since October, when the bakery lost it after missing payment deadlines, and has failed six inspections to requalify since then. The most significant unresolved issue is an aging cracked and pockmarked floor the Pima County Health Department says needs to be replaced before they will issue another permit.

Summarizing a June 16 visit, county health inspector Gary Frucci told Bergin that some floor work was occurring, but also observed gross, unsanitary conditions.

In his inspection report, Frucci noted that food was exposed to construction debris and told the judge Monday that it was unusual for a restaurant to remain open while conducting such work to bring an establishment into compliance.

Inspection chief David Ludwig said that at a previous court hearing, owner Rudy Molina Jr. had promised to have 60 percent of the floor finished by the next inspection. However, only one small patch had been completed and work on another patch had started by the mid-June inspection.

When asked during Mondays hearing by Deputy County Attorney Lesley Lukach if Molina had made a good faith effort to get into compliance, Frucci said he had not.

After the ruling, Molina told the Star I think what theyre doing is completely unfair, and declined to comment further on the matter.

Molina previously told the Star that the floor is a structural issue, and does not represent a health risk to patrons. Frucci and Ludwig disagree, saying that the floors condition makes proper cleaning difficult, potentially raising the risk of pathogens on the floor getting into food. Molina also cited declining sales in the wake of a high-profile 2016 failed health inspection as an obstacle to carrying out the repairs.

In May, Molina filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection and in June submitted a 60-month payment plan to cover roughly $54,000 in debt, according to court records. The plan notes that the bakery also owes the IRS $81,000, but that Molina is not personally responsible for the federal tax lien.

Though the county has recently taken other restaurants to court, Ludwig said that the ruling is the first time a judge has ordered a business closed during his more than two years with the department.

Ludwig said his department would honor Molinas current permit application, rather than starting the process over again.
We've collected a few front pages from newspapers.com to give you a look at some June 20 papers in history. With a subscription to newspapers.com you can search the Arizona Daily Star and many other newspapers using keywords or dates, and download articles or pages.
PHOENIX  "Dreamers are not in this country legally and not entitled to in-state tuition, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled today.

In a unanimous decision, the judges rejected the arguments by attorneys for the Maricopa County Community College District that their legal status under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program means the federal government considers them to be legally present in the country. Based on that, the college in 2015 said they no longer had to pay non-resident tuition.

But Judge Kenton Jones, writing for the court, said that's not the case.

He said DACA, instituted in 2012 by the Obama administration, simply protects those in the program from being deported. And DACA status also allows them to work legally while they are here.

"These benefits do not translate into the recipients' eligibility for in-state tuition or other state and local public benefits, Jones wrote.

Today's ruling affects more than the Maricopa colleges which took the lead in deciding to offer resident tuition to dreamers.

After a trial judge sided with the colleges, the Arizona Board of Regents changed its policy and also offers in-state tuition to DACA recipients who meet other residency requirements. And several other community colleges also have similar policies.

But today's ruling is unlikely to be the last word. The college still has the option of seeking review by the Arizona Supreme Court.

Nothing in the ruling keeps DACA recipients  and even those who have no legal status at all  out of either community colleges or universities. But requiring them to pay out-of-state tuition would be a significant practical hurdle.

At the University of Arizona for example, tuition and mandatory fees for Arizona undergraduates this past school year is $10,872 for continuing students and $11,403 for new ones; for non-residents the comparative numbers are $30,025 and $32,630.

Tuesday's ruling also does not affect the separate legal question of whether DACA recipients are legally entitled to state-issued driver's licenses. A federal appeals court has concluded they are; the state is seeking U.S. Supreme Court review.

At issue is that question of the legal status of DACA recipients.

The 2012 action by the Obama administration says those who arrived legally as children and meet other conditions can qualify for the program. Put simply, that status, which can be renewed biennially, means they are in no danger of being deported.

But Jones pointed out that DACA is not law and the legal status of those in the program has never been approved by Congress.

"They are more aptly described as beneficiaries of an executive branch policy designed to forego deportation of those who lacked unlawful intent in entering the country and have, since their arrival, led productive lives, the judge wrote. "However, even accepting DACA recipients' positive societal attributes, Congress has not defined them, or deferred-action recipients generally, as 'qualified aliens' who are 'lawfully present' and therefore eligible to receive in-state tuition benefits.

Jones acknowledged that the federal Department of Homeland Security has "broad discretion'' in determining its enforcement priorities. That includes administrative decisions, like DACA, about who to deport and who to let stay.

"DHS is not free, however, to disregard legislative direction in the statutory scheme that the agency administers, the judge continued.

Those federal laws, Jones noted, specifically prohibit states from restricting access by anyone not here legally -- DACA or not -- from access to public benefits like emergency and medical assistance. But the judge said that's quite different than offering in-state tuition which is effectively subsidized by taxpayers.

"The ability to obtain financial assistance for post-secondary education ... is not synonymous with emergency assistance, Jones wrote. "Nor does access to post-secondary education impose an obligation upon taxpayers to offset the cost.
PHOENIX  Arizonas smallest towns and fire districts do not have the same protections against federal age-discrimination lawsuits as small private companies, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected arguments by the Mount Lemmon Fire District that the federal law making it illegal to fire someone because of their age does not apply to government employers of fewer than 20 workers. That, the attorneys for the district said, means the two firefighters who sued after they were fired in 2009 have no legal right to claim it was because of their ages.

But Judge Diarmuid OScannlain, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, said thats not the way Congress wrote the law.

Mondays ruling is at least an interim victory for John Guido and Dennis Rankin, who sued the small fire district that serves Mount Lemmon and the community of Summerhaven, after they were terminated.

It does not necessarily mean they will get their jobs back. But unless Mondays ruling is overturned, it means they will get a chance to make their case to a jury in federal court.

There was no immediate response from the fire district.

But the decision has broader implications because it strips what had been the presumed immunity of not just fire districts but other small governments, including at least several towns, from these types of lawsuits.

According to court records, Guido and Rankin were hired by the fire district in 2000. They were the two oldest full-time employees at the district when they were fired in 2009, Guido was 46 and Rankin was 54.

The pair filed an age-discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. That agency found reasonable cause to believe the district violated the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, paving the way for the lawsuit.

A trial judge tossed the case, citing language in the federal law which says it applies to employers and persons with 20 or more workers.

OScannlain said that misreads the law.

He acknowledged the statute defines employer  meaning someone subject to the law  as a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce who has 20 or more employees for each working day in each of 20 or more calendar weeks.

But he also cited language that says the term also means ... a state or political subdivision of the state. OScannlain said the key word there is also.

It means in addition; besides and likewise; too,  he wrote, quoting a dictionary definition. Put simply, the judge said, that 20-person minimum applies only to private employers; it does not apply when the employer is a state or local government agency.

OScannlain is not alone in that conclusion.

The EEOC, filing a legal brief in support of the fired firefighters, said if Congress had wanted to exclude small government employers from the reach of the law it could have crafted the law differently.

The issue could end up being decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. Thats because four other federal appellate courts from elsewhere in the country have concluded the language about whether small governments are subject to the law to be ambiguous.

Fire districts may be just one subset of those governments which now have to worry about age-discrimination lawsuits. A quick check around the state found that Tusayan and Duncan both have fewer than 20 workers and, if the ruling stands, now can be subject to litigation.

OScannlain said he does not know why Congress decided that small employers should be shielded from such litigation but not small governments.

One can imagine policy reasons for all these choices, he wrote. Perhaps Congress thinks that government agencies, even very small ones like the fire district, can better bear the costs of lawsuit than small private-sector businesses or that government should be a model of non-discrimination.
One person was killed and another seriously injured in a crash in Three Points west of Tucson Monday.

The June 19 crash involved one vehicle on Arizona Highway 86, said an Arizona Department of Public Safety official.

The crash was reported about 6 p.m.

No further information was immediately available.
PHOENIX  Saying his spat with a lawmaker has become a distraction, Greg Patterson is stepping down as chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents and quitting the panel outright.

In a letter to fellow board members released Monday, Patterson said he was overzealous in my defense of the universities. Patterson was referring to his behavior over a proposal by Republican state Reps. Mark Finchem of Oro Valley and Jill Norgaard of Phoenix to trim the role of the board and instead give each of the states three universities its own oversight agency.

But the meeting with the two in February turned ugly, with Patterson calling the press release about the plan unprofessional, particularly among fellow Republicans. It then turned personal.

Youre from SaddleBrooke? Patterson said, referring to the heavily Republican Pinal County subdivision that Finchem represents. I would say the costume doesnt work, referring to Finchems penchant at times to wear Western-style jackets and ties.

Trim that down. Buy a suit. Decide where you want to be, he told Finchem before leaving the meeting.

It was widely known there had been a dust-up between Patterson and Finchem. But the full extent of the conversation was not known until the Arizona Republic obtained an audio recording  one apparently made by Patterson himself on his cellphone  and published the information last week.

The seeds for Pattersons departure were probably set Friday when Bill Ridenour, the boards vice chair, publicly distanced himself and the rest of the board from Patterson following the release of the tape.

While he is free to speak as an individual, he does not speak for me or other members of the board, Ridenour wrote. We cannot allow his regrettable remarks and actions to diminish the hard work and outstanding results of the Arizona Board of Regents.

But Regent Rick Myers said he listened to the entire tape and he contends too much has been made of the February incident. He said Patterson was simply being a passionate advocate of higher education.

He should not have lost his temper, just as all of us as human beings have done in our lives, Myers said, saying Patterson did not use improper language or call anyone bad names.

Instead, Myers said Patterson was simply challenging Finchem to be on the right side of this issue and he criticized his choice of ties.

In his resignation letter, Patterson made no specific mention of the February conversation other than his contention he was overzealous. Instead, he thanked Jan Brewer who, as governor, appointed him to an eight-year term on the board in 2012, as well as praising current Gov. Doug Ducey for working with the board earlier this year to allow the universities to borrow up to $1 billion for repairs and construction.

Patterson, who did not return calls Monday, also said he has publicly apologized to Finchem.

What he did not do, according to Finchem, is actually call the lawmaker himself.

I have not talked to him since the day of the original occurrence, Finchem said Monday of Patterson.

But Finchem said he does not necessarily believe that Pattersons resignation, by itself, will improve relations between the board and himself  or with the Legislature in general.

I think theres going to be a lot that needs to be done to rebuild trust, he said.

And Finchem said hes not giving up on the legislation he and Norgaard crafted to give each university its own governing board.

Under that plan, the Board of Regents, which is constitutionally created, would remain. But it would have only general oversight of the university system but not direct oversight of the universities.

That power would go to a five-member board for each of the schools, with three members appointed by the governor, one by the Senate president and one by the speaker of the House.

What that would resolve, Finchem said, is a board that he called out of control in its spending. He contends separate boards, each focused on its own school, would not only rein in costs but also make education more affordable.

Finchem said the Arizona Constitution stipulates that an education shall be as nearly free as possible. Yet undergraduate tuition for state residents is now north of $11,000, not counting various fees and surcharges.

In introducing his legislation in January, Finchem told Capitol Media Services that separate governing boards would force schools to compete for students. And he said that would require each to offer a quality education at the lowest possible cost, meaning the schools would have to cut costs  including salaries.

They continue to consume money like its going out of style, he said. Enough is enough.

Finchem said Monday his views on the need to revamp the system have not changed, especially after taking a look at systems like Oregon and some other states that have moved away from having a single, centralized command-and-control kind of architecture.

He would not comment specifically on Pattersons abrupt departure.

I have much bigger problems to deal with than somebodys ego, he said.

But Finchem, serving his second two-year term in the House, said hes not seeing Pattersons resignation as some sort of a victory.

I dont celebrate somebodys misfortune, misdeeds, misstatements, he said. Its not in me.
A retired assistant secretary of the Army wants to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Martha McSally for the Arizona Congressional District 2 seat.

Mary Matiella, a native of Southern Arizona, made her announcement during the weekly Democrats of Greater Tucson meeting, telling the audience she was the best candidate to face McSally next year in the November general election.

As a civilian, Matiella has been the director of accounting service for the Air Force in California, worked as the undersecretary of defense in the Pentagon as well as the chief financial officer for the U.S. Forest Service.

My work and leadership focus has always been that the taxpayers dollar is well accounted for. Other people may talk about cutting waste and transparency  I can tell you not only do I understand these tasks from first-hand experience, but I have the skills and drive to ensure that the people of the second congressional district have a knowledgeable advocate on their side representing their interests, she said.

During her speech, Matiella sought to undermine one of McSallys chief accomplishments since taking office in 2014  her front-line role in helping to keep the A-10 Thunderbolt II planes flying. The A-10 is a mainstay of operations at Tucsons Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

McSally, along with Arizona Sen. John McCain, fought to stave off military budget cuts that threatened to ground the A-10s permanently.

Matiella told a room full of party supporters  including U.S. Rep. Raul Grijlava  that it was the Army that saved the plane. She argued the support from the Army leadership was what kept the A-10 flying, with generals telling members of Congress they needed the close-air support fighter to protect troops.

Matiella has her bachelors and masters degrees in business administration from the University of Arizona and got her doctorate from George Washington University.

Matiella enters a packed field of Democrats seeking the partys nomination next year  at least eight Democrats who have either announced they are running or are testing the waters in what will likely be a crowded primary.

They are: emergency room doctor Matt Heinz, small-business owner Billy Kovacs, geologist Alison Jones, pilot Jeff Latas, small-business owner Charlie Verdin, Tucson resident Chris Wright, and former state Rep. Bruce Wheeler.

With roughly 19 months before the general election, Matiella will have to focus heavily on raising money.

McSally, who raised $7.9 million during the last campaign, already has $631,114 in her campaign war chest, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Tucson hit 115 degrees at the airport Monday, which tied the record set on that date in 2016, according to the National Weather Service.

The thermometer rose to 115 degrees at 3:43 p.m. The high tied the third-hottest ever in Tucson, said Jordan Pegram, a meteorologist with the weather service.

The hottest day ever recorded in Tucson was 117 degrees on June 26, 1990; the second-hottest was 116 on June 29, 1994.

The heat was aggressive, with 110 degrees reached at 12:25 p.m. The last time it hit 110 degrees was June 4, 2017.

There were 13 heat-related calls paramedics responded to starting shortly after 2 p.m., said Capt. Andy Skaggs, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman.

These were people from all walks of life, said Skaggs, adding that none needed to be taken to a hospital by paramedics.

In two of the calls, Skaggs said paramedics attended to people who were outdoors and then felt nauseous and weak after going indoors. The other call dealt with a motorist whose vehicle broke down, and the motorist was overcome by heat while waiting for help sitting inside the vehicle.

Skaggs reminded folks to drink plenty of water.

If you do not need to go outside, then dont. If you do, wear a wide brim hat and sunscreen, Skaggs said.

Try to be out for only 20 minutes at a time and try to cool down with a wet towel or washcloth on your head and neck, said the fire captain.

On Tuesday, it is predicted to hit 114 degrees, said Pegram. And on Wednesday the high is expected to reach 113 degrees. If those highs are met, they would break the heat records for those dates.

In Phoenix, high temperatures could top 120 degrees this week. It reached 118 there Monday.

Much of the Tucson region remains under an excessive heat warning through Saturday night. The warning means prolonged periods of extremely hot temperatures will exist.

Helping the homeless

The Salvation Armys Operation Chill Out is in effect during these scorching temperatures. Volunteers distribute water, sun screen, hats, umbrellas and other supplies anytime the temperature reaches 102 or higher to the homeless at Santa Rita Park, 401 E. 22nd St., and De Anza Park, 1000 N. Stone Ave.

Zoo closing early

The Reid Park Zoo is closing early all week because of concern over the well-being of its animals during Tucsons heat wave.

The animals at Reid Park Zoo are well adapted for the Sonoran Desert climate. Habitats are designed with mud wallows, misting, coolers, shade and pools, according to a zoo Facebook post.

Zoo staff members will concentrate on caring for several elderly animals with special needs.

The zoo will close at noon through Friday, three hours earlier than usual. It opens at 8 a.m.

The zoo expects to return Saturday to its regular summer hours, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The zoos Summer Safari Nights, held from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday nights until August 4, is not expected to be affected by the shortened hours this week, a spokeswoman said.

Ozone alert

Officials said ozone levels in the Tucson area will be elevated during the next few days because of the expected record high temperatures.

The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality has issued an air quality advisory for ground-level air pollution.

Individuals who are especially sensitive to air pollution may experience shortness of breath, coughing, throat irritation, wheezing and breathing discomfort, the department said Monday in a new release.

If sensitive to ozone, individuals may want to limit their outside exertion until after 6 p.m. when levels of ozone pollution should begin to decrease.

Ground-level ozone can be caused by vehicle exhaust, industrial plant emissions, gasoline vapors, chemical solvents and wildfires.

Some flights canceled

American Airlines has canceled 20 regional flights scheduled for Tuesday at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport because of excessive heat that could affect aircraft performance.

That could affect some Tucsonans planning to fly from Phoenix, but there have been no heat-related flight cancellations at Tucson International Airport and none are expected.

Over the weekend, American sent notices to passengers booked on Phoenix flights from Monday through Wednesday, warning them it may have to ground flights.

American is letting Phoenix passengers flying during the peak heat period between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to change flights without a fee.

The affected Tuesday flights are American Eagle routes operated by Mesa Airlines and SkyWest Airlines, which fly Bombardier regional CJR airliners that are most affected by excessive heat.

Tuesdays canceled flights include both departures and arrivals.

The Tucson airport has no record of heat-related flight cancellations and has heard nothing regarding any possible cancellations of Tucson flights during the current heat wave, TIA spokesman David Hatfield said, noting that individual airlines make those decisions.

Extreme heat creates changes in the air density that make it harder for airplanes to take off.

Airlines respond by imposing weight restrictions, such as carrying less cargo and fuel, and in some cases, they will ground flights during peak heat.
PHOENIX  Saying his spat with a lawmaker has become a "distraction,'' Greg Patterson is stepping down as chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents and quitting the panel outright.

In a letter to fellow board members, Patterson said he was "overzealous in my defense of the universities.'' Patterson was reacting to a proposal by Republican Reps. Mark Finchem of Oro Valley and Jill Norgaard of Phoenix to trim the role of the board and instead give each of the state's three universities its own oversight agency.

But the meeting with the two in February turned ugly with Patterson calling the news release about the plan is "unprofessional.'' It then turned personal, with Patterson telling Finchem, who wears string ties, that "the costume doesn't work.''

"Trim that down, buy a suit, decide where you want to be,'' he told Finchem before leaving the meeting.

It was widely known there had been a dust-up between Patterson and Finchem. But the full extent of the conversation was not known until the Arizona Republic obtained an audio recording -- one apparently made by Patterson himself on his cell phone -- and published the information last week.

Capitol Media Services has since obtained a copy.

The seeds for Patterson's departure were set when Bill Ridenour, the board's vice chair, publicly distanced himself and the rest of the board.

``While he is free to speak as an individual, he does not speak for me or other members of the board,'' Ridenour wrote in a release. ``We cannot allow his regrettable remarks and actions to diminish the hard work and outstanding results of the Arizona Board of Regents.''

In his resignation letter, Patterson made no specific mention of the February conversation other than his contention he was ``overzealous.'' Instead, he thanked Jan Brewer who, as governor, appointed him to the board in 2012, as well as praising current Gov. Doug Ducey for working with the board earlier this year to allow the universities to borrow up to $1 billion for needed repairs and construction.

Patterson also said he has ``publicly apologized'' to Finchem.

What he did not do, according to Finchem, is actually call the lawmaker himself.

``I have not talked to him since the day of the original occurrence,'' Finchem said of Patterson.

But Finchem said he does not necessarily believe that Patterson's resignation, by itself, will improve relations between the board and himself -- or with the legislature in general.

``I think there's going to be a lot that needs to be done to rebuild trust,'' he said.

And Finchem said that he's not giving up on the legislation he and Norgaard crafted to give each university its own governing board.

Under that plan, the Board of Regents, which is constitutionally created, would remain. But it would have only ``general oversight of the university system but not direct oversight of the universities.''

That power would go to a five-member board for each of the schools, with three members appointed by the governor, one by the Senate president and one by the speaker of the House.

What that would resolve, Finchem said, is a board that he called ``out of control'' in its spending. He contends separate boards, each focused on its own school, would not only rein in costs but also make education more affordable.

Finchem said the Arizona Constitution stipulates that an education ``shall be as nearly free as possible.'' Yet undergraduate tuition for state residents is now north of $11,000, not counting various fees and surcharges.

Finchem said Monday his views on the need to revamp the system has not changed.

``I do even more-so after taking a look at systems like Oregon and some of the other states that have moved away from having a single centralized command-and-control kind of architecture,'' he said.

He would not comment specifically on Patterson's abrupt departure.

``I have much bigger problems to deal with than somebody's ego,'' he said. But Finchem, serving his second two-year term in the House, said he's not seeing Patterson's resignation as some sort of a victory.
Help India!

New Delhi, (IANS): Delhi Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam on Monday met the 80-year-old Urdu poet Asrar Jamayee, whose pension was stopped by the department in 2013, and asked the officials to restart it.

Gautam also directed the officials to probe why Jamayees pension was stopped about four years ago.

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The minister along with the officials of the Social Welfare Department met the poet Asrar Jamayee at his residence in Batla House and listened to his problems. He directed the officials to restart his pension and probe the matter, a Delhi government official told IANS.

The octogenarian poet has earlier said that his pension from the Social Welfare Department was stopped in 2013 and when he tried to find out why, officials had told him that the department records showed that he had died.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Sunday in a tweet has asked Gautam to meet the aggrieved poet and do whatever was necessary within 48 hours.
Help India!

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwoCircles.net

Srinagar: Kashmir Valleys own social media website, started by a 16-year-old Zeyan Shafiq was hacked on Monday, June 19. The hackers have posted message seeking justice for Kulbhushan Jadhav who is on death row in Pakistan.

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The hacker group named as LulzSee India have also written that New security comes with new vulnerability. The hackers have deleted all the data of the website.

I dont know why they hacked our website. This was just a social networking website and we tried to promote made in Kashmir and made in India products as well besides there was nothing anti national in it.We never encouraged anything wrong on our platform, Zeyan Shafiq told TwoCircles.

Zeyan informs that the hackers have been attacking his website from the day one and have tried to gain access to the website various time.

Due to the internet ban in the valley, I was handcuffed and had no way to secure my website.They have deleted all the data on the website. I just cant express whats going on upon Uzair and me. I am shocked, he said.

Importantly, internet was banned in South Kashmir and 3g and 4g in rest of the valley after three militants were killed last week in Bijbehara.

After the government had imposed ban on social media websites in Kashmir in last week of April, the Anantang-based youth Zeya Shafi had come with Valleys own Facebook.

A software enthusiast and son of a businessman father and govt servant mother, Zeyan had started working on developing Valley owns social networking website and launched it within a week following social media ban on May 2nd, 2017.

The website, KashBook, giving a Kashmiri touch to the name also, within a week had attracted more than one thousand people who signed up for the website and were satisfied with its features.At the time of website hack, KashBook had more than 20,000 users.

Both the young website developers were looking forward to ensure website efficiency and pursue a career in computer engineering.
Help India!

While Shabbir Gangaulis acquittal is a case of justice delivered albeit after nine years of torture, there are many Bhatkal residents who continue to languish in jail. Four such people were arrested over four days in the second week of January 2015. However, as locals allege, these arrests reek of conspiracy and are shrouded in controversies. In the second of the nine-part series, Amit Kumar meets the family and friends of one of the arrested, Syed Afaq Lanka, and investigates why his arrested came as such a shock to the residents of Bhatkal.

On January 7, 2015, 35-year-old Syed Ismael Afaq Lanka walked into the office of the Karnataka Information Commission in Bangalore regarding an RTI that he had filed. A homoeopathic doctor by profession, Lanka had been trying to follow up on an issue related to his hometown of Bhatkal. He met the concerned authorities and went home. Lanka was well-known for his social work and his medical work back home, even though he had moved to Bangalore with his wife, kids and parents a year ago.

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A day later, at, the Bangalore Police announced that Afaq and his cousin Abdus had been arrested from Bangalore. Both of them were identified as Indian Mujahideen operatives who were the main suppliers of explosives for blasts across the country and were said to be close to Reyaz Shahbandri alias Reyaz Bhatkal. But as is often the case with these arrests, there is more than what meets the eye.

Imran Lanka, the brother of Afaq, was heading to his office in Bhatkal that day when he got a call. His mother was on the line and sounded extremely worried. She said that their house in Bangalore was being raided by the police. I told her to calm down, Imran says. The raid yielded nothing and the only objectionable material they found out was two books, one of which was Who killed Karkare?, he added. But more worryingly, the police asked for Afaq and his number was switched off when his mother tried calling him. He had an appointment at a local acupressure clinic but he never made it.

Before Imran could take a stock of things, he received a call from the Circle Inspector in Bhatkal and was told that his house in Bhatkal is also being raided. I asked the officer to wait until I was there so that the search is conducted in my presence, Imran, who is a lawyer and hence well aware of his rights, told TwoCircles.net. They turned the house upside down, but found nothing, he added.

But the trouble was far from over. Nearly the same time, around 2 pm, as Imrans house was being raided, another team in Bhatkal was raiding his cousin Abdus Suboors house. I got a call saying there are about 7-8 Jeeps outside the house and no one is being allowed to get close. By the time Imran reached the spot, the police had been inside the house for over an hour. My cousin Abdus and his family used to stay here, but since Abdus was in Bangalore and his parents were in Kerala for treatment, the house had remained locked for over a month. They broke into the house without permission. When they could wait outside my house before raiding, why couldnt they do so in this case too? Imran asks.

The events of that day, as confirmed by the local journalists who were present at the spot, indicate that the police walked inside the house with bags and when Imran went inside, he was showed the material that had been seized. I was shown some material that could be used to make bombs: gelatin sticks, some dynamite and told that this was found in the house, says Imran. The official version says that around 5 kg of ammonium nitrate, gelatin, electrical circuits, detonators and a walkie-talkie were seized from the house.

However, one local Kannada journalist who arrived outside the house just moments after the polices arrival, says that two things that the police did make the whole event extremely suspicious. One, they never showed the local media what they had seized. We kept asking them but they only told us they had seized gelatin sticks and other material used for making bombs. They showed us bags, but not the content inside. Why? Also, all the material were inside a green-coloured bag. Did they find it that way, or did they pack the material themselves? We were never told, he says.

Second, when they were leaving, they were in custody of one person whose face was covered. We initially thought they arrested Abdus who was inside the house. But the house was locked from outside. We thought it was some other person who had been arrested, he said.

Interestingly, even as the police was wrapping up the raid, news channels began flashing reports that a large haul of explosives had been recovered from Bhatkal, even though no one had actually seen any evidence, says the local journalist. The Bangalore Police confirmed that two people had been arrested from Bangalore for allegedly having links with Indian Mujahideen. Then who was arrested from Bhatkal and carried from the house? Must be a cop himself, said the Kannada journalist. Dont laugh, he says, chiding me. We confirmed it with the police and they agreed. They said it was a local police officer who was being shielded from any possible repercussions.

The third person to be arrested in this case that night was a younger brother of Imran and Afaq, but he was released after two days. However, while the police arrested the other two, they remained unsure as to which blast were they responsible for. In the initial days, as media reports suggest, the two were said to be involved in Dilkhushnagar blasts in Hyderabad. Two days later, they were said to be involved in December attack in Church street, Bangalore. Finally, after six months of arrest, the two were held responsible for the 2011 blasts in Zaveri Bazaar in Mumbai, 2008 Barakhamba Road in Delhi along with being charged under Sections of Arms and Explosive Acts.

Earlier in the morning, Saddam Hussein, a scrap dealer had been arrested from Bhatkal although his family allege that he was in fact, kidnapped from Jali Beach Road. On January 11, Reyaz Ahmed Sayeedi was arrested when he was trying to board his flight from Mangalore to Dubai where he worked. Interestingly, Hussein remains the only person who has been arrested from Bhatkal in all these years. His story will be told in part three of this nine-part series.

RTI activist, journalist who was always ready to help people

It will not be wrong to say that over the past decade, Bhatkalis have seen quite a few of their own getting arrested on terror charges. However, the arrest of Lanka came as a shock to many locals. He was always there to help people. In fact, his RTIs had come to the aid of locals on more than one occasion. In 2014, three minor youths were detained by the Bhatkal police and beaten mercilessly while in Police custody. It was Afaq who took up this matter and wrote to the Lokayukta to take action against the erring officials, following which an investigation was conducted and three police officials were demoted and transferred, said a neighbour of Afaq who has known him for a long time.

In December 2013, Afaq also exposed the loopholes in the allotment of visa at the Bangalore FRRO office by doing a sting operation, which was broadcast on Kannada news channel Kasturi News. Afaq had married a Nawayath girl from Karachi, Pakistan in 2006 and the couple had been facing issues regarding Visa even though Afaqs wife met all the requirements. The Police used his marriage to a Pakistani to implicate him by saying that he was anti-India. Nothing can be further from truth. It is not uncommon for marriages to take place between Nawayaths from India and Pakistan, said Faizan, another local who knew the Lanka family. He used to address students regularly, as this report from a local website shows, and was always ready to help people. In fact, when Moulavi Shabbir Gangauli was arrested in 2008 for similar charges (and subsequently acquitted in 2017), Afaq was one of the first to help his family.

30 months after arrest, trial yet to begin

One of the most common links between these terror arrests is that while the police are ever enthusiastic about arresting people, they almost never show the same enthusiasm when it comes to putting them on trial. Last month when we interviewed Yahya Kammukutty, another person who was labelled a terrorist before walking out free after 7 years, he too had said that while his charge sheet was prepared in April 2008, the trial did not begin until November 2010. The same is happening in this case too. Imran says that trial is yet to begin in either the Mumbai or the Delhi or even the Arms case in Bangalore. We have been waiting, but there seems to be little or no progress in this matter, he says. A supreme Court lawyer told TwoCircles.net, These instances are very common. Unfortunately, the accused cannot do much except apply for bail but even that is unlikely in cases of terrorism. They have no option but to wait.

Then, there is the issue of which law is applicable in the case of Afaq. The Maharashtra ATS wants to pursue Afaq under both MCOCA and UAPA, a position that Imran considers impossible. You can either be tried under MCOCA or UAPA, not both. Also, for MCOCA to be applicable, the person should have previously been charged in a prior case in Maharashtra, which is not the case here as Afaq has no prior cases of any sort in Maharashtra or elsewhere, he says. But more than anything else, it is the lack of progress that is frustrating the family of Afaq. We feel the pain everyday but what can we do? The crime or innocence of a person depends on an honest and a fair trial. Here, the trial has not even begun after all these years, says Imran. As a lawyer, he has been closely monitoring the cases and knows that there is every chance that the family is in for a long haul. We have no other option but hope, says Imran. For a number of families in Bhatkal, hope is all they have now.
Help India!

New Delhi, (IANS): The Indian government on Tuesday extended the visa of self-exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen by another year.

The 55-year-old, who is now also a citizen of Sweden, had received a one-year extension on her visa in 2016 as well. Her Indian visa has been extended continuously since 2004.

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Tasleema Nasreens visa has been extended for a year with effect from July 23 following her request, a Home Ministry official told IANS.

Nasreen has been living in India since she left Bangladesh in a cloak of secrecy in 1994 in the wake of threats to her by fundamentalists who objected to obscene content in one of her books. She has also stayed in the US and Europe in the last two decades.

Nasreen has also applied for permanent residency in India but no decision has been taken on it by the Home Ministry.

The writer has expressed a desire to live in India, especially in West Bengal, citing the cultural and linguistic similarities and the states proximity with Bangladesh. She was forced to leave Kolkata in 2007 following street protests by a section of Muslims.
"Tai-wiki-widbee" is an eclectic mix of trivialities, ephemera, curiosities, and exotica with a smattering of current events, social commentary, science, history, English language and literature, videos, and humor. We try to be the cyberequivalent of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.


After the terrorist attacks in Manchester, Westminster, and London Bridge, another has been reported in Finsbury Park London. A van has ploughed into worshippers leaving the Finsbury Park mosque in the early hours of yesterday morning. The suspect was been detained by the public and is now in police custody.

The driver who crashed his van in a pedestrian lane near the mosque in Finsbury Park was revealed to be 47-year old Darren Osborne. The suspect is from Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset and is the father of four children. The incident left one man dead and 10 more people injured and in critical condition.

The Suspect

The suspect is described to be "a large, clean-shaven white man" and is known by locals. Darren Osborne used to live in the Weston-Super-Mare area but left ten years ago. He currently lives in Cardiff with his four children and his partner. He was detained by the public until police arrested him. Osborne was reported to have shouted: "I am going to kill all Muslims" before ramming the van into a group of worshippers which was helping an old man who has collapsed. Investigations ruled that the suspect has acted alone.

An act of Terrorism or Not?

The Finsbury Park Mosque lashed out of the media after the attack was not immediately labelled a "terrorist attack". The mosque handed over printed material stating they are unhappy with how the media swiftly labels attacks from Muslims as "terrorist attacks".

It is also demanded that the media needs to be fair in reporting news.

Security Countermeasure

The London police are said to be taking more security measures after a recent spate of terrorist attacks. It will assign more police in the London area. It can be recalled that three Islamist Militants ran into pedestrians in London Bridge just a couple of weeks ago.

Add to that the trauma from the Manchester attacks, it is not possible for people not to panic.

The Muslim Council also demand more security for the worshipping spaces, having stated that the earlier attack was another extreme demonstration of Islamophobia. Theresa May has labelled the terror attack as "sickening".

Witnesses

Some of the witnesses have shared their side of the story, one of them is a 38-year old named Mehdi.

He reported seeing at least four or five people lying on the ground after the van was rammed straight into them. Mehdi also reported that there was a stabbing incident and at least one person was stabbed.
Early on Monday morning, as Muslim worshippers were leaving a mosque in North Londons Finsbury Park neighbourhood, a man drove a van through the crowd. One of the Muslims died and 11 remain injured into the Islamophobic attack. According to the local police, the man who died had a previously unrelated condition and theyre investigating whether or not his passing had anything to do with the attack directly.

Nine of the injured needed to be taken to hospital

Nine of the injured survivors of the Finsbury Park attack are being treated in hospital, while the other two had minor injuries that were treated on the scene.

Every victim of the attack was a Muslim worshipper, and therefore, this attack has been declared a terrorist attack on the Muslim religion by authorities.

According to witnesses from the scene, the driver drove his van towards the Finsbury Park mosque yelling, I want to kill all Muslims! Some of the witnesses managed to get the driver pinned to the ground before he could cause any further damage. An Imam and some other men have been credited as heroes who saved the mans life.

A suspect of the age of 47 was arrested on suspicion of a terrorist act and attempted murder by police on the scene at Finsbury Park. The mans family and neighbours later identified him to the media as Darren Osborne, who had previously shown anti-Islamic tendencies.

The government has announced that police and security services knew nothing of this.

Suspects relatives are massively shocked by attack

Osbornes friends and relatives have said in a statement that they are massively shocked by what he has done to the Muslim worshippers at Finsbury Park. They called his actions unbelievable, and something that hasnt really sunk in with them yet.

As for the victims, Osbornes family are standing by them and not him, saying they are devastated for the families and that their hearts go out to the people who have been injured.

Last night, a vigil was held by the Finsbury Park community for the victims. Solidarity was shown by not just Muslim leaders, but leaders from a variety of different religions, showing that while some people like Darren Osborne and Salman Abedi want there to be fear and division in our society, a lot of other people want to unite and find peace.

Muslim leaders are shocked and have condemned Osbornes actions, calling for more security to be provided at mosques as Islamophobia is on the rise in the wake of increased Islamic State terrorist attacks, specifically in the UK.

Cressida Dick, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police service, has pledged to provide extra security for the Muslim community in the wake of the Finsbury Park attack. People in Muslim communities attending prayers will see their police protecting them in the coming days and nights, she said in a statement.

Amber Rudd and Sadiq Khan have responded

It hasnt been a great month for London. First, there was an Islamic State terrorist attack on London Bridge that ended in a knifing spree.

Then, there was a devastating fire that burned down a 24-story flat block, Grenfell Tower. And now, an Islamophobic man has driven a van through a crowd of Muslims at Finsbury Park, which some are saying is now being used as propaganda to recruit more Muslims to the Islamist way of life. It also doesnt help that white supremacists are celebrating this attack.

Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, and Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, have responded to the attack, calling it an attack on Britain as a whole, not just London or Muslims. Prime Minister Theresa May has called Osbornes attack every bit as insidious and destructive to our values and our way of life as ISIS recent attacks. She came to the Finsbury Park mosque for a meeting of various faiths and was yelled at and insulted as she left.
The number of people confirmed dead after a devastating Blaze tore through Grenfell Tower has risen to 79, but police warn the official death toll could rise to more than 100.

Firefighters have been scouring the top floors of the building  where the blaze is said to have originated  but have struggled to identify bodies amid the blackened wreckage.

Fifty-eight of the 500 residents who lived in the social housing block, which was managed by Kensington and Chelsea Council, are still missing.

Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy identified five victims of the blaze on Monday but warned of the difficulties officers face in identifying bodies charred beyond recognition.

He said: "I'm afraid to say there are now 79 people that we believe are either dead or missing and I sadly have to presume they're dead. Of that 79, we have formally identified five people".

However, Mr Cundy went on to describe the search operation as "hugely complex" and said: "The awful reality is, as I've said before, is that due to the intensity of the fire and the devastation within Grenfell Tower, we may not be able to identify everybody that died."

Five individuals have been identified

The five victims officers were able to identify include Anthony Disson, 65, Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, Abufars Ibrahim, 39, Khadija Saye, 24, and a 52-year-old woman whose family did not wish for her name to be released.

Syrian refugee Mohammad Alhajali, 23, who was a civil engineering student at the University of West London, was named over the weekend, the first victim of the blaze to be formally identified.

Despite the struggles fire fighters face in their efforts to identify victims of the North Kensington blaze, Mr Cundy insisted that the search operation will go on.

Mr Cundy described the aftermath of the fire as "an incredibly distressing time for families" and emphasised that the search operation will be carried out "as quickly as we possibly can."

London grapples with the aftermath

Prime Minister Theresa May has pledged that the government will provide 5,500 to families affected by the blaze to assist them in rebuilding their lives.

Mr Cundys announcement coincided with the police releasing images showing the charred wreckage inside the tower, which show flats reduced to ash and rubble.

A minutes silence was held across Britain at 11 am Monday to commemorate the victims of the tragedy.

The tower, which was rapidly engulfed in flames due to the use of flammable cladding, is now the scene of a criminal investigation involving 250 investigators.
With a special election taking place in Georgia on Tuesday, all eyes will be on whether or not the Democrats can take back a seat in the House Of Representatives. As expected, President Donald Trump decided to give his thoughts during a pair of tweets.

Trump on Georgia

When Donald Trump pulled off the shocking victory over Hillary Clinton last November, the election results also brought with him a majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Following Trump's win, his transition team helped put together his upcoming administration, which included then GOP Rep.

Tom Price from Georgia. With Price now serving as United States Secretary of Health and Human Services, his seat in the House became vacant. After a primary election was held earlier this year, the top two advanced to a special election, which proved to be Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff against Republican Karen Handel. In the primary, Ossoff received almost three times as many votes as Handel, creating a wide gap in their totals, which was mostly due to the heavy amount of Republican challengers splitting the conservative vote. As voters head to the polls on Tuesday, the former host of "The Apprentice" chimed in with his thoughts during a series of June 20 posts on Twitter.

Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

Taking to his Twitter account on Tuesday, Donald Trump did his best to promote the candidacy of the Republican, while predictably tear down the chances of her Democratic challenger.

"Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district," Trump tweeted out.

KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS. She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

In a follow-up tweet, Donald Trump then directed his attention to the Republican in the race.

"KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS," Trump tweeted out in all caps. Concluding his message, the president wrote of Handel, "She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY." Trump's tweets appear to be a last minute effort to get out the vote in the state where the Democrat appears to have a surprising advantage.

The Georgia special election between Handel and Ossoff could come down to just a few thousand votes on Tuesday https://t.co/nfZyLkFeDm pic.twitter.com/cbGoZQhhaM  POLITICO (@politico) June 19, 2017

Next up

If Jon Ossoff is able to pull off the win in the conservative red state of Georgia, it would mark the first electoral defeat during Donald Trump's presidency. With the pressure mounting on the White House and the president's approval rating dropping in the majority of polling, a defeat in Georgia would only add to the negativity surrounding the current administration.
Otto Warmbier, the University of Virgina student, who was released from North Korean imprisonment a few days ago was in a coma. CNN reported that after transferring to a hospital in the USA, he has now died. Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labor in March 2016. He was accused of stealing a political propaganda poster from the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang. North Korea considered the crime to be an act of 'hostility against the state.'

The student had traveled to the country with a group of friends and wanted to celebrate New Year's Eve there.

The group was only there for a week with Young Pioneer Tours before the incident occurred. Everything appeared to be fine as the group of students were leaving the country. While at the airport waiting to board their flight, Warmbier was approached by officers who escorted him away. That would be the last time any of his friends would see him again. His friends proceeded on to their flight home, not being able to do anything to help him.

Warmbier pleaded for forgiveness during his sentencing in North Korea. He was handed down the harsh punishment of 15 years hard labor and was taken out of the courtroom. That was the very last time Warmbier was seen by anyone. The Swedish embassy who were acting as a go-between for the United States and North Korea had asked to see him while he was being held and they were denied access.

Coma

Secretary of State Rex Tillerman announced that Otta Warmbier was being released through the intervention by President Trump. No one knew the condition that the student would be in. It was soon discovered that he had been in a coma for months. According to North Korea, the coma was from getting botulism combined with being given unidentified sleeping medication, right after his sentencing.

Otto Warmbier left North Korea after being carried onto the plane to fly back to the United States.Upon arriving back in the U.S. he was admitted to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with his family by his side. According to the doctors who were handing the case, they believed that Warmbier suffered extensive irreversible brain damage.

Doctors also believe that the student never had botulism. The exact cause of what happened to Warmbier is unknown and might not be discovered.

Parents

Fred and Cindy Warmbier, in a statement, said, "It is our sad duty to report that our son has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his family this afternoon he died." They went on to thank the Unversity of Cincinnati Medical Center staff for doing everything they could for their son.

Otto's parents also said," We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayer."
no more deaths is a volunteer group that offers humanitarian aid in the Arizona desert to migrants who try to cross over into the United States by using this arduous route. Border Patrol has recently conducted a raid on the camp and arrested four men, and No More Deaths is unhappy at the action.

They look upon this as a change in strategy and attitude of the authorities, especially when outside temperatures are soaring. There used to be an understanding as per a previous agreement, that migrants could seek medical help at the camp without fear of arrest.

This has now come under a cloud of distrust.

Problems with Border Patrol

According to New York Times, the founder of No More Deaths has said that the raid conducted by Border Patrol was not a humanitarian act but was an effort to cripple the lifesaving mission. The group extends medical help to the needy which had already been agreed to by both the sides and such raids could increase the risk of death of migrants.

They will suffer from dehydration due to exposure to extreme atmospheric conditions in the desert. This is aggravated when many of them try to cross over into America through remote locations of the Arizona desert to avoid detection. They ignore the high temperatures, and that is a matter of concern.

It seems a number of other volunteer groups also offer humanitarian aid to help out the migrants. But, No More Deaths is one of the largest and the only one in Arizona with a permanent base in the desert. It has been set up with a mission to contain deaths in the desert areas that has already seen many deaths. Hundreds of migrants have lost their lives in the desert in trying to cross over and deaths of this nature increase during the warmer months.

The other side of the story

Customs and Border Protection is the parent agency of the Border Patrol, and it has clarified that its agents faced opposition from the volunteers who refused to let them in. They wanted to question four suspected men and at least one of them had criminal records.

It is a fact that No More Deaths is engaged in humanitarian work.

They help those who are trying to cross over into America in search of a better life and accept everyone at face value and criminals might take advantage of that. Leaving water containers for migrants as a part of humanitarian aid is fine but when it comes to more serious matters, the humanitarian groups must ensure that everything is clear and above board to avoid embarrassment.

Helping out others is a noble act and those who indulge in such activities deserve praise. They have to ensure that the aid is not misused and those with a criminal bent of mind are kept out of the purview of such aids. Attempts to cross the border and enter America is a dream that remains a dream for many. Hopefully, such attempts will stop once the Mexico Border Wall is built.
It's no secret that Donald Trump and many celebrities don't see eye to eye, which has become evident across social media. While Trump blocked Stephen King earlier this week, it doesn't appear as if the author is gonna back down.

King on Trump

It was just two years ago when Donald Trump decided to stand on the floor of Trump Tower in New York City and announced that he would be running for president. By the end of his speech, he was quickly on the wrong side of the media and many liberal celebrities who pushed back against his remarks labeling illegal immigrants from Mexico as "rapists" and "murderers." As the 2016 presidential election moved forward, the former host of "The Apprentice" continued his war of words with his celebrity critics, most notably Arnold Schwarzenegger and "Saturday Night Live," including Alec Baldwin who took on the role of the president during the sketch comedy show.

However, while Trump has continued to use social media and Twitter since being sworn into office last January, he's limited his outrage over those in Hollywood. Despite this, Trump has found other ways to shut-out those Hollywood stars, including blocking them on social media. Earlier this week, legendary horror author Stephen King announced that he had been blocked on Twitter by the president, most likely due to his increased criticism. As seen on his Twitter account on June 15, King is not holding back his views on the commander in chief.

Have others received a notification of being blocked from Trump's tweets, or is it a hoax? It's not as if his tweets are hard to find!  Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 13, 2017

Even after being blocked by Donald Trump, Stephen King has decided the he won't be slowing down his trolling of the commander in chief anytime soon.

"Have others received a notification of being blocked from Trump's tweets, or is it a hoax?" King tweeted, before adding, "It's not as if his tweets are hard to find!"

Have others received a notification of being blocked from Trump's tweets, or is it a hoax? It's not as if his tweets are hard to find!  Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 13, 2017

"Blocked!

Condemned to an existential wasteland of Trumplessness!" Stephen King continued in another social media post. Not stopping there, the author of classic novels like "The Shinning" and "Pet Sematary" went forward with his mockery of the president.

Blocked! Condemned to an existential wasteland of Trumplessness!  Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 14, 2017

Blocked by Donald Trump, but still I persist.  Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 15, 2017

"Blocked by Donald Trump, but still I persist," Stephen King noted.

In his final tweet as of press time, King wrote, "Trump as president is like an impulsive, hot-headed 15-year-old with an 18-wheeler trucker's license."

Trump as president is like an impulsive, hot-headed 15-year-old with an 18-wheeler trucker's license.  Stephen King (@StephenKing) June 15, 2017

Moving forward

While Stephen King and other high-profiled critics continue to troll the president, Donald Trump has more important issues to worry about. On Wednesday night, the Washington Post reported that Robert Mueller, the former FBI director and current special counsel to the Russian investigation, has started an investigation into the president for possible obstruction of justice. As of press time, the president has denied any wrongdoing.
Maci Bookout has found herself in a world of trouble regarding Ryan Edwards. The two were made famous when they appeared on "16 & Pregnant" on MTV and later joined the spin-off, "Teen Mom." Now called "Teen Mom OG," the two have spent eight years in front of the cameras. Fans of the show have suspected Edwards had a drug problem for quite some time and a few weeks ago, it was revealed that Bookout found out there was indeed a problem.

Maci reveals Ryan's issues

At the end of a "Teen Mom OG" episode a few weeks ago, Maci Bookout revealed to her husband, Taylor McKinney that Ryan Edwards was in a bad way.

While it had been apparent to fans and likely Maci herself, she admitted it on camera. She was careful about how she worded things though. The following week, Maci and the other "Teen Mom OG" girls (minus Farrah) ended up in Puerto Rico. It was there that Catelynn and Amber asked Bookout about the status of Edwards and the problem he was experiencing. Portwood mentioned she knew where he was as she herself had been so far into an addiction that she almost didn't make it out. While she is fine now, the earlier years of her on the show were not some of her best moments.

Right now, there is no clear answer about what Ryan Edwards is struggling with. Rumors have said prescription painkillers while others have inferred it would be something like meth or another similar drug.

Edwards' ex-girlfriend spoke out about using pills with him and a secret rehab stint a few years ago, but Jen Edwards denied her claims. Ryan's parents and wife, MacKenzie Standifer have been quiet about his issues. The only comment they have made was that there is a story to be told and they cannot tell it yet. "Teen Mom OG" fans assume because it will play out on the show and it is all about their contractual agreements.

Monday night's 'Teen Mom OG'

According to the Hollywood Gossip, Maci Bookout is going to reach out to a counselor to find out how to approach Ryan Edwards and get him the help he needs. It appears as though she thought long and hard about the situation and in order to protect her son from the issues his dad has, she is willing to give him a hefty ultimatum.

As hard as this will be for Bookout, she was given the advice she needed to possibly help save Bentley's dad's life.

An all-new episode of "Teen Mom OG" airs tomorrow night on MTV. Fans are looking forward to finding out if Maci Bookout had a role in getting Ryan Edwards help and more details surrounding his treatment. It was revealed earlier this month that he has checked into a rehab and had married MacKenzie Standifer shortly before he sought treatment.
By Jing Shuiyu in Beijing and Tian Xuefei in Harbin | China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-20 06:48

Technicians work at the Liaoning section of a high-speed railway in Northeast China's Liaoning province, June 17, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

New high-speed line to connect Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk

China Railway Group Ltd, an infrastructure construction company, will build a high-speed railway in Russia connecting the country's third-largest city Yekaterinburg with Chelyabinsk, as the Chinese company's overseas business keeps expanding.

The project will involve a total investment of $2.5 billion, according to a memorandum of understanding signed between the Chinese company and Ural Highway during the Fourth China-Russia Exposition held recently in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin.

The train is expected to run at a speed of up to 250 kilometers per hour, according to Russian media outlet Sputnik.

The high-speed rail link is expected to cut the current journey time between two cities to approximately one hour and 10 minutes from five hours, according to China Railway Group Ltd.

"It is a promising project with huge potential. We believe it will boost the region's economic development, and benefit local people after its completion," said Zhang Xian, vice-president of the company.

"The experience of the Moscow-Kazan railway positions us well in the industry. We are ready to make full use of our cutting-edge technology in this project."

The high-speed rail link has great potential, as it will be part of the high-speed transit corridor passing through Berlin, Moscow, Astana and Beijing, Boris Dubrovskiy, governor of Russia's Chelyabinsk region, was quoted as saying by Sputnik.

In April, China's first overseas high-speed rail project was launched in Indonesia. It was the first time China allowed a State-owned company to get fully involved in an overseas project in terms of design and construction, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic regulator.

Bao Rongfu, a transportation analyst with Nanjing-based Huatai Securities Co Ltd, said China Railway Group's overseas orders are expected to "sustain rapid growth", as the Belt and Road Initiative advances.

In 2016, the company signed overseas contracts worth a record 102.5 billion yuan ($15.04 billion), up 49.6 percent year-on-year, according to its annual report.

In the first quarter this year, it reported that newly signed overseas contracts reached 15.58 billion yuan, up 131.8 percent from the same period last year. During the same period, its net profits increased 15.32 percent year-on-year to 2.62 billion yuan.

Zhou Huiying in Harbin contributed to the story.
Internet celebrities hold a live broadcast in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, ahead of World Sleep Day in March. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China's internet celebrities are leveraging their popularity among young Chinese followers to make money like never before, creating an industry with real investment value, a new industry report has found.

According to the report published in Shanghai on Friday by iResearch Consulting Group, as of May the ranks of internet celebrities on Sina's Weibo with more than 100,000 followers had increased 57.3 percent from a year ago.

The report also found that the total number of their followers surged 20.6 percent to 465 million year-on-year.

Additionally, it showed that 61.4 percent of the online celebrities' followers were male. That contrasted with data released by China Internet Network Information Center recording a Chinese netizen male to female ratio of 52.4 to 47.6.

The iResearch findings indicated that the mobile internet is penetrating into lower-tier cities, with about 54.1 percent of the followers coming from small cities. In contrast, netizens from first-tier cities were least attracted by online celebrities, making up 18.5 percent of their fans, lagging second-tier cities at 23.1 percent and third-tier cities at 23.5 percent.

The web celebrities followers extended from mainland to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, whose residents accounted for 2.5 percent of the total fan base.

Consultancy iResearch, which provides online audience measurements and consumer data in China, said the report followed extensive analysis on current conditions and prospects for the cyber celebrity related economy.

According to Zou Lei, co-president of iResearch, internet celebrities are creating an industry with real investment value after years of development of the sector.

Through posting words, pictures, voices, video clips and live steaming associated with brands, Zou said online celebrities were turning their fame and influence into real cash.

Daily transaction volumes of e-commerce related directly to online celebrities exceeded 54.7 million yuan ($8.0 million) in the second quarter this year, representing 106 percent year-on-year growth, according to data from Weibo.

The Chinese celebrity value listing, which aims to provide thorough analysis of Chinese cyber influencers, was jointly published on Friday by Weibo, Harper's Bazaar and iResearch. The partners said they believed that by establishing a set criteria for evaluation of the sector, the online celebrity industry could develop in a more healthy and orderly way, and evolve into a complete industry chain.

The listing was compiled with comprehensive data and an index that ranked among other factors, communications skills, interaction with fans, the ability to cash in and influence followers, e-commerce gross merchandise value, online celebrity endorsements and income from fans.

"We have noticed that more than 90 percent of the top 100 online celebrities on Weibo have signed contracts with professional agents, or a multichannel network," said Cao Zenghui, vice-president of Weibo.

Monthly active users of Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service, reached 340 million in the first quarter of this year, and daily active users reached 154 million, according to Cao.

The report said it believed that cooperation between internet celebrities and platforms like Weibo would boost profits.

It said that with more capital flowing into the industry, the competition for resources and platforms would become fiercer, requiring more diversified content and presentations to satisfy the demand of followers while fending off rivals.

"The online celebrity economy in China is still in its infancy with huge growth potential," Zou said.

"In the past few years, we have seen internet celebrities offering more diversified, personalized and professional content, with the influence of multichannel networks growing."
No 10 Indonesia

Indonesian women purchase cookies at a street stall in Jakarta on June 23, 2016. Cookies, among all the goods sold to residents in China, are the most favored by Chinese consumers. [Photo/VCG]

Cross-border e-commerce could break down trade barriers and bring win-win development. The sale of 280,000 latex pillows last year produced in Thailand on Tmall International, a platform for Chinese to buy overseas goods, is a perfect example. The Southeast Asian country's farmers gained three to four times more revenue from selling pillows than selling raw rubber.

Here are the top 10 most active e-commerce exporters involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, based on trade volume on Tmall International last year.
ADDIS ABABA - A delegation of 70 companies from Shenzhen city, China's innovation hub, is attending a show in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and locals are thrilled about the ample business opportunities on the horizon.

The delegation is in the east African country for the China (Shenzhen) Trade and Investment Promotion Meeting and Shenzhen Products show from Monday to Tuesday.

Lu Pengqi, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPTI) says there is good reason why business delegation from Shenzhen will attract attention.

"With Shenzhen's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching at $283 billion in 2016 and GDP per capita standing at $25,000, the city is one of China's most developed and richest," Lu said.

Shenzhen transformed from little more than a fishing village to "China's Silicon Valley" in less than 40 years. It is home to a population of nearly 12 million and more than 5,300 Chinese enterprises including tech giants Huawei, ZTE, and Tencent, which in total have made overseas investments estimated at $80 billion.

While trade relations between Ethiopia and its top trading partner China has reached $3.6 billion in 2016, investment from Shenzhen city and Guangdong province to Ethiopia still lags compared to other Chinese provinces, says Tadesse Haile, Ethiopia's state Minister of Industry.

"Ethiopia offers Shenzhen a huge market as a next best destination in Africa, complemented by its desire to be a leading light manufacturing hub and middle income economy by 2025," says Haile.

Ethiopia's state minister of Industry was in particular referring to Shenzhen's reputation for knowledge intensive industries in addition to labor intensive industries like Textile and leather.

With Shenzhen popularly called China's "Silicon valley" for its reputation as innovation and entrepreneurship center, Ethiopia plans to tap its Information Communications Technology (ICT) ambitions on experiences from the likes of this entrepreneurial Chinese city.

The East African nation with a population of about 100 million, is focusing on labor intensive industries like textiles and leather to give its 45 million workforce mass employment while hoping ICT will give it a technological edge.

Already Chinese government is facilitating business capacity training and management skills to Ethiopian business community and experts.

It is hoped that this will help in fostering technological innovation and creative talent as a springboard for competitive export to the global economy.

Ethiopia hopes to transform its largely agrarian economy with manufacturing taking 50 percent share of GDP, creating annually 2 million job opportunity for youth.

"Ethiopia is at a crossroads between the Middle East, Africa and Asia giving access to wide market and huge human capacity as well as capable of creating large job opportunity," says Afework Solomon, President of Ethiopia's Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECSA).

Fitsum Arega, Commissioner of the state owned Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) points to another advantage the country has to attract Shenzhen investors.

"Ethiopia has constructed, is constructing or plans to construct 13 industrial zones across the country using Chinese expertise and companies for the most part," he says.

Arega also points labor cost being 10 times cheaper than Shenzhen, companies can invest in sectors like textile and apparel and be assured of good return on their investments.

Already Ethiopia gives a 10-15 years tax holiday on companies investing in its industry parks while giving access to duty free European and US markets.

Arega further spoke about Ethiopia's ambitions in energy sector, requesting Shenzhen's experience in particular with solar and wind projects.

Ethiopia is currently undertaking large solar, wind, hydro and geothermal projects with a plan to increase its electricity generation capacity from current 4,200 MW to 17,300 MW by 2020.

While the first day of the trade and investment promotion meeting focused on hard statistics there was another reason, Ethiopian business people and officials welcome investment from Chinese cities like Shenzhen.

"Ethiopia feels at ease with Chinese businesses with China's economic achievement of becoming the world's second biggest economy in a short time being an inspiration," says Solomon.

That ease has translated into Chinese exports accounting for about 87 percent of Ethiopia's import in 2013.

It has also meant that between 1992-2014, 814 Chinese private companies' invested and commissioned projects valued at $1.6 billion.
London police dealt with the third major terror attack in the capital involving a vehicle after a van ploughed into a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque in the northern part of the city. The Muslim Council of Britain said it was an intentional attack.

One man died and 10 were injured in the attack, early on Monday morning. The van driver, a 48-year old white man, was arrested and held on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.

Ben Wallace, the security minister, told Sky News that the suspect was not known to the police in the context of the far right wing groups.

Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters the second attack on London this month was as sickening as those which has come before. "It was an attack that once again targeted the ordinary and the innocent going about their daily lives. This time it was British Muslims as they left the mosque having broken their fast and prayed together at this sacred time of year,"she said.

Police said worshippers who had left the Seven Sisters Mosque, in Finsbury Park, were helping a man who had collapsed at a bus stop from an apparent heart attack seconds before the van appeared.

Eyewitness Abdul Rahman said a man leapt out of the van and he and other Mosque attendees tackled him and held him on the ground as he shouted "I want to kill all Muslims.

London has been the scene of two vehicle attacks on pedestrians by Islamic extremists. In March five people were killed, including an unarmed police officer, when a man drove an SUV into pedestrians and then stabbed policeman to death before being shot by police.

Earlier this month three men drove a hired van into pedestrians on London Bridge, before going on a stabbing rampage in nearby Borough Market. Eight people were killed and many others injured before police marksmen killed the trio, who were all wearing fake suicide vests.

In the other major incident to shake the capital, police said they now believe 79 people were killed when fire tore through the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block in west London last week.
Otto Frederick Warmbier, a University of Virginia student who has been detained in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea since early January, attends a news conference in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo February 29, 2016. [Photo/REUTERS/Kyodo]

WASHINGTON - Otto Warmbier, a US college student who was released by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) less than a week ago, died on Monday, his parents said.

"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20 p.m. (1820 GMT)," his parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

Warmbier's parents thanked the "wonderful professionals" at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and denounced the DPRK for mistreating their son.

In a statement, US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his passing and condemned the "brutality" of the DPRK.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said.

Warmbier's parents have told US media that he was medically evacuated from the DPRK in a coma.

The DPRK confirmed his release in a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, saying he was sent back home "on humanitarian grounds."

The 22-year-old student from the University of Virginia has been in a state of coma for more than a year after contracting botulism soon after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a trial by the DPRK supreme court on March 16, 2016, according to US local media.

Warmbier was detained by the DPRK authorities at the Pyongyang International Airport on his way back home in January 2016 after he attempted to take a political slogan from a staff-only area in a hotel where he stayed during his tour to the country.
Delegation of 155 from mainland attends investor summit in DC

US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reassured the world on Monday that US President Donald Trump's administration welcomes foreign investors.

Ross made the comment in his opening remarks at the 2017 SelectUSA Summit, a US government investment promotion program launched in 2013 by then president Barack Obama's administration.

Trump is not expected to attend this year's summit being held June 18-20 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland. Obama had attended and spoke at all previous summits.

"We want to do all we can to encourage investment," Ross said.

He told the audience that the Trump administration will continue giving them the confidence they need to invest and spur mutually beneficial growth in communities across the US.

"There is no better time to invest in the United States and create jobs here than right now," said the billionaire cabinet secretary.

A record 1,200 foreign attendees from 64 economies came to this year's summit, including, Ross noted, a record 155-strong Chinese delegation.

The Chinese delegation was also the largest in previous SelectUSA summits, a reflection of growing Chinese interest in investment in the US in recent years.

Chinese investment in acquisitions, new operations and expansion in the US grew to $46 billion in 2016, more than three times the previous record in 2015, according to an April report by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Dong Wenmei, chairman of T100 Kids, a children's clothing firm based in Guangzhou, said her company wants to go global after enjoying rapid growth in China in the past years.

"I choose the US as they have great business models and advanced technology," said Dong. Her company is negotiating possible acquisitions with several high-end children's clothing manufacturers in the US.

Chinese companies were featured prominently in Monday's program.

Gilbert Lee is the chief financial officer of Fuling Global Inc, a Chinese invested company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, making plastic disposable silverware, such as the straws supplied to major US fast food chains.

He was speaking on the same panel on renewed economic opportunities in the US with senior executives of heavyweights Oracle, ABB and BMW (USA).

He said investing in the US has cut the transportation costs for its products originally exported to the US by its factories in China. "We feel just like home in Allentown," Lee said.

Jane Liu, vice-president of Shandong Ruyi Group, was in the afternoon panel on collaboration models. Her company is planning to invest $400 million in a textile factory in Arkansas. The factory, which will create 400 jobs, is expected to break ground in the second half of the year and go into production next year.

Liu said she was deeply impressed by the Arkansas government team for its work efficiency and enthusiasm in welcoming Chinese investment.

Zhu Haicheng, deputy director of Hangzhou-based Zhejiang Chession Law Firm, got to ask GE's CEO Jeff Immelt and GM's CEO Mary Barra a question about how small Chinese companies could invest in the US in a conversation moderated by Secretary Ross.

Immelt said there are eight jobs in the supply chain for every GE job and many of those are in small businesses. Barra advised Zhu to look for places with welcoming governments and communities that can help small investors.

The US tops the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, followed by Germany and China. Both the US and China are also among top recipients of FDI.

Charlene Cai and Dong Leshuo contributed to this story.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
When Alibaba's Jack Ma met with US President Donald Trump in January, he said he would create a million jobs in the US, and he'll be making his first attempt at fulfilling that pledge in Detroit this week.

Alibaba's Gateway '17 conference on Tuesday and Wednesday is pitched as a way to get small- and medium-sized American businesses to sign onto Alibaba's various e-commerce platforms, like Taobao and Tmall. Ma will give a keynote address on Wednesday to an expected audience of thousands to learn how to succeed in China through Alibaba.

"The Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for US small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses, and in turn, create more US jobs", Ma said in an April letter announcing the conference.

"At Alibaba, we want to help you take advantage of this appetite for consumption through our e-commerce marketplaces," he said. The event will be held in Detroit because it is "home to some of America's greatest ingenuity and innovation," Ma added.

Ma had previously said that he hopes that the percentage of Alibaba's business outside of China will increase from 2 percent to roughly 40 percent. Cross-border transactions grew ten-fold between 2010 to 2014, increasing from $2 billion to $20 billion.

Alibaba has focused on big US corporations like Costco and Gerber selling on its e-commerce sites, but it has increasingly sought small- and medium-sized businesses that don't have as big a reach but have established followings.

This year's conference, which Alibaba says it plans to host annually, will feature Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, Martha Stewart, and David Abney, chairman and CEO of UPS.

"UPS is encouraging US companies to take advantage of tremendous export growth opportunities," Abney said in a statement to China Daily about the conference.

"Our message is: China is a market that can deliver growth, if companies partner with experienced leaders that can help with product visibility, like Alibaba marketplaces, and product delivery with help from UPS," he said.

UPS has been aggressively pursuing the Chinese market as e-commerce activity continues to soar. The Atlanta-based logistics giant announced a joint venture with SF Holding, China's largest delivery service, in June to provide international delivery service from China to the US.

The Detroit Chinese Business Association (DCBA), which fosters trade relations between Chinese and American businesses, has been helping to promote and market the conference with its members and other companies looking to do business in China.

"Alibaba as a platform is perfect for job creation in the US," said Brian Gao, president of the DCBA.

"Small- and medium-sized businesses have no way of competing with big corporations overseas because the cost of entry can be so high, but Alibaba essentially breaks down that barrier by providing a platform for those businesses and helping standardize those transactions," he said.

The conference spotlights several small businesses in the US that are using the Alibaba platforms to draw in Chinese customers, including the Washington Apple Commission, LuckyVitamin, and OtterBox.

The Washington Apple Commission promoted its supplies of American apples on Alibaba last year through a one-hour live broadcast on Tmall, and drew about $275,000 in sales volume.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com
The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula will be the top issue as Chinese and US officials gather in Washington on Wednesday for the inaugural China-US Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (D&SD), according to a senior US diplomat.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis will host State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of the People's Liberation Army's Joint Staff Department, along with members of the US delegation and their Chinese colleagues for the D&SD.

The D&SD was established under the broader framework of the Comprehensive Dialogue mechanism that came out of US President Donald Trump's meeting with President Xi Jinping in April in Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

"We hope that the D&SD Dialogue - Diplomatic and Security Dialogue - will continue the positive momentum from that Mar-a-Lago meeting. And we think it will enable us to deepen our communication and make progress on priority issues," Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said on a conference call on Monday.

She expressed that the D&SD will more narrowly focus on key security issues than the more wide-ranging strategic dialogues in previous years.

"Specifically, we are going to give the DPRK - North Korea issue - top priority in our discussions, aiming to advance concrete cooperation with China towards a peaceful resolution of the nuclear and missile threat from North Korea," she said.

China has proposed a "dual suspension" approach to address the issue. That is for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to suspend its nuclear and missile activities and for the US and Republic of Korea to suspend their large-scale military drills.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang stressed last Thursday that China has been strictly implementing relevant resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council, including those related to the DPRK's nuclear and missile issues.

"However, I have also said before that we never recognize the so-called unilateral sanctions imposed outside the framework of the Security Council resolutions, since we believe it is not conducive to resolving the relevant issue," he said.

Thornton said the two sides will also talk about some other important strategic issues, such as the South China Sea and maritime issues, working to defeat ISIS and other risk-reduction efforts and military-to-military relations.

"We remain committed to a policy that aims to expand cooperation with China where it's possible and also to narrow our differences on key issues," she said.

The Chinese side has not yet held a similar briefing. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on June 1 that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters.

"It is lawful, legitimate and reasonable for China to conduct peaceful construction and deploy necessary defense facilities on its own territory, which is to exercise the right of self-preservation and self-defense under international law and has nothing to do with militarization," she said.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
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HCM CITY  Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper and Google held a seminar on solutions and tools to help tourism enterprises gain a competitive advantage on the mobile platform in HCM City on Tuesday.

"Picking visitors through the click of a mouse" held at the Sofitel Hotel saw Google experts introduce trends and ways to help travel businesses move into the digital world.

Through Googles free support tools, companies can tap potential customers as they search for first-hand information related to travel destinations and other useful information, they said.

Trinh Quang Chung, Googles head of industry, said the mobile platform can help small businesses in Viet Nam find customers across continents without having to go anywhere.

Thats why Google offers a variety of tools and programmes to help Vietnamese businesses make the most of this mobile platform.

Le Xuan Trung, deputy editor-in-chief of Tuoi Tre, spoke about the benefits of moving into the digital environment.

In 2016 Viet Nam welcomed 10 million tourists, a 26 per cent rise over 2015. Tourism accounts for 6.6 per cent of GDP and the rate is expected to increase to 10 per cent in 2017.  VNS
HA NOI  Eleven Vietnamese brands appear in the list of Asias Top 1000 this year, according to the annual Asias Top 1000 Brands survey, the regions most comprehensive research on consumer brand perception, presented by Campaign Asia-Pacific and based on an exclusive survey conducted by Nielsen.

The brands include Vietjet Air (595), Viettel (596), Petrolimex (616), Vinamilk (621), Hao Hao (636), Chin-su (668), Trung Nguyen (693), Vietnam Airlines (716), Mobifone (736), Vietcombank (811) and P/S (905).

I feel proud that local enterprises can make their brands known at a regional level, said Nguyen Huong Quynh, Managing Director of Nielsen Vietnam. However, the result this year was not as good as last year. As evident in the listing, most local brands dropped in the rankings, compared to 2016s results.

To keep momentum, it is important for our enterprises to continuously work hard on their brand reputation, keep their brand promise and offer the best products and service experience to customers, she adds.

The Top 1000 Brands ranking is based on a comprehensive study of consumer brand perception conducted by Nielsen on behalf of Campaign Asia with 13 years of historical ranking trends, and for 13 Asia Pacific markets, all combined with insights, analysis and thought leadership on the key factors which build and sustain a successful brand.

Asias Top 1000 Brands aggregates data from an online survey developed by Campaign Asia-Pacific and global information and insights provider Nielsen.

The survey was conducted from March 6-17 this year. The study explores consumer attitudes in 13 markets which are Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Research relies on a total of 400 respondents in each market, except India and China where participants number 800 and 1,200 respectively. To be representative of market populations, survey quotas target age, gender and monthly household income.

The study encompasses 17 major categories which are alcohol, financial services, automotive, retail, restaurants, food, beverage, consumer electronics, computer hardware, computer software, digital experience, courier services, ecommerce, media and telecommunications, sports, transportation, leisure and household and personal care and 79 sub-categories. - VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam Prosperity Joint-Stock Commercial Bank (VPBank), in collaboration with the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), is planning to organise Enterprises Connecting Day.

The event will be held in the beginning of July in Ha Noi and HCM City.

The event, designed for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), is considered one of the opening activities of VPBanks corporate promotional campaign in 2017.

This event intends to draw the participation of some 400 enterprises in the fields of transportation, warehousing, commerce and light industry, and consumer goods, as well as agriculture, forestry and fisheries, information technology and pharmaceuticals, along with medical equipment, education and training.

At the event, experts from VCCI will provide updated information on SMEs law, which was recently approved by the National Assembly on June 12.

In addition, Clever Advertising Corporation (Clever Ads), senior partner of Google in Viet Nam, will provide basic knowledge about small business advertisement, an aspect which almost all small businesses are yet to invest in.

The organisers are also offering advertising funds to help small businesses directly experience the effectiveness of advertising and a lucky draw programme to provide attractive benefits to all participating businesses.

Each venue will have a display space for products and services for the 54 fastest-registered businesses.

Head of VPBanks SME Department said the second quarter was the peak period because businesses needed to mobilise all resources to implement key goals in the year. The provision of capital solutions would be an opportunity for enterprises to quickly overcome difficulties they were facing to develop dynamically.

Notably, VPBanks VN5 billion (US$220 million) mortgage-backed financing programme is considered the key to the problem of loan borrowing, helping small businesses access capital easily through a variety of favourable criteria, such as no collateral requirement, no minimum revenue binding, no limit in the number of years of establishment and simple capital use profile.  VNS
HA NOI  The Viet Nam National Coal Mineral Industries Group (Vinacomin) must cut costs to become competitive and find buyers for its stockpile of 9.3 million tonnes of coal, the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phucs working group said.

At a meeting with Vinacomin on Monday, the working group, appointed by the Prime Minister, said it is very important to resolve the stockpile as Vinacomins growth contributes significantly to the countrys overall economic growth.

To meet the GDP growth target of 6.7 per cent in 2017, the Government wants to boost the growth of the oil, gas and mining sectors.

At the meeting, Mai Tien Dung, head of the working group, minister and chairman of the Government Office, said that the PM wants Vinacomin to pay attention to five issues closely related to the groups operations and the overall economic growth target of the country.

Foremost, Phuc wants Vinacomin to deal with its stockpile of nine million tonnes of coal. This is the biggest obstacle in the way of Vinacomins growth and business efficiency, said Dung.

Secondly, the PM has asked the group to draw up measures and propose policies to the Government to cut prices so that Vietnamese coal can compete against imported coal. Currently, import coal (coded 4B) is priced at roughly VN1.5-1.6 million (US$66.6-71.1) per tonne, but the same Vietnamese coal is roughly VN2 million per tonne.

If we do not handle it well, there will be huge competition pressure. This requires Vinacomin to put more efforts into restructuring, revamping and reducing costs, Dung said.

Thirdly, Vinacomin must improve its investment efficiency by speeding up profitable projects, and closely supervising projects that are going slow.

The PM also wants Vinacomin to actively work with provincial authorities to fight against illegal coal exploitation and smuggling.

Finally, PM Phuc has ordered the company to further restructure and divest from its non-core businesses. It must pay more attention to processed products with high value-adds instead of only trying to increase output, according to Dung. Rising output must go hand in hand with effectiveness and value.

Dung said that Vinacomin is a strong economic group and plays an important role in ensuring national energy security. So far this year, the corporation has made successful changes, which have contributed to its notable turnover and profits.

Vinacomin has produced 18.3 million tonnes of coal in the first six months, increasing 5 per cent year on year and meeting 54 per cent of the annual target. Of the total, 686,000 tonnes of coal have been exported.

With the sale of 18 million tonnes of coal in the first half of the year, up 2 per cent year on year, the group has met half of its annual target.

Vinacomin has posted a turnover and profit of roughly VN53.3 trillion ($2.3 billion) and VN1 trillion ($44 million), respectively in the first six months, up 10 per cent year on year. It has contributed VN6.3 trillion to the State budget and generated jobs for around 110,000 workers in this period. It is estimated that Vinacomin will fetch a profit of around VN2 trillion in 2017, up VN1 trillion against last year.

Reports from the Ministry of Finance also reveal that Vinacomins achievements are impressive in the first half of 2017, especially its bauxite aluminium project in the Central Highlands province of Lam ong, which has made a profit of VN50 billion in the first six months, after three consecutive years of losses.  VNS
HCM CITY  With double-digit growth annually, Viet Nam has a promising cosmetics industry for foreign firms seeking to expand overseas, experts have said.

Viet Nams cosmetics industry, where imports make up 90 per cent of sales, saw a revenue estimated at US$1.2 billion last year, Nguyen Van Minh, deputy chairman of the Vietnam Essential Oils, Aromatherapy and Cosmetics Association, said.

Fourteen domestic cosmetics firms are confined to the low-end segment and mainly export to neighbouring Asian markets, Minh said.

Around 90 per cent of cosmetics firms are distribution agents for foreign cosmetic brands, he said.

Most foreign cosmetic brands operate out of modern malls across the country.

The Sai Gon Cosmetic Corporation, one of the most popular domestic brands, sold around 500,000 perfume bottles of 50ml at traditional markets and rural areas, he said.

More than 40 per cent of the companys revenues comes from exports to Cambodia, Laos and Thailand.

Its perfumes and beauty products are yet to find their way into malls in Viet Nam.

Lan Hao Cosmetics Co Ltd has been achieving annual growth of 30 per cent in the domestic market. Exports still account for a major portion of its revenues.

The cosmetics sector is made up primarily of small- and medium-sized firms that match large corporations in terms of finance and technology.

In the high-end segment, foreign brands account for a lions share of the market as domestic firms remain weak also in terms of innovation, packaging, marketing and promotion.

Enormous space for growth

The demand for beauty products in Viet Nam is still modest, with per capita spending being $6 a year on cosmetics compared with $20 in Thailand, Minh said, citing figures from market research firm Nielsen.

But with increasing disposable incomes, rising living standards and a young population, demand is rising, he said.

Viet Nams beauty industry is even more attractive because the country has signed a series of free trade agreements under which import duties on beauty care goods would fall to 0-5 per cent, he said.

Viet Nam is an emerging opportunity for the beauty industry driven by development of modern trade, rising demand for premium products and brands, and shoppers looking for health and quality and ready to pay for it, Roberto Butragueno head of retailer vertical at Nielsen Vietnam, said.

The consistent emerging trend of modern trade continues with double digit growth in 2017, he said.

Millennials who make up 30 per cent of Viet Nams population are a demanding generation and include 1.6 times more college and university graduates than average, he said.

The countrys middle class is forecast to reach 33 million by 2020, he said.

As the new middle-class urbanises, it seeks to experience premium brands.

Viet Nam imported cosmetics worth $1.1 billion last year, more than double the $500 million in 2011, according to reports from Trade Map of the International Trade Centre.

Many cosmetics brands from South Korea and Japan are seeking a foothold and expansion opportunities in Viet Nam.

Over the years, the Vietnamese market trend has been expanding to consumption goods, especially cosmetics-related industries, Dominic OH, director of KINTEX, a leading K-beauty show organiser from South Korea, said.

With GDP growth of more than 6 per cent for many years and people aged less than 35 accounting for 60 per cent of its population, Viet Nam is ranked number one in the region by Korean cosmetics companies, he said.

The four emerging Mekong countries -- Viet Nam, Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar -- are expected to have a combined GDP of $441 billion by 2020, he said.

There are more than 2,000 small and medium Korean companies who are competitive enough to expand to overseas markets.

Nearly 300 South Korean brands were showcased at the Mekong Beauty Show from June 15 to 17 where they also looked for importers and distributors, he said.

Last year 10 Japanese cosmetic brands came to Viet Nam looking for agents and official partners. They included Kose and Menard, which are well known among local consumers.  VNS
Online retail is expected to continue increasing, as domestic and foreign retail companies are planning to invest heavily in this field.  Photo webtretho

HCM CITY  Online retail is expected to continue increasing, as domestic and foreign retail companies are planning to invest heavily in this field.

A study conducted by Nielsen, a market research and global information company, showed that Viet Nam is one of the worlds most dynamic countries in hi-tech application and use, including online shopping.

The differences between traditional and online shoppers will create opportunities for both producers and retailers.

Up to 82 per cent of the traditional shoppers buy goods according to their plans, making it hard for companies to attract new consumers. Meanwhile, 52 per cent of the online shoppers compare different brands before buying an item.

As Vietnamese often travel by motorbikes, only 19 per cent of the consumers purchase goods in large volume. The figure is 44 per cent among online shoppers, according to Nielsen.

The vigorous growth of online retail has brought success to domestic enterprises, such as the Mobile World Investment Corporation (MWG) and the Viet Nam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk).

MWG has invested heavily in online retail even though it has more than 1,390 stores in the chains of Thegioididong.com, ien May Xanh and Bach Hoa Xanh.

It earned more than VN3.37 trillion (US$148 million) in revenues through online retail in 2016, a year-on-year surge of 104 per cent. Earlier this year, the firm also opened vuivui.com, an e-commerce website with 80 per cent of the goods provided by itself.

Despite being successful offline, Vinamilk also opened Vinamilk eShop, an online retail channel, in late 2016 to sell dairy products.

Apart from domestic businesses, foreign firms such as Aeon and Lotte, who have gained successes in the traditional retail model, also stepped up online retail recently.

Vu Hoang Lien, chairman of the Viet Nam Internet Association, said that despite the challenges caused by globalisation and technological development which facilitate cross-border online shopping, e-commerce in Viet Nam is still a promising market for domestic enterprises, including start-ups.

They should make use of cloud computing to run profitable business on the internet. They also need to build websites suitable for their business, he said.

However, according to the Viet Nam E-commerce and Information Technology Agency under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in Viet Nam, only 20 per cent of the small- and medium-sized enterprises have websites to support online shopping, and 70 per cent of the online shoppers said they often find it difficult to access websites on mobile phones.

Pham inh Tri, CEO of the P.A Viet Nam Co Ltd, said that some firms only built their websites but information about their products was not updated regularly, and the customer care services via websites were not given enough attention.

Besides these, some businesses cheat customers by selling low-quality products but advertising the good ones, which affect negatively not only their prestige, but also the efficiency of e-commerce in general, Tri added.

Nguyen Ngoc Dung, vice chairman of the Viet Nam E-Commerce Association, said it was of utmost importance to ensure consistency in the online and offline information provided to the consumers to gain their trust, adding that opaque business activities on the internet would hamper brand development.

He noted that businesses, both domestic and foreign, enjoy equal opportunities when doing online business. He suggested that domestic retailers should capitalise on their advantages and explore niche markets to expand their activities.

E-commerce is a market with numerous opportunities for businesses in Viet Nam, recording an annual growth rate of 35 per cent  one of the fastest rates in the world.

The countrys e-commerce revenues reached $4 billion in 2016. At the current growth rate, it is set to hit $10 billion in 2020, accounting for 50 per cent of the total retail sales in Viet Nam, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade.  VNS
HA NOI  Shares ended Monday on a positive note as banks reacted to information that the new bad debt settlement resolution will likely be approved by the National Assembly this week.

The VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange increased 0.73 per cent to close at 766.83 points. The benchmark southern index expanded 1.5 per cent last week.

On the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, the HNX-Index gained 1.12 per cent to end at 99.41 points. The northern market index rose 1 per cent a week ago.

Bank stocks were the major contributor to the market rise as all nine listed lenders on the two exchanges gained value.

Nam Viet Bank (NVB), the smallest capitalised bank among nine listed banks, hit the maximum daily rise of 10 per cent for a second session on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange, closing at VN10,300 a share. These shares have climbed 110 per cent since early this year.

Other banks such as Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank (SHB), Military Bank (MBB) and Sacombank (STB) increased 4.1 per cent, 2.7 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively. These shares have also increased substantially since the beginning of 2017.

Sai Gon-Ha Noi Bank has gained 64 per cent compared to December 30 last year; Sacombank, up 50 per cent; and Military Bank up 48 per cent.

Three biggest listed banks including Vietcombank (VCB), Vietinbank (CTG) and BIDV (BID) rose by a more modest 0.5-1.5 per cent each.

According to Bao Viet Securities Co, the National Assembly will likely approve the new bad debt settlement resolution this Wednesday. Only one issue remains unresolved surrounding the time frame, on which there are currently two perspectives. One is dealing with non performing loans (NPLs) ending December 31, 2016 and the other is applied to bad debts arising before 2016 as well as during the period in which the bad debt settlement resolution takes effect.

With the high possibility that the resolution of bad debt will be approved, we think that the banking stocks may continue to gain momentum in the next two sessions. As a result, the overall performance of the indices will likely also receive substantial support, Tran Hai Yen, a stock analyst at Bao Viet Securities Co, wrote in a report on Monday.

Apart from banks, many other large-cap stocks picked up and contributed to the market rise, including Vinamilk (VNM), brewery Sabeco (SAB), Petrolimex (PLX), VinGroup (VIC), Saigon Securities Inc (SSI) and PV Gas (GAS).

From our view, the overall market outlook is positive in the short-term, Yen said, but warned about rising profit-taking pressure on large-cap stocks lacking supportive information.

Liquidity was positive with a total of 265.3 million shares worth a combined VN5.1 trillion (US$224.1 million) traded on the two markets.  VNS
HA NOI  PetroVietnam Power Corporation (PV Power) is preparing to implement the construction of nine gas-fired power plants with total output of 5,250MW, PV Power general director Nguyen Xuan Hoa said.

Hoa said the nine power plants are Kien Giang 1, Kien Giang 2, Nhon Trach 3 and Nhon Trach 4, as well as Mien Trung 1, Mien Trung 2, Son My 2.1, Son My 2.2 and Son My 2.3.

Gas sources for the plants will be from the Lo B O Mon and Ca Voi Xanh oil fields, along with imported gas. PetroVietnam has entrusted PV Gas to prepare imported sources to provide gas to the power plants.

Hoa believed investment into the nine projects would be profitable as current power output in the southern region hadnt met demand, even as power demand was forecast to continuously rise by some 11 per cent yearly.

Hoa said the investor of the nine projects is currently still PetroVietnam; however, PV Power - a wholly owned subsidiary of PetroVietnam - is asking the Prime Ministers permission to become the investor for the Nhon Trach 3 and Nhon Trach 4 plants.

Hoa said PV Power is mapping out plans to obtain investment capital for the Nhon Trach 3 and Nhon Trach 4 plants. The capital for the two projects is estimated at some US$1.4 billion and PV Power will have to get some 20 per cent of the total capital as partnership capital.

PV Power expects that partnership capital will come from its profits gained in the coming years besides capital gained from the sale of stake in its Hua Na, akring, Nhon Trach 1 projects.

For the remaining seven projects, investment capital will come by increasing capital or by calling for more shareholders since at that time PV Power will become a joint stock company instead of PetroVietnams subsidiary, which it is, at present. As planned, PV Power will sell 49 per cent of its stake later this year, with priority given to strategic investors.

PV Power is the second largest power producer in Viet Nam after the Electricity of Viet Nam. It produces and sells electricity and repairs and maintains power plants. It also provides equipment and spare parts, sells coal to power plants and develops power projects.

It has charter capital of VN21.7 trillion (US$960 million). Currently, it operates eight power plants --four gas-fired power plants, three hydropower plants and one coal-fired thermal plant -- with total designed capacity of 4,208MW.

In 2016, PV Power contributed 21 billion kWh to the national grid. Besides the nine gas-fired power projects, the company also plans to invest in four coal-fired thermal projects.  VNS
HA NOI  The Vietnam Business Development Forum 2017 will be held on June 22 by the Economy and Forecast Review, run by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Some 400 delegates from ministries, sectors and major businesses are expected to attend.

The event aims to discuss the world and domestic economy, production organisation and economic structure towards making more products with high added value, as well as encourage firms to expand their businesses and enhance added value of their products.

Participants will also debate issues related to corporate development and seek ways to make Viet Nam a leading country in terms of research, renovation and developing high quality products.

The event will be coordinated by Associate Prof. Dr. Tran inh Thien, head of the Viet Nam Institute for Economics, and attended by leading experts, including Associate Prof. Dr. Ho Sy Hung, head of the Department for Enterprise Development; au Anh Tuan, head of the Legal Department of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh, head of the Department for Business Registration Management under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.  VNS
HA NOI  Viet Nam-based investment fund Indochina Capital will invest in the Toong co-working space and become a major shareholder of the collective workspace operator, the two sides said in a joint statement on Monday.

This is also the first investment made by a private equity firm in the domestic co-working space business industry.

The funding by Indochina Capital will help Toong create more co-working places that are modern and civilised, bringing more benefits to companies and individuals in Viet Nam.

The funds founder and CEO, Peter Ryder, will join Toongs management board along with the two founders of Toong  oan Viet ai Tu and Duong o.

Peter said the partnership between Indochina Capital and Toong will help the latter expand its market by taking full advantage of Indochina Capitals expertise in project design, management and implementation.

Toong is both a partner and a potential client targeted for Indochinas key project, he said, adding that Toongs design and brand will be integrated into real estate development platform ICC-Kajimas lifestyle project chain.

Established in August 2015, Toong is the first business to develop large-scale co-working spaces in Viet Nam and promote the development of the shared workplace platforms in the country.

The co-working platform developer succeeded in raising funds from investors to expand its network to three locations in Ha Noi, HCM City and a Nang.

Following seven months of operation, Toong succeeded in raising capital from Openasia  an investment private equity firm that has entered seven industries in Viet Nam  to raise its total workplaces to five, covering a total area of 6,000sq.m.  VNS
HA NOI  The insurance sector reported growth of 19 per cent in premium income in the first five months of this year, topping VN38.7 trillion (US$1.7 billion), the Insurance Association of Viet Nam (IAV) said.

Of the estimate, revenue from non-life insurance premiums was estimated at VN15.9 trillion, increasing 9 per cent year-on-year. Revenue from life insurance touched VN22.7 trillion, up by 30 per cent year-on-year, Bui Gia Anh, IAV general secretary, told a meeting on Monday.

The total assets of insurers also rose 19.5 per cent yearly to total over VN250 trillion, of which the assets of non-life insurers reached VN66 trillion and the assets of life insurers hit more than VN190 trillion.

According to Gia Anh, insurance enterprises accumulated nearly VN209 trillion to reinvest in the market, up 21.3 per cent over the same period in 2016. In particular, non-life insurers reinvested VN35.1 trillion and life insurers reinvested 173.8 trillion.

During the first five months, total insurance indemnity and benefit payments totalled VN10.9 trillion, of which non-life insurers indemnified VN5.4 trillion and life insurers paid VN5.5 trillion.

As of May 2017, insurance companies contributed to set up 56 transport infrastructure projects worth VN79 billion. These projects are being established to minimise traffic accidents in accident-prone areas.

In 2016, total premium income of the sector reached VN87.5 trillion, up 24 per cent year-on-year, of which non-life insurance companies gained nearly VN37 trillion, up 15 per cent, and life insurance companies earned VN50.4 trillion, up 32 per cent.  VNS
HA NOI  Head of the Party Central Committees Mass Mobilisation Commission Truong Thi Mai has assured President of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) Mujahidul Islam Selim that the Party, Government and people of Viet Nam treasures ties with the CPB.

During a reception in Ha Noi on Monday, Mai said the Communist Party of Viet Nam (CPV) wishes to reinforce friendship between the two parties, contributing to strengthening ties between Viet Nam and Bangladesh for the benefit of the two peoples, and for peace, stability, co-operation and development.

Selim hailed Viet Nams achievements during the renovation process led by the CPV.

He expressed his wish to strengthen ties with the CPV, especially in sharing information and experience in Party building.

The guest also held talks with head of the Party Central Committees Commission for External Relations Hoang Binh Quan, during which, both sides briefed each other about the respective socio-economic performance and discussed measures to boost relations between the two parties and countries.

The Bangladeshi politician will meet with leaders of the ien Bien provincial Party Committee and the HCM City Party Committee, and visit economic and cultural establishments.  VNS
President Tran ai Quang on Monday sent a message of condolences to his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa over the human and property losses caused by forest fires in central Portugal.  Photo EPA

HA NOI  President Tran ai Quang on Monday sent a message of condolences to his Portuguese counterpart Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa over the human and property losses caused by forest fires in central Portugal.

The same day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh also extended his sympathies to Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva over the disaster.

The forest fires broke out on June 17 in Pedrogao Grande city, about 200km southeast of Lisbon, killing at least 62 people and injuring more than 60 others, five of them seriously.

The combination of high temperatures and strong winds appeared to contribute to the rapid spread of the fires. Portugal is suffering a severe heat wave with temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in many areas.

More than 1,000 firefighters are still battling the blaze, which spread to neighbouring regions of Castelo Branco and Coimbra on Monday.

Earlier, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced three days of national mourning for the victims of the forest fires.

In 2016, fires ravaged the country with 40 homes destroyed and 5,400ha of land burned.  VNS
HA NOI  A high-ranking Haitian delegation led by President of the Senate Youri Latortue, on Monday visited with Viet Nams National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, with a reception chaired by the chairwoman at the National Assembly.

On behalf of Viet Nams National Assembly, Chairwoman Ngan expressed warm welcome to the Haiti delegation, extolling the visit as the first bilateral exchange between the two countrys legislative bodies, and a start of parliamentary co-operation, which will contribute to boosting ties between the two countries.

The Chairwoman briefed the Haiti delegation on Viet Nams development in recent times and last terms National Assembly activities.

She said she was glad the relationship between the two countries had progressed. Ngan said Viet Nam has been following Haitis development closely and praised its achievements in its reform efforts.

She also thanked the Haiti government for recognising Viet Nams market economy status and for supporting Viet Nams bid to become a member of UN Human Rights Council (2014-16 term) as well as UN Economic and Social Council for 2016-18.

Ngan asked for Haitis continuing support for Viet Nam in its bid to become a member of UN Security Council for 2020-21 and the countrys candidacy for UNESCO president.

President of Haitis Senate Youri Latortue appreciated the welcome the delegation has received, and congratulated Viet Nam on its achievements in nation-building.

Mentioning Viet Nam as an imitable model, Latortue said Haiti is also undergoing profound economic reforms. He noted the co-operation between the two countries in telecommunications, agriculture and Viet Nams support for Haiti in keeping its rice prices stable.

In the future, the Senate President said he hoped the two countries would enhance co-operation in these areas and expand to other fields, including manufacturing.

Agreeing with him, NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said current trade turnover between the two countries is below potential.

She appreciated Haitis opening an embassy in the capital city of Ha Noi and said Viet Nam will open a representative office in Haiti when conditions are favourable.

During the talks, the two sides discussed regional and international issues of mutual concern, including the East Sea issue. The two legislative heads agreed that the issue must be resolved via peaceful means, including diplomacy and legal settlements in accordance with international law, especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea.

To promote parliamentary co-operation, the two sides agreed to establish a bilateral delegation.

On the same day, the Haiti delegation also visited the military-run telecommunication corporation Viettel.  VNS
People who are not residents of HCM City can now apply for civil service jobs.  Photo zing.vn

HA NOI  People who are not residents of HCM City can now apply for civil service jobs.

The chairman of the citys Peoples Committee, Nguyen Thanh Phong, officially announced that the criterion requiring household registration in the city for civil service applicants has been abolished.

Le Hoai Trung, deputy director of the citys Home Affairs said the move was expected to ensure fairness for all applicants, the Tuoi tre (Youth) online newspaper reported.

At present, almost all local State agencies only recruit candidates with household registration in the city. Trung said the city is in need of 500 civil servants this year.

He added that the Ministry of Home Affairs requires successful applicants to be qualified in both written tests and interviews, instead of only written tests as before. Thus, the city will apply the model to recruit civil servants this year, he said.

Huynh Thuc Phuong, a third-year student of the Foreign Trade University in HCM City, said the move was appreciated. No one can choose where to be born, and using the criterion of household registration for employment creates a disadvantage for applicants living in other localities who want to work for State agencies in this city, she said.

o Thi Ngoc Linh, a fourth-year student of HCM City University of Physical Education and Sports, said the decision opens up opportunities for migrants like her to get a Government job.

Nguyen Quang Hieu, a fourth-year student of Viet Nam National University in HCM City, said removing the residence criterion means local students will have to compete more fiercely to get a Government job.

Unlike HCM City, many localities in the country do not require household registration as a recruitment criterion for Government jobs, including Can Tho and a Nang.  VNS
HCM CITY  A math problem-solving application created by a Vietnamese engineer has been downloaded by thousands of smartphone users recently.

Uploaded to the Play Store and Apple Store distribution platforms about four months ago, Math Solver has been downloaded nearly 100,000 times by students in Viet Nam, India, Russia, the US, Europe and several Southeast Asian countries.

Its creator, Pham Khac Canh, specialised in maths when he studied at Tran ai Nghia Gifted High School in the southern province of Binh Thuan. He chose to major in information technology at the HCM City Polytechnic University, and went on to earn a Masters degree in the field at the HCM City University of Natural Sciences.

Canh started developing his own math solving application in 2015. From the first two languages of Vietnamese and English, Russian, Thai, Korean and Chinese options have been added to Math Solver. Two others  Japanese and Cambodian  are on the way.

Math Solver is capable of solving different types of maths  from general to advanced levels  such as drawing graphs, solving equations and inequalities, calculating integral calculus, derivatives, limits, differential equations and extreme functions. Users select the type of problems they want to solve and input the questions and the application will provide them with detailed answers in seconds, depending on the questions levels of difficulty.

The application is said to be fast and accurate. La Thanh Tung, a maths lecturer at the Sai Gon University, said the application provides pretty accurate answers to different maths questions at university level.

Not only providing answers, the application also gives users detailed explanations of the problems in steps, which can be used as references for pupils, students and teachers, said Nguyen Tang Vu, a maths teacher at the High School for the Gifted under the HCM City National University.

Pham Thanh Phong, head of the maths department at the HCM City University of Economics and Finance, said it provided accurate answers to 95 per cent of maths questions at university level, 90 per cent of questions in the branch of economic maths, and 70 per cent in engineering maths.

Engineering maths problems tend to be more in-depth, he said. The application cant solve rare and extremely complex questions.

Some 10,000 questions in various types have been added to the application over the last two years with support from university maths lecturers and high school maths teachers, who provided Canh with banks of questions and consultancy in mathematical solutions and theorems.

An algorithm has been added to the application, which will record all questions it has solved and apply it to solve the next, more difficult ones faster.

I am still improving the applications features based on users comments, Canh said.

Different from foreign math applications, Math Solver is aimed at solving common maths problems, he added. It focuses on general maths forms, targeting pupils, students and providing detailed solutions to problems so they can take them as references for their studies.

Im developing more features so that the application will be able to solve geometry problems and calculate matrixes.

What makes Math Solver stand out is that it is free of charge and works without an internet connection, Canh said. Also, it is able to calculate limits of trigonometric functions  a function that most foreign maths applications are unable to perform, he added.

Apart from dealing with maths, the application also helps students learn chemistry, although it can only provide them with chemical formulas and knowledge testing questionnaires.

Canhs wife, Nguyen Thi Y Nhi  a chemistry graduate from the HCM City Polytechnic University  is in charge of developing the chemistry feature. Since Canh started programming the application, Nhi contacted several chemistry teachers and students who excel in the subject to ask chemistry questions and advice on chemistry.  VNS
HA NOI  National Assembly deputies said on Monday that the Law on Forest Protection and Development had not clearly identified responsibility for forest protection nor encouraged people to participate seriously in protecting the countrys trees.

Speaking at a session to discuss the proposed amended forest protection law, Deputy Ksor Phuoc Ha from the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai said every year there were reportedly 7,000 cases of deforestation and more than 20,000 cases of timber smuggling. Forests in the Central Highlands have been replaced with rubber trees plantation, but rubber trees cant make the bare hills green again because they discharge CO2. No animals can survive in a rubber plantation, Ha said.

The law has not identified who should take responsibility if the forests are destroyed or burnt.

The law should clearly say that the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and chairperson of local peoples committees at all levels should assume responsibility for forest destruction in areas under their management, she said.

Deputy Vo inh Tin from ak Nong Province said the draft law has not mentioned the role of ethnic minorities in forest protection. There should be one provision regulating the allocation of forests to ethnic minorities, making sure that they can make ends meet by forestation and have proper incomes from protecting the forests, Tin added.

Deputy Mua A Vang from the northern mountainous province of ien Bien agreed. Only when the community sees that protecting the forest can help them earn their living do they want to better protect the forest, he said.

Vang suggested that the Government adopt incentives for households, individuals and enterprises to participate in forest protection.

Forest classification

Most deputies agreed with the regulations on forest classification in the amended draft law, which are forest for special use, protection forests and production forests. Yet some deputies thought the classification should be changed.

Deputy Luu Van uc from ak Lak Province, central highlands of Viet Nam, said the classification was not scientific and suitable for management. Such classification only takes into account the technical purposes of the forest sector but not the characteristic factors of each kind of forest, like water-protecting forests or border forests, he said.

Deputy Nguyen Van Man from the central province of Quang Binh suggested the law classify forests into two kinds: protection and production. Protection forests would include natural forests and specialised forests. Production forests would be those used for production and economic purposes.

This classification method is in accordance with the method used in many countries and suitable for international co-operation, Man said.

Airport resettlement

Also on Monday, deputies voted to approve a resolution to separate works of site clearance, compensation and resettlement in the Long Thanh airport project near HCM City and treat them as sub-projects, clearing a major technical obstacle to the project.

Site clearance, compensation and resettlement costs in the Long Thanh International Airport project are estimated at VN23 trillion (over US$1 billion). Currently, the amount allocated for these components in the medium-term public investment plan for the 2016-20 period is only VN5 trillion, or 21.7 per cent of the total need.

According to the Ministry of Transport, 5,614ha of land need to be cleared for the project, including 5,000ha for building the airport terminal and the remainder for resettlement areas. There will be 4,730 households receiving compensation.

The resolution says the land acquisition process must ensure social security, and stability for the lives and living of people affected by the project. It also requires the resettlement area to be built in a synchronous manner in terms of technical and social infrastructure, ensuring construction standards and norms suitable to local conditions, customs and habits.

The resolution assigns the Government to direct the Peoples Committee of ong Nai Province and related ministries and agencies to work on a feasibility study report and submit it to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 4th session of the 13th National Assembly.

NA deputies also voted to approve a resolution appointing two judges of the Peoples Supreme Court, a resolution on approving the State budget settlement in 2015, the Law on Irrigation, the amended Law on Tourism, the Law on Compensation Liability of the State, and some other laws and resolutions.  VNS
PHU YEN  Breeding shrimp together with other aquatic products is preventing disease without using chemicals and providing sustainable results for farmers in the central coastal province of Phu Yen.

In the past, breeding black-tiger shrimp and white shrimp at high density resulted in epidemics that forced breeders to use chemicals to treat polluted water. Now the province has implemented effective combined breeding models, which helps to minimise pollution.

According to tests conducted by the ong Hoa Districts veterinary laboratory, shrimp bred there were mainly infected with acute liver-and-marrow necrosis, and white-spot and red-body disease.

To limit the epidemic and environmental pollution, shrimp breeders have been breeding shrimp with other aquatic products, such as blue crab, tilapia.

"I am breeding tilapia with shrimp in a family pond. I see the water environment in the pond is better than previous years when I bred only shrimp, said shrimp breeder Nguyen But of Hoa Tam Commune.

The ponds bottom is no longer polluted by food leftovers, while the shrimps grow rapidly. Although the profit is lower than the model of only shrimp breeding, I earn VN100million (US$4,400) to VN120 million from 5 sao ( 1 sao equals 360sq.m) of water surface per crop. Every year I can raise two crops and the water environment is still guaranteed."

Another shrimp breeder, Huynh Hung of Hoa Hiep Nam Commune, who is breeding shrimp and blue crabs, said "Firstly, I feed baby shrimp with microbiology fermented bran, and the shrimps growth is very good. After 15 days, I give them industrial feed," Hung said.

o Kim ong, chief of ong Hoa Districts agriculture department, said that in 2016, local authorities supported 600kg of baby tilapias for shrimp farmers in four communes and towns to develop the combined model of shrimp breeding.

Tilapias can consume feed leftovers, limiting water pollution," ong said.

Meanwhile, in neighbouring district of Tuy An, shrimp farmers are breeding shrimp together with oysters, blue crabs, seaweed and fish.

Tran Sau, head of Tuy An Districts agriculture department said "The combined shrimp raising model is bringing profit to breeder. The model is suitable for environmental condition of O Loan Lagoon.

Expanding model

Over the past few years, Phu Yen Provinces Agricultural Promotion Centre has built up several aquatic-product breeding models that utilises new and advanced technology.

Nguyen Khac Tan, the centres deputy director, said from 2010 to 2012, farmers in two communes Xuan Loc and Ha Xuan ong were the first in the province to breed shrimp together with tilapias and seaweed. The combination created clean water and limited the penetration and development of disease bacteria.

The centre has also developed combination models of black-tiger shrimp (also called prawn in Europe) and blue crabs in Song Cau Town, and black-tiger shrimp with sea cucumber in Xuan Hai Commune.

Another model developed by the centre was VietGAP-standard shrimp breeding in Hoa Hiep Nam Commune of ong Hoa District.

"Each model has its advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, although most models have been implemented and proved sustainable effectiveness, technicians and experts must evaluate what model will be suitable for each farming area," Tan said.

Phu Yen Provinces Department of Agriculture and Rural Development director Nguyen Trong Tung says the provinces overall goal is to develop its shrimp breeding industry into a large-scale model, adaptable to climate change and ecologically friendly. In the 2017-20 period, total shrimp farming area in the province is estimated to reach about 1,940ha.

The department also requested local agricultural departments to complete detailed planning for shrimp breeding and infrastructure investment soon in order to bring into full play the potential for sustainable shrimp farming.  VNS
SON LA  Police in Song Ma District, in the northern mountain province of Son La, have arrested two suspects involved in a drug-smuggling racket.

The two accused are Song A Trang, 23, and Giang A Tung, 20, the police said on Monday.

Police officials said they seized 10 bricks of heroin weighing around 3.5kg, a motorbike and two mobile phones, among other items from the duo.

The two men were arrested after a dramatic chase. They were transporting the drugs on a motorbike when the police gave them chase. The speeding duo crashed into a police team, hopped off the bike, and fled into the surrounding forest. Officials followed and caught up with them after a chase.

The accused claim that they purchased the drugs from an unidentified person near the border area for personal consumption. Further investigations are on.  VNS
DA NANG  Da Nangs Dong A College has enrolled students for the first ever course on automobile technology and automation engineering in the central region.

Chairman of Dong A College, Nguyen Thi Anh Dao said the course aims to provide high-quality manpower for car makers in the region.

Its also the first private college in the region launching this specific course for the industry.

According to the Viet Nam Automobile Manufacturing Association (VAMA), the countrys automobile industry, including 18 foreign-invested and 38 domestic investors, produce 300,000 cars each year with annual revenue of US$1 billion.

The industry also creates 80,000 jobs each year.

The college and representatives of 20 automobile businesses also agreed on the establishment of practical courses at automobile factories for students.

Japans Linux Professional Institute (JPI), the Evolable Asia company, and Da Nangs Dong A College have established an information technology (IT) human resource training programme.

In March, the college, in co-operation with Japans Linux Professional Institute and Evolable Asia company, launched an Open Source Software education programme for information technology in the region.

The Da Nang-based college also inked an agreement with the Japan of Asia organisation for nursing courses that serve the Japanese market.  VNS
CHICAGO  Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea, died on Monday.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the United States decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following news of his death.

"Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents," he said during a White House event.

In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Ottos fate deepens my Administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

At peace

Doctors last week revealed that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness", opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said on Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace".

North Korea claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying the college student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests carried out last week in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection. Warmbiers doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that given his young age, Warmbiers severe brain injury was most likely caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.  AFP
PEDROGAO GRANDE  More than 1,000 firefighters were on Monday battling to get control of a massive forest fire that swept through central Portugal at the weekend, as the nation mourned the 64 killed in the flames.

Many victims were burnt as they were trapped in their cars around the epicentre of the blaze in Pedrogao Grande, in what is the deadliest such disaster in Portugals recent history.

"Portugal weeps for Pedrogao Grande," said the I newspaper while mainstream Publicos headline simply read "Why?"

"The fire has reached a level of human tragedy that we have never seen before," said a visibly moved Prime Minister Antonio Costa, who announced three days of mourning from Sunday.

By Monday evening the death toll had hit 64, officials said. The total number of injured in the region of the fire -- which authorities said was 70 percent under control -- stood at 135 since Saturday.

Portugals national Route 236 was transformed into "a road of hell" where 47 of the fatalities occurred as the ferocious blaze ripped through the wooded countryside.

Most of them were families who had spent the afternoon at a beach on a nearby river, local authorities said.

Although the searing temperatures had dropped slightly on Monday, the fire was still raging, spreading to neighbouring regions of Castelo Branco and Coimbra, as firefighters continued their grim search for bodies.

Traumatised

Local residents too have stepped in to try to stop the blaze. In the small village of Atalaia Fundeira, a big cloud of smoke billowed from a scrub of land as villagers including 76-year-old Palmira Coelho rushed out with buckets of water and a tractor arrived with a tank of water and hose.

After 10 minutes of frantic activity, the fire was largely extinguished, leaving charred ground in its wake.

"I have witnessed a lot of fires, but never like this, its never happened here -- the way it spread, the speed," said Betty Jesus, a 50-year-old Venezuelan who has lived in the area for decades.

In the village of Figueiro, people are still traumatised by the swift moving blaze.

"The fire didnt spread by the ground... it spread through the air at the height of the trees... in five minutes all were on fire in an area of around 10 kilometres," said Virgilio Godinho.

"Our pain is immense," said Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. "We feel a sense of injustice because the tragedy has hit those Portuguese of whom one speaks little -- those living in an isolated rural zone."

Tree hit by lightning

Police chief Almeida Rodrigues blamed dry thunderstorms for the blaze which broke out on Saturday in Pedrogao Grande, ruling out arson. "We found the tree hit by the lightning," he said.

"Everything burnt very quickly given the strong winds. The flames passed within two or three kilometres of my house," said local resident Isabel Ferreira, 62.

"It was really hell. I thought the end of the world had come," said Maria de Fatima Nunes, another survivor.

The wooded hills in the area north of Lisbon, which 24 hours before had glowed bright green with eucalyptus and pine trees, were gutted by the flames.

Along the IC-8 highway cutting through the fire zone, smoke was still rising from the ground and small pockets of fire burned among the charred, black tree stumps.

One road running through Pedrogao Grande was littered with burnt-out cars. At one spot, a police officer watched over the covered body of a victim of the fire.

We lost everything

Other bodies were found in houses in isolated areas. At least three villages near Pedrogao Grande were evacuated.

At a retirement home in Pedrogao Grande on Monday, about 150 people who had been evacuated or fled were waiting to learn when they could go home.

Boxes of donated food and drinks were outside the makeshift refuge, the air still reeking of smoke.

"We have people here who are waiting for news of their loved ones, who want to know and are really anxious," said Soledade Lourenco, 51, a nurse volunteering at the centre.

Over the weekend, Portugal sweltered under temperatures topping 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) in several regions.

About 35 forest fires continued to burn across the country on Monday, with more than 2,000 firefighters and 700 vehicles mobilised.

Spain, France and Italy have sent water-bombing planes and Greece has offered firefighters. The European Union has also offered to help.

Portugal was hit by a series of fires last year which devastated more than 100,000 hectares (1,000 square kilometres) of the mainland.

Fires on the tourist island of Madeira in August killed three people, while across 2016 around 40 homes were destroyed and 5,400 hectares of land burned.  AFP
WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who was hospitalized after he was stabbed at a home on West Mullan Avenue in April has now been arrested on gun charges in connection with the incident.

Maliek Mochon Calvin Todd-Harris, 21, of 252 Baltimore St., was arrested Sunday for first-degree burglary and felon in possession of a firearm. He was taken to the Black Hawk County Jail, and his bond was set at $132,000.

According to court records, Todd-Harris was armed with a handgun when he went to a home in the 1200 block of West Mullan Avenue around 2:15 p.m. April 17. A witness said Todd-Harris attempted to shoot Durius Davis, and when the weapon wouldnt fire, he chased Durius Davis into 1227 W. Mullan.

A mother and young child were inside the house, and Davis ran up stairs while the mother and child fled through a back door, witnesses told police. Todd-Harris then left the house and began arguing with another person outside but returned to the home after Davis opened the door. Davis stabbed Todd-Harris in the abdomen and then fled, according to court records.

Todd-Harris was treated at Covenant Medical Center.

Todd-Harris is prohibited from handling firearms because of felony convictions for willful injury and intimidation with a weapon for allegedly shooting a person at the former Wild Ice Lounge on Christmas morning in 2011, according court records.

Waterloo man

sentenced for meth

WATERLOO  A Waterloo man has been sentenced to almost two decades in prison for selling methamphetamine.

Judge Linda Reade sentenced Aldreias Jerome Campbell, 42, to 19 years and seven months in prison Monday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Reade also ordered the sentence run consecutive with state domestic assault, stalking and burglary charges that currently have pending probation revocation hearings.

The sentence will be followed by eight years of supervised release, and he was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment.

Campbell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine as a drug felon in February.

Authorities allege Campbell sold meth between October 2015 and the spring of 2016.According to court records, authorities searched a Kern Street home in April 2016 and found more than 36 grams of meth, a digital scale and a cutting agent in the basement and meth in the kitchen and an upstairs bedroom. After the search, Campbell allegedly sold meth to a confidential informant in November 2016, which led to a search at another home where officers found a digital scale and $961 in cash.

During Mondays hearing the government sought to enhance Campbells sentence because his criminal record contains 36 convictions including a 2015 conviction for allegedly assaulting his pregnant girlfriend.

Woman arrested in magazine sales case

CEDAR FALLS  A woman with a history of selling magazines while making dodgy charity claims has been arrested in connection with a check she received while soliciting magazine subscriptions in Cedar Falls in April.

Jeanette Marie Marshall, 35, of 2107 Weis Court, Waterloo, was arrested June 12 at the jail on a warrant for third-degree theft.

Authorities said Marshall knocked on a womans door April 1 and told her she was selling magazines to support the Boys and Girls Club and to benefit battered women. The woman wrote a $248 check but later changed her mind about the transaction and notified police.

Officers called Marshall, who said she would destroy the check and cancel the magazine order. But the woman later learned her check had been signed over to another person and deposited into a bank account.

Marshall also was arrested in 2016 for theft and fraud for allegedly soliciting magazine subscriptions while claiming the proceeds went to a charity.

She also was convicted after fraudulently collecting money for magazine subscriptions in 2012.She told police she was working for a company, but officers determined the company had been out of business for a year.

Gunfire outside

nightclub probed

WATERLOO  Police are investigating gunfire that broke out outside a Waterloo nightclub early Sunday.

Officers were in the area of Old Skool Lounge, 120 Sumner St., around 1:55 p.m. Sunday when they heard gunshots coming from the parking lot.

No injuries were reported, but police found spent shell casings in the area and discovered a vehicle parked in the area of Shilliam Avenue and North Barclay Street had bullet holes.

No arrests have been made.

Dysart home

damaged in fire

DYSART  Friends are coming together to support a family who lost everything in their home along with their three pets in a fire Sunday afternoon.

A friend of the family said the fire started about 1 p.m. at 305 Grant St., Dysart. Firefighters dont have a cause yet.

Abbie and Jesse Hoppe lived in that home with their four children ranging from elementary school to just out of high school. No one was home at the time of the fire. One dog and two cats didnt make it out.

A friend has set up a GoFundMe page that has already raised more than $4,300.
FFA Alumni set

to meet today

WAVERLY  The Waverly-Shell Rock FFA Alumni will meet in the W-SR ag room at 7 p.m. today.

All community members interested in promoting agricultural education at the school are encouraged to attend. Prior FFA membership is not required.

Amateur radio

field day slated

WATERLOO  Members of the Northeast Iowa Radio Amateur Association will participate in the national Amateur Radio Field Day exercise Saturday and Sunday at 2767 Deere Road.

Since 1933, ham radio operators across North America have established temporary ham radio stations in public locations during field days. The event is open to the public and all are encouraged to attend.

Anyone may become a licensed amateur radio operator. For more information, contact Mark Colby, president of the association, or go to www.arrl.org/what-is-ham-radio.

Tech camps

set this summer

WATERLOO  Scholarships are available for students interested in attending one of the Black Rocket summer tech camps offered at Hawkeye Community College, through a grant awarded by the Max and Helen Guernsey Charitable Foundation.

Camps cover a wide range of topics, from video games to Minecraft. All camps will take place in Buchanan Hall on Hawkeyes main campus, 1501 E. Orange Road.

The schedule includes Make Your First 3D Video Game from Monday through June 30; Code Breakers, July 10-14; Minecraft Modders, July 17-21; and Minecraft Animators, July 24-28.

Scholarship amounts vary and are based on financial need. For more information or a scholarship application, call 296-4283 or email foundation@hawkeyecollege.edu.

Marimba tour

slated June 27

LA PORTE CITY  The Heartland Marimba Collective will perform at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Union High School auditorium, 200 Adams St., part of a summer tour.

Another show is set for 7:30 p.m. June 27 at the Brown Derby Ballroom, 618 Sycamore St., Waterloo.

Artists are Matthew Coley, Scott Eiklenborg, Jaime Esposito and Bridget Olenik. Cost is a $15 suggested donation.

Joint camp

set at Sartori

CEDAR FALLS  Covenant Clinic Orthopedic Surgery will host its monthly Total Joint Replacement Camp at 6 p.m. Monday in the west dining room at Sartori Memorial Hospital.

The program includes a brief presentation from joint replacement experts who work in areas including nursing, discharge planning and therapy.

The seminar is free, and patients can call 272-7200 for more information.
WATERLOO  Police are investigating gunfire that broke out outside a Waterloo nightclub early Sunday.

Officers were in the area of Old Skool Lounge, 120 Sumner St., around 1:55 p.m. Sunday when they heard gunshots coming from the parking lot.

No injuries were reported, but police found spent shell casings in the area and discovered a vehicle parked in the area of Shilliam Avenue and North Barclay Street had bullet holes.

No arrests have been made.
WATERLOO -- A Waterloo man has pleaded guilty to gun charges stemming from an incident where he allegedly shot at an ex-girlfriends home in January.

Dayton Jay Myers, 20, entered a guilty plea to a charge of possession of a firearm by a drug user on June 1 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids.

Sentencing will be at a later date, and Myers faces up to 10 years in prison.

Authorities said Myers was found with a .22-caliber GSG 1911 pistol and shell casings inside his mothers minivan while police were investigating a garage and Jeep Liberty that had been hit by gunfire on Reber Avenue on Jan. 3.

Myers allegedly told Waterloo police the shooting was a way of sending a message to the ex-girlfriend. He also said the weapon jammed during the shooting, records state.

No one was injured in the shooting.

Authorities said Myers had been using marijuana for several years and admitted to smoking marijuana hours before the shooting. A urine test also showed signs of marijuana use, according to court records.
DES MOINES  More than 500 locations in Iowa have been approved by the state to sell consumer fireworks under the states new law, according to the state fire marshals office.

Approved businesses may sell fireworks until July 8. State law permits fireworks to be shot off until July 8 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4 and the preceding and following Saturdays and Sundays. But local governments are able to establish their own display times and restrictions.

Thanks to the dedication of our employees, we have been able to establish a program and issue more than 500 licenses since this law took effect on May 9, state fire marshal Jeff Quigle said. Most states have several months to set up their programs. Our local fire service partners have been an integral part of this program, and the fireworks sellers have worked with us throughout this process to address both the public safety concerns and the business needs of the industry.

Quigle also encouraged fireworks users to be safe by reading labels, avoiding aerial fireworks in populated areas, keeping fireworks away from buildings, among other suggestions.

Reynolds to Israel

Gov. Kim Reynolds will lead a trade mission to Israel in September, the administration announced. The goal of the trip, which will include visits to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is to expand trade and investment opportunities for Iowa, according to the states economic development office. Iowa exports to Israel increased 14.5 percent and exceeded $30 million in 2016, the economic development office said. Trade and investment missions such as this uncover untapped opportunities for Iowa companies and serve as a forum to exchange ideas and promote collaboration, Reynolds said in a press release. Our goal is to open doors for Iowa companies, promote Iowa as a place to do business and ultimately create jobs in our great state. Iowa companies from all industry sectors are invited to participate, and must apply by July 7.

Hiring vets

The city of Des Moines became the 66th community under the states Home Base Iowa program, which seeks to attract retiring veterans to live and work in Iowa by offering local incentives. Des Moines incentives include free city park passes, a one-time waive of a $40 trash bin fee, free dog park passes for up to two dogs, and more. The administration said Home Base Iowa has helped land 2,750 veterans over the past three years, although there is no way for the program to determine whether a veteran moved to Iowa because of the program or for other reasons. To participate, local communities must have the support from 10 percent of local businesses, create a custom incentive package, prominently display signage, and have a resolution from a local governing body.

Disputes report

Gov. Kim Reynolds said extra steps to prevent fraud and identity theft were why some Iowans tax returns were delayed this year. Reynolds was responding to a Des Moines Register report that found the state, during 11 days in April, had a cash balance that was below what it had paid out in tax returns at the same point during the previous year. The bottom line is everyone will get their refunds, and were on par to be able to manage that, Reynolds said.
CEDAR FALLS  The Cedar Falls City Council moved forward with a partial property tax exemption for an Ashley Furniture distribution center in the citys industrial park during its regular Monday meeting.

The first consideration was unanimously approved after a public hearing that included one public comment and no written objections on file. The ordinance requires a total of three readings, typically at successive meetings, before it would be adopted.

The property tax exemptions are expected to total $463,208 over six years, while the amount paid would be $772,012 during that time. The city also provided land for the warehouse.

The $7.2 million project is under construction, and Bob Seymour, Cedar Falls planning and community services manager, said it is typical to approve the tax abatement once the project is underway.

In order for us to monitor those and keep track of them, we like to do them by project specific ordinances, Seymour said.

The council approved a development agreement in August with Bill and Carolyn Hinks LLC for the distribution center, which will total 150,000 square feet on 18.1 acres of land to the west of the Target Regional Distribution Center.

The agreement included the land transfer and a tentative agreement on the proposed tax exemption.

Larry Wyckoff of Cedar Falls offered the lone public comment, asking if the city could provide the total amount of tax dollars exempted over the past five years. Mayor Jim Brown said he should be able to provide figures sooner than later.

Plans are also in the works to build an Ashley Furniture Homestore retail store at an undetermined location in the city. City staff have said no incentives are being offered for the retail store.

Separately, the council approved the second reading of an ordinance that would rezone the 200 block of West First Street, between Washington and Clay streets a half block north of City Hall, to a high-density commercial district.

The council approved the second reading 6-1, with Councilwoman Susan deBuhr voting no. The council moved ahead with the second reading without discussion. One more reading must pass for the ordinance to be adopted.

The proposed project would include 46 studio apartments and four two-bedroom apartments, with a half-dozen ground-floor commercial spaces and ground-level indoor parking.

Kurt Rickard of Cedar Falls reiterated objections to the project during public comments and noted he had circulated a petition against the project that drew 1,100 signatures. Councilman Nick Taiber said during the council update period he anticipated several in the audience wanted to speak to the ordinance, though only Rickard made note of it during the public comments.
WATERLOO  A retired firefighter and U.S. Navy veteran is looking to keep the City Council seat he won nearly a year ago.

Tom Powers, 64, 611 Campbell Ave., announced his bid in the Nov. 7 municipal election for re-election to the Ward 1 council seat. His campaign theme will focus on his lifelong service and a commitment to Waterloo.

Our campaign is all about Serving You For a Better Waterloo because I am proud of my service in the Navy, the firehouse and as your Ward 1 councilperson, Powers said. We need Waterloo community leaders who know how to work well with others and put service above self.

Powers believes he has established himself as a problem solver who has been able to bridge some divides among council members and served as a swing vote on several key council decisions.

He said his focus has been on job growth, public safety, sound budgeting and community pride. He pointed to improved economic development efforts in the Ridgeway Avenue corridor, changes in tax-increment financing policies and progress getting the University Avenue reconstruction planning underway.

We must be a forward-thinking city that plans for, recruits and retains innovative businesses for a new generation of workers and entrepreneurs, he said.

Powers said he also hopes to establish a young professionals working group to get the citys generation of Millennials involved in planning the future. Other goals include making sure the rebuilt University Avenue is business-friendly; improving budget decisions by focusing on service outcomes; and a return on investment that holds the line on taxes.

Powers won the seat, which covers the southwest quadrant of the city, in a July 12 special election to replace David Jones, who resigned. His opponent in that race, Margaret Klein, already has announced she is running for the seat again this fall.

After serving on a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, Powers worked for Waterloo Fire Rescue for 29 years until retiring in 2008. He later joined the VGM Group Inc., where he directs political efforts at the state and national level to preserve small medical equipment businesses and their consumers.

I have been blessed with wonderful opportunities to serve my community and country, and have seen many communities across America and the world, he said. I want Waterloo to be a proud, pro-growth, progressive place to live so future Waterloo citizens have the same opportunities I have had for years to come.

Powers is a graduate of Columbus High School and completed the industrial service technician program at Hawkeye Institute of Technology.

He has volunteered for many groups, including the Waterloo Planning, Programming and Zoning Commission, Black Hawk County Civil Service Commission and Black Hawk County Compensation Board.
CEDAR RAPIDS  President Donald Trump has added a tour of Kirkwood Community College to his Technology Week visit Wednesday to Cedar Rapids.

Trump will tour agricultural facilities at the southwest Cedar Rapids campus. He is scheduled to be joined there by U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross.

Following a tour and remarks there, Trump, making his first trip to Cedar Rapids as president, will head to a 7 p.m. campaign-style rally at the U.S. Cellular Center, 370 First Ave. NE. For free tickets, visit donaldjtrump.com.

As part of Technology Week, the president is taking the conversation to rural America to talk about how technology is changing the way food is produced, harvested and marketed, according to the White House. Technology also can make farming safer, more efficient and environmentally friendlier.

Among programs offered at Kirkwood is training for ag specialists who work with farmers to reduce pesticide and fertilizer use by matching application rates with needs.

Several groups are planning a protest from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday outside the Cellular Center to address a range of issues including health care, the border wall, immigration wall, corruption, ties to Russia and the withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, according to Chris Schwartz, an organizer for Americans for Democratic Action Iowa.
Help offered

for living wills

WATERLOO  Social workers from UnityPoint Health-Allen Hospital will be at an ACE-SAP free clinic to assist community members in completing advanced directives, which include living will and durable power of attorney.

The ACE-SAP free clinic, from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, will take place at the Salvation Army, chapel entrance at 207 Logan Ave. Social workers will have living will and durable power of attorney forms and be available to notarize documents.

A living will enables patients to dictate specific treatment plans for medical conditions considered terminal. A durable power of attorney is used in cases when patients are unable to make their own health care decisions and those choices fall to another individual.

Food bank receives milk

WATERLOO  Prairie Farms Dairy today donated 500 gallons of milk to the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo.

This donation is in conjunction with National Dairy Month, which started in 1937 as way to promote drinking milk.

The donations will help thousands of children and families receive all the nutrients provided in milk. Milk is one of the most requested items at Food Banks but is rarely donated. As of now, current milk donations can only cover one gallon of milk per family, per year.
WATERLOO  The Waterloo Convention & Visitors Bureau will welcome 20 military reunion planners from across the United States from Sunday to Tuesday as part of the Your Military Reunion Connection Marketplace.

The YMRC Marketplace will include planner workshops, face-to-face pre-scheduled appointments, and a familiarization tour of Waterloo. During the tour, the Waterloo Convention & Visitors Bureau will showcase Waterloo as a potential military reunion destination. Planners will visit various attractions in Waterloo, such as the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum, Veterans Memorial Hall, John Deere, Waterloo Center for the Arts, Galleria de Paco, SingleSpeed Brewing and Sidecar Coffee.

 ... We look forward to welcoming these planners to Waterloo and showcasing all of our communitys hidden treasures, said Erin Schmitz, group sales director of the Waterloo Convention & Visitors Bureau.
SD-WAN Why AIOps Will Drive the Future of SD-WAN and the Evolution of SASE Networking
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Again the US attacked a sovereign country. Killing and bombing the military of that country over the implanted terrorists that we the USA support and fund in Syria. Russia has stepped forward and has condemned this latest but far from the first attack, against a country that has done nothing to the USA. Syria is a country that was progressing at a wonderful pace and the people were and are at peace with the elected government that is in place. But due to warring factions present in the USA, a push to upset Syria, install gas lines across her borders from Qatar, the US continues illegal activities, not just in Syria, but literally all over the world

Latest attack illegally

[contentcards url=http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-06-19/russia-slams-us-downing-syrian-jet-act-aggression-and-support-terrorists]

This has lead to a red line being drawn in the country called Syria and since we as a country do no wrong in our eyes, we will push some more due to being so damn usurious and righteous and plus godly upon the earth we so desire and seem to want to destroy. Why?

[contentcards url=http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/us-pilots-will-defend-themselves-as-russia-threatens-aircraft-over-syria-pentagon-says/article/2626381]

Hmm.

Would Syria be defending themselves, from; for example, how those 26 missing cruise missiles that hit near and on the airbase of theirs? We the US launched 59 missiles, 23 hit their targets..and the rest? We missed, but the point is that we attacked the armed forces of another country and flagrantly feel we have the right to push for war, where ever we desire

Missing cruise missiles dont have a grieving family on the news, but pilots? If we send 59 aircraft against Russia and Syria, we will have a blood bath on both sides. Lets not even look at the World War started by the USA, until we do such a stupid ignoramus thing

Vladimir Putin and Russia has been exceeding patient with all this bullshit. Its getting time sadly to see how the American Air force does against a worthy opponent. As a word of caution to the chicken hawks at the pentagon..USS Donald Cook, missing missiles at..? Just look below

[contentcards url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/06/world/middleeast/us-said-to-weigh-military-responses-to-syrian-chemical-attack.html]

Bring the boys and girls home. Lets try peace with sovereign countries for once

Yes the links above are western news links just for your peace of mind that other countries news is biased. No we are proud to be bombing another country, such as Syria, Libya and on and on and on. Such good people we have become

We are so good and benevolent that we sit at home and cheer on, as our government illegally destroys country after country, all in the name of democracy, oil, gas and generally who ever does not follow our rules and who is too weak to resist

Yes, I give a crap and No, I am not in the mood too care if you do not want to hear all about it. Guess what? (Besides a huge Russian connection in the news)

If we (USA) would get our fingers out of pies all over the world and promote peace, not war. Then I could do nothing, but talk about a Tiny Beautiful Russian Village. But the fact is, my country (USA) is pushing for a war and that war will destroy my plans for a peaceful wonderful life in Russia. In fact the ensuing war would destroy most of the world at large

Nothing has changed in the US

My dad watched illegal bombing in Korea. I watched illegal bombing in Vietnam/Laos (Laos secrete war). This goes back many years now and just from that standpoint; 1. 1950-1953 Korean War  2. 1961 Cuba  3. 1961-1973 Vietnam War  4. 1965 Dominican Republic  5. 1982 Lebanon  6. 1983 Grenada  7. 1989 Panama  8. 1991 Gulf War (Kuwait and Iraq)  9. 1993 Somalia  10. 1994 Haiti  11. 1994-1995 Bosnia  12. 1999 Kosovo  13. 20012014 Afghanistan  14. 20032010 Iraq War  15. 2011 to (present) Libya  16. 2011 to (present) Syria  17. The list goes on. We are busy little bees; killing and killing and killing

And it makes me sick to see what we have done and become and excited by. and most of all being bovine as it happens

Ra Ra, we want that war and if you say you dont, then do something about it I am trying and people hate me for telling the truth

WtR
A 54-year-old woman is recovering from injuries after multiple suspects forced their way into her apartment on Tuesday morning.

The incident took place just after midnight at 6953 Platte Avenue, near 70th and Havelock.

The victim was immediately maced once she opened the door, and police said she was hit by a hard object and held on the ground.

The intruders, who had their faces covered, stole several items and fled the scene.

The woman sustained visible injuries to her head and wrist, and authorities have not made any arrests.
Our consultant at The Answer Company showed us that Sage X3 is built for food and supplement manufacturers like us - it offers the complete functionality we need.

VANCOUVER, BC, June 20, 2017 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Answer Company, Sage's largest partner in Western Canada and one of the largest in North America, successfully implemented Sage X3 for Oregon's Wild Harvest, producer of certified organic and biodynamic herbal supplements. They required an upgrade from their legacy manufacturing solution and The Answer Company knew without question that Sage X3, a modern business management solution that specifically caters to the demands of manufacturers in the food and beverage industry, was the solution that would check all the boxes and ensure the business continued to thrive.



Food supplements are treated with as much diligence and regulation as other food and beverage products. As a result, supplement manufacturers have high requirements from their business management software in order to ensure the quality of their products. Lisa Ziomkowski, CPA and Sage X3 Administrator at Oregon's Wild Harvest describes that they "need manufacturing software capable of matching our workflow and processes. Product traceability, quality assurance, and formula tracking are critical for us." Sage X3 is a global ERP solution that is designed to cater to the specific challenges faced by manufacturers, which is why The Answer Company identified it as the best fit for Oregon's Wild Harvest.



The Importance of Quality, Compliance and Tractability

One of the most valued and beneficial features of Sage X3 for manufacturers is its robust traceability functions. With this solution, Oregon's Wild Harvest is able to assign every item received with a lot number and each item can be rigorously tested to confirm identity, purity and potency, which ensures that only the highest quality organic ingredients make it into the production chain. The tools provided by Sage X3 are essential in supporting Oregon's workflows and high organic quality standards, allowing them to easily complete the audits & compliance requirements for their organic certification.



Every single item is tracked from the time it is received until it reaches the purchasing customers, making it easy for Oregon to ensure that their items are compliant with regulations and giving them the ability to pull them back if they are not. While they've never actually had to perform a recall, Sage X3 has extensive functionality that would allow Oregon to recall items and products quickly, efficiently and at any time, no matter where in the product lifecycle.



Realizing the Weight of Inefficiencies and Limitations

Leveraging the full power of Sage X3, Oregon's Wild Harvest has been able to streamline key processes and eliminate many inefficiencies they were experiencing with their legacy solution. For example, "many of our major grocery chain customers pay for hundreds of stores with a single check," notes Ziomkowski. "With Sage X3, recording that payment is a simple, straightforward transaction. In our old system, every store was a customer, so dividing that single check between hundreds of customers was laborious."



Vehicle for Growth

Sage X3 collects a tremendous amount of data and with this information Oregon has been able to improve their reporting and analytics, and gain access to insight that they never had before. This information will help Oregon make informed decisions that will help their business grow, and the flexibility and scalability of Sage X3 will allow them to modify their solution to meet their needs as they change and develop.



Sage X3 has given Oregon's Wild Harvest the tools they needed to drastically improve operations and gain better insight into their business. Ziomkowski stated, "We feel like we have the best possible combination. We have a consultant we know and trust, and who knows our business. He is backed by the broad technical and engineering resources of The Answer Company. Combine those resources with Sage X3 and we have all the right pieces in place."



Read the full case study on the successful implementation of Sage X3 for Oregon's Wild Harvest.



Since 1995, The Answer Company has been helping organizations answer questions about investments in technology and information systems. As a Sage, Acumatica and NetSuite ERP partner, the entire team offers thought leadership & expertise on all solutions. From offices across Canada, the team provides specialized solutions to a wide array of industries, first executing an in-depth business analysis, followed by developing a tailored software solution and ensuring its effective implementation, followed by long-term support.



The Answer Company's goal is to make companies more successful at what they do and gain the confidence to make profitable moves in their respective industries.



# # #
Congressional special elections are being held today in Georgia's 6th district as well as the 5th district in neighboring South Carolina. The two seats have been vacant since the prior incumbents resigned to join President Donald Trump's administration. Polls in both states are open until 7PM, Eastern Time.

Georgia 6th District

This race that has garnered national attention, becoming the most expensive House election in U.S. history along the way. The district has been in Republican hands since a young history teacher named Newt Gingrich won the seat in 1978. Incumbent Tom Price, now Secretary of Health and Human Services, was reelected with a 23% margin last November. However, Trump only won the district by 1.5%. This dichotomy set the stage for this race to become a proxy battle for the nation's political divisions and the early performance of full Republican control in Washington.

A non-partisan primary was held on April 18th. Since no candidate achieved 50%, the top-two have advanced to today's runoff. Polling shows an extremely tight race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel. Ossoff has a 1.4% lead in the 270toWin Polling Average. However, the most recent polls show it may be even closer than that. A new poll out overnight from Landmark Communications showed the race tied.

More than 140,000 people have voted early in this election, 25% of the district's registered voters. This includes over 36,000 who did not vote in the April primary.

South Carolina's 5th District (Frank Underwood's District in House of Cards)

Today's election fills the seat previously held by Mick Mulvaney, now Director of the Office of Management and Budget. Republican Ralph Norman faces off against Democrat Archie Parnell. Several 3rd party candidates are also on the ballot. Democrats held this seat for over 125 years until Mulvaney was elected in 2010. He won reelection by 20 points in 2016, similar to Price's margin in Georgia. However, Trump won here by over 18%, a larger spread than Mitt Romney in 2012. As a result, the race here hasn't received nearly the same level of attention as the battle in Georgia.

There's been little polling here. Democrats don't expect to win the race, but, as the Wall Street Journal reports, "they are hoping to learn important lessons about what motivates African-American turnout in the Trump era. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is conducting a series of tests to determine what anti-Trump messages work best to motivate black voters to vote for Democratic candidates ahead of the 2018 midterm elections."

The House

There are currently four vacancies in the House of Representatives, where Republicans have a 238 to 193 majority. Democrat Jimmy Gomez won a recent special election in California's 34th district, while Republican Greg Gianforte won the election for Montana's at-large district. Both are expected to be sworn-in this month, bringing the total to 239-194.

Today's special elections will fill the remaining two vacancies. All 435 seats will be contested in the 2018 Midterm Elections. Create your own forecast with the Interactive 2018 House Map.
Jun 20, 2017 | By Julia

A young toddler with cerebral palsy in Sydney, Australia has taken her first independent steps thanks to a pair of 3D printed "Magic Shoes." Eve Darcy was diagnosed with the pervasive physical disability when she was only a few weeks old, making walking extra difficult for the youngster. A walking frame was required for Eves baby steps, which were limited to a few small steps at a time.

Recently, Eves parents were overjoyed to discover local startup AbilityMate, a small company based in the west of Sydney. Geared specifically towards kids with disabilities, AbilityMate is an entrepreneurial group of designers, engineers, and allied health professionals who specialize in 3D printing custom posture and mobility equipment. Locals know AbilityMate best for its clever innovation dubbed as Magic Shoes.

While reminiscent of 3D printed prosthetics initiatives such as e-NABLE, AbilityMate sets itself apart with its particular focus on childrens shoes. Measurements of the childs foot are taken using 3D scanners, with the data then sent off to a 3D printer in nearby Guildford. There, Magic Shoes are manufactured using state-of-the-art equipment, and can be fitted in a few daysa fraction of the time it usually takes for traditionally made cerebral palsy shoes.

She was in daycare on Wednesday, she walked in with her frame, she didn't go Thursday, and she walked in on her own on Friday. It happened so fast, she just took off, Eves dad, Joe Darcy, told press.

Its one of many success stories seen by Melissa Fuller, the co-founder of AbilityMate who is keen to see the company grow. The potential is endless," she said. "We are starting with ankle foot orthotics but there's orthotics for heads necks, backs.

Fuller is confident that her companys tech, which is much faster and cheaper than traditional methods, speaks for itself, but it has still been a long path starting out.

Recently, AbilityMate launched a crowdfunding campaign for material testing and administration. The campaign quickly proved successful, raising $97,000 in only one month. Fuller says the campaign was a fantastic head start for the company, which is continuing to raise funds for testing Magic Shoes.

Currently, AbilityMate is in the process of building an online platform enabling approved 3D printing hubs around the world to register and get paid to make assistive devices like Magic Shoes.

AbilityMate has also launched a search for 30 children (who fit strict criteria) to properly put Magic Shoes to the test.

Meanwhile, Eves mother Hiam Sakakini said her toddler is positively thriving. [Eve] can just hang with other kids and not be held back by the fact she was a lot less mobile, Sakakini said. I can go into a playground with her and she can just go.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Syed Shamim wrote at 7/6/2018 11:09:55 AM:I want a shoes for my kid as he is a patient of ceribal palcy




Jun 20, 2017 | By David

GE Additive, the 3D printing arm of General Electric, is at the forefront of developments in industrial 3D printing. Later this year, the company is due to release the worlds largest laser-powder 3D printing machine. The groundbreaking machine, which was announced at the Paris Air Show, is specifically designed for the aerospace industry, and will be unveiled in November at the Formnext Show in Frankfurt, Germany.

An advanced technique for manufacturing with nylons, metals, and other materials, laser-powder additive manufacturing machine works by directing a laser onto a bed of powder. The technique is useful for small-scale production as well as rapid prototyping.

GE Additives new laser-powder 3D printing machine will have a huge build volume of one cubic meter. Build geometry will be highly scalable and customizable based on a particular customers needs, and its feature resolution and build-rate speeds will be at least equal to those seen in current laser-powder 3D printing machines. It will be compatible with a range of different materials, including non-reactive and reactive metals, such as aluminium and titanium.

According to Vice President and General Manager of GE Additive, Mohammad Ehteshami, The machine will 3D print aviation parts that are one meter in diameter, suitable for making jet engine structural components and parts for single-aisle aircraft, said Mohammad Ehteshami Vice President and General Manager of GE Additive. The machine will also be applicable for manufacturers in the automotive, power, and oil and gas industries.

Initial demonstrations of the technology will be carried out on a machine called ATLAS, which has been in development for two years now. ATLAS will be "meter-class" in at least two different directions. Beta versions of the machine will be released to clients by the end of the year, and first deliveries of the finished machine are slated for early 2018.

The current largest laser-based 3D printing system on the market, which GEs machine will be surpassing, is one developed by Concept Laser, the X LINE 2000R. Its build volume is 0.8 m x 0.4 m x 0.5 m, with dual lasers each boasting 1000W of power output, and it has been particularly popular with aerospace and automotive clients, as well as the jewellery industry. (Larger metal 3D printers have been built, but these use non-laser systems.)

Concept Laser is majority-owned by GE, after a significant expansion in the 3D printing market by GE last year, and GEs new technology is in fact heavily based on that developed by the German 3D printing specialist, which reported a record sales increase of 88 percent last year. Until the GE machine arrives to break records, you can take a look at our feature from last year on the 20 biggest 3D printers so far.

Posted in 3D Printer

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Jun 20, 2017 | By Benedict

Back in April, technology company Siemens announced that it would be launching an online platform for on-demand 3D printing. The company has now released further details about the platform, which is due to launch in mid-2018.

Siemens' proposed 3D printing platform will connect businesses from around the world

When Siemens recently announced plans to develop a web-based collaborative platform that would enable on-demand product design and 3D printing production across the global manufacturing industry, many within the 3D printing industry took note. Although Siemens isnt best known for its additive manufacturing ventures, the reputation and financial muscle of the German conglomerate suggested that the new platform could be something truly significant.

Todays announcement builds on [our industry leadership] with a platform aimed at instantly connecting the people, technology, equipment, and expertise needed to efficiently address mutual business opportunities, said Tony Hemmelgarn, president and CEO of Siemens PLM Software, back in April.

Customers will have to wait for a year before they can start using Siemens proposed additive manufacturing platform, but Zvi Feuer, senior vice president of Manufacturing Engineering Software for Siemens PLM Software, recently told Design News a bit more about how the system will work.

In short, Feuer divided the proposed 3D printing platform into three main areas, all of which will offer particular advantages to the varied customers that Siemens expects to welcome through its digital doors. These three areas are additive manufacturing design, part production, and consulting.

Regarding the first area, additive manufacturing design, Feuer said that Siemens end-to-end manufacturing software will allow platform members to take a design and bring it to the world of additive manufacturing by reimagining or reshaping the design so it can be put together in a more manageable way. This will be particularly useful for businesses exploring their first uses for additive manufacturing.

The second area, part production, will mostly involve connecting businesses who require 3D printed parts with businesses who can carry out that printing process for them. The platform shares the knowledge we have at Siemens with those who need printed parts and those who make printed partsreal parts, not toys, Feuer said. Parts that can be mounted in real products. One of the parts might constrain the landing gear of an aircraft, or it could be spare parts.

Zvi Feuer, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing Engineering Software at Siemens PLM

Although the rapid growth of the additive manufacturing industry means that is now easier for companies to find relevant 3D printing services informally, Siemens believes that a more formalized system for business-to-business interaction will benefit both the printing service provider and the client.

The third area of the forthcoming 3D printing platform, consultation, will enable industry experts to help businesses onboard digital printing into their operations.

Interestingly, Feuer commented that the Siemens 3D printing platform will not be fully open: each of its members (which currently number more than a thousand) will be vetted by Siemens before they are allowed to offer their additive manufacturing services or send requests to other members. Part of the platform we are building is going to be a certification of the participants, Feuer said.

But while Siemens has a clear strategy for its 3D printing platform, the company is happy to admit that changes will be made as the company learns more about what its customers want from the service.

We [are] talking with the potential participants and looking at where the friction is, and were going to adjust our plans and build prototypes to figure out the appropriate business model that will work for everyone, explained Aaron Frankel, senior marketing director of manufacturing engineering software at Siemens PLM.

The 3D printing platform is expected to launch in mid-2018, with those interested in joining encouraged to contact Siemens PLM about early access.

Posted in 3D Printing Service

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Jun 20, 2017 | By Julia

With 3D printing frequently being hailed as the future of car manufacturing, a new Singapore-Thailand partnership is already planning ahead. Announced earlier today, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Thai petrochemical giant PTT Global Chemical (PTTGC) have joined forces to develop advanced 3D printing materials for the next generation of the automotive industry.

The partnership will see NTU and PTTGC collaboratively aim to develop new materials that could be used to 3D print vehicle components. With goals that include improving fuel efficiency, reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and fostering sustainable growth, NTU and PTTGC are setting their sights on a bright future for the additive manufacturing of cars.

And considering the two institutions prestigious reputationsPTTGC is the largest petrochemical and refining company in Thailand; NTU is one of the worlds top-ranked tech universitiesthey stand a good chance of being able to shape such a future.

"This partnership is very timely, especially when many countries are developing advanced manufacturing technologies to make more complex components, yet with a greener carbon footprint, said NTU Professor Lam Khin Yong. With the combined expertise of NTU in translational research and innovation, and the industrial application experience of PTTGC, I am sure that together we will be able to achieve new technological innovations and scientific breakthroughs."

The two partners kicked off the new collaboration by signing a research collaboration detailing the research focus. Signing on behalf of PTTGC was Supattanapong Punmeechaow, the company's President & Chief Executive Officer. "Our company is leveraging its research and development competencies as one strategic arm for growth and sustainability," Punmeechaow said. "Thus, we collaborate with both domestic and international external partners to attain timely commercialization.

Under national Thai policy, the country is rapidly moving towards an innovation-driven economy, Punmeechaow noted. And since PTTGC and NTU Singapore share mutual interests in this economic goal, synergy between the pair can create faster innovation.

PTTGC has certainly chosen a promising development partner in NTU. Recently, the Singapore university has built up considerable expertise in 3D printing, with a focus on industry-leaning partnerships in sectors such as aerospace and defence. NTU reps report that the research institution is increasingly finding more reliable ways of 3D printing aerospace parts, and is currently developing lightweight UAVs with electronics embedded inside. Additionally, Professor Chua Chee Kai, Executive Director of NTU's Singapore Centre for 3D Printing, holds the reputation of being one of the most cited scientists in the world for 3D printing.

NTU Singapore and PTTGC signed a Memorandum of Understanding today in Bangkok, Thailand.

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Daisy Dunn at Literary Review:

Some of the most colourful passages of Greek and Latin literature describe the people of Gaul. There are haughty, bellicose Gauls, drunk Gauls, Gauls who sleep on straw like animals, Gauls who make severed heads into necklaces for horses or store them in cedar oil to bring out on special days. And then, living beyond the deep sea and quite cut off from the world, are the huge and terrifying Britons. All in all, a horrible bunch.

One of the effects of the Gallic War, which Julius Caesar waged between 58 and 51 BC, was to draw what Bijan Omrani calls an impenetrable veil over centuries of indigenous Gallic culture. The campaign, which Caesar initially undertook to pay off his debts and outshine his political rivals, helped the Romans to rewrite Gallic history. Conquered tribes left little trace of their former ways of life. Caesar, meanwhile, left his extensive Commentaries on the Gallic War.

The text is Omranis guide as he travels across France, Belgium and Switzerland in search of the conflict it describes  and the history it doesnt. A former classics teacher, Omrani rambles along dung-strewn lanes and muddy tracks, and through medieval villages named after ancient villas (the Latin name endings acum and anus became ac, at, as, y, e, and ay in French). In places, his book evokes Richard Holmess pursuit of Robert Louis Stevenson through France in his marvellous Footsteps, though Omranis own personality is comparatively self-contained. For all the mud, his own footprints are rather fainter on his pages than those of Caesar and the Gauls he stalks.

more here.
Size, as we know, is not everything. You might only be the 90th largest, but you can still emerge with a sizable reputation. This is one of several lessons to be learned from the story of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, way down the list in terms of size but, as this new books subtitle suggests, looming large in the imagination. It is probably also the worlds most dangerous diamond, described here as being like a living, dangerous bird of prey because so many have lost their lives over it. The origins of the Koh-i-Noor, the mountain of light, are unknown, beyond the reach even of this books two accomplished authors, but it seems safe to assume that it emerged out of alluvial deposit somewhere in India. It may have been known in antiquity and it may have been referred to in many a romantic tale, but its first verifiable appearance isnt until the 18th century, where it decorated the Mughal emperors Peacock Throne in Delhi and where it stimulated envy and greed in the emperors rivals. Over the following 100 years, it brought torment and tragedy to a range of people in Delhi, Kabul and Lahore.

The history of the diamond is quickly told  its a rock, after all, so theres only so much story it can have. But the history of the many who have coveted the diamond is long and involved, full of wonder and awe, treachery and bloodshed. It is told here by William Dalrymple, known for entertaining travel writing and sweeping histories, particularly of the British in India and, most recent, in Afghanistan, and by Anita Anand, whose previous book told the story of the granddaughter of the last Indian maharaja to own the diamond. Dalrymple tells the earlier history, when the diamond was established as an emblem of power and sovereignty. He does this with his habitual panache, sweeping along the trail from the Mughal court in Delhi to Persia, where the diamond was taken by Nader Shah in 1739, to Afghanistan and then in 1813 to Lahore, where it was worn by the great Sikh maharaja Ranjit Singh. There are enough grand durbars with the diamond strapped to princely biceps and terrible moments of eyes being pricked by needles and brains being fried with molten metal to keep the pages turning. Anands task is more complicated, for she covers the history of the stone and its owners since the cremation of Ranjit Singh in June 1839. The key moment occurred 10 years later and involved Ranjits 10-year-old heir, Maharaja Duleep Singh. British-led forces under Governor-General Lord Dalhousie had just taken control of the maharajas state of Punjab in an act of perfidy that will be familiar to anyone who has read our imperial story: three years earlier, the British had assured the princes advisers that they would stay until he was 16, old enough to rule by himself. Now, before his 11th birthday, he was handed a document to sign to resign for himself, his heirs, and successors all right, title and claim to the sovereignty of the Punjab, or to any sovereign power whatever. Item three of the five-clause document required him to surrender the KohiNoor to Queen Victoria.

More here.
When Franco and Maico Campilongo opened their Southern Italian restaurant Terun in downtown Palo Alto in 2013, their swift success caught the attention of the Italian press.

Journalists from Corriere della Sera in Milan, La Repubblica in Rome and others celebrated the exploits of the brothers, who hail from the Calabrian town of Scalea. Readers weighed in as well. Most of them cheered. A few of a more cynical cast suggested that the pair could only have succeeded with the blessing of local gangsters. Not to rain on the latter's parade, but the Campilongos and their partner, the Apulian chef Kristyan D'Angelo, can manage very well on their own. Case in point, their latest venture, Italico, which opened this past July just a stone's throw from Terun.



According to Franco Campilongo, Italico is the Italian equivalent of the ancient Greek word Italoi, used to refer to the first inhabitants of the Southern Italian peninsula that would later become known as Calabria. More pan-Italian than its sister restaurant, Italico is distinguished by a curious fact: It is the first restaurant in the U.S. to construct a menu around a new breed of dried Italian pastas made from wheat grown exclusively in Italy. For the sake of brevity, these pastas, made by Felicetti , Rustichella d'Abruzzo and other small pastifici, have unique aromas and flavors that will change the way you think about this seemingly pedestrian food. If you care to learn more about the phenomenon, you may do so here .





Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Italico, the sister restaurant of Terun in downtown Palo Alto, opened this past July. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Italico's scrumptious appetizer of fried Calabrian peppers with Grana Padano. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next The restaurant's sommelier, Matteo Sarica, curates an enchantingly eclectic wine list. Here, a syrah from Rosset, a small producer in Valle d'Aosta. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Italico is the first restaurant in the U.S. to construct a menu around dried Italian pastas made exclusively of Italian-grown wheat. Here, bucatini from the small pastificio Rustichella d'Abruzzo, dressed with extra virgin olive oil, garlic, Monterey Bay anchovies and Calabrian peppers. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Conchiglioni pasta (from Pastificio Felicetti) filled with ground pork and beef, and topped with mozzarella and Grana Padano. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next While pastas are Italico's specialty, the restaurant offers a wonderful selection of secondi as well. Here, veal, pork and beef polpette with Grana Padano, bread crumbs, and Auricchio Provolone. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Pollo milanese at Italico (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Italico's bombolonidelightfully soft, yeasty donutswith chocolate and lemon sauce. (Nick Czap) Italico in Palo Alto Previous Next Pistachio panna cotta with crumbled pistachios and amaretto cookies. (Nick Czap)

On a recent evening, dinner began with a newly devised and addictive appetizer: flash-fried dried Calabrian peppers and wonderfully big hunks of Grana Padano. The peperoni had an aroma reminiscent of toasted marshmallows, a delicately crispy melt-in-your-mouth texture akin to potato chips, and an intriguingly complex flavor at turns sweet, salty, smoky and fruity. I found myself struggling to maintain an air of casual detachment as I reached for one after another, after another.Next up, a crudo of Sicilian smoked swordfish dressed with extra virgin olive oil, lemon and garlic, and garnished with a little mound of micro-arugula. Imagine a piscine version of Prosciutto di Parma, and you have some idea of the taste. At this point, wine intervened in the form of a lovely Schioppettino, a peppery-spicy violet-ruby D.O.C. red from Cantarutti , a small producer in the Colli Orientali del Friuli appellation of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.From the menu of pastas, which numbered 10 in all, I chose penne, made from organic farro grown in Umbria, in an earthy, savory and slightly spicy sauce of tomato, eggplant and Calabrian peppers. My dining companion, meanwhile, dug into a bowl of toothsome rigatoni with pea puree, pancetta and Grana Padanoa dish D'Angelo adapted from one of his grandmother's recipes.The secondi (pollo milanese, ossobuco, et al.) looked spectacular, but in the interest of moderation, we moved straight to dessert: bombolonismall, spherical donuts, pleasingly yeasty and lightly sugared, with little bowls of chocolate and lemon sauce for those with a penchant for dunking; and a pistachio panna cotta, an enchantingly jiggly custard topped with fresh pistachios and crumbled amaretto cookies. A delightfully sweet end to a delectable evening.// Italico, 341 S. California Ave. (Palo Alto), italicorestaurant.com
US judge blocks President Biden's student debt forgiveness plan

The injunction is the second to block the president's signature program, which could cut or eliminate student loan debt for up to 40 million people.
By: Christian Benavides

Doral, Florida  Comcast, Direct TV and the Miami Herald will be catering to the growing Venezuelan population in South Florida. The cable and news giants recently announced the addition of Venezuelas top news and entrainment channels and websites to their growing menu of Spanish-language options.

The new channel lineup consists of Venezuelas top rated channels, including: Globovision, TeleSUR, and AVN. The Miami Herald will now partner with avn.ve and ElNorte.com to offer local news to Venezuela.

AVN and ElNorte are the top online source for news in Venezuela with over 200 million daily readers per day, each.

Our hope is to provide Venezuelans with the option to read local news from their home country while also incorporating the opinions of those in South Florida, said ElNorte executive director Pablo Torres.

These partnerships make business sense since the media giants will be expanding and diversifying their advertising portfolios.

The information giants hope to capture the undivided attention of over 250,000 Venezuelans residing in Florida. Between 2000 and 2010, the Venezuelan Miami population jumped 117 percent during the same time period. Pew Research Center found that the number of foreign-born Venezuelans in the U.S. grew a whopping 388 percent.

Researchers also shows that about 4 in 10 Venezuelan immigrants are U.S. citizens, half of them have obtained at least a bachelors degree which creates just the right kind of demographic that can be new customers for Comcast, Direct TV and the Miami Herald.

Media Contact

Company Name: Bella Vista

Contact Person: Christian Benavides

Email: cbenavides@BELLAVISTACOMMUNICATION.com

Country: United States


Finalises Drilling Contract

Perth, June 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - White Cliff Minerals Limited ( ASX:WCN ) ("White Cliff" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has finalized a drilling contract with mining contractor Geostandart LLC ("Geostandart").



Geostandart and its predecessor company Geotechservices LLC have a 15 year history in the Kyrgyz Republic. Geostandart's services includes diamond drilling, reverse circulation (RC) drilling, downhole surveying, directional drilling, mining related earthworks and road construction. They have become a substantial provider of drilling services to varied clients including several western domiciled exploration companies. Geostandart is one of only two drilling companies in the Kyrgyz Republic to conduct reverse circulation drilling.



The Company is also in negotiations with Quest Exploration Drilling (QED) to conduct diamond drilling which will test the deposit at depth later in the 2017 field season.



QED have a 30 year history and QED has grown their business to be an industry leader in the provision of drilling services to varied clients. QED's services includes diamond drilling, reverse circulation (RC) drilling, RC grade control, geothermal, geotechnical drilling, water boring and slope stability solutions. QED acts as a drill contractor for multiple public and private companies around the world including major, mid-tier and exploration focused companies.



Drilling is expected to commence as soon as all the access tracks and drill pads are completed.



Exploration Program



Phase one of the exploration program has focussed on extensions to the Quartz Zone both along strike and at depth.



Once the access tracks are completed geologists will map and sample the outcropping mineralised zones. Assays from these zones will be available in approximately four week. Once Company geologists have determined the location and strike extent of the Quartz Zone the drill hole positions can be finalised. Most drill holes are sited on the access tracks and a small amount of additional clearing is required to make enough room for the rig to operate safely and efficiently.



The Quartz Zone appears to extend at least 200 metres further south east of the existing drilling. Outcropping mineralised shear zones occur in a track cutting 50 metres southeast of the existing drilling with channel sample assay results of 2 metres at 5.4 g/t and 1 metre at 0.7 g/t gold within sandstone. Quartz veins outcrop a further 100 metres southeast of the channel samples.



Phase one drilling at the Quartz Zone consists of 15 holes (1200 metres) of RC drilling. The drilling is targeting the Quartz Zone structure along strike from the existing drilling which defined an inferred resource of 244,000 tonnes at 9.5 g/t containing 75,000 ounces. Once the strike extent of the Quartz zone has been defined the company will drill a series of deeper holes to test the mineralisation at depth.



Subsequent drill programs (Phase 2-3) will be conducted at the north western end of the Lower Gold Zone where drilling identified 6 metres at 38 g/t gold in LGZ15-29a. This target is hosted in a quartz vein having the same orientation as the Quartz Zone. The vein has been mapped along strike for 250 metres. Several bulldozer tracks and drill pads need to be completed prior to drilling and these will be constructed once the Quartz Zone dozer program is completed.



Aucu Gold Deposit-Inferred Resource Summary



In April the Company reported an updated inferred resource reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012) for the Aucu gold deposit (refer to ASX announcement 21 April 2017). The estimate above a cut-off grade of 1 g/t gold is:



1.8 million Tonnes grading 5.2 g/t gold, for 302,000 ounces of contained gold.



The new resource represents a 93% increase in contained gold ounces and a 23% increase in average grade over the previous gold resource using the same cut-off grade reported in April 2015.



Importantly the new resource contains a new very high grade zone (Quartz Zone) of 244,000 tonnes at 9.5 g/t gold containing 75,000 ounces of gold, which starts at surface. Surface extensions of the high grade Quartz Zone have been identified and will be drilled in the coming field season.



This latest resource estimate also identified a new inferred copper resource reported in accordance with the JORC Code (2012), using a bottom cut of grade of 0.25% copper, of 608,000 tonnes at 0.64% copper, containing 3,870 tonnes of copper.



The new gold and copper resources start at surface, have only been drilled to 100 metres vertical depth and remain open along strike and at depth.



The reported gold resources represent less than 5% of mineralised faults identified by rock-chip sampling to date. Approximately 95% of the mineralised faults identified by rock chip sampling are still to be drilled. The gold bearing mineralised structures extend beyond the current resource estimate area over a length greater than 3,000 metres and occur as multiple lodes (see Figure 8 in the link below).



To view figures, please visit:

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/MSJ621LJ





About White Cliff Minerals Ltd





White Cliff Minerals Ltd is a Gold, Copper, Cobalt, Nickel resources and mining company listed in Australia (ASX:WCN). The Company is focused on developing low cost high value mineral deposits that have near term cash flow potential.

Major projects include the Aucu gold deposit that contains 484,000 ounces of gold (3mt at 5.1 g/t) starting at surface and Chanach copper deposit that contains 64,000 tonnes of copper (17.2Mt at 0.37% copper). Both projects have substantial blue sky potential with drilling covering only 5% of the known structures. In Australia the company is developing the Coronation Dam cobaltnickel deposit where a maiden resource will be announced in the late 2018.


World-wide Distribution Agreement with Modern Dental Group (HKG:3600)

Brisbane, June 20, 2017 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Oventus Medical Ltd ( ASX:OVN ) is pleased to announce it has entered into a world-wide distribution agreement with Hong Kong based Modern Dental Group ( HKG:3600 ). This is in addition to the recent announcement of the co-manufacturing agreement between Oventus and Modern Dental.



Key Points:



- Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed Modern Dental Group ( HKG:3600 ) is the world's largest dental prosthetic device provider with over 70 sales and customer services centres covering North America, Europe, Australia, and the Greater China regions.



- Global agreement for distribution of the Oventus proprietary O2Vent product range -exclusive for the USA and non-exclusive for the rest-of-the-world.



- Modern Dental recently acquired Microdental - one of the largest dental laboratories in the United States. Microdental covers one quarter of local dentists (approximately 34,000 dental offices).



- In Europe, they are number one, two or three in all major European countries by market share.



- In Australia, Modern Dental operates the largest dental laboratory network via its subsidiary, Modern Dental Pacific.



- This agreement is a key milestone for Oventus as it scales up its global rollout plans and follows the company's recent announcement regarding the co-manufacturing agreement with Modern Dental.



The distribution agreement executed between Oventus and Modern Dental relates to Oventus' proprietary O2Vent(TM) products that are delivered through the dental channel and are indicated for use during sleep to aid in the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). The agreement between the two parties, details terms around pricing, volumes and regions. The agreement is exclusive for the USA and non-exclusive in other regions including Australia.



Modern Dental Group is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is the world's largest dental prosthetic device provider with over 70 sales and customer service centers covering North America, Europe, Australia, and the Greater China regions. Modern Dental recently acquired Microdental - one of the largest dental laboratories in the USA. Microdental covers one quarter of US dentists (approximately 34,000 dental offices). In Australia, its local division, Modern Dental Pacific has the largest dental laboratory network in the region.



Mr Godfrey Ngai, Chief Executive Officer of Modern Dental said: "With our recent acquisition of Microdental in the USA, we have an unmet need to supply an oral appliance for the treatment of sleep apnoea to our dentist customers. We believe the Oventus O2Vent(TM) range of devices provide the required features and benefits and clinical outcomes to meet the needs of our customers. We have selected the O2Vent(TM) range as the premium oral appliances that we take to market and distribute in the US."



He added: "We also look forward to distributing these products in other key global markets such as Europe and Australia, through our substantial global proprietary sales and distribution network, as well as partnering for manufacturing scale up."



Oventus Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Neil Anderson said: "We are very pleased to have entered into a distribution agreement with such a large and well-respected dental laboratory group as Modern Dental. It is a significant achievement for us that they have chosen our oral appliance products to sell to their extensive global network of dentists.



"The agreement will accelerate our sales and allow us to continue to commercialise the product range for the sleep clinician channel over the coming year. At that point we will be well advanced in achieving our goal of bridging the gap between dentists and sleep clinicians. The oral appliance market is estimated to be growing in the order of 24% per year. It is our objective to grow this market further by bringing more patients into care," Mr Anderson added.



The two companies plan to work together in various marketing and training activities in each geography over the next six months leading to a scale up in sales later in 2017.





About Oventus Medical Ltd





Oventus Medical Ltd (ASX:OVN) is a Brisbane based medical device company that is commercialising a unique treatment platform for the treatment of sleep apnoea and snoring. Unlike other oral appliances or CPAP interfaces, the Oventus devices have a unique and patented airway within the treatment platform that allows air to flow to the back of the mouth unobstructed while maintaining an oral seal and stable jaw position, bypassing multiple obstructions from the nose, soft palate and tongue, reducing airway collapsibility and managing mouth breathing while maintain a stable airway with or without nasal CPAP. They are particularly designed for the many people that have nasal obstructions and consequently tend to mainly breathe through their mouth. While it may seem counterintuitive, this technology actually manages mouth breathing by converting it to device breathing and normalising ventilation. The O2Vent(TM) is designed to allow nasal breathing when the nose is unobstructed, but when obstruction is present, breathing is supplemented via the airways in the appliance.

For more information on Oventus' Sleep Treatment Platform, please visit https://www.oventus.com
IOWA CITY, IowaACT has reached an agreement with the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training and EMG Education to make the ACT test the official exit exam of EMGs dual-degree international education program, which is offered in schools across Vietnam. Signing this agreement is one of the Ho Chi Minh City Departments newest efforts to expand cooperation, improve program quality and enable parents and students to make more informed choices about education options.

EMG Education Group, one of the most influential educational organizations in Vietnam, is exclusively contracted by the government to deliver foreign educational content and services to Vietnamese public schools.

Vietnam is currently offering the EMG international educational program to approximately 12,000 students in more than 400 classes. However, the program could soon be expanding to reach tens of thousands more students across the country, as the Vietnamese government, through Decree 73, will introduce new regulations later this year to ease restrictions on enrollment in foreign-owned international schools in the country.

We are delighted to become a part of such an innovative Vietnamese educational program and thrilled that Vietnamese students will be able to benefit from our assessment, said ACT Chief Commercial Officer Suzana Delanghe. The ACT test will provide students, parents and educators in Vietnam with information and insights that will help students understand their level of academic achievement in core subject areas.

The new 5-year agreement will take effect starting this fall.

ACT is a mission-driven, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people achieve education and workplace success. Headquartered in Iowa City, Iowa, ACT is trusted as a leader in college and career readiness, providing high-quality assessments grounded in nearly 60 years of research. ACT offers a uniquely integrated set of solutions designed to provide personalized insights that help individuals succeed from elementary school through career.




Brand new routes to Dublin, Glasgow and Manchester are highlights of a winter schedule that will be available from London Southend Airport, operated through Stobart Air's franchise partnership with Flybe.





Flights to the hugely popular Irish capital will operate up to three times daily. The route to the UKs 2013 Capital of Culture  Manchester  will also fly up to three times daily, and you can take off to Scotlands largest city and a Gateway to the Highlands  Glasgow  up to twice daily Sunday-Friday.



All the new routes start on 29 October 2017. Tickets are one sale from today (20 June 2017) at www.flybe.com starting from 29.99 per person one way (including taxes and charges).



Flights to Budapest, Lyon, Milan Malpensa, Prague and Vienna - all of which have been hugely popular since taking off in May - will also continue into the winter months.



This takes the total number of routes available from London Southend this winter to 24.



With superb access, including its own station with up to 6 trains per hour to and from the heart of London in 45 minutes and a 15-minute train to plane promise, it means you can be in the Departure Lounge in under an hour. This combined with unique customer service and a lack of queues compared to other London Airports means it's no surprise that more and more people are choosing award winning London Southend as they make travelling so quick and stress free.



Glyn Jones, CEO at London Southend Airport said: The announcement of these new, domestic routes further builds on our ambition to make London Southend the capitals next big airport by providing fantastic leisure and business destinations to passengers from Essex, London and the South East, and now we can add regional connectivity to that mix. These routes to Dublin, Glasgow and Manchester also show she we are listening to our customers and responding  as routes to Ireland and Scotland are among the most requested destinations. LSA is perfectly placed to serve Londons growing travel market especially in the face of the other London airport capacity constraints.



According to Graeme Buchanan, Chief Executive at Stobart Air, the expansion of its services with three additional routes from London Southend Airport this w inter reflects the airlines ambition for its London base, We are delighted to add more routes for winter 2017 at London Southend. The addition of these new routes bring to nine, the number of Flybe services we will operate from London Southend as part of our winter 2017 flying schedule - an additional six routes this winter on last year's operation. Our London Southend routes are performing well and we see great potential in these new services, particularly among business and leisure passengers travelling between Dublin and London on a regular basis. We look forward to continuing to work with the Southend Airport team to grow and further develop our London Southend services.



Vincent Hodder, Flybe Chief Revenue Officer, said: We are delighted to introduce the new winter schedule from London Southend airport this coming winter. The brand-new routes further increase connectivity and choice for passengers across the UK and Europe and we look forward to welcoming everyone on-board in October.


President Donald Trumps administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, US officials said to news agency.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistans status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistans support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistans arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Precise actions have yet to be decided.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistans embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistans war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on Americas longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

Weve never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically, the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other US officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behavior. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.
A 35-year-old woman, who was allegedly gang-raped in a moving car by three men after being abducted from Haryanas Gurgaon on Monday night, recorded her statement with Noida Police, officials said on Tuesday.

She was pulled inside a moving Swift car around 8:30 pm from Sohna in Gurgaon and gang-raped. The accused thereafter drove the woman to Greater Noida and threw her close to a police station in Kasna.

She shared the story of what happened with locals who informed the Gautambudh Nagar police.

Some beer bottles were found at the spot which indicates that the accused persons were drunk, a senior Greater Noida police officer said.

The police took her for a medical examination. We are in the process of recording her statements, the officer said.

The woman, who belonged to Bharatpur in Rajasthan, said she had been walking near her residence in Sohna on Monday night when she was pulled into a car by the men.

Senior Superintendent of Police Love Kumar said although she sustained some abrasions on her body, they were awaiting a final medical examination.

A team of officers have taken her to Sohna from where she was allegedly abducted, the officer said.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar, deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Sumit Kuhar, and DCP (East) Deepak Saharan were present at the Sector 29 police station as the woman recorded her statement in the presence of a woman lawyer as per the legal norms.

Khirwar said that the matter was under investigation and he will brief the media later.

An official said they got the information about the incident at 3am and immediately took the woman, who was spotted crying in front of Yatharth Hospital under the jurisdiction of Kasna police station, to a hospital for medical examination.

Following the incident, women activist Annie Raja on Tuesday lashed out at the Chief Ministers of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh for creating a fear among the women of the country. Annie Raja said it was an example of the failure of both governments.

Both the places the BJP is governing. Such incidents are happening regularly in these states, but no action has been taken as yet. Why the governments of both thess states are not deploying more security. They have created a fear in the minds of the women. On that account, they are very successful. It is very shameful that they are not serious and are not taking any steps to prevent such things, she added.








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US President Donald Trump's Middle East tour generated a lot of enthusiasm, cynicism as well. in the global media about the prospects for peace and justice in the region in terms of resolving the worst, explosive regional crisis and human disaster in Palestine, occupied by Israel that keeps killing Palestinians possibly to take revenge on Europeans for their holocaust of Jews.Trumps first stop was in Saudi Arabia, where he signed a weapons deal worth $109.7 billion, the largest in history. This princely sum is expected to mushroom to $380 billion within 10 years.

By resetting America's relations with key regional players, Trump has done what seemed unthinkable even a few months ago, promoting a message of openness, tolerance and respect of Islam and the Muslim world. Gone is the Islamophobic election rhetoric, replaced by a more sober and responsible approach. After Saudi Arabia, Trump skipped other Arab states and quickly went to Israel. The public statements by both the US President and the Israeli PM indicating that the presidents strong position on Iran whether advances the prospects for peace in the region or not, it cements the Israeli-US terror links against Palestine and Arab world and Iran.

Donald Trump's visited Israel and the West Bank May 22-23, and that generated a lot of the euphoria globally as world expected him to remove the obstacles for peace talks and find a credible solution to end occupation of Palestine by Israel. Before going to Palestine, Israel first went to Israel and met Its hawkish PM Netanyahu and got instructions from him as to how to deal with Palestine. Netanyahu showed some video clips, maybe manufactured in Washington, to show the Abbas is not for peace and he is an inciter. Netanyahu told trump that well dressed Israeli leaders are innocent and hammerless. Unlike Indian leaders, Jewish leaders dont even look innocent or harmless. Terrorism and fanaticism are their language and religion. Zionist leaders are liars.

Trump in Palestine with Zionist script

Trump arrived in Bethlehem already charged up after a meeting with ultra fanatic Israeli PM Netanyahu, who had presented material to Trump allegedly proving that the Palestinian Authority (PA) continued to be involved in incitement against Israel and also continues to pay large sums of money to Palestinians, including terrorists, imprisoned in Israel.

The Palestinians claimed that the clip shown to the president by the Israelis had been edited and taken out of context. The next day, the Palestinians sent the Americans the entire video of Abbas speech. According to this version of events, the unedited video proved, from the Palestinians' perspective that Abbas did not touch on incitement or say that he is an inciter. According to the Palestinians, Abbas words were taken out of context through biased editing of the film. At this point, senior Fatah official Saeb Erekat intervened and told Trump that Netanyahu is the provocateur that the prime minister never stops inciting against Abbas in order to torpedo any chances for advancing negotiations.

The forty day hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners, spearheaded by Marwan Barghouti was in the background as the meeting between Trump and Abbas took place. On May 27th, the hunger strike has finally been suspended following talks involving the International Committee for the Red Cross and the Palestinian Authority concluding in a deal with Israel. The more than 1000 prisoners were attempting to raise concerns about the poor treatment of prisoners in Israeli jails. These included the practices of administrative detention allowing detentions on secret evidence, excessive use of solitary confinement, and the severe restriction of family visits.The prisoners strike is an important step in history of the prisoners movement towards full respect of the rights of Palestinian prisoners under international law. It is also an indication of the reality of the Israeli occupation, which has left no option to Palestinian prisoners but to starve themselves to achieve basic rights they are entitled to under international law.

Trumps arrival with Israeli script caused uneasiness in Palestine. Bethlehem was not the only place where tensions rose. It has now emerged that harsh words were also uttered in the conversation between Netanyahu and Trump. Evidently the American president continued to subject the prime minister to steamroller pressure on the concessions that Israel will have to make and the need to quickly renew negotiations with the Palestinians. Netanyahu, when he appeared before the Likud faction in the Knesset on May 29 after Trump left, hinted at this. He told the Likud members, many of whom oppose negotiations, that Israel does not have a blank check with Trump in the diplomatic realm. One is not sure if now Israel also needs to pay huge sums for US help and support for promoting Zionist brutal expansionism and crimes against humanity in Palestine. Generally USA does all free of cost and even misuse sits UN veto to shield all Zionist crimes in Palestine. Not only that. USA supplies terror goods to Israel on a regular basis, besides huge annual aid.

A section of media reported that the conversation between Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas that took place in Bethlehem was harsh. The president even burst out shouting at the prisoner with Palestinian leader- an international passport- claiming that Abbas had deceived him with statements about his commitment to peace at an earlier meeting between the two men in the White House. Netanyahu helped Trump to remember that incident. .So childish and silly!

Anti-Arab US media

Trump deviated from its anti-Muslim rhetoric as he landed Saudi Arabia and later he spoke of friendly bonds between Arabs and Americans. Then he went to Israel to get charged with Zionist hate stuff before going to Palestine.

Trump has, indeed, fully embraced a Zionist narrative, and a rightwing version of it, for example, he made no reference to a Palestinian state. He said he would never forget Jews occupying Palestine. America does not find the hypocrisy of the whole endeavor.

Trumps speech at the Israeli Museum was so friendly and considerate of Israeli emotions, reported the New Your Times, that one right-wing Israeli legislator described it as deeply expressive of the Zionist narrative. Former US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, trying to decipher the supposedly complicated persona of Trump said: Either Trumps visit was substance-free  or he is being uncharacteristically subtle in planting the seeds for new round of peace negotiations. The so-called Liberal US media, which has stooped to many lows in its attacks on Trump  including his family, his mannerism, his choice of words, even mere body language  became much more sober and quite respectful in the way they attempted to analyze his short trip to Israel, and the very brief detour to Bethlehem, where he met with Palestinian Authority leader, Mahmoud Abbas.

From an American mainstream media perspective, to be judged presidential enough, all US presidents would have to commit to three main policies. They are, in no particular order: privileging the economic business elites, war at will and unconditionally supporting Israel. They have now rallied behind him on two separate occasions: when he randomly bombed Syria to showcase US military prowess and during his visit to Israel to promote Zionist criminal regime in West Asia to counter Arab nations.

As if he has, overnight, been transformed into a master politician, Donald Trumps 27-hour trip to Israel has left many US-Zionist analysts mystified. The New York Times referred to Trump as the Liberace of world leaders.

Apparently, Trump was expected to make his first ever foreign trip to Israel but he just included Saudi Arabia and Palestine. Trump has promised to make a historic deal possible. He will soon be tested and we will see if the US can finally assume a high moral ground and facilitate an honorable deal that ends the occupation and gives Palestinians their freedom, or will it bend under Israeli pressure and claim indifference, thereby leaving the root cause of extremism and instability in this region to fester?

On the day Trump, along with rightwing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lectured Palestinians on peace, a 17-year-old Tuqua Hammad was shot for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli military vehicles at the entrance of her village of Silwad, near Ramallah. Tuqua was shot in the lower extremities and Israeli troops prevented a Palestinian ambulance from accessing the victim to treat her. Merely a few miles away, Trump was writing his remarks after visiting Israels Holocaust Museum. Regrettably, he failed to meet the expectations of the humanity against whom Zionism commits crimes. The irony of the whole story is inescapable; but American media seems to follow a script, in which Palestinian rights, dignity and freedom are hardly ever mentioned.








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Part -1: Rising Chinese power

China, the only veto power of Asia and major global power, is seen trying to take a larger role in global affairs by promoting its economic ventures across continents of Asia, Africa and Europe by joint efforts. Obviously, besides making joint ventures with wiling partners, China may be trying to put an end to US monopoly in world affairs, Beijing would like to share domination with USA.

China has come out with a fast forward idea of working together for greater benefits for all nations involved. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road or One Belt, One Road (OBOR) is a development strategy, proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping that focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily between the People's Republic of China and the rest of Eurasia, which consists of two main components, the land-based "Silk Road Economic Belt" (SREB) and oceangoing "Maritime Silk Road" (MSR).

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) Economic Corridor are officially classified as "closely related to the Belt and Road Initiative".

The strategy underlines China's push to take a bigger role in global affairs, and its need for priority capacity cooperation in collective economic affairs in areas such as steel manufacturing.

The One Belt One Road initiative is geographically structured along 6 corridors, and the maritime Silk Road. New Eurasian Land Bridge, running from Western China to Western Russia; China - Mongolia - Russia Corridor, running from Northern China to Eastern Russia; China - Central Asia - West Asia Corridor, running from Western China to Turkey; China - Indochina Peninsula Corridor, running from Southern China to Singapore; China - Pakistan Corridor, running from South-Western China to Pakistan; Bangladesh - China - India - Myanmar Corridor, running from Southern China to India; Maritime Silk Road, running from the Chinese Coast over Singapore and India to the Mediterranean.

Essentially, the 'Belt' includes countries situated on the original Silk Road through Central Asia, West Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. It goes through Central Asia, Russia to Europe.

One Belt, One Road has been contrasted with the two US-centric trading arrangements, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.

The China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative offers enormous opportunities for all the countries involved and Greek business community warmly supports all the efforts to deepen the two countries' cooperation under this context, President of the Greek-Chinese Economic Council Fotis Provatas said recently.

OBOR Summit 2017

Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres before the Leaders' Roundtable Summit at the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation at Yanqi Lake International Convention Center in Beijing, capital of China, May 14-15, 2017. Around 30 state and government heads as well as delegates from more than 100 countries  including the USA and North Korea  discussed the Belt and Road initiative, one of the worlds biggest economic diplomacy programs led by China.

In a keynote speech delivered at the opening ceremony of the two day Initiative called Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing on May 14 President Xi Jinping said that China would launch Belt and Road cooperation initiative on trade connectivity together with some 60 countries and international organizations. Xi said that the Belt and Road Initiative embodies the aspiration for inter-civilization exchanges, the yearning for peace and stability, the pursuit of common development and the shared dream for a better life. President Jinping called for renewing the Silk Road spirit. Noting that "we are at a fresh starting point, ready to embark on a new journey together," Xi said, "so long as we press ahead with a common vision without backpedaling or standing still, we will achieve greater connectivity and benefit from each other's development." Before the banquet, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan greeted the guests at the Great Hall of the People.

Apart from this zone, which is largely analogous to the historical Silk Road, another area that is said to be included in the extension of this 'belt' is South Asia and Southeast Asia. Many of the countries that are part of this belt are also members of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). North, central and south belts are proposed. The Central belt goes through Central Asia, West Asia to the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean. The South belt starts from China to Southeast Asia, South Asia, to the Indian Ocean through Pakistan. The Chinese One Belt strategy will integrate with Central Asia through Kazakhstan's Nurly Zhol infrastructure program. The coverage area of the initiative, however, is primarily Asia and Europe, encompassing around 60 countries. Oceania and East Africa are also included.

The summit was aimed to map out Chinas ambitious new Silk Road project, of which the OBOR is an integral part. The scheme was proposed in 2013 by Xi to promote a vision of expanding links between Asia, Africa and Europe. China has earmarked US$40 billion for a special fund for the scheme, on top of the US$100 billion capitalization for the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, many of whose projects will likely be part of the initiative. The OBORs wingspan is expected to include 68 nations from China through Southeast and South Asia to Africa and Europe.

The UKs Chancellor Philip Hammond described the UK as a natural partner for the Belt and Road Initiative, while Mexicos Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo touted China as a possible alternative trading partner in the face of US protectionism

Italian PM Paolo Gentiloni has said that Italy and China had a lot to give each another in terms of tourism and cultural cooperation because they are both ancient civilizations "that strike the popular imagination." The year 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and China, a milestone target that could be a good objective to multiply cultural cooperation as well as tourism. Gentiloni said the culture ministries of both countries were working together on a number of projects, for example "the fact that Italy and China are the two countries in the world with the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites.Ours are two civilizations that strike the popular imagination," he said, citing ancient Rome, the Renaissance, and the appeal of contemporary Italian culture, food, fashion, and design.

The conspicuous absence of the heads of state from the major Western economic powers and Japan at the belt and road summit this month in Beijing is a big mistake and a missed opportunity for enhancing dynamic and cooperative globalization. India, also seeking wide stage to promote its own interests, chose to ignore the China initiate.

Cost and Benefits

The initiative, unveiled in September 2013 by President Xi Jinping, aims to connect China by a network of overland corridors and sea routes to the rest of Asia, Africa and beyond, linking the dozens of countries through infrastructure and financial and trade ties. The economies along the routes account for about 63 per cent of the worlds population and 29 per cent of global GDP.








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NATO, an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is the most dangerous state terror alliance of 28 countries bordering the North Atlantic Ocean. It includes the United States, Canada, Turkey and most members of the European Union. (NATO's 28 members are: Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States)

Premises

Each member designates an ambassador to NATO. They supply officials to serve on NATO committees. They send the appropriate official to discuss NATO business. That includes a countrys president, prime minister, foreign affairs minister or head of the department of defense.

NATO participates in three alliances. That expands its influence beyond its 28 member countries. The Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council helps partners become NATO members. It includes 23 non-NATO countries that support NATO's purpose. It began in 1991.

The Mediterranean Dialogue seeks to stabilize the Middle East. Its non-NATO members include Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. It began in 1994. The Istanbul Cooperation Initiative works for peace throughout the larger Middle East region. It includes four members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. They are Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It began in 2004. NATO cooperates with eight other countries in joint security issues. There are five in Asia. They are Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mongolia and New Zealand. There are two in the Middle East: Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The founding members of NATO signed the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949. NATO's primary purpose was to defend member nations against troops in pro-communist countries. The United States also wanted to maintain a presence in Europe. It sought to prevent a resurgence of aggressive nationalism and foster political union. In this way, NATO made the European Union possible.

During the Cold War, NATO's mission expanded to prevent nuclear war. After West Germany joined NATO, the communist countries formed the Warsaw Pact alliance. That included the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. In response, NATO adopted the "Massive Retaliation" policy. It promised to use nuclear weapons if the Pact attacked. NATO's deterrence policy allowed Europe to focus on economic development. It didn't have to build large conventional armies.

The Soviet Union continued to build its military presence. By the end of the Cold War, it was spending three times what the United States was with only one-third the economic power. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, it was due to economic as well as ideological reasons. After the USSR dissolved in the late 1980s, NATO's relationship with Russia thawed. In 1997, they signed the NATO-Russia Founding Act to build bilateral cooperation. In 2002, they formed the NATO-Russia Council to partner on shared security issues.

The collapse of the USSR led to unrest in its former satellite states. NATO got involved when Yugoslavia's civil war became genocide. NATO's initial support of a United Nations naval embargo led to the enforcement of a no-fly zone. Violations then led to a few airstrikes until September 1999. That's when NATO conducted a nine-day air campaign that ended the war. By December of that year, NATO deployed a peace-keeping force of 60,000 soldiers. That ended in 2004 when NATO transferred this function to the European Union.

With Russian President Vladimir Putin warning on June 19 Western countries against meddling in Moscows affairs and that no one should speak to Russia through ultimatums, fears of a new nuclear arms race are being rekindled by the actions of arch rivals USA and Russia.There are reasons to believe that Russia is angry with NATOs attempt to contain Russia, the leader of former Soviet Union. In facing the containment policy of USA by using former Soviet republics, Vladimir Putin said on June 16 that Russia would add more than 40 new intercontinental ballistic missiles to its nuclear arsenal this year.

Putin made his announcement a day after Russian officials denounced a US plan to station tanks and heavy weapons in NATO states on Russias border as the most aggressive act by Washington since the Cold War. Intercontinental ballistic missiles have a minimum range of more than 5,500 km (3,400 miles). Putin gave no more details of which missiles were being added to the nuclear arsenal. He has said several times that Russia must maintain its nuclear deterrence to counter what he sees as growing security threats, and Moscow reserves the right to deploy nuclear weapons in Crimea. Following annexation of Crimea, the West, led by the European Union and United States, has imposed punitive economic sanctions on Russia.The Kremlin portrays spending on the Russian arms sector as a driver of economic growth, but Putins critics say it is excessive and comes at the expense of social needs.

Russian officials warned that Moscow would retaliate if the United States carried out its plan to store heavy military equipment in Eastern Europe, including in the Baltic States that were once in the Soviet Union. The feeling is that our colleagues from NATO countries are pushing us into an arms race, RIA news agency quoted Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov as saying during Army 2015, a fair at which arms and other military equipment are on show.This Russian action would likely to increase alarm in the West. Tension has resurged between Russia and Western powers over Moscows role in the Ukraine crisis, in which pro-Russian separatist forces have seized a large part of the countrys eastern provinces after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in early 2014.

Putin has however added Moscow will not be drawn into a new arms race although Russia is modernizing its armed forces. Putin said in his speech that 70 percent of the military equipment in use would by 2020 be the most up-to-date and top-quality. But lavish military spending is weighing heavily on Russias national budget at a time when the economy is sliding towards recession, hit by low oil prices and Western sanctions.

And sure enough Russia, which it says is merely responding to NATO escalation, was promptly accused of escalating even more by the same NATO that keeps parking its own forces ever since the US-orchestrated Ukraine presidential coup was meant to convert Kiev into a potential NATO country and military base. Nato and Western leaders accused Russia of sending soldiers and heavy weapons, including tanks and missiles, to the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Russia has repeatedly denied this, insisting that any Russians fighting there are volunteers.

US military actions in support of Ukraine and several Baltic countries, some of whom fear Russian President Putin  either directly or indirectly  will come after them next. USA and European leaders are already considering an additional round of sanctions they would impose on Moscow if it makes any further military moves in Ukraine.

Russia has slammed as an aggressive expansion of military presence in NATO states in Eastern Europe, which would provoke Russia to respond by stationing its army on its western borders. Stationing of heavy US military equipment in the Baltic States and Eastern Europe would amount to the most aggressive step by the Pentagon and NATO since the Cold War. Interfax news agency quoted a Russian Defense Ministry official General Yuri Yakubov as saying:Russia would be left with no other option but to boost its troops and forces on the western flank.

Operation

NATO's mission is to protect the freedom and security of its members. But it focuses on terrorism which was initially unleashed by USA and oil rich Islamic nations. For example, on July 8, 2016, NATO announced it would send up to 4,000 troops to the Baltic States and eastern Poland. It will increase air and sea patrols to shore up its eastern front after Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Possessing huge arsenals of nuclear and conventional terror goods in their joint command, the NATOs targets include weapons of mass destruction, terrorism and cyber attacks. On November 16, 2015, NATO responded to the terrorist attacks in Paris. It called for a unified approach with the European Union, France and NATO. That's because France did not invoke NATO's Article 5. That would be a formal declaration of war upon the Islamic state group. France preferred to launch air strikes on its own. Article 5 states, "an armed attack upon one shall be considered an attack upon them all."

Generally NATO operates for USA in advancing its global interests. . After their defeat in Vietnam, US led NATO invoked Article 5 after the hoax known as Sept 9/11. It responded to American requests for the War in Afghanistan to end Islamic regime in Kabul and destabilize it after looting its important resources. Their media protects US interests and defends all the crimes committed by USA and its ally Israel. It took the lead from August 2003 to December 2014. At its peak, it deployed 130,000 troops. In 2015, it ended its combat role and began supporting Afghan troops.

On July 15, 2016, the Turkish military announced it had seized control of the government in a coup by anti-Turkey andante-Islamic forces led by the West. Turkish President Recep Erdogan announced early on July 16 that the coup had failed. As a NATO member, Turkey would receive its allies' support in the case of an attack, but not a coup.

.Crimea was a part of Russia and hence it annexation of that region is justified as a rebuff to Ukrainian regimes support for US imperialism.

.Although Ukraine is not a member, it had worked with NATO over the years as USA wants to help anyone that wants to work against Russia. Russia's invasion of Ukraine threatened nearby NATO members. NATO said other former USSR satellite countries would be next.. As a result, NATO's September 2014 summit focused on Russia' aggression. President Putin vowed to create a "New Russia" out of Ukraine's eastern region. President Obama pledged to defend countries such as Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.

The United States contributes three-fourths of NATO's budget. During the 2016 Presidential campaign, Donald Trump said other NATO members should contribute more. Trump also accused it of being obsolete. He argued that it focuses on defending Europe against Russia instead of combating terrorism. In 2017, President Trump reversed his position. He confessed to "not knowing much about NATO" during the campaign.

Expansionism or Zionism

Military expansionism could also be called Zionism as Israel exists only on expansionist and criminal operations inside Palestine.

NATO is strengthening alliances throughout the world. In the age of globalization, transatlantic peace has become a worldwide effort. It extends beyond military might alone. On December 1, 2015, NATO announced its first expansion since 2009. It offered membership to Montenegro. Russia responded by calling the move a strategic threat to its national security. Its worries by the number of Balkan countries along its border that have joined NATO.

Unilateral America controls global resources through NATO, World bank/IMF, global intelligences led by CIA, military bases, sale of terror goods, global militaries and polices led by Pentagon and Interpol.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, symbolizing the end of cold war officially, NATO was an Alliance of 16 members and no partners. Today, the notorious NATO has 26 members  with 2 new invitees, prospective membership for others (Greece, Bosnia, Georgia and Montenegro) and over 20 partners in Europe and Eurasia, seven in the Mediterranean, four in the Persian Gulf, and others from around the world.

Triclomacy helped the USA in furthering its cause of resource hunt. The transformation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military bloc created by the United States during the genesis of the Cold War in 1949, into one that has grown to encompass almost entire world.A US-dominated armed bloc NATO which includes three nuclear powers and accounts for an estimated 70 percent of global military spending has expanded deployments, operations and partnerships around the planet.

The war in Afghanistan, the longest in the nations history as well as in that of the U.S., has supplied NATO with an almost 12-year opportunity to consolidate an international military network and to develop the operational and command integration of the armed forces of almost 60 nations. NATO has air and other military bases in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Those three nations have also been used by NATO as part of the Northern Distribution Network and other transit routes that include as well Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Iraq, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, etc.

UN has been rendered meaningless. Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, continue to suffer foreign terror yokes.

NATO membership grew by 75 percent from 16 to 28. Today, the NATO members and partners number at least 70 nations, well over a third of those in the world. NATO expansion to the east has provided the Pentagon and its Western allies with air bases and other military facilities in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Romania for wars to the east and south.NATOs regional initiatives brought many nations into its trap The Partners Across the Globe and longer-standing military partnerships are slated to grow in all parts of the world. There are more than 50 nations that have provided NATO with troop contingents for the war in destabilized Afghanistan in South Asia.

The so-called Arab spring saw to it that Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are already in NATO trap.

India readily promotes NATO terrorism in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Irrelevance

The western military formation NATO is indeed irrelevant and obsolete. Russian President Vladimir Purim calls for the dismantling of vestiges of Cold war NATO for good. US president Trump also thinks NATO should be wound up though he gives another reason: Europes reluctance to pay for NATO security.

Russia has always asked USA to dismantle the western military organization NATO but the latter always refused saying that only NATO alone can face the new challenges of the world. For the USA which depends on joint NATO state terrorism to bully weak nations and remove any threat to the US led western military superiority and domination in world affairs following their collective victory in the World war Two, with the historic bombing of Japan, killing and disabling thousands of Japanese.

USA calls all this a part of modern democracy.

Apparently, the last Soviet president Michael Gorbachev and his American counterpart Reagan agreed to dismantle both the two most important world threats from US led NATO and Warsaw treaty of Russia led Eastern nations and while Soviet Union readily dismantled the Warsaw treaty USA did not dismantled the Nato, creating a clear disparity in military affairs in favor of USA. Gorbachev dismantled even the Soviet union into 15 independent states as well as release eastern European nations from the control of Kremlin.

All this Soviet actions only made the USA stronger in all aspects than new Russia that came into existence in 1990 without 14 republics and Eastern Europe to support and work with it.Gorbachev insisted that NATO should be dismantled since there was not more Soviet or communist threat as the West used to claim to slam Russia and reduce its world importance. Washington continues to say NATO would stay forever as there could be other threats to world peace. Terrorism was promoted as deadly threat to justify the US claims of threats and terrorism is going to be permanent fixture of US imperialism.

As Russia could do nothing to end NATO terrorism, it has also now joined it in Syria. USA and Russia are now allies in state terror operations abroad. Yet, President Vladimir Putin keeps pushing the USA to remove the NATO as being the obstacle to world peace. Vladimir Putin has recently cut NATO to pieces again by saying that the entire organization is no longer needed. It just cant get any better, as you know that Putin doesnt usually mince words: There is no longer an Eastern Bloc, no more Soviet Union. Therefore, why does NATO keep existing? My impression is that in order to justify its existence, NATO has a need of an external foe, there is a constant search for the foe, or some acts of provocation to name someone as an adversary.None would seriously disagree with that statement.

Justification

NATO has been forging monsters to kill in order to define, refine or redefine its existence since the beginning of time. For example, under the code name Operation Allied Force, NATO did the unthinkable in Kosovo: For 78 days in 1999, NATO forces led by the United States bombed Yugoslavia, killing hundreds of its civilians and devastating its infrastructure. NATO spokesmen justified the bombardment as humanitarian intervention aimed at halting President Slobodan Milosevics` `ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs in Yugoslavia.

As it was reported later, NATO demonstrated in 1999 that it can do whatever it wants under the guise of humanitarian intervention, war on terror, or preventive war  something that everyone has witnessed in subsequent years in different parts of the globe.

The intervention in Kosovo was a complete mess: Over 2,000 civilians were killed, including 88 children, and thousands more were injured. Over 200,000 ethnic Serbs were forced to leave their homeland in Kosovo In what the alliance described as collateral damage, its airstrikes destroyed more than 300 schools, libraries, and over 20 hospitals. At least 40,000 homes were either completely eliminated or damaged and about 90 historic and architectural monuments were ruined. That is not to mention the long-term harm caused to the regions ecology and, therefore, peoples health, as well as the billion-dollar economic damage.

NATO, as you can recall, said virtually nothing about the debacle in Iraq. Sure, there were tensions among NATO member countries before the debacle, but eventually no one could resist the good war. But what were some of the results? By the spring of 2012, suicide rates among Air Force personnel were up by 40 percent, a figure which caused concern.

Similarly, suicide rates in the Army rose by 80 percent since the war in Iraq. In addition, more than 110,000 active-duty Army troops were prescribed antidepressants in 2011. A number of lawyers have declared that a large part of the chaos that is going on in the military is caused by the drugs the soldiers are taking. Bart Bilings, a former military psychologist, declared, We have never medicated our troops to the extent we are doing nowAnd I dont believe the current increase in suicides and homicides in the military is a coincidence. Noted psychiatrist Peter Breggin writes, Prior to the Iraq war, soldiers could not go into combat on psychiatric drugs, period. Not very long ago, going back maybe 10 or 12 years, you couldnt even go into the armed services if you used any of these drugs, in particular stimulants. But theyve changed thatIm getting a new kind of call right now, and thats people saying the psychiatrist wont approve their deployment unless they take psychiatric drugs.

Terror corruption

On top of that, the Pentagon told the American people in 2005 that the USA lost track of at least $9 billion that was supposed to go to Iraq. After years of investigation, the U.S. still didnt know where all that money went. They supposedly shipped the $9 billion in cash to Iraq and now it is lost. Moreover, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested in countries like Pakistan for programs which supposedly teach children that America is not the great Satan they thought it was, but those millions have been wasted.

As Scott Baldauf pointed out, you cannot broadcast programs like that when you are dropping drones in civilian populated areas and expect people to believe you. The U.S. military feared reprisals, for good reason of course, after all of these killings, particularly the massacre in Kandahar. After pouring some $2.6 million in Pakistan, there is little evidence that anti-Americanism has decreased in the region.

In May 2012, many Iraq War veterans decided to return the medals they had received. In a statement, they declared with one voice, We, Afghanistan and Iraq veterans from around the country, will converge in Chicago on May 20 to ceremoniously return our medals to NATO generals. We were awarded these medals for serving in the Global War on Terror, a war based on lies and failed policies. This endless war has killed hundreds of thousands, stripped the humanity of all involved, and drained our communities of trillions of dollars, diverting funds from schools, clinics, libraries, and other public goods.

One veteran in particular felt that it was his way to apologize to the Afghan and Iraqi people for what the U.S. has done to them. As an organization, NATO should help other political bodies to put an end to perpetual wars, but they are marshalling their armies virtually all over the world. So, should they be obsolete? Well, you be the judge.

Dismantle irrelevance!

Continued existence and terror attacks on weak nations of NATO, a living terror symbol of old Cold War, would continue create cold fear in the world It needs to be dismantled fro the better. In case of new threats, let UN and UNSC take care of them effectively. An international terror organization like NATO cannot bring peace to the world.

NATO has literally replaced the UN. Post-Cold War NATO has repeatedly and without disguise identified its purview and its area of operations to be international in scope, and over the past 22 years its efforts to achieve that objective have steadily accelerated to the point where the military alliance is well poised to supplant the United Nations as the main, indeed the exclusive, arbiter of conflicts not only between but within nations throughout the world.

President Donald Trump has been critical of NATO but the Pentagon bosses say from a military standpoint there's been no change in guidance and "this exercise underscores our commitment to NATO and our allies."

Since the NATO has crossed its mandate and limits, it could now be renamed as global treaty organization. Former ideological super power rivals USA and Russia with huge piles of arms arsenals do not seem to enforce nuclear disarmament globally. The US vested interests in maintaining upper hand in arms arsenals, especially WMD has emboldened Russia to ignore global nuclear disarmament and go slow in the hopeless arms reduction talks.

With the USA and Russia in a state of renewed cold war for over a year now, it was inevitable that the nuclear arms race, far more important attribute of the first Cold War, would soon return with more force.








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For quite some time North Korea, threatened by USA, South Korea and Japan, has been testing new missile capabilities to equal similar capabilities of neighboring nations and USA.

On Monday the May 29 North Korea fired at least one short-range ballistic missile that landed in the sea off its east coast into Japans maritime economic zone. It was the latest in a fast-paced series of missile tests defying world pressure and threats of more sanctions. The missile was believed to be a Scud-class ballistic missile and flew about USA considers it the latest in a series of provocative launches that have ratcheted up tensions over its nuclear weapons ambitions. 450 km (280 miles), South Korean officials said. North Korea has a large stockpile of the short-range missiles, originally developed by the Soviet Union.

It was the third ballistic missile test-launch (and the 12th this yea) since South Koreas liberal President Moon Jae-in took office on May 10 pledging to engage with the reclusive neighbor in dialogue. Moon says sanctions alone have failed to resolve the growing threat from the Norths advancing nuclear and missile program.

The test is the latest launch by Pyongyang this year as the isolated regime steps up efforts to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile that can deliver a nuclear warhead to the continental USA

North Korea, which has conducted dozens of missile tests and tested two nuclear bombs since the beginning of 2016 in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions, says the program is necessary to counter US aggression.

North Korea last test-fired a ballistic missile on May 21 off its east coast and said it had tested a new anti-aircraft weapon supervised by leader Kim Jong Un. The North Korean regime has hundreds of artillery cannons and rocket launchers within range of one of the most densely populated cities on Earth, which is the capital of South Korea. In the program Face the Nation, he said in the event of war, they would bring danger to China and to Russia as well.

Modified versions of the Scud have a range of up to 1,000 km (620 miles). Mondays launch followed two successful tests of medium- to long-range missiles in as many weeks by the North, which has been conducting such tests at an unprecedented pace in an effort to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the mainland United States.

The launch comes in fresh defiance of tough talk from US President Donald Trump, who promised last week at the G7 summit that the big problem of North Korea will be solved.

North Korea has tested Scud-type, short-range missiles many times in the past, most recently in April, according to US officials. However, experts say it may be trying to test new capabilities that may be fed into its efforts to build an ICBM.

There are many possibilities It could have been a test for a different type of engine. Or to verify the credibility of the main engine for ICBMs first stage rocket, said Kim Dong-yub, a military expert at Kyungnam Universitys Far Eastern Studies department in Seoul.

The missile launches, and Pyongyangs threat to stage its sixth nuclear test, have prompted calls for tougher UN sanctions and a warning from Trump that military intervention was an option under consideration. US military monitors said the short-range missile flew for six minutes, while Japan said it fell into the countrys exclusive economic zone (EEZ)  waters extending 200 nautical miles from its coast.

North Korea likely showing its determination to push ahead in the face of international pressure to rein in its missile program and to pressure the (South Korean) government to change its policy on the North, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesman Roh Jae-cheon said. The missile reached an altitude of 120 km (75 miles), Roh said. The assessment is there was at least one missile but we are analyzing the number of missiles, he said.

Japan lodged a protest against the test missile, which appeared to have landed in its exclusive economic zone. Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe swiftly condemned the test and vowed concerted action along with its US ally. We will never tolerate North Koreas continued provocations that ignore repeated warnings by the international community, Abe told reporters. As agreed during the G7 summit, the North Korean problem is the international communitys top priority. In order to deter North Korea, we will take concrete action with the United States.

South Koreas Moon swiftly called a meeting of the National Security Council, South Koreas Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. Seouls new liberal administration has said Pyongyangs repeated test launches were dashing hopes for peace.

The White House said President Donald Trump had been briefed about the launch. The US Pacific Command said it tracked what appeared to be a short-range ballistic missile for six minutes and assessed it did not pose a threat to North America. The USA has said it was looking at discussing with China a new UN Security Council resolution and that Beijing, North Koreas main diplomatic ally and neighbor, realizes time was limited to rein in its weapons program through negotiations. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, asked what a military conflict with North Korea might look like if diplomacy failed, warned it would be probably the worst kind of fighting in most peoples lifetimes.

China reiterated that UN Security Council resolutions had clear rules about North Korean missile activities and it urged Pyongyang not to contravene them. The situation on the Korean peninsula is complex and sensitive, and we hope all relevant sides maintain calm and exercise restraint, ease the tense situation as soon as possible and put the issue back onto the correct track of peaceful dialogue, Chinas foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia condemned the launched and also called for restraint, including towards military activity, from the partners it was working with, the RIA news agency quoted a deputy Russian foreign minister as saying.

The isolated but nuclear-armed North has test-fired a missile almost every week for the past three weeks. The latest, a short-range Scud, flew about 450 kilometres (280 miles) before landing in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) between the Korean peninsula and Japan, the US Pacific Command said. The test also marked the second time this year that a North Korean missile fell provocatively close to its neighbour Japan.

Despite US President Trumps strident warnings, Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in an interview that aired before the launch that a war with North Korea would be catastrophic. This regime is a threat to the region, to Japan, to South Korea. And in the event of war, they would bring danger to China and to Russia as well. But the bottom line is, it would be a catastrophic war if this turns into a combat, if were not able to resolve this situation through diplomatic means.Mattis declined to say what kind of action from Pyongyang would constitute a red line for Washington, saying the administration needs political manoeuvre room.

South Koreas new president, Moon Jae-In, ordered a meeting of the national Security Council to assess the launch, which came a day after North Korea, said its leader Kim Jong-Un had overseen a test of a new anti-aircraft weapons system. The South condemned the test as a grave threat and a challenge to the new leader who advocates dialogue with the North in a break from his conservative predecessors. That the North repeated such provocations after the inauguration of our new leadership is a direct challenge to our demand for peace and denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, the foreign ministry said.

Following North Koreas test-firing of what analysts said was its longest-range rocket yet earlier this month, the UN Security Council vowed to push all countries to tighten sanctions against Pyongyang. But China, the Norths main trade partner and ally, has made it clear that the push for diplomatic talks  and not imposing more sanctions  is the priority. The USA has said it is willing to enter into talks with North Korea  but only if it halts its missile and nuclear tests.

Meanwhile, the USA will test an existing missile defense system on Tuesday to try to intercept an ICBM, the first such test, officials said.

All said and done one thing is certain: there is no possibility of a missile war between North Korea and other competing powers or USA precisely because any war could be disastrous for the war torn nations as in the case of Afghanistan and Arab nations. USA takes all precautions to deny any chance to North Korea to start a war and hence it uses China towards that purpose.








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Anti- Islamic and anti-Russian mindset of the West is all well known. While Europe hates Islam more than USA, both USA and Europe hate Russia for reasons known to the world. Like Islam which as the final religion of the universe is seen by anti-Islamic forces and nations as a serious threat to their own religions, Russia is also viewed as a threat to global capitalism and imperialism in which the western powers trade in, thereby forcing the world surrender to their joint military will. Though Russia is no more a communist or socialist nation, the West still is suspicious of its actions and very carefully monitors its moves and jointly works for secret wars with Russia.

They want to weaken Russian power and strangle Islam and remove Islamic faith from the face of the earth. Russian attitude towards France is positive as Russia views European civilization rather pensively. However, French view of Russia is not quite encouraging. In a 2013 BBC World Service poll, 25% of French people viewed Russia's influence positively, with 63% expressing a negative view, while 49% of Russians viewed French influence positively, with 10% expressing a negative view.

Russian relations with France need, therefore, to be seen as a part of the hate politics of the western powers of which France is one. Generally, France is known for its neutrality in world affairs and regional conflicts except in case where USA dominates the regions. During the Cold War, France did not pick a side between the USSR and the USA and we had good economical and diplomatic relationships. The relationship like between France and Russia has been normal without any serious direct conflicts on any matter but its close ties with USA always stood between them, at times harming even their normal relations.

Putins Visit

Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Paris on May 29, 2017 in an unscheduled meeting of the latter to France in which the former chose to lecture Putin on issues like Ukraine, Chechnya, Syria, and Russian interference in the French electoral campaign.

Obviously, the Russian strong man could not digest the smart" act of Emmanuel Macron during their first ever meeting as presidents. Such a behavior by a host president toward a foreign dignitary is unusual in international politics and it hurt the egoist Putin who later in an interview bombarded the French novice unable to comprehend the niceties in international relations.

Emmanuel Macron just expressed his displeasure and anger for Putin for his support for his opponent candidate in the French presidency poll which he won in a highly surprising manner.

Just before that Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin had a pleasant walk in the Gallery of Battles at the Versailles Palace as they arrived for a joint press conference following their meeting in Versailles, near Paris.

Putin strongly defended his right to welcome Marine Le Pen in the Kremlin during the presidential race. Putin met the newly-elected Macron during a trip to see the official opening of a new exhibition dedicated to Russian ruler Peter the Great. The exhibition, Peter the Great: a Tsar in France," will run in the Great Trianon Palace in Versailles until the end of September. The special event celebrates the 300th anniversary of Peter's first visit to France and the start of full diplomatic relations between the two states.

A few hours after his return from Versailles, Vladimir Putin chose to give an interview to the right-wing newspaper Le Figaro. With hardly veiled resentment, he took issue with his host, newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron, and rebuffed him on the major points of contention that came out during their May 29 press conference: Syria, Ukraine, and interference in the French electoral campaign.

In Versailles, Putin listened sternly to Macrons moral lesson about Ukraine and human rights in Chechnya, said little, and looked impatient to leave. Now, he played the deciding matchwithout the contender, on his own terms, and at the new Russian Orthodox center he had belatedly opened on the banks of the Seine.

Vladimir Putins methods are well-known to seasoned Russia observers abroad. He is stubborn, denies even established factslike Damascuss use of chemical weapons against civilians. He angrily dismisses foreign leaders positions on the Ukrainian conflict. And he speaks insincerely about the Russian state medias smear campaign against Macron and the supposed hacking of his movements website and emails.

The new French president is learning the hard way what it costs to have a very frank and direct" exchange with the master of the Kremlin. The Russian president has spent seventeen years at the helm. Macron, meanwhile, is taking his first steps in international power politics and probably misread his guests reasons and expectations for this meeting. Putin was seeking honor and respect, recognition of his stature as dean of the concert of nations," and also a benign French response to his aggressive military policies for restoring legal order and peace" in Syria and Ukraine.

An experienced Putin was not looking for a frank, honest discussion on issues of war and peace. And he certainly did not expect Macron to open the press conference with strong criticisms of state violence against gay men in Chechnya and to hint that he, Putin, should fix this.

Vladimir Putin did not come to Versailles to negotiate a way out of the Syrian tragedy or finding solutions to world issues. He came to drag Macron into his political logic, in which the global struggle against terrorism predominates, no matter what.

To Moscow, the most offensive part of the failed show was that the Russian authorities had worked hard to obtain this invitation from the Elysee Palace. They wanted Macron to repair the humiliation of October 2016, when Francois Hollande advised Vladimir Putin against visiting Paris to inaugurate the new Russian Orthodox center. At the time, the Russian military was helping Bashar Assads army in their brutal assault on Aleppo. The Kremlins preference for armed conflict over negotiation has a deeply corrosive effect on its relationship with France, despite a centuries-long friendship." Trust is gone.

In France, Italy, Germany, Greece and Romania, the capitalist media lords see a clear link between Russias military participation in the war and refugees crossing European borders. Even the most pernicious fake news and propaganda cannot whitewash the glaring facts:

True, Russias use of military force creates more insecurity and does not help us fight back against terrorists in all cities. But Americans want that to crate alarm about so-called Islamic terrorism".

Retrospect

Russo-European relations have been strained for quite some time due mainly to the sanctions imposed, along with its boss USA, on Kremlin for its annexation of Crimea. France and entire Europe considers the Crimea annexation illegal while Moscow has only taken back its territory from Ukraine. Neither USA nor Europe could do anything against Russias bold takeover of Crimea expect criticizing Putin.

FranceRussia relations date back to early modern period, with sporadic contact even earlier, when both countries were ruled by absolute monarchies, the Kingdom of France (8431792) and the Tsardom of Russia (15471721). Following Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War, the foundation of Saint Petersburg as the new capital in 1712, and declaration of an empire in 1721, Russia became a major force in European affairs for the first time.

FranceRussia diplomatic ties go back at least to 1702 when France had an ambassador (Jean-Casimir Baluze) in Moscow. Following Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War, the foundation of Saint Petersburg as the new capital in 1712, and declaration of an empire in 1721, Russia became a major force in European affairs for the first time. The geographical separation between the two countries meant that their spheres of influence rarely overlapped, but both were crucial states in the European balance of power.

After the French Revolution, Russia became a center of reactionary antagonism against the revolution, and when Russia had a successful October revolution in 1917 France opposed that. Napoleon Bonaparte (later Emperor Napoleon I) came to power in 1799, Russia remained hostile. The establishment of a French-backed Polish state, the Duchy of Warsaw in 1807 threatened Russia and caused tensions that led to the French invasion of Russia in 1812. This was major defeat for France and a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars, leading to Bonaparte's removal.

Imperial Russia's foreign policy was hostile to republican France in the 19th century and very pro-German. Germany, Austria and Russia-had as its stated purpose the preservation of the monarchical order in Europe against the France of the Third Republic. After the defeat in the Franco-German war of 1870-71, French elites worked hard to keep France diplomatically isolated. France's challenges to Russia's influence led France to participate in the Crimean War, which saw French troops invade the Crimean peninsula. Imperial Russia's foreign policy was hostile to republican France in the 19th century and very pro-German. Rejected by Germany, Russia cautiously began a policy of rapprochement with France starting in 1891 while the French for their part were very interested in the Russian offers of an alliance. In August 1891, France and Russia signed a "consultative pact" where both nations agreed to consult each other if another power were to threaten the peace of Europe.] In 1893-94, French and Russian diplomats negotiated a defensive alliance meant to counter the growing power of Germany. The alliance was intended to deter Germany from going to war by presenting the Reich with the threat of a two-front war; neither France nor Russia could hope to defeat Germany on their own, but their combined power might, which in turn was meant to deter Berlin from going to war with either Paris or St. Petersburg.

Russia played a complex role in the Napoleonic wars. At the Vienna Congress of 1814-15, Russia played a major diplomatic role as a leader of the conservative, anti-revolutionary forces. Russia was again hostile when the Revolutions of 1848 broke out across Europe, bringing Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (later Emperor Napoleon III) to power in France.Under the terms of the Franco-Russian alliance of 1894 if Germany attacked France, then Russia would attack Germany or its close ally and if Germany or its close ally like Italy attacked Russia, France would attack Germany. After France was humiliated by Britain in the Fashoda Incident of 1898, the French wanted the alliance to become an anti-British alliance. In 1899, the Franco-Russian alliance was amended to deal with any power threatening the "equilibrium of forces in Europe" instead of just the "general peace" as before, and in 1900 the alliance was again amended to name Great Britain as explicitly the power that threatening the "equilibrium of forces in Europe".

To that end, it was agreed that if Britain should attack France, then Russia would invade India and the French provided a loan so that the Russians could start the construction of a railroad from Orenburg to Tashkent. Tashkent in its turn would be the base from which the Russians would invade Afghanistan as the prelude to invading India. Despite their alliance, both Russia and France pursued their own interests.

In 1908-09 during the Bosnia crisis, France declined to support Russia. Japan later fought Russia in the Russo-Japanese war. France remained neutral in this conflict. At the time, Nicholas seriously considered abrogating the alliance with France, and was only stopped by the lack of an alternative. In 1911 during the Second Moroccan Crisis, the Russians paid the French back for their lack of support in the Bosnia crisis by refusing to support France when Germany threatened war against the French over Morocco Further linking France and Russia together was a common economic interests. Russia wished to industrialize, but lacked the capital to do so while the French were more than prepared to lend the necessary money to finance Russia's industrialization. By 1913, French investors had put 12 billion francs into Russian assets, making the French easily the largest investors in the Russian empire. The industrialization of the Russian Empire was largely the result of a massive influx of French capital into Russia.

During World War I, France was allied with Great Britain and the Russian Empire. The alliance between the three countries formed the Triple Entente. However, after the communist Bolsheviks seized control of the Russian government in 1917, Russia left the war.

Soviet era

France's bilateral relations with the Soviet Union have experienced dramatic ups and downs due to Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, and France's alliance in the NATO. Previous Soviet premier Mikhail Gorbachev made a visit to France in October 1985 in order to fix the strains in the Franco-Soviet relations. Nevertheless, France's bilateral activities continued with NATO, which furthermore strained the bilateral relations between France and the Soviet Union. After the breakup of the USSR, bilateral relations between France and Russia were initially warm. On February 7, 1992 France signed a bilateral treaty, recognizing Russia as a successor of the USSR.

One of the major news has been the sale of Mistral class amphibious assault ships to Russia. The deal which was signed at 2010, is the first major arms deal between Russia and the Western world since World War II. The deal has been criticized for neglecting the security interests of Poland, the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Georgia. Before Syrian Civil War, Franco-Russian relations were generally improving. Ever since the financial crisis took hold, European powers have been forced to court emerging markets more and Moscow meanwhile wanted to diversify its own economy.

Era of terrorism, reactivated by USA and NATO following the Sept-11 hoax perpetrated to destabilize oil rich Arab world and totally destroy Afghanistan brought Russia and France together alongside USA. Francois Hollande and Vladimir Putin agreed on ordering their respective armed forces to "cooperate" with one another in the fight against the terrorist organization. The French President has called upon the international community to bring "together of all those who can realistically fight against this terrorist army in a large and unique coalition."[16] The French-Russian bombing cooperation is considered to be an "unprecedented" move, given that France is a member of NATO. Seeking closer ties between Russia and Europe alongside USA, a Russian newspaper recalled that "WWII had forced the Western World and the Soviet Union to overcome their ideological differences", wondering whether ISIS would be the "new Hitler". According to French counterintelligence sources in 2010, Russian espionage operations against France have reached levels not seen since the 1980s.

Like in other western countries, the increasingly fanatic corporatist media continues to create illusions about the dangerous" Russian boar and terrorize the people on monstrous" Russia. Since (Jewish) President of France Sarkozy and his open "Atlantist" foreign policy, it has become more complicated, and Russia is more and more seen as an enemy more than an ally. The whole Ukrainian situation and the refusal to sell the French made Mistral boats to Russia are a good example of that. There is in the French medias (TVs, radios, newspapers) an almost systematic propaganda against Russia, so most of the French people are highly misinformed on the matter.

Observation

Notwithstanding the visible cooperation and coordination between them in Syria and elsewhere, the West-Russian conflict is real. The deliberate smear campaign by western media against Russia is real.

Russia through Putin is taking an opportunity to make a comeback on the European stage, after the G7 summit in Sicily held without him.

For the new French president Emmanuel Macron, Versailles was an eye-opening experience. He say a calm and iron like leader in his guest from Moscow. Vladimir Putin cannot be seduced, lectured or talked into a rational, fully inclusive" (Macrons words) multilateral diplomatic negotiation. There is no bait that he is willing to take.Putin wants to talk with Western leaders on his own termsand those terms alone. He has shown he is not willing to compromise in order to restore a broken partnership with Europe.

For Macron, the path forward is clearthe further strengthening of the EU and Franco-German tandem and of Europes political, economic and military unity.

Given the current unpredictability of US policies and its shaky commitment to NATO, European states will likely close ranks. In this renewed strategy of common security and foreign policy, France might play a leading role.

And Putin, seeking genuine ties with Europe, may have given to the world one more incentive to ensure ideas of narrow national interest do not get in the way of a unified European position toward the Russian leadership.

Recent history has shown that France or any other European country for that matter is incapable of making its foreign policy choices on its own and all of them have to take cognizance of what Washington wants from them in order advance its own so-called national interest at global level.

History reveals the Russo-France relations can never be stable, unless, of course, world order changes entirely. There is no chance for any open conflict between Russia and France, however.

Russo-France ties, meanwhile, have to adapt themselves to the existing reality and US directives from time to time!
Aiken, SC (29801)

Today

Periods of rain. High 71F. Winds S at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early will become partly cloudy later at night. Low near 60F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph.
June 19, 2017

The war for the Syrian Desert is in fact a war for the heart of the Middle East. The Iranian-led coalition in Syria is racing against the US-backed forces there, as both seek to defeat the Islamic State (IS), the group that has shaped the face of the region for the last four years. It is a war in the desert to draw a line in the sand, some might say, or a war to draw a line across borders and connect four capitals: Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut. Hence the battle is between two different regional and international agendas, with each side viewing the other as the real threat after the defeat of IS in Iraqs Mosul and Syrias Raqqa.

Indeed, the regional confrontation and the intersection of interests suggest that the Sykes-Picot borders are practically vanishing in accordance with the interests of regional alliances. In other words, central governments are shifting their focus from national borders in consideration of the interests of the wider axis to which they belong. One manifestation of this was reflected in the celebratory mood of media supporting the so-called resistance axis as its forces arrived at a Syrian-Iraqi border crossing June 9, with reported contact made between the Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) advancing from Iraq and allied forces from Syria, under the direct supervision of the Iranian Quds Force commander, Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani.

A road link from Tehran to Beirut has been secured by Iranian-led Iraqi, Syrian and Lebanese forces. This means, according to some analysts, that Iran is now capable of supplying its main allies in Lebanon and Syria with weapons and rockets across a 1,100-mile-plus land route. This might, however, be an overstatement or a bit of hyperventilating analysis, given that in the past Israeli fighter jets have on several occasions hit alleged arm supplies near and around Damascus. A longer route, mainly through a no man's land in remote areas of Iraq, is likely to be vulnerable to hits by the Israeli or US air forces, not to mention possible attacks by insurgents, including IS.

The Tehran-Beirut route is a symbolic connection, one that announces that the Iran-led resistance axis is intact, as it was before the eruption of the Syrian revolution in 2011 and IS capture of Mosul in June 2014. That said, from the Iranian point of view, the regional stage is now different.

Its normal for a country to have control over all its territory, a senior officer from the operations room of forces allied with the Syrian government told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity. The Syrian army and [its] allies control over the Syrian border is logical and legal, and its laughable to listen to calls asking an army of a sovereign state to stay away from its borders.

The senior officer added, The US steps and measures on the borders werent surprising to us. Weve been observing [the Americans'] moves in several areas in Syria, and to be realistic, given the number of troops they have on the ground, they are not likely to get involved in direct confrontations, but rather strikes from the air or via artillery.

From the perspective of Syria's allies, he said, The Americans were depending on local militias whom they trained to execute their agenda, [by] mainly creating [zones in] isolated areas and belts around Syria [where they can operate]. Yet it was clear [that] they bet on the wrong people. The US-backed forces werent up to the battle with our forces. They dont have our experience nor do they have our determination and persistence.

The advance in Syria toward the Syria-Iraq border was concomitant with progress toward the same border by the PMU in Iraq, led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who announced on June 10 that his forces had reached the frontier and liberated 4,200 square kilometers [1,622 square miles] and 142 villages. Of note, however, his forces have no intention of entering Syrian territory.

A PMU source who spoke with Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity said that all recent steps along both sides of the border had been coordinated in an attempt to send a clear message: No threats, no hurdles, no superpowers can defy the will of the peoples of Syria and Iraq, who are determined to dispatch IS and its allies from the two countries. The source added that there had been many attempts on both sides of the border to stop the advance, including airstrikes and messages sent through friendly intermediaries. All were in vain, he noted. Our forces knew what to do, where to be, and they finally accomplished the mission.

On June 6, a US airstrike on a position held by the Syrian army in Tanf, near the intersection of the borders of Iraq, Syria and Jordan, was clearly aimed at drawing a bold line delineating respective areas of control. The strike took place around 35 miles from the US base in the region and signaled that the United States would not tolerate advances toward its facilities from forces allied with the Syrian government.

We were always under the sight of the American drones, and we knew that, the senior officer from the operations room told Al-Monitor. He went on to note that this approach did not stop the allied advance, stating, The issue of reaching the Iraqi border is now behind us. They failed, and now the Syrian governments objective is to extend its area of control on the borders. From a military point of view, if they want to stop us, they need ground forces  and they know well that they lack such forces.

What about the "Shiite crescent"? Al-Monitor asked the senior officer whether the emerging realities on the ground are the very "crescent" many have been warning of and that Iran and its allies have always denied pursuing.

Our fight and struggle alongside the Syrian government was never for sectarian objectives, said the senior officer. We are going to fight alongside any country facing such criminal and terrorist enemies. We care for Muslims, all Muslims, as we care for Christians. And this war proved that clearly, and this is why we are fighting beside our brothers in Palestine. We never saw them from the sick sectarian view, rather from the view of brotherhood and lifting the oppression they face by Israel, which today is the main regional ally of those backing the terrorists in Syria and Iraq.
Tim P. Whitby/Tim P. Whitby/Getty ImagesThe Who's Pete Townshend is joining his band mate Roger Daltrey in Artists for Grenfell -- the all-star group working on a charity single version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to benefit the victims of the horrific Grenfell Tower fire in London last week that killed dozens and left many more homeless.



Townshend tells The Daily Mirror he knew four families who lived in the tower, which is not far from the Sheppard's Bush neighborhood where he grew up.

"They're not OK," Townshend said. "A mother lost her daughter, two little girls were in comas. So Ive been right in there helping with those families. Townshend said he'd written some checks, and managed to get a piano for one youngster.

"They got a piano up 10 flights and of course it's gone now, so I managed to get her a piano," he said.

Artists for Grenfell is being spearheaded by American Idol creator Simon Cowell. Townshend said he recorded a guitar part for the single on Sunday. "It's fantastic, I promise you you're going to love it," he said. "What they've done is so great."



Townshend is not the only rock guitar legend lending his talents to Cowell's effort. Queen guitarist Brian May, who is on tour in the U.S., recorded a part here for use on the track. He posted a picture on Instagram of himself recording on stage in Anaheim. "Job done!" he wrote. "Simon Cowell's team are working on the track in Sarm Studios -- close to where the Grenfell disaster happened -- and a studio where so much of our old material was recorded."



May added, "...and of course this is my neighbourhood too -- so I had to volunteer my services to help the families who are suffering so much."

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
June 19, 2017

Lebanon's parliament approaved a new electoral law June 16, and several political activists and alternative parties are already preparing themselves for the next elections, expected in May 2018.

Lebanon's civil society has actively called over the last few months for a law based on proportional representation, as well as a series of reforms that are considered to be necessary for the transparency of the electoral process. With the new law in place and with the parliament's term expiring June 20, Lebanese civil society is now preparing itself for the second phase of its battle: participation in the upcoming elections, expected in 11 months, after the current parliament extended its term for the third consecutive time since 2013.

"This is definitely a positive step, yet insufficient," said Zeina el-Helou, the secretary-general of the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections. "The parties in power have minimized the effect of the proportional representation and sustained confessionalism through the number and division of districts. This is not to mention that several essential reforms, such as the female quota, lowering the voting age from 21 to 18 or the creation of an independent authority, were not included in the law."

She continued: In addition, the electoral expenditures have been effectively increased; in fact, to the individual $100,000 allowed disbursements  that are yet to be capped now, while there was no explicit ceiling before  another $100,000 was added, that can be disbursed by the electoral list on each candidate. A third reform is the rise of the permitted variable expenditure per voter to 5,000 Lebanese pounds, [compared to] 4,000 Lebanese pounds in 2009. Concretely, this translated into more than $500,000 of legal expenditures in a district of 100,000 voters.

Despite these failures and the postponement of elections until May 2018, the battle to break through the next parliament is already underway.

Nadine Moussa is an active member of Lebanese civil society who will participate in the elections as an independent candidate, she told Al-Monitor. "My decision is in line with my personal struggle for years in favor of a state of law, but it is also motivated by a deep conviction that the Lebanese are more than ever thirsty for a serious and solid alternative to the current feudal, confessional and corrupt system of governance that has been in place for decades," she added. "I also decided to run in the elections in order to contribute to a feminine dynamic against the traditional mens club.

In 2013, Moussa, a lawyer and mother of two children, submitted her candidacy with other members of the Take Back Parliament movement, before the Lebanese Assembly decided not to hold any elections and to extend its term.

Other activists within civil society are also potential candidates. Artist Nada Sehnaoui had already run in the 1998 municipal elections before appearing again in 2016 as a candidate on the Beirut Madinati list, which included 12 women and 12 men from different professional backgrounds. The list was pitted against another that was supported by all the political parties in power.

Against the odds, Beirut Madinati gathered nearly 40% of the votes  a civil phenomenon observed for the first time in a country that has always been dominated by traditional confessional parties. Beirut Madinati has quickly become a label of alternative governance and progressivism among the Lebanese. If the coalition officially decides not to participate in the legislative ballot, some of its members will run individually or within a group of Beirut Madinati.

"I have not yet made my final decision, but this is secondary. My candidate is the political program that will be adopted by a united civil society, Sehnaoui told Al-Monitor.

Since July 2016, an informal team of activists that Nada Sehnaoui joined has been working on this front. "The idea is to create the nucleus of a broad coalition that would include all individuals, movements and parties wishing to run in the elections on the basis of a program that would encompass all the dimensions of public life, including economic, social and environmental policies and reforms," she said.

While some activists are still hesitant, emerging parties, such as Sabaa (Arabic for seven), have already started their battle and are forging their electoral lists in several parts of the country. "Sabaa has now more than 2,000 members, a large network of contacts and key members with substantial experience in policymaking," Ziad Hayek, the director of the party's board, told Al-Monitor.

Hayek has been the secretary-general of the High Council for Privatization since 2006, a highly ranked public position he maintained despite his decision to rally and actively contribute to the Social Movement in 2015, amid an unprecedented waste crisis in the country.

"I dont intend to run in the elections, but I fully support the current driving energy among some groups.  I have been living an internal dilemma, not to say a revolt, for several years now because no public policy issue has ever been taken seriously since I joined office," he said.

While the proliferation of new movements and parties is, no doubt, the proof of an anti-establishment pulse gaining ground year after year since the waste crisis in the summer of 2015, this buoyant socio-political phenomenon in Lebanon may nevertheless play against civil society during the next elections through the risk of dispersion.

Lebanon's civil society lacked momentum after the garbage crisis, partly because of the absence of a unique structure bringing together all the groups under one banner.

"Thats why a common platform gathering all progressive forces is more than necessary. This is a condition if we really want to break through. We must be united and inclusive but tightly hermetical to opportunists and hidden faces of the establishment [who use the label of] civil society, said Wadih el-Asmar, one of the founders of the You Stink movement.

"We are actively working to make this platform emerge," he added.

Many activists share Asmars point of view. "If the civil society doesnt unite, we wont get anywhere. We saw what happened with the Syrian opposition, despite the nobility and the legitimacy of its cause, or with the Palestinians.  The road to reach this objective is definitely not easy, especially since beyond the principle of uniting everyone, the real challenge on the ground will be to create a proper governance structure for this coalition, a common brand, secure financing through one single fund and having electoral delegates, said Asmar.

But this last battle is worth it, insisted Moussa, especially since "the chances of success are big if we manage to impose ourselves as one united alternative for voters. She referred to a secret poll conducted by Lebanon Statistics for the National Democratic Institute that was only disclosed to political parties and civil society groups. She said, 47% of the Lebanese say they will not vote for any of the political parties in power after years of recurrent political vacuums and paralysis, economic recession, increasing corruption and, most importantly, two illegal extensions of parliaments term.
June 19, 2017

The latest controversy surrounding Turkeys military involves its most valued asset: conscripts. In the past month, nearly 2,000 cases of food poisoning have hit the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). For much of last week, successive reports came out of five TSK units in Manisa province that 600 conscripts were hospitalized for severe nausea and vomiting. The incidents came in the wake of another bout in May, when more than 1,000 conscripts in Manisa sought treatment and Pvt. Husnu Ozel died because of food-borne illness.

The Turkish government has responded swiftly. Minister of National Defense Fikri Isik and Commander of the Land Forces Gen. Zeki Colak visited Manisa May 18. During the visit, Isik announced the cancellation of the contract with the company hired to prepare the soldiers food. The defense minister informed the Turkish parliament June 19 that he will demand answers for the incidents even if [the offender] was his [brother]. As of June 19, 24 people have been detained in connection with the scandal.

The incident led to great outrage among Turks of all political stripes. Erkan Akcay, a member of parliament with the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), which established a partnership with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after last years failed coup attempt, said the company also held lucrative contracts with other TSK units. He demanded to know which of the companys contracts were canceled: only those with TSK installations in Manisa, where the majority of the poisoning cases happened, or all of them.

Tur Yildiz Bicer, a member of parliament with the Republican Peoples Party (CHP) from Manisa, called for Isiks resignation. Bicer and several CHP deputies claimed that the owners of the food service company in question were previously shielded from an investigation because of their connections to the ruling AKP. In addition, the CHP members claimed AKP and MHP deputies had refused to open a parliamentary investigation in the wake of the incident in May.

Meanwhile, Bicer led a group of CHP supporters to march in solidarity with CHP Chairman Kemal Kilicdaroglus ongoing Justice March from Ankara to Istanbul.

The food poisoning issue has become especially sensitive in Turkeys highly charged and polarized political climate. The anti-government Sozcu newspaper reported June 18 that conscripts relatives and other citizens had protested Isik during his visit to Manisa. Pro-AKP media outlets, which usually tone down incidents if they risk bringing trouble to the ruling party, were quite vocal. One of the leading pro-government newspapers, Yeni Safak, ran its coverage of the incident on its front page June 19, asking, What is happening at the barracks? Turkiye newspapers front page read, Hold them responsible.

To be sure, some outlets blamed a usual suspect, the Pennsylvania-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers many Turks call the Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization or FETO. Pro-AKP daily Aksam led its June 19 edition with the headline, Is it FETOs poison in the mess hall? Many Turks suspect that Gulenists were behind last years failed coup and that Gulens followers are still trying to sow discord and chaos in their country.

All parties agree on one thing: The TSK and the Defense Ministry should get to the bottom of this sensitive matter. Otherwise, a bad case of food poisoning could leave Turkeys political environment even more toxic.
June 13, 2017

An Arab TV drama series is seeking to portray what's happening inside Islamic State (IS) circles.

The "Gharabeeb Sood" ("Black Crows") series delves into the world of IS and the practices it boasts about such as raping women and children, trafficking organs, and torturing and executing prisoners. "Gharabeeb Sood," which premiered at the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, has caught the interest of viewers across the Arab world.

The cast includes actors from several Arab countries including Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Kuwait. The production by Saudi-owned broadcaster MBC cost $10 million to make.

MBC said in a press statement May 18 that the series was inspired by IS actions and relied on real-life testimonies. "Gharabeeb Sood" shows how IS lures in young men and women in both Arab and Western societies and the brainwashing that targets their social, behavioral and psychological weaknesses. The production also exposes the organizations severe and bloody crimes and its savage, oppressive and criminal behavior as well as how it treats its members and new recruits. The series tries to educate viewers about freedom of thought and other values.

The series' producer and cast have received threats from IS and its supporters. Tunisian actress Fatma Nasser, who plays a leading role, told Laha Magazine May 29 that IS-affiliated groups hacked her Facebook account, accusing her of "fighting" Islam and Muslims and threatening her publicly. However, she told the publication, the threats didn't scare her because she only fears God.

MBC Group General Director Ali Jaber said he received threats that the broadcaster's building in Dubai would be bombed and that IS planned to kill every person who contributed to the show, Nasser said. She emphasized that Jaber takes the threats seriously and is being cautious, telling Laha, I am proud of my participation in the series. I did not regret it for one second because it carries a message and reveals many truths about terrorism."

Art critic Tareq al-Shennawi told Al-Monitor, Arabs took too long to make a production about IS and its crimes. But as IS' violence has spread, it was important to produce a series exposing the organization and elucidating that IS and Islam are worlds apart.

He added, The series exposed IS inside practices, such as the organizations focus on raising children within its environment to get used to blood, murder and slaughter despite their young age. The production also reveals IS members [contempt for] women.

The series has attracted high viewership, he said. "Arabs interest in finding out the truth behind IS pushed them to watch the series, whose boldness will go down in history. It is the first production going into the dark depths of IS circles, and it has made way for other productions to go even deeper in exposing the organization.

People are interested in any IS-related production, he said, "because they are affected by the organizations crimes and terrorist acts in the Arab world.

Egyptian actor Sayed Ragab, who plays an IS mufti, told Al-Monitor, I was excited to take part just from reading the script because it is bold and deep and reveals IS' crimes in a dramatic yet convincing way.

He added, 'Gharabeeb Sood' plays a vital role in combating the terrorist threat. Art must be firm in opposing IS, which goes against all human values. The series is a real-life depiction inspired by IS crimes, documenting the slaughter of children and women and reflecting the organizations disdain toward women," even those who support it.

Arab governments recognize the importance of taking on IS "ideologically as well as at the security level," he said. "The success of the series and the local, Arab and international media interest in it will encourage Arab producers and governments to make more productions that confront IS ideologically and are commercially profitable as well.

When we were shooting scenes in Lebanon, we expected IS threats. But our concerns did not slow us down. We continued shooting the series because of its idea and message. Actors, just like soldiers, do not run away from the battle against terrorist thought.
June 19, 2017

Egypt has launched a new initiative aimed at documenting nature reserves across the country with the hope of preventing them from falling into oblivion.

The initiative, called Eraf Mahmyetak (Know Your Nature Reserves), was launched by nonprofit organization Shabab Betheb Misr (Young People Loving Egypt) in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment to protect the countrys valued nature reserves from being left behind and boost the countrys tourism industry.

We have been working on the initiative for years, and now we have managed to document seven nature reserves through photo galleries and short documentaries and are working now on documenting the remaining reserves, Ahmed Fathi, chairman of Shabab Betheb Misr Foundation, told Al-Monitor.

As part of the initiative, the foundation has organized several photo galleries in Egypt that showcase outstanding images of the country's nature reserves. It also created a host of short documentaries about those nature reserves and their breathtaking landscapes. Some visits for young people to the nature reserves were also organized, but the foundation could not continue to organize those visits due to its limited budget.

We mainly aim at showing the world that Egypt has beautiful nature reserves that can be of great interest to many people to visit and tour, Fathi said.

Fathi added that his project seeks to preserve the environment, keep the countrys nature reserves from being neglected by the government and forgotten by young people, and give a boost to Egypts staggering tourism industry.

Taking care of those nature reserves can be of great benefit to the countrys tourism industry, which has been suffering since the January 25 Revolution, Fathi said.

There are 40 nature reserves in Egypt covering roughly 15% of Egypts total land area. The initiative has documented seven of them and is working on documenting the others.

Those nature reserves were established according to laws No. 102/1983 to protect them and preserve the environment. The largest nature reserve in Egypt is Gebel Elba in the southeast on the Red Sea coast.

Tourism has long been the main source of income for Egypt. Before the January 25 Revolution in 2011, more than one in 10 of the workforce were employed in the countrys tourism industry, which generated approximately $12.5 billion in revenue according to data released by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism.

Egypts tourism industry started to wobble following the revolution, and conditions were further worsened after the downing of a Russian plane in the Sinai Peninsula in October 2015 that killed all 224 people on board.

The initiative by Shabab Betheb Misr started in 2012, a year after the January 25 Revolution. However, it went into effect in 2014.

We found hardships in launching the initiative, as two uprisings took place in Egypt in 2011 and 2013, and several political changes took place. In 2014, the Ministry of Environment adopted the initiative and began to help us turn the idea into reality, Fathi said.

Fathi added that the foundation is now preparing for an international conference on the environment in Sharm el-Sheikh, where it will display 1,000 short documentaries showcasing the countrys most significant nature reserves.

The Shabab Betheb Misr Foundation was established in 2012 and is working on a number of projects that aim to preserve the environment and revive the countrys tourism industry.

Although Egypt is trying to make strides in environmental protection, experts say more efforts are still needed to maintain a sustainable approach in the country.

Egypt should move in this direction of preserving the environment and adopting a sustainable approach in order to keep abreast of the developments that are taking place in the world in this field, Sara Refaat, an environmentalist, told Al-Monitor.

Refaat added that paying due attention to the countrys ecotourism can largely contribute to reinvigorating the staggering tourism industry and attract large numbers of foreign tourists. Those kinds of tourists visit Egypt again. They do not visit the country once, she said.

Egypt has started to use solar panels to generate electricity, establish solar power stations and even organize solar energy car races in its tourist resorts. The government aims to secure 20% of its energy generation from renewable sources by 2022.

In environmental cooperation, Egypt is part of the Basel Convention, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the London Convention, the International Tropical Timber Agreements, the Kyoto Protocol, the Montreal Protocol, the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and the UN Conventions on the Law of the Sea, Climate Change and Desertification.
June 20, 2017

In the aftermath of the June 7 terrorist attacks in Tehran claimed by the Islamic State (IS), Iranian Reformists and moderates have sought to overcome the heightened factional divisions lingering from the recent presidential elections. Indeed, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Mohammad Reza Aref and Mostafa Tajzadeh among many other Reformist politicians have called for national unity. In contrast, conservative and hard-line politicians have not missed the opportunity to target their rivals. Even as bullets were flying inside parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, a political offensive against moderate President Hassan Rouhani kicked off. Rather than a cause for national unity, the attacks in Tehran marked the beginning of a new bout of political infighting.

The easiest and most vulnerable target for hard-liner attacks is anyone who opposed Iranian involvement in Syria. Indeed, conservatives have used the Tehran attacks to reiterate once again that if Iran had not been involved in Syria and Iraq, it wouldve been fighting IS in the streets of the Iranian capital on a daily basis. Noteworthy among these voices is Ahmad Tavakoli, a conservative former member of parliament. In a tweet amid the terrorist attacks on June 7, Tavakoli lambasted Gholamhossein Karbaschi, the Reformist former mayor of Tehran, for his remarks on April 30 denouncing Iranian military engagement in Syria and advocating a solution based on political negotiations.

Another pivotal theme of hard-line rhetoric has been the strident defense of the role of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in protecting the country. The IRGC was fiercely criticized by Rouhani during the recent election campaigning over their ever-increasing involvement in the Iranian economy as well as interference with foreign policy and domestic politics. Ironically, instead of questioning the IRGC over their flagrant failure in preventing the infiltration of terrorists into parliament in the heart of Tehran, the IRGC has been heralded as heroes on state-run TV and in the conservative media.

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and Rouhanis efforts to engage in regional diplomacy have additionally been targeted. Kayhan, the hard-line daily whose editor-in-chief is appointed by the supreme leader, has condemned the United States for its purported support of the terrorists while criticizing Rouhanis emphasis on constructive engagement with the world, writing in an editorial on June 10, The events of the Wednesday [June 7] removed the facade of the Americans and exposed their true nature to the [Iranian] people.  Was Daesh [IS] not created during the [2013-15] nuclear negotiations?

That hard-liners have acted so promptly in using the June 7 attacks as an opportunity to slam the moderates is not surprising. Just a month ago, their all-out and powerful election machine was crushed by Rouhani, who secured 57% of votes on May 19, far ahead of Ebrahim Raisi, his main conservative opponent. As such, the attacks in Tehran have provided hard-liners with a post-election relief of sorts, as they have sought to reunite their forces and mobilize their shattered rank and file for a fresh standoff with the Rouhani administration. Thus, their reaction to the attacks should be analyzed in the context of their exasperation in the aftermath of the elections.

The conservatives defeat in the May 19 vote was defining, for it signaled the ideological dead end and lack of powerful discourse in their camp.

After the death of Khomeini in 1989, no hard-line candidate has been able to win a presidential election by emphasizing revolutionary and religious-conservative values. The first president after the demise of Khomeini, the late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was at the center of the political spectrum; his successor, Mohammad Khatami, was a fervent Reformist. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though conservative in theory and practice, was first elected in 2005 on the back of economic populism rather than by stressing the social and cultural policies of the hard-liners. Rouhani also won office in 2013 and last month by portraying himself as the only viable alternative to the conservatives, whether on social and cultural issues or foreign policy.

Even before the May 19 polls, the conservatives were aware of the inability of revolutionary slogans to mobilize voters. Thus, they hijacked Ahmadinejads rhetoric. Raisi and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf promised to multiply the monthly cash handouts that most Iranians receive, and they waged a multifaceted defamation operation against Rouhani by disclosing several documents about the alleged corruption of the Rouhani administration in the live TV debates. Furthermore, they tried to dissociate themselves from extremist social and cultural approaches and to depict a more moderate image. Even Raisi, the conservative finalist, met with an underground rapper who is popular among the youth. The photos of the meeting went viral on social media. The hard-liners loss in the elections, however, indicates that even incorporation of moderate and Reformist themes into the public image of conservatism will not necessarily strengthen their voter base. Therefore, a reshuffling of their whole discourse has now been put in place.

In this vein, the terrorist attacks in Tehran have provided hard-liners with a pretext to frame their new discourse around national security. If anything, as in many other parts of the world, conservatives have proven to be masters of this exercise.

Though national security seemed to be an initial conservative response to the Tehran attacks, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may not be following the same line. Instead of exacerbating the sense of emergency and aggravating the threat of terrorism, which could have been used to seek more prerogatives and impunity for the IRGC, Khamenei belittled the attacks by calling them firecrackers. Moreover, he chose to reiterate his usual revolutionary rhetoric and Islamic values to slam Rouhani.

Indeed, Khamenei has leveled two different yet connected rounds of attacks on the Rouhani administration after the June 7 attacks. First, only a few hours after the attack, he gave the green light to his supporters to engage in fiercer assaults on the government based on its allegedly nonrevolutionary social and cultural policies but also its permissive conduct of foreign affairs. He gave the revolutionary elements a fire-at-will formula so that they no longer needed to wait for the orders of a central command, meaning Rouhanis government, which, he suggested, is not vigilant to the real threats to the Islamic Revolution. On the other hand, on June 13 he meaningfully warned Rouhani of the fate of Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, the first president of the Islamic Republic of Iran who, after assuming office in 1980, was impeached by parliament and dismissed by Khomeini, In 1981, the then president bipolarized society and divided the people into two groups of opponents and proponents. That experience must not be repeated.

Disappointed with the results of the May 19 elections and with the inability of revolutionary discourse to win voters, the hard-liners have focused on finding a more instrumental way to go around their crisis and revive their energies. The Tehran attacks have provided them with the opportunity to achieve precisely these objectives. However, the question of whether new rhetoric centered on national security will provide conservatives with the impetus to regain lost momentum remains unclear. If anything, given Khameneis decision to not focus on national security in the aftermath of the attacks while increasing verbal assaults on Rouhani suggests that the scope for hard-liners to fully seize the opportunity is indeed limited.
June 20, 2017

On June 14, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson spoke of support for a peaceful transition of government in Iran, a controversial statement interpreted in Tehran as meaning that US policy is reverting to regime change.

Prominent Reformist figures, including those who have been imprisoned, protested the apparent new policy of the US government toward Iran. In a joint statement June 16, the Reformists condemned Tillersons announced posture and described it as interventionist.

The Reformist figures wrote in their statement: Everybody is aware of the fact that the situation in the Middle East and North Africa is not only in a more dangerous situation than other parts of the world, but also that the region hasnt faced such a big crisis in its history. Although an important part of the crisis is due to internal issues, and the weakness and lack of democratic and free governments in the region, one of the major causes of the crisis is the interference of foreigners, especially the US government. Contrary to its claim of defending human rights, Washington advocates for only the most reactionary countries in the region. Therefore it can be said that the roots of extremism in the region and the world are somehow influenced by their behavior.

Referring to Tillersons recent remarks as provocative and contrary to the legal and international rules, the Reformists emphasized that "the results [of this rhetoric] are nothing except the increase of instability in the region, and [consequently] development of war and terrorism.  These statements are expressed while an overwhelming majority of people of Iran expressed their [views] by voting, and at the same time the White House is supporting the countries that are being governed wholly tyrannically [with the aim] of plundering the oil revenues of the region.

Seyed Mostafa Tajzadeh, Hamid-Reza Jalaiepour, Saeed Hajjarian, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, Abbas Abdi, Mohsen Mirdamadi and Feizollah Arab-Sorkhi are among the well-known figures who signed the statement.

Moreover, Mohammad Ali Abtahi, who served as vice president under the presidency of Reformist Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005), said June 15, We should thank Mr. Tillerson, the US secretary of state. He has said that they are thinking about regime change in Iran. Now everyone in the world knows that Iranians have a unique unity in the face of foreigners threats. This unity is the necessity of our country and Tillersons remarks can contribute to that.

Tajzadeh, a prominent Reformist who spent seven years in prison and was only released last year, tweeted June 19, The bases of Trumps presidency are so shaky that if he commits any unwise action against Iran, and we act wisely, it is likely that instead of the Islamic Republic, [Trump] himself will be overthrown.

In response to the Reformists statement, conservatives have welcomed their position and contemplated it as a sign of unity in Iran. Seyyed Hossein Naghavi Hosseini, an ultra-conservative member of parliament, said June 18, The point must be understood that in case of a threat against [our] national security, the new situation wont distinguish between Reformists or conservatives. All of us will be involved in [such a crisis].

Furthermore, the Reformists have also notably praised the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for its June 18 missile attacks on Islamic State positions in Syria. The strikes came in apparent response to the June 7 terrorist attacks in Tehran, which left 18 people dead.

Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, who served as government spokesman under Khatami, said June 19, The IRGCs missile operation was legal, especially as it occurred in coordination with the neighboring countries, and in particular Syria. He added, This is considered a legitimate defense. Therefore, it seems to me that a proper operation has been done and that the country's power should be shown.

Moreover, Ataollah Mohajerani, a former minister of culture and Islamic guidance who now lives in exile in London, tweeted June 19, A missile attack on Daesh [Islamic State] in Deir ez-Zor is beyond attacking Daesh and taking revenge for the martyrs of the [June 7] terror operation in Tehran; This is a clear, strong and timely message to all.
June 20, 2017

When we see that the Palestinian Authority [PA] not only does not denounce the terror attack, but the Fatah movement of [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas is a partner in backing the terrorists, I think its clear we have no one to talk to and nothing to talk about. I hope its now clearer than it was in the past, said Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan. He spoke during a condolence visit to the family of border police soldier Hadas Malka, who was murdered on June 16 in a terror attack in Jerusalem.

Three organizations competed in taking credit for the attack, among them  for the first time  the Islamic State (IS), who dubbed the terrorists soldiers of the Islamic State. But a military source told Walla news that the attack was carried out by a local cell in a pattern similar to the terror attack wave of the so-called individual intifada that broke out in October 2015.

The reactions of the three organizations  Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and IS  are very interesting, but more interesting is the behavior of the Fatah movement. Fatah activists hung the movements flags on the roof of the home of one of the perpetrators, Osama Ahmad Mustafa Atta, a resident of the village of Deir Abu Mash'al near the West Bank city of Ramallah. An announcement posted by the movement on its Facebook page condemned the PFLP for what it claimed was an attempt to steal one of its sons and activists, whom it dubbed a hero.

He should be credited with the glory of the movement, according to the announcement. In other messages spread by Fatah activists, they claimed that occupation forces had executed the three assailants for no reason.

In response, Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories Maj. Gen. Yoav Mordechai issued a harsh statement of condemnation on his Arabic-language Al-Munaseq website: The three cruel people who undertook this cowardly terror attack received praise from Fatah, which falsely claimed they were innocent. This is incitement to terror. In response to this heinous crime and the incitement by Fatah officials to win popularity, Israel has decided to take action. The first is revoking 250,000 entry permits [for Palestinians visiting family in Israel] and revoking work permits from the kin of the terrorists.

Israels defense establishment has been following Fatahs change in tone for months, especially since the Fatah convention in November 2016. In the wake of that meeting, Mahmoud Al-Aloul was named as Abbas deputy in February 2017  a move that essentially sparked a war of succession within the movement.

A determined effort has been waged for a while now across the West Bank in a bid to convince young people to join the various Palestinian movements, among them Fatah. This follows years during which the young abandoned Fatah, viewing its activists as members of a corrupt older generation looking out only for themselves. It seems that getting them to join Fatah now entails growing radicalization by the movement. Fatah believes this is the way to win popular appeal and to avoid being left behind in the competition among the various movements in the West Bank for the hearts of the young.

This is why confronting Israel and carrying out actions depicted as a struggle to end the occupation are welcomed by Fatah militants. Thus, for example, during the hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails  instigated in April by the contender to Abbas throne, Marwan Barghouti  Fatah for the first time since the end of the second intifada in 2005 called on young Palestinians to clash with Israeli troops at West Bank roadblocks in what was called a day of rage. Paradoxically, PA police were instructed by Abu Mazen, who also heads up the Fatah movement, to ensure that the Fatah rank and file did not heed the call to violence.

The same thing is happening now: Fatah against Abbas. Although the Fatah movement did not assume responsibility for the Jerusalem terror attack, its activists have not missed a single opportunity to cheer the perpetrators on social media, news broadcasts and in formal announcements, and to note that one of the three  Atta  was its own flesh and blood and deserving of glory.

During the so-called individual intifada, Abbas asked Fatah activists to act with restraint and teach young Palestinians in schools that terror attacks were opposed to Palestinian interests, and the chairman and senior PA officials were extremely worried about the lives of the young people who could be killed or injured in such attacks. The activists were also urged to convey the message that the Palestinians must give the diplomatic process a chance to eventually result in the establishment of the Palestinian state.

Israel interpreted these moves as attempts  among other things  to preserve Abbas rule, which would be undermined if another bloody intifada were to erupt in the territories and deteriorate into chaos in PA territory. Now that trend has reversed itself.

An Israeli security source speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity said Fatahs expression of support for the Jerusalem attack is just as severe as accepting responsibility for it. This time we are seeing encouragement, support and glorification. The message being conveyed by the Fatah activists to the rank and file is that every terror attack against Israel, even if not directed by the organization, not only is not wrong but is welcome, he argued.

Abbas, who is working through diplomatic channels to promote talks with Israel through US mediation, did not condemn the attack and did not silence the militant voices within his movement. Although Abbas proved at the Fatah convention that he still holds the reins, it seems he only exercises this control in moves designed to deter his opponents. He avoids confrontation with those leading the militant line, especially because he needs their support in the Fatah institutions to stay in power.

His silence now in the face of the independent militant line is actually opposed to the diplomatic moves he aspires to advance and, perhaps, even to his philosophy. Yet Abbas is hostage to the political forces surrounding him. More so, he must cope with prevailing sentiments within the Palestinian street, by which he is conducting a policy that is too submissive and too lenient vis-a-vis Israel. And so, Abbas silence constitutes in fact surrender to the new Fatah forces. If Abbas thinks that his silence vis-a-vis the forces within his movement will help him maintain his position and power, he will find out he was wrong, big time, said the defense source. His silence is being interpreted as weakness, and he will pay a price for it. Still, it is important to remember that breaking the silence vis-a-vis Fatah militants might actually cost Abbas an even higher price.
June 19, 2017

In September 2016, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman brought forth for debate and approval in the Cabinet a master plan for the expansion of the West Bank city of Qalqilya. It was part of the carrot-and-stick plan he devised. Liberman started his job as defense minister some three months earlier, at the height of the wave of Palestinian terrorism  also called the individual intifada  and looked for creative ways to prevent further escalation.

In Libermans plan, Palestinian towns were grouped into two categories: those included on the red list, from which terrorist attacks emerged; and a green list of 15 cities and villages from which terrorists hadnt come. Liberman allotted benefits for those towns on the green list, which included the expansion of their master plan. The city of Qalqilya was one of them.

Liberman based his plan on the security concept put forward by the army, according to which relief for West Bank residents would lower their level of despair and could stop the spread of terrorism. This would of course be accompanied by a firm hand toward terrorists and their operators.

Thus Liberman  who heads Yisrael Beitenu and is one of the leaders of the Israeli right  presented a pragmatic and creative approach to dealing with the wave of Palestinian terrorism.

Nine months have passed since that Cabinet meeting when the plan to expand Qalqilya was approved with the presence of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and ministers from both HaBayit HaYehudi and Likud. But only on June 14 did it blow up on the Channel 2 newscast.

According to the report, the construction plan would double the number of residents in the Palestinian city, which today numbers 50,000. The 14,000 new housing units to be built according to the plan would be constructed at the expense of West Bank Area C territory, which is under Israeli military and civilian control.

The man leading the opposition to the move, according to the report, and who is quoted on Channel 2 is the head of the Samaria Regional Council, Yossi Dagan  a leading Likud activist who boasts that he has gathered much power in party institutions. Dagan has succeeded in branding himself in recent years as a rising power in the Likud and among the settlers. He knows that Likud and HaBayit HaYehudi ministers and members and the Knesset need voters he registered in order to be elected. And so he takes advantage of that, putting effective pressure on them to join the struggle to increase settlement construction in Judea and Samaria. After Donald Trumps election to the American presidency, the confidence of Dagan and his settler public has greatly increased in demanding that the Netanyahu government expand settlement construction under the patronage of the sympathetic administration in Washington.

Dagan blew up the plan to expand Qalqilya at a time most convenient for him. He threatened the prime minister and his ministers, and among other things said, The government has lost the brakes  after eight years, today there are no more excuses. If this settlement freeze is in fact authorized, the Likud  as the leader of the nationalist camp  should consider putting up another candidate for prime minister who would be committed, in deeds and not words, to the ideology of the nationalist camp in Israel.

At first Netanyahu confirmed Channel 2s report, but he changed his story when he understood that it has caused an uproar on the right and that Likud ministers have also joined the protest against the plan. Likud Ministers Yariv Levin and Zeev Elkin argued that Liberman acted behind their backs and that they didnt have a hand in such a plan. Elkin, who was abroad during the debate in 2016, said that the Cabinet spoke in general terms of a master plan for Qalqilya, but the number of 14,000 housing units was kept from the Cabinet. Yisrael Katz, Minister of Transportation and Minister for Intelligence Affairs, in an interview with Israel Army Radio, also presented a version that supports the settlers.

At a meeting of the leaders of the coalition June 18, Netanyahu distanced himself from the plan and claimed that he doesnt recall the decision made by the Cabinet on the topic. Later he announced that he would bring up the plan for a new debate in the Cabinet.

Netanyahus memory trouble and the decision to again debate the plan that was already approved by the Cabinet once more sharpens the double game the prime minister is playing with the extreme right and especially his weakness in confronting them. This comes alongside the maneuvers Netanyahu has been making vis-a-vis Trump, who has signaled his interest in pushing forward negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. In return, Trumps interest obligates the government in Jerusalem to make goodwill gestures toward Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Instead of zigzagging, Netanyahu could have stood up in front of the public and backed the plan he had allowed to be approved because he thought it was right. If we examine the arguments of the settlers, we see theres not much to them. While the new housing units would be built on land under Israeli control, the construction would take place within the security barrier surrounding the city, where most houses would be built on private Palestinian land. The number of housing units is also open to interpretation in terms of what stages of planning or construction they are in. The security establishment claims that there would be far fewer units built than advertised, as half of them have already been constructed and would just receive retroactive authorization.

Sources close to Liberman have rejected the settlers political manipulation and have promised that the plan will ultimately be approved. They claimed that the plan was presented in full for the Cabinets approval without hiding anything. According to them, this hasnt kept Dagan from using public protest on the right to pressure the government in order to obtain construction permits for settlements by intentionally inflating the numbers.

In the meantime, Liberman prefers to refrain from direct conflict with the prime minister or right-wing ministers in the battle over versions of the story, because he isnt interested in a coalition crisis. But it may be that in a renewed debate of the plan in the Cabinet, the political battle within the right would be unavoidable.
June 15, 2017

In her critics' eyes, the new mayor of Azzun already has two strikes against her: her gender and her youth. But Yusra Mohammed Badwan plans to swing away, claiming opposition just makes her stronger.

Badwan, 25, became the youngest female mayor in the Palestinian territories after her independent list, the Prisoners Bloc, won in the local elections. On May 22, the elected bloc chose a mayor, and Badwan won with six out of 11 votes.

She grew up in Azzun, which is 24 square kilometers (9 square miles) and has a population of 12,000. Badwan graduated in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Palestine Technical University in Qalqilya. She worked as a contracting engineer in the city of Jericho in the eastern West Bank and as a supervisory engineer in the Cooperative Housing Foundation. She also participated in social volunteer work in her hometown, which made her face known among the people who gave her their vote of confidence.

I didn't hesitate to run in the local elections in Azzun because I want women and youth to be more involved in these elections and I aspire to make a positive change in my hometown," she told Al-Monitor. "I first ran in October 2016, but the government decided to postpone the elections due to disagreements between Hamas and Fatah at the time."

Her family and friends strongly encouraged her to run, to inspire the town's women to show society their abilities.

Like any woman in the Palestinian territories, Badwan was negatively perceived by society when she assumed this high-ranking position. Certainly, not everyone was pleased with my winning, and I saw many negative comments online rejecting the idea of a woman in her 20s becoming mayor. But this will not affect my determination. On the contrary, I have become braver; I will prove society wrong and break this stereotype against women, she said.

One Facebook user commented on Azzun municipalitys Facebook page, saying, "Are there no men left in Azzun? Why did you accept a woman? The great town of Azzun has become a joke. Meanwhile, another user commented, A people that has allowed a woman to rule will never succeed.

Despite such negative responses, Badwan received many positive comments and support from other activists. I grew up in a family that doesn't pay much attention to societal stereotypes that prevent women from achieving the goals they desire. My father encouraged me greatly and is very proud of me for assuming this position, she said.

Badwan believes age has nothing to do with efficacy and the ability to make a difference.

I will show everyone that women can make a difference, no matter their age. I will contribute to developing the towns facilities and try to provide better life services for citizens, she said. I will benefit from all those who preceded me in this position, and I will take comments under advisement. Hard work pays off, and I wish myself all the success.

As to what she hopes to achieve during her four-year term, she said, As the mayor, I am currently studying the situation here to be able to prepare a plan to develop the facilities in a town such as Azzun, the mother of the countryside in Qalqilya. I will also work on providing employment opportunities for young people.

In general, mayors have many tasks, most importantly, developing the city or town by organizing housing projects, establishing public facilities such as parks and libraries, paving roads, improving services such as sanitation and water and making sure residential neighborhoods stay clean.

When asked about the biggest challenge she might face, Badwan said, The Israeli occupation. She added, Our town is under Israeli siege. Its eastern entrance is closed due to the Ma'ale Shomron and Karnei Shomron settlements, while the Israeli occupation forces have placed concrete cubes on two other entrances, as well as a metal gate on the towns main entrance, which the occupation forces open and close as they please.

According to Badwan, the town is also beset by ongoing military incursions, in addition to being surrounded by the apartheid wall that isolates it from other villages, not to mention the Israeli settlements built on agricultural lands confiscated from their original owners.

Nidal Shabita, head of the Jerusalem Bloc, which won three seats in Azzuns village council, said that a woman in her 20s becoming mayor is a rare case in conservative, patriarchal Palestinian society.

We supported Badwan for this position because we believe in the need to change the way society views women, and we think women should be encouraged to hold other high-ranking positions in all Palestinian institutions," Shabita told Al-Monitor.

Badwan "is an educated young woman with a broad horizon of work [ahead], and we wish her success and excellence, he added, stressing that all members of the village council are ready to cooperate with her to make this experience a success.

Badwan hopes to bring prosperity to her hometown. She has called on the Palestinian government to provide continued financial support to the town to pave its rural roads and build public facilities.
June 19, 2017

Illustrative of the extent to which Sudan and Qatar have deepened bilateral relations, Khartoum is not joining Riyadh and its allies in punishing Doha for allegedly promoting terrorism. Yet, for Sudan, which relies heavily on economic support from Qatar as well as the three Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members confronting Doha, the councils diplomatic row and its timing are dreadful.

On June 6, the Khartoum government offered to pursue reconciliation efforts between Qatar and the Sunni Arab states that have severed ties with Doha. Expressing deep concern about the standoff, Sudans Foreign Ministry demanded that regional states work together to overcome this dispute. Unsettling for Khartoum is that the row threatens to directly undermine Sudans national interests in several ways given its foreign policy history and the countrys current domestic political environment.

After 1989, when President Omar al-Bashir ascended to power, Sudans links with al-Qaeda and other extremists heightened tensions between Khartoum and various Western and Arab governments. The economic pain of US sanctions, first imposed in 1997, prompted Sudan to make moves, which the US State Department recognized, to distance itself from militant Islamist organizations and cooperate with the Wests counterterrorism initiatives within a larger effort aimed at bringing Khartoum out of isolation.

Geopolitically, Sudan has shifted toward Washingtons orbit by aligning more closely with the United States' Sunni Arab allies over the past few years. Nine months after contributing to the US-backed, Riyadh-led military campaign launched against Iranian-sponsored Houthi rebels in Yemen in March 2015, Khartoum joined other Sunni Arab capitals in severing diplomatic ties with Iran, despite years spent nurturing a strategic partnership with Tehran.

Unquestionably, Sudans economic crisis following South Sudans independence in 2011 (which reduced Sudans ownership of oil reserves by 75%) and Khartoums struggle to resolve conflicts in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile (which have left Sudan spending 70% of its budget on the military and security apparatus) led it to pivot away from Iran with the aim of securing financial support from the Arab Gulf monarchies. In recent years, Sudan has received billions of dollars in assistance from Qatar and from the GCC states sanctioning Doha, so Khartoum does not want to pick sides in the current rift.

Moreover, Sudans geopolitical realignment with the GCC was based partly on the hope that the Arab Gulf states could serve as a link between Khartoum and Washington, but there is likely less room for optimism on this front since the GCC members will be more diplomatically consumed by their internal rift than by any efforts to bring about a US-Sudan rapprochement.

Arab Gulf governments targeting Qatar on the basis of Dohas alleged sponsorship of terrorist organizations is troubling to officials in Khartoum, because they fear that Sudan, which has hosted many Muslim Brotherhood members fleeing other countries, including Egypt since 2013, could become a future target of their wrath. Although Sudan, under pressure from fellow Arab states as well as Western ones, has toned down its support for Islamists, the country has an Islamist constituency that is outspokenly opposed to Riyadh and other Sunni Arab and African capitals punishing Qatar. Since Saudi Arabia and its allies severed relations with Qatar, numerous Islamist lawmakers in Sudans National Assembly have demanded that Khartoum support Doha. These politicians have emphasized Qatar's assistance to Khartoum over the years, such as when Doha mediated between opposing sides in the Darfur conflict.

On June 10, Ali al-Haj Mohamed, secretary-general of Hassan al-Turabis Popular Congress Party, denounced the addition of 71 Qatari-linked individuals and organizations to a terrorist list issued by Riyadh and its allies. He rejected the designation of Hamas as a terrorist group and dismissed accusations that Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi, the Egyptian-born spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood who has lived in Qatar for many years, is a terrorist. Haj asserted, We reject this classification, we dont beat the drums of war, despite the presence of its signals, and we confirm that we are in permanent contact with all embassies and our single message to them is that what is happening is not in the interest of all of us."

Sudans neutrality in the Qatar crisis is a cautious response to a sensitive diplomatic row that leaves Khartoum with much to lose. To be sure, if the Saudis pressure Khartoum into joining the Riyadh consensus on Qatar, Bashir will have to balance Sudans close ties with the kingdom with an Islamist constituency at home that will likely continue advocating a pro-Qatar position amid the standoff. Under such circumstances, Sudan would find itself facing a major geopolitical predicament with serious domestic ramifications.

The June 13 arrest on corruption charges of Gen. Taha Osman al-Hussein, Bashirs office director and minister of state to the presidency, will further complicate Khartoums position, because Hussein, who holds Saudi citizenship and served as an envoy to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, was the architect of Sudans renewed relations with those two GCC states. His arrest is possibly indicative of how Islamists in Khartoum retain the strings of power despite reversals in Khartoums foreign policy.

Varying reports suggest that Hussein's rise to power and resulting achievements have put him at loggerheads over policy with Bakri Hassan Saleh, the newly appointed prime minister and former vice president, along with intelligence chiefs in the National Intelligence Security Services. Saleh, however, has received credit for rooting out corruption within the government in a campaign directed from his office, which currently has Hussein himself in the crosshairs. The government has to find a suitable replacement for Hussein to continue asserting and expanding relations with the GCC. The next stages in the Qatari-Gulf divide will be crucial for Sudan, as a possible mediating role for Khartoum becomes less likely without Hussein in the picture.

From Sudans standpoint, the ideal outcome would involve Kuwaiti and Omani diplomats achieving a breakthrough in talks that produce a restoration of relations between Qatar and the states taking action against it. Yet without such a swift resolution, Sudan risks becoming vulnerable to a new regional environment in which Khartoums Arab allies undertake more aggressive action against the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists who have a history of patronization in Sudan under Bashirs regime and maintain influence in the countrys political arena.

Awad Mustafa contributed to this report.
June 19, 2017

Security forces have been conducting intensive operations against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) since March in southeast Turkey, particularly along a stretch of the border with Iraq between Silopi and Semdinli and in the Van Lake region on the Iranian border.

The operations can be defined as "area denial-search-destroy," with the objective of neutralizing (capture, wound or kill  in this case, primarily kill) PKK militants before they can complete the tactical move between their winter and summer operational deployments. In the winter, they often seek refuge in Iraq's mountainous Qandil regions, while in summer they deploy to more easily navigated areas of Turkey's interior, where they can launch attacks and withdraw quickly.

The "denial" aspect is crucial, as it aims to stop PKK units in their tracks. The operations have made ample use of the reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition skills of entirely professional cadres of army special forces and special operations units of police and gendarmerie to eliminate the maximum number of PKK militants. In other words, success is being measured by the number of PKK militants killed.

By introducing the doctrine of area denial-search-destroy, the Turkish army has scrapped the goal of merely controlling Kurdish areas  a tactic it used from 2007-2013 that called for permanent outposts on dominant terrain features and at critical junctions to limit the PKKs movement  but that resulted in heavy army casualties because of PKK raids against these static outposts.

The Turkish army has been able to move from passive area control to actively seeking out PKK militants and destroying them, in no small part due to advances in military technology used in counterterror operations during the past two years. Now the military uses more than 50 Bayraktar TB2 tactical armed drones equipped with MAM-L laser guided smart munition with a range up to 8 kilometers (5 miles), and smart micro munitions. In counterterror operations, the military currently is using six ANKA-S armed drones with longer ranges and 24-hour flight endurance, and 15 locally made ATAK assault helicopters.

The army has been able to severely restrict the PKK's mobility at the border area and inside Turkey by arming these helicopters with UMTAS (Uzun Menzilli Tanksavar Sistemi) long-range missiles that can precisely hit targets up to 8 kilometers away, and by using MK-82 and MK-84 guided bomb smart munitions and indigenous Teber laser-guided bomb smart munitions.

Security sources who didnt want to be identified told Al-Monitor that Turkey last week began using the armed drones against PKK targets inside Iraq.

In the past two months, troops have discovered more than a hundred caves in Turkey used by the PKK as shelter and supply storage in the Incebel-Kato Mountain area in the Beytussebap district of Sirnak province. Weapons seized included 30 mm AGS 17 grenade launcher, 120 mm mortars, Metis and AT-4 anti-tank guided missiles, and SA-16 Igla and SA-7B Strella shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles.

We are living through the most successful period of our 35-year struggle against the PKK," Defense Minister Fikri Isik said during a visit last week to military units on the Turkey-Iraq border.

In the period since July 23, 2015, [more than 10,500] terrorists have been neutralized. This is a major success. The terror outfit has been rendered incapable of carrying out operations. We are going to break their spine and take all measures to make sure that they will never threaten this country again. Today, planting [roadside bombs] and long-range mortar fire is all they can do.

It is not a surprise that the media, especially pro-government outlets, have used headlines such as The PKK is finished and The PKKs backbone is broken.

If we accept the figure of neutralized PKK militants cited by the defense minister as factual, we can claim Turkish security forces have neutralized 88% of the estimated 12,000 PKK militants in Turkey.

Turkey says it has neutralized about 40,000 PKK militants over the years in these clashes, which have been taking place since 1984. If one says there are roughly 10,000 armed PKK militants in Turkey at any given time, then Turkey can claim it has militarily exhausted the PKK four times over.

Then there are the domestic political dimensions of the intensified anti-PKK operations. Nowadays, Ankara is devoid of any operational option against the PKK in northern Syria and Iraq. The only news with which to please the Turkish public and embellish media reports is that coming from inside the country.

Meanwhile, what is the PKK doing? It is on "strategic silence mode" inside Turkey. Having lost most of its mobility in southeast Turkey because of the government's area denial-search-destroy doctrine, and the PKK's inability to reshape its military deployment effectively for the summer, the group is acutely short of fixed security outposts to attack. At the moment, the PKK is launching hit-and-run attacks within a range of 3-5 kilometers with Metis and AT-4-type anti-tank missiles at Turkish targets such as tanks and armored vehicles, or resorting to bomb-laden vehicles.

But I dont believe the current low profile of the PKK inside Turkey and its refraining from attacks in urban centers in the west is because it lacks capacity. The PKKs current strategic thinking is focused on northern Syria. Being preoccupied with Rojava, the PKK prefers to remain on the defensive inside Turkey.

The course of Ankara-PKK combat inside Turkey is linked to developments in northern Syria. The most dangerous scenario that comes to mind is if low-intensity clashes erupt between Turkish security forces and Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG, which is the PKK's Syrian extension) after Raqqa is cleared of Islamic State (IS) fighters. Such clashes could escalate into a high-intensity conventional war using tanks and artillery. As the area is heating up each day, the only power to prevent such a scenario would be the Pentagon.

Turkey is emphasizing the struggle inside its borders, especially in the rural southeast, to make up for its exclusion from the primary front in northern Syria. The Turkish military isn't limiting itself to deterring the PKK and restricting its mobility, but aims to eliminate PKK forces with its area denial-search-destroy doctrine. With their recent acquisition of armed drones, smart munitions and new-generation attack helicopters, Turkish security forces have been able to generate media reports that will please the public. Most professional experts, however, wonder how long Turkey can sustain this high-paced operational tempo. If the operations can be extended to the end of 2017 and disrupt the PKKs winter configuration, then we can talk of a more serious blow to the PKKs existence in Turkey.

The PKK, by focusing on northern Syria, has opted for a low profile in Turkey, which it sees as a secondary front for the time being. But the ground is heating up in northern Syria, and both sides have high expectations.

According to figures cited by its officials, Turkey has militarily wiped out the PKK several times over. Nevertheless, the question is still there: How can Turkey transform this military success at the operational level into a sustainable and peaceful political resolution?
June 19, 2017

WASHINGTON  The United States scrambled today to calm escalating tensions in Syria a day after the US-led coalition shot down an Assad regime warplane and Iran launched missile strikes against the Islamic State (IS).

Sunday's destruction of a Soviet-era fighter-bomber by a US Navy jet marked the first time that the United States has shot down a Syrian aircraft in the six-year civil war. That same day, Iran fired several missiles at IS targets in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, the first time in more than 15 years that Tehran has fired missiles at a foreign country.

Further escalation between rival forces doesnt help anybody, White House press secretary Sean Spicer told journalists today. "While we want to de-escalate the situation there  we will always preserve the right to self-defense.

New flashpoints have emerged as US-backed Syrian opposition forces have intensified the push to retake the IS stronghold of Raqqa. Pro-Syrian regime forces, backed by Iran and Russia, have clashed with US-backed Syrian opposition forces in eastern Syria in recent weeks.

The US-led coalition said Sunday that it had shot down a Syrian Su-22 south of Tabqa after pro-Assad regime forces attacked US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) there. In response, Russia said today it was suspending a de-confliction communications channel used to avoid accidental altercations with the US-led coalition operating in Syria. The Pentagon expressed patience at the announcement, saying it was available any time to resume communications with Russia.

The only actions we have taken against pro-regime forces in Syria  have been in self-defense, and we have communicated that clearly, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Joseph Dunford, said at an event at the National Press Club today.

The US-led coalition stressed in a statement after the downing of the Syrian jet that it is focused only on defeating IS and does not seek confrontation with the Syrian regime or its allies. But the coalition will defend its partner forces, including local allies, the statement said.

At 6:43 p.m. [June 18], a Syrian regime Su-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet, the Coalition Joint Task Force for Operation Inherent Resolve statement said.

The Coalitions mission is to defeat [IS] in Iraq and Syria, the coalition statement said. The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat. The Coalition calls on all parties to focus their efforts on the defeat of [IS], which is our common enemy and the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and security.

The clashes come as the State Department was said to have completed a provisional Syria strategy review, Syria experts told Al-Monitor.

The State Department's Syria strategy is very minimal, Hassan Hassan, a senior fellow with the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, told Al-Monitor. It is trying to reassert that the focus is [IS] and [IS] only, and then after that, it doesnt matter what happens after [IS] is removed.

The plan is not finalized, Hassan said. It  has not yet been approved by [Secretary of State Rex] Tillerson. It has not reached the White House yet. The State Department had no comment.

Hassan said there appeared to be a misunderstanding that the Trump administration was seeking to confront Iran in Syria. In his judgment, it is Iran that has been seeking to test and push back against US-backed forces in Syria. US jets last month fired on Iranian-backed militias that the United States said were advancing on a US-backed opposition base at al-Tanf, in southeastern Syria.

Iran has been going after American-backed groups in the Syrian desert, Hassan said. It is simple. Iran is nervous about what the Americans are up to in Syria.  When the Americans started to support the rebels in Tanf in the Syrian desert, the Iranians wanted to disrupt this process.  They want to go after the American sphere of influence [in Syria].

Irans message to the United States is we can make things messy for you in Iraq and Syria, Hassan said.

But the United States risks that its actions in Syria will be misunderstood without a more clearly articulated strategy, said Syria expert Charles Lister.

Unless the United States declares its long-term intentions in Syria more clearly, we will be faced by many more such acts of self-defense, Lister wrote at the Middle East Institutes website. Enhanced US assertiveness in Syria is not a bad thing, per se, but it remains dangerous when practiced through such an ambiguous lens.

The Iranians are probing US defenses and certainly testing the US, Aaron Stein, with the Atlantic Council, told Al-Monitor. The US policy is to bomb them and claim self-defense. But there is no policy after that. This is where it creates a vacuum outside of presidential leadership.

The Defense Department is willing to step it up against Iran, but not at the expense of countering IS, Stein said. They are willing to put pressure [on Iran] elsewhere at a place of our choosing, so it doesnt screw up Raqqa.

Notably, the Trump administration has said little after Iran launched six medium-range surface-to-surface missiles 700 kilometers (435 miles) from western Iran to strike IS targets in the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor on Sunday. Iran said the strikes were retaliation for the June 7 IS terrorist attacks on Tehrans parliament and Khomeinis mausoleum. While the strikes targeted a common enemy, the display of its ballistic missile capabilities also sent a message to US allies that have been emboldened by the Trump administrations more hostile rhetoric about Iran, analysts said.

Iran has been able to kill multiple birds with one stone: retaliate against a stunning [IS] attack at the heart of its capital; defy new US sanctions against its ballistic missile program; [and] project power and deter the Saudis from further challenging it in the region, Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al-Monitor.

The strike further complicates an already complex situation, Vaez said. If the US takes measures beyond rhetorical condemnation, tensions could escalate too far too quickly.

Al-Monitor has learned that the Trump administration offered its condolences to Iran for the June 7 IS attack. On the day of the attack, Trump released a mixed White House statement that offered prayers for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks while adding that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote.

"We sent condolences via diplomatic channels after the terror attack, a State Department official confirmed.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, however, told Al-Monitor in an e-mail that Tillerson had not personally called him to convey condolences.

Zarif took to Twitter today to emphasize that Irans missile strikes targeted the common enemy of IS and extremist terror.

Iran's missile capability protects its citizens in lawful self-defense & advances common global fight to eradicate ISIS & extremist terror, Zarif wrote.

Zarif and the US-led coalition are stressing in their statements that the common fight is against IS, said Randa Slim, a Levant expert at the Middle East Institute.

I think the coalition statement conveyed, on the one hand, we are not going to let you stop our allies in Syria from finishing the task, Slim told Al-Monitor. On the other hand, we have a common enemy, indirectly, we have to work together.

Zarifs statement  is basically emphasizing  that Iran struck [IS], the common enemy, Slim said. [It] is sending a message to the Americans, that we share a common enemy and need to work together in defeating and degrading the enemy.

But Dunford did not acknowledge Irans strikes on IS when asked about Iran in Syria today. Iran is playing an unhelpful role in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East, the joint chiefs chairman said. Iran is not focused on [IS] inside of Syria. Iran is focused on propping up the regime that committed atrocities  in the civil war.

Correction: June 20, 2017. Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this story inaccurately stated that Iran had not fired missiles at a foreign country in three decades. In fact it has only been about 15 years.
June 19, 2017

On June 18, a US Navy fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane  the first such incident between the United States and Syria in more than six years of war in the country. The Pentagon said the Syrian jet had attacked US-supported Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters near the north-central Syrian town of Jadin. Syria had a different narrative, saying the plane was downed in the Raqqa countryside while Damascus was carrying out a military operation against the Islamic State (IS), thus condemning the US attack as an affirmation of its real stance in support for terrorism.

The Syrian narrative was almost immediately picked up by Russia. However, the tone of Moscows statements was different. The initial response of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov  who is in China for the meeting of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) foreign ministers  was rather measured. On June 19, Lavrov reiterated the necessity to fully respect Syrias sovereignty and territorial integrity and called on the United States and all others who have their forces or their advisers in Syria to coordinate their efforts. He also emphasized that actions should be coordinated with Damascus.

Russias Defense Ministry was much tougher in its response. It first slammed the US attack as cynical and said it could be considered an act of aggression. What seemed particularly disappointing for the Russian side, according to the statement, was that the command of the coalition forces did not use the existing channels of communication between the command of al-Udeid air base (Qatar) and the Khmeimin air base command to prevent air incidents in the airspace of Syria  an important point from Moscows perspective, since Russian forces were also performing combat missions in Syrian airspace at the time.

The Russian Defense Ministry interpreted the US action as an intentional failure to fulfill its obligations under a 2015 memorandum about preventing such incidents and decided to stop the cooperation with the American party within the memorandum. The ministry demanded a thorough investigation and accounting from the US command.

Halting the memorandum  although a serious measure  isnt in itself something new or unfixable. Following US airstrikes on a Syrian air base earlier this year, Russia moved to suspend the memorandum. The remarkable difference with that incident was that Russia had been informed several hours in advance of the attack, and the Russian military stayed in touch with its American counterparts. Thus, Russias suspension of the memorandum back then looked like a decision Moscow had to take so it didnt seem as if the US attack was going unanswered. In fact, the agreement was resumed just a little more than a month later, in May.

What makes the current situation more ambiguous in terms of how far Russia might go in its response to the US attack is this section of the Russian Defense Ministry statement: In the combat mission zones of the Russian aviation in the airspace of Syria, all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and [drones] of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River, will be tracked by the Russian SAM [surface-to-air missile] systems as air targets. The words arent Moscows commitment to shoot at American planes flying over Syria  as some suggested in the early rush to interpret them. Yet its meant to serve as a virtual deterrent should the United States consider any further move from a position of strength  the approach it seems to have adopted in dealing with Russia in Syria.

In his recent column for Al-Monitor  published days before the US attack and subsequent Russian response  Paul Saunders accurately suggested that despite frequent American attacks on Syrian government forces, the Kremlin is focused on cooperating with the administration of US President Donald Trump and is unlikely to respond to US actions as long as that is the case. Indeed, Moscow still bears hope that Washington will  in words Trump might use  come to its senses and cooperate more willingly against IS. Despite continuous public grumbling, Moscow sees effective dealings with the United States as a key to a successful Syria settlement, even if its not always certain what effective dealings should mean.

Some high-profile Russian decision-makers confirm that hypothesis, as Moscow apparently doesnt view the memorandum suspension as something that will lead to a direct confrontation with the United States. Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the Committee on Defense and Security in the Federation Council (the upper house of Russias parliament), told the Russian government-owned media outlet Sputnik that the Russian Defense Ministry's stern reaction to the US attack gave him confidence that neither the US nor anyone else will take any actions that would threaten our aviation.

In this regard, the threat of direct confrontation between the aviation of Russia and the US does not arise, he said.

Yet if Washington is counting on Russias restrained response and willingness to cooperate  even as the United States continues to test the limits of the Kremlins patience through more direct hits on the Syrian army  its important to bear in mind at least the three following factors shaping Russias decision-making at the moment.

First, Moscows image suffers every time such attacks happen. If Russia doesnt see a face-saving opportunity for itself, the pressure on President Vladimir Putin will grow. It will grow internationally as Russias partners in the Syrian war  President Bashar al-Assad and his supporters, as well as Iran and others across the region  begin to question whether Moscow really means it when it says Russia doesnt give up on its folks. Pressure would also grow domestically, from Putins own security establishment and the patriotic forces that have been even more galvanized lately by the new US sanctions on Russia.

This represents a second important point to consider. At this stage, Russias Syria policy is being determined primarily by the Russian Defense Ministry, meaning that the more such US-led coalition attacks occur, the less that moderate voices such as Lavrovs will be heeded, since real crisis situations demand deterrents and other responses on the ground, not just diplomatic condemnations, as a Kremlin adviser speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity put it. Putin is the type of person who would rather raise the stakes than yield under pressure; Russias policies over the years have repeatedly shown this to be the case. In such situations, reactions  even overreactions  might be much more serious than the very instances that triggered them.

In this respect, some in Moscow urge Putin to extend the combat scope of Russias S-300 and S-400 missile systems stationed in Syria. The systems were originally deployed not to provide air cover for Assad, as some might have assumed, but to protect Russias own military infrastructure in the country  the Khmeimim air base and the naval facility in Tartus. After this downing of the Syrian jet, Moscow is pondering whether it should make more flexible use of the systems.

Finally, Russian decision-makers and experts are also discussing the roles different Washington factions play in Syria. The key question is how much control does Trump himself have over US actions there? Has he outsourced the decision-making to Defense Secretary James Mattis and the senior military command to the point where they can make independent decisions on attacking Syrian government forces? If so, the much-awaited July meeting between Putin and Trump at the G-20 summit in Germany may fall short on concrete results.

The clashes between US-supported forces and Russia-supported Syrian government troops seem to mark the beginning of a new combat stage in the Syrian civil war. Moscow and Washington face the major challenge of melding their respective strategies. Until this happens, however, the biggest winners will be IS and other terrorist groups operating in Syria and Iraq.
June 20, 2017

The United States on Sunday shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time since the start of Syrias chaotic civil war in 2011. The action has intensified speculation about the risks of direct confrontation between the United States and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and more alarmingly, with his chief mentors Russia and Iran. While such fears may prove exaggerated, the move could have momentous and potentially dangerous consequences for Syrias Kurds.

On the face of things, the United States was reacting to what it termed regime aggression against its local Kurdish and Arab partners.

The Pentagon said it had resorted to downing the Syrian Su-22 in self-defense after it ignored repeated coalition warnings conveyed through a de-confliction channel with the Russians and dropped several bombs near the American-backed militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the western Raqqa countryside.

The Syrian Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) forms the strategic core of the US-armed cocktail of Kurds and assorted Arabs who are fighting to liberate Raqqa, the so-called capital of the Islamic State.

Some analysts swiftly labeled the shooting down of the Syrian plane as the de facto establishment of a US-enforced no-fly zone for the chunky slice of northern Syria that is under YPG control. Barzan Iso, a Syrian Kurdish journalist and Al-Monitor contributor, said this hopeful interpretation was shared by thousands of Syrian Kurds. Video footage of the downing of the plane has spread like wildfire, he said in a telephone interview. "Many people are celebrating."

The Syrian government angrily disputed the American version of what had transpired. It insisted that its pilot was flying a mission against IS, not the SDF. Russia struck a similarly belligerent tone, calling the US response a flagrant violation of international law" and threatening to treat coalition planes as potential targets if they ventured west of the Euphrates River. Under the terms of an informal agreement with the Russians, coalition planes have largely confined their operations to the east and northeast of the river.

But as IS gets rolled back and the SDF and the regime race to fill the void, those lines are beginning to blur. The more land the SDF grabs, the greater its bargaining position during future talks for a political settlement. The Syrian jet was struck down near the ancient town of Rusafa, which lies to the south of the Euphrates.

Ceng Sagnic, the coordinator of the Kurdish studies program at the Dayan Center in Tel Aviv, observed in a tweet, It doesnt matter whether the [Syrian] jet hit the YPG or IS. In both cases, the YPGs zone of influence was being protected. He went on, A simple definition of this is a no-fly zone. No-fly zones amount to de facto partitioning, and the best example of this is 1991 Iraq.

Sagnic was referring to when the US-led allies declared twin no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq to protect the countrys Kurds and Shiites from further attack by Saddam Husseins forces, culminating in the Iraqi dictators ejection in 2003. Under the US security umbrella, the Iraqi Kurds ran their own affairs for the first time, laying the foundations for their long-nurtured dreams of independence.

The official US policy was never to dismember Iraq, but to overthrow Saddam. Similarly, in Syria, the goal is not regime change but to defeat IS. Yet, US intervention in both countries has had dramatic if unintended effects.

The unraveling of central authority and the rise of IS have presented the Kurds on both sides of the border with unforeseen opportunities. The Iraqi Kurds are planning to hold a popular referendum on independence Sept. 25. It will encompass the so-called disputed territories, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk, which fell under Iraqi Kurdish control when the Iraqi government forces chose to withdraw rather than fight advancing IS militants.

In Syria, thanks to US air support and the YPGs battlefield prowess and political smarts, the Kurds control around a fifth of the country, a third of its oil, half of its wheat and three of its largest dams, producing nearly all of its electricity. Its easy to see why they would want to replicate Iraqi Kurdistans success and how Sundays downing of the Syrian jet could feed such hopes.

Aaron Stein, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council who studies the Syrian conflict, told Al-Monitor, The YPG is creating facts on the ground that could, could conceivably help them to win concessions from the regime or Russia, assuming they retain some level of support from the US.

Its not so much the level but rather the nature of US support that remains the big problem. Unlike their Iraqi brethren, the pro-YPG Kurds have yet to be treated as political actors by the United States, and unlike other members of the Syrian opposition, have not been granted seat at the UN-sponsored Geneva peace talks to end the Syrian war.

One of the main reasons for US skittishness is its prized if increasingly difficult NATO ally, Turkey. The Turks insist that the YPG is a terrorist group and poses a threat to its national security. Turkeys borders with the Kurdish-controlled parts of northern Syria remains firmly sealed. Western humanitarian relief organizations that operate out of Turkey and inside the Kurdish zones are being shuttered.

Turkish ire stems from the YPGs intimate links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the Kurdish guerrilla outfit that has been fighting for Kurdish self-rule inside Turkey since 1984. The YPG claims that it is not connected, and the United States pretends to believe it. Yet the YPG openly pledges fealty to PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is stuck in a Turkish jail. The idea of a PKK-led statelet on their border drives Turkish leaders of all stripes berserk.

In August 2016, Turkey sent its troops into the Syrian town of Jarablus to clear its borders of remaining pockets of IS, but more importantly, to prevent the YPG from getting there first and creating an uninterrupted stretch of territory from the Iraqi border all the way to Afrin. Linking up its northeastern domains with this mainly Kurdish enclave to the west of the Euphrates is of huge symbolic and strategic importance to the YPG. Its efforts to do so have been repeatedly frustrated.

On March 17, 2016, as the areas wrested from IS began to encompass non-Kurdish majority towns like Tell Abyad, the pro-YPG-dominated administration declared the creation of a Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria. With its emphasis on communal rule, gender equality and fair representation for all of Syrias ethnic and religious groups, the federation is being touted as a blueprint for future governance for the country. It also sends a clear message that the Kurds have no intentions of splitting away.

Aliza Marcus, the author of "Blood and Belief, the PKK and the Kurdish Fight for Independence, told Al-Monitor, I dont think the dream of independence is gone among the PKKs supporters. They include tens of thousands of Syrian Kurds who venerate Ocalan. Yet, Marcus explained, The PKK has made clear over and over again that it's not striving for an independent state, but that it does want broad freedoms and rights for Kurds in the region."

Ilham Ahmed, the steely co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council and a roving ambassador of sorts for the YPG, told Al-Monitor during a recent interview in Washington, The conditions for an independent Kurdish state do not exist in Syria. This, she explained matter-of-factly, is because, As Kurds, we have too many enemies. And Turkey, which runs the length of flat and landlocked Rojavas northern borders, and more critically still controls the flow of both the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, tops the list.

The YPG has repeatedly said it wants friendly relations with Turkey and has exercised exceptional restraint in the face of continued Turkish attacks, even after Turkish planes rained bombs on YPG targets near the town of Derik on April 25, killing at least 20 people.

In a show of solidarity, US special forces deployed to the Turkish border and the Turkish attacks on areas where the Americans are known to operate have ceased.

But the United States continues to deny the Syrian Kurds the slightest hint of political legitimacy. This has given rise to growing debate within YPG circles as to why they should be helping the United States capture Raqqa, a mainly Arab city, at all. The battle has proceeded with unexpected ease but SDF casualties, including Kurdish ones, are bound to mount. Will it be worth the sacrifice?

Ahmed reckons that it will. The Americans have not promised us anything, she said. But for as long as the Americans remain in Syria and its policy is open ended, our relationship offers opportunities worth investing in. At the same time, freeing Raqqa cements cooperation between Arabs and Kurds that could prove useful in any future political talks.

Stein concurs. The YPG should look to take as much territory as possible and keep working with the United States. The US special operations forces are going to be in northeastern Syria for years to come. We are going to see an incremental increase in the State Department presence as well.

Stein was alluding to State Department plans to expand the tiny contingent of its diplomats and USAID staff in the Kurdish-controlled region to help with stabilization efforts in Raqqa. Administration sources stress that none of this amounts to governance or nation-building but rather ensuring that the citizens of Raqqa remain safe and have access to basic amenities on the day after.

Some point out that the United States launched Operation Provide Comfort in Iraqi Kurdistan in 1991 with similarly meager goals.

To be sure, ever since the Donald Trump administration took over in January, tensions between the US-led coalition and the regime and its Russian and Iranian allies have been growing. Today, the Pentagon confirmed that it shot down an armed Iranian drone near al-Tanf, the southern desert outpost near the Jordanian border where the coalition is training Syrian rebels. The incident marks the fifth time since late May the US military has bombed pro-Syrian forces in the area and could well signal further escalation of a kind that could ultimately benefit Syrias Kurds  or not.

Each time the United States defends its Syrian Kurdish partners militarily its moral obligation to keep doing so grows exponentially. Through its actions, the United States is effectively pitting the Syrian Kurds against Turkey and the regime and now against Russia as well.

The Syrian Kurds owe much of their success to their ability to leverage their alliance with the Americans to extract concessions from the regime and the Russians. Such gains remained possible as long as the Americans, the Russians and the regime agreed to stick to their mutually agreed zones of influence. That they no longer are is upending the YPG's delicate balancing act.

The first signs of American encroachment began in August 2016, when the SDF captured the mainly Arab town of Manbij, west of the Euphrates. The move enraged Turkey, which until then seemed sullenly resigned to the US-YPG relationship provided that it remained east of the Euphrates. Soon after, Russia agreed to let Turkish troops intervene in Jarablus and push all the way to the town of al-Bab.

In a sign of the fraying relationship between Moscow and the YPG, Ahmed accused Russia of ganging up with Iran against the Syrian Kurds and of wielding the threat of Turkish intervention to blackmail the YPG into letting regime forces retake territory around Afrin. Forcing the Kurds to accept regime rule would be a historic cruelty, she wrote for the pro-Kurdish Ozgurlukcu Demokrasi newspaper.

So would making promises that cannot be delivered.

Amanda Sloat, a deputy assistant secretary of state in the Barack Obama administration who dealt with Turkey, is a well-known critic of prioritizing short-term military tactics against IS without an accompanying long-term political strategy for Syria. She told Al-Monitor, The Trump administration should be transparent with Syrian Kurds  as well as Syrian Arabs, Turkey and other regional partners  about what it will support in a post-IS Syria. Hopefully it is conveying opposition to an independent state and refraining from any hint of political recognition in exchange for military action.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Kurds, as Stein noted, will continue to create their own facts on the ground.

Correction: June 20, 2017. A previous version of this article quoted Ilham Ahmed's words from a news source identified as Demokrat Haber, when in fact it was from Ozgurlukcu Demokrasi. Al-Monitor regrets the error.
It's been 40 years since Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed and Jackie Gleason teamed up for the iconic film "Smokey and the Bandit."

There is an annual re-enactment -- Restore a Muscle Car's "Bandit Run" -- that traces the journey made by the Bandit and fellow trucker Snowman from Texas to Atlanta.

More than 100 Pontiac Trans-Ams rolled through Birmingham and Leeds Tuesday, June 20. Click here to see photos.

We worried that first-time viewers of the film might be thrown by some of the language used. You see, before there was LOL and FTW and ROFTL, there was "10-4" and "breaker 1-9" and "you got your ears on?"

Characters in the movie use strange chorded cellphones that are attached to devices in their cars and trucks known as "CBs." On these CBs the characters use a lot of phrases that may or may not be familiar to anyone born after 1980.

To help, we have a glossary of CB terminology culled from the film so you're not lost even before the Coors is loaded. Ike Morgan | imorgan@al.com

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Photo courtesy Everett Collection

10-4

An acknowledgement that the message has been received. Commonly used to end a conversation or as an affirmative.

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The basement

Channel 1 on the CB dial.

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Breaker 1-9

This is an effort to begin a transmission on a channel. You break 1-9 to speak on 19, the popular trucker's channel.

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Come back

Please reply.

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Photo courtesy Everett Collection

You got your ears on?

Are you listening and do you hear me?

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What's your 20?

Where are you? Location, in CB-radio-speak, is "10-20."

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Put the pedal to the metal

Speed up, son.

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Handle

Before there were Twitter handles, there were CB handles. You don't need the @ sign for CB handles.

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Choke and puke

It's the kind of place you might get a diablo sandwich and a Dr. Pepper and maybe a little heartburn.

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Running blocker

Driving ahead to scout for troopers or anything else that might slow down the rig carrying the main load.

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Seatcover

It was a reference to Sally Field's character, who suddenly occupied the passenger seat of Bandit's Trans-Am.

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10-100

A pit stop. If you don't have a dime to get into the truck-stop restroom, just crawl under.

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10-200

In "Smokey and the Bandit" it was used as a potty-humor play off "10-100." But, in real life, it's a request for police help.

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Smokey bear

A law enforcement officer.

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Bubble-gum machine

A law-enforcement officer's car.

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County mounty

A sheriff or deputy.

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Photo courtesy Everett Collection

Evel Knievel

A law enforcement officer on a motorcycle. The real Evel Knievel rose to fame performing motorcycle stunts in the 1960s and 70s. (Sonny Shroyer also played Deputy Enos Strait on The Dukes of Hazzard).

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Plain white wrapper

An unmarked patrol car.

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Kojak with a Kodak

A law enforcement officer with a radar gun.

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Rocking chair

In a convoy or a line of vehicles, the rocking chair a position that is neither in the front nor at the rear. So if you're in the rocking chair you may be less likely to be the chosen target of a Kojak with a Kodak.

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Everett Collection

Don't Edit

Burt Reynolds fan?

Click here to see a list of our favorite 'hicksploitation' films.

Click here to read the news story of his death at age 82.
Last week, we asked you which chain and franchise steakhouses should reign supreme in Alabama. The results are in!

Although Alabama's Best is all about showcasing the local restaurants that make locals in Alabama towns clutch their forks with pride, we'd be foolish to ignore the enthusiasm many of you have shown for restaurants that exist throughout the region and the rest of the country.

Out of 10 choices, here are the top five steak chains you guys say you love the most!

1. Connors Steak & Seafood - Connors, a popular destination in Huntsville, has locations in Tennessee and Florida. The smallest of the franchises in the poll, it's clear that you guys dig the down home feel of the restaurant. In fact, many people reached out to Haley and me via comments and Facebook to vie for Connors' inclusion in our steakhouse tour, unaware that the restaurant had a handful of locations.

2. Longhorn Steakhouse - Headquartered in Orlando and operated by Darden Restaurants, Inc., Longhorn Steakhouse has nearly 500 locations in the U.S. Coming in second in our poll, the franchise has numerous restaurants in Alabama, including Mobile, Daphne, Huntsville, Gulf Shores, Oxford, Montgomery and Decatur.

3. Ruth's Chris Steak House - Many of you like a more upscale experience when it comes to steak. Third in our poll, Ruth's Chris was founded in New Orleans, but relocated to the Orlando, Florida area after Hurricane Katrina. Ruth's Chris has three locations in Alabama: Mobile, Birmingham and Huntsville.

4. Outback Steakhouse - Owned by Tampa-based Bloomin' Brands, Outback Steakhouse, has worldwide brand recognition. That's fitting for an American restaurant chain with an Australian theme. You guys must like it a lot. Maybe, because you call your waitress a Sheila, before cutting your steak, quoting, "You call that a knife? This...is a knife!"

5. Texas Roadhouse - If it's good enough for Willie Nelson, it's good enough for Alabama. Despite its namesake suggesting the Lone Star State, Texas Roadhouse is based in Louisville, Kentucky. Luckily, you won't have to travel to either to get a taste. The restaurant can be found in many towns, such as, but not limited to Pelham, Montgomery, Mobile, Tuscaloosa, Florence, Dothan.

View the full results of the poll below.
David Pollick poses on campus when he was serving as president of Birmingham-Southern College in Alabama from 2004-2010.

After resigning following financial scandals at colleges in Alabama and Lithuania, former Birmingham-Southern College President David Pollick is selling his Colorado home for more than $1.87 million.

Pollick, who was president of Birmingham-Southern College from 2004 to 2010 when he resigned amidst a financial crisis, put his home at 6721 Brook Forest Drive in Evergreen, Colorado, up for sale this year for $1,875,000.

Pollick resigned last year after a controversial two-year stint as rector of European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania. He began working there in 2013 as a consultant paid more than $100,000, then in 2014 took over duties that equate to provost and chief operating officer, with total compensation of more than $200,000 in U.S. dollars, according to some reports.

Andrew McWilliams, a manager of the McWilliams Group and the listing agent at Re/Max handling the sale of the home in Colorado, declined to comment but agreed to pass a request for comment to Pollick.

The 3-bedroom, 4-bathroom, 4,197-square-foot house, built in 2011 on a 28-acre parcel, was designed by an award-winning architect, the real estate description says: "Becoming one of Evergreen's most iconic estates, this open concept masterpiece is positioned to survey the storied Hangen Ranch valley."

Pollick left Birmingham-Southern College after a series of accounting errors and overspending left the liberal arts school in deep financial trouble.

Pollick made headlines in 2013 when The Chronicle of Higher Education reported he was the nation's third highest-paid private college president in 2010 with an income of $2.31 million. Birmingham-Southern officials said Pollick's salary was inflated by the buyout of his contract.

His successor at Birmingham-Southern, Gen. Charles Krulak, subsequently chose to work without pay as he sought to repay the debt and rebuild the college's endowment.

Like his departure from Birmingham, Pollick's resignation in Lithuania was also shrouded in financial controversy.

One of European Humanities University's main donors, the Nordic Council, requested an audit by the international accounting firm of Deloitte. Media outlets in Belarus published reports of alleged financial misconduct at the university.

After the accounting report, the Nordic Council discontinued its financial support to European Humanities University. Since 2008, the Nordic Council had given 4.5 million Euros, or more than $4 million in U.S. dollars. The biggest donors were Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.

The European Humanities University Senate called for removal of the university's top executives, including Pollick.

The news agency EuroBelarus questioned Pollick as to why there was a 1 million Euro deficit after his first year at European Humanities University.

He replied that the "1 million euro deficiency existed before my appointment, and was, in fact, the reason why I was invited to EHU as a consultant."

David Pollick at European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Still, Russian-language media has continued to follow Pollick after his resignation and was intrigued by the listing of his Colorado home.

Publishing a gallery of photos of the Pollick home, the Russian-language Reformation news site noted that a buyer had the house under contract and observed, "As it turned out, the rumors about the gold toilet in the house ... were not true."

Pollick responded to these reports with an email to AL.com on Nov. 30, 2018, in which he gave his version of events:

"Your article was prompted by second-hand information derived from sources coming out of Belarus, a non-democratic country which is recognized as a remnant of the Soviet Union. It is led by the dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, who personally expelled and exiled the European Humanities University from Belarus, an institution committed to free and open thought in and out of the classroom. It is a political project supported and funded by the EU, the U.S. State Department, dozens of European countries and by such persons as George Soros. Lukashenko and the Belarusian press and media have been fully committed to undermining the university, its founding rector, Prof. Dr. Anatoli Mikailov and his administration in efforts to prevent the democratic education of Belarusian citizens.

"EHU is an extremely fragile institution, deriving only 14% of its budget from tuition. It is primarily dependent upon political and financial support from NATO countries. It's business model is unworkable by any traditional university standards. Consultant after consultant, including myself, have advised them of this fact in lengthy assessment reports. It is for all these reasons that I was sought out by their Board, upon the recommendation of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, to assist them in addressing their plight. The fact that my grandparents came from Minsk played a large personal role in my willingness to assist them as a consultant for a pre-determined 2 year period. We retained our 3 year old home in Evergreen during this period, the same home that the Belarusian press suggested I financed with money from my work in EHU, an obvious lie unfortunately nurtured by your article. I assume you are familiar with the character and purposes of journalism in such countries as Belarus and Russia. By my willingness to assist EHU, I immediately became a person of interest to the Belarusian government and security, as well as a target of mis-information for their media tools. Regrettably, your article relied on their propaganda and assisted them in their efforts to discredit me and, thereby, the efforts of the university to resist their sustained attacks on its fragile survival.

"EHU was over a million dollars out of balance annually when I was asked to help them. That is huge in a 5 million dollar annual operating budget without an endowment. It is unsustainable without political support. You can see why I immediately informed them that their business model was impossible. In an effort to assist them the entire university needed to be redesigned. This was the herculean task that I took on for them, including the Lithuanian legal requirement to release the entire faculty and run open searches for their positions in compliance with national law. While I knew I could not 'fix' the institution, I thought I might give them a firm foundation to build on. In so doing, residual faculty who were attached to the Belarusian effort to undermine the institution's democratic redesign, were not rehired. This strengthened the external resistance coming out of Belarus and other places by individuals had been personally and financially benefiting from protecting the status quo. This extended to persons working within the Nordic Council, who you cited as another source in your article.

"After consulting for 3 months, I was approached by the university administrators and the Board with the request that I consider taking the position of rector. The founding rector, a philosopher like myself, was and is a wonderful man, but he is not an administrator. I had no interest in the position. I strongly believed that the rector needed to be a Russian speaker and I knew the nature of the politics associated with this position, particularly given what I had been doing in the reorganization. The current rector approached me insisting that no one else was in a position to do what needed to be done. This was the position of the Board at that time, as well. The proposal was that Prof. Mikailov would assume a newly created position - president. I could then be made rector. I somewhat reluctantly agreed to give them no more than 2 years, at which time they would need to find a permanent person for the job. I , that whoever did what needed to be done could only serve for a short period of time. The pressures and attacks from external political forces would be fierce, accompanied by day to day surveillance. I, of course, was right.

"Without going into too much detail, assaults come from all directions. In my first year there were no less than three audits undertaken. The first one was ordered up by me immediately upon becoming rector. Nothing was being concealed, as is the custom in much of post-totalitarian Europe. My initial salary was public from the day I came as a consultant and by agreement was to continue at the same level as rector. This was a condition of my hire with the Board. Efforts were made to challenge this from the outside, as if something was being done that was improper. Resistors within the Nordic Council had an audit undertaken by their accountants (Deloitte), which was rejected by the Board of Governors as in accurate and professionally unethical. They broke into my office and hacked my computer in an effort to uncover documentation that would show I was being paid more than what was agreed upon. These tactics are fairly common in the region. No such documentation existed. But the story was still being told - and retold in Alabama. The difficulty with journalism in this region of the world is that stories are written without prior contact with the subjects of the articles. If you disagree with the contents, then you have to write an article to respond to them. It becomes an endless back and forth of quicksand. And in the age of the internet, it all lives on doing its damage endlessly, regardless of its truth or falsity.

"Regarding EHU, it continues to struggle mightily. It is still living hand to mouth, not knowing whether it will survive even a year out. As a political project, there are those who speculate that this may be exactly what the EU and NATO prefer to a well endowed permanent university of this kind. I'm one of those persons. The subsequent rector's search has taken almost 3 years since the Board has refused to accept any other business model for funding the university. During my time I wrote new statutes for the university, all new faculty hired, a new participatory faculty governance system was created, every aspect of the university was audited, a two-year re-accreditation was achieved, an entirely new IT system was created, and there was an administrative and academic reorganization across the institution. A master plan for institutional merger that would secure there future was created and negotiated. Overall, the university was prepared to function democratically and professionally IF the right next steps were to be taken. Thus far, this has not occurred, unfortunately. The resistance remains great.

"Your article was not based upon discussions with the critical players at EHU who would confirm what I've told you, but rather on the kind of mis-information I have described. It is inaccurate and has done me a significant disservice. I, therefore, request you do what is right and have it removed from the net.

"Regarding your efforts to revisit the financial problems at BSC, at my continued expense, your article attempts to suggest a pattern of financial mismanagement on my part. I have remained silent about the inner-workings of BSC. The was a financial crisis that was embedded in the university that preceded me and has never been brought into the the light of day. I doubt it ever will. My response to it bore significant fruit and in many ways secured BSC's future, in spite of the financial problems that I and the Board later discovered.

"Since the story has never been properly researched by the local press and made public, referencing a scandal without understanding what was actually involved and the role of the players, can hardly be considered sound journalism, though it may serve to protect reputations. I would ask that mine, minimally, be given the same consideration.

"Let me offer, by way of a refresher, an extract of BSC's Chairman of the Board's public description of the events at that time and my and the Board's role in them:

* * * * *

"Six years ago, with the arrival of Dr. David Pollick, the Board of Trustees agreed with President Pollick that the path to a stronger financial position was to grow enrollment, thereby increasing student tuition revenues. In order to do this, there first was a need to improve the condition of the facilities on campus.

Normally, any improvements to facilities require fundraising for that purpose or withdrawals from the endowment and the income from the endowment. As the Board commitments were made to improve facilities, the early effects of 'the great recession' began-thus lowering the value of the endowment, the income from these investments, and donors' confidence in their ability to make donations to the college. This resulted in increased debt/borrowing to pay for the facilities improvements to beyond historical levels, thus creating higher borrowing costs and higher depreciation costs. All of this occurred at a time when, due to the deteriorating economic conditions, students needed increased financial aid.

At the same time, unbeknownst to the Board of Trustees and the President, the scholarship monies being paid to students was in excess of budgeted amounts and was inaccurately shown in internal financial reports-not just Pell grants as has been widely reported, but scholarships and discounts to tuition, all in efforts to increase enrollment. As the situation worsened during this immediate past fiscal year (2009-2010), the college's Finance Department-also unbeknownst to the leadership - began to increase borrowings to meet the college's financial obligations.

The internal misstatements were discovered in early Spring 2010 by the President. Basically, the Finance Department overstated the revenues and understated the expenses-purely on internal projections and not on any audited past fiscal years. It took the past four months to truly 'peel back the layers of the onion' to see the total causes and ultimate degree of deficient funding."

Sincerely,

Prof. Dr. David Pollick
The Alabama Ethics Commission sent notices to almost 5,000 public employees and public officials who did not file their statement of economic interests last year.

Most responded by sending in their statements, but some did not or did not promptly, even after three notices. The commission has assessed $110,000 in fines against 166 non-filers and late filers, Ethics Commission Executive Director Tom Albritton said. The numbers are still being verified and could change, he said. In addition, fines against another group of non-filers and late filers are coming.

The enforcement action comes after the Ethics Commission voted to exercise its authority to levy the fines. Previously, the commission fined individual non-filers who were the subject of a complaint, but not all non-filers. That minimized the importance of the requirement, Albritton said.

"I think it's our obligation to stay on top of who should be filing," Albritton said.

The state ethics law requires elected officials on the state, county and municipal levels, as well as public employees who make $75,000 or more a year, to file a statement of economic interests by April 30 each year. The information is for the preceding calendar year.

Political candidates are required to file statements when they officially become candidates. Many other public employees fall under the requirement, including police and fire chiefs, county building inspectors, legislative employees and certain other categories. Albritton said the commission receives more than 50,000 statements a year, so the vast majority follow the law.

Statements of financial interests show sources of income, debts, real estate holdings and other information intended to disclose potential conflicts of interest between the filers' public job and their private financial interests. Information on income for spouses and dependents is included.

The law authorizes the Ethics Commission, at its discretion, to impose fines of $10 a day for each day a statement is late after a 10-day notice, up to a maximum of $1,000. The commission voted in February to exercise that authority against the municipal and county level non-filers. In April, the commission voted to fine state level non-filers.

Albritton said the goal is to encourage people to send in their statements, not to collect fines. That's why the commission sends multiple notices, he said.

"Imposing these fines is simply the last resort," Albritton said.

In December, the commission sent letters to 1,149 non-filers at the municipal level and and 548 at the county level. In February, when the $10 daily fines took effect, the commission sent followup letters to 320 remaining municipal non-filers and 151 county non-filers.

Ultimately, 118 non-filers and late filers at the municipal level were fined a total of $77,760 and 48 non-filers and late filers at the county level were assessed $32,760 in fines.

In February, the commission sent notices to 3,225 state government level non-filers. In April, it sent a second letter to 598 remaining non filers. Fines against those who have still not filed or filed late will be assessed on Wednesday, Albritton said.

In August, the commission plans to begin identifying those who failed to file their forms this year for the calendar year 2016.
A Jasper man was killed in a mining accident Monday night in west Jefferson County.

The Jefferson County Coroner's Office on Tuesday identified the man as Marius Shepherd. He was 32.

The accident happened at 6:30 p.m. and then Shepherd was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A news release from Seneca Coal Company Oak Grove Mine said Shepherd was injured in a rail hauling accident. Oak Grove is a metallurgical coal mine, which means its coal is used to make steel. This is different from thermal coal, which is used to make energy.

The Federal Mine Safety & Health Administration and the Alabama Department of Labor are investigating the incident. Brent Micum, Seneca spokesman and general counsel, said the company is fully cooperating with investigators.

He asked that the community keep Shepherd's family in their prayers "during this most difficult time."
An intoxicated Alabama couple was arrested after they took their infant daughter to an Indiana bar, and patrons reported seeing the mother drinking and smoking while breastfeeding the baby girl.

Michael Trosclair, 45, and Shari Tremba, 42, were taken into custody June 16 at the Wild Beaver Saloon in Indianapolis, court records show. The couple is from Mobile, and Trosclair's LinkedIn profile lists him as a former senior pastor at a Theodore church and a current regional vice president of Primerica in Mobile, where he has worked since 2009. Tremba's social media indicates she, too, worked for the financial services company at one point.

Trosclair and Tremba are charged with neglect of a dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent, and also with public intoxication. They have since been released from Marion County Jail 1 in Indianapolis. They were in town for a work conference.

A three-page probable cause affidavit, obtained by AL.com, chronicles the events that led to their arrests.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched to the saloon at 12:38 a.m. Friday on a report of a woman soliciting customers for beer and breast feeding an infant while drinking. Sgt. Ty Van Wagner said he arrived to find Tremba standing outside of a roped-off area at the bar, holding a cup and standing near a stroller. "The baby was quiet and sleeping,'' Van Wagner wrote in his report.

The officer said he asked Tremba who the baby belonged to, and she said the baby was hers. Her answer was followed by a swig of beer. Police went on to say that Tremba's "breath and person" smelled of an alcoholic beverage, and that she had to be asked several times who she was and where she was from.

A witness pulled an officer aside and said that Tremba had been at the bar for quite a while and was offering sex to different individuals who would go inside and get her a beer. The man told police he had watched Tremba drink her beers and breastfeed the baby at the same time. She had been at the bar drinking since at least 10:30 p.m., and was eventually kicked out and told to stay outside of the roped area. Tremba told police she was with her husband and friends from his work. Her Breath Alcohol Content at the time of her arrest was .193.

Officers told Tremba they were going to have the baby checked out by medics, and also called Child Protective Services and a child abuse investigator to the scene.

While talking with Tremba, police noted, Trosclair approached them. "His gait was what I would consider an intoxicated walk that I have seen many times during my 25 years as a police officer,'' Van Wagner wrote.

Trosclair, police said, became angry and said he would take everyone home by Uber. Police told him they were going to have to have the baby examined. "Mr. Trosclair became belligerent and started demanding to talk to a lawyer and telling us we weren't going to do anything,'' wrote Det. Nicolle Flynn. "It was at this time, due to Mr. Trosclair's behavior, I put him in cuffs for fear he may fight us with the baby right there."

Trosclair, police wrote, still didn't understand why there was a problem. "This goes to show Mr. Trosclair was too intoxicated to understand the situation his own child was in when the mother, Ms. Tremba, starts to breastfeed the child,'' Flynn wrote. "It also shows a lack of care for the child and its welfare while in his and Ms. Tremba's care. Partying was more important than their child.

More witnesses came forward, and one of them told police that Tremba at one point had chained the stroller, which still held the baby, to a chain outside the saloon and went inside to buy a drink, leaving the infant unattended. Another witness told police he saw Tremba drinking, smoking and breastfeeding all at once. He said her voice was slurred and she was leaning against the building. At one point, he said, some men - possibly bar employees - brought out a tray of beers for her and were drinking with her.

According to the affidavit, the medics said the baby was a bit lethargic and should be checked out at Riley Children's Hospital. The baby girl was examined at the hospital and no signs of intoxication or other physical signs of abuse or neglect were noted. The girl was taken into the custody of DCS.

Efforts to reach the couple for comment have been unsuccessful. They were set to appear in an Indiana courtroom Tuesday morning for an initial hearing.
Local Muslims say attack is a consequence of long-held anti-Islamic sentiment, particularly among media outlets.

London, UK  On the surface, the scene inside Finsbury Park Mosque in North London is as it would be at mid-afternoon on any other day in Ramadan.

The British capital is in the midst of a heatwave and worshippers inside take siestas and play with their smartphones to whittle away the hours before their fasts end.

But this day isnt like any other. Just an hour earlier both the British Prime Minister Theresa May and the leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, were on the scene in a show of support for the local Muslim community.

The night before, as worshippers finished their taraweeh prayers, a man driving a rental van mounted the pavement and drove into a crowd of people leaving the Muslim Welfare House, which is a two-minute walk from Finsbury Park Mosque.

.@EmilyThornberry, @DavidLammy and I spoke with Finsbury Park Mosque's congregation about how we'll get through this difficult time together pic.twitter.com/Yf5aMF9ZcV  Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 19, 2017

At least one person at the scene died, three others were critically injured and several more suffered non-life-threatening wounds.

The suspect, named as Darren Osborne from Cardiff, is alleged by those present to have declared his intent to kill all Muslims.

He was saved from being beaten by survivors only by the intervention of an imam and local youths, who protected him until the police arrived.

Images later emerged of the suspect sporting two black eyes while being held upright by officers.

Police are treating the attack as a potential terrorist incident and politicians from all sides have responded accordingly.

May called it an attack on British values and Corbyn, who is also the local MP, described it as horrific and cruel.

Outside Finsbury Park Mosque, the scene is one of frenzy as TV crews set up for live broadcasts, photographers hustle for the best vantage spots, and reporters pursue local people for interviews.

Londoners, with fresh memories of the Grenfell Tower disaster last week and the recent London Bridge and Westminster attacks, arrive to pay respects and lay flowers at the mosques walls.

The gestures of solidarity are welcomed by local Muslims but also present is a sense that the attack was the culmination of years of hardening sentiment against the community.

Fatima, a student and regular worshipper at the mosque, tells Al Jazeera that the area has experienced Islamophobic violence before.

In 2015 Finsbury Park Mosque had an arson attack against it and someone tried to throw a fire bomb to the womens section, she says, adding: Theres actually a metal roof now installed over the womens section to protect that.

For Fatima, its important that the condemnation by politicians is matched with political action to protect Muslims from further attacks.

We have to come together and ensure that the government tackles far-right extremism and introduces legislation that specifically targets Islamophobic attacks and hate crime against Muslims in this country.

Incitement

Ali Habib, who lives a few minutes away from the scene of Monday mornings attack, has also noted a sharp rise in Islamophobia in the past two years, which he says has been brought on by the growing confidence of the far-right and their thinly veiled calls for action against Muslims.

You have the rise of the far-right, you have [Islamophobic] people on social media, you have columnists like Katie Hopkins writing things like we need a final solution and this [attack] has happened now, he says.

Hopkins, a Daily Mail columnist, was sacked from her show on the London Broadcasting Company (LBC) for a tweet she made after the Manchester concert bombing, which evoked the Nazi euphemism for the extermination of the Jewish people or final solution.

The role the media plays in fomenting Islamophobic sentiment and providing a platform for anti-Muslim ideology is the subject of intense scrutiny on social media after the attack.

In one widely retweeted post, a user named Russell Simpson facetiously asks: If only we knew how Darren Osborne was radicalised over a collage of British tabloid front-page headlines about Muslims.

Among the headlines are frequent claims that Muslims are trying to enforce their own customs on the country, one story about Muslim schoolchildren attacking a British child, and one by the Daily Express that simply reads Muslims tell British: Go to hell!

If only we knew how Darren Osborne was radicalised pic.twitter.com/PY43SAPRxQ  Russell Simpson  (@russellrsimpson) June 19, 2017

Miqdaad Versi, the assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, says the problem is not limited to right-wing newspapers.

Not only do you see it in the tabloid press, which you see a lot of, but also within mainstream organisations, mainstream broadcasters, spreading this hatred.

He recalls a recent BBC appearance by the Spectator columnist Douglas Murray, in which he argued less Islam would help to counter terrorism.

That type of hate speech is something that clearly radicalises certain people, clearly is a problem, clearly is something that causes hate in society, and guess what, it needs to be tackled, Versi says.

Had a Muslim committed the same kind of atrocity, we would already have several dozen opinion pieces, commentaries and analyses, and the pundits would be talking about exactly how the attacker was radicalised by Tallha Abdulrazaq, University of Exeter

According to Tallha Abdulrazaq, a researcher at the University of Exeters Strategy and Security Institute, the entire Muslim community is subject to levels of scrutiny that are rarely applicable to other groups.

Had a Muslim committed the same kind of atrocity, we would already have several dozen opinion pieces, commentaries and analyses, and the pundits would be talking about exactly how the attacker was radicalised, he says referring to the Finsbury attack.

That entire discourse is missing from the terrorism we saw at Finsbury Park, or even from the discussion over the terrorist murder of Jo Cox last year.

For Abdulrazaq, violent acts committed by white perpetrators go through a process which detaches the act from political motivation.

That idea has some subscribers on social media.

The front page for The Times newspaper on Tuesday reads Jobless lone wolf held over attack on mosque with a subheading that carries a claim by the suspects family that he suffered from mental health issues.

This is definitely 100 [percent] how The Times would portray an Islamist terrorist attack, wrote Guardian columnist Owen Jones, in a tweet responding to the front page.
Three years after Mosul takeover, here is a breakdown of ISILs path from its very beginnings to its current decline.

Pushed out from many of its strongholds in Syria and besieged on all sides in the Iraqi city of Mosul, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) is losing its territorial base in the very region that once incubated its growth. In May, the US Defense Intelligence Agency estimated that ISIL has lost 65 percent of its land in Iraq and 45 percent in Syria since 2014.

With the groups presence in the region greatly diminished, questions arise over who will fill the vacuum left by its retreat.

ISILs rapid expansion has irrevocably changed the political dynamics governing the region  but in order to know how, one must first understand the conditions that contributed to the groups rise.

Below, Al Jazeera charts ISILs path from its very beginnings to the slow rot of its current decline.









How did ISIL consolidate its power?

Since the 2003 US occupation of Iraq, the Middle East has undergone a roiling period of conflict, rising sectarianism and chaotic regime change. It is in the shadows of this crumbling regional landscape that ISIL first began to metastasize, nourished by the increasing frailty of Arab states in revolt or at war.

Authors, JM Berger and Jessica Stern in, ISIS: The State of Terror, and Fawaz A Gerges in, ISIS: A History, traced t he groups origins to the early-1990s, when a Jordanian man known as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a street thug and former prisoner in Jordan, left for Afghanistan to fight as a mujahed against the Soviet occupation.

He arrived in the country too late. The conflict had subsided, but he later returned to Afghanistan from Jordan in 2000 to set up a training camp for fighters with tepid financial support from al-Qaeda.

There, he developed a recruitment network of fighters whose backgrounds often sketched the same lines as his own: Born into poverty, often radicalised in prison, and with low-levels of education and shallow theological knowledge of the Quran.

Zarqawis resources were sparse by the time he arrived in a US-occupied Iraq to form a branch of al-Qaeda. Yet mounting sectarian tensions allowed Zarqawi to gain followers and resources for his fanatical organisation.

READ MORE: Why Western attempts to moderate Islam are dangerous

Iraq is a first example of how Western intervention and failing state services gave way to an environment of raw, divisive resentment that benefited ideologues like Zarqawi.

After Saddam Hussein was removed from power, the US-led transitional coalition embarked on a widespread overhaul of the national government, pruning its ranks of members from Husseins Baath party .

The Iraqi military was also disbanded, creating a bulge of angry, disenfranchised Sunni technocrats among the population. In their book, Stern and Berger estimate that more than 100,000 Baathists were removed from their posts.

Some of them would be poached by Zarqawis organisation and would later fill the higher ranks of ISIL, proffering a wealth of military knowledge that, among some Baathists, extended as far back as the Iraq-Iran war.

As then-Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki paid hollow lip service to ideas of inclusion while simultaneously employing sectarian-based policies, Zarqawi played on feelings of disaffection in the countrys Sunni communities. With his 2004 establishment of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Zarqawi had the blessing of Osama bin Laden to advance towards a total war against Shia Muslims.

Zarqawi himself was deeply sectarian, but also saw that provoking Sunni-Shia confrontation would work in his favour, said Richard Atwood, New York director of the International Crisis Group, whose work focuses on al-Qaeda and ISIL. He instigated attacks on Shia religious symbols, provoking a sectarian civil war.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq merged with other groups in 2006 and adopted the name the Islamic State in Iraq while still maintaining tenuous ties to al-Qaeda leadership. According to the Wilson Center, on October 15, 2006, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who took over the group after Zarqawis death, announced the establishment of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI), with Abu Omar al-Baghdadi as its leader.

By 2010, divides between Sunni and Shia Muslims were extensive, but left unaddressed by an increasingly authoritarian Maliki who, at that point, had named himself his own interior and defence minister.

The state could no longer provide basic services, such as electricity; powerful Sunni tribes, once promised positions in the government in exchange for cooperating with US occupying forces, were shunted aside.

In 2011, anti-government protests erupted across the country. Security forces cracked down, and the states violent response stoked the furore of a wide array of emerging opposition groups.

READ MORE: Iraq probe implicates Maliki over Mosuls fall to ISIL

As ISIL wedged itself into the deepening furrows between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the group also focused its energies on provoking discord within sects. Demonstrating a savvy for identifying long-present tensions, it infiltrated Sunni tribal communities and turned sub-tribes or generations against each other through the selective backing and funding of groups, Atwood explained.

[ISILs] rise was very much rooted in deteriorating Sunni-Shia relations and Malikis rule. ISIL rebuilt underground networks and sleeper cells gradually. Its ranks, including at leadership level, were also reinforced by prison breaks.

How did ISIL gain power in Syria?

Where hopeful supporters saw potential for change during the 2011 Arab revolutions, ISIL saw a moment of violent disorder that could be leveraged for power. In late 2011, ISIL sent a trusted lieutenant, Abu Mohammed al-Joulani, to set up a cell in Syria.

He established Jabhat al-Nusra, which would gain notoriety in the civil war for its military prowess and extensive use of suicide bombers. For years, al-Nusra hid its affiliation with ISIL and al-Qaeda. They received clandestine support in exchange for sharing its logistical and financial gains with Baghdadi. A study on Jabhat al-Nusra by the Brookings Institute found out that, in 2012, the group still received 50 percent from its funding from ISIL.

In 2013, however, Baghdadi announced ISILs link to al-Nusra in defiance of al-Qaeda central and demanded that Joulani annex his group. Joulani refused, prompting a bloody struggle that killed thousands of fighters and demonstrated that ISILs ruthlessness extended even to those among its ranks.

Soon, ISIL began building its own independent cell in Syria and proved adept at infiltrating previously rebel-controlled territories.





After its split from al-Qaeda, ISIL moved more aggressively into the east and peeled off a lot of fighters from al-Nusra. It then moved aggressively against the rebels instead of attacking the regime, said Atwood, adding that ISIL nevertheless found staunch resistance from rebels in the northwestern region.

Meanwhile, the Assad regimes choice to seek support from both Iran and Hezbollah only played into ISILs narrative of defending Sunni interests against Shia dominion. The Brookings study explains that, the visible role of Iran and Hezbollah, as well as other smaller Shia militia factions in backing the Assad regime additionally framed the conflict in Syria in the kind of sectarian terms that could be so easily exploited by ISIL.

By 2014, ISIL had taken Mosul from a defeated Iraqi army, as well as Raqqa and oil-rich Deir Az Zor in Syria.

The group used tools and bulldozers to begin systematically dismantling the Syria-Iraq border, turning its caliphate aspirations into reality.

After establishing its caliphate, how did ISIL maintain control?

After consolidating territorial gains, ISIL began setting up its bureaucratic porto-state with the help of foreign technocrats who travelled to join the group. According to a study by Carnegie Middle East Centre, by attracting foreign recruits, not just to become fighters, but also residents, ISIL would have achieved two goals; increase its population and realise its goal of establishing a lasting state.

These new arrivals would manage a range of sectors that included education, health and community policing. Their contributions helped gird the overarching message of ISILs propaganda: come join to be a part of the caliphate future. ISIL didnt only call for fighters on social media, but also for doctors, engineers and regular citizens who could be swayed into believing they had a role in the groups vision.

The brutal violence ISIL waged on the local populations it controlled has been well-documented, as the group set about extracting profits from the resources and tax base of its wilayat, or provinces.

According to this study, ISIL has six major categories of income; Taxes and fees, natural resources, kidnapping, antiquities, foreign donations, looting, confiscations and fine.

In the years since 2014, Islamic States annual revenue has declined significantly from up to $1.9b in 2014 to a maximum of $870m in 2016.

What can we expect for the future of the region?

Today, ISILs territories are shrinking as its fighters face mounting pressure from a US-led coalition, as well as Syrian President Assads regime backers. Many observers have sounded the coalition attack on Mosul as ISILs death knell. However, ISIL will always present tremendous problems for state governments  even in its retreat.

There is a political crisis in Iraq that no one is resolving, said Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at Carnegies Middle East Center. The real question becomes what, if anything at all, is the Iraqi government doing to produce a new political environment because that will shape how local groups respond to ISIL disappearing.

Throughout the years, ISIL has both instrumentalised and deepened sectarian anger and distrust towards states in the region. As ISIL loses land, these sentiments will only pose more trouble for governments attempting to rule in the aftermath.

Last year, the Iraqi parliament angered Sunni politicians when it approved a law to legalise the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an anti-ISIL force composed of various militia fighters. The PMF now operates alongside the Iraqi military forces  an outrageous affront, according to Sunni Iraqis, who accuse the PMF of committing human rights atrocities against civilians.

Furthermore, foreign powers fighting ISIL have brought with them a separate set of difficulties which, in the coming years, will have an immense effect on the political futures of Iraq and Syria.

The fight against ISIL has created a splintering array of groups who hold different interests and benefit from diverse foreign backers. After ISIL, Iraqs weakened state will be charged with the task of creating a harmonious and inclusive political future among this fragmentation, according to Sayigh.



READ MORE: Syria warns against foreign intervention

In Iraq, different anti-ISIL factions and militias may view this moment as an opportunity to assert dominance and may resort to jostling with each other to grab resources or political control. Disagreements are not limited to a simple Shia-Sunni divide, but are also endemic within different militia or political groups of the same sect.

Everyone tends to fixate on ISIL to the complete neglect of the deeper, wider crisis of the Iraqi political system, said Sayigh. There is much competition and refusal to cooperate among different Shia political factions and their military wings.

Atwood, of the International Crisis Group, echoed a similar sentiment, One of the dangers now in Mosul is that the groups fighting ISIL, some of which are backed by Iran, some by Turkey and some by the US and all of which have their own competing interests, will contest violently for turf afterwards.

The spaghetti tangle of different alliances between invested foreign powers has only worsened the situation.

In Syria, plans to route ISIL out of Raqqa have created diplomatic trouble for the US, which is ready to throw in financial and strategic resources to support the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG): A Syrian Kurdish faction fighting ISIL.

Yet the YPGs close links with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), declared a terrorist group in Turkey, has angered the Turkish government which nevertheless remains the USs NATO ally.





In Iraq, the lead-up to the Mosul attack provoked tensions between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Regional Government, as Arab Iraqis feared that Mosul would give the countrys Kurds an opportunity to seize territory.

Competing agendas have congealed political systems into stalemates, creating an expansive crisis that could rear its head in Syrias peace process and in Iraqs upcoming parliamentarian elections.

Amid this disorder, the future strategy of ISIL is unclear. Having lost territory in the Middle East, could ISIL swing its attention to the West and focus its energies on carrying out attacks there?

It looks likely that attacks on the West that are claimed and in some cases instigated or supported by ISIL will continue, notwithstanding its losses in Iraq and Syria, said Atwood.

That said, the ISIL brand was closely linked to its territorial expansion and self-proclaimed caliphate. With those gone, it will have to redefine success and rebrand, he added.
North and South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)  During the Second Congo War, which began in 1998 in eastern DRC, sexual violence was used systematically as a weapon of war.

The hostilities officially ended in 2003, but the region remains unstable owing to external influences, ingrained ethnic divisions and the fight over the countrys mineral wealth. Eastern DRC continues to be plagued by armed groups. Since 1998, more than five million people are estimated to have died as a result of the conflict, disease and poverty.

The DRC has long been exploited for its resources, from colonial times under King Leopold II of Belgium, and today by US, Chinese and European companies. The land is rich in raw materials such as rubber, ivory, gold, diamonds, uranium, coltan and timber. In return, it has suffered from war, corruption, death, disease, hunger, mercenaries, child soldiers and rape. Rape, sexual violence, and the abuse of women is the tragedy within the tragedy here.

Over nine months in 2014, the United Nations Population Fund recorded nearly 12,000 cases of gender and sexual-based violence in five eastern DRC provinces; 39 percent of cases were considered to be directly connected to armed conflict. A 2010 study found that four women are raped every five minutes.

My friends avoid me because they think that, if they remain friends with me, I could lead them astray because I have jeopardised my future, says Ombeni, 13, who was raped by a member of the local parish. They make fun of me continuously, saying that a person who does not live with either their mother or father will ruin their future. They do not allow me to get close to them.

Rape victims are not only traumatised; they are often abandoned and marginalised by their communities. But Ombenis mother has remained supportive of her daughter.

Every time I look at my daughter and see her contemporaries that go to school what comes to my mind is what happened to her. So thus I pray to God. I pray that the one who raped her will have a daughter and she could have the same tragedy, so that he could understand what it means, she says.

Vumilia Elisabeth, 53, was raped by members of the Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the FDLR. My community found out about what happened and now they constantly make fun of me and everyone speaks badly about us and considers us to be worthless, she says. People consider us to be worthless and we are called the raped. This is very shameful and we no longer see ourselves as human beings.

Panzi Hospital, founded in 1999 in Bukavu, in eastern DRC, is one of few outposts of hope for survivors. It provides psychological help, treats complex gynaecological injuries and helps reintegrate the girls and women into their societies. They see between 1,300 and 1,900 patients a year.

Zawada Bagaya Bazilianne, a legal counsel from Panzi, says in the village of Kavumu, 30km from Bukavu, 44 girls ranging in age from two to 11 years old were raped by armed men between 2013 to 2016.

The suspects, 74 paramilitary soldiers from a personal militia of the provincial deputy Frederic Batumike, are incarcerated in Bukavu. Investigations found that the rapes were committed as a black magic ritual to obtain invincibility in battle, find gold and cure HIV infections. These are not isolated cases. The accused have been charged with rape and crimes against humanity.

The real problem is the impunity, says Dr Denis Mukwege, a 2014 Sakharov Prize laureate and the founder of Panzi Hospital.

The fact that [those] who commit these acts go unpunished, all this makes these people think they can continue to rape, Mukwege says. To solve this problem and [to fight] its roots we have to denounce it nationally and internationally, because what happens is closely related to the illegal Congos minerals exploitation and plundering, especially the coltan.
The almost simultaneous blockade of Qatar spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and joined by a few of its sidekick states and two pernicious, violent attacks on two symbolic sites in Tehran may have taken the world by surprise but the mad logic and the mischievous rhetoric of them are anything but surprising.

The organic link between the regional, decidedly anti-Palestinian, ambitions of Israel and the sectarian designs of Saudi Arabia for the Arab and Muslim world at large have been known for quite some time now. The question is what has triggered that alliance between the Israeli settler colony and the Saudi garrison state suddenly to up the ante and come out with such ferocious intensity, throwing all pretences of Arab brotherhood or Muslim unity under the speeding Zionist bus.





As reported by Al Jazeera, there is now an active lobbying putsch in Washington, DC, coordinated among Israel, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates, simultaneously targeting Qatar and Iran, with the future of Palestine and the fate of millions of Palestinians in and out of their homeland as the focal points of this treacherous alliance to sabotage and destroy the cause of Palestinian self-determination.

Taking full advantage of this crisis, the timing of the US ambassador to the United Nations, the die-hard Zionist, Nikki Haleys visit to Israel marks Benjamin Netanyahus long-standing design to push the Palestinian question completely off the global agenda. The ruling regimes in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt are willing and eager parties to this perfidious act.

Although there can never be any hard evidence of the Saudi instigation of the suicide attacks and bombing of two symbolic sites in Iran, the parliament and the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iranian officials are pointing fingers at the Saudis. But we need not necessarily accept the Iranian account to realise that Israel and Saudi Arabia are (and have been for a very long time) the main beneficiaries of such violent acts against Iran and Iranians.

OPINION: ISIL attack in Iran  Why now and what will happen next?

If we put the blockade of Qatar by its Arab neighbours and the unprecedented attack on Iran analytically together, a number of crucial consequences emerge to redefine the geostrategic map of the region.

Israel and Saudi Arabia as two garrison states

The current Saudi-Israeli alliance in trampling the Palestinians fate, warmongering against Iran, and subjecting Qatar to a crippling blockade dominates and distorts the real picture of the region. The principle enemies of the Saudi and Israeli garrison states are not their counterpart states in the region but, in fact, the defiant nations that are falsely framed by these states.

The simultaneous targeting of Qatar and Iran should forever put an end to the false flag that this is a battle between Arabs and Persians or else between Sunni and Shia Muslims. by

Three powerful nations in this area defy their respective states to map out their own democratic destinies: Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. These are the three nations that, in their thick historical memories and ensuing democratic aspirations, pose the greatest threat to the Saudi and Israeli colonial concoctions with no historical legitimacy on the ground. By virtue of US military and diplomatic support, this Saudi-Zionist alliance dominates the geopolitics of the region beyond its historical deserve.

Among these three historic nations, the Saudi Arabia and Israel falsely assume they have neutralised Egypt by recruiting the military junta that has aborted its revolutionary momentum. Egyptians as a people, as an historically self-conscious nation (remember Tahrir Square), are not to be confused with the corrupt junta that now rules it, tramples on Palestinian rights, and is even willing to sell its own territorial integrity to Saudi Arabia.

This Saudi-Zionist alliance thinks it can also disregard Turkey for it confuses the current coup-countercoup draconian dynamics of Recep Tayyip Erdogans government with the robust democratic urges of Turks as a people, as a deeply rooted and self-conscious nation (remember both the Gezi Park movement and the popular uprising against the military coup last year).

The alliance, therefore, laser beams on Iran for, contrary to its ridiculous claims, it is not the adventuresome disposition of its state that bothers it but, in fact, the volcanic democratic upsurge of Iranians as a nation frightens the living daylights out of these two colonially manufactured garrison states.

It is not accidental that the primary target of those demented mercenaries attacking Iran was the Iranian parliament, next to the office of the presidency and the city councils the most democratic institution in an otherwise theocratic state apparatus. It is the democratic effervescence of the people of Iran (and Turkey and Egypt), trapped as they are within the framing of a misrepresenting state, that poses an existential threat to Saudi-Israeli alliance.





Keep your eyes on these three nations: Turkey, Iran, and Egypt  do not be distracted by the antics of their respective state apparatuses being dragged into the geopolitics of the region  and you will have a far more accurate conception of every single development in the Arab and Muslim world. Keep also in mind that the Palestinian cause is at the heart of these three nations democratic aspirations, and not a matter of systematic political abuse by their respective states.

Despite its tiny size and sparse population, though deeply informed by waves of Arab and non-Arab migrant skilled labourers, scholars, journalists, artists, and intellectuals from across the world populating its universities, museums, and research institutes, Qatar has dared dreaming itself integral to the larger Arab-Muslim desire to fulfill its historic sense of dignity, which it has in part invested in putting the Palestinian self-determination at the forefront of its sense of moral identity.

Qatar is not just for Qataris. Despite all its structural limitations as a minuscule rentier state with a massive US military base on its soil, Qatar has enabled an engine of social, intellectual, and artistic ambitions for the larger Arab and Muslim world. Donald Trump looks at Qatar and all he sees are dollar signs for his military contractor friends. Israel looks at Qatar and it is worried to see a thriving Arab capital with a sharp critical intelligence to the Palestinian politics it enables. Saudi Arabia looks at Qatar and sees dangerous ideas being bandied about its northern frontiers.

READ MORE: Tehran attack: Targeting Irans national symbols

That Zionists see that dream as a nightmare is, of course, natural. That the Saudis and their sidekicks have now joined forces with these Zionists in crushing that dream is an obscenity beyond words. The marriage of convenience between Israel and Saudi Arabia as two garrison states, armed to their teeth by the US to spread menace and to pit one group of Muslims against another, overcomes all other disparities between the odd couples.

The simultaneous targeting of Qatar and Iran should forever put an end to the false flag that this is a battle between Arabs and Persians or else between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Qatar is both an Arab and a Sunni country, and is today the target of a most pernicious blockade and defamation by its own Arab and Sunni neighbours, while planeloads of food are being flown to Doha from Turkey and Iran.

For now, let it be remembered that Israel, with all its ridiculous claim to be the only democracy in the Middle East (built on stolen Palestinian lands), is today in active alliance with the most retrograde and backward-ruling regimes in the region against the democratic aspirations of their nations. Let it also be remembered that the ruling family in Saudi Arabia are now in active alliance with the European settler colony that has stolen Palestine from its rightful inhabitants. Everything else from this point forward must commence with these two sobering facts.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Over the past few years the use of cameras  whether on police vehicles, on the police themselves or taken by citizen journalists  has been seen as a possible means of achieving more police accountability and preventing black deaths. This cautiously hopeful narrative made Fridays acquittal of Jeronimo Yanez for the murder of Philando Castile especially upsetting for many.





I think the narrative caught on because it was thought that if we could show them, if they  white America  could see it, with their own eyes, they could no longer deny the truth that there is disproportionate police violence against blacks. If they could see it they would finally accept that racism is real and, perhaps, join the fight against it.

On the face of it, this argument sounds very logical. Isnt that what we were told about the Civil Rights Movement? The story goes: news broadcasts into white households of police dogs and batons and fire hoses unleashed on peaceful protesters pushed the needle. Seeing it with their own eyes, white Americans came to recognise racial discrimination as a real and evil thing.

I know I was taught this as a student, both in school and through the media, and I have seen it suggested in educational materials as a professor.

Yet here we find ourselves, more than 50 years later, with all evidence pointing to the contrary  demonstrating that its not the cameras, its the system.

OPINION: Structural racism in the US wont diminish with time

Castile, reaching for his ID, and not his legally owned firearm, was shot and killed at a traffic stop, in front of his partner and her four-year-old daughter. We know the tragic details because his partner, Diamond Reynolds, captured it on video. Before Castile there was Eric Garner, whose death was also recorded on video. Killed by a chokehold by NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo, Garner spoke his final words: I cant breathe. Unlike Yanez, Pantaleo was never even indicted.

From slave narratives to cellphone video, media images of racial injustice can only have limited, if any, impact because in order to 'see' the injustice you have to see black people as human. by

And before Garner, there was Kelly Thomas, a mentally ill homeless black man in Fullerton, California, who died after being beaten, clubbed and tasered by the police. In this case, three officers were charged. One of them had the charges dropped and the other two were acquitted.

There was also the shooting of Walter Scott in South Carolina. Standerby video shows Scott, after having been stopped for a traffic violation, unarmed and running away from North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, only to be shot in the back. In this case, Slager was indicted, yet despite the mobile phone video, the first trial has ended in a hung jury. (Ultimately, Slager is tried again and takes a plea deal for civil rights violations, not murder).

And, of course, before all these cases there was Rodney King, whose brutal beating was caught on camera and all four officers charged were acquitted. The harsh reality is that police shootings of unarmed civilians typically end with an acquittal or no indictment at all, yet even in the instances where the officers do receive jail time, these are not open-and-shut cases where jurors seem compelled by video evidence of police misconduct. Video evidence does not guarantee justice for black people in this country.

In a tweet after the verdict came down, Wake Forest professor Melissa Harris-Perry warned: Dont be fooled into believing a camera will bring justice. They turned lynchings into photo ops & postcards. I teach about the lynchings to which Perry referred in my African American studies courses. Lynchings took the lives of thousands of black Americans from across the country from Omaha, Nebraska and Marion, Indiana to Waco, Texas and other parts of the southern US.

READ MORE: A history of American lynchings

Lynchings were officially extralegal, meaning they were not carried out by local law enforcement. However, in practice the authorities sanctioned them either because they looked the other way or were active participants in plain clothes. The photos captured what Hazel Carby calls the spectacle of torture. From the tens to the thousands, whites would come to witness a lynching and gleefully take photos in front of dead black bodies. These photos then circulated in the tens of thousands as postcards and photos, with mundane messages such as What a great day. These photos are like the live video of Castiles murder in their level of graphic detail, even more so; nevertheless white America did not see them as evidence of racial injustice.





The issue of what white America can see even goes back to slavery. Lately, when teaching about slavery, I have used Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup. Of course, Northups storytelling is neither in video nor photos, yet the painstaking detail with which he narrates his life as an enslaved person could have the same impact. Yet, enslaved narratives such as his were not seen as compelling evidence at the time. In fact, Northup goes into so much detail precisely because he knew how easily the treachery of slavery could be unseen by the white majority.

From slave narratives to mobile phone videos, media images of racial injustice can only have limited, if any, impact because in order to see the injustice you have to see black people as human. In his defence Yanez said he was afraid of Castile  afraid of a man in a car with four-year old child in the back seat. Yanez may very well have been afraid and his fear was born out of systematic anti-blackness he likely got from other camera images. His fear reflects centuries of other kinds of images of black men not as complex human beings but as caricatures  hyperviolent, sexual predators, thieves and criminals. Indeed, to say its not the cameras, its the system is to recognise that images are more than the technology that produces them; they are stories in the midst of other stories.

OPINION: Abstracting the savaged body of Emmett Till

For every Twelve Years a Slave there were many more falsified depictions of happy slaves, for every photograph of lynching was the accompanying made-up story of a black man accosting a white woman, for every video of a police killing there is a Hollywood blockbuster, an episode of COPS or a news segment on black criminality. And until we deal with the system that creates these images, there will be more videos followed by more acquittals and more injustice.

Suad Abdul Khabeer is an associate professor of Anthropology and African American Studies at Purdue University, founder and editor of sapelosquare.com and the author of Muslim Cool: Race, Religion and Hip Hop in the United States.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
When Nabra Hassanens father was asked about her murder, he told The Guardian that he did not buy the road rage explanation: I dont believe this story. I tell [sic] the detective the same thing  He killed my daughter because she is Muslim. Thats what I believe. Thats what I told him.

When Muslims or people of colour are victims of crimes, investigators caution the public and media to be level-headed and unbiased until all the facts are verified. Commentators rush to caution viewers and social media followers that they shouldnt rush to judgment about the motive of the murderer, instead focusing on blaming the victim, explaining away the hate or just plain dismissing that Muslims are increasingly a targeted group in the US and other Western nations.





It would be fine to ask the public to wait for the official investigation if these same commentators would withhold judgment on investigations when a Muslim is a perpetrator of a crime, but that is not the case. When a Muslim is accused of a crime, media analysts immediately begin to report it as terrorism, without taking into account that Muslims who commit crimes do so for the same reasons as other criminals  because they have no regard for laws or for other human lives.

Muslims dehumanised even when they are victims

This double standard doesnt end there, though. Rather than focusing on the loss of life that the family just suffered, some had the gall to blame Nabra for being out late at night and for her mode of dress. Others chose to vilify the other teenagers who were with her for running away. Perhaps most chillingly, some chose to focus on the murderers legal status because he had a Hispanic-sounding name, as if American citizens have never or would never commit such crimes!

Focusing on such questions dehumanises Nabra. It makes her murderer the story and finds excuses for his actions. When three young Muslims were murdered in 2015, investigators pinned it on a parking dispute, as if that justified the actions of their murderer, denying the familys narrative that Islamophobia played a role, indicating that he was provoked and diminishing the role the victims very visible adherence to Islam had in the crime.

If in fact Muslims were just playing the role of the victim, then someone like Donald J Trump, who used hate to win votes, wouldn't have become the president of the US. by

When a former Google employee vandalised a mosque and made alarming statements about wanting to kill lots of people and hurt blacks, Jews and Mexicans, her mental illness was cited as an excuse for her actions and she got off with probation after spending just four months behind bars before her sentencing.

There is a trend in the US, and it is that our society has become quite adept at finding excuses for murderers. The black community in America has most often been on the receiving end of this disease: when law enforcement murder a black man or woman in cold blood, the resounding question isnt why this happened in the first place and why it continues to happen  it is why the black man or woman didnt comply with police orders, or how the victims criminal past contributed to their demise, as if the victims past justifies their murder at the hands of those who are meant to protect them.

Muslims are playing the victim card

Its almost futile to cite, once again, exactly how much attacks against Muslims have gone up in recent years in the US. This is because a review of the facts inevitably leads to a common refrain: You Muslims need to stop playing the victim card.

If in fact Muslims were just playing the role of the victim, then someone like Donald Trump, who used hate to win votes, wouldnt have become president of the US. Anti-Muslim and anti-South Asian hate crime levels wouldnt be the highest theyve been since post-9/11. And police wouldnt decline to name it a hate crime when a visibly Muslim woman was beaten so severely by a white man that she lost four teeth and ended up with facial fractures.





It is not playing the victim card to acknowledge that hate exists in the US, and that law enforcement officials and media outlets are contributing to the disproportionate misrepresentation and misclassification of crimes against Muslims.

Stop apologising

One of the most egregious mistakes we made after Nabras murder was to make reactionary calls to better protect ourselves. The problem isnt safety and security. The problem is that the US needs to acknowledge there is a problem with hate in this country and that dismissing or glossing over this will only embolden criminals. Calling out hate despite official accounts, as Nabras father and family are doing, is the only correct response to her murder at this moment in time.

Next, communities targeted by hate groups in the US must stop apologising for their very existence. When a Muslim is accused of a crime, it is not necessary to bend over backwards to explain how a quarter of the worlds people, who happen to ascribe to the same faith, do not support the criminal and inhumane acts of one or two people.

Furthermore, it is tiring to see all the words of precaution circulating on social media, particularly those directed at Muslim women who wear the hijab  in case it isnt clear, those who commit acts of hate will do so not just because a woman is wearing the hijab. When two Indian men were killed by a white man telling them to leave his country, it wasnt their faith that provoked him  it was that they looked different. It is misguided to assume that changing our identities and the things we hold dear will be a deterrent to those who hate.

Malak Chabkoun is an independent Middle East researcher and writer based in the US.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The UN human rights chief accused the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo of backing a new armed group behind horrific attacks in Kasai provinces which included the killing and mutilating hundreds of civilians.

Zeid Raad Al Hussein on Tuesday called for an independent, international probe into hundreds of recent killings in central Congo, pointing to accounts of pregnant women and toddlers hacked to death and faulting the government for failing to protect its citizens.

I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels), Zeid told the UN Human Rights Council.

READ MORE: Soldiers kill 101 in clashes with Kamwina Nsapu  UN

Over the past two months, the armed group had carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups, destroying entire villages and shooting, burning and hacking to death villagers, among them babies and young children.

Since last September, the armed followers of tribal chief Kamwina Nsapu  who was killed a month earlier  have rebelled against the authority of the central government.

Figures collated by the Roman Catholic Church in a report dated June 19 show violence in the Kasai region has killed more than 3,300 people in eight months  a casualty figure far higher than the more than 400 dead given by the UN peacekeeping mission in April.

On Tuesday, Zeid accused various actors in the conflict of fuelling ethnic hatred, resulting in extremely grave, widespread and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population in the Kasais.

The Human Rights Council is due to vote later this week on a resolution tabled by the European Union and backed on Tuesday by a number of countries including the United States to create an independent, international investigation.

Congolese Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa-Likulia told the council on Tuesday the government would allow UN investigators to help a national probe into the abuses, insisting it was the Kamwina Nsapu rebels who were committing true human slaughter in the Kasai.
High administrative court annuls maritime border accord about the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia.

Egypts high administrative court has defended an earlier decision to annul the transfer of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, local media and judicial sources said.

The ruling on Tuesday came two months after the court for urgent matters in Cairo had invalidated a verdict by the administrative court that went against the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands.

According to the countrys constitution, the high administrative court is the highest judicial entity to settle administrative disputes.

The ruling (on Tuesday) signifies that the land is Egyptian, said Khaled Ali, a lawyer who argued in the administrative court that the islands belonged to Egypt.

But the latest ruling comes days after the Egyptian parliament voted to ratify a 2016 agreement under which Cairo would transfer the islands to Saudi Arabia.

The parliament said it would disregard any court ruling on the matter and its legislative committee went ahead with the approval of the controversial deal on June 14.

According to local media, Ali Abdul Aal, the parliaments speaker, said: For the thousandth time, the verdict and nothingness are alike, and we will not allow any authority to assault the parliament.

Opponents of the deal say the islands are Egyptian and argue that the accord violates the constitution, which bars the surrender of any territory.

The issue had sparked rare protests in Egypt, with President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi accused of having bartered Tiran and Sanafir for Saudi largesse.

The agreement was announced during a high-profile visit to Cairo in April 2016 by Saudi King Salman, during which the monarch announced a multibillion-dollar package of investments and soft loans to Egypt.
Aircraft bomb rebel positions and troops push further into Marawi City as death toll in Mindanao conflict reaches 350.

Philippine forces have launched a renewed push against ISIL-linked fighters holed up in the countrys south with the aim to wrap up the fighting before the end of Ramadan, a military spokesperson said.

Nearly 350 people have been killed, according to an official count, as fighting in Marawi city entered its fifth week.

Fleeing residents said they saw scores of bodies in the debris of homes destroyed in bombing and crossfire.





Last week, the government said its troops had taken control of 90 percent of Marawi city.

The offensive on Tuesday, involving aircraft and ground forces, came amid worry that rebel reinforcements could arrive after Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

We are aiming to clear Marawi by the end of Ramadan, said military spokesman Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla.

Army and police commanders met in nearby Cagayan de Oro city to reassess strategy and operations against the fighters.

We cannot definitely say when we could end this because we are fighting door to door and there are booby traps which pose danger to our troops.

The seizure of Marawi has alarmed Southeast Asian nations which fear the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (also known as ISIS) is trying to set up a stronghold in the southern Philippines that could threaten the whole region.

Some Muslim residents of Marawi said other groups could join the fighting after Ramadan.

Fighting was intense early on Tuesday as security forces made a push to drive the fighters, entrenched in Marawis commercial district, south towards a lake on the edge of the city.

READ MORE: The battle for Marawi  Confusion and contradictions

Planes dropped bombs while on the ground, automatic gunfire was sustained with occasional blasts from bombs and artillery. Armoured vehicles fired volleys of shells while the rebel fighters responded with gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades.

An army corporal near the front line told Reuters news agency that soldiers were tagging houses and buildings that had been cleared.

We still have to clear more than 1,000 structures, he said, adding infantry units were left behind at cleared areas to prevent the fighters from recapturing ground they have lost.

As of Monday, the military said 257 ISIL-linked fighters, 62 soldiers and 26 civilians had been killed.

READ MORE: Hundred dead bodies seen in besieged Marawi

Hundreds of people are unaccounted for, believed to be hiding in the basements of the city.

On Monday, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines began joint naval patrols in their region amind increasing threats from extremist groups.

The trilateral coordinated maritime patrol was launched as authorities tried to stop any fighters from Marawi escaping to Indonesia while posing as refugees, Indonesias military chief Gatot Nurmantyo said.

The three neighbours agreed in May 2016 to conduct the joint patrols and share intelligence, after a series of kidnaps of foreigners by the Abu Sayyaf.

The series of piracy attacks accompanied by kidnappings that occurred frequently in the Sulu [Sea] waters have had a huge security impact on surrounding coastal countries  and have pushed us to conduct a coordinated patrol among three countries, said Nurmantyo when the joint patrol was launched at the Indonesian island of Tarakan off Borneo island.
Suspension is precautionary measure amid rising tensions between Russia and US over downing of a Syrian jet.

Australias military said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria after the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces.

The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential targets and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident.

As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased, Australias Department of Defence said in a statement.

ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition.

Russia made clear it was changing its military posture in response to the US downing of a Syrian military jet on Sunday, which, according to Damascus, is the first such incident since the start of the conflict in 2011.

READ MORE: Syrias displaced  This Ramadan is full of grief

ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course, Australias Department of Defence said.

Al Jazeeras Andrew Thomas, reporting from the Australian city of Cairns, said Australias decision signals that it may believe there is a threat.

Symbolically this is very important because Australia is a key partner in the US-led coalition operating over Syria and Iraq and for it to withdraw its aircraft, even temporarily, is a sign that they feel there is a threat from Russian aircraft and the Syrians, Thomas said.

In the short term theyre going to take stock and decide whether to resume operations over Syria or not.

Meanwhile, the US has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation, with a leading general saying the country would work to relaunch a deconfliction hotline established in 2015.

READ MORE: Fresh Syria talks set for July 10 in Astana

Russia said Washington had failed to use the line  a vital incident-prevention tool  before targeting the plane near Raqqa.

Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in Iraq. In late 2015, it extended air operations into Syria on the US request.

It has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

In September, Australia said it would widen the scope of targets in the air war against ISIL by allowing its pilots to strike support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria.

Australia has conducted one of the highest number of air strikes in Syria and Iraq, according to Airwars, a Britain-based non-profit research group monitoring air strikes.
John Varley and three other former bank managers charged with fraud linked to fundraising during 2008 financial crisis.

Britains Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has charged Barclays bank and four former managers, including a chief executive, with conspiracy to commit fraud when they sought investment from Qatar in the 2008 financial crisis.

The bank, former chief executive John Varley, former investment banking chief Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris, who headed the banks wealth management division, and Roger Boath, head of the European financial institutions group, were all charged on Tuesday in relation to a first round of investment in June 2008.

The Serious Fraud Office has today charged Barclays Plc and four individuals with conspiracy to commit fraud and the provision of unlawful financial assistance linked to capital raising from Qatar in 2008, the SFO said in a statement.

The charges relate to Barclays Plcs capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC and Challenger Universal Ltd, which took place in June and October 2008, the SFO said.

I congratulate the men and women of the UK Serious Fraud Office for their courage (May has pledged to scrap the SFO) https://t.co/Nub21Zfl6T  Defend Assange Campaign (@DefendAssange) June 20, 2017

It added that they relate also to a $3bn loan facility made available to Qatar acting through the countrys Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008.

The defendants will appear before Londons Westminster Magistrates Court on July 3, the statement added.

Barclays responded that it awaits further details of the charges from the SFO.

Jenkins will vigorously defend himself against the criminal charges, his lawyer said.

As one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Mr Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on each and every topic covered by the SFOs accusations today, Brad Kaufman, long-time counsel for Jenkins at US law firm Greenberg Traurig, told Reuters news agency.

Barclays shares were down 0.3 percent in early trading on the London Stock Exchange.
At least 15 people killed in al-Shabab attack on Wadajir district, government official says.

At least 15 people have been killed after a suicide car bomber posing as a milk delivery van detonated at a district headquarters in Somalias capital Mogadishu, police said.

The death toll may rise, as some of the at least nine wounded were badly hurt in the explosion at Wadajir district headquarters in Mogadishu, Captain Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press.

Most of the dead were civilians, Hussein said.

A column of white smoke was seen above the capital and some houses were rattled by the blast, DPA news agency reported.

We heard a huge explosion in Wadajir district, there are some casualties, Abdifatah Omar Halane, the spokesman for Mogadishus mayor, said.

Al-Shabaab said they were behind the blast.

Its a suicide car bomb in Wadajir District building in which Somali officials and their staff stay. There are government and their staff who have died at the scene. We will tell you the number of dead later, Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shabaab spokesman for military operations, said.

The blast comes less than a week after al-Shabab gunmen carried out an overnight siege on a popular restaurant in Mogadishu, killing at least 31 people.

Al-Shabab was forced out of the capital and other major urban areas in Somalia by national and African Union multinational forces, but it continues to carry out deadly bombings and attacks in Mogadishu and elsewhere.

Targets have included hotels, military checkpoints and the presidential palace.
Bria mayor says heavy clashes break out a day after the signing of a peace deal aimed at ending violence in the country.

Around 50 people have been killed in Bria, in the Central African Republic, when clashes broke out between rival armed factions despite the signing a day earlier of a truce deal, the mayor of the town has said.

Bodies lay in the streets of Bria, around 580km northeast of the capital, Bangui, and dozens more people were treated for shotgun wounds after fighting erupted at dawn on Tuesday.

I can say there are around 50 dead. There are 42 bodies that were taken to the hospital. There are also bodies in the neighbourhoods that have not been picked up yet, Maurice Belikoussou, mayor of Bria, told the Reuters news agency.

Q&A: Will CAR peace accord bring an end to violence?

Witnesses said houses were looted and set on fire during the clashes. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, said it had already received 35 wounded by 9:30am (08:30 GMT) at the hospital it runs in the town. Most had been shot.

The country, one of the poorest in the world, has been plagued by conflict since 2013 between the mainly Muslim Seleka rebels and the Christian Anti-Balaka militia that started after the overthrow of leader Francois Bozize.





We have to defend ourselves

Tuesdays clashes broke out just a day after the CAR government and 13 of the 14 rebel groups agreed to an immediate ceasefire. The deal was brokered by the Catholic community SantEgidio in five days of negotiations in Italys capital, Rome.

Under the agreement, armed groups were granted political representation in exchange for an end to attacks and blockades.

We signed the agreement, but we have to defend ourselves, we cant allow an attack to happen without reacting, Djamil Babanani, spokesman for the Popular Front for the Rebirth of the Central African Republic (FPRC), an armed rebel group formerly belonging to the Muslim Seleka coalition, told the AFP news agency.

READ MORE: CAR church shelters Muslims fleeing Anti-Balaka

The fighting erupted near a camp housing people who had been forced to flee previous bouts of violence, according to MINUSCA, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the country.

We regret the presence of armed elements in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, which causes problems not just in Bria but also in other locations. Its a reality, said MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro.

Clashes last month in Bria, Alindao, Bangassou and Mobaye, east of the capital Bangui, resulted in a total of around 300 dead and 200 wounded, according to the UNs humanitarian coordination agency OCHA.

The UN says that the country is facing a dire humanitarian crisis. More than 50 percent of CARs population requires humanitarian assistance.

At least one in five Central Africans are currently displaced, the highest proportion since the height of the crisis in 2014.

Peace deal: A lot of work to be done

The office of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected last year, applauded Mondays deal, calling it an historic accord. However, other reactions in Bangui were less optimistic.





(This accord) simply follows the same scenario repeated over and over, said Joseph Bindoumi, president of the Central African League of Human Rights. Those who signed are mocking the people.

Lewis Mudge, a researcher in the Africa Division at Human Rights Watch, said the accord signed in Rome comes after several other similar initiatives over the past few recent years failed to bring about an end to the violence.

The real work begins now in getting these groups to cease attacks on civilians, he told Al Jazeera. The accord is signed at a time when violence is on the increase in the east of the country and the civilian population is desperate for the violence to stop.

READ MORE: Tension high among CAR civilians as violence surges

Mudge said there is still a lot of work to be done, raising questions about whether the leaders of the armed groups exerted sufficient control over their men to get them to put their weapons down.

Some groups may, but others wont. Some of the former Seleka groups have fought hard to control territory. I would be surprised if they were to give that up, he said.
Derk Johannes Bolt and Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender captured by Marxist rebel group in northeast Colombia, army says.

Two Dutch journalists have been captured by Marxist ELN rebels in a conflict area of northeastern Colombia, the military said.

The leftist guerrilla group, which neither confirmed nor denied any kidnapping, said on Twitter on Monday that they were looking into the case.

This morning, reporter Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender, 58, both Dutch nationals, were stopped in El Tarra, Norte de Santander, by presumed ELN rebels, police said in a statement.

Bolt and Follender work for the Dutch TV programme Spoorloos, which traces lost relatives.

In May 2016 in the same El Tarra region ELN rebels kidnapped a Colombian-Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters. The reporters were handed over days later to intermediaries.

The government ombudsmans office via Twitter demanded the immediate liberation of the two Dutch nationals being held, and said it will try to help solve the situation.

Meanwhile police specialists in kidnapping and extortion headed to the region in an attempt secure the release of the two men.

The ELN, Colombias second biggest rebel group, is in peace talks with the government to put an end to more than five decades of war in the Andean nation.

The biggest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed a peace accord late last year and is expected to complete disarmament this week.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in a conflict that pit the military against FARC, ELN and right wing paramilitary armies since it began in 1952.
Death of at least 20 in Saudi coalition attack on market is a stark reminder that civilians bear brunt of war, says EU.

The European Union has expressed concern over civilian deaths in Yemen after Saudi-led forces killed at least 20 civilians in an air raid last week.

The bombing of a market in the northern Saada province was a stark reminder that Yemeni civilians are the ones bearing the brunt of a war that has devastated their country, the EU said in a statement on Monday.

The war in Yemen threatens to undermine regional stability, the bloc said, reiterating a call for dialogue.

The EU is increasingly worried by the humanitarian situation in the country, on the verge of widespread famine and most recently hit by a cholera outbreak.

Speaking from Brussels, Al Jazeeras Neave Barker said that the EU expressed unreserved condemnation of the attack.

The EU has not said who they believe carried out the attack but have urged all regional players to seek a diplomatic solution for this conflict, he said.

Fears are growing here about the humanitarian crisis, he added.

Yet Baraa Shiban, a human rights researcher based in London, told Al Jazeera that the EUs condemnation of the attack is not substantial.

The EU hasnt really addressed the underlying issues, and there hasnt been work towards bringing all the parties together, Shiban said.  Millions of Yemenis are waiting for peace talks so they can resume their normal lives.

READ MORE: A recollection of Yemens Ramadan spirit

The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out aerial bombings in the impoverished country for more than two years against Houthi rebels.

The country has since been plunged into a civil war in which the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, is trying to roll back gains made by the Iran-aligned Houthi group that controls most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.

In March, an air raid by Saudi-led forces killed 22 people and wounded dozens when it struck a market in western Yemen near the Red Sea fishing town of Khoukha.

The war in Yemen, the poorest country in the Arab world, has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than three million and ruined much of the impoverished countrys infrastructure.

In March, the UN World Food Programme said that nearly half of Yemens 22 provinces were on the verge of famine.

In recent weeks, more than 900 people have died of cholera in the second outbreak of the deadly infection in less than a year.
Netanyahu says he considers building new West Bank settlement an honour after decades of expanding existing ones.

Israel has begun construction of the first new settlement in the occupied West Bank in 25 years, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it an honour to build the illegal outpost in defiance of international law.

After decades, I have the honour to be the first prime minister to build a settlement in Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu said on Tuesday, calling the occupied West Bank by its biblical name.

There was not, and there will never be, as good a government for the settlements as ours, the prime minister added.

Since 1992, much of the controversy surrounding Israels settlement construction in the occupied territories has revolved around expanding existing settlements.

READ MORE: Israels relentless land grab continues

Before the Oslo Accords officially opened negotiations in 1993  between what would become the Palestinian Authority and Israel  roughly 200,000 settlers illegally lived in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Since then, Israel has expanded the number of settlers to almost 700,000  thereby making negotiations for a Palestinian state in the occupied territories ineffective.

The new settlement  the first since 1992, according to Israeli NGO Peace Now  is intended to house residents of the illegal West Bank outpost of Amona after the Israeli military demolished it in February.

The plan to construct the new settlement in Emek Shilo  close to the city of Ramallah  was condemned in March both at home and abroad, with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressing disappointment and alarm.

According to Al Jazeeras Imran Khan, reporting from East Jerusalem in March, Amona is one of the Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank that was built on private Palestinian land.

An Israeli high court said that this was illegal, so Netanyahu had to get rid of the people who lived there and move them on to somewhere else, he added in his report.

READ MORE: Israels settlement bill big step towards annexation

At that stage, [Netanyahu] said, By March 31, I will announce a new settlement for where these people can live, and [Netanyahu kept] his part of the deal.

According to Peace Now, the new settlements location was strategic for the fragmentation of the West Bank.

The construction comes just a week after Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman boasted that Israel planned the biggest settlement expansion this year since 1992.
Chairman of Armed Services Committee, John McCain, says US should not tolerate murder of citizens by hostile powers.

US Senator John McCain says North Korea has murdered Otto Warmbier, an American student who died days after his release from detention there.

McCain, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, condemned the treatment of the 22-year-old University of Virginia student, who he said was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime.

The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers, McCain said in a statement on Monday.

Warmbier was medically evacuated from Pyongyang to the US last week, after having suffered extensive brain damage that left him in a state of unresponsive wakefulness. His parents said he died on Monday.

READ MORE: Otto Warmbier  US student freed by North Korea dies

His death comes amid high tension over dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests, and has spurred renewed calls for action against the isolated country.

US President Donald Trump, in a statement offering condolences to Warmbiers family, said the students fate deepened his determination to prevent other such tragedies.

Its [North Korea] a brutal regime, and well be able to handle it, he told reporters later.

Warmbier was arrested at the airport as he was leaving Pyongyang in January last year and sentenced to 15 years of hard labour at a show trial for stealing a political poster from a hotel.

The South Korean government meanwhile pledged to make every effort for the return of three other US citizens, who are ethnic Koreans, and six South Koreans, who remain in custody in North Korea.





South Korean President Moon Jae-in also urged the North to swiftly return the nine detainees, and said it was deplorable that North Korea does not respect human rights, according to a presidential spokesman.

Young Pioneer Tours, the China-based travel agency that organised Warmbiers trip to North Korea, said on Tuesday it would no longer take US citizens to the country.

The agency said his death shows that the risk Amercian tourists face in visiting North Korea has become too high.

The North claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

However, medical tests carried out last week in the US offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection.

Warmbiers doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said Warmbiers severe brain injury was most likely  given his young age  to have been caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

US rights group Human Rights Watch said Warmbiers death highlights the Norths position as one of the worst rights-abusing governments in the world.

His death reflects a reality that the North Korean people know all too well: the Kim family leadership  will not hesitate to brutalise and kill to maintain their hold on power, it said in a statement.
A landmine blast in the Iraqi city of Mosul has killed one Kurdish and one French journalist, as Iraqs forces push deeper into the last remaining areas held by ISIL fighters.

Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad, who was working with a French team as a fixer and interpreter, was killed in Mondays explosion, according to public broadcaster France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

French journalist Stephan Villeneuve and two other French journalists were also wounded in the blast. Villeneuve later succumbed to his wounds, the broadcaster said in the early hours of Tuesday.

The management and staff at France Televisions sympathise with the pain of his partner Sophie, his four children, his family and all those he was close to. They offer their most sincere condolences, the head of the news department said in a statement.

Commenting on Addads death, The Metro Center for Journalists Rights and Advocacy said that one more journalist became a victim to spreading the truth, Rudaw, a media group in Iraqs autonomous Kurdistan region, reported.

The centre added that Addad had been injured three times before as he covered the war in Mosul.

Very sad

A video journalist who had covered a number of conflicts across the world, Villeneuve was filming a piece together with Veronique Robert on the battle of Mosul for French news programme Envoye Special, aired on public television channel France 2.

They were both taken to a hospital on a US military base following the explosion.

Reporter Samuel Forey, who worked for a number of French media organisations including French daily Le Figaro, also suffered light injuries.

I am very sad for Bakhtiyar and my colleagues, I ask you to not contact me for a couple of days, he wrote on Twitter.

The journalists were accompanying Iraqi special forces during the battle to reconquer Mosul from ISIL, where more than 100,000 civilians are being used as human shields by the groups fighters, according to the United Nations.

In February, Rudaw correspondent Shifa Gardi, 30, was killed in a roadside bomb blast while covering clashes between Iraqi government forces and ISIL in Mosul.
UK police say suspect, 47, is being held for terrorism offences after attack targeting Muslim worshipers in London.

A 47-year-old man has been charged with terrorism offences following an attack with a van on Muslims in north London, UK police have said.

The driver slammed the vehicle into worshippers shortly after midnight on Monday as they left late-night prayers at the Muslim Welfare House and the nearby Finsbury Park Mosque, one of the biggest in Britain.





A man, who had earlier suffered a heart attack, died at the scene on Seven Sisters Road, but it was not immediately clear if he was killed by the attackers actions. Eight people were taken to hospital.

The Metropolitan police said the driver was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but he was later charged with the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

At this stage in the investigation, it is believed that the suspect acted alone but we are, of course, investigating all the circumstances leading up to the attack, the force said in a statement.

READ MORE: Witnesses  Muslims targeted in London van attack

The attacker was not named by police. British media identified him as Darren Osborne, a white man who lived in the Welsh capital, Cardiff.

Police said all the victims were from the Muslim community and extra patrols would be deployed to reassure the public, especially those observing Ramadan.

Kill many Muslims

The use of a vehicle to mow down pedestrians drew parallels with a deadly attack on London Bridge earlier this month.

In that incident, three men drove a van into pedestrians before embarking on a stabbing spree, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group.

In March, London was hit with another ISIL-claimed car and knife attack, that one near the British Parliament in Westminster.

This time the attacker deliberately targeted Muslims, police said.

More victims of a vehicle that leaves the road aimed as a weapon to kill and maim. But this time, the driver didnt get away, he didnt get shot, nor did he have any apparent intent to kill himself, Al Jazeeras Andrew Simmons, reporting from Finsbury Park, said.

WATCH: How is Britain dealing with rising attacks? (24:49)

The driver was grabbed at the scene by some of the Muslim worshippers and pinned down until police arrived, while others did what they could to help the wounded.

After being seized, the suspect said he had wanted to kill many Muslim people, one witness told journalists.

Over the past weeks and months, Muslims have endured many incidents of Islamophobia and this is the most violent manifestation to date, said Harun Khan, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella body.

Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque, described the attack as cowardly.

Our community is in shock, he said, urging people attending prayers to remain vigilant.

Not an isolated incident

UK Prime Minister Theresa May condemned Mondays attack as sickening, saying Britains determination to fight terrorism, extremism and hatred  must be the same, whoever is responsible.

This was an attack on Muslims near their place of worship, said May who later visited the mosque.

Human rights lawyer Arsalan Iftikhar said it was about time that authorities called such attacks against Muslims acts of terrorism.

For so many years, there have been coordinated attacks against Muslims, Arabs and South Asians all across the West that were never called acts of terrorism. So finally, for the first time ever, Ive seen this double standard been lifted, he told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC.

Its important to keep in mind that what we saw in London at the Finsbury Park Mosque is not an isolated incident, he added.

OPINION: Has Katie Hopkins committed a hate crime?

In the days after the London Bridge attack, authorities reported a 40-percent increase in racist incidents in the capital and a five-fold increase in anti-Muslim incidents across Britain.





This month alone, a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf told police in Lancashire her car was struck by a bag of vomit. Worshippers at the Omar Faruque mosque in Cambridge found strips of ham attached to their vehicles. Several Muslim families have reported receiving letters warning, You are no longer welcome in this country. Scores say they have been spat on.

In the United States, two men were killed last month after intervening when a male white supremacist began shouting anti-Muslim abuse at teenagers on a train in Portland, Oregon.

According to the American-Islamic Relations Council, there has been a 57 percent rise in what it calls anti-Muslim bias incidents since 2015.

Its about high time that these acts of terrorism are called terrorism, and not only called terrorism when Muslims are the perpetrators, Iftikhar said.

The majority of the population [in the West] doesnt want to see criminal acts of mass murder committed by people who look like them to be labeled acts of terrorism  they are very quick to label acts of terrorism against people who are olive-skinned, with ethnic-sounding names, he added.

This is something that Muslim public intellectuals, thought leaders, activists and religious scholars have been talking about since the 9/11 [attacks in New York].

The term terrorism, sadly, in our western sociopolitical zeitgeist has been coopted to only apply when brown Muslim men commit acts of mass murder, and not when right-wing, white supremacists terrorists do the same.
Claimed grievances against Qatar are still not listed, prompting more doubts about reasons behind Gulf rift, US says.

The US state department says it is mystified that Gulf states have not released details of the claims they are making against Qatar, more than two weeks after they imposed a blockade on the country and cut ties with it.

Heather Nauert, spokesperson for the state department, said in a press briefing on Tuesday that the more time goes by, the more doubt is raised about the anti-Qatar measures imposed by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and their allies.

At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns regarding Qatars alleged support for terrorism or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries, she said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council.

READ MORE  Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

The three Gulf nations, along with Egypt, severed diplomatic ties and cut off sea and air links with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism  a charge Doha strongly denies.

They ordered Qatari nationals to leave their countries, and also urged their citizens to return to their respective nations, disrupting the lives of thousands in the region and restricting their freedom of movement.

MARWAN BISHARA, AL JAZEERAS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: There are three levels to understanding the statement by the US state department, which I think is incredibly important. Firstly, it was the language used, which was quite harsh and direct. There was a sense of reprimand, almost a slap in the face for the Emiratis and the Saudis for not coming forward with something substantial. Secondly, this came out publicly  this was not harsh language written in a letter sent to the foreign ministry in Saudi Arabia or the UAE. This was in a press conference, for the whole world to hear. And thirdly, its a sense of impatience, bordering on a feeling of insult by the Saudis and the Emiratis. There is a sense that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is telling them, Are you toying with us? Have you played the American president about Qatar supporting terrorism, hanging him out to dry for already going public and accusing Qatar of something that does not exist?

Sanctions also disrupted food and other imports into Qatar.

The UAE said this week the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days.

Qatars Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel restrictions.

Changing sides

Qatar hosts the largest US military airbase in the Middle East, Al-Udeid, where more than 11,000 US and coalition forces are deployed or assigned and from which more than 100 aircraft operate.

Over the past two weeks, US President Donald Trump has taken a tougher stance against Qatar, while the State Department and the Pentagon had previously sought to remain neutral in the Gulf crisis.

In remarks made on June 9, Trump said that the nation of Qatar has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level, without, however, providing any evidence.

READ MORE: Qatar news agency hacking linked to states boycotting Doha

Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from Washington, DC, said that the state departments statement on Tuesday marked a change in US policy.

Two weeks into the Gulf crisis, the state department is effectively changing sides, criticising those blockading Qatar, he said.

Bays said that the statement was almost certainly cleared in advance with the Pentagon and with the White House.





But with this administration, you have to ask one question: is the president himself on board with the new policy? he added.

It also seems highly likely some of those countries who supported the blockade will now be lobbying President Trump to overturn this new position.

Qatars foreign minister is expected to travel to Washington next week to hold talks about the ongoing crisis.

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeeras senior political analyst, said the timing of the statement by the state department before the Qatari foreign ministers visit was very important.

The hosting of the foreign minister [is very significant too], he said.

Do you really, on the one hand, accuse a country of supporting terror on a high level, and on the other have your main military base in the whole region that is fighting your war on terror in that country?

And now, hosting its own foreign minister in your capital? Does any of that square?
Space telescope finds 10 new planets outside our solar system that could potentially have liquid water and support life.

NASA has announced the discovery of 10 rocky, Earth-sized planets in our Milky Way Galaxy that could potentially have liquid water and support life.

The US space agency released on Monday a survey of 219 potential exoplanets  planets outside of our solar system  that had been detected by its Kepler space telescope between its launch in 2009 through its first four years in space.

Ten of the new discoveries were orbiting their suns at a distance similar to Earths orbit around the sun, the so-called habitable zone  meaning surface temperatures could support liquid water and, hypothetically, life.

#ICYMI: Earlier, we identified 219 potential new worlds from @NASAKepler data, ten of which are near-Earth size: https://t.co/Lh0O09jc0G pic.twitter.com/1bEFpXcrBy  NASA (@NASA) June 20, 2017

That does not mean the planets have life, but some of the most basic requirements that life needs are there.

Are we alone? Maybe Kepler, today, has told us indirectly, although we need confirmation, that we are probably not alone, Kepler scientist Mario Perez said in a news conference.





Outside scientists agreed that this is a boost in the hope for life elsewhere.

It implies that Earth-size planets in the habitable zone around sun-like stars are not rare, Harvard astronomer Avi Loeb, who was not part of the work, told the Associated Press news agency in an email.

Ecstatic

NASA said this was the eighth release of the survey and the most comprehensive and detailed so far. It includes 4,034 planet candidates identified by Kepler. Of those, 2,335 have been confirmed to be exoplanets.

Kepler is the first space telescope capable of finding Earth-sized planets in or near the habitable zone.

OPINION: Why discovering new Earth-like planets matters

Before its launch, astronomers had hoped that the frequency of Earth-like planets would be about one percent of the stars.

The talk among scientists at a Kepler conference in California this weekend is that it is closer to 60 percent, Alan Boss, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution, said.

Kepler is not the only way astronomers have found exoplanets, and even potentially habitable ones. Between Kepler and other methods, scientists have now confirmed more than 3,600 exoplanets and found about 62 potentially habitable planets.

This number could have been very, very small, said Caltech astronomer Courtney Dressing. I, for one, am ecstatic.
Top commercial bank executives say local banks have enough reserves adding that withdrawals have been limited.

Top commercial bank executives in Qatar have said that local banks possess sufficient dollar liquidity, pointing out that withdrawals were limited.

Contrary to media reports, there havent been big withdrawals from banks in Qatar, and the embargo is only having a limited effect on the banking sector here, and one that is easily manageable, a central bank official told Reuters news agency on Tuesday.

The official, declining to be named because of commercial sensitivities, was referring to the Gulf crisis after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states cut diplomatic and transport ties with Doha.

Qatars banks became dependent on foreign funding during the last few years of strong economic growth. Their foreign liabilities increased to 451 billion riyals ($124 bn) in March from 310 billion riyals at the end of 2015.

READ MORE: Qatar FM: We wont negotiate until blockade is lifted

Yousef al-Jaida, chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, said this week that institutions from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain had about $18 bn of deposits in Qatari banks that would mature in two months.

He said it was not yet clear whether those countries would decide to have their institutions pull the money out, but added that Qatars government was prepared to step in and support local banks if needed.

Many depositors have been asking questions, but nobody else has asked for their money back and one Asian asset manager has continued to place deposits, he added.

Qatars central bank has about $34.5 bn of net foreign reserves and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is believed to hold over $200 bn of liquid assets.

The QIA owns stakes in several Qatari banks including 50 percent of Qatar National Bank, the largest lender, and a 16.9 percent stake in Qatar Islamic Bank, the largest sharia-compliant lender by assets.
Attorney general says evidence shows cyberattack on state-run news agency is linked to states that cut ties with Qatar.

Qatar says it has proof that the recent hacking of its state-run news agency and government social media accounts, which set into motion a major diplomatic crisis in the region, is linked to countries that have recently cut ties with it.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic relations and cut off land, air and sea links with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting terrorism and advancing the agenda of their regional rival, Iran. Doha strongly denies the charges.





Qatar has evidence that certain iPhones originating from countries laying siege to Qatar were used in the hack, Ali Bin Fetais al-Marri, Qatars attorney general, told reporters in the capital, Doha, on Tuesday.

He said it was too early to explicitly name the countries responsible for the hacking and declined to comment when he was asked if individuals or states were behind it.

US and European officials have said that while US government agencies and experts were convinced that Qatar News Agency (QNA) and the Qatari governments Twitter feed were hacked on May 23, they have not yet determined who was behind it.

READ MORE on Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

Mahjoob Zweiri, associate professor of contemporary history of the Middle East at Qatar University, said the statement by Qatars attorney general linked the embargo imposed on Qatar and the cyberattack.

They are saying that there was a sort of preparation for the embargo by the issue of hacking, he told Al Jazeera.

Doha launched the inquiry after accusing hackers of publishing fake remarks attributed to Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on QNAs platforms.

READ MORE: Blockade will leave lasting wound

Qatars government categorically denied that the comments, in which the countrys leader expressed support for Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and Israel  while suggesting that US President Donald Trump may not last in power, were ever made.

There are international laws governing such crimes, especially the cyberattack. [The hackers] will be prosecuted according to the law, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatars foreign minister, had said at the time.

Marri also said that a list of individuals and entities designated by the Arab countries as terrorists was baseless, adding that Qatar would legally pursue those who had done harm to it.
Eight guards were killed on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main US military base in Afghanistan.

At least eight people have been killed after Taliban gunmen opened fire on Afghan security guards in the countrys northern Parwan province.

According to Wahida Shahkar, the spokeswoman for the Parwan governor, the late Monday night shooting also left two other guards wounded. The guards were attacked on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main US military base in Afghanistan, she added.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement sent to the media.

The fighters have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces, and an affiliate of the ISIL group has been trying to expand its footprint in the country by launching large-scale attacks across Afghanistan.





Meanwhile, one person was killed and six were wounded when Afghan security forces on Monday night moved in to dismantle the last remaining tent set up by protesters rallying in the capital, Kabul.

Abdullah Abdullah, the countrys chief executive, first announced the incident during a live TV broadcast. He said the killings, which are under investigation, had shocked us all.

The Kabul protest began earlier this month, after a powerful truck bomb killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 450 in the heart of the city. Since then, scores of protesters have spent almost three weeks under huge tents on a road near the presidential palace and the blast site, as well as in other parts of the city. By Monday night, only the one, main tent had remained.

The protesters, however, reported two deaths and said 27 demonstrators were wounded in the police crackdown. A statement from the group said 11 others were arrested. The different casualty tolls could not immediately be reconciled.

The demonstration had prompted police to block all roads leading to the presidential palace and diplomatic areas and restrict the movement of vehicles and people during the past weeks.

WATCH: Magazine aims to introduce positive image of Afghan women

In a separate report form eastern Nangarhar province, a judge was killed when his vehicle was blown up by a sticky bomb on Tuesday morning, according to Attuhullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Khogyani said that Sher Rahman was a judge in an anti-corruption court. Three people were wounded, including two of the judges brothers, in the explosion, which took place in the provincial capital, Jalalabad.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar, but both the Taliban and Islamic State fighters are active in the region.
Iran condemns top US diplomats suggestion of support for peaceful transition of government in Tehran.

Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador to Tehran, who looks after US interests, over comments by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson backing peaceful transition in the Islamic republic.

Bahram Ghassemi, the ministry spokesman, informed Iranian media on Tuesday about the diplomatic protest and said Tillersons comments were contrary to international law and the UN charter.

Iran also sent a protest letter to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, according to the ISNA news agency.

READ MORE: CIAs Dark Prince tapped to lead charge against Iran

Tillerson accused Iran of seeking hegemony in the Middle East at the expense of US allies such as Saudi Arabia in last Wednesdays testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Our policy towards Iran is to push back on this hegemony  and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government, Tillerson said.

Those elements are there certainly, as we know, he said, without elaborating on the groups he was referring to.

Revolutionary Guards

In his testimony, Tillerson also raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on the whole of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Irans main military force and a major player in the countrys economy.

Currently, Washington has only blacklisted the Guards foreign operations arm  the Quds Force  and some individual commanders.

We continually review the merits, both from the standpoint of diplomatic but also international consequences, of designating the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in its entirety as a terrorist organisation, Tillerson said.

The Guards have played a major role in training Shia fighters in Iraq that are a significant force in the fightback against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, and have also trained thousands of volunteers to battle alongside President Bashar al-Assads forces in Syria.

The United States has had no diplomatic relations with Iran since the aftermath of the Islamic revolution of 1979 and its interests are looked after by Switzerland.
A man drove a van at high speed hitting Muslim worshipers outside a mosque in London on Monday.

Its become an all too common trend  attackers driving vans into crowded streets.

This time, the victims were all Muslim, as they left the Finsbury Park Mosque in London after a midnight prayer.

It happened during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. At least one person has died. Ten others are injured.

Bystanders tackled and held the 48-year-old attacker as he tried to leave the van. Police now have him in custody.

Prime Minister Theresa May says police declared this it terrorist attack within eight minutes and that counterterrorism police are now investigating.

But whats behind the rise in these types of attacks? And how will it affect Britains diverse society?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman

Guests:

Azad Ali  Head of Community Development for Muslim Engagement and Development organisation

Aurelien Mondon  Lecturer at the University of Bath

Afzal Ashraf  Security and counterterrorism specialist
Russia warns the US and its allies that it will shoot down any aircraft flying west of the Euphrates river.

Russia says it will shoot down any aircraft that flies west of the Euphrates River in Syria.

The US military shot down a Syrian fighter jet on Saturday. The White House is insisting the action was taken in self-defence.

But the Russian and Syrian governments have condemned it.

What does this mean for the war in Syria?

Presenter: Sohail Rahman

Guests:

Pavel Felgenhauer  defence and military analyst; a columnist with the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta

Jean-Marc Rickli  head of global risk at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy

Larry Korb  senior fellow at the Centre for American Progress; a former naval flight officer
The UN Migration Agency (IOM) has launched an online consular service to make the consular process easier to access and navigate for vulnerable migrants hoping to return home. The first online consular session was conducted on 5 June via Skype in close cooperation with the Ghanaian Embassy in Tripoli. The remote consular service connects the []http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Appa-sourceTheAfric...
I was in town recently, trying for the fifth time to renew my drivers license. Rejected, again. On the first attempt, I learned that NM has decided to up the ante for regular folks, and you can no longer go into the NM MVD office and get a drivers license based on the fact that you simply needed to renew the old one. New Mexico was one of the states, in a frenzy of political correctness and deference to illegal aliens, that passed a new law to give drivers licenses to people they knew were in the state illegally.

But in the aftermath, they had fights about it in the state legislature about how to make up for the debacle they had created by causing all New Mexico drivers licenses to be suspect  because the TSA would no longer recognize them as legal identification for purposes of boarding a plane. These legislators, in an even more brilliant move, decided to fix it by making all of the legal citizens of New Mexico prove to them that we are legal citizens. They still give our old licenses to illegals, but now us regular citizens have to prove our citizenship, and that we are not criminals, in order to get a drivers license that will qualify for identification so we can ride on planes, trains, and other public conveyance. And apparently, the illegals do not have to prove squat to get a drivers license.

I came home from that unsuccessful but informative mission, and dug through my files, using the information sheet the lady gave me, and collected even more stuff than she needed to prove who I was. Then I made three empty trips with papers in hand, on weekdays, during business hours, to get my nearly expired license replaced, with her out of the office for no explained reason  just papers posted on the door saying the office was closed on that day and several other dates, some in print from a printer, some added by hand with a sharpie, as if in afterthought. I managed to hit three of those days, as it turned out, and the three trips were each 70 miles. Oh well, we are used to that in these parts.

On my fifth foray I took the following information about myself:

U. S. passport

Social Security card

Birth Certificate

Marriage License (this, as she explained, was to legitimize my social security card if my name had changed, and it had)

A bank statement (required)

A utility bill

Property tax bill from my county

Current drivers license

Upon presentation of said documents I was rejected. Reasons:

My old social security card did not have the same legal name as the passport, and even though I had the marriage license to show legal reason for it - she said I would have to go get a new social security card. As if it is easy to get a new social security card. When I remarried in 1996 my husband took it upon himself to get me a new social security card. They misspelled my name, and it took me five years to get it cleared up  the social security people did not notice there were two of me with the same number and remarkably similar names. It took several phone calls and two trips to their office, 150 miles away to finally get it straightened out. So, where is that new card? I dont know and have been afraid to start the process over. In my experience, it is not easy to get a new social security card.

I tried to switch from the passport to the birth certificate for one of my documents. She said it would not work now that I had already used the passport. She was not interested in the birth certificate. Admittedly, I could have misunderstood this part of the ladys explanation, but she said that since I first handed her my passport for ID instead of the birth certificate, the social security card had to match it exactly. Still scratching my head about that. I suppose this only happens to women, since we are the ones who change our names  so I guess this only happens to half of us.

The utility bill did not have my street address, just my mailing address, so it did not qualify, (street addresses in rural NM did not exist until the big push to give everyone a street address in the wake of 9/11). So none of my old accounts include my street address, and my street address is not my legal mailing address (the local post office pushed back when street addresses started showing up instead of the PO box numbers, and refused to deliver mail that did not have the legal mailing address). She suggested I contact my electric company and have them change my address, so she could use it for purposes of identification  as if that would be no problem and was a reasonable suggestion.

My old drivers license, which could have been my ID, also did not qualify, since it could have been given to an illegal.

At this point, my head was beginning to throb.

My bank statement also did not have my street address, same reason as the utility bill. In fact, my bank and electric company have been the same since 1972, and my accounts with them active the whole time. My street address did not exist until 2005.

The tax bill also did not have my street address in the mailing address, but did have a legal description of my land, along with my street address in the description -- that does not count, she said. It must include the street address in the mailing address that was used to send it to me to be valid as proof that I live in New Mexico.

According to her, I had nothing to prove I lived in New Mexico. I cannot help but wonder if it would be okay for me to not file and pay taxes here.

At each explanation, and each rejection, she swallowed hard and apologized, and I knew it was not her fault. But I admit to a bit of a meltdown, telling her I was livid, that I knew it was not her fault, but that I had been in Hidalgo County for 45 years now, and in New Mexico my whole life, and that I was being asked to prove it to an agency that knows it full well already. She said she understood, but there was nothing she could do. Perhaps I could have been kinder. She is not my enemy.

It occurred to me when I left, steaming, that she could also have looked on her MVD records and found that my first drivers license was given to me in Las Cruces, NM, at age 15. Pretty unlikely that same license number, with all my names, under the same number, for the last forty-eight years, did not belong to the same old, tired New Mexico citizen -- they probably even have all the lousy pictures of me through all the years on file. Id like to see the terrorist that could pull that off

On a happier note, I have remembered that she explained, the first time I went in, that just to operate a car, I can get a regular license that will not get me on a plane, but is legal to drive with -- just like the illegals use! Just like my old one. So that is what I will get! I have a passport for other stuff, and I do not think I will travel by public conveyance much anymore anyway. The business of proving I am not a criminal everywhere I go is getting too annoying.
If they want civil war in this country, they will probably end up getting it, Tweeted actor and conservative James Woods, last week. The they are an array of Democrats and leftists. Woods posted his Tweet just hours after James T. Hodgkinson, a Bernie Sanders groupie-turned-gunman, opened fire on Republican Congressman Steve Scalise and others at an Alexandria, Virginia ball field.

Radio talk show host Michael Savage commented last Tuesday, prior to the shootings:

I dont know how much more of this the country can take. We are at a boiling point. Theres going to be a civil war.

Tweeted Sheriff David A. Clarke, Jr., last Friday in response to banners held aloft by leftist protesters that read: Become Ungovernable and This is War:

Really? It's not what I prefer but if the left insists... time to saddle up. I didn't help get @realDonaldTrump elected to back down now.

Could Woods and Savage, in particular, be right? The words, Civil war, are on more lips nowadays. Will Americas long cold civil war finally turn hot? And if war came, what sort of war would it be?

The very idea of civil war is horrific. Wars between nations are bloody and cruel enough. Wars within nations, among former kindreds, may not be bloodier but are often crueler. In some instances, its actually brother against brother.

For most Americans, their frame of reference is the U.S. Civil War. It was sectional rivalry -- a War Between the States. It was generally -- and neatly -- defined geographically. History rarely repeats itself, so blue states lining up against red states -- not for secession this go, but for national control  seems improbable.

There was more unanimity among citizens in South Carolina and Massachusetts at the time of the Civil War. While a left worldview dominates in California, and a right one does in Texas, both have populations that are hostile to the prevailing politics and ethos substantial populations who resent the impositions of the reigning politics and cultures.

Today, the states, though red or blue by degrees, are mixtures of communities -- populations whos worldviews clash -- conflicts of politics, cultures, values, beliefs. Politics are merely an aspect, and, critically, more an endpoint for deeper divides.

Keep in mind that many states have significant regional differences. Redder Central and Western Pennsylvania differ tellingly from Blue Philadelphia-dominated Eastern Pennsylvania. Upstate New York has little in common with New York City and its boroughs and nearby suburbs. Even in regions there are subsets at odds with surrounding communities and jurisdictions. Austin/Travis County, Atlanta/Fulton County, and Pittsburgh/Allegheny County differ from their states or regions. Birmingham, Alabama has more in common with Detroit, Michigan than the surrounding state.

Absent colossal trigger issues or events -- union or disunion; free or slave; Fort Sumter -- degeneracy into multiple civil wars, played out in the states in varying degrees of intensity and duration, appears more realistic.

Civil war in modern America could be more along the lines of Bleeding Kansas -- times 50.

Bleeding Kansas was a precursor to the greater national civil war. The Kansas-Nebraska Act had overturned the Compromise of 1850. Henceforth, popular sovereignty would determine a territorys admission as a free or slave state. In Kansas territory, proslavery and antislavery forces vied for dominance. Community fought community. It wasnt uncommon for neighbor to fight neighbor.

Civil War buffs are quick to point out that underlying secession and slavery was, in fact, a struggle between worldviews. There were growing economic and cultural rifts. The Agrarian South versus the rapidly industrializing North. These divergences were important and stoked tensions. But the drivers were big issues, universally recognized as such, which propelled states into opposing camps.

The prospect of civil war as a collection of degeneracies  localized conflicts  is bolstered by E.W. Jackson, in a powerful analysis for American Thinker last Saturday. Jackson wrote that the threat today is totalitarian culture. He stated:

In many ways this [rise of totalitarian culture] is a far more insidious development than a government dictatorship. It is more subtle, more difficult to defend against, and it is coursing its way through the cultural bloodstream of our country like a malignant cancer.

This cultural totalitarianism is pervasive, intrusive, demeaning, polarizing, threatening -- and for those who step out of line -- detrimental, as Jackson states. Its fueling fears and resentments -- and growing hostility among tens upon tens of millions of normals  Americans who hold traditional values and beliefs. This insidious oppression is the tinder that needs only sparks to start fires in the states.

The militant left -- the Democratic Partys a subsidiary -- is anxious to regain control of the national government. Accelerating acts of violence by the left may be the sparks that ignite fires across the republic.

The left and Democrats expected Hillary Clintons victory, and with it, not just consolidations of power but extensions. As was witnessed under Barack Obama, the cudgel of government power can be used to advance cultural totalitarianism. Why insinuate PC aims when law and the threat of force can hasten results?

Frustrated and angry before November, the left and the Democrats resorted to violence to disrupt Trump events and assault his supporters. Little of this was impromptu; much was premediated black ops. After the elections, the left embraced public expressions of hate, took to the streets, destroying property and assaulting opponents. Its entertainers and artists spew hate and incite violence under the guise of free expression (Madonna, Kathy Griffin) and artistic license (the Trump assassination play). Then came James Hodgkinson.

Hodgkinsons attempted massacre of Republicans and their aides is a watershed in a critical respect. Does it embolden other leftists to take up arms to effect change? Will thwarted attempts by the left coalition -- Democrats, hardcore leftist activists, academics, entertainers, and the MSM -- to overturn the 2016 elections and destroy Donald Trump serve as casus belli for militant leftists?

If Bleeding Kansas plays out in the fifty states how does it resolve? What role would the federal government play in events? The military, national, and state? What finally becomes of the U.S.? After long, bloody local struggles, can the nation reunite  somehow? Or would breakdown and disunity be the countrys fate?

Its all guesswork now, and its safer to predict the unpredictable. Whats certain, though, is that the elements are in place for greater unrest, militancy, strife, and violence. Its the stuff that made Kansas bleed.
James Comey testified that he leaked his infamous memo in order to prompt the appointment of a special counsel. In order to understand his game, the task assigned to the special counsel must be identified. It is a very unusual one.

The order signed by Acting Attorney General Rosenstein states that the remit is to be in the realm of foreign counterintelligence. Robert Mueller, the special counsel, is to investigate possible collusion between the Russians and the Trump campaign.

It is definitely not a criminal investigation. For one thing, the order explicitly states that if the Special Counsel deems it necessary and appropriate, [he] is authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters. Secondly, Rosenstein in his statement accompanying the order says that his decision is not a finding that crimes have been committed or that any prosecution is warranted.

So, the special counsel is to conduct a foreign counterintelligence investigation. What is that, anyway?

Few people realize it, even amongst those who work in government, but the most important activity that the FBI performs is in the field of counterintelligence. It identifies and counters the clandestine activities of foreign intelligence services operating in the United States. The subjects of these investigations, in essence, are foreign governments.

The FBI's counterintelligence activity has little or nothing to do with the Department of Justice. These are not criminal investigations. Prosecutors do not get involved, except in very limited roles, such as in obtaining FISA court warrants.

This means two things. Prosecutors, such as Mueller and his team, have no expertise in foreign counterintelligence. (Mueller is a former FBI director: this does not mean he has the expertise to actually conduct such an investigation; neither do those he has hired as special counsel.) Secondly, they can't do it; it requires expertise, of course, but also an apparatus, such as that the FBI possesses.

Rosenstein's order makes it clear that a criminal case can be investigated by Mueller if warranted.

This is what the pertinent regulation  the AG guideline -- says as to when a criminal, as opposed to a foreign counterintelligence, investigation can be initiated by the FBI (and presumably by the special counsel):

C. Investigations (1) A general crimes investigation may be initiated by the FBI when facts or circumstances reasonably indicate that a federal crime has been, is being, or will be committed. The investigation may be conducted to prevent, solve, and prosecute such criminal activity. The standard of "reasonable indication" is substantially lower than probable cause.  However, the standard does require specific facts or circumstances indicating a past, current, or impending violation. There must be an objective, factual basis for initiating the investigation; a mere hunch is insufficient. [Emphasis added]

This makes Mueller's authority similar to that of the FBI, which can also investigate criminal cases arising out of its foreign counterintelligence investigations. Many have been perplexed by Comey's game in seeking a special counsel. After all, Comey formerly testified there is no evidence regarding collusion by the Trump campaign and the Russians.

In pondering this question, it should be kept in mind Comey during his conversation with President Trump was not Joe Citizen. He was the director of the FBI. He was the master of an investigative agency with the appropriate jurisdiction and resources.

The foreign counterintelligence investigation into Russian activities during the election was ongoing.

Nothing prevented Comey as FBI director from pursuing an obstruction of justice investigation against persons in the White House if warranted. Indeed, as a matter of law, he was obligated to report to the Deputy Attorney General (the FBI director's supervisor, Rosenstein), if he believed anyone, such as the president, had sought to obstruct justice in his own regard. He didn't.

All of this is confirmed by the testimony of acting FBI Director McCabe, taken after Comey had been fired. McCabe testified no one had interfered with the FBI's investigation, that the White House had never even contacted him. And most tellingly, when asked by Senator Rubio whether he needed to have this investigation taken away from him, he replied succinctly: No, sir.

If Comey doubted the FBI's or the DOJ's ability to act fairly, he should have said so. Publicly. One cannot fairly believe Mueller's ad hoc team is going to do better than the FBI would. We must disbelieve Comey had real doubts as to the FBI and DOJ's ability to perform this investigation. He as the FBI director could have ensured all relevant investigation was properly conducted. And according to the acting FBI director McCabe, it was being pursued without interference.

So as far as justice is concerned, there is no discernible reason to appoint a special counsel.

So why did Rosenstein appoint one?

Comey may have exploited a unique situation. Rosenstein had in his memo recommended Comey be fired as FBI director. Rosenstein had authored it as supervisor of the FBI by virtue of his position as Deputy Attorney General (DAG). But because of Attorney General Session's recusal, Rosenstein was also the (acting) AG. As such he could appoint a special counsel.

Rosenstein may have felt vulnerable by the AG's recusal in the situation exploited by Comey. Comey's leaked memo was used to fuel speculation that not only was Trump & Co. in league with the Russians, but that there was an active coverup. Not wanting to be tarred with the same brush (he had, after all, recommended Comey be fired and was, as DAG, the supervisor of the FBI), Rosenstein may have caved and appointed the special counsel. An action which, as established above, was not necessary in order to have these matters investigated and thus not strictly speaking in the service of justice.

What did Comey's gambit gain by getting a special counsel appointed?

Some speculate the fix is in, that Mueller and Comey are old friends, that Mueller's hired assistants donated overwhelmingly to the Democrats and so forth. Perhaps.

But this maneuver by Comey has resulted in the appearance of an investigation into the president for obstruction, for collusion with the Russians, and for a coverup. (Some news outlets are reporting Mueller has actually pursuing such investigations.)

Further, even if Mueller's probe ends with no prosecutions, Comey's gambit will have succeeded in putting the president under a cloud for the next several years and in strengthening the narrative that his election was illegitimate.

Further, in the same vein, leaks and reactions to leaks will continue to dominate the headlines, taking away from any real achievements of the administration.

All of this is rather certain to affect the congressional elections coming up next year (2018). If the Republicans lose the House, the question of impeachment arises. At this moment, certainly this would be groundless, but it probably would destroy Trump's presidency.

Not a bad play from Comey's point of view.

The will of the people in electing this president may wind up being thwarted, but that apparently is of little import.

The right person in the right place can make all the difference. As exemplified by the case of Mr. Comey, so can the wrong one.

The author is a former FBI agent, awarded the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement (NIMA).
The U.S. has shot down a Syrian Su-22 near Ja'Din and close to the strategic dam at Al Tabqa. The Sukhoi 22M series, the model in the Syrian inventory, is an old and relatively slow aircraft primarily used for bombing targets. First produced in 1970, the Russians improved the model over the twenty years it was manufactured (until 1990). It is entirely noncompetitive against top U.S. jet fighters including the F-18 that shot down the Syrian Sukhoi.

It is unlikely the Syrian pilot had any warning before being shot out of the sky. Indeed, the warning issue is what is at the heart of the dispute between Russia and the United States, and it may tell us more than the Russians would like us to know about their unstable relationship with Syria.

According to the Combined Joint Task Force official report, at around 4:30 P.M. Syria time, there was a Syrian attack on Ja'Din which was held by the Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF. The SDF is "multi-ethnic and multi-religious alliance of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian, Armenian, Turkmen and Circassian militias." The SDF took a number of casualties before Coalition aircraft chased the Syrians away. Immediately on the heels of the Syrian attack, the U.S. made use of what is called the deconfliction hotline and called the Russians. A little more than two hours later, another Su-22 was bombing in the same area and this is the plane that the U.S. shot down. There was no further call to the hotline, and while not precisely stated it is nearly certain that the Su-22 was not warned in any way by the approaching F-18.

The U.S. action is consistent with the agreements reached with the Russians. However, the Russians are claiming the U.S. did not use the hotline. Without saying so, they are likely treating the second incident as one that was separate from the first. Of course, this is something of a reach on their part, but it is probably the only response the Russians could have given under the circumstances because the Syrians went ahead with another airstrike on their own after the deconfliction warning was initially given.

Why would the Syrians do this? It boils down to an argument between the Russians and the Syrians over how to treat the Kurds. Last year, the Russians sponsored a peace proposal for the Kurds that would have given them autonomy inside a new Syrian constitution that ultimately would have divided the country into cantons, keeping the appearance of central Syrian Alawite control but in reality changing the nature of the existing unitary state into something different and perhaps acceptable to all sides in the conflict. Moscow flew in a delegation of experts from the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry to meet with the regime and Kurdish representatives. It appears to have been Moscow's view, which is largely President Putin's idea, that this solution would achieve a number of important goals: move the peace process forward and separate the Syrian Kurds from the Americans. Apparently, the Russians failed to do their homework, for while the Syrian Kurds appeared to be onboard, the Assad regime was contemptuously against the deal and rejected it out of hand, the result being the Moscow delegation was sent home emptyhanded or worse. The current Syrian regime attack on the Kurds near Ja'Din should be seen exactly in this context.

Assad does not want to be pushed into any deal by his sponsors. Neither do the Iranians or Hizballah. But the Russians have repeatedly signaled that they want the Syrian problem resolved. The reasons for this are not hard to see. The Russians, even though their arms sales have spiraled up thanks to their successful show of force in Syria, are bleeding money. They can ill afford to stay in Syria for very long. Furthermore, there are Russian casualties and this information, though suppressed has a way of getting around in Russia and undermines Putin's popularity. There is also the risk of a big confrontation with the United States, something the Russians really want to avoid; and an equal risk that if the Russians lose control there can be provocations by Iran and Hizballah plus Syria against Israel that will trigger a general war that would wipe out the Syrian regime. That would be a terrible defeat for the Russians.

This is very tricky waters for the United States too. A big confrontation with the Russians is a very bad idea with unforeseeable and dangerous consequences. The U.S. interest in Syria is not at all strategic; ISIS, as much as it is a threat to stability in some countries, doesn't amount to much and in any case is slowly being defeated. Indeed, with far less military commitment, the U.S. is objectively doing far better against ISIS than against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The best policy for the United States is to stay the current course and destroy ISIS. At the same time, the U.S. is obliged to protect its allies, especially the Kurds (even strong-arming the Turks) and this is precisely the point of the shoot down this week.

For Putin, the shoot down of the Su-22 is a defeat, but not a defeat against the Americans. It is a defeat handed to Putin by the Syrians who have boxed him in and made his hotline and his efforts to find a bridge to the Americans a failure so far.

Now Putin has to decide if he can do an end run on Assad. It is too bad that the U.S. administration, under fire by the Congress over Russia, has its hands tied.
In his latest Goldberg File -- which sadly lacked any credible update on the Goldberg canines -- Jonah takes after Dennis Pragers notion that we are in a civil war here in the USA. Jonahs main argument is that

Democracy isnt about war or even unity, its about debate and disagreement. Inherent to the idea of debate and disagreement is that combatants arent enemies but opponents -- and the way you win is not through killing or even metaphorically destroying your opponents, but by persuading them or the voters that youre right.

Sorry, Jonah, you are wrong. Politics and democracy are not about debate and disagreement; they are about force. An election campaign is an effort to rally a majority of voters so we can go and force our agenda on the losers and make them pay.

The best way to understand this is through Clausewitz (and read the German version; you can translate it into English).

War is the continuation of politics by other means.

Or, as I like to say: politics is the continuation of civil war by other means. Government is force; politics is division; administrative government programs are domination. Debate and disagreement are only about which is get to be dotted in the post-election cram-down.

If you dont like the results of an election then you have two options: win the next election, or take to the streets. The reason that Democracy works is that most of the time people dont want to risk their children in a full out civil war, and the winners dont want to provoke the opposition into civil war.

The reason we have a #Resistance right now is that the left teaches Democratic voters that every election is a matter of life and death, that racist, sexist homophobes are lurking in the shadows preparing to bring back Jim Crow and turn women into Handmaids.

So while Jonah Goldberg may think that democracy is all about debate and disagreement, our liberal friends do not. They believe, in a religious sense, that the meaning of life, the universe, and everything is found in the process of bending the arc of history towards justice, and they think that politics is the way to get there.

Jonahs debate and disagreement means that conservatives are always in the position of conceding the latest liberal rage for justice. Here is my history of the world since 1800 that explains what I mean.

In about 1800 the Great Enrichment began, which has brought people living under limited government and free enterprise in the U.S. from $3 per day to $145 per day. See my AT piece on this. There has been nothing like it, ever. But in 1850 the newborn left declared: what about the workers? You bourgeois beasts are ruthlessly exploiting them! So the bourgeoisie gave the workers the vote, and labor union privileges and pensions and health care and education.

But the left wasnt done. In 1900ish the left declared: what about women? You bourgeois patriarchs have been oppressing them since the dawn of time! So the patriarchs gave women the vote, and the sexual revolution, and sent them to college and encouraged them to create safe spaces. Then in 1950ish, the left declared: what about the blacks? You white racists have been enslaving and segregating them since the dawn of time! So the whites passed civil rights laws to declare non-whites the equals in society to whites. Then it was gays: how come gays cant marry? Now it is Muslims.

But riddle me this, Joker. Suppose there had been no left, but the Great Enrichment had proceeded anyway. How much worse off would all the lefts little darlings be today? Workers? Maybe the white working class wouldnt have lost so many of those unionized manufacturing jobs. Women? Maybe todays womans world would be what women, not lefty feminists, want. Blacks? Obviously they would be better off without the corrosion of Affirmative Action. Why? Because the middle class is not that interested in power.

But the left is interested in power, and that means that at some point we normals are going to run out of room for strategic retreat. At some point debate and disagreement aint gonna do it. At some point we are going to have to fight rather than debate and disagree.

Is that time right now? Maybe if the American people reject the violent left and Republicans hold the House in 2018 and President Trump wins reelection 55-45 in 2020 then the #Resistance will get the message, and we wont need to execute on the notion that civil war is politics by other means.

Or maybe not.

Christopher Chantrill @chrischantrill runs the go-to site on US government finances, usgovernmentspending.com. Also see his American Manifesto and get his Road to the Middle Class.
Donald Trump is a man of courage and honor. He is therefore a big target for the swamp snakes of D.C. All they have to do, they believe, is to accuse Mr. Trump often enough of dishonorable actions and imaginary crimes like the fairy tale of "Russian collusion" in the election, and they can have their special counsel nail the president of the United States on a pure process "crime," like George W. Bush's Scooter Libby, who was convicted and sent to jail for no actual crime at all.

This is the dirty truth about Washington, D.C. in the age of Obama and Hillary and Bill Clinton. This leftocrat swamp is clearly guilty of treasonous acts against U.S. national security by betraying defense technology (Bill Clinton) and facilitating jihadist infiltration of the U.S. government during the Clinton and Obama administrations.

We have watched this happen since the sixties left took over. Some of the perps are now in the limelight on the public stage, and we know who they are. (However, hidden jihadist networks are likely to be much deeper and less visible.)

Mr. Trump has allowed himself to be entrapped in a legal double-bind, precisely because he is a man of honor. Honorable people are not happy to be smeared day after day by the slimy sleazocrats of the New York Times and the Washington Post. These are Deep Swamp creatures.

In D.C., a slip of the tongue is when they accidentally tell the truth. These people are skilled and experienced liars, every single one of them. Harry Truman had it exactly right when he said, "If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

Every single character on your television screen today is a swamp creature. They flourish in the dark, and we now know that members of Congress end up as millionaires because they get insider trading tips from the very legislation they vote on. They are corrupt and mendacious beyond belief.

Now Mr. Trump has volunteered to testify under oath to clear his name. This is what honorable people want to do, because they feel they only have to tell the truth, and any fair-minded listeners will understand. But creatures of the swamp are not fair-minded or honest.

Decency is possible only in a society that has not been corrupted so deeply that the truth no longer matters. After Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Obama, and the RINOs, that assumption no longer holds.

Jimmy Carter actually colluded in the overthrow our Iranian ally, the Shah, to bring the pre-medieval desert tyrant Khomeini to power, leading to decades of suffering for the people of Iran and surrounding nations.

That means that Carter and Zbigniew Brzezinsky colluded with deadly enemies of the United States during the Cold War, and until the end of their lives, they lied about it.

Bill Clinton was actually impeached (officially accused) by the House of Representatives of crimes that were never made public. (Hint: His real crime was not Monica's blue dress. That was a Big Media cover story.)

Most likely, the House impeached him for selling ICBM launching secrets to China, for enough money to feed the Clintons' thirst for power. There may have been even more treachery going on in Bill Clinton's White House, but the Chinese sell-out might have been enough to convince a House majority to fire a shot across Bill's bow.

Impeachment obviously didn't do any good, because Hillary has just been exposed for running an open email scam obviously designed to trade State Department favors for money from the Muslim Brotherhood (Huma's family) and similar monsters of human depravity.

The Obama White House hardly disguised its ties to jihadist terror sponsors and child killers. They actually sent Syrian Al Nusra killers Libyan armaments, by way of the CIA arms depot in Benghazi. The AQIM murder of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya, was not an accident, but a way to kill any witnesses. That is why Hillary and Obama didn't answer the 3 A.M. phone call that night.

Ambassador Stevens desperately asked for help many times in the weeks preceding the murderous trap of Benghazi, and Hillary's State Department crew ignored him every single time. The United States actually hired jihad gangsters to help "guard" the CIA arms depot in Benghazi.

Donald Trump was elected to clean out the fetid swamp of D.C., and we desperately need him to do that. To continue purging the bad guys, President Trump must not be scapegoated and destroyed by the Democrat lynch mob. They will try and try, but they must not succeed.

Americans may be slow to anger, but we are not slow to catch the foul smell of swamp corruption. We've seen it before, and the playbook is always the same.

For a man of honor, it is difficult to take the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination, because the mediocracy will make it look like an admission of guilt. That is who they are.

But the Founders wrote the Fifth as a protection against self-incrimination because they understood the nature of corrupt power. They understood the murderous aristocracies of Europe, and they did not want to give the likes of Robert Mueller a chance to set a legal trap.

The Fifth Amendment is designed to protect the innocent, not the guilty, and to place the burden of proof where it belongs, on the prosecution.

All of us know there is no prosecutable crime here, none whatsoever.

The only crime is the corrupt behavior of the swampocrats, and we need them to be fired and publicly disgraced as quickly as possible.

The only alternative to taking the Fifth right now is for Donald Trump to walk straight into entrapment by the swamp monsters. In military terms, Trump needs to make a tactical retreat to avoid a plain and obvious ambush.

The strategic goal for the Trump administration should be to continue consolidating its power in order to attack the enemy at a time and place of Trump's choosing.

Never give the initiative to the enemy.

Please check with Generals Mattis and Kelly, because this is outright war. Don't forget that for a second.

Taking the Fifth will be hard for Trump, but it is essential to avoid the trap set by the swamp.

We know the RINOs will never defend the president of the United States. They ran up the white flag even before he assumed office.

Today's left is crazed and fanatical, and they deserve to choke in their own hatred, just like ISIS. They have to be tricked and trapped. Don't let them set the battle space.

It is important for normal Americans  not the noisy freaks of the left  to understand what is going on. About half of our voters have a pretty good sense of it, because we've seen lynch mobs before. We are only several months into the Trump presidency, and the assassins are already out there, sponsored by the New York Times in Central Park.

Newt Gingrich has seen it all before. Here is what he just wrote on Twitter, "[Robert] Mueller is now clearly the tip of the deep state spear aimed at destroying or at a minimum undermining and crippling the Trump presidency."

We are seeing a coup d'etat against the U.S. Constitution by those who have nothing but contempt for the law.

This is a bureaucratic assassination in the making, with the active collusion of the fired heads of the Obama FBI, the Obama CIA, and the Obama DNI. In the background strings are being pulled by Obama himself and by Hillary and Bill Clinton, aided and abetted by enemies of the United States in the corporate media along with other lynch mobs of the left.

One of them just tried to gun down the Republican whip of the House of Representatives. That is who they truly are. They are not susceptible to reason. By now, no sane American believes them.

Mr. Trump, please don't step into this trap. We need you for a lot longer to hose out the dirt bags.
In the wake of all the vulgar, overhyped, calculated, and manipulated celebrity news out there, it's a kind of a pleasure to read something about a celebrity who doesn't appear to be any of that.

BBC reports that following the awful Grenfell Towers fire in London, British pop superstar Adele apparently showed up unannounced and alone with a plate of cupcakes at some London fire station to thank the firefighters who fought last week's inferno. Since they were unaware of who she was, she had to take off her sunglasses and introduce herself as she brought her maybe homemade goodies in to them. After that, she posed for selfies with the firemen on their cell phones, obviously delighting them.

Yes, the whole thing could have been stage-managed and spun by a professional public relations team. Celebrities live in bubbles, and no one expects much connection outside their areas of performance. But there were a lot of details in the little story that suggest that it wasn't all that spun.

Adele showed up without her makeup, which isn't exactly conducive to good pictures, and she wore an innocently unflattering dress, courtesy of no Hollywood stylist  apparently, it was the sort of dress she likes to wear when she isn't onstage. There was no publicity and there were no paparazzi  the only reason the news got out at all is that the firefighters couldn't stop sending these selfies to their friends.

It was sweet, spontaneous, and short, an amazing indicator of a real person under all those false eyelashes from behind that globally ubiquitous radio voice. It reminds me of one of her last trips to Los Angeles, where she was spotted at the West Hollywood Target, filling her basket with clearance and other goodies.

Forbes says Adele earned $69 million last year, and she remains the U.K.'s top female performer. Ticket prices to her concerts average about four hundred bucks, the highest of any performer. Would she need to perform a publicity stunt to sell records? Could her common touch be part of her global appeal? The answer in both cases is no, given her talent. Yet, yet, underneath all that, we still see a normal person. Nice to see news like that.
On Father's Day, at least three of the Sunday morning TV talk programs  Meet the Press, This Week, and Face the Nation  made clear their hopes for an end to the Trump presidency. Chuck Todd, at Meet the Press, asked: "How serious is the threat to Mr. Trump's presidency?" Martha Raddatz, at This Week, noted "a new sense of urgency over President Trump's future[.]" John Dickerson, at Face the Nation, spoke of "[t]he threat of a crippling inquiry into the heart of the presidency[.]" (Dickerson's remark might have been somewhat insensitive in view of the injuries suffered by Rep. Steve Scalise the past week, allegedly at the hands of an individual who reportedly posted on Facebook, March 22, "Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It's Time to Destroy Trump & Co.")

None of these programs expressed concern about leaks to the media concerning the special counsel investigation  whatever that investigation may be. None of the programs raised the matter of President Obama's surveillance of the Trump presidential campaign. None of the programs wondered why the FBI probe into collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians is continuing. After all, that probe reportedly got underway last July  eleven months ago. And thus far, apparently, the FBI has come up with no evidence of collusion between President Trump and the Russians. Is it time to wonder if the duration of the FBI collusion probe puts into question the agency's investigative effectiveness?

And isn't it interesting that the Trump campaign probe apparently got underway just as the Clinton emailgate "matter" was concluding? Wouldn't it be something if former president Bill Clinton suggested to Attorney General Loretta Lynch: "Now that that matter about my wife is over, how about buzzing Trump and his campaign?" There is no evidence for such a comment. But if evidence is not needed to maintain the collusion  and now obstruction  probes, why need evidence to speculate on the left's machinations to overturn the 2016 presidential election?

Over at This Week, it looks as if Martha Raddatz has elevated Rep. Adam Schiff to de facto chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. There he again was on the program, with no GOP committee counterpart in sight, hurling innuendo on insinuation on partisan muttering, telling Raddatz "there is evidence" of collusion and obstruction, quickly adding: "But in both cases, I would say, whether there is some evidence doesn't mean there is proof beyond reasonable doubt." What "evidence" is Schiff referring to? He would not say. The important thing for Schiff: "we ought to be investigating." How long? Ending her chat with Newt Gingrich, earlier on the program, Raddatz remarked: "I'm sure it will be many months of going back and forth." What does Raddatz know, and how did she come to know it?

One omission from the Father's Day programs: None of the moderators quoted the comments of Hillary Clinton on the wounding of Rep. Scalise, June 13.

On June 19, this Google search  "Hillary Clinton comments on the Scalise shooting"  yielded no results. Apparently, as of Father's Day, Ms. Clinton had not found the words to comment publicly on an attack on Republicans by a shooter who is alleged to have wanted Trump destroyed  by the way, a sentiment expressed one year ago in a tweet by David Plouffe, who once served as campaign manager for President Obama. Plouffe's tweet went:

It is not enough to simply beat Trump. He must be destroyed thoroughly. His kind must not rise again.  David Plouffe (@davidplouffe) June 13, 2016

And that is precisely what the left is working on, isn't it?

Update:

The "politicususa" website reported, June 14, that Hillary Clinton tweeted "the unifying message message the nation needed after a man opened fire on a group of GOP members of Congress holding baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia." That message, in pertinent part read: "My thoughts are with the members of Congress, staff & heroic police." In my June 20 submission, I noted that this Google search -- "Hillary Clinton comments on the Scalise shooting" --brought forth no results. I continued, "Apparently, as of Father's Day, Ms. Clinton had not found the words to comment publicly on an attack on Republicans by a shooter who is alleged to have wanted Trump destroyed[.]"

A reader of the Clinton tweet would have no way of knowing what she was referring to. There is no mention in the tweet that anyone was shot; there is no mention that a Republican congressman was shot; there is no mention that Representative Scalise was shot. Ms. Clinton provided an all purpose comment, devoid of feeling, that could fit any unfortunate situation befalling "members of Congress." At this point -- to vary her words on a previous occasion -- it very much makes a difference to fail (refuse?) to mention the name and political affiliation of the congressman who was critically wounded, June 13, and who, may God grant him a full recovery, faces a difficult period of convalescence.
Former TYT commentator Dave Rubin has been embroiled in a twitter feud with Mother Jones journalist Josh Harkinson following the release of Harkinson's expose on crowd-funded far-right media.

Dave Rubin identifies as a centrist liberal. After leaving The Young Turks, he started an interview show called the Rubin Report, stylistically similar to a Charlie Rose- or Larry King-hosted interview show.

In his article titled "Cashing in on the rise of the Alt-right," Harkinson attempted to chronicle the rise of far-right alternative media outlets. Relying on crowd-funding rather than ad revenue, these new media outlets stake out positions farther to the right than traditional conservative outlets such as Fox News and National Review, according to Harkinson.

Controversially, Harkinson listed Dave Rubin along with the likes of Charles Johnson and Baked Alaska as part of this new far-right media universe. This irritated Rubin for a number of reasons. For one, he isn't right-wing, let alone far-right; for another, Rubin's show cannot realistically be described as far-right or alt-right.

Perhaps less relevant than the content of his show, Rubin's personal beliefs could best be described as center-left. Rubin supports marijuana legalization, gay marriage, legal abortion, single-payer health care, and a host of other progressive policies.

Further, an analysis of the guests who have appeared on his shows does not demonstrate a far-right tilt. In the last year, Dave Rubin hosted roughly one hundred nineteen guests on his show. Of these guests, only seven have any connection to the alt-right (and three of those seven are Milo).

His alt-right connected guests were Mike Cernovich once, Lauren Southern once, Paul Joseph Watson once, "That guy T" once, and Milo Yiannopoulos three times. Importantly, none of those guests belongs to the core alt-right or true alt-right. Instead, they belong to what is commonly referred to as the "alt-lite."

That is an important difference. As repeatedly proclaimed by alt-right leaders such as "Vox Day," the alt-right is an anti-Semitic, racist, and white nationalist movement. These are the specific elements of the alt-right agenda that the so-called alt-lite objects to. Mike Cernovich, Paul Joseph Watson, and Milo Yiannopoulos have at various times explicitly rejected both white nationalism and the alt-right. Dave Rubin has never had an explicit white nationalist on his show.

More importantly, while Rubin's guest list leans right, the overwhelming majority of his guests are not on the far-right. His guest list includes a number of outspoken progressives including Ian Black, Hilary Rosen, Trae Crowder, and the Guardian's Nick Cohen.

By putting Rubin in the same company as alt-right sympathizers, Harkinson (falsely) branded the show as an extremist fringe media outlet and made it harder for Rubin to attract mainstream guests.

Dave Rubin is one of the few hosts attempting to attract a diverse guest list and promote dialogue between liberals and conservatives in an age of deep polarization. Rubin's non-confrontational interview style brought out the best in his guests, who often expressed far more nuanced and sensible views when on his program. If Harkinson's label sticks, it could kill one of the few media bright spots, and that would be a shame.
There is one, and only one, responsible adult course after the attempted assassination of two dozen Republican congressmen: Republicans must stop the Democrat violence.

Democrat politicians have no intention of stopping their incitement of hate and violence against Republicans. The entire Democrat leadership has encouraged and praised political violence. We mean you, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, DNC chair Tom Perez, Elizabeth Warren. The DNC and Democrat funders, not limited to George Soros, have paid for it. Our past president, Barack Obama, is organizing it.

The GOP must stop it, by all legal and political means at our disposal.

Republicans must announce zero tolerance for political violence. We do have laws to protect us. Use them.



Elderly man in MAGA hat pepper-sprayed by violent Democrat

It is essential that Democrat assailants at demonstrations be identified and prosecuted. Our conservative legal organizations need to enter the arena. Bring charges. If the police won't cooperate, bring charges against them.

It is time to target the people who paid for and organized the planned violence. It is illegal in this country to organize violent assault. The Supreme Court has ruled that free speech does not extend to incitement of imminent lawless action that is likely to occur. Protect our citizens. Put the organizers of political violence into jail. Go up the food chain as high as you can  some of the most powerful Democrat donors and politicians in the country are promoting violence. They can be made to pay.

The KKK was shut down not by the U.S. government, but by civil lawsuits brought for damages by KKK victims. They bankrupted the organization. Let's do the same for the progressive groups behind the anti-Trump violence and their mega-wealthy donors.

Let's hold the Berkeley police accountable for standing down while citizens were attacked with bars, bricks, and chains. Same for the police in Minneapolis who stood passively while suburban matrons on their way to a Trump fundraiser were physically assaulted.

Let's hold the DNC and Clinton campaign legally and financially responsible for sending paid agents to instigate violence at Trump rallies.

No more victim behavior. It's time to stop the Democrat violence.
It's pretty astonishing what President Obama's Deep State Dead-Enders will do to protect their self-claimed "right" to break the law with impunity.

From Breitbart News:

The National Security Council cannot hand over records relating to former National Security Adviser Susan Rice's surveillance of Americans, because they have been moved to the Obama presidential library and may be sealed for as may as five years, conservative watchdog Judicial Watch announced Monday. The NSC informed Judicial Watch in a letter dated May 23 that materials related to Rice's requests to know the identities of Americans swept up in surveillance of foreign targets, including any Trump campaign or transition officials, have been moved to the library.

That's certainly convenient for Rice, whose role in illegally "unmasking" Americans caught up in spy surveillance dragnets and then leaking what she learned for partisan political purposes is explicitly forbidden by law. Well, with this sudden move of all the evidence of her crime to the Obama library, it looks as if she skates again.

The Deep State knows how to protect itself.

It's appalling, because these laws were put on the books precisely to prevent the sort of scenarios we have seen in the last six months: angry political partisans, embittered about the 2016 election, attempting to use U.S. intelligence resources to get back at their political enemies. Susan Rice and her tag-teamer in Benghazi talking points, former deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes (who never got a security clearance), and other denizens of the National Security Council have all apparently been involved in the illegally ordered unmasking of U.S. citizens caught up in the intelligence dragnets of mass surveillance. Rice has been caught red-handed demanding to know the names of these Americans, something the law provides explicit protections for, with the unmasking of former national security adviser Mike Flynn, who spoke with the Russian ambassador, followed by a flood of news leaks from Rhodes's little buddies in what he called his "echo chamber" media.

It's an abuse of power and a miscarriage of justice if there ever was one.

In their by-any-means-necessary minds, U.S. spy resources were their resources, not the state's, to use as they pleased. And since they feel they have a right to rule, any abuse of power is acceptable, provided it supports their leftist president's political fortunes and his now rejected values.

Will Rice ever be sanctioned or scrutinized now? Not with a five-year wait on the black hole of Obama administration presidential library files.

On that front, it's a good guess that the files themselves are likely to be raked through and scoured with "BleachBit," or whatever the favored erasure is, by Obama partisans in a bid to ensure that Rice's role never sees the light of day  and Rice never faces the music. Just the example of former national security adviser Sandy Berger stuffing documents from the National Archives down his pants in a bid to alter the historic record is a sign enough of that.

That they could do this legally signals a problem. Congress should act to stop this travesty of justice. Obama shouldn't own any of those files. Those files are evidence as well as historic record, and in either case, they belong solely to the American people who paid for them.
Down in Central America, El Salvador is getting ready for the return of MS-13 gang members. It is indeed complicated, as Joshua Partlow reports:

The Trump administration's push to deport more Central American gang membershas alarmed officials here who fear that the returning gangsters could exacerbate violence in one of the deadliest countries in the hemisphere. This year the U.S. government has deported 398 gang members to this country, compared with 534 in all of 2016, according to Salvadoran government statistics. This sharp increase in the rate of gang deportations  and the prospect of more gang roundups in the United States  has prompted Salvadoran authorities to hold emergency meetings and propose new legislation to monitor suspected criminals who are being sent home. "This clearly affects El Salvador. We already have a climate of violence in the country that we are combating," said Hector Antonio Rodriguez, the director of the country's immigration agency. "If gang members return, of course this worries us." In tweets and speeches, President Trump has made MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, the leading symbol of the dangers of illegal immigration and the need for more and faster deportations. He has compared the gang's "meanness" with that of al-Qaeda. He promised last week that the organization will be "gone from our streets very soon, believe me." Recent high-profile killings, such as that of a 15-year-old Salvadoran girl in Springfield, Va., and a string of slayings on Long Island, have fueled concerns of an MS-13 resurgence in the United States.

A bit complicated, to say the least.

We cannot criticize President Trump's efforts. He is looking out for U.S. citizens, especially Hispanics, who are the ones living in the communities MS-13 terrorizes.

At the same time, El Salvador is facing its own violence problems.

My recommendation to the U.S. Congress is to provide El Salvador with the funds or assistance to lock up some of the MS-13 leaders or more violent gang members.

This is not a pretty situation. Let's remember that all of this chaos and violence in El Salvador is driving people to the U.S. through Mexico. Sadly, most of them are reaching the U.S. because Mexico can't stop the flow.

P.S. You can listen to my show (Canto Talk), (YouTube) and follow me on Twitter.
iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- This week's terrorist attack targeting people leaving a London mosque after Ramadan prayers is part of a wider phenomenon, in which Muslims are the most affected by terrorism around the world, researchers told ABC News.



While attacks by Muslims against non-Muslims in Europe have dominated headlines recently, researchers from the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), a research and education center at the University of Maryland, believe that Muslims are in fact the most likely victims of terrorism worldwide.



Attacks target Muslims in the Middle East and beyond



START Executive Director William Braniff and his team studied the causes and human consequences of terrorism, compiling details about attacks like the one that took place in London on Monday. What they found is that  although they did not always have information about the religious beliefs of the victims  Muslims were the most affected overall.



"In the Middle East, Muslims are the most likely victims of both terrorism and counterterrorism efforts," Braniff told ABC News.



His point of view may come as a surprise to Westerners who think about terrorism only as high-profile attacks carried out in the U.S. and Europe, such as the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando last year. But when he and his team looked at terrorism more comprehensively, including regions like the Middle East and Africa, it became clear that Muslims are most frequently targeted, he said.



On May 30, for example, ISIS killed 31 people in Iraq in dual bombings. But those bombings drew significantly less attention from Western media than the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that took place May 22. In the Manchester attack, Salman Ramadan Abedi killed more than 20 people and left dozens of others injured, according to authorities.



But Braniff stressed that Muslims face threats from terrorism outside the Middle East as well. He said that START researchers found an increase over the past several years in terrorism-related violence against Muslims in the 35 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental economic organization that includes the U.S. and much of Europe.



"Here, we've seen an increase in attacks perpetrated by Islamic extremists but also terrorist attacks targeted against Muslims," he said.



Attacks on the rise in the West but result in fewer fatalities



Erin Miller, the program manager of START's Global Terrorism Database, which tracks attacks going back to 1970, agreed that attacks against Muslims are on the rise and offered some insight into why they don't always garner the same media attention.



"There are many attacks against Muslims in the West, but they are frequently less lethal," she told ABC News.



Miller cited a report by a German media group that said there were 3,533 attacks on refugees and refugee hostels in Germany in 2016. Those attacks injured 560 people, including 43 children, according to the report, but did not result in any fatalities.



Monday's attack in London, outside the Finsbury Park Mosque, injured at least 10 people, and one person died, but it is unclear if his death was a direct result of the attack.



Miller said that it is frequently difficult to determine the difference between what is referred to as a hate crime in the U.S. and terrorism directed against Muslims, although that distinction isn't the most important one to make when determining what groups are most often targeted by violence.



"The distinction between whether something is terrorism or a hate crime is often not very useful in this discussion," she said. "It's an artificial distinction."



The FBI defines a terrorist act as "a violent act or an act dangerous to human life, in violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state, to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives."



The bureau defines a hate crime as "a traditional offense like murder, arson or vandalism, with an added element of bias."



Muslims are threatened by both terrorism and hate crimes in the West, according to Miller.



Criticism of Trump's response to non-Muslim attacks



President Trump has frequently been criticized by human rights groups for not speaking out against the white supremacist contingent of his base more vociferously and for failing to respond promptly to violence that affects Muslims, rather than violence that is perpetrated by them.



"It's like pulling teeth to get President Trump to respond to terror attacks on Muslims," Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement.



Hooper criticized Trump's response to the mosque attack in London and to the killing of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen in Virginia. She was attacked near the mosque she attended, in what appears to be a road-rage-related episode, according to police.



"His silence or his delay really sends a negative message to the American Muslim community that their lives and their safety are not as important as the lives and safety of other citizens," Hooper added.



The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the president's response to Monday's terrorist attack in London or attacks on Muslims in general.



White House press secretary Sean Spicer said in an off-camera press briefing on Monday that the administration's "thoughts and prayers" were with the victims of the mosque attack in London and that Trump was receiving updates about it.



The president's Twitter account, which he frequently uses to denounce terrorist attacks perpetrated by Muslims, has been silent on the matter.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
A movement towards free abortions on the NHS for Northern Irish women

Nicola Sturgeons SNP Scottish government will look at providing free abortions for Northern Ireland women on the NHS. Sturgeon, Scotlands First Minister, is reported in the Belfast Telegraph as having discussed the plan with the countrys Chief Medical Officer, Catherine Calderwood.

Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland under the terms of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. A woman is a criminal for having an abortion unless the State decides her physical or mental health is at serious risk. Anyone carrying out an abortion in Northern Ireland faces being jailed for life.

Who owns your body? The Northern Irish government exerts more control over womens reproductive organs than women themselves do. And its the same in the Irish republic.

The choice for women seeking an abortion in Ireland is stark: an illegal abortion and prison  and if something goes wrong with the abortion, where do you turn for help if those pills you bought online turn out to be dangerous?; or a flight to Great Britain and lies.

Heres one example of how woman suffer. In 2016, a Belfast woman was given a suspended one-year sentence for a self-induced abortion. She told her housemates that she tried to travel to England for an abortion but could not afford it. So she bought some pills over the web to induce a miscarriage. Her housemates were taken back by the seemingly blase attitude and called the police. Police raided her home and discovered a male foetus inside a black bag in a household bin. They arrested the woman. She was 19.

Figures from the Department of Health in England revealed last week that 724 women from Northern Ireland made the journey to England or Wales for abortions The Sunday Times reported yesterday that some Northern Ireland women were already gaining free abortions in Scotland by naming the address of a Scottish friend as their home. Medics are alleged to turn a blind eye to the fact the women are not living in Scotland.

Its awful. Abortion should be removed from the criminal law. The State has no business ruling over what a woman can do with her womb.

Anorak

Posted: 20th, June 2017 | In: News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
Otto Warmbier and me: The Huffington Posts disgusting attack on North Korea torture victim

Not long after Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea, the Huffington Post produced a hatchet job on the man. Entitled North Korea Proves Your White Male Privilege Is Not Universal, writer La Sha laid into Warmbier, using his suffering to nourish her status as the real victim.

Warmbier was a 21-year-old University of Virginia student on a visit to North Korea with China-based travel company Young Pioneer Tours when he was arrested on January 2nd 2016. The North Koreans claim the student entered the country under the guise of a tourist and plotted to destroy North Korean unity with the tacit connivance of the U.S. government and under its manipulation.

The dastardly US plot involved Warmbier allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda poster from a hotel the tour group was staying at. For this Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years hard labour at a March court hearing. Warmbier had already been shown confessing to committing a crime and begging the Korean people and government for forgiveness.

According to the North Koreans, Otto Warmbier fell into a coma that same month. The North Koreans never mentioned his stricken state. On June 13 2017 a comatose Otto was flown back to the US. On June 19, 2017, Otto Warmbier died. His family has released a statement:

Unfortunately, the awful, torturous treatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home and we could sense that.

The Times says the brain damage he suffered was more consistent with the effects of respiratory arrest, which can be caused by physical trauma, suffocation or the misuse of drugs. Sources suggest he lost a significant amount of brain tissue. Horrific stuff, then.

But to the Huffington Posts writer, Otto Warmbiers horrific ordeal is something to be celebrated. On March 23, 2016, the Post stuck the knife in. La Sha tells us:

my reaction to [a] young white man who went to an Asian country and violated their laws, and learned that the shield his cis white male identity provides here in America is not teflon abroad. As shocked as I am by the sentence handed down to Warmbier, I am even more shocked that a grown man, an American citizen, would not only voluntarily enter North Korea but also commit whats been described a college-style prank.

La Sha is shocked by a mans curiosity to see North Korea. Dennis Rodman (not white) has visited the place. Shocked? She continues:

That kind of reckless gall is an unfortunate side effect of being socialized first as a white boy, and then as a white man in this country.

The reckless gall of being a tourist whilst white. Salon thought as much, telling its readers: This might be Americas biggest idiot frat boy  meet the UVA student who thought he could pull a prank in North Korea. He had it coming. Lark about, get tortured and killed. Theyd pick out bits of brain through his nose if they could find it. Ha-ha. What a dick.

La Sha is not alone in her nastiness.

She then slips into full on English student mode, using the kind of convoluted language kids employ when they want to look smart:

Every economic, academic, legal and social system in this country has for more than three centuries functioned with the implicit purpose of ensuring that white men are the primary benefactors of all privilege.

Its not been working that well of late, then. Barack Obama is away, so too is Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Kim Kardashian, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sarah Palin, Angelina Jolie, Alice Walton and more and more women and non-white male faces who have made a decent fist of making it in the USA. The list of white males who didnt rise to the top is long. But who cares for those millions of losers who frittered away all that privilege in The Rust Belt and elsewhere in Americas hinterlands? Maybe theres a wrinkle in the Matrix?

And on and on she goes:

The kind of arrogance bred by that kind of conditioning is pathogenic, causing its host to develop a subconscious yet no less obnoxious perception that the rules do not apply to him, or at least that their application is negotiable.

Lets interject, break up this hideous hatchet job. We can share another aspect of Otto Warmbiers life:

In a tearful statement made before his trial, Warmbier tells a gathering of reporters in Pyongyang he tried to take the banner as a trophy for the mother of a friend who said she wanted to put it up in her church. He says he was offered a used car worth $10,000 if he could get a banner and was also told that if he was detained and didnt return, $200,000 would be paid to his mother in the form of a charitable donation. Warmbier said he accepted the offer because his family was suffering from very severe financial difficulties.

Check your privilege, whitey.

But the Huffington Posts writer isnt listening. Shes making it all about race. Its very nasty:

Yeah, Im willing to bet my last dollar that he was aware of the political climate in that country, but privilege is a hell of a drug. The high of privilege told him that North Koreas history of making examples out of American citizens who dare challenge their rigid legal system in any way was no match for his alabaster American privilege.

She then likens Otto Warmbier  a young man who allegedly tried to nick a sign for larks  to mass murderers who gun down innocent people in a church and run amuck at a fast food restaurant. You see, Ottos skin colour makes him a suspect:

When you can watch a white man who entered a theatre and killed a dozen people come out unscathed, you start to believe youre invincible. When you see a white man taken to Burger King in a bulletproof vest after he killed nine people in a church, you learn that the world will always protect you.

Not stopping there, she attacks his parents.

And while I dont blame his parents for pressuring the State Department to negotiate his release, I wonder where they were when their son was planning a trip to the DPRK.

Dunno. Is it relevant?

What a mind-blowing moment it must be to realize after 21 years of being pedestaled by the world simply because your DNA coding produced the favorable phenotype that such favor is not absolute. What a bummer to realize that even the State Department with all its influence and power cannot assure your pardon. What a wake-up call it is to realize that your tears are met with indifference.

A bummer to see your son ripped away from you and vanished. Biased, bigoted and wholly objective, the article is the antithesis of good journalism. Pause from casting aspersions over all whites and the dead mans grieving parents to wonder how this bilge passed before the editors eyes and wasnt spiked.

She continues:

As Ive said, living 15 years performing manual labor in North Korea is unimaginable, but so is going to a place I know Im unwelcome and violating their laws.

No. Visiting North Korea is not unimaginable. Its something you can do legally with a ticket. And if you find it so hard to imagine the hell of enslavement in a work camp, I can commend If This is A Man by Primo Levy and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. Reading when youre a writer can be useful. Also manual labour  yeah, who does that for 15 years? That question to coal miners and anyone else employed in one of those unimaginable blue collar industries that keep the lights on and writers in laptops.

She concludes:

Im a black woman though. The hopeless fear Warmbier is now experiencing is my daily reality living in a country where white men like him are willfully oblivious to my suffering even as they are complicit in maintaining the power structures which ensure their supremacy at my expense. He is now an outsider at the mercy of a government unfazed by his cries for help. I get it.

No. You dont. Because in the race to the bottom that is competitive victimhood, your moral compasses has gone haywire. Otto Warmbier appears to have been tortured to death. His trial and treatment should earn our utmost sympathy. To use his plight as a means to showcase youre own victimhood and self-aggrandisement, to stand on his grave and shout But what about me? is anti-human, needy and ultimately self-defeating.

Anorak

Posted: 20th, June 2017 | In: Key Posts, News Comments (3) | TrackBack | Permalink
Mass protests urged in the Rif for end of Ramadan Nasser Zefzafi launches appeal from his Facebook page

(ANSAmed) - RABAT, JUNE 20 - Nasser Zefzafi, the leader of protests in northern Moroccco's Rif region who is currently being held in prison in Casablanca, has launched an appeal on his Facebook page urging mass protests in the Rif during the end of the holy month of Ramadan.



In his post, he invites Muslims celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the religious holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, to come together on June 25 in Al Hoceima, which has been the main center of the protest movement.



Zefzafi is calling on protesters to demonstrate in solidarity with the incarcerated members of Hirak, the movement that is calling for justice and development in the northern Moroccan region. A large march is expected on the same day in support of economic and social demands that protesters say politicians haven't wanted to take into consideration up to now.



In small towns and cities across the region in the shadow of the Rif mountain range, residents have been invited to hang a drape on their roof in a sign of mourning and sadness on a day that should be one of joy and celebration.



The incarcerated members of Hirak are awaiting a court decision, with hearings being periodically postponed.



Without a decision, they aren't able to hope for a royal pardon, which is customarily granted near the end of Ramadan.(ANSAmed).




New large wildfire in Portugal 20 km from Pedrogao

(ANSAmed) - LISBON, JUNE 20 - A new large wildfire considered 'worrisome' by Portugal's civil protection service has broken out in Gois, about 20 km from Pedrogao Grande in central Portugal, where firefighters continue to battle a devastating blaze they hope to have under control by end of day Tuesday.



The country is currently observing three days of national mourning in honor of the 64 victims of the Pedrogao forest fire, which more than 1,200 firefighters and nine firefighting aircraft are still working to bring under control.



Another 800 firefighters and four Canadair firefighting planes are now fighting the wildfire in Gois, which Civil Protection Commander Vitor Vaz called "very fast and explosive".



Weather conditions in the area remain difficult, with high winds and temperatures above 40 degrees Celcius.(ANSAmed).




Portuguese Prime Minister Costa orders probe on wildfire Controversy on failed closure of the 'road of death'

(ANSAmed) - LISBON, JUNE 20 - Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has ordered an investigation into the conditions that led to the devastating wildfire in Pedrogao Grande and the measures taken to manage the crisis in its initial phase.



Controversy is surrounding in particular the lack of a timely decision to close state road 216, now dubbed the "road of death", in which 47 of the 64 victims were burned to death in their cars while attempting to flee their villages, which were surrounded in flames.(ANSAmed).




ROME - President Sergio Mattarella on Tuesday, World Refugee Day, said ''the day we are celebrating today leads us to stress the coherence with the values of the Republican Constitution of initiatives taken on the issue by Italy, far from the approaches of indifference or hostility towards victims of tragedies of humanity evolving at the borders of Europe''.

In his message, the president noted that World Refugee Day ''offers us the occasion to reflect on the drama'' of those forced ''to flee war and situations of major crisis. Our attention and thoughts must go first and foremost to the many who reach our coasts every day. The flows of refugees are a daily reality, not occasional events anymore'' nor ''exceptions due to temporary crises''.

''It is therefore necessary for our approach to be able to overcome the emergency to elaborate, as we are already doing, increasingly effective structural and long-term responses''.

Mattarella called for ''strategic choices'' that are ''far-sighted and well-calculated , aimed at preventing conflicts, stabilizing the regions of the planet that are most at risk, fighting the dramatic consequences of climate change- The choices concern the entire international community''.

This requires strong engagement and constant work, knowing that extemporary actions will not eliminate ''the root of causes leading so many people to flee''.

The head of State also said that the flow of refugees are a global phenomenon ''that manifests its effects well beyond the countries that are directly involved. It is thus indispensable that, in a logic of shared responsibility, all members of the international community are able to demonstrate their work in favor of such a relevant part of humanity in a spirit of collaboration and serenity. It is not only a matter of sharing the cost of welcoming but of taking responsibility in managing migration flows at a global level''.

''In this context - noted Mattarella - Italy is aware of its role and what was done, thanks to the work of many of our citizens - sometimes in condition of extreme difficulty and at the cost of personal sacrifice - to save human lives and welcome refugees, those who have a right to protection based on international laws''.
If youre considering a subscription to the Disney Plus streaming service, you may be wondering how much it costs. The service is available on both
Heico stated that it expects the acquisition to be accretive to its earnings within the first year following the acquisition.

Carbon by Design is led by Dominick Consalvi, who co-founded the company in 2003. The company engineers and manufactures hard-to-design and produce complex carbon composites for commercial launch vehicles and spacecraft, as well as multiple UAV manufacturers.

Consalvi will continue to head Carbon by Design, which will join Heicos Specialty Products Group, a leader in composites for commercial aviation and defense applications. Carbon by Designs 75 team members and the entire management team is expected to remain with the company in their existing roles.

Heico stated that it does not expect any employee turnover to result from the acquisition.

Laurans A. Mendelson, Heicos chairman and chief executive officer, and Eric A. Mendelson, Heicos Co-President, jointly said: Carbon by Design continues our expansion in proprietary composites solutions for extremely demanding technical requirements. Dominick has differentiated Carbon by Design with creative and cutting-edge high-tech processes, and broadens our offering to the commercial aviation market, and the growing space launch, satellite and UAV markets. We welcome the entire Carbon by Design team.
The MoU aims to develop and qualify national human resources capable of working in space science technology sector, and thereby contribute to the development of sector in the United Arab Emirates.

The MoU was signed by H.E. Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director General of MBRSC and H.E. Dr. Eesa Bastaki, President of University of Dubai, in the presence of a number of executive officials from the Centre and the university.

According to the MoU, both two sides will coordinate to design and prepare educational, training or qualification programs in the scientific specialties related to the space sciences technologies and satellites. In addition to that, the Centre and university will cooperate in providing students practical training opportunities, scholarships under MBRSCs Entaliq Scholarship Program and job opportunities for outstanding students.

Al Shaibani, Director General of MBRSC said: The signing of the MoU coincides with the Centre's mission and strategy in building qualified national cadres in space field to support developing a unique UAE space sector.

He added: "We believe that MBRSC as a scientific and research center specialized in space and advanced technology and higher education institutions have a complementary role to build capabilities and develop human resources and research activities in space science.

UD President H.E. Dr. Eesa Bastaki said: Space is the future. The University of Dubai seeks to establish a generation of pioneers, engineers and intellectuals aiming for the top. Our role as an educational institution is to provide knowledge, the necessary tools and equipment, and stimulate scientific research. Dr. Bastaki added that the agreement, which he categorized as fundamental, will contribute to the development of the educational sector and enhance innovation and creativity, in line with the country's strategic plans.
Boeing AnalytX unites existing analytics services and products across Boeing's commercial, defense and services businesses, its research and information technology capabilities and its family of companies.

"The amount of data created today is unprecedented. But it's not about the data on its own, it's what you do with it," said Ted Colbert, chief information officer and senior vice president of Information & Analytics at the Paris Air Show. "Through the products Boeing AnalytX powers, we are applying scientific processes to data to solve our customers' most pressing problems today while creating a world of limitless possibilities for the future."

As part of the launch, Boeing announced five agreements to provide customers with solutions powered by Boeing AnalytX. Agreements announced today include:

Turkish Airlines has added Jeppesen Fatigue Risk Management and Boeing Alertness Model tools through a new contract, to improve flight safety and working conditions for the airline's pilots and cabin crew members

AirBridgeCargo signed an agreement to deploy Fuel Dashboard services across its entire fleet. Fuel Dashboard helps airlines reduce fuel consumption with total savings opportunities averaging over 4 percent. The tool is currently used on more than 1,500 airplanes around the globe.

China Airlines renewed a contract to provide Airplane Health Management's analytics-based predictive alerts on its fleet of 737NG and 747 freighters. China Airlines utilizes AHM analytics in taking predictive maintenance actions that help them improve efficiency and lower operating costs.

Delta Air Lines signed a contract to use AHM on its Boeing 717 fleet. This agreement expands Delta's use of AHM's analytics-based predictive alerts to encompass Boeing airplanes across its 737, 747, 767 and 777 fleets.

Korean Air signed an agreement with Boeing to provide AHM on its 787 and 777 fleet. Korean uses AHM's predictive analytics alerts to reduce delays and cancellations by scheduling maintenance in a controlled manner, avoiding schedule disruptions.

"Boeing has been working with its customers for decades to turn data into real-world tools that transform their business, saving them time and money and improving passenger experiences," said Stan Deal, president and CEO of Boeing Global Services.

"Around the world there are more than 4,300 airplanes covered by Boeing's Airplane Health Management, sending data direct from the airplane to airlines' operations and maintenance teams. For government customers we are reducing maintenance costs and increasing aircraft readiness through having the right information available at the right time. And our scientists are working every day to create the next product that turns data into deliverable solutions," Deal added.
A senior Qatari delegation led by Qatars Minister of Transport and communications, Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti, joined Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive, Akbar Al Baker, to reveal the first Boeing 777 equipped with the airlines new and unique seat design in a ribbon cutting ceremony, close to its schalet at Le Bourget Airport

Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti said: I am very proud to see the national carrier of the State of Qatar showcasing the unique Qsuite to the whole world as it continues to expand and innovate in every single way. I am also very pleased to see the national carrier of the State of Qatar proceed with its expansion plans more than expected, with endless ambition.

Al Baker said: We are tremendously excited to showcase the first aircraft fitted with our revolutionary new Qsuite here in Paris. This product will transform premium travel by bringing a First Class experience to the Business Class cabin. With this innovative offering  which features the first-ever double bed in Business Class  we have set a new standard for the industry, one which demonstrates our continued commitment to providing the finest possible experience for our passengers. We look forward to the debut of Qsuite on our Doha  London Heathrow route this weekend.

Vice Chairman of the Boeing Company, Ray Conner added: All of us at Boeing are proud that the Boeing 777 has been selected to debut Qatar Airways new and innovative Business Class interior. With Qsuite, Qatar Airways is introducing a new level of innovation that will make flying a truly remarkable experience.

Qsuite, patented by Qatar Airways, features the industrys first-ever double bed available in Business Class, with privacy panels that stow away, allowing passengers in adjoining seats to create their own private room. Adjustable panels and movable TV monitors on the centre four seats allow colleagues, friends or families travelling together to transform their space into a private suite, allowing them to work, dine and socialise together.
With this agreement, GE Aviation will be the service provider for all of Royal Air Maroc's GE engines.



"Royal Air Maroc and GE have developed a strong relationship, and this agreement demonstrates the airline's confidence in our service capabilities," said Jean Lydon-Rodgers, president and chief executive officer of GE Engine Services.




The agreement includes both paper and digital Jeppesen charts, FliteDeck Pro, electronic flight bag (EFB) services, NavData digital navigation services, Airport Moving Map capabilities, e-Link digital chart library services and Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) prediction technology.

"Since we always seek to implement the highest quality navigation and operations solutions to further increase our efficiency, we are pleased to return to Jeppesen as a long-term customer, and are looking forward to integrating their comprehensive solutions to our operations again," said Bilal Eksi, Turkish Airlines' deputy chairman and CEO. "Another key factor in our decision to return to the global leader Jeppesen as our service provider is their superior level of customer service, which has been a critical factor for our decision making process."



Jeppesen navigational data is provided to customers on a "changes-only" basis, which allows for data download speeds that are many times faster than comparative industry providers. This allows for rapid integration into flight management systems, and can take airlines to the skies much sooner with the most accurate data available.



"Having Turkish Airlines return as a customer marks a significant achievement, as this agreement further validates Jeppesen as the industry leader for navigational data, charts and services that increase situational awareness and optimize operational efficiency," said Ken Sain, Jeppesen chief operating officer. "We will provide many years of service for Turkish Airlines and look forward to supporting the airline with the digital transformation of their operations, moving forward."

While Turkish Airlines will receive paper charts from Jeppesen, in the near future, digital flight information provided through the use of FliteDeck Pro enhances situational awareness, using real-time, data driven flight information on tablet and EFB.



Aiding Turkish Airlines navigation capabilities, Jeppesen RAIM technology assesses the integrity of GPS signals and the accuracy of airborne GPS navigation equipment.
]

With its headquarters in the UK, Sabeti-Wain got a request from one of its customers, Emirates Airlines, to open a seating cover facility in Dubai to be closer to the airline.

Sabeti-Wain Dubai opened in 2007 with just one unit at Dubai Free Zone, with the company employing 60 staff. Today it has four units and employs 150 staff. However, that is soon to change as the company further expands.

We are looking to move the four units to one big unit at the Dubai South Free Zone. It will be much more cost-effective there, explained director Paymen Sabeti.

The company has been servicing Emirates for 19 years. Originally it only expected to have the airline as its sole customer but Sabeti said the customers just kept coming. The company now produces seat covers for the majority of Middle Eastern airlines.

So what is the secret behind its success?

Our company has got three things right, said Sabeti. We have excellent quality with very few rejects from customers; our designs and innovation are top-notch; and we always deliver on time, which is paramount.

Sabeti, who runs Sabeti-Wain along with his sister Mahnoush Sabeti-Wain and her husband Nick Wain, also said it was important to keep the staff happy.

We have 150 guys working here in Dubai, they are all from Pakistan and fabulous workers, said Sabeti. We pay for their flights over and a flight home to see families once a year, we also pay their accommodation. We want to keep them happy so they carry on doing such a professional job.

With aircraft seats constantly changing, the company likes to stay on the ball.

We produce various seat covers, including laminated for a smarter appearance and distinctive corporate branding. The highest standards of workmanship are central to our success, and our seat covers go through a 100% inspection during all stages of manufacture, and on completion, said Sabeti.

Aircraft seats are always changing and improving. Today, aircraft can have much thinner seats, with a futuristic look. An example is Emirates Falcon seat, which is flying in business class on the B777 aircraft. Its a slender seat with beautiful leather the idea is from a Mercedes S class car.

Airlines want this comfy sofa feel, which is quite difficult as it requires a lot of padding and foam, and at the same time they want it light, which is the number one factor, so this can be quite a challenge. However, it is one that never beats us, said Sabeti.

The company now converts foam at its UK facility. This is something no other local seat cover manufactures does.

Every seat has a foam bottom that the cover goes on to, so we make those, explained Sabeti. The option there is to create different layers of foam of different densities, so you can use memory foam at the top to hug your shape, and then harder foams below to give durability. Something we are looking at working on is where the foam forms a part of the cover  so its now two separate items that come together.

We have ergonomics experts in our company and we like to have a say in the shape of the seat as much as the seat manufacturer and the airlines.


follow following unfollow 860 Ultimas reportagens

Fernando Guerra has been a pioneer in the way architecture is photographed and divulged. Fifteen years ago, he opened studio FG+SG together with his brother, and both are responsible in large part for the diffusion of Portuguese contemporary architecture in the last fifteen years.



Fernando Guerra is an architectural photographer. His training, however, is as an architect. His gaze is divided between two distinct modes of constructing the world. Given this fact, he is in a prime position to personify the metamorphosis of the field of photography that will lead the practice of creating images to eventually identify itself, in part, with the field of architecture.



In order to understand a space, architects, possibly with a more conscious intentionality than mere users, walk about the buildings. They capture the spatiality of architecture by wandering, scrutinizing, and associating ideas, shapes, dimensions. It is through this movement that they discover the infinite variables of the architectural space, the singularities that distinguish a significant place from the myriad of insignificant constructions that invade our visual field. And they do it by blending what they see with the memories of other buildings they carry with them, often acquired through observation mediated by photography. Our architectural culture, given the impossibility of visiting all of the buildings in the world, is constructed mainly through the eyes of others. It is in this sense that Fernando Guerra casts a generous eye upon the architecture he registers. Among the buildings he photographs, it is not exactly a value judgment on architectural content that is perceived, but rather an examination, at the emotional level, that seeks to homogenize all of the registers. Thus, what is cultivated is the absence of any critical moralism that might interfere with the image's final result and that seeks to position itself (architecturally) on a neutral plane, becoming useful in its own right. It is simultaneously a world in which better or worse architectures do not exist. The photographer, contrary to the photographer-artist, is summoned and responds through his knowledge as an expert. If he manipulates the image, that is, if any excess of "realism" is removed from it, he does it conscious of the fact that he works in a field of impartiality.



Fernando Guerra's work is regularly published in various national and international publications, in magazines such as Casabella, Wallpaper*, Dwell, Icon, Domus, A + U, among many others. FG+SG collaborates with various Portuguese architects such as Alvaro Siza, Carlos Castanheira, Manuel Mateus, Manuel Graca Dias, Goncalo Byrne, ARX Portugal, Joao Luis Carrilho da Graca, Promontorio Arquitectos, as well as international architects such as Marcio Kogan, Isay Weifeld, Arthur Casas, Zaha Hadid, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, among others.



The website ultimasreportagens.com has become the starting point for consulting contemporary portuguese architecture with more than six hundred online features, as well as special articles and publications.
If theres a richer radio archive of interviews with cultural figures and others from all walks of life than the one amassed by Studs Terkel , Im unaware of it. Here, for example, is Norman Mailer talking with him on March 17, 1960, about writing, critics, self-censorship, and American life. Its great stuff. Mailer offers his thoughts about affirmative literary works, apathy, and a lack of passion in modern life generally; about Samuel Beckett and theater; about Jack Kerouac and Beat writers, and their reception in the United States; and about other writers who were Mailers contemporaries. Mailers accent, which was always changeable, makes him sound a bit like a toff. But what he has to say sticks like gorilla glue.
India currently imports nearly 50 per cent of its ammunition requirements by value term.

New Delhi: Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Defence Ammunition has entered a strategic partnership with Serbia's state-run defence major Yugoimport

to manufacture ammunition in India and target business opportunities of Rs 20,000 crore over the next 10 years.

The company made the annuncement here today, a day after Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, met President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic in Paris.

Defence Minister of Serbia, Zoran Dordevic, Assistant Minister of Defence Nenad Moloradovic and the CEO of Yugoimport were also present at the meeting.

"Two companies will work together in the field of ammunition amongst others, with projected minimum requirement of Rs 20,000 crore over next 10 years from Indian armed forces," Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) said in a statement.

It said there is also an option for exporting ammunition, adding the proposal envisages transfer of technology by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and indigenous manufacturing in India.

Yugoimport, a state-owned enterprise, is a market leader in the field of ammunition production and has offered a fully compliant technical solution to meet the Make in India requirements of the Indian government, as per RDL. RDL has proposed to set up a greenfield facility for the production of ammunition.

"Reliance Defence Ammunition will also undertake joint development of next generation ammunition to meet the future requirements of the Indian armed forces," the company said.

India currently imports nearly 50 per cent of its ammunition requirements by value term, with an annual spending of more than Rs 10,000 crore on ammunition.
Company had entered into a pact with RCom for acquisition of right to use certain spectrum in the 800 MHz band.

All the three agreements were entered into between the parties concerned in January 2016.

New Delhi: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio Infocomm has sought CCI approval for the proposed spectrum sharing deal with younger sibling's Reliance Communications.

The company is awaiting approval from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for agreements entered into with Reliance Communications (RCom) and its subsidiary Reliance Telecom Ltd (RTL). These pacts are for using 800 MHz spectrum.

Reliance Jio is the latest entrant in the highly competitive domestic telecom market and launched its services in September last year. The company had entered into a pact with RCom for acquisition of right to use certain spectrum in the 800 MHz band.

Besides, it had inked agreements with RCom as well as RTL providing with the option related to use of spectrum in the 800 MHz band. All the three agreements were entered into between the parties concerned in January 2016.

The agreements were "pursuant to the guidelines for trading of access spectrum by access service providers" issued by the Department of Telecommunications on October 12, 2015, as per the notice submitted to the CCI.

According to the notice, Reliance Jio was testing its network for providing mobile telephone services, high definition voice, video, data and messaging, in India as on the date of entering into the agreements. As per CCI website, the deal is under review.
He said the inaugration ceremony will take place in the Central Hall of Parliament.

Mumbai: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will definitely rollout at the stroke of midnight of June 30.

Addressing the media in New Delhi, he said the inaugration ceremony will take place in the Central Hall of Parliament. It will be attended by the President, the Vice president and the Prime Minister. The President and the Prime Minister will speak on the subject of GST.

He added that two short films made on GST will also be screened on that day.

#WATCH : Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses the media in Delhi https://t.co/GgDfYxEIoO  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

Addressing the question of GST's impact on GDP, he said "I anticipate in the long term, being a more efficient system, the revenue inflow and spending capacity of the centre and the states will increase and have a consequent impact on GDP".

Jaitley further said that all reforms are initially seen as "disruptive". However, in the long run they become "result-yielding". "There will be short-term challenges in the switch over. That is why I have extended the date for filing of GST returns. Industry and trade will have to prepare themselves. It is not very complicated," he said.

He further said the process of registration on the GSTN is going on smoothly. Responding to the question of traders facing problems in registering themselves, he said "The 65,000 who registered did not have issues, the 5,000 who did are on Twitter".

Talking about GST-prepareness of the country, he said it will be measured not on July 1, but in August when the returns will be filed. He reiterated that the government has given a two-month relaxation to the industry for filing of returns because of this reason. "We had been saying GST will be rolled out by July 1; nobody had any business not to be ready. If a trader is still not ready by that time, then he does not want to be ready," he added.

Earlier, the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (Assocham) and Civil Aviation Ministry had requested the Finance Ministry to defer the GST rollout. Both bodies reckoned that the machinery was not prepared to roll out GST from July 1.

The anti-profiteering provision of GST has been a point of contention between the government and traders. "Anti-profiteering clause in GST is a deterrent which is not intended to be used unless forced to," he said reassuringly.
Carrie Fisher seemed to have multiple drugs in her system at the time of her death, according to the full autopsy report.

Mumbai: Carrie Fisher seemed to have multiple drugs in her system at the time of her death, according to the full autopsy report.

According to the full autopsy report, Fisher had heroin and cocaine in her system at the time of her death, reports People Magazine.

As per the official documents from the Los Angeles County coroner's office, the actress had opiates, methadone, ethanol and cocaine when she went into cardiac arrest on a flight.

The report noted, "The exposure to cocaine took place sometime approximately in the last 72 hours of the sample that was obtained."

The toxicology report also found traces of an anti-depressant and antihistamine in her system.

Despite the substances discovered through toxicology tests, the medical examiner said it was unclear how much of a role those played in Fisher's death.

"Based on the available toxicological information, we cannot establish the significance of the multiple substances that were detected in Ms. Fisher's blood and tissue, with regard to the cause of death," said the report.

Billie Lourd, the only child of Carrie Fisher made a comment on the autopsy report and said, "My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases. She talked about the shame that torments people and their families confronted by these diseases. I know my Mom, she'd want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles."

Adding, "Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programs. Shame and those social stigmas are the enemies of progress to solutions and ultimately a cure. Love you Momby," as quoted by People Magazine.

The report states Fisher died of "sleep apnea and other undetermined factors."

The report concluded by stating, "The manner of death has been ruled undetermined."

For the unversed, Carrie Fisher, best known as Star Wars` Princess Leia, suffered a heart attack at the end of last year. She was flying from London to Los Angeles on Dec. 23, when she went into cardiac arrest.

She was rushed to a nearby hospital, where later died, just one day before her mother, Debbie Reynolds, passed away
Majority of opposition leaders seemed to share an opinion that Kovind was chosen merely for his Dalit background.

New Delhi: Opposition parties and NDA ally Shiv Sena remained wary about Bharatiya Janata Partys presidential candidate Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, as the party hoped for a consensus on the same.

Opposition parties have sought to keep up the suspense on extending their support and may even put up a joint candidate.

Read: PM Modi, Amit Shah spring a surprise with choice of Ram Nath Kovind

With both the names suggested by it -- RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and noted agriculturist M S Swaminathan -- rejected, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Dalit candidate was chosen merely for vote-bank politics.

The Sena will take a final decision on Wednesday regarding its support to 71-year-old Kovind, who is the governor of Bihar.

Also read: Kovind chosen due to his qualities, not because he is Dalit: Swamy

The name of Kovind, who has served two terms as Rajya Sabha MP from BJP and was also the party's Dalit wing head, was announced by Amit Shah on Monday.

The Congress, however, spurned the BJP's appeal for consensus on its choice and said the opposition would take a call on contesting the election after a meeting on June 22.

The BJP had taken a "unilateral decision", Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said soon after the announcement.

"Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections. The final call will be taken in a meeting of all opposition parties on June 22," he said.

On the BJP fielding a Dalit candidate, Azad said, "... I don't want to comment on this... I don't want to comment on the merits and demerits of the candidate."

Read: Ram Nath Kovind: RSS leader, HC lawyer, next President of India?

Sources in the Left parties said the Opposition may field a joint candidate and the issue will be discussed at the June 22 meeting.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde; Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader and grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, Prakash Yashwant, and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are some of the names the opposition parties are considering.

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was part of the three-member panel formed to hold discussions and build a consensus on a presidential candidate, said the suggestions of opposition parties played a role in the NDA picking Kovind.

"I hope they (opposition) should not have any reason now to oppose the candidature of Ram Nath Kovind because of his background, non-controversial nature, and also sound legal and social background," he said.

CPI national secretary D Raja, however, said Naidu and Rajnath Singh, who was also part of the panel, had not proposed any name.

"Now, they have named a person with RSS background. We are against it, but we will have to discuss the issue within the CPI and with other opposition parties. A meeting will be held soon to discuss the same," he said.

Indirectly expressing her party's reservation about the candidature of Kovind, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said he was nominated only because he had been a leader of the BJP's Dalit Morcha in the past.

"There are other big Dalit leaders in the country. Just because he (Kovind) was a leader of the BJP's Dalit Morcha, they have nominated him," she said in a statement.

"The office of President is a key post. Someone of the stature of Pranab Mukherjee or even Sushma Swaraj or (L K) Advaniji may have been made the candidate."

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the BJP "unilaterally" selected Kovind and the non-NDA parties will take the decision "keeping in mind the country's history that the ruling and opposition parties contested the polls on all occasion except once".

He said it was the NDA's proposal that it would get back to the opposition after zeroing on a candidate.

"They did not come back to the opposition and announced the candidate," he said.

The NCP also said the future course of action by the opposition parties will be decided in the June 22 meet.

In Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati said her party is positive about the nomination but wished the NDA had named a non-political Dalit candidate for the top post.

"Although Kovind has been associated with the RSS and the BJP from the beginning but since he is a Dalit, our party's stand towards him cannot be negative. It will be positive, provided Opposition parties do not field any Dalit for the post who is more capable and popular than him," she said.

"Had the BJP and NDA brought any non-political Dalit for the post, it would have been better," she said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed happiness over the state governor's candidature for the president's post, but stopped short of committing support to the NDA nominee.

"In my capacity as the Bihar Chief Minister, it is a matter of happiness that our governor has been declared as the candidate for the next president of India," he told reporters in Patna after paying a courtesy call to Kovind at the Raj Bhawan.

CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said the Opposition parties must put up their candidate against Kovind as he is from the ranks of the RSS.

"Anybody from RSS rank will further divide the country. The three-year rule of the BJP government has divided the country. We feel that definitely there is a need for a democratic candidate, not from hardcore of the RSS," he told PTI in Hyderabad.

In Bhubaneswar, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced his party's support to Kovind.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan extended full support to Kovind, saying his choice is a political masterstroke by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The ruling TRS in Telangana and the ruling TDP and opposition YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh also backed Kovind's candidate and pledged their support to him.
The Fairfax County Police Department(STERLING, Va.) -- Virginia police believe a road rage incident led to the death of the 17-year-old Muslim girl whose body was found near a mosque, officials said in a press conference Monday evening.



The body found in a Virginia pond Sunday has been identified as 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston, Virginia, officials confirmed Monday. Hassanen went missing earlier in the day Sunday after she and her friends left a mosque, according to police.



Fairfax County police confirmed Monday that they are not investigating the case as a hate crime.



"Based on the information our detectives have at this point, there is no indication that this was a hate-bias motivated-related crime," police said. "If that changes as the investigation progresses, we would certainly pursue that aspect."



Julie Parker, director of media relations for Fairfax County police, said in Monday's press conference that the incident started early Sunday around 3:40 a.m. local time when a group of about 15 teens were walking in Fairfax County to get some food after participating at an overnight event at the ADAMS center (All Dulles Area Muslim Society). Parker said detectives believe the suspect drove up to the teens when a male teen on a bike started arguing with him.



The suspect, who has been identified as Darwin Martinez Torres, then drove up on a curb and the group of teens ran, said Parker. She added that detectives believe Torrres became enraged from the argument when he got out of his car and began chasing the group with a bat. He caught Hassanen and hit her with the bat before taking her in his car to a second unidentified location in Loudon County, said Parker.



Hassanen, whose body was found in a pond around 3 p.m. Sunday in Sterling, Virginia, died from blunt force trauma to the upper body, Parker said.



Fairfax County police arrested Torres, 22, of Sterling around 5:15 a.m. and charged him with murder in connection with the case. Torres was arraigned Monday morning and held without bail, according to an official at the Fairfax County courthouse. It is unclear if he entered a plea and it was not immediately made clear whether he had obtained an attorney.

UPDATE: Suspect in Herndon missing teen investigation taken to jail. Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, of Sterling, has been charged with murder. pic.twitter.com/JGBxXmdqUf  Fairfax Co. Police (@fairfaxpolice) June 18, 2017

Police said they looked into whether the killing was a hate crime, but said they found no indication that this was a bias incident. Officials do believe Torres acted alone, and are not looking to arrest any other suspects.



ICE said in a statement Monday that they have filed a detainer on Torres, a citizen of El Salvador, for potential deportation as he is believed to be in the U.S. illegally.



The ADAMS center in Sterling, where the teens are believed to have been attending an overnight event, released a statement in regards to Hassanen's death.



We are devastated and heartbroken as our community undergoes and processes this traumatic event, the center said in a statement. It is a time for us to come together to pray and care for our youth.



The center said it would have licensed counselors on site Monday to help the community cope with the loss.



Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring urged the public to show "love and support" for the ADAMS center and the Muslim community.

The unspeakable murder in Sterling feels like an assault on our entire community. Love and respect must overcome hate.  Mark Herring (@MarkHerringVA) June 19, 2017

"The unspeakable murder in Sterling feels like an assault on our entire community. Love and respect must overcome hate," Herring said in a tweet Sunday. "This breaks my heart. @ADAMSCenter_ has always welcomed me like family. Let's surround community w/ love & support."



Parker said the investigation of the case is ongoing and said the case may be prosecuted in Loudon County instead of Fairfax County because of elements of the crime and where they occurred.



Deputy Chief Tom Ryan expressed his condolences to the 17-year-old's family and reiterated Fairfax County's support for the Muslim community during Monday's press conference.



"I can assure you that while justice will not bring Nabrah Hassanen back justice, will be done," said Ryan.



A community vigil will be held on Wednesday, June 21 by the South Lake Muslim Students Association in honor of Hassanen's death.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Earlier, a 29-year-old actress allegedly committed suicide in Andheri West, and her body was found by the police on Monday.

Mumbai: A day after her daughter was found hanging at her residence, mother of Bhojpuri actress Anjali Shrivastav on Tuesday claimed that her daughter couldn't have committed suicide and hence, called on the police to probe the matter thoroughly.

"We just want the police to probe the matter thoroughly. Neither the door of her apartment was closed from inside nor did she leave a suicide note. I am very sure that she didn't commit suicide," said victim's mother.

She said that she had a word with Anjali a night before this incident took place and she seemed fine.

"She was fine and was talking very nicely. I was there till June 5 and as soon as I went back home this incident took place. I can't believe that she did this," she said.

Earlier, a 29-year-old actress allegedly committed suicide in Andheri West, and her body was found by the police on Monday.

Anjali Shrivastav's relatives took the help of her landlord when she did not pick up her phone for a stretch of time.

When her landlord opened the door with a duplicate key, her body was found hanging from the ceiling fan.

No suicide note was found in the room and the police is investigating the reason behind her extreme step.

Her body has been sent to the Cooper hospital for postmortem.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday gave approval for the visa extension, official sources said.

New Delhi: Controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen's visa has been extended for one year, with effect from July 23, 2017, by the Union Home Ministry.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday gave approval for the visa extension, official sources said.

Taslima, a citizen of Sweden, has been getting Indian visa on a continuous basis since 2004.

Her visa has been further extended on the basis of the Swedish passport, they said.

Taslima is living in exile since she left Bangladesh in a cloak of secrecy in 1994 in the wake of threats to her by fundamentalist groups.

She has also stayed in the US and Europe during the last two decades. However, on many occasions she had expressed her wish to live in India permanently, especially in Kolkata.

Taslima had also applied for permanent residency in India. "No decision has been taken on it by the home ministry," a source said.

The writer also had to leave Kolkata in 2007 following violent street protests by a section of Muslims against her works.

Taslima had said if she is not able to stay on in India she will suffer from an "identity crisis" which will affect her writings and championing the cause of women's rights.
Asked about the 'terror threat,' Senkumar said he could not elaborate further.

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced a terror threat during his recent visit to Kochi for inauguration of the Kochi Metro Rail project, Kerala police chief TP Senkumar indicated today.

"There was a big threat perception here on the day of the prime minister's visit (on Saturday).. There was a terror module here during his visit. We cannot disclose much of its details," Senkumar told reporters in New Delhi.

Asked about the 'terror threat,' Senkumar said he could not elaborate further.

The Kerala director general of police said this while justifying police action on Friday near the Kerala High Court against people who were protesting against an LPG terminal coming up at Puthuvype near here.

He defended Kochi's City Deputy Commissioner of Police Yatish Chandra who reportedly used force to remove protesters in the high court area on that day.

"They (the protesters), all of a sudden, tried to create trouble on the route the prime minister's motorcade was to take (on June 17)," the DGP said, adding it happened when the Special Protection Group (SPG) and other security agencies were conducting a trial run through the route.

Modi had visited Kochi amid tight security on Saturday to dedicate the first phase of the Kochi Metro to the nation and also had taken a brief ride on the metro train along with dignitaries including Governor P Sathasivam , Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

The police chief said the protest was staged without prior notice and justified the police action.

Senkumar dismissed the allegations against Yatish Chandra that he had ordered lathicharge against the protesters at Puthuvype on Sunday.

"Can you show me the visuals of his action," he asked reporters.

He reiterated the police charge that extremist forces were behind the anti-LNG terminal protest.

"Yes, extremist forces are behind the protest," he said justifying the lathicharge.

His statement comes amid demand from the opposition parties and protesters for stringent action against the police for the lathicharge.

At least 20 people were injured in the lathicharge.

Meanwhile, the 'LPG Terminal Virudha Janakeeya Samara Samiti,' on Tuesday said they would attend a meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tomorrow to discuss the issue.

Earlier, they had said they would not attend the meeting scheduled in Thiruvananthapuram.
The SC had sentenced him to a 6-month jail term on May 9 for contempt of court and had asked West Bengal police to execute the order.

Coimbatore: Absconding former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was on Tuesday arrested in Coimbatore, more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

A team of West Bengal police arrested the 62-year-old Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from here, a top police official said.

According to the official, Karnan, who had been staying there for the last few days, resisted the arrest and argued with the police.

However, he was taken into custody, he said.

"We have arrested former high court judge Karnan from south India," a senior officer of the CID said in Kolkata.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping here for the last three days and traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls.

The police here gave the technical support to trace his whereabouts, the official here said.

Karnan will later be taken to Kolkata, the police said.

The arrest came eight days after the controversial former judge ended his tenure as a fugitive from law with no customary farewell being given to him in the Calcutta High Court in view of his absence.

He has been evading arrest since May 9 after being given the jail term by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar.

The court later turned down his pleas for staying the sentence.

Though the former judge arrived in Chennai on the day the Supreme Court gave the verdict, his whereabouts were not known thereafter with Kolkata Police continuing the search.

Karnan had on May 12 moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Karnan, who enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983, was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016.

He was transferred from the Madras High Court for his repeated allegations and run-ins with its then chief justice and fellow judges.
Furnishing relevant documents, Modi claimed that there are around 18 flats and parking places in Patna owned by former Bihar Chief Minister.

Patna: After a string of money laundering allegations against Lalu Yadavs minister sons and his daughter Misa Bharti, senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday fired benami property salvo at former chief minister Rabri Devi claiming that she has acquired property worth several crores in Patna.

Furnishing relevant documents, Modi claimed that there are around 18 flats and parking places in Patna owned by former Bihar Chief Minister. He said that the flats were constructed in 18,652 square feet area and the estimated cost of the property was worth Rs. 20 crores as per the current value.

Modi further claimed that Rabri Devi acquired the property in the form of gifts from three persons whose family members were given jobs in railways when Lalu Yadav was the Union Minister.

Documents show that properties located at various locations in Patna belonged to three persons whose family members were given railway jobs, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi told this newspaper on Tuesday in Patna.

Sushil Kumar Modi alleged that in 2011 Rabri Devi signed an agreement with Shreya constructions to build 36 flats on two plots. The documents also showed that Rabri Devi got 50 per cent share in the building along with parking space.

Modi further said that he would submit all the documents to Income Tax department by July 15, 2017, for further action.

Documents were furnished by Sushil Kumar Modi on the day when Income Tax department served attachment notice to Lalu Yadavs wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, daughters Misa Bharti and his Deputy Chief Minister son Tejaswi Yadav in an alleged money laundering case.

According to sources, the IT department has served attachment notice under the Benami transactions act for assets worth over Rs. 9 crores against Yadavs family.

Earlier on two occasions Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar were summoned by income tax department in connection with the benami property case which they had skipped.
Uddhav Thackeray said his party will not back Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.

BJP National President Amit Shah accompanied by Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and State BJP chief Raosaheb Danve meets Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya Thackeray at Matoshree in Mumbai on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

Mumbai: On a day the BJP announced Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA's presidential choice, its key ally Shiv Sena on Monday refrained from spelling out its stand on backing him, keeping the BJP on tenterhooks.

It said the Sena will take a final decision on Kovind in the meeting of its party leaders scheduled in Mumbai on Tuesday. Addressing the 51st Foundation Day function of Sena in suburban Matunga on Monday evening, Thackeray said his party will not back Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.

Thackeray had reportedly told visiting BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday that the Sena would take a call on supporting the NDA nominee for the top constitutional post only after BJP reveals its choice.

Shah had called on Thackeray at his residence in Mumbai on Sunday.

Earlier on Monday, the BJP named Kovind, a Dalit leader who has been associated with the party and the RSS, as the NDA nominee for the presidential poll.

"If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone. We shall decide on whether or not to support the candidature of Kovind on Tuesday," Thackeray said.

Sena had earlier rooted for the candidature of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Hindutva line and later proposed the name of veteran agriculturist M S Swaminathan for the top post.

Bhagwat, however, didn't show any interest whereas Swaminathan chose not to react. Sena, known for its unpredictability, backed the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the 2012 presidential polls against the NDA's P A Sangma.

In 2007, Sena backed Pratibha Patil instead of NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

Thackeray said Sena had proposed Bhagwat's name while keeping in mind the concept of 'Hindurashtra' (Hindu nation). "Considering that there may be objections to Bhagwat's name, we mooted the name of Dr M S Swaminathan taking note of his service to the cause of farmers," he told the gathering of Shiv Sainiks.

Earlier on Monday, Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said Shah called up Thackeray after the NDA's presidential choice was decided by the BJP's parliamentary board meeting, and sought the party's support for Kovind.

"Uddhavji told him that he will convene a meeting of the party leaders to arrive at a decision and convey our answer to him in one or two days," he said.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP has 122 MLAs and claims to have support of some more MLAs. Sena has 63 MLAs.

There are 67 members from Maharashtra in Parliament  48 in the Lok Sabha and 19 in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP-led NDA (including Sena) has a total of 52 MPs. Sena has 21 MPs - 18 in Lok Sabha and 3 in Rajya Sabha, while the BJP has 23 members in Lok Sabha and 5 members in Rajya Sabha from the state, that corresponds to a total value of 19,824 votes.

The Congress led UPA has 15 MPs from the state in both the houses of Parliament. The total value of MP votes of the UPA is 10,620. During his address, Thackeray took potshots at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over his remarks that some political parties were behind the recent agitation by farmers.

"...Sena not only stood behind farmers just in spirit, but also with full might," he said.

Against the backdrop of a speculation that mid-term polls could be in offing in Maharashtra, he said Sena is not unduly worried about the snap polls, but is more concerned about suicides being committed by farmers.

"Hold mid-term polls if you want, we are ready... Shivsainik is not just a burning ember, but will rise like a forest fire," Thackeray said.

"Nobody should think that they can keep on winning elections all the time. If anyone is so boisterous then let them hold mid-term elections. We shall bury you in the soil of Maharashtra," Thackeray said in an apparent dig at Amit Shah over his recent statement that BJP is winning elections in various states.

Thackeray said the state government should not put stringent conditions upon farmers to avail the farm loan waiver, which was announced recently.

"If the government puts any such twisted condition, I would tear that paper (notification) myself. Be liberal in giving aid to farmers," he said.
Tucked away among grocery shops and beauty salons lies the oldest market for sewing machines in the city.

Along the bustling streets of Girgaum lies a market that is often overlooked by passers-by  a market that sells sewing machines of all shapes and sizes. Tucked between beauty salons and grocery shops, each shop is stacked with rows upon rows of sewing machines. While some are sourced from China, Japan and other countries, a few in-house brands also make their appearance. The ten or so shops, clustered together along Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Road, form one of the oldest markets of its kind of sewing machines to be found in the city. Dating further back than Indian independence, their origin can be traced to the Mumbai cotton trade.

Mehta Brothers and Company is one of the oldest shops in the area. Both industrial style and domestic machines are sold here and shelf upon shelf is stacked with parts. Sewing machines ranging from those used to sew linings on shirts to those that sew shut industrial gunny bags can be found scattered around on every available surface.

Jitendra Mehta, who is well into his seventies, says that it was his father who first established the shop nearly a hundred years ago. The shop was one of the first three original shops to have cropped up in the area. Three shops came up here and the rest cropped up around them. The other two shops have shut down, so mine is the only original store still around, he says.

A few doors down, Maninder Pal Singh of Gurudev Singh and Sons, gives a brief rundown of the history of the market, as he sits ruminating in the twilit Mumbai evening at the doorstep of his store. Having grown up around the sewing machine business, he doesnt remember a time when he was not exposed to the business, which he officially plunged into at the young age of 15 years.

During the days of my grandfather, the main market used to sit at the port  not far from here. Sewing machines were one of the items that were imported and when the ships would bring them ashore, traders would then bring the machines here to these shops. Similar markets in places like Dadar and Malad have come up since then, but this is the oldest. Most of the shops are at least 50 years old, he explains.

However, due to fierce competition from the ready-made garments industry, the market has dwindled down from its glory days. There were over 20 shops here at one point, but now we have just around ten shops. Our machines would have been sold to local garment factories and though there are a few of them still around, most of the market has been taken over by international brands, so the demand for industrial machines have lessened, he laments.

Not just industrial machines, even domestic machines are not in such high demand anymore, says Jitendra. Once there was a tradition of gifting sewing machines at weddings  it was an integral part of the household. Now, most women dont really have the time for all of that and so, not that many embroidery machines are in demand, he elaborates.

Still, all is not lost, as many of the next generation of traders have also taken up the helm. Pranay P. Solanki, with his carefully gelled hair and friendly demeanour sits behind the desk at P Bhagwandas & Sons, as a representative of the next gen. We have enough demand to get by. There are over a hundred machines here. While Jitu Uncle (Jitendra) is the one who knows the most about this bazaar, most of us grew up around here and came naturally into the business and want to continue the legacy, he smiles.
The issue of CCTV cameras in buses has been used by the Congress, BJP to attack the AAP govt, accusing it of neglecting women safety.

The board of DTC will also meet on Tuesday to give a green signal to the proposal after which it will be kept before the Cabinet for a final decision. (Photo: File/Representational)

New Delhi: The Delhi cabinet is likely to approve the transport department's ambitious proposal to install CCTV cameras in all DTC buses when it meets in New Delhi on Tuesday, a government source said.

In its 2015 Assembly election campaign, the Aam Admi Party had promised to install CCTV cameras in DTC buses after coming to power.

The DTC has already installed CCTV cameras in 200 buses of its fleet. Presently, it runs around 3800 buses.

Besides, there are also about 1,200 cluster buses operated by the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal System (DIMTS).

"The buses need to be fitted with CCTV cameras including the cluster buses and the Cabinet will take a call on it," said the source.

The board of DTC will also meet on Tuesday to give a green signal to the proposal after which it will be kept before the Cabinet for a final decision.

In 2015, the then DTC chairman and managing director had sought Rs 103.25 crore to install CCTV cameras in the entire fleet.

The issue of CCTV cameras in buses has been used by the Congress and the BJP to attack the AAP government accusing it of neglecting women safety.
Meena Bhagat sought LG's intervention in the matter for timely disbursement of salaries and carrying out development work in east Delhi.

New Delhi: East Delhi Mayor Neema Bhagat on Tuesday called on Lt Governor Anil Baijal seeking his intervention to ensure release of funds pending to the cash-strapped EDMC from the city government.

Bhagat met the LG, days after her meeting with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, during which she had claimed, "As per the finance commission recommendations, Rs 9,845 crore is due to us (EDMC) in financial year 2017-18 from the Delhi government."

Kejriwal in the meeting on June 15 had alleged "massive corruption" in the functioning of the East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC).

He had sought to know where the funds released by his government to the civic body were being spent, triggering a war of words with Bhagat.

The EDMC mayor had retaliated, saying Kejriwal was "politicising" the issue instead of helping the cash-strapped civic body.

She sought Baijal's intervention in the matter for timely disbursement of salaries to employees and carrying out development work in east Delhi.

Bhagat, in a statement by EDMC, said the meeting with the LG was "quite positive and serious".

"He has assured to look into the details of this matter," she said, adding, "The LG said he would try to get the fund released and has asked the EDMC to send a request for the same."

Bhagat said the LG also asked the EDMC to look for more avenues for revenue collection so as to have a "permanent solution to the issue".

The EDMC mayor, after calling on Kejriwal last week, had said, "During the meeting, Kejriwal said his government could only release more funds if the Centre gave funds to it.

She had added that the chief minister "did not give any assurance on the funding issue and instead asked us to go to the Lieutenant Governor."

During the meeting, the chief minister had asserted that the EDMC had many sources of income, but because of "corruption" its finances were in a mess, a charge denied by the mayor.
Gandhi met the mayor at his office and had a discussion on how they could improve the activities of the NGO with the help of the KMC.

Kolkata: Union minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday urged the Mayor of Kolkata Sovan Chatterjee to waive off taxes imposed on her NGO 'Ashari', so that the organisation can offer better service.

Ashari, a unit of People for Animal, a Delhi-based NGO run by Maneka Gandhi, is located at Mukundapur off EM Bypass in Kolkata.

Gandhi met the mayor at his office at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and had a discussion on how they could improve the activities of the NGO with the help of the KMC.

She even sought the KMC's cooperation to improve the drainage system and water supply to the NGO premises.

The mayor assured Gandhi that he would discuss her appeal in the appropriate body.

Gandhi even expressed her desire to work together with the KMC on various activities relating to welfare of animals.

On this issue, the mayor said that the KMC would work with NGOs only after they were referred by the Animal Welfare Board.

On January 14, 2001, the then West Bengal Governor Viren J Shah had inaugurated this multifaceted project spread over 4.4 acres.

Ashari Animal Shelter-cum-Hospital and Research Institute is one of the few NGOs that work for providing shelter to poor animals, including stray dogs.
The police said prima facie it appears to be a suicide by hanging.

Mumbai: A 29-year-old Bhojpuri actress, Anjali Srivastava, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself to death from a ceiling fan at her rented house in Andheri West at a time her parents were away. The police are yet to find the reason behind her suicide. On June 8, Srivastava posted her selfies on social media with a caption saying Give me one chance to live with him.

According to police sources, the incident came to light when she did not attend her familys phone calls for a couple of days and the family asked her landlord to check up on her. The landlord found Srivastava hanging from a ceiling fan on Monday afternoon and alerted the police. The DN Nagar police did not find any suicide note on the spot and have registered an Accidental Death Report (ADR) in this case.

Anjali Srivastava

Police officials in DN Nagar police station said the Bhojpuri actress, Anjali Srivastava, who stayed with her parents in a rented flat of Parimal Society at Andheri West, was alone at the house when she allegedly committed suicide. Srivastavas parents had gone to their hometown Allahabad .

Speaking to The Asian Age, senior police inspector of DN Nagar police station, Vasant Pingle said, Prima facie it seems to be a suicide by hanging and we have registered an ADR. The body has been sent to post-mortem in the civic-run Cooper Hospital, which will ascertain the cause of death.

The neighbours said that Srivastavas parents were unhappy with her profession.
Sena completed 51 years on Monday and the party held its annual foundation day at Shanmukhananda Hall, Mumbai.

Mumbai: Hardening his stance toward BJP, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that he was ready for mid-term assembly elections in Maharashtra anytime. I am not worried about elections. I am worried about farmers committing suicides. If you want to hold elections, hold them now. Our cadre will give you a befitting reply, he said. Uddhavs statement comes just a day after his meeting with BJP chief Amit Shah in Mumbai.

Sena completed 51 years on Monday and the party held its annual foundation day at Shanmukhananda Hall, Mumbai. On the occasion, Uddhav addressed his party workers on various issues including presidential elections, loan waiver and the political situation in the state.

With the BJP having decided the same day on Bihar governor Ramnath Kovinds candidature for presidential elections, Mr Shah called Uddhav requesting the Senas support. Uddhav started his speech with the same. Kovinds name is being proposed just for the sake of Dalit votes. Sena has never engaged in caste-based politics. We do not support this, he said. However, he was quick to add that his party would take the decision whether to support Kovind on Tuesday after considering all factors.

Uddhav also expressed his views on the farmer loan waiver, saying that the government should not insist on tough parameters while giving relief to farmers. We are keenly watching the developments regarding loan waiver. We will not allow such parameters that will not help farmers. If the government tries to cheat them, Sena will throw the loan waiver papers as trash, he said.
The HC also asked the boards to submit data of learning disability students with them from the past 10 years.

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has asked officials of various boards whether mathematics could be made an optional subject, as it is a deterrent for many regular children from clearing exams.

The court also said that apart from mathematics, the language subject is a deterrent for normal children and observed that due to these subjects students dropped out of school and did not pursue graduation. The observations were made while hearing a petition on plight of students with learning disabilities that was filled by psychiatrist Dr Harish Shetty.

The HC also asked the boards to submit data of learning disability students with them from the past 10 years and mention the steps taken by them to assist such students in the next hearing.

A division bench of Justice V.M. Kanade and Justice A.K. Menon was hearing the petition, which sought directions to various boards to take steps to assist students with learning disabilities to cope with their studies.

According to him, while the state board had taken some steps to address the problems of students with learning disabilities, other boards like the CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and IB also need to take certain steps to make learning easy for affected students.

In an earlier hearing, the court had directed the boards to instruct affiliated schools to screen students discretely and spot specific learning disabilities at an early stage so that remedial measures could be taken. On Monday, taking the earlier instructions forward, the bench said, Nearly 90 per cent of the school dropouts do so as they are unable to pass the mathematics and language subject exams. As these subjects are not required for degree courses, if an option is given to them, it may even encourage them to complete graduation. The court directed the non-state boards to confer with experts and reply as to whether the subjects could be made optional by July 26.
The next iteration of the SIM card can help in slimmer devices and give more power to consumers for choosing carriers.

Theoretically, you can use two networks on one SIM card by simply switching profiles on the device. And, it means that phones can do away with SIM card ports.

When the concept of eSIM (Embedded SIM) got a guideline revision by GSM Alliance (GSMA) in 2015, it appealed to the consumers as a perfect tool for gaining more power over their decisions to choose carriers. The concept also appealed to manufacturers like Apple and Samsung, who implemented the technology in their niche products, such as the US version of the Apple iPad and the global edition of the Samsung Gear S2 Classic 3G and Gear S3. However, despite being a consumer and manufacturer friendly technology, it appears to have not gained any traction with the technology industry, even in 2017.

The eSIM sounds complex but is fairly easy to understand. Your phone has a small plastic card inside, known popularly as the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card which is used to identify your phone amongst the billions of phone users through a unique mobile number assigned to it. However, a SIM card is tied to a particular carrier and it requires you to change SIM cards if you prefer to migrate to some other network.

This is where eSIM comes in, with its easy-to-switch carrier system. The eSIM is part of the devices hardware and lets the user switch networks through profile system. Theoretically, you can use two networks on one SIM card by simply switching profiles on the device. And, it means that phones can do away with SIM card ports.

However, the market hasnt really caught on with this concept. Apart from computer peripheral manufacturers, the smartphone world hasnt seen any development on this front. We are moving towards smartphones with bezel-less displays, dual cameras, embedded AI assistants and yet the old for network connection technology from the last decade still exists. We try to decode certain possible reasons for this.

The first major reason for this could be the implementation cost. We have only seen niche eSIM enabled devices from established manufacturers. Devices like iPads and smartwatches are perfect test beds for gauging the success of the technology. However, mainstream products from the same manufacturers, like iPhones and Galaxy smartphones, still havent got it, probably hinting at a raised price tag.

The second possible reason could be resistance from network operators/carriers. They want to retain customers on their network and prevent migration by offering sweet offers to cover up unsatisfactory services. With an eSIM, all it would take for a user to switch networks is simply applying for the other network. In short, changing networks would be like switching Wi-Fi networks with passwords.

It is also possible that the technology is at a nascent stage and isn't good enough for commercial use.

Whatever may be the reason, the eSIM deserves to be in a market like India where IT is booming at an unprecedented rate. The eSIM will also let OEMs go for slimmer devices with more space for innovative features. Carriers like Reliance Jio have shown that new technology always finds wider acceptance if its pro-consumer. Therefore, if OEMs and carriers come together in the Indian smartphone arena to adapt this technology to the way 4G LTE network was adapted, it will aid for better choices for consumers.

(Source)
Otto, the college student who returned to the US last week after 17 months of detention in North Korea, died on Monday afternoon.

Washington: While condoling the tragic death of college student Otto Warmbier, US President Donald Trump condemned the "brutality of the North Korean regime".

"Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him," the White House said in a statement.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," the statement further read.

Otto, the college student who returned to the United States last week after 17 months of detention in North Korea, died on Monday afternoon.

He had suffered severe brain damage during his captivity.

The Trump administration placed intense pressure on Pyongyang to release Warmbier when they learned of his condition.
Some US officials sceptical of the prospects for success say that previous efforts to curb Pak's support for militants have failed.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. (Photo: AP)

Washington: President Donald Trump's administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, US officials said.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistan's support for militants groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Precise actions have yet to be decided.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistan's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistan's war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on America's longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

"We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other U.S. officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behavior. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that U.S.-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional U.S. troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

"I believe there will be a much harder U.S. line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at U.S. claims that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

"What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full," a senior Pakistani government source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: "They don't want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism."

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

Experts say Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the U.S. battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus U.S. military hardware.

Some U.S. officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.

"Pakistan is not an ally. It's not North Korea or Iran. But it's not an ally," said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.

But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

"The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honor," said a former U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

"Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one," said the February report.

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, U.S. officials told Reuters.

U.S. frustration over the Haqqani's presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a militant organization in 2012. U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.

The potential U.S. pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when U.S. officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a "disaster."

"It didn't affect Pakistan's behavior one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan's behavior worse," Sedney said.

Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in U.S. assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a U.S. Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.

Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorization that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

U.S. officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.

Curtis' report also singled out the aid as a target.

But U.S. aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, U.S. officials and a Pakistan expert said.

"Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren't taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves," the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.

Pakistan's army chief of staff last week criticized "unilateral actions" such as drone strikes as "counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan".
Javi Correoso, an Uber spokesman, said the law doesnt specify drivers should speak the language but only communicate.

The county has issued citations or warnings to about 40 drivers for the language violation, said Mike Hernandez, spokesman for the mayor of Miami-Dade. (Photo: Representational)

Miami: An Uber driver was cited $250 in Miami for not speaking English, local officials said Monday.

After dropping off passengers at Miami International Airport, Carmen Hechavarria received a ticket for apparently breaking a county ordinance that says drivers of ride-hailing apps must be able to communicate in the English language.

Hechavarria, 54, appeared not to understand when an officer greeted her good morning on Sunday, according to an incident report from the Miami-Dade county aviation department. She speaks Spanish.

Javi Correoso, an Uber spokesman, said the law doesnt specify drivers should speak the language but only communicate. He said the app allows people to understand one another even if they speak different languages, which is how foreign-language speakers and deaf drivers can sign up.

Considered the capital of Latin America, Miami has the largest population of Cubans outside of Havana and is increasingly welcoming Venezuelan immigrants or asylum seekers. Two out of three people in Miami-Dade County speak Spanish at home, according to census estimates.

The county declared itself bilingual nearly 45 years ago after becoming home to many Cuban exiles fleeing Fidel Castros regime. The designation was overturned in 1980 but restored in 1993. The state, however, voted to make English the official language in 1988.

The local ordinance mandating drivers should be able to communicate in English went into effect last year. But on July 1, it will be replaced by a state law that doesnt have the language requirement passed in the Florida legislature earlier this year to avoid local governments from regulating ride-sharing companies.

The county has issued citations or warnings to about 40 drivers for the language violation, said Mike Hernandez, spokesman for the mayor of Miami-Dade. Although Hernandez didnt say Hechavarrias fine will be forgiven, he said the mayors office and the public transportation department have the power to waive citations.

There is a strong possibility that this administrative fine can be waived, he said.
This is yet another attack targeting the Afghan military base, as there has been a recent spate of such incidents.

Kabul: Eight Afghan security guards were killed and two others wounded in an attack on the Bagram military base at Shah Kah village, about 40km from Kabul, on Monday night.

"#Bagram - 10 Afghan security guards from Bagram military base attacked in Shah Kah village last night. 8 killed, 2 wounded," tweeted Tolo news.

Further details are yet to emerge.

This is yet another attack targeting the Afghan military base, as there has been a recent spate of such incidents.

In April, Taliban attackers, disguised in military uniforms, carried out one of the deadliest attack in Afghan security forces as they killed around 150 soldiers at a military base in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Last week, an Afghan soldier attacked US troops at Camp Shaheen, in Mazar-e Sharif, injuring seven.
The bilateral panel will report to a joint ministerial meeting of the eurozone's two biggest players in July.

Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday she was prepared to consider new French President Emmanuel Macron's proposals for a shake-up of the eurozone.

Speaking to business leaders in Berlin, Merkel acknowledged that the "economic cohesion of the eurozone member states leaves something to be desired".

Merkel, who is running for a fourth term in a September general election, said Germany would be open to an "economic government" to pool "best practices" for promoting jobs and growth among the 19 eurozone members.

"We could of course consider a common finance minister, if the circumstances are right" with the proper balance among risk, liability for debt and the power to dictate policy, Merkel said.

"We could also consider a euro-budget if it is clear that we are really strengthening the structure of the economy and doing sensible things," she added, backing another suggestion by the French leader.

During his campaign, Macron had put forward ideas for reforming the eurozone, noting that the currency bloc cannot go on as it is if it wanted to avoid falling prey to protest and populism. Among reforms he wants to see are setting up a separate budget for the group, as well as giving it its own parliament and finance minister.

Macron has forged the beginnings of a strong working relationship with the German leader since his election last month and chose Berlin for his first trip abroad as president.

At a joint press conference, Merkel threw her support behind Macron's call for a "historic reconstruction" of the European Union, even expressing openness to a possible change to key treaties governing the bloc despite some scepticism in Berlin.

Germany and France, traditionally the twin engines of European integration, agreed last month to launch a bilateral panel to kickstart the eurozone reform process.

The new working group will look at how the currency bloc can better coordinate economic policies, harmonise its tax regime and find potential Franco-German investment projects.

The bilateral panel will report to a joint ministerial meeting of the eurozone's two biggest players in July.
The worker, an Indian national in his late 20s, was threatened with visa cancellation if he didnt pay back 18,000 dollars.

Federal Court Judge Michael Jarrett fined Saandeep Chokhani 30,000 dollars and imposed a further 150,000 dollars penalty against the company he and his wife owned over the unlawful cash-back arrangement, Australian Associated Press reported. (Photo: File/Representational)

Melbourne: Indian-origin owners of a former coffee club have been fined more than 180,000 dollars in Australia for exploiting an Indian employee by forcing him to hand back his wages and threatening to have his visa cancelled if he refused.

Federal Court Judge Michael Jarrett fined Saandeep Chokhani 30,000 dollars and imposed a further 150,000 dollars penalty against the company he and his wife owned over the unlawful cash-back arrangement, Australian Associated Press reported.

Chokhani formerly owned and ran the Coffee Club at Nundah Village Shopping Centre in Brisbane with his wife.

The worker, an Indian national in his late 20s, was threatened with visa cancellation if he didnt pay back 18,000 dollars.

The Indian worker was sponsored by a company run by Chokhani and his wife to work as a cook while on a 457 visa, the most common visa for Australian or overseas employers to sponsor skilled foreign workers to work temporarily in the country.
'We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld,' Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

Beijing: China on Tuesday hinted at blocking a UN ban on Pakistan-based JeM leader Masood Azhar once again, saying that disagreements continue to prevail in the UN Committee related to terrorism issues in this particular case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang's comments came in response to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month.

"We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld," Geng told media briefing here.

Geng was responding to a question whether there can be a forward movement over China's repeated technical holds to block India's move to get a UN ban on Azhar.

"At present, some members have disagreement over the listing matter. And China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue," he said.

Beijing put a technical hold to a move in the UN by the US and other countries to declare Azhar a terrorist for his role in the Pathankot terror attack.

Last year China had put technical holds on India's application to designate Azhar as a terrorist.
The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea.

Analysts said his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea (Photo: AP)

Seoul: The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The US often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesday's flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The US military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea.

Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea and compound efforts by South Korea's new liberal president to improve ties with the North.
Muslims and Jehovah's Witnesses are convicted for "inciting religious hatred". Trials are often done in secret. A new theology programme is introduced in prisons to prevent the radicalisation of prisoners

Astana (AsiaNews/Agencies)  More and more cases have come before Kazakh courts under Article 174 of the Criminal Code against "inciting religious hatred".

In such cases, trials are held in camera, with no information released to the public. Even when there are reports, little is known because the secrecy makes it hard to vet the charges.

Kazakhstans corrections service on June 13 announced a new theology programme to curb the spreading of radical Islamist ideology, extremism, and terrorism among inmates. However, not only Muslims have been accused of inciting religious hatred.

The Norway-based Forum 18 press agency has reported several cases, including those of four Sunni Muslims who had studied at the Islamic Medina University in Saudi Arabia.

Nariman Seytzhanov, 28, was sentenced to five years in prison on 9 June by a court in Kokshetau, in the Akmola region. His trial, which began on 25 April, was behind closed doors.

The charges were based on three recordings in which Seytzhanov addressed pilgrims that he was accompanying to Saudi Arabia last October as a tour guide for an Astana travel agency.

According to a friend, Seytzhanov "simply explained to people how to conduct the haj or umra pilgrimage.

The case of Satymzhan Azatov, the last of these four, will be reviewed again tomorrow in Astana. Azatov is accused of stirring up hatred in a cafe.

To present its case, the prosecution has again turned to Roza Akbarova to provide "expert analysis" to demonstrate the extremist nature of what he said. She claims that he spoke negatively about Shia Muslims, stating that they had blown up a mosque.

Akbarovas expert testimony helped convict Seventh-day Adventist Yklas Kabduakasov (two years of forced labour) and Jehovah's Witness Teymur Akhmedov (five years in prison).

Both religions are seen as extremist, which is used in trials.

According to Akbarova, some of the literature found in Kabduakasov's home in 2015 contained "expressions of the superiority of the Christian religion and the inadequacy of the Islamic religion.

Akhmedov was instead arrested in January for talking about his faith with seven young men, who turned out to be informants for Kazakhstans secret police, the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan (NSC), pretending to be students.

Other Jehovahs Witnesses were investigated in mid-April. The criminal case was launched against one after he gave "an interested person" a copy of the Jehovah's Witness publication.

Police claimed the book is "extremist" since it was banned in neighbouring Russia. Yet, no Jehovah's Witness publications is known to have been banned as "extremist" in Central Asian countries.
"A blessing for India". He was the first Indian to cover the office of Prefect in the Vatican. He was the first to reach out to China. A great pastoral and diplomatic experience. Afflicted by various diseases, he was "a martyr of the mission".

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Card. Ivan Dias died in Rome last night at 8 pm local time. He was 81 years old. He was Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (2006-2011) and Archbishop of Mumbai (1996-2006). Thanks to his joviality and his diplomatic art there were the first openings of the Vatican to China and the beginning of relations between members of the Secretariat of State and the Chinese embassy in Rome.

At news of his death, Card. Oswald Gracias, his successor to the leadership of the Church of Mumbai, told AsiaNews: "The Church in India has lost its illustrious son. Card. Dias made India a proud nation because his eminence was the first Indian to be called in the Vatican to the role of Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He loved India and worked tirelessly for the progress and development of its people. The Church in India and especially the archdiocese of Mumbai now has a powerful intercessor in heaven. The intercession of Card. Ivan Dias will bring many graces for our Church. "

Ivan Dias was born in Bandra (Mumbai) on April 14, 1936 to a family of Catholics originally from Goa which was quite affluent, second of four children. On December 8, 1958, he was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese and sent to Rome for studies, where he graduated in canon law at the Lateran University.

"Card. Ivan - recalled the Archbishop - has always had courage and conviction and never swerved in his zeal for Jesus and the Church. He was a Marian person and a devout son of Mary, the Mother whom he loved. "

In 1964 Card. Dias joined the Holy See diplomatic service first as secretary in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Indonesia, Madagascar, Reunion, Comoros, Mauritius. For some time he worked in the Secretariat of State on several dossiers: USSR, Belarus, Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, China, Vietnam, Laos, ... until 1982.

On May 8, 1982, Card. Agostino Casaroli ordained him as Archbishop and he began his apostolic nuncio career in Ghana, Togo, Benin, South Korea, where he was much loved, and in Albania where he had to deal with the rebirth of the Church after Communist rule.

On November 8, 1996, he was appointed archbishop of Mumbai, until 2006. In 2001 Pope John Paul II appointed him a cardinal. In this capacity he was president of the Synod of Bishops at the October 2001 Assembly, on the figure and service of the bishop.

As a Propaganda Fide Prefect, he is rememberd for the tenacity and patience with which he sought every possibility of relations with the People's Republic of China, opening a series of visits and meetings with the Chinese ambassador to Italy. During his mandate in 2007, Benedict XVI published his Letter to Chinese Catholics.

Afflicted by several illnesses, in 2011 he retired to Rome, where he died.

In his tribute entrusted to AsiaNews, Card. Gracias adds: "Card. Ivan Dias was a martyr for mission. All his health problems came from his intense and multiple missionary journeys. But he never complained. His eminence has endured his illness and deep suffering with Christian fortitude and heroism.

I will miss a loving friend, support and guide. Just two days ago I visited his eminence at the clinic and his eyes smiled at me. He was happy, glad I went to visit him to be with him at his beside. This warm welcome fills my heart with gratitude."

"Card. Dias - he concluded - had a special love for the priests and took care of their formation at the seminaries. Retired priests also had a special place in his heart. He has always taken care of their needs."

(Nirmala Carvalho collaborated)
Today is the UNs World Refugee Day. In 2016, refugees numbered 65.6 million, 300,000 more than last year. Every three seconds someone in the world is forced to abandon their home. For Fr Karam, the US-Saudi arms deal is worrisome. Church backs small entrepreneurship projects.

Beirut (AsiaNews)  To solve the refugee emergency requires an end to the war in Syria and other conflicts around the world. This can only be achieved if there is "a genuine desire for peace", one that is stronger than "ideologies, political calculations and international economic interests," said Fr Paul Karam, director of Caritas Lebanon.

His organisation has led the way in helping Syrian families who fled their war-torn country in the past five years. He spoke to AsiaNews on World Refugee Day.

"The recent weapons deal between Saudi Arabia and the United States is a source of concern and makes it feel that the war is not about to end."

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution in 2000 establishing World Refugee Day.

According to the Geneva Convention of 1951, a refugee is someone who has a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. Countries who have signed the Refugee Convention are required to guarantee asylum to people who meet such criteria.

With respect to refugees, Lebanon plays a leading role. "Some reports indicate that a small group of perhaps 50 families has returned to Syria, Fr Karam said, but the crisis is as bad as ever since no real solution has been found for the conflict. Problems will get worse.

As Pope Francis has repeatedly stressed, what we need is justice and respect for nations and their traditions and cultures by removing constraints and impositions from the outside."

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, there were 65.6 million displaced people and refugees in 2016, up by 300,000 over the previous year.

The Global Trends annual report indicates that every three seconds someone is forced to abandon his or her home due to wars, violence or human rights violations.

Syria still has the most refugees with about 5.5 million, a total of 12 million displaced people inside and outside of the country. That represents two-thirds of its original population. Afghans come in second with 4.7 million displaced people, followed by Iraqis with 4.2 million.

There is also the question of accommodations, which has proved very controversial in many European nations. Most refugees (about 84 per cent) have found themselves in low- or middle-income countries.

One in three (almost 5 million) is in less-developed countries. Proportionately to the local population, Lebanon has received the most refugees, followed by Jordan.

"Lebanon is still leading the way in terms of the emergency and this ha had serious internal repercussions Fr Karam said.

The latest figures show that 1.1 million (out of a total of about 4.4 million) lives below the poverty line, 28 per cent of the population is unemployed, especially young people.

This has led to outmigration of Lebanese citizens, who go abroad for better opportunities. This ends up impoverishing our economy and society. It's all connected."

For the Lebanese clergyman, stopping the arms trade, investing resources in a serious peace process, tackling hunger, encouraging rival parties to take part in a sincere dialogue, with a look at the future of the country and the region are the elements on which to build the future.

"But we need a common will that goes beyond ideology, especially among regional and world powers. In fact, poor countries are certainly not the major manufacturers and exporters of weapons. Indeed, the weaker are the ones who pay for these policies with their blood."

"Lebanon is getting poorer by the day," and it is increasingly difficult to "meet humanitarian and political challenges". The local Church has responded by doing more every day to meet the many emergencies.

"We have been trying to involve donors and supporters in helping small local entrepreneurship projects, which provide jobs and development opportunities in villages and towns because it is important to stay in ones native land, the clergyman said.

These initiatives in micro-development are aimed at ensuring vitality in depressed areas by nurturing a humble economy, with small but essential numbers."

Finally, "We continue to pray and work for peace, said the Caritas director, hoping that the international community will hear our cry for rights and justice." (DS)
Ballistic missiles launched by Islamic Republic struck an IS training center in Deir Ezzor province. It is the first attackon foreign soil since the end of the war with Iraq in the 1980s. A response to the recent attacks on capital. Netanyahu considers the operation a "threat" to the Jewish state. And he sends a warning to Tehran.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The launch of some ballistic missiles from Iran against an Islamic State training center in Syria has provoked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wrath, which considers Tehran's operation a threat to the Jewish state. This is the first missile attack launched by the Islamic Republic outside the national borders over the last 30 years, since the 1980s war with Iraq.

Yesterday the Guardian of the Iranian Revolution confirmed the launch of six rockets from the western sector of the country on jihadist targets in northeastern Syria, in the province of Deir Ezzor, largely controlled by the IS. Spokesman General Ramezan Sharif stresses that missiles have targeted "bases of terror" and the operation was "a success".

The attack was a response to the attacks on parliament and the Ayatollah Khomeini Mausoleum on June 7 in Tehran, where 17 people died; The action was claimed by Daesh militias [Arabic acronym for IS].

The Pasdaran leader, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, added that "missiles have been launched by Iran, they have flown over Iraq and landed in Syria." Some flying drones between Damascus and Deir Ezzor transmitted images of the "targets". The launch, the official concludes, is proof of "the capabilities and intelligence" of the Islamic Republic.

The military operation comes a few hours after the shooting down of a Syrian jet by the United States and the message launched by the great ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who had promised a "slap to the enemies" to honor the families of the victims of the attacks in Tehran and wars in Syria and Iraq.

If, on the one hand, Iran's religious and military leaders are celebrating yesterday's attack, emphasizing their success, Israel has responded with bellicose tones. Prime Minister Netanyahu says Iran is a "threat" to the Jewish state, the Middle East, and, potentially, the world over. "We follow their actions and follow their affirmations - said the head of government yesterday - and I have a message for Iran: Do not threaten Israel."

Among the Iranian activities that constitute [for Netanyahu] a threat is the "attempt" to create a stable "presence" in Syria and the "transfer" of "advanced weapons" to Hezbollah and other similar operations.

It should be said that launching missiles was not an extemporaneous action or an overwhelming thing: before launching them, Iran transmitted their attentions to their Russian and Syrian allies.
by Melani Manel Perera

Today is World Refugee Day. Sri Lanka hosts 604 refugees in Sri Lanka with another 576 applying for recognition. The government does not guarantee the right to housing, food, education, medical care and does not provide opportunities for legal employment.

Colombo (AsiaNews)  The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) marked World Refugee Day in Sri Lanka today by screening films and organising plays focused on the precarious conditions refugees live in the island nation.

Speaking to AsiaNews, Catholic activist Ruki Fernardo said that the country hosts 604 people who obtained refugee status from the UNHCR and another 576 whose application is still pending".

They receive help from religious groups, mostly Muslim and Christian, and NGOs who deal "with their education, housing, care and food."

One of them is Fr Anthony Nishans parish in Negombo, which helps migrants by donating Mass offerings. "But these have been very, very minimal, often adhoc and only few have benefited. Those recognized as refugees get an allowance of about Rs. 10,000 per person or Rs. 22,000 for family with two or more children, which is for everything and not enough to live in dignity in Sri Lanka, Fernardo said. However, for him, this is not enough for them.

The activist noted that about 75 per cent of refugees in Sri Lanka come from Pakistan, almost 15 per cent come from Afghanistan and the rest from countries that are poor or in conflict situations such as Bangladesh, Iran, Maldives, Myanmar, Palestine, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine and Yemen.

According to Fernando, the government does not guarantee the right to a home, food, education, medical care, and provides no opportunity for legal employment.

"Some asylum seekers are turned away at the airport and sent back to the conditions they fled, he explained. They are not given any opportunity to ask for legal advice or present their case. This violates customary laws and basic human rights.

Sri Lanka still has a long way to go before granting refugees and asylum-seekers their rights, and showing compassion and attention to those fleeing persecution."

At 4 pm today, members of the UNHCR, along with the Stages Theatre Group staged Asylum at the Bandaranayaike Auditorium Centre for International Studies at the Bandaranayaike Memorial International Conference Hall.

Refugees staged The Certificate and A Syrian Monologue under the artistic direction of Ruwanthi de Chikera with free entry for refugees.

Between 23 and 25 June, UNHCRs World Refugee Day will end with the screening of seven movies at the National Film Cooperation in Colombo.
Francis went to Bozzolo, not far from Mantua, tied to the memory of the "parish priest of Italy," the uncomfortable priest of whom Paul VI said, "He walked one step ahead and often we could not hold him back! And so he suffered and we also suffered. It is the fate of prophets. "

Bozzolo (AsiaNews) - A priest, known as the "parish priest of Italy," who "has sought to change the Church and the world through passionate love and unconditional dedication." This is how Pope Francis has today spoke of Don Primo Mazzolari (1890 - 1959), an uncomfortable priest, an advocate of principles established in the Second Vatican Council, such as the Church of the poor and dialogue with the distant. Paul VI said of him, "He walked one step ahead and often we could not hold him back! And so he suffered and we also suffered. It is the fate of prophets."

Francis spoke of him at Bozzolo, a village not far from Mantua, in the north of Italy, where he went today to pay homage to Don Mazzolari, who is buried there. From here, later, the Pope will travel to Barbiana, near Florence, linked to the memory of another uncomfortable priest, Don Lorenzo Milani. "Today," he said at his arrival, "I am a pilgrim here at Bozzolo and then on to Barbiana, in the footsteps of two parish priests who left an uncomfortable trace behind them, in their service to the Lord and the people of God. So often parish priests are the strength of the Church in Italy. When they are the faces of a non-clerical clergy, they give birth to a true 'magisterium of parish priests', which is so good for everyone. "

Pope Francis particularly emphasized Don Mazzolari's being a pastor, working in the "place where every man feels expected, a" hearth that knows no absences. " Don Mazzolari was convinced that "the fate of the world matures in the peripheries", and made his own humanity an instrument of God's mercy, in the manner of the father of the Gospel parable. "

"In his article The Parish, he proposes an examination of conscience regarding apostolic methods, convinced that the problems parishes of his time was due to a defect of incarnation. There were three roads that impeded evangelical direction:

That of "letting things pass" of one who stays at the window without soiling his hands, or limits himself to criticize errors without a proactive capacity. This attitude sets our conscience at rest, but has nothing to do with Christianity because it leads to withdrawing, with a spirit of judgment, sometimes even bitterness

The second false method is that of separatist activism. We are committed to creating Catholic institutions (banks, cooperatives, clubs, trade unions, schools ...). So faith becomes more operative, but - Mazzolari warned - it can create an elite Christian community. Personal interests and customers with a Catholic label. And, without wanting it build barriers that risk becoming insurmountable in the emergence of the question of faith. It tends to affirm what it shares with respect to what it joins. It is a method that does not facilitate evangelization, rather it closes doors and creates mistrust.

The third mistake is a 'supernaturalism that is dehumanizing'. It takes refuge in the religious to overcome the difficulties and disappointments that come. It removes the parish from the world, the true field of the apostolate, to prefer devotions. It is the temptation of spiritualism. The result is a foolish apostolate, without love. "The distant can not be concerned with a prayer that does not become charitable, with a procession that does not help to carry every day crosses." Drama is consumed in this distance between faith and life, between contemplation and action. "

"So often " he said later, "I said that the shepherd must be able to stand in front of the people to point the way, in the middle as a sign of closeness or behind to encourage those who are behind (cf. Evangelii gaudium, 31). And Don Primo wrote: "Where I see the people slip to dangerous depths, I put myself behind them; Where it is necessary to climb, I stand up in front. Many do not understand that it is the same charity that moves in one and the other case and that no one can do it better than a priest. " With this spirit of fraternal communion, with you and with all the priests of the Church in Italy, I want to conclude with a prayer by Don Primo, a pastor in love with Jesus and his wish for all men to be saved:

"You came for everyone:

For those who believe

And for those who say they do not believe.

Both of them,

Sometimes these more than those,

Work, suffer, hope

For the world to get a bit better.

O Christ, you were born 'outside the home'

And you dies outside the town'

To be even more visible

At the crossroads and the meeting point.

No one is outside of salvation, O Lord,

Because no one is outside of your love,

Who does not wrestle and rebel

at our oppositions or our rejections. "
Rome (AsiaNews) - In a "rootless society", that is made up of people, families who gradually "lose their bonds, that vital fabric so important to share with each other, to share a common project with others", young people should be offered" integrated education "based on intellect, affections and actions. This will offer our children the opportunity for harmonious growth not only at a personal level, but also a social and spiritual, capable of overcoming that race to the consumerism that characterizes our society. This is the reflection offered by Pope Francis at the opening of the ecclesial conference of the diocese of Rome, which this year has the theme "Let's not leave them alone! Accompanying parents in the education of teenage children. "

Prior to the opening speech at the Lateran Palace, the Pope wanted to meet some families of immigrants from the parish churches and religious institutes of the diocese of Rome.

In the Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Pope's long reflection opened with the invitation to look at reality not "in general", "in abstract", but thinking of "problems, situations, adolescents ...". And in a "rootless" society, "one of the first things we have to think of as parents, as families, as shepherds are the scenarios where to plant roots, where to create ties, find roots, where to grow that vital network that allows us to feel at home". In this picture Francis recommended young people learn their shared roots. "I know," he added, "that may be repetitive, but I feel it as something that the Holy Spirit presses in my heart, so that our young people may have visions, dreams, and face the future, the prophetic dreams of their fathers, with boldness and courage. "

"Our young people - he then observed - try to be and want to feel - logically - protagonists. They do not like to feel commanded or to have to respond to 'orders' coming from the adult world (they follow the rules of their 'accomplices'). They are looking for the complicity that makes them feel they have "self-control". In this we find a good opportunity, especially for schools, parishes and ecclesial movements. " This calls for educators "driven by the love and passion of bringing to them the life of the Spirit of Jesus, to show that being a Christian requires courage and is a beautiful thing. To educate teenagers today we can not continue to use a purely school education model, just ideas. One must follow the pace of their growth. It is important to help them gain self-esteem, to believe that they can really succeed in what they propose. "

In one society, finally, marked by a very strong consumerism - "it seems that we are driven to consume, consumption, in the sense that the important thing is to always consume " - the Pope said it was "urgent" to retrieve the principle of austerity, "the spiritual principle which is so important and devalued ". "We have fallen into a habit of consumption and are driven to believe that we are valued as far as we are able to produce and consume, as far as we are capable of. Educating austerity is an incomparable richness. It awakens ingenuity and creativity, creates opportunities for imagination and especially opens up to teamwork, in solidarity. Open to others. There is a kind of 'spiritual genius'. The attitude of greedy people who, instead of nourishing themselves, eat everything around them. I think it is good for us to educate us better, as a family, in this 'kindness' and give room for austerity as a way to meet, build bridges, open spaces, grow with others. This can only be done by those who can be austere; Otherwise it is a simple 'greed ".

The story of a family, he concluded, "is plagued by crises of all kinds, which are also part of his dramatic beauty. It is necessary to help find that a crisis overcome does not lead to a less intense relationship, but to an improved one, to sediment and to mature the wine of the union. " "It seems to me important to live the education of the children from this perspective, as a calling of the Lord to us, as a family, to make this passage a step of growth, to learn to savor the life that He bestows upon us" .
by Luca Galantini

Attacks in European capitals are meant to destabilise the foreign policy of countries like Great Britain, Germany, and France. Even Italys "neutral" position does not guarantee immunity. Dealing with immigration must be part of a long-term coexistence strategy. Working on economic and political development in countries of origin is also necessary. In Caritas in Veritate, Benedict XVI had prophetic words.

Milan (AsiaNews)  The failure of the democratic illusions that emerged out of the Arab Spring has led to an escalation in armed conflicts, civil and asymmetric wars, large-scale terrorism on the Mediterranean side of North Africa and the Middle East. This has obviously influenced the exponential growth in the number of desperate people looking to Europe for their salvation.

At the same time, the rise of Islamist terrorism in Europe has become the main nightmare of the governments of the Old Continent. Unfortunately, the European Union lacks an institutional and especially a cultural strategy vis-a-vis this sorrowful mass of migrants and refugees fleeing states that have failed politically, even before they failed economically.

The EU's foreign, security and defence policy is set in sand and cannot guarantee legal certainty, inclusiveness and security. The inconsistent immigration policies of individual European countries are evidence of the European Unions substantial lack of political will towards at global International co-operation to promote rights and democracy in the countries of origin of these desperate people. This has forced various States to turn to bilateral negotiations to manage the various aspects of migration.

Immigrants and terror

Europe is clearly caught between generic and naive statements about openness that do not go to the heart of the problem of millions of people tragically uprooted from their homes and the demagogical walls of emotions that shut out millions of desperate people fleeing brutal regimes and failed political systems that trample human dignity.

As sociologist Ilvo Diamanti points out, immigration is a political and institutional problem that points to other "problems", and must be managed with a patient long-term strategy  problems of coexistence vs religious division, integration vs cultural conflict, public order and social security, national identity, competition in the labour market  with obvious political links to the countries of origin so as to find shared bases for promotion and development.

Europe is rightly concerned about the problem of radicalisation and the failure to integrate people of foreign origin, especially Muslims, into its social and political systems, and this can degenerate into terrorism. However, it is now necessary to highlight how the real problem starts upstream, in the struggle of power among Islamic fundamentalist currents that use terrorism as a deathly gun aimed at anyone who interferes even indirectly with the emergence of new political leaders in the Middle East.

Silent Europe

Of course, Islamic terrorism, or rather radical Islamist terrorisms shrewdly see migration as a fertile ground to destabilise European countries and the West more generally. This is even more so since the European Union, in its latest statement on Islamist terrorism in Riga (2015), recognises that this terrorism is not only a problem of intelligence, armed security, public order, and prosecution, but is something that necessarily requires the strengthening of constitutional values based on the of rule of law and democracy as the foundations of European society and the promotion of these values in war-torn Mideast countries through international co-operation.

As scholars, analysts, and even governments acknowledge, it is clear that most attacks follow a certain logic that is coordinated for the purpose of destabilising the foreign policy choices of the main European countries, namely Great Britain, France and Germany, in the Middle East.

Not even the seeming neutrality vis-a-vis the warlords in the Mediterranean and Middle East by countries like Italy can guarantee immunity from the risk of terrorist contagion.

After the loss of Mosul and Raqqa, the risk of attacks will increase dramatically given what is at stake, which is the stance Europe and the West will take towards the new power structures in the Middle East, and the new leaders vying for political, economic and military hegemony in the region.

At a political level, the sense that the day of reckoning is coming among Sunnis and between Sunnis and Shias over the leadership and power relations in the Islamic world has unfortunately led to a crackdown on part of Islamic public opinion, including in Europe, by distinct and equally radical, antimodernist and intolerant political-religious currents, namely Wahhabism, which is directly funded by the powerful Saudi monarchy; the Muslim Brotherhood, which enjoys political and economic support from rich Arab emirates; and Irans Shia theocracy, which for 30 years has been characterised by a fundamentalist mix of politics and faith, as Samir Khalil Samir reminded us here.

Democracy, human rights, religious freedom

The relationship between democracy, human rights and religion that philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville defined in the 19th century as the great problem of that time today seems to be the hard core of the relationship between the Arab world and Europe.

In Europe and the Islamic world, terms like liberal democracy, Islam, secularisation, and freedom of religion are emotionally charged and often lead to a radical confrontation between irreconcilable visions of the world, clashes of identities and non-negotiable values. The danger is that these categories of thought will be so radicalised to the point that principles like fundamental human freedoms, democracy, and the rule of law no longer constitute a basis of shared values, notwithstanding different historical, religious and cultural experiences.

It is necessary that the values that protect the centrality of the human person, that is, the rule of law and the democratic system, not be mothballed in international relations, because only these principles can prevent a dangerous fragmentation of the planet into "strongholds" in conflict with each other.

This reasonable goal of cooperation and development on the ground in the countries where the migration issues arise was already described with clarity in Benedict XVI's social encyclical Caritas in Veritate, in which the pontiff reminds rulers that that they should pay attention to improving "the actual living conditions of the people in a given region, thus enabling them to carry out those duties which their poverty does not presently allow them to fulfil (Caritas in Veritate, No. 47). This should be done where they were born and not be forced or induced to emigrate.

During his trip to the United States in 2008, Benedict XVI said: " The fundamental solution is that there should no longer be any need to emigrate because there are sufficient jobs in the homeland, a self-sufficient social fabric, so that there is no longer any need to emigrate. Therefore, we must all work to achieve this goal and [. . .] a social development that makes it possible to offer citizens work and a future in their homeland" (Interview of the Holy Father Benedict XVI during the flight to the United States of America, 15 April 2008).
Today is the World Refugee Day. Data released yesterday by UNHCR. About 40.3 million internally displaced persons; 22.5 Refugees; 2.8 million asylum seekers. Nearly 84% of the burden of hospitality is supported by poor countries, despite the focus on migrant crises in Europe.

Geneva (AsiaNews) - In 2016, there were 65.6 million refugees, including those who abandoned their homes, internally displaced persons and asylum seekers. This is the new grievous record of migration outlined yesterday by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) on the eve of the World Refugee Day.

Filippo Grandi, High Commissioner for Refugees, said that "this number is unacceptable. More than ever, it expresses the need for solidarity and a common purpose for preventing and resolving crises. "

Pope Francis has spoken several times about the issue of refugees and their reception. On the last occasion, during the Angelus Sunday, June 18, the pontiff stressed that the stories of the pain and hope of migrants "can become opportunities for fraternal encounter and true mutual knowledge. Indeed, the personal encounter with the refugees dissipates distorted fears and ideologies, and becomes a growth factor in humanity, capable of making room for feelings of openness and bridge building."

Presenting the report drawn up each year by the Agency, Grandi detailed the numbers: "The total number of refugees, about 300,000 more than last year, exceeds the British population [65,14 million, ndr]. This means that on average about 20 people per minute last year were forced to flee their homes, one every three seconds."

Although the increase in refugees is slightly higher than 2015, the same can not be said compared to 2014: at least six million more. In total, in 2016 nearly 10.3 million people fled from war or persecution areas. Of these, about 3.4 million have crossed the borders of neighboring states.

According to the figures collected at the end of last year, 40.3 million people worldwide are Internally Displaced People (IDPs); 22.5 Refugees; 2.8 million asylum seekers. From the point of view of the geographical origin of migrants, Syria has 5.5 million (plus 6.3 million internally displaced persons), followed by Afghanistan (2.5 million) and Sudan Sudan (1.4 millions).

The head of the UN Refugee Agency warned that the Syrian conflict, which has entered the seventh year, "is becoming a forgotten crisis", despite civilian casualties being more than 320,000. Another alarming situation, he added, is that of South Sudan, "the humanitarian crisis and the fastest displacement" that has ever been witnessed.

A separate discourse must be made for the situation of the Palestinians. In nearly 70 years of Israeli occupation, there are at least 5.3 million refugees, which is "the highest level ever reached". Finally, the UN representative pointed out that the biggest burden of migration, despite the desperate who reach the shores of Europe every day, is supported by the poorest countries. At least 84% of refugees find shelter in Turkey (which has 2.9 million people), Pakistan (1.4 million), Lebanon (over one million), Iran (979.400 migrants), Uganda (940.800) and Ethiopia 761 600).
Scarlett Johansson Got Drunk With Her Grandma Doppelganger

Trending News: Scarlett Johansson Got Trashed With Her Doppelganger (Yes, We're Jealous)

Why Is This Important?

Scarlett Johansson is a woman of her word. When she makes a promise, it's golden.

Long Story Short

In April, Scarlett Johansson discovered that she has a doppelganger thanks to the magic of Reddit. Soon afterwards, she reached out to her 72-year-old twin with an offer to get drunk and their date finally took place at the Rough Night premiere in NYC. Yes, they got trashed.

Long Story

Back in April, a Redditor's imgur post went viral when he shared a photo of his 72-year-old grandma, Geraldine Dodd, who was 22 in the snap, "drunk as a skunk" and looking exactly like Scarlett Johansson. We're talking 100% the same, feature for feature. It was freaky AF.

In fact, good ol' Geraldine looked so much like the bombshell movie star (whose recent pick for hottest guy in the world left us shook) that even she couldn't believe it and decided to reach out to grams via YouTube. "I want to meet you in person," she declared. I saw that you were, quote, drunk as a skunk when taking that photo. And I would like to see your drunk face, I want to share a drunk face with you.

Johansson went on to invite Geraldine to the NYC premiere of Rough Night and the two were finally able to meet and drink large amounts of liquor together, because dreams come true for everyone but us. Seriously, we're beyond jealous.



Stopping by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after the bash, the 32-year-old made us even more jealous, as she recounted the fun times that were had. We did get kind of trashed," she admitted. "She is so nice! Geraldine! Can she party? Oh my God, she's a lush. She was such a nice woman though, honestly, it was wonderful to meet her." Wow, it's good to be Geraldine.

And it seems like the actress simply can't get enough of her. "She's from Arkansas and her daughter, of course, owns a bar and I will eventually make my way to Arkansas and continue this lovely family reunion," she added. Sounds like it's time for us to make our way down to Arkansas... in full Johansson costume.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Would you ever want to meet a doppelganger?

Disrupt Your Feed

Excuse me while I try to transform into Scarlett Johansson and score a date with her...

Drop This Fact

It's extremely likely that everyone has at least one lookalike somewhere in the world due to the limited number of genes that create our facial features. #science
By Joan Leach, Professor, Australian National University

uclmaps/flickr , CC BY-SA

The oldest known human bones; the first detection of gravitational waves; the successful landing of a rover on Mars, and the discovery of the Higgs boson particle: all of these highly read global science stories illustrate the publics thirst for the latest research and technological innovations.

But is science journalism in the public interest?

Specialist science journalists are vital in our society in a few key ways. These include as public disseminators of sound science that can lead to policy, as identifiers of flawed journalism and dodgy (even life-threatening) science, and as gatekeepers between public relations departments in research institutions and the general media.

And yet the number of specialist science reporters in Australia is in serious decline.

Journalism can drive science policy

Over 2012 and 2013 a range of media outlets teamed up with the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Academy of Science to coordinate a national immunisation campaign.









Not only was the story given robust and prominent coverage across Australian news media platforms, the Daily Telegraph and news site MamaMia also ran campaigns encouraging readers to pledge to immunise their children.

In 2013 the Daily Telegraph followed up with a No jab, no play concept, promoting the idea that childcare centres should ban children who had not been immunised. State and federal governments have subsequently introduced legislation to effect this proposal. The program is still being monitored.

Linked to this coverage, a successful case was mounted in the NSW Office of Fair Trading against anti-immunisation activist group the Australian Vaccination Network. The networks name was found to be misleading and the group has now re-badged itself as the Australian Vaccination-Skeptics Network.

Journalism as a gatekeeper for bad science

Sound peer review and editorial procedures are in place in many research journals, but sometimes what can best be described as dodgy science is published, and this can lead to disastrous results.

The classic example is the (now falsified) study in 1998 that reported on autism-like symptoms and gastrointestinal abnormalities in children associated with the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccination. The study was small (only 12 children), observational, and submitted for publication without key disclosures from lead author Andrew Wakefield.

In a subsequent press conference, Wakefield expressed his concerns about the MMR vaccine. The medias enthusiastic reporting and less than critical response to these claims took an ethically and scientifically unsound report and turned it into what has been described as perhaps the most damaging medical hoax of the last 100 years. In 2008 measles was reported to be once again endemic in the UK, a development that has been linked to reduced MMR take-up.









from www.shutterstock.com





Had the journalists at that initial press conference been equipped to appraise the findings critically, the poor science may have been revealed from the start. The paper was later found to be fraudulent by investigative journalist Brian Deer, who published stories in print and made a documentary revealing the hoax.

Science journalism vs science PR

Science journalism and science public relations (PR) can be difficult to distinguish. The job of the PR specialist is to maximise eyeballs on each story. The job of the journalist is to find the story and report the evidence behind it, no matter whose story it is.

Stories that are written with a university press release  rather than a peer-reviewed science paper  as the main source of evidence can easily cross the line into infotainment rather than independent reporting.

Its also the case that some stories that look like science journalism are heavily sponsored by universities and research institutions. This so-called native content  in that it looks appropriate for its context  is becoming more prevalent.

Its a trend exacerbated by the movement of journalists from media organisations into communication roles in academic and research institutions. While the writing style is journalistic, the focus is to promote the science from the institutions that employ them. This bypasses robust and independent examination of the evidence.

There may be more of this to come as science journalists become an endangered species.

An endangered species

Embedded in Australian news rooms, the investigative science journalist is a rare beast; the most recent in a long line of casualties are Marcus Strom from The Sydney Morning Herald, and Bridie Smith of Melbournes The Age, who left Fairfax last week after 16 years.

It seems the ABC is the only mainstream media outlet with a science unit. Here, specialists Anna Salleh and Jake Sturmer along with experienced science journalists, communicators and broadcasters (Robyn Williams, Natasha Mitchell, Joel Werner, Bernie Hobbs, Ruben Meerman and Dr Karl amongst others) present regular science content on various platforms.

Journalists in specialities such as environment, health and technology do still hold positions at major media platforms, and Cosmos Magazine provides another platform for science content in Australia. Freelance science journalists including Bianca Nogrady, Leigh Dayton and Graham Readfearn work on specific projects across a variety of platforms.

Specialist correspondents develop a deep and complex understanding of their round over time, and carry a knowledge of whats gone before that surpasses a quick internet search. They might, for instance, recognise that a particular breakthrough is simply an old study repackaged, that a study is very small, or that its promises have been made before without amounting to much. Or that the faster than light neutrinos were a statistical anomaly (and an error) rather than a tested matter of fact.

The disappearance of the specialist science correspondent means a loss of personnel with the time and the expertise to probe deeply and to ask uncomfortable questions. The consequences are declines in the breadth, depth and quality of science coverage. Pair this with an increased workload, the need for journalists to apply multimedia skills and the constant pressure to publish (driven by the 24-hour news cycle), and the opportunities for genuine investigation are slim.

New ways to cover science

As the number of science correspondents has fallen, the science sector has rushed in to fill the online void with blogs and social media sites (some terrifically successful).

Facilities such as the Australian Science Media Centre now work to support and facilitate evidence-based science journalism. The Centre boasts 1,600 subscribers and informs hundreds of reporters who attend regular briefings.

According to chief executive Susannah Elliot:

When the Australian Science Media Centre started in 2005, there were around 35 specialist science reporters in mainstream newsrooms around the country. Now you need less than one hand to count them. This loss of specialist reporters means that there is no one to fight for good science in editorial meetings or look for science angles in everyday news stories. Were all going to have to do everything we can to help general reporters cover science and make sure they dont miss the important stuff.













The future of science journalism

It may be that science journalism has never enjoyed a consistent position in media outlets - some report that peak science journalism happened in 1987. In an important review of the history of popular science, writer Martin Bauer points out that science journalism is prone to a boom and bust cycle.

The call for more and improved science journalism is based on an assumption that lives are worse off without it. This is an easy leap for academics to make; after all, our very existence is based on the idea that more knowledge is better than less knowledge.

But how can we convince the general public this is the case? Studying the decline of science journalism  fewer numbers of journalists, diffuse science reporting, the rise of branded and native content  will not be enough to show that we need more science journalists. We must be able to clearly identify a public good, and convince media-saturated consumers that science deserves a place in their lives.

We must also develop a clear business case that supports science journalism. Relatively new media platforms such as Nautilus and narrative.ly provide some evidence that blending science with creative nonfiction, philanthropic funding, subscription services, paywalls, and hybrid models of journalism and public relations are worth further exploration.

Supported primarily by the university sector, The Conversation publishes science, technology, environment and energy stories that are written by academics.

However there has yet to be a convincing case of overwhelming public support for robust science journalism. In our view, this is a shame. We think academic and media groups, and those private sectors that rely on science and technology, should start articulating the public value of science journalism.

A colleague in New Zealand, Rebecca Priestly, has put some money behind finding out, though establishing a fund for science journalism. Perhaps its time to do the same in Australia.

This article was co-authored with Kylie Walker, Chief Executive Officer of Science and Technology Australia, and Visiting Fellow at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University.

Joan Leach receives funding from the ARC.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Rupees 32 lakh. These days, that'll get you a nice executive luxury sedan. And not a basic one either. It'll have ventilated, powered leather seats, a touchscreen infotainment system and maybe even a hybrid powertrain. Something that'll really make you feel like you've arrived. Right now, though, I'm standing in the display area at Dubai's Rolls-Royce Boutique  the first and only of its kind right now  staring befuddled at a price tag of Rs 32 lakh. Befuddled, because of course, it's not attached to a car. Nor to a motorbike, or a bicycle, or a surfboard. It's a picnic hamper; an optional accessory that you can put in your boot. Of course, this being Rolls, it takes 500 hours to build from oiled teak, saddle leather and polished aluminium, it houses Hungarian Ajka crystal glassware, and it can be customised to match your car. And the look on my face right now  a mix of awestruck and baffled  is, it seems, why Rolls-Royce has brought me here. You see, the Boutique is not a showroom; that's a few blocks down the road. You can't buy a car here. This is simply a place for you to be awestruck and baffled; or 'inspired', as is the intention for actual customers. They come here to smell the leather that will eventually line their seats, run their fingertips over the wood that will become their dashboard, and wriggle their toes through several lambs' worth of wool to pick just the right carpet. They look at scale models of yachts, fiddle with custom-built electric guitars and picture themselves in some rather fashionable clothing on display, and yes, there are a few cars strewn around too, but it's all there for one explicit reason  to suck you into the Rolls life. So, that's what that feels like, then. Carbon fibre? Thats for commoners. This is a special carbon-aluminium weave. Rolls-Royce is a brand that's always leaned hard on tradition and history, and been quite firm about what it stands for, obstinately so sometimes. No pandering to trends, no base models, no diesels, no downsizing, and, for the foreseeable future at least, that's how it'll stay. The customers, however, are changing. They're younger, more fashion-forward, and generally live more active and interesting lives than ye olde aristocrats of the past, and this is something that must be addressed. At the end of the day it is still a business, and all businesses have to adapt to stay afloat. So, of course, Rolls is doing it in the most Rolls way possible. Say hello to the Black Badge.

You see, the company realised that a lot of its new customers would take delivery of their cars and then march them straight into customisation shops to have them tuned and fiddled with; and that's just a big no-no, isn't it? The thought furrowed my brow as I stared out from my infinity pool into the empty triangle of private desert stretching out behind my sprawling hotel villa (all part of my immersion into the Rolls life). You didn't just pay for one of the finest vehicles in the world to be hand-built to your specification, only to go and have it re-specified, right? Two changes stood out as being quite popular. One was adding more power, which is pretty much par for the course with customisation jobs, and the other was painting everything black. 'Murdering out' your car  as it's called in circles considered a touch too uncouth for Rolls-Royce  is all the rage, and so it's now available straight from the factory in the form of these Black Badge editions. Offered on the Ghost sedan and the Wraith coupe, the Black Badge editions are a two-fold change  cosmetic and mechanical. For the first time ever, the Spirit of Ecstasy  the winged lady that's perched proudly on the nose of every Roller  is finished in black chrome, as is the immense grille, and the Rolls-Royce badges, rather literally, are black in colour too. The 21-inch wheels are something truly special. They took four years to develop, are uncharacteristically chunky in their design and are made from a combination of aluminium, titanium and carbon. 22 sheets of carbon, in fact, meticulously folded over one another to give that gorgeous shape and finish. Sure, you can choose different paint colours, coach lines and insignias to make the car your own, but doesn't it just look gorgeous in jet black? You can specify any colour you like, but come on, its a Black Badge; best to make it as sinister as possible. Similarly, on the inside, you can choose any number of configurations for the upholstery, but you'll want to stick with the special dashboard finish of the Black Badge. They've thrown out the burr walnut wood, and because this is the 'sporty' variant, they've drafted in some carbon-fibre. Now, yes, a carbon-fibre interior trim has become a bit passe, and in such a heavy car, it's certainly not saving any weight. But since this is a Rolls, even that is more than meets the eye. The carbon has actually been interwoven with fine threads of aeronautical-grade aluminium in a process that sounds so tedious, it's making my head hurt.
The Cliq represents a rugged, low-cost scooter meant for the rural markets.

Six in 10 two-wheelers sold in India today are from the 100-110cc segment, and automatic scooters account for a big share of that pie. No one knows that better than Honda and the company now believes that scooter sales have reached a point where the market is ready for sub-segmentation with more focused products, says Minoru Kato, president and CEO, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India.

The Navi was the first of such products and while it hasn't been a roaring success like Honda's more traditional scooters, it showed that the company was willing to tread beyond the familiar path. The Cliq is essentially Honda's idea of a no-nonsense, practical and affordable entry into scooter ownership for rural areas and smaller towns. The company has admitted in the past that it has some ways to go in terms of tapping deep into the rural markets where Hero has a stronger foothold. In that sense, the Cliq is Honda's attempt at approaching such a buyer with a new alternative to the typical, entry-level commuter motorcycle.

So what is the Cliq? In essence, it is a scooter, but a rather unique-looking one. The design is quite chunky with a large front apron and a Navi-inspired circular theme along the side. The front apron rises quite high and culminates in a peak. The seat is large and covers what Honda says is a generous stowage space. Behind the seat is a simple but tough-looking tubular metal grab handle that adds to the utility aspect.

The design looks quite large, but the Cliq is actually shorter and narrower than the Activa or Activa i. Honda points out that it is quite light at 102kg, which makes it 6 kg lighter than the standard Activa. The 743mm seat height is a fair bit lower than the Activas. It's lower than even a small and lady-friendly scooter like the Scooty Zest whose seat height is 760mm. Honda calls the Cliq a unisex scooter and says that female riders will be comfortable with the low seat height and kerb weight. Interestingly, the fuel tank capacity is just 3.5 litres, which is lower than the Navi's 3.8 litres and much less than the 5.3-litre tank in the Activa.

Considering that the Honda Cliq is aimed at the rural markets, Honda is pushing it as a rugged product and offering the Cliq with new block-pattern tyres. These are tubeless tyres and claim to offer better performance on rough roads and a longer life. The wide floorboard, large underseat storage and optional rear carrier increase the practicality quotient.

The Cliq uses the same tried and tested 109.19cc mill from Honda's 110cc range. The motor produces 8.04hp and 8.94Nm. Honda claims a top speed of 83kmph. The chassis is a similar underbone-type unit with 3mm longer wheelbase than the Activas. The wheel size remains 10 inches at both ends. Braking is handled by a pair of 130mm drums with Honda's CBS combined-braking system as standard. That would make the Cliq the first product Honda has launched ready for the upcoming government regulations that mandate CBS in all sub-125cc vehicles by April 1, 2018.

It looks unique but the Cliq promises a number of standard features you'd expect from a regular Honda scooter, including a mobile charging point, tubeless tyres and a maintenance-free battery. The Cliq is manufactured at Honda's second plant in Tapukara, Rajasthan. Sales will begin in Rajasthan and will then spread to tier 2 and 3 cities in a phased fashion. Four colours will be available  Patriotic Red with White, Black, Moroccan Blue with White, and Orcus Grey. It is available for sale in Standard and Graphic variants and with prices starting at Rs 42,499, ex-showroom, Delhi.

The Cliq has the potential to do well for Honda considering that urban India has become incredibly receptive to the idea of an automatic scooter. There's a good chance that rural India might be willing to follow to some extent and Honda will be first to strike as the competition lacks a similarly-focussed product.
New 3-series will get the same three-intake front bumper layout of 2017 5-series.

The next-generation BMW 3-series sedan, codenamed G20, will replace the current F30 3-series internationally in 2019. Recent mules of the car, which have been spotted testing at the Nurburgring, suggest that the final production model will borrow design inspiration from the 2017 5-series.The biggest example of this shared design is the front bumper. It appears to feature the same three-intake layout as the next 5-series, and although the temporary headlights are heavily camouflaged, the same overall light structure will most likely be incorporated.Sources have told our sister publication Autocar UK that other changes to the G20 3-series will give it tauter features and a harder-edged exterior.



BMW's trickle-down styling approach will also be applied, meaning the 3-series will look more like the new 5-series, although it's not known how similar they will be. BMW's closest rival Mercedes-Benz has adopted a 'Russian doll' styling approach to its C, E and S-class models, which very closely match one another on major design cues. The G20 3-series is expected to feature BMWs turbocharged, 1.5-litre, three-cylinder engine in an entry-level model, with turbocharged, 2.0-litre, four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines directly above it in the range. More potent models, including the M3, will most likely still use turbocharged, in-line six-cylinder units, but with gains in power and reductions in CO2 output.Like its predecessor, the sedan is expected to be available in both rear and four-wheel-drive forms.



When it arrives in international markets, the G20 range will have to conform to the EUs next wave of emissions legislation. This means it will be the first generation of 3-series tasked with producing an average CO2 emissions output of less than 100g/km.BMW hasn't said when the new 3-series will make its first official appearance but it has ruled out a 2017 launch. This means, it's likely to make its debut at a 2018 motor show, most likely the Geneva or Paris motor show.

Image source
Hyundai teases new Verna's interior. We tell you more about it.

Hyundai has teased the all-new Hyundai Verna's interior on its social media channels ahead of the car's India launch in the coming months. The carmaker originally revealed the 2018 Verna as a concept in the 2016 Beijing auto show last August. In early February 2017, the Russian-spec production car was revealed under its local name the Solaris. Shortly after, Hyundai took the wraps off the Canada-spec Verna at the 2017 Toronto motor show, although it will be called the Accent in that region. In India, Hyundai will continue with the Verna nameplate and it will be very similar to the car you see here, perhaps with a few minor tweaks. The new Verna should be launched in the coming months at a price that will put it squarely against the Honda City and Maruti Suzuki Ciaz. Let's take a look at the five points that stand out with the upcoming 2018 Hyundai Verna.

1. It's larger, more spacious

The 2018 Verna will get a 10mm increase in wheelbase resulting in an overall 15mm increase in length. A bigger addition comes in width, which grows by 29mm. Despite the increased dimensions, weight has gone up by just 10 kilos. With the liberated wheelbase and width, we expect more space at the rear, both in terms of knee and shoulder room. The current Verna felt a little cramped at the back compared to the more spacious Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Honda City, so these changes are welcome. The additional space will hopefully lead to the use of a more comfortable rear bench. Boot space too is up by 16 litres, thanks to the added width.

2. Cabin sees big improvement

The cabin gets a new dashboard layout that is mildly canted towards the driver. The layout has evolved into a cleaner, more sophisticated design and it should feel considerably more premium than the existing car. Hyundai will use soft materials at certain touch points and special focus has been paid to boosting ergonomics and ease of use. The top variants will get a new 7.0-inch touchscreen display and we expect support for both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. The steering wheel design has been refreshed as well. Expect ABS and dual airbags as standard with six airbags on offer on the top models. The automatic variants should offer ESP as well.

3. Could be better to drive

The new Verna will get an updated chassis rather than an all-new setup. Hyundai claims higher use of advanced high-strength steel, 54.5 percent compared with 41.5 percent in the outgoing model. Torsional rigidity has risen by a significant 32 percent, thanks to the additional use of structural adhesives. Couple this with the wider body and longer wheelbase and its fair to expect improved dynamics. Hyundai says the updated chassis also results in better noise isolation. Suspension developments have been made with the focus on better ride comfort as well as improved handling and stability. Finally, Hyundai also claims efforts have been made to improve the steering feel. If the improvement the current Elantra has shown over its predecessor is anything to go by, we expect very positive things for the new Verna.

4. Get better gearboxes

One area where the current Verna lacks against competition like the Honda City and Volkswagen Vento is in its automatic gearboxes. The current Verna AT models make do with an outdated four-speed automatic but we expect the new car to feature the six-speed torque converter automatic from the Elantra. This gearbox isnt quite at dual clutch levels of performance but is considerably smoother and quicker than the old four-speeder. The Canada-spec model will debut with a 1.6-litre direct injection petrol. However, we expect the current Vernas powertrain offering to continue. That means a choice of 1.4-litre and 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines.

5. Looks like a scaled-down Elantra

When the new Elantra broke cover last year, it was universally acclaimed for its sleek, new design that was familiar, but a clear step ahead. The new Vernas design heads in the same direction, gaining a set of clean, swooping lines inspired by its bigger brother. The Verna is the latest Hyundai to feature the companys cascading grille design and it pulls it off well with its long bonnet and pulled back headlamps. The roofline drops in a clean line similar to the outgoing car but the tail section gets new lamps that look like sleeker versions of the new Xcents lamps. Ground clearance has been reduced by 10mm on the Canada-spec car but it remains to be seen if this applies to the Verna that will be sold in India. Seventeen-inch wheels are on offer on the international car.

Take a closer look at the new Verna in our image gallery
Photo of Waymo self-driving Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivan courtesy of FCA.

The U.S. Congress is taking steps to enact policy changes aimed at removing barriers to autonomous vehicle research and development, while the auto and tech industries continue to lobby for federal regulations that supersede the evolving patchwork of state laws.

Republican draft legislation in the House includes a 14-bill package that would designate the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, as the lead agency for regulating autonomous vehicles, according to a report from Reuters. If ultimately passed into law, this legislative package would essentially strip away the states' authority to set policy for self-driving vehicles.

States could continue to set some insurance and registration rules that affect autonomous vehicles under the proposal.

One of the draft bills would permit the U.S. Department of Transportation to exempt up to 100,000 vehicles annually from federal motor vehicle safety rules, which currently prohibit the sale of self-driving vehicles lacking steering wheels, pedals and other controls designed for human driver use, Reuters reported.

Meanwhile, on the Senate side, three lawmakers last week released a list of principles they want to form the foundation for future Senate bills on self-driving vehicles. Senators John Thune (R-S.D.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) released their statement of policy goals in advance of a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing focused on self-driving vehicles.

The principles are prioritizing safety, promoting continued innovation and reducing existing roadblocks, remaining tech neutral, reinforcing separate federal and state roles, strengthening cybersecurity, and educating the public to encourage responsible adoption of self-driving vehicles.

Self-driving vehicles will not only dramatically change how we get from place to place, they have the potential to prevent accidents and save thousands of lives, said Peters, a member of the committee. Im pleased we have compiled this bipartisan framework, which is an important step toward introducing and enacting meaningful legislation that will help the federal government promote the safe development and adoption of self-driving vehicles and ensure the United States remains the world leader in transportation innovation.
General Motors and Mobileye have been granted permission to test autonomous vehicles in Israel following approval from Israels Ministry of Transport.

GM Israel's Herzliya development center recently unveiled an autonomous car prototype, which is a spinoff of the Chevrolet Bolt EV, according to Globes.

General Motors also recently unveiled a fleet of 130 Chevrolet Bol EV test vehicles in the U.S. equipped with self-driving technology that it plans to "deploy at scale," according to the automaker.

GM has already been testing more than 50 self-driving Bolt EVs in San Francisco, Detroit, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
Photo of the Opel Grandland X courtesy of Opel.

Opel will continue to sell assets in South Africa as the manufacturer transitions from being a subsidiary of General Motors to PSA Group.

At a recent Johannesburg media briefing it was announced that from January 2018 Opel brands would be sold through an exclusive network of 35 dealers, according to Independent Online. All current Opel warranties and service plans are also to remain in place.

The acquisition of Opel from GM to PSA Group is pending regulatory approvals. GM announced in May that it would halt vehicle production in the country by the end of the year.

Opel will still use GM's existing parts distribution centre in Coega, which will be owned by Isuzu Trucks following GM leaving the country.

The German car brand will launch the new Opel Crossland X in 2017 and the Opel Grandland X in 2018, according to the Citizen.
(Left) Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti signed a joint declaration to set goals for the transition to zero emissions at Southern California ports. Photo: Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti

The mayors of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, are aiming for zero emissions at the ports or Los Angeles and Long Beach by 2035 as part of their commitment to adopting the Paris Climate Agreement goals in their cities.

Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles and Mayor Robert Garcia of Long Beach signed a joint declaration to set goals for the twin ports to make the transition to zero emissions in their Clean Air Action Plan. The CAAP will include new investments in clean technology, expanding emissions reductions, and launching a zero-emissions drayage truck pilot in the next few years.

Our ports are the engines that power our economy  they must also be the forces that drive our region toward a greener, more sustainable future, said Garcetti. I am proud to stand with my fellow Climate Mayor Robert Garcia today, as we renew our commitment to cleaning our air, and moving boldly toward our goal of zero emissions goods movement at the ports.

A spokesman for the Harbor Trucking Association, an advocacy group of intermodal carriers in California, is supportive of clean air technology but told HDT the group is skeptical that the goals stated by the two mayors were actually achievable.

Were not against clean technology or clean air, but you need to be careful in the goals you set, said Weston LaBar, the executive director of the HTA. You cant set hard goals and milestones to get to zero emissions when the technology does not really exist today.

As of right now, what theyre asking for doesnt exist."

The two mayors also launched the Green Ports Collaborative, a program aimed at creating shared environmental standards for ports and cities in the U.S., and to demonstrate demand for zero emissions equipment. The mayors declaration also puts in place a CAAP implementation Stakeholder Advisory Group, which will bring together stakeholders from the government, maritime industry, utility and community leaders, to oversee the 2017 update.

The HTA states that the technology has a long way to go before the zero emissions goals and deadlines can be realized. It says the technology needs to be available and commercially viable before trucking companies should be held accountable for missing emissions goals.

As of right now, what theyre asking for doesnt exist, said LaBar. "You can't penalize the trucking community in the form of bans or fines if there's no suitable technology out there. It needs to be an affordable technology that the industry can really find a return on investment, otherwise the whole system breaks down."

The two ports are the busiest container ports in the U.S., and play a vital role in achieving cleaner air and emissions goals for the state. Nearly 40% of the cargo that comes to the U.S. moves through the Southern California ports complex.
The NASA flag bearer Raila Odinga has rubbished the claims about chaos cultivation saying that he is planning to have a pure credible election and IEBC should prepare to have it too. The NASA coalition has heavily funded international IT experts to expose any rigging with IT tools in all polling stations.The NASA tallying centre will be equipped with high standard pieces of equipment donated by friends across the world. The Opposition coalition is planning to set up two tallying centres, one in Nairobi and a backup centre in Arusha Tanzania.NASA leader Raila Odinga is working with IT experts, mostly from Ghana and Germany, to forge a secret 'win-in-spite-of-rigging' system and super-fast tally, the experts say.The team leader worked for the US space agency NASA and devised the vote tallying system in Ghana where the opposition won in December last year.It includes a mechanism to ensure no votes are stolen or added. The dead voters will not vote this time round because the measures will frustrate IEBC plans to rig on behalf of Jubilee.The tallying plans are known only to a select few in the presidential secretariat. "We need secrecy on this issue," a source familiar with the manoeuvres said."The system is intelligent enough to know how many voters are registered at each polling station and if there is any attempt to inflate the figures the system will reject (them)," one foreign expert told Bana. Experts are already in Nairobi.The Jubilee Party dropped its earlier vociferous objections to NASA's parallel tallying plans and centre  and it is establishing its own.Vigilant NASA agents will also eliminate the possibility of ghost voters.The Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission had warned NASA against its plans but later said parallel tallying was acceptable as long as it did not announce results and declare a winner.In a strategy to thwart what he calls perennial vote rigging, Raila Odinga and his techies have developed an application that simultaneously will transmit results from the polling station to both constituency and national levels.NASA is also consulting Jesse Boateng, who also worked with the Ghanaian leader during the election. Boateng is Vice President at US firm 270 Strategies that helped Hillary Clinton in her presidential bid.On March 28, Raila said his team will deploy at least 10 agents to every polling station. Some will take videos and photos of electoral materials, including Forms 34 and 36, which would be irrefutable evidence in the case of a challenge. Using polling stations' voter registers, agents will monitor who has not voted, trace them and ensure they vote.The Team will work closely with the agents across the country from all 290 constituencies. According to the techs, the parallel tallying centres will enable to count all the votes cast and also expected to have video cameras in Major swing polling stations across the country.
Cindy continues to spread heavy rain into the Central Gulf Coast region. The track of the center continues to shift west toward the Texas Coast.

However, the exact center of the tropical storm is not as important because Cindy is poorly organized and the real threat is the heavy rain along the coast east of the center.

Because Cindy is moving slowly, there will likely be flooding due to heavy rainfall across southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Cindy's track continues to shift west toward Texas coast

Watch Tropical Updates at :49 each hour



RELATED: Everything you need to stay safe in our Storm Season 2017 special section

Tropical Storm Cindy at 11 p.m.:

LOCATION...26.4N 91.0W

ABOUT 230 MI...365 KM S OF MORGAN CITY LOUISIANA

ABOUT 305 MI...495 KM SE OF GALVESTON TEXAS

MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS...60 MPH...95 KM/H

PRESENT MOVEMENT...NW at 7 MPH

MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE...997 MB...29.44 INCHES

The Tropical Storm Warning has been extended eastward to the Alabama-Florida border, including Lake Ponchartrain and the New Orleans metropolitan area.

A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for...

* San Luis Pass to the Mouth of the Pearl River

* Metropolitan New Orleans

* Lake Pontchartrain

Remember to watch our Tropical updates at :49 each hour on Bay News 9.

 What exactly are the spaghetti plots?

 Information You Need | Supply Checklist





Remember that the spaghetti model plot does not indicate the strength of a system or even development at all. It only predicts where this broad area of low pressure is expected to go.
The Republicans will hold on to Georgia's 6th Congressional District in the most expensive U.S. House race in history, and one the Democrats pinned a lot of hopes on.

Race is important to each party's future

Race could indicate how 2018 midterm elections will play out

Karen Handel won the special election for the district that belonged to former Congressman-turned Health Secretary Tom Price.

She fended off Democrat Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer turned documentary filmmaker.

The race was called the most expensive in history as more than $50 million has been poured into this race by the candidates, their parties, and super PACs.

A telltale sign that this race is crucial to determining how each party will fare in the future.

Ossoff is a 30-year-old former congressional staffer turned documentary filmmaker. Making his first bid for office, he became a symbol of the Trump opposition movement.

Yet Ossoff barely mentioned the president, talking instead in generalities about restoring civility and the importance of Congress as an oversight body. He didnt constantly refer to Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, directly either, instead pitching his fresh leadership against career politicians.

Handel, 55, embraced her experience as a statewide and local elected official. You know me, she said, adding often that Ossoff has no record and inflates his resume.

Shes also known as a Susan G. Komen Foundation executive when the organization in 2012 sought to cut off its support of Planned Parenthood, which provides services including abortions.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- Democrats took the Senate floor on Monday night to protest closed-door negotiations by the Republican majority to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.



In a slew of lengthy floor speeches throughout Monday night, Democrats accused GOP lawmakers of drafting its Obamacare replacement bill in secret and called for more time to consider the bill, which could see a vote as early as next week.



Republicans are drafting this bill in secret because theyre ashamed of it, plain and simple, minority leader Chuck Schumer, D, NY, said Monday. If Republicans wont relent and debate their health care bill in the open for the American people to see, then they shouldnt expect business as usual in the Senate.



Schumer said the shameful Trumpcare bill would provide tax breaks for the countrys most wealthy people and make middle-class citizens pay more for less health care.



Schumer also asked the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, R-KY, if the lawmakers would get more than 10 hours to debate the Senate bill before voting on it. McConnell responded: I think we will have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill.



McConnell accused Democrats -- who on Monday threatened to use a series of procedural motions to slow down the Senate's work -- of preventing Congress from acting.

Will they #ShowUsTheBill? Will they give us 10 hours to review the #Trumpcare bill? Hard to get a straight answer from @SenateGOP: pic.twitter.com/GD72t8qHIR  Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 19, 2017



Obamacare continues to collapse, McConnell said. Republicans are working to implement better ideas. Democrats are still trying to prevent Congress from acting.



Schumer said his partys actions were merely the first steps were prepared to take in order to shine a light on this shameful Trumpcare bill.



Senate Republicans have been racing to draft the bill since May when the House narrowly passed its version. Both chambers would have to agree on the language in order for the repeal measure to become law.



When President Trump said that the House bill was mean he was not kidding around, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-RI, said in a speech from the Senate floor Monday night. And if you think the one on the Senate side is gonna be any better there's one little phrase I'd like to bring to your attention. We're not stupid.



Democrats, who oppose the bill but lack the necessary votes to block it, have vowed to block GOP procedural requests in an attempt to increase transparency in the drafting process. They have also tried to force the bill into committee and delay a potential vote.



Democrats also noted that before the ACA was passed, the bills text had been public for weeks, and it had seen at least 100 Senate deliberations, while the current bill hasn't seen any.

This is not normal. Senate Republicans are refusing to hold hearings on #Trumpcare. They won't even #ShowUsTheBill. What are they hiding? pic.twitter.com/yMsJ3eHKRF  Sheldon Whitehouse (@SenWhitehouse) June 20, 2017



McConnell told President Donald Trump earlier this month that a vote on the bill could come before Independence Day, but Senate leaders have held back from divulging details about the bill.



However, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-WI, a vocal critic of the Affordable Care Act, said last week that his party would need more time to pass a viable replacement for Obamacare.



We need enough time to really fully understand it. It's going to take time, Johnson told reporters last week. This is complex. I really dont want to see us vote before the July 4th break. I think it'd be too soon.



Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
One year into a Southeast Texas sailor's naval service, all his possessions slowly sank to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Skyler Click, of Orangefield, lost seven of his shipmates Saturday morning when the destroyer he's been on since December collided with a merchant ship off the coast of Japan. His identification and main source of communication were washed away.

Click, a boatswain's mate, was working on the ship's deck before dawn, when the crash occurred. The 20-year-old sailor's bunk was located in the part of the ship that was severely flooded, so he was wiped clean of money, clothes and his cell phone. He was allowed to search the USS Fitzgerlad on Sunday but found nothing.

RELATED: Local sailors on wrecked Navy destroyer found safe

Later that day, Click was finally able to video chat with his family. His step-mom, Tesha Click, said Skyler barely looked at the camera.

"He didn't want to break down. He knows he's blessed," she said.

Click's family is planning to send necessities to him Friday. Until then, locals are volunteering their businesses as drop-off locations for anyone who wants to donate items.

"It bring tears to my eyes seeing all the feedback," Tesha said. "It's overwhelming in a good way. It's good to see everyone coming together."

A bond was forged in the aftermath of the collision when shipmate Josh Mason, of Lumberton, relayed news of Skyler's safety to his mom, who contacted the Click family. When the 20-year-old sailor's family heard the news Friday night, U.S. central time, Tesha said there was no way to contact her stepson.

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"We started seeing the posts of the ones who went missing thinking it could've been him," Tesha said. "It was because of the Masons that we knew Skyler was OK."
A crowd of angry Kirbyville residents on Monday night harshly condemned the school board and Superintendent Tommy Wallis during the first public comment session since the apparent suicide of high school principal Dennis Reeves almost a month ago.

"Crooks," shouted one man as trustees entered meeting.

While supporters of the board and superintendent were a quiet minority Monday night, trustees made it clear they fully support their embattled superintendent.

Angry residents - some who showed up hours before the meeting - questioned the board's decision to hire Wallis after last week a Bryan College-Station newspaper released a document from his former employer that detailed nearly a dozen violations of Bryan ISD's code of ethics.

> > MORE | Read the document detailing the violations here

"They knew what kind of person he was and they just let him waltz right in here," said Kevin Wilson, a member of a local group called Community for Change. "I don't know how they can keep defending him, probably because they know they messed up by hiring him."

The Bryan report was produced at the direction of the Bryan ISD board of trustees in September 2016, one month before they signed a separation agreement to pay Wallis $83,000. As part of the agreement, trustees also provided a favorable reference letter.

The complaint was given to The Eagle newspaper in Bryan by two Bryan ISD employees, who asked to remain anonymous to protect their jobs.

> > MORE:

According to The Eagle, the two employees confirmed that the ethics violations in the document were the reason trustees asked Wallis to resign. They said they released the document in light of Reeves' apparent suicide.

Reeves was found dead in his truck outside the high school on May 23, an hour after meeting with Wallis and Assistant Superintendent Georgia Sayers, who confronted him about an alleged affair with a former secretary.

Wallis was hired by KCISD in March. After he was forced to resign from Bryan ISD, he sued the district and the Texas Attorney General's Office in January to halt the release of any information about his tenure or departure from Bryan. He secured a temporary restraining order from a judge in Travis County.

On Monday, Board President Chad George read a statement in support of Wallis.

George said Wallis was "open and honest" with the board about his time at Bryan ISD and about "the lessons he had learned as a result."
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A new "hot spot" inside a second silo at the Port of Port Arthur has firefighters concerned as they continue to extinguish debris from another silo that collapsed two weeks ago after smoldering for more than a month.

The silos, owned by German Pellets Texas, hold combustible wooden pellets made of wood, sawdust and flour.

> > MORE | Smoldering Port Arthur silo collapses

The first silo began smoking from "internal combustion" in April, emitting smoke throughout the nearby neighborhood, before it ruptured and collapsed on June 4.

Port Arthur firefighters have been at the port around the clock since the first internal fire began on April 16. They now are monitoring "hot spots" in the second silo, as well as in the pile of sawdust and collapsed metal.

Fire Chief Larry Richard said Monday that the temperatures in the silo,

which is in the middle of the row of three, "have trended down somewhat" over the weekend, but said there is still "an area of concern."

GPTX did not respond to requests for comment, and has not posted any information its website, gptxupdates.com, since the collapse.

Officials learned Friday that "the silo adjacent to the collapsed silo has developed an internal hot spot," according to internal senor readings, the city said in a statement. "This hot spot is being continuously monitored while solutions are explored. Every option is being considered at this point, ranging from internal nitrogen injection to controlled demolition."

Read more in today's print edition of The Enterprise.

Click here to have the daily eEdition delivered straight to your inbox.
Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health called off plans to transfer ownership of its 72-bed Walla Walla (Wash.) General Hospital to Providence Health & Services and is instead closing the facility  along with its affiliated home health division and medical group  July 24.

Under the agreement Adventist and Renton, Wash.-based Providence Health & Services disclosed in April, Providence would assume ownership and operation of Adventist's Walla Walla campus  the hospital, Adventist Health Medical Group and Adventist Health Home Care Services. The proposed transaction was not a sale, but a "membership substitution." In exchange for the three entities, Providence agreed to disburse $14 million over 24 years into a special fund for community health that Adventist would direct.

The systems said the handoff was set to close early this summer. On Monday came word of the very outcome the deal aimed to avoid. Adventist said it encountered "unexpected regulatory challenges" that "could linger for an undetermined duration of time" and possibly block the membership substitution. It informed Providence it was discontinuing negotiations and would instead close the campus.

Joyce Newmyer, president of Adventist Health Pacific Northwest Region and board chair of Walla Walla General Hospital, said the closure is "one of the most heart-breaking decisions we have had to make as a company." The system stated that Walla Walla General Hospital has faced financial challenges for the past decade.

"Adventist Health has invested more than $68 million into Walla Walla General Hospital during recent years in the hopes of securing its future as a healthcare resource in Walla Walla," said Ms. Newmyer. "We respect the legacy of this hospital, its place in the heart of our community, and the investments we have all made to sustain it for more than a century. Unfortunately, we must now acknowledge the current healthcare environment creates an unsustainable future for the local hospital."

"We are, of course, disappointed and saddened by the decision to not continue with the proposed transaction and to close the Adventist facilities in Walla Walla, but understand and accept their decision," Providence stated.

Walla Walla General Hospital was founded in 1899 and has more than 400 employees, including a medical staff of more than 175 clinicians. With its closure, Adventist will cease hospital operations in Washington.

Adventist said it has positions open at 19 other Adventist Health hospitals in California and Oregon for employees interested in relocating.

Wheatland Village, the retirement center on Adventist's campus in Walla Walla, will remain open.
An analytics firm the Republican National Committee employed to conduct big data analysis exposed the information of roughly 198 million potential voters, according to The Hill.

Here are five things to know about the exposure.



1. The firm, Deep Root Analytics, housed several databases of potential voter information on an unsecured Amazon cloud account, which could be viewed and downloaded by anyone with the databases web address, without a login or password.



2. Chris Vickery, a researcher with the security firm UpGuard, discovered the information exposure June 12. He said the main database included names, addresses and an "RNC ID" number attached to research on individual voters. One file, for example, contained information about a voter's likely position on 46 political issues, The Hill reports.



3. The files, which were exposed between June 1 and June 14, were secured after Mr. Vickery discovered the breach, according to The Hill. Deep Root Analytics has contracted security firm Stroz Friedberg to investigate the incident.



4. "We take full responsibility for this situation," Deep Root Analytics said in a statement to The Hill. The firm continued, stating, "Deep Root Analytics builds voter models to help enhance advertiser understanding of TV viewership. The data accessed was not built for or used by any specific client. It is our proprietary analysis to help inform local television ad buying."



5. The Deep Root Analytics incident represents the largest exposure of voter information, according to The Hill. The second largest incident exposed the records of 93.4 million Mexican citizens.



Mr. Vickery, who specializes in discovering unsecured online files, told The Hill, "In terms of the disc space used, this is the biggest exposure I've found. In terms of the scope and depth, this is the biggest one I've found."



More articles on health IT:

Texas HHSC privacy breach may affect 1.8k individuals

Oracle releases cloud-based eClinical platform

Trump to meet with 20 tech CEOs
Canton, Ohio-based Mercy Medical Center President and CEO Thomas E. Cecconi is retiring, effective Dec. 31.

Mr. Cecconi served in the roles since April 2003, prior to which he was executive vice president and COO of the medical center. He came to Mercy from Doctors Hospital of Stark County, located in Perry Heights, Ohio, where he served as president and CEO. His previous roles include serving as COO of Virginia (Minn.) Regional Medical Center and president of Paris (Ill.) Community Hospital.

During his tenure at Mercy Medical Center, he oversaw numerous projects, including renovating and expanding the emergency department as well as establishing new outpatient health centers.

Mr. Cecconi is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives and in 1996, he received the CEO Award of Excellence from the College of Osteopathic Healthcare Professionals.

Mr. Cecconi will continue in his current roles until Aug. 1, when he will take on the role of CEO emeritus. The medical center has yet to find an interim leader. A. David Jimenez, chief performance officer at Cleveland-based Sisters of Charity Health System, will assist with the transition. Mercy Medical Center is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity Health System.
Corvallis, Ore.-based Samaritan Health Services President and CEO Larry Mullins is stepping down at the end of the year, after leading the health system for 25 years. He will take on a new part-time role as leader of the Samaritan Solutions Institute, as he transitions into semi-retirement.

Mr. Mullins assumed the CEO role at Corvallis-based Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in 1992. At the time, the health system did not exist. Mr. Mullins played an instrumental role in the creation of Samaritan Health Services, which brought together five free-standing community hospitals.

During Mr. Mullins' tenure, the health system earned national accreditation as a training site for physician residents, added a number of new clinical programs and built the multidisciplinary health sciences campus in Lebanon, Ore., that includes a medical school.

Mr. Mullins is a fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, and he has received a Lifetime Leadership Award from the Oregon Health Forum. In his new role, Mr. Mullins will oversee Samaritan Solutions Institute, an annual, multi-day series of leadership sessions focusing on economic development, policy issues and organizational change.

Samaritan's Chief Administrative Officer Doug Boysen will take over as president and CEO in January 2018.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Republican and Democratic governors criticized the American Health Care Act, arguing the bill doesn't do enough to protect the nation's sick and vulnerable, according to CNBC.

"Improvements should be based on a set of guiding principles  which include controlling costs and stabilizing the market, that will positively impact the coverage and care of millions of Americans, including many who are dealing with mental illness, chronic health problems, and drug addiction," the letter stated. "Unfortunately, H.R. 1628, as passed by the House, does not meet these challenges," it says.

The letter is signed by Republican Governors John Kasich of Ohio, Charles Baker of Massachusetts and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, as well as Democratic Governors John Kickenlooper of Colorado, Steve Bullock of Montana, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania and John Bel Edwards of Louisiana.

The governors called on Senators to work together across the aisle to come up with a better solution.

"We feel that true and lasting reforms are best approached by finding common ground in a bipartisan fashion," they wrote, according to the report.
Waterbury (Conn.) Hospital confirmed plans to downsize its workforce by cutting positions and leaving some vacant jobs unfilled.

The hospital attributed the move to various factors, including state funding cuts.

"Given the dynamic healthcare environment and the issues facing hospitals today, we constantly review our operations to ensure that we are providing high-quality care to our communities in the most efficient way. Proposed and continued cuts in state reimbursement due to Connecticut's budget crisis, regulatory changes at the state and federal level, and the growth of population health management are all having an impact on Waterbury Hospital," hospital officials said in an emailed statement to Becker's Hospital Review.

Officials did not disclose details regarding the job cuts, such as how many employees will be laid off or which positions are affected. However, they did say the decision came as a result of its most recent review of the organization.

"The leadership determined that it was necessary to restructure our operations and strengthen our care delivery through process improvements. This included reducing some staff positions as well as leaving some positions that are currently open unfilled. This is never an easy decision nor do we make it lightly," the hospital's statement concludes.

The hospital currently has about 2,000 employees, according to a Waterbury Republican-American report.
Hospitals of all sizes and in all regions must find ways to become more fiscally efficient as reimbursements from government and commercial payers continue to decline. But while larger health systems typically have a greater financial cushion, many independent rural and community hospitals have increasingly found themselves imperiled in the current healthcare climate.

Unfortunately, extreme financial distress has led to the closure of many smaller hospitals, which serve as crucial safety nets in their communities. The consequences can be severe. Rural communities often depend on one acute care hospital to provide all inpatient services, with the next nearest option a long drive away. For low-income families without convenient transportation, otherwise manageable emergencies could turn into dire tragedies.

Half of all states experienced at least one rural hospital closure from 2010 through 2016, according to research from the North Carolina Rural Health Research Program. Southern states saw the most closures, with Texas logging 13 shuttered hospitals. Tennessee had eight hospitals close since 2010 and Georgia had six.

Amid industrywide efforts to improve population health and ensure access to timely and convenient care, the staggering rate at which hospitals are closing could completely offset progress.

What is the solution?

Every struggling hospital's situation is different, and it's virtually always due to local circumstances. In some cases, it makes sense for a large health system to acquire and help turn around a distressed community or rural hospital, but that is not always the case. Sometimes the best course of action is for the smaller hospital to reengineer its role in the community.

During times of crisis, the most important thing is for leaders of ailing community and rural hospitals to be open to change. Many of these institutions have served as centerpieces of their communities for decades or even a century, but they will fail if they allow history to constrain their ability to evolve. The best decision  and sometimes the only option  for a struggling hospital may be to transform into an outpatient or ambulatory center. Or leaders may decide to close a certain department or clinical service due to low volume and inadequate revenue. Perhaps a hospital could benefit from replacing certain services with telemedicine.

If it's determined that the hospital needs to maintain inpatient services to to support local communities, another option is for the hospital to seek a strategic partnership with a larger hospital operator or health system. Aside from acquisitions, large systems can lend various assets  such as quality improvement programs, IT systems, group purchasing and general management assistance  to help restore the hospital's health.

In the event that a struggling community or rural hospital is acquired, they must still be receptive to change. Northwell Health has acquired at least 10 financially struggling hospitals over the past three decades. With most of these transactions, we had to work with the hospital leaders and their boards to determine how to transform the hospital's business model to achieve long-term sustainability and integrate appropriately with ours. In some cases this involved us converting the acquired hospital into mostly an outpatient care center and relocating its inpatient services to our other nearby hospitals. In another case we enhanced the cardiology services of a hospital and converted it to a tertiary campus. Now that hospital is booming and is one of the best open-heart surgery and trauma centers on Long Island. If its leaders weren't open to change, it probably would have been forced to shut down.

Financially ailing hospitals don't have the luxury of being resistant to change. It's possible to preserve their unique identities and character while transforming to bend under the cost and operational pressures of the current healthcare environment. Those two goals are not mutually exclusive.

Lawmakers must work to help  not harm  these hospitals

The federal regulations and policies that have intensified the financial pressure on rural and community hospitals cannot be ignored.

The No. 1 thing our elected officials could do to protect distressed rural and community hospitals is to vote against legislation that is currently making its way through the U.S. Senate. The House-approved American Health Care Act would be disastrous for hospitals that are serving low-income communities or are in poor financial shape. And if Congress slashes the Medicaid budget, as congressional Republicans have pledged to do, many of these hospitals undoubtedly will go under, which would severely limit access to care for local residents.

The government must not implement measures that will harm the delivery systems that serve these vulnerable communities. There is lots of talk about protecting the insurance companies, but what about those who deliver care? When hospitals and outpatient facilities are harmed, communities suffer.

Ultimately, hospitals in this position face very difficult choices, and they have little control over the policies coming out of Washington. Their leaders deserve credit for working hard and trying to do the right thing. These are tough situations, and it may be difficult to think differently and innovate. But their survival depends on their ability to continue driving into the future, even if it's down a different road.
Manchester, N.H.-based Elliot Health System and Nashua-based Southern New Hampshire Health signed a letter of intent Tuesday to explore a potential partnership.

Under the letter of intent, the health systems will exclusively negotiate the formation of a nonprofit organization to govern the combined entity. Each health system will also retain their individual brand and governance structure.

Officials said the next step is to construct a definitive agreement, subject to approval by the health systems' respective boards of trustees and state regulatory officials.

The organizations also created a website which officials will continue to update with information on the proposed transaction.
Alberto Gonzalez of Bakersfield, Calif., was sentenced to two years in prison followed by two years of probation after pleading no contest to charges of practicing medicine without a license, BakersfieldNow.com reported.

Mr. Gonzales was accused of posing as a physician and charging patients for phony procedures. The latest charges against him were not the only time he was accused of impersonating a physician. In 2012, Mr. Gonzalez was sentenced to two years for operating a fake clinic out of his home. One victim said she paid him $400 for injections that were just water.

Three misdemeanors were tossed out as part of Mr. Gonzalez's deal, according to the report. His sentence will become official during an August hearing.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week joined a coalition of state attorneys general who are investigating opioid manufacturers' marketing and sales practices to determine whether the companies have broken any laws, according to The Texas Tribune.

Mr. Paxton and the other attorneys general are using a variety of legal maneuvers, such as issuing subpoenas to obtain documents and testimony, to assess whether opioid manufacturers have partaken in practices that have contributed to the nationwide opioid addiction epidemic, according to the report.

"This is a public safety and public health issue. Opioid painkiller abuse and related overdoses are devastating families here in Texas and throughout the country," Mr. Paxton said in a statement, according to the report. "The multistate investigation will help us determine the appropriate course of action we can take as attorneys general to address the opioid epidemic."

Mr. Paxton's spokesperson declined to offer more details on the investigation, such as how many other attorneys general are involved or if the group is targeting specific drugmakers.

Representatives from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the nation's largest pharmaceutical trade group, did not immediately respond to The Texas Tribune's request for a comment.
Tulare (Calif.) Regional Medical Center submitted a correction plan to state health officials after an investigation unveiled staffing and other issues contributed to the deaths of two patients in 2016.

The Visalia Times-Delta obtained a CMS report from November 2016 that placed Tulare Regional Medical Center in "immediate jeopardy" after two patient deaths and one instance of a retained foreign object.

State investigators found several issues in the hospital's operating room, especially around staffing. For instance, the hospital had only one operating room on-call surgical team to cover emergency surgeries between 5 p.m. and 7 a.m. and "lengthy, high-risk, urgent and emergent surgeries were routinely performed during periods when the limited operating room resources (a single on-call surgical team) were needed to care for multiple surgeries at the same time."

Additionally, a surgeon would perform high-risk surgeries without an assistant surgeon present.

As a result of these shortcomings, two patients died after their surgeries were postponed, and one patient suffered a retained foreign object after surgery, according to the CMS report.

Tulare Regional Medical Center, which is part of Tulare-based Healthcare Conglomerates Associates, submitted a correction plan to the state in response to the CMS report, which was accepted, according to the Visalia Times-Delta. Per the correction plan, the hospital will do the following:

Not schedule elective surgeries after 5 p.m. on weekdays or on weekends unless backup resources are on hand

Staff an additional surgical team and anesthesiologist

Stabilize and transfer patients who need immediate surgery when the OR is in use

Recruit two backup surgeons and another surgical technician

HCCA and Tulare Regional Medical Center issued a lengthy statement to the Times-Delta in regards to the immediate jeopardy finding and subsequent correction plan. In the statement, the hospital denied wrongdoing and said it "does not agree with the survey report" from the state and CMS.

"Any speculation by anyone as to the responsibility of any doctors or the hospital for the unfortunate events described in the report are nothing but that  speculation," the statement reads.

Read the statement in full here. HCCA did not respond to a Becker's request for comment.
Sainsbury's is understood to have tabled a 130 million bid for Nisa

A deal to sell convenience brand Nisa  which has more than 100 shops in Northern Ireland  to Sainsbury's could be an "oven-ready solution" to the supermarket giant growing its convenience store brand here.

The board of Nisa, which is owned by its shopkeeper members in Northern Ireland and throughout the UK, is currently considering an offer from Sainsbury's, which is thought to be worth around 130m, for Nisa's entire UK business.

Nisa's shops are located across NI and are owned by their members. There are 50 Nisa Locals, 11 Nisa Extras, and another 40 businesses which are independent.

John Cummings is a shareholder, and runs his Nisa store in the Main Street area of Cullybackey. "I think it would be very good for us, and for better buying power.

"It's down to what the members do," he said.

Asked about the possibility of Sainsburys rolling out its own convenience local stores for the first time to Northern Ireland, he said: There are all sorts of different rumours. We are pushing our own Heritage band, its very good and we are doing well.

He said if a deal came through and the terms were right, it could be positive for members.

Dermot Donaghy, general manager of Newell Stores in Dungannon, Co Tyrone, said: We are open to negotiations. It will be interesting to see how it goes. Its more curiosity, as it would be something new for us, but we wouldnt like to lose our influence.

Retail NI and the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium did not wish to comment when contacted about the sale, and Nisa also did not wish to respond.

The Nisa board has a duty to consider any serious or formal offer for the business. Following the consideration, and due diligence, the board could then bring the potential sale to shareholders for a vote.

In theory, a sale process would require 50%, plus one vote, to back it.

It has 1,300 members and 3,000 stores across the UK. Its understood there are 101 in Northern Ireland.

Shopkeepers can own up to 250 shares in Nisa. In return, they get centralised buying power and the Nisa brand.

It is understood Sainsburys offer, at around 2,500 a share, was favoured by Nisas board.

And a potential deal could help Sainsburys move into the growing smaller local convenience store market, according to Andrew Webb of Webb Advisory.

He said: Sainsburys Local operates almost 800 stores across England, Scotland and Wales, but has not yet branched out into Northern Ireland.

Without knowing the details of any deal, I can see how it could appeal to both parties, and potentially benefit the most important party  us shoppers.

From Sainsburys perspective, their Northern Ireland presence is almost exclusively based on the edge of town big box format and trends suggest shoppers are moving towards smaller convenience shopping, topped up by home deliveries  the days of large format stores could be numbered.

This deal would therefore give Sainsburys an oven ready solution to a significant gap in their local offer.

As one example of pricing between the stores, a Sainburys Local in Manchester charges 49p for a pint of semi-skimmed milk, while Nisa in Belfast charges 47p.

Overall, while Im always concerned about losing our unique retail identity, there is a lot of logic in this proposed deal, Mr Webb said.

Sainsburys said it does not comment on market speculation.
The charges relate to Barclays' fundraising during the financial crisis in 2008

Barclays and four former top bankers, including ex-boss John Varley, have been charged with fraud over side-deals struck during the bank's emergency fundraising at the height of the financial crisis.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it had brought charges of conspiracy to commit fraud against the bank itself as well as ex-chief executive Mr Varley, Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris and Richard Boath after a five-year investigation into the events surrounding its cash call in 2008.

It marks the first criminal charges to be brought in the UK against a bank and its former executives for activities during the financial crisis.

The SFO said the charges relate to the bank's emergency fundraising from Qatari investors as the group sought to avoid a government bailout amid the banking sector meltdown.

Qatari investors - the state-backed Qatar Holding and Challenger Universal - pumped 6.1 billion into Barclays during two fundraisings in June and October 2008.

In November that year, Barclays agreed to issue a 3 billion US dollar (2.4 billion) loan made available to the State of Qatar.

The bank, 61-year-old Mr Varley, Mr Jenkins, also 61, and their two former colleagues Mr Kalaris, 61, and Mr Boath, 58, have all been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud over the June 2008 fundraising.

The bank, Mr Varley and Mr Jenkins face the same charge relating to the second fundraising in October 2008, while they have also been charged with providing unlawful financial assistance.

The defendants and a bank representative will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 3.

Mr Varley, who was chief executive between 2004 and 2011, headed the bank at the time of the fundraising, while Mr Jenkins is also said to have played a key role in orchestrating the deal.

Mr Kalaris used to lead the bank's wealth and investment management division, while Mr Boath was the former European head of financial institutions group at Barclays.

Barclays said it is "considering its position in relation to these developments".

It added: "Barclays awaits further details of the charges from the SFO."

Investigations have focused on two "advisory services agreements" worth 322 million, w hich Barclays agreed to pay the Qatar Investment Authority, as well as the 3 billion US dollar loan.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) slapped a 50 million penalty on the bank in 2013 after finding it had failed to disclose arrangements and fees it paid to the Qatari investors.

Barclays contested the fine and the challenge was put on hold while the SFO conducted its investigation, but that stay has been lifted.

The FCA has since reopened its probe into the fundraising deal and is understood to be reviewing new evidence.

The FCA said: "We are pleased that this matter, which led to the stay of our own case, is now in the public domain.

"We welcome a fair and transparent hearing on the basis of the charges set out today by the SFO."

Meanwhile, Barclays is facing legal action from f inancier Amanda Stavely to recoup 700 million in advisory fees from the bank she claims her firm, PCP Partners, is owed relating to the 2008 fundraising, which Barclays is defending.

Law firm RPC also confirmed that following the SFO charges, it is "actively reviewing" the prospects for claims from Barclays shareholders who bought shares in 2008 and suffered losses.

The SFO charges will come as a further headache for current Barclays boss Jes Staley after a series of recent blows, with the chief executive also facing a regulatory investigation into his own conduct after he attempted to identify a whistle-blower.

Mr Jenkins' lawyer, Brad Kaufman of law firm Greenberg Traurig, said: "Mr Jenkins intends to vigorously defend himself against these charges.

"As one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Mr Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on all of the matters covered by the accusations levelled today by the SFO."

Mining giant Rio Tinto said Mr Varley had stepped down as a non-executive director on the board with immediate effect.

Mr Varley has been on the Rio board since September 2011 and also chairs the firm's remuneration committee.

Jan du Plessis, chairman of Rio, praised Mr Varley's "outstanding contribution".

He said: "The board holds him in the highest regard and will miss his valuable insight. Personally, I am not only losing a senior independent director, but a close colleague, whose wisdom and support I am going to miss tremendously.

"On behalf of the board I wish John the very best for the future".
Bombardier has landed a 185m deal for aircraft part-built in Belfast and could secure further deals for its flagship C Series planes.

The Canadian company, which employs around 4,500 staff in Northern Ireland, revealed Philippine Airlines is buying another seven of its Q400 turbo-prop planes.

Meanwhile, Akbar Al Baker, chief executive of Qatar Airways, has confirmed it is in talks with Bombardier over taking its C Series jets on for its new Indian airline.

It comes as Bombardier's Fred Cromer, president of commercial aircraft for the firm, said it's expecting to announce a further significant C Series deal before the end of the year.

"The reputation of the airplane is starting to build among our industry," he told Bloomberg at the Paris Air Show.

"Internally we see it, because the conversations that we are having are accelerating in all regions around the world."

He said that a new deal was due "soon".

"I would say more activity by the end of this year," he said.

Mr Cromer said the company was also ramping up production of the planes to around 120 units by 2020.

Bombardier's Belfast staff, among other work, produce the wings and parts of the fuselage for its C Series passenger planes.

Speaking about the new deal with Philippine Airlines, Mr Cromer said: "We are delighted that Philippine Airlines is growing its fleet with more Q400 aircraft, and are confident that the airline will benefit from the aircraft's outstanding economics and performance."

Jaime J Bautista, president of Philippine Airlines, said: "As we position ourselves for growth, we are pleased to be adding more Q400 to our fleet."

Just last week it was revealed Bombardier's boss in Northern Ireland is being "given a seat at the top table" after being promoted, as the company says it is still facing "significant challenges" following a newly agreed pay deal for Northern Ireland workers.

Michael Ryan was promoted to a new role as president of aerostructures and engineering services.

It is understood he will continue working in Belfast and lead the team here.

Meanwhile, staff here have accepted a 2% increase in wages, after unions balloted members on a pay deal.

It comes after Bombardier slashed more than 1,000 jobs here over the past year.

Orders for the C Series planes were lower than expected. As a result, Bombardier received a $1bn bailout from the regional Quebec government in Canada.

It's landed two major orders for the planes. That includes one with Air Canada for up to 75 of the C Series passenger jets, while US airline Delta is also ordering up to 125.
David Davis is taking his Brexit message across Europe after suffering a setback in Brussels.

The Brexit Secretary is meeting members of Spain's government as part of his effort to build bridges across the continent.

Mr Davis's meeting with the administration of prime minister Mariano Rajoy came after a setback in Brussels saw UK officials agree to the Brexit timetable set out by the European Commission's chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

Talks in Spain are expected to include the thorny issue of Gibraltar after the EU's guidelines for talks suggested the disputed territory's future economic status might be subject to a veto from Madrid.

British sources have insisted the sovereignty of the Rock is not up for discussion as part of the Brexit talks, which began in Brussels on Monday.

The Brexit Secretary had wanted trade talks to take place in parallel with negotiations on the divorce from Brussels but the UK reluctantly accepted the timetable set out by Mr Barnier.

Mr Davis said he was optimistic about the process and the British appeared upbeat about the prospects of trade talks beginning before the final details of divorce proceedings had been agreed.

Prime Minister Theresa May spoke to Polish counterpart Beata Szydlo about the negotiations, telling her she wanted a "deep and special partnership that supports a strong and prosperous EU" and stressing her commitment to a deal on the rights of EU citizens.

Mr Barnier warned the UK faced "substantial" consequences as a result of Brexit but insisted it was "not about punishment" or revenge.

In a reference to the Prime Minister's negotiating mantra, he said: "For both the European Union and the United Kingdom, a fair deal is possible and far better than no deal."

After the first day of the negotiations, which could shape the UK's economic and political future for a generation, it was agreed that working groups of officials would aim to make progress on the issues of citizens' rights, the UK's financial settlement, the so-called divorce bill, and other issues to do with separation.

The most senior officials on either side will lead work on efforts to resolve the problem of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a situation Mr Barnier acknowledged is politically sensitive at a time when the Tories are seeking the support of the Democratic Unionist Party to prop up Mrs May's minority government.

Only when "sufficient, concrete progress" on the first phase has been made will Mr Barnier recommend to the European Council that the negotiations can enter the next stage, taking in the future trading relationship, with that recommendation possibly coming at October's summit of EU leaders.

After seven hours of talks in Brussels, Mr Davis, who had previously promised the "row of the summer" over the timetable for the negotiations, remained upbeat.

Both sides acknowledged the clock was ticking, with the date for the UK's departure from the EU fixed for March 2019.

Mr Davis denied suggestions the agreed timetable showed Britain's "weakness" and insisted it is "completely consistent" with the Government's aim of parallel trade and exit talks.

"It's not when it starts, it's how it finishes that matters," he said.

"The UK has been crystal clear in our approach to the negotiations, the withdrawal process cannot be concluded without the future relationship also being taken into account.

"They should be agreed alongside each other, this is completely consistent with the council's guidelines which state nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."

The Brexit negotiations started as International Trade Secretary Liam Fox met US trade representative Robert Lighthizer in Washington.

The two men discussed the possibility of laying the groundwork for a new potential trade agreement between the UK and US after Brexit.

Dr Fox said: "Our valuable talks underlined the shared interest in forging a closer trade and economic relationship including making progress on policy co-ordination, regulatory issues and expanding trade and investment between our economies.

"As our largest single trading partner, we have a strong foundation to build on as we start preparation on joint work to explore a future ambitious trade agreement once the UK has left the EU."

Mr Lighthizer said: "As the United States' fifth largest export market, the United Kingdom is an invaluable trading partner.

"As UK negotiations with the European Union begin, I look forward to working with Dr Fox and the United States Congress to lay the groundwork for our future trade relationship, including exploring the possibility of a new US-UK trade agreement.

"In the meantime, the United States is committed to continuing discussions for improving trade and investment and co-ordinating on addressing global excess capacity issues."
Faberge owner Gemfields has given its reluctant backing to a 256 million takeover offer from Chinese conglomerate Fosun despite branding the bid "not fair".

The precious stones miner said it was encouraging its minority shareholders to accept the Fosun offer in the face of a "derisory" takeover bid from its largest shareholder, Pallinghurst Resources.

Gemfields said it considers the terms of the Fosun offer to be "not fair and reasonable".

But it added that "the certain cash exit" on offer from Fosun is "materially more attractive" than the unsolicited bid from Pallinghurst.

Gemfield's shares lifted 5%.

Pallinghurst tabled a 211 million offer for Gemfields last month as it looked to acquire the 53% of the company it does not own.

But AIM-listed Gemfields dismissed the proposed tie-up after an independent committee concluded that it "significantly undervalued" the firm, its "unique asset base" and its "leading position in the coloured gemstone sector".

Fosun Gold, which is part of the Fosun International conglomerate, has waded in with a rival bid worth 45p a share, having earlier made a 40.85p a share proposal.

Its offer comes at an 18% premium to Gemfields's shares before the Pallinghurst offer was announced.

Gemfields said: "G iven the challenges that the unsolicited Pallinghurst offer poses to the independent future of the company, and given the derisory nature of the unsolicited Pallinghurst offer, the independent committee intend to recommend that shareholders accept the Fosun offer so as to secure a relatively more attractive outcome for their investment."

Gemfields mines for emeralds and amethysts in Zambia and ruby and corundum in Mozambique.

It snapped up Faberge - renowned for making lavish Easter eggs for Russia's royal family - from Pallinghurst for 89 million in January 2013.
Bangor will host Armed Forces Day celebrations alongside its maritime Sea Bangor Festival this weekend.

From Saturday, 24 June - Sunday, 25 June visitors to the town will be able to enjoy a programme of military activity that wouldnt normally be seen by the public, along with musical performances, cookery demonstrations, food stalls and street theatre.

Highlights include Jetlev demonstrations; a spitfire display; The Sea Science Hub where children and adults alike can explore the scientific wonders of the maritime and wider world; The Shanty Shack music tent with a mix of performers playing everything from Bluegrass to rock and roll; and the ever popular Sea Bangor rowing challenge.

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Specialised military vehicles will also be on display alongside other military regalia and visiting Sister Tall Ships Lady Avenel and La Malouine will sit on Eisenhower Pier alongside a naval P2000.

Mayor of Ards and North Down, Councillor Robert Adair, said he is looking forward to welcoming day trippers and tourists to the borough.

He added: Sea Bangor attracts thousands of visitors from across Northern Ireland and beyond every year and Ards and North Down Borough Council is delighted to be hosting Northern Ireland Armed Forces Day as part of this years event.

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"It is fitting given the areas close affinity with the Armed Forces and its rich military history through the likes of Colonel Paddy Blair Mayne and Major General Rollo Gillespie of Comber who fought in India.

The event will officially commence at 10.50 am on Saturday 24 June with the official regional Armed Forces Day military parade through Bangor town centre, incorporating a special Drumhead Service and Flag Raising.

For more information visit www.ardsandnorthdown.com
Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture shows the parade make its way through the Invest NI site Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture shows the parade make its way through the Invest NI site Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture shows the parade make its way through the Invest NI site Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Picture shows the parade make its way through the Invest NI site Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Picture - Kevin Scott / Presseye Belfast, UK - February 25 2016. The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Nigel Dodds and William Humphrey at the Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Parade make its way through the Invest NI site The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

Parade makes its way through the Invest NI site The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The Annual Whiterock parade takes place in Belfast where a determination has ruled it will not pass through the Workman's Avenue gates for the first time since 2005 ( Photo by Kevin Scott / Presseye)

The controversial Whiterock parade has again been banned from passing through a republican stronghold amid fears that it would prompt a riot by scores of protestors.

A Parades Commission decision announced yesterday ruled that Saturday's event will not be able to cross the Workman's Avenue peace line gates in west Belfast.

The marching watchdog also declared a republican protest against the 950-strong parade should be limited to 100 people. Its decision was last night lambasted as "ridiculous", "nonsensical" and "IRA appeasement" by the DUP and Orange Order supporters.

But Sinn Fein welcomed it as "fair and balanced".

DUP councillor Frank McCoubrey said: "In repeating last year's ridiculous determination, it is clear once again that the Parades Commission seeks to reward those who object to parades taking place and who have previously breached determinations.

"In 2015 when a restricted number of participants were allowed through the gates at Workman Avenue, the parade passed off peacefully.

"The lack of any openness or transparency on the part of the Commission of course means they do not provide any proper justification or explanation for their illogical decisions."

Around 950 participants, 16 bands and an array of supporters are to join this year's Whiterock parade, which was set to travel from West Belfast Orange Hall from 2.15pm, before moving along the Shankill Road, Ainsworth Avenue and Workman Avenue, finishing at 4.30pm.

Instead the parade has been ordered to proceed from Workman Avenue to Woodvale Avenue.

The full march used to pass through the Workman Avenue gates until 2006, after which only 50 people were allowed through.

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West Belfast's Ulster Political Research Group, which provides political advice to the UDA, was among the droves of critics of the Parades Commission decision.

Using Facebook to vent its outrage, the group called it "PIRA appeasement".

Orangeman Dale Pankhurst wrote on the social network: "Another ridiculous determination issued by the Parades Commission on the Whiterock parade. Their decisions lack sense and are damaging."

Sinn Fein MLA Fra McCann was among republicans who welcomed the determinations.

The West Belfast MLA said: "It is a fair and balanced determination that deals with the restrictions campaigned for by local residents while also affording the Orange Order the right to parade down part of the Springfield Road."

The Parades Commission said it put restrictions on Saturday's march because of factors including 'lack of communication' from its organiser.

It also warned Whiterock paraders not to display paramilitary-linked emblems or flags, or celebrate UVF killer Brian Robinson.
A man who saw his teenage girlfriend shot dead after kissing her goodnight has told of his pain at losing his "first love".

Thomas Corrigan was just 16 when he saw Marian Brown shot in disputed circumstances in June 1972.

Marian, who was pregnant at the time, had been walking back to her sister's house along Roden Street in west Belfast.

Mr Corrigan, who was also shot and seriously wounded, recalled how the shots rang out after they embraced.

Yesterday he became tearful as he told the inquest in Belfast that he wished he had died instead of Marian.

He said they had known Marian was pregnant, had agreed they were both in love and would get married. They had told Marian's mother earlier that evening.

"Marian was my first love, not only did I lose my future wife, but also our child," he said.

"Marian was one of the most beautiful women and loving people I have ever met and there is not many times go past when I don't think of Marian and wish it was not Marian but me."

Mr Corrigan said he had been walking with 17-year-old Marian and her sister Teresa along the Grosvenor Road where they said farewell. The women crossed the road to Roden Street to continue to Teresa's house on Donegall Avenue where Marian planned to stay the night.

He was walking on to get to his home on the Falls Road when Marian called his name and he crossed the road. They kissed goodnight at the corner of Roden Street and the Grosvenor Road just before the shooting started.

"I grabbed Marian's hand and we ran into Roden Street for shelter, I can't remember if we reached the wall before we were hit," he said.

The inquest last week heard Marian was shot through the neck and would have lost consciousness in seconds and died shortly after. Mr Corrigan was hit by bullets to the face, chest and arm.

He said he didn't remember much more until after the shooting when he saw men in Army uniform holding rifles standing over them as they lay on the ground and then paramedics tending to him.

"I remember asking was Marian okay," he said.

Mr Corrigan was treated in the city's Royal Victoria Hospital for almost a month before being discharged on July 4.

He recalled waking at one point with two men in suits with Northern Irish accents standing at his bedside.

"They were asking, 'what did you do with the guns?' I didn't answer because I had tubes in my mouth. I was in severe pain and very confused about why they were asking me that," he said. "I believe the nurse opened the curtain and asked them to leave because I was getting very distressed."

One intention of the new inquest into Marian's death, being heard in Belfast by Judge David McFarland, is to determine who shot her.

Fiona Doherty QC, for the Brown family, put it to Mr Corrigan that a soldier has given a statement claiming that he had seen flashes from a gun and a figure and heard automatic gun fire coming from the corner of Roden Street and the Grosvenor Road.

Mr Corrigan responded: "Definitely no, there was no one else there... we were actually on the corner."

Kevin Rooney QC, acting for the Ministry of Defence, asked Mr Corrigan why he and Marian had run into Roden Street instead of out of the street.

"We ran to the closest wall, if we had tried to run to the corner we would have been shot down anyway because it would have been too far," Mr Corrigan said.

Mr Rooney put it to Mr Corrigan that if he and Marian had been standing with their backs to the Grosvenor Road they would not have seen a gunman.

Mr Corrigan said: "But we would have heard him."

Mr Corrigan needed surgery to his face, chest and arm where the bullets caused severe damage.

He added: "There is not a day goes by when I don't think about it, every time I look in the mirror I think about that and I think about Marian and I."

Mr Corrigan moved to England a few years after the shooting where he still lives.

Earlier at yesterday's inquest hearing, Marian's sister Teresa revealed that she received two bullets through the letterbox of her then home on Donegall Avenue within days of the shooting.

She said she believed it had happened because her name and address was published in a newspaper after the shooting, and that the second bullet was meant for her child because it had been reported she had been pushing a pram.

Teresa and her family then moved away from the area and did not return.

Ms Brown told the inquest that she believed loyalists had sent the bullets because she was living in a loyalist area.

The inquest is set to continue this morning with evidence from other eyewitnesses.

Later this week it will hear from soldiers who had been on patrol in the area.
Police had to use a stun gun on the defendant, the court heard.

A man who became unruly in a Belfast hospital after trying to bite and spit on police, claiming he had Aids, has avoided imprisonment.

Ciaran McMurray instead received a five-month suspended jail term for the outburst of aggression which led to him being Tasered.

The 32-year-old, of Jubilee Road in the city, claims his actions were fuelled by having his drink spiked.

Belfast Magistrates' Court heard that McMurray was arrested in July last year after his brother reported he had been self-harming.

Officers who located him in an alleyway at Rugby Avenue had to deploy a Taser stun-gun due to his behaviour, a prosecution lawyer said.

He was handcuffed and detained at first under the Mental Health Act, due to fresh cuts on his wrists.

But when an ambulance arrived, he was obstructive and thrashed about en route to the Royal Victoria Hospital.

"He threatened to spit and bite anyone touching him, claiming he had the disease of Aids," the prosecutor added.

During the violent outburst, he kicked an officer twice, as well as attempting to carry out the spitting and biting threats.

On arrival at the accident and emergency ward, McMurray shouted a series of obscenities.

He was discharged from the hospital after medical staff confirmed that there were no mental health issues.

Defence counsel Sean O'Hare acknowledged the court would be "horrified" by his client's behaviour.

"The defendant found himself with a cocktail of drink and drugs in his system and says that wasn't entirely from his own hand," the barrister said.

"At least some of them were as a result of having his drink spiked."

Despite claiming to have no memory of his actions at the hospital, McMurray admitted disorderly behaviour, along with two counts of assault on police and resisting arrest.

Mr O'Hare described him as a vulnerable man who has suffered a number of personal difficulties.

After being told no physical contact was made with any hospital staff, District Judge Fiona Bagnall decided against immediate custody.

Imposing a five-month sentence in total, she suspended the term for 18 months
Joanne McMasteer at Belfast Crown Court today where was sentenced to three years on probation for stabbing her former lover who had dumped her by text.

A Belfast woman who stabbed her ex-partner after he ended their 'illicit' affair by text was freed on three years probation on Tuesday.

Judge Patricia Smyth said the defendant, Joanne McMaster, would need this period of time to undertake an extensive probation led programme to deal with her drug and alcohol addictions, her underlying vulnerability and her emotional problems.

The Crown Court judge also told the 37-year-old from Abetta Parade, that, while a prison term was "richly deserved", the "protection of the public is always at the forefront of the court's mind".

It was for this "primary reason rather than your benefit", the judge said she was prepared to impose the probation term.

Judge Smyth stated that McMaster's was a "unique" case, arising from her inability to manage her extensive emotional problems for which the probation service could provide a therapeutic package to help resolve them.

McMaster had been having an 'illicit' relationship with a married man, which she thought would be made public following the death of his sick wife. He "had other ideas", texting her to say the affair was over.

Although in a "highly intoxicated state", McMaster went to his home on April 25 last year, armed with a knife and stabbed him.

The attack may have gone unreported, only for police later finding McMaster in a nearby street with her forehead, face and arm splattered with blood.

She was trying to damage tyres to a van, and, in her heavily intoxicated state, admitted stabbing her ex. She told police: "I went round to his house and cut him with a knife."

The man later indicated that he did not want her prosecuted.

Defence barrister Terry McDonald, QC, said that, when McMaster's ex-partner ended their relationship, she underwent "intense feelings of love and betrayal", and "responded emotionally" while "disinhibited by alcohol and drugs."

Mr McDonald also said McMaster "requires intensive treatment ... to ensure an episode like this does not happen again."
A rare butterfly thought to have been extinct in Northern Ireland has been sighted for the first time in 16 years.

Surveyors from the NI Environment Agency spotted not just one, but seven Small Blue butterflies in a Co Fermanagh meadow.

The Small Blue - Cupido minimus - has only ever been recorded at one site in Northern Ireland, but hadn't been seen there since 2001. It is our rarest and most endangered butterfly and is listed as a 'Priority Species' for conservation action.

While it can be found in other parts of the UK and Ireland, it is undergoing a significant decline.

NIEA's Habitat Survey Team recorded no fewer than seven Small Blue butterflies on the wing in the meadow near Derrygonnelly on May 31.

They believe the high numbers are linked to the unusually warm weather, as Northern Ireland has enjoyed its warmest spring since records began.

The butterfly was first spotted by Bobbie Hamill while she was assessing the condition of the flower-rich plant communities in one of Northern Ireland's most important grassland Areas of Special Scientific Interest (ASSIs), just west of Derrygonnelly.

"Not only is the Small Blue our smallest butterfly, but unlike other members of its family, it is inconspicuous and can easily be overlooked," she said.

"Rather than blue, the upper wing is actually dull brown in colour, fringed by white hairs with a dusting of blue scales at their base and the underside is silver blue with dark speckles.

"In addition, at little more than 20mm, it is not surprising that these beautiful little butterflies are difficult to spot.

"We would especially like to commend the landowners and managers in the area for continuing to graze these special sites in a sustainable manner, creating the ideal conditions for plants to flourish and the Small Blue and other important invertebrates to breed. It is still possible that other colonies of this tiny butterfly are surviving in suitable quiet corners of Fermanagh and beyond, so be on the lookout."

Catherine Bertrand, head of butterfly conservation in Northern Ireland, said: "I cannot articulate how delighted we are that the Small Blue has been reconfirmed.

"Our volunteers have revisited the site sporadically over the past 16 years since the butterfly was last seen with no success.

"We genuinely believed it was extinct from Northern Ireland."
The DUP have warned that a deal with Theresa May to shore up her minority government is "certainly not imminent".

A DUP source told the Press Association said that talks with Mrs May's Conservatives "haven't proceeded in a way that the DUP would have expected" and cautioned that the party "can't be taken for granted".

The development came just a day ahead of the Queen's Speech, and threatens to leave Mrs May uncertain of her ability to secure a Commons majority for her Government's legislative programme for the coming two years.

But the source said agreement before Wednesday's State Opening of Parliament could not entirely be ruled out if there was movement in the talks between the parties.

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The DUP is urging the Government to give "greater focus" to the negotiations.

A Number 10 spokesman would say only that talks were "ongoing".

It is thought that the DUP is asking for more investment for Northern Ireland as part of the price of its support, and the party also wants the retention of the triple lock guarantee on pensions and winter fuel allowances for older people.

Arlene Foster's party backs Brexit, but wants to avoid any disruption to movements across the border with the Irish Republic.

Mrs May has rejected claims that a deal with the DUP would undermine the Government's ability to act as an honest broker in talks on the restoration of devolved institutions and power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

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A confidence and supply arrangement would fall short of a full coalition.

The DUP would remain outside Government but would ensure its survival by guaranteeing to vote with it on financial measures and no-confidence votes.
It was Simon Coveney's first meeting with Michel Barnier in his new role

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney says he has been left in no doubt that Ireland's interests are the European Union's interests in Brexit negotiations.

Speaking after his first meeting with EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier since being appointed to his new role, Mr Coveney said Ireland's unique circumstances are well understood in Brussels.

Mr Coveney said it was clear from the pair's discussions that Ireland remains a key EU priority in talks that started this week on the UK's pull-out from the bloc.

"For the EU27's part, we have set out our position plainly and in this position there is a strong acknowledgement of Ireland's unique concerns and priorities, including on: protecting both the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and the gains of the peace process; avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland and; maintaining the Common Travel Area," he said.

"In short, there is no doubt that Ireland's interests are the EU's interests."

Mr Coveney stressed Ireland wanted to see the closest possible future relationship between the EU and the UK to minimise the impact on Ireland's trade and economy.
One in seven people in Northern Ireland are on a waiting list for an outpatient appointment - and some are dying needlessly before they see a doctor.

Prof John Appleby, chief economist with the Nuffield Trust, told the BBC that patients here are suffering because of political inaction.

He said: "There is no doubt that people are suffering. They wait too long, they are in pain, they may die on the waiting list when they needn't have to.

"The cost of not fixing the political problem, not fixing the management problem and so on, is that people are suffering."

Northern Ireland's waiting list is the worst in the UK, according to the Nuffield Trust.

Prof Appleby noted that "one in seven of the entire Northern Ireland population" is currently on an outpatient waiting list, compared to one in 14 in England. "None of the waiting list targets are being met at the moment. There needs to be leadership from the top on this," he said.

According to the latest figures from the Health and Social Care Board (HSCB), more than 253,000 people were waiting for their first consultant-led outpatient appointment on March 31, 2017, up by 2.8% (6,895) on the previous quarter, and up 17.6% (37,942) on the figure for March, 2016.

Guidelines state that at least half of patients should be seen within nine weeks, but 69.6% of patients have been waiting longer, and one in five (21%) have been waiting for a year or more.

More than 70,000 patients were awaiting admission to hospital on March 31, 2017, up by 5.3% from last year.

More than 9,600 patients have been waiting for a year or more.

In a statement, the HSCB said: "It is clear that the current model of delivering services is not sustainable given the continued increased demand. It is unacceptable that any patient has to wait longer than they should for assessment or treatment."

However, increased demand and financial pressures made longer waiting times "inevitable", it continued. Demand, fuelled by factors such as an ageing population, higher patient expectations, improvements in technology and a wider range of available procedures, "currently exceeds capacity" for both new outpatients and inpatient/day case treatments.

"Due to financial pressures, Health and Social Care Northern Ireland (HSC) has been unable to undertake the previous volumes of additional activity to meet the gap between demand for services and funded capacity and as a result, waiting times have grown," the board added.
The women, from Northern Ireland, want abortions to be free on the NHS

A mother and daughter who lost a legal bid for women from Northern Ireland to receive free abortions on the NHS in England have urged a government minister to intervene.

The Health Secretary has the statutory power to ensure women from Northern Ireland have access to free terminations in England.

Following their recent defeat in the UK's highest court the women's legal team has now written to the Health Secretary asking him to exercise that power.

Their lawyer said it would be "right, humane and appropriate" to ensure the services are available on the NHS in England "without delay."

In the letter the women's solicitor Simpson Millar asks the Health Secretary to take note of the Supreme Court's "sympathetic" judgment to them.

"We write to urge the (Health Secretary) to consider exercising his statutory power as described by the Supreme Court to ensure that women from Northern Ireland can access abortion services in England on the NHS," said Mr Millar.

He added: "The plight of women from Northern Ireland seeking abortion services in England is such that it would be right, humane and appropriate to take the necessary steps to introduce regulations and directions to ensure that these services are available on the NHS in England without delay."

The Health Secretary has been asked to respond to the request within 14 days.

Recently the Supreme Court rejected the women's case against the Health Secretary by a majority of just three to two.

The justices said they were "sharply divided" over what the outcome of the case should be with the court's deputy president Lady Hale being one of the two who ruled in favour of the mother and daughter.

The 20-year-old woman at the centre of the appeal was 15 in October 2012 when she and her mother travelled from Northern Ireland to Manchester and were told she had to pay hundreds of pounds for a private termination because she was excluded from free abortion services.

The daughter, who can only be referred to as A, and her mother B, previously suffered defeat at the High Court in London in 2014 and at the Court of Appeal the following year.

In Northern Ireland a termination is lawful when its continuation would threaten the woman's life, or when it would probably affect her physical or mental health, but only if the effect would be serious and, in particular, permanent or long-term.

Each year, at least 1,000 women travel to England for a termination at a private clinic, often paying up to 1,000, and sometimes as much as 2,000.

The mother and daughter had sought a declaration that it was unlawful for the Health Secretary to have failed to make provision for A and all other UK citizens usually resident in Northern Ireland to undergo a termination under the NHS in England free of charge.
A newly elected MP in South Belfast says the majority of people she's spoken to in the area don't "want a public fuss" about flags.

Emma Little Pengelly was speaking to the BBC on Monday night after a DUP spokesman had earlier stated that all flags and emblems associated with paramilitaries have no place in communities.

The discussion centred around Union flags and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) flags that are currently flying in Global Crescent and Cantrell Close near the Ravenhill and Cregagh roads.

The housing developments are part of the Together Building United Communities programme.

"Paramilitaries are a plague on society," the spokesman told the BBC's Nolan Show. "The DUP condemns all those who cling to criminality and violence."

Responding to a query from the show, the Police Service of Northern Ireland it is not responsible for removing flags, except when there is "a substantial risk to public safety" or where it is believed that a criminal offence has taken place.

Following the broadcast, Ms Little Pengelly said she spent several hours calling to around 100 homes in the area and was satisfied that the majority "didn't want a public fuss around this matter".

She stated: "There were some people who were very supportive of the flags, people who felt very much it was part of the tradition of the local area and the wider area.

"The majority of people said to me: 'We understand that the flags have gone up, but we also understand that they will come back down again'.

"Really they didn't want a public fuss around this matter," she added.

"And there were some who had concerns around this, who would prefer for the flags not to be there.

"The way I would put this is that it was a much more complex picture than I was imagining.

"There were some concerns raised, I reassured those individuals that I would be here to support them as well, I would represent their views to the housing association," Ms Little Pengelly concluded.
The development threatens to leave Theresa May uncertain of her ability to secure a Commons majority

Theresa May's hopes of a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to shore up her minority government have hit a setback, as the Northern Irish party warned a deal was "certainly not imminent".

A DUP source told the Press Association that talks with Mrs May's Conservatives "haven't proceeded in a way that the DUP would have expected" and cautioned that the party "can't be taken for granted".

The development came just a day ahead of the Queen's Speech, and threatens to leave Mrs May uncertain of her ability to secure a Commons majority for her Government's legislative programme for the coming two years.

But the source said agreement before Wednesday's State Opening of Parliament could not entirely be ruled out if there was movement in the talks between the parties.

The DUP is urging the Government to give "greater focus" to the negotiations.

A Conservative source said: "Talks are ongoing with the DUP and we continue to work towards a confidence and supply arrangement.

"As we have said, both parties are committed to strengthening the Union, combating terrorism, delivering Brexit and delivering prosperity across the whole United Kingdom.

"While our discussions continue it is important the Government gets on with its business.

"That is why we are putting forward a Queen's Speech which the whole House of Commons can get behind: securing a Brexit deal that works for every part of our country, strengthening our economy, making our society fairer, and keeping our country safe."

The source declined to discuss BBC reports that a deal could be reached as early as Thursday.

Mrs May was forced to seek support from other parties after the snap election on June 8 left her nine MPs short of an overall majority in the House of Commons.

Speaking outside Downing Street the day after the poll, the PM said that she would "continue to work with our friends and allies in the Democratic Unionist Party" to ensure she was able to command a majority to get her legislation through.

She made clear she was not offering a full coalition with ministerial jobs for DUP MPs, but was seeking a "confidence and supply" arrangement, under which the smaller party would remain outside Government but would ensure its survival by supporting it on financial measures and no-confidence votes.

After initial signs of progress, the Conservatives were forced to row back on a premature announcement that agreement had been reached, and talks have now dragged on for 11 days without reaching a conclusion.

It is thought the DUP is asking for more investment for Northern Ireland as part of the price of its support, and the party also wants the retention of the triple lock guarantee on pensions and winter fuel allowances for older people.

Arlene Foster's party backs Brexit, but wants to avoid any disruption to movements across the border with the Irish Republic.

Mrs May has rejected claims a deal with the DUP would undermine the Government's ability to act as an honest broker in talks on the restoration of devolved institutions and power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

Liberal Democrat Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: "After one week of talks, we are no closer to finding out what the DUP have asked for and what concessions are being made.

"It's time for the Conservatives to come clean and tell us: Is no deal better than a bad deal?

"Theresa May has no mandate for the direction she is taking the country.

"This is the first time in decades that a Prime Minister will propose a Queen's Speech without a Commons majority.

"Her failure to reach a deal in time with the DUP doesn't bode well for the tough Brexit talks ahead."
Victims' representatives will discuss the impasse over dealing with the past at Stormont today.

The Victims and Survivors Forum, which includes both security forces members and paramilitary victims, is to meet the five main parties for the first time.

The meeting comes as the issue of dealing with the legacy of the Troubles remains at the core of the negotiations to restore the Assembly.

Forum members are expected to ask how barriers blocking the implementation of mechanisms for dealing with the past can be removed.

They are also hoping for answers around the issue of the proposed pension for the severely injured, along with progress on the planned Northern Ireland-wide Mental Trauma Service.

Victims Commissioner Judith Thompson said forum members will challenge the DUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP, Ulster Unionist and Alliance representatives over the long delay in reaching agreement on 'legacy' issues.

"Forum members have repeatedly expressed their dismay at the failure of our politicians to move forward on setting up mechanisms to deal with legacy issues," she said.

"They will use the meetings to challenge the delays and put forward their vision for a victim-led approach to deal with the past."

Mrs Thompson said: "While this discussion is being led by the Victims and Survivors Forum, reaching resolution on dealing with the past has significant social and economic benefits for everyone. We need to remind our politicians of that."

Forum members include Shirley McMichael, whose husband John was a loyalist paramilitary leader killed by an IRA car bomb in 1987.

Among the others are Emmett McConomy, whose brother Stephen (11) was shot by a solider with a plastic bullet in 1982, and Sam Wilson, who served in the RUC reserve and as a part-time member of the UDR.

Mrs Thompson added: "Forum members are clear that those who have suffered are speaking with a collective voice and that they must expect this voice to be heard on dealing with our past.

"Speaking as a unified group, the forum members will articulate their shared vision, ensuring all future policy decisions are victim-led and victim-centred."

Meanwhile, parties involved in the talks came under renewed pressure as the negotiations intensify from Irish language activist group POBAL.

Director Janet Muller said: "There is great pressure on the parties now to come to some form of agreement and, given the opposition of some to meaningful legislation, there are dangers in this current phase of talks.

"We have been very clear in the 11 years since the British government gave its commitment to introduce the Irish Language Act that weak legislation would just increase frustration. We urge the political parties to stand firm in their support for rights-based legislation which can and will create a wide range of guaranteed rights in education, the political institutions, local authorities, administration of justice and media."

Ms Muller warned that any legislation will have no teeth without adequate resources from Westminster.

"Irish language projects have survived on a shoestring for decades," she added.
Christine Connor (blue jacket) pictured arriving at Laganside Courts in Belfast for sentencing after pleading guilty to trying to kill police officers.

A Northern Ireland woman who posed as a Swedish model to entrap two men into taking part in her bid to murder police officers has been sentenced to 16 years and four months in prison.

Christine Connor, 31, gasped as Belfast Crown Court Judge David McFarland imposed the sentence for the attempted murder of a police officer and other terror offences.

Judge McFarland told Connor he believed she was dangerous and was "committed to a violent philosophy to achieve political objectives".

A senior PSNI detective described Connor as a dangerous woman who exploited others to further her own twisted ideologies.

A co-defendant, who also jointly faced five charges including attempted murder and possessing explosives and causing explosions with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury to property on May 16 and May 28, is now deceased.

In addition to the prison term Connor was handed an extended period on licence of three years and eight months. She will also be subject to notification requirements under the Counter Terrorism Act 2008, for a period of 30 years from today's date.

Detective Superintendent Richard Campbell, from the PSNIs Serious Crime Branch, said: Northern Ireland is a safer place with Christine Connor behind bars. She is a dangerous woman who exploited others to further her own twisted ideologies. She was very cunning and duped a number of men through fake profile images on social media to become involved in her terrorist aspirations. She used online photographs of Swedish model, fashion designer and blogger Sanne Alexandra Andersson without her knowledge or consent. These bore no resemblance to Christine.

Stuart Downes, 31, from Meole Brace in Shrewsbury, who was also due to stand trial before dying in non-suspicious circumstances on June 24, 2016, played a key part in the attacks, as we have evidence that he sourced component parts and shipped them to his Belfast accomplice. We also have footage from his phone showing him testing the explosive mix.

Christine also enticed an American man online. We arrested and questioned Zachary Gevelinger after he visited Christine in Hydebank Prison on July 6, 2013. We found correspondence from him to Christine in her house, as well as cheques he had sent her. The FBI searched Zacharys house in USA on our behalf and seized computer equipment which confirmed the link to Christine. He died last month in non-suspicious circumstances.

We know she communicated with these men via a United Struggle Facebook page she created  for her one member organisation. Neither of these men, who are now both deceased, had previous connections to Northern Ireland or to Northern Ireland related terrorism.

The case was hugely complex and unusual and spanned over four years, involving UK police services working together to gather evidence in order to secure todays criminal justice outcome.

Detective Superintendent Campbell added: Christine Connor meticulously planned the attack on police officers who were attending what they thought was a genuine emergency call for help from a woman purporting to be in danger in her Crumlin Road home in the early hours of the morning on May 28. Instead they were lured to a hoax call which ended in an attempt to murder them.

She planned this attack over quite a period of time and used a web of deceit and lies to enlist the help of Stuart Downes. Her deceitfulness knew no bounds and involved using a fictitious name and a profile picture that bore no resemblance to her when communicating online with Stuart Downes to plan this sickening attack on officers who were simply carrying out their core job of protecting their community.

The Belfast woman made two attempts at murdering police officers on two separate dates and both involved her making hoax 999 calls to lure them to where she was hiding.

The first attempt did not result in injury, although the improvised explosive devices did detonate. Christine used this failed attack as a trial run for the strike on May 28 when she threw two IEDs at officers from the lane beside the house she had lured officers to.

It is just sheer good fortune that they were not killed or seriously injured. What is clear though is the total disregard Christine had for the people within this community who also could have been seriously injured or killed. The shrapnel from the devices travelled up to 35 metres and was found lodged in the homes of local people," added Detective Superintendent Campbell.

A claim of responsibility for the attack on May 28, 2013 made from a Public Call Box in the Shrewsbury area formed a major part of the PSNI enquiry.

This resulted in the identification of Stuart Downes as a suspect, explained Detective Superintendent Campbell.

This, together with CCTV evidence obtained in the vicinity of the May 28 attack in the Crumlin Road, resulted in the identification of Christine Connor as a suspect and subsequent investigations provided the link between Stuart Downes and Christine Connor.

Her devices were sophisticated and primed to maim and murder, however, good forensic work by detectives spanning over weeks and months, enabled them to connect Christine to these heinous crimes through a litany of evidence they uncovered. These included:

The mobile phone she used to make the hoax 999 calls was found in the garden of a home adjoining the alleyway;

In the alleyway beside the house she lured officers to, she left two woollen gloves, from which police identified her DNA, as well as her footprint in dog excrement which was traced to boots found in her wardrobe;

A blue supermarket bag for life, which she is seen carrying in CCTV footage was found in the same garden of the home adjoining the alleyway. She was not carrying this bag in CCTV footage which captured Christine fleeing the scene. We believe she used this to carry the devices;

Her hooded sweatshirt, from which police identified her DNA, was found in a skip near the scene;

Mobile phones, laptops and sim cards were found hidden inside her mattress. She used these to communicate with her co-conspirator Downes.

The police officer who was injured in the attack is the father of two young children  his baby boy was only 3 months old at the time.

He described the moment he realised an explosive device had been thrown at him:

My colleague and I had knocked at the door of the house where we believed a woman was being assaulted. I became suspicious when there was no response at the door and there were no lights on in the house. A recent, previous attack on police was also in the back of my mind and I turned away from the property to make further investigations. That was when I heard a noise behind me  which was the device landing at my heel.

My adrenalin kicked in and I started running away but tripped and fell just as the first device exploded. I saw someone coming towards me and a second device hitting the ground near me. I got up and ran into an alleyway just as this device exploded. I remember the noise was deafening and there was a lot of smoke.

At this stage my training kicked in and I drew my weapon to protect myself and the public, who were now coming out of their houses to see what was happening. My colleague and I advised them to go back inside for their own safety.

I feel very lucky to be alive and I have no doubt that if I wasnt able to run away from the devices being thrown I would not be here today. I am very fortunate that me and my colleague did not suffer serious injuries.

I will never forget that night but it has made me more determined to do my job as a police officers and protect the public.
The Taoiseach has said he stands over the process used to appoint f ormer attorney general Maire Whelan as a Court of Appeal judge.

Hours after the appointment was confirmed by President Michael D Higgins, Leo Varadkar rejected any suggestion the controversy had made a general election more likely.

The furore has raised questions on the stability of the confidence and supply arrangement between Fianna Fail and Mr Varadkar's Fine Gael-led minority government.

Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein are among those that have questioned the way ministers filled the job, asking if appropriate procedures were followed and whether other high court judges were considered for the role.

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin last week told the Dail the process "stinks".

The appointment was agreed by cabinet last Tuesday - a day before Mr Varadkar replaced Enda Kenny as taoiseach.

Asked about the issue after his meeting with UK Prime Minister Theresa May in London, Mr Varadkar said:

"I don't think we're on the brink of a general election. A call for a general election is not evident in Ireland for lots of different reasons."

He added: "I certainly would not have liked my first week in office to have been affected by controversy over a judicial appointment, I wanted the focus to be on the new cabinet, policy, the priority list I have for them, the important meetings I had with the leaders of the main parties in Northern Ireland yesterday and the important meeting I'm having today with the prime minister.

"It's not something I would like to have occurred in my first week in office as taoiseach, but equally it's not something I'm going to wash my hands of.

"I was at the cabinet table when that decision was made, and therefore I stand over it. And I have looked into it since then. What I can say is that Maire Whelan was appointed by the president today as a judge at the court of appeal. She's somebody who is uniquely qualified for the office which she has been appointed to. She's been attorney general for six years and is across so many different important legal questions.

"Having looked into it, I can say that what was done was lawful and according to the constitution and according to the law. It is precedented and there have been precedents of appointments similar to this in the past. Proper procedure was followed. The Ministry of Justice (then Francis Fitzgerald) made a recommendation to the cabinet. As is the normal process and procedure, one name was brought to the cabinet for approval. It's never the case that the cabinet discusses a shortlist or is informed of who may have applied for a position and didn't get it.

"This is a good appointment, it's appropriate and it's lawful."

Politicians are set to clash over the issue in the Dail on Tuesday.

Ms Whelan's appointment was one of three judicial roles confirmed by President Higgins on Monday.

Eileen Creedon and Charles Meenan were also appointed High Court judges at a ceremony at Aras an Uachtarain that was attended by Mr Varadkar and current attorney general Seamus Woulfe.
Darren Osborne, who has been held by police over the attack

The family of the man held by police over the Finsbury Park attack say they are "massively shocked" and "their hearts go out to the injured".

Darren Osborne, a 47-year-old who is believed to be a father-of-four from Cardiff, was arrested after pedestrians were targeted by a man driving a van near Finsbury Park Mosque in north London early yesterday.

Scotland Yard said detectives currently believe the attacker "acted alone but we are of course investigating all the circumstances leading up to the attack".

In a statement on behalf of Osborne's family, his nephew Ellis Osborne (26) said: "We are massively shocked; it's unbelievable, it still hasn't really sunk in.

"We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured."

Mr Osborne added his uncle was "not a racist" and said he had never expressed any racist views.

He added: "Its madness. It is obviously sheer madness."

The London Ambulance Service took nine people to three London hospitals. Two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

Witnesses described hearing a van driver, who was detained by members of the public at the scene, shout: "I'm going to kill Muslims."

The man was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, but Scotland Yard said he was later arrested for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

Residents near Cardiff said they were "shocked" after seeing photographs of their neighbour being arrested in London.

In a telephone interview with ITV News, his mother described him as a "complex" person but said "that's all I can say". The woman, who is not being named, broke down in tears. She said: "It's a terrible, terrible shock."

Police have been searching a residential address in Pentwyn, where Osborne is listed as living.

Five residents identified images of the man being arrested as their neighbour, Osborne, who according to reports is originally from Somerset.

Neighbour Khadijeh Sherizi said: "I saw him on the news and I thought 'oh my God' that is my neighbour. He has been so normal. He was in his kitchen yesterday afternoon singing with his kids.

"He was the dad of the family. He has kids. He lives next door. He seemed polite and pleasant to me. I just can't believe it."

Scotland Yard said the attack unfolded while a man who had taken ill was receiving first aid from the public.

He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1.04am.

A spokesman said police investigations are "continuing to establish whether there is any link between his death and the attack", adding: "The man suspected of driving the van was detained by members of the public at the scene." Imam Mohammed Mahmoud was hailed for his efforts to prevent a mob attack and calm the situation before police arrived in shielding the suspected terrorist from the fury of onlookers. He said: "By God's grace we managed to surround him and protect him from any harm.

"We stopped all forms of attack and abuse towards him that were coming from every angle."

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said it is being "treated as a terrorist incident", adding: "The investigation is ongoing and we are working fast to know the full details of how and why this took place.

"All the victims were from the Muslim community and we will be deploying extra police patrols to reassure the public, especially those observing Ramadan."

The suspect, who is believed to have been from Weston-super-Mare, remains in custody at a south London police station.

The attacker, who is believed to have acted alone, struck as the area was busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at the mosque.

Eight people were taken to hospital, with one since discharged, while two others were treated at the scene.

Earlier, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the incident was "quite clearly an attack on Muslims" and that "we treat this as a terrorist attack".

She said: "Sadly we have suffered a number of attacks and very sad events over the last few weeks." Security Minister Ben Wallace confirmed the suspect was not known to the security services.

He told BBC Radio 4's World At One: "What I can say on this case is this individual, so far as we know at the moment, was not known to us, but we are aware of a rise in the far right."

Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the incident as "every bit as sickening" as the recent atrocities in London and Manchester.

Witnesses said the suspect was smiling and waving as he brought carnage to Seven Sisters Road, with a video posted online showing him give a nonchalant wave as police put him in the back of their vehicle.

Images of the van showed it was rented from Pontyclun Van Hire in Pontyclun, near Cardiff.
Brazilian President Michel Temer has vetoed legislation that would have reduced the size of his country's protected environmental reserves, most of them in the Amazon region.

Mr Temer tweeted the news of his vetoes in exchanges with supermodel Gisele Bundchen and the World Wildlife Foundation.

The model had earlier tweeted, imploring him to "protect mother earth" and kill the bills, which were passed by congress last month.

They would have converted around 1.4 million acres of protected land into areas open to logging, mining and agricultural use.

But the apparent victory for environmental groups may be short-lived as Brazil's environment minister is working on similar legislation that is being criticised by environmental groups.

In a video posted on Sunday on social media, environment minister Jose Sarney Filho announced plans to create a new bill that would downgrade the level of protection of 1.1 million acres of the Amazon rainforest.

The measure is designed to legalise incursions by farmers and ranchers into protected areas in the state of Para.

"We want to allow people who have been there for a long time to continue growing and developing their work," he said in the video.

The announcement comes at a time when the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests are being cut at the fastest rate in nearly a decade.

Last year, deforestation of the Amazon jumped 29% over the previous year, according to the government's satellite monitoring, the highest rate since 2008.

For environmental groups, the new bill would increase incentives for illegal logging just like the old bills.

Until Monday, Mr Temer had agreed to back a series of measures promoted by congress's so-called "rural caucus" - a group of legislators representing rural landowners, including agribusiness and ranchers - in exchange for help passing his own agenda - and hopefully avoiding impeachment.

Jaime Gesisky of the WWF said Mr Temer's position has not changed.

The president's vetoes were aimed at making him seem environmentally friendly on the eve of his trip to Norway, which has invested 3 billion US dollars (2.3 billion) to combat tropical deforestation, he said.

"He is exempting himself from the responsibility," Mr Gesisky said, "while at the same time allowing his minister to make an agreement with legislators who have interests in the region."

AP
Israel's former prime minister Ehud Olmert, imprisoned on corruption charges, has been rushed to hospital after experiencing chest pains.

Olmert, 71, who is appealing for early release, was a longtime fixture in Israel's hawkish right wing when he dramatically took a more conciliatory line towards the Palestinians a decade ago.

Arnon Afek, of Tel Hashomer hospital near Tel Aviv, said Olmert is "conscious, communicates with the doctors and undergoing medical tests".

He said Olmert arrived in the hospital complaining of chest pains but would not elaborate further, saying examinations are still ongoing.

Prison Service spokesman Assaf Librati said a doctor examined Olmert after he "didn't feel well" on Tuesday and instructed that he be taken to hospital.

Channel 10 TV reported Olmert experienced chest pain after exercising.

It said he had asked to see his personal doctor last week but was offered the prison doctor instead, which he refused.

Olmert was convicted in 2014 in a wide-ranging case that accused him of accepting bribes to promote a property project years before he became premier in 2006.

His imprisonment capped a stunning fall from grace that ended Israel's last serious round of peace efforts with the Palestinians and ushered in the era of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Last week, Israel's justice ministry asked the police to investigate whether Olmert committed a "criminal offence" while behind bars.

It said the book Olmert is writing contains "sensitive security issues" and that his lawyer was caught leaving the prison with a chapter on "secret operations" not approved by the censor for publication.

Police searched the publishing house of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper, but not the paper itself, over the incident.

AP
Intercepts between US and Russian aircraft are common and are generally not as dangerously close

A Russian fighter jet flew within several feet of a US reconnaissance plane in what the US said was an unsafe manoeuvre over the Baltic Sea.

Navy Captain Danny Hernandez said the Russian pilot was flying at a high speed and had poor control of the aircraft.

Capt Hernandez, a US European Command spokesman, said the close encounter was unprovoked by the US aircraft.

He said it is not clear if there was any communication between the aircraft.

It is not known how many US crew were on the plane.

Capt Hernandez said the incident was on Monday when the US RC-135 was on a routine mission in international airspace.

Intercepts between US and Russian aircraft are common and are generally not as dangerously close.

AP
Otto Warmbier speaking to reporters in Pyongyang in February last year (AP)

A coroner's office in Ohio is investigating the death of a college student who died less than a week after his return to the US after nearly a year-and-a-half in North Korean detention.

A spokesman for Hamilton County Coroner Dr Lakshmi Sammaraco said the office "accepted the case" of Otto Warmbier, 22, who died on Monday in a Cincinnati hospital.

Mr Warmbier's parents did not state a specific cause of death, but cited "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea.

Doctors had described Mr Warmbier's condition as a state of "unresponsive wakefulness" and said he suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause

He arrived in Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was convicted of subversion.

He was put before North Korean officials and journalists for a televised "confession".

"I have made the worst mistake of my life," he said, choking up as he begged to be allowed to reunite with his parents and two younger siblings.

He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labour.

His family said it was told he had been in a coma since soon after his sentencing.

Doctors said he suffered extensive loss of brain tissue and "profound weakness and contraction" of his muscles, arms and legs.

His eyes opened and blinked but without any sign that he understood verbal commands or his surroundings.

Unresponsive wakefulness is a new medical term for persistent vegetative state.

Patients in this condition who have survived a coma can open their eyes, but they do not respond to commands.

People can live in a state of unresponsive wakefulness for many years with the chances of recovery depending on the extent of the brain injury.

North Korea said Mr Warmbier went into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.

Doctors in Cincinnati said they found no active sign of botulism or evidence of beatings.

In a White House statement, President Donald Trump said: "A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents."

He called North Korea a "brutal regime".

Mr Warmbier grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming. He was salutatorian of his 2013 class at a highly rated high school and was on the football team.

Wyoming City Schools released a statement saying it was "deeply saddened" by his death.

"The countless contributions he made to his school and community through his leadership, actions, and limitless enthusiasm will be felt far into the future," the school district said.

Mr Warmbier's English teacher said he would be "dearly missed".

Mr Warmbier had planned to study in China in his third year of college and heard about Chinese travel companies offering trips to North Korea.

He was leaving North Korea on January 2 2016 when he was detained at the airport.

The organisers of Mr Warmbier's trip said they will no longer take US citizens to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours said on Facebook that his death shows that the risk American tourists face in visiting North Korea "has become too high".

The US department of state warns against travel to North Korea.

While nearly all Americans who have been there have left without incident, visitors can be seized and face lengthy incarceration for what might seem like minor infractions.

Jeffrey Fowle, also from Ohio, was detained in 2014 when he intentionally left a Bible in a nightclub.

Mr Fowle was freed after six months.

He said he was kept isolated most of the time but not physically abused.

He and others freed from North Korea have said they were coached and coerced into giving confessions.

Three Americans remain held in North Korea.

The US government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.

North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

AP
Venezuela's foreign minister has walked out of a meeting of regional diplomats to discuss the South American country's political crisis, as a 17-year-old anti-government protester was killed during clashes with security forces.

The Organisation of American States meeting in the Mexican resort of Cancun again narrowly failed to approve a resolution that would have pushed back against some of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's most radical actions.

The US, Mexico, Canada and several South American nations issued a statement expressing their "disappointment" at the vote, which fell three votes short of the two-thirds majority of the 34 member nations needed for approval.

"What can we say to the sick, who can't find medicines?" Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray said of the setback, referring to the medicine shortages Venezuelans are experiencing.

Countries pushing for elections in Venezuela came closer than ever, and Mr Videgaray left open the possibility the Venezuela issue may be brought up in Tuesday's broader meeting of the OAS general assembly, where a simple majority is needed.

Venezuelan foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez stalked out of the meeting, and claimed that more OAS members were considering following Venezuela's example and withdrawing from the regional group, which has been putting pressure on her socialist government to hold timely elections, free political prisoners and scrap a bid to rewrite its constitution.

"Not only do we not recognise this meeting, we do not recognise any resolution coming out of it," Ms Rodriguez said.

She would not say which countries are considering leaving the Washington-based OAS, although Venezuela has received support from other left-leaning governments like Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador.

Some countries had expressed hope at Monday's meeting that they were close to some kind of pronouncement aimed at ending the increasingly bloody political strife in Venezuela, which has left at least 70 people dead and more than 1,300 injured, but the special session ended with no resolution.

As the meeting took place, thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to protest against Nicolas Maduro's government. Protesters chanted: "Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!"

Amid the clashes on Caracas's main highway, 17-year-old Fabian Urbina was killed by a bullet wound to the chest, local authorities said without providing more details. Several others were also reportedly shot.

A small knot of protesters also gathered in the rain on a highway outside the Mexican resort complex where the talks were being held, holding signs saying "No more deaths" and "no more hunger".

AP
How Irish nationalists used to mock when Ulster Protestants warned that "Home Rule means Rome Rule". Now it's the critics of unionism who are reacting hysterically to the prospect of the Democratic Unionist Party backing the Tory government in a "confidence and supply agreement" in return for a package of measures that looks set to benefit everyone in Northern Ireland, regardless of religious - or political - affiliations.

To listen to some of the shrieking prophets of doom, the DUP holds such dangerous and extreme views on divisive social issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage, that it would forever taint anyone foolish enough to get too close to the party. "Prod Rule means God Rule", we're all suddenly expected to believe.

This overblown rhetoric about the big, bad DUP might have been expected from more politically correct elements of the media in London, whose ignorance of Northern Irish affairs is so profound that they still haven't noticed that no political party here is campaigning for the extension of full UK abortion law, so why single out the DUP for criticism?

As for same-sex marriage, that's only been on the statute book in England and Wales for three years, so don't start getting high and mighty about how progressive you all are over the water. It took you long enough to get there, too. Not everywhere moves at the same pace. Differences of opinions are not illegal.

It was in the south that these attacks on unionists came as the greatest surprise, though. They've gone to such lengths in recent years to be friendly, only to undo all that good work with an outbreak of anti-unionist abuse that wouldn't be out of place in An Phoblacht.

One popular radio presenter even suggested on air last week that the delay in signing a deal between the DUP and the Conservatives might be because "they have to go and burn a sacrifice to the Old Testament god they all worship up there".

It's hard to believe that any other group of people could be subjected to such churlish scorn without provoking an avalanche of complaints.

Fintan O'Toole may be unknown to most readers in Northern Ireland - trust me, you're not missing much - but he's often hailed as one of Ireland 's foremost "intellectuals". Even he got momentarily carried away as he laid into the DUP with merry abandon in his column in the Irish Times at the weekend, arrogantly declaring at one point that the DUP is "not really British".

This is the level of argument you'd expect from internet trolls, who delight in tracking down Ulster Protestants online and hounding them into admitting that they're "not really British" either; but this line of attack has become increasingly common among more mainstream voices south of the border in the last week as the DUP and Tories hammered out a deal.

The backlash against the DUP has exposed how thin the veneer of acceptance of unionism is in the Republic of Ireland. For years, they've tried to pretend they were over the sectarian hostility of the past. Now, it's all come bubbling back to the surface in a contemptuous lava flow of smug superiority.

This tantrum is self-defeating for Irish nationalists. Unionists don't want to be part of a united Ireland, they're perfectly comfortable as part of a United Kingdom, so if nationalists don't like them, well, it's no skin off their nose. It's nationalists who claim to want these supposedly bigoted, badly house-trained monsters as fellow countrymen and women.

That's what the polls on Irish unity say, anyway. They're the ones begging unionists to join them in a united Ireland, where, it's said, their identity and culture would be respected and protected.

They've painted a picture where Irish and British, native and Planter, would exist in a sort of green, white and orange Disneyland of mutual tolerance.

Suddenly, the mask slips and their distaste for Ulster Protestants oozes out. It was as if the election result gave them an excuse to admit what they really felt.

How do they plan to turn it around and promote again the idea that everything will be hunky-dory for Prods in a united Ireland when they've just unleashed a self-indulgent orgy of revulsion on their heads?

It merely reminds Protestants of why so many of them left the south after independence. Life is perfectly pleasant these days for the descendants of those who stayed, but it was achieved by previous generations of Protestants learning to keep their heads down and their mouths shut.

What Irish nationalists unwittingly revealed in recent days is that they expect today's crop of Ulster Protestants to do the same. They'll be tolerated, but that's not the same as tolerance. Genuine tolerance means accepting difference, without using it to insult one group of people as being beyond the Pale.

What's shameful is not simply that this mentality has reasserted itself, but that it's being expressed in an absolute conviction that they're so much better than their northern neighbours. This sentiment does surface periodically.

When republican terrorists who'd murdered hundreds of police officers during the Troubles were released from prison as part of the peace process, it was hailed in Dublin as an historic healing of wounds.

What about the killers of Garda Jerry McCabe, the policeman gunned down while responding to a post office raid by the IRA?

Well, no, of course they wouldn't be allowed out from behind bars. They'd killed one of the Republic's own, so had to stay in prison.

Politicians were outraged at the idea that these men should benefit from the terms of the peace agreement.

There's the same attitude towards doing deals with Sinn Fein. The new Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, has called the party a "threat to Irish democracy" and has ruled out going into coalition with republicans, arguing that their views are "not compatible".

Yet anyone who expresses doubts about Sinn Fein's credentials in Northern Ireland is vilified as undemocratic and endangering peace.

Dublin's position seems to be that you lot should put up with Sinn Fein, but they're not good enough for us.

These are the same people who are outraged at any return to a hard border after Brexit.

The real hard border is in the minds of nationalists in the south, who think Down Here is so much better than Up There and that Irish unity must be about Up Here becoming more like Down There.

Be assured: the message has been received loud and clear.
Smoke rises from an area targeted by military airstrikes in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, June 17, 2017.

Tough-talking Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is in a quandary as he strives to crush vicious resistance by Islamic State-linked militants in the southern Philippine city of Marawi, where the gunmen have thwarted troops with their firepower for the past four weeks.

As the military pours hundreds of troops into Marawi, an estimated 400 militants have responded with deadly sniper attacks and ambushes, displaying a mastery of the terrain and using hostages as human shields.

The gunmen  Abu Sayyaf and Maute group members, backed by fighters from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia  appear to have taken Duterte's troops by surprise, gaining an upper hand by posting snipers in strategic points and slowing a steady advance by troops more accustomed to jungle warfare.

But while the government claims it has slowly regained enemy territory, and retaken 16 buildings so far, progress has been painfully slow.

"We are dealing with a new threat variety and a new genre of groups who have capabilities and training to ensure a long and sustained war," Rommel Banlaoi, head of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, told BenarNews.

He said Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the acknowledged leader of the Islamic State here, and brothers Omar and Abdullah Maute appeared to have "prepared for urban asymmetric battle to endure conventional warfare of government forces."

Deadlines come and gone

And the enemy strategy appears to be working. The military has used destructive artillery and dropped bombs from airplanes almost daily, scarring the once beautiful Marawi landscape, and leaving many neighborhoods destroyed.

The battles have also emptied Marawi of its estimated 200,000 inhabitants, many of whom have called on the government to end the airstrikes that have destroyed ancestral homes and potentially killed civilians trapped in the chaos.

The death toll provided by government officials as of Tuesday was 258 militants, 65 soldiers and policemen, and 26 civilians. Twenty-four other people have died from diseases in packed evacuation centers, officials said.

Fighting erupted on May 23, when Hapilon and his men easily thwarted military and police officers sent to bring him in. The militants burnt buildings, took positions on vital installations and held hostage a group of Christian hostages, including a Catholic priest.

They have positioned themselves in strategic areas and targeted troops who were crossing at three vital bridges that lead to Marawi's downtown area, pockets of which remain under the control of the militants four weeks later.

Duterte, who was in Russia when the fighting erupted, quickly placed the entire southern region under martial law, giving the military police powers to quell the militants.

Bombing runs continued on Tuesday, and the military said it was aiming to free the city before the Eid al-Fitr celebrations early next week to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

But earlier deadlines have come and gone, with the army at pains to explain the slow advance after earlier declaring it was carrying out "surgical" strikes.

"We are aiming to clear Marawi by the end of Ramadan, military spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla said in nearby Cagayan de Oro city Tuesday.

But he conceded: "We cannot definitely say when we could end this because we are fighting door to door and there are booby traps which pose danger to our troops.

Alarm bells

The sacking of Marawi has alarmed Southeast Asian nations which fear Islamic State is trying to set up a stronghold in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, which it could use as a springboard to launch attacks across the region.

The growth of the Islamic State has largely gone unnoticed by officials in the Philippines, Asia's only predominantly Christian country, analysts said.

Many had dismissed the Abu Sayyaf as a bunch of bandits and criminals, more prone to kidnapping foreigners and beheading those whose governments refuse to pay ransom money.

When American forces were first deployed in the south in 2002, as part of a "global war on terror" in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, many thought it would weaken the Abu Sayyaf, but instead it dispersed its leadership, with the group eventually returning to their bases stronger than ever.

"The supposed crown jewel of US counter-insurgency efforts had zero impact in weakening the Abu Sayyaf," said Sidney Jones, the director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC).

She said many Abu Sayyaf fighters just moved out to Jolo island, further to the south, and then regrouped. They eventually moved back to Basilan, where the movement was formed by Islamic firebrand Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani who was slain in 1998.

The government, meanwhile, has failed to challenge Mindanao warlords who viewed the Abu Sayyaf as allies necessary in regional politics in the clannish south.

"When a few of them went over to ISIS, the government had no appropriate tools to challenge them," she said, using another name for the Islamic State.

The new top spot for jihad

While the figure of regional militants in the Abu Sayyaf ranks could not be confirmed, Jones said what was clear was that there has been a "steady stream of (online) exhortations" from Indonesia and elsewhere "that the Philippines is the next place to go."

"As it became harder and harder to cross the Turkish border into Syria, the message on social media changed from Join us in Syria to Look to the struggle closer to home," she said.

"So ironically, while Western governments like the U.S. and Australia have seen the biggest danger coming from foreign fighters coming from Syria and Iraq to the Philippines, in fact, the bigger threat was from would-be fighters in the region who had never set foot in the Middle East," she said.

Mindanao, she said, has become "the new top spot for jihad for the would-be terrorists from Southeast Asia."

Julkipli Wadi, head of the University of the Philippines' Institute of Islamic Studies in Manila, said the military was partly to blame for ignoring the influence of the black flag of IS on local militant groups.

"It was a dilemma," Wadi said. "The militants would get IS attention if the government recognized its existence."

Acknowledging them would mean "emboldening" their image and eventually attracting the attention of the Islamic State, he said.

Taken by surprise

Interviews conducted by BenarNews with people who know the Maute brothers claim that they had studied Islam in the Middle East  contradicting an earlier statement by Duterte that they were former policemen who turned to building drug factories in Marawi.

Omar is married to an Indonesian woman he met while studying in Egypt, where he first learned to embrace Islamic militancy, according to military intelligence. He went to Indonesia to teach at a madrassa there, but eventually went back home to pursue his dream of establishing a state purely for Muslims in Mindanao.

His older brother Abdullah was more radical, and inherited his father Cayamoras ideals as a former official of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Cayamora and wife Farhana  described by police as the group's financier  have been recently arrested separately.

The brothers later established the Daulah Islamiyah, a group which the police and military had previously branded as composed of small time crooks operating in the cities and towns near Lanaos lush forests.

But from petty operations, they grabbed national headlines when they claimed responsibility for bombing Duterte's home town of Davao, killing 15 people in September last year.

Duterte at the weekend admitted that the militants had taken the military by surprise, and appeared to have stocked weapons in Marawi.

He said he "never, never, never really thought that they were able to bring that much number of bullets into Marawi."
An appeals court in the United Arab Emirates has overturned the conviction of a Filipina maid on death row for the murder of her Arab employer in 2014, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

The Court of Appeals in Al Ain acquitted Wednesday Jennifer Dalquez, 30, on the charge of murder for the killing her employer identified only as Mr. Alaryani by the department.

Ms. Dalquez was declared innocent without diyyah or payment of blood money, the department said. Despite her acquittal, Dalquez will continue to serve her five-year sentence less time served for the theft of a mobile phone.

The ruling overturned the Court of First Instance of Al Ain verdict against Dalquez.

The major breadwinner for her family in southern General Santos City, Dalquez left to work in the UAE in December 2012 and has not returned to the Philippines, leaving her two young children, now ages 8 and 5, to the care of her parents. Her father and husband work as rickshaw drivers to support the family.

Dalquez is one of an estimated 885,000 Filipino workers in the Middle East, according to the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration. Many are employed as laborers or maids and are often mistreated.

Since taking office last year, President Rodrigo Duterte has made it a point to bring home abused workers. About 20,000 have been repatriated from the Middle East since July 2016.
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Theres no question that, for me, Gettysburg is where I want to be, Anne Tait remembers thinking when she applied to be artist in residence at Gettysburg National Military Park.

I see Gettysburg as quite the mecca for the work I have been doing for the past 10 years on memorial art of the 19th century, she wrote in her application. For someone who had long been interested in the ways in which we conceive of and represent the end of life, the historic battlefield and museum promised rich inspiration.

The experience did not disappoint, said Tait, a 1994 Bowling Green State University alumna noted for her knowledge of gravestone studies. She spent part of last spring at Gettysburg while on sabbatical from Roger Williams University in Rhode Island, where she teaches printmaking and painting. Touring the grave sites and finding memorials yielded a portfolio of images that she is drawing upon for the continuation of a new phase of work she began in 2015, which combines historical formats and materials with modern technology.

Tait is creating a series of large, backlit, embroidered tondi. The tondo, dating back to the Italian Renaissance, is a circular artwork that grew out of the ceramic plates often given as a wedding gift to symbolize fertility and a fruitful marriage; they often depicted the Holy Family. Tait had used the format in an earlier series and continues to find it evocative of both life and death.

The round tondo style was adapted in the 19th century for memorial decorations for gravestones  which is what Tait was interested in at Gettysburg. In the 19th century, she said, they were moving out of the Colonial anti-papist, anti-Anglican, bleak and ornate styles. They consciously moved away from the pre-Romantic dark and dreary slate toward marble and into a less somber style. They appropriated all sorts of images from print materials. They showed hands holding things, flowers, designs, sheep, sleeping lambs or babies.

At Gettysburg she observed that, when the South got into the act with memorials to slain Confederate soldiers, other designs became popular that painted the Souths role in a different light. It was a fascinating time, Tait said.

Her choice of embroidery as the medium for her art dates to her childhood; she later developed her skill at the Royal School of Needlework in London. I love making things. Im a very process-oriented person.

Dreamlike, the exquisitely embroidered designs suggest the memorabilia of a life  a bit of delicate lace, a satin button, a silver wedding ring, a monogram, a corset.

Using LED lights, she layers the embroidered pieces with digital images from Gettysburg and from her explorations of the former Vermont Marble Co., which had been the leading provider of marble for headstones in the country. In the abandoned buildings she found a trove of patterns for headstone memorial designs.

At Gettysburg, Tait was able to research and work in one spot. As artist in residence, she was given an apartment, a stipend and tours of the facilities. The staff were wonderful; its a lovely group of people and an amazing collection.

Taits artwork has been exhibited widely and has been featured and written about in The New York Times, the Providence Journal and other papers and in academic and trade journals such as Stone in America.

Her early work exposed a sinewy, eccentric world of floating forms that pushed the picture plane in an intentionally disorientating setting, intending the purposeful subterfuge to be both mysterious and comedic, according to the Park Services site. While her earlier work addressed the establishment of self from conception to maturity, her more recent work frames these questions by considering the truncation of life and the ending of it. She reflects on the culmination of earthly life through her art, in particular her art inspired by her researches into cemetery imagery, and the burial traditions of the 19th century.

Programs like Gettysburg National Military Parks artist-in-residence series, in which acclaimed artists seek inspiration from the beauty and history of our national parks, and agree to share their ideas with park patrons, represent some of the highest aspirations of the National Park Service.

Taits road to where she is now as an artist and scholar has been one of multiple influences, an educational and professional journey that has allowed her to meld her interests in art, historical preservation, monuments, old cemeteries, and how all that pertains to popular culture.

As a BGSU student in the mid-1980s, she majored in English (literature), with a minor in art history. The literature was expected: That was what all the women in her family had done. The art history came as a surprise, a love she discovered at BGSU. Not yet knowing what she wanted to do with her life, she followed her interests, taking literature and poetry classes with faculty such as Dr. Ralph Wolfe, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of English and Gish Professor of Film Studies; Philip Terrie, Warren Wolfe and Richard Carpenter. She loved reading Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, and Transcendental literature. In a Black Literature class she was astonished when legendary writer James Baldwin, who was writer-in-residence, visited the class. An art history class she took as a general education course opened another avenue, and she enjoyed classes with Drs. Dawn Glanz and Willard Misfeldt names she remembers well now, and even conversations in class.

I liked my teachers, she said simply. I loved literature and I was a pretty good writer. I loved Bowling Green. It was a really great experience.

However, she did not complete her degree directly but left school still lacking a couple of credits. That turned out to be fortuitous, because when she decided to apply to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) bachelor of fine arts program, not having a bachelors degree made her eligible for a substantial scholarship.

Deciding to go back to school full time, I knew I had to make a commitment, she said, so she wound up taking the courses she needed to finish her BGSU degree while earning her BFA from RISD. Three years later, she received a Master of Fine Arts (with honors) from American University, in Washington, D.C.

After graduation, she taught at RISD for three years, from 1997-2000, before joining the faculty at Roger Williams.

Living in New England, Tait worked in historic preservation for the state of Massachusetts. She has also worked in historical preservation for an environmental review company and wrote a historical properties study of the town of Chiltonville for Massachusetts Historical Commission and others for sites in Rhode Island and for the National Register of Historic Places.

I never thought Id write again after BGSU, she said, but her skill served her well. She is also a frequent lecturer and speaker and a member of the board of trustees of the Association of Gravestone Studies, a national organization that studies gravestones for their creative, genealogical, cultural, creative, historical and landscape significance. She is also a member of the Death and American Culture and Gravemarkers and Cemeteries group of the Popular Culture Association/ American Culture Association, and shared her gravestone study in an address at the association meeting last fall.

She has spent a lot of time in historical cemeteries. In fact, she even had a studio in the gatekeepers house at a cemetery in Providence, which was unfortunately destroyed when it was run into by an errant car. She is sad to see all the urban cemeteries going away as they are crowded out by cities and relegated to the outskirts.

Through her art, scholarship and civic engagement, Tait is bringing the beauty and lessons of the past full circle.
A 1911 photo of the Ottgen family in front of their home in Amboy township in Fulton County. The Ottgens were German/Swiss immigrants to the region.

By Michelle Harvey

Incoming freshmen this fall will have the opportunity to learn about the timely topic of migration as part of their BGSU 1910: First-Year Seminars. Four new classes are being added to the list of the one-hour-per-week, one-credit courses, which are taught in small-group settings and engage students with faculty and classmates as an introduction to college.

The new 1910 classes to be offered at Bowling Green State University are: Immigrant Ohio in the 21st Century, Changing Faces of Europe: Contemporary Voices of Migration, The Great Migration and Searching for Memories: Mexican (Im)Migration to Northwest Ohio.

As much as migration and immigration are in the news today, the movement of people from place to place is centuries old. Migration is integral to the story of the human race and modern society. The new 1910 classes will allow students to choose an aspect of the topic that most interests them.

More than 80 percent of our undergraduate students are Ohio-born and Caucasian, said Dr. Vibha Bhalla, an associate professor of ethnic studies. We want them to understand that the making of America has involved many different groups, and its happening still. Why, for example, did African-Americans migrate to Cleveland, Cincinnati, Youngstown? What are the cultural contributions and how did they affect those areas? Similarly, what have been the effects of Mexican Americans coming to our area in the last half-century?

The courses are being developed with the help of funding from a National Endowment for the Humanities grant, Understanding Migration: Local and Global Perspectives, co-authored by Bhalla and Dr. Christina Guenther, an associate professor of world languages and cultures. BGSU was the only Ohio recipient of a new Humanities Connections grant.

The four seminars will be expanded into general education courses and may qualify students for a Migration Studies certificate for those who complete all four.

The new curricula made possible by the grant seeks to reframe the way students understand identity, community and society. As anti-immigration sentiment in nations with large migrant populations has seen an increase, it is important to understand the effects of migration: social, political, economic and environmental, say Bhalla and Guenther.

Migration has become ever more urgent in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Guenther said. In the past two years, more than a million Syrian refugees have gone to Germany. There has been political upheaval in the Middle East, and environmental problems in other parts of the world have forced people to move. The situation in Africa is immense. Its a very rich mosaic were weaving as a world culture.

Also supported by the grant will be BGSUs third annual Immigrant Ohio symposium in fall 2017, and a community film festival on the topic of migration. This years event, to be held Nov. 16, will focus on refugees in Ohio. It will feature an installation by video ethnographer Tariq Tarey of refugees from Somalia, Nepal and Bhutan.


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The struggle for reunification

Von: Von NORBERT KORZDORFER

History will judge what I was. Helmut Kohl (87), legend

He sent liver sausage from his home region to the White House  along with a postcard from the pub Auerbachs Keller, made famous by Goethes Faust. Is this why the Wall started to crumble? Yes  to a degree, maybe, among other reasons.

Lesen Sie auch

Kohls almost-successor, Schauble, smiles remembering an anecdote about how Kohls ten-point plan was discussed in the White House. Well, asked President Bush, do we know the plan? The answer was: No. Bush replied: Just say that we trust the Chancellor. A master stroke: reunified Germany remained in NATO.

He came from the provinces, saw the opportunity for Germany  and won for Europe. He was often underestimated.

Bringing about German unity was like traversing a moor. We stood knee-deep in the water, our sight was obscured by fog, and all we knew was that there was a solid path somewhere. We did not know where exactly it was.

No, he did not tear down the wall himself  the stone monstrosity that bloodily divided us for 28 icy years. Like millions of other people, he sat in front of the TV  amazed, touched, and in disbelief, with sparkling, brown eyes.

The Wall fell because millions went onto the streets, because the GDR was in ruins, because Gorbi allowed it, because 

 because the big Palatinate man and visionary historian, Dr. Helmut Joseph Michael Kohl, the black giant, valiantly grabbed the opportunity.

The evening when the Wall came down

Eventually, the Wall came down, entirely peacefully  without a shot, without bloodshed. It was like a miracle  True, but  All Germans know where they were when the Wall came down  on 9 November 1989, the grey, chilly Thursday that changed the world.

Auch interessant

Kohl: For the situation I found myself in, I like to quote Otto von Bismarck (the Iron Chancellor): when God marches through history, you have to try and catch on to his coattails 

Kohl was stuck  state visit to Warsaw!

His motorcade is waiting in front of the guest house Parkowa, on its way to the state dinner. Minister Seiters calls from Bonn with sensational news: Schabowksi has announced a new travel law for the GDR. It applies immediately 

Freedom is coming closer.

The waiters are just cleaning the tables in the Presidential Palace when Kohl feels a hand on his shoulder. Chief press officer, Johnny Klein, said that they were singing the song of Germany in parliament. I still could not believe what he told me.

At 9pm, Kohl calls his confidant, Ackermann, in Bonn.

Ackermann shouts into the phone: Mr. Chancellor, the Wall is falling this very moment!

 Kohl: Ackermann, are you sure?

 Yes!!!!

 Kohl: I was almost speechless.

 Ackermann to Kohl: This is really the end of the Wall!

Now Kohl is in the hotel Marriott, besieged by journalists. I saw the first TV images from Berlin. World history was written in these hours. The wheel of time was turning faster 

Kohl interrupts his state visit. In an air force jet, he flies to Hamburg via Stockholm (because of the flight ban over the GDR). His journey continues to Berlin in the US ambassadors airplane. With blue lights, he is driven to Schoneberg town hall.

When he steps onto the stage, a fraction of the people in the crowd whistle and boo. He is almost shouted down. I want to shout out to everybody in the GDR: you do not stand alone! We belong together!

Kohls secret weapon Gorbachev

Kohls secret weapon was the gentle and wise dictator in the Kremlin  Gorbi Gorbachev, who leaves the Soviet tanks in their East-Berlin barracks on this November 9th.

Kohl liked to remember with a smile their one-to-one conversation (five months earlier, with an interpreter) near the Rhine, on the wall of the Chancellors bungalow. Down below, a couple was kissing.

Lesen Sie auch

I pointed at the Rhine  Look at this river that is streaming past us. It symbolizes history. As certainly as the Rhine flows into the sea, the German Reunification will come  and also European unity.

When Kohl returns to Bonn from Berlin, there are 50 long-stemmed roses on the chancellors desk, next to the aquarium. A woman from Berlin sent them. Look  this is also Berlin!

Kohl reaches for history  another great moment.

 He dictates a ten-point plan for a peaceful reunification to his wife Hannelore  a secretary for foreign languages and an interpreter. Kohl is making history.

Gorbachev signals his agreement. In his home country, they celebrate sitting at a wooden table, wearing jumpers and cardigans. On the flight back in a Boeing 707, Kohl orders cava for everybody. Without Gods help, we probably would not have managed.

At midnight, 12.01am, on 3 October 1990, the black-red-golden flag is run up the Reichstag in Berlin.

Germany is ONE country again.
Starting your day with a cup of mushroom coffee can give a much-needed twist to your daily regimen. Many speak of its benefits, and some even prefer it to regular coffee. But given its unique
The information gathered through this app will be shared subsequently with the Ministry of AYUSH to complement their efforts

In order to popularise Yoga and encourage people to participate in it for a scientifically healthy living, Dr Harshvardhan, Minister for Science & Technology recently launched a mobile app Celebrating Yoga.

This aspect of quality of life is aligned with the National Mission Swasth Bharat of the Government of India. The Department of Science & Technology has launched a research programme Science and Technology of Yoga and Meditation (SATYAM) under its Cognitive Science Research Initiative (CSRI). As Yoga and Meditation are interdisciplinary endeavors that interface with Neuroscience, Medicine, Psychology, Engineering, Philosophy etc., YOGA can contribute in a holistic way to derive integrated benefits.

The app provides a platform to share information and insights about peoples participation in Yoga activities on the occasion of the International Yoga Day 2017. It will enable in capturing both mass events being organized in public places, schools and office complexes across the country and individual enthusiasts who are performing yoga to promote the celebration of the day and yoga performances.

The information gathered through this app will be shared subsequently with the Ministry of AYUSH to complement their efforts.
Opinion | 04 November 2022 | Interviews

India needs to connect OPD with the cashless insurance network to bring them into the digital economy

After having raised $1.2 million from Entrepreneur First and GrowX Ventures in 2021, how do you see the perfor...Read more
Global innovation accelerators, Startupbootcamp (SBC), will be hosting a FastTrack in Accra, Ghana, on 22 June 2017 as part of its global tour to find the next big startup phenomenon.

 Rabia Elif Aksoy via 123RF

A total of 16 FastTrack events are being held across Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and startups can now apply until 20 June to present their ideas to mentors and sponsors for pre-application advice and feedback.

The aim is to find and grow disruptive startups and connect them with dynamic corporates. We are fundamentally changing the ecosystem and seeing tangible results that validate our methodology. The more we engage the more excited we get at how much talent we unearth at these FastTracks, shares Philip Kiracofe, co-MD of Startupbootcamp Cape Town.

The Accra FastTrack is being hosted by Workshed Africa and they are seeking applications from disruptive startups in industries including blockchain, connected devices, payment solutions, capital markets and asset management, integrated supply chain, e-commerce, alternative financing, identity management, digital connectivity, data and behavioural analytics and enabling technologies.

Over the years, the Ghanaian entrepreneurial space has seen a sharp rise in the number of creators and doers. Ideas aimed at solving basic problems and access to medical information, transportation services and even ideas in the food space have sharply been complimented by technology to give entrepreneurs the competitive edge.

The provision of services like co-working spaces, business advisory and government intervention through policy is set to position Ghana in a whole new light in terms of entrepreneurship. All these factors are making the Ghanaian entrepreneurship space attractive to not only African investors but global players. The time to invest in entrepreneurship in Ghana is now, shares Andrew Bimpong, co-founder of Workshed Africa.

Beyond the FastTracks

Although FastTrack engagements are not a requirement to apply for the Startupbootcamp Accelerator, it is encouraged to apply.

From a pool of hundreds of applicants, the 10 most promising teams will be selected and provided with EUR 15,000, 100+ highly engaged industry mentors, free office space, access to funding and a network of industry partners, investors and venture capital firms. The three-month bootcamp kicks off in September 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa, and will be led by seasoned innovation experts, Zachariah George, Philip Kiracofe, and Paul Nel.

Startupbootcamp CapeTown was initiated after a trend analysis found more than 160 applications to the global programme originated from African teams in 2016 alone.

Interested teams can apply to attend a FastTrack here. Any mentors that would like to help with the FastTrack can apply here. Startups interested in applying to the 3-month Cape Town program can apply here.
The Nigerian Minister of Finance, Honorable Kemi Adeosun, says Nigeria would benefit from signing up the African Development Bank (AfDB) funded Enable Youth programme, modelled after the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) Youth Agripreneur (IYA) programme, which has seen a lot of success.

IITA Director General Nteranya Sanginga (right) welcomes the Nigerian Minister of Finance, the Hon. Kemi Adeosun (left) to IITA, Ibadan. Photo: O. Adebayo, IITA

Nigerias signatory to the Enable youth programme will make it the third African country - behind Cameroon and Sudan - to benefit from funds under the AfDB Feed Africa initiative.

The programme is expected to create business opportunities and decent employment for 1,000 young women and men along priority agricultural value chains of various enterprises (aquaculture, crops farming, marketing, processing, etc.) per state, including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, according to the Director General of IITA, Dr Nteranya Sanginga.

Adeosun said that she was inspired and impressed with the concept and the testimonials of the young agricultural entrepreneurs. We came here - IITA - to assess a project (Enable Youth) being considered by the Federal Government. From what I have seen today, I am extremely impressed and inspired. We should work on how we can roll out this project nationally, the Minister said during a visit to IITA in Ibadan on 10 June.

A template that would help African countries tackle youth unemployment, food insecurity

Like several other African nations, Nigeria is caught in between rising youth employment and food insecurity. In 2012, Sanginga initiated a youth in agriculture programme to serve as a model for African nations to emulate and prosper. Under the model, youths are trained  both in theory and practice  and mentored with a view to changing their mindsets towards agriculture. In the end, they key into startups in the agricultural value chains.

Sanginga said the IYA model was a template that would help African countries tackle the challenge of unemployment on the continent and create wealth. We have tested it in IITA, Nigeria, and several countries and it is working, he said.

Testimonials

Testimonials on how the IYA programme is creating jobs, wealth, and transforming agriculture abound. For Mercy Wakawa from Biu, Borno state, the training provided by IYA through N2Africa project funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation two years ago had helped her establish a medium scale groundnut oil processing industry that provides employment for seven other youths and supports the local groundnut industry.

Ajibola Olaniyi leads a team of two other young people who ventured into catfish farming. Without prior knowledge about fish farming but with support from IITA, Olaniyi and her team resuscitated four abandoned ponds and later expanded to 17 with a capacity of 150 tonnes of fish production per year. The expansion of the business also created jobs for short-term staff who work with the team in managing the ponds. The business is growing with clients coming from the various geo-political zones in Nigeria to patronise the products.

Tofan Foods is a subsidiary of IITA Youth Agripreneurs. The business, which is owned by three young people who were trained under the processing unit of IYA, is producing Tidbit. The snack is made from high-quality cassava flour and cowpea. Tofan Foods has been established in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, and will be scaling out the technology learned during the incubation period in IYA.

Oyindamola Asaaju, another agripreneur, used to serve tables at a restaurant, but after getting involved with IYA, she now leads a group of agripreneurs in Onne, Rivers State. The group is using the IITA Station in Onne to develop new agribusiness enterprises in poultry, catfish, and micropropagation of plantain, and serve as an incubation center for young people.
The Cannes Lions Cyber shortlist has been released, with three SA campaigns making the cut!

The Cyber Lions celebrate creativity experienced digitally. Campaigns entered will exploit the digital form to enhance a brand's message and need to demonstrate a strong strategy and results. This can include, but is not limited to, the innovative use of digital platforms and technologies.

There are 260 entries on the shortlist, including the following South African work:

Network BBDO for Libresse 'Vagina Varsity', with production by Zootee Studios, media by Mediology and PR by ByDesign Communications is shortlisted under the 'FMCG' category.

for Libresse 'Vagina Varsity', with production by Zootee Studios, media by Mediology and PR by ByDesign Communications is shortlisted under the 'FMCG' category. Ogilvy Johannesburg for Cadbury Bubbly 'Pre-Joy', with production by Bomb Films and media by Starcom Worldwide, is shortlisted under the categories of 'Food & Drink' and 'Content Placement'.

for Cadbury Bubbly 'Pre-Joy', with production by Bomb Films and media by Starcom Worldwide, is shortlisted under the categories of 'Food & Drink' and 'Content Placement'. Native VML for Huffington Post's Stop the Cycle, with media by The Digital Media Consultancy, is shortlisted under the categories of 'Media & Publications', 'Corporate Responsibility' and 'Social Purpose'.

Click here to view the Innovation Lions shortlist in full.

The Festival of Creativity runs from 17-24 June 2017, with Cinemark the local representatives of Cannes Lions for SA. Visit www.canneslions.com/ and our Cannes Lions special section for more information.
The 64th annual Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity hosted the Cannes Innovation award ceremony on 20 June 2017.

Lions Innovation honours ground-breaking technology and problem solving and makers putting their groundbreaking products into the hands of the creatively curious.

Innovation Lions went through a different process. Did not need an agency and came from large and start ups. #canneslion  Ann Nurock (@annnurock) June 20, 2017

A total of 12 Innovation Lions were awarded from a shortlist of 35, with the Grand Prix going to Akestam Holst and Great Works Stockholm for IM Swedish Development Partners Humanium Metal Initiative.

View the full table of winning work below:

Innovation Lions Winners

Entrant Title Client Product Award AKESTAM HOLST, Stockholm / GREAT WORKS, Stockholm THE HUMANIUM METAL INITIATIVE IM SWEDISH DEVELOPMENT PARTNER HUMANIUM METAL Grand Prix GOOGLE, Mountain View TILT BRUSH GOOGLE INC. TILT BRUSH BY GOOGLE Gold Lion GARBERGS, Stockholm LOS SANTOS PRIDE STOCKHOLM PRIDE NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION Gold Lion MEMAC OGILVY & MATHER, Dubai POTATOES ON MARS CIP - THE INTERNATIONAL POTATO CENTER POTATOES ON MARS Silver Lion KBS ALBION, London I'M ADA, I CAN HELP. ADA HEALTH INC. ADA Silver Lion LEO BURNETT INDIA, Mumbai ROADS THAT HONK HPCL HP LUBRICANTS Silver Lion MRM//McCANN, New York YOUR VOICE IS YOUR STAMP U.S. POSTAL SERVICE SHIPPING & MAILING Silver Lion GOOGLE, Mountain View EARTH VR GOOGLE INC. EARTH VR Bronze Lion APPLE, Cupertino LIAM APPLE PHONE Bronze Lion SHELL BRANDS INTERNATIONAL, Baar / GRAVITYLIGHT FOUNDATION, London / J. WALTER THOMPSON, London GRAVITYLIGHT: TURNING GRAVITY INTO LIGHT SHELL GLOBAL / GRAVITYLIGHT FOUNDATION GRAVITYLIGHT - GL02 Bronze Lion WHAT3WORDS, London THE WORLD ADDRESSED WHAT3WORDS Bronze Lion AREA 23, New York ITBRA  THE WEARABLE THAT DETECTS CANCER CYRCADIA HEALTH ITBRA/BREAST CANCER SCREENING Bronze Lion

The Festival of Creativity runs from 17-24 June 2017, with Cinemark the official local representative for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Visit the official Cannes Lions website and our Cannes Lions special section for more information.
Turning retail space into art space: Elevating the SA narrative at store level

Retroviral's Mike Sharman explains how an emotional campaign manifesto and associated collaboration with some of the continent's most cutting-edge artists make the new Russell Hobbs Art of Living' campaign a long-term win for Boardmans and a first in SA's luxury appliance category.

Russell Hobbs is no newcomer to the concept of co-branding as a brand leverage instrument, a committed partnership intended to bring about change in consumers behaviour and perceptions, with your brand at the forefront: Retailers perceive co-branding as effective By Johan Schwartz 16 Jan 2008 This time around its not a product theyre partnering with, its the concept of Art of Living with strong splashes of African brand connection thats behind their latest campaign, with influential creatives, Karabo Poppy, Sindiso Nyoni and Kisua Africa collaborating to fashion conversations in and around the importance of African identity and aesthetics through design, illustration and fashion. Prints by Moletsane, Nyoni and Kisua Africa. A comprehensive collaborative strategy like this is no quick fix though, needing to gain momentum as different elements play out and resonate with consumers. Sharman shares insights into the campaign manifesto, how they initially brought the big idea to life and what you can expect over the coming months, below What was the campaign brief from Russell Hobbs, how did you bring the big idea to life and how does it tie in with the brands existing design beliefs? What was the campaign brief from Russell Hobbs, how did you bring the big idea to life and how does it tie in with the brands existing design beliefs?

The brief was to revert with a positioning for the brand that epitomised the brand tenets of 'premium', 'innovation' and 'quality' and something that was able to evolve, should the chosen path require a medium- to longer-term lifespan.

This campaign therefore brings art into the heart of your home as the Art of Living is about the way in which our homes mirror our taste, our experiences and the memories we make in them. This commitment to consumers is further established by bringing a point of conversation and differentiation; highlighting African creativity and the engagement with the world of functional art through a series of high-profile collaborations. In the desire to meet the needs of the evolving South African consumer, we are creating new ways for the public to experience how it views appliances through the Art of Living campaign.

So in order to encourage sales and drive online entries  especially in these challenging economic times  consumers also have the chance to win limited-edition Art of Living prints created by the artists, limited-edition vinyl-wrapped appliance collections, styled by the artists themselves, as well as a R100,000 cash prize.

Interesting. Talk us through the Art of Living campaign manifesto inspiration. Interesting. Talk us through the Art of Living campaign manifesto inspiration.

We want the copy to emotionally connect with consumers and to bring the Art of Living to life. The manifesto was a collaborative process internally, which debated what art actually means to each of us involved in the project.

How do we take art out of the gallery space and make it more accessible through the functional objects that people choose to add to their homes?

to take this observation even further with the manifesto:

Based on previous in-store campaigns and customer feedback, theres a clear connection between matching colour and style ranges and the consumer's individual personality and taste that they want to be reflected within their living spaces. This is art, after all. This inspired us  in collaboration with client 

It's a powerful piece of writing and I am so excited how the team has captured these insights with this prose!

Explain what the external collaboration with African fashion artists brings to the overall campaign and how were they each selected. Explain what the external collaboration with African fashion artists brings to the overall campaign and how were they each selected.

Moletsane is a Joburg-based artist using vibrant, functional design to tell South Africas story, regularly combining elements of engineering and architecture in her work in digital art and murals. She has previously collaborated with such brands as Apple, Pharrell Williams and Greenpeace.

Karabo Poppy | Art of Living A post shared by Russell Hobbs (@russellhobbssa) on Jun 7, 2017 at 4:46am PDT

Nyoni is a Zimbabwean-born, South African-raised artist, renowned across the globe for his bold illustrations and sharp social commentary that uses visual storytelling of archetypes of SA society. He was recently commissioned to create artwork for the blockbuster film Get Out.

Lastly, Kisua Africa is an African-based international fashion brand whose success has come from showcasing the best local talent in exclusive collections. It operates on three continents, with outlets in Africa, North America and Europe. Due to Kisuas reach, they have been central to putting African ready-to-wear fashion on the international map through its bold, incomparable design.

Wow! What can we expect from their experiential art installations this July? Wow! What can we expect from their experiential art installations this July?



It will be a surprise, but expect to see retail space become an art space, in particular at major Boardmans stores around SA from mid-July, where consumers will want to capture and share these distinctive, immersive and experiential layouts on social media.

The artists will marry their unique approach to art with appliances for a country-first.

We were inspired by New York's 5th Avenue and London's Oxford Street and the fanfare of big brand displays that capture the consumer imagination in these markets.

Now it's time for the South African narrative to be elevated at store level with this campaign

Sounds like a win  does the general public concur? Sounds like a win  does the general public concur?

Yes, the campaign has only recently gone live on social media and already fans and followers are voicing their support and love for this approach. In particular, the manifesto video has been viewed 41,000 times on Facebook alone. The response has been universally positive and it's always exciting to bring something completely different to consumers. We look forward to their responses as we are just getting started!

Follow Russell Hobbs SA on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for the latest updates and share your thoughts below as the campaign is further rolled out. You can also click here to find out more about your chance to win either R100,000 in cash or one of three exclusive Art of Living appliance collections styled in collaboration with the creatives when you purchase any Russell Hobbs appliance from any retailer nationwide from now until 30 September 2017...
Situated in Germiston, Sun Silicates is currently the only company in South Africa that supplies both vermiculite and perlite-based insulating media used in the construction industry. With a history of over 12 years in the metallurgical and chemical industry, the company has undergone major expansion over the last four years, recently achieving ISO 2001:2015 certification.

We interviewed Gerbrand Haasbroek, founder and managing director of Sun Silicates, to find out more about the history behind this proudly South African company, what ISO 9001:2015 certification means for its management systems, and what some of the current trends are in the industry.

Tell us a bit about your experience in the metallurgical and chemical industry, and how you came to launch Sun Silicates?

Gerbrand Haasbroek, MD, Sun Silicates

I studied at the University of Pretoria where I obtained an honours degree in metallurgical engineering. I have more than 30 years of experience in the industry that includes experience in production, project consulting, marketing and general management. Some of the commodities I have been involved with includes iron and steel, vanadium, ferro chrome, refractory materials, plastics, powder paint, ceramics, aluminium, platinum, chromite and tantalum. Although I worked in heavy industry for many years, my passion has always been to own and operate my own manufacturing concern. Having been involved in pyrometallurgical processes and also the chemical industry lead me to the manufacture of perlite and vermiculite that uses high temperature furnaces and the products are used in many of the industries I have knowledge of. The choice was mainly based on finding a high tech product that was dominated by only a few players in the market, creating an opportunity to compete locally not only on price, but value adding the products to ensure the customers receive not only product but also technical support and quality service.

What does receiving ISO 9001:2015 certification mean for Sun Silicates?

Achieving this certification is a great achievement for our team. When operating in a high tech environment while supplying products to large industrial customers, it is imperative to ensure consistent and high quality products. It can sometimes take years to introduce your product and one failure can set you back many years and damage your companys reputation. The ISO 9001:2015 system formalises the management system of our company and since it is relatively new, it ensures we start off from a solid base from where we can develop our products and market. Continual improvement is part of our culture and this measurement system ensures we keep focusing on the items that make the difference to our customers.

Sun Silicates has undergone major expansion over the last four years - what has this entailed?

Sun Silicates originally started off by manufacturing potassium silicates solutions used in agriculture, as well as the welding rod manufacturing industry. Since this is a relatively small niche market, Sun Silicates quickly dominated it and it was decided to embark on a project to manufacture products for a variety of customers and industries. This lead to the designing, building and commissioning of two additional manufacturing facilities - one for the manufacture of exfoliated perlite and one for exfoliated vermiculite. None of the equipment was purchased from external suppliers, but rather designed and manufactured in-house. In the last year a major upgrade of the perlite plant was done, after visiting a state of the art plant in Europe. From the experience gained we were able to upgrade our plant to allow us to now produce class-leading products. Some of these products are currently imported as local quality does not meet customer requirements.

Tell us a bit more about Sun Silicates main product categories and the applications in which they are used.

Sun Silicates supply products to the following industries:

Welding rod manufacture

Agricultural

Supplies soluble silica for plants

Growing media for hydroponics

Building industry

Insulating / low density screeds and plasters

Celling insulation

Fire protection plasters and gunning materials

Insulating cavity filling materials

Chemical/food industry

Filtration media for edible oils and fruit juices

Filtration media for heavy metal solutions

Insulating perlite for cryogenic tanks

Low density fillers for the paint and other industries

How competitive is the market in which you operate?

There are few competitors that manufacture these products locally, so although we have local competition, it is not overtraded. The products are low density and hence bulky, this, to large extent, eliminates international competition. Having access to low-cost energy is of paramount importance - Sun Silicates has piped natural gas that ensures that we can compete on equal footing with our competitors. Sun Silicates is currently the only company that manufactures both the perlite and vermiculite, hence giving our customers (that in many instances use both types of product) a one-stop service.

What are some of the current trends in the metallurgical and chemical industry?

Currently the products are used mainly in the agricultural and building industries. There is a strong growth trend in foodstuff being grown in hydroponic systems. The main reason for this is water scarcity, automation efficiency and product quality requirements from the final consumer. In the building industry, a similar growing trend is also prevalent - this is due to the focus and new legislation to ensure energy efficient buildings.

Do you have any expansion plans on the cards? If yes, could you share some of these with us?

Due to the application of vermiculite and perlite in insulating refractories, the company has created a sister company Sun Insulation that will manufacture, not only insulating refractories, but the complete range of refractories concretes used in the metallurgical and chemical industries.

For more info on Sun Silicates, go to www.sunsilicates.co.za.
Government is allowed to recover R1.125 billion in misappropriated public funds from Absa Bank and its predecessor Bankorp.

This follows a proclamation by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Monday when she released a report into misappropriate use of public funds pre democracy.

The Public Protector investigated the matter after the complainant, Advocate Paul Hoffmann, alleged that government and the Reserve Bank failed to implement the recommendations by UK-based asset recovery agency, Ciex, and to recover the money from Bankorp Limited, which eventually becomes a part of Absa, without providing reasons to that effect.

The Ciex report alleged that R24 billion was unlawfully given out to Bankorp from 1985 to 1992 by the Reserve Bank (as a lifeboat/gift). It then provided Absa with a further R2.25 billion in bailouts from 1992 to 1995.

Briefing the media in Pretoria on Monday, Mkhwebane said the two investigations into the matter established that the financial aid given to Bankorp/Absa was irregular, but the correct amount attributable was R1.125 billion.

Mkhweban said Ciex was paid 600,000 British pounds for services which were never used by government. No evidence could be found that any action was specifically taken in pursuit of the Ciex report.

The amount given to Bankrop/Absa Bank belonged to the people of South Africa. Failure to recover the gift resulted in prejudice to the people of South Africa as the funds could have benefited the broader society instead of a handful of shareholders of Bankorp/ABSA Bank.

The public protector report found that the failure by government and the Reserve Bank was inconsistent with the Constitution and it constitutes improper conduct and maladministration.

The South African Reserve Bank in granting the financial aid failed to comply with section 10 (1) (f) and (s) of the South African Reverse Bank Act No.90 of 1989. The Ministry of Finance had a duty as obliged by section 37 of the South African Reverse Bank Act of 1989... this failed to adhere to section 195 of the Constitution by failing to promote efficient and effective public administration.

Some of Mkhwebane remedial action include that the Special Investigation Unit re-open the case and recover the funds which she said were given unlawfully to Absa.

The public protector refers the matter to the Special Investigating Unit to reopen and amend the proclamation R47 of 1998 published in the Government Gazette dated 7 May 1998 in order to recover misappropriated public funds unlawfully given to Absa in the amount of R1.125 billion and to investigate alleged misappropriated public funds given to various institutions as mentioned in the CIEX report, Mkhwebane said.

The Public Protector said the Reserve Bank must fully cooperate with the SIU and also assist it in recovering the funds.

Another recommendation is that the Portfolio Committee on Justice must initiate a process that will result in the amendment of section 224 of the Constitution to emphasize that the Reserve bank must promote a balanced and sustainable economic growth, while ensuring that the wellbeing of the citizens are protected.
The Ministries of Agriculture in five of the world's most important emerging economies - collectively known as BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) - have an important role to play in achieving the international goals to eradicate hunger and poverty by 2030, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Ryan Carter via 123RF

These five countries form an important economic block. They account for more than 40 percent of the world's population and over 20 percent of global GDP. Together, they produce more than one-third of global cereal production. Last year, Russia became the largest wheat exporter in the world.

"The BRICS countries play an important political role in the international arena. Developing countries around the world look to your successes in economic development over the past few decades as an example to follow," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, assistant director-general and FAO's regional representative for Asia and the Pacific, in a statement to the seventh Meeting of the BRICS Ministers of Agriculture, in Nanjing, China. "Your experiences provide a path that can help us all meet our global collective commitments, namely those of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - and the Paris climate accord."

Accelerating rural development key to achieving SDGs

Kadiresan pointed out that, despite trends towards urbanisation, poverty in the world today is primarily rural. As a result, accelerating rural development will be key to achieving the SDGs.

"The question is how can we do this? Our experiences in countries in different parts of the world have shown that it can best be done through a combination of agricultural growth and targeted social protection, but also through growth in the rural non-farm economy," Kadiresan said. "Agriculture can be a driver of sustained and inclusive rural growth. In low-income countries, growth originating from agriculture is twice as effective in reducing poverty as growth originating from other sectors of the economy."

Equally important is that all the tools, approaches and technologies developed must be useful and accessible to poor family farmers in developing countries so that they can increase production and productivity. It was noted that government-led initiatives such as South Africa's Fetsa Tlala, which aims to support subsistence and smallholder farmers expand cultivated land to food production, was an excellent example.

BRICS strong in agricultural research

The ministers heard that achieving agricultural growth would also require investments in research and development, and the BRICS countries could play a leading role in this, as all five countries have strong agricultural research systems that are working on many of the challenges faced by developing countries, such as feeding a growing population in a sustainable way.

Biotechnology would also play a key role in these advances, as would agro-ecological approaches. Climate-smart agriculture will be essential to adapt to the uncertain changes facing our farmers, and it will rely heavily on cutting-edge research.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are becoming more widespread by the day, and they offer a promising approach to address many of the challenges smallholders face with regard to information on prices, weather forecasts, vaccines, financial services, and much more. FAO is collaborating with the G20, the OECD and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in order to make sure these technologies benefit smallholders.

Agricultural growth cannot solve these issues on its own

Agricultural growth, as important as it is, cannot eradicate hunger and poverty all by itself - social protection programmes can also play a key role in rural development. These programmes have important poverty reduction and health benefits, and can also strengthen the confidence of family farmers, encouraging them to become more entrepreneurial. Brazil's Fome Zero and India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are global references in this regard.

Kadiresan stressed that it is important not to overlook the key role played by the rural non-farm economy in fostering rural development. "As economies transform, most farm households obtain significant income from activities other than farming. The income from these activities provides not only a higher standard of living but also a more stable one in many cases. Governments play a key role in encouraging this transformation by investing in rural health and education," Kadiresan said. "While these investments are typically not within the Ministry of Agriculture's mandate, we must support such investments, as they are in the interest of our rural constituents. Where would any of us be today without the opportunities provided by our former teachers and a strong educational system?"

International trade an effective instrument in promoting food security

The ministers heard that international trade could also serve as an effective instrument in promoting food security and act as an adaptation tool to climate change. When an inevitable bad harvest occurs, as it does in every country at some stage, timely imports can help to rebalance the domestic food economy. In this regard, the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), a G20 initiative led by FAO, makes an important contribution to ensuring well-functioning and transparent global food markets.

Kadiresan welcomed the Government of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which she said would create a great opportunity for South-South Cooperation among all countries involved. She also acknowledged the government's leading role in supporting FAO's South-South and triangular cooperation programme.
A lawyer for South African Airways (SAA) chairwoman Dudu Myeni, who stood accused of misrepresenting a board decision about the purchase of 10 aircraft from Airbus in 2013, said on Monday she had "innocently made a mistake" in communications with then public enterprises minister Malusi Gigaba.

Myeni was asked to explain herself by the Companies and Intellectual Properties Commission (CIPC) in November 2016 and was issued with a compliance notice. The minutes of a May 2013 board meeting and the related board resolution concerning the transaction were requested in the notice.

While Myeni complied with the compliance notice, she now wants it overturned to expunge it from her record as a director.

Myeni's lawyer Francois van Zyl appeared before the Companies Tribunal in Pretoria on Monday to argue her case.

Van Zyl claimed she had complied with the compliance notice under protest because she feared she would face prosecution if she did not do so.

Having the compliance notice declared null and void is an attempt by Myeni to clean up her record as a director.

Adv Robin Pearse for the CIPC said that Myeni had missed her opportunity to confirm, modify or set aside the notice as it had to be done within 15 business days.

Myeni, a close President Jacob Zuma ally, has been facing public criticism over her conduct as a director.

Finance Minister Gigaba indicated last week her contract would not be renewed.

On Monday, Pearse also accused Myeni of making misrepresentations to Gigaba in 2013 when he was minister of public enterprises.

In May 2013, Myeni told Gigaba the SAA board had resolved to lease two aircraft. But the board resolution had read 10 aircraft would be leased. After being confronted by the board, Myeni wrote to him, saying the SAA had planned to purchase 10 aircraft.

Pearse argued Myeni had not told the minister she had made a mistake, but rather claimed the national carrier's board had made another resolution, which led to 10 planes being purchased, instead of two.

"The minister had been misled and the board had been misrepresented to the shareholder partner," said Pearse.

"She didn't say: 'I was mistaken'," he said.

Van Zyl, for Myeni, however, said the chairwoman in her affidavit had admitted that it had been a "mistake".

He said even the CIPC was not sure if Myeni had acted intentionally, and so good faith had to come into play.

Van Zyl said Myeni had sought to do her job by informing the minister of events, which meant she acted "bona fide" and that her letter to Gigaba had no consequences.

"The question is, did she do so on purpose, intentionally, as the respondent [CIPC] says, or did she do so innocently, by mistake?" Van Zyl asked.

Judgment in the matter has been reserved.

Source: Business Day
The cargo on board a ship arrested in the Port Elizabeth harbour will remain in South Africa pending further legal action to determine its rightful ownership.

A full bench of the Port Elizabeth High Court found that the detention of the NM Cherry Blossom, carrying 50,000 tons of phosphate worth R80-million, was correct and lawful.

The Cherry Blossom was en route to New Zealand when it was arrested in Algoa Bay on 1 May, following claims that the sale of the cargo was in fact unlawful.

The phosphate it was carrying had allegedly been removed illegally from the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Last week's ruling is Western Sahara's first step in claiming back the cargo.

The Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) brought the application to the high court last month, claiming to be the lawful owner of the phosphate and wanting - by way of an interdict - to stop the ship from proceeding to a potential buyer in New Zealand.

It wanted the shipment returned to the Saharawi people.

The SADR and the Polisario Front claimed the phosphate was part of the resources of Western Sahara and belonged to its people.

They wanted the cargo to be under the jurisdiction of the court until the final determination of their right of ownership.

Acting Deputy Judge-President Selby Mbenenge, with judges Clive Plasket and Glenn Goosen agreeing, said last week that if the NM Cherry Blossom sailed from Algoa Bay it would spell the end of the proposed vindicatory action.

While the SADR contended that Phosboucraa at the Bou Craa mine in Western Sahara did not have title to sell the cargo and that the sale was therefore invalid, lawyers on the opposing end maintained that this was a political matter that should not be decided by a foreign court.

The Port Elizabeth court did not agree.

"In these circumstances the balance of convenience favours the SADR and Polisario Front," Mbenenge said.

The court ordered that the owner of the NM Cherry Blossom and the buyer of the phosphate be interdicted and restrained from taking the cargo from the jurisdiction of Algoa Bay pending the determination of its rightful ownership.

The sheriff of the high court was furthermore ordered to remove the ship's registration documents and trading certificates.

"In the event that [the SADR] obtains a final order for the delivery and possession of the cargo, the guarantor shall pay to them the market value of the cargo in Port Elizabeth as of the date of this order," the court ruled.

"Leave is hereby given to [the SADR and Polisario Front] to sue the respondents for delivery of the cargo."

Source: Herald
According to recent figures from the Hospitality Report Africa released by Jumia Travel, a total of 365 hotel chain development pipelines were reported in Africa in 2016, with 64,231 rooms. This is a 29% increase, from the 2015 figure. This implies that more and more hotels and hospitality enterprises are trooping into the continent making this industry very competitive and profitable at the same time. In Africa, foreign visitor spending stood at 36.3% in 2016 ($40.7 bn), and is expected to grow by 5.3% in 2017 to $42.9bn, and then by 5.9% pa to $76.0bn in 2027.

Sura Nualpradid via 123RF - Ghanaian rower taking tourists to see jungle

In order to derive great benefits from this massive wave, it is imperative that the Ghanaian industry takes a much closer look at one aspect that draws us back. Lack of trained professionals or professionalism is hampering the growth and development of Tourism and hospitality in Ghana.

Breeding bad customer service

The lack of professionalism in this industry has a significant impact its development. Firstly, lack of professionalism usually breeds bad customer service at hotels, restaurants, and tourist sites which mean that most guests and tourists are more likely to be dissatisfied with service and may not come back in the future. Also these same guests and tourists are also unlikely to give good referrals to others who wish to travel to Ghana and experience the rich culture, heritage, and tradition that we speak so highly of. This causes a decline in revenue and foreign exchange which hampers the development of the industry.

Below are a few ways to counter such issues and ensure productivity and development of our tourism and hospitality industries:

It takes training:

In Kenya, South Africa, Egypt and other giants in the African tourism industry, hospitality training institutions are widespread which offer tourism and hospitality related degrees and diplomas. Some even go as far as the Master of Arts degrees. Here, prospective professionals are carefully trained in various areas and these courses are open to a wide range of people such as front office staff, tour guides, car rental drivers, etc. Take a look at other countries such as Sri Lanka and Singapore where some taxi drivers and tour guides are university graduates.

The knowledge, eloquence and open-mindedness allow them to assist guests and tourists in feeling more at home even in a far away land. This gives guests confidence to return to Ghana on future vacations. They are even more confident referring the country as a tourist destination to other family and friends. These countries know the value of quality service. This is something Ghana can pick up and intensify.

Standards and regulation

Even with all the trained staff, it will also take some level of effort from the policymakers and law enforcers to ensure strict compliance with certain codes and regulations. For instance, front office and kitchen staff at some hotels or restaurants feel reluctant to wear uniforms and aprons all the time. Some kitchen staff doesn't wear appropriate attire for work. Some also lack the facilities and technology which will aid the individuals to exhibit a high sense of professionalism.

It is the responsibility of certain law enforcement agencies as well as policymakers to regularly inspect and check standards at these hotels, guest houses, tourist sites, and restaurants. This will ensure that they always conform to these standards and regulations and in turn better serve their guests and visitors. When all these are in place, there is only an upward path for tourism and hospitality development in Ghana.

Competition:

Competition is not always negative. Sometimes, especially in hospitality and tourism development, competition is very good. When hotels, tourist sites, car rentals, airlines, and restaurants improve upon their services and facilities, and invest heavily in the standard of professionalism, it provides a great platform for competition. Hotel A, which may have been comfortable with a few staff who didnt take excellent customer service and professionalism seriously will see a decline in sales because hotel B may have put in place measures to ensure a strict professionalism output and this will automatically transform into sales.

With more and more hotel chains coming into Africa and Ghana, facilities and technology alone may not be adequate. In order to stay in business, hotels have to comply and improve upon standards of professionalism and ensure strict adherence to procedures as well as regular training.

Tourist sites are also not left out. When a tourist visits a destination and is greeted by a well-dressed guide who speaks multiple languages and is able to relate hospitably with this tourist, we are assured of that person returning and referring Ghana to his family and friends. When these sites are run by trained staff who keep adequate records and manage the facilities effectively with regular maintenance, the tourism and hospitalityindustry in Ghana will definitely grow massively.
In the next two years, the fuel pump prices will substantially come down if the $94m (Shs338b) water transport project launched by president Museveni last week becomes a reality.

Museveni, while speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the fuel storage terminal at Bugiri-Bukasa in Wakiso District, said transporting fuel using vessels (barges) on Lake Victoria from Kisumu to Kampala will help cut fuel costs by 50%, thus also reduce the cost of doing business.

"Investing in transporting fuel by water rather than by road, these people have already calculated their equation that they will use only 50% of the costs spent on road," Museveni said, adding that this favours government in helping cut fuel prices also by 50%.

Museveni added that the investor, Mahathi Infra Uganda Limited (MIUL), will build the ships at Bugiri-Bukasa which will enable residents to acquire skills and employment.

Cheapest means of transport

He said water transport is the cheapest means of transport, followed by rail transport, road, and air transport.

"On land, we are working on the rail... We are also building dams to make the cost of electricity affordable, which will attract more investors," he added.

Currently, petroleum products are transported using trucks from Mombasa to Kisumu and Kampala. This, according to Ravi Sankar Yandapalli, the managing director of Mahathi, comes with costs like expensive fuel, road congestion, road repairs, pollution, traffic accidents, and uncertain supplies.

Citing a fuel tanker that caught fire this week in Iganga, Sankar said transporting fuel using water is much safer and will help reduce road traffic congestion.

Sankar said the investment will include four ships with each transporting 4.4 million litres of fuel equivalent to what is transported using 200 trucks on road.

He said the ships and the terminal are expected to be ready by September next year.

Tax revenue contribution

Mike Mukula, the chairman of the company, said the new transport system will contribute tax revenue which has been going to the neighbouring Kenya.

"Ninety percent of the trailers that transport fuel to Uganda are owned by Kenya and Somalia. So this means that the taxes paid by Shell and Total in dollars will now be collected here," Mukula said.

Energy minister Irene Muloni said the time spent to transport fuel from Kenya to Uganda will reduce by three days.

According to an agreement signed with the government of Uganda, MIUL has exclusive rights for the barge transport for next 10 years plus an additional two years of implementation.
Colourworks kicks off a captivating series of thought immersion forums.

Driven by a strong vision, Colourworks worked on creating a series of thought immersion events  an open forum where industry friends, fellow influencers and decision-makers would share ideas in a discussion about the most relevant topics.

Amongst Colourworks strongest beliefs is in an events power of proximity. Thats why, when they wanted to gain better insight into their industry, they decided to bring the industry into their building.

We don't want to talk to, we want to talk with our peers, engage and learn from one another. Cara-Ann Potgieter, Colourworks Marketing Manager

The topic of the inaugural Spectrum event was The Future  Are you in it? It positioned the discussion around concerns all industry minds and influencers have about tomorrows world.

Where is the business world going? What does the future look like? How can I stay relevant?

Craig Wing, acclaimed futurist and business strategist, was the perfect person to lead the discussion. He took everyone through the possibilities of the future, based on his in-depth knowledge of entrepreneurship, technology and disruptive innovation

"It looks like you guys are doing great things!" Tarryn Melissa, Redressed

Covering everything from the future of humans, the workplace to customers and business, he introduced new ways of thinking about the future, what questions to ask, what to prepare for as well as the astounding advancements already happening. He demonstrated that an improbable future can only be created by sharing absolutely ridiculous ideas.

The event involved everyone in an activity, where Craig asked the audience whether a certain futuristic innovation was Fact or Fiction. With the paddles provided, the audience displayed their answer  often shocked at the truth.

Technology will one day make us superheroes  Fact or Fiction?

Craigs thought-provoking topics sparked many questions from his diverse audience. By sharing his own personal experiences and niche insights, Craig transformed the discussion from what started out as a seemingly traditional presentation into an in-depth, highly engaging conversation with over 30 people.

There are always worries and concerns before first times. But Colourworks first Spectrum event was a huge success that they can only build on. With plans to kick off the next instalment of the series in the coming months, they certainly equipped their industry for the future. Are they in it? Well have to wait and see.

To have such a diverse audience share ideas that can help each of us grow - that inspired me beyond my expectations. Lesley Waterkeyn, Colourworks CEO

Want to be part of the next Spectrum event? Join us in Johannesburg in September.




NEWSWATCH: According to various recent reports, McLaren might ditch Honda engines and switch to Mercedes for the next Formula One season.

The Daily Mail reports that this move might keep Fernando Alonso at Britain's foremost Formula One team.

Thats the chequered flag for the #CanadianGP. Stoffel P14 and a disappointing end for Fernando after a very hard-fought afternoon. pic.twitter.com/wb7ZJ42WJm  McLaren (@McLarenF1) June 11, 2017

F1 reporter, Adam Cooper, writes on motorsport.com: "It's widely assumed that there will be a reunion of McLaren and Mercedes in 2018, and in many ways that is the logical and very obvious route. However, it seems that things are not yet set in stone. How could they be with the Honda deal still officially in place?"

He states that when it comes to a McLaren-Mercedes partnership, "the good news is that the two sides have a history together  the bad news is that history includes a lot of unhelpful baggage." He is of the opinion that there's a chance that instead, McLaren might join forces with Alfa Romeo.

Even though the thought of rivals Ferarri and McLaren joining forces seem very unlikely, Cooper poses an interesting question:

"McLaren could badge the Ferrari engine, just as Sauber did with Petronas for many years. And it might not have to be a TAG Heuer-type sponsorship deal. Consider the logos on the back of the works SF70H. What if McLaren could agree to run the Maranello engine with the Alfa Romeo name?"

We'll have to wait and see...

For more
The Next Einstein Forum (NEF), an initiative of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) in partnership with Robert Bosch Stiftung, will be launching NEF Africa Science Week, to be held in Pretoria and Limpopo from 26 - 29 June 2017.

Africa Science Week will be led by Pelly Malebe, NEF Ambassador and PhD candidate in biotechnology at the University of Pretoria, whose current research focuses on identifying and developing genetic markers for drought tolerance and yield in crop.

The NEF Africa Science Week is the first coordinated science week across Africa. Our primary objective is to develop tomorrows scientists and technologists by engaging children and young people in scientific activities like science caravans and hackathons. Our activities will also demonstrate the critical impact of science to the general public, says Thierry Zomahoun, AIMS President and CEO and NEF Chair. By bringing together key stakeholders from all sectors, we hope to catalyse investment in research and development and discuss best practices for attracting and retaining young people, especially girls and women, in the science.

Africa Science Week in South Africa will witness exciting sessions such as engaging students in active learning of Chemistry, Technology and Engineering using interactive science kits. Students will also participate in physical activities and science projects competition followed by an award ceremony.

The week-long signature event will also strengthen research networks and communities of scientists across Africa, and we hope that the next few editions will see technology facilitate coordinated regional activities. We would like to thank our partners in the public, academic and private sector for supporting this initiative. Africa will only compete globally if there are coordinated sustainable investments in building the pipeline of researchers and innovators, said Zomahoun.

Africa Science Week in South Africa is the first of a 13-country series. Looking to the future, the NEF will expand the reach of its Africa Science Week to 30 countries in 2018 and all 54 by 2020. Beyond numbers, the NEF hopes that Africa Science Week will grow to include major activities in schools and universities, and result in concrete collaboration between the research community and private sector.

In line with the NEFs Dakar Declaration, issued at the first biennial NEF Global Gathering, held in in Dakar, Senegal in March 2016, Africa Science Week will place public engagement at the heart of advancing Africas scientific agenda. The next edition of the NEF Global Gathering will be held in Kigali in March 2018 under the patronage of H.E. Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda.

Africa Science Week is funded by Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Google and local sponsors in the each country.

Find out more on Africa Science Week in South Africa at nef.org/asw/SouthAfrica/
People who oppose wind farms often claim wind turbine blades kill large numbers of birds, often referring to them as bird choppers. And claims of dangers to iconic or rare birds, especially raptors, have attracted a lot of attention

Wind turbine blades do indeed kill birds and bats, but their contribution to total bird deaths is extremely low, as these three studies show.

A 2009 study using US and European data on bird deaths estimated the number of birds killed per unit of power generated by wind, fossil fuel and nuclear power systems.

It concluded:

wind farms and nuclear power stations are responsible each for between 0.3 and 0.4 fatalities per gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity while fossil-fuelled power stations are responsible for about 5.2 fatalities per GWh.

Thats nearly 15 times more. From this, the author estimated: wind farms killed approximately seven thousand birds in the United States in 2006 but nuclear plants killed about 327,000 and fossil-fuelled power plants 14.5 million.

In other words, for every one bird killed by a wind turbine, nuclear and fossil fuel powered plants killed 2,118 birds.

A Spanish study involved daily inspections of the ground around 20 wind farms with 252 turbines from 2005 to 2008. It found 596 dead birds.

The turbines in the sample had been working for different times during the study period (between 11 and 34 months), with the average annual number of fatalities per turbine being just 1.33. The authors noted this was one of the highest collision rates reported in the world research literature.

Raptor collisions accounted for 36% of total bird deaths (214 deaths), most of which were griffon vultures (138 birds, 23% of total mortality). The study area was in the southernmost area of Spain near Gibraltar, which is a migratory zone for birds from Morocco into Spain.

Perhaps the most comprehensive report was published in the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology in 2013 by scientists from Canadas Environment Canada, Wildlife Research Division.

Their report looked at causes of human-related bird deaths for all of Canada, drawing together data from many diverse sources.

The table below shows selected causes of bird death out of an annual total of 186,429,553 estimated deaths caused by human activity.

Mark Duchamp, the president of Save the Eagles International is probably the most prominent person to speak out about bird deaths at wind farms. He says:



The average per turbine comes down to 333 to 1,000 deaths annually which is a far cry from the 2-4 birds claimed by the American wind industry or the 400,000 birds a year estimated by the American Bird Conservancy for the whole of the United States, which has about twice as many turbines as Spain.

Such claims from wind farm critics generally allude to massive national conspiracies to cover up the true size of the deaths.

And in Australia?

In Australia in 2006 a proposal for a 52-turbine wind farm plan on Victorias south-east coast at Bald Hills (now completed) was overruled by the then federal environment minister Ian Campbell.

He cited concerns about the future of the endangered orange-bellied parrot (Neophema chrysogaster), a migratory bird said to be at risk of extinction within 50 years. The Tarwin Valley Coastal Guardians, an anti wind farm group that had been opposing the proposed development.

Interest groups have regularly cited this endangered bird when trying to halt a range of developments.

These include a chemical storage facility and a boating marina. The proposed Westernport marina in Victoria happened to also be near an important wetland. But a professor in biodiversity and sustainability wrote:

the parrot copped the blame, even though it had not been seen there for 25 years.

Victorias planning minister at the time, Rob Hulls, described the Bald Hills decision as blatantly political, arguing the federal conservative government had been lobbied by fossil fuel interests to curtail renewable energy developments. Hulls said there had been: some historical sightings, and also some potential foraging sites between 10 and 35 kilometres from the Bald Hills wind farm site that may or may not have been used by the orange-bellied parrot.

Perhaps the final word on this topic should go to the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It built a wind turbine at its Bedfordshire headquarters to reduce its carbon emissions (and in doing so, aims to minimise species loss due to climate change). It recognised that wind power is far more beneficial to birds than it is harmful.

Simon Chapman and Fiona Crichtons book, Wind Turbine Syndrome: a communicated disease, will be published by Sydney University Press later this year.
Africa may face significant technological, social and political challenges, but by focusing on opportunities rather than weaknesses, and following an informed decision-making process, companies can still do well on the continent.

 Alistair Cotton via 123RF

Doing business in Africa is not easy, but there are also many opportunities on the continent for innovation and growth, says Wayne Borchardt, founder and chief executive of The Decision Advisory Group and convenor of the strategic decision-making programme at the UCT Graduate School of Business.

According to the World Economic Forum's (WEF) latest Africa Competitiveness Report, African countries remain stubbornly uncompetitive. Most competitiveness challenges highlighted in the report series since its first publication almost 10 years ago persist, including large infrastructure deficits, significant skill mismatches, slow adoption of new technologies, and weak institutions.

Despite this, says Borchardt, there has been progress in key areas: Rather than focusing on weaknesses, smart leaders look for the gaps this may present in markets, for ways in which they can innovate their business models and adapt their strategies for growth.

One example of a company that has done just this, is telecommunications giant Telkom. In June, the company announced growth in its full-year earnings and share price, with operating revenue up 9.8% to R41 billion.

While there are many reasons for the companys strong financial results at a time when the South African economy is officially in recession, a change in strategy has been a significant contributor. Telkom CEO Sipho Maseko has said the companys focus on mobile-phone units paid off significantly. This new business direction was necessitated by a drop in landline use  which used to be Telkoms core business. In addition, Telkoms investment in fibre networks and the wireless business has also paid off. Mobile subscriber numbers have risen by 48%.

Adapt strategies

Borchardt, who also convenes the Strategic Decision Making programme at the UCT Graduate School of Business (GSB), believes local and international companies wanting to operate on the continent, need to follow Telkoms example and adapt their strategies to allow for changing environments.

Businesses in Africa face daunting pressures relating to economic, political and operational uncertainties that are often exacerbated by poor technological development. There has never been a bigger need for business leaders to tap into their ability to craft smarter and more creative business strategies that are appropriate for these realities, he says.

But, he admits, this is easier said than done. The business world is littered with examples of poor strategic decisions based on faulty strategic thinking and decision-making. Vodacom, for example, suffered a major setback when it decided to launch mobile money transfer system M-Pesa, which had swept through Kenya and other African countries, in South Africa  a region with completely different demographics, technology uptake and financial services.

M-Pesa bombed in South Africa, something that Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of local technology firm World Wide Worx, had seen coming. "Vodacom never really listened to outside advice - they assumed that their experience in Kenya qualified them in South Africa and it was quite the opposite, Goldstuck told Fin24.

Decision-making

Borchardt says the common errors in strategic decision-making include an over reliance on gut feel - which can lead people to make incorrect assumptions about business environments - and a failure to recognise ones own biases: We find evidence that strengthens our beliefs and disregard (or discount) evidence to the contrary, which can lead us to make bad decisions he says.

Knowing that such things can trip you up is the first step to wiser strategic decision-making, says Borchardt. There are also modelling tools and academically-proven processes that leaders can turn to in order to predict outcomes of certain decisions with greater accuracy.

Examples of these are war gaming, sensitivity analysis, probability modelling and scenario response strategies, which cut down on risk and eliminate other options, helping business leaders to more correctly evaluate their situation.

He concludes that strategic decision-making should not be a guessing game but follow an informed decision-making process; This is the way to successful business growth in Africa in these uncertain times.
The annual 7th All Africa Business Leaders Awards (AABLA) are set to honour business excellence and leaders who have made a considerable impact on their industry and community. AABLA in partnership with CNBC Africa, salute gamechangers of business on the continent for their continuing commitment to excellence, developing best practices and innovative strategies.

Adrian Gore, CEO of Discovery - 2016 AABLA Southern Africa Business Leader of the Year and Company of the Year.

Henley Business School Africa (Henley Africa) has partnered with the prestigious AABLA as the official Southern Africa research partner. AABLA Southern Africa takes place at Montecasino in Johannesburg on 28 September 2017, with the AABLA Grand Finale celebrating the best in African business at the Sandton Convention Centre on 30 November 2017.

As AABLA research partner for Southern Africa, Henley Africa will audit the academic documents and will conduct reputation research for all Southern African entrants.

Jonathan Foster-Pedley, Henley Africas dean and director, is on the judging panel for the Southern Africa AABLA and also involved in the selection process for the AABLA Grand Finale on 30 November 2017, when Africas All Africa winners will be announced.

Henley has been involved in growing business leaders in Africa for the past 26 years. Our vision is to build the people, who build the businesses that build Africa. We are therefore very pleased to partner with CNBC Africa, says Foster-Pedley.

Henley will be encouraging its students, alumni and clients  many of whom are prominent leaders that are making a difference in their industries and communities - to enter the awards.

The awards tie in with our emphasis on being a truly international business school, at the forefront of teaching sound business principles and highly effective leadership skills that are internationally accredited and recognised, comments Foster-Pedley.

Over the years many of Africas prominent business leaders have enrolled at Henley. They like the fact that we are rated among the top business schools in the world. We are also the only business school in Africa to offer a triple-accredited MBA, with accreditation from the leading UK, European and US accreditation bodies. We are also accredited by South Africas Council on Higher Education and many of our alumni work in senior positions in government, industry, media, business schools and NGOs, concludes Foster-Pedley.

Entries for the 7th All Africa Business Leaders Awards have been extended and will close on 30 June 2017.
Advertising Week, the world's largest annual gathering of marketing, media, and technology leaders, makes its long-anticipated debut in Africa on 14-19 February 2023, after the planned launch was delayed by the global pandemic.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Department of Justice-appointed Special Counsel Robert Mueller is conducting what is generally called a preliminary inquiry into possible obstruction of justice involving President Donald Trump, as it pertains to his broader investigation into Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.



Mueller, who was tasked with overseeing the investigation last month, and his team are currently assessing former FBI Director James Comey's recent testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, reviewing Comeys memos documenting his encounters with the president, and preparing to interview certain administration officialslike Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and National Security Agency Director Mike Rogers regarding press accounts of comments the President allegedly made to them about the Russia probe.



At some point, Mueller may wish to interview FBI senior leadership about their meetings with Comey regarding President Trump, though it's unclear if this has already taken place.



A full-scale investigation has not yet been launched, although clearly preliminary work is being done, according to sources familiar with the process.



An assessment of evidence and circumstances will be done, before a final decision is made to launch an investigation of the President of the United States, regarding potential obstruction of justice.



Fired FBI Director James Comey said under oath, during his much-anticipated Senate hearing earlier this month, that he believes he was fired because of the Russia investigation.



"Guess I dont know for sure. I believe the  I take the president at his word, that I was fired because of the Russia investigation. Something about the way I was conducting it, the president felt, created pressure on him that he wanted to relieve, Comey told the Senate Select Intelligence Committee.



Comey also told the Senate that he intentionally leaked his contemporaneous memos written detailing his conversations with Trump in order to prompt the appointment of a special counsel.



Any kind of alleged effort to interfere in an investigation could potentially lead to an obstruction of justice investigation targeting the president and his aides.



Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who has oversight authority over the special counsel investigation, has told colleagues he may have to recuse himself, but he has not yet made a decision.



Nor is a decision on recusal is imminent, according to sources familiar with his thinking.



Rosenstein is overseeing Mueller's work since Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the investigation because of his ties and participation with the 2016 Trump campaign.



The deputy attorney general could become a witness, if the circumstances of Comeys firing are considered part of an obstruction investigation.



All eyes will be on Rosenstein's actions, as well as evidence of a grand jury, subpoenaing of key White House aides with a focus on President Trump to indicate a full scale investigation has been launched.

Copyright  2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The individuals were reportedly jailed for illegally entering Myanmar.

They returned to Bangladesh after a ceremony between the Myanmar and Bangladeshi border guard forces in the Taungpyoletwea Sub-Township General Administrative Office in northern Maungdaw District on June 15.

The Myanmar delegation was led by deputy director of the Immigration Department U Than Shwe while his counterpart from Bangladesh was commander of Number 34 Border Guard Lt Col Manzur Hossain Khan.

The two delegations also discussed issues surrounding border stability, anti-narcotic activities and conflicts with armed groups.

A total of 33 Bangladeshi prisoners have been released since May under a presidential pardon that was part of the 21st Century Panglong Conference.

Five individuals were released from a prison in Tanintharyi Region and flew from Yangon to Dhaka on June 7 and nine prisoners released from Thandwe Prison flew to Dhaka via Yangon on June 12.
On November 8, the coup council said that it would deactivate mobile SIM cards that did not match the information provided by the Ministry of...
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Botswana is striving to become one of the top ten mining destinations of choice in the world, Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security minister Sadique Kebonang has said.

Officially opening the 14th Botswana Resource conference held under theme, Deepening investment and diversifying focus in Botswanas Resource Sector, Sadique said this goal would realised through private sector investment, boosting of investor confidence and will see Botswana emerge as a mining centre of excellence.

Kebonang said they also want to become a net energy exporter within the region as well as to ensure affordable, accessible and sustainable supply of energy to Botswana through multiple sources. He said his ministry will continue to make necessary reviews to legislation and policies to ensure that they are conducive to sustainable mineral exploration, mining and energy development.





Significant developments have been made that we believe have put us on track to be a mining centre of excellence and to see business thriving in the mineral sector, he said adding that they have proposed changes in the Mines and Minerals Act, Precious and Semi-Precious Stones Act and Diamond Cutting Act, which will be discussed in the next sitting of parliament.

He said the amendments to these acts were done to achieve the setting up of mine closure funds for rehabilitation, pursue citizen economic empowerment initiatives, ensure safe use of explosives and prevent their use in criminal activities. The amendments also seek to remove trade barriers and increase penalties to deter illegal trade in the diamond sector. The minister said 2017 has started on a good note for the mining sector as the country has seen an encouraging appetite demonstrated by Diamantaires to buy rough diamonds. There is, however, a rising concern that strong demand and prices were getting ahead of the polished, and this had a potential to compromise the sustainability of the demand manufacturing industry, said the minister.

He said although performance of the mineral sector has still not recovered from the decline of the mineral commodity prices, the world is beginning to see a wake of activity, as the prices start to rebound. I have been made aware that Mowana Copper Mine has commenced operations in the second quarter of this year. It is our hope that BCL and Tati Nickel Mines also, being the largest employers in the sector will soon find investors and commence operations, said Kebonang.

He stated that the copper belt in North-West Botswana is an area that the government wishes to encourage investment in as it could provide another opportunity of diversification away from diamonds. He said the ministry is working hard to complete the development of a 400 kilovolts transmission line from Morupule to Maun and is hoping the transmission will support potential mining and business by providing a cheaper and more stable source of power.
Barclays Bank Botswana and Liberty Life Botswana have joined hands to launch new insurance products that provide customers with financial assistance during their first diagnosis of chronic illnesses. Named Bosele Life Plan, the scheme gives customers the opportunity to access up to P15 million of life cover with attractive optional benefits such as physical impairment and permanent disability.

Launching the product, Barclays Retail Director, Brighton Banda said the life insurance policy ensures that if a policy holder were to pass away or become unable to provide for loved ones due to illness or disability, their families will receive a lump sum to help them through such a difficult time in life.

We are proud to have been providing Batswana with relevant, affordable and reliable financial services; we tirelessly endeavour to become this nations bank of choice. With over six decades in Botswana, we continue to diversify our portfolio, offering a one stop shop for banking services, ranging from savings and investments, transactional, lending and insurance services - both short and long term, said Banda.





Barclays focus is on being Botswanas partner for growth. While we grow our business. We are equally passionate about sharing that growth with our communities, using our expertise, coverage, infrastructure and affiliations, he said.

Another product, which was launched also is the Tshireletso Plan, which provides customers with finance to assist with the living and treatment expenses on first diagnosis of a chronic illness.

These chronic illnesses include, heart attack, heart failure and cancer up to a limit of P250,000 without need for medical tests. For her part, Liberty Life Managing Director, Lulu Rasebotsa said Bosele Life Plan provides life cover with limited medical underwriting.

There is no waiting period in the sense that, once client has been fully accepted after having gone through medical underwriting, covers starts immediately. Further to that, it is a whole of life cover, said Rasebotsa. She also explained that Bosele life plan has optional benefits being, permanent disability, physical impairment, critical Illness, and immediate expense benefits. A claim from optional benefits will not reduce the main core benefit, which is the life cover, said Rasebotsa.
Tlou Energy has spent about $50 million in the Lesedi Coal Bed Methane (CBM) project as the company targets to provide power to the national grid by 2019, a senior official has disclosed.

The companys Executive Director, Gabaake Gabaake, said the CBM project is progressing in earnest. He said they are starting by drilling small quantities which will be increased with time.Our plan is to start with a small pilot project delivering power to Serowe and we hope to supply 50 or 100 megawatts depending on what the government would have approved.

We hope to get the first power into the grid during the second half of 2019 and we think that is possible, said Gabaake. The former Permannet Secretary in the minerals ministry was speaking at the resources conference this week.





Tlou Energy is an AIM and ASX listed company focused on delivering power in Botswana through the development of coal bed methane projects. The countrys first gas company has over 8300 square metres of exploration land in the Karoo Kalahari Basin, south-eastern Botswana some of which they intend to convert to a mining lease.

Gabaake said the Lesedi CBM Project has proved to be commercially viable and is set to add power to Botswana which has been battling with a severe energy shortage and is currently relying on expensive imported power and diesel generation to deliver its requirements.

He added that numerous exploration and appraisal work programmes have shown that the project is going to be sustainable and since last year, gas has been flowing at the site.

We are sitting fairly on a substantially, independently certified gas reserves and there has been gas flowing since last year, he said. He stated they will be submitting a business proposal to the government next month on the 12 of July. Gaabake added that the government has been supportive in the development of CBM as they see it as the catalyst that can further grow the mining industry in the country.

Botswanas power demand is to increase by 37 percent to 1,017MW by 2025 and analysts say there is a need to invest in power production. The cost of producing gas is half what is needed to produce the same megawatts when using coal. We are able to deliver energy to the grid at the price that is reasonable, said the official.

According to a study, the baseline capital cost per KW of gas is half that of coal and the fixed operation and maintenance costs of gas are also half those of coal.
Four judges who were suspended by President Ian Khama in 2015 could still be under police investigations for receiving housing allowances while staying in government houses.

Registrar and Master of the High Court Michael Motlhabi is not aware if the investigation that was launched against the judges has been withdrawn or the case is still on. The police are also feigning ignorance in the matter.

On September 1, 2015 Khama suspended four judges - Key Dingake, Modiri Letsididi, Mercy Garekwe and Rainer Busang - for alleged misconduct after it was found that they were paid undue housing allowances.





The four got into a protracted legal battle with Khama and Chief Justice Maruping Dibotelo who had reported them to the police to be investigated for earning housing allowances despite being accommodated in government houses.

The suspended quartet and the Administration of Justice (AoJ) this year smoked the peace pipe, which led to a decision that the suspended four judges return to work. There were conditions attached to the pardon, as the judges were to withdraw all the cases before court, apologise to the president and undertake to pay back the money they have already received.

Gaborone Central Police Station Commander Superintendent Vincent Pitseetsile said the matter was never with his office but could be with Borakanelo Police as High Court, which is in the Central Business District, falls within the Borakanelo Police jurisdiction. However, Borakanelo Police Station Commander Superintendent Mothusi Phadi said the matter is not with his office.

I do not know about the case. I thought the case was administrative and not criminal. I guess you should check with the High Court, said Phadi.

This week Motlhabi said the judges have in principle resumed duty. They have returned in principle. Due to shortage of facilities they are not sitting because we already have judges who are acting on contract basis. But if they have a judgement that they are supposed to dispose of we always facilitate for facilities so that such a case could be dealt with, said Motlhabi when appearing before the Parliamentary Accounts Committee.

He told the committee that the judges have withdrawn their case and they are to approach him to discuss how they would refund the state the monies owed. He said that one of the judges has already met with him and they have finalised. Motlhabi explained that Judicial Service Commission (JSC) and Attorney General were not part of the settlement process where the judges approached the president and apologised.

He said the decision to report the four judges was taken by JSC, which is chaired by Dibotelo after deliberating on the matter. He said, as the Secretary of the JSC advice was not sought from him as to what could be done regarding the matter.

Motlhabi was responding to an enquiry from PAC member and MP for Selibe Phikwe West Dithapelo Keorapetse who wanted to know why the former did not advise the JSC to deal with the matter the same way it has been dealt with, with other senior public servants and some of the Industrial Court judges who have received overpayments.

Keorapetse also expressed concern that the judiciary could be having judges who are sitting but still under investigation. The Registrar said he has no information of whether the police case formed part of the settlement between parties. He said the judges approached Office of the President and Dibotelo having been the subject matter was also approached, and he accepted the apology tendered by the judges. I was there when they came to see him.
Outgoing High Court Judge, Singh Walia is expected to sit in the July Court of Appeal Session, Registrar and Master of the High Court Michael Motlhabi has revealed.

Justice Walia who would be retiring at the end of this month would be joining the appeals court bench as acting judge. Justice Walia, who reached the retirement age of 70 last year, had his contract extended by another six months to allow him to complete matters already before him.

Motlhabi said it is expected that Justice Walia would have completed the cases before him by end of the month. He said during his extension the judge would not be given fresh matters to preside over.





Motlhabi said this when appearing before the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC) this week. He said that if the judge presides over an urgent application, the case is not treated as a fresh matter because the case would be disposed of within a reasonable time. PAC member MP for Selibe Phikwe West, Dithapelo Keorapetse had expressed concern that some judges could have been given an extension in their contracts but were seized with fresh cases.

You have to be very careful with this extension because even an urgent application could be dealt with in a year. A year is not a short time and this would mean the judge would have his or her contract extended with a year. This could lead to judges extending their contracts indirectly by presiding over urgent cases, said Keorapetse.

Motlhabi stated that Justice Walia who is a naturalised Motswana would be the fourth Motswana judge to join the Appeals Court bench. Other Batswana Judges are Court President Ian Kirby, Justice Stephen Gaongalelwe and Justice Isaac Lesetedi. Other members are foreign judges on a three year contract. Motlhabi explained that the Administration of Justice is making efforts to ensure that when an expatriate leaves at the end of contract s/he is replaced by Motswana.

Asked why it took the country 50 years to localise the court of appeal, Motlhabi said it is a work in progress. We are also concerned but we are working on it, he said. Opposition parties have complained that the court of appeal has been dominated by foreigners while there are qualified Batswana to sit in the bench.

When Parliament amended the Court of Appeal Act early this year MP for Selibe Phikwe West Dithapelo Keorapetse asked Parliament through an amendment to localise the court of appeal bench. The motion was however defeated.
Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) Gabane-Mmankgodi Constituency has resolved to call for the partys Constitutional review.

The resolution was taken this past Sunday during the Gabane-Mmankgodi Branch Congress held in Gabane. The congress agreed that a motion should be tabled at the congress billed for Bobonong next month for the review of the constitution to empower the party president.

The BMD Constitution has been a thorny issue within the party ever since the current National Executive Committee (NEC) was elected into office in Ghanzi two years ago. The party leadership has been at loggerheads over the powers of the NEC and that of the party president.





The party President according to the constitution does not have powers over the NEC. The NEC is chaired by the party chairman.

Kweneng Regional Chairman Boipuso Dikgang who presided over the Gabane-Mmankgodi Congress told this publication at the end of the congress that they believe the president should have more powers as opposed to the current scenario.

A recommendation has been made that scrutiny should be made for the role of the president and the NEC. We are however not saying the powers should be centred around the president where he has sweeping powers. What we are calling for is that when the NEC is out of order then the president should be able to take action, revealed Dikgang.

The BMD leadership is currently dominated by members who are said not to be in good books with the party president Ndaba Gaolathe. Gaolathe is only enjoying the support of his deputy Wynter Mmolotsi and Womens League President Joyce Mothudi. The trio is currently among some of the people who have been slapped with suspensions.

After the 2015 Ghanzi congress Gaolathe pushed for the constitutional review but the efforts have been futile as the bitter war between the Gaolathe-led faction and that led by party Chairman Nehemiah Modubule and Secretary General Gilbert Mangole had escalated.

Dikgang explained that at the weekend congress they felt that the president has been reduced to a spectator in the running of the partys affairs. Kweneng region has since indicated that it does not recognise the suspension of Gaolathe and company. Dikgang stated that no communication reached his committee or even branches within his region regarding the suspensions.

Dikgang revealed that the congress is of the view that the party leadership faulted after the Ghanzi congress by not reconciling the factions. We believe that after the 2015 congress the party Policy Director should have facilitated reconciliation workshop between those who lost the elections and those who won. It is now evident that failure to have done so has harmed the party even more. We came from Ghanzi not a united party but rather divided, he said.

It is in this background that the Gabane-Mmankgodi congress resolved that the policy director should be compelled to organise a counseling session or workshop to unite people who participated in NEC elections, said Dikgang.
The SADC Secretariat has once again been caught with pants down in the latest scandal in which a Tanzanian travel agency that was housed at its head office had to be shut down for failure to comply with Botswana laws.

The shameful shutdown of Worldlink Travel and Tours Limited by the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (MENT) last week Friday came after the company was awarded a multimillion travel tender but failed to comply with laws of Botswana, from where it has been operating at the SADC Secretariat offices in the CBD.

A series of articles by Botswana Guardian exposed the rot and prompted the Ministry to investigate. However, although ordered to shut down, there are suspicions that World Link Travel and Tours is still operating from SADC.





A top official of the company based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this week contradicted SADC official statement in a telephone interview with BG News when she feigned ignorance of her company having been allocated office space at the SADC Secretariat let alone having an office in Gaborone.

Although the SADC executives tried to cover up, it is evidently clear that the prequalification set requirements calling for the provision of the service whose identification contract number is SADC/travel and events/01/2016 was not meant for the local market, but, rather meant to eliminate most if not all companies providing travel services as they could not meet the set criteria.

Section 2.1 on qualification criteria ,which led to the Tanzanian company winning the tender requires that applicants, (a) must have implemented at least three contracts for travel management in the last three years of at least USD 1.500 (which is P15m) each with a minimum turnover of USD 500000 (P5m). Further that such a company must have experience in working in SADC area as a provider of travel management.

The order for the shutdown of Worldlink Travel and Tours Limited has opened yet another can of worms. It suggests that corruption could be rife at the SADC Secretariat and brings to question who between the Secretariat executives and their service providers is lying.

BG News investigation supported by documents has revealed that since Worldlink Travel and Tours opened business in Botswana, they assigned three officers who were all housed at SADC. There is Wassim Mohamed whose designation is Operations Manager and then Lakhi Singh who does not hold any position. Both Mohamed and Singh have listed their physical addresses as SADC Secretariat, Gaborone.

They also have local contact mobile phones and use each others mobile phone as a backup all of Asian origin. The third is Zainab Parmar whose designation is GlobalStar Travel Management; her physical address appears as Ohio Street, Dar es Salaam, Serena Hotel, Tanzania.

BG News followed the three up to get their side of the story on why they chose to flout Botswana laws. Although they have been ordered to close down, there is a possibility that representatives of World Link and Travel Tours Limited are still operating in Botswana at their residence, that is if the noise made by small children in the background which sounded more like someone in his house, is anything to go by.

Speaking to BG News on his mobile phone Mohamed confirmed his identity, but refused to entertain questions from BG News. Quizzed on why they have been ordered to close down, and why they decide to operate a business without having first followed the stipulated procedure, his response was short. I have no comment. Asked whether he is still in the country, he said, Maybe before requesting to be excused but promised to call back, which he never did. Singhs mobile rang unattended.

Speaking to BG News, Parmar was very cagey, first claiming ignorance even on the fact that Worldlink Travel and Tours had an office in Botswana. She claimed to be on leave and not aware of what could be happening in Gaborone before referring this publication to her colleague Mohamed. But when asked how she knew Mohamed is in Gaborone when she is not aware of the office operation, she quickly changed:

I am currently on a one month leave I do not know if we have an office, all I know is that they go to Gaborone and come back to Dar es Salaam many times. I am not aware if the said Wassim Mohamed and Lakkhi Singh have any office or have been allocated office space at SADC headquarters.

Parmar's statement contradicts what both SADC Executive Secretary Dr Stergomena Tax and Acting Head of Procurement Gift Mike Gwaza told this publication a fortnight ago when we broke the story. Speaking to BG News then, Tax said, I am not a technical person. But as far as I am concerned, the due process was followed before the tender was awarded. The tender was advertised on the regional market, it was a regional tender. It is a contract framework.

As for the company being housed at SADC headquarters, she said it was part of their negotiations that they should be given an office space at the Secretariat. If they were to win, said Dr Tax before referring this publication to the Acting Head of Procurement Gift Mike Gwaza.

For his part Gwaza said it must be noted that the majority of business for SADC is in travel and any outcome of the tender even when it could have been won by a Botswana company, would have been challenged by others elsewhere.

This happened with the other tender that concerned the EU programmes. Based on the lessons from the first tender we came up with clearly defined set criteria. This time we needed a company that has a strong financial background because the requirements are that such a company should pay for the tickets and claim from SADC so that our operations continue smoothly.

Otherwise we will not be able to attend conference meetings and implement decisions, he said.

He said that the set criteria were made clear in the advertisement document. We had clearly stipulated that the company that wins will be provided with office space within SADC, but must bring their own equipment. We provide them with space in order to facilitate the convenience and efficiency on how they provide the service delivery, said Gwaza.

A statement issued by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism (MENT), Jimmy Rule Opelo advised stakeholders and the public that World Link Travel and Tours which was operating from the SADC building has been instructed to close its operations with immediate effect.

This is due to the fact that investigations by the Department of Tourism indicated that the company is not licensed to operate as a tourism operator (travel agency) in Botswana, thus it has been operating illegally. The illegality of the operations of this company at SADC has also been communicated to SADC.

Corruption at SADC

With rampant allegations of corruption and mismanagement at SADC Secretariat, member states eventually commissioned Ernst and Young in 2012-2013 to do a forensic audit, which unearthed 79 weaknesses across key functions of administration. The audit revealed that of the 79 weaknesses, 24 concerned International co-operating partners, while 18 are compliance issues, with 15 each being information technology audit and performance audit on procurement audit respectively, with 3 each being operations issues and strategic issues respectively, while one concerns member states special fund programmes. To date the Secretariat is still to implement all recommendations

Other cases of corruption

Some heads of departments have been caught abusing their powers to the extent of issuing diplomatic passports to undeserving beneficiaries. Botswana Guardian investigation uncovered that a Zimbabwean national Albert Mhanda, then an employee of Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (SASSCAL) project stationed at Meteorological Services offices in Gaborone was issued with a SADC diplomatic passport while they were still negotiating with him to join them as a part time consultant.

In recent years Botswana Police was called in to investigate a case in which a senior member of the management team at the SADC Secretariat headquarters in Gaborone absconded from his duties taking away with him huge sums of money from SADC coffers.

TAABOT speaks out on travel tender

Meanwhile the Travel Agency Association of Botswana (TAABOT) representing all travel agents in Botswana this week issued a public statement that condemns the SADC travel tender.

The statement reads, TAABOT appreciates fruitful engagements it has had with SADC pertaining to the Travel Tender, more so that TAABOT has tabled a proposal to SADC, which SADC will hopefully consider to re-open their travel business to locally based Travel Agents. But, TAABOT would like to indicate that its members businesses have been hurt by the 6-months they have endured without SADC business so far.

TAABOT wishes to express its disappointment of SADC appointing an unregistered foreign travel agency to provide travel services to it in Botswana despite the fact that SADC is very much aware that the local Botswana registered travel agents have the capacity to meet their travel requirements as has been the case in the past.

SADC floated a tender for their travel requirements. The majority of TAABOT members tendered, notwithstanding the difficult framework and requirements of the tender that we suspect were tailor made for a specific company.

TAABOT members engaged SADC on this issue but SADC was not willing to enter into any dialogue concerning the matter. At this stage, some TAABOT members, independently engaged SADC without success. SADCs response implied that TAABOT members were not able to provide them with the services they required.

Notwithstanding the amount of engagement with SADC on this position, SADC proceeded to contract a foreign travel agent who we are informed is housed in SADC facilities in the CBD,

Since this kind of appointment of a foreign Travel agent to SADC - the biggest client of TAABOT members, most of the members face looming retrenchments as a result of the decision taken by SADC to close them out,

This matter has since found space in the media and TAABOT understands that industry regulators have engaged SADC and led to the closure of the foreign non-TAABOT member.

We wish to commend the actions taken by the relevant departments and hope that SADC will engage us as locally registered and performing members of TAABOT.

We wish to inform our members that we are doing all that is appropriate in this and other matters that pertain to the industry to ensure that our interests as TAABOT are considered. We shall continue to inform our members of any new developments.
Former Botswana Telecommunications Corporation Limited Board chairman, Leonard Makwinja has been appointed the Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Railways, effective July 1st 2017.

Minister of Transport and Communications Kitso Mokaila confirmed on Tuesday that the railway parastatal has hired Makwinja on a three-year contract. At the end of his contract, we are positive that BR would be in a different state, it will be turned around. We looked at his experience and found that he is the right man for the post, said Mokaila.

Makwinja is replacing former chief executive, Dominic Ntwaagae who quit his plum post in February 24th this year, a month before his term ended in March.





More often than not, the government parastatals recycle Chief Executive Officers and Board of Directors, which is now becoming a worrying trend to the ordinary man.

The Minister could not share details of the shortlisted candidates and what influenced them to settle for Makwinja, an almost retired if not fully retired individual than to have a new and fresh face. Close sources say from the 18 applicants, Makwinja came third in the top three. Alex Masie was the second runner-up, with the BR Director Business Development who is also current Acting CEO, Stephen Makuke leading the pack.

Makwinja formerly worked for Debswana Diamond company and has served as BTCL Board chairman since 2006, where he left in 2014 to join the BancABC Board.When he stepped into the BTCL Board chairmanship, the telecommunication company was not in a good financial position and was going through serious billing challenges.

Through his headship, BTCL strived for cost efficiencies whilst building an advanced converged portfolio of products supported by world class IT and network infrastructure to help boost digital inclusiveness.

This saw the company in 2008/09 financial reporting period recording profit and in the next period recording the billion-mark for the first time. Makwinja holds a Master of Science Degree in Industrial and Administration Sciences from City University, UK, and a Bachelor of Science in Mineral Exploration (Honours) from the University of Cardiff, UK. He first attained his first Degree in 1976 following a sponsorship by Anglo American.
Botswana recorded a second trade surplus for the month of February, indicating that the country was not importing more that it was selling outside the country.

This is according to fresh data from Statistics Botswana, which shows that, in the month under discussion, the landlocked country exported goods worth P6, 7 billion to various destinations.

The trade merchandise statistics which was signed off by Statistician General, Annah Majelantle, shows that exports ballooned by 6, 1 percent month-on-month. This increase is mainly due to a rise of 7, 2 percent (P424, 2 million) in diamond exports, said the statement released this week.





Experts, including the Finance and Economic Development minister, Kenneth Matambo have forecast a recovery in the diamond sector after a slump in the past few years. This was largely due to weak economic growth in major diamond markets such as the United States, Europe and China.

US is poised for a robust growth this year same as China which is expected to leapfrog by 6, 5 percent in 2017, according to Fortune magazine. Diamonds are the single biggest export revenue earner for the mining economy which has seen its efforts to diversify falter for various reasons.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if diamond exports will continue on an upward trend following South African government refusal to grant De Beers (SA) an exemption to export diamonds to Botswana for aggregation purposes. De Beers has since taken minerals minister Mosebenzi Zwane to court over the decision, which is likely to fuel tension between the two neibouring countries.

After a deal with De Beers six years ago, all diamonds from De Beers mines are aggregated in Botswana, and then exported to their various destinations, which has worked well for Botswana.

Meanwhile, statistics also shows that for the month of February, vehicle and transport equipment also picked the countrys exports. Vehicle and transport equipment group contains mainly re-exports, added the statement.

For the period under review, the group recorded a 100 percent increase to close February at P21, 5 million. Some of Botswana exports include beef and soda ash.

As far as imports are concerned, the country imported goods and services worth P4, 2 billion in February 2017. Fuel contributed the highest in terms of value. To power its activities, Botswana imported fuel amounting to P215, 4 million.

Machinery and electrical equipment also had a notable contribution to imports.

According to Statistics Botswana, the country recorded a trade balance of P2, 5 billion, keeping the country in a healthy balance sheet.
As he battles to repair his dented integrity, Minister of Land Management, Water and Sanitation Services Prince Maele has singled out prominent powerful people including highly placed politicians accusing them of being hell-bent on destroying him.

At the heart of the political-cum-business conspiracy, he says is the cancellation of the P5billion North-South Water Carrier 2 tender that he made unaware that he was stepping on other peoples toes. Recently, media reports that corruption busters, DCEC was keeping Maele under its radar have circulated widely. He is allegedly being investigated for several allegations including receiving bribes and living beyond his means.

BG News first broke the story intimating that it was only a matter of time before law enforcement agencies pounced on a top government official whom they have been investigating for some time.





BG News further revealed that the official is believed to have been having connections with a foreign national businessman or contractor of Asian origin- who operated in Botswana and died in March 2017, in a road accident in Zambia where he is believed to have gone to allegedly participate in a tendering process following an advertisement of a tender placed in the internal market.

The foreign national allegedly died after his car collided and or went under a truck. BG News has learnt that the deceased foreign national allegedly used to assist the top government official in question in many respects including offering both financial and material assistance. It is alleged that in turn the said official turned himself into a philanthropist of some sort, as he is often seen in rural areas donating different types of gifts, including blankets to the needy.

At the time of his death, the foreign national had allegedly advanced money estimated to be in excess of P300 000.00 and had further offered to give him up to about P2million or more.

On Wednesday BG News asked Maele for his side of the story. In response Maele alleged that some of his cabinet colleagues are interested in themselves than the country. However, he was clear that his detractors have nothing to do with his allegiance in the axis of Vice President Mokgweetsi Masisi and Minister Nonofo Molefhi who are contesting the chairmanship of the ruling Botswana Democratic Party at the next months congress in Tonota.

Instead, he says their smear campaign is a way of getting back at me for calling off the P5billion water pipe carrier tender. I want to point out that originally, I supported Minister Tshekedi Khama and when he pulled out of the race, I went to the Masisi camp. I even told my brother Molefhi that I will not be supporting him in Tonota.

In his rebuttal of the series of newspaper articles that have been circulating, Maele says he feels duty-bound to caution the nation that this matter may be more than meets the eye. He says it is politically motivated and stems from a decision he made to unbundle the P5 billion water project into four parts so that it may be more quickly implemented in the interest of Batswana, particularly in the southern part of the country, who often go for months without water.

Unfortunately, unbundling the project deprived some powerful people a chance to further enrich themselves from the misery of thirsty citizens in the southern part of Botswana. Had the project continued as it were, the project would have been completed in 5-7 years, and cost more than the original price, while the unbundling will see it completed in 2-3 years, he explained.

He confirmed to BG News that DCEC visited him once and laid claim against him for receiving P300.000.00. The team went on to search his house, but he maintains that he has never heard from them again. Maele confirmed being a friend to the deceased Asian and that he was a close friend who used to give and or donate freebies for him to hand over to his constituents. Maeles parting shot was to criticise the way DCEC is handling his investigation.

I agree that as a Minister, I am subject to public scrutiny. I do not mind much because I have nothing to hide. But I will never confuse pursuit of my personal interests with my duties and responsibilities as a Minister in which my country and fellow citizens come first. I take full responsibility for what happens in my Ministry; its successes and failures together. Above all, I have the Constitution of the Republic of Botswana and an oath of office to uphold.
I never once imagined that I would visit Italy in my lifetime but when I heard about the trip from my church, I instantly knew in my heart that I would go too.

After a lot of planning and excitement, the day finally arrived. As Robert Neelly Bellah once said, leaving home involves a kind of second birth in which we give birth to ourselves. I left Botswana on Monday the 29th of May from Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKI) to OR Tambo Airport in South Africa, and then connected to Abu Dhabi Airport and finally Fiumicino airport in Italy. Looking at all these airports, I noticed that we still have a long way to go in terms of development because the other airports were world-class and impressive.

It was my first time to be in a flight that can take more than 500 people. Check in was slow, with only two desks open for economy passengers, a long queue ensuing. Surprisingly, when it was my turn to check in, they opened the desk for business class and I was the first person to check in at business class. I felt very important and was hopeful that good things shall follow me. The flight was excellent, on time and the seat comfortable. I was given an amenity kit with earplugs, headphones, socks and a toothbrush. There was an Excellent IFE selection - I passed the time watching the documentary on Becoming Warren Buffet, a fascinating documentary traces that the remarkable life, career and credo of Warren Buffet. BBC news reporting on the selection with large high quality screens. However, as a Christian I would have appreciated Christian movies and gospel music but I was disappointed to find none. The two special meals supplied, the rice with vegetable curries were tasty.





We arrived in Abu Dhabi at around 5am in the morning and were welcomed by another huge and busy airport. When we left Abu Dhabi airport to Rome, I was surprised when I saw flights leaving the airports after every three minutes, about five left before us and we were the sixth to leave. From Abu Dhabi we went to our final destination the international airport in Fiumicino, Italy. It was an amazing experience to see huge and busy airports with a lot of people travelling to different parts of the world. And there I was among them, in the Vatican City, Italy.

When we finally landed at the airport there were thousands of arrivals and departures from the airport, a huge airport with trains that transport people for about 20 km from the flights to the offices and back. I completely fell in love with the place. We arrived on Tuesday around lunch hour and headed to the hotel Cristoforo Colombo where we spent the rest of the day resting.

The first meal I had in Rome at the hotel was pasta with vegetables. In Italy food is served in small portions; the starter, starch is eaten alone, then the meat and the vegetable separately. On the first day I was irritated because I couldnt understand why the food could not come at once. I noticed that a of lot people in Italy are slimmer, and I gathered it is because they eat healthy and in smaller portions.

We could not understand each other with the management because of the language barrier. Most people in Italy speak Italian and French. It is difficult to find someone who speaks English except for the tour guides and other tourist attraction places.

The following day was Wednesday and the program was to go for the Papal audience at St Peter Square. Papal audiences are held on Wednesdays if Pope is in Rome, giving pilgrims and visitors the chance to see the Pope and receive the Papal Blessing. There were representatives from 128 nations who came for the Catholic Charismatic 50th Anniversary. There were 120 delegates from Botswana.

The audience with the Pope consists of small teachings and readings mainly in Italian but also in English. The Papal Audience is scheduled to start at 10.00 am but most people will arrive early to get a good seat.

At the end of the Prayer as Head of the Catholic Church he will impart his Apostolic Blessing upon the crowd which also extends to loved ones that are sick and suffering and blesses any religious materials that people have brought with them for the purpose of the blessing. People who come for this general audience will be joyful, singing, praising God and at the same time cheering the Pope. I couldnt believe my eyes when I saw Pope Francis with my eyes, I have always seen Popes on television and newspapers, and being at the Vatican City was like a dream. The situation forced me to buy a selfie stick, because I got tired of asking people to take me pictures.

As we all know, Rome was not build in a day so you can imagine the difficulty of trying to see the whole city at once. However, we packed the best of Rome and the Vatican into a week and attended other activities of the golden jubilee. By attending golden jubilee workshops I discovered that travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.

There were a variety of shops with quality material clothes. Shopping started from the Vatican City where there are lot of shops selling clothes, church materials and souvenirs. In Italy most of the material is pure leather at reasonable prices. We enjoyed the shopping because of variety, and I learned my lesson that when you travel, lay out all your clothes and all your money. Then take half the clothes and twice the money.

The one thing that I appreciated the most was the architecture. The buildings in the city are breathtaking; tall, ancient buildings are found side by side with modern structures. The country definitely has a very broad and diverse architectural style. According to reports, Italian architecture has also widely influenced the architecture of the world. Another historic place we visited was a city called Assisi, which is known as the birthplace of Francis, Italys patron saint. Assisi, nestled in hills, is where religious pilgrims visit the place to see the Basilica of San Francesco where St. Francis is buried and the Basilica of Santa Chiara to see the tomb of St. Clare. Others visit the Eremo delle Carceri to see caves where medieval hermits spent time to retreat from the world.
Renowned for its beautiful flora and fauna, tourism, safaris and wildlife conservation projects, Botswana continues to lure in enthusiasts from across the globe, as the must go to destinations in Africa.

Well, thats according to attendees of the recent preview of the Berlin performance aired last week courtesy of Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) who shared to say it was a world class material. The show presented a perfect opportunity to review the Botswana ITB Berlin participation received from those who made the trip.

A blend of the best artists selected from the most finest local traditional dance crews including Mafitlhakgosi, Tsoga Africa, Mabutswapele, Nare tsa Pina, Mophato, Bana ba Kwena, and Gata la Tau among others brought to the floor one of the most captivating arrangement; that not only derived the best of what Botswana has to offer but gave viewers a feel of Botswana Culture in just 45 minutes.





Breathtaking for most, the Minister of Environment, Conservation, Natural Resources and Tourism, Tshekedi Khama could not keep his excitement veiled; he described it as one of the best production he has ever seen in his lifetime. From this one performance, I have so much confidence to know that we can come to deliver and compete in the international arena, anytime, he said.

Botswana has been part of the ITB Berlin since 2007 and is now the most popular show for our operators to attend with a record of 32 local companies having represented. In applauding the performers, Khama said he was very proud of them. That was such an emotional performance, you made us really proud.

He also shared that after the performance in ITB Berlin, attendees were dined to Setswana cuisine. The guests were treated to a traditional meal following the musical performance. He said Botswana based chefs led the preparation of various delicacies like Seswaa and Phane. Over 40kg of Phane, and 400kg of beef had been shipped to Berlin for the dinner.
The coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre, Reginald Bakwena has called on other arts sectors to support and recognise the media.

Thapong is one of the local art institutions that has been supporting the media and recognising their support at the annual Thapong Artist of the Year Awards. Besides awarding visual artists who excel in their work during the awards, Thapong also awards to outstanding media (journalists and photographers) at the awards. The awards are held in order to hail the efforts of those who during that year extensively cover the various activities of the art centre as well as give coverage to members of Thapong, and raise issue that affect the visual arts industry.

In the 2016 edition of the awards, mobile company, BTC sponsored the media category.





Speaking during an interview, Bakwena explains that the media plays a crucial role in the growth of the visual arts. He also notes that the public gets to find out about the latest trends that artists are exploring through articles carried out in media. Art collectors can use the media to find out information about art news. The art industry needs to support the media as they play an important role of connecting the arts industry, he says. Bakwena also says that the media assists artists as it connects and grows their network base.

It is on this basis that each year, we feel the need to recognise the efforts of the media, he says, adding that they also assist in economic diversification. Artists can reach a lot of people through the stories carried out.


Boeing P8i Long Range Maritime Patrol Aircraft. Photo: Indian Navy.

NEW DELHI (PTI): US aircraft manufacturer Boeing has received a three-year contract for continuing its support for maintenance of the Indian Navy's fleet of P-8I maritime patrol aircraft, the company said on Monday.



In addition to field and logistics service representatives, the contract, which was received early this month, includes engineering support and planning.



The scope will also include robust material support, including a 737-based component services programme, which will be executed in conjunction with Boeing Commercial Aviation Services' Fleet Services division.



"With this contract, the Indian Navy can be assured of achieving exceptional operational capability and readiness of the P-8I fleet," said Pratyush Kumar, president of Boeing India and vice president of Boeing International.



The contract continues the service Boeing provides under the programme's current initial production contract, scheduled to expire in October.



The Indian Navy operates eight P-8I long-range maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare aircraft at INS Rajali located near Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu.



Boeing is also contracted to deliver four additional P-8I aircraft to the Indian Navy. Deliveries will begin in 2020.



Apart from P-8Is, Boeing has also supplied C-17 Globemaster III transport planes to the Indian Air Force and will soon deliver 22 AH-64 Apache (advance attack helicopter) and 15 CH-47 Chinook (heavy lift helicopter) to the Air Force.




Mr. Sukaran Singh, CEO & MD of Tata Advanced Systems Limited, and Mr. George Standridge, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, sign a letter of intent to produce the F-16 Block 70 in India, in the presence of Tata Sons Chairman Emeritus Ratan N Tata and Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Executive Vice-President Orlando Carvalho. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

LONDON (PTI): Tata Group and American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin on Monday signed an "unprecedented" deal to produce, operate and export the combat-proven F-16 fighters in India, boosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' plan ahead of his first summit with US President Donald Trump.



Under the deal, Lockheed will shift its Fort Worth, Texas plant to India without directly affecting American jobs, a campaign pledge of Trump who has vowed to put "America First".



The deal announced during the Paris Airshow between Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) and Lockheed Martin is ideally suited to meet Indian Air Force's single-engine fighter needs.



According to defence experts, the Indian Air Force needs around 200 medium weight category aircraft and currently does not operate F-16s. The deal is going to be among the largest projects under the Make in India initiative.



In August last year, Lockheed had offered to move its lone production line the F 16-Block 70 from Texas to India, the world's top defence importer. It, however, had made clear the proposal was "conditional" to Indian Air Force choosing the fighters for its fleet.



In February this year, Lockheed had said this unique opportunity strengthens the strategic ties between the US and India. Around the same time, the defence major had also said that it has briefed the Trump administration on the deal which was supported by the previous Obama administration as part of a broader cooperative dialogue with India.



The announcement of the deal comes a week ahead of Modi's first bilateral meeting with Trump after the billionaire tycoon became the president of the United States in January.



Modi will be on a two-day visit to the US from June 25.



The agreement was signed by Sukaran Singh, CEO of TASL, and George Standridge, vice president of Strategy and Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, and Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, were also present.



The two companies said this unmatched US-Indian industry partnership directly supports New Delhi's initiative to develop private aerospace and defence manufacturing capacity in the country under the 'Make in India' initiative.



"This agreement builds on the already established joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tata and underscores the relationship and commitment between the two companies," said N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons.



The company said the "unprecedented" F-16 production partnership between the world's largest defence contractor and India's premier industrial house provides India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter.



F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US, creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the centre of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world.



"Lockheed Martin is honoured to partner with Indian defence and aerospace leader Tata Advanced Systems Limited on the F-16 programme," said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.



"Our partnership significantly strengthens the F-16 'Make In India' offer, creates and maintains numerous new job opportunities in India and the US, and brings the world's most combat-proven multi-role fighter aircraft to India," he said.



The Lockheed Martin-TASL F-16 partnering agreement builds on TASL's proven performance manufacturing airframe components for the C-130J airlifter and the S-92 helicopter.



With more than 4,500 produced and approximately 3,200 operational aircraft worldwide being flown on Monday by 26 countries, the F-16 remains the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter ever produced.



Lockheed Martin claims the F-16 Block 70 is the newest and most technologically advanced F-16 ever offered. And TASL, a Tata Group firm, is focused on providing integrated solutions for Aerospace, Defence and Homeland Security.



Last year, India agreed to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets from France for around USD 8.9 billion.


Irish beef is to be sold in the US as a premium brand.

It means that meat from selected farms here can be stamped with the official D-A seal of approval.
by Ann O'Loughlin

A businessman who is trying to prevent the sale of shares held by the government in AIB wants to bring his case to the Supreme Court .

Last week the Court of Appeal struck out Vincent O'Donoghue's appeal of the High Court decision to dismiss his action against AIB Plc, the Minister for Finance, the Government, Ireland and the Attorney General over the share sale.

He has now formally applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court on grounds his action raises a matter of general public importance.

In his action Mr O'Donoghue with an address at Church Street, Dublin 7 seeks a declaration that the proposed sale is contrary to the common good and was contrary to Article 6 of the Constitution and is unlawful.

He says that there is an obligation on the judiciary to intervene in the share sale and prevent the government from "acting unlawfully" when it intends to act in a manner that is contrary to the common good.

The High Court dismissed his action on grounds including it was frivolous, vexatious and bound to fail.

Mr O'Donoghue also failed to show any legal impediment requiring the State to hold on to its current level of shareholding with AIB, the High Court also held.

The court also dismissed Mr O'Donoghue's application for an injunction preventing the defendants from taking any steps to dispose of all or any parts of the State's shareholding in AIB pending the final outcome of his action.

He appealed those findings.

However the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court's decision.

Mr O Donoghue in his application to the Supreme Court says the Appeal Court erred in law by finding his action "amounted to a non justiciable political controversy" that was bound to fail.

The Supreme Court will at a later date issue a written decision on Mr Donoghue's application to be allowed bring an appeal before the court.
by Ann O'Loughlin

The Central Bank has rejected as nonsense claims by former Irish Nationwide Building Society chief executive Michael Fingleton he cannot lawfully be subject to an inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches at the Society.

Mr Fingleton also contends his entitlement to a fair hearing has been prejudiced by the Central Banks publication of details of a settlement agreed with the Society itself over the banks inquiry.

Mr Fingleton is now aged 78 and has also been prejudiced by delay in the inquiry, particularly because it involves some 110,000 documents and his eyesight has deteriorated after a recent operation, his counsel Bill Shipsey SC outlined.

Mr Fingletons core argument in his appeal over the High Courts dismissal of his challenge to the inquiry is he had retired before the inquiry was formally initiated in 2015 and the relevant law does not allow for inquiry into his past conduct of the Societys affairs.

Paul Gallagher SC, one of three senior counsel representing the Central Bank, rejected that argument as absurd and nonsense while Remy Farrell SC, also for the Bank, argued age per se cannot be advanced as a ground for prejudice.

The appeal was heard yesterday (tues)y by the Court of Appeal, comprising Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan, Mr Justice Michael Peart and Ms Justice Mary Irvine. Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan said there were "no obvious answers" to the issues raised and the court was reserving judgment.

The Central Bank estimates the collapse of INBS, which was nationalised and merged with the former Anglo Irish Bank in 2011, has cost the Irish public some 5.4 billion. That figure is disputed by Mr Fingleton, who joined INBS in 1971 and retired as CEO in 2009.

The Central Bank inquiry was initiated into allegations that certain prescribed contraventions were committed by both INBS, and certain persons concerned with its management, between August 2004 and September 2008.

If the allegations are upheld, the relevant law allows for imposition of sanctions of up to 5m on a regulated firm and up to 500,000 on individuals.

The Central Bank previously announced it had reached a settlement with INBS then management concerning the allegations against the Society and said the settlement involved INBS admitting multiple breaches of financial services law and regulations. The maximum 5m fine was imposed but the Central Bank said that would not be collected as INBS had no assets.

Mr Fingleton and several other former officials of INBS remain subject of the inquiry after separate challenges by him and another former INBS director John Stanley Purcell were rejected by the High Court last year.

In dismissing Mr Fingletons case, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan ruled a person who by virtue of their status was in a position to influence the actions of a regulated entity may be subject to Central Bank investigation even if they no longer held that position. He also found Mr Fingleton had failed to show any inherent unfairness in the inquiry process.

Mr Fingletons appeal centres on whether the relevant provisions of the Central Bank Act 1942, as amended in 2013, permit inquiry into past conduct of affairs at the Society.

Mr Shipsey argued the relevant provision  Section 33 AO 2 - only permits inquiry into present conduct of affairs at the Society. While the legislature may not have so intended, the Section provides a finding against an individual can only be made against a person involved in management of the Society on the date of the finding, he argued.

The Central Banks publication of its settlement with INBS, which counsel said referred to conduct of INBS at the very zenith of the alleged breaches and stated the maximum 5m fine was imposed on INBS, also prejudiced Mr Fingletons entitlement to a fair inquiry, it was submitted.

Mr Gallagher said the courts have power to avoid an absurd construction of the law and what was being argued for was nonsense. Mr Fingleton had not shown the High Court erred in any way in its various findings, he submitted.
Parents and the principal of a school in south Dublin are battling to stop its playing fields being sold.

The Christian Brothers are putting Clonkeen College's pitches in Deansgrange on the market for housing.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to a Cork J1 student attacked in the US.

Evan White, from Farran, Co Cork was celebratiing his 21st birthday with friends when he is believed to have been brutally beaten.

The incident occurred in the Pacific Beach area of San Diego.

Police in San Diego said that Evan was found unconscious in an alley in the early hours of Friday morning and was taken to Scripps La Jolla Hospital and remains in critical condition.

According to The Irish Sun friends of Evan described him as "quiet and shy" and suggested the brutal attack had left him "unrecognisable".

A friend described Evan as one of the "nicest guys you could meet."

I was away for the weekend and I just heard what happened on Sunday.

I immediately contacted some of our friends who are there with Evan to find out what happened.

They said he is a terrible state. He was beaten to a pulp. He has injuries everywhere but particularly to his face. He has so many bones broken there, he is unrecognisable.

But the good news is that he has been fighting back and while he is still in intensive care and still critical there are strong hopes for his recovery.

The lads were saying they were out celebrating Evans 21st and he got separated from them.

They did not know who did this to him, but whoever it was they left him for dead in an alleyway.

I cant believe something like this would happen to him. He is the nicest, quietest guy you could meet. He would never get into a confrontational situation. He is very shy until you get to know him.
By David Raleigh

A former Christian brother would "lick" pupils ears clean, and fondle their privates, a court heard .

The accused, who cannot be named, pleaded not guilty on the opening day of his trial at Limerick Circuit Court, to 15 counts of indecently assaulting three former male pupils, at a school, in the late 1970s.

The three alleged victims, who were aged ten years old at the time, gave harrowing evidence of the alleged abuse.

All three alleged in court that the accused abused them while taught class, by putting his hands down their pants and fondling their privates.

One of the alleged victims alleged that while the accused fondled him, he would whisper into his ear: Look at this lump of jelly and watch it get hard.

It was horrific," the man told the court.

He said he would be in a panic at home before going to school: I used to, in my own little mind, stuff my vest down my pants, in the hope he would got to another pupil in the class."

Another alleged victim told the court the accused had taught a military style class.

What I mean by that is that we had to be neat and clean. Our hair had to be cut and we had to clean our ears. If you're ears weren't clean, he would would actually lick your ears."

The man broke down several times, and including whilst he gave evidence that his pants became "wet while the accused fondled his penis.

He said the accused became a friend of his family and he would visit his home and go with them on family day trips.

The witness wept as he alleged how his mother, having discovered his wet pants, went shopping for pads to help keep his pants dry.

I couldn't tell my mother what was happening, he said.

Under cross examination the man agreed with Andrew Sexton, defending, that he had pursued a civil claim for damages against the accused, and against the school.

He also agreed with Mr Sexton that he had attended psychological counselling, but that his counsellor did not keep notes about their sessions.

A third alleged victim broke down in court giving evidence.

He alleged the accused abused him and others in full view of the class.

He agreed under cross examination that he did not tell anybody, up until 2007, when gardai approached him about allegations against the accused.

I locked it to the back of my mind. That's where I wanted it to stay, but times change, he said.

The accused denies all of the charges.

Evidence is due to resume tomorrow before a jury at Limerick Circuit Court.
EU Commissioner for Agriculture Phil Hogan has said the EU Commission fully understands the threat to Ireland's economy from Brexit.

"I have never seen such unanimity about anything around the Commission table as I see on Ireland in terms of trying to understand the difficulties Ireland are put in through no fault of their own by their big neighbour.
Health Minister Simon Harris says Ireland must deal with abortion "definitively", after two women who had attempted suicide more than once were refused abortions in Ireland.

The Abortion Support Network says the women were both immigrants who needed visas if they were going to travel to the UK for a legal termination.

One of the pregnancies had been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality.

Last night, Minister Harris said that he would make all possible resources available to draft legislation for a referendum on the issue.

The Taoiseach made it very clear in his first address when he appointed the new Cabinet last week that it is his intention to hold a referendum in 2018, he said.

He has tasked me with the responsibility of preparing for that.

There is an Oireachtas Committee, which has been established and about to meet, to consider the outcome of the Citizens Assembly.

Abortion Rights Campaign (ARC) spokesperson Linda Kavanagh warned that after repeal of the 8th amendment any legislation that does not allow for broad access to abortion services is doomed to fail: "It is clear that any law that requires women and pregnant people to prove their circumstance before being allowed an abortion will not work in Ireland.

"If a woman who tries to commit suicide twice is not entitled to an abortion under the grounds of risk from suicide, what hope does a victim of rape or insest have of accessing abortion under a rape ground?

"Those with money and visas can travel, while those without must be forced to endure an onerous and traumatizing process where gatekeepers can decide if and when they are entitled to basic human rights."
By Liz Farsaci

A nurse was today found guilty of professional misconduct for slapping an elderly patient suffering from advanced dementia and referring to him as a dirty Jew.

Registered nurse Marilyn Rillera (57), from the Philippines, slapped an elderly resident of the Maynooth Community Care Unit, Leinster Street, Maynooth, Co Kildare, on the arm on an unspecified date in December 2015, a Fitness to Practice inquiry at the Nursing and Midwifery Board in Blackrock, Co Dublin, found.

It was also found that Ms Rillera failed to communicate appropriately with the 87-year-old dementia patient when she referred to him as a dirty Jew.

Ms Rillera was also found guilty of non-compliance with the nurses professional code of conduct.

Ms Rillera, who was not present at the inquiry, denied she ever referred to the patient in such a manner. Instead, she claimed she told him that he was dirty.

But Linda Jennings, a health care assistant working with Ms Rillera on the day in question, said she was 100 per cent certain that the nurse used the phrase dirty Jew with the resident.

Linda Jennings said that sometime in early December 2015 herself and Ms Rillera were assisting the resident in using the toilet. The resident did not have the use of his legs, and required a sling to help hoist him from his wheelchair to the toilet.

Linda Jennings said that as they were helping the elderly man into the sling, he became agitated, which was not unusual for him, and then he hit Ms Rillera on the arm. Ms Rillera moved her arm to block the hit.

Linda Jennings said that Ms Rillera then said to the resident: You cant do that. You cant hit a woman. What are you, a dirty Jew?

Ms Rillera then slapped the elderly man on the arm, Linda Jennings claimed. When she struck his arm, it made a loud noise. It wasnt a punch.

Linda Jennings said the man was shocked and upset but a short time afterwards, didnt understand what had happened.

She said she knew this resident, as she had worked at the care unit since 2014, and that he didnt especially like non-nationals speaking to him. She said there seemed to be certain members of staff he would act badly around, most of whom were from abroad.

Ms Rillera, originally from the Philippines, worked in Ireland since 2002. Eoghan OSullivan, BL, for the NMBI, said the nurse indicated she would not be participating in the inquiry.

He said it was his understanding that she has either already returned to the Philippines, or planned to do so imminently.

The Maynooth Community Care Unit is a HSE-run nursing home, with 40 beds.
Seven residential buildings in Dublin have been served with fire safety notices this year.

A quarter of the 80 notices issued in the last four years are still active and the subject of a legal enforcement action.
by Tom Tuite

THE trial of a 12-YEAR-OLD boy accused of stealing a mobile phone in Dublins Temple Bar will proceed, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has decided.

He is charged with theft of the 250 phone in Temple Bar on Feb. 26 last.

He was charged after he was arrested in the same area at about 2am on May 14 last, the Dublin Childrens Court heard. The case had been adjourned until today for special directions to be obtained from the DPP in light of the boys young age to determine whether the trial should proceed.

Today, Judge John OConnor was told that the direction has been received for the case to go ahead. It was alleged the teenager had been involved in the theft of the phone and was present when it was taken by another person, the court heard.

The boy previously turned down the chance to be dealt with by a Garda caution instead of going to court.

Defence solicitor John Quinn told the court that it has been explained to the boy that it was alleged he was there when the phone was taken by another person and that he had a lesser role.

The boy, who was accompanied to court by his father, is pleading not guilty and the judge ordered that the trial would take place in July. The judge heard that gardai will provide disclosure of their evidence to the defence but there was no CCTV evidence.

There was no objection to bail.
Tributes are being paid across the Limerick region to a talented young sportsman who has died suddenly.

Luke O Brien May, 18, fell ill last week after completing a Leaving Cert biology exam and was brought to the University Hospital Limerick. He was later transferred to Cork University Hospital before passing away on Sunday.

Padraig Flanagan, principal of Castletroy College, told the Limerick Leader this week that the school was "mourning a very valued member of the school community."

Lukes two younger brothers, Ross and Paul, also attend the same school.

Fr John Daly, parish priest for Bruff, Grange and Meanus, said there was "ferocious shock" in the community.

"He was a beautiful young boy, and served as a former altar boy here in Grange church. There are no words for it," Fr Daly told the Limerick Leader.

An enthusiastic hurling, football, rugby and basketball player the talented sportsman was also warmly remembered by a number of former coaches who spoke to the Limerick based paper and website.

A manager with Aisling Annacotty AFC, John Doyle, said Luke was known for his "shy smile" and scored one of the best and most memorable goals for the club in an under-17 Cup final.

Elaine Joyce, another manager in Aisling Annacotty AFC, said Luke played with the club for five years and their "memories of Luke are new boots, new boots and new boots.

"The most up to date and most colourful [boots] - nearly one for everyone in the audience. It would not be unheard of him to change in the middle of game and not half time either," she recalled with fondess.

The Limerick Lakers Basketball club also expressed their sympathies and condolences to the family.

"Luke played with us for many years and made many friends along the way and we have lots of fond memories of him especially from our trip to Poland. He will be sadly missed by all his teammates," said the club.

Bruff Rugby Football Club said Luke was "often seen in Kilballyowen as a flying winger.

"To his brothers Ross and Paul who also play with our underage club, we offer our support and friendship in the years ahead."

The eldest son of Brid and Denis, he will repose at his home this Tuesday from 5pm to 9pm, with removal to arrive on Wednesday at Our Lady help of Christians Church, Milford, Castletroy at 12 noon. He will be buried afterwards in Bansha Church Cemetery.

Image: Facebook
A Cork mother has travelled to the Netherlands to get medicinal cannabis for her sick daughter.

Vera Twomey's seven-year-old daughter Ava suffers from a severe form of epilepsy called Dravet Syndrome which can be treated with medicinal cannabis oil.
A 34-year-old man has gone on trial accused of murdering another man at a pigeon club in West Dublin.

Keith Walker, aged 36, was shot a number of times on June 12, 2015 in Clonsilla.

The jury was told he was shot by a man dressed up as a woman with a long black wig.

Christopher McDonald, with an address in the East Wall area of Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to murder.

The jury was told that Keith Walker, from Clondalkin, drove with his six-year-old son to Blanchardstown to see a man called Jason OConnor.

Denis Vaughan Buckley, for the prosecution, said the two men were both interested in racing pigeons and discussed which birds to put forward for upcoming races.

When they had organised the pigeons, Keith Walker put them into carrier baskets and got into Jason OConnors partners car and drove to the Blanchardstown Racing Pigeon Club in Clonsilla.

It was around 6pm in the evening - the court heard - and as Mr Walker was chatting to people in the club - a man dressed up as a woman with a long black wig and carrying a handbag approached him.

The man removed an automatic firearm from the handbag and shot Keith Walker multiple times.

The jury was told CCTV footage will show the killing taking place.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said one witness will say that there was blood spatter and shells everywhere and the victim Keith Walker had no time to react.

A post mortem showed 18 bullets had hit him.
The China-based travel agency that organised a trip to North Korea for an American college student who died after being released in a coma from detention said it would no longer take US citizens to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours said on its Facebook page that the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier shows the risk facing American tourists in North Korea "has become too high".

Mr Warmbier died in Ohio yesterday, days after being released by North Korea.

The tour operator said it was denied any opportunity to meet him after his detention, and that the way it was handled was "appalling".

Otto Warmbier's family says the 22-year-old "has completed his journey home". They did not cite a cause of death.

"Unfortunately, the awful, torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," his parents said.

Doctors had described Mr Warmbier's condition as a state of "unresponsive wakefulness" and said he suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause.

He arrived in Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was convicted of subversion. He was put before North Korean officials and journalists for a televised "confession".

"I have made the worst mistake of my life," he said, choking up as he begged to be allowed to reunite with his parents and two younger siblings.

He was sentenced in March last year to 15 years in prison with hard labour. His relatives said they were told he had been in a coma since soon after his sentencing.

Doctors said he suffered extensive loss of brain tissue and "profound weakness and contraction" of his muscles, arms and legs. His eyes opened and blinked but without any sign that he understood verbal commands or his surroundings.

Unresponsive wakefulness is a new medical term for persistent vegetative state.

Patients in this condition who have survived a coma can open their eyes, but they do not respond to commands.

People can live in a state of unresponsive wakefulness for many years with the chances of recovery depending on the extent of the brain injury.

North Korea said Mr Warmbier went into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill. Doctors in Cincinnati said they found no active sign of botulism or evidence of beatings.

President Donald Trump said: "A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents." He called North Korea a "brutal regime".

Mr Warmbier grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming. Wyoming City Schools released a statement saying the organisation was "deeply saddened" by his death.

"The countless contributions he made to his school and community through his leadership, actions and limitless enthusiasm will be felt far into the future," the school district said.

He had planned to study in China in his third year of college and heard about Chinese travel companies offering trips to North Korea. He was leaving the country on January 2 last year when he was detained at the airport.

Three Americans remain held in North Korea. The US government accuses Pyongyang of using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

- AP
Ground has been broken in the West Bank for the first new Israeli settlement in two decades to compensate for an outpost demolished earlier this year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

It comes as US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, as well as son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner, arrived in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Mr Netanyahu had vowed to build the settlement to replace Amona, a settlement outpost built on private Palestinian land that was dismantled in February following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling.

Pro-settlement hard-liners who dominate Mr Netanyahu's coalition and oppose Palestinian statehood on security or religious grounds had pressed him to keep that promise.

"Today work began in the field, as I promised, to establish a new community for the Amona settlers," Mr Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

"After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister to build a new community," he said.

A picture posted with his announcement shows construction vehicles digging up ground.

   ,  ,     .   ,          pic.twitter.com/sNDKlDzaCu  Benjamin Netanyahu -   (@netanyahu) June 20, 2017

More than 600,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and the Islamic militant group Hamas took over the territory soon after.

But Israel has not built a fully fledged new settlement since the 1990s.

Instead, construction during that period has expanded existing settlements or taken place in unauthorised outposts such as Amona.

The Palestinians claim the territory captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war for their future state, a demand that has wide international support.

In December, weeks before Mr Trump was inaugurated, then-president Barack Obama allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution that declared all settlements in both areas to be illegal.

Mr Trump condemned the decision at the time.

On the campaign trail, Mr Trump indicated he would be far more sympathetic to settlements than Mr Obama.

His platform made no mention of an independent Palestinian state, and his inner circle includes strong supporters of the settlement movement.

But since taking office, Mr Trump has appeared to change his position.

The Palestinians and the international community consider the settlements obstacles to Palestinian statehood.

Israel says the status of settlements as well as other core issues, such as security, should be resolved in peace talks.

US-mediated negotiations collapsed in 2014.

Mr Kushner will arrive on Wednesday for meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Jason Greenblatt, Mr Trump's international envoy, arrived on Monday.

Press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Kushner and Mr Greenblatt will hear from Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and other senior officials during the trip.

AP
A former celebrity minder was stabbed to death outside his home by two machete-wielding teenagers on a moped, a court has heard.

Ricky Hayden, 27, ran out of his house in Romford, east London, in only a pair of boxer shorts, believing the youths were about to snatch his brother's scooter, jurors at the Old Bailey were told.

Mr Hayden, along with his 21-year-old brother Perry and their father Paul, 55, were allegedly confronted by Tommy Roome and Tarrell Hinds armed with two large machetes.

Prosecutor Jonathan Rees QC said: "Acting together, the first two defendants attacked the Haydens with the knives.

"In the course of the violence that ensued, Ricky Hayden received a number of wounds, including a deep stab wound to the left thigh which damaged the major blood vessels in the leg.

"This caused profound bleeding from which his body was unable to recover and he died in the early hours of the following day."

Roome and Hinds, who were 19 at the time, are on trial charged with the murder of Ricky Hayden and the attempted murder of his father.

The pair also face an alternative charge of wounding Mr Hayden Snr with intent on September 13 last year.

Roome, also known as Aaron, and Hinds, nicknamed Ghost, deny all the charges.

A third defendant, Kevin Malamba, 20, of Southwark, south London, has previously admitted perverting the course of justice, jurors were told.

Mr Rees told the jury that the defendants had gone to Gibbfield Close that day to look for two other brothers - Carter and Latham Jordan - with whom Roome was involved in an ongoing dispute.

Roome, of Chadwell Heath, east London, and Hinds, of Chigwell, east London, were on a moped while Malamba and another young man followed on mountain bikes, the court heard.

Mr Rees said: "As it turned out, their trip to Gibbfield Close resulted in a violent confrontation, not with the Jordans but with a different pair of brothers, Ricky and Perry Hayden and their father Paul.

"It appears that confrontation came about because the Haydens believed that Tommy Roome and Tarrell Hinds had designs on Perry Hayden's moped which was parked directly outside the front door of the Haydens' home address.

"The Haydens rushed outside to confront the men on the moped. They were dressed only in their boxer shorts in the early hours of the morning and they had nothing on their feet. Paul Hayden had picked up a baseball bat from just inside his front door."

The court heard that, at the time of his death, Ricky Hayden and his brother were working for Havering Council and were living with their father, who suffers from arthritis, and their dog Roxy.
A young Sudanese bus passenger grabbed the steering wheel of the vehicle and tried to pull it off the road in Sicily before off-duty soldiers on board intervened, according to Italian news reports.

There were moments of fear among the other passengers aboard the bus, which was heading from Trapani to Palermo, the ANSA news agency said.
A teenage boy has drowned in a reservoir, police said.

The youngster disappeared under the water shortly before 6pm yesterday at Greenbooth Reservoir, a moorland beauty spot outside Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

He had reportedly got into difficulties while swimming with friends at the end of a scorching hot day across the UK.

The teenager had been underwater for five minutes when police were called at 5.55pm but officers, paramedics and the fire service quickly responded with underwater search teams to examine the area.

Officers later discovered the boy's body.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it is not believed there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding his death and his family are aware and are being supported by specially trained officers.

Police have not released the name or age of the boy.

Detective Chief Inspector John Harris of GMP's Rochdale Borough, said: "My sincerest condolences are with the boy's family at hearing this heart-wrenching news.

"We are working closely with our partners and witnesses to the incident to understand the circumstances."

The Met Office has issued the second highest heatwave alert for all of Britain as the country endures extreme heat.
A coroner's office in Ohio is investigating the death of a college student who died less than a week after his return to the US after nearly a year-and-a-half in North Korean detention.

A spokesman for Hamilton County Coroner Dr Lakshmi Sammaraco said the office "accepted the case" of Otto Warmbier, 22, who died on Monday in a Cincinnati hospital.

Mr Warmbier's parents did not state a specific cause of death, but cited "awful, torturous mistreatment" by North Korea.

Doctors had described Mr Warmbier's condition as a state of "unresponsive wakefulness" and said he suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause

He arrived in Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was convicted of subversion.

He was put before North Korean officials and journalists for a televised "confession".

"I have made the worst mistake of my life," he said, choking up as he begged to be allowed to reunite with his parents and two younger siblings.

He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labour.

His family said it was told he had been in a coma since soon after his sentencing.

Doctors said he suffered extensive loss of brain tissue and "profound weakness and contraction" of his muscles, arms and legs.

His eyes opened and blinked but without any sign that he understood verbal commands or his surroundings.

Unresponsive wakefulness is a new medical term for persistent vegetative state.

Patients in this condition who have survived a coma can open their eyes, but they do not respond to commands.

People can live in a state of unresponsive wakefulness for many years with the chances of recovery depending on the extent of the brain injury.

North Korea said Mr Warmbier went into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.

Doctors in Cincinnati said they found no active sign of botulism or evidence of beatings.

In a White House statement, President Donald Trump said: "A lot of bad things happened, but at least we got him home to be with his parents."

He called North Korea a "brutal regime".

Mr Warmbier grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming. He was salutatorian of his 2013 class at a highly rated high school and was on the football team.

Wyoming City Schools released a statement saying it was "deeply saddened" by his death.

"The countless contributions he made to his school and community through his leadership, actions, and limitless enthusiasm will be felt far into the future," the school district said.

Mr Warmbier's English teacher said he would be "dearly missed".

Mr Warmbier had planned to study in China in his third year of college and heard about Chinese travel companies offering trips to North Korea.

He was leaving North Korea on January 2 2016 when he was detained at the airport.

The organisers of Mr Warmbier's trip said they will no longer take US citizens to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours said on Facebook that his death shows that the risk American tourists face in visiting North Korea "has become too high".

The US department of state warns against travel to North Korea.

While nearly all Americans who have been there have left without incident, visitors can be seized and face lengthy incarceration for what might seem like minor infractions.

Jeffrey Fowle, also from Ohio, was detained in 2014 when he intentionally left a Bible in a nightclub.

Mr Fowle was freed after six months.

He said he was kept isolated most of the time but not physically abused.

He and others freed from North Korea have said they were coached and coerced into giving confessions.

Three Americans remain held in North Korea.

The US government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.

North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

AP
A van driver has been killed in Calais after migrants caused a pile-up by blocking the road with tree trunks, French authorities said.

The vehicle, registered in Poland, smashed into other lorries on the A16 early on Tuesday morning and burst into flames, killing the man inside.

Nine Eritreans were found stowed in one of the lorries and were arrested, according to the Prefecture du Pas-de-Calais.

Crude roadblocks have been a long-time tactic for those desperate to infiltrate vehicles bound for the UK and has been a cause of concern for British hauliers.

Calais has seen a return of migrants to the area in recent months, less than a year after its "Jungle" camp was dismantled and residents relocated.

A spokesman for the Prefecture du Pas-de-Calais said the fatal crash took place at around 3.45am on Tuesday, between junction 49 and 50, near the town of Guemps.

He said: "This van hit one of the three trucks stopped by the block and set alight.

"The identity of the driver is not known at this stage, considering the state of the body."

The death comes on the eve of the British school holidays, during which thousands of families are expected to cross through the port at the start of their overseas break.

The UK-based Road Haulage Association (RHA) has previously warned of the risk drivers face passing through the area.

Chief executive Richard Burnett said: "Our worst fears have become a reality. We have been predicting this for two years.

"The lives of innocent people, who want no more than to be able to go about their daily business in safety, are being put at risk by those whose only aim in life is to reach the UK.

"The security forces currently in place just cannot cope. It's not just Calais itself that need protecting; it's the approach roads too.

"President Macron must get a grip of this situation and we urge him to deploy the French military to provide safe passage for the thousands of UK-bound hauliers that use this route every day."

Further calls for the French authorities to escalate action to ensure vehicles are protected were made by the Freight Transport Association (FTA).

The organisation's EU affairs manager, Chris Yarsley, said: "This has brought the issue of migrants targeting drivers in Calais to the fore once again. FTA warned two years ago that their actions would lead to a death and it is now imperative that the French government takes action to control the situation and ensure the safety of drivers travelling to and from the port."

He added: "Driver safety is paramount and the French government needs to step up patrols on the major routes and move on migrants who are camped at the side of the road.

"This tragic incident demonstrates the risks to drivers and other road users, including day trippers and tourists. This death was wholly preventable and we must ensure that no-one else dies as a result of the dangerous actions of migrants on the roads."
Venezuela's foreign minister has walked out of a meeting of regional diplomats to discuss the South American country's political crisis, as a 17-year-old anti-government protester was killed during clashes with security forces.

The Organisation of American States meeting in the Mexican resort of Cancun again narrowly failed to approve a resolution that would have pushed back against some of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's most radical actions.

The US, Mexico, Canada and several South American nations issued a statement expressing their "disappointment" at the vote, which fell three votes short of the two-thirds majority of the 34 member nations needed for approval.

"What can we say to the sick, who can't find medicines?" Mexican foreign minister Luis Videgaray said of the setback, referring to the medicine shortages Venezuelans are experiencing.

Countries pushing for elections in Venezuela came closer than ever, and Mr Videgaray left open the possibility the Venezuela issue may be brought up today's broader meeting of the OAS general assembly, where a simple majority is needed.

Venezuelan foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez stalked out of the meeting, and claimed that more OAS members were considering following Venezuela's example and withdrawing from the regional group, which has been putting pressure on her socialist government to hold timely elections, free political prisoners and scrap a bid to rewrite its constitution.

"Not only do we not recognise this meeting, we do not recognise any resolution coming out of it," Ms Rodriguez said.

She would not say which countries are considering leaving the Washington-based OAS, although Venezuela has received support from other left-leaning governments like Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador.

Some countries had expressed hope at Monday's meeting that they were close to some kind of pronouncement aimed at ending the increasingly bloody political strife in Venezuela, which has left at least 70 people dead and more than 1,300 injured, but the special session ended with no resolution.

As the meeting took place, thousands of protesters took to the streets of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, to protest against Nicolas Maduro's government. Protesters chanted: "Who are we? Venezuela! What do we want? Freedom!"

Amid the clashes on Caracas's main highway, 17-year-old Fabian Urbina was killed by a bullet wound to the chest, local authorities said without providing more details. Several others were also reportedly shot.

A small knot of protesters also gathered in the rain on a highway outside the Mexican resort complex where the talks were being held, holding signs saying "No more deaths" and "no more hunger".
Islamic State is in retreat across Syria and Iraq, and the contours of a new conflict among the array of parties fighting against it are already starting to appear.

The US military shot down a Syrian government warplane on Sunday, saying it had targeted an American-allied Kurdish force that is battling the extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa.

That led Russia, a close ally of Syrian president Bashar Assad, to warn that it would target US-led coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates River.

Another front is shaping up on the ground below, with Assad's forces, which are also battling IS, reaching the Iraqi border in the distant east.

There they appear set to link up with Iranian-backed militias, establishing a vital land corridor from Damascus to Tehran.

The latest events are unfolding in Syria's remote east, far from the main battles of the civil war, which is still raging despite a largely ignored "de-escalation" plan brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Here is a look at where things stand for the conflict's main players.

President Bashar Assad

He has survived six years of war and largely defeated the uprising against his family's four-decade rule. Now in control of Syria's five largest cities, Assad is eyeing Deir el-Zour in the east, which has been besieged by IS since 2014.

Retaking Deir el-Zour would help Assad secure access to natural gas and mineral resources, and open a potentially lucrative corridor to nearby Iraq. But the drive towards the border has already brought him into conflict with US-backed opposition forces to the south and east.

Iran

No country has invested more in Assad's survival than Iran, which has sponsored thousands of pro-government militiamen from across the region and injected billions of dollars to keep the economy from collapsing.

Now it appears bent on helping Assad retake the east. On Sunday, Iran launched ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, the first such attack it has carried out anywhere since at least 2001.

Iran cast the strike as a response to IS attacks in Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50. But the Revolutionary Guard said it was sending a broader message to its rival Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Russia

Russia has been waging an air campaign in support of Assad since 2015, targeting both IS and mainstream rebels. Moscow recently claimed to have killed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but that has not been confirmed.

For most of the last two years, the US and Russia have co-ordinated their different campaigns in the crowded skies over Syria, but as their allied forces converge in the east that could prove more difficult.

Russia said on Monday it was suspending its co-operative mechanism with the US in response to the downing of the Syrian warplane and threatened to shoot down enemy aircraft over Syrian government-held territory in the west.

It could be bluster. Russia suspended the same mechanisms in April after the US struck a Syrian military base in response to a chemical attack, but resumed its participation weeks later.

United States

The US-led coalition is providing close air support to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as they fight to retake Raqqa, the capital of IS's self-styled caliphate, where the 2015 Paris attacks and other foreign plots have been hatched.

The US also has special operations forces and advisers embedded with the SDF, raising the stakes in the fight for the northern city.

In addition to downing the Syrian jet near Raqqa, the US has also fired on Syrian government forces in the east on three occasions in just the last month. There, Washington backs Syrian opposition forces trained in Jordan.

After the three encounters, Assad's forces wheeled around and seized territory to the north all the way to the Iraqi border, leaving US forces and their allies largely isolated in the south east and cutting off their path to IS.

Syria's Kurds

In recent years the SDF has driven IS from much of northern Syria and emerged as the most effective US ally battling the group in Syria.

But its progress has alarmed Nato member Turkey, which views the main Kurdish militia in the group as an extension of the rebels that have waged a decades-long insurgency in south-east Turkey.

Turkey and the Kurdish fighters have come to blows on a few occasions in recent months, leading US forces to establish a buffer between them.

Opposition forces

The Syrian opposition, which once dreamed of sweeping into Damascus and toppling Assad, is now largely confined to scattered enclaves in the north west and south of the country. Peace efforts have stalled, and even the limited "de-escalation" agreement has been repeatedly violated.

Beset by internal divisions, with some of the most powerful rebel groups allied with al Qaida, it is unclear what role the rebels will play as the conflict enters a post-IS phase. Perhaps now, more than ever,

Syria's fate appears to be in the hands of competing foreign powers, none of which show any sign of backing down.

AP
A legacy deal between ActewAGL and Icon Water worth tens of millions of dollars per year should be put out to tender, ACT Opposition leader Alistair Coe says.

The $27 million per year arrangement sees ActewAGL provide IT support, human resources, payroll, billing and economic advisers among other services to Icon Water.

Canberra Liberals leader Alistair Coe. Credit:Jamila Toderas

The deal has been in place for 11 years, with the contract due to expire in 2023. Icon Water, which is owned by the ACT government, has a 50 per cent stake in ActewAGL.

But Mr Coe said the arrangement raised serious questions about "the integrity of this $300 million expenditure".
Rio Tinto director John Varley, 61, has resigned from the mining giant's board after being charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by the UK Serious Fraud Office.

Mr Varley was charged on Tuesday night with two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation, and one count of providing unlawful financial assistance.

John Varley resigned from the board of Rio Tinto this week after he was charged with fraud. Credit:Daniel Munoz

Mr Varley is the former chief executive officer of Barclays.

The charges come after an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office, which was first announced in August 2012 and were revealed in a statement released on Tuesday.
It only took an hour for the knives to come out for Rosalind Croucher. Barely was the ink dry on her appointment as the next Australian Human Rights Commission president when the Institute of Public Affairs think tank denounced her as a "Triggs lite" choice who would likely continue "the erosion of our freedoms".

Welcome to the new gig.

Professor Rosalind Croucher was confirmed in her new role on Tuesday. Credit:Louie Douvis

Professor Croucher, who has led the Australian Law Reform Commission for eight years, was officially confirmed as Gillian Triggs' replacement in the human rights role on Tuesday, as foreshadowed by Fairfax Media last week.
The Turnbull government has buckled to demands from conservative MPs to delay the introduction of less-generous funding arrangements for Catholic schools, after insisting it would wipe out the "special deals" created by the previous Labor government.

In the face of ferocious opposition from the Catholic sector, and the prospect of several senators crossing the floor, Education Minister Simon Birmingham on Tuesday agreed to roll over the current arrangements for Catholic schools for at least 12 months.

The move should help smooth over divisions in the Coalition party room but carries the risk of inflaming the private school sector and damaging the chance of a deal with the Greens.
Olympic legend and longtime Republican Caitlyn Jenner raised eyebrows over the weekend with a joke at the College Republican National Committee convention on Friday.

Though the event was closed to the press, video was posted to Facebook Live by the College Republican Federation of Virginia, which has since removed the post.

Caitlyn Jenner has come under fire for her comments about a shooting last week. Credit:Getty Images

"Nobody deserves what happened out there," Jenner said of Wednesday's shooting, in which four were injured by a gunman said to be targeting Republican lawmakers.

But rather than stop while she was ahead, Jenner continued commenting on the violence.
It is a truth universally understood that one doesn't get Michelle Obama's arms without sweat, push-ups and that most dreaded of physical activities: burpees. But now the former First Lady, who put getting kids moving and healthy as one of her biggest priorities, has revealed the extent of her commitment to keeping fit and healthy.

That is, how she hosted bootcamps at the White House for her best gal pals (as an aside: isn't Mobama totally the friend that makes you go to Zumba instead of brunch or 'walkntalks' instead of coffee and cake for your catch-ups?).

Michelle Obama arms don't come easy.

In an Instagram post, Obama shared how she used to get her squad together for some light gruelling activity on the White House lawns.

"It didn't matter that we were all at varying fitness levels. Our bootcamp weekends were a reminder that if we want to keep taking care of others, we need to take care of ourselves first," she wrote.
Beyonce is many things, but careless is not one of them. In many ways, the music superstar's second pregnancy was a reflection of her longtime stage persona: surprising, over-the-top and, above all, perfectly choreographed.

As her fans await official confirmation about whether Queen Bey did in fact give birth to her twins, here's a look back at the most outlandish moments from her heavily scrutinised pregnancy.

Beyonce's ode to motherhood at the Grammy Awards. Credit:Matt Sayles

When she broke the Internet announcing she was pregnant ... with twins

On Feb. 1, Bey announced she and husband Jay Z were expecting again with a surprise Instagram post of her hands cupping her very obviously pregnant belly. She was dressed in her underwear, draped in a sage-green veil and surrounded by flowers. You know, the typical maternity shoot.
A private funeral will be held for London terror attack victim Sara Zelenak at her old high school in Brisbane.

Ms Zelenak's memorial service will be held at Moreton Bay College's music centre at 10.30am on Friday, the school has confirmed.

Life cut short: Sara Zelenak. Credit:Facebook

"At the request of Sara's family, this will be a private funeral for family and friends only," the school said in a statement.

"We ask that you respect the wishes of the family at this time of farewelling their beautiful daughter."
A man has been rushed to hospital after he was hit by a car in Logan overnight, the third serious pedestrian incident in a week across south-east-Queensland.

The 28-year-old man was hit about midnight on Mayes Avenue, Logan Central, police said.

A man has been taken to hospital after he was hit by a sedan at Logan overnight.

He was transported to Princess Alexandra Hospital in a serious condition.

The driver of the sedan, a 29-year-old man, was uninjured.
The last of South Bank's riverside land will be opened up as green space in an expansion announced on the precinct's 25th birthday.

South Bank will have parkland right along its river edge following the decision on Tuesday to demolish the old restaurant block damaged in the 2011 Brisbane floods.

The monorail runs through the World Expo 88 at South Bank. Credit:Fairfax Media

Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, Lord Mayor Graham Quirk and South Bank Corporation chair Dr Catherin Bull revealed the plan on Tuesday morning.

"I am pleased to celebrate South Bank Parklands' 25th birthday with this gift to open up the last of the riverside land along the promenade to the people," Ms Trad said.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, centre, visits Syria's Hmeimim air base last year. Credit:AP While the Americans were taking out the Syrian jet on Sunday, Iran fired a missile barrage into eastern Syria  the target for which it said was IS, in retaliation for twin terror attacks in Tehran on June 7 claimed by the militant group. Trump is escalating his anti-Iran rhetoric, and testifying before the Senate last week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Washington would "work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition". A missile is fired from Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. Credit:IRIB News Agency That kind of talk in Washington and events in Syria prompted Iran scholar Trita Parsi to describe the situation as "explosive".

"An impression is given that this is an accidental escalation, but I'm not sure," he told Fairfax Media. "Look at the totality of the Trump administration's statements on Iran  sanctions, hints of regime change, no diplomacy  these were the ingredients of the Iraq war." Leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, reportedly announcing his "caliphate" at the al-Nuri Mosque in Iraq. Credit:AP There seems to be an effort to drive things to a confrontation ... without a public debate and with no input from Congress. Trita Parsi, analyst The US and Iran have been able to tolerate each other in the Iraqi theatre. But their arm's-length coexistence in Iraq is likely to crumble once the IS strongholds of Raqqa and Mosul fall, leaving a power vacuum in the border region. Propped up by Moscow's power in the air and Tehran's Shiite militias on the ground, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad wants to break out of his strongholds in the west of the country  in part to deny Washington a bargaining chip in the event that US-backed forces hold Syria's south-eastern corner.

Fighters from the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces looking towards the town of Tabqa, Syria. Credit:AP But there is evidence too that Iran has a grand design to take the same territory, to give it a "highway" from Tehran, through Iraq and Syria, to the Mediterranean  and that this effort is led by its most accomplished soldier and strategist, Qasem Suleimani, commander of the Quds Force. As thousands of Iranian-backed Shiite militiamen, including a reported 3000-strong Hezbollah force from Lebanon, are being redirected from other battlefields in Syria and from the battle for Mosul in Iraq, Syria's south-east has become a magnet  not only through the presence of the Kurdish-led Sunni SDF, but also their US patrons, 150 of whom are stationed in the south-east, training and advising their proxies. Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, left, with Quds Force commander General Qasem Suleimani. Credit:AP

Success by General Suleimani's militias in driving IS from the Iraqi border town of Baaj early in June has heightened speculation on Tehran's ambition. From Baaj the route to the west would cross into Syria, possibly through the city of Deir al-Zor, where regime forces and a civilian population of 100,000 are besieged by IS; and nearby Mayadeen, which is under IS control. But in pushing into Syria, the Iranian-backed forces have clashed three times with US forces and Washington's proxies near a town called al-Tanf. All three encounters were described by Washington more as force protection than a deliberate opening of a new front. But the Americans reportedly have moved new rocket systems into the area and last week Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis issued a warning: "If [the Iranian-backed militias] resume their advance, coalition forces will defend themselves." Parsi, author of the just published Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy, argues: "There seems to be an effort to drive things to a confrontation on the balance of power in the region without a public debate and with no input from Congress.

"And depending on how Russia responds [to Sunday's US air strike], this could become a very bad situation." At the Centre for a New American Security, analyst Ilan Goldenberg worries that after staying out of each other's way, the Americans and the Iranians are in a race for the same territory  "and racing over the carcass of [IS] creates all kinds of possibilities for tension, as we've witnessed in the last few weeks". Observing that the stated US objective in Syria is the defeat of IS, Goldenberg worries that an emerging US effort to block Iran's road to the sea is being executed in the absence of considered policy formulation. He sees some merit in the idea, particularly as reassurance for the US's skittish Sunni allies in the region. "There's a lot of poking and testing as Iran and Assad test the will of the US," he told Fairfax Media. "But if there are clear US red lines, we're less likely to have miscalculations and to be able to control territory  ambiguity and the absence of a clearly stated objective makes direct confrontation more likely."

Ali Vaez, senior Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group, sees Iran's weekend missile strikes on Deir al-Zor "further complicating an already complex situation". He told Fairfax Media: "If there is one lesson from six years of war in Syria, it is that escalation on one side begets escalation from others. The Trump administration's pushback against Iran and its partners was bound to create a counter-action. "Iran managed to kill multiple birds with one stone: it retaliated IS's attack at the heart of its capital, defied new US sanctions against its ballistic missile program and sent a message of deterrence to Washington and its regional allies. "If the US takes measures beyond rhetorical condemnation of Tehran's missile strikes, tensions could escalate too far too quickly." Julien Barnes-Dacey, an analyst with the European Council on Foreign Relations, worries that the new US administration has not learnt the lessons of its predecessors in Iraq.
London: The father of four suspected of mowing down a group of worshippers outside a London mosque was a "devoted" family man, but was known for "flipping his lid" when he drank too much, neighbours claimed last night.

Darren Osborne, 47, is being held in custody on suspicion of terror offences including attempted murder.

After his vehicle ploughed down a group of men as they left Ramadan prayers, he is alleged to have rammed his hired van into bollards before jumping out and shouting: "I'm going to kill all Muslims - I did my bit."

Mobile phone footage taken by onlookers showed him wild-eyed and sweating as he repeatedly shouted, "Kill me."
Latest News Sydney records highest auction clearance rate in six months Almost 70% of properties sold in first week of November

ScotPac opens new broker portal System aimed at speeding up approvals

The contentious $6.2bn bank levy introduced during the May federal budget passed the Senate late yesterday (19 June) night, news.com.au reports.The bank tax will apply to ANZ CBA and Macquarie and is expected to raise $1.6bn in the first year.A Senate committee report agreed with a request by the banks to review the levy in two years to examine its impacts, including if it is appropriate to introduce a sunset clause once the budget is in surplus.The Australian Bankers' Association (ABA) welcomed the news of the report and urged the government to investigate the issue of double taxation to ensure Australian banks are not disadvantaged when competiting offshore.The committee has made a number of recommendations which recognise that the consultation process was truncated, said ABA CEOThis review was recommended by a number of banks and Im pleased to see the committee take the concerns of affected banks seriously, she said.More to come...
Latest News Sydney records highest auction clearance rate in six months Almost 70% of properties sold in first week of November

ScotPac opens new broker portal System aimed at speeding up approvals

Over 60% of Australians believe that the traditional Great Australian Dream of owning a freestanding home with a yard is slipping out of grasp and is only available to the very wealthy.These figures come from the Evolving Great Australian Dream whitepaper by Mortgage Choice and CoreData which found that 63.2% of Australians said only people with a lot of money can hope to achieve the Australian Dream.This finding is not surprising given the recent divergence of property prices and wage growth, said Mortgage Choice chief executive officer John Flavell.According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Wage Price Index, wages grew 12.6% between March 2012 and March 2017.Meanwhile, data from CoreLogic found property values across the combined capital cities rose 21.86% over the same time period.While it is becoming more challenging for some buyers to enter the property market, Flavell said this remained a key aspiration for Australians.Regardless of how difficult property ownership becomes, people still want to own a home. In fact, our research shows people rate home ownership as more of a priority than career success, travel, or having a luxurious lifestyle.However current market conditions had resulted in the evolution of the Great Australian Dream, he said.Traditionally, the Great Australian Dream has been seen as a freestanding house on a quarter acre block in the suburbs. Today however, that dream has evolved to include different types of dwellings, like apartments.Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that 52,000 apartments were approved for construction in 2011. This had increased to more than 100,000 in 2016, Flavell said, proving that apartments were becoming increasingly popular amongst Australians.And while some buyers are choosing to purchase apartments for the lifestyle options they offer, a lot of people are seeing them as a cheaper way into the market.Flavell said that purchasing a cheaper dwelling wasnt the only way home buyers were using to enter the market.From the data, it is clear that Australians are keen to use a variety of purchasing strategies in order to achieve their property ownership goals.According to the whitepaper, 31% of Australians reduced their spending to save a deposit, 24% decided to purchase smaller property, and 20% bought property with family or friends. Additionally, 6% had financial assistance from their parents, 5% moved back home, and 3% chose rentvesting.These strategies meant that Australians were savvy, understanding that it was easier to purchase their dream home with a foot already on the ladder, Flavell said.Home buyers understand that the biggest hurdle on the path to purchasing is saving the deposit and taking that initial step into the property market.Consequently, they are happy to try new strategies and make adjustments to their financial situation in order to achieve their goals.The whitepaper also found that 63% of Australians had tried different savings tricks to improve their financial situation while an additional 23% asked for professional financial advice.
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Theyre officially dancing around the issue.

The DeBlasio administration is defending an antiquated law that forbids dancing in venues unless they have a difficult-to-obtain license, but at the same time admits that legislation has discriminatory roots, according to a spokeswoman who claimed the law is not being enforced to marginalize people at a Monday City Hall hearing.

We are aware of the historical issues of the law and its enforcement, but this administration has not taken those approaches under Mayor DeBlasio, said Lindsay Greene, a senior advisor for the Office of Housing and Economic Development.

The city, however, is defending the cabaret law in a legal battle against the owner of Williamsburg cafe and bar Muchmores, who is challenging the measure as unconstitutional after receiving a citation for violating it in 2013.

The administration is currently defending the lawsuit in court, Greene said.

The citys contradictory revelations came as Councilman Rafael Espinal (DBushwick) announced he will be introducing a bill on Wednesday to repeal the Prohibition-era measure, which opponents say was enacted to target black jazz clubs and has been used to crack down on venues frequented by minority groups ever since  despite Greenes declaration that the law has not been used to discriminate.

Just 97 of the citys 25,000 bars and restaurants hold the cabaret license, which requires owners to install pricey digital video surveillance systems in venues and to prove they dont owe child support among other stipulations, according to City Hall.

The spokeswoman did not provide specifics on the number of times a cabaret violation has been issued under DeBlasio, and refused to answer questions about the citys stance on dancing, citing the pending lawsuit. But she did reveal that there are ongoing conversations about repealing the law that she was not authorized to discuss.

Another Brooklyn pol, who represents one of the boroughs nightlife hubs, compelled the city to just let the lawsuit go at the hearing, pointing out how people still get down despite the dated measure.

The administration is not under a legal obligation to defend the lawsuit and could drop defense of the cabaret law entirely, said Councilman Steve Levin (DWilliamsburg). There are hundreds of establishments around New York City that are not observing the cabaret law. The reality and the law are pretty out of whack at this point.

Crackdowns across the city led activists to renew their push to trash the law in March, following the fire inside Oaklands Ghost Ship warehouse that killed 36 happy-footed revelers last year. But opponents have talked of canning the measure for decades  most famously during the Million Mambo March in 2000, where protestors boogied in a Manhattan park.

Advocates for repeal packed the normally drab Council chambers for Mondays spirited hearing, waving their hands silently in approval of statements after being banned from erupting in applause.

Were going to have to do jazz hands, Espinal said. Just as dancing is illegal, its illegal to clap here.

Venue owners, promoters, lawyers, city agency reps, and one Manhattan community board member gave testimonies about their brushes with the law, which one Bushwick bar owner said left him terrified after a recent raid.

I thought it was like a counterterrorism raid, some Borne Ultimatum tip, said John Barclay. Its like they found El Chapo in my bar or something. Its terrifying, everyone freezes and its over nothing. Its dancing.

Espinal also introduced legislation last week, ahead of his bill to repeal the cabaret law, to create an Office of Nightlife overseen by a Night Mayor that would help businesses navigate the citys complex codes. And Mayor DeBlasio carved out the role for a nightlife ambassador as part of a jobs plan he announced on June 15.

But the city must first get rid of the measure that keeps many businesses from operating safely and successfully  and when it does, a third councilman in favor of repeal said he knows exactly where to celebrate.

Im hoping when we pass this legislation well have a big dance party in chambers, said Councilman Antonio Reynoso (DBushwick).
Springfield quarry plan still unresolved as residents wait, worry

Conditional Use Hearing on a proposed quarry along Rt. 309 in Springfield may be nearing an end after two years. Here's what residents have to say.
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...
UB receives $4.5 million from SUNY to recruit top faculty

BUFFALO, N.Y.  The University at Buffalo has been awarded $4.5 million to hire world-class scholars whose work will boost UBs research enterprise and educational offerings while enhancing innovation in the Buffalo Niagara region.

The funding is comprised of three grants from the State University of New Yorks Empire Innovation Program, which helps institutions recruit senior faculty members with track records of significant scholarly achievement and externally-funded research projects.

The grants support research and education in three fields: robotics and artificial intelligence, systems pharmacology, and X-ray laser technology for structural biology research including medical imaging and materials science. They align with regional strengths identified by UB and partner organizations that will help grow the Buffalo Niagara regions economy.

The University at Buffalo is a world-class scholarly community built on a strong foundation of academic excellence. We are pleased that, through these Empire Innovation grants, SUNY continues to recognize UBs strength in high-impact areas and support us in recruiting outstanding faculty, providing them with state-of-the-art research infrastructure, and enhancing our ability to create broad and positive change locally and globally, said UB Provost Charles F. Zukoski.

These significant investments from SUNY will greatly enhance the University at Buffalos ability to recruit topflight faculty members who will strengthen our research enterprise, educational opportunities and impact on the Buffalo Niagara region and beyond, said Venu Govindaraju, UBs vice president for research and economic development.

Artificial intelligence and robotics

UB will receive $3 million to add faculty researchers who will build upon the universitys existing expertise in artificial intelligence and robotics. This includes fields such as machine learning, computer vision, human-robot collaboration, cybersecurity and more. Ultimately, these researchers will supports the universitys efforts in advanced manufacturing, transportation (including traffic informatics and autonomous vehicles), developing technological advancements in health care and other fields of research.

From self-driving cars and traffic informatics to cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing, UB has a remarkable core of researchers working in artificial intelligence and collaborative robotic systems. This timely investment from SUNY will enable us to hire additional faculty members and cement UBs status as a national leader in these critically important fields, said Liesl Folks, dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Systems pharmacology

UB will receive $1 million to add researchers to the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, specifically the field of systems pharmacology.

Using computational and mathematical models, systems pharmacology seeks to understand how medicine affects highly complex systems of the body. The field, which builds upon UBs existing strengths in analyzing and modeling disease progression and drug effects upon diseases, is key to accelerating drug development and personalized medicine.

Building our systems pharmacology program will greatly enhance UBs clinical and translational research capabilities, said James M. ODonnell, dean of the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. Ultimately, this grant will improve our efforts to advance personalized medicine, including turning discoveries into new and improved therapeutics  endeavors that will improve the quality of life for countless people.

X-ray lasers

UB will receive $500,000 to add researchers to the National Science Foundation-funded BioXFEL, a research consortium led by UB that focuses on cutting-edge X-ray laser science. The funding will support the centers expertise and continued development of technologies with applications in medical imaging, materials science and engineering, biomedical engineering, chemistry and areas.

The SUNY Empire Innovation Program Investment in x-ray laser science will solidify UBs position in this cutting-edge research area, and, more broadly, promote its advancement as a leading research university, said BioXFEL director Eaton E. Lattman, also a professor in the Department of Structural Biology in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB and professor in the Department of Materials Design and Innovation in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and College of Arts and Sciences.
UB dental school finishes first phase of $25 million pre-clinic and clinic renovation

Dentistry has entered the digital age and our job as an educational institution is to prepare our students for practice five years from now and 20 years from now. 

The new facility will include 140 individual student work stations that feature simulators designed to mimic patient care and ease the transition to the schools patient clinics.

BUFFALO, N.Y.  The University at Buffalo School of Dental Medicine has completed the first phase of a $25 million renovation of the schools pre-clinical simulation center and patient clinics.

The first phase, a portion of the $11 million remodel of the pre-clinical simulation center, is the schools first major renovation in more than 30 years and begins the transformation of Squire Hall into a state-of-the-art educational and clinical treatment facility.

Dentistry has entered the digital age and our job as an educational institution is to prepare our students for practice five years from now and 20 years from now, says Joseph Zambon, DDS, PhD, dean of the School of Dental Medicine.

The new center represents a quantum leap from our previous laboratory, adds Zambon. The facility includes 110 individual student work stations that feature simulators designed to mimic patient care and ease the transition to the schools patient clinics.

The center will help first- and second-year dental students develop psychomotor skills, perform intraoral scanning, and digitally design and mill restorations. Computers at each student workstation will have the same electronic health record software used in UBs dental clinics.

The practice of dentistry is going toward digital at lightning speed and this generation of students is primed for this because theyre so tech-savvy, says Jane D. Brewer, DDS, chair of the Department of Restorative Dentistry in the School of Dental Medicine.

Our laboratory techniques for anything that is made indirectly  from crowns and bridges to dentures and implants  many of these are planned and executed digitally through scanning, design and milling.

The second phase of the remodel will add 30 more student stations to the pre-clinic, as well as a faculty conference room, student small group learning room and a facility for computer-aided design and manufacture. When complete in December 2017, the pre-clinical simulation center will be twice the size of the previous facility.

In 2018, the School of Dental Medicine will begin construction of the Joseph and Stephanie Mucha Patient Welcome Center, funded by a $1 million donation from friend of the university Stephanie Mucha. The welcome center will serve as an information hub and first point of contact for new and existing patients.

Also that year, the school will begin a $12 million renovation of its Squire Hall dental clinics.

Each year, the School of Dental Medicine provides nearly 150,000 Western New York dental patient care visits in its Squire Hall and Erie County Health Mall dental clinics and in its Mobile Dental Unit located in the Southern Tier.
NJ Weedman got a license to sell NJ legal weed. He almost said no.
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Eager to make the most of an anticipated infrastructure push from the government and break the mould in a highly commoditised marketplace, cement majors ACC, UltraTech, Shree Cement and Ambuja Cement and relatively smaller counterparts Binani, Dalmia Cement and JSW Cement are working towards creating unique brand identities. While Aditya Birla-owned Ultra Tech Cement is pitching itself as the professionals choice, Lafarge-Holcim owned ACC and Ambuja Cement brands are taking the digital route to communicate and engage with the customers. The relatively smaller like JSW Cement are focusing on breaking common customer perceptions about their brands and thereby increase acceptance of the brand among customers.
Budget carrier X is giving up on the idea of low-cost, long-haul flying to Europe for now, and will concentrate on growth in Asia instead, chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said on Tuesday.

"We looked at every aircraft, every configuration, it's coming, but for the moment they're all killing each other so we'll wait," he told Reuters at the Paris Airshow.

Low-cost, long-haul has taken off recently, especially across the North Atlantic, but there are doubts whether it can work in other regions.

"We think we have so much growth right now in Asia," Fernandes said, adding China and India were of particular interest.

"My core strategy is about connecting Asia's secondary and tertiary cities rather than going into a fight with the Arab carriers," he said, referring to the likes of Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways, which connect Europe to Asia via their hubs in the West Asia.
As Indian IT witness a slowdown in business, recruitment firms are seeing a sharp increase in the number of resumes from mid-level employees. At least two firms that hunt senior-level employees for confirmed a surge in the number of resumes from IT employees with experience ranging from 7 to 15 years during the past six months.

Head Hunters India, a specialised recruiting agency for the IT sector, said it has seen as much as a 200% jump in resumes from mid-level and senior employees."

IT services sector has seen a major disruption in the use of technology amongst their clients with the emergence of digital technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning. This has called for re-skilling of a significant chunk of the 39 lakh workforce in the $150 billion IT services .

A recent report by McKinsey India said, The bigger challenge ahead of the will be to retrain 50-60% of the workforce as there will be a significant shift in technologies. The report further said if techies do not re-train themselves they might become irrelevant.

We are getting resumes of mid-level employees from top IT services and small ones. What is really surprising this time is some of these employees are offering to pay us for helping them find jobs. While we look at a six-month period for them to get jobs, there are not enough positions available in the market currently, said Kris Lakshmikanth, chairman and managing director, Head Hunters India.

He, however, said the flow of these resumes slowed to some extent last month.

Some of these senior employees may also have opted for online coding jobs on a freelance basis on hourly payment from organisations in the US and other markets, said analysts. Alternative options could be joining small businesses in tier-II cities or working on some digital India projects, said another senior official of a recruiting agency, who requested anonymity.

body Nasscom refuted layoff fears in the and said the industry was a net hirer of nearly 1.5 lakh people in FY17. Analysts pointed out hiring may have happened at entry-level positions for people with 3-4 years of experience, but there is a concern for mid-level employees.
W&Js efforts  recognised globally as a leading Indigenous rights campaign  are challenging Australias native title system, and the notion that compliance with industrial projects is the pathway to development for Indigenous people.

The W&J struggle has largely focused on contesting Adanis efforts to secure an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (Ilua)  the consent of the traditional owners for the mine to proceed. The Ilua would let Adani undertake all works associated with the project, and secure a 2,750 hectare area for critical infrastructure related to mine operations, including an airstrip, workers village, and washing plant.

While the National Native Title Tribunal authorised the Queensland Government to approve the mining leases for Adani in 2016 without the consent of the W&J, this is subject to ongoing legal challenge. Without an Ilua, there is no legal basis to build the infrastructure. In this scenario, the only option would be the compulsory acquisition of land by the state  an unprecedented move in the history of native title that would privilege mining interests above the wishes of traditional owners.

We are undertaking a research project in collaboration with the W&J and Australian Lawyers for Human Rights. The W&J have provided us with access to their files, and we have conducted preliminary analysis of the political, social and economic context of their campaign.

Changing the rules

Earlier this week both houses of Parliament passed amendments to annul the effects of a February 2017 Federal Court full bench decision that confirmed the Native Title Act required all registered native title claimants to sign an Ilua. This overturned a previous decision made by a single judge, which allowed that one signature was sufficient, as long as an Ilua had been approved by the claim group.

The W&J had moved quickly, on the basis of the court decision, to have Adanis claimed deal struck out. But the Federal Government moved swiftly too, less than two weeks later placing amendments before Parliament that removed the W&J Councils option to annul.

These amendments, while validating existing Iluas that could have been brought into question, are also widely acknowledged as a fix for Adani. In April, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull reassured senior Adani executives in India that the native title situation would be fixed.

However, the future of the Ilua and Adanis mine is far from secure. W&J legal action challenging Adanis Ilua process on several grounds is set for hearing in the Federal Court in March 2018.

The Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has affirmed the question mark over the agreement, saying:

It is not my understanding that this bill will provide some kind of removal of a final legal hurdle for the Adani mine [] they [the W&J] have made clear that there are some very serious allegations of fraud that have been made against Adani.

In a further recent twist, Wangan and Jagalingou representative Craig Dallen, who previously signed Adanis Ilua documents, has withdrawn his support in an affidavit. Hes also raised doubts about the meeting processes that were used to construct the deal.

In evidence submitted to the Federal Court, the W&J argue the attendance record at the meeting organised and paid for by Adani shows that many attendees were not present at prior native title group authorisation meetings, and are not Wangan and Jagalingou claimants.

The lure of Iluas

Iluas are very hard for Indigenous people to resist. The native title regime provides very limited protection, such that Indigenous people are often forced to take a poor Ilua deal, rather than risk ending up with nothing at the National Native Title Tribunal.

While Adani has filed for registration of an Ilua, the W&J calls it a sham, asserting that the Wangan and Jagalingou people have rejected a deal with Adani on three separate occasions since 2012.

The limitations of Iluas for Indigenous people partly arise because native title is a highly contingent and weak form of title. It does not apply where Indigenous observance of custom has been disrupted. However the colonial pattern of frontier violence and policies such as assimilation sought, by design, to directly eliminate custom.

Native title can also be extinguished, and can only be claimed in certain areas where other legal title (such as freehold) does not exist. Rights granted under native title are also typically non-exclusive, giving little opportunity to control access to land or its use.

While the W&J are making use of the legal avenues available to them through the native title process, they are also asserting their rights apart from it. Their legal strategy is a rejection of what they see as a constrained native title system, in which Indigenous peoples agreement or acquiescence to mining is the norm.

Instead, the W&J are part of a growing international Indigenous rights movement that firmly centres Indigenous peoples interests in struggles for restitution and a sustainable future for their people. They stand on their right to free, prior and informed consent, reflected in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

More fundamentally, though, the W&J stress that they are custodians of country, and are acting in accordance with Aboriginal law in their resistance to the Carmichael mine. This is contrary to Marcia Langtons recent assertion that opposition to Adanis mine is driven by a minority of Indigenous people at the behest of the greens.

This article is based upon a recently released report, Unfinished Business: Adani, the State, and the Indigenous Rights Struggle of the Wangan and Jagalingou Traditional Owners Council.

Morgan Brigg, Senior Lecturer, Peace and Conflict Studies, The University of Queensland; John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland, and Kristen Lyons, Associate Professor Environment and Development Sociology, The University of Queensland

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
After gaining its foothold in the premium smartphone market in India, Chinese start-up OnePlus took the wraps off its sixth model, the OnePlus 5, late on Tuesday. Co-founder Carl Pei left no stone unturned in putting speculations about the much-awaited flagship to rest starting9:30 PM IST through a recorded webcast from the US. From praises for its dual camera by American model Emily Ratajkowski to expert comments from Qualcomms executive chairman Dr. Paul E. Jacobs, the hour long presentation had no dearth of celebrities. And the slate grey device was delivered by his favourite dog, on screen.
Polyhose Group, which has been manufacturing hoses for both the Indian and export markets, has acquired the construction equipment manufacturing facility of the Ashok Leyland-John Deere, joint venture, to foray into this segment.
Reliance, which has virtually no experience of defence manufacturing, is looking at turning into a defence major in the coming years.
The Sahara group on Monday told the Supreme Court that it had sold its interests in Londons Grosvenor House Hotel to GH Equity UK. Sahara lawyer Kapil Sibal told the bench of Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi that the sale had been completed, and sought permission to transfer funds from the deal to the Sebi-Sahara refund account. Sebi is Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Lenders to on Tuesday gave the mandate to the State Bank of India, the lead lender, to move an application before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to start the resolution process for the ailing steel firm.
All the rumours and speculations over the much-awaited flagship smartphone OnePlus 5 are set to be put to rest today, with the company officially launching the smartphone in New York today. Pete Lau, co-founder & chief executive officer of OnePlus, will answer all the questions related to the flagship device in a while through a webcast from the United States. Slated to be launched in India on Thursday, the device will be made available in the country exclusively on the e-commerce site Amazon.

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After being laid-off by an information technology (IT) major in Chennai, Ashir Sharma (name changed) recently bagged a job at Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), in Pune, after training himself in data analytics using the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL).
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has said his party, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), will support Ram Nath Kovind, the presidential nominee of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Democratic Alliance. The Biju Janata Dal isnt part of the united Opposition that comprises 17 parties. But some other constituents of this 17 parties front averse to putting up a joint Opposition candidate against Kovind.
The Delhi cabinet is likely to approve the transport department's ambitious proposal to install CCTV cameras in all when its meets here tomorrow, a government source said.

In its 2015 Assembly election campaign, the Aam Admi Party had promised to install CCTV cameras in after coming to power.

The DTC has already installed CCTV cameras in 200 buses of its fleet. Presently, it runs around 3800 buses. Besides, there are also about 1,200 Cluster buses operated by the Delhi Integrated Multi Modal System (DIMTS).

"The buses need to be fitted with CCTV cameras including the Cluster buses and the Cabinet will take a call on it," said the source.

The board of DTC will also meet tomorrow to give a green signal to the proposal after which it will be kept before the Cabinet for a final decision on it.

In 2015, the then DTC chairman and managing director had sought Rs 103.25 crore to install CCTV cameras in the entire fleet.

The issue of CCTV cameras in the buses has been used by the Congress and BJP to attack the AAP government accusing it of "neglecting" women safety.
The Congress Party on Tuesday suggested both the Central and the West Bengal Governments to take the Darjeeling matter seriously and to come to a decision together instead of going out as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee left for Netherlands.

"The situation in Darjeeling is becoming worse day by day. The Central and the state Governments must take the Darjeeling matter seriously and must take decision together by talking with the people there," Congress leader Meem Afzal told ANI.

Echoing similar views, another Congress Party leader P. L. Punia said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Bannerjee should be present in the state instead of going to Netherlands.

"I believe that instead of going to Darjeeling, she must be present in the state and think to solve the issue," he added.

Mamata yesterday left for her Netherlands visit even as the indefinite strike called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) continued.

Mamata, who left to address a United Nations meet, said her ministers were monitoring the situation in violence-hit Darjeeling.

"Violent protests won't be tolerated. My ministers are monitoring the situation," she told ANI at the Kolkata airport.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said he has spoken to Mamata over the law and order situation in Darjeeling.

Thirty-six policemen were injured on Saturday in clashes with the GJM supporters.

The GJM announced an indefinite strike from Monday encompassing Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts and the Dooars protesting against Mamata Banerjee's decision to make Bengali language compulsory in state-run schools.

The strike was called even after the Chief Minister assured that the new rule would not be imposed in the hill districts.

The protestors are also asking for a separate Gorkhaland, a long pending demand of the people of the hills.

GJM chief Bimal Gurung claimed that the West Bengal Police are illegally entering their supporters' houses and torturing them and also accused them of killing two of his supporters.

He said that GJM would further strengthen their agitation.

Mamata tore into the GJM supporters and said that they aren't listening to the court, even after it had passed an order citing the bandh was "illegal."

Meanwhile, Rajnath reviewed the security situation in Darjeeling by sending more troops to help restore normalcy as the state government has not yet submitted its report on the situation.
A group of visitors braves the scorching Sun at Raisina Hill on a hot day in New Delhi on Sunday. (Photo: PTI)

The Delhi Police has been placed on high alert, and has asked its counterparts across India to tighten security after receiving an intelligence tip-off warning of a terror attack on crowded public spaces, a senior police officer said on Monday.

"The Delhi Police Special cell has issued an advisory to all security agencies across the country to beef up the security measures at interstate bus terminals, railway stations, five star hotels, malls and markets, religious places, embassies of western countries, metro stations, airports, stadiums, and tourist places or other sites visited by foreign nationals," the officer told IANS.

The security agencies have also been directed to keep a tab on suspicious articles if found in vehicles and to conduct proper checking on interstate borders.

"According to the specific intelligence inputs on June 10 about militants are planning a series of terror attacks at various places in India. While further details are yet to emerge, initial indications point towards possibility of crowded public places, market and locations frequented by foreign nationals being among the possible targets," said the Delhi Police advisory.

It also said at this point of time, any additional details such as on likely timing, locations, identities of the terrorists or tactics of planned attacks, are not available.
Passwords are an integral component of security hygiene, but beyond password strength requirements, its largely a user-driven initiative. The Digital Guardian surveyed 1,000 internet users to gain some insight into current password habits, how frequently users implement best practices for password hygiene, what methods users rely on to remember the abundance of passwords they manage, and other details that shed some light on the current state of password hygiene.
The Punjab government on Monday gave its nod to a proposal to amend Section 26-A of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914, for fixing the location of liquor vends on and state highways.

The amendment, once passed, would lift restrictions on hotels, restaurants and clubs from serving liquor within 500 meters of highways, a state government spokesman said here after a meeting of the Council of Ministers.

"By amending Section 26-A of Punjab Excise Act, 1914, all ambiguities for serving of liquor at hotels, restaurants and clubs would be removed by adding provisions whereby it is cleared that no retail vend would be opened within 500 metres of the and State Highways, but these restrictions shall not apply to hotels, restaurants and clubs situated on the and State Highways.

"The CoM (Council of Ministers) gave a go-ahead to the draft amendment Bill, 2017, in this regard, to be tabled during the current budget session for enactment," the spokesman, quoting the decision of the Council, said.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh chaired the meeting.

The Council of Ministers also gave its formal approval to the budgetary proposals to be presented by state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal in the Punjab Assembly on Tuesday.

The Council also approved the setting up of a dedicated horticulture university to promote crop diversification in the state, to help in bringing changes in cropping patterns to include the planting of vegetables, fruits, herbs, aromatic and medicinal herbs, fibre and tuber crops, sericulture, fodder crops and floriculture, the spokesman said.

At present, the total area under fruit plants and vegetables is approximately three lakh hectares in Punjab, constituting only approximately four per cent of the total land in agrarian Punjab and a fraction of the country's total area.

"Green Revolution" state Punjab contributes nearly 50 per cent of food grains (wheat and paddy) to the national kitty.
As President Donald Trump prepares to host Indian Prime Minister in Washington next week, his business partner in India is gearing up to sell high-priced condominiums at Trump Tower Mumbai.
Who is That might have been the most obvious question after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced Kovind would be the Democratic Alliance's (NDA's) nominee for the July 17 Presidential poll. The former Bihar governor (his resignation was accepted by the President earlier today) is not a well-known figure in Indian politics and it was quite natural for people to search about him on Google.
The goods and services tax (GST) will be rolled out from June 30 midnight, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday, adding that the economy will have to face short-term challenges in implementing the biggest tax reforms since Independence.
Even though the health care sector is exempt from the goods and services tax (GST), hospitalisation costs are estimated to go up by four to five per cent under the new indirect tax regime, said Prathap C Reddy, founder-chairman, Apollo Hospitals. Indicating that hospitalisation costs are likely to go up after the introduction of GST, Reddy said hospitals could bear the brunt of up to two per cent. Anything beyond that we would have to pass it on to patients, he said.
Prime Minister will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets US President next week in Washington, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them, on notice of possible changes ahead.

The review threatens Indian IT services firms such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM's visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former US President Barack Obama.

However, Trump's focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement, have raised concerns in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.

The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the US trade deficit with India also widened.

The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.
Bullion refineries in the excise-free zone of Uttarakhand will be in an advantageous position in comparison to those in other areas of the country (domestic tariff area) in the goods and services tax (GST) regime.
The official notification from the Supreme Court released recently states that counselling (after NEET 2017 results) conducted by Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) will now also include Deemed Universities as they have an All India Character. The Deemed Universities also include the ones run by religious and linguistic minorities.
Defence Minister to visit Russia

The Minister of Defence, Finance and Corporate Affairs Shri Arun Jaitley is embarking on three-day visit from today to Russia with a high level Indian delegation, to co-chair two meetings with the Government of the Russian Federation.

On June 21, Shri Jaitley will co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science & Technology with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Mr. Dmitry Rogozin. This is a newly established committee to discuss cooperation in high technologies.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. The Defence Minister will also address the main Plenary Session of the Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On June 23, the Defence Minister will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, General Sergei Shoigu. The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries.
President of India condoles the passing away of President of Vanuatu

The President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee has condoled the passing away of the President of the Republic of Vanuatu, H. E. Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale.

In a message to H. E. Mr.

Esmon Saimon, the Acting President and Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Vanuatu, the President has said, We are deeply saddened to learn about the untimely demise of H. E. Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale, President of the Republic of Vanuatu.

President Lonsdale steadfastly steered Vanuatu through difficult times. With wisdom and foresight, he forged ever-stronger international-partnerships for the Republic of Vanuatu. President Lonsdale was instrumental in strengthening of bilateral relations between India and Republic of Vanuatu.

On behalf of the people and Government of the Republic of India, I extend our sincere condolences and deepest sympathies to the family of President Lonsdale and the people of Vanuatu".
Even sophisticated observers admit to confusion and consternation about the Middle East, where rivalries and jealousies among nations have reached new levels of complication. Saudi Arabia and some of its neighbours decide to punish Qatar and some of its citizens, ostensibly for fostering and financing Islamist terrorism. But Saudi Arabia itself has been accused of underwriting extremists. No matter: President Trump, captivated by Saudi royalty, sides with the Saudis  even though the United States has two important bases in Qatar.
Following the attack on a group of Muslim worshippers in Finsbury Park that left one person dead and 11 injured, Londoners have once again demonstrated their strength and unity in the face of violence.Neil Basu, deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police and senior national coordinator for counter terrorism, commended the response of the Muslim community , who stopped the man suspected to have carried out the attack before turning him over to police. One man who apprehended the man told the BBC that the individual had said he wanted to kill Muslims.

The Finsbury Park attack occurred just after the murder of a teenage Muslim girl in Virginia and an attempted vehicular attack on Iraqi migrants in Sweden. There is little doubt that this incident targeted the Muslim community, and while we cannot speculate as to what exactly motivated this violence, such an incident demands that we reflect on the harm that Islamophobia can cause.
The shadow of Abu Hamza and Al Qaeda lies long and heavy across Finsbury Park Mosque in north London. The mosque has long been cast in the public imagination by the terrorist activities that were so brazenly carried out there until Hamza and his followers were finally ejected after police raids in 2003.Along with a former MI5 agent, Reda Hassaine, who was undercover in the mosque during the late 1990s, I wrote the book about how Hamza captured the mosque by force from what was, at the time, a rather naive mosque committee. The committee thought he would be an honest broker in a dispute between two factions  but he turned out to be a thorough menace. His charm fooled them. Not only did he indoctrinate young men in the ways of jihad , sending them variously to Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan, he trained them how to raise money through credit card fraud and other scams, like selling stolen property which police found during their raids.

A new committee has worked hard since 2004 to reform the practices at the mosque  and they have done an excellent job. But it has proved impossible to remove the reputational stain that was created by several years of Finsbury Park being a meeting place for Abu Qatada, Omar Bakri Mohammed and the followers of the now banned Al-Muhajiroun and even Anjem Choudary  imprisoned last year on terror related charges for supporting Islamic State.
Ivanka Trump on Monday expressed solidarity with worshippers attacked while leaving a London mosque, while her father -- usually quick to condemn extremist attacks -- was silent for the time being.

"Sending love and prayers to the victims in #FinsburyPark London. We must stand united against hatred and extremism in all it's ugly forms," Ivanka, a top presidential advisor, tweeted.

President Trump has taken to Twitter during previous terror attacks to make the case for tighter restrictions on travel from predominantly Muslim countries.

He has also yet to offer public comments on the deaths of seven US sailors, who were killed during a collision between their US navy destroyer and a Philippine-flagged cargo ship.

In the London attack, a van ploughed into a crowd of Muslims near a mosque early today, leaving one person dead and injuring 10 in the second terror attack this month in the British capital.

Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the "sickening" incident, saying Britain's determination to fight "terrorism, extremism and hatred... Must be the same, whoever is responsible".
Both the EU and the UK have repeatedly stated that they want to secure the rights of the 3m EU citizens in the UK and the 1.5m British citizens in the EU as they negotiate their separation.
A judge was killed and three other civilians wounded in an explosion in Nangarhar's provincial capital city of Jalalabad.

The provincial government in a statement said the explosion after a magnetic bomb planted in the vehicle of a judge went off, reports the Khaama Press.

The statement added that the judge serving with the preliminary court of the anti-corruption Sher Rahman was killed in the explosion and three others, including two of his brothers, were wounded.

No individual or group has yet claimed responsibility behind the incident.

Meanwhile, last night eight Afghan guards working at the largest American base in were killed in an attack.

The guards were ambushed near Bagram base north of Kabul as they were driving home in convoy late Monday.
This island paradise made news recently for a reason other than its pristine beaches and high-end resorts: the gruesome killing of a liberal blogger, stabbed to death by multiple assailants.
is fuming about President Trumps stance on climate and immigration, but top technology executives still made a pilgrimage to the White House on Monday to discuss a potential upgrade of government technology.
Zombies have long ruled the Republican Party. The good news is that they may finally be losing their grip  although they may still return and resume eating conservative brains. The bad news is that even if zombies are in retreat, vampires are taking their place.
Indias exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Qatar have jumped by 15 per cent in the past two weeks because of an increase in demand, owing to disruptions in supply to the country from Saudi Arabia and other neighbouring nations.

The supply to Qatar has received a boost since early this month after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, and Yemen severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and blocked access to Doha, Qatars capital, by land, sea, and air.
The Reserve Bank of Indias (RBIs) recent move to align rupee-denominated bonds issuance in line with external commercial borrowing (ECB) will unlikely hamper the growth of the market, but can curtail the ability of low-rated companies to raise funds using the instrument.
hit a new high of Rs 128, up 2.4% on the BSE, after the company and Boeing on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding for 40 737 MAX airplanes.
At least nine people have reportedly been killed in a car bomb attack in Somalian capital Mogadishu.

According to an official, a huge explosion was heard in the Wadajir district of the capital.

The Al-Shabab militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The blast took place in an area where Somali officials and their staff stay.

Mogadishu security forces and African Union multinational forces have forced Al-Shabab out of major parts in Somalia but it continues to carry out deadly bombings and attacks in Mogadishu.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A carrier containing ten kilograms of Charas was seized at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) of Panitanki in West Bengal's Darjeeling by a joint operation conducted by the 41 Selection Service Board (SSB) battalion and the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Kolkata on June 19 at 5 p. m.

The testing of the drugs confirmed its weight.

During the operation, a person was caught with drugs of worth Rs. 1.10 crore in the international market.

After subsequent interrogation, the person revealed that he had brought the drugs from Kathmandu.

The operation was executed after the battalion's apprehension about the import of drugs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Tuesday said he would announce his stance on the Centre's ban on cattle sale for slaughter at animal markets, once a verdict is decided by the apex court.

Palaniswami informed the Assembly that the orders would be followed, and declined to accept the opposition's demand to pass a resolution against the new rules.

Soon after the session, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) raised the issue in the Assembly and asked Palaniswami to spell out the government's stand on the cow slaughter issue since the new rule affects several farmers across the State.

During intervention, Palaniswami pointed out that even the Centre is considering making several amendments to the new cattle rule following the request of the people across the country.

The members of DMK and Congress said they were not satisfied with the Chief Minister's reply. When they tried to raise the issue once again, the speaker denied permission.

After Palaniswami's remark, Stalin led a walkout of his party members, opposing the government's stance.

Meanwhile, members raised slogans in the lobby while walking out, drawing a warning from Speaker P. Dhanapal not to do so following which they dispersed.

On June 15,the Supreme Court heard a petition challenging the Centre's notification banning the sale and purchase of cattle from animal markets for slaughter, a move that received flak since its announcement.

The petition was filed by a Hyderabad-based lawyer, Fahim Qureshi, stating that the order was discriminatory and unconstitutional, as it prevented cattle traders from earning their livelihood.

On May 25, the Centre through an order imposed a ban on the sale of cattle, including cows, for slaughter and restricted cattle trade solely to farm owners.

Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Harsh Vardhan had ordered that the ministry has notified the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (Regulation of Livestock Markets) Rules, 2017 to ensure that the sale of cattle is not meant for slaughter purposes.

Regulating animal trade is a state business but animal welfare is a central subject, thereby providing the window for the ministry to notify the rule.

In lieu of this, there was widespread opposition of the order, with many states openly denying accepting the notification.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last month said he would call for a meeting of all the Chief Ministers, asserting that the Union Government does not have the right to issue such an order on cattle slaughter ban.

Vijayan further said that the Centre's new rule is an impermissible encroachment into the domain of the State Legislatures which is a clear 'violation of the spirit of federalism.'

On June 1, the students of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT- Madras) staged protest against the same.

With the police deployed in front of the IIT campus, the students protested at the main gate and raised slogans against the Centre's controversial notification.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Centre has accorded Z+ security cover of Security Guard (NSG) commandos to NDA Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

According to reports, a squad of 10-12 armed NSG commandos will be with Kovind, along with escort and pilot vehicles.

The black cat commandos will take care of the Kovind's security till he takes over the office of the President of India.

Besides Kovind, Other high-profile politicians being provided security cover by NSG include Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leader L K Advani, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also got protection by NSG.

Earlier in the day President Pranab Mukherjee accepted the resignation of Ramnath Kovind as the Governor of Bihar a day after the Democratic Alliance (NDA) named him as its Presidential nominee.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah on Monday announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday downplayed the Democratic Alliance's (NDA) decision of naming Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind for the post of President and said it's not the first time when a person belonging to the minority community has been nominated for the top post, adding the Congress made a Dalit president 15 years ago, referring to K.R. Narayanan.

"The Congress has always taken the initiative to improve the condition of the Dalits even before the country got Independence. We even introduced the reservation quota for the upliftment of the minorities after Independence. As far as the President of India is concerned, we made a Dalit president 15 years ago; this is not the first time," Azad told ANI.

Azad said it would have been better had the ruling party nominated someone neutral rather than a hardcore leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) like Kovind.

"We were expecting the BJP to announce the name of a neutral person. Like during the regime of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, we supported A.P.J. Abdul Kalam - not because he belonged to a minority community, but because he was neutral and didn't belong to any particular party," he said.

Further stressing on the issue, he said the political parties are not divided on the basis of religion. They have different ideologies and a neutral person would have been acceptable for all.

Azad said they would meet the Opposition parties on June 22 to discuss the Centre's decision on the Presidential nominee and to take a decision on the same.

"We don't want to comment on his personality, but will talk on merit. But this is a fact that he is a hardcore BJP leader. How can one support a hardcore BJP leader? This seems a little impossible. But still till now we have not announced any name for the Presidential candidate from our side, because we had decided this in all party meeting that decision will be taken with consensus," Azad said.

Earlier on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

Kovind before leaving for New Delhi yesterday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

The Prime Minister said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shev Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank.

Joining the critics of NDA's Presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming President polls.

"If someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee didn't seem happy with the Kovind's candidature.

She said that someone of the stature of President Pranab Mukherjee or even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or BJP veteran L.K. Advani may have been made the candidate.

The decision, however, was welcomed by some of the political leaders including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.

Nitish Kumar expressed his happiness that the Bihar Governor would be the NDA's candidate for the President elections. He, however, said a detailed discussion would be held on the matter within the JD (U).

Kovind belongs to the Dalit community Koli and had worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and also has the backing of BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS).

A lawyer by profession, Kovind had also been BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha chief (1998-2002) and president of the All-India Koli Samaj.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has been summoned by the Spanish authorities as part of the investigation into his tax affairs.

Ronaldo is accused of defrauding Spanish authorities of 14.7m (12.95m) between 2011 and 2014 and will now testify on July 31, reports The Independent.

The episode may cost Real Madrid their star winger as Ronaldo feels hard done by the apparent excessive force with which the complaint has been dealt with.

The Portugal international had knowingly used a "business structure" created in 2010 to hide his income in Spain from his image rights.

As per reports, the alleged irregularities were in relation to money the Portuguese star had in the Virgin Islands, although officials acknowledged adjustments to this structure in 2014, where the player paid back an extra 7 million Euros in tax.

Ronaldo has helped Real win the Champions League thrice, scoring twice in last month's final as they became the first club to retain the title, and he is also the competition's record goal scorer with 105 strikes.

He has also helped his team to win two La Liga titles after joining it on transfer from Manchester United for a ten record 80 million pounds in 2009.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
After Tata Group and American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin signed an 'unprecedented' deal to jointly produce the combat-proven F-16 fighter jets in India, defence expert Wing Commander (Retd.) Praful Bakshi on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for "walking the talk" on the initiative.

Talking to ANI, Wing Commander (Retd.) Bakshi said this initiative is not only going to give a boost to the aviation industry, but all the other industry connected with the aviation.

"Tata and Lockheed have signed a very important deal. Thanks to the initiative of the present government. Though this thought process was there earlier, but nobody was taking a firm step towards it. India's private industry is totally devoid of working in the defence. I mean there is no work in defence so far in the private industry. This is going to give a boost not only to the aviation industry, but all the other industries connected with aviation," he said.

"Not only this, you will start exporting this aircraft to other countries. The aviation industry will start flourishing and we should thank the government that atleast they are walking the talk," he added.

Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with India's Tata Advanced Systems on Monday to produce F-16 fighter planes in India, pressing ahead with a plan to shift its Fort Worth, Texas plant to win billions of dollars worth of order from the Indian military.

India's Air Force needs hundreds of aircraft to replace its Soviet-era fleet, but Prime Minister Modi's Government has said foreign suppliers would have to make the planes in India with a local partner to help build a domestic industrial base and cut outright imports.

The announcement of the deal comes a week ahead of Prime Minister Modi's meeting first bilateral meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.

The agreement was signed by Sukaran Singh, CEO of TASL, and George Standridge, vice-president of Strategy and Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, and Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, were also present.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Eight Afghan security guards were killed and two others wounded in an attack on the Bagram military base at Shah Kah village, about 40km from Kabul, on Monday night.

"#Bagram - 10 Afghan security guards from Bagram military base attacked in Shah Kah village last night. 8 killed, 2 wounded," tweeted Tolo news.

Further details are yet to emerge.

This is yet another attack targeting the Afghan military base, as there have been a recent spate of such incidents.

In April, Taliban attackers, disguised in military uniforms, carried out one of the deadliest attack in Afghan security forces as they killed around 150 soldiers at a military base in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Last week, an Afghan soldier attacked US troops at Camp Shaheen, in Mazar-e Sharif, injuring seven.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs have adopted a resolution urging Brussels to formally suspend EU accession negotiations with Turkey, due to constitutional change that grants Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with sweeping powers.

The resolution came as part of an annual assessment of Turkey's reform progress by Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs, according to a Tuesday press release from the European Parliament.

Referencing to a recent vote which gave Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping powers, the European Parliament called on the EU to "formally suspend the accession negotiations with Turkey without delay if the constitutional reform package is implemented unchanged," Russia Today reported

The European Parliament has criticized Erdogan's controversial referendum and Ankara's actions following last year's coup attempt.

Erdogan victory means he will become the sole executive head of state, with authority to choose his own cabinet ministers, enact laws, call elections, and declare states of emergency. Prior to the referendum, the role of the president in Turkey was more of a ceremonial one.

The parliament's press release also criticized Ankara's actions following last year's coup attempt.

Erdogan, has achieved victory in a historic referendum on April 16, 2017 that brings in package of constitutional amendments granting him sweeping powers including transformation of the upper echelons of the state and changing the country from a parliamentary democracy to a presidential republic.

The MEPs have expressed concern that Turkey will "backslide" when it comes to the rule of law, human rights, media freedom, and the fight against corruption. They also condemned the Turkish governments "repeatedly declared support for the reintroduction of the death penalty," which would "put into question Turkey's membership in the Council of Europe and lead to an immediate end of EU accession talks."

This development came when the European Union's enlargement chief, Johannes Hahn announced his scheduled to Turkey for EU accession talks on July 6.Turkey has applied for membership to the EU in 1987; accession talks began in 2005.

According to the EU Turkey Delegation, Ankara's importance to the European Union will be underlined during the visit. To gain membership, Turkey has to successfully conclude negotiations with the EU in 35 policy chapters which involve reforms and the adoption of European standards.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday welcomed Shiv Sena for its support to Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

Downplaying the rift within the NDA following Uddhav Thackeray's criticism that the BJP was fielding Kovind to win over Dalit votes, Swamy said that it was natural of its "Hindutva brother" to side with the ruling dispensation.

"In the end they are with us, they are with us in Maharashtra, Delhi and Uddhav Thackeray is a very sober person. He may make his notice here and there, but in the end we are Hindutva brothers and we will stay together," Swamy told ANI.

Similarly, NDA's ally the Republican Party of India (A) leader Ramdas Athawale also welcomed Shiv Sena's support to the Dalit candidate.

"I also express my gratitude to Uddhav Thackeray for supporting Kovind and because Bala Saheb believed that Bhim Shakti and Shiv Shakti work together and never would have I ever doubted that he would be against his candidature," Athawale told ANI.

Earlier, Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray told media persons that his party has finally decided to support Kovind for the country's top post.

It is notable that Thackeray had announced that Shiv Sena would not extend its support to Kovind if the Centre was eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming President polls.

"If someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them," Thackeray said.

He, however, added that they would extend their support only if the decision was taken for the development of the nation.

Though the main opposition Congress party, Left parties, Bahujan Samajwadi Party ( BSP), Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD), and Janata Dal (United) have not extended support to Kovind, other opposition parties like Odisha's Biju Janata Dal (BJD), and Andhra's YSR Congress Party have supported Kovind's candidature.

Bihar Chief Minister and JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of party leaders on Wednesday to discuss over the candidature of Kovind.

Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday extended his support to Kovind by saying that he is a deserving candidate.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of senior Janata Dal (United) leaders on Wednesday to discuss extension of support to the Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Monday announced Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind would be the government's candidate for the country's top post.

After this announcement, Nitish had met Kovind at Raj Bhawan in Patna and extended his wishes.

Though Nitish expressed happiness that the Bihar Governor would be the NDA's candidate for the President elections, he said a detailed discussion would be held on the matter within the JD(U).

Nitish also said that "I had a word with Laluji and Sonia Gandhi, and there will be discussion on this. I have told them about my views".

It is likely that the JD (U) leaders would be deliberating upon all the pros and cons of the latest development for the July 17 Presidential polls. JD (U) has been a part of the opposition's joint initiative on the presidential elections.

The opposition is against Kovind's name being finalised for the post of president on grounds that they were not consulted prior to the announcement. The Shiv Sena, an ally of the NDA, also alleged that Kovind's name was not discussed.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17. President Pranab Mukherjee will demit office on July 24.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Calcutta High Court Judge Justice (Retd.) C.S. Karnan, who is facing jail term in contempt of court case, was arrested by the Kolkata police in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

Justice Karnan's close aide and his counsel confirmed the arrest, adding that he would move the Supreme Court tomorrow seeking Justice Karnan's release and cancellation or suspension of the jail sentence.

As per reports, the Calcutta High Court judge, who was absconding since May 9, will be brought to Kolkata tomorrow on transit remand.

Earlier on June 7, the Supreme Court refused to grant relief to Justice Karnan in the contempt of court case where he was sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

The apex court earlier on May 19 rejected Justice Karnan's plea for recall of the six-month jail term for contempt of court, stating that the petition was "not maintainable" in the court.

"I am constrained, but to hold that the present writ petition is not maintainable. The relief, if any, lies somewhere else. I, thus, see no reasonable cause to receive the present writ petition for registration under the provisions of order XV, rule (5) of the Supreme Court rules, 2013," the Supreme Court Registrar said in the order.

Earlier this month, Justice Karnan had approached the apex court seeking recall of the May 9 order, in which he was convicted and was sentenced to six-month imprisonment.

The top court had taken suo motu cognizance of numerous letters written by him against judges of the Madras High Court and the apex court and restrained him from exercising administrative and judicial powers from February 8.

Karnan is the first ever sitting judge of a higher court in judicial history to be sentenced to jail term.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has hailed Iran's efforts to host Afghan refugees over the past three decades.

He made this statement during a meeting attended by several foreign ambassadors, UN and EU representatives residing in Kabul.

Abdullah urged foreign countries to observe security status before deciding to repatriate Afghan refugees, reports the IRNA news agency.

The deteriorating security situation and increasing trend of terror attacks in Afghanistan have impelled the Afghans to immigrate to other countries.

At present, more than seven million Afghan refugees are residing in foreign countries, of which six million are residing in Iran and Pakistan.

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Samajwadi Party's youth wing president Digvijay Singh Dev and vice-president Monu Singh have been taken into custody on suspicion of showing black flags on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lucknow.

Noting the reason for the arrest, it is said that according to the report of the LYU, black flags will be shown with protests by the students on the arrival of the Prime Minister on June 21, for whom the police is vigilant and arrests are being made.

Hence, Digvijay Singh Dev was arrested by the Hasanganj Police from his residence in Kalyanpur in Lucknow.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Deepak Kumar has ordered the detention of all the suspects in connection with the security of the Prime Minister.

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The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Tuesday said Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati's slight opposition to Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind's nomination as presidential candidate is due to his affiliation with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Reacting to Mayawati's "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have selected a name from a non-political background which will be better" remark, NCP leader Majeed Memon said the former cannot openly oppose a Dalit candidate so she went the other way.

"Since Mayawati has to take care of her Dalit vote bank, she cannot openly oppose a Dalit candidate. So, she has just gone the other way by saying that a Dalit is welcomed, but not a Dalit from a particular political ideology which of course is now being hinted at the RSS. So, she is opposing because this candidate happens to be a RSS man," Memon told ANI.

While on the other hand, refraining from commenting on Mayawati' remark, JD (U) leader Neeraj Kumar said they only hope that the election of the first citizen of India (President) should take place without any controversy popping up.

"We hope and want that the election of the first citizen of India (President) should take place without any controversy erupting," Kumar told ANI.

Despite expressing her support for Democratic Alliance (NDA) Presidential nominee Kovind, Mayawati yesterday said the Centre should have taken all Opposition parties in 'good faith' before announcing the name.

Further giving her opinion over Presidential Elections, Mayawati stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) should have selected a name from a non-political background which would have been better.

"My small advice towards this is- it could have been better if the BJP would have selected a name from a non-political background," Mayawati added.
Moscow has criticized the European Union's General Court's decision to uphold extension of restrictive measures imposed on Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselev in relation to 2013-2014 crisis in Ukraine.

The European Union's General Court had ruled not to annul Ukraine-related restrictive measures against him after striking down six pleas in the action that Kiselev brought against the Council of the European Union.

Kiselev termed the verdict against him as the European bureaucracy's a priori dominance over the judiciary "since cases against them are progressing in court at a snail's pace."

Sputnik news agency quoted Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs as saying in a statement that the EU Court has allowed censorship in the union by upholding its previous verdict.

Kiselev informed that that he was not allowed to personally take part in the hearing in his own case.

Slamming the EU Court's refusal to allow Kiselev to take part in hearings on his sanctions challenge, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that it violates basic rights, including the right to defense.

The ministry added that Moscow expects Organization for Security and Co-operation (OSCDE) in Europe and Council of Europe to reconsider this decision upholding sanctions against Kiselev.

The European Union had imposed a travel ban and an asset freeze on Kiselev on March 21, 2014.

He was one of the first Russians to face individual EU sanctions after Crimea's reunification with Russia three years ago.

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Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday extended his support to NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, saying that he is a deserving candidate.

"Ram Nath Kovind is a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has selected a strong candidate. The most important thing is that the BJP has a majority. Can't say what will opposition decide now," Mulayam told ANI.

Earlier, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) chief and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik extended full support to NDA's presidential nominee, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, saying that the decision to elect President is above political considerations.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to me about the Presidential nominee. He sought support of the candidature of Ram Nath Kovind. So, BJD has decided to extend its support to Kovind," he said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao also welcomed the NDA government's decision.

Janata Dal (United) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed happiness that the Bihar Governor would be the NDA's candidate for the President elections. He, however, said a detailed discussion would be held on the matter within the JD (U).

He was speaking to the media here after congratulating Kovind. Nitish also said that "I had a word with Laluji and Sonia Gandhi and there will be discussion on this. I have told them about my views".

Telangana Chief Minister and TRS Chief Rao also extended his support to NDA's presidential candidate after speaking to Prime Minister Modi.

Earlier on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

Kovind before leaving for New Delhi yesterday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E. Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

The Prime Minister said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shiv Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank.

"The Centre apprised the senior leaders, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh about the announcement over phone after taking the decision. So there is no question of mutual consent. We didn't expect this from them," said senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Joining the critics of NDA's Presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming President polls.

"If someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said adding that they would extend their support only if the decision was taken for the development of the nation.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee didn't seem happy with the Kovind's candidature. She said that someone of the stature of President Pranab Mukherjee, or even Sushma Swaraj or Advani ji may have been made the candidate.

"I am not saying that the Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind is unfit to be the President. There are other big Dalit leaders in the country. Just because he was the leader of Dalit Morcha of BJP they have made him the candidate," Mamata said.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati also expressed dissent over the decision saying that she is not satisfied with Kovind's political ideology, but cannot reject his Dalit background.

Mayawati told ANI that it could have been better if BJP would have selected a name from a non-political background.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said also seemed miffed with the move and said the way Kovind's name was announced it portends that there would be a political contest.

Yechury said, "Kovind ji was the chief of RSS's Dalit branch. So somewhere it is a political fight or contest. When Home Minister Rajnath Singh and I&B minister Venkaiah Naidu came to meet us, they said that they want to build a consensus. When we asked on whom they want to build consensus, they had no answer then. They said that when they decide, they will come back to us with a proposal. But instead of coming to us with the proposal they announced the candidate. Now we will take a call."

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.

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Mumbai's famous Dabbawalas celebrated International Yoga Day by performing at the Versova Beach as they believed it has a power to treat the internal body problems and it's an old Indian culture.

"Yoga is an old culture of India which people now forget. Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has taken this initiative and made people aware about this not only in India but all over the world.

I appeal everyone to perform yoga as it has power to treat your internal problems in body and will rejuvenate your soul," one of the dabbawalas told ANI.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the International Yoga Day function at Uttar Pradesh's Ramabai Ambedkar Ground with over 60,000 participants.

The 80-minute yoga session is expected to begin around 6:30 a.m. in the morning. Several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats will participate in the event.

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga by consensus after adopting a measure proposed by Prime Minister Modi.

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Everyone is aware of the stream of bizarre drugs available online to increase sexual prowess and desire, but a recent case stands out as the classic example of 'it happens only in India'.

A team of investigators and scientists from India and the UK have uncovered a major international fraud of dried lizard penises which is being sold on Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba, Snapdeal and Etsy among others and being passed off as Hatha Jodi, a tantric plant root.

According to a statement from the nonprofit group Animal Protection, scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University in England have confirmed various specimens of the "magical" root that were ordered online were actually the dried hemipenis of monitor lizards.

Monitor Lizard Hemipenis is being passed off as tantric plant roots also known as Hatha Jodi to unwitting customers via major online retailers including Amazon, Ebay, Alibaba, Snapdeal and Etsy among others.

Hatha Jodi, a plant root, is marketed as a good luck charm and to ward away spirits and is widely sold among Asian diaspora in the UK, other parts of Europe and the US.Tantric practitioners strongly believe that Hatha Jodi, a plant root, if appropriately energised by a guru, can change a person's life bringing immense wealth and happiness.

Gajender K Sharma, India Country Director, Animal Protection, said: "We were shocked at the sheer audacity and scale of this illegal wildlife trade. Deceitful dealers claiming to sell holy plant root labelled as "Hatha Jodi", are in fact peddling dried lizard penis to their unwitting customers. These illegal items are readily available in the UK and USA with potential street value of 50,000 GBP".

These lizards are being illegally poached from the wild, caught in traps and snares. Some will have their throats slit or their skulls smashed in before their genitals are removed for use as 'Hatha Jodi' and others will still be alive when this process begins, with no remorse to the pain they endure.

Hatha Jodi plant is rarely found in remote areas of Nepal and Central India and now laboratory tests carried out by scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University has revealed evidence to suggest that customers are being duped and independent tests by Indian labs have confirmed the suspicion.

Collaborating scientist Dr David Megson, Manchester Metropolitan University said: "These dried 'plant roots' were in fact derived from Indian monitor lizards. However, the plot thickened even further when tests revealed that some of these items are actually plastic mouldings of monitor lizard genitalia".

The investigation of online sales began after Indian authorities raided multiple operations trafficking in these illicit goods. A joint team of the Wildlife Trust of India and federal Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), Crime Branch of State Police and Forest department conducted raid sin the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bhubaneswar,Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The price of these illegal items was stated to range from 5-50 GBP apiece with price being dictated by their size. A haul of 210 Hatha Jodi, including hemipenis from Bengal and Yellow Monitor Lizards, were seized from a house in Bhubaneswar. So, the crimes include fraud and poaching.

All Monitor lizards are Schedule I animals and any trade involving it or its body parts is a national offence under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Both the Bengal and Yellow Monitor lizard are also listed under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna.wild populations over the edge."

Animal Protection is an international non-profit animal welfare organization with offices in 14 countries.

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The Pakistan Supreme Court on Monday questioned the conduct of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) in the ongoing Panamagate probe for its alleged surveillance of members of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).

The Supreme Court sought Attorney General (AG) Ashtar Ausaf Ali's assistance in determining what legal backing the bureau has to become 'private sleuths', reports the Dawn.

IB Director General Aftab Sultan has also been asked to make himself available to the court on Tuesday as the court was not satisfied with the department's reply in response to the allegations levelled against it by the JIT.

The three-judge Supreme Court implementation bench headed by Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan was critical of the agency's role in hacking the Facebook account of a JIT member, loitering around his residence and accessing the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) system to collect his personal data which it termed as becoming private investigators instead of working for the state of Pakistan.

The court was alluding to allegations that the IB retrieved information to help Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's elder son Hussain Nawaz - who then used the information to file an application before the Supreme Court, highlighting the leak of his photograph on social media.

In its order, the Supreme Court also ordered the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to investigate the role of Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) chairman Zafar Hijazi in the alleged tampering with the record of the Chaudhry Sugar Mills Ltd. and asked the agency to submit a comprehensive report.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan expressed his concern over indiscriminate leaks to the media, adding that the harassment of JIT members must end, otherwise the court would have to pass "a very unpleasant order".

Justice Ahsan asked the AG to cite any law which authorised the IB to harass the families of JIT members, saying what the IB did was outright harassment. He also wondered why the IB was poking its nose in the matter when it was the Supreme Court that had appointed the JIT.

"What is the IB's mandate; does it interfere with everything the apex court does?" asked Justice Saeed, wondering whether the IB chief would be rewarded with an extension after his retirement.

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The Pakistan Senate's Defense Committee has constituted a sub-committee to investigate allegations that the armed forces have forcibly occupied lands in Quetta, Balochistan for their projects.

Committee Chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed after listening to presentations by officials of the Defense Ministry and representatives of affected locals on Monday set up the three-member sub-committee, which would be led by a retired general Senator Abdul Qayyum, reports the Dawn.

The matter had been referred to the defense committee after some Senators moved an adjournment motion in the upper house of Parliament on alleged "alarming rise in the occupation of land by military and Air Force in Quetta causing disharmony among the people".

The Defence Ministry officials contended that the land was required for welfare projects and had been leased to the armed forces by the provincial government.

Senator Sayed asked the Defence Ministry to ensure that all work on the project be stopped till the sub-committee came up with its conclusions and recommendations.

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In what can be termed as another exposure of Pakistan's atrocities and human rights violation on international fora, its crackdown on the Mohajir community was recently brought up at the United Nations.

Drawing attention towards Pakistan's heavy-handedness on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Mohajir community, a UN member said it is expected that that the Government of Pakistan, instead of targeting the religious extremist outfits which threaten the peaceful society, the state is going to take extreme measures to silence Pakistani politician Altaf Hussain by charging him false and fabricated cases.

"Hussain has been banned on national television, his photos cannot be displayed anywhere. His headquarters have been illegally sealed. Over 200 offices have been illegally demolished. On the other hand, posters of Taliban leaders are advertised on prime television channels as heroic figures," he added.

The UN lawyer said, "The government must not be allowed to curtail the voice of Hussain."

Asserting that membership of the UN is not a privilege to kill people, the lawyer said the Mohajirs are facing genocide.

Batting for Mohajirs and Balochis, the lawyer raised some serious questions.

He said, "They have really wiped out the entire nation of the Balochis. Who will listen to their cries? The must time united in protection of the Mohajirs and Balochis. Has Pakistan become a rogue nation which cannot be controlled by the members of the nations?"

The lawyer appealed to the to unite in protection of the Mohajirs and Balochis.

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The Pakistani military has shot down an Iranian "spy drone" over Panjgur in Balochistan, some 45km inside Pakistan territory on Tuesday.

The incident has opened a new front for Pakistan as downing of an Iranian spy drone by PAF JF17 is first of its kind in the history of two Islamic neighbours, which share a 900 kilometre long porous border.

Wajahat Khan, a multimedia journalist and a national security expert, confirmed the news, tweeting: "Confirmed: Iranian spy drone shot down by PAF JF17 over Panjgur, Balochistan 45km inside Pak territory. Unprecedented. New front opening?"

The tensions between Pakistan and Iran escalated after Islamabad accused Tehran of violating its territorial integrity several times in the last few years.

Iranian border security forces fired mortar shells near Prom area of Panjgur District in Balochistan early Sunday morning in which no loss of life or damage was reported in the incident.

Pakistan officials lodged a strong protest with the Iranian border officials and a flag-meeting has been called on Tuesday to resolve the matter as this is the third such violation in recent weeks.

The drone's downing was reported amid an emergency flag meeting between Pakistani and Iranian officials following the unprovoked firing of several mortar shells into Pakistani territory, the Daily Pakistan reported.

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Ahead of the International Day of Yoga celebrations on June 21, over 1,000 children and women will take part in 'Aqua yoga' to create a new record here.

A group of children and women have been practicing since last month and will attempt to create a new record tomorrow.

Speaking to ANI, Yoga expert, Aarti Mandalia said, "Aqua Yoga in Rajkot will raise the bar and create a new record in the world. We will be putting together five swimming pools where the women and children will be participating for the event".

A participant Prachi Mirani said aqua yoga is easy and it builds stamina as well.

"A total of 45 to 50 minutes of Yoga session will be done tomorrow in water to create a new record. 'Aqua yoga' is easy, as it increases your stamina and brings you peace of mind," Mirani told ANI.

Practicing ahead of the big day, participants stood in neck-high water as they performed various asanas or yoga postures.

Aqua yoga is said to help one gain strength and balance and is known to burn more calories than a regular yoga session.

A session in Vadodara saw nearly 300 people, including participants from abroad, perform 108 'Surya Namaskars' (sun salutations).

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly declared June 21 as International Day of Yoga by consensus after adopting a measure proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

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Congress senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday said the party will only support that candidate who doesn't follow the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ideology, however, added that Kovind did not owe his allegiance to saffron party's ideology.

Azad, who was attending an iftaar party held by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav here, said "It is obvious that whoever follows the ideology of the BJP won't get support from us. But Kovind never said that he follows BJP's ideology, hence it is not about supporting any person, it s about supporting a person's ideology," Azad said.

The senior leader further said that a meeting has been convened on June 22 where all the Opposition party leaders will be present and 'try to arrive' at a consensus for the presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has joined the list of Centre's allies extending support to ruling Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential candidate Kovind.

Kovind's resignation as the Bihar Governor was accepted by President Pranab Mukherjee. West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi was given additional charge of Bihar.

Earlier on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah announced the name of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of Indian President.

Kovind before leaving for New Delhi on Monday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palanisamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence.

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As many as six policemen were killed on Tuesday afternoon when their vehicle hit a roadside mine on the Lashkargah-Kandahar highway.

The policemen were from the Helmand Highway Battalion.

The incident happened when the vehicle they were traveling in hit a roadside mine in Popalzai Shakh area along the Lashkargah-Kandahar highway, Tolo News has reported.

However, the provincial governor's spokesman Omarzowak said that four policemen were killed and two others were wounded.

No group, including the Taliban has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Taliban killed eleven police officers in February 2017 in the southern province of Helmand, which has for the last year been the most violent place in Afghanistan.

In another incident, a judge was killed and three civilians were wounded in a magnetic mine blast in Jalalabad city of Nangarhar early Tuesday.

The incident happened at about 9 a m close to Eidgah mosque in Jalalabad.

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A 15-year-old boy was killed and more than half a dozen sustained injuries in celebratory firing which took place in different parts of Karachi after Pakistan won their maiden Champions Trophy title after their astounding win over arch-rivals India on Sunday.

It is reported that the law enforcers were unable to control the display of arms and gunfire in some areas till late Sunday night.

The Dawn quoted SHO Javed Sikander as saying that the boy, standing in the balcony of his house in Model Colony's Sheet-25 in Karachi, was hit by a bullet and he died during the treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

The police officer further said that his family did not approach the police for registration of an First Investigation Report (FIR).

Police Surgeon Dr Aijaz Khokhar also informed that seven other sustained gunshot wounds in other such incidents.

The Sarfraz Ahmed-led side on Sunday came out on top with a commendable all-round performance as they defeated India by 180 runs at The Oval to lift their maiden Champions Trophy title.

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While condoling the tragic death of college student Otto Warmbier, U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the "brutality of the North Korean regime".

"Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him," the White House said in a statement.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," the statement further read.

Otto, the college student who returned to the United States last week after 17 months of detention in North Korea, died on Monday afternoon.

He had suffered severe brain damage during his captivity.

The Trump administration placed intense pressure on Pyongyang to release Warmbier when they learned of his condition.

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Cautioning India to not to be happy about United States hardening its stance towards Pakistan, the defence experts on Wednesday said New Delhi should know that U.S. President Donald Trump would not target those terror groups which target our nation, because he does not see terrorism holistically.

Defence Expert Brigadier Mahalingam explained the reasons which compel U.S. to maintain relationships with Pakistan. He also said that if Trump says that they will target militant groups, he is hinting solely at Haqqani network.

"As far as U.S. is concerned, it does not look at terrorism holistically. It looks only at those terrorists who target U.S. and cause casualties and harm to United States. How much will he do it, it is a question we need to ask him because as far as U.S. is concerned, it is dependent on Pakistan for logistics of troops who will be stationed in Afghanistan. Therefore, United States has no option but to continue with Pakistan relationship. Lastly, India must remember, U.S. is not going to target those terror groups which target India, like LeT, JeM, or Hijbul Mujahideen at any cost," Mahalingam told ANI.

However, another defence expert P.K. Saihgal held an absolute different opinion and said that such a decision would be extremely good, not only for this region, but for peace and stability in South Asia as well.

"It is absolutely imperative. America has got huge amount of interest in half-Pak area and it is Pakistan which is destabilizing the situation of Afghanistan in a very major way. Pakistan has been using double standards. It has been using money, weapons, which are provided by U.S., to target American soldiers and native soldiers instead of going after the Haqqani network. As far as Trump is concerned, he has categorically told Pakistan that if they don't go after them, which they haven't done so far, they will consider carrying out mega strikes, precision strikes against the Haqqani network and others on their own," Saihgal told ANI.

Reportedly, Trump is planning to pose a harder face towards Pakistan to crackdown on the ever-growing terrorism in the region, which has led to violent attacks on Afghanistan.

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The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court has formally cleared the way for President Donald Trump's executive order on travel restrictions to move forward, but with a proviso that there will have to be internal reviews and vetting procedures of other countries for visa applications.

Transportation Secretary John Kelly has termed it as a "big win", the CNN reported.

Legal experts, however, cautioned that this "win" for the administration may have an unintended practical effect.

This part of the ruling "was not narrowly tailored to addressing only the harms alleged," the 9th Circuit panel explained. "

Last week, a three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court's decision to halt the core provisions of President Donald Trump's revised executive order that attempted to limit travel from six predominately Muslim countries and block refugees.

The Justice Department has requested the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for a speedy mandate to make its decision from June 12 take effect immediately -- a request the court granted Monday, thereby specifically allowing the vetting portions of the executive order to proceed now.

Trump on March 6th signed an executive order ordering new travel restrictions for residents of six Muslim-majority countries as well as a temporary ban on refugees from around the . This directive comes after Trump's original executive order was rebuked in the federal courts.

The new ban, which was earlier to be implemented from March 16, halts travel for 90 days for residents of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The refugee suspension will last for 120 days.

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U.S. President Donald Trump welcomed Panama President Juan Carlos Varela in Washington and said that the Panama Canal is doing quite well.

The Panama Canal, a waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, was completed by the U.S. in 1914 after 10 years of construction.

"It's our great honor to have President and Mrs. Varela from Panama. And we have many things to discuss. We're going to spend quite a bit of time today -- the Panama Canal is doing quite well," President Trump said.

Panama President Varela who was on a four-day visit in Washington with his wife met Trump and asserted that the idea of his visit is to work closely together to face the same challenges that they have in the region of Central America and Latin America and in their continent, the White House said in a statement.

"There is a long friendship between Panama and the United States, and we face the same challenges in the region. So, the idea of this visit is to work closely together to face the same challenges that we have in the region of Central America and Latin America and in our continent," President Varela said during the bilateral meeting.

Meanwhile, Trump claimed that the relationship between Panama and U.S. has been very strong and are developing new things to do and only getting stronger.

Panama President Vamela further said that they are looking forward for meeting with the other directors of the agencies to establish -- to work together very closely with the -- President Trump administration for the future of the region.

President Trump also took to Twitter to express his happiness after meeting with the Panama President and his wife.

"It was my great honor to welcome President @JC_Varela & Mrs. Varela from Panama this afternoon," he tweeted.

The office of Panamanian President Varela says that he discussed security, economic issues and fighting drug trafficking in his White House meeting with President Trump, the Washington Post reported.

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The U.S. has imposed additional sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, blacklisting 38 individuals and entities.

The U.S. Treasury Department said the targeted individuals and entities include an entity that has engaged in the evasion of existing sanctions, two Russian Government officials and two individuals acting for or on behalf of a government official.

The blacklist also includes two entities that are owned or controlled by an individual previously designated and 11 individuals and entities that operate in the Crimea region, Xinhua reported.

As a result of the move, any property or interest of the designated persons in the U.S. will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited.

"These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution. This administration is committed to a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, and there should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

The move by the Trump administration came days after U.S. Senate passed new sanctions on Russia, a strong congressional response to alleged Russian meddling of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The new Russia sanctions bill also requires the White House to get a congressional review if it attempts to relax, suspend or terminate Russia sanctions.

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A U.S. F-15 fighter jet shot down an armed Iranian drone advancing on coalition forces in southern Syria near At Tanf, the US-led coalition said on Tuesday.

It is the fifth time in the past month the US has struck at forces allied with the Syrian government in the area.

An armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 UAV "displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces" at 12:30 am local time on Tuesday, the coalition said in a statement, CNN reported.

The drone was downed just outside the 55 kilometer de-confliction zone, according to the officials.

It was an Iranian-made Shahed 129 and was thought to be armed and in firing range of US troops.

The drone was observed in the same area where another UAV was shot down on June 8

Tanf is the town on Syrian border with Jordan where US troops are imparting training to Syrian rebels, officially described as "partner ground forces" in the fight against ISIS.

The coalition "does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat," the statement said.

On Sunday, a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet near the town Tabqa for the first time, U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq said in a statement.

The Syrian government SU-22 dropped bombs near the Syrian Democratic Forces.

In response, Russia announced its air defenses would track all coalition targets west of the Euphrates, and suspend the "deconfliction" hotline. Moscow has accused the US of not using the hotline to prevent the Raqqa incident.

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After the Income Tax department released a list of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's relatives' seized Benami properties, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday asserted tha the Centre was not being biased as it has proof.

Speaking to reporters here, Prasad said, "Just one question to Lalu - be it Patna's property, Delhi's house or Sainik Farm, confirm it to us that these properties do not belong to him. And if all this belongs to his family then he should open up and say the sources that he is receiving it from".

Prasad further stated that the government is not being biased, as the Centre has proof.

"The government is not being biased in this issue as we have proof. If the property has been achieved through illegal means then Lalu should tell us rather than remaining silent," Prasad added.

Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashvi Yadav rejected any wrongdoing by his family and stressed that rumours being spread are part of a political conspiracy and vendetta.

"First it was reported that Misa Bharti was fined Rs 10,000 as penalty by the IT department. Then it was reported that Bharti was again penalised Rs. 20,000. I fail to understand what type of news is being reported in the media. If any news channel or newspaper has some proof, then they must show the said notices, or else those organisations should tender apology who had reported 'false' news," said Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister.

Lalu's son further said they were ready to explain their side to the appropriate authority, but wanted to know who the real authority is.

Earlier in the day, the Income Tax department attached a total of 12 plots of Lalu's daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Tejaswi Yadav and ex chief minister Rabri Devi, and sisters Ragini and Chanda Yadav.

One farmhouse in Delhi and one bungalow in New Friends Colony are also attached.

The market value of the total attached property is worth Rs. 175 crore, whereas the book value of the attached property is Rs. 9.32 crore.

The I-T department had earlier seized Benami properties of Misa Bharti, Shailesh Kumar and Tejaswi Yadav.

Two summons to Misa were also issued, but after she failed to appear, the I-T department proceeded to seize the properties which were raided in May.

On June 13, the I-T Department summoned Shailesh Kumar, in connection with the benami assets and tax evasion case registered against him.

On June 7, the I-T department slapped a fine of Rs. 10,000 against Shailesh on account of not appearing for interrogation.

Earlier, Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh were summoned by the I-T department in connection with a 'benami' assets case.

The summons were issued days after the arrest of Bharti's Chartered Accountant (CA) Rakesh Agrawal, in connection with an Enforcement Directorate probe into a Rs. 8,000 crore money laundering racket, involving two Delhi-based businessmen and a few political entities.

Agrawal was arrested under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for allegedly being instrumental in providing accommodation entries (illegal funds) to launder the money of businessmen brothers - Virendra Jain and Surendra Jain.

The I-T department in its summons reportedly said it wishes to question Misa and her husband on transactions conducted by M/s Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited.

The I-T department had conducted raids and surveys at about 22 locations in Delhi and adjoining areas in connection with alleged benami deals of Rs 1,000 crore by Lalu's family.

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Shares of three airliners rose 1.49% to 2.98% at 11:25 IST on BSE after the traffic data showed passengers carried by domestic airlines rose 17.36% to 1.01 crore in May 2017 over May 2016.

The traffic data was announced by the Ministry of Civil Aviation after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 34.38 points, or 0.11%, to 31,346.41.

Jet Airways (up 1.49%) and Interglobe Aviation (up 2.98%) gained.

SpiceJet gained 2.13% after the company and Boeing signed a memorandum of understanding for 40 737 MAX airplanes. The company made the announcement after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

SpiceJet said that the agreement, valued at approximately $4.74 billion at current list prices, is split evenly between 20 new orders for the 737 MAX 10 and conversions of 20 of the low-cost carrier's 737 MAX 8 airplanes of its current order to 737 MAX 10s.

The traffic data showed passengers carried by domestic airlines rose 17.63% to 4.65 crore in January-May, 2017 over January-May, 2016.

Meanwhile, oil prices held steady on the heels of seven-month lows, with investors remaining dubious about how effective the production cuts spearheaded by Saudi Arabia and Russia have been and will be. In the global commodities markets, Brent for August 2017 settlement was up 5 cents at $46.96 a barrel. The contract had fallen 46 cents to settle at $46.91 a barrel during the previous trading session.

Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) typically makes up almost half of an airline's operating cost. Prices of jet fuel are directly linked to crude oil prices. State-run oil marketing companies revise jet fuel prices on the last day of every month based on the average international crude price.

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To Larsen & Toubro

NHPC has awarded an EPC contract for the development of 50 MW Solar Power PV Grid connected project (including evacuation arrangements) located at Theni and Dindigul districts in Tamil Nadu to Larsen & Toubro, L&T Construction, Manapakkam, Chennai for an amount of Rs 287.48 crore with its comprehensive O&M for 10 years. The project is anticipated to be completed within 9 months.

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Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday announced total waiver of entire crop loans up to Rs. 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers (up to 5 acres), and a flat Rs. 2 lakh relief for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of their loan amount, thus paving the way for eventual total waiver of agricultural debts to implement another major poll promise of the ruling party.

Making the announcements during his speech in the Vidhan Sabha, the Chief Minister said the move would benefit a total of 10.25 lakh farmers, including 8.75 lakh farmers up to 5 acres. The initiative would provide double the relief announced by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, he pointed out.

The decision is based on the interim report of the Expert Group, headed by eminent economist Dr. T. Haque, and tasked with suggesting ways and means to help the state's distressed farming community.

Making it clear that his government stood by its commitment to waive off the crop loans of the farmers, Captain Amarinder said his government had also additionally decided to take over the outstanding crop loan from institutional sources of all the families of farmers who committed suicides in the state. It has also decided to raise the ex-gratia for suicide affected families to Rs.5.00 lakh from the existing Rs.3.00 lakh.

For debt relief to farmers for loans raised from non-institutional resources, the government has decided to review the Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act to provide the desired relief to the farmers through mutually acceptable debt reconciliation and settlement, which shall be statutorily binding on both the parties, the lender and the borrower. The government has already constituted a Cabinet Sub Committee to review this Act, he added.

The Chief Minister proposed that the Speaker may constitute a 5-Member Committee of Vidhan Sabha to visit the families of the suicide victims, ascertain the reasons for suicides and suggest further steps to be taken to check this menace forever.

Captain Amarinder informed the House that his government had already decided to repeal Section 67 A of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, which provides for auction/ kurki of farmers' land.

The Chief Minister also reiterated his government's commitment to provide free power to farmers but appealed to all big and well-to-do farmers of the state to give up power subsidy voluntarily.

He announced his decision to immediately give up the subsidy at his own farms to set a personal example, and appealed to his colleagues to do the same.

Lambasting the previous Akali government for ruining the state's agriculture and farmers, the Chief Minister said the Badal regime accepted a loan of Rs.31,000 crore to cover the shortfall in the cash credit limit for procurement of foodgrains, for which his government has to pay Rs.270 crore every month and Rs.3240 crore annually. Had this not been done, his government would have utilized the additional Rs. 31,000 crore amount also to benefit the farmers, he added.

Citing studies, the Chief Minister said there are about 18.5 lakh farming families in the state, and about 65% of them are small and marginal farmers, out of which about 70% have access to institutional finance.

Lamenting the problems faced by the farmers, the Chief Minister said his government's priority would be to continuously increase income of all those who are dependent on agriculture while preserving the ecological balance, and announced that a State Agriculture Policy focusing on increase in farmers' income on a sustainable basis would be formulated soon.

The Chief Minister also announced a series of other measures to bring the agriculture sector back on track. These include an agriculture sustainability programme with focus on various initiatives to boost cultivation, growth and quality of crops, backed by attractive remuneration and greater incentives on alternative crops. Other measures include revamp of Farm Extension Services and a new legislation to regulate agriculture education.

Announcing the establishment of a Paddy Straw Challenge Fund to stop the practice of crop residue burning by the farmers, the Chief Minister informed the House that he had already written to the Prime Minister to allow a bonus of Rs.100 per quintal to all those farmers who incorporate the paddy straw in the soil instead of burning it, as the farmers need to be incentivized in this regard.

Reiterating his government's commitment not to allow Government of India to tinker with the MSP system, he urged the Centre to implement the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and provide price support by way of deficiency pricing for Maize and other crops for which MSP is fixed by them.

Referring to the smooth and corruption-free procurement process ensured by his government, the Chief Minister said not only was every grain of the 120 Lakh MT wheat that arrived in the mandis in April this year smoothly procured but farmers were also given timely payment. The farmers would continue to get fair deal in the coming paddy and cotton season as well, he added.

Captain Amarinder also announced the government's decision to computerize all the operations in the State under the 'End to End Computerization of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) operations' Scheme' to ensure leakage/diversion free distribution of subsidized food grains to the eligible beneficiaries. The identified beneficiaries will be issued Smart Ration cards. and ration will be distributed through PoS devices using bio-metric authentication.

The Chief Minister further reiterated his commitment to the promotion of horticulture to help in crop diversification and boost farmers' income. and announced a slew of initiatives for the same. It has also been decided to establish a Price Stabilization Fund to save the farmers from vagaries of market, particularly in the case of perishable commodities such as fruits and vegetables, he revealed.

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Rama Steel Tubes announced that it has installed solar project at Khopoli facility, Maharashtra. This solar project will be generating 1100 MWh / Year of energy, same amount of energy needed to power the installed and upcoming capacities. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

The solar project has a capacity of 750 KWp and will generate the same amount of energy needed to power the current as well as the planned upcoming capacity. An array of 2400 solar panels carpets the land, converting sunlight into electrical currents. lt will save money and energy while also protecting the environment. The estimated amount of reduction in the Carbon Footprint will reduce by LL20 MT pa by reducing the emission of Carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Rama Steel Tubes has unveiled one of the lndia's largest solar energy projects of its kind in the ERW pipes segment. The company has executed the entire project in less than 3 months' time at a cost of Rs 3.75 crore. Working with Visa Powertech P Ltd, the sustainable energy developer, Rama Steel Tubes has mounted 24OO solar panels on the factory land at its Khopoli facility, Maharashtra - an area equivalent to 3.75 acres. Currently this facility has an overall manufacturing capacity of 72,OOO MT per annum, however the company has plans to bring in additional 60,000 MT capacity at the same location. These facility is going to boost the performance of the company. ln line with its vision of profitable growth, the company has been successful in further strengthening its presence in highly profitable geographies. The company's products have been well accepted and appreciated in all the markets that it caters to.

Indiabulls Ventures said that IVL Finance, a non-public deposit taking NBFC registered with the Reserve Bank of India, a wholly owned subsidiary of Indiabulls Ventures has appointed Pinank Shah, as its CEO with immediate effect. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

Pinank Shah has been with Indiabulls Group for nearly 6 years. At Indiabulls Housing Finance (IHFL), Pinank Shah has been involved in various functions from time to time including credit and treasury functions and has over time gained very vast and wide experience in context to running a finance business. Prior to joining Indiabulls, Shah has worked with HDFC for about 10 years. Shah holds a Bachelor degree in Commerce from Mumbai University and a Master degree in Management Studies (Finance) from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies.

Tayo Rolls said that a meeting of the committee of the board will be held on 22 June 2017 for allotment of non-cumulative redeemable preference shares. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

Mindtree said that Magnet 360, a Mindtree company, announced the release of ConsumerConnect 360a Salesforce Fullforce Solution Accelerator for consumer goods brands. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

Bhushan Steel clarified on news item appeared in the channels captioned " SFIO grilled Bhushan Steel's CFO Nittin Johari; Allegation-Rs 5000 Cr. Re-routed Via Hawala Operators To Promoters? that at the outset the news item as aired is incorrect and wrong for the reason that there has been no 'grilling' of Nittin Johari, CFO by SFIO as mentioned. It is necessary to mention that the allegation(s) as made in news on 19th June, 2017 are completely wrong, baseless and hence, denied in their totality. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

SpiceJet and Boeing on 19 June 2017 signed a memorandum of understanding for 40 737 MAX airplanes. The agreement, valued at approximately $4.74 billion at current list prices, is split evenly between 20 new orders for the 737 MAX 10 and conversions of 20 of the low-cost carrier's 737 MAX 8 airplanes of its current order to 737 MAX 10s. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 19 June 2017.

SpiceJet operates a fleet of 35 Next-Generation 737s and 19 Bombardier Q400s. The carrier plans to grow its operational fleet to 100 airplanes by 2020 and looks to expand regionally with the new 737 MAX family of airplanes. SpiceJet will take delivery of its first 737 MAX in 2018.

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For ammunition manufacturing in India

Reliance Infrastructure promoted Reliance Defence Ammunition enters into a strategic partnership with Yugoimport of Serbia for ammunition manufacturing in India.

Two companies will work together in the field of ammunition, amongst others, with projected minimum requirement of Rs.20,000 crore over next 10 years from Indian armed forces.

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Tata Motors rose 2.17% to Rs 462.10 at 11:01 IST on BSE on media reports that Tata Group may be considering listing its luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover through an initial public offer.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 37.04 points or 0.12% at 31,348.61.

On the BSE, 2.09 lakh shares were traded on the counter so far as against the average daily volumes of 5.29 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock had hit a high of Rs 464.85 and a low of Rs 455.50 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 598.60 on 7 September 2016 and a 52-week low of Rs 417.10 on 8 May 2017.

The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 19 June 2017, advancing 2.11% compared with the Sensex's 2.78% rise. The stock had also underperformed the market over the past one quarter, declining 5.05% as against the Sensex's 5.61% rise. The scrip had also underperformed the market over the past one year, sliding 2.35% as against the Sensex's 17.6% rise.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 577.47 crore. Face value per share is Rs 2.

According to reports, senior executives of Tata Group have held preliminary internal discussions over listing of the British luxury automobile company Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) over an international stock exchange, which may potentially include New York Stock Exchange or London Stock Exchange.

Tata Motors had bought an ailing JLR in a surprise move in 2008 for $2.4 billion from Ford Motor Co.

On a consolidated basis, net profit of Tata Motors declined 16.79% to Rs 4336.43 crore on 2.88% decline in net sales to Rs 77217.19 crore in Q4 March 2017 over Q4 March 2016.

Tata Motors is a market leader in commercial vehicles in India. The company's British luxury unit Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sells premium luxury cars.

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At least 45 Islamic State militants were killed in the Syrian city of al-Raqqa, a UK-based war monitor reported on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that most of the militants were killed in airstrikes carried out by the US-led international coalition, reports Efe news.

The international coalition backs the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance that has been fighting against the IS since June 6 in al-Raqqa, the terror organisation's main stronghold in Syria since it established its self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014.

The SOHR said there were clashes between SDF fighters and IS militants in the neighbourhoods of al-Barid and al-Batani, in the western and eastern parts of the city, respectively.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
All eyes are on the Shiv Sena as it takes a call here on Tuesday evening on whether or not to support its ally and BJP's Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind.

Sena President Uddhav Thackeray has convened a meeting of senior party leaders including ministers, legislators and MPs to discuss Kovind's candidature.

However, there are indications that the Sena may not announce its decision immediately and may adopt a wait-and-watch policy till Thursday when the opposition parties finalise their candidate.

The Sena meeting comes a day after Thackeray accused the BJP of playing Dalit vote-bank and of fielding Kovind merely to capture Dalit votes.

"If they have declared Kovind's name for getting Dalit votes, then we are not interested. The Shiv Sena has always kept away from such vote-bank politics," Thackeray said on Monday night at a rally to mark the party's 51st foundation day celebrations.

He added that if the next President proves to be beneficial for all the people of the country and not just Dalits, "then make anybody. We will openly support."

For the Sena, a Catch-22 situation has arisen with a Dalit candidate in the fray and speculation mounting that the Congress may want to field either former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and or former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde - both Dalits.

If Meira Kumar is nominated, it would be difficult for the Sena not to back Kovind. But if Shinde is nominated, the Sena is most likely to support him on the ground that he is a "son of the soil".

The Shiv Sena had strayed from the NDA line and supported the UPA candidates in 2007 when Pratibha Patil won the election and in 2012 when incumbent Pranab Mukherjee was elected.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Bahrain government has announced a two-month ban on outdoor work during the hot weather starting from July 1.

All outdoor work is prohibited from midday to 4 p.m. between July 1 and August 31, to protect workers from heatstroke and other conditions, Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan said on Monday.

The minister also said inspections will be conducted to ensure the enforcement of the ban, reports Xinhua news agency.

"All private companies are urged to comply with the ban which aims at protecting workers and ensuring their safety to prevent fatal accidents," he added.

He pointed out that violators could be jailed for up to three months, or fined from 500 to 2,000 Bahraini dinars.

The outdoor ban was first introduced in 2007 to enhance productivity and protect the health of labourers at construction sites.

The latest figures by Bahrain's Labour Market Regulatory Authority indicate that foreign workers in the island state increased to 630,071 by the end of 2016, compared to 566,785 a year ago.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bangladesh has cut import duty on rice from 28 per cent to 10 per cent in a bid to stabilise the domestic market, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed announced on Tuesday.

Ahmed said the price of rice was expected to fall by 6 taka per kg as a result of the duty reduction, reports Xinhua news agency.

Owing to higher import duty placed in 2015 and 2016 in a bid to safeguard local farmers amid cheap prices from neighbouring countries, rice import dropped to a four-year low this year.

As the domestic rice market has again become volatile in the wake of reports that paddy production is likely to fall this year due to flash floods and rice blast disease, prices have begun to soar since April.

Against this backdrop, the Bangladeshi government has strengthened its efforts to build a buffer stock of rice through quick imports.

The Bangladeshi government last week decided to import rice from Vietnam for over 39 taka a kg.

The state-run Trading Corporation of Bangladesh reportedly recorded a 47 per cent hike in the prices of coarse rice this month compared to the same period last year.

Rising prices of food items, particularly staple rice, is a key concern for the government as nearly 31.5 per cent of its around 160 million people still live below the national poverty line.

--IANS

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The BJP's alliance partners in Assam - the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and Bodoland Peoples' Front (BPF) - have also decided to extend their support to the NDA's Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, it was announced on Tuesday.

"Our party has named Ram Nath Kovind as the Presidential candidate considering his distinguished political career. He also represents a backward community and we appealed all the 126 legislators in Assam to cast their votes to him," said state Health and Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma a press conference.

Water Resources Minister Keshab Mahanta of the AGP and BPF spokesman Biswajit Daimary were also present.

"Our party as a partner of the NDA government in Delhi and as a part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) alliancer has already decided to support the NDA's candidate for the Presidential polls," said Mahanta.

Similarly, Biswajit Daimary also announced his party's decision to support the NDA candidate and appealed to the other opposition parties to support the NDA's candidate.

--IANS

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As the Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming how we live, BlackBerry's 'Enterprise of Things' will now transform how we work as the Canadian company on Tuesday announced productivity and security enhancements to its enterprise software platform.

As part of "BlackBerry Secure" platform, BlackBerry "Enterprise Mobility Suite" provides secure, management policies and controls across key platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows 10, macOS, and Samsung Knox and device ownership models.

"The explosion of devices and consumer applications is making it increasingly difficult for enterprises to balance information security and compliance with productivity and connectivity," said Billy Ho, Executive Vice President of Enterprise Software at BlackBerry, in a statement.

"We offer a Unified Endpoint Management platform that lets companies secure and manage these devices, plus the associated applications. By making it easier to use, we are removing one of the biggest IT challenges  getting employees to use corporate applications," Ho added.

The solution can be delivered on premises, as a cloud service and now includes new features to improve productivity and security.

Consumers can manage and secure Microsoft Office 365 Mobile applications such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint from BlackBerry.

Users of "BlackBerry Access" will now be able to securely work with business data on their personal or BYOL (Bring-Your-Own-Laptop) Windows 10 and MacOS computers.

"BlackBerry Analytics" can now track daily and monthly active users, daily minutes used, usage by OS type and version, daily launch count and user engagement by feature.

BlackBerry has extended its endpoint management software capabilities to include modern workforce devices such as smart glasses. Applications specific to wearables can also be securely managed.
Union Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, along with secretaries of 30 central ministries, on Tuesday took stock of readiness for the launch of the GST regime from July 1, an official said.

According to a Finance Ministry release here, besides secretaries connected with the Goods and Services Tax (GST), representatives of 167 public sector undertakings (PSUs) joined the meeting through video conferencing.

"The focus of the review was on the progress made by PSUs in getting GST-ready and preparation in their IT system as well," it said.

"The Cabinet Secretary expressed his satisfaction over the preparedness of different ministries and PSUs but asked them to leave no stone unturned for its effective and smooth implementation by educating and involving all stakeholders concerned," it said.

Sinha asked "all involved to take full responsibility of their stakeholders and for the successful implementation of the GST," it added.

Other aspects discussed included the arrangements made by the departments for opening the GST facilitation cell and a call centre to guide client groups and vendors.

The Cabinet Secretary also asked the secretaries to organise outreach meetings and publicity campaigns through their departments and PSUs for explaining the provisions of new law and rules to their stakeholders.

The GST Council on Sunday unanimously agreed on a July 1 rollout of the new pan-India indirect tax regime despite some pending issues, while relaxing the return filing deadline for the first two months.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters here after the meeting that the Council has allowed businesses a relaxation of time for the first two months (July-August) for filing their returns. These would also need to submit only a simple declaration initially, and would have time to furnish the exact "invoice-by-invoice data" later.

--IANS

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China and South Korea voiced willingness to improve bilateral relations during a strategic dialogue between foreign ministries, media reports said.

China hoped South Korea would show political will and resolution, honour its commitment, and work together with China to properly handle relevant issues, to improve relations as soon as possible, said State Councilor Yang Jiechi while meeting with South Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam here on Tuesday.

Lim's visit comes at a crucial period of China-ROK relations, which have been severely affected by the deployment of the US Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, Xinhua new agecy reported.

Yang said that the two countries should stick to friendly cooperation, and respect each other's core interests and major concerns, while Lim cited South Korean President Moon Jae-in saying it hoped to improve relations with China.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the China-South Korea diplomatic relations. South Korea hopes to use the opportunity to strengthen communication and coordination with China, Lim said.

During the dialogue, the two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.

The two sides agreed to further enhance communication, expand cooperation and properly tackle with their differences, in a bid to promote the healthy and stable development of China-ROK relations.

--IANS

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Cuba's Foreign Minster Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said here that Cuba will never negotiate under pressure and would not make any concession to the US.

The visiting Cuban Foreign Minister made the remarks on Monday in response to US President Donald Trump's order of tighter restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba, Xinhua news agency reported.

US President Donald Trump's policy on Cuba is ill-advised and going back to the past failed policy, he said.

"Cuba will never negotiate under the pressure," he said, adding that the sovereignty and independence of his country must be respected.

The Cuban minster said but his country still needs to wait to analyze the negative effects of the Trump policy.

Cuba has the patience to normalize the relation with the United States, he said, questioning Trump's motivation of going back to the failed policy on Cuba.

The foreign minister called Trump's remark on Cuba was a "grotesque spectacle" straight out of the cold war and will strengthen patriotism in Cuba.

The new policy is not only a setback of the US policy on Cuba, but also would affect the US relationship with Latin America, he added.

President Trump last Friday ordered tighter restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba and prohibitions on America's business dealing with Cuba's military, rolling back parts of former president Barack Obama's Cuba policy, saying that easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people.

"When Cuba is ready to take concrete steps to these ends, we will be ready, willing, and able to come to the table to negotiate that much better deal for Cubans, for Americans," Trump said.

Rodriguez also said his country would not return the political refugees who had received the asylum from the Cuban government to the US, saying as the US has no legal or moral basis to demand that.

--IANS

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The death toll in the wildfire that devastated central Portugal has risen to 64, according to the latest assessment by the authorities.

They also said on Monday that 70 per cent of the fire that was raging since Saturday has been controlled, Efe news reported.

The official death toll was updated by a lieutenant of the Republican National Guard (GNR).

Portuguese Firefighters League President, Jaime Marta Soares, had confirmed a new death -- a 40-year-old firefighter who received severe burn injuries while trying to save people trapped in a burning vehicle.

Besides, another man was found dead in one of the villages affected by the blaze.

In a press conference, Portuguese Civil Protection Agency commander, Elisio Oliveira, said that the 30 per cent remaining blaze was still a cause of concern to the authorities.

The fire broke out on Saturday afternoon in Pedrogao Grande of Leiria district when lightning struck a dry tree, according to the authorities.

The blaze then spread out to the districts of Coimbra and Castelo Branco, while more than 2,000 staff was deployed in the area along with air support from fire fighting planes from Spain, France and Italy.--IANS

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The Amarinder Singh government in Punjab on Tuesday presented its maiden budget in the state assembly with total financial proposals of over Rs 1.18 lakh crore, placing emphasis on education and social sectors.

Presenting the budget, Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said, "The budget would benefit 99% of people in Punjab".

Under pressure from the opposition and in keeping with the Congress manifesto promise, Badal proposed an initial outlay of Rs 1,500 crore to waive off farm loans.

"The total outstanding debt of the state on March 31 was Rs 1,86,618 crore, including the informal debt of Rs 4,435 crore which has been raised by the state government through various agencies without the approval of the Government of India," Badal said.

"The previous government, while demitting office, left huge pending liabilities of Rs 13,039 crore for expenditure already incurred," Badal said.

He said, "This includes unpaid liability of Atta-Dal scheme of Rs 1,747 crore, Dearness Allowance of Rs 2,773 crore, and unpaid power subsidy amounting to Rs 2,342 crore. Bills amounting to Rs 7,791 crore lapsed on March 31 as the Treasury did not have funds to honour these bills."

The opposition Aam Aadmi Party, Shiromani Akali Dal and Bharatiya Janata Party dismissed the budget as "directionless".

They pointed out that the budget did not fulfil most of the promises made by the Congress before the assembly elections.

Badal announced 66% increase in agriculture sector spending, increasing the outlay from Rs 6,383.01 crore to Rs 10,580.99 crore.

"This is the first time in Punjab's history that the budget outlay for agriculture will exceed Rs 10,000 crore," Badal told the media after presenting the budget.

He proposed an allocation of Rs 10 crore to provide free smartphones to the youth.

Focusing on the creation of employment, the state finance minister stated that three lakh jobs would be created under the 'Shaheed Bhagat Singh Rozgar Sirjan Yojna-Apni Gadi Apna Rozgar Scheme' alone, following a tie-up with two private sectors majors Ola and Uber.
Egyptian military airstrikes killed 12 militants loyal to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Egypt's North Sinai province, the military spokesman said in a statement.

"Based on confirmed intelligence information on a gathering of members of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group in North Sinai, the airstrikes targeted their terror den, killing 12 highly dangerous leading members and destroying four vehicles belonging to them," military spokesman Tamer al-Refaay said in the statement on Tuesday.

Anti-government terror attacks in Egypt have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers since the mid-2013 military overthrow of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in response to mass protests against his one-year rule, Xinhua news agency reported.

Later security crackdown killed hundreds and detained thousands of Morsi's supporters while his Muslim Brotherhood group was blacklisted as "terrorist."

Sinai-based Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis group, which changed its name to Sinai State and declared loyalty to the IS, claimed responsibility for most of the terrorist attacks, including those against Coptic churches that killed dozens and wounded hundreds.

On Sunday, a roadside bomb attack targeted a police vehicle in Cairo, killed two officers and wounded three conscripts. Later on Monday, army raids in North Sinai killed three extremists and arrested 23 suspects.

Security campaigns in Sinai have killed hundreds of militants and arrested a similar number of suspects over the past few years as part of the country's anti-terror war declared by former army chief and current President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi following Morsi's removal.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
At least eight security guards of Bagram Air Base, the largest US military base in Afghanistan, were killed by Taliban militants while on their way to work, an official said on Tuesday.

The attack, in which two other guards were injured, took place on Monday night in Shahkoh village, in Parwan province, while they were on their way to the base, the official told Efe news.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement in which he accused the victims of spying for the US.

In November 2016, a suicide bombing inside the base killed four Americans and injured 17 people.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Frances newly-appointed Defence Minister and former MEP Sylvie Goulard on Tuesday resigned from Emmanuel Macrons government amid an investigation into the misuse of European parliamentary funds in her party, a media report said.

Goulard, who was appointed in May, has asked not to be considered as part of the new government after parliamentary elections delivered a landslide victory for Macron's Republique En Marche and her own MoDem party, the Financial Times reported.

The investigation centres around the misuse of MoDem's funds in the hiring of assistants in the European Parliament.

Goulard said her resignation was an act of "good faith" as the investigation overshadows her party.

"The President of the Republic is working to restore confidence in public action, reform France and relaunch Europe. This work should have precedence over any personal consideration," Goulard said in a statement.

"Defence is a demanding portfolio. The honour of our armies, that of the men and women who serve and put their lives in danger should not be mixed up in controversies that have nothing to do with them," she said.

Goulard served as an MEP in Parliament's liberal grouping Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) from 2009 to 2017.

Marielle de Sarnez, Minister for European Affairs in Prime Minister Edouard Philippe's government, is also targeted by the probe but has made no statement about her status in government, reports said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The new indirect tax regime -- The Goods and Services Tax (GST) -- will be launched at the midnight of June 30 in the Central Hall of Parliament in an hour-long event that will evoke memories of the "Tryst with Destiny" moment of 1947.

President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda will be among those who will attend the special event, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told a press conference here.

On the midnight of August 14-15, the country ushered in Independence from British rule with a special function in the Central Hall in which the first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, made his now famous speech "Tryst with Destiny".

"GST switch-over will happen from June 30 midnight. Late on June 30, a programme will be organised in the Central Hall where all Members of Parliament, state Finance Ministers, Chief Ministers and officials who assisted in (the rollout of) GST and chairpersons of the Empowered Committee will be present," he said.

"GST will be launched exactly at midnight," he said.

Acknowledging the role of previous governments in readying the GST, Jaitley said: "Many governments have played an important role. The UPA government announced GST in 2006 and the Constitutional amendment was introduced in 2011. GST was passed unanimously by Parliament in 2016."

Both the President and the Prime Minister will speak on the subject and two short films on GST will be screened in the Central Hall.

So far, apart from Kerala and Jammu and Kashmir, all the states have passed the State GST (SGST) law. Jaitley said that while Kerala will pass the SGST this week, the process was still on in Kashmir.

"If any state is left out of GST, the traders and consumers both will suffer. Traders will not get any input tax credit," he said.

Jaitley said since a two-month period relaxation had been given to traders in filing returns, businesses will get ample time to get ready for the new indirect tax system.

"In July and August, we have extended the date for filing the monthly returns. Industry and trade have to prepare themselves, it's not a very complicated system," he said.

"No one has any business not to be ready. Now the readiness will be determined by September 15 when the traders have to file the first return. If the trader will still not be ready, probably he doesn't want to be ready," he added.

Talking about the new indirect taxation system, Jaitley said that in the medium and long term, GST, being a more efficient system, will check tax evasion resulting in increase in revenues.

"States and Centre's revenue will increase. It should have positive impact on GDP. Size of formal economy should increase. In short term, there could be some challenges. But in the long run, the number of assesses will increase," he said.

Jaitley said till last week 65 lakh traders had registered themselves under GST.

--IANS

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(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.)
Munich-headquartered safety, quality and sustainability solutions company TUV SUD on Tuesday announced the appointment of India-born Ishan Palit as its global Chief Operating Officer.

The German company, in a statement, said this appointment marks the first time in the 150-year history of the TUV organisation that a non-German executive has been designated as member of the board of management.

According to the company, Palit will be responsible for operations and sales across all divisions and geographies, including the German market.

Mumbai-born Palit's career at TUV SUD spans 23 years, including the founding of the company's India subsidiary in 1994.

He studied in the US and the UK and holds a Bachelors Degree from Davidson College, US, a General Degree in Economics from the London School of Economics, UK, and a Masters in Business Administration from Georgia Southern University, US.

--IANS

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Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US, the Commerce Ministry on Tuesday said bilateral trade was a "win-win" situation for both the countries even though the balance of trade was not in America's favour.

The US had started a review of its trade policy with countries with which it has adverse trade balance, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia told the media here.

"India is 9th on that list... but we are confident that Indian exports to the US are a win-win for both the countries," she said.

"Our products are cheaper, while the Indian information technology supports the American industry to be much more competitive," she added.

The officer said that where the US government procurement rules required so, Indian companies, like in the pharmaceuticals sector, had set up plants in the US.

"On the other hand, many US companies find it profitable to serve from India and they have thus set up base here," Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, citing the latest agreement by a US major to manufacture fighter aircraft in India.

Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited on Monday signed an agreement to produce the F-16 Block 70 fighter jet aircraft in India.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Internationally acclaimed Indian actor Irrfan Khan is shooting in New York for his next Hollywood project "Puzzle".

Irrfan on Monday night shared a photograph on Twitter of himself along with the film's cameraman Chris Norr, who has been the director of photography for the 2012 British-American horror film "Sinister".

"With our cameraman Chris Norr at upper west New York shooting movie 'Puzzle' life of an actor. New York. Movie shooting," he captioned the image.

"Puzzle" will tell the tale of a 40-something woman who is consumed with caring for the men in her family. When she discovers she has a gift for assembling puzzles, her world begins to open up and her entire family is forced to adjust and grow as well.

The actor will be seen essaying the lead alongside actress Kelly Macdonald.

Irrfan was last seen onscreen in "Hindi Medium", a quirky tale which talks about how the education system is creating a divide in the society.

The film also featured Pakistani actress Saba Qamar in a pivotal role.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley left on a three-day visit to Russia on Tuesday to further the bilateral military ties between the two countries.

During his visit, Jaitley would co-chair two meetings: one with his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu and the other with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The Defence Minister's visit comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed St Petersburg Declaration for enhanced ties between the two nations.

Under the agreement, both India and Russia decided to upgrade and intensify military cooperation through joint manufacture, co-production and co-development of military hardware and military spares.

They also committed to increase reliance on the adoption and sharing of future technologies under the existing agreements on military-technical cooperation.

In line with the agreement, Jaitley would on Wednesday co-chair, along with Rogozin, the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology, a government statement said.

The newly-formed committee would discuss cooperation in high technologies during the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk, it added.

Jaitley would also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On Friday, he would co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with Shoigu.

"The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the statement said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kazakhstan is set to host the latest round of Syria peace talks on July 4 and 5 here, the Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.

The guarantor nations of talks - Russia, Turkey and Iran - are to discuss the situation in Syria and the implementation of ceasefire agreements reached at previous meetings, reports Efe news.

The ministry said the participants would coordinate the implementation of a memorandum establishing four de-escalation zones in Syria.

The memorandum aims to protect the civilian population and reduce tension between the rebels and government forces.

The fifth round of the Astana process had been scheduled for June 12 and 13 but was postponed by the decision of the guarantor states, who said they wanted more time to work out the details of the proposed safe areas.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Legal experts are divided whether celebrating Pakistan's victory over India in Champions Trophy final on Sunday attract sedition charges or not, with some holding that it is not crime while others term it an "anti-national" act.

The issue came into focus after at least 15 members of a community were arrested on sedition charges in Madhya Pradesh's Burhanpur district for celebrating Pakistan's victory against India.

Noted lawyer and human right activist Vrinda Grover said that the 15 people have not committed any crime under the Indian laws and described the police act as an abuse of power.

"This is clear case of the abuse of the power by the Madhya Pradesh Police. The accused did not commit any criminal offence," she said.

She said that there was no law and order problem over the celebration.

"The people were celebrating victory of another country. Police can only look into a crime and police are not inquired what people are doing or not," she said

But senior advocate Aman Lekhi referred the invocation of sedition charges as appropriate and necessary.

"The people were passionately and shamelessly celebrating victory of the hostile country. If the sedition will not slapped on the people like them, then it is worthless section," he said, holding police has taken right steps by arresting the people.

He said that act this sedition was added in the law to keep people disciplined and to show their commitment and loyalty towards the country.

As per Section 124 A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law will fall under sedition charges.

Whoever convicted under sedition charges shall be punished with imprisonment for life, fine or with imprisonment which may extend to three years.

Advocate Shailendra Babbar, who has appeared as public prosecutor in various cases in Delhi, termed the act of celebrating Pakistan's victory as "anti-national."

"The celebration with pro-Pakistan slogans has affected the society at large. the slogans was against the government establishment," he said.

However noted criminal lawyer M.S. Khan asked whether anyone celebrating the victory of England and Australia over India, will be booked under the same charges or not.

He said the expression related to celebrating victory of another country does not include the gradients of sedition charges -- "disaffection" and disloyalty".

The act also did not show hate towards the government established by law.

"Moreover it was a celebration," he said, adding that the act does not incite any violence in that locality.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The suspect in the north London mosque attack that killed one person has been identified as a resident of Cardiff, Wales, who had previously voiced his hatred for Muslims, the media reported.

According to witnesses, Darren Osborne, 47, shouted, "I want to kill all Muslims" as he drove a van in the early hours of Monday into a crowd of worshippers near the Finsbury Park Mosque on Seven Sisters Road, reports the Guardian.

One person died and 11 were injured; Osborne survived the attack and was arrested on suspicion of commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

Camera phone footage showed him being captured by worshippers, who attacked him as he screamed, "Kill me".

When he was eventually arrested and loaded into the back of a police van in handcuffs, he waved to the gathered crowd.

Osborne's neighbours in Pentwyn said that over the weekend, he had called a 12-year-old Muslim an "inbred" and was thrown out of a local pub for getting drunk, "cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage".

Neighbours in the Cardiff suburb where he had lived for several years described him as "aggressive" and "strange".

They told the Guardian that it was unclear what he did for work. Some said he was jobless, but bought and sold cars.

Osborne's mother, sister and nephew said in a statement: "We are massively in shock, it's unbelievable. It still hasn't really sunk in," reports the BBC.

According to the Metropolitan Police, there was no immediate evidence that Osborne was an active member of a far right organisation.

However, the incident is being treated as a terror attack.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said the suspect was not known to the security services, and was believed to have acted alone.

On Monday night, hundreds including religious leaders took part in a vigil.

After a short silence, chairman of the mosque Mohammed Kozbar told those gathered that the attack was "on our families, on our freedom, on our dignity", the BBC reported.

It is the fourth terror attack in the UK in three months, after incidents in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge.

Prime Minister Theresa May and opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn visited the mosque on Monday morning.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claims of arms being brought to Darjeeling from northeastern states and foreign countries a "serious issue", Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia on Tuesday demanded a probe to check for any internal security lapses.

"If the arms are coming to Darjeeling from the northeastern states then it is not just a state issue. It is a serious matter. What was the state government doing all this while? Were they sleeping?

"I have urged the Home Ministry to call an internal security meeting to check if there is really any case of internal security breach or not. Mamata Banerjee would also be called in the meeting," said the BJP lawmaker.

Referring to Banerjee's allegations of involvement of foreign countries in fueling the Darjeeling unrest, he claimed that the state took no initiatives to stop such infiltration or notify the Central government about it.

"She also claimed that the arms are coming through the international border. If there were infiltration, what initiatives did the state government take to stop it or notify the Centre about the same," he said.

Ahluwalia also accused Banerjee of shunning the possibility of a dialog between the central and state government representatives and the Gorkha leaders on the rising tension in the hills.

"The representatives of the central government, West Bengal government and agitating Gorkha leaders could sit together and discuss a possible solution in the hills. But Mamata Banerjee clearly declined to come to the meeting or send any representatives," he alleged.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actress Meghan Markle is keen to introduce her beau Prince Harry to her co-stars of "Suits" including on-screen fiance Patrick J. Adams.

The 35-year-old feels she has been "neglecting" her colleagues and so wants to bring her royal boyfriend to meet her cast mates.

"She was really upset about having to skip Patrick's wedding in December because she felt her presence would be too much of a media distraction on his big day," a source told express.co.uk.

"She's also been neglecting other on-set colleagues, so she's hoping to make amends by introducing them to Harry during an unofficial visit where everyone can relax and he can get to know her friends," the source added.

The seventh season of "Suits", which also stars Rick Hoffman and Gabriel Macht, will air in India on Comedy Central from July 12.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The stage has been all set for grand celebrations of the third edition of International Yoga Day on Wednesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath slated to lead thousands of yoga enthusiasts here.

The main event of the celebration is to be held in Lucknow's sprawling Ramabai Ambedkar Ground under a partly overcast sky. The Met Office, however, has forecast chances of rain are low.

Some 51,000 persons, including several dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, are expected to take part in the mass yoga demonstration in the Uttar Pradesh capital, where rehearsals have been going on for over a month.

Adityanath and Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik inspected the overall preparations, including the security arrangements, for the mega event, and attended full-dress rehearsals at the spruced up ground. Modi reached Lucknow on Tuesday afternoon.

According to private weather forecaster Accuweather, the sky will be "partly cloudy" and the mercury will hover between 28 and 30 degrees Celsius in Lucknow on Wednesday morning. The chances of rain are less as precipitation level will go down from 28 per cent to 20 per cent from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., but humidity will be around 80 to 90 per cent.

An ardent advocate of yoga, Modi during his monthly radio talk "Mann Ki Baat" had asked three generations of the families to do yoga together on the International Yoga Day -- observed globally on June 21. The United Nations declared it on December 11, 2014, following a resolution moved by India and co-sponsored by a large number of nations.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015.

Yoga day events will also be organised in all states with the Union Human Resource Development Ministry directing universities and educational institutions to ensure elaborate arrangements to mark the event.

Modi's ministers will also perform yoga asanas across the country.

While Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari will head the events in Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra respectively, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar will preside over the celebrations in Manipur.

Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu is scheduled to lead the event at the national capital where at least seven main events are being organised by civic bodies and yoga organisations.

In Delhi, the main event will be held at the Cannaught Place. All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will also hold an event to mark the day with faculty members and students performing yoga.

To familiarise citizens with yoga and its asanas, the Ayush Ministry had started one-month free yoga camp through the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy in almost every district of the country. The training programme started on May 21.

The central government has also launched a mobile application to enable people to share their day's experience with the ancient Indian practice of physical, mental and spiritual union.

Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan launched the 'Celebrating Yoga' app that also provides information to users about studies conducted on yoga by the ministry.

However, Wednesday being a working day, some may not be able to attend the mass yoga participation programmes.

Crediting the Modi government for popularising the practice across the globe, Yogoda Satsanga Society of India (YSSI) opined that the day should be celebrated on a Sunday instead of a working day.

"The government has of course done much to make it popular worldwide. Indian tradition of yoga is now recognised world over and millions of people practice it," YSSI Chairman told IANS.

He, however, suggested that it should not be done on a working day but on a Sunday either or before June 21. "This will enable the working population to participate."

The day will also be celebrated across the globe at Indian missions and other places. Some countries have already observed the day while others plan the celebrations in coming days as Wednesday is a working day.

Some 1,000 Chinese yoga practitioners are expected to celebrate the day in Beijing, following a week of events across the country.

India's Permanent Mission to the UN as well as the Indian Consulate have also planned several events to mark the day.

A "Yoga Session with Yoga Masters" is planned for Tuesday at the UN with mass participation of diplomats, staff and visitors.

New York's Times Square, billed as the crossroads of the world, is holding the annual "Mind over Madness Yoga" celebrations on Wednesday, which is the Summer Solstice in the northern hemisphere.

In Israel, a yoga event will be held at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv. Thousands are expected to join in.

The Indian High Commission in Trinidad and Tobago has already announced 12-day activities to mark the International Yoga Day, which includes 108 Surya Namaskars among others.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A forensic lab in Chandigarh has asked for the original device and tapes/discs used for recording Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's alleged threat to an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer in 2016.

The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Chandigarh on June 16 returned to Hazratganj Circle Police Officer Avinash Mishra, who is investigating the case, the compact disc (CD) recording of Mulayam Singh's alleged threat to IPS officer Amitabh Thakur.

On Tuesday, Mishra sent a letter to Thakur to provide for the CFSL the original recording device and the media (magnetic tapes/discs).

Earlier, in compliance with Lucknow Chief Judicial Magistrate Sandhya Srivastava's orders, Mishra had received the compact disc provided by Thakur from the court on June 12.

The CD was then sent through the Lucknow SSP to the CFSL for forensic analysis, which the lab returned on June 16 and sought the original device.

Lucknow police had filed a final report in the case, which the court quashed on August 20, 2016.

The court had then ordered for drawing voice samples of Thakur and Mulayam Singh Yadav and to get them compared with the voices on the CD from a forensic lab.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Nepal and China on Tuesday reiterated their traditional good neighbourly ties and pledged to further deepen bilateral cooperation in all fields.

The two neighbours, at the 11th meeting here of the Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism, recalled the time-tested friendship they have fostered.

"Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, China and Nepal have set a good example in forging ties between the countries of different sizes and different social systems," Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Beijing appreciates the Nepali government's adherence to the one-China policy, said Kong, adding that China will always support Nepal's efforts to safeguard its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Kong said China will continue to uphold the principle of non-interference in its internal affairs and is willing to provide assistance within its ability for Nepal's socio-economic development.

Regarding Nepal as an important partner in building the Belt and Road, Kong said that China is willing to align development strategies between the two sides and further deepen cooperation to create more opportunities for the development of the two sides.

Nepal's Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi said his country treats China as a great neighbour and a great friend, and the two countries have forged solid ties based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Bairagi said Nepal supports the Belt and Road Initiative and will take an active part in building the China-proposed initiative.

The two sides also explored the potential in cooperation in the fields, including high-level exchanges, trade and investment, communication and connectivity, energy and post-disaster reconstruction.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Newly appointed Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake on Tuesday hailed China's Belt and Road Initiative and said it would be advantageous for the island nation.

In an interview, Karunanayake said the Silk Road had been in existence for over 3,000 years and Sri Lanka was definitely going to be part of this ambitious project, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Sri Lanka is in a pivotal point," Karunanayake said, adding that with its strong geographical location in the Indian Ocean, the nation aimed to attract more investment and trade.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at building an infrastructure and trade network that spans the globe, linking Asia with Europe and Africa, along the ancient Silk Road trading routes.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rome, June 20 (IANS/AKI) Italian Police on Tuesday arrested a 25-year-old Nigerian accused of belonging to a gang that trafficked migrants from Libya to Italy and of their torture, rape and murder.

Police arrested John Ogais at the sprawling Cara 'Santa'Anna' shelter in the coastal town of Isola Capo Rizzuto in Calabria after he was identified by migrants who recently arrived on Italy's southern Lampedusa island.

Several migrants told police they were told at the camp where they were held in Libya that Ogais who called himself 'Rambo' had beaten two Nigeran migrants to death.

One of the migrants, a minor, was killed in front of his brother, who was forced to watch the murder while Ogais threatened him with a loaded pistol, according to witnesses.

"I know that my cousin and others tried to escape and that they were caught and subsequently died from the torture meted out to them," one of the migrants on Lampedusa was quoted as telling police.

Ogais and other traffickers tortured migrants in "countless" ways including with electric shocks and beatings on various parts of their bodies with rubber tubes, one of dozens of gang's alleged victims was cited as telling police.

The gang members also raped women migrants and imprisoned both sexes in squalid containers in the Libyan desert for many months, forcing them to pay thousands of euros to continue their journeys to Europe.

--IANS/AKI

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Heavy monsoon rains coupled with thunder and lightning on Monday claimed at least nine lives in several districts of West Bengal, police said.

Five persons from West Bengal's Hooghly district died after being struck by lightning while three more were injured, police said on

"Three people from Chinsurah and two more from Dhaniakhali died due to lightning. Three more from Chinsurah were also injured," Hooghly Superintendent of Police Sukesh Jain told IANS.

There were more deaths in East Burdwan district as heavy rains and lightning lashed the state on Monday evening.

"Two men have died in East Burdwan district's Jamalpur on Monday due to lightning," police said.

One more person died in North 24 Parganas due to the same reason.

Meanwhile, heavy rain and thunder showers are predicted for the next two days, said an official for the Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore.

"It will be cloudy all throughout and there will be rain in the next two days.

The maximum temperature will be around 30 degree Celsius with the minimum being 24 degrees," the official added.

Seasonal thunderstorm hit various parts of the state on Monday evening. There was waterloggging in some parts of south Kolkata throwing traffic out of gear.

However, citizens got a respite after week-long heat wave.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Actor Varun Dhawan has praised Southern star Prabhas and has labelled him as a "cool and down to earth" individual.

Varun on Tuesday shared a photograph of himself along with the "Baahubali: The Conclusion" star. In the image it can be seen that the "Main Tera Hero" actor is seen doing the iconic pose, where Katappa kills Baahubali in the first instalment of S.S. Rajamouli's magnum opus.

"'Baahubali'. (I) did only what Katappa did before this. Prabhas is really cool and down to earth, more power to him but i have got his sword now," Varun captioned the image.

"Baahubali 2: The Conclusion", is a 2017 Indian historical fiction film. It is the continuation of "Baahubali: The Beginning". It was originally made in Telugu and Tamil and dubbed into Hindi, Malayalam, German, French, Japanese and English.

The film also stars Anushka Shetty, Rana Daggubati and Sathyaraj in lead roles.

On the acting front, Varun is currently busy shooting for "Judwaa 2", directed by his father and veteran filmmaker David Dhawan. The film is a remake of the popular 1997 film "Judwaa" starring superstar Salman Khan.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute here has been selected as the first recipient of the Prime Minister's Award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of yoga.

The decision has been taken by the screening committee and evaluation committee for the awards that were constituted in 2016, according a statement released by the AYUSH Ministry on Tuesday.

The committees have selected the institute for its efforts in the field for over a period of four decades, it said.

Nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisement.

The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by the screening committee.

After considering all relevant facts and other inputs, the Jury recommended that the Award for the current year be given to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, the statement said.

On the occasion of the second International Day of Yoga celebrations at Chandigarh on in 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the institution of awards for the promotion of Yoga.

The AYUSH Ministry had developed the guidelines for the awards.

--IANS

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Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice C.S. Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, said a senior police official.

"He was arrested somewhere in Coimbatore about an hour ago," senior West Benga Police official Raj Kanojia told IANS.

Coimbatore is around 500 km from here.

However the official declined to answer queries as to other persons who were staying with Karnan.

According to reports reaching here, the former judge will be brought here and then taken to Kolkatta.

Karnan, who was eluding arrest for more than a month, retired from service, a few days back. According to police sources, he was picked up on a tip-off about his location.

--IANS

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South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday condoled the death of a US student who was released by North Korea less than a week ago.

Moon sent a consolation letter to the family of Otto Warmbier, 22, who passed away within days of his release, Xinhua news agency reported.

Moon's spokesman Park Soo-hyun told the media that the President expressed regrets for the US university student's death in the letter sent to the Warmbier family.

The University of Virginia student was held prisoner in North Korea while travelling.

Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 for allegedly trying to steal an item showing a propaganda slogan, and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in March.

Following a series of diplomatic contacts with Washington, Pyongyang released Warmbier, who was in coma.

Moon took the opportunity to urge Pyongyang to return other South Korean and US citizens held there, vowing to make all-out efforts for their release.

Moon's comments came ahead of his June 29 visit to Washington for his first two-day summit meeting with US President Donald Trump.

--IANS

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In a major relief to the ruling NDA, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday declared its support to Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ram Nath Kovind in the Presidential election.

The decision was announced by Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray after a crucial 90-minute meeting with his senior party leaders at his Bandra home.

"We are supporting Ram Nathji's candidature and our best wishes are with him," Thackeray told a crowded media conference.

--IANS

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After keeping ally BJP in suspense for 24 hours, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind was a "good choice" and extended full support to his candidature for the July 17 election.

The Sena, however, reiterated that Sena's "first choice" for next President was Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, followed by agro-scientist M.S. Swaminathan.

With its decision on support, the Sena thus joins the National Democratic Alliance ranks for the first time in 15 years in a presidential election, after acting tough for a couple of months in the run-up to the election to the top elected post in the country.

"The (support) decision was taken unanimously by party leaders. We fully support Ram Nathji's candidature and our best wishes are with him," Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray told the media after a 90-minute party meeting at his Bandra home this evening.

He said the Sena was not opposed to the candidacy of Kovind whom he dubbed a "good choice". The Sena leader said he hoped Kovind will do well for the country's people as the next President.

The BJP's oldest ally had last voted with the NDA in 2002 when it extended support to the candidature of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was elected the President.

Subsequently, in 2007, the Sena supported Congress's Pratibha Patil, and Pranab Mukherjee in 2012, with both entering the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Thackeray said it was wrong to suggest that the Sena had always adopted a confrontationist stance towards the Bharatiya Janata Party on all issues.

"That is not our style. But wherever we don't agree with the BJP, we will oppose them," the Sena leader said.

As for senior Congress leaders Meira Kumar and Sushilkumar Shinde, who both hail from the Dalit community, as presidential candidates, Thackeray said since their names are being discussed only, it would be pointless to comment.

"Bhagwat is nowhere in the reckoning now. (BJP President) Amit Shah informed me on Sunday that in view of Swaminathan's advanced age (he will turn 92 in August) and frail health, it was not possible to propose his name," Thackeray said.

There was no official reaction from the BJP on the promised Sena support till late night.

--IANS

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When the Jammu and Kashmir Police killed a top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, Junaid Mattoo, and his associate in Arwani village of south Kashmir on June 16, no one would have thought that retaliation would come the very same day.

In what seemed to be a reprisal attack, LeT militants attacked a police jeep and killed SHO Feroz Ahmad Dar along with his five associates, and disfigured their bodies.

But intelligence reports have a different story to tell.

According to intelligence sources, the police party was led to a "well planned trap" that was brutally executed by the LeT militants with the help of local over-ground workers or OGWs.

"Dar had also received a threat to his life a few days back from some OGWs but he didn't pay heed to that", sources privy to the development said. The movement of SHO Dar and his escort was conveyed to the militants by local sympathisers and the department was in the process of identifying them, the sources told IANS.

"It looks like a conspiracy hatched by LeT Commander Bashir Lashkar and the local OGWs to eliminate the 'people friendly officer'," Senior Superintendent of Police in Anantnag, Zubair Khan, told IANS over phone.

Deputy Inspector General of south Kashmir S.P. Pani too seconded the views of SSP Khan and said the culprits would be nabbed soon.

"We are looking into the conspiracy that was hatched between Lashkar and its associates and, more importantly, we are investigating what was the intention -- the motive behind this attack," DIG Pani told IANS over phone.

So who was Feroz Ahmed Dar?

In 2010, when the Valley was burning amid the Hurriyat headed unrest, Dar of the Sangam area of south Kashmir joined the Jammu and Kashmir Police as sub-inspector. A year later, he got married. He has two daughters, Addah (5) and Simran (3).

Amidst the tragedy, the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti misinformed the assembly on June 17 about his status. Expressing "pain" over the killing of six policemen in Anantnag, Mehbooba Mufti regretted that the slain SHO was a "bachelor who died so young before his marriage." The chief minister, who also holds the home ministry portfolio, should have known better.

For fellow police officers, Dar was a person of integrity who had looked for out-of-the-box solutions for everything. Senior Police officers remember Dar as an outstanding officer who had built good relations with locals and was effective in containing the situation in the area last July.

"Feroz had solution to everything and he was a people-friendly officer. It was because of his close rapport with locals that he managed to keep Achabal calm in last year's unrest," said DIG Pani.

Sources said that the Dar-led police team had been busy all day dealing with the law and order situation in the town, sparked by the encounter where three Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants, including its commander Matto, were killed in Arwani village of south Kashmir.

According to the police, as Dar was travelling back to Achabal, local OGWs tipped the LeT Commander Lashkar, who along with "10-15 militants" laid an ambush near the Thajwari area of the town.

"As the police party travelling in non-bullet proof car reached the area, stone pelting halted them. The policemen got down to chase the stone-throwers. To their surprise, they faced a volley of bullets from all sides," sources said.

The ambush by the militants killed Dar and five policemen -- Sheraz Ahmad Bhat, Tasweer Ahmad Dar, Sharik Ahmad Lone, Sabzar Ahmad Cheek and Mohd Arif Zazikee.

"There are conflicting reports about the number of militants... we say about 4 or 5, but some say there were 10 to 15. So we will explore who were the other people," DIG Pani said.

Five AK-47s, 18 magazines and one pellet shotgun were taken away from the dying policemen. "We are going to track the killers," Director-General of Police S.P. Vaid said.

(Aadil Mir can be reached at aadil.hussain@ians.in)

--IANS

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At least 17 people were killed in a car bomb explosion in Somalia's capital on Tuesday in an attack that was claimed by the Al-Shabaab terror group.

The explosion took place outside a government office in Wadajir district, and several ambulances attended to the wounded and transferred them to hospital, Efe news reported.

Police sources did not rule out an increase in the death toll due to the large number of those seriously injured.

This is the second attack against civilians since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Last Wednesday, 25 people were killed in another attack by the same group at a popular restaurant, where the assailants barricaded themselves along with dozens of hostages for several hours.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who will be seen alongside Anushka Sharma in "Jab Harry met Sejal", will release the films first song, titled "Radha", here in the presence of a few girls named Sejal.

The makers of the Imtiaz Ali directorial had initiated a contest that would result in the actor visiting the city that has the majority of girls named Sejal -- Anushka's character in the film, read a statement.

While Ahmedabad emerged as the winner, Shah Rukh will visit the city on Wednesday to meet the girls and to release the first track of the film.

The film stars Shah Rukh as a Punjabi, named Harinder Singh Nehra.

It is slated to release on August 4.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Indian government on Tuesday extended the visa of self-exiled Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen by another year.

The 55-year-old, who is now also a citizen of Sweden, had received a one-year extension on her visa in 2016 as well. Her Indian visa has been extended continuously since 2004.

"Tasleema Nasreen's visa has been extended for a year with effect from July 23 following her request," a Home Ministry official told IANS.

Nasreen has been living in India since she left Bangladesh in a cloak of secrecy in 1994 in the wake of threats to her by fundamentalists who objected to "obscene content" in one of her books. She has also stayed in the US and Europe in the last two decades.

Nasreen has also applied for permanent residency in India but no decision has been taken on it by the Home Ministry.

The writer has expressed a desire to live in India, especially in West Bengal, citing the cultural and linguistic similarities and the state's proximity with Bangladesh. She was forced to leave Kolkata in 2007 following street protests by a section of Muslims.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two naval personnel were killed and three others injured when militants attacked their vehicle in Pakistan's Balochistan province, the media reported.

The incident took place on Monday evening when four militants on two motorbikes ambushed the vehicle in Gwadar district's Jiwani city and opened fire, senior security officials told Dawn news.

One victim died on the spot while one succumbed to injuries in a hospital on Monday night.

Balochistan Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri condemned the incident and said: "We will not bow down before the terrorists."

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
With the balance between children's screen time and other activities going for a toss in more and more homes, a group in the US state of Colorado has for the first time sought ban on sale of the device to those below the age of 13.

Tim Farnum, founder of the non-profit group Parents Against Underage Smartphones, or PAUS, is leading the charge on a proposed ballot initiative in Colorado that would be the first of its kind in the country, USA Today reported on Monday.

Farnum's proposal follows news that children as young as 13 are now being treated for excessive use of smartphones and video games at a facility in the US. The reSTART Life Center near Seattle helps youngsters with addiction to digital technology, including video games, Sky News reported in April.

The PAUS proposal would ban the sale of smartphones to kids younger than 13, or more likely to parents who intend to give the smartphone to kids in that age bracket, the report said.

Looking at his own children struggling with the psychological effects of always having such devices in hand, Farnum believes that smartphone apps are designed to be addictive, which is not a good thing for children.

The proposal would require retailers to submit reports to the state government verifying that they had inquired, before selling the smartphone, about who was intended to use it.

It also wants to penalise those retailers who repeatedly sell phones to be used by young children.

PAUS's proposal is still a long way off from becoming reality and it would have to gather nearly 300,000 signatures required to get on the ballot in November 2018, the report said.

Experts have long warned about the adverse effects of excessive phone use. A top addiction therapist in Britain recently said that giving children smartphones is akin to "giving them a gram of cocaine".

"I always say to people, when you're giving your kid a tablet or a phone, you're really giving them a bottle of wine or a gram of coke," Mandy Saligari, a Harley Street rehab clinic specialist, was quoted as saying by The Independent.

But despite the relevance of Farnum's proposal, many have already expressed displeasure with the idea. Their primary argument is that it is up to parents to decide whether their kids would use smartphone or not.

Colorado Senator John Kefalas, D-Fort Collins, was quoted as saying that while he understands the reasoning behind the proposed law, he thinks it oversteps the government's role into private family life.

"Frankly, I think it should remain a family matter," he said.

Enforcing the proposed law could also present a logistical nightmare, he observed.

--IANS

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The US imposed additional sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine, blacklisting 38 individuals and entities, the US Treasury Department said.

The targeted individuals and entities include an entity that has engaged in the evasion of existing sanctions, two Russian government officials and two individuals acting for or on behalf of a government official, the Treasury Department said in a statement on Tuesday.

The blacklist also includes two entities that are owned or controlled by an individual previously designated, and 11 individuals and entities that operate in the Crimea region, Xinhua news agency reported.

As a result of the move, any property or interest of the designated persons in the US will be blocked and transactions by Americans involving these persons are generally prohibited.

"These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution," said Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

"This administration is committed to a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, and there should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements," he said.

The move by the Trump administration came days after US Senate passed new sanctions on Russia, a strong congressional response to alleged Russian meddling of the 2016 US presidential election.

On Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said new US sanctions against Russia, if implemented, will harm bilateral relations between the two countries.

"This will not lead to a deadlock and a collapse ... but will certainly complicate Russia-US relations. I think this is harmful," Putin was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying.

--IANS

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Union minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday reached out to more parties, seeking their support for NDA's presidential poll candidate Ram Nath Kovind.

Naidu spoke to former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular leader H.D. Deve Gowda, DMK leader M.K. Stalin, PMK leader Anbumani Ramdoss and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, who extended her party's support to the NDA candidate.

Gowda said that party president and his son H.D. Kumaraswamy was away on a tour and on his return the matter will be discussed.

Stalin and Ramdoss too said that the issue will be discussed among the leadership of their parties.

Naidu met Indian National Lok Dal chief and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and he responded positively, said informed sources.

Naidu also spoke to Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states and of allied parties, requesting them to be present at the time of filing of nomination by Kovind on June 23.

He also spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik. While thanking him for his party's support to Kovind, Naidu invited him to be present during the filing of nomination to which he agreed.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A day after saying it shared India's concern about terrorism, China on Tuesday said it still had issues in declaring Pakistani militant Masood Azhar as an international terrorist.

This is a clear signal from Beijing that it will again block New Delhi's move to act against the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief.

"At present, some members still have a disagreement over the listing matter," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.

Beijing has in the past vetoed India's proposal at the UN Security Council to add Azhar to the list of international terrorists, citing lack of solid evidence against the JeM chief who is accused of plotting the terror attack on the IAF base at Pathankot.

"We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld," Geng said.

"China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue."

Beijing's reaction comes a day after India and China expressed growing concerns over terrorism and forged consensus with BRICS countries to step up the fight against terrorism.

At the BRICS Foreign Ministers meet on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China was a victim of terrorism and shared India's concern.

Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh said India and China agreed that terrorism posed a challenge to the whole world.

The issue of Azhar has caused friction between India and China, whose ties have taken a hit over a host of issues.

(Gaurav Sharma is the Beijing-based correspondent of IANS. He can be contacted at sharmagaurav71@gmail.com and gauravians@yahoo.com)

--IANS

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Cholera has claimed over 1,146 lives since April 27 in the war-torn Yemen, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.

"Since the beginning of the outbreak, 166,976 suspected cases and 1,146 deaths have been reported from 20 of the country's 23 governorates," the WHO said.

Last month, the WHO said the number of suspected cases could reach 300,000 in the next six months.

The organisation warned that the healthcare system in Yemen is on the verge of collapse as many hospitals have shut down because of the ongoing conflict. It said only 45 per cent of them are still operational and they are facing a shortage of supplies and staff.

Two-thirds of the total population, around 19 million, need humanitarian and protection aid.

About 10.3 million people are close to famine and 14.5 million lack access to safe drinking water.

The war has so far killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, and displaced over two million others, according to humanitarian agencies.

--IANS

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Opposition and govt supporters now communicate in guerilla warfare mode T C A Srinivasa-Raghavan

Govt should reduce its dependence on social media and revert, if not wholly then in large measure, to older forms of communication, at least on ...
Nearly all major Gorkha political parties on Tuesday united escalate their demand for Gorkhaland. They also decided to pull out of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA)  a semi-autonomous body created in 2011, allowing limited local autonomy.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Tuesday averred that there is no better candidate than Ram Nath Kovind for the post of President.

Asserting that Kovind is a man of experience and is highly knowledgeable, Swamy rubbished reports that the former was elected for the coveted post for the fact that he is a Dalit.

"There is no better candidate than him. He is well versed with the Constitution of India. I don't think he was picked because he was a Dalit. He has a lot of experience and knowledge," said Swamy.

Earlier on Monday, BJP president Amit Shah announced the name of Kovind as NDA's consensus candidate for the post of President of India.

Subramanian Swamy

Kovind before leaving for New Delhi yesterday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and thanked the people of Bihar for their support.

Following the announcement, Prime Minister Modi reached out to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to seek the grand old party's support for Kovind.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswamy over NDA's presidential candidate pick.

PM Modi said that Kovind will make an exceptional President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.

However, the decision did not go down well with some of the political parties with Congress alleging that the announcement was made without taking the grand old party into confidence while BJP's ally Shiv Sena termed it a political move to lure vote bank.

Joining the critics of NDA's Presidential nominee, Shiv Sena said it would not extend its support if the Centre is eyeing a vote bank by nominating a Dalit face for the upcoming Presidential polls.

"If someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said.

Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee didn't seem happy with the Kovind's candidature.

She said that someone of the stature of President Pranab Mukherjee or even External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj or BJP veteran L K Advani may have been made the candidate.

The decision, however, was welcomed by some of the political leaders including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

Nitish Kumar expressed his happiness that the Bihar Governor would be the NDA's candidate for the Presidential elections. He, however, said a detailed discussion would be held on the matter within the JD (U).

Kovind belongs to the Dalit community Koli and had worked extensively in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and also has the backing of BJP's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

A lawyer by profession, Kovind had also been BJP Scheduled Caste Morcha chief (1998-2002) and president of the All-India Koli Samaj.

The election for the next President of India is to be held on July 17 as President Pranab Mukherjee will demit the office on July 24.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the notification in this regard and the process of the nomination has started that will continue till June 28.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said that he is "personally happy" with Governor Ram Nath Kovind's name being announced as the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate. Kumar, however, remained non-committal on whether the Janata Dal (United), also known as the JD(U), would support Kovind's bid.
The Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), is likely to vote for the Democratic Alliances (NDAs) candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, Bihar Governor and Dalit leader, for the presidential election.
According to BJPs arithmetic, Democratic Alliance candidate Ram Nath Kovind currently has over 60 per cent support in the presidential electoral college of 1,098,903 votes. The electoral college comprises elected members of the two houses of Parliament and elected legislators of 31 assemblies (including Delhi and Puducherry).There are indications that many from the Opposition ranks might announce their support to Kovind in the coming days. The unity of 17 Opposition parties, who met for a lunch that Congress president Sonia Gandhi hosted on May 26 to discuss the issue, is set to break.Here is how parties stand in their support to Kovind's candidature:
Naming Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the Bharatiya Janata Partys (BJP's) official nominee for the July 17 Presidential poll has provided a perfect prelude to amplify the impact of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit to starting today.
An FIR has been lodged against eight engineers of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department in connection with alleged financial anomalies in the Gomti river front project, a pet initiative of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

The FIR was lodged at Gomti Nagar police station last night, hours after the state government yesterday made clear that it will "not hesitate" in registering complaint against officials involved in committing financial anomalies in the Rs 1,513 crore project.

Notably, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had order a high-level probe during a review meeting on April 1 after it was found that only 60 per cent work on the project was complete even as 90 per cent of the funds were exhausted.

"An FIR was registered against eight engineers of irrigation department late last night for their alleged role in anomalies during the execution of the Gomti river front project. The FIR was filed by an executive engineer of Sharda Project at Gomti Nagar police station for misappropriation of funds and other financial anomalies," Circle Officer of Gomti Nagar, Satyasen, told PTI today.

He said the officials against whom FIRs were lodged, were posted as chief engineers and superintendent engineers.

"Case has been lodged under various sections of the IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act for committing financial anomalies and misappropriation of funds," Satyasen said.

SHO Gomti Nagar Sujit Dubey said the officials against whom FIR has been lodged will be arrested soon.

"We are collecting evidences against them," he added.

Yesterday, while speaking to PTI, UP minister of state for urban development Girish Kumar Yadav had said, "A few days back, the probe report was submitted to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. As far as CBI probe is concerned, all necessary steps will be taken and appropriate action will be initiated."



"If there is any need to lodge an FIR, the government will not hesitate in doing so. None of the guilty persons will be able to escape the clutches of law and stringent action will be taken against them," Yadav had said.

The river front has witnessed a political showdown between the erstwhile Samajwadi Party regime in the state and the present Adityanath government.

It had become a major issue during the recent Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.

On April 1 the chief minister had ordered an inquiry by a retired High Court judge into the project. He had instructed chief secretary Rahul Bhatnagar to constitute a committee and also directed for submission of the report within 45 days.

Adityanath had also directed the urban development minister and the irrigation minister Dharmpal Singh to monitor the development work at the Gomti river front.

During the meeting, officials had told the chief minister that of the total allocation of Rs 1,513 crore, 95 per cent of the budget, which comes to around Rs 1,435 crore had already been spent, while only 60 per cent of the work could be completed.

Adityanath had directed the officials to ensure that no effluent should flow in Gomti river and ordered expeditious diversion of drains releasing effluents and polluted water in it.

He had remarked that till the time the river water becomes pollution-free, its beautification would hold no meaning.

He had also expressed his unhappiness that the river water was so much polluted that it was very difficult to even stand at the river front and said, "In such a scenario, a fountain on Gomti river was useless."



Gomti river, meandering through the 940-kilometre stretch of rich alluvial plains of Uttar Pradesh, is polluted by industrial effluents and domestic discharge.

The river becomes more of a flowing dumping yard for the 15 smaller and bigger towns, including Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Lucknow, Sultanpur and Jaunpur, in its catchment area.

The major sources of pollution in the Gomti are industrial waste from sugar factories and distilleries and sewage from habitations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Aiming to contain the activities of gangsters, drug smugglers and criminals, eight nothern states in an inter-state coordination meeting discussed ways to effective share information including a common database on offenders.

This meeting was held here today under the chairmanship of Rohit Choudhary, Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Punjab and was attended by the senior officers from eight states.

Choudhary said the meeting was fruitful and the participating officers discussed and deliberated on how to tackle crime through concerted efforts to nab the offenders.

It was concluded to form a joint group and hold inter- state coordination meeting quarterly, he added.

Addressing participants, the Director General of Police, Punjab, Suresh Arora said the objective of the meeting was to ensure peace, law and order with the mutual coordination of police forces of different states and agencies.

Arora said that sharing information and exchange of dossiers would also help in solving various cases and find absconding lawbreakers as well as wanted criminals.

To tackle the increasing interstate crime regular sharing of information and improving the response on information shared were also discussed in this meeting.

The meeting was attended by Kuldip Sihag IGP, Haryana, Ram Kumar IG, UP, Ridhim Aggarwal, SSP (STF), Uttarakhand, Harendra Kumar, SP, Rajasthan, Khushal Sharma, SP, Himachal Pradesh, Madhur Verma, DCP, Crime, New Delhi, R K Jaiswal, IGP, Punjab and other officers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Union minister S S Ahluwalia today called for a "high-level" probe into the alleged police firing in Darjeeling in which three people were killed and demanded compensation from the state government for the victims' families.

The BJP MP from Darjeeling termed as "unpardonable" the firing on unarmed people who were protesting peacefully and asked if all other steps to control the agitation were used under the law before giving the firing orders.

"The killing of unarmed protesters is unpardonable. There should be high-level probe into the incident. There should be action against the officials who are responsible for the deaths," he told reporters at a press conference here.

Ahluwalia said three people were killed in the police firing on Saturday.

He accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of not taking cognisance of the incident and "not even expressing condolence" over the incident or help the family of the deceased.

"She should behave like a chief minister of the state, not a TMC (Trinamool Congress) leader," he said.

Security forces are patrolling the streets and an internet ban is in effect in Darjeeling, where people, mainly Gorkhas, are protesting for a separate Gorkhaland.

An all-party meet convened by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will also chalk out the "next course of action" as the indefinite shutdown crippled normal life in the district for the sixth consecutive day today.

Ahluwalia alleged that the present crisis in Darjeeling was triggered after West Bengal chief minister said that Bengali would become mandatory in schools there.

He claimed that a large section of Nepali and Santhali speaking population of Darjeeling have reservations over the move.

Terming as "violation of human rights" a ban on use of internet, the BJP MP said the ban was adversely impacting the students, particularly those preparing for competitive examinations, and small traders, among others.

He alleged that Banerjee was filing FIRs against the entire population of Darjeeling and whoever said that "I am Gorkha and I am fighting for my identity".

Asked why he has not visited Darjeeling, he said, "When I am speaking from here (Delhi), Bannerjee is saying that central ministers are fanning the violence, think what she would say if I go there."



Asked about the BJP's stand on the demand for separate state of Gorkhland, Ahluwalia said, "The BJP promised in its election manifesto of 2014 that it will sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demands of the Gorkhas, the Adivasis and other people of Darjeeling district and the Dooars region. We stand by it."



He said that it is a 110-year-old demand and a solution cannot be delivered overnight.

"There is a procedure that has to be followed and the West Bengal government should prepare a political environment for the purpose," he added.

Ahluwalia said that it seems, Bannerjee has forgotten that she was dealing with Gorkhas, who are known for their valour and loyalty.

"It was shameful that Banerjee and her administration has treated them like insurgents and terrorists, choosing to use live bullets instead of using other way and means to control the crowd," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A final decision on the revival plan for debt-laden Air India is likely to take some more time as the civil aviation ministry has voiced concerns over the proposal to privatise the national carrier, says an official.

The plan for revival would be taken up by the Cabinet only after various issues, including the concerns raised by the parent ministry, are resolved, a senior finance ministry official said today.

Surviving on taxpayers' money, Air India has been in the red for long and various proposals, including government think tank Niti Aayog's suggestion for complete privatisation, have been made.

The civil aviation ministry has however voiced concerns over privatising the airline citing issues such as those related to debt burden, proposed voluntary retirement scheme for employees and fleet, he said.

While discussions are still going on, at least two different views have emerged within the government with respect to stake sale in the airline.

One view is that the government should offload majority stake in the airline and retain the minority stake as well as the Air India logo, the official said.

This could be done after taking over a portion of its debt, he added.

Another idea being floated is for minority stake sale by the government and then work on ways to address the debt woes, including by way of selling the airline's assets.

The aviation ministry is in favour of reviving the airline, which has debt of more than Rs 52,000 crore, but not keen on majority stake sale, the official noted. It is surviving on a Rs 30,000-crore bailout package extended by the previous UPA government in 2012.

As part of efforts to reduce its debt, the government might also nudge LIC and other public sector enterprises to buy certain non-core assets of Air India.

The larger question before the government is whether there is a need for a state-owned carrier and if it is to be there, whether the current operational structure should be revamped or not, the official said.

Besides, he said, there would be problems in attracting buyers for the airline as there are not too many deep-pocketed domestic entities and stake sale to a foreign investors could trigger a lot of opposition.

The matter relating to Air India is now at the level of Prime Minister's Office (PMO) and once the issues are resolved between the ministries, the final proposal would be taken to the Cabinet, the official said.

It would take a few more weeks before the plan is finalised, he added.

Earlier in the day, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said inter-ministerial consultations on the future course of action for Air India have been completed, and the Cabinet would decide on how best to move forward.

Recently, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said the aviation ministry has to explore all possibilities "as to how the privatisation of Air India can be done".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Australia's military today said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces.

"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Feroz Abdul Rashid, one of the six convicts in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case today pleaded with an anti-terror court today to spare him from the noose and award life term instead.

"I don't want death (capital punishment) I want life (imprisonment) so that my children can see me sometime," Feroz told made a fervent plea to the court with folded hands and sobbing uncontrollably while pleading for mercy from the Special Judge GA Sanap of TADA court.

He told the court that if sentenced to life term, he would neither seek remission (of his sentence) nore parole or furlough (release from prison for some days).

Feroz's lawyer was examining him to highlight the mitigating circumstances of his case to invoke court's leniency in sentencing.

Advocate Wahab Khan had filed an application yesterday saying that he wants to examine three witnesses including Feroz himself.

"I don't belong (to the place) where I am (at present)," Feroz told the court while terming his conviction as 'harsh.'



He said he cannot eat properly and is on the 'verge of a disaster and about to collapse.'



"I want to look after my kids and be with my father," he said.

He also told the court that he has completed a course which is equivalent to Class XII and did a course on human rights. He said that he was one of the topper of the Gandhi Peace Examination which was conducted in the jail.

"I could not complete my studies as I was shifted from the Arthur Road Jail to Taloja jail," Feroz told the court.

He said that during his arrest in 2010 he had dependent parents, wife and children and said that after his arrest his family was facing severe financial crisis.

Feroz said that after his arrest his mother had started tailoring work and his father, who had retired from Navy, used to get pension of Rs 6,000.

He also said his wife started earning by applying mehandi on tourists in Dubai.

He said it is about seven and half years since he is in prison but his children don't know about his incarceration and they believe that he would return home some day.

He added that the society had outcast him and his family after his arrest.

Feroz told the court that he at the time of his arrest was diabetic and now he has become type-II diabetes.

"My eyesight and bones have become weak," Feroz said.

When judge Sanap said he took care of the accused during the trial Feroz replied 'aage bhi khayal rakhiye' (please continue to take care of us in future too).

He also said that he has taught English to around 8 to 10 inmates while in the jail and has also helped many inmates in drafting court related papers.

"I have advised people in jail to mend their ways and to do good for others," Feroz said.

He said on his advise a person charged with molestation went to the victim and apologized for his crime after which he was acquitted and presently he was working with Merchant Navy.

Feroz said he was in Mumbai during Babri Masjid demolition, Mumbai riots and the 1993 blasts.

Feroz relied on a confession given by another accused that he refused to go to Pakistan, showed repentance and his plea to turn approver which was later rejected should be seen as a mitigating circumstance for showing leniency to him.

Meanwhile, special CBI counsel Deepak Salvi told the court that he would go through Feroz's statement and would decide if he needed to be cross-examined.

The court also issued summonses to two other witnesses called by Feroz.

The court on Friday had convicted six persons including Mustafa Dossa, one of the masterminds of the conspiracy, and the extradited gangster Abu Salem, 24 years after the serial blasts that killed 257 people in the country's financial capital Mumbai.

In the first phase of the trial which concluded in 2007, the court had convicted 100 accused.

The trial of Salem, Dossa, Karimullah Khan, Feroz Khan, Riyaz Siddiqui, Tahir Merchant and Abdul Qayyum was separated because they were arrested later.

While Qayyum was acquitted due to lack of evidence, Siddiqui was convicted under TADA for helping Salem and others with transportation of arms.

The other five were convicted for being party to the criminal conspiracy along with other offences under the IPC, TADA, Explosives Act.

The court absolved all seven of the charge of 'waging the war against the state.

The prosecution yesterday had told the court that it would seek the maximum punishment under the law for the six persons convicted last week in the 1993 serial blasts case.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The CPI today blamed the BJP and the TMC for a violent agitation in the Darjeeling hills for a separate state and demanded that the West Bengal government and the Centre initiate talks to address the issue.

"We do not support the demand for a separate state. It will be too small a place. Their issues were resolved by autonomous district councils... When the Left Front was in power," CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told PTI here.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee "unnecessarily created an atmosphere that she is going to accept their demands" and the BJP indulged in politics over the issue to bag the Darjeeling Lok Sabha seat, he alleged.

He said the two parties were responsible for the current situation. "At this juncture, this issue can be settled only through negotiations."



"We appeal to Gorkha people to see reason and come to the negotiating table," he said.

The primary responsibility to address the issue lies with the West Bengal government but the BJP should also do its bit as it gave "false hopes", Reddy said.

"Generally, it is the state (responsibility). But, the BJP and party MP SS Ahluwalia ... Gave them hopes.

"So, they should also see to it that the issue is resolved. They are responsible for the fire in Darjeeling," the CPI leader said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The decomposed body of a Dalit girl missing for five days was today found from a field at Jalalpur Kalan village in the district here, the police said, adding that three men were arrested for killing her and burying the body in the field.

She was attacked with sharp weapons, the police said.

According to the Sadar police, the girl, aged 16 of 17, had gone missing from her house at New Shivpuri Colony, near the railway station, five days ago.

Her brother told the police that on the night of June 15, his sister left home with two persons -- Shubham and Deepak -- both residents of Jind, who approached her saying a 'jagran' (religious gathering) was being organised at nearby Dumrakhan Kalan village.

When she did not come back home, the family members asked Shubham about her whereabouts. Shubham told them that the girl had left Dumrakhan Kalan after the 'jagran'. The villagers, however, informed the family that no such programme was held in the village on June 15.

A police complaint was lodged and the police started interrogating Shubham.

During the questioning, the police said, Shubham confessed that he, along with three of his accomplices, killed the girl and buried her body in a field at Jalalpur Kalan village on the night of June 15.

Two of the three accomplices -- Shivam and Deepak -- were subsequently arrested, while another accused, Mangal, was on the run, the police said, adding that all the accused were residents of Jogendra Nagar in the district.

The arrested trio led the police to the field where the body of the Dalit girl was buried. The decomposed body was dug out in the presence of Deputy Superintendent of Police Kaptan Singh and sent for a post-mortem to PGI, Rohtak.

A case has been lodged against the four accused under the relevant sections of the IPC as well as the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and POCSO Act, the police said, adding that they were trying to ascertain the motive behind the crime.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Brazilian President Michel Temer filed a lawsuit for slander and a second civil case seeking damages after a tycoon accused him of running "the country's most dangerous criminal organisation."



"They point the finger at others trying to escape punishment. I warn the criminals that they will not go unpunished," Temer said in a video broadcast on social networks before he left Brasilia for Moscow and Norway.

In the message, Temer did not explicitly mention Joesley Batista, main shareholder in meatpacking company JBS, but his announcement came days after the businessman made an outspoken attack on the president.

As Temer left on a trip aimed at attracting investment, his lawyers filed the lawsuits. One concerns crimes of "slander, defamation and insult" and another is a civil suit, seeking recompense for "moral damages".

"The money will go to a charity," a source in the presidency told AFP.

Batista caused an uproar last month when he handed to authorities, in connection with a wide-reaching corruption scandal, an audio recording in which Temer appeared to condone payment of hush money to a former lawmaker now in prison.

"It's the country's largest and most dangerous criminal organization. And the president is its leader," Batista said in an in-depth interview with the Epoca weekly published Saturday.

"Those who aren't in prison today are in the Planalto presidential palace. They are very dangerous people. I didn't have the courage to confront them."



Batista's remarks were made in his first interview since he clinched a plea bargain deal with authorities as the nationwide anti-graft operation codenamed "Car Wash" began targeting his business dealings.

Batista agreed to cooperate in exchange for avoiding a conviction.

The tycoon's explosive revelations came after the Supreme Court set in motion corruption and graft probes targeting the president, increasing calls for him to step down.

Among the claims, Batista says tens of millions of dollars were paid to various political parties, including Temer's center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party.

Temer, 76, denies the allegations and has insisted he will remain in office.

"As soon as I met Temer, he started asking me for money to finance his campaigns. He isn't very modest when it comes to talking about money," Batista said.

Following the interview, Temer's office called the allegations a "bunch of lies", saying the president would launch a lawsuit.

"Joesley is one of Brazil's most notorious and successful criminals," it said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The 'Sada-e-Sarhad' bus, which runs between India and Pakistan, met with an accident near village Jahankhela in Fatehgarh Sahib on the GT road today, police said.

Police said that due to rain the road was wet and when the driver applied breaks the bus skidded, hitting the escort vehicle.

The policemen, who were sitting in the escort vehicle, received minor injuries. They were discharged after being administered first aid at the civil hospital in Rajpura, they said.

The bus, which runs between Delhi and Lahore, later resumed it's journey, police said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Delhi Police have arrested an alleged car thief in Pitampura area of northwest Delhi.

The accused Vikas was caught on a tip-off received by the police from Pitampura on June 16. He was riding in a car that he had stolen from Inderpuri area, said Vijayanta Arya, Additional DCP (northwest).

He adopted a peculiar modus operandi for stealing cars.

He used to visit luxury car showrooms as a dummy customer and spot new vehicles which were ready to be delivered. After that on the pretext of checking the interior of the vehicle, he used to replace the reserve keys of the car.

Later, he followed the parking place of such cars and then steal them on getting the chance, the officer said.

The accused was involved in eight cases of auto lifting in Haryana. He was arrested in cases in Chandigarh and Panchkula but was released on bail.

He was also arrested in connection with a case of murder in Srinivaspuri in Delhi in 1998.

He had shifted his residence to Faridabad and did not appear in trial in any of the above cases and was proclaimed offender in all these cases by the concerned courts, she said.

A scrap dealer, Ompal, who used to purchase the stolen vehicles has also been arrested, she added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China today hinted at blocking a UN ban on Pakistan-based JeM leader Masood Azhar once again, saying that disagreements continue to prevail in the UN Committee related to terrorism issues in this particular case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang's comments came in response to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month.

China says that solid evidence is required to implicate the JeM leader. India has been asserting that it produced "solid evidence" for securing a ban on Azhar and actions of Pakistan-based terrorist is well documented.

"We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld," Geng told media briefing here.

Geng was responding to a question whether there can be a forward movement over China's repeated technical holds to block India's move to get a UN ban on Azhar.

"At present, some members have disagreement over the listing matter. And China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue," he said.

Beijing put a technical hold to a move in the UN by the US and other countries to declare Azhar a terrorist for his role in the Pathankot terror attack.

Last year China had put technical holds on India's application to designate Azhar as a terrorist.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, who held strategic dialogue with Chinese officials in February here, said, "in the case of Azhar, Jaish itself is proscribed under 1267. So the proof is in 1267 committee action. In this case what he has done, extent of his actions are well documented."



"It is not that the burden of proof is on India to convince. The sponsors (US and other countries) seem to be very well convinced otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to move the proposal," he had said, referring to the US, the UK and France pressing for action on Azhar.

The 1267 Committee is consist of members of the UN Security Council.

Geng's response to the Azhar issue followed a two-day meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers who took a strong stand on countering terrorism and working out international mechanisms to curb terrorism.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, who took part in the meeting, said BRICS should back a comprehensive convention on terrorism in the UN shedding ambiguity about good and bad terrorists.

"We have a consensus among the BRICS countries that all (kinds of) terrorism must be condemned and various measures must be taken to cooperate so that terrorism does not spread and harm any one of our countries," Singh told a joint press conference with BRICS Foreign Ministers here yesterday.

Geng said today that BRICS countries had a working group on counter terrorism. China shares common position on the need for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

"As for convention on counter terrorism, I believe China and other BRICS counties have a similar position...We hope UN General Assembly can pass a compressive convention on terrorism...," he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
China today expressed sorrow over the death of US student Otto Warmbier following his release from North Korea in a coma, and urged Washington and Pyongyang to resolve tensions through dialogue.

"I think this is an unfortunate thing," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular briefing.

"We hope that North Korea and the US can handle it appropriately," he added.

Asked if Warmbier's death would affect China's relations with its ally North Korea, the spokesman only repeated Beijing's call for the nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula to be resolved through talks.

Warmbier, 22, died on Monday after 18 months in detention in North Korea. He had been medically evacuated back to the US last week in a coma with severe brain damage.

His death came as top diplomats and defence chiefs from the US and China were due to meet in Washington tomorrow.

The meeting is expected to focus on North Korea and US President Donald Trump, who condemned North Korea following of Warmbier's death, has urged Beijing to use its diplomatic and economic influence to pressure Pyongyang about its nuclear programme.

Geng said the meeting would be an opportunity for the two countries to have an "in-depth exchange of views" on issues including North Korea, the South China Sea and cooperation on counter-terrorism.

"China hopes that joint efforts with the US will promote dialogue and achieve positive results," he said, adding that Beijing "hopes to continue communication and cooperation with the US and relevant parties" to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US-led coalition shot down an Iran-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early today, a US official said, the second such incident in less than two weeks.

A US military official told AFP that an F-15 Strike Eagle jet destroyed the Shahed 129 drone around 12:30 am (2130 GMT) northeast of the At-Tanaf garrison, which is close to the Jordanian border.

"They were threatening our forces on the ground," the official said.

"Their course was on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
More than 600 troops from Congo Republic serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic will be returning home following allegations of sex abuse and other misconduct, UN officials said.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will announce the withdrawal today during a conference at the United Nations, officials told AFP.

The decision follows a report by the UN commander of the MINUSCA force who warned that Brazzaville should either take steps to rein in the troops or be forced to repatriate them.

Lieutenant General Balla Keita of Senegal told UN headquarters that he had sent six letters of blame to the battalion commander already this year over alleged sexual abuse, fuel trafficking and lack of discipline.

The 629 peacekeepers deployed in Berberati, the country's third-largest city, are Brazzaville's only contribution to UN peacekeeping.

Last year, 120 troops from the same contingent were sent back following allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) involving at least 7 victims, six of whom were children.

But following a MINUSCA assessment of the Berberati base in March, Keita said there had been "no improvements in the behavior of the Congolese battalion."



"The battalion is notorious for SEA misconducts, fuel trafficking and poor discipline," Keita wrote in a memo sent last month.

"The situation has deteriorated to the point that the battalion is no longer trustable because of poor leadership, lack of discipline, and operational deficiencies," he added.

The memo and a 66-page UN assessment of the Congolese troops were released by the Code Blue Campaign of non- governmental organizations seeking to expose cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers.

The 12,000-strong MINUSCA force has been plagued by a wave of sexual abuse allegations since the mission began in 2014 to help restore stability to the country.

One of Africa's poorest countries, the Central African Republic descended into bloody sectarian fighting after the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize.

Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon in 2015 took the rare step of firing the then-head of the peacekeeping force over his handling of dozens of misconduct cases, including the rape of minors.

With sex abuse cases continuing to surface, Guterres vowed to toughen up the response to the damaging allegations when he took the UN helm in January.

UN critics in the United States -- many of whom are in the US Congress -- have pointed to the mounting cases of misconduct by UN peacekeepers in their campaign to cut funding to UN blue helmets.

In the report to UN headquarters, the force commander said the Congolese contingent showed a "poor display of leadership and military discipline" and failed to maintain basic logistics.

He noted that the unit had only 18 vehicles that were serviceable and that 44 others were awaiting maintenance.

The assessment described the shoddy state of the Berberati camp, with no proper water supply, field toilets and little fencing to restrict access to the site by civilians.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Online retailers are passing off dried penises of endangered monitor lizards as 'hatha jodi' root, considered a 'good luck charm' by tantric practitioners, an Indo-UK joint team of wildlife investigators has claimed.

These lizards are being illegally poached from the wild, their throats slit or their skulls smashed and genitals removed for use as 'hatha jodi', the London-based group World Animal Protection (WAP) said.

"We were shocked at the sheer audacity and scale of this illegal wildlife trade. Deceitful dealers claiming to sell holy plant root labelled as 'hatha jodi' are in fact peddling dried lizard penis to their unwitting customers," Gajender K Sharma, India Country Director at WAP, said.

Hatha jodi is marketed as a good luck charm and to ward away spirits and the plant, which is rare, is found only in remote areas of Nepal and central India.

Laboratory tests carried out by scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University has revealed evidence to suggest that customers are being duped and independent tests by Indian labs have confirmed the suspicion, WAP said in a statement.

All monitor lizards are Schedule I animals and any trade involving it or its body parts is a national offence under the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

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Egyptian policemen today shot and killed three wanted militants from the Islamist Hassam group in a shootout in the coastal city of Alexandria, the interior ministry said.

A statement said the suspects were wanted by authorities and were "among the most prominent leaders" of the militant group.

Hassam has claimed responsibility for several assassinations and attacks in Cairo and the Nile Delta.

The ministry said security forces had approached a hideout of the militants in Alexandria and that the suspects opened fire at them.

Police returned fire killing all three.

The ministry said the Hassam group is part of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood of Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist president toppled by the military in 2013.

Morsi's ouster ushered in a crackdown that decimated the Brotherhood and killed hundreds of its followers, and set off a jihadist insurgency that has killed hundreds of security personnel.

The Brotherhood emerged from the 2011 uprising that unseated former president Hosni Mubarak and won a series of elections ending with Morsi's 2012 presidential victory.

Mass protests against the divisive Islamist prompted the army to overthrow him a year later.

Since then, an extensive crackdown on the group has left it in disarray with competing wings that have disagreed on whether to use violence, after police quashed their protests.

Most attacks in Egypt have been carried out by the jihadist Islamic State group, which views the Brotherhood as heretics.

But over the past year, Hassam and Lewaa al-Thawra claimed several attacks and bombings that targeted police officials and judges.

The groups have not announced their affiliation to the Brotherhood in any statements.

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Eicher Polaris, maker of mini pick-up truck Multix, is gearing up to expand presence in metro cities in India and overseas markets such as Central and South America.

As part of its international foray, the company will roll out Multix in Nepal next month while it is also exploring opportunities in Bangladesh and African countries.

"Our focus so far has been largely on smaller towns in India. Now, we are gearing up for the next phase where we will enter the metros," Eicher Polaris Pvt Ltd CEO and Director Pankaj Dubey told PTI.

The company had last week opened its first outlet in the capital, marking its foray into metros. It is looking to open a total of 150 dealers in 150 cities by the end of year, he added.

Eicher Polaris has 80 dealers in operation and nearly 25 under development.

"There is no duplication of dealerships in any of the cities where we are present," Dubey said.

Asked about expansion in the international market, he said the company will enter Nepal through a dealership in Kathmandu next month.

"Also, we have got interest from Guatemala, for which we will be sending sample model soon. We hope to get good business from there," he added.

Besides, he said, countries like Bangladesh and some African nations are potential markets for Multix, considering its utility and applications, which are very similar to Indian requirements.

The company, a 50:50 joint venture between Eicher Motors and US-based Polaris Industries Inc formed in July 2012, has a production capacity of 60,000 units annually at its plant at Kukas near Jaipur.

"Our currently capacity utilisation is around 10 per cent, which we are looking to take up to around 50 per cent in the next 2-3 years," Dubey added.

The company has so far invested Rs 350 crore in its venture to manufacture and sell a range of personal vehicles suitable for India and other emerging markets.

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Russia said today it could not yet confirm that the elusive ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a targeted air strike by its military in strife-torn Syria last month.

The liquidation of the leader of the Islamic State al- Baghdadi has not yet been confirmed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.

"Not yet," the state-run TASS agency quoted Russian diplomat as saying while responding to a question on the possible death of the ISIS leader, four days after the Russian Army announced that it may have killed Baghdadi on May 28 during an airstrike on the outskirts of the dreaded militant group's de facto capital Raqqa.

US defense officials last week said they were unable to confirm the reports about Baghdadi's death.

Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition's operation against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said the coalition "cannot confirm these reports at this time."



There have been a number of previous reports of Baghdadi's death or him being critically injured by US-led coalition air strikes.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which is a nom de guerre, was born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al Samarrai.

Baghdadi has not been seen in public since proclaiming himself "caliph" in the Iraqi city of Mosul three years ago.

In October 2011, the US officially designated Baghdadi as a "terrorist". It has offered a reward of up to USD 25 million for information leading to his capture or death.

The ISIS terror group is known for imposing a hard-line form of Islam that has included stonings, amputations and beheadings.

The ISIS seized Mosul, Iraq's second-biggest city, in June 2014 before claiming swathes of territory and launching deadly attacks on Western cities, including Paris and London.

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Following are the top stories from the Eastern Region at 2100 hours today.

CAL11 WB-KARNAN-ARREST



Kolkata: Former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was today arrested by the West Bengal CID from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

CAL2 WB-RAINS DEATH



Kolkata: Heavy rainfall and lightning have claimed at least nine lives in several districts of West Bengal.

CAL4 SK-SDF-GORKHALAND



Gangtok: The Sikkim Democratic Front, the ruling party in this north-eastern state, today extended its support to the "democratic demand" for a separate Gorkhaland and expressed its opposition to the "illegal, undemocratic and unconstitutional" acts committed in Darjeeling.

CAL3 BH-SUSHIL FLATS



Patna: Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today made fresh allegations against Lalu Prasad's family saying his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi "owns" 18 flats here worth around Rs 20 crore, which the RJD termed as "baseless and absurd."



CES8 BH-CABINET



Patna: The monsoon session of the bicameral state legislature in Bihar will commence from July 28.

CES3 OD-PREZ-NAVEEN



Bhubaneswar: Opposition Congress today questioned BJD's "equal distance policy" and criticised Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for supporting NDA's candidate for the presidential poll as soon as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called him up.

CES7 TR-FLOOD



Agartala: A person was washed away and 2000 people were rendered homeless in floods in Tripura following incessant rains since Sunday, officials said today.

CES9 OD-DAS



Bhubaneswar: Odisha PCC general secretary and spokesperson Sulochana Das today formally joined the ruling BJD in presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

CCM4 BIZ-TEA



Kolkata: With the new indirect taxation regime coming into effect from July one, 2017, the Tea Board is now working on how to make the present auction system compliant with the Goods and Services Tax (GST).

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Following are the top stories from the northern region at 1700 HRS:



DEL28 UP-PM-SECURITY



Lucknow: Twenty two persons detained by the police, hours before the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, over apprehensions that there may be an attempt to block his convoy or create some other kind of disturbance.

DES4 KOVIND-RETREAT



Shimla: Bihar Governor and the BJP's presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind wanted to visit the Retreat Building, part of the presidential estate, during a trip to Shimla with his family late last month but was denied entry.

DEL11 NCR-GANGRAPE



Gurgaon: A 35-year-old woman was abducted from Gurgaon and thrown out of a car in Greater Noida after being allegedly raped for hours by three men as they drove through the National Capital Region, police said.

DES17 PB-BUS-ACCIDENT



Patiala: The 'Sada-e-Sarhad' bus, which runs between India and Pakistan, met with an accident near village Jahankhela in Fatehgarh Sahib on the GT road, police said.

DES3 UP-JAIL TOURISM



By Abhinav Pandey



Lucknow: Take a tour of the jail, get a glimpse of life behind bars and decide for yourself if you want to indulge in corruption.

DES18 UP-YOGA DAY-PREPARATIONS



Lucknow: Final touches are being given to make the International Yoga Day event here tomorrow a grand success in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead thousands of Yoga enthusiasts in performing asanas, even as authorities keeping their fingers crossed over weather condition.

DES13 MANSAROVAR



Pithoragarh (Ukd): Fifty four members of the first batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims cross into Tibet from the 16,500 feet high Lipulekh pass.

DES5 UP-GOMTI-RIVER-FRONT-FIR



Lucknow: An FIR lodged against eight engineers of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department in connection with alleged financial anomalies in the Gomti river front project, a pet initiative of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

DES8 DL-2NDLD-TANKER



New Delhi: A tanker carrying aviation turbine fuel (ATF) overturns near the Moolchand underpass here, with around 4,000-5,000 litres of the fuel spilling onto the arterial Ring Road causing massive traffic jam.

DES9 JK-AMARNATH



Srinagar: Authorities here say 24 rescue teams and 35 dog squads would be deployed along the twin routes of Pahalgam and Baltal in south Kashmir Himalayas as part of efforts to ensure smooth and peaceful Amarnath pilgrimage.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
: Following are the top stories from the northern region at 2100 HRS:



DEL28 UP-PM-SECURITY



Lucknow: Twenty two persons detained by the police, hours before the arrival of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here, over apprehensions that there may be an attempt to block his convoy or create some other kind of disturbance.

DES4 KOVIND-RETREAT



Shimla: Bihar Governor and the BJP's presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind wanted to visit the Retreat Building, part of the presidential estate, during a trip to Shimla with his family late last month but was denied entry.

DEL37 NCR-LD GANGRAPE



Gurgaon/Noida: A woman was abducted from Gurgaon and thrown out of a car in Greater Noida after being allegedly raped for hours by three men as they drove through the National Capital Region, police say.

DES17 PB-BUS-ACCIDENT



Patiala: The 'Sada-e-Sarhad' bus, which runs between India and Pakistan, met with an accident near village Jahankhela in Fatehgarh Sahib on the GT road, police said.

DES3 UP-JAIL TOURISM



Lucknow: Take a tour of the jail, get a glimpse of life behind bars and decide for yourself if you want to indulge in corruption. By Abhinav Pandey



DES18 UP-YOGA DAY-PREPARATIONS



Lucknow: Final touches are being given to make the International Yoga Day event here tomorrow a grand success in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead thousands of Yoga enthusiasts in performing asanas, even as authorities keeping their fingers crossed over weather condition.

DES5 UP-GOMTI-RIVER-FRONT-FIR



Lucknow: An FIR lodged against eight engineers of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department in connection with alleged financial anomalies in the Gomti river front project, a pet initiative of former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav.

DES8 DL-2NDLD-TANKER



New Delhi: A tanker carrying aviation turbine fuel (ATF) overturns near the Moolchand underpass here, with around 4,000-5,000 litres of the fuel spilling onto the arterial Ring Road causing massive traffic jam.

DES41 GANGA-UP



New Delhi: The Uttar Pradesh government plans to shift water-polluting industries away from Ganga as part of the Centre's ambitious drive to clean the river.

DES28 DL-YOGA-STREETART



New Delhi: From drab metals sheets at building construction sites to dreary walls of municipal parks, artists turn several dull places in the city into bright canvases with striking yoga-themed murals. By Kunal Dutt



DES36 DOPT-AADHAAR



New Delhi: All central government departments asked not to share personal details, including Aadhaar number, of RTI applicants.

DES9 JK-AMARNATH



Srinagar: Authorities here say 24 rescue teams and 35 dog squads would be deployed along the twin routes of Pahalgam and Baltal in south Kashmir Himalayas as part of efforts to ensure smooth and peaceful Amarnath pilgrimage.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The opposition Shiromani Akali Dal today termed the maiden budget of the Congress government as a "massive fraud against farmers", with the AAP accusing the ruling party of having backed out of its promise of total waiver of agricultural debts.

"A massive fraud has been committed by the government against innocent farmers and farm labourers. It must apologise for playing a cruel joke and rubbing salt on their wounds by backing out of its promise of waiving their loans," SAD president and former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told reporters.

The party called the budgetary proposals presented in the state Assembly here today by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal as "a sad day for Punjab farmers".

"They have cheated the people of Punjab," Sukhbir alleged.

He said Manpreet had proposed an outlay of Rs 1,500 crore for waiving debts of distressed farmers in Punjab.

He said with this budgetary provision, loans only of Rs 14,705 per farmer could be waived and not up to Rs two lakh as promised by the chief minister on the floor of the House yesterday.

The SAD chief alleged that the state government was offering "inhuman and cruel" options to farmers for choosing between suicide to claim Rs 5 lakh or a loan waiver of Rs 14,705 per head loan if they wanted to live.

"This is an unprecedented heartless act of the government," he alleged.

Former finance minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa claimed there was a mismatch of over Rs 15,000 crore in borrowing and income and expenditure.

The SAD-BJP, Sukhbir said, will move a privilege motion against Chief Minister Amarinder Singh and the finance minister for allegedly making "contradictory statements on the floor of the House to mislead the Assembly and the people of Punjab".

The SAD also wanted to know how the government would waive total loans worth Rs 90,000 crore with a budgetary provision of just Rs 1,500 crore.

"The cat is out of the bag and the bluff played by the Congress on farmers on the eve of elections has been called in their very first budget. It is clear now why the Cabinet did not take a decision to waive loans in its first meeting," Sukhbir said.

He said it was a sad day for Punjab farmers who might have pinned their hopes on the Congress.

On the other poll promises of the party, Sukhbir claimed the finance minister had allocated Rs 10 crore for distributing mobiles to youth which came to one phone per village.

He claimed similarly the government had made a provision for providing 2,000 houses to the poor which worked out to one house for per seven villages.

Sukhbir said the SAD-BJP would force the government to give a complete loan waiver besides implementing all its promises, including giving unemployment allowance to youth, doubling social welfare benefits and increasing old age pension to Rs 2,500 per month.

The leader of opposition and AAP leader, H S Phoolka, claimed that the state government had played a cruel joke with farmers by announcing a meagre budgetary provision for loan waiver.

"The budget is on the overall, most disappointing. Moreover, a budgetary provision of just Rs 1,500 crore is cheating farmers. Making a wrong statement is contempt of the House.

"We will move a privilege motion against the chief minister because he had promised a complete debt waiver but a cruel joke has been played with a meagre budgetary provision. This is cheating and misleading innocent farmers," Phoolka claimed.

He also hit out at the Congress government, saying there was no clarity on how it intended to generate jobs.

"Rather than blaming everything on the previous government, the present Congress regime should tell people that they are sorry and unable to fulfill the promises made at the time of election," he said.

Union minister and state BJP chief Vijay Sampla said there was nothing new in the budget and the farmers had been betrayed after tall promises made to them.

BJP MLA Som Prakash alleged that the budget was "anti- farmer, anti-labourer and anti-Dalit".

Meanwhile, Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar lashed out at Sukhbir for allegedly playing petty politics over the budget through his false and misleading statements.

He said the former deputy chief minister was talking out of his hat without bothering to understand the budgetary provisions.

Trashing Sukhbir's criticism of the budget as a "desperate bid to cover up his own government's alleged failures and misdeeds in past 10 years", Jakhar said his statements on farm debt waiver and other announcements made in the budget were totally unsubstantiated.

"The Amarinder Singh government had categorically announced its decision to waive loans up to Rs 2 lakh of small and marginal farmers with up to 5 acres of land, and would be underwriting their loans.

"The Rs 1,500 crore allocation made for this purpose in the budget was merely the first instalment of the loans that the government would be paying off towards their bank settlement," Jakhar said.

He said it was surprising that Sukhbir could not work out this simple mathematics despite having led the government for 10 years.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
French Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard announced her resignation today over a fake jobs scandal that has hit her small centrist MoDem party, allied with President Emmanuel Macron's party.

Goulard, who was previously a member of the European Parliament, said she could not remain in the government while there was a possibility that she could be investigated over alleged misuse of expenses at the parliament.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two French ministers have quit their jobs in the space of 24 hours as President Emmanuel Macron reshuffles his government to reflect his campaign pledge to clean up politics.

In a surprise decision, Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard announced today she was resigning over a fake jobs scandal that has hit her small centrist MoDem party, which allied with Macron's party in the presidential and legislative elections.

Macron accepted her resignation and said he "respected" Goulard's decision.

Her high-profile departure came after the president yesterday asked a close ally, Richard Ferrand, to leave his post as minister for territorial cohesion for a senior role in their Republic on the Move (REM) party.

Ferrand is under investigation over claims he favoured his wife in a lucrative property deal with a public health insurance fund when he headed the company.

Goulard's MoDem party is facing a preliminary probe into claims it misused European Parliament expenses in the hiring of parliamentary assistants.

The minister, who was a member of the European Parliament from 2009 to May this year, said she could not remain in the government while facing a possible investigation.

Meanwhile Macron has been carrying out a partial reshuffle of his month-old government following parliamentary elections on Sunday that handed him and his MoDem allies a commanding majority.

Macron's REM party crushed its rivals by winning 308 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly and will not need the support of MoDem, which won 42 seats, to get legislation through parliament.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Dealers of General Motors in India have decided to meet later this week to decide on the future course of action, including taking the legal route, against the American automaker over measly compensation.

A majority of 96 dealers, which operate around 140 showrooms across India, are unhappy with the company's offer of just around 12 per cent of total investments they have made as compensation.

"Some of the major dealer partners of the company will meet on June 24 in Delhi to decide on the future course of action against the company. They are totally dissatisfied with the way the company is dealing with them," a source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Around 20-25 major dealers of the company, with many of them running multiple dealerships across the country, will take part in the meeting.

"These dealers are totally unsatisfied with the terms of settlement that the company has offered to them. Each one of these dealers are feeling cheated and misled," the source said.

As per the conditions set by the company, a dealer who does not accept its offer by July 15, would only get 50 per cent of the compensation amount being offered.

"In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he won't get any of the compensation at all. Some of the dealers who have financial challenges may accept the deal being offered by the company. But there are many who are exploring ways to challenge the company," the source said.

A dealer, who did not wish to be identified, said that the company totally misled them in terms of its future plans in the country.

"In May they (GM India) were telling us that there will new product launches and more investment will be done in the country and suddenly in June they announce the closure of domestic operations. They have completely misled us," the dealer, who runs two dealerships in central India, said.

The dealers, among other things, would also decide whether to file a case in India or go for a class action suit in the US.

In 2015, the company had announced to invest USD 1 billion in India to enhance manufacturing operations and roll out 10 locally produced models in the country over the next five years.

In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for the country as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country.

On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.

The company will now focus on exporting vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra after it stopped production at its first plant at Halol in Gujarat last month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A radio spot, a television commercial and posters are some of the many ways through which the Tourism Ministry is looking to promote Yoga Day in India and abroad.

The ministry has made a 30-second radio spot to promote yoga which is being broadcast on 17 All India Radio FM stations.

While a 60-second television commercial to popularise India as the land of yoga has been developed, a month-long TV campaign to create awareness about yoga will be launched on Doordarshan network on Yoga Day on June 21.

"In our country, yoga is said to be the reason behind the intellectual, physical and emotional development of a human being.

"Look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in four-hour meetings, he does not doze off, sneeze or yawn. He concentrates throughout the meeting. This is because of yoga and his dedication towards it," said Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma.

The ministry is also promoting the June 21 event through its social media handles.

International Yoga Day (IDY) posters and standees have been put up at India Tourism's domestic and international offices.

A group of 53 international guests comprising tour operators, journalists, photographers, yoga gurus and opinion makers from across the globe has been invited by ministry on a familiarisation trip to India.

The group will participate in the main IDY celebrations on June 21 at Lucknow which will be attended by the prime minister.

The group will then visit various yoga institutions and wellness centres in the country to gain first-hand knowledge and promote India as a destination for yoga in their respective countries.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The state-owned Gujarat State Fertlizers and Chemicals (GSFC) today said it was exploring the possibility of setting up an ammonia-urea plant in Iran.

"We are keen to set up an ammonia-urea plant in Iran due to the availability of natural gas, which is a raw material for ammonia at cheaper rate there. This plant is expected to cost around Rs 5000-6000 crore," GSFC Managing Director A M Tiwari told PTI here.

He said this decision comes in the wake of the pact signed between India and Iran in May 2016 to develop the strategic Chabahar Port in Iran.

"One of the important things about this development is free trade zone, where a total investment of Rs 1 lakh crore is envisaged. Indian companies would set up a range of industries from aluminium smelter to urea plants in the region," he added.

Meanwhile, Tiwari said, GSFC is also exploring a possibility of setting up of ammonia-urea plant in Republic of Congo in Africa.

He said, this will be a part of enhancing bilateral trade and strengthening ties between both the countries as was desired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a recent visit to Congo.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Gym pictures of celebrities have taken over the obsession about their airport look and actress Malaika Arora says focus on health is responsible for this shift in the trend.

Filmmaker Karan Johar was the first to observe the sudden shift in paparazzi's focus from actors' airport look to their gym gear.

"Dear Airport Look... I can see the pressure is getting to you... Don't worry the gym look is soon going to take over...," he wrote on Twitter.

Calling Karan's observation apt, Malaika told PTI, "World over, being fashionably fit is in. Gone are the days where people would hide away from being seen in their gym wear, including me.

"I think gym wear is the new fashion wear. So, go for it. With today's style and the kind of fits that are available, it's absolutely inspiring and fun."



Malaika has always been a fitness freak, but she says her love for exercise and gyming started only post the birth of her child.

"I've always danced in my life. And you cannot do dance without warming up with certain basic exercises. So, I started doing that. But, actually hitting a gym or consciously giving that one hour of my time every day of my life, I began doing that only after the birth of my child. I really took on fitness in a more disciplined way."



Talking about her daily fitness routine, Malaika, who has recently joined Reebok's 'Fashionably Fit' family to celebrate International Day of Yoga, says, "I practically do yoga every single day. Even if it's for half and hour in the morning, I start my day with yoga, which obviously I mix with my functional training. It's more about core strength."



The 43-year-old actress has also appeared as a judge on several reality shows such as "India's Got Talent" and "Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa" and has performed on hit dance numbers like "Hoth Rasiley", "Munni Badnaam Hui" and "Anarkali Disco Chali".

When asked if she is planning to get back to films anytime soon, Malaika says, "I prefer producing films. I've also always had a fun doing songs in the films which I'll continue to do that as long as I like the track and the set up.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
She is currently starring in comedy TV series "Superstore" but America Ferrera says she is not much of a comedic actress and it is her talented co-stars of the sitcom who help her perform better.

The series is created by Justin Spitzer and deals with the daily lives of a group of employees working at a big-box store.

Besides Ferrera, the show also stars "Saturday Night Live" performer Ben Feldman, Canadian comic actress Lauren Ash and comedian Colton Dunn among others.

"Comedy is really great. Our cast has many true blue comic actors. I don't really consider myself as a comedic actor. I feel like the space is enriching for me, to work with all these actors who come from the world of comedy.

"I have learnt a lot about the realm of comedy by watching them," Ferrera told PTI over phone from Los Angeles.

The 33-year-old actress rose to fame after starring in "Ugly Betty" TV series, based on Colombian telenovela "Yo soy Betty, la fea". It was remade in India as "Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahi".

Ferrera has also been a part of dramas like "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 1 and 2", "The Dry Land", crime drama "End of Watch" and romantic comedy "Our Family Wedding".

Ask her which genre she enjoys the most, the actress says, "I personally don't see myself as a comedic or dramatic actress. My background has always been pretty diverse in terms of tone and the type of things I have been involved in."



Ferrera not only acts but also produces "Superstore", which airs in India on Comedy Central.

The actress says she does not find it difficult to handle both her producing duties and acting as she is blessed to have a collaborative team, who enjoy the creative process.

"It wasn't challenging at all. Ours is a very integrated collaborative cast. We are always talking and collaborating. The direction is good, the characters are interesting.

"It is a collaborative process. I enjoy it very much to be part of the creative process before shooting the episodes in front of the camera," she says.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Income Tax Department has charged six family members of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, including wife, son and daughters, under the new and stringent anti- benami assets Act in connection with its probe into land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore.

The department has also served notices of attachment of assets to Lalu's MP daughter Misa Bharti, son-in-law Shailesh Kumar, his wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, son and Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav and daughters Chanda and Ragini Yadav.

The provisional attachment order, accessed by PTI, has been issued under Section 24(3) (where the taxman thinks the person in possession of the property held benami may alienate the property) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2016 and Lalu's kin have been identified as the "beneficiaries" of the alleged benami assets.

Violators under the Act, enacted in 1988 but implemented from November 1 last year, attract a rigorous imprisonment (RI) of up to 7 years and fine up to 25 per cent of the fair market value of the property.

The department has attached about a dozen plots and buildings in Delhi and Bihar including a farm house and land in the Palam Vihar area, a residential building in the upmarket New Friends Colony area of south Delhi, nine plots on a 256.75 decimal land area in Phulwari Sharif area in Patna, where a shopping mall was being constructed, among few others in the same area in Bihar's capital.

The department has said these alleged benami assets bear a "deed" value of about Rs 9.32 crore but the taxman has estimated their current market value at Rs 170-180 crore.

In Patna, Tejashwi told reporters that "all these rumours are spread because of political vendetta and political conspiracies" and dismissed the charges as "unsubstantiated allegations."



The order has also identified firms like Ms Mishail Packers and Printers Private Limited, AB Exports Pvt Ltd, Delight Marketing Pvt Ltd and A K Infosystem Pvt Ltd as the 'benamidars' in this case.

The department has been investigating the case for quite sometime now and had carried out country-wide searches last month against those who had a role or were linked with the purchase and sale of these assets.

Bharti and her husband Shailesh were also summoned by the department for questioning in this case in the past but the couple skipped the dates.

Official sources said they are expected to be summoned again before more assets in this case are attached similarly.

Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name (benamidar) the property has been purchased.

The department will now move for confiscating these assets after getting approval from the Adjudicating Authority of the Act. The Act allows for prosecution of the beneficial owner, the benamidar, the abettor and the inducer to benami transactions.

As per provisions of the Act, assets held benami after final prosecution are liable for confiscation by the government without payment of compensation.

The action under this Act is over and above the normal tax evasion probe and prosecution that the department will undertake against the accused under the Income Tax Act, 1961 for charges of tax evasion.

As per official data till May 23, the I-T Department had identified 400 benami transactions in the country and provisional attachment of assets was done in about 240 cases.

"The market value of properties under attachment is more than Rs 600 crore," the I-T data had said.

The RJD chief, earlier, had put up a brave face after the I-T raids in this case, saying he was "not scared at all" and would continue to fight against the "fascist forces".

"BJP mein himmat nahi hai ki Lalu ki awaz ko daba sake... Lalu ki awaz dabayenge to desh bhar me karoron Lalu khare ho jayenge... Main gidarbhabhki se nahi darne wala hoon (BJP does not have the courage to stifle my voice... If it tries to silence me, crore of Lalus will come forward. I am not scared of empty threats)," he had said in a series of tweets after the search operation.

The BJP had also accused Prasad, Bharti, Tejashwi and his other son Tej Pratap of involvement in corrupt land deals worth over Rs 1,000 crore, and had asked the central government to probe such transactions.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The indefinite bandh in Darjeeling hills which entered its sixth day today, will continue until security forces are withdrawn, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) said.

"The indefinite shutdown will continue as the onus is on the state government to restore normalcy in the hills. They have to withdraw security forces - both the state, central and all repressive forces", GJM spokesperson T Arjun told reporters after an all party meeting here.

All political parties in the hills including Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which was till recently an ally of the ruling Trinamool Congress, attended the meeting besides some NGOs and apolitical organisations.

Security forces patrolled the streets as the indefinite bandh entered its sixth day today in the hills cripling normal life.

Except medicine shops, all other shops remained closed.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
India has re-nominated Justice Dalveer Bhandari as its candidate for another term as judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN.

Bhandari, 69, was elected in April 2012 during simultaneous balloting in both the General Assembly and the Security Council to a seat on the International Court of Justice, which is also known as the World Court and is based in The Hague in the Netherlands. His current term runs through February 2018.

India filed Bhandari's re-nomination yesterday with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres here, well ahead of the July 3 deadline. The ICJ elections will be held in November and if elected, he will serve a term of nine years.

During his term at the ICJ, Bhandari has been engaged actively in the work of the Court and has delivered individual opinions in eleven cases covering a broad spectrum of subjects such as maritime disputes, whaling in Antarctica, crime of genocide, delimitation of continental shelf, nuclear disarmament, financing of terrorism and violation of sovereign rights.

Before joining the ICJ, Bhandari was a judge in the higher judiciary in India for more than 20 years. He had served as a senior judge in the Supreme Court of India.

The ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council that vote simultaneously but separately. In order to be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes in both bodies.

According to ICJ's website, judges must be elected from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognised competence in international law.

Judges are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, not their nationality, but no two judges can be from the same nationality. Effort is also taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are reflected in the composition of the court.

Established in 1945, the ICJ settles legal disputes between States and gives advisory opinions on legal questions that have been referred to it by other authorized UN organs. The Court is open to all parties to its Statute, which automatically includes all UN Member States.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The country's first indigenously built floating dock FDN-2 for the Indian Navy, was formally launched today at the L&T Shipbuilding Yard at Kattupalli near here.

The floating dock, awarded to the Larsen and Toubro by the Ministry of Defence in May 2015, was to design and build at an order value of Rs 468 crore.

The floating dock will be delivered to Indian Navy, Port Blair in the coming months after undergoing a series of "harbour trials," Larsen and Toubro Shipbuilding, Managing Director, and CEO, Vice Admiral (retd) B Kannan said.

"It is the first order that L&T had bagged.. In two to three months (time) we will be delivering it to Port Blair (of Indian Navy).. We have infused a lot of digital technologies during design and construction of the dock," he told reporters.

"Once operationalised, it (dock) would enhance the technical repair infrastructure of the Navy for ships based at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as for visiting Naval ships," he said.

The floating dock was launched by Anjali Deshpande, the wife of Vice Admiral D M Deshpande, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition at a function.

The Floating Dock is an indigenously built designed and built platform with state-of-the-art machinery and control systems capable of docking ships of upto 8,000 tonne displacement.

The dock covers facilitate "repair" and "refit" activities even in inclement weather conditions.

The company had invested in building state-of-the-art facilities at Kattupalli and look keen to continue service to the Indian Navy, Larsen and Toubro, Senior Executive Vice President and Whole Time Director (Designate) - Defence, J D Patil said.

Larsen and Toubro had taken up repairs and refits of Naval and Coast Guard ships regularly and has so far delivered six refit ships (including largest Logistics Tanker Ship INS Jyoti) from Kattupalli, he said.

To a query, he said, "At this point of time, the management (of Larsen and Toubro) has taken decision to engage only in Defence orders.. We are hopeful of getting more such orders."



At any point of time, six ships can be docked at the Shipyard for taking up refit or repair work, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A large number of Chinese yoga enthusiasts today participated in a colourful yoga event at China's iconic Great Wall on the eve of International Yoga Day which is being celebrated all over the Communist nation.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh took part in the event and practiced the yoga postures for a while. The event was jointly organised by Embassy of India, Beijing Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and Yogi Yoga, a popular yoga school.

The event is a cultural milestone, marking the first time yoga has been performed atop the Great Wall by a joint Indian and Chinese group of yogis, the embassy said in a statement.

Singh, who wrapped up his visit to Beijing to attend the BRICS Foreign Ministers' meeting, took time out on his way to the airport to join the event.

In a brief speech, Singh talked about the goodness of yoga and quoted Prime Minister Narendra Modi as saying that yoga was Indian civilisation's gift to the world.

Charge d'Affaires of the Indian Embassy Amit Narang and CPAFFC Vice-President Lin Yi hailed the event for taking forward India-China friendly cultural exchanges and yoga for bringing wellness to humanity.

Around 200 Chinese and Indian participants then carried out the Common Yoga Protocol, followed by a spectacular display of advanced yoga poses by 20 young Indian yoga ambassadors from the Morarji Desai Institute in India, who are specially visiting China for International Day of Yoga celebrations.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Israel will hold the largest yoga event at Rabin Square in its capital Tel Aviv on the occasion of International Yoga Day tomorrow.

Thousands will partake in multiple forms of yoga led by Rohit Sabharwal, a renowned yoga teacher.

An official ceremony will be held with a message of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The event will culminate with Indian cultural performance, a statement by the Embassy of Israel here said.

Interestingly, India and Israel have completed 25 years of diplomatic relationship. Modi will also visit the Jewish state, a first by any Indian premier, next month.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kriti Sanon says for those who are not from the film industry, it is important to get noticed in the initial stage of their career as there are not many opportunities for outsiders to shine in Bollywood.

Kriti made a successful debut with "Heropanti", which paved the way for her to work with Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol in "Dilwale".

"When you don't come from a film background and you don't have a surname it is very important for you to stand out in a film and make people notice you. It takes a little longer for people to know you in the industry and outside.

"I have to make more efforts to reach out to people. It takes a little more time I feel. But if you are doing good work, eventually it doesn't matter," Kriti told PTI.

The "Raabta" actress says she waits for right kind of roles and chooses films which give her a scope to perform.

"I wait patiently for the right films. The first thing is the script. Then it comes to my character. I am glad I have had good films till now, which have made me a known face. It is like taking mini steps. I am growing as a person and as an actor."



The 26-year-old actress, who recently hit the seven million mark on Instagram, says she enjoys interacting and being in touch with her fans.

"The love people show is overwhelming, but at the same time I feel do I deserve it? But my fans keep me motivated. Their support is something which I really need and it makes me want to do better."



There were reports that Kriti is in talks to star opposite Aditya Roy Kapur in Vashu Bhagnani's next, but the actress says she has not signed any other film after "Bareilly Ki Barfi".

"I have not signed anything post 'Barielly Ki Barfi'. I am reading a lot of scripts.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Carla Fendi, one of the five sisters who helped create the family's leather goods business into an international fashion house, has passed away following a long illness at the age of 79.

The Italian luxury label confirmed Fendi's death on Monday, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"We honour our dear Carla, whose loss deeply affects us all. She has been a source of inspiration and an example of dedication, culture of work, and sensitivity to beauty for all of us," a post on the official Instagram account of Fendi read.

The page also shared Carla's black-and-white picture, in which she is all smiles.

Carla, as company president, was the public face of her family business until they sold to the French luxury group LVMH in 1999.

The renowned fashion house, known for its fur and fur accessories, was founded in 1925 in Rome by Adele and Edoardo Fendi.

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Take a tour of jail, get a glimpse of the life behind the bars and decide for yourself if you want to indulge in corruption.

This is the message the Farrukhabad District Magistrate has for government officials to deter them from graft.

District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar has hit upon the novel idea and sent 576 government employees to the central jail in Farrukhabad to interact with inmates, including government officials who are living in confines of the prison.

"Recently I suspended six government officials as they were allegedly involved in corruption. In the entire process of taking action, a probe officer is appointed and again the possibility of corruption rises. The best way to curb corruption is to instill a sense of responsibility among the officials so that they themselves deter from corrupt practices," Kumar told PTI over the phone.

About his concept of sending government officials on "jail tourism", Kumar said there were 88 government employees from across the state lodged in the central jail, Farrukhabad.

"'Jail tourism' should act as a new mantra to deter corrupt officials," he said.

"I sent 576 government officials to visit jail yesterday so that they share the experience of inmates, including government servants. The objective is that they should know the experience of those behind bars and ultimately deter them not to indulge in corrupt practice which might invite similar fate for them," the district magistrate said.

Among those who visited the jail included Lekhpals (revenue officers) dealing in land-related matters, ration shop owners, who deal with supply of food items, and panchyat officers, who deal with various schemes implemented at village level.

Head of some departments also went inside the jail to feel the life there, he said, adding that following the state government's 'zero tolerance for corruption' his aim was to check the menace.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed displeasure over rising corruption and kept it on its priority to rid the state from corruption.

He had also raised question mark on functioning of the organisation (ACO) in the state while saying that it was time to restructure the body to make it more effective and result-oriented.

The ACO deals with complaints of corruption related to the police force and non-gazetted ranks of other state government departments.

There has been a number of arrests of government officials, including an ARTO (Assistant Road Transport Officer) in Chandauli, and a number of policemen have been caught taking bribe.

The CM has also recommended probe into a number of schemes



launched in previous Samajwadi Party regime during which corruption allegedly prevailed.

The alleged scams in Shia and Sunni waqf boards and Gomti river front project are already under the scanner, while sale of sugar mills without following norms is also being probed by the Yogi Adityanath government.
Kalashnikov Group, the producer of the famous assault rifles, has a diversified portfolio now with the launch of noiseless reconnaissance drones that can fly continuously for four hours.

The company expects Russia's "most advanced" ZALA 421- 16E2 unmanned reconnaissance and surveillance aircraft to undergo state trials later this year, Russia's state-run TASS agency reported.

"There are no analogues of ZALA 421-16E2 systems either in Russia or in the world by their functionality, the simplicity and reliability of operation. Besides, the unmanned aerial vehicle has a noiseless flight mode, which is so important for defence and security agencies," Deputy CEO of ZALA AERO (part of the Kalashnikov Group) Nikita Zakharov was quoted as saying.

"The first machines have already been transferred to customers," Zakharov said.

The new drone can fly continuously for four hours and can be launched by hand. The drones will be publicly demonstrated at the MAKS international air show outside Moscow in July and at the Army-2017 exhibition in August.

Kalashnikov rifles are a hot commodity across the globe. The AK-47 assault was invented by Mikhail Kalashnikov in the former Soviet Union in 1947. Its durability and reliability in combat has made it the most popular assault rifle in the world, rivalling even the AR-15.

It is believed that more than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have been sold worldwide. The inventor of the rifle, Soviet Lt-Gen Kalashnikov, died in 2013.

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The killing of 25 personnel by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Sukma on April 24 this year apparently does not qualify as a "human rights violation" for the CRPF.

The force gave this response while refusing to share the inquiry report into the incident with a Right to Information (RTI) applicant.

Human rights activist Venkatesh Nayak had sought the report, saying the massacre violated the human rights of those killed.

The force is exempted from making disclosures under the RTI Act unless the information sought pertains to allegations of human rights violation and corruption which may or may not be committed by the CRPF personnel.

Citing the exemption clause, the CRPF in its response said, "In the instant matter, there appears to be no violations of Human Rights as well as facts of the case do not attract allegations of corruption. Moreover, your application does not make any reference to such allegations. Hence this department is not liable to provide any information in this regard to your under RTI Act-2005."



Giving additional arguments to withhold information, the CRPF also said the report contains operational details hence cannot be shared.

Nayak said the murderous attack in April by Left Wing Extremist groups amounts to violation of their human rights by "non-State actors" and by denying this "reality", the CRPF may be doing injustice to its own personnel.

"Every time such an attack occurs, self-appointed conscience-keepers of the 'nation' and advocates of a belligerent brand of 'nationalism' ... Accuse human right advocates of not raising their voice against the violation of the rights of security personnel," Nayak said.

He added that the government's attitude towards such incidents has to be questioned.

"Why does the government and in this case, the CRPF, fight shy of treating these attacks as 'human rights violations' of their personnel? Surely, there must be a reason for it," he said.

Nayak said if such attacks causing the deaths of security personnel are not treated as "human rights violations" committed by non-State actors, why should right activists be portrayed as "villains", even though they always condemn such incidents in unequivocal terms.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the premier central police force for internal security.

CRPF played a pivotal role in curbing militancy in Punjab during 1980s and insurgency in Tripura during 1990s. Today, more than one third of the force is deployed in left-wing extremist affected areas to control extremism.

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The Maharashtra government today decided to set up a research institute that will undertake regular assessment of state policies and also train officials.

The decision to set up the State Policy Research Institute was taken by the Cabinet at its meeting here.

The proposed institute will come up at Tathavade in Pune.

The institute is being set up for carrying out regular assessment of government policies, research, adopting best practices and administrative reforms via continuous training of officials, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) after the meeting.

This body will also study the best policies, practices of other states, nations and make suggestions to the government accordingly, it said.

The Cabinet decided to allot land for rehabilitation of tribals from Mauja Pargaon in Panvel taluka of Raigad district, the statement said.

In another decision, the Cabinet approved allotment of funds for completion of pending projects under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

The Cabinet gave its nod to handover the Shri Babasaheb Dahanukar Hospital of the Lonavala Municipal Council (in Pune district) to the state Public Health Department.

It decided to bring some more professional courses like agriculture under the purview of the Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj Scholarship Scheme, meant for economically weaker students, the statement said.

The Chief Minister has asked officials to abolish the condition of securing 60 per cent marks by Divyang students to qualify for the scheme, a CMO functionary said.

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European aviation major Airbus has awarded a long-term contract to Mahindra Aerostructures to manufacture and supply a set of components made of hard metals.

These components - aerospace steel, titanium and Inconel - will be used in manufacturing single aisle A320neo and wide-body A350XWB aircraft, a release said here today.

This will be the first direct work package from Airbus to Mahindra Aerostructures, which will execute the work together with its sub-tier French firm Segnere SAS, it said.

According to the release, the products will be delivered directly to Airbus facilities in Europe from India and France, thereby providing the leading aircraft maker an optimum mix of cost structures and logistics flexibility.

Segnere has several years of experience working with hard metals and supplies components directly to Airbus.

"This latest contract to Mahindra is another step forward in having more 'Made in India' content on Airbus aircraft," Airbus India President for Commercial Aircraft Srinivasan Dwarakanath said.

Mahindra Aerostructures currently operates a 2.50 lakh sq ft facility near Bengaluru. The facility caters to components made of aerospace aluminium alloys.

Mahindra is now adding hard metals capabilities at the unit to execute the new contract with Airbus, the release said.

"This contract is another significant milestone in our growing relationship with Airbus and strengthens the government's Make in India initiative," S P Shukla, Mahindra Aerospace chairman and group president for aerospace and defence at Mahindra Group, said.

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Fifty four members of the first batch of Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims today crossed into Tibet from the 16,500 feet high Lipulekh pass.

However, one member of the first batch, Jaswant Singh from New Delhi has returned from Gunji camp as he was found medically unfit to go ahead from there, KMVN and ITBP sources said here.

The first batch crossed the Lipulekh pass at 7.20 AM amid dense snow and was immediately received by Chinese security personnel at northern end of the pass, said T S Martolia, general manager of the KMVN, the nodal agency for the Yatra.

Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) sources said the pilgrims will stay in Chinese territory of Tibet for 8 days and on the 9th day they will be back at the Lipulekh pass.

According to ITBP sources at Mirthi near Didiihat, its technical team has established communication contact with Taklakot region of Tibet in China from today to take stock of the location of the Indian pilgrims in that country.

According to KMVN sources, while the first batch has crossed into Tibet, the 47-member second batch has reached Gala camp from Bundi and the 56-member third batch of pilgrims has reached Kathgodam from New Delhi today.

A total of 1,430 devotees will undertake the pilgrimage in 25 batches this year. Eighteen batches, each comprising around 60 pilgrims, will visit Kailash Mansoravar through the more arduous Lipulekh Pass (Uttarakhand) route, while seven batches with 50 pilgrims each will take the newly-opened Nathu La (Sikkim) route.

The yatra will continue for the next four months.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) had received 4,442 applications this year compared to last year's 2,600. The pilgrims were shortlisted through a computerised draw of lots.

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Russia accused the US-led coalition of "complicity with terrorism" today after an American warplane downed a drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria.

"In Syria this type of strike is akin to complicity with terrorism," Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax agency.

The Iranian-made drone was downed today, just days after a US warplane shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in the country's north.

Following the fighter jet's downing, Moscow suspended an incident hotline intended to prevent confrontations in Syria's crowded air space, and warned it could consider US-led coalition planes "targets".

In today's incident, the US-led coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed an armed Shahed-129 drone in the early hours of the morning as it neared the Al-Tanaf base along Syria's eastern border.

"It displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces," the statement said.

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After giving indications of supporting the NDA's presidential candidate, SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav today attended a dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mulayam was among the first to reach the CM's official 5, Kalidas Marg residence here.

Governor Ram Naik, deputy chief ministers Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, a number of UP ministers and senior BJP leaders also attended the dinner.

However, SP president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend it.

"No, he (Akhilesh) will not be attending the dinner," SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI when asked whether the party president would be at the table with Modi.

BSP supremo Mayawati too skipped it.

The BSP chief had yesterday said that her party is positive about the NDA nominating Ram Nath Kovind for the presidential election but wished that the ruling alliance had named a non-political Dalit candidate for the top post.

"Although Kovind has been associated with the RSS and the BJP from the beginning but as he is a Dalit, our party's stand towards him cannot be negative. It will be positive, provided Opposition parties do not field any Dalit for the post, who is more capable and popular than him," she had said.

Earlier in the day today, Mulayam, who is the SP patron, extended his support to the NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, saying he is a deserving candidate.

"Ram Nath Kovind is a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him. BJP has selected a strong candidate. The most important thing is that the BJP has a majority. Can't say what will opposition decide now," he told a TV channel.

Mulayam had earlier indicated that he would back the NDA candidate even before the announcement of Kovind's name for the top constitutional post.

Nominations for the Presidential elections, to be held on July 17, ends on June 28.

The BJP had yesterday stumped the opposition parties by announcing the name of Kovind, a Kori (Dalit) from Uttar Pradesh.

The prime minister arrived here this evening on a two-day visit to take part in the International Yoga Day event tomorrow morning after which he will fly back to Delhi.

On the first day of his visit, he inaugurated the new building of Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) and visited the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) here.

He will spend the night at Raj Bhawan.

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Union Minister of State (I/C)for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Rajiv Pratap Rudy today said that Naga youths have huge potential and the ministry has realised their entrepreneurial skills.

The minister landed in Nagaland to inaugurate the International Yoga Day on June 21 at Dimapur.

He said that there is huge demand for such youths across varied sectors in the country.

The ministry will work closely with the Government of Nagaland to create avenues for growth of the youths of the state.

The minister also met Governor of Nagaland PB Acharya at the airport lounge in Dimapur and discussed the progress of work in the state under the "Enhancing Skill Development Infrastructure in NE States & Sikkim" scheme and other schemes under skill development mission.

The minister also said that the ministry is in the process of setting up two ITIs, one at Kiphire district and the other at Longleng district.

The ministry is waiting for the state government's response to provide the land in order to set up the institutes.

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For the CRPF, the killing of 25 personnel by Naxalites in Chhattisgarh's Sukma district does not qualify as the "human right violation" of the slain jawans, judging by the paramilitary force's reply to a Right to Information (RTI) query.

The CRPF gave this response while refusing to share its inquiry report into the incident with an RTI applicant.

Human rights activist Venkatesh Nayak had sought the report, saying the massacre violated the human rights of those killed in April this year.

The force is exempted from making disclosures under the RTI Act unless the information sought pertains to allegations of human right violations and corruption.

Citing the exemption clause, the CRPF in its response said, "In the instant matter, there appears to be no violations of Human Rights as well as facts of the case do not attract allegations of corruption. Moreover, your application does not make any reference to such allegations. Hence this department is not liable to provide any information in this regard to your under RTI Act-2005."



The CRPF also said the report also could not be shared because it contained operational details.

Nayak said the murderous attack by the ultras amounted to a violation of their human rights by "non-State actors" and by denying this "reality", the CRPF may be doing injustice to its own personnel.

"Every time such an attack occurs, self-appointed conscience-keepers of the 'nation' and advocates of a belligerent brand of 'nationalism' ... Accuse human right advocates of not raising their voice against the violation of the rights of security personnel," Nayak said.

He added that the government's attitude towards such incidents had to be questioned.

"Why does the government and in this case, the CRPF, fight shy of treating these attacks as 'human right violations' of their personnel? Surely, there must be a reason for it," he said.

Nayak said if such attacks causing the deaths of security personnel were not treated as violations committed by non- State actors, why should right activists be portrayed as "villains", even though they always condemn such incidents.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the premier central police force for internal security.

The CRPF played a pivotal role in curbing militancy in Punjab during the 1980s and insurgency in Tripura during 1990s. Today, more than one third of the force is deployed in left-wing extremist affected areas to control extremism.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A local Congress leader, formerly a sarpanch, was killed allegedly by Naxalites who accused him of being a police informer in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.

Following the incident, the Congress accused the ruling BJP of failing to provide security to the opposition party's leaders in Bastar region.

Chhannuram Mandavi (55), the ex-sarpanch of his native Cholnar village, was killed with sharp-edged weapons at his house under Kirandul police station limits late last night, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.

A group of about 24 armed Naxalites stormed into Mandavi's house in Cholnar, located around 450 kms away from here, and slit his throat. Mandavi died on the spot, he said.

A police team rushed to the spot on receiving information and sent the body for postmortem this morning, he said.

Some Maoist pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which Mandavi was branded as a police informer, the SP said, adding that a search has been launched to nab the assailants.

Kashyap also informed that Mandavi was earlier arrested and jailed in connection with a Naxal attack on the house of Congress leader Avdhesh Gautam at Nakulnar village in Dantewada in 2010.

A family member of Gautam and one of his employees were killed in the attack.

Mandavi was later acquitted in the case, he said.

Mandavi was currently the president of Congress' Dantewada district Kisan Morcha (farmer's wing). He was a close aide of senior Congress leader Mahendra Karma, who was killed in the Jiram valley Naxal attack on May 25, 2013, a party source said.

He was also the president of party's Kuwakonda janpad panchayat unit in the past.

Meanwhile, state Congress chief Bhupesh Baghel accused the Chhattisgarh's BJP government of "deliberately" not providing enough security to Congress leaders in Bastar region.

"There were reports that Mandavi was on the target of Naxalites and had received threats but even after that he was not provided security," he told reporters.

"Earlier also the Congress party lost its top leaders in Naxal attacks. On May 25, 2013 the Naxalites attacked a Congress convoy in Bastar's Darbha area where the then state chief Nandkumar Patel, former Leader of Opposition Mahendra Karma and several other leaders were killed," he said.

Even after four years of that attack, the victims have been denied justice and the conspirators are roaming freely, Baghel alleged.

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Newly-appointed Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University V K Saraswat has said that vice chancellor should be free to decide "whom to teach, what to teach and who will teach".

During his maiden visit yesterday, he also stressed on the need for academic autonomy and developing an interface between academia and industry.

He said that value addition to social goods should be one of the goals of the varsity.

"Education and research should be socially relevant and the knowledge generation should go beyond the individual excellence and translate into various positive benefits for the society," Saraswat was quoted as saying in a release issued by JNU administration.

He also pitched for creating an ecosystem that would promote innovation, value addition and research through collaboration with other universities in the country and abroad.

Saraswat, a full time NITI Aayog member, also held talks with the varsity VC, rectors, registrar and deans of the schools and chairpersons of special centres.

The HRD Ministry had last month appointed scientist and former DRDO chief Vijay Kumar Saraswat the Chancellor of JNU.

Saraswat replaced ISRO chief Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan whose five-year term ended on March 30.

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New York, the fourth most populous state in America, has updated antiquated legislation to outlaw children as young as 14 from getting married.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed legislation yesterday raising the age of consent to marry from 14 to 18 years old, with a caveat that 17-year-olds wishing to marry must get approval from their parents and a judge.

"This is a major step forward in our efforts to protect children and prevent forced marriages, and I am proud to sign this legislation that puts an end to child marriage in New York once and for all," he said.

Until yesterday, children as young as 14 could get married with parental permission and written consent from a judge. More than 3,800 minors were married in New York between 2000 and 2010, Cuomo's office said.

Those under 17 are now prohibited from marriage. Judges must ensure any 17-year-olds wishing to wed are not being coerced against their will and that the marriage will not endanger their mental, emotional, or physical well-being.

Heather Barr, senior researcher on women's rights at Human Rights Watch, called on dozens of other US states to follow New York's example.

"Around the world, a girl under age 18 married every two seconds. It is a national shame that so many of these marriages are happening in the US," she said.

"We hope the 47 states that have yet to act will follow New York's lead."



Nearly a quarter of a million children as young as 12 were married in the United States between 2000 and 2010, mostly girls to adult men, according to Unchained, a non- profit organisation working against arranged or forced marriage.

A survey published by the Tahirih Justice Center in 2011 said forced marriage existed in immigrant communities from 56 different countries and affects people of different faiths, including Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Cuomo's office said young women who marry before 19 are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school and four times less likely to graduate from college.

Those who marry young are also at increased risk of developing health disorders, 31 percent more likely to live in poverty when older and three times more likely to be beaten by their spouses than women who wed at 21 or older, it said.

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State-run hydro power giant NHPC has awarded an order of Rs 287.48 crore for setting up 50 Mw solar power capacities at Theni and Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu to Larson and Tubro Ltd.

"An EPC contract for the development of 50 Mw Solar PV grid connected project located at Theni and Dindigul district in Tamil Nadu has been awarded to Larson & Tubro, L&T Construction, Manapakkam, Chennai for an amount of Rs 287.48 crore with comprehensive operation and maintenance for 10 years," NHPC said in a BSE filing today.

According to the statement, the project is anticipated to be completed in nine months.

RaysExperts commissions 5.5 Mw solar project

Solar energy solution provider RaysExperts today announced the commissioning of 5.5 Mw solar project for an Indian PSU.

"The plant is projected to generate electricity worth over Rs 25 crore which will be sold to third parties via a solar PPA agreement," a company statement said.

With RaysExperts, the company is venturing into solar energy with its first ever solar plant, which will be situated in Charanka Solar Park, Gujarat.

Rahul Gupta, Founder, RaysExperts said, "We are looking forward to our association as this PSU forays into solar power with our 5.5 Mw solar project. As a sustainable source of power, the plant will help the client reduce the carbon footprint in already polluted industrial regions of Gujarat by eliminating over 6,700 metric tonnes CO2 every year."

Voda partners Meru, Easy, Mega cabs to reach out to customers



Vodafone has partnered with taxi service providers Meru, Easy and Mega cabs to provide 4G sim to its customers in Delhi NCR.

"Vodafone Delhi-NCR, has tied up with Meru, Easy and Mega cabs to assist commuters to upgrade their existing SIM card to 4G SIM," the company said in a statement.

The existing subscriber of Vodafone will have to send an SMS with 19-20 digit number of new sim to 55199 and follow the process thereafter to activate the sim.

Vodafone has refurbished nearly 500 cabs into 4G SIM mobile dispensers for this service

The company is also offering 4GB free data for 10 days for prepaid customers and 4GB till the bill cycle for post- paid customers.

NHPC aims to generate 24 billion units power this fiscal



State-run NHPC is eyeing generation of 24 billion units of electricity this fiscal under a pact with power ministry.

The hydro power producer NHPC has inked a pact with Ministry of Power today for the year 2017-18, a company statement said.

The company has set generation target under excellent rating at 24,000 Million Units as against last year's target of 23,500 MU.

The excellent targets for revenue from operations has been kept as Rs 7,350 crore, operating profit as a percentage of revenue from operations (Net) has been kept as 25.09 per cent and profit after tax/ average net worth has been kept as 7.15 per cent.


Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and a host of other senior leaders and ministers of the grand alliance today attended an Iftar party hosted by the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee here.

Kumar, Azad and Prasad extended their greetings on the occasion.

Replying to a query on the Presidential candidate, Azad told reporters that all opposition parties will meet on June 22 in Delhi to take a final decision on a candidate.

"It will not be appropriate for us (Congress alone) to talk when we have decided to have a consensus on the name of a candidate," Azad said.

"BJP had discussed the issue of Presidential election, but never suggested any name. We were not consulted on any name... We were expecting that BJP may suggest the name of someone of A P J Abdul Kalam's stature.

"We are not against any individual, rather it is an ideological fight," Azad said.

Lalu Prasad also said the name of the candidate will be decided in the meeting (to be held in Delhi on June 22).

BPCC chief and state education minister Ashok Choudhary welcomed the people on the occasion and extended his greetings.

More than hundred children, who live in an orphanage, participated in the Iftar party.

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The electoral college numbers seem to be stacked in favour of NDA's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind and he may well end up getting more votes than incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee and his predecessor Pratibha Patil.

With Shiv Sena tonight joining other NDA allies in backing Kovind and Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal(BJD), the YSR Congress and Telangana's ruling TRS too extending support, the 71-year-old dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.

The BJP may also seek the support of rival factions of AIADMK or DMK--parties dominating Tamil Nadu.

The opposition parties are meeting on June 22 to decide on fielding a consensus candidate for the presidential election.

CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy told PTI in Hyderabad that the opposition parties would "certainly" field a nominee.

The total strength of the electoral college which votes to elect the President comprises all elected MPs and members of legislative assemblies of all states and UTs of Delhi and Puducherry.

The total comes to 10,98,903 votes with each MP carrying a vote value of 708. The vote weight of an MLA depends on the population of the state he or she represents.

A candidate needs 50 per cent plus votes to win the poll. Halfway mark comes to 5,49,452.

The NDA, led by the BJP, has 5,37,683 votes and this is including the Shiv Sena, and the shortage is around 12,000 votes.

But the promised support from the BJD, the TRS and the YSR Congress and likely backing from the AIADMK could offset the shorfall of the presidential votes by a substantial margin.

The voting is through a secret ballot, and party whip does not apply.

In the 2012 elections, Pranab Mukherjee garnered 7,13,763 votes while Pratibha Patil secured 6,38,116 votes in the previous polls in 2007. Both Mukherjee and Patil were Congress nominees.

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Odisha PCC general secretary and spokesperson Sulochana Das today formally joined the ruling BJD in presence of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Das, who had resigned from the Congress yesterday, was welcomed by BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who said he would strengthen the party.

"I hope to work for the uplift of the people of Odisha under the leadership of the chief minister," Das said.

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A Pakistani court has allowed Christian couples to divorce their partner without accusing each other of adultery, striking down a controversial provision of the law that prohibited the minority community to dissolve marriage on ordinary grounds.

The Lahore High Court yesterday struck down the provision and restored Section 7 of the Christian Divorce Act 1869, enabling Christian couples to approach a court for dissolution of marriage on other grounds.

LHC Chief Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah announced the short order observing that Christian couples will now be able to end their marriage "in a dignified way" without accusing each other of adultery.

The section 7 of the Act was suspended in 1981 by then military ruler Ziaul Haq through an ordinance leaving no ground for Christian couples to divorce except leveling adultery charges.

Petitioner Amin Masih had approached the court last year for restoration of the section 7 saying he wanted to divorce his wife but without accusing her of adultery.

He pleaded that he wanted to divorce his wife to contract second marriage but he could not do so without accusing her of (fake) adultery.

"There is only one ground available under section 10 of the Christian Divorce Act 1869 and it is adultery, which is in conflict with the dignity of women," he said.

His counsel argued in the court that section 7 of the Act should be restored according to which the principles of court's of England would apply as far as family/divorce issues of Christians were concerned.

He said by the restoration of section 7 there will be other just and reasonable grounds available in order to seek a divorce by a Christian man.

He said in the UK, the Matrimonial Causes Act is now interpreted in a liberal manner providing a cushion to both Christian men and women to part their ways if marriage is an irretrievably broken down or with mutual consent but this ground is not available for Christians living in Pakistan.

"Since protection of minorities is one of the salient features of Constitution of Pakistan therefore the omission of section 7 of the Divorce Act 1869 through the ordinance should be declared unconstitutional as well as null and void," he pleaded.

The government law officer had argued that the divine laws could not be changed in the name of fundamental rights.

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The young Pakistani players who played in the ICC Champions Trophy for the first time and won the title have become instant millionaires after a string of cash and other rewards announced today.

Opener Fakhar Zaman, pacer Rumaan Raees and all-rounder Fahim Ashraf all made their ODI debuts in the Champions Trophy while 18-year-old spinner Shadab Khan has just played seven ODIs for Pakistan.

Others like captain Sarfaraz Ahmed, Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Hassan Ali, Emad Wasim were also playing in their first Champions Trophy tournament.

For all these players, the Champions Trophy is turning out to be a bonanza in financial terms.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has announced to give cash award of ten million rupees to each player.

Information minister Maryam Aurangzeb told the media in Islamabad that Sharif will also host a grand reception for the winning team. The players have also been invited to visit the Senate with the trophy to honour them for their victory.

The PCB also announced that besides the cash bonus of 29 million rupees due to the team as part of their central contracts, the Board would also give each player a cash bonus of one million rupees.

The team has already pocketed prize money of around 200 million rupees from the ICC for winning the trophy.

Famous builder Riaz Malik has also announced cash prizes of one million rupees each and plots for the players while others are slated to follow soon.

A marketing executive said the new players would also earn a lot now from endorsements after the Champions Trophy victory.

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Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel has held the previous Congress regimes in the state responsible for the delay in completion of the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) project.

The foundation stone for the dam was laid in 1961 by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and it took 56 years for the project on the river Narmada in Navagam village to be completed, he said.

"The Congress, during its rule, deliberately created hurdles in the path of the project as it did not want Gujarat to emerge as a strong and self-reliant state," Patel said.

He was speaking at a programme organised by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation here last evening.

The deputy CM alleged the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government did not give permission to the BJP-ruled Gujarat to construct the gates of the dam and increase its height.

This was done despite all the partner states - Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat - completing the rehabilitation of the project-affected people, he said.

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Industry body PHDCCI today hailed Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh's decision to waive farmers' crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh as 'much needed step'.

The Punjab government yesterday took decision to waive entire crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers (up to 5 acres), and a flat Rs 2 lakh relief for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of their loan amount.

The decision of the government will help in strengthening of agriculture sector, PHDCCI Agri business head Jagmohan Bhanot said.

"It (loan waiver) will help in improving the economy of the state," he told PTI.

Singh's announcement has paved the way for eventual total waiver of agricultural debts, which was a major poll promise of the Congress in Punjab, which were held in March this year.

The Congress had stormed to power in the state after a hiatus of 10 years by securing an overwhelming majority routing SAD-BJP combine.

During his speech in the state assembly here yesterday, the chief minister has said the move will benefit a total of 10.25 lakh farmers, including 8.75 lakh farmers up to 5 acres.

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Internationally recognised plasma physicist and pioneer of thermo-nuclear fusion in India, Prof P K Kaw died at his residence here.

He passed away yesterday after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 69.

Predhiman Krishan Kaw was the founder director of the Institute of Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar, and served as the Professor of Department of Science and Technology (DST) at the institute till he breathed his last.

The veteran scientist was honoured with Padma Shri in 1985 for his contribution in the field of producing energy through thermonuclear fusion.

"It is a huge and irreparable loss to the whole nation at large and IPR in particular. His contribution to plasma and fusion sciences, and his tireless efforts in nurturing the IPR since its inception will be remembered for long," said Dean (R&D), IPR, D Chenna Reddy.

According to the acting Chief Administrative Officer of IPR, P K Atrey, Kaw died after suffering a cardiac arrest at his home.

"He was the founder director of IPR and was serving as DST-Professor at the institute since 2013. He was very much active in research and other academic work at the institute till his end," said Atrey.

Prof Kaw is internationally knwon for his outstanding contribution to the physics of non-linear collective phenomena in plasmas with special emphasis on applications to thermonuclear fusion.

Born in January 1948, Kaw did his Ph.D in 1966 from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He was just 18 when he achieved this academic milestone.

After completing his Ph.D, Kaw went to Princeton University, USA as a post doctoral fellow and later joined the university as an assistant professor.

From 1971-75, Kaw was back in India as associate professor and then as professor at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad.

In this period he extended the theory of parametric instabilities to magnetised plasmas. He also made important contributions to the theory of ionospheric irregularities in the equatorial electro jet.

In early 80s, Kaw and some of his former colleagues at PRL succeeded in persuading the DST to set up a major programme of plasma physics at PRL.

He returned to India in 1982 to direct this programme. The programme was separated from PRL in 1986 and became the DST-funded Institute for Plasma Research.

Kaw was IPR's director between 1986 and 2012.

In 1996, IPR was taken over by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) with a considerable upscaling of the experimental efforts on thermonuclear fusion.

Under his leadership, the institute has carried out the design/fabrication of an advanced steady-state superconducting tokamak SST-1. This machine is undergoing commissioning trials now and is one of the first machine of this kind anywhere in the world.

Kaw also guided the the institute in spearheading India's case for participation in the prestigious ITER (fusion) experiment and is now the nodal domestic agency looking after this participation.

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Pondicherry University has placed before the Audit Committee of University Grants Commission (UGC) its financial and manpower requirements.

Arelease from the University today stated that the Audit Committee headed by Vice Chancellor of Maharishi Dayanandh Saraswathi University (Ajmer) Professor Kailash Sudani inspected the facilities for academic and research activities in the University recently and interacted with the Deans and Heads of Departments.

After highlighting various activities in the University and its achievements, the Vice Chancellor of the Pondicherry University, Anisa Basheer Khan urged the team to recommend to UGC to sanction more funds for developmental activities of the University.

She also stressed on the need for funds to start new courses, construction of additional infrastructure and sought the UGC nod for recruitment of both the teaching and non-teaching staff.

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A probe is underway into alleged graft in granting bail to former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati by a Lucknow court around two months ago.

The order granting bail to the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader was stayed by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court shortly afterwards.

According to sources, the "confidential inquiry" was directed by an administrative order of the High Court and it was being conducted by a sitting judge.

The sources said the inquiry was ordered following intelligence reports that "a lot of money" had changed hands to ensure bail for the former minister, who is in jail in connection with a rape case.

Based on these intelligence inputs, the Chief Justice of the High Court is learnt to have sent a confidential report to the Supreme Court collegium, which then reportedly "recalled" its recommendation to elevate the then District Judge of Lucknow as a High Court judge.

"Further action may be taken upon the completion of the probe, depending upon its findings," the sources added.

The intelligence inputs reportedly pointed fingers at the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court judge, who had granted bail to Prajapati, besides the then District Judge of Lucknow and two other senior lawyers there.

Questions have also reportedly been raised about the appointment of the Additional District Judge (ADJ) in question to the POCSO court, barely three weeks ahead of his retirement, replacing an incumbent whose track record was said to be good.

Prajapati was granted bail by a POCSO court in Lucknow on April 25, which was challenged by the Uttar Pradesh government before the High Court.

On April 28, sitting on the Lucknow Bench, Chief Justice D B Bhosle stayed the bail granted to the ex-minister.

On the very same day, the CJ also passed the order of suspension of the POCSO judge who was scheduled to retire on April 30.

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The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute of Pune has been selected as the first recipient of the prime minister's award for outstanding contribution for promotion and development of yoga 2017.

The selection was done from among 85 nominations received and 15 more recommended by a screening committee.

The jury, chaired by the cabinet secretary, with the additional secretary to the prime minister, the foreign secretary, secretary (AYUSH), and Veerendra Heggade as members, examined the screening committee's recommendations.

"After considering all relevant facts and other inputs, the jury recommended that the award for the current year be given to Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute," said a senior official from AYUSH ministry.

Last year, at the 2nd International Day of Yoga celebrations at Chandigarh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the institution of awards for the promotion of the ancient Indian spiritual discipline.

Following this, the ministry of AYUSH developed the guidelines for the awards and two committees -- screening committee (for preliminary evaluation) and evaluation committee (Jury)-- were constituted so that a transparent process is followed in finalising the awards.

The nomination for the awards were invited through open advertisements.

The screening committee shortlisted 16 names from among the applications received after detailed discussions and analysis.

In addition, the committee also recommended for consideration of 15 names of eminent yoga individuals and organisations who have longstanding credibility in the field of promotion of yoga but whose names did not figure in the applications received.

The Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute has worked to spread yoga internationally. The institute has published several books on yoga and these have been translated into multiple languages.

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Weather in Bihar turned pleasant with light to moderate rainfall in most parts of the state bringing down the mercury level substantially.

The state capital received light rainfall in the morning bringing much needed respite from scorching heat, Met officials said.

Gaya recorded the highest maximum temperature at 36.9 deg C against yesterday's 41.1 deg C, while Patna registered 33 deg C against yesterday's 39.8 deg C, the Met office said.

Bhagalpur recorded 31.9 deg C, while the maximum temperature in Purnea was 30.5 deg C.

Patna and Gaya are likely to witness thunderstorm with rain tomorrow, while Bhagalpur and Purnea may witness generally cloudy sky with light rain, the Met department said.

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Indian fabrics and apparel major is looking to capture the stitched garments market in Europe and the US by exporting products from its new Rs 100-crore plant here.

The company has set a target of an annual revenue of about Rs 250 crore within a year from the plant here by exporting mainly to the two developed markets.

It is looking to cash in on duty-free access to the developed markets like the US and the Europe by setting up a plant here in Ethiopia, which has a trade pact with them.

"From this facility, we are looking at an annual revenue of about Rs 250 crore from the exports to Europe and America in a year or so when the scale will reach to 4,000 suits per day," Chairman and Managing Director Gautam Hari Singhania told PTI.



He said the new plant here would be significant cost competitive and the company is confident of luring global buyers to source the suits from Ethiopia.

"Ethiopia has a duty-free access to Europe and America so the cost comes down significantly and also the government is very stable here, " Singhania said.

Besides, unlike India, the country requires less capital expenditure due to the low cost of land, subsidised power and availability of readymade industrial sheds, he said, adding low-cost labour is also an advantage here.

The 27,000 square metre plant set up at the Hawassa Industrial Park has a capacity to produce 1.4 million suits per annum. It will only produce suits and exports will start from early next month.

The facility currently makes 500 suits per day and the company plans to increase it to 4,000 per day by the next year.

The garmenting plant was inaugurated today in presence of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.

The company said it would create employment for 7,000 people towards the end of its final phase. It currently employs 500 locals.

The greenfield suit plant will be operated by Silver Spark Apparel Ethiopia PLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of .
State-run Rural Electrification Corp today said as many as 13,685 villages have been electrified till June 20, 2017.

The Rural Electrification Corp is the nodal agency for Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), which is an integrated scheme covering all aspects of rural power distribution viz. Feeder segregation, system strengthening and metering.

The scheme is aimed at transforming the lifestyle of villagers and bringing in overall socio-economic development in rural areas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day address to the nation on August 15, 2015, pledged to electrify all 18,452 un-electrified villages within 1,000 days.

Thereafter, the REC had taken up village electrification on a mission mode targeting the project completion by May 2018.

The DDUGJY has an outlay of Rs 43,033 crore with a grant of Rs 33,453 crore from the Government of India.

New projects for 32 states/UTs including works of feeder separation, system strengthening, connecting rural households, metering, village electrification and Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana worth Rs 42,553.17 crore have been approved.

More than 350 Gram Vidyut Abhiyantas (GVA) have been deployed to monitor the progress of village electrification. The GVAs update field photographs, data and other information in the GARV Mobile App (garv.Gov.In), which has been developed for ensuring transparency and accountability.

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More than 3,300 people have been killed in the volatile Kasai provinces of central Congo since August, according to a document released today by the Catholic church, as the UN called for an international investigation.

The new death toll came as the UN human rights chief called for an independent, international probe into hundreds of recent killings there, faulting the government for failing to protect civilians.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein cited "harrowing" reports from U.N. rights experts he deployed this month to interview refugees from the central Kasai provinces.

"My team saw children as young as 2 whose limbs had been chopped off; many babies had machete wounds and severe burns," he said in his report to the UN Human Rights Council.

"One 2-month-old baby seen by my team had been hit by two bullets four hours after birth; the mother was also wounded.

At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their fetuses mutilated."



The government will soon publish its own report on the crisis, Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told The Associated Press today.

"Beyond verifying whether these figures are true or not, it demonstrates that this is a real security situation that must absolutely lead to an appropriate government reaction to put an end to this," he said.

The region in central Congo exploded into violence after a traditional chief known as Kamwina Nsapu was killed in a military operation in August 2016 after his militants had revolted against Congolese authorities.

The subsequent fighting had previously been blamed for 400 deaths before the Catholic church released the figure of 3,300 today. Among the victims were two foreign UN experts American Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, a Swedish-Chilean national.

Militants loyal to Nsapu filmed themselves killing the two, who had been investigating allegations of human rights abuses in the area. Their bodies were later found in a shallow grave along with the body of their Congolese colleague.

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Absconding former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was today arrested here, more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

A team of West Bengal Police arrested the 62-year-old Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from here, a top police official said.

According to the official, Karnan, who had been staying there for the last few days, resisted the arrest and argued with the police.

However, he was taken into custody, he said.

"We have arrested former high court judge Karnan from south India," a senior officer of the CID told PTI in Kolkata.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping here for the last three days and traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls.

The police here gave the technical support to trace his whereabouts, the official here said.

Karnan will later be taken to Kolkata, the police said.

The arrest came eight days after the controversial former judge ended his tenure as a fugitive from law with no customary farewell being given to him in the Calcutta High Court in view of his absence.

He has been evading arrest since May 9 after being given the jail term by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar.

The court later turned down his pleas for staying the sentence.

Though the former judge arrived in Chennai on the day the Supreme Court gave the verdict, his whereabouts were not known thereafter with Kolkata Police continuing the search.

Karnan had on May 12 moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Karnan, who enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983, was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016.

He was transferred from the Madras High Court for his repeated allegations and run-ins with its then chief justice and fellow judges.

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AIADMK (Amma)'s stand on backing NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind would be decided by general secretary V K Sasikala Natarajan, party leader T T V Dhinakaran said today after meeting her in jail here.

Emerging from the prison after meeting Sasikala, also his aunt, Dhinakaran told reporters, "It (the party's stand on presidential poll) will be decided by party's general secretary Sasikala."



Asked whether the party will support Kovind, he said, "That also will be decided by (party) general secretary."



On whether Sasikala has given any message to partymen on the matter, he said, "No message was given."



Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambidurai also earlier met Sasikala, lodged at the Parapanna Agrahara Prison ever since her conviction in February in the disproportionate assets case along with her two relatives V N Sudhakaran and Elavarasi.

Thambidurai first met Sasikala and later in the day, Dhinakaran met her, Director General of Prisons H N Satyanarayana Rao told PTI.

Replying to a question, Dhinakaran maintained that it was a family meeting and there was no political discussion.

"Today I came here to meet my aunt Sasikala. There was no political discussion, it was only a family meeting," he said.

Asked if DMK was destabilising the Tamil Nadu government by dividing AIADMK, Dhinakaran said, "In politics our enemies will try to destabilise our government and divide our party. It is natural. They will try to do that, but we will fend off their actions and protect our party," he said.

Thambidurai termed the meeting as courtesy call and denied any division in the party and corruption charges against his leaders.

"I met Madam Chinamma. It was a courtesy call. Nothing special in that. Tamil Nadu is doing very well. Party stands united. There is no division. We all follow Amma's (Jayalalithaa) legacy. Also, this is centenary year celebrations of MGR (AIADMK founder and former Tamil Nadu chief minister) too," he said.

Replying to a query, Thambidurai blamed DMK Working President MK Stalin for "conspiring" against the AIADMK.

"I can only say, there is no bribery case against anyone. Everything is alright. This is purposely developed by Stalin, and therefore I totally deny all these things (corruption allegations)," he said.

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In a further boost to NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, key ally Shiv Sena tonight came on board and announced its support, ending the suspense amid strains with senior partner Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP).

The announcement by Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray backing the 71-year-old dalit leader came even as the Congress and other opposition parties worked on strategies to field their common candidate for the upcoming Presidential polls.

The election of the lawyer-turned politician as the 14th President in any case is a virtual certainty because of assurance of support by some non-NDA regional parties.

Thackeray said the decision to support Kovind was arrived at after holding discussions with Sena leaders.

Sena, known for its unpredictability, backed the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the 2012 presidential polls against the NDA's P A Sangma. In 2007, it backed Pratibha Patil instead of NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat.

The Sena decision significantly come a day after Thackeray stated it was not interested in backing Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.

"After holding discussions with our party leaders, we have decided to back the NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind. After our support, I do not think it will be difficult for the BJP to get him elected," Thackeray told reporters at his residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai.

CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said a "secular" candidate is the need of the hour for the president's post and that opposition parties would "certainly" field a nominee.

"(BJP chief) Amit Shah had met me and requested for our support for their candidate. In turn, I suggested him two names which he said the BJP will consider," Thackeray said referring to Shah's meeting with him on Sunday.

"After the BJP announced the presidential candidate (Kovind), Shah once again called me and told me that the names which I had suggested were considered, but that they (BJP) had their reasons for not making them the BJP candidate."



Sena had earlier proposed the names of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and veteran agriculturist M S Swaminathan.

Responding to a query if Sena will support the opposition parties if they field a Dalit candidate, Thackeray said his stand will not change now.

"It is not necessary that Sena will always oppose BJP," he said.

When asked if Sena will back opposition parties if they announce the name of either Bhagwat or Swaminathan, Thackeray said, "I had announced names of Mohan Bhagwat and Swaminathan a week back. Had they wanted my support, they would have declared one of the names till now. But time has passed now and I will not change my decision."



Stumped by NDA's dalit face for the presidential election, the opposition went into a huddle with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad rushing to Patna in a bid to seek support of Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad for its common candidate.

Congress sources said senior party leaders talked to leaders of other parties to ensure their presence at the crucial June 22 meeting of all non-NDA parties in Parliament.

The opposition leaders also put up a brave face, claiming their unity is intact after some of the non-NDA parties welcomed Kovind's nomination yesterday.

Sources said Azad, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, is attending an Iftar dinner hosted by the Bihar PCC chief tonight, but speculation was rife over him meeting Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to firm up the opposition strategy.

JD-U is also slated to meet tomorrow in Patna to decide on the party's stand on the presidential election.

Azad's visit to Patna assumes significance after Nitish Kumar yesterday welcomed Kovind's candidature, just falling short of extending support to him. Speculation was rife over cracks appearing in opposition unity after JD-U and BSP's reaction to Kovind's nomination.

The Left leadership is keen on putting up a symbolic fight for the July 17 polls on ideological differences with BJP, but the dalit NDA face has put Congress in a fix.

Sources said Congress may now go in for a dalit face to match the NDA on the issue and some of the names doing the rounds now are of former Speaker Meira Kumar, B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash and former Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

"Yes, we are certainly going to have a candidate. We are trying to build a consensus because several parties may have different names. So, of these, who is more acceptable to most of the parties will be decided," Reddy told PTI in Hyderabad,



The CPI leader said their opposition is not individually to Kovind, but on principles.

"Our objection is not individually for him. We don't support anybody either because of his caste or religion or any such thing," he said.

A "secular" candidate for the president's post is the need of the hour against the backdrop of attacks on Dalits and minorities since the NDA government assumed office, he added.

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Belgian soldiers shot a terror suspect after an explosion rocked the central train station in Brussels in the latest attack to hit Europe.

Witnesses said the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) before causing the blast yesterday, with local media saying the individual had activated an explosive belt.

Authorities reported no casualties, apart from the attacker who was was killed in the confrontation.

Crying passengers were evacuated from the station as the city that hosts the EU's headquarters was struck by a new attack just over a year after suicide bombers hit the city's airport and metro system.

"This is considered as a terrorist attack," federal prosecutor's office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a conference outside Brussels Gare Centrale station.

The blast in Belgium comes a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a radical Islamist on a terror watchlist rammed a car laden with weapons into a police vehicle in Paris.

Brussels has been on high alert since suicide bombers struck the city's airport and metro in March 2016, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds more.

The Islamic State group claimed the attacks, which were carried out by the same Brussels-based cell behind the November 2016 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.

Van Der Sypt said that at about 1830 GMT there has was a "small explosion at Central Station here in Brussels."



"The suspect has been neutralised by the military that were present at the scene immediately after the explosion," the spokesman said. "He is dead."



There were no other casualties, Van Der Sypt said.

The incident happened well after rush hour, but hundreds of passengers were still evacuated from one of Belgium's busiest stations. The nearby Grand Place, a major tourist destination, was also evacuated.

"There were people crying, there were people shouting," said Elisa Roux, a spokeswoman for the Belgian rail company SNCB.

Social media images showed an intense yet contained ball of fire in a nearly empty underground arrival hall.

"I went down to the mezzanine level, someone was shouting. Then he cried 'Allahu Akbar', and he blew up a wheeled suitcase," Nicolas Van Herringer, a railway sorting agent, told reporters.

"I was behind a wall when it exploded. I went down and alerted my colleagues to evacuate everyone. He (the suspect) was still around but after that we didn't see him."



Van Herrewegen added: "It wasn't exactly a big explosion but the impact was pretty big. People were running away."



He described the suspect as well-built and tanned with short hair, wearing a white shirt and jeans.

"I saw that he had something on him because I could see wires emerging, so it may have been a suicide vest," Van Herrewegen said.

Prosecutors told Libre Belgique that the individual was carrying a backpack and an explosive belt, before being shot down.

The report said the suspect activated the belt once the soldier's attention turned to him.

About an hour after the events, the situation was "under control", the federal crisis centre said in a tweet.

It said it was keeping the country's terror alert at level 3, the second highest.

"The centre of Brussels is calm," mayor Philippe Close said in a tweet.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel hailed the "courage" of security forces and said he would chair a security council meeting today morning.

Gare Centrale is largely underground, located in the heart of Brussels, a few blocks from the Grand Place and the Manneken Pis statue.

It appeared that the suspect was neutralised by soldiers who have been deployed at railway stations and landmark buildings since the aftermath of the Paris terror attacks when a link to Brussels was first established.

Belgium suffered a similar shock last August when a machete-wielding man shouting "Allahu akbar" attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi, before being shot dead.

The country's law enforcement agencies and intelligence services came under intense scrutiny after the attacks for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers.

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The Nelson Mandela Foundation has paid tribute to the late Joel Joffe, a South Africa-born human rights lawyer who defended Mandela during a 1960s trial at which the anti-apartheid leader was sentenced to life in prison.

Joel Joffe, who died in London on Sunday at the age of 85, was part of the defense team for Mandela and other leaders of the movement against white minority rule who were tried for sabotage in the Rivonia trial. He later moved to Britain and was made a member of the House of Lords in the parliament.

The Mandela foundation on Monday expressed sadness at Joffe's death and said he helped many other people in his career.

Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years, became South Africa's first black president in 1994.

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Anil Kapoor will be seen sharing screen space with nephew Arjun Kapoor in "Mubarakan", and the actor said it was an emotional experience working with the young star, whom he fondly calls "chachu".

The Anees Bazmee-directed movie is a romantic comedy, which will see Arjun in the role of Kartar Singh.

"It has been a wonderful and emotional experience working with Arjun. Someone asked me if there was a rivalry between you two on sets, because you're relative. He's my brother's son. In fact, he's like my own son. But I never call him Arjun, I call him 'Arjun chachu'," Anil told reporters.

The 60-year-old actor said both he and Bazmee wanted to give Arjun his most successful film through "Mubarakan".

"But, there was a very emotional professionalism. We were competitive, we both wanted to work hard but before any scene, Anees and I would discuss that we were working for the first time with Arjun, so it should be his best film, the most successful one," he said at the trailer launch of the film, here today.

In "Mubarakan", which also features Ileana D'cruz and Athiya Shetty, Arjun plays a double role.

The actor said double roles have been in fashion since a long time but it's all about how different the treatment is.

"It is not a trend, double roles have been made for the last 50 years. I've already done a double role in 'Aurangzeb' before this. Varun Dhawan is also doing a double role in 'Judwaa 2'.

"But this (Mubarakan) is not a film where two brothers have separated after birth or anything, this double role is very unique, and has a very western feel to it," said Arjun.

The film is scheduled to release on July 28.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Top stories from the southern region at 1700 HRS.

MDS1 KL-IS-YOUTH



Thiruvananthapuram: A man from Kerala, suspected to have joined terror outfit Islamic State (IS), has reportedly been killed in Afghanistan.

MDS2 TN-ASSEMBLY-CATTLETRADE



Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami informs the Assembly that court rulings on the Centre's ban on cattle sale for slaughter at animal markets would be followed; Declines to accept the opposition demand for passing a resolution against the new rules.

BOM3 TL-PREZ-CPI



Hyderabad: A "secular" candidate is the need of the hour for the president's post and opposition parties would "certainly" field a nominee, CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy says.

MES2 PD-BEDI-AIADMK



Puducherry: Opposition AIADMK (Amma) in the union territory urges the Home Ministry to intervene immediately to end the ongoing tussle between Lt Governor Kiran Bedi and the Congress government over a host of issues.

BES5 TL-WI-FI-PUBLIC PLACES



Hyderabad: The Telangana government launches 'Hyderabad City Wi-Fi' project, providing the wireless networking technology at over 1,000 public places.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Move makes china the first country to build a national system to boost green finance

As China strives to protect its ecological integrity, the financial sector is coming to the aid to contain pollution and help advance the industrial transformation.

Green financea concept still unfamiliar to mostentered the economic lexicon last week after the central government decided to set up five pilot zones nationwide.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, arrived at the decision at an executive meeting, which was presided over by Premier Li Keqiang on June 14. Financial institutions will further enhance their shoring-up for environmental protection projects and industrial upgrading with favorable policies on interest payments and loans.

The pilot zones will be set up in Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou provinces and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to a statement released after the meeting.

Systematical innovation for green finance will increase the financial sector's support to improve ecology and boost the efficient utilization of resources. The statement said the pilot zones are also an important way to continue China's commitment to the Paris climate accord after US President Donald Trump announced the US would withdraw from the agreement early this month.

The statement said the government will support financial institutions to set up green finance departments and welcome foreign capital to participate in green investments. The development of "green credit" will be encouraged to take the environmental credentials of companies into account. The country will start pilot markets for trading rights of resources such as water and energy. The central government will provide support in fiscal, tax and land policies for green industries and projects, while a risk prevention mechanism will be established.

Green finance was first proposed in the Government Work Report delivered by Li in March 2016. The term, reiterated by the premier in this year's work report, was first officially defined in a guideline co-released by the National Development and Reform Commission and another six ministries in August. By definition, it means financial services that help increase investment and financing, project operations and risk management in fields such as environmental protection, energy conservation, clean energy, green transport and buildings.

The guideline made China the first country where the central government boosts green finance nationwide by building a national system, Chen Yulu, vice-governor of the People's Bank of China, the central bank, said during a policy briefing on Friday.

"The necessity to establish such pilot zones cannot be overestimated as the decision was the first concrete measure to implement the guideline," said Wang Yao, president of the International Institute of Green Finance at the Central University of Finance and Economics.

The pilot zones have already industrialized, or are undergoing industrial upgrading, or are in far-flung and less-developed regions, Wang said. Experience and lessons can be absorbed from different conditions, which can easily adapt to other regions, he added.

"We still lack experience in the new green finance, which demands pilot reforms to find replicable practices in wider regions," the premier told the State Council meeting.

Chen said each of the pilot regions had different conditions. Zhejiang and Guangdong have developed economies and financial sectors, but are eager to upgrade their current development models. How to integrate the financial market with industrial upgrading will be a key for the two provinces, he said.

For example, the city of Huzhou in Zhejiang is already one of the country's five cities which have compiled a "balance sheet" of natural resources. Quzhou city has carried out a pioneering project for green credits, green bonds and industrial funds, Chen said. These advantages will facilitate the establishment of new pilot zones, he added.

In comparison, Guizhou and Jiangxi are less-developed economically, but possess rich resources for green industries. The two provinces are set to boost green finance on their way to a less-polluting model for economic growth, which will focus on modern agriculture, rural drainage systems and energy conservation.

Nevertheless, Xinjiang is an important gateway of the Belt and Road Initiative and will lay more emphasis on fields such as clean energy and high-end manufacturing, including solar power equipment, Chen said.

Lu Zhengwei, chief economist of the Industrial Bank Co Ltd, said each of the five regions has its own conditions while building a green finance system. By carrying out the project, China's green finance will proceed more easily with lessons learnt, he said.
Top stories from the southern region at 2100 HRS.

MDS3 KL-PM-THREAT



Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi faced terror threat during his recent visit here for the inauguration of the Kochi Metro Rail project Kerala police chief T P Senkumar indicates.

MDS4 KA-COMPLAINT



Bengaluru: A complaint against the Siddaramaiah government was today filed with the Lokayukta for using bus shelters for advertising its schemes without permission and not paying the advertisement fee to the city civic body.

MDS5 TN-NAVY-SHIP



Chennai: The government is looking at making the country a defence manufacturing hub by involving domestic companies so that dependence on overseas players could be reduced, a top Naval officer says.

MDS6 KA-POLICEMEN-REWARD



Bengaluru: A traffic police official and his subordinate have earned acclaim and reward for their quick thinking in allowing an ambulance ahead of President Pranab Mukherjee's convoy during his recent visit here.

MDS8 KARNAN-LD ARREST



Coimbatore: Police arrest absconding former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan, more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

Bengaluru: AIADMK (Amma)'s stand on backing NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind will be decided by General Secretary V K Sasikala Natarajan, party leader T T V Dhinakaran says after meeting her in jail here.

MCM22 BIZ-SHIPBUILDING



Chennai: Anjali Deshpande, wife of Vice Admiral D M Deshpande, Controller of Warship Production and Acquisition, formally launches the country's first indigenously built floating dock FDN-2 for the Indian Navy at L&T Shipbuilding Yard near here.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump called the death of one-time North Korean prisoner Otto Warmbier a "total disgrace" and appeared to take a swipe at the Obama administration for failing to bring the American student home before it was too late.

Sentenced to hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, the 22-year-old Warmbier was medically evacuated in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in captivity.

Suffering from severe brain damage, he died Monday in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, surrounded by family who decried his "awful torturous mistreatment" at the hands of Pyongyang, while taking solace in the fact he made it home before he died.

Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and handed a 15-year sentence in March last year, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.

"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto," Trump said during an event in the Oval Office. "It should never, ever, be allowed to happen. And frankly if he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different."



The young man's father, Fred Warmbier, previously criticised former president Barack Obama's administration for how little he did for their son, saying officials had counseled the family against speaking out to avoid antagonising the North Korean regime.

"The results speak for themselves," the student's father said last week.

Trump paid tribute to Warmbier's family, with whom he has spoken personally, saying "it's incredible what they have gone through."



A day earlier, the president slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang, and said he was determined to "prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."



Trump's stern language was echoed by South Korean President Moon Jae-In, who said in an interview ahead of a White House visit next week that North Korea bears responsibility for the student's death.

"We cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr Warmbier, but I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to his death," Moon told CBS television's "This Morning."



Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, in an arms buildup that Washington has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Donald Trump slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement yesterday announcing Warmbier's death.

Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump condemned Pyongyang following of his death.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."



He then added with no explanation: "We'll be able to handle it."



In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."



"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."



Added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."



Ex-Vietnam war POW Senator John McCain said in a statement that Warmbier "was murdered by the Kim Jong-Un regime," and added that the United States "cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."



On Twitter, Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote that Warmbier "should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it."



Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who spent almost two years in a North Korean prison before he was released in November 2014, asked people to pray for Warmbier's family.

"For Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in - and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family," Bae said in a statement.

"This did not have to happen and should never happen again."



Doctors last week said that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."



Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, and that he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Tests carried out in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that Warmbier's brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."



His death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record.

The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea tied Warmbier's fate to "millions of unknown North Koreans" who are "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."



Warmbier's family said they believed the student had found peace after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Two Dutch journalists were detained by suspected National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels in northern Colombia, authorities have said.

The leftist guerrilla group, which neither confirmed nor denied any kidnapping, said on Twitter they were looking into the case.

"This morning, reporter Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender, 58, both Dutch nationals, were stopped" in El Tarra, Norte de Santander, by presumed ELN rebels, police said in a statement.

In May 2016 in the same El Tarra region ELN rebels kidnapped a Colombian-Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters. The reporters were handed over days later to intermediaries.

The government ombudsman's office via Twitter demanded the "immediate liberation of the two Dutch nationals being held," and said it will try to help solve the situation.

Meanwhile police specialists in kidnapping and extortion headed to the region in an attempt secure the release of the two men.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN started a peace dialogue in Quito in February, seeking to end more than five decades of fighting.

The country's most numerous rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is scheduled to complete its disarmament by June 27.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Darren Osborne, a 47-year-old man under arrest on terror charges for running over worshippers outside a mosque in London, has been described by his mother as someone with problems but "not a terrorist".

British police named Osborne, a father of four living in the Welsh city of Cardiff, as the man who ploughed a van into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London, yesterday.

He was detained by members of the public at the scene and then take to hospital and later arrestedon suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

An elderly man, who was receiving first aid at the time of the attack for a presumed heart attack, died on the scene, but it is unclear if his death was a result of the attack or from a previous condition.

Nine others were taken to three London hospitals and two were treated for minor injuries at the scene, outside Muslim Welfare House, near Finsbury Park Mosque.

In a statement on behalf of the family, Osborne's 26- year-old nephew Ellis Osborne said, "We are massively shocked; it's unbelievable, it still hasn't really sunk in. We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured."



According to witnesses, Osborne shouted, "I want to kill all Muslims" as he drove a van into a crowd largely made up of worshippers out for Ramzan prayers.

Osborne's mother, 72-year-old Christine,said her son was "not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims".

"I'm at my wit's end. I saw him on TV and recognised him straight away. I just screamed. My son is no terrorist -- he's just a man with problems and I don't know how to cope with all this," she told The Sun.

Osborne's sister Nicola denied that her brother is political.

"He wouldn't even know who the Prime Minister is. I've never heard him say anything about Muslims or anything racist," she said.

Osborne was born in Singapore but raised by his parents, John and Christine, in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, whereheattended Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College.

He left Weston-Super-Mare several years ago and moved to a terraced house in Pentwyn, Cardiff, with his partner, children and two dogs.

The couple have four children, aged between 16 and five, and Osborne is described as a "family man".

Some neighbours believe he andhis partnerhad separated in recent months and that he was often seen shouting at her in the street.

Osborne, who was not known to the police or security services, is believed to have driven 15 miles from his home in Cardiff to Pontyclun Van Hire on Sunday, hiring an 80-pound- a-night van.

According to some of his drinking mates, he may have become radicalised following the recent terror attacks in London Bridge and Manchester.

He allegedly hurled insults at his Asian neighbour's 12- year-old son and was allegedly thrown out of his local pub the night before the attack for "cursing Muslims".

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick joined hundreds at a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque, where people from across the community had gathered in solidarity and to lay flowers.

The Finsbury Park attack is the fourth in the UK in four months, after incidents in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack was "every bit as sickening" as the others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 47-year-old man arrested after a terror attack near a London mosque had been kicked out of a pub 'for cursing Muslims' just a day before the incident, a media report said.

Father-of-four Darren Osborne was arrested by police after a van ploughed into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London.

One person was killed and 11 others injured in the attack.

The victims were all Muslims and the incident was declared a terror attack on the Muslim population. Witnesses said the driver shouted: "I want to kill all Muslims", before onlookers pinned him to the ground.

Shocked neighbours said Osborne had recently been kicked out by partner Sarah Andrews - and was forced to live in a tent.

Others claim that he was ejected from the town's Hollybush pub on Saturday night for drunkenly cursing Muslims.

"He got chucked out as he was so drunk," The Sun quoted a a regular visitor at the pub as saying.

"He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage," he said.

However, his mother Christine said her son was not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims.

"This is every mother's worst nightmare," she said.

Christine said she screamed in horror after spotting her son in TV footage of the attack.

"As a mum my heart goes out to everyone in Finsbury Park," she said.

Two Muslim neighbours of Osborne said he had never showed any animosity towards them.

Mum-of-six Khadijah Sherazi, a British Islamic convert, moved next door to Osborne six months ago.

"This is a complete shock, I thought he was a normal neighbour, laughing and joking. He fixed my leaky tap the other day," she said.

"He seemed like a good dad, he takes the kids to school and back every day and walks the dogs," she said.

Saleem Naema, who is from Iraq, lives on the same road.

He said: "I couldn't believe when I realised it was him who was accused.

"We'd say hello everyday when dropping the kids off at school and he never had a problem with me at all. I'm a Muslim and he was never nasty or racist towards me," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres suggested today that he is engaged in bringing about a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue through his meetings with the prime ministers of the two countries.

"Why do you think I met three times the prime minister of Pakistan (Nawaz Sharif) and two times the prime minister of India (Narendra Modi). For someone accused of doing nothing, it is quite a number of meetings," Guterres said with laughter here, responding to a question whether he is engaged in bringing about a dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.

Guterres was asked about the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan along the Line of Control and the ceasefire violations since he assumed office as the UN chief in January.

Modi and Guterres met in St Petersburg this month on the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum.

During the meeting, Modi had stressed on multilateralism to address global challenges such as terrorism.

Sharif and the UN chief met on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos in January and again this month in Astana on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric, when asked about the Secretary-General's response to the situation in Kashmir, has repeatedly said that Guterres is following the situation in the region closely.

Dujarric has said that the UN chief reiterates his call for India and Pakistan to find a peaceful solution through engagement and dialogue to resolve the Kashmir issue.

There are strains in relations between India and Pakistan over a number of issues including the cross-border terrorism, unprovoked ceasefire violations along the LoC and the death sentence given to Indian national Kulbhushan Jadhav by a Pakistani military court on charges of spying.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Several Union ministers and BJP leaders today met party's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind here to extend greetings, with some saying the Opposition "would be able to work" towards reaching a consensus on his nomination.

Kovind, who today resigned as Bihar Governor, spent his entire day at the Bihar Niwas, where a stream of visitors called on him with bouquets and best wishes.

The Union ministers, who paid a visit included Harsh Vardhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Anath Kumar and Ravi Shankar Prasad.

BJP national general secretary Bhupender Yadav and national general secretary (Organisation) Ram Lal held discussions on taking the process forward.

Earlier in the day, Kovind met Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who conveyed his best wishes on his nomination.

The BJP yesterday announced the name of the 71-year-old Kovind, a low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, as its choice for the President.

Sources said after his resignation as the Bihar Governor, the official car, carrying the Ashoka emblem, has been taken away and a new vehicle has been assigned to him.

The presidential nominee has now been accorded a 'Z+' cover of NSG commandos by the Union government. The 'black cat' commandos have been deployed at the premises of Bihar Niwas, and around Kovind's new vehicle.

"The car carrying the Ashoka emblem was replaced with a new one, after he had resigned," a source said, adding, "he faxed his resignation".

The election of Kovind as India's 14th President is a virtual certainty with several non-NDA parties too lending their support to BJP's surprise candidature of the low-profile dalit leader and a former lawyer.

Senior BJP leader and Buxar MP Ashwini Kumar Choubey, also called on Kovind and said, the process has begun and soon, he (Kovind) would file his nominations.

"Bihar is his 'karmabhoomi' (place of work) and it is time a President be elected unanimously, as the first President Rajendra Prasad was, whose 'janmabhoomi' (place of birth) was Bihar," he told reporters at Bihar Niwas after meeting Kovind.

Asked if the Opposition would be able to reach a consensus on his nomination, "He is a man of calm and sobre disposition and enjoys good bonhomie with all. I think, it (Opposition) would be able to work towards reaching a consensus".

The Bihar BJP leader also said about "11-12 Bihar MLA proposers have already come up".

Security at the Bihar Niwas was also stepped up by evening time.

Kovind lost two elections- one Lok Sabha and one assembly- but the BJP ensured his political rise by sending him to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and then in 2000.

A native Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh, he was appointed as the Governor of Bihar in August 2015.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea, has died, leading President Donald Trump to decry the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States on Tuesday last week, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his home town of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement announcing Otto's death.

The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the United States decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following of his death, while voicing compassion for his family.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."



In a separate statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."



"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."



Doctors last week revealed that Otto had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said yesterday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."



Kim Jong-Un's regime said Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, claiming the college student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests carried out last week in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said Warmbier's severe brain injury was most likely -- given his young age -- to have been caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, focusing attention on an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."



His father, Fred, lashed out at North Korea last week, telling a conference, "there is no excuse for any civilised nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long."



In their statement yesterday, Otto's family said they believed the young man had found a peace of sorts after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

"We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too."



Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea, including two men who taught at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley today lashed out at North Korea over the death of a 22- year-old American student after he was freed by Pyongyang, saying his memory will serve as an "indelible reminder" of the "barbaric nature" of the regime's dictatorship.

"Countless innocent men and women have died at the hands of the North Korean criminals, but the singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other," Indian- American Haley said in a statement on the death of Otto Warmbier.

Warmbier was a student at the University of Virginia and had visited North Korea during a trip to China.

He was detained at the Pyongyang airport in early January in 2016 and charged with "hostile act" against the country's authoritarian government for trying to steal a propaganda poster.

Warmbier was released from a North Korean prison last week and was sent back home in a coma, a condition he had been in for more than a year in a coma. He died yesterday at the Cincinnati hospital.

Haley said while Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his family, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship".

She lashed out against the decades-long "inhumanity" of the North Korean regime, saying numerous investigations have been conducted and endless volumes have been written about how "that outlaw government has tortured and murdered generations of its own citizens".

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The US today welcomed the inauguration of a direct commercial air corridor between India and Afghanistan that bypasses Pakistan, describing the route as a new avenue for Afghan products to enter the international market.

"We welcome this new avenue for Afghan products...And India's contributions to Afghanistan's development and economic growth," a State Department spokesperson told PTI.

The maiden flight from Kabul taking the route landed in New Delhi yesterday. It carried 60 tonnes of cargo, mostly asafoetida (hing).

The new route is expected to boost bilatyeral trade ties and give landlocked Afghanistan a larger access to Indian markets. It should benefit the Afghan farmers, giving them a quick access to Indian markets for their perishable produce.

In 2016, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani decided to open a direct air corridor between the two countries. That year, Ghani urged businesses to target USD 10 billion in bilateral trade over five years.

India has been closely working with Afghanistan to create alternate and reliable access routes, bypassing Pakistan. In January 2015, India had announced to allow Afghan trucks to enter the Indian territory through Attari land check-post for offloading and loading goods from and to Afghanistan.

India is also working with Afghanistan and Iran for development of the Chabahar Port. A trilateral transport and transit agreement based on sea access through Chabahar was signed between the three countries in Tehran in May 2016.

Currently major exports from India to Afghanistan are man-made filaments, apparels and clothing accessories, pharmaceutical products, cereals, man-made staple fibres, tobacco products, dairy and poultry products, coffee, tea,meat and spices.

Major imports from Afghanistan to India are fresh fruits, dried fruits, nuts, raisins, vegetables, oil seeds, precious, semi-precious stones.

At the moment, up to five flights operate daily between Afghanistan and India, bringing nearly 1,000 Afghans, many of them for medical treatment in Indian hospitals.

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Vigilance sleuths today arrested a MNREGA programme officer on graft charge from Bihar's Nawada district, a vigilance department release said.

The vigilance investigation bureau caught one Nitish Kumar Sinha, MNREGA programme officer posted at Pakribarawan block of Nawada district, red handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 for sanctioning earth filling work under MNREGA scheme.

One Ramashish Yadav, a resident of Belkhunda village under Dhamaul police station of Nawada district, had lodged a complaint with the vigilance department that the MNREGA programme officer was demanding a bribe of Rs 20,000 for sanctioning earth filling work MNREGA scheme, the release said.

The allegations were found to be correct during the verification carried out by the Bureau, it said.

A team was constituted under Deputy Superintendent of Police Paras Nath Singh who raided and caught Nitish Kumar Sinha red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from the block office in the district.

The accused will be produced before a Special Vigilance Court at Patna after interrogation, the release said.

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China today said it will support Nepal's efforts in safeguarding its sovereignty, promised not to interfere in its internal affairs and offered to provide assistance for the Himalayan nation's socio-economic development.

China also appreciated the Nepal government's adherence to the 'one-China' policy, Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said after talks with his Nepal's Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi.

Kong said that China will, as always, support Nepal's efforts in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, China's state-run Xinhua agency reported today.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, China and Nepal have set a good example in forging ties between the countries of different sizes and different social systems based on equal treatment and mutual respect, Kong said.

China will continue to uphold the principle of non- interference in Nepal's internal affairs and is willing to provide assistance within its ability for its socio-economic development, he said, in an apparent reference to India's alleged interference in the Himalayan nation.

Bairagi said Nepal treats China as a great neighbour and a great friend, and the two countries have forged solid ties based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence



Attaching great importance to developing ties with China, Nepal has been upholding the 'one-China' policy (regarding Taiwan and Tibet) and will never allow any forces to use its soil to conduct anti-China activities, Bairagi said.

Nepal supports the 'Belt and Road' Initiative and will take an active part in building the China-proposed initiative, he said, adding Nepal is also willing to earnestly implement the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries.

The one-day meeting also reviewed bilateral relations, political issues and the latest political developments in Nepal.

They also discussed bilateral economic cooperation, investment, trade and connectivity along with land and air route connectivity.

The 11th Meeting of Nepal-China Consultation Mechanism consist of a 11-member Chinese delegation and 20-member Nepali delegation.

The Nepali delegation was led by Foreign Ministry's Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and Chinese delegation was headed by Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuan You.

The meeting comes shortly after Nepal signed a memorandum of understanding on China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.

The OBOR aims to enhance connectivity and cooperation among countries, primarily between China and the rest of Asia and Europe through land as well as maritime routes.

While the implementation of OBOR is one of the agendas, the meeting will also dwell upon a host of other issues, including those related to security, trade and transit, according to foreign ministry officials.

The 10th Meeting of Nepal - China Consultation Mechanism was held in Beijing in 2013.

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Pope Francis made a pilgrimage today to the tombs of two Italian priests known for their progressive social views and works during Italy's postwar years.

The pontiff began with an early visit to Bozzolo, a village in the country's north where Father Primo Mazzolari died in 1959.

"Father Mazzolari was convinced that the destinies of the world play out at the margins," said Francis, who has often made efforts to reach the faithful who live on society's edge.

The pope also praised him as a "priest who was poor and not a poor priest, which is not the same thing."



Mazzolari's preaching was marked by calls for social justice, positions that often earned the ire of his superiors, to the point that he was banned at one point from preaching outside his diocese.

Some of his books were also banned, but in 1959, three months before his death, he met with Pope John XXIII, who welcomed him as a priest inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Pope Francis travelled later today to Barbiana, about an hour's drive northeast of Florence in central Italy, to visit the grave of Father Lorenzo Milani.

Shortly after arriving in the village in 1954, Milani opened a school for working-class children while advocating the use of innovative teaching methods.

Milani, who died in 1967, had "a spiritual concern... For schools, which he never stopped believing could be a field hospital for helping the wounded and reclaiming society's outsiders and outcasts," Francis said in a video message published in April.

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From drab metals sheets at building construction sites to dreary walls of municipal parks, artists have turned several dull places in the city into bright canvases with striking yoga-themed murals.

The latest artwork, the most ambitious one, is an over 10,000-sq ft mural depicting the meditative asanas of Surya Namaskar in the backdrop of Delhi's famed monuments.

"The idea was to celebrate yoga, our heritage, as also to transform these construction sites and other dull spots in the city into something that would be pleasing to the eye. And, the yoga theme has worked fantastically.

"Earlier, no one would even care to look at these places, but now many are stopping by to take pictures or just gawking out of their windows in cars or autorickshaws. Art has made these otherwise dull spots appealing, and that has enhanced the aesthetic look of the city too," artist Yogesh Saini of Delhi Street Art told PTI today.

The artworks dotting the city, from construction sites in Lutyens' Delhi to diplomatic enclave of Chanakyapuri and civic park in south Delhi, are suffused with bright orange, red, and black owing to silhouetted figures or landmarks.

"The 350-ft-long artwork that rises to about 30 ft high is splashed across metal sheets at a construction site near AIIMS' building in East Kidwai Nagar. All 12 steps of Surya Namaskar have been depicted from left to right. In the backdrop, the city's monuments are shown in silhouettes, creating a striking visual appeal," Saini said.

The monuments depicted include Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Humayun's Tomb, India Gate, Lotus Temple, Rashtrapati Bhawan, Jantar Mantar and Akshardham Temple.

"These construction sites are otherwise an eyesore, but art lends a different touch. That is the whole idea with which we collaborated with civic bodies on this project," he said.

So, the construction sites of Ambedkar Memorial on Dr Rajendra Prasad Road and Police Memorial on Pt. Uma Shankar Dikshit Marg are turning heads with human figures shown in yoga postures in silhouettes against a bright orange background on metal sheets, which otherwise are erected to serve a very utilitarian purpose.

The artwork in Chanakyapuri depicts yogis in meditative poses, a peacock and bird over the horizon, creating a pleasant feel for passersby.

While the artworks at Chanakyapuri and East Kidwai Nagar have been executed by the team of Delhi Street Art, the one on Dr Rajendra Prasad Road was created by some art students, Saini added.

"Our first project in the series was a municipal park in Green Park area of south Delhi. We used the inner walls of the park as a canvas to show various meditative poses, as at other places. Silhouette is sort of a running theme, and I guess it has worked well," he said.

His team is currently finishing the giant mural in East Kidwai Nagar for the International Yoga Day celebrations tomorrow. "We worked on it for the last five days."



"We are celebrating Yoga, but even after the celebrations are over, these artworks would remain as long as the construction goes on. But till then, we have taken art to the people.

"It is like an organic exhibition. And even though it would be ultimately dismantled, we are pleased that until that period of time, we celebrated art, people enjoyed it and connected with it," Saini said.

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With the Uttar Pradesh government all set to organise a grand International Yoga Day function in the state capital tomorrow, BSP president Mayawati today alleged misuse of funds, resources and time over it.

"Instead of fulfilling its prime constitutional duty by using its power, resources and time towards providing jobs to crores of jobless poor, farmers, labourers to help them get two square meals, the Modi government is using government funds and machinery on the well-off people," Maywati said in a press note here, condemning the alleged misuse.

Joining issues with farmers' organisations who have opposed the Yoga Day functions, Mayawati said their protest against the "anti-poor and anti-farmers" function and policy was fully justified.

Lashing out at the "wrong policies and working" of the BJP-led government which, she claimed have further compounded the problems of the jobless and farmers and has also forced them to commit suicide, Mayawati said farmers will now hold peaceful dharna at the Niti Ayog and Jantar Mantar in Delhi from next month to draw government's attention over it.

Alleging dwindling job opportunities and employment crunch in the IT sector also, Mayawati said under such trying times, the BJP governments at the Centre and state have "adopted lax attitude and using government funds, machinery and time on programmes like yoga."



"RSS should have been made responsible for such functions rather than BJP governments...Why must the various government facilities and exemptions that RSS is getting be only allowed to sow seeds of hatred?", she asked.

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By Alana Wise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The worldwide commercial aviation industry will need an extra 255,000 pilots by 2027 to sustain its rapid growth and is not moving fast enough to fill the positions, according to a 10-year forecast published by training company CAE Inc.

More than half of the required pilots have not yet begun training, the report adds, storing up potential problems as the industry braces for an increase in passenger air traffic that is expected to double the size of the commercial air transport industry in the next 20 years.

"Rapid fleet expansion and high pilot retirement rates create a further need to develop 180,000 first officers into new airline captains, more than in any previous decade," said the report by CAE, which trains pilots for airlines around the world.

"The shortage of pilots is a problem today. There's demand today, so people need to start building a strategy with us or other professional academies to be able to build that pipeline," Nick Leontidis, CAE's Group President for civil aviation training solutions told journalists at the Paris Airshow on Tuesday.

Rival L3 also operates pilot training academies.

To meet demand, Leontidis said CAE would seek to grow its own training academy business, rather than make acquisitions.

Pilot unions in the United States have said low wages and limited benefits for entry-level positions are deterring a new generation of potential aviators from pursuing the career.

In the United States, training requirements also are a hurdle for many would-be pilots.

The United States is the only country to require co-pilots to have at least 1,500 flight hours unless they have experience flying planes in the military or are graduates of certain specialized programmes.

According to the U.N.'s aviation agency, which sets global standards typically adopted by regulators from its 191-member countries, it takes a minimum of about 250 hours to obtain a commercial pilot licence for work as a co-pilot.

By contrast, 1,500 hours is the minimum required to become a captain under norms set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the U.N. agency that supports the development of global aviation.

While the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration previously had followed ICAO norms, the 1,500-hour requirement for co-pilots was imposed following the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407, a regional jet, in 2009, that killed 50 people.

The 1,500-hour mandate is supported by pilots' unions as a way to improve air safety. However, regional airlines and some aviation experts say the tougher standard does not make flying any safer and has exacerbated the pilot shortage by making the training process longer and more costly.

(Reporting by Alana Wise in New York and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Additional reporting by Victoria Bryan in Paris; Editing by Joseph White, Bill Trott and Mark Potter)

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LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays and four former senior executives have been criminally charged in a high-profile UK investigation into undisclosed payments to Qatari investors during a 12 billion pound ($15.4 billion) emergency fund raising in 2008.

In a highly anticipated announcement, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said on Tuesday it was charging the bank with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation and unlawful financial assistance.

Barclays said it was considering its position over the charges and awaited further information.

It also charged Barclays' former senior executives John Varley, Roger Jenkins, Thomas Kalaris and Richard Boath. The fundraising in 2008 included a $3 billion loan facility made to the wealthy Gulf state in November 2008, the SFO said.

Former chief executive Varley, Jenkins, a former senior investment banker, Kalaris, a former CEO of Barclays' wealth division and Boath, ex European head of financial institutions, have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation during a June 2008 capital raising.

Varley and Jenkins have also been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation in relation to the October 2008 capital raising.

Varley and Jenkins also face a charge of unlawful financial assistance, the SFO said.

The men are the most senior bankers in Britain to date to be accused by prosecutors of alleged crimes during the financial crisis, which brought the global financial system to its knees and plunged much of the world into recession.

(Reporting by Kirstin Ridley and Lawrence White, editing by Simon Jessop and Susan Fenton)

(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.)
By Neha Dasgupta

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India on Tuesday said it would sign future long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase deals with Qatar if only Doha agrees to acquire stakes in the South Asian nation's power plants, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

India is the latest major LNG buyer to seek concessions from Qatar, the world's biggest LNG exporter, in order to re-sign long-term supply contracts. Amid a global glut of LNG and a slump in prices, other buyers have sought more flexible contracts, including clauses that would allow them to resell gas they do not consume.

"Yesterday, we have given a firm proposal to Qatar. If they want to have a long-term off-take assurance, there is a window. They can deal with our stranded power plants, from end to end they can give some solution," Pradhan told on Tuesday.

India is suffering from natural gas shortages that have required power plants with capacity of as much as 25,000 megawatts to shut down or run as lower rates. Qatar's RasGas is India's biggest LNG supplier.

"It won't be quid pro quo but mutual interest...They can share the profit of those power plants," said Pradhan, adding New Delhi wants to expand its ties with Doha beyond simply buyer and supplier.

India wants to gradually move to a gas-based economy and has plans to raise its annual LNG import capacity to 50 million tonnes in the next few years from 21 million tonnes now.

India is also open to granting stakes to Qatar in local oil and gas companies and LNG terminals, should the Gulf emirate make such a proposal, said Pradhan.

India's biggest gas importer Petronet LNG annually buys 8.5 million tonnes under a long-term contract. It also buys additional volumes from Qatar under spot deals.

Prabhat Singh, chief executive of Petronet, said the Gulf nation needed to decide quickly on the Indian proposal. He said India could be a stable outlet for Qatar's LNG.

(Reporting by Neha Dasgupta; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Christian Schmollinger)

(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.)
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Tuesday that there are no plans for Russia to have an extraordinary meeting with the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and U.S. shale producers.

He also said he did not believe that a monitoring committee of OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers due to take place next month in Russia could be expanded into a broader meeting between producers.

(Reporting by Denis Dyomkin, writing by Vladimir Soldatkin; Editing by Christian Lowe)

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(Reuters) - Tesla Inc is close to an agreement to produce its electric cars in China for the first time and gain better access to the world's largest auto market, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

An agreement with the city of Shanghai would allow Tesla to build its facilities in Lingang development zone and could come as soon as this week, the report said. (https://bloom.bg/2rOQwcG)

The electric carmaker, whose revenue from China tripled to more than $1 billion last year, would need to set up a joint venture with at least one local partner under existing rules, Bloomberg reported.

Tesla was not immediately available for comment.

In March, Tencent Holdings Ltd <0700.HK>, China's biggest internet company, bought a 5 percent stake in Tesla for $1.8 billion.

(Reporting by Laharee Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

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By Sinead Carew and David Randall

- Whole Foods Market Inc shares added to their gains on Monday after Amazon.com Inc announced plans last week to buy the upscale grocer, with investors betting that rivals could step in to create a bidding war.

Amazon shares also rose as Wall Street analysts lauded the proposed $42-per-share deal and bet that the company would prevail in any bidding battle.

Whole Foods shares rose 1.3 percent on Monday to close at $43.22 - adding to Friday's 29 percent rise and reflecting hopes the company might fetch a higher price. Amazon shares ended up 0.8 percent at $995.17.

"We thought Amazon was thrifty in its offer," said Charles Kantor, managing director at Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC, which owns around 2.7 percent of Whole Foods shares and had pressured the company to take steps to improve its stock price.

Kantor noted that Amazon's market cap gain roughly equaled the amount the company is paying for Whole Foods.

"I think there's the argument that Amazon acquired Whole Foods for free," he said. "The reaction of shareholders suggests that Amazon has left themselves lots of room to pay more for this strategic asset."

Some investors suspected other companies were weighing a rival bid.

"Every grocery store out there now is having a conversation about how much they can afford to spend to keep Amazon out of the space," said Brian Culpepper, a portfolio manager at James Advantage funds.

Culpepper, who owns Kroger Co shares, said Kroger is the company that would be most likely improve Whole Foods' efficiency, but that it would have difficulty matching Amazon's cash offer.

Kroger shares climbed 1.6 percent to close at $22.64 on Monday.

"Kroger would have to pay in stock, and their stock has been hurting," giving them less leverage to get into a protracted bidding war with Amazon, Culpepper said.

Barclays analyst Karen Short raised her Whole Foods price target to $48 from $38 and upgraded the stock to overweight from equal-weight, citing the possibility of counterbids.

"Many will do anything to either make this acquisition more costly for Amazon, or prevent the asset from landing in Amazon's lap," Short wrote in a note to clients.

A $48-a-share price tag would be more than reasonable for a fellow retailer that could eliminate overhead at Whole Foods, Short said, while adding that very few companies could outbid Amazon.

Amazon's offer of $13.7 billion, representing a multiple of 10 times earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, could possibly be raised to 11 or 12 times, according to Kevin Dreyer, co-chief investment officer at Gabelli Funds, which holds Whole Foods shares.

"Fourteen billion is a big number but it's not a number where there's no other buyer," said Dreyer. "Others could certainly look at this and sharpen their pencils."

Wal-Mart Stores Inc could have sufficiently deep pockets to make a counter bid and other grocery rivals such as Kroger or Albertsons Cos Inc would have the motivation, he said.

Any of the big grocery chains that bid on Whole Foods would likely win antitrust approval to buy the premium grocery chain, according to three antitrust experts.

Any buyer of Whole Foods would likely argue that it was not in the same market, said Alden Abbott, an antitrust expert with the Heritage Foundation.

"Even if they did compete ... you'd have to look at the presence of (other grocery chains)," said Abbott, who argued that many Whole Foods stores are in close proximity to other grocery stores, which means antitrust enforcers might be satisfied there was adequate competition.

(Additional reporting by Michael Flaherty and Lewis Krauskopf in New York and Diane Bartz in Washington; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Matthew Lewis)

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The Income Tax Department has ordered action against Cairn Energy Plc to recover Rs 10,247 crore of retrospective tax after the British oil company lost a challenge to the move before an international arbitration panel.

The department ordered taking away USD 104 million dividend due to it from its remaining stake in the erstwhile subsidiary Cairn India (now called Vedanta Ltd) and another Rs 1,500 crore of tax refund due to it, a top source said.

Income Tax department holds Cairn Energy liable to pay taxes to the tune of Rs 10,247 crore on alleged capital gain the British firm made when it transferred its India assets to a newly created company Cairn India in 2006.

Cairn Energy had approached the international panel shortly after the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) turned down its plea in March seeking injunction against coercive action to recover the tax. The tax department had issued a fresh tax demand of Rs 10,247 crore, with June 15 as the payment deadline.

The source said the tax department will now move to take over the 9.8 per cent shareholding Cairn Energy had in Cairn India.

In an emailed statement, the company confirmed the tax department's move. "On June 16, 2017 the Indian Income Tax Department (IITD) issued an order to Vedanta India Ltd (VIL) directing it to pay over any sums due to Cairn. Sums due to Cairn from VIL now total USD 104 million, including historical dividends of USD 53 million and a further dividend of USD 51 million after the merger of CIL and VIL," it said.

The company said however that it will continue with the international arbitration proceedings against the retrospective tax demand."Cairn is seeking full restitution for (UK-India Bilateral Investment Treaty) Treaty breaches resulting from the expropriation of its investments in India in 2014, the attempts to enforce retrospective tax measures and the failure to treat the Company and its investments fairly and equitably," it said.

The company said it is confident in its case under the Treaty and, in addition to resolution of the retrospective tax dispute, its claim seeks damages equal to the value of the Group's residual shareholding in Cairn India at the time it was attached, which amounts somecwhere close to $1 billion.

(With inputs from PTI)

Also watch:




Defence manufacturing major Lockheed Martin on Monday signed an agreement with Tata Advanced Systems to jointly produce the world's most widely used F-16 fighter planes in India. The 'landmark deal' was signed on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show that would provide India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the world's most successful combat-proven multi-role fighter.

The deal, however, is set to create more competitive environment in the country as Swedish company Saab has also offered its most technologically-advanced Gripen E fighter aircrafts for production in association with Indian defence company. It is in talks with the Adani Group.



Here's what India gets out of this TASL- Lockheed Martin deal



'Make in India' push

The agreement is a major push for the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative as Lockheed will move its F-16 production base from Fort Worth in Texas to India. And, it has come right ahead of Prime Minister's scheduled visit to the United States to meet President Donald Trump later this month. Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Orlando Carvalho said "Our partnership significantly strengthens the F-16 'Make in India' offer, creates and maintains numerous new job opportunities in India and the US, and brings the world's most combat-proven multi-role fighter aircraft to India." This parternership may force other major manufacturers to join the defence race in India.



Creation of Manufacturing Jobs

According to a joint statement issued by TASL and Lockheed Martin, the deal would be beneficial for both India and the United States. It said: "F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US, creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions the Indian industry at the centre of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world." Such set-ups will create more and more manufacturing jobs for India.



India becomes F-16 exporter

The joint statement said that this unprecedented F-16 production partnership provide India the opportunity to produce and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft combat-proven multi-role fighter. Earlier in January, former Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said that India is looking at countries like Vietnam, Mauritius, Bangladesh, Philippines, Afghanistan and Oman to export defence equipment. The Defence Minister had also said that Indian defence exports would touch USD 2 billion - six times the current export of defence equipments - by 2019. In 2016, Indian defence equipment exports stood at Rs 2,060 crore.



India joins most advanced fighter aircraft's production

The companies' press statement said that with more than 4,500 produced and approximately 3,200 operational aircraft worldwide being flown today by 26 countries, the F-16 remains the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter ever produced. The F-16 Block 70 is the newest and the most technologically advanced F-16 ever offered. However, the Times of India reported that the US itself has not ordered F-16s since 1999 as it had shifted to the advanced fifth-generation F-35s.




Along with the central government employees, officers and non-official staff working with central public sector enterprises (CPSE) also stand to benefit once revised allowance structure recommended by the Seventh Pay Commission gets the federal Cabinet's approval. However, everybody may not get a piece of the pie.

Out of the 244 CPSEs operating in the country, the benefits of allowance hike may reach employees of only a hundred companies, stated the Financial Express in a report. Official sources were quoted in the report that only 100 PSUs fulfil the affordability criteria set by the Third Pay Revision Committee (PRC). In other words only a hundred CPSEs can afford to pay for hiked allowances of their employees.

CPSEs suffering losses and employing a huge workforce, like BSNL or Air India will not be able to increase salaries. Other loss-making CPSEs like Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) will not be able to offer paychecks as big as they want to, the report stated.

The DPE has already circulated a draft Cabinet note on the pay revision for inter-ministerial consultations. Once the pay hike for CPSE officers is in practice, the units will take up the issue with respect to non-official staff with their respective worker unions.

The PRC was constituted by Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) on July 9, 2016, same time when the Cabinet approved recommendations on pay and pension by the 7th Pay Commission. It even imitates most of the pay panel's recommendations. One of the major objectives of the Committee was to review salaries and allowances of board level functionaries, below board-level employees and non-official staff.

Pay hike for CPSE board-level and below board-level officers will cost the units around Rs 7,000 crores in the current fiscal year. Hikes in the same proportion for non-official staff as the officer level will put a burden of Rs 10,000 crores every year. To put things in perspective, this concerns more than Rs 12 lakh employees across the 244 CPSEs. The number of staff working for the 100 eligible CPSEs was not available, though, the report stated.

The PRC has also recommended 15 per cent pay hike subject to the ability of companies to pay them. The pay hike can be implemented in entirety by the CPSE only if the resulting additional financial burden due to salary revision of their officers does not exceed their average profit before tax (PBT) for the past three financial years.

The salaries could be hiked from 5 per cent to 10per cent if the aforesaid burden is between 20 per cent and 40 per cent of the average PBT. There will be no hike for executives if the additional cost due to salary revision is over 40% of their average PBT during the stipulated time frame. The pay increase varies across the CPSE categories.
The Chennai based Dr.Agarwal's Group of Eye Hospitals, one of the fastest growing single specialty eye chains in the country, is planning a major pan-India expansion. The group is planning to invest over $200 million to set up another 80-90 hospitals within the next four years, said Dr. Adil Agarwal, Chief Executive of Dr. Agarwal's Group of Hospital.

Dr.Agarwal's Group of Eye Hospitals is one of the pioneers in exclusive eye care in the country, with its first hospital founded in Chennai in 1957 by Dr. Jaiveer Agarwal. The hospital remained as a standalone hospital for three generations till 2006 when Dr Adil, a fourth generation eye surgeon from the family, decided to develop it as a chain. Currently Dr Agarwal's Eye Hospitals has 72 hospitals - 56 in India and 15 in Africa and one in Cambodia.

The Indian eye care market is estimated to be between $1.5-$2 billion and leading chains include Vasan Eye care, Maxivision, ASG, Centre for Sight, Eye-Q and Narayana Netralaya. According to the World Health Organization, India has an estimated 12 million blind people and additional 450 million people who require vision correction.

As per CRISIL, owing to the rising proportion of ageing population, high prevalence of eye disorders, innovative models for improving penetration of medical facilities, increasing disposable income and rising insurance penetration, the eye care delivery market is expected to reach $4.4 billion by 2020, with a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12 per cent over FY15-FY20.

Dr. Adil said new hospitals will soon start in Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal. Dr.Agarwal's hospitals are currently based mainly in Tamil Nadu and the coastal states in East India. In 2016, they had received $45 million (around Rs 305.7 crore) from Hong Kong-based private equity firm ADV Partners (ADV) and Rs 60 crore in 2011 from Evolvence Capital.

Dr Adil said that currently ten hospitals in the chain are tertiary care hospitals with a hub and spoke model. Each of the hospital requires about $2 million investment. The infrastructure will include 20-25 staff which can cater to 100 patients a day.


The Punjab Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, has decided to amend Section 26-A of Punjab Excise Act, 1914 to tackle to the issue of liquor ban on national highways .

The amendment to the act means hotels, restaurants and clubs to serve alcohol within 500 meters of highways. However, no retail vend would be opened within 500 meter of the national and state highways.

The official release, however, said that these restrictions would not apply to the hotels, restaurants and clubs situated on national and state highways.

ALSO READ: Ram Nath Kovind: 10 things you need to know about BJP Presidential pick



The Cabinet, which met here under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, gave a go-ahead to the draft amendment bill, 2017, in this regard, to be tabled during the current Budget session for enactment.

The Cabinet gave its formal approval to the budgetary proposals to be presented by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal in the state Assembly tomorrow. The Congress government will present its maiden budget today.

The Supreme Court had ordered a ban on all liquor shops on national as well as state highways across the country in December last year. The sale of liquor had taken a hit in many states following the Supreme Court's ban. Hotel and restaurant owners have filed review petitions in the Supreme Court seeking exemption from the order.

The Supreme Court said in May that it could announce modifications to the order in the July second week, according to a Times of India report.
Former Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind will soon take over the 14th President of India.

Ram Nath Kovind would be the next occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The election, which was held on Monday, was a one way contest between Ram Nath Kovind and Meira Kumar.

Here's what you should know about Ram Nath Kovind



1. Born on October 1, 1945, in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur Dehat, Ram Nath Kovind was the youngest among three brothers. He completed his primary and pre-middle school education from Khanpur in Sandalpur block. He passed intermediate examination from Kanpur and Bachelor of Commerce from DAV College. He became a law graduate from DAV Law College, Kanpur.

2. Thereafter, Kovind moved to Delhi to prepare for civil services examination. He cleared the coveted exams in his third attempt. However, he turned down the job offer as he was selected in the allied services.

3. A lawyer by profession, he practised as an advocate for the Centre in Delhi HC from 1977-79. He was a permanent advocate for the Centre in the SC from 1980-93.

4. After the formation of Janata Party government in 1977, he became private secretary to then PM Morarji Desai. He also worked as a junior counsellor for the Janata Party government in the Supreme Court.

5. BJP fielded him as a Lok Sabha candidate from Ghatampur in UP in 1990. He lost the election.

6. In 2007, BJP gave him a ticket for UP Assembly election from Bhognipur. He lost that election too.

7. Kovind was a Rajya Sabha member from 1994-2006 from UP. A Dalit, he was member of the Parliamentary committees for SC/ST welfare, Home ministry, petroleum and natural gas, social justice, and law and justice. He was also the chairman of Rajya Sabha Housing Committee.

8. Kovind was a member of management board for Dr BR Ambedkar University, Lucknow, and Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata.

9. He represented India at United Nations in New York and addressed the General Assembly in October 2002.

10. He was the BJP's Scheduled Caste cell president from 1998-2002. He was also the party's national spokesperson and a member of the BJP's National Executive Committee (NEC) as a permanent invitee.




The tax filing season is about to start. For salaried class, tax is deducted at source (TDS) by the employer and is deposited to the tax department. At the end of the financial year, the employer will provide the details of the salary paid and the tax deducted in the Form 16. This year, the deadline for providing Form 16 by the employer was raised from May 31 to June 15.

Form 16 contains the details of salary paid to you, tax deducted and deposited by the employer and the deductions you have claimed during the year.

Apart from this, if you had earned an interest income of more than Rs 10,000 in a financial year, banks deduct TDS on it if you have not submitted Form 15H or 15G.

So, TDS may be deducted from various sources. However, Form 26AS is one important document which gives you the details of the TDS deducted from various sources.

Why is Form 26AS important?



Form 26AS is an annual consolidated credit statement issued with regards to your PAN. Therefore, it is important that the tax payer should compare the Form 26AS with the Form 16 received from the employer. If there has been a tax deduction and it is not showing in your Form 26AS, it means either it has not been deposited or there was a delay in depositing the TDS deducted. In this case you should get in touch with your employer. Also, there are chances that the TDS has been deposited against a wrong PAN by mistake. Then it is your duty to get it corrected.

If there is a mismatch between the actual TDS deposited shown in Form 26AS and the what you are showing in your income tax return, the tax department can question you.

Also, suppose there was some interest income which you didn't show while filing tax return but bank has deducted TDS and deposited it with the tax department, then you may received notice from tax department for under reporting of income.

Therefore, it is always advisable to verify both Form 16 as well as Form 26AS for any discrepancies before filing tax returns.

How can you download Form 26AS?



You can download Form 26AS from Income Tax of India's website by logging in to your account if you have already registered on the website. If not, then you will need to first register yourself using your PAN.

After logging in, you can go to "My Account" and click on Form 26AS. It will direct you to TDS Reconciliation Analysis and Correction Enabling System (TRACES) website. There you will have to select the assessment year for which you need to see the form 26AS and in which form you would like to see it.



The password for opening the Form 26As is your date of birth written in the DDMMYYYY format.
To ensure smooth implementation of India's biggest tax reform Goods and Services Tax or GST, the Central government has called for a special midnight session of Parliament on June 30.

The special Parliament session would start around 11 pm on June 30 and end at 12.10 am on July 1. President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the special midnight session. The tax reform was originally piloted by Mukherjee when he was the Finance Minister in the previous UPA regime.

The government is all set to roll out the historic GST From mid-night of June 30-July 1. Speaking on the launch of the GST, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said: "I anticipate the revenues will grow... Now, trade and industry have to prepare themselves. When you go for a reform, you should not blink."

However, he also acknowledged that there would be some short term challenges while switching-over to GST. "We had been saying GST will be rolled out by July 1; nobody had any business not to be ready," Jaitley added.

President Pranab Mukherjee, the Vice-President, Lok Sabha Speaker and former Prime Ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda will also be present on dais for GST launch.

The Members of Parliament, Chief Ministers and state Finance Ministers have also been invited to attend special midnight session which is to be held at Central Hall of Parliament.

Members of the GST Council have also been invited to attend the session where two short films on the GST will be screened. The GST Council met 17 times to chart out the modalities and tax rates that were to be fixed for the new tax regime.

Originally, the GST was to be launched from Vigyan Bhawan - the largest convention centre in the national capital that has hosted majority of the meetings of the GST Council.

But the historic Central Hall was thought to be a better choice considering the importance of the new tax code that unifies more than a dozen separate levies to create a single market with a population greater than the US, Europe, Brazil, Mexico and Japan put together.

GST has been dubbed as the most significant economic reform since BJP government came to power in 2014 and is expected to add as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP growth rate besides raising government revenues by widening the tax net.

A four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low rate of tax of 5 per cent on essential items and top rate of 28 per cent on cars and consumer durables has been finalised. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent.



(With inputs from PTI)




When the economy is good and there are many jobs available, attracting and retaining good teachers can be difficult. According to Kirk McRae, human resources director for the Cache County School District, that situation is prevalent right now in many places.

However, on KVNUs For the People program Monday, June 19, McRae said the situation is not prevalent in local districts, and there are several significant reasons why. For example, he said its the quality of the people, the fact that there is a quality university so close and also that the Utah State Legislature has done what it can to come up with the money needed for salaries and operations.

The school districts here in Cache Valley really do have an advantage, McRae said, but I see that over time, especially as other districts increase salaries and try to compete for those candidates, that were going to have to do the same to increase our salaries, our benefits, so that those advantages that we do have dont get eroded over time.

McRae said many Utah State University students who major in education hope to remain in this area after they complete their degrees.
Nico Halle W. Musa

The president of the General Assembly of Cameroon Bar Association, Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle has condemned in strong terms the recent burning of schools, markets and shops in the two English speaking regions of Cameroon.

He spoke recently to The Guardian Post newspaper saying that he was deeply concerned with continuous arson in the regions,  I am deeply saddened with the situation in the north west and south west regions, but in the north west in particular. People have been taking advantage of the strike to cause a lot of trouble. I think that peace ought to return, he told The Guardian Post.

He added: In my peace crusade drive, I have been calling on the Head of State to grant general amnesty to all those arrested in connection with the crisis.

Ntumfor Barrister Nico Halle equally frowned at the recent incident which occurred in Bamenda where a female student was brutally beaten by some unidentified saying it was gruesome and disturbing.
| BY Ricki Green |

Australian creative studio Alt.vfx and production company Filmgraphics have helped create an emotional 360-degree docu-drama short film for Oxfam, highlighting the courage of the people of Turkana, Kenya.

Developed in conjunction with Director Dave Denneen, the powerful film shows the plight of the Turkana villagers through the eyes of 11-year-old Evelyn, who acts as the storys narrator.

The 360 film breaks new ground in the way it marries film language with the relatively new medium of 360 story telling. Designed to highlight Oxfams work in bringing clean water to remote areas, the team made a film that would translate to the viewer as more than just a sequence of shots, but as an emotionally resonating story, one that hopefully moves people to donate to a worthy charity such as Oxfam. A stirring soundtrack from sound specialists We Love Jam added the final touches to this wonderful film.

Says Anna Fawcett, EP, Filmgraphics: When Oxfam came to us, we knew we had to find the right creative partners to develop this project to its full potential. Alt not only had the right people and creative approach, but also the drive to push new technologies. We Love Jam also brought a really inventive creative solution that helps add drama to Evelyns Story. Im very proud of all our team for producing such a beautiful piece of VR film-making.

Alt.vfx developed a stereoscopic 360 camera specifically for the project that would resist the harsh terrain, and 45 degree temperatures. This proprietary camera rig  The Don  offers live view, ambiosonic audio capture, stereo 360 at 4K, synchronized cameras with micro 4/3rds sensors allowing for excellent low light performance, and all packed up in a custom designed carbon fiber lightweight casing for ease of use on location.

Says Tyrone Estephan, senior producer at Alt: The exciting part of this project was right from the start the teams at Filmgraphics and Alt had one passionate goal, to break new ground in the VR world in the way it marries film language with the exciting and new medium of VR storytelling. Evelyns Story is a touching, emotional story that will help change lives.

Says Steve Callen, on-set director for Filmgraphics: The challenges of shooting in such a remote location were unique to us all, but thankfully we had built a robust and skilled team to cope with those challenges. Working with the Turkana people was unforgettable, and we captured so much of what life can be like for these remote communities.

In addition to the groundbreaking story approach and stereo camera, Alt developed a fully streamlined post-production VR pipeline. Editor Matt Bennett and VFX supervisor Raymond Leung developed programming language that allowed for a fully immersive 360 head set live interactive experience in editorial. The new system allows the viewer  be it director or client  to see the edit being worked on live in 360. The same experience has been developed for the grade suite, where live streaming of the footage in 360 allows for colorist and client to grade the film in 360 allowing for instant understanding of results.

Says Denneen: Editing in a stream lined way such as this allowed us to experiment with different cutting techniques, camera angles and play in real time with the new film language that is VR. Its been a great experience to work with Oxfam and such a talented and technical team to tell this powerfully emotive story.

Says Scott Hignett, creative director, Alt, who was part of the on-set crew: Allowing the director and Oxfam to see the end result as the edit is being cut meant we were able to gauge the reactions of the viewer accurately. This helped us craft a film that optimizes the user experience and draws out the maximum emotion required for memorable film-making that hopefully moves people to feel compelled to support these villages and their quest for life. Bringing the story of Oxfams work to screen has been a wonderful experience for us all, and Im very thankful to have been part of this amazing team.
| BY Ricki Green |

By Simon Larcey, managing director, Path 51

Dear creative agencies. Can I talk to you about performance? It might be worthwhile paying attention, because this is no longer just medias problem. I hope youll listen as I think it might be useful.

One of the most popular industry sayings of the 21st Century is that data is the new oil, an analogy broadly accredited to UK mathematician Clive Humby, whose 2006 comparison of the two was based on the idea that data is valuable, but if unrefined it cannot really be used.

The notion received something of an update recently, when The Economist published an article entitled The worlds most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data.

Yep, datas no longer just a commodity to be harvested and refined, its the worlds most valuable resource.

Its not exactly a new idea that marketing should be informed by data, yet there continues to be a backlash against it. Often from creatives. And really, its a pretty understandable backlash  I mean, no person who prides themselves on having an original mind wants to be told that their ideas are all well and good, but data is the real gold mine.

Whats more, performance-driven marketing companies are more popular than ever, claiming to deliver the best results and ROI. As such, brands want more accountability and transparency, and are happy to take their business to pitch as soon as their agency drops their game.

Its a very linear approach for an industry that is supposed to be based around creativity.

The thing is  it doesnt need to be like this  it shouldnt be like this. Rather, there must be a sense of balance. Media agencies are increasingly beefing up their creative creds, but creative agencies should likewise beef up their data and technology credentials. Unfortunately this is still so often not the case. This is a shame, and a major opportunity lost for creatives, particularly when so many different businesses  from consultancies to media owners to media-come-full-service agencies  are starting to encroach on the territory of advertising agencies. The creative muse is no longer enough.

Theres plenty to be said for the go-with-your-gut part of creativity, that notion of creative instinct that can never be replaced by a machine, but its no good just relying on your gut alone to come up with something that is most likely to maximise results.

The solution is easily said and not easily done. Bring your creative and data teams together and get them to work collaboratively. If youre a creative agency that doesnt do data, then you should evolve. Quickly.

Look at a group like The Woolshed, creators of The Viral Experiment, in which the Melbourne-based production agency managed to send ten videos viral over the course of two years. While the content they churned out was super entertaining and clearly had brilliant creative inspiration, they did the research and crunched the numbers on what would help said videos to gain the necessary traction to blow up globally  covering off aspects such as timeliness, seeding strategy, and how best to make the content clickable.

Merely uploading the videos, no matter how convincing and entertaining they may have been, wasnt going to get them anywhere. And if no one sees what youve created, then its brilliance is totally redundant. By combining data and insights with creative brilliance, they have done what no one thought was possible and developed a working formula for viral video.

Another great example is Spotifys campaign from late 2016. The business rolled out a global outdoor campaign with the tagline Thanks, 2016. Its been weird. A range of different clever creative messages would appear, depending on data and insights relating to real-world Spotify customers and pop culture. There is no way this idea could have been developed by some creatives then shipped off to media to deal with the amplification, targeting and media placement. Data and creativity went hand in hand from day dot  the data and insights are part of the creativity.

And this collaboration between the creative and data isnt confined to the start of a campaign, but should be viewed as an ongoing partnership, which helps to fuel dynamic creative.

As Pepsi proved emphatically earlier this year, the days of one big, Hail Mary-style ad are numbered, because its just too high a risk. Stuff it up, and youve effectively flushed a few million bucks down the drain.

Rather, creative needs to be lean and agile  able to respond to what is and isnt working based on real-time analysis.

Media is data driven. You need to know where to put your ad and the creative that works best for a specific audience. But creativity is what drives advertising  you need to be creative to sell products, or differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Now, with the development of AI and the constant evolution of advertising technology, there has never been a better time for creative and media to work together. Advertising is a team effort, all about driving positive business outcomes for clients.
| BY Ricki Green |

NAB has launched its new NAB Home Loan Check In initiative to show its commitment to supporting home owners throughout their property journey and help customers get more from their home loan and banking. Advertising agency Clemenger BBDO Melbourne has created a new campaign to support the initiative.

The new NAB Home Loan Check In initiative was launched on Sunday 11 June 2017, and will see customers receive tailored communications including property insights and practical tips to help them unlock their home loan potential, such as how to access funds to renovate or upgrade.

The campaign demonstrates some of the changes Australian home owners might encounter in life, and how NAB can help. The advertisement centers around a growing family and moments of change they encounter, all using their home as a stage.

Says Andrew Knott, chief marketing officer, NAB: NAB is demonstrating its commitment to supporting customers through lifes changes by helping them get more from their finances.

We know our customers want more from us, particularly when it comes to supporting them on their home ownership journey. The Home Loan Check In allows us to ensure were servicing our customers based on where theyre at in life.

Says Rohan Lancaster, creative director, Clemenger BBDO, Melbourne: Being customer centric is often said but rarely delivered on, so its great to partner with an organisation like NAB that is walking the talk when it comes to supporting their existing customers with actual programs and services.

The new advertising campaign will appear nationally through TV, digital and owned channels.

NAB

Chief Marketing Officer  Andrew Knott

GM Consumer Marketing and Customer Strategy  Karen Ganschow

Head of Home Owner Marketing  Julia Edwards

Manager Marketing Programs, Consumer  Vanessa Bede

Consultant, Marketing Programs  Sonia Agimatagi

Consultant, Marketing Programs  Bec Ellis

Consultant, Marketing Programs  Olivia Kennedy

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne

Creative Chairman  James McGrath

Creative Director  Rohan Lancaster

Creative Director  Luke Thompson

Senior Planner  Sam Mackisack

Executive Producer  Sonia von Bibra

Head of Print Production  Craig Bulman

Senior Digital Producer  Ella Huang

Head of Customer Experience  Gayle While

Business Director  Johannes Samson

Project Director  Alexandra Blakemore

Business Manager  Tom Jensen

Production Company  Revolver

Director  Stephen Carroll

Producer  Tobias Webster

Managing Director/Executive Producer  Michael Ritchie

Production Company  Sam I Am

Photographer  Billy Plummer
| BY Ricki Green |

Paul Yole (pictured far left) has written for Campaign Brief at the last eleven Cannes Lions. This year he is looking out for whats new and whats recurring.

A guy from MIT was going to be talking about neuroscience so I thought it was worth a shot.

The title was intriguing  The biology of a Creative Idea.

Adam Horowitz looks about 13 years old but he uses very big words, so this modern day Doogie Howser, MD may have lost some of his audience.

What I did glean though was that the idea of transient hypofrontality (you know what that means, right?) is the zone we want to get into when we need to be creative.

You can induce this state by meditation, exercise, day dreaming or in fact anything that does not involve directly focussing on the problem you are trying to solve.

Which is what Jon Steel has been telling us for years so there you go, MIT has proven that, once again, Jon is right.

Advertising creatives will be delighted to hear that alcohol is another technique that can be used. I guess if it was good enough for Hemingway it should be good enough for the rest of us.

The MIT session was an interesting but contrasting precursor to a talk by the Pulitzer prize-winning editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick.

Remnick spoke brilliantly and eloquently about his fears for journalism in this age of fake news.

These days, he told us, you can tell and sell any story at all and then he went on to call out the purveyors of lies and bullshit.

Take Donald Trump, for example. Please, someone take him.

The author Harry Frankfurt (On Bullshit) says there are liars and there are bullshitters.

Donald Trump, as Remnick assured us, capably straddles the realms of both. Politifact asserts that in his Presidential campaign 70% of Trumps statements were false. Scarily for the rest of the world, he doesnt seem to care.

Social media is to blame of course, because it has become a platform for deception, powered by speed and ubiquity.

While David Remnick is keenly interested to see what Facebook will do next to address this issue in the interests of honest journalism, I think our industry also has a major consideration to deal with.

If people cant trust what brands are telling them, programmatic buying will only amplify the problem. What on earth would David Ogilvy have thought about all of this?

Thankfully, some of our industry leaders are onto the case. In fact, two senior CCOs have both mentioned the same thing to me completely independently.

In a recent CB Asia story concerning his agencys work for the NUJ in the Philippines, BBDO Guerrero Creative Chairman, David Guerrero, said: False information spread through social networks is one of the defining problems of our age. This tool (Fakeblok) aims to provide journalists themselves the means to warn people against aggravating the problem by further spreading it in their networks.
| BY Lynchy |

This Raya season, Leo Burnett Malaysia and Tenaga Nasional celebrate the festivities with a simple, yet timely reminder that family matters most. But in the most epic and humorous way possible.

TNB Chief Corporate Officer, Datuk Wira Roslan Ab Rahman said, Aidilftri is about strengthening relationships between family and friends. For this years Hari Raya, we seek to convey the message that relationship with family members is sacred and we should always value our time spent with them.

The web film titled Dugaan Raya Aida (Aidas Raya Woes) follows Aida who works in the city as she tries to overcome multiple challenges in preparing for her trip home to spend time with her loved ones. She has to take on extra work at her office, earn extra income to meet the expectations of her family members, and make it home despite losing her bus ticket. Everything is stacked against her but she perseveres, and in the end reunites with a very forgiving family.

Tenaga Nasional has always been about brightening peoples lives, and more so during the festive season. And we believe that this humorous take on what many Malaysians can relate to will put a smile on everyones face, said Iska Hashim, Group Creative Director of Leo Burnett Malaysia.

Senior Art Director Hyrul Anuar said the story was based on his sisters experience having had to work hard in a biscuit factory to support her 12 siblings. I made my sisters real life story into a drama and inclusive of post production it took two months to complete.

Since its launch on June 14, the web film has garnered over 2 million views under 24 hours and has surpassed the 7 million mark to date. And it is part of a campaign that includes a music video for the specially written Raya song featured in the web film, as well as recipe videos for those who want to make the Raya cookies featured in the film.

Dugaan Raya Aida was directed by Quek Shio Chuan of Reservoir Productions who also collaborated with Leo Burnett on Tenaga Nasionals equally popular Chinese New Year film, Cooking Hustle.

Credits 

Group Account Director: Megat Camin Rizvi

Account Manager: Ashikin Yusof

Group Creative Director: Iska Hashim

Senior Art Director: Hyrul Anuar

Senior Copywriter: Ayuni Safira

AV Producer: Roseniyati Abdullah

Film Production: Reservoir World

Film Director: Quek Shio Chuan

Assistant Film Director: Adam Sinclair

Executive Producer: Ryan Khoo

Producer: Cheong Wai Leng

Audio House: Sonicsoul Productions
| BY Lynchy |

Taguig  Most if not all of us find it easier to connect with out mothers. We share our questions, worries, and even secrets with them. But for dads, well, thats a bit more complicated. In the realm of relationships, dads are known to be the quiet but reliable ones. Our relationship with them are considerably functional  if we need somebody to pick us up, or we need something to pay for, etc. But behind all that, dads sometimes crave the attention, talks, and emotion we share with our moms. Thats why SM Supermalls and Tribal Worldwide decided to tell how dads really feel with Daddys Girl.

Daddys Girl follows the story of a family as they go about shopping for Alexas 18th birthday. Dad quietly drives for mom and daughter as they exchange their excitement about the debut. Once inside the mall, dad follows mom and Alexa as they look for shoes and the dress  paying and carrying the shopping bags along the way. We jump to the night of the debut with Alexa looking magnificent in her gown. As she takes the stage for her speech, she proceeds to thank her mom for being her best friend and for all her emotional support.

Finally, she calls out, daddy. As Alexa thanks him for being a great provider, even mentioning how hes not as affectionate, her speech gets cut short by a loud cry. And as everyone turns to look, we see dad howling like a baby.

Quickly, we return to earlier moments when dad tried to hide his feelings about his little daughter growing up so fast. We see him crying by himself inside the car to the annoyance of other drivers, we see him whimper in front a confused and worried cashier, and finally, we see him escape to the dressing room before he breaks down in tears. As dad snaps out of his flashback, we see Alexa run down from the stage, hug dad, and share a moment with the whole family.

Daddys Girl received the warmest welcome from SMs fans and followers when it reached 2 million views in less than 24 hours. With over 5.8+ million views on Facebook, 148,000+ likes and 63,000+ shares  collectively reaching 13.4 million netizens as of press time  Daddys Girl has officially gone viral! Thats why its no surprise that people who were moved to tears and/or laughter were also inspired to share their personal dad stories in the comments section.
"If I was going to address the RSL conference I'd wear an army tie, a railway conference wear one of these with trains, there was turmoil in the wool industry when I was in federal parliament so as some sort of protectant - which never really did protect me from what was flying around the room - I'd wear a tie related to wool."
"Slow your breathing by relaxing each body part, starting with the soles of your feet right up to the top of your head. Absorb your new surrounds through your eyes and ears and try to sense your environment through every pore of your skin.
A union bulletin to its members at the CSA said 'all hands on deck' emergency escalations to phones have become a daily event as the slower system is impacted on call wait times, that the escalations were lasting for days and creating huge backlogs of work.
China and Vietnam will foster defense cooperation, strengthen strategic communication, settle differences appropriately, and maintain peace and security in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese military official said on Monday.

The two countries are neighbors with a common goal and a shared destiny, and the relationship is developing with positive momentum, said General Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, who led a delegation to Hanoi on Sunday and Monday.

China attaches great importance to developing Sino-Vietnamese military relations and will strengthen cooperation with the Vietnamese military to push for greater development, Fan added.

As for issues regarding the South China Sea, Fan emphasized that islands in the region have been China's territory since ancient times. The situation in the region has now improved, a development that did not come easily.

China and Vietnam should strengthen strategic communication, settle differences appropriately, and maintain the two countries' overall relationship as well as peace and security in the region, Fan said.

Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, said he wishes to deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

Nguyen Xuan Phuc, prime minister of Vietnam, said Vietnam will work together with China to effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, as well as reach an agreement on the code of conduct for the region as soon as possible.

Fan's visit came two weeks after Japan and Vietnam agreed to bolster their security ties through Japanese-funded projects, including 38 billion yen ($342 million) in aid to improve Vietnam's capability in coast guard vessels and patrols.

The two countries also held a joint coast guard exercise against illegal fishing on Friday in the waters off Danang in central Vietnam.

Major General Ma Gang, a professor at the People's Liberation Army National Defense University, said it is a welcome development to see Sino-Vietnamese relations improve in the past two years, but Vietnam's ambition of balancing big powers has not changed.

"China appreciates good relations with Vietnam, but also views Vietnam's recent intimacy with the US and Japan with calm and mild caution," he said. "Positive Sino-Vietnamese relations should build on mutual respect for each other's national interests."

zhangzhihao@chinadaily.com.cn
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.
Compact hatchbacks arent particularly popular with North American consumers, thats why Mercedes-Benz has not offered the A-Class in this side of the pond.



Thats about to change with the next generation of the A-Class, which will be available as a sedan, too, for the first time in its 20-year history, and this version will reportedly make it to the U.S., marking the first time the nameplate will be available Stateside.

AutoNews reports that the car, which is due to hit showrooms around September, 2018, was already shown to local dealers and it was described as a new entry-level vehicle that will slot below the CLA.

The automaker declined to comment on the matter, but Jeff Aiosa, a New London, Connecticut, Mercedes dealer said: Im very excited about it. It just gives us another opportunity to bring that youthful buyer in, and have them grow up with the brand. It looked like it would be very appealing to the millennial buyer.

Aiosa went on to describe the A-Class Sedans cabin as cutting edge and techy, and added that if the price sit below or just above the $30,000 mark, then more than half of its customers will account for conquest sales from other brands.

Previewed by the Concept A Sedan that debuted in Shanghai, last April, the car will be part of the companys redesigned compact family. All models will be underpinned by the MFA2 platform, which offers standard front-wheel drive and optional all-wheel drive.

Mercedes US dealers also saw a version of the AMG GT four-door sedan, besides the A-Class, and received confirmation that it will launch locally next summer.

Note: Mercedes-Benz Concept A pictured

PHOTO GALLERY
A police cruiser was T-boned by another vehicle while responding to a motorcycle accident, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, earlier this month.



The video shows officer Julie Kelleher driving a 2014 Ford Explorer on Sixth Avenue, with the emergency lights and siren on, traveling at 79mph (127km/h), reports WJACTV.

Just as she approached the intersection with Eighth Street, the officer ran a red light and didnt slow down to make sure that it was clear, moments before a 2009 Pontiac struck it and made it flip over. During the accident, Kelleher sustained minor injuries.

The initial police report said that the Pontiac driver, identified as 27-year old John McConnell, entered the intersection just as the light turned yellow. McConnell and his attorney denied it, however, and requested the dashcam footage of the incident from the Altoona Police Department.

Their initial request was denied, though, and the police only made it public when the Altoona Mayor, Matt Pacifico, contacted them to do so, to ensure that our city demonstrates transparency and openness. The footage shows clearly that the patrol officer run a red light, vindicating McConnell and proving that the initial police report was false.

VIDEO
Three juvenile cadets from the Los Angeles Police Department have been arrested and charged after stealing and crashing three police vehicles.



According to police chief Charlie Beck the three juveniles, two males aged 15 and 17 and a 16-year-old female, were members of the cadet program and managed to make off with the three vehicles, two tasers, two police radios and a bulletproof vest.

The LAPD first discovered something was amiss when a watch commander doing a daily inventory of the departments vehicles noticed that two patrol cars were missing from the fleet, CNN reports. Police authorities ultimately located the stolen vehicles but were led on two separate pursuits as the trio split up on the streets of South Los Angeles.

Speaking to the media, Beck said: One of the pursuits terminated when the pursuit vehicle was involved in a traffic collision The second pursuit ended when the pursuit vehicle collided with a non-involved motorist.

Following the arrest of the teenagers, one confessed to stealing a third car and claimed to have had the car for over two weeks. The third vehicle was located shortly after.

Beck says the cadets may have impersonated police officers in order to gain access to the vehicles.

VIDEO
The Quirino Awards will bring together artists and executives from throughout the Central and South American animation industries, in addition to the animation communities of Portugal, Andorra, and Spain, with the aim of creating new links and networks between the industries on either side of the Atlantic.

Named in honor of Quirino Cristiani, the Argentinian animator who directed El Apostol, the first-ever animated feature film in 1917, the Quirinos will honor both the creative talent and industry of Ibero-American animation, with the strategic goal of developing the Transatlantic Ibero-American animation market, which represents around 650 million people.

Now we can feel the momentum and the will of being together to build something greater than our countries, Jose Luis Farias, one of the coordinators of the Quirino Awards, told Cartoon Brew. I love to believe that we are all together a sole animation nation with deep cultural and personal links, full of creativity that have now just awakened thanks to a new generation of professionals and artists who have the wish for change.

The awards will recognize a broad range of formats, including feature films, television series, short films, student work, and internet animation.

Running alongside the awards show will be a multi-day co-production forum in Tenerife. Details on the forum will be revealed at a later date.

The awards are sponsored by Tenerifes tourism board, Turismo de Tenerife. Collaborators of the event include two major industry markets/festivals: 3DWire (Segovia, Spain) and Festival by Pixelatl (Cuernavaca, Mexico).

To keep up with new announcements about the first edition of the Quirinos, stay tuned to the official website PremiosQuirino.org and the events Facebook page.
The Annecy Festival, set in a town with a beautiful landscape, will be associated with Seoul, Asias central city that has its own history and is also developing technology of the future, said Hyungcheol Joo, CEO of SBA Animation. Together, we will create the most popular animation festival in Asia.

In many ways, launching a new festival in the heart of the Asias scorching-hot animation industry is a no-brainer. But it also represents a gamble on Annecys part to dissociate the festival brand from its French location, which is key to its uniqueness. The worlds animators used to come to Annecy; now Annecy is taking the show to them.

If the Asian animation community stops coming to France and chooses to only attend their localized version, it would weaken the international flavor of the original event, which brings together artists from every corner of the globe. On the other hand, an offshoot event could inspire more people in Asia to attend the main event, helping to expand what is already the worlds largest international animation festival.

The Annecy organizers are confident that the idea will work in everyones favor. With this partnership, we mutually engage to unite our skills, said Mickael Marin, CITIA managing director. We are certain that this international dynamic will enrich all parties involved collectively.
Photo: Twitter

Emergency services were called to a landmark Hamburg church to fight a fire. All they found was a swarm of gnats.

News agency dpa reports that Hamburg's fire service said Tuesday it was called to the St. Michaelis church by a man who reported seeing white smoke rising from the tower.

Firefighters who rushed to the scene on Monday couldn't see any smoke. They combed the tower before finding the cause of the scare: a large swarm of small insects that apparently looked like smoke from the ground.

The Protestant church, often referred to by its nickname Michel, is one of the best-known landmarks in Germany's second-biggest city.
Photo: The Canadian Press

An alternate juror in Bill Cosby's sexual assault case said Monday he "probably" would have voted to convict and was "ridiculously sick" when he found out the main jury couldn't reach a verdict.

A mistrial was declared Saturday after jurors said they were hopelessly deadlocked. Prosecutors plan to retry the 79-year-old star on charges he drugged and molested a woman in 2004.

As an alternate, Mike McCloskey heard all the testimony but didn't participate in deliberations.

He told Pittsburgh radio station WDVE that jurors did not discuss the case on the bus ride after the trial, maintaining "complete silence." The trial took place outside Philadelphia, but the jury came from the Pittsburgh area.

"It was the craziest, eeriest bus ride I've ever taken," said McCloskey, 43.

McCloskey posted his juror's badge on Facebook as proof of his role in the case. He did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press on Monday.

Jurors deliberated more than 52 hours over six days before telling a judge they couldn't break their deadlock.
Photo: The Canadian Press White House press secretary Sean Spicer

White House press secretary Sean Spicer is seeking to take on a more strategic role that would give him a limited presence in the daily press briefings that have made him a prominent face of the Trump administration.

A senior administration official and three people familiar with the potential changes said Monday that Spicer has discussed taking a more senior communications role at the White House. The three people said he has reached out to possible successors at the podium and as communications director. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations before a final decision is made.

"We have sought input from many people as we look to expand our communications operation. As he did in the beginning, Sean Spicer is managing both the communications and press office," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a deputy White House press secretary. She declined further comment on the potential changes.

Discussions about overhauling the White House communications office have been ongoing for several weeks, according to the senior administration official. Spicer's preference is to step away from the press briefings entirely, though other configurations have also been discussed.
Photo: The Canadian Press Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Minister Ralph Goodale

A super-watchdog to oversee the full array of federal intelligence services would be created under legislation introduced today.

The measure is part of a package of national security changes tabled by the Liberal government.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale says the new expert body  the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency  would keep an eye on intelligence services across government.

Many have complained the current system doesn't work as well as it should because separate watchdogs review the activities of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the RCMP and the cyberspies of the Communications Security Establishment.

The existing watchdogs cannot always freely exchange information about complaints or collaborate on reviews  a problem the new body is intended to solve.

The 150-page bill also follows through on Liberal campaign promises to repeal some elements of omnibus security legislation brought in by the Conservatives after a gunman stormed Parliament Hill in 2014.

The Conservatives gave CSIS explicit authority to derail terrorist threats, not just gather information about them.

The legislation introduced today would require CSIS to seek a warrant for any threat reduction measure that would "limit" a right or freedom protected by the charter and it clarifies that a warrant can only be issued if a judge is satisfied the measure complies with the charter.
Photo: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko Bust relief portrait of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country's history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler and magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas.

Some 75 objects were found in a collector's home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II.

"Our first investigations indicate that these are original pieces," Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told The Associated Press on Monday, saying that some pieces were accompanied by old photographs. "This is a way to commercialize them, showing that they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects."

Among the disturbing items were toys that Bullrich said would have been used to indoctrinate children, a large statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika, a Nazi hourglass and a box of harmonicas.

Police say one of the most-compelling pieces of evidence of the historical importance of the find is a photo negative of Hitler holding a magnifying glass similar to those found in the boxes.

"We have turned to historians and they've told us it is the original magnifying glass" that Hitler was using, said Nestor Roncaglia, head of Argentina's federal police. "We are reaching out to international experts to deepen" the investigation.

The photograph was not released to the public, but was shown to The Associated Press on the condition that it not be published.

The investigation that culminated in the discovery of the collection began when authorities found artworks of illicit origin in a gallery in north Buenos Aires.

Agents with the international police force Interpol began following the collector and with a judicial order raided the house on June 8. A large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.

Authorities did not identify the collector who remains free but under investigation by a federal judge.

"There are no precedents for a find like this. Pieces are stolen or are imitations. But this is original and we have to get to the bottom of it," said Roncaglia.

Police are trying to determine how the artifacts entered Argentina.

The main hypothesis among investigators and member of Argentina's Jewish community is that they were brought to Argentina by a high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals, including some of the best known.

As leading members of Hitler's Third Reich were put on trial for war crimes, Josef Mengele fled to Argentina and lived in Buenos Aires for a decade. He moved to Paraguay after Israeli Mossad agents captured Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, who was also living in Buenos Aires. Mengele later died in Brazil in 1979 while swimming in a beach in the town of Bertioga.
If you have just started your journey in an online casino or are looking for a new site to play,...
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem June 18, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday cautioned Iran not to threaten Israel after Tehran said it launched missiles at Islamic State (IS) targets in Syria.

"One message to Iran: Don't threaten Israel," Netanyahu said during a weekly meeting of his Likud faction.

Netanyahu, who has repeatedly claimed that Iran is threatening Israel, said Israel is following "their actions and we follow their words."

"The military and our security forces are constantly monitoring the activity of Iran in the region," Netanyahu said, according to a statement released by the Likud.

"This activity also includes their attempts to establish themselves in Syria and, of course, to transfer advanced weapons to Hezbollah and other operations," he said.

Netanyahu has been a vocal opponent of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, charging that Tehran is aiming to achieve nuclear weapons.

Earlier on Monday, Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) announced that the Sunday attack on the "terrorists" in Syria's eastern region of Deir ez-Zor had been coordinated with the Syrian government.

Gen. Ramezan Sharif, head of the IRGC Public Relations Department, told Tasnim news agency that the IRGC fired six mid-range ballistic missiles at multiple targets, within a range of 650 to 700 km.

He confirmed that the missiles hit the targets, which included the headquarters, ammunition and logistic depots of IS operatives, saying "a large number of terrorists" were killed.

"The launch of these missiles had previously been coordinated with Syria and the missiles entered the Syrian airspace through Iraq," he was quoted as saying.

The attack came in the wake of a twin attack carried out by IS on Iran's Parliament and the Mausoleum of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in the capital Tehran on June 7, killing 17 and injuring dozens others.
Both the railroads and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way  Employes Division say the extension will help all parties make the best decision on how to proceed with the outstanding tentative labor agreements.
The International Maritime Organization has begun mapping out how existing international regulations should be applied to the field of self-driving ships and other autonomous maritime technologies.



At the behest of a number of member nations, including the U.S., the United Nations International Maritime Organization (IMO) has begun mapping out how existing international regulations should be applied to the rapidly emerging field of self-driving ships and autonomous maritime technologies, the Danish Maritime Authority (DMA) has revealed.

Nine countries  Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States  recently raised the issue of regulating autonomous shipping with the IMO, the DMA said in a June 16 statement.

It gave rise to a prolonged debate, which showed that many safety and legal issues still remain to be solved as regards autonomous shipping, the association said. Despite some concern, it was generally agreed that the IMO needs to start its work now.

There was also general agreement that the IMO must take into consideration how these developments will affect seafarers, according to the DMA.

We, on the Danish part, want international regulation to be abreast of technological developments, not least so that the new technology can contribute to enhancing safety at sea, said Brian Mikkelsen, Denmarks minister for industry, business and financial affairs. It is important that also public authorities focus on encouraging innovation and development in shipping and especially initiatives that will promote digitalization and automation.

The Danish Maritime Authority itself is already nearing finalization of a study of maritime regulations that might be affected by autonomous ship technology.

Autonomous and remote-controlled cargo vessels are expected to enter the market no later than 2020, according to the Advanced Autonomous Waterborne Applications Initiative, a project designed to bring together universities, ship designers, equipment manufacturers and classification societies to research the technology and regulatory issues surrounding remote and self-driving ships.

The AAWA has already created a simulated autonomous ship control system that allows the behavior of the complete communication system to be explored.

We will see a remote-controlled ship in commercial use by the end of the decade, Rolls-Royce Vice President of Marine Innovation Oskar Levander said at the Autonomous Ship Technology Symposium 2016 in Amsterdam. This is happening. Its not if, its when.

In late May, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines and Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuild Co. announced they would jointly develop a technological concept for autonomous ocean transport system via a grant through the Japanese government.

Also in May, maritime technology company Kongsberg entered an agreement with Norwegian fertilizer manufacturer Yara International ASA to build an electrically powered autonomous cargo ship that could carry about 100 TEUs.

Yara said it expects to begin operating the $12 million vessel semi-autonomously in late 2018, but that after having a small crew onboard for a number of months, the containership would become fully autonomous in 2019 or 2020.
Attorney Michelle Weinberg speaks for her client June Shivers. Shivers took her 2005 Lincoln LS for servicing to the car dealership she bought it from and went home with a used Ford Fusion, financed for six years at $398 a month. Shivers alleges in a lawsuit that the dealership took advantage of her, an elderly woman with a faulty memory. (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune) (Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

June Shivers took her 2005 Lincoln LS, which was fully paid for, to a Blue Island car dealership in September to get it serviced.

When the 85-year-old Chicagoan left the lot, she was driving a used 2014 Ford Fusion and was on the hook for monthly payments of $398 over six years.

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How that trade-in occurred is a matter of dispute.

Shivers alleges in a lawsuit filed last month in Cook County Circuit Court that, as an elderly woman with memory problems, she was duped into swapping her beloved Lincoln. She's suing Napleton Lincoln and Citizens Bank, which provided financing.

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"She did love that car," her son, Steve Shivers, said of the Lincoln she traded in. "She even named it"  Nudi, her granddaughter's nickname.

June Shivers, 85, speaks June 20, 2017, at her home on Chicagos South Side. Shivers took her 2005 Lincoln LS to a Blue Island car dealership for servicing in September and drove home in a used 2014 Ford Fusion. She alleges in a lawsuit against the dealership that she was taken advantage of as an elderly woman with memory problems. The dealership, however, says it has dealt with Shivers countless times and saw no signs of erratic behavior. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune )

The dealership, however, says it has dealt with June Shivers "countless times" over the years, including just a few months before the trade-in, and saw no signs of erratic behavior.

The lawsuit highlights a growing area of concern for regulators and consumer watchdogs as a wide swath of the population ages: misunderstandings and malicious acts involving businesses and elderly consumers.

For example, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently identified "elder frauds" as one of the 10 types of scams targeting bank customers. The North American Securities Administrators Association, meanwhile, released a study earlier this month showing that more than 60 broker-dealer firms alerted authorities to nearly 2,300 cases of suspected senior-related fraud or exploitation in 2015, most involving customers 81 or older.

Shivers visited Napleton Lincoln around Sept. 13 to get her Lincoln serviced, according to her lawsuit. Told that her car needed $700 in maintenance and repairs, the retired nurse approved the fixes and decided to kill time walking around the dealership.

The lawsuit says a salesman asked if she wanted to test-drive a used Ford Fusion. She agreed, and her lawsuit alleges she was led to believe that she could take home the Fusion for a day or two and return it after the work on her Lincoln was done. She signed some documents and was on her way, the lawsuit says.

Her son was visiting her from Europe when the trade happened. He said he was alerted by some of his mother's friends, who had accompanied her to the dealership.

"They called me and were a bit concerned," Steve Shivers said. "One of her friends said, 'I think they're trying to sell your mom a car.'" He said he called the dealership and was assured that his mom was just taking a test drive. When she returned home, he saw the Fusion  and the documents showing that she had, in fact, bought the car, the lawsuit says.

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June Shivers didn't plan to trade in her car or sell it, according to the lawsuit, which alleges the salesman didn't ask for the vehicle title and didn't talk price or discuss trade-in value. She didn't understand the documents she was signing, the lawsuit says.

The dealership has contacted June Shivers' lawyer and asked for documentation on her memory problems, said Gene Kennedy, Napleton Lincoln's general manager.

"Unfortunately, that request was flatly denied unless first agreeing to a 'substantial settlement,'" Kennedy said. "Ms. Shivers has independently dealt with Napleton Lincoln countless times with no behavioral concerns and as recently as April 2016."

When she bought the Ford Fusion, June Shivers had an Illinois driver's license and "excellent insurance coverage," Kennedy said. Still, "Napleton Lincoln would like to resolve this matter amicably and is working toward arbitrating this to the satisfaction of all parties," he said.

The Ford Fusion had almost 23,000 miles on it and cost about $20,000, according to the lawsuit, which says a fair price would have been $12,000 to $16,000.

June Shivers was given only a trade-in credit of $600 for her Lincoln, which had almost 63,000 miles on it, when a fair value would have been $2,000 to $4,000, the lawsuit says.

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The dealership charged her credit card for almost $2,000 as a cash down payment, the lawsuit says. Her son said she paid that credit card bill.

The day after she came home with the new car, Steve Shivers and his mom, along with two of her friends, returned the Ford Fusion to the dealership. He told workers that she was "having cognitive issues" and shouldn't be doing much driving.

"They gave me a song and dance about how as children we don't always know what's best for our parents," he said.

The lawsuit says dealership workers refused to accept the vehicle, saying they're "not in the business of taking cars back."

Almost two weeks later, Steve and June Shivers again returned to the dealership with the car after having contacted the Better Business Bureau and LAF, formerly the Legal Assistance Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago. This time, they left the car and the keys there. June Shivers' friends also accompanied them and filmed the return.

"We were trying to find a way to unwind the deal," Steve Shivers said.

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Later, the Ford Fusion ended up back at his mom's home with the keys in her mailbox.

Steve Shivers returned to Europe, and at some point later, Citizens Bank repossessed the Ford Fusion, which he said his mom hadn't driven.

A recent letter from the bank to June Shivers says the car was sold at auction and demands that the loan be repaid, he said.

Michelle Weinberg, June Shivers' LAF attorney, said the remaining balance on the loan is more than $10,000.

Citizens Bank should have known the contract was unfair and that June Shivers was 85 years old, the lawsuit alleges.

The bank said it doesn't comment on pending litigation.

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Senior home care aides now visit June Shivers five days a week.

"They have a car," Steve Shivers said of the aides. But "she doesn't get out and around as much as she used to, and she feels kind of lonely," he said.

Weinberg said anyone considering a major purchase, such as a new car, should talk to family members and be careful when signing papers. June Shivers wasn't in a position to make an informed decision on her own, Weinberg said.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages and a ruling that June Shivers doesn't owe any money for the Ford Fusion.

byerak@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @beckyyerak
Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019, announced Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Ford will move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers. (Chris O'Meara / AP)

Ford Motor Co . will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019.

Ford will move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers.

Ford's president of global operations Joe Hinrichs says the move will save Ford $1 billion, including $500 million from canceling a new plant in Mexico that was intended to build the Focus.

U.S. Focus sales were down 20 percent through May, hurt by low gas prices and consumer preference for SUVs. But Hinrichs said small cars remain an important part of Ford's business.
A newborn baby gets his first check up at Mount Sinai Hospital by Dr. Bruce Rowell, the pediatrician on duty at the time. (Chicago Tribune)

Mount Sinai Hospital, which serves many low-income patients on the city's West Side, plans to stop offering pediatric trauma and inpatient care in the coming months.

The move comes as a number of Chicago-area health care providers in recent years have cut back on pediatric inpatient services.

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Mount Sinai will stop seeing pediatric trauma patients  children who suffer serious injuries as a result of events such as gunshots, falls and car crashes  around the end of August, said Dianne Hunter, a spokeswoman for Sinai Health System. It also plans to ask the state this week for permission to stop offering pediatric inpatient services later in the fall, she said.

The hospital decided to cut the programs because of weak demand for them, Hunter said. On average, only about six of the hospital's 24 pediatric inpatient beds are occupied, she said.

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"We're a safety net provider, so we provide a lot of really important health care services to the communities we serve, and we're thinking that space could be used for beds that are going to be filled," Hunter said.

Other nearby facilities still will offer pediatric inpatient care, she noted. Those include Stroger Hospital, Saint Anthony Hospital and University of Illinois Hospital, which are all less than 2 miles from Mount Sinai.

Saint Anthony, which has 18 pediatric inpatient beds, is preparing for an upsurge in pediatric inpatients because of the Mount Sinai changes, said Dr. Romeen Lavani, chairman of pediatrics at Saint Anthony.

Lavani said the hospital likely will hire more nurses in coming months to help care for the additional patients. He said the hospital is committed to continuing to provide pediatric inpatient care, even though it tends to be a money-losing area for hospitals due to particularly low Medicaid reimbursement rates.

"We are prepared and equipped to take care of these children," Lavani said. Saint Anthony does not offer pediatric trauma services and will transfer kids in need of higher levels of care to Comer Children's Hospital, he said.

Stroger, which has 40 pediatric inpatient beds and offers pediatric trauma services, is also "well-positioned" to care for additional pediatric trauma patients, Dr. Jay Shannon, CEO of the Cook County Health and Hospitals System, said in a statement Tuesday.

U. of I. Hospital has 44 pediatric inpatient beds but does not offer pediatric trauma services, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Mount Sinai will continue to see kids in its emergency room and will continue to offer an array of pediatric outpatient and specialty services, Hunter said. The hospital also will continue to offer adult trauma services, starting at age 16.

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Hunter said she wasn't sure how much money the changes might save. She said no layoffs are planned.

Mount Sinai is not alone in cutting pediatric inpatient services. Since 2012, pediatric inpatient admissions have decreased 16 percent across the state, Hunter said, citing a Mount Sinai analysis of state data.

Lurie Children's Hospital recently gained state approval to add 44 intensive care unit beds and four neonatal intensive care unit beds. In its application to add those beds, Lurie cited reductions in pediatric beds at 15 other facilities since 2013 as part of the reason it needed to expand. Seven of those facilities got rid of all their pediatric beds, according to the application.

In all, Lurie's market has lost 140 pediatric beds since 2013, the hospital said.

Allan Baumgarten, an independent health care financial analyst, said it can be tough for hospitals to maintain their pediatric beds, particularly when facing a prominent competitor such as Lurie.

"Hospitals are paring back on certain lines of business, and pediatrics is one I think they look at very closely, especially in a market where the competition for that line of business is pretty aggressive," Baumgarten said.

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Hunter said the growing use of outpatient surgeries, versus inpatient surgeries, is part of the reason for decreased demand for inpatient pediatric services at Mount Sinai.

lschencker@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lschencker
Colleen Sierra moved from Orlando, Fla. to Aurora, and is happy she did.

"I love Aurora," she said recently. "I love living here. It's charming, and homey "

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Still, she admits feeling at times "entrapped in my home," due to the excessive and constant traffic noise on Orchard Road.

Sierra lives on Courtyard Circle, near Orchard and Indian Trail, possibly as close as anyone lives to the four-lane, major artery that connects North Aurora, Aurora, Montgomery and Oswego.

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She and many others have told Aurora City Council members that the current wooden fence along Orchard needs to be replaced with a concrete one to cut the noise.

The residents have come at the urging of Alderman Carl Franco, 5th Ward, who sent an email to the 73 who live along the highway as it goes through Aurora. They have spoken at the past two council meetings, making their case that the wooden fence at the very least needs to be repaired, but really needs to be replaced.

It appears unlikely they will get what they want.

Kane County officials have said that they do not build concrete sound walls because of the cost. Orchard Road is a county highway, even though it runs through municipalities.

Ken Schroth, Aurora's public works director, also said, "most local jurisdictions don't install sound walls. And the only time (the Illinois Department of Transportation) builds them is after a noise study, and as part of a federally-funded expansion," he said.

Schroth said the wooden fence was never intended to stifle noise.

"It's more of a site wall, is what it is," he said.

Kane County and Aurora have an intergovernmental agreement to split maintenance or replacement of the fence. The city has a bid request out for repairs  900 one-by-six boards, 1,100 connectors and 5,000 screws.

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The life of the fence can be extended another 10 years, Schroth said, but still, the city and county "need to start programming for its replacement."

A concrete wall would cost between $1.26 million and $2 million, he said, and would not necessarily be a sound wall. That would likely cost more in the $3 million to $3.2 million range, he said.

If both jurisdictions decide to break with the usual and install a sound wall, Schroth said they should "keep an eye out for outside funding."

slord@tribpub.com
World premieres, unexpected collaborations, a spotlight on women bandleaders and an in-depth look at Thelonious Monk at 100 will top the 11th Hyde Park Jazz Festival, running Sept. 23-24.

As always, the free event will unfold in multiple indoor and outdoor venues  13 stages, to be exact  across the historic neighborhood. No other jazz festival in the Chicago area, and few elsewhere in the country, embraces and celebrates its neighborhood as effectively as the Hyde Park event has since its inception.

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Following is a first look at this year's lineup and its predominant themes, with commentary from Kate Dumbleton, the festival's executive and artistic director. For complete schedule, visit www.hydeparkjazzfestival.org.

World premieres

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The most intensely anticipated performances will come from flutist Nicole Mitchell, a former Chicagoan who maintains a high profile here with frequent appearances in distinctive projects.

Supported in part by a $35,000 grant from Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation, the previously announced "Bamako*Chicago Sound System" will feature Mitchell in collaboration with Malian kora master Ballake Sissoko and colleagues Fassery Diabate on balafon and Fatim Kouyate on vocals. They'll perform shows at 3 and 5:45 p.m. Sept. 23 at the University of Chicago's Logan Center for the Arts.

Among the risks in conceiving such a project these days is obtaining visas for international artists to travel to the States.

"So far, we've gotten the OK with the visas  we seem to be fine," says Dumbleton of a venture co-sponsored by the World Music Festival Chicago.

In addition, the Hyde Park Jazz Festival will send Mitchell, Sissoko and friends into public schools, thanks to a collaboration with the Ravinia Festival's Guest Artists in the Classroom program.

Another world premiere will come from Chicago saxophonist-bandleader Geof Bradfield, who will lead his "Yes, and  Music for Nine Improvisers" at 7:15 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Logan Center.

"He's such an interesting musician  in a lot of different scenes," says Dumbleton, "bringing a lot of different musicians together in way that I think is important for Chicago."

Monk at 100

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Dumbleton, like many jazz presenters, has faced the 1917 challenge: Several pioneering musicians were born that year, prompting uncounted centennial celebrations of titans such as Thelonious Monk, Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie (the list also includes Mongo Santamaria, Lena Horne and Buddy Rich).

"I felt like a lot of people were doing responses to that and taking on the three giants and doing all three people with one performance," says Dumbleton.

"And I wanted to do something different than that."

So she programmed four events zeroing in on pianist-bandleader Monk, whose compositions  such as "'Round Midnight," "Blue Monk," "Ruby, My Dear" and many more  stand among the most revered, studied and performed works in jazz.

The festival's multifaceted Monk homage will feature Dee Alexander: Monk and the Ladies (with Tomeka Reid, Marion Hayden and Gayellyn McKinney), 6:15 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Wagner Stage on the Midway; Ben Goldberg: Learned from Thelonious Monk (solo), 6:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Logan Center; Robin D.G. Kelley: "Monk at 100" lecture, 2:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Logan Center; and Double Monk, featuring pianists Jeremy Kahn and Steve Million with dancer Ariane Dolan, 7:15 p.m. Sept. 23 at the University of Chicago's International House.

Women bandleaders

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Dumbleton knows full well that "the question of gender and jazz is obviously a very long conversation, and it continues to be a hot button for people," she says.

She hastens to add, however, that "I'm not at all interested in essentializing concepts, like women in jazz. I hope that we are past that. Sometimes I'm not sure we are. But I like the idea of supporting the work of emerging women artists as part of the overall narrative. And I hope that people pick out that that is happening (at the festival), rather than me always having to say it."

Certainly the festival will present a stylistic range of women bandleaders, including the Grazyna Auguscik Group, 4 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Logan Center; Jaimie Branch's "Fly or Die, " 1 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Smart Museum; Katie Ernst with the collective Twin Talk, 2:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Smart Museum; Alexis Lombre Quartet, 4:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at Little Black Pearl; Amina Claudine Myers, solo organ and piano, 5 p.m. Sept. 23 at Hyde Park Union Church; and Maggie and Africa Brown, 2 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Wagner Stage on the Midway (in addition to the aforementioned Nicole Mitchell and Dee Alexander).

Novel partnerships

"I also wanted to continue what we've done the last couple of years: Think about offering Chicago artists an opportunity to bring in a special guest," says Dumbleton.

This time, beloved Chicago saxophonist Ari Brown will lead his quartet, with guest saxophonist David Murray, 3:45 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Wagner Stage on the Midway.

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Why did the festival invite Brown to suggest an out-of-town collaborator?

"Because of all the things he has contributed to Chicago, and his kind of quiet, steady hand, if you will," says Dumbleton. "His breadth of collaborations over the years, and his gentleness."

Which should make for a fascinating contrast with Murray's volcanic eruptions.

There will be another intriguing pairing: vibraphonists Joe Locke and Warren Wolf duetting at 11 p.m. Sept. 23 in the University of Chicago's Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. It will be interesting to see how these musicians tame  or confront  the heavily reverberant acoustics of the space.

Other attractions

Also of note: the Jeremy Pelt Quintet, 8:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Wagner Stage on the Midway; Willie and Bethany Pickens plus Friends, 9:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the Logan Center; Dana Hall's Inner Dialogue: Sound and Semiosis (solo), 3 p.m. Sept. 23 at the DuSable Museum of African American History; Nick Mazzarella/Tomeka Reid Duo, 4:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the DuSable Museum; Andrew Cyrille and Bill McHenry, 9:30 p.m. Sept. 23 at the International House; Fat Babies at 3 p.m. and CALJE at 5 p.m. Sept. 24 at the West Stage on the Midway; and Yes We Can: The Songs of New Orleans, 6 p.m. Sept. 24 at the Wagner Stage on the Midway.

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Though it's true that this year's lineup doesn't feature marquee names that practically guarantee huge audiences, that seems insignificant in light of the sounds that await.

"We don't have a Randy Weston or a Regina Carter," says Dumbleton, citing two such past attractions.

"We do have the kinds of extraordinary artists and heroes that are less well known but that made extraordinary work  Andrew Cyrille, Amina Claudine Myers, David Murray.

"I feel like it's a really deep (lineup)  a lot of breadth, a lot of depth, and a lot of different considerations of the music and its history."

Which matters most.

The Christian Sands Trio will headline a benefit concert for the Hyde Park Jazz Festival, the reception and performance running from 6 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Promontory, 5311 S. Lake Park Ave.; for details, visit www.hydeparkjazzfestival.org.

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Howard Reich is a Tribune critic.

hreich@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @howardreich

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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)
At 60, author and humorist David Sedaris is about to publish his 10th book, a collection of extracts from his long-running diaries. (Ingrid Christie/Little, Brown )

On Jan. 15, 1984, David Sedaris moved into an apartment at 820 W. Cuyler in Chicago.

I know this because Sedaris recorded the occasion in his diary, and the entry made the cut for inclusion in his recently released "Theft by Finding: Diaries 1977-2002," a collection of his daily remembrances culled to just over 500 pages from the original 156 volumes.

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I do not know why I was so struck by this largely innocuous entry, other than I know exactly where 820 W. Culyer is. Thirteen years after Sedaris moved in, I would rent a basement apartment no more than a half- mile away on West Grace. Judging from Sedaris' descriptions, the neighborhood changed quite a bit in the interim.

Reading from his diaries is a standard part of a Sedaris performance, and yet I found this volume jolting. I have enjoyed his art for decades, but reading the origins of it in these pages reveals that just about all art is the result of a miracle.

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Sedaris was already 27 when he moved to Chicago from Raleigh, N.C., to attend the School of the Art Institute. A restless autodidact, he'd previously worked itinerant labor jobs, including apple picking and construction, even as he fitfully pursued visual art with some success. Reading not far between the lines, we see that he was also addicted to drugs and alcohol. Sedaris' humor has never been light, but stripped of the artifice of his essays, the source material for his worldview makes palpable the deep pain that infused his early adult years.

Chicago is where things start to turn around for Sedaris. The simultaneously jaundiced and humane eye Sedaris brings to his observations is evident from the initial entries, but it's in Chicago where they form into the sensibility we've come to know. His stories and essays grow out of required school critiques. A chance meeting with Ira Glass ultimately leads to "The Santaland Diaries" being aired on National Public Radio.

I lost track of the number of times and places where Sedaris' ultimate path could've been severed. It reminds me of another favorite set of diaries by Monty Python co-founder Michael Palin, "Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years," where readers learn that what started as a lark became one of the most influential sources of comedy for multiple generations. But Palin's diaries fascinate for the behind-the-scenes glimpses of seminal moments, such as the filming of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail."

While Sedaris fans will recognize the origins of many of his treasured essays, I began to also see connections with another recommended read, Flannery O'Connor's "A Prayer Journal." In it, O'Connor wrestles to reconcile her deep belief in God with her literary ambitions, worried that the latter will make it difficult to be true to the former.

Having been written with no intention of being published, these diaries allow us to see the raw parts of artists as they confront their desires. Like O'Connor's, Sedaris' diaries are also essentially about belief  about his faith that he has something to say to and about the world.

It is egotism, no doubt, but coming from Sedaris, it is endearing: It is ultimately just a wish to be seen and heard, to be noticed and accepted for the person he is. The early years of the diaries show us how difficult that battle must have been.

John Warner is the author of "Tough Day for the Army."

Twitter @biblioracle

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Book recommendations from the Biblioracle

John Warner tells you what to read next based on the last five books you've read.

1. "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas

2. "Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage" by Dani Shapiro

3. "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" by Matthew Desmond

4. "One of the Boys" by Daniel Magariel

5. "Crazy Rich Asians" by Kevin Kwan

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 Quinn T., Chicago

Samantha Irby's essays are always funny, but similar to David Sedaris', as you peel back the layers serious engagement with deeper issues of the world emerge. I'm recommending Irby's latest, "We Are Never Meeting in Real Life."

1. "Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior" by Temple Grandin

2. "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom

3. "Razor Girl" by Carl Hiaasen

4. "Christine Falls" by Benjamin Black

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5. "Hammerhead Ranch Motel" by Tim Dorsey

 Bob N., Tampa, Fla.

Bob should connect with the humor and pacing of Matthew Norman's "Domestic Violets."

1. "The Revenge of the Radioactive Lady" by Elizabeth Stuckey-French

2. "Labor Day" by Joyce Maynard

3. "The Nest" by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

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4. "The Leftovers" by Tom Perrotta

5. "The Middlesteins" by Jami Attenberg

 Lena P., Peoria

This immigrant story set during the second term of President George W. Bush seems more relevant today than when it was published: "My New American Life" by Francine Prose.






An Indonesian Muslim woman reads a copy of the Quran during the holy month of Ramadan in the capital of Jakarta in June 2017. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images )

For Muslims, the Quran is the word of God, given directly to Muhammad at the start of the 7th century by the Archangel Michael in oral messages in Arabic that the prophet  the last prophet  would repeat for his followers. Only later were these words written down in 6,236 verses in 114 suras, also called chapters or signs.

For Islam, the Quran is untranslatable.

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This, writes Bruce B. Lawrence, is why so many translations of the sacred book include, often in the title or in a subtitle, such words as "an interpretation" or "an explanation." Lawrence, a religion professor emeritus at Duke University, notes in his new book "The 'Koran' in English: A Biography" that all translations are something other than the original work, an effort to communicate and approximate the source.

"Translation is hard work, never more so than when translating a scripture from its original language into another," he writes. "To ponder the meaning of esoteric words is to explore the signs of other realities and then render them into their lyrical equivalents."

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An Englishman, Robert of Ketton, created in 1143 a Latin translation of the Quran that was a "stepping-stone" for many later efforts to put the book into other European languages. A particular challenge for Robert and for many translators ever since has been to adapt the Arabic language  and the culturally unique experiences that gave birth to it  in different tongues.

"To move from Latin to Arabic," Lawrence notes, "is to move from a language with all its antecedents in citified life, where roads and properties, irrigation and water tanks, armies and taxes matter most, to a desert life, where tribes are the norm, spaces open, oases the lifeline for survival, and cities but dots etched on emptiness. It is not just that Latin and Arabic are different alphabets and grammars; they also reflect histories and societies even more disparate than their speech and writing."

Such insights give a glimpse into the lively, open-minded and erudite story that Lawrence tells. And you don't have to be a Muslim or all that religiously inclined to find this book, the latest installment in the sprightly Princeton University Press series called "Lives of Great Religious Books," delightful reading.

Lawrence, who is working with another scholar on his own English version of the Quran, due in two years, published a book in 2006 on the history of the Islamic scripture "The Qur'an: A Biography," for a similar, though less extensive, series by Atlantic Monthly Press.

For this new book looking specifically at the English version, Lawrence uses the transliteration Koran in the title and often in the text because it is the word most often used in English in the past and still best known by English speakers. In addition, he often uses the spelling Qur'an. Many news organizations, including the Tribune, employ Quran.

Lawrence is elaborate in his praise for a 2015 translation "American Qur'an," which he describes as an "illuminated" version of the holy book. In this large-format work, artist Sandow Birk offers each sura beautifully handwritten and framed by scenes of American life. An image from that book is on the cover of "The 'Koran' in English."

One example Lawrence notes is Birk's treatment of Sura 24, which calls for women to cover their heads. "Birk wondered out loud," Lawrence writes, "whether non-Muslim American women typically do the same. He came up with the idea for a panel showing a woman whose head and face are protected by a heavy hat and scarf, walking next to her another woman also covered and wearing glasses, both of them braving the fierce wind of a Chicago snowstorm."

The image, although dealing with covered heads, doesn't exactly correspond to the sura, but, Lawrence writes, that's one of the ways Birk's version resembles the original Quran in "challenging its listeners/readers to rethink who they are and what they most value."

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Some of Lawrence's story has a gee-whiz quality to it, such as his noting that Thomas Jefferson often consulted his English translation of the Quran during the decades he rose to prominence as one of the Founding Fathers. Also, that several English translators mistakenly sought to give to the Quran the same stylistic features of the King James Version of the Bible.

The Quran, notes Lawrence, began as an oral document memorized and repeated from memory. It is meant to be spoken aloud, although many English translations ignore that. As Abdullah Yusuf Ali, "arguably the foremost translator" of the Quran into English, explained:

The rhythm, music and exalted tone of the original should be reflected in the English interpretation. It may be but a faint reflection, but such beauty and power as my pen can command shall be brought to its service. I want to make English itself an Islamic language, if such a person as I can do it.

Yusuf Ali's translation was first published in 1934. Another translator highly praised by Lawrence is 21st-century scholar Shawkat Toorawa, who "seeks to provide an end line rhyme in each sura for each verse. He is rapt in his attention to sound as integral to, and inseparable from, meaning."

This is important, Lawrence notes: "In the same way that the original Qur'an was a spoken not a written text, the feel of its English equivalent must goad the reader to speak out loud, to announce, and then repeat the words that appear on the page."

The strategy of such translators "is to appeal to the full spectrum of sound/meaning, to draw from each fragment/sign/verse a sense of the whole that engages, elevates, and motivates the listener."

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Which, after all, is the goal of the scriptures of any faith.

Patrick T. Reardon is the author of eight books, including "Requiem for David," a poetry collection, and "Faith Stripped to Its Essence," a literary-religious analysis of Shusaku Endo's novel "Silence."

Considering the 'Lives of Great Religious Books'

For outsiders, religions are often mysterious. Yet, down the centuries, the great books of faith have played major roles in shaping the world of believers and nonbelievers alike, influencing politics, art, philosophy, literature, language and culture.

It's with that in mind that, since 2011, Princeton University Press has been publishing a series of lively and energetic "biographies" of these important works, titled "Lives of Great Religious Books."

"The series may strike some people as odd, but I find it tremendously fun to publish," says Executive Editor Fred Appel, who came up with the idea during a conversation with an Israeli philosopher.

What makes these "biographies," each about 250 pages long, so readable is that they're written with a light touch by experts who are excited about the stories they have to tell and who understand that they are writing for nonexperts. Many of them, says Appel, also teach college courses "where they have to make great books interesting to 19-year-olds who may not know anything about them.

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Consider this example from "The Book of 'Genesis': A Biography" by Ronald Hendel: "In our popular and commercial culture, references to Genesis pop up regularly. 'Jacob's Ladder' is an upscale exercise machine, priced around $3,000. 'Am I My Brother's Keeper' is the name of an album by the hip-hop group Kane and Abel. The Methuselah Foundation supports scientific research into extending human life. Adam and Eve is the name of a sex toy company."

Or this excerpt from "The 'Dead Sea Scrolls': A Biography" by John J. Collins: "Of course, the Scrolls are of great historical value. In fields where new data rarely comes to light, the Scrolls have seemed to be manna from heaven. They shed light on the two main religions of the Western world at a crucial time of transition for the one (Judaism) and the time of origin of the other (Christianity)."

Or consider this insight from "The Book of 'Job': A Biography" by Mark Larrimore: "Job's explosions of grief show what even the most holy are driven to by pain, loss, and the sense of divine abandonment. Since he was a moral paragon, however, commended by God for speaking rightly, Job's words show us what response to unmerited affliction is permissible and even appropriate. Job offers a licensed way to grieve. Submission was one part of it. Rage at misfortune and even at God was another."

Among the 15 spiritual classics that have already been examined in the series are "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" andthe Bhagavad-Gita, as well as "Mere Christianity" by C. S. Lewis and the Book of Mormon.

Next up will be the biography of the Talmud by Barry Wimpfheimer, a Northwestern University religion expert, scheduled for next spring. Also in the works are more than a dozen others, including Dante's "Divine Comedy" and the "Autobiography" of St. Teresa of Avila.

 Patrick T. Reardon

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'The "Koran" in English'

By Bruce B. Lawrence, Princeton University, 247 pages, $26.95






As she prepared for the birth of her twins and the prospect of caring for three children under 18 months old, Dr. Hala Sabry felt anxious for the first time in her life. An emergency room physician, wife and mother in Southern California, Sabry lacked the option of taking years off to care for her growing family. Though she was accustomed to making split-second, life-or-death decisions in the emergency room, trying to figure out how to arrange and pay for child care for three small children while continuing to work was causing her chest pains and shortness of breath. "How am I going to do all this?" she wondered.

Many physician moms say it is challenging to be both a doctor and a mother. Dr. Uzma Yunus, a psychiatrist and mother of two from Glenview, knows firsthand the sacrifices physician moms make to succeed at work and care for their families. Sometimes, she says, it means skipping meals when a patient emergency causes the doctor to fall behind in her schedule. And often it means giving up downtime because, after working a full day (or night), she must also tend to children at home who need to be toilet trained, fed and cared for. "There are so many times when we are putting ourselves below other people's needs, whether it's our children, our families or our patients," Yunus says. "That becomes a very strong contributing issue to burnout."

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Over the years, women have made great strides in the medical profession. In 2014 they represented nearly half (47.5 percent) of all medical school graduates  up from less than 7 percent in 1966.

Today, women physicians represent about a third of all medical doctors and even form the majority in some specialties, such as pediatrics and obstetrics/gynecology.

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But the profession doesn't always treat women fairly. According to two recent studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association, women physicians are paid less and promoted less often than their male counterparts.

Another challenge is that physician training takes place during a woman's prime reproductive years, but pregnancy is difficult in an environment that includes heavy workloads and long hours. Women who become pregnant may be "labeled selfish" and suffer the resentment of their peers, says Dr. Monique Tello, a primary care physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), who deliberately sought out (and found) a woman-friendly practice after she completed her training.

Dr. Hala Sabry. ( Hala Sabry )

Though improvements are being made, medical facilities are still struggling to meet the needs of those who are both medical doctors and mothers. Physician moms continue to struggle with a male-dominated culture and an institutional resistance to change that makes it hard for them to thrive.

A research letter published in the May issue of JAMA Internal Medicine reports, "Despite substantial increases in the number of female physicians  the majority of whom are mothers  our findings suggest that gender-based discrimination remains common in medicine, and that discrimination specifically based on motherhood is an important reason."

Researchers analyzed the responses to a survey of nearly 6,000 physician mothers who were members of the Physician Moms Group (PMG), an online community of over 60,000 from all medical specialties and every practice type. (Sabry founded the PMG in 2014.)

Nearly four out of five reported workplace discrimination of some kind, with two-thirds reporting gender discrimination and one-third reporting maternal discrimination. Maternal discrimination included inadequate pregnancy or maternity leave and lack of on-site accommodations for breastfeeding. Maternal discrimination was associated with higher rates of self-reported burnout.

One doctor who participated in the survey said she was told by her employer that she would have six weeks of maternity leave but "I had to take all of my six weeks of vacation and then had no vacation for the rest of the year, which was basically impossible with a new baby at home."

Providing physician moms with a breast-pumping area is another need that often goes unmet. Busy physicians cannot leave their clinic to search for a place to pump or to nurse their baby, says Tello. She says she has seen facilities that either lacked a dedicated area for pumping or had a room that was situated too far away from patients, forcing doctors to take time out to get there and back.

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Considering the results of the survey, Dr. Eleni Linos, assistant professor at the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine and one of the study's authors, said, "What struck me is these women are playing so many roles. They are doctors to their patients, mothers to their children, caregivers to their sick relatives, teachers to their students." The study was intended to identify areas in which employers could make improvements.

Dr. Uzma Yunus lives in Glenview with her husband and two children, ages 10 and 6. ( AJ Kane )

Research shows that everyone benefits when the system accommodates women doctors. According to a February 2017 study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, hospital mortality and readmission rates were significantly lower for patients treated by female physicians than by their male counterparts.

Conditions are gradually improving as more women enter the profession and begin to change the culture. Dr. Rachel Salas, an associate professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the mother of two boys, says she was able to find a practice with family-friendly policies. The director of her division, the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep, is also a physician mom, and the rest of her team (both men and women) all have young children and understand issues like snow days or illnesses that keep children out of school and require flexibility. "I definitely can empathize and know what a lot of (other physician moms) are experiencing," says Salas. "I have been really very fortunate."

Some medical facilities and hospitals have begun to develop more mom-friendly policies, and Linos says she'd like this trend to continue. "I'd love to see more workplaces, more hospitals and clinics provide paid maternity leave, places for new mothers to pump or nurse, and child care facilities on-site," she says. "I think these  policies really make sense for everyone."

The first step in solving a problem, says Sabry is to acknowledge that it exists. She hopes that increased attention will encourage discussion and foster "a big change" that benefits not only today's physician moms, but also the next generation of female doctors.

"Everybody wants a happy doctor," says Sabry. "One who is optimized to the patient because her essential needs have been met is better able to help others."

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Claire Altschuler is a freelancer.

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One of Finland's priorities during its two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council is to create a database of the sources of black carbon and methane emissions in the Arctic, Finland's consul general in St. Petersburg, Anne Lammila, told the TASS news agency.

"Finland chairs the council's Expert Group on Black Carbon and Methane whose main goal is to create a database on the impact of black carbon emissions. The database will comprise information from Finland and the other member and observers states of the Arctic Council," Anne Lammila said. She added that the database would also include information about black carbon emissions from ships.

The data collected by Scandinavian and Russian researchers in the past few years show that black carbon and methane pollution is accelerating Arctic warming. Black carbon darkens ice in the Arctic and reduces the albedo of snow, thereby speeding up melting. The main sources of black carbon emissions in the Arctic are vehicles and companies that use wood and coal, as well as forest fires, power stations and gas flares at oil fields.

"Finland plans to promote the implementation of the Arctic Council's framework for action on black carbon and methane emissions during its chairmanship. Allocations from Finland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs have been provided under this program for Barents Sea and Arctic projects. This year's funds will amount to 1.7 million euros," Ms. Lammila said.

The Arctic Council is an intergovernmental forum of the Arctic states (Russia, Canada, the United States and North European countries) and Arctic indigenous communities. It focuses on environmental monitoring, identification of pollution risks, preparedness for environmental accidents, sustainable development, conservation of natural diversity, and special questions related to the Arctic sea areas.

Finland's two-year chairmanship of the Arctic Council began in the spring of 2017 and will last through 2018.
Christine Nendick and Lady, a pit bull mix who was used for breeding purposes and then discarded. Lady was at Anti-Cruelty but now has found her forever home. (Katie Koosmann)

Peanut butter and jelly. Mac and cheese. Puppies and fashion. Some things just go well together.

Christine Nendick saw this a mile away.

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The 29-year-old Chicagoan enjoyed her life working in sales and living with her husband, Chris, in Old Town. And like a lot of millennial fashionistas, Nendick followed her fair share of style Instagrammers and bloggers.

From time to time, she would see these lovely ladies posing with dogs  dogs purchased from pet stores and breeders. She saw a missed opportunity.

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"I thought, what a great platform to show off a rescue dog," Nendick said. "And I thought, 'Well, what about me? Why can't I do that?'"

Thus TheRescueRunway blog and Instagram account were born. The first post went live in February 2017.

"I started my blog to spread awareness of how much these animals need our help, to help people who want to get involved in these shelters and to bring awareness to the shelters who put so much time and effort into these dogs and cats who don't always have marketing groups and who need people to help them out," Nendick said.

In addition to the blog, Nendick also sets up volunteer events and donation drives for local shelters to help get her readers and followers involved.

Nendick has always been a self-proclaimed dog person. She grew up in Northbrook, Ill. with Labradors and a Shetland Sheepdog and started volunteering at animal shelters in high school. She even went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for pre-vet, but after passing out during a cat declawing surgery realized she was best suited to help her furry friends in a different way.

At Chicago shelters such as Anti-Cruelty Society and Famous Fido Rescue, Nendick plays with pups and snaps photos in her flirty, feminine outfits fit for the office, cocktail parties and even weddings.

She pairs clothes already in her closet with recently purchased pieces, often from Nordstrom. She also tries to wear clothes that support various shelters and organizations such as Arm the Animals, a clothing and accessory company that donates proceeds to various animal welfare organizations.

Every blog post includes a description of the outfit and links to purchase the exact items, or ones similar. In the future, Nendick hopes to partner with clothing brands for sponsored posts, with a portion of her earnings going to local shelters. This would allow her to turn the blog from a hobby into a full-time job.

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"I hope that people who come to my blog are having fun looking at the dogs and clothes, and hopefully, learning something along the way," she said.

Even Nendick has learned a little something during her blogging adventures. While volunteering, she met a 155 lb. purebred St. Bernard named Truman whom she assumed was purchased, not rescued. He even has his own Instagram following.

"When I used to see purebreds, I would think, that's so sad, they bought their dog," Nendick said. "But I found out that that is not true. There are rescue purebreds."

As it turns out, Truman was a rescue from Just Giants Rescue in Oswego, Ill., a shelter specifically for big dogs. Nendick's blog post admitted her mistake and included a list of Chicago shelters that adopt out purebred rescue dogs.

But TheRescueRunway isn't all about the doggos. Nendick will also share photos of her recently adopted kittens, Roni and Cheese.

After all the volunteer work, Nendick and her husband decided they wanted to be foster pet parents. Although they're both "dog people," they thought cats would be a better fit their busy lifestyle. But when it came time to say goodbye, she just couldn't let them go.

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"I didn't want to be a bad foster mom, but we had just fallen in love with them," Nendick said. She has since been converted.

"Of course, now all of my friends refer to me as the crazy cat lady  I used to be the crazy dog lady."

In future blog posts, Nendick plans to include more shelter cats, which will make her blog photographer Katie Koosmann, a cat person, very happy.

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9 exciting lives: Adventure cats hike, camp, sail  even surf






Robert Mellin, known as "Uncle Rocky" to friends and family, shows the view from his apartment at 13th and Lombard streets, June 5, 2017 in Philadelphia, Pa. Mellin has a reputation of being an intrepid traveller, and is about to embark on a three month journey to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand. (Cameron B. Pollack / Philadelphia Daily News / TNS)

When Robert "Rocky" Mellin was 40 and feeling restless, he met an Australian woman with a big backpack. Her tales of adventure became a siren song he still can't shake nearly a half-century later.

Mellin, 87, estimates he's spent 10 years traveling outside of the United States since then. He's been to more than 60 countries, traveling cheap, with a backpack no bigger than a schoolboy's, usually for months at a time. Sometimes those trips stretched on for years.

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On Wednesday, Mellin embarked on his next  and potentially last  trek, a three-month adventure in Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, and Laos, again with his burnt-orange backpack. He doesn't care if anyone thinks he's too old.

"This is what I do," he said the previous Wednesday afternoon in his apartment. "What the hell can I say? It's all cliches."

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Earlier that day, Mellin saw his doctor to get a checkup before the trip. Usually, he said, the visits usually go like this:

"I tell him I feel good and he says, 'If you feel good, then you're good.'"

On this visit, though, he said, the doctor wrote a prescription for malaria pills  that Mellin probably won't take. He got a tetanus shot, too.

"I had some other shot, too, that I can't remember," he said, rubbing the other arm.

That made his grandnephew Tyler Melnicove laugh out loud. Melnicove, 23, was there to help his Uncle Rocky get acquainted with WiFi, his iPad, and his iPhone, so he can chronicle his latest adventure and send updates back to friends, family, and, for the first time, benefactors.

Melnicove helped Mellin create a GoFundMe page for his latest journey, "Rocky's SE Asia Backpacking Trip." Though Frommer's Europe on Five Dollars a Day was a bible to Mellin for decades, times and prices have changed.

"Today, that $5 might buy a cup of coffee," Mellin wrote recently in his bio.

Mellin was born in Atlantic City and moved to Philadelphia as a teen, graduating from Bartram High School. He moved to Miami at 27 and fixed furniture for moving companies. He has long since forgotten the name of his Australian muse, but shortly after they met, he bought a Europass train ticket and boarded a German freighter in Tampa Bay, bound for Rotterdam.

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There's a family-friendly version of Mellin's travels abroad, the usual mix of meeting new people, marveling at majestic sights, and taking in new cultures.

Then there's the "good stuff," as Melnicove calls it. "Oh, he's got great mugging stories," Melnicove said.

In Afghanistan, Mellin smoked a chillum on the head of an ancient Buddha that's since been destroyed by the Taliban. There were a few bouts of hepatitis, but only one that turned him yellow. In Brazil, he followed a woman to a "little island" and wound up with a worm wriggling around inside his foot.

"I think it must have died," Mellin said. "At least I hope it did."

Once, caught in the proverbial "wrong place, wrong time," Mellin was busted by Bolivian narcos and the U.S. consulate had to get him out of jail.

Mellin has punched plenty of men abroad who have tried to pick his pockets, even dragging one of them to a police station, where an officer took his photo. The worst incident, he said, was the night he left a bar in Cusco, Peru, and a stranger approached asking for the time.

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"I knew that was bad," he said.

The mugger, Mellin said, put him in a chokehold, and he blacked out. That's how he got a raspy voice.

Mellin looks back on it all with laughs, those moments as memorable as the vibes he felt at Stonehenge during sunset, or on his journey deep into the Indian state of Sikkim, where he lived at the Rumtek Monastery.

Mellin won't say traveling has made him wiser, or unlocked any great secrets, but he does feel connected to a greater global community. Traveling has made him appreciate freedoms in America, too, but he still tries to leave the country as much as he can.

The GoFundMe page claims Mellin's Southeast Asia journey could be his last, but that's both a nudge-and-wink and a respectful nod to all the time he's been granted good health. He's still got wanderlust and may even drift into Myanmar or Malaysia, and he knows if and when he gets back to Philly, he'll just want to leave again.

"A lot of people probably think I shouldn't be doing this stuff at my age," he said. "It could be my last trip, maybe, but I don't think so."
The most famous residents of Oatman, Ariz., are the wild burros that roam freely between shops. (Mark Johanson/Chicago Tribune )

SELIGMAN, Ariz.  Angel Delgadillo can still visualize the glory days of his youth, when he'd use the headlights of cars traveling along Route 66 to make shadow puppets on the modest storefronts of his small Arizona town.

He also remembers the darker days  just after a leg of nearby Interstate 40 opened to the public  when the headlights moved off to the horizon.

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"The town of Seligman died at 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 22, 1978," he recalls. "We were the first small community in Arizona to get bypassed by I-40, and it took us years to figure out why the traveling public quit on us."

Route 66's storied life, slow death and ceremonious revival are the three events etched deepest into the timeline of this 90-year-old barber. To appreciate his story, you need first to understand the road that forever changed it.

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Route 66 was a legendary 20th-century highway that crossed eight states from Chicago to Santa Monica, Calif., rising to prominence during the Great Depression as the so-called Mother Road that ushered Dust Bowl refugees westward to California. From the 1950s to '70s, it gained a new life as the ultimate path across America for road-tripping families who visited its themed motels, neon-lit diners and audacious roadside attractions. The end was nigh by the mid-'80s, however, when Route 66 had been replaced almost in its entirety by five soul-crushing interstates.

That's where the story of this road probably would have ended if it weren't for an idealistic Arizona barber who noticed folks trickling back into Seligman a decade after they'd first abandoned the town.

"They were searching for their tire marks, their history and the America of yesteryear," the nonagenarian recalls as we sit in his cluttered barbershop. "They wanted to find the highway of their childhood."

All this nostalgia got Delgadillo thinking: What if he could convince the state of Arizona to designate the still-surviving segment of Route 66 through Seligman as a historic byway? He called a meeting Feb. 18, 1987, and formed what was to become the country's first historic Route 66 association.

Nine months later, the state government agreed to create new Route 66 signs and put them up between Seligman and Topock, 140 miles away. Three years later, Delgadillo had inspired the seven other states along Route 66 to follow his lead. The highway at the heart of our American identity was officially reborn.

I wanted to see what it was about this initial stretch of Route 66 though Arizona that inspired a movement across the nation, so after talking with Delgadillo, I set off to explore first Seligman, then the rest of what is now the longest uninterrupted leg of the historic highway.

If you've seen the 2006 Pixar film "Cars," you already know Seligman by its fictional name: Radiator Springs. Director John Lasseter came out to this itty-bitty town to interview Delgadillo, drawing inspiration for the movie from the stories he heard.

You can see glimpses of Radiator Springs in real-life places like the Snow Cap Drive-In, a classic greasy spoon built out of scrap lumber from a nearby rail yard by Delgadillo's brother Juan in 1953. Its walls are now covered in mementos (business cards, money, IDs) left by travelers from as far away as Japan and Brazil.

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Down the road is the Supai Motel, whose soaring neon sign recalls the heyday of this route for road-trippers. A succession of kitschy gift shops leads to the edge of town, as I enter into the dusty wilds of the high-desert Hualapai Valley. I pass Grand Canyon Caverns  one of the largest dry caverns in the U.S. and site of the first meeting that spurred Delgadillo's Route 66 society  en route to the Hualapai Indian Reservation.

At the striking Hualapai Cultural Center in Peach Springs, I meet Marcie Craynon, who tells me about the center's work to preserve the cultural legacy of the Hualapai with pottery workshops, ethnobotany programs and classes teaching the Yuman language.

"These traditions are all dying out along the Colorado River, and our purpose is to help preserve them," she explains.

The road west to Valentine is lined with Indian craft vendors selling turquoise jewelry, intricate sand paintings and earth-toned ceramics. It's a reminder of just how exotic this route was for 20th-century travelers coming from east of the Mississippi.

At tiny Hackberry, I find the iconic Hackberry General Store, whose patio is littered with decades-old gas pumps and vending machines. I then race trains chugging along the Santa Fe railway over to the regional hub of Kingman. It's the largest town on this historic stretch and has an illuminating Route 66 museum in the old powerhouse.

From Kingman, it's a winding roller coaster of a road up to a 1920s-era service station in Cool Springs, whose stone-built core now acts as a gift shop with soaring views over the Black Mountains. The hairpin turns continue through this rugged, scrub-filled landscape all the way to Oatman, a hilltop town that boomed in a gold rush and went bust after the interstate made Route 66 obsolete.

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Oatman has bounced back from ghost town status in recent years and now milks its Wild West heritage with staged gunfights twice daily. Its most famous residents are the wild burros (released by early prospectors) who roam freely between shops named in their honor, like Classy Ass Gifts and Jackass Junction.

Bighorn sheep amble past fields of cholla cactuses on the coral-colored hills that lead down from Oatman to Topock. The final town on this historic leg, it sits along the golden shores of the Colorado River at the California border.

It was here back in 1987 that Angel Delgadillo ended a three-day car parade along this very same route, announcing to the world that the Mother Road was dead no more. Media at the event dubbed him the "Guardian Angel of Route 66," and 30 years later, you'd never know that this nostalgia-filled stretch of storied highway was ever abandoned to the sands of time.

Mark Johanson is a freelance writer.

RELATED STORIES:

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Yolanda Flader discusses her experience living in Marina City during a moving-away party held in her honor at the east tower June 19, 2017, in Chicago. Flader is among the original residents to have moved into Marina City back in the 1960s. (Armando L. Sanchez / Chicago Tribune) (Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune)

When Yolanda Flader and her husband, Richard, returned from their wedding and honeymoon in Mexico nearly 55 years ago, they expected to move into Marina City, the newly built twin corncob-shaped towers along the Chicago River.

But ongoing construction delayed their move-in date until January 1963, when they became among the first residents to have the iconic 300 N. State St. address.

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"It was exciting because we were on the waiting list for about two years," said Yolanda Flader, now 83. "When we moved in, the lobby wasn't even finished."

After residing in the landmark building for more than half a century, Flader plans to move out Wednesday when the sale of her two-bedroom unit closes.

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"Now it's time to go home where my whole family is in Mexico City," she said at her going-away party hosted by building management and neighbors Monday. Her husband died 10 years ago. The couple never had children, and she doesn't have any family in Chicago. "I love Marina (City). It has been my life for most of my life."

When the Fladers first moved into Marina City, they rented a high-rise one-bedroom unit on the 34th floor for roughly $200 per month, according to Dustin Harvey, a residential broker with Alto Realty, which rents and sells units at Marina City.

In 1977, when rental units were converted into condos, one-bedroom units were priced from $42,000 to $56,000, the Tribune reported at the time.

The Fladers went on to purchase their original rental unit. In the 1990s, they moved up to the 45th floor so they could combine two units for a bigger home. They bought both units for a total of $160,500, according to Cook County Recorder of Deeds documents. The two-bedroom, 1,500-square-foot apartment was listed this year for sale at $485,000.

"She is definitely a part of Marina City history," Harvey said. When Flader moves out, only one original tenant will remain, he said.

The 896 units in the two iconic residential towers are now 59 percent owner-occupied and 41 percent renters, Harvey said. Marina City received landmark status from the city last year.

The Fladers were not the very first residents to move in. That distinction belonged to Louise Hance, who rented a unit on the 21st floor of the east tower. She worked as a secretary and was given the first key by the building's management company on Oct. 14, 1962. Back then, furniture was hoisted by construction crane to apartments.

The residential towers were completed in 1963 and since have been featured in high-profile roles, including in the 1980 Steve McQueen movie "The Hunter"  in which a car plunges from the tower into the river during a chase  on the cover of a Wilco album and more recently as the backdrop to Nik Wallenda's daredevil tightrope walk across the Chicago River.

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Resident Supriya Somani wasn't surprised to hear Flader has stayed for decades at Marina City, a city within a city. The mixed-use development is also home to the House of Blues, boating slips and a hotel.

"This building has it all. The location is good. It's so convenient within the city. The prices are not that high compared to other towers," said Somani, 31, who has rented there since 2012.

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It was Flader's husband's idea to live at Marina City, Flader said. The two had met in San Antonio on a train when he offered to buy her a soft drink. She was returning to New York where she worked as an interpreter at the United Nations and he was returning to Chicago from an Air Force base. They parted ways in St. Louis with their mailing addresses scribbled on pieces of paper.

During their courtship, he sent her photos of the construction so she could see the towers' progress from New York. She said she was drawn to the eye-catching round balconies.

Since moving in, the Fladers, both lawyers, had a south-facing view and have seen countless sunsets and dozens of buildings rise, including the Sears Tower and others to the east that partially blocked the lake view from the balcony of their pie-shaped apartment designed by architect Bertrand Goldberg.

Flader said she'll miss the views the most.

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"You could see the lake. You were on top of the river," she said. "It was fantastic. We enjoyed it very much."

lvivanco@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @lvivanco
Victor Tornez-Sanchez has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of Olivia Renteria-Bravo, officials say. (DuPage County sheriff's department photo)

A Des Plaines man is facing murder charges for allegedly lying in wait for his former girlfriend then charging and stabbing her to death in the parking lot of her Bensenville apartment.

Victor Tornez-Sanchez, 27, was ordered held in lieu of $2.5 million bond after a Tuesday afternoon court appearance in DuPage County. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Olivia Renteria-Bravo, 32, who is the mother of their daughter.

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Her new boyfriend had dropped her off at 9:26 p.m. Sunday in the lot in the 700 block of Parkside Lane, where she lived, according to prosecutors. As the boyfriend began to drive away, he heard her scream, Assistant State's Attorney Kristin Johnston said.

Renteria-Bravo staggered and then collapsed into the arms of a witness, saying, "Call an ambulance, Victor stabbed me," Johnston told Judge Anne Therieau Hayes.

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Police arrived to find the woman in a pool of blood as witnesses tried to render aid. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Elmhurst Memorial Hospital.

Renteria-Bravo was stabbed in the chest and once in the torso and the bicep, the prosecutor said.

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Witnesses told police that Tornez-Sanchez had been at the apartment building earlier in the day, asking about his former girlfriend, Johnston said. He left, and returned later, and sat in his car waiting for the victim to arrive home, the prosecutor said.

Tornez-Sanchez ran up to the woman "at full speed," attacked her with a knife and ran off, Johnston said.

Police later determined that he contacted a relative and was seeking assistance to flee to Mexico. Tornez-Sanchez was arrested Monday afternoon as he got off a train in Elgin, Johnston said.

He told police that he was angry that Renteria-Bravo was seeing someone new, Johnston said.

"He said he did not want to see her with someone else because he loved her," the prosecutor said.

Johnston detailed a history of domestic abuse allegations against Tornez-Sanchez, including a still-active 2015 case in which he was charged with striking Renteria-Bravo with his fist, and striking her pregnant sister in the head with a piece of wood from a crib. Renteria-Bravo took out an order of protection against him.

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Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
Crystal Lake police are seeking the public's help in their efforts to identify a man found dead in a retention pond Monday morning.

Police were called to the 4400 block of Northwest Highway in the northwest suburb and found the man's body, according to a news release from police. The retention pond is in a commercial area near Illinois Hwy. 31.



The man still has not been identified.



Police on Tuesday gave a general description of the man. He is believed to be a Hispanic man in his 20s or 30s, about 5-foot-9 and 180 pounds. He had short black hair and several tattoos and was wearing cargo-style shorts and gray boat shoes. He was not wearing a shirt.



Anyone with information is asked to call the Crystal Lake Police Department at 815-356-3620. People also can send tips anonymously by texting CLPDTIP along with the information to 847411.



An autopsy to determine the man's cause of death was scheduled for Tuesday.



"We have no reason to believe a threat to the public exists," police said in the release.



Freelance reporter Amanda Marrazzo contributed.




Jose Montanez celebrates his release from prison with nephew Aiden Vazquez, 7, and sisters Carmen Vazquez, center, and Norma Montanez on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 at Danville Correctional Center in Danville. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)

For the second time this year, a controversial retired Chicago police detective and two former prosecutors  one of whom is now a Cook County judge  have been accused in a lawsuit of colluding to frame an innocent man for murder.

The suit, filed Monday, alleges that retired Detective Reynaldo Guevara along with former Cook County Assistant State's Attorneys John Dillon and Matthew Coghlan concealed evidence and coerced witnesses to obtain Jose Montanez's conviction for a 1993 murder.

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"We want all of the defendants to have to account for why an innocent man spent 23 years in prison for a crime he didn't commit," said Russell Ainsworth, one of Montanez's attorneys.

Montanez and his co-defendant, Armando Serrano, were released from prison last year after prosecutors dropped the murder charges against them. That announcement by prosecutors came after a harshly worded appeals court ruling found that "profoundly alarming acts of misconduct" had led to the convictions.

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Attorneys for Serrano filed a similar lawsuit in April, which also named Guevara, Coghlan and Dillon.

Prosecutors are normally immune from civil liability in wrongful-conviction cases. But the suit filed Monday contends that since Coghlan and Dillon acted in an "investigatory function," they should be held liable.

"They worked alongside the police to frame Jose Montanez," Ainsworth told the Tribune on Monday. "They are just as culpable and just as responsible for the wrongful conviction of an innocent man."

That argument will most likely be hashed out in court as the suit makes its way through the system.

Dillon could not be reached Monday. Coghlan, a Cook County judge in the criminal department, is prohibited from commenting because of an Illinois Supreme Court rule that bars judges from publicly speaking about pending cases.

The suit also names other Chicago police officers, as well as the city itself. A spokesman for the city's Law Department declined to comment.

Montanez and Serrano were convicted on the testimony of Francisco Vicente, a heroin addict facing four felony charges who allegedly told Guevara that the two men had confessed to fatally shooting Rodrigo Vargas in his van as he left his Humboldt Park apartment for work.

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In 2004, after a series of interviews with students from the Medill Innocence Project, Vicente recanted his testimony, saying Guevara had fed him the story.

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Guevara has come under fire over allegations that he bullied witnesses and framed innocent people in dozens of cases.

In 2009, Juan Johnson won a $21 million verdict in his wrongful conviction lawsuit against Guevara, who Johnson alleged framed him for a 1989 murder.

In April, a Cook County judge threw out charges against Roberto Almodovar and William Negron, who were convicted in 1995 of a double homicide on the strength of witness testimony obtained in part by Guevara.

Guevara has repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when questioned about the accusations against him. Cook County prosecutors have sought to force his testimony in proceedings in another case by granting him immunity, which would keep him from being prosecuted as long as he testified truthfully but would not protect him from any previous misconduct or criminal wrongdoing.

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @crepeau
Martin Oberman, a former Chicago alderman, seen here in 2014, is retiring from the Metra board after four years, (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Attorney and former Chicago alderman Martin Oberman is retiring from the Metra board after four years, saying Mayor Rahm Emanuel has "other things in mind" for him.

"The mayor has indicated he has some other things in mind he'd like me to direct my attention to," Oberman said in an interview Monday. He noted that four years is a full term for a board member, though some members elect to stay on longer. "It's time to move on and take on a new challenge."

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Oberman, who represents Chicago, is both a member and a former chair of Metra's board of directors and has been credited with helping to repair the commuter railroad's reputation after years of scandal.

Oberman said Emanuel has not yet told him what he wants him to do instead. Emanuel, who appointed Oberman to the board in 2013, will appoint a replacement. A spokeswoman for the mayor did not comment.

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Oberman will leave before helping the board make a final decision on a replacement for Metra CEO Don Orseno, who is set to retire at the end of the year.

Known as a progressive who supported Mayor Harold Washington during the 1980s' Council Wars, Oberman was elected board chairman in February 2014 to fill out the term of Brad O'Halloran, who had resigned under heavy criticism.

He was replaced as chair this past fall by Lake County railroad consultant Norman Carlson. Oberman had said before he would have liked to have stayed on as chair, though he voted with other board members to unanimously elect Carlson.

Oberman has worked with Orseno and other board members on the ongoing task of rebuilding Metra's credibility, which was hit hard by both the suicide of the agency's former Executive Director Phil Pagano following allegations of financial misdeeds and the costly buyout for Pagano's successor, Alex Clifford.

"It was really a group effort," Oberman said. "We wanted to have Metra be a professionally run railroad organization, and I think we've gone a long way towards doing that."

During the past four years, Oberman has worked with Orseno on a 10-year modernization plan.

Transportation expert Stephen Schlickman said Oberman took a tough position of regular fare increases to not only maintain operations but also contribute to addressing a backlog of capital improvements. The fare increases happened without a long-term loss of ridership, "indicating that Metra service was underpriced," Schlickman said.

The agency also has expanded the rail car and locomotive rehabilitation program and deployed the Ventra app, which enables riders to buy tickets on their phones. The system's on-time performance improved to 96.1 percent last year, compared with 95.4 percent in 2013.

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In a statement, Orseno praised Oberman's tenure.

"Marty Oberman helped guide this agency through some dark and difficult times," Orseno said. "His integrity and hard work helped bring Metra to where it is today. I've worked closely with Marty as a board member and chairman and I consider him to be a friend. He will be missed."

Wednesday's Metra board meeting will be Oberman's last. He said the board will consider some possible replacements for Orseno, though no decision will be made yet.

"Don Orseno is really a unique person, and it's going to be very hard to get someone with both his knowledge of the system and his experience," Oberman said.

Orseno has said that Metra hopes to have his replacement in place in mid- to late September, to allow time for a smooth transition.

mwisniewski@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @marywizchicago
Dexter Barnes, 47, is charged with two felony counts of first-degree murder in the stabbing of an elderly Chicago couple in the 1400 block of North Leclaire Avenue. (Chicago Police Department )

An elderly Chicago couple found stabbed to death early Sunday in their West Side home were killed by their 47-year-old son, Cook County prosecutors said in court Tuesday.

Dexter Barnes has been charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Johnnie and Shirley Ervin, his biological parents.

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Barnes' brother came to check on the Ervins at their North Austin home in the 1400 block of North Leclaire Avenue in the early hours of Sunday morning, Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said in court Tuesday.

When he arrived at his parents' apartment, he found their bodies on the kitchen floor, surrounded by 12 knives, Santini said.

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Johnnie Ervin, who used a walker, had been stabbed 11 times and disemboweled, prosecutors said. He was 73, prosecutors said.

Shirley Ervin, 69, had dementia, prosecutors said. She was stabbed in the chest, and her body was found with her dress pulled up and her adult diaper pulled down, Santini said.

Both were pronounced dead on the scene, authorities said.

Barnes had a history of domestic violence against his mother, who had an order of protection against him that expired in November, Santini said.

Mops and rolls of paper towels were found near their bodies  an indication that Barnes may have tried to clean up the crime scene, Santini said.

Shortly after the bodies were discovered, Barnes was seen running out of the building, Santini said. A witness pointed him out to police, and he was taken into custody, prosecutors said.

Barnes was found with blood on his clothing and cuts on his hand; in addition, he had his father's wallet on him, Santini said.

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He initially told police he had gotten in a fight with his brother, then later claimed the cuts on his hands were sustained when his elderly parents attacked him and he had to defend himself, prosecutors said.

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Barnes appeared in court Tuesday in a torn white shirt. Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. shook his head as the details of the case were read into the record.

"These unimaginable facts speak for themselves, sir," Bourgeois said before denying bail.

Barnes has an extensive criminal history, records show. He is on probation for aggravated battery after he spit on a nurse who was trying to treat him for a bee sting, Santini said.

An earlier version incorrectly stated the number of times that Johnnie Ervin had been stabbed.

mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @crepeau
Donna and Don Ross bring their search for their son Jesse to the first Missing Persons Day at the Cook County medical examiner's office looking for answers to what happened to their child over 10 years ago. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)

Don and Donna Ross felt their moods darken as they made the long drive to Chicago from their home outside Kansas City.

It had been a few years since they'd returned to the city Donna Ross calls "evil," the city that claimed their youngest son, Jesse, just over 10 years ago.

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Jesse, then 19, was last seen in the predawn hours of Nov. 21, 2006, at a Streeterville hotel where he was attending a college Model United Nations conference. He's never been heard from again.

"Every time we do this, we open that sore," Donna Ross said of their visits to Chicago to try to renew interest in the case. They accept that their son is likely dead; they just want to know what happened to him.

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"We feel Jesse is in heaven. He's probably safe and happy," Donna Ross said. "But how did he get there? We have no closure. We're a revolving door. For 10 years, we're just going in circles."

The case continues to haunt not just the Rosses but many others, some who never knew Jesse.

The professor who chaperoned the trip eventually left teaching and now struggles to cope with his own children leaving the nest. A man who grew up near Jesse's hometown is making a documentary about his disappearance. And one of the original Chicago police investigators on the case is now retired but still thinks about Jesse  a mystery never solved.

"These people  outstanding, great American family. Their kid goes on a school outing and doesn't come home," retired Sgt. Tony Rizzo said of the Rosses. "That one stayed with me for, well, it still does."

The Rosses returned to Chicago last month to attend a Missing Persons Day hosted by the Cook County medical examiner's office. They met with organizers and submitted Jesse's old dental retainer in hopes it would yield DNA for a national database of missing people. While in town, they hung posters with his photo near the hotel where he was last seen and passed out fliers, as they've done for a decade now.

The efforts have been heartbreakingly fruitless, and the visits to Chicago bring up painful memories. But the Rosses say they have no other choice.

"It's up to the families," Donna Ross said. "We have to keep Jesse in the public eye or his file will be left in the dust."

Then a sophomore at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Jesse was among 1,200 college students from around the country who attended the conference at the Sheraton hotel on North Water Street. He disappeared on the final day of the conference, and by the time police were alerted, most of the students were on their way back home.

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At first, police speculated that Jesse, who reportedly had been drinking, might have fallen into the Chicago River near the hotel.

The Rosses aren't convinced. Their theory is that when Jesse left the meeting, he might have walked back to the other hotel where he was staying, in the opposite direction of the river. They believe he could have met with foul play on the way, and note that divers didn't find their son's remains in the river, despite several searches.

"We're wondering who's walking around free in Chicago who may have harmed our son," Don Ross said.

The couple have been frustrated at times with how the investigation seemed to stall. Over the years, Don Ross said he's sent hundreds of postcards with his son's photo to detectives on the case, city officials and the media, hoping to keep Jesse on their minds.

The couple also hosts an annual event in their hometown of Belton, Mo., to honor Jesse. They've enlisted the help of a private investigator. Don Ross has self-published two books about his son's disappearance and writes poetry about Jesse.

The Rosses still wear buttons every day with Jesse's photo. Their SUV displays a decal of their missing-person poster. It took years for them to pack away most of Jesse's belongings, and Don Ross still wears his son's T-shirts.

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"You lose someone like that and your life unravels," Don Ross said. "You try to keep going. You have no alternative, really."

Don Ross wrote a book titled "Where's Opie?" about his missing son, Jesse. Jesse Ross was an intern on a radio station and his on-air name was "Opie Cunningham," a reference to TV characters portrayed by a young Ron Howard, whom Jesse resembled. In a regular segment called "Where's Opie?", Ross would call in from remote sites and listeners would guess his location. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

'Where's Opie?'

Jesse Ross' parents recall him as a fun-loving adventurer with big dreams he hoped would take him out of Kansas City, possibly with a career in radio.

On the morning drive show on the local radio station, where Jesse had an internship, his on-air moniker was "Opie Cunningham" because of the red hair and freckles that made him resemble a young Ron Howard. In a regular segment called "Where's Opie?", Ross would call in from remote sites and listeners would guess his location.

The gig garnered Ross a following and suited him, because he loved to joke with his friends, his parents said. They recalled one prank that involved Jesse and his friends filling up the bed of a pickup truck with popcorn.

But he was also kind and "he really had a heart," Donna Ross said.

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Her son also "knew no fear," and while she worried about him at times, "never in our wildest nightmares did we think he wouldn't come home from that trip."

Don Ross recalls dropping his son off at school before dawn the day he left for the conference. He recalls Jesse talking with friends in the parking lot as he drove away. Now he wishes he stopped for one last goodbye.

Four days later  the day their son was to return home  Don Ross got the call from his son's professor. He couldn't find Jesse.

Don and Donna Ross, parents of Jesse Ross, carry with them a variety of posters and buttons with photos of their missing son wherever they go. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

'He just disappeared'

Derek Moorhead was in his first year as a political science professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and it was his first time chaperoning the conference.

Jesse Ross was one of 14 UMKC students on the trip, and Moorhead recalls that during the drive they listened to CDs Jesse has mixed. Jesse had told him he wanted to deliver his CDs to some Chicago radio stations, hoping it might lead to a career breakthrough.

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On their last night in Chicago, Moorhead said, Ross and a friend from school, Ralph Parker, attended a dance hosted by conference organizers and a party in a hotel room where alcohol was served. Then they got called to a late-night meeting of the Model UN's Security Council.

Parker later told Moorhead and police, according to reports, that Ross had left the meeting room after 2 a.m. Parker confirmed Ross had been drinking but said he did not appear intoxicated.

No hotel security footage showed Ross leaving the hotel, though a security camera had caught him entering the building earlier that evening. Other students told Moorhead that Ross could have left through a staff door that conference-goers had used but was out of range of the cameras.

Moorhead said Parker told him he'd assumed Ross had returned to their hotel room. Parker didn't realize that Ross wasn't in his bed until the following morning, Moorhead said.

Moorhead said he first thought Ross had slept in another student's room, so he and Parker packed up Ross' things and left the hotel to go back to the Sheraton, where the rest of their group was waiting.

Moorhead said he then alerted the conference organizers, who asked around to see if any students had seen Ross. When they still couldn't find him, they called hotel security.

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We're wondering who's walking around free in Chicago who may have harmed our son.  Don Ross

"That's when I knew this was not going to go well," Moorhead said. At 4 p.m., he walked to the nearest police station and filed a report. Then, he called Don Ross.

"I had to say, 'Sir, I can't find your son,'" Moorhead recalled.

By that time, Moorhead had sent the rest of the students home, but he stayed behind to assist police. Increasingly worried, he remembers walking the streets around the hotel, checking dumpsters and alleys.

"This is just so surreal. He just disappeared," he said. "How does a human being disappear?"

Don Ross remembers being unsure what to do during the "blur" of those first hours and days.

His other son Andy, now 33, Jesse's brother, recalls feeling helpless and frustrated "being so far away from the center of everything."

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Donna Ross at first clung to the hope that Jesse had returned with students from another school. But, as that first night came and went, she knew something was very wrong. There had also been no activity from Jesse's cellphone or bank accounts since he vanished, police reports show.

Bad weather delayed the Rosses' arrival in Chicago, but eventually they came to meet with police and spent the first of several visits hanging posters and circulating fliers.

Parker died a few years later in a car crash, and the Tribune was unable to reach other students who were with Ross at the conference.

The Chicago Police Department released documents from Ross' file in response to a Freedom of Information Act request but declined to comment on the case.

Several years after Jesse disappeared, Moorhead took a job teaching at another Missouri university. He reluctantly agreed to help with the school's Model UN club, but did not want to attend the conference. At the last minute, the chaperone had a family emergency and Moorhead had to step in.

On the second day, he got a phone call that one of his students was missing. "All I could do is go to the bathroom and throw up," he said.

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The student was found later that morning, and the rest of the conference went on without incident, but Moorhead decided, "I can't do this ever again." He then left college-level teaching altogether.

Moorhead also said he's uneasy when his children are somewhere without him and struggled with his daughter going away to college last fall. He's even looking into purchasing a home in her college town.

Ross' disappearance "has affected me in so many different ways," he said.

Jesse Ross, a 19-year-old college student from the Kansas City area, disappeared during a school trip to Chicago in 2006. Documentary filmmaker Brian Rose has spent the past four years putting together a film focusing on Ross' disappearance and the theories of what might have happened. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune/Chicago Tribune)

Loose ends

The timing and the circumstances of Ross' disappearance proved challenging from the start for Sgt. Rizzo and the detectives who worked for him.

The report came in two days before Thanksgiving, and potential witnesses at the hotel had already gone home. There was no crime scene to work with.

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"The way it unfolded ... worked against us right off the bat," he said.

Yet Ross, though technically an adult, was still being treated as a high priority case because he was from out of town.

Rizzo recalled that a high number of detectives worked the case, collecting video, talking to people from businesses nearby, interviewing Sheraton staff and searching the hotel. Police reports also show dive teams searched the river multiple times.

Media attention followed, and within the first few months, investigators had garnered hundred of tips and clues, Rizzo said. But everything turned up empty.

"We really didn't get anything that we could work," he said. "What we needed the most, and what we didn't get, was information from the student body."

Local police in the Kansas City area did help track down and interview some of Ross' fellow students. But Rizzo said what authorities were left with were a lot of "theories and presumptions."

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"When you have teenagers, young adults, you have alcohol and the freedom of being out of town or somewhere new  that in itself can be trouble right there in the making," Rizzo said.

Since he retired in 2010 after 33 years with the Police Department, Rizzo has been bothered by two unsolved cases, he said. One is the 1982 disappearance of 8-year-old Tricia Kellett from her family's Uptown apartment. The other, he said, is the Ross case.

"When you walk away from something, you don't like leaving ... loose ends," Rizzo said, who has been in contact with Don and Donna Ross even in retirement.

"I can truly understand" their frustration and even their anger, he said, "because there is nothing there." Despite what Rizzo said was "110 percent effort" by investigators, nothing  not a surveillance camera image nor a witness who might have seen Ross  has proven to be useful from the time after Ross was seen leaving the hotel meeting room.

Hope for answers

Brian Rose, 33, a documentary filmmaker who lives in a Kansas City suburb not far from the Rosses, recalls hearing about a student around his age going missing in Chicago. Rose himself had just returned from a trip to Chicago the week prior.

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As the months went by, Rose would check for updates on Ross' case and continued to wonder what happened.

"This ought to be a documentary," he recalled thinking. "This could do some good. If nothing else, (viewers) will remember Jesse Ross. ... I just don't want anyone to forget."

Rose eventually got in touch with the Rosses and started working on the film. He's done scores of interviews and has visited Chicago several times. Rose has stayed at the Sheraton, retracing Jesse's steps.

Four years later, Rose said the film is nearly complete, and he plans to enter it into festivals this summer.

Don and Donna Ross, meanwhile, say they try to live life while maintaining the hope that someday they'll learn what happened to their son.

They've also connected with others who have missing loved ones, including a family in their small hometown whose 17-year-old daughter went missing six months after Jesse. Kara Kopetsky never returned home from school, just days after filing an order of protection against a former boyfriend.

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Just this spring, however, that man was charged with setting fire to the car belonging to another woman who went missing and was last seen with him.

Daywatch Weekdays Start each day with Chicago Tribune editors' top story picks, delivered to your inbox. >

That woman's remains were found near other bones that police have yet to identify but say could belong to Kopetsky.

"Now (her family) can focus on getting some sort of justice," Don Ross said.

"It gives us the hope," he added, "that maybe someday ... someone will give us some answers."

kthayer@chicagotribune.com

jgorner@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @jeremygorner
A strong wave of attacks on mobile gadgets can be expected in the coming years in Armenia.

June 20, 2017, 09:14 Kaspersky Lab representative: We expect attacks on Armenia mobile gadgets

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 20, ARTSAKHPRESS: Armen Karapetyan, Kaspersky Lab cybersecurity and anti-virus provider representative in Armenia and Georgia, told the aforesaid to NEWS.am.

He noted that smartphones and tablets are becoming more interesting for hackers.

Hackers go where there is money, and the development of mobile banking creates such threats, Karapetyan noted. And thats why we [Kaspersky Lab] propose banks to integrate our solutions into their apps and offer them to [their] clients in an already-protected state."
Jessie Smith, uncle of Raven Lemons, speaks during a news conference June 20, 2017, near where his niece was shot in the Streeterville neighborhood. (Alyssa Pointer / Chicago Tribune)

Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly has called for the overnight closure of a pedestrian underpass beneath Lake Shore Drive after a woman was fatally shot nearby over the weekend.

Reilly, 42nd, says closing the Ohio Street underpass from midnight to 6 a.m. "during warm weather months" would make it easier for police to patrol the lakefront after it closes for the night. It might make sense to lock gates at other underpasses as well, he said.

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"The idea is to close access ... when the Park District and (Chicago Police Department) sweep the lakefront trail to close it at 11 p.m.," Reilly said in an email. "By restricting access points to the trail overnight when parks are closed, police can manage fewer remaining access points better."

Reilly talked about the plan in a letter to constituents while updating them about the Sunday morning shooting of Raven Lemons, 25. Lemons was shot in the head around 2:40 a.m. while standing with someone she knew in the 500 block of East Ohio Street, according to police.

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The underpass at Ohio Street and Lake Shore Drive. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)

The incident occurred as Chicago has seen about the same number of homicides this year as there had been at this point in 2016, which ended up being the most violent year in the city in two decades.

"I have requested the Department of Transportation and the Chicago Park District consider gating this underpass overnight (and others, if appropriate) to eliminate access between midnight and 6:00 a.m. during the warm weather months," Reilly said in the newsletter.

Chicago Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd Ward. (Terrence Antonio James / Chicago Tribune)

Lemons' family said Tuesday they didn't think closing the underpass would have saved her, noting there are other ways to get to and from the lakefront.

The underpasses scattered along the lakefront are in many neighborhoods the only ways for beachgoers, joggers and cyclists to cross Lake Shore Drive. The tunnels are heavily trafficked during the day on summer weekends, packed with the types of tourists and well-to-do young professionals Mayor Rahm Emanuel hopes will come enjoy Lake Michigan, which he sometimes refers to as "the Midwest's Grand Canyon."

But they are also notorious as spots where people get jumped, mugged or knocked from their bikes. And the weekend shooting comes on the heels of a recent stabbing at North Avenue Beach and shooting at 31st Street Beach that had city officials scrambling to reassure people the lakefront is safe.

A CDOT spokesman said he was looking into whether the department was considering Reilly's request. A spokeswoman for the Park District did not immediately respond to questions about the idea.

Meanwhile Tuesday, Lemons' family held a rally of about a dozen people at the crime scene. Her aunt, Kinisha Smith, criticized Reilly's idea.

"She wasn't down at the beach when (the shooting) happened, so why are you using this as an excuse to close the underpass? I mean, there are other ways to access the beach," Smith said.

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Family members said Lemons was meeting friends downtown to celebrate her 25th birthday.

"She was just trying to get away and out the neighborhood so she could enjoy herself and not have to worry about looking over her shoulder or trying to duck from gunfire like we do in our neighborhood," Smith said. "But somehow it still followed her down here."

Reilly said in his newsletter that he had recently made an "urgent request" of the Emanuel administration for "a significant increase in police visibility and beat patrols" along the lakefront and in Streeterville. He said there aren't enough police to post officers at each underpass around the clock. "Manage fewer tunnels in and out of the lakefront trail with a handful of teams overnight, a time when resources are spread thin," he said.

Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi did not respond directly when asked whether the department supports closing the underpass. Instead, he released a statement from police Superintendent Eddie Johnson saying they "welcome the alderman's partnership."

"We're going to continue working closely with him, as we do with everyone else, to ensure we have the right public safety resources in the right places  whether that's from CPD, OEMC or any other city agency," Johnson's statement read.

The alderman also told constituents he had called on the city Office of Emergency Management and Communications to look for spots around the underpass to install cameras linked to the city's camera network.

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OEMC spokeswoman Melissa Stratton said the agency would be working with police "to assess the requested areas on Ohio Street, the Inner Drive and the Ohio Street underpass to determine the potential placement or movement of cameras that already exist."

Stratton also said Reilly can use his ward-level discretionary budget to pay for additional cameras.

Lemons briefly studied criminal justice at Kentucky State University after graduating from high school in 2010. She left school to care for her 6-year-old son, Riley, according to family.

"Raven was a ray of sunshine," said her uncle, Jessie Smith. "She was an amazing person and a great mom and amazing sister. She was really special."

jebyrne@chicagotribune.com

nmoreno@chicagotribune.com

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Twitter @nereidamorenos
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, seen here tasting a strawberry at a Chicago Gourmet event last week, heads to Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2017, for a speech at the National Press Club (Nancy Stone/ Chicago Tribune)

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

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is set to take the stage at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., at noon Chicago time on Tuesday.

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His speech, being billed as "Moving Forward in Chicago," will address his bid to require public high school seniors to provide a college or trade school acceptance letter, proof of military enlistment or a job offer in order to graduate, the announcement said. He'll make remarks and take questions from the audience and from people who submit queries in advance online.

Emanuel worked in President Bill Clinton's White House, was President Barack Obama's first chief of staff, served in Congress and has been a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, giving him a lot to talk about before a D.C. crowd. In recent weeks, the mayor has faced questions back home about a decision to back away from a written commitment he made in January with Obama's administration for Chicago to enter into a consent decree  an agreement that gives a federal judge and a court-appointed monitor the power to enforce reforms of the Police Department.

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Organizers are taking potential questions for the mayor until 9 a.m. Tuesday Chicago time. To submit a question, email president@press.org with "EMANUEL" in the subject field before that time. The club president decides which questions to ask.

C-SPAN plans to cover the event, but it was unclear late Monday whether the event would be broadcast live. The event will be live-streamed on the National Press Club's website, press.org.

After leaving the nation's capital, Emanuel heads to Montreal for Metropolis' XII World Congress, according to his office. He is to arrive in Montreal late Tuesday afternoon and depart late Wednesday afternoon, said spokeswoman Shannon Breymaier.

Metropolis calls itself the World Association of the Major Metropolises, a global network of major cities and metropolitan areas. The organization also says it gathers the governments of large urban "agglomerations" worldwide. (Katherine Skiba)

What's on tap

*Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be in the nation's capital Tuesday before leaving for a Canada trip, as noted above.

*Gov. Bruce Rauner will speak at 6 p.m. at the Old State Capitol to offer his thoughts on the special session he called that starts Wednesday. The setup is another event that allows Rauner to avoid taking reporters' questions, though he did do one-on-one interviews after the spring session ended May 31. While Rauner's camp says the governor will talk about the "need for unity," the governor backs a House and Senate GOP budget plan that House Republican leader Jim Durkin has said Democrats must substantially comply with. It includes tax hikes and several of his economic agenda items.

*The City Club of Chicago will host a panel titled "The Future of Education Funding in Illinois."

*State Sen. Daniel Biss, a Democratic candidate for governor, will announce a tax plan at 11 a.m. in Melrose Park.

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From the notebook

*Medicaid case extended: A deal in a federal case over how quickly the state has to pay down its about $2 billion in Medicaid bills was expected Tuesday.

But Medicaid patients who sued Illinois and state officials are still talking. Now, they're set to appear before federal Judge Joan Lefkow on June 28.

Whatever the two sides decide is likely to force Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza to cut back on payments for other expenses, which could put her crosswise with state law and state courts and further delay other state payments at a time when Illinois is already sitting on $15.1 billion in unpaid bills.

What we're writing

*Rush backs Kennedy, Gutierrez endorses Pritzker in Democratic governor primary.

*Rauner, CPS play blame game as district takes out $275 million loan.

*Cook County Commissioner Robert Steele dies.

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*Former Metra Chairman Oberman stepping down, says Emanuel has 'other things in mind' for him.

*Chicago records 300th homicide over Father's Day weekend, just like last year.

*Blue Cross working to return to Illinois Obamacare exchange next year.

What we're reading

*WBEZ asks Chicago aldermen if they carry guns.

*The Daily Line expands from City Hall to cover Springfield.

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*Official Pokemon Go Fest sells out Grant Park in minutes  now tickets are going for $400.

*Metallica show at Soldier Field was good. No, it was actually bad.

Follow the money

*Track Illinois campaign contributions in real time here and here.

Beyond Chicago



*U.S. Supreme Court to hear gerrymandering case.

*Russia says it will target U.S. warplanes over Syria.

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*Otto Warmbier, recently released from North Korea, dies.

*Sean Spicer looking for briefing replacements.

*A plan to fight segregation in Dallas schools.
Former Milwaukee police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown appears in Milwaukee County Court on June 20, 2017, in Milwaukee. Heaggan-Brown is on trial for first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old black man, on Aug. 13, 2016. (Michael Sears / AP)

The prosecutor who charged a former Milwaukee police officer with first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of a 23-year-old black man told jurors Tuesday the man was defenseless and "looked like a child" when he was fatally shot last year.

But an attorney defending Dominique Heaggan-Brown against the charge countered that the former officer acted in self-defense because the man was armed when a brief foot chase began after a traffic stop.

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Jurors began deliberating Tuesday after attorneys delivered closing arguments shortly before noon. They ended the day without a verdict and will resume deliberations Wednesday morning.

The death of Sylville Smith at the hands of Dominique Heaggan-Brown on Aug. 13 sparked two nights of rioting in the Sherman Park neighborhood and highlighted the strained relationship between police and African-Americans in the city. But the case is different from recent high-profile police shootings that have inspired a national conversation about how officers interact with African-Americans: Heaggan-Brown and Smith are both black and from the north side of the city where the shooting occurred.

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Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm told jurors Heaggan-Brown didn't need to use deadly force against Smith, who had thrown away the gun he was carrying. Heaggan-Brown shot Smith on his right bicep as he threw the gun away over a fence. He shot him again 1.69 seconds later, this time in the chest, when Smith fell on his back with his legs in the air.

"He's in the most vulnerable position that he can possibly be in," Chisholm said. "He looks like a child."

Heaggan-Brown and two other officers had approached Smith's rental car because it was parked more than a foot from the curb, and police believed a drug deal was happening. Heaggan-Brown and two officers were making their way back to their district station when they decided to initiate one last traffic stop.

Chisholm has said that Heaggan-Brown was justified when he fired the first shot, but argues the second shot was unnecessary.

Jonathan Smith, one of Heaggan-Brown's defense attorneys, told jurors the former officer had to make a split-second decision and didn't have the benefit of seeing the events unfold in slow-motion, which is how prosecutors have shown jurors the shooting using still frames from bodycam footage.

"That first shot was a justifiable shot and that justification did not change in 1.69 seconds," Smith said, alluding to the time that transpired before the first and second shot.

During the brief foot chase, Smith slipped and fell after turning into a path between two houses. Heaggan-Brown fired the first shot almost simultaneously with Smith throwing away his gun when he got up.

The fatal encounter transpired over 12 seconds from the time Heaggan-Brown got out of his car to begin chasing Smith to when the fatal shot was fired.

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Heaggan-Brown faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted. Jurors are also being given the option to choose from two lesser charges instead  second-degree reckless homicide and homicide by negligent operation of a dangerous weapon. The lesser charges carry sentences of up to 25 years and 10 years respectively.

The jury is made up of nine women and three men. Four of the jurors are black and the rest are white.

Heaggan-Brown was fired two months after the shooting when he was charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case.
In this Sept. 13, 2016, file photo, a U.S. B-1B bomber, right, flies over Osan Air Base with a U.S. fighter jet in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on June 20, 2017, in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said. (Lee Jin-man / AP)

SEOUL, South Korea  The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The U.S. often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

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Tuesday's flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

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The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the U.S. and North Korea and compound efforts by South Korea's new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, to improve ties with the North.

Moon said in an interview with CBS television broadcast Tuesday that Warmbier's death showed "we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime," but that talks are still necessary because "we were unable to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only the sanctions and pressure."
Republican Karen Handel won a nationally watched congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, and she thanked President Donald Trump after she avoided an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Returns showed Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, winning about 52 percent of the vote over Democrat Jon Ossoff, who won nearly 48 percent in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.

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"A special thanks to the president of the United States of America," she said late Tuesday night as her supporters chanted, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

It was Handel's most public embrace of the man whose tenuous standing in this well-educated, suburban enclave made a previously safe Republican district close to begin with.

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Handel's margin allows Republicans a sigh of relief after what's being recognized as the most expensive House race in U.S history, with a price tag that may exceed $50 million.

Yet the result in a historically conservative district still offers Republicans a warning that Trump, for better or worse, will dominate the looming campaign cycle. Georgia's outcome follows similar results in Montana, Kansas and South Carolina, where Republicans won special House races by much narrower margins than they managed as recently as November.

Republicans immediately crowed over winning a seat that Democrats spent $30 million trying to flip. "Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement.

Democrats still must defend their current districts and win 24 GOP-held seats to regain a House majority next November. Party leaders profess encouragement from the trends, but the latest losses mean they will have to rally donors and volunteers after a tough stretch of special elections.

Handel, 55, will become the first Republican woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House, according to state party officials.

Her win comes after losing bids for governor in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, and it builds on a business and political career she built after leaving an abusive home as a teen.

"It's that fighting spirit, that perseverance and tenacity that I will take to Washington," she said Tuesday night.

Handel is the latest in a line of Republicans who have represented the district since 1979, beginning with Newt Gingrich, who would become House speaker. Most recently, Tom Price resigned in February to join Trump's administration. The president himself struggled here, though, edging Democrat Hillary Clinton but falling short of a majority among an affluent, well-educated electorate that typically has given Republican nominees better than 60 percent of the vote.

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Handel emphasized that Republican pedigree often in her campaign and again in her victory speech.

She also noted throughout the campaign that she has lived in the district for 25 years, unlike Ossoff, who grew up in the district but lives in Atlanta, a few miles south of the 6th District's southern border.

In victory, she commended Ossoff and pledged to work for his supporters. She noted last week's shooting of Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and said politics has become too embittered.

"My pledge is to be part of the solution, to focus on governing," she said.

Ossoff, taking the stage at his own party after conceding the race, told his supporters his campaign "is the beginning of something much bigger than us," adding, "The fight goes on."

Party organizations, independent political action committees and donors from Los Angeles to Boston sent a cascade of money into a race, filling metro Atlanta's airwaves with ads and its 6th District neighborhoods with hordes of paid canvassers.

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Contrary to the chants at Handel's victory party, she insisted for months that voters' choice had little to do with Trump. She rarely mentioned him, despite holding a closed-door fundraiser with him earlier this spring. She pointed voters instead to her "proven conservative record" as a state and local elected official.

Her protestations aside, Handel often embraced the national tenor of the race, joining a GOP chorus that lambasted Ossoff as a "dangerous liberal" who was "hand-picked" by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. She also welcomed a parade of national GOP figures to Atlanta to help her raise money, with Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence holding fundraisers following Trump's April visit.

It was enough to help Handel raise more than $5 million, not a paltry sum in a congressional race, but barely a fifth of Ossoff's fundraising haul. The Republican campaign establishment, however, helped make up the difference. A super PAC backed by Ryan spent $7 million alone.

On policy, she mostly echoes party leaders. She said she'd have voted for the House Republican health care bill, though she sometimes misrepresented its provisions in debates with Ossoff. She touts traditional supply side economics, going so far as to say during one debate that she does "not support a living wage"  her way of explaining her opposition to a minimum-wage increase.
Paul Wright shows a picture of himself in the hospital after a near fatal overdose in 2015 at the Neil Kennedy Recovery Clinic in Youngstown, Ohio, on June 15, 2017. Republican efforts to roll back Obamacare are colliding with the opioid epidemic. Cutbacks would hit hard in states that are deeply affected by the addiction crisis and struggling to turn the corner. (David Dermer / AP)

The Republican campaign to roll back Barack Obama's health care law is colliding with America's opioid epidemic. Medicaid cutbacks would hit hard in states deeply affected by the addiction crisis and struggling to turn the corner, according to state data and concerned lawmakers in both parties.

The central issue is that the House health care bill would phase out "Obamacare's" expanded Medicaid, which allows states to provide federally backed insurance to low-income adults previously not eligible. Many people in that demographic are in their 20s and 30s and dealing with opioid addiction. Dollars from Washington have allowed states to boost their response to the crisis, paying for medication, counseling, therapy and other services.

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According to data compiled by The Associated Press, Medicaid expansion accounted for 61 percent of total Medicaid spending on substance abuse treatment in Kentucky, 47 percent in West Virginia, 56 percent in Michigan, 59 percent in Maryland, and 31 percent in Rhode Island. In Ohio, the expansion accounted for 43 percent of Medicaid spending in 2016 on behavioral health, a category that includes mental health and substance abuse.

Those states accepted the Medicaid expansion and represent a cross-section of places hardest hit by the nation's drug-overdose epidemic, which claimed more than 52,000 lives in 2015. Of the deaths, more than 6 in 10 were due to opioids, from prescription pain relievers like oxycodone to street drugs like heroin and an elephant tranquilizer.

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Tracy Plouck, Ohio's director of mental health and addiction services, said Medicaid expansion dollars from Washington have allowed her state to redirect its own resources to priorities like providing recovery housing after detox. Reversing that would have real consequences for people who are trying to straighten their out their lives, she said. "If you go back into an environment where people are using, that sets you up with a risk that's nearly insurmountable."

In Youngstown, factory mechanic Paul Wright credits sustained help from Medicaid with his survival after he nearly died from a heroin overdose. Wright said he had started using as a teenager but now has been drug-free for 18 months. Before Medicaid expanded, his father's health insurance would pay for detox but not for long-term treatment. Wright would relapse. With Medicaid, he's been able to get follow-up.

"It's truly sad, but I've been to many funerals since I've been clean," said Wright, who's in his mid-20s. "I just think Medicaid  honestly  it saves people." And he's able to work.

The House GOP bill would end the extra funding states get through expanded Medicaid in 2020, and place a limit on overall federal spending for the program in the future. People already covered like Wright would be grandfathered in as long as they continue to meet eligibility requirements. But that's no comfort to Carolyn Givens, who runs the Neil Kennedy Recovery Center, where Wright gets help.

"If somebody could say to me, 'Carolyn, the crisis is going to be over next week,' I'd feel OK  but I got 40 people on a waiting list," Givens said.

Medicaid cuts have become a major sticking point in the Senate for the GOP's American Health Care Act. Republican leaders can afford to lose only two votes, and several GOP senators from hard-hit states have been critical. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Tuesday that senators are considering stretching the phase-out by three years, to 2023.

At a recent budget hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price defended the Trump administration and raised questions about how much difference Medicaid actually makes.

The HHS budget for the opioid crisis is more than three times as great as two years ago, $811 million versus $245 million, Price said. That reflects increases approved by Congress beyond what Medicaid spends.

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Questioned by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., about the consequences of reducing Medicaid's commitment, Price responded that more government spending is not the answer.

"Let me respectfully suggest ... that the programs that are out there by and large are not working," Price said. "We are losing more Americans today than we did last year. ... Clearly we're moving in the wrong direction."

Price suggested that states would be more effective with greater flexibility promised by the GOP plan for Medicaid.

Said Leahy: "As a child I believed in the tooth fairy, but I'm a little bit older now."

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said it's too early to expect a turnaround in the epidemic. "The resources are just getting to the communities," she said.

In New Hampshire, "we're just beginning to see the benefits of having the expansion of Medicaid to provide treatment for people," Shaheen added.

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Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., wasn't convinced either. "I'm having trouble, as many of us are, reconciling your stated goal (about the opioid crisis) being one of your top three priorities with these dramatic cuts, " she said to Price during the hearing.

Cutting financing for the Medicaid expansion "would create an unsustainable financial obligation" for West Virginia, said Allison Adler, a spokeswoman for the state's health department.

Back in Youngstown, recovering addict Niki Campana said "it's like the apocalypse around here." Campana is helping other women with drug problems.

"I work with a lot of girls that struggle," she said at the Kennedy treatment center. "We can get them on Medicaid in a day and get them in treatment. For that not to be able to happen, that would be horrible."

Associated Press writers Adam Beam in Frankfort, Kent.; Becky Bohrer in Juneau, Alaska; Randall Chase in Wilmington, Del.; David Eggert in Lansing, Mich.; Morgan Lee in Santa Fe, N.M.; Ben Nuckols in Washington; Wilson Ring in Montpelier, Vt.; Michelle R. Smith in Providence, R.I.; Michael Virtanen in Morgantown, W.Va., and Brian Witte in Annapolis contributed to this report.
The Environmental Protection Agency has given notice to dozens of scientists that they will not be renewed in their roles in advising the agency, continuing a scientific shakeup that has already triggered resignations and charges from some researchers that the administration is politicizing the agency.

Members of the EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors whose terms end in August will not see them renewed, according to an email sent to members and obtained by The Washington Post. Moreover, five meetings of subcommittees of the board, planned for the late summer and the fall, will now be canceled due to lack of membership.

"It effectively wipes out the BOSC and leaves it free for a complete reappointment," said Deborah Swackhamer, the current chair of the executive committee of the Board and an emeritus professor of environmental health sciences at the University of Minnesota.

That executive committee currently has only five remaining members, after a number of members whose terms were up earlier this year were not renewed. The board also has five subcommittees, but according to an email from Swackhamer, "with the latest information from EPA, 38 of the 49 remaining subcommittee members will not be renewed at the end of August."

EPA officials said the fact that many advisers' terms were ending provided an opportunity to reach out to a broad array of applicants and draw on their expertise.

"EPA is grateful for the service of all BOSC members, past and present, and has encouraged those with expiring terms to reapply," said agency spokeswoman Amy Graham. "We are taking an inclusive approach to filling future BOSC appointments and welcome all applicants from all relevant scientific and technical fields."

The announcement, sent from acting assistant administrator of the Office of Research and Development Robert Kavlock, said that members can reapply but have a June 30 deadline to do so.

Members are appointed to three-year terms, but they are traditionally renewed for another term if they choose to continue serving.

"To be renewed for a second term is usually anticipated, expected, and the only time you might not serve a second term is if your expertise was no longer needed," Swackhamer said.

The EPA's Board of Scientific Counselors advises the agency's Office of Research and Development, which is being targeted for extremely deep budget cuts, on whether the research it does has sufficient rigor and integrity, and addresses important scientific questions.

Peter Meyer, an economist with the E.P. Systems Group who had already resigned publicly from the board's sustainable and healthy communities subcommittee to protest the ongoing shakeup, said that he and his colleagues had thought they would be staying on.

"We were told quite explicitly by the leadership of the sustainable and healthy communities group ... that our assignment was a four- to five-year assignment," Meyer said. "That was what we were told at our first meeting. That produces an assumption that you're going to get reappointed so that you can complete the job."

Scott Openshaw, a spokesman for the American Chemistry Council, said in an email that the turnover would address his group's and others' "concerns in the past that EPA advisory boards did not include a diversity of views and therefore frequently presented a biased perspective on issues before them."

"All stakeholders, industry and consumers, benefit by ensuring regulations are based on the best science available," he added. "We are hopeful Administrator Pruitt's actions will help to ensure regulatory decisions are based on the highest quality science, enhance accountability, create greater balance, more transparency and fewer conflicts of interest on EPA advisory boards."

Meyer, however, said that he fears the goal is to clear out the membership of these boards so that new members can be appointed, perhaps those who are more favorable to the communities actually being regulated by the EPA.

Elena Craft, a researcher based at the advocacy group Environmental Defense Fund who serves on a subcommittee of the board focused on air, climate, and energy, also said she received the notice Monday.

"It's just, yet another example of the administration's disregard for independent scientific counsel, on issues that are critically important to the nation," Craft said. She added that her subcommittee was scheduled to meet in September, but that's now off.

"This gives me a great deal of concern about the erosion of science in this administration," said Robert Richardson, an ecological economist and associate professor in Michigan State University's Department of Community Sustainability, who co-chaired one of the BOSC subcommittees and was let go earlier this spring. "It's hard to understand the rationale behind a decision like this. I understand they might simply want to re-populate [the board] with people of their own choosing. However, this could also be a way of just weakening advisory boards, of diminishing their role by not replacing members."

Richardson said other colleagues had contacted him this week about the news that the EPA would not renew the terms of dozens of additional scientific advisers to the agency.

"I don't think anybody is terribly surprised," he said. "[Trump officials] have been clear that they intend to wipe all these slates clean. They want no continuity from any decisions that were made by the previous administration, even non-political decisions."

Richardson said he serving as an effective outsider advisor to EPA comes with a "steep learning curve," and that over the years he and his colleagues had worked hard during their years on the board to build a rapport with EPA's Office of Research and Development and to serve the agency effectively.

"All that knowledge will be lost," he said.

Pruitt has taken a deep interest in what scientific questions the EPA should be exploring in the coming years, according to his aides, and a transformation of the board could make a shift in focus easier to carry out. Many Republicans have criticized the agency for devoting too much of its resources towards climate change in recent years, as opposed to more traditional environmental threats.

The move comes as the ranking member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, held a hearing Tuesday aimed at countering panel chairman Lamar Smith's, R-Texas, effort to challenge several key scientific findings on climate change. The hearing, titled, "Science and Policy Perspectives: Climate Change," features scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Woods Hole Research Center, and one of Ronald Reagan's top EPA officials, as well as Cristiana Figueres, who chaired the U.N. talks that produced the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

This appears to be just the start of advisory committee changes at the EPA. The agency's Science Advisory Board and and Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee also likely be changed in the future.

One senior administration official, who asked for anonymity to discuss ongoing conversations, said that a segment of the Scientific Advisory Board rotates off each year and the agency will issue a Federal Register notice in the next couple of weeks that will invite applicants to replace those members whose terms are expiring.

"EPA is currently deliberating next steps for the SAB and CASAC," said one senior agency official, who asked not to be identified because no final decision has been made.

The Washington Post's Brady Dennis contributed to this report.
Sue Finley, 80, has worked at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge for more than 50 years. She was first hired in 1958 as a computer, an employee who calculated mathematical equations, such as rocket or spacecraft trajectories, by hand. She has worked on a number of projects throughout her career, including the Venus Balloon Project, Mars Exploration Rover missions and the Juno mission. Today, she is a subsystem and test engineer for NASAs Deep Space Network.

A knack for numbers

Finley was born in downtown Los Angeles and later moved with her family to Fresno at age 6. She came back to Southern California to attend Scripps College in Claremont and intended to learn art. But Finley left school before her last year after realizing that you cant learn art and that she wouldnt be able to do a senior thesis on the subject.

She decided that she couldnt waste her mothers money, and instead scanned newspaper ads for jobs. Finley eventually came across an opening for a file clerk at aircraft maker Convair in Pomona. She applied, took a typing test and was told the next day that the position had already been filled. But Finley was asked if she liked numbers.

I said, Oh, I love numbers, much better than letters,  she said. So they put me to work as a computer.

Closer commute

Sue Finley, as photographed in 1957. (Sue Finley)

Finley used a Frieden calculator  a typewriter-sized electronic machine  to solve equations for the engineers in Convairs thermodynamics section for about a year. She got married in 1957 and moved to San Gabriel.

During one particularly foggy commute to Pomona, she decided that it would be better to get a job closer to home. Her husband, a recent Caltech grad, suggested that she inquire at the universitys lab at the top of the arroyo  the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which was then sponsored by the U.S. Army. NASA had not yet been established.

JPL needed a computer, and Finley was hired. Three days later, the U.S. space program took a giant leap forward by launching its first satellite, Explorer 1, which was designed, built and operated by JPL.

What I remember was this great big sheet cake that we all got, Finley said. And there werent that many people working at JPL [at the time] that they could use just one sheet cake.

Programming experience

Finley worked at JPL for 2 years until she and her husband moved to Riverside so he could attend graduate school at the UC. Jobs were scarce during the recession of 1960 to 1961, so a posting on a college bulletin board caught her eye: a free weeklong class in Fortran programming.

After her husband finished his masters program, they moved to Pasadena and Finley returned to JPL in 1962, armed with her new knowledge. She was one of just a few people at the lab who knew Fortran. Today, one of the programs that Finley wrote to help navigate spacecraft is still being used at JPL, though with a bit of an upgrade.

Oh, I love numbers, much better than letters.  Sue Finley

Camaraderie at JPL

Finley left JPL once more in 1963 to take care of her two sons, but returned six years later for good. By her third turn, there were more women at the lab and the human computers had largely transitioned into roles as computer programmers. The women forged close ties, and Finley said they were all very good friends, and still are.

By the 1970s, the women who were computers had left their separate all-female office and were integrated into various mission teams.

The men always, from the very beginning, treated us as equals, Finley said. We were doing something they couldnt do and that they needed to go forward with what they were doing.

Most memorable mission

In 1980, Finley began working on NASAs Deep Space Network  a system of giant radio antennas around the world that connects with spacecraft on interplanetary missions, as well as some spacecraft that orbit Earth.

One of those missions was the Venus Balloon Project, during which two Russian space probes, on their way to Halleys Comet, deployed two balloons into Venus atmosphere in 1985 to collect data about the environment. Although the project was a joint Soviet-French mission, the JPL-operated DSN, as its known, was tracking the spacecraft.

Finley was responsible for writing a program that automated movement commands for a DSN antenna. The antenna needed to be pointed exactly at the spacecraft to receive any data from it.

I can remember when we saw the first signal in the darkroom, I actually jumped up and down because I was so happy, Finley said.

Tuning up

Finley helped design the tones for the Juno spacecraft, a model of which is on display at JPL. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Finley helped design the tones  special sets of radio frequencies emitted by a spacecraft that correspond with actions taken, such as a valve opening  for the Juno mission, which entered Jupiters orbit last year. NASA relied on the tones to get real-time status updates on Juno when the spacecraft was pointed away from the Earth and could not send regular telemetry because the signal was too weak.

That was really fun, Finley said.

Current work

Today Finley is helping to design and test a new, pizza box-sized receiver for the DSN. She is also working on a concept that would allow small satellites to transmit data by intercepting the beam of a larger spacecrafts antenna.

She has no plans to retire. I love coming to work, Finley said. You learn something new every day.

Personal

Finley lives in Arcadia and likes going to the symphony, the ballet and seeing plays at the theater. She also enjoys traveling and visiting her four grandchildren, who live in St. Louis and Andover, Mass.

Finley, 80, shown next to a model of the Voyager 1 space probe. She worked on Voyager in the 1970s. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

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samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga
Dr. Philip Szanto, who had a 30-year career as associate professor of pathology at Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago, died on May 26, 2017. He was 81. (Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science)

Dr. Philip Szanto was a gifted teacher who combined clinical and academic skills in a 30-year career as associate professor of pathology at Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago.

"He was very accessible, a friendly man," said Timothy Hansen, a teaching colleague and former vice president of academic and faculty affairs at the school. Hansen said Szanto loved being with students and students reciprocated. "He won teaching awards voted on by students."

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Szanto, 81, died of Parkinson's disease May 26 in the Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, according to his wife, Anna . He had lived in Highland Park for many years.

Szanto also was the co-author with Dr. Arthur Schneider of a standard pathology text, "BRS Pathology," part of the Board Review Series now in its fifth edition.

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Szanto was born in 1935 in Vienna, Austria, where his father, a native of Hungary, was a doctor. Six weeks after the March 1938 annexation of Austria by the Nazis, the family fled to the United States. His father's parents, who remained in Hungary, perished in the Holocaust.

The family settled first in Kankakee and later moved to Chicago. Szanto's father, Paul Szanto, became director of pathology at what was then Cook County Hospital. He died in 1989.

After getting bachelor's degrees in arts and science from the University of Chicago, Philip Szanto went on to the University of Basel in Switzerland for his medical degree. From there, he returned to Chicago for an internship in pathology at the University of Chicago, followed by a pair of two-year residencies in pathology, the first at Cook County and the second at what was then Presbyterian-St. Luke's Hospital.

Under what his wife said was a deferred draft system in place at the time, Szanto was drafted but allowed to finish his residency before reporting for duty as an Army pathologist.

He served from 1970 to 1971 in Vietnam, then served another year at Fort Sam Houston in Texas. His son, Michael Szanto, said his father placed a high value on patriotism and was happy to serve as a medical officer in the Army, as Philip's own father had done in the Pacific in World War II.

After leaving the service, Philip completed a fellowship at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

From there he went to work as a pathologist at Munster Community Hospital in Munster, Ind., from 1973 to 1981.

In 1981, he moved from clinician to academic as professor of pathology at Chicago Medical School, part of Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago. He continued to teach there until retiring in 2011.

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The book he co-authored with Schneider has become a standard text in pathology. "He worked hard on that," Schneider said. "He was a very close colleague. He's going to be missed very much."

Michael Szanto said his father was an engaging teacher who always loved sprinkling his lectures with funny slides, jokes and occasional photos of himself from Vietnam. "He was very committed to the teaching part of his job."

In addition to his wife and son, Szanto is survived by a daughter, Judy Kutin; a brother, Dr. Martin Szanto; and three grandchildren.

Services were held.

Graydon Megan is a freelance reporter.
The National Institution of Human Rights (INDDHH) of Uruguay sent a letter to the Uruguayan Chancellor Rodolfo Nin Novoa expressing concern over the decision of the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan to blacklist Dr. Oscar Lopez Goldaracena after his work as monitor in the last constitutional referendum in Artsakh.

June 20, 2017, 12:26 Uruguayan institution expresses concern over Azerbaijan blacklist

STEPANAKERT, JUNE 20, ARTSAKHPRESS: The INDDHH expresses its concern about the effects that this resolution of the Azerbaijani government may generate on the rights of Dr. Oscar Lopez Goldaracena, especially in the area of freedom of expression and freedom of transit, and requests the Secretary of State to carry out the relevant steps to ensure the immediate cessation of the violation of the mentioned rights of said Uruguayan citizen, said the letter.

On May, Uruguayan human rights lawyer Oscar Lopez Goldaracena denounced Azerbaijan for adding him to his blacklist, after Prensa Armenia agency reported that the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry added him and other deputies and authorities of Bolivia to the country's blacklist, after they officiated as international observers during the constitutional referendum in Artsakh.

Goldaracena said that Nagorno Karabakh is a country of Armenian population, independent for 25 years by history and by decision of its people; A democratic, republican country, with an institutional framework in rights, with Ombudsman and mechanisms of direct democracy that really work.

The National Institution of Human Rights is an autonomous state body that works under the legislative branch and is committed to the defense, promotion and protection in all its extension of human rights recognized by the Constitution and international law.
Bill Cosby was the product of an era when many prominent blacks engaged in what might be called a politics of representation: While the black religious left took to the streets to march and a younger generation of activists bided its time, Cosby waged his battles in fine suits and nice sweaters, with impeccable diction. But Cosby's schtick was as important as any Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee sit-in. He brought black humanity into white America's living rooms through his appearances on variety shows and the television series "I Spy," even as the brutality directed at black humanity was being broadcast on the nightly news in those same living rooms. By the early 1970s, the kids were loving Cosby, too, courtesy of his brilliantly conceived "Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids."

The level of universal popularity that Cosby reached in the 1980s, via his various platforms (including his role as a Jell-O pudding pitchman) was not unprecedented  the Michaels Jackson and Jordan were legitimate rivals in this regard. But no one else did it with Cosby's gravitas. "The Cosby Show" was not just the highest-rated show on television. Cosby and his character, Cliff Huxtable, were collectively America's  not simply black America's  favorite dad.

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Those times are long gone. Despite the hung jury in his sexual assault trial in Pennsylvania, America's No. 1 Dad remains accused of sex offenses (accusations that he has denied) and perhaps will always be remembered for this, however any retrial might play out.

But the onslaught of reporting of Cosby's fall from grace is classic media hyperbole. This is not to deny that the sheer number of his accusers (and even if it were just one) made this a newsworthy case. Cosby, though, hasn't mattered in the way he once did for at least a generation.

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Cosby's relevance to black America began to wane even as his television son Theo Huxtable was walking across stage at his college graduation. As "The Cosby Show" came to a close in the spring of 1992, Los Angeles was afire over the acquittal of four police officers in the Rodney King beating. Voices like Ice Cube and Tupac Shakur  symbolic sons whom Cosby symbolically rejected during the eight-year "Cosby Show" run  would be far more relevant to young African-Americans going forward.

There would still be a connection, however. To the extent that Cosby and his family were subjected to the kind of random urban violence that defined so much of the lives of the black poor  when Cosby's only son, Ennis, was killed  he was no longer above the realities of race, no matter how famous and influential he was. The middle-class lives of the Huxtables be damned, he was one of us.

And perhaps that was the rub. With his infamous "pound cake speech," Cosby seemed to turn on us by adopting a narrative from the right that our struggles and the broader problems of the welfare state were rooted in a culture of defeatism rather than structures of inequality. When Cosby seemed to legitimize the police shooting of unarmed blacks for a crime like stealing a pound cake, he came off as painfully out-of-touch. For the many who, years later, would be tweeting the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, this was their most powerful memory of Cosby  and it was there to be reawakened when comedian Hannibal Buress' righteous takedown set in motion this final chapter of Cosby's public life.

That's why the intense recent debates about Cosby, including a re-evaluation of his cultural and financial contributions  "The Cosby Show" was pulled for a time from syndication, Spelman College discontinued an endowed professorship funded by Cosby and his wife, Camille  have seemed so out of line with his current level of relevance.

And therein lies one of the tragedies here. Cosby mattered so much, in part, because his image of middle-class black respectability carried moral authority for whites, of all political persuasions, seeking to compel less-fortunate blacks to fall in line and keep on the grind. In the past two years, it was as if the artifice of Bill Cosby had to be rehabilitated solely for the purpose of tearing it down. And what has been torn down in the process is not just Cosby the man but the very truth of the representations of black excellence and aspiration that Cosby so dutifully invested in throughout his career.

Cosby hasn't mattered since long before the movement for black lives picked up the baton of the black protest tradition and carried it onto new moral ground. But in his reappearance as an old celebrity who saw his sexual assault prosecution end in mistrial, Cosby restarted battles we thought had already been safely won.

The Washington Post

Mark Anthony Neal, a Duke University professor of African and African-American Studies and English, is the host of the "Left of Black" webcast and author of "Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinities."
Jonathan Rauch in Lawfare writes on Republicans' continued devotion to President Donald Trump:

"Perhaps there are limits to Republicans' tolerance, but if Trump hasn't already triggered them, it is hard to imagine where they are. The firing of a special prosecutor? An indictment? Possibly, but one wonders if it might be literally true that Trump could, as he once boasted, shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and retain Republican support.

"The numbers support no predictions, but they offer a hint. Even under a worst-case scenario of presidential malfeasance, removing Trump would be no easy or quick task. It would require a sea-change in Republican partisans' attitude, a change of which there is no sign today. And it would require Republican leaders to take political risks that few have shown any appetite for."

GOP defeats in 2018 might give the Democrats the majority in the House, expediting impeachment, but removing Trump would require a vote of two-thirds of the Senate. Without substantial GOP defections, Trump will be there for the remainder of his four-year term.

Could Trump be forced to resign  if, for example, the choice was between resignation and being held in contempt of court for refusal to turn over financial records? Perhaps, but it's far from clear that such a standoff would occur. If it did, Trump and his fleet of lawyers could certainly delay and appeal, in essence running out the clock on his presidency.

Whether in 2020 or before, the only surefire means to protect the country from Trump is to defeat his followers, and eventually him. A third-party candidate, as my colleague Michael Gerson recognizes, could throw the race to the Democrat. My reaction to that possibility is: So? We've made the case here  and been proved correct  that Trump's flaws as a human being and president surpass matters of policy and put the republic at risk.

While it is true that a primary has never defeated a sitting president in more than 100 years (Lyndon Johnson chose not to run in 1968, Jimmy Carter beat back Ted Kennedy and Gerald Ford held off Ronald Reagan), Trump is helping to rewrite the political playbook. An anti-Trump Republican unsullied by sycophancy and presenting a credible program for uniting the country and addressing policy problems that have befuddled Trump would have a historic opportunity.

In the short term, the most effective way of removing Trump is to defeat again and again lawmakers who refuse to remove him, thereby advancing the prospects for impeachment and putting optimum pressure on Republican senators. (Republicans pledging to vote for impeachment or removal in the Senate based on the facts available at the time might spare themselves.)

With Georgia's special election Tuesday in the 6th Congressional District, we'll get our first inkling of just how vulnerable Republicans might be in 2018. Between now and 2018, Democrats, independents and the small cadre of #NeverTrump Republicans need to pursue two tracks simultaneously  keeping the special counselor in place (and assisting in the fact-finding process with open hearings, when possible) and generating momentum to defeat the greatest possible number of Trump protectors. That might entail fielding third-party candidates and primary challenges. Democrats certainly will need to keep their base energized, field an all-star list of candidates and make the case against the extreme Trump agenda while presenting reasonable alternatives of their own.

The only real guarantee, you see, of reversing the debacle of 2016 is to defeat Trump and his minions at the polls. The solution to democracy gone astray is always more democracy.
Sean Spicer is reportedly searching for candidates to replace himself for his daily Five Minutes of Acute Discomfort. He has, according to Politico, been reaching out to Laura Ingraham to handle the daily briefing and David Martosko of the Daily Mail to take over the job of communications director.

Before they do anything hasty, I would like to offer my application for the position. I am good at standing in an ill-fitting suit and getting indignant that people are asking me questions, as though it is somehow their fault that I am in this position.

Name: Alexandra

Are You Open To A Mean Nickname: Yes

Why Are You Seeking This Position? I want to be publicly humiliated every day by rumpled strangers for up to half an hour, but I do not want to have to go on Craigslist or explain this lifestyle to my mother.

Will You Be Deeply Hurt If You Don't Get To Meet The Pope: *sniffle* No. I Will Be Fine. He is just one more white-haired man in a novelty hat and seeing him means NOTHING to me, NOTHING.

Are You Taller Than A Bush: No! I am compact and could easily be concealed behind even an average shrub.

Do Your Clothes Fit You: My aesthetic is best described as "someone who has lost a bet on laundry day."

What Is The Largest Plant You Have Ever Hidden Behind: Decorative Fern At Dentist's Office

How Do You Feel About Dippin' Dots: They are not the ice cream of the future.

Can You Endure Up To Six Seconds Of Mildly Aggressive Questioning: Yes, but then I will have to end things.

Recite The Press Secretary Catechism:

- President Trump was joking.

- President Trump was completely serious.

- President Trump is the sun and the moon and the stars!

- I will get back to you on that.

- The tweet speaks for itself.

- The tweet says the opposite of what you believe it says.

- I am insulted that you would ask such a thing.

- Fake news.

- It was bigger and better than ever and gladdened the heart of every American who saw it.

- The president does not own a bathrobe.

- The real problem is the leakers.

- I regret what I said about the Holocaust.

- Your guess is as good as mine!

[rush into bushes and cower there for hours until everyone leaves]

Essay Portion.

Describe Donald Trump's inauguration crowds.

- They were as massive as a Death Star but twice as diverse.

How was the meeting with [Foreign Leader]?

- The meeting with [Foreign Leader] went really well and [leader's name] was very impressed and [name's] hand was nearly crushed with 2000 psi of raw power in a truly masculine handshake. H.R. McMaster is definitely not now standing outside NATO headquarters with a boombox. The relationship with Angela Merkel is getting better and better all the time.

Does Donald Trump know about [issue]?

- Donald Trump is well aware of all the issues, except for the scandalous thing you just mentioned, of which he knows nothing and will be stunned to hear that such things are even going on.

What is this report about Donald Trump getting simple briefings with "killer graphics"?

- Look, if you think about it, his briefings have way more words than President Barack Obama's used to, because those were just WORDS whereas each picture is a THOUSAND words. If you take the time to convert and do the math, just as we definitely did on the AHCA, a document that was well and clearly thought out by the best minds of our generation, he has the most words of anyone, and also of course the best words.

- The reports of a puppet show briefing are baseless, as are rumors that Donald Trump found it "too slow" and became agitated when one of the puppets, a red Muppet labeled AMERICA'S PRESTIGE ABROAD was killed and was inconsolable for hours and had to be given three scoops of ice cream at dinner to soothe him. As is the report that he yelled at the puppets shouting NO PUPPET NO PUPPET YOU'RE THE PUPPET and Chris Christie had to be called to subdue him  there is no merit. Chris Christie is definitely not the only one who can make him feel at ease by humming in that way he has and rubbing his shoulder gently.

- Definitely there is not in the White House somewhere a picture of a shark with "USA" written on the side that is being used to explain our role in NATO.

Does Donald Trump understand [foreign policy issue]?

- Yes. He is highly intelligent, and he often asks difficult questions. Sometimes the hardest questions to answer are the ones you've never really had to think about before, like, "Where is Pakistan?"  a really interesting and deep question when you consider the history of that region and the various claims that have been made over time and "What are the Kurds?" because how can you even define people? Answer: You can't. These are definitely the sort of questions a smart and prepared man would ask, and Donald Trump is smart and prepared and raises me up so I can stand on mountains and be more than I can be.

Sean, are you okay?

- Donald Trump is the wind beneath my wings and the reason I dare to dream. When he jokes about firing me or mispronounces my name, what I hear him saying is, I love you. I hear that over and over again. I close my eyes and shove my fingers in my ears and run from the room crying at the thought of such love. It is vast and bottomless. Not trim and defined, like Donald Trump's physical form.

Why did Donald Trump say [alarming misheard fact]?

- Donald Trump is a good listener, and it is not that he only remembers things from the time that someone tells them to him to the moment that a reporter appears. Definitely not that.

What are we missing about Donald Trump?

- His physical beauty and enormous stamina, and the fact that he is holding up five fingers. Or four. Whatever it is.

See, I can handle the job.

And the most important qualification of all: I also have no idea what is going on in the White House and will be completely unable to answer any questions that you have.

Washington Post

Alexandra Petri writes the ComPost blog, offering a lighter take on the news and opinions of the day. She is the author of "A Field Guide to Awkward Silences."
The Healthcare.gov website is seen on a laptop computer, Thursday, May 18, 2017, in Washington. (Alex Brandon / AP)

Buckle up, all you Illinoisans who depend on Obamacare health coverage. Wednesday is the deadline for rate request proposals from insurers.

Customers can expect hefty premium hikes for next year's policies.

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Yes, again. It'll be this way until this faltering law gets fixed or replaced.

For 2017, you may recall, Illinois rates leaped by more than 40 percent. For 2018, we'll see.

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We don't yet have preliminary increases for 2018 policies because Illinois typically  and infuriatingly  doesn't release rates until later in the summer. But large Obamacare insurers in Delaware, Virginia and Maryland seek average increases greater than 30 percent for next year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Market leaders in Oregon, North Carolina and Maine propose increases of about 20 percent or more.

Nationally, more than 4 in 10 insurers estimate that their rates will rise 20 percent or more, according to a survey by consulting firm Oliver Wyman Health. Another 36 percent peg the rise between 10 and 20 percent. The rest plan on smaller increases.

Why the shocking hikes? Major reasons include:

Insurers still struggle to sign up enough healthy (low-cost) people to offset the higher costs of sicker policy holders. Even the individual mandate that Americans buy coverage or pay a penalty didn't convince many healthy Americans that Obamacare policies with government-mandated benefits were a good value for their money. Think about that: The current system isn't just expensive, for millions of people it's also so unattractive that they'd rather go without health coverage.

Uncertainty. Insurers hate it. "... U.S. health insurers are approaching 2018 with a plan A and a plan B and they are seeking clarity around key policy issues," the Wyman report says.

One driver of that uncertainty: President Donald Trump.

He has threatened to end government-provided cost-sharing subsidies that help millions afford insurance. If he does, rates rise and many of those people won't be able to afford insurance. And more insurers bail: More than 4 in 10 insurers in the Wyman survey said they'd likely abandon the market if the payments stopped. The others said they'd re-file proposed rates, presumably raising them to cover the loss of those government payments. Lose-lose for consumers.

Instead of swiftly resolving this issue, the administration has continued the payments temporarily. Administration officials also asked a federal appeals court to delay a ruling on the legality of those subsidy payments. All of that suggests that the White House doesn't want a court to kill the subsidies and isn't planning to do so itself. But the lack of finality also prolongs the suspense for insurers and customers.

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That creates more unpredictability for insurers. Result: Many Americans may be priced out of the market or may find dwindling or no carriers willing to offer policies in their counties.

If the administration continues to dither, Congress could  and should  step in to provide enough money to shore up markets while lawmakers attempt to pass an Obamacare replacement. There's one under construction by Republicans in the Senate and expected to come to a vote. Democrats, meanwhile, continue to pretend that their 2010 law will work.

Huge proposed premium increases for 2018 demonstrate the hollowness of that hope. Obamacare won't heal itself.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
One of the most troubling aspects to the Kremlin's meddling with the American presidential campaign has been that, since Donald Trump took office, Washington has not lifted a finger to punish Russia for its actions.

That may change soon, now that the Senate has voted 98-2 to impose a new round of sanctions on America's bellicose nemesis to the east. Those sanctions would hit the Russian economy's mining, metals, shipping and railways sectors. They also would penalize Russians who carry out cyberattacks on behalf of the Russian government, or are involved in human rights abuses, corruption or the supplying of weapons to Syrian President Bashar Assad. And they would allow Congress to block attempts by Trump or any future president to scale back sanctions without its consent.

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A foreign adversary meddling in a presidential election is a punch to America's gut, and we're glad lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are realizing it. The bill now goes to the House. Lawmakers have tethered the sanctions to a bill that strengthens penalties on Iran in response to its ballistic missile tests  making it that much tougher for Trump to veto the measure. If support in the House is as strong as in the Senate, the bill would be veto proof anyway.

Trump's insistence on painting Russian President Vladimir Putin as a misunderstood leader and potential American ally is wearing thin. Even his strongest GOP backers in Congress see that. Will Trump finally realize the peril of Putin? His team continues to advocate a softer, somewhat coddling approach toward the Kremlin. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the Senate's move to slap new sanctions on Russia ties Trump's hands when it comes to dealing with the Kremlin.

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"We would ask for the flexibility to turn the heat up when we need to, but also to ensure that we have the ability to maintain a constructive dialogue," Tillerson said during testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee earlier this month. (On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced new Russia-related sanctions, but those penalties focus on individuals and organizations tied to the Kremlin's continued interference in eastern Ukraine.)

Imposing sanctions on Russia for attempting to influence the results of a presidential election doesn't dash hopes for constructive dialogue with Moscow. But it does send a message to Putin that his actions represented an egregious breach of our democracy that American cannot tolerate. That's important, because the U.S. intelligence community has stressed that Putin's Kremlin, after plying U.S. firewalls with relative ease, surely will meddle again in American elections. Trump's in a better position to deal with Putin when Putin knows where the red lines are.

As for Vlad, the former KGB spy is finding he's not as Teflon-tough as he thought. While his approval ratings still hover above 80 percent, the protests that swept through Russia on June 12 reflect a growing unease among Russians about their leader's management of the country and its economy. Thousands of Russians took to the streets in more than 100 cities. As many as 1,700 demonstrators have been arrested, and their leader, Alexei Navalny, was sentenced to 30 days in jail for organizing a rally. New sanctions would turn the screws on the Kremlin at an ideal time, when Putin's feeling some heat.

Tillerson asks that the White House be afforded flexibility in its policies toward Russia. All presidents should have ample space to craft their approaches toward foreign governments. But flexibility shouldn't lead to a free pass, which is what the Trump administration, up until now, has given the Kremlin.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook.
You cite the length of Weiss' tenure at the Sun-Times and describe the critic-artist relationship in lieu of offering a substantive defense of the specific critique of racial animus that the community has raised. You also misrepresent the statements and actions that have come forth in the wake of Ms. Weiss' review of Pass Over, all the better to marginalize and dismiss that response.

Theater companies declining to provide free tickets to a critic whose body of work contains a lengthy pattern of troubling and often irrelevant comments on race is not the same thing as demanding a safe space, and indeed, this is the modest step that the community has actually taken. This is not a ban, not an insistence that reviews must accord to the views of the performing artists, but simply the artists refusal to continue to make themselves complicit in the lengthy and troubling pattern of racially insensitive non sequiturs that appear in Weiss' work. (It also didn't begin at Steppenwolf Theatre, as your editorial's narrative framing suggests, but with a widespread grassroots response from the community, to which Steppenwolf added its voice.)

Ms. Weiss remains free to buy tickets, and the Sun-Times continues to be free to publish her work. I presume that your reporters would be expected to objectively and thoroughly report on an incident such as this; it's disappointing that the editorial board has seen fit to fire off a reactionary piece that gets many of the facts plain wrong.

 Patrick King, Winfield
I worry for my family, especially my parents who are getting older, who under the U.S. Houses plan would be charged significantly more for their health care. I worry about the world my 2-year-old niece is growing up in, where she would be charged more than her male peers. I worry what else this all-male group is deciding, and because they dont have the imagination to understand a womans health care needs, that they will strip away any right she should have to make decisions about her body.

Many of us are fortunate enough to have health insurance through employers, but our health care costs would rise, especially for those of us with pre-existing conditions. There are no guarantees in the future. What would happen under Trumpcare if you are suddenly out of a job and need to see a doctor? Or perhaps you didnt have health coverage through work at all. What if youre the 1 in 4 Illinoisans who receives Medicaid? Coverage would be stripped away, costs would rise. If more money needs to be put into going to the doctor, it will be taken from somewhere else, perhaps from the electric bill, from groceries. No one should have to make these decisions.

Im not just worried; Im scared. These architects of Trumpcare have made it clear they lack the imagination to understand anyones needs and fears outside their own. You should not need to have received Medicaid yourself to see the terrible logic in the Houses plan, for individuals and communities.

Our senators must do everything in their power to demand debate on this topic and fight. Access to affordable health care affects the health of our communities, the health of every person. It is our ability to live.

 Christina Brandon, Chicago
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback approved generous tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy in 2012. The result has been disastrous for the state. (John Hanna/AP )

Sam Brownback's magic beans turned out to be a handful of gravel.

Brownback, then a Republican U.S. senator, was elected governor of Kansas in the tea party wave of 2010 with 63.3 percent of the vote. In 2012 he signed a program of generous tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy that included less generous cuts for lower earners.

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He promised that from the seeds of this idea would grow a mighty stalk of prosperity  "tens of thousands of new jobs"  that would result in increased funding for schools and local government services.

The nation watched with interest. It was, as he said, "a real, live experiment" on the validity of supply-side economics, the cherished conservative notion that allowing rich people to keep more of their money is the secret to general prosperity.

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I also watched with interest. In a May 2014 column I noted that the results to date had not been encouraging. Tax receipts were lagging behind projections, unemployment and budget deficits were up while school funding, support for needy families and the state's bond ratings were down.

Nevertheless, Kansas persisted. Brownback asked the public to be patient and promised it would soon see 25,000 new private-sector jobs a year. He narrowly survived the defection of roughly 100 state Republican officials who no longer wanted any part of his failing experiment, and he squeaked to re-election in 2014 with just 49.8 percent of the vote.

In a May 2016 column I looked in again on the drooping Sunflower State. Brownback, who can't run again in 2018 because of state term-limit laws, had become the least popular governor in America (a title he relinquished this year to New Jersey's Chris Christie). Under his "pro-growth" policies, Kansas had fallen to 41st in the nation in personal income growth, down from 12th a few years ago.

Public schools were planning to close early for lack of operating revenue. Kansas was shorting pension funds, skimping on road improvements, cutting Medicaid and slashing outlays for state universities.

Brownback's "vision for fiscal policy has been devastating," concluded an editorial in the Topeka Capital-Journal, a newspaper that had endorsed him for re-election.

Things kept getting worse as Brownback's purportedly magic beans failed to take root. The federal government's 2016 year-end data showed Kansas had lost 9,400 jobs over the previous 12 months (Illinois, in contrast, with more than four times the population, added 26,700 jobs); average hourly earnings had fallen 2.5 percent (while national hourly earnings increased 0.8 percent); and the state's gross domestic product was growing at just a third of the national rate (Illinois' GDP growth was 50 percent higher than the national rate).

Kansas elected an ideologue as governor, then nearly everything got worse. Hmmm. Sounds familiar.

But at least now they're digging out. Earlier this month, the Kansas Legislature unfurled the white flag. Although 70 percent of state lawmakers belong to the GOP, a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans voted to override Brownback's veto of a bill that rolled back much of his perversely ineffective agenda.

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The bill will raise the top state income tax rate to 5.7 percent, a 24 percent increase, and eliminate an exemption on "pass-through" income for 330,000 businesses. The changes are projected to raise $1.2 billion over two years. That has already prompted a bond rating upgrade from Moody's Investors Services.

Yet as the Kansas City Star Editorial Board noted ruefully, "It may be a generation or more before Kansas fully recovers from the Brownback tax experiment."

"This failure probably cost us $4 billion," said Burdett Loomis, a University of Kansas political scientist who has written extensively about the Brownback years. "It absolutely should put an end to the theory that tax cuts for the rich end up helping everybody, but you can't kill it. It's a vampire idea. No matter how many times it's proven wrong, it keeps coming back."

Yup. Despite Brownback's dismal and high-profile failure, President Donald Trump remains a believer in the supply-side fairy tale. The one-page outline of his tax overhaul proposal promises  or, more accurately threatens  massive revenue cuts that will turn the entire United States into Kansas.

What happened there reminds us that the real beans in this story are the ones that fill Trump's tax plan.

Eric Zorn is a regular panelist on "The Mincing Rascals" a weekly review of national and local political issues available wherever quality podcasts are served.

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ericzorn@gmail.com

Twitter @EricZorn

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A downtown Brooklyn group that collects cash from businesses to clean streets has dropped tons of garbage at a high school for at least six years  leaving it for city Sanitation to pick up.

The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership admitted the dumping only after being told The Post had photos of trucks dropping mountains of trash bags at George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education HS in the Metrotech area.

The partnership runs three Business Improvement Districts, or BIDS, and collects fees from companies  including Metrotech developer Forest City New York. The partnership then pays the non-profit DOE Fund $1.7 million a year to collect and dispose of trash. The fund runs a Ready, Willing an Able program, which gives trash-collection jobs to the homeless and ex-convicts.

In Cleaning crew admits they dumped trash at high school , the New York Post reports:There's a lot unexplained here. The DBP claimed it had permission from the Department of Sanitation, which said it hadn't given it--after first denying that the trash had been dumped. Whether or not it added risk--the Post said the trash wasn't inspected--the bottom line seems clear: this saved the DBP money.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Sen. Daniel Biss proposes new property tax legislation on June 20, 2017, after a Chicago Tribune investigation exposed flaws in the assessment system. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune) (Chicago Tribune)

Standing on the lawn of a modest home in unincorporated Melrose Park on Tuesday, gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Daniel Biss laid out a sweeping proposal to overhaul a property tax assessment system that he says favors the wealthy and the politically connected at the expense of working families.

Referencing the Tribune's recent series, "The Tax Divide," which documented deep flaws in Cook County's assessment system, Biss said he would introduce legislation after the General Assembly returns for a special session this week.

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He wants mandatory disclosures of the models and techniques assessors use to value property; release of data and more transparent reporting on local assessments; greater state oversight of local assessors; and a requirement that all assessors "modernize their broken valuation systems."

"The stories that we read in the Chicago Tribune were amazing for their depth and their detail," Biss said. "... It's time, now that we have the data to back up what we've always suspected, to act swiftly to fix it."

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If a county's assessments regularly fail to meet industry standards, the assessment process would get special oversight, under Biss' plan. In Cook County, the assessments repeatedly have fallen short of those kind of standards.

Biss, D-Evanston, was joined by the owner of the Melrose Park home, Barbara Garner, one of several homeowners featured in the Tribune's three-part series who were affected by questionable valuations of their properties.

Also present was Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, who said she will co-sponsor the legislation.

"It is our duty in state government to provide a level playing field for all citizens," Collins said. "The utter size and lack of transparency in the Cook County assessor's office contributes to situations like these, when we find families in poor or underserved areas seeing their homes valued higher than market prices while those in well-to-do areas see assessments lower than they ought to be."

Biss' proposal also includes a cap of $750 on contributions to local assessors from tax attorneys who appeal assessments, with steep penalties for violations.

"This simple pay-to-play legislation is consistent with what we already have in other parts of the state of Illinois," he said. "It's the least we can do when it comes to the property tax appeal process to make sure campaign contributions don't bias a system that is already rigged."

Appeals have grown significantly under Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios, reaching more than 370,000 residential parcels in 2015, triple the amount in 2003, the Tribune found. More than 80 percent of those who appealed ended up winning a reduction from either the assessor or the Cook County Board of Review, a three-member panel that fields appeals. Many won reductions from both.

As the number of appeals grew, so did the fees for tax attorneys and appraisers, many of whom contribute to Berrios' three campaign funds.

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The Tribune found that since 2009, Berrios, who also is chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party, has collected more than $5 million in contributions, with more than half of the money coming from attorneys and appraisers who make up the county's booming property tax appeals industry.

The Tribune also reported that Berrios failed to implement a new residential valuation model funded by the MacArthur Foundation  even though he issued a press release in 2015 saying he had. In the press release, the assessor's office acknowledged the system was regressive and called the new model a "breakthrough," claiming it increased accuracy by 50 percent.

But, after the Tribune discovered the office hadn't fully implemented the new model, Berrios argued that the new model was inaccurate.

The Tribune's series documented how for years the county's assessment system overvalued low-priced homes and undervalued high-priced ones. Known as regressivity, the errors caused property taxes to be skewed in favor of the wealthy, who ended up paying less than those with more modest homes.

The assessor's office claimed that the appeals process provides a fix to inaccurate assessments. But, partnering with the University of Chicago's Center for Municipal Finance, the Tribune found that appeals actually make residential assessments less fair, not more.

"Our tax system in Illinois stinks," Biss said. "It's written by millionaires and billionaires for millionaires and billionaires who are able to game the system for their own benefit, putting too much of a burden on the rest of us."

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Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said he expected multiple pieces of legislation to emerge in the General Assembly to address the Cook County property tax system.

"As a result of your series, I'm sure there are going to be a whole bunch of different suggestions," Cullerton told the Tribune Editorial Board.

"If there are better, fairer alternatives that are out there that other cities use, other states use, I think we should look at that," Cullerton added. He said he had yet to discuss the Biss proposal with him.

Governor candidate and state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, talks with Barbara Garner, center, and state Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, in front of Garners Melrose Park home. ( Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune )

Steve Brown, spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, said he was "not aware" of the Biss proposal and he had not had a chance review it.

Madigan's law office specializes in appealing commercial property assessments and he is a strong ally of Berrios. Cullerton's law firm also handles property tax appeals, though he says he personally does not work on those cases.

Contacted Tuesday for comment, Berrios responded through Jacob Kaplan, his campaign spokesperson. Kaplan is also executive director of the Cook County Democratic Party.

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"Assessor Berrios strictly follows all campaign finance laws; indeed, all laws," Kaplan wrote. "Were a law or laws to change, he would follow any new regulations."

In addition, Tom Shaer, spokesman for the assessor's office responded: "The Cook County assessor's office stands by its previous statements that it assesses property fairly and accurately."

He also said that the Biss proposal "would usurp the rightful authority of every county assessor in the state."

jgrotto@chicagotribune.com

rlong@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @Jason Grotto

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Twitter @RayLong
After hours of testimony from residents who know family members with mental illness and developmental disabilities, the Arlington Heights Village Board voted unanimously to approve an affordable housing project. (Karen Ann Cullotta/Pioneer Press )

After hours of emotional testimony from local residents who know family members with mental illness and developmental disabilities, the Arlington Heights Village Board voted unanimously Monday to approve an affordable housing project that officials rejected in 2010.

"This is the reason why we don't decide on how we will vote until we get to the meeting," said Mayor Thomas Hayes.

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Hayes was one of several village officials who said they were taken by the personal stories shared by residents with loved ones with disabilities before reversing course on an affordable housing development intended to serve low-income residents with disabilities.

"I voted against the project in 2010, but the proposal now is open to people with disabilities of all kinds," Hayes said. "There's no question there's a great need for these services."

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The board's unanimous approval of the Heart's Place project at 120 E. Boeger Drive arrives several years after a federal judge dismissed a housing discrimination lawsuit filed against the village of Arlington Heights by developer Chicago-based UP Development, LLC.

The lawsuit alleged a similar proposal from the developer for the same site, Boeger Place, was unfairly scrutinized by officials over the project's intended demographic  residents with disabilities, including those with mental illness.

The new Heart's Place proposal features a scaled-back plan for the same property on the north side of the village, near the border of Buffalo Grove. The development would include 16, two-bedroom apartment units in a two-story building.

The development would provide permanent, supportive housing for persons with physical, cognitive and/or mental disabilities, as well as victims of domestic violence, said Richard Koenig, executive director of Housing Opportunity Development Corporation, a nonprofit that works to create affordable housing throughout the northern suburbs of Chicago.

Social service providers involved with the project include Alexian Brothers Mental Health and WINGS Program Inc., which provides housing to victims of domestic violence, as well as the Kenneth Young Center, Koenig said.

While the majority of the dozens of residents and advocates for citizens with disabilities who packed Village Hall Monday were wearing "YES" stickers in support of the Heart's Place project, Buffalo Grove resident Craig Horwitz was among those asking the board to deny the proposal.

"This is not about zoning and not about variations, but about doing the right thing for the neighborhood and longtime businesses," said Horwitz, who was one of the two speakers during the meeting who voiced concerns about the development's proximity to a daycare center.

As the father of an adult daughter with mental illness, Arlington Heights resident Louis Guagenti was among a group of supporters who urged village board members to show compassion for citizens with disabilities.

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Many of those residents are wanting to live independently and pose no danger to the public, he said.

Guagenti recalled how his daughter Amanda attended Our Lady of the Wayside and Rolling Meadows High School while growing up in the village, and worked part time at the neighborhood ice cream parlor before heading off to Northern Illinois University, where she earned two degrees.

But at the age of 19, his daughter was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, a chronic condition that she overcame with medication, therapy and the support of her family, he said.

"Amanda was lucky because she has a family that could provide her with encouragement, but what about others who have no one to empower them?" Guagenti said.

While the village's plan commission recently voted to deny the developer's request for rezoning and several variances needed to complete the project, Village Manager Randall Recklaus said village staff recommended approval of the proposal but with some modifications.

Trustee John Scaletta said that while he voted "no" to the original Boeger Place proposal in 2010 and was sympathetic to both supporters and opponents of the revised plan, the new Heart's Place project seemed to be much improved.

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"In my opinion, this is a better project, and I will be voting 'yes,' because I'm very optimistic with the new plan," Scaletta said.

kcullotta@tribpub.com

Twitter @kcullotta
While an Aurora homeowner was out, strangers broke his window, entered his house, drank his beer and started packing valuables into one of his duffel bags, the resident said Monday.

When police showed up, two men engaged officers in a five-hour standoff starting just before 6 p.m. that left the home in shambles.

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Police aren't sure if the burglars came for the resident's firearms or if they just happened to pick the home of a gun collector. Police also have not ruled out their possible involvement in other burglaries, Aurora spokesman Dan Ferrelli said.

The sole resident of the home on the 300 block of Western Avenue said only a close circle of friends and neighbors know he owns guns. He thinks there's no way the suspects, who are in custody but had not been charged as of Monday afternoon, could have known about his collection. No guns were in the bag they'd been packing, said the man, whom the Beacon-News is not naming.

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"The only things in there was my laptop, a spare set of car keys with the key fob, my spare garage door opener, like they were gonna come back, and a jar of coins," said the homeowner, who is in his late 60s and has lived in the same house on Aurora's West Side since 1993. "I don't think they came in looking for the guns."

Regardless, they found them.

The retired telephone company worker said he loves his neighborhood, where people he knows well along with some he just met Saturday have been supportive.

"I got the best neighbors in the world," he said.

Police said one of those neighbors called police Saturday afternoon, saying two men got out out of a gray Honda Accord, walked to the back of the home and tried to kick in a back door.

While patrol officers found the Honda with two women inside, questioned them and found discrepancies in their stories, a sergeant found signs of forced entry and heard the men inside the home throwing things around, police said.

Officers surrounded the home as 911 operators contacted the homeowner, who described his guns, then made his way home.

The two suspects refused repeated police orders to go outside, so the Special Response team was called, according to police. Officials tried to negotiate, but the men yelled and threatened the officers, smashed out windows and pointed guns outside, police said.

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After one of the men pointed a shotgun at a group of Special Response Team officers, an officer shot more than once at the man, missing him and striking a window frame, police said. Police said they deployed gas canisters into the home about the same time.

The men surrendered at 11:10 p.m, though police said they fought with officers as they were handcuffed.

The homeowner commended the police department's actions, but said he thought information they put forth mischaracterized him.

Police released a statement saying the man "had a large cache of loaded guns of all types and sizes inside."

The homeowner told the Beacon-News only one gun was loaded, a shotgun kept behind a door.

"Why do I have a loaded gun in the house?" he said. "Because I'm worried about people breaking into the house, plain and simple. I am a gun owner, I am a regular shooter, I shoot at ranges, I belong to a gun club. I do not belong to the NRA."

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The man said he had a couple of shotguns, a couple of handguns and a couple of rifles, kept in a few different places.

"And some miscellaneous junk guns that are what I refer to as wall-hangers," he added.

Police took five of his weapons, two of them non-functioning, because the suspects had handled them, he said.

He's been staying in a motel and isn't sure if he'll return to the neighborhood. While he'd miss his many good neighbors, the situation has made him uncomfortable there, he said.

Standing in his kitchen Monday, the man took in the sorry state of the house where he has lived for more than two decades. Cleaners were supposed to come later to give an estimate, he said.

"There is blood everywhere," he said. "They spilled beer out all over here ... they drank my beer too, the buggers."

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Reddish brown blood splotches tarnished floors, counters, furniture and the salmon-colored walls the man said he painted himself.

The blood came from cuts to the suspects' hands, Ferrelli said. Police said both men were taken, under guard, to an Aurora hospital for treatment of the cuts, which "presumably resulted from their window breaking efforts."

Holes dotted walls and the front door. Plywood covered a street-facing window.

Besides the statement he questioned, the homeowner had only praise for the police officers' handling of the situation.

"The rest of the police were just fantastic," he said.

Charges are pending against all four suspects  the two men and the two women who were in the car  pending further investigation, police said in a statement.

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hleone@tribpub.com

Twitter @hannahmleone
Tim Allen will perform standup comedy in Waukegan at the Genesee Theatre on June 23. (Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP )

When ABC announced in May it was canceling the hit television comedy, "Last Man Standing," Tim Allen said he and the cast were shocked. "It was like a sudden death. I had no idea it was coming. All of the cast, all 200 of us who worked on it, we had no warning this was coming," said Allen, who played Mike Baxter, the conservative father of two daughters in the sitcom.

Allen, who comes to the Paramount Theatre in Aurora Aug. 18, described the feeling of getting the show canceled as losing a pet as a kid. "One of the things I will miss most is when Mike Baxter could do these blogs and rant," he said. "It was a very steroid-induced version  it's about everything including political correctness."

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Allen also recently lost two good friends including Don Rickles, who voice acted as Mr. Potato Head in "Toy Story," while Allen voice acted as Buzz Lightyear. Rickles died in April. Actor Powers Boothe, with whom Allen has also worked, died in May.

"I felt so bad for his (Boothe's) family. Our loss (of the show, 'Last Man Standing') pales in comparison," he said.

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"Grieving takes time," Allen said, but through it all he remains "very, very grateful to God that  I get strength, energy and resilience from standup comedy  I love it  it still scares the hell out of me. But it's been the constant in my life besides the love of my family." He's also reprising the role of Buzz Lightyear in "Toy Story 4."

Allen said he's always loved "people who make me laugh. My dad was funny. My grandfather was funny. I loved Richard Pryor."

Allen studied television production in college and then started his comedy career in Detroit, aiming at meeting just a few goals, he said.

"I was a very focused young guy  all I really wanted to do was pay my bills and support my family," Allen said. "And I wanted to do 'The Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson."

Allen did pay his bills  and them some  earning enough to buy hot rods  with a reported net worth today of $80 million.

And he did, of course appear on "The Tonight Show" with Carson.

"But the funny thing was though I prayed and worked to be on 'The Tonight Show,' I was so successful at comedy that they put me on TV as an actor (first). My preference was to be a comedian."

He's referring to the sitcom "Home Improvement" (1991-1999).

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His first five or so shows were based on standup comedy acts reflecting on his own lack of ability to repair things around the house, especially when it comes to plumbing "and cleaning the toilet," he said.

Since his first sitcom premiered, Allen has been named a Disney Legend for his work on Disney's "Toy Story" and "Santa Clause" movie series.

Now in the middle of "Toy Story 4," Allen said one of the best parts of doing those movies was becoming "buddies" with Tom Hanks, voice actor for Woody, the toy cowboy usurped as a boy's favorite toy by Buzz Lightyear.

"I really admire this guy," Allen said of Hanks. "I love working with him. We're close buddies," he said, adding they've often talked about doing a live action movie to emulate the friendship of Woody and Buzz Lightyear.

"I'm very excited to be working with Pixar again. It's always a wonderful thing," Allen said.

What he finds intriguing about Buzz Lightyear is his "familiarity. He doesn't grow old." And yet, here's this animated character that can actually make Allen feel sad and then happy at the ending, he said.

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The closest he'll ever come to becoming an astronaut  something he's dreamed of all his life he said  is portraying Buzz Lightyear.

Not only is Allen looking forward to the release of the fourth in the series, but he said he is also looking forward to spending more time doing standup.

Allen said he finds it a privilege to be able to make people laugh. "The pleasure is mine. The blessing is mine. This will be another great year of touring," he said.

Allen readily reveals his political leanings. He describes himself as a fiscal realist, who supported John Kasich in the Republican primaries, and attended President Donald Trump's inauguration.

Allen also calls himself "socially moderate to liberal."

And though his character in "Last Man Standing" was a conservative bemoaning political correctness and slamming President Barack Obama, Allen said he tries not to focus on politics when he's doing standup.

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"Essentially," he said, he wants to tell jokes "that both Democrats and Republicans can laugh at. It's the things that we all do that are funny."

He doesn't shy away from using words inappropriate for youngsters, he said, which is why his shows are often labeled as "for mature audiences only."

Although he lives in California, Allen said he has always loved the Midwest, including spending time in Michigan where he grew up, he said. He also served as the voice for Pure Michigan campaigns for nearly a decade. So he's looking forward to coming to the Paramount Theatre.

"I love the Midwest. It's going to be a great time for me to get out of Dodge."

Sheryl DeVore is a freelance writer for The Beacon-News.

Tim Allen

When: 8 p.m. Aug. 18

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Where: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora

Tickets: $75-$95

Information: 630-896-6666; paramountaurora.com
Construction equipment is on site at the Sunset Grove shopping center in Long Grove where Starbucks has proposed adding a location. (Ronnie Wachter/Pioneer Press)

Commuters who use Route 83 in Long Grove may soon be a bit more alert by the time they arrive at work.

If the final paperwork goes through, the storefront that has held two national coffee chains will soon be the home of a Starbucks, village officials said.

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Representatives with the popular, Seattle-based coffeehouse chain have been talking with Long Grove officials about opening a store at the Sunset Grove shopping center that first held Caribou Coffee and later a Peet's Coffee and Tea, said Jim Hogue, village planner for Long Grove.

The Long Grove Architectural Commission also was scheduled to discuss Starbucks' request for a sign change at the location during a meeting Monday evening.

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"They're just wading through corporate channels to get the lease signed," Hogue said. "It should be fairly soon. When Sunset first opened, we were hoping to get a Starbucks."

Representatives with Starbucks did not return calls for comment.

Peet's Coffee and Tea last operated the storefront, which includes a drive-through lane, before closing in September 2015. Officials in the past have noted the odd layout of that northwest corner of the shopping center, requiring drivers to make a winding drive through an often crowded parking lot from either direction.

The only entrance to the shopping center is located on the northeast corner. But Hogue said village officials are confident that the Starbucks' brand will drive customers to the location.

"People tend to get to where they want to go," he said. "I don't think stacking or traffic, or anything like that has been a problem."

RWachter@PioneerLocal.com

Twitter @RonnieAtPioneer
Andrea Vazquez-Hernandez is on trial for aggravated battery, accused of putting nail polish remover in 17-month-old girls milk. Her husband fathered the girl with another woman. (DuPage County sheriff's office )

If a baby drinks milk spiked with nail polish remover, but then spits it out, did the child actually "take" the mixture?

A question such as that, which arose Tuesday during a DuPage County trial, apparently has never been raised in Illinois, according to the judge in the aggravated battery trial of Andrea Vazquez-Hernandez.

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After hearing arguments, Judge Brian Telander denied a motion to dismiss charges against Vazquez-Hernandez, but told her attorney the open question could form the basis of an appeal should she be found guilty. The judge said there is no state case law that addresses that type of question.

"There's no doubt, this is a case of first impression," Telander said Tuesday.

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Vazquez-Hernandez, 37, is accused of mixing nail polish remover with the milk in the child's sippy cup in May 2016 at the Carol Stream apartment where she and her husband, who fathered the 17-month-old with another woman, were living.

The child twice drank from the cup, but spat it out both times. The child's father inspected the cup, smelled the polish remover and took the child to the hospital, where she was deemed to be unharmed, authorities said. Vazquez-Hernandez was charged and later allegedly told police she wanted to "punish" her husband and the child's mother.

She is being tried in a bench proceeding that has been heard periodically over the past month.

At Tuesday's hearing, her attorney, Neil Levine, argued that the case should be dismissed at the midpoint because prosecutors failed to satisfy the aggravated battery statutory language. The law says, in part, that a person commits aggravated battery when he or she "knowingly administers to an individual or causes him or her to take without consent" a harmful substance.

Levine said the normal and legal definitions of "administers" or "taken" had not been met in the case, and would have required the child to have actually swallowed some of the mixture.

Assistant State's Attorney Lee Roupas argued in his reply that the defense was engaging in "legal gymnastics" to redefine terms in the statute, and that a plain understanding encompassed the facts of the case against Vazquez-Hernandez.

"Here the defendant caused (the) minor to take nail polish remover. Thankfully, she spit it out," Roupas said.

The defense motion was for a directed finding, which asks the judge to dismiss based on the state's failure to meet its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Telander, noting that judges at this middle stage of a trial must review the evidence in the light most favorable to the state, denied the motion.

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The defense will have its opportunity to call witnesses when the case continues on July 11. Vazquez-Hernandez remains in the custody of the DuPage County Jail, where she is being held in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
Lincoln-Way High School District 210 agreed to sell 72 acres on the southwest corner of 191st and Harlem Avenue in Tinley Park.

The board of education approved the sale of its land June 15 to Woodman's Food Market, of Janesville, Wis., for about $4.6 million.

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Its original price was the $4.5 million the district set as a minimum bid, but Superintendent Scott Tingley said the additional $140,000 will cover fees.

The district sought bids for its three parcels in February and received one for each site.

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Woodman's proposes to build a 240,000 square foot food store, with a liquor store, auto service facility, car wash, and gas station, which would operate 24 hours daily.

According to its website, it has 16 employee-owned stores, including three in Illinois, in Carpentersville, North Aurora and Rockford.

The plans have yet to be approved by the village of Tinley Park.

Patrick Hoban, Tinley Park's economic development manager, said they were waiting for the sale to be approved before they begin discussing the annexation and rezoning of the site with Woodman's.

"From our analysis, there is a need for a grocery store, especially on that end of town. We're very excited about Woodman's," he said.

This is not the first time Lincoln-Way has been involved with the land parcel. In 1996, it acquired the parcel for $2.9 million with plans to put Lincoln-Way North there.

After residents objected to having a school on the busy commercial intersection, North was built at 199th and Harlem, and is now closed as the district faces financial difficulties and declining enrollment.

In 2006, W.M. Realty of Tinley Park offered $11.2 million for it, with plans to build a Walmart and Sam's Club. Tinley Park's plan commission told the retail giant in 2008 to rethink its plan for a 176,000 square foot Walmart Supercenter, that would anchor a 370,000 square foot retail shopping center, saying the proximity of the big-box store was too close to neighboring homes.

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In 2013, Lincoln-Way and Tinley Park worked on a deal to bring in Walmart again, but that failed when Summit Hill District 161 rejected a plan to give Walmart millions in tax breaks.

In May 2014, the board tried to sell it by sealed bids for a minimum of $5.9 million, without tax incentives. It is unclear if there were any bidders.

Mike Stocklose, vice president of Brookside Townhome Association, which is to the west of this property, said he's sees "nothing wrong" with Woodman's Market.

"It's better than Walmart. It's family-owned," he said.

He said issues such as light, noise and delivery hours will have to be addressed. It depends on how the building is situated on the site, which is big enough to accommodate it, he said.

This is the third and final chunk of land the district sold in an effort to shore up its revenues.

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Earlier this year, Lincoln-Way sold two parcels in Manhattan, which also were earmarked for future schools.

Manhattan Park District bought the 78-acre site on Smith Road, east of Cedar Road for $701,500, and Spiess Farm purchased the 100-acre parcel at 16462 W. Manhattan Road for $1.25 million.

In other action Thursday night:

Salary increases of 2 percent were approved for transportation and clerical staff, which affects about 160 employees, according to school officials. Tingley said with retirements and reductions, the raises will not cost the district more money.

For the first time, the district will use online textbooks, as the board approved the purchase of several online licenses for business, family and consumer sciences, and career and technical/agriculture texts, from Goodheart Wilcox.

According to Tim Reilly, assistant superintendent of curriculum, the district is ordering class sets of the hardbound traditional textbooks for each school and then bundling those with the online licenses.

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Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

"This is where we need to go," Reilly told the board, noting that the feeder elementary schools have been using online books.

The deal includes a six-year license and the texts are updated automatically every year.

Reilly plans to update science and social science books in 2018-19.

New books, online or hardbound, are typically between $100 and $200 dollars, which is about the same for online licenses per student, he said. That is why new books will be phased in over the next few years.

"It's a great first step," he said.

slafferty@tribpub.com

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Twitter @SusanLaff
One of the hottest rumors making the rounds among Statehouse types last week was that the governor and/or the Illinois Republican Party will be sending "trackers" to Springfield for the upcoming special legislative session.

The rumor, which was everywhere, was that the trackers would follow Democrats around to try and get them to say silly things or record them doing stuff that might not look good to the folks back home.

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House staff was even telling Democratic members to watch out for the trackers. And some Democrats were privately demanding that their party respond in kind.

So, I went to the very upper echelons of Team Rauner and asked whether the rumors were true. I was told in no uncertain terms that the rumors are totally untrue.

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Nasty rumors thrive in the pea-soup fog of fear and loathing that pervades every Statehouse molecule these days. At one time or another it seems like everybody has fought everybody and now nobody trusts anybody.

Heck, the far-right Illinois Policy Institute is even running Facebook ads whacking Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative Republicans for their "$5 billion tax hike." Rauner used to be a large contributor and often sought advice from and palled around with the group's leader.

The governor's party last week proposed what appears on the surface to be a fairly reasonable budget plan (pending further review) with some much-needed tax increases. But they couched the unveiling in such overtly partisan and demanding terms that it looks like a trap to many eyes on both sides of the aisle.

"We're calling a special session so lawmakers can pass the Republican's compromise balanced budget plan w/ reforms," Rauner tweeted just before he officially called the special session. Rauner has obvious comprehension problems with the concept of "compromise." A plan drafted by one party and then presented as an all or nothing demand doesn't quite fit the traditional definition of the word. Then again, the Democratic majority has also done this on countless occasions.

But at least Rauner is finally starting to own something. You gotta give him that. Although, if the governor had just laid his tax hike cards on the table two and a half years ago we might not be in this rotten heap of a mess today. Senate President John Cullerton has said almost from the beginning that the only way a tax increase will pass is if the governor asks for it and sets the rates.

And there's so little trust right now, some Democrats (and some Republicans, who've also been burned by this guy) still want the governor to specifically say out loud that he will sign a personal income tax rate of 4.95 percent and new service taxes on things like landscaping, which are included in his proposal.

But it's not just the rumors or the proposals or the news conferences. Other recent events have thoroughly rattled many Democrats. For instance, on June 9th Rauner contributed $1.5 million to the Illinois Republican Party and the following day the state party passed through $850,000 to the House Republicans' campaign committee.

In other words, to some Democratic eyes, Rauner gave his Republicans big bucks to either vote for tax hikes or stay mum.

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Daily Southtown Twice-weekly News updates from the south suburbs delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

It's also pretty much impossible to pass a tax hike without votes from Chicago Democratic legislators, who don't have to worry about general election challenges. Yet, the Republican proposal included what seemed to Chicago Democrats to be an obvious poison pill: Vote to raise taxes while simultaneously shortchanging funding for Chicago's public schools.

And then Illinois Republican Party negative mailers started hitting various House Democratic incumbents.

"Fred Crespo and Mike Madigan may let Illinois collapse," blared a mailer that landed last week in Rep. Crespo's suburban turf. "Fred Crespo teamed with Mike Madigan to: Block a balanced budget; Bail out Chicago Public Schools; Prevent a property tax increase; Reject job-creating reforms."

Last Friday, Rauner began airing TV ads attacking Speaker Madigan and his "puppets" for letting the state "crumble" and for wanting to raise taxes "by billions."

Well, the House Democrats do stand alone as the only caucus without a budget plan. It's not at all inaccurate to warn Illinoisans that the House Dems may "let Illinois collapse," because they haven't yet done anything concrete to keep the government from collapsing.

But Democrats are left wondering if Rauner is trying to intimidate them into voting with him or setting them up to take the blame for a plan that wasn't ever going anywhere. We'll find out soon.

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Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.
From computers to drafting tables, students at the new Congregation Banai Jehoshua Beth Elohim Jewish Learning Center have a variety of learning tools at their disposal. (Steve Sadin / Pioneer Press)

Patience paid off for Congregation B'nai Jehoshua Beth Elohim.

The congregation has been waiting to build out space of its new Jewish Learning Center since the synagogue opened in Deerfield nine years ago.

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When BJBE arrived in Deerfield from Glenview, it bought three contiguous office buildings with the intention of refashioning them into a synagogue as resources allowed, according to Executive Director Arlene Mayzel.

The congregation opened its new school building in February completing an interconnected campus with a sanctuary, community gathering places and other facilities to meet its mission near the intersection of Lake Cook Road and Pine Street.

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Before the building was complete, some students met at the synagogue while Sunday school learners from kindergarten through fifth grade took classes at Caruso Middle School, according to Sandy Robbins, the director of education. She retires June 30 after 32 years as a teacher and administrator.

The combined facility adds to the congregation's sense of community, according to Mayzel.

"We were able to bring the children home," Mayzel said. "It's a campus environment. They can use the sanctuary and all our sacred spaces."

Along with common facilities for all students including a creative center with a maker's space and television studio, the new building has four large rooms surrounding a central space. Robbins said the four rooms contain three smaller breakout rooms ideal for small group collaboration.

"We are blessed we have a lot of devoted congregants who helped make this a school of the 21st century," Robbins said. "The breakout spaces are ideal for individualized learning. The kids are able to learn all over the building."

Desks and chairs can be moved around to make the different spaces germane to the lesson plan for the day rather than having traditional classrooms arranged with desks in rows and columns, according to Robbins. She said this is the trend in modern education.

"If we had built this out nine years ago it would have been rows and columns," Robbins said.

Missy Bell, who replaces Robbins July 1, is looking forward to working in the new facility she will soon oversee. She was previously the director of youth learning and engagement at Congregation Emanu-El in New York City.

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"It's a laboratory for success with all the great ways it can be used," Bell said. "There are so many ways we can utilize the learning areas. It is ideal for experiential learning and community building."

As people walk into the school from the initial synagogue space, Robbins said they pass a long mural depicting the history of the Jewish people, from creation, according to the Bible, through the formation of the State of Israel in 1948.

The mural, envisioned and directed by Rabbi Karyn Kedar, is ideal for teaching children and adults, whether it is about a specific point in time or a broad brush approach, according to Mayzel. She said Kedar was instrumental in guiding the school project.

"The Jewish Learning Center of our synagogue has a single focus: the moral development of our children's spirit while cultivating a compassionate heart and a curious mind," Kedar said in an email. "This is an exciting place dedicated to innovative learning, joy and community."

The five main rooms of the learning center are built on the synagogue's core values, according to Robbins. Developed by Kedar, the values are Torah (Jewish learning), avodah (worship and spiritual practice), acts of loving kindness and Israel, all centered around community, according to the BJBE website.

Each of the rooms presents opportunities for hands-on learning. In the Israel room, is a replica of the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Robbins said that wall is all that remains of the ancient Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The model was built by a congregant with the appropriate skills.

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"The kids have an opportunity to write notes and put them in," Robbins said. "When members of the synagogue go to Israel they put them in the Western Wall in Jerusalem. If you write a note and put it in the wall it is believed God will read it."

Steve Sadin is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
Next stop: Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk.

The state Legislature passed a $90 million flood recovery program that aims to assist businesses, homeowners and local governments affected by rising water along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. It also provides aid to communities in western New York affected by flooding and the Rochester area, which is still rebounding from a severe windstorm.

The relief package was announced Monday by Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle and state Sen. Pam Helming.

Helming, R-Canandaigua, and Morelle, D-Irondequoit, had introduced separate proposals to establish recovery programs. Helming's was for $55 million. Morelle wanted $105 million.

After discussions between the lawmakers, an agreement was reached: A $90 million fund, including $25 million for small businesses, farms and organizations to address flood-related damage and $25 million to assist local municipalities with recovery efforts.

Counties will get $15 million for flood mitigation and homeowners will receive $15 million to assist with repairs.

The remaining $10 million will be distributed to Allegany, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties for flood relief and to help Monroe County recover from the windstorm earlier this year.

Before the Senate's vote, Helming outlined the program and why it would benefit areas impacted by flooding along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. She represents parts of three counties  Cayuga, Monroe and Wayne  that have dealt with rising water levels.

"This is a very important piece of legislation that will significantly help individuals, families, businesses and municipalities, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it," she said.

The state Senate passed the measure by a 62-0 vote.

Earlier in the evening, the state Assembly gave final passage to the bill. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said it was necessary to intervene and "provide resources to support these communities."

Morelle, the No. 2 Democrat in the Assembly, said he's seen the impact of flooding in his community.

"It is critically important that we ensure our neighbors along the waterfront receive the support and resources they need to recover and get their lives back on track," he said. "In addition, we must work to put the necessary infrastructure in place to prevent future devastation brought on by natural disasters."

The bill now heads to Cuomo. His office hasn't indicated if he will sign the legislation.
Entrepreneur Ken Buckman is installing solar panels on roofing at a building he owns along the 11000 block of Davis Road in Elgin. The project will created energy that will be sold back into the grid. (Mike Danahey/ The Courier-News)

It may not always be sunny in Elgin, but building permits were issued in late May and work is underway on what officials say will be one of the city's largest solar energy installation.

Rainy Investments is in the midst of having more than 3,700 solar panels installed on roofs on a 12,000-square-foot industrial building along the 1100 block of Davis Road.

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According to information provided by Elgin's Community Development office, "the panels will generate approximately 1.2 megawatts of electricity, and this renewable energy can then be purchased by users at a below-market rate."

That amount is enough electricity to power approximately 170 single-family homes, according to information provided to Elgin by Commonwealth Edison.

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Community Development Director Marc Mylott said the project was made possible in part by City Council adopting a comprehensive solar energy ordinance in November 2014 and the state of Illinois passing the Illinois Future Energy Jobs Act. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the act into law last year, and it went into effect June 1.

"We 100 percent wouldn't be doing the Elgin project without the Future Energy Jobs Act," Ken "Bucky" Buckman said. Buckman is CEO of Rainy Investments, which owns and operates the building, and CEO of Rainy Solar Investments, which owns and operates the roof and solar plant project related to it.

According to reports, the act allows Commonwealth Edison to have a 0.195-cent-per-kilowatt-hour charge that ComEd's parent company, Exelon, said is needed to keep two nuclear power plants open. At the same time, it also creates a pool of money, made by utility companies charging and collecting 0.189-cents-per-kilowatt-hour, that is to fund alternative energy projects.

According to the Citizens Utility Board the new law will invest $750 million in programs that incentivize solar and wind energy development, provide training for new energy jobs and help low-income, seniors and disabled military veterans cover their utility bills.

Buckman said the financing of his project also involves the federal Solar Investment Tax Credit program. The Solar Energy Industries Association website states the program offers a 30 percent tax credit for solar systems on residential and commercial properties.

Thomas Russe, senior vice president private banking at Sterling Bank in St. Charles said he has assisted Buckman on other endeavors along with the complicated financing involved in a startup project in a budding industry.

Buckman said, "The Elgin Community Development office and its director, Marc Mylott, have been key to helping us smoothly get the project going, too."

Buckman, who lives on Elgin's far west side, describes himself as a "serial entrepreneur" and said he bought the building for $4 million. The roofs project is running $3.9 million for the purchase and installation of silicon solar panels and $400,000 in costs for reinforcing the roofs to support the panels.

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One roof being fitted with the panels is 20 or so feet above ground. That roof is flat, Everton Walters said, and a challenge is working around small domes cut into the structure to allow natural light into the building space below it. Walters is president, CEO and founder of WCP Solar Services in Naperville and is overseeing the Elgin project.

The other roof involved is another 30 or so feet above the lower roof. That roof has a slight pitch for drainage. So, while the panels on the lower roof are set at a small angle, those above are put in place flush to to that roof, Walters said.

"This project is a $4.3 million test of the new laws. If all works out, and the model is proven, over the next 9-12 months, we will deploy regionwide on a scale of more than $100 million in projects," Buckman said. "Of course, whenever a business plan relies on government incentives or programs, that's rather risky in itself."

The building has one tenant in place, Meyer Metal Systems, and two other spaces for lease, Buckman said. Ironically, Buckman said, none of the electricity generated above will be used to power the buildings below the solar project.

Weather permitting, installation of the panels should be completed by the end of July, Walters said. Buckman said he hopes to have the Elgin-generated energy feeding into the grid within 3 to 6 months past that, but he has built a window of a year into his planning, given that the state's act is new and his will be one of the first projects to take advantage of it.

Of Buckman's project, Elgin Mayor Dave Kaptain said, "It's the wave of the future. Businesses get that. We have people employed in solar and wind energy in Elgin. We don't have anybody employed in coal."

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mdanahey@tribpub.com

Chicago Tribune contributed.
Sleepy Hollow's board meeting turned heated Monday evening amid a battle over executive session minutes related to the cell tower discussion.

Village Attorney Mark Schuster gave a review of attorney-client privileges in order to explain why he requested that 681 pages of public records be held from Trustee Tom Merkel.

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"There was a (Freedom of Information Act) request from Mr. Merkel filed at a time prior to his election to office and a response was made to that request," Schuster said.

Merkel, a former trustee who was elected back to the board in April, filed that FOIA request on March 24, asking that executive sessions in March and September 2016 be investigated on the basis of what was discussed in connection with a 125-foot cell tower on village-owned property and who attended, according to village documents.

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He received a response from the village April 7 that included 2,298 pages of public records, according to village documents.

When Merkel was sworn in May 9, he asked to review the withheld records as well as listen to the executive session tapes and see copies of cell tower records, according to village documents.

Prior to the June 6 meeting, Merkel filed a request that the Illinois Attorney General's office to look into alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act, according to the Attorney General's office.

Merkel called for the resignations of both Schuster and Village President Stephan Pickett at the June 6 board meeting, according to village documents.

Neither Pickett nor Schuster responded to Merkel's statements at that meeting.

On Monday, Schuster said the 681 pages that were denied access to Merkel were withheld on the basis of attorney-client privilege.

"(Merkel) has suggested in his comments that the village attorney is not properly representing his interests as a trustee. So I wanted to explain a little bit about the situation," Schuster said. "I do not represent Mr. Merkel. I'm the village attorney. My client is the village. I am to protect and defend the village and not any one member of the board of trustees. My best advice to the village clerk in my role as village attorney was to respond to the FOIA request but withhold some of the documents because the attorney-client privilege may apply."

Under Illinois law, he said, attorney-client privilege "is a very delicate thing."

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"Once it's waived, it's waived forever. I took a cautious, conservative, close approach to that question insofar as it pertains to actions about the telecommunications tower about which a lawsuit may be filed," Schuster said. "The Illinois municipal code specifically says the village president has access to all the village books and records. There's no provision in the municipal code related to a trustee. It cannot be assumed every village trustee has access to all village records."

Since the June 6 meeting, Schuster said, another trustee, Dennis Fudala, has asked to see the documents that were withheld from Merkel..

"My best advice is to protect that privilege," Schuster said. "I'm trying to be cautious in my duty to protect and defend the village."

Merkel told Schuster he reads the code differently.

"I think what you're saying here is that with the cell tower if you and Steve (Pickett) don't like how I feel about the cell tower you can decide not to release records to me," he said. "Exactly what is in those pages you wouldn't want anybody to see? But you decide Mr. Pickett can see these things."

"I didn't say that," Schuster replied. "The state code says Mr. Pickett can see those."

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Merkel said he has been approached by residents asking why he can't have access to those pages.

Trustee Jeff Seiler said he doesn't want to see the records.

"There's nothing in there I care to see and I've been sitting here at all the meetings regarding the cell tower," he said. "I don't think anybody's keeping secrets from us."

Village Attorney Mark Schuster (left) and Village President Stephan Pickett at Monday's village board meeting in Sleepy Hollow. (Erin Sauder/The Courier-News )

Fudala asked Schuster why the village feels it needs to be protected.

The attorney said there is no provision that states clearly trustees can have access to all village records.

"Then the presumption has to be there is something you want to keep hidden," Merkel said.

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"That's your presumption," Pickett said. "You have made that accusation and those innuendos quite plain since last fall."

Pickett said Schuster is "taking a conservative approach on the protection of attorney-client privilege."

Merkel said he does not need authorization from other trustees to see those records.

"People elected me," he said.

"And they elected me as chief executive officer," Pickett replied.

Merkel accused both Schuster and Pickett of doing whatever it takes to get the cell tower built, even denying him access to village documents.

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"I continue to call for both of your resignations," he said.

Erin Sauder is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
Actress Jenny McCarthy with Naughty by Nature's DJ Kay Gee (from left), Treach and Vin Rock before they joined her husband, Donnie Wahlberg, on stage Monday at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles. (Mary Salatino/Naperville Sun )

Actress Jenny McCarthy greeted fans Monday at the Arcada Theatre in St. Charles before her husband, Donnie Wahlberg, took the stage.

Another Evening with Donnie Wahlberg and Special Guests had The New Kids On The Block member performing in the town where he married McCarthy in 2014.

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Chrissie Butkus of New Lenox waited for McCarthy to appear on the red carpet as audience members formed a line down the block an hour before the concert began.

"I want to meet her," Butkus said. She is also a big fan of New Kids and said her favorite song is "Step by Step."

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Other New Kids joined Wahlberg on stage, as well as Naughty By Nature and Boys II Men. An afterparty at Shakou followed the concert.

Justina Allen said she traveled from Ann Arbor to see the concert because she loves New Kids On The Block.

"I'm super excited," Allen said. "They're awesome."

McCarthy, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and attended Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, said she returned to St. Charles because she enjoys life in the Midwest and appreciates the work ethic. Raising her 15-year-old son, Evan, in a community she finds "grounded" is important to her.

"It's got that Midwest heart," McCarthy said. "So I knew coming back, no matter where I lived in the Chicago area, Evan would have a great grounding for the rest of his life, and friends for the rest of his life."

Although she grew up on the south side, McCarthy never thought she'd return to Chicago.

"I thought I couldn't wait to get out of Chicago when I grew up here," McCarthy said. "At 40, I could not wait to come back."

The Wahlberg family owned chain of restaurants, Wahlburgers, will also make its way to Chicago in the next couple of years, she said.

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"I know that Donnie and I are absolutely planning on opening one in Chicago," McCarthy said.

msalatino@tribpub.com
Elmhurst plans to reconfigure parking across from the YMCA on 1st Street from right angle on-street parking to a curb-protected adjacent area. (Graydon Megan/Chicago Tribune )

Elmhurst City Council members Monday unanimously approved an amendment to a city parking agreement with Metra to improve safety for Elmhurst YMCA users parking on 1st Street.

Under the new plan, detailed in a report from the city's Public Works Committee, 11 parking spaces assigned for Metra commuter use in a small "pocket" lot on 1st across from the YMCA will be replaced with a like number of spaces in the city parking garage at 175 W. 1st.

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That garage, at the corner of Larch and 1st, already has 125 spaces designated for Metra use. The 11 spaces to be added will bring Metra spaces in the garage to 136.

The YMCA, at 211 W. 1st St., has an agreement with the city for right-angle parking spaces across the street on 1st. But use of those spaces has long raised safety concerns, both for parkers attempting to back out into 1st Street traffic, as well as for pedestrians, including children attempting to cross 1st and navigate drivers entering and leaving the parking spaces.

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The new city plans call for reconfiguring surface parking area on 1st between Maple and Elm avenues. The key element in the reconfiguration is construction of a curb along the south side of the eastbound 1st Street traffic lane to provide a physical barrier between street traffic and parking areas. A marked crosswalk will provide protection for pedestrians crossing from the parking area to the front door of the YMCA.

The impetus for the plan goes back to a 2015 referral to examine pedestrian and vehicular safety in the area. Public Works Committee members Jim Kennedy, Michael Bram, Marti Deuter and Norm Leader recommended moving forward with the plan at their June 12 meeting.

"I'm 100 percent for this," Kennedy said then. "This is the right thing to do."

The city's 2017 budget includes money for construction costs of the reconfiguration according to city staff.

The committee report recommending the plan and directing the city attorney to amend the city's agreement with Metra was passed unanimously on the council's consent agenda.
Construction was to start the week of June 19 on widening Sheridan Road in front of Northwestern University. This file photo shows the Evanston street on March 24, 2017. Contractors and city officials have been given notice by the Illinois Department of Transportation that construction work on the project  and about 700 others statewide  will have have to stop June 30 due to the ongoing state budget impasse. (Genevieve Bookwalter / Pioneer Press)

Construction work that is currently underway on Sheridan Road could halt at the end of the month, after notification from the state requests that projects around Illinois be stopped then due to lack of a budget.

"While we are hopeful the situation is resolved before then, the department is notifying contractors that all construction work is to shut down on June 30," Illinois Department of Transportation officials said in a written statement.

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Statewide, 700 projects would be impacted. The Sheridan Road project would be the only one affected in Evanston, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz said.

Crews were scheduled to start phase two of the road work this week: the widening of Sheridan Road along Northwestern University's campus.

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Instead, "we don't know how long the hold up is going to be," said Ald. Judy Fiske. "Until the state of Illinois can sort of get their act together."

Part of the construction work takes place in her 1st Ward.

Work began in April on the $13 million Sheridan Road project, which will widen nearly two miles of Chicago Avenue and Sheridan Road and add bike lanes in front of Northwestern.

Any state budget shutdown would "hinder our priority of finishing the work before students return" in the fall Evanston city engineer Lara Biggs said in May. "It's out of the hands of Evanston."

While much of the project is federally funded, the money is administered by IDOT, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz explained. The city does not receive the funding in a lump sum, but instead the project is paid for over time as work is completed.

IDOT would need spending authority, from a state budget or other appropriations bill, to continue to make payments on the project, city officials have said.

"Due to the General Assembly's refusal to pass a balanced budget, the Illinois Department of Transportation loses its ability to pay contractors starting July 1," reads the transportation agency's statement.

The halt would come as crews wrap up the first phase of the project, along Chicago Avenue from Davis Street in downtown Evanston to Sheridan Road at the university campus, city officials said.

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"At least it's a logical stopping place. We don't have parts of Sheridan Road torn up with trucks in the middle of the street," Fiske said. "We want Sheridan Road to look nice."

Tree removal, construction fencing and temporary signal installation that was scheduled for this week along Sheridan Road now will wait until a budget is passed or spending is otherwise approved, Fiske said.

IDOT spokeswoman Gianna Urgo said she did not have a timeframe for when construction might resume. State officials have, for now, called off projects scheduled to start later this year and into 2018.

"If there's a contract with the state, it will be held up," Urgo said.

Biggs and Bobkiewicz said they are concerned the Sheridan Road project could end up like the one last year at the three-way intersection of Emerson Street, Ridge Avenue and Green Bay Road. The city was forced to stop that $11.1 million water main installation project mid-construction due to lack of state funds.

This year is a repeat of last year. The city was notified in June 2016 that projects would come to a halt, Bobkiewicz said, for the same no-state-budget reason.

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That shut down, and the necessary engineering plans to implement it, cost the city about $70,000, Biggs said.

gbookwalter@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @GenevieveBook
A water fountain at the baseball field outside the Takiff Center in Glencoe was covered in a plastic bag Tuesday following a precautionary water boil order issued in the village on Monday. (Daniel I. Dorfman/Chicago Tribune )

Glencoe lifted a precautionary 24-hour water boil order Tuesday afternoon after tests showed the village's water was safe to drink, according to an email to residents from the village.

"The water is safe for drinking and all water customers may resume normal use of Village water for all purposes," it said.

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Deputy Village Clerk Laura Boll said water quality testing took place throughout Tuesday afternoon, following a water main break on Monday.

"We have results that water is safe for consumption and there were no contaminants found," she said.

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Boll said village residents were being informed through email, texts and social media that the water was safe.

The village enacted the precautionary boil order Monday afternoon after the water main break at the intersection of Park Avenue and Bluff Street. The break occurred during an ongoing stormwater improvement drainage project.

Boll said the water main in question was repaired Monday night.

But until the boil order was lifted, the community made adjustments.

At the Park District, patrons could get water from a large dispenser in the Park District's Takiff Center headquarters, and large signs advised people not to drink from fountains.

Erin Maassen, a Park District spokeswoman, said plastic bags were placed over the Park District's 15 park water fountains, and bottled water was distributed to campers and participants of other programs.

Glencoe Public Library Executive Director Andrew Kim said garbage bags were placed over water fountains, and library staff provided bottled water to patrons.

District 35 Superintendent Catherine Wang said families with children attending summer school at Central School were sent emails Monday night asking that children arrive at school with a water bottle.

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Wang added that District 35 provided water bottles to students who might have needed them, but they did not use all of them over the course of the 3-hour school day.

"It was a very smooth day," Wang said.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
The Village of Glencoe issued a precautionary water boil order Monday afternoon for all residents following a water main break, according to a statement issued by the village.

Starting at 4 p.m., village residents were advised to boil all water for drinking and food preparation for at least five minutes before use, it said. The order was to be in effect for at least 24 hours, it said.

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Village spokeswoman Megan Hoffman said the order was put in place after a water main break at approximately 2 p.m. at the intersection of Park Avenue and Bluff Street, where equipment was being installed as part of an ongoing stormwater improvement drainage project.

"The contractor, as an added measure of caution, was hand-digging around the water main which is common practice when working close to water mains or other critical underground utilities," Hoffman said in an email. "When the main was exposed a weak point in the pipe was discovered and the break occurred. The break did not occur as a result of being hit or struck during construction activities."

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She said anyone noticing discoloration in his or her water should run cold water until it appears clear.

The village issued an amended release Monday evening that said residents should not ingest any unboiled water and or allow it to come in contact with the eyes, mouth or open wounds. Also, according to the release, all toothbrushing should be done with boiled water.

Hoffman said the 24-hour mark is a protocol established by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. She said the public will be notified once the boil order is lifted, or if it is extended.

Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
State Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan discussed a new clean energy law she co-sponsored during a town hall at North Shore Church of Christ in Waukegan on June 17, 2017. (Yadira Sanchez Olson / Lake County News-Sun)

What the Future Energy Jobs Act could mean for Waukegan was the topic of a town hall hosted by the grassroots group Clean Power Lake County at the North Shore Church of Christ Saturday.

The new law, which came into effect June 1, aims to bolster the clean energy economy by creating jobs and providing consumers of all income levels energy sources that don't harm the environment.

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On Saturday, the meeting was led by state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, who co-sponsored FEJA, she said, because bringing new jobs to the district to grow the economy is one of her priorities.

Some of the speakers were environmental group representatives and others from the business sector.

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Speaker Christine Nannicelli of the Sierra Club began the meeting by saying there is great uncertainty about how the federal government views the transition from coal to clean energy since some of the environmental regulations put in place by the previous administration have already been rolled back, including the most recent pull out of the Paris Agreement.

The good news, Nannicelli said, is that the challenge to fight climate change is being taken up now by citizens and politicians at a local level and FEJA policies support that grassroots activism.

"Over 280 mayors have stepped forward to announce their commitment to reduce their carbon pollution to the same level as the Paris Agreement," Nannicelli said.

FEJA's renewable energy standard means energy utility suppliers have to provide 25 percent of their power from clean energy by 2025, Nannicelli said.

Juliana Pino of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization spoke about one of the most significant features of FEJA, the Illinois Solar For All Program, which legislators say will provide jobs, training, investment and cleaner air.

Pinos said the program helps the economy in many ways, as it provides access of solar energy to homes of those who were economically disadvantaged.

"This is the first program of its kind in the Midwest. It's really really exciting in terms of households that want it will be able to access it in a way they haven't been able to before in Illinois, and in a lot of the country," Pino said.

What the program means is that anyone, regardless of income, can save money on their electric bills by taking part in community solar pilot projects if they can't particpate through residential solar projects, Pino said.

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Jon Carson of Trajectory Solar, a company that works with non-residential sites such as schools and hospitals, said through community solar projects subscribers signed up for a certain amount of panels located on a community rooftop would be credited for that energy on their electric bills.

Carson said Trajectory Solar is currently looking to work with groups to identify those type of projects in Waukegan.

"In 2017 we are looking for sites, talking to the community about where we should be building solar because where we place the solar, that's where the jobs will be created. In 2019, the construction is going to start happening all across Illinois," Carson said.

Other features of the Illinois Solar For All Program are career opportunities. The program prioritizes environmental justice communities, which Pino said qualifies Waukegan due to its "historical environmental" Superfund sites and coal plant.

"Priority is going to be given to projects that show meaningful involvement of community members. Think about what that means. You should be involved from the get-go in terms of project ideas," Pino said.

Karen Ahlers from Blue Raven Solar, a residential energy company that recently opened an office on 10th Street in Waukegan, spoke about a program already in place and said the company is now recruiting job-seekers.

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Other speakers talked about the public health aspect of clean energy, and money and energy-saving programs that will expand thanks to FEJA.

Although not in attendance at the meeting, David Gaier, spokesman of the New Jersey-based power giant NRG Energy, which owns the power plant on Greenwood Avenue, has said the company has spent $100 million on emissions controls at the plant and looks forward to continuing work with the city.

Only a few comments were made by the audience at the closing of Saturday's meeting and all were in support of clean energy measures.

Local representatives who attended the town hall were newly elected Lake County Board member Vance Wyatt, Lake County Board member Mary Ross Cunningham, Waukegan's 3rd Ward Ald. Greg Moisio, Ald. Lisa May, 7th, and Ald. David Villalobos, 4th.

Villalobos, who is a member of Clean Power Lake County, ended the meeting by inviting those who wanted to learn more about FEJA to another meeting next month.

Yadira Sanchez Olson is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.
Brothers and co-owners James (left) and William O'Brien recently opened Flesk Brewing at the Ice Houe Mall in Barrington. (Brian O'Mahoney/Pioneer Press )

Bryan Lee is not a craft-beer aficionado but, he said, curiosity drove him to try a few sample brews at Flesk Brewing to see what the first craft brewery in Barrington is all about.

The owners of Flesk Brewing officially opened for business June 17 at the Ice House Mall and Village Shops, 200 Applebee St., following a short soft opening for friends and family.

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Lee, a website developer who works in a nearby office, lined up alongside friends at the wooden bar, waiting for the chance to taste the new brewery's 5-ounce amber and dark drafts.

"I'm not huge on beer, but this place is near where I work, so I'll give it a shot," Lee said.

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Brothers William and James O'Brien, natives of suburban Lombard, are hoping other residents and craft-beer drinkers in the Barrington area will give their new brewery a try.

Last summer, the brothers earned village approval to open in Barrington after making the decision to move their Flesk Brewing location in Lombard. The relocation to Barrington gave them more space to brew and sell their craft beers, and also put them an area that has less competition, both brothers have said.

The 75-seat taproom at the Ice House Mall offers customers a rotating line of 10 drafts, featuring names like Ghost Relic, Coat of Arms and Into the Void.

As workers at the brewery scurried around the room, sweeping floors and adjusting flat screen TVs to the Chicago Cubs game minutes before the business' soft opening June 15, the O'Brien brothers said they were both excited and nervous to open the business.

"We want it all to go smooth," said James O'Brien, who works as the brew master at Flesk Brewing.

Before opening Flesk Brewing, James O'Brien attended the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago in 2010 and then traveled to its partner school  Doemens Academy  near Munich, Germany, to study beer making, he said.

The two brothers then started brewing and bottling their own craft beers for several years.

"It's very satisfying to be at this point of opening up," James O'Brien said, standing near three, 600-gallon beer fermenters. "It's go time."

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Aside from less area competition in a booming craft-beer industry, the brothers also liked the location and history of the Ice House Mall, which is in close proximity to the Metra station in downtown Barrington, said William O'Brien.

"The Ice House had the most personality," he said. "There's a lot of history to it."

The building initially was created in 1904, serving as the location for Bowman Dairy before later being converted for the Suburban Ice Company and then the Jefferson Ice Company, according to the mall's website.

By the early 1970s, the building primarily became a shopping mall and now features an assortment of stores, including women's clothing, gifts, jewelry, antiques, art galleries, a recording studio and restaurant.

And as of June 17, the mall now includes a craft brewery.

Flesk Brewing operates from 3 to 11 p.m. on Thursdays, noon to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays, and noon to 10 p.m. on Sundays.

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The new business is closed Mondays through Wednesdays, the O'Brien brothers said.

tshields@pioneerlocal.com

Twitter @tshields19
SYRACUSE  Frank Fowler, chief of the Syracuse Police Department, said his agency needs "effective tools" at their disposal to combat the growing synthetic drug epidemic.

U.S. Rep. John Katko wants to help.

At a press conference Monday at Crouse Hospital's Marley Education Center, Katko, R-Camillus, unveiled legislation that seeks to address many facets of the synthetic drug problem. One of the two main provisions would add a sixth schedule, Schedule A, to the Controlled Substances Act. This would target chemical compounds that are similar to drugs found on the existing schedules.

Katko's bill would add 13 synthetic fentanyl compounds to Schedule A. Synthetic fentanyl has been mixed with other opioids, including prescription painkillers. The results have been devastating. Last year, a report found fentanyl overdoses increased by 79 percent.

Dr. Indu Gupta, commissioner of health in Onondaga County, said synthetic drug use have led to increased rates of emergency room visits, hospitalization, Hepatitis C cases and "bothersome" rates of HIV.

"Drugs don't discriminate," she said. "The current epidemic has affected every sector of society."

Katko's measure also would provide a method for temporarily adding a substance to Schedule A, which would give federal authorities more time to determine whether it should be permanently added to the list.

"Once it's on that list, what you can do is not only arrest the people who are possessing with the intent to distribute knowing that it's a controlled substance or a controlled substance analog, you can go into head shops, you can go into stores and you can say, 'This is now illegal and we're taking it off your shelves right now.' So you don't have to wait," Katko said.

"That gives (the Drug Enforcement Agency) a very potent tool. That gives (the Syracuse Police Department) a very potent tool."

The bill's other provisions focus on streamlining sentence for synthetic drug trafficking offenses in federal courts and adds the crime of false labeling of controlled substance analogs.

Fowler, who said Katko is "the right person to attack a problem like this" because of his background as a federal prosecutor, endorsed the legislation.

"If we don't have those effective tools, what happens is is that people who are bringing this poison into our community will continue to do so," he said. "They will continue to profit from it and, as a result, the people that I mentioned before  our most vulnerable  will continue to suffer from it."

Katko is confident his bill will advance in Congress. The legislation he introduced in the House of Representatives has seven cosponsors, including U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice, a Long Island Democrat.

The Senate version of the bill is sponsored by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, an Iowa Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee. The lead cosponsor is U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who serves as the committee's ranking member.

"It will go through because I'm going to be raising too much noise for it not to," Katko said.
Lucy Westlake, 13, of Naperville takes a break for a photo during her quest to reach the top of Denali in Alaska. She came within 3,000 feet before the team had to turn back after her lead guide went out to rescue a stranded climber, who later would die. (Westlake family)

Lucy Westlake's quest to summit Denali in Alaska fell short when her guide was enlisted to join a National Park Service rescue of climbers lost in whiteout conditions near the top of mountain.

For the past six years on Father's Day, Lucy, 13, and her father, Rodney Westlake, 43, of Naperville, stood on a state's highest mountain.

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The two were hoping to top of their 50th and final U.S. peak  the highest point in North America  together Sunday. By doing so, the pair would set two world records: Lucy would be the youngest female to climb the peaks in all 50 states and the pair would be the first father-daughter team to do the same.

Their dreams of summiting the 20,310-foot peak, formerly known as Mount McKinley, were dashed Friday when their guide, one of the few experienced guides and climbers available that high on the mountain, was called into action by the park service.

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"It was hard to not even have the chance when we were all poised, ready and feeling great at high camp. That's the nature of these big mountains," said Rodney Westlake in a statement. "This is what life is all about we have highs and lows, celebrations and disappointments, struggles and successes, and all of them together make us who we are today. We had an incredible journey the mountain will be waiting for our return."

Although disappointed they were unable to stand on the top of North America, Westlake said their 20-day journey on Denali is a story of determination, survival and extraordinary effort.

Lucy and Rodney Westlake and their team, which included three guides and three other climbers, were waiting at the high camp to clear early Friday before preparing to make the final 3,000 feet ascent to the summit when their prospects turned dramatically.

About 1 a.m. Friday, a ranger patrol received a request for help at 17,500 feet on Denali's West Buttress route, according to a release from the National Park Service.

The park service said the party of three people from Nepal had been descending from Denali Pass when one of the team members collapsed due to unknown illness.

Amy Westlake, Lucy's mom, first learned about what was happening around 6 a.m. Friday after receiving texts sent directly off the mountain by climber Zak Klein, a climber on Lucy's team.

In the text, Amy Westlake was told how poor conditions were at the camp at 17,200 feet.

In the text message, Klein relayed how they heard a voice at 1:05 a.m. yell, "We got a problem."

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After about 15 minutes, the lead guide in Lucy's team alerted his team he was joining the rescue on a difficult upper section of the mountain.

"An eight-person team of AMS (Alaska Mountaineering School) guides and NPS rangers went out on the rescue. I filmed them walking roped up into a whiteout. Visibility is about 200 ft," Klein texted to Amy Westlake.

He went on to write, "We are safe in our tents, but concerned. Can't overstate the cold. My fingers are burning within 90 seconds when holding the camera with gloves on. Big drifts of snow are burying our tents. Wes' last words as they headed out, 'just pray for us.'"

By the time rescuers reached the reported victim, the sick climber was unresponsive, according to NPS.

Sanjay Pandit, 28, of Kathmandu, Nepal, would die right before rescuers returned to the 17,200-foot camp. The National Park Service had no information about what happened to remaining two climbers.

When Lucy's team was back to safety at base camp Sunday morning, Amy Westlake received texts explaining why her daughter and husband never accomplished their goal.

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She was told that attempting the rescue had exposed the guides to sudden cold injury so the team could not attempt the summit.

subaker@tribpub.com

Twitter @SBakerSun1
Far left, holding oversized scissors is Judy Loosa of Buffalo Grove, the wife of Rudy Alex Loosa, about to unveil a bench in memory of her husband, a Northbrook mail carrier at the June 17 dedication ceremony in his honor at Hope Union Heritage Center in Northbrook. ( Karie Angell Luc/Pioneer Press )

Many central Northbrook neighbors along United States Postal Service Route 8 knew their mail carrier as Rudy, the same postman who had handled their route for two decades after he started in 1997. But his family knew him by another name.

"We called him Alex," said Gloria Vazquez of Buffalo Grove, the older sister of Rudy Alex Loosa.

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"I miss him. I miss his hugs," Vazquez said. "What I would do for another hug."

Loosa, also of Buffalo Grove, died on the job last Jan. 14 of a heart attack, according to his family. He was found inside a mail truck.

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More than 50 members of Loosa's family gathered the day before Father's Day in central Northbrook, with approximately 200 others, to honor Loosa on a warm sunny afternoon. The occasion was a dedication ceremony held outdoors and the unveiling of a bench dedicated to Loosa. The seating is installed in front of Hope Union Heritage Center at 1812 Chapel Court.

After Loosa's death, Peggy Donnelly, a 22-year Northbrook resident and initiative organizer, opened a GoFundMe account and a bank account to manage donations in honor of her neighborhood's mail carrier. Those donations were used to pay for the bench.

"We raised $11,500," Donnelly said, shortly before the ceremony. The bench and customized plaque cost nearly $2,000. Bronze mailbag detailing was about $5,000. Donors voted on how they wanted to honor Loosa's memory. Remaining funds of the collection are earmarked to help fund a photo memory book for the Loosa family and other incidentals, Donnelly said.

"He was always smiling, always skipping his step, always taking the time to help a neighbor getting something to the curb," Donnelly said of Loosa.

Judy Loosa, Loosa's wife, is a music teacher and preschool assistant.

Loosa's wife used oversized red scissors during the June 17 ribbon cutting before removal of a blue tarp had a reveal. A red bow had topped the package.

Red ribbons have some significance to those who remember Loosa. Within a week of his death, neighbors had placed red bows on trees and mailboxes, Donnelly said. Red, representing love, was "cheerful" like their mail carrier, she said, crediting two neighbors with initiating the red-ribbon movement.

During the ceremony, Judy Loosa received a surprise gift of $4,500 via a "handyman fund" from donors.

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"The intention is for things that Rudy would have been doing if he were here, some little extra slush fund for her (Loosa's wife) if she needs something fixed or wants to hire someone to do something in the yard, or whatever," Donnelly said. "She doesn't have to worry about going into her budget, that she will have this extra little fund."

Two days after the bench dedication, Judy Loosa revealed that in May, she had a front yard pipe repaired, costing $4,000, along with a dental bill for about $500, both unexpected fees adding to approximately $4,500, near the same amount as the amount in the fund.

"It shows how God is taking care of me," Loosa said.

She also said since her husband's passing, she stops in the neighborhood on occasion on her way home from work to connect with Route 8 neighbors.

The dedication ceremony included speeches, and one speaker's hands shook with emotion. Judy Loosa, seated on the bench, viewed the bronze mailbag and wiped a tear.

"It's very touching, I'm very overwhelmed," Loosa said at the ceremony.

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"I would really like to show appreciation for Route 8. Our family is overwhelmed by your kindness, generosity and love. I'm very grateful for this community," she said, tearfully. "He was able to work in this community and feel like he was coming to a family every day. To do something like this is pretty awesome."

Rudy Alex Loosa, 59, had four children with Judy Loosa: Melissa Stoyko, 34, of Buffalo Grove, Kimberly Taylor, 31, of Azusa, California, Michael Loosa, 29, of New London, Connecticut and Jonathan Loosa, 20, of Buffalo Grove and a Harper College student studying music.

Judy Loosa said her granddaugther, Eliana Alexa Taylor, was born on May 5. The middle name was selected to honor Loosa, her grandfather. Judy Loosa said it was difficult knowing that if he had survived, her husband would have been a grandfather for the first time.

"It was bittersweet," she said. "I was very happy to go to California (to see the newborn) but always underlying was how much he would have loved Eliana and being a grandpa."

Gloria Nino of San Marcos, Texas, Loosa's mother, and her husband, Reynaldo Nino, traveled by train to attend the bench dedication.

"I'm missing my son but he's here in my heart," Gloria Nino said. "I wish he were here."

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Anni Goldberg, of Northbrook, had the idea in February to approach the Northbrook Historical Society about installing a bench outside of Hope Union Heritage Center.

Judy Hughes of Northbrook, Northbrook Historical Society president, took the request to the society's board of directors. The response was overwhelmingly positive, Hughes said.

"It's what we're about, absolutely," Hughes said. "Rudy had a place in the history of our community."

The 1700 block of Walters Avenue, where the Northbrook Historical Society Museum and Inn Shop is located, is on Route 8 while Hope Union Heritage Center is not, Hughes said.

The former church, now Hope Union Heritage Center, was donated to the Northbrook Historical Society in 2015. Since then, the society has spent $160,000 plus on renovations, Hughes said.

Hughes came to know Rudy Alex Loosa when he'd deliver mail he felt needed special handling outside of the museum's post office box.

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The June 17 bench dedication was the first official event for Hope Union Heritage Center, she said.

Lingering families took photos on the bench after the unveiling. Children touched the keepsake mailbag. Judy Loosa kissed the plaque. A portion of Church Street was temporarily closed by the village via permit, allowing people to mill about, swapping Rudy stories.

A block party immediately following called "RudyFest" took place at a Northbrook residence on the 1500 block of Spruce Street. The block party was also voted upon by donors via SurveyMonkey. An estimated 200 guests attended, Donnelly said.

"It's heartwarming to see all of these people turn out for somebody who was their mailman," said Mark Spencer, a 15-year Northbrook resident and Route 8 neighbor. "He was just a terrific guy."

Karie Angell Luc is a freelance reporter.
Forest Park resident Kamau "Maui" Jones said when he told his Uber driver he was headed to the Oak Park Public Library for a Juneteenth celebration, the driver told him he had never heard of the holiday.

"(The driver) was a black man in his 40s, and he had no idea what it was, and that's his history," Jones said.

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Jones was one of a couple dozen people who gathered Sunday afternoon in the library's veterans room for a Juneteenth celebration hosted and organized by library staff, as well as community organizer and Oak Park River Forest High School teacher Anthony Clark. The holiday memorializes June 19, 1865, when an announcement was made in Galveston, Texas, that slavery had been abolished.

Oak Park librarian Susan McClelland described the holiday as "the black 4th of July."

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The event featured musical, dance and poetry performances from several African-American OPRF students and recent grads, in addition to a screening of the PBS documentary "Juneteenth: A Celebration of Freedom." The event is part of a yearlong initiative at the library titled "More Than a Month," which provides programming focused on the African diaspora in America and placing black history within the context of American history.

"For me, being an African-American woman, I grew up here in Chicago. I live in Evanston now, but my family was very involved in the civil rights and liberation movement for many, many years," McClelland said. "And being a librarian, it's something that's very important for me to educate and pass on to folks about African-American history in general, but certainly these specific holidays."

McClelland said African-American history "is being lost as part of a school-wide effort." She said the library is working to "fill in the blanks" by providing historical, educational and cultural resources to the community.

"Black history didn't start with slavery, and it's not going to end with slavery," Clark said repeatedly during Sunday's event.

Growing up in Oak Park as an African-American male, Clark said, "I often found myself lost trying to identify my identity as a young black male because I didn't see a lot of myself represented in the community ... or my history throughout the community."

He said recognizing Juneteenth and celebrating the holiday builds pride and demonstrates that the village is invested in and cares about its black community. Featuring young African-Americans, like dancer and OPRF student Genesis Wilcox, as part of the celebration provides a platform for their talents to be displayed and appreciated by the community, Clark said.

Wilcox, 16, who will be a junior at the high school next year, performed several dance pieces at the event.

"I'm always happy to dance. All I do is dance," Wilcox said. He said he enthusiastically agreed to participate in the Juneteenth event because Clark, who leads the school's Hip Hop Club of which Wilcox is a part, "has done so much for me."

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Clark said he hopes to grow Oak Park's Juneteenth event into an annual celebration shared with Forest Park, Maywood and Chicago's Austin community.

Former Forest Park commissioner Rory Hoskins, who attended the Oak Park Juneteenth celebration, said he helped organize an annual pool party in honor of the holiday in Forest Park nearly a decade ago to teach kids and parents alike about the Juneteenth tradition.

Jones, who also helped organize the Forest Park celebration, said he attended Oak Park's Juneteenth event "to show solidarity between communities." Jones, who runs the Oak Park-based Echo Theater Collective, said he supports a multicultural and multi-community celebration to celebrate the Juneteenth holiday.

The benefit is of such a celebration is two-fold, Jones said. First, it shows African-American residents that their communities care about them, and it serves to educate the entire populace about an event may never have read anything about in history textbooks.

"Until we get a true representation of African-Americans' place in American history, people aren't going to know about (Juneteenth) and other traditions," he said. "The more we can publicize this, the better."

Lee V. Gaines is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
The Park Ridge City Council took the following action during a regular meeting on June 19:

 formally opted out of following Cook County ordinances that raise the minimum wage to $13 per hour by July 1, 2020 and require businesses to pay eligible employees for sick leave. The council tentatively approved the measure on June 5.

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In a memo to elected officials, Park Ridge Manager of Human Resources Michael Suppan wrote that the Cook County laws "could place an unequal burden on employers in Park Ridge when compared to other communities that have already opted out of the minimum wage and sick leave mandates, and when compared to employers in adjacent counties."

As a home-rule community, Park Ridge had the option of opting out of the county laws, aldermen were told by legal counsel.

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On June 5, aldermen John Moran and Marc Mazzuca commented that minimum wage and sick leave mandates should be handled at the state or federal levels.

The current state of Illinois minimum wage is $8.25 per hour. The first county increase in the minimum wage  to $10 per hour  is slated to take effect July 1 within communities that have chosen to follow the county laws. A large number of suburbs have opted out, however.

 approved local historic landmark designation for three buildings at Prospect Park: Solomon Cottage, Wohlers Hall and Emery Cottage. The buildings, originally part of the Illinois Industrial School for Girls, which housed children in the cottages, were built between 1908 and 1910, according to an application submitted by the Park Ridge Park District, which now owns and oversees the structures.

Wohlers Hall, reported to be the original school building for the campus, is currently used as the park district's administration headquarters, while Solomon Cottage is undergoing interior rehab work in order to turn it into a history center for the Park Ridge Historical Society. Emery Cottage, once a residential building, is currently unused, but being "preserved for unknown future use by the park district," according to the park district's application for landmark designation.

 approved the purchase of two new police vehicles  a 2017 Ford Taurus Interceptor and a 2017 Ford Explorer Police Interceptor  at a cost of $54,454, plus an additional $7,000 to install emergency lights, siren, radio and other police components. The two new vehicles will replace cars that are 9 and 10 years old, respectively, the city said.

The council also approved the purchase of a new hydraulic backhoe breaker and two riding mowers, at a total cost of $33,840, and voted to spend $45,000 for additional equipment to be added to a new public works department truck, which was received in May.

 approved the purchase of a 2017 Ford Escape S at a cost of $18,557 to replace a 2005 Ford Taurus previously used by the city's department of community development and preservation. Voting against the purchase were 5th Ward Ald. Charles Melidosian and 6th Ward Ald. Marc Mazzuca. Mazzuca said he felt it was unnecessary to replace the car, which was damaged in a crash last year, and said an existing city "pool car" could be used to meet the department's needs.

 approved a modification to the city's liquor laws to include language for when Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training (BASSET) is required. City Attorney Julie Tappendorf explained that state law requires all servers of alcohol to have BASSET, but the state's requirement was included only in the city's liquor ordinance under a section for temporary licenses.

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Park Ridge liquor laws were updated in 2015.

Mayor Marty Maloney called the matter a "housekeeping issue." Tappendorf said there was "nothing too concerning from a legal perspective" about the language not appearing in the local code, but because there had recently been some confusion expressed by a local business, she recommended it be added.

The new language says, "All licensees must be in compliance with the Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training (BASSET) state law and regulations. It is unlawful for alcohol servers to serve or sell, or permit any person to serve or sell, alcoholic beverages for on-premises consumption in a licensed establishment unless that alcohol server has completed the BASSET program and maintains a current BASSET certification in accordance with the requirements of state law."

 approved a $12,745 expense to insulate the attic at City Hall. According to Public Works Director Wayne Zingsheim, an energy study of the building found that the attic above the City Council Chambers "was not adequately insulated," causing ice to build up there. Three project quotes were obtained by the city, a memo to the council from Zingsheim said.

 approved $45,000 for new thermoplastic pavement marking lines, letters and symbols to be added around the city.

jjohnson@pioneerlocal.com

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Twitter: @Jen_Tribune
Store manager Randy Morton thanks students as he talks about the need for clothes in foster care. (Brooke Eberle/Pioneer Press )

Students from the St. Paul of the Cross Catholic School brought a total of 235 articles of clothing to a Park Ridge Mattress Firm store on Thursday as part of a pajama drive.

Ten eighth-graders led the clothing drive, and three of them came to drop off the clothing at Mattress Firm  Joseph Nowak, Lisa Lukasz and Maggie Niego. They were joined Thursday by a group of seventh-grade students.

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The idea for the pajama drive started with a yearly field trip to the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center in Skokie for a student leadership day.

Amanda Friedeman, who organized the student leadership day, said "it's a daylong program  to develop their leadership skills, explore the museum, interact with kids they [would] probably never meet otherwise, and hear from a keynote speaker who has tackled a social justice issue and made a new change."

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Nowak said "the field trip was really empowering.  The speaker was really good. That was when we really felt that he was making a connection to us."

Lukasz said that the speaker also had an impact on her.

"You could see that you could do the same thing and that you could be a leader, too.  I think they learned that even though we're just a school, we can help in a really big way," she said.

Anne Hoversen, the "Take the Lead" program moderator, said participants tossed around a few different ideas before they came to the conclusion that this year they would take part in a pajama drive for Mattress Firm's Foster Kids charity led by gymnast Simone Biles.

From there, each student leading the program was given a class to go into and explain the program and ask for clothing.

"Some of the grades are really young, so you got to teach them about what foster kids are because a lot of them didn't know," Lukasz said.

Niego said that she wished she could see the foster kids receive the clothing that the school donated.

"I think they'll be excited," she said.

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"They have seen that their actions matter and that even though they're 13, 14, 15 years old, they can make a difference  when you learn a message like that, the younger you learn it, the more ingrained in becomes," Friedeman said.

Randy Morton, the Mattress Firm store manager, said "it's kids helping kids, which I just think is phenomenal."

Morton also said that Mattress Firm will accept everything from clothing to toys for foster kids all year. If anyone wants to donate something, items can be dropped off in front of the store.

Donated items are sent to three organizations: the Hephzibah Children's Association, ChildServ and Our Children's Homestead.

"It takes a village," Hoversen said, "but we've really got a great village."

beberle@chicagotribune.com
A Hobart woman is facing charges for allegedly battering a special needs relative at a Hobart grocery store.

The woman, 43, was charged in Lake Superior Court with domestic battery against a disabled person resulting in bodily injury and neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury in the June 14 incident at Strack & Van Til, 7750 E. 37th Ave.

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She is not being named to protect the identity of the victim.

A store employee told police she was walking from the parking lot toward the west entrance when she heard a scream and saw the woman pulling the 14-year-old girl's hair in an aggressive manner, according to the probable cause affidavit. The employee also saw the woman put her hands around the girl's neck while pulling her toward the store and noticed "claw marks" around the child's neck, the probable cause affidavit states. The employee also saw the woman kick the child in the head when she was low to the ground at the time, documents said.

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Police reviewed surveillance footage that corroborated the employee's account, records state.

Officers noted the girl had scratch marks on both sides of her neck and a bump on her forehead above her right eye that was bruising.

The woman told police she tried to pull her child away from a railing but was unable to make her let go, records state. The woman told police she did not intentionally scratch or kick the child during the incident, according to the affidavit.

The girl was taken to St. Mary Medical Center.

At the hospital, police spoke with a Child Protective Services caseworker who was in the process of placing the child in a foster home, documents said. The caseworker said CPS had received several reports from a local school of injuries to the girl during the last year, and the child was unable to tell the caseworker how she was injured, court documents said. The child has a severe learning disability, is developmentally delayed, has seizures and ADHD, documents said.

The charges are punishable by one to six years.

Ruth Ann Krause is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
Laura Michelle Kelly plays Anna opposite a cast of young talent as the King of Siams royal brood in Rodgers and Hammersteins The King and I playing through July 2 at Oriental Theatre in Chicago. ( Photo by Matthew Murphy )

I've seen many touring productions of the Broadway classic musical "The King and I" by Rodgers & Hammerstein.

One of the last times Broadway in Chicago hosted a tour of "The King and I," it starred stage legend Sandy Duncan downtown at the Auditorium Theatre in July 2004 as the female lead, and it dazzled. Throughout the decades, since premiering on Broadway in 1951 with iconic Yul Brynner and Gertrude Lawrence in the title roles, some other notable names to twirl in that famed ball gown include Marie Osmond, Mary Martin, Angela Lansbury, Celeste Holm, Kelli O'Hara, Stefanie Powers and Constance Towers.

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Broadway In Chicago is hosting a three-week run of the new tour of the Lincoln Center Theater Tony Award-wining revival production of "The King and I," at the Oriental Theatre, 24 W. Randolph, through July 2.

Directed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher and clocking in at just under three hours with one intermission, it's easy to see why this stage incarnation won its four 2015 Tony Awards. Actress Laura Michelle Kelly, who is known for portraying the title role in the London production of Disney's "Mary Poppins" and Sylvia Llewelyn Davies in the Broadway production of "Finding Neverland," has earned her place among the roster of famed names to play Anna Leonowens, the widowed British schoolteacher who treks to Siam with her young son to teach the king's many wives and children. She plays opposite the stellar Jose Llana, who is very comfortable and natural in the royal slippers of "The King of Siam."

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There's a reason this ranks as one of Rodgers & Hammerstein's finest works. It boasts a score that features beloved classics like "Getting To Know You," "Hello Young Lovers," "Shall We Dance," "I Have Dreamed" and "Something Wonderful."

Set in 1860s Bangkok, the costumes and sets for this telling are opulent and the cast chemistry is unmatched. Best of all, this is a story inspired by history. Imagine the responsibility of caring and educating a family of more than 80 eager and energized children who speak a different language? Anna Harriet Emma Edwards, who lived as a widow with one son in 1859, did this and more. When she packed their bags and agreed to accept a teaching assignment in Bangkok working for the King of Siam, she discovered, upon arrival, the royal expectations for her duties not only included teaching English to the King's 82 children, but also his 39 wives. Her story is the basis for the 1944 book by Margaret Landon "Anna and the King of Siam," which then inspired Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to create their legendary musical stage production.

With music direction by Ted Sperling, sets by Michael Yeargan, Tony-winning costumes by Catherine Zuber, lighting by Donald Holder and sound by Scott Lehrer, this tour features choreography by Christopher Gattelli based on the original choreography by Jerome Robbins. With a cast of so many on stage at the same time, it is no easy feat to position and guide so many feet, but the creative team succeeds.

In addition to the leading couple, Joan Almedilla is especially entrancing as the King's "lead wife" Lady Thiang and her vocals are a gift. Manna Nichols as Tuptim and Kavan Panmeechao as Lun Tha, as the secret lovers who hover about the palace, are also worthy of praise. There are also a few changes in this production to capture the keen eye of audiences, such as the addition of a massive and impressive ship set landscape used in the opening scene and the removal of a scene reference in Act II when visiting dignitary Sir Edward Ramsey, played by Baylen Thomas, unknowingly frightens the King's wives when they first notice his eyeglass monocle, shrieking and fleeing describing it as "an evil eye."

Tickets range from $24-$90. FYI: (800) 775-2000 or www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

Reader's bat signal

Thank you to the various readers who contacted me about last week's tribute column to actor Adam West and his TV life as Batman. Reader Ron Cohen of Miller had his own interesting insights to share.

"Philip: As a regular reader of the P-T, I always enjoy your column, including today's with the photo of you with Adam West. One of my family stories is that my cousin Stella Willens came up with his name. I assume this was in the later 1940s and they were friends. He wanted a stage name (I don't know his original name) and my cousin Stella suggested Adam West (I believe his mother's name was West or something like that). And that was it. I don't know how long they remained friends, but you can get more information from her daughter Carla (my second cousin) who lives in Santa Monica, CA. Cordially, Ron Cohen"

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Thank you for your email Ron. It is true Adam West was born William West Anderson. From my research, he changed his stage name to Adam West in 1959 at the time he moved with his wife to Hollywood to launch his career. As to who influenced his new marquee identity, often time, it came after a suggestion from an agent. But certainly, your cousin Stella might have weighed in with her own suggestions with his winning selection.

Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and the director of marketing at Theatre at the Center.

pmpotempa@comhs.org
Gary police and area elected officials held a news conference on Tuesday at the police station to respond to two shootings Monday that left two children injured.

A boy and a girl, both under the age of 10, were in critical but stable condition after being wounded in two separate shootings Monday in Gary, police said.

"It's senseless violence," Gary Police Chief Larry McKinley said at a Tuesday press conference.

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Gary police continued to conduct interviews and investigate the shootings Tuesday, and McKinley asked for the community's help in providing information in the cases.

"These two innocent children were injured, were harmed and the community needs to stand up," McKinley said.

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The 8-year-old girl was eating pizza with her grandparents around 5:15 p.m. at their home near West 21st Avenue and Chase Street when they heard glass break, her other grandmother, Valerie Thomas Hopkins. The girl started crying and they realized she was shot, Thomas Hopkins said.

Hours later, about a mile-and-a-half away, officers were called around 9:30 p.m. to the home in the 4300 block of West 19th Avenue for a separate shooting in which a 9-year-old boy was injured, according to police.

McKinley said the boy went to the doorway of the home, and "once he went to the doorway, that's when the mother heard the shots."

Several shots were fired at each of the shootings, police said.

The Gary Fire Department took both children to Methodist Hospital Northlake, police said. They were later taken to Comer Children's Hospital.

The girl remained in intensive care Tuesday with her mother, Thomas Hopkins said. The girl was shot in the side, but doctors believe she will recover, her grandmother said.

Thomas Hopkins described her granddaughter as a "bright, little, bubbly young lady," who is an honor roll student.

"She's just a fun-loving little kid enjoying life," Thomas Hopkins said.

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Police said the boy was shot in the chest. People at the 19th Avenue home where the boy was shot declined to comment Tuesday. A bullet hole could be seen on the front picture window and on a front door at the home where he was shot.

McKinley said it is "unknown if these two incidents were connected with each other" or the motivations for the shootings, but "this random act will not go unnoticed."

Police are "urging the community to give us any information" about the shootings by calling the department or the crime tip line at 866-274-6347.

McKinley said he would not classify the shootings as "drive-bys."

There have been 63 shootings in Gary this year, according to police.

Gary Common Council President Ronald Brewer said that "we stand outraged at the senseless shootings that has been happening in our city, the senseless homicides that continue to happen within our city."

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"I speak for our council at this time that we feel an outrage at this and we're not happy with what's taking place inside our city, and we will work to bring results to our citizens," Brewer said.

Brewer and Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington, D-Merrillville, said they were working to fund extra patrols and help from other departments. McKinley said his department will have extra patrols in the area, along with help "soon" from the Lake County Sheriff's Department and Indiana State Police.

"As we all know, as the summer heats up, a lot of times we have different incidents that happen throughout the city," he said.

McKinley said he and Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson plan to visit the children at the hospital.

When asked what McKinley would say to the whoever shot the children, the chief replied, "that we will actively seek them out."

rejacobs@post-trib.com

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Twitter @ruthyjacobs

Chicago Tribune reporter Elyssa Cherney contributed to this report.
Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Indiana State Fire Marshal; and the Valparaiso Fire Department look Wednesday morning into the burned remains of Colonial Cleaners, 1761 Morthland Drive, in Valparaiso's Thornapple Plaza. (Amy Lavalley / Post-Tribune)

The electric motor that powered the clothing rack at Colonial Cleaners caused the June 13 fire that badly damaged the cleaners and a neighboring salon and sent smoke into several other businesses at Thornapple Plaza, forcing their evacuation, according to a preliminary report on the cause of the fire by the Valparaiso Fire Department.

Security cameras inside the cleaners, at 1761 Morthland Drive, captured what happened, said John Kroll, the fire department's division chief. The preliminary report was complete Friday, and he expects a full report to be done in two to three months.

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The motor wasn't visible on surveillance videos, Kroll said, because it was between two racks of clothes. What was visible was clothing catching fire and falling to the floor, the surprised reaction of employees who saw the flames, and an employee from Salon Diva, 1759 Morthland Drive, trying unsuccessfully to put out the fire with a fire extinguisher.

"It was a very instructive video," he said.

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Several area fire departments assisted with the fire and with relieving Valparaiso firefighters in that day's heat. No one was injured in the blaze and everyone, including animals at a veterinary clinic in the shopping center, was safely evacuated.

Officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the Indiana State Fire Marshal also assisted with the investigation, which Kroll has said was because the building was a commercial structure with multiple occupants.

In all, the fire damaged seven tenants at the plaza as well as two vacant storefronts in some capacity. The report estimated $2 million in property loss and $1 million in content loss because of the fire.

While some plaza tenants reported hearing a loud boom like an explosion and feeling the building shake shortly after the fire started, Kroll has said the noise was caused by the sound of the several hundred pounds of steel racks laden with clothes at the dry cleaner crashing to the floor.

According to an incident report from the fire department, firefighters arrived at Thornapple Plaza on Valparaiso's southwest side at 3:38 p.m. June 13, eight minutes after they were dispatched. The fire was under control by 5 p.m., and the last unit cleared the scene around 10:45 p.m.

"The ignition source was an internal failure of the electric motor leading to sparks falling onto clothing hanging on the rotating racks, igniting either the clothing or the plastic covers. The fire then grew quickly due to the configuration of the fuel (plastic covered clothing) leading to heavy fire conditions within the store," Kroll wrote in the report, adding it was accidental.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
I joined the volunteer ranks of the American Red Cross about six years ago. Retirement provided flexibility, and volunteering is a rewarding way to give back to the community. Im a large scale responder, community volunteer leader and disaster services volunteer.

I recently returned from a deployment to southern Missouri where the Red Cross has been assisting residents impacted by record flooding, both there and in neighboring states. Hundreds of Red Cross workers from across the country have traveled there to help set up and operate community shelters and to provide food and relief items, as well as an array of health and mental health services.

Last summer, I was among more than 2,500 Red Crossers who mobilized to Louisiana to provide shelter, food and comfort to people displaced by widespread flooding there. At the peak of the disaster relief operation, more than 50 Red Cross and community shelters provided refuge for more than 10,000 people.

In each deployment as a large scale responder, I served as a community partnerships supervisor. When disasters occur, the Red Cross works closely with the entire response community  federal, state, county and local agencies, other non-profit organizations, churches and others  to coordinate relief efforts and deliver help quickly and efficiently. Each disaster is different but we adapt our resources to the needs of the people we serve.

Those same partnerships are vital in our own backyard. In my capacity as a community volunteer leader, I often represent the Red Cross throughout Cayuga County and surrounding areas. The Red Cross is an active participant in the Human Services Coalition of Cayuga County. Many community partners, like schools, are willing to provide shelters or prepare meals. We have formalized our relationships to ensure coordinated strategies to best serve the community on a regular basis as well as have concrete plans in place to respond to emergency situations.

Im also a central New York chapter disaster services volunteer. Red Cross Disaster Action Teams provide comfort and care when our neighbors experience a crisis. The most common local disasters are home fires, and the Red Cross responds to offer comfort and hope. Assistance typically includes housing, food and clothing as well as individual needs that are determined through one-on-one conversations with those affected. We also help develop long-term recovery plans.

I proudly participate in the Home Fire Campaign, a national initiative aimed at reducing fire-related deaths and injuries by 25 percent over five years. The Red Cross is asking every household in America to take two simple steps: check their existing smoke alarms and practice fire drills at home. The Central New York Chapter has installed more than 1,000 smoke alarms in the current fiscal year ending June 30. In addition to Cayuga County, we serve Cortland, Madison, Onondaga and Oswego counties.

Across the country, the Red Cross and our partners have documented 235 lives saved by installing working smoke alarms. Others have used our fire safety education and equipment to avoid death and injury due to fire, including 16 people in Buffalo, two in Rochester and one in Syracuse.

In the homes that I have visited, the families are very appreciative of the free smoke alarms and education and theyre happy to know that the Red Cross is here to help whenever its needed. Its a great feeling to know that my time is making a real difference in peoples lives.

To schedule an appointment for us to come to your home, please call (315) 234-2299.

Volunteers carry out 90 percent of the humanitarian work of the Red Cross, and I hope you can join me in this vital work. Whether helping one displaced family or thousands, providing care and comfort to an ill or injured service member or veteran, or teaching others how to respond in emergencies, its through the efforts of ordinary people that we can do extraordinary things.

More information on volunteering, please visit redcross.org/volunteer or contact Volunteer Services Specialist Suzann Hensley at suzann.hensley@redcross.org.
What's Quickly? It's where readers sound off on the issues of the day. Have a quote, question or quip? Call Quickly at 312-222-2426 or email quickly@post-trib.com.

Health care affects 1/6 of the economy, has life and death consequences and yet the GOP is discussing it in top secret meetings.

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I don't know when they changed the definition of "liberal" to "someone who thinks Donald Trump is a garbage human being", but if that's what it means now, I guess I'm a liberal. Me, and the vast majority of Americans.

I'll take progressives over regressives in government every day of the week.

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Trump appointed a wedding planner to head public housing. It fits with a climate change denier to head the EPA, an energy czar who sued the agency 8 times and a education head that has no experience in public schools. Are his supporters deplorable yet?

Good idea. Instead of getting the news from the liberal media, rely instead on KellyAnne Conway's alternative facts, bizarre and factless tweets from the President, and the opinionated, dramatic news readings on Fox News. I thought that I was watching a soap opera the other day; it turns out it was Trish Regan on Fox. She deserves an Emmy for best dramatic reading of the news.

The Supreme Court is considering whether gerrymandering violates the Constitution. Good, it is getting so tiresome when the GOP can't win an election unless they change the rules, strongly in their favor.

Is anyone ready to admit how the influence of dark money had ruined our government? Isn't it time to consider overturning Citizens United?

UPS has announced a surcharge for peak deliveries during the Christmas holidays. Really nice way to say you are going to price gouge in the holiday spirit.

To the person who feels qualified to identify the victims in the shooting death of the 9 year old: you are obviously incapable of putting yourself in the father's shoes. Nobody will feel more grief and devastation than him. You are likely not a single father that raised your children since birth, in order to understand the love and bond that exist.

Post Tribune Twice-weekly News updates from Northwest Indiana delivered every Monday and Wednesday >

It's rather odd to me that the latest GOP enemy is the free press and the "liberal media." But I would guess hearing the truth from the "liberal media" comes across as such a foreign concept after listening to the lies and nonsense on Fox News for years.

Bloomington's Lighthouse Christian Academy uses my tax dollars for vouchers and then can decide who can be admitted. God forbid they allow someone who doesn't fit their cult like atmosphere, say the LGBT. If that's the case stop taking my taxes to fund your hatred and bigotry!

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You claim that people pushing the Russian probe on President Trump's administration are stupid. These obstruction, money-laundering and treason probes are never taken lightly. Ignorance is never bliss.

MAGA: Making attorneys get attorneys.

It's been 21 days since Kathy Griffin released that horrific photo claiming to be a joke. Sean Hannity is still showing it nightly. Why would he want to scare Barron Trump every single night?

I go to my monthly church community action group and hear nothing but great things about President Trump and Vice President Pence. I go to the school PTA meetings and hear the same things. Ditto for my work discussions. Then I read Quickly and read just the opposite. I have to conclude that people who hold honest jobs and are educated do not get their comments posted in Quickly except in a few rare incidences.

Read more at www.post-trib.com/quickly.
The Winnetka Music Festival, set for downtown Winnetka June 23 and June 24, will provide a "boutique" concert experience for music lovers who want to enjoy the quality of music they might hear at larger festivals like Lollapalooza, but without the crowds, an organizer said Monday.

"One of the bonuses of a festival like ours is that people can get close to the stage and really get involved in the music," Winnetka resident Val Haller said.

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The free festival will feature 17 bands including headliner Wild Belle, and 14 street buskers, as well as food trucks and local fare, craft beer and wine, according to festival team member Jetta Boschen.

It will take place at more than a dozen venues along Elm and Oak streets and Lincoln Avenue, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Friday with an inaugural festival concert, and running between 10:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Boschen said.

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The festival is one of two events local residents can enjoy this weekend. The second is the North Shore Art League's "Art In the Village" fine art fair, which takes place June 24 and June 25 in Winnetka's Hubbard Woods Park, running from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, according to the League's website. That event will feature more than 70 artists from across the country, according to the website.

Work on the music festival began in the fall of 2016, Haller said in February. This week, she said it has expanded from three outdoor stages to four; the latest will provide an intimate, 250-seat setting in space offered by the Winnetka Community House, 620 Lincoln Ave.

"We've been dying to let people know that we've added a stage in chapel space connected to the Winnetka Community House," Haller said June 19. "Not a lot of people know it exists because there haven't been a plethora of events there."

"It's intimate and we think it will be perfect for people who want to get out of the heat and out of the rockier or noisier aspects of the festival for a bit," she said.

Community House officials contacted Scott Myers, the festival's executive director, roughly a month ago to offer the space, Haller said. The Emmet Cohen Trio will play two jazz concerts there, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday, while the guitar duo of Zach Heckendorf and Curtis Halle, will perform at 2 p.m. Saturday, she said.

Haller said headliner Wild Belle, whose founding members are a brother and sister originally from the Chicago area, has played at Lollapalooza, "and are just fantastic. They're fabulous." They will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday on the Lincoln Avenue main stage.

She said the festival's family music stage, which has been moved to the south end of the Post Office parking lot, will be the scene for "Conversations with 'American Idol' and 'The Voice'" at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Manny Torres, who was one of the final 14 American Idol contestants in the show's 15th season, will join Ethan Butler, who was a contestant on the seventh season of "The Voice," Haller said. In addition to performing, they will talk with the audience about their experiences, according to the Festival website.

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Haller urged prospective visitors to avoid driving to the music festival, which she said will have limited parking capabilities. People can walk or bike to the fest; they can also make use of Metra, which has an Elm Street train station, she said.

According to the North Shore Art League's website, "Art in the Village" is also accessible via the Metra Hubbard Woods station. Automobile parking is available along Green Bay Road, in the garage at the park's south end, and on surrounding streets. According to the website, bicyclists can also access the fair by coming up the Green Bay Trail and taking a staircase near the Metra station.

The fine arts festival will have five food vendors, according to the website

To learn more about the Winnetka Music Festival visit www.winnetkamusicfestival.com/.

To learn more about Art in the Village, visit the North Shore Art League site at www.northshoreartleague.org/home.html, and click on Art in the Village.

kroutliffe@pioneerlocal.com

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Twitter: @pioneer_kathy
Police ask public to help identify vehicle allegedly used in homicide
It's only been a couple of weeks, but so far, Alan Connely is liking his new gig as the executive director of the Arc of Seneca Cayuga.

Connely, who most recently hails from a Pennsylvania-based nonprofit management service organization called Keystone Independence Management, is taking over for longtime director Kevin Smith. Smith retired at the end of May after nearly 36 years of service.

"Kevin (Smith) has just done a great job of putting a staff together and a company together that supports those with intellectual and developmental disabilities," Connely said. "The organization has been well funded and the growth has been fantastic, and I hope that I can support that."

Originally from Oklahoma, Connely's professional career has taken him all over the world. The 55-year-old has lived and worked in over 20 different countries as a senior manager for Amway Corporation. Connely and his family lived in England for about two years before he and his wife Brenda decided to move back to the United States.

They had settled in Pennsylvania, his wife's home state, where Connely started work at Keystone. As executive vice president and chief operating officer, Connely helped provide services to agencies assisting individuals with visual impairments, physical, intellectual and development disabilities. Specifically Connely worked with Keystone Blind Association, which provided employment opportunities for the blind.

Some of the programs Connely helped usher in included getting work for those individuals at rest areas all over the state. He also helped with building a manufacturing plant that produced toilet paper for the state Department of Corrections, where individuals receiving assistance from Keystone could work.

Those employment opportunities also helped bring in state and federal revenue to Keystone and the agencies it supported, and Connely thinks that part of his background will be beneficial to The Arc.

The financial management piece was something that concerned Smith regarding the future of the agency. He said with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Medicaid reform, The Arc had experience significant funding cuts. Smith had told The Citizen in May that he felt it was time for someone with a different skill set to help lead the organization.

Connely said he's most excited about helping with The Arc's work program, looking for state, federal and even commercial opportunities that may be out there for the organization.

"Allen brings the leadership and executive management experience our agency needs to move through significant policy and funding changes in our field," said Mary Pat Harris, president of the Arc of Seneca Cayuga Board of Directors, in a release. "He also brings a great deal of experience in securing and growing nonprofit funding and has a real focus on the individuals that the Agency supports and assists."

Serving more than 1,200 individuals in Cayuga and Seneca counties and managing a staff of more than 500 people, Connely is still making the rounds. Most recently he visited Spot Light Studio in Auburn, home of The Arc's Finger Lakes Artists Musicians and Entertainers. Connely said he's been known to play the drums, and he feels like he may be recruited for a drumming gig with the studio's band one of these days.

"That was fantastic," he said, about visiting the studio. "I got a chance to meet some folks there, some of the individuals that we serve, their families. It's just been neat."
Seventeen nonprofit organizations in Cayuga County received $68,025 in grant money from the Cayuga Community Fund, an affiliate fund of the Central New York Community Foundation.

Established in 1927, the Central New York Community Foundation encourages local philanthropy by supporting the growth of permanent charitable endowments for the betterment of the region, according to a press release. Since 2010, The Cayuga Community Fund has awarded more than $330,000 to nonprofit groups in order to "aid vital programs in education, health, social services, the arts, civic and environmental concerns, as well as the preservation of historic resources in Cayuga County."

The organizations awarded funds were:

 ARC of Seneca Cayuga received $4,380 to offer computer-assisted art labs at its day service sites, which provide services to individuals with developmental disabilities.

 Auburn YMCA-WEIU received $3,208 to purchase and install new stairs for its warm water therapy pool.

 Booker T. Washington Community Center received $900 to provide youth summer campers with ukuleles and music lessons.

 Cayuga County Community Health Network received $3,250 to purchase tablets and mobile devices to encourage the use of technology and online tool kits for health tracking purposes.

 Cayuga Museum of Art and History received $10,000 to support an original museum exhibition called "Womens Protest: Two Sides of the Fight for Suffrage in New York," which will celebrate the 100th anniversary of womens suffrage in New York State.

 Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency received $7,500 to hire a third-party neutral facilitator to assist with development of the agency's 2018-2020 strategic plan, which would address poverty issues.

 East Hill Family Medical received $4,300 to purchase a Pure Tone and Tympanometry screener for its Summit pediatric office. The portable diagnostic instrument will allow for quick and accurate hearing screenings for its pediatric patients.

 Faculty Student Association of Cayuga Community College received $2,406 to renovate and expand four age-appropriate playgrounds at its childcare center.

 Genoa Historical Association received $5,475 to help install a new HVAC system for the Rural Life Museum. The new system will ensure environmental comfort for community patrons and improve air quality for proper preservation of historical records and collections.

 Howland Stone Store Museum received $10,000 to install a life in the west wing of Opendore, Isabel Howland's historic home, in order to ensure full accessibility to the home's second floor.

 Merry-Go Round Playhouse received $500 to provide a certified sign language interpreter at a summer 2017 performance.

 National Audubon Society received $2,450 to help support Montezuma Audubon Centers Explore Our Great Outdoors program, which creates opportunities for Cayuga County residents to engage in outdoor recreation while learning about the regions natural history, migratory birds and habitat conservation.

 Seymour Public Library received $1,300 to purchase books in support of a community read about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad.

 Transportation Project for Cayuga County received $3,500 for maintenance and repair work needed for three transport vans, which provide specialized, door-to-door service to senior and disabled residents in Cayuga County.

 Unity House of Cayuga County received $1,450 to install an electric oven and stove unit in the mental health program kitchen facility for classroom use and daily living skill building.

 Weedsport Central School District received $5,000 to purchase markerbots for the Inspired Adaptions Initiative, a collaboration between Weedsport teachers and students with adaptive design professionals to create and produce assistive devices for those with disabilities.

These grants were made possible with support from the Cayuga Community Fund, Cayuga Health Association Fund, Dr. Henry Romano Fund for Children, Evelyn B. & Emery S. Osborn Fund and Marie C. Bean Harris Fund.
Op-Ed by Chet Scheltema

Negotiated settlement is often required to sever the employment of a senior manager with minimal disruption and expense. This is nowhere more true than in China, where private dispute resolution is strongly favored.

However, in China, the labor dispute system encourages compromise and payment of severance, and in some cases, this can encourage employees to negotiate aggressively to force employers into uncomfortable concessions.

For foreigner managers accustomed to dispute resolution processes in the West, where establishing fault and faultless behavior is seen as paramount, especially where fraud or bad faith exists, a greater emphasis in China on making concessions and paying severance, even to an opportunistic employee may be a bitter pill to swallow. Yet, it may be the most practical recourse.

In this two-part article, we first outline the lawful ground for termination and the inherent pressures in the Chinese labor dispute system to settle disputes by compromise and concession. In Part 2, we consider aggressive negotiating tactics that rise, then discuss how one can prepare for these inevitable labor disputes.

Grounds for lawful termination

In order to unilaterally terminate employment in China, an employer must establish lawful grounds. Otherwise, the termination will be deemed unlawful. If deemed unlawful, severance or reinstatement (with back pay) may be mandated.

When a labor dispute, arbitration, or litigation extends over a period of months, or even years, an unlawful termination finding may require reinstatement and back pay, resulting in a very expensive conclusion to the dispute. Employers in these situations often offer the employee even more money just to go away.

In this context, understanding the standards for termination becomes increasingly important for employers. These standards are as follows:

Standards for immediately terminating an employee

Serious violation of company rules;

Serious financial loss attributed to employee;

Giving false information to employer;

Criminal offense during employment;

Employee assumes second job, harming first employer;

Employee does not meet the job requirements during probation.

Grounds for termination by 30 days prior notice

Employee deemed incompetent for position;

Employee unable to work after sickness or injury;

Job cannot be performed due to fundamental change in objective circumstances.

Q&A: Labor Disputes and Labor Law Compliance in China

How the system encourages compromise and settlement

To avoid prolonged labor disputes over termination, employers need to understand several core concepts of the labor dispute system. Specifically, employers should seek to understand how the dispute resolution process applies pressure to settle disputes, then prepare accordingly. First, employers need to review the basics of burden of proof, official dispute resolution process, and dispute resolution intervention to understand how they encourage compromise and settlement.

Burden of Proof

What is critical to understand is that the burden of proof in a dispute falls squarely on the employer. Further, there are also strict evidentiary rules that employers often cannot meet.

No matter how egregious an employers behavior may have been, including in cases of fraud or other notably inappropriate behavior, the employer is still burdened with presenting admissible evidence sufficient to support its claims. Otherwise, a decision for the employee may be the inevitable result.

Besides the burden of proof, employers must bear in mind that the above-outlined standards justifying termination are subject to the interpretation of arbitrators and judges. Consequently, some arbiters would in theory be empowered to pressure the employer and the employee to settle and compromise, and there are multiple points in the dispute resolution process where this is possible. This typically results in the payment of some severance to the employee as part of the settlement.

After all, compromise means that both parties acknowledge some form of culpability. Of course, the arbitrator or judges sense for where fault lies can, and likely will, influence how she or he encourages disputants to compromise.

Dispute resolution intervention

An informal labor dispute becomes formal when an application for arbitration is made and accepted by the Chinese labor bureau. A formal process can be extended past arbitration by appeal to the civil courts. But intervention occurs at numerous points in this process to encourage settlement by negotiation and compromise.

Pre-arbitration intervention

On-duty mediators review every arbitration application submitted at the Chinese Labor Bureau. During this review, they seek cases where they may intervene to offer help. These mediators are often retired government employees experienced in Chinese labor law and dispute resolution.

Although this intervention is not a formal process of labor arbitration, the mediators are an official part of the dispute resolution process and are organized and supported by authorities. In this sense, this form of intervention can be seen as the initial attempt to intervene and filter out non-substantive or low-value cases, avoiding the time and resource consuming arbitration process.

Normally, no written communication ever takes place. There is only a phone call offering to help to mediate a resolution with a low pressure chat. Because authorities do not consider it an official process, employers or employees can reject the offer without consequence.

Arbitration intervention

If such pre-arbitration mediation does not succeed, then labor arbitration commences. At the end of the initial hearing, there is a mandatory attempt to intervene and resolve the case by guided mediation.

When the hearing ends, the arbitrator will present the employer and employee with the option to speak privately with the oversight of the arbitrator to negotiate and resolve the dispute. As the arbitrator is familiar with the case, the arbitrator will attempt to guide the negotiation toward a certain outcome. Professionals that have gone through the process say that arbitrators sometimes hint at the likely outcome to encourage one of the parties to settle along suggested lines.

If the parties are able to reach agreement during guided mediation, then the arbitrator will prepare a formal decision, which authorities affix with the chop of the arbitration committee to denote its full authority. The resolution is then officially approved by the arbitration committee.

If, on the other hand, the parties are unwilling to accept the decision, then either party may appeal the case to the civil litigation court system of China.

Civil litigation intervention

Once a party files a case with the civil courts, the in-charge judge will assign a mediator to review the case with the employer and employee to attempt to encourage them to resolve the case by mediation and forestall litigation.

If the parties persist in disputing, then the civil court judge will hear the case, just as the arbitrator had. And just as was the case in arbitration, prior to issuing a decision, it is mandatory that the judge once again present the employer and employee with the option to negotiate a compromise.

The judge oversees and guides such mediated negotiation and attempts to lead the disputants toward the results the judge senses is most appropriate. If a compromise cannot be reached, then the judge issues a judgement.

RELATED: Payroll and Human Resource Services

Official review: context for dispute intervention

In each city in China, there are multiple districts, each of which is delegated responsibility to manage disputes of that district. Central government authorities review the performance of districts annually, including the percentage of cases resolved by mediation and settlement. If low results are recorded in some districts following the review, authorities will emphasize the importance of resolving disputes by mediation and settlement.

Consequently, authorities indirectly incentivize arbitrators and judges in many districts to compromise and settle. For the employer, that typically means offering severance of one amount or another to an employee engaged in a work dispute.

Why do authorities favor mediation and settlement to formal resolution by arbitrator or judge?

First is an obvious practical concern: there are just not enough judges and arbitrators to handle the heavy caseload that would result if all, or even a portion of, disputes were carried through to a formal decision. Clearing ones caseload and resolving disputes as quickly as possible is every bit the priority as is carefully considering and reaching a fair and equitable result in every dispute considered.

Further, there is a widely acknowledged Chinese cultural preference to resolve disputes by private compromise. Bringing an official, public claim against another person carries a tone of grave seriousness in a culture where disputes are handled quietly and privately.

Finally, some old China hands might suggest that Chinese officialdom, in general, has a predilection to avoid potentially alienating decision making, as it can leave a decision-makers exposed.

In Part 2 of this article, we will discuss aggressive negotiating tactics in China, and how to prepare for labor disputes.



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This Dezan Shira & Associates 2017 China guide provides a comprehensive background and details of all aspects of setting up and operating an American business in China, including due diligence and compliance issues, IP protection, corporate establishment options, calculating tax liabilities, as well as discussing on-going operational issues such as managing bookkeeping, accounts, banking, HR, Payroll, annual license renewals, audit, FCPA compliance and consolidation with US standards and Head Office reporting.

Payroll Processing in China: Challenges and Solutions

In this issue of China Briefing magazine, we lay out the challenges presented by Chinas payroll landscape, including its peculiar Dang An and Hu Kou systems. We then explore how companies of all sizes are leveraging IT-enabled solutions to meet their HR and payroll needs, and why outsourcing payroll is the answer for certain company structures. Finally, we consider the potential for China to emerge as Asias premier payroll processing center.

Dezan Shira & Associates
The Water-Sprinkling Festival of the Dai ethnic group is the most popularly celebrated rite among the ethnic minorities living in Yunnan Province.

The wetter one gets, the more benedictions one may expect.

This week-long celebration in honor of the Dai Lunar New Year usually falls around mid-April. People of all ages, dressed in their festival best, take part in the solemn ritual of washing statues of Buddha. They later take great delight in generously blessing all and sundry with splashes of water; and in getting together to talk and compare notes about the past year. Evening merry-making activities include watching Dai dramas, performing local dances, and flying kongming lanterns.

The festival comprehensively showcases Dai traditional culture and the significance it attaches to water and folklore. The event also highlights the joy the people take in music and dance, feasting, and wearing traditional costumes. Other Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, also share this folk tradition. In 2006 the Water-Sprinkling Festival was among the first batch of China's national intangible cultural heritage to be added to the UNESCO list.

Buddha's Birthday

Also known as the Buddha's Birthday Festival, the history of this celebration goes back centuries. It originated in India as a religious rite of the Brahman, or priestly, caste, and later became absorbed into Buddhism. The festival was introduced to southwestern Yunnan Province via Myanmar at the end of the 12th century. Buddhism has since been the region's predominant belief system.

The first day of the festival is celebrated in similar fashion to that of China's Lunar New Year. In addition to cleaning the house from top to bottom and preparing the family reunion dinner, dragonboat races, setting off Dai-style fireworks, and watching drama, song and dance performances are also customary. The second day is reserved for water sprinkling, which ritually cleanses people of any residual ill fortune lingering from the old year and is believed to bring good health and happiness. The third day is the Dai New Year's Day, most important of any other festival on the Dai lunar calendar. Sprinkling people with water on this day is believed to purify their hearts in preparation for the coming New Year.

Flying kongming lanterns is a time-honored Dai custom.

Water, perceived as nourishing everything yet striving for nothing, is the focal point of the festival activities. According to Dai culture, water, as the god of life, symbolizes holiness, happiness, and light. People fetch clean water from the wells early in the morning, add flowers, and take it to their local Buddhist temple. After performing a worshipful ritual, they clean the statue of Buddha with this water and pray for the Buddha's blessing. Everyone then splashes the blessed water over one another to wash away illness and disaster and pray for a happy life.

People traditionally fill wooden basins with water and use leafy twigs to sprinkle it gently, first on elders and then others, while uttering sincere wishes for health and harmony.

Younger people use a broader range of containers for the water which they will soon splash over one another while chasing along high streets and through back lanes. Dai people believe that spraying water through the air brings good luck, felicity, and health; also that the wetter one gets, the more benedictions one may expect. The festival is thus a veritable ocean of joy.

Later on, local people join in the festival song and dance activities. Dressed in its finest attire, the community as a whole dances for joy, to the accompaniment of gongs and elephant-foot drums. The air is vibrant with singing and cheering as people make merry through the night.
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A ground crew member leads a China Eastern Airlines cargo plane to land at Yantai Penglai International Airport in Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]

China Eastern Air Holding Co has sold part of its freight business to four private firms.

The State-owned parent company of China Eastern Airlines revealed the news on Monday as it stepped up efforts to diversify its holdings.

"The move to sell part of Eastern Air Logistics Co will help to transform it into a comprehensive logistics provider," said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at carnoc.com, one of China's largest civil aviation websites.

China Eastern signed a capital increase agreement and shareholder document in Shanghai with Legend Holdings Corp, Global Logistic Properties Ltd, China Deppon Logistics Co Ltd and Chinese real estate developer Greenland Holdings Corp.

China Eastern Air Holding will retain a 45 percent stake in Eastern Air Logistics Co, while Legend Holdings, GLP, Deppon and Greenland will hold 25 percent, 10 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

The remaining 10 percent will be held by Eastern Air Logistics' employees, it said. Detailed financial terms have yet to be disclosed.

Lin said that enabling employees to hold shares in the freight company was a highlight of China Eastern Air Holding's diversification policy.

"It will help to tie the economic interests of employees to the company's profits," Lin said. "Employees will consider more about the company's benefits when they make decisions."

The deal means up to 2.26 billion yuan ($332 million) will be pumped into the freight business, according to the terms of the agreement. The asset-liability ratio of Eastern Air Logistics will also be lowered to 74 percent from 87.86 percent.

"Logistic firms of major airlines have been experiencing losses, and China Eastern hopes to revitalize the business through this plan," Lin said.
Internet celebrities hold a live broadcast in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, ahead of World Sleep Day in March. [Photo/China Daily]

China's internet celebrities are leveraging their popularity among young Chinese followers to make money like never before, creating an industry with real investment value, a new industry report has found.

According to the report published in Shanghai on Friday by iResearch Consulting Group, as of May the ranks of internet celebrities on Sina's Weibo with more than 100,000 followers had increased 57.3 percent from a year ago.

The report also found that the total number of their followers surged 20.6 percent to 465 million year-on-year.

Additionally, it showed that 61.4 percent of the online celebrities' followers were male. That contrasted with data released by China Internet Network Information Center recording a Chinese netizen male to female ratio of 52.4 to 47.6.

The iResearch findings indicated that the mobile internet is penetrating into lower-tier cities, with about 54.1 percent of the followers coming from small cities. In contrast, netizens from first-tier cities were least attracted by online celebrities, making up 18.5 percent of their fans, lagging second-tier cities at 23.1 percent and third-tier cities at 23.5 percent.

The web celebrities followers extended from mainland to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, whose residents accounted for 2.5 percent of the total fan base.

Consultancy iResearch, which provides online audience measurements and consumer data in China, said the report followed extensive analysis on current conditions and prospects for the cyber celebrity related economy.

According to Zou Lei, co-president of iResearch, internet celebrities are creating an industry with real investment value after years of development of the sector.

Through posting words, pictures, voices, video clips and live streaming associated with brands, Zou said online celebrities were turning their fame and influence into real cash.

Daily transaction volumes of e-commerce related directly to online celebrities exceeded 54.7 million yuan ($8.0 million) in the second quarter this year, representing 106 percent year-on-year growth, according to data from Weibo.

The Chinese celebrity value listing, which aims to provide thorough analysis of Chinese cyber influencers, was jointly published on Friday by Weibo, Harper's Bazaar and iResearch. The partners said they believed that by establishing a set criteria for evaluation of the sector, the online celebrity industry could develop in a more healthy and orderly way, and evolve into a complete industry chain.

The listing was compiled with comprehensive data and an index that ranked among other factors, communication skills, interaction with fans, the ability to cash in and influence followers, e-commerce gross merchandise value, online celebrity endorsements and income from fans.

"We have noticed that more than 90 percent of the top 100 online celebrities on Weibo have signed contracts with professional agents, or a multichannel network," said Cao Zenghui, vice-president of Weibo.

Monthly active users of Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service, reached 340 million in the first quarter of this year, and daily active users reached 154 million, according to Cao.

The report said it believed that cooperation between internet celebrities and platforms like Weibo would boost profits.

It said that with more capital flowing into the industry, the competition for resources and platforms would become fiercer, requiring more diversified contents and presentations to satisfy the demand of followers while fending off rivals.

"The online celebrity economy in China is still in its infancy with huge potential," Zou said.

"In the past few years, we have seen internet celebrities offering more diversified, personalized and professional contents, with the influence of multichannel networks growing."
A decision to include China's A-share companies in the MSCI Emerging Market Index could finally happen later this year.

Plans have been shelved three times to include China's A-share index in the EMI, which is compiled by Morgan Stanley Capital International, or MSCI.

In this latest move, only 169 China-listed stocks will be considered for the MSCI, which is down from the 448 listed companies under the previous proposal.

Talks between the EMI and China's A-share index centered on this pared down solution, according to the MSCI's consultation document published on its website in March.

Still, all the 169 mainland companies can be currently accessed by foreign investors on the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

"There is a 50 percent possibility that the MSCI will include China A-shares this year as the two cross-border investment schemes have improved the accessibility of the A-share market," said Jing Ulrich, vice-chairwoman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

"We expect the Chinese government to continue to open up the financial markets gradually," Ulrich added.

The A-share index had been rejected three times in its bid to be included in the MSCI Emerging Market Index during the past three years.

In 2016, MSCI cited restrictions on foreign investment flows in the mainland market, trading suspensions of Chinese-listed companies and pre-approval requirements as the three main hurdles.

If a deal is finally hammered out, A-shares would account for just 0.5 percent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. And they would probably be included in the EMI next year.

By opening up the mainland market through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2014 and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect last year, the central government has gradually eased capital restrictions and investment quotas.

Also, by focusing on large-capitalization stocks, the problems arising from share trading suspension are to a large extent resolved.

The only obstacle to overcome is the pre-approval requirement. Discussions are still being held in an effort to solve this problem.

Even so, China's A-share index will be small compared to the overall MSCI Emerging Market Index.

"With $1.6 trillion worth of assets under management in the MSCI Emerging Market Index, the 0.5 percent weight will bring only $8 billion of inflows to A-shares," said Aidan Yao, senior emerging Asia economist at AXA Investment Managers.

"This represents 0.8 percent of A-shares' free-float market capitalization and 2.6 percent of its daily trading turnover," he added.

But global fund managers stressed that investing in the A-share market will pay off in the long term.
China's largest coal producer and the country's leading power generator are close to unveiling a merger plan, as listing units of the two announced suspension of trading for "unprecedented" asset transactions on Monday.

The merger between Shenhua Group and China Guodian Corp is expected to create a mega-sized energy giant, with a combined asset of 1.73 trillion yuan ($254 billion).

Shares will remain suspended for trading until July 4, the coal producer's listed unit China Shenhua Energy Co and the power generator's GD Power Development Co said in a filing to Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday evening.

The two energy giants have been reported to be in merger talk since earlier this month. Shares jumped on the news, before the both halted trading on June 5.

The deal is still under planning process, pending regulatory approval and such "significant matter without precedent" contains uncertainty, the filing noted.

The merger plan comes as China is looking to reform its State-owned enterprises (SOEs), among which energy sector is at center to steer away from the old growth model.

A merger of the energy giants would see the creation of a bigger and more competitive SOE in the global market, said Zhou Dadi, a senior researcher at the China Energy Research Society.

The move also comes as the country has vowed to further slash overcapacity and improve efficiencies among industrial giants.

The past three years have seen a string of SOE consolidations, including a merger of the country's two largest train makers, one between both Fortune 500 companies China Metallurgical Group and China Minmetals Corporation, between China Ocean Shipping Group and China Shipping (Group) Company, and between Wuhan Iron and Steel and Shanghai-based Baosteel.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin drew electoral districts so out of whack with the state's political breakdown that they violated the constitutional rights of Democratic voters.

What the Republicans did is called gerrymandering, a centuries-old practice of creating legislative districts that favor one party over another. Both political parties do it when they can.

SO EXACTLY WHAT IS GERRYMANDERING?

Gerrymandering is the practice of one party packing as many voters of the other party into the fewest districts possible.

The term comes from a Massachusetts state Senate district that resembled a salamander and was approved in 1812 by Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry.

Every 10 years following the census, states redraw the boundaries of legislative districts to account for population changes, so that the number of people living in each district is about the same. The generic term for the process is called redistricting.

States redraw districts for House seats in Congress and for legislative districts in state legislatures. Cities do it for city council districts.

ON TO WISCONSIN

The Wisconsin case involves the state legislature. In Wisconsin, the Republicans were in charge so they tried to pack as many Democrats as they could into the fewest number of districts.

This left fertile ground in the rest of the state for Republicans to win more legislative seats.

WHO DRAWS THE LINES?

In most states, the redistricting process is controlled by the state legislature and the governor, which is why state elections at the beginning of each decade are so important. In other states, bipartisan commissions draw districts in an effort to reduce gerrymandering.

Gerrymandering has become more precise as computer software has become more sophisticated, enabling map-makers to divide counties, cities and even neighborhoods to maximize their political advantage. The result has been sprawling, odd-shaped districts that might include communities with little in common other than the residents' political affiliation.

The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that states cannot gerrymander districts in an effort to reduce the influence of minority voters. But the court has never struck down a legislative map for strictly political reasons.

___

Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenatap

Reaction to court's decision to hear redistricting case

MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court's announcement Monday that it will hold oral arguments to decide whether Republican Wisconsin lawmakers drew electoral districts so out of whack with the state's political breakdown that they violated the constitutional rights of Democratic voters. The court also put on hold any redrawing of maps while the case is pending.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker spokesman Tom Evenson: "Gov. Walker is confident Wisconsin's redistricting process is constitutional and is pleased to see the Supreme Court take the case."

Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel: "I am thrilled the Supreme Court has granted our request to review the redistricting decision and that Wisconsin will have an opportunity to defend its redistricting process. As I have said before, our redistricting process was entirely lawful and constitutional, and the district court should be reversed. ... The stay is particularly important because it preserves the Legislature's time, effort, and resources while this case is pending."

Wisconsin state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, both Republicans: "Wisconsin lawmakers have maintained that our state's redistricting process and legislative maps are legal and constitutional, and we look forward to the Court's final decision which we are confident will affirm our position."

Plaintiff Bill Whitford: "This is a kind of apportionment scheme that simply denies Wisconsin residents democracy. We're hoping the Supreme Court will release us from this sorry state."

Trevor Potter, president of the Campaign Legal Center, which is representing the voters who challenged the maps: "You would like a situation where the legislative outcomes accurately reflect the actions of the voters. What we have in this situation is a theft of that right by whatever party is in power at that moment to stay in power despite the changing will of the voters."

Sachin Chheda, director of the Fair Elections Project, which organized and launched the lawsuit: "We've already had two federal courts declare the map unconstitutional in part or whole. ... Now this story will be told on a national stage."

Sen. Jennifer Shilling, Wisconsin state Senate Democratic minority leader: "Regardless of the outcome in this case, we must remain committed to promoting election fairness, protecting voter rights and preserving our shared democratic values. Democrats will continue to champion non-partisan redistricting reform to empower citizens and restore fairness to our election process."

Rep. Peter Barca, Wisconsin state Assembly Democratic minority leader: "Voters should be able to choose their representatives, not the other way around, and I have faith that the Supreme Court will do the right thing to help end the terrible polarization we see in both Wisconsin and across America."

Rick Esenberg, head of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which filed a brief asking the court to take the case: WILL president and general counsel, on today's decision: "We are confident the Supreme Court, as it has in the past, will decline to insert the judiciary into political questions on whether or not to make up whatever natural disadvantage these maps may confer."

Jenny Dye, research director for liberal advocacy group One Wisconsin Now: "Wisconsin Republicans have put their own political interests before everything else with their manipulation of the rules on voting to give themselves an unfair partisan advantage."
Chinese companies are constructing five industrial zones in Ethiopia as the African nation strives to become the continent's manufacturing hub.

The statement made on Tuesday by Fitsum Arega, Commissioner at Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC), said among the five zones is Ethiopia's first industrial park, the Eastern Industrial Zone, 37 km south of Addis Ababa.

The park, despite having 66 projects operational on 40 hectares of land, is still under construction on 167 hectares of additional land.

Others are the Huajian Industrial Park in the outskirts of Addis Ababa, developed by Huajian Group; the Arerti Industrial Zone northeast of Addis Ababa being developed by China Communications Construction Company (CCCC); the Dire Dawa Industrial Park east of Addis Ababa being constructed by China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) and the Modjo Industrial Park being built by Taiwanese firm George Shoe Company.

Arega said among the five, Arerti is different from "others being developed for textile and apparel sector as the industrial zone is expected to focus on hosting companies engaged in producing construction materials".

Ethiopia, while witnessing a massive infrastructure boom, is struggling to cope with the cost of imported materials. It has hoped Arerti will act as an import substitution mechanism and save Ethiopia much-needed hard currency.
The Bureau of Beijing International Horticultural Exhibition Coordination recently invited countries along the Belt and Road to participate in the 2019 Beijing Expo.

During the ongoing Astana Expo in Kazakhstan, the Beijing expo bureau sent out invitations to countries and people along the Belt and Road to attend the Beijing Expo 2019, which is the worlds highest-level horticulture exhibition. The expo will be held in Yanqing District in suburb Beijing

The Expo Coordination Bureau is currently visiting Kazakhstan, a key country along the Belt and Road, to promote the Beijing Expo 2019. The delegation of the bureau met with the agricultural ministries of Kazakhstan and Armenia on matters related to the expo participation. The vice agricultural minister of Kazakhstan expressed interests in the expo. Up to now, a number of B&R countries have shown intentions to be exhibitors.

The Beijing Expo has made plans concerning the exhibition space for international exhibitors, including five areas covering Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas, Oceania and international organizations. The outdoor exhibition space will span 1,000 to 3,000 square meters individually and the indoor booth will each cover 50 to 300 square meters.
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[Photo provided to China Daily]

Approximately 100 Western guests attended a giant panda lecture on the cruise trip Majestic Princess on June 19.

The lecture offered a wide range of information, from panda's birth-giving to eating habit, healthcare and living abilities in the wild.

"I was fascinated to learn that the giant panda has an opposable thumb like humans  that's very interesting and very different from other animals,\" said Paul Deeter from the United States.

Deeter boarded the ship from Singapore and will travel to Shanghai.

He has become a fan of giant pandas since watching their playful moves in online videos, and he saw the interesting animal once in Washington, DC.

Deeter was also relieved to see how China's experts have reintroduced pandas to the wild after breeding them, making sure the population stays balanced.

The lecture was given by Zhou Xiaoping, an expert from southwestern China's Sichuan province.

"The foreign audience is interested in almost anything about pandas," Zhou said, noting that he was questioned eagerly after his talk.

The panda lecture was part of the traditional Chinese arrangements organized by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. The purpose is to enable Western guests to better appreciate Chinese culture and traditions.

The Majestic Princess departed from Rome on May 21, sails across key Maritime Silk Road points, including Greece, the United Arab Emirates, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand, and will conclude with a berthing at China's Xiamen on June 26.
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`Lebanon's General Security Directorate said Monday that it arrested a Lebanese member of the terrorist Islamic State group (IS) who was plotting to carry out a "suicide bombing" in the country.

"During interrogation, he confessed to the charges and that he had first belonged to the al-Nusra Front group and undergone military training at the hands of the (slain Lebanese) terrorist Osama Mansour," the General Security said in a statement.

"He took part in Tripoli's clashes and after the end of Tripoli's battles with the army he communicated with the terrorist Osama Mansour, who told him that he had chosen him to carry out a suicide operation," the statement added.

"Mansour then asked him to maintain readiness until he is informed of the target and until he receives a suicide vest and he agreed" the statement added.

The detainee, identified as A.A., later communicated via social networking websites with a number of IS militants before pledging allegiance to the group through senior IS official Abu Amina al-Souri.

He was psychologically prepared to carry out a suicide operation but his arrest foiled the attack, the General Security added.
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An international team of mathematicians led by University of Pittsburgh mathematician Thomas Hales has delivered a formal proof of the Kepler conjecture, a famous problem in discrete geometry that had gone unsolved for more than 300 years.

The team's paper is recently published in the journal Forum of Mathematics, Pi, an open access journal published by Cambridge University Press.

The Kepler Conjecture was a famous problem in discrete geometry, which asked for the most efficient way to cram spheres into a given space.

The answer, while not difficult to guess, had been remarkably difficult to prove. Johannes Kepler, the famous mathematician and astronomer predicted this 300 years ago, but he couldn't prove it.

No one proved it for 300 years. In 1998, professor Hales and his student Sam Ferguson originally announced a proof. But the solution was so long and complicated that a team of a dozen referees spent years working on checking it before giving up.

"The verdict of the referees was that the proof seemed to work, but they just did not have the time or energy to verify everything comprehensively," Henry Cohn, editor of Forum of Mathematics, Pi, said in a statement.

"The proof was published in 2005, and no irreparable flaws were ever identified, but it was an unsatisfactory situation that the proof was seemingly beyond the ability of the mathematics community to check thoroughly," said Cohn, also a principal researcher at Microsoft Research New England in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

"To address this situation and establish certainty, Hales turned to computers, using techniques of formal verification. He and a team of collaborators wrote out the entire proof in extraordinary detail using strict formal logic, which a computer program then checked with perfect rigor. This paper is the result of their completed work," Cohn said.

This paper not only settles a centuries-old mathematical problem, but is also a major advance in computer verification of complex mathematical proofs, Cambridge University Press, the oldest university press and one of the oldest publishers and printers in the world, said in a press release.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called on international community to eliminate sexual violence in conflict by addressing root causes of such crimes.

"Rape and sexual violence in conflict are tactics of terrorism and war, used strategically to humiliate, degrade and destroy, and often to pursue a campaign of ethnic cleansing," said Guterres in a message for the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

"The United Nations is making every effort to address the root causes of conflict-related sexual violence by using preventive diplomacy, fostering peace-building and development, encouraging national action, and ending gender discrimination," he said.

On June 19, 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to proclaim June 19 of each year the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

It is aimed to raise awareness of the need to put an end to conflict-related sexual violence, to honor the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world and to pay tribute to all those who have courageously devoted their lives to and lost their lives in standing up for the eradication of these crimes.

The date was chosen to commemorate the adoption on June 19, 2008 of UN Security Council resolution 1820 (2008), in which the 15-nation council condemned sexual violence as a tactic of war and an impediment to peace-building.
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French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Monday presented the government's resignation to President Emmanuel Macron as a traditional procedure following the legislative election which gave the head of state a free hand to rule Europe's second powerhouse, the president's office said.

"In accordance with the republican tradition in the aftermath of parliamentary elections," Macron accepted the cabinet resignation and re-appointed Philippe as prime minister, his office said.

The conservative head of executive staff was asked to form a new team whose members would be unveiled on Wednesday before 6 p.m. (1600 GMT), it added.

Macron is expected to keep faith with main figures of the ministerial staff in place since last month after the six ministers who run for parliamentary election won the race and secured their post in the government.

After the presidency triumph on May 7, France's youngest top official enjoyed a landslide majority in the National Assembly, making the party, he had created a year ago, the ruling movement for the next five years.

Of the 577 elected lawmakers, 308 were from the centrist LREM movement. With different backgrounds, most of them came form civil society and had never held an elected post.

With its center-right MoDem ally, the LREM won 350 seats, outpacing the 289 seats needed to have a strong say in the lower house of parliament to implement president's economic and social roadmap.

Some 113 candidates under the banner of The Republicans won their race while the outgoing governing Socialist Party won 29 seats, forcing its chief Jean-Christophe Cambadelis to step down.

Marine Le Pen, leader of far-right National Party, made her entry to the National Assembly along with seven other far-rightists.

As to contenders representing far-left "France Unbowed" party, 17 gained the legislative contest.
 Flash

The China-Mauritius relationship is moving ahead in a stable manner," said Chinese Ambassador to Mauritius Li Li during an exclusive interview with China Today. This year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Mauritius diplomatic relations, which is an important occasion for both countries.

"We should review the history, share the benefits of development, and look forward to the future to explore more opportunities," the ambassador stressed. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations on April 15, 1972, bilateral relations have seen smooth sailing. Today China is Mauritiuss second largest trade partner and Mauritius is now a popular African destination for Chinese tourists.

Li Li explained that Mauritius enjoys a superior location as it is situated in the main shipping channel of the Indian Ocean, and will play a key role in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.

The government of Mauritius has always emphasized that Mauritius should serve as a bridge to connect Asia and Africa. Li believes that the government of Mauritius is willing to further support the Belt and Road Initiative. Promoting Economic and Trade Cooperation Mauritius, as an island nation in Africa, features a relatively developed economy and is very different from the stereotype that most Chinese people have of African countries. Mark Twain wrote: "Mauritius was made first and then heaven; and heaven was copied after Mauritius."

This nation has become very attractive to Chinese tourists. Since 2013 when China and Mauritius signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption, the number of trips made by Chinese tourists has grown from less than 10,000 to nearly 100,000 per year.

Now Air Mauritius has launched several direct flights to Mauritius from a number of major Chinese cities such as Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, and Guangzhou. A group of apprentices from the Republic of Congo and the Republic of Mauritius put on a Shaolin Kung Fu performance on September 23, 2016, after finishing their three-month training at the Shaolin Temple in Fengdeng, Henan Province.

Cooperation in economy, trade, and technology also continues to develop at the same fast pace. The two governments signed agreements on tax, economic and technological cooperation and established the Sino-Mauritian Joint Commission on Economic, Technical and Trade Cooperation in 1983, in a bid to explore more potential for cooperation and solve the problems they encountered during the process.

In 2016, the total trade volume between China and Mauritius hit US $778 million, with exports from China reaching US $759 million. Faced with the problem of trade deficit, Lee Hong Chong, the ambassador of Mauritius to China, told China Today that Mauritius has a long coastline.

The country has vast area for sugarcane cultivation and is experienced in this regard. He pointed out that Mauritius can enhance trade cooperation with China in fisheries and sugarcane-related products. He hoped that the feasibility study on the free trade agreement between China and Mauritius that has been carried out will bear fruit as soon as possible, because that will boost bilateral economic and trade cooperation. Since taking office, Lee has visited at least 15 Chinese provinces. He admitted that he was deeply impressed by Chinas rapid growth. He said that China has made great strides in economic development over the past three decades and he hopes Mauritius can get some inspiration from Chinas experience. The symposium with the theme "Enhancing Mauritius-China Relations and Exploring the Future" in commemoration of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mauritius and China was held on April 19, in Rose Hill City, Mauritius.

Politicians and scholars from the two countries were invited to share their views on the current situation and the future of bilateral economic and trade cooperation. The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, said at the opening ceremony that the economic development mode of Mauritius has been improved, with multiple industries now booming, such as the sugar industry, the export processing industry, the tourism industry, and the financial services industry.

Mauritius is also striving to further transform and upgrade its development model to attract more Chinese investment and achieve innovation in technology.

Chinese Ambassador Li Li hoped that through the symposium, experts will be able to figure out how to coordinate the Belt and Road Initiative and the "Vision 2030"strategy of Mauritius and discover the comparative advantage of Sino-Mauritian relations, so to better explore areas of cooperation.

Special Representative of the Chinese Government on African Affairs Xu Jinghu pointed out that China and Mauritius should enhance friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in marine economy, free trade zone development, financial services, tourism, and new energy, making Mauritius an important link between the Belt and Road Initiative and the continent of Africa. Attracting Chinese Investment At the symposium, experts emphasized Maritiuss superior location, excellent environment for investment and many talents. The government of Mauritius said that Mauritius can act as a platform for foreign enterprises to explore the rest of Africa. Liu Jiawei, general manager of Huawei Technologies (Mauritius) Co., Ltd., detailed Mauritius advantages using Huaweis own experience. He said that Huawei is expanding its business from Mauritius to cover other parts of Africa.

The company has made Mauritius a sharing hub for finance and services that can serve other teams in neighboring countries. "The official languages in Mauritius are French and English. This reduces the companys labor costs. The service center in Mauritius can provide support to other teams across Africa conveniently," he explained. Experts from the Mauritius Meteorological Administration, the Marine Institute and the Coast Guard have a tour of the Chinese deep-sea research vessel Xiangyanghong 10 at the Port Louis docks, on April 21, 2016.

Yang Changhe, general manager of Jinfei Economic and Trade Zone, told China Today that the zone serves as a bridgehead for enterprises from Chinas Shanxi Province to enter Africa. The zone was one of the economic and trade cooperation zones proposed by Hu Jintao, former president of China, at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in 2006. It was also one of the first overseas cooperation zones approved by Chinas Ministry of Commerce.

Yang said the zone consists of a finance and business area, a culture and leisure area and a port industrial area and they plan to transform the zone into an African financial center, a popular tourist destination that offers a one-stop travel service to Chinese tourists, and a base for developing port trade and warehouse logistics.

So far there are 10 enterprises in the zone, with another 18 enterprises from South Africa, Madagascar, India, and Reunion intending to enter the zone. At Tianli Spinning (Mauritius) Co., Ltd., over 300 workers from Bangladesh are busy with production in the factory. The company was funded and established by Shanxi Tianli Group in 2001 and launched production in August 2003.

Currently it is the largest cotton yarn supplier in Mauritius, producing over 8,000 tons of cotton yarn every year, with an output value of US $28 million. "Tianli is one of the few Chinese textile companies to go global and we made it today," said Wang Zaijing, general manager of Tianli Spinning.

He said that Mauritius enjoys exceptional advantages as it signed agreements with the EU and the U.S. to enjoy duty-free and quota-free treatment for its fabric products. In addition, the local financial industry is developed, so the cost of financing is relatively low. He pointed out that the only problem is that Mauritius is not the source of the raw materials, nor does it provide a market for the goods.

Now Tianli has 300,000 mu (1 mu = 0.067 hectares) of cotton fields in Madagascar. About 60 percent of the cotton yarn it produces is exported to countries like South Africa, Madagascar, and Swaziland. Differing from traditional enterprises, Bank of China (Mauritius) Ltd., which was opened for business in late 2016, marked the widening of Chinese financial enterprises sphere of influence in Africa.

According to Zhang Xiaoqing, head of BOC (Mauritius), BOCs branch in Mauritius will mainly engage in corporate financial business, such as deposits, loans, international settlements, trade financing, and financial institutions.

It will actively carry out cross-border RMB transactions and strive to establish itself as a strategic platform for BOCs African business. Zhang said that the financial industry accounts for over 20 percent of the gross value of production in Mauritius, but competition is keen. More than 10 foreign investment banks, including HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank, have established branches in Mauritius.

Now BOC Mauritius has 23 employees, half of them local people. In the space of six months, the company has already attracted over 30 clients, half of which are Chinese enterprises. Promoting Cultural and People-to-people Exchanges In 2018, the China Cultural Center in Mauritius (the first overseas cultural center established by China) will celebrate its 30th birthday. Song Yanqun, director of the China Cultural Center in Mauritius, said that over the past three decades the center has served as a window, a bridge, and a platform for local people to learn about China.

The center provides regular classes on Chinese dance, martial arts, Mandarin, as well as training in Chinese calligraphy, the traditional Chinese tea ceremony, Chinese embroidery, Chinese painting and some traditional Chinese musical instruments such as the erhu and guzheng, providing a wide range of ways to access Chinese culture. Naraindra Kistamah (first left), the Mauritian Dean of the Confucius Institute, and Tan Xudong (first right), the Chinese Dean, hope to make the institute a platform to promote cooperation between China and Mauritius. As part of the celebrations for the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Mauritius, Mandarin classes were launched at the Confucius Institute at the University of Mauritius.

The first intake of students are all from the University of Mauritius. By studying the Chinese language they will better understand Chinese culture and further promote cultural exchanges between the two countries. Naraindra Kistamah, the Mauritian Dean of the Confucius Institute, said the number of Chinese tourists to Mauritius is growing every year, so it is important to understand China and its people.

Therefore, it is the right time for the University of Mauritius to cooperate with Zhejiang Sci-tech University and establish the first Confucius Institute in Mauritius. Tan Xudong, the Chinese Dean of the institute, said the goal of the institute is not only to promote Chinese culture, but also to make the institute a platform for the promotion of cooperation between China and Mauritius in other areas. Kistamah is also director of the Textile Department at the University of Mauritius. On April 18, he held a symposium attended by researchers from the Charhar Institute  a think tank from China  and deans from the various institutes of the University of Mauritius. He hopes such dialogue will promote exchanges and cooperation between Chinese research institutes and Mauritius.

At the symposium, Zhang Guobin, secretary general of the Charhar Institute, announced that Charhar will donate books to the Confucius Institute at the University of Mauritius and establish a scholarship program to enable students to go and study in China. At the opening ceremony of the Charhar Institutes African branch, Chinese Ambassador Li Li said the focus on China-Mauritius relations used to be on economic and trade cooperation, but now the establishment of Charhars African branch in Mauritius shows that bilateral relations have been enhanced and enriched by the participation of more scholars and experts, and further cooperation will be conducive to enhancing mutual understanding and prompting the two sides to better help and support each other.
New Yorkers will vote on a Constitutional Convention this fall. Before they head to the polls, they should consider one very basic question: Is New York State government working for you?

Those who would answer Yes can stop reading.

But those who would answer No likely believe we can do better on taxes, regulations, corruption, public safety or several other issues. For those hoping to change New York, a Constitutional Convention carries the potential for reform, directed solely by the voting public.

CONVENTION OPPOSITION ON THE ATTACK

The potential for change can often inspire fear, especially for those whose entrenched power may be affected by a reform-minded public. Scare tactics by convention opponents portray it as a threat to many important policies and programs. I firmly believe Albany is in dire need of reform, but to be perfectly clear:

I DO NOT support any proposal that would reduce or impact public pensions and retirement benefits;

I DO NOT support putting the State Pension Fund under the governors control;

I DO NOT support measures that undermine Second Amendment rights; and

I DO NOT support an agenda that jeopardizes open space protections.

Ive seen enough dysfunction in Albany to know that taxpayers deserve better than what theyre getting. Supporting comprehensive reforms through a Constitutional Convention does not mean that all state-driven programs should be under scrutiny.

POWER IN THE PEOPLES HANDS

The structure of a Constitutional Convention allows for every part of the process to be dictated by the voting public. New Yorkers  not elected officials, not lobbyists, not special interest organizations  will decide by majority vote:

Whether or not a Constitutional Convention will be held;

Which delegates will represent their interests at a convention; and

Which recommended measures become law or are rejected.

Information about the Constitutional Convention process and what it would mean for New York state can be found at http://nyconstitution.org/

The governor, legislative majorities and high-powered special-interest groups have either shown no interest in a convention or are actively campaigning against holding one. The reason is simple  the Albany establishment does not like change, especially if its longstanding powers are threatened. But the fate of a Constitutional Convention should not be driven by political agendas or influence. It should represent one thing, the will of the people.

What do you think? I want to hear from you. Send me your feedback, suggestions and ideas regarding this or any other issue facing New York state. You can always contact my district office at (315) 781-2030, email me at kolbb@nyassembly.gov, find me by searching for Assemblyman Brian Kolb on Facebook, and follow me on Twitter.
Healthy financial institutions are a prerequisite for preventing a financial crisis, as central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan rightly pointed out at this year's Lujiazui financial forum in Shanghai on Tuesday.

Zhou made the comment while encouraging broader and longer-term financial opening-up.

The country faces a variety of challenges in its financial sector, so the emphasis on greater government efforts to advance reforms is welcome, as in this way the country will be better able to preempt a crisis stemming from its financial risks.

In the Government Work Report he delivered to the 12th National People's Congress in March, Premier Li Keqiang issued a strongly worded statement cautioning that strict vigilance was needed to guard against the financial risks accumulated through nonperforming loans, bond defaults, shadow banking, internet-based financial services and other instruments.

The financial sector has made many attempts at financial innovation and reform in recent years, such as in the field of internet-based finance. But regrettably, some of the many internet-based financial platforms that rapidly appeared turned out to be "financial bloodsuckers" engaged in illegal fundraising.

Also in the wake of the stock market debacles since the summer of 2015, investigations have revealed the murky connections between officials from the regulatory commission and the staff of securities firms, who joined hands to manipulate stock prices to the benefit of a few insiders.

Another major challenge the country faces is its high level of corporate debt. Although some international agencies have warned that China suffers from dangerously high debt levels, the fact is that China's government debts remain affordable. What is worrying is the debt on the corporate side. However, as China is "deleveraging" its economy, hopefully the corporate debt risk will gradually be reduced - in the same way that China is resolving the problem of its local government debt.

All these issues are symptoms of the financial sector's ill health, and policymakers must make more efforts to clean up and strengthen management in financial sector to remedy the risks.

One of the major tasks facing the government at present is to accelerate innovation and reform to equip the country's financial institutions with modern corporate governance structures; likewise, the growing number of State-owned financial enterprises with a presence in global financial arena need more modern management to be competitive.

To ensure the resilience and well-being of the financial sector, reform and innovation should not stop, as Wang Zhaoxing, vice-chairman of the China Banking Regulatory Commission, emphasized at Tuesday's forum.
A ground crew member leads a China Eastern Airlines cargo plane to land at Yantai Penglai International Airport in Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]

China Eastern Air Holding Co has sold part of its freight business to four private firms.

The State-owned parent company of China Eastern Airlines revealed the news on Monday as it stepped up efforts to diversify its holdings.

"The move to sell part of Eastern Air Logistics Co will help to transform it into a comprehensive logistics provider," said Lin Zhijie, an aviation industry analyst and columnist at carnoc.com, one of China's largest civil aviation websites.

China Eastern signed a capital increase agreement and shareholder document in Shanghai with Legend Holdings Corp, Global Logistic Properties Ltd, China Deppon Logistics Co Ltd and Chinese real estate developer Greenland Holdings Corp.

China Eastern Air Holding will retain a 45 percent stake in Eastern Air Logistics Co, while Legend Holdings, GLP, Deppon and Greenland will hold 25 percent, 10 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent, respectively.

The remaining 10 percent will be held by Eastern Air Logistics' employees, it said. Detailed financial terms have yet to be disclosed.

Lin said that enabling employees to hold shares in the freight company was a highlight of China Eastern Air Holding's diversification policy.

"It will help to tie the economic interests of employees to the company's profits," Lin said. "Employees will consider more about the company's benefits when they make decisions."

The deal means up to 2.26 billion yuan ($332 million) will pumped into the freight business, according to the terms of the agreement. The asset-liability ratio of Eastern Air Logistics will also be lowered to 74 percent from 87.86 percent.

"Logistic firms of major airlines have been experiencing losses, and China Eastern hopes to revitalize the business through this plan," Lin said.
A tour guide from GZL leads a group of tourists to take the first high-speed train connecting Shenzhen in Guangdong province and Xiamen in Fujian province. [Photo/China Daily]

A massive tax shake-up has revitalized the service sector and stimulated economic growth.

Value Added Tax, or VAT, reforms in May 2016 helped GZL, a travel agency, which is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong province in southern China, increase its foreign footprint.

The company saved 3.65 million yuan ($535,700) in VAT payments, which allowed it to plough money back into the business.

"Our overseas market in the first four months in 2017 jumped by around 30 percent year-on-year because of the cash we saved in VAT," Li Bin, finance manager at GZL said, without disclosing further financial details.

Li felt the rebate policy had been crucial in boosting growth and expanding the company's presence as it seeks new destinations.

"Because of the VAT rebate, we have focused more on developing our overseas travel business by introducing 268 new package deals for customers," Li said.

Key industries in the service sector, such as travel, engineering and technology, receive VAT exemptions for overseas parts of their businesses under new tax policies rolled out in May 2016.

The move came amid a major overhaul of China's VAT system.

"VAT reform can give impetus to economic growth and help transform the economy by reducing the tax burden on enterprises," Premier Li Keqiang said.

Streamlining VAT payments was another key area and part of last year's policy as rates were readjusted in the construction, real estate, financial and consumer services sectors.

Tax reforms were first launched in 2013 and involved various industries, including railways, postal services and telecommunications.

At first, only manufacturers in the export sector were eligible for tax breaks, but that has since been extended to financial services, which were considered a "weak link" before the reforms.

Still, more policy measures need to be wheeled out to increase business growth in China, especially when it comes to attracting foreign investment.

"The tax authorities should introduce more policies to help foreign companies develop businesses in China, and understand domestic policies" said Hu Yijian, a tax professor at Shanghai University of Finance and Economics.

For now, the new policies appear to be paying off.

Shi Tiehua, manager of Zhuhai Coca Cola Beverage Co Ltd, confirmed that the group plans to add a new production line this year as it expands operations.

Tax breaks, such as a reduction in VAT, have been an added incentive.

"The company received VAT reductions of around 7 percent last year," Shi said, adding that tax savings helped Zhuhai Coca Cola expand its market share in China.
After 17 months of detention in North Korea, the conditions of which are still unclear, Otto Warmbier returned to his home state of Ohio Tuesday night.

But the young man who landed in Cincinnati and was immediately taken to a hospital isn't the same person who left a year and a half ago on a trip to explore the secretive country.

Since his return, Warmbier hasn't talked, moved in any purposeful way or responded to verbal communication. In a news conference Thursday, doctors called his condition "unresponsive wakefulness," and revealed he had suffered significant brain damage during his imprisonment.

The North Korean government said botulism is to blame for Warmbier's condition, but doctors haven't found any evidence of the illness in the now 22-year-old.

Before his detention made global headlines, Otto Warmbier was just an adventurous college student.

Bright future

Otto was born to Cindy and Fred Warmbier in Cincinnati -- the same city in which he's now hospitalized.

He excelled in academics, graduating from Wyoming High School in 2013 as his class salutatorian and getting a scholarship to the University of Virginia. There, he studied commerce and economics and was a member of the Theta Chi fraternity.

By all accounts, Warmbier was a planner. Someone who would always prioritize family and schoolwork over socializing.

"If Otto had anything schoolwork-related, job-related, family-related that he needed to do," Otto's friend Ned Ende told the Washington Post, "there was absolutely nothing you could say to him to convince him to do stuff with you."

But instead of graduating in May with the rest of his class, Warmbier was still in North Korea.

It wasn't a part of the plan.

Eye for adventure

In the spring of 2016, Warmbier signed up for a trip to North Korea with the Young Pioneer Tours travel group, a company that takes participants to places they wouldn't normally go.

"Otto was just a really great lad," Danny Gratton, Otto's roomate on the trip, told the Washington Post.

"I got to know Otto really, really well. He was such a mature lad for his age."

In pictures and videos from his time in North Korea, Warmbier can be seen smiling and enjoying himself.

One image taken during the trip shows Warmbier throwing a snowball and laughing.

"This is the Otto I know and love," Warmbier's brother Austin told CNN affiliate WCPO. "This is my brother."

In total, the trip was supposed to last five days. Warmbier had plans to visit Beijing, China, after he left North Korea.

But as he tried to depart from Pyongyang's airport, he was stopped in security.

According to the North Korean government, Warmbier was detained because he had sneaked onto a restricted floor of his hotel and had stolen a political poster.

The next time the world saw Warmbier he was distraught, breaking down in front of Korean journalists in a video released by North Korea in February of 2016. He admitted to the crime and begged for forgiveness and for his release. It's not known whether his confession was voluntary.

For his alleged crime, Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. In the end, he spent 17 months in North Korea before being released. He was taken by a medical aircraft to the US.

Uncertainty ahead

It's not clear what lies ahead for Warmbier. Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center say his condition, while stable, is severe, and that he suffered extensive loss of tissue in all regions of his brain.

The circumstances under which he came to be in that state remain a mystery.

In a news conference on Thursday, Warmbier's father called his return bittersweet.

"[I feel] relief that Otto is now home in the arms of those who love him," he said. "And anger that he was so brutally treated for so long."

CNN's Allison Brennan, Sol Han and Elise Labott contributed to this report.
Logo of Shenhua Group Corp is pictured in Tianjin, May 17, 2015.[Photo/VCG]

China's largest coal producer and the country's leading power generator are close to unveiling a merger plan, as listing units of the two announced suspension of trading for "unprecedented" asset transactions on Monday.

The merger between Shenhua Group and China Guodian Corp is expected to create a mega-sized energy giant, with a combined asset of 1.73 trillion yuan ($254 billion).

Shares will remain suspended for trading until July 4, the coal producer's listed unit China Shenhua Energy Co and the power generator's GD Power Development Co said in a filing to Shanghai Stock Exchange on Monday evening.

The two energy giants have been reported to be in merger talk since earlier this month. Shares jumped on the news, before the both halted trading on June 5.

The deal is still under planning process, pending regulatory approval and such "significant matter without precedent" contains uncertainty, the filing noted.

The merger plan comes as China is looking to reform its State-owned enterprises (SOEs), among which energy sector is at center to steer away from the old growth model.

A merger of the energy giants would see the creation of a bigger and more competitive SOE in the global market, said Zhou Dadi, a senior researcher at the China Energy Research Society.

The move also comes as the country has vowed to further slash overcapacity and improve efficiencies among industrial giants.

The past three years have seen a string of SOE consolidations, including a merger of the country's two largest train makers, one between both Fortune 500 companies China Metallurgical Group and China Minmetals Corporation, between China Ocean Shipping Group and China Shipping (Group) Company, and between Wuhan Iron and Steel and Shanghai-based Baosteel.
Key decision means Chinese companies could join emerging market index

A decision to include China's A-share companies in the MSCI Emerging Market Index could finally happen later this year.

Plans have been shelved three times to include China's A-share index in the EMI, which is compiled by Morgan Stanley Capital International, or MSCI.

In this latest move, only 169 China-listed stocks will be considered for the MSCI, which is down from the 448 listed companies under the previous proposal.

Jing Ulrich, vice-chairwoman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase & Co. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Talks between the EMI and China's A-share index centered on this pared down solution, according to the MSCI's consultation document published on its website in March.

Still, all the 169 mainland companies can be currently accessed by foreign investors on the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect.

"There is a 50 percent possibility that the MSCI will include China A-shares this year as the two cross-border investment schemes have improved the accessibility of the A-share market," said Jing Ulrich, vice-chairwoman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

"We expect the Chinese government to continue to open up the financial markets gradually," Ulrich added.

The A-share index had been rejected three times in its bid to be included in the MSCI Emerging Market Index during the past three years.

In 2016, MSCI cited restrictions on foreign investment flows in the mainland market, trading suspensions of Chinese-listed companies and pre-approval requirements as the three main hurdles.

If a deal is finally hammered out, A-shares would account for just 0.5 percent of the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. And they would probably be included in the EMI next year.

By opening up the mainland market through the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2014 and the Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect last year, the central government has gradually eased capital restrictions and investment quotas.

Also, by focusing on large-capitalization stocks, the problems arising from share trading suspension are to a large extent resolved.

The only obstacle to overcome is the pre-approval requirement. Discussions are still being held in an effort to solve this problem.

Even so, China's A-share index will be small compared to the overall MSCI Emerging Market Index.

"With $1.6 trillion worth of assets under management in the MSCI Emerging Market Index, the 0.5 percent weight will bring only $8 billion of inflows to A-shares," said Aidan Yao, senior emerging Asia economist at AXA Investment Managers.

"This represents 0.8 percent of A-shares' free-float market capitalization and 2.6 percent of its daily trading turnover," he added.

But global fund managers stressed that investing in the A-share market will pay off in the long term.
Chinese stock market will be boosted if A shares are included in the MSCI Emerging Market Index later this year.

Jing Ulrich, vice-chairwoman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase & Co, expected a brief rally for Chinese shares when the inclusion is finally agreed.

Jing Ulrich, vice-chairwoman of Asia Pacific at JPMorgan Chase& Co. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Global equity index provider MSCI Inc mentioned in March that it will focus on a smaller number of A-share companies, raising expectations that A-shares could finally be included in the international benchmark index this year.

"The probability of the inclusion of A-shares in MSCI has increased this year, although initial weighting will likely be small," Ulrich said.

"Inclusion would be an important milestone for China's equity market and may trigger a short-term rally due to increased expectations of fresh liquidity entering the onshore market," she added.

Ulrich stressed that the Chinese government has taken concrete steps to open up its equity markets to overseas investors after rolling out the Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2014 and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect in 2016 as well as a bond connect program this year.

"While the stock connect programs will provide international investors direct access to most companies traded in the Chinese mainland, the bond connect program can enhance the liquidity and pricing efficiency of Chinese bonds in the market," said Ulrich.

"These programs are essential in paving the way for Chinese equities and bonds to be included in major global indices," she added.

China's securities regulator vowed last week to stick to capital market reforms regardless of whether the country's A-shares are included in the MSCI Emerging Market Index.

"With or without the inclusion, China's stock market, and our capital market as a whole, will not alter its direction of reform toward market-oriented, law-governed and international development," said Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesman for the China Securities Regulatory Commission. [Photo provided to China Daily]

"The pace of reform and opening up will also not be changed because of the result of the decision," he added.

Zhang has welcomed the prospects of the MSCI including A-shares in its benchmark index. He pointed out that any emerging market index without Chinese stocks would be "incomplete".

Ning Jing, a portfolio manager at Fidelity International, confirmed that the long-awaited inclusion of A-shares in the MSCI would help institutionalize the A-share market.

"This would potentially increase the liquidity levels and introduce comparatively stable flows into the market," she said. "Overall, it would be a positive development for the smooth functioning of the market."

Ning also backed the government's efforts toward increasing major institutional involvement in Chinese markets.

She said there are a range of blue chip stocks in the A-share market, representing well-established business models with strong pricing power and robust cash flows in Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses.

"So far, this market is dominated by retail investors, who are influenced by short-term swings in sentiment as well as willing to overpay for growth levels that are not sustainable over an economic cycle," Ning added.

Xinhua contributed to this story.
DETROIT - More than 3,000 small- and medium-sized US businesses and entrepreneurs flocked to Detroit on Monday, as they sought opportunities to reach out to millions of Chinese consumers.

The once deserted motor city came to life as people from 48 states across the country flew in to attend Gateway' 17, a conference held by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The conference, which will take place on June 20-21, will feature presentations and breakout sessions aimed at educating attendees on what and how to sell to China, especially through e-commerce platforms, so that they can grow their businesses and go global.

The number of attendees tripled conference organisers' original expectation. A Marriott hotel located in downtown Detroit received more than 700 guests on Monday, most of them came for the conference.

According to Alibaba, the participants are primarily from product categories most popular among Chinese consumers such as fashion and apparel, fast-moving consumer goods, electronics, household products, and fresh food.

The e-commerce company chose Detroit for a reason. The small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) there have the potential to lead cross-border e-commerce and set an example for SMEs around the world, Alibaba said.

The company added that Michigan, traditionally a manufacturing and agricultural state, may also be able the seize the opportunity to revitalise its economy.

China is the world's largest online shopping market, with about 467 million online consumers spending about 26.1 trillion yuan ($3.83 trillion) last year, up 19.8 percent year on year.
The Master of Finance (MF) Program of the Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has been recognized as one of the best in the world, according to a ranking by the Financial Times published today.

In the Financial Times' 2017 tabulation, SAIF's MF program was ranked No 1 in Asia and 14th globally, jumping 14 slots from last year when it participated in the ranking for the first time. In terms of value for money, SAIF was ranked No 1 in Asia and 7th in the world.

Since its inaugural publication in 2011, the Financial Times' ranking has been considered one of the most hailed benchmarks in the world. It rates business schools and their MF programs on 17 criteria in two key domains.

The career progression domain, weighing 58 percent in total, is derived from a survey among alumni after three years of graduation. The other domain focuses on the diversity of business schools and their MF programs, which is collected from survey questionnaires.

This year, 60 business schools from all over the world made the ranking list, including six entrants from Asia. Besides SAIF, other entrants from the Chinese mainland were the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University and the Lingnan College at Sun Yat-sen University (ranked 17th, 18th, and 56th, respectively).

"The fact that the SAIF MF program outperforms many of its worldwide peers and tops the podium of the Asian league is a recognition of SAIF's model of talent development based on superior standards, international experience and specialized professional training. It also marks a new leap towards our goal of becoming a world-class financial institute," said Professor Chang Chun, executive dean of SAIF.
SHANGHAI - Senior finance officials from China and Russia vowed Monday to enhance fiscal and financial cooperation as well as macro-economic policy coordination.

China's finance minister Xiao Jie and his Russian counterpart Anton Siluanov co-chaired a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the second BRICS finance ministers and central bank governors meeting.

They exchanged views and reached agreements on a series of issues including China-Russia macro-economic policies, structural reform, and fiscal and financial cooperation.

China and Russia will cooperate with other BRICS countries to improve global governance, fight all forms of trade protectionism, and promote the establishment of a multilateral financing system that is standing, stable, sustainable, and risk-controllable.

Xiao said China welcomes and supports Russia's issuance of yuan-denominated sovereign bonds at the proper time.

The two sides also agreed to sign an auditing oversight cooperation agreement, and intensify communication and coordination on taxation reform measures to facilitate bilateral trade and investment cooperation.
BEIJING - Tibet Financial Leasing has signed a memorandum of understanding with Boeing to buy 20 aircraft, Boeing China announced Monday.

Boeing China said the airplanes included 737 MAX 10 and 737 MAX 8 models, and that Tibet Financial Leasing had chosen Boeing to launch its aviation leasing business.

"We are delighted to welcome Tibet Financial Leasing as a new Boeing customer and a launch customer of the newest 737 MAX family member," said Ihssane Mounir, senior vice president for Global Sales and Marketing, Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

"As leasing companies are playing an increasingly important role in the world's aviation sector, we are proud to support Tibet Financial Leasing's takeoff and future expansion," he added.

Registered in Lhasa, Tibet Financial Leasing was established as the first financial leasing company in Tibet autonomous region in 2015, with approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission.
DHAKA - A leading Chinese company has signed an agreement to lay a dual-gauge track on the capital Dhaka-adjacent Narayanganj district route to increase Bangladesh Railway's capacity nearly fourfold.

Power Construction Corporation of China Limited signed the construction contract with the Bangladeshi government on Monday in the capital Dhaka.

Commercial Manager of Power Construction Corporation of China Limited Zhang Peiliang and Additional Director General (infrastructure) of Bangladesh Railway Kazi Mohammad Rafiqul Alam signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

The Bangladeshi government in January 2015 gave the final go-ahead to the project of about a rail link from Dhaka to Narayanganj district, about 20 km away from the capital.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by June 2019.

The total project cost would be met through the Bangladeshi government's own funds.

Chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in January 2015 approved the 3.79 billion taka ($470 million) project.

Once the track is laid, Bangladesh Railway will be able to transport nearly 100,000 passengers on the route every day against its current capacity of 23,000 commuters.

Under the project, a dual-gauge track will be laid parallel to the existing meter-gauge track.

Seventy-six trains would run on the route every day after completion of the project. At present, 32 trains ply the route.
Qinghai plans to attract investment in infrastructure, clean energy and modern service sectors to help pick up its economy, a provincial official said.

Based on its advantageous location and rich natural resources, Yang Yang, deputy head of the provincial Development and Reform Commission, said on Tuesday that the province will focus on expanding its participation in the Belt and Road Initiative

"Qinghai is an important post along the ancient Silk Road linking Tibet autonomous region and Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region," Yang said. "It also has its advantages, such as low investment costs, as well as outstanding industries such as rare metal and clean energy."

To attract investment, the province will open its arms to the private sector in infrastructure, real estate, tourism, energy and electricity. It will add 100 more public-private partnership (PPP) projects to its existing 280 PPP projects covering various areas in the near future.

"Qinghai is indeed going through rapid transformation in its economy, but to achieve economic growth, it cannot place its bets on government subsidies," Wang Jianlin, president of Dalian Wanda Group said, adding that the keys in picking up its economy lies in investment, especially in its largely underdeveloped tourism sector.
Two women interact with a robot, which helps handle business, at an outlet of Agricultural Bank of China in Qingzhou, Shandong province. [Photo/China Daily]

China's major internet search engine Baidu Inc announced a strategic partnership with Agricultural Bank of China Ltd on Tuesday, to build intelligent bank that uses big data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

The partners said the two sides would cooperate on financial products, build a fintech laboratory, and conduct in-depth research into the intelligent financial sector.

They added they would work together in the fields of financial technology, customer profiling, evaluation of customer credit, risk monitoring, and intelligent equity financing and investment services.

Baidu founder and CEO Robin Li said: "Agricultural Bank of China is one of the largest financial companies in China, while Baidu has strengths in advanced artificial intelligence technologies."

Li said finance was one of the most important fields in the application of AI technology, and the two sides would together enter the rapidly evolving area of intelligent finance.

"The rapid development of financial technology has made great changes to the traditional financial industry," said ABC President Zhou Mubing.

"The two sides will complement each other's strengths to launch innovative products and services, as well as boost the in-depth digital transformation of Agricultural Bank of China."

Zhu Guang, vice-president of Baidu, said his company would establish a financial services platform and export financial technology, adding that AI technology has driven fintech to new levels.

Li Chao, a senior analyst with local consultancy iResearch, said: "It is inevitable that Baidu joins hands with ABC." Li said Baidu had an upper hand in internet finance, big data and AI technologies, while ABC needed to work with the tech giant to promote the innovation of the financial industry.

It is not the first time that Baidu has tapped into the traditional financial industry. In January, the internet search provider and China CITIC Bank announced they had received approval from the China Banking Regulatory Commission to establish Baixin Bank, an online direct bank.

With fintech companies eating into their business, traditional banks are now seeking partnerships with technology companies. In March, China Construction Bank, the country's second-largest lender by assets, formed a strategic partnership with Ant Financial, the financial arm of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group.

Last week, JD Finance, the finance arm of e-commerce giant JD.com Inc, forged a strategic agreement with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, to cooperate in the fields of fintech, consumer finance, asset management and retail banking.
If youre a male sand goby, the key to attracting the ladies lies in your fathering skills. Thats right  to female sand gobies, theres nothing more appealing than a good dad.

In a scientific study, females showed no preference for males who were bigger or who were brighter in color. And though males fight against other males, researchers found that those who triumph in competition are not preferred by females. Instead, females consistently chose good dads as mates.

Female choice is a very powerful evolutionary force that Charles Darwin wrote about in the 1870s, but it was largely ignored by researchers for many decades. The general consensus for a long time was that males fought for the right to mate with females, and females were passive members of the system  rewards for males who were winners.

Once female choice was accepted as an important aspect of mating systems, most everyone agreed that females were making choices in order to mate with high quality males. There has been much debate about what constituted high quality.

The benefits from high quality males can be either direct or indirect. Direct benefits involve better resources and material advantages such as better territories, better parental care and superior protection from predators. Indirect benefits are genetic advantages that either help their offspring survive or make them more attractive so that they have enhanced mating success.

Male sand gobies mate with any female who will have them, but the females are more selective  a pattern seen in many animal species.

In the sand goby, males create nests by excavating holes underneath empty mussel shells that they cover with sand. Females lays eggs in the nests. In this species, only the males care for the eggs, so hatching success is highly dependent on males behavior. The males protect them from egg predators, clean the eggs, and move water over them to increase the flow of oxygen and nutrients. Males also sometimes cannibalize the eggs. Their fathering duties end when the eggs hatch, at which point the fry are on their own.

Superior paternal care explains females choices. The males that females preferred had higher hatching success, indicating that females make their choice based on parenting. They did not base their decision on who won in male-male competition, as that is not a good way to select the best male, since best really means best dad. The winners in competition between males did not have better hatching success than those who lost such battles.

Its sensible to choose males who will be good fathers because that directly affects the reproductive success of the females. Its a good question, though, what information the females are using to assess a males parenting skills. One possibility is that they choose males who court vigorously, which may indicate the high energy and large fat stores necessary for the demanding task of caring for eggs.

On Fathers Day and every day, we should all follow the example of the sand goby and keep in mind that great Dads are sexy.
Workers install solar panels in Golmud, Qinghai province. [Photo/Xinhua]

Qinghai province will cut its carbon emissions to zero for the first time and power the entire province by renewable energy for seven days as a trial, said a top leader of the province.

"From June 17 to June 23, the power supply for the entire Qinghai province will rely on clean energy from wind, hydropower and solar power, and achieve zero emissions for 168 hours non-stop," Wang Liming, deputy governor of Qinghai, said at the 18th Qinghai China Investment & Trade Fair For Green Development.

"It will break the current record of four days held by Portugal."

The province, with a population of 5.8 million people, is rich in natural resources, thanks to its plateau location and over 3,000 hours of daylight every year. It has attracted a number of wind power plants and photovoltaic companies as well as major hydro-power stations.

During the seven day program, 78.3 percent of the power supply will come from hydropower and the rest will be generated by new alternative sources.

"This is the first time in China that a province will run solely on renewable energy for a long period of time. We believe it will raise awareness of emission reduction and promote the development of clean energy nationwide," said Han Ti, vice-manager of the provincial power grid company.

"Qinghai is the country's important warehouse of natural resources and it plays a vital role in the development of the nation's green industry," said Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, said at the trade fair.

"With such profound potential in green industry, Qinghai needs to make better use of its natural resources and promote energy-saving equipment manufacturing."

Last year China consumed 4.36 billion metric tons of coal, of which 70 percent was for industrial use. Industry accounted for a quarter of total water consumption, he added.

Thanks to its unique geographical advantages, Qinghai is making rapid progress in the development of clean energy.

According to the provincial power grid company, Qinghai had a total installed capacity of 23.45 million kilowatts by this May, of which half was supplied by hydropower. It is now China's second-largest solar power base, with a solar capacity of 6.8 million kilowatts, almost a third of the province's total.
Tencent tops the most influential Chinese brands ranking, according to a recent report by Lishi Business Review.

This is the first ranking released by Lishi Business Review after China's first "Chinese Brand Day" on May 10, which was authorized by the State Council on April 24.

A brand is the lifeline of an enterprise and reflects a country's economic power. With rapid development of the Chinese economy, China has more world-class brands, which make the country more competitive in the global economy.

Now let's take a look at the top 10 most influential Chinese brands.

No 10 Vivo

Industry: Smartphone
A woman experiences the touch screen of a Tesla car during an auto expo in Toronto, Canada. [Photo/Xinhua]

US electric car manufacturer Tesla Inc will produce vehicles soon in China to seize a bigger share of the world's largest new energy vehicle market.

Tesla's production facilities would be located in Shanghai's Lingang Economic Development Zone, and an agreement could be announced as soon as this week, Bloomberg News reported.

Representatives of Tesla China were not available for comment on Tuesday.

But a source with China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone, where Lingang is located, said on condition of anonymity on Tuesday that an announcement is likely to be seen on the Shanghai government website on Thursday.

Tesla does not release sales figures by country. But statistics from LMC Automotive Consulting Shanghai show it sold 10,399 cars in China last year, up by 181.7 percent year-on-year.

Yale Zhang, managing director of Automotive Foresight, said sales are expected to grow after localization as assembling vehicles in China would allow the company to avoid a 25 percent customs tax.

The possible partnership came after China's top planning body voiced its support for international cooperation in electric cars, plug-in hybrids and fuel cell cars.

Last week, the National Development and Reform Commission said automakers are encouraged to make the most of international technologies, capital and human resources to raise the level of China's new energy vehicle sector.

To facilitate cooperation, the authorities have even removed the limit on the number of joint ventures international automakers can have in Chinatwo in one segment, as stipulated in the decades-old industry guideline.

Tesla would need to set up a joint venture with at least one local partner under existing rules.

"If it is to be in Shanghai, the city-headquartered SAIC Motor would be a natural choice," Zhang said.

In addition to Shanghai, several other locations in the country had been rumored to host Tesla since its arrival in 2015.

Guangdong was said in April to be Tesla's choice after Tencent Holdings Ltd, which is headquartered in the province, bought a 5 percent stake in Tesla for $1.8 billion a month before.

Tesla soon denied the report, but said it is "deeply committed to the Chinese market".

China sold 507,000 new energy vehicles last year, ranking first worldwide, and the government expects such cars to reach 2 million sales by 2020 and to account for 20 percent of all auto sales by 2025.

Statistics from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers show that new energy vehicle sales in the first five months of this year totaled 136,000, for a 7.8 percent growth year-on-year.

The CAAM estimated at the start of the year that their sales could hit 800,000 vehicles in 2017. Xu Haidong, an assistant to the organization's secretary-general, said they are confident in the market and will not alter the estimate.
Children at a early-years education center in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. [Photo/VCG]

I have a friend who is an advocate of early education centers and has signed up at five institutes for her son, who is four days older than my one-year-old boy.

Ever since he was six months old, he has already had swimming lessons on Mondays and motor movement class on Wednesdays. Each Tuesday he is taken to a music class and on Thursdays he has been attending a reading class since he was eight months old.

Friday has always been reserved for "brain exploration", including some "left and right brain" activities playing with objects such as blocks or beans for creativity, in an structured and methodical way, she told me.

Weekends don't mean a rest, as two baby yoga classes are on the schedule, rain or shine.

All of this doesn't come cheap, costing around 80,000 yuan ($11,700) every year, she said.

"But it's totally worth it, as the first few years are essential for a kid's development," she added.

I can't help thinking maybe the fact that I didn't come top in my exams in school or stood out among my peers was due to the absence of such a mix of activities in my early childhood.

Anxious that my son would not follow in the footsteps of my "failed childhood education", I signed him up for some classes.

I took him to a swimming class on a Saturday afternoon. Different from what I imagined before, the swimming was more of an exercise for me, holding an 11-kilo boy joggling up and down in the water, following the instructor's orders.

After the 45-minute session I was already exhausted, but my boy at least found it more fun than playing in the bathtub at home.

"Babies will love the water after a few sessions and will even be able to do some diving in the near future if you come regularly," the salesperson tried to persuade me.

I don't know if he will love the water or be capable of diving in the future, but what I do know is that he caught a cold after that.

So I decided to leave the scuba diving classes for him, maybe together with his girlfriend in Bali or Surfer's Paradise when he grows up.

I took him to a singing class after that. We both pretty much enjoyed the 45-minute session singing Old McDonald Had a Farm. The only thing I don't understand is why we can't do this at home.

According to a release by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, 18.5 million babies were born in China in 2016, with second children accounting for 45 percent, thanks to the recent relaxation of the nation's family planning policy.

Relaxation of the policy has also led to growth in sales of baby and children's products, including nappies, clothes and cribs, as well as a rise in early-years center admissions.

Total revenue from early-years education was 32 billion yuan in 2013 and is estimated to reach 100 billion yuan by 2020, thanks to the growing attention being paid to this by urban families, according to a report by an education company.

And it is estimated that the full implementation of the second-child policy will result in a baby boom between 2017 and 2019, which will further contribute to the consumption of baby-related products.

I don't deny that these classes are inspiring. However, with no industry standards, the quality of service varies greatly.

As early-years education centers are not yet part of the national education system, they are more business-oriented and not under the supervision of the country's education authorities.

So I dropped my fantasy about the early-years education centers and decided not to send my boy there.

Instead I try to learn some theories about Montessori training and take him to neighborhood baby meetings to encourage him to socialize, and take him to picnics to explore nature.

After all, no early-years teacher is better or more capable than a mother.
By Amy He in New York and Ma Si in Beijing | China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-20 08:48

The US states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania are reportedly vying hard to become home to a major new Foxconn plant employing 50,000 people to make components for Apple iPhones, as the group itself confirmed to China Daily it was on the hunt for a manufacturing site.

The company's admission followed media reports that Wisconsin was in talks with Foxconn to build a $7 billion display-making plant, months after news that Foxconn CEO Terry Gou met with a representative of Pennsylvania's economic development agency to potentially invest in the state. Michigan is also said to be pursuing a deal.

Representatives from Wisconsin and Michigan's economic development offices declined to comment, saying that they do not discuss any pending or potential opportunities. A representative from Pennsylvania also did not respond.

US President Donald Trump alluded to a potential Foxconn investment in Wisconsin during a visit to Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Tuesday.

"We have a lot of companies moving into the United States. We're negotiating with a lot of companies," he said.

"Just backstage we were negotiating with a major, incredible manufacturer of phones and computers and televisions, and I think they're going to give the (state) governor a very happy surprise."

Foxconn, officially called Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan province, is the world's biggest contract device maker and is most known for its manufacturing for Apple. Its plants assemble iPhones and other devices for the US tech behemoth.

Foxconn said in a statement to China Daily that the company is "exploring a potential investment that would represent a major expansion" of its current US operations.

"We are engaged in discussions with officials at various levels of government regarding our ongoing plans to significantly increase our investments in the US," the company added.

"Our company is conducting an evaluation of the conditions and potential locations for establishing manufacturing facilities in the US."

Zheng Yujie, director at China Development Institute, a Shenzhen-based think tank, said the potential Foxconn deal does not mean that Chinese mainland is losing its appeal as a manufacturing powerhouse.

"The Pearl River Delta, for instance, houses arguably the world's most advanced and flexible electronic industry chain and suppliers. It can help entrepreneurs in Shenzhen turn their ideas of new hardwares into molds within a day," Zheng said.

"The same process could cost a week or two for businessmen in California. That's an edge that no other countries can rival."

Zheng added that experienced workers in China, who have honed their skills over the past three decades, also remain a major attraction for international companies.

Rumors about a US Foxconn plant began circulating as early as last November, when it was reported that Apple asked suppliers to look into producing the company's smartphones in the US.

Foxconn CEO Terry Gou downplayed the request, telling reporters in January that a US plant was "not a promise" but a "wish". He also expressed concern over the skills of the US workforce, and said that he wanted guarantees of inexpensive land and electricity before considering the investment.

Foxconn employs more than 1 million people in China, making electronic devices for brands like Amazon, Google, Dell, Sony, and Nintendo. It produces iPads and Macs for Apple in a manufacturing facility in Shenzhen.

The company reported sales of $137 billion in 2016, a 2.8 percent decrease compared with the year before which has been attributed to Apple's fall in sales.

Fan Feifei contributed to this story.
Jack Ma, chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, gestures as he speaks during a panel session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, Jan 18, 2017. [Photo/VCG]

When Alibaba's Jack Ma met with US President Donald Trump in January, he said he would create a million jobs in the US, and he'll be making his first move to fulfill that pledge in Detroit this week.

Alibaba's Gateway'17 conference on Tuesday and Wednesday is pitched as a way to get small and medium-sized American businesses to sign onto Alibaba's various e-commerce platforms, like Taobao and Tmall. Ma will give a keynote address on Wednesday to an expected audience of thousands to learn how to succeed in China through Alibaba.

"The Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for US small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses, and in turn, create more US jobs," Ma said in a letter announcing the conference in April.

"At Alibaba, we want to help you take advantage of this appetite for consumption through our e-commerce marketplaces," he said. The event will be held in Detroit because it is "home to some of America's greatest ingenuity and innovation", Ma added.

Ma previously said that he hopes that the percentage of Alibaba's business outside of China will increase from 2 percent to roughly 40 percent. Cross-border transactions grew 10-fold between 2010 and 2014, an increase from $2 billion to $20 billion.

Alibaba has focused on big US corporations like Costco and Gerber selling on its e-commerce sites, but it has increasingly sought small and medium-sized businesses that don't have as big of a reach, but have established followings.

This year's conference, which Alibaba says it plans to host annually, will feature Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, Martha Stewart and David Abney, chairman and CEO of UPS.

"UPS is encouraging US companies to take advantage of tremendous export growth opportunities," Abney said in a statement to China Daily about the conference.

"Our message is: China is a market that can deliver growth, if companies partner with experienced leaders that can help with product visibility, like Alibaba marketplaces, and product delivery with help from UPS," he said.

UPS has been aggressively pursuing the Chinese market as e-commerce activity continues to soar. The Atlanta-based logistics giant announced a joint venture with SF Holding, China's largest delivery service, in June to provide international delivery services from China to the US.

The Detroit Chinese Business Association (DCBA), which fosters trade relations between Chinese and American businesses, has been helping to promote and market the conference with its members and other companies looking to do business in China.

"Alibaba as a platform is perfect for job creation in the US," said Brian Gao, president of the DCBA.

"Small and medium-sized businesses have no way of competing with big corporations overseas because the cost of entry can be so high, but Alibaba essentially breaks down that barrier by providing a platform for those businesses and helping standardize those transactions," he said.

The conference spotlights several small businesses in the US that are using Alibaba platforms to draw in Chinese customers, including the Washington Apple Commission, LuckyVitamin and OtterBox.

The Washington Apple Commission promoted its supplies of American apples on Alibaba last year through a one-hour live broadcast on Tmall, and drew about $275,000 in sales volume.
President Xi Jinping meets with foreign ministers from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, the other BRICS countries, in Beijing. [WU ZHIYI/CHINA DAILY] 'Let your voices be heard', president tells ministers from emerging nations

The BRICS countries should push forward with international order to develop in a more fair and reasonable direction, President Xi Jinping said on Monday, while also calling for joint efforts to create a new golden decade for the BRICS bloc.

The BRICS membersBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africaeach face similar tasks of maintaining stability of development, Xi said while meeting with the emerging nations' foreign ministers in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

"Facing the current chaotic and complicated international situation, the BRICS countries should let your voices be heard," Xi told the ministers.

China is the rotating chair country of the BRICS group this year. The BRICS summit will be held in the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian province, on Sept 3 to 5.

Xi called on the BRICS members to carry out the spirit of win-win cooperation, continue to focus on development and firmly adhere to the multilateralism principle and basic norms for international relations.

"The BRICS cooperation mechanism has existed for 10 years, and I don't think the color of the BRICS has faded. We will have the new golden decade, and we should have such expectations and confidence," he said.

Cooperation among BRICS nations is an innovative practice that has surpassed the outdated mentality of political and military allies, and built the partnership with mutual trust and benefits, Xi said.

The ministers expressed gratitude toward China's work as rotating leader of BRICS. They agreed that BRICS members should enhance coordination and cooperation to jointly face various global challenges.

The BRICS mechanism should serve as an engine of cooperation among emerging countries and developing nations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a news conference after the meeting of the five foreign ministers.

"The BRICS mechanism does belong not only to the five nations, but also to all emerging market countries and developing nations," Wang said.

According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, BRICS countries expect to hold a dialogue meeting between emerging market countries and developing ones during the BRICS summit in September.

In the statement, the ministers urged all countries to implement the Paris Agreement under the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"There is one climate, and, for future generations, we must employ every effort at our disposal to reverse the effects of climate change," South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said at the news conference.

The five countries also deplored continued terrorist attacks, including in some BRICS countries.

The ministers reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, to make it more representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries.

They committed to strengthening cooperation among BRICS within the UN and other multilateral institutions through regular meetings among their permanent representatives in New York, Geneva and Vienna.

Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said BRICS cooperation has the vitality and potential to promote global economic growth and has contributed more than half the world's GDP.

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn
Candidates who ran in legislative elections at the county and township levels were put under stricter qualification reviews to prevent election fraud and ensure they could effectively represent the public, according to the country's top legislature.

"All people's congresses should carry out their responsibilities required by law, and improve their working ability and quality," Zhang Dejiang, the top legislator, said on Monday.

He made the comment during a seminar on building the grassroots people's congresses, held by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, the national legislature.

Since 2016, a new round of elections is being conducted at the county and township levels across the country. So far, elections have been completed in 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions.

President Xi Jinping said the county and township elections are major political events, requiring adherence to the Party's leadership and to the spirit of democracy and the law, which will ensure that people have the right to vote and to be elected.

However, in recent years, disciplinary violations, including vote buying have occurred in some local legislative elections, such as in Hunan and Liaoning provinces, "which have alerted us", said Fu Dehui, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Hubei Provincial People's Congress.

"We took election discipline as a priority this time and provided stricter reviews of the candidates."

For example, the grassroots people's congresses in Hubei reviewed the backgrounds, identities and working abilities of candidates, and also listened to opinions from the public, Fu said.

"These elections were subject to the strictest voting procedures," he said.

The province also tried to diversify its deputies.

"Our deputies should come from all walks of life," he said.

For example, the percentage of deputies engaged in technical work has been increased, while about 70 percent of them graduated from vocational schools or above, he said.

Fang Li, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Jilin Provincial People's Congress, said more attention has been paid to selecting deputies with professional knowledgein the fields of economics and law, for exampleto be members of standing committees.

"The more professional they are, the more effective they will be at finding problems and fulfilling their role in supervising the government," she said.

In Shandong province, deputies at the county and township levels have also performed their supervisory role by taking advantage of third-party platforms to review government budgets and judicial affairs, according to Bo Jimin, deputy director of the Standing Committee of the provincial People's Congress.
Cai Qi, Beijing's Party chief, delivers a report to the 12th Party Congress of Beijing on Monday. Yan Tong/China Daily

Capital's Party chief says next 5 years crucial in city's urban development

In the next five years, Beijing will make crucial progress in developing into a harmonious international city and integrating with Hebei province and Tianjin, the capital's Party chief, Cai Qi, said on Monday.

In his report to the 12th Party Congress of Beijing, the newly elected Party chief said Beijing will hold an "exciting, extraordinary and wonderful" Winter Olympic Games in 2022.

Meanwhile, he said, the city will focus on the quality of urban development and improve the city's environment and competitiveness.

"Beijing's functions will be further upgraded and strengthened as the center of China's politics, culture, international communication and technological innovation," he said. "It will effectively be relieved of its noncore functions."

Beijing will enhance its support for the central government's events, raise the service level for international communications and establish a technological innovation center with global influence over the next five years, he said, adding that the city will have a new look when construction of its subcenter in Tongzhou district is completed and many major functions are transferred there.

In the city's economic sector, Cai calls for scientific and technological innovation to lead the way. The service industry, together with emerging industries, will continue to grow.

Beijing will completely eliminate energy intensive and high-polluting companies to ensure its air quality continues to improve. The green areas of the city will keep expanding and the government will actively promote the green lifestyle among the public, Cai said.

The city government will strictly limit urban development and cap the population.

According to Beijing's development plan for 2016-30, which was published in March, the city will limit its population to less than 23 million by 2020 and keep it at that level for a relatively long period afterward.

"The city government will work on improving the population structure and dealing with the aging problem," the plan says.

The central government announced plans to establish Xiongan New Area in April as part of measures to integrate the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and cure "urban ills" such as traffic congestion and air pollution in the capital.

Cai said that Beijing will actively strengthen cooperation with Xiongan on construction, policies and projects.

"Beijing will support Xiongan's needs during its construction and development," Cai said. "Xiongan and the city subcenter will be greatly beneficial to the capital's development."

Liu Bozheng, deputy director of the office overseeing the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration, said during a news conference earlier this month that Beijing will assist in planning and policy cohesion in sectors such as infrastructure construction, transportation integration and sharing public services with Xiongan.
China's Tianzhou 1 cargo spacecraft has carried out its second docking operation with the Tiangong II space laboratory, according to the China Academy of Space Technology.

The academy, the spacecraft's developer, said in a news release on Monday afternoon that Tianzhou 1 disconnected with the Tiangong II on Monday morning and moved to a position five kilometers away from the space lab. It remained in that position for about 90 minutes before starting to move toward the opposite side of Tiangong II.

The cargo ship then commenced a docking sequence and recombined with the lab on the side opposite the first docking, the academy said.

It said the entire process was conducted autonomously by Tianzhou 1, noting the operation would verify China's docking technology for spacecraft and would pave the way for spacecraft dockings with the country's future manned space station, which will be more sophisticated.

Tianzhou 1 completed its second in-orbit refueling with Tiangong II on Thursday.

As China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou 1 was launched at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on April 20. It is 10.6 meters long and has a diameter of 3.35 meters. Its maximum liftoff weight is 13.5 metric tons, enabling it to carry up to 6.5 tons of supplies, according to the academy.

It is the biggest spacecraft ever built in China. Before, the largest and heaviest craft the country had sent skyward was the Tiangong II, which is 10.4 meters long, 3.35 m in diameter and weighing 8.6 tons.

Tiangong II has been in space since mid-September and carried two Chinese astronauts from mid-October to mid-November. It is now unmanned.

The two spacecraft docked on April 22 and the next day began the first in-orbit refueling operation, which lasted about five days. They have remained connected for the past 58 days, during which time they performed a number of scientific and technological experiments, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

After the second docking, Tianzhou 1 will undock from Tiangong II again and start a three-month independent flight before returning for a third docking.

After that docking, which will include a third in-orbit refueling, Tianzhou 1 will depart from Tiangong II and will be directed by ground control to fall back to Earth.

In the coming years, the Tianzhou series will be tasked with transporting supplies of fuel and other necessities to China's manned space station, construction of which will start next year. It is expected to enter service by about 2022, the agency said.
Even before all students have registered for fall classes, Northern Arizona University is expecting another year of enrollment growth.

Enrollment across all campuses, including online, is expected to increase by an estimated 814 students in 2017-18, according to information given to the Arizona Board of Regents earlier this month.

In order to meet the demand, the university is planning to spend $3.5 million more than last year to hire instructors and support staff and $3.2 million more to help boost scholarships and other financial aid opportunities for students.

Were trying to optimize financial aid available to students, Bjorn Flugstad, the vice president of NAUs Budget Office, told the Arizona Board of Regents Budget Committee, on June 6.

NAUs 2018 budget includes a total of $593.2 million in revenue and $588.2 million in expenses. That revenue includes a one-time bump of $3.2 million from the state of Arizona and a $685,000 payment from Prop. 123. While Prop. 123 mainly benefits K-12 education, the states universities also derive some funding from the state land trust.

Flugstad told ABOR that those revenue and expense figures are similar to the budget figures presented in 2017. The primary driver of the increase in revenue has been higher student enrollment, he said.

The university expects a 3 percent growth, or about $19 million, more in expenses compared to the projected expenses for the 2017 budget year.

The growth in expenditures for this upcoming fiscal year is primarily related to personnel services and benefits reflecting the fact that over 60 percent of NAUs expenditures are personnel related, he said. The personnel services investments range from investments to ensure instructional course coverage for increased enrollment to coverage for increased benefits costs.

There are no university-wide planned increases included in the budget, he said. Partially because the university is expecting the full cost of merit pay raises from 2017 and the cost of new hires to hit in the 2018 budget. In 2016, NAU President Rita Cheng announced merit pay raises for faculty and staff ranging from 2 percent to 1.5 percent based on an employees annual review.

Cheng told the board that the universitys ability to refinance its debt last year helped NAU save money for the 2018 budget. The increase in students will bring in additional money but will also cost the university additional money in order to hire staff, operate buildings and provide the best experience for students, she said.

NAU has also set aside $2.5 million more out of its budget for infrastructure repairs and maintenance and technology. Cheng said the university has a backlog of at least $120 million in needed repairs to facilities.

According to its proposed budget, NAU also plans to spend $1.5 million more in 2018 to build out its doctorate degree program for in demand science, technology, engineering and math degrees, such as astronomy and bioengineering. Another $2.5 million more will be used for investments to facilitate research growth including hiring and retaining graduate students.

The university will also spend an additional $1.1 million on its online education program, which will include a new pricing structure for graduate and undergraduates. Online students will be charged one price regardless of where they live.

The remaining $5 million in increased spending is earmarked for technology improvements in the classroom, marketing and outreach and the cost to move some departments on campus to maximize space.
A toy toothpick crossbow. Su Ying/China Daily

A toy resembling a mini crossbow that fires toothpick "arrows" has become popular among school students in parts of China, resulting in many parents calling for a boycott to prevent risks of injury.

The crossbows, available at online shops, vary in size, with some less than 10 centimeters long. They are made of different materials, including metal and wood, and can shoot toothpicks.

They have become popular among primary and middle school students in Yunnan and Shandong provinces, according to media reports.

In Kunming, Yunnan province, students have been targeting trees and flowers alongside roads, as well as park signs, causing many people to file complaints, Metropolis Times reported.

One seller of the toy told the newspaper that when shot from the crossbows the toothpicks can easily shoot through paper and pop a balloon.

A video circulating on the internet shows the toys shooting a toothpick into a tree trunk 3 meters away.

At an online shop based in Zhengzhou, Henan province, 10 cm crossbows with arrows made of metal and toothpicks are available for 29.8 yuan ($4.50) each. According to an advertisement on a web page, they have a range of 15 meters and make good gifts.

In the past 90 days, 652 of the crossbows have been sold, according to the shop.

"Such goods are dangerous and should be banned," one netizen wrote on Sina Weibo. "They may be more powerful than toy guns."

In a statement on Sina Weibo on Monday, the Hunan Provincial Public Security Department said: "We hope teachers and parents can provide guidance to students so such dangerous toys will not cause physical injuries."

Police in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, issued a similar warning.

In April, the police in Chongqing's Jiulongpo district warned against five types of dangerous toys, with those that can shoot projectiles ranked at the top.

Police in the district received 69 reports of injuries to children from toys in the first four months, and more than 21 percent of those were caused by toys such as crossbows, darts and toy guns, the police said.

Such toys should only be played with by children over 12, and when accompanied by their parents, the police said.
Mo Xuefeng, general manager of Aficion. China Daily

Following his studies in the United States, Mo Xuefeng could have taken over his father's successful packaging business, but his love of chocolate compelled him to do otherwise.

He also knew that there was immense business potential for the product in China. According to Euromonitor, Chinese people eat an average of just 100 grams of chocolate per year. By contrast, Germans eat about 90 times more.

However, Mo, who graduated from Boston University with a master's in finance, wanted to do more than just sell chocolates; instead, he envisioned building an immersive experience around it so people will better appreciate the sweet treat.

"Chocolates can help improve relationships between friends, family and lovers. I wanted the business to focus on couples and young families with kids. We want to create more opportunities for children to have fun with their parents in the name of chocolate," said Mo, 32.

To achieve this goal, he decided to open a chocolate factory in his home county of Jiashan, where people can learn about the history of chocolate and the manufacturing process. As the general manager, he decided to call the company Aficion, a Latin word that means "affection" or "love".

In 2015, its first year in operation, the facility attracted about 500,000 people, but last year, visitor numbers ballooned to around 700,000. Sales, both in retail outlets and among visitors to the factory, hit 150 million yuan ($22 million).

Last year, Aficion also started selling its chocolates in Taiwan. Mo said the company is planning to export its goods to countries in the Middle East and to the United States in the near future.

Mo pointed to several reasons behind Aficion's ability to hit the ground running. One of them is the strong support given by the Jiashan government.

"The local authorities really care about those from the younger generation looking to start their own businesses, so they're quick to provide platforms for us to learn, such as organizing trips to other cities for people like myself to gain insights from more seasoned entrepreneurs," Mo said.

Another major factor in Aficion's success is its dedication to product quality. To ensure that its chocolates can rival the best in the global market, Mo sources ingredients from around the world and set up the Aficion-Cote d' Ivoire cocoa planting base in April last year to ensure a steady supply of quality cocoa. The company has also invested in high-end manufacturing equipment from Switzerland.

In addition, Mo appointed Dany Deraymaeker, an experienced Belgian chocolate master, as his right-hand man.

Deraymaeker is no stranger to the Chinese market, having previously worked at a chocolate factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, for several years. Before he arrived in China, the 44 year old made chocolates for world-renowned Belgian brand Godiva. His creations have even been served to the Belgian royal family.

"Chinese consumers aren't big fans of bitterness, so we've designed our products to suit this preference. Even the dark chocolates we sell in China are noticeably sweeter than those you would get elsewhere," Deraymaeker said, with regard to Aficion's localization efforts.

"Aficion uses top-notch ingredients from all over the world. Quality is at the heart of our operations and I am proud to say that the chocolates we make here are as good as those you would find in Europe."

Visitors to Aficion's factory start their journey in a 156-meter-long gallery where they can view the production process before making their way to other exhibition zones detailing the history of chocolate and the company. The tour culminates in a retail zone that features nearly 100 types of chocolates.

However, Mo is determined to infuse even more color into the consumer experience. By the end of 2018, the factory will be expanded to include a host of other facilities, including an amusement park, a hotel and a chocolate academy.

"Chocolate is a common language that transcends all types of boundaries. We will be looking to export our chocolates to more overseas locations in the future. We are also looking to create more products that feature a Chinese story and flavor," he said.
The principle of one country, two systems has been a universally acknowledged success in the past 20 years, according to Zhang Xiaoming, director of the central government's Liaison Office in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Zhang said that no matter what difficulties and challenges arise, confidence and determination in the principle will not be shaken. "The principle is designed to ensure China's sovereign rule over Hong Kong and Macao without changing their capitalist systems and existing ways of life, and it should not be misinterpreted by certain ill-motivated forces as pulling the SAR away from the country," Zhang said in a recent interview.

He said facts in the past two decades since Hong Kong was returned to China have proved that the principle is not only the best solution to solve the Hong Kong question, but also the best system to maintain its long-term prosperity and stability.

According to the SAR government, Hong Kong's GDP saw an annual increase of 3.2 percent from 1997 to 2016, and the region's unemployment rate has remained low at 3.5 percent or less during that period.

He said the region's capitalist system and its core values, including justice, freedom and the respect of law, as well as the intolerance to corruption, have not changed.

Last year, more than 13,000 assemblies and parades were permitted, which is more than 30 a day, according to the SAR government. A report by the World Bank also indicated that Hong Kong's rank regarding the quality of rule by law jumped from 60th in 1996 to 11th in 2015 among more than 200 countries and regions worldwide.

With the implementation of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement, Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect and Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, and the regional joint development plan of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Great Bayarea, Zhangsaid Hong Kong is enjoying its historical chances for future development.

The trade volume between the two sides reached HK$3.8 trillion ($487 billion) last year, 2.5 times that of 1997, while about 43 million mainland tourists visited Hong Kong, nearly 18 times the number 20 years ago, according to Zhang.

Major infrastructure construction work to bridge Hong Kong and the mainland will be finished soon, which Zhang said will strengthen economic ties and bring more chances for cooperation with mutual benefit.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge is scheduled to be put into use by the end of the year, according to Jimmy Chan Pai-ming, principal government engineer.

The bullet train that connects Shenzhen and Guangzhou in Guangdong province with Hong Kong also is estimated to be finished before September 2018, according to Vincent Lin, project development manager for Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway Corp.

"Our previous experience has proved that the one country, two systems principle has a strong vitality and is never behind the times. We see a rainbow after the rain. Through the baptism of challenges, success of the principle is convincing," he said.

yanwanli@chinadaily.com.cn
Facial hair is not in vogue in the Chinese mainland or Hong Kong.

But that makes no difference to British cosmetics chain Lush. The company is vigorously marketing its widely reviled Veerappan Moustache Wax in Hong Kong.

Reviled, because it is named after one of the world's most notorious elephant poachers and sandalwood smugglers.

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, who was easily recognizable by his trademark handlebar mustache, terrorized southern India for decades, leaving a trail of hundreds of dead elephants and people.

He was finally killed in a gunbattle in 2004, bringing a yearslong hunt that was reported to have cost India more than $300 million.

Lush began cashing in on Veerappan's notoriety with the launch of the Smuggler's Soul line of products.

It includes perfumes, facial scrubs, shampoo bars and the flagship mustache wax. To cap it off, the company also published a novel, On the Trail of Sandalwood Smugglers.

"The Smuggler's Soul is deep, dangerous and intoxicating. Join us on our journey to the roots of sandalwood and let it enrapture your heart," a promo says on the Lush website.

Why then Lush is using an outcast's name to sell its products?

Business and brand strategist Martin Roll of Martin Roll Co, a Singapore consultancy, thinks it is a bad idea.

"The objective of a strong brand name is to relate to consumers and stakeholders, not to offend them nor to create negative sentiments," he said in an email to China Daily last week.

"Business history is full of bad management judgments around brand naming, so the company should evaluate carefully, quickly and with respect of the sensitivities involved, whether the name is fit for purpose," Roll added.

On Lush's Hong Kong website, the Veerappan wax is listed at HK$135 ($18). It is accompanied by a video of a man styling his mustache.

To be fair to the company, I asked Lush about the logic behind the Veerappan products.

"While Veerappan himself appears on the label artwork, we are in no way glorifying his actions," it said in a statement.

Lush even claimed that its products are in fact, "attempting to highlight the dangers and the realities of sandalwood and the criminality surrounding the trade in this essential oil, which is harvested from a protected tree".

A hard sell, indeed, for a company that prides itself as an animal and nature-friendly establishment.

Veerappan was so despised in his homeland, his name was up for grabs to whoever wanted it, and it looks like Lush didn't waste the opportunity.

Had Lush used the name and image of one of the mustached celebrities such as Hulk Hogan without permission, the company would probably have been sued back to the Stone Age!

Contact the writer at abdul@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/20/2017 page2)
Social media tools are being used to peddle fake or shoddy food and drugs in China due to a lack of regulation, posing a serious public health risk, experts have warned.

Social commerce  the sale of goods via services like WeChat, Sina Weibo and livestreaming sites  was worth an estimated 360 billion yuan ($53.6 billion) last year, according to the Internet Society of China.

"The sector is growing rapidly and already employs more than 15 million people," said Yu Lijuan, head of its social commerce division.

Most of the goods sold are cosmetics and beauty products. However, food and drugs make up about one-third of all sales, the society's data show.

Li Wen, a division director at the Beijing Municipal Food and Drug Administration, said some traders are taking advantage of a lack of regulation on marketing and selling fake or substandard products on social media, primarily WeChat, which has 800 million users.

The current food and drug safety laws only cover e-commerce platforms like Taobao, while social commerce remains off the regulatory radar.

"As communication on social media can be highly personal and private, it's hard to detect and regulate such cases. This poses a public health risk," Li said, adding that the powers of food and drug inspectors should be enhanced.

A division set up in 2015 to oversee food and drug safety online launched a cleanup campaign last year targeting the sale of botulinum toxin, a cosmetic substance that reduces wrinkles better known by the brand name Botox. Wen said most of these products are substandard and have not been approved by the FDA.

Police in Huaihua, Hunan province, also busted a gang producing and selling fake weight loss products on WeChat in June last year.

The gang had been illegally adding sibutramine  a stimulant used for weight loss  to products and marketing them as natural health food, according to the city's public security bureau. The products were sold to buyers in 10 provinces, with several cases of people being poisoned.

Yu Lijuan said the social commerce sector needs systematic management. The central government is still working on China's first law on e-commerce, she said, and "that law should also address social commerce".
Drug crime in China has soared over the past five years, according to the latest figures from the Supreme People's Court.

Between 2012 and last year, courts handled 541,000 cases related to drugs, of which 535,000 were concluded, the data show.

Some 543,000 defendants were punished, including 119,000 who were sentenced to prison terms of five years or longer.

Ye Xiaoying, chief judge of the top court's No 5 Criminal Tribunal, said the number of drug cases represents a significant increase on five years ago.

Drug crime accounted for 10.5 percent of all cases heard by courts nationwide last year, compared with 7.7 percent in 2012, she said.

"Courts strictly punish anyone who produces, sells or buys drugs," Ye said. "However, courts will show leniency to those who commit a crime for the first time under the orders of another person."
Police in Guangdong province seized more than 5.1 metric tons of narcotics in the first five months of the year, it was revealed on Tuesday.

The authorities handled 5,080 cases related to drugs, detained 6,250 suspected drug traffickers and investigated 48,900 drug addicts, according to Guo Shaobo, deputy director of the Guangdong Public Security Department.

"The continuous efforts made in the fight against drug-related crime in the southern province have achieved significant results," Guo told a news conference in Guangzhou.

"There has been a large drop in the number of drug production dens, and Guangdong is slowly shedding its status as a major drug distribution hub," he said. "The prices of crystal meth and K-powder (ketamine) have reportedly risen due to our crackdown."

However, Guo said combating such crime is a tough task in Guangdong, the focus of China's anti-drug campaign for many years. The province has more than 654,000 registered drug addicts, about one-sixth of the national total.

Drug traffickers from home and abroad have continued to use Guangdong, which borders Hong Kong and Macao, as a drug distribution hub, smuggling illegal substances in and out of the province.

Guangzhou police detained 19 people, including 11 foreigners, in May on suspicion of smuggling drugs and selling them to students in the city.

Two secret drug warehouses and two packaging locations were raided and large amounts of illegal substances were seized, police said.

Meanwhile, Guangdong Customs officials have seized another 1.14 tons of narcotics while investigating 134 smuggling cases this year, according Zhou Jijun, deputy director of the authority's anti-smuggling bureau. Some 72 suspects were detained.
Some of the letters from Jiang Niannian to her father.

The love between a father and a daughter cannot be separated by anything, even the wall of a prison.

When a man surnamed Jiang began serving his prison term six years ago, he started receiving a letter from his 8-year-old daughter every week, Chengdu Business Daily reported, citing Sichuan provincial prison administration.

Jiang, currently serving his term at a prison in Dazhou, southwest China's Sichuan province, received 260 letters in total from his daughter Jiang Niannian.

"Daddy, we will take the exams next Thursday. I'm feeling a bit nervous. But when I think of the summer vacations after that, I feel happy. Wish me luck with exams, OK?" She wrote these words followed with a smiling emoticon.

The short letters, each about 100-200 words, were a big encouragement to Jiang.

In a letter that brought Jiang the most pride, Niannian told him that she got the first place at the middle school entrance exam in the whole county. "Mom is very glad that I scored well, and has promised to take me somewhere. Haha! I'm so happy."

Jiang was sentenced to 10 years in 2011 after he was convicted of abusing his official position as a civil servant.

When he went from a public servant to a prisoner, Jiang once felt hopeless and down in spirits. But the letters helped him regain confidence and his good behavior got him his sentence commuted by more than one year.

Niannian began writing the letters at grade 2 at primary school and continued until she graduated from primary school at grade 6.

"In the beginning, Mom asked me to write to Dad. Back then, I did not know what to write," Niannian said, adding that her mother told her to write about her daily activities and gradually she developed the habit of writing a letter a week.

Now 14, Niannian is a grade 2 student at middle school. "To help my father feel better, I study hard and hope that I could make money in the future."

"The most important thing is that we want Dad to return home as early as possible. My mom and I could afford to support him," Niannian said with a smile.
When it comes to a heat wave, what goes up must come down -- but usually not that fast.

The National Weather Service temperature gauge at Flagstaff's Pulliam Airport plunged from 92 degrees to 64 in a matter of minutes this afternoon as a thunderstorm dropped soaking rain on the city.

The initial rain gauge reading showed 0.12 inches of rain as of 3:30 p.m., the first official precipitation in nearly four weeks.

But it looks as though Flagstaff won't set a record high temperature for the date -- the reading of 92 degrees just before the deluge was one degree off the record of 93 degrees for June 19 set just last year.

The forecast calls for another day of possible afternoon thundershowers in the Flagstaff region and the White Mountains before a drying trend sends heat to possibly all-time record levels Wednesday, according to the Weather Service. Flagstaff's all-time record high is 97 degrees, recorded on July 5, 1973.

9 a.m. Monday: Flagstaff ties record for high temperature Sunday; dry lightning in Monday forecast

When bracing for 120 degrees, it's all about the water.

Drinking it, splashing in it to stay cool, and drinking it some more. A lot more.

That's what officials were urging and residents were planning as a potentially record-shattering heat wave started enveloping the Southwest United States and threatened to bring temperatures of more than 120 degrees to parts of Arizona and California next week.

In northern Arizona, the Weather Service is predicting near-record temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday -- Flagstaff could reach 95 degrees on Tuesday vs. an all-time high of 97 set in 1973.

On Sunday, the Weather Service said the mercury reached 92 degrees at Pulliam Airport, tying the record high for the date set in 1940.

Thunderstorms with little rainfall, and capable of producing very strong wind gusts, are expected to develop over the high terrain areas of northern Arizona on Monday and Tuesday.

Temperatures will become a few degrees hotter, intensifying the risk of heat illness to wildland firefighters. Low afternoon humidity will persist.

Wednesday through Friday: The thunderstorm risk is expected to decrease with time. One more day of temperatures near all-time record levels is expected Wednesday before temperatures slowly begin to decrease. Breezy west winds are forecast each afternoon.

The southwestern U.S. is about to feel the wrath of a punishing heat wave that includes a forecast of 120 degrees (48.8 Celsius) in Phoenix  a temperature not seen in the desert city in more than 20 years.

The broiling temperatures will also be felt in Las Vegas and Southern California, creating a public health hazard. Rising temps are being closely watched by everyone from airline pilots and emergency room doctors to power grid managers and mountain cities unaccustomed to heat waves.

Even cities accustomed to dealing with 110-degree (43-Celsius) days are grappling with the new problems that arise from 120 degrees (48.8 Celsius).

Here is a look at five things related to the heat wave:

AIRLINES WATCHING THE HEAT

When the temperature soars, it's harder for airplanes to take off.

American Airlines pilot Shane Coffey said extreme heat creates changes in the air density that make it harder for airplanes to take off, meaning pilots have to use more thrust or impose weight restrictions such as flying with less cargo.

Air density on a 90-degree (32-Celsius) day in Denver at more than 5,000 feet elevation is similar to a 120-degree (48.9-Celsius) day in Phoenix at 1,100 feet above sea level, he said.

In 1990, amid a similar heat wave, flights were cancelled at the Phoenix airport because there was too much uncertainty about how the heat would affect aviation performance. Now, airlines have a better understanding, but the heat is still a concern  primarily for smaller, regional jets.

Airlines will be closely monitoring the heat this week and some flights could be affected.

___

110 vs. 120

Residents of Phoenix and Las Vegas deal with 110-degree (43-Celsius) days fairly often in the summer  but how much more strain does 120 degrees (48.9 Celsius) put on the body?

Dr. Moneesh Bhow, medical director for Banner University Medical Center Emergency department, said the body's internal cooling mechanisms are ineffective when temps reach above 110 degrees.

One of the ways the body cools itself is by radiating heat through the skin into the air, but that system reverses when external temperatures climb to 110 or higher.

"When that happens we have to rely on our second mechanism, which is sweating," Bhow said. Sweat makes your skin feel cooler and some heat is removed as it evaporates.

He noted staying hydrated is crucial to perspiring and staying cool.

The state Department of Health Services says nearly 2,000 people visit Arizona emergency rooms every year because of heat-related illnesses.

Bhow said patients can present with a variety of illnesses  ranging from a simple heat rash to a severe heat stroke.

___

HEAT DEATHS

The heat is a serious public health hazard in places such as Phoenix and Las Vegas where temperatures routinely exceed 110 degrees (43 Celsius) in the summer months.

The county that is home to Phoenix had 130 heat-related deaths in 2016, the highest number in more than a decade. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the uptick.

Kate Goodin, epidemiology and data services program manager at the Maricopa County Department of Public Health, said heat-related deaths span the entire Phoenix metro area, but underlying social and economic factors also have an impact.

Homeless people comprised one-third of heat-related deaths in 2016, according to county records. Most of the others involved people with non-functioning air conditioners.

"People who are economically disadvantaged have a harder time paying for increased electricity bills or keeping their water on throughout the entire year and those factors can predispose you to heat-related illness," Goodin said.

___

TOO HOT IN THE MOUNTAINS

People typically flee for cooler mountain climates when it gets hot, but going north won't provide much of an escape this time.

Flagstaff is expected to spend most of the week with highs above 90 degrees (32 Celsius), which is so rare many residents don't have air conditioning.

"Extremely high temperatures are a little unusual for northern Arizona," said Coconino County's Deputy Chief Health Officer Mike Oxtoby.

Residents without air conditioners are advised to "pull shades over the windows and use cross-ventilation and fans to cool rooms."

___

RARE HEAT

The heat wave, which is expected to peak Tuesday, is forecast to be the hottest weather in Phoenix in decades.

Wunderground Weather Historian Christopher C. Burt said Phoenix temperatures rose to 120 degrees and above only three times in recorded history  twice in 1990 and once in 1995.

Burt said the city has hit 118 degrees 11 times, most recently last summer.

It could be worse: Death Valley could see 124 degrees (51 Celsius) on Tuesday.
Some people say that the best period in one's life is youth, when you spend time and share experiences with your best friends.

Graduation season is always full of excitement as young people start their new lives, with expectations for a job, and sadness, due to all the farewells.

Eight Chinese characters, "yuan fang" (faraway), "you ni" (having you), "bu shuo" (never say), and "zaijian" (goodbye), were shining from dorm building windows on Saturday night at Northeast Normal University, in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin province, as students expressed their gratitude and love for their alma mater, as well as for the people who attended the university.
Japan has warned its citizens visiting China about activities that could raise suspicion of their being engaged in espionage, and urged them to beware of "a possible rise in anti-Japan sentiments or demonstrations" in China. Last month Japanese media reported that six Japanese nationals, detained in East China's Shandong province and South China's Hainan province in March, are under investigation for violating Chinese laws.

It is true that China has intensified the crackdown on espionage. Three years ago the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, enacted the Counterespionage Law amid growing security concerns. And a municipal policy issued in April says any Beijing resident who provides useful information on espionage or related activities will receive a reward up to 500,000 yuan ($72,460).

But Japanese media outlets have gone a bit too far by speculating that the number of Japanese nationals detained or arrested in China is "particularly high" and saying it is "unclear" what constitutes an act of espionage in the country. Asking Japanese visitors to avoid taking photographs in place other than tourist spots in China, too, is an exaggeration.
An oil painting by Chen Cheng, who joined a China-Africa exchange project by the Culture Ministry.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Five Chinese artists who traveled to three African countries earlier this year didn't see the savannas and animals they expected - but they were deeply touched by the people.

These Africans are rendered on these Chinese painters' canvases.

The show Walking Paintbrush, which recently ended in Beijing and will head to the Qingdao Art Museum in Shandong province on July 19, displays over 50 ink, oil and watercolor paintings by the artists, who traveled to Malawi, Tanzania and Mauritius in January.

It was their first time on the continent, which they'd known only through books and TV.

Chen Cheng says she was fascinated by people living in original landscapes - passionate dancers, children riding bikes and market shoppers.

"I expected to see lots of animals running in the wild," she says.

"But the people intrigued me most."

Chen plans to visit another three African countries in October.

The artists were captivated by the natural areas in Malawi, a landlocked country and agricultural economy, she says.

"I could feel their happiness through their eyes, smiles and dances. Many of them have no idea about China," she says.

But they saw Chinese doing business in Tanzania and people from around the world in Mauritius.

"We know Africa isn't homogenous," Chen says.

"It has various cultures and different economies."

That's why she has decided to return to explore more.
Self Portrait with Shaded Eyes, by Rembrandt van Rijn.[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

Works from the Leiden Collection made their China debut on Friday. The 74 old master paintings are on show at the National Museum of China in Beijing through September. Lin Qi reports.

Thomas Kaplan says he has never "lived" with any of the 250 paintings from his collection. The 54-year-old entrepreneur and investor from the United States, along with his wife, Daphne, have since 2003 put together one of the largest collections of 17th-century Dutch paintings in private hands.

They call it the Leiden Collection, after the city where many featured master painters were based, including Rembrandt van Rijn.

Kaplan says he has never seen his entire collection together. So, when he viewed an exhibition showcasing 30 of his paintings at the Louvre in February, he was "shocked".

"People said you must be very proud(of the collection). I said pride has nothing to do with it. I didn't paint them."

Also shocked were visitors, although they had seen many of the paintings at museums before.

The Kaplans have "enjoyed" anonymity for the past 13 years while lending their paintings to 40 museums.

"In addition to being one of the most aggressive buyers of old masters, we've also been a lending library in Dutch art," says Kaplan.

"The concept of sharing the collection has been part of our philosophy from the first day."
Works by nominated artists for this year's Wang Shikuo Award are now on display in Beijing.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Few Chinese know Wang Shikuo (1911-73), but most know his works - realistic oil paintings that depict China's Communist revolution.

The professor of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts passed away while sketching in rural Henan province. It's believed overwork contributed to his death.

He remains so admired that a contemporary-art award bearing his name was announced last year.

The Wang Shikuo Award aspires to become a Chinese answer to such prominent international honors for up-and-coming artists as the Hugo Boss Prize and the Turner Prize.

It's administrated by Beijing's Today Art Museum and sponsored by the Wang Shikuo Art Foundation that Wang's family established in 2015. It honors one artist, typically younger than age 45, every year.

Twelve artists have been nominated this year. Their works are displayed at the Amassing Force exhibition at Today Art Museum.

Visitors can vote for their favorite artists. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

The foundation also has established a scholarship with the Central Academy of Fine Arts last year to sponsor overseas exchanges among undergraduates.

Wang's daughter, Wang Qun, the foundation's secretary, says the jury doesn't make judgments based on single works.

"We review the whole course of an artist's career," she says. "We especially talk with candidates to see if they'll remain dedicated to creating for at least another decade."

Gao Peng, the museum's director and a jury member, says organizers have monitored many candidates, following their graduations from art academies.

"Some artists quit art two or three years after winning other important awards," he says.

"They start their own businesses once they become financially stable. That disappoints their patrons, such as art institutions and serious collectors, who anticipate they'd continue to pursue higher levels of creation."

Gao says the award hails artists' experimental spirit.
Chateaux in Penglai, Shandong province, boast grape plantations, winemaking, wine stores, guest rooms and sightseeing options. Some will host celebrations to declare the beginning of grape picking and winemaking in the fall.[Photo provided to China Daily]

A scenic valley in Shandong province is eager to show itself as China's best wine country. Mike Peters reports from Penglai, Shandong province.

If you don't know what's coming, the first sight of the Treaty Port Winery is quite a surprise: A stone Scottish castle that seems to stand guard over the river valley below.

In 2004, when Chris Ruffle began looking for a potential winery site in East China's Shandong province, he was all alone in the Penglai valley. Little more than a decade later, Ruffle can point to another winery in any direction from Treaty Port's scenic overlook.

In fact, as representatives of the Penglai wine bureau are eager to tell us a little later, there are 66 companies and 33 chateaux now in operation here, and a few more are under construction.

Most of them have their eyes on one particular neighbor: Lafite's China chateau, and the local Party chief who has joined our group of wine enthusiasts proudly notes that Lafite will deliver its first vintage at Penglai in 2018.

That much-anticipated wine from the most iconic French brand, the local industry hopes, will seal Penglai's claim to be "China's top wine area".

Penglai, perched on the Bohai Sea near South Korea and Japan, is already famous for producing gold, Fuji apples, automobiles, auto parts and ships. There are two national first-class ports, which carry apples to Japan and other goods everywhere.

But wine is a multi-dimensional prize, which aims to generate agriculture jobs, vintages with a reputation and tourists eager to visit tasting rooms and dip their noses in a few glasses.

At Treaty Port, our noses are in Ruffle's 2014 rose, a pleasant bubbly that's mostly grenache with a little sangiovese to give some floral notes.
By Li Yingqing in Kunming and Xing Yi in Beijing | China Daily | Updated: 2017-06-20 06:59

Carlos Alberto Perez makes truffle dumplings, blending the traditional Chinese dumpling with the black truffle.[Photo provided to China Daily]

"When I first smelled the unique aroma of a truffle, I felt intoxicated - as if I almost forgot every scent that I had smelled before. At that moment, I knew my life would be changed by it."

Carlos Alberto Perez is now the general manager of the Chinese branch of Sabatino, a company dedicated to truffle products.

The truffle is high in nutrition value, but it cannot be planted in large scale and can only be found and harvested in the wild, making it very expensive - "the diamond of the kitchen", as it was called by French gourmet Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

But only recently did the truffle become popular in Chinese kitchens.

Having lived in China for seven years, Perez cannot speak fluent Chinese, but it doesn't stop his love for Chinese food.

"I started my cooking career when I was 19. When I came to China, I found the food culture is rich," Perez says.

"There are so many dishes I hadn't tasted before, and I like them very much."

Perez is determined to bring the truffle to more Chinese. "Those Chinese dishes give me inspirations to create dishes with truffles that appeal to Chinese stomach."

Perez went to search for truffles in Yunnan in 2009.

"I heard that there were truffles in Yunnan, but villagers didn't know how to eat them - some even feed pigs with truffles."

Perez still remembers with laughter the time he went to the local market with a bag of cash, describing the black truffle to the people through gestures.

He once took a 20-hour ride in a minivan to a Gaoligong mountain village seeking black truffles. The villagers scrambled to show this foreigner the truffles they picked in the mountains for a good price.

Now, Perez has business partners in every major truffle-producing area of Yunnan, purchasing 30 tons of truffles to sell to buyers at home and abroad every year.
Painting portraits of a continent 2017-06-20 06:59:20 China Daily Deng Zhangyu Five Chinese artists who traveled to three African countries earlier this year didn't see the savannas and animals they expected - but they were deeply touched by the people.

Five Chinese artists who traveled to three African countries earlier this year didn't see the savannas and animals they expected - but they were deeply touched by the people.

These Africans are rendered on these Chinese painters' canvases.

The show Walking Paintbrush, which recently ended in Beijing and will head to the Qingdao Art Museum in Shandong province on July 19, displays over 50 ink, oil and watercolor paintings by the artists, who traveled to Malawi, Tanzania and Mauritius in January.

It was their first time on the continent, which they'd known only through books and TV.

Chen Cheng says she was fascinated by people living in original landscapes - passionate dancers, children riding bikes and market shoppers.

"I expected to see lots of animals running in the wild," she says.

"But the people intrigued me most."

Chen plans to visit another three African countries in October.

The artists were captivated by the natural areas in Malawi, a landlocked country and agricultural economy, she says.

"I could feel their happiness through their eyes, smiles and dances. Many of them have no idea about China," she says.

But they saw Chinese doing business in Tanzania and people from around the world in Mauritius.

"We know Africa isn't homogenous," Chen says.

"It has various cultures and different economies."

That's why she has decided to return to explore more.

Ink artist Fu Xuming sensed Africa was different from other places he'd visited - a feeling he got when he smelled the fresh air and heard a plethora of languages upon landing.

"I'm a landscape artist," he says.

"But all I painted this time were people."

He was fascinated by locals' clothes and dances, and their attitudes toward life and people.

"Africa's art is awesome," he says.

"I only came to understand how it inspires many Western artists only after experiencing it in person."

The trip was part of a project to enhance cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges initiated by China's Culture Ministry.

In 2015, President Xi Jinping and African leaders signed the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Johannesburg Action Plan (2015-18). It included a project inviting officials, scholars and artists from China and Africa to undertake cultural exchanges.

African artists had been invited to Jiangsu province's capital, Nanjing, in 2011. They stayed for two months to experience Chinese culture.

The ministry will support more Chinese artists' trips to African countries, says Han Zhihong, an official in charge of African affairs from the Culture Ministry.

"We'll strengthen cooperation between China and Africa in art and cultural exchanges," Han says.

"It's a good way to know each other from the artistic side."

dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn

An oil painting by Chen Cheng, who joined a China-Africa exchange project by the Culture Ministry.Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 06/20/2017 page20)
Company cashes in on a notorious mustache 2017-06-20 07:38:51 China Daily Abdul Latheef Facial hair is not in vogue in the Chinese mainland or Hong Kong.

Facial hair is not in vogue in the Chinese mainland or Hong Kong.

But that makes no difference to British cosmetics chain Lush. The company is vigorously marketing its widely reviled Veerappan Moustache Wax in Hong Kong.

Reviled, because it is named after one of the world's most notorious elephant poachers and sandalwood smugglers.

Koose Muniswamy Veerappan, who was easily recognizable by his trademark handlebar mustache, terrorized southern India for decades, leaving a trail of hundreds of dead elephants and people.

He was finally killed in a gunbattle in 2004, bringing a yearslong hunt that was reported to have cost India more than $300 million.

Lush began cashing in on Veerappan's notoriety with the launch of the Smuggler's Soul line of products.

It includes perfumes, facial scrubs, shampoo bars and the flagship mustache wax. To cap it off, the company also published a novel, On the Trail of Sandalwood Smugglers.

"The Smuggler's Soul is deep, dangerous and intoxicating. Join us on our journey to the roots of sandalwood and let it enrapture your heart," a promo says on the Lush website.

Why then Lush is using an outcast's name to sell its products?

Business and brand strategist Martin Roll of Martin Roll Co, a Singapore consultancy, thinks it is a bad idea.

"The objective of a strong brand name is to relate to consumers and stakeholders, not to offend them nor to create negative sentiments," he said in an email to China Daily last week.

"Business history is full of bad management judgments around brand naming, so the company should evaluate carefully, quickly and with respect of the sensitivities involved, whether the name is fit for purpose," Roll added.

On Lush's Hong Kong website, the Veerappan wax is listed at HK$135 ($18). It is accompanied by a video of a man styling his mustache.

To be fair to the company, I asked Lush about the logic behind the Veerappan products.

"While Veerappan himself appears on the label artwork, we are in no way glorifying his actions," it said in a statement.

Lush even claimed that its products are in fact, "attempting to highlight the dangers and the realities of sandalwood and the criminality surrounding the trade in this essential oil, which is harvested from a protected tree".

A hard sell, indeed, for a company that prides itself as an animal and nature-friendly establishment.

Veerappan was so despised in his homeland, his name was up for grabs to whoever wanted it, and it looks like Lush didn't waste the opportunity.

Had Lush used the name and image of one of the mustached celebrities such as Hulk Hogan without permission, the company would probably have been sued back to the Stone Age!

Contact the writer at abdul@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 06/20/2017 page2)
Brumby: Hong Kong's return to China a resounding success 2017-06-20 16:03:31 Xinhua Hong Kong's return to China 20 years ago has been a resounding success, and there is "much to celebrate" while looking back at the last 20 years, said John Brumby, former premier of Australian state of Victoria.

SYDNEY  Hong Kong's return to China 20 years ago has been a resounding success, and there is "much to celebrate" while looking back at the last 20 years, said John Brumby, former premier of Australian state of Victoria.

One of Australia's most prominent business leaders and chairman of the Australia China Business Council, Brumby told Xinhua recently that the return of Hong Kong to China "has worked well."

"The Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region) continues to be a great entry point for trade into China. It continues to be a very strong economy in its own right, a great center for finance and banking, and of course, a great expat community of Australians in the Hong Kong SAR."

Looking back at the years since the return, Brumby said that a lot has improved in the Hong Kong SAR, particularly the way in which the Hong Kong SAR has managed to adapt ... which is a real testament to its strength as an economic hub in the region. Brumby believed that China has managed to ensure that the parts of the Hong Kong SAR that make it unique have remained, with residents thriving over the past 20 years.

"Hong Kong, as a center for finance and for banking, has a strong reputation, a sound reputation, is a place of stability and certainty, and I don't see any changes to that in the future," he said.

"The things that are attractive about the Hong Kong SAR, the great harbor, the great airport, the service, the vitality, the energy, just the magnificent vista of the buildings and the harbor, I don't think that has changed," he added.

In terms of his own country, Australia, and its relationship with not only the Hong Kong SAR, but also a wider extent China, Brumby noted that the future opportunities are "enormous."

"The Chinese middle class is growing by 25 million people per annum. That is as much as the Australian population. We are seeing that. We are seeing that in tourism numbers, we are seeing that in education numbers, we are seeing that in just the purchase of Australian agricultural goods; things like wine, cheese and butter, and meat," he said.

"And that is the same for the Hong Kong SAR, so all of that just looking forward is a positive outlook. Positive for China, positive for the Hong Kong SAR, and positive for Australia."

Brumby sees the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative as not only a boon for the Hong Kong SAR, but for the entire Asia-Pacific region and the world.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road initiative refers to the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, aiming at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road.

"The Belt and Road is good for China, it's good for Hong Kong, but it's also good for the world economy and that is the most important thing," he said.

"It will mean more traded goods more efficiently, and more traded goods more efficiently means more GDP and employment growth, and that is a good thing for the world," he added.
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Road trip to Russia to promote red tourism 2017-06-20 17:02:07 chinadaily.com.cn Zhao Xinying About 1,000 Chinese are about to start a three-month road trip to Russia, the China National Tourism Administration said on Tuesday.

About 1,000 Chinese are about to start a three-month road trip to Russia, the China National Tourism Administration said on Tuesday.

The event will begin in Hunan and Shaanxi provinces on June 28, with people from the two areas driving to Beijing for an opening ceremony on July 1.

Participants will then drive to Manzhouli, a city in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region that borders Russia. They will enter Russia on July 5 and attend a launch ceremony in Moscow.

After the ceremony, participants will be divided into three groups and take road trips along three different routes: Moscow to Ulyanovsk, a city about 900 kilometers east of the capital; Moscow to Kazan, capital of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia; and Moscow to St. Petersburg.

During their trips, participants will visit a series of red tourism destinations, including the former residence and the tomb of Vladimir Lenin, a Russian communist revolutionary and politician, and a building near suburban Moscow where the sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in 1928, which is now a museum.

Xue Yaping, a senior official with the administration, said the event has been organized to boost exchanges and cooperation between China and Russia on red tourism, while deepening ties between people in the two countries.

Tourism authorities and associations in Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Hunan and Shaanxi, as well as travel agencies and car rental companies in Beijing, are supporting the event, Xue said.
Hungarian-Chinese school opens doors to language and culture 2017-06-20 17:14:30 chinadaily.com.cn Lei Xiaoxun The melody of songs, recital of poems and practice of calligraphy, all in standard Mandarin, marveled visiting top Chinese officials and Hungarian dignitaries during an art performance by hundreds of students at the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest on Monday.

The melody of songs, recital of poems and practice of calligraphy, all in standard Mandarin, marveled visiting top Chinese officials and Hungarian dignitaries during an art performance by hundreds of students at the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest on Monday.

Joy and laughter marked a highlight of the Chinese delegation, led by Liu Yandong, vice-premier of China's State Council, who is on a high-profile trip to the Central European country to consolidate China-Central and Eastern European Countries people-to-people exchanges.

The school was established in 2004 and is now the only public school in the Central and Eastern European region offering a 12-year education taught in both Hungarian and Chinese Mandarin.

Summing up the school's previous achievements, such as the 1,000 Mandarin-speaking graduates, Liu said: "The bilingual school is unique and essential, both in terms of teaching method and the role it has played in meeting the demand of Hungarian youth to learn and experience Chinese language and culture."

Fekete Marcell Zoltan, 15, who is currently a 9th grader, said learning Chinese at the school has made him a big fan of Chinese culture.

"I know I must work really hard then I can apply to a Chinese university," he said with perfect Beijing-based Mandarin. "I want to work in China and buy a house there too. I want to live in China."

Liu said leaders of China and Hungary have shown great attention to the overall development of the school, which now offers a Mandarin-based education from elementary school to junior high, covering the 12 years of early education.

Before granting Confucius Classroom status to the bilingual school, Liu and other attendees have reflected upon the development and collective endeavors made by Hungarian Mandarin-learning and teaching institutions.

Confucius Classrooms refer to local hubs and teaching facilities where new methods are offered for Chinese language teaching and cultural learning.

There are four Confucius Schools in Hungary, with 3,800 registered students. Last year alone, the four institutes organized 240 events to help the Hungarian population experience the charm of Chinese traditions and culture, attracting more than 103,000 people.

"All Confucius institutes are supposed to find their own voice and they have to localize themselves," said Richard Mohr, director of the Confucius Institute at University of Szeged.

"We are engaged in tourism. That means we are engaging in classes in Chinese, for tourist places, tourist service providers," he said. "We are translating menus into Chinese, and for all service providers, we are helping them to make them more China company."

From a Chinese perspective, Mohr's colleague Zhang Lin, the Chinese director of Confucius institute at the University of Szeged, said it is quite a meaningful job for Chinese citizens to work in such institutions.

"We are always talking about telling stories, Chinese stories. And they [Hungarians] want to learn our stories as we are the teachers and volunteers," Zhang said.

The China-led Belt and Road Initiative has offered tremendous developmental momentum for Confucius institutions. Zhang said such advantages must be seized.
Xi encourages BRICS countries 2017-06-20 06:34:58 China Daily AN BAIJIE/LI XIAOKUN/ZHOU JIN The BRICS countries should push forward with international order to develop in a more fair and reasonable direction, President Xi Jinping says.

'Let your voices be heard', president tells ministers from emerging nations

The BRICS countries should push forward with international order to develop in a more fair and reasonable direction, President Xi Jinping said on Monday, while also calling for joint efforts to create a new golden decade for the BRICS bloc.

The BRICS membersBrazil, Russia, India, China and South Africaeach face similar tasks of maintaining stability of development, Xi said while meeting with the emerging nations' foreign ministers in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

"Facing the current chaotic and complicated international situation, the BRICS countries should let your voices be heard," Xi told the ministers.

China is the rotating chair country of the BRICS group this year. The BRICS summit will be held in the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian province, on Sept 3 to 5.

Xi called on the BRICS members to carry out the spirit of win-win cooperation, continue to focus on development and firmly adhere to the multilateralism principle and basic norms for international relations.

"The BRICS cooperation mechanism has existed for 10 years, and I don't think the color of the BRICS has faded. We will have the new golden decade, and we should have such expectations and confidence," he said.

Cooperation among BRICS nations is an innovative practice that has surpassed the outdated mentality of political and military allies, and built the partnership with mutual trust and benefits, Xi said.

The ministers expressed gratitude toward China's work as rotating leader of BRICS. They agreed that BRICS members should enhance coordination and cooperation to jointly face various global challenges.

The BRICS mechanism should serve as an engine of cooperation among emerging countries and developing nations, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a news conference after the meeting of the five foreign ministers.

"The BRICS mechanism does belong not only to the five nations, but also to all emerging market countries and developing nations," Wang said.

According to a joint statement issued after the meeting, BRICS countries expect to hold a dialogue meeting between emerging market countries and developing ones during the BRICS summit in September.

In the statement, the ministers urged all countries to implement the Paris Agreement under the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

"There is one climate, and, for future generations, we must employ every effort at our disposal to reverse the effects of climate change," South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said at the news conference.

The five countries also deplored continued terrorist attacks, including in some BRICS countries.

The ministers reaffirmed the need for a comprehensive reform of the UN, including its Security Council, to make it more representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries.

They committed to strengthening cooperation among BRICS within the UN and other multilateral institutions through regular meetings among their permanent representatives in New York, Geneva and Vienna.

Ruan Zongze, executive vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said BRICS cooperation has the vitality and potential to promote global economic growth and has contributed more than half the world's GDP.

Zhou Jin contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at anbaijie@chinadaily.com.cn
Misleading visitors to China won't help Japan 2017-06-20 07:15:08 China Daily Zhou Yongsheng Japan has warned its citizens visiting China about activities that could raise suspicion of their being engaged in espionage, and urged them to beware of "a possible rise in anti-Japan sentiments or demonstrations" in China.

Japan has warned its citizens visiting China about activities that could raise suspicion of their being engaged in espionage, and urged them to beware of "a possible rise in anti-Japan sentiments or demonstrations" in China. Last month Japanese media reported that six Japanese nationals, detained in East China's Shandong province and South China's Hainan province in March, are under investigation for violating Chinese laws.

It is true that China has intensified the crackdown on espionage. Three years ago the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, enacted the Counterespionage Law amid growing security concerns. And a municipal policy issued in April says any Beijing resident who provides useful information on espionage or related activities will receive a reward up to 500,000 yuan ($72,460).

But Japanese media outlets have gone a bit too far by speculating that the number of Japanese nationals detained or arrested in China is "particularly high" and saying it is "unclear" what constitutes an act of espionage in the country. Asking Japanese visitors to avoid taking photographs in place other than tourist spots in China, too, is an exaggeration.

While Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was right to offer detailed advice to Japanese citizens visiting China so as to prevent them from unwittingly violating Chinese laws and falling in trouble, its "considerable" interpretation of China's counterespionage efforts risks misleading foreigners planning to visit the country.

The travel guide for Japanese nationals suggests that taking photographs at military and some other facilities in China such as ports, as well as bridges and other structures near the China-Democratic People's Republic of Korea border, could constitute an act of espionage, as does unintentionally carrying substances related to drugs. It also hints at the possibility of Japanese travelers being targeted while visiting China, as this year marks the 80th anniversaries of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which triggered the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) across the country, and the Nanjing Massacre, in which 300,000 Chinese were killed by the invading Japanese army.

Such a narrative stops short of warning those visiting China with dubious or criminal intentions, however few, while suggesting that China's security authorities could single out Japanese citizens during "sensitive" times.

China is advancing the rule of law, and has intensified its efforts to deal with crimes such as espionage and drug trafficking according to the law, without any stress on the nationalities of suspects. And a person is likely to be arrested only when the authorities have sound evidence of his or her being involved in a crime, rather than viewing all visitors from certain countries as espionage suspects.

A report issued in April by national security authorities in Beijing said overseas espionage agencies and other hostile forces are engaged in more disruptive activities against China, from political infiltration and subversion to intelligence theft. The report came just three months after a device with instructions in foreign languages, found by two fishermen in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, turned out to be data-collecting espionage equipment.

As for the so-called sensitive timing, rarely have Chinese citizens, although some still hold grudge against Japan for various reasons, vented their anger on Japanese visitors. Even while discussing the history of World War II, the Chinese government always differentiates between the Japanese people and the then Japanese government and imperial army.

Instead of warning the Japanese people of the "sensitive timing" and trying to mislead the world about China's efforts to safeguard its national interests, the Japanese government, especially rightwing Japanese politicians, should issue a self-warning: efforts to whitewash the war crimes of the then Japanese government and army will not succeed.

The author is a professor of Japan studies at China Foreign Affairs University.
China Railway to build Russia link 2017-06-20 06:48:11 China Daily Jing Shuiyu in Beijing and Tian Xuefei in Harbin China Railway Group Ltd will build a high-speed railway in Russia connecting the country's third-largest city Yekaterinburg with Chelyabinsk.

New high-speed line to connect Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk

China Railway Group Ltd, an infrastructure construction company, will build a high-speed railway in Russia connecting the country's third-largest city Yekaterinburg with Chelyabinsk, as the Chinese company's overseas business keeps expanding.

The project will involve a total investment of $2.5 billion, according to a memorandum of understanding signed between the Chinese company and Ural Highway during the Fourth China-Russia Exposition held recently in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin.

The train is expected to run at a speed of up to 250 kilometers per hour, according to Russian media outlet Sputnik.

The high-speed rail link is expected to cut the current journey time between two cities to approximately one hour and 10 minutes from five hours, according to China Railway Group Ltd.

"It is a promising project with huge potential. We believe it will boost the region's economic development, and benefit local people after its completion," said Zhang Xian, vice-president of the company.

"The experience of the Moscow-Kazan railway positions us well in the industry. We are ready to make full use of our cutting-edge technology in this project."

The high-speed rail link has great potential, as it will be part of the high-speed transit corridor passing through Berlin, Moscow, Astana and Beijing, Boris Dubrovskiy, governor of Russia's Chelyabinsk region, was quoted as saying by Sputnik.

In April, China's first overseas high-speed rail project was launched in Indonesia. It was the first time China allowed a State-owned company to get fully involved in an overseas project in terms of design and construction, according to the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic regulator.

Bao Rongfu, a transportation analyst with Nanjing-based Huatai Securities Co Ltd, said China Railway Group's overseas orders are expected to "sustain rapid growth", as the Belt and Road Initiative advances.

In 2016, the company signed overseas contracts worth a record 102.5 billion yuan ($15.04 billion), up 49.6 percent year-on-year, according to its annual report.

In the first quarter this year, it reported that newly signed overseas contracts reached 15.58 billion yuan, up 131.8 percent from the same period last year. During the same period, its net profits increased 15.32 percent year-on-year to 2.62 billion yuan.

Zhou Huiying in Harbin contributed to the story.
Chinese business delegation sparkles at Ethiopia 2017-06-20 09:12:27 Xinhua A delegation of 70 companies from Shenzhen city is attending a show in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and locals are thrilled about the ample business opportunities on the horizon.

ADDIS ABABA - A delegation of 70 companies from Shenzhen city, China's innovation hub, is attending a show in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa and locals are thrilled about the ample business opportunities on the horizon.

The delegation is in the east African country for the China (Shenzhen) Trade and Investment Promotion Meeting and Shenzhen Products show from Monday to Tuesday.

Lu Pengqi, Vice Chairman of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPTI) says there is good reason why business delegation from Shenzhen will attract attention.

"With Shenzhen's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reaching at $283 billion in 2016 and GDP per capita standing at $25,000, the city is one of China's most developed and richest," Lu said.

Shenzhen transformed from little more than a fishing village to "China's Silicon Valley" in less than 40 years. It is home to a population of nearly 12 million and more than 5,300 Chinese enterprises including tech giants Huawei, ZTE, and Tencent, which in total have made overseas investments estimated at $80 billion.

While trade relations between Ethiopia and its top trading partner China has reached $3.6 billion in 2016, investment from Shenzhen city and Guangdong province to Ethiopia still lags compared to other Chinese provinces, says Tadesse Haile, Ethiopia's state Minister of Industry.

"Ethiopia offers Shenzhen a huge market as a next best destination in Africa, complemented by its desire to be a leading light manufacturing hub and middle income economy by 2025," says Haile.

Ethiopia's state minister of Industry was in particular referring to Shenzhen's reputation for knowledge intensive industries in addition to labor intensive industries like Textile and leather.

With Shenzhen popularly called China's "Silicon valley" for its reputation as innovation and entrepreneurship center, Ethiopia plans to tap its Information Communications Technology (ICT) ambitions on experiences from the likes of this entrepreneurial Chinese city.

The East African nation with a population of about 100 million, is focusing on labor intensive industries like textiles and leather to give its 45 million workforce mass employment while hoping ICT will give it a technological edge.

Already Chinese government is facilitating business capacity training and management skills to Ethiopian business community and experts.

It is hoped that this will help in fostering technological innovation and creative talent as a springboard for competitive export to the global economy.

Ethiopia hopes to transform its largely agrarian economy with manufacturing taking 50 percent share of GDP, creating annually 2 million job opportunity for youth.

"Ethiopia is at a crossroads between the Middle East, Africa and Asia giving access to wide market and huge human capacity as well as capable of creating large job opportunity," says Afework Solomon, President of Ethiopia's Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (ECSA).

Fitsum Arega, Commissioner of the state owned Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) points to another advantage the country has to attract Shenzhen investors.

"Ethiopia has constructed, is constructing or plans to construct 13 industrial zones across the country using Chinese expertise and companies for the most part," he says.

Arega also points labor cost being 10 times cheaper than Shenzhen, companies can invest in sectors like textile and apparel and be assured of good return on their investments.

Already Ethiopia gives a 10-15 years tax holiday on companies investing in its industry parks while giving access to duty free European and US markets.

Arega further spoke about Ethiopia's ambitions in energy sector, requesting Shenzhen's experience in particular with solar and wind projects.

Ethiopia is currently undertaking large solar, wind, hydro and geothermal projects with a plan to increase its electricity generation capacity from current 4,200 MW to 17,300 MW by 2020.

While the first day of the trade and investment promotion meeting focused on hard statistics there was another reason, Ethiopian business people and officials welcome investment from Chinese cities like Shenzhen.

"Ethiopia feels at ease with Chinese businesses with China's economic achievement of becoming the world's second biggest economy in a short time being an inspiration," says Solomon.

That ease has translated into Chinese exports accounting for about 87 percent of Ethiopia's import in 2013.

It has also meant that between 1992-2014, 814 Chinese private companies' invested and commissioned projects valued at $1.6 billion.
Alibaba holds US conference to woo small businesses 2017-06-20 10:04:07 chinadaily.com.cn Amy He in New York When Alibaba's Jack Ma met with US President Donald Trump in January, he said he would create a million jobs in the US, and he'll be making his first move to fulfill that pledge in Detroit this week.

When Alibaba's Jack Ma met with US President Donald Trump in January, he said he would create a million jobs in the US, and he'll be making his first move to fulfill that pledge in Detroit this week.

Alibaba's Gateway'17 conference on Tuesday and Wednesday is pitched as a way to get small and medium-sized American businesses to sign onto Alibaba's various e-commerce platforms, like Taobao and Tmall. Ma will give a keynote address on Wednesday to an expected audience of thousands to learn how to succeed in China through Alibaba.

"The Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for US small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses, and in turn, create more US jobs," Ma said in a letter announcing the conference in April.

"At Alibaba, we want to help you take advantage of this appetite for consumption through our e-commerce marketplaces," he said. The event will be held in Detroit because it is "home to some of America's greatest ingenuity and innovation", Ma added.

Ma previously said that he hopes that the percentage of Alibaba's business outside of China will increase from 2 percent to roughly 40 percent. Cross-border transactions grew 10-fold between 2010 and 2014, an increase from $2 billion to $20 billion.

Alibaba has focused on big US corporations like Costco and Gerber selling on its e-commerce sites, but it has increasingly sought small and medium-sized businesses that don't have as big of a reach, but have established followings.

This year's conference, which Alibaba says it plans to host annually, will feature Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Michigan Lieutenant Governor Brian Calley, Martha Stewart and David Abney, chairman and CEO of UPS.

"UPS is encouraging US companies to take advantage of tremendous export growth opportunities," Abney said in a statement to China Daily about the conference.

"Our message is: China is a market that can deliver growth, if companies partner with experienced leaders that can help with product visibility, like Alibaba marketplaces, and product delivery with help from UPS," he said.

UPS has been aggressively pursuing the Chinese market as e-commerce activity continues to soar. The Atlanta-based logistics giant announced a joint venture with SF Holding, China's largest delivery service, in June to provide international delivery services from China to the US.

The Detroit Chinese Business Association (DCBA), which fosters trade relations between Chinese and American businesses, has been helping to promote and market the conference with its members and other companies looking to do business in China.

"Alibaba as a platform is perfect for job creation in the US," said Brian Gao, president of the DCBA.

"Small and medium-sized businesses have no way of competing with big corporations overseas because the cost of entry can be so high, but Alibaba essentially breaks down that barrier by providing a platform for those businesses and helping standardize those transactions," he said.

The conference spotlights several small businesses in the US that are using Alibaba platforms to draw in Chinese customers, including the Washington Apple Commission, LuckyVitamin and OtterBox.

The Washington Apple Commission promoted its supplies of American apples on Alibaba last year through a one-hour live broadcast on Tmall, and drew about $275,000 in sales volume.
Chinese company signs deal to build Bangladesh's dual-gauge railway line 2017-06-20 10:31:34 Xinhua A leading Chinese company has signed an agreement to lay a dual-gauge track on the capital Dhaka-adjacent Narayanganj district route to increase Bangladesh Railway's capacity nearly fourfold.

DHAKA - A leading Chinese company has signed an agreement to lay a dual-gauge track on the capital Dhaka-adjacent Narayanganj district route to increase Bangladesh Railway's capacity nearly fourfold.

Power Construction Corporation of China Limited signed the construction contract with the Bangladeshi government on Monday in the capital Dhaka.

Commercial Manager of Power Construction Corporation of China Limited Zhang Peiliang and Additional Director General (infrastructure) of Bangladesh Railway Kazi Mohammad Rafiqul Alam signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides.

The Bangladeshi government in January 2015 gave the final go-ahead to the project of about a rail link from Dhaka to Narayanganj district, about 20 km away from the capital.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by June 2019.

The total project cost would be met through the Bangladeshi government's own funds.

Chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in January 2015 approved the 3.79 billion taka ($470 million) project.

Once the track is laid, Bangladesh Railway will be able to transport nearly 100,000 passengers on the route every day against its current capacity of 23,000 commuters.

Under the project, a dual-gauge track will be laid parallel to the existing meter-gauge track.

Seventy-six trains would run on the route every day after completion of the project. At present, 32 trains ply the route.
Britain's Primer Minister Theresa May addresses the country after Britain's election at Downing Street in London, Britain, June 9, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

At midnight on New Year's Eve 1973, a British flag was raised in front of then-European Economic Community building in Brussels marking the start of the United Kingdom's full membership of the project. That day, British Prime Minister Edward Heath said membership would bring prosperity to his country.

On Monday, almost one year after UK voters decided to leave this 28-member and 500-million-citizen bloc, British negotiators walked into the European Union headquarters to begin talks with their Brussels counterparts on the terms of their divorce.

This is just the beginning of a technically, judicially and financially extraordinarily complex series of negotiations, which aim to end the interdependence formed by many treaties, laws and projects.

With Prime Minister Theresa May setting a Global Britain blueprint, the negotiation teams are scheduled to complete the talks in early 2019.

However, it is obvious that London is still unclear on how to pull itself out of this union in the aftermath of a string of terrorist attacks, the Grenfell Tower fire, and political instability in the wake of unnecessary damaging general election for the government.

By press time, the UK had not exchanged its position papers. The EU, represented by Michel Barnier, as chief negotiator for the 27 member states, has published two position papers, one on protecting the basic rights of EU citizens in the UK and the other on financial settlements, which it is estimated to range from 60 billion to 100 billion euros.

In its 11-page financial settlement position paper, the EU has clearly stated that the UK should clear its ties with all the EU institutions and the projects it has committed to as a full member in previous years, including the European Central Bank and European Investment Bank.

The EU also insists that the talks on ending the UK's EU membership must be finished before embarking on any negotiations for a new relationship.

Amid rising political difficulties, some in UK have started to question whether Brexit should go ahead, although May and her negotiators insist that it will.

Some even envision the EU's strategy of being super-tough in the negotiations may lead to a "no deal" scenario within the two-year negotiation time allowed by EU treaties. Then, the UK would fail to leave and the damage of European integration brought by UK's referendum could be avoided.

Of course, it is proper to envisage possible outcomes at the beginning of talks. But either way, Brexit has already been a hugely damaging consequence of democratic politics in the UK. This was a decision made by a national referendum, although many believe holding the referendum was a mistake.

Now the only rational thing to do is to maximize compromises and separate in a friendly way. But quicker re-engagement is of global significance and will bring stability to the changing geopolitical surroundings.

The EU has pledged to keep the negotiations extremely transparent, which is "politically correct" but surely would create long chain of debates among the media, the market, interests groups, politicians and the public.

And as shown in the EU's debt crisis years, too much debate can be misleading at some junctures and even the markets respond irrationally.

In a world filled with so many challenges and uncertainties, such risks should be avoided.

Monday's talks are just the very beginning of the haggling between London and Brussels. If they get beyond comparing notes, and agree on a common rational talk strategy, that will be encouraging.

The author is deputy chief of China Daily European Bureau. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Japan has warned its citizens visiting China about activities that could raise suspicion of their being engaged in espionage, and urged them to beware of "a possible rise in anti-Japan sentiments or demonstrations" in China. Last month Japanese media reported that six Japanese nationals, detained in East China's Shandong province and South China's Hainan province in March, are under investigation for violating Chinese laws.

It is true that China has intensified the crackdown on espionage. Three years ago the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislature, enacted the Counterespionage Law amid growing security concerns. And a municipal policy issued in April says any Beijing resident who provides useful information on espionage or related activities will receive a reward up to 500,000 yuan ($72,460).

But Japanese media outlets have gone a bit too far by speculating that the number of Japanese nationals detained or arrested in China is "particularly high" and saying it is "unclear" what constitutes an act of espionage in the country. Asking Japanese visitors to avoid taking photographs in place other than tourist spots in China, too, is an exaggeration.

While Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs was right to offer detailed advice to Japanese citizens visiting China so as to prevent them from unwittingly violating Chinese laws and falling in trouble, its "considerable" interpretation of China's counterespionage efforts risks misleading foreigners planning to visit the country.

The travel guide for Japanese nationals suggests that taking photographs at military and some other facilities in China such as ports, as well as bridges and other structures near the China-Democratic People's Republic of Korea border, could constitute an act of espionage, as does unintentionally carrying substances related to drugs. It also hints at the possibility of Japanese travelers being targeted while visiting China, as this year marks the 80th anniversaries of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which triggered the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) across the country, and the Nanjing Massacre, in which 300,000 Chinese were killed by the invading Japanese army.

Such a narrative stops short of warning those visiting China with dubious or criminal intentions, however few, while suggesting that China's security authorities could single out Japanese citizens during "sensitive" times.

China is advancing the rule of law, and has intensified its efforts to deal with crimes such as espionage and drug trafficking according to the law, without any stress on the nationalities of suspects. And a person is likely to be arrested only when the authorities have sound evidence of his or her being involved in a crime, rather than viewing all visitors from certain countries as espionage suspects.

A report issued in April by national security authorities in Beijing said overseas espionage agencies and other hostile forces are engaged in more disruptive activities against China, from political infiltration and subversion to intelligence theft. The report came just three months after a device with instructions in foreign languages, found by two fishermen in Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, turned out to be data-collecting espionage equipment.

As for the so-called sensitive timing, rarely have Chinese citizens, although some still hold grudge against Japan for various reasons, vented their anger on Japanese visitors. Even while discussing the history of World War II, the Chinese government always differentiates between the Japanese people and the then Japanese government and imperial army.

Instead of warning the Japanese people of the "sensitive timing" and trying to mislead the world about China's efforts to safeguard its national interests, the Japanese government, especially rightwing Japanese politicians, should issue a self-warning: efforts to whitewash the war crimes of the then Japanese government and army will not succeed.

The author is a professor of Japan studies at China Foreign Affairs University.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaks at the Central Urban Work Conference in Beijing, Dec 22, 2015.[Photo/Xinhua]

A DRAFT AMENDMENT to the 2008 regulation on government information disclosure has been issued by the State Council, China's Cabinet, to solicit public opinions. Southern Metropolis Daily commented on Monday:

It is praiseworthy that the draft does not shun questions over the increasing public calls for government information and the obligation of government organs to disclose it.

The constant disclosure "tussle" between people who want to know more about local governance and civil servants wary of divulging sensitive information has, in fact, found expression in the making and revision of relevant legal codes.

That explains why the latest draft reiterates the principle that government information disclosure should be the norm and nondisclosure exceptional. For that to have teeth, legislative revisions are needed to clarify what is eligible for disclosure and what is not.

There should be little controversy over the information subject to specially designed laws and regulations that is not to be made public under any circumstances. On the other hand, government information that risks "endangering national security, economic security, and social stability", yet can be disclosed in the appropriate circumstances, is often inaccessible.

The draft amendment is right to clarify that the disclosure, if deemed by same-level local governments as a potential threat to public security and social stability or the implementation of key financial policies, will not have to be made.

The vague wording and the lack of concrete criteria, however, may leave room for government departments not to make public information that they should. What constitutes potential security threats and the same-level governments' authority in deciding what to disclose, is not set out clearly enough to convince people that the right to withhold critical information is not being abused. Public supervision of government may be kept at bay in this way.

Making public government information is now a step that cannot be taken back. The disclosure of government information may be better decided by the top legislative body, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, rather than the governments themselves.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council recently issued a plan for reform of State-owned enterprises, which advances the establishment of central State-owned investment companies and companies operating State-owned capital that emphasize the circulation and appreciation of capital through diversified forms of operation.

At present there are 10 central SOEs including China Chengtong Development Group, China Reform Holdings Corporation, COFCO and China Poly Group Corporation that are to be the pilot State-owned capital investment and operating companies.

In the future there will be three kinds of central SOEs: industrial corporations, investment companies and operating companies.

The first two pilot central SOEs, China Chengtong and China Reform Holdings Corporation, have established two new State-owned funds, whose capital was 550 billion yuan ($80.75 billion) last year. The funds are for financing SOEs' structural adjustments as well as their transformation and upgrading.

The pilot programs for the other eight SOEs mainly focus on the reform of management and regulation. Capital operation and asset operation will be separated in the pilot SOEs, and "small headquarters, big industry" will be the reform tendency in the future.

The pilot program is expected to promote the optimal distribution of State-owned capital. In 2016, the total profit of the 10 pilot SOEs was 245 billion yuan, which was a 45 percent increase year-on-year and far more than the average profit level of SOEs.
Among all the issues the first round of China-US Diplomatic and Security Dialogue, to be held in Washington on Wednesday, aims to touch upon, the pursuit of clarity and consistency will be the most closely watched. State Councilor Yang Jiechi is due to co-chair the dialogue with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

Designed according to the consensus reached by the heads of state of the two countries at their meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in April, the dialogue will involve in-depth exchange of views on China-US ties and other critical issues of shared concern, and of course, a road map for future diplomatic and security-related cooperation. And for it to bear the desired fruits, candidness is the key.

Mixed signals have been received from time to time from US President Donald Trumps administration. Known for his unpredictability, the United States president could in one breath promise to build a sound relationship with China and in the next send warships to continue the "freedom of navigation" operations in the South China Sea. China needs less confusing responses to its consistent, coherent US policy that rests on respect and shared interests, and not on confrontation.

The dialogue in Washington is expected to reduce uncertainties in bilateral ties. A comprehensive exchange between senior officials from both sides would make clear their respective diplomatic focuses and security priorities, laying the groundwork for more concerted efforts to manage their differences.

In particular, how to resolve thorny issues, from trade frictions and the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in the Republic of Korea to cyberattacks and human rights, will be high on the agenda of the dialogue. Highly controversial, these issues warrant honest, face-to-face exchanges of views on what defines the China-US relations.

The Trump administration appears to make Pyongyangs nuclear program as the most critical factor in its ties with Beijing. Neither China nor the US wants the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea to develop nuclear weapons. The crucial disagreement centers on whether to adopt a dialogue- and UN-oriented approach to resolve it, as proposed by China, or to impose unilateral sanctions.

For Beijing, Washingtons stance on the Taiwan question, which basically boils down to whether it sticks to the one-China principle, matters a great deal when it comes to China-US relations. The Trump administration has acknowledged that both the Chinese mainland and Taiwan belong to one China, but Washington continues to sell arms to and maintain semi-official political interaction with the island. It is important therefore that participants in the diplomatic and security dialogue reach a consensus on addressing each others core concerns.

As the worlds largest and second-largest economies, the US and China attach as much importance to global issues as to bilateral agendas, in the shared hope that the world order would evolve smoothly without losing its stability. The Washington dialogue is expected to stress the authority and legitimacy of the UN in addressing regional and global affairs, which is in the interest of both countries and the international community as a whole.

The author is a professor of US studies at China Foreign Affairs University.


About

A media group will tour Harbin and cover stories about the citys achievements in recent years as part of its efforts to build itself into a national civilized city. The media group, which consists of reporters from Xinhua, the Peoples Daily and China National Radio, will conduct interviews and produce reports over the next three weeks starting June 2.

The media will focus on Harbins promotion of core values, city management, and the coordinated development of urban and rural areas. Reports will focus on different aspects of the citys development and include stories, charts, videos, and animations.
The southern Chinese city of Guangzhou hosted a road show in London to promote the 2017 Fortune Global Forum, and attract some of the world's largest enterprises to the high-profile business event that will be held in Guangzhou in early December.

The London meeting marked the 11th stop of Guangzhou's international road show for the 2017 forum. More than 150 people, including representatives from governments, enterprises and trade associations in Guangzhou and the UK, attended the event, promoting further cooperation between the two sides.

In recent years, the Chinese city has seen steady growth in attracting foreign investment and cooperation between the UK and Guangzhou. The UK is now an important trading partner and investment source for Guangzhou, with trade volume exceeding 16.38 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) last year.

Speaking to UK officials and business leaders at London's Berkeley Hotel, Cai Chaolin, Guangzhou's vice-mayor, introduced the city's initiatives of developing a technology innovation hub, which is expected to bring new business opportunities for UK companies.

Noting London's special status as a global financial center as well as an important international shipping center, Cai said, "The integration of finance and shipping can generate a powerful incentive, which is something we need to learn."

He said there is no shortage of large ports in China, as it hosts six or seven of the world's largest ports.

However, Cai said, "China is missing a high level of shipping, transaction, legal and financial services to make those ports leading international shipping centers".

A roundtable discussion titled "The UK-China Opportunity: Innovation, Investment and Impact" was held as a part of the event.

One of the panelists, Noel Quinn, chief executive of global commercial banking at HSBC, said, "The UK businesses have continued to perform extremely strongly, and in the second half of last year exceeded all expectations with respect to trading performance, and business profitability, which shows great resilience."

But the UK business community is not reaching out to the rest of the world as much as some of its European competitors are, said Quinn, who sees China as a huge opportunity for that, especially in the post-Brexit era.

Quinn said that UK corporate banks dealing in the fields of infrastructure, space, engineering, construction and architecture are doing extremely well in entering China, providing services and partnering with Chinese businesses.

George Yip, professor of marketing and strategy at Imperial College London, who is also on the panel, said "China is at the take-off point at moving from imitation to innovation, through a very Chinese kind of way with large number of scientists and low costs, in a rapid speed."

Yip said for Chinese goods to become popular worldwide, Chinese government needs to actively promote high-quality Chinese brands, making made-in-China a plus instead of a negativity.
French President Emmanuel Macron exits the cockpit of a Rafale jet fighter helped by Dassault Aviation CEO Eric Trappier (R) during his visit at the 52nd Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, north of Paris, France, June 19, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday marked the debut of this year's Paris Air Show on board of 400M military transporter in a move to further promote defense aerospace projects.

Earlier in the day, Macron flew to the Bourget Parc des Expositions on an Airbus A400M military transporter in a sign of support to four-engine transport military aircraft which has to cope with costs overruns and industrial problems.

"The Bourget exhibition gives honor to aeronautics in general and military aviation in particular, committed to fight Daesh (Islamic State)," General Zimmermann, second in command of defense and air operations was quoted as saying by the Le Figaro newspaper.

The 52nd International Paris Air and Space Show kicked off on Monday at le Bourget Airport in northern Paris to showcase the cutting-edge technology of today and the future of the air and space industry.

Divided into two parts, the air show trade days from June 19 to 22 are reserved to trade visitors only. And from June 23 to 25 will be public days for general visitors.

According to the organizers, about 2,380 exhibitors from 91 countries will bring some 130 new civil and military aircraft expected to perform flying displays and to be exhibited.

As usual, the International Paris Air and Space show is a main battle field for the world's leading civil aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus. Some major aircraft sales contracts are expected to be announced by them during the show.

Founded in 1909, the International Paris Air and Space Show is the biggest show of its kind dedicated to the aerospace industry worldwide. It is currently held every odd year in northern Paris.

Reuters contributed to this story.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer departs after holding a press briefing at the White House in Washington, US, May 30, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Sean Spicer is seeking to take on a more strategic role that would give him a limited presence in the daily press briefings that have made him a prominent face of the Trump administration.

A senior administration official and three people familiar with the potential changes said Monday that Spicer has discussed taking a more senior communications role at the White House. The three people said he has reached out to possible successors at the podium and as communications director. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations before a final decision is made.

"We have sought input from many people as we look to expand our communications operation. As he did in the beginning, Sean Spicer is managing both the communications and press office," said Sarah Huckabee Sanders, a deputy White House press secretary. She declined further comment on the potential changes.

The people warned that no decision has been made and, as with all things involving President Donald Trump, the situation could change. Major staffing shake-ups have been a constant subject of conversation at the White House, but have failed to materialize in recent weeks, aside from the departure of communications director Mike Dubke in early June.

Those who have interviewed for senior communications jobs include David Martosko, the US political editor of London's Daily Mail, who covered the president's campaign. That's according to a person familiar with the interviews who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private deliberations.

The possible changes for Spicer were first reported by Bloomberg News and Politico.

Spicer's public role has already diminished in recent weeks.

The White House has increasingly tapped Cabinet officials and other White House advisers to address reporters on camera and moved to take some of the daily briefings off cable television to keep the focus on Trump, who makes a habit of watching the televised performances.

Spicer spoke Monday from the podium at an off-camera gaggle that barred broadcast outlets from using the audio of the question-and-answer session. Asked about the changes, Spicer said Trump had spoken before cameras during an Oval Office meeting with the president of Panama and would later make remarks in front of the media at an event with technology leaders.

"There are days that I'll decide that the president's voice should be the one that speaks and iterate his priorities," Spicer said.

The White House has generally only used that excuse on days that the president has held a press conference or delivered a major speech.

Spicer's briefings have been must-see TV during the start of the Trump era, beginning with his fiery, inaccurate claim that journalists wrongly portrayed the size of Trump's inauguration audience. He has been the subject of recurring skits by comic Melissa McCarthy on "Saturday Night Live" and his afternoon briefings have garnered strong ratings.

In April the former Republican National Committee strategist apologized for making an "inappropriate and insensitive" statement comparing Adolf Hitler to Syrian President Bashar Assad by suggesting Hitler "didn't even sink to using chemical weapons." His comments ignored Hitler's use of gas chambers to kill Jews.

Trump threatened in May to shut down daily press briefings and told Fox News Channel at the time that Spicer was "doing a good job, but he gets beat up."The president has long seen himself as his most effective spokesman, and has faulted his communications team for much of the early turbulence at the White House as well as the backlash from the firing of FBI Director James Comey.

AP
The Rock Church in Helsinki. [Photo/VCG]

HELSINKI - Road blocks were placed on Monday around the Rock Church, a popular tourist attraction in downtown Helsinki, to protect it from possible attacks.

The police suspected an terrorist attack had been prepared targeting the church. The criminal police announced on Monday the threat was being investigated, but gave no more details.

Police inspector Tero Haapala told national broadcaster Yle Monday evening that the possible plan had been at an early stage and it was not near operational level.

The church, built partially underground, was under major police control on Sunday. The police said on Sunday "a person of interest" was being sought but could not be found.

On Monday, the driveways and pedestrian walkways around the church were partially closed with concrete blocks. Access of the public to the church was not restricted.

Besides the Lutheran services for the Toolo district congregation, the church is also open throughout the day for tourists.
European Union Chief Negotiator for Brexit Michel Barnier looks on during a news conference after a European General Affairs Ministers meeting in Brussels, Belgium, May 22, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

BRUSSELS - It's possible for the European Union (EU) and Britain to strike a fair Brexit deal which is "far better than no deal", EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier told reporters on Monday.

"Both for the EU and the UK, a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal, that is what I say to David today, that is why we will work all the time with the UK and never against the UK," Michel Barnier said at a joint press conference with his British counterpart David Davis, after wrapping up the opening salvo of the Brexit talks in Brussels.

His remarks obviously alluded to British Prime Minister Theresa May's catchphrase "no deal is better than bad deal."

Barnier hailed that the first session was "important", "open", and "useful indeed to start off on the right foot as the clock is ticking".

"Today we agreed on dates, we agreed on organization, and we agreed on priorities for the negotiation," he said, outlining a two-step negotiation.

"In the first step, we will deal with the most pressing issues, we must lift the uncertainty caused by Brexit; we want to make sure that the withdrawal of UK happens in an orderly manner.

"In the first step, the negotiation rounds will be broken down into three groups -- citizen rights, the single financial settlement, and other separation issues.

"These groups will report back to their respective principles during each negotiation week. David Davis and I, as chief EU negotiator, will discuss the issues together, tackle difficulties, and lift obstacles.

"Then in the second step, we scope our future partnership; we also agree on how we structure our tools."

Barnier said the two sides will have one week of negotiation every month, and use the time in between to work on proposals and exchange them.

"There will be no austerity on my side, I will display a constructive attitude firmly based on interests and support of the (EU) 27, and I will all the time seek to the continued support of the European Parliament," he said.

Echoing Barnier, British Brexit minister David Davis applauded the "very productive discussions," saying, "I've been encouraged by the constructive approach that both sides have taken."

"It was clear from the opening that both of us want to achieve the best possible outcome and the strongest possible partnership," said Davis, adding that he was happy to see that there is much common ground between the two sides.

"Ever since the referendum I have been clear that my first priority is to provide certainty to European Union citizens living in the United Kingdom and to UK citizen residents in the European Union, and I know Michele has that aspiration too.

"So now that the negotiations are started we are determined to get on with the jobs and deliver that certainty as soon as possible," he said.

He said Prime Minister Theresa May will later this week update European leaders on Britain's approach on protecting citizen rights at the EU summit slated for Thursday and Friday.

"We will then publish a detailed paper outlining our offer on (next) Monday which I believe will form the right basis on which to reach agreement," he said.

"Michel and I will meet every four weeks bringing our teams together for a number of days at a time. We hope this regular rhythm will help us progress our discussions across the full range of issues very quickly," he added.

"Today marks the start of the journey for the United Kingdom and the European Union. There's a long way to go but we're off to a promising start. We have taken the first critical steps together; now we have a shared responsibility to deliver quick and substantive progress," he said.

Regarding the future relationship with the EU, the secretary said that Britain hasn't changed its position despite the Conservative majority was wiped out after the snap election on June 8.

"We have the Lancaster House speech, the two white papers and the article 50 letter, all backed up by a manifesto -- and so it's the same as it was before," he said, reiterating that Britain will leave the single market and seek to set up a free trade arrangement with the EU.

"Similarly we'll be leaving the Customs Union... that's the only way we can develop our free trade arrangements with the rest of the world," he added.

The EU and Britain on Monday launched the long-awaited Brexit talks at European Commission's headquarters in Brussels, nearly one year after Britain voted to leave the bloc by a narrow margin on June 23, 2016.

May sent a notification letter to the EU in late March, trigge

ring a two-year countdown to Britain's withdrawal of the bloc after more than 44 years of membership.
Toronto and the Assyrian Film Producer

Dmitry Burenok (Cinematographer), Rommel Shamoun, Tammy Donahue Buziak (Archivist), Don Backus, Margaret Beach, Aneki Nissan (Producer), Fadi Dawood and Richard Heibert. On Wednesday, May 3, City Archivist Tammy Donahue Buziak phoned me to tell me that a film producer in Toronto wanted to meet me. Really. I couldn't imagine why. It was because I've done research and written on the Assyrian pioneers who migrated here from Persia (Iran and Turkey) in 1903 and 1906. I determined later that he was more interested in meeting and interviewing some descendants of the Assyrian settlers.

At 10:30 a.m. on Friday, May 12, Tammy and I met with producer Aneki Nissan and his film crew, all of whom were of Assyrian ancestry except for the video and sound man, Dmitry Burenok from St. Petersburg, Russia (apparently he was the top cinematographer in Canada). He spoke with a thick Russian accent but he was easily understood and we got along famously. Fadi Dawood disclosed that he had a Ph.D in Assyrian history. So we were able to compare notes on history and university life. We had a great discussion.

Aneki and I had a nice chat but no commitments were made. As I said, it seemed clear to me that the primary reason for Aneki's and his crew's visit to the Battlefords was to document the Assyrian history of this region. So a full length documentary on Assyrian settlement in the Battlefords and Canada (Assyrians also settled in Montreal, Thunder Bay, St. Catherine's and other places in Canada) is in the making. Aneki got most of his information from videotaped interviews with Margaret Beach (a descendent of the first Assyrian settlers in the area) and Don Backus.

Lunchtime. My van was the lead vehicle. Don and Margaret rode with me and the rest followed in a rented car. Our new friends were interested in First Nations cuisine, so we went to the Kihiw Restaurant at the Gold Eagle Casino. The buffalo burgers were great and Aneki and his crew were impressed. They were even more impressed when Don picked up the check.

Our next stop was at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church on 13th Avenue and 98th Street. Actually, it was more than a stop. The film crew videotaped all of the stained glass windows (south, north, east sides) dedicated to the Assyrian settlers. Add to that, Margaret's and Don's commentary and it took about two hours.

Next we visited Don Backus' and Margaret Beach's childhood family homes on 104th Street. The group did a walkabout, pictures were taken and we headed for the North Battleford graveyard.

We spent all of our time in the old section of the graveyard on the east side. The pioneer Assyrian graves, and the graves of Assyrians who died since, are located throughout the length and breadth of the cemetery. It seems to me that Don and Margaret found them all and the film crew got all of them on tape. Aneki had many questions, and Don and Margaret had most of the answers.

When the graveyard tour came to an end, the day was over. Our Assyrian friends thanked us profusely. We said our goodbyes and departed (we thought that the entire day had been extraordinary). But it wasn't a final goodbye.

The next day, May 13, Margaret and the film crew drove to Warman on the occasion of Margaret's daughter's (Cathy) birthday celebration. Margaret and her family were interviewed. Then Akeni and his group drove back to North Battleford to interview Chris Odishaw, David George and Tim Yonan.

Margaret made note of the fact that Aneki did not start from scratch when he arrived in North Battleford. He already had some information on the Assyrians' 100th anniversary celebrations in 2003. He must have got it from the website. And interestingly, the project was originally to document Canadian Assyrians service in the two great global conflicts. For example, Joe Backus was killed in World War II. He was only in his twenties.

So, it seems that Aneki's initiative will likely be a comprehensive account of Assyrian history in Canada. We can all look forward to a wonderful television documentary on Assyrians in our great nation.
A man prays in front of messages and tributes left near to where a van was driven at Muslims in Finsbury Park, North London, Britain, June 19, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

LONDON - British authorities and Islamic leaders moved swiftly to ease concerns in the Muslim community after a man plowed a large van into a crowd of worshippers outside a north London mosque early Monday, injuring at least nine people.

British media named the suspect as Darren Osborne, 47-year-old father of four who was living in Cardiff, Wales. British Security Minister Ben Wallace said authorities were aware of rising far-right activity but the suspect was not known to them prior to the attack.

Police are treating the incident as a terror attack. One man died at the scene, although he had been receiving first aid at the time and it wasn't clear if he died as a result of the attack or from something else.

The chaos outside the Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park follows three Islamist-inspired attacks over the past three months that have triggered a surge in hate crimes around Britain.

The Metropolitan Police Service, already stretched by its investigations of the earlier attacks and a high-rise apartment fire that is believed to have killed 79 people, immediately announced it was putting extra patrols on the streets to protect the public.

Police will assess the security of mosques and provide any additional resources needed ahead of celebrations marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, British Prime Minister Theresa May announced.

"This was an attack on Muslims near their place of worship," she said in a televised address. "And like all terrorism, in whatever form, it shares the same fundamental goal. It seeks to drive us apart  and to break the precious bonds of solidarity and citizenship that we share in this country. We will not let this happen."The attack occurred about 12:20 am when a speeding van swerved into worshippers who were giving first aid to a man outside the mosque. That man later died.

Police said the attacker who drove the van has been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism, including murder and attempted murder. A mob surrounded him and witnesses said the crowd began attacking him. A local imam, Mohammed Mahmoud, said he organized a group of people and shielded the man until police could take him away.

"By God's grace, we were able to protect him from harm," he said.

Toufik Kacimi, chief executive of the Muslim Welfare House, told Sky News the attack clearly targeted Muslims leaving evening prayers during Ramadan.

"We have a witness saying that the guy who did what he did, the driver of the van, said 'I did my bit,' which means he's not mentally ill," Kacimi said. "This person was conscious. He did what he did deliberately to hit and kill as many Muslims as possible, so he is a terrorist."But Kacimi said there was no need for the community to panic, because police and government officials have been "very, very supportive.""At this stage, we are calling for calm," he said.
MELBOURNE - The influential Committee for Melbourne on Tuesday called for a "mega-region" to be formed along Australias eastern coast.

Martine Letts, chief of the committee, said that a rapid transport link between Melbourne and Sydney could see the "mega-region" become reality within a decade.

She said she believes the region, which would also include regional centers, could rival others in the world such as the Shanghai district and San Francisco-Los Angeles in the United States.

The proposal by Letts came after the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) University announced it believed a hyperloop could provide the link between Melbourne and Sydney.

Championed by Teslas Elon Musk, hyperloop works by propelling a pod-like vehicle through a reduced-pressure tube at the speed of sound.

Zac McLelland, chief executive officer (CEO) of VicHyper, said the technology already existed to make hyperloop a reality, and it just needed to be supported by governments.

"If we really wanted to do it, we could do it now, and be built within three to five years," McLelland told Australian media on Tuesday.

He said that they would investigate the cost of hyperloop in 2017 and estimated it would cost around 30 billion U.S. dollars.

Letts said that if hyperloop was built, Melbourne and Sydney could become one region that shares an economy and co-hosted major events.

"The time for rivalry is over. To compete on the global stage and to deliver the best for our economy and people, it is imperative that Melbourne and Sydney work together," she said.

"A critical component for a successful eastern seaboard region is to bridge the geographical divide via an efficient intercity link.

"A rapid intercity link will support the vision. We have the technology to conquer the distance."
YANGON - Various kinds of items including one iron box and steward suits have been recovered in the vicinity of the sea area where the tail of the Myanmar military plane was found, Myanmar News Agency reported Tuesday.

The items of the victims were recovered by two fishing motor boats on Monday evening while searching for the remaining parts of the crashed plane.

However, two divers were injured by water pressure while conducting retrieve of parts of the plane wreckage in deep waters, the report said.

On Sunday evening, Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) and CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) were found in the already retrieved plane's tail section which was entangled with a fishing net of a local vessel under the sea off the country's southern coast.

Authorities are continuing to probe into the causes of the plane crash based on the black box.

So far, a total of 92 bodies have been recovered as of late Sunday.

With a load of 2.4 tons of cargo and 122 people aboard, including 108 military personnel and their family members and 14 crew members, the aircraft of the Myanmar Air Force lost contact with the ground shortly after taking off from Myeik on June 7.

The plane was believed to have crashed in the Andaman Sea off the southern Tanintharyi region on a flight to Yangon.
ISLAMABAD - At least two personnel working for Pakistani navy were killed and four others injured when some unknown militants sprayed bullets at their vehicle in the countrys southwest Gwadar district on Monday, local Urdu media reported.

Dawn News said that the militants ambushed the troopsvehicle in a market area of Jiwani city of Gawadar, a district located in the countrys southwest Balochistan province.

Police said that four assailants coming on two motorbikes attacked the forcesvehicle and fled the scene.

One troop was killed right at the spot in the incident, while four others who got injured were shifted to Naval hospital in the countrys southern port city of Karachi where one of them succumbed to injuries, bringing the death toll to two.

No group has taken credit for the attack yet.

Security forces cordoned off the area and kicked off search operation.

Chief Minster Balochistan Sanaullah Zehri condemned the attack and directed the concerned authorities to submit a report to him after completion of the investigations.
A clip of Planet Earth II showing a baby iguana managing to escape the clutches of the racer snakes. Gif footage from CCTV

BBC's award-winning documentary Planet Earth II is caught in a "fakery row" after its producer revealed that the scene showing a baby iguana being chased by racer snakes was stitched together using different takes.

During the episode filmed on the beach in Galapagos, South America, a baby iguana is shown besieged by a pack of snakes, but manages to escape their clutches.

As one of the most popular episodes in the documentary, the iguana clip quickly went viral when it was aired last year. It was also rated by Bafta as a must-see moment in 2016.

However, Elizabeth White, producer of the nail-biting scene, said the incredible moment was the work of two cameras and more than one iguana was actually filmed.

The producer told the Media Production Show: "It wasn't the same iguana, no, and often we have to augment it with other clips.

"Unfortunately lizards, snakes and iguanas aren't good at 'takes'."

A clip of Planet Earth II showing a baby iguana managing to escape the clutches of the racer snakes. Gif footage from CCTV

BBC refuted White's claim and denied that the iguana chase scene was faked.

"The final iguana chase in which one iguana escapes the snakes was - unusually for natural history filming - shot using two cameras, allowing us to follow both the individual iguana and the snakes' point of view." A spokeswoman for BBC said.

"What was captured in the field was extraordinary animal behavior which had never been witnessed or filmed before."

"As is common in natural history filmmaking, pick up shots were filmed separately  for example close ups of iguana eyes  to make the story of the sequence as clear as possible for the audience," she added.

This is not first time that the British broadcaster's nature documentaries have been accused of faking footage. Frozen Planet showed footage of newborn polar bear cubs in a den with their mother in 2011 - but it was filmed in an animal park, rather than in the wild.

Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Planet Earth II has been the most-watched natural history show for at least 15 years. It also won overwhelming praise among Chinese viewers, with the rating on Douban, China's version of IMDb, reaching 9.9 points out of 10.
The Story of China, a six-part documentary covering 4,000 years of Chinese history and culture, premieres on PBS on Tuesday.

Produced by the Public Broadcasting Service, the six-hour series explores the history of China from its ancient roots to the present day.

"The aim of the series is to provide PBS viewers with an accessible popular overview introduction to Chinese history," said Michael Wood, writer and host of the series, "and meet the people we all should try to know better."

Wood said he got the idea for the series in 2009 and started the filming in November 2013. It was edited in the spring of 2016 and was shown in the UK. He said that over the past year they had done some re-cutting and editing, putting different things in.

On June 13, PBS provided a screening of selected clips at the Asia Society in New York, giving audiences the chance to hear some of the stories behind the series.

The series is chronological, but it begins with the Qing Ming festival  or Tomb-Sweeping Day  as a family surnamed Qin goes to Wuxi, a city in southeastern China's Jiangsu province, to offer sacrifices to their ancestors. "I wanted to begin with the living culture," Wood said.

Wood had a broad pallet of locations to choose from. "Obviously, if you do a story of China, you have to film in Beijing, Nanjing and Xi'an," he said, "but we went to a lot of other places as well  Yangzhou, Huizhou, Suzhou, Shaoxing, Guangdong, Qufu, many different places."

Wood said they focused on individuals in rural villages as well as the big cities. "It's not only the big story, but some small stories as well," he said.

"The phenomenon of change in China is so significant as to make a new era in the history of the world," Wood said.

"I spent 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016 thinking about China, traveling China, talking to Chinese people," he said. "I travelled a lot in China at an earlier time, and there's a big change between the 1980s and now."

When he first traveled there, Wood said, it was a difficult time for the Chinese people. "But even so, the people were fantastic, very welcoming, very hospitable, very sociable. I really enjoy being in China with Chinese people."

The documentary witnesses these changes, and much more profound than that.

The thing that Wood wants the audience to take away from the series is the "sense of warmth of the Chinese people."

The screening was a success. "I just want to see more," said Janet Ross, philanthropist Arthur Ross's wife. "I want to learn much more."

Wood said the reception in the UK was good too. "Audiences really liked it," he said. "So many people said they just didn't know about Chinese history, culture, and this gives them some sense of it."

The series was also well received in China. "Xinhua said the film transcended barriers of ethnicity and language, and created something very powerful and moving," Wood said.

Xiao Jiaqiao in New York contributed to this story.

CHINA DAILY
Huang Huijuan, deputy director of Public Communication Department of China Women's Development Foundation, speaks at the 2017 Empowering Women and Sustainable Development Summit at the United Nations in New York on Monday. [Photo by Hong Xiao/China Daily]

While Chinese women have all kinds of the opportunities to make their dreams come true, they are making efforts in accelerating the global women's movement and promoting gender equality in the world.

"Empowering women is empowering the whole human race," Huang Huijuan, deputy director of the public communication department of the China Women's Development Foundation, said at the 2017 Empowering Women and Sustainable Development Summit at the United Nations in New York on Monday.

Zhang Meifang, Chinese deputy consul general in New York; Huang Hongying, vice-president of China's popular brand discount site vip.com and more than 100 women in leadership roles from all walks of life attended.

The half-day conference was divided into international forum and symposiums, focusing on the issues of empowering women and sustainability; promoting women's development through cooperation among government organizations and enterprises.

Huang said empowering women not only means eliminating poverty, but achieving sustainable development. She said NGOs have become one of the "propellers of social transformation". An important way for women's development in the future will be state, enterprise and society's co-operation.

To support women's development worldwide and the work of UN Women, China donated $10 million to UN Women for the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the realization of the related goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015.

During the Global Leaders' Meeting in September 2015 during the general assembly, President Xi Jinping said: "China will do more to enhance gender equality as its basic State policy, give play to women's important role as 'half of the sky' and support them in realizing their own dreams and aspirations in both career and life.

The conference, which is its third year, was jointly hosted by CWDF and the Sino-American Friendship Association.

Founded in 1988, China Women's Development Foundation (CWDF) is a nationwide non-profit social welfare organization that has been dedicated to improving women's overall quality, maintaining women's legal rights, promoting the development of women and women's initatives, and raising funds.

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com
KABUL - Eight local security guards were shot and killed following an ambush attack near a main US base in Afghanistan's eastern province of Parwan overnight, a local official said on Tuesday.

"Ten night shift guards were travelling in a vehicle to Bagram airbase before being attacked by gunmen roughly at 10:00 pm local time Monday. The shooting left eight people dead and injured two others," a provincial security source told Xinhua.

The source did not detail the incident, only saying that "an investigation has been initiated into the incident and more information will be shared with media later on the day."

Bagram Airfield, some 50 km north of Afghan capital of Kabul, has been serving as a main US and NATO military base in Afghanistan over the past 16 years.

The attackers fled the scene shortly after firing, according to the source.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack, which took place in Bagram district's Shah Aqa locality.

The Taliban-led insurgency has been rampant since late April when the militant group launched its annual rebel offensive in different places of the country, which had claimed hundreds of lives including militants, security personnel and civilians.

The Taliban urged civilians to stay away from official gatherings, military convoys and centers regarded as the legitimate targets by militants besides warning people not to support the government.
French policemen and firefighters secure the area on the Champs Elysees avenue after an incident in Paris, France, June 19, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - A man on the radar of French authorities for extremism was killed Monday after ramming a car carrying arms and explosives into a police convoy on Paris' famed Champs-Elysees Avenue, setting off a fiery blast and a cloud of orange smoke, officials said. France's anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investigation.

Gendarmes jumped out of the vehicle, ran to the car, smashed its windows and pulled out the driver in an apparent attempt to save him, according to witness accounts. The interior minister confirmed that he died.

No one else was injured despite the crowds of tourists and others walking down the avenue on a hot, sunny day, the Paris police department said.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called it an "attempted attack" and said it "shows once again that the threat level in France is extremely high." The minister used the occasion to explain the continued need for a state of emergency, in place since 2015, and plans to extend it until Nov 1, to be presented at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday.

A man could be seen lying on his stomach on the ground immediately after the incident, wearing a white shirt and dark shorts. The body was kept out of view under a tent, and later police were seen removing it, in a body bag on a stretcher.

If confirmed as a deliberate attack, this would be the fifth time this year that police forces have been targeted around the French capital.

Noemie Pfister, walking with her infant child and a friend, said she saw a car fly past a column of police vans, then fishtail. She wasn't sure if she saw it ram into one of the vehicles because it happened so quickly, but she can't forget the smoke and flames.

"I saw gendarmes get out of a van, run, break the window" of the car, she said in an interview. "They took the man out and put him a bit further away (from the car) on the other side of the road," she recalled.

"I couldn't understand, but I find it really strange that a car would pass (police) vans and all of a sudden spit fire," said Pfister. "I thought in my mind of an attack."Leonard Odihe said he saw officers break into the car, pull the man out and throw two weapons on the ground, "a big pistol and another big arm like the weapons police carry."Odihe said he also saw bottles of gas, one of which apparently exploded inside the car.

Two police officials told The Associated Press that a handgun was found on the driver, who they said was badly burned after the vehicle exploded. They identified him as a 31-year-old man from the Paris suburb of Argenteuil who had an "S" file, meaning he was flagged for links to extremism.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal details of the incident, the second this year on the city's most famous avenue, which is popular with tourists from around the world.

The interior minister said the current situation in France shows a new security law he is to present is needed to eventually "maintain a high security level" without the state of emergency.

Earlier this month, an attacker on foot went after a police patrol with a hammer in front of Notre Dame Cathedral.

In April, an attacker opened fire on a police van on the Champs Elysees, killing one officer and gravely wounding two others. The attacker was shot dead by police. That incident recalled two other attacks on soldiers providing security at prominent locations around Paris, one at the Louvre museum in February and one at Orly airport in March.

Victoria Boucher and daughter Chrystel came in from the suburb of Cergy-Pontoise for a Paris visit and weren't afraid to go to the famed avenue.

"The show must go on," the daughter said in English. "They won't win."

AP
US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross reassured the world on Monday that President Donald Trump's administration welcomes foreign investors.

Ross made the comment in his opening remarks at the 2017 SelectUSA Summit, a US government investment promotion program launched in 2013 by President Barack Obama's administration.

Trump is not expected to attend this year's summit being held June 18-20 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland. Obama had attended and spoke in all previous summits.

"We want to do all we can to encourage investment," Ross said.

He told the audience that the Trump administration will continue giving them the confidence they need to invest and spur mutually beneficial growth in communities across the US.

"There is no better time to invest in the United States and create jobs here than right now," said the billionaire cabinet secretary.

A record 1,200 foreign attendees from 64 economies came to this year's summit, including Ross noted, a record 155-strong Chinese delegation.

The Chinese delegation was also the largest in previous SelectUSA summits, a reflection of growing Chinese interest in investment in the US in recent years.

Chinese investment in acquisitions, new operations and expansion in the US grew to $46 billion in 2016, more than three times the previous record in 2015, according to an April report by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Dong Wenmei, chairman of T100 Kids, a children's clothing firm based in Guangzhou, said her company wants to go global after enjoying rapid growth in China in the past years.

"I choose the US as they have great business models and advanced technology," said Dong. Her company is negotiating possible acquisitions with several high-end children's clothing manufacturers in the US.

Chinese invested companies were featured prominently in Monday's program.

Gilbert Lee is the chief financial officer of Fuling Global Inc, a Chinese invested company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, making plastic disposable silverware, such as the straws supplied to major US fast food chains.

He was speaking on the same panel on renewed economic opportunities in the US with senior executives of heavyweights Oracle, ABB and BMW (USA).

He said investing in the US has cut the transportation costs for its products originally exported to the US by its factories in China. "We feel just like home in Allentown," Lee said.

Jane Liu, vice-president of Shandong Ruyi Group, was in the afternoon panel on collaboration models. Her company is planning to invest $400 million in a textile factory in Arkansas. The factory, which will create 400 jobs, is expected to break ground in the second half of the year and go into production next year.

Liu said she was deeply impressed by the Arkansas government team for its work efficiency and enthusiasm in welcoming Chinese investment.

Zhu Haicheng, deputy director of Hangzhou-based Zhejiang Chession Law Firm, got to ask GE's CEO Jeff Immelt and GM's CEO Mary Barra a question about how small Chinese companies could invest in the US in a conversation moderated by Secretary Ross.

Immelt said there are eight jobs in the supply chain for every GE job and many of those are in small businesses. Barra advised Zhu to look for places with welcoming governments and communities that can help small investors.

The US tops the 2017 A.T. Kearney Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index, followed by Germany and China. Both the US and China are also among top recipients of FDI.

Charlene Cai and Dong Leshuo contributed to the reporting.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com
A naked man was charged with multiple felony counts after assaulting a police patrol vehicle with his fist and his car south of Flagstaff while his 4-year old son was in the passenger seat.

Montrais Boyd Sr. of Westminster, Calif., was arrested for aggravated assault with a dangerous instrument, felony endangerment, child abuse and criminal damage charges on Sunday.

An Arizona Department of Public Safety officer responded to a call of a naked man lying down in the median of Interstate 17 near Willard Springs Road north of Munds Park.

When the DPS trooper arrived on scene he parked his patrol vehicle behind a black BMW sedan that was blocking traffic. A nude Boyd then ran up to the officers vehicle and began hitting it repeatedly with his fist.

The officer then moved his car away from the enraged Boyd and parked in front of the BMW where the officer saw Boyds 4-year old son in the car.

Boyd then entered the BMW and began ramming the patrol vehicle, causing extensive damage to the back bumper and drivers side of the car.

Boyd then fled from the scene in his vehicle and began driving northbound in the southbound lane of the interstate. The naked driver then lost control of the vehicle, traveled to the shoulder, reentered the southbound lane and back into the northbound lane.

DPS was unable to keep up with Boyd due to the damage he caused to the patrol vehicle by ramming it multiple times with his car. Officers lost sight of him only to find his car destroyed two miles north on the interstate.

Boyds BMW hit a rock embankment and flipped over. He was arrested without further incident and both Boyd and his son were taken to Flagstaff Medical Center, where they were treated for minor injuries and released the same day.

The officer who pursued Boyd sustained moderate injuries and is currently healing at home.

Boyds son was reunited with his mother Sunday evening and Arizona Department of Child Safety was called to assist with the DPS investigation.

DPS could not confirm why Boyd was naked or if he had been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

No traffic delays were reported during the pursuit or investigation of the incident.
China, CEEC countries to boost collaboration on healthcare

Top Chinese officials and health ministers from Central and Eastern European countries pledged in Budapest on Monday to give substance to the China-CEEC partnership, especially in healthcare.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong (center) and other officials bury a time capsule containing auspicious wishes on Sunday at the traditional Chinese medicine center being built in Budapest. PENG DAWEI/ CHINA NEWS SERVICE

The Budapest Declaration announced on Monday will not only serve as an anchor document to guide future implementation of their medical cooperation strategy, but also become another catalyst for the Belt and Road Initiative, officials said.

The officials were attending the Third CEEC-China Health Ministers' Meeting, which began on Sunday and ends on Tuesday. Officials from Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania, Montenegro and other regional nations attended.

Medical cooperation, they said, has progressed greatly since China and Hungary upgraded their bilateral partnership to a comprehensive strategic one in May during the meeting between President Xi Jinping and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong called such progress beneficial for the people of China and the CEEC.

Liu, together with CEEC health ministers and UNICEF officials, witnessed the signing of a group of healthcare and medical documents between China and the CEEC.

Other achievements include the establishment of the China-CEEC Human Resources for Health Cooperation Network, the China-CEEC Hospital Alliance official website and the China-CEEC Health Policy Research Network.

The ministers also signed memorandums of understanding and agreements for specific public health related programs in the municipality of Beijing and the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The Health Economy Trade Exhibition also started in Budapest to promote health innovation cooperation and build a platform for health industries in China and the CEEC.

"The CEEC-China Health Ministers' Meeting was established to contribute to the exchange of knowledge between the participating counties, between decision-makers and experts alike," said Zoltan Balog, Hungarian minister of human resources."We are convinced that the 21st century will only be successful if we are able to take advantage of the opportunities for global and local cooperation."

Li Bin, minister of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, said the meeting further implements the Riga Guidelines for Cooperation between China and CEEC, adopted in November in Riga, Latvia, during the Fifth Summit of China and the CEEC.

Liu proposed the further dovetailing of health policies between China and the CEEC to cultivate more people-oriented programs, more cross-border communication of health-related information, greater people-to-people communication and talent training, enhanced cooperation and health technology innovation.
Law enforcement measures by the Chinese police that target gambling in Southwest China's Yunnan province will not affect legal and legitimate trade in the border area between China and Myanmar, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Tuesday.

Police are investigating gambling in the province and froze a batch of bank accounts that may be involved in the case, Geng said in a daily news conference in Beijing.

Geng said law enforcement departments of both China and Myanmar are cooperating closely on cracking down on cross-border crimes, and China hopes to maintain close communication and coordination with Myanmar during the investigation into the case and safeguard the public's wellbeing.

According to reports, the bank accounts of some Myanmar traders in Ruili, a city in Yunnan, were frozen due to possible involvement with gambling.
French Minister of the Armed Forces, Sylvie Goulard, leaves the Elysee Palace after a weekly cabinet meeting in Paris, France, May 31, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

PARIS - French Defense Minister Sylvie Goulard resigned Tuesday to show "good faith" in her political party, the Democratic Movement (MoDem), days after a probe into fake job allegations against the group.

"I asked the President of the Republic, in agreement with the Prime Minister, not to be part of the government anymore," she said.

"If the preliminary investigation into the MoDem would verify the work conditions of my assistants in the European Parliament, I wish to be able to demonstrate freely my good faith and all the work I have done there," she said in a statement.

"Defense is a demanding portfolio. The honor of our armies, that of the men and women who serve and who put their lives in danger, should not be mixed up with controversies," she said.

Earlier this month, the Paris prosecutor's office opened a preliminary investigation into the centrist MoDem party, an ally of President Emmanuel Macron, over allegations of possible fake job contracts.

The probe was launched after a former employee of the party and ex-parliamentary assistant of European deputy Jean-Luc Bennahmias revealed that he was paid for the 2010-2011 in part by the European Parliament for a job he did for the party.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is expected to announce the lineup of a new cabinet on Wednesday.
Premier Li Keqiang meets with US delegation who were attending the ninth round of the China-US CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue in Beijing. [WU ZHIYI / CHINA DAILY]

Investment in China benefits both sides, premier tells Chamber officials

US companies are welcome to continue investing in China and seize opportunities brought by the nation's fast-growing service industry and efforts to upgrade the manufacturing sector, Premier Li Keqiang told a visiting US delegation on Tuesday.

By doing so, both countries can promote dynamic balance in economic and trade cooperation to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes, he told 15 US representatives, who were attending the ninth round of the China-US CEO and Former Senior Officials' Dialogue in Beijing.

The annual dialogue, jointly hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce and the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, alternates between Beijing and Washington and serves as a successful element of track-II, or informal, diplomacy. Li met with visiting US representatives attending the sixth such event in July 2014 in Beijing.

Common interests of both countries far override differences for the world's largest developing and developed economies, Li said. The two presidents have reached consensus to boost a stable development of bilateral ties, and both nations can settle discrepancies through dialogues, he said.

Economic and trade cooperation is a vital cornerstone for China-US ties, Li said. China supports free trade and encourages bidirectional open markets as well as fair competition, he said.

"We will further ease market access and prioritize the business environment, which will increase China's economic competitiveness and endow consumers with more choices. We would like to strengthen exchanges with leading businessmen in the US, sending a positive signal for further cooperation and projecting a stable expectation to the market," he added.

US representatives agreed that a stable and smooth development of bilateral ties is vital to both countries and to the planet. US companies are optimistic about the prospects and opportunities of the Chinese market, paying great attention to China's reform and development agendas in addition to its opening-up measures. They also said they will be committed to boosting mutual understanding and equal opening-up to create more chances for employment and economic growth.

Both countries share strong interests in fields such as trading agricultural goods and finance, which demands wisdom from both sides to further cooperation, Zeng Peiyan, chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, and former vice-premier, said at the event's opening ceremony. Such a track-II dialogue can boost communication between the two countries, he said.

Myron Brilliant, executive vice-president of the US Chamber of Commerce, said some achievements have been made since the 100-day plan on trade cooperation was agreed to in April, but there is still work ahead. Both sides will assess the plan in July. He said mutual trust should be strengthened in the future.

Zhong Nan contributed to this story.

huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn
Vice-Premier Liu Yandong (C) visits the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest, June 19, 2017. [Photo by Lei Xiaoxun/chinadaily.com.cn]

The melody of songs, recital of poems and practice of calligraphy, all in standard Mandarin, marveled visiting top Chinese officials and Hungarian dignitaries during an art performance by hundreds of students at the Hungarian-Chinese Bilingual School in Budapest on Monday.

Joy and laughter marked a highlight of the Chinese delegation, led by Liu Yandong, vice-premier of China's State Council, who is on a high-profile trip to the Central European country to consolidate China-Central and Eastern European Countries people-to-people exchanges.

The school was established in 2004 and is now the only public school in the Central and Eastern European region offering a 12-year education taught in both Hungarian and Chinese Mandarin.

Summing up the school's previous achievements, such as the 1,000 Mandarin-speaking graduates, Liu said: "The bilingual school is unique and essential, both in terms of teaching method and the role it has played in meeting the demand of Hungarian youth to learn and experience Chinese language and culture."

Fekete Marcell Zoltan, 15, who is currently a 9th grader, said learning Chinese at the school has made him a big fan of Chinese culture.

"I know I must work really hard then I can apply to a Chinese university," he said with perfect Beijing-based Mandarin. "I want to work in China and buy a house there too. I want to live in China."

Liu said leaders of China and Hungary have shown great attention to the overall development of the school, which now offers a Mandarin-based education from elementary school to junior high, covering the 12 years of early education.
The Georgia Supreme Court has rejected a challenge to a state law banning abortions after 20 weeks. Life News reports the ACLU challenged the fetal pain abortion bill in 2012, preventing the law from being enforced. After the courts decision it will now be illegal for doctors to perform abortions after 20 weeks; violating the law will be a felony.

The fetal abortion pain bill was named because science has proven unborn babies can feel pain at 20 weeks of gestation.

Georgia Life Alliance executive director Camila Zolfaghari said, This is a victory for human life and human dignity. No child should have to feel the pain of being ripped apart, limb by limb in an abortion.

She continued, We understand that life has triumphed today, but we still have a long way to go before every life, born and unborn, is fully valued and protected. Still we rejoice that the protection of human life grew just a little stronger today. Every single life has value.

Photo credit: Thinkstock/Saulich
For the second time, the Full Gospel Fasting Prayer Mountain, located in Romoland, CA, will be hosting a youth retreat for those youth in Korean immigrant churches that are not able to host their own summer youth retreats.

This years retreat is themed, Discover in Christ, and will be taking place from July 24 to 26 at the Full Gospel Fasting Prayer Mountain. Rev. David Kim from Full Gospel Korean Church of Hopewell in Virginia will be featured as the main speaker, and the retreat will include worship, seminars, and recreational and outdoor activities.

Students in middle and high school (grades 6 to 12 as of September 2017) are welcome to attend the retreat. However, the free event will only be open to the first 120 individuals to register. Those who are interested can find more information about registration at www.lafgc.com.

The Full Gospel Fasting Prayer Mountain began hosting this non-denominational, joint youth retreat for the first time in 2016 with the aim to serve the local Korean immigrant churches. As many of these churches face challenges such as financial difficulties, a lack of students, or a lack of teachers, the Full Gospel Fasting Prayer Mountain decided to roll up its sleeves to provide this resource for such churches.

During the first retreat in 2016, 85 students from nine denominations and 21 churches attended. LA Full Gospel Church (LAFGC) took care of all costs, and teachers, teaching assistants, and volunteers from LAFGC served the youth. Speakers at the retreat included Dr. John Kim, the founder of Jesus Awakening Movement for America, and Sarah Kim, the president of TVNEXT.
home US Atheist group urges Alabama police department to stop its endorsement of religious programs

An atheist activist group has asked a city in Alabama to put a stop to its police department's involvement and endorsement of religious programs and functions.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has sent a letter to the City of Wetumpka, as well as the Wetumpka Police Department (WPD), calling on the city and the department to stop participating in religious events.

According to Christian News Network, the police department hosts a summer community program which includes daily devotionals among the list of activities. The WPD also allegedly promotes a meal program for the community operated largely by local churches known as "People Extending Christian Kindness." The program is reportedly held monthly at the WPD, and it is mentioned on the department's Facebook page.

The Wetumpka Herald reported that both the city and the department had also shared an image of an officer who appeared to be having a Bible study with children.

The Blue Lives Matter Facebook page reportedly captioned the photo, "Officer Dailey of the Wetumpka Police Department having bible study with some kids on her beat. Awesome job officer!"

In the letter sent to the city on June 7, the FFRF argued that the police department is not being neutral toward religion by hosting events and posting them on Facebook. The organization contended that the department's involvement in Christian activities makes non-Christians feel like "outsiders."

"The police department's proselytizing and the endorsement of this proselytizing through the official Facebook pages of the city and the department violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by favoring a specific religion over others," the letter stated.

"[C]itizens should not be made to feel excluded or like political outsiders because the local government they support with their taxes oversteps its power by proselytizing and promoting religious events through official government channels," it continued.

The FFRF has asked the city to discontinue its involvement in all religious events and requested the removal of social media posts with religious content.

"We ask that all events sponsored by the city or the department discontinue including devotionals or other religious elements, and that the department cease official participation in religious events like the 'People Extending Christian Kindness' dinners," the FFRF wrote.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-founder of the FFRF, said she fully supported the police department's efforts to reach out to the children in the community through fun and educational means, but not through Bible studies.

She asserted that there would be outrage if the program involved a Koran study or the practice of another religion. She said that the Bible study program is not viewed in the same way as it involves the practice of the dominant religion, which is Christianity.
home US Pastor found dead in New Mexico after going on a treasure hunt

A 52-year-old pastor from Colorado has been found dead after he reportedly went to New Mexico to find a hidden treasure chest that supposedly contained gold and jewels worth $2 million.

Paris Wallace, the lead pastor of Connection Church in Grand Junction, traveled to New Mexico earlier this month and was reported missing by his wife on Wednesday.

According to Daily Mail, Wallace was looking for a treasure chest buried by author Forrest Fein somewhere in the Rocky Mountains in 2010. The author claimed that the contents of the chest are worth $2 million and clues about its location can be found in his work.

On a website about the hunt, Fenn had emphasized that readers should never attempt to look for the treasure alone. He had encouraged fans to look for clues in his two books titled, "Thrill of the Chase" and "Too Long For Walking," to find the treasure. The author had stated that the treasure hunt is his way of encouraging families to go outdoors and spend time together.

Wallace's friend, who had taken 19 trips to find the chest, had suspected that the pastor had launched his own quest and appealed to a fan forum for help.

The pastor's car was found in the town of Pilar, and the authorities later found his backpack and rope that was tied to a rock near the town of Espanola. His body was found on Sunday about five to seven miles downstream from where he parked his car.

Prior to the recovery of Wallace's body, Fenn expressed sadness over the pastor's disappearance.

"It is terrible news that the man has gone missing. I pray that he will be found safe and well," said the 86-year-old author.

"If I were 10 years younger I would be out looking for him myself. It is unfortunate that hundreds of hunters and hikers are lost each year in our forests and waterways," he added.

According to Daily Mail, the authorities are still confirming the identity of the body.

In a statement issued on CBS This Morning, Fenn said: "My heart and my prayers go out to his family and his church...this is such a tragedy."

Fox News reported in July that about 65,000 treasure hunters have attempted to find the chest in the New Mexico wilderness since Fenn released "The Thrill of the Chase" and launched the quest in 2010.

In January 2016, Randy Bilyeu, another Colorado resident, disappeared while looking for the same treasure. After Bilyeu's remains were found in July in the Rio Grande, his grieving widow said she believes that the treasure hunt was a hoax.

"We're disappointed that he lost his life because of a treasure hunt. There's no treasure - it's not real. He lost his life for a hoax," she told Albuquerque Journal in July.

Fenn had insisted that the hidden treasure was not a hoax, and he had previously noted that the chest is not hidden in a dangerous place. He cautioned that "no one should search in a place where an 80-year-old man could not hide it."
Mankinds descent into darkness  Holle der Vogel (Birds Hell) by Max Beckmann

Art historian Jill Lloyd takes a closer look at a major painting that, in terms of its artistic qualities and the force of its attack on the Third Reich, is comparable to Picassos Guernica

This painting is a warning about what can happen if we dont listen to our impulse to transcend our own human tendency to destroy, says art historian Jill Lloyd of Holle der Vogel (Birds Hell ) by Max Beckmann (1884-1950). Painted at a very fraught moment in his own life and a very fraught moment in European politics, this is a very major painting  a compelling and striking image that once seen, its impossible to forget. Max Beckmann was born in 1884 in Germany. Having enjoyed a degree of success in his early years, his life was to be turned upside down by World War I. Like many of the artists and poets of his generation, he had a nervous breakdown, explains Lloyd. And at this point his art changes very drastically. He has a crisis. He begins to embrace modernity and look back at gothic art, with its pain and torture scenes. He starts to paint these very disturbing paintings. Hitler became German Chancellor in 1933 and Beckmann almost immediately lost his job at the Art School in Frankfurt. In 1937, the Degenerate Art exhibition took place in Munich. It was hung in a very haphazard way, Lloyd says, with lots of slogans calling [the artists] cultural Bolsheviks, or [describing the works] as the art of the insane. Hitler gave a speech in which he threatened artists who created such works with imprisonment or castration. Beckmann listened to this speech, and within a few hours he was on a train to Amsterdam. He never set foot in Germany again.

Beckmanns sister-in-law lived in the Dutch capital, where the artist and his wife settled in a two-room apartment. Birds Hell was one of the first paintings that he made there. His first ideas for the work derive from a sketch that he made just under a month after his arrival in the Netherlands. The drawing, dated 2 August 1937 and titled Land der Wahnsinnigen (The Country of the Insane), depicts a scene that Beckmann would have been risking his life to paint in Nazi Germany  the same scene of torture that would appear in the finished oil painting, along with a crowd of figures giving the Hitlergruss, and a later-abandoned idea of a group of figures holding crystal balls. Lloyd describes Holle der Vogel (Birds Hell), completed over the course of 1937 and 1938, as a canvas thats full of violence on every level, painted in colours that underline the frightening atmosphere of a torture chamber. Like a 20th-century Brueghel or Bosch, Beckmann conjures a scene of mankinds descent into darkness and terror as if it were a medieval portrait of hell.

Whereas Picassos Guernica garnered worldwide acclaim when it was hung at the Worlds Fair, Holle der Vogel was seen by only a handful of people before the end of the war
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After dominating Zymurgy Magazine's annual survey of the Best Beers in America for eight of the 15 years it has existed, Russian River Brewing Co.'s elusive double IPA Pliny the Elder has been usurped.

Zymurgy, which is the official publication of the American Homebrewers Association, found that following a survey of over 4,000 of its members, that title now belongs to Two Hearted Ale, an IPA brewed by Bell's Brewery in Galesburg, Michigan.

"This is an incredible honor for us," said Laura Bell, CEO of Bell's Brewery. "We got our start as homebrewers  that's how my dad got going  so we really identify with the homebrewing community. We take a lot of that spirit into what we do today."

Zymurgy asked voters to select 20 of their favorite commercial beers available across the United States in an online poll, tallied them up, and with those votes found both state and national winners. Pliny came in at second place nationwide (though first in California), with Founders' Breakfast Stout (Grand Rapids, Michigan) at third, Three Floyds' Zombie Dust pale ale (Hammond, Indiana) at fourth, and another of Bell's, the imperial IPA Hopslam, rounding out the top five.

The Homebrewers Association's list of top breweries in the United States looked similar to its top-ranked brews. Bell's Brewery landed at first, with Founders Brewing coming in at second. Russian River ranked third, with fellow Northern California brewery Sierra Nevada at fourth. Fifth place went to Escondido's Stone Brewing, and sixth to Firestone Walker.

For Russian River loyalists, the results may not come as a shock. Bell's began distributing to California in early 2015, and has steadily been adding more customers in its growing list of distribution territories, including Texas, North Dakota, Nebraska, and South and Central Florida.

Russian River's distribution of Pliny, meanwhile, remains limited; currently, just beer drinkers in California, Oregon, Colorado, and Philadelphia can buy it  if it doesn't sell out immediately. Those who can't get the beer to taste are, naturally, less inclined to vote for it as a favorite.

See the full list of winners at the Homebrewers Association's website.

This article has been updated with data provided by the AHA.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


A decades-long lawsuit to make Chevron Corp. pay for cleaning up oil-field pollution in Ecuador suffered another blow Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case, which has been closely watched worldwide.

The justices let stand a U.S. District Court ruling that a $19 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuadoran court in 2011 was the result of an elaborate fraud orchestrated by an American attorney, Steven Donziger.

Although Ecuador's highest court later cut that amount to $9.5 billion, Chevron vowed not to pay. Instead, Chevron accused Donziger of bribing an Ecuadoran judge and ghost-writing the judgment against the company.

"The facts of the Ecuadorian judicial extortion scheme and the illegality of the plain-tiffs' lawyer misconduct have been finally and conclusively affirmed by the legal sys-tem of the United States," said R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron's general counsel, in an email. "Today's decision is an important step toward bringing this illegal scheme to a final conclusion."

The Supreme Court's action appears to end one tumultuous chapter in the fight  but does not stop the fight itself.

Although further legal action in the United States now seems unlikely, Ecuadorans who want Chevron to fund clean-up efforts in a corner of the Amazon rain forest are also pursuing the oil company in Canada.

Chevron's opponents in the case on Monday accused the U.S. Supreme Court of acting like "biased referees" in a ball game, allowing an American company off the hook for misdeeds aboard. They maintain that Chevron, based in San Ramon, bribed a witness and forged evidence.

"Ultimately, Chevron will be forced by other jurisdictions to pay every last dollar of the judgment imposed on it for (its) criminal behavior in Ecuador," read a statement Mon-day from the Amazon Defense Coalition, an organization that represents villagers and farmers living near Ecuador's oil fields.

"We are disappointed but not surprised that U.S. courts once again have refused to deal with the pollution problem in Ecuador caused by a U.S. company," the organization said.

The lawsuit's roots stretch back decades.

Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001, drilled for oil in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, working alongside the state-owned oil company Petroecuador. Chevron insists that Texaco fulfilled all of its clean-up obligations when it left the country. Any remaining pollution, according to Chevron, is Petroecuador's responsibility.

The lawsuit, based in the Ecuadoran town of Lago Agrio, became an international cause celebre and the subject of a 2009 documentary film, "Crude." But the film, which pro-filed Donziger and his legal team, became the key to Chevron's defense. One scene showed the team working with a court-appointed technical expert, Richard Cabrera, who was supposed to be neutral.

Chevron in 2011 sued Donziger in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing him and his colleagues of running an extortion scheme. Chevron's lawyers even obtained Donziger's diary, filled with unflattering descriptions of Ecua-dor's judges and legal system.

In March 2014, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sided with Chevron, saying Donziger and his colleagues had obtained the judgment against Chevron through fraud. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his decision last year.

dbaker@sfchronicle.com

twitter.com/DavidBakerSF
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Church's Chicken, founded in 1952 in San Antonio, has a slightly different name outside the Americas.

In countries as varied as Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq and New Zealand, Church's is known as Texas Chicken. The logo doesn't look much different, but the menu does differ depending on the market. World travelers have likely done a double take while walking by a Texas Chicken, noticing the same brand colors and fonts.

TEXAS IS EVERYWHERE: The Republic of Texas' somewhat-hidden embassy in London, England

Back in 2015 the Munchies food blog, a Vice creation, reported on the brand name difference when a consumer noticed the "Church's" name on a prepackaged item. Texas Chicken Malaysia explained to a worried consumer that they were not affiliated with any religion and that the name was the founder's surname. They also needed to quell worries that the food was not halal.

Founder George W. Church Sr. opened his first chicken stand in 1952 in downtown San Antonio. One of the first groundbreaking moves the chain made was making jalapenos a side item. By the next decade there were over 100 location across seven states.

MAP FANS UNITE: Civil War-era maps show Texas, Gulf of Mexico in new light

However, brand names don't always translate overseas. Customers in the United States don't equate Church's with holy rollers frying chicken and slinging honey-butter biscuits and mashed potatoes, although the eatery is a popular after-church choice for many.

It's just a name to American consumers. The brand name Texas Chicken, though, does have a hearty and somewhat-wholesome connotation overseas, evoking cowboys and roughnecks chowing down on chicken and sides after a long day at work.

The first Texas Chicken opened its doors in Indonesia in the 1980s. Menus vary in other countries. Texas Chicken in Malaysia serves chicken burgers and a variety of desserts.

TEXAS ME: 40 photos that will fill you with Texas pride

According to its most recent press release Church's and Texas Chicken have over 1,650 locations in 25 countries across the world, raking in nearly $1 billion.

Rightfully so, jalapeno cheese bombers appear to be popular in most every market across the planet.

The chain is now owned by San Francisco private equity firm Friedman Fleischer & Lowe and is headquartered in Atlanta. The previous owners, a firm named Arcapita, focuses on investments that "comply with Shari'ah principles" and in 2005 it removed pork products from the menus. Friedman Fleischer & Lowe purchased the chicken chain in 2009.
The brick-and-mortar retail world continues to crumble around the United States as Amazon and online stores continue to boom. Many companies are seeking bankruptcy protection to reduce debt and reach long-term viability.

Moody's Investors Service listed 22 U.S. retailers with troubled financials that could be heading to potential bankruptcy.
Thieves swiped a 2014 Mercedes-Benz G550 on Saturday from the valet parking lot of a swanky Galleria dim sum restaurant, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the valet company in Harris County Court.

The vehicle was recovered Tuesday afternoon, the owner said.
The Atlantic hurricane season is less than three weeks old yet its already threatening the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico coastline.

Tropical systems in the Gulf of Mexico often grab the notice of energy traders because the Texas and Louisiana coastline is home to offshore rigs and platforms accounting for about 17 percent of U.S. crude oil output and 4.1 percent of natural gas production. They can lead to the evacuation of non-essential personnel from rigs and platforms, cause power outages and also disrupt shipping.

A potential system in the Gulf of Mexico sparked tropical storm warnings on Louisianas coastline and watches from High Island, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana. Tropical Storm Bret, which formed Monday, prompted similar warnings in Trinidad and Tobago, Grenada and parts of Venezuela, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami.



That stretch along the Gulf Coast includes Sabine Pass, site of the only active U.S. liquefied natural gas export plant, operated by Cheniere Energy Inc. High Island isnt far from the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel, which leads to the Port of Houston, where more than 241 million tons of cargo are moved through each year.

To have two storms in the Atlantic in June is a bit out of the ordinary.

It is unusual but not unprecedented, said Bob Henson, a meteorologist and blogger with Weather Underground in Boulder, Colorado. Both will affect land.

The system about 325 miles (523 kilometers) south of the mouth of the Mississippi River has been labeled a potential tropical cyclone by the hurricane center. That designation is new this year and follows improvements in forecasting.

The biggest threat from the storm will be heavy rain along the U.S. Gulf Coast, said Dan Pydynowski, a senior meteorologist at AccuWeather Inc. in State College, Pennsylvania. There are upper level winds that could push the heaviest rain away from its center, which he said could probably come ashore anywhere from the Texas-Louisiana border to the Florida Panhandle.

Heavy rain

No one should discount the damage these rains can do, Henson said. One forecast model predicted Monday at least 6 to 10 inches of rain could fall across a large portion of the Gulf Coast with some pockets getting as much as 20 inches.

The last time that happened it was a major disaster, Henson said.

Bret, with top winds of 40 miles per hour, was about 30 miles from Trinidad, according to an 11 p.m. New York time advisory from the hurricane center.

This storm is unusually far south, the center may go right over Trinidad and Tobago tonight, said Pydynowski. There will be several inches of rainfall, wind gusts from 40 to 50 miles per hour tonight and early tomorrow.

For more on the prospects for Atlantic hurricane season, click here

Its rare for a storm to threaten Trinidad, the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas to Engie SAs Everett import terminal in Massachusetts. Trinidad exported about 10 million tons of LNG last year, according to the International Group of LNG Importers, about 4 percent of the global trade.

There have only been four in the last 150 years that we know about, Henson said. The only hurricane that has formed was the Trinidad hurricane of 1933.

Henson said chances are its luck will run out in the next few days. It will enter a section of the Caribbean often called the graveyard of storms where it will be torn apart, he said.

The hurricane center predicts it will fall apart in three days.

While its hard to predict what the rest of the year will bring based on early activity, these storms could be indicators of a busy Atlantic season, Henson said. An average season produces 12 named systems of at least tropical storm strength.
Houston police are searching for two suspects who were caught on video robbing a T-Mobile store in the Champions area.

HPD said the men entered the store on Wednesday, April 5 at about 3:50 p.m., pretending to be customers.
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On Tuesday the organizers behind Sound on Sound Fest released the lineup for their second annual event, featuring punk icon Iggy Pop, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Grizzly Bear and others on the three-day bill.

The concert, set for November 10-12, is set to return to Sherwood Forest, a renaissance fair location in the Lost Pine Forest. It's about 35 miles east of downtown Austin in McDade.

SEE A SHOW: Check out Houston's concert calendar

The inclusion of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs is especially notable since the act has been largely dormant since 2013.

Other notable acts on the bill include Japandroids, Hot Chip (DJ Set), Real Estate, The Story So Far, Foxygen, Cannibal Corpse, Austra, Cloud Nothings, Boris, Twin Peaks, S U R V I V E, Girlpool, Power Trip, The Menzingers, Juan Maclean (DJ Set), Peanut Butter Wolf, and A Giant Dog.

Three-day general admission passes are on sale now at the event's official website for $189 plus tax, while three-day VIP passes are available for purchase for $379 plus taxes.

There is also affordable onsite camping for ticket-buyers for an add-on price beginning at $75 plus taxes.

COMING SOON: ZZ Top brings Tonnage Tour to Sugar Land

The festival is also offering up shuttle services for fans who don't live near the venue as a part of a new partnership with FestDrive. A fleet of shuttles will pick up festival-goers from College Station, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio, for a $35 one-way trip or $60 round-trip. Here in Houston the pickup spot will be the Spaghetti Warehouse downtown.

Sound On Sound Fest is the newest event from the ex-Fun Fun Fun Fest organizers Margin Walker Presents. It replaced Fun Fun Fun Fest last fall after a 10-year run in Austin proper.

The venue, Sherwood Forest, is a 23-acre permanent renaissance village that will once again utilized in creating the festival footprint.
The small crisis takes place countless times at the lunch hour in schools across Greater Houston: Students have no lunch money, for all sorts of reasons.

The solution du jour in many area school districts is cheese on bread, which officials describe as a necessary balance between child nutrition and fiscal responsibility. While not exactly Dickensian, these "alternative meals" are the best the school officials say they are able to do.

Some districts, like Friendswood ISD, offer regular meals instead of alternative ones, but Friendswood is a relatively small district. Their total debt for unpaid meals as of May 2017 was $3,565. For districts like Pasadena ISD, where 70 percent of their students are on free lunch programs and 10 percent are on reduced lunch programs, offering hot meals to students who do not have lunch could prove to be a more difficult task.

Students at Pasadena ISD who do not have a meal for the day and have already charged two meals are given a courtesy lunch, which consists cheese sandwich and milk.

"Students are able to charge two meals only. Once a child is at a two-meal deficit, they are no longer allowed to charge and they will receive a courtesy lunch," Pasadena ISD spokesman Arturo Del Barrio said. "After two days and the account is not brought up to balance, the student is provided with a courtesy meal free of charge which consists of a cheese sandwich and a milk. Our students will never go hungry."

House Bill 2159, introduced by Rep. Helen Giddings (D-DeSoto), initially would have required school districts to supply meals to students who either did not have lunches or did not have the funds in their school lunch accounts. A diluted version of the bill that passed both the House and Senate in the past legislative session allows districts to give students lunches, but does not require it.

In Pasadena ISD, parents of a student will receive reminder phone calls if a bill remains unpaid. As of June, the lunch deficit was $10,493.

Based on the number of schools in the district, Del Barrio said, the number is actually low.

The $10,493 equates to 4,115 meals. Divided by the number of schools in the district (67), and spread across the eight months schools are in session, that equates to about 7.6 meals a month per school, he said.

If Friendswood ISD students don't have lunch for the day, that district provides them with the same lunch being served to other students.

"It's more cost-effective for us that way," district spokeswoman Dayna Owen said. "This way, our staff isn't having to make two separate lunches to account for students who, for whatever reason, don't have lunch that day. They're just served the same thing as everyone else; we already have the lunches ready."

The lunch tab accumulates and the student's family is asked to pay the final tab at the end of the year.

Owen said that the district feels that it's important, not only for students to have a good meal, but also that they not feel ostracized if they don't have money for lunch that day.

"We don't want them to feel embarrassed," Owen said. "Giving them the same lunch as everyone else can help with that."

Pearland ISD, which has an unpaid school lunch debt of $2,623, continues to serve a hot meal until a lunch account is $5 overdrawn. At that point, cafeteria workers are instructed to set aside the regular lunch tray, and students are given a sack lunch with a cheese sandwich, a vegetable and a carton of milk.

Alvin ISD, with a lunch debt of $8,178, serves an alternate meal of sandwishes with soy butter or peanut butter and jelly or cheese along with milk.

Pearland ISD spokeswoman Kim Hocott says campus staff are sometimes able to bend the rules.

"There are exceptions made every day in Pearland ISD. Every situation is handled on an individual basis," Hocott said in an email. "In those cases where the student is a victim of the parent's negligence, the hearts of our people go out to that child and help. Unfortunately, it is usually more reliable to count on our school personnel than on such parents."

Hocott wrote that campus staff sometimes step in to help students.

"Our principals, teachers and food services staff are incredibly receptive and generous toward students - and unfortunately more conscientious and prompt than some negligent parents," she wrote. "If the school knows there is a problem at home, they help. Every day, every week in this district, there are teachers, staff and principals who give of their own personal resources to take care of kids. Again, this includes food, clothing, school supplies and many other needs. Most of them do so without announcing it with trumpets."

Jennifer Basich, director of child nutrition services in Alvin ISD, said, "Our district uses an online meal payment system that parents can access 24/7. It sends low balance reminders and lets parents know what their student is eating. In addition, it allows parents to pay for meals instantly.

"From my perspective, school districts are doing everything they can to help students. This issue is a USDA issue," she said. "If we as a nation do not like collecting money from parents, we should make his program universally free. Unfortunately, collecting money and dealing with the downside of it has become the burden of school districts nationwide."

The issue is sparking national debate over the obligation increasingly low-income public schools face to feed kids who either haven't applied for free or reduced-price meals or don't have lunch money.

One local critic known as the lunch angel has founded a local nonprofit to address school debts. At least five others have launched fundraisers.

Other states have taken stronger measures. New Mexico recently outlawed shaming students whose parents have fallen behind making payments. Schools will be required to work with parents to repay debts or apply for help.

How to handle those at other campuses who still struggle to pay, yet do not sign up or qualify for help, remains up for debate.

Nutrition directors endeavored to find a palatable solution. With free lunch for all unlikely, each developed a slightly different answer.

"You can argue it either way," said Fred Walker, child nutrition director for Clear Creek ISD.

"There's not a right or wrong answer to the whole situation, other than the kid is the one who suffers for it."

Schools consider alternative meals a last resort. Children complain about them, prompting parents to confront the issue. Nearly half of 2,426 students who owed money this year in Alief ISD, for example, qualified for free lunch.

But no one wants to take away a hot meal. And directors worry over sandwich stigma. To reduce shame, the child nutrition director for Stafford schools serves cheese sandwiches monthly for everyone.

Unpaid meal policies differ beginning with the limit on how much can be charged to an empty account. That might be $1, as in Clear Creek ISD, or $20, as in Humble ISD. Meals across grade levels cost an average of $2.27.

Schools also have various methods for contacting families. Often, they issue alerts when accounts get low and send home letters when they empty.

"We all work on it," echoed Basich. "It's the lunch lady. It's the cashier. It's the principal. It's the secretary. It's the parents."

The free meal provided when charges run out is often cheese on bread - usually cold, except at Deer Park ISD, where it's grilled. It is common in part because of peanut allergies. Some offer sides. All provide juice or milk.

Of 32 area districts surveyed, only four served a regular meal instead of an alternative one to students who continue to be unable to pay. In addition to Friendswood and Houston, they are Spring Branch and Cypress-Fairbanks, which cover costs with accounts funded by donations.

"There's some things you just can't skimp on," said Kenny Thompson, aka the lunch angel.

"You can't skimp on a child's health."

Kristi Nix contributed to this story
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She was born Mary Joe Hain from Daisetta, an East Texas town with a population of less than 1,000.

But in the world of fashion, that name won't hunt. An agent urged her to change it. So Mary Joe became Dallas Hill, Houston's first super model.

On Saturday, Hill died at age 86.

Houston modeling legend Neal Hamil wrote on Facebook about meeting Hill in 1977 at his first runway show as a model. She slammed a cowboy hat on his head just as he took to the runway and said, "Go get 'em!" She became a mentor for the young model who would go on to own his own agency.

Through her 40-year career as a high fashion model, Hill worked in New York and around the world for major fashion houses and designers such as Oscar De La Renta, Victor Costa and Edith Head, the Oscar-winning designer who costumed Alfred Hitchcock films, among others.

In the early 1950s, Hill attended college at the University of Lamar in Beaumont and later married Jerry Gifford Hill, an Air Force officer who died in 2007 at age 77.

They had four sons and one daughter. Hill was also a devout Catholic and a gifted artist.

Hill was once the house model for Isabell Gerhart, a now-defunct upscale Houston boutique, and she modeled for Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and Sakowitz, another former luxury store.

Corporate and personal image consultant Helen Perry, a longtime friend of Hill's, first met the model in the 1980s and became her personal stylist.

"I remember she was going to a funeral and wanted to wear a black dress with red shoes, which she didn't have. So she spray painted a pair red," Perry said. "That was classic Dallas. She was funny and country in so many ways."

When it came to the runway, Hill was legendary, Perry said. "She didn't walk the runway. She floated. There aren't models like that any more. "

"There will never be another Dallas Hill," Hamil said." I was honored to know her, privileged to have her endless friendship and support and love. She was just pure love. Godspeed, darling Mary Joe. Gone but certainly never forgotten."

She is survived by her children Marc, Thaddeus, Gifford and Filomena. Her son, Christian, died in 2009.

Visitation will be at 7 p.m. June 30, at Earthman Bellaire Funeral Home, 4525 Bissonnet. Services will be held 10 a.m. July 1, at St. Michael Catholic Church, 410 N. Center St. in Weimar.
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Walkers on stilts. Marching bands. Giant papier mache creations, including one of Trump. Absurd floats. Fanciful dancers. And, of course, the notorious naked bicyclists.

All this and more fascinated a large crowd gathered Saturday to watch the Fremont Solstice Parade, our annual celebration of 16-hour days, the coming two (and hopefully three) months of great weather and the turning of our long, dark winter into a distant memory.

As for Saturday's weather, it was a lot like Seattle itself -- could have been better, could have been worse. The parade kicked off two hours earlier than usual under mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 60s. It seemed only a guest appearance by full sunshine could lift the mercury to the day's predicted high of 71.

However, the clouds gave cover to those brave participants who chose to expose their pale, goose-pimpled flesh to the open air. Their sacrifice did not go unnoticed.

RELATED: City: Construction forcing Solstice Parade to find new storage site

For a first-time spectator of the parade, the annual event can be a bit eye-opening.

"It's the nudity," said Maxine Cordon, who watched the parade with her family. She's visiting from Nova Scotia.

"It's a lot of genitalia," said Olivia Tavilla of Portland, who watched the parade for the first time Saturday. "Available for viewing."

The parade has been a neighborhood institution for nearly 30 years.

"It's just a spirit of openness," said Tavilla. "And everybody needs to be accepted how they are, no matter what color, shape or size you are."

The parade is part of the Fremont Fair, which runs Saturday and Sunday. It includes a craft market, live music and food vendors. You can learn more about the fair on its website.

The fair began in the 1970s; the parade began in 1989.

RELATED: Fremont Solstice Parade through the years

Scan the gallery above for a look at the 2017 edition of the Fremont Solstice Parade.

KOMO News contributed to this article.
The American college president looks a lot like he did five years ago.

Hes a white man in his 60s with a doctorate. He most likely came to the presidency from within higher education, and hell likely serve in his role for about seven years. The American Council on Education released the results of its 2016 college presidency demographic study  a report it compiles every five years  on Tuesday.

About 70 percent of college presidents were male, and 83 percent were white. Eighty-five percent of college and university presidents came from within higher education.

This picture was compiled based on survey results from more than 1,500 college leaders.

But it looks unfamiliar to many Texas institutions  especially in the Houston area.

Presidents of two powerhouse research institutions in Texas fit the bill. Gregory Fenves, the University of Texas at Austins president, was UTs executive vice president and provost before assuming the presidency. Michael Young, Texas A&M Universitys president, was president at the University of Washington before coming to College Station. Both are in their 60s and came to their institutions in 2015.

The report's authors attributed the slow demographic change to universities' desire to seek an experienced president in a tough political climate for higher education.

"In doing so they de-prioritize gender and racial/ethnic diversity," the authors write. "Still, more than half of presidents expected to leave their current positions within five years, which should raise hopes for an acceleration of the diversification of the presidency in the short term."

And more broadly, Texas university leaders likely align with national trends in one crucial respect: Almost every president surveyed by ACE said they spend most of their time on the budget, finances and fundraising. More than 60 percent of presidents said their top challenge was never having enough money.

We know that was top of mind  especially this session.
A man accused of using a stun gun on a woman at a cemetery last week before binding her with zip ties and a necktie has been captured, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office said Monday.

The man, identified as Charles Glaze, 52, was arrested about 6 p.m. Monday at a home in the 9200 block of Sweetbush in northwest Houston.

He was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon in connection with Friday's attack at Klein Memorial Park in Pinehurst. The victim was able to fight off her attacker and ran for help at a nearby fire station, officials said.

Sheriff's deputies had been searching for Glaze since his name was linked to an earlier incident on May 14 at a cemetery in Tomball. Sheriff's deputies said a woman he approached became suspicious and took a photograph of his vehicle, a Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Both women identified Glaze as the person they had seen at the two cemeteries.

Glaze remains in custody. His bond has not yet been set.
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Insomnia Lounge might be getting some sleep after a Harris County judge this week shuttered the unlicensed after-hours bar.

According to the Harris County Attorney's Office, the Brays Oaks club advertises late-night hours online, boasting about bar hours between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m., which is illegal in Texas.
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A mother accused of stabbing her 4-year-old daughter Sunday evening in northwest Harris County is is being examined for mental health issues, her lawyer said Tuesday.

"She doesn't seem well," defense attorney Philip Scardino told reporters after Laquita Lewis, 34, appeared in court. "And if the facts prove out to what (prosecutors) are saying, she's probably got some mental problems."

Lewis appeared before state District Judge Maria Jackson where she was arraigned on a charge of capital murder in the death of Fredricka Allen.

Police were called to Lewis' apartment in the 5600 block of Timber Creek Place about 8:40 p.m. where they found the child bleeding heavily on the floor of the master bedroom. They found two knives.

Prosecutors said the child's father called 911 after Lewis called him and said their daughter was no longer alive and "was in Heaven."

"When the father asked her to clarify, the defendant stated, 'I stabbed her in the chest,'" said Missy Wheeler, a law student interning with the Harris County District Attorney's Office. She was being supervised by Joshua Phanco, the chief prosecutor in that court.



READ ALSO: Mother charged in stabbing death of 4-year-old daughter

After the arraignment, Phanco was emotional as he spoke about the allegations.

"You can never anticipate when someone who is supposed to love you is going to kill you. How do you protect against that?" he said. "It's the saddest thing I could possibly think of."

Lewis, who appeared in court in an orange jail uniform, leg chains and handcuffed to a waist chain, did not speak in court except to say that she understood the charges against her and her rights.

The judge denied bail, which is typical in capital murder case. Lewis could face life without parole or the death penalty if convicted. The decision to seek death is generally made months after an arrest. She faces the highest possible punishment if convicted because killing a child under the age of 10 is a capital crime.

Lewis has a history of threatening violence toward her children, court records show.

Lewis pleaded guilty in February to threatening to murder her 16-year-old son, which is a misdemeanor. Lewis was on probation at the time of the stabbing.
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A deadly road rage incident that stemmed from sudden passion three years ago ended in a weeks-long trial that captivated San Antonio.

On Thursday, Frances Hall was found guilty of killing her husband, trucking tycoon Bill Hall Jr., on October 10, 2013, by knocking his motorcycle off Loop 1604 South while chasing his lover, Bonnie Contreras.

Hall was also found guilty of aggravated assault after ramming her Cadillac Escalade into a Range Rover driven by Contreras.

RELATED: Convicted San Antonio widow gets lightest possible sentence for killing husband

Hall was sentenced to two years in prison, the lightest possible sentence, on Tuesday. A second two-year sentence for aggravated assault will be served concurrently.

Before Tuesdays sentencing, the jury heard pleas of sudden passion in the deadly road rage incident and testimony that Contreras tormented Frances Hall while she had an affair with her husband.

RELATED: Shocking San Antonio crimes by women

Testimony also revealed that Contreras sent Frances Hall photographs of herself allegedly having sex with Hall Jr. via text message.

Frances Hall, during the punishment phase of the trial, testified she was unaware of the three-year affair.

RELATED: Weapons used as evidence in S.A. trials

Then, she received a call from Contreras, who confessed about the affair because she was mad at Hall Jr. for not giving her money for a manicure, defense attorney Leigh Cutter said.

Click through the slideshow to see other shocking revelations from the love triangle.
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City Council chambers erupted Tuesday after a testy exchange between lawmakers over the state's new "sanctuary cities" law, which Houston is considering challenging in federal court.

Councilman Greg Travis told state Rep. Gene Wu, who testified in favor of a lawsuit, that the rhetoric "needs to be toned down," after Wu called the law known as Senate Bill 4 "evil."

"To sit here and call people evil and hateful for wanting to enforce laws that are already on the books  change the laws if you don't like them. But that's not done here. That's done over in Congress," Travis said.

Wu responded by citing things he had heard people call immigrants.

"I listen to the supporters of people ... who passed this bill, and their rhetoric is racist," Wu said, listing names like "dirty Mexicans," "rapists" and "drug dealers."

"Their rhetoric is anti-immigrant. Their rhetoric is hateful."

(Story continues below...)

Travis countered, saying, "The only words I've ever heard being said on that are from you right now."

His response was met with a mix of boos, laughter and cheers from the packed council chambers, where more than 130 people were waiting to testify on SB4.

The law, which goes into effect Sept. 1, allows police to ask people their immigration status if stopped.

Sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse federal requests to hold immigrants detained for other alleged crimes could face jail time and fines.

City Council is poised to vote Wednesday on whether to join San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and several other local governments and nonprofits in suing the state over SB4. A preliminary hearing in that consolidated case is scheduled for next Monday.
Eight people - including six children - are homeless after a Monday night fire ripped through a two-story townhome in southwest Houston.

A faulty window air conditioner was deemed responsible for the blaze that drew seven units to the scene in the 11000 block of Kinghurst around 7:30 p.m., according to the Houston Fire Department.
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A man is dead after he was shot Monday evening around the corner from a northwest Houston church.

Police found around 10 p.m. the man - who they have not identified - dead in the 6200 block of Nuben, a block from the New Life Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, said Lt. Larry Crowson with the Houston Police Department.
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Last week, Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that will drastically change the health care plan some retired teachers have now - more specifically retired teachers younger than 65.

Retired teachers and their families in some cases are covered by the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) health care plan.With this new bill, teachers under the age of 65 with the TRS plan will have to pay higher premiums and deductibles starting January 2018.

OPINION: Teachers Retirement System of Texas needed to be looked at again

Retired teachers under 65 aren't eligible for Medicare and as a result, they are tapping into the TRS plan, which is quickly hemorrhaging funds for the younger retirees, according to the bill.

After the bill was reviewed by the House of Representatives, there was a unanimous majority for the passing of the law. Furthermore, Timothy Lee of the Texas Retired Teachers Association appeared as a witness in support of the bill.

The author of the bill Texas Sen. Joan Huffman told Chron.com the bill was passed with a majority because lawmakers were able to see the funding for the healthcare plan was spiraling downward.

TEXAS LAW VIDEO: Proposed Texas bill targets men's masturbation habits. See below...

MORE ON THE BILL: Texas masturbation bill is now in the hands of state committee

Nancy Rilling is a 63-year-old retired teacher tells KPRC she expects drastic changes coming her way. She says her network costs are increasing by 130 percent, and her out-of-network costs will increase by 361 perfect.

"Really my entire pension is going towards health care costs and that's before we even get sick," Rilling told the TV station. The 63-year-old says that while she wants to go back to work, she can't because of chronic back pain.

While network costs are increasing across the board for these younger retirees, the bill does allow retirees to fill their prescription drugs at no cost.

Furthermore, according to the bill, retirees would not be required to pay a monthly contribution until 2020 if they fall under these stipulations:

- Had taken a disability retirement under the TRS system on or before January 1, 2017;

- Were receiving disability retirement benefits from TRS;

- Were not eligible for Medicare.

Sen. Huffman notes that both herself and the TRS will be monitoring the implementation of the bill very closely. She told Chron.com that the TRS is going to be promoting and educating the retired teachers about the bill. Furthermore, she estimates a public hearing about any worries or complaints about the bill after it's implementation in summer of 2018.

Sen. Huffman also encourages anyone concerned to contact her office or the TRS directly for the opportunity to get any questions answered.

BETTER EDUCATION ESSAY: All eyes should be on Texas teacher preparation
A Texas federal judge has to decide whether a painted body is a nude body after painted Texas dancers are putting up a fight against a $5 entry fee state tax, commonly known at the "pole tax."

Before January 2017, these clubs, where the dancers were "covered" in paint and other materials, were categorized separately from fully-nude strip clubs. Because of this distinction, the $5 entry fee didn't apply, but now that the tax applies, the dancers of the club are filing lawsuits to separate themselves from strippers.
A Central Texas man who shot at a vehicle he thought was driven by a stripper ended up getting arrested by a SWAT team on Friday.

According to an arrest affidavit, the Round Rock Police Department responded to reports of shots being fired at a newspaper delivery man. The driver called police at 2:55 a.m. on Friday and said he saw a man running toward his vehicle with a flashlight in his hand. The driver said he heard a shot fired that hit his vehicle, damaging his right tail lamp.
A disorganized weather system stirring in the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend has transformed into a tropical storm forecast to make landfall overnight Wednesday along the Texas-Louisiana border, bringing heavy rainfall, strong winds and potential flooding.

Emergency management crews in Galveston and Harris counties braced for Cindy, as the storm was officially named early Tuesday after its path and wind strength slowly mounted, posing a threat to a wide swathe of the Gulf Coast.

At 10 p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said Cindy had sustained winds of 60 mph, with tropical force winds expected by Wednesday evening along the coast. The storm "has jogged to the north a tad this evening" but was resuming a northwest track.



Most of the storm's notable impact is expected to hit east of Houston, but first responders and meteorologists say that could change if the storm continues moving westward.



"It's reasonable to be concerned about the effects from Tropical Storm Cindy because it's bringing a large surge of tropical moisture into the Gulf Coast, but clearly the heaviest rains are going to be well to the east," said Space City Weather editor Eric Berger.



Shortly after the system morphed into a tropical storm and started shifting slightly west, the National Hurricane Center upgraded its watches to warnings for coastal communities in Cindy's path.



Harris, Chambers, Galveston, Liberty counties, Galveston Bay and adjacent coastal waters were all under tropical storm warnings. And Tuesday evening Galveston County Judge Mark Henry issued a voluntary evacuation for the Bolivar Peninsula.



The system is expected to approach the coast overnight Wednesday before moving inland over southeastern Texas on Thursday. National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Reilly said he expects Cindy to produce rain accumulations of 3 to 6 inches through Thursday in the Houston area, with minor river flooding for areas east of Interstate 45. Sustained wind speeds could reach 30 to 45 mph with gusts up to 57 mph.

(Story continues below ...)

But there's also still a chance the storm could intensity before hitting land.



"Up until now the storm has been asymmetrical in that all the rains and most of the winds have been on the east side," Berger explained. "Even if the storm were to make landfall in Houston, all the bad stuff would be off to the east."



But some of the storm modelling Tuesday predicts that the system could shift to a more traditional tropical storm.



"If the moisture on the east side of the storm wraps around, it could affect the Houston area," Berger said.



But while there is still uncertainty as to Cindy's path, Galveston officials say residents should gird for the possibility of heavy rain, strong wind and tidal flooding.

MORE TROUBLE: Tropical Storm Bret moves across the Caribbean

"We would urge residents to continue to monitor this storm," said Niki Bender, the emergency management coordinator for the city of Galveston. "Residents should prepare their homes for tidal flooding, strong gusting winds, power outages and heavy rains."



Bender said the city's emergency operations center was in an advanced stage of readiness.



The Red Cross is also prepping for an emergency situations, with four shelters on standby and vehicles ready to supply residents with emergency items.



Houston's Office of Emergency Management is paying close attention to possible westward shifts toward the city.



"Our community needs to be ready year-around for emergencies," said Rick Flanagan, Houston's emergency management coordinator. "Residents should make preparations in case we experience high water, strong winds or power outages."



Though Cindy is expected to make landfall soon, island-goers in Galveston appeared unfazed Tuesday.



"It ain't nothing like Ike," said Alex Torres, 22, referring to Hurricane Ike, the last storm to cause significant damage to the region.



"Today's my first day hearing about it," said Ronald George, 23, standing next to Torres on a porch just two blocks from the seawall. "Should we be preparing?"

READ ALSO: Gulf storms likely to hit Texas coast by Wednesday

Perched in a wooden tower along the beach, lifeguard Emma Hill, 17, also seemed unconcerned.



She expects guards to continue reporting to work during the storm, even if it means watching the water from a car behind the seawall.



"If it's storming, we'll still be out here," Hill said. "Unless it gets extreme."



Though a red flag was raised on the beach, indicating "a heavy surf" and "dangerous currents," Hill said the waves were average, "definitely nothing unusual."



But that likely will change as Cindy draws closer. Tracking the storm, however, has been tricky.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Cindy remained stationary for several hours in the Gulf, before meandering back toward the coast later that night.



Outside of Texas, weather service officials expect to see 6 to 9 inches with isolated maximum amounts of 12 inches over southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday.



That sort of relentless rain could cause life-threatening flash flooding along the eastern Gulf Coast.



"But I would not say that's for the Houston area," Berger stressed, adding that it could "well be a bust" in the Bayou City.



"Right now I would guess that it's a street flooding event, but honestly the forecast is pretty dynamic."

Margaret Kadifa contributed to this report.
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A 49-year-old Boerne man was jailed Saturday on accusations that he sexually assaulted three children on the same day last year.

Gerald Mohrmann was indicted on five counts of super aggravated sexual assault of a child. He remains in the Bexar County Jail on a $75,000 bond.

RELATED: Motorcyclist found dead without helmet after speeding away from downtown bar

Mohrmann's indictment says he sexually assaulted three children, one of whom was under 6-years-old at the time, on June 28, 2016. The other two victims are only described as male children under the age of 17.

The indictment provides no details regarding how Mohrmann came into contact with the children.

Representative's from the Bexar County District Clerk said no police records regarding the accusations against Mohrmann were available Monday.

READ ALSO: After adopted parents' arrest, S.A. woman shares horrific story of 15+ years of sexual abuse

Representatives from the Boerne Police Department were not immediately available for comment.

Super aggravated sexual assault of a child is a relatively new crime in Texas, according to a post from the Foster Law Firm.

The law firm says the "super" designation occurs when the victim is under the age of six or when there has been violent aggravated sexual abuse of a child under 14-years-old.

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

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Twitter: @calebjdowns
WASHINGTON  Georgia's special election Tuesday to fill a vacant congressional seat in suburban Atlanta has garnered interest across the nation, including Texas, where the outcome is seen as a possible bellwether for next year's U.S. Senate and several House races.

A spirited run by Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff in a district long held by Republicans has invigorated Texas Democrats, who have sent volunteers to Georgia to knock on doors or work on phone banks from home.

"Since participating in the Women's March on Washington in January, I've made it my personal mission to get more involved. I'm excited to be working at the grassroots level and talking to folks about the most important right we havethe right to vote," said Mary Liuzzi, a volunteer who hosted a phone bank for Ossoff in her San Antonio home last week.

Money from Texas donors  always a national campaign ATM  also is believed to be pouring into GOP Super PACs working to elect Republican Karen Handel. Going down to the wire, the race has attracted an estimated $60 million in spending from both sides, much of it from out of state.

Both sides see national implications for the Ossoff-Handel matchup, which was believed to be close in the final hours.

An Ossoff win would galvanize the anti-Trump left and help recruit and fund Democratic congressional candidates nationwide, advancing Democrats' hopes of winning back the U.S. House next year.

Three of the races in their sights are in Texas. In west Texas, San Antonio Republican Will Hurd can always expect a strong challenge in a swing district along the Mexican border.

In Houston, a dozen Democrats are vying to challenge nine-term Republican U.S. Rep. John Culberson, whose district went to Hillary Clinton in the November election.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke of El Paso also is trying to mount a credible challenge to Republican firebrand Ted Cruz in a 2018 Senate race that is already attracting national attention.

Tuesday's balloting in Georgia's Sixth District, in a district being vacated by former U.S. Rep. Tom Price, now President Donald Trump's health secretary, will tell which side can claim momentum going into next year's mid-term elections, which Democrats hope to turn into a referendum on Trump.
The Friends of Homestead National Monument of America is bringing home the Allis Chalmers tractor used by Americas last homesteader.

Dr. C.T. Frerichs, a retired Beatrice family physician, is providing the Friends of Homestead a financial donation to rescue this national treasure from the Alaskan wilderness.

The tractor, an Allis Chalmers 1945 Model C, has been sitting on the banks of the Stony River on the site that was homesteaded by Ken Deardorff. Frerichs donation will cover the costs of bringing the tractor from Alaska to Homestead National Monument of America, as well as the costs associated with conservation treatment work on the tractor to ready it for permanent display at the monument.

Frerichs is making this financial contribution in memory of his wife, Julia F. (Meadows) Frerichs.

Mrs. Frerichs, a native of Georgia, had spent very little time on a tractor. However, during her first trip to Nebraska, she sat in the seat of an Allis, and from that moment on her affection grew for the citizens of Nebraska and for Homestead National Monument of America.

This tractor is a part of our nations homesteading history; it is a national treasure, Dr. Frerichs said. We are glad to be working with the Friends of Homestead to bring this Allis Chalmers tractor to the monument.

Ken Deardorff filed for his 80-acre homestead claim under the Homestead Act in 1974. Five years later, in 1979, Deardorff submitted the final proof fulfilling the requirements called for by the Homestead Act. Nine years later, in 1988, Deardorff received the patent to his homestead claim. It was the last patent to be issued under the Homestead Act of 1862.

Deardorffs place in history represents the end of an era in American history, the end of the Homestead Act of 1862.

When we think of the Homestead Act, we often think of the 1800s, said Diane Vicars, president of the Friends of Homestead. This tractor represents the contemporary part of this epic American story. This tractor will be a great contrast to the single bottom plows pulled by a team of oxen or horses that can now be found at the monument. We are grateful to Dr. Frerichs and his family for his donation that will bring the Deardorff tractor to the Homestead.

The recovery of the tractor includes a series of steps that began with airlifting the tractor by helicopter from the site where Deardorff parked the Allis more than 30 years ago.

The tractor is now in the process of being transported to the University of Nebraska-Lincolns Lester F. Larsen Tractor Test Museum, where the tractor will be cleaned and readied for display by the UNL Tractor Restoration Club, under the direction of museum conservators specializing in tractors and motorized vehicles. The Friends of the Tractor Test Museum will also be participating in this project.

A dedication at the monument is tentatively scheduled for this fall.
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.
LINCOLN, Neb.  Gov. Pete Ricketts plans to lead a trade delegation to Canada in August to promote business relationships with Nebraska.

Ricketts announced the trade mission Tuesday with state agriculture and economic development officials. He's encouraging agricultural and business leaders to considering joining the trip.

Officials say roughly one-fifth of Nebraska's exports go to Canada. Ricketts describes Canada as the state's best customer.

The trip comes at an uncertain time for the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The Trump administration has said it wants to rework the agreement. Ricketts says he hopes to hear any of the concerns Canadian officials might have.

Ricketts also plans to visit Japan in September on a trade mission that will include the Midwest U.S.-Japan Association's annual conference.
A service for Veterans and the community will be held on June 25, 2017 at 6 p.m. The service will be held at Veterans Memorial Park in Beatrice.

The Peace at Last service will be led by AseraCare hospice spiritual coordinators, Sharon Schuster and Doyle Karst. The message will be given by Sgt. 1st Class Roni Larmeu of the Nebraska National Guard, and will be one of healing and praise for veterans.

There will be a community sing-a-long from 5:30 until 5:45 p.m., followed by a presentation given by Morgan McCubbin, an eighth grade Beatrice student and her grandfather, Bill Plymale, who will discuss their trip to Washington D.C.

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Rick Stanley will provide music during the service, with recognition for veterans and spouses of veterans in attendance. Color guard will provide the presentation of colors and Legion Riders will be in attendance. Residents and staff of the Kensington will provide popcorn. The patriotic shield will be on display. Owned by Dean Thornburg, the patriotic shield was also displayed at the dedication of Veterans Memorial Park.

AseraCare Hospice invites all veterans and their families to attend this service. For your comfort, please bring your own lawn chairs. The park is handicap accessible.

AseraCare Hospice has established a special honors program for all veterans admitted for hospice services. Upon admission, each veteran receives a framed certificate in recognition of their military service. AseraCare Hospice is proud partner in the We Honor Veterans program.
"We knew that we were going to be implementing a lot of new technology. Cisco has worked side-by-side with us to ensure that we have the proper network architecture and backbone to support it."

Banita Hyman, Director of Enterprise Services, Norfolk Southern

Watch the smart building experience >
For the last decade, engineers specializing in fire safety have worried about the hidden danger posed by the kind of insulated metallic skin that transported flames up a high-rise apartment building in London, killing dozens.

Panels of the armor-like cladding have become a popular facade on tall buildings worldwide, both for their sleek look and energy-saving virtues. They also have helped fuel spectacular infernos in the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the United States.

Some fire experts worry that, with energy efficiency a priority worldwide, the proliferation of green buildings has the unintended consequence of fanning fire danger. Though cladding can be flame-resistant, the result can be deadly when it is not.

The good intent of sustainability translates into a potential fire safety problem, said Brian Meacham, a fire protection engineering professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts. His concerns began to crystalize in 2010, he said, when he was in South Korea presenting a paper on new technology and fire safety and a cladded high-rise burned.

At Londons Grenfell Tower, flames raced with alarming speed up 24 stories of cladding in which a plastic core was sandwiched between thin sheets of aluminum. That composite is one of several kinds of exterior paneling that helps moderate inside temperatures, saving on energy needed for heating and cooling.

The towers aging concrete facade received the face-lift last year as part of a 10 million pound ($13 million) publicly funded refurbishment effort aimed, in part, at making the building more energy efficient.

The tower, home to as many as 600 people, burned Wednesday. At least 58 people were confirmed or presumed dead, a tally that could rise.

Authorities are still investigating the fire. Its behavior strongly implicated the cladding, several fire safety experts said in interviews. Anger has mounted in the community following reports that contractors had used cheaper panels in which the plastic insulation was not fire-resistant.

Cladding with pure plastic insulation costs less and insulates better than an alternative that incorporates fire-slowing minerals, experts said. On short buildings, it makes sense.

Not so for taller buildings. The International Building Code  a model of construction standards adopted widely in the United States, some areas of the Middle East and the Americas  calls for the use of fire-resistant cores in buildings over 40 feet (12 meters) tall. The code in England is less specific, giving architects latitude in how they make sure exterior insulation is safe as long as the external walls of the building shall adequately resist the spread of fire.

Two British government officials  Trade Minister Greg Hands and Treasury chief Philip Hammond  said in separate TV appearances Sunday that the cladding used on Grenfell seems to be prohibited by British regulations. Hands cautioned that officials dont yet have exact details about the renovation.

Fires fueled by metal composite cladding in the past five years have charred high-rises in France, Dubai and South Korea. A 2007 casino fire in New Jersey was a wake-up call in the United States. Fires in buildings with other types of outer insulation have struck in other places, including Australia and China, where one killed 58 people. Though the fires may not be frequent, their quick spread makes them very dangerous.

To get a green certification, a building must, among other things, be more energy efficient than local codes require. The designation, conferred by private firms for a fee, does not focus on fire safety, referencing instead local code requirements. While the cladding made Grenfell Tower more energy efficient, the building did not reach green certification.

Green building practices may not be inherently introducing risk, but I think it makes it a lot easier to make mistakes, said Peter Weismantle, a Chicago-based architect who specializes in supertall buildings, including the worlds highest in the United Arab Emirates. He cited factors such as workmanship as well as the improper use of flammable cladding.

The U.S. Green Building Council, which oversees the industry-leading certification known as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), said in a statement to The Associated Press that the Grenfell tragedy holds safety lessons.

We stand with those who will learn these lessons in honest efforts to advance the aligned goals of life/safety and environmental building performance, said the statement attributed to Brendan Owens, an engineer and senior vice president at the council. Compromising life/safety in search of environmental gain is not a choice.

In 2012, fire safety experts invited green building representatives to a symposium in Chicago. The engineers concern was that various green requirements could inadvertently conspire to increase fire danger. Meacham, the Massachusetts professor, addressed the gathering and said he did not sense much interest in fire safety within the green building industry then  or since.

I think they view it as outside of their agenda, Meacham said. I dont think theyre being necessarily mean about it; I think its more ignorance of the issues.

In some places, the issue is impossible to ignore.

At least 30,000 buildings across the United Arab Emirates alone have cladding or paneling similar to the kind that safety and construction experts have blamed for rapidly spreading high-rise fires there, Dubai Civil Defense director-general Maj. Gen. Rashid Thani al-Matrooshi acknowledged in April 2016.

In January, Dubai authorities announced new fire safety rules, saying existing buildings with questionable cladding would have to change it under normal maintenance schedules. But they offered no further information to the public.

(Pritchard reported from Los Angeles. Gregory Katz in London and Rhonda Shafner in New York contributed.)

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
North Carolina Deal Clears Way for Average 2% Auto Insurance Rate Hike

North Carolinas insurance regulator says hes reached a deal with auto insurers for a premium increase of just over 2 percent instead of the nearly 14 percent average increase companies sought in February.

The state Insurance Department said Thursday the new rates will become effective with policies signed after October 1 and will stay in effect for two years.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey says the agreed average increase of 2.2 percent meant North Carolina consumers would spend more than $1 billion less over two years than the auto insurance companies initially wanted.

Causey said in March the proposed auto insurance rate increase requested by a group representing the industry was not justified. That set up an administrative hearing planned for September, when a hearing officer could listen to both sides.

Delaware House Approves Auto Insurance Reform Measure

The state House has approved legislation restricting the factors that insurers can use in setting automobile insurance rates.

The bill, a watered-down version of legislation that had stalled in committee amid opposition from industry groups, was approved Thursday on a 24-14 vote. It now goes to the Senate.

The original bill prohibited the use of age, marital status, credit scores and income in setting auto insurance premiums. Instead, insurers would have to set rates based on a drivers claims experience, safety record, number of miles driven annually, and years of driving experience.

The revised measure establishes permissible uses of credit information in setting rates. It also prohibits companies from increasing rates simply because a customer is 75 or older or because a spouses death causes a change in marital status.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BRECKSVILLE, Ohio - A Broadview Heights developer has eyed the former McDonald's property on Brecksville Road for a new business, possibly a financial institution or medical office.

First, however, Petros Development Corp. needs voters to rezone part of the site, which measures nearly 2 acres. The rezoning would appear on the Nov. 7 ballot.

Tonight, City Council is expected to place the rezoning on first reading. Council, to meet a Cuyahoga County Board of Elections deadline, must decide by early August whether to include the rezoning on the November ballot. The Brecksville Planning Commission has recommended sending the rezoning to voters.

The Brecksville Road McDonald's, which first opened in the 1970's, closed permanently last year after a new McDonald's was built on Ohio 82 at Interstate 77 in Broadview Heights.

According to the county Fiscal Office website, Petros bought the McDonald's Brecksville property, consisting of three parcels, on June 5 for $560,000.

At a June 8 planning commission meeting, Sam Petros, chairman of Petros Development, said his firm would like to renovate the vacant restaurant or raze the building and start over. He said he has not yet identified a tenant but a financial institution and medical business have expressed interest.

The problem is that one of the three McDonald's parcels, and parts of the other two, are zoned for single-family homes. The rest of the land is zoned for businesses.

The city, as part of a 1977 court settlement, allowed McDonald's to build a parking lot on the residential portion of the property by granting a "conditional-use permit," according to Petros and city documents. However, the conditional-use permit expired once McDonald's vacated the site.

Further, in 1995, voters amended municipal code to prohibit driveways into, and parking lots on, any use not permitted in a given zoning district. That means any new business on the former McDonald's property cannot use the existing parking lot, or the driveway leading into the parking lot, because the lot is officially zoned residential.

Petros hopes voters will clean up that mess by rezoning the residential portions of the land into a business district so that it will match the remainder of the McDonald's site.

Neil Brennan - an engineer working for Petros and a former planner for the city of Brecksville - told the commission that without a rezoning, the city would "condemn" the lot, and the building would deteriorate. He said the former McDonald's property would be almost impossible to market.

Residents living on Cedar Street and Daisy Avenue, which run behind, or to the west, of the former McDonald's, expressed concerns about the property's redevelopment, according to unapproved meeting minutes.

Dave Honeycutt, a Cedar resident, asked if Petros can assure residential neighbors that he would seek a "benign" business for the McDonald's property. He worried about crime the business might bring, and asked for a thicker landscape buffer between the business and residents.

Jessica Williams, also of Cedar, said if the new business were two stories, it would generate noise that would disturb homeowners.

Petros said he would plant a "solid row" of pine trees to screen the new business from Cedar and Daisy. He agreed to increase the landscape buffer's thickness by 10 feet.

As for the type of tenant, Petros said a deed restriction on the property prohibits - for 20 years after McDonald's sold the property - any type of business serving or selling food. He said he believed that any type of business on the site would be less intrusive than McDonald's, with its high-traffic volume, late-night hours and drive-through noise.

Petros said he might identify a tenant for the site before the Nov. 7 election, and added that the city would "rigorously" review any plan for the former McDonald's property.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Cleveland Browns are getting closer to officially opening Year 2 of the Hue Jackson era. The team announced its full 2017 training camp schedule on Tuesday.

The first of 15 training camp practices open to the public will take place on July 27 from 3-5:30 p.m. All open practices will take place at the team's practice facility in Berea. The team will also hold its annual Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium on Aug. 4 from 5-7 p.m.

The final practice open to the public will be Aug. 17 from 3-5:30 p.m.

The Browns open the preseason Aug. 10 against New Orleans.

The team also announced that it has changed the field layout for training camp to incorporate more seating, including a 1,250-seat grandstand with an awning and a standing-room area at the top.

Fans can register for tickets online at the team's website and will receive their tickets through the Browns Mobile App. Printed tickets will not be available. Registration is not required, but is strongly recommended. Walk-up admittance will be granted only as space permits.

2017 season ticket holders will have an exclusive window to register for open practices from June 20-21. Registration will open to the public at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 22.

Registration for the Orange and Brown Scrimmage opens to season ticket members on June 27 and to all fans on June 29. The scrimmage, which was held in Columbus last year, will be a full-pads scrimmage in 2017.

Full training camp schedule:

Thu. July 27: 3-5:30 p.m.

Fri. July 28: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Sat. July 29: 3-5:30 p.m. (Annual Cleveland Browns blood drive)

Sun. July 30: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Mon. July 31: 3-5:30 p.m.

Tue. Aug. 1: No practice

Wed. Aug. 2: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Thu. Aug. 3: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Fri. Aug. 4: Orange and Brown Scrimmage at FirstEnergy Stadium, 5-7 p.m.

Sat. Aug. 5: 2:30-4:35 p.m.

Sun. Aug. 6: No practice

Mon. Aug. 7: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Tue. Aug. 8: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Wed. Aug. 9: No practice

Thu. Aug. 10: Preseason game vs. New Orleans, 8 p.m.

Fri. Aug. 11: No practice

Sat. Aug. 12: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Sun. Aug. 13: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Mon. Aug. 14: Practice closed

Tue. Aug. 15: 3:25-5:55 p.m.

Wed. Aug. 16: 3-5:30 p.m.

Thu. Aug. 17: 3-5:30 p.m.

Fri. Aug. 18: No practice

Sat. Aug. 19: Practice closed

Sun. Aug. 20: No practice

Monday, Aug. 21: Preseason game vs. New York Giants, 8 p.m.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The wind turbine industry's efforts to regain expansion in Ohio got a boost Tuesday with the inclusion of new rules governing how close a turbine can be to adjacent properties.

But a request on behalf of Cuyahoga County to allow it to sign 20-year power purchase agreements for wind and solar power was rejected by the GOP-dominated committee.

The new turbine setback rules would replace restrictive language that appeared anonymously in the 2014 budget bill, nearly tripling the distance a turbine could be erected from adjacent properties not participating in a wind development.

The 2014 provision immediately halted further wind development in Ohio's northwestern counties.

Requested by Sen. Cliff Hite, R-Findlay, representing 11 counties with the best wind in Ohio, the amendment in this year's budget bill would determine minimum setbacks according to the size of the turbine. Hite submitted his proposal last week.

"I am pleased that a compromise has been reached that protects the property rights of all involved," said Hite after his proposed change appeared in the eight pages of amendments.



The amendment must still survive conference committee negotiations between the Ohio House and Senate before the budget bill is approved and sent to the governor's office.

The Senate Finance Committee's refusal to allow Cuyahoga County to extend its power purchase agreement beyond 10 years won't stop the project, said Mike Foley, the county's director of sustainability.

But it will impact the financing.

The county wanted the longer agreement in order to save money, but state law limits all counties to 10-year agreements.

The county has signed a 10-year power purchase agreement with Cleveland Public Power for electricity from the Icebreaker wind turbine project in Lake Erie. And it intends to sign a 10-year purchase agreement with Cleveland Urban Renewable Power for a very large solar farm planned for a landfill in Brooklyn.

"We are going to finance the solar project using a pre-paid power purchase agreement for 10 years for $7.8 million for electricity from the solar panels," said Foley.

The 10-year agreement will make the cost of the electricity appear to be 14 cents per kilowatt-hour, he said, whereas the 20-year cost will be 8 or 9 cents per kilowatt-hour.

The 4-million watt solar array will be constructed with 30,000 solar panels, made by First Solar of Perrysburg, Ohio, near Toledo. Panels customarily are guaranteed 25 years. The racking system holding the panels is being manufactured in Cincinnati.
AMHERST, Ohio -- A Connecticut man was facing charges on Monday for impersonating a police officer, having weapons and other offenses after he was seen on social media waving a BB gun and wearing a bulletproof vest, police said.

Stevie Martinez, 28, is charged with having weapons under a disability, impersonating an officer, inducing panic and possession of drug instruments after he made several posts on Facebook Live, Amherst police said.

Amherst police were notified by the Watertown, Connecticut department.

Amherst officers began an investigation and started watching Martinez's Motel 6 hotel room, located his Facebook page and tuned into the live broadcast.

Martinez was seen on the video displaying handcuffs, waving a silver gun and waving a gun, authorities said. During the broadcast, Martinez was saying "get them boys" and "do this," but it is unclear what he meant, police said.

He later said he was a homicide detective after a store clerk asked him why he was wearing a bulletproof vest, police said.

Officers arrested Martinez without incident as he left the motel room, police said.

The gun was discovered to be a toy BB gun at the time of the arrest, police said.

It is unclear if another weapon was recovered.

Martinez is scheduled to appear in Oberlin Municipal Court Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. for a court hearing.

To comment on this story, please visit Monday's crime and courts comments page.
About 760 union workers at Stillwater Mining will receive a 5 percent raise during the next two years under a new agreement with owner Sibanye Gold Ltd., the company announced Monday.

The pay hike for miners represented by the United Steelworkers is another reflection of improved prices for precious metals and an important step for the companys new South African owners, union and company officials said.

We got what we could get from them.  It was a fair settlement. Some people think it could be more, and some didnt think wed get anything, said Scott McGinnis, president of the Steelworkers local 11-0001.

This latest round of negotiations for workers at Stillwaters main Nye mine and Columbus was called a wage reopener, which allowed both sides to renegotiate only wages in the current deal. Stillwater employees are among the highest hourly wage earners in the state.

All workers are receiving a 2 percent wage increase through January 2018, a 1 percent increase from January 2018 through June 2018 and a 2 percent hike in the final year through June 2019.

The increases are based on a contentious deal signed in February 2016, when miners accepted no pay increases after metals prices fell off a cliff and Stillwater was losing money. Miners had twice rejected that four-year deal, which was backdated to take effect in 2015.

This most recent deal was overwhelmingly approved by the union miners, McGinnis said, declining to release specifics.

The union will now renegotiate pay for workers at Stillwaters other mine, East Boulder near Big Timber, McGinnis said. The deadline is the end of the year, he said.

Officials at Sibanye, which completed its $2.2 billion takeover of Stillwater Mining Co. this spring, said the deal with the union was important to continue operations at their only North American property.

We note and are encouraged by the sensible and mature manner in which stakeholders have engaged, to agree on a mutually favorable outcome for the Company and employees, Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said in a news release.

Average base pay for the Stillwater miners is between $29 and $30 per hour (about $62,000 annually), and tops out around $34 per hour, McGinnis said.

Stillwater officials have stated that adding in performance incentives, health insurance and retirement contributions raises miners average compensation to about $126,000 annually.

Stillwater, now a division of Sibanye, is North Americas only platinum and palladium producer. Those materials are used to make jewelry, catalytic converters for automobiles and other products.
Day one of negations between the U.K. and the European Union ended with Brussels getting its way on the timetable for Britain's exit from the economic bloc, leaving no illusions that London was not in control of its own destiny. The biggest threat to Britain's economy comes from efforts to diminish London's dominance in financial services. Continental leaders, politicians, and regulators are determined to end the City of London's right to trade financial products across the EU and move thousands of jobs to the continent. EU citizens represent 35 percent of those working in mergers and acquisitions and investment banking in the City of London, according to efinancial careers. Some big banks, including Goldman Sachs, have announced plans to move some of their staff to European cities. CNBC interviewed 10 people working in the finance industry, from junior investment bankers to senior analysts to find out what's really on their minds about Brexit and how it will impact their lives and the wider City of London. To ensure the respondents would answer truly and freely, the interviews were done on the basis of anonymity.

'Brexit will be a failure'

Most respondents do not think the U.K. will end up benefiting from its decision to leave the EU, mainly in the short-term. Brexit will be a "failure," a currencies strategist at a European bank told CNBC in an interview at her office, adding "The economy is shooting itself in the foot." A senior U.K. economist also made the same economic point: "Brexit will be a failure. It wasn't a necessary condition to revamp the U.K. economy." The U.K. economy surprised in the aftermath of the vote avoiding a collapse that many economists had predicted. However, nearly a year after the vote, data has showed a slight slowdown in gross domestic product (GDP). The Office for National Statistics said in May that GDP grew just 0.2 percent in the first quarter of 2017, from 0.7 percent growth in the final three months of 2016. Rising prices in the wake of Brexit seem to be hitting consumer spending.

Brexit is the stupidest thing I've ever seen in international politics. Euro zone economist

But there are also the political consequences from Brexit. "Brexit is the stupidest thing I've ever seen in international politics. It's breaking the country," a euro zone economist at a consultancy firm told CNBC over the phone in reference to the anti-Brexit views in Scotland and in the capital. One of the 10 respondents added that Brexit will be a failure but "mostly" for the European Union. "I think it could be the start of the end of the EU project," the head of a forex strategy at a European bank told CNBC.

'Brexit is a concern and an unwelcome uncertainty'

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

A junior equity analyst told CNBC via email that Brexit is a concern on a professional basis. "Firms will consequently incur monetary costs (given that the UK will have to renegotiate trade agreements with the EU and other global partners) and at the very least, a large shadow has been cast over the short- and medium-term investment horizons. Even if we were to assume that labor was cheaper and more efficient in the UK compared to mainland Europe, why would a company (large or small) invest in a new office or factory in the UK without knowing what types of restrictions will be imposed on its products when sold/shipped overseas? I believe that this will significantly reduce the employment prospects of current and future generations with few, if any, positive impacts for average UK citizen. This obviously leads to a major personal concern as my wellbeing in this country, as for many others, is largely dependent on my ability to be employed," he said. The euro zone economist surveyed is from Denmark but works and lives in the U.K. At the moment, he does not plan on applying for U.K. citizenship. "I will reevaluate when I get my tax information," he said. "People would be lying if they say they aren't worried about Brexit. No matter what, our (EU citizens) rights will be diminished," he added, acknowledging that he is in an "easy" situation. "I make money, I'm clean, I'd be allowed to stay in 5 minutes (if he had to apply for a visa)," he said.

I don't want to go, but I might have no optionIt is really upsetting. Currencies strategist

A currency strategist divided her answer into two aspects, for the country and for her own life. "I am quite fearful for the economy, the housing market is weakening and savings are low ... Also, the political uncertainty regarding future trade hurts investment and is, therefore, a concern for the long term." She added: "This sort of threat above the industry doesn't make anyone happy." She mentioned that with two teenage children a possible relocation would be more problematic. "I don't want to go, but I might have no option  It is really upsetting," she said. Those with less experience and without children are more willing to relocate but at a price. "I'd try to stay in London. I would only consider moving if the compensation was sufficiently high," a senior U.K. economist said mentioning Paris and Barcelona as the most attractive options.

'The City won't disappear but it will lose importance'

Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

With banks and financial companies having to relocate some personnel so that they keep trading euros and the uncertainty surrounding the rights of EU citizens living in the U.K. it is unclear what shape the City of London will take. However, most respondents believe London's role will be deminished.

I am worried that going forward Europe will not have any financial center of global importance anymore. Junior Investment Banker

"I think London will lose a significant amount of importance as a financial center in the aftermath of Brexit. Companies have already and will continue to move people to other cities across Europe. While I don't think that any other European city will replace London as a global financial center I am worried that going forward Europe will not have any financial center of global importance anymore," a junior analyst at one of the biggest investment banks told CNBC via email. A sovereign risk analyst made the same point, predicting a "slow erosion of the financial sector in London, not only because of new EU rules but also the loss of EU workers." The City of London will not come to an end, he said, "but it will come under threat." A global head of CROCI (cash return on capital invested) investment at an investment bank, who has been in the City for about 30 years, shared the same opinion: "The City will not necessarily come to an end but the role will be diminished."

You might see people working 2,3 days in the continent and the rest at home in the U.K. British investment banker
The Writers Voice is a recipient of a grant of $14,000 to host the NEA Big Read in Billings and at tribal colleges throughout Montana.

An initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest, the NEA Big Read broadens understanding of the world, our communities, and ourselves through the sharing a good book. The Writers Voice is one of 75 nonprofit organizations to receive an NEA Big Read grant to host a community reading program between September 2017 and June 2018.

In partnership with the Montana State University Billings Library, the NEA Big Read in Billings will focus on "The Round House" by Louise Erdrich. Activities will take place beginning in October.

For the second year in a row, the Writers Voice will partner with the MSUB Library for the Big Read, said Writers Voice director Corby Skinner. The university provides so many wonderful resources  an engaged, diverse faculty and ample space for our lecture series, film and exhibitions."

The MSU Billings Library is also sponsoring a new award focusing on indigenous authors for the 2017 High Plains Book Awards to spotlight the work of indigenous writers and raise awareness of the importance of indigenous literature in the U.S. and Canada. This initiative underscores efforts by the MSU Billings Library and the university as a whole to expand access to diverse voices.

The Big Read will include a film and lecture series at MSUB as well as an art exhibition. In October, the public will be invited to pick up a free copy of the book at the MSUB Library and sign up for a discussion group.

The NEA Big Read showcases a diverse range of contemporary titles that reflect different voices and perspectives, aiming to inspire conversation and discovery.

Additional grant support for The Big Read in Billings comes from the Charles M. Bair Family Trust and the Billings Community Foundation.
Amazon is suing former executive Gene Farrell to prevent him from working for a start-up, and an email in the lawsuit provides fascinating insight into why Farrell wanted to leave. The lessons could well apply to any exec considering leaving a big tech company for a fast-growing start-up.

As previously reported by Geekwire, Amazon has filed suit against Gene Farrell, who left his position as vice president of enterprise applications and EC2 Windows team as part of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's market-leading cloud infrastructure division. He sought to become head of product at Smartsheet, a company based in Bellevue, Washington, that offers collaborative work management software.

Citing a non-competition agreement that Farrell had signed, Amazon sought a temporary restraining order to block Farrell from working at Smartsheet. Judge Jim Rogers granted it on June 12.

Farrell's June 12 declaration includes an email from him to AWS CEO Andy Jassy. In it, Farrell provides four reasons for leaving.

Farrell noted that he has wanted to be a CEO himself for a long time, and that he wants to take a company public. (Smartsheet announced a $52 million funding round led by Insight Venture Partners last month.)

Additionally, Farrell said he desired a role where he could have a big impact on both the business and the company.

"You are right in your assessment that AWS Apps has the potential to be a bigger business than the start-up," Farrell told Jassy. "The flip side is that as member of a five-person executive team in a smaller company I can have a much bigger influence on the overall company and culture. I have worked at big companies my entire career, and the challenge of proving to myself that I can be successful in a smaller company with fewer support systems is intriguing."

Farrell's other justification concerns his return on investment, in terms of both time and money.

"I looked at my current trajectory at Amazon, which included my latest grant, against a range of Amazon stock price growth assumptions vs. the range of likely outcomes if I join the start-up," Farrell wrote. "Without getting into all the details, the expected ROI over the next four years from joining the startup is 3x to 6x the total compensation I expect at Amazon.

"There is always some risk that they won't go public, but based on the current trajectory of their business and my discussions with their board, I believe there is a better than 75 percent chance that it will happen."

During his time at AWS, Farrell worked on several existing services, including Chime, WorkDocs, WorkMail and WorkSpaces. But as vice president, he also had access to information on "AWS's strategy, roadmap, pipeline, customers, strengths and weakness for cloud-based productivity products, including the development of new products not yet publicly launched or announced," Amazon said in its original complaint.

Today AWS doesn't offer any services that directly compete with Smartsheet's main service, although redacted filings suggest forthcoming services could change that. Farrell's June 12 declaration mentions discussions with Adam Bosworth, an Alphabet and Microsoft veteran who came to AWS from Salesforce last year. The nature of those discussions are heavily redacted, suggesting a potential overlap with Smartsheet's capabilities.

Farrell signed a non-competition agreement in 2012 when he joined Amazon from Coca-Cola. Farrell was under the impression that Amazon only enforced those agreements when employees leave for direct competitors such as Google or Microsoft, based on input from his hiring manager, he said in the June 12 filing.

But Farrell's case may be special because he is apparently aiming to become CEO of a company that's looking to go public -- Farrell's boss at AWS, Charlie Bell, indicates that Farrell was becoming head of product with the intent of soon taking on the Smartsheet's CEO role.
Americans are really optimistic about the economy, but it's no longer helping Trump: CNBC survey

CNBC surveyed 800 Americans across the country in the latest All-America Economic Survey.

The results showed optimism about the economy hit 30 percent for a second-straight quarter, the first such occurrence in the survey's history.

However, President Trump's approval rating fell to 37 percent.

Steve Liesman | @steveliesman



The CNBC survey of 800 Americans across the country finds that 30 percent of the public are optimistic about the economy now and for the future, the first time the percentage has been that high in two consecutive quarters during the survey's 10-year history.Economic optimism in the United States is surging, according to the latest CNBC All-America Economic Survey, with several key components hitting all-time highs, but it's not helping the president.

The 54 percent of Americans who think their home prices will rise in the next year represents a record and the 44 percent who believe their wages will go up in the next year is the second highest in a decade. There's similar optimism around stocks, where 44 percent of Americans believe this is a good time to invest, a level only eclipsed by last quarter's record.

"Attitudes about [President Donald] Trump's economy at this point, remain consistent, positive and strong,'' said Micah Roberts, the Republican pollster for CNBC with Public Opinion Strategies. Jay Campbell from Hart Research was the Democratic pollster. The poll was conducted June 9-12 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

The positive economic attitudes aren't doing much to help the president's approval rating, which has fallen to 37 percent in the current survey from 39 percent in April. His approval on the economy has also fallen to just 41 percent from 44 percent in April. And there has been a rise in pessimism, driven by groups such as retirees, blue collar workers and independents, including some core Trump supporters.

Showing the split in the public over the impact of Trump, a quarter in the poll said the economy is getting better because of the president's policies. Meanwhile, 22 percent said his policies are making the economy worse.

Some of Trump's signature economic policies remain popular, but they have taken a hit from the prior poll. The majority still approves of Trump's plans to cut individual taxes, 59 percent to 30 percent, but that 29 point gap is 13 points smaller than in April. The president has majority support for his plans to cut business taxes, renegotiate trade deals and rebuild the nation's infrastructure, but the margin of support has slimmed in each case.

And, as in previous surveys, his immigration, climate change and health-care policies are opposed by a plurality of Americans.

Looking at specific policies, 53 percent support privatizing infrastructure to expand highways and airports, while 33 percent opposed. But when asked specifically about Trump's plans to privatize the FAA, the numbers flip, with 53 percent opposing and 33 percent in favor.

The president's decision to leave the Paris climate accord is opposed by 57 percent in the poll. And 80 percent think it's appropriate for U.S. companies to continue to try to meet the accord's goals despite the U.S. plans to pull out. And 72 percent say it will be effective for companies to do it alone without the Federal government.

About CNBC:

With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 385 million homes worldwide, including more than 94 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.

CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.

For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.
CNBC Takes Number Four Position in Business News Category, the Site's Highest Ranking Ever

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., June 19, 2017  CNBC Digital had its best month in May, setting a number of records across different verticals. According to the latest comScore data, CNBC took the number four position in the Business News category, its highest ranking ever. With 42.9 million unique visitors, which was up 63% compared to the same time period last year, the site had the sharpest year-over-year growth among the top ten Business News properties*.

CNBC also delivered its highest mobile figure ever with 27.2 million mobile unique visitors, which was up 135% over the same time period last year*.

Additional May 2017 highlights include:

CNBC reached 15.5 million video viewers, up 17% year-over-year*.

CNBC desktop had 21 million unique visitors, up 17% year-over-year*.

Among the organization's top performing sections were Technology and Make It, CNBC's site focusing on all things money and success for the next generation of leaders, zeroing in on the core topics of entrepreneurs, leadership, careers and money. According to Omniture, Technology was the top section, making May its fifth consecutive record high, up 161% year-over-year, and Make It was the second largest section, hitting its sixth consecutive record high and was up 239% year-over-year. The site's Finance and Real Estate sections also hit record highs, with 52% and 42% year-over-year growth respectively**.

"CNBC Digital is experiencing exponential growth at a critical time and the payoff we are seeing in such a short period is remarkable," said Jay Yarow, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor, CNBC Digital. "With our continued investment in digital and ability to tell great stories, we are well-positioned to become the destination for all things money across all platforms."

*Source: comScore Media Metrix & Video Metrix (U.S.), May 2017. Desktop internet population 2+ and mobile internet population 18+.

**Source: Omniture

About CNBC:

With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 385 million homes worldwide, including more than 94 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.

CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.

For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.
Exclusive Interview to Air Wednesday, June 21 on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" at 9AM ET

WHEN: Wednesday, June 21 at 9AM ET

WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk on the Street"

In a CNBC Exclusive interview, CNBC's David Faber will speak with Alibaba Executive Chairman Jack Ma from Alibaba's Gateway '17 Event in Detroit, MI. The exclusive interview will air on Wednesday, June 21 on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" beginning at 9AM ET. Topics include: business opportunity in China for U.S. small businesses, Alibaba's massive growth expectations and job creation in a world of automation, among others.

Transcript to follow the interview.

About CNBC:

With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 385 million homes worldwide, including more than 94 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.

CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV.

Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.

For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.
KIND CEO and founder Daniel Lubetzky with Alex Munoz, the 9 year old who wrote him a letter.

During a car ride one day, 9-year-old Alex Munoz was talking to his mom about what investing means. As a result of that conversation, his family came up with a plan for Munoz to invest $500. Munoz decided he wanted to invest in the KIND snack company, because his family buys its products. (His favorite is the peanut butter dark chocolate bar.) But when he started doing his research, Munoz learned that he could not invest in KIND because the company is privately held.

Photo courtesy KIND

Munoz decided to write a letter to the CEO, Daniel Lubetzky, asking when the company will go public. Here's Munoz's handwritten letter transcribed exactly: Dear Mr. Lubetzky, I have been reaserching your company and I want to invest. Im investing in alot of compies we also buy your product. I will be getting all my money at my bar mitzvah. I am a Columbian Jew and I know your a Mexican Jew. I'm 9 years old. I live in Weston, Ma. Do you know when you will go public? I think you will do well. Are there any plans of going public? I like your idea of public action and supporting charities.

PS. My favorite is the peanut butter dark chocolate. I'm eating one right now. Sincerly,

Alex Munoz

Munoz, the youngest of three siblings, didn't expect to meet Lubetzky in person. He thought the company might send him a few KIND bar samples or maybe a $10 coupon, he says. But touched by the letter and the gumption it took a 9-year-old to write to an executive, Lubetzky invited Munoz to come to the company's New York City headquarters, meet him and, in a nod to Munoz's financial literacy, be the company's chief financial officer for the day. KIND even made business cards for the young (temporary) executive.

As honorary CFO, Munoz thinks that KIND should go public so that the company can expand, put more money into its charitable projects, make commercials and expand the current product line. Such business smarts seem to run in the family. Munoz's dad, Don Munoz, is the CFO of biopharmaceutical company NuCana. "Now you are going to tell your dad that you are the CFO of KIND, at least for one day," says Lubetzky to Munoz. Munoz was also given 10 shares of company stock for his initiative. Lubetzky says Munoz, who just finished third grade, is the youngest person to ever hold KIND stock.
A credit ratings downgrade of Australia's biggest banks by Moody's Investor Service is not

expected to raise their funding costs because the new rating is in line with other ratings agencies, Deutsche Bank analysts said.

Moody's on Monday downgraded the four largest Australian banks to a long-term credit rating of Aa3 from Aa2, citing risks from high household debt levels after sharp property price

rises.

The new rating is in line with the long-term AA- credit rating that Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group

Ltd and National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) have from Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings.

"Given this downgrade merely brings the major banks' credit ratings under Moody's to the equivalent notches under S&P and Fitch, we expect no impact on funding costs," Deutsche Bank

analysts said in a note to clients published on Monday.

However, the analysts said there was still a risk that S&P would downgrade the major banks due to a sovereign ratings downgrade or a reduction in government support, which could lift long-term funding costs by 10 basis points. S&P revised its outlook on the major banks to negative last July.

Both houses of Australian parliament on Monday voted in favor of a 6 basis point levy on certain liabilities of the four biggest banks and Macquarie Group Ltd in a measure meant to help return the federal budget to a surplus by 2021.

The banks have criticized the tax as unfair and argued that foreign rivals should be included to level the playing field.

A Senate committee on Monday recommended the bank tax should be reviewed in two years and possibly waived in times of financial distress, but Treasurer Scott Morrison on Tuesday

rejected those arguments.

There's no need to do any of those things," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Moody's also downgraded the New Zealand subsidiaries of the Australian banks in line with their parents.

The banks, with the exception of NAB, have acknowledged the ratings downgrade but have not commented any further. NAB has not yet provided any comment.
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Oil prices fell about 3 percent to seven-month lows on Tuesday after increases in supply by several key producers overshadowed high compliance by OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers with a deal to cut global output. Benchmark Brent fell as low as $45.42, its weakest since Nov. 15, just before OPEC and other producers agreed to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd). It was down 96 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $45.95 a barrel 2:37 p.m. (1837 GMT) U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil contract for July fell to a session low of $42.75 a barrel, the weakest level since Nov. 14. It ended Tuesday's session down 97 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $43.23 on its final day as the front-month contract. The closing level, the lowest since Sept. 16, was more than 20 percent below WTI's 52-week closing high in February, putting the commodity in bear market territory. WTI's August contract, which accounted for most of the volume in U.S. crude futures on Tuesday, was down 95 cents, or 2.1 percent, at $43.48.

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Both benchmarks are down about 15 percent since late May, when OPEC, Russia and other producers extended their limits on production until the end of March 2018. "Given the expectation that you'll see higher production levels in several areas of the world, it's going to offset all they're taking off the market," said Gene McGillian, manager of market research at Tradition Energy. OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers' compliance with the deal to cut output reached its highest in May since they agreed on the curbs last year, reaching 106 percent last month, a source familiar with the matter said. OPEC supplies, however, jumped in May as output recovered in Libya and Nigeria, both exempt from the production reduction agreement. Libya's oil production rose more than 50,000 bpd to 885,000 bpd after the state oil company settled a dispute with Germany's Wintershall, a Libyan source told Reuters. Nigerian oil supply is also rising. Exports of Nigeria's Bonny Light crude are set to reach 226,000 bpd in August, up from 164,000 bpd in July, loading programs show. "The increasing August export program in Nigeria and the jump in Libyan oil output should pressure oil prices further in the short term," said Tamas Varga, senior analyst at London brokerage PVM Oil Associates. "If we get bearish U.S. oil statistics this week, we could see a test of $45 on Brent," Varga said.

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Policy-related proposals took center stage in opening negotiations between School District 2 and the Billings Education Association, the local teachers union.

The district quickly dismissed the unions ask for 5 percent raises on each level of the district salary schedule next school year and 6 percent the following year, with SD2s contracted lawyer Larry Martin calling it far beyond anything that would be a sensible proposal.

Last years one-year contract had a 2.3 percent raise.

But proposals bolstering support for teacher training, like money for Dual Credit certification, found more traction.

SD2 officials proposed setting aside $2,500 per high school for each of the next two years to pay for the additional 9 college credits required for teachers to teach Dual Credit classes, where students can earn credits accepted at any Montana college. The BEA readily agreed.

Other professional development topics required more discussion.

SD2 didnt commit to supporting or rejecting a union proposal for four days of leave each school year for National Board Certification candidates and supporting staff, but expressed interest in the topic.

The certification is offered to teachers across the country and is widely recognized as rigorous. SD2 had about 50 certified teachers two years ago, but the figure dropped to 22 last year because of retirements and a halt on new certifications while the program was revamped.

Teachers now have up to 3 years to complete the certification. The process required about 300 hours of work before the changes.

Giving teachers a handful of days off could help them complete that, union officials said. In addition to candidates, the BEA proposed time off for ambassadors, already certified teachers who work to recruit more into the process, and mentor teachers for candidates.

The district expressed reservations about loosely defined roles for mentors and ambassadors, and about how many candidates would get time off.

We want to support a certain number of candidates, said SD2 superintendent Terry Bouck.

7-period school day

Negotiations also approached a switch to a seven-period school day, an idea district officials have toyed with to give students more access to specialty classes. Language proposed by SD2 would add an option for the school board deciding on the switch, adding up to one-seventh to a teachers salary for picking up an extra period.

Union representatives said they needed more time to discuss the idea.

Other proposals

Both sides went back and forth on boosting health insurance incentives for veteran teachers as a retirement incentive; BEA President Rita Wells acknowledged that retirements of higher-salaried teachers help the district fill open slots with younger, lower-paid teachers.

The union also proposed creating exceptions to a rule that requires teachers to transfer schools after 12 years, instead giving them an option to stay. SD2 rejected a union proposal to expand sick leave to time for critical illnesses of family members, and rejected a proposal for compensation for moving classrooms.

The district did express interest in raising wages for short-term substitute assignments, acknowledging that it has trouble finding substitute teachers, but said it needed to look at the proposal in the context of its larger budget.

The two sides agreed to meet again Friday, continuing what they called "good discussions" in a joint press release. BEA representatives said they would be willing to negotiate through the summer  a change from last year, when negotiations didnt conclude until September thanks to a summer hiatus after the two sides didnt get a deal done shortly after the school year. Any agreements reached in negotiations need to be approved by BEA members and SD2 trustees.
Fashion Designer Ritu Kumar with her son Amrish Kumar during a party in New Delhi, India on February 18, 2017. Raajessh Kashyap | Hindustan Times | Getty Images

More than 45 years ago, when designer Ritu Kumar started out, she was an angry young woman. As she tells it, she was angry that the 200 years of colonial rule had "decimated" India's craftspeople and their work. "The English and the French copied every weave, every print and it was crazy I had to buy [the Indian prints] back from themit was a reverse cycle," Kumar told CNBC.

An Indian identity

Operating in an environment that looked to Europe for inspiration, Kumar unearthed the lost crafts of the country to create a fashion brand with an Indian identity that influences the fashion world. "I had a small exhibition in an hotel in Calcutta of my hand block printed saris and all the women came in painted chiffon saris from France with yards of pearls. It was a complete disaster," recalled Kumar. "The women said my saris looked like their grandmother's bedcovers!" By the 1980s, however, as India became "miraculously aware of its identity" to own a Ritu Kumar outfit for special occasions became a status symbol. And in 1991, when the Indian economy opened its doors to the world, the brand had its first growth spurt. Ritu Kumar started dressing up India's Miss Universe contestants and Bollywood and international celebrities were spotted wearing her clothes. "Think of one country that has its own indigenous handwriting, you will have a hard time coming up with onemost fashion is dictated by a multinational group from Paris and New York. In India, fashion is still dependent on textiles and not black Lycra," says Kumar, who deems Indian designers "revivalists" because their fashion still comes from the crafts. "She championed the cause of Indian textiles, and her clothes for me were a representation of wearable art," contemporary Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, told CNBC.

The son steps in

A life-changing moment in the history of the brand, however, came in the early 2000s when Kumar's son, Amrish, now 39, inherited his mother's legacy. A former banker with a keen business acumen, Amrish launched a pret (ready to wear) line called Label, in a sharp contrast to what his mother stood for. "Even though Amrish understood the merit of what we were doing, he didn't think it was meant for the next generation," said Kumar, adding that in the early 2000s India's demographics were changing sharply: A younger, global population was emerging. For Amrish, who is now the CEO of the Ritu Kumar company, it was important to modernize the brand and cater to a younger, more international consumer. "Label is inspired by shapes and designs from Paris, but their textiles are basically still very grounded in what is our strength," said Kumar. But many industry old timers say that Label has diluted the Ritu Kumar brand. Amrish was quick to defend: "Label is a classic sub brand strategy, which aims to expand the scope of the brand by including a larger and younger customer set. If we tried to do this with the parent brand there was a real danger of dilution and distraction." Three distinct brands still exist within the umbrella brand  RI, the premium bridal and formal wear; Ritu Kumar, the traditional semi-formal wear; and Label but only the Label brand has been defining Ritu Kumar for the last few years, industry insiders said. She is no longer the first choice for India's huge bridal wear market, with younger designers taking over the mantle, as Kumar has been criticized for not focusing on innovating within her traditional genre.

Futuristic leap

"Actually, if you ask me about the brand Label, it's fantastic that a designer like her has been able to do something which is so young at her age. But having said that, I also think that she was known for a particular kind of aesthetic and she needs to reinvent more of that," said Mukherjee, who is today a go-to designer for bridal wear in the country. Kumar is quick to point out that Label is her son's baby: "He has done a futuristic job..I would not have had the energy or interest to take it thereit is a different kettle of fish." Private equity firm Everstone Capital invested one billion rupees ($16 million) in the firm in 2014, which lends some credibility to the direction the company is taking. "Nobody has been able to achieve a mass market for designer wear like Ritu Kumar has...and a legacy is all about changing according to the times," Sunil Sethi, president of the Fashion Design Council of India, told CNBC. The brand is expanding into smaller Indian cities, adding 10 more company stores this year to the existing 50. It is also opening franchises and shop within shops, taking the brand to 100 touch points, according to a company executive. Ritu Kumar also has outlets in Dubai and Mauritius. "Looks like he [Amrish] is taking it international  it will be good," said Kumar, adding that she has little to do with the actual running of the company, focusing instead on textile research.

A working relationship
The list of places in the U.S. where you can attend college for free is growing. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam recently announced the launch of the Tennessee Reconnect Act, which will make community college free for nearly every adult in the state. The guidelines are simple: If you have been a Tennessee resident for at least a year and do not have an advanced degree, you can go to a community college or participating school for free. Tennessee Reconnect will offer students last-dollar scholarships, funded by the state lottery and is expected to cost $10 million.

This act is part of Haslam's larger Drive to 55 initiative, which aims to increase the number of Tennesseans with advanced degrees or certificates to 55 percent of residents by 2025. Tennessee Reconnect itself is an expansion of the Tennessee Promise scholarship. Announced in 2014, the scholarship has funded over 33,000 high school students attending community and technical college tuition-free. Haslam argues that expanding this program to adults is the logical next step. "We need to reach the working mother that went to college but didn't complete, or the son with sons of his own who like his dad never went to college but knows that he needs to upgrade his skills," said Haslam at a press event in May. "I'm introducing the next step in making certain that everyone in Tennessee has the opportunity to earn their degree."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., followed by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., and Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo. Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

Why the Senate will pass their health care bill:

1) McConnell appeases the moderates on Medicaid and insurance regulations. The more moderate Republicans in the Senate had some big problems with the House bill, which rolled back some of Obamacare's insurance protections, its financial aid to help people purchase private insurance, and overhauled Medicaid, the nation's biggest insurer. They thought the Medicaid cuts, including an abrupt end to Obamacare's Medicaid expansion in 2020, were too harsh and they opposed rolling back the law's protections for people with preexisting medical conditions. McConnell has moved in their direction on those issues, proposing a more gradual three-year phaseout of the Medicaid expansion and keeping the Obamacare rule that prohibits health plans from charging sick people more than healthy people. In turn, some of the Senate moderates thought to be most difficult for McConnell to get have said positive things about the emerging plan. "It's clear from the outline that I have seen of the Senate's  where there were a lot of question marks, so they'll be filled in  it's quite different from the House bill, and I think that's a good thing," Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) told reporters last week. If McConnell wins over all the moderates, then he can lose the most conservative senators  Rand Paul of Kentucky and Mike Lee of Utah  and still pass the bill. 2) He threads the needle with enough moderates while holding the right flank. McConnell could also go in the opposite direction and sacrifice two moderate votes, likely to be Collins and perhaps Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), who told me last week that she was very frustrated with the House bill and the Senate's secretive process. In that case, he would have to win over the conservatives. The Hill and Axios reported Monday that the Senate could end up including even lower Medicaid spending caps than the House bill did, a provision that could help appease the right flank. Though they tend to be more ideological than the moderates, conservatives can be practical too. "If you told me I couldn't repeal everything and some of Obamacare would remain, I would vote for that as an imperfect bill," Paul told me last week. McConnell could keep a few of the moderates worried about Medicaid on board by offering additional funding for the opioid crisis  Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) are asking for $45 billion over the next 10 years  and still get to 50 votes without Collins or Murkowski. 3) They're Republicans and it's a Republican health care bill, stupid. The power of partisanship helped the House move from disastrously short on votes to narrowly passing a bill over the course of one month. The same dynamic could push senators to get in line; McConnell told them privately that they would be paving the way for single-payer health care if they didn't pass this bill. Take Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV), who faces the most difficult reelection campaign next year. He represents an increasingly blue state that expanded Medicaid and where the Republican governor has criticized the House bill. That's a lot of reasons to vote against any similar plan. Nevertheless, when I asked Jon Ralston, editor of the Nevada Independent and the dean of the state's political reporters, if Heller could still end up supporting the bill, he cited partisanship as one reason Heller might come around (emphasis mine): Politics of next year say he should vote against it because of the polling here that shows how unpopular it is. Then again,hemight lose the base if he votes no, which has to concern him. Dilemma for many Republicans, but especially for him because he is so vulnerable. Seth Masket, a political science professor at the University of Denver, made a similar point when I asked him why Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), another swing vote from a swing state, might vote for the bill. "Voting for the health care bill could be damaging to him in his next reelection race," he said, "but voting to kill it could hurt him in the primary and help draw a challenger. So while many senators have grumbled about the GOP's plan, when push comes to shove, it might prove too hard for them to vote against Obamacare repeal and they'll set their concerns aside to back the bill.

Why the Senate won't pass their health care bill:
Though artificial intelligence is continuing to grow smarter, it's no match for human wisdom, Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba , told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday.

"It's about wisdom. It's about experience," said Ma, China's richest man and e-commerce mogul. "So I don't think the machine  the artificial intelligence  is gonna replace the wisdom."

The replacement of jobs with automation has become a hot topic in technology, as companies like Google brand themselves as AI-first. Goldman Sachs estimates occupations like truckers, secretaries, cashiers, bank tellers, waiters and real estate agents could be at high risk of automation in the near-term.

"It's going to be painful," Ma said from the Gateway '17 conference in Detroit. "Some people who catch the wave will be rich, will be more successful. For some people, it will be more painful. The government, you know, the world is going to be data. The people will now have more data than the bosses."

 Reporting by CNBC's David Faber. More from this interview will air Wednesday on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."
Seattle's prestigious Institute for Systems Biology has long been a draw for star experimental scientists. But it's now in a battle for talent with some deep-pocketed competitors: Amazon and Google.

Out of a group of a dozen researchers, four have recently left for Amazon, Google and Microsoft , said Nathan Price, associate director of ISB, which is now owned by Providence Health & Services, a non-profit network of hospitals.

Rather than fighting to hang onto the institute's standout biologists and bioinformaticists, Price has figured out a way to embrace the trend.

"We're asking talented researchers to come spend a few years with us, and develop something cool before they get recruited out," he told CNBC.

Prized academics are in high demand by technology companies, which are racing to bring cloud computing and machine learning to the $3 trillion health care market. ISB, for instance, uses both Amazon Web Services and Google's cloud technology on various projects.

As tech companies vie for contracts with large health systems to manage a growing volume of their most sensitive data, they need employees on board who understand specific topics like protein networks and gene networks, said Price.

At ISB, which was co-founded by genetics pioneer Leroy "Lee" Hood, researchers bolster their scientific knowledge by taking engineering courses from services like education site Coursera, said Price.

In the future, Price said that academic institutions will need to figure out a way to better compete with the industry. Currently, tech firms can pay so much more that he's losing talent even when scientists have little clarity about what they'll be doing. Alphabet's life sciences arm Verily hired one of his data scientists without providing specifics on the project, Price said.

"These people are really important to the future of what we want to do," he said. "In academia, we need to close the gap more than we have been."
Argentina sold $2.75 billion of a hotly demanded 100-year bond in U.S. dollars on Monday, just over a year after emerging from its latest default, according to the government. The South American country received $9.75 billion in orders for the bond, as investors eyed a yield of 7.9 percent in an otherwise low yielding fixed income market where pension funds need to lock in long-term returns. related investing news Think the dollar is about to peak? Wall Street pros explain how to trade it

A trader works on the floor of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange in Buenos Aires, Argentina Diego Giudice | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Thanks to a stronger-than-expected peso currency, the government has increased its overall 2017 foreign currency bond issuance target to $12.75 billion from its previous plan of issuing $10 billion in international bonds, Finance Minister Luis Caputo told reporters in Buenos Aires. Argentina is going to the international capital markets to help finance a fiscal deficit of 4.2 percent of gross domestic product this year. Caputo said Argentina has $2.6 billion in bonds left to be issued this year. The new paper could be denominated in euros, yen or Swiss francs. The new bond had a coupon of 7.125 percent, the finance ministry said in a statement that hailed success of the sale as evidence that Argentina had regained "credibility and confidence." Still, the move came as a surprise given Argentina only last year ended a decade-long dispute with creditors over its 2002 default and residents tend to frown upon accumulating debt in dollars. "Implicitly, this shows market confidence that the government will be able to change the idiosyncrasy of the country and will end the borrow and default cycles. Will it?" said Edgardo Sternberg, Emerging Market debt portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles.

Bond prices fall

Argentine sovereign bond yield spreads over U.S. Treasuries widened six basis points, the widest in a month at 412 basis points. Argentina's 2038 dollar bond fell 1.5 cents while the 2046 bond issue fell 2.6 cents. The 2032 par bond was down by 1.5 percent. Though the bond appeared to be well oversubscribed, some investors questioned the wisdom of investing for a such a long term in a country as volatile as Argentina. "It's awfully premature for Argentina to issue 100-year bonds," said Jorge Piedrahita, chief executive officer of Puma Investments. "When you look back in history, I'm not sure we can find a 20-year period where Argentina has not defaulted." Citigroup Inc and HSBC acted as lead book runners on the deal, while Nomura Securities and Banco Santander were co-managers. Such long-term bonds are unusual, particularly in emerging markets. Mexico issued a 100-year bond in 2010. Since taking office in late 2015, President Mauricio Macri has implemented several market-friendly reforms to deliver on his promise of normalizing Argentina's economy after years of heavy state intervention and non-payment of international debt obligations under the previous government. He ended a decade-long dispute with creditors that allowed it to re-enter global credit markets, but Argentina lacks an investment grade rating. S&P and Fitch rate the sovereign a B with a stable outlook, while Moody's has the debt at B3.

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Bitcoin and the blockchain technology it is built on allow people to cut out the middleman, Finman explained. For example, an open source blockchain ride-share platform would allow users to power the service on their phones using peer-to-peer technology without a central hub. It would allow the drivers to get more money by cutting overhead costs, he added. It could also create the next evolution of the internet, one which wouldn't be reliant on servers.

Finman thinks its best days are still ahead. "Personally I think bitcoin is going to be worth a couple hundred thousand to a million dollars a coin," he said.

He currently owns 403 , which at the current $2,700 a coin puts his bitcoin value at $1.09 million. He also has smaller investments in other cryptocurrencies, including litecoin and ethereum .

"I can proudly say I made it, and I'm not going to college," Finman said.

Erik Finman made a bet with his parents that if he turned 18 and was a millionaire, they wouldn't force him to go to college. Thanks to his savvy investments in bitcoin and the current all-time high valuation, he won't have to get his degree.

Finman began investing in bitcoin in May 2011 at the age of 12, thanks to a $1,000 gift from his grandmother and a tip from his brother Scott.

Though he's close with his family  which he calls the "Elon Musk version of the Kardashians"  growing up in "small town" Idaho outside of Coeur d'Alene wasn't easy. Finman was especially frustrated with his high school teachers, and begged his parents to let him drop out at 15.

"(High school) was pretty low quality," he said. "I had these teachers that were all kind of negative. One teacher told me to drop out and work at McDonald's because that was all I would amount to for the rest of my life. I guess I did the dropout part."

Surprisingly, his parents  who met pursuing their Ph.D.s at Stanford  agreed. Finman sold his first bitcoin investments at the end of 2013, when they were valued at $1,200 a piece.

With the $100,000 Finman launched an online education company called Botangle in early 2014 that would allow frustrated students like him to find teachers over video chat. He also used the funds to move to Silicon Valley, did some fun things like meet Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and traveled.

"I really liked Colombia," he said. "It was fun, but a little sketchy. Some interesting stuff happened. I was held up at gunpoint there, which is pretty scary, but I have this emergency button I programmed in Android that puts you on speaker but turns off audio automatically and dials [a local emergency number]."

"Maybe I'll turn that into an app," he added. "It's handy."

It was hard getting people to take a 15-year-old tech entrepreneur seriously, Finman admitted. He recalled being called in to interview with a "really, really high-up" unnamed Uber executive, who instead of listening to his Botangle pitch discouraged him and told him he would never win the bet with his parents.

Eventually he found a buyer for Botangle's technology in January 2015. The investor offered either $100,000 or 300 bitcoin, which had dropped in value at that time to a little more than $200 a coin. He took the lower cash value bitcoin deal because he believed it was "the next big thing."

"My parents asked 'Why don't you take the more cash?"' Finman explained. "But I thought of it more of an investment."

Since then, Finman has been managing his family and his own bitcoin investments. He's also kept busy on other projects, including working with NASA to launch a rocket through the ELaNa project. One thing he won't do is go back to school.

"I never got my GED, and I don't see the value in it," Finman said. "The purpose of that would be to get another education level and get a job. I had to learn through running a business. Instead of writing essays for English class, I had to write emails to important people."

Although the rest of his family has degrees  his brother Scott went to Johns Hopkins at 16 and now has an enterprise software company, while his other brother Ross went to Carnegie Melon at 16 for robotics and is now pursuing his Ph.D. at MIT  he's happy learning about the real world from experience.

"The way the education system is structured now, I wouldn't recommend it," Finman said. "It doesn't work for anyone. I would recommend the internet, which is all free. You can learn a million times more off YouTube and Wikipedia."
Bombardier has dismissed rival Boeing's claim that the Canadian firm is using government subsidies to dump its C-series planes on to the aviation market.



Boeing claims that Bombardier sold Delta Airlines 75 of its new C-Series planes for $19.6 million apiece, way below production cost.



"I think most people in our industry view this as an attack on innovation," said Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, Monday.



"We serve a specific market which is 100 to 150 seats. Boeing doesn't produce a 100-seater aircraft, so to induce airlines to a larger aircraft could be one of their strategies", he added.



The U.S. commerce department has taken up Boeing's complaint and will investigate, but Cromer said the Canadian firm is confident it will prevail.



"Some of the numbers that Boeing have quoted are way off base and you know we look forward to telling our story, presenting the facts and I think we are pretty confident about where we will end up," he said.



Bombardier claims that industry buzz around its new CS100 and CS300 planes is building after almost a year of operation under the airlines of Swiss Air and Air Baltic.



Cromer said he won't pick an orders target for the Paris Air Show but conversations are taking place.



He said the industry is starting to recognize the reputation of the aircraft from both pilots and customers.



"The passengers describe it as a narrow body aircraft with a wide body feel because of the large windows, the openness of the cabin and the quietness.



"Pilots like the aerodynamic cockpit because the noise in the cabin itself is reduced and that lowers fatigue.



This autumn, Korean Airlines will become the third operator of the C-series when it takes the first deliveries of 10 CS300 planes previously ordered.



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School District 2 trustees approved revisions to calendars for the next two school years that will add a vacation day that can be used to make up a snow day and releases students an hour early on Wednesdays.

The snow day change came in response to two snow days in a row in Billings after the district went more than 25 years without one. SD2 superintendent Terry Bouck has pushed the idea of building a snow day into the school year calendar.

The past two years, SD2 used an emergency day built into Montana law that lets schools write off the missed day.

"I know Terry was concerned about what would happen if we add another day on to that," said activities director Mark Wahl, who presented the calendar changes at Monday's school board meeting.

The Thursday before the district starts spring break, March 29, is now a vacation day for students if there's no snow day to make up, and a school day if there is a day to make up.

Trustee Joe Raffiani speculated what could happen if a late-spring snowstorm shutters schools and floated the idea of adding a day on to the end of the year.

"I'm not sure how many people will come back for that," Bouck said. "It's a tough one to add it to the end."

Wednesday release

Students will get out of school an hour early on Wednesdays to accommodate the roll-out of Professional Learning Communities, an effort to build more cohesive educational approaches among teachers.

The district also eliminated a handful of half-days for elementary and middle schools.

In a letter sent to parents last week, Bouck highlighted after-school care options such as after school study programs hosted by the Boys and Girls Club and United Way.

District officials had worked on scheduling PLCs throughout the school year.

"We're playing catch up, frankly," Bouck said, noting that most other large districts already use PLC's and that several surrounding K-8 school districts do.

CTE Director

Bouck tabbed Lew Anderson, the district's current bond manager, for a new career and technical education director position.

A review of SD2's career-focused education programs recommended hiring an administrator to work with all schools, not just the Career Center, and local businesses to help align school courses with workforce needs.

Bouck and business officials announced that they had secured funding for the position in March, with SD2 paying about half the salary and a coalition of businesses and community groups paying the rest.

District officials lauded Anderson's work with school principals on building projects and his ties to the community.

Steve Arveschoug, the executive director of Big Sky Economic Development who helped mold the new position, gave Anderson his "whole-hearted support."

"What that report begged for was a leader," he said.
U.S. government debt prices were higher on Tuesday as investors digested remarks from key Federal Reserve officials and a fall in oil prices. turn their attention to the Federal Reserve with leading members set to deliver speeches. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note sat lower at around 2.158 percent at 2:28 p.m. ET, while the yield on the 30-year Treasury bond was lower at 2.742 percent. Bond yields move inversely to prices.

Treasurys



With very little economic data to digest, investors focused on key speeches by three Fed members, to see if they elaborate on the state of the U.S. economy, after the central bank recently chose to raise rates for the second time in 2017. Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren said the current low-rate environment was likely to remain for some time, adding that low rates handicap the central bank's ability to "offset negative shocks." Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer is also at the meeting in Amsterdam, where he has delivered a keynote speech. At the event, Fischer warned that while the U.S. and other nations have taken actions to strengthen their housing finance systems, more needs to be done to prevent a future crisis, according to Reuters. Later on in the day, Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan will be at the Commonwealth Club of California, in San Francisco, where he is likely to weigh in on current economic conditions and implications for monetary policy. Sticking with central banks, the Bank of Japan is set to release the minutes of its April monetary policy meeting at 7:50 p.m. ET (8:50 a.m. local time on Wednesday). Meanwhile, minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) June meeting showed on Tuesday that soaring household debt and weak wages growth were key topics dominating policymakers' minds; Reuters reported.
Code Your Future runs its weekend classes in London and Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded in October 2016 by German Bencci while he was working at Samsung. Bencci quit Samsung in February to focus on Code Your Future full time.

"I was interested a long time ago in programming, but I didn't know how to start or what to do with it. It doesn't limit you. As long as you have this skill you can work anywhere, anytime you want," Abdulghaffar told CNBC in an interview on Monday.

Nearly two years on, Abdulghaffar is beginning to code at the U.K.'s first coding school for refugees, skills that could lay the foundation for a job at the likes of Facebook or Google.

Ten days before civil war broke out in Yemen in 2015, Khaled Abdulghaffar left on a ship to India where he had an engineering scholarship at a school in Chennai. In September last year, while fighting in Yemen was breaking out, Abdulghaffar headed to the U.K.

"The tech industry expresses their desire to do more to support the refugee crisis. But I had not seen a clear and tangible way in which we were doing something to alleviate the problem," Bencci explained, talking about his motivation behind setting up Code Your Future.

"So this is a great idea to have a tangible impact and direct influence by giving refugees training of one of the most sought after skills in society nowadays."

The first six-month course ran from October 2016 and had 9 students on it. Code Your Future is now into its second cohort of students, but those from the first group are beginning to find jobs.

Ansi Arockia left India in 2011 and came to the U.K. following family difficulties, which she did not wish to elaborate on due to the sensitivity of the matter. In India, she studied engineering and computer science at university. But she could not find a job in Britain because many were asking for experience which she didn't have.

She got on the Code Your Future course after seeing an advert from the Refugee Council charity. After completing the course Ansi got an apprenticeship at We Got Pop, a technology platform for the film industry that lets production companies manage and pay staff.

"It's my second week now. It is really good, I am learning new coding languages, and they are really supporting. I am not that nervous," Ansi told CNBC in a phone interview on Monday.

The coding class is providing hope for many of the refugees. Abdulghaffar said he is wanted by government-backed forces in Yemen and would not go back because he could be killed. He has spoken to his parent just twice since leaving in 2015. But he is looking ahead to the opportunities that his news skills could give him.

"I hope when I finish, I become independent and get a job. The main thing about getting a job is to learn, the money is irrelevant. Even if they didn't pay us all, I'd be happy to get an internship," Abdulghaffar said.
Goldman Sachs Chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein began tweeting because he didn't want the media to define the investment bank like it did during the financial crisis, CNBC's Jim Cramer said Tuesday.

Cramer spoke the morning after his interview with the Goldman chief on "Mad Money" about the economy, banking regulations and his recent tweeting, among other topics. Blankfein said he uses Twitter as a more immediate way to comment on hot-button issues.

"He wasn't going to let anybody define Goldman this time around, hence, the tweeting," Cramer said on "Squawk on the Street."

Goldman was among the big Wall Street banks that were vilified during the fallout from the 2008 financial crisis.

Blankfein's first-ever tweet slammed President Donald Trump's controversial choice to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

The Goldman CEO has since tweeted about his recent trip to China and has called for bipartisan leadership on infrastructure, health care, tax reform and immigration.

Read: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein details why he started speaking out on Twitter
U.S. oil fell into bear market territory on Tuesday, and the losses could continue in the coming months if historical trends hold.

CNBC ran a study to see how U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude performs after the commodity experiences a plunge of 20 percent or more from recent highs in a span of six months, using hedge fund analytics tool Kensho.

After Tuesday's decline, WTI is down 22 percent from its 52-week intraday high of $55.24 hit in January. Futures are on pace for a drop greater than 20 percent from their 2017 closing high as well.

In the last 10 years, oil experienced seven similar bear market declines in six months.

In the next six months after those bear market drops, WTI was down another 5 percent on average, according to Kensho. WTI traded positively just 43 percent of the time in those instances.

Energy stocks held up better during those six months after a bear market decline, but still underperformed the market.

In those seven instances, the Energy Select Sector exchange-traded fund , better known as the XLE, posted an average return of about 6.7 percent, the Kensho study showed. That compares with a 7.8 percent average return for the S&P 500 during the same six-month period after oil falls into a bear market.

Also of note is what works after an oil bear market: consumer stocks. The Consumer Discretionary SPDR (XLY) is up more than 12 percent, on average, in the six months after an oil bear market as cheaper gas prices spark more spending.

Oil traders are awaiting data that confirm efforts by OPEC and other oil exporters to shrink global crude stockpiles and prop up prices are having an effect.

That evidence could start rolling in this summer as seasonal demand for fuel ramps up, but rising production in the Untied States, Libya and Nigeria is offsetting OPEC-led production cuts. The International Energy Agency warned last week that stockpile levels might not fall to OPEC's target until early next year.

Disclosure: CNBC's parent NBCUniversal is a minority investor in Kensho.
The European Union has achieved nothing with sanctions against Russia and any extension to such measures from the bloc's foreign ministers could lead to a new arms race, according to the chief executive of Russia's VTB Bank .

"Did the west achieve anything with (previous) sanctions? Whether the world became a better place to live, whether we resolve the issue of Ukraine, whether both sides are better economically? I think the answer is no," Andrey Kostin, president and chairman of Russia's second-largest bank by assets, told CNBC on Tuesday.

Moscow is currently enduring the sharp end of tough international sanctions from Washington as a result of its annexation of Crimea and alleged part in the destabilization of eastern Ukraine.

On Monday, European foreign ministers announced they would prolong economic sanctions on the Black Sea peninsula, extending efforts to punish Moscow for its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

At a meeting in Luxembourg, the Council of the European Union said, "The EU continues to condemn the illegal annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by the Russian Federation."

EU sanctions have been extended and are now set to remain in place against Crimea until June 23 2018 at the earliest. Diplomats said they expected the bloc to do the same for its trade sanctions against Russia in due course.
The pan-European STOXX 600 pared almost all of its gains from earlier in the session, closing 0.58 percent lower on Tuesday afternoon. All major bourses and almost all sectors - bar food and beverages - ended the day in negative territory.



Sterling hit a one-week low of $1.2660 early Tuesday after the Bank of England's Mark Carney said now was not the time to raise rates. The comments dashed the hopes of some investors who had been expecting the U.K.'s central bank to adopt a more hawkish tone. The losses continued further into the afternoon, causing the British currency to close at $1.2620, paring all gains seen on Monday when Brexit talks officially commenced.



Oil prices dipped to their weakest level since last November on Tuesday after news of increases in supply, a trend which continues to undermine OPEC's efforts to support the market through reduced output. Brent crude traded $45.72 a barrel in afternoon deals, down 2.47 percent, while U.S. crude was around $42.71 a barrel, down 2.92 percent.

The oil and gas sector slumped more than 2 percent on the news, with Tullow Oil sliding 4.8 percent. Basic resources, too, slipped almost 3 percent, with Antofagasta and Glencore among the biggest losers.



Media stocks were among the top performers in early deals, though fell flat along with other sectors by the close of play. German broadcaster proSiebanSat.1 announced plans to sell Etraveli to CVC Capital Partners on Tuesday morning. Its shares were nearly 2 percent higher on the news.



Meanwhile, German lighting company Osram soared to the top of the benchmark after Bankhaus Lampe raised its rating on the firm to "buy" from "hold", according to a Reuters report. Shares spiked by almost 4 percent in early afternoon deals.

Pizza delivery business Domino's fell to the bottom of the benchmark Tuesday afternoon after Investec lowered its outlook for the stock to a "sell" rating, citing challenges ahead from discounters and market newcomers. The stock was down 6.4 percent.



Barclays ' shares were under pressure on Tuesday following news that the bank and four former executives had been charged with fraud over fundraising in Qatar.

U.S. markets meanwhile were lower as investors turned their attention to tax reform announcements.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) released its latest economic forecast, saying it expected the U.K. to see a "steady but subdued economic growth" over the next few years.
Exxon Mobil, other oil companies and a number of other corporate giants will announce on Tuesday that they are supporting a plan to tax carbon emissions that was put forth this year by a group of Republican elder statesmen.

The group, the Climate Leadership Council, unveiled a "conservative climate solution" in February that would fight global warming by taxing greenhouse gas emissions and returning the money to taxpayers as a "climate dividend." The underlying idea is that, by making energy derived from fossil fuels more expensive, the free market will move more quickly and effectively toward renewable energy and other low-carbon solutions.

Exxon Mobil, BP , Royal Dutch Shell and Total S.A. are expected to publicly back the plan on Tuesday, and they have a number of reasons to lend their support. The plan calls for scrapping Obama-era regulations intended to fight climate change, arguing that a market-driven approach will have the same effect in reducing emissions as the regulations would.

More from New York Times:

Barclays and former executives charged over Qatar fund-raising

The decline of the baronical CEO

Blue Apron pursues IPO as Amazon looms over industry

The oil giants could simply pass the cost of new taxes on to customers. And to protect American companies, the plan would introduce so-called border adjustments, intended to increase the cost of goods coming from nations that do not have a similar carbon tax.

The proposal also says companies that emit greenhouse gases should be protected from lawsuits over their contribution to climate change.

Michael B. Gerrard, the director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School and an expert on climate litigation, said there had been four suits brought against energy companies over climate change, including one brought by the eroding Arctic coastal town of Kivalina, Alaska. "None of those has gotten very far," Mr. Gerrard said, but "there continues to be talk of more."

Mr. Gerrard added, "If a sufficiently high carbon tax were imposed, it could accomplish a lot more for fighting climate change than liability suits."

The Climate Leadership Council's plan sets an initial tax of $40 per ton of carbon dioxide produced, which would add 36 cents to the cost of each gallon of gasoline sold. The group estimates the tax would raise more than $200 billion a year, and the rate would rise over time, dampening demand for fossil fuels. The average family of four would receive approximately $2,000 in the first year as a carbon dividend, the group says.

A tax-and-dividend plan would cut American carbon pollution even as the Trump administration withdraws from the Paris climate accord, the group says.

Exxon has said for years that it supports a carbon tax, at least in the abstract, but the company had never formally endorsed a proposal. In 2009, the company's chief executive, Rex W. Tillerson, who is now secretary of state, called carbon taxes "a more direct, a more transparent and a more effective approach" than a cap-and-trade proposal Congress was considering at the time.

In a statement, the current chief executive of Exxon Mobil, Darren W. Woods, said the company was "encouraged" by the climate group's proposal, which "aligns closely with our longstanding principles." A company spokesman said the liability component of the plan was not part of the company's decision to endorse it.

Along with the oil companies, the corporate backers include Johnson & Johnson, Unilever and Procter & Gamble. Ted Halstead, the chief executive of the Climate Leadership Council, said the group did not accept corporate contributions.

Environmental organizations, including the Nature Conservancy and the World Resources Institute, are also endorsing the plan. Individual supporters include the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking; Steven Chu, a secretary of energy under President Barack Obama; Michael R. Bloomberg, the former New York mayor; and the Indian industrialist Ratan Tata.

The plan's Republican authors include James A. Baker III and George P. Shultz, both former secretaries of state, and Henry M. Paulson Jr., a former secretary of the Treasury.

But Mr. Halstead said the council had "moved a little more to the center," adding new leaders like Lawrence H. Summers, a secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton, and Laurene Powell Jobs, a philanthropist and the widow of the Apple founder Steve Jobs.

"For this to pass, it will have to pass on a bipartisan basis," Mr. Halstead said.

Mr. Summers said the chances that Congress would pass a carbon tax in the near future were low. But, he said, "there is a reasonable shot that there will be an opening that will be taken in the next several years," especially because the dividends could benefit low-income Americans.

"It's hard to argue against a fuel tax that Exxon's in favor of," he said.
While Facebook is doing everything in its power to make it a safe place for brands and users, it's impossible to completely weed out crime and violence on its platform, global head of sales Carolyn Everson told CNBC.

"Our policy is zero tolerance  that doesn't mean zero occurrence," Everson said.

Facebook has been under fire for several incidents including videos of alleged murders being broadcast through its Live platform.

"There are bad things that are going to happen," Everson said. "That is reality. That is life. Facebook is a reflection of that life. It is our job to make the community as safe as possible. Not only for the people that use it, which is incredibly important, of course, but also for the brands we work with."

Part of that includes allowing brands to opt out of advertising on certain videos. The company has also created a "blacklist" for websites that won't be allowed to advertise in-stream during videos, on Instant Articles and through its Audience Network of websites it serves ads to.

It also announced continued investments in artificial intelligence to identify offensive posts, and said it relies on its 1.9 billion users to report bad content. In addition, it is taking measures to stop fake news on its platform.

"Facebook is a safe place for brands, let me start there," Everson said. "The second thing I would say is we have zero tolerance, zero tolerance for hate speech and terrorism. There is no place for any of that on our platforms, and we have already made a commitment."

 Reporting by Julia Boorstin.
An employee works on a Ford Motor Co. Super Duty Truck engine at the Ford Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Kentucky, Sept. 30, 2016.

Ford Motor has plans to invest $900 million in its Kentucky truck plant, securing  not adding  1,000 hourly jobs, the company said Tuesday.

The 1,000 positions will be centered around building Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators, which are expected to be exported to more than 55 markets globally after being completed, the carmaker said.

"This manufacturing plan allows the company to further grow its leadership as an exporter and deliver world-class Focus to North American customers in a way that makes business sense  with no U.S. employees out of a job," Ford said in a statement.

Additionally, no U.S. hourly employees will be out of a job tied to the new manufacturing plan for Focus, the company went on.

The $900 million investment comes in addition to the $1.3 billion investment and 2,000 jobs created at the same Kentucky plant in late 2015, to build the Ford Super Duty, Ford said.

This particular plant in Louisville employs about 7,600 full-time hourly workers.

Production on these new, fuller-size vehicles will begin in the second half of 2019, Ford said.

The Michigan-based vehicle manufacturer said its latest manufacturing plan will save the company $1 billion in investment costs versus its original Focus production plan, which was anticipated to make $500 million in savings.

Read the complete press release from Ford.
"Vive la French tech!" That was the message last week during the Viva Technology conference in Paris, where some of the biggest names in the industry came together.

The message was clear from newly-elected President Emmanuel Macron: France will become Europe's leader in technology and transform into a "country of unicorns"  the term for companies valued at more than $1 billion.

"I want France to attract new entrepreneurs, new researchers, and be the nation for innovation and start-ups," Macron told CNBC on the sidelines of the event, prior to the announcement.

The speech he delivered was met with a standing ovation and there is cause for optimism in France. Venture capital investments in France hit $1.6 billion in 2016, just a touch lower than the $1.7 billion recorded in 2015, according to KPMG. In contrast, VC funding in Germany fell sharply to $1.9 billion in 2016, from $3.6 billion the year before, while the U.K. also saw a hefty drop.

France remains the third-largest player in terms of VC funding into start-ups, but it didn't see the falls recorded in Germany and Britain, which is encouraging. Europe's third-largest economy is also beginning to build billion dollar start-ups with the likes of BlaBlaCar and Criteo.

But the path to become a "start-up nation" could be a tough one given some of the structural issues in France. Entrepreneurs complain about the country's rigid labor laws which can make hiring and firing staff difficult, while a French wealth tax levied on those with personal assets of 1.3 million euros or more, has faced criticism.
An opportunity to learn and play American Indian games is being offered at the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area's Cottonwood Camp in Fort Smith at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

The mission of the International Traditional Games Society is to revive and preserve Native games from the Great Plains region, including games from the local Crow Tribe. The evening program is open to the public.

Crow historian Marvin Dawes and Bighorn Canyon rangers will give two tours in the North District of the park to discover and celebrate the rich history and heritage of the Crow Tribe. The tours will take place on July 8 and Aug. 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

The tours will meet at the Yellowtail Dam Visitor Center in Fort Smith. All participants will enjoy a tepee demonstration with its origin story at the Crooked Creek Contact Station. The tour will continue the exploration of the park with a tour up Ok-A-Beh road by caravan. There will be an interpretive stop at the Four Winds Interpretive Site. The program will end at the Ok-A-Beh Marina.

For more information contact the Yellowtail Visitor Center at 406-666-3218. For a list of programs and special events at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area visit the park's website and Facebook page.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry on Tuesday warned that the United States could suffer a nuclear disaster like Japan's Fukushima catastrophe if it does not find a solution for its nuclear waste.

The Trump administration believes that solution is a long-delayed plan to store all of the country's nuclear waste at a facility located deep inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

The White House has asked Congress for $120 million to restart the licensing process for the nuclear waste facility, which is meant to be a permanent home for atomic waste that is currently stored at nuclear facilities around the U.S.

In testimony to Congress, Perry raised concerns about the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, where Southern California Edison has for years stored spent nuclear fuel rods in cooling ponds, a common practice across the country.

The decommissioned station is located just yards from the Pacific Ocean and near one of America's busiest highways, in an area prone to earthquakes.

"Having those spent fuel rods in those cooling ponds in a region of the world that's inside that 'Ring of Fire,' as they call it  and the potential to have a geologic event  we could have a repeat of what happened at Fukushima to some degree," Perry told members of the House Committee on Appropriations.
If Democrat Jon Ossoff holds his narrow polling lead and wins this traditionally red district, his party will find it easier to raise money and recruit high-quality candidates. Jitters within the Republican caucus will get worse; some vulnerable veteran members will conclude a re-election isn't worth the trouble and retire. An Ossoff victory would also darken the cloud over the House-passed health-care bill, which 6 in 10 voters here, including 3 in 10 Republicans, say they dislike.

Georgia's 6th District has become an early proxy battle for the November 2018 mid-term war for control of the House, and it will immediately shape the climate on Capitol Hill as Republican majorities grapple with President Donald Trump 's agenda.

ATLANTA  The record $50 million lavished on Tuesday's special House election has left this city numb. But considering its impact elsewhere, one side will get its money's worth.

Democratic candidate Jon Ossoff speaks during a visit to a campaign office to thank volunteers and supporters as he runs for Georgia's 6th Congressional District on June 19, 2017 in Sandy Springs, Georgia.

The contest will elect a replacement for Tom Price, the veteran Republican who gave up the seat to become Trump's Health and Human Services secretary. This relatively affluent suburban Atlanta district routinely gave Price easy victories.

Both parties went into Election Day saying the outcome remains too close to call. A high volume of early voting points toward heavy turnout, though weather forecasters predict thunderstorms, which could discourage some voters.

But a victory by Republican Karen Handel would have a calming effect just as the Senate prepares to take up its health-care legislation, which GOP strategists consider vital to averting rebellion within the party's conservative base. And it would deal a discouraging psychological blow to Democrats who have poured so many hopes and dollars into this campaign.

Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th Congressional district Karen Handel speaks to supporters at the Cherokee Cattle Ranch restaurant in Marietta, Ga., on the final day of campaigning on Monday, June 19, 2017.

But Trump barely beat Hillary Clinton in the district, which is heavy with the college-educated voters, Trump's weakest Republican constituency. And that makes it emblematic of the kind of districts Democrats will need to carry to pick up the 24 seats they need next year to make Nancy Pelosi the House speaker again.

The 23 Republican-held House districts where Clinton won last November represent prime Democratic targets in 2018. But they must also generate enough political momentum to win some of the districts she lost. Georgia's 6th is among 12 additional Republican-held districts where Clinton came within 5 percentage points of winning. In 62 other Republican-held districts, Trump received less than 55 percent of the vote.

In a race dominated by national rather than local currents, Trump's recent erosion in the polls helps the opposition party. Some 26 percent of Republicans viewed the president unfavorably in a recent Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll here, significantly higher than in national polls.

Yet since Republicans make up a higher proportion of the district than they do nationally, it's unclear whether that's enough disaffection to nudge Ossoff over the finish line. David Wasserman, a specialist on House elections at the Cook Political Report, says Ossoff needs at least 10 percent of the Republican vote to win.

That's precisely the level of Republican support Ossoff was getting in the Journal-Constitution poll. One late poll released Monday showed Handel with a 2 percentage point lead, backing up the assessment from Handel pollster Whit Ayres that she has gained in the race's closing days.

"I hope that's enough," Ayres said.

The impact of either outcome is impossible to forecast. But this test of partisan strength five months into Trump's term comes as the Senate prepares to take up a still-secret health-care bill.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell needs at least 50 of his 52 caucus members to close ranks behind Trump's call to repeal and replace Obamacare. Two of them, Dean Heller of Nevada and Jeff Flake of Arizona, face competitive 2018 re-election bids.

Panic after a Republican loss could strain party unity as lawmakers from less conservative districts focus increasingly on self-protection. Yet others from more conservative districts may feel an increased urgency to show core supporters that Republicans can act  not only on health care but also on issues such as tax cuts and infrastructure.

Party leaders, with little margin for error, hope the latter effect would outweigh the former.

"Paradoxically, I think it will help the agenda as it will focus the members on their survival," said former Republican Rep. Vin Weber, now a Washington lobbyist. "Some will try to distance themselves from Trump, but the overriding reaction will be a desire to get some things done they can talk about."
Everything happened so fast as I walked out of the doctor's exam room. I was tucking in my shirt and wondering if I'd asked all my questions about my injured shoulder when one of the doctor's assistants handed me two small boxes of pills.

"These will hold you over until your prescription arrives in the mail," she said, pointing to the drug samples.

Strange, I thought to myself, the doctor didn't mention giving me any drugs.

I must have looked puzzled because she tried to reassure me.

"Don't worry," she said. "It won't cost you any more than $10."

I was glad whatever was coming wouldn't break my budget, but I didn't understand why I needed the drugs in the first place. And why wasn't I picking them up at my local CVS?

At first I shrugged it off. This had been my first visit with an orthopedic specialist and he, Dr. Mohnish Ramani, hadn't been the chatty type. He'd barely said a word as he examined me, tugging my arm this way and bending it that way before rotating it behind my back. The pain made me squirm and yelp, but he knew what he was doing. He promptly diagnosed me with frozen shoulder, a debilitating inflammation of the shoulder capsule.

But back to the drugs. As an investigative reporter who has covered health care for more than a decade, the interaction was just the sort of thing to pique my interest. One thing I've learned is that almost nothing in medicine  especially brand-name drugs  is ever really a deal. When I got home, I looked up the drug: Vimovo.

The drug has been controversial, to say the least. Vimovo was created using two readily and cheaply available generic, or over-the-counter, medicines: naproxen, also known by the brand Aleve, and esomeprazole magnesium, also known as Nexium. The Aleve handles your pain and the Nexium helps with the upset stomach that's sometimes caused by the pain reliever. The key selling point of this new "convenience drug"? It's easier to take one pill than two.

But only a minority of patients get an upset stomach, and there was no indication I'd be one of them. Did I even need the Nexium component?

Of course I also did the math. You can walk into your local drugstore and buy a month's supply of Aleve and Nexium for about $40. For Vimovo, the pharmacy billed my insurance company $3,252. This doesn't mean the drug company ultimately gets paid that much. The pharmaceutical world is rife with rebates and side deals  all designed to elbow ahead of the competition. But apparently the price of convenience comes at a steep mark-up.

Think about it another way. Let's say you want to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich every day for a month. You could buy a big jar of peanut butter and a jar of grape jelly for less than 10 bucks. Or you could buy some of that stuff where they combine the peanut butter and grape jelly into the same jar. Smucker's makes it. It's called Goober. Except in this scenario, instead of its usual $3.50 price tag, Smucker's is charging $565 for the jar of Goober.

So if Vimovo is the Goober of drugs, then why have Americans been spending so much on it? My insurance company, smartly, rejected the pharmacy's claim. But I knew Vimovo's makers weren't wooing doctors like mine for nothing. So I looked up the annual reports for the Ireland-based company, Horizon Pharma, which makes Vimovo. Since 2014, Vimovo's net sales have been more than $455 million. That means a lot of insurers are paying way more than they should for their Goober.

And Vimovo wasn't Horizon's only such drug. It has brought in an additional $465 million in net sales from Duexis, a similar convenience drug that combines ibuprofen and famotidine, AKA Advil and Pepsid.

This year I have been documenting the kind of waste in the health care system that's not typically tracked. Americans pay more for health care than anyone else in the world, and experts estimate that the U.S. system wastes hundreds of billions of dollars a year. In recent months I've looked at what hospitals throw away and how nursing homes flush or toss out hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of usable medicine every year. We all pay for this waste, through lower wages and higher premiums, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight  I just got a notice that my premiums may be increasing by another 12 percent next year.

With Vimovo, it seemed I stumbled on another waste stream: overpriced drugs whose actual costs are hidden from doctors and patients. In the case of Horizon, the brazenness of its approach was even more astounding because it had previously been called out in media reports and in a 2016 congressional hearing on out-of-control drug prices.

Health care economists also were wise to it.

"It's a scam," said Devon Herrick, a health care economist with the National Center for Policy Analysis. "It is just a way to gouge insurance companies or employer health care plans."

Unsurprisingly, Horizon says the high price is justified. In fact, the drug maker wrote in an email, "The price of Vimovo is based on the value it brings to patients."

Thousands of patients die and suffer injuries every year, the company said, because of gastric complications from naproxen and other non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Providing pain relief and stomach protection in a single pill makes it more likely patients will be protected from complications, it said.

And Horizon stressed Vimovo is a "special formulation" of Aleve and Nexium, so it's not the same as taking the two separately. But several experts said that's a scientific distinction that doesn't make a therapeutic difference. "I would take the two medications from the drugstore in a heartbeat  therapeutically it makes sense," said Michael Fossler, a pharmacist and clinical pharmacologist who is chair of the public-policy committee for the American College of Clinical Pharmacology. "What you're paying for with [Vimovo] is the convenience. But it does seem awful pricey for that."

Public outrage is boiling over when it comes to high drug prices, leading the media and lawmakers to scold pharmaceutical companies. You'd think a regulator would monitor this, but the Food and Drug Administration told me they are only authorized to review new drugs for safety and effectiveness, not prices. "Prices are set by manufacturers and distributors," the FDA said in a statement.

Horizon acquired Vimovo in November 2013 from the global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. Horizon knew it faced challenges trying to get top dollar for inexpensive ingredients. "Use of these therapies separately in generic form may be cheaper," it said in its 2013 report to investors. But the company executed a shrewd strategy to give everyone  insurers, patients, doctors and pharmacies  the incentive to use Vimovo. It's instructive to review its playbook.

To get Vimovo covered, Horizon made deals with insurance payers and pharmacy benefit managers  the intermediaries who help determine which drugs get reimbursed. The contracts generally included special rebates and even administrative fees for these intermediaries, the Horizon reports said, so the drug maker got paid much less than the sticker price, though it wouldn't say how much. But the company's net sales show the deals worked.

Horizon put boots on the ground to get the prescriptions rolling, expanding its sales force by the hundreds and focusing its marketing and sales efforts on doctors who already liked to prescribe brand-name drugs. The company's message to doctors emphasized the convenience of prescribing the two ingredients in a single pill and that the single pill protected patients by making it more likely they would take their medication as directed.

Horizon also primed the medical community by giving donations totaling $101,000 to the American Gastroenterology Association, a specialty nonprofit for physicians. Some doctors refuse drug-industry money, if only to at least avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest. ProPublica has done loads of stories showing why doctors taking money is indeed problematic, including one about drug makers' influence on physician specialty groups. When I went on the American Gastroenterology Association's website, the first thing I saw was a pop-up ad from a drug company. Several of the association's board members have received drug-company money, too. Horizon has made clear in its annual reports that donations to the group "help physicians and patients better understand and manage" the risks of pain relievers causing gastric problems.

Horizon also zeroed in on patients' worries about drug costs. To encourage them to fill their prescriptions, Horizon covered all or most of their out-of-pocket costs. That's why my doctor's office could promise me I wouldn't spend too much for my Vimovo. The program, Horizon told investors in reports, addressed the impact of pharmacies switching to less expensive alternatives and could "mitigate" the effect of payers searching for cheaper alternatives.

The strategy worked on me. I didn't even know why I was getting the prescription, but when they told me it wouldn't cost more than I would spend on lunch with a friend, I gave it the OK. A pharmacy I'd never heard of sent me a bottle of Vimovo for $10, even though my insurance company rejected the claim.

Turns out paying the patient's costs motivated my doctor, too. I waited until the end of my next visit to bring up Vimovo, and then we had a follow-up conversation on the phone. Ramani didn't know the price of the drug and found it "disturbing" when I told him. That was a surprise to me, but not to him. He said he leaves billing to his staff and doesn't even know how much he gets paid for a lot of the procedures he performs, let alone how much insurers are being charged for drugs. The marketing arms of companies like Horizon must count on this sort of blindness.

Ramani doesn't receive money or gifts from Horizon. (I confirmed this on ProPublica's Dollars for Docs website, which lists drug-company payments.) He said he likes Vimovo because Horizon covers the patient's out-of-pocket costs, entirely in many cases. Prescribing the generics or over-the-counter medications separately would actually cost more, he said. Which of course is exactly the company's plan. But Ramani agreed that the high cost of the drug to insurers ultimately raises overall health care costs for all Americans.

Knowing Vimovo's price, I asked him if he would continue to prescribe it. "It changes my thought process," he said. "But at the end of the day, I have to think about the patient and whether the patient will be able to pay out of pocket or not."

Ramani said the Horizon drug rep told him Vimovo prescriptions had to go through a particular pharmacy for the patient to receive financial assistance. In its 2016 annual report, Horizon wrote that prescriptions for its drugs might not be filled by certain pharmacies because of insurance-company exclusions, co-payment requirements, or incentives to use lower-priced alternatives. So that's why they didn't give me the option of picking up my pills at my neighborhood drugstore.

Instead, my Vimovo was mailed to me from White Oak Pharmacy in Nutley, New Jersey, which is about 45 minutes from my house. I drove there to find out why. The neighborhood pharmacy is on the bottom floor of a two-story brick building on a street corner, next to a hair salon.

Vishal Chhabria, the pharmacist who owns White Oak, told me the drug company sets the price of Vimovo. He insisted his pharmacy has no special relationship or contract with Horizon. Maybe the drug company steers prescriptions his way, he said, because his pharmacy will process the coupons that reduce or eliminate the patient costs, which some pharmacies don't.

Chhabria said there is no approved generic alternative to Vimovo, so he can't suggest one to patients. And while other drugs, like over-the-counter medications, would be cheaper for the health system overall, they are more expensive for the individual patient, he said.

In poring through Horizon's financial filings, it appears the drug's run may be ending. Horizon said in its report for the first quarter of 2017 that fewer insurance companies have been willing to cover Vimovo and many that do have demanded larger rebates. As a result, Horizon has been eating more of the costs of providing the drug to patients, as they must have in my case. The prescriptions have still been coming in, but net sales were just under $5 million in the first quarter of this year, down 81 percent from the first quarter of 2016.

Critics of Vimovo say that's still more than patients should be spending on the drug. "That number should be zero," said Linda Cahn, an attorney who advises corporations, unions and other payers to help reduce their costs. "If you want to talk about waste, that's waste."

Herrick, the health care economist, said Horizon cashed in by eliminating many of the barriers in the system that are meant to control costs. The company got patients on board by covering their out-of-pocket costs. It appealed to doctors by promoting the benefits to patients. And it did an end-run around chain pharmacies, which typically might suggest a lower-priced alternative, by steering prescriptions to pharmacists who would participate in their patient-assistance program.

"Somebody brainstormed: 'How can we nullify any consumer check and balance in this supply chain? What can we do to keep the customer from asking questions?'" Herrick said.

The scheme that played out with Vimovo is bound to happen again, Herrick said. Maybe it already is. Drug companies are always on the lookout to deploy similar strategies.

I dutifully took my Vimovo for several days, until I noticed it kept me awake until 3 in the morning  a rare side effect. (Perhaps they need to add a third drug to the combo.) I probably have more than 50 pills left in the bottle on my bedside table. Maybe I could sell it back to Horizon for $1,500.
Version 2.0 of the American Health Care Act  AHCA  is gaining steam, even as the process in the Senate has been criticized for its secrecy. Still, it remains to be seen whether Republicans will be able to garner the votes needed to pass the bill meant to replace the Affordable Care Act.

Last month President Trump praised the House version of the AHCA, yet last week, he called it "mean" in a meeting with Senators who are working on their own version.

At this point, calling the fate of health-care policy unpredictable is an understatement. A lot has been said about what happens if the AHCA passes, but given all the uncertainty, consumers should be asking themselves asking a different question:

What happens if Obamacare remains the law of the land?

The ACA has its issues, and if it stays in place those issues will be aggravated by an administration that doesn't support it  and actively wants it to fail. If the AHCA doesn't pass, here's what consumers will have to contend with based on the actions the Trump administration may  or may not  take.

What happens to government subsidies?

The health insurance story of 2016 was big premium increases, as rates rose an average of 22 percent. But the truth is that most people didn't feel the full effect of these rate increases thanks to government subsidies. This year, the big question will be whether or not the Trump administration will continue its commitment to those subsidies. This will have a huge impact on what consumers will end up paying for their health insurance.

North Carolina is a perfect example, where uncertainty around one type of subsidy called cost-sharing-reductions (CSRs) is already threatening a price spike. Blue Cross Blue Shield has proposed two different scenarios based on whether or not CSRs will be continued: With CSRs, rates will increase statewide by just 8.8 percent, but without the subsidies, rates would likely increase by an average of 22.9 percent. Similarly, rate increases in Pennsylvania could range from under 9 percent to over 20 percent depending on federal support.

What happens in markets where insurers have pulled out?

The cost of health care doesn't just affect consumers. It also impacts insurers. We've already seen a flurry of insurer withdrawals across the country, leaving 47 counties, and over 38,000 people, without Obamacare coverage options. Former HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan worked to ensure coverage in all counties in years past, but the current administration hasn't made an effort to do so (and considering their plan is to do nothing to save Obamacare, that's not surprising).

What happens to consumers if no insurer steps in to provide plans in these counties? Individual politicians are working to come up with backup plans.

Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker are proposing allowing residents of "empty shelf counties" to purchase approved plans from elsewhere in the state. Claire McCaskill wants to allow people to buy from the same Washington, D.C.-based exchange members of Congress use now.

It remains to be seen how these would be implemented and the choices available to consumers shopping outside their county  just another question mark as we head toward open enrollment. Consumers will have to get educated on their county's options and expanded offerings, adding another wrinkle to the shopping process.

How states could take the lead on health-care reform

One of the stickiest negotiating points in AHCA 2.0 has been whether the Medicaid expansion that occurred under Obamacare should be rolled back and, if so, how quickly. That's why it's surprising to see further Medicaid expansion on the table to potentially solve the problems of rising costs and fewer coverage options.

Policymakers in Nevada are proposing a "Medicaid-for-all" plan in which people could buy into the state's Medicaid program, and those with ACA tax credits could use them for Medicaid coverage.

This is an interesting proposal, but one that wouldn't provide an immediate fix for the majority of consumers: it still has some hurdles to overcome before it becomes law, it wouldn't go into effect until January 2019, and Nevada is currently the only state seriously considering such a program.

Still, it signals that states may be willing to implement potential alternatives if the ACA stays in place with limited federal support. It may also be the forerunner of similar proposed health-care expansions, like California's "Medicare-for-all" single payer plan. If the Trump administration doesn't take steps to fix existing Obamacare issues, it will become increasingly important for consumers to watch emerging alternatives closely.

The Senate is hoping to vote on the new AHCA before the July 4th recess, despite Democrats protests. If it passes, we'll have a whole new slate of questions about its impacts as the House and Senate negotiate a final bill that would still face hurdles before becoming law.

Based on everything we've heard, under a replacement bill Medicaid expansion would likely be rolled back, people with pre-existing conditions would not have the same coverage protections and an estimated 23 million people could lose coverage.

But if it doesn't pass, consumers will still need to be prepared for major speed bumps come open enrollment this fall. If the current law isn't fully supported with all available resources, consumers could face an uncertain future, as costs rise and coverage options decrease in a destabilized insurance market even with the ACA in place.

Commentary by Jennifer Fitzgerald, the CEO and co-founder of PolicyGenius, an independent digital insurance company for consumers. Previously, she was a junior partner at McKinsey & Company where she advised Fortune 100 financial services companies on marketing and strategy. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School and Florida State University. Follow her on Twitter @jenlfitzgerald.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Italy is testing the limits of Europe's bank bail-in regime. Regulators are threatening to block Rome's plan to rescue two small lenders. A scheme to save Monte dei Paschi has also run into trouble. The government may yet have to help in any solution.

The European Commission allows governments to inject money into ailing lenders, but only if they are viable and private investors contribute. That's proving a tricky hurdle for Italy to clear.

Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena's rescue has already received the green light from Brussels, but it needs to find investors to shift 26 billion euros of bad debt off its books. Two of the mooted backers, Fortress Investment Group and Elliott Advisers, have just walked away, Reuters reported on June 16. A solution might still be found if Atlante, a bad loan investment vehicle funded by other Italian banks, takes more of the burden.

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Rescuing two small Venetian banks  Banca Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca  is proving even harder. The Commission wants at least 1.2 billion euros of the total 6.4 billion euro rescue package to come from the private sector. So far, other Italian banks have refused to help, making EU approval unlikely, La Stampa reported on June 18.

Another option is to follow Banco Santander's recent takeover of Banco Popular in Spain. European regulators placed the country's sixth-largest lender in resolution, wrote down its equity and subordinated debt, and sold the remainder for 1 euro.

A similar cleanup in Italy would see the Venetian banks sold to a bigger rival like Intesa Sanpaolo. Yet that still looks hard. Writing off combined equity and subordinated debt of 4.4 billion euros might just cover the cost of increasing provisions for bad and doubtful debts, Deutsche Bank reckons. But that would leave little margin for further losses  likely given the banks' history of chequered lending  and potential litigation risks. Steeper losses would mean imposing haircuts on senior creditors, which could also harm depositors.

Another option is for the banks to be broken up, the good bits sold, and the bad debts left behind. The government would probably have to put up the capital for a bad bank. But regulators may see such a solution as preferable to bailing out a live institution. The outcome will depend on Europe's willingness to be flexible with its rules.

Commentary by Neil Unmack, a London-based columnist at Breakingviews. Follow him on Twitter @Unmack1.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
Ivanka Trump, assistant to U.S. President Donald Trump, listens to remarks during the American Technology Council roundtable hosted at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Monday, June 19, 2017.

Rubio told reporters after the meeting, which lasted about an hour, that Trump was in the "input stage" and was interested in proposals that could garner strong GOP support in the Senate. He and Fischer suggested that a provision could be attached to the sweeping tax reform package that lawmakers hope to pass this fall, but he cautioned that the discussions were preliminary.

Sens. Deb Fischer of Nebraska and Joni Ernst of Iowa were the only female lawmakers in the meeting. Also attending were Sens. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah and Reps. Lamar Smith of Texas and Trent Franks and David Schweikert of Arizona.

The meeting was spearheaded by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has proposed a child tax credit of up to $2,500 and incentives for companies that provide paid family leave. A spokesman said the discussion focused on ways to tailor that credit for the working class, how to eliminate the marriage penalty and strategies for promoting paid leave.

First daughter Ivanka Trump huddled with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to discuss family and child care policy as she seeks to build momentum around one of her signature issues.

"There's a growing desire in the Republican conference in the Senate and House to address the fundamental fact that there are people in America who have decided they can't afford to have children because they can't get a month off of work and not get paid," Rubio said.

Trump has focused her efforts on making child care more affordable. She pushed her father's administration to include $19 billion in its budget to pay for a national family leave program even as it slashes trillions of dollars in spending on other social safety net programs. The proposal would have been administered through local unemployment offices, and states would be responsible for determining benefit levels. But an administration official estimated they would average $343 per week.

A federally funded paid leave program has long been a dream of Democrats, though they have criticized the first daughter's approach for not going far enough.

"As outlined in his budget, President Trump's paid parental leave proposal threatens to leave out the very workers who need access to robust, comprehensive paid leave benefits the most," said Sunny Frothingham, a senior researcher for women's economic policy at the Center for American Progress, in a statement this month. "Worse, the proposal threatens to put additional strain on an already-underfunded UI system, potentially pitting unemployed jobseekers against new parents."

On the other hand, Republicans are no fans of using federal dollars to fund family leave. During his presidential campaign, Rubio derided that strategy as an "outdated, costly federal mandate." Instead, he proposed giving employers who offered at least four weeks of paid family leave a 25 percent tax credit. The credit was capped at 12 weeks and $4,000 per employee annually.

No Democrats attended Tuesday's meeting on Capitol Hill. But Ivanka Trump previously met with both liberal and conservative think tanks to hear alternatives to her approach. She has also had dinner with female CEOs about this issue and signaled that she is open to revising her position.
After fleeing Cuba and starting a successful furniture business in the United States, Esteban Grafton's 'American Dream' nearly became a nightmare. Grafton Furniture, the Miami-based business Esteban founded, has been around since 1964. The company's now run by his son Steve Grafton who, in turn, is also grooming his son, Steven, to eventually take over. But business isn't typically kind to third-generation companies and Grafton's no exception: With no real leadership structure in place, Steve's had a hard time giving up day-to-day control and it's not only strained his relationship with his staff and his son, it's affected the bottomline. When the economy turned in 2009, the business' fortunes spiraled further, forcing Grafton into debt just to keep its doors open. Enter Marcus Lemonis. In 2015, The Profit visited Grafton Furniture and found a company in chaos: manufacturing was rushed to meet client demand; there was no clear production process; and communication among the staff was poor. To make matters worse, Grafton's warehouse and equipment were also showing signs of extreme wear and the quality of the furniture was suffering as a result.

Despite all of these problems, Marcus saw value in the high-end furniture designs and clientele, and decided to invest, taking on Grafton's massive debt load. He quickly worked to overhaul Grafton's aging infrastructure and modernize the company. He reconfigured the warehouse so there was a flow to it, creating a dedicated room for each part of the manufacturing process and brought in new equipment to cut down on man-power hours. Overall, these changes had a net effect of eliminating mistakes, increasing delivery times and boosting the bottom-line. Marcus' swift action helped pull Grafton out of a disastrous financial nosedive, but his greatest accomplishment had nothing to do with product and everything to do with Grafton's family bonds. By placing himself between the elder, micromanaging Steve and frustrated son Steven, Marcus was able to set up a chain of command and a succession plan for Steven. The young Grafton's now been put in charge of the manufacturing process and quality of the furniture.

With Marcus onboard giving crucial guidance, Grafton's business has grown by more than half in one year since his investment and is now on track to exceed that figure this year. By partnering the company with Pacific Hospitality, another furniture company featured on The Profit, he was able to extend its reach and bolster profits. Plus, through the addition of an in-house designer and production manager, Marcus has ensured Grafton's furniture will appeal to a wide range of budgets while maintaining a level of quality. Esteban, the original founder, is no longer with the company -- he's since passed away. But his dream of keeping Grafton in the family now seems like a reality as the company's clearly on the path to survive another generation and pass successfully into Steven's hands. It's no wonder Steve Grafton describes Marcus as "the dream partner."
Hardin's vacant private prison will get another look from Big Horn County, which is again searching for options to alleviate its ailing jail facility.

After voters rejected a bond proposal to expand the Big Horn County Jail last fall, officials will again include the Two Rivers Detention Facility in its discussion.

I think our community  our county  all see that facility there unused," said Big Horn County Commissioner George Real Bird III. "Wed have to probably do a thorough walk-through.

But those involved in the facility's future are leaving the city and county in the dark, adding to the uncertainty.

County residents voted down a $6.6 million bond in November to expand its jail facility. Big Horn County Sheriff Frank Simpson said that, like others in Montana, the jail consistently exceeds capacity.

The jail, built for 34 inmates, has averaged about 47 and has reached 59, he said.

Real Bird III said the county plans to take some action, so they're looking for other ways to add somewhere close to 100 beds to the jail.

The 464-bed Two Rivers Detention Facility sits empty across town from the county jail. It was built in 2006 with $27 million in bonds and has collected significant debt since then as it sat empty.

While the private prison facility was deemed too large and costly for the county to purchase outright, it's still in the conversation. But few people know what's going on with Two Rivers.

Late last year, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs began negotiating a lease to take over the facility as a regional detention center for Native American inmates. The reopening of the prison would bring jobs to the economically depressed area.

A BIA spokeswoman confirmed in February that a lease was in the works and estimated for April. Since then, the agency has not responded to multiple inquiries about any potential deal.

On the local end, Two Rivers Economic Development Director Jeff McDowell has not responded to any inquiries about the facility.

The fate of the facility remains a mystery to local officials.

We do need a jail," Simpson said on Monday. "That one would take a considerable amount of work to get it up to our standards  state standards.

Counties, on the advice of the Montana Association of Counties, have for years turned down opportunities to relieve jail overcrowding by sending inmates to the Hardin facility.

All of that puts Big Horn County in a tough spot. Real Bird III said that the next jail proposal will also need the support of voters. And because the last proposal failed, the county might need to try something different.

It's going back down to 'what do the people want?'" Real Bird III said. "What do we have available and what is the Big Horn County public willing to commit in terms of bonds toward the facility?
Micron Technology will maintain its leading position in memory technologies despite competitive pressures from suppliers in China, according to JPMorgan, which called that threat "overblown." In a research note on Tuesday, the bank reiterated its overweight rating on shares of the American chipmaker. "Many investors are concerned of potential supply from China coming on-line and disrupting overall industry supply / demand fundamentals, in our view. We believe such concerns are overblown," analyst Harlan Sur wrote in the note to clients. "We believe the technologies that are being proposed in China are likely to remain at least one or two generations behind industry leaders, likely through the rest of the decade (or longer)." Micron shares are up 42 percent this year through Monday compared with the S & P 500's 10 percent return. Sur predicts none of the three major global memory companies will share their "leading-edge" intellectual property with Chinese companies. He also cited how Micron is valued at a lower multiple of 5.5 times estimated 2017 earnings versus the 7.9 times average of its industry peers. The analyst reaffirmed his $38 price target for Micron, which is a 22 percent upside from Monday's close. "We believe Micron will be positioned well to benefit from secular trends in mobility, networking, and cloud computing," the analyst wrote.

Kai Pfaffenbach | Reuters
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin predicted Tuesday that "massive tax reform" that includes cuts and changes to the system will get finished this year.

In an interview with CNBC, Mnuchin said the issue is his "No. 1 focus."

The Trump administration had been hoping to get the issue resolved before the August break. Mnuchin did not present that aggressive of a timetable, but said he is confident the administration and Congress can get reform accomplished.

"We're 100 percent committed to getting it done this year. It's critical to the economy," he said on "Squawk Box." "We have a unique opportunity to do this. It's been 30 years. We have to fix the system and our teams are meeting daily."

"We couldn't be more focused on getting this done," he added.

President Donald Trump has been pushing a three-pronged economic agenda: tax reform, regulatory rollbacks and infrastructure spending.

However, the initiatives have gotten held up amid disputes within the Republican majority as well as against the Democratic opposition, and as the administration has had to field congressional inquiries into the Trump campaign's ties with Russia.

Mnuchin said he believes tax reform will continue to make it through, despite the roadblocks. He envisions a reform program with widespread changes, including a territorial system giving companies a break for bringing back revenue earned overseas.

"The focus is lower rates. What comes with that is reform, which is broadening the base, making sure that we cut lots of special interest deductions, simplifying the tax code," he said.

"It makes no sense," he added of the current system. "We have one of the highest tax rates. We tax on worldwide income. We have a concept of deferral. We want to make sure that companies bring back that money onshore to reinvest in American equipment and American jobs."

Mnuchin confirmed that tax receipts have been coming in a little slower than usual this year as companies wait to see what happens with the reform process. That could take on added significant as Congress wrangles over raising the debt ceiling. The Treasury Department is taking measures to keep the government operating, but is on track to run out of money by early fall.

"We have plans to fund the government" through September or until Congress acts, Mnuchin said.
International brands in China are losing market share to domestic companies in everyday items ranging from fruit juice and make-up to toothbrushes, according to a large-scale survey released on Tuesday, as multinationals struggle to adapt to changing tastes in the world's largest consumer market.

White-collar Chinese consumers with rising incomes are switching to pricier premium brands in categories of fast moving consumer goods from bottled water to shampoo. The trend has even reached toilet tissue, where there has been a switch from two- to three-ply.

But domestic companies have been quicker to capture the premium market, with brands owned by multinationals such as Nestle , Procter & Gamble and Unilever losing market share in 18 of 26 FMCG categories last year, and gaining in just four, according to a survey of 40,000 households by Bain and Kantar Worldpanel.

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While China's urban FMCG market grew 3 per cent in 2016 to about $190bn, Chinese companies expanded their sales more than 8 per cent while foreign brands grew just 1.5 per cent. "Multinational brands are moving backwards while local brands are jumping on the premiumisation wagon quite well," said Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China.

The shift to domestic brands has been most pronounced in categories traditionally dominated by foreign companies, such as cosmetics. The tables have been turned by little-known Chinese groups such as Seeyoung, which launched a silicone-free shampoo ahead of overseas rivals.

In the juice market, local producers such as Huiyuan and Nongfu have scored hits with expensive not-from-concentrate juices packaged as health drinks, which have resonated with growing middle-class interest in fitness and left overseas brands such as PepsiCo's Tropicana behind.

Domestic groups also have benefited from a shift to online purchasing, which drove three-quarters of value growth last year. "Local brands are moving fast in these areas and embrace ecommerce much earlier than the multinationals," Mr Yu said.

Bruno Lannes, a partner at Bain based in Shanghai, said: "Multinationals have been slow to adapt to the speed at which the market is changing."

Chinese consumer companies, generally family-run, are more focused on their home market. But they can be "as innovative or more innovative than western companies", while multinationals are "on the verge of becoming or have become bureaucracies", Mr Lannes added.

Shaun Rein, of Shanghai-based consultancy China Market Research Group, said Nestle fell behind in China's bottled water market by positioning its offering more lower-end than that of local rivals, while Unilever's flagship ice-cream was "too cheap and too small".

"They wanted to be a mid-level product for Chinese, but because of quality people were willing to pay a premium for foreign brands," he said.

The consumer divisions of multinationals can be hampered by "silos" with key decisions made outside China, he added. "The power tends to be Europe or the US."

It was not all gloomy news for multinationals, according to Kantar and Bain. They gained market share in beer, where Chinese brands have struggled to shed their low-price image. Some individual high-end brands have performed well such as the cosmetics of Armani and YSL, while Philips has seen sales of its electric toothbrushes grow as "premiumisation" hits the oral care sector.

Multinational companies are moving to adapt. "Chinese consumers are changing so rapidly, and sometimes they lose loyalty to brands," said John Bell, vice-president of external innovation at Johnson & Johnson Consumer. "So what we are trying to do more and more is test and learn. For us it's about launching new innovations."
"Democrats are in full protest mode against the bill while the conservatives in Senate are still holding out for more changes. The Democrats are thus making every one of those Senate Republican holdouts more important than ever. Teamwork!"

One reason conservatives are not yet in full revolt mode is because leading Senate conservative Ted Cruz is one of the 12 Republicans involved in the closed door negotiations. We know that Senator Cruz has been pushing for robustly funded risk pools to cover people with pre-existing conditions as opposed to making insurance companies cover them. And Cruz is at least publicly saying he's still willing to compromise.

Of course, Senate conservatives don't need to muster big numbers to kill this bill. With just 52 seats in the Senate, the Republicans can only mathematically afford to lose two of their party members' votes to get the measure passed with Vice President Mike Pence's potential tie-breaking vote.

Cruz has defended the secrecy of the bill negotiations, but he's not backing McConnell's quick push to pass the bill this month. Cruz says he's willing to keep negotiating for as long as it takes to make a good deal.

Cruz's comments provide the latest traction for those who want Congress to cancel or postpone its August recess in order to replace Obamacare with a better bill. Georgia Senator David Perdue even says a majority of his fellow Republicans are probably in favor of at least delaying or cutting the length of the recess.

Oh, and one more thing: Cruz is up for re-election next year and he has to decide along with other Republicans whether being seen as being slow on fixing Obamacare is a better political position than being seen as rushing and hiding their way to passing a bill that's just as bad or worse than Obamacare in the first place. After a public backlash against Obamacare led to massive Democrat losses in the 2010 and 2014 Congressional elections, it seems like a decent bet they'll take the former option over the latter.

All of this is effectively accomplishing the same thing. The Democrats are in full protest mode against the bill while the conservatives in Senate are still holding out for more changes. The Democrats are thus making every one of those Senate Republican holdouts more important than ever. Teamwork!

That brings us to President Donald Trump, who continues to cheer for a new bill but never gets specific about its details. He did reportedly call the House Obamacare replacement "too mean" earlier this month, but there's no solid evidence that's forced any changes in those secret negotiations. As we get close to the 2018 elections and the scrutiny in the news media gets even sharper, it's less likely that vague cajoling from the White House will be very effective.

Of course, the bigger and more pervasive problem here is that the political class simply cannot get this health care thing right because... it's the political class. It's made up of people from both parties in elected positions, government jobs, or highly-paid lobbying roles who will never really have to worry about paying for their health care. And political class concerns will always be more about pleasing lobbyists and connected industries than helping ordinary voters face their own economic pressures.

Democrats and Republicans are simply running out of places to hide from a health insurance policy that's failing and is proving harder to fix or replace than the political rhetoric from both parties promised. Senator McConnell's efforts to overcome this by hurrying and covering up the process are creating more new problems, not less. And that's why this time, it looks like the political class is going to fail.

Commentary by Jake Novak, CNBC.com senior columnist. Follow him on Twitter @jakejakeny.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the Senator from Georgia's first name. He is David Perdue. Additionally, the article misstated the number of holdout senators needed to kill the health-care bill. That number is two, not three.
Oil prices sank more than 2 percent on Tuesday, posting a nine-month closing low, on signs of rising production in key parts of the world.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures ended Tuesday's session at $43.23, down 97 cents, the weakest settlement since Sept. 16. The U.S. benchmark fell as low as $42.75, the lowest intraday price since Nov. 14, when the contract hit $42.20 a barrel.

WTI fell more than 20 percent from its 52-week closing and intraday highs, putting the commodity in bear market territory.

Prices for WTI's August contract, which became the front-month after the settle, fell 92 cents to $43.51. Trading volume was concentrated in the August contract on Tuesday.

U.S. WTI contract for August

International benchmark prices also fell to a seven-month intraday low.

Prices took the fresh leg lower on new signs of rising output from Nigeria and Libya, the two OPEC members exempt from a deal to cut production.

Output from the 14-member exporter group ticked higher in May due to rising production in Nigeria, Libya and Iraq, raising concerns about OPEC's effort to shrink global stockpiles of crude oil. OPEC and other producers have committed to keeping 1.8 million barrels a day off the market through March.

Libya's oil production rose more than 50,000 barrels per day to 885,000 bpd, a Libyan source told Reuters. Meanwhile, exports of Nigeria's benchmark Bonny Light crude oil are set to rise by 62,000 barrels per day in August, Reuters reported.

Oil prices are "most definitely" heading to $40 a barrel and will likely dip into the upper $30s, John Kilduff, founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday.

The market is turning lower in part on tanker-tracking data showing unsold crude oil cargoes from Nigeria, he said. U.S. production is also a concern because American drillers locked in prices for future delivery, and so they'll keep pumping even as near-term prices fall, according to Kilduff.
Amazon's move to buy Whole Foods is not surprising and is in line with what Alibaba has already started doing in China, Alibaba's vice chair, Joseph Tsai, told CNBC on Tuesday.

"Great minds think alike," Tsai said in an interview with "Closing Bell" from the sidelines of Alibaba's Gateway conference in Detroit.

"We think that's a great move for them to get into the fresh foods category, which we have been executing on since last year."

Last week, Amazon announced it plans to acquire Whole Foods for $42 a share in a deal valued at $13.7 billion.

Tsai said in the last year Alibaba has gotten into the business of online grocery deliveries and is testing a new retail concept in urban grocery store locations.

He called it an important category for the Chinese e-commerce giant.

"It's high frequency," he said. "It brings a lot of customer loyalty to the platform. It's also in high demand, and in today's consumer market in China people are looking for high-quality foods."

CNBC's Sarah Whitten contributed to this report.
The various probes surrounding the Trump administration won't derail the Republicans' tax reform agenda, House Speaker Paul Ryan told CNBC on Tuesday.

"We can walk and chew gum at the same time," the Wisconsin Republican said in an interview with "Power Lunch."

Ryan touted the GOP tax proposal on Tuesday from the sidelines of the National Association of Manufacturers summit. He said Republicans plan to pass the reform by the end of the year, telling CNBC that the White House and Congress have "agreed on the timeline" to pass a tax system overhaul.

President Donald Trump came into the White House promising sweeping reform, including an overhaul of the tax system.

However, headlines lately have been dominated by the investigation into whether anyone associated with Trump and his campaign had any illegal dealings with Russian officials or others with ties to the Kremlin.

Earlier this month, former FBI Director James Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he believed Trump was asking him to "drop" the probe into former national security advisor Michael Flynn.

Ryan pointed out that Congress works on multiple things all the time, and that the Intelligence Committee will deal with anything related to the probes and the Ways and Means Committee is working on tax reform.

"I'm really not worried about these things," he said, noting that the media "gets sucked into the vortex" by suggesting it could be a distraction.

"We're working on all these things at the same time," he told CNBC.

 CNBC's Jacob Pramuk and Reuters contributed to this report.
Whoops!

House Speaker Paul Ryan apparently did not update his Obamacare factoids, in his opening statement Tuesday.

Speaking at the National Association of Manufacturers summit, Ryan incorrectly said that Iowa would have counties next year that would lack an insurance provider on the Obamacare exchange. For some time this spring, it appeared that would be the case.

At that time, Minneapolis-based Medica signaled it might leave the Iowa exchange, which would have left nearly all counties in the state  and nearly 70,000 residents  without an insurance provider.

However, Medica told CNBC last Friday it is staying in Iowa and all of the other states in which it is currently operating.

But that decision is coming at a cost. On Monday, Medica filed for a 43 percent rate increase in Iowa, citing the uncertainty in the market.

John Naylor, CEO of the not-for-profit insurer, said last week that the big problem facing insurers is the uncertainty over cost-sharing reduction subsides and over the Trump administration's commitment to enforce the individual mandate.

"When the federal government set out certain rules, our expectations are that these rules are followed," Naylor told CNBC. He said he is watching the decision to make these payments "very closely."

"So as we look at the pricing, we need to know are those rules going to be enforced in 2018," he said.

Cost-sharing reduction subsidies were established in the Affordable Care Act to help lower-income consumers purchase insurance. In some cases, the subsidies can be used both to offset the cost of premiums as well as copayments and other costs patients must pay out of pocket.

The White House has continued to make payments, however, it is possible they could stop.

During the Obama administration, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives had challenged the legality of the reimbursements in court, claiming the payments were being made by the government without congressional appropriation. A federal judge agreed with that stance. However, the administration appealed that decision.

Now it is up to the Trump administration to decide if it wants to support the appeal of the court decision. If it drops the case, it could also decide to stop paying the subsidies, which could result in health care becoming more unaffordable for those lower-income consumers.

This would be even worse if Congress eliminates the Obamacare provision that requires nearly everyone to have insurance or pay an annual penalty.

Together, CSR payments and the individual mandate encourage healthy people to sign up for health insurance, and help provide stability to the insurance market.

Ryan's speech noted that other insurance companies have pulled out of some Obamacare markets. Anthem has quit the Obamacare exchange in Ohio, which may leave 18 counties without a provider.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City quit the Missouri exchange, leaving 25 western Missouri counties without an insurer on the Obamacare exchange.

A spokesperson from Ryan's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky speaks to the press with Senator John McCain of Arizona after a meeting between President Barack Obama and the Democratic Caucus regarding the health care reform plan at the US Capitol in Washington on December 6, 2009.

Some Republicans' tweets condemning Democrats for a lack of transparency during the drafting of the Affordable Care Act have not aged well.

Democrats were not particularly forthcoming while crafting the Affordable Care Act, drawing scorn from the public and politicians alike. Now, it's Senate Republicans who are writing their own secret health-care bill.

In 2009, then-congressman Mike Pence, now vice president, slammed the Democrats' process: "It's simply wrong for legislation that'll affect 100% of the American people to be negotiated behind closed doors"

Sen. Orrin Hatch tweeted that the real health-care bill was "being written behind closed doors in the dark corners of the Capitol." Sen. John Cornyn insisted Americans "have a right to know what is happening behind closed door with secret" health-care negotiations.

Then-congressman Tom Price, now Secretary of Health and Human Services, accused Democrats of sacrificing the trust of the American people. Sen. John McCain called the situation a "disgrace" in a tweet.

MCCAIN TWEET

The Republicans have been almost completely silent on the issue this time around. Sen. John Cornyn responded on Twitter to a reporter asking him to share details of the new bill, promising he eventually would.

CORNYN TWEET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is leading the Affordable Care Act repeal effort in the Senate, did not join Twitter until March 2013. On Tuesday, McConnell tweeted a link to a press release filled with stories about Democrats' handling of writing the original law.

The Senate is expected to see the bill on Thursday and vote on the bill before it convenes for the July Fourth recess.
MISSOULA  A discussion this week on social media about two drawings on the wall of the Sunrise Saloon that some see as racist has led to plans for a protest at the bar next weekend.

Helping to organize the protest is Danielle Breck who, along with four others, is listed as one of the hosts on the event's Facebook page. Breck and others have left reviews on the bar's Facebook page calling the artwork racist.

Breck got involved after she was approached by her friend and another host of the protest, Yolanda Garcia, who was upset by two paintings at the Sunrise Saloon  an image of a black man holding a whiskey bottle with the caption, I knows de ropes and another of three men hanging, a photo that Breck said appears to depict a lynching.

In my opinion, the skin tones arent horribly clear, but they all have what appears to be African-American hair, Breck said. Not super obviously clear they are black, but when the owner said to us when we walked in the first time was, 'You want me to paint them white, Ill paint them white, and its a painting he commissioned.

Kammy Zavarelli, owner of the Sunrise Saloon, said she was getting payroll done on Friday and did not yet want to speak publicly about the artwork. She said she would address the issue sometime next week.

We still have a business to run, Zavarelli said.

In the review section of the bar's Facebook page, the comments range from support of the bar's right to display the art it chooses to people telling the bar they will never return.

"I used to dance here on swing dance nights, but wasn't unaware of the racist imagery. I will never ever return and will tell everyone I know to do the same," one person wrote.

Another said, "Love this bar! Great service, great music," and questioned anyone who worried about pictures on the wall. "Take MT history. Our vigilantes did not think about race. They lynched criminals."

Breck went to the bar on Wednesday along with a representative from the Montana Human Rights Bureau and asked if the bar would take down the images. The bar removed the one of the man with the whiskey, but has left the one with three men hanging.

Now Breck is helping to organize a protest of the bar next Saturday.

We strategically planned for a night when they have a band coming in, Breck said.

The hope is that people heading to the bar that night will instead join the protest, she said. The Sunrise Saloon is a private business and can choose to hang what it wants on the wall, but people can choose to protest its choices, Breck said.

Beverly Edmond is the University of Montana interim provost and vice-president for academic affairs. In 2016, she and a colleague published the book Trailblazing African American Public Administrators. For her, the issue isnt about hiding the history of Montana, but about providing appropriate context for images like these.

Edmond has visited the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture where there are photos displayed of African-Americans being lynched, but those photos are presented as a dark part of Americas history, she said. The museum also acknowledges the country has moved beyond that, Edmond said.

The art would make Edmond feel uncomfortable as a customer and she would raise her concerns about the artwork with others, she said.

Would I go beyond to protest, insist they take it down? No. I wont cross that line, Edmond said.

Edmond supports the bars freedom to display the images, even if the display shows a lack of sensitivity, she said.

In a Facebook comment on June 4 the bar wrote that the painting was of an actual hanging of horse thieves in Missoula County.

In the old West, a horse thief was hung, the post said. It didnt matter if you were a man, a woman, old, young, white or purple.

But if the people hanging in the photo are African-American, then the image cant be viewed without the racial component, said Tobin Miller Shearer, director of UMs African-American Studies Program.

While I support freedom of expression and certainly the ability of anyone to display or present things they value, to attempt to ignore or downplay the history of lynching in this country and its use against African-Americans is a bit naive, Shearer said.

Saying the men in the photo are just horse thieves doesn't address the fact that while lynching was rare in Montana, African-Americans were hanged at a disproportion rate for the states racial makeup, Shearer said.

One of Shearers students worked to find all records of African-American hangings in Montana history, with some records going back as far as 1867. Shearer could not find an incident in Missoula of African-Americans being lynched for horse thievery, but said that doesnt mean it didnt happen.
SDF has been battling to oust ISIS militants from Raqqa, the caliphate's de-facto capital. With support from Moscow, Syrian President Bashar Assad has been targeting groups in Syria he views as a threat to the regime, including the SDF.

For its part, the Pentagon defends the U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet shooting down a Syrian jet and explained that the Assad regime's SU-22 fighter plane dropped bombs near Syrian Democratic Forces. SDF is an Arab-Kurd alliance which is considered the most effective partner working with the U.S. coalition to defeat the Islamic State.

At the same time, U.S. Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, tweeted Monday that the Russian threat was "outrageous" and the lawmaker added that the "U.S. must take necessary steps to protect our service members and partners."

Gardiner contends that the only language the Russians understand is "strength and resolve" and adds that they "prey on weakness and indecision. So this latest military action sends the right message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that it's no longer the status quo in Syria and things are going to change."

"Clearly, the Russians don't like this and they've been able to get away with propping up a really barbaric regime in Syria for a very long time," said Nile Gardiner, a foreign affairs analyst and director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank based in Washington.

The U.S. downing of a Syrian government jet over the weekend marks an escalation in the long Syrian conflict, although Russia's bold response Monday to view U.S. aircraft in the region as legitimate "targets" is seen more as "bluster" than anything else.

"The shooting down of a Syrian Air Force jet in Syria's airspace is a cynical violation of Syria's sovereignty," Russia's Defense Ministry said Monday, according to a report from the state-owned news agency TASS.

"Any aircraft, including planes and drones of the international coalition, detected in the operation areas west of the Euphrates River by the Russian air forces will be followed by Russian ground-based air defense and air defense aircraft as air targets."

Also, Moscow said it terminated the military hotline previously used by U.S. and Russian forces in the region. The so-called "de-confliction" hotline has been used as a safety mechanism and information sharing link between the two sides.

Playing out in the background, however, are concerns that a Russian strike on a U.S. military aircraft could provoke a wider conflict and raise the stakes to dangerous levels.

"I would be very surprised if they willfully shot down a U.S. plane that came to bomb some al Qaeda target west of the Euphrates River," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, a think-tank in Washington. "On the other hand, if we're coming after Assad's forces with some big armada, maybe they want us to be a little nervous that maybe we'd get shot at."

O'Hanlon added, "They're trying to create some deterrents, or some limits, on our involvement in escalation. And it's consistent with the way this thing has been going back and forth for a while."

Then again, some analysts believe the Russians are issuing empty threats because they can't afford the consequences of doing anything more.

"A lot of of this is saber rattling and bluster from the Russians who are clearly unnerved actually by recent U.S. actions," said Gardiner.

Gardiner, a former aide to the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, said it's significant that when a plane from NATO-member Turkey shot down a Russian fighter in 2015 there was rhetoric from Moscow but not a whole lot of action.

"The Russians seem to be very wary of taking on NATO aircraft," he said. "It's not in the interest of Russia to take on the United States because the United States has vastly superior air power in the Middle East. They would not win any conflict like this."

Defense analysts note that the U.S. military has special operations personnel and some conventional forces alongside the SDF. The U.S. had more than 500 special forces in Syria at the end of the Obama administration and that figure is believed to be rising in the Trump administration but the Pentagon declined to provide an exact number.

The Russians are said to have several thousand troops in Syria  largely on bases they operate  and well over 40 military aircraft in the Syrian region, ranging from tactical bombers and fighter jets to attack helicopters. They also have used some of their most advanced fighter jets and attack copters for the first time in combat during the Syrian conflict.

In Moscow, Putin said last week during a call-in show broadcast nationally that his armed forces have gained "precious" experience in Syria because it's allowed them to see firsthand how some of Russia's newest weapon systems are used in real combat situations. Also, Putin said the experience in Syria has allowed "some fine-tuning" of the new weapons to make them better, according to a transcript of the show provided by the Kremlin.

Meantime, the downing of the Syrian government jet Sunday follows Trump's decision to launch a Tomahawk missile strike in April against an Assad military base the U.S. believes had a role in a chemical-weapons attack on civilians. The April chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, a rebel-held town in northern Syria, claimed at least 70 lives.

Under President Donald Trump, the U.S. has stepped up the use of firepower to respond the Damascus regime when it gets out of line. During the campaign, Trump was critical of then-President Barack Obama for saying he would establish a "red line" against the use of chemical weapons in Syria and then not acting when the Assad regime used them.

"This [Syrian jet downing] is a very different incident and does signal an escalation in the conflict and U.S. involvement there," said Melissa Dalton, a Middle East expert and senior fellow and deputy director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think-tank.

That said, Dalton believes Washington and Moscow don't want to see a situation that could spiral out of control and likely are working behind the scenes to reduce the chance of any miscalculation.

In a statement, a Pentagon spokesman said the Syrian jet downing was "in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of coalition partnered forces."

Added the Pentagon spokesman, "The coalition presence in Syria addresses the imminent threat ISIS in Syria poses globally. The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated."

"The United States is willing to stick up for these partners to such an extent and put its own forces at risk and incur some of the escalation risks," said Dalton.

According to the Pentagon, following pro-Syrian government forces on the ground attacking the coalition-backed SDF, the U.S. alerted its Russian counterparts via the military hotline "to de-escalate the situation and stop the firing." Yet it said the Syrian regime's military jet still dropped bombs near the SDF fighters so the U.S. downed the aircraft.

The Russians, though, dispute that the U.S.-backed coalition command used the communication line. They also insist the Syrian plane was to provide ground cover for Syrian ground forces that were moving against ISIS.
"I have not" seen the bill, Corker said when asked about it on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" by political analyst Rick Tyler.

Sen. Bob Corker also said that while he would have liked to have seen a "more open process," he has a responsibility as a senator to vote on the bill.

A Tennessee Republican senator on Tuesday said he hasn't yet been shown the GOP bill to repeal and replace major parts of Obamacare that his party's leadership expects him and his colleagues to vote for next week.

Neither have a number of, if not most, Republican senators whom the GOP is relying on to provide the 50 votes that will be required to pass the bill before the scheduled July 4th recess.

The bill has been drafted in secret by 13 or more senators, without the participation of Democrats, and without any plans to hold committee hearings on its contents once it is released. Obamacare defenders have blasted GOP leaders for that, particularly since Republicans for years have claimed that the Affordable Care Act was rushed through Congress and passed without due deliberation  something Democrats dispute.

Asked if he was concerned that he hasn't actually been able to read the bill, Corker said, "You know, I'm going to vote for this bill or vote against this bill ... based on how it affects people in Tennessee and actually how it affects our nation."

"And my understanding is I'm going to see it on Thursday," Corker added.

The Congressional Budget Office is expected to release an analysis of the bill early next week that will estimate how many people would be expected to become uninsured if it becomes law, and how premiums will be affected.

The senator said that he has attended a series of meetings with fellow Republicans to discuss the bill, "so I have a sense of where this is going."

Asked if he thought there was enough time for the public and senators to review the bill after it is made public and to get a vote, Corker answered, "Well ... it looks like the time that's going to be allotted."

"I'll tell you this," he added. "We will work around the clock to make sure that we understand what's in it, and we'll just see."

"I don't want to prejudge, and, you know, I would have liked ... for this to be a more open process and have committee hearings."

"But that's not what we're doing," Corker said. "At the end of the day, that doesn't preclude my responsibilities as a senator to either vote yes or no, based on the substance that's in it."

"And I certainly look forward to diving into that substance."
Nearly a week after his siblings publicly denounced him for engaging in dynasty politics , the PM has urged all members of parliament to "vigorously" question him and his cabinet colleagues about the matter at the next parliament sitting on July 3.

In the latest saga of the family feud dominating Singaporean politics, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced he will be answering questions in parliament to clear the air amid abuse of power allegations.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong greets guests during an official visit to the White House on August 2, 2016.

In a video message on Monday, the PM said he would lift the party whip for the Q&A session  a move aimed at facilitating freer expression among members of parliament. Ahead of the questions, he is expected to deliver a ministerial statement to refute the "baseless" accusations made by his siblings.

He expressed hope that this "full, public airing" in parliament would "dispel any doubts that have been planted."

In a fiery statement last Wednesday, Lee Wei Ling and Lee Hsien Yang  the PM's younger sister and brother, respectively  claimed their elder brother was exploiting the legacy of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's founding father and parent to all three siblings, for political gain. Hsien Yang also announced he would be leaving the country, citing the PM as the sole reason.

The family dispute has affected Singapore's reputation and citizens' confidence in government, the PM declared on Monday.

Given the gravity of the situation, analysts weren't surprised by the decision to deal with the matter in parliament.

"The PM had to do something about this amid fears it could impact investor confidence and the economy," said Mustafa Izzuddin, a fellow at the ISEASYusof Ishak Institute, a Singapore-based think tank. "There is a social compact that exists between government and people so when situations threaten to break the compact, action is needed."
House Speaker Paul Ryan is warning against watering down the sweeping overhaul of the nation's tax code he laid out a year ago and calling on Washington to enact permanent reforms this year.

Tuesday's speech is intended to mark the start of Ryan's concerted campaign for what an aide called the "crown jewel" of the GOP agenda amid the turmoil engulfing the White House and growing skepticism of lawmakers' ability to reach consensus on the details of a plan.

The speaker, often deemed a policy wonk, did not delve into the weeds or defend the controversial border adjustment tax. Instead, he focused on framing reform as the key to bolstering economic growth and restoring confidence among households and businesses.

"I am here to tell you: We are going to get this done in 2017," Ryan said. "You know why we're going to get this done in 2017? Because we have to get this done in 2017. ... Transformational tax reform can be done, and we are moving ahead. Full speed ahead."

Ryan delivered his remarks in Washington at a conference held by the National Association of Manufacturers. Among the principles he outlined: permanent rather than temporary changes and comprehensive reform for individuals and businesses.

He also pushed for adoption of a territorial tax system for multinational corporations. Currently, the United States is one of only a handful of countries that tax businesses on worldwide earnings once they are brought back into the country  encouraging companies to shift their headquarters and profits overseas.

"We are actually very unique in the world in the way we discourage capital from coming back to America and how we incentivize off-shoring jobs," Ryan said in his prepared speech. "This is not the kind of exceptionalism we should aspire to.  We must think differently, so that once again we make things here and export them around the world."

The tax plan Ryan unveiled a year ago tried to address that problem by allowing companies to deduct the cost of goods made in America. The measure, which became known as the border adjustment tax, would have raised the cost of imports but lowered the cost of exports, and it faced stiff opposition from retailers.

Ryan conceded Tuesday that his plan lacks support within the White House. But he doubled down on the need to move to a territorial system.
SOUTH HEART, N.D.  Last week was bittersweet for South Heart Public School District leaders in southwest North Dakota as they said goodbye to a building students have walked through for a century.

Even though the process of closing the school has been somewhat sad, South Heart Superintendent Calvin Dean said the community supports the districts new construction project and understands it is time for the old school to go.

You always miss something thats historical in nature, Dean said. ... Its a very historical building and its probably the oldest building in town. It was wore out and it was very expensive to heat. Itll be nice to have everything updated and new, but it is kind of sad to see an old building come down thats been here and served the community for 100 years.

The school has changed drastically since opening in 1916 when it was one building with four classrooms and an area downstairs that was used as a kitchen and cafeteria. There have been many additions since then, including one that connected the old school building with the new one. The district is also building another addition to the north and one to the southeast part of the building, Dean said.

The old school, which was used until the last day of classes this year, holds many memories for everyone in the community, Randy Kudrna said. Kudrna, a school board member who was born and raised in South Heart, said his father was one of about 20 kids who attended school in the old building. Three generations of the Kudrna family have walked the halls of the South Heart school. His last daughter will graduate from South Heart next year.

Its bittersweet, but its going to be an amazing place once its done, he said. It served its purpose. Way back when my dad went here, there was nuns and priests that ran it.  Where its come and where its going, its crazy.

The South Heart district is in the middle of a $13.1 million expansion project. The first phase will extend the north end of the school to include a new kitchen, an elementary gym  which will double as the entire school's cafeteria  and a number of elementary classrooms, Dean said. That part of the project should be done soon.

Also under construction is a new vocational agriculture building, which is projected to be ready for the 2017-18 school year.

Were tearing down an old building, we took away the modulars, but were able to build so much that we actually will have more space than we had before, Dean said.

Pamela Hoffman and her husband, Russ, who are janitors at the school, have kept a detailed history of the senior classes that have graduated from South Heart. She even has a record of her fathers graduation in 1940. Each class has its composite photo in her book and then she tracks how many students graduated and who they are. Her mother, Clara Wendel, started the project many years ago.

Clara attended South Heart and then worked there as kitchen staff and a janitor, even working with her daughter for several years. Pamela said her mother worked at South Heart until she was 85 and now lives in a nursing home. She has passed along her love of history to her daughter.

She started it and Ive always worked here, so Ive always helped her keep the book up to date, Pamela said. Im one of the older janitors thats still here, so Im interested in the history and Im interested in the community. I just thought its really fascinating to me, too.

She has seen the building change throughout the years with the additions, but has also seen the culture of the school change as more activities are added. She said she has worn many hats throughout her time at South Heart, including a student, a custodian, a teacher, a student-teacher, a paraprofessional and kitchen help. Pamela is sad to see the old school go, but is looking forward to what the new parts of the school have to offer.

Every time I came into town, I would always look at the old part of the school, the 100-year-old piece, and Ill miss seeing that when I come into town, she said. ... I did a lot of cleaning upstairs, I did a lot of painting and maintenance, so the memories Ill still have. But itll be a new addition and new building and its just hard to see it go when youve devoted so much time there. I went to school there, (my husband) went to school there.

Though the old school will be torn down sometime in the next week or so, Dean said the district allowed the community members to come in and take items they felt were special to them. Many took pieces of the floorboard, while others took parts of the old chalkboards that hung in the original building. After the school is demolished, community members will be able to take home a brick or two as a way to remember where they came from.

Ultimately, Kudrna said the community has to move forward, even if saying goodbye is a little hard.

You cant stand still, he said. Youve got to go ahead.
Trump's possible ignorance of the text of that bill mirrors that of a number of Republican senators , who have not yet been shown copies of the draft, which was worked on in secret by a baker's dozen of their colleagues.

That CBO "score" will estimate how many more people are likely to not have health insurance if the bill becomes law, how individual health plan premium rates will be affected, and the bill's cost to the federal government.

"I expect to have a discussion draft on Thursday," McConnell said. "And we will go to the bill obviously once we get a CBO score, likely next week."

McConnell, (R-Ky.) also said a vote by the full Senate on the bill would happen after the Congressional Budget Office releases its analysis of the GOP's bill, possibly before the July 4th congressional recess.

At around the same time, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said a draft of the Senate's health-care bill will be released Thursday.

The White House's press secretary said Tuesday that he doesn't know if President Donald Trump has seen a draft of the Republican Obamacare replacement bill, but he said Trump hopes the bill has "heart" in it.

Sen. John McCain, (R-Ariz.), was quoted Tuesday in a Bloomberg story saying "no" when asked if he had seen the bill.

"Nor have I met any American that has," McCain reportedly said. "I'm sure the Russians have been able to hack in and gotten most of it."

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, during a Facebook video stream, said, "I haven't seen it yet either, even though I've been a a member of this working group of Senate Republicans" originally put together to work on the bill.

"It isn't being written by us," Lee said. "It's apparently being written by a small group of staffers in the Senate leadership."

"I share your frustrations," Lee said in his message to constituents. "I share it wholeheartedly."

That unusal secrecy and plans for no committee hearings have angered Democrats and raised concerns that a quick vote on the bill will prevent enough opposition to it from being mounted among the public to prevent its passage.

On Tuesday, a trio of Democratic lawmakers traveled to to the CBO's offices in a futile, Facebook-live-streamed effort to see the draft of the bill.

A House version of the bill, which passed by just one yes vote, was projected by the CBO to lead to 23 million more uninsured people by 2026.

"I wouldn't want to compare it to the House bill," McConnell said Tuesday. "It will speak for itself."

The House bill is broadly unpopular with the public, multiple polls have shown.

At the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer said, "I don't know that," when asked if Trump had seen a draft of the Senate's bill.

"I know the president has been on the phone extensively with the leader [McConnell] and key senators," Spicer said. "I don't know that he's seen the legislation or not, but they've been working extremely hard and the president has been giving his input and his ideas and feedback."

"And he's very excited about where this thing is headed," Spicer said.

Spicer said he also didn't know if White House staff has seen the bill, but added that staff is working closely with the senate on the issue.

"I don't know where we are in terms of final plans," he said.

Spicer also was asked about a CNBC report that Trump had told major tech executives on Monday that the Senate bill "needs more heart."

The press secretary said, "The president clearly wants a bill that heart in it."

The Senate needs just 50 votes to pass the bill, assuming a tie would be broken by Vice President Mike Pence. The GOP has just 52 senators, which means the party can afford to lose just two votes among its caucus, because all Democrats and independent senators are expected to vote against the bill.

The bill is expected to significantly reform the way the federal government provides financial assistance to help people pay for individual health plans, and how the government funds Medicaid, the health coverage program for the poor.
The return of Concorde supersonic flight has been brought a step closer with the announcement that 5 airlines have placed a total of 76 orders with U.S. firm Boom.

Virgin is the only known customer of the concept stage supersonic passenger airliner with the other four to be announced at special events.

"Airlines are excited for something new and different to offer their passengers and we're thrilled that major world airlines share our vision for a future of faster, more accessible supersonic travel. We look forward to sharing more about these partnerships in the future," said Blake Scholl, founder and CEO at the Paris Air Show press conference.

Scholl added the new aircraft reservations are backed by "tens of millions" of dollars in non-refundable payments.

Boom claimed the average length of flight from Paris to New York would drop to three and a half hours from 7 when the full airliner flies, utlilzing its full Mach 2.2 speed. Another example given was San Francisco to Tokyo which would take a little over 5 hours, compared to the current 11.
The National Association of Manufacturers is "firmly behind" the Trump administration's tax reform proposal, and believes something will be passed this year, President and CEO Jay Timmons told CNBC on Tuesday.

He also believes it will help bolster job creation, noting that manufacturers supply an "inordinate" amount of jobs in the United States.

"If we can reduce the cost of doing business in this country, we unleash the power of manufacturing. We unleash the ability of employers to actually not only create new jobs, create new opportunities but also lift the wages of those who are already working with us," Timmons said in an interview with "Power Lunch" from the sidelines of the NAM summit.

Earlier in the day, the association heard from both House Speaker Paul Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence at its summit, both of whom said a tax system overhaul would be completed by the end of the year.

Timmons believes it will happen because Americans are now counting on policymakers to get things done.

"Congress is under a tremendous amount of pressure. The administration is under a tremendous amount of pressure to actually get this done, and when the American people want something done, it's funny how quickly Congress will actually respond," he said.
TechPreneur Africa, an organization dedicated to supporting financial technology (fintech) firms and entrepreneurs that want to increase financial inclusion and opportunities for growth across Africa, has signed a memorandum of agreement (MoU) with Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), an international financial center located in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) capital that also supports fintechs.

The agreement means that African innovators and fintech start-ups can now apply to ADGM's regulatory laboratory (RegLab) sandbox.

This exists to provide regulatory assistance and advice to support new technology-based developments in financial services in the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region via partnerships with local neighbors.

Equally, Middle Eastern firms can contact TechPreneur Africa to see what support is available for their expansion plans into the continent thanks to the MoU. The intention is to foster and support the growth and activities of fintechs in the respective Middle East and African (MEA) regions.

ADGM RegLab participants are given an exemption from the normal banking regulations for a test period of up to two years so that they can develop innovative fintech products, services or business models in a safe environment, where appropriate consumer protection advice can be given. Full regulation is reapplied after the test period ends. Entrepreneurial mentorship is also included as part of the support program that includes investors, marketing professionals and technologists, among other experts.

The second batch of entrants to ADGM's 2017 RegLab are applying now ahead of the 31 July deadline for the second cohort. It is hoped some African fintech firms may participate.

Techpreneur Africa was launched in 2015 and has an ambition to encourage a 30% uptick in financial inclusion by 2020, with new mobile and other technology-based products opening up bank accounts, card payment, loan and other financial services products to those that have previously lacked access to such facilities.

Commenting on the cooperation deal in a statement, Richard Teng, CEO of ADGM, said: "The Middle East and Africa (MEA) region has tremendous demand and growth opportunities for financial services. We hope that through closer collaboration with like-minded fintech hubs, we are able to leverage the strengths and expertise of our markets to more efficiently address the needs of the industry and support economic growth and development."

"This new partnership will open up new avenues and create opportunities for fintech firms in the Middle East and Africa looking to expand into each other's markets," he concluded.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.
The Hike Wallet has several features, including a linkage to the government-backed unified payments interface that allows free and instant bank-to-bank money transfer, even if the recipient does not use the Hike app.

India's home-grown instant messaging service Hike on Tuesday announced wide-ranging updates to its app, including a new mobile wallet that lets users send and receive money instantly.

UPI is a system that was developed by the National Payments Corporation of India which allows a single mobile application to access different bank accounts in a safe and secure environment.

Users can also use the Hike wallet to recharge prepaid phones and pay postpaid bills from within the app.

Additionally, Hike is introducing Blue Packets, which are personalized digital envelopes that can be used to send monetary gifts for various occasions  the money will be transferred to the recipient's Hike wallet.

"It's one step further in our vision to make Hike a messaging platform that will change the way people interact with content and services," Kavin Bharti Mittal, founder and CEO of Hike Messenger, told CNBC about the new features.

Mittal is the son of Sunil Mittal, founder and chairman of Bharti Enterprise, which owns one of India's largest telecommunication networks, Bharti Airtel .

The concept of a Blue Packet is very similar to WeChat's electronic red packets, which represent the traditional practice of giving red packets filled with cash during Lunar New Year.

Users can put money into these electronic packets, personalize it with a message and send it to their friends or family for various occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries or just to thank them. To make it more entertaining, users have the option to send a select number of packets to a group chat, which would work on a first come, first served basis, with the packets expiring in 24 hours.

"We believe money can be the latest form of expression," Mittal said. He also acknowledged some of the new payment features were inspired by WeChat's parent company Tencent, which led a $175 million funding round in Hike last year along with Foxconn, that valued the company at $1.4 billion. Tencent also owns the other hugely popular messaging service in China  QQ.

"Some of the features we talked about in payments today have been inspired by Tencent and China. No doubt about that," said Mittal. "We talk to them very often, we visited their offices multiple times to get a sense of what's happened in the last six to seven years in China."

He added, "It's a very important thing because we still believe India's about four to five years behind China."

India is an attractive test bed for many technology companies because of its demographics: It has a young and growing population, and many people are connecting to the Internet for the first time  usually through a smartphone.

Local media reported that research from Internet and Mobile Association of India and IMRB International found the number of Internet users in the country is expected to reach 450 million to 465 million by June, registering a 4 to 8 percent jump from December 2016. The report indicated internet penetration is currently around 31 percent.

The smartphone market is also growing at a much quicker pace than the global average and, according to the June Ericsson Mobility Report, India added about 43 million mobile subscriptions in the first quarter of 2017. The report attributed the strong subscription growth in India to an attractive offer of free voice and data services by one of the local telco operators.

This provides scalability: Hike, for example, was founded in 2012, but has already amassed more than 100 million registered users, which is nearly a tenth of India's population. Mittal said the average user spends about 24 minutes a day on Hike, but he declined to disclose Hike's number of monthly active users.

The market's lucrative prospects mean competition is stiff. Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Messenger are two of the most-downloaded non-gaming apps on Google's Play Store, according to data compiled by U.S. venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers. Earlier this year, WhatsApp announced it hit 200 million monthly active users in India.

Mittal, however, pointed out the big market size in India leaves room for more than one instant messaging service: "We've seen globally that we have multiple messaging apps that are very big in multiple countries like China, Japan  even the U.S. and Europe."

"For us to win, other messengers don't have to lose," he said.
Shares of Tesla rose 1.5 percent Tuesday after Bloomberg News reported the electric car company is close to a deal to produce cars in China.

The report, which cites people familiar with the matter, said the deal would allow Tesla to build facilities in Shanghai's Lingang development zone. An official announcement could come as soon as this week, but details are still being finalized and the timing could change, the report said.

Tesla did not immediately respond to CNBC's request for comment.

Elon Musk's Tesla is a growing player in China, where the global fight to develop electric, self-driving cars is raging hot.

Hong-Kong traded Tencent, a company best known for its WeChat messaging app, disclosed in a Tuesday filing that it's taken a 5 percent stake in Tesla for $1.78 billion. The investment follows Tencent's new stake in taxi-hailing app Didi Chuxing, which can be accessed through WeChat.

This is not the first time Tesla has been linked to a factory opening in China. Earlier this year, a local Chinese newspaper  citing multiple sources  reported that Tesla was planning to build a factory in the Guangdong province of the country. Tesla denied the report.

Click here to read Bloomberg's full report.

 CNBC's Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk is dedicated to his work nearly around the clock. The billionaire spends between 80 and 90 hours working each week to be as productive as possible, making time to check email even while relaxing.

A recent email to his employees shows that he not only has a strong work ethic, but also high emotional intelligence, which is "the ability to identify and manage your own emotions and the emotions of others," according to Psychology Today.

Research shows bosses who demonstrate high emotional intelligence make for better leaders and true team-players.

With 10,000 workers just at Tesla's Fremont, California manufacturing factory alone, Musk has recently had to deal with claims that the facility has led to high injury rates. Although he sent out an email earlier this year sharing his concern about the safety of his workers and ensuring the claims were overstated, Musk sent out a more detailed email reiterating his unease and consideration for Tesla employees.
In a study released at the Paris Air Show Tuesday, Canadian firm CAE said the world will need 255,000 new airline pilots by 2027 to offset both the effect of retirement and industry growth.

Flight training specialists are warning that within ten years the global airline industry faces a massive shortfall of pilots.

By 2027, CAE expects the global commercial fleet to grow by 12,000 aircraft to roughly 37,000 aircraft, meaning a total of 440,000 active pilots will be needed.

There are currently 290,000 active pilots.

"Asia-Pacific will see the strongest growth in pilot demand as the region's fleet of in-service aircraft is projected to significantly increase in size. The Americas will experience the most pilot retirements.

"Airlines and their training partners will need to produce an average of 70 new type-rated pilots per day globally to match the record-high aircraft delivery rate and account for pilot attrition," the report read.

Aside from 255,000 new first officers, CAE said 180,000 first officers will need to be promoted to captain, over half of which will be to replace retiring captains.

The report claims that North America has a high percentage of older pilots as recruitment activity in the 1980s and 1990s tailed off when network carriers merged and consolidated.

CAE noted that U.S. regional airlines already face pilot supply issues after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) introduced stiffer regulations requiring up to 1,500 total flight hours to become a professional airline pilot.
Amazon founder and CEO , who attended the White House's tech summit, brought "really good ideas" for the Trump administration to consider, Treasury Secretary told CNBC on Tuesday.



Mnuchin refused to answer questions about whether candidate Donald Trump's animosity toward Bezos during the 2016 president campaign would influence the administration's stance on Amazon 's recently announced $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods Market.



The Treasury secretary said in a " interview: "It's not for us to comment on the deal one way or another." But he said Bezos has "a lot of really good ideas for the administration."



Bezos was among the business leaders meeting at the White House on Monday as Trump son-in-law begins a process aimed at modernizing government operations under the auspices of White House Office of American Innovation.

"We had an amazing day yesterday with tech leaders showing us and helping us [on] how we can move government into the next century, whether it's cybersecurity, whether it's updating our aged infrastructure. We've underinvested in technology for too long," Mnuchin told CNBC.
President Donald Trump walks towards Marine One to depart for Cincinnati on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, June 7, 2017.

The U.S. Treasury added 38 individuals and entities Tuesday to those sanctioned because of Russia's actions in Ukraine.

In a statement, the Treasury said the move "reinforced" existing U.S. sanctions, which "will not be lifted until Russia ends its occupation of the peninsula."

"These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. "This administration is committed to a diplomatic process that guarantees Ukrainian sovereignty, and there should be no sanctions relief until Russia meets its obligations under the Minsk agreements," a series of ceasefire deals.

The U.S. and EU initially put sanctions on Russia in response to its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region. In the statement Tuesday, the Treasury said it wants to see a "diplomatic resolution to the crisis in Ukraine" and "facilitate Crimea's return to Ukraine."

The announcement came shortly before President Donald Trump's meeting with national security advisor H.R. McMaster, at which Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was set to appear.

Trump came into office seeking better relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. His rhetoric toward Putin led to speculation that he could ease separate sanctions imposed by the Obama administration after the U.S. concluded that Moscow interfered in the 2016 election.

However, members of the Trump administration have insisted publicly that they have no plans to do so.

The move also comes amid a federal investigation of Russian interference that reportedly includes looking into whether Trump tried to impede the probe. Trump's lawyer has denied that the president is under investigation.
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has inherited a number of thorny problems. One of the thorniest is the management of our nations wild horses.

Many ranchers who graze cattle on public land view wild horses as competition and support roundups that inhumanely remove horses from the range. The American public wants the herds preserved and treated more fairly. Navigating any middle ground between these two sides is difficult.

One thing that would help is a thoughtful, research-based approach to federal land management. The amount of acreage available to wild horses over the past few decades has dwindled. based on land-use allocations made by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. However, two district courts recently ruled that the BLMs allocations are completely arbitrary and not based on science. We must do the research to determine, truly, how many cattle, horses and other species can share the range.

This is a long-term project. In the short term, we must find an alternative to wild horse roundups and removals, which are cruel to horses and costly to taxpayers.

Solution in Billings

Fortunately, a solution already exists, in Zinkes home state of Montana.

PZP contraceptive vaccine, which is manufactured by the nonprofit Science and Conservation Center in Billings, allows for safe, effective, inexpensive, and humane management of wild horses on the range. Its used by the BLM in several herd management areas and has reduced and even ended roundups. We need to use it more.

By the BLMs own admission, the current roundup and removal system is unsustainable. Research published by the National Academy of Sciences shows that roundups dont work. Removing mustangs from the range merely prompts those that remain to breed more. The NAS, in its 2013 report Using Science to Improve the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Program, advises increased use of PZP.

A dose of PZP costs around $27, compared to $49,000 that U.S. taxpayers spend on every mustang removed from the range and placed in BLM short-term holding corrals for its natural lifespan. Currently, there are more than 18,000 horses in short-term holding and 25,000 in long-term pastures.

Volunteers from our organization, The Cloud Foundation, have worked with the BLM and the Science and Conservation Center to vaccinate mares with PZP. The last removal in the Pryors was in 2015. Eighteen wild horses were adopted. They may be some of the last to be removed, as mortality and reproduction are now virtually equal thanks to PZP. Weve found a way to manage the herd successfully and humanely at little cost to taxpayers.

Nearly 40 groups, including the Humane Society of the United States, have called on BLM to increase appropriate use of fertility control, yet President Trumps budget would allow wild horses to be euthanized and shipped to foreign kill plants. Zinke, as a state legislator, supported a return to horse slaughter. Yet, the American public does not support this approach.

Popular ponies

Last year, the BLM Wild Horse and Burro Advisory group, of which I am a member, suggested euthanizing all the wild horses currently in holding. I objected to this idea. When the board voiced its proposal, the public backlash made headlines around the world, and the BLM quickly distanced itself from the idea. Polls show that the great majority of Americans oppose horse slaughter and want to see wild horses preserved.

Why go down a path thats cruel to horses and unpopular with the public? We can save money and spare horses by using a solution here in Montana.
Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, does not expect the White House to get a tax bill in front of Congress until the first two weeks of September.

In a meeting with tech executives on Tuesday, Cohn said the administration is focused on negotiating all the stumbling blocks before then because they don't want "to be negotiating a bill on the floor."

Cohn said President Donald Trump has been very involved in the process, often checking in with him and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Trump "could not be more excited about what we're doing. One of us  if not both of us  gets a call every day and sometimes more than one a day, asking us how tax reform is coming," Cohn said.

House Speaker Paul Ryan was less committal in a speech at the American Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday, simply saying Congress would complete tax reform by the end of the year. However, in a CNBC interview Tuesday, Ryan said they "agreed on the timeline."

CNBC's Angelica LaVito contributed to this story.
"The work of the special counsel is not a substitute for an impeachment inquiry. The special counsel investigates criminal acts. The House, which has the sole constitutional authority for impeachment, would consider more broadly any abuses of presidential power that constitute impeachable offense, explicitly criminal or not."

The Committee voted 33 to 3 to subpoena the president's White House tapes and ultimately more than a third of committee Republicans voted for at least one article of impeachment against Nixon. The president resigned after the leadership of the Republican party told him he was virtually certain to be impeached by the full House and convicted by the Senate.

Of course, political calculation also figured into the Republicans response to the Watergate scandal. The Republicans lost 4 of 5 special U.S. House elections in 1974. They lost the seat in Grand Rapids Michigan that appointed vice president Gerald Ford had held for decades.

In April 1974, after the GOP lost another Michigan House seat that the party had controlled since the 1930s, reporters asked respected Republican Senator Charles H. "Chuck" Percy of Illinois whether President Nixon should resign. "Probably so," Percy replied. "It probably would be somewhat advantageous to the Republican Party and the country." Nixon resigned some three and a half months later, on August 8, 1974.

Nixon's resignation was good for the nation. It removed a president who threatened American democracy and the integrity of its governmental institutions. It was also good for the Republican Party. The GOP lost 49 House and four Senate seats in the midterm election of 1974. But their losses were not much greater than the norm for the party of the president in a midterm election. The Republicans came roaring back with big victories in the midterm election of 1978 and with Ronald Reagan's landslide defeat of President Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Republicans today would be well advised to follow the Watergate precedent and vote to authorize an impeachment investigation of President Donald Trump by the House Judiciary Committee. It is in the interest of the nation and the Republican Party to conduct a thorough assessment of the allegations against President Trump no matter where the facts may lead.

The work of the special counsel is not a substitute for an impeachment inquiry. The special counsel investigates criminal acts. The House, which has the sole constitutional authority for impeachment, would consider more broadly any abuses of presidential power that constitute impeachable offense, explicitly criminal or not. Unlike the Congress, the special counsel works in secret and is accountable only to Trump's Department of Justice, not the American people. During Watergate, we had simultaneous investigations by a special prosecutor, the Senate Committee, and the House Judiciary Committee.

As in 1974, this year's special elections hold a warning for the Republican Party. The Republicans barely held on to overwhelmingly Republican U. S. House seats in in Kansas and Montana. They could well lose the June 20 special election for a Georgia House seat that Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price won by 23 percentage points in 2016 and was formerly held by Newt Gingrich. Republicans hold scores of other U.S. House seats in which they are more vulnerable to defeat than in this Georgia district.

As in Watergate, Republicans need to rise to the historical moment and put patriotism above party. If what Trump says is true, that he did nothing wrong as candidate or president, then he and every fellow Republican should welcome an impeachment investigation as the only sure way to dispel the clouds of controversy hanging over the Trump presidency.

Commentary by Allan Lichtman distinguished professor of history at American University in Washington, DC and author of the new book The Case for Impeachment. Lichtman is known for a model he developed that has accurately forecast the outcome of every presidential contest since 1984, including Trump's recent win. Follow him on Twitter @ AllanLichtman.

Follow CNBC's Opinion section on Twitter @CNBCopinion.

Correction: Under Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution, a vice president no less than a president is subject to impeachment. An earlier version of this op-ed misstated the article and section of the Constitution.
President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday that China "tried" to help the United States curb North Korean aggression but it "has not worked out."

Trump tweet: While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!

It is not clear if Trump's statement signals any change in policy toward China or North Korea.

The tweet comes one day after 22-year-old Otto Warmbier  whom North Korea held for more than a year  died following his return to the United States. Earlier Tuesday, Trump called Warmbier's treatment a "disgrace" and said it could have been avoided if he was brought home earlier.

Trump has tried to leverage China, North Korea's only major ally, to apply more economic pressure on Pyongyang to help stop its nuclear and missile programs and other acts of defiance against the U.S. and its allies. Shortly before the president tweeted, press secretary Sean Spicer said the White House has seen "positive movement" from China and will "continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea."

Trump has previously said he sought a diplomatic solution to rein in North Korea.

"We'd love to solve things diplomatically but it's very difficult," he told Reuters in late April.

In the same interview, Trump said, "There is a chance that we could end up having a major, major conflict with North Korea."
Uber will now let riders tip drivers, addressing one of the most contentious features of its app amid turmoil within the company.

The ride-hailing start-up said Tuesday it would email drivers a 180-day plan to make driving "more flexible and less stressful." One of those features is tipping.

Riders in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston will have the option as of Tuesday, the rest of the country will follow by the end of July, Uber said.

Other changes include paying drivers if their rider cancels after two minutes or more, and paying drivers who have to wait more than two minutes for their rider.

The decision comes as Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is on leave from the company.

Uber's former president, Jeff Jones, had been a proponent of tipping, which is already used by rival Lyft, Bloomberg News reported earlier this year. But Kalanick had a "principled" opposition to tipping, Bloomberg News said, arguing the practice tamps down wages. Jones has since left the company, citing in part the "approach to leadership."
The Paytm mobile digital payment app displayed here helps financial inclusion in India, as does M-Pesa in Kenya but more such initiatives are needed says a new report from Village Capital and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A new financial inclusion report from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, carried out by venture capitalist (VC) firm Village Capital, with the participation of 55 entrepreneurs and 23 investors has found that wider and deeper support is needed to encourage more mobile money firms to launch in India and East Africa.

In excess of 233 million and 60 million people in India and East Africa respectively still lack formal bank accounts and 50% of small businesses don't have access to formal credit.

Financial technology (fintech) enabled firms such as M-Pesa in Kenya, which provides mobile payment, saving and credit facilities to 30 million people in East Africa, and the Paytm giant mobile m-commerce operation in India that claims 200 million users, are still the exception in terms of providing access to financial services for poor people.

Mobile phone cash credits, withdrawals and bill payment capabilities are all possible on such services, as are online shopping, loan and other such functionality. Fintech firms can effectively provide a bank account to the so-called "unbanked" in the developing world who are not reached by branch banking networks, or necessarily wanted by traditional banks as they have no credit history.

Not enough other digital financial services (DFS) firms outside of the big names like M-Pesa are getting early seed investment money or, crucially, scale up investment to allow their fintech-enabled financial inclusion projects to achieve wide scale adoption.

"The objective of our report was to find out why DFS firms and other fintechs aren't proliferating or scaling up as we'd like and to suggest solutions from the perspective of the entrepreneurs themselves," said Heather Strachan Matranga, manager of emerging markets and the report author at Village Capital, in a phone interview with CNBC. "We're leaving money on the table by not tailoring the finance process to the needs of entrepreneurs in these markets."

According to the Breaking the Pattern report, funded by the Gates Foundation, 72% of venture capital in East Africa for the last two years went to only three start-ups.

"The market hasn't reached any kind of meaningful scale," said Ross Baird, CEO of Village Capital, in a statement. "We need hundreds of companies to truly improve the financial health of communities in India and East Africa."

According to Baird in his report introduction the problems are two-fold. "Investors are hesitant to invest because they see DFS companies as riskier than alternative sectors or geographies," he says, while pointing out that the traditional "one size fits all" Silicon Valley VC approach to investment is inappropriate in this context. "Investment tends to flow to entrepreneurs with strong preexisting networks, and those without are left on the sidelines."

This "pattern recognition" problem is exacerbated says Baird because the high cost of early stage due diligence means investors fall back on prestigious universities or technology accelerator programs to identify opportunities according to a set template, further limiting the pool of investable firms.

"This is bad for companies, which miss out on capital," says Baird, "and for investors who miss out on high-potential companies that need more time, cash and support to grow."

"To increase financial inclusion and access to opportunity for millions of people around the world, it is essential that we break this pattern and help more DFS startups reach their potential," concluded Baird.

The report makes a number of recommendations to improve the situation:

Strengthen the human/capital infrastructure so that it isn't automated and always using the same networks. This will improve outreach and the ability of more fintechs and DFS firms to get to market.

Facilitate partnerships between entrepreneurs and major financial institutions to improve scale up capabilities.

Provide alternatives to "pattern recognition" fallbacks so that it is not always the same universities and technology accelerators receiving money. New pitching opportunities and forums for smaller, less well known firms to meet investors, governments and so forth are needed.

Develop alternative financing mechanisms to provide DFS companies with the right funding at the right time. The above recommendations are inter-linked.

The findings from the Breaking the Pattern report, which spoke to entrepreneurs and organizations such as Atikus Investments Inc in Rwanda and FTcash and Loans4SME in India among many others, will be used to shape Village Capital's future development work. The VC firm wants to apply its above recommendations across a number of different sectors from food, to healthcare to financial services and inclusion.

Later this year and in 2018 Village Capital, and its partner PayPal, plan to operate four global investment-readiness programs, supporting more than 40 emerging fintech innovators across the U.S., Latin America, India and sub-Saharan Africa. The latter two regions in particular will use this report to try to improve the diversity of the participating companies.

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The Winklevoss twins are being sued by an investor who alleges the two backpedaled out of a marijuana delivery start-up deal worth nearly $500,000, the New York Post reports.

Todd Steinberg claims Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss signed a deal to buy his shares in the start-up Eaze, the tabloid reported in its Page Six section.

The irate investor argued that the twins should not have backed out because they had already signed the binding term sheet. Page Six reported that the twins reneged after the start-up named a new CEO.

"This lawsuit is about getting the Winklevoss to do what's right and honor their legal commitments. The business world is built upon this principle and no one, not even them, is exempt from it," Steinberg told CNBC.

Steinberg filed a complaint in a Delaware court in February, according to the court docket.

Winklevoss Capital did not respond to a CNBC request for a comment.

The Winklevoss Capital was already an investor in Eaze, according to the firm's portfolio page.

The twins, who battled Mark Zuckerberg over the founding of Facebook, started buying bitcoin at $9. Their position in the cryptocurrency was worth about $11 million in April. was recently seen trading above $2,662.01.

Read the full the New York story here.
The Empire Collection of nine Proof .9999 fine gold 1 coins is presented in a case holding individual boxes, and accompanied by a booklet and engraved certificate of authenticity. The set has a product limit of 500 sets.

The modern East India Company has issued a nine-coin set showcasing the intertwined history of the historic firm with the growth of the British Empire. The 2017 Empire Collection is issued in the name of St. Helena.

The latest project from the modern East India Company is a limited-mintage, nine-coin set of Proof gold coins issued in the name of St. Helena that tell the story of the British empire and the historic company hand in hand.

The history of the British empire is linked inextricably with the East India Company.

The company, which helped develop a significant amount of commerce as the British Empire expanded, has been reborn in recent years, albeit considerably more modest in authority and scope than the original, and continues to issue coins commemorating the earlier firms history.

The charm of the Morgan dollar, plus a look at the largest U.S. gold coin to circulate: Another column in the July 3 Coin World takes a look at the whimsical names of the $2 Federal Reserve note

The latest project from the modern East India Company is a limited mintage, nine-coin set of Proof gold coins issued in the name of St. Helena that tell the story of the empire and the company hand in hand.

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East India Company merchants essentially created the British Empire, through the monopoly, privilege and power bestowed on them by the British monarchs.

From its very first voyage in January 1601, until it was dissolved and absorbed into the British Crown in 1874, the East India Company laid the foundation of the British Empire in the East. Over time The Company, as it became known, rose to account for half of the worlds trade, including cotton, silk, indigo dye, salt, saltpeter, tea and bullion. It had its own army and navy and its stocks (shares) were central to Londons financial markets. At one point it ruled over 400 million people.

The newly issued Empire Collection set of Proof .9999 fine gold 1 coins carry the name of St. Helena, the small British Island Territory situated in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean.

The coins in the set feature portraits of several British monarchs, faithfully designed to reflect the style and appearance of the original coinage of the time period honored on each design.

The coins carry the common Raphael Maklouf effigy of Queen Elizabeth II on each obverse.

Royal Charter from Elizabeth

In 1600, Queen Elizabeth I awarded a band of merchants the monopoly on trade with the East, and so began a voyage that was to transform the world.

On the insistence of Elizabeth, aboard the first ships were specially struck testern coins  nicknamed portcullis money for their design  meant to demonstrate to the world the power of the British.

One of the new sets coins features the portrait of Queen Elizabeth I from her seventh issue crown, inset with the Red Dragon, one of four EIC ships that sailed on the first voyage, along with an image of a pepper leaf, which was fundamental to the success of the first voyage, and the crowned portcullis taken from the portcullis money.

A royal charter, renewed

The Stuart Era was ushered in following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603.

The success of the EICs first voyage delivered great profits and customs to the sovereign.

King James renewed the company charter and instructed Sir Thomas Roe to secure trading rights with Mughal Emperor Jahangir, beginning official company trade with India.

The distinctive reverse design of the second coin in the set features the portrait of James I, from his second coinage double crown, along with a cameo of Jahangir, inset on a background of the Rose Ryal pattern taken from James I coinage.

Peace and war for Charles II

By the reign of King Charles II, the company had expanded its trading operations, eclipsing the Portuguese, establishing trading posts in Surat, Madras, Bombay and Calcutta and securing ports off the coast of China.

Under Charles II, the company was granted the seven small islands of Bombay and the right to take and rule other territories, to mint money, to command fortresses, to build armies and make peace and war.

The Bombay Mint would be the first mint opened by the East India Company in India, and today it is the site of the India Government Mint in Mumbai.

In Britain tea drinking became fashionable at this time, and the start of a lucrative tea trade began.

The design on the sets coin celebrating Charles II features the portrait of the king taken from his 1668 British silver crown coin.

Competition arises for EIC

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, King William III lost many of the customary rights of the monarch but crucially maintained authority over foreign policy and trade.

The continuing war with Louis XIV of France meant taxes and customs from trade with the East Indies were essential. William deregulated the companys monopoly on trade and a new parallel company (officially titled the English Company Trading to the East Indies), was formed encouraging competition for trade with the East.

The sets coin featuring King William III is inspired by his 1695 crown, featuring the second bust. In the background is Fort William, the main garrison for the British in Calcutta, Bengal.

The company reunifies

Under William, the competition he encouraged resulted in emergence of a second trading company.

However, while competition may have been good for some, it was effectively bad for business, producing conflicts at home and in the East. Queen Anne unified the two parallel companies in 1702, creating a single company that was stronger and more financially secure.

The design on the 2017 sets coin that notes her role resembles the simple and clean designs often found on the coinage of Queen Anne and feature the portrait found on her 1704 half crown. The heart shape bale-mark featured on this coin reflects the emblem of the new company following unification with the little v representing the word united.

This bale-mark was to be applied to all East India Company goods and was in essence the forerunner of the modern trademark.

Battle of Plassey in India

Considered the most important event in the companys history, the Battle of Plassey was a colossal victory even though the battle only lasted 40 minutes on June 23, 1757.

It secured company rule in Bengal, the richest of all presidencies, laying the foundation for British rule in India.

Sir Robert Clive rebuilt Fort William in Bengal as the company headquarters, which along with Fort St. George in Madras and Bombay Castle, demonstrated the supreme power of the British in India.

Over the next few decades, the East India Company would become the single largest trading organization in the world.

In this era, the ruling monarch was King George II, and the 2017 sets coin featuring him its portrait from his 1758 silver shilling. Inset is an image of the Battle of Plassey medal issued by the Society for Promoting Arts and Commerce in 1758 to commemorate the victory.

Crown control of company

Under George III, the first of the East India Company Regulating Acts was passed.

By the beginning of the 1800s expensive wars and administration had strained the companys finances, forcing it to turn to the crown for financial assistance.

Parliament and the crown established substantial control over the East India Company. Company land was formally recognized as being under the control of the crown.

The governor general of Bengal, Warren Hastings, was awarded administrative powers over all of British India.

The Charter Act of 1813 revoked the companys precious monopoly, except for tea and trade with China.

A portrait of King George III on one of the coins in the 2017 set is taken from the 1797 cartwheel pence. In the background, the coat of arms of the company and the spade guinea motif represent the struggle between the company and crown over control of the East India Company.

Universal coinage in India

The East India Company continued to rule India with increasing centralization of power.

Parliament reforms and the Industrial Revolution created open markets and machine age goods. The British Empire stretched across most of the world.

In an attempt to unify its territories, King William IV introduced a universal currency in India as a statement of power.

Most significantly, the company lost its monopoly on Chinese trade, resulting in a Tea Race as ships from other companies competed to transport tea via some of the most important eastern trade routes.

The design of one of the coins in the 2017 set features the portrait of William IV taken from his 1835 mohur coin, the coin which was to become the highest denomination coin (gold or otherwise) among the East India Companys coinage in India.

Victoria, Empress of India

The final coin in the Empire Collection features the portrait of Queen Victoria, Empress of India as found on her Imperial issue 1862 mohur along with the intricate pattern from the same coin.

In 1877, Queen Victoria became Empress of India, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the dissolution of the East India Company.

The British Empire was at the height of its power. Queen Victoria, Empress of India, ruled over countries stretched far around the globe, and home to approximately one-fourth of the worlds population.

The Empire Collection coins each weigh 8 grams and measure 25 millimeters in diameter.

The coins are displayed in individual boxes, and presented in a numbered luxury presentation box with engraved certificate of authenticity and a detailed presentation booklet.

The set has a issue limit of 500 sets and retails for 5,995 (about $7,600 U.S., subject to exchange rate fluctuation).

For more details, or to order online, visit the modern East India Company website.
A woman disabled due to a surgery at CHI St. Alexius Health is challenging a state law that limits the medical malpractice damages she can receive.

Chenille Condon, who was awarded $3.5 million by a jury in April, is arguing in district court that a 1995 state law capping "noneconomic damages" for her pain and suffering at $500,000 is unconstitutional.

Condon's court filings come after the hospital made a motion to reduce her verdict by $1 million.

The hospital argues there is a good reason for the law: It creates certainty in the medical malpractice insurance market and thereby keeps premiums low and affordable for doctors.

Her attorneys say in court filings it is the first challenge to the law, because it is the first time a jury has given such a large sum since the law was passed 22 years ago.

The issue arises from a two-week jury trial that ended April 28. Cardiac and thoracic surgeon Dr. Allen Michael Booth was found to have negligently performed a surgery on Condon that caused a serious stroke in 2012.

Booth accidentally cut the innominate artery of the 35-year-old Fort Yates woman while performing a lymph node biopsy. The stroke led to some lost IQ and partial paralysis on her left side, her attorney said last month. It also caused her to fall behind in school, where she had been a nutrition student at United Tribes Technical College, he said.

The jury decided she deserved $2 million for economic losses, to include medical expenses and lost earnings, and $1.5 million for noneconomic damages, to include pain, suffering, physical impairment and emotional distress.

The doctor and CHI St. Alexius Health asked the judge in early May to reduce the verdict.

Shortly thereafter, Condon, through her attorneys Tom Conlin and Bob Bolinske Jr., challenged the law as unconstitutional. They said the cap is arbitrary and punishes the people who are most seriously injured by limiting the damages they can receive.

"Someone injured by medical malpractice, yet suffering minor injury compared to Ms. Condon's, would receive the full measure of non-economic damages determined by the jury," the brief said. "The 1995 damages cap unfairly and arbitrarily discriminates against Chenille Condon, because of the severity of the harm she suffered as a result of defendant Booth's negligence."

Verdicts in excess of $500,000 are relatively rare in North Dakota.

According to an analysis by Condon's attorneys of data from the National Practitioner Data Bank, in the 25 years from 1990 to 2015, only 58 of the 505 malpractice awards exceeded $500,000 total. It is likely only suits over $1 million would implicate the cap, her attorneys contend, and there have been just 13 of those from 1995 to 2015.

But the parties read that information in different ways. To Condon's attorneys, this means large medical malpractice awards don't pose much of a threat to the insurance industry. To the hospital, it's an indicator that the damage cap has worked by promoting settlements instead of uncertain trials.

"(The law) is a narrowly tailored solution to what the Legislature then saw as a concern  unchecked noneconomic damages that, because of their inherently arbitrary nature, can lead to large and unpredictable verdicts wholly divorced from the actual economic loss sustained, which in turn creates unnecessarily large reserves and instability in the malpractice insurance market," wrote Rodger Hagen and Tracy Kolb, attorneys for the doctor and hospital.

There is some precedent for the argument of unconstitutionality in North Dakota.

In 1978, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional a $300,000 cap on total damages  economic and noneconomic  in medical malpractice cases. In that case, the justices decided it was arbitrary and that there was no crisis in malpractice insurance premiums to justify it.

"In the absence of such a finding of crisis and in view of the drastic limitation on recovery, we conclude that the $300,000 limitation on recovery in malpractice cases is a violation of the equal protection provision," the judges wrote.

States have taken different approaches to noneconomic damages caps. Condon's attorneys cite decisions in Georgia, Alabama and Missouri that find such laws illegal. Meanwhile, 15 states, including Idaho and Michigan, have found the law constitutional, according to the hospital's brief.

South Central District Judge Cynthia Feland, who presided over the two-week trial in April, has set a hearing on the issue for July 7.
Burleigh County commissioners have delayed a decision on whether to support a five-year extension of Bismarck's Renaissance Zone program.

"We're going to be the villain in the corner, if we turn this down," said Chairman Jerry Woodcox. "It's going to be our fault, and I don't want to see that happen. It would not hurt anything to delay our decision by two weeks."

July 31 marks the end of a 15-month extension granted to the program by the North Dakota Department of Commerce to allow for legislative clarification, where it was decided letters of support are needed from the county, school and park board to continue the program another five years.

Once the zone is allowed to expire no new Renaissance Zone, which provides income and property tax incentives to encourage downtown revitalization, can ever be created in the city unless the Legislature were to change state law to allow it.

Opposition to the program's extension, for the most part, has not been leveled at the Renaissance program itself. Instead, concerns have been raised over the Renaissance Zone's overlap with another economic development district, the Tax Increment Financing district.

"If we decide anything other than declining the letter of support, we wouldn't have the ability to negotiate or to expect any change in the TIF, because we'd give away our chips," Commissioner Brian Bitner said.

Delaying the decision until the board's next meeting on July 5 allows the county time to meet with the city, school board and park district to investigate solutions to the overlapping of the Renaissance Zone and TIF district.

Bismarck Tribune reporter Jessica Holdman contributed to this story.
Russian hacking of the 2016 election went deeper than breaking into the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign  the Russians also hacked their way into getting information about election-related hardware and software shortly before voting began.

The Intercept published a top-secret National Security Agency document that shows exactly how the Russians did their dirty work in targeting election hardware and software. At the heart of the hack is a giant Microsoft security hole that has been around since before 2000 and still hasnt been closed. And likely never will.

Before we get to the security hole, heres a little background about how the Russian scheme worked, spelled out in detail by the secret NSA document. Allegedly, Russias military intelligence agency, the GRU, launched a spearphishing campaign against a U.S. company that develops U.S. election systems. (The Intercept notes that the company was likely VR Systems, a Florida-based vendor of electronic voting services and equipment whose products are used in eight states.) Fake Google Alert emails were sent from noreplyautomaticservice@gmail.com to seven of the companys employees. The employees were told they needed to immediately log into a Google website. The site was fake; when at least one employee logged in, his credentials were stolen.

Using those credentials, the GRU hacked into the election company, the NSA found, and stole documents for a second, far more dangerous spearphishing attack. In this second attack, launched either on Oct. 31 or Nov. 1, 2016, spearphishing emails were sent to 122 email addresses associated with named local government organizations, which probably belonged to officials involved in the management of voter registration systems. In other words, the Russians targeted people who maintain voter registration rolls.

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Heres where the Microsoft security hole comes in. Attached to those emails were Microsoft Word documents that the emails claimed were documentation for VR Systems EViD voter database product line. In fact, though, they were trojanized Microsoft Word documents  containing a malicious Visual Basic script that spawns PowerShell and uses it to execute a series of commands to retrieve and then run an unknown payload from malicious infrastructure.  The unknown payload very likely installs a second payload which can then be used to establish persistent access to survey the victim for items of interest to threat actors.

In plain English, the Word document opened a back door into the victims computers, allowing the Russians to install any malware they wanted and get virtually any piece of information to which the victims had access.

Its not clear what election information the Russians were able to gather or how they might have used it. But by using the Microsoft security hole, they were potentially able to get very close to states election hardware and software, and possibly voter rolls as well.

Those with long memories may remember that Visual Basic played a key role in two of the first world-spanning virus attacks, Melissa in 1999 and ILoveYou in 2000. Back in 2002, Michael Zboray, who was then chief technology officer for market researcher Gartner Group and is now Gartners CISO, said that Visual Basic has the wrong security posture, and added, Visual Basic script and the macros are proving to be a disaster. This is just happening over and over again. We have to get away from this hostile active content that is coming in through Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and the browser.

And now, 15 years later, theyre still proving to be a disaster. Visual Basic has given way to Visual Basic for Applications, but the holes remain. The security company Sophos warned in a blog in 2015 that these kinds of attacks were making a comeback. This Russian hack shows theyre back with a vengeance.

Its unlikely Microsoft will abandon Visual Basic for Applications, because too many enterprises rely on it. So enterprises need to get smarter about its use. Sophos recommends that they consider blocking all Office files that are emailed from outside a company, if those files contain macros created with Visual Basic for Applications. Microsoft offers advice of its own in its security post, New feature in Office 2016 can block macros and help prevent infection, including instructions on how enterprises can use Group Policy to block macros from running in Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents sent by email or downloaded from the internet.

Companies need to realize that Visual Basic for Applications and its macros are a potent weapon for hackers and malware authors. If it can threaten U.S. elections, it can certainly threaten enterprises most important documents and secrets. Given that Microsoft wont be shutting down Visual Basic for Applications, enterprises need to take control themselves by blocking macros and scripts on incoming documents.
Local dealers are remaining hopeful that a ban on setting off fireworks will be lifted prior to the Fourth of July.

Due to extremely dry conditions, Mandan, Lincoln and Morton and Burleigh counties instituted the bans earlier this month in response to a designation of severe drought by the U.S. Drought Monitor. Other counties struggling with the same conditions include McLean, Mercer, Oliver, Grant, Sioux, Emmons and McIntosh. The rating will be updated on Thursday.

"We're remaining positive," said Shannon Knutson, co-owner of Memory Fireworks, Bismarck. "While we're grateful they're still allowing us to sell fireworks, were hoping, with these few days of rain, Burleigh County would be kind enough, to us, to lift the ban."

Memory Fireworks, which employs 250 people statewide, placed its pyrotechnics order in August. Products began arriving in May, from as far away as China.

"We still want people to come out and buy like they normally would," said Chris Houston, owner of Torch's Fireworks, Bismarck. "Once the burn ban lifts, you'll want to have fireworks for family reunions, weddings and such. Prepare. Buy like normal and save them for a different date."

Rain on Saturday, which totaled .4 inches, brought the year's total precipitation to 4.33 inches in Bismarck, according to the Weather Underground. The average rainfall year to date is 7.25 inches.

"We've seen some improvement," said Allen Schlag, hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Bismarck. "The grass, which was pretty brown, is starting to show some growth and the color is coming back to green."

Even North Dakota's Congressional delegation is tracking rainfall totals as the three members press the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary to allow emergency haying of Conservation Reserve Program acres.

In North Dakota, the effects of this abnormally dry weather on pastures and hay crops have been devastating. Media accounts of herd liquidation at sales barns are common .... The resulting downsizing of herds in North Dakota poses a long-term threat to the viability of the industry in our state especially given that a herd cannot be built overnight, the delegation, consisting of Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., and Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., wrote to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. That is why we urge you to allow emergency haying of CRP acres within the state of North Dakota.

Over half of North Dakotas pasture and rangeland is listed as being in Poor to Very Poor condition in last week's USDA Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin, which will be updated today.

In the meantime, heads are turned to local fire chiefs.

It will be based on recommendations from the rural fire chiefs, said Tom Doering, Morton County's emergency manager, of any decision to lift a burning ban. He added the county commission would need to hold a special meeting and give its approval, as well.

Cooler air this week, accompanied by hit-or-miss showers, should prevent drought conditions from worsening, according to Schlag.

The highest temperature forecast for this week is 86 degrees on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Bismarck. Saturday will see a 40 percent chance for rain, the best bet for precipitation this week.
All parties duty-bound to preserve Gulf unity: Kuwait Amir

Amidst the ongoing Gulf crisis, Kuwaits Amir has urged Gulf Arab states to overcome the diplomatic dispute with Qatar, saying all parties had a duty to preserve regional unity.

The Amir of Kuwait, His Highness, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, who is leading the mediation efforts, said he hoped the crisis could be solved through dialogue.

Amir of Kuwait, His Highness, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah. Photo courtesy: Wikipedia

The Amir said, The remaining days of the holy month will create the atmosphere for resolving unfortunate differences and ending the rift through dialogue and communication in the Gulf.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and travel ties with Qatar on June 5 over its funding of militant groups and fomenting instability.

Sheikh Sabah said Gulf countries had one destiny because of their historical ties and cross-border family relations. These common interests gave the Gulf states a duty to remain united.

He prayed for efforts to preserve our Gulf states, their people and to avoid all that disrupts their strong relations and threatens their security and safety.

Sheikh Sabah also said the region and the rest of the world faced the growing phenomenon of terrorism and said Kuwait stood in solidarity with the international community to combat it and help eliminate its origins, without specifying.

Meanwhile, the European Union has also supported Kuwaiti-led mediation efforts to help end the Gulf standoff over Qatar.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said, We are ready to help, assist and accompany this mediation in all ways that might be requested.

But she added, after chairing talks between EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, that the problem must be resolved within the region and not by outside powers.

She said, Gulf countries have the strengths and wisdom to find a political way out of this crisis.

Read more UAE News and Diplomacy News here
A vast change for the better in the declared outlook of British Muslims has occurred in a very few years. Our press finds it easier to report bad news, and the attack at Finsbury Park certainly falls into that category.

This horrible assault has intensified the fear among Muslims that they will attract aggressive rudeness, or worse, if they so much as venture outside their front doors: a fear about which I shall say something at the end of this piece.

Coming so soon after other horrors, including the attacks at Westminster, the Manchester Arena and London Bridge, and the Grenfell Tower fire, the attack in Finsbury Park can easily intensify the fear that our tolerant, live-and-let-live civilisation is doomed.

And yet the van attack has also drawn attention to an altogether more hopeful development. The Finsbury Park Mosque, just across the railway from the Muslim Welfare House where the attack occurred, used to be a byword for terrorism.

It was opened in 1994 by Prince Charles, as ever in the vanguard of attempts to embrace new movements and secure for them a treasured place in the heart of the British Establishment.

But within a few years it had been taken over by Abu Hamza, an Egyptian cleric who had lost both hands and one eye in an explosion, probably while fiddling with some device designed to inflict terrible harm on his enemies.

As Jason Burke reported in The Observer on 17th February 2002:

MI5 recruited worshippers at Finsbury Park who opposed the hardline stance taken by controversial Muslim cleric Abu Hamza, who often leads prayers there, and asked them to help monitor the activities of extremists. Early last year the agents told their handlers that several groups had been taught to strip and reassemble Kalashnikovs in the mosques basement Several men involved with the al-Qaeda group have already been linked to Finsbury Park mosque. Feroz Abbassi, a computer engineer from Croydon held by the US in Cuba, was indoctrinated in the mosque, according to his parents. Jerome Courtailler, arrested in Holland for allegedly plotting to blow up the US embassy in Paris, prayed there as did Djamel Beghal, Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid, all of whom have been linked to al-Qaeda by investigators. Three former MI5 agents interviewed by The Observer said that the mosques reputation drew radical Islamists from all over Europe. One recalled white Swedish converts to Islam who had sought out the mosque because they want to take part in the Jihad.

Even the British Establishment, which can be ludicrously keen to turn a blind eye to danger, could not ignore this. The following year, the Charity Commissioners, assisted by the Metropolitan Police, shut Finsbury Park Mosque down.

Abu Hamza continued preaching on the pavement, and inciting hatred, until arrested in 2004, after the United States requested his extradition. In 2012 he was at last deported to America to face trial, having exhausted every legal expedient, and in 2015 he was convicted, and handed a life sentence which will mean life.

Meanwhile, in 2005, the Finsbury Park Mosque was reopened with an entirely new board of trustees, provided by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB). And on its website, it declares the values of neighbourliness and community service which now inspire it.

It feeds the homeless, holds open days and welcomes local dignitaries, including the representatives of many different faiths, to special occasions such as Iftar, the breaking after dusk of the fast of Ramadan:

Finsbury Park Mosque (FPM) and The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) organised their joint annual Iftar gathering at Finsbury Park Mosque on Thursday 14th June 2017. More than 60 prominent guests including Politicians, Faith and Community leaders, Councillors, Police officers and Journalists attended the event. The Guest of Honour Rt Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP, the Leader of the Labour Party was joined by other distinguished guests including the Leader of Islington Council Richard Watts, The Islington Mayor Cllr Una OHalloran, Sheikh Haytham Tamim, Bishop Paul Hendricks, Dr Anas Tikriti the head of Shura of the Muslim Association of Britain, David Rueben from the Golders Green Synagogue, Malia Bouattia the ex NUS President, The Revd Jennifer Potter the chairman of Islington Faith Forum and the superintendent of Islington Police Nick Davies. Other distinguished guests including, The Revd Jonathan Brewster from Christ Church Highbury, Steven Derby the director of Interfaith Matters, the General Secretary of CND Kate Hudson, Bruce Kent, Father Danial Sandham from St. Johns Church, Victoria Brittain journalist and writer, the former Chief Superintendent in Harrow Dal Babu, Barrister Hugh Tomlinson QC, Chris Nineham the Vice Chair of the Stop the War Coalition, Councillors Andy Hull, Asima Shaikh and Caroline Russell and Julian Weinberg from Forward thinking.

Alert readers will note that this is a distinctly left-wing group of dignitaries, with a somewhat Stop-the-War flavour. But in this part of London, the Establishment does have a left-wing tinge, and the local MP, Mr Corbyn, has just been re-elected with a majority of 33,215 over the Conservatives.

Even more highly informed readers may point to claims of links between the Finsbury Park Mosque and the Muslim Brotherhood. An official report commissioned by David Cameron described the MAB as dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood  a claim that the MAB denies.

Peter Oborne has written in vehement defence of the Muslim Brotherhood, as an Islamic organisation which engages in electoral politics, while John Ware, no less forcefully, accuses it of playing double games.

Sir John Jenkins, who wrote a report on the Brotherhood for David Cameron, pointed out that it has supported Hamas against Israel. So, one might add, has Mr Corbyn. Indeed, the origins of Hamas certainly lie in the Brotherhood, though it said recently that there is now no link.

However worried (or unworried) one may be by the Brotherhood, it seems clear that most Muslim organisations in the UK are now far quicker to condemn terrorist outrages than was the case even a few years ago, and that this is a very good thing.

It is also pretty evident that it would be monstrously unfair, and impolitic, to place Muslims under a cloud of suspicion simply because of their faith.

Yesterday afternoon I visited my friend Foyezur Miah, who for the last 14 years has run Queens Crescent Community Association in north London. Speaking in a personal capacity, he said there is a massive issue of hate crime committed against Muslims.

He added that after the Westminster attack, I stopped wearing the Islamic attire, for there has been a great increase in attacks on Muslims, including acid attacks, which have not yet been properly reported:

Muslim women are often the only people you can see who are representative of Islam, and unfortunately they are largely the victims of hate crimes. And when you go to the police station theres barely any police. We need more and more police on our streets. If you go to a police station to report an attack you have to queue up for two or three hours of your time to give a report. Thats not the fault of the Metropolitan Police  they can only do so much with the resources they have. My biggest concern is that were moving into this new age, were taking United out of the UK and bringing division and inequality into our communities. We worked long and hard to bring a rich and diverse community where we all here are British citizens.

His 11-year-old daughter does not wear a headscarf, but he is frightened of allowing her to walk to school on her own. His wife, who was born and and brought up in this country, does wear a headscarf,

but she feels very frightened  she has to put the Chubb lock on when I go to work. Shes heard news of her friends being attacked. We live in fear of being attacked, in fear of losing someone who you love. Id like to see more police officers patrolling round my streets.

Abdus Samad, who chairs the Bengali Workers Association, again in north London, said of Islamophobia:

It puts us in a difficult position as Muslims  your children getting racist abuse at school, people looking at us. You feel youre not living in the same London as six months ago. It is very worrying for us Muslims and for anyone of colour  Sikh, Hindu or whatever.

Paul Goodman called yesterday on this site for a Parliamentary inquiry into anti-Muslim hatred and violence. While welcoming the condemnation by eminent Muslim representatives of terrorist attacks, we must also ensure that ordinary British Muslims feel safe from persecution.
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.

In my column last week, I suggested the Conservatives should make Boris Johnson Conservative leader and Prime Minister by acclamation  as soon as the party is ready to fight another election. There wasnt the space to elaborate, so I do so today. There are four big reasons why.

Firstly, hes a rock star who appeals to those who dont normally vote Conservative. The idea hes now an irretrievably divisive figure is wrong: anyone who took a public role in the referendum is inherently divisive. Taking on the more general role of Prime Minister  where therell be a lot more to discuss than Europe  would give him the sort of broad platform he used to great effect as London Mayor.

Regardless, new polling shows hes still the publics top choice for the next Conservative leader  significantly higher than Ruth Davidson in second and much higher than David Davis in third. While hes a narrow second choice amongst Labour voters, he leads amongst 18-24 year olds, women, C2DE voters, Northerners and Londoners.

While hes a narrow second choice amongst Labour voters, he leads amongst 18-24 year olds, women, C2DE voters, Northerners and Londoners.

Secondly, and crucially after this months debacle, hes a proven campaigner. Johnson beat Livingstone and his formidable London machine twice in a city thats not always kind to Conservatives. And he physically dragged Vote Leave over the line last summer. Hes a born retail politician in the mould of the best American politicians  energetic, enthusiastic and brilliant at off-the-cuff communication. Hes incredibly disciplined while looking unscripted  a very rare mix.

Thirdly, hes got the right character to lead. In the nicest possible sense of the term, Johnson is hard as nails. He has put up with an incredible amount of personal attacks over the years and just keeps moving forward. Refreshingly, he also doesnt bear grudges and is able to re-build apparently broken relationships. With a party divided and angry, this is going to be vital. The Conservatives need a broad cabinet including talented people that Theresa May sidelined, like Nicky Morgan and Michael Gove.

Fourthly, hes got a vision for Britain outside the EU. Being a eurosceptic isnt a prerequisite for leader  but having a vision for Britain outside is. Theresa May gave one encouraging speech on Britains role outside the EU but said little after. Johnson has been thinking and talking about Britains role for years and is in a position to execute the sort of global pivot that Britain needs.

After I argued that he should be made leader and Prime Minister by acclamation, a number of people I respect got in touch to say Im wrong and that acclamation is a bad idea. I am wholly sympathetic to this view  that the best candidates should be tested. However, on balance, I believe two or three months campaigning, with senior Tories damaging each others ratings, would be suicidal when a new general election might be around the corner. So the Conservatives should learn the lessons of the recent near-defeat, start announcing some popular policies, and prepare to make the change.

More broadly, its obvious Boris isnt perfect. He doesnt always prepare for serious interviews well and he relies too much on cleverness and charm to communicate, rather than the hard graft of learning stuff. And the whole eccentric toff thing can be tiring. But hes the most talented politician the Conservatives have got. Corbyns Labour would be far more nervous about facing him than any of the alternatives.
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The British & Irish Lions Tour is a unique moment in the global sporting calendar and in New Zealand, the Lions squad, made up of the very best rugby players from across England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales are constantly prepping for their next match within the ten game adventure.

Now, to celebrate the partnership between Doom Bar and the British & Irish Lions, Sharp's Brewery has announced a free Lions inspired rugby event at Camborne RFC on Saturday 1st July  and one and all are invited!

Made up from the Home Nations, with the help of former England captain and Lions player, Phil Vickery, Doom Bar has crafted a Lions inspired team to take on a Kiwi team, representing the All Blacks in this special match, all on Doom Bar's home turf of Cornwall.

This special match at Camborne RFC was inspired by a historic game that took place on the very same ground in 1924 when the All Blacks took on Cornwall as part of their tour, after which they became known as 'The Invincibles.'

Nineteen-thousand people gathered there to watch Cornwall, including seven players from Camborne Club, take on the All Blacks.

To recreate this, and give Cornish rugby fans the opportunity to indulge their passionate support for the British & Irish Lions squad, The Doom Bar Select XV Team will take on the New Zealand Select XV team at Camborne RFC's ground in a battle of the best, with gates opening from 11am.

Rugby fans are invited to bring friends and family along with them and a pint of complimentary Doom Bar will be waiting for every attendee*.

James Nicholls, Senior Brand Manager at Sharp's Brewery, said: "We believe the 2017 British & Irish Lions Tour to New Zealand represents the iconic and inspirational pinnacle of the rugby game so having Doom Bar as the official beer in the UK marks a proud moment for all of us in the brewery.

"The association of Doom Bar with the Lions is a great fit, based on our values of dedication, commitment, precision and teamwork, all of which are required on the field and in the brew house.

"Doom Bar has always had a strong association with rugby and we are especially proud of our history of supporting numerous local clubs in Cornwall. But we couldn't let the Lions tour happen without finding a way to create this fervour at home here in Cornwall.

"We're all very much looking forward to seeing the Doom Bar team take on New Zealand at Camborne and to raising a pint of Doom Bar and a Cornish pasty to those tough players on the pitch. It's been great working with the team in Camborne RFC and we would like to say a big thanks for helping make this all happen."

Phil Vickery, who often played at Camborne RFC himself in his Cornish club days, recently revisited the ground in preparation for the Doom Bar match. Phil said: "We're here, where so much history exists with New Zealand rugby.

"And with the British & Irish Lions tour happening on the other side of the world, it feels right that we honour that relationship with a match of our own. Much as the Lions tour is all about pitching the best-of-the best out there against one another, the rugby that is played week-on-week in grounds like Camborne RFC is just as vital, and just as inspirational, to all of those who make this sport our lives.

"Good luck to everyone on the day. Play til the last drop and make the crowd proud!"

Everyone is invited to the open match and all people need to do is go to visit EventBrite online and search for Doom Bar Lions or follow the Sharp's Brewery social channels for links to the sign-up page. Rugby fans, friends and family simply need to register for the event by Friday 30th June and they will be granted free access to the ground and the match.

*Only those who register via EventBrite will receive a complementary Doom Bar (while stocks last)

Event details

When : Saturday, July 1. 11am arrival for 12.30pm kickoff

Where : Camborne RFC, 14 Cranberry Road, Camborne, TR14 7PJ
Wyoming legislators must take the states school funding crisis seriously.

By next July, the state is expected to be facing a shortfall of about $530 million for education. Thats in addition to a $200 million hole for the school construction fund.

Members of the legislative committees that are supposed to be addressing these critical shortfalls have only talked about the problem. These lawmakers show little appetite for creating new revenue streams to fund our schools or increasing existing ones to fill the gaping holes.

But this is important. Its not an overstatement to say that the future of our state hinges on these legislators ability to solve this problem. Our schools are educating the next generation of Wyoming leaders, ranchers, entrepreneurs, energy industry workers and more. Those future leaders are relying on our current leaders to fix the school funding gap.

Plus, a quality education system does more than educate the students who are here today. It also serves as a draw to the area, a reason to move here and call Wyoming home. Without a school system that serves its children well, Wyomings goals of attracting and retaining skilled workers and their families as part of its plan to support long-term economic diversity in the state wont get off the ground.

Raising taxes isnt easy, and nowhere is that more true than in Wyoming. People here are wary of paying more to government. Some of the options on the table are increasing the sales and use tax, increasing the lodging tax and increasing the mineral severance tax. Lawmakers are eager to talk about the downsides of those, but they do so at the expense of children and their constituents.

Thats because Wyomingites also want strong schools and well-educated children. So legislators must do the hard work of explaining to their constituents why the current system wont work. These are drastic times, characterized by huge shortfalls, and they call for drastic measures. Kicking the can down the road often looks tempting, but Wyoming has very nearly reached the end of that road. And with every month that goes by, the cliff looms nearer, and the options for how to address the problem become narrower.

Between tackling the education crisis and explaining their decisions to their constituents, it would seem, state legislators have plenty of important work to do. So its troubling that instead of substantive issues, one of their most common refrains is about re-election.

Just listen to Sen. Ray Peterson, R-Cowley, who characterized the situation like this: Im Senator Peterson, Im raising your taxes, and Im cutting your wages. Vote for me.

Peterson went on to say that he was considering all options for funding schools. But lawmakers must remember that this problem is not about them or their re-election prospects. They need to muster the political courage necessary to make Wyoming a place people want to live in the long term.

What if lawmakers pitched it like this? Im your senator and Im defending Wyomings public schools, because its incredibly important that the states young minds are prepared to lead our beloved state far into the future. Vote for me.

Wyomingites appreciate the value of education, and they appreciate statesmanship  the willingness to solve long-term problems at the expense of short-term popularity. Lawmakers must rise to the challenge and remember that the important thing is not whether they win re-election. The important thing is whether they can look back on their legislative service and be proud of what they accomplished for our states children and its future.

 Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune
CORNWALL, Ontario  A traditional celebration of French culture in Cornwall has returned for another year with La Semaine francaise.

At its recent meeting, City Council proclaimed the week of June 18th to 24th as La Semaine francaise and the ceremonial flag was raised at the Justice Building on Monday to mark the occasion.

The roots of the week-long celebration date back to the 1960s and the tradition continues today with a full slate of activities aimed at honouring and celebrating Cornwalls rich French culture and heritage.

We dont want to forget our culture and were trying to involve every generation, said Mr. Marc Bissonnette, organizer and President of the Centre culturel de Cornwall.

La Semaine francaise features a variety of events over the course of the week and they are open to all residents, with most activities taking place at the Centre culturel (501 Second Street East, the former Cornwall General Hospital).

On Monday, there will be the opening of the Francophon exposition at 2 pm followed by a presentation at 3 pm by Mrs. Nichole White on The Story of Cornwall French Canadians. At 6 pm, there will be a literary supper at the King George restaurant on Montreal Road.

On Tuesday, there will be a presentation at 2 pm by Mr. Pierre Giroux on the visual arts in Cornwall followed by a wine and cheese at 8 pm and a performance by Andre Theriault. Tickets are $7 or 2 for $10.

Wednesdays events include the opening reception for CorridArt  featuring artwork by Cornwall students  from 1 pm to 6 pm and a Summer Solstice Celebration (music, songs, improve and theatre) at Centre Charles-Emile Claude.

On Thursday, there will be a presentation at 2 pm by Mr. Pierre Doyon and Mr. Bissonnette on The Story of Music in Cornwall as well as a wine and cheese at 7 pm. Tickets for the wine and cheese are $7 or two for $10.

Friday will see the Annual Picnic at Centre Charles-Emile Claude beginning at 10 am and a wine and cheese at 7 pm featuring a performance by the Clarpian Duo. Tickets for the wine and cheese are $7 or 2 for $10.

La Semaine francaise will close out on Saturday with a special St-Jean-Baptiste Mass at St. Felix Parish at 4 pm.

For additional information on the events or La Semaine francaise, please contact the Centre culturel at (613) 932-9106.
SOUTH NATION, Ontario  The South Nation Conservation Authority (SNC) and the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) have concluded their investigation into reports of dead fish along the South Nation River.

The SNC received reports of around a hundred dead carp along the river from Crysler to Casselman on June 14 and they then began their investigation and alerted the MOECC.

There was no evidence of any sort of spill or disaster, said Melissa Lee, Senior Environment Officer with the MOECCs Cornwall office. The SNC determined that the cause was natural.

According to Lee, the cause of the fish kill was probably a sudden drop in temperature which led to a drop in oxygen levels in the river.
Close

Ever try to make eye contact with someone with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and they just won't budge? Perhaps you think they are being rude or distracted. Think again.

Researchers at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital found that no, people with ASD aren't being rude nor are they distracted. Instead, they are overwhelmed with information.

The study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Study author Dr. Nouchine Hadjikhani instructed the ASD subjects to look at faces, constraining their gaze to the eyes. In another condition, participants were instructed to "free" their gaze and look wherever they wished.

The result was clear: the regions of the brain involving face perception were overactive during the "constrained" gaze condition, especially for faces that reflected fear.

This is important when understanding autism. "The findings demonstrate that, contrary to what has been thought, the apparent lack of interpersonal interest among people with autism is not due to a lack of concern," says Dr. Hadjikhani. "Rather, our results show that this behavior is a way to decrease an unpleasant excessive arousal stemming from overactivation in a particular part of the brain."

These findings support the hypothesis regarding an imbalance between the signaling networks: excitatory (neurotransmitters that stimulate the brain) and inhibitory (neurotransmitters that calm the brain). According to this idea, these signals are so unbalanced that the excitatory signaling network is strengthened in the circuitry that operates in the regions involving face perception. As a result, eye contact is avoided and the brain's social nature develops outside of the norm.

"The findings indicate that forcing children with autism to look into someone's eyes in behavioral therapy may create a lot of anxiety for them," says Hadjikhani. "An approach involving slow habituation to eye contact may help them overcome this overreaction and be able to handle eye contact in the long run, thereby avoiding the cascading effects that this eye-avoidance has on the development of the social brain."

Thankfully, this research can help with filling the holes of misunderstanding when communicating with someone with ASD. They aren't being rude. They are just at the whim of an amazing neural anomaly that's overly excited.

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Spring wheat has seen a price rally, but a large amount of corn in storage could cause a local price collapse.

These were among the highs and lows agricultural market experts told agricultural lenders to expect this year. The presentation was part of an annual week-long agricultural lender training sponsored by the Independent Community Banks of North Dakota.

The focus this year is definitely on the turning market, said Wendy Ruud, ICBND's vice president.

The two-year training is put on for new and young agricultural lenders, many of whom have not been through hard times in the industry. The training will help them communicate with their farm customers  how to have the hard conversations, handling the emotions involved and knowing when to say things arent going to work.

New to the program is an agricultural banking simulator, which will give the 36 attendees a number of scenarios with which to work.

North Dakota State University crop economist Frayne Olson said producers and their lenders should be prepared for a wall of corn  200 million bushels  being stored on North Dakota farms after phenomenal yields last year. Many farmers are sitting on the grain, hoping for a price rally. If it does hit, the markets will flood and the cash price is likely going to crash.

This is going to be a North Dakota problem, Olson said. Local cash prices are going to suffer, and Im really worried about that.

According to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates, total U.S. supply for the upcoming harvest could be around 16.4 billion bushels. Better numbers will be available after the acreage planted is updated from earlier estimates at the end of the month. Yield estimates will be revised at the end of August.

The soybean market started out promising but a massive soybean crop in South America, coming on the heels of a record soybean crop in the U.S. last year and ahead of 7 percent higher U.S. acres planted this year, has tanked prices.

Olson said those who did some forward pricing, locking in contracts when the price was up, will likely do well, though having high enough yield in the current drought conditions could cause some contract fulfillment issues.

The continued increase in plantings is following the market signals.

The world wants more soybeans, Olson said.

Minnesota Soybean Processors attempting to build in Spiritwood and Ag Processing Inc. expanding in Aberdeen are other signals of demand.

Thats going to be a massive plant, he said of Spiritwood. When companies put that kind of money in, they obviously see it as growth potential.

Still, worldwide stocks of corn and soybeans are high in the near term, keeping prices low. Only a major weather disaster would make a difference and growing conditions have been ideal across the Midwest, except for in the Dakotas.

"We've got a really nice rally going" in spring wheat prices for those who still have a portion of last year's crop in the bin, according to Olson.

Winter wheat stocks are up but high quality, high protein milling wheat stocks are low, leading to a $6.50 per bushel near-record premium.

"So were not flush," Olson said. "That's why spring wheat is going ballistic."

Olson said he only expects the highs to last "until the next big rain shower," which could shore up next season's drought-threatened wheat crop.

Andy Swenson, farm resource management specialist for NDSU, will talk to bankers about what kind of safety net paychecks farmers could receive this fall.

"It should be the maximum payment in every county this year in wheat," he said of those farmers enrolled in USDA's Agriculture Risk Coverage program.
Channel programs News

Lenovo N. America Pres. Ghilardi: Lack Of Channel Know-How Led To Exec Turnover

Matt Brown

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Lenovo North America President Emilio Ghilardi, who in his two-year tenure has overseen an almost unbroken string of executive departures, suggested that those who have left simply didn't understand the channel.

In an interview with CRN, Ghilardi said the executive team now in place at the China-based PC giant's North American headquarters in Morrisville, N.C., possesses channel savvy that former execs did not.

"Eighty-eight percent of our business is the channel," Ghilardi said. "You just cannot not understand channel dynamics and pretend you're running an IT business. You just don't get it. We have a lot of senior executives at the company that have spent half of their lives, if not more, working with channels. We don't just do business with the channel. We designed our company around it. It's one of the differences we don't talk enough about."

[Related: A New Lenovo Sees Data Center Market As Its 'Growth Engine']

"We have been really trying to take away the best people and put them where they can make a difference," Ghilardi said. "When you put the right people in place, you can see the clarity of the vision, the simplicity of the programs and the understanding of what it takes."

The difference in the leadership team's approach to the channel is palpable, said Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based solution provider that works with Lenovo.

"It's great that that's the messaging, that it's all about the channel," Goldstein said. "We've definitely seen an uptick in calls and communications from their team. They're contacting us. They're doing all the right things. It's an extremely competitive space. Everybody's scrambling to make the piece of pie a little bigger, and the proof is in the pudding, but we do see a push from them."

Now is an opportune time for Lenovo to deliver its "all-about-the-channel" message because Dell EMC and HPE's programs are in chaos, said Cliff Gumkowski, Lenovo's vice president and general manager of data center group solutions sales. Dell's $58 billion acquisition of EMC, and Hewlett-Packard's split into two distinct companies, Hewlett-Packard Inc. and HPE, creates opportunities for Lenovo to deliver a program tailored to partners' needs, said Gumkowski, a 15-year Dell veteran who joined Lenovo about a year ago.

"There's some chaos in the other partner programs out there right now, and we're taking advantage of that," Gumkowski said. "We're looking at what the partners are telling us would be best-in-class because of what's happening with Dell and HP. There's chaos in that environment, and that gives us an opportunity to improve our program. We look at ourselves as more of a neutral play and being a neutral play, our partners can be more aggressive. There's a lot of questions about Dell and HPE, which is great for us. If there's a question, we have an opportunity."

Ghilardi himself came to the North America president position a little less than a year into his Lenovo career in a flurry of executive changes that saw former North America head, Aymar Lencquesaing, reassigned to head the company's Motorola Mobility business.

In the same reshuffling, Gerry Smith took charge of the company's data center group, replacing Jay Parker, who had left Lenovo to take a job as vice president and general manager of Dell's North America enterprise solution sales. Smith, who was later moved to a position leading Lenovo's PC and smart devices unit, left the company early this year to become CEO of Office Depot.

In late 2016, sales veteran and former channel chief Chris Frey left his position as vice president and general manager of Lenovo's commercial sales operation, a position he held for just 18 months. He was replaced early this year by Executive Director of Commercial Sales Marshae Mansfield

In the meantime, Lenovo has recruited several executives that Ghilardi says fit the company's channel-first mode, including Gumkowski, who was brought on from Dell about a year ago; Intel veteran Kirk Skaugen, who was made the data center group chief in March; and Kim Stevenson, also an Intel veteran, to be senior vice president and general manager of the data center group.
Data center News

Lenovo's New ThinkSystem Data Center Portfolio Takes Aim At Dell EMC, HPE, Cisco

Matt Brown

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Lenovo on Tuesday unleashed its first full-fledged data center product portfolio under a new ThinkSystems brand, aimed squarely at displacing data center rivals Dell EMC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) and Cisco.

The new comprehensive data center portfolio includes high performance servers for mission critical big data applicatons, all flash data center storage and SAN offerings and a complete of cloud ready line of networking switches.

The product blitz represents the the first major revamp of Lenovo's product lines since its $2.1 billion acquisition of IBM's x86 server business in late 2014.



[Related: A New Lenovo Sees Data Center Market As Its 'Growth Engine']

Lou Giovanetti, co-founder of CPU Sales, a Waltham, Mass.-based solution provider that has been a Lenovo partner for many years, said the new products appear to have the technology muscle for the company to gain traction versus long time infrastructure stalwarts.

"They're shaking up the product line," said Giovanetti. "They've got to make this a big splash. It's got to be the famous comeback story. Everyone recognizes the name, the quality is there, the reliability, the pricing. They're very informative, they keep you up-to-date, their rebate programs are easy to work with. It all has to come together, because if you're going to replace [another vendor], it's a big job. If the customer is looking to try something different, you can't just take the same piece of hardware and just massage it and paint it a different color and say here it is."

The new portfolio includes:

The ThinkSystem SR950 is designed for mission-critical workloads like in-memory databases, large transactional databases, real-time analytics, ERP and CRM systems and virtualizes server workloads. It scales from two to eight processors in a 4U form factor.

The ThinkSystem SN550 and SN850  dense, expandable blade servers designed to run a wide variety of workloads and expand according to customer demands. The units support Intel's new Xeon Scalable Family processor, as well as SAS/SATA and NVMe disk drives.

The ThinkSystem SD530  an ultra-dense system for large, complex environments like high-performance computing and software-defined workloads. The system employs a two-unit, four-node form factor that stresses flexibility and density.

The ThinkSystem DS series is Lenovo's entry into mid-range all-flash and hybrid SAN storage solutions.



The ThinkSystem DS2200 is an enterprise-class SAN Array aimed at the small and midsized business market with either 12GB SAS, 8/16GB Fibre Channel or 1/10GB iSCSI to integrate with customers' existing networks. The DS2200 can hold up to 12 3.5-inch or 24 2.5-inch HDDs and SSDs internally and supports up to 96 drives in total using three expansion units. It supports mixing LFF and SFF enclosures.

The ThinkSystem DS4200  a performance-optimized SAN array designed for primary storage, remote and branch offices, virtualization, and back-up. The DS4200 is equipped with a management interface GUI and a rapid deployment wizard that can reduce set-up time to 15 minutes. It supports up to 240 drives.

The ThinkSystem DS6200  a SAN array designed for I/O intensive applications. Like the DS4200, it can be set up in 15 minutes, supports up to 240 drives. The unit achieves higher IOPs and latency at a fraction of the cost of competing solutions, Lenovo says, and boasts enterprise-class features like storage tiering, high availability and thin provisioning.

The ThinkSystem RackSwitch line  a family of cloud-scale switches designed to accelerate the deployment of hybrid cloud data centers.

The Think System NE1032T  a 24-port, 10G open networking switch. The ThinkSystem NE1072T is a 48-port, 10G data center cloud switch. Each uses whatever management software the customer prefers, avoiding vendor lock-in. The switch aims to reduce data center opex by connecting to the most-used data center management applications, like OpenStack, VMware Log Insight, and Nutanix Prism in hyper-converged systems.

The NE2572 is a high-performance, cloud-optimized 25GB/100GB top-of-rack switch that offers up to 72 ports and speeds up to 100 Gbps. Like the other switches in the new ThinkSystem line, the NE2572 allows customers to use their preferred software and avoid vendor lock-in. Its big brother is the NE10032 is a 100GB cloud-optimized Ethernet spine switch.

Lenovo is also offering pre-integrated turnkey solutions under a new ThinkAgile brand. That includes the ThinkAgile SX Series for Microsoft Azure Stack and the ThinkAgile hyperconverged rack level solution.
Data center News

A New Lenovo Sees Data Center Market As Its 'Growth Engine'

Matt Brown

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North America President Emilio Ghilardi says he's built a new Lenovo ready to become a data center power.



With a new executive leadership team, a more nimble and forward-looking go-to-market strategy, a rich partner program and now its first comprehensive data center product portfolio, Ghilardi said the time is right for Lenovo to take advantage of the weaknesses among the herd of legacy data center hardware vendors.



Ghilardi will be side by side with Yang Yuanquing, the chairman and CEO of the $43 billion China-based computing power, on Tuesday at Manhattan's chic Metropolitan Pavillion to unveil the company's first full-fledged data center product portfolio. The comprehensive product portfolio includes high-performance servers for mission critical big data applications, all flash data center storage and SAN offerings and a complete of cloud-ready line of networking switches.



[Related: Lenovo N. America President Ghilardi: Dell EMC, HPE And Cisco Are Stuck In 'The World Of The Past']

The product blitz represents the first major revamp of Lenovo's product lines since its $2.1 billion acquisition of IBM's x86 server business in late 2014.



Ghilardi calls the data center, and particularly hyper-converged infrastructure, Lenovo's "growth engine." However, Lenovo differs from its competition in its commitment to partnering with independent software firms rather than acquiring those firms or developing its own software, Ghilardi said. It's a strategy that emphasizes innovation, and allows Lenovo to bring enterprise customers the latest software-defined solutions without worrying about cannibalizing its own software, he said.



HPE is betting too heavily on its acquisition strategy, Cisco is protecting its long-held margins, and Dell EMC has too much on its plate to innovate in a rapidly changing IT market that is moving away from traditional sales models, Ghilardi said.



"They own the software," he said. "We don't. We worked before with SimpliVity. It was a very good relationship. HPE decided to buy them. Okay. Cool. Now we work more with Nutanix, or Pivot3 or DataCore, you name it, but we don't step into their space. We don't try to do it ourselves. We think innovation is going to be driven by small companies in this space. I challenge HPE to buy these companies and let them innovate. I spent 25 years at HP, and no disrespect, but unfortunately they don't have a great reputation for buying companies and managing them."



And while HPE is challenged to integrate and manage assets, other competitors struggle to innovate without sacrificing the margins they realize on legacy hardware, Ghilardi said.



"What's great about specific hardware is you make a lot of money. Ask Cisco. Or EMC," Ghilardi said. "It's a commodity, but it's not sold as a commodity. It's sold as perfect, and the only way to do it is this way and if you want to add more storage, as everybody does, you have no choice, just keep buying from me. This is the world of the past. The world is going somewhere else, and we can go to this somewhere else much faster and with less regret than a Dell, that just spent $65 billion buying EMC. There's nothing more traditional than EMC. It makes a lot of money, they have strong relationships with customers, but it takes a lot of energy and resources to protect that legacy particularly because the world is going the other way around. You try to win in the traditional data center, you go buy a traditional storage company. You go buy a traditional networking company. Why would you do that? That's the past. 10 years from now, we'll see if our strategy was right. I firmly believe we're doing the right things. "



Ghilardi envisions a future in which compute power is purchased and consumed much like a utility.





"It will be hyper-converged on-prem, and the rest will be in the cloud and you'll be able to go back and forth," Ghilardi said. "You'll decide what you're going to use out there, and what you're going to use at home. Larger, end-user data center will be part of fabric computing: I buy when I need more, but I sell when I don't need what I have. You can cut a deal one day with Azure or AWS where you say, 'During my peak application, I'll buy from you as long as when I am down in the valley in utilization of my own data center, you take it from me and sell it to somebody else.' These companies become, not just a host, but a broker. Do you care where the power for the lights in this room comes from? You don't. Why should you have to care where your compute comes from? It's there. It's available. Why do you need to own it?"

In order to begin taking advantage of the opportunities, Lenovo executives see in front of them, they've had to face a couple of failures, namely the go-to-market strategy for the System X server business and the structure of its channel program.

Ghilardi and other execs freely admit that the decision to sell System X servers using the same model the company uses for its world-dominating PC business was a considerable mistake. So, too, was maintaining separate non-tiered channel programs for its PC and data center portfolios.

"We were wrong," Ghilardi said. "I always say smart people know when they are wrong. They admit it, and they try to fix it. We took a little longer than we had to, but we figured it out. We designed a program with our partners; we did not design it by ourselves. We designed it, checked it, re-tuned it. It took us nine months to get it to market. We wanted to get everybody's feedback. We respect everybody, and we wanted to close every, single loop. It's something we didn't do well, and we fixed it."

The pieces are in place, Ghilardi and other senior leaders say, to move on from the haphazard and much-delayed integration of IBM's System X x86 server business and begin making Lenovo a bonafide data center power.

Lenovo in April organized its data center channel program into tiers for the first time, and made program rebates stackable, giving solution providers incentive to sell more of the portfolio.

The company intends to introduce tiers to its PC partner program "in a couple of months," Ghilardi said.

North America Channel Chief Sammy Kinlaw said Lenovo is bringing an average of 100 new partners into its program every month.



Kirk Skaugen, hired in November as executive vice president of Lenovo's data center group, is making the most of his mission to shake off the company's image as an enterprise also-ran.



"We're in the middle of another transformation of Lenovo," Skaugen said. "Now you're seeing some of the best minds in the industry  we just hired the ex-CIO at Intel to come on board  and talent from our competition coming over and we think it's because we can be the best software-defined company in the world. You're seeing some really good talent around the world that's not just data center experts, but channel experts, as well. People see us on a pretty steep rise over the next couple of years."



That's strong language from a company up against competition like Cisco, Dell EMC and HPE, but Skaugen, a 24-year Intel veteran and channel advocate who came to Lenovo last November, said Lenovo has a distinct advantage.

"Others in the market are trying to sell one more legacy system," Skaugen said. "Because we don't have that legacy system, we're not trying to protect a 65 percent margin business, and therefore we get viewed as more disruptive and a good partner to leap ahead with when you're ready to go into software-defined. For Lenovo, it's about velocity. Speed with direction. We have good velocity. The others have good speed, but I think we have good velocity. Our partnerships are second to none. Processors, operating systems, Intel, AMD, Red Hat, Microsoft, half a dozen storage partners. It's customer-driven and through the channel. It's an unbiased, baggage-free mentality."

Partnering rather than acquiring or developing could be "the only card left" for Lenovo, "but it's not a bad deal," said Michael Goldstein, CEO of LAN Infotech, a Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based solution provider that works with Lenovo."It kind of makes them different," he said. "If they just bought someone, they'd be the same as HP or Dell Technologies, and it's hard to go up against the Dell portfolio."

Goldstein is optimistic about LAN Infotech's future with Lenovo, however, saying he expects the company's Lenovo business to increase between 10 and 15 percent this year compared to 2016, driven primarily by ThinkCentre Tiny workstations, the X1 laptop line, and servers.

Goldstein also said Lenovo had come a long way. "They're getting right to the point, they're saying, 'You do this, you get that. Here's what's new, here's what you're going to see, here are the numbers,' and that's a difference," he said. "The stacking rebates, there's definitely a lot of money in that, and they're tracking it for me. That makes it easier, and it shows that they're really thinking like us. You feel like you're a big partner and that you're into the program."
Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea in January 2016, has died at the age of 22. The Washington Examiner reports that Warmbier was returned to his home in Ohio last week; he was in a coma upon arrival.

Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center examined Warmbier, coming to the conclusion that he had lost significant brain tissue in all regions of his brain. However, the medical team could not point to a cause for the tissue loss.

Warmbier had been detained and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly attempting to steal a propaganda banner that hung in the Pyongyang hotel where he was staying.

A statement from Warmbiers family said, "It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost  future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person."

Photo credit: Thinkstock/jaconelli
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Despite its mounting financial woes which led to its eviction last week from its Bridgeport headquarters for not paying rent, Fletcher Thompson is getting a fresh start in Ansonia.

The company, which spent a decade in Shelton, also owes the city of Bridgeport more than $30,000 in back taxes.

Now, the company will be returning to the Valley, renting roughly 6,700 square feet of office space, the entire third floor, at 200 Main St. in downtown Ansonia, according to a news release issued by Mayor David Cassettis office.

Twenty administrative, architectural and engineering positions are to be moved to Ansonia. By comparison, its Bridgeport offices totaled more than 22,000 square feet, with the company saying in 2014 it had around 60 employees.

Its problems came to light shortly after its move to Bridgeport, when the company was ordered to restore nearly half a million dollars to its employee pension plan after the federal government found it had been improperly diverting those funds. It was back in court last year when officials said it had failed to abide by the terms of its repayment plan.

The company also continues to face a litany of lawsuits from contractors, vendors and former employees who said they have not been paid for their services.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Tonino Mavuli, owner of the Ansonia office space, said the building is still being prepared for the firm, but it should be able to move in soon.

Were excited to have them, Mavuli said, adding that he had heard of the firms financial problems. I saw some of that stuff but I think theyre a fairly strong company. We have some confidence in them.

Fletcher Thompson also has offices in New York and New Jersey. Nearly a decade ago, the firm also opened offices in Boston and Naples, Fla., but those offices are no longer listed on its website. Company officials did not respond to requests for comment.

Sheila OMalley, Ansonias economic development director, declined to comment on Fletcher Thompsons tax woes in Bridgeport. She noted that Fletcher Thompson has been in Connecticut for over a century and is well-established.

We think they will make a good tenant, she said. And they have high-paying jobs. Its a skilled workforce they have. Hopefully everything works out here in Ansonia.

ktorres@hearstmediact.com; 203-330-6227
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The No. 2 Connecticut GOP leader has bowed out of a contentious and gender-driven race for the position, saying she was discouraged from running for re-election after Republican boss J.R. Romano sat on his hands.

Wiltons Annalisa Stravato notified party leaders Monday night that she will not seek a second two-year term as the GOPs vice chairwoman, telling them in an email that she had the votes, but that Romanos ambivalencewas a deal-breaker.

Stravatos withdrawal establishes John Slater, Bridgeports Republican chairman from 2012 to 2016, as the favorite to win the leadership post on June 27. Stravato had been expected to face a stout challenge from Slater, with the partys secretary, Margaret Meg Casasanta, also vying for vice chair.

The first major party figure in Connecticut to endorse Donald Trump last spring, Stravato had touted herself as a tireless worker for the GOP.

Unfortunately, it has become very clear that the chairmans continued neutrality as to who serves as his vice chair, is an indication that he would prefer to have someone else serve in the role of vice chairman, Stravato wrote. Therefore, even though my re-election is assured, I do not believe it is in the best interest of the Connecticut Republican Party, as we move forward into the most important election cycle in decades, that we have a leadership team in which doubt may exist within the executive committee.

Romano, who is not expected to face competition for party boss, declined to comment.

Although Romanos mantra has been one of honest broker  letting the 72-member Republican State Central Committee decide the fate of party initiatives such as the relocation of the partys headquarters from Hartford to Southington  GOP leaders said he and Stravato havent always seen eye-to-eye.

Stravato opposed Romanos scuttled plan to reduce the number of state GOP convention delegates to save money, in addition to opposing paying a GOP fundraising consultant a commission on contributions she didnt solicit.

Slater, a State Central Committee member from the states largest city  where Republicans are outnumbered by about 10-to-1  said he is focused squarely on his vice chairmanship bid.

To me nothing has changed, Slater said. I really do believe if Im elected the next vice chairman that Im going to work well with everybody.

Stravato and her supporters had tried to make the case that her re-election would reaffirm the strides women have made in the GOP, which has more female members in the House caucus of the Legislature than do Democrats. The caucus is led by Derbys Themis Klarides, the first woman to hold the post.

nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436; http://twitter.com/gettinviggy
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BRIDGEPORT - The owner of an unlicensed Fairfield daycare accused of killing a 4-month-old Shelton boy with an overdose of Benadryl, has a decision to make.

We talked about the case and the state made an offer, Superior Court Judge Robert Devlin told Carol Cardillo after meeting for more than an hour Tuesday morning with her lawyer, Eugene Riccio and prosecutors.

The judge then continued the case to July 28.

The nature of the states offer was not disclosed and States Attorney John Smriga declined comment. Riccio also had no comment as he left the Main Street courthouse with Cardillo.

Fairfield police said the baby died March 22 at Cardillos unlicensed home day care after getting an overdose of Benadryl.

Cardillo ran the day care out of her Edgewood Road home for 11 years.

Drugs like Benadryl are not supposed to be given to children under the age of 2. The babys parents, Michelle and Matthew Seagull, later said their son had not been given any medications during his short life, and they definitely did not give Cardillo any permission to do so.

The baby had 41,000 nanograms per milliliter of Benadryl in his system, according to the autopsy report. The report states 5,000 nanograms per milliliter and above is a reportable limit.

Police said Cardillo repeatedly denied giving the baby Benadryl and said she did not have any in her home. However, police said that records they obtained from the CVS pharmacy showed that between Jan. 1, 2013 and May 24, 2016, Cardillo purchased 90 bottles of Benadryl, the last one purchased a week before the baby died.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem described the U.S. border with Mexico as a war zone last year when she sent dozens of state National Guard troops there. Noem said theyd be on the front lines of stopping drug smugglers and human traffickers. But newly released records from the National Guard show that in their two-month deployment, the South Dakota troops didnt seize any drugs and sometimes went days without encountering any migrants at all. Noem justified the deployment and a widely criticized private donation to fund as a state emergency because of drugs making their way across the southern border to South Dakota. But the records cast doubt on whether the deployment was effective in addressing that.
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I was worried.

Would Megyn Kelly just give Alex Jones a platform on her new NBC program? Would she fail to challenge his bizarre conspiracy theories?

For example, Jones has said on his nationally syndicated radio show and Infowars web site that the 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown was a hoax.

When I watched Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly on Fathers Day, I was relieved to see Kelly prevent Jones from hijacking their confrontation.

But she does not deserve an A.

The 17-minute segment was a mini-documentary about Jones, with the interview serving as the centerpiece.

Kelly called Joness denial of what happened in Newtown outrageous and a notorious lie.

Jones hemmed and hawed and seemed to soften his claim that the mass killing of 20 school children and six adults was faked.

I tend to believe that children probably did die there, Jones said. But then you look at all the other evidence on the other side.

In a voice-over directed at viewers, Kelly said, Of course, there is no evidence on the other side.

Kelly  a former star on the Fox News Channel  said Jones follows a pattern in which he makes reckless accusations, followed by equivocations and excuses.

I wish Kelly had contradicted Joness theories with more facts in addition to her expressions of disapproval. Thats what Lesley Stahl would have done on 60 Minutes, the long-running CBS program against which Kellys show competes at 7 p.m. Sundays.

A rerun of 60 Minutes drew more viewers than Kellys interview of Jones.

People who lost loved ones in the Newtown massacre urged NBC to cancel the segment because they feared it would give Jones legitimacy.

Several relatives of Newtown victims declined invitations to appear on the program. Only Neil Heslin, whose son was killed in the massacre, agreed to be interviewed.

Advertisers pulled commercials from the show.

WVIT, the NBC-owned station in Connecticut, did not show the interview and instead put on episodes of a program about home makeovers.

Jones made it seem he and Kelly had become buddies for a while.

On his website, Jones played an audio in which Kelly told him she would not conduct a gotcha interview. Im not looking to portray you as some bogeyman, she is heard saying.

She seemed to be promising to ask only softball questions. That was a mistake.

Jones also released a photo showing a smiling Kelly with him in his car. Would Lesley Stahl have gone joyriding with Jones? I doubt it.

Should the interview have been shown? I say yes even though I know it was distressing to the people of Newtown.

I believe the general public needs to know that Jones is trafficking in falsehoods, often cruel ones.

And, as Kelly said, he isnt going away.

I give Kelly a B-plus.

Paul Janensch, of Bridgeport, was a newspaper editor and taught journalism at Quinnipiac University. His weekly Memo on the Media can be heard on wqun.com. Email: paul.janensch@quinnipiac.edu.
Two men have been arrested in connection with the theft of numerous car batteries from Walmart.

Police say a GPS unit attached to one of the stolen batteries help officers catch the suspected thieves.

On Monday night, West Haven police worked with Milford and Rocky Hill police in investigating the thefts.

West Haven police said in a statement, a monitoring company was tracking a GPS unit that had been installed on a car battery outside of Walmart in Rocky Hill in an attempt to combat a recent rash of car battery thefts. The battery was stolen Monday night and the GPS was tracked to Walmart in West Haven just after 11 p.m.

West Haven police dispatchers received real time updates for the location and a motor-vehicle stop was conducted on a U-haul van at Center Street and Union Avenue.

The van was determined to contain numerous stolen car batteries along with the stolen GPS unit and burglar tools. police said. A Walmart manager confirmed a theft occurred at their West Haven store Monday night.

The two people inside the van were arrested.

Peter Burwell Jr., 46, of Center Street West Haven, and Peter Burwell III, 25, of Quinnipiac Avenue New Haven, were both arrested and charged with larceny, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, possession of burglar tools and motor vehicle charges.

Both were held on bond.

The van was impounded and a large amount of stolen items were seized as evidence.
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FAIRFIELD  The porch is the first thing that stands out about 72 Willow St.

Really more of a veranda, the covered space runs the length of the 4,787 square-foot white, clapboard and wood house and looks out onto the street in Fairfields historic Southport section. Its an ideal spot for people watching, reading, or just quietly sipping an iced tea.

Its got that old, genteel feel, said the propertys listing agent Victoria Fingelly.

Indeed, the veranda, like much of the house  which is currently listed for sale at $2,975,000  feels a bit frozen in time. Theres a fireplace in nearly every downstairs room and, off of the veranda, theres a grand reception hall with oak flooring and paneled walls.

It all feels like something out of a 1940s drawing room melodrama, to the point where one half expects Gene Tierney to swan in holding a martini glass.

The house does have a rich history. According to town records, it was built in 1796 by Paul King Sheffield, a Stonington native who engaged in privateering during the Revolutionary War. According to the book The History of Fairfield, Fairfield County Connecticut From 1700 to 1800, by Elizabeth Hubbell Schenk, the Willow Street house was the childhood home of Sheffields son, Joseph Earl Sheffield, who served in the Coast Guard at the age of 12, then went on to raise himself to honor, wealth and distinction.

The web site Historic Buildings of Connecticut is a bit more specific about Joseph Sheffield, whom it said grew up to be a wealthy railroad magnate and philanthropist. He eventually moved to New Haven and gave Yale University a building and a $130,000 endowment for its scientific school. The school was renamed the Sheffield Scientific School in 1861.

Though some of its original features remain, the Sheffields Willow Street home was significantly renovated in the 1850s, and Fingelly said she believes it was redone again in the 1920s. The home was updated again recently, with the addition of a modern chefs kitchen opening up to the family room.

The result is a home that feels modern and old-fashioned all at once.

On the one hand, the kitchen has a subzero refrigerator and freezer, ceiling speakers, a skylight and other contemporary features. Then, upstairs, several rooms feature original coal fireplaces, which, at this point, are mainly decorative.

The house has five bedrooms, five and a half bathrooms, and an extensive wine cellar. It sits on a bit more than half an acre, with its own horse and buggy barn.

Fingelly said what sets the home apart are some of its old-fashioned touches such as the fireplace or the cupboard under the main staircase. One of her favorites is the old-style fire hose in the upstairs hallway  a holdover from the early 20th century when, she said, it was kept handy in case of emergencies.

Its actually a good idea when you think about it, she said.

Do you know of a house or apartment building with an interesting story? Contact acuda@ctpost.com.
The Vatican is looking into a group of exorcists who apparently made a pact with Satan on climate change and the death of Pope Francis.



BARBIE LATZA NADEAU

Daily BeastJune, 2017ROMEPlinio Correa de Oliveira is almost as peculiar in death as he was in life. Dr. Plinio, as he is still known by his devout followers, was a right-wing Catholic figure who founded the ultra conservative Tradition, Family and Property Association, known in Catholic circles as the TFP.In the early 1960s, he famously came to Rome to protest the opening of the Second Vatican Council, which sought to modernize the Catholic Church in a changing era. He called such attempts at renewal a point in history as sad as the death of our Lord and handed out propaganda with similar sentiments.In death, Dr. Plinio is said to be in close contact with Satan, who supposedly can be channeled by Brazilian exorcists. He also apparently rules the so-called afterlife to such an extent that his followers are convinced he controls climate change and is working toward the death of Pope Francis, according to Andrea Tornielli, who writes the Vatican Insider blog, and has published a series of articles outlining this saga worthy of a Dan Brown bestseller.By getting rid of Pope Francis, some of the doctors followers believe, the way would be open for the Catholic Church to elect a more conservative leader in line with their more traditional practices.After Dr. Plinio died in 1995, the TFP broke into two groups. One retains the TFP name and supports the recent claims of dubia or doubts launched against Pope Francis, which are supported by American Cardinal Raymond Burke. The other group, known as the Heralds of the Gospel, was founded by Monsignor Joao Scognamiglio Cla Dias and allegedly takes part in cult worship.The extent of Plinios supernatural proclaimed by Dias (or at least the extent to which his followers exalt him for that perceived power) is the subject of a new inquiry by the Vaticans Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life, according to Tornielli.Specifically, Dr. Plinios followers led by Dias are said to be using rogue exorcism practices in which they actually communicate with the devil possessing people rather than chasing him out, as the standard accepted practice in Catholic exorcisms dictates.According to Catholic sociologist Massimo Introvigne, who has studied Dr. Plinios life work, the Heralds of the Gospel form a sort of secret and extravagant cult, with its trinity composed of Plinio Correa de Oliveira, his mother Donna Lucilia, and Monsignor Cla Dias himself.And that sort of devil worship is understandably a problem for the Catholic Church. On June 12, Cla Dias resigned as head and founder of the Herald of Gospels, although Tornielli says he will stay on in what appears to be a consultant-like role."In leaving this assignment I cannotas I do not wishbefore God, to renounce my father's mission, Dias wrote in his resignation letter, according to Tornielli. And therefore I will continue to be available to each one, as God made me a living model and guardian of this charism given to me by the Holy Spirit.Particularly damning for the cult-like group is a series of videos on the internet that show exorcisms using practices not authorized by the Catholic Church. They include purported conversations between the exorcists and the devil, which is a no-no in standard exorcism procedures. (Yes, exorcism as such remains a staple of the faith and authorized practitioners are not only recognized but recommended by Pope Francis.)Woe to the exorcist if he loses himself behind curious questions, which the ritual expressly forbids, or if he lets himself be led into a discussion with the devil as he is the master of lies, Tornielli says, quoting the words of the Churchs most famous exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth.In one passage from a video seen by The Daily Beast, Dias asks one of his minions to read from a transcript that was purportedly jotted down by an observer at one of the rogue exorcisms encompassing what appears to be dialogue between the exorcist and Satan.The conversation was stilted, as one might expect with the struggle for the possessed persons soul, but the gist was that Plinio was randomly breaking people's computers so that they cant go on the internet and that he is changing the climate and was therefore the author of the climate change, and the increase of heat. It is Plinio who does everything, according to the devil as channeled through the exorcist. Then, the devil predicts that a meteorite will crash into the Atlantic ocean. North America will disappear, he warns.The devil then turns to the fate of Pope Francis, which Tornielli was able to transcribe and translate from the somewhat distorted video. The Vatican? It's mine, mine! the devil says to the exorcist, according to Torniellis transcript. The pope does whatever I want, he's stupid! He obeys me in everything. He is my glory, he is willing to do everything for me. He serves me.Then the devil, again as channeled by the exorcist for the Heralds of the Gospel, predicts that the pope will perish, not during a voyage, but at the Vatican. The pope will die falling, the exorcists transcript says quite clearly.While much of the Heralds of the Gospel work seems, well, fanciful at best, the Vaticans investigation is very serious. The Vatican could censure the group or strip it of the blessings of the Catholic Church, which would likely not actually stop them, but instead just push them farther underground. Or it could try to corral them back into the fold and hope they stop having sympathy for the devil.
Questions about privacy and public safety hovered over arguments at the North Dakota Supreme Court on Monday, June 19 in a Cass County DUI case that may test a decision handed down by the nations highest court last year.

The arguments came nearly a year to the day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of warrantless breath tests in drunk driving cases but said the Fourth Amendment doesnt permit warrantless blood tests, a more invasive procedure. The ruling came out of three consolidated cases under the title Birchfield v. North Dakota.

That decision was cited several times during Mondays arguments before the five justices took the case under advisement. Monty Mertz, the supervising attorney at the Fargo Public Defenders Office who appeared for the defense Monday, said the Birchfield case didnt address urine tests.

Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court will have to decide it, Mertz said after the hearing. But whether that comes through Mondays case remains to be seen.

The dispute originated when a Fargo police officer stopped Steven Floyd Helm for driving without headlights at night in May 2016. After three field sobriety tests, Helm was arrested  an officer believed he was under the influence of drugs  and he later refused a urine test.

The test refusal earned Helm a Class C felony charge because of his criminal record, according to court records.

In a brief, Mertz said no exception to the warrant requirement justifies the seizure of his urine in this case, arguing that the charge violated his Fourth Amendment rights. The district court agreed, concluding that urine tests are far closer to blood tests.

The states interest in performing chemical tests to combat drug-impaired driving, while strong, does not overcome a persons Fourth Amendment right to be secure in his or her bodily fluids, urine included, District Court Judge Frank Racek wrote in his order dismissing the refusal charge in January. The other two charges against Helm had previously been dismissed.

Racek said urine contains large amounts of personal health and genetic information that can be stored for further use, adding that urine tests cause considerably more embarrassment for arrestees than breath tests.

The state appealed the case to the state Supreme Court and argued that urine testing is the least intrusive means for detecting drug-impaired drivers since breath tests only measure alcohol and blood tests are too invasive. Cass County Assistant States Attorney Cherie Clark asked the justices Monday to reverse the district court decision.

Put simply, urine testing is integral to deterring drug-impaired driving, the states brief argues. Thus it is also integral to furthering the state's paramount interest in highway safety.

Last fall, the Minnesota Supreme Court said an alleged drunk driver there couldnt be prosecuted for refusing a warrantless urine test.
Last Chance for Leicas! Join, Renew, of Gift a Membership by June 30!

Back in 2015, when I had the opportunity to test Leicas revamped Trinovid line of binoculars in muggy Honduras, I said that Leicas second generation Trinovids offered the red dot quality you expect at a price point you necessarily wouldnt.

Theyre very nice bins, and Im not just saying that because Leica has been a valuable partner to the ABA for many years. But Leica has always been good to us and to our members, and this months drawing of a pair of Leicas swanky new Trinovid HD 832, to be given to a lucky birder who joins, renews, or gifts a membership before the end of June is just another example.

If you want to get involved in this drawing, make sure you join/renew/gift by June 30 and check the box that says you are joining/renewing/gifting because of this drawing.

But heres the kicker. If youve already joined because of one of our previous drawings (and you did not win), you are automatically entered into this one. No need to purchase another membership or renew for an additional year (though if you do, we surely appreciate that).

What this also means is that if you join because of this drawing, you can be entered into future drawings. For the rest of the year all members will be eligible for all drawings. You will just need to visit a special website to opt in to those drawings every month. Joining now, however, means you will be set up to do so for the rest of the year.

So what are you waiting for? Theres no time like *now* to join the ABA! And make sure you let us know that the drawing sent you!
Just after midnight local time on Monday, June 19, a man deliberately ran an oversized van into a crowd of pedestrians in London, seeking to crush out as many lives as possible. The scene has become familiar, from Jerusalem to Berlin to Londons seat of power in Westminster. This time, though, it was a British driver targeting Muslims exiting a mosque after Ramadan prayers.

An elderly man had collapsed outside the Muslim Welfare House, not far from the Finsbury Park mosque and was receiving CPR. At the moment one person was trying to save life, 47-year-old Darren Osborne tried to end it, plowing into the crowd of worshipers. After impact, Muslims restrained Osborne, and an imam reportedly kept him from being seriously injured until police arrived about 15 minutes later.

Osborne reportedly showed no remorse after his arrest  smiling, blowing kisses, and screaming, I want to kill all Muslims.

He injured 10 people and the elderly man later died, although its not clear the attack caused his death.

That is to say, as a terrorist, Osborne was a failure.

He did not even succeed in dissuading Muslims from attending Ramadan services the same day. Saide Ottman, a 27-year-old Muslim, told The Telegraph, Im scared, were all scared, but Im going back to the mosque tonight.

His act of barbarism succeeded only in verifying the Islamists narrative of infidel society, clawing at cherished fundamental rights, and undermining the high conception of human dignity that has lain at the heart of Western civilization for centuries.

The freedom to worship without fear is a right we cherish as a nation and was won at great human cost over many years. The appalling attack on Muslims in Finsbury Park is an attack on us all and on the culture and values of our country, said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.

Freedom of religion sprang from the traditional Christian view of human anthropology, which sees others as rational beings created in Gods image. Freedom of conscience emerged as a patristic teaching to displace pagan persecution. Safeguarding members of all religions  and their property  is a long-established legal custom that grew out of Christian teaching.

Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote to the Bishop of Naples in the sixth century that those who wish to restrain non-Christians from observing the customary rites of their religion are clearly acting for themselves rather than for God. Non-Christians should have full liberty to observe and keep all their festivals and holy days, as both they and their fathers have done for so long. To Bishop Peter of Terracina, he wrote that those who dissent from the Christian religion must be converted by gentleness, by kindness, by admonition, by persuasion, not by force.

His teaching continued to hold sway for centuries. At the cusp of the thirteenth century, Pope Innocent III insisted that those who convert unwillingly are not considered to possess the true faith. Therefore, in the celebration of their own festivals, no one ought to disturb them in any way.

Religious tolerance spanned both Eastern and Western Christendom. The Patriarch of Constantinople Metrophanes III wrote to the Church in Crete in 1568 that one may never act immorally toward a non-Christian under the pretext that the injustice is done against a heterodox and not to a believer. As our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospels said do not oppress or accuse anyone falsely: do not make any distinction or give room to the believers to injure those of another belief. Christian anthropology and a healthy respect for private property instilled by the Ten Commandments benefited all religions.

At this point, readers may be tempted to cite the familiar litany of infractions Christianity perpetrated against presentism, endlessly rehearsed in some quarters often with lavish embellishment: the Crusades, the Inquisition, the witch hunts, etc. Religious persecution undoubtedly attended every medieval society, including those dedicated to Christ.

However, pre-Modern Christianity was far from uniquely cruel compared to contemporary Inca or Aztec rituals, or even state religions that promised enlightenment. The Taoist Emperor Wuzongs destruction of 4,600 Buddhist temples and displacing of 260,500 monks and nun in ninth century China, or the centuries of tension between Hindus and adherents of Jainism in India (which, according to disputed legend, included the mass impaling of Jains) come to mind.

When it comes to dark moments in Christian history, truly, familiarity breeds contempt.

Moreover, anti-Christian persecution has flared up more recently, often with state backing. From 1899 to 1901, Chinas Yihequan (the Righteous and Harmonious Fists) combined shamanism and martial arts into a cult dedicated to driving out Western influences. The London Times recorded the leaders of the Boxer Rebellion shouting kill the devils before massacring the native Christians and burning them alive in their homes. In all, they killed 32,000 Christians.

Indeed, Buddhist monks led angry mobs into Christian services with threats of physical assault in Sir Lank multiple times within the last two years.

Darren Osborne is no monk. He is, according to his mother, a troubled man who took medication to treat mental health issues. He represents no broad sector of British society nor any accepted form of Christian teaching. (It is not immediately clear that he was religious.) He was not known to UK security. And his actions have been roundly condemned by all. There is no social movement eager to follow Osbornes deadly footsteps. Allowing people to live in harmony by respecting individual rights has allowed society to prosper.

Despite its occasional failures, the seeds of liberty within the Judeo-Christian tradition have flourished, and their roots run deep.

However, the same day as Osbornes attack, a 31-year-old died while committing the fifth terrorist incident in Paris in four months. He tried to ram a car full of explosives into a police vehicle outside the residence of French President Emmanuel Macron, the Champs-Elysees. Unlike Osborne, he did not cause any injuries, an investigator said, except to himself. The perpetrator of the attack was a known extremist but not under continual surveillance  much like Khuram Butt, one of the jihadists involved in the van attack on pedestrians on London Bridge on June 3. These kinds of incidents have a significant cultural following and, Europeans believe, are destined to become a regular occurrence in the continents large cities.

And so the two cultures, with two different conceptions of human rights, individual prerogatives, and divine imperatives, continue their interaction apace. One distances itself ever-further from the religious culture that created its respect for religious liberty, private property, and the integrity of conscience. The other increasingly sees its adherents radicalized into a fundamentalist version of its own faith, which holds the mirror image of those social values. Determining which vision will dominate the future of the transatlantic sphere is the great drama of our time, a drama which too often lapses into tragedy.

(Pictures: Londons Finsbury Park mosque. Photo credit: Shutterstock.)
Today is World Refugee Day, an annual observance created by the United Nations to commemorate the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. Here are five facts you should know about refugees and refugee policy in the United States.

1. The U.S. government defines refugee as any person who is outside any country of such persons nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

2. The first refugee legislation in the United States was the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which brought 400,000 Eastern Europeans to the U.S. Other refugee-related legislation included the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 (which brought in 214,000 refugees fleeing communism) and the Fair Share Refugee Act of 1960 (which mostly brought those still living in displaced persons camps after World War II). The U.S. government also used the Attorney Generals humanitarian parole authority to bring refugees into the country, beginning in 1956 with Hungarian nationals and ending with hundreds of thousands of Indochinese refugees in the 1970s.

3. The number of refugees admitted into the U.S. each year is decided by the President. Before the beginning of each fiscal year, the President, in consultation with Congress, establishes an overall refugee admissions ceiling as well as regional allocations. So far in So far during the 2017 fiscal year, 45,732 people have been admitted. The total number of refugees authorized for admission in 2015the last year for which official statistics are availablewas 69,920. The largest regional allocation was from Burma (18,386), Iraq (12,676), Somalia (8,858), and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (7,876).

4. Since 1975, the U.S. has resettled more than 3 million refugees, with nearly 77 percent being either Indochinese or citizens of the former Soviet Union. Since the enactment of the Refugee Act of 1980, annual admissions figures have ranged from a high of 207,116 in 1980, to a low of 27,100 in 2002. In 2013, the leading countries of nationality for refugee admissions were Iraq (28 percent), Burma (23 percent), Bhutan (13 percent), and Somalia (11 percent). Seventy-five percent of refugee admissions in 2013 were from these four countries. Other leading countries included Cuba (6.0 percent), Iran (3.7 percent), Democratic Republic of Congo (3.7 percent), and Sudan (3.1 percent).

5. The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is the federal government agency charged with providing benefits and services to assist the resettlement and local integration of refugee populations. Some of the ORR programs include Refugee Cash Assistance and Refugee Medical Assistance (for up to 8 months); Refugee Social Services, such as job and language training (for up to 5 years); and temporary custody and care to unaccompanied refugee children. But according to a recent paper by the National Bureau of Economic Research, by the time refugees who entered the U.S. as adults have been here for 20 years, they will have paid, on average, $21,000 more in taxes to all levels of government than they received in benefits over that time span.
 Politico Notes Israels Security Challenges | Main | Newsweek: "Why Is Israel So Corrupt?" 

June 20, 2017

Huffington Post Does Not Recognize Vehicle-Ramming Terrorist Attacks Against Israel

In the wake of the recent ramming attack in London, the Huffington Post features a nearly 2 minute video on vehicle ramming attacks as a new form of terrorism. The video states "Here are the vehicle attacks that have occurred in the last year" and then it shows footage of attacks in London, Nice, Berlin and Stockholm. There is no mention of several vehicle attacks in Israel over the past year.

All told there have been over 60 ramming attacks by Palestinians against Israelis.

The Huffington Post has a long and disturbing history of anti-Israel articles, opinion pieces and on-line commenting. The failure of this featured video to even recognize the occurrence of terrorist attacks against Israel is a striking example of implicit bigotry and dehumanization of Jews. The implication is that Israeli victims of terrorism do not deserve recognition or the humanitarian empathy bestowed upon European victims.

This continues a troubling pattern where the British media does not acknowledge ramming attacks against Israelis.

Posted by SS at June 20, 2017 02:28 PM

Since this comment is FACTUAL I am sure it will not be posted. Huffington Post features a video on car-ramming as a form of terrorism. But its list of attacks over the past year--including incidents in the UK, France, Sweden, and Germany--ignores Israel, where all told, there have been more than 60 vehicle ramming attacks by Palestinians against Israelis. As a gay man I can tell you now the twisted facts those of you in the media present or the plain out untruths are the very reason the public no longer trusts you. And one of the main reasons some many gays such as myself voted for President Trump.

Posted by: Jason Lamebeaver at June 24, 2017 12:42 PM

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 "Tragic Inaction on Congo" | Main | Huffington Post Does Not Recognize Vehicle-Ramming Terrorist Attacks Against Israel 

June 20, 2017

Politico Notes Israels Security Challenges



A Politico report on a bipartisan group of political analysts, pundits and lobbyists visiting Israel provided readers with a look at some of the security challenges facing the Jewish state (Israel trip calms D.C. tensions,? June 18, 2017).

Politico reporter Daniel Lippman noted that a number of former to Trump campaign officials and prominent Democrats? went on a seven-day trip to Israel that was sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation and organized by American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) political director Rob Bassin.

A total of 16 U.S. former officials and political operatives met with Israeli government officials and business leaders and traveled the entire country.

Bill Burton, a former Obama administration deputy press secretary, told Politico that a stark contrast? existed between the realities and environment that Israel faces on a day-to-day basis as opposed to those present in the U.S.

J. Toscano, a partner at the Democratic ad firm GMMB, observed:

The fact that you can drive from one border line with an area thats controlled by Hamas to another border line with a region thats controlled by ISIS in the same time that you can drive from D.C. to New York really gives you a deep sense of the security challenge that the country faces and that the region faces.?

A Washington D.C.-based publication that focuses on politics and policy, Politico doesnt often report on Israeland when it does, its coverage is frequently flawed. As CAMERA has highlighted, the paper has called convicted Palestinian terrorist Jibril Rajoub an urbane diplomat,? erroneously claimed that Israel occupies the Gaza Strip (Politicos Misleading Poll on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict,? Jan 12, 2017), and frequently omitted Palestinian rejection of U.S. and Israeli offers for statehood and peace (Politicos Letter from Israel is Marked to the Wrong Address,? Jan. 5, 2017.

Politico should be commended for providing readers with a straightforward, albeit brief, look at the dangers Israel and Israelis face.

Posted by SD at June 20, 2017 08:31 AM

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Theres an End of Days madness in the air. Weve had a spate of terrorist attacks and a conflagration of biblical proportions which claimed dozens of innocent lives.

What the hells going to happen next?

While all this was unfolding on a Hollywood disaster movie scale, the self-serving political class has been convulsed by the fallout from a seismic General Election result which has left the nation rudderless.

That old adage about attempting to navigate a certain creek while suffering from a 100 per cent deficiency in the paddle department was never more appropriate.

The Conservative Party has reverted to unsavoury type; the Prime Minister did her trademark hiding-behind-the-sofa trick when the country was crying out for leadership; and Labour has tried shamefully to exploit tragedy to incite revolution on the streets.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn looks on as community and religious leaders speak at the scene of a terror attack in Finsbury Park

Frankly, its been difficult to keep up over the past few days. At one stage, I turned on the TV to see Gerry Adams giving a press conference outside 10 Downing Street.

Dont tell me Adams is our new PM. Who voted for that? Still, given the prevailing level of hysteria and insanity, nothing would have surprised me. I wouldnt put it past Corbyn to enter into a formal power-sharing arrangement with Sinn Fein, just to get the Tory scum out of power.

And if that happened, no doubt it would be greeted ecstatically by spoilt, vacuous millennials  whose collective memory dates back no further than their last post on Snapchat, whatever that is  and who have brainwashed themselves into thinking this superannuated Trot is the new Messiah.

Its not just the young, either, who have bought into the fiction that Corbyn is a fit and proper person to be allowed near the levers of power.

The latest opinion poll across all voters gives Labour a 3 per cent lead, were another election to be held soon. Heaven help us.

Yet instead of deciding to bind and heel, to steady the Buffs, the Tories appear to have suffered a serious nervous breakdown. According to one report, May has been given ten days by the Men In Suits to get her act together, or walk the plank.

Prime Minister Theresa May and Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick talk to faith leaders at Finsbury Park Mosque in north London

Contrary to accepted wisdom, disloyalty is the Tories real secret weapon. Rivals are not so much jockeying for position, theyre under starters orders. They should be careful what they wish for. But if theyre going to shoot her, they should get it over with sharpish.

To her credit, Mother Theresa is still clinging to the wreckage, against her better judgment, in the hope that the ship of state can be corrected. Unlike, of course, Call Me Dave, who did a Captain Oates the moment the referendum went against him.

Yesterday, still smarting from the concerted kicking she got over her underwhelming response to the Grenfell Tower fire  deemed insufficiently lachrymose and touchy-feely by the commissars of emotional correctness  Theresa pulled on her best Widows Weeds and paid a visit to Finsbury Park, scene of the latest senseless attack on Londons streets.

Whether that will be enough to save her is debatable. As far as her critics are concerned, she could have turned up in the full burka and it still would have been disrespectful.

Unaccustomed as this column is to sticking up for Mrs May, Id far rather have a Prime Minister who responds to tragedy in a dignified and measured fashion than one who switches on the trembling lip, starts hugging all and sundry and cynically dragoons the dead for party-political point-scoring.

Grenfell Tower in west London pictured after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building on Wednesday morning, killing at least 79 people

You cant imagine Churchill kissing East End crones during the Blitz, just so he could parade his feminine side for the Pathe newsreels. Mother Theresa may have all the charisma and emotional intelligence of Albert RN, but at least she doesnt flick automatically into the full Tony Blair Peoples Princess mode as her default response to adversity.

Twenty years ago, in this column, in this newspaper, in the wake of Lady Dis death, I confessed to feeling like a stranger in my own land. Who were all these grown men and women crying a river over someone they didnt know, and monstering anyone who failed to display the prescribed dollop of vicarious grief?

People are understandably distressed today about the heartbreaking loss of life at Grenfell Tower. Im one of them. But thats no excuse for those who are desperate to show they care more deeply than others.

If I hear another well-heeled Notting Hillbilly proclaiming their new-found empathy with their less fortunate neighbours on the nearby sink estate  about whom theyd never given a second thought until last Wednesday  I shall reach for the sick bag. In this depressing age of rock-around-the-clock media, with everyone starring in their own movie, never underestimate the ability of self-promoting celebs to make the suffering of others all about them.

One person died and several others were injured after a van hit pedestrians in Finsbury Park, north London yesterday

We have come to expect this nauseating exhibitionism from dopey birds like Lily Allen. But we are entitled to expect the leader of Her Majestys Loyal Opposition to behave with a little more decorum.

Yet, despicably, Corbyn  a hard-hearted terrorist cheerleader who has always been happy to overlook the thousands of innocents killed by his heroes in Hezbollah, Hamas and the IRA  had the audacity to claim at the weekend that he cared more about the tragic residents of Grenfell Tower than Theresa May, a devout, churchgoing Christian and vicars daughter.

In case youre wondering, I decided deliberately to exempt myself from the knee-jerk witch-huntery which followed the awful tower block fire. The facts spoke for themselves. There was no grandstanding or second-guessing necessary. Nor did I succumb to the temptation to dignify with a response those opportunist Left-wing ghouls who blamed the tragedy on the Tory cuts.

They are without shame.

How else could Marxist stooge John McDonnell, Corbyns puppet-master and Shadow Chancellor, call for a million people to take to the streets in a Day of Rage aimed at bringing down a democratically elected government?

Corbyn himself is advocating that private property should be seized to house the displaced of Grenfell Tower, even though its against his beloved human rights laws. The mask didnt take long to slip, did it? You cant say you werent warned.

Theres an End of Days madness in the air. Weve had a spate of terrorist attacks and a conflagration of biblical proportions which claimed dozens of innocent lives

While we all sympathise with the plight of those poor folk made homeless by the fire, Seventies-style socialist direct action isnt the answer. And this from a man who aspires to the highest office in the land.

Were not out of the woods yet. The shopping with violence season will soon be upon us. Summers here and the time is right for fighting in the streets. The no justice, no peace headbangers are gearing up for a ruck.

By all accounts, they plan to storm Parliament during the Queens Speech tomorrow. Lets hope the Old Bill are ready for them and prepared to crack a few skulls.

So this is no time for the Tories to start playing silly buggers again. And stop squabbling about Brexit, too. Respect the referendum result. Democracy is hanging by a gossamer thread and, far from rallying to its defence, the official Opposition is blatantly fomenting civil unrest.

Labours cynical exploitation of human tragedy, and its leaders refusal to accept the legitimate result of the election proves yet again it is utterly unsuited for office.

Whatever happens next, we need, if youll pardon the expression, a strong and stable Government  initially to get us through the next few months and then through Brexit and beyond.

For better or worse, that means a grown-up, united Conservative Party. As I wrote before the election, the alternative is simply too horrible to contemplate.

It still is.
In 2017, the food porn trend is huge. But one couple have taken it to the next level.

Trained chef, Sharni Rosser, 26, from Adelaide, made a body scrub which smelled uncannily like food for her partner, Nikki Merritt, 26, one Christmas.

She soon found herself inundated with requests for colourful bath and body products from her friends.

'The business started off as a Christmas gift idea. I made the body scrub, put it in a jar and tied a ribbon around it and put a photo of it on Facebook,' Sharni told Daily Mail Australia.

Sharni Rosser (pictured), 26, is a trained chef who made a body scrub for her partner Nikki Merritt, 26, one Christmas

A couple from Adelaide who have a thriving and colourful bath and body products business started it on a whim

'My friends then started commenting asking for me to make them some and the response was amazing.

'They then came back to me and were saying: "Can you make that again? This time we'll pay you!".'

Sharni and Nikki have labelled their business, Oh Deer Sugar, a 'non-edible bakery' with a focus on vegan and cruelty-free bath and body products.

Their Instagram profile is filled with pictures of their items which are all the colours of the rainbow - and with Sharni's background in cooking they aim for everything to look and smell like real food.

Sharni and Nikki have labelled Oh Deer Sugar a non-edible bakery with a focus on vegan and cruelty free bath and body products

Their Instagram is filled with pictures of their items which are all the colours of the rainbow

'We try to make it smell as real as possible. We watch what's trending, both Nikki and I are massive foodies so we also make what we're craving. What's exciting is no one has done what we have done before,' Sharni said.

Sharni and Nikki are both vegans and their personal ethics play an important part in the business.

However, the items are also an explosion of colour which can really be noticed when dropped in a bath.

'From the beginning we wanted things to be bright and colourful. When people think of the vegan lifestyle they think it's boring and earthy, so we want people to be wowed by the colours,' they said.

The items are an explosion of colour which can really be noticed when dropped in a bath

'From the beginning we wanted things to be bright and colourful. When people think of the vegan lifestyle they think its boring and earthy, so we want people to be wowed by the colours'

All of the ingredients are organic, fair trade and mostly plant derived. On top of this, the colours are all cosmetic grade and tested, meaning you know that what you're putting on your skin is safe.

There are 90 base products in their range and they bring in three or four new products every few weeks to keep things interesting.

'The unicorn waffle was the latest new product we had, people really loved that one especially with the unicorn trend at the moment,' Sharni said.

With Sharni's background in cooking they aim for everything to look and smell like real food

Oh Deer Sugar also offers a monthly subscription box where people can have a mystery box sent to their home each month. The last one was called 'winter warmers'.

The company was mainly built up through social media, with Instagram playing a huge part in their success.

'We post to Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter and Snapchat a few times a day, we like to flood peoples feeds. Social media is amazing, the amount of people you can reach out to is incredible,' she explained.

The duo started the business in November 2013 when they sold their products through car boot sales and markets on the weekend

Oh Deer Sugar also offers a monthly subscription box where people can have a mystery box sent to their home each month

The duo started the business in November 2013 when they sold their products through car boot sales and markets on the weekend.

They were both working full time as they started the business but after several months quit their jobs to focus solely on Oh Deer Sugar.

Their store in Adelaide opened two years ago, which started through a South Australian government funded project for starting businesses. They started in a shop front for free and then built up a plan that allowed them to turn it over to a commercial lease a year ago.

Their store in Adelaide opened two years ago, which started through a South Australian government funded project

Oh Deer Sugar also offers a monthly subscription box where people can have a mystery box sent to their home each month

'We try to keep on top of products and we replenish once we're sold out.

'At the moment we've been sourcing a warehouse to keep up with demands, then we can hire more staff to help make and dispatch the products and take a bit of a step back before moving forward,' they said.

With the success of the business they now offer afterpay and are looking to open a store interstate.

For more information about Oh Deer Sugar, click here.
For many women, unwelcome wolf-whistles, catcalls and worse are an unfortunate fact of everyday life.

And now a study has attempted to shed light on just why some men feel the urge to harass members of the opposite sex.

Promundo, a global research group, teamed up with UN Women in a bid to find out what makes men more likely to sexually harass women in the street - and the reasons may surprise you.

On the whole, they found that young men with a higher level of education were more likely to make lewd comments than their older, less educated counterparts.

Scroll down for video

In some countries, young men were accused of living in a 'suspended state of adolescence' as they are unable to find work, can't afford to marry, and end up stuck with their parents

Researchers spoke to 4,830 men in the Middle East and North Africa - Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and the Palestinian territories - for the study.

In some cases up to 64 per cent of men admitted to sexually harassing women.

According to NPR.org, this could be down to factors like 'high unemployment rates, political instability and pressure to supply their family's daily needs'.

One of the co-authors of the study told the news site that many of these young men young men 'have high aspirations for themselves and feel that they aren't able to meet them'.

'So they [harass women] to put them in their place,' they explained. 'They feel like the world owes them.'

In other countries such as Egypt, young men were accused of living in a 'suspended state of adolescence' as they are unable to find work, can't afford to marry, and end up stuck with their parents.

In other places, however, up to 90 per cent of men said they harassed women purely to 'get their kicks'.
Bristol Palin has honored her husband Dakota Meyer on Father's Day with a gushing tribute thanking him for being not only an 'amazing' father to their two girls, but also a loving stepdad to her eight-year-old son Tripp.

The 26-year-old mom took to Instagram on Sunday to post a stunning black and white photo of Dakota, 28, holding their one-year-old daughter Sailor Grace and their newborn Atlee Bay while Tripp stands beside him.

The outdoor shot sees Dakota looking up at the sky with a smile on his face as Trip tries to soothe Atlee, who is crying in her father's arms.

Scroll down for video

Doting dad: Bristol Palin took to Instagram on Sunday to post a black and white photo of her husband Dakota Meyer posed with their daughters and her son Tripp

Gushing tribute: Bristol thanked Dakota for being an 'amazing' father to both their daughters and her son Tripp

Mother-of-three: Bristol and Dakota welcomed their daughter Atlee Bay into the world in May

'This about sums it up,' Bristol captioned the image. 'Happy Father's Day to this man right here!!

'You never cease to amaze me as a father to not only our girls, but Tripp as well - you have blown any expectation I could've had about you being a dad!

'There's no one else in the world I'd rather change diapers with at 2am.. you're amazing and we love you!!!' she added.

It was clearly a special day for the family, who celebrated Father's Day by going on a hike together.

Celebration: The family went for a hike together on Sunday, and Bristol shared a video of Dakota carrying their one-year-old daughter Sailor Grace on his back

Doting dad: Bristol went on to post a snapshot of Dakota holding Sailor while standing near a stream

Bristol proudly shared a video of Dakota hiking with Sailor strapped into a carrier on his back.

The Medal of Honor recipient donned a black tank top in the Texas heat and was on the phone while Sailor played behind him.

Dakota revealed earlier this month that he is preparing for Competition Dynamic's 2017 Sniper Challenge, which involves land navigation, practical shooting, problem solving, and other related tasks.

This is the second video Bristol shared of them hiking as a family, and she went on to post a snapshot of Dakota with Sailor in his arms as he stood in a stream.

Great grandpa: Bristol also paid tribute to her father, Todd Palin, sharing a video of him holding Sailor

Loved little girl: Dakota opted to share a snapshot of their eldest daughter posed with his dad Michael in honor of Father's Day

Although her father, Todd Palin, was in Alaska, Bristol made sure to pay tribute to him as well.

The mother-of-three shared a video of a smiling Todd holding Sailor, writing: 'Happy Father's Day to this guy too!! We all know Sailor is your favorite.'

Sailor is undoubtedly loved by both of her grandfathers, and Dakota opted to share a snapshot of their eldest daughter posed with his dad Michael.

'Happy Fathers Day to the man I owe it all to. I appreciate you making me the man I am. #fathersday,' he wrote.

Adventure: Bristol's sister Willow, 22, posted a snapshot of herself in the cockpit of a plane with their dad, writing: 'Happy Fathers Day, Dad! We couldn't ask for a better Dad and Papa'

Family photo: Their youngest sister, Piper, posted a snapshot of herself with Willow and their parents, Sarah and Todd, at a wedding earlier this month

Bristol's sisters Willow, 22, and Piper, 16, celebrated their father in a similar fashion on Instagram.

Willow posted a snapshot of herself in the cockpit of a plane with her adventure-loving dad, writing: 'Happy Fathers Day, Dad! We couldn't ask for a better Dad and Papa.'

Meanwhile, Piper shared a photo of her and Willow with their parents, Sarah and Todd, at a wedding together.

'Happy Father's Day to the coolest dad out there! Thank you for everything you do for us,' she captioned the snapshot.

Interesting choice: Bristol's mom Sarah joked that her dad is Russian President Vladimir Putin's doppelganger, sharing a photo collage of the two men

However, the most interesting Father's Day shout out came from their mother Sarah.

The former Republican vice presidential nominee took to Facebook on Sunday to share a collage of images featuring both her father Charles and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

'Doppelganger post in honor of Dad's extraordinary sense of humor! Who's Who?' she wrote.

'(All these years media claimed I could see Russia from my house... little did they know that's not Putin I watch - it's my dad.)'

Support system: Bristol and Dakota took their daughters Sailor Grace and Atlee Bay on a hike with them last week as he started training for an outdoor sniper competition

Happy family: Bristol and Dakota are pictured with their daughters, Sailor Grace and Atlee, and her eight-year-old son Tripp, her only child with her former fiance Levi Johnston

In the caption, Sarah referenced one of her most famous lines from the 2008 presidential campaign, which occurred after she was asked to hare her insight into Russia as governor of the state closest to the nation.

'Theyre our next-door neighbors, and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska,' Sarah said.

However, when comedian Tina Fey was playing the Republican candidate on Saturday Night Live, she said: 'I can see Russia from my house.'

The comedic line went on to be incorrectly attributed to Sarah herself.

And while Sarah seems to have a sense of humor about the situation, bringing it up again was an interesting choice considering the FBI is currently investigating potential ties between Russia and President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign team.
Supermarket shoppers love a bargain - and Poundland knows that better than most.

And now the tactics employed by the retailers' female-led buying team in order to keep the tills ringing have become the subject of an ITV documentary.

Trouble in Poundland follows the crack team made up of general merchandise buyer Clare Stevens, food and beverages senior buyer Jo Wrate, and confectionary buyer Tina Locklin - and captures the great lengths they'll go to to bring customers' their favourite products at Poundland's infamously low-price.

The documentary shows the pressure to deliver doesn't faze the women, who were filmed pulling deadlines for enormous bulk orders of reading glasses forward by months in order to keep shelves stacked, and dreaming up an own-brand chocolate bar to rival Poundland's best-selling Toblerone.

General merchandising buyer Clare Stevens at Poundland heads on a business trip to Hong Kong to check on her order of 1.2million units of reading glasses - one of Poundland's top selling items in ITV's new documentary, Trouble in Poundland

Tina Locklin confectionery buyer (left) and food and beverages senior buyer, Jo Wrate, are pictured with their new chocolate bar 'Twin Peaks' in a Poundland store in Wolverhampton

After the 2016 referendum saw the British public vote for Brexit, the pound hit an all-time low and the popular discount retailer saw its profits plummet by over 80 percent.

As it markets itself on the single-price point, fresh blood was brought in to spearhead efforts to prevent profits falling further, in the shape of retail guru Barry Williams.

Poundland's new trading director was followed by ITV cameras for his first year in the role, as he rallied the buying team to boost sales by focusing relenetlessly on the retailer's most popular products.

Clare, who spends 12 weeks of the year travelling abroad sourcing stock, getting tough with one supplier, Jamie Denham, by demanding an emergency supply of 1.2million units of reading glasses in just 45 days.

Customer favourites

The glasses are among the store's biggest selling items, and after launching in 2012, Poundland has shifted 28million pairs - but during filming the store was running low.

After admitting that she underestimated the quantity needed with her original order, Clare told Jamie she needed more glasses and she needed them 'now' - and refused to accept any compromise on quality in order to turn the delivery around quickly.

'I want to be really clear, I want the right grade, the right quality and the right testing. And of course I'm a buyer and I want it all,' she said on the show.

Clare refuses to take no for an answer and, eager to please his client, Jamie agreed to set up a specialist production line in the Chinese factory that manufactures the frames solely to meet her exacting demands.

Poundland's new trading director, Barry Williams, uses every trick in the book to keep the tills ringing and bring profits up

The machines were run non-stop for two solid weeks, churning out the cheap reading glasses 24 hours a day to fulfill the order.

When the pair met in Hong Kong to finalise details, the merchandise manager demanded: 'Where is my stock?'

Nightmare deadline

But Jamie visibly relaxed after Clare admitted she'd been a 'nightmare', and thanked him for delivering on her challenging deadline.

'I do think I am appreciated,' he laughed nervously.

'As long as I deliver it... If it doesn't turn up, I'll be dead,' he added.

So determined is she to ensure that stores don't run out of the popular reading glasses, Clare makes the tough decision to sacrifice over 100,000 in profit in order to get the supplies to the UK by air within seven days - rather than by sea, which would take six weeks.

Poundland claims to be Europe's biggest single price retailer with 840 shops and seven million customers a week

It's the buyers' job to get the right products in stores at the right time - and at the right price.

For the stars of the documentary, that even meant launching their own versions of popular brands in a bid to keep customers happy while boosting profits.

After Toblerones makers, US food giant Mondelez, reduced its bars from 170g to 150g, and added extra space between the triangles of the bar in the wake of Brexit, Poundland was on the receiving end of complaints from customers.

High street chain Poundland launched a new triangular-shaped bar in direct competition with one of its own biggest-selling items  Toblerone

In light of the changes the chain came up with its own version, dubbed Twin Peaks, which weighs a mighty 180g but still costs just 1.

Negotiating deals with suppliers proved tougher than ever, as Tina and Jo were tasked with finding a UK manufacturer to produce their own-brand bar.

In March they told Jack Craig, of Walkers Chocolate in Birmingham, the firm they ultimately secured as the maker of the bar, that they want to bring their order forward from October to May.

He was left speechless when Jo dropped her bombshell in a taste test meeting.

But she boldly countered, saying: 'I suppose if you flip it on its head, theres an opportunity to get this product in stores and selling five months in advance of what we were originally planning.'

'I was like "oh my goodness", because I was launching for October and its quite a change,' Jack said on camera.

'Its good for us if we can get it done The sales will be quicker, we just have to get on with it and get it done.'

The store struggled after the UK public voted for Brexit and it was Barry's job to boost sales despite the plummeting pound

Unfortunately for Jack, the producers failed to meet the deadline, but the store has since announced that Twin Peaks would hit shelves soon - nicely coinciding with the release of the documentary.

Poundland was bought in a 597m takeover by South African retail conglomerate Steinhoff in 2016, and the new leadership team brought in were tasked with turning the struggling business around.

Against the backdrop of a year, in which the value of pound has plummeted, the documentary visited the shop floor and head office, as Poundland used every trick in the book to keep the tills ringing.

From slashing the prices of products to beneath 1 for the first time in the store's history, to taking advantage of 'shrinkflation', Barry manages to boost profits by ten percent.

But when the morning of June 9th 2017 brought news of a hung parliament, the pound plummeted again, which begged the question - will there be even more trouble in Poundland?

Trouble in Poundland airs tonight at 9pm on ITV
Julia Bell, 47, a self-styled DNA detective who has helped dozens trace relatives

The smartly-dressed lady tightly clasping her tiny baby on a street near Londons Kings Cross towards the end of World War II looked the epitome of middle-class respectability.

Her baby was just two weeks old, and as she seemed agitated, a kindly resident offered her water for her newborn daughter and a cup of tea. As she sipped her tea she explained that she was waiting for her husband to arrive on the train from Edinburgh. Hed asked her, she said, to book a hotel for them.

At this point, the Good Samaritan offered to mind the now sleeping baby for a few minutes while she made the necessary arrangements. The mother thanked her for her kindness, handed over her baby, and said shed return promptly. She never did. In fact, she vanished, leaving the baby to be taken into care and later adopted. She was given the name Linda.

With no clue to her mothers identity, Linda, now 72, believed she was destined to never know who her birth parents were. Until now.

Step forward Julia Bell, 47, a self-styled DNA detective who has not only discovered Lindas father was an American GI in the bomber squadron, but believes she might have found her birth mother, too.

As a result, Linda has found a half brother and sister in the USA  with whom she is in happy contact.

She is one of dozens who Julia has helped to trace long-lost relatives.

Many are the descendants of American soldiers stationed in the UK during the war, who left local girls in a spot of bother. Others are the product of decades-old mysteries, including the case of a baby boy abandoned in a Birmingham cinema in 1956 who today has also been united with half-siblings he never knew he had.

The key to unlocking the puzzles came with a simple saliva test, from which their DNA profile was taken and compared to millions stored on databases all over the world.

From there, Julia used her years of expertise to sift through data looking for patterns and possible matches.

Advances in DNA testing mean databases can reveal even very distant matches, she explains. If you have a close match such as a half sibling its quite straightforward but the difficulty comes when there are a series of more distant matches. You need someone who knows how to interpret everything thats there.

And thats what Julia, a former teacher, with no background in genetics, has become expert at. Its painstaking work, but she doesnt charge private clients. She says helping people find a missing part in their family jigsaw is reward enough.

With no clue to her mothers identity, Linda, now 72 (pictured), believed she was destined to never know who her birth parents were. Until now

It brings about an amazing sense of completion for people who have been waiting their whole lives to find out who they really are, she says. I feel very strongly that people have a right to know where they come from.

It has a deeply personal resonance for Julia, who lives in Ascot with her husband Ian, who works in pharmaceuticals, and their daughters Imogen, 12, and 11-year-old Isadora.

Her own mother, Helen, now 71, was adopted just after World War II. Even as a young girl, Julia remembers reassuring her mother she would help her to find her birth parents one day.

Mum had been adopted by a nice middle-class couple as a baby, explains Julia. She only knew that her father was a U.S. serviceman. Helens adoption file shed a little more light on the matter. In it was a letter from her birth mother, my grandmother  Margaret  who explained how she had met Helens father at a party in March 1945.

She was only 21, the only child of very Victorian parents, and very naive. Then suddenly here is this handsome GI looking like a film star, says Julia. She said he was called Arthur Revers, that he was 26 and she described him as having fair hair, on the sandy side.

After a short romance hed returned to America, leaving Margaret scandalously with child.

Later I discovered he had a different surname, jet-black hair, and was only 19, so you have to wonder if she was protecting him.

Intrigued by the letter, Julia, who was a teenager at the time, joined support groups for the children of American GIs, and spent years liaising with Americas National Personnel Records Centre in Missouri looking for Arthur Revers, and poring over the resulting paperwork.

This was pre-internet, so everything was done by snail mail. I had a line of filing cabinets just filled with paperwork, she says.

At first, she fared no better tracing Margaret, her grandmother.

With the trail apparently cold, Julia despaired of ever helping her mother  especially when, in the early Noughties, she managed to track down Margaret via birth and marriage records, only to discover she had died in 2000 aged 76. Shed had no more children. I thought that was quite poignant, says Julia.

Then in 2013 came a breakthrough: a new website called Ancestry DNA that allowed you to compare your DNA to that of approximately four million others on there  all curious strangers, tracing their family tree.

Unlike previous DNA tests, which only showed a direct genetic link to, say, a sibling, this one could link you to distant cousins, Julia explains.

A newspaper cutting from 1945 documents the story of Linda and how she was abandoned by her mother in King's Cross

I knew it was worth a try.

Julia uploaded her mothers DNA via a saliva sample provided by the site  and found a number of matches. She was linked to a number of families. I saw the name Garrett featured a lot, she says.

Months of detective work followed, until the trail led to an Arthur Garrett Junior, an ex-soldier from Arizona. He wasnt a Revers, but in my gut I knew he was the man, says Julia.

Hed also been in the same part of the UK as my grandmother at the right time.

Arthur Garrett Junior died in 2009, but hed had two other children, Faye and Ralph  who agreed to a DNA test, which revealed he was Helens half-sibling. So Arthur was her father and my grandfather, says Julia.

Arthur married again and had two more sons, called Dallas and Mike. In November 2016, Helen and Julia travelled to North Carolina for an emotional meeting with the U.S. branch of their new family.

It was very emotional for Mum, says Julia. They all said my mother favours her father more than any of them  the same mannerisms, expressions. Shes now in regular contact with her siblings.

That success spurred Julia to try to help others, and she is now contacted regularly by people desperate to find long-lost relatives. As an adoptee in the UK you can find something about your birth mother when you grow up, but if you are a foundling there is a giant hole where all the information should be  you dont know your birthday, your surname, anything. Its hard for people, says Julia.

One such person was great-grandmother Linda Wright.

When Linda contacted Julia last year she was struck by the mystery. A hatted, gloved, middle-class woman who walks onto the equivalent of a housing estate, leaves her baby and just vanishes, she says. Its extraordinary.

After taking a sample of Lindas saliva, months of wading through DNA records led to Carl Durnen, a U.S. serviceman  who was married to an English girl with a baby about the same age as Linda.

Carl had gone AWOL in June 1944, when Linda was conceived.

It seems he had a girl in two ports, as it were, one of them Lindas mother, Julia says, wryly.

Pictured is Linda's father Carl Durnen (aged 21), who was a Air Force GI stationed in the UK during the Second World War

It was a period when many didnt think they would survive, so social mores were different.

A DNA test of Clyde, one of Carls two children, confirmed Julias beliefs  he was Lindas half-brother.

Carl died in 1993, but Linda, who lives in Essex, has been welcomed into the extended Durnen family, who had no idea of her existence.

Its been wonderful for Linda, who has a renewed sense of belonging, says Julia, who now believes she is steps away from establishing the identity of Lindas birth mother. It makes all the hours of wading through paperwork worthwhile.

Another success story is that of Robert Weston, who in 1957 was abandoned as a three-week-old baby in a Birmingham cinema toilet cubicle, his head resting on a cushion. While Robert, a former teacher, had been adopted by a pair of caring publicans and enjoyed a happy childhood, like so many of those who get in touch with Julia, he had also spent his entire life yearning to solve the mystery of his abandonment.

Julia is yet to identify his mother, but her detective work led her to Tommy Chalmers, a security worker from Moray in Scotland, 450 miles north of the spot where Robert was left as a baby. Tommy agreed to a DNA test through the Ancestry database and the results showed he and Robert were indeed half-brothers. A joyful reunion with Tommy, and Tommys sister Pat McBain  Roberts half-sister  followed.

They were able to tell him that their father Charlie was from Aberdeenshire and they believed he had moved to the Coventry area for work and met Robs mother.

Charlie died in 1997, and afterwards a letter was found from an unnamed woman telling him she could not afford to bring up two children  meaning Robert may have a full brother or sister, too.

Julia is also working with Anthea Ring, who was found on the South Downs in Sussex as a nine-month-old baby in August 1937. Her hands had been tied behind her back with fabric torn from her dress.

Anthea is now 81, and Julia believes she is close to finding out who her mother was. I am determined to bring Anthea the closure she desperately wants, she says.

Julia says she is often surprised by the similarities that crop up between people whove been raised miles  or even continents  apart, but who share DNA.

Two unknown close cousins I matched turned out both to be astrophysicists, she says. In some cases peoples immediate family are nothing like them but there is this hitherto unknown branch where there is this natural similarity.

There is the possibility of a not-so happy ending, but, says Julia, even if people are upset by the truth, they come to terms with it. People always prefer knowing.

She believes the families of missing children  such as Madeleine McCanns parents  should upload their DNA onto every website available in case, one day, a lost child goes looking for them.

There is an intriguing postscript to Julias own family history. A couple of years ago, one of Arthur Garretts nieces sent her a video made in 2005. In it he talks about meeting my grandmother and says she was a very good friend to him, it was very touching, Julia recalls.

At the end he says: Thats my whole story  as far as I know. So I wonder if he knew there might have been a baby as a result of their night together.

One reason I want to do this is the sense of completion it brings, she says. Mum was very happy with the parents and the sister she had, but something was missing.

The sense of belonging it has brought her is really special.
She has more than 100,000 followers, been profiled in Vogue...and she's only six years old.

Her name is Coco, and she's Instagram's newest style star.

The pint-sized fashionista hails from Tokyo, strolling down the streets of Harajuku in looks that range from funky and sporty to bright and bold.

Coco has taken pictures with rapper Tyga, been invited to Chanel's style sessions and has an accessories collection that any grown woman would envy.

Coco (pictured with rapper Tyga) is Instagram's newest style star. And she's six years old

Coco has more than 100,000 followers, been profiled in Vogue, and invited to style sessions by Chanel thanks to her incredible fashion sense

Misato Hamamatsu, Coco's mother, told Daily Mail Australia that her daughter's love for fashion is in her blood.

Coco's parents own Funktique Tokyo, a Harajuku boutique filled with vintage finds from across the world.

Ever since Coco was a baby, her father would bring back clothes from his trips to the US to give her as gifts.

'Every time she received her clothing packet present from her dad she was so happy, and gradually developed her love for clothing,' Misato said.

Her dad still gives Coco styling tips, but this chic child has also been picking out her own clothes since she was just two years old.

Misato Hamamatsu, Coco's mother, told Daily Mail Australia that her daughter's love for fashion is hereditary. Her parents own Funktique Tokyo , a boutique in Harajuku

Ever since Coco was a baby, her father would bring back clothes from his trips to the US to give her as gifts - which help developed her personal style

Coco is heavily influenced by the neighborhood where she grew up, drawing inspiration from the bold street style that Harajuku is famous for.

'It's mixed with high fashion and art, and always changing and evolving,' Misato added. 'She enjoys wearing a variety of styles.'

One day Coco could wear a Coca Cola shirt tucked into high-waisted shorts, and another day she'll sport green trakkies and a pink shirt to match her checkered Vans.

And this trendy tot is almost never without her purse, carrying everything from an Ikea-emblazoned messenger bag to Comme des Garcons Girl or vintage Chanel.

Misato revealed that Coco loves the 'whole process' that comes with creating her style, from choosing the clothes, to styling the look, to deciding on her pose.

Coco is heavily influenced by the neighborhood where she grew up, drawing inspiration from the bold Harajuku street style

Misato revealed that Coco loves the 'whole process' that comes with creating her style, from choosing the clothes, to styling the look, to deciding on her pose

It all creates an Instagram that Misato said everyone can love and draw inspiration from, no matter what their age is.

'Coco is like a miniature fashionista,' Misato said. 'And that is why we think she became a hit.'

'Her style is very trendy and [shows] the newest styles in fashion that adults to kids want to copy and imitate.'

Coco's Instagram has become so popular that now she gets recognised on the streets that she has always called home.

'She gets noticed by young Japanese kids and foreigners who have seen her Instagram,' Misato said.

Coco's Instagram has become so popular that now she gets recognised on the streets that she has always called home

Now Coco scores invites to brands parties and even fashion shows, and her parents plan to let her enjoy these events 'a little more' as she grows older

'She enjoys being noticed, and all the attention gives her lots of energy and motivation.'

Now Coco scores invites to brands parties and even fashion shows, and her parents plan to let her enjoy these events 'a little more' as she grows older.

But, at the end of the day, Misato said that they are using Coco's Instagram as a way to teach her about the world and acquire social skills rather than for a 'business tool'.

'Whatever she wishes to do in the future, we want to support her own will,' she said.

And whatever it is she chooses to pursue, there's no doubt Coco will do it with style.
For many women, it's the bane of their end-of-day existence.

But what if taking your make up off before bed was a whole lot simpler than washing your face, cleansing, toning and scrubbing?

Enter Face Halo. Dubbed a 'game changer' in the make up removal industry by no less than Naomi Watts, the circular microfibre textured make-up removal pad requires only a splash of water to remove any cosmetic.

FEMAIL spoke to the brains behind the business - time-poor mothers from Sydney, Rebecca Williamson and Lizzy Pike - and found out how they came up with their revolutionary idea.

Scroll down for video

Time-poor mothers, Rebecca Williamson and Lizzy Pike (both pictured), have founded a make up remover which works as a circular cloth and only needs a splash of water

Face Halo is a one-step process which only needs water to remove any cosmetic (pictured)

It's been dubbed a 'game changer' by actress, Naomi Watts (pictured)

According to Ms Williamson, the Eureka moment came about one night after a long-distance flight:

'We've been friends for over 20 years and have both lived in Australia and LA at the same time,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'One night in LA, after a late jet-lagged long-distance flight, I remember saying: "I can't be bothered taking my make up off".

'And then we started talking about microfibres - which Lizzy has worked with for 15 years, but never thought about in regard to make up. The fabric is well known for its cleaning powers.'

According to Ms Williamson, the Eureka moment came about one night after a long-distance flight when they were jet-lagged and couldn't be bothered to remove their make up (pictured: Chloe Morello)

The founders have now got Australian beauty blogger, Chloe Morello, on board as the 'face and advisor' (pictured)

The pads are made from microfibre (pictured) - which is known for its cleaning powers, but hasn't been used in make up removers before

The very next day, the ambitious mothers - who have a total of seven children between them - set to work on developing a microfibre make up remover cloth.

'Unlike make up wipes, making a microfibre cloth is good for the environment,' Ms Pike said.

'We both have teenagers, and they are notorious for not taking off their make up properly at night. We just knew there had to be an easier way which wasn't filled with chemicals.'

After countless late nights and several rejected prototypes, Ms Williamson and Ms Pike designed and launched what is known as Face Halo today.

As a friend of the creators, actress Naomi Watts was one of the first to try the product.

She later cited it as a 'game changer' for her sensitive skin.

After countless late nights and several rejected prototypes, Ms Williamson and Ms Pike designed and launched what is known as Face Halo today (pictured)

The Face Halo circular cloth is unlike other make up removers on the market, insofar as it is a one-step process, that comes with no chemicals or waste:

'We wanted something gentle on the skin, and that didn't require chemicals,' Ms Williamson explained.

'Microfibre itself isn't new, but it's 100 times finer than human hair, and by mixing the Face Halo with water, the fibres get deep down in to the pores and lift out trapped makeup, dirt and oil off the skin,' Ms Pike added.

It also works out as cheaper than countless pricey cleansers and toners on the market.

One packet costs USD $22 (AUD $28.91), and comes complete with three cloths which are able to withstand 200 washes:

'We were so happy when we landed on what we had been looking for,' Ms Williamson said.

'The icing on the cake came when we showed the product to Chloe Morello and she tried it and loved it. She later came back to us and said she wanted to work with us.'

The popular Australian beauty blogger is now on board with the brand as the 'face and advisor'.

The Face Halo circular cloth is unlike other make up removers on the market, insofar as it is a one-step process, that comes with no chemicals or waste (pictured: Chloe Morello)

While Face Halo only launched last month, both women said they are shocked and delighted by how quickly it's been taking off (pictured: Chloe Morello)

'We knew we had a good product on our hands when we got the praise from Naomi and Chloe, but this first month has far exceeded expectation,' Ms Williamson said (pictured: the product)

While Face Halo only launched last month, both women said they are shocked and delighted by how quickly it's been taking off:

'We knew we had a good product on our hands when we got the praise from Naomi and Chloe, but this first month has far exceeded expectation,' Ms Williamson said.

The face cloths can remove everything from long-lasting foundation to waterproof mascaras.

The pair added that they also have other revolutionary products in the pipeline.

'We don't have time for much else right now but we are keeping other product ideas under our hat,' they laughed.

For more information about Face Halo, click here. To follow the brand on Instagram, click here.
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A day out with the Queen is usually quite the formal affair, but things turned a little chaotic for Kate and Sophie Wessex today during the carriage parade at Royal Ascot.

Sophie, 52, seemed to lose her footing as she stood up in her carriage and almost fell on to the Duchess of Cambridge who was sitting opposite her.

Quick-thinking Kate shot her arms out to break the fall, with both women laughing uproariously as Sophie, dressed in a green frock by Emilia Wickstead, regained her balance.

Despite temperatures soaring to almost 30C, Kate kept her cool in a white lace outfit by Alexander McQueen as she joined the Queen and Prince William at Royal Ascot.

Kate, 35, stunned in a bespoke lace dress by her favourite designer Alexander McQueen, complete with a matching hat.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty defied the bookies' predictions that she'd wear blue by making her entrance in a lime green crepe coat by Stuart Parvin and a lime green dress with a floral design, with a hat to match by Rachel Trevor Morgan.

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Sophie and Kate laugh uproariously as the Countess loses her balance and stumbles forward before being caught by Kate

The Countess of Wessex took a tumble as she stood up in the carriage, almost falling on to the Duchess of Cambridge

Both women saw the funny side as Kate was forced to steady her royal counterpart while William laughed in the background

The Duchess of Cambridge, 35, stunned in a bespoke white lace dress by Alexander McQueen for her appearance at Royal Ascot

Kate shares a joke with Sophie Wessex, who also chose green like her mother-in-law the Queen

Her Majesty was predicted by the bookies to wear blue, but upset the odds by opting for green instead

The Duchess of Cambridge emulated Princess Diana's revealing white skirt moment in 1980 with her own sheer ensemble at Royal Ascot almost four decades later

A picture perfect pair! Friends dressed in shades of pink and white teamed their hats with their headscarves as they arrived for the first day of Royal Ascot in Berkshire

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge getting into their carriage to take part in the parade during Royal Ascot (left). Princess Eugenie made the unusual choice of a black dress, but added a splash of coulour with her tricolour hat (right)

Princess Beatrice opted for a softer look than her sister in an embellished dress and a dusky pink hat

Kate gets a warm welcome from Zara Tindall who is godmother to her son Prince George

Camilla kept her cool in a white outfit and a matching hat trimmed with ostrich feathers

The Duchess of Cambridge and Prince William steal a quite moment for a chat after the carriage procession

Lovely in lace! Kate showed off her trim figure in bespoke Alexander McQueen, while Beatrice also opted for a summery white outfit

Kate's mother Carole Middleton looked glamorous in pale blue as she made her way to the Royal Enclosure

Carole Middleton, 62, looked incredibly youthful in a pastel blue dress from Goat, teamed with a matching hat

Prince William and Kate prepare to present a trophy to the riders. This year marks their second visit to the festival after making their debut last year

Carole Middleton was joined in the parade ring by her husband Michael, 67, who looked dapper in a top hat and tails

Armed security were seen on patrol to keep guests safe after the recent terror attacks across the UK

The Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles present the St James's Palace Stakes during Royal Ascot 2017

Prince Charles presents the St James's Palace Stakes to jockey James Doyle (L) during Royal Ascot 2017

Prince Charles cracks a joke as he shares a laugh with jockey James Doyle at the prestigious event

It was a family affair for the royals with Kate's mother Carole, 62, joining the party in the Royal Enclosure, looking elegant in a pastel blue dress by Goat.

The 62-year-old looked unbelievably youthful in the midi length frock with a scalloped neckline, teamed with an chic matching hat, and was joined by her husband Michael who was dapper in a top hat and tails.

Princess Eugenie and her sister Beatrice were also in attendance, along with Prince Charles and Camilla.

Eugenie bucked the trend for pretty florals, opting for an edgier look in a black dress with a white flower print on the bust, nipped in at the waist with a black belt.

She teamed the outfit with a fun hat in liquorice allsorts colours, with pink adding a splash of colour to her look.

Beatrice went for a much softer look in a white long sleeved dress by British couture designer Claire Mischevani embellished with colourful flowers.

Like the Queen, Sophie Wessex was resplendent in green, wearing a pendant necklace to match her outfit

Kate catches up with Zara Tindall who went for a pared down look in a simple blue dress by Escada teamed with a hat by milliner Sarah Cant

Both Prince William and his uncle Prince Edward looked dapper in their top hats and tails

Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth and Ascot Chairman Johnny Weatherby observe a minute's silence in honour of the recent tragedies, including the Grenfell fire

Despite the sweltering heat, Eugenie made the brave decision to wear head-to-toe black

Ascot is one of the Queen's favourite events of the year, and she has attended annually since the 1950s

The Duke of Edinburgh, 96, was looking very dapper in his top hat and tails as he accompanied his wife

It was a family affair for the royals, including Charles and Camilla who joined the Queen's carriage parade

Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Party observe a minute's silence for the victims of recent terror attacks

She teamed her outfit with a dusky pink hat by London based Goldust Millinery, the perfect shade to complement her auburn locks.

The girls shared a carriage with Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, who also kept cool in a white outfit and a hat trimmed with ostrich feathers.

It was a family affair for the royals with the Queen's three sons Andrew, Charles and Edward attending along with her daughter Anne.

Having a good time, Mike? The retired rugby player looked animated as he chatted to the Duchess of Cambridge

Careful the wind doesn't change! Mike Tindall was caught pulling some very animated faces as he chatted to Kate

The Queen leaving Windsor Castle on her way to Royal Ascot races and has chosen to wear green this year

The Duchess of Cambridge stunned in a cream hat embellished with delicate flowers and a bow detail, accessorising with diamond and pearl drop earrings

The royal pair, who are both mothers to young children, no doubt enjoyed the opportunity to catch up at the racing festival

Style sisters! Beatrice and Eugenie both looked striking although both opted for very different looks for their day at the races

Despite soaring temperatures, Princess Anne teamed her orange dress with a pair of white gloves

Beatrice teamed her outfit with a dusky pink hat by London based Goldust Millinery, the perfect shade to complement her auburn locks

Zara Tindall, accompanied by her husband Mike, looked on particularly cheerful form as she made her way around greeting family members with kisses on the cheek.

Also in attendance were Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, their son Lord Freddie Windsor and his wife Sophie, and their daughter Lady Gabriella Windsor.

The royals took part in the traditional procession down Ascot's straight mile which forms part of each day's racing during Royal Ascot.

A kiss for mum! Princess Anne gets a warm welcome from her daughter Zara Tindall

Kate leans in for a kiss on the cheek from Mike Tindall, husband of Prince William's cousin Zara

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh give a cheerful wave to the crows as they arrive by open carriage to the parade ring

It was a family affair for the Queen who was joined by her children and grandchildren and their partners for the event

The royal carriages arriving in the parade ring following the traditional procession

Kate strolls through the parade ring with Sophie Wessex with whom she shared a carriage during the procession

The Duchess of Cambridge flashes a smile at Prince Edward as they share a carriage on their way to Royal Ascot

The Queen Elizabeth II convoy is seen driving through Windsor Park on the way to Royal Ascot

The band of the Grenadier Guards played the National Anthem as the four Royal carriages travelled down the track, applauded by the crowds. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were joined in the first carriage by the Duke of York and Lord Vestey.

Flanked by the Duke of Edinburgh and Johnny Weatherby, Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot, The Queen then stood in the parade ring and joined racegoers in a minute's silence to remember and pay tribute to the victims of the recent terror attacks and the fire at the Grenfell Tower.

Wearing a lime green crepe coat by Stuart Parvin and a lime green dress with a floral design, with a hat to match by Rachel Trevor Morgan, The Queen had previously taken part in the traditional Royal procession down Ascot's straight mile which forms part of each day's racing during Royal Ascot.

Tomorrow The Queen will attend the State Opening of Parliament but is expected to be at Ascot for the racing.

Camilla looked unflustered by the soaring heat in a floaty white dress with pleated detail

Zara Tindall places a tender arm around her grandfather Prince Philip as they make their way to the Royal Enclosure

Zara Tindall looked on fine form as she shared a joke with her uncle Prince Andrew

Lord Freddie Windsor, son of the Queen's cousin Prince Michael of Kent, with his wife Lady Sophie Windsor

Princess Michael of Kent kept her cool in a floaty polka dot outfit and carried a fan

Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, was the picture of summery perfection in a yellow coat dress by Claire Mischevani

Zara Tindall greets her grandmother the Queen with a kiss on the cheek

Prince Charles put on a dapper display in a top hat, but looked to be feeling the heat as temperatures soared to 30C

Prince Philip, who recently turned 96, was by his wife's side for the occasion and sat next to her during the carriage procession

William and Kate greet the crowds as they share a carriage with Prince Edward and his wife Sophie

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with the Earl and Countess of Wessex getting into their carriage to take part in the parade

Racegoers snap the royals on their camera phones as the parade passes by

The Duchess of Cambridge getting into her carriage to take part in the parade during Royal Ascot

Prince and Princess Michael of Kent were among the members of the Queen's extended family to join the party in the Royal Enclosure

Following the arrival of the Queen in the parade ring, racegoers gathered together on the first day of the Berkshire meet to pay their respects to those who died.

Johnny Weatherby, chairman of Ascot Racecourse, said: 'We have all been deeply saddened by recent tragic events around the country.

'At the beginning of this important week for racing, we at Ascot Racecourse wish to pay our respects to the victims and offer support to the families who have been so terribly affected.'

The racecourse is making a donation of 100,000 to the British Red Cross UK Solidarity and London Fire Relief Funds and local charities to support those affected.

Exit collections on all five days of Royal Ascot will be available to enable racegoers to contribute.

Green goddess! This partygoer kept it leafy and lovely (left) while a fellow racing fan looked like she was off to a ball in a jewel encrusted nude gown (right)

Feeling blue! Bruce Forsyth's wife Wilnelia, Lady Forsyth-Johnson keeps cool in the heat with a handy fan (left). This racing fan opted for a '70s vibe in a patterned jumpsuit (right)

Former Miss World Stephanie Del Valle Diaz was stunning in one of the day's more pared back looks (left). Anther bucked tradition and chose a floral jumpsuit over a dress, but kept it fitting with a blue hat (right)

Officers armed with guns were among those deployed to help protect the 300,000 visitors expected to attend Royal Ascot over the coming week after they were first used last year

Armed police mingle with race goers who certainly didn't seem rattled by the presence of extra security

Cheers! Friends kick off their day at the races with a tipple as they soak up the sun at Royal Ascot

In perfect harmony! Friends chose complementary black dresses adorned with a floral motif and very elaborate hats for their day at Royal Ascot

Temperatures may be soaring but early arrivals at Ascot weren't deterred from donning some very elaborate hats

A very brave racegoer defied the soaring temperatures in black tights, gloves and an enormous feathered hat

This fashionable racegoer looked striking in a bustier decorated with purple lips

For the first time, jumpsuits are being permitted as suitable attire for women in the Royal Enclosure - but they must be full length to the ankle

With temperatures expected to hit 28C (82F) at the course, organisers were today considering relaxing the strict dress codes for punters.

An Ascot spokeswoman said: 'It's being considered. We're waiting for confirmation. It's never happened before.'

It is likely any change could include men and women being able to remove their jackets.

The dress code for men in the Royal Enclosure is black or grey morning dress with a waistcoat and tie - but not a cravat - and a black or grey top hat.

For women, strapless, off the shoulder, halter-neck, spaghetti straps and dresses with a strap narrower than 1in (2.5cm) are banned in the exclusive area. Midriffs must be covered and fascinators are also forbidden.

For the first time, jumpsuits are being permitted as suitable attire for women in the Royal Enclosure - but they must be full length to the ankle.

In the hot weather, horses will be cooled down after racing in the Unsaddling Enclosure, featuring state-of-the-art misters.

The heatwave certainly didn't deter glamorous guests including Bruce Foryth's wife Wilnelia, former Miss World Stephanie Del Valle Diaz and model Sofia Hayat from dressing to the nines with statement hats.

Lady Forsyth stunned in head to toe blue and kept herself cool by toting a fan to match her outfit.

Presenter Lizzie Cundy wore a plain white dress but balanced out its simplicity with a huge white flower hat, adorned with sprouting purple feathers

Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland chose a fun outfit with a polka dot motif (left). Designer Amanda Wakeley looked fierce in an ombre-style jumpsuit, teamed with a cape and veiled hat

David Seaman and wife Frankie Poultney looked every inch the glamorous pair as they arrived for a day at the races

A bit of all white! Lizzie Cundy shows off her shapely legs in a dress with a daring side slit (left). Fashion designer Isabell Kristensen also opted for an elegant white outfit, teamed with a statement pink hat (right)

Milliner Ilda Di Vico teamed her yellow outfit with one of her own creations, adorned with silver leaves and yellow butterflies (left). Sally Bercow, wife of the speaker of the Speaker of the House of Commons kept her dress simple but added a touch of flair with a wide brimmed back and white hat and zebra print shoes

Up to 300,000 people are due to descend on the event over the next five days, including the Queen who has attended every year since she came to the throne in 1952

Pretty in pink! Statement hats in shades of fuchsia helped these fashionable racegoers stand head and shoulders above the rest

Wearing your heart on your head! A quirky sweet-themed fascinator provides a welcome change from all the flowers and feathers

Model and former nun Sofia Hayat (centre) puts on a glittering display in an embellished dress, but her two friends seem equally keen to stand out from the crowds

My fair lady! This woman stepped out in a vintage-inspired number with a layered skirt (left). Another racegoer added accents of copper and metallic to her cream tailored dress (right)

Lovely in lilac: These friends were the picture of summery perfection in shades of purple

Horse jockey Lizzie Kelly from Devon with Edward Partridge from Cheltenham take a breather in the sweltering temperatures

With temperatures soaring, these friends took a welcome break from their tailcoats. Bosses are said to be considering relaxing the dress code that states the outerwear must be worn by men in the Royal Enclosure

Artist Tracy Rose cuts a very striking figure in an elaborate red, white and blue outfit

Racegoers keep to the shade as temperatures are expected to reach around 30 Celsius this afternoon

Henry Conway and Nazer Bullen made for a striking pair in all their race day finery

A woman puts the finshing touches to her elaborate spread on a trestle table set up outide her car

Taking a breather! Racegoers pause to take the weight off their feet as the afternoon beings to heat up

Ladies who lunch! Friends turned their car park lunch into a very sophisticated affair

Well prepared! A woman has a sit down on a portable stool while queuing to enter the grounds

First let me take a selfie! A reveller captures a quick snap ahead of the action

Shunning the ubiquitous flowers and feathers in favour of block colours and geometric lines (left). This woman truly channeled the spirit of the day in an equestrian themed hat (right)

Racegoers set up picnic tables alongside their cars to make the most of the sunshine

Racegoer Antonia von Schacky opted for a monochrome look for her day out (left). Another reveller went for a hat in shades of dusky pink (right)

Heightened security measures are in place this year, including bag searches

Armed police patrol the grounds as the popular racing festival gets underway

Racegoer Iona Wiltshire Perkins puts on a glamorous display in an embellished floral dress and frothy white hat on the first day of Ascot (left). Lady Alice Manners stunned in ethereal lace in shared of cream and pink (right)

These gentlemen were no doubt feeling the heat in the top hats and tails, but organisers are considering relaxing the dress code to allow people to remove their jackets in the Royal Enclosure

Emma Harper from Milton Keynes poses with the Greencoats guards during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse

Arriving in style! These racegoers certainly made an entrance by turning up to the course in a horse drawn carriage

Heightened security measures are in place this year, with armed police patrolling the racecourse, and more extensive dog, bag and physical searches.

Racegoers were warned that access to the course will take longer and to allow extra time due to heightened security measures.

Up to 300,000 people are due to descend on the event over the next five days, including the Queen who has attended every year since she came to the throne in 1952.

RACEGOERS FACE HEIGHTENED SECURITY Armed police officers joined the large numbers Ascot Racecourse security staff standing guard ahead of the gates opening on the first day of racing. A number of officers bustled around the police station and officers were visible all along the town's high street. Some of those attending were searched by security guards on their way into the racecourse's enclosures. Officers armed with guns were among those deployed to help protect the 300,000 visitors expected to attend Royal Ascot over the coming week after they were first used last year. A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: 'They were positively received by race-goers and the local community. In light of recent national events, these patrols will again take place as part of an extensive range of security measures to ensure public safety. Armed police joined security staff at the first day of Ascot, amid security concerns 'These measures include: an increased number of armed response vehicles, uniformed and non-uniformed police officers, vehicle checks and baggage searches. 'The force had also drafted in help from other police forces to make sure guests at Ascot were kept safe in the wake of four separate terrorist attacks in the UK this year. A spokesman said: 'Officers from TVP, the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police Service will be present at and around the event to ensure the protection of Her Majesty the Queen, members of the Royal Family and other distinguished guests and members of the public attending. 'They will also be working hard in partnership with Ascot Racecourse Limited and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council to minimise the impact of the event on the local community.' 'For the first time last year, armed foot patrols were introduced at Royal Ascot and they were positively received by race-goers and the local community. 'In light of recent national events, these patrols will again take place as part of an extensive range of security measures to ensure public safety. 'These measures include: an increased number of armed response vehicles, uniformed and non-uniformed police officers, vehicle checks and baggage searches.' Superintendent Olly Wright, police silver commander for the event, added: 'Thames Valley Police has been involved in policing Royal Ascot for many years and it is a highlight of our operations calendar. 'For all involved, this year's event will feel a little different in light of recent, tragic national events. Race-goers and the local community can expect to see an increased police presence and more extensive security measures in place, however the public should be reassured and not alarmed by this. 'It is our job to protect the public and we have developed strong plans with our partners and the event organisers to manage this. Those attending should go about their day as normal and enjoy the special occasion. 'I would just ask that the public support our efforts and be vigilant, look after your belongings and report unusual activity or anything suspicious immediately by dialling 101. 'Our neighbourhood policing team will be part of the operation during the week and, working alongside others, will ensure that local peoples' priorities are not overlooked during the event.' Advertisement

Organisers urged people not to bring unnecessary bags or luggage, adding: 'We also ask for your vigilance on matters of security. If you see or hear anything suspicious, please bring it immediately to the attention of the police or our stewards.'

The social occasion is as much an event for fashionistas as for racing fans, with an array of outlandish hats on display - particularly on Ladies Day on Thursday.

The colour of the Queen's hat is the subject of hundreds of bets - with bookmaker Ladbrokes citing blue as the favourite for the first day at 3-1.

Friends gather around for a chat as they soak up the atmosphere at Royal Ascot

Keeping their cool! Friends treat themselves to a refreshing beer amid sweltering temperatures

Racegoers mill around at the entrance to Royal Ascot as they prepare to enjoy a day of sporting action

Hurry up boys! A woman looks on as her friends pause to do up their shoelaces

Organisers are considering relaxing the Royal Enclosure's strict dress code to allow men and women to remove their jackets in the heat

Later today, a minute's silence will be held for the victims of the Grenfell fire and recent terror attacks

Finishing touches! Model Carly Baker wears an edible hat commissioned by bookmakers Coral and created by television chef Cherish Finden

Police keep a watchful eye as thousands of racegoers start to descend on the popular festival, one of the highlights of the racing calendar

A trio of ladies in red pose up a storm for the camera on the first day of Ascot

Police walk in front of a racegoer arriving on day one of the Royal Ascot horse racing meet

Early arrivals beat the queues to have their bags checked at the Berkshire course

Start as you mean to go on! Revellers kick off the day with an obligatory glass of champagne

Revellers have been warned to expect an extended wait to get into the course due to heightened security measures

Armed police secure one of the entrances as racegoers arrive on day one of the Royal Ascot horse racing meet

Vintage girl band The Tootsie Rollers turned up the heat even more in fiery red dresses and bespoke floral headpieces by London based Clea Broad

Care for a canape? These friends had come well prepared with a delicious picnic and glasses of bubbly

Eye of the tiger! This colourful and co-ordinated pair made sure they got noticed in their orange outfits

Bettingexpert also has the money on blue, as it's the only colour the Queen has consistently worn on at least one day of the five-day festival since 2005.

For day two, she's tipped to wear pink with statistics showing she's chosen the shade for 42 per cent of her visits to the Berkshire track.

For Ladies Day on Friday, the monarch is expected to appear in white.
Carla Fendi, one of the five Italian sisters at the helm of the iconic Italian label, has died at the age of 79, the family announced on Tuesday.

Carla - who, along with her siblings, transformed their parents' small leather workshop into an international luxury fashion powerhouse - was the public face of the company famous for its line of colourful 'baguette' bags that cost thousands of pounds.

While other members of the family were regarded as the creative forces, Carla, who died in Rome on Monday night following a long illness, largely concentrated on coordinating the brand's marketing and PR.

Over time their logo of two F's, one of them upside-down and backwards, became an internationally recognised symbol for luxury.

Carla Fendi (centre), who has died aged 79. She is pictured with sister Anna (far right) and younger members of the family on the red carpet at the 2007 Rome Film Festival

Carla Fendi became a well-known patron of the arts. Deeply committed to Rome and its culture, her foundation financed the restoration of the city's famous Trevi Fountain

The multinational LVMH luxury group gained a controlling stake in Fendi in 2001 in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars that brought together some of the world's most famous luxury brands. LVMH significantly increased its stake later.

Karl Lagerfeld later said of the move: 'Five sisters was too much. And they were not speaking. The husbands were all happy when they sold.'

It was a far cry from the family's humble origins nearly a century ago.

The sisters' mother, Adele Casagrande, opened a small leather workshop in 1918 just off Rome's bustling Piazza Venezia.

Adele Casagrande married Eduardo Fendi in 1925 and the two opened a small boutique next door and lived above the shop.

The five sisters were born between 1931 and 1940 and as children they played among the leather shreds on the shop floor and slept amid the handbags.

Carla at a Fendi show in Milan, February 2011. Animal rights activists frequently protested against the company for its use of furs, which Carla called the 'most luxurious fabric'

Carla with husband, former chemist Candido Speroni in 2003, at the baptism of Princess Maria Carolina in Caserta, Italy

'Accessories were our first toys,' Carla Fendi once told Women's Wear Daily.

The sisters moved to company to the chic neighbourhood around Rome's Spanish steps in the 1960s and in later expanded into ready-to-wear, shoes, perfume, household goods and children's wear.

The company received a big boost from the creative collaboration of Karl Lagerfeld, who helped in the design of clothes, furs, and accessories after being enlisted with Carla and sisters Paola, Anna, Franca and Alda.

Animal rights activists frequently protested against the company for its use of furs.

But speaking to the Daily Mail's Helen Weathers in 2005, a defiant Carla insisted: 'At Fendi, fur was never out.

'We have never stopped using it and have always treated it as the most luxurious fabric. People say fur is back because women want the freedom to wear whatever they want.'

A recent Fendi catwalk show at Milan's Fashion Week proves the brand is still a fashion powerhouse. The five Fendi sisters were responsible for expanding into ready-to-wear, shoes, perfume, household goods and children's wear

In her later years, Carla Fendi became a well-known patron of the arts. Deeply committed to Rome and its culture, her foundation financed the restoration of the city's famous Trevi Fountain.

She was also a chief patron of the Two Worlds arts festival in the Umbrian city of Spoleto.

Between them, the five sisters had 11 children followed by more than 30 grandchildren.

According to WWD, Fendi said in a statement that Carla 'never stopped to actively contribute with unchanged passion to the success of the company that continued to be a reason to live; from the first international recognitions obtained with the help of the four sisters until her last days.

'She was for all of us a source of inspiration and an example of dedication, work culture and sensibility for beauty. She will accompany us forever.'
It was already 30C in Rome by the time the Dutch Queen Maxima touched down on the tarmac at Ciampino Airport today.

But the 46-year-old monarch showed no signs of being troubled by the heat as she disembarked the plane in a fresh peach dress with a matching wide-brimmed hat.

Italy pulled out all the stops to welcome the Dutch royals as they arrived for a four-day state visit, with dignitaries lining the red carpet to greet the couple, and a pretty bunch of flowers swiftly presented to the Queen.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands dazzled in a pink dress with coordinating shoes, clutch and wide-brimmed hat as she hit the tarmac in Rome

Ciampino Airport rolled out the red carpet to greet the Dutch royals on the tarmac

Queen Maxima, a mother of three, wore suede heels that matched her dress, and carried a coordinating clutch bag.

Her husband King Willem-Alexander braved a scorching Italian summer's day in a formal suit and tie.

The Argentinian-born Queen looked delighted to touch down in Italy, smiling as she greeted members of the welcome party while toting her bouquet.

After gliding along the red carpet from the jet, the royal couple were whisked away from Ciampino in a chauffeur-driven car, accompanied by a motorcade.

Queen Maxima looked radiant in a pale pink, knee length dress and a wide-brimmed hat

The Queen of the Netherlands looked immaculate as she disembarked the flight in Rome

Maxima and her husband King Willem-Alexander are set to spend four days in Italy

Queen Maxima kept cool with the help of a wide-brimmed hat that matched her soft pink dress

The royal couple's motorcade as they sped away from Ciampino on the first day of their trip

The couple then embarked on the four-day long tour, first off meeting the current Italian President, Sergio Mattarella and his wife.

The four posed inside one of the city's ornate state buildings, proudly flanked by Italian, Dutch and EU flags.

Looking chic in her statement, broad-brimmed upturned hat, the elegant Dutch queen looked to be having a brilliant time.

Italian guards in full uniform stood to attention before the marble-edged door as the leaders stood side-by-side in front of the doors

The royal couple posed proudly before the Dutch and Italian flags with the current Italian President, Sergio Mattarella and his wife

Displaying her usual elegant taste in jewellery and footwear, Queen Maxima paired her outfit with light suede heels and golden, beaded bracelets

The Queen dressed perfectly for the formal day of presentations and greetings in Rome

The quartet sat on gold-plated period furniture as the Dutch royals embarked on their visit

Queen Maxima beamed as she gazed up at beautiful frescoes and showed off her demure, delicately crocheted dress

Looking chic in her statement, broad-brimmed upturned hat, the elegant Dutch queen looked to be having a brilliant time

She beamed as she gazed up at beautiful frescoes and showed off her demure, delicately crocheted dress.

Looking equally thrilled, Queen Maxima then joined her husband in waving to the crowds with the Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi.

Ms Raggi, who is the 65th Mayor of Rome and the first woman to hold the title, waved to crowds with the Dutch royal couple.

The beautiful royal shared a joke with her husband on the balcony overlooking the sweltering Italian city

Looking equally thrilled, Queen Maxima then joined her husband in waving to the crowds with the Mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi
Bugaboo, the Dutch company that transformed the market for high-end baby buggies, is up for sale in a deal that could fetch 200 million euros ($223 million).

The company is said to be on the market following a row between its co-owners, people familiar with the matter said.

The pushchairs have been popularised by A-listers including the Duchess of Cambridge herself, who bought one ahead of George's birth in 2013.

Dutch pushchair company loved by A-listers Bugaboo is up for sale after a family feud forced the company to sell. Pictured: Victoria Beckham with her children Harper, Romeo and Cruz

However, it is personal differences that is said to be the reason as to why the company has come up for sale.

Long-standing tensions between the company's founders - former brothers-in-law - first became public during a court hearing on March 7.

Businessman Eduard Zanen, who provided seed capital for the company, had become frustrated after co-founder and inventor Max Barenbrug continued to influence strategic direction after agreeing to a design role.

Zanen invoked a 2012 agreement that either could trigger the sale of the company to a third party.

The uber-trendy Bugaboo, the choice of A-Listers everywhere, from Sienna Miller (left) to Gwyneth Paltrow (right), Sienna Miller to Elton John.

The company goes up for sale following long-standing tensions between its founders - former brothers-in-law - which first became public during a court hearing on March 7

That disagreement was settled without a ruling, a spokeswoman for the Amsterdam District Court said.

But Het Financieele Dagblad first reported on Thursday that the partners have now agreed to a sale. Zanen and Barenbrug's sister divorced a decade earlier, the paper said.

Founded in 1999, Bugaboo's breakthrough came after one of its strollers was shown on in an episode of hit TV series 'Sex and The City' in 2002, when the character Miranda had a baby.

The uber-trendy Bugaboo, the choice of A-Listers everywhere, from Victoria Beckham to Gwyneth Paltrow, Sienna Miller to Elton John.

It quickly became the status symbol for yummy mummies, and, despite a price roughly the same as a small family car, they became a common sight on the streets of Notting Hill and Chelsea. The top-of-the-range model comes in at just over 1,200.

It is thought that the deal that could fetch 200 million euros ($223 million). Pictured: Myleene Klass with her Bugaboo pushchair

Designers Viktor & Rolf, Bas Kosters, Missoni and the Andy Warhol Foundation, among others, have crafted limited edition designs, and the company recently made a foray into luggage.

The company made a pretax profit of 16.8 million euros ($18.75 million)on sales of 95 million euros in 2015, according to its most recent filing with the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.

Jelena Sokolova, analyst at Morningstar, said Bugaboo could be valued against luggage makers Samsonite and Rimowa, recently acquired by LVMH, which both trade at 2 times sales.

Rabobank, which has been given the commission to sell the company, will approach both strategic and private equity buyers for Bugaboo.

Designers Viktor & Rolf, Bas Kosters, Missoni and the Andy Warhol Foundation (pictured), among others, have crafted limited edition designs

'Selling is the wisest decision in a situation like this: when the owners start to fight, that can be the beginning of the end for a lifestyle brand,' said Dutch marketing specialist Paul Moers.

Moers noted that while Bugaboo's image of sturdy quality and versatility has spawned many imitators, its reputation is still solid and the market is fragmented.

'It's not too late for Bugaboo, not by any means,' he said. 'Find a buyer with knowledge of sales and marketing and the power to invest behind advertising and you can grab market share, become a much bigger player.'

Competitors and possible buyers for Bugaboo include Britax, owned by Nordic Capital, Stokke, owned by Korean investment firm MXMH, Quinny, owned by Canada's Dorel Industries, Graco, owned by U.S. firm Newell Brands, and LVMH, among others.

Bugaboo has 1,200 employees and models are sold in most developed markets. ($1 = 0.7875 pounds) ($1 = 0.8961 euros) (Reporting by Toby Sterling, editing by Louise Heavens)
Trista Sutter has vowed to live her life to the fullest after suffering a violent seizure in Croatia, but the former 'Bachelorette' star admits that her shocking medical scare has completely changed her day-to day-routine because she fears it might happen again.

The 44-year-old mother-of-two was joined by her husband Ryan, whom she met on the ABC reality series, as she opened up about her terrifying seizure in an interview that aired on Good Morning America Tuesday.

Trista, who was vacationing in the Eastern European country with her husband and two kids at the time, explained that all she remembers is feeling 'very dizzy and very nauseous' before she fell on to her eight-year-old daughter Blakesley and started convulsing.

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Sharing her story: Trista Sutter opened up about suffering a violent seizure in Croatia during an interview that aired on Good Morning America Tuesday

Scary moment: The 44-year-old was vacationing in Europe with her husband Ryan and their two children, Maxwell and Blakesley (pictured), when she started convulsing

Terrifying: Trista said she remembers feeling 'very dizzy and very nauseous' before she fell on to daughter and started convulsing

'The next thing I knew, I was in this dream. The only way I can describe it is was like a white euphoria,' she said. 'A lot of people talk about near-death experiences. I don't know if that's what I had.'

Although Ryan is a trained EMT, he said it was terrifying to see his wife seizing and turning blue despite his experience dealing with medical traumas.

Ryan said he had first realized something was wrong when their daughter Blakesley started screaming: 'Mommy, Mommy!'

When he looked over, Trista had fallen on top of Blakesley in a 'sort of convulsive state'.

Happier memories: Trista and her husband Ryan are pictured in Croatia with nine-year-old Maxwell and eight-year-old Blakesley

Horrific moment: Ryan joined Trista during the interview, and although he is a trained EMT, he admitted he was terrified to see his wife 'shaking' and turning 'sort of blue'

'I was checking her pulse. She was shaking and stiff,' he recalled. 'Her eyes were wide open ... rolled back in her head, looking sort of up. She wasnt breathing. She was turning sort of blue.'

Trista was rushed to a local hospital in Croatia where she underwent various tests, but doctors couldn't find anything wrong with the her. Instead, she was warned not to drive until she met with a neurologist in the U.S.

The mom, who also has a nine-year-old son, Maxwell, admitted she is worried that her daughter still a bit 'traumatized' after watching her have such a violent seizure, and she is no longer able to go about her life like she once did.

'It's changing my life, still is, to this day,' Trista said. 'I mean I got up this morning  and I thought, "I need to go to the grocery store"  and then I'm like, "Oh I can't drive."

Life-changing moment: Ryan said he had her his daughter yelling, and when he looked over, Trista had fallen on top of Blakesley in a 'sort of convulsive state'

Unexpained: Trista was rushed to a local hospital in Croatia where she underwent various tests, but doctors couldn't find anything wrong with the her

Taking precautions: Trista said the experience has changed her life, and she was advised not to drive until she is examined by a neurologist in the U.S.

'Because God forbid, I have another seizure or event in the car. And I could kill someone, I could kill myself. I could kill my kids.

'I have to have a new perspective in order to keep me and my family and everyone around me safe.'

Trista, who plans on seeing a special now that she is back home, said there weren't any indications of illness aside from a few headaches she had every now and then.

Although she may never understand what brought on her seizure or if she will have another one again, Trista believes stress had something to do with it, and she plans on making some life changes.

The reality star admitted that at first she asked herself why this would happen to her, someone who leads a healthy and active lifestyle, but then she immediately reminded herself that she is human  and if it can happen to her, it can happen to anyone.

Scary: Earlier this month, Trista took to Instagram to share this photo from her hospital bed, informing fans of the medical emergency she suffered the day before

'Today was a good day': Trista Sutter posted this photo with husband Ryan, giving fans an update three days after suffering a seizure on their family vacation

'Some days don't go the way you planned': Ryan posted this photo with son Maxwell after the terrifying event

Trista and Ryan were conflicted about whether or not they should publicly speak about her seizure, but she ultimately decided to share her story in a candid Instagram post earlier this month.

'I've always envisioned that date being sometime after my kids have graduated college, met the loves of their lives and created families of their own, but I was reminded yesterday that it could come anytime, in any country, whether I'm surrounded by strangers or people I love, or neither, or both,' she wrote.

Trista told GMA that she wants to 'be that voice' for people who have had similar experiences.

'Seizures are not pretty. It's embarrassing to lose control of your body,' she said. 'I think a lot of people feel alone out there, and I want them to feel they are not.'

Ultimately, the experience has reminded Trista that 'life is fragile' and 'precious', and she has vowed to take the time to enjoy her time with her loved ones.
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Ascot fell silent on the first day of the Royal meeting as a mark of respect following the recent tragic events across the country.

A minute's silence was observed across the racecourse on Tuesday after the arrival of the Queen and the Royal party in the Ascot parade ring in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and the London and Manchester terror attacks.

Resplendent in a vibrant green outfit, the Queen bowed her head as she and Prince Philip led the minute's silence surrounded by senior members of the royal family.

Her Majesty The Queen and the Royal Party observe a minute's silence for the victims of recent terror attacks as they arrived in the Ascot parade ring in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire and the London and Manchester terror attacks

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge joined the Queen at Royal Ascot, as well as the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall.

The Queen marked her official birthday on Saturday by issuing a statement acknowledging the 'succession of terrible tragedies' and observed a minute's silence before the Trooping the Colour ceremony began.

Johnny Weatherby, chairman of Ascot Racecourse, said: 'We have all been deeply saddened by recent tragic events around the country.

'At the beginning of this important week for racing, we at Ascot Racecourse wish to pay our respects to the victims and offer support to the families who have been so terribly affected.'

The racecourse is making a donation of 100,000 to the British Red Cross UK Solidarity and London Fire Relief Funds and local charities to support those affected.

Exit collections on all five days of Royal Ascot will take place to enable racegoers to contribute.

Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth and Ascot Chairman Johnny Weatherby observe a minute's silence in honour of the recent tragedies, including the Grenfell fire

The racecourse will be making donation of 100,000 to the British Red Cross UK Solidarity and London Fire Relief Funds

HerMajesty was predicted by the bookies to wear blue, but upset the odds by opting for green instead

The Queen has written a foreword to Tuesday's official programme and highlighted the huge number of racegoers, and entered horses from across the globe, that make Royal Ascot such a 'unique' event.

William and Kat will present a trophy during the day, as will Charles and Camilla, double Olympic gold medal-winning showjumper Nic Skelton and actor Laurence Fox, best known for his role in the TV crime drama Lewis.

The Queen said in her foreword: 'The tremendous racing and the gathering of 300,000 people and more than 400 horses from around the world makes this event unique.

'Last year, horses trained outside Great Britain won 14 of the 30 races and I am again delighted to welcome many overseas competitors.

'In 1711, Queen Anne declared Ascot to be 'ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch'. Ever since, the finest horses have raced here and that will certainly be the case again this week.'

Lovely in lace! Kate showed off her trim figure in bespoke Alexander McQueen, while Beatrice also opted for a summery white outfit

Camilla kept her cool in a white outfit and a matching hat trimmed with ostrich feathers

Princess Beatrice opted for a softer look than her sister in an embellished dress and a dusky pink hat

Sophie and Kate laugh uproariously as the Countess loses her balance and stumbles forward before being caught by Kate

Like the Queen, Sophie Wessex was resplendent in green, wearing a pendant necklace to match her outfit

Kate catches up with Zara Tindall who went for a pared down look in a simple blue dress

Despite temperatures soaring to almost 30C, the Duchess of Cambridge kept her cool in a white lace outfit by Alexander McQueen as she joined the Queen and Prince William at Royal Ascot.

Kate, 35, stunned in a bespoke lace dress by her favourite designer Alexander McQueen, complete with a matching hat.

Meanwhile, Her Majesty defied the bookies' predictions that she'd wear blue by making her entrance in vivid green.

Sophie Wessex also opted for a similar shade for the traditional carriage procession.

A picture perfect pair! Friends dressed in shades of pink and white teamed their hats with their headscarves as they arrived for the first day of Royal Ascot in Berkshire

Kate shares a joke with Sophie Wessex, who also chose green like her mother-in-law the Queen

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge getting into their carriage to take part in the parade during Royal Ascot (left). Princess Eugenie made the unusual choice of a black dress, but added a splash of coulour with her tricolour hat (right)
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The first day of Royal Ascot got off to a sweltering start with the temperature soaring to 30C, but it didn't stop racegoers forgoing their most glamorous hats - and even headscarves - for the jewel in the crown of the racing season.

Friends proved that modest dressing is also the height of style, wearing headscarves underneath their millinery.

With temperatures expected to hit 28C (82F) at the course, organisers were today considering relaxing the strict dress codes for punters.

An Ascot spokeswoman said: 'It's being considered. We're waiting for confirmation. It's never happened before.'

It is likely any change could include men and women being able to remove their jackets.

The dress code for men in the Royal Enclosure is black or grey morning dress with a waistcoat and tie - but not a cravat - and a black or grey top hat.

For women, strapless, off the shoulder, halter-neck, spaghetti straps and dresses with a strap narrower than 1in (2.5cm) are banned in the exclusive area. Midriffs must be covered and fascinators are also forbidden.

Friends showed how glamorous modest fashion can be, wearing headscarves under their hats on the first day of Royal Ascot

Feeling blue! Bruce Forsyth's wife Wilnelia, Lady Forsyth-Johnson keeps cool in the heat with a handy fan (left). This racing fan opted for a '70s vibe in a patterned jumpsuit (right)

A racegoer fans herself with her programme to keep off the heat as temperatures soared to 30C

Green goddess! This partygoer kept it leafy and lovely (left) while a fellow racing fan looked like she was off to a ball in a jewel encrusted nude gown (right)

For the first time, jumpsuits are being permitted as suitable attire for women in the Royal Enclosure - but they must be full length to the ankle.

In the hot weather, horses will be cooled down after racing in the Unsaddling Enclosure, featuring state-of-the-art misters.

The heatwave certainly didn't deter glamorous guests including Bruce Foryth's wife Wilnelia, former Miss World Stephanie Del Valle Diaz and model Sofia Hayat from dressing to the nines with statement hats.

Lady Forsyth stunned in head to toe blue and kept herself cool by toting a fan to match her outfit.

On a very balmy afternoon, many people wisely accessorised with fans to keep cool in the baking sun

Former Miss World Stephanie Del Valle Diaz was stunning in one of the day's more pared back looks (left). Anther bucked tradition and chose a floral jumpsuit over a dress, but kept it fitting with a blue hat (right)

Despite organisers planning to relax the dress code, racegoers were determined to put their best foot forward in all their finery

Officers armed with guns were among those deployed to help protect the 300,000 visitors expected to attend Royal Ascot over the coming week after they were first used last year

Armed police mingle with race goers who certainly didn't seem rattled by the presence of extra security

Cheers! Friends kick off their day at the races with a tipple as they soak up the sun at Royal Ascot

Bolivian painter and artist Sonia Falcone cut a very colourful figure as she showed off her blue dress

In perfect harmony! Friends chose complementary black dresses adorned with a floral motif and very elaborate hats for their day at Royal Ascot

Temperatures may be soaring but early arrivals at Ascot weren't deterred from donning some very elaborate hats

Friends pose up a storm for the cameras as they prepare to enjoy a day of sporting action

A very brave racegoer defied the soaring temperatures in black tights, gloves and an enormous feathered hat (left). Butterflies were a popular motif for racegoers with many wearing hats adorned with the colourful creatures (right)

This fashionable racegoer looked striking in a bustier decorated with purple lips

Following the arrival of the Queen in the parade ring, racegoers gathered together on the first day of the Berkshire meet for a minute's silence to pay their respects to those who died in recent terror attacks and the Grenfell fire.

Johnny Weatherby, chairman of Ascot Racecourse, said: 'We have all been deeply saddened by recent tragic events around the country.

'At the beginning of this important week for racing, we at Ascot Racecourse wish to pay our respects to the victims and offer support to the families who have been so terribly affected.'

Presenter Lizzie Cundy wore a plain white dress but balanced out its simplicity with a huge white flower hat, adorned with sprouting purple feathers

Emma Manners, Duchess of Rutland chose a fun outfit with a polka dot motif (left). Designer Amanda Wakeley looked fierce in an ombre-style jumpsuit, teamed with a cape and veiled hat

Milliner and society girl Lady Laura Cathcart (left) and Lady Sophie Windsor (right) with the ex-wife of Mercedes-Benz heir Mick Flick, Countess Maya Von Schoenburg

Taking a load off! Friends pause for a break to rest their feet after a tiring day of traipsing around in heels

The racecourse is making a donation of 100,000 to the British Red Cross UK Solidarity and London Fire Relief Funds and local charities to support those affected.

Exit collections on all five days of Royal Ascot will be available to enable racegoers to contribute.

Heightened security measures are in place this year, with armed police patrolling the racecourse, and more extensive dog, bag and physical searches.

Racegoers were warned that access to the course will take longer and to allow extra time due to heightened security measures.

For the first time, jumpsuits are being permitted as suitable attire for women in the Royal Enclosure - but they must be full length to the ankle

David Seaman and wife Frankie Poultney looked every inch the glamorous pair as they arrived for a day at the races

A bit of all white! Lizzie Cundy shows off her shapely legs in a dress with a daring side slit (left). Fashion designer Isabell Kristensen also opted for an elegant white outfit, teamed with a statement pink hat (right)

Milliner Ilda Di Vico teamed her yellow outfit with one of her own creations, adorned with silver leaves and yellow butterflies (left). Sally Bercow, wife of the speaker of the Speaker of the House of Commons kept her dress simple but added a touch of flair with a wide brimmed back and white hat and zebra print shoes

Up to 300,000 people are due to descend on the event over the next five days, including the Queen who has attended every year since she came to the throne in 1952

Pretty in pink! Statement hats in shades of fuchsia helped these fashionable racegoers stand head and shoulders above the rest

Wearing your heart on your head! A quirky sweet-themed fascinator provides a welcome change from all the flowers and feathers

Model and former nun Sofia Hayat (centre) puts on a glittering display in an embellished dress, but her two friends seem equally keen to stand out from the crowds

My fair lady! This woman stepped out in a vintage-inspired number with a layered skirt (left). Another racegoer added accents of copper and metallic to her cream tailored dress (right)

Lovely in lilac: These friends were the picture of summery perfection in shades of purple

Horse jockey Lizzie Kelly from Devon with Edward Partridge from Cheltenham take a breather in the sweltering temperatures

With temperatures soaring, these friends took a welcome break from their tailcoats. Bosses are said to be considering relaxing the dress code that states the outerwear must be worn by men in the Royal Enclosure

Artist Tracy Rose cuts a very striking figure in an elaborate red, white and blue outfit

Racegoers keep to the shade as temperatures are expected to reach around 30 Celsius this afternoon

Henry Conway and Nazer Bullen made for a striking pair in all their race day finery

A woman puts the finshing touches to her elaborate spread on a trestle table set up outide her car

Taking a breather! Racegoers pause to take the weight off their feet as the afternoon beings to heat up

Ladies who lunch! Friends turned their car park lunch into a very sophisticated affair

Well prepared! A woman has a sit down on a portable stool while queuing to enter the grounds

First let me take a selfie! A reveller captures a quick snap ahead of the action

Shunning the ubiquitous flowers and feathers in favour of block colours and geometric lines (left). This woman truly channeled the spirit of the day in an equestrian themed hat (right)

Racegoers set up picnic tables alongside their cars to make the most of the sunshine

Racegoer Antonia von Schacky opted for a monochrome look for her day out (left). Another reveller went for a hat in shades of dusky pink (right)

Heightened security measures are in place this year, including bag searches

Armed police patrol the grounds as the popular racing festival gets underway

Racegoer Iona Wiltshire Perkins puts on a glamorous display in an embellished floral dress and frothy white hat on the first day of Ascot (left). Lady Alice Manners stunned in ethereal lace in shared of cream and pink (right)

This guest eschewed the ubiquitous towering creations covered in feathers and opted for a more traditional pillbox with a veil

These gentlemen were no doubt feeling the heat in the top hats and tails, but organisers are considering relaxing the dress code to allow people to remove their jackets in the Royal Enclosure

Emma Harper from Milton Keynes poses with the Greencoats guards during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse

Arriving in style! These racegoers certainly made an entrance by turning up to the course in a horse drawn carriage

Up to 300,000 people are due to descend on the event over the next five days, including the Queen who has attended every year since she came to the throne in 1952.

Organisers urged people not to bring unnecessary bags or luggage, adding: 'We also ask for your vigilance on matters of security.

'If you see or hear anything suspicious, please bring it immediately to the attention of the police or our stewards.'

RACEGOERS FACE HEIGHTENED SECURITY Armed police officers joined the large numbers Ascot Racecourse security staff standing guard ahead of the gates opening on the first day of racing. A number of officers bustled around the police station and officers were visible all along the town's high street. Some of those attending were searched by security guards on their way into the racecourse's enclosures. Officers armed with guns were among those deployed to help protect the 300,000 visitors expected to attend Royal Ascot over the coming week after they were first used last year. A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: 'They were positively received by race-goers and the local community. In light of recent national events, these patrols will again take place as part of an extensive range of security measures to ensure public safety. Armed police joined security staff at the first day of Ascot, amid security concerns 'These measures include: an increased number of armed response vehicles, uniformed and non-uniformed police officers, vehicle checks and baggage searches. 'The force had also drafted in help from other police forces to make sure guests at Ascot were kept safe in the wake of four separate terrorist attacks in the UK this year. A spokesman said: 'Officers from TVP, the British Transport Police and the Metropolitan Police Service will be present at and around the event to ensure the protection of Her Majesty the Queen, members of the Royal Family and other distinguished guests and members of the public attending. 'They will also be working hard in partnership with Ascot Racecourse Limited and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council to minimise the impact of the event on the local community.' 'For the first time last year, armed foot patrols were introduced at Royal Ascot and they were positively received by race-goers and the local community. 'In light of recent national events, these patrols will again take place as part of an extensive range of security measures to ensure public safety. 'These measures include: an increased number of armed response vehicles, uniformed and non-uniformed police officers, vehicle checks and baggage searches.' Superintendent Olly Wright, police silver commander for the event, added: 'Thames Valley Police has been involved in policing Royal Ascot for many years and it is a highlight of our operations calendar. 'For all involved, this year's event will feel a little different in light of recent, tragic national events. Race-goers and the local community can expect to see an increased police presence and more extensive security measures in place, however the public should be reassured and not alarmed by this. 'It is our job to protect the public and we have developed strong plans with our partners and the event organisers to manage this. Those attending should go about their day as normal and enjoy the special occasion. 'I would just ask that the public support our efforts and be vigilant, look after your belongings and report unusual activity or anything suspicious immediately by dialling 101. 'Our neighbourhood policing team will be part of the operation during the week and, working alongside others, will ensure that local peoples' priorities are not overlooked during the event.' Advertisement

The social occasion is as much an event for fashionistas as for racing fans, with an array of outlandish hats on display - particularly on Ladies Day on Thursday.

The colour of the Queen's hat was the subject of hundreds of bets - with bookmaker Ladbrokes citing blue as the favourite for the first day at 3-1.

However, they were proved wrong when the monarch arrived in a green coat and hat.

Friends gather around for a chat as they soak up the atmosphere at Royal Ascot

Keeping their cool! Friends treat themselves to a refreshing beer amid sweltering temperatures

Racegoers mill around at the entrance to Royal Ascot as they prepare to enjoy a day of sporting action

Hurry up boys! A woman looks on as her friends pause to do up their shoelaces

Organisers are considering relaxing the Royal Enclosure's strict dress code to allow men and women to remove their jackets in the heat

Later today, a minute's silence will be held for the victims of the Grenfell fire and recent terror attacks

Finishing touches! Model Carly Baker wears an edible hat commissioned by bookmakers Coral and created by television chef Cherish Finden

Police keep a watchful eye as thousands of racegoers start to descend on the popular festival, one of the highlights of the racing calendar

A trio of ladies in red pose up a storm for the camera on the first day of Ascot

Police walk in front of a racegoer arriving on day one of the Royal Ascot horse racing meet

Early arrivals beat the queues to have their bags checked at the Berkshire course

Start as you mean to go on! Revellers kick off the day with an obligatory glass of champagne

Revellers have been warned to expect an extended wait to get into the course due to heightened security measures

Armed police secure one of the entrances as racegoers arrive on day one of the Royal Ascot horse racing meet

Vintage girl band The Tootsie Rollers turned up the heat even more in fiery red dresses and bespoke floral headpieces by London based Clea Broad

Care for a canape? These friends had come well prepared with a delicious picnic and glasses of bubbly

Eye of the tiger! This colourful and co-ordinated pair made sure they got noticed in their orange outfits

Bettingexpert also has the money on blue, as it's the only colour the Queen has consistently worn on at least one day of the five-day festival since 2005.

For day two, she's tipped to wear pink with statistics showing she's chosen the shade for 42 per cent of her visits to the Berkshire track.

For Ladies Day on Friday, the monarch is expected to appear in white.
He's been overshadowed by Barbie for decades, but now Ken is finally getting some attention.

Mattel is introducing 15 new looks for the male doll, giving him different skin tones, body shapes and hair styles.

The makeover is part of the toy company's plan to make its dolls more diverse and appeal to today's kidswhich resulted in a similar overhaul for Barbie more than a year ago.

Overhaul: Mattel is introducing 15 new looks for its Ken doll, giving him different skin tones, body shapes and hair stylesincluding one wearing a man bun

Representation: The makeover is part of the toy company's plan to make its dolls more diverse and appeal to today's kids. Barbie went through a similar process more than a year ago

Ken will be sold in three body shapes: 'slim,' ''broad' and 'original'. He'll have modern hairdos, such as cornrows and man buns, and come in seven different skin tones.

The new dolls will also be sporting new fashion looksthink skinny ties, plaid shirts and graphic tees.

Ken hasn't changed much since he was first introduced 56 years ago as Barbie's blue-eyed, chiseled boyfriend.

Physique: Ken will be sold in three body shapes: 'slim,' ''broad' and 'original'. He'll have modern hairdos, such as cornrows and man buns, and come in seven different skin tones

Time for a change: Ken hasn't evolved much since he was first introduced 56 years ago as Barbie's blue-eyed, chiseled boyfriendbut the new dolls break that mold

'We are redefining what a Barbie or Ken doll looks like to this generation,' said Mattel's Lisa McKnight, who oversees the Barbie line.

Mattel Inc, based in El Segundo, California, says some of the new Ken dolls will be available for sale on its website Tuesday.

All of them will be on store shelves by the holidays.
After showing off her perfect pins in a cream skirt suit yesterday, Queen Letizia of Spain switched back to her favoured tailored trousers on a visit to Aviles in Asturias.

The 44-year-old looked striking in an outfit picked up mostly from Spanish high street Mango.

Teaming a red satin vest top with a pair of distinctive latticed red sandals, both from Mango, Letizia finished the look with high-waisted white tailored trousers from Italian designer Massimo Dutti.

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Berries and cream! Queen Letizia of Spain looked sensational in her country's national colour as she arrived in the Northern Spanish town of Aviles to meet local schoolchildren

Sporting a pair of distinctive lattice red shoes from Mango, Letizia spent time posing for photos and shaking hands with crowds. Her pristine white trousers were from Italian designer Massimo Dutti

The mother-of-two met with students who'd taken part in cultural activities as part of a programme funded by the royal family's Princess of Asturias Foundation.

Wearing her highlighted hair loose, Letizia looked relaxed as she was greeted by hundreds of youngsters and local residents in the town of Aviles.

After chatting with the crowds, Letizia made her way into the El Quirina school, where she spent time reading with young pupils and listening to the work they've been during as part of the 'Toma la Palabra' cultural program for schools.

Going solo: the glamorous mother-of-two left behind her husband King Felipe VI to attend the charity-funded project at the El Quirina school in Aviles

Let's read: Youngsters looked in awe of the Spanish queen as she read with them

A young boy shows the former journalist what his class has been doing for the cultural programmne

With her long highlighted locks worn loose, Letizia looked happy and relaxed at the charity event

Just yesterday, Letizia had been in Madrid, attending an event at the Spanish capital's Prado art gallery.

The King and Queen visited the museum on Monday to attend the 'Art of Educating' (El Arte de Educar) event.

Queen Letizia swapped up her usual tailored look for a flirty summer skirt as she and husband King Felip VI arrived at the Prado National Museum in Madrid on Monday

While museums require visitors to keep the noise down, in the presence of royalty the school group couldn't help but be lively

Showcasing her flair for designer fashions Letizia opted for an elegant cream jacket from Hugo Boss paired with a matching pleated skirt.

The former-journalist chose a higher shoe than we would normally see her in, in the form of a nude sling-back with a stiletto heel complemented by a matching clutch.

She finished her look with a touch of bling with a pair of tear drop earrings made from semi-precious stones.

Meanwhile King Felipe looked dapper in a grey suit complete with an earth coloured tie and a pair of casual brown brogues.
A drag queen and father-of-three proudly showed off his 'fantastic' new implants after two surgeons were finally able to give him the chest he had always wanted following a series of breast augmentations that left him with 'floppy boobs'.

Flame Monroe  whose real name is Marcus Parker  met with Los Angeles-based surgeons Dr. Paul Nassif and Dr. Terry Dubrow on Sunday night's episode of the E! reality series, Botched, revealing he had four breasts augmentations, three of which were done in Mexico.

The female impersonator is a dad by day and a drag queen by night, and while the appearance of his breasts bothered him, he really wanted to get his implants looked at because he feared something could go wrong with them that could prevent him from raising his children.

Help: Drag queen Flame Monroe  whose real name is Marcus Parker  asked Los Angeles-based surgeons Dr. Paul Nassif and Dr. Terry Dubrow to fix his breast implants on Botched

Transformation: Dr. Dubrow removed Flame's old implants, replaced them with new ones, and have him a breast lift

Risky business: Before his surgery, Flame had a four different breast augmentations, three of which were done in Mexico

Flame said when he was a child everyone called him 'Sissy Marcus' because of his flamboyant personality, but he has always been been happy with who he was before he became a female impersonator.

While working as a drag queen, Flame fell in love with a woman in 2002, and they went on to have three children, who are aged 13, 12, and 9.

Flame explained that he loves to date masculine lesbians, and while things didn't work out with his partner, he was thrilled to get sole custody of their kids.

During his first meeting with the doctors, Flame said he considers himself transgender without all the 'hoopla' behind it, insisting that using specific pronouns don't matter to him because he will always be 'dad' to his kids.

Being himself: Flame said he considers himself transgender without all the 'hoopla' behind it, insisting that using specific pronouns don't matter because he will always be 'dad' to his kids

Start of it all: Flame traveled to Mexico for his first set of implants when he was 22 years old

Disaster: Flame had a U.S. doctor perform his second boob job, and even though he loved the results (left) he went back under the knife in Mexico and was left with lopsided breasts (right)

He also stressed that he has never had anything removed from his body, nor does he have any intention to do so.

Flame explained he got his first implants in Mexico when he was 22 years old, and while it was a 'backyard, bootleg' location, he said they turned out good.

The performer went on to have another breast augmentation that was performed by a doctor in Chicago, and he said his saline implants were 'perfect'.

Despite his satisfaction with his chest, he took the advice of another drag queen who told him he should have bigger breasts, and he ended traveling to Mexico for his third boob job.

Family: Flame, who said he loves to date masculine lesbians, fell in love in 2002 and had three kids

Doting dad: While things didn't work out with his partner, he was thrilled to get sole custody of their kids, who are now 13, 12, and 9

Unfortunately, he developed a serious infection and had to spend eight weeks letting his body heal before he had a fourth set of implants put in.

'I think they must have put some burritos or some tacos or taquitos up in my chest or something because one is bothering me [with] pain and the other is dangling,' he told the cameras.

Dr. Nassif explained that Flame's implants have been in there for 14 years, and Dr. Dubrow had to identify what exactly is going on with his chest.

Dr. Dubrow was able to come up with a surgical plan that he felt would leave Flame with minimal scarring, but he admitted it was a scary operation because he had no idea what he would find once he went to remove the implants.

Scary operation: Dr. Dubrow was able to come up with a surgical plan for flame, but he was worried about what he would find when he went to remove his old implants

Dangerous mess: The doctor was in the middle of taking out Flame's old implants when he noticed that one of them had ruptured, calling it a 'silicone bomb'

Happy customer: Despite the complication, Dr. Dubrow pulled off the surgery, and Flame thought his new breasts looked 'fantastic'

The doctor was in the middle of taking out Flame's old implants when he noticed that one of them had ruptured, calling it a 'silicone bomb'.

The feel-floating silicone was a sticky mess, and Dr. Dubrow worried that an infection could ruin the surgery. However, he managed to find a way to continue with his plan, giving Flame new implants and a breast lift

Because of the complication, Dr. Dubrow wasn't sure what the implants would look like once they were healed, and he was just as anxious as Flame when it was time to unveil his work.

Despite their initial fears, Flame thought they looked 'fantastic', and he proudly showed off his new chest in front of his children and friends at a drag show once they fully healed.

Great success: Flame's breasts were no longer causing him pain or lopsided

Support system: Flame's three children watched him unveil his breasts during a drag show

Confident: Flame donned a red wig and a low-cut catsuit to debut his new chest

'I feel so good now that I got Beverly Hills boob,' he said during his performance.

'Flame is back, and I am burning stronger and brighter than ever,' he happily told the camera.

During the episode doctors also met with Pardis, a patient who had a botched rhinoplasty job when she was a teenager that eventually led to problems with her breathing.

'When I was 15 I hit puberty, the hump came in, just that traditional Middle Eastern hump,' she said of her nose job. 'And my parents were like, "Look if you wanna do this, let's do it."'

New woman: Dr. Nassif performed surgery on Pardis, a woman who had a botched rhinoplasty job when she was a teen that eventually led to problems with her breathing

Beginning: Pardis explained that she developed a large bump on her knows when she was 15, and her parents let her get a nose job

Life-changing: Not only did he fix the look of Pardis' nose, but he also helped her be able to breathe again

A few years after the surgery, her nose began to droop, but when she returned to her surgeon to see if he could fix the problem, he insisted her nose was fine.

Instead, he told her what she really needed was a chin implant, which ended up making Pardis feel even more self-conscience.

Even more time went by, and by the time she visited the doctors, she was barely able to breathe. Although she feared she would one again be disappointed by a surgeon, Dr. Nassif was able to fix the appearance of her nose while helping her breathe again.

'Before my surgery my nose was crooked, it was collapsed, I couldn't breathe and it just made me feel self-conscious,' she told the camera.

Breaking records: Martina Big, who has Europe's largest breast implants' wanted the doctors to give her a 'huge butt' too mach her ample chest

Trying it out: Martina used water balloons to figure out how large she wanted her butt implants to be, but the doctors weren't willing to go along with her plan

Making her understand: Dr. Dubrow gave her a real implant to tuck into her pantyhose and had her try sitting on it. It ruptured right away, making her realize surgery wasn't the best idea

'But now the septum is the size it should be, it's no longer crooked at all. And I can breathe like I should, I'm not snoring anymore, which is really just a breath of fresh air.'

The doctors' third patient, Martina Big, is known for having Europe's largest boob implants, and the German woman wanted them to give her a 'huge butt' to match.

Martina told the cameras that she had liposuction from her waist to her knees, and she now regretted it because she wanted her derriere to match her ample chest.

Before her appointment, she filled up water balloons in her kitchen and stuffed them down the back of her pants to see what she would look like with butt implants.

However, they doctors weren't down with her plan. Dr. Dubrow gave her a real implant to tuck into her pantyhose and had her try sitting on it.

It ruptured right away and started leaking, making Martina realize that the surgery probably wasn't a good idea.
iteration of the brand's 'Show 'Em What's Underneath' campaign, which spotlights everyday heroes

A Navy SEALS veteran's latest feat of bravery saw him stripping down on camera to star in a new underwear campaign.

Remi Adeleke, an actor and former SEAL, is the latest face to join Jockey's Show 'Em What's Underneath campaign, happily flaunting his boxer briefs  and incredible abs  on film.

'I'm proud to be a part of the Jockey #ShowEm campaign because I wanted to contribute to something bigger than myself,' he said.

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Military-grade undies: Navy SEAL Remi Adeleke stars in Jockey's latest campaign

Exalted: The ads are part of the latest iteration of the brand's Show 'Em What's Underneath campaign honoring 'everyday heroes'

Remi was born in West Africa, and his family had quite a bit of money until his father died. That's when the Nigerian government seized everything from them, and Remi moved with his mom to New York City.

There, Remi's mom was busy working too jobs, and he started getting into trouble. 'I was either going to end up dead or in prison,' he says in a campaign video.

'I tried to use my upbringing as an excuse. I needed something bigger than myself.'

That 'something bigger' was joining the Navy and joining the elite Navy SEAL program, serving for 13 years on active duty.

These days, he is an actor (in this year's Transformers: The Last Knight), a husband, a father, and a pastor.

Tough beginnings: Remi lost his dad at a young age, as well as the family's wealth, and had to move across the world with his mother

Looking for a chnage: He fell into a rough crowd and was getting into trouble when he decided his life needed more purpose

Long career: He joined the Navy and was on active duty for 13 years

'The fact that these men would give up their life for other people, that gave me purpose,' he says.

In the video, Remi shows off his totally ripped physique in just a pair of boxer briefs, working out for the camera.

' We were so moved by Remi's transformative story  from adversity to a life dedicated to inspiring others  that we knew he was an ideal fit for our #ShowEm campaign,' Matthew Waller, senior manager of corporate communications and brand partnerships at Jockey, said in a press release.

'We hope that Remi's story of resilience will empower others to not be afraid to pursue their dreams.'

'The fact that these men would give up their life for other people, that gave me purpose,' he said of the decision

Wowza! Now he stars in the Jockey campaign, flexing and exercising on camera

Acting gig: He is also set to appear in Transformers: The Last Knight

Last year, Jockey first launched the ongoing campaign with three other 'everyday heroes'.

'The "Show 'Em What's Underneath" campaign encourages everyone to be comfortable with themselves  imperfections and all,' Matthew Waller, senior manager of corporate communications and brand partnerships, announced in a press release.

These included veteran Chris Van Etten, a 26-year-old US Marine, who wore nothing but boxer briefs and his dog tags for the shoot.

Hero: US Marine veteran Chris Van Etten appeared in another Jockey ad last year

Work it! The 26-year-old stripped down to a pair of boxer-briefs for the occasion

Pushing forward: In a video for the campaign, he flexed his muscles and does push-ups

History: Chris has previously stripped down for a photo series by Michael Stokes

This wasn't the first time that Chris had posed nearly nude, either. In 2015, images taken of him by Michael Stokes went viral. The Los Angeles-based photographer shot an entire series of amputee war vets posing in next to nothing  or nothing at all.

On Daily Mail Online, coverage of the shots was shared nearly 300,000 times, and the muscular veterans earned heaps of praise from admirers.

Chris, of course, isn't just good looking  he's also incredibly selfless and brave, and has a remarkably upbeat attitude about what has happened to him.

'I don't get mad at the fact that I lost my legs. My life changed for the better,' he said in a video for Jockey. 'You have to keep pushing. You have to keep going against all odds.'

In the spotlight: He also proudly wore his dog tags in the ad and video

In May of 2012, Chris lost his legs  and a very close friend  when an IED was triggered in Afghanistan.

'At the beginning you're still so shocked, and then I was so concerned about learning to walk again. And then when everything finally slowed down I was overwhelmed with all the mental aspects of it,' he told People.

But, he added: 'I didn't want something like that to control my entire life, so that's something that I worked on everyday to show that I'm in control of my whole life.'

He's clearly been making the most of his situation, inspiring others and now finding work as an underwear model.
A mother has warned other parents to be on the lookout for a Lyme disease symptom that stumped doctors for hours while her daughter screamed in pain and became paralyzed.

Natalie Walsh, 35, of Wheeling, West Virginia, shared an alarming post on Facebook earlier this month, recounting how her seven-year-old daughter Natasha woke up one morning with a headache and 104-degree fever.

The little girl also had a quarter-size lump on the right side of her head, which should have alerted doctorsbut at first they thought nothing of it.

Sign: A mother has warned other parents to be on the lookout for a Lyme disease symptom that stumped doctors for hoursa lump on the right side of her daughter's head (pictured)

Would you have spotted it? The lump looked a lot like a bruise or a spider bite

By the afternoon, the lump had grown into the 'ugliest-looking wound' the mom had ever seen, even in 13 years of nursing.

'I was told at first it was a spider bite,' Walsh wrote in her post. 'She was treated and sent home. Within hours, the wound looked even worse. [It] had a white and red ring around it. The fever was unstoppable.'

Natasha, at that point, was screaming in pain nonstop and had lost the ability to move her head and neck. The little girl was also unable to walk, felt dizzy and confused, and had swollen and painful knees.

At this point, the mother, who said she was 'scared to death' because she had never seen anything like this throughout her nursing career, took her daughter to another children's hospital, this time in Pittsburgh.

'She's my youngest of three, plus I'm a nurse so I've see a lot of things,' Walsh told WPXI. 'I've never seen a child get that sick that fast.'

Scare: Natalie Walsh (pictured), of West Virginia, shared an alarming post on Facebook, recounting how her daughter Natasha woke up with a headache and 104-degree fever

The mom said hospital employees told her they would do everything they could to diagnose and treat her daughter.

'I was hopeful we were in the right place, then every team from neurologists, infectious disease, dermatology and who knows what else saw her,' she recounted.

'Everyone scratched their heads just like me. Everyone wanted a picture of the bite because it was definitely not something they had seen before.'

Meanwhile, her daughter was getting worse, despite being given antibiotics, fluids, and other medication.

It took several hours of tests for doctors to diagnose the little girl with Lyme disease. Her symptoms, according to the mom, were 'a little off', and she lacked the 'bull's eye' rash that is characteristic of the condition.

The disease had attacked Natasha's nervous system, Walsh said. But after being given her first dose of treatment, she started walking again. Soon, Natasha was eating, drinking, and talking to her mom as usual.

'I am so thankful we came to the right place,' the mom added. She now wants other parents to be on the lookout for ticks and potential signs of Lyme disease.

Better: After doctors diagnosed the little girl with Lyme disease, she received adequate treatment and is now on the road to recovery. The lump on her head has almost healed

While some sufferers get the tell-tale 'bull's eye' rash, others can have plain red, blue-red, disseminated or blistering lesions, as illustrated by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

'I just ask to please take precautions to prevent ticks with your children and yourself,' Walsh added. 'I never saw a tick on Natasha so even if you don't see one, check their skin for bites.'

The little girl, who has now gone home, still has some knee pain, headaches and fatigue due to the disease. She is also sensitive to light.

But Natasha's lump has almost completely healed, and her momwho doesn't leave the house without bug sprayis hopeful she will make a full recovery for the summer.
Model Halima Adem, who has walked on some of fashion's hottest runways while wearing her hijab, believes the industry has become more diversean achievement to celebrate.

The 19-year-old, who has walked for Max Mara, Alberta Ferretti and Yeezy while wearing her headscarf, graces the cover of Allure's July issue.

In a video for the magazine, the model, who was born in a Kenya refugee camp and grew up in St. Cloud, Minnesota, rejoiced at the fact that the fashion world seems to be embracing a wider range of beauties and personalities.

Achievement: Model Halima Adem, who has walked on some of fashion's hottest runways while wearing her hijab, graces the cover of Allure 's July issue

'Now the industry is celebrating women across the board, from all different regions, all different backgrounds, all different walks of life,' she said. 'That's something we need to celebrate.'

Halima started wearing a headscarf when she was eight years old, because she wanted to be like her mother.

'Every little girl looks up to her mom so much  that's your first hero,' she said. She then chose to continue wearing it as a way to express her religious beliefs.

'Its how I interpret my religion, but there are women who are Muslim who choose not to wear the hijab,' she said. 'Thats something people often forget.'

Celebrating: The model (pictured in Max Mara's show at Milan Fashion Week in February) rejoiced at the fact that the fashion world seems to be embracing a wider range of beauties

Role model: Halima started wearing a headscarf when she was eight years old, because she wanted to be like her mother (pictured with her)

The model also chooses to dress modestly, and once asked the organizers of the Miss Minnesota USA pageant if she could wear an outfit with more coverage than a bikini during the swimsuit sequence.

Her request was granted, and Halima proudly wore a tunic and long-sleeved top during that part of the pageant.

As a model, dressing modestly has protected her from hurtful comments about her figure, she explained.

Choice: The model also dresses modestly, which she says protects her against hurtful comments regarding her figure as part of her job

Empowering: Now, Halima wants to support other women, regardless of their background and beliefs, and hopes they don't let challenges stand in their way

'Society puts so much pressure on girls to look a certain way. I have much more to offer than my physical appearance, and a hijab protects me against "You're too skinny", "You're too thick", "Look at her hips", "Look at her thigh gap",' she said.

'I don't have to worry about that.'

Now, Halima wants to support other women, regardless of their background and beliefs.

'I don't just want to support only Muslim women,' she told Allure. 'I want to inspire women across the board, and I'm hoping they won't allow challenges to get in the way.
Forget about the fluctuating pound and the price of gold. These days, experts say the best investment a girl can make is to build a decent collection of high-end handbags.

Once seen as the ultimate frivolous purchase, designer bags have now become so coveted that many are almost guaranteed to give a good return. Just how lucrative the trade can be was demonstrated last week at auction house Christies, when a blue crocodile-skin Hermes Birkin, decorated with white gold and 18-carat diamonds, fetched 125,000, making it the most expensive handbag ever sold in Europe.

Other bags by top designers, including Chanel and Louis Vuitton, also went for thousands of pounds. And to those in the know, these prices come as no surprise.

Designer handbags are an excellent investment, says Will Thomas, who runs online antiques-trading business Love Antiques. There is also a huge market in what we call future antiques. In other words, pieces that arent obvious collectables now, but may be worth a fortune in a few years time.

HANDBAGS GOING UP Luxury company Hermes make very, very few of these Himalayan Crocodile Birkins FROM 293,912 TO 400,000 This Hermes Himalayan Crocodile Birkin is likely to be a steep riser  Claudia Valentin, antique and handbag expert from Channel 4s Posh Pawn predicts it reaching as much as 400,000  and this is simply because so few are made. Each requires three crocodile stomachs, diamonds for the clasp and the dyeing process is painstaking, taking hours to finish. Its carried by royalty and A-listers alike and luxury company Hermes make very, very few of these  there are likely to be waiting lists lasting years. However, should laws change in the exotic skins market in the future, making it illegal to own one, it may end up being worth nothing. This Kusama Pumpkin Minaudiere Jewel bag is one of only five FROM 105,476 TO 210,000 This Louis Vuitton Kusama Pumpkin Minaudiere Jewel bag is one of only five. Made in the shape of a pumpkin from resin, metal and pure gold, its value is now predicted at 210,000. Its a collaboration between contemporary Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and Louis Vuitton. Collectors see it as a work of art as much as a bag  Kusamas work even showed in the Tate in the past. The Lana Marks Cleopatra clutch is worn by a myriad of stars FROM 316,000 TO 363,000 Worn by a myriad of stars from Dame Helen Mirren to Kate Winslet and hailed by some as the most famous clutch in the world, this Lana Marks Cleopatra clutch is a red carpet classic so it is unlikely to date. This bags worth is predicted to be 363,000. Its also studded with hundreds of diamonds  the sparklers will certainly help the bag retain its value. Designed by Karl Lagerfeld, it has the iconic CC clasp as well as the distinctive chain FROM 4,830 TO 10,000 This Chanel Timeless bag is truly timeless  and a stunning piece, which is why its value is now estimated at 10,000. Designed by Karl Lagerfeld, it has the iconic CC clasp as well as the distinctive chain. It comes in lambskin and caviar cast finish (the leather is bobbled, like caviar)  the more desirable style. This Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork bag is a mix up of 14 bags FROM 33,213 TO 40,000 Very wacky-looking, this Louis Vuitton Tribute Patchwork bag is a mix up of 14 bags, made by the then creative director of Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs. It is a limited edition and worn by stars such as Beyonce  only 24 were made. It is estimated that this will soar in value to 40,000 because it is so collectible. Theres a resurgence in the popularity of the Gucci Blondie Bag FROM 300 TO 900 At the moment theres a resurgence in the popularity of the Gucci Blondie Bag because the brand is the hot label right now. The new Gucci designer is known for going back into the archives to reproduce old styles, making the originals even more valuable. This ones worth is estimated to have tripled, to 900. If you got one during the It bag craze a decade ago, youre in luck. Advertisement

Hermes handbags like the record-breaking Birkin, he confides, are a bit of a sure thing  their worth is almost legendary. But bags by other well-known designers, such as Gucci, Fendi and Prada, are also a sound investment, with the advantage that first-time handbag investors will be able to pick them up at a far cheaper price.

The surge in value has been fuelled to a large extent by buyers from Asia, especially China, and the fact that even when the economy is in a downturn they remain status symbols for the richest women in the world, who are usually recession-proof.

Luxury handbags now are estimated to increase in value by around 8 per cent a year on average  a better return than any bank account. And then, of course, theres the fact you get to enjoy your purchase in the meantime.

HANDBAGS GOING DOWN Don't expect a high resale value from the Mulberry Alexa FROM 1,100 TO 300 The Mulberry Alexa is a high-fashion handbag that is beautiful, but it hasnt got a high resale value  from 300 to 500  because so many are produced. Plus, the new designer has recently changed the shape of the Alexa, meaning the older styles look dated. The Louis Vuitton Speedy bag was a mass-market it bag FROM 700 TO 400 The Louis Vuitton Speedy bag was a mass-market it bag, says Claudia Ricco, owner of Chelsea-based rewindvintage.com, which specialises in handbags. Unfortunately, this means everyone has one and they are therefore seen as less valuable. Louboutin bags seen as an afterthought for the brand that focuses on shoes FROM 1,300 TO 800 Louboutin is all about the shoes rather than the bags. The shoes do retain their value  but the bags less so as theyre seen as an afterthought for the brand. Fendi bags are seen as a season-only piece of trendy fashion FROM 2,320 TO 880 Many Fendi bags have an instant drop of 40 per cent because theyre seen as a season-only piece of trendy fashion rather than a long-term investment. Theyre also often made of cloth, rather than harder-wearing leathe Older Valentino Rockstud Bags are perceived as less precious. FROM 2,00 TO 600 Expert Claudia Ricco says the problem with the Valentino Rockstud Bags is that a massive collection was produced in every colour and size every season. Each was more desirable than the last, which means the older ones are perceived as less precious. Advertisement

Vintage bags of any sort are also in demand, and a keen collector with an eye for quality can make a good profit on them.

But can the average fashion lover really make a go of it in the world of handbag buying? Here, the women who have made a fortune from their handbags show us the ones to buy, the ones to hold  and the ones that mean youll lose your shirt . . .

SOME HAVE A PENSION  I CHOOSE HANDBAGS

Charlotte Ricard, 29, lives in London and runs events company La Fete. She owns 25 bags on which she spent 40,000, and which are now estimated to be worth 70,000.

Charlotte Ricard still treasures the jumbo Chanel bag she got for her 21st birthday

My love affair with handbags started when I was young. For Christmas when I was 16, I asked my parents for the Louis Vuitton Pochette handbag, the smallest one it does, and I carried it around until it fell apart.

Then, for my 21st birthday, my mother gave me a jumbo Chanel in black lambskin, which I still treasure.

My father collected art, so Im used to the idea of investing in this way. He appreciated beautiful paintings, but he also knew what would eventually gain value. In the same way, I buy beautiful handbags which I love using  and which are increasing in value.

It is satisfying seeing the prices go up. My tan Hermes Kelly bag, for which I paid 1,800, can now be found online for up to 7,000. And my vintage Eighties Chanel bag, which cost about 850, is now retailing at well over 2,000.

I am also the proud owner of a massive Louis Vuitton trunk, which I love so much I designed my sitting room around it. It has been by far my best investment, costing 8,500 four years ago and is now worth around 15,000.

Just as some people pay into a pension every month, I save up towards my next investment bag on my wish list. You can have a bad-hair day or feel bloated, but a bag always comes through. Theyre as reliable a fashion statement as they are a financial asset.

A 1,000 BAG? NO ONE BATS AN EYELID HERE!

Susie lives in a wealthy part of London where no one bats an eyelid at her 1,000 bag

Susie Nelson is in her 50s, married and owns vintage shop Modes & More in Pimlico, Central London. She owns 50 bags at a cost of around 7,000, which are now estimated to be worth 30,000.

Although I have a pigskin Hermes bag, a Hermes Constance in black crocodile and a black Chanel bag, I dont think of them as especially flashy.

In the wealthy part of London where I live, no one bats an eyelid if you carry a 1,000 bag.

That said, I notice that Hermes Constance bags similar to mine are retailing for well over 12,000 on vintage websites, while pigskin Hermes Birkin bags are 5,000.

Not all my bags are super expensive by any means  I have a few by Bally which were only a couple of hundred pounds.

Nobody knows the value of a vintage handbag better than I, though my personal collection isnt purely for investment. A purist would keep them in their original boxes, well away from direct sunlight and carefully wrapped in dust bags. But I love to use mine.

Ive always had an interest in fashion. The year I left university I applied for a job with Anna Wintour when she edited British Vogue. I was disappointed to miss the spot, but I ended up working in the City for a few years  which luckily taught me about how to make a savvy investment.

But after opening my shop, I very quickly became fascinated with the world of vintage: the history  and the soaring interest in handbags. If you can get a red or green crocodile bag, everybody wants one, and Kellys and Birkins  both by Hermes  always hold their value.

Other pieces come back round into fashion; just as mobile phones have got smaller, little evening bags have made a return.

MY COLLECTION SAVED US FROM RUIN

Kate Beavis, 44, lives in Bedfordshire with her husband Adam, 43, who works in construction, and their two children, aged six and nine. She has spent less than 2,000 on 150 bags that are now estimated to be worth 15,000.

Kate Beavis' shrewd investment in handbags saved her family from ruin in 2008

My vintage handbags are an at-home, high-interest savings account, with a return of 13,000 in less than a decade. Ive spent only 2,000 on the whole lot  Im very careful about what I buy, and I focus on pieces that I know will gain in value.

My most expensive item is a Chanel bag, for which I paid around 150 online and is now worth well over 1,000. The most desirable, from a collectors point of view, is a Forties piece made from Lucite  an early type of plastic. In 20 years time, the rarity value means it will be worth at least 1,000.

My collection was born from necessity. Our family had a terrible year in 2008 when the financial crash struck. I was on maternity leave and suddenly my husbands work dried up. I started selling my vintage handbags and began to see my carefully curated collection as an investment for the future.

My bags are now stored wrapped in dust jackets to protect them. I also have a cabinet for the more valuable ones  to keep them well away from the kids sticky hands.

Ive become an expert over the years and Ive even written a book. If you know what youre looking for, you can buy a vintage handbag worth 150 for a tenner.

Now I have a collection of 150, which I think of as my nest-egg.
They've enjoyed a relaxing lunch at Fredensborg Palace, a night at the theatre and a number of official royal appearances.

And on Monday, stylish Princess Mary, 45, and Japan's future sovereign Crown Prince Naruhito arrived harbourside in Copenhagen for one of the final activities on their busy six day schedule.

The effortlessly elegant royal showed off her sartorial flair as she arrived in what looked like a black and white skirt and black blazer and accessorised with a pair of chic blue pumps and blue clutch.

And while the look appeared to be her take on the bonafide and ever-growing 'black and navy' trend, whether her outfit was truly black and white or simply a trick of the light remains to be seen.

Chic: On Monday, the stylish Princess Mary, 45, and Japan's future sovereign Crown Prince Naruhito arrived harbourside for one of the final activities on their busy six day schedule

Royal style: The effortlessly elegant royal showed off her sartorial flair as she arrived in a black and white skirt and black blazer and accessorised with a pair of blue pumps and blue clutch

Another 'The Dress'? While the look appeared to be her take on the bonafide and ever-growing 'black and navy' trend, whether her outfit was truly black and white remains to be seen

In any case, the mother-of-four managed to get it sartorially spot on once again in her nautical-inspired attire and looked relaxed as she greeted the Crown Prince with a handshake before they made their way to a waiting barge.

The Princess exuded elegance in her outfit and as they set off, she donned a pair of over-sized shades - her hair scraped back casually in a half-up do.

The pair were all smiles as they set off on their journey and posed for photos as they cruised with Danish and Japanese officials.

Baffling: The chic get-up appeared black and white in some photographs, and a deep navy and white in others

All smiles: The pair were all smiles as they set off on their journey and posed for photos as they cruised with Danish and Japanese officials

Having a blast: They are thought to have cruised through the channel in the 'old harbour' to visit the famed Little Mermaid statue at Langelinie

They are thought to have cruised through the channel in the 'old harbour' to visit the famed Little Mermaid statue at Langelinie.

The popular bronze statue is one of the world's smallest landmarks and, according to dw.com, was based on the fairytale 'The Little Mermaid' by Hans Christian Andersen.

The boat cruise came after a relaxed lunch at Fredensborg Palace where the Crown Prince was hosted by Queen Margrethe, Prince Frederik and Princess Mary.

Elegant: The mother-of-four managed to get it sartorially spot on once again in her nautical inspired attire and looked relaxed as they cruised around the capital

Group snap: The boat cruise came after a relaxed lunch at Fredensborg Palace where the Crown Prince was hosted by Queen Margrethe, Prince Frederik and Princess Mary

Ahead of the lunch, the group took a moment to pose on the palace steps in Copenhagen before heading inside.

Princess Mary looked chic as she smiled for media in a stunning georgette blouse and matching mini skirt by Danish fashion brand Ganni.

The Australian-born royal accessorised the two-piece set with a pair of elegant caramel suede pumps, gold hoop earrings and a matching leaf ring.

Having a laugh: Ahead of the lunch, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Frederik and Queen Margrethe of Denmark took a moment to pose with their guest on the palace steps

Stunning: Princess Mary looked chic as she smiled for media in a stunning georgette blouse and matching mini skirt by Danish fashion brand Ganni

She wore her hair swept back lightly to keep the look appropriate for the more casual daytime event.

Both Prince Frederik, 49, and Crown Prince Naruhito opted for a more formal vibe in suits with blue ties while the ever-stylish Queen Margrethe wore a dress and matching blazer in her signature colour, pink.

The group were all smiles as they patiently posed for their photo opportunity, with Queen Margrethe looking particularly animated as she laughed with Japan's future sovereign.

Family meeting: Both Prince Frederik and Crown Prince Naruhito emitted a more formal vibe in suits with blue ties while the ever-stylish Queen Margrethe wore a dress and matching blazer

In hysterics: The group were all smiles as they patiently posed for their photo opportunity, with Queen Margrethe looking particularly animated as she laughed with Japan's future sovereign

On Monday evening, the Crown Prince Couple also hosted a dinner for their guest in at Frederik VIII's Palace, Amalienborg Palace.

Crown Prince Naruhito's visit to Denmark celebrates the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Denmark and Japan and the royal couple are patrons of the anniversary celebration.

As one of the world's oldest monarchies, Prince Naruhito's Danish visit is an illustrious one.

The last time the Japanese Crown Prince visited Denmark was in 2004, at the nuptials of the Danish Crown Prince and Australian-born Crown Princess.
There's nothing better than a few scoops of vanilla ice cream to cool down in a heatwave.

And thanks to a prestigious panel of food experts, arguments in the frozen food aisles over which variety to choose could become a thing of the past.

According to the judges on Channel 4's Tried and Tasted: The Ultimate Shopping List, retro brand Carte D'or outdoes award-winning artisan ice creams on the taste front.

The panel, which includes Michelin chef Michel Roux Jnr and respected food critic Jay Rayner, rated its vanilla the best out of four in a taste test that saw them sample a prize-winning vanilla from British brand Jude's as well as a dairy-free variety.

(L-R) Stacie Stuart, Fred Sirieix, Michel Roux, Lucy Alexander and Jay Rayner all put their taste buds to the test with pizza, ice cream and prawn cocktail

Carte Dor is the UK's best-selling (36p per 100ml) and also the Tried and Tasted panel's favourite

Swedish Glace Vanilla which is made with soy (29p per 100ml) came joint second with independent seller Jude's Very Vanilla (96p per 100ml). Aldi's came last (7p per 100ml)

Jude's Very Vanilla has won 25 Great Taste awards and was the most expensive of the four at 96p per 100ml, but the panel still deemed it inferior to Carte D'or's version, which was likened to 'heaven in a bowl' by panelist Lucy Alexander, a former presenter of Homes Under the Hammer.

Michel Roux Jr also heaped praise on the 'buttery and rich' Carte D'or, which costs 36p per 100ml and which he mistakenly guessed was from an artisan producer.

Jay Rayner chimed in with: 'My God, they've got it right.'

Their rankings pushed Jude's into tied second place along with Swedish Glace's dairy-free Smooth Vanilla, which Eat Naked deli owner Stacie Stewart especially liked.

But chef Michel thought the soy-based ice cream, which was the second cheapest at 29p per 100ml, had an 'odd taste'.

In last place was Aldi's own brand Soft Scoop, the cheapest of the bunch at 7p per 100ml, which left the judges underwhelmed.

The panel also taste tested oven pizzas and agreed that Marks and Spencer's margherita (1.35 per 100g) was the tastiest of the bunch.

'To me thats a perfect margherita, you can see the quality ingredients,' Stacie commented.

Pizza Express' margherita (1.84 per 100g) was second, while Co-Op's own brand (86p per 100g) came third and Chef Select Lidl (58p per 100g) was voted last.

Marks and Spencer's wood-fired margherita (1.35 per 100g) was named the most delicious and gained points for having real tomatoes on the topping

Pizza Express' margherita (1.84 per 100g) was second, while Co-Op's own brand (86p per 100g) came third and Chef Select Lidl (58p per 100g) was voted last

HOW THE EXPERT PALATES RANKED PRE-MADE PRAWN COCKTAIL The panel also looked at a range of pre-made prawn cocktail fillings, and ranked them according to taste, texture, aroma and appearance: Waitrose rich and creamy prawn cocktail (1.50/100g) was called 'luscious' by the panel.

Tesco prawn cocktail, which is the UK's top selling (1.18/100g), was called 'not good enough' by Lucy Alexander, but still came second.

Sainsburys Be Good Prawn Cocktail (1.50/100g) contains 60 per cent less fat than their full fat version, and is the UK's third best seller - but only came third in the judges' rankings

The experts were not impressed with artisan producer The Potted Fish Handmade Prawn Cocktail (1.81/100g), which Michel called 'one dimensional'. Advertisement

Each dish was assessed on taste, aroma, texture and appearance.

To make things fair the packaging was removed from the food, and each dish meticulously prepared by a chef according to the manufacturers' instructions.

Throughout the series the foodie experts will put a wide array of supermarket shoppers' favourite buys to the test in a bid to compile the 'ultimate' shopping list.

Tried and Tasted: The Ultimate Shopping List airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4
Cathryn Kemp has told how she struggled with opioid dependency for two years after having surgery on her pancreas

Yesterday it was reported that TVs Ant McPartlin has gone into rehab, two years after botched knee surgery left him addicted to the opioid painkiller tramadol (its thought he was taking oxycodone and fentanyl, too  also opioids).

Opioids are extremely addictive but as the Mail has highlighted, patients are given virtually no support to come off them.

Cathryn Kemp, 45, a writer who lives in Hastings, East Sussex, with her three-year-old son, struggled with opioid dependency for two years following pancreas surgery. Here she tells her shocking account of how easy it is to fall prey to these drugs.

My descent into painkiller addiction started on a hospital ward. For three-and-a-half years Id been in excruciating pain  it felt like red hot maggots eating me alive.

For most of that time I was in hospital on a drip, or injections, of morphine and sometimes pethidine. When I wasnt in hospital, I had a liquid morphine derivative (oxycontin) and tramadol.

I seemed to be on higher and higher doses  I later found out your body rapidly develops tolerance to opioids in as little as three days, so you need more for the same effect.

The opioids took the edge off my pain and made life bearable for short periods. But I began to live for the next dose and, as the previous dose wore off, Id experience terrible sweating, muscle pain and delirium, the classic symptoms of withdrawal, but the doctors didnt recognise this and just gave me more tramadol.

My life revolved around the opioids I had to take every few hours. I had previously been an independent travel writer, but, on the drugs, I had to move home to be looked after by my parents because I was so ill and weak with pain.

In 2007, a specialist diagnosed the problem  a muscular valve around my pancreas was too tight. The good news was that surgery could ease this.

Following several operations, and three months in hospital  most of the time on a drip of another opioid drug, fentanyl, which I was told was more powerful than morphine  I was eventually discharged.

I moved into a cottage near my parents with my boyfriend, who cared for me. Although I still had pain, I was given opioids to cope at home  fentanyl patches.

Each was supposed to last three days, but because I was still in pain I was also given fentanyl lozenges  a bit like berry-flavoured lollipops  and told I could take up to eight a day.

The drug gave me a fast- acting fix of pain relief and I began to crave it. It didnt take me long to be on the maximum dose of eight I was told to take. Through no fault of my own Id become an opioid drug addict.

Ant McPartlin has gone into rehab, two years after botched knee surgery left him addicted to the opioid painkiller tramadol

Within a couple of months I was on 11 or 12 lozenges a day and Id beg my GP for more.

He did his best to keep my doses under control, but Id experience such bad withdrawal symptoms, vomiting and diarrhoea, hallucinations, sweating and violent shaking that Id need to take an even higher dose to prevent this.

Slowly, my daily dose crept up and up. I just lived for my fentanyl and if I didnt get it, I started going into withdrawal.

Id spend all day in bed totally out of it. It was no life. Not surprisingly, my relationship with my boyfriend broke up: after three years of my illness, followed now by my growing fentanyl dependence over the past three months, he couldnt take any more.

To his credit, my GP tried to help and referred me for electro-acupuncture, which is supposed to help with withdrawal symptoms, but it had no effect. By this stage I was taking 45 lozenges a day. My family thought I was on 15, which was bad enough  but I was hiding my true usage as I was so ashamed.

Mum would come round and leave a flask of tea and some fruit on my bedside table as some days I couldnt even make it downstairs. In the mornings Id wake bathed in sweat from the withdrawal symptoms and Id shake as the DTs kicked in.

In September 2009 my GP referred me to the local substance misuse service  it was full of homeless people queuing up to get their methadone. I dont think anyone intends to become a drug addict and I dont judge them, but I didnt think it was an appropriate place for me, though I was exactly like them, I just didnt know it: I was a drug addict.

I saw a counsellor there who explained that theyd put me on methadone to wean me off the fentanyl  but then he said it was more addictive than morphine.

I felt scared and couldnt face having to collect my daily methadone from the village pharmacy.

Cathryn has explained how with within a couple of months of surgery she was on 11 or 12 lozenges a day and begging her GP for more

It also seemed the wrong way to bring me off: I was going to need round-the-clock support. I applied to go into a residential NHS drugs detox unit, but was turned down  my GP said he thought it was because I wasnt homeless or an offender.

Towards the end of 2009, my GP told me I was an addict and I screamed at him that I was just in a lot of pain and needed my medication and that didnt make me an addict. I had to take some responsibility  but I was prescribed these drugs by a doctor and never thought they would do me harm.

By February 2010, after two years of prescribing me fentanyl, my GP said he was going to cut off my supply. He said I had one weeks prescription left and that was it.

I now know the cold turkey approach is the worst way to come off opioids because the withdrawal symptoms are so severe.

Feeling sick with panic, I immediately confessed to my parents how high my usage was and they said theyd pay for me to go to a private drugs detox and rehabilitation unit. I hated that it would cost them 30,000  but without it I knew I was going to die.

At the rehab unit, I was told I was effectively a heroin addict and would probably be dead within three months as the fentanyl dose I was on was potentially fatal because it depresses breathing.

The detox was challenging: I had hallucinations  I heard music coming out of plug sockets  and bugs were crawling up the walls. But the staff there were experienced in bringing people off opioids and I felt in safe hands.

Within four weeks I was down to just one lozenge. I have never taken another opioid painkiller drug since the day I left there in March 2010  the strongest drug Ill take now is paracetamol.

Its great to feel not out of it again, although I still live with pain  but thats a million times better than being on that horrible drug.

Since then Ive managed to get my life back to some degree; I got married and have a son and am writing again. These days my highs are when my toddler gives me a kiss or sings a song, or I get to notice spring flowers or the sea.

Ive also founded the Painkiller Addiction Information Network charity to campaign for greater awareness of how easy it is to become a prescription painkiller addict and how little specialist help is available on the NHS.

Opioid painkiller dependence is now recognised by the World Health Organisation as a medical condition. There were 12 million prescriptions in the UK for opioids last year  lots of people like me are suffering in silence with long-term addiction. Weve got to put a stop to this.
A healthy teenager has had her memory wiped by treatment to shrink a grape-sized brain tumour that caused excruciating headaches.

Charlotte Reid, 17, of Sidmouth, Devon, has had her life turned 'upside down' after having innovative proton beam therapy in Florida.

The NHS-funded treatment was given to the girl after doctors eventually diagnosed her with the 3cm tumour that was also affecting her vision.

Her debilitating headaches started when she was just three years old. But as she grew older, they became worse and would leave her in severe pain that could last for weeks as a time.

Over-the-counter medications proved ineffective for her symptoms, which were initially blamed on exam stress by her parents. Before the diagnosis, they even assumed her pain was caused by eating citrus fruit.

Her mother Angie, 50, a radio dispatch operator, said the treatment, which took place in 2015 and makes her forget basic things, 'was a necessary evil'.

Charlotte Reid, 17, of Sidmouth, Devon, has had her life turned 'upside down' after having innovative proton beam therapy in Florida (pictured in October 2015 before the treatment)

She added: 'Her life has been turned upside down by the side effects, which are huge and life-changing.

'At the time, we knew she had to have the treatment to save her life. There was no choice but it has had a serious impact. She won't remember what day of the week it is, or even what she had for lunch.

'She never looks forward to things, because she doesn't remember they are going to happen. She doesn't remember if she has had a nice treat.

'It's quite difficult for me as a mum. I spend a lot of time answering questions for her.

'Her memory had been severely affected. She remembers everything before she had treatment well but everything since then is almost gone.'

Questioning the treatment

Mrs Reid and her husband, leisure centre manager Steve, 47, now use photographs, memory aids and writing notes to try and jig her memory.

She said: 'The brain is quite an amazing thing. It can restructure itself, but it does take years. We feel we are very much at the beginning of the journey at the minute."

'Sometimes I have questioned whether this treatment was the right thing to do.

The NHS-funded treatment was given to the girl after doctors eventually diagnosed her with the 3cm tumour that was also affecting her vision (pictured in hospital in April 2016)

Charlotte's debilitating headaches started when she was just three years old (pictured in hospital in Exeter in December 2015)

'Ultimately, we had to go for it, though, because the tumour would have kept growing and getting worse otherwise. The proton therapy was the only option, as it was too difficult to operate.

'I do ask myself, "What if we could have waited a bit longer, so she could have done things like her GCSEs?" But it made sense to do it when we did.'

Her diagnosis

Charlotte was first diagnosed with craniopharyngioma - a rare benign brain tumour that grows just above the pituitary gland in July 2015.

Her life has been turned upside down by the side effects, which are huge and life-changing Angie Reid, 50

She had been suffering with headaches for years and, despite repeated trips to the GP, they did not identify the cause.

Doctors, and her parents, assumed Charlotte's headaches were stress-related, as a result of her SATS and dance exams.

Mrs Reid said: 'We thought her headaches were stress-related, because she changed schools and then had exams.

'Then we thought they might be a reaction to citrus fruit and we had to start filling in food diaries and trying to cut things out, but it wasn't making a difference.'

Her parents also noticed that she had stopped growing and did not go through puberty, like her friends.

Unlike conventional radiotherapy, in proton beam therapy, the beam stops once it 'hits' the cancerous cells, causing far less damage to surrounding tissue (pictured receiving the treatment in Florida in November 2015)

In July 2015, doctors found a mass on Charlotte's brain and a biopsy two days later revealed it was a craniopharyngioma (her brain is pictured before treatment, left, and after, right)

But the turning point came after a visit to the optician in July 2015 after Charlotte struggled to see anything.

Referred to Bristol Children's Hospital, doctors found a mass on Charlotte's brain and a biopsy two days later revealed it was a craniopharyngioma.

Although the 3cm tumour was benign, the position meant surgeons could not operate safely.

WHAT IS THIS TUMOUR? A craniopharyngioma is a benign tumor arising from small nests of cells near the pituitary stalk. The tumor causes an increased pressure within the brain, which leads to many symptoms, such as pressure on the optic tract and pituitary gland. As a result, obesity, delayed development, impaired vision and a swollen optic nerve are common. Craniopharyngiomas represent up to five per cent of all primary brain tumors, and up to 10 per cent of all childhood brain tumors. Surgery to remove the tumor is usually the first step in treatment. But because the tumor affects the pituitary gland, an endocrinologist - a doctor trained to treat hormone imbalances - may also work with the patient on a long-term care plan. Source: American Brain Tumor Association Advertisement

Charlotte's only option

Her only option was proton beam radiotherapy, but as the treatment was not available in the UK, she and her parents were flown to Florida for it through the NHS.

While conventional radiotherapy uses high energy beams of radiation to destroy cancerous cells, the surrounding tissue can also be damaged.

Proton beam therapy uses beams of protons (subatomic particles) to achieve the same cell-killing effect.

A 'particle accelerator' speeds up the protons and these accelerated protons are then beamed into cancerous cells, killing them.

Unlike conventional radiotherapy, in proton beam therapy, the beam stops once it 'hits' the cancerous cells, causing far less damage to surrounding tissue.

After nine weeks in the US, Charlotte and her parents returned home, with everything, at first, looking positive.

Mrs Reid said: 'We knew that the treatment wouldn't remove the tumour, but it had frozen it and stopped its growth.

'Initially, she seemed to be okay, but by the December 2015, she started to show signs of confusion and major fatigue.'

She continued: 'The tumour is stable. The proton did its job. It's reduced in size very slightly. We know it won't ever go away completely.

After nine weeks in the US, Charlotte and her parents Angie (right), 50, and Steve (left), 47, returned home, with everything, at first, looking positive (pictured at Walt Disney World in Florida in 2015)

Although the 3cm tumour was benign, the position meant surgeons could not operate safely (pictured writing in hospital in December 2015)

'We actually don't think about it very often. Day to day, we are more concerned with the problems Charlotte has now developed.'

Unsure what the future holds

Although the family continue to work with the hospital, they don't know what the future holds for Charlotte.

HOW DOES PROTON BEAM THERAPY WORK? Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy that aims proton beams at cancers. While conventional radiotherapy uses high energy beams of radiation to destroy cancerous cells, often damaging surrounding tissue, proton beam therapy aims radiation directly at the tumour. Because it is so highly targeted it means it can avoid healthy tissue, particularly tissues and organs behind the tumour. While radiotherapy can lead to side effects such as nausea and can sometimes disrupt how some organs function, proton beam therapy has a lower risk of side effects. This means it is effective for treating cancer that affects critical areas, such as brain cancer. Advertisement

Mrs Reid added: 'Many of her problems can be controlled with medication, but it is constant trial and error. Her vision won't come back and we don't know what will happen with her memory.

'They don't really say what the situation will be but it takes a lot of time. It is a case of wait and see.

'We are trying to look to the future and always remain positive. She follows Facebook and sees things that her friends are doing and it does upset her a little bit.

'We never say she won't do those things, but we just say she won't do those things at the minute.'

'Side effects can occur'

A spokesperson for NHS England said: 'The range of possible side effects of proton beam therapy vary according to which part of the body is being treated.

'However, in general, proton treatment gives fewer side effects, compared to high energy X-ray treatments, because it is a more precise form of treatment and, therefore, affects fewer of the healthy cells.

'Side effects vary from person to person and can be affected by factors such as the total dose and duration of treatment and other existing conditions.

'Side effects can occur during treatment, immediately after treatment, or months to years afterwards.'

Charlotte's family are now fundraising for Brain Tumour Research, in a bid to raise awareness of the condition and to help fund research that may help others.

For more information on Charlotte's journey visit here. Anyone wanting to donate can do so on the family's JustGiving page.

A spokesperson for NHS England said: 'The range of possible side effects of proton beam therapy vary according to which part of the body is being treated'

Although the family continue to work with the hospital, they don't know what the future holds for Charlotte (pictured with her dog, Alfie, before her diagnosis in 2014)
The mysterious death of Otto Warmbier has medical experts searching for an explanation on how it could have happened.

The 22-year-old student died just days after he was medically evacuated from North Korea, where he was held as a prisoner for 17 months.

Although officials from the isolated state claim Warmbier had botulism and a sleeping pill put him into a coma, American doctors disagree with that diagnosis.

US student Otto Warmbier (left) died on Monday at age 22, just days after his release from North Korea in a vegetative state (right) following 17 months in custody

WHY BOTULISM DIDN'T KILL OTTO WARMBIER North Korean officials said Otto Warmbier contracted botulism after he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Botulism is an extremely rare form of poisoning that can be deadly. It can be caused either by ingesting the botulinum toxin or by contamination in a wound. Botulism can lead to paralysis which usually starts with the muscles in the face. Symptoms include pain in the stomach, vision problems, difficulty swallowing or speaking, facial weakness and paralysis. North Korea said a sleeping pill put him in a coma, from which he never awoke. However, Warmbier's doctors said there was no evidence of botulism in his system. Instead, they said he had severe brain damage, which normally happens when the brain is deprived of oxygen. They speculate this could have happened during a cardiac arrest. Advertisement

Cincinnati experts said Warmbier was returned with severe brain damage and suffered 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation for a prolonged period.

Neurologists suggest a blood clot, an infection or pneumonia could be the reason behind Warmbier's sudden death after his return, but most agree he was past the point of survival when he came home.

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison, convicted of subversion after he confessed he had tried to steal a North Korean propaganda banner last January.

Pyongyang said Warmbier was released last week on 'humanitarian grounds', and refused to say his treatment during his imprisonment was a factor in his shockingly deteriorated state.

North Korea claims Warmbier contracted botulism shortly after he was sentenced and said a sleeping pill put him into a coma from which he never awoke.

The astonishing claim is almost certainly false.

Doctors found no evidence of the rare form of food poisoning and a sleeping pill would not be indicated in the case of that illness, which is treatable with an antitoxin.

Instead, doctors said his 'neurological condition can be best described as a state of unresponsive wakefulness'.

They added the brain damage looked like it was caused when the brain is deprived of oxygen for a period of time, such as cardiac arrest.

A cardiac arrest is when the heart malfunctions and suddenly stops beating unexpectedly. A person will lose consciousness and will stop breathing normally.

Unless immediately treated by CPR or other life-saving techniques, the person will die in minutes.

The young man was returned with severe brain damage and suffered 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation for a prolonged period. Pictured: Warmbier on trial in North Korea in February 2016

Even still, survival statistics are bleak: approximately 50 percent of people who arrest are revived and only about 10 percent of these people leave the hospital.

Of those who do survive, around half suffer some level of brain impairment from the brain not getting enough oxygen.

When the brain does not receive blood or oxygen it results in damage. The longer it goes without, the greater the chance for permanent brain injury or death.

Warmbier's state indicates that his brain had no conscious function, but could still keep him breathing and sleeping.

North Korea claims Warmbier contracted botulism shortly after he was sentenced and said a sleeping pill put him into a coma from which he never awoke. Doctors found no evidence that he had the rare form of food poisoning

A team of Cincinnati doctors (pictured) said Warmbier had brain damage that looked like it was caused when the brain is deprived of oxygen for a period of time, such as cardiac arrest

Dr. Lori Shutter, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, said to NBC News: 'If they are in that state from a lack of oxygen to the brain ... and it has been more than three months ... the chance of anyone having a meaningful recovery  I dont know if any of us have ever seen it happen.'

Dr Shutter said the prompt death of Warmbier indicated that he was not in a good state when he was returned home.

She speculated his family could have focused on quality of life instead of keeping him in a coma.

There is a very low chance of survival for people who have been in a coma for extended periods of time, due to the extensive brain damage.

In this video, taken days before he was arrested on January 2, 2016, the student is seen throwing snowballs with the group he was traveling with

After returning to the US last week, Otto was taken straight to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center (pictured). He died there on Monday afternoon

Dr Shutter added: 'If this young man was in this state for an extended time period, once the family heard everything, they may have started to focus on quality of life.

'They may have felt that this quality of life would not be of the type that they would feel Otto would have wanted. They may have "lets make him comfortable"'.

The doctor suggested Warmbier could have had pneumonia, which can happen when a person in a coma breathes saliva into the lungs and leads to an infection.

Dr. Daniel Laskowitz, a neurology professor at Duke University, added to the news outlet that other causes of death could be from an infection or blood clot.

He said: 'If you are in a persistent vegetative state and you are just immobile for a prolonged period of time, you have a propensity to form a clot.'

Warmbier's death has brought fresh scrutiny to the regime's brutal torture camps under leader Kim Jong Un.

The Warmbiers entirely blamed their son's death on the North Korean leader and his government.

'The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,' Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

Neurologists speculate Warmbier (pictured in custody in Pyongyang last January) could have had an infection or blood clot which led to his sudden death when he returned home

The White House released this statement, which was then tweeted by Trump, on Monday evening

Donald Trump also took aim at Kim Jong Un after offering his 'deepest condolences to the Warmbier family.

'Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing,' a statement from the White House read.

'There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him.'

'Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

'The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'

The White House statement was released just hours after the 22-year-old's family confirmed his death.
Hiding your true self at work may damage your career, new research reveals.

Failing to reveal 'stigmatised characteristics' such as being gay or suffering from a mental illness reduces people's self-esteem, job satisfaction and work commitment, a study review found.

Study author Professor Manuela Barreto from the University of Exeter, said: 'People may choose to conceal stigmatised identities because they want to be accepted, but in fact doing so reduces feelings of belonging.

'When someone conceals their true identity, their social interactions suffer - and this has an impact not just on the individual but also on the organisation they work for.

'What we need are environments where people don't need to hide - inclusive environments where people don't have to make a choice between being liked and being authentic.'

Hiding your true self at work may damage your career, according to new research (stock)

DO YOU HAVE A LONG COMMUTE? YOU ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE STRESSED AND DEPRESSED Those who endure long commutes are more likely to be stressed and depressed, research revealed last month. A study of more than 34,000 working British adults found overall journeys longer than half-an-hour are damaging the nation's health and productivity. Yet those who have the longest commutes, deemed to be more than an hour each way, appear to fare the worst mentally. Such individuals are 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression and 12 per cent more likely to report work-related stress, the research found. Advertisement

How the study was carried out

Researchers from the University of Exeter analysed 'stigmatised characteristics', including being gay, bisexual or transgender, having a history of poverty, or suffering from a physical or mental illness.

They assessed studies that investigated these stigmas in the Netherlands or the US.

In one study, participants were asked to remember an incident when they either concealed or revealed a stigmatised characteristic about themselves.

A different study presented participants with fictional scenarios that involved concealing or revealing their stigmatised identity.

In both studies, participants were asked how they would feel after concealing or revealing the characteristic.

Key findings

Results revealed that concealing stigmatised characteristics from colleagues reduces people's self-esteem, job satisfaction and work commitment, which may damage their career.

Professor Barreto said: 'People may choose to conceal stigmatised identities because they want to be accepted, but in fact doing so reduces feelings of belonging.

'When someone conceals their true identity, their social interactions suffer - and this has an impact not just on the individual but also on the organisation they work for.

'Our findings suggest that openness about one's identity is often beneficial for stigmatised individuals, the stigmatised group and their workplace.'

The results were published in the Journal of Social Issues.

Being open about 'stigmatised characteristics' improves our social interactions (stock)

How the research can be used

Despite highlighting the potential costs of concealment, the researchers do not suggest that everyone be open in all aspects of their life.

Dr Anna Newheiser from the University at Albany, who was involved in the study, said: 'It is clear that there are times when revealing a stigmatised identity can be very costly.

'Those effects are very real and worth avoiding in certain circumstances, but it is important to realise that there is also a cost to hiding your true self.'

Professor Barreto added: 'What we need are environments where people don't need to hide - inclusive environments where people don't have to make a choice between being liked and being authentic.

'Workplaces that push individuals to hide their differences do not erase difference - they simply encourage masking and concealment of diversity.

'Given that identity concealment is by nature an invisible act, its social and organisational costs may also be difficult to detect, explain and correct.'
Health agencies have been continually warning of the opioid epidemic that is currently sweeping the nation, and a new astonishing report is proof.

Nearly 1.3 million Americans were hospitalized for opioid-related issues, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The agency said there was an overall 64 percent increase for inpatient stays and a 99 percent increase for emergency room treatment compared to rates from 2005.

The opioid crisis in Maryland was so severe that the governor called a state of emergency over the disaster due to quadrupling rates of overdoses.

These alarming numbers are contributing factors to the overdose epidemic, which is now the leading cause of death for people under the age of 50 in the US.

The new report lays bare the growing problem America has with opioids.

Nearly 1.3 million Americans were hospitalized for opioid-related drug use, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

OPIOIDS ARE WILDY OVER-PRESCRIBED AFTER C-SECTIONS Opioids are over-prescribed to women after a cesarean section in America, a new report warns. Most new mothers received double the amount of painkillers they need for a c-section - 40 pills rather than 20 - according to a study that looks at prescription rates in six parts of the US. That is a huge overflow, the researchers warn, give that a c-section delivery is the most common inpatient surgical procedure in the United States, with around 1.4 million c-sections performed each year. Crucially, they found women tended to take more pills if they had them, even if their pain levels were not strong. The review is one of the first attempts to collate data from providers and institutions nationwide, to offer a clear national picture. Opioids, most commonly oxycodone, are the standard pain medications prescribed to women following cesarean delivery. But the number of pills that are prescribed varies between providers and institutions, and there is little data regarding how much pain medication patients actually require to manage their pain. Advertisement

The agency compiled numbers of ER visits and inpatient stays for every state and the District of Columbia for 2014.

Maryland consistently ranked as having among the highest rates of opioid-related emergency room and inpatient stays across all patient sex and age groups.

The Washington Post reports the state quadrupled in rates of opioid-related deaths since 2010.

Maryland was so concerned about the evident problem that Baltimore issued an order that made an overdose-reversal medication available over the counter, urging residents to have it handy.

The city's health commissioner, Leana Wen, told the news outlet: 'We see overdoses in all ethnic groups, in all Zip codes.

'We are not anywhere close to getting everyone treatment at the time that they are requesting for help.'

Other states with high rates of opioid-related hospital admissions were Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Washington.

States with the lowest rate of inpatient stays were Arkansas, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.

Across the board, people aged 25 to 65 were the most prone to be hospitalized due to this issue.

Another recent study found only a quarter of opioid addicted teens and young adults were getting medications needed to combat their addiction.

The proportion of those aged 13 to 25 diagnosed with opioid use disorders surged almost six-fold from 2001 to 2014, researchers report in JAMA Pediatrics.

During that period, the average annual rate of opioid use disorder among teens and young adults climbed from 0.26 cases to 1.51 cases for every 100,000 people.

Overall, just 27 percent of these young patients diagnosed were given buprenorphine and naltrexone, two medicines used to treat addiction within six months of their diagnosis.

Numbers of inpatient stays among most age groups skyrocketed since 2005, an overall increase of 64 percent. Pictured: Graph of increase of inpatient stays

This rate was also alarming high for the number of emergency room visits, increasing 99 percent since 2005. Pictured: Graph of increase of ED visits

Younger teens, females, and black and Hispanic youth were less likely to get medication for the disorder than older youth, males and white people, the study found.

Those who don't get the needed help to battle their addiction are more likely to overdose on the drugs.

Overdose deaths are now the leading cause of death among young Americans - killing more in a year than were ever killed annually by HIV, gun violence or car crashes.

Preliminary CDC data published by the New York Times shows US drug overdose deaths surged 19 percent to at least 59,000 in 2016.

That means that for the first time drug overdoses are the leading cause of death for Americans under 50 years old.

The data, published in a special report by the Times' Josh Katz, lays bare the bleak state of America's opioid addiction crisis fueled by deadly manufactured drugs like fentanyl.

Data from the Times shows drug overdose deaths surged 19 percent to at least 59,000 in 2016

The substance is the largest drug threat to the United States, and causes the death of 44 people every day.

The DEA's National Drug Threat Assessment published its most recent data, stating that an average of 129 deaths per day in 2014 were caused by drug overdoses.

The emergence of the synthetic opioid has increased the frequency of fatal drug abuse, as its incredible potency makes it up to 40 times stronger than heroin.

In 2015, overdoses of opioids, including prescription drugs and heroin, killed more than 33,000 people.

Of the total deaths in 2015, nearly 13,000 were caused by heroin overdoses.

Eighty percent of people addicted to heroin started by using prescription drugs.
India's Minister of State for External Affairs is in China for a three day visit

India and China on Sunday looked to bring recently strained relations back on track as they held key bilateral ministerial talks in Beijing, with Minister of State for External Affairs Gen (retd) Vijay Kumar Singh in China on a three-day visit.

Gen Singh, who will also attend the first BRICS Foreign Ministers' meeting on Monday, told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing, that 'India looks forward to strengthening and deepening its strategic partnership and mutual dialogue with China.'

This is the first major visit from India after Delhi became the only major country to boycott President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road summit on May 14.

Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd) V K Singh with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in Beijing

A meeting on June 9, held between Prime Minister Modi and Xi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Astana, has helped bring ties back on track with officials on both sides.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had been scheduled to attend Monday's first ever standalone BRICS foreign ministers' meeting - previous interactions among the foreign ministers of the grouping had only been held on the sidelines of other summit - but Gen Singh told Wang: 'She wanted to come but health and other restrictions did not permit her. She was looking forward to meeting you.'

Singh said that: 'Modi and Xi have laid down directions for us and both the countries are going to proceed with a path of mutual respect, mutual cooperation and how to improve already existing mechanisms so that more trade, more commerce and more people to people contacts can take place.'

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center, speaks during the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Beijing Monday. The meeting is being held in advance of the annual BRICS Summit in Xiamen, in September

'We both, as two Asian neighbours, two growing economies, two people with very ancient relations, we can mark the path for others to follow,' he said, adding that 'India looks forward to strengthening and deepening its strategic partnership and mutual dialogue with China.'

Officials said that both the governments are keen to find common ground on the contentious issues.

Singh later attended a banquet by Wang for the Foreign Ministers of BRICS countries.

The foreign ministers of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa also held their first summit on Monday, as they looked to firm up the outcomes leading to the BRICS Summit in September. They will also call on Chinese President Xi Jinping.

From left, Brazil's Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and Indian Minister of External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh before the opening of BRICS summit

Xi's government is going all out to ensure the BRICS summit in September, which Xi will host in Xiamen, Fujian. He was earlier a provincial leader, and would be seen successful with the Communist Party of China.

Climate change, trade and terrorism were high on the agenda on Monday, as the five countries sought to further align their views on key issues at a time when President Donald Trump is withdrawing the US from multilateral arrangements such as the Paris climate accords and the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China in the coming year would look to 'expand with more broad and wide-ranging cooperation in areas such as trade and commerce and investment.'

Together the BRICS countries account for roughly 40 percent of the world's population and 20 percent of the global economy.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, second left, and China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, shake hands near Brazil's Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, centre, South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, second right, and Indian External Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Singh before the opening of the BRICS foreign ministers meeting in Beijing on Monday

All five countries are members of the Group of 20 industrial and emerging-market nations, although their economic prospects have declined somewhat amid crises in Brazil and South Africa and the impact of sanctions lodged against Russia by the West.

South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane pointed to climate change as a major concern.

'There is one climate and for future generations we must employ every effort at our disposal to reverse the effects of climate change,' she said.

Brazil's Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, left, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, second left, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi, center, South Africa's Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, second right, and Indian Minister of External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh, right, attend a press conference during the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting

Nkoana-Mashabane also emphasized the need for joint efforts to fight terrorism, a sentiment reflected by VK Singh.

'It is important to enhance BRICS security in counter-terrorism matters,' Singh said.

Leaders of the five nations are to meet in the southeastern Chinese city of Xiamen in September.

Chinese President Xi Jinping later met with the officials at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, saying the six hours of discussion among the nations had produced 'a lot of consensus,' as well as a concluding document that was not immediately released.

'At present the international situation has complexities and also factors of instability and it's right for the BRICS to speak its voice, which is very good,' Xi said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov commended China's leadership of BRICS over the past year, saying the grouping that began taking shape more than 10 years ago is now coming into its prime.

'Your chairmanship certainly contributed to the strength ... and to increasing its reputation as a factor of stability,' Lavrov told Xi.
Lockheed Martin has signed an agreement with India's Tata Advanced Systems on Monday to produce F-16 fighter planes in India, pressing ahead with a plan to shift its Fort Worth, Texas plant to win the billion dollar order from the Indian military.

India's air force needs hundreds of aircraft to replace its Soviet-era fleet, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has said foreign suppliers would have to make the planes in India with a local partner to help build a domestic industrial base and cut outright imports.

But Modi's Make-in-India drive runs the risk of conflicting with US President Donald Trump's America First campaign under which he has been pressing for companies to invest in the United States and create jobs instead of setting up factories abroad.

Sukaran Singh, CEO of Tata Advanced Systems Limited, (seated left) and George Standridge, vice president of Strategy and Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, sign a letter of intent to produce the F-16 Block 70 in India. Standing are Mr. Ratean Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, and Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics

In announcing their agreement at the Paris Airshow, Lockheed and Tata said moving the production base to India would still retain jobs in the United States.

'F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US, creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the center of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world,' a joint statement by the firms said.

Sweden's Saab is the other contender to supply the Indian Air Force, offering to make its Gripen fighter in India.

It has not yet announced a local partner for the plane which it has pitched as a modern alternative to the F-16s.

The announcement comes days before Modi travels to Washington for a first meeting with Trump, scheduled for June. 26.

India and the United States have built a close defence relationship in recent years with Washington emerging as among the top three arms suppliers to India, along with Russia and Israel.

India will also have the chance to export the F-16 that is flown by air forces around the world, the joint statement said.

Some 3,200 of these planes are being flown by 26 countries and the model that is being offered to India will be Block 70, the most modern of all the F-16s.

This unprecedented F-16 production partnership between the world's largest defense contractor and India's premier industrial house provides India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter,' the statement said.

Tata is already building airframe components for the C- 130 military transport aircraft.
President Donald Trump's administration is said to be exploring hardening its approach toward Pakistan in a bid to stop militants based in the country launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Potential responses being discussed included expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, two anonymous US officials told news agency Reuters.

But other US officials are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous efforts to curb Pakistan's support for militant groups have failed.

President Trump is said to be considering hardening its approach due to concerns about Pakistan-based militants infiltrating Afghanistan

Activists of right-wing Hindu Sena or Hindu Army conduct Hindu rituals to ensure a win for US presidential candidate Donald Trump

Instead they argue that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistan's arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

And that's a stance that would disappoint Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is preparing to visit the US for his long-anticipated meeting with Trump next week.

India would like to fit its concerns about terrorism in Pakistan within President Trump's hardline views on Islamic radicalism, and the visit has been surrounded with speculation over what the outcome of talks on the issue might be.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (pictured) had a phonecall with Trump in December, which the White House had said had been 'productive'

Concerns were previously raised in India that the new US president would favour Pakistan in the region after a phone call between President Trump and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December.

White House officials said afterwards that the leaders had a 'productive conversation about how the US and Pakistan will have a strong working relationship in the future'.

And US officials say generally they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review, due by mid-July, of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

The discussions include officials from across the Trump administration, including the White House and the Defense Department, both of which declined comment on the review before its completion.

Indian PM Modi, who is set to visit the US this week for talks with President Trump, and one of the issues on the agenda is terrorists based in Pakistan

Precise actions have yet to be decided.

'The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues,' Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But Pakistan's embassy in Washington warned against 'scapegoating' Pakistan to explain the stalemate in Afghanistan, pointing instead to Afghanistan's own troubled internal dynamics. It also noted past Pakistani efforts to battle militants and expressed willingness to work with the United States and Afghanistan on border management.

'Singling out Pakistan and pinning the entire blame on Pakistan for the situation in Afghanistan is neither fair nor accurate, nor is it borne out by the ground realities,' said Abid Saeed, press minister at the embassy.

A newly sworn-in Narendra Modi greets Nawaz Sharif during a ceremony. Tensions between the leaders' two nations have deteriorated since then due to conflict in Kashmir

A Pakistan strategy

Experts on America's longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a regional strategy to be presented to Trump, who took office in late January, one official said.

'We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically,' the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A police man chasing the stone-pelters to fire tear gas canister to disperse them in old city Srinagar, Kashmir

Other US officials question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behaviour. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgement that US-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional US troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

'I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past,' Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.

India wants the US to fit Pakistan into its hard-line view on terrorism, but other US officials suggest that greater cooperation with Pakistan would be more beneficial to the US

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at US claims that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

A senior Pakistani government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: 'They dont want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism.'

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

Experts say Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

Is Pakistan an ally to the US?

Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the US battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus US military hardware. Yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

Some US officials and experts on the region scoff at the title. 'Pakistan is not an ally. It's not North Korea or Iran. But its not an ally,' said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution think tank.

Lisa Curtis, prior to becoming senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

'Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one,' said the February report, published by the conservative Hudson Institute think tank.

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Kabul.

Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in the Afghan capital - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, US officials told Reuters.

US frustration over the Haqqani's presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation in 2012. US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a 'veritable arm' of the ISI.

Any US pivot in its approach would be sharply different than the one taken at the start of the Obama administration, when US officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a 'disaster.'

'It didn't affect Pakistan's behaviour one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan's behaviour worse,' Sedney said.

More drones, cash cut-off

Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in US assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a US Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorisation that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

US officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan. Curtis' report singled out the aid as a target.

But US aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, US officials and a Pakistan expert said.

'Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren't taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves,' said the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified.

Pakistan's army chief of staff last week criticised 'unilateral actions' such as drone strikes as 'counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan.'
Ram Nath Kovind's candidature marks the BJP's efforts to break the hold of regional parties on the lower strata of society.

With his selection, political analysts say the BJP has sounded the poll bugle for next year's Assembly elections in several crucial states, and also to some extent, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Party functionaries say Kovind's down-to-earth image among peers and the public has made him a formidable personality.

Kovind's candidature shows that the BJP has sounded the poll bugle for next year's Assembly elections in several crucial states

A senior party leader recalled his days as the BJP spokesperson and the way a section of the media did not like to give much weight to him.

BJP seniors also recall the way the President-designate lived in a rented house in Kanpur even as he was a Rajya Sabha MP.

'Even when his name would crop up in discussions for possible important designations, many would brush him aside given his low-key demeanour,' said a senior BJP leader from UP.

Kovind, it is believed, is the final nail in the coffin of Mayawati's Dalit politics after the near-complete rout of the BSP in the UP elections.

'Kovind's selection is the biggest evidence that the Modi government is dedicated and completely committed to 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas'.

He comes in the line of several such appointments, be it the Union cabinet or the UP council of minister and bodies such as SC/ST commissions in the Centre as well as the states.

'Rather than the symbolic lipservice politics of Mayawati and others, we have shown that we are serious in giving all sections of the polity their due,' said UP BJP spokesperson Chandra Mohan.

Party functionaries say his down-to-earth image, which includes him living in a rented house when he was a Rajya Sabha MP, made him a formidable personality

Meanwhile, the electoral college numbers seem to be stacked in favour of Kovind and he may well end up getting more votes than incumbent Pranab Mukherjee and his predecessor Pratibha Patil.

With the Shiv Sena joining other NDA allies in backing Kovind and Odisha's ruling BJD, YSR Congress and TRS too extending support, the 71-year-old Dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.

The BJP may also seek the support of rival factions of AIADMK or DMK. The opposition parties are meeting on June 22 to decide on a consensus candidate for the Presidential election.

Electoral college numbers seem to be stacked in favour of Kovind and he may well end up getting more votes than incumbent Pranab Mukherjee, who he is pictured here alongside

The total strength of the electoral college, which votes to elect the President, comprises all elected MPs and MLAs of all states and UTs. The total comes to 10,98,903 votes with each MP carrying a vote value of 708.

The vote weight of an MLA depends on the population of the state he or she represents. A candidate needs 50 per cent plus votes to win the poll.

The halfway mark comes to 5,49,452. The NDA has 5,37,683 votes with a shortage of around 12,000 votes.

But the promised support from BJD, TRS and YSR Congress and the likely backing from AIADMK could offset the shortfall.
Until just a few days ago, Vinay Pradhan was a budding politician from Meerut who wanted to revive the Grand Old Party in Uttar Pradesh that has shifted to the margins of the political discourse in electoral politics.

Now, he is unemployed and angry. While his family has held a few of the local seats - such as Kithore - as members of the UP Assembly, Pradhan was removed when he addressed Congress vice-president and the president designate Rahul Gandhi as 'Pappu' (small boy) in a local WhatsApp group of the party in Meerut.

He is all the more dejected as he thought he was praising the party leader, but the joke caught him on the wrong foot.

Vinay Pradhan (extreme right) with Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections

'I was removed unceremoniously by the party high command without the incident being probed. Malafide intentions were attributed to me without a hearing. No inquiry was conducted.

'While I was clearly set up by my detractors, the high command was high-handed. I demand a fair inquiry,' Pradhan told Mail Today .

'I feel cheated by the Congress party,' he said. Even as Pradhan claimed that responding to popular demand from the people of Meerut, the party's chief in UP had promised to restore him, he had heard nothing so far.

The name pappu is taken form the Hindi word Pappu which is a nickname for a small boy in India (pictured - Rahul Gandhi)

Several posters are already doing the rounds in Meerut that deplore the Congress's decision.

'The party office in Meerut had been dilapidated and I put in my personal money to rebuild it and give it a new aura, but all this has been set aside against me,' said Pradhan.

Moreover, sources in BJP told Mail Today that there were strong chances that Pradhan might fall in BJP's lap easily and that it would damage the Congress even further. Sources said overtures had already been made, though with utmost subtlety.

'I have held several significant positions in the party. I had joined NSUI in Kirori Mal College and had also been elected students' body president, apart from holding positions of UP youth Cong general secretary.

I was in UP Congress committee and AICC legal cell coordinator,' he said.
As the NDA manages to drum up support in favour of its Presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, the Congress-led Opposition on Tuesday found itself increasingly losing ground.

The Congress, with support from Trinamool Congress and the Left, however, is now looking for a 'consensus Dalit candidate'.

As nine political parties are set to gather at the Parliament Library on Thursday for a meeting chaired by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, a 'consensus' candidate continues to elude the principal Opposition party.

Meira Kumar seems to be the likely choice as the Congress Dalit candidate

'The idea will be to field someone who can take away at least some votes from the BJP's allies. While Meira Kumar's candidature is strong enough, NCP's Sharad Pawar could also be worth exploring. Just propping up a Dalit candidate will not be sufficient. A lot of mathematics has to go into it,' said a senior Congress leader.

Even as the Congress is keen on Kumar, it is also contemplating former minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who the party hopes might garner some support from regional players.

Shinde had contested for the post of vice president in 2002 against NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and lost.

The party has found itself on shaky ground in the presidential race due to the soaring popularity of BJP candidate Ram Nath Kovind

As for Pawar, the Shiv Sena has already lobbied in his favour and a number of the Opposition parties are open to his nomination too.

'Despite being the leader of the Opposition, the Congress has to tread cautiously. We cannot propose a name because then other Opposition parties will feel we are imposing ourselves.

'We will have to go with an open mind. Kumar, however, will remain our best bet as she is a prominent Dalit face, daughter of Babu Jagjivan Ram and a woman candidate,' the leader added.

But Sushil Kumar Shinde is another candidate said to be in the running

While the Left is warming up to Kumar or Shinde's candidature, the Samajwadi Party's nod for Kovind leaves the Opposition weakened.

BSP chief Mayawati and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar too have been favourably disposed to the NDA candidate.

Late on Tuesday evening, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray too pledged support for Kovind. The Congress, despite its dithering position, is yet to take the Aam Aadmi Party, that will have 21 MLAs voting, on board.
Claims of corruption have been levelled against former principal Rajendra Prasad

Ramjas College is caught in the eye of a storm for the second time this year - with the college staff association now up against former principal Rajendra Prasad over alleged corruption charges and impropriety.

Officiating principal PC Tulsian has been asked by the Ramjas College Staff Association (RCSA) for financial accountability of all funds and expenditure incurred on building construction projects, which have been undertaken by the college, which falls under Delhi University (DU), in the last five years.

In addition to bills and tender details, RCSA has asked for the statement of all accounts of funds and expenditure incurred during centennial celebrations - an internal audit report and minutes of all governing body meetings conducted from 2012 to 2017.

In its letter to VC Yogesh Tyagi, RCSA has requested that Rajendra Prasad and ex-chairman of the governing body be kept away from the governance of Ramjas.

RCSA president Surender Singh highlighted that Ramjas is running into loss worth crores of rupees.

Among the claims are that Rs 37,06,209 was spent on providing medical facilities to students and staff which 'do not exist' - but Prasad has called the allegations a 'cheap joke'

'The CAG report on the audit of accounts mentions that a sum of Rs 78.60 lakh is due on college trust from 2005 to 2011 alone, while figures from 2012 to 2017 are not available. We are running into a loss of over a crore that includes the college's non contribution, starting 2011, and accrued interest on the amount due,' he told Mail Today.

'We have requested the DU vice-chancellor to institute a high-powered inquiry or a judicial probe into allegations of serious corruption and impropriety against the college's former principal,' Surender added.

Calling the blame a cheap joke, Prasad, however, said: 'I had travelled to the USA not to make any huge investment but to visit my son. It (the allegation against him) is a cheap joke,' he told Mail Today.

It's the second time that the college has hit headlines this year - in February, violent clashes broke out between rival student groups over a dispute about a literary event

'We should wait for the college's reply to varsity officials.'

After the DU wrote to Tulsian, the college had called for an emergency meet of the RCSA to discuss the allegations of financial impropriety against Prasad.

The college association also concluded that transactions amounting to crores of rupees were passed by the governing body of Ramjas that did not have DU's consent.

Ramjas College became the centre of attention earlier this month after allegations of financial embezzlement and manipulation of funds were levelled against Prasad by a professor named Dhanraj Poswal, who is also the general secretary of Delhi University and Colleges (OBC) Backward Employees Association.

Following the allegations, Ramjas College received a letter from the Prime Minister's Office ordering the University of Delhi to reply to the petitioner.

In his letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Poswal had accused Prasad of embezzling public money and misusing official power for reaping personal benefits and sought an in-depth probe.

Among the charges, Poswal has pointed out that a 'whooping' amount of Rs 37,06,209 was spent on providing medical facilities to students and staff including medical checkups, which he says does not exist in the college.

It's the second time this year that the college has hit headlines. Trouble broke out at Ramjas College in February after right wing student group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) objected to an invite to two Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students.

It allegedly vandalised a lecture theatre and then clashes broke out when left wing group All India Students Association then attempted to stage a march in protest at the damage caused.

The tensions between opposing factions lasted a number of days.
When the late yoga guru BKS Iyengar visited China in 2011, he was struck by the reception.

Wherever he went, he was mobbed by thousands of yoga fans, mostly young Chinese, and he found that all of his books had been translated and widely read in the Middle Kingdom.

Then, the yoga guru, who passed away in 2014, said he believed that so wide was the patronage for yoga in China that in the future, it could have more yoga practitioners than India.

Over 30,000 people participated in yoga events held in Shanghai, with the main event held at the breathtaking Dongtou pavilion (above) on the banks of a river

When the late yoga guru BKS Iyengar visited China in 2011, he was struck by the reception

The scale of this following has been on display over the past few days in the lead-up to the June 21 international day of yoga, an event that has in some sense taken on a life of its own in China.

Several thousand yoga schools in the country have seized upon it as an opportunity to spread their message.

In six cities in eastern China, from Shanghai to Hangzhou and Wenzhou, more than 30,000 people participated in events organised by the consulate in Shanghai, with a signature event, held against the breathtaking backdrop of the Dongtou pavilion on the banks of a river in Wenzhou, attracting several thousand people who came to listen to lessons from teachers of the Krishnamachari Yoga Mandiram.

Yoga enthusiasts practice yoga around Tiande Lake in May in Taizhou, Jiangsu Province of China

And on Tuesday morning, yoga came to the Great Wall of China for the first time, with young Chinese practitioners gathering against its stunning backdrop to promote yoga, along with twenty young yoga ambassadors from India, 10 girls and 10 boys under 30 years of age selected by the Ministry of AYUSH and the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga.

What's behind the following? The Chinese government is also apparently intrigued.

This month, a firstever official study about the yoga phenomenon will be released.

Women practise yoga on a glass-bottomed suspension bridge at Rongshui Miao Autonomous County in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China

Sharing some of its findings, one of the authors, Zhang Yongjian, a senior researcher at the official Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Mail Today he found more than 10,800 yoga schools in China and millions of practitioners. And these are just the major schools.

As he notes, almost every local neighbourhood gym now also offers yoga lessons, even if the standard of teaching could be suspect.

The other interesting takeaway from the 'China Yoga Industry Development Report' is on the profile of yoga followers  young, female, affluent and living in the big city.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (centre) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (centre) attends the Taiji and Yoga event at Temple of Heaven park in May 2015

'We found that the popularity of yoga was highly related with a city's economic development,' he said, with wealthy Beijing, Shanghai and southern Guangdong province home to the most number of yoga practitioners.

The lowest number was found in poorer provinces and in the western hinterland, in Qinghai, Xinjiang and Tibet.

There were exceptions - one such curious anomaly was the relatively poor northeast, with the provinces of Jilin, Heilongjiang and Liaoning having many yoga schools.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (C) performs yoga along with others at Rajpath during mass yoga session to mark the International Day of Yoga in June 2015

'This was very surprising,' Zhang said. He speculated it could be related to the widely held national perception of young women in China's northeast 'being very health and beauty conscious'.

Yin Yan, founder of YogiYoga, who set up one of China's biggest yoga schools, which operates in 17 provinces, discovered yoga on a trip to Rishikesh where she met a yoga guru Manmohan Singh Bhandari.

They returned to China together and started YogiYoga. 'There's no doubt that the yoga explosion is growing rapidly,' she says. Bhandari considers himself a follower BKS Iyengar, who will be happy to note that his legacy is indeed living on in China.
In a month's time India will have a new President. The capital was rife with rumours and speculations about who it might be.

The ruling NDA coalition, led by the BJP, appointed a three-member committee consisting of senior leaders Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, and Arun Jaitley to come up with a name by 23rd June, before PM Modi's trip to the US.

Cohesion

The name that they have announced on June 19 is that of Ram Nath Kovind, current governor of Bihar.

Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, NDA's presidential candidate, waves at the media as he leaves for Delhi

Kovind, a lawyer by training, has been two-term member of the Rajya Sabha, hails from Kanpur, and is a Dalit.

The PM's twitter handle described him thus: 'farmer's son comes from a humble background. He devoted his life to public service and worked for poor and marginalised. With his illustrious background in the legal arena, Kovind's knowledge and understanding of the Constitution will benefit the nation.'

Kovind's anointment has taken most pundits and pollsters by surprise. But the presidential election has thrown up astonishments in the past too, both from the Congress and the BJP sides.

Consider the choice of Pratibha Devi-Singh Patil in 2007. Apparently, the then governor of Rajasthan herself did not know till she had a phone call from Sonia Gandhi.

The decision to make Patil the first woman president of the country was obviously a last-minute one.

It hit a politically-right button, though Patil's tenure is hardly remembered as a gender-bender.

Patil, non-controversial and compliant, was favoured as an Indira Gandhi loyalist; she had tended to Mrs Gandhi when the latter had been out of power and hospitalised.

State CM Nitish Kumar greets Governor Ram Nath Kovind

Dr Karan Singh, who parted with Mrs Gandhi after the Emergency, though a much better candidate, was bypassed.

But possibly the most surprising as also the most successful choice in recent years was A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

The NDA's 2002 candidate was completely out of the box Kalam wasn't even a public figure, much less a politician or governor of a state.

Krishan Kant, widely tipped to be the BJP consensus candidate, it seems, even had a confirmation call from the then PM Atal-Behari Vajpayee.

Kalam's elevation, thus, took the whole country by surprise.

Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, NDA's presidential candidate, greets the media

But he proved to be our most successful and charismatic head of state since the hoary days of Rajendra Prasad and Radhakrishnan.

The opposition, if fully united, would command 52.5 per cent of the Electoral College's 10.99 lakh votes.

Nothing would please them more than to trump the Government on this crucial issue.

Not only would it be sweet revenge, but also a desperate move towards cohesion.

Support

The imperative, as AAP leader Arvind- Kejriwal remarked, is 'unite or perish.'

However, using this opportunity to mount an attack on the government is difficult.

Especially as Modi has already projected Kovind as 'a strong voice for the poor, downtrodden and marginalised.'

Moreover, with TRS (2 per cent), AIADMK (5.39 per cent) and YSR Congress (1.53 per cent), and BJD (2.99 per cent) already pledging their support to Kovind, the NDA's share of electoral votes has already gone up to 57.85 per cent.

More are likely to fall in line by the time this column appears. For all practical purposes, it's a done deal.

The Opposition's dreams of contesting, let alone defeating the NDA candidate, have begun to fade.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pays floral tributes to a portrait of Babasaheb Ambedkar

Which brings us to the moot point: what about those who didn't make it, especially the veteran BJP leader, L. K. Advani?

There were conflicting reports in the press over the latter. One version claimed that Advani's name was proposed by Modi himself at the Somanth Trust Meeting on March 8.

It would be a fitting 'gurudakshina' from Modi to Advani, the report added.

But, according to contrary reports, no such proposal was made; indeed, posters in favour of Advani, which had appeared at the BJP headquarters on Ashoka Road, were pulled down.

Advani, some argue, has been in the camp opposed to Modi in 2014, then why should he be in the reckoning?

Sagacity

It will be a sad day for Advani and his loyalists. Advani, with his RSS background, unmatched parliamentary and political record, and seniority was, according to senior leaders like Shatrughan Sinha, BJP's best candidate.

According to this camp, Advani's vast experience and sagacity would also have made him acceptable to several members of the opposition.

He would have united the old and the young divisions of the BJP, thus healing the perceived breach and factionalism in the party. Advani's supporters would argue that if Vajpayee became PM, it is only fitting poetic justice that Advani become President.

After all Advani, along with Vajpayee, built the party, steering its fortunes through adversity.

But, the contrary view is that Advani, standing trial for the conspiracy to destroy the Babri Masjid, is ineligible; moreover, he is to be 90 this November, which goes against him.

However, such discussions are purely academic.

L.K. Advani addresses a rally on the day of demolition in 1992. Advani is among those who have been issued notices by Supreme Court

Now that the choice has been made, there will be a flurry of write-ups, even quickie biographies of Kovind, with support being drummed up in his favour.

The opposition is flummoxed, with predictable carping about Kovind's RSS background.

Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar has already tweeted his personal happiness, but reserved his party's decision on whether to support Kovind or not. The Congress view is expected any minute, so this political pot-boiler may not be over.

But, once again, the Modi camp has out manoeuvred and outwitted its critics.
Scammed: High profile criminal psychologist Professor David Canter

Fraudsters scammed 18,000 from a high profile criminal psychologist using 'persuasive techniques straight out of a psychology textbook'.

The professor, who has helped police hunt serial rapists, arsonists and murderers, was caught out when conmen phoned his home.

The scammers took him through a series of fake 'security' checks before transferring the money from three separate bank accounts.

Professor David Canter, who is director of the International Research Centre for Investigative Psychology at The University of Huddersfield, is one of Britain's foremost behavioural profilers.

He is best known for developing criminal profiling in the 1990s after he helped police catch Railway Rapist and serial murderer John Duffy.

More recently his research has involved studying fraudulent emails and warning people of the dangers of online scams.

But the 73-year-old was caught out himself when he was embroiled in an elaborate con to empty his bank accounts.

'I was a complete idiot. I am the first to admit it. I should have known better and I should have spotted it,' said Professor Canter.

Ironically, the scam began when fraudsters hacked into his BT email account despite the professor using a complex password.

He said: 'A colleague told me a spoof email had been sent from my address saying I was in Turkey and needed money. I immediately changed my password and didn't think anymore of it.'

But a week later the professor realised he wasn't receiving any emails. After lengthy conversations with BT helpdesk he realised his email messages were being automatically forwarded onto another address the fraudsters had set up.

'I stopped the forwarding but then a few days later I got a phone call at home saying my IP address had been compromised.'

She knew all these details about me and my computer and she was very formal. There was a sense of urgency and concern and it makes you feel you have to something about it

Professor Canter received the phone call on his ex-directory number from a 'polite woman with an Indian accent' claiming to be acting on behalf of BT.

'I was immediately very suspicious and asked how they got my number. She said they got it from BT and they had been alerted to a security problem with my computer. In hindsight I think they got the number when they hacked my email in the weeks before.'

The woman took Professor Canter through a series of 'checks' asking him to corroborate unique numbers on his computer, which he wrongly assumed meant the caller was legitimate.

He said: 'She knew all these details about me and my computer and she was very formal. There was a sense of urgency and concern and it makes you feel you have to something about it.'

Deceptive: It's easy to think fraudsters will be sinister and easy to spot, but politeness, persuasiveness and chattiness are common tactics

The woman then passed him onto a man who asked the professor to download some 'protective' software before logging into his bank accounts. The whole operation took several hours and the professor chatted to the fake technician about his BT training and university education in Britain.

'They were very sophisticated in terms of their plausibility,' said Professor Canter. 'We can learn a lot about the techniques of persuasion from these people. They use just the right level of technical terms to make you think you understand when you don't. They probably spent a few weeks building up how they were going to deal with me.'

The convincing back story made the professor believe that they were putting a block on his bank accounts so they could not be accessed. But in reality the scammers were setting up transfers to move thousands of pounds into their own account.

'Whilst they were putting this block into the system the screen went completely blank. The man on the phone said 'don't panic', and then he moved onto the next account. I was doing other work at the same time and I think they deliberately targeted me before a bank holiday so it would be difficult for me to contact the banks.'

At the end of the call Professor Canter started to get suspicious and the realisation of what was happening sunk in.

'They said they were at the end of their working day and they would finish in the morning as it was about 5pm. When the call finished I rang an IT expert I use and he told me straight away that it was a scam.'

Professor Canter immediately logged into his online accounts to change the password then contacted Lloyds, Natwest and Santander to alert their fraud departments. This was not as easy as he had expected.

He saw that the hackers had set up transfers of 2,500 from his Lloyds account, 7,500 from his Natwest account and two lots of 3,919 from his Santander account - a total of 17,838.

And he was surprised to find that the banks all had different security systems to deal with fraudulent transfers.

'Lloyds had the best system. If there is an unusual sum of money going to an unusual location they put a temporary block on it. I was able to put a stop to that transfer. The money had transferred out of my Natwest account and although it was difficult to get through to someone they repaid me all of the money the next day.'

Santander eventually repaid Professor Canter 3,919, around six weeks after it was taken by the scammers.

'Their system recognised one of the transfers as fraudulent and automatically stopped it. I don't understand why they did not do that for the other one. Santander said I endorsed the transfer via a message on my phone. I was in such a tizzy I don't know what I did, but I can't find the message on my phone.'

Frustratingly, Professor Canter says he knows the account numbers the money was transferred to and yet he says the banks and police do not appear to be chasing the money.

The police gave the professor a crime number and told him to contact Action Fraud, the national fraud and cyber crime reporting centre.

This was assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau who contacted the professor to say they would not be able to investigate. They were unable to provide a comment on his case.

'No-one has the resources to follow through on these bank accounts. Santander told me they get a case like mine every three minutes,' said Professor Canter.

The trauma of the crime has left the professor feeling 'violated and vulnerable' and cost him both financially and emotionally.

He said: 'It has made me terribly anxious about having an online account. I have had to change all my bank accounts and buy a new computer as I found that the fraudsters had put about 300 programmes on it. It has made me suspicious of everyone and caused me a lot of stress.'

Action Fraud said that it had received the report in April, which was assessed by the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau at the City of London Police. However it said there were 'insufficient lines of enquiry for an investigation based in the UK'.

It added that with 250,000 crimes reported to Action Fraud every year, not all cases can be passed on for further investigation, but that the disruptions team was able to take down the phone number used by the fraudsters.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina law that banned registered sex offenders from using social media sites. Its a rare treat to get a Supreme Court opinion delving into Internet content regulations, and as a bonus, this case enthusiastically embraces Internet exceptionalism. As Justice Alitos concurrence says plainly, Cyberspace is different from the physical world. Whoa!

The Courts Ruling

North Carolina G.S. 14202.5 makes it a felony for registered sex offenders to access a commercial social networking Web site where the sex offender knows that the site permits minor children to become members or to create or maintain personal Web pages. The definition of commercial social networking site has four attributes:

* the site operator derives revenue (including ad revenue)

* the site facilitates the social introduction of people

* site users can create web pages or personal profiles

* the site provides users a mechanism to communicate with each other

The law excludes sites that (a) provide only one of the following discrete services: photo-sharing, electronic mail, instant messenger, or chat room or message board platform, or (b) have as their primary purpose the facilitation of commercial transactions involving goods or services between [their] members or visitors.'

The law applies to 20,000 North Carolinans, and the state has prosecuted over 1,000 violators.

The Supreme Court unanimously declares the NC statute unconstitutional. Justice Kennedy wrote a five-judge majority opinion. Justice Alito wrote a three-judge concurrence.

Justice Kennedy says the law couldnt survive intermediate scrutiny (if thats even applicable instead of strict scrutiny) because its unprecedented in the scope of First Amendment speech it burdens. The state argued that the law was necessary to protect against sex offender recidivism, but the court says the law is much more restrictive than an analogous buffer zone in physical space.

Justice Alito criticizes Justice Kennedys opinion because of its undisciplined dicta and unnecessary rhetoric. He prefers analyzing the law as a content-neutral time/place/manner restriction. The government has a compelling interest in protecting children from sex predators, but the restrictions are overbroad:

[the laws] wide sweep precludes access to a large number of websites that are most unlikely to facilitate the commission of a sex crime against a child.the North Carolina law has a very broad reach and covers websites that are ill suited for use in stalking or abusing children.

Implications

* Social media lovefest. Raise your hand if you love social media. The Supreme Court agrees with you!

The majority opinion celebrates the ascendancy of social media sites in our society. Justice Kennedy asks what is the most important places (in a spatial sense) for the exchange of views? He answers: today the answer is clear. It is cyberspacethe vast democratic forums of the Internetin general and social media in particular. This implies that social media sites have joined, or even supplanted, traditional public fora as streets and parks.

Justice Kennedys opinion also endorses the role of social media sites as vital information resources. Echoing one of the remarkable statements from Reno v. ACLU, Justice Kennedy says: social media users employ these websites to engage in a wide array of protected First Amendment activity on topics as diverse as human thought.' He continues:

Social media allows users to gain access to information and communicate with one another about it on any subject that might come to mind. By prohibiting sex offenders from using those websites, North Carolina with one broad stroke bars access to what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge. These websites can provide perhaps the most powerful mechanisms available to a private citizen to make his or her voice heard.

This is plainly true, and its great to see the Supreme Court recognize how important social media has become. However, does this passage signal that access to social media sites has become a fundamental right? In other words, if social media sites are (superior?) substitutes to streets and parks, should citizens be equally guaranteed the right to access them? In general, privately operated websites arent considered public fora for First Amendment purposes (though government-operated social media accounts may bemore on that in a moment). This passage might encourage courts to think about these questions more holistically.

* Internet Exceptionalism. Just like the Supreme Court did in 1997 in Reno v. ACLU, the judges embrace Internet exceptionalism (see, e.g., Justice Alitos Cyberspace is different from the physical world). However, the majority and concurrence disagree about whether the Internets differences are good or bad.

Like Justice Stevens did in 1997, Justice Kennedy emphasizes the Internets positive aspects:

While we now may be coming to the realization that the Cyber Age is a revolution of historic proportions, we cannot appreciate yet its full dimensions and vast potential to alter how we think, express ourselves, and define who we want to be. The forces and directions of the Internet are so new, so protean, and so far reaching that courts must be conscious that what they say today might be obsolete tomorrow.

In contrast, Justice Alito emphasizes how the Internet can uniquely facilitate sexual predation:

Several factors make the internet a powerful tool for the would-be child abuser. First, children often use the internet in a way that gives offenders easy access to their personal informationby, for example, communicating with strangers and allowing sites to disclose their location. Second, the internet provides previously unavailable ways of communicating with, stalking, and ultimately abusing children. An abuser can create a false profile that misrepresents the abusers age and gender. The abuser can lure the minor into engaging in sexual conversations, sending explicit photos, or even meeting in person. And an abuser can use a childs location posts on the internet to determine the pattern of the childs day-to-day activitiesand even the childs location at a given moment. First, it is easier for parents to monitor the physical locations that their children visit and the individuals with whom they speak in person than it is to monitor their internet use. Second, if a sex offender is seen approaching children or loitering in a place frequented by children, this conduct may be observed by parents, teachers, or others. Third, the internet offers an unprecedented degree of anonymity and easily permits a would-be molester to assume a false identity.

(BTW, Justice Alito makes these factual assertions without any empirical support. Indeed, I think Justice Alito overstates these factors, in some cases by a lot).

Justice Kennedy partially retort to Justice Alito by noting that the Internet, like all new technologies, can be used for both good and evil: For centuries now, inventions heralded as advances in human progress have been exploited by the criminal mind. New technologies, all too soon, can become instruments used to commit serious crimes. The railroad is one example. So it will be with the Internet and social media.

* What is social media? Ive repeatedly complained that the term social media, as a subcomponent of the Internet generally, cannot be defined rigorously. As Justice Alito admits: it is not easy to provide a precise definition of a social media site. Statutes that have attempted to define social media are fatally ambiguous or over-inclusive (or both). For example, Californias employee social media privacy law defined social media as all electronic content, both online and off, i.e., including files on a users non-networked hard drive.

This opinion highlights the illogic of trying to segregate social media from the rest of the Internet. Justice Alito shows how the NC statute unintentionally (?) swept in Amazon.coms review functionality, Washington Posts comment section, and WebMD (I believe these examples came from amicus briefs).

In my Internet Law casebook, I include People v. Lopez, where the court found that the definition of social media sites (in the context of probation conditions) was reasonably certain. After this opinion, will courts be as confident about the precision of any definition of social media?

* What will happen to other states sex offender restriction laws? Many other states have restricted registered sex offenders from using social media sites, though the specific laws differ. How does this ruling affect those laws?

Justice Kennedy says that states should be able to enact specific, narrowly tailored laws that prohibit a sex offender from engaging in conduct that often presages a sexual crime, like contacting a minor or using a website to gather information about a minor.

Justice Alito expresses skepticism about this possibility. He says: if the entirety of the internet or even just social media sites are the 21st century equivalent of public streets and parks, then States may have little ability to restrict the sites that may be visited by even the most dangerous sex offenders. I think Justice Alito is overly pessimistic. States will keep trying to ban sex offenders from social media, and the Supreme Court will surely endorse some of those efforts.

The bigger problem is enforceability of any laws that pass Justice Kennedys standard. Imagine a state bans a registered sex offender from attempting to communicate with a person known to be minor, either in a private message or in a message directed to the minor (like a tagged message on Facebook or a Twitter @reply). I think this law would survive constitutional scrutiny, but how will the state proactively monitor compliance? If its a private message or the users account is private, state enforcers wont see it at all (unless they log into the offenders account); and even if the state enforcer sees the tweet or tagged Facebook post, it will take additional work to determine the message was sent to a minor instead an adult (assuming the age information is even determinable). So the states job at monitoring possible sex offender recidivism will become more difficult.

[Historical note: the Reno v. ACLU case had a concurrence/dissent by Justice OConnor that talked about the possible permissibility of Internet zoning and the differences between one-to-one online communications and online messages that are broadcast to the world. The discourse in this opinion brought to mind both of these issues, but sadly neither opinion discussed Justice OConnors opinion.]

* Will this opinion affect probation conditions? As illustrated by the Lopez case, judges routinely restrict Internet usage in probation conditions. (I recently blogged about this issue in the In re Mike H. case). Does this opinion signal possible limits to such probation conditions? Justice Kennedy says its troubling that NCs law imposes severe restrictions on persons who already have served their sentence and are no longer subject to the supervision of the criminal justice system (emphasis added). The italicized language suggests that Justice Kennedy did not want to reach the probation conditions issue. However, he also says: It is unsettling to suggest that only a limited set of websites can be used even by persons who have completed their sentences. Even convicted criminalsand in some instances especially convicted criminalsmight receive legitimate benefits from these means for access to the world of ideas, in particular if they seek to reform and to pursue lawful and rewarding lives. Thus, I think this opinion provides substantial grounds to carve back or eliminate probation conditions restricting social media and Internet usage, and I expect well see a groundswell of cases in the area.

* Can Trump block Twitter followers? Our president has blocked numerous followers from his @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account (which I suggest he rename to @ReallyThinSkinnedDonaldTrump). See a selection of the blockees. Is it legal for him, as a government official, to block his constituents from following him? If the account were his personal account, the answer might be yes; but even the White House has admitted that @RealDonaldTrump is an official account. And blocking a follower can suppress their speech; at minimum, it blocks an @reply from showing up in the message thread. Thus, if a Twitter account is a limited public forum, blocking accounts will likely violate the users free speech rights.

This opinion doesnt directly address the issue, but it does say that on Twitter, users can petition their elected representatives and otherwise engage with them in a direct manner. Indeed, Governors in all 50 States and almost every Member of Congress have set up accounts for this purpose. As part of discussing social medias ascendancy as the modern quintessential public forum, the court is signaling that suppressing constituent speech on social media would be impermissible censorship. I imagine the lawsuit challenging Trumps Twitter blocking will highlight this passage.

Venkats comments: I love the Courts rhetoric around the vast possibilities made available by sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Justice Kennedy talks about the nature of revolution in thought unfolding on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. *Record Scratch* *Freeze Frame* As always, judges are a bit behind the times, and this is no exception.

The majority opinion is imbued with forum language. I have not re-read Reno v. ACLU recently, but to the extent this is new, its noteworthy. Perhaps the Courts language has embraced forum terminology as social networks have evolved? Appeals courts have not definitively addressed the status of public Facebook pages as fora, and this language suggests that they could be limited public forums at the very least. The same goes for the Presidents Twitter feed! (As Eric notes, the majority opinion has some language thats relevant to the question of whether the President may block Twitter users.)

A fun exercise when reading a ruling like this is to think about ways the legislature could accomplish the result that the judges thought was appropriate. The law got derailed in its overly broad definition of social networking site, and both sets of judges were troubled that the definition could include sites such as Amazon, the Washington Post, and WebMD.

Case citation: Packingham v. North Carolina, 2017 WL 2621313 (U.S. Sup. Ct. June 19, 2017).
An 11billion merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management was overwhelmingly approved by shareholders today.

More than 95 per cent of investors at Aberdeen and 98 per cent at Standard Life voted in favour of the deal to create Britain's biggest investment house.

Standard Life shares were trading up 2 per cent at 397.05p while Aberdeen shares soared 4 per cent to 298.65p after the announcement.

Shareholders have overwhelmingly backed an 11billion merger between Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management today

The enlarged company, to be called Standard Life Aberdeen, will be headed by Keith Skeoch and Aberdeen boss Martin Gilbert with a bumper 16-member board.

The merger, which was agreed in March, will target cost savings of 200million a year, with around 800 jobs expected to be lost over a three-year period from a global workforce of 9,000.

When the deal goes through on 14 August, it will create Europe's second-biggest fund manager with 670bn under management.

It comes after reports that Standard Life, the larger of the two companies, is also in merger talks with Lloyds subsidiary Scottish Widows.

A memo to shareholders seen by This Is Money read: 'It is the intention that the Combined Group will explore ways in good faith to build a successful relationship with Lloyds for the benefit of their respective customers, businesses, shareholders and other stakeholders.'

But the company declined to comment on the 'speculation' of a merger.

Gerry Grimstone, chairman of Standard Life, said the deal was 'one of the most significant events' in the history of the company.

'There are still some approvals to be granted before the merger can complete and I know the teams in both companies are working through these diligently,' he added.

'We are still on track for a completion date of 14 August and will keep our shareholders informed of developments.'

Simon Troughton, chairman of Aberdeen Asset Management, said the result was a 'landmark' in the firm's history.

He said: 'We are pleased with the overwhelming support Aberdeen shareholders have shown for the proposed merger. They recognise the strategic and financial rationale of the transaction which will create the UK's largest active asset manager and one of the top 25 globally.

'The two businesses' investment capabilities and distribution channels are highly complementary and by combining them we are well positioned to compete in an evolving global market environment.

'The strengths of the combined businesses in multi-asset and solutions, alternatives and active specialities, such as emerging markets, are strongly aligned to the needs of clients now and in the future.

'The new company will have a robust balance sheet and diverse revenue streams, by asset class and distribution channel. This will facilitate investment in the business to support long-term growth and shareholder returns.

More than 95 per cent of investors at Aberdeen and 98 per cent at Standard Life voted in favour of the deal during general meetings. Pictured: Standard Life CEO Keith Skeoch

'Today represents another landmark for Aberdeen, which started 34 years ago as a 70 million investment trust and grew to become a world-renowned asset manager managing billions of assets and employing thousands of people around the globe.

'This deal opens up significant opportunities across all facets of Aberdeen's business and is an important step towards realising the company's ambition of creating a world-class investment business with a truly global footprint.'

David McCann, analyst at Numis Securities, said: 'Future success in the active asset management industry will be determined by being big or boutique: you do not want to be stuck in the middle.

'We think the deal reflects Aberdeen and Standard Life choosing to be big.'
Barclays shares fell 0.8 per cent to 205.10p this morning after the bank and four senior executives were charged with fraud over fundraising from Qatar.

The criminal charges against former chief executive John Varley and three others are the first against a bank or its executives relating to the 2008 crash and have stunned the city.

The Serious Fraud Office alleges that bosses failed to disclose 322m paid to Qatari investors and a $3billion loan to the state of Qatar during an 11.8bn fundraising drive to prevent nationalisation at the height of the crash.

Probe: Eight former Barclays bosses have been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office

Former chief executive John Varley, 61, will face Westminster magistrates on 3 July with Roger Jenkins, 61, Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58.

The SFO has also charged Barclays plc, Mr Varley and Mr Jenkins with the provision of unlawful financial assistance.

It said: 'The charges relate to Barclays Plc's capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC and Challenger Universal Ltd, which took place in June and October 2008, and a $3bn loan facility made available to the State of Qatar acting through the Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008.'

Barclays said it is 'considering its position in relation to these developments'.

The bank added: 'Barclays awaits further details of the charges from the SFO.

'The SFO has informed Barclays that it has not made a decision as to whether it will also bring charges against Barclays Bank Plc in respect of the loan.'

Daniel Tarling-Hunter at the Economist Intelligence Unit said: 'The step to file criminal charges against top executives is unprecedented and sends a clear message that the SFO is willing to take on the world's largest financial institutions.'

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also reopened its probe into the Qatari fundraising deal and is understood to be reviewing new evidence which could prompt it to reconsider a 50million fine against the banking giant four years ago.

The emergency funds raised by Barclays allowed it to avoid a government bailout in 2008 at a time when rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were forced to rely on a taxpayer rescue.

Mr Varley, who was chief executive between 2004 and 2011, headed the bank at the time of the fundraising, while Mr Jenkins is also said to have played a key role in orchestrating the deal.

Barclays and four of its bosses including former chief executive John Varley (pictured) have today been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud

Mr Kalaris - an American banker living in London - used to lead the bank's wealth and investment management division, while Mr Boath was the former European head of financial institutions group at Barclays.

The defendants will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 3.

The way the bank secured the investments in 2008 has since been mired in controversy.

Investigations have focused on two 'advisory services agreements' worth 322 million, which Barclays agreed to pay the Qatar Investment Authority.

The FCA slapped a 50 million penalty on the bank in 2013 after finding that Barclays had failed to disclose arrangements and fees it paid to the Qatari investors.

Barclays contested the fine and the challenge was put on hold while the SFO conducted its investigation, but that stay has been lifted.

The United States Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have also been carrying out investigations over the payments.

Barclays is meanwhile facing legal action from financier Amanda Stavely to recoup 700 million in advisory fees from Barclays she claims her firm, PCP Partners, is owed relating to the 2008 fundraising, which Barclays is defending.

The charges will come as a further headache for current Barclays boss Jes Staley after a series of recent blows, with the chief executive also facing a regulatory investigation into his own conduct after he attempted to identify a whistleblower.
Plumbing and heating supplier Wolseley has reported growing third quarter profits, driven by robust growth at its US division.

Ferguson, Wolseley's US plumbing and heating business, saw like for like sales climb 8.5 per cent in the period. The firm said trading profit rose 9.5 per cent to 254 million in the three months to April 30, while sales rose 16.7 per cent to 4.3 billion, helped by a 423 million exchange rate benefit.

However, like for like sales in the UK fell 0.4 per cent and revenue dipped from 529 million to 506 million. Wolseley shares fell 1.4 per cent in morning trading on Tuesday to 4,814p as investors concern over the lacklustre UK performance.

Wolseley sales rise as US growth is boosting profits

Wolseley boss John Martin said: 'Revenue growth in the quarter was good with US residential and commercial markets growing well and industrial markets improving. The Nordics returned to growth and the UK was broadly flat.'

Senior market analyst at ETX Capital, Neil WIlson noted: 'The diverging performance of the US and UK economies was clear to see in the Q3 trading update from Wolseley this morning.'

'As the US continues to expand at a decent clip, there are clear signs of a significant slowdown in the UK.'

Wolseley has recently announced plans to rename itself Ferguson PLC at the of July which now accounts for 84 per cent of group trading profits - to 'align the group's name with our most significant brand in our largest market'.

The company will continue to use the Wolseley name in the UK and Canada.

Mr Wilson added: 'No wonder Wolseley is renaming itself Ferguson, the name of its US business that it is increasingly leaning on for any kind of revenue or profit growth.'
Rio Tinto has rejected a last-minute bid for its Australian coalmines from FTSE 100 rival Glencore, sticking with a lower offer from Chinese-backed Yancoal.

Yancoal tabled a 1.94billion bid for Rio's subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries in January before Glencore made a 2billion offer on June 9.

But the Rio board is now urging shareholders to back the offer from Australian-listed Yancoal because the deal can be done faster.

Rio Tinto has rejected a last-minute bid for its Australian coalmines from rival Glencore, sticking with an offer from Chinese-backed Yancoal. Pictured: A Rio mine in western Australia

Yancoal has offered to pay a one-off fee at completion instead of by deferred payments and already has regulatory approval from China and Australia.

The Rio board was also reassured by 'additional information and confirmations' that Yancoal can finance the deal.

Glencore shares were down 3 per cent to 279.18p while Rio's slipped 2.6 per cent to 3,005.75p at 4pm.

Anglo-Australian group Rio is selling its coalmines to focus on iron ore and steel.

China wants the mines to shore up its energy supplies and expects coal to remain in demand for another two decades.

Rio Tinto chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques said 'We believe Yancoal's offer to purchase our thermal coal assets for 1.94 billion offers the best value and greater transaction certainty for shareholders.

'Yancoal's revised offer is the most attractive because it removes the deferred payment structure, can meet the timeline we have set for the transaction, and has given us certainty regarding the outstanding regulatory approvals required.

'The sale of Coal & Allied will create outstanding value for shareholders and is consistent with our strategy of simplifying our portfolio to ensure the most effective use of our capital.'

Yancoal tabled a 1.94billion bid for Rio's subsidiary Coal & Allied Industries in January before Glencore made a 2billion offer on June 9 in attempt to hijack the deal

Rio Tinto shareholders will vote on the sale on 27 June. If they approve it will go ahead in the third quarter of this year.

But some analysts think we haven't heard the last of Switzerland-based Glencore's interest yet.

Tyler Broda at the Royal Bank of Canada, said: 'The Rio Tinto board's decision to go with the Yancoal bid for Coal & Allied could now see Glencore sharpen its pencils to see whether it can find a way to make a superior bid.'

Hunter Hillcoat at Investec Plc added: 'Rio are very close to the Chinese and they probably don't want to risk that relationship. But it's still open for Glencore to go higher.'
A reward of $50,000 is being offered for information about the disappearance of a scholar from China who went missing from the University of Illinois.

Yingying Zhang, 26, was about a month into a yearlong appointment at the university's Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois when she disappeared on June 9.

On Saturday, the FBI announced it is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information that will help locate Zhang. On Monday, her family and Champaign County Crime Stoppers announced that they will be offering a separate reward of up to $40,000 for information that specifically leads to an arrest made in her disappearance.

Scroll down for video

Yingying Zhang, 26, was about a month into a yearlong appointment at the university's Urbana-Champaign campus in central Illinois when she disappeared on June 9

Zhang was supposed to be heading to an apartment building to sign a lease on the day she disappeared, her friends told authorities. She is seen here in a surveillance image that day

Zhang was last seen voluntarily getting into a black Saturn Astra at 2.04pm on June 9

Authorities have not yet been able to identify the driver of the car that Zhang entered before disappearing from campus, because the license plates are illegible in the surveillance video

Authorities have labeled the case a kidnapping, but aren't ruling anything out.

Zhang's friends told authorities she had gone out to sign a lease on the day she disappeared.

The News-Gazette reports that Zhang texted the building's property manager at 1.30pm, saying that she was going to be late to the appointment. Five minutes later she got on a city bus and exited it at 1.52pm  a mile away from the building she was supposed to be going to.

Campus police say surveillance video released by the FBI shows her standing under a tree on Goodwin Avenue, four blocks away from the bus stop, before a black Saturn Astra vehicle pulls up.

Zhang can then be seen approaching the passenger side of the car, appearing to speak with someone in the car before voluntarily getting inside at 2.04pm. The car then drives off.

Zhang is from Jianyang, China and was working in the university's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, researching photosynthesis and crop productivity

Zhangs father, aunt and boyfriend traveled to the US from China to help with the search. They arrived in Illinois on Saturday. More than $70,000 has been raised to support them while here

'We have her on video getting into a car and that's the last we see of her,' University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign Police Department spokesman Patrick Wade told The News-Gazette. 'That's obviously very concerning.'

Authorities said they have not yet been able to identify the owner of the car that Zhang was driven away in because its license plate number was illegible in the surveillance video. They are also working with ride-hailing companies and checking her cellphone records to see if she called a car to pick her up.

One avenue of investigation, according to police, is reports that the driver of a black car had been inviting young women inside.

Authorities have already talked to one person who reported such an incident in early June, although it was in a different neighborhood in Urbana than the one that Zhang disappeared from.

It is not clear if the earlier incident and Zhang's disappearance are related, but Wade said authorities are not 'ruling anything out.'

Zhang was last seen carrying a backpack and wearing jeans, a pink and white top, white sneakers and a grey cap.

Zhang was working in the university's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, researching photosynthesis and crop productivity. University officials say Zhang's visiting scholar appointment runs through April 2018.

She is from Jianyang, China and received her bachelor's degree from Sun Yat-Sen University in 2013 and a master's in environmental engineering from Peking University last year.

CBS Chicago reported that Zhangs father, aunt and boyfriend traveled to the US from China to help with the search. They arrived in Illinois on Saturday.

The University of Illinois Community Credit Union started a GoFundMe page on June 17 to raise money to support Zhang's family. In two days, it has already raised more than $72,000 in donations, exceeding its original $30,000 goal.
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The rare chance to live a Robinson Crusoe lifestyle has become available after a tiny idyllic island was put up for rent - for just 500 a month.

Ynys Giftan is an 18-acre island in the Dwyryd Estuary within the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales.

It overlooks the Italianate village of Portmeirion and has incredible views of the coastline, mountains and the Irish Sea.

But the knock-down rental price comes with a catch as whoever takes on the remote paradise will need to spend upwards of 100,000 renovating the ramshackle farmhouse on it.

Ynys Giftan is an 18-acre island in the Dwyryd Estuary within the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales

The island overlooks the Italianate village of Portmeirion and has incredible views of the coastline, mountains and the Irish Sea

The farmhouse itself has one large bedroom upstairs, but this could be divided into two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Downstairs it has two reception rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom

The island is part of the Glyn Estate and the owner, the 7th Baron Harlech, is letting it out on a 20-year improving lease so someone can bring it back to life.

The tenant would be required to fully renovate the farmhouse and the reduced annual ground rent reflects the level of investment required.

The prospective tenant could either focus on the farmhouse to create an idyllic bolthole or it could become an eco-tourism business with something like a glamping site.

The successful tenants have to pitch for the property and are being advised to come up with creative proposals.

Lord Harlech's ancestors were gifted the island by Queen Anne in the early 1700s and the name Ynys Giftan means 'Anne's Gift Island'.

It was run as a farm but has been uninhabited for the last 20 years.

The farmhouse itself has one large bedroom upstairs, but this could be divided into two bedrooms, and a bathroom. Downstairs it has two reception rooms, a kitchen and a bathroom.

The house is structurally sound but needs a lot of work to make it habitable again.

The successful tenants have to pitch for the property and are being advised to come up with creative proposals

The tenant would be required to fully renovate the farmhouse and the reduced annual ground rent reflects the level of investment required

There is currently no electricity and although there is a water pipe and septic tank, no one knows if they still work

There is currently no electricity and although there is a water pipe and septic tank, no one knows if they still work.

Anyone interested in taking on the lease can make their proposal to estate agents Strutt & Parker, who are handling the let up until August 31.

Thomas Hanmer, of Strutt & Parker, said: 'This is a blank canvas offering. It's one of only 43 unbridged tidal islands in the UK and they rarely become available to the public.

'As the island has so much potential and applicants will have such varying aspirations, the rent is negotiable.

'We have set the bar at offers in excess of 500 per calendar month, but this can vary over the course of the 20 year term depending on the applicants vision and investment proposal.

'You could do anything there - it could be a little bolthole and you just have it for yourself or you could run it as a tourist-based business - a campsite or glamping pods.

'The farmhouse has been uninhabited for about 20 years, it's not a ruin but there is quite a bit to be done.

'Structurally it is sound, the walls and roof, but the doors and windows need looking at, and it needs full redecoration, new bathroom suites and kitchen units.

Whoever takes on the remote paradise will need to spend upwards of 100,000 renovating the ramshackle farmhouse on it

Thomas Hanmer, of estate agent Strutt & Parker, described the property as a 'a blank canvas offering'

The prospective tenant could either focus on the farmhouse to create an idyllic bolthole or it could become an eco-tourism business with something like a glamping site

'We want people to be creative with their proposals. Already we have had numerous interested parties putting forward proposals to enhance the island's potential for tourism.

'The estate owner is keen to maximise this strength and maintain and enhance the wider public's affection for the island and North Wales.

'The flexibility of use being offered and the opportunity to put forward a rental offer based on a scheme of the applicant's choosing to reflect their investment is a real once in a lifetime opportunity.

'The island is very pictuersque, it's in Snowdonia National Park and looks out to the Irish Sea. It's very peaceful and you've got stunning panoramic views.

'That can be a bit of a cliche term but this island really has that. From the top you can see everywhere around you.'

The latest Lord Harlech, 30-year-old music video producer Jasset Ormsby-Gore, is trying to restore his family's dilapidated manor and auctioned off heirlooms earlier this year to help fund the restoration.

Letting out Ynys Giftan is another way of making the estate more profitable and there may be scope to extend the lease. But any profit made from a business on the island would belong to the tenant.
A family has sued two former day care workers who encouraged young children under their supervision to fight each other as part of what prosecutors called a 'Fight Club.'

The suit filed by the parents of a 4-year-old boy claims he suffered severe emotional distress and now receives therapy as a result of the forced fights at the Lightbridge Academy in Cranford, New Jersey.

Authorities say Erica Kenny and Chanese White forced children to fight and recorded them  similar to the 'fight club' depicted in the 1999 hit film starring Brad Pitt and Edward Norton.

Authorities say Erica Kenny (left) and Chanese White (right) forced children to fight and recorded them

'He continues to have night tremors,' said Jamison Mark, the attorney representing the parents.

'Unfortunately, he lashes out in school. He is something of an intimidator, a tough kid but in a bad way,' added Mark.

Each woman was sentenced to three years' probation after pleading guilty to child abuse charges last year.

According to Union County prosecutors, the two former workers encouraged children between the ages of four and six to push and shove each other in the schoolyard.

Kenny is then said to have recorded these scuffles on her phone and shared them on social media, NJ Advance Media reported at the time.

In the video clips, Kenny is heard referring to these activities as a 'fight club.'

Brad Pitt (center) plays a soap salesman, Tyler Durden, who forms an underground ring of men who engage in unbridled fisticuffs in the 1999 cult classic Fight Club

'As parents and caregivers, we are shocked and saddened by this isolated incident,' a Lightbridge spokesperson told NJ.com last year.

'We have a zero tolerance policy for anyone who acts in conflict with the core value of Lightbridge Academy - the safety and well being of children.'

Another parent whose child was enrolled at the academy said that he was not impressed with Kenny.

'Erica struck me as often very unprofessional,' he said at the time. 'And just the way they both talked to the children wasn't great.'

Each woman was sentenced to three years' probation after pleading guilty to child abuse charges last year

'There wasn't a lot of structure. They were very laid back. You kind of got the picture right away that there wasn't going to be this great level of education, that it was really more of a day care than a learning environment.'

This latest suit also names the center as a defendant. It seeks undisclosed damages.

A Lightbridge official says the company has not yet seen the lawsuit.

White declined to comment. A telephone number for Kenny could not be located.
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Ronni Baker was a good mother.

Her father Matt, a 30-year veteran of the Oxford County Sheriffs Department in Maine, speaks earnestly of his youngest daughter. A tomboy but also a girly girl. A child he took fishing, hunting and camping.

Ronnis three-year-old daughter Claire is similar to her in many ways. She is cheerful, friendly, and smart. She loves animals, especially her chickens, and enjoys playing on the 45 acres of land owned by her grandparents, where she now lives.

Claires grandparents Matt and Cheryl now grapple with the looming knowledge that they will soon have to tell their blond-haired and blue-eyed grandchild the truth about her mother: that she died of a heroin and fentanyl overdose in their bathroom in 2015 when Claire was nine months old.

Two years after her mothers death, Claire is too young to understand fully  but her grandparents say she knows something went wrong.

In the days following Ronnis death, she cried out for her mother in her sleep. On another occasion she tried to share her sandwich with a nearby photograph of her mother. It was a touching moment that broke her grandparents hearts.

She definitely knows that she did have a mom and now her moms not here, Matt Baker told DailyMail.com.

Cheryl and Matt Baker, right and left, are now the primary caregivers for their three-year-old granddaughter Claire, after their own daughter died of a fentanyl and heroin overdose in the family's bathroom in 2015

Claire was just nine months old when her mother passed away. Matt Baker, a 30-year veteran county sheriff, described his daughter as a loving, smart young woman with the world ahead of her before heroin intervened

The Bakers describe Claire as being very similar to her mother: she loves the outdoors and is tall, friendly, and smart

The Bakers story is one they unfortunately share with thousands across America.

Last year, the DEA referred to the abuse of fentanyl, often called heroins synthetic cousin, as a crisis of historic proportions and declared it the largest drug threat to the nation. According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), fentanyl is up to 100 times more potent than morphine  and on the street its mixed into drugs such as heroin or cocaine to increase their potency.

States across the nation have seen a huge rise in overdoses, both fatal and otherwise, over the past few years. Maine, where Ronni Baker lived, is one of those states. In 2014, there were 57 deaths involving heroin and morphine - a 530 percent increase since 2011. Deaths caused by fentanyl increased by 377 percent (from nine to 43) from 2013 to 2014, figures released by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services show.

It's an issue that has become the burden of a nation - flooding hospitals, emergency rooms and foster care systems. Data published by the Washington Post today revealed that in 2014, 1.3 million Americans sought emergency care for opioids - characterized as the class of drugs including heroin, fentanyl, and prescription pain killers.

The most recent national figures are only available through 2014 due to the complicated nature of classifying overdose deaths. There is often confusion when declaring the source of an overdose due to differing standards by medical practitioners. The DEA believes this contributes to heroin deaths being widely undercounted.

Many states that have been hit hardest have been decimated by the highly addictive drug, which is often bought as a cheaper alternative to prescription pain medication.

CDC Medical Officer Dr John Halpin said: In terms of heroin users, I think they say now that 75 percent of those became addicted to prescription opioids prior to moving to heroin.

It becomes a cheap and readily accessible option as you move through this cycle of addiction where you need more and more potent opioids to get the effect that youre looking for.

Ronnis death was a result of the same pattern, her parents believe. After she had Claire, she was prescribed pain medication to help cope with the aftereffects of childbirth.

The Bakers believe this is what derailed her from her shaky sobriety at the time  lighting the fire of her drug addiction.

Ronni, right, was prescribed painkillers for postpartum pain after she gave birth to her daughter, which her parents Matt and Cheryl, also pictured, believe may have lit the fire in provoking her to become addicted to opiates

Ronni was one of the 272 people in Maine who died of drug overdoses that year. That number rose again to record highs in 2016, at 376 fatal overdoses in the state, data by the University of Maryland researcher Dr Marcella Sorg shows.

Its turning retirees and grandparents into parents again because its taking out all of these people,' Matt said. 'Its tearing our community apart. Its destroying families  its basically wiping out a generation.

The influence of fentanyl into heroin and prescription opioids has been particularly damaging in the Midwest and Northeast. In 2015, the five states charting the highest rates of overdose deaths were West Virginia, New Hampshire, Kentucky, Ohio, and Rhode Island.

Dr Halpin told DailyMail.com that this is because fentanyl is primarily cut into white powder heroin, which is typically trafficked the most in these areas.

She definitely knows that she did have a mom and now her moms not here, Matt Baker told DailyMail.com

Matt and Cheryl are pillars of the community in their small town of Stow, Maine. He is a county sheriff and she is a special education teacher

Cheryl Baker believes that the over-prescription of opioid medications is what has led to the vast levels of drug overdoses in her state  a sentiment that Dr Halpin confirmed.

He said: Fundamental changes in the ways opioids were prescribed beginning in the early 2000s has coincided fairly closely with the rise in opioid deaths - making the close relationship very clear.

Matt and Cheryl are pillars of the community in their small town of Stow, Maine. He is a county sheriff and she is a special education teacher. Both had their suspicions, but neither knew about the severity of their daughters addiction until it was too late.

Ronni was one of the 272 people in Maine who died of drug overdoses in 2015. That number rose again to record highs in 2016, at 376 fatal overdoses in the state

Both Matt and Cheryl had their suspicions, but neither parent knew about the severity of their daughters addiction until it was too late

It was Matt who found his daughter overdosing on the bathroom floor of their family home in February 2015. And when he speaks of it, his voice is heavy and betrays the guilt he feels.

We never even knew Ronni had even thought about heroin until the day she died - until that afternoon after she died. We never knew,' he said.

I kick myself for not not seeing things, you know?

Ronni had just turned 23 when she overdosed. In high school and shortly afterwards, she was always very successful. At Fryeburg Academy she enrolled in Odyssey of the Mind, AP classes, and had lots of friends. She spent her free time riding horses and enjoying the outdoors with her father. Once, Matt says, she enrolled in a beauty pageant, but she didnt like it.

After graduating from high school she spent some time at a local community college, but later dropped out. She took a course to become a certified nursing assistant, and went on to work with the elderly.

Despite her apparent happiness on the exterior, she was battling a crippling affliction.

In the years after her death, her mother and father have begun to piece together how she went from being the bright, promising daughter they knew into a young woman trapped in the confines of addiction.

It was Matt who found his daughter overdosing on the bathroom floor of their family home. And when he speaks of it, his voice is heavy and betrays the guilt he feels

We knew she started hanging out with a wilder crowd than she ever had, says Cheryl Baker, 52.

They theorize that she started experimenting then with drugs and alcohol, which accelerated after she graduated.

After high school, she met another much older man, about ten years her senior.

As a veteran law enforcement officer Matt knew that her then-boyfriend was involved with drugs and they began to get suspicious about their daughters activities.

Thats when it kind of escalated, he says. We knew she did pills here and there. There were indications of it, you know. She stole some money from us at one point in time, and when she borrowed money it would be in $20 increments, which is indicative of pills or something along that line.

But there was never an indication that she was experimenting with anything harder.

In the years after her death, her mother and father have begun to piece together how she went from being the bright, promising daughter they knew into a young woman trapped in the confines of addiction

At Fryeburg Academy she enrolled in Odyssey of the Mind, AP classes, and had lots of friends. She spent her free time riding horses and enjoying the outdoors with her father

Eventually, Ronni moved in with her older boyfriend. They didnt stay anywhere for longer than about two months at most and at one time they lived in New Hampshire, which has the second highest rate of heroin overdose deaths in the nation. The state of their homes, Matt says in hindsight, was another clue to the fact that his daughters life had begun to spiral.

With a pained laugh, he said: It was just trashed. When youre in the throes of addiction, you dont worry about housework or doing the dishes, you know?

You eat fast food, you grab a hamburger here and there and thats it.

During her time in New Hampshire, around 2012, Ronni would also be unreachable for long periods of time.

She would just disappear off the face of the earth. You could call her over and over and over  text her over and over and she wouldnt get back to you. She wouldnt respond, she wouldnt come to the house, stuff like that.

After suffering abuse at the hands of her boyfriend, Ronni moved home.

It was during this time that we realized there was something major going on, Matt said.

Evidently, something major was going on across the nation, as well.

After suffering abuse at the hands of an older boyfriend, who was not Claire's father, Ronni moved home. It was during this time that we realized there was something major going on, Matt said

THE RISE OF FENTANYL: WHY IS SYNTHETIC DRUG SO DEADLY? Fentanyl was originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain management. Given its extreme potency it has become popular among recreational drug users. Between late 2013 and early 2015, over 700 deaths were attributed to fentanyl and related substances. It is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug - the effects are biologically identical - but at a much stronger potency. Fentanyl is classified as a schedule II drug - indicating it has a strong potential to be abused and can create psychological and physical dependence. Other Schedule II drugs include Vicodin, cocaine, methamphetamine, Adderall, Ritalin and oxcodone. Advertisement

Drug overdose rates have been steadily on the rise for the last 15 years, and opioid overdose deaths have been among the highest increases.

In the United States in 2014, there were an average of 129 fatal drug overdoses every day. More than 60 percent of those deaths were related to heroin and opioids.

The introduction of fentanyl has been an undoubted catalyst in sharp increase of heroin overdose deaths. Fentanyl is often administered as a mild pain reliever, but has been introduced in the recreational drug market when it was realized that it produced a high 40 times stronger than heroin.

Now, it is illegally smuggled into the United States from China, typically through Mexico and Canada, and is cut into heroin supply without the knowledge of many users.

According to a 2016 CDC report, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between illegally manufactured fentanyl and that of a medical grade. Once it is metabolized in the system it becomes indistinguishable.

And once its ingested, its effects make overdose a very quick reality.

Dr Halpin continued: Fentanyl acts very quickly so it becomes even more difficult to react in time.

This is something that can easily kill you and can do it at a very rapid rate.

Narcan was introduced in 2015 as an antidote to heroin, and can be administered to those who have overdosed on opiates to revive them. It can be obtained and delivered by anyone without a prescription, and some doctors even offer classes to concerned friends or family members of addicts to teach them how to purchase and administer the drug in the case of an emergency.

In some cases, however, its too late.

When Matt Baker broke into the bathroom of his own home to find his daughter suffering from an overdose, he attempted to provide CPR until emergency service could arrive with Narcan.

They delivered her four doses of the life-saving drug  to no avail.

When Matt Baker broke into the bathroom of his own home to find his daughter suffering from an overdose, he attempted to provide CPR until emergency service could arrive with Narcan. They delivered her four doses of the life-saving drug to no avail

Claire frequently looks at photos of her mother as her grandparents hope to keep her memory alive

Though Matt has shared the story of that day many times, its evident that it never gets any easier.

It was the worst experience you can ever, ever imagine. Obviously Ive dealt with a lot of dead people, and Ive done CPR on people. Ive dealt with people dying, Ive been with people when they died. This was just  it was terrible.

I wasnt just seeing it as a father, I was seeing it as a cop, too.

Im trying to keep the cop face on but at the same time Im being a dad, too. Its very hard to explain  but I did CPR on her and I was able to feel her heartbeat, which Im very glad for. I will never ever forget what that felt like.'

He sighed deeply before reflecting on Ronnis final moments.

I believe she passed away before help got here. But they tried working on her for a long time, they gave her multiple doses of Narcan and it was just too late.

Ronnis boyfriend at the time, Claires biological father, was there, too. They had all been living under the Bakers roof. Claires father was also addicted to opiates, and later gave the Bakers the harrowing details of the months leading up to Ronnis death.

Though Matt has shared the story the day his daughter died many times, its evident that it never gets any easier

Matt said: Im trying to keep the cop face on but at the same time Im being a dad, too. Its very hard to explain  but I did CPR on her and I was able to feel her heartbeat, which Im very glad for. I will never ever forget what that felt like.'

She had stayed clean throughout the nine months she was pregnant with Claire  though he did not.

Matt said: I would frequently ask her Are you still clean? Are you still clean? Have you done it again? or whatever, which would really make her mad because you know, she probably hadnt.

Although they had some indication that Ronni had an accelerating problem with drugs, there wasnt a medical documentation of her addiction at that time.

About six months after Claire was born, a particular development occurred which made the Bakers suspect that something was awry yet again.

The first six months of Claire being alive, Ronni breastfed, which was something she always wanted to do. But then all of the sudden she stopped,' her father said.

And as soon as she stopped I knew something was wrong. And unfortunately we were right.

Three months later, their daughter was dead.

At that time the Bakers noticed a number of similar stories appearing in the news - young people, often parents, with promising futures who lost their lives to heroin addiction.

It was like right after her death  bam!  a landslide of deaths. It just blew up, Cheryl said.

Its on our local news almost every night. Maine was really targeted by a lot of drug dealers in other states because of our high pain pill problem. Doctors have overprescribed for years in the area, people got hooked and it became a big illegal market  people selling their grandmas meds or whatever.

When doctors had to start cracking down on prescriptions, that led to the heroin being a replacement, and the market just went wide open.

The Bakers noticed that Ronni had stopped breastfeeding about six months after Claire was born, which they found suspicious. Three months later, their daughter overdosed

Matt said: It doesnt seem to matter whether its a big town, a little town, a big county or a little county  it doesnt seem to matter. Its just here, and its here with a vengeance. More than one person a day is dying of an overdose in the state of Maine  an opiate, usually heroin or fentanyl.

Claires father is now sober and is allowed unsupervised visits with his young daughter. The Bakers emphasize that they hope to be able to co-parent with Claires father in the future, who has made wonderful progress so far and is very involved in her life.

In recent years, there has been a nationwide push to increase awareness of opioids. A CDC briefing in 2016 read: There is a need for continued action to prevent opioid abuse, dependence, and death, improve treatment capacity for opioid use disorders, and reduce the supply of illicit opioids, particularly heroin and illicit fentanyl.

Matt Baker is fed up  and has decided to take the matter in Maine into his own hands.

The Bakers emphasize that they hope to be able to co-parent with Claires father in the future, who has made wonderful progress so far and is very involved in her life

Claire munches on rhubarb from the family's garden, which sits on their 45-acre home in Maine that they built in 2003 so that Ronni could have more space to ride horses

Matt Baker now does speaking engagements across the state to raise awareness about the stigma of addiction

He now travels to high schools across the state telling his story  pleading with young students to not go down the same path as Ronni. He also does presentations to fellow police officers to advise them on lessening the stigma of addiction  something he feels played a role in Ronnis denial of her opioid problem. At first, sharing the brutal details of his daughters death was so raw that it would often bring him to tears.

Every time I speak at a high school or something I usually break down a little bit. Its getting better now, but that was one of the big things for me. One of the things I do is go and speak to police officers about stigma and stuff, and at the time when I did that it was very hard, because I would start to cry - and these are my peers.

Then I finally made up my mind and said: You know what, Ive been doing this longer than most of the people I talk to. So to hell with them - I dont care anymore, you know? It is what it is, he said.

Matt also helped pioneer a program in Oxford County called Project Save Me, in which addicts can approach any police officer for help  who will then take them to the hospital.

At times theres not a lot of hope for these people who suffer from substance abuse disorder, he said. Its very hard to get them help because a lot of them dont have insurance. Its even harder to get them detoxed because theres only a couple places in the state of Maine that do it.

He speaks animatedly about the opportunity to follow up on the progress, and more often than not, lack thereof, of the drug users who reach out to Oxford County Police.

Matt also helped pioneer a program in Oxford County called Project Save Me, in which addicts can approach any police officer for help  who will then take them to the hospital

One such client is a 54-year-old man whose addiction drove his wife to leave him and his children to become estranged.

Matt has taken it upon himself to frequently check in with the man and encourage him to receive treatment. He just needs somebody to say hello and make sure hes still alive, he said.

On top of helping the afflicted population in his county and beyond, Matt and Cheryl have their hands full raising Claire.

Cheryl is a special education teacher, and Matt often works night and weekend shifts at the police station  though theyve lessened his night shifts since the couple took on guardianship of Claire.

While Matt takes on public speaking and activism in his free time, though hes never been a lover of crowds, he says it still does little to dull the pain of losing his daughter.

Cheryl channels her energy into Claire, which she says gives her peace and motivation to take on each day. She usually wakes at 5am - an hour and a half before her granddaughter - so she can get everything prepared for the day. Once Claire is up they eat breakfast, feed the dogs and chickens, and head to daycare.

Cheryl channels her energy into Claire, which she says gives her peace and motivation to take on each day. She usually wakes at 5am - an hour and a half before her granddaughter - so she can get everything prepared for the day. Once Claire is up they eat breakfast, feed the dogs and chickens, and head to daycare

Cheryl said she hopes that this tragedy will help Claire become a more empathetic person as she grows older

I think its something she [Claire] will always carry with her  maybe itll make her more of an empathetic person. I hope so, Cheryl said.

If shes taught enough about love and compassion and empathy that gift is something that will be able to blossom in her.

They now look to the future with optimism  cherishing the time they spend with their granddaughter, though still in disbelief about the events that placed her in their care.

And when they miss Ronni the most, Matt will take Claire outside to look at the full moon.

When my dad died, my mom taught me that the constellation Orion was my dad, Matt said. So what I did with Claire was - the full moon was her mom. And ever since Ronni died, whenever theres been a full moon, Claire and I sit on the end of the deck and we look at the moon and talk to the moon.

During a recent chat with the moon, Claire asked Matt if she could look at pictures of her mother on her grandfathers phone  something shed never done before.

He continued: We talk to her about her mom  about her mom being in heaven and stuff like that  and show her a lot of pictures and we talk about it a lot.

But I want her to know the truth. Obviously, where theres addiction in her family, thats something she needs to be cognizant of as she gets older.

I think its important for her to know what happened. Its important for her to know that her mom loved her, no matter what happened.
A Florida woman is suing Danielle Bregoli's mom, claiming her bad parenting caused the 'Cash Me Ousside' teen to direct her posse to attack her.

Kimberly Peterson, 27, recently amended her original complaint against Barbara Ann Bregoli for leaving the 14-year-old unsupervised which led to the alleged assault outside of a Lake Worth bar.

She is suing for $15,000 in damages plus attorney's fees.

Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com reveal Peterson is arguing that Barbara's inability to control Danielle makes her liable for the alleged altercation.

Peterson claims Barbara, 49, is exploiting her daughter's bad choices for fame and fortune.

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Peterson asserts Barbara Bregoli is responsible for the injuries sustained because of her daughter's actions

Peterson claimed on February 26, Danielle instigated a verbal argument which led to her being phtsically physical assault. She said Danielle summoned her 'posse' of teenagers to hurl food, punch and kick her unprovoked.

As a result, Peterson claims she suffered 'disability, impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of the enjoyment of life, loss of the ability to earn money' among other injuries.

Danielle and her mother fired back at the lawsuit in May accusing the woman of fabricating the entire story.

Both Barbara and Danielle denied all allegations of assault, battery and negligence over Danielle's supervisor.

The viral star claimed the entire altercation was captured on video. She said the tape shows Danielle never touched Peterson and thus these allegations are well known by the plaintiff to be false.

Kimberly Peterson (pictured) claims in the amended lawsuit Barbara is obligated to exercise parental control. Because of this, she asserts she is liable for the alleged injuries caused by Danielle telling her friends to harm her

Danielle and her mother claim the video of the alleged assault shows she never touched Peterson. The duo demanded the lawsuit be dismissed in May

Danielle's legal team noted they will be seeking sanctions against Peterson for filing a lawsuit with allegations she knew were false.

Barbara blasted the allegations she did not properly watch her daughter, pointing out the complaint fails to mention what type of behavior she should have been aware of.

Danielle and Barbara both demanded the entire lawsuit be thrown out of court and the woman not be awarded a dime.

In the most recent version of the lawsuit, Peterson points out Barbara has had parental responsibility over Danielle since 2004.

Danielle Bregoli became a viral sensation after her appearance on Dr Phil in September. Peterson's lawsuit claims her mother is exploiting her bad behavior for fame

Since that time, Peterson said Barbara has had the opportunity and obligation to exert parental control over her but failed to do so.

Peterson claims this behavior includes multiple fights and violent incidents. She says Barbara either knew about this or at least should have been aware.

The alleged victim goes in on Barbara has encouraged her daughter's bad behavior by allowing her to appear on television and build a substantial social media following around her unruly conduct

She also claims Barbara allows her daughter to wander the streets in Palm Beach County, unsupervised in the middle of the night.
The wife of a top Sydney bank executive has accused her husband of forcing her to watch pornography and of grabbing her by the neck when she drank wine instead of defrosting food for dinner, a court has heard.

Julianne Borgelt told the Waverley Local Court on Monday she was 'terrified' of her estranged husband, chief financial officer for boutique bank Ashe Morgan Hans Borgelt, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Mrs Borgelt accused Mr Borgelt of being physically and verbally abusive to her during their marriage in an application for an apprehended violence order.

Julianne Borgelt, the estranged wife of top Sydney bank executive Hans Borgelt, has accused her husband of being physically and verbally abusive in an AVO application

The application was thrown out by Magistrate Michael Barko who said Mr Borgelt may be a 'tight arse' but was completely satisfied he is not a risk to his wife.

Mrs Borgelt claimed in a statement presented to the court that her husband had demanded sex daily.

'He told me I should watch porn so I can learn how to give a b*** job,' she said in the statement.

While watching a pornographic movie, Mrs Borgelt claimed Mr Borgelt told her she wouldn't be 'getting the breast operation [she] wanted' and asked if she liked the look of the X-rated film stars' breasts.

Magistrate Barko told the couple that although Mr Borgelt may be tight with their spending, she still received a $10,000 'boob job.'

Mrs Borgelt also claimed her husband had put her in a choke hold and threatened to kill her when she didn't prepare dinner.

Mr Borgelt denied accusations he was abusive in any way and said that at the time he had been 'frustrated' that his wife was drinking wine instead of making dinner.

Julianne Borgelt told the Waverley Local Court on Monday she is 'terrified' of her estranged husband (pictured), who is the Chief Financial Officer for boutique bank Ashe Morgan

Mr Borglet joined Ashe Morgan in 2006.

He has over 15 years of experience and has previously worked for Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse First Boston and the Royal Bank of Scotland.

He earned his degree from the University of Cape Town in South Africa.
OCEAN SPRINGS, Mississippi -- Less than two years ago, Ocean Springs police welcomed their new K9 drug dog, Axel, to the department.

Now it appears they will have to say goodbye.

Police Chief Mark Dunston has requested the Ocean Springs Board of Aldermen declare the dog as "surplus" in order to begin the process of donating or selling the 2 1/2-year-old German Shepard to another law enforcement agency.

Dunston explained that the dog's handler is expected to be called to active military duty and may be deployed for up to a year, possibly more.

"This is a procedural step," Dunston said. "It doesn't serve us as a city for me to have the dog stay here as a pet. So I want to be prepared and have been talking to other agencies about taking the dog from us and utilize it, so he's not wasted a serves a purpose.

"I have to watch the taxpayers dollars. I can't have the dog sitting at somebody's house for over a year and us feed it and pay for its care and not get any use out of it."

Dunston was asked about simply training another officer to take over as Axel's handler.

"It would cost me roughly $13,000 to $15,000 to have another officer trained," he replied. "We don't have that kind of money."

Dunston also said the dog's trainer, who specializes in training law enforcement K9 animals, strongly recommended the dog not be transferred back to the OSPD once his handler returns.

"I thought about that, but according to the person who trained the dog, it's not a great idea to have the dog go from one handler to another, but it's really bad to have the dog go from one to another and then back to the first.

"It can make the dog go screwy and I don't want something with sharp teeth getting screwy," Dunston added, chuckling.

Dunston said he hopes to recoup some of the $9,000 his department paid for Axel, rather than simply giving him away to another department.

Once Axel has found a new home, the OSPD will rely on neighboring agencies in Biloxi, Gautier, Jackson County and Pascagoula for assistance when a K9 unit is needed.

"We have certainly responded to their needs and they've always responded to ours," he said.

As for getting a new dog once the department's handler returns from military service?

"If we have the money," Dunston said.
More than 300,000 medical images have been mislabelled following the introduction of a new hospital administration system.

Most major hospitals in South Australia have been affected by the bungle that saw patients' MRI and CAT scans mixed up.

Mismatches included wrists being labelled as feet, brains as chests and breasts as heads, The Advertiser reported.

More than 300,000 medical images have been mislabelled following the introduction of a new hospital administration system (stock image)

Mismatches included wrists being labelled as feet, brains as chests and breasts as heads (stock image)

An inquiry by SA Medical Imaging into the problem noted radiologists may not be accustomed to the labelling errors, which would result in patients being 'unnecessarily re-imaged'.

The incorrect labelling also poses a potential 'clinical risk' to patients, a separate internal memo obtained by the newspaper noted.

'Inaccurate imaging historical record introduces a clinical risk as the reporting radiologist relies on the study description being correct to guide accessing previous comparison studies,' it states.

'This could result in harm to the patient through inaccurate diagnosis and/or unnecessary medical imaging studies.'

Most major hospitals in South Australia, including the Royal Adelaide Hospital, have been affected by the bungle

Among those affected are patients of the Women's and Children's Hospital and Royal Adelaide Hospital.

The introduction of a new electronic administration system has been blamed for the mix-up, according to the internal documents.

Codes on the medical imaging system were updated to align with the troubled administration system.

But the new codes caused more than 300,000 mismatches once historical medical images were uploaded to the system, The Advertiser reported.
A woman accused of repeatedly raping a 14-year-old girl she allegedly lured from a shopping mall on Sydney's upper north shore will stand trial with her boyfriend next year.

Rachel Smith, 23, is accused of bringing two 14-year-old girls from Hornsby Mall to her home in the same suburb where she and her partner allegedly raped one of the girls for hours.

Smith and her partner Matthew Blazely, 32, have each been committed to stand trial over 10 alleged offences including four counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a person aged 14 to 16.

Rachel Elizabeth Smith is accused of raping a girl, 14, she allegedly lured to a house at Hornsby on Sydney's upper north shore

Accused rapist Rachel Elizabeth Smith is due to face trial along with her boyfriend Matthew Steven Blazely next year

Rachel Elizabeth Smith allegedly lured two 14-year-old girls from Hornsby Mall, pictured, to her home in the same suburb

Alleged rapist Rachel Elizabeth Smith shields her face as she leaves the Downing Centre court complex in Sydney on Monday

When Smith was asked if she was present in Downing Centre District Court on Monday, she stood, smiled and waved her fingers towards the judge.

Police allege Smith met two 14-year-old girls at Hornsby Mall on November 1 and took them to the home she shared with Blazely in Denison Street. Smith and Blazely allegedly plied them both with alcohol.

One of the girls left but the other remained and the Crown will allege she was raped by Smith and Blazely for hours.

When that girl left the premises she called police. The State Crime Command's Child Abuse Squad investigated and executed a search warrant on the Denison Street address the next day.

Rachel Elizabeth Smith will face trial next year accused of raping a teenage girl she met at a shopping mall

Accused rapist Rachel Elizabeth Smith pictured leaving the Downing Centre court complex in Sydney on Monday

Hornsby Mall, from where Rachel Elizabeth Smith allegedly lured a teenage girl to be raped at her nearby home

'While executing the warrant, the man and woman returned to the property and were arrested, before being taken to Hornsby police station,' a police spokesman said at the time.

Two days after the alleged rapes, Smith and Blazely appeared in custody at Hornsby Local Court.

That court heard Smith said the two girls she took back to the home she shared with Blazely were not in school uniform - instead they wore 'trackies' - and they seemed 'mature'.

Hornsby Local Court heard Smith believed the two girls were 18 when she met them and would claim the girl she allegedly raped had consented to the acts.

Rachel Elizabeth Smith smiled and waved when asked to identify herself in court on Monday

Rachel Elizabeth Smith tried to avoid being photographed when she left the Downing Centre court complex in Sydney on Monday afternoon

Rachel Elizabeth Smith and Matthew Steven Blazely first appeared in Hornsby Local Court in November last year

Both would plead not guilty and Blazely would claim he was not at the house when the alleged rapes occurred.

'There are complications of alcohol being provided  there's a suggestion of the victim passing out at one stage.'

Smith was initially granted bail but police appealed and it was refused. She was subsequently granted bail on November 10. Blazely was remanded in custody and remains in prison.

Rachel Elizabeth Smith is facing trial over 10 charges involving the alleged sexual assault of a girl, 14

Police arrested Rachel Elizabeth Smith and Matthew Steven Blazely at their home in Denison Street, Hornsby (pictured)

Smith and Blazely are each charged with four counts of aggravated sexual intercourse with a person aged between 14 and 16 and three counts of aggravated sexual assault in company.

They are also accused of aggravated sexual assault of a person under 16, committing an act of indecency with a person under 16 and indecent assault of a person under 16.

Downing Centre District Court heard on Monday the Crown would present expert DNA evidence at what is expected to be a 10-day trial.

Four juvenile witnesses including the complainant were expected to give evidence.

Smith and Blazely are due to face trial on March 19 next year.
A mother who was killed with her two disabled children and husband in a horrific murder-suicide has received a top school honour.

Maria Claudia Lutz, 43, was gassed to death inside her family home on Sydney's northern beaches last year.

The devoted mother's body was found alongside her husband Fernando Manrique, 44, and their two severely autistic children Elisa, 11, and Martin, 10.

It's believed Mr Manrique set up an elaborate system of pipes to pump odourless carbon monoxide gas into the house, which resulted in his family's deaths.

Maria Lutz, 43, (centre), was gassed to death alongside her two severely autistic children Elisa, 11, and Martin, 10. She received a posthumous award on Friday night for her tireless work at the special needs school her children went to in Wahroonga

It's believed her husband Fernando Manrique set up an elaborate system of pipes to pump odourless carbon monoxide gas into the house (pictured), which resulted in his family's deaths

The posthumous award for an 'outstanding contribution by an individual parent' was accepted by Mrs Lutz' close friends on Friday night (pictured)

On Friday night, Mrs Lutz was awarded a Posthumous Parent Award for Excellence by the NSW Parents' Council for her work at St Lucy's School in Wahroonga.

The Catholic school, which specialises in education for students with disablities, put forward a nomination for the 'dedicated, passionate and remarkable' mother.

The school praised Mrs Lutz for her 'enormous generosity of spirit, love for her children and amazing advocacy for children with disabilities, and their families.'

Mrs Lutz was a beloved member of the school and parent committees, and regularly volunteered to work in the canteen and help with reading and swimming lessons.

Mrs Lutz (her children pictured) was a member of the school and parent committees, and regularly volunteered to work in the canteen and help with reading and swimming lessons

Mrs Lutz had reportedly grown apart from her husband in the months before their deaths, and was struggling to cope with the difficulties of raising two disabled children

St Lucy's School deputy principal Susan Jones told the Sydney Morning Herald that Mrs Lutz was an 'amazing parent' who 'never gave up.'

'She worked really hard to make sure (the school) gave them the best they could and that we appreciated the gifts in these children,' Ms Jones told the publication.

'At the same time there will never by another Maria, she was such a dynamo.'

'We talk about her and the kids every day.'

The posthumous award for an 'outstanding contribution by an individual parent' was accepted by her close friend Sarina Marchi.

Mr Manrique was seen tinkering with pipes in the roof only days before the family-of-four's bodies were found

'Outstanding contribution by an individual parent': The award given to Mrs Lutz by the NSW Parents' Council

Before Mrs Lutz' tragic death, she had reportedly told friends she was desperate to return to her native Colombia to be closer to her family.

Friends said the couple had grown apart, and the mother was struggling to cope with the pressures of raising two children with nonverbal autism.

'She felt completely alone and was a broken woman and depressed,' a friend told the Daily Telegraph last year.

Mr Manrique was seen tinkering with pipes in the roof only days before the family-of-four's bodies were found.

Gas bottles were found inside the kitchen and police said they were not seeking any other suspects in the deaths.

Mrs Lutz was discovered in a room with one of her children, while her other child was found in a separate room. Mr Manrique was in a different room on his own.
Police body-camera footage showing the end of a dramatic standoff between police and the physician husband of a slain radio host has surfaced.

The video played during a bail hearing on Monday showed James Kauffman, 68, brandishing a 9mm handgun at his private medical practice in Linwood, New Jersey, and threatening to kill himself while yelling, 'I'm not going to jail for this!'.

Police were at his practice to search for any evidence relating to Kauffman's wife, April, a popular radio host who was fatally shot in their home in 2012. The widower appeared to believe the police had arrived to charge him with her death - although investigators have not listed him as a suspect.

'Its a search warrant!' the hostage negotiator police had called in told Kauffman during the 45-minute standoff. 'Youre not under arrest!'

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James Kauffman, 68, - pictured in the Atlantic City Courthouse on Wednesday - was arrested after brandishing a handgun while police attempted to search his home

The footage shows Kauffman threatened to kill himself, while yelling 'I'm not going to jail for this!'. Pictured is the point of view of the officer who had his gun pointed at the doctor, while trying to convince him to put down his weapon

He appeared to believe he was being arrested for murdering his wife, April, right, who was a popular radio host

Kauffman later surrendered and the standoff ended peacefully. Police arrested him for obstruction of justice as well as other gun charges. They also confiscated his handgun, other weapons as well as $100,000 in cash they found at his home, philly.com reported.

The judge declared at the end of the hearing that Kauffman should be detained until his trial because he was a flight risk.

Prosecuting attorneys had urged the judge to keep Kauffman detained because his reaction showed signs of guilt.

"Im not going to jail for this!" Those were his words,' Assistant prosecutor Seth Levy said. 'He pulled a gun out in order to be avoid being arrested on charges. He kept police in an hour long standoff.

'It shows how far hes willing to go to avoid coming to court.'

The judge ruled the New Jersey native was a flight risk and will remain in custody until his trial on weapons charges unrelated to his wife's death.

The defense attorney - who is planning to appeal the ruling - however argued for the private practice doctor to be released on bail because he did not break any laws and has co-operated with police during their five-year investigation into the case.

Kauffman's arrest has come during a fierce legal battle with his stepdaughter Kim Pack, pictured, who believes he killed her mother

'[He] has every statutory right to have a weapon on those premises,' he said.

'Dr. Kauffman has been the exclusive source of investigative activities by the Atlantic County prosecutor in the homicide of his wife for five years...for five years, hes stayed here.'

Kauffman's detention has come amid a fierce battle with his stepdaughter Kim Pack who believes he killed her mother.

Pack has been trying to legally prevent Kauffman, who has since remarried, from having access to the $600,000 from her mother's life insurance policies.

Police are also planning to search Kauffman's homes in Arizona and Philadelphia and prosecutors are already making moves to have his license suspended.
A man investigated over the disappearance of three children in 1996 knows 'a lot' about their deaths, previously recorded tapes reveal.

Allan 'Max' McIntyre, 89, told someone he knew a lot about the missing Beaumont children, who went missing on Australia Day 51 years ago in a filmed interview, two years ago.

McIntyre claimed his innocence until his death last week, but his son Andrew told Seven News he believes the man is guilty and the children are buried on his property.

Jane nine, Arnna, seven, and Grant, four, Beaumont disappeared from Glenelg Beach, Adelaide never to be seen again - despite a major manhunt and one of the nation's biggest ever police investigations.

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Allan 'Max' McIntyre (pictured) has said he 'knows a lot' about the Beaumont killings. In a recorded interview, he says he has been 'researching' the deaths of the three siblings to 'clear his name'

Jane (right), nine, Arnna (left), seven and Grant (centre), four, disappeared from Adelaide''s Glenelg Beach on Australia Day, 1966 never to be seen again

'I know a lot about the Beaumont killings,' McIntyre is heard saying on a clip filmed from a low angle, which often shows only the roof.

'At the moment I'm researching the death of the Beaumont's because the only person that's going to clear my name is me,' he said.

Andrew told Seven News he does not believe his father's denial, and claims his friend Anthony Munroe, who has been convicted of molesting him when he was eight, was also involved.

'My father was involved in the abduction and murder of the Beaumont children,' he said.

'Anthony Munroe was involved, with others.'

McIntyre's son Andrew says he believes his father was involved in the abduction and death of the children

Andrew also claims the bodies of the children are buried in a now filled-in sinkhole on his father's property on the Yorke Peninsula (pictured)

Andrew also claims the bodies of the children are buried in a now filled-in sinkhole on his father's property on the Yorke Peninsula.

'My father liked to have his victims close handy,' he said.

Allan 'Max' McIntyre, 89, was found dead in a Yorke Peninsula nursing home, west of Adelaide, last week.

On the day the siblings vanished, McIntyre was 'seen with blood on his shirt'.

Earlier this month, the rediscovered childhood diary of McIntyre's son Andrew was touted as the possible missing link to finally solving Australia's biggest kidnapping mystery.

Andrew McIntyre often went diving with his father and Anthony Alan Munro, a family friend and convicted paedophile, at Glenelg Beach.

Allan 'Max' McIntyre (pictured), who was investigated over the disappearance of the Beaumont children but denied involvement, died on Tuesday in a South Australia nursing home

Throughout his adventures along the coast, Andrew McIntyre, now 63, and another child kept a diary of events. They called it the 'salvage and exploration club'.

Munro, a former scout leader, will face court in August to be sentenced over child sexual offences against boys dating back to 1965 - including Andrew McIntyre.

Witnesses told police the Beaumont children were playing with a tall, blond man aged within his 30s on the day of their disappearance - a description that matches Munro's appearance at the time.

However, Munro has always denied any involvement and no charges have ever been laid.

The diary of Andrew McIntyre links convicted paedophile Anthony Munro (pictured) to being at Glenelg Beach, Adelaide, where the three siblings were last seen, at the time they vanished

Despite a major manhunt and one of the nation's biggest ever police investigations, the three Beaumont siblings have never been found

Andrew McIntyre (left) often went diving with his father Allan 'Max' McIntyre (centre) and also Munro along the South Australian coastline (Also pictured is Andrew's sisters Ruth and Clare)

Anthony Alan Munro (at left) and Allan 'Max' McIntyre (at right), who Andrew McIntyre has claimed were both involved in the Beaumont kidnappings, which both denied

When providing information to police about the disappearance of the Beaumont's, Andrew said he believed his father and Munro were involved.

Munro returned to Australia last year and was questioned over the disappearance of the three Beaumont siblings but police found no evidence that he was responsible and his lawyer similarly denied it.

According to the diary, the day the Beaumont children vanished Andrew McIntyre was meant to go diving with his father and Munro, but was later told to stay home.

When the pair arrived home both reportedly looked downcast, with Andrew claiming his father had his head in his hands and said: 's**t, s**t, s**t'.

He also claims that when they returned home, sand and blood was in Munro's car.

Andrew's sister Ruth Collins has backed his claims, having previously said Munro and her father had a role in the mystery kidnapping.

She claimed that when Munro and 'Max' McIntyre returned from the beach, her father's shirt was covered in blood and the three body's were in Munro's boot.

Yet Despite Andrew and Ruth's claims, police have never found any evidence implicating Munro or 'Max' McIntyre.

Andrew McIntyre (right) and his sister Ruth Collins (left) both believe their father and Munro were involved in the disappearance of the Beaumont children, yet police have never found any evidence implicating Munro or 'Max' McIntyre

Andrew McIntyre (pictured) said he believed personal belongings of his father's which could implicate Allan 'Max' McIntyre in the disappearance of the Beaumont children had been burnt in the days following his death

Danny McIntyre (pictured) told 7 News: ''It's just timber, mate. I'm not saying a word'

But Stephen Ey, the lawyer for Munro, slammed these claims as 'fanciful ravings'.

'Max' McIntyre was investigated over the Beaumont's kidnapping after his daughter voiced her claims.

The mystery deepened on Friday following 'Max' McIntyre's death, with claims items which may implicate him in the Beaumont children's disappearance had been burnt by another of his sons, Danny, on his father's property, 7 News reported, allegations which Danny has denied.

It followed reports of a smoldering fire on a property which was owned by 'Max' McIntyre.

'I think he may be getting rid of my father's personal belonging which could implicate him,' Andrew McIntyre said.

His brother, Danny McIntyre, said: 'It's just timber, mate. I'm not saying a word'.
Ministers ignored at least a dozen warnings about the need to take urgent action to improve fire safety in tower blocks, it emerged last night.

Letters leaked to the BBCs Panorama programme show that four ministers were told about the need for tougher rules.

The letters spelled out how people living in tower blocks like Grenfell Tower were at risk  and that changes were needed to save lives

One of them, written in 2014, said the government could not afford to wait for another tragedy before it acted.

Gavin Barwell (left), the former housing minister who is now Theresa Mays chief of staff, said in October that revised guidelines would be published on a Coroner's recommendation. Lib Dem Stephen Williams (right) said changes would 'disrupt' his department

Former Communities Secretary Eric Pickles (left) received a letter about fire regulations from the parliamentary group in February 2014. In December 2015, the all-party group wrote to the former Tory minister James Wharton (right), and warned about the risk of fires spreading due to cladding

The warnings were sent by the all-party parliamentary group on fire safety, a group of MPs which campaigns for better protection against blazes.

Shockingly, one of the ministers replied to the group say he had neither seen nor heard anything that would suggest the all-party groups demands  such as the introduction of sprinkler systems  were urgent.

Stephen Williams, a former Liberal Democrat MP who was local government minister at the time, said bringing forward the changes would disrupt his department.

Nothing was done to address fire safety in tower blocks and just two months ago, the all-party group wrote a letter to warn: It is now time to listen.

Councils were yesterday ordered to send samples of cladding on the outside of tower blocks so they can undergo rigorous testing.

The Department for Communities and Local Government wrote to local authorities to tell them they must urgently check materials to ensure they are safe following the Grenfell Tower fire.

Councils with properties more than 59ft high with aluminium composite material cladding were ordered to supply samples of the panels to the DCLG for fire safety tests.

Harrowing images show victims trapped inside their apartments waving furiously for aid

The death toll from the Grenfell Tower fire rose to 79 today as police confirmed five of those who died in the blaze have been formally identified

Last week it was reported that contractors had used a more flammable type of material for the outer layer of the cladding at Grenfell Tower, and that a flame retardant material should have been used instead.

Ministers stand accused of sitting on a warning from 2013 that fire safety in high rise blocks needed to be improved.

In that year a coroner demanded the retro-fitting of sprinkler systems in high-rise blocks after a fire at Lakanal House in south-east London, which killed six.

The coroner also said ministers should review building regulations.

But four years on, nothing has been published  even though Gavin Barwell, the former housing minister who is now Theresa Mays chief of staff, said in October that revised guidelines would be published soon.

Ronnie King, a former chief fire officer who sits on the group, told Panorama that the government ignored repeated warnings about tower block safety.

We have spent four years saying Listen, we have got the evidence, weve provided you with the evidence, there is clear public opinion towards this, you ought to move on this, said Mr King.

Workers are continuing to work through the 24-storey tower block. The police chief leading the investigation has said conditions in the tower 'verge on indescribable'

Harrowing images show the charred remains of flats and hallways that were once home to hundreds of families before the blaze broke out on Wednesday morning

In March 2014, the parliamentary group wrote: Surely when you already have credible evidence to justify updating the guidance which will lead to saving of lives, you dont need to wait another three years in addition to the two already spent since the research findings were updated, in order to take action?

As there are estimated to be another 4,000 older tower blocks in the UK, without automatic sprinkler protection, can we really afford to wait for another tragedy to occur before we amend this weakness?

After further correspondence, the then government minister  Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams  replied: I have neither seen nor heard anything that would suggest that consideration of these specific potential changes is urgent and I am not willing to disrupt the work of this department by asking that these matters are brought forward.

The group replied to say they were at a loss to understand, how you had concluded that credible and independent evidence which had life safety implications, was NOT considered to be urgent.

As a consequence the group wishes to point out to you that should a major fire tragedy, with loss of life occur between now and 2017, in for example, a residential care facility or a purpose built block of flats, where the matters which had been raised here, were found to be contributory to the outcome, then the group would be bound to bring this to others attention.

Residents were trapped 'screaming for their lives' as flames raged through a 27-storey tower block in Notting Hill in the early hours today

A minute's silence was held around the country yesterday to remember those killed in last week's Grenfell Tower blaze

The letters were written before the refurbishment of Grenfell Tower.

Former Communities Secretary Eric Pickles received a letter about fire regulations from the parliamentary group in February 2014.

In December 2015, the all-party group wrote to the former Tory minister James Wharton, and warned about the risk of fires spreading on the outside of buildings with cladding.

Todays buildings have a much higher content of readily available combustible material, he said. Examples are timber and polystyrene mixes in structure, cladding and insulation.

This fire hazard results in many fires because adequate recommendations to developers simply do not exist. There is little or no requirement to mitigate external fire spread.

The all-party group made further calls for action to Mr Barwell in September last year.

In April this year, he replied to say he did acknowledge that producing a statement on building regulations has taken longer than I had envisaged.
A cyclist has angrily lashed out at a female driver and kicked the front of her car bonnet because he says he was almost hit as she was talking on her phone.

The Melbourne cyclist was recording his journey down Sydney Road in Brunswick on Saturday when he says the driver attempted to pull out from a parking spot in front of him.

'Hey look, f***wit, get off your f***ing phone,' cyclist Brian Ward can be heard yelling at the woman, who had a young child in the back seat.

Mr Ward then furiously tells the woman to 'get off your f***ing phone' a further two times, lifted his bike up and kicked the car's bonnet.

A Melbourne cyclist has filmed the moment he launched an angry tirade at a woman because he says he was almost hit as she was talking on her phone

Cyclist Brian Ward said the woman was talking on her phone at the time he says he was almost hit

Footage of the incident was uploaded to Mr Ward's YouTube page, with bystanders heard telling him to 'calm down'.

Mr Ward responded with a 'call the police' and 'she's on her phone while she's driving'.

'You're on your phone, which is illegal while you're driving. I'm filming you, I'm filming you. I've reported you to the police. You're a dangerous driver, you f***ing moron,' Mr Ward can be heard yelling at the woman.

She was heard in the footage saying she was 'not going' and was 'stopping'.

'She could have killed me,' Mr Ward said to a man who came over to intervene.

Mr Ward said he wanted the woman 'arrested', and she said she would stay at the scene until police arrived.

Police arrived at the scene and obtained witness statements from both the female driver and the bystanders

Mr Ward was cycling down Sydney Road in Brunswick on Saturday when he says the driver tried to pull out in front of him

Mr Ward yelled a number of expletives at the driver, which was captured on his camera and uploaded to his YouTube page

The female driver was at one stage heard saying she 'wasn't going' and was 'stopping'

He told the man - who had said 'you've got a number of witnesses who just witnessed you kicking the front of an old woman's car and yelling in her face' - that he was acting in self-defence.





Police arrived at the scene, after Mr Ward himself called them, and spoke to both Mr Ward and the female driver.





Mr Ward told police: 'She's pulled out without looking while on her phone and nearly hit me' but said he suffered no injuries.





'I kicked the front bonnet of her car,' he said. 'I'm the victim here.'





The woman told police: 'Tell him to fix my car' and was also heard saying 'you're fault' at Mr Ward.





Mr Ward was told by police to move away from the scene while witness statements were obtained.





Victoria Police told Daily Mail Australia investigations into both complaints remain ongoing.
Renters are being warned to beware of a scam involving fake property listings which ask people to hand over their credit card details to a fraudster posing as a landlord.

Using a fake advertisement on a popular real estate website, it is targeting those interested in renting a luxury property in Albert Park, an upmarket suburb of Melbourne.

The ad did not mention the property's address, an agent or any contact information but it was listed at $700 per week, much lower than the average rental in the area, the Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

Renters are being warned to beware of a scam involving fake property listings which ask people to hand over their credit card details. Above, the fake ad

Martin Haak discovered the same property was listed on the website for $1,500 a week

When Martin Haak inquired about the property using his account on Domain, he received an email from a man who requested his card details to secure the lease.

Mr Haak, 39, said the email described the house  a three bedroom furnished property - and featured photographs  but when he did a Google search, he found a listing for the same property on the website but for $1,500 a week.

'He eventually sent me a fake TripAdvisor email, he said that once payment had been made, I would get the keys,' he told the Sunshine Coast Daily.

'The email almost had me. Even though it has TripAdvisor in the address, it's not the TripAdvisor domain name. I hope no one's lost $2,000.'

When Mr Haak inquired about the property using his account on Domain, he received an email from a man who requested his card details to secure the lease

Domain referred to the Mr Haak's experience as an isolated incident after a real estate agent's security was breached.

But an email sent to account holders over the weekend said it had removed fake listings across Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and in Darwin.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Domain for comment.
A Melbourne drink driver who could barely move after being found with a half empty bottle of vodka by his side has avoided jail.

Raymond Galea's 0.461 breathaliser reading after veering his car into a nature reserve in Sunshine, in Melbourne's western suburbs, was an astonishing nine times over the legal limit.

The 46-year-old pleaded guilty to drink driving and was ordered to complete 200 hours of community service, which could be slashed in half if he finds a job.

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Drink driver Raymond Galea has avoided jail after being found nine times over the limit when he veered his car into a nature reserve in Melbourne

Galea was so drunk his car mounted the kerb in his Sunshine street and came to a halt before being found motionless with a half bottle of vodka by his side

The Deer Park man, who has faced drink driving charges before, also lost his licence for four years.

Police have claimed the high level of alcohol in his system was enough to kill some people, with his reading exceeding the amount it takes to stop breathing.

He had been drinking vodka as local resident Gary Collins came to his aid after spotting the driver motionless with a bottle of vodka half finished in the car.

'We were more concerned that he might have had a heart attack because he was just motionless,' Gary Collins said.

Mr Collins said he had taken Galea's car keys away from him.

'I'm very sorry for what I did,' Galea told 7 News.

The magistrate informed the court that if Galea gained employment, half of his unpaid community work could go towards his rehabilitation instead.

Nearby Sunshine resident Gary Collins found Galea and had to take the car keys away from him due to his drunken state
Pauline Hanson has demanded that Australia withdraw from the 'irretrievably broken' United Nations refugee convention because of the threat of Islamic terrorism.

The One Nation leader will use World Refugee Day to call for the federal government to strengthen immigration policies and national security in light of domestic terror attacks, and the 'refugee history' of those involved.

Ms Hanson and independent Cory Bernardi will on Tuesday move a motion in the Senate stressing that national security must come before accepting refugees.

It comes as Australia's immigration boss has called on world leaders to increase their refugee intakes and rip apart international people smuggling rings 'piece by piece.'

Pauline Hanson says Australia should withdraw from 'broken' UN refugee convention because of the threat of Islamic terrorism

Ms Hanson says Australia's national security must come before accepting refugees (asylum seekers pictured at Manus Island detention centre)

Australia will boost its annual refugee intake to 18,750 in 2018-19, and is ranked third behind the United States and Canada in terms of refugees resettled through the UN High Commission for Refugees.

Mike Pezzullo, secretary of the Department of Immigration, believes Australia is showing strong leadership on the issue, and other countries need to step up.

'Unless countries are willing to put those sorts of numbers and more on the table, people will take the boats, people will seek the services of smugglers and traffickers,' he told the Crawford Australian Leadership Forum in Canberra on Monday evening.

'But that is to be avoided - almost as a moral imperative - at all costs.'

Mr Pezzullo steered clear of questions about whether Australia should further expand its own refugee intake.

But he said there were less than 100,000 places available in the US, Canada and Australia combined, while there were one million 'resettlement ready' refugees around the world.

'Globally, something has to happen ... the rest of the world needs to step up on the permanent (refugee resettlement) side,' he said.

Australia's immigration boss Mike Pezzullo has called on world leaders to increase their refugee intakes

Mr Pezzullo steered clear of questions about whether Australia should further expand its own refugee intake (asylum seekers pictured at Manus Island detention centre)

Mr Pezzullo also stressed the need to crush people smuggling operations in the same way terrorist organisations and networks of insurgents must be torn apart.

'You've got to destroy the smugglers' model, you've got to absolutely rip it apart,' he said.

'It's not about simply pushing them off into another theatre, this will need concerted global action.'

But it was impossible for countries to simply militarise or arrest their way out of the people smuggling problem, and creating safe refugee resettlement pathways was also critical, Mr Pezzullo said.

There are more than 65 million displaced people across the world, roughly 40 million of whom are within their own countries and upwards of 20 million across borders.

The One Nation leader will use World Refugee Day to call for the government to strengthen immigration policies and national security
JACKSON, Mississippi -- A Vancleave man is one of two suspects indicted on three counts of capital murder stemming from a triple homicide in Jackson last December, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

Joshua Michael Garcia, 38, of Vancleave is charged with robbery, three counts of discharging a firearm causing the murder of three individuals, and being a felong in possession of a firearm.

If convicted, Garcia faces the death penalty or imprisonment for any term up to life, and a fine of up to $1.25 million.

Also named in the indictment is Jamison Layne Townsend, 36, of Blue Springs, Mo., who is charged with robbery and three counts of discharging a firearm causing the murder of three individuals. She also faces the death penalty, imprisonment up to life, and a fine of up to $1 million.

The two defendants were arraigned in U.S. District Court Tuesday.

Garcia and Townsend are accused of the capital murder of three employees of Bill's Pawn Jewelry Coin/Stamp Exchange in Jackson. Killed in the shooting were Bill Mosley, 81; Robert Ivy, 60; and Ted McLemore, 77.

The two are also suspects in the robbery of another Jackson pawn shop the day of the slayings, as well as a Pascagoula pawn shop a week earlier.

After the murders, the two suspects fled the state and were ultimately apprehended in Junction City, Kansas, the following Wednesday.

According to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger, Garcia has been to prison six times in 18 years for offenses in Harrison County. Prison records show he was convicted of robbery in 1999 and sentenced to five years probation. In 2000, he received three concurrent five year sentences for burglary, armed robbery, and receiving stolen property.

In 2006, Garcia was sentenced to four years for burglary of an unoccupied dwelling, and in 2009 he was convicted of grand larceny and burglary of an unoccupied dwelling. He was released on parole in 2014 and was finished with his parole as of January of 2015.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jackson Police Department with assistance from the U.S. Marshal Service, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Gulfport Police Department, and the Geary County Sheriff's Department in Geary, Kansas.

The case will be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Erin Chalk and Deputy Criminal Chief Patrick Lemon.
This is the shocking moment a fully-grown cow was dragged out of the back seat of a car after it was stolen by cattle rustlers.

The silver Lada car was pulled over by police in the Ust-Dzhegutinsky district of Russia's mountainous Karachay-Cherkess Republic.

Officers could not believe their eyes when they saw the animal wedged into the back of the vehicle.

The owner of the animal tied a rope around the animal's horns and then used all of his strength to pull it out of the vehicle

Rather than risk tangling with the unhappy-looking beast, they contacted the owner and asked him to come and collect it.

An eyewitness then caught the incredible rescue on camera.

The man managed to tie a rope around the cow's horns and then used all of his strength to pull it out of the back of the vehicle.

Unsurprisingly, the cow did not appear to be too happy about the procedure as it was wedged in so tightly that it had to be dragged out on its knees.

Unsurprisingly, the cow did not appear to be too happy about the procedure as it was wedged in so tightly that it had to be dragged out on its knees

It seemed badly affected by its ordeal and could barely get to its feet

It seemed badly affected by its ordeal and could barely get to its feet.

The footage is proving popular with viewers after being posted on video-sharing websites.

Many commented that they could not imagine how the would-be thieves managed to get the animal into the back of the car in the first place.

'Lepso' wrote: 'These people steal a cow in a freaking Lada. They literally had to push the cow inside in order to move it. And what were the odds of being stopped by cops that day?'

'Miska_gilry' added: 'Poor cow, I hope it didn't suffer inside the car for too long. It must have felt so uncomfortable in there.'

Three men have been arrested.
A Muslim-raised psychiatrist says hijabs and long beards are often an Islamic 'middle finger' to Western society.

Tanveer Ahmed, who has a practice in Sydney's west, says disaffected youths from Muslim migrant families are turning to an extremist version of Islam to find a sense of identity.

'Where they tend to find a sense of identity is in Islam but a particular brand of it, one which they show through outer markers like hijabs or beards,' he said in a Rebel Media video.

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Sydney psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed says long beards are a symbolic 'middle finger' to society

The Bangladeshi-born specialist, who moved to Australia when he was six, cited a term coined by Canadian author Tarek Fatah, who campaigns for a secular form of Islam which recognises gay rights.

'Underneath that exterior though sometimes it can be a sense of opposition to mainstream society, what Canadian author Tarek Fatah calls a middle finger to the West,' Dr Ahmed said.

The 42-year-old father of two daughters said that growing up in a culturally Muslim family, he had seen how children raised in that faith are often taught to be suspicious of Western society.

'We are taught to blame the West for a lot of our problems,' he said.

The Sydney psychiatrist says female facial coverings are an outer marker of Muslim identity

The Bangladeshi-born psychiatrist says Muslims are often brought up to distrust the West

'When we grow up we're told to avoid mainstream society because it's seen as morally corrupt.'

He added youths who turned to Islamist extremism or anti-Western views were also disconnected with their traditional cultural and continued to blame the West for problems in their ancestral nations 'be it colonialism or foreign policy'.

'This can breed a degree of resentment and identity disturbance for many Muslim kids,' Dr Ahmed said.

Dr Tanveer Ahmed says Muslims often wrap themselves up in their Muslim identity

'It pains me to say it because I'm talking about my relatives and friends here.

'Muslims wrap their identity so closely around Islam so it's not easy for them to challenge the ideas within it.'

While the 'vast majority of Muslims are not the problem', the psychiatrist who has counselled teenagers with Islamist views said Australia needed to take in fewer refugees who would have trouble getting skilled work.

'It's difficult to see then at least one of the solutions to our problem of terrorism is to have less Islam in our societies,' he said.
A female prison officer has been charged with having sex with a 17-year-old inmate.

Police spokeswoman Susan Usher confirmed that the 38-year-old woman, who is from Halls Head, Western Australia, was charged with indecently dealing with the teenager while he was detained.

The sexual encounters allegedly happened between February and May 2017.

Police spokeswoman Susan Usher confirmed that the 38-year-old woman, who is from Halls Head, Western Australia, was charged with indecently dealing with the teenager while he was detained (stock image)

But police allege the sexual acts were consensual by both parties.

The woman will appear in Armadale Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with three counts of indecent dealing of a child over 16 years by a person in authority.

She will also face court for one count of procuring a child over 16 years to perform an indecent act by person in authority.

If you are or have been a victim of child sexual abuse, or if you have information about someone being abused, please contact police on 131 444.
An outback policeman who pulled a gun on a speeding driver and threatened to shoot is appealing against a magistrate's guilty finding.

Senior Constable Stephen Flanagan in February was fined $1500 for assaulting motorist Lee Povey outside Longreach, Queensland, in May 2015.

Dash-cam footage of the incident shows the officer screaming 'f***ing pull over now, c***'.

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An outback policeman who pulled a gun on a speeding driver and threatened to shoot is appealing against a magistrate's guilty finding.

As he drew his weapon and aimed it at Mr Povey, he said he would 'put a f***ing hole in' him.

In December 2016, Flanagan was found guilty of common assault and deprivation of liberty but wasn't convicted of the charges as he was suffering from PTSD.

Flanagan is appealing against the guilty finding, and a hearing is listed at the Brisbane District Court on Tuesday.
Priti Patel was accused of being in denial about how her aid department wastes money

Priti Patel was accused of being in denial about how her aid department wastes money as she claimed there had not been a single story about the overseas spending that was '100 per cent accurate'.

The International Development Secretary claimed she was a 'no-bulls*** person' and was 'running a lean and mean ship'.

But she accused the media of inaccurately reporting how the Department for International Development has been lavishing taxpayers' money on wasteful projects.

Miss Patel said she had been in 'goal defence' following a string of negative headlines about foreign aid, including revelations about how it had funded Ethiopia's Spice Girls and cash machine handouts in Pakistan.

During a trip to Somalia, she told the Guardian: 'Newspapers could twist up a story every day about UK aid, but to date there hasn't been one that's been 100 per cent accurate. Part of my job has to be to demonstrate the value of UK aid.'

Ukip MEP Bill Etheridge said Miss Patel was 'in denial about UK foreign aid'. He said: 'There are billions wasted every year in aid spending when that money is needed in the UK. I suspect she would be hard pushed to find anyone outside Whitehall who thinks her department is using UK taxpayers' money wisely.'

Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: 'Miss Patel is deep in an Egyptian river blowing bubbles when confronted with the waste of taxpayers' money on foreign projects. Yes, she's in denial. It's time to get dry, get real and instead spend our money on projects for the needy at home.'

Last night when challenged to substantiate her claims of inaccurate reporting, Miss Patel declined. The Daily Mail presented the Secretary of State with a selection of seven stories published in the last year about aid spending and asked for her to point out any errors, but she was unable to do so.

In line: Queue at an ATM in Pakistan where cards loaded with cash from UK can be used

Ministers are under pressure to improve how Britain spends money abroad after Theresa May pledged at the election to keep David Cameron's commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of national income on overseas development. Critics have argued that it is wrong that the aid budget has spiralled to 13billion when there is a shortage of cash for spending at home.

Miss Patel yesterday defended the ever-increasing handouts, claiming that they had a positive impact on the country as well as the wider world. She said: 'The truth is that UK development influence is massive, greater than our foreign policy, and this isn't just about money.

'Britain is saving lives and bringing stability and security, and that's good for our economy and for what comes to our doorstep.' She added: 'I'm a money girl. My background is economics. On accountability I'm everybody's worst nightmare. I'm running a lean and mean ship. And I'm a no-bulls*** person when it comes to calling out finance ministers or the World Bank.'

A Dfid spokesman yesterday declined to point out any inaccuracies in any of the Daily Mail stories on foreign aid presented to them.

He said: 'Every day UK aid is building a safer, healthier, more prosperous world and in doing so, protecting Britain's interests.

'It is our duty to give British taxpayers the full picture on how, where and why we are spending their money.'
Counter-terror forces in Australia are on high alert with fears Islamic State is set to launch a series of attacks around the world on Wednesday, a key date of Ramadan.

'Night of Power', which falls on the 27th day of Ramadan, has been a notorious target for ISIS terrorists, who slaughtered 20 people in a Bangladesh restaurant last year.

And now, in the wake of last month's Manchester attack and Monday's incident at a London mosque, there are fears ISIS could be set to again ramp up attacks, forcing Australian authorities to be extra vigilant, Nine News reports.

Counter-terror forces in Australia (pictured) are on high alert with fears Islamic State is set to launch a series of attacks around the world on Wednesday, a key date during Ramadan

'Night of Power', which falls on the 27th day of Ramadan, has been a notorious target for ISIS terrorists (pictured), who slaughtered 20 foreigners in a Bangladesh restaurant last year

A major date on the Ramadan calendar, 'Night of Power' or Laylat al-Qadr, is the day when Muslims believe Mohammed first revealed the verses of the Quran.

Last year's attack at Dhaka, in Bangladesh, saw nine Italians, seven Japanese, two Indians and an American killed when ISIS soldiers burst into the eatery with knives.

And in the wake of a number of recent attacks in the UK, authorities in Australia are expected to be out in force and on the lookout for suspicious activity.

However NSW Police have since confirmed there is no state of high alert and 'members of the community are encouraged to go about their daily activities as they normally would.'

'The National Terrorism Threat Level remains at Probable and there is no intelligence of any specific threat at this time,'a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.

It comes after messages from pro-ISIS supporters warning extremists would wage a 'war' on streets were revealed in the wake of London's latest suspected terror attack.

'When your brothers took revenge on the Crusader nationals for the slaughter they are carrying out on the Muslims they were shot on site (sic) by the British Police,' the messages read.

'Then how come the police never shot a Kafir (non-Muslim believer).

in the wake of last month's Manchester attack and Monday's incident near a London mosque (pictured), there are fears ISIS could be set to again ramp up attacks, forcing Australian authorities to be extra vigilant

It comes after messages (pictured) from pro-ISIS supporters warning extremists would wage a 'war' on streets were revealed in the wake of London's latest suspected terror attack

Darren Osborne (pictured) was arrested in relation to the attack outside the mosque

'You need to wake up the war is starting now in your own streets outside your own Masajids (mosques).

'Your elders could be killed, your sisters could be attacked.'

Father-of-four Darren Osborne, 47, was arrested on suspicion of murder and terror charges in relation to the attack outside the mosque on Monday morning.

One man was killed while a further 10 people were treated for injuries after a hired white van hit a group of people.

Some claim he shouted 'I'm going to kill all Muslims - I did my bit' and other 'this is for London Bridge', after ramming a van into a crowd of Muslims.
New laws to extend the High Speed 2 line will be announced in tomorrows Queens Speech as part of a drive on key infrastructure projects.

Legislation to encourage space rockets to be launched from UK soil and to spread the use of electric cars will also be included in the two-year programme, which will otherwise be dominated by Brexit.

A new immigration Bill will be published which will set out the system for reducing migrant numbers after free movement comes to an end.

But major policy commitments from the Conservative election manifesto have been abandoned by Downing Street in an attempt to devise a legislative programme which can get through Parliament.

Last night it emerged that opposition MPs would attempt to bring down the Government with amendments to the Queens Speech.

A computer generated image of artist impression issued by HS2 of the proposed HS2 station at Euston

Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP MPs will try to overturn the Governments working majority of 13 and trigger a no-confidence vote.

A Bill that will allow the extension of the HS2 rail project from Birmingham to Manchester will be announced in the Queens Speech. Officials say that as well as providing quick trains to London, the development will expand capacity on commuter lines.

Phase one of HS2 London to Birmingham has been approved by Parliament but even by the most optimistic estimates will not be completed for another decade.

The total budget for HS2 is 56billion but critics say the eventual bill could top 100billion.

The total budget for HS2 is 56billion but critics say the eventual bill could top 100billion

Ministers said they want to establish spaceports in regions across the UK, to allow satellites to be sent into space for the first time from UK soil, and to allow spacecraft to fly to the edge of the atmosphere. Satellites cannot currently be launched from the UK.

The new law will allow ministers to licence various space-related activities including rockets, space planes, and satellite operation. Other powers will make it easier for drivers of electric cars to register to use charging points. There are an estimated 100,000 electric cars and vans on Britains roads.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling wants to give Britain the infrastructure to prosper outside the EU

Last night Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: We are absolutely determined to give Britain the transport infrastructure it needs so that we can thrive and grow as we leave the European Union.

The measures we outline this week will ensure our legal structures are ready for the high skill, highly paid jobs of the future, while backing the transport projects that will make journeys better for ordinary working people.

The Parliamentary session, which is usually one year long, has been doubled to two to allow more time for Brexit legislation to pass.

The most important is the Great Repeal Bill, which will end jurisdiction by the European Courts and repeal the European Communities Act.

It will also put on the domestic statute book vast amounts of existing EU law to try to smooth the process of Brexit.

But the main policy announcement of last year  Theresa Mays grammar schools revolution  has been abandoned. A Conservative manifesto pledge to ditch free school meals for all infants has also been ditched along with abolishing the cap on admissions to faith schools.

The economy will continue to grow thanks to strong business investment and a trade boost from the weaker pound, the CBI said yesterday.

The business lobby group raised its growth forecasts to 1.6 per cent this year and 1.4 per cent in 2018, up from 1.3 per cent and 1.1 per cent predicted in November.
The internet's newest hero is a Maryland high school graduate who munched on Honey Nut Cheerios during his graduation ceremony.

Akiva Glashofer is getting applause reaching far beyond the walls of the auditorium where his graduation was held for his milk and cereal stunt at the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville, Maryland.

The sweet stunt went viral with over half a million views in five days.

Glashofer, 18, wanted to gift the school a memory of himself as his way of saying thank you for all the fond memories the school gave him over the years. On the day of graduation, as Glashofer walked on stage and sat next to his friends. What he did next was nutty.

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Akiva Glashofer (circled) brought a box of cereal, milk and a bowl on stage with him for the ultimate snacking prank during his graduation ceremony

While on stage, Glashofer whipped out a box of Honey Nut Cheerios, poured milk into his smuggled bowl, and began munching away as the ceremony unfolded.

Akiva Glashofer's graduation stunt went viral with over half a million views in five days

Roey Herzfeld, a friend of Glashofer, captured the hilarious moment. Speaking with Fox 5 he said had no clue what his friend was up to.

But the minute he unexpectedly saw Glashofer pull out a box of cereal, he started recording.

'Akiva is definitely known to have a good sense of humor and always makes people laugh.

'So it wasn't such a surprise to me that he would try to make graduation more exciting,' said Herzfeld.

His video was uploaded to Instagram account @aranjevi and from there it spread like wildfire.

Glashofer's parents said they're not mad at their prankster son. Sara and Paul Glashofer said their son was kind enough to tell them about the plan before taking the stage in his cap and gown.

Comments flooded the post and perhaps have prompted ideas for the next wave of graduates.
An unemployed Iranian refugee living off Centrelink benefits has allegedly been found with $10,000 of ice and $49,000 in cash.

Mohammad Abdullahi, 31, appeared before a Brisbane court on Monday after a tip-off allegedly led Rockhampton police to the drugs and cash hidden in a thermos.

Abdullahi was already on bail for trafficking, possession and proceeds of dangerous drugs and will be charged with trafficking meth amphetamine in the Supreme Court in Brisbane this week, reported The Morning Bulletin.

Abdullahi (pictured) was already on bail for trafficking, possession and proceeds of dangerous drugs and will be charged with trafficking meth amphetamine in the Supreme Court in Brisbane this week

Mohammad Abdullahi, 31, appeared before a Brisbane court on Monday after a tip-off allegedly led Rockhampton police to the drugs and cash hidden in a thermos (stock image)

The 31-year-old was previously employed by Teys Australia but since leaving the meatworks company in 2014 had been collecting $280 in Centrelink NewStart payments a fortnight.

Police prosecutor Clancy Fox told the court he was 'very suspicious' of the $49,000 in cash they found because the amount in welfare benefits Abdullahi was receiving didn't add up.

Abdullahi's lawyer Lance Rundle said the Rockhampton local had come to Australia on a refugee visa in 2011.

Abdullahi's lawyer Lance Rundle said the Rockhampton local had come to Australia on a refugee visa in 2011

The search of Abdullahi's home in Depot Hill (pictured) involved the SES and sniffer dogs as police allege he tried to remove some of the property before they arrived

Rundle argued that his client had not previously breached his bail charges and was willing to submit Australian Travel Document to the courts if they granted him bail this time around.

He also promised to report to North Rockhampton Police Station near his home.

Magistrate Cameron Press denied Abdullahi bail on this occasion after the police prosecutor reminded the court about the very serious nature of the 31-year-old's charges.

The search of Abdullahi's home in Depot Hill involved the SES and sniffer dogs as police allege he tried to remove some of the property before they arrived.

Abdullahi will appear in court via video-link on August 3.
A blind musician and volunteer who has become a fixture in the Adelaide community since moving to South Australia 10 years ago is facing deportation.

Han Wern David Lee, who has been blind since birth, moved from Malaysia to Australia in 2007, according to ABC.

The 34-year-old quickly enrolled in the University of Adelaide and earned his Certificate IV in Music before graduating with a Bachelor of Music Studies in 2010, according to a petition he filed with Change.org.

Now, a decade after he settled into his new home, the Department of Immigration and Border Protection has ordered Mr Lee to leave.

Han Wern David Lee, a 34-year-old blind musician and volunteer who moved from Malaysia to Adelaide in 2007, is facing deportation

Mr Lee, who has been blind since birth, said he has been fighting his deportation since 2015 when his skilled migration visa expired.

'In November 2016, the Assistant Immigration Minister wrote a letter asking me to go for health checks, police checks and all the final checks,' he told ABC.

'The police check came back ... everything was fine, but in May this year a letter came back ... saying it was not in the public interest to intervene.'

Although he was ordered to go by June 20, Mr Lee said he was finally granted a bridging visa extension so he has three more months to continue his fight against deportation.

The 34-year-old said he worked hard to become a member of the Adelaide community and didn't know why he was not being considered for a permanent residency visa.

'For the last 10 years, I haven't been to Centrelink, I haven't asked any government department for any handout,' Mr Lee said.

Mr Lee has asked Immigration Minister Peter Dutton (pictured) to answer his request for a permanent residency visa

Mr Lee's petition to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has 13,071 signatures out of 15,000

Mr Lee lives independently in a rented apartment, uses the city's public transport and works as a music tutor when he's not singing in a church choir or playing in his four-piece band  The Craic.

'He has worked hard to integrate into Australian life and has done so very effectively,' Mr Lee's petition read.

'He is a person of honesty and integrity who has never committed any criminal offences and has always complied with the law.'

Mr Lee has worked with the Australian Disability Sport Inc. since 2011.

'David Lee is without question our most reliable and consistent fundraiser. He works five days each week and earns enough money to support himself,' the group said in the petition.

'David Lee is the backbone of our Adelaide based team.'

Mr Lee's petition to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has 13,071 signatures out of 15,000.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Department of Immigration for comment.
Sixteen states now allow certain public officials to rescue animals in hot cars and 10 states allow members of the public to rescue animals in hot cars, provided certain steps are taken. Photo by iStockphoto

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Yesterday, I wrote about Chinese authorities stopping a truck jam-packed with 800-plus dogs bound for slaughter. Today, I read a story about a truck with nearly 1,000 small animals crammed inside  including birds, chickens, bunnies, and guinea pigs  and left in the searing heat in Fresno County, California. The temperature inside the truck surged to 107 degrees. By the time the police arrived, notified by neighbors who reported an odor coming from the truck, the heat had claimed 18 animals. Ten more died after authorities got into the vehicle and started pulling them out.

These animals were not bound for slaughter, but for sale at pet stores. Its a reminder of our home-grown problems here in the United States.

Its also a reminder that with the first day of summer coming tomorrow, there are acute hazards for animals in transportation. Cars and trucks heat up extraordinarily fast, even with the windows down, as temperatures soar outside. Even on an 80-degree day  which residents of many parts of the country would beg for this time of year  the temperature inside a car can climb to nearly 100 degrees within 10 minutes.

Summer after summer, we shake our heads as we see a cascade of news stories about dogs dying after being left in hot cars. First responders on the scene to rescue animals left in hot cars make heartbreaking discoveries: claw marks left on the door, ripped seats, nail particles strewn in the vehicle.

In addition to building awareness that prompts better behavior, we are also attacking the problem from a policy angle. In recent years, weve convinced more than half of the states to pass laws to allow private citizens to break into cars and free animals from life-threatening circumstances. This year, lawmakers in Arizona, Colorado, and Indiana took final action on these so-called Good Samaritan measures, and Oregon Governor Kate Brown can sign the bill on her desk to do the same. Sixteen states now allow certain public officials to rescue animals in hot cars (Nevada passed a bill this year to improve and expand their provisions) and 10 states allow members of the public to rescue animals in hot cars provided certain steps are taken. Even more states grant immunity to first responders who must rescue animals in distress or prohibit leaving pets unattended altogether.

Intervention is carefully defined and kept as a last resort only to be used when all other options have been exhausted and the animal is in visible distress. But all responsible pet parents would sacrifice a car window to save the life of their animal. When it comes to property versus the life of an animal, thats not a close call.

The safest thing you can do for your pet this summer is to leave him or her cool at home while you run errands. Take the pledge to never leave your pet in a hot car.
The mother of one of the Florida teenagers who were lost at sea during a fishing trip in 2015 slammed the mother of the second teen after she was found to have had an 'egregious lapse of judgment' in a damning report by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement but the state declined to file charges against her.

Carlson 'Carly' Black, mother of Austin Stephanos, who disappeared along with Perry Cohen, both 14, was found by Florida Department of Law Enforcement last week to have had an 'egregious lapse of judgment and failure to exercise due care' and may have violated the state's child abuse and neglect laws when she allowed the boys to take off in Austin's 'minimally equipped' boat that didn't have basic communications equipment, said the FDLE.

But the state declined in the report released Friday to charge Black, saying the evidence did not rise to the 'satisfy the statutory language' of a crime.

On Monday, Perry Cohen's mother, Pamela, released a statement through her lawyer to People magazine.

Missing: Perry Cohen (left) and Austin Stephanos (right), both 14, disappeared after stormy weather set in during their fishing trip off the coast of Jupiter, Florida in July 2015

'Pamela Cohen is a grieving mother in search of answers to her sons disappearance,' said Perry Cohen's mother (left with her son) after a law enforcement report that found that Carly Black (right with son Austin) had 'an egregious lapse of judgment'

'Pamela Cohen is a grieving mother in search of answers to her sons disappearance. Last week, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) concluded its investigation into the disappearance of Perry J. Cohen and his friend Austin,' said the statement.

'The new revelations in the FDLE report paint a stark picture, one characterized by a calamity of errors in judgment and missteps that could have potentially averted this tragic loss of life. As she and her family process the FDLE report and new information regarding the boys disappearance, Ms. Cohen requests her privacy be respected...

'Since the active phase FDLEs investigation, Ms. Cohen continues to be forced to defend her legal rights in a federal maritime action brought by Austins mother, Mrs. Carly Black.

'That court action seeks to limit the value of all losses, including the lives of Perry and Austin, to $500.00, and would restrict Ms. Cohens legal rights to further seek justice. Ms. Cohen is committed to pursuing the truth in a manner that affirms her rights as a parent and respects the life and memory of her son, Perry, and his friend Austin.'

Mother of Austin Stephanos, Carly Black (right), may have violated the state's child abuse and neglect laws when she allowed the boys to take off in Austin's 'minimally equipped' boat but the state declined to file charges

Teen Perry Cohen, 14, embraced his mother, Pamela, before going missing on a fishing trip with his pal, Austin Stephanos

The Perry J. Cohen Foundation, which works to teach water safety in honor of Perry, posted this photo of the teen with his dad, Philip, on Father's Day on Facebook

The pair were caught in a storm after taking off around 11am on July 24, 2015 from Jupiter Inlet for a fishing trip. They are presumed dead but their bodies haven't been recovered, though the boat was found months later in the Bahamas by a Norwegian cargo ship.

The boat was a 19-foot 1978 SeaCraft, belonging to Austin, offshore, and did not have basic communication devices on board, reported People.

Black is also accused of waiting two hours before notifying Perry's mom or authorities after she realized the pair was missing.

The report said that Black allowed the boys to 'go offshore into the Atlantic Ocean, an inherently dangerous environment, in a minimally equipped 19-foot boat with a single outboard motor without adult or parental supervision.'

The Cohens had told investigators that their son was not allowed to go offshore without adult supervision and says that Austin's parents knew this.

The teens' boat was said to have lacked basic communication equipment which would have made their rescue more probable

Perry Cohen's stepfather Nick Korniloff, left, shakes hands with Austin Stephanos' father, Blu Stephanos, right. The families have been in various court proceedings regarding the accident for the past couple of years

Additionally, Black and her husband, Bubba, owned a marine supply company and could have easily made sure the boys had the proper equipment.

While the state said it found 'probable cause' to charge Black, there was not enough proof to 'satisfy the statutory language,' according to the Palm Beach Post.

On Monday, the lawyer for Perry's mother, Pamela Cohen, said that a lawsuit may be filed against Black, who is seeking to limit any lawsuits against the family to $500 in damages, which would be part of a maritime law called the Limitation Act.

The act limits the amount boat passengers can sue to the value of a damaged boat after it is salvaged, according to The Palm Beach Post.

A boat on the way to Norway spotted the 19-foot Seacraft about 100miles off the coast of Bermuda, and Stephanos' iPhone was among the personal items recovered from the boat

Friends Austin Stephanos (left) and Perry Cohen (right) went missing on July 24 last year after setting out on a fishing trip from Jupiter, Florida, but never returned

The boat the boys were in was said to lack basic safety equipment, including GPS, EPIRB and radio or communications devices. Such devices, as well as a more timely alarm raised at their disappearance could have saved their lives, said the FDLE report.

Friends of the teens say the boys may have been aware of the danger they faced as as the last message they sent over Snapchat had said 'we're f***ed.'

Their fishing boat was discovered capsized 100 miles from Bermuda nine months after the accident

Investigators also found items in the boat belonging to the 14-year-olds, including fishing tackle

Austin's iPhone was recovered in the boat but was too water damaged for any information to be retrieved

The family of Austin Stephanos (above) were initially confident he and Cohen are still alive. The families used a GoFundMe page to raise almost $500,000 for a private search, but that was called off after it failed to yield any new evidence
Former Sydney Roosters NRL star Shaun Kenny-Dowall has been spared a conviction for possessing a small amount of cocaine at one of the city's most exclusive nightclubs.

Appearing before Sydney's Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, the 30-year-old was given a 12-month good behavior bond.

Magistrate Greg Grogan said Kenny-Dowall had suffered a huge amount of 'collateral damage' through the termination of his contract and the revocation of his NRL registration after he was caught with .29 of a gram of the drug.

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Former Sydney Roosters NRL star Shaun Kenny-Dowall (pictured) has had no conviction recorded and placed on a 12-month good behaviour bond after he pleaded guilty to possessing a small amount of cocaine at a Sydney nightclub

Kenny-Dowall (pictured) was stood down indefinitely by the Sydney Roosters NRL side following his drug possession charge in early May

The magistrate also took into account Kenny-Dowall's guilty plea and the fact that no drugs were found in his system when he was tested hours after his arrest.

Kenny-Dowall was arrested by police at the Ivy bar on George Street in Sydney's CBD about 1am on May 5 and charged with drug possession.

The New Zealand representative was stood down indefinitely by the Sydney Roosters following the charge.

Kenny-Dowall did not address waiting reporters as he left court on Tuesday.

Magistrate Greg Grogan said he had taken into account Kenny-Dowall's (pictured) guilty plea and the fact that no drugs were found in his system when he was tested hours after his arrest
Dick Smith shareholders have launched a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit claiming they were deceived about the failed electronics store's financial position.

Close to 1000 shareholders, with losses ranging from just $500 to several million dollars, allege they were misled by the company before its collapse in January 2016.

Compensation lawyers Bannister Law - who have represented shareholders in high-profile class actions against Volkswagen, Ford and Bet365 - will file the class action in the Supreme Court of New South Wales.

Dick Smith shareholders have launched a multimillion-dollar class action lawsuit claiming they were deceived about the failed electronics store's financial position

Close to 1000 shareholders, with losses ranging from just $500 to several million dollars, allege they were misled by the company. Pictured is Sydney father Paul Handley, who said he lost a month's wages after investing in the now-defunct tech company

'We actually really do think that the shareholders were deceived and were not told the correct information that they needed to be able to have to make an informed decision,' lawyer Diane Chapman told the ABC.

'The shareholders were treated very badly  they had a right to correct information to make an informed decision on the Australian share market.

The class action is open to shareholders who purchased Dick Smith shares between November 25, 2013 and January 4, 2016.

One of the shareholders hoping to be reimbursed for his losses is airline baggage handler Paul Handley, from Sydney.

The father-of-two said he had lost $3,800 - almost a third of his portfolio - after getting 'sucked in' to buying shares with the electronics retailer.

'That $3,800 was a month's wages for me. I can think of better things to do with $3,800 - holidays or school fees or just putting some food on the table,' he said.

The class action is in addition to claims filed earlier this year in the Federal Court by Dick Smith's lenders, National Australia Bank and HSBC

The class action is in addition to claims filed earlier this year in the Federal Court by Dick Smith's lenders, National Australia Bank and HSBC.

The banks have accused the company of buying 'bad stock' to inflate income and earnings.

Dick Smith went into voluntary administration in January 2016 after failing to secure a funds injection from its banks.
A man known for killing animals as a teenager has denied bashing an 'American f****t' around the same time a gay man's naked body was found at the bottom of a Sydney cliff.

Spear fishermen found the body of 27-year-old American mathematician Scott Johnson at Manly's North Head in December, 1988.

At least one person has told an inquest they heard a group of people bragging about teens bashing an 'American f****t' they found masturbating near a Manly beach around the time Johnson died.

A man known for killing animals as a teenager has denied bashing an 'American f****t' around the same time Scott Johnson's (pictured) naked body was found at the bottom of a Sydney cliff

Counsel assisting Kristina Stern SC asked a witness whether he and a skinhead, who has since died, were responsible for the rumoured bashing.

'Totally untrue,' replied the witness, who denied being a skinhead as a teenager.

The denials were part of evidence heard behind closed doors last week but played for journalists on Monday.

The inquest on Monday heard from other men who grew up on Sydney's northern beaches, including some who admitted being present at gay bashings.

They were all juveniles at the time and cannot be named.

A friend of the now-dead skinhead said the teen attended a barbecue in what he thinks was 1986 and said something like 'I think I may have killed someone'.

The skinhead was crying and trembling but his friend did not ask him anything more or report it to police.

Spear fishermen found the body of 27-year-old American mathematician Scott Johnson at Manly's North Head in December, 1988

Pictured is Mr Johnson's clothing, which was found at the top of the cliff

Another former skinhead who admitted to being present at two bashings said the surviving alleged Manly basher was known to kill animals.

He said he had not heard a rumour the man had cut off cats' heads and put them in a freezer, but was aware the teenager had microwaved his mother's budgerigar and 'smacked around his sister'.

Mr Johnson's belongings were discovered 10 metres back from the cliff edge, not far from a beat where the inquest previously heard groups of 'bashers' would set upon gay men.

Another man, who went to the city with a group to 'roll a poof' in 1987, said he wouldn't remember if an associate told him they went 'poofter bashing last night'.

This is the third inquest into Mr Johnson's (pictured) death, who was found to have killed himself by the first coroner

But he would recall if 'someone had said, 'I threw a bloke off North Head'', he said.

The man took off his shirt to show the court a Grim Reaper tattoo he got as a teenager around the time the symbol appeared in a well-known AIDS awareness advertisement.

'Did you not associate it with the death of, as you called them, poofters,' asked the barrister for Mr Johnson's family John Agius SC.

'No,' the man replied.

This is the third inquest into Mr Johnson's death, who was found to have killed himself by the first coroner.
Australia's largest Islamic school is set to close in two weeks after losing its funding.

Malek Fahd in Sydney's south-west  which has more than 2,400 students  may close its doors permanently at the end of term two, Dr John Bennett, the chairman of the school's board said.

'The school is still solvent, but will not be able to operate as of term three unless the delayed funding from the Commonwealth and the suspended funding from the state is reinstated,' he said in a letter to education authorities, according to the ABC.

Malek Fahd (pictured) in Sydney's south-west is set to close in two weeks after losing funding

The school in Greenacre had about $19 million in annual funding withdrawn by Education Minister Simon Birmingham last year.

The school lost a bid to have the decision overturned in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in January.

The withdrawal of funding came after issues with financial mismanagement and governance linked to its landowners, the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils (AFIC).

Last month, it was reported the school is embroiled in a legal battle with the AFIC  accusing it of charging inflated rent, payment for services that were never provided and taking out interest-free loans.

The federal government withdrew millions of dollars in funding for Australia's largest Islamic school over concerns the money wasn't being spend on education

Dr Bennett said the school received $3.2 million in federal funding for February and March, but those payments have stopped.

He added $5million in annual state government funding was recently suspended because the government wanted money repaid after the school began operating for profit in 2014 and 2015.

'That's an amount of about $11.5million and the school is just not in a position to refund that money,' he told the ABC.
A young man who mysteriously died while out at a nightclub has been remembered by friends as someone who 'stood out from the crowd'.

Naum Dislievski, 20, was partying at Mr Crown in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on Saturday night when he suddenly collapsed inside the popular bar.

The University of Wollongong student was rushed to hospital just after midnight but could not be revived, with his devastated family and friends flocking to social media to remember the 'beautiful soul'.

Naum Dislievski, 20, was partying at Mr Crown in Wollongong, south of Sydney, on Saturday night when he suddenly collapsed and died

Paramedics were called to the nightspot (pictured) and rushed the University of Wollongong student to Wollongogn Hospital just after midnight, but he could not be revived

A New South Wales police spokesman told Daily Mail Australia Mr Dislievski's death was not being treated as suspicious.

'Inquiries are continuing but at this stage police do not believe there are any suspicious circumstances,' she said, adding that drugs are 'always a line of inquiry' into such deaths.

Taking to Facebook, a number of his friends and family paid tribute to a young man who was 'always full of happiness'.

'One of the best people I have ever had the privilege of knowing... always full of happiness and love and definitely always stood out in a crowd,' one friend wrote.

Another local group who Mr Dislievski was associated with called him a 'dear friend'.

'So very sad and shocked to hear that we have lost a dear friend and student we have known for many years,' they posted online.

'You are such a wonderful person and will be dearly missed, we are thinking of you and your family. RIP.'

His devastated family and friends flocked to social media to remember Mr Dislievski (pictured) and his 'beautiful soul'

Sharing photos and videos of him to Facebook, friends said they were still in shock at his sudden and mysterious death

'One of the best people I have ever had the privilege of knowing... always full of happiness and love and definitely always stood out in a crowd,' one friend wrote

Sharing photos and videos of him to Facebook, friends said they were still in shock at his sudden and mysterious death.

'I'm distraught to a point where I can't even believe that this has happened,' one girl wrote.

'Thank you for making all of my bad times into good ones. I will never forget all of our good moments.'

New South Wales police will prepare a report for the coroner.
Patients are more likely to trust advice from friends about medicines than scientific research, experts warn.

A survey found that 63 per cent of the public and 82 per cent of GPs are sceptical of claims made by drugs trials.

Many have major doubts following a series of scares over the safety of HRT, cholesterol-busting statins and the antiviral drug Tamiflu.

The Academy of Medical Sciences, which carried out the poll, is calling for a major overhaul of the way patients are told about drugs.

They want the NHS Choices website to publish detailed information about the likely risks and side-effects of the most common treatments. In addition, they are urging GPs to hold longer appointments, particularly with older patients, to discuss any concerns.

A survey found that 63 per cent of the public and 82 per cent of GPs are sceptical of claims made by drugs trials

In a report published today, the Academy surveyed 2,041 members of the public and 1,013 GPs about attitudes towards medical research. Just 37 per cent of the public said they would trust evidence from medical research while 65 per cent would trust experience from friends and family.

Surprisingly, 82 per cent of GPs said they believed medical research was biased in favour of drugs appearing effective and safe.

Author Professor John Tooke, former president of the Academy, said: Its startling to hear that only about a third of the public trust medical research.

Patients are struggling to make sense of the information they receive from their doctor, the TV, the internet and their friends and family about medicines.

With our ageing population and ever more sophisticated treatments being made available, we need to act now to give patients clearer and more useful information about the medicines they take.

Surprisingly, 82 per cent of GPs said they believed medical research was biased in favour of drugs appearing effective and safe

He added: We all need to make decisions about medicines at some time in our lives and this should involve the opportunity to consider which treatment will meet our individual needs.

'We will only succeed in making the most of the tremendous strides in medical science if we are also able to share knowledge effectively with patients to allow them to make the best decisions about medicines.

The report highlighted the ongoing controversy over statins, taken by six million Britons to lower cholesterol.

Academics claim the drugs could prevent 80,000 heart attacks and strokes a year.

Yet many GPs and patients are very worried about the long term side-effects, which include type 2 diabetes, and fear they have been underplayed by medical research.

Surprisingly, 82 per cent of GPs said they believed medical research was biased in favour of drugs appearing effective and safe

Similarly, there is a continuing debate over the safety of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) for the menopause and whether it causes breast cancer.

The NHS has claimed the benefits outweigh the risk, yet surveys have shown the majority of women are still very sceptical. And research in 2009 claimed that more than half of children taking Tamiflu to combat swine flu suffer side-effects such as nausea, insomnia and nightmares.

Professor Dame Sally Davies, the Chief Medical Officer for England, said: Medical science is progressing at an unprecedented rate, opening up opportunities not only to cure certain diseases but potentially to prevent them ever occurring.

It is vital that we find the best possible ways to use and communicate scientific evidence, so that progress may be translated into benefits for patients.
Australia's Defence Department will spend $200million relocating its secret files from a Sydney data centre after concerns over its new Chinese owners.

Reassurances regarding the safety of their files from Global Switch, who own two high-security data centres in Ultimo, have been ignored as the government plan to make the move in 2020 once their contract with the company ends.

Chinese consortium Elegant Jubilee acquired a 49 per cent of Global Switch's London-based parent company Aldersgate Investments with a $4billion cash purchase in December, ABC News reports.

Sydney based Global Switch currently holds secret government Defence files yet they will be removed in 2020 following Chinese investors buying a 49 per cent share in the company

Global Switch own two high-security data centres in Ultimo and have been used by the government since 2010

The Australian Government previously blocked a move by Chinese tech giant Huawei to enter NBN proceedings. Huawei have had a strategic partnership with Global Switch since April

The company holds classified government information, including sensitive Defence and intelligence files, which led to security concerns from experts in the UK when the ownership changed hands last year.

It has been revealed that that the sale to the consortium led by Li Qiang, who owns shares in one of China's leading data companies, prompted a Foreign Investment Review Board investigation.

This led to the government implementing stringent conditions where they asked for the Ultimo-based data centre to be controlled and owned solely by Aldersgate Investments.

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the Government 'acted to ensure the integrity of our foreign investment process when it came to that data centre'.

'They got a very clear message from the Government about how the Government would feel about [the Sydney data centre] being incorporated into that global deal,' Mr Morrison told ABC News.

It appears an agreement could not be met between the Chinese investors and the Government and now plans are already underway to transfer the files to a secure government-owned data centre at a cost of up to $200million, which Mr Morrison labelled an 'entirely appropriate decision.'

Treasurer Scott Morrison said the Government 'acted to ensure the integrity of our foreign investment process when it came to that data centre'

Global Switch's group director Damon Reid defended the company claiming they have no access to customer's data

Global Switch's group director Damon Reid defended the company claiming they have no access to customer's data.

'Our customers lease space which they fit out with their own secure cages with their own servers.

'Global Switch operates under the highest levels of security and our shareholders are restricted from physical access to the data centre,' he revealed.

Federal agencies began storing their data in privately owned centres in 2010 where centres were required to store national files as Secret as opposed to Restricted.

Files classified as Top Secret are held by the government and not with private companies.

In April, Global Switch revealed a strategic partnership with global Chinese telecommunications equipment company Huawei, who were blocked by the Australian Government for entering National Broadband Network contract discussions in 2012 as they were believed to be a security risk.

Storing data in private centres costs the the Government around $1billion annually.
A former CIA special agent and decorated US Navy Seal has been arrested in connection with an ongoing federal marijuana smuggling investigation with deep ties to Columbia.

James Dennis 'J.D.' Smith, 49, was arrested Saturday in Charlotte, South Carolina. On the same day, two Columbia SC area brothers, Carl Rye, 41, and Bryon Rye, 43, were picked up in a Rosewood Drive house by authorities.

Smith was identified as a former Navy SEAL and CIA special agent by multiple sources familiar with the drug smuggling case, according to The State.

Carl Rye, 41, rented two storage units for the pot, one unit was at the Riverchase Self Storage (pictured) in Lexington

The Storage Center in Aiken was used by Carl Rye as one of his pot storing facilities

They are each charged with conspiring to distribute at least 1,540 pounds of marijuana since 2014 according to the complaint. Each charge carries a sentence of 5 to 40 years.

Smith and the Ryes appeared Monday in federal court, shackled hand and foot and in orange jumpsuits, in Columbia for their initial arraignment. They are held without bond.

The former Navy SEAL and CIA agent allegedly supplied the Rye brothers with the pot. Bryon Rye supplied the money to buy Smith's marijuana, and Carl Rye sold the marijuana in South Carolina, including to a distributor in Beaufort County, according to the complaint.

On numerous occasions, Smith landed his private airplane at Jim Hamilton-Owens Field in Columbia to pick up money owed to him by the Rye brothers. Each time Smith landed at Owens Field, Bryon Rye went to a bank to get cash from a safe deposit box he kept there to pay Smith for the marijuana, the complaint said.

Smith had bought the twin-engine Cessna with a range of some 1,000 miles, under the business name of 'The Praetorian' for use in medical humanitarian missions in Central America, according to aviation and court records.

Some of the pot seized was in a storage unit belonging to Carl Rye was legal medical marijuana that came from California, but it was marked 'Unlawful to redistribute,' according to the complaint.

Smith was identified as a former Navy SEAL and CIA special agent by multiple sources familiar with the drug smuggling case.

An aerial view of the airport where James Smith would take off from to allegedly pick up drug money from the Reys brothers

Smith was also listed as a principal associate at a security and crisis management consulting company, but the company said Monday he hasn't worked there for at least five years.

The arrest of Smith and the Ryes are part of a three-year investigation in which the federal Drug Enforcement Agency and other law enforcement agents used a variety of tactics to narrow in on the trio.

Airplane records, safe deposit box records, text message records, vehicle electronic tracking devices, video surveillance cameras, drug-sniffing dogs, GPS cell phone tracking, still photographs and plain old-fashioned stakeouts and the tailing of suspects were integral to the investigation leading up to the three arrests.

The Ryes were picked up on Saturday in a daylight raid on a house in the Rosewood section of Columbia.

Neighbors were shocked at the site of more than a dozen heavily armed agents in about 10 unmarked cars who smashed a hole in the door of the house at 3905 Rosewood Drive, where Bryon Rye lived.

Neighbor Pam Moore caught the scene when she drove by Saturday around 4pm. She said around 10 officers were outside the home.

'I was like, what's going on?,' said Moore. 'SWAT guys were in their full gear on the edge (of the wall in front of the house). I think they were trying to protect the scene.' Moore said she also saw a box outside the home that read 'DEA Evidence.'

The Ryes stored marijuana they got from Smith at two different storage units at different companies. Carl Rye rented one at the Riverchase Self Storage in Lexington, and the other at The Storage Center in Aiken according to the complaint.

An Internet site of a security and crisis management company that Smith worked for, said Smith was in the SEALS for 16 years and was recruited by the CIA as 'a special agent for the Office of Security.'

As a SEAL, Smith served in Iraq and won a Bronze Star with V for heroism in combat and won a Special Operations Medic of the Year award. With the CIA, he provided security for US and foreign clients in war-zone environments, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan, Africa and Latin America according to the company's website.

The case was developed by the DEA and its state Tactical Diversion Squad, which includes officers from Richland County, Columbia police and the 5th Circuit Solicitor's office. The FBI and Homeland Security Investigations also assisted.

The DailyMail reached out to the DEA for comment.
A controversial home birth advocate has been charged with two counts of manslaughter following the death of two infants.

The woman charged is banned midwife Lisa Barrett, according to The Advertiser.

Ms Barrett's arrest follows a lengthy investigation by detectives into the deaths of five babies, who died during home births she attended.

Home birth advocate Lisa Barrett (pictured) has been charged with two counts of manslaughter following the death of two infants

Ms Barrett's (pictured) arrest follows a lengthy investigation by detectives into the deaths of five babies, who died during home births she attended

Director of Public Prosecutions Adam Kimber told police in recent weeks he believed there was enough evidence to have a reasonable prospect of conviction in two of the five deaths.

They are believed to be the deaths of Tully Kavanagh in October 2011 and an unnamed boy who died after a home birth in December 2012, The Advertiser reported.

Police declared their deaths as major crimes in 2013 and assigned a major crime task force to investigate.

Police confirmed on Tuesday they have arrested a 50-year-old woman from Petwood, southeast of Adelaide as a result of the investigation.

Ms Barrett gave evidence at a 2012 inquest into the death of three babies who died after home births she attended

A prohibition order against Ms Barrett, which banned her from providing any service to pregnant woman, was issued in October 2012

The woman has been refused bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court later today.

Ms Barrett gave evidence at a 2012 inquest into the death of three babies who died after home births she attended

They were those of Tully Kavanagh, Tate Spencer-Koch in July, 2007 and Jahli Hobbs in April, 2009.

A fourth baby who died in Perth after a home birth attended by Ms Barrett in July 2011 was also scrutinised, The Advertiser reported.

During the inquest, Ms Barrett invoked her right to not answer questions regarding Tully and the Perth baby on grounds her answers might incriminate her.

Deputy State Coroner Anthony Schapel said in his findings that the deaths 'could and should have been prevented', noting the babies would have survived if they were born in a hospital because it was known that the pregnancies were high-risk.

The woman has been refused bail and will appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court later today

He also found Ms Barrett continued to perform clinical tasks at home births despite her resigning as a midwife in early 2011.

Health and Community Services Complaints Commissioner Steve Tully issued a public health warning against Ms Barrett in October 2012, according to The Advertiser.

But after another boy was born lifeless during a north Adelaide home birth in December 2012, Mr Tully issued a prohibition order against Ms Barrett which banned her from providing any service to pregnant woman.

Detectives were advised by Mr Kimber in 2013 that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction based on the evidence presented, and decided to continue investigating.

SA Health Practitioners Tribunal also issued an order against the home birthing advocate in 2014 and fined her $20,000.
We have lost a true lesbian pioneer in the passing of Leslie Cohen. Whether opening the first upscale lesbian club Sahara in NYC in 1976 ...
Donald Trump took aim at Kim Jong Un after offering his 'deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier following the 22-year-old's death shortly after he was released from North Korea.

Warmbier was returned in a vegetative state to his family in Cincinnati, Ohio, on June 13 after spending 17 months in North Korea where he was arrested as a student for stealing a propaganda poster in January 2016.

'Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing,' a statement from the White House read.

'There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him.'

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Donald Trump has offered his 'deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier following the 22-year-old's death shortly after he was released from North Korea

The White House released this statement, which was then tweeted by Trump, on Monday evening

'Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

'The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'

The White House statement was released just hours after the 22-year-old's family confirmed his death.

Warmbier was unable to communicate when he returned home, having suffered serious brain loss during his time behind bars.

Otto Warmbier (pictured in custody in Pyongyang last January) died Monday just days after being brought back to the United States in a coma from North Korea

In this video, taken days before he was arrested on January 2, 2016, the student is seen throwing snowballs with the group he was traveling with

The Warmbiers entirely blamed Otto's death on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his regime.

'The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,' Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

Pyongyang said the 22-year-old was released on 'humanitarian grounds', and refused to say his treatment during his imprisonment was a factor in his shockingly deteriorated state.

Officials instead blamed his drastic state on a bout of food poisoning.

Otto's father Fred said last week that his son had been 'brutalised' in North Korea as he spoke at a press conference in Cincinnati (pictured)

WARMBIER FAMILY STATEMENT It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20pm. It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost - future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched - Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two - that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family. We would like to thank the wonderful professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who did everything they could for Otto. Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today. When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that. We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too. Advertisement

The family statement continued: 'He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

'We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers.

'We are at peace and at home too.'

Otto was a student at the University of Virginia when he traveled in a group to Pyongyang.

As he attempted to leave the country to return home on January 2, he was arrested and detained at the airport.

North Korean authorities accused him of committing a hostile act against the country by stealing a propaganda poster from the hotel he was staying in.

He was kept there after giving a tearful press conference and was not seen again until last week when he was carried off a private medical plane upon his return to the US.
The widow of a man killed in the Pike River Mine explosion in 2010 says she watched footage that shows up to six intact bodies inside.

Anna Osborne lost her husband Milton in the methane-fueled explosion in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island.

The bodies of the 29 workers killed remain entombed almost seven years after the disaster due to safety risks, despite families desperately seeking to recover the remains on their loved ones.

But the footage she saw is enough evidence to justify a manned re-entry in the mine, Ms Osborne told The AM Show.

Anna Osborne (pictured) says she has seen up to six bodies intact in video footage taken from inside the Pike River Mine

'There are a number of bodies, we're talking probably four, five, six at the moment, we're still going through the footage,' she said.

'But there are definitely loved ones' bodies fully intact.'

She blasted what she called 'six-and-a-half years of lies and cover-ups.'

Sonya Rockhouse, who lost her son Ben in the explosion, also slammed the government's claims the mine isn't safe to enter.

'New Zealand has been told there's nothing but ashes and dust down there, they've been told that the drift can't be made safe to enter and investigate,' she said.

'That's not true, my boy is down there and if pallets and paper are intact then so is his body.'

Prime Minister Bill English insisted the footage isn't new and was filmed a month after the blast

Pictured, 24 of the 29 miners who were killed in the methane-fueled explosion in 2010

However, Prime Minister Bill English said the footage isn't new and has 'been around for years.'

Meanwhile, Labour leader Andrew Little says his party is committed to a initiating a safe re-entry into the mine if it wins the upcoming election.

The video, which shows little damage from fire or the explosion, was taken by a camera that was lowered into a 126-metre bore drilled a month after the blast, Newshub reports.

The families of the victims have been calling for a manned re-entry into the mine (above)

At the time of the accident in November 2010, the mine was owned by the Pike River Coal company, which later went bankrupt.

A government investigation found Pike River Coal ignored 21 warnings that methane gas had accumulated to explosive levels in the mine.

The company was convicted of nine health and safety violations, while charges against the company's former boss were dropped in 2013.
Beatings, rape, starvation and sick public executions are a daily reality for thousands of North Koreans, according to years of witness testimony.

Now, the death of Otto Warmbier has brought fresh scrutiny to the regime's brutal torture camps under leader Kim Jong Un.

The 22-year-old student passed away from mysterious brain damage he suffered while a prisoner in the isolated state.

He succumbed to his horrifying injuries just six days after he was released from North Korea back to his parents in a vegetative state following 17 months in custody.

Its believed he spent some of that time in one of Kim's prison camps, where thousands of his citizens are believed to have died.

Warmbier's doctors in Cincinnati said that the student had suffered 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation for a prolonged period.

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US student Otto Warmbier died on Monday at age 22, just days after his release from North Korea in a vegetative state following 17 months in custody

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (center) is said to preside over a brutal system of torture camps imprisoning as many as 120,000 citizens of his isolated regime

A woman holds up a poster with photos of malnourished infants and children from an internment camp in North Korea during a White House vigil at Lafayette Park in 2012

A rare glimpse of life inside a North Korean prison camp is seen in this undated image

The isolated North Korean regime is believed to have as many 120,000 political prisoners in its harsh labor camps.

Grotesque stories of torture offer among the few clues to Warmbier's fate.

In a 2014 report, the United Nations Human Rights Commission called North Korea 'a state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world' due to the country's 'systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations'.

Beatings are widespread in the camps, in which guards are given near-absolute authority to abuse and kill prisoners, according to survivors who have survived to speak out.

Escapees have said that the sounds of beatings were so extreme each night that it was impossible to sleep.

Yet Warmbier's doctors have said that extensive scans have revealed no evidence of broken or fractured bones, including to his skull. They also found no damage to his neck tissue that could indicate strangulation.

Satellite images offer clues to the brutality of life inside Camp 25 in Susong-Dong, North Korea

A North Korean prison policewoman stands guard behind fences at a jail on the banks of Yalu River near the Chongsong county of North Korea

Horrendous: This drawing by a former North Korean prison guard depicts a position called 'pigeon torture' where prisoners are beaten on the chest until they vomit blood

Torture: One of the drawings by the guards, simply titled 'Detention center' seems to depict a guard forcing a prisoner into a small opening in a wall

One woman interviewed for the UN report, who had been imprisoned for practicing Christianity, told of a torture room with a water tank in which suspects could be immersed to simulate drowning.

'She indicated that she was fully immersed in cold water for hours,' the report said. 'Only when she stood on her tip-toes would her nose be barely above the water level. She could hardly breathe. She was gripped by panic, fearing that she might drown.'

Could drowning explain the oxygen deprivation event that damaged Warmbier's brain so severely? Possibly, but doctors have not said they've found any evidence indicating that's the case.

Other baroque torture methods of the North Korean regime have come to light as well.

One Ministry of Peoples Security official who defected revealed that the agency made use of small metal cages in the Pyongyang offices of its pre-trial investigative bureau.

'Victims would be crammed into the cage for several hours so that the circulation of blood to extremities becomes interrupted and other parts of the body swell up,' according to the UN report.

'The victim turns into a rusty brown color. After removal from the cage, the victim is abruptly unfolded causing further excruciating pain,' the report said.

'Scale, airplane, motorcycle.' Survivors told the U.N. that they had to stay in stress positions until they collapsed

This drawing depicts prisoners foraging among live wild animals. In the Korean description: 'out of starvation and hunger, find snakes and rats and you eat them'

Bodies of prisoners in the gulag: 'The mice eat the eyes, nose, ears, and toes of the corpses'

The same witness recalled receiving formal training on torture techniques, including 'how to cut off a suspects blood circulation using straps, while simultaneously placing the suspect in physical stress positions in order to inflict the maximum level of pain.'

Notably, most foreign prisoners of the North Korean regime report significantly more gentle treatment, presumably because they are considered geopolitical bargaining chips.

Matthew Todd Miller, a California man who was sentenced to six years in a North Korean labor camp in 2014, was released six months later and said that he was treated relatively well.

'I was prepared for the torture. But instead of that, I was killed with kindness,' he said in an interview with NK News.

Miller's case is unique though, in that he entered North Korea with the intention to defect, and he was detained after he was asked to leave the country and refused.

Shown is a detention camp in North Korea, drawn using a former prisoner's testimony

In 2013, Merrill E. Newman, an 85-year-old former US Army officer who served in the Korean War, was accused of war crimes and held by North Korea for 42 days.

Most of that time he spent confined in a hotel in Pyongyang, were Swedish consular officials who had access to him said he was well cared for and had even received needed medical attention for a heart condition.

In Warmbier's case, the official story from Pyongyang is that the student contracted botulism shortly after he was sentenced last spring in a show trial for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel.

The North Koreans claim a sleeping pill put Warmbier into a coma from which he never awoke.

The astonishing claim is almost certainly false - doctors found no evidence of botulism, and a sleeping pill would not be indicated in the case of that rare illness, which is treatable with an antitoxin.

The true cause of Warmbier's tragic death may never be known, but the brutality of the regime responsible for his death remains grimly clear.
Police will not appeal against the decision to dismiss TV presenter Kelly Landrys apprehended violence order application against her celebrity accountant husband Anthony Bell.

The decision ends the legal saga that made lurid headlines during a four-day hearing last month as details of the couples marriage breakdown became public.

New South Wales police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday the matter was finished because they had no plans to appeal against the magistrate's decision.

Kelly Landry, who lost her AVO case against estranged husband Anthony Bell, leaving Downing Centre Local Court last month

Champion yachtsman Anthony Bell will not have to return to court after police said they will not appeal against the dismissal of an AVO application by his estranged wife

Kelly Landry with her husband Anthony Bell after he skippered Perpetual Loyal to victory in last year's Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

Following the dismissal of the AVO on May 18 supporters of Ms Landry slammed the ruling as a terrible precedent for other women.

Magistrate Robert Williams found there was no need for an AVO because he saw little to no chance of millionaire financier Mr Bell being violent to former Getaway presenter Ms Landry in the future.

Kay Schubach, a domestic violence campaigner who has been one of Ms Landry's top supporters, said at the time: 'It's a terrible precedent and a very dangerous decision'.

Ms Schubach said police prosecutors were 'keen' to seek an appeal through the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Susannah Quinn, a lawyer advising Ms Landry, said it was 'likely' police would consider whether an appeal should be sought. A NSW police spokeswoman had said that agency was 'reviewing the decision.'

However, the 28-day window to commence an appeal passed last week and a police spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday the matter was finished.

There are no plans to appeal, she said.

Ms Schubach had been 'perplexed' the magistrate accepted Ms Landry had been in 'fear for her safety' last November, but at the same time dismiss the AVO.

Kelly Landry's supporters believed the dismissal of her AVO application against estranged husband Anthony Bell sent a poor message to other women

Anthony Bell arrives at Downing Centre Local Court at the start of his AVO hearing last month

Celebrity accountant Anthony Bell and his TV presenter wife Kelly Landry at Hamilton Island, before their marriage fell apart

'Anthony Bell is free to walk into the family home... I think it has placed Kelly in a dangerous situation.

'It has exposed her to danger again. It does set a really dangerous precedent'.

The magistrate accepted Ms Landry's version of events that Mr Bell knocked her arm into a wall on November 18.

That resulted in their young daughter's head hitting the wall, which was captured in an audio recording made by Ms Landry and tendered to court.

Mr Williams ruled: 'The cry from (Ms Landry) and what both parties agree was the sound of the child's head hitting the wall cannot easily be forgotten.

Millionaire accountant Anthony Bell, who won his AVO case against estranged with Kelly Landry, arrives at Downing Centre Local Court last month

Accountant Anthony Bell (right) leaves court with his solicitor Chris Murphy last month

TV presenter Kelly Landry arrives at Downing Centre Local Court where she gave evidence against her estranged husband Anthony Bell last month

'They were chilling sounds.'

But Mr Williams said he was not satisfied by Ms Landry's broader claim Mr Bell had been abusive or controlling.

And the magistrate found he could not be satisfied by Ms Landry's evidence that Mr Bell had fallen on top of her, put his hand around her throat and thrown her onto a bed during another incident in 2012.

Mr Bell had strenuously denied both allegations of physical abuse.

The case exploded when Ms Landry told the court she suspected 'something was going on' between her husband and TV personality Erin Molan after last year's Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

Anthony Bell strenuously denied ever physically assaulting his wife Kelly Landry during a widely-publicised court case last month

Kelly Landry leaves Downing Centre Local Court during an AVO application against her husband Anthony Bell last month

Former Getaway presenter Kelly Landry leaves Downing Centre Local Court after the AVO application against her husband was dismissed

Mr Bell had won the race in record time as skipper of Perpetual Loyal. Ms Molan had been a member of the crew.

'I know about Erin', Ms Landry texted Mr Bell on December 28 when they were both in Hobart. 'Just saw her run to you.'

Mr Bell replied: 'Not wearing that. I'm calling her now to tell her (of) your accusation because it's not fair to her or me for that matter.'

Ms Landy said of her husband and Ms Molan that she 'suspected that something was going on between them but not necessarily infidelity. I thought their relationship was odd.'

Footy Show presenter Erin Molan was dragged into the AVO case between Kelly Landry and her friend Anthony Bell

Erin Molan was part of the crew of Anthony Bell's yacht Perpetual Loyal which won last year's Sydney to Hobart race

Kelly Landry (centre) said she thought the relationship between her husband Anthony Bell and Footy Show host Erin Molan was 'odd'

Ms Molan and Channel 9 issued statements denying the Footy Show star had ever had an intimate relationship with Mr Bell, describing the accusation as 'false, offensive and defamatory'.

During the hearing, Ms Landry was accused of excessive drinking and using the AVO as traction in divorce and custody proceedings.

The court also heard allegations Mr Bell was stingy and was prepared to bully Ms Landry with his wealth and power.

When the AVO was dismissed a source close to Ms Landry said she saw the decision as a 'win in some regards', thanks to the magistrate's finding about the November incident.

Accountant Anthony Bell addresses reporters outside court after the AVO application against him was dismissed

'That (finding) is what it was all about in the first place,' a source close to Ms Landry said.

Mr Bell was equally convinced he had won.

'It's absolutely relieving to have gotten the result,' he said outside court.

'I'm pleased justice has prevailed. It is absolutely relieving to have gotten the result.

'In saying that, we've got a couple of great children Kel and I. And my children love their mum very much. And it's very important... that I honour that position.'

The Sydney to Hobart yacht race champion pledged to work with Ms Landry on 'raising a couple of great kids together'.

'I hope that the events of the last six months can be put behind us,' Mr Bell said.
Australian temperatures are continually exceeding record highs, as it is revealed 35C days have become more common over the last 50 years.

Andrew King, a Climate Extremes Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne, examined the nation's increasingly warm weather following a claim on television about Australia's changing climate, in a piece for The Conversation.

Climate Council's chief executive Amanda McKenzie recently told ABC's Q&A the nation was witnessing 'worsening heatwaves [with] hot days doubling in Australia in the last 50 years'.

Australians have been experiencing more days where temperature records have been broken (stock image)

There has been a 27 per cent increase in the number of days where temperatures have exceeded 35C, a climate researcher says (stock images)

In a statement included with Mr King's article, the Climate Council provided more detail about Ms McKenzie's television comments.

'Since 1950 the annual number of record hot days across Australia has more than doubled and the mean temperature has increased by about 1C from 1910,' the statement said.

Mr King, having looked through climate figures, said: 'There were more hot days in the years 2013-2016 than in any other year as far back as 1910. If we compare the decades 1966-76 and 2006-16, we see a 27 per cent increase in the number of hot days'.

Hot days are where the temperature reaches above 35C, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

He said while hot days have not doubled, record hot days - where a new temperature record is set - have indeed doubled and also cited research which showed Australian heat waves were becoming more common.

A joint Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO report from 2010 found 'the number of days with record hot temperatures has increased each decade over the past 50 years'.
ISIS-inspired knock-off Lego is being marketed to Australian children for less than $10.

The counterfeit 'Falcon Commandos' set is being produced in China and sold on at least three overseas websites  including a Chinese discount retailer that ships to Australia.

The set, which depicts ISIS terrorists dressed in black battling counter-terror police, are being sold for $9.91 or less.

U.S. manufacturer BrickArms has produced fake 'Lego' featuring terrorist characters holding guns and rocket launchers (above)

A counterfeit 'Falcon Commandos' Lego set (pictured), which depicts ISIS terrorists dressed in black battling counter-terror police, is being produced in China and sold online

The fake set is being sold on at least three overseas websites  including a Chinese discount retailer that ships to Australia (pictured)

Ads for fake toys show eight mini-figures - the small idividual toys in each set of Lego - on the cover of the set.

On the front cover, what appears to be an ISIS jihadist is seen holding a chainsaw near a man's decapitated head

In the photos, one of the figures appears to be an ISIS jihadi who is holding a chainsaw while looking at a man's decapitated head at his feet.

An ISIS flag also appears to be pictured, as well as sticks of dynamite and figures launching weapons.

The set is 'recommended' for children aged six and over and was recently purchased accidentally by a young boy from a store in Taiping for $2, according to Berita Harian.

The toy's serial number came back to a manufacturer in China, the publication reported.

An ISIS flag is also believed to be pictured, as well as sticks of dynamite and figuring launching weapons (pictured)

Mahnun Mat Isa, a 40-year-old Malaysian mother and school teacher, told Berita Harian she has reported the set to the Islamic council and to police officers.

'I ask the authorities to not freely allow the entry of toys that touch on religious sensitivities in this country,' Ms Mahnun said.

'I came to know about it when my son who was playing with the toy showed me the 'terrorist' character holding a banner which displayed the words 'Allah' and 'Muhammad'.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Lego for comment.
A woman at a Sparkle Clean Car Wash in Florida got cleaned out when a thief saw she left her car door open and took his opportunity to snatch her purse.

The customer had pulled in to vacuum the inside of her car when another vehicle pulled along side her.

The suspect gets out of the passenger side of the black Volkswagen Passat he was in, and begins to clean up the vehicle

The victim opens her passenger side door to get her phone out, and replaces her phone in her purse, but forgets to close the door (right), the suspect (left) is about to take his chance

The suspect being sought by police grabs the woman's purse from her passenger side seat (left), he drops her phone and even takes just another second to pick it up (right), the suspect gets quickly driven off

The customer took her phone out of her purse on the passenger seat to use it and put it back once she was done.

But the snatcher noticed she left her car door wide open after putting her phone back.

When the thief saw his opportunity to make a grab for the bag, he did.

He dropped her cellphone, but even stopped to pick it up, before hopping back into his own car and driving off with her purse and her cellphone inside.

It took only a split second for the thief to reach into the car, grab the purse and drive off.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS (8477) or online at browardcrimestoppers.org

Anonymous tips that lead to an arrest are eligible for a reward of up to $3,000.
A husband has paid tribute to his interior designer wife after she was hit by a car in a tragic head on collision.

Yasmin McAllister, 27, was crossing the road on her way to a bus stop in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill when she was mowed down by a car.

She was immediately rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital with severe head trauma but never woke up from her coma, reported the Brisbane Times.

Yasmin McAllister, 27, was crossing the road on her way to a bus stop in the Brisbane suburb of Camp Hill when she was mowed down by a car

The crash site has been set up as a memorial for the young victim with copious amounts of flowers and letters placed on the crossing

Mrs McAllister's father Mr Harnell, who was supposed to meet her and husband Aaron for dinner that night, said her family held her as she was taken off life support.

Aaron McAllister, who has been described as Yasmin's 'soulmate', made a heartwarming tribute to his 'princess' on Facebook.

'My baby, my princess... Thanks for blessing my life with a love that most people will never experience in their whole lifetime,' he said.

'My baby, my princess... Thanks for blessing my life with a love that most people will never experience in their whole lifetime,' he said

'I miss you so much and I know life is going to be tough without you but I promise you I will face it head on as that's what you would have wanted.'

Mr McAllister went on to say he felt like half of him had been taken away when she died but 'somehow you continue to touch me with your spirit and give me direction and comfort.'

'I cannot be angry that you have been taken from me I can only be grateful that I ever met you,' he went on.

'I cannot be angry that you have been taken from me I can only be grateful that I ever met you,' he went on

Mr McAllister married his 27-year-old wife on July 2, 2016, and their social media accounts are filled with adoring pictures of one another

'God put us together because he had a plan. As hard as you leaving Earth is for me to handle I am holding on to the memories and I am thankful that I got to hold you, kiss you, love you and call you my wife.'

Mr McAllister married his 27-year-old wife on July 2, 2016, and their social media accounts are filled with adoring pictures of one another.

'You definitely left your mark on not only me but everyone that you met. The messages and condolences that I have received are a true testament to what a beautiful person you were,' the tribute said.

'You definitely left your mark on not only me but everyone that you met. The messages and condolences that I have received are a true testament to what a beautiful person you were,' the tribute said

'Please come and visit me from time to time, watch over me and guide me through this life until we meet again. My heart and soul are broken.'

The crash site has been set up as a memorial for the young victim with copious amounts of flowers and letters placed on the crossing.

Many of the couple's friends have said Mrs McAllister's death has served as a reminder to keep loved ones close - with many saying they would pay more attention to the road in the future.
The estranged husband of a school teacher who disappeared without a trace two years ago has been arrested and is set to be charged with her murder.

Sharon Edwards, 55, from Grafton, NSW, was last seen at her Riverdale home after leaving a pub dinner with close friends late on March 14, 2015.

Her car was left parked in her driveway and the clothes she had been wearing were thrown in the washing basket in her bedroom.

John Edwards, 61, who was the main suspect in the case, was arrested at a home north of Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon, NSW Police said in a statement.

Ms Edwards' body has never been found. Mr Edwards has previously denied any involvement in his wife's disappearance.

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John Edwards (pictured) has been arrested and will be charged with the murder of his estranged wife Sharon Edwards in 2015

Sharon Edwards, 55, from Grafton, NSW, was last seen at her Riverdale home after heading out for a pub dinner with close friends on March 14, 2015

Her estranged husband was the main suspect in the case. He was arrested at a home north of Brisbane on Tuesday afternoon

Edwards has been taken to Brisbane Police Watch House for processing of an arrest warrant for murder.

Strike Force investigators will apply for his extradition to NSW when he appears at court.

Following the arrest, a crime scene warrant was executed at Edwards' home at Lawrence, north of Grafton.

On the morning Ms Edwards disappeared, she posted a smiling image of herself posing in front of a sunrise.

Edwards reported her missing the next day when she did not turn up to work at Coutts Crossing Public School.

In the week following her disappearance, police divers searched searched the Clarence River.

Police also forensically examined three properties Ms Edwards and her husband own together, one in Grafton and two, including a vacant block, in nearby Lawrence.

Edwards (second from right) pictured with his three adult sons during an emotional appeal for information. He will likely be extradited to NSW

On the morning Ms Edwards disappeared, she posted a smiling image of herself posing in front of a sunrise

Speaking to the Sunday Telegraph just one week after his ex-wife's disappearance, Edwards said he was only a suspect because 'people always think it's the husband'.

'Of course it wasn't me  Anyone who knows me will tell you it wasn't me,' he told the publication at the time.

'People always think it's the husband. It's always the husband. It always turns out to be him. I'm not bad tempered.

'You ask everyone in Grafton. I've taught in schools all over the place.'

It was first noticed Ms Edwards was missing when she failed to show up for a class she was due to teach
A Victorian man who preyed on his young victims while playing games like 'Doctors' and 'Simon Says' has been jailed for six years.

Douglas Povey, 71, indecently assaulted three girls in a small country town in Victoria between 1975 and 1990 when they were only seven, 10 and 11.

In his sentencing on Tuesday, Victorian County Court Judge John Jordan described Povey's crimes as 'opportunistic and predatory'.

He took advantage of one girl while she was home alone, and another he lured into his own home before molesting her.

'You engaged her in a game of 'Doctors',' Judge Jordan said.

'You took her into the bedroom under a pre-text that you wanted to show her something.

Douglas Povey, 71, indecently assaulted three girls in a small country town in Victoria between 1975 and 1990 while playing games like 'Doctors' and 'Simon Says' (pictured is the Victoria County Court)

Povey preyed on his young victims while playing games like 'Doctors' and 'Simon Says'. He was jailed for six years on Tuesday (Stock image)

'The offending was only interrupted by an unexpected visitor turning up in a vehicle.'

He told one of his victims 'not to tell anyone' about what happened and said no one would believe her anyway.

Povey tried to pull another girl's pants down during a game of 'Simon Says' but she forcefully resisted.

Two victims delivered powerful statements in court, speaking of the suffering they endured and their resilience in the face of trauma.

'He took from me all that was good and safe,' one woman said in her victim impact statement during a sentencing hearing.

'The events of that night never left my mind.'

But the woman said she has 'grown strong with age', finishing with a well-known quote.

'The devil whispered in my ear: 'You are not strong enough to withstand the storm',' she said.

'Today I whispered in the devil's ear: 'I am the storm'.'

The judge said Povey had shown no remorse and had poor prospects for rehabilitation.

He took advantage of one girl while she was home alone, and another he lured into his own home before molesting her (Stock image)

Povey was found guilty of six counts of indecent assault in 2017 after two jury trials in the County Court in Warrnambool.

Already behind bars for similar crimes, he was sentenced on Tuesday to a further six years with at least four years and six months to be served in jail.

Povey was tied up and beaten in his home by two men seeking revenge for a boy he sexually assaulted in 2013.

The vigilantes were found guilty of several charges but spared jail.

Povey will be eligible for parole in February 2023.
We provide operations intelligence which borders on business intelligence, said Jesse Rothstein CEO of ExtraHop in an interview we had some time back. Since that time the companys machine-learning anomaly detection solution Addy was introduced to leverage the cloud to help companies get a handle on their data center  slowing down the spread of RansomWare by integrating with SIEM solutions.

ExtraHop Addy brings our environment into focus, said David Johnson, Enterprise Systems Support Specialist with the State of Washington. With this service, were alerted to issues we didnt know we had, and it makes us much more proactive in resolving them before the effects are widespread. We now have the data we need to be smarter about how we operate.

Recently, we sat down with Eric Thomas, Director of Solutions Architecture and Rachel Pepple (pictured to the right and below), Director of Marketing Communications to learn about the companys new

professional services.

Cloud and Datacenter Migration migration

experts map the entire IT infrastructure across on-premises,

hybrid, and cloud environments to discover all assets, map dependencies, separate clients and servers, and categorize shared services like DNS and Active Directory. Based on this comprehensive analysis which can last for five weeks, ExtraHop

experts build a comprehensive plan, including move groups and migration order, to ensure seamless migration without outages.

Microsegmentation: Leveraging the automatic device discovery and mapping capabilities of the ExtraHop platform, ExtraHop Solutions Architects work with internal teams to develop and implement a segmentation strategy that takes into account industry-specific considerations, such as medical devices in healthcare and PCI compliance in retail. ExtraHop takes a vendor-agnostic approach that fits with the network virtualization technology selected by the customer, and delivers a comprehensive view of every network-connected device, its communications, and a plan for how to best segment its traffic. This is ideal for detecting RansomWare early.

Application Mapping: Leverage ExtraHop IT analytics to observe all interactions between IT systems including asset discovery, dependency mapping, and identification of core dependencies and shared services.

In addition to these specialized projects, ExtraHop offers implementation and integration services to configure the ExtraHop platform to a companys unique needs and build a strong foundation for success. Experts use the Open Data Stream and Open Data Context API to integrate the ExtraHop platform seamlessly with IT and security platforms such as ServiceNow, threat intelligence, and SIEM platforms.

Other reasons to work with the company? Saving money. In a past interview we pointed out ExtraHop found a single process in an infinite loop which ate up an extra million dollars worth of storage. In addition, Eric told me the solution can find orphaned VMs and also elasticity workloads  extra VMs which arent needed.

Going forward, they want to price professional services based on outcomes as opposed to cost which should help make it easier for CIOs to budget more accurately.
Sixteen month old Nylaha Lewis - pictured - is in a coma after she was, allegedly, nearly beaten to death by her father

A 16-month-old baby girl is in a coma after she was, allegedly, nearly beaten to death by her father during a Father's Day visit.

Little Nylaha Lewis suffered a bleeding in the brain and two skull fractures at the hands of her father, Shaquan Taylor, police say, and had to be rushed to the Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.

Taylor, 18, allegedly injured the poor child on Sunday after her mom, Tammy Lewis - who was formerly in a relationship with Taylor - dropped her off at his home, so they could spend some time together.

Lewis left the pair alone and came back to find her daughter covered in bruises and gasping for air, police say.

'He said that about a year ago he was going to hit the baby if she brought [her] around,' Christine Munford, Nylaha's aunt, told the New York Daily News.

'And [Sunday] he threatened her and said he was going to punch her in the face when she got there. And then obviously that happened.'

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Her mother, Tammy Lewis - pictured - had left little Nylaha with her father during Father's Day but returned to see her daughter covered in bruises and gasping for air

The baby girl was rushed to the Maimonides Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, where doctors are treating her for two fractured skulls as well as a bleeding in her brain. Pictured is the apartment in Coney Island where the alleged incident occurred

The alleged incident unfolded in the afternoon at Taylor's apartment in Coney Island. Taylor messaged Lewis on Facebook to tell her she needed to come to the apartment to take their daughter.

Lewis immediately picked up her daughter and run out of the apartment upon seeing the state of her.

But Taylor run after her, and allegedly punched her to the ground, leaving the defenseless mum in the apartment lobby unconscious.

The disgraced father then picked the baby and gave it to a friend who then called the ambulance.

When authorities questioned Taylor, he claimed the baby was injured because she had fallen off the bed but doctors confirmed that Nylaha's bruises did not come from a fall.

He was charged on Monday with felony assault for beating both Lewis and her child, ABC 7 reported.

Taylor was charged with sexual misconduct in 2015 because he was in a relationship with Lewis, who was only 14 at the time. A year later, he was arrested again for harassing her, the Daily News reported.
Police have released new video footage and audio recordings from the moment a pregnant mother-of-four was shot dead inside her Seattle apartment.

Charleena Chavon Lyles, who was African-American, was shot after officers responded to a burglary call about 10am at the Brettler Family Place Apartments in Magnuson Park on Sunday.

Lyles, 30, herself called the police to report a robbery, before she allegedly confronted the two officers after they entered her apartment.

The moment police knocked on her door and then went inside was captured on camera and recorded by the cops.

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Pregnant mom killed: Charleena Chavon Lyles (left and right), a 30-year-old mother-of-four pregnant with her fifth child, was shot and killed by police in Seattle Sunday

At the start of the conversation, one of the officers is heard saying: 'Good morning... you call the police?'

The recording then continues as the cops ask the 30-year-old for her name and contact information, before she details the alleged robbery and invites the officers into her apartment.

'If you guys wanna come back here,' she is heard saying to the police, before telling them she had an Xbox, necklace, bag, and other clothing stolen.

The encounter then takes a dramatic turn, as one of the officers is heard shouting: 'Get back, get back, get back.'

Footage released by police from outside Lyles apartment shows one of the officers backing out with his gun drawn

Lyles is then heard saying, 'get ready, motherf***ers', as one of the two officers tells police dispatch: 'We need help... a woman with two knives.'

He then tells his colleague to stun the woman, but the second cop replies to his partner: 'I don't have a taser'.

Shots were fired just moments later.

Then, the first officer begins talking to police dispatch again, and can be heard saying: 'Suspect is down, we need officers on-scene, we need medics as well. We are not under control'.

Video footage from the hallway appears to match up with the police audio, and at the end of the footage an officer is seen quickly backing out of the apartment with his gun raised.

Earlier in the audio recording, the officers are heard discussing a June 5 call to the 30-year-old's apartment.

Security footage from the building's hallway showed the two officers stood outside before they began speaking with Lyles

Lyles, pictured with her four children, had only recently found out she was three months pregnant with her fifth

'She called for a DV. She let them in and then she started talking all crazy about how she, the officers weren't gonna leave. And she had a giant pair of scissors,' one officer said.

The other then asked, 'Has she got a mental caution on her?' to which the first cop replied: 'Shes got an officer safety caution.'

'Wait, is this the one with like the three kids?' the cop then asked his partner.

The first cop replied: 'Yeah, so this gal, she was the one making all these weird statements about how her and her daughter are going to turn into wolves.'

The two cops continued speaking for a few more seconds before the conversation with Lyles began.

Seattle police also released dashboard camera footage shot from inside the officers' car, which shows the two cops walking into the apartment building.

A Seattle police officer cradles one of Lyles' children, with two others in the car, after the woman was shot to death at the Brettler Family Place Apartments at Magnuson Park Sunday

Laurie Davis, an aunt of Charleena Lyles, cries and hugs another family member as several dozen people attend a vigil outside the apartment building where Charleena lived

People attend a vigil outside Lyles apartment building in Seattle on Sunday night

The new details were released after family members said the shooting was unnecessary and that race was a factor.

Police told the Seattle Times one of the officers is an 11-year veteran of the force. Videos show both are white.

Seattle police shoot and kill pregnant mom who reported a burglary attempt after she showed them a knife

Both officers will be placed on paid administrative leave, in accordance with the department's policy.

Why couldn't they have Tased her? They could have taken her down. I could have taken her down, Monika Williams, the dead woman's sister, told the newspaper.

Relatives described the 30-year-old as 'tiny.'

Three children, ages one, four and 11, were inside the apartment at the time. They have been taken into protective custody.

The woman's relatives said Lyles had mental health problems for the past year and had been worried authorities would take away her children, including a four-year-old son suffering from Down syndrome.

Williams said her sister had been arrested about a week before her death and charged with obstruction of a public official and harassment.

Charleena Lyles's aunt Laurie Davis and oldest sister Monika Williams hold each other during Sunday night's vigil

Connor Lee holds a 'Black Lives Matter' sign as several dozen people attend a vigil outside the apartment building of Charleena Lyles

Two young people are seen lighting candles outside Lyles' apartment complex on Sunday night in Seattle

'The obstruction was she wouldn't let go of her baby until I got here and she had some scissors in her hand. She didn't charge nobody or nothing,' Williams told Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Lyles was released on June 14 on condition that she will seek mental health counselling.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray called Sunday's fatal shooting 'a tragedy for all envied,' and both he and Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole said the incident will be reviewed.

On Sunday night, dozens of grieving relatives and supporters.

'She loved her kids to death, she was always the life of the party and had a smile on her face,' Williams said of her sister, who went by the nickname 'Leena Boo.'

Williams has started a GoFundMe campaign hoping to collect $5,000 to help her orphaned nieces and nephews.

As of Monday night, more than $51,000 had been raised.

Florida Carroll (wearing red) a step-sister of Charleena Lyles, stands with several dozen people attending a vigil outside the apartment building where the 30-year-old was shot

Monika Williams, front, Lyles' sister, is comforted at the scene the police shooting

Lyles' stepsister Florida Carroll cries into her phone at the scene of the deadly police-involved incident in Seattle Sunday
The youngster has been named on social media as Paul Lawson

Tributes have been paid to a teenager who drowned in a reservoir as he tried to cool off on the hottest day of the year.

The youngster, who has been named on social media as Paul Lawson, went missing around 6pm on Monday at the Greenbooth Reservoir, a moorland beauty spot outside Rochdale in Greater Manchester.

He had reportedly got into difficulties while swimming with friends as temperatures soared above 91F.

His death comes as a level three amber heatwave warning - one behind a national emergency - has been issued until 9am Thursday as forecasters anticipate highs of 91.4F (33C).

The teenager had been underwater for five minutes when friends raised the alarm.

Greater Manchester Police and paramedics were called to the reservoir at 5.55pm and an underwater search team examined the area before later discovering his body.

Emotional tributes have been paid to Paul on social media following news of his death.

The youngster disappeared under the water at the Greenbooth Reservoir, a moorland beauty spot outside Rochdale, Greater Manchester

Thuba Mlambo said: 'Can't believe what I'm hearing another beautiful soul taken from this world far too soon, RIP Paul Lawson fly high with the angels, got many happy memories that I will forever cherish.'

Another added: 'Paul was a great guy and honestly the nicest person going was so close with him in college'

Aaron Hogan commented: 'Feel so sad for the young lad who lost his life at Greenbooth today just out trying to enjoy himself in the sun with his pals.'

Paul played football for the Under 19 side Wardle V in the Rochdale Super League, which has asked clubs to hold a minute's silence in his memory before tonight's matches.

In a statement, the league said: 'We regret to inform our members of the tragic passing of Wardle V player, Paul Lawson. Paul played in the Rochdale Super League since 2015, and the news has come as a shock to all.

'We would like to offer our sincere condolences to the family and friends affected by this tragedy and offer our full support to all those affected. We would ask for all to respect the privacy of the Lawson family at this devastating time.'

Police and paramedics raced to the scene after the teenager's friends raised the alarm

Aiden Armitage, from Heywood in Manchester, tried to rescue Paul. The 23-year-old said: 'The water was so cold and I could not breath.

'I could not get to him in time and even I was starting to struggle.

'I had to swim back. There was nothing else I could do or else I would have drowned.

'I spoke to his friends who were at the side and they told me he could not swim. I don't even know the lad but I feel devastated.

'I did not sleep at all last night. I just wished I had been able to do more.'

The youngster drowned as temperatures soared above 91F. Pictured, police at the scene

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said it is not believed there are any suspicious circumstances surrounding the death, and his family were aware and are being supported by specially trained officers.

Detective Chief Inspector John Harris of GMP's Rochdale Borough, said: 'My sincerest condolences are with the boy's family at hearing this heart-wrenching news.

'We are working closely with our partners and witnesses to the incident to understand the circumstances.'

The Met Office has issued the second highest heatwave alert for all of Britain as the country endures extreme heat.

On Monday the temperature reached 91F (32C) at RAF Northolt, west London.
A Sydney school principal controversially dumped amid claims he refused to run a deradicalisation program is taking his fight to the NSW Supreme Court.

Punchbowl Boys High headmaster Chris Griffiths was ousted as head of the majority-Muslim school in early March, despite the protests of parents.

Mr Griffiths upped the ante in his battle with the Education Department this month, filing a lawsuit in a bid to win back his former position.

In the meantime, as the legal battle rages, Mr Griffiths was photographed tending to his Winston Hills home - and cleaning up after his dog.

The fight's not over yet: Ousted Punchbowl Boys High principal has this month brought his fight for his old job back to the New South Wales Supreme Court

As the legal battle rages, Mr Griffiths has been left tending to his house and cleaning up after his pet dog

Mr Griffiths is pictured left, in his role as the principal, and right, as a member of a rock band

The legal battle began on June 1 when lawyers for Mr Griffiths asked the court to throw out the Education Department's dismissal.

In papers obtained by Daily Mail Australia, Mr Griffiths' lawyers claimed he had been removed from his post by way of a 'permanent transfer... to another position'.

But he actually wasn't transferred to another position at all, his lawyers argued, meaning the whole decision was void.

The documents also said Mr Griffiths was only told the reasons behind his 'transfer' in a letter four weeks after he was removed as principal, on March 31.

The full details of Mr Griffiths' sacking have not been made public and he has maintained his silence.

Education Department boss Mark Scott claimed earlier this year that Mr Griffiths had repeatedly refused to run a program designed to educate kids about extremism.

Mr Griffiths was the principal Punchbowl Boys High School, pictured here. He and his deputy were both removed from their positions

A dog's life: Mr Griffiths lawyers claimed he had been removed from his post by way of a 'permanent transfer... to another position'. But there was no other position, he said

The Education Department Secretary told 60 Minutes Mr Griffiths had repeatedly refused to implement a deradicalisation program

He also told 60 Minutes Griffiths - a former rock star and Muslim convert - had failed to report violent threats made against a teacher by a student.

'I think there were concerns at the school last year... about how the school was changing,' Mr Scott said.

'The school had become more and more isolated, less connected to the community and key community institutions.

'And the staff there were very divided - strong supporters for the principal and deputy but also many staff who were unhappy at the direction the school had taken.'

The matter returns to court in July and comes after a lawsuit in the Industrial Relations Commission was discontinued.

Daily Mail Australia contacted Mr Griffiths' lawyer and the Department of Education for comment on Tuesday.
A 20-year-old man who launched a quokka into a concrete courtyard wall after kicking the marsupial has been fined $4000.

Harrison Angus McPherson, 20, sparked social media uproar after a video emerged of him kicking a quokka on Rottnest Island, Western Australia, back in February.

Footage of Harrison McPherson attacking the vulnerable species on February 11 was posted on social media, much to the ire of viewers.

McPherson, 20, kicked the quokka into a concrete courtyard wall

McPherson was sentenced in the Fremantle Magistrates Court on Tuesday and must also pay costs of $98.50.

The 21-year-old man who filmed the incident, Corey Douglas James, was fined $3,500 in March for the ill-treatment of an animal.

The quokka, part of the macropod family, is a curious marsupial often known to approach humans.

The cat-sized animal is a vulnerable species, mainly nocturnal and is a herbivore.

Once common across Western Australia, the quokka is now listed as a vulnerable species and is protected
A public funeral service for a U.S. student who was detained in North Korea and eventually released in a coma has been scheduled for Thursday at his hometown high school in Ohio.

Twenty-two-year-old Otto Warmbier died in Cincinnati on Monday, not long after his return to Ohio after nearly a year and a half in North Korean captivity.

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda poster while visiting with a tour group and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.

Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum in Cincinnati says all who wish to join his family in a celebration of life are 'cordially invited.' He was salutatorian of his 2013 Wyoming High School class before attending the University of Virginia.

News of Warmbier's funeral service comes as John McCain lashed out at Kim Jong Un - blaming the North Korean regime for murder in Warmbier's death.

'Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime,' McCain said on Tuesday.

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Otto Warmbier's (right) family said Tuesday that they will hold a funeral for him on Thursday at Wyoming High School. Otto's father Fred pictured on the left speaking at the high school last Thursday

Above, Wyoming High School in Ohio pictured last week with blue and white ribbons wrapped around a post

However, the Arizona senator also branded those who travel to the secretive communist nation 'stupid' and backed a travel ban for American citizens.

'There should at least be a form for them to fill out that says, 'If I go to North Korea, I understand I am taking great risk and I do not hold the American government responsible. Now I hope the American government will help, etc., etc. But I realize what has happened to previous American citizens, including their deaths,'' said McCain.

John McCain (right) said Tuesday that the North Korean regime is guilty of murder in the death of American Otto Warmbier (left, in February 2016)

And following on from McCain's unequivocal remarks President Trump called North Korea a 'total disgrace' while appearing to blame the Obama administration for not securing Warmbier's release when he was first detained in January 2016.

Trump said on Tuesday that if Warmbier had been returned home to the U.S. earlier, 'I think the result would have been a lot different.'

Trump said he had spoken with Warmbier's parents, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that it was 'incredible what they've gone through.' Seated next to the president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, Trump said Warmbier 'should have been brought home a long time ago.'

'It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto. That should never ever be allowed to happen,' Trump said. 'And frankly if he were brought home sooner I think the result would have been a lot different.'

Later in the day, Trump took to Twitter to say that China's efforts to coral it's southern neighbor had not worked.

'While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!' he wrote.

Warmbier, 22, from Wyoming, Ohio, died Monday, six days after he was medically evacuated from North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (in white) visits a factory on Tuesday

The young man had been detained there since January 2016, when the North Koreans accused him of stealing a propaganda poster and sentenced him to 15 years of hard labor.

He arrived back in the U.S. in a coma - a fact that no one knew until just before he was released.

He died at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center on Monday.

On Tuesday, the Hamilton County coroner's office said that they are investigating Warmbier's cause of death.

Wambier's parents did not say how he passed away, but cited 'awful, torturous mistreatment' by North Korea.

Doctors had described Warmbier's condition as a state of 'unresponsive wakefulness' and said he suffered a 'severe neurological injury' of unknown cause.

Meanwhile, the tour guide company that took Warmbier to North Korea have released a statement to say that they will no longer take U.S. citizens to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours said Tuesday on its Facebook page that the death of Otto Warmbier shows that the risk American tourists face in visiting North Korea 'has become too high.'

Warmbier died Monday at a hospital in Ohio, about a week after being medically evacuated from North Korea in a coma. Above, Young Pioneer Tour's Tuesday statement

Other well-known North Korea tour operators, including Koryo Tours, founded by British expatriates in Beijing, and Uri Tours, with offices in New Jersey and Shanghai, said this week that they were 'reviewing' their policies for American citizens ahead of a possible travel ban that has been mooted by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called Warmbier's death a 'tragedy'.

He told reporters at a daily news briefing that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington could communicate over related issues.

China, North Korea's longtime communist ally and biggest source of economic and diplomatic assistance, provides the largest numbers of tourists to the country by far.

Young Pioneer Tours founder Gareth Johnson (left) poses with a North Korean guard in another picture from the hermit state in January 2016

Johnson pictured above in another shot from North Korea

Warmbier was among the estimated 5,000 non-Chinese who visit North Korea every year on packages that often include trips to Pyongyang, the capital, as well as the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, Mount Paektu and sometimes the Masik ski resort.

Americans comprise about a fifth of all non-Chinese tourists to North Korea, tour operators say.

Young Pioneer Tours, which was founded by British expatriate Gareth Johnson, said that it was denied any opportunity to meet with Warmbier after his detention, and that the way it was handled was 'appalling.'

'There has still been almost no information disclosed about his period in detention,' the company said in its Facebook statement.

'Considering these facts and this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea.'

The travel agency specializes in North Korea tours and is based in the central Chinese city of Xi'an. It also offers tours to Iran, Turkmenistan and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine, among other locations.

Young Pioneer Tours have continued to hold tours of North Korea. The above photo shows a tour group stopping for a drink in a Pyongyang bar on June 12 - the day before Warmbier arrived back in the U.S.

Another tour group is seen above learning how to make kimchi from a North Korean cook on March 24, 2016 - just eight days after Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster

A Young Pioneer Tours guide is dressed in traditional Korean dress with two North Korean locals on June 11

Three Young Pioneer Tour guides pose for a picture with the crowds at Kim Il Sung Stadium before the Pyongyang Marathon on April 11

WHAT KILLED OTTO WARMBIER? Following Otto Warmbier's death on Monday, the coroner's office in Hamilton County, Ohio said they would be determining the exact cause of the young man's death. Mystery still hangs over what happened to send Warmbier into a coma. North Korean officials said he had been in a coma for about a year. After such a long time in a vegetative state, doctors said he had little hope of waking up. Withholding food and water would have been a valid option for his parents, but it's unlikely he died of dehydration because he died so soon after arriving back in the U.S. Experts say it's possible that if Warmbier came down with pneumonia, a urinary tract infection or a bloodstream infection after arriving in the U.S., that his parents could have withheld antibiotics, resulting in his death. 'They may have felt that this quality of life would not be of the type that they would feel Otto would have wanted,' Dr. Lori Shutter of the University of Pittsburg Medical Center told NBC News. 'They may have 'let's make him comfortable.'' But Dr. Daniel Laskowitz, a professor of neurology at Duke University, said a pulmonary embolism - a blood clot in the lungs - is also possible. 'Why would you die suddenly after 15 months in a persistent vegetative state?' Laskowitz asked. 'There are usually two reasons why you pass away in that setting. One is infection,' he said, adding that the second is a blood clot. The long flight from North Korea to Ohio would have increased the chances of a blood clot breaking off and traveling to the lungs, Laskowitz said. Advertisement

Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor, convicted of subversion after he tearfully confessed he had tried to steal a North Korean propaganda banner.

The University of Virginia student was held for more than 17 months and medically evacuated from North Korea last week. Doctors said he returned with severe brain damage, but it wasn't clear how that occurred.

Three other Americans are still imprisoned in North Korea, accused of crimes against the Pyongyang regime. The U.S. government says North Korea is using such detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

Warmbier is pictured being taken off the plane after arriving back in the U.S. on June 13. Doctors said he suffered severe brain damage. He died on Monday

The administration of President Donald Trump has been pushing China hard to use its influence with North Korea to curtail its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

While Beijing may attempt to use such leverage to free Americans in the North, its influence is limited, said Jin Qianyi, a professor at Yanbian University's Institute of Northeast Asia Studies, which sits along the border with North Korea. Beijing also needs to ensure it maintains channels of communication with Pyongyang, whatever their differences, Jin said.

'I personally believe that it is not possible for China to step up sanctions against North Korea because China has already been tough. How much tougher can it be?' Jin said.
Surprised customers have captured the moment a friendly koala strolled into an Adelaide restaurant.

Xenia Ioannou shared a video on Facebook of Jeffrey the koala walking into the Genghis Khan restaurant in Rostrevor, much to the amusement of its patrons.

They can be seen taking photos of Australia's prized marsupial but everyone is careful not to step too close.

Ms Ioannou said she 'jumped up' when she saw the cheeky animal wandering around outside and 'whistled to it to come back when it walked away'

'Only in Australia having a nice dinner out with good friends... and a gorgeous koala we named Jeffrey just casually walks by the restaurant,' Ms Ioannou captioned the video.

Ms Ioannou said she 'jumped up' when she saw the cheeky animal wandering around outside and 'whistled to it to come back when it walked away.'

She made sure the door was wide enough for the koala to step through and a small child helped by keeping it ajar.

Ms Ioannou could barely contain her excitement at the extra dinner guest: 'Jeff was such a friendly little guy - best experience ever!'

Ms Ioannou could barely contain her excitement at the extra dinner guest: 'Jeff was such a friendly little guy - best experience ever!'

One of the commenters on the video suggested Jeffrey would have been afraid by all the cameras and laughter surrounding his big entrance but Ms Ioannou was quick to soothe those worries.

'Koala rescue came. It wasn't actually scared of humans, it was lost and looking for a tree but animal rescue were patting it. It allowed them to get very close,' she wrote.

She also posted a photo of the koala inside the cage that inevitably took the confused koala back to its eucalyptus tree.
A doting Perth cat owner has been left devastated after discovering her beloved pet was sent to a landfill by the council after he was found dead in the middle of a road.

Siobhan Taylor's cherished tabby cat Bailey had been missing for three days before finding out Melville council had disposed of his body.

Her anger with the Council's handling of the situation has since prompted a change in their policy for dead pets.

Ms Taylor revealed to ABC Radio Perth her initial panic when Bailey hadn't returned home after letting him out on June 12.

Siobhan Taylor's cherished tabby cat Bailey had been missing for three days before finding out Melville council had been disposed of his body

Ms Taylor's distressing news was made worse when finding out a bin man had scooped her cat Bailey off the tarmac and sent it off to be disposed of at a landfill

'I was up until 4.30 in the morning calling him and I knew that something must have happened,' she said.

Ms Taylor made endless calls to the City of Melville council and eventually discovered three days later the shocking news that her cat had been killed by a passing car near her home.

The distressing news was made worse when finding out a bin man had scooped the pet off the tarmac and sent it off to be disposed of at a landfill.

When discovering a pedestrian had called the council after spotting his body, she assumed they would have called a ranger to deal with the sensitive issue.

But she couldn't believe it when finding out waste management were sent out instead.

'I honestly thought that there was some sort of mistake, I did not think the council would do that,' she said.

Siobhan Taylor (left) was distraught after discovering her beloved tabby cat Bailey had been sent to the landfill following its untimely death

Instead of sending a ranger to deal with the deceased cat, waste management was sent and Bailey the cat's body ended up in a landfill

'He's vanished, it's like he has been kidnapped and it's just the worst feeling.'

'It's bad enough to lose your pet, but to not be able to say goodbye and have them cremated is awful,' Ms Taylor said.

In light of the mishandling of the dead cat, the council issued an apology to Ms Taylor and outlined their future protocol when dealing with deceased pets.

'A ranger will attend the site and if possible will scan the animal for a microchip and check for a collar and tags, using the information to make contact with the animal's owner,' Council chief executive Shayne Silcox said.

'Where a body can be returned, it must be collected within two hours of first contacting the owner, after which time the body will have to be disposed of.'

Yet Ms Taylor believed the new system still didn't suffice, as she suggested pets should be kept at a vet for up to three days giving busy pet owners ample time to collect their deceased animals.
Australian air strikes against ISIS targets in Syria have been halted as a precautionary measure after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane for bombing near American-backed fighters on the ground.

A spokesman for Australia's defence department confirmed strike operations in Syria have temporarily ceased.

'Australian Defence Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats,' the spokesman said.

Defence is monitoring the situation closely and air strike operations into Iraq are unaffected.

RAAF operations over Syria have been halted amid fears planes could be fired upon in retaliation for the US downing an Assad-backed fighter jet. File photo

It comes after tensions escalated after a US warplane on Sunday shot down a pro-Assad military aircraft that dropped bombs near American-backed fighters  the first time Washington carried out such action during the civil war.

It was also the first time the US Air Force shot down a manned aircraft since May 1999.

In a statement, the US Central Command said the plane was downed 'in collective self-defense of Coalition-partnered forces,' identified as fighters of the Syrian Democratic Forces near Tabqa.

On Monday, the White House said coalition forces fighting ISIS militants retained the right to self-defense as Russia warned it viewed any planes flying in its area of operations as potential targets.

The US says an SU-22 operated by the Syrian regime was dropping bombs on the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group that is aligned with the US, when it was shot out of the sky by a Super Hornet (file photo)

Tensions escalated after a US warplane on Sunday shot down a pro-Assad military aircraft that dropped bombs near American-backed fighters

Russia warned that it will now treat all US-coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates River in Syria as 'airborne targets' as a result of the incident.

Russia, a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it would track them with missile systems and military aircraft but stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.

Russia's defence ministry has announced it is ending US-Russian co-operation in Syria, which had been designed to prevent a direct conflict between the two powers.

It said it was also immediately scrapping a Syrian air safety agreement with Washington designed to avoid collisions and dangerous incidents.

The U.S. military said it was repositioning its aircraft over Syria to ensure the safety of American air crews targeting Islamic State.
Staff at Nova radio station in Sydney were given a shock on Tuesday when two unknown men attempted to make their way through the building.

Insiders told Daily Mail Australia there was a security scare around lunch time when an unknown man attempted to bypass reception and was not seen wearing a pass.

He was quickly apprehended and escorted from the building.

Sydney's Nova radio studio had a security scare on Tuesday afternoon when two unknown men attempted to access a restricted floor

Earlier reports that the man had been trying to make his way into the studio to force his way on air were inaccurate, the source explained.

They explained the series of events was 'in no way that salacious'.

Police told Daily Mail Australia they were called to an office at Saunders Street in Pyrmont about 1.15pm.

'Officers were told two men got off a lift at a restricted access level,' a spokesman for NSW Police said.

'They were asked to leave and complied. No further police action was taken.'

Adding to the stress of police attendance, the spokesman added a fire alarm or similar was going off in the building at the same time, but the matters were unrelated.
A driver has been jailed for at least two years and nine months over a crash which left a woman with horrific injuries and killed her unborn baby.

Jason Mansweto, a mechanic, had just finished rebuilding an 'iconic' 1969 GT Ford Falcon XW model sedan when he took it for a test drive for the first time in June 2014.

The car, which was unregistered but bore plates with the number 69AGRO, smashed into a Windsor Downs house, west of Sydney.

Jason Mansweto has been jailed for at least two years and nine months over a crash which left a woman with horrific injuries and killed her unborn baby

Mansweto applied the brakes to slow down for a corner but when they didn't work, he pumped the brake with his foot and pulled back on the steering wheel, which came off in his hands.

He had never bolted the steering wheel onto the column from the time he bought it, having put the nut in the car console.

Vanessa Farrugia was 20 weeks pregnant as she stood on the verandah of the Windsor Downs home saying goodbye to friends.

She was thrown back into the house and knocked to the floor as the car ploughed into the home.

Mansweto, a mechanic, had just finished rebuilding an 'iconic' 1969 GT Ford Falcon XW model sedan when he took it for a test drive for the first time in June 2014

Ms Farrugia suffered horrific injuries including fractures to her skull, face and foot, a large deep cut to her forehead and leakage of spinal fluid under her skull.

Her baby died in utero the next day and to her undergoing forced labour and delivery induced by medication.

On Tuesday, in Parramatta District Court, Judge Jeffery McLennan jailed the motor mechanic for four years and six months, with a non-parole period of two years and nine months.

Mansweto applied the brakes to slow down for a corner but when they didn't work, he pumped the brake with his foot and pulled back on the steering wheel, which came off in his hands

The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to charges including driving dangerously occasioning grievous bodily harm to Ms Farrugia and to Sylvia Vella, whose left leg was badly injured.

Two other people on the verandah received relatively minor injuries.

Meanwhile, Ms Farrugia was about to leave her friends' house.

'They were saying goodbye when they suddenly head the loud sound of a car engine,' court papers said.

Ms Farrugia suffered horrific injuries including fractures to her skull, face and foot, a large deep cut to her forehead and leakage of spinal fluid under her skull

'They looked across the driveway and saw a car coming up the road straight towards them.

'They had only seconds to try and get out of the way.'

Ms Farrugia has been left with a permanent loss of her sense of smell, and had a craniotomy for her brain injury and needed plastic surgery for her facial injuries.
Britain's former highest paid banker who dated Elle Macpherson and earned up to 75million a year is among four former Barclays bosses facing fraud charges today.

Scot Roger Jenkins, 61, who lives in a 25million Malibu mansion, will be prosecuted by the Serious Fraud Office along with former chief executive John Varley in the first case in Britain relating to the 2008 financial crash.

Former investment bank bosses Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58 were also charged today along with the bank itself after a five-year investigation by the SFO.

The multi-millionaires were among the Barclays bosses credited with saving the bank during the crash and helping it avoid a painful bailout.

Scot Roger Jenkins, 61, who was once Britain's richest banker and dated Elle Macpherson, pictured together in 2012, is among four former Barclays bosses facing fraud charges today

But they now face court over the British bank's 7billion emergency fundraising during the financial crisis and if convicted could all face years in jail.

The cash injection from the Middle East meant Barclays avoided a state bailout, as well as Government scrutiny of its bonuses and high-risk practices.

But the former bosses and the bank lender, who all deny any wrongdoing, are alleged alleged to have illegally paid Qatari investors 322m to take part.

Barclays and four of its bosses including former chief executive John Varley (pictured leaving the Treasury in 2008) have today been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud at the height of the financial crisis

Mr Jenkins' lawyer, Brad Kaufman of law firm Greenberg Traurig, said: 'Mr Jenkins intends to vigorously defend himself against these charges.

'As one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Mr Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on all of the matters covered by the accusations levelled today by the SFO.'

Mr Jenkins' was reputedly Britain's highest paid banker earning between 45million and 75million in his pomp before leaving in 2009.

While at Barclays he ran the bank's legal but much-criticised tax avoidance division.

He was also the former executive chairman of Investment Banking and Investment Management in the Middle East and North Africa for Barclays Capital.

He now lives in America and is backing a fund that has bought land in California to set up a huge marijuana-growing business hoping to make money from the legalisation of cannabis known as America's 'green rush'

Jenkins, a talented athlete who once sprinted for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games, has been described as a big presence with a big ego but well respected in the bank.

Elle Macpherson is pictured enjoying a holiday in Ibiza with her then banker boyfriend Roger Jenkins five years ago

Two former senior executives, Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58 were also charged today

His formidable and glamorous Bosnian former wife, Sanela Dijana Catic, who changed her name to Diana, met Jenkins in a gym and reinvented herself as a socialite and philanthropist after they were married in 1999.

Mrs Jenkins once complained of effectively being an Eastern European mail order bride on the London social scene, but both of them insist their divorce five years ago was amicable.

Jenkins  whose portfolio included a 25 million house in Malibu, where he lives  insisted it was quite right she had half his fortune.

The SFO has also charged Roger Jenkins (pictured) with the provision of unlawful financial assistance

He began dating Elle Macpherson in 2012 but the relationship 'fizzled out' because she spent too much time in Britain.

A friend said at the time: 'Roger was reluctant to spend more time in London, which led to the end of their relationship'.

The bank's former chief executive John Varley has also been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.

Varley, who married into one of the founding Barclays families and ran it from 2004 to 2010, was known at the bank as a 'gentleman' who wore his colourful braces, had a passion for ping-pong, and his rapier brain.

He was at the helm in the thick of the financial crisis, and has been interviewed along with other former bosses, by the Serious Fraud Office over the banks dealings with Qatari investors. He and other individuals, who deny wrongdoing, have not been charged.

Mr Varley has been on the Rio board since September 2011 and also chairs the firm's remuneration committee.

Jan du Plessis, chairman of Rio, praised Mr Varley's 'outstanding contribution' and said: 'The board holds him in the highest regard'.

The Serious Fraud Office will also prosecute Jenkins and Varley for the provision of unlawful financial assistance relating to its emergency fundraising during the financial crisis.

The SFO said it had brought the charges against the bank itself as well as former senior executives, Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58 were also charged.

The SFO has also charged Barclays plc, Mr Varley and Mr Jenkins with the provision of unlawful financial assistance.

The Serious Fraud Office has previously interviewed a string of top Barclays bankers under caution, including former chief executives John Varley and Bob Diamond.

Barclays said it is 'considering its position in relation to these developments'.

The bank added: 'Barclays awaits further details of the charges from the SFO.

'The SFO has informed Barclays that it has not made a decision as to whether it will also bring charges against Barclays Bank Plc in respect of the loan.'

Probe: Eight former Barclays bosses have been investigated by the Serious Fraud Office

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also reopened its probe into the Qatari fundraising deal and is understood to be reviewing new evidence which could prompt it to reconsider a 50 million fine against the banking giant four years ago.

The emergency funds raised by Barclays allowed it to avoid a government bailout in 2008 at a time when rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were forced to rely on a taxpayer rescue.

Mr Varley, who was chief executive between 2004 and 2011, headed the bank at the time of the fundraising, while Mr Jenkins is also said to have played a key role in orchestrating the deal.

Mr Kalaris - an American banker living in London - used to lead the bank's wealth and investment management division, while Mr Boath was the former European head of financial institutions group at Barclays.

The defendants will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 3.

The way the bank secured the investments in 2008 has since been mired in controversy.

Investigations have focused on two 'advisory services agreements' worth 322 million, which Barclays agreed to pay the Qatar Investment Authority.

The FCA slapped a 50 million penalty on the bank in 2013 after finding that Barclays had failed to disclose arrangements and fees it paid to the Qatari investors.

Barclays contested the fine and the challenge was put on hold while the SFO conducted its investigation, but that stay has been lifted.

The United States Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have also been carrying out investigations over the payments.

Barclays is meanwhile facing legal action from financier Amanda Stavely to recoup 700 million in advisory fees from Barclays she claims her firm, PCP Partners, is owed relating to the 2008 fundraising, which Barclays is defending.

The charges will come as a further headache for current Barclays boss Jes Staley after a series of recent blows, with the chief executive also facing a regulatory investigation into his own conduct after he attempted to identify a whistleblower.
Pauline Hanson's chief-of-staff has joked about getting sacked after Derryn Hinch hinted at a bombshell announcement about the One Nation staffer.

Senator Hinch told Melbourne radio broadcaster Neil Mitchell on Tuesday morning there would be big news about controversial political operator James Ashby.

However, Mr Ashby was coy when asked what the Victorian senator, a former radio and television journalist, possibly meant.

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Pauline Hanson's chief-of-staff James Ashby is the subject of a 'bombshell' speculation

'I've heard I'm getting sacked today,' Mr Ashby told reporters jokingly, after having lunch at Parliament House.

Asked about Senator Hinch's comments he said: 'I'm unaware. I have heard Senator Hinch has had some comments, I'm unsure what it's about.'

Senator Hinch was cagey when he gave a hint on 3AW, his former employer.

'There will be a bombshell dropped today about One Nation,' he said.

Victorian senator Derryn Hinch hinted new information will be revealed about James Ashby

Melbourne radio 3AW broadcaster Neil Mitchell asked Derryn Hinch if he was making hints about One Nation chief-of-staff James Ashby

'It involves a staffer, not a senator.'

Senator Hinch changed the subject when Mitchell, his former colleague, asked if it related to James Ashby.

'Oh umm ah Move on,' he said. 'It's a 'No comment'. My first 'No comment' ever.'

Senator Hinch's office declined to say if the 73-year-old lawmaker was going to make a speech in parliament.

Mr Ashby had a controversial stint as a media adviser to former Speaker Peter Slipper in 2012 before re-emerging as Senator Hanson's chief-of-staff last year.
A Russian couple died after their off-road vehicle rolled into a lake while they had sex, say police.

The 22-year-olds could not escape from their Russian-made Niva as it sank, and they drowned on the vehicle's back seat.

The school physical education teacher and his girlfriend had earlier driven to the lake in Volograd region, but worried relatives reported them missing when they failed to return.

Yana Kryuchkova (left) and boyfriend Evgeny Chernov (together right), both 22, drowned when their car rolled into a lake in Russia

Police said the couple had parked in neutral gear but when they started having sex the motions caused the vehicle to edge forwards and into the water

The couple were named as Evgeny Chernov and Yana Kryuchkova.

'The car was lifted out of the lake and the bodies of the young people were found on the back seat,' said

Andrey Fedotov, an official of the Russian Investigative Committee.

Detectives say the couple were 'making love on the back seat when the car was parked near the lake', according to local reports.

The car had been left in 'neutral gear', but their passionate movements jolted the Niva so it edged forwards into the lake near Elan.

'The lovers were shaking the car and it rolled down to the water,' said a report by local news site Bloknot Volgograd.

'The young man and his girl failed to get out of the SUV in the water.'

A social media posting by a friend said: 'We will remember you!!! so young! Rest in peace... You are in our hearts forever...'

Relatives reported the couple missing and their bodies were discovered in the back seat of a Russian-made Niva (pictured) when it was pulled from the lake
Shares in Woolworths and the owner of Coles were both down after Amazon announced it was buying America's Whole Foods.

The American online retailer said over the weekend it was snapping up the supermarket chain for US$13.7 billion (A$18 billion) in a shock move.

Woolworths shares slid 3.5 per cent on Monday following the announcement and shares in Wesfarmers, the owner of Coles, were down 0.2 per cent, 9 News reported.

Shares in Wesfarmers, the owner of Coles (pictured), were down 0.2 per cent on Monday, following Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods

Woolworths shares slid 3.5 per cent on Monday after Amazon announced its shock move (stock image)

Amazon has said it was purchasing American supermarket chain Whole Foods (pictured) for US$13.7 billion (A$18 billion)

Amazon's Whole Foods purchase coupled with it previously flagging its intention to roll-out its own retail offering in Australia had an impact on investors.

But Chris Conway, the chief market strategist at the Australian Stock Report, said: 'I think a lot of people will realise that the current fear surrounding the competition Amazon will bring, and a subsequent sell-off in some retail stocks, is perhaps a bit overdone'.

Citibank analyst Bryan Raymond said in a report released Monday Amazon would be a disruption to Australian retailers when it moves into the local market.

A spokesperson for Woolworths told Daily Mail Australia: 'Woolworths always welcomes competition'.

Online giant Amazon recently announced its plans to set-up a retail offering in Australia (stock image)

Amazon announced over the weekend it was purchasing American supermarket chain Whole Foods (pictured)

'We are focused on putting our best foot forward every time, irrespective of what our competitors do,' the spokesperson said.

'At Woolworths, we're committed to providing our customers with great quality products at a great price both online and in-store. We're proud of our fresh food credentials, with 96 per cent of all our fruit and vegetables sourced from Australia.'

Daily Mail Australia contacted Coles for comment.

Woolworths shares were down 0.71 percent on Tuesday and currently sit at $25.15.

Shares in Westfarmers, the owner of Coles, slid 0.25% on Tuesday to $40.51.
The fate of a multi-million pound plot of land in London's Hampstead Heath hangs in the balance, after the squatter who lived there died without passing it on.

Harry Hallowes won a court battle to remain in his lean-to shack in North London amid continuous threats from developers in 2007, but said he never cared about the money, simply wanting a place to live.

Now his famous court battle has been turned into a Hollywood film, starring Brendan Gleeson and Diane Keaton, as mystery surrounds what will happen to the 3million hovel.

Harry Hallowes on the plot of land in one of the UK's most desirable locations, where he lived for more than 20 years

Brendan Gleeson in Hampstead, the film out this month about Harry Hallowes battle to save his plot from development

From 2005, Harry fought a two-year court battle to have rights to live on the land, and in 2007 he was granted the title deeds.

He had lived there since 1986, after he was kicked out of his flat, and survived on odd-jobs around the neighbourhood, where houses start at 1m.

Neighbours rallied around him when a planning application was lodged to redevelop a former nursing home nearby, and after refusing to agree to taking a hectare of land but giving it back to the heath when he died, he took his battle to the top.

In the film, in cinemas on June 23, Gleeson plays Donald, loosely based on Harry, a tramp who lives in a much more luxurious lean-to, complete with a kitchen and bathroom.

Harry's home was filled with what many would regard as junk and rubbish, an accumulation of two decades in the woods

Harry was offered a hectare of land which he would have to give up if he ever left, but he decided that wasn't good enough and took his battle to court

The piece of land is just a stone's throw from the 65m Athlone estate which is now a private home

Keaton plays an American widow who falls in love with him and helps him with his legal battle against his neighbours.

In reality, there was no love interest and the neighbours supported him in his rights to the land, which was occupied by a small 8ft by 10ft shack.

Gleeson told the Sun he met the loner before he started the role: 'I got out in my city shoes and started sliding and slipping through the mud and came across a guy who knew Harry and told me to follow him.

He was granted the deeds after two years in legal turmoil and was allowed to stay in his plot

But he insisted he did not want the money that went with such a prestigious postcode and it is thought he might have left it to charity

Gleeson and Diane Keaton in the film. The love interest in a made-up part of the film, and the neighbours actually backed Harry's legal battle

'I saw an old guy waving his stick at us. My new friend went over. He came back and said he didnt want to see me because he had no interest in Hollywood.'

The future of the land is now in question, as Harry kept to himself, even shunning his brother who lived just a few miles away.

Neighbours and Harry's brother's widower think he might have left it to charity.

A spokesperson for the City of London Corporation, which manages Hampstead Heath said: 'The area occupied by Harry is private land and it is down to those responsible for his estate to determine how the land will be used.

'However, we would like to see the land protected as a green space in keeping with Harrys wishes and taking into account its proximity to the Heath.'
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Hundreds of mourners have paid their respects to a teenager who was killed in the Manchester terrorist attack last month.

Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, was killed when terrorist Salman Abedi bombed the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert.

The schoolgirl, from Bury, was one of 22 people who lost their lives in the tragedy.

Her mother Charlotte made a desperate TV appeal for information in the agonising hours after the outrage, only for step-father Paul Hodgson to receive the call her family had feared.

Her loved ones asked mourners to wear blue or bright colours to celebrate her life.

Hundreds of people were pictured arriving at The Parish Church of St Anne, in Tottington, including her friend Adam Lawler who went with Olivia to the gig and was left seriously injured.

The teenager, also 15, was making his first public appearance since the attack. He was pushed in a wheelchair and was wearing protective on both feet and gloves on both hands.

Hundreds of people were pictured arriving at The Parish Church of St Anne, in Tottington, including her friend Adam Lawler who went with Olivia to the gig and was left seriously injured

Charlotte Campbell and Paul Hodgson, the mother and step-father of Olivia Campbell-Hardy, arriving for the funeral service of the Manchester bombing victim

The funeral of 15 year old Olivia Campbell takes place at St Anne's church in Tottington, Bury, Greater Manchester

A floral display of 'Ollie' could be seen on the hearse as it came up the road, before her light blue coffin was carried into the church

Members of North West Scooter Clubs follow the funeral cortege of Manchester attack victim Olivia Campbell-Hardy

On one of the scooters 'Olivia 22' was written on its wing mirror with a picture of the girl

Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15, was killed when terrorist Salman Abedi bombed the Manchester Arena after an Ariana Grande concert

Speaking afterwards, Adam said: 'I've shed many a tear today and it's been a shaky experience but I'm strong.'

He described Olivia as the 'bravest person' he would ever meet.

A St George's flag with a bee, which has become a symbol of Manchester since the attack, was laid on top of her blue coffin and floral tributes reading 'Ollie' and 'Princess' were displayed in the hearse.

Mourners lined the streets to see the funeral procession, which included riders on scooters decorated with balloons and flags.

Many stood outside for the service, which was relayed on speakers.

The Reverend Hugh Bearn said running through every element of the service were 'the threads of hope and love'.

Hundreds of mourners have paid their respects to a teenager who was killed in the Manchester terrorist attack last month

Her loved ones asked mourners to wear blue or bright colours to celebrate her life

The coffin of Manchester attack victim Olivia Campbell-Hardy arrives at at The Parish Church of St Anne, in Tottington

Charlotte Campbell and Paul Hodgson, the mother and stepfather of Olivia Campbell-Hardy, arrive for the funeral service

Motorcyclists follow the cortege arriving for the funeral service of Manchester bombing victim Olivia Campbell-Hardy, 15

Olivia Campbell, 15, was one of 22 people killed in the nail bomb massacre at an Ariana Grande concert on Monday May 22

The coffin of Manchester attack victim Olivia Campbell-Hardy leaves The Parish Church of St Anne, in Tottington

He added that these were 'the exact opposites of meaninglessness and hate'.

He said pupils from Olivia's school had written messages about her in the days after her death, which were displayed on the altar.

He said: 'She was a girl with character and vitality.

'She is described in the words still on the altar as the kindest person with whom happy times were shared.

'A true friend with an amazing smile and a great laugh.'

The choir from Tottington High School, where Olivia was a pupil, sang I, The Lord Of Sea And Sky and hymns Lord Of The Dance and One More Step Along The World I Go were sung by the congregation.

The family asked for donations to be made to the Tottington High School Music Room.

There was applause as the coffin was carried out to Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Olivia loved music and had previously auditioned for Britain's Got Talent in Manchester, singing her favourite song, All Of Me by John Legend

In an emotional tribute on the order of service her family urged Olivia to look after eight year Saffie Rose Roussos who also died in the tragedy

Mourners applaud as the coffin of Manchester attack victim Olivia Campbell-Hardy leaves The Parish Church of St Anne

Charlotte Campbell and Paul Hodgson, the mother and stepfather of Olivia Campbell-Hardy, look on as her coffin arrives for the funeral service of the Manchester bombing victim

The 15-year-old attended the Ariana Grande concert with her friend Adam Lawler, who was badly injured in the blast

In an emotional tribute on the order of service her family urged Olivia to look after eight year Saffie Rose Roussos who also died in the tragedy.

It read: 'Taken too soon from the people you loved, taken from all who loved you so much, we'll look after you mum and Paul with all our strength and might.

'Please hold on to Saffi's hand as you walk to the light, go sing your heart out, sing it out loud, your smile your spirit you make us so proud. You dreamed one day you would be a star but to those left behindyou already are.

'Now you're gone, taken with no grace. But if I could, Olivia I would gladly take your place. RIP sweet angel.'

Rev Hugh Bearn said: 'Olivia's life touched people all over the world. People's minds and hearts have been touched by her story. She was a girl with character and vitality. She was a girl with a sense of humour who knew how to laugh, smile and have fun.'

In an interview before the service Miss Campbell said: ''Olivia was the most wonderful girl you'd ever meet. She was the gobbiest girl, the most kindest, most caring girl. She is going to be so missed by everybody.

'We're not planning a funeral, we're planning a party. She's not going to get any of the special things now, and this is going to be the party to end all parties for her. She's in her prom dress, she just looks so stunning.

'The most important thing in with her is the wedding invitation, she's holding it in her hands so she knows that we're going to do it. And she is invited. As Olivia said to everybody that she saw, keep smiling and keep singing. And that's what we say to everyone now.'

Mr Hodgson said: ''We're saying blue and bright colours, we don't want black, we're not mourning her life we're celebrating it.

Olivia loved music and had previously auditioned for Britain's Got Talent in Manchester, singing her favourite song, All Of Me by John Legend.

A couple of years ago she took her talent to the big stage when she auditioned for Britain's Got Talent in Manchester.

Mr Hodgson said after her death: 'Heaven has got another angel and she'll be singing up there now with her grandad.

'She'll be sadly missed but the memories we hold are great and we all loved her to bits.

'She could be fiery when she wanted and we were always joking around but that was Oli and there'll never be another one. She definitely broke the mould.'

Hundreds of people were pictured arriving, with some holding flowers to pay their respects

The funeral of 15-year-old Olivia Campbell takes place at St Anne's church in Tottington, Bury

A man wearing an 'I Love Manchester' hoodie arriving on a scooter ahead of the funeral

Olivia was with her friend Adam at the gig and was last heard from 15 minutes before Ariana Grande came on stage
Nine UK-bound migrants are facing manslaughter charges after a van driver was killed following an accident caused by a makeshift barricade on a motorway near Calais.

The horrifying collision killed the unidentified man instantly as his Polish-registered Renault Master caught fire on the A16 motorway.

Detectives believe that the Eritreans blockaded the road so as to get on board lorries heading for the south coast of England.

The Eritreans are said to have used rubble and branches ripped from nearby trees to halt traffic between junctions 49 and 50 on the busy Dunkirk  Calais stretch of the road.

All were found hidden in the back of one of the HGVs involved in the crash.

The horrifying collision saw the man, who has not been identified, dying instantly as his Polish-registered Renault Master caught fire on the A16 motorway

The driver died this morning after his van caught fire on the road which was blocked by rubble. Firefighters and rescuers are pictured standing next to the wreckage of the van on the A16 highway near Guemps, northern France

French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said: 'These attacks on legality cannot be allowed to continue'.

He added that those responsible 'should be prosecuted in court because where you're a migrant or French, you respect French law.'

Neither the victim, nor any of the suspects  who also face charges of 'obstructing movement' and 'endangering the lives of others'  have yet been named.

The tactic has been used frequently in recent months, and the authorities had warned that a serious accident was inevitable.

Another of the lorries caught up in today's collision had nine Eritreans on board, and they were all arrested at the scene.

'The accident happened close to Guemps, and was caused by an improvised roadblock,' said a spokesman for the prefecture that covers Calais. 'The driver of a van registered in Poland died.'

Police sources said three trucks had braked to avoid the collision, causing the van to collide with the back of one.

Another of the lorries caught up in today's collision had nine Eritreans on board, and they were all arrested at the scene

It caught fire and then exploded into flames with the 'driver almost certainly dying instantly,' said one of the sources.

Police arrived within 10 minutes, and the Eritreans were all arrested at the scene, he added.

Reinforcements including at least 150 riot control officers were drafted into Calais earlier this month as the problem of UK-bound migrants setting up burning roadblocks worsened.

It is all part of a deteriorating security situation in the French port town that has also seen soldiers and specialist anti-terrorism teams drafted in.

It was in October last year that some 8000 would-be asylum seekers were 'evacuated' from Calais following the destruction of the so-called 'Jungle' shanty town.

Since then everything has been done to stop them returning, with a zero tolerance approach to new settlements.

But with temperatures reaching 32C, more migrants are arriving, and resuming their efforts to get across the Channel.

The prefecture estimates that some 300 are currently sleeping rough in the area, while charity groups say the figure is more like 600.
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A toxic smog will hit parts of Britain tomorrow as councils continue to deal with roads melting and rail lines buckling amid soaring temperatures, with workers facing a commute in the hottest June day since 1976.

Tarmac has been turning into a liquid mess in Surrey, Cambridge, Manchester and Lancashire today with highs of 91.5F (33C) but tomorrow will be even hotter, as temperatures soars to 93.2F (34C).

And now parts of the country will face increased air pollution as the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) predicts rates of seven to eight out of their scale of 10 in some areas on Wednesday.

The soaring temperatures have sparked battles between bosses and employees, with one man who turned up to work in shorts, but then changed into a dress when he was ordered home.

Parents have vowed to keep their children at home as school heads have refused to relax strict uniform rules despite the punishing heat.

The hot weather has promoted some strange behaviour too, with a Range Rover driver, who perhaps hoped to mimic a TV advert, found his 70,000 luxury 4x4 stuck in mudflats amid the rising tide.

Daredevils in Dorset took basejumping to the extreme after leaping 150ft off the iconic Broadchurch cliff in West Bay, and landing just yards from families on the beach.

Scroll down for video

Jenny Brailsford makes the most of the hot weather enjoyed by millions of Brits today by topping up her tan in Hampstead Heath, London

A woman stripped off to her bikini (pictured) as she enjoyed the sun with an iced coffee at Hampstead Heath in London

A woman checks her phone and listens to music as she sunbathes on Hampstead Heath, which was filled with sun seekers throughout today

Daniela Geanta (left) and Marlena Bratu enjoying the weather at Crawfordsburn Country Park beach, Helen's Bay, Northern Ireland

Many sunworshippers cooled down with iced drinks as Britain experienced one of the hottest Junes since records began

Miss England Elizabeth Grant enjoys the sunny weather on Formby Beach in Southport today, as temperatures hovered around the 90F mark

A man and a woman sunbathe in shorts and a bikini in Green Park in central London, taking along a picnic for the day

Left, an amorous couple pucker up in Hampstead and right, Ryan Johns enjoying the sun at Hampstead Heath Ponds London

Dozens of people travelled to Detroit Bridge in Salford Quays this afternoon to jump into the water in a bid to cool down

One man takes a acrobatic approach to tombstoning at Salford Quays this afternoon, with police arriving soon after to stop jumpers from cooling off in the water

Some young men cool off by tombstoning in Plymouth, jumping into the water from the cliffs, which has led to warnings about knowing what might be in the water below

Smog tops the city of London as people face higher levels of pollution on Wednesday, with warnings from Defra to avoid strenuous exercise

A baby elephant is hosed down to cool off from the hot summer weather at the West Midlands Safari Park in Bewdley

An Ostrich gratefully opens its mouth as it is hosed down to cool off in the unbearable heat at West Midlands Safari Park

It is all too much for this rhino at West Midlands Safari Park, who took refuge from the blazing sun by dipping in the pool

A white Tiger relaxes in the shade, taking umbrage from the blaring sun as temperatures in Worcestershire hovered around the 90F mark

Park wardens tell off one man for taking a dip in the ponds in Hampstead, as sun seekers try to cool off with a dip

Conor Lowson and Charlotte Raimes enjoying the sun at Hampstead Heath Ponds in London

Cambridgeshire police shared this image of the roads in Doddington where emergency repair work is going on. They've advised people to 'approach with care'

Doddington, Cambridgeshire, where roads are melting as temperatures jump up to more than 85F (33C). Police have warned driver to exercise caution

Emergency workers in Doddington can be seen as they make quick repairs to the streets as the tarmac melts under the extreme conditions

Workmen set to the job of repairing the roads, using extra tarmac to fill the newly open cracks after the hot temperatures melt the surface

A cyclist avoids the new potholes formed after the tarmac melted in Doddington, Cambridge, on Tuesday during the heatwave

Police have told people to be cautious if they decide to drive today, as road surfaces are changing with heat

Manchester got so warm that tarmac melted, and someone decided to take the opportunity to write 'hot' in the gooey mess

Tarleton, Lancashire, where one driver discovered the melting road the hard way, having to scrap the sticky mess off the bottom of his shoes and his tyres

Repairs are now being carried out on the road in Doddington, Cambridge as England looks set to see the hottest June for decades

iPhone melts after it's left in direct sunlight for an hour The soaring temperatures were hot enough to wreck the insides of the smartphone beyond repair (pictured) A warning was issued yesterday after an iPhone melted in the scorching heat. The soaring temperatures were hot enough to wreck the insides of the smartphone beyond repair after it was left exposed in direct sunlight for an hour. The unnamed owner reportedly left the 6S model unprotected when she stopped for food at a cafe in Cornwall. When she found it had stopped working she took it to a local repairman who said it was a write off. Dave Gilmore, of Wadebridge, Cornwall, who has been repairing phones and computers for a decade, said it was the most damaged he had seen. He said: 'It was a girl who had been out walking, had stopped for lunch, and the phone was on the top of her bag. 'It's the worst damage of this sort I've seen, it has melted the screen connectors and has even melted the camera as well. To be honest, I think the phone is a complete write off.' Other users have been advised to keep phones out of direct sunlight. One said she got a warning message on her iPhone saying she could not use her device until it cooled down. She said: 'If you're out and about, keep your phone in your pocket or in a bag - or you may be in for a very expensive lesson.' Advertisement

Toxic smog to spread in Britain Tomorrow, parts of the UK will face high levels of pollution. According to Defra, most of England, away from the northeast, and also Wales are expected to have Moderate levels of air pollution during Wednesday. Again there is a small risk that some extremely localised areas of High pollution will occur. Areas of Moderate air pollution are also possible across parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland, where otherwise the pollution levels should be Low. While the general population will be fine in moderate levels, those with lung or heart problems should consider reducing their levels of strenuous outdoor activity. In high levels, those with lung and health problems should reduce outdoor activities. Anyone who experiences symptoms like a sore throat should also reduce outdoor activities. Advertisement

Emergency roadworks are being carried out across the country as Cambridgeshire council even brought out the gritters to help.

Agnes Owen, who works at a service station, said that it 'sounded like cars were driving on water'.

She said: 'The tyres were literally ripping the tarmac off the road. It's quite dangerous!'

Evan Laughlin, from Cambridgeshire County Council, says that 'normally the roads can stand the temperatures'.

But he added: 'They're surface dressed roads and what's happening is the binder that's underneath the stone that you see is bleeding through - the heat is bringing it to the surface

'We're using the gritters to apply granite dust which settles it down and stops the bitumen material applying itself to the wheels of vehicles.

'It's very expensive to use other processes to resurface roads. It's a very good product that we use.

'The road surface temperatures are at 40C (104F) and above at midday. Normally the roads stand the summer temperatures we get, but just this week it's very hot.'

Hundreds of supermarket customers are missing out on their shopping as Tesco's system went 'into meltdown'. Those avoiding roads are likely to be sweating on trains using newspapers as makeshift fans.

To add insult to injury for hundreds of families, supermarket chain Tesco has cancelled orders after an error, leaving them without ice cold drinks and ice cream, with store freezers bare as Britain desperately tries to cool down.

Sunbathers enjoyed the view from Hampstead Heath, looking out to central London today as they basked in the heat

Two friends enjoy the heat as they try to catch a tan on the beach at Margate, in Kent. It is due to be even hotter tomorrow

A woman keeps her head undercover on the beach in Margate as her male companions go for as much tan as possible in the sun

Miss Devon, Becky Wright (17) dons a blue swimsuit to enjoy the sunshine and hot weather at the Paignton beach in Devon

The five-day heatwave, which is likely to hit its peak tomorrow with temperatures of 93F (34C) expected, will bring rain at the weekend, but festival goers need not fear, as Glastonbury will probably escape the worst.

In Cambridgeshire today, motorists were spotted driving cautiously along a road in Doddington where the Tarmac has melted.

Teenager drowned in reservoir as he cooled off in sunny weather Tributes have been paid to a teenager who drowned in a reservoir as he tried to cool off with friends on the hottest day of the year. The youngster, who has been named on social media as Paul Lawson, went missing around 6pm on Monday at the Greenbooth Reservoir, a moorland beauty spot outside Rochdale, Greater Manchester. He had reportedly got into difficulties while swimming with friends as temperatures soared above 91F. The teenager had been underwater for five minutes when police were called at 5.55pm. The heatwave claimed another victim after an elderly woman was pulled from the sea. The woman, thought to be in her eighties, was pulled from the sea at East Witterings at 2.40pm on Monday. Advertisement

Repairs are now being carried out on the road as England looks set to see the hottest June for decades. Drivers were also warned to take care on the B1165 near Newton in Cambridgeshire, where the tarmac has melted.

In Tarleton, Lancashire, one driver found out the hard way that the roads were melting, as he found himself scraping a sticky mess off his shoes.

The man, who didn't want to be named, took the snaps in Tarleton, Lancs., and was frustrated to discover tar all over his wheels and his own shoes - which he then transferred to the inside of his car.

He said: 'It was unbelievable. It went everywhere - even on the pedals inside your car. I dread to think what the road would be like in the winter if it stayed like this.'

The streets are so warm that a passerby was able write the word 'hot' in the floor on Castlefield, Manchester.

A commuter in Croydon decided to skip the tram after she spotted what she believed to be tarmac melting, and heard the trams making a 'grinding' noise as they went over them.

Photographer Sarah Preece was walking to a local market when she saw the black seal around the tracks had started to melt - near where seven people died in the horror Croydon Tram Crash.

Sarah noticed the fault around 3pm on Monday - the hottest day of the year - near Lebanon Road tram stop in Croydon, south London.

She said: 'I noticed that each time a tram went over the tracks that the damage worsened, and the trains made a loud grinding noise as it went over.

'I walked down to East Croydon, and again the tracks were damaged. I contacted TfL and asked 'Is this even safe?'

But the 'melting' track is just the flexible sealant, which gives no structural support, and provides a movement joint between the rail and the tarmac.

Rory O'Neill, TfL's Director for London Trams, said: 'The flexible sealant near the track has been softened by the current hot weather and although it is having no impact on the safe running of the tram network, we appreciate it may look concerning to customers.

'Our engineers are on site and, as is standard procedure, they are applying sand to mitigate the effect of the heat.'

Photographer Sarah Preece was walking to a local market when she saw the black seal around the tracks had started to melt in Croydon

The worrying sight was spotted less than 500 metres from the site of the Croydon tram crash, which killed seven people and injured 51

But the 'melting' track is just the flexible sealant, which gives no structural support, and provides a movement joint between the rail and the tarmac

Commuters battle the heat on the London Underground as the packed tube lines become hotter and hotter with the rising temperatures outside

The capital's hottest line is the Bakerloo line, but some still wore suits and ties as they made their journey into work

One man appears to doze off in the stuffy heat of the underground trains, which don't all have air conditioning to help regulate temperatures

A commuter is seen making a makeshift fan out of her newspaper as she contends with the sweltering heat on the Tube

Yesterday there were transport problems caused by the weather being too hot for trains to run normally, while today, London commuters sweated it out in the heat of the underground.

In the south-east almost 50 trains were cancelled and dozens delayed because of the risk of tracks buckling in direct sunshine.

Glorious sunshine to end in storms (but don't worry if you're going to Glastonbury) Temperatures are expected to peak at 34 on Wednesday, the hottest June day since 1976 and then drop off with the arrival of thunderstorms. Forecasters are predicting torrential downpours through to early Thursday morning with 40mm (1.6 inches) of rain expected to fall in an hour in some places. The storms will bring the longest heatwave since 1995 to an end and mark the end of what is likely to be one of the hottest months since records began in 1847. Met Office spokesman Oli Claydon added: 'Glastonbury will get away with it as the south west is likely to remain dry.' Advertisement

Greater Anglia said slow speeds meant some services were cancelled between London and destinations including Norwich, Ipswich and Southend.

Great Western Railway also had delays due to speed restrictions on routes between London and the west country.

Network Rail said: 'Rails in direct sunshine can be 20C hotter than air temperature. Rails expand as they get hotter and can start to buckle. 'Speed restrictions are imposed as slower trains exert lower forces on the track, reducing the chance of buckling.'

The problems prompted criticism on social media.

Traveller Andrew Barnard tweeted: 'Wrong type of heat Greater Anglia? It's 2017, not 1917.' And retired policeman Paul Cater tweeted: 'It's officially too hot for trains to run.'

Some roads in Lancashire were also said to be visibly melting in the sun, with warnings issued about avoiding certain roads.

There was also reports a road surface melting near Guildford, where spilt oil had 'melted into the tarmac due to the heat', according to Surrey Police.

But the hot weather has also led to tragedy, with two people dying as a result of the extreme heat.

One teenager, named on social media as Paul Lawson, drowned in Greenbooth reservoir on Monday evening, after diving into the water to cool down in the hot weather.

He got into difficulty when he was with friends at the beauty spot outside Rochdale, Greater Manchester and had been under the water for five minutes when police were called at 5.55pm.

A woman in her 80s also died after being pulled from the sea at East Wittering beach in West Sussex on Monday afternoon, Sussex Police said.

Sofia Elahcene-Mantack (2) with her mother Semia Elahcene cool off in a fountain in Birmingham as temperatures soar across Britain

Left, Sofia splashes around in the fountain in Birmingham City Centre, as the mercury rose to more than 80F by 10am. Right, her mother Semia Elahcene joined in, desperate to stay cool

'Idiot' teenagers cool off by tombstoning in Devon Thrill-seeking teens have been branded idiots after they cooled off by dangerously tombstoning from a pole into the sea. Local councillor Stuart Hughes took pictures of reckless teenagers taking turns to jump off a pole just yards away from sheet piling concrete on Monday night in Sidmouth, Devon. They leapt around five metres to the sea and Mr Hughes said they were lucky not to have been seriously injured. He said: 'These youngsters appear to be blind when it comes to dangers that this type of activity poses. Teenagers were filmed flinging themselves off a pole in the sea in Devon, sparking warnings over safety, as they could not have known what was in the waters below them 'They are unaware of all the nasties that lay on the bottom of the sea bed around this post which is there to warn sailing boats of the outfall wall. They have no sense of danger below the waterline and taking tombstoning to next level at Sidmouth. 'As you can see, there are some real nasties with sheet piling around concrete in fill. Fall off the top and hit this you would do some real damage to yourself. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing.' Tombstoning sees people jump from high structures - such as bridges or cliffs - into the sea. In the past six years there have been 16 deaths and 50 serious injuries related to the craze. HM Coastguard said: 'We always urge people to have fun but stay safe when out enjoying our beautiful beaches and coastlines. 'Jumping from piers, cliffs, rocks or other structures into the sea can be very dangerous. 'The depth of the water can dramatically change with the tide, and what was a deep pool at lunchtime might be a shallow puddle by teatime. 'You don't know what hazards may be lurking under the surface until you are hurt or worse.' Advertisement

The extreme heat - which is currently warmer than the 89F (31C) temperatures seen in the Maldives, Crete and Sicily - has prompted the Met Office to issue the second highest heatwave alert for all of Britain, while NHS bosses have urged residents to shelter from the sunshine.

The level three amber heatwave warning is one behind a national emergency and has been issued from 9am Monday to 9am Thursday.

The warning is issued when 'there is a 90 per cent probability of heatwave conditions' according to the Met Office website.

The heat did not subside overnight either, as people struggling to sleep flocked to Twitter to share their tips and frustrations, with the hashtag #toohottosleep.

Some discarded nightwear completely to strip off and sleep in their birthday suits, others turned a bag of frozen peas into a makeshift icy pillow and al fresco sleeping - basically giving up and bedding down in the garden, also proved a popular choice.

Some nervous sleepers admitted they didn't like nodding off without a sheet or duvet on top of them, so were forced to spend the night thrashing about in the balmy conditions - but at least safe in the knowledge that no monsters would get them.

Others admitted the unusually clement weather had taken them by surprise - and wished for the showers and grey skies they were more used to.

Some may have found themselves jealous of their pets who could leap into the fridge for some respite from the soaring temperatures

Twitter users joked about planning rain dances to help quell the heat, while others said they couldn't sleep without their duvets or the monsters would get them

The heat means social and healthcare workers should ensure high-risk groups including the elderly, children and those with medical conditions, are kept cool and hydrated.

It has led unions to call for more relaxed dress codes for workers, urging bosses to let people come in to their workplaces in shorts and flip flops instead of suits, and even consider sending them home if it gets above 86F (30C) - or 80F (26.6C) for those doing strenuous work.

Man sent home from work for turning up in shorts comes back (...wearing a bright pink dress!) While on his way to work Joey Barge, 20, from Buckinghamshire, tweeted: 'If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?' Just minutes later he was sent home by bosses who thought his attire wasn't appropriate for the office despite the sweltering heat. But rather than changing into a stuffy suit, the call centre worker decided to don a bright pink dress as a 'protest' against the rules. While on his way to work Joey Barge, 20, from Buckinghamshire, tweeted: 'If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?' Rather than changing into a stuffy suit after being sent home, the call centre worker decided to don a bright pink dress as a 'protest' against the rules Predicting that he'd be sent home again, Joey posted a fashionable selfie to Twitter which racked up dozens of likes and retweets. Instead his act of defiance sparked a change in the rules - with bosses sending out an email allowing 'gentlemen in the office' to wear three-quarter length shorts in 'black, navy or beige only'. Taking to Twitter, delighted Joey branded the u-turn a 'partial win'. Advertisement

Heat maps for the UK today, left, and yesterday, right, show the south of the country is baking in warmer temperatures, as commuters do all they can to stay cool in the sunny climes. The heat is spreading further north today

The TUC has also called for employers to implement cooling measures when a workplace temperature reaches 24C.

The organisation said that companies should supply workers with cool drinks and allow them to take regular breaks.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'While many of us will welcome the sunshine and warm temperatures this week, working in sweltering conditions can be unbearable and dangerous.

'Employers can give their staff a break by relaxing dress code rules temporarily and ensuring staff doing outside work are protected.

'Obviously shorts and flip flops won't be the right attire for all workers, but no-one should be made to suffer unnecessarily in the heat for the sake of appearances.'

One worker gave it a go in Buckinghamshire, changing into a summer dress when he was sent home for wearing a pair of smart shorts.

While on his way to work Joey Barge, 20, from Buckinghamshire, tweeted: 'If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?'

Just minutes later he was sent home by bosses who thought his attire wasn't appropriate for the office despite the sweltering heat.

But rather than changing into a stuffy suit, the call centre worker decided to don a bright pink dress as a 'protest' against the rules.

Now that's an off-roader! Coastguard to the rescue after hapless Range Rover driver is gets his 70,000 luxury 4x4 stuck in mudflats This is the moment a hapless motorist tested the off-road capabilities of his brand new 70,000 Range Rover - and got stuck on mudflats. The young man was apparently copying TV adverts of the 2017 Range Rover Sport when he drove it onto the sand at Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. But he got bogged down in the treacherous mud 400 metres from the shore and was forced to call for help at 6pm on Monday evening. The young man ignored warnings signs and ventured out onto the sand at Weston-super-Mare in a 2017 Range Rover Sport but got stuck The RNLI was called in to rescue, and managed with just minutes to spare before the tide engulfed the luxury motor. The coastguard warned not to put their vehicles at risk A hovercraft from Burnham Area Rescue Boat was dispatched to the stranded 2.5 tonne vehicle with two Coastguard 'mud technicians' on board. They battled in vain to dig out the tyres with spades and eventually an RNLI tracked launching vehicle was used to pull the 4x4 free. The rescue was completed with just minutes to spare before the incoming tide engulfed the luxury motor. A Coastguard spokesman said: 'The driver of the Range Rover was a young man who had attempted to test out the vehicle, having watched TV adverts of it being driven off-road - but without realising how dangerous the mudflats can be. 'Our advice to motorists using local beaches is never to put their vehicles at risk by driving beyond the hard sand at the top of the beach.' It is believed the occupants of the Range Rover abandoned it before the hovercraft reached them and the vehicle did not suffer any serious damage. Advertisement

Predicting that he'd be sent home again, Joey posted a fashionable selfie to Twitter which racked up dozens of likes and retweets.

Instead his act of defiance sparked a change in the rules - with bosses sending out an email allowing 'gentlemen in the office' to wear three-quarter length shorts in 'black, navy or beige only'.

Taking to Twitter, delighted Joey branded the u-turn a 'partial win'.

The EU yesterday revealed that officials in Brussels could go home early if they get too hot despite tough Brexit negotiations kicking off.

Eurocrats have been told they can leave if office temperatures hit 86F.

In a notice circulated to staff and posted online today, the EU's HR departments also advises staff to turn the lights off to keep cool.

Even too hot for foxes! Cunning animal takes a break from the heat Martin Besserman snapped a fox relaxing when he went to use his sunbed only to find he had been beaten to it. The 50-year-old comedy promoter, who lives in north London, said: 'I went out into my garden on Sunday morning at about 10:30 because it was really hot and I just wanted to relax, but the fox got there before me. 'They're regularly near the house, I opened the window a little bit to get the photo and the fox acknowledged it but wasn't frightened. 'These foxes are less afraid of people than usual, it's curious really, they seem to be quite confident. 'I saw another one on Monday morning about 6am, there was one sleeping on the wall, and on Saturday morning there was a whole family of them there climbing on the sunbed. 'I have seen more foxes than usual near my house, but there's been a bit of anxiety because next door have a cat. 'There's a dilemma about allowing them to stay there in case they got in a fight with it, I saw one of them trying to get the cat's food a couple of weeks ago.' Advertisement

And they suggest employees should ditch their suits and ties and opt for loose-fitting clothes to cope with the heatwave.

The circular points out that staff should open windows, drink lots of water and 'not to drink alcohol' during the hot weather.

They also suggest Eurocrats should not indulge in a lavish lunches and instead opt to 'eat light meals' while the mercury is soaring.

Yesterday became the hottest day of the year so far as the temperature reached 91F (32.4C) at RAF Northolt, west London.

The temperatures beat the previous record for this year, the 89.8 F (32.1 C) reached on Sunday.

But forecasters say it could be even hotter tomorrow, with highs of more than 96.2F (35.7C) anticipated. The highest June temperature since Met Office records began was recorded in Southampton on June 28, 1976 when it was 96F (35.6C).

The NHS has also issued advice and guidelines on the www.nhs.uk website to help people deal with the blazing sunshine.

NHS advice includes urging people to: 'Spend time in the shade when the sun is strongest, between 11am and 3pm.'

It also said: 'Keep rooms cool by using shades, have cool baths or showers and stay hydrated.'

In Birmingham city centre, Semia Elahcene and her daughter Sofia cooled off in a fountain as they desperately tried to cope with the soaring temperatures.

In Hampshire, a tiny harvest mouse was snapped feasting on pollen after nestling itself inside tulip buds. The cute mouse - around the size of a two pence piece - climbed up the stems of the colourful flowers and jumped inside the petals.

It quickly obtained the pollen before moving on to more tulips, while being photographed by accountant Val Saxby as it did so. Ms Saxby, 56, took these photos at Libertyis Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre near Ringwood, Hants, and said the mouse was 'endearing'.

One mother even kept her children home from school as the annual battle over children wearing blazers raged online on Mumsnet.

Sabrina Fitzsimons, from Bournemouth, refused to send son Jack, 14, and daughter Caitlin, 15, to Winton and Glenmoor schools because of the blazer policy.

Cyclists make the most of the stunning morning in London by riding through Richmond Park with the sunrise

'Blazers in this weather?' Mumsnet rages at school uniform policies as one mother keeps her kids HOME Sabrina Fitzsimons, from Bournemouth, refused to send son Jack, 14, and daughter Caitlin, 15, to Winton and Glenmoor schools because of the blazer policy. 'In this heat, children are expected to wear their blazers and I feel this poses a significant risk to their health,' she said. She decided to keep them at home after Caitlin complained of headaches and nausea due to the heat last week. She phoned reception yesterday morning for the policy on blazers and said she was told pupils are expected to wear their jackets at the school. She said: 'Teachers decide if students can take off their blazers in class - but the teachers are in their light clothing dictating to the pupils that if they remove their blazers they face isolation. 'How is this even allowed? Surely it is the school's responsibility to ensure the safety and well being of pupils?' Another Mumsnet user vented her frustration after her younger sister was forced to continue to wear her school blazer in spite of the blistering heat. User Kitbee raged that she was 'f***** off' that the teenager was being forced to dress in a full school blazer with her shirt done up to apparently instill a 'work ethic'. She wrote on the parenting site: 'Blazers on in this a weather. Really? Top buttons too. DSis [darling sister] school is saying it's to enhance work ethic and get you use to the work place by following rules like these.' Advertisement

'In this heat, children are expected to wear their blazers and I feel this poses a significant risk to their health,' she said.

She decided to keep them at home after Caitlin complained of headaches and nausea due to the heat last week. She phoned reception yesterday morning for the policy on blazers and said she was told pupils are expected to wear their jackets at the school.

On Mumsnet, other users rallied to back one woman's call for school pupils to be allowed to relax their dress code during hot weather.

User Kitbee raged that she was 'f***** off' that the teenager was being forced to dress in a full school blazer with her shirt done up to apparently instill a 'work ethic'.

She wrote on the parenting site: 'Blazers on in this a weather. Really? Top buttons too. DSis [darling sister] school is saying it's to enhance work ethic and get you use to the work place by following rules like these.'

The high temperatures are forecast to stay for most regions until cooler conditions move in on Friday.

Meanwhile, police across Britain also urged dog owners to leave their pets at home, amid reports of dogs being rescued from hot cars.

In St Ives, Cornwall, a local resident smashed a car window to help a dog who appeared to be dying of overheating. Clive Oxley called police and was warned he could be arrested for criminal damage.

He said: 'We just smashed it and got it out and gave it some water. At least it can breathe now - it was lying on its back with its leg in the air.'

In Hornsea, East Yorkshire, police officers rescued a distressed dog by smashing the window of a car just in time. The owners were reported for animal cruelty.'

Age UK also urged everyone to 'look out for older neighbours, friends and relatives' and issued detailed advice about how the elderly can cope with the hot conditions.

Dr Angie Bone, Head of Public Health England's Extreme Events team, said: 'Spells of hot weather like this are enjoyed by many of us, but they can make a very real impact on some people's health.

'That's why it's so important we all keep an eye on those likely to be most at risk, people with underlying heart and lung conditions, older people and those with younger children.'

MeteoGroup forecaster Callum Stewart said: 'We can expect more warm and humid nights this week as the very warm weather will remain until Friday.'

A tiny mouse found itself a resting place inside a tulip in the Owl, Raptor and Reptile Centre near Ringwood, Hants

This three-day forecast shows how most of the country will bask in glorious sunshine today and tomorrow, with cooler weather due on Thursday

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Soaring temperatures start a cheeky craze as social media strips off

A cheeky craze has taken off with the soaring temperatures - of people baring their bottoms across Britain.

The sizzling sunshine has seen men and women uploading photos of their backsides to an Instagram account called Cheeky Exploits.

It is dedicated to 'making the world happier through butts' and shares photos of people exposing themselves in places around the world.

Some of Britain's best known places feature in the gallery and the heatwave has seen an upsurge in activity. The latest shots includes two blondes frolicking in an unnamed forest with their rear ends on full show.

In another a woman lifts her skirt at a farm while one man showed his bum at London's Regent's Park. Other recent posts include half naked golfers and scuba divers. One of the most daring includes a buttocks-only shot at famous Durdle Door on the Dorset coast.

The woman had pulled down her trousers and underwear from the rear while facing a group of unsuspecting people.

Another shows a completely naked woman from the rear with arms outstretched at Hope Cove in Devon while a fully nude woman is also seen standing among the gorse on the clifftop in nearby Salcombe.

Other more daring shots have also been taken in London's Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.
'You could see it in her eyes': Household sheikh Khaled Saj said the young woman was happy when the couple came to see him last Monday

The pizza-making Sydney sheikh chosen to wed a 33-year-old Muslim man and his 18-year-old bride has broken his silence - after the groom was charged with allegedly raping and kidnapping the teenager and forcing her to marry him.

Household preacher Khaled Saj said he could see the' happiness in the young woman's eyes' when the couple turned up on his doorstep last Monday, begging the sheikh to marry them. There is no suggestion that the sheikh was involved in any of the offences allegedly committed by the groom.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Australia at his Lakemba home this week, the baker-turned-Islamic school teacher said: 'You could see it in her eyes.'

'She was very happy when they came here together and was asking how they could marry.'

But the sheikh said he had never actually wed the couple - as they hadn't filled out their paperwork properly.

And he was upset to learn of the allegations on the news just hours later, as the woman returned to be with her parents and the man was taken into police custody.

Police charged the groom with rape, detaining the girl without her consent and indecent assault.

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Khaled Saj told Daily Mail Australia the couple turned up to his home with their witnesses - but hadn't filled out the requisite paperwork so he could not wed them

Police alleged the Muslim man, 33, whose identity has been suppressed, allegedly detained the young woman in a bid to marry her. But his family claimed the girl was happy to marry him

The girl, pictured, told Channel Seven: 'I just wanted to come back home to my family'. She claimed he wanted to use the marriage to get Australian citizenship

The sheikh occasionally performs ceremonies at his suburban home

'They hadn't done their paper work so I told them I could not do it and it wouldn't be legal,' Sheikh Saj said.

'They came in and sat down with their two witnesses and I explained to them what the Islamic law was and that they would have to come back.'

The sheikh often marries couples at his suburban weatherboard and brick home and is an active member of the Islamic community.

Mr Saj said the young woman was wearing a scarf and a smile when he met her, and appeared happy to proceed.

Police allege the man abducted the girl through her bedroom window about 1.10am last Monday.

The 33-year-old was alleged to have taken the young woman to a hotel at Brighton Le Sands, in Sydneys south, where he allegedly had sex with her, and kissed her neck and face, without her consent.

The pair allegedly then went to marry at a home in Lakemba.

Police intercepted the couple's car down in Gundagai, about 400km from Sydney, a week ago, and laid kidnapping, sexual assault and assault charges against the man.

The sheikh used to bake pizzas at a south-western Sydney restaurant

The sheikh (left, right) said the young woman was wearing a scarf and a smile when he met her, and appeared happy to proceed.

The bride-to-be claimed the man wanted to marry her for a visa - a claim rejected by his relatives

The teenager was allegedly taken to a Lakemba house. She's pictured here in her beroom during a Channel Seven interview

The identity of the young woman making the allegations - and the man accused of raping her - have been suppressed by a court.

After a week in custody, the 33-year-old man was granted bail at Bankstown Local Court on Tuesday afternoon.

Under the terms of his bail conditions, the man is required to report to police seven days a week.

He is not to approach any prosecution witnesses and will have his passport confiscated.

The teenager told Seven News on Tuesday night she 'no longer wants to go ahead with the court proceedings' although stands by her claims.

Last week, she said: 'I just wanted to come back home to my family.

The teenager was allegedly forced out of her bedroom window (pictured) by the 33-year-old

She claimed the man wanted to use the marriage to secure an Australian citizenship.

'He lives overseas, but he doesn't have a visa here, so if he gets married here, the girl gets to put him here...he can stay here,' she said on Tuesday.

'It was scary. I just wanted to come back home to my family and not be with him.

'I can't stand him. I want to kill him.'

Family said the couple met during holidays in Kiama, on the south coast of New South Wales, in February.

The man returns to court in July.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued two decisions on First Amendment free speech principles in contexts with potential significance for education.

In one, the court held that a North Carolina statute violated the U.S. Constitution in the way it barred convicted sex offenders from accessing social networking sites that allow minors to create accounts. In the other, the court held that a provision of a federal trademark statute that bars disparagement of persons runs afoul of the free speech clause.

In the internet case, Packingham v. North Carolina (No. 15-1194), the opinion for the court by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn were deserving of First Amendment protection.

By prohibiting sex offenders from using those websites, North Carolina with one broad stroke bars access to what for many are the principal sources for knowing current events, checking ads for employment, speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge, Kennedy wrote for himself and four others.

He was quick to add that states could enact a more narrowly tailored laws that prohibit a sex offender from engaging in conduct that often presages a sexual crime, like contacting a minor or using a website to gather information about a minor.

Kennedy was at times metaphysical about the rise of the internet as a medium of communication.

While we now may be coming to the realization that the Cyber Age is a revolution of historic proportions, we cannot appreciate yet its full dimensions and vast potential to alter how we think, express ourselves, and define who we want to be, he wrote. The forces and directions of the Internet are so new, so protean, and so far reaching that courts must be conscious that what they say today might be obsolete tomorrow.

His opinion was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in an opinion concurring in the outcome that was joined by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Clarence Thomas, said the North Carolina law was of staggering reach, but he was worried that Kennedy was unable to resist musings that seem to equate the entirety of the internet with public streets and parks.

If the entirety of the internet or even just social media sites are the 21st century equivalent of public streets and parks, then states may have little ability to restrict the sites that may be visited by even the most dangerous sex offenders, Alito said. May a state preclude an adult previously convicted of molesting children from visiting a dating site for teenagers? Or a site where minors communicate with each other about personal problems?

He urged the court to proceed with caution in this area.

While parents, teachers, or others are able to observe when sex offenders approach children or loiter in physical places where children gather, Alito said, the internet offers an unprecedented degree of anonymity and easily permits a would-be molester to assume a false identity.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch took no part in the case.

The case involved Lester Gerard Packingham, who was on North Carolinas sex offender registry for a crime of taking liberties with a 13-year-old when in 2010 he ran afoul of the states law that prohibits those on the registry from accessing commercial social networking Web sites.

In 2010, Packingham took to Facebook to post a short message praising God after a court had dismissed a traffic citation against him. A Durham, N.C., police officer who was actively looking for sex-offender registry members who were participating in social media came across the post. The officer identified Packingham as the author of the post and charged him with violating the 2010 law. Packingham was convicted and sentenced to a suspended term of six to eight months, plus supervised probation.

Disparagement Case

The trademark case, Matal v. Tam (No. 15-1293), stemmed from an Asian-American dance-rock bands efforts to trademark its nameThe Slantswhich the band intends as a way to reclaim an ethnic slur, but which federal officials view as not worthy of protection because it disparages people of Asian ancestry.

Native American groups filed briefs arguing that a long history of offensive Indian-related school and college nicknames and symbols shows that the provision of the Lanham Act of 1946 that bars protection for disparaging names is a permissible regulation of speech.

With Gorsuch not participating, all other eight members of the court agreed that the disparagement clause runs afoul of the First Amendment, but they disagreed on their rationales.

Justice Alito wrote the main opinion, in parts for a majority and other parts a mere plurality, that rejected the federal governments rationales for sustaining the disparagement clause.

Referring to a friend-of-the-court brief filed in support of the government filed by Native American groups, Alito said the brief mentions encouraging tolerance and protecting the privacy and welfare of individuals. But, Alito said, no matter how the point is phrased, its unmistakable thrust is this: The government has an interest in preventing speech expressing ideas that offend. And, as we have explained, that idea strikes at the heart of the First Amendment.

Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful, Alito said in a plularity part of his opinion. But the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express the thought that we hate.

The last phrase comes from a 1929 opinion by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes in United States v. Schwimmer .

While both cases are at least a couple of steps removed from school contexts, the Supreme Courts First Amendment decisions from any circumstances often find their way into education.

During oral arguments in the North Carolina case in February, the justices seemed to be trying to balance free speech concerns with worries about social media dangers to children. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked the state lawyer defending the law whether the measure would bar sex offenders from the website of a school. (The lawyer said it wouldnt.)

In the Tam case, Justice Alito analyzed the federal governments defenses of the bar on disparaging trademarks under several of the high courts school speech decisions. He noted that even in such cases, what we have termed viewpoint discrimination is forbidden.

The disparagement clause cannot be saved by analyzing it as a type of government program in which some content- and speaker-based restrictions are permitted, Alito said. Giving offense is a viewpoint.
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Buffalo Bill and his Wild West show have been brought steaming back to life after being expertly colourised to commemorate the 130th anniversary of their private performance for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

Striking images show William F Cody, also known as Buffalo Bill, standing alongside his Native American performers and looking off into the distance in a portrait shot.

Other stunning pictures show some of the Sioux who performed in his travelling spectacle including Iron White Man, Joe Black Fox and Samuel American Horse.

William F. Cody aka Buffalo Bill flanked by his Native American performers circa 1885. Buffalo Bill and his Wild West Show have been brought steaming back to life after being expertly colourised to commemorate the 130th anniversary of their private show for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee

Striking images show William F Cody (left), also known as Buffalo Bill, along with his Native American performers including Whirling Hawk (right)

Queen Victoria is also pictured in a portrait. The incredible photographs were painstakingly colourised by artist Matt Loughrey, 38, from Westport, Ireland.

'It is an anniversary of arguably one of the greatest shows ever conceived visiting the UK,' he said.

'I have been an avid fan of documentary film maker Ken Burns, specifically in relation to his production "West". So, it was often in my mind to reimagine the Sioux and William Cody.

'I see a wealth of stories within these faces and colourisation opens the mind of the observer. It makes us question ourselves and in particular it enthuses people to take a further look at modern history.'

The incredible photographs were painstakingly colourised by artist Matt Loughrey, 38, from Westport, Ireland. Pictured, Native American performer Whirling Horse

HISTORY OF BUFFALO BILL AND QUEEN VICTORIA Buffalo Bill was an American scout, bison hunter and showman. He's said to have killed 3,000 buffaloes with his own hand. He founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and Europe. That 1887 tour of Britain was part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Queen Victoria. The Wild West show opened in London on May 9, 1887, before a crowd of 28,000 in a huge outdoor arena. The Queen wrote to Cody to request a private performance 'by royal command' at Windsor Palace later that same year. Queen Victoria and an entourage of 25 comprised the audience, sitting in the royal box in grandstands that could hold 40,000. Other famous performers who took part in Buffalo Bill's Wild West included Calamity Jane and sharpshooter Annie Oakley. Advertisement

Buffalo Bill was an American scout, bison hunter and showman. He's said to have killed 3,000 buffaloes with his own hand. Pictured, Samuel American Horse (left) and Joe Black Fox (right)

He founded Buffalo Bill's Wild West in 1883, taking his large company on tours in the United States and, beginning in 1887, in Great Britain and Europe. Pictured, Iron White Man

Matt, who took around 20 hours to colourise the pictures, explained how he worked with the images and the positive reaction they produce.

'I use a method that's particular to my craft, a digital process but applied by hand using a stylus,' he added.

'I use a graphics tablet and stylus for its ability to understand pressure sensitivity from my hand, that way the process feels far more natural.

'People are stunned by what they see and it evokes some positive comments.'

The Wild West Show opened in London on May 9, 1887, before a crowd of 28,000 in a huge outdoor arena. Pictured, Amos Little (left) and Takes Enemy (right)
Alan Schwandt was rushing to his second job of the day when his phone rang with another desperate Phoenix homeowner calling about a broken air conditioner in the midst of a scorching heat wave.

Dressed in gray shorts and navy long-sleeve shirt emblazoned with his company's bright red logo 'Alan's Air,' Schwandt spent his day quickly crisscrossing the Phoenix metro area to bring relief to flushed residents.

He toiled in temperatures close to 120 degrees, sometimes with one hand on his cellphone and the other on his tools. Residents who had just spent the night in a stifling home rejoiced when his work was done.

The Associated Press spent part of Monday alongside Schwandt to provide a snapshot into the hectic work necessary in a region heavily reliant on air conditioning to beat the heat.

Health officials with Maricopa County, which is home to the Phoenix area, say most heat-related deaths involve people with non-functioning air conditioners.

Alan Schwandt, an air conditioning repairman who has owned his own company for over 29 years, is pictured above examining a broken outdoor unit in Scottsdale, Arizona on Monday. He said as the summer heats up, he's received more calls to fix air conditioners

He spent Monday quickly crisscrossing the Phoenix metro area to bring relief to flushed residents with broken air conditioners. Above Schwandt climbs down a ladder to grab supplies from his truck while fixing a rooftop unit in Tempe

Health officials with Maricopa County, which is home to the Phoenix area, say most heat-related deaths involve people with non-functioning air conditioners. Above Schwandt removes his hat and glasses to wipe sweat from his face while examining a rooftop unit

'Sometimes you wish the phone would ring for more calls, and sometimes you hope the phone doesn't ring,' Schwandt said.

'This is probably the day you don't want it ringing because there's more work than you can do.'

Schwandt knew early Monday that it was going to be busy. The temperature was expected to peak at 118 degrees and calls were already coming in.

As a child in Florida, Schwandt watched his father work as an air conditioning repair worker. He later went to school to learn the trade and started his own company in 1978.

He said he hasn't advertised in 20 years, garnering service purely from word of mouth and online reviews.

Monday morning started in Scottsdale, a Phoenix suburb, with a longtime customer who had called the night before.

Russ Goodman said the temperature in his house had risen to 89 degrees by the time he went to bed.

Mike Miller, an air conditioning repairman, watches as a crane lifts a broken unit from a rooftop in Phoenix on Monday. He works with Schwandt as a technician

Above Schwandt is pictured working methodically, checking blue and red pressure gauges and adding coolant. He quickly discovered a malfunctioning capacitor in the outdoor unit in Scottsdale on Monday

He determined they needed to swap the capacitor, which acts like a battery and boosts the heart of the cooling cycle inside the machine

'Just in case the whole thing went caput, I'm all set: I have a villa reserved at the hotel,' Goodman said as Schwandt and technician, Mike Miller, examined the air conditioning unit.

Schwandt worked methodically, checking blue and red pressure gauges and adding coolant.

He determined they needed to swap the capacitor, which acts like a battery and boosts the heart of the cooling cycle inside the machine.

Twenty minutes later, Goodman gleefully put his hand up to a vent relishing the cold air.

'These are like the unsung heroes - the people that keep my life going,' he said.

As the mercury climbed above 100 degrees, Schwandt and Miller traveled south to the city of Tempe.

Schwandt fielded another call from a customer before joining his technician on a roof to examine a 15-year-old air conditioner.

Russ Goodman, 72, checks on the vents as cool air once again flows through his home in Scottsdale on Monday. Of Schwandt and his staff, he said: 'These are like the unsung heroes - the people that keep my life going.'

Above Schwandt pours water onto the overheated fan of a rooftop unit in Scottsdale on Monday to cool it down for the repair

The pair replaced a blown fuse and finished the job in less than half an hour.

Schwandt headed back to Scottsdale to drop off Miller at his home office for a separate assignment.

Schwandt arrived at a Scottsdale apartment complex at 10.30am. His maintenance truck was among three others at the complex.

The client, Sean Robertson, was relieved to see Schwandt and said that he'd slept on his living room couch Sunday night with a cooling pad on top of his pillow.

Schwandt climbed onto the roof and discovered the unit was too hot to touch because it had been running for 24 hours.

'Turn your unit off if it's not cooling,' he said. 'All it can do is cause more damage to it.'

Schwandt removed several metal panels from the unit's exterior, climbed down the ladder and retrieved a hose and a bucket. He poured cup after cup of water over the fan as two other air conditioning repairmen worked on a nearby rooftop.

Four air conditioning repair trucks sit outside an apartment complex in Scottsdale on Monday. Repairmen are constantly on call in the summer, as temperatures in the Phoenix metro area rise to nearly 120 degrees

Eventually the machine cooled enough so Schwandt could unscrew it to look inside.

He determined that the unit's motor needed to be replaced, but he didn't have the part on hand.

Schwandt promised Robertson he would return later to switch the part, leaving tools behind as he moved on to the next customer.

With the sun almost at its zenith, Schwandt reunited with Miller at a home in Phoenix.

Michelle Franklin's air conditioning unit stopped working months ago, but she knew she needed to get it replaced when she saw the heat wave forecast this week.

Miller brought the new unit and Schwandt brought in the heavy equipment: a crane.

Jayme Martens, a crane operator for Smiley Crane Service, said the company helps lift about 180 new air conditioning units every day in the summer.

Each crane is equipped with an ice chest, so air conditioning repair workers can have cold bottled water as they work.

'It's always hot but you have a job and have to do your job no matter what it is,' Schwandt said.
Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has been arrested and charged with two counts of assaulting a woman and extortion.

Pisasale is currently being held in a Brisbane watch-house after being questioned by the Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission.

The former mayor resigned his post on June 6 citing health reasons, a day after police raided his office and home.

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Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale has been arrested and expected to be charged with assaulting a woman and extortion

The former mayor resigned his post on June 6 citing health reasons, a day after police raided his office and home

Seven News Queensland reports Pisasale 'threatened to expose a businessman's relationship with a prostitute.'

The woman Pisasale allegedly assaulted is believed to be in her 20s.

If found guilty he could face life in prison.

Acting Ipswich mayor Paul Tully is reportedly 'shocked' with the arrest.

Pisasale, known affectionately as 'Mr Ipswich', was re-elected last year with over 80% of the vote.

The former mayor resigned from the role in early June while wearing a dressing gown, citing a recent episode of multiple sclerosis.

'My journey's been going for about 26 years and I'm so proud to have been a mayor that's represented such a wonderful city,' he said.

'Now it's my time to look after my health.'

He was stopped at Melbourne Airport last month carrying $50,000 cash.

Pisasale, known affectionately as ''Mr Ipswich, was re-elected last year with over 80% of the vote
Philip Hammond today insisted jobs must be put first during Brexit negotiations as he risked fueling Cabinet splits.

The Chancellor stepped up pressure for a soft exit from the EU, urging an 'implementation period' where the UK remains subject to the bloc's customs rules.

He also warned that immigration cannot be 'shut down' after Britain formally cuts ties with Brussels.

Meanwhile, Bank of England governor Mark Carney has raised concerns that increasing uncertainty around the process could hit living standards.

In his Mansion House speech today, The Chancellor stepped up pressure for a soft exit from the EU, urging an 'implementation period' where the UK remains subject to customs rules

Mr Hammond and Mr Carney's speeches at the Mansion House in central London had been delayed in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster

Mr Hammond, left, insisted protecting jobs should be the first priority in the Brexit talks. Mr Carney raised concerns that increasing uncertainty could hit living standards

The comments came as Mr Hammond and Mr Carney gave Mansion House speeches - which had been delayed in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster.

The election has thrown Brexit plans into disarray after Theresa May was stripped of her overall Commons majority.

There are mounting signs of friction among senior Tories over how tough an approach to take - while Labour is also badly split on whether to take a dramatically softer stance.

Mr Hammond told City leaders this morning that the outcome of the Brexit talks was 'crucial for the economic future of this country'.

'Just as the British people understand the benefits of trade  so, too, they understand how important it is to business to be able to access global talent and to move individuals around their organisations,' he said.

THE KEY POINTS IN HAMMOND'S SPEECH Mr Hammond said the government must seek a Brexit deal that 'puts jobs and prosperity first'.

He said Britain should keep abiding by EU customs union rules during an 'implementation period' after we formally leave. It would mean delaying other trade deals.

The Chancellor insisted immigration should be 'managed' after Brexit not 'shut down' to protect businesses.

He admitted that the public were 'weary' of austerity but said the Tories had to keep making the case for fiscal discipline to avoid indebting future generations. Advertisement

'So, while we seek to manage migration, we do not seek to shut it down.

Mr Hammond said a key target would be 'frictionless customs arrangements to facilitate trade across our borders  and crucially  to keep the land border on the island of Ireland open and free-flowing'.

But he conceded that would be 'challenging' and new technology would need to be deployed on borders.

In a passage that suggests International Trade Secretary Liam Fox will not be able to strike trade deals immediately after we leave the EU, Mr Hammond said: 'We will almost certainly need an implementation period, outside the Customs Union itself, but with current customs border arrangements remaining in place, until new long-term arrangements are up and running.

Mr Hammond also admitted that the election showed the public was weary of austerity - but insisted Tories must keep making the case for 'sound money'.

'Travelling the country in the general election campaign I've had hundreds of conversations reflecting the challenges and issues that people face in their daily lives,' he said.

HOW WILL BREXIT TALKS HAPPEN? Under the terms agreed between the EU and UK, negotiations will take place in four-week 'rounds'. Brexit Secretary David Davis and EU counterpart Michel Barnier are expected to kick off each round before handing over to officials to hammer out technical details. The first phase of the talks will cover the divorce settlement - with the main topics reciprocal rights for UK and EU citizens, the potential bill for Britain, and the Northern Ireland border. The first session began yesterday, with the next due to start on July 17. Both sides have committed to 'transparency', and are expected to released updates about each round accompanied by press conferences. Advertisement

'Fears about job security; about wage levels; the need for good schools for their children; a well-functioning health service; decent care for elderly relatives; or access to the housing market.

'And it's clear, as many of my colleagues have noted, that Britain is weary after seven years of hard slog repairing the damage of the great recession.

'When I took office last year, I reset the fiscal rules recommitting to achieving fiscal balance, but doing it over a longer timescale creating additional fiscal space to support the economy, if needed.

'But we must not lose sight of the unchanging economic facts of life.

'Funding for public services can only be delivered in one of three ways: Higher taxes; Higher borrowing; Or stronger economic growth.

'And only one of those three choices is a long-term sustainable solution for this country in the face of the inexorable pressure of an ageing population.

'Higher taxes will slow growth, undermine competitiveness, and cost jobs so the Government will remain committed to keeping taxes as low as possible.

'And higher discretionary borrowing to fund current consumption is simply asking the next generation to pay for something that we want to consume, but are not prepared to pay for ourselves so we will remain committed to the fiscal rules set out at the Autumn Statement which will guide us, via interim targets in 2020, to a balanced budget by the middle of the next decade.'

Mr Hammond (pictured centre at Mansion House today with Mr Carney on his left) is pushing for a softer approach to Brexit

Mr Hammond warned that 'sound money' was the 'only sustainable way to deliver better public services, higher real wages and increased living standards'

Bank of England governor Mark Carney has raised concerns that increasing uncertainty around the process could hit living standards

Mr Hammond warned that 'sound money' was the 'only sustainable way to deliver better public services, higher real wages and increased living standards'.

'I thought we had won that argument. But I learned in the General Election campaign that we have not.

CARNEY SWIPES AT BORIS IN WARNING ON LIVING STANDARDS Mark Carney took a swipe at Boris Johnson today as he warned that uncertainty over Brexit is set to hit living standards. The Bank of England governor said there was likely to be 'weaker real income growth' until the new arrangements become clear - mocking the idea that the UK was on a 'smooth path to a land of cake and consumption'. The jibe appeared to be a reference to the Foreign Secretary's comment last October that Britain could 'have our cake and eat it'. Mr Carney told the Mansion House: 'Since the prospect of Brexit emerged, financial markets, notably sterling, have marked down the UK's economic prospects. 'Monetary policy cannot prevent the weaker real income growth likely to accompany the transition to new trading arrangements with the EU.' Advertisement

'That we must make anew the case for a market economy and for sound money.'

Meanwhile, Mr Carney reiterated warnings that uncertainty over Brexit talks will feed through into the real economy.

But he insisted that measures were already in place to minimise the impact.

'Since the prospect of Brexit emerged, financial markets, notably sterling, have marked down the UK's economic prospects,' Mr Carney said.

'Monetary policy cannot prevent the weaker real income growth likely to accompany the transition to new trading arrangements with the EU.

'But it can influence how this hit to incomes is distributed between job losses and price rises. And it can support households and businesses as they adjust to such profound change...

'That is why last summer the Bank announced a series of monetary and macro-financial measures to support the economy during this transition. This stimulus is working. Credit is widely available, the cost of borrowing is near record lows, the economy has outperformed expectations, and unemployment has reached a 40 year low.'

The EU elite is becoming more distant from voters, report warns

A 'visible divide' has opened up within the European Union between the 'elite' and the general population, according to a major survey of public opinion across the 28-nation bloc.

The report by the Chatham House international affairs think tank found the 'decision makers and influencers' of the EU were notably more optimistic about the future and committed to a common set of European values.

In contrast, it said there was a 'simmering discontent' among the wider public over a range of political issues - from immigration to the power of Brussels - with large sections viewing the EU in negative terms.

The report is based on a survey by Kantar Public of more than 10,000 members of the public and 1,800 'influencers' from politics, the media, business and civil society, from 10 EU member states, including the UK.

The report by the Chatham House international affairs think tank found the 'decision makers and influencers' of the EU - such as commission president Jean-Claude Juncker - were notably more optimistic than the public

It found that the 'elite' were far likely to feel they had done well out of the EU, with 71 per cent saying they had benefited compared with just 34% of the public.

Members of the elite were twice as likely to say they felt 'very proud' of their European identity - 29 per cent compared to 14 per cent of the public.

When it came to the greatest failures of the EU the public were most likely to point to the refugee crisis, bureaucracy and excess regulation, and immigration while the elite emphasised bureaucracy and regulation although they also identified the refugee crisis and immigration.

The survey found the public was more likely to believe another member state would follow Britain and opt to leave the EU - with 55 per cent (not including UK respondents) saying they expected another country to go within the next 10 years compared to 43 per cent of the elite.

Among the British public, 72 per cent said they believed another country would leave - a figure only exceeded by Greece with 80 per cent.

The report said that the survey had exposed a 'visible divide' between the general attitudes, beliefs and life experiences of the two groups.

'Compared to the public, decision-makers and influencers are notably more liberal and optimistic, more committed to a pan-European identity and a common set of European values, and more likely to feel the benefits of integration,' it said.

'Meanwhile, there is simmering discontent among the public about a range of political concerns.

'Large sections of the public view the EU in negative terms; want to see it return some powers to member states; feel anxious over immigration and its perceived effects, as well as over the role of Islam in society; and are pessimistic about the future.

'Such views are especially strong among those with lower educational qualifications.'

:: Kantar Public surveyed 10,195 members of the public from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK between December 2016 and January 2017. It interviewed 1,823 politicians, news journalists, business leaders and civil society leaders from the same 10 countries between January 2017 and February 2017.
Six youngsters have died within a week trying to take 'the ultimate selfie' in Russia.

Ustinya Zembakhtin, 10, brother Sergey, 13, Vladislav Khoroshinkin, also 13, Maria Svitlenko, 14, 15-year-old Sergey Kustov and 17-year-old Denis Kondakov all perished in the last seven days at the start of the school holidays.

Three of the youngsters were killed at the same time while trying to pose in front of an oncoming freight train, while three more died in separate incidents after touching high-voltage electric cables.

Sergey Kustov, 15 (left), and Maria Svitlenko, 14, are among six teenagers killed in the last week as they attempted to take 'ultimate selfies' in dangerous locations in Russia

Denis Kondakov, 17, died after climbing on top of a pile of gravel and then reaching up to touch a high-voltage electric cable while being watched by two teen girls

Ustinya, Sergey and Vladislav all died on the Trans-Siberian railway track close to Vladivostok as they posed for a selfie on 11 June in front of an oncoming freight train.

Lera Sengeevskaya, 13, told how she pleaded with them to get off the track as the train approached.

She managed to pull one girl Anya Khvatova, 13, towards her but she was also hit by the train and is now in a 'grave but stable' condition in hospital.

'I was yelling at them: 'Stop! Get away!', said Lera, shellshocked and in tears as she spoke to local TV of seeing her friends killed in front of her.

'They didn't hear me. I managed to grab Anya but she still was hit by the train.

'When I ran to Sergey, he was already not breathing.

'When I ran to Anya, she was breathing. I pleaded with her not to die.'

Mikhail Skobenko, principal of School Number 6 in Novy village, described the 'huge shock' to parents and teachers.

He urged that all teachers redouble their warnings over selfies to children in the light of the 'tragic event' involving his students, but said he had often spoken to his students about the crisis.

'We gather students for assemblies and I personally stress to them that safety rules on roads, railways, near ponds or rivers must be observed,' he said.

'We openly tell them that all instructions are written in blood.'

Maria's body was found alongside railway tracks after she climbed on to a bridge for a selfie and her head accidentally touched the overhead electrical wires

Ustinya Zembakhtin, 10, brother Sergey, 13, Vladislav Khoroshinkin, also 13, were all killed while attempting to pose in front of an oncoming freight train

Lera Sengeevskaya, 13, said she watched as the trio were hit by the train (scene, pictured)

Maria Svitlenko was electrocuted in Moscow region after climbing on a railway bridge at Ivanteevka causing her head to touch a high voltage cable.

She fell close to the railway track where she was found dead on 17 June.

Earlier she had been pictured looking at the bridge on which she died.

Four time zones east in Novosibirsk region, Denis Kondakov was with two teenage girls when he died a day earlier posing for a selfie after climbing a pile of gravel and reaching up to touch a high voltage cable.

His mobile and music player burned out and he suffered a severe electric shock.

'He was delivered to a medical facility with burns and, unfortunately, died there,' said Russian state investigator Alexey Maksimchenko.

His school director said: 'He was from a trouble-free, wealthy family. He studied well, and was quite a developed young man - social, lively, and open.

'He was finishing his final year at school.'

Sergey Kustov was killed on 13 June while climbing on a power transmission line in Perm region.

His friend, who survived, told police the pair wanted to take 'the ultimate selfie'.

Anya Aristova posted this message: 'Sergey, you had all your life in front of you. What the hell you were doing there? We remember you, love you and miss you...'

This week also saw an unnamed 16 year old girl in Yanaul, in Bashkortostan region, suffered 90 per cent burns after being electrocuted by overhead cables after climbing on a freight train to take selfies.

She is now in intensive care fighting for her life with multiple injuries.

Sergey Kustov (left) died while climbing on a power transmission line with a friend, who survived. Denis Kondakov (right) was finishing his final year at school when he died

Maria was among six teens killed in a week at the start of the Russian summer holidays, as police warn there could be more deaths

The latest deaths come early in the long school summer holidays.

Russian rail official Maxim Kalennik warned parents over the latest incidents.

'We constantly tell people - be careful, do not go on railway tracks. Do not walk along them' he said.

'After every case, everyone feels sorry, but many parents for some reason continue to think that this will never happen to their kids.'

A security official in Moscow region is demanding a change in Russian laws to enable children and parents to be published for risking extreme selfies.

'Participants of these dangerous actions who get into potentially dangerous places and the parents of these teenagers should be made responsible,' Nikolay Cherkasov told Russian Radio.

'There is no single region where such problem does not exist. Either train riders or extreme selfie lovers, they are everywhere.'

Changes in the law were needed to 'influence the minds of our young people, in order to make them assess the risks in an adequate way'.

He claimed children attempting such risks were often 'seriously lacking' in parental attention.

He urged that such children should be made to work in 'ecological or labour camps' in their spare time.
Police in Massachusetts have arrested a man and a woman after the body of a newborn infant was found dumped in a trash bag beside a railway line.

Officers in Worcester, which is about 40 miles west of Boston, were responding to reports of an unusual smell coming from a bag at 375 Lake Avenue.

An autopsy will try and determine whether the infant was alive at the time of its birth.

Police found the body of an infant baby found dumped to the rear of this house at 384 Lake Avenue in Worcester, Massachusetts after receiving reports of a suspicious smell

City of Worcester Police arrested Edwin Santiago and Jennifer Rheaume after they were found walking on a private railway track near where the infant's body had been dumped

Police responded to a report of a strange smell coming from a house at 375 Lave View Avenue in Worcester. When they arrived, the trash bag had been moved. Police located the bag dumped behind 384 Lake Avenue and found the two suspects Edwin Santiago and Jennifer Rheaume walking along a private railway track at the back of the property in Massachusetts

Police questioned the complainant and it was soon discovered the bag had been moved down the street to 384 Lake Avenue.

According to a police statement: 'Behind the property in the woods, they located a garbage bag emitting a strong odor. Inside the bag, officers located a newborn baby that had passed away.

'After the discovery, the Detective Bureau and Crime Scene Unit responded, secured the scene, and interviewed witnesses.

'While officers were on scene, they observed a male and a female walking on the railroad tracks behind the address. The railroad tracks are private property and there is a prominently posted No Trespassing sign.

'The male, identified as Edwin Santiago, thirty-one-years-old of 384 Lake Ave, and Jennifer Rheaume, thirty-six-years-old of 375 Lake Ave, were placed under arrest and charged with Walking on Railroad Tracks.

'After further investigation and interviews, they were subsequently charged with Removal of a Human Body, and Concealment of the Death of a Child.

'DCF was notified of the investigation. The cause and time of the babys death are currently unknown, pending autopsy results. It is also unknown whether the baby was alive at the time of delivery. The investigation is ongoing.'

Mark Healy, whose family owns 375 Lake Avenue, where Rheaume had been staying in the basement, told the Boston Globe: 'I called it in to the police. She was pregnant and when I found out she wasnt, I didnt want to be implicated.'

Sergeant Sean Murtha of Worcester Police Department said he was not in a position to confirm whether the two suspects were the infant's parents, although he confirmed Santiago and Rheaume knew each other.

The pair are expected to appear in court later today for arraignment.
Police investigating the murder of 18-year-old Ellen Higginbottom have charged a man in connection with the 'brutal killing'.

Mark Steven Buckley, 51, from Preston, has been charged with murder, Greater Manchester Police said.

He was one of four people taken into police custody over the student's death after the discovery of her body by police at Orrell Water Park in Wigan, Greater Manchester at 2:30am on Saturday.

The 18-year-old student was reported missing by her family at about 7:20pm on Friday when she didn't return home from college which was described as 'extremely out of character'.

Last night a man and a woman, both aged 30, were arrested in the Wigan area.

Buckley, from Preston, Lancashire, and a 47-year-old from Billinge, Wigan, were previously arrested on suspicion of murder. All four remain in custody.

Police found Ellen Higginbottom's body in Orrell Water Park in Wigan at about 2.30am on Saturday

Ellen Higginbottom, pictured right, with her parents Mike and Kay. They are said to be devastated following her death

Ellen has been remembered for her 'bubbly, happy, flamboyant personality and witty humour'

Ellen is pictured with her boyfriend Ryan Warren, who last night spoke of the 'witty and down to earth' girl who will 'remain in his heart forever'

Detective Superintendent Howard Millington from Greater Manchester Police's Major Incident Team, said: 'As of this evening, we have two further people in custody and, although we are making quick progress with our investigation, we still need people with information to get in touch with us.

'My thanks again goes to those who have already come forward with information and to those who continue to support us and Ellen's loved ones as we carry out our enquiries.'

Last night the teenager's heartbroken boyfriend paid tribute to his 'beautiful and bubbly' girlfriend.

Boyfriend Ryan Warren said that Ellen was 'cruelly taken from the world too soon'

He added that he would not be the man he is today without Ellen's support

Friends comfort each other as they paid tribute to Ellen near the site of murder

Ryan Warren spoke of the 'witty and down to earth' girl who will 'remain in his heart forever'.

In the touching statement, Ryan, who lovingly referred to Ellen as 'his nugget' and himself as 'her chicken', said he would not be the man he is today without her amazing support.

Ryan, 18, from Wigan, said: 'Ellen, the past two years of knowing you have been the best years of my life. I am so incredibly honoured to have been such a big part in your life.

'Thank you for everything you have and did for me, even the little things like coming to find me when I was studying or bringing sweets to help study, or even the countless hours we just spent cuddling thinking about what we will do in the future.

Greater Manchester Police are carrying out investigations into the teenager's death and have said they will leave 'no stone unturned'

Police have arrested two men in connection with the murder

'I have made so many amazing memories with you that I will forever cherish and will remain in my heart.

'You have been my rock when I needed someone to keep me down to earth, but also let me spread my wings when I needed to, a shoulder for me to cry on.

'You helped me so incredibly greatly through many tough times we both shared and my mental health issues.

'I honestly would not be the man I am now if it wasn't for you. You were my nugget, my beautiful girl and I loved you.'

The teens, who planned to travel the world together, both attended Winstanley College in Wigan, Greater Manchester.

Ryan described Ellen as a 'flamboyant' personality who was loved by everyone and has been 'cruelly' taken from the world too soon.

BOYFRIEND'S TOUCHING STATEMENT Ryan said: 'Everyone loved you, I'm so sorry that the world has taken you far too young when you had so much to give to everyone. 'There isn't one person I can name that didn't get along with Ellen. Her bubbly, happy, flamboyant personality and witty humour made her precious to so many. 'Ellen is such a kind and gentle person and would never hurt anyone, always putting people before her which was clear in her amazing ability to balance the stress of college and life along with caring full time for her mother and putting up with me. 'I cannot begin to put into words the roller-coaster of emotions that hit us all in waves and I know that you will be sorely missed by everyone. Dozens of floral tributes and heartfelt notes have been laid at the Wigan beauty spot where Ellen's body was found 'I loved you Ellen, I wanted to travel the world with you and explore like we planned, I'm so sorry that I cannot take you to all those amazing places we wanted to see. You were cruelly taken from us too soon and it really hurts. 'The world is currently undergoing lots of tragic events, some closer to home than others, I am just truly sorry that this all happened to you, and innocent young girl who didn't deserve to go this way, this soon. One note left among the tributes read: 'I love you and will miss you so so much' 'I would like to thank you for welcoming me into your warm and loving family and letting me share in being a part of them as well as being a truly special part of our family who will miss you all dearly but hold you forever in our hearts. Well-wishers were pictured leaving flowers at the scene where Ellen's body was found 'I would like to thank all the amazing friends we have and the support everyone is showing as I don't think you all understand how much it helps to know you are there for us and how much Ellen praised you all. 'I would like to especially thank the members of the community and local high school who helped search the park into the early hours of the next day and all the courageous friends who came along as well to spend their evenings helping too, we really couldn't have asked for more. A police spokesman said: 'I must thank the public for their overwhelming support during this investigation so far' 'I would also like to thank the incredible actions of all the great police men and women who have spent countless hours helping bring those responsible to justice. One card said: 'I love you so much and am missing you unbearably' 'Ellen, I loved you, we all loved you, sleep well and may we meet again. I am lost for words and lost without you, I miss you so much right now but I am humbled by the fact that I know you will be looking down on us all. 'Thank you for everything nugget, love from your chicken.' Advertisement

Since Ellen's body was discovered by Greater Manchester Police, dozens of bunches of flowers and heartfelt notes have been laid near the crime scene.

A Home Office Post Mortem found yesterday that Ellen's cause of death was 'multiple wounds to the neck'.

Greater Manchester Police are carrying out investigations into the teen's death and say they will leave 'no stone unturned'.

The grandfather of murdered A-level pupil Ellen Higginbottom has also spoken of his devastation.

Police are pictured at Orrell Water Park in Wigan where 18-year-old Ellen's body was found

Derek Godshaw, 80, said: 'Whoever's done this is an animal. They need catching and locking up for life. Our angel has been taken from us.'

Mr Godshaw, from Stoke-on-Trent, told The Sun: 'I used to take her for a walk in that park when she was a little girl.'

Ellen's parents Kay and Mike are said to be 'in bits' after finding out about the death just a day after they raised the alarm when the girl failed to return home from college.

It is a particularly agonising time for the family with Kay, 48, having recently been diagnosed with a brain tumour. Her husband, an IT expert, is supporting her through their grief.

Ellen Higginbottom, pictured, died from multiple wounds to the neck in what police described as a 'brutal killing'

Dozens of floral tributes and heartfelt notes have been laid at the beauty spot where Ellen's body was found and touching tributes have flooded social media.

Greater Manchester Police are carrying out investigations into the teenager's death and have said they will leave 'no stone unturned'.

Detective Superintendent Howard Millington described the crime as an 'absolute tragedy' and extended his sympathies to her family.

Det Supt Millington said: 'This is an absolute tragedy. My thoughts are with Ellen's family and friends. What they must be going through is unimaginable.

Touching tributes have also flooded into Ellen on social media

Det Supt Millington of Greater Manchester Police said the case was an 'absolute tragedy'

'Our specially trained officers are with her family and will continue to support them throughout this difficult time.

'We're also working with Wigan Council and Winstanley College, where Ellen was a pupil, to ensure support is in place for anyone affected by this shocking incident.

'The post mortem has now taken place and we have a clearer picture of what may have happened to Ellen, but we are still piecing together her exact movements in the lead up to her death.

'We have a full investigative team working on this and a large scene is in place in the area around the Orrell Water Park area.

Officers have stepped up patrols after the murder

Ellen had hopes of being a doctor and was a keen singer

'We'll be leaving no stone unturned in this investigation. Someone out there knows who did this, or they know it was them, and we will not stop until we find them and bring them to justice.

'If you saw anyone acting suspiciously in the area either on Friday or in the days prior, please get in touch with police.

'Don't worry that you'll be wasting my time. Any bit of information, no matter how small, could be vital in this fast-moving investigation.

'I must thank the public for their overwhelming support during this investigation so far. We have had lots of people call us with information and we would like to encourage people to do this.

'Attacks of this severity are thankfully incredibly rare, but that in itself makes this all the more shocking.

'Our officers will be patrolling the streets in the area whilst we continue our investigation. Anyone with any concerns should come and speak to our officers.

'We know that things like this don't happen in Orrell and you will be extremely concerned but please let me assure you that your safety is paramount and we will not stop until we have found the person responsible.'
An 82-year-old man has been injured after a suspected shark attack on an Ibiza beach which is popular with tourists.

The Spanish pensioner suffered a two-inch gash after being bitten by the giant fish on the beach at Playa den Bossa.

Terrified sunseekers fled the water after the attack, and there was no sign of the shark after a lengthy search.

Authorities believe the 82-year-old man was attacked by a blue shark, similar to the one shown above

The pensioner was discharged from Can Misses Hospital on Friday evening, four hours after being admitted.

Local authorities said they believe the injury was caused by a blue shark or a large fish.

Blue shark - tintoreras in Spanish - are one of the most common species of sharks in the Mediterranean.

The same type of shark was blamed for an attack on a holidaymaker in Elche near Alicante last July.

The 40-year-old victim was rushed to hospital and given stitches to a wound in his hand.

First aiders described the bite as 'large' and said he had come out of the sea with blood streaming from the injury. The drama happened at Elches Arenales del Sol beach.

The red flag was kept in place for around two hours when bathers were allowed back in the water.

Tourists were ordered out of the water last August in the Costa del Sol resort of Fuengirola after bathers said they had spotted a shark.

Lifeguards on jet skis helped kids on dinghies and from an inflatable water park near where the shark was spotted to safety as colleagues ran along the shoreline blowing on whistles and ordering swimmers out of the water.

Fuengirola beach, one of the most popular of the Costa del Sol with British tourists, was closed for five hours while patrol boats searched for the fish.

The red flag was hoisted along nearly two miles of coastline.

The beach was eventually reopened after nothing untoward was found.
A BBC drama has come under fire as viewers complained they couldn't understand what the characters were saying.

Crime series Ripper Street was branded a 'mumble fest' and fans said they could not fully enjoy the return of the hit show because they couldn't hear the dialogue.

'This #RipperStreet #BBC2 would be good if I could understand what they are saying,' one viewer moaned on Twitter.

Crime series Ripper Street was branded a 'mumble fest' and Poldark viewers slammed the programme's 'incoherent' Cornish accents

Series four came to a dramatic close with Drake (Jerome Flynn) murdered by serial killer Nathaniel

The story picks up days after Drake's death and sees DI Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), surgeon Captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) and his wife, former brothel keeper 'Long' Susan Hart (MyAnna Buring), determined to bring the murderer to justice

'Can anyone else hardly make out a word anyone is saying on #RipperStreet?' asked another fan.

'Can't understand the new inspectors dialogue! Too much gravel not enough clarity,' sniped another.

One viewer quipped: 'Is Victorian Mumbling a technique taught in acting school these days?'

Some people said they got around any sound issues by switching on the subtitles.

'#RipperStreet why have I had to put the subtitles on so I can understand what one character is saying?!!!!!' said one.

'Oh wow, good job we've got subtitles on Mr Shine #RipperStreet,' said another.

Several British television dramas have been hit by complaints over mumbling in recent months, with Happy Valley, SS-GB and Jamaica Inn all being criticised.

For those who did hear the action in last night's instalment, it was a welcome return.

Series four came to a dramatic close with Drake (Jerome Flynn) murdered by serial killer Nathaniel.

The story picks up days after Drake's death and sees DI Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), surgeon Captain Homer Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) and his wife, former brothel keeper 'Long' Susan Hart (MyAnna Buring), determined to bring the murderer to justice.

Many viewers posted messages online calling it the best series currently on TV, with one tweeting it was 'absolute class'.

In 2013, furious Ripper Street viewers took to social networking sites to complain of meaningless mumbling and muffled lines throughout the episode, while many more vented their frustration on the BBCs Points of View message board.

Some said they had been forced to turn on subtitles, while others switched off half way through the programme.

It came just three months after the corporations director general Tony Hall admitted that there is a problem and called for actors to stop muttering in dramas.

Meanwhile, Poldark viewers said they struggled to make out what new character Tholly Tregirls was saying on BBC1 on Sunday

Meanwhile, Poldark viewers said they struggled to make out what new character Tholly Tregirls was saying on BBC1 on Sunday.

The figure was played by Cumbrian actor Sean Gilder, 53, and his debut was watched by 4.8million people.

One complained they could grasp just 'one in five' words uttered by the 53-year-old former Shameless star during the programme, seen by 4.8million viewers.

Another disgruntled fan said: 'What on Earth is Tholly saying?? #MumblesThePirate.'

Valerie Lally said: 'Couldn't fathom a word of it. Mumble mumble.'

And a third viewer said: 'I can't understand a word Tholly says. Must be getting old.'

It's not the first time both shows have been criticised for their dodgy dialogues.

The figure was played by Cumbrian actor Sean Gilder, 53, and his debut was watched by 4.8million people
The family of a blind pensioner who became known as the 'man in the window' after haunting images emerged of him trapped inside Grenfell Tower thought he was dead until friends spotted him on TV.

Blind Elpie Bonifacio came to symbolise the agony of residents when he was pictured waving a cloth from the 11th floor of the tower in a desperate bid to be rescued from the devastating blaze.

The married pensioner - who is in his 70s and had lived in the flat for 36 years - was eventually rescued from the fire 12 hours later and is still recovering in hospital.

Today, his son Gordon Bonifacio described how their family thought Mr Bonifacio had died - and even said their goodbyes to him over the phone - until the images surfaced on television.

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The family of a blind pensioner who became known as the 'man in the window' after haunting images emerged of him trapped in Grenfell Tower (pictured) thought he was dead until friends spotted him on television

Today, his son Gordon has revealed how their family thought he had died - and even said their goodbyes to him over the phone - until the images surfaced on television

Before that, the family had been talking to Mr Bonifacio on the phone from below, but feared he had perished when the line cut out.

Gordon told Good Morning Britain that he believes those images - which showed his father peering through the window as flames engulfed the tower around him - could have helped to save his life.

We told him to try and get out, but he couldn't, he said the door was too hot,' he told the show.

'At that point, before the images were shown, we had kind of given up. On the phone he had already said his goodbyes. He said that the fire was here, that these were his last words.

'I was on the phone, so was my wife and my brother - we were all distraught, we were panicking. Then the phone lines cut out. That's the point you sort of lose hope.'

But, several hours later, after Gordon had scoured shelters in the area to try and track down his father, his phone went 'crazy' with family and friends saying they had spotted him on television.

'Everyone was getting in touch who was at home watching the images, saying, "Is this him, this is him, this is him",' he told GMB.

'I wasnt sure, but everyone else seemed sure, because I wasnt anywhere near a telly.

Gordon believes the images - which showed his father peering through the window as flames engulfed the tower around him (pictured) - could have helped to save his father's life

The pensioner, who is in his 70s, was rescued from the fire (pictured) 12 hours after it began

'But I took the images on my phone to one of the policemen nearby. I said: "Look, this is my dad". They got on the radio to the fire brigade, took his name and flat number.

'Still then, we were not 100 per cent sure he was safe until much, much later that at the hospital. That was the point that we were relieved to see him.'

The devastating fire broke out at the west London block on Wednesday last week, ripping through the 24-storey tower, which stayed alight for several hours afterwards.

Gordon old Good Morning Britain (pictured) said he and the family had lived in the tower since 1981

The pensioner is still recovering in hospital and is said to be 'traumatised' by what happened

Gordon, who also lives in London, said he had raced to the scene when his mother - who was at work and not at the flat - phoned him to tell him the news.

He added: I was alerted first at about 2am - friends and family were trying to contact me through the night, but I was eventually contacted by my mum.

'I made my way immediately to the scene. We were actually on the phone to him during that time.

He was surprisingly calm. We woke him up because he was asleep - as you would be at that time of the evening. We woke him up said "there's a fire". He could smell the smoke.'

The official death toll of the disaster yesterday rose to 79, with five victims formally identified. Several are still missing and police have warned that there could be more victims.

Describing the moment Gordon saw his father again, he said: It was such a relief.

Mr Bonifacio (pictured) had lived in the flat for 36 years. He tried to escape but said the door was too hot to open

'Myself and mum were waiting in the hospital for confirmation that it was actually him, to see him out of there.

'He was in a bad way - he was already in an induced coma because of the smoke inhalation to protect his lungs.'

Gordon said his father - who was taken off his ventilator on Saturday - is 'traumatised' by what has happened but does not know the full extent of the tragedy.

We have spoken to him - he is incoherent and traumatised,' he added. 'I'm not sure if he realises the full extent.

'He is blind, you see, so he might have thought it was just a few storeys. We have told him, but he is very confused.'

The devastating fire broke out at the west London block on Wednesday last week, ripping through the 24-storey tower block, which stayed alight for several hours afterwards

Gordon said this mother and brother are being housed in temporary accommodation but that they are still waiting for news of where they will live after.

On Saturday, Theresa May announced a 5m Grenfell Tower Residents' Discretionary Fund to help victims of the fire.

But Gordon said his family are still unsure of their fate.

As far as permanent accommodation is concerned, we have not been told anything,' he said said.

'We have spoken to the council, social workers and housing and they will assess his needs.

That was our family home - we all grew up there. My father lived there for 36 years, we all moved in in 1981. That tower was centre to the community.'

He also added that the extent of the fire was 'unbelievable'.

'We were always concerned about fire safety, even back in the day,' he added.

'There have been other fires in the tower in the past which have been isolated to the flat that was in.

'So thats the surprising thing for me - there have been other fires, but it was just that flat that was affected. For it to spread in this way is unbelievable.'

A crowdfunding page has been set up to raise money for the family.
Nationally, 18 percent of teachers are nonwhite, compared to just over half of public school students. Its a large gapbut 11 states have committed to working to reach parity between their own nonwhite student and teacher populations by 2040.

The 11 states are: Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, and Wisconsin. The state chiefs of education are working with the Council of Chief State School Officers, which is providing the team with support and resources, including help from researchers who study the issue of teacher diversity.

Saroja Warner, the director of educator preparation initiatives at CCSSO, said this work aligns with both CCSSOs strategic plan and the Every Student Succeeds Act, which provides opportunities for states to prioritize building a diverse teacher workforce, including by allocating Title II funding to support districts recruiting efforts.

The work also seemed more urgent, Warner said, with research findings that show the positive effect teachers of color have on their students performance, particularly students of color. A recent study found that low-income black students are more likely to graduate high school and consider attending college if they have just one black teacher in elementary school. Another study found that black students are less likely to be suspended, expelled, or placed in detention by black teachers.

And last August, a report from the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institution and the National Council on Teaching Quality found that teacher-diversity gaps wont close through at least 2060 .

It just became more of an impetus for [state chiefs] to say, no, this is not acceptable, were going to do something, Warner said. If each state at least tackles the parity in their own states, eventually, we would be able to do this nationally. Maybe it seems like so gargantuan a problem when we [are framing this as] a national challenge.

This work started in December with six states, Warner said. Once news of the initative spreadand with a little bit of peer pressure"five more states came on board. Before the end of the summer, the 11 states will have finalized comprehensive plans to diversify their teacher pipelines and improve retention for teachers of color. The first cohort has submitted its draft plans to CCSSO for feedback, and the second cohort will submit its at the end of the month.

If we dont put action behind doing something, its a waste of time, said Melody Schopp, the education secretary of South Dakota and the board president of CCSSO. Its always tempting to identify a problem, make a plan, and then nobody carries it out. Through these meetings, were holding each other accountable with specific deadlines and times.

In South Dakota, for instance, 13 percent of students are Native Americanbut less than 3 percent of teachers are, Schopp said, calling the ratio unbalanced.

The state has already started working to close the gap through a state-funded paraprofessional-to-teacher program on Native American reservations. The people who are grounded in those communities ... theyre the ones who are going to stay in the communities, Schopp said, adding that the program gives those paraprofessionals tuition assistance and support.

Warner said grow-your-own programs, targeting high school students, have emerged as one of the best practices across state lines. Another common conversation among state leaders, she said, is how to be more innovative about the pathways into teaching, she said: Are there licensure policies that are creating unintended consequences for teachers of color?

Studying the entrance to the teaching profession has been a priority for Nebraskas education commissioner, Matthew Blomstedt.

"[We are looking for] data to see if we are holding potential teachers back, and I think theres data there that proves we have work to do, he said.

Blomstedt said he wants to create an advisory group of teachers and principals from diverse backgrounds to make recommendations on how teacher-preparation programs can support and recruit nonwhite candidates and how school districts can support retention among teachers of color, along with other issues.

Im white, by the way, he said. Youll find that a lot of policymakers come from that background, and I want to be intentional about looking for leaders with a different type of diverse background.

Intentionality is key in this work, Warner said: We cant fix a pipeline by chewing some gum and putting it on the hole. We really need comprehensive strategies.

To that end, CCSSO has brought in researchers who work in this field to help state leaders problem-solve certain issues and think through all the considerations, she said.

Another benefit of the working group is that it allows chiefs to hear strategies that other states are doing that they might not have thought of, Schopp said, and to learn about national organizations that may provide some support.

The goal of parity by 2040 is ambitious, state chiefs acknowledge. Its going to be very difficult for some states to make it, Schopp said. There has to be a starting point of where we begin. Even talking about these issues is really, really critical.

And these are hard conversations, Blomstedt said. Thats what I appreciate about [the working group] gatherings. These [ideas] may or may not work. State leaders can be fairly blunt about the challenges in their states, he added, calling it a safe environment.

After all, the teacher-student diversity gap has been a problem for years, Warner said.

If we dont set a specific goal for this work, and by doing so, recognize the urgency of acting now, we could potentially be having the same conversation 10 years from now, 20 years, 30 years from nowand not seeing any progress, she said.

Image courtesy of Allison Shelley/The Verbatim Agency for American Education: Images of Teachers and Students in Action , licensed under Creative Commons

More on Teacher Diversity
Six prison inmates cutting grass in a cemetery on work detail in Georgia saved the life of a correctional officer who collapsed in the intense heat.

The correctional officer was providing security for a Polk County Sheriff's Office for a work detail in a cemetery when he went into respiratory distress.

The unidentified officer collapsed. The six inmates raced to his assistance, removed his bullet proof vest and started to perform CPR. One of the inmates dialed 911 to secure emergency assistance.

These six prison inmates saved the lives of a correctional officer who collapsed while supervising their Sheriff's Office work detail in a cemetery in Polk County in Georgia

The inmates removed the officer's bullet proof vest so they could provide CPR and used his cell phone to alert authorities and call for an ambulance to provide emergency assistance

The inmates were cutting grass when the officer collapsed and stopped breathing

Inmate Greg Williams said when the officer collapsed, he was not breathing.

He told 11alive.com: 'When he started breathing, it was just real heavy and real fast.

'When that happened, in my opinion, it wasn't about who is in jail and who wasn't. It was about a man going down and we had to help him.'

Polk County Sheriff Johnny Moats said: 'That really speaks a lot about my officers too, how they treat these inmates. They treat them like people. Like family.'

The Sheriff's department posted a message of thanks on their Facebook page.

The officer's family even bought the six men as thanks for their life-saving quick action.
A tearful woman broke down in court in Germany as she alleged that three asylum seekers raped her a total of nine times when she was ambushed at a town fair.

The alleged attack in August 2016 left the 28-year-old Hungarian victim 'shattered,' she told a court in Muhlhausen.

Her mobile phone was stolen and the men used it to film their brutal assault which included kicking and punching her and dragging her by her hair, she claims.

Victim Laura G. says she was repeatedly raped by three Ethiopian asylum seekers including Medhanie A., 29, near a town fair in Muhlhausen, Germany, in August 2016

The woman claims the men (Isaak N. ,23, left, and Dawit T., 22, right) stole her phone so she couldn't call for help before taking it in turns to attack her while filming the abuse

The woman said she was forced to have unprotected oral, vaginal and anal sex with three Ethiopian men who she identified in court, The Local reports.

She claimed the men took it in turns to rape her, sometimes acting as a group, and sometimes individually.

The State Court in Muhlhausen heard how one of the three accused, Isaak N. ,23, approached victim Laura G. as she made her way home from the fair.

She told the court that he grabbed her by the arm and said; 'We are going to have sex now.'

When she tried to run he grabbed her, slapped her to the ground and proceeded to pull her trousers down.

She managed to get to her feet and run - only into the arms of accomplices Medhanie A., 29, and David T., 22.

The alleged attack happened at Muhlhausen train station, close to the site of the town fair

'The victim was then dragged under a viaduct, her mouth kept shut in order to silence her cries,' said the prosecution.

The men were arrested the next day. DNA from two of them matched up with DNA collected by police.

'Every one of them raped me three times,' she sobbed in court on Monday.

Her testimony was cut short due to her emotional state and will be continued on another day.

Earlier in the trial Isaak N. had admitted having sex with the woman, but said the encounter had been consensual.

'I was very drunk at the carnival and I slept with her once,' he said. Two other men had been there at the time, but not Medhanie A. and David T., he claimed.

Medhanie A. and David T. deny any involvement in the crime, saying they were at home at the time, having gone to bed early.

The case continues.
Greyhound trainers continue to dope dogs with dangerous performance enhancing drugs including cocaine, arsenic and cobalt after the ban on racing was overturned by the NSW government.

There were 20 trainers charged and convicted of drugging the dogs with substances prohibited by Greyhound Racing NSW since the ban was reversed in October.

Greens MLC Mehreen Faruqi said the number of doping cases showed the industry's lack of commitment to reform.

Registered greyhound trainer Sonia Kempshall was fined $750 when she pleaded guilty to giving three of her dogs, Palazzo, Price Rise and Slender Jappa, arsenic in February this year

'One thing we can be sure of with the overturning of the ban is that dogs will continue be drugged, they will continue to die on track and they will continue to be killed when they no longer run fast enough to make money,' Ms Faruqi told The Guardian.

'The backflip on the greyhound racing ban has emboldened people in the industry to continue to do the wrong thing.'

Faruqi said the lenient punishments also made a mockery of the industry's road to recovery.

She said the fines were often 'so woefully small that they are meaningless'.

Registered greyhound trainer Sonia Kempshall was fined $750 for giving arsenic to three of her dogs

Registered greyhound trainer Sonia Kempshall was fined $750 when she pleaded guilty to giving three of her dogs, Palazzo, Price Rise and Slender Jappa, arsenic in February this year.

Jeanette Foley, also a registered trainer, was disqualified for 12 months when she pleaded guilty to doping in March this year after her race dog Queen Taro was found with amphetamine and benzoylecgonine in its system.

Other racing dogs were found with caffeine, lignocaine, insomnia medication, flunixin and dexamethasone in their systems, The Guardian reports.

Prominent NSW trainer Melinda Finn was also caught doping her dogs with an extremely dangerous performance-enhancing drug

Ms Finn was the first person found guilty of injecting dogs with Recombinant Human Erythropoietin, the same drug Tour de France cheat Lance Armstrong used

Prominent NSW trainer Melinda Finn was also caught doping her dogs with an extremely dangerous performance-enhancing drug.

Ms Finn was the first person found guilty of injecting dogs with Recombinant Human Erythropoietin, the same drug Tour de France cheat Lance Armstrong used, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

She was found guilty in December and disqualified for 12 years but it was downgraded to two years and six months on appeal last month.

Proposed reforms to the industry include stricter requirements on housing, mental stimulation, breeding, exercise, training and retirement care

While the NSW government back flipped on its racing ban, it promised wide-scale reforms to the industry.

An independent Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission was announced, but a search for commissioners to head the group is ongoing.

Proposed reforms to the industry include stricter requirements on housing, mental stimulation, breeding, exercise, training and retirement care.
A woman's hands and feet have been bound with duct tape by two armed thugs who stormed a bowling club and fled with cash.

Armed with a shortened firearm and a sledgehammer, the men burst into Abermain Bowling and Recreation Club in the NSW Hunter region on Monday night.

The pair then tied up the female employee before stealing cash, ransacking the venue and fleeing in a Nissan Pulsar, police said.

Two men armed with guns and hammers stormed a bowling club in Abermain

The getaway car was found nearby burnt to a blackened shell several hours later.

A crime scene has been established at the venue and investigations are ongoing.

Police are hunting for the two men, who are described as being of Caucasian appearance, one of thin build and one of medium build.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
Queensland bar owners are concerned extra costs to bring in security staff to operate new mandatory ID scanners will put them out of business.

The move hopes to stop alcohol-fueled violence outside licensed venues within the safe night precinct on the Gold Coast.

Government officials want to introduce the ID scanners into clubs to keep out anyone who has been banned by venues or police.

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Queensland bar owners are worried about costs to run required ID scanners (pictured)

As early as July nightclubs open until midnight must scan every ID after 10pm

'Hopefully it will make people think twice before they decide to do something stupid,' Nightclub owner Tim Martin told Nine News Gold Coast .

From as early as July the nightclubs will be required to scan every ID after 10pm If there trading hours are beyond midnight.

The scanners must be operated by a security guard, worrying some local businesses they will not be able to sustain the added costs.

The move hopes to stop alcohol-fueled violence outside licensed venues within the safe night precinct on the Gold Coast

The scanners must be operated by a security guard, worrying some local Gold Coast businesses they will not be able to sustain the added costs

Helen Gilbert of the Sufers Paradise RSL told Channel 9 the scanner is kept at reception and believes the reception team would be capable of running the scanners to abide to the new regulations.

'I am sure our reception staff could do the same job. Security staff aren't cheap. If it gets too expensive and causes disruption to our business then we're going to have to look at trading not as late.'

The government has said they may look at easing the toll on venue operators by offering a one-off payment of $4,000 to help with the initial implementation.
Mark Carney took a swipe at Boris Johnson today as he warned that uncertainty over Brexit is set to hit living standards.

The Bank of England governor mocked the idea that the UK was on a 'smooth path to a land of cake and consumption'.

The jibe appeared to be a reference to the Foreign Secretary's comment last October that Britain could 'have our cake and eat it'.

In a speech to City figures at Mansion House this morning, Mr Carney said there was likely to be 'weaker real income growth' until the new arrangements become clear.

The Bank of England governor mocked the idea that the UK was on a 'smooth path to a land of cake and consumption'

Mr Carney's speech at the Mansion House in central London had been delayed in the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster

'Since the prospect of Brexit emerged, financial markets, notably sterling, have marked down the UKs economic prospects,' he said.

'Monetary policy cannot prevent the weaker real income growth likely to accompany the transition to new trading arrangements with the EU.

'But it can influence how this hit to incomes is distributed between job losses and price rises. And it can support households and businesses as they adjust to such profound change...

'That is why last summer the Bank announced a series of monetary and macro-financial measures to support the economy during this transition. This stimulus is working.

'Credit is widely available, the cost of borrowing is near record lows, the economy has outperformed expectations, and unemployment has reached a 40 year low.'

Mr Carney said the terms of the Brexit deal would be crucial in determining the country's economic prospects.

POUND DIPS AFTER CARNEY PLAYS DOWN RATES INCREASES Sterling dipped against the US dollar as Mark Carney spoke about rates The Pound dipped sharply against the US dollar today after Mark Carney played down the prospect of interest rate rises. The Bank of England Governor told the Mansion House this morning that 'now is not yet the time' to raise rates. The comments immediately cooled speculation that increases could be imminent - after more members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee joined calls for them. Sterling fell by nearly a cent against the dollar, and was also down against the euro. Mr Carney said: 'From my perspective, given the mixed signals on consumer spending and business investment, and given the still subdued domestic inflationary pressures, in particular anaemic wage growth, now is not yet the time to begin that adjustment.' Advertisement

And he took aim at Mr Johnson's remark in October last year that the government's policy amounted to 'having our cake and eating it'.

Mr Carney said: 'Depending on whether and when any transition arrangement can be agreed, firms on either side of the channel may soon need to activate contingency plans.

'Before long, we will all begin to find out the extent to which Brexit is a gentle stroll along a smooth path to a land of cake and consumption.'

The Pound dipped sharply against the US dollar after Mr Carney played down the prospect of interest rate rises.

He said 'now is not yet the time' to raise rates.

The comments immediately cooled speculation that increases could be imminent - after more members of the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee joined calls for them.

Sterling fell by nearly a cent against the dollar, and was also down against the euro.

Mr Carney said: 'From my perspective, given the mixed signals on consumer spending and business investment, and given the still subdued domestic inflationary pressures, in particular anaemic wage growth, now is not yet the time to begin that adjustment.'

Meanwhile, in his own Mansion House speech today Philip Hammond insisted jobs must be put first during Brexit negotiations as he risked fueling Cabinet splits.

The Chancellor stepped up pressure for a soft exit from the EU, urging an 'implementation period' where the UK remains subject to the bloc's customs rules.

He also warned that immigration cannot be 'shut down' after Britain formally cuts ties with Brussels.
Prosecutors in Ohio are seeking possible links between four former residents who are believed to have moved to Alaska and a family of eight who were slain in their home in April 2016.

Investigators said they're seeking details on personal or business interactions and conversations that people may have had with the four, who once lived near the victims in southern Ohio.

The murders of Hanna Rhoden, her father, Christopher Rhoden Sr; her mother, Dana Rhoden; her brothers Clarence 'Frankie' Rhoden and Christopher Rhoden Jr; Frankie Rhoden's fiancee, Hannah Gilley; a cousin, Gary Rhoden; and Kenneth Rhoden, Christopher Rhoden's brother, are still unsolved.

Prosecutors investigating the slayings want informtion on George 'Billy' Wagner III, who investigators say is a former Peebles, Ohio, resident believe he and his wife Angela Wagner, right may have moved to Alaska with their sons George Wagner IV and Edward 'Jake' Wagner

Edward 'Jake' Wagner was involved in a relationship with one of the victims Hannah Rhoden, he and his brother George Wagner IV, right, are believed to have moved to Alaska

Eight members of the Rhoden family were killed at four homes in Pike County, Ohio

Police discovered large amounts of marijuana being grown at three of the four properties

The victims ranged in age between 16 and 44.

Police believe the murders which took place in four separate homes in Piketon, Pike County, Ohio could be linked to Rhoden Sr's large-scale marijuana operation.

In a joint statement between the Attorney General Mike De Wine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader, they said: 'Specifically, information could include, but is not limited to, information regarding vehicles, firearms, and ammunition.'

The four were named as George 'Billy' Wagner III, Angela Wagner and their sons George Wagner IV and Edward 'Jake' Wagner. None was named a suspect.

Jake Wagner was a long-time former boyfriend of Hanna Rhoden, one of the eight victims, and shared custody of their daughter at the time of the massacre.

Jake Wagner and Angela Wagner told the Cincinnati Enquirer this month they were not involved in the April 2016 killings.

'Please let's concentrate on finding the real monsters who did this,' Jake Wagner said in a combined email from him and his mother, the newspaper reported June 8.

Husband-to-be Frankie Rhoden, 20, and his fiancee Hannah Hazel Gilley, 20, were among those killed with a gunshots to the head - their six month old son was spared

Christopher Rhoden Jr, left, 16, the youngest victim, and Hanna Rhoden, right, were both killed

In May, investigators searched property in southern Ohio recently sold by the Wagners. The family, formerly of Peebles, is believed to be living in Alaska.

'What has happened to us in the last few weeks has been devastating and will follow us for the rest of our lives,' Angela Wagner wrote in an email to the Enquirer. 'Hanna was loved by all of us. She was like a daughter to me then and now.'

Authorities suspect there were multiple attackers who were familiar with the victims' homes and the surrounding area. The motive behind the April 22, 2016, killings remains a mystery.

DeWine's office has said Christopher Rhoden Sr. had 'a large-scale marijuana growing operation,' leading to speculation the killings were drug-related.

Kenneth Rhoden, left, 44, and Christopher Rhoden, right, 40, were both murdered
Hilarious footage has captured the moment a Mercedes drives down a motorway hard shoulder to avoid queues - only to be pulled over by an unmarked police car seconds later.

In the footage, captured on the M40 near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, yesterday, the Mercedes skips past stationary traffic only to get its immediate comeuppance.

At the start of the clip, the vehicle recording the footage on its dash cam sits in static traffic on the three-lane M40.

After a few seconds, the Mercedes can be seen zooming past on the hard shoulder, with its hazard lights on.

But just as soon as this has happened, the unmarked car in front of the dash cam vehicle turns on flashing blue lights and starts to pursue the vehicle.

The man filming the footage can be heard laughing uncontrollably at the scene.

Then, a few hundred metres down the road, the Mercedes driver can be seen parked on the hard shoulder, with the officer wearing a reflective jacket taking his details.

Dan Haynes who recorded the footage, said: 'Never a better sight this morning, watching some Mercedes driving down the hard shoulder on the M40 to beat the queue, then watching the car in front of me light up like a Christmas tree.

In the footage, captured on the M40 near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, yesterday, the Mercedes (left) skips past stationary traffic only to get its immediate comeuppance

'Yep, an unmarked cop car wiped the 'SMerc' off his face.'

Social media users were quick to express delight with the footage after it was posted on Facebook.

Peter Smithson said: 'Fantastic. Bet the cop was saying 'if I've got to queue, so do you!'

The vehicle recording on its dash cam sits in static traffic on the M40 when a Mercedes (left) drives past, using the hard shoulder to skip the jam but an unmarked police car is just ahead

Gary Austin wrote: 'Haha. One of my pet hates, why do some drivers think they are above everyone else and don't need to sit in a queue like everyone else?'

Kirsty Bakstad added: 'Amazing! Your laugh makes it though.'

Over 800 people are killed or injured each year in incidents on hard shoulders and lay-bys in the UK.

Inappropriate use of the hard shoulder is an offence under motorway traffic regulations and incurs up to a 100 fine and three penalty points.
A teenage urban explorer has shared a video showing one of his latest death-defying stunts: to climb an antenna located on top of a skyscraper.

James Sight, 16, based in Hong Kong, said the crumbling pole was 'the most dangerous spire' he had even been on in the footage he shared on his YouTube channel earlier this month.

Filmed over 800 feet above the ground, the shocking clip is just one of the many videos posted by the Australian, who has quit school to become a full-time rooftopper.

James Sight snapped a selfie after he reached the top of the dangerous antenna in Shenzhen, China. The 16-year-old posted the picture on his Instagram, which has over 40,000 followers

James and his friends climbed the Panglin Plaza in Shenzhen, southern China, on May 28. He said he had been dreaming about scaling the building because he found the structure 'amazing'.

In an interview with MailOnline, James, who claimed to have climbed hundreds of towers, explained: 'It's a very old-fashioned square building with an amazing big white frame, which is the shape of a ball mounted on the roof.

'On top of this frame, there is a huge antenna spire which I wanted to climb.'

The nine-minute video, posted on June 8 by James, shows him scaling the antenna. The pole appeared to lack maintenance as it had plenty rusted patches.

As James made his way down the antenna, he told one friend that the pole was 'the most dangerous spire I've ever been on' as he warned the friend to be careful.

According to James, a few of the metal bars of the antenna had already broken and he could only stand on one rim on the antenna as he reached the top.

James said he could feel his heart beating fast when he climbed the structure, but he also told his friend that he wished he could do it again.

The antenna is located on the top of the 57-story Panglin Plaza (left), which is 820ft high. James entered the structure with his friends and climbed to the top of the pole (right)

Located in downtown Shenzhen, Panglin Plaza is 250 metres (820 feet) high and has 57 storeys, according the website of Panglin Hotel.

The edifice, containing offices and a five-star hotel, was completed in 1999.

Experts said while the act of climbing buildings itself is legal in China, climbers could break the law if they haven't got a permission from the property owner or if their behaviour disrupts the public order.

Stunning views: The Australian moved to Hong Kong with his family in 2016. It is in the skyscraper city that James discovered his love for extreme videography and photography

The young daredevil: James (left) has climbed hundreds of towers after pursuing the hobby as a career. Many of his stunts were carried out together with his friends (right)

James runs a popular YouTube channel called ILLSIGHT which he updates nearly every day

James Sight was born in Melbourne, Australia. He moved to many countries around Asia when he was little due to his family's work.

The adventurer lived in Finland for two years with his mother and his sister, before moving to Hong Kong to live with his father in April, 2016.

It was in Hong Kong, a city filled with skyscrapers, where James discovered his love of extreme videography and photography.

The teenager currently runs a popular YouTube channel, called 'ILLSIGHT', which he updates almost every day.

His Instagram, which has pictures of his dangerous stunts, has attracted over 40,000 followers.

Popular on social media: The 16-year-old quit school to make 'rooftopping' his full-time career

Life up high: James's family are supportive albeit nervous about what he does for a living

In a previous interview with MailOnline, James said he had climbed hundreds of towers, but still had some goals he would like to achieve.

He said: 'I would love to climb the Shanghai Tower which is the second tallest building in the world. I would also love to climb the Shard in London too.'

Despite the dangerous hobby, James said his family were supportive albeit a little scared by what he does.

He added: 'My family are all over the world, so I have to Skype them about what I'm doing.

'My mum thinks it's pretty cool that I'm able to market it and make a name for myself, my dad too, but I know it scares them.'
This is the shocking moment a female passenger pushed another commuter off a railway platform after accusing him of molesting her.

The woman claimed that the male commuter had touched her breasts as they waited for a train in Yichang East Railway Station, China, on June 17.

The man fell onto the tracks, but was immediately rescued by staff at the railway station. He is said to suffer from a mental illness.

Shocking video shows an angry woman shoving another commuter off a railway platform in China on June 17. The woman claimed the man had touched her breasts

A surveillance footage, posted by Pear Video, shows the woman complaining to her husband about the alleged sexual assault at the station in Hubei province at 3:28pm on Saturday.

Her husband, in black, rushed to talk to the suspect accompanied by a man.

The male companion explained to them the suspect had a mental illness.

A woman was seen complaining to her husband (in black) on a platform of Yichang East Railway Station before making the drastic move of pushing the commuter

The crying woman suddenly dashed towards the suspect despite her husband's attempt to calm her down and pushed him off the platform

The man, who is said to have a mental illness, fell on the tracks as others watched in shock

Rail staff also asked the woman and her husband to calm down and talk to the man and his family member.

However, the woman could not accept the explanation and burst into tears despite her husband's attempt to calm her down.

She suddenly hurtled towards the suspect to push him off the platform.

The man fell on his face to the tracks as others watched in shock.

Rail staff immediately jumped on to the tracks to pull the suspect aside. Thankfully no train passed by the station through out the entire process

Two rail staff and the suspect's companion jumped on to the tracks to pull him aside immediately.

Thankfully no train passed by the station through out the entire process.

The video report says the suspect suffered a mental illness because of a previous surgical operation on the head.
Colombian Judge Arraigned in Florida Court on Weapons Shipment Charges

A Colombian judge, Miguel Horacio Gomez Achicue, was arrested at Miami International Airport earlier this month and later arraigned on charges relating to the shipment of gun parts from the U.S. to his home country. Gomez Achicue is accused of sending parts of an AR-15, a civilian version of the military's M-16, from Pembroke Pines, Florida to Cali, Colombia in violation of federal customs laws.

The criminal complaint alleges the firearm parts "were concealed in the package, which also contained clothing and shoes," but not concealed enough, apparently.

Judge for Yourself

According to Colombian news reports, helpfully passed on by the Miami Herald, Gomez Achicue is a labor court judge in Cali, settling disputes between employees and employers. His own appearances before American judges didn't go so well: Judge Andrea Simonton first denied the 49-year-old bail, citing him as a flight risk, and then Judge John O'Sullivan heard his not guilty plea later.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement initially issued a detainer against Gomez Achicue after Colombian authorities discovered parts of an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle hidden in a package shipped from Florida to Colombia. "The airway bill on the package revealed that the package was sent by Gomez Achicue on or about May 15, 2017," according to the criminal complaint, and included bolt carrier groups, flash suppressors, lower parts kits, a butt stock, and a hand guard. When Gomez Achicue was arrested at Miami International before boarding a flight to Bogota two days later, even more AR-15 parts were discovered in his baggage.

Judge to Be Judged

Following his arrest, the judge made a couple admissions his attorneys may have wished he hadn't. First, according to the criminal complaint, Gomez Achicue "stated he shipped the three intercepted packages containing firearms parts, he knew there were firearm parts in the packages, and he shipped the firearm parts in three separate packages in order to 'avoid problems.'" He even added that "he knew exporting firearm parts was 'incorrect.'" Not great statements to have on the record if you want to try the "I didn't know it was illegal" defense.

Gomez Achicue also tried to throw an unnamed acquaintance under the bus, telling investigators "his friend asked him to ship the firearm parts to Colombia and that his friend had given him $1,500 to be used to purchase the firearm parts." There's no telling what the Colombian judge's third appearance before a Florida judge will bring.

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A worker from China's most famous shopping centre has been caught kicking and slapping a penguin, which was kept in the mall to entertain shoppers.

A total of two penguins were said to be used by the Wanda Plaza in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, as a part of a 'sales promotion' to attract customers, according to a shocked eyewitness.

Wanda Plaza is a part of the Wanda Group, a conglomerate corporation owned by Wang Jianlin, the richest man in China who is worth 24.6 billion ($31.2 billion).

The two penguins were kept in a glass box in a luxury shopping mall in northern China

The two birds were used by the mall to attract shoppers during a mid-year promotion

An eyewitness said the animals were maltreated in Wanda Plaza in Hohhot (pictured)

The shopping mall is a part of the Wanda Group, owned by property tycoon and China's richest man Wang Jianlin (pictured) who is worth a whopping 24.6 billion

The video was filmed by an eyewitness, who goes by her surname of He.

Ms He, 27, told MailOnline that she saw the shocking scene at around 4:30pm on June 15 and decided to film it.

WANDA PLAZA: A FAMOUS SHOPPING CENTRE The Wanda Plaza in Hohhot is one of the 168 Wanda Plaza shopping centres located across China. Wanda Plaza is thought to be the most famous shopping centre brand in China and is a part of the humongous Wanda Group belonging to Wang Jianlin. Wanda Group's assets totaled 736.8 billion yuan (80.5 billion) in the first half of 2016, which was a 12.1 per cent increase from the end of 2015, according to a press release. Advertisement

The worker was trying to feed the penguin by force, and when the black-and-white bird didn't cooperate, he gave it a physical punishment.

Ms He said she was extremely angry at the worker's behaviour so she decided to send the video to a local animal rights group on the same day before posting the footage to her own social media account, 'Ha Ni Wang Wang Da XXX', hours later.

In the video, a male worker can be seen trying to feed the two penguins kept inside a rectangular glass display cabinet.

However, both penguins appeared to refuse to eat the fish. As a result, the man shoved the food into the mouth of one of the penguins.

He kicked the animal to stop it from going away. He also slapped the penguin after it spat the fish out.

A man can be seen giving a penguin a kick as it refused to eat (left). The bird was forced to eat fish as the man appeared to punish it in the shopping mall in China (right)

Ms He, a customer, told MailOnline that she saw the shocking scene at around 4:30pm on June 15. The woman said she was very angry so she decided to film the incident and posted it online

A flyer from the Wanda Plaza in Hohhot (above) said that shoppers could meet the penguins during its mid-year sales from June 16 to June 18. The birds were kept in a glass box in the mall

Ms He said the penguins had been kept in the mall as a part of a sales promotion.

According to a flyer shown to MailOnline by Ms He, the promotion ran from June 16 to 18.

Images of three penguins were featured on the flyer which read 'celebration for 72 hours' and 'mid-year sales'.

The flyer can also be found posted on the social media account of Wanda Plaza in Hohhot.

It's understood that the customers could look at the penguins in the glass box if they go to the shopping mall.

Ms He said she was concerned about the animals' treatment by the shopping mall.

She has sent a message to Wanda Plaza through social media in Hohhot to complain about the worrying situation, and the next day she received a reply in which the mall apologised to her for the 'unhappy experience'.

The man slapped the back of the Magellanic penguin as it turned its back (left) towards him. But soon, the bird was forced to turn back to the man and got its mouth stuck with fish (right)

According to Ms He, Wanda Plaza has apologised to her about her 'unhappy experience' through private messaging, but the woman said she hoped the company to apologise publicly

In the reply, a spokesman from the company that organised the 'penguin show' apparently told Ms He that the two animals were Magellanic penguins, a breed of penguins living in South America.

THE MAGELLANIC PENGUINS Different from many species of penguins, Magellanic penguins live in temperate climates, not in the Antarctic. They are usually found in 30 degree south in Chile to 40 degree north in Argentina, and the Falkland Islands. Hohhot, on the other hand, is located in northern China, near Mongolia. Advertisement

The spokesman told her that the specific type of penguins are not used to live in 'low temperature environment', such as Hohhot.

The spokesman also said the staff worker was trying to feed the penguins with small fish in order to help them adjust to local environment after long-time travelling.

The spokesman insisted the worker had not abused the penguin, and Ms He did not understand the feeding process of Magellanic penguins.

Ms He said she was not satisfied with the reply. She also said that the mall had been contacting her through private messages, but what she hoped was that the mall could issue an apology to the public.

Ms He condemned the shopping mall in a social media post on June 15. She posted under a screen name 'Ha Ni Wang Wang Da XXX'

Magellanic penguins (pictured) are a breed of penguins living in South America. They can be found in Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands

A customer service operator from Wanda Plaza in Hohhot told The Beijing News that the penguins appeared to be reluctant to eat as they had been transported to a new environment.

The customer service operator also said the penguins were not used to be surrounded by the public.

MailOnline has contacted Wanda Group's press office regarding the matter and is awaiting a reply.

Animal lovers have condemned the mall's decision to keep the penguin.

Keith Guo from PETA Asia told MailOnline: 'Taken away from families and habitat, that poor penguin couldn't swallow any food because of psychological and physical suffer.

'However, just for the sake of entertaining customers, the man threaten the penguin to eat by kicking and slapping.'

Mr Guo continued: 'It's not a machine but animals like you and me who have feelings of happiness, fear, loneliness.

'The violation happened to that penguin is a shame on the man, and it's a shame on the shopping mall which exploit animals to attract customers.'
Two young women were shot as they sat in their car on a busy street.

The incident happened on Brentwood Road in Romford, Essex, at around 10pm as the women sat in their black Audi A3 hatchback, which was parked near The Wheatsheaf pub.

Stunned eye-witnesses saw the traumatised women, aged 23 and 24, stagger to a nearby car before being rushed to an east London hospital.

They were driven there by a member of the public, who left before police arrived.

Bullet holes could be seen in the window of the vehicle after the shots were fired

The incident happened on Brentwood Road in Romford, Essex, at around 10pm

The taped-off Audi was still at the scene just feet from a popular bus stop today.

A shocked witness, who didn't want to be named, said the dramatic shooting happened after a silver car roared up alongside the victims.

He said: 'It pulled up alongside as the two women were sitting in theirs and then before you knew it you heard five or six gunshots and the silver car drove off.

The women were sat in their black Audi A3 hatchback, which was parked near The Wheatsheaf pub

Top detectives from the Met Police's gang unit, Trident and Area Crime Command, were today combing the scene for vital clues along with forensic experts

'Then the two girls stumbled down to the corner of Wheatsheaf Road and got into another car that looked like it had been waiting for them on the corner. Their car was in a right state. The bullets had gone all the way in one side and out the other.

'No one saw much of the girls. They got out the area really quickly - apparently someone took them straight to hospital.'

Another witness, one of the first people on the scene said that gun casings were scattered across the road, according to the Romford Recorder.

Both women were today still being treated in hospital but their injuries are not thought to be life threatening.

Top detectives from the Met Police's gang unit, Trident and Area Crime Command, were today combing the scene for vital clues along with forensic experts.

Police have sealed off Brentwood Road as they hunt the gunmen. There have been no arrests so far.

The incident happened on Brentwood Road in Romford, Essex, around 10pm as the women sat in their black Audi A3 hatchback, which was parked near The Wheatsheaf pub

Police have sealed off Brentwood Road as they hunt the gunmen. There have been no arrests so far

A resident of Tolburt Court, in nearby Lennox Close, said one of the victims lives in the estate.

'She's a lovely girl. I say hello to her when we're both walking our dogs sometimes,' they said.

'It's very scary isn't it? She's only a small girl. She probably got lucky and the bullets went over her head.

'I've seen where the car got shot and if she was a little taller she'd most likely be dead.'

Any witnesses, or anyone with any information, can contact police via 101, or via Twitter @MetCC.

To give information anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org
Police are hoping the arrest of Sharon Edwards' estranged husband will lead them to the missing teacher's remains in northern NSW.

John Edwards, 61, was the last person to see his wife alive at their home in Lawrence, north of Grafton, in March 2015.

He held a tear-filled press conference at the time calling for information to solve the mystery of her disappearance.

But now police have arrested Edwards in Redcliffe, Queensland, and he's to be extradited to NSW and charged with her murder.

Police are hoping the arrest of Sharon Edwards' estranged husband will lead them to the missing teacher's remains in northern NSW

Sharon Edwards disappeared after last being seen at her home in Lawrence, north of Grafton, in March 2015

John Edwards, 61, was the last person to see his wife alive before he disappearance

'We desperately would like to see some conclusion for the family with the recovery of Sharon's remains,' Detective Inspector Darren Jameson told reporters on Tuesday.

Detectives broke the news to Ms Edwards' children that their father had been arrested.

'You would imagine they have some mixed emotion,' Insp Jameson said.

'Not only some relief related to the conclusion of the investigation but also the issues around the circumstances of that conclusion.'

Edwards initially told police he saw his wife at their home in Riverdale Court around 10.30pm on March 14.

Ms Edwards had spent the evening having dinner with friends at a hotel in Grafton and NSW Police have previously said her demeanour was positive, according to CCTV footage of her leaving the premises.

Detectives broke the news to Ms Edwards' children that their father had been arrested.

Edwards initially told police he saw his wife at their home in Riverdale Court around 10.30pm on March 14

Insp Jameson told reporters a year after the popular teacher disappeared there was no reason for her to make the 30km trip to Lawrence that night.

Police know Ms Edwards changed her clothes at her Grafton home and left her car in the garage, but her purse, keys and phone have not been found.

Last year, Edwards was released on parole after serving three months of a 12-month jail sentence for unrelated firearm offences in 2015.

Edwards is expected to be extradited to NSW on Wednesday and formally charged with murder once he crosses the border.
A bogus landlord who stole 7,000 from potential tenants after advertising his own home on the website Spareroom.com has been spared jail.

Muhammad Mawji, 27, stole deposits from four victims - including a desperate family who were hoping to stay at his house in Ilford, east London.

A court heard he used the cash to fund his gambling addition and is now unable to pay any of the money back.

Muhammad Mawji, 27, stole deposits from four victims - including a desperate family who were hoping to stay at his house in Ilford, east London

Mawji, who has dwarfism, was handed a suspended sentence and ordered to complete 30 sessions of thinking skills.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard he created a profile on the popular rental site Spareroom.com and offered bedrooms in his house at for 1,100 per month.

He showed the victims round the home asking for an up front deposit once he accepted their offer.

With the cash in his pocket he would then ignore them, putting the house on the website again.

One victim, Abdul Khalid was desperate to secure a room for him, his wife and three-month-old daughter, coughing up 5,400 in deposits and rent advances to Mawji in July 2015.

Yet having paid Mawji in cash, he couldnt secure a move in date with him and was unable to get his fees back.

Robert Drange lost 1000 after paying Mawji a deposit for another bedroom in the house.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Mawji created a profile on the popular rental site Spareroom.com and offered bedrooms in his house at for 1,100 per month

Yet after Mawji delayed the move-in date, Drange asked for his deposit back getting no response from Mawji.

Zaid Farabi viewed the room on 11 August 2015 and immediately gave Mawji 300 to secure it.

When Mawji demanded a guarantor, Farabis brother sold thousands of pounds worth of jewellery to cover for Zaids rental costs.

Mr Farabi was then unable to get in touch with Mawji about moving in.

Irtiza Syed also lost 300 from Mawjis scam.

Mawji was arrested at the Brook Road house after his victims complained to police.

He originally denied four counts of fraud, but pleaded guilty on the first day of trial on 15 May 2017.

Judge Nigel Peters QC said: You have pleaded guilty to these offences and the loss to the victims is some 7000.

Whatever happens this defendant is never going to pay a penny back.

You pleaded guilty at the door of the court on trial day.

Although this crossed the custody threshold I am able to suspend the sentence today.

Judge Peters told him he had to complete 30 sessions of thinking skills to avoid breaching his sentence.

Mawji, from Ilford, admitted four counts of fraud and was sentenced to 14 months imprisonment suspended for two years.
Diane Abbott today said she is 'back to fighting fitness' after being forced to step aside from the Labour frontbench on the eve of the election due to health problems.

She has returned as shadow home secretary after taking a break because of complications arising from her type 2 diabetes.

Miss Abbott is one of Jeremy Corbyn's closest allies but she was withdrawn from the political frontline after she had a series of car-crash interviews.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast his morning she said she stepped back after being told by her brother that she was not managing her condition.

Diane Abbott, pictured on BBC Breakfast today, said she is back to fighting fitness after struggling to manage her type 2 diabetes during the election campaign

She said she is feeling far better now, and revealed she never considered quitting the frontbench for good because of her condition.

Miss Abbott said: 'I'm feeling a lot better. I'm a type 2 diabetic, I wasn't managing it but it is a very manageable condition.

'It took my brother to ring me up and tell me off and tell me about the importance of eating properly and glucose tablets.

'But the thing I would urge all your viewers to do  because I developed type 2 diabetes later on in life, is to go and get tested.'

Asked directly if she had considered quitting as the shadow cabinet permanently because of her condition, she said it was 'never a consideration'.

And the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington dismissed suggestions she would not be able to handle the 'stressful' job of home secretary as she had to step aside during the campaign.

She said: 'Stress wasn't an issue, my blood sugar levels was as my brother had to call me and point out.

'I am back to fighting fitness and I am back to representing the people of hackney and stoke Newington, but above al to representing the Labour Party in the debates and battles to come.'

Miss Abbott made a series of blundering interviews during the recent General Election campaign.

Diane Abbott, pictured visiting Finsbury Park Mosque yesterday, said she is excited about being back on the Labour frontbench after her break

Jeremy Corbyn, pictured hugging Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan outside Finsbury Park Mosque yesterday, has brought Diane Abbott back to his shadow cabinet

In an interview on LBC Radio she was famously unable to say how much her party's policy of employing more police would cost.

In an interview with The Guardian newspaper she accused the Tories of unleashing the most viscous and negative campaign in her memory, and said she felt singled out for criticism.

She said: 'The Tories need to explain why they singled me out. It felt terrible, it felt awful  you felt you were in a kind of vortex  as I became aware of what was happening  the Facebook ads, the Tories name-dropping me for no reason.'

Miss Abbott visited Finsbury Park Mosque yesterday after one person died and 11 were injured after a car ploughed into Muslims nearby in the fourth terror attack on Britain in four months.

Darren Osborne, 47, is accused of driving into worshippers in the early hours of Monday morning before jumping out and shouting: 'I'm going to kill all Muslims - I did my bit'.

He has been arrested on suspicion of murder and terror offences.
Drone footage has captured shocking footage of suicide carbombings in Raqqa, Syria.

Soldiers can be seen fleeing a YPG base  their shadows thrown in front of them under the hot Syrian sun - as a green car approaches them.

The car detonates as it nears them, sending clouds of black smoke, dust and debris hurtling through the air.

Chunks of shrapnel hit some of the running soldiers and people fall to the ground.

It was not clear whether many people were still in the building which was damaged in the blast or whether people hit by shrapnel were mortally wounded.

The attack was aimed at the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units or YPG which has been central to the fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

The shocking video has particular resonance on World Refugee Day which falls today.

Last year, the United Nations identified 13.5 million Syrians requiring humanitarian assistance, of which more than 6 million are internally displaced within Syria, and over 4.8 million are refugees outside of Syria.

Of the millions who have fled the region, many live in makeshift camps in neighboring Middle Eastern countries.

Soldiers were hit by shrapnel and fell to the ground as they fled the blast in Syria

Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have the highest numbers of Syrian refugees.

Europe accepted less refugees in 2016 than in 2015.

Protracted conflicts have increased which has created more than 15 million refugees worldwide - and developing countries host over 80 per cent of people according to the Red Cross.

There are an estimated 117,234 refugees living in the UK which is 0.18 per cent of the total population of 64.1 million people.
Three teenagers are facing hate crime charges for attacking a black male street performer known as 'Keytar Bear'.

On Saturday afternoon, officers were dispatched to downtown Boston to respond to a call for an assault and battery in progress.

The gang of teenagers allegedly ripped off the victim's mask before punching him repeatedly in the face while calling him racial slurs.

Scroll down for video

Three teenagers are facing hate crime charges for attacking a black male street performer known as 'Keytar Bear' (pictured)

When witnesses tried to intervene, the teenagers, a 15-year-old from Londonderry, a 16-year-old from Salem, and a 17-year-old from Manchester, also threw 'racial epithets' at them, according to the Boston Globe.

Police said the suspects damaged the victim's equipment in the attack and that the performer sustained a facial laceration and swelling to his right eye.

Prosecutors said they are also reviewing the case for potential hate crime charges.

A spokesman for Boston Police Department said: 'At about 4:40 pm on Saturday, June 17, 2017, officers from District A-1 (Downtown) responded to a radio call for an assault and battery in progress in the area of Congress and State Streets.

'An officer on patrol nearby responded and observed the well-known musical Keytar Bear surrounded by a group of young males in what appeared to be a fight.

'As the officer approached with lights and sirens activated on his cruiser, the group of males fled on foot.

On Saturday afternoon, officers were dispatched to downtown Boston to respond to a call for an assault and battery in progress (pictured)

'The officer was directed by witnesses and bystanders as he pursued the suspects on Water Street toward Devonshire Street, where he ultimately observed three of the suspects climb up the building scaffolding then lay down on a platform in an attempt to hide from police.

'The officer ordered them from the scaffolding platform, and the suspects complied.

'The suspects were positively identified as Keytar Bears attackers and arrested. The three juveniles from New Hampshire were arrested and charged with Assault and Battery, Affray, and Disorderly Conduct.

'One of the suspects was additionally charged with Minor in Possession of Alcohol when officers recovered a small bottle of vodka in his pocket. The incident continues to be under investigation by the Boston Police Civil Rights Unit.'

A fundraising page set up to raise money for the performer's equipment has so far raised $6,500.
A spokesman for Donald Trump's personal legal team has attacked Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and even hinted that he doesn't believe the President can survive his legal problems.

Mark Corallo twice indicated Mike Pence should be the Republican nominee for President when it comes to the 2020 race with Nikki Haley as his running mate.

The supporter-turned-critic is a spokesman for Marc E Kasowitz, who is defending the Republican leader in an array of legal cases.

But the role has not stopped him turning on the President, calling him out on Twitter and criticizing the jewel in Trump's crown - his daughter Ivanka.

Mark Corallo twice indicated Mike Pence should be the Republican nominee for President when it comes to the 2020 race with Nikki Haley as his running mate

Mark Corallo, spokesman for Donald Trump's personal legal team, who has openly criticized the President

The supporter-turned-critic Mark Corallo is a spokesman for Marc E Kasowitz, who is defending the Republican leader in an array of legal cases

The role has not stopped him turning on the President, calling him out on Twitter and criticizing the jewel in Trump's crown - his daughter Ivanka

In the build-up to the election result, Corallo was supportive of Trump, but by March 23 the tide had turned when he lashed out at General James Mattis online.

The legal spokesman appears to be hung up on the President's vow to 'drain the swamp' - referring to a speech he made in Wisconsin in October referring to an ethics reform to 'make our government honest once again'.

On April 1, Corallo said: 'Of all the promises made, most important for real change is 'draining the swamp.' Get after it Mr President or you'll lose us.'

A month and a day later the president was mocked by Corallo when he tweeted: 'Hey Mr President, where's all the 'winning'? Or, like the guy from AR, are you going to tell me it depends on the definition of 'winning'?.'

Most of the criticism came between March and May, when Trump was widely slammed for decisions made during his inauguration.

Corallo suggested during this time that the President was 'losing his base' and therefore could not be re-elected.

Mark Corallo has criticized the jewel in Donald Trump's (left) crown - his daughter Ivanka (right)

Despite Trump's incessant presence on Twitter, it is not clear whether or not the White House is aware of the jibes.

'I have not been shy about expressing my admiration and support for President Trump. I hold him and his family in the highest esteem both personally and professionally,' Mr Corallo told the New York Times.

He added: 'I have never been shy about expressing my opinions as a private citizen. I am not a "yes man," and the fact that I may have been critical of the administration on a few occasions is proof of that.'

MailOnline contacted Corallo for comment on his posts, but he was not immediately available.

It comes as it emerged less than one-third of Americans support President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord.

A new poll shows, and just 18 percent of respondents agree with his claim that pulling out of the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions will help the US economy.

The survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research earlier this month found that a slim majority - 52 percent - worry that withdrawing will actually hurt the economy.

Twenty-seven percent think it won't have an impact either way.
A biker gang who broke into a jewellers using axes and hammers and stole a number of expensive items are being hunted by police.

The group, wearing Boxer brand motorcycle helmets and dark clothes, smashed their way into the shop using tools that detectives believe had been bought from a local homeware store.

One was seen carrying a knife and a machete was later found close to the scene but no injuries had so far been reported, a police spokesman said.

Several glass cabinets containing watches and jewellery were smashed and emptied of their contents and a number of mopeds were seen driving away from the shop moments later.

The group smashed their way into the shop using tools that detectives believe had been bought from a local homeware store

Witnesses reported seeing the motorbikes scatter in different directions.

One of the vehicles, which police believed was connected to the incident, was abandoned at the scene after members of the public intervened, a spokesman for the force said.

The robbery took place at a High Street jewellery shop in the town centre of Banstead, Surrey, at around 2.15pm on Friday June 16 and the gang were seen escaping in the direction of Sutton.

Detective Richard Stoneham, who is leading Surrey Police's investigation, called for anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward.

Witnesses reported seeing the motorbikes scatter in different directions following the incident

He said: 'We would especially like to speak to anyone who may have footage or imagery that can assist our investigation and help us to identify the individuals responsible.

'This was a very frightening ordeal for the staff of the shop, and we would like to reassure the local community that we following a number of inquiries and doing everything we can to trace the people involved in this incident.'
Two people have been killed in separate black bear attacks in Alaska over a 36-hour period which claimed the lives of a gold prospector and a teenage runner.

The first attack on Sunday involved 16-year-old Patrick Cooper from Anchorage who was involved in the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb race south of Anchorage.

The youngster got lost on the trail and called his brother to say he was being chased by a large bear.

Patrick Cooper from Anchorage, Alaska was mauled to death by a 250-pound black bear while on a hill race on the Bird Ridge Trail about 40 miles outside the city on Sunday afternoon

Cooper rang his brother to tell him that he was being chased by the bear and had taken a wrong turn during the race. Rescuers arrived to find the bear guarding the youngster's body

The second fatality happened on Monday at the Pogo Mine, outside Fairbanks, Alaska. A worker doing a geological survey several miles from the main site was killed and a second person was wounded. The wounded man was airlifted from the scene by helicopter

The two bear attacks took place around 200 miles apart on Sunday afternoon and Monday

When rescuers reached Cooper, the 250-pound black bear was guarding the body. A park ranger shot the bear in the face but it ran off.

Race director Brad Precosky says the boy was mauled after he got lost and veered off the trail during the juniors division of the race.

Cooper's body was airlifted from the scene which was approximately 1,500 feet up the hill and a mile up the path.

The second attack happened at the Pogo Mine which is located approximately 90 miles south east of Fairbanks.

A worker at the underground mine who was taking geological samples several miles from the main camp was killed by the bear.

The first black bear was shot in the face and ran off while mine employees managed to kill the second animal after receiving permission from Alaska Wildlife Troopers, file photograph

A second worker suffered non-life-threatening injuries. He was flown to Fairbanks Hospital for treatment.

Mine personnel were told by Alaska Wildlife Troopers to hunt down and kill the bear to prevent further attacks.

The mine company withdrew 24 workers operating in the field following the fatal attack.

Last week, four hikers were attacked and wounded by a female grizzly bear at the Eagle River camp ground on the outskirts of Anchorage.


SXSW has made good on its promises to walk the talk on supporting immigration rights, coming out in support of the city of Austin's lawsuit against the state of Texas over SB-4, the Texas law that bans "sanctuary cities" where law enforcement officers do not check or take action on arrestees' immigration status unless it is relevant to their alleged crimes.

SXSW's support of the lawsuit comes in response to calls for the festival to move out of Austin until SB-4 is repealed or invalidated.



In a statement that questions the "constitutionality" of the controversial bill, SWSX CEO Roland Swenson said, "We are concerned that SB4 will substantially limit the participation of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in SXSW and limit the diversity and quality of the event. This decrease in participation will also diminish our substantial economic contribution to the City of Austin and the State of Texas."



Earlier this month, Democratic Senators Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada asked SXSW organizers to move the festival out of Austin until the anti-immigration bill is repealed. However, Swenson stated that SXSW would remain in Austin and "continue to make our event inclusive while fighting for the rights of all."



In Monday's statement, Swenson reiterated that stance, Pitchfork reports. "SXSW was born in Austin. The event is steeped in the city and the city is our home. We stand behind the City and Mayor Adler, and we intend to stay and fight discriminatory legislation that hinders civil rights, while continuing to work to make our events inclusive and safe for all who attend," Swenson said.

SXSW Backs Austin Lawsuit Against Texas' Anti-Immigration Bill [Daniel Kreps/Rolling Stone]





(Image: Jorg Westpfahl, CC-BY)
Russia is still unable to confirm whether it killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in an air strike in Syria.

On Friday, the Kremlin's Defence Ministry said the world's most wanted terrorist was killed in a Russian air strike on May 28 near Raqqa along with other senior group commanders.

However, Western and Iraqi officials expressed skepticism over the claim.

Today Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Gennady Gatilov, said al-Baghdadi's death 'could not be verified', the Interfax news agency reports.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, pictured, has reportedly been killed in an airstrike in Raqqa, Syria

This photo shared by the Russian Defense Ministry claims to show the site where ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed. The aerial image (left) of the ISIS headquarters is seen on May 13, 2017, and an aerial image taken on May 29 (right), shows the same site following the Russian airstrike on May 28 on the outskirts of Raqqa

Washington has said it cannot corroborate al-Baghdadi's death, and questions have been raised over the Kremlin's claims that two more senior ISIS figures had been killed.

On Saturday the Russian Defence Ministry said it had killed two ISIS field commanders, named Abu Omar al-Beljiki and Abu Yassin al-Masri.

They died during air strikes in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor, Interfax news agency reported.

But Hisham al-Hashimi, a Baghdad-based expert who advises several Middle East governments on Islamic State affairs, said he was unconvinced about Russia's claim.

He said Abu Yasin al-Masri is the same person as Abu al-Haj al-Masri, who the Russians on Friday said they killed near Raqqa in May.

Al-Hashimi told Reuters that the other ISIS leader, al-Beljiki, was unlikely to have been in Syria at the time of the attack.

'The Russians are trying to improve their record fighting Daesh as it was the Americans who have killed the top commanders of the group so far, like Abu Omar al-Shishani, Abu Muslim al-Turkmani, Abu Mohammed al-Adnani and Abu Ali al-Anbari' he said, using an Arabic acronym of Islamic State.

'If (Russia's) announcements prove wrong, their credibility will be hurt,' al-Hashimi said.

Russia's Defence Ministry said al-Baghdadi, the world's most wanted terrorist, was killed in a Russian air strike on May 28 along with other senior group commanders.

It said the air raid that targeted an ISIS meeting on the southern outskirts of Raqqa also killed about 30 mid-level militant leaders and about 300 other fighters.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu briefed Russia's Security Council, chaired by President Vladimir Putin, on Friday that Baghdadi may have been killed, according to state television.

Russian president Vladimir Putin was briefed about Baghdadi's death on Friday, but Russia is yet to verify that the ISIS chief died in an air raid last month. Today Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister, Gennady Gatilov (right), said Baghdadi's death 'could not be verified'

A military vehicle of SDF is pictured west of Raqqa province, Syria, on June 18

Raqqa, pictured, is the de facto captial for ISIS. The Russian ministry said the strike came as ISIS leaders gathered to discuss the group's withdrawal from the city as it comes under fire

'The defence minister briefed those attending the meeting that as a result of a strike by Russian air forces near Raqqa, more than 100 terrorists were eliminated, with top Islamic State leaders among them - and possibly, Baghdadi,' Rossiya-24 television quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

The ministry said the strike came as ISIS leaders gathered to discuss the group's withdrawal from Raqqa, their de facto capital.

The picture shows the photos of the same location taken on May 13 and May 29, the day after the reported airstrike.

In a statement, the army said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike early on May 28 at a location near Raqqa, where ISIS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group's stronghold.

It said: 'Senior commanders of the military groups of the so-called IS military council, 30 mid-ranking field commanders and up to 300 militants who provided security for them were eliminated.

'According to information which is being checked through various channels, the leader of ISIL Ibrahim Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi was also present at the meeting and was eliminated by the strike.' The US has been informed about the attack, the statement added.

Russia launched a bombing campaign in Syria in September 2015 in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its efforts against ISIS jihadists are separate from the US-led coalition which supports the Syrian rebels.

The US-led coalition said there was no way to confirm Russia's claim it had killed al-Baghdadi.

'We cannot confirm these reports at this time,' said US Army Colonel Ryan S. Dillon, spokesman for the coalition's Operation Inherent Resolve.

Al-Baghdadi, who has a 20 million bounty on his head, had been believed to be hiding out in the desert outside the besieged city of Mosul in northern Iraq.

But intelligence agencies believe he escaped from the city while it was being retaken by the Iraqi army. It is thought he then tried to get to Raqqa.

His death has been reported more than a dozen times in the past.

The latest claim was made by the Syrian government last week, which said one of its warplanes killed the terrorist on June 10.

The Russian defence ministry said on Friday Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a Russian strike in late May along with other senior group commanders

According to an official Iraqi government document, al-Baghdadi was born in Samarra in Iraq in 1971.

He is credited with transforming the breakaway al-Qaeda group turning it into the independent ISIS group that is arguably the most powerful and wealthiest jihadist organisation in the world.

His only public appearance since claiming the creation of an ISIS caliphate was in a video in June 2014, in which he was seen delivering a sermon in Mosul after the terror group took control of the city.

Since then, the group has lost considerable amounts of territory and has been under pressure from air strikes by Russian-led forces and the US and its allies.

In March the Pentagon told media outlets that al-Baghdadi was still alive despite reports that ISIS was crumbling.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson later said it was a 'matter of time' before the ISIS leader was killed.
Older convicts are dying shackled to prison officers amid a rise in British inmates aged over 50, a watchdog has warned.

It comes amid an increase in prosecutions for historical sex crimes and courts handing out longer sentences, according to The Times.

The number of prisoners over 50 almost tripled to 12,600 last year from 4,800 in 2002 - with the total set to rise further by mid 2020.

At Lincoln prison the oldest inmate was 86 years old during a recent inspection.

Experts fear older inmates are putting a strain on the justice system with Victorian prisons built for younger men forced to take on the role of a 'care home and even hospice'.

The number of prisoners over 50 almost tripled to 12,600 last year from 4,800 in 2002 - with the total set to rise further by mid 2020 (stock photo)

Despite having limited training staff are often forced to manage the needs of elderly convicts who have age-related conditions as well as the deaths of prisoners in their care.

There is only one unit in the whole country which holds older prisoners on life sentences who have healthcare needs.

A 2001 study also revealed that 85 per cent of male prisoners over 60 had at least one chronic illness, according to the British Medical Journal.

A recent review by the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman found that terminally ill inmates are being 'unnecessarily and inhumanely' shackled.

Experts fear older inmates are putting a strain on the justice system with Victorian prisons built for younger men forced to take on the role of 'care home and even hospice' (stock photo)

It gives the example of a 51-year-old prisoner in hospital suffering from an autoimmune disease who was forced to wear handcuffs which caused additional pain.

He was covered in weeping sores and shedding large areas of skin but officials refused permission to remove the restraints.

The inmate then used a toilet where he collapsed and died of a pulmonary embolism while cuffed to prison officers.

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Nigel Newcomen said prisons have been left to respond to the needs of elderly inmates 'in a piecemeal fashion'

Prisons and Probation Ombudsman Nigel Newcomen said: 'There has been little strategic grip of this sharp demographic change.

'Prisons and their healthcare partners have been left to respond in a piecemeal fashion.'

A Ministry of Justice spokesman said: 'We have guidance in place for the management of older prisoners and we are committed to ensuring all prisoners are treated fairly and with dignity.'

Great-grandfather Ralph Clarke is believed to be the oldest criminal to be jailed in British legal history after being handed a 13-year term for the child sex attacks

Last year a 101-year-old paedophile who sexually abused children as young as four became Britain's oldest prisoner.

Great-grandfather Ralph Clarke is believed to be the oldest criminal to be jailed in British legal history after being handed a 13-year term for the child sex attacks spanning nearly a decade.

The former lorry driver committed a catalogue of vile assaults against a boy and two young girls between 1974 and 1983.
A four-year-old girl has tragically died after she was pulled unconscious from a bathtub at her family home in Sydney's west.

Paramedics worked desperately to save the girl after arriving at the property in West Hoxton at about 6pm on Tuesday.

Medics managed to revive the girl and she was rushed to Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition.

Paramedics worked desperately to save the girl after arriving at the property (pictured)

A four-year-old girl has tragically died after she was pulled unconscious from a bathtub at her family home in Sydney's west (stock image)

A short time later, she was pronounced dead, a police spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

A neighbour told The Daily Telegraph the child had a 'very nice family'.

Police will prepare a report for the Coroner.
A Cabinet minister today accused John McDonnell of trying to 'overthrow the result of a democratic election' after the left-wing shadow chancellor called for a million people to take to the streets to topple Theresa May.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said it is 'absolutely unacceptable' that the shadow chancellor was stirring up revolt.

The Marxist shadow chancellor - who has previously praised London rioters and backed 'insurrection' against the government - has urged protesters to march to increase the pressure on the Prime Minister.

His call to arms comes as left-wing groups are plotting a protest in the capital on July 1 demanding that Mrs May step aside from power.

Thousands of protesters hellbent on deepening 'the crisis for the Conservatives' are expected to descend on to the streets of London for the demonstration.

Serial protester and shadow chancellor John McDonnell, pictured at a pro Corbyn rally last year, has called for a million people to take to the streets to oust Theresa May

And protesters are expected outside Parliament tomorrow when the government unveils its Queen's Speech.

Speaking on BBC's Radio 4 Today programme this morning, Mr Grayling said the Tories are diligently getting on with the job of government while Labour frontbenchers are threatening revolt.

He said: 'We're dealing with some major issues at the moment, around security, around Brexit - we've got to get on with the job.

'We were by far the largest party. Theresa May saw our vote share increase from 36 per cent to 43 per cent.

'The Labour Party is strutting round as if it won the election, we have the shadow chancellor calling people on to the streets to try and overthrow the result of a democratic election, which is an extraordinary place to be, absolutely unacceptable.'

Mrs May's authority has been damaged by the election, but the Tories remain by far the biggest single party in the House of Commons and are determined to stay on in power.

In comments published last week in The Morning Star, Mr McDonnell told a trade union conference to stir up protest and take to the streets to try to oust Mrs May early.

Speaking at the annual conference of the food-workers union the BFAWU, Mr McDonnell said: 'We need people doing everything they can to ensure the election comes as early as possible.'

'What we need now is the TUC mobilised, every union mobilised, get out on the streets.

'Just think if the TUC put out that call - that we want a million on the streets of London in two weeks' time.'

Chris Grayling, pictured on Sky News today, said it is 'extraordinary' that the shadow chancellor is trying to stir up a protest to over thrown a democratic election

Meanwhile, the left-wing People's Assembly Against Austerity is mobilising for a massive demonstration which they hope will plunge Mrs May's premiership into crisis and help topple the government.

In a Facebook post promoting the demonstration, they say: 'We need to make sure the full force of that opposition is felt.

'If we continue to mobilise in huge numbers we can deepen the crisis for the Conservatives and force big concessions on the NHS, education, housing and jobs.

'There is already talk of another General Election in the next few months which would likely see the Tories loose further support and be unable to form a Government.'

It urges campaign groups parties and unions to 'come together in one massive show of strength and solidarity'.

Labour outperformed expectations at the General Election, winning 262 seats to the Tories' 318.

Mr Corbyn has said he will attempt to form a minority government should Mrs May fail to do so herself.

However, even if he could garner support from the SNP and Liberal Democrats such an administration would still not have the numbers to win confidence votes in the House.
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The streets of Las Vegas and Phoenix have been reduced to ghost towns as temperatures hit 118F and climbing during a punishing heat wave that has grounded planes and left door handles so hot they can leave people with burns.

Temperatures are predicted to reach 120F on the first day of summer in Phoenix, and the heat wave is threatening to bring the 'deadly' temperatures to several parts of Arizona, Nevada and California as well.

Las Vegas is likely to hit 117F on Tuesday, as excessive heat warnings cover almost all of California.

The National Weather Service has been forecasting Tuesday highs of 120F or above in Phoenix for the past several days, a number not seen in the desert city for more than 20 years.

'That's deadly heat no matter how you slice it,' weather service meteorologist Chris Breckenridge said.

American Airlines canceled more than 43 flights on Tuesday in Phoenix operated by regional jets because of the heat. Officials say when the temperature soars, it's harder for airplanes to take off.

Scroll down for video

The first day of summer is being marked in the Southwestern part of the United States with a punishing heat wave that has caused flights to be canceled in Phoenix and health warning issued

At Phoenix Sky Harbor American Airlines regional jets sit on the tarmac as American Airlines says seven regional flights have been delayed and 43 have been canceled because of a heat wave as temperatures climb to near-record highs on Tuesday

Phoenix topped out at a record high of 119F on Tuesday, although some unofficial thermometers like this one hit 120

Chris Mitchell sprays water on his face to cool off in a Darth Vader costume along the Las Vegas Strip

People shield themselves from the sun while walking along the famed thoroughfare as the temperature reached record highs

Construction works improvise and find shade underneath an excavator to avoid the head in Phoenix, Arizona

The heat wave is threatening to bring 120 degree temperatures to several parts of Arizona, where it seems residents are staying in doors as the streets are empty in downtown Scottsdale (above)

By 2pm PST, it had already reached 118F, as the temperature is predicted to soar above 120F on Tuesday. An empty downtown Scottsdale is pictured above on Tuesday

The heat wave is threatening to bring the 'deadly' temperatures to several parts of Arizona, Nevada and California as well. An empty downtown Scottsdale is pictured above on Tuesday

The National Weather Service has been forecasting Tuesday highs of 120F or above in Phoenix for the past several days, a number not seen in the desert city for more than 20 years. An empty downtown Scottsdale is pictured above on Tuesday as residents and tourists opted to stay indoors in preparation for the heat

A child used a public water feature to stay cool as temperatures climbed to near-record highs Tuesday in Phoenix

The 120F weather that's expected in Arizona on Tuesday will be the hottest that it has been in the state so far in 2017. An empty downtown Scottsdale is pictured above on Tuesday

Tourist kept inside the hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas strip on Tuesday to stay cool as temperatures hit 117F

Misters blow out onto near-deserted streets in Las Vegas as a heat wave tied the city's all-time record high temperature

Patrons at the Mon Ami Gabi French restaurant inside the Paris hotel-casino try to keep cool as hot temperatures hit Las Vegas

Misters blow out from the front of Hexx Kitchen + Bar inside the Paris hotel-casino to keep patrons cool from the hot temperatures in on Tuesday Las Vegas, where temperatures hit 117F, tying the all-time record high temperature

The temperature in Las Vegas at 2pm PST were already at 113F and climbing thanks to the punishing heat wave. Above guests keep cool from the hot temperatures by hanging out by the pool inside the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino in Las Vegas

Officials have warned for people to stay inside on Tuesday in several Southwestern states due to the extreme temperatures outside. Above a young boy walks through misters to stay cool at the Grand Bazaar Shops in Las Vegas on Tuesday

Usually during the summer months the streets of Las Vegas can be seen packed with tourists, but Tuesday only a few people were spotted out in the heat. Above misters are seen at the Linq Promenade to keep patrons cool from the hot temperatures in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is currently under an excessive heat warning. Above patrons walk through misters to stay cool at the Grand Bazaar Shops in Las Vegas Tuesday

Las Vegas is likely to hit 114 degrees on Tuesday; it was already 113F around 2pm (PST) on The Strip. Above the sun reflects from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino

The airline also said it will allow Phoenix passengers flying during the peak heat Monday through Wednesday to change flights without a fee.

American Airlines spokesman Ross Feinstein said the smaller regional jets flown by its partners can't operate once the temperature hits 118. That maximum is set by Bombardier, the manufacturer.

Larger airliners made by Boeing and Airbus have higher maximum operating temperatures, but airlines still need to closely monitor the weight of the jets during the heat.

Feinstein said the carrier began limiting sales on some flights to prevent the planes from exceeding maximum weight for safe takeoff in the hot conditions.

Airlines can use other strategies for limiting weight during hot weather, such as not fueling completely, then making a refueling stop.

Phoenix and Las Vegas are used to 110-degree heat, but temperatures above 115 are rare.

The current temperatures in several southwestern states are still climbing as the afternoon is just beginning on the West Coast

Tuesday night the temperature will cool down, but it will still be around 90 degrees in Phoenix and 85 degrees in Las Vegas

The heat returns on Wednesday as it's predicted to reach 118 degrees in Phoenix, which is only two degrees cooler than what is expected on Tuesday

Wednesday night again the temperatures will drop and Phoenix will be around 90 degrees while Las Vegas will be in the 80s

HOW EXTREME TEMPERATURES AFFECT FLIGHTS Extreme heat creates changes in the air density that make it harder for airplanes to take off. Airlines respond by imposing weight restrictions, such as carrying less cargo and fuel. But planes will need more speed to take off and a longer runway length to do that in extreme heat situations if the aircraft type can fully operate when temperatures are past 120 degrees. American Airlines pilot Shane Coffey also said that the extreme heat causes some pilots to have to use more thrust. Air density on a 90-degree day in Denver at more than 5,000 feet elevation is similar to a 120-degree day in Phoenix at 1,100 feet above sea level, he said. The maximum operating temperature for each aircraft type is based on manufacturer data: Airbus - 127 degrees

Boeing - 126 degrees

Bombardier CRJ regional aircraft - 118 degrees Advertisement

Phoenix hit 118 degrees Monday, tying the record for the date set last year.

The last time the city reached 120 was in 1995. A notorious heat wave in 1990 brought consecutive days at 120 degrees, including the record of 122.

Furthermore, it gets so hot in Phoenix that stores put coverings over door handles so people don't burn their hands. Steering wheels and car shifters can be too hot to touch when getting into a car.

The director of the Arizona Burn Center said second- and third-degree burns from touching hot items are common in the extreme heat.

Dr. Kevin Foster warned people to be extra careful around concrete, car interiors and playground equipment, especially young children who have sensitive skin.

Pavement and concrete can be dangerous for pets, Foster warned.

For Thursday, the temperature will continue to drop, but it will still be a hot 114 degrees in Phoenix and Las Vegas

Weather service meteorologist Chris Breckenridge said: 'That's deadly heat no matter how you slice it.' Above the early morning sun rises over a replica of the Statue of Liberty at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino

The director of the Arizona Burn Center said second- and third-degree burns from touching hot items are common in the extreme heat. Above a woman walks her dogs early Tuesday morning in Phoenix

Phoenix and Las Vegas are used to 110-degree heat, but temperatures above 115 are rare. Above two people walk their dogs in Phoenix early Tuesday morning before it heats up outside

Above a hospital worker in Phoenix takes a break outside Tuesday morning in a bid to beat the extremely warm weather

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, departure signs show regional jet cancellations. American Airlines says seven regional flights have been delayed and 43 have been canceled because of the heat wave

The extreme heat is also spreading across California, as the Central Valley has bakes in unusually bad heat.

The Northern California city of Redding hit a June 18 record of 110 degrees on Sunday, which is 19 degrees above normal.

Forecasters predict that Death Valley could see 124 degrees on Tuesday.

Officials in Nevada are warning visitors that the Las Vegas Strip is often hotter than the rest of the city.

Weather service meteorologist Ashley Allen says the Strip's tall, close buildings and long stretches of concrete cause the area to heat quickly and cool slowly.

She says it's hard to predict exactly how hot the Strip will get because the weather service does not get official readings there, but temperatures could reach somewhere between 115 and 120 degrees despite the city's airport forecast to hit 114 Monday.

Phoenix hit 118 degrees Monday, tying the record for the date set last year. Above the sun rises over the mountains near a high school in Phoenix Tuesday

Above Steve Smith wipes sweat from his face as temperatures climb to near-record highs in Phoenix on Monday

Above Salvation Army volunteer Jackie Rifkin tries to keep cool at she works at a special Salvation Army hydration station to help people try to keep hydrated and stay cool as temperatures climb to near-record highs on Monday in Phoenix

Above Lori Mantz sprays water to cool down her horse Thor on Monday in Las Vegas. The heat wave brought broiling temperatures that were also felt in Arizona and Southern California, creating a public health hazard

Officials say the heat is a serious public health hazard in places such as Phoenix and Las Vegas.

The county that is home to Phoenix had 130 heat-related deaths in 2016, the highest number in more than a decade.

The Arizona Department of Health Services says nearly 2,000 people visit Arizona emergency rooms every year because of heat-related illnesses.

Homeless people comprised one-third of heat-related deaths in 2016, according to county records. Most of the others involved people with non-functioning air conditioners.

Kurt Dickson, an emergency room doctor at Banner Health in Phoenix, said people have a range of heat illnesses during the summer months, including fatigue, heatstroke and severe sun burns.

Dr. Moneesh Bhow, medical director for Banner University Medical Center Emergency department, said the body's internal cooling mechanisms are ineffective when temps reach above 110 degrees.

In addition to the heat wave gripping the Southwestern part of the country, Gulf Coast states are preparing for a powerful weather system of their own

Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and began churning heavy rain bands toward the northern Gulf Coast, where Louisiana shuttered flood gates and parts of three other states also braced for a risk of flash flooding

One of the ways the body cools itself is by radiating heat through the skin into the air, but that system reverses when external temperatures climb to 110 or higher.

'When that happens we have to rely on our second mechanism, which is sweating,' Bhow said. Sweat makes your skin feel cooler and some heat is removed as it evaporates.

He noted staying hydrated is crucial to perspiring and staying cool.

In addition to the heat wave gripping the Southwestern part of the country, Gulf Coast states are preparing for a powerful weather system of their own.

The third tropical storm of 2017, Cindy was expected to reach the northern Gulf Coast late Wednesday and then rumble inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday. Many cities are under a flood watch and flood warning

Heavy rain is predicted to fall through Thursday along the Gulf Coast states. Between five to eight inches could fall in New Orleans as Mobile, Alabama could get between eight to 12 inches of rain

Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and began churning heavy rain bands toward the northern Gulf Coast, where Louisiana shuttered flood gates and parts of three other states also braced for a risk of flash flooding.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency because of the threat of torrential rains and other severe weather, including dangerous high tides and rip currents.

Double red flags snapped in the wind on the public beach at Gulf Shores in her state, warning visitors to stay out of the pounding surf.

The third tropical storm of 2017, Cindy was expected to reach the northern Gulf Coast late Wednesday and then rumble inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday.

The National Weather Service in Miami said Cindy was located early Tuesday afternoon about 265 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana - or about 355 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas

Forecasters warned that rainfall totaling 6 to 9 inches and up to 12 inches in isolated spots was the biggest threat in southern parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Already some flooding from outlying rain bands was reported on Alabama's Dauphin Island and flood control locks and gates were being closed along Louisiana's bayou-marbled coast as Cindy hovered nearly stationary - still well offshore.

Officials in various coastal Louisiana and Mississippi communities handed out sandbags as rain threatened low-lying areas along rivers and bayous.

The National Weather Service in Miami said Cindy was located early Tuesday afternoon about 265 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana - or about 355 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas.
Ivanka Trump is making her debut on Capitol Hill today as a senior advisor to her father and her first act is a push for a paid family leave program in her father's budget and a childcare tax credit proposed by Senate Republicans.

'Just left a productive meeting on the Hill to discuss issues affecting American working families, including childcare & paid family leave!' she tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

The president's daughter attended a discussion organized by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that looked at proposals to benefit parents.

Ivanka Trump made her debut on Capitol Hill today as a senior advisor to her father and her first act is a push for a paid family leave program in her father's budget and a childcare tax credit proposed by Senate Republicans

The president's daughter attended a discussion organized by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that will look at proposals to benefit parents. Rubio is the sponsor of a bill with Republican Sen. Deb Fischer that would give tax credits to businesses with paid leave programs

Rubio is the co-sponsor of a bill in the Senate that would give families a tax credit of $2,500 per child. Ivanka had previously proposed a childcare deduction, but the White House said Tuesday that it was embracing the Rubio plan.

'Allies on and off the Hill have said that enhancing the child tax credit will best achieve President Trumps promise to increase working families flexibility,' an official said.

The tax credit will be part of a proposal that the White House's National Economic Council puts forward, a statement indicated.

Rubio has also proposed a tax credit for companies that voluntarily institute a paid family leave policy.

Trump wants to mandate six weeks of paid leave and pay for it with unemployment taxes. Republicans have not embraced the $25 billion proposal the her father's administration included in the president's fiscal year 2018 budget.

The president's daughter attended a discussion organized by Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that looked at proposals to benefit parents

Ivanka made a pitch for it at the Tuesday meeting that Sen. Deb Fischer, another sponsor of the paid family leave act Rubio signed onto in the Senate, attended alongside at least seven other lawmakers.

That legislation, which Sen. Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has also signed on to offers a 25 percent nonrefundable tax credit to companies that offer four to 12 weeks of paid leave to new parents.

Trump's plan would require businesses to give employees who've just had a child, or adopted one, six weeks off.

'I think were trying to help the same people,' Rubio said of Ivanka's plan to Politico last week. 'I think theres different ways to try to get there.'

The administration proposes to pay for the $25 billion price tag of the program over 10 years with unemployment taxes. The mandate would likely require a tax hike on businesses.

It gives the states broad latitude to implement the mandate, taking into account that states like California already have paid leave laws. California's routes its claims through its disability insurance program.

Ivanka made a pitch for her paid family leave program at the Rubio meeting that's being attended by Sen. Deb Fischer, another sponsor of the paid family leave act Rubio signed onto in the Senate, and at least seven other lawmakers

A third plan that's under discussion would reimburse employees for 70 percent of their lost wages over an eight-week period at a maximum rate of $600 a week.

The compromise plan seeks to marry liberal proposals that ask for 12 weeks of time off for parenting crises and a conservative philosophy that opposes any additional financial burdens on businesses.

Put together by scholars at the free-market-based American Enterprise Institute and the liberal-leaning Brookings Institute, the plan relies on federal payroll taxes and gives states the freedom to provide more generous benefits if they choose to do so.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at Brooking who helped author of the plan, met with Ivanka at the White House two weeks ago. Sawhill said Trump was receptive to adopting a plan other than her own.

'She said that was just a placeholder or a stake in the ground and theyre open to other ideas,' Sawhill told the AP.

A White House official told AP then that Ivanka was soliciting the opinions of various groups and individuals who have been working on this issue inside and outside of the government.

She is also building support for the Rubio tax credit that would help families pay for childcare expenses.

'This meeting, led by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, is the next step in building momentum and advancing the proposal to develop a robust child tax credit,' the White House said in a statement that was provided to DailyMail.com.

Rubio is also the co-sponsor of a bill in the Senate that would give families a tax credit of $2,500 per child. Ivanka had previously proposed a childcare deduction, but the White House said Tuesday that it was embracing the Rubio plan

Rubio is working with the White House to get the tax credit in the tax reform package that House Speaker Paul Ryan will promise today to get across the finish line before the end of this year.

Rubio's paid family leave plan faces stiffer opposition.

Aparna Mathur, the AEI scholar working on the paid leave program with Sawhill, told FiveThirtyEight in February that she was skeptical that companies would create paid leave programs just to get a tax benefit.

'As with all tax-credit programs, at the margin it probably wont get most employers to change,' the economist said.

If companies wanted to offer a program, 'most existing evidence indicates that companies would be doing it anyway,' she told the online news publication.

Democrats would prefer a plan that goes further than what Trump, Rubio or the experts at Brookings and AEI have presented. They want paid leave for dependents who take time off work to care for their sick parents, in addition to new parents.

They might be compelled to sign on to a more restrictive plan as part of a broad budget that creates the building blocks for a more extensive program.

The president's daughter, who is more liberal than her father, just might be the one to convince them.

Ivanka's discussion today is with Rubio, Fischer, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, Rep. Dave Schweikert of Arizona and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas

Trump met with more than a dozen women lawmakers in the GOP last fall about her father's childcare policies during a summit at the Republican National Committee's Washington headquarters.

Her discussion today is with Rubio, Fischer, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, Rep. Dave Schweikert of Arizona and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, a White House official said.

Sen. Mike Lee of Utah will also attend. He is a co-sponsor of Rubio's child care tax credit bill.

'This administration is committed to working with members of Congress to develop a plan that addresses the burden American families are facing,' the White House said of talks on the Hill today in a statement.
This is the cringeworthy moment a public marriage proposal at a graduation ceremony left the would-be bride embarrassed and unimpressed.

Student Assel Nurmukhambetova, 22, had just collected her Masters degree in Economics and Finance from the the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

But her boyfriend, Ibragim Tashim, 22, stole her big moment when he ran on stage with a bouquet of red roses in one hand and a small brown box with a ring inside it in the other.

The hopeless romantic recited a few lines from the Maher Zain song 'For The Rest Of My Life' as his girlfriend looked off to the side in horror.

He said: 'For the rest of my life, I'll be with you and stay by your side honest and true.

'For the rest of my life, I'll be loving you. With honour and love, I ask: will you marry me?'

Video footage then shows him putting the ring onto her wrong hand and attempting to kiss her - but she turns her cheek away from him.

They then walk off stage and return to their original seats and she is unable to look at him.

The student, who was announced on stage as Assel Nurmukhambetova, had just collected her Masters degree in Economics and Finance from the the University of Aberdeen in Scotland

Staff and guests at the University of Aberdeen's Elphinstone Hall looked decidedly more excited by the proposal as they gasped and applauded the spectacle.

A student at the ceremony, who did not want to be named, said: 'It all seemed really sweet until they started to walk off the stage. She looked very uncomfortable.

'I don't think it was the reaction he was hoping for.'

The hopeless romantic recited a few lines from the Maher Zain song 'For The Rest Of My Life' as his girlfriend looked off to the side in horror. Then he put the ring on the wrong finger

But the brave romantic who proposed to his girlfriend as she received her degree in front of hundreds of onlookers said his bold move was a successful one.

But Ibragim has confirmed that he will marry Assel.

And he put her seemingly less-than enthusiastic reaction on stage down to being in shock.

The doting couple met while studying in their native Kazakhstan and both transferred over to Scotland at the same time to stay together.

He said: 'When we were up on the stage all she said was yes.

'We're both graduating from the University of Aberdeen and plan on getting married back home in Kazakhstan.

'I was surprised by how confident I was. I first came up with the idea for the proposal about a year ago and have been thinking about it ever since.

And when he tries to kiss her she turns her cheek away from him before they leave the stage

'There's a very genuine love between the two of us and I'm so happy right now.

'She had stumbled and tripped a little when she was going on stage and I think she was in so much shock from my proposal.

'I arrived at the hall early to hide the bouquet of roses. I had it all planned out in my mind.

'The song and the lines I quoted are very touching and from the heart. They say what I was feeling better than I could.

'We're from quite a conservative country so I wasn't trying to kiss her on the lips. The biggest public display of public affection we'd normally do is a kiss on the cheek.'

A friend who graduated from the same class as Assel and asked not to be named, said that when she saw Assel after the ceremony she was still wearing the ring.

She said: 'I was front row because I'm on crutches at the moment and I didn't hear a yes or a no but it was very awkward.

'From looking at her face it was either a no or pure shock.

'No one knows much about her and a lot of us are trying to figure out what happened.

'I did see her wearing the ring after the ceremony.'
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The Navy is investigating the horrifying possibility that some of those who died on the USS Fitzgerald when it sank may have been trapped alive in rapidly flooding compartments as emergency hatches were closed, it has emerged.

Cargo ship the ACX Crystal slammed into the side of the US destroyer off the Japanese coast while much of the rest of the crew were asleep on Saturday.

The cargo ship's bow, which protrudes underneath the water, punctured the steel armor of the ship, opening a hole into the quarters where more than 100 sailors slept.

Emergency hatches were closed on the compromised berthing compartments to stop the ship from sinking.

Now it's suspected that some of the seven men who died aboard the ship were locked in those rooms as they were flooded, Good Morning America reported.

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The navy is investigating the possibility that some of the men who died aboard the USS Fitzgerald when it was hit by the ACX Crystal (pictured) early Saturday morning were trapped in their rapidly flooding sleeping quarters by emergency hatches

The damage to the Crystal can be seen in these new photographs - but the real danger to the Fitzgerald was located beneath the waterline, where the Crystal's bulbous bow is located. The ships crashed just off the coast of Japan

It's believed the Crystal may have struck the Fitzgerald while it was on autopilot, causing its protruding underwater bow to punch through the Navy ship's hull, in turn causing water to pour into the berths where 100 men slept

Seven men died aboard the Fitzgerald (pictured) when it was struck on Saturday; it's possible that some of them were trapped alive as their crewmates closed hatches to stem flooding

David Dykhoff, a retired Navy captain, told GMA that 'The mentality is that you're going to fight any catastrophes, any casualties, where they occur and preserve the rest of the ship.

'And I guarantee that anybody would do everything they could.'

However Stanley Rehm, the uncle of Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr - one of the seven men lost in the crash - claims his nephew had to be sacrificed to save the rest of the crew.

A TRAGIC RETURN The US Navy says the bodies of the seven American sailors killed in the collision have headed home. The remains of the crew members - who were aged from 19 to 37 - were found by Navy divers after the warship returned to Yokosuka, Japan, home to the Navy's 7th fleet. The bodies left Tokyo on a flight on Tuesday. The Navy said the three sailors who were injured in the collision have been released from a Navy hospital. Advertisement

Gary Rehm, 37, rescued more than a dozen of his colleagues as the waters flooded in, and had gone down again to search for more when the hatch was shut on him, Stanley told Fox 8 Cleveland.

'His dad told me that he saved 20,' Stanley said. 'He went back down to where the other ones were at to save them.

'The ship was flooding so fast they had to close the hatch to save the ship,' Stanley said. 'They had to sacrifice the few to save the many. Guess he died a hero.'

The Fitzgerald's captain, Bryce Benson, was asleep when the collision occurred at 1:30am, but survived the horrific incident.

He was airlifted to hospital after the accident, and was reportedly in stable condition on Saturday. In total three sailors were injured; all have since been released from a Navy hospital.

One defense expert suggested that the collision occurred simply because nobody on the Crystal was there to see it happen.

'I suspect, from the data, that the ACX Crystal was running on autopilot the whole time, and nobody was on the bridge,' Steffan Watkins, an IT security consultant and ship tracking analyst for Janes Intelligence Review, told DailyMail.com on Monday.

'If anyone was on the bridge, they had no idea how to turn off the autopilot.'

The Filipino-crewed cargo ship T-boned the Navy vessel while the Fitzgerald's captain was asleep - though he survived. It's believed the Crystal's bridge may not have been properly staffed

The Crystal's protruding bow punctured the hull of the Fitzgerald, and emergency hatches were closed to stop the ship sinking as seawater poured in - but were sailors left to drown behind those hatches?

Seven US Navy sailors were killed in the collision, authorities have confirmed. They are (top row, left to right) Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, CA; Gunner's Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19, from Palmyra, VA; Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, CT; and Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, CA. Bottom row (left to right Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr., from Elyria, OH; Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, MD; and Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, TX

According to the tracking data, 15 minutes after the presumed 1.30am collision with the Fitzgerald, the ship righted its course and increased speed, readjusting for the change in course the collision had made.

'This is, to me, proof that a computer was driving,' Watkins said. 'No captain shakes off a collision with a US Navy Destroyer and resumes course so perfectly.'

Questions also remain about why - as shown in multiple GPS trackers - the cargo ship sailed on for seven miles and thirty minutes before turning around to help the stricken Navy vessel.

The Crystal also didn't notify officials about the collision until 55 minutes after it occurred, at around 2:25am.

Having no-one at the helm of the cargo ship would explain why it took so long for the Crystal to react.

It's also possible that because the 30,000-ton cargo ship dramatically outweighed the 8,000-ton destroyer, it shoved the boat out of the way without anyone aboard realizing.

THE FITZGERALD CRASH: WHAT WE KNOW What happened in the crash? Experts generally agree that the Philippine-flagged ACX Crystal, coming from behind, tried to pass the USS Fitzgerald on the right side, but ended up T-boning it. Extensive damage to both the destroyer's starboard side (its right side) and that to the container ship's port side (its left) suggest that, but experts say it is too early to determine responsibility. The container ship might have failed to spot the destroyer and rammed into it, or the Fitzgerald might somehow have made a sudden move to the right. There is also a possibility the container ship may have tried to cut in front or in back of the destroyer and accidentally slammed into its side. 'There is almost no mistake the container was behind the destroyer, though it is still premature to decide which ship bumped into the other,' said Tetsuo Kotani, a maritime security expert at the Japan Institute of International Affairs. 'The damage to the destroyer's side suggests the container's bow slammed into it at a significant speed.' The red line shows the route of the Crystal on Saturday; at 1:30am it struck the Fitzgerald before continuing eastward. It then made a U-turn and returned to the area near the collision at around 2:25am When did it happen? Japan's coast guard initially said the collision occurred at 2:25am Saturday; the container ship reported the crash at 2:25am. But after interviewing the container ship's crewmembers, the coast guard now says the collision occurred around 1:30am. The US Navy continues to say the collision happened at 2:25am. Knowing the timing is essential to make sense of navigation tracking records that show movements of the commercial ship, but not those of the military vessel. The ACX Crystal made a sharp turn at 1:30am, quickly resumed its previous heading and made a U-turn about half an hour later. Those movements are easier to understand if they occurred immediately after the collision rather than before it. Some experts say the container ship, which is nearly four times the weight of the destroyer, might have continued on without clear understanding of the collision. It might then have noticed some irregularity and returned to the collision site, reporting the collision when its crew noticed the destroyer for the first time. The Japanese Coast Guard said the collision occurred at 1:30pm - and then it sailed on for seven miles before returning to the Fitzgerald at 2:25am, at which point they reported the incident. The 50-minute discrepancy caused confusion on Monday What is the damage and what does it suggest? The 8,315-ton destroyer's starboard side was badly damaged, with a mechanical room and two sleeping compartments ruined and flooded. Navy officials say the ship also has a big gash on the bottom. Damage to the container ship is concentrated on its bow area, including a sharp horizontal cut across it, as well as scratches and dents on the port side fence and hull. Coast guard officials said the container ship has a speed-increasing bulbous bow that sticks out in front of the ship, below the waterline; that part stabbed the destroyer's bottom, allowing the seawater to gush into the crew's sleeping quarters. Why did the ships come so close? Two possible causes are a radar failure or negligence by a night watchman - on either ship or both - that might have caused a delay or failure to spot the other ship. Every ship is equipped with radar or other electronic ship tracking device to alert against close encounters, and crewmembers on watch duty provide visual observation. US Navy Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin said an unspecified number of sailors were on watch duty the night of the collision. The gray paint of the destroyer blends into the darkness and makes it harder to spot at night. What went wrong? Experts say it could have been a lack of communication between the two ships, or a misunderstanding of the situation as to who should have the right of way. Coast guard officials said they are looking for a recording device on the container ship that could help them determine whether it communicated with the destroyer before the collision. Unlike cars on highways, ships encounter each other from all directions, and confusion can lead to a wrong decision on which side is 'give-way' or 'stand-on.' Under maritime traffic rules, the ship on the right - in this case, the container ship - gets to proceed, and one to the left is the 'give-way' ship. An expert told DailyMail.com that he believes the Japanese ship may have been on autopilot and its command deck either empty or controlled by a skeleton crew who didn't know how to disengage it once they realized a collision was imminent. Advertisement

The collision led to severe damage on the Fitzgerald (pictured on Saturday) both above and below the waterline. The Crystal was built in South Korea and registered in Japan, but its crew and captain are all from the Philippines

A shot of the ship's helipad shows how dramatically the USS Fitzgerald was listing after the accident. 'The damage was significant,' Paul said. 'This was not a small collision'

Experts have also speculated about why the USS Fitzgerald and its skeleton crew were struck on its starboard side - the nautical term for its right-hand side.

Under international maritime rules, the Fitzgerald would be expected to give the ACX Crystal the right of way and real-time charts appear to show the Filipino-crewed vessel was sailing on that side.

The unusual gap between the collision and the accident being reported led to some confusion among officials yesterday, as the US Navy was initially at a loss to explain why the Japanese Coast Guard said the crash occurred at 1:30am, while the Navy said it occurred at 2:25am.

On Saturday, both the US Navy and the Japanese Coast Guard said the accident occurred at 2.20am, leading to some experts theorizing that the series of unusual turns performed by the Crystal before that time may have caused the accident.

However, after interviewing the crews, the Coast Guard says the accident occurred at 1.30am and that the unusual maneuvers were the result of the Crystal returning to the scene to confirm a collision - and that is why it reported the accident at 2.20am.



Nanami Meguro, a spokeswoman for owners NYK Line told CBS News that one reason why the Crystal did not report the accident when it first happened may have been because it was all hands on deck.

'Because it was in an emergency, the crewmembers may not have been able to place a call,' she said.

Multiple US and Japanese investigations are under way to determine how a ship as large as the container could collide with the smaller warship in clear weather, said coastguard spokesman Takeshi Aikawa.

'HE DIED A HERO': FRIENDS AND FAMILY PAY TRIBUTE TO THE LOST FITZGERALD SAILORS While investigators pore over the details of Saturday's tragic crash, seven families must now deal with an even bigger question: How to move on from the deaths of their loved ones. In total seven Navy sailors died either in or after the collision between the USS Fitzgerald and the ACX Crystal. They were aged 19 to 37. And as the shock set in, the sailors' families and friends came forward to speak about their loss. Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19 Gunner's Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby was the youngest victim, at 19. A former volunteer firefighter, he was remembered as a good and loyal friend, and one of his school's most 'positive and uplifting' figures Gunner's Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, of Palmyra, Virginia, was remembered by friend Ryan Boon as 'One of the most positive, uplifting guys I knew in school no matter what.' 'Truly a sad day. I have nothing but great things to say about Dakota Rigsby,' Boon wrote on Facebook. 'You will be missed by all of us and your [Fluvanna County High School] family. Thinking and praying for your family through all of this.' Rigsby had worked as a volunteer firefighter in Fluvanna County, and his fire station flew its flag at half-staff on Saturday as news of his death hit the community. 'It's a tragic loss and he was definitely taken entirely too soon and it's... we just know that he is watching over us right now,' Jean Campbell, assistant chief of Lake Monticello Fire Department told NBC 29. 'For me he was a regular kid, when he was younger and just having fun playing and he grew into what we would consider a good man,' Campbell said. 'Even before he left for the navy he would spend a lot of time with some of the younger kids up here playing basketball and just horsing around with them and having a good time.' Another friend of Rigsby's, Angel Bautista, wrote: 'I'd be your designated wingman any day brother. Smooth sailing from here on out... It's true what they say "the good ones always go too soon" and friend you truly were a good soul.' Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23 Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan (pictured) was remembered as a cheerful joker by his friends Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, died alongside Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass in the hold as it was flooded with water. The pair were both from San Diego, California - Sibayan from Chula Vista and Douglass from Oceanside, around 42 miles north of there. Sibayan's friends recalled him as a real character - someone who could always be relied on to light up a room. 'There was never a time that Carlos wasn't making people laugh,' Chase Cornils, a fellow cadet of Chaparral High School's Naval Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, told the San Diego Tribune. 'He always had a cheerful attitude and a smile on his face,' he said. 'When I think of Carlos, I can only remember an extremely happy guy who was willing to help all of his friends.' Xavier Alex Martin, 24 Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin (left) tried to call his dad Darrold (right) as the room he was in flooded, but was unable to. Darrold said he thanked God he didn't have to hear Xavier, his son and best friend, drown, adding: 'He's my only child. He's all I have' Darrold Martin, father of Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin from Halethorpe, Maryland, still appeared in shock on Monday night. 'It's very hard,' Martin - who raised Xavier as a single father - told CBS Baltimore. 'He's my only child. He's all I have.' He said Xavier wasn't just his son, but his best friend, and that they they even had matching tattoos. Now the only things he can think of are his son's last moments alive, as water flooded into the ship. 'He was trying to [contact me], but the all comps were down, he was trying to call me then. I thank God that-- who wants to hear their child...?' he said, his voice trailing off. He added: 'It just occurred to me call everybody - to every dad - that I knew, and say "Happy Father's Day."' Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25 The family of Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass (left and right) said he was 'adventurous'. They said in a statement that he was 'thrilled' to go back to Japan in 2014 to serve his country on the Fitzgerald On Monday the family of Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass paid tribute to their 'adventurous' 25-year-old sailor, who had followed his dad, US Marine Corps Master Sergeant Stephen Douglass, into the Navy. 'We loved him very much and his parents and younger brother will miss him more than words can express,' the Douglasses, of Oceanside in San Diego, California, said in a statement to NBC San Diego. 'Shingo was an adventurous young man. He loved to travel, was a certified scuba diver and a Black Belt in karate and played tennis,' they added. 'He was also an avid gamer, studied computer game design and loved to attend Comic Con.' They said he was 'thrilled' to go back to Japan in 2014 to serve his country on the Fitzgerald, and said they commended the crew's efforts to save their friends' lives. 'We know now why Shingo was proud to serve with you,' they added. Ngoc T Truong Huynh, 25 A friend described Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh (left and right) as 'genuine and kind-hearted'. His sister told the station that he was a 'really quiet person' but 'very selfless' The family of Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoc T Truong Huynh found out he had died after a delay that was caused by them moving from Connecticut to Oklahoma after he enlisted, WVIT reported. 'He was a really quiet person,' his sister told the station. 'He was also very nice, very selfless. He helped us, the family with a lot. He had the brightest smile.' A friend, Kim Thanh Vo, wrote a tribute to the sailor, nicknamed 'Tan', on Facebook on Saturday. 'I can't believe that you have been taken away from us,' she wrote. 'We have known each other for more than 8 years and I cherish all those memories we had together. You were such a genuine and kind hearted person and it pains me that you are no longer here.' Noe Hernandez, 26 Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez leaves behind Dora Hernandez, his wife and high-school sweetheart, as well as friends and family who said they were proud of his achievements The cousin of Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez told CBS DFW that Noe had died from an injury to the head. 'When they confirmed it, it was like a kick to the chest,' said Aly Hernandez-Singer. She added that Hernandez had one child - his son Leon - with wife Dora, whom he met in high school. 'That was his first love his only love,' she remarked. Hernandez's whole family felt like they had traveled the world through the young man's stories, she said. 'We lived through his experiences. His travels. We were just proud that our boy was up there. 'We all came from poverty in Guatemala. He was the one who made it. And we were so proud of him.' A former shipmate, Michele Arambula, wrote that Hernandez's death was 'hard to fathom'. It seems like the cruelest of jokes,' she said. 'Him and his wife, Dora Hernandez, are the most kind-hearted ppl i know to date. My prayers and condolences go out to your family, Dora.' She added: 'Fair wind and following seas, friend.' Gary Leo Rehm Jr, 37 Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr 'died a hero,' his uncle said, having rescued 20 men before being lost to the water. His wife, Erin, said they were 'obsessed with each other,' and that she feels 'just so lost right now' Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm Jr, of Elyria, Ohio, 'died a hero,' his uncle Stanley Rehm told Fox 8 Cleveland, and had managed to save more than a dozen crew mates before he was lost to the waters. 'His dad told me that he saved 20,' Stanley said. 'He went back down to where the other ones were at to save them.' However, he said, Rehm died when his colleagues were forced to close a hatch he had jumped into, in order to stop the ship from going down. If true, that would confirm fears expressed on Tuesday that some of those lost were deliberately trapped underwater when the crew realized they had no choice but to lock down the compromised sections of the destroyer. 'The ship was flooding so fast they had to close the hatch to save the ship,' Stanley said. 'They had to sacrifice the few to save the many. Guess he died a hero.' Rehm was survived by his wife Erin, who posted on Facebook: 'We were obsessed with each other. I'm just so lost right now.' Advertisement

The damaged US Navy destroyer USS Fitzgerald is seen berthing at Yokosuka Naval Base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo

The victims might have been killed by the impact of the collision or drowned in the flooding, Navy spokesman Lt Paul Newell said on Saturday; since then the possibility that some men drowned when their crewmates locked them in has emerged

The damage to the destroyer suggests that the ACX Crystal might have slammed into it at a high speed, raising questions about communication between the two vessels in an area through which as many as 400 ships pass every day

Scott Cheney-Peters, division officer aboard the Fitzgerald from 2006-2008, suggested the accident was down to human error.

'There's a lot that can go wrong even when the bridge team on one or both ships is doing everything it can to avoid a collision. It's too early to speculate on the exact circumstances in this case, so this is only to help understand the context,' he told DailyMail.com.

'The first thing to remember is the physics - ships can carry an immense amount of momentum with them given their size.

'Every time two ships approach each other at sea they rely on codified rules of the road to govern how they perform their delicate dance.

'But making sure they get the steps right depends on a shared understanding of the situation - which can be more difficult at night - and failing that, communication.'

The US Navy, the Japanese authorities, and Crystal's owners, NYK, have declined to comment on aspects of the ongoing investigation. An explanation has also not been offered as to why the Fitzgerald did not see the Crystal coming, and vice versa.

According to Japanese law, suspects in criminal proceedings such as these can be held for at least 23 days without charge and or access to lawyers.

The coast guard has declined to confirm if they were still questioning the crew and captain in Yokohama, where the Crystal is now berthed.

The Crystal was built in South Korea and registered in Japan, but its crew and captain are all from the Philippines.

The coast guard questioned crew members of the ACX Crystal, and is treating the incident as a case of possible professional negligence, said Masayuki Obara, a regional coast guard official
Taliban terrorists have been blamed for the fatal attack on eight Afghan security guards heading to work at the US Bagram airbase outside Kabul.

The shooting, which happened in the northern Parwan province, is the latest attack on the Afghan National Army by the terrorists.

Officials confirmed the shooting left two other guards wounded.

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Bagram airbase is the main US military base in Afghanistan, 25 miles from the capital Kabul

The Afghan National Army have faced an increased number of attacks by the Taliban, file pic

Wahida Shahkar, spokeswoman for the Parwan governor confirmed the guards were attacked while they were on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan.

Shahkar said the shooting is being investigated further.

Brigadier General Patrick J Donahoe, commander of Bagram Airfield said: 'On behalf of all the service members, civilians and contractors on Bagram airfield US. I offer our deepes condolences to the families, and friends of these brave Afghan citizens. We will always remember the sacrifice of these determined men and are forever grateful for their service.'

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the shooting in a statement sent to the media on Tuesday.

The terrorists have stepped up their attacks against Afghan security forces, and an affiliate of the Islamic State group has been trying to expand its footprint in the country by launching large-scale attacks across Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, one person was killed and six were wounded when Afghan security forces on Monday night moved in to dismantle the last remaining tent set up by protesters rallying in the capital, Kabul.

Abdullah Abdullah, the country's Chief Executive, first announced the incident during a live TV broadcast. He said the killings, which are under investigation, had 'shocked us all.'

The Kabul protest began earlier this month, after a powerful truck bomb killed more than 150 people and wounded more than 450 in the heart of the city. Since then, scores of protesters have spent almost three weeks under huge tents on a road near the presidential palace and the blast site, as well as in other parts of the city. By Monday night, only the one, main tent had remained.

The protesters, however, reported two deaths and said 27 demonstrators were wounded in the police crackdown. A statement from the group said 11 others were arrested. The different casualty tolls could not immediately be reconciled.

'We are in discussion with our people and soon will inform you on our decision,' the protesters' written statement said.

The demonstration had prompted police to block all roads leading to the presidential palace and diplomatic areas and restrict the movement of vehicles and people during the past weeks.

In a separate report form eastern Nangarhar province, a judge was killed when his vehicle was blown up by a sticky bomb on Tuesday morning, according to Attuhullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Khogyani said that Sher Rahman was a judge in an anti-corruption court. Three people were wounded, including two of the judge's brothers, in the explosion, which took place in the provincial capital, Jalalabad.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack in Nangarhar, but both the Taliban and Islamic States militants are active in the region.
Shocking charges: Maggie Dixon, 32, of North Carolina, has been charged with first-degree attempted murder and felony child abuse inflicting serious injury for allegedly trying to suffocate her infant son

A woman from North Carolina has been charged with attempted murder and child abuse after police say she was caught on camera repeatedly trying to smother her one-year-old son in his room at a Charlotte hospital.

According to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department, nurses at Levine Childrens Hospital were watching their monitors Saturday night and noticed the boy had trouble breathing when his mother, 32-year-old Maggie Dixon, was alone with him.

An arrest report states that Dixon's 12-month-old son was brought to the hospital suffering from respiratory problems. Investigators says the mother suspected her son had pneumonia, reported the station WSOC-TV.

WBTV reported that at around 11.25pm Saturday, medical staff summoned police after noticing abnormalities in the young patient's vital signs, including fluctuations in his breathing and oxygen levels, whenever his mother was alone with him in the room.

Investigators say when hospital workers reviewed surveillance video from the room, they saw Dixon try to suffocate the toddler four separate times within a span of 15 minutes using both her hands and a pillow.

Dixon was allegedly caught on camera Saturday repeatedly trying to smother her son using both her hands and a pillow in his room at Levine Children's Hospital (pictured)

The 32-year-old suspect was immediately removed from the room and taken in for questioning by police.

Dixon has been charged with attempted first-degree murder and felony child abuse inflicting serious injury. She remained in jail on $200,000 Monday, reported Laurinburg Exchange.

Prior to Saturdays incident, police say there were no apparent signs that the boy had been subjected to abuse at home.

Authorities say the boy remains within the hospital with other family members. The Division of Social Providers will be helping with the investigation.

Once he is fully recovered, the toddler likely will be released into the custody of his father, who lives separately from Dixon.
160617 KEBORI TO BE INVESTIGATED

By Tom KATHOA

The Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee has established a Board of Inquiry to look into allegations against the suspended Secretary for Personnel Management and Administrative Services, Paul Kebori.

The committee resolved to appoint the Board of Inquiry at its meeting on the thirteenth of June this year.

Mr. Kebori who is on suspension with full pay is alleged to have committed an offence during his time in office.

ABG President and Chairman of the Bougainville Senior Appointments Committee, Hon Chief Dr. John Momis says the allegations against Kebori are contained in petition delivered to his committee by the Bougainville Chief Secretary, Joseph Nobetau.

In announcing the establishment of the board of inquiry, President Momis says a highly qualified and well respected person has been appointed to carry out the investigation.

The work of the inquiry is expected to begin soon and Mr. Kebori will be given all the opportunity to defend himself.

A final report of the investigation and recommendations from the Board of Inquiry will then be presented to the Senior Appointments Committee for its final decision.

Ends


South Korea says the United States has flown two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force during joint military drills.

U.S. and South Korean warplanes regularly conduct drills, but Tuesday's flights came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said the B-1B bombers were part of routine exercises with South Korea aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

Power: Two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancers assigned to the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron fly a 10-hour mission from Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, with two South Korean air force F-15s in the vicinity of the Korean peninsula

Warning: The two supersonic bombers flew their mission the day after US student Otto Warmbier died

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces, demonstrating solidarity with the U.S. allies.

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The military posturing came before the furious response of politicians across the nation.

Senator John McCain called the death of Warmbier, 'murder' and said that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un is responsible.

Warmbier, the American university student held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his family said.

One of two U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer aircraft is refueled during a mission to fly in the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula

Detention: Otto Warmbier is pictured here being taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang in North Korea in March, 2016

Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student detained and imprisoned in North Korea, is carried off of an airplane at Lunken Airport in Cincinnati on Tuesday, June 13, 2017 - he passed away six days later

Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement after Warmbier's death at 2:20 p.m

There was no immediate word from Warmbier's family on the cause of his death.

The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.

U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing "the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."
Authorities in Ohio say a seriously injured man was found alive two days after a car crash in a secluded area that killed another man but went unnoticed.

Authorities in Elyria say they're trying to determine which man was driving the Chrysler Sebring when the car veered off Interstate 77 in Tuscarawas County on June 14, state troopers told The Chronicle-Telegram.

It traveled down an embankment, rolled and hit a tree, and couldn't be seen from the road.

It went unnoticed until Friday, when a resident heard cries for help and found the survivor near the vehicle.

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Authorities in Ohio say a seriously injured man was found alive two days after a car crash in a secluded area that killed another man but went unnoticed

Authorities in Elyria say they're trying to determine which man was driving the Chrysler Sebring when the car veered off Interstate 77 in Tuscarawas County on June 14

Mykal Isom, 25, was seriously injured in the crash. He suffered injuries to his arms and legs

A 48-year-old Elyria, Ohio, man, later identified as Brandyne Parks, was apparently thrown from a vehicle which veered off an interstate and crashed into a tree as it rolled down an embankment

Police received a phone call from a nearby business owner who heard 'screaming and hollering for help.' Jordan Taylor (above), the owner of Taylor Machine, heard Isom and went over to the crash scene on his tractor

The 25-year-old man, Mykal Isom, was hospitalized in Akron with leg and arm injuries.

A 48-year-old Elyria man, later identified as Brandyne Parks, who was apparently thrown from the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Authorities say that there were likely no witnesses to the crash since it happened in a secluded area.

'The interstate is kind of separated where the northbound traffic cant see the southbound traffic  and traffic is kind of light in that area in the evening,' Ohio State Patrol Lt. Mark Glennon said.

Glennon said that police received a phone call from a nearby business owner who heard 'screaming and hollering for help.'

Isom was found alive two days after the car crash. Authorities say there are likely no witnesses to the crash since it occurred in a secluded area

Isom was hospitalized in Akron General Hospital (above) with leg and arm injuries

'He jumped on his tractor and went to the area of where he heard the screaming... and found the gentleman that was alive,' Glennon said.

'He was sweating, pretty rough shape; he just told us -- he started right off the bat that his ribs were broken and his arm was broken,' Jordan Taylor, the owner of Taylor Machine who heard Isom's pleas for help, told Fox 8.

That Taylor was able to hear Isom and then took the trouble to go over and investigate is a minor miracle, the officer said.

'Unbelievable he [Jordan] was able to hear him to start off with and that he took that effort to go out and see what was going on and to help him like that,' according to Glennon.

The officer said that Isom was found close to the car, while Parks' body was further away.

'Right now there are more unknowns than there are knowns about this crash and were still trying to compile all the facts,' Glennon said.

'Were still trying to talk with the survivor.'

Glennon said he hopes that authorities will be able to better piece together the chain of events leading to the crash after the coroner issues its report.
Young Australian doctors have revealed why they believe there is a suicide epidemic among staff in the medical industry.

On SBS' Insight Program on Tuesday night junior doctors detailed the dangerous conditions they face at work every day, and explained there is often a lack of support for health professionals struggling to cope.

Hannah, a nurse who has been working in a psychiatric ward, said she regularly receives threats.

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Hannah (pictured), a nurse who has been working in a psychiatric ward, said she regularly receives threats

On SBS' Insight Program (pictured) on Tuesday night male and female doctors explained there is often a lack of support for health professionals struggling to cope

'I've had threats on my life, threats of rape from numerous people, threats with my family because you're not giving [a patient] the extra medication they want,' the 23-year-old told the program.

In New South Wales there are mandatory reporting laws which require a treating doctor to report a doctor if they declare mental health problems.

That doctor is then reported to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, which is forced to conduct an investigation into that doctor's fitness.

Psychiatrist Dr Helen Schultz previously told Daily Mail Australia the system failed doctors- especially those who were most vulnerable.

Dr Schultz said the system of mandatory reporting discouraged doctors from being honest and ultimately from seeking help.

'Doctors are worried they will be reported so they don't speak out for fear of losing their licence,' she said.

Melanie, a health professional who chose to remain anonymous, told Insight on Tuesday she was scared to talk about her suicidal thoughts.

Other doctors revealed they were forced to seek help externally with services such as Headspace, over fear they would be ridiculed at their place of work (Dr Lizzy pictured)

Young Australian doctors (pictured right) have revealed why they believe there is a suicide epidemic among staff in the medical industry

'I went to the GP who referred me to a psychologist and with her I actively chose not to mention my thoughts of suicide.'

'It's the culture, it's that you suck it up and you deal with whatever goes wrong. You're praised for being able to deal with strife and I wasn't dealing with my strife.'

Another doctor, Dr Karla told the program two young health professionals she knew took their lives this year.

'Two people from my cohort at university committed suicide in January,' Dr Karla said.

Other doctors revealed they were forced to seek help externally with services such as Headspace, over fear they would be ridiculed at their place of work.

In 2013 mental health organisation Beyondblue surveyed over 12,000 doctors in Australia and found those in training were twice as likely to have high levels of psychological stress compared to their senior colleagues.

A 2009 report published in the Medical Journal of Australia revealed a staggering 71 percent of junior doctors were concerned about their mental or physical health.

Between 2007 and 2016 20 doctors took their own lives in New South Wales.

Dr Karla (pictured) told the program two young health professionals she knew took their lives this year
A Russian teenager has sparked outrage after posting pictures of a baby sparrow forced to smoke a cigarette.

Furious animal lovers have called for 18-year-old Victor Avdeev to be arrested after the torture was revealed on social media.

The images show Avdeev, from the Volgograd Oblast region, driving his car with the chick sitting next to him with a lit cigarette jammed in its beak.

Images of the tiny bird with a cigarette in its mouth provoked outrage after they were posted online

Another photograph shows the baby bird with a flaming match in its beak.

Avdeev also reportedly made a 14-minute video of him abusing the little sparrow which was shared on social media by his friend, Elena Grekova, but later taken down.

Online commentators reacted with fury and urged the animal protection agencies and the police to track down and prosecute Avdeev.

One wrote: 'This guy has no brain, or no shame. Releasing something like that on social media is like digging a grave for yourself. And frankly speaking, he deserves to be punished.'

Calls have been mounted for the teenager to be arrested over the images, which also show the sparrow with a lit match in its mouth

Another posted: 'What a moron this guy is, hope he gets punched in prison.'

A spokesman for a local animal protection charity, who saw the video before it was removed, described it as a 'manifestation of sadism'.

He said volunteers were outraged by the apparent insufficiency of Russian law to deal with animal abusers.

However, local media reports that the teenager could face a hefty fine of up to 80,000 RUB - the equivalent of 1,073 - or a year in jail if convicted.

It is not known if the bird survived the ordeal.
Sheriff's deputies in Georgia arrested more than 25 people on Saturday at a suburban Atlanta nightclub for allegedly possessing guns and drugs and thus violating the terms of their probation.

Over two dozen law enforcement officials raided Hoops Bar and Grill in Newnan, Georgia, on Saturday.

They were targeting a 'Welcome Home' party for Montel Whitaker, a rapper who had recently been released from prison, according to WSB-TV.

The Hoops Bar and Grill had long been on the police's radar because of frequent complaints by neighbors of loud noise as well as widespread use of marijuana.

Officials in the sheriff's office said that the odor emanating from the club was so strong that it could be picked up by anyone driving by the establishment.

Sheriff's deputies in Georgia arrested miore than 25 people on Saturday at a suburban Atlanta nightclub (seen above) for allegedly possessing guns and drugs and thus violating the terms of their probation

Sheriff's deputies staged a raid targeting a 'Welcome Home' party for Montel Whitaker (above), a rapper who had recently been released from prison

Deputies became aware of the event as it was promoted heavily on social media. Above is an image of the invite as it was disseminated on social media

The bar also reportedly has a history of alcohol violations, though it doesn't appear that the owner faces charges.

Deputies became aware of the event as it was promoted heavily on social media.

The party was to celebrate the release off Whitaker, who was freed from prison on Thursday after he was sentenced for cocaine possession and violating his probation.

'He keeps getting harassed,' his mother, Altomeisa Smith, told WSB-TV. 'He's just trying to go to the club to perform and make money.'

The Hoops Bar and Grill had long been on the police's radar because of frequent complaints by neighbors of loud noise as well as widespread use of marijuana

Over two dozen law enforcement officials took part in the raid, some of which was captured on cell phone video by one of the partygoers

Sheriff's deputies said they were able to obtain a warrant to conduct the raid because they knew a large number of partygoers would be in violation of their probation

The bar also reportedly has a history of alcohol violations, though it doesn't appear that the owner faces charges

Officials in the sheriff's office said that the marijuana odor emanating from the club was so strong that it could be picked up by anyone driving by the establishment. Above is an image of the evidence collected by deputies at the club

'They had their guns out,' one of the attendees, Jasmine Ball, said.

'They had the task force, probation officers. When they came in, they said the quickest way out of here is women on this side and men on this side. They didn't check no women.'

Sheriff's deputies said they were able to obtain a warrant to conduct the raid because they knew a large number of partygoers would be in violation of their probation.

'They are not supposed to be in establishments like that on probation or parole. And they're not supposed to be around alcohol and they're not supposed to be around drugs,' Sheriff Mike Yeager said.
A van driver has been cleared of killing a three-year-old boy by dangerous driving after admitting sending a text to her son moments before she hit the child.

Clinton Pringle was crossing the road while on a family holiday in Jersey when Rebekah Le Gal mowed him down with her VW Transporter.

Clinton died three days later in Southampton Hospital from 'catastrophic, non-survivable injuries'.

Van driver Rebekah Le Gal has been cleared of killing Clinton Pringle (left and right) by dangerous driving after admitting sending a text to her son moments before she hit him

Le Gal, 39, was charged with causing death by dangerous driving after officers found she had sent a 'trivial' moments before she knocked the boy down.

A court heard that she had just read a message from him asking for his grandmother's phone number. She replied with the grandmother's phone number 12 seconds after reading the message, records show.

The Royal Court in Jersey heard that Clinton's mother Stacey and aunt Melissa Anderson 'screamed' and waved their arms in a desperate bid to alert Le Gal as the youngster crossed the road.

Le Gal admitted sending the text when she was interviewed but claimed it had not distracted her and described it as a 'measured act.'

Advocate Matthew Jowitt, defending, claimed she had sent her reply 16 seconds before the crash.

He said that was an 'awfully long time' for his client to still be distracted from 'simply pressing send on a text'.

Mobile phone expert Mark Rigby told the court the text message could have been delayed as she had 33 or 34 apps open on her phone at the same time.

Outside court Clinton's parents Michael and Stacey (with whom he is pictured) said the family from Glasgow were 'shocked' and 'gobsmacked' by the verdict

The little boy (pictured) was on holiday in Jersey with his family when he was killed

Jurats Michael Liston and Jane Ronge took less than two hours to acquit Le Gal of causing death by dangerous driving.

She had previously admitted the lesser charge of death by careless driving and will be sentenced for that next month.

Outside court Clinton's parents Michael and Stacey, 29, said the family from Glasgow were 'shocked' and 'gobsmacked' by the verdict.

He said: 'We won't be able to pick up the pieces and move on. We will forever be stuck in June 2016.

'Anyone who had the pleasure of meeting Clinton will remember what a wonderful child he was. Nothing will ever compensate for his loss at such a young age.

'The facts of his death are now down on record for all to see.

'The most obvious fact is that Rebekah Le Gal had plenty of time to see him and stop safely and should have. But she didn't.

'It's been absolutely horrific especially for Stacey and Melissa (Clinton's aunt) who have relived this almost every day as it is.

'It's been an absolutely horrendous time for all of us but especially for them. For me, it was the first time I had seen the fine details of what happened and I think people can make their mind up.'

Police said after the verdict: 'We note the decision of the court in this particular case.

'However we continue to remind all road users that using a mobile phone whilst driving is dangerous.

'The States of Jersey Police remain committed to ensuring, with partners, that our roads are as safe as they can be and will continue to target those drivers who use their mobile phones whilst driving.'
President Trump said he'd like to see a Senate health care bill with 'more heart,' according to CNBC, after complaining behind closed doors that the House GOP Obamacare repeal bill was 'mean.'

The Senate Republicans may be able to eek out a health care bill before the Fourth of July after all, with senators preparing to vote on an Obamacare repeal next week.

'I expect to have a discussion draft on Thursday,' Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., confirmed Tuesday afternoon, according to the Washington Examiner. 'And we'll go to the bill obviously once we get a CBO score. Likely next week.'

The bill has been crafted in private  much to the chagrin of the Democrats who have been complaining about it for weeks.

Trump's comments suggest he'd like to see a more moderate bill coming out of the Senate, as the Congressional Budget Office forecasted that the House-passed American Health Care Act would cause 23 million more Americans to be uninsured than if the government stuck with Obamacare.

President Trump, in a meeting with tech titans, reportedly told them he wanted to see a Senate GOP health care bill with 'more heart'

Press Secretary Sean Spicer agreed that the president wanted a bill with 'more heart,' though wouldn't talk specifically about what President Trump might dislike in terms of a bill

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., can only lose two members of his Republican caucus, as no Democrats are expected to vote in favor of the GOP-led health care bill

HARD TO GET: The Washington Post suspects that it will be difficult to sell the bill to libertarian Sen. Rand Paul (left), R-Ky., and moderate Sen. Susan Collins (right), R-Alaska

But Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, (right) has also expressed hesitations, saying she wants the expansion of Medicaid to continue and Planned Parenthood funding to go untouched

During Monday's off-camera White House press briefing, Press Secretary Sean Spicer wouldn't confirm or deny Trump had called the House iteration of health care reform 'mean.'

'I'm not going to comment on rumors that came out of a private meeting,' Spicer told reporters.

But on Tuesday, Spicer said, 'the president clearly wants a bill that has heart,' confirming CNBC's reporting.

'He believes that health care is something that is near and dear to so many families and individuals,' Spicer said.

'He made it clear from the beginning that that was one of his priorities and as the Senate works its way through this bill as the House did, any ideas are welcome to strengthen it, to make it more affordable, accessible and deliver the care that it needs, but this is an area that the president believes passionately about,' the press secretary continued.

'He cares. He understands the role that health care plays in their lives and their families' and he wants to make sure we do everything we can to provide the best option for them as Obamacare continues to fail,' Spicer added.

Spicer then moved away from giving specifics, saying he wouldn't 'get into the private discussions that occurred.'

Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., however, backed up Politico's timeline, saying he expected to vote on a bill next week.

'I believe the majority leader when he said he's going to take it up. I expect us to vote on it next week,' Burr told Politico. 'It's close. Everybody's been counting [votes] since the beginning. It's been close since the beginning.'

Like House Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has had to balance the interests of conservatives and moderates within his caucus.

Democrats have not been privy to the health care negotiations and none are expected to support the GOP-led health care bill, as Republicans try to drown President Obama's signature legislative accomplishment.

Now they fear, as the new bill won't go through committee, that Republicans will quickly pass it without time allotted for amendments and discussion.

'Will we have time  more than 10 hours, since this is a complicated bill  to review the bill?' Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked McConnell Monday from the Senate floor. 'Will it be available to us and the public more than 10 hours before we have to go vote for it?'

'Since our leader has said  our Republican leader  that there will be plenty of time for a process where people can make amendments,' Schumer continued. 'You need time to prepare those amendments.'

McConnell didn't make any promises.

'I think well have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill,' the Senate majority leader said twice, the second time after Schumer, again, asked about the 10 hours.

'I rest my case,' Schumer replied.

At the White House, Spicer dismissed Democrats' complaints that they weren't included in writing the Senate bill.

'They have chosen ... to not make themselves part of this process,' Spicer said, pointing to comments made by Schumer in which the minority leader said the Democrats would never take part of dismantling Obamacare.

Spicer explained that it differed from similar complaints Republicans made when Obamacare was being authored because, 'I think we wanted to be part of the process back then,' the press secretary said.

Because Republicans are using a process called reconciliation, arguing the bill is budget-specific, only a simple majority is needed to get the legislation through the Senate.

Still, with the Senate divided 52-48, McConnell can only afford to lose two votes, with Vice President Mike Pence coming in and placing a tie-breaker.

The Washington Post suspects that McConnell will lose a Republican on each end of the spectrum, pointing to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a libertarian who was the one 'no' vote on the budget resolution that initiated the whole process, along with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, by far the most moderate senator in the GOP caucus.

However, other Republicans seem to be wavering too.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Ala., said she supported a number of components already found in Obamacare, also known as the Affordable Care Act, that the Senate Republican health care bill would likely strip away.

'I am committed to ensuring that important provisions of the ACA, such as covering those with pre-existing conditions, continued support for Medicaid expansion, coverage for dependents and no lifetime limits, and funding for Planned Parenthood remain intact,' she said in a constituent letter, obtained by Politico.

The 151-member Republican Study Committee of House members sent a letter to McConnell making their own demands, according to the Washington Examiner, which are practically opposite of everything Murkowski called for.

The group, which was once chaired by Pence, is worried that the Senate bill will be too moderate for their tastes, as they support phasing out the Medicaid expansion beginning in 2020, along with barring federal family planning funds from going to clinics that perform abortions, which would impact Planned Parenthood.

Eventually the House bill, which passed in early May, and the Senate version will have to be reconciled.
A father dangled his baby out of the window of a 15th-floor apartment so that he could get 1,000 likes on Facebook.

The Algerian dad had posted a video of the child being held by just his shirt 150 feet above the street below with the caption, '1,000 likes or I will drop him'.

When people picked up on the shocking clip, he was reported to the authorities in the capital Algiers and yesterday he was sentenced to two years in prison.

The father uploaded this video showing him holding his son out of a 15th-floor apartment with the caption, '1,000 likes or I will drop him'

Facebook users demanded the father, believed to be from the city of Bab Ezzouar, was tried on child abuse charges, according to Al Arabiya.

Prosecutors agreed and took him to court where it transpired he had carried out the horrendous stunt simply to gain a high number of views and likes on the social media site.

Media activist Dalila Belkheir said the man was 'not a father but a terrorist' while rights activist Ali Ben Jeddou said told Albawaba: 'This man should be brought to justice and punished in the most severe way'.

Reacting to the post online, one user said: 'What is most striking is that it appears that the father is carrying his son with his left hand while using his right hand to take the picture, this means the picture is more important than the child's life.'

Psychologist Dr Noura Rahmani told The New Arab the actions could not and should not be tolerated in Algeria, adding that the father may not have been aware he was committing a crime.
Audrey Hepburn's sons finally settled on how they will split their mother's memorabilia after a two-year legal battle.

The late actress's only children Sean Ferrer, 56, and Luca Dotti, 47, signed a deal with auction house Christie's to sell Hepburn's prized possessions.

Court papers obtained by DailyMail.com reveal the half-brothers were promised a 50/50 split of Hepburn's estate when she died in 1993.

In May of 2015, Ferrer sued Dotti over the division of the classic posters, costumes, gloves, scripts, awards and photos kept in the Los Angeles storage locker.

One of the items Audrey Hepburn's sons agreed to sell at auction was the silk Givenchy dress she wore for a fashion editorial promoting Two for the Road in 1966. It is expected to sell for $12,600-19,000 at Christie's auction in September

Notable items include her annotated Breakfast at Tiffany's script, her ice blue Givenchy dress she wore for a fashion editorial promoting Two for the Road, her Burberry trench coat and her collection of ballet flats.

While Hepburn wrote a handwritten will declaring her sons were entitled to an equal share of her memorabilia, she did not include a list of who got what. The brothers' legal battle dragged on for over two years.

Then on June 12, Dotti's lawyer in Switzerland filed documents saying Hepburn's sons reached a deal recently over the prized memorabilia.

Sean Ferrer (left) filed to sue Luca Dotti (right) over how to divide their mother's memorabilia. Their settlement reveals items will be divided by pieces to be given to Christie's to be sold for profit, items they would each retain and items they already had in their possession

Hepburn's personal Burberry coat (left) is expected to fetch $7,600-10,100 at auction in September. In 2006, little black dress she wore in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's (right) was auctioned at Christie's in 2006 for $920,909 (467,000)

Ferrer and Dotti split the items into categories: pieces to be given to Christie's to be sold for profit, items they would each retain and items they already had in their possession.

The siblings reveal they are still resolving other issues regarding their mother's estate but they have settled the memorabilia dilemma.

In accordance with the deal they signed a deal with Christie's in May, the brothers will split the profits from the auction 50/50 with any unsold items split equally between them.

The agreement stated Christie's would have one year after receiving the items to hold the auction. Christie's is holding a live action in London on September 27 and an online action from September 19 to October 3.

The Breakfast at Tiffany's actress's annotated script could sell for $76,000-101,200. Hepburn noted the words she would emphasize

Hepburn's ballet flats are expected to sell for approximately $1,900 (1,500). She died in 1993 at the age of 63 and left her estate to her two sons

Her personal wardrobe with designer labels including Givenchy and Valentino will be sold to the highest bidder

Hepburn's little black dress she wore in the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's was auctioned at Christie's in 2006 for an astounding $920,909 (467,000).

The iconic dress had a pre-sale estimate of $98,000-138,000 (50,000-70,000).

In September, Christie's estimates her ice blue Givenchy dress will sell for approximately $12,600-19,000. The Burberry coat is expected to fetch $7,600-10,100 and her annotated Breakfast at Tiffany's script could sell for $76,000-101,200.

In a joint statement to Christie's, Dotti and Ferrer commented on the upcoming auction saying: 'We lost our mother and best friend, and the world lost an enduring symbol of grace, elegance and humanity.

'We preserved our feelings for her as well as her belongings, each of which signified her lifes choices and philosophy. After 24 years we have focused on those items that we wished to keep, as well as those we are pleased to pass on to future generations.

'In an effort to include all those who have felt affection towards her, we have selected a collection of items to share with her ever-growing base of admirers. It is with great joy that we seek to share her spirit, through this sale, and its related previews, with all of those who have enjoyed her films and her sense of style, and who have followed her humanitarian legacy.'

Hepburn died at the age of 63. She spent the last years of her life as a UNICEF ambassador and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992.

Christie's states on the auction website Hepburn's photographs are expected to sell for prices ranging from $120 to $101,000

Dotti and Ferrer said in a joint statement to Christie's: 'After 24 years we have focused on those items that we wished to keep, as well as those we are pleased to pass on to future generations'
Joey Barge, 20, came to work in a bright pink dress as a 'protest' at the firm's dress code

A defiant call centre worker who was sent home for wearing shorts to the office in this week's heatwave came back wearing a bright pink dress as a 'protest' against the dress code.

Joey Barge, 20, from Buckinghamshire, turned up in a pair of smart blue shorts on but bosses deemed them inappropriate despite the sweltering heat.

They sent him home just minutes after he posted on Twitter asking his followers: 'If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?'

But rather than changing into a stuffy suit, the call centre worker decided to don a bright pink dress as a 'protest' against the rules.

Predicting that he'd be sent home again, Joey posted a chic selfie to Twitter, racking up dozens of likes and retweets.

Instead his act of defiance sparked a change in the rules - with bosses sending out an email allowing 'gentlemen in the office' to wear three-quarter length shorts in 'black, navy or beige only'.

Despite the u-turn - which Joey branded a 'partial win' - he opted to wear the colourful dress for the whole day in an act of defiance against the policy.

He said: 'I got sent home and told to change into appropriate clothing but it said females could wear dresses so hey ho!

'They said it was a bit too colourful and asked if I wanted to go home and change because they were letting us wear shorts because of my "protest" - but I said I was happy to stay.'

Joey posted a chic selfie taken while wearing the dress to Twitter, racking up dozens of likes and retweets

Call centre worker Joey posted this picture while wearing the dress at the office

One of his Twitter followers, Lewis Alexander Hunt, replied: 'Men should always be allowed to wear shorts like women can wear skirts and dresses... equality

Another added: 'Don't you know Joey, there is a double standard with things like this?'

One user commented: 'They sent you home? You aren't customer facing and it was still a smart outfit.'

It comes after firms were told that workers struggling in the sweltering heat should be given the option of ditching their suits for shorts and flip-flops.

Unions are also calling for a new law forcing employers to send home workers if the mercury hits 86F (30C) - or 80F for those doing strenuous work.

He had posted on Twitter asking his followers: 'If women can wear skirts/dresses at work can I wear smart shorts like so?'

Minutes later he found out the answer after arriving at work: 'Nope'

The TUC also wants employers to implement cooling measures when a workplace temperature reaches 24C.

The organisation said that companies should supply workers with cool drinks and allow them to take regular breaks.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: 'While many of us will welcome the sunshine and warm temperatures this week, working in sweltering conditions can be unbearable and dangerous.

'Employers can give their staff a break by relaxing dress code rules temporarily and ensuring staff doing outside work are protected.

'Obviously shorts and flip flops won't be the right attire for all workers, but no-one should be made to suffer unnecessarily in the heat for the sake of appearances.'

Joey posted this picture while on his way back to work where he expected to be sent home again for his dress stunt

Joey's act of defiance sparked a change in the rules - with bosses sending out an email allowing 'gentlemen in the office' to wear three-quarter length shorts in 'black, navy or beige'

The EU yesterday revealed that officials in Brussels could go home early if they get too hot despite tough Brexit negotiations kicking off.

Eurocrats have been told they can leave if office temperatures hit 86F.

In a notice circulated to staff and posted online today, the EU's HR departments also advises staff to turn the lights off to keep cool.

And they suggest employees should ditch their suits and ties and opt for loose-fitting clothes to cope with the heatwave.

The circular points out that staff should open windows, drink lots of water and 'not to drink alcohol' during the hot weather.

They also suggest Eurocrats should not indulge in a lavish lunches and instead opt to 'eat light meals' while the mercury is soaring.
200617TSIMES ON LAW AND ORDER

By Aloysius Laukai



The Commander for the South Bougainville Police, Senior Sergeant AMMERT TSIMES today called on the people of South Bougainville to support their immediate families so that they can live happily.

Speaking on New Dawn FM , MR. TSIMES said that main contributing factors in the break-down of law and order is the excessive use of alcohol drugs, marijuana and other illicit drugs.

Sergeant TSIMES said that as the region gears up to the Polling period he wants the people slow in the consumption of alcohol and even brewing of home brew in the communities.

He said that Law and order is everybodys issue and not the Police alone.



Ends




The U.S. led coalition said on Tuesday it had shot down an armed pro-Syrian drone that had been advancing on its forces near a garrison close to the border with Iraq in southeastern Syria.

In a statement, U.S. forces said the drone was shot at after it 'displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces'.

One official said that the drone was shot down because it was 'assessed to be a threat.'

The drone was an Iranian-made Shahed 129, thought to be armed in range of US troops (File of American drone pictured)

CNN reports the drone dropped several weapons it was carrying near a position where coalition personnel are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS.

The armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 UAV was shot down by a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle at approximately 12:30 a.m. after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces,' according to a statement issued by Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS.

The incident comes one day after a Russian warplane came within five feet of a US Air Force reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on Monday.

According to the officials, a Russian Su-27 fighter jet which was armed with missiles 'rapidly' approached an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane. As the aircraft were flying side by side, the Russian pilot began to undertake 'provocative' maneuvers by flying 'erratically,' according to a US official.

Monday's drone incident has only served to increase tensions across the war-torn nation.

'The Coalition forces were manning an established combat outpost to the northeast of At Tanf where they are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS,' a statement by U.S. forces on the incident said.

'This is the same location where another pro-regime UAV dropped munitions near Coalition forces before it was shot down, June 8.'

U.S. forces in Syria shot down an armed drone affiliated with groups supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad's government overnight. It happened near Al Tanf, where the U.S. military is using the area near Syrias border with Iraq and Jordan to train its local forces

The armed drone was determined to be a threat and was shot down after the drone 'continued to advance on the Coalition position without diverting its course it was shot down,' the statement added.

The coalition 'has made it clear to all parties publicly and through the de-confliction line with Russian forces that the demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated.'

Although the weapon was a Shahed 129 drone made by Iran, American officials told the New York Times they do not know who directed it.

An American F-15E shot down the drone, which had dropped a bomb that missed its target.

Shortly afterwards, a Syrian warplane appeared and began maneuvering to bomb the American-backed fighters, only to be intercepted by an American F/A-18 jet.

'When the airplane got close to where he wanted to deliver his bombs, he realized he had an F/A-18 behind it,' said Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, who runs the coalition's air war.

The Syrian SU-22 flew off and any conflict was averted.

'We didn't shoot it because he dumped his bombs off in the middle of the desert,' General Harrigian added in a telephone interview from his command center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

This US Navy file photo shows an F/A-18E Super Hornet. The US says an SU-22 operated by the Syrian regime was dropping bombs on the Syrian Democratic Forces, a group that is aligned with the US, when it was shot out of the sky by a Super Hornet

The downing of the drone comes just days after a US F/A-18 shot down a regime warplane after dropping bombs near US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces fighting ISIS in the area around Tabqah, Syria, in the north of country.

The US says an SU-22 operated by the Syrian regime was dropping bombs on the Syrian Democratic Forces when it was shot out of the sky by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet.

The United States moved quickly to contain the situation on Monday, with a top general saying Washington would work to relaunch the 'deconfliction' hotline with Russia that was established in 2015.

A Pentagon official told Russia that it would not back down, however, after Russia threatened to make US planes its targets.

'We do not seek conflict with any party in Syria other than ISIS, but we will not hesitate to defend ourselves or our partners if threatened,' Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis told Fox News.

The downing of the jet and Russia's response came as the US-led coalition and allied fighters battle to oust the Islamic State jihadist group from its Syrian bastion Raqqa.

Analysts say neither Washington nor President Bashar al-Assad's regime appear to be seeking further confrontation, although the risks remain high in Syria's increasingly crowded battlefields and airspace.

The Syrian jet was shot down on Sunday evening after regime forces engaged the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS, near Raqqa.

An American F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down the Syrian SU-22 as it 'dropped bombs near SDF fighters' south of the town of Tabqa, the coalition said in a statement.

Russia's defense minister said the pilot ejected 'above IS-controlled territories' and that his fate is unknown.
A pilot who heroically crash-landed his plane into an Amazon river in order to save the life of his passenger tragically drowned after the rescue attempt went wrong.

Dramatic video shows the moment pilot Elcides Rodrigues Pereira, 64, guided his single-engine plane into the river after the aircraft suffered an electrical fault.

The footage was captured by the only passenger on board, Ednilson Cardoso, 28, a nursing technician, over the dense Amazon rainforest.

Pilot Elcides Rodrigues Pereira, 64 (left), was flying nurse Ednilson Cardoso, 28, into the Amazon to treat a sick child living with a remote tribe when their plane failed

The accident happened last Wednesday afternoon, an hour after take-off.

According to Cardosa, who was being flown out to tend to a sick child in the Indian Marari tribe living in a remote location on the Yanomami Land, one of the propellers stopped working.

At the beginning of the footage, Pereira, a highly experienced pilot, can be heard speaking over the radio to the aircraft's owners.

He says he is near the Catrimani River, deep inside the jungle and was going to land in the water as there was no clearing among the trees to make a safe descent.

As the plane goes down, the pilot stays calm and simply says 'Ok, Ok' as the passenger grips the back of the seat.

The video ends as the light aircraft slams into the water.

Miraculously, both men survived the crash and managed get out of the plane.

Cardosa said: 'I was amazed we had survived. I pushed the window open and we climbed out of the plane. Then we swam to the bank and watched as the plane sank into the water.'

Cardoso filmed the terrifying final moments inside the plane as an alarm can be heard sounding while they get lower and lower over the jungle

Pereira can be heard calmly reassuring him as the plane dips toward the trees

Incredibly both men escaped after the aircraft touched down in a river (pictured) and a helicopter arrived within an hour to rescue them

Pereira had already relayed coordinates of the accident and a helicopter rescue team was with the stranded men an hour later.

As it was too difficult for the helicopter to land, a rope was thrown down to the men to climb up.

Cardoso said: 'I tied the rope around Peninha first, then I grabbed my rope and started climbing.

'I saw that Peninha was tired and very wet and I kept telling him to stay calm, keep climbing and we could get up to the helicopter.'

According to rescuers, the elderly father-of-five was unable to haul himself up the rope. He lost his grip, fell into the river and was swept away by the current.

A devastated Cardosa recalled: 'We tried very hard to pull him into the helicopter, but he was very heavy, wet and tired and we couldn't hold him.

'When he fell, I went down into the water to see if I could find him. I was desperate because we had survived the accident and now this had happened.

'The helicopter went up and down the river to see if we could spot him but we couldn't find him.'

But while climbing up a rope and into the helicopter Pereira slipped and fell into the water, before his body was found a day later, four miles downstream

After three days of searching, rescue workers found Pereira's body on Saturday, four miles (6km) from where the plane had plummeted into river.

Cardosa suffered slight scratches and bruises to his arms and was discharged on the same day from Roraima General Hospital.

Through tears the survivor said: 'The crash landing into the water was terrifying.

'I didn't know whether we would survive but Peninha was so calm he helped to sooth my fears. He saved my life and I'm devastated that I couldn't save his.'

Arthur Neto, owner of Paramazonia Taxi Aereo, which owned the aircraft, said he is 'destroyed' by the accident and is doing everything to support the pilot's family.

An investigation has been launched by the Centre for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents into the incident.
Andrey Ryjenko, 44, from Paddington in London, lost his moral compass

A 'morally contemptible' banker, who was bribed 2.2million to approved multi-million pound loans for gas and oil projects in ex-Soviet states, has been jailed for six years.

Andrey Ryjenko, 44, from Paddington in London, lost his moral compass as he received corrupt payments while working for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) between July 2008 and November 2009.

Ryjenko was supposed to scrutinise loan applications at the publicly-funded bank, but he used his position to approve loan deals for crooked consultant Dmititrij Harder.

Harder paid the senior banker massive kickbacks through his US company Chestnut Consulting Group Inc, as part of a success fee for securing the loans.

Ryjenkos sister Tatjana Sanderson, 37, used her bank accounts to provide a safe haven for the cash and distance the bribes from her brother.

Old Bailey jurors were told the case was about familial greed before they found Ryjenko guilty of one count of conspiring to make or accept corrupt payments and one count of dealing in criminal property.

Judge Nicholas Cooke QC jailed Ryjenko for six years and slammed the banker for not realising the error of his ways.

He said: I dont understand actually how anybody in your position with a very healthy income couldnt understand that splitting a 5million commission to fund your family in a world where there is so much poverty was anything other than morally contemptible.

I dont understand why you werent able to understand that that was wrong.

Im afraid you have lost your moral compass at some time in your life and thats why you dont recognise that this sort of thing is actually pretty awful behaviour.

Sanderson also denied one count of conspiring to make or accept corrupt payments and one count of dealing in criminal property and was not fit to stand trial. But jurors found that she committed the acts following a four-week case.

Prosecutor Tom Little told jurors: This case can be summarised in one word - greed. Or alternatively, perhaps two words - familial greed.

Ryjenko and his sister, the prosecution say, conspired with a man called Dmititrij Harder to make and accept corrupt payments.

Those are sometimes referred to as bribes.

The EBDR, whose headquarters are based in the City of London, is owned by a consortium of 61 states, including the UK, as well as the EU and the European Investment Bank, and is publicly funded by the taxpayers of its shareholder states.

Russian and UK national Ryjenko joined the bank in 1994 and secured a position in the natural resources team after studying economics and finance at Moscow State University and the London School of Economics.

Ryjenko and Harder took advantage of the senior bankers apparent influence over granting loans, jurors heard.

Harder negotiated agreements with the hopeful borrowers including a success fee, a small percentage of the loan, which was divided between him and Ryjenko.

Because the loans were so large, so was the success fee, and so, therefore, the kickback paid to these defendants was also significant, said Mr Little.

Tatjana Sanderson is pictured at the Old Bailey in London earlier this year

Ryjenko purported to represent the interests of EBRD in scrutinising loan applications, Harder purported to act as a consultant of his clients applying for loans at the bank, and Sanderson received her brothers cut of the success fee.

The prosecutor said: The reality therefore, the prosecution say, is that Harder and Ryjenko worked together, taking advantage of Ryjenkos apparent influence over the granting of loans that the applicants were eager and anxious to obtain.

Jurors heard Sandersons role was to disguise the true nature of the arrangement between Harder and Ryjenko.

Without her, if you think about it, any payments would have gone directly from Harder to Ryjenko, and that would have been a pretty obvious kickback payment you may think, said Mr Little.

The corrupt nature of the arrangement between the defendants and Harder stems from the fact that Ryjenko accepted payments as a bribe or inducement to show favour.

He and Harder were able to exploit the push at the EBDR to lend money to companies in Eastern Europe.

Ryjenko denied but was convicted of conspiring to make or accept corrupt payments and one count of dealing in criminal property.

Sanderson, of the same address, denied the charges but wasnt fit to stand trial because of mental illness.

Jurors found that she had committed the acts alleged on the indictment.
Theresa May (pictured leaving No 10 today) has been scrambling to strike a deal with the DUP to keep her in power

The DUP is demanding 2billion as its price for propping up Theresa May's minority Tory government, it was claimed today.

The Northern Irish party, founded by Ian Paisley, is said to have demanded 1billion for the NHS and another 1billion on infrastructure in the province.

No 10 sources did not deny the reports today, which emerged hours after the DUP called an effective halt to talks with the Tories.

It has left Theresa May in the embarrassing situation of presenting the first minority government Queen's Speech in decades.

Labour accused Mrs May of presiding over an 'unprecedented shambles' today and questioned her ability to cling to power.

A deal with between the Tories and the DUP is still expected before votes on the Queen's Speech next week and Mrs May's slimmed down agenda will still be voted through.

But sources within the Northern Irish party last night warned a deal was 'certainly not imminent'.

The senior source said the talks 'haven't proceeded in a way that the DUP would have expected' and cautioned that the party 'can't be taken for granted'.

They also urged the Government to give 'greater focus' to the negotiations. The comments are embarrassing for Mrs May on the eve of the Queen's Speech.

Mr McDonnell said: 'We are now in a situation where I dont think they have got the right to govern. However, they are now bringing forward their programme.

'Well seek to amend it. I think there is such disarray now, in the interest of the country, they should stand down and give Labour the opportunity of forming a minority government.

'They have actually junked the manifesto on which they fought the election, so they have now got no manifesto.'

Mrs May needs the support of the ten DUP MPs to keep her in power. But no vote on the Queen's Speech will take place until next Thursday, so the lack of an agreement is not terminal.

Tory MPs believed the comments are an attempt to try to secure further concessions by a party known for tough negotiating.

One said the DUP was 'flexing its muscles' in an attempt to show its voters who was in control. And sources familiar with the talks suggested a deal could be completed as early as tomorrow.

And a Conservative source said talks were 'ongoing' as they attempt to secure a 'confidence and supply' arrangement.

The DUP want a series of policy concessions which are likely to come at a high cost to the Exchequer. Its manifesto includes a pledge to reduce corporation tax to 12.5 per cent to match the rate in the Irish Republic.

DUP leader Arlene Foster smiled as she arrived for talks at Downing Street with her deputy Nigel Dodds last Tuesday, and she is thought to be driving a hard bargain

There is a heavy police presence around Westminster today after a series of terrorist attacks over recent months, and with protests expected

Security services have been carrying out detailed checks to try to ensure the ceremonial event is not disrupted

It also wants to scrap Air Passenger Duty, keep winter fuel payments to pensioners and the state pension 'triple lock'. The deal is also likely to involve assurances on the level of defence spending in the UK.

Mrs May was forced to seek support from other parties after the snap election left her nine MPs short of an overall majority in the House of Commons.

Speaking outside Downing Street the day after the poll, the PM said that she would 'continue to work with our friends and allies in the Democratic Unionist Party' to ensure she was able to command a majority to get her legislation through.

Ministers are seeking a 'confidence and supply' arrangement, under which the smaller party would remain outside Government but would ensure its survival by supporting it on financial measures and no-confidence votes.

After initial signs of progress, the Conservatives were forced to row back on an announcement that agreement had been reached, and talks have now dragged on for 11 days without reaching a conclusion.

However, the DUP are also strongly opposed to Jeremy Corbyn because of his links to the IRA. After the 2010 election the DUP could have tried to keep Gordon Brown in power, but cannot now play both sides off against each other.

Mrs May has rejected claims a deal with the DUP would undermine the Government's ability to act as an honest broker in talks on the restoration of devolved institutions and power-sharing in Northern Ireland.

Sinn Fein has accused Mrs May of breaching the Good Friday Agreement, but hinted that they would tolerate a deal with the DUP if it brought more funding for Northern ireland

The Treasury is believed to be taking its time to scrutinise the details - which include significant spending on Northern Ireland.

There are also complaints about the way No10 is conducting the talks, after a string of core aides - including Mrs May's chiefs of staff Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy left over the election.

WHAT IS THE DUP DEMANDING? The DUP's manifesto called for a corporation tax rate of 12.5 percent - the same level as in the Republic of Ireland - or lower. It also wants air passenger duty abolished for Belfast Airport, again bringing it into line with Ireland. Although the party supported Brexit, it is determined there must not be a hard border with the Republic. The DUP has also made clear it does not believe leaving the EU should hurt the economy - potentially opening the door to customs union membership. There could also be pressure for significant spending commitments on infrastructure. That could range from bus lanes to schools and hospitals. Advertisement

Downing Street has also been scrambling to deal with crises including the Grenfell Tower blaze and the Finsbury mosque terror attack.

DUP sources suggested the talks had not 'proceeded in the way expected' and warned that its support 'can't be taken for granted'.

Party is urging the government to put 'greater focus' on the negotiations.

In the days following the bombshell result on June 8, Downing Street declared that the outline of an agreement had been done.

However, they were quickly contradicted by the Northern Ireland party's leader Arlene Foster.

Mrs May met Mrs Foster in No10 on Tuesday and both parties insist good progress has been made, but no conclusion has been reached.

Some Tories - including ex-PM John Major - have been alarmed that an arrangement with Ian Paisley's former party could damage the UK government's claim to be impartial in the Northern Ireland talks.

There are also concerns that the DUP's stance on issues like gay rights could be toxic for the Conservative brand.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Amber Rudd were among the ministers who gathered for a Cabinet meeting in Downing Street today

Michael Gove has been brought back as Environment Secretary as Mrs May struggles to get her government back on track in the wake of the election debacle

The Prime Minister is bidding to shore up her troubled government with a two-year legislative programme focused on making a success of Brexit.

A series of manifesto pledges blamed for costing the Tories a majority are set to be dumped, including plans to scrap the winter fuel allowance and the pension triple lock, a vote to repeal the foxhunting ban and the scrapping of free school dinners for infants.

But Mrs May is embarrassingly having to put forward the plans as a minority administration due to the election result and the failure to conclude the DUP deal/

Mrs May is hoping to press ahead with some of her domestic agenda, including measures to curb rip-off energy bills, tackle extremism, toughen up on domestic violence and put an end to bogus whiplash claims that could save the average motorist 35 a year.

The Government is also set to pledge action to tackle the crisis in social care, but will not give details - and crucially there will be no revival of the controversial manifesto proposals which critics dubbed the dementia tax.

The pomp and ceremony of the Queens Speech has been toned down, partly due to the snap election meaning it has been arranged at late notice. The Queen will not be in her full robes and she will arrive in a car rather than by coach.

The main focus of the plans today will be pushing through Brexit.

As well as the Great Repeal Bill, which will copy EU regulations into law before we leave to make life easier for business, the package will also include new laws on immigration, trade, farming and fishing.

Mrs May last night said the election gave a clear mandate for Brexit, with well over 80 per cent of the electorate voting for either Labour or the Tories, which both pledged to respect the referendum result.

She said her first priority would be to get Brexit right, adding: That means getting a deal which delivers the result of last years referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support.

While this will be a Government that consults and listens, we are clear that we are going to see Brexit through, working with Parliament, business, the devolved administrations and others to ensure a smooth and orderly withdrawal.
A charity worker and her friend tortured a frail pensioner before stabbing him in the neck and trying to suffocate him in a drug-fuelled four-hour attack after breaking into his home.

Amy Squires, 27, and 28-year old Megan Stafford broke into Edward Alcock's home at 4am following an all-day lager and crack cocaine binge.

The depraved pair left the 78-year-old fighting for his life as they tortured him for information about where he kept his valuables.

During the savage attack, which lasted four hours, the pair stabbed the pensioner in the neck - leaving blood pouring from his neck - and then tried to suffocate him with a plastic bag.

Amy Squires (left), 27, and 28-year old Megan Stafford (right) broke into Edward Alcock's home following an all-day lager and crack cocaine binge before beating him and stabbing him

Despite insisting he had no money, Stafford squeezed his nostrils so he couldn't breathe and told him: 'Die you b*****, die.'

The pair then ripped out the phone lines at the flat so the victim could not ring for help.

Later, as Mr Alcock lay critically injured on the floor, mother-of-two Squires wrongly assumed the pensioner was dead and said: 'We're going down for a long time anyway.'

Then, as Stafford suggested torching the flat to destroy evidence, Squires battered Mr Alcock over the head with an ornamental figurine adding: 'I'm just making sure this time.'

Police were called after Mr Alcock miraculously regained consciousness and found his attackers asleep on his sofa.

He flagged down a passing couple outside his property, who raised the alarm.

When arrested Squires told an officer: 'I stabbed him, I did it, I admit it'. Stafford - who had the victim's World War One commemorative watch in her possession- claimed: 'He was an old pervert who tried to snog me.'

Squires (pictured) battered Mr Alcock over the head with an ornamental figurine adding: 'I'm just making sure this time'

Today, at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester, Squires and Stafford, both of Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, sobbed in the dock as they were jailed for 13-and-a-half years after admitting attempted murder and burglary.

Jailing then, Judge Maurice Greene told the two women it was a 'vicious and sustained attack'.

'You were both fuelled by drink and drugs and it is quite clear that you were not in control of your actions on this particular night,' he said.

'He was literally black and blue and bruised all over and you destroyed many of his belongings. He was an independent man but is now dependant on family to take him out.'

Following the sentences, Mr Alcock said in a statement that he had since moved out of his flat and has to live in a residential home because he was too frightened to return.

He was left severely injured and can now only walk with the help of crutches.

'As a result of the attack I spent one week in hospital and I thought I was going to die,' he said. 'I never came home because I didn't want to go back to that place.

'I spent two months in a residential home and the staff were very nice but I still felt nervous. I had swelling and bruising on my head.

'I used to go out seven days a week, I would go out on my scooter and I was independent. I recently tried to leave my flat but I got two steps and began shaking.

'I wake up at 3am or 4am in cold sweats and I can still see the bag on my head. I am a very private person and I don't want any of the belongings in the flat and it all feels dirty.'

The depraved pair (Squires, left, Stafford, right) left the 78-year-old fighting for life as they tortured him for information about where he kept his valuables

The court heard how the shocking attack took place in October last year when Stafford and Squires broke into his ground floor flat through a kitchen window.

The old man was woken up by the noise and found the pair drinking alcohol he kept in a cupboard.

Mr Alcock then demanded the pair leave and swung one of his crutches at them.

But the two women disarmed him, forced him the ground and began kicking him in the head neck and face.

The pair then demanded money from their victim and started kicking him harder when he told them that he had none.

quires then stabbed him in the neck with a knife from his kitchen narrowly missing an artery, while Stafford egged her on saying 'Well do it then, do it'.

Prosecutor Miss Charlotte Crangle told the court: 'His wallet was taken from his pocket which had 145 in cash in it.

'Both defendants were ransacking the living room and Stafford continued demanding money and cards from Mr Alcock.

'Squires continued to ransack the property while Stafford demanded money from Mr Alcock, and when he said that he had none she said she was going to 'do him in' until he was dead.

'She then got a black bin bag from the kitchen and put it over his head, and began pinching his nose pulling the bag over his head. He was struggling to breathe and she pulled the bag tighter and tighter and he became frightened for his life.'

She told the court that Mr Alcock 'pleaded' with them to call an ambulance.

'He discovered that the phone lines had been ripped out so that he couldn't call for help,' Miss Crangle said.

'The black bag was then removed from his head and Stafford returned with a green bag saying she would "make a good job this time".

'The green bag was again removed from his head, and he could see Squires standing near the doorway where he kept figurines.

'Squires grabbed one of the figurines and hit Mr Alcock over the head with it, saying she was "making sure this time" and he passed out from this injury.'

In mitigation Squires's counsel Steven Nikolich claimed his client had been sexually assaulted as a child and added: 'This was not a planned assault. it was spontaneous.

'When she doesn't drink she is a very affable young woman. Before this offence she was working at a charity foundation.'

Defending Stafford, Paul McDonald said: 'She is shocked and disgusted by what she was capable of doing when she was affected by drink and drugs. She will spend years of her life repenting the madness that she did that night.'

After the case, Det Ch Insp Richard Ennis, from Greater Manchester Police said: 'How anyone could carry out such a horrific attack on a defenceless elderly man is incomprehensible - it's utterly sickening.

'They brutally tortured him despite him screaming and pleading for them to stop. They had every intention of killing him and even took enjoyment out of telling him they would so. He truly believed he would die there lying on the floor. What Squires and Stafford did was abhorrent.'
A clip has been released showing the moment a brave sheriff's deputy had a close encounter with a large black bear.

Deputy Remington was responding to a call in the Ocklawaha area of central Florida when he came across the curious animal.

The officer stands outside of his car as he films the furry yet formidable creature.

'Hey buddy!' says the excited deputy as the animal slowly walks towards him.

However, when the curious bear got a little too close for comfort the officer retreated to the safety of his vehicle.

A sheriff's spokesman said: 'Deputy Remington met this very curious guy after he responded to a call in the Ocklawaha area.'

The clip has been viewed more than 150,000 times on Facebook.

The curious bear emerges from the Florida forest and walks towards the deputy

Commenting on the video, Robert Goldberg said: 'What a cool deputy, and how nice to see people not getting hysterical!

'Sorry to say we've had some tragic outcomes here in Orlando when bears got curious about humans.'

Rachel Johnston added: 'Love this! Our wildlife is precious. I wish more people could observe without endangering, enjoy without harming.'

There are around 4,000 black bears in Florida and adult males usually weigh between 250 to 350 lbs.
The wife of a 34-year-old man who had a temperature of 109F when he died at a Las Vegas electronic musical festival has demanded answers about why there weren't more water stations at the venue.

Michael Morse from California was attending the Electric Daisy Carnival when he collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The event, which was being held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, saw temperatures of up to 106F during the day.

Michael Morse from California, pictured, died in the early hours of Saturday morning while attending the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas last weekend

The three-day music event was held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend

Doors open at the event at 7pm and the party continues all night until 5.30 in the morning

Doors opened to the event on Friday night at 7pm with the show ending each day a 5.30am.

Clark County Corner John Fudenberg said the cause of Morse's death has not yet been determined.

Morse's wife, Jennifer Marshall told the Las Vegas Review Journal: 'He was complaining about how hot it was.'

Marshall said her husband complained about the difficulty in getting water at the event.

He continued: 'People need to be aware so they can be safer. One death is one too many.'

Las Vegas police warned festival goers about the incredibly high temperatures at last weekend

The couple, who were married for seven years, used to go to EDC when it was held in Los Angeles.

Marshall said it was unlikely her husband had been using illegal club drugs as he was at the event with a number of friend to 'babysit' them.

Before the event, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department warned festival goers about the incredibly high temperatures last weekend.

Marshall complained about the lack of water stations at the event and the event.

She added: 'They keep saying there were no major issues, but a man dying is a major issue.'

Insomniac, who organize EDC told MailOnline: 'The unexpected passing of a loved one is tragic, and while the exact cause of this tragedy is still unknown, we do know that family and friends are grieving. It is with great sadness that we send our thoughts and condolences to the loved ones of the man who passed away after the festival had ended.

'Our health and safety plan is created over several months with local agencies. Our roaming medical personnel are available twenty-four hours a day, free of charge, with the best emergency room doctors, nurses, EMTs and paramedics in the country. A full staff of security and police are also available to all attendees. We encourage everyone to approach our caring staff and ask for help if needed.'
Feminist Clementine Ford has said the word c*** live on air while talking about columnist Miranda Devine during a male privilege debate.

Appearing on ABC's Hack on Tuesday night, Ms Ford argued male privilege was a legitimate issue women were forced to navigate.

'(I am an) angry feminist and notorious boner killer who fights for women's rights,' she said.

Scroll down for video

Feminist Clementine Ford has said the word c*** live on air while talking about columnist Miranda Devine during a male privilege debate

Speaking about Miranda Devine, a conservative columnist, Ms Ford dropped the profanity.

'I called her a c***,' she said.

The comment was in response to fellow guest Daisy Cousens, who accused Ms Ford of saying 'some rather nasty things' to people online.

'You've called Miranda Devine profanities that I won't say on this program,' Ms Cousens said.

Caught off guard by Ms Ford's remark, program host Tom Tilley said 'Whoa there it is, that just went to air'.

Clementine Ford was one of six guests to appear on Hack on Tuesday to debate the legitimacy of male privilege.

Speaking about Miranda Devine, a conservative columnist, Ms Ford dropped the profanity

'I called her a c***,' Clementine Ford said when speaking about conservative columnist Miranda Devine (pictured)

Transgender activist Nevo, who identified as 'a dude with a vagina', argued male privilege was very real.

'I have lived my life presenting in society as a woman and a man and I can tell you tangible evidence of male privilege that is unarguable,' he said.

'I don't get spoken over as much anymore, I don't get interrupted, I'm really funny now too  people laugh at my jokes so much more, they're the same jokes.

'I get rewarded for being a feminist because people are blown away by the fact that I care about women.

'Whereas when I was a woman I was called bossy, I was called emotional and I was told that I was on my period if I was saying anything passionate or heartfelt.'

Fighting for men's rights was Daisy Cousens (centre), who said men were backed into a corner

'I think it's just derailing, I think the fact we're debating whether male privilege exists is derailing,' transgender activist Nevo (pictured) said

Nevo said he found it hard to believe male privilege could be downplayed.

'I think it's just derailing, I think the fact we're debating whether male privilege exists is derailing,' he said.

'I think it's about coming out of your comfort zone and acknowledging privilege.'

Fellow guest Ella said male privilege was rife, especially in the workplace.

'I had a manager tell me that with legs like mine and shorts that length, I was going to make him a lot of money,' she said.

'It might not seem like enough grounds for me to be out attacking men for their privilege but these little things that make my existence feel uncomfortable, little things that I'm supposed to accept I'm not ok with that.'

Fellow guest Ella (pictured) said male privilege was rife, especially in the workplace

Clementine Ford was one of six guests to appear on Hack on Tuesday to debate the legitimacy of male privilege

Other guests on the show refused to accept male privilege existed.

A men's rights activist who went by the moniker Adrian, said men were victimised by the feminist movement.

'Sure there are areas where men are doing better than women,' he said.

'(But) I think feminism spends too much time targeting us.'

Adrian said he discovered his passion for men's rights when he was a child.

'When I was a young boy most of my friends were girls, and eventually all got boyfriends,' he said.

'It got to the point where they were joking with each other, and it was apparently hilarious to kick them in the nuts  I didn't understand.'

Adrian said it inspired him to better understand the male-female dynamic.

Also fighting for men's rights was Daisy Cousens, who said she felt men were backed into a corner.

Also fighting for men's rights was Daisy Cousens (centre), who said she felt men were backed into a corner

Lauren said she earned more than double as a topless waitress than what presumably topless male waiters earned

Daisy said men were discriminated against when it came to female perpetrated violence.

'I don't think female violence against men is given enough attention,' she said.

Karen Straughan, who is a member of the Honey Badgers - a group who campaign against aspects of feminism - said 'society has always had a vested interest in ignoring men's pain'.

'Australia is a hotbed for men's issues right now because feminism has gone completely batty,' she said.
Andrea Constand is breaking her silence for the first time since Bill Cosby was able to walk free on $1million bail after a mistrial was declared in the comedian's sexual assault case.

'Thank you for the outpouring of love & kindness & support. I am eternally grateful for the messages I have received in recent days,' wrote the 44-year-old massage therapist on Twitter.

It was a rare statement from Constand, who has not given an interview about the case in over a decade and does her best to avoid the spotlight despite the high-profile nature of case.

Meanwhile, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele has announced that he hopes to have Cosby - who will turn 80 next month - back in the courtroom for another trial no later than October.

Steele also revealed that Constand would once again take the stand, more than 13 years after she first alleged that Cosby raped and drugged her at his Pennsylvania home.

And according to Cosby's defense team, he may be taking the stand next time.

Scroll down for the video

Sharing her thoughts: Andrea Constand (above on Saturday) opened up for the first time since Bill Cosby's sexual assault case ended in a mistrial

Grateful: The 44-year-old massage therapist posted a message on Twitter (above) thanking people for 'the outpouring of love & kindness & support'

Back to work: Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele (above on Saturday) has announced that he plans to have Cosby back in court no later than October for a retrial

'We have the better posture if they retry it. We have gotten to see the best of their evidence. They didnt hold back,' Angela Agrusa told the Los Angeles Times.

And to switch things up she said that Cosby himself may take the stand next time around.

'You always have to maintain its a possibility, particularly when you have a client who is as charismatic as Mr. Cosby.'

Agrusa later added that the defense did not feel the need to put Cosby on the stand during this past trial because the prosecution's case did not seem strong enough to warrant that move.

On Saturday, Constand returned some of that love and kindness she got during the trial to a few of her biggest supporters.

The plaintiff in the case masked her disappointment as she hugged the other Cosby accusers at the Montgomery County Courthouse, shortly after Judge Steven O'Neill granted the defense's request for a mistrial on account of a deadlocked jury.

It was the seventh time during the two-week trial that the defense had motioned for a mistrial in the case.

Constand remained upbeat despite the outcome, and could be seen smiling as she exited court with her mother.

Out on bail: Steele also stated that Constand will once again take the stand, 13 years after she first accused Cosby of drugging and raping her at his Pennsylvania home (Cosby above on Saturday)

Maybe speaking out: Cosby's lawyer, Angela Agrusa, said that Cosby might take the stand in his defense during the next trial (Cosby above with spokesperson Andrew Wyatt on Saturday)

Cosby was just as happy as he walked out of the courthouse with spokesperson Andrew Wyatt, who raised a single fist in the air and declared that the comedian's 'power' was back.

He also quoted Huey P. Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panrthers, by stating: 'Power is the ability to define phenomena, and make it act in a desired manner.'

Then, to close it out, he attacked those who represented the women accusing Cosby.

'The jurors, they used their power to speak, and Mr. Cosby's power is back,' said Wyatt.

'So the legacy didn't go anywhere, it has been restored. And for all those attorneys who conspired like Gloria Allred, tell them to go back to law school and take another class.'

Camille Cosby, the comedian's seldom-heard-from wife, also jumped into the fray with a statement of her own, which was read outside the courthouse and later posted on her husband's Twitter account.

In it , she called District Attorney Steele 'heinously and exploitevly ambitious,' Judge O'Neill 'overtly arrogant and collaborating with the district attorney,' the media as 'blatantly vicious entities that continually disseminated intentional omissions of truths for the primary purpose of greedily selling sensationalism at the expense of a human life.'

She did not attack the accusers, but did label their legal counsel as 'totally unethical.'

Supporting the accusers: A woman holds a sign with the names of all the women who accused Cosby on the steps of the Montgomery County Courthouse (above)

Backing Bill: A barefoot woman holds a file folder with 'We Love Bill Cosby' written in black marker outside the courthouse on Friday (above)

Constand's lawyer also gave a statement after the decision on Saturday that was filled with far more gratitude than the ones delivered by Cosby's team despite the outcome of the case.

'We are confident that these proceedings have given a voice to the many victims who felt powerless and silenced,' said Dolores Troiani.

'We commend those prosecutors who raised awareness that one of the hallmarks of drug-related sexual assaults is the effect the drug has on the victims memory and ability to recall and were nonetheless willing to present this evidence to the jury.'
A transgender couple are seeking 'humanitarian asylum' in Iceland after alleging threats from Australian police drove them to flee the country.

Stephanie McCarthy and her partner Ashley Ihasz claim they fell victim to Sydney's 'homophobic street life' in a Go Fund Me page to cover the costs of their relocation.

Ms McCarthy, who was viciously bashed at a trendy Newtown hotel in 2015, alleges the couple were 'threatened' by NSW Police in the wake of the attack.

Sydney transgender woman Stephanie McCarthy claims Sydney's 'homophobic street life' has driven her to flee the country

Ms McCarthy's face was left bloodied and bruised after a viciously attack at a Newtown hotel in 2015

'Escalation of threats towards her and myself as her partner have forced us to flee from Australia in fear of our lives,' the now-inactive Go Fund Me page reads.

'Stephanie has been continually harassed and threatened by the NSW Police,'

'We have now formally applied for asylum in Iceland and, with it, the chance to live free of violence, intimidation, the threat of death and various other forms of abuse.'

They claimed they had sacrificed their pets, families, friends, and life-savings to make the move, but their finances were running dry.

'In two weeks' time our current accommodation finishes and with our finances dwindling we risk homelessness.'

The page also showed a photograph of a letter from the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration that appears to confirm their case was under consideration.

Ms McCarthy alleges the couple were 'threatened' by NSW Police in the wake of the attack

A photograph of a letter from the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration that appears to confirm their case was under consideration

'You are expected to attend a first interview with Icelandic Directorate of Immigration officials,' the letter reads.

A NSW Police spokesperson vehemently denied the allegations to Daily Mail Australia, vowing they build relationships with the LGBTIQ community.

'The NSW Police has zero-tolerance for violence against any member of the LGBTIQ community and rejects any claim to the contrary.'

The Daily Telegraph is reporting the couple are presently living in Keflavik, a small town in Iceland's in Reykjanes region.

If the couple are approved, they will be entitled to a monthly income and accommodation, according to the newspaper.
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the previous administration failed Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who died yesterday after he was released from North Korea.

Warmbier was held prisoner for 17 months in North Korea before he was returned to the United States in a vegetative state on June 13.

Trump indicated in remarks on Tuesday that he believes his predecessor, Barack Obama, could have done more to prevent the tragedy.

'It's a disgrace what happened to Otto. It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto. It should never, ever be allowed to happen,' Trump told reporters during an Oval Office photo op. 'He should have been brought home that same day. The results would have been a lot different.'

President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that the previous administration failed Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old student who died yesterday after he was released from North Korea

The boy's father says Barack Obama's government told the family to keep a 'low profile' while it worked for his release. It gave up on that strategy after the government changed hands and began doing media appearances.

Fred Warmbier, Otto's father, credits a career foreign service officer in the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Joeseph Yun, and the Trump administration for the release of his son.

'It is my understanding that Ambassador Yun and his team, at the direction of the president aggressively pursued resolution of the situation,' he said at a June 15 news conference.

Asked about Obama's efforts to bring back his son, and whether the former president could have done more, Warmbier said 'the results speak for themselves.'

Trump said Tuesday that he had spoken with the Warmbier family and they are 'incredible' people.

'But he should have been brought home a long time ago,' the president added in an apparent swipe at Obama's government.

Otto Warmbier (pictured in custody in Pyongyang last January) died Monday just days after being brought back to the United States in a coma from North Korea

John Kirby, the State Department spokesman at the end of Obama's second term, told CNN earlier on Tuesday that the Democrats' administration worked 'very, very hard' to get Warmbier back.

'I understand the frustration that they feel,' said Kirby, a retired rear admiral. 'I cant possibly imagine the grief theyre going through right now.'

Responding to criticisms of the Obama administration's efforts, he said, 'I can assure that the State Department at the very highest levels worked this very, very hard.'

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer refused to take a whack at Obama in his briefing later in the day as he was asked about Trump's comments criticizing the previous president.

Spicer cautiously claimed that 'there might have been additional medical resources that could have been provided' if Warmbier had been returned to US custody sooner.

'He's just obviously saddened by this entire situation, and just would have hoped that it could have been resolved earlier,' the Trump spokesman said.

Donald Trump has offered his 'deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier following the 22-year-old's death shortly after he was released from North Korea

The White House released this statement, which was then tweeted by Trump, on Monday evening

Trump took aim at Kim Jong Un on Monday after offering his 'deepest condolences' to the Warmbier family the death of their son.

'A lot of bad things happened. But at least we got him home to be with his parents, where they were so happy to see him, even though he was in very tough condition,' Trump said at the top of a tech event.

Trump said Un's government is a 'brutal regime' as he promised 'well be able to handle it.'

Warmbier was returned in a vegetative state to his family in Cincinnati, Ohio, after 17 months in North Korea, where he was arrested as a student for the alleged theft of a propaganda poster in January 2016.

'Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing,' a statement from the White House on Monday afternoon read.

'There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him.'

The White House statement was released hours after the 22-year-old's family confirmed his death.

Warmbier was unable to communicate when he returned home, having suffered serious brain loss during his time behind bars.

'Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency,' Trump's statement said Monday.

'The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.'

In this video, taken days before he was arrested on January 2, 2016, the student is seen throwing snowballs with the group he was traveling with

The Warmbiers entirely blamed Otto's death on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his regime.

'The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today,' Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

Pyongyang said the 22-year-old was released on 'humanitarian grounds', and refused to say his treatment during his imprisonment was a factor in his shockingly deteriorated state.

Officials instead blamed his drastic state on a bout of food poisoning.

Otto's father Fred said last week that his son had been 'brutalised' in North Korea as he spoke at a press conference in Cincinnati (pictured)

WARMBIER FAMILY STATEMENT It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20pm. It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost - future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched - Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two - that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family. We would like to thank the wonderful professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who did everything they could for Otto. Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today. When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that. We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too. Advertisement

The family statement continued: 'He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance on his face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

'We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers.

'We are at peace and at home too.'

Otto was a student at the University of Virginia when he traveled in a group to Pyongyang.

As he attempted to leave the country to return home on January 2, he was arrested and detained at the airport.

North Korean authorities accused him of committing a hostile act against the country by stealing a propaganda poster from the hotel he was staying in.

He was kept there after giving a tearful press conference and was not seen again until last week when he was carried off a private medical plane upon his return to the US.
England manager Gareth Southgate today named his squad for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Captain Harry Kane will lead the team in the Gulf this winter with less than two weeks until the team kicks off its first match. And an army of WAGs will be accompanying them to Qatar, although they will reportedly be staying on a 1billion cruise liner off the coast with their husbands not allowed on board. The team, which includes wonderkids Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden and Bukayo Saka, are set to form their own strict Covid bubble at the Souq Al Wakra hotel in Doha. Harry Kane tweeted: 'So proud to be captaining my country at a World Cup for the second time. I know this group of lads will give absolutely everything to go all the way. Let's go!' James Maddison and Callum Wilson are the surprises in England's World Cup squad after Gareth Southgate handed the in-form pair their first international call-ups in three years. With 11 days to go until the Three Lions kick-off their Group B campaign against Iran, the former defender has confirmed the 26-man group that will be travelling to the Gulf next week. Southgate has largely stuck with the tried and tested, with the most eye-catching selections being Leicester attacking midfielder Maddison and Newcastle striker Wilson. Maddison's only England cap came as a substitute against Montenegro in November 2019 - the last squad four-cap Wilson was involved in. Asked if his squad contained everything necessary to win a World Cup, Southgate told a press conference today: 'We've wanted to make sure the balance of the squad is right. I think the squad is more important than ever. With five substitutes you can have almost half the team changed during the game so you want different options for different moments of matches and stages at the tournament as well.
The developers who fixed controversial cladding to Grenfell Tower before the building was ravaged by fire are in line for another 65million housing contract just five miles away.

Rydon Group were the company in charge of a 8.7million project to add the cladding to Grenfell Tower, which experts suspect helped a fire which killed at least 79 people spread through the building.

It emerged today that the firm are set to be handed a huge project to redevelop another housing estate in nearby Ealing.

Contractors Rydon Group were paid to fit cladding to the outside to Grenfell Tower last year

Experts have said the cladding, or an air gap behind it, may have helped the fire spread

Fire investigators inspect the building today as the investigation into the blaze continues

Despite the criticisms of the potential impact of the work done to Grenfell before the fire, Rydon remains the preferred development partner, Construction News reported.

The council see the firm's bid for the work as 'economically advantageous' and offering 'excellent construction delivery and programming', the industry magazine stated.

Minutes from the council meeting in April approve 'the appointment of Rydon Construction Limited as the Council's preferred development partner for the re-development of the High Lane Estate, subject to the satisfactory conclusion of legal agreements'.

Rydon said its work on Grenfell Tower had 'met all required building regulations - as well as fire regulations and health and safety standards'.

Ealing Council insisted it has not signed a contract with Rydon yet, but that any potential work done would in future would meet fire safety standards.

It is understood the investigation into the fire at Grenfell Tower will not have an impact on Ealing's decision.

Rydon are in line for a 65million contract to redevelop this estate in Hanwell, west London

Rydon's CEO Robert Bond has insisted the firm's work on Grenfell Tower met building regulations and fire standards

It also emerged today that Rydon is contracted to carry out fire safety checks on more than 700 NHS buildings across the North West of England.

Lancashire Care Foundation Trust has confirmed that Rydon Maintenance - a division of the Rydon group - currently provides facilities management for the trust, including estates maintenance, a help-desk and pest control service.

The company won the seven-year contract in 2010 and provide one full-time and four part-time fire advisers who manage the 'fire safety aspects' of the 'whole Lancashire Care Foundation Trust portfolio' of around 780 buildings.

In the wake of the fire last week, Rydon Group's CEO Robert Bond said: 'We have been working with local authorities for nearly forty years and safety and quality are integral to everything we do at Rydon.

'I will do all I can to assist in this investigation in order to establish what caused this tragedy. In light of the Public Inquiry, we cannot make any further comment at this time.'

A public inquiry is being held into the blaze at Grenfell Tower, which spread through the building in around half an hour. Experts say the fire may have been aided by cladding

A spokesperson for Ealing Council told MailOnline: 'The High Lane estate scheme is in the very early stage. All designs will be fully consulted on with residents and partners and will meet all fire safety standards.

'The current outdated housing blocks will be replaced by new mixed-tenure blocks that meet all modern fire safety standards.

'There can be no comparison made with the construction methods or materials at Grenfell Tower.'
Harrowing footage shows the moment a starving baby boy was saved from a bombed out school in Mosul, Iraq, after surviving for four days by himself.

It shows Iraqi soldiers washing the dirt off the one-year-old whose mother is believed to have been killed in the ongoing battle between ISIS and government troops.

The crying and emaciated child was discovered as the Iraqi army moved in on the densely populated Old City, ISIS's last stronghold in Mosul.

Harrowing footage shows the moment a starving baby boy was saved from a bombed out school in Mosul, Iraq

A soldier claims the boy had not eaten for days and that his mother and grandfather, among others, were killed in the school (pictured) in the Bab Sinjar neighbourhood

A soldier is heard explaining the boy had not eaten for days and that his mother and grandfather, among others, were killed in the school in the Bab Sinjar neighbourhood.

Iraqi forces launched an assault to reclaim the Old City, the only district under ISIS control in Mosul, on Sunday.

The Iraqi army's 9th armored division has already seized the northern al-Shifaa district, which includes the city's main hospitals, during its advance, a military statement said.

The fall of Shifaa means the Old City in the eastern half of Mosul is now surrounded by US-backed government forces, deployed north, west, south and east, across the river.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month old US-backed offensive to capture Mosul, ISIS's de facto capital in Iraq and the largest city the group came to control in the country.

A mine explosion on Monday at the Old City frontline killed two journalists, Stephane Villeneuve from France and Bakhtiar Haddad from Iraq, and wounded two other French reporters, according to foreign ministry and diplomatic sources in Paris.

The harrowing video shows Iraqi soldiers washing the dirt off the one-year-old whose mother is believed to have been killed in the ongoing battle between ISIS and government troops

Iraqi forces launched an assault to reclaim the Old City, the only district under ISIS control in Mosul, on Sunday

The Iraqi army's 9th armored division has already seized the northern al-Shifaa district, which includes the city's main hospitals, during its advance

Aid organisations are expressing alarm at the situation of more than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water and medicine and no electricity.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through ISIS lines were dying in 'high numbers'.

The militants are moving stealthily in the Old City's maze of alleyways and narrow streets, through holes dug between houses, fighting back the advancing troops with sniper and mortar fire, booby traps and suicide bombers.

They have also covered many streets with cloths to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.

The Iraqi army estimates the number of ISIS fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on October 17.

Meanwhile a mass food poisoning at a camp for displaced Iraqi civilians outside Mosul has left hundreds of people requiring urgent treatment, the UN and Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

Aid organisations are expressing alarm at the situation of more than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, trapped in Mosul

ISIS militants are moving stealthily in the Old City's maze of alleyways and narrow streets, through holes dug between houses, to avoid Iraqi soldiers

Health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr had told AFP that there were 752 cases of food poisoning and two deaths, a woman and child, at the Hasansham camp.

And UN migration agency spokesman Joel Millman had confirmed those details to reporters in Geneva, while adding that 312 people had been hospitalised.

But later in the day, UN refugee agency the UNHCR said there had not been any deaths.
Reality star Corinne Olympios is not dropping her claims she was sexually assaulted on the set of Bachelor in Paradise despite a Warner Bros announcement on Monday that there was 'no evidence' of any such offence.

Shortly after the studio shared its conclusion that - contrary to the fears of crew members - Corinne was not sexually assaulted by co-star DeMario Jackson, the blonde reality star stepped out in Los Angeles where she has been keeping a low profile since the scandal broke last week and filming of the dating show was halted.

She was accompanied by a male companion but her off-camera boyfriend, Jordan Gielchinsky, was nowhere to be seen.

Almost simultaneously, Corinne's lawyer issued a defiant statement which flew in the face of the Warner Bros line and revealed her plans to carry on pursuing the issue.

'It comes as no surprise that Warner Bros, as a result of its own internal investigation, would state that no wrong doing had occurred. Our own investigation will continue based on multiple new witnesses coming forward revealing what they saw and heard,' attorney Marty Singer said.

The row is over a drunken incident in a swimming pool involving Corinne and her co-star DeMario Jackson on June 4, the first day of filming.

After hours of drinking and mingling with their new cast-mates (three of whom Corinne is said to have been romantic with before her encounter with DeMario), he performed oral sex on her. She claims she was too drunk to have given consent for him to do so and says she doesn't remember it. He insists he did nothing wrong and had his claims backed up by Warner Bros on Monday.

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Corinne OIympios emerged in Los Angeles on Monday as it was revealed she plans to pursue her own investigation into the alleged sexual assault she suffered on the set of Bachelor in Paradise despite Warner Bros' claims that nothing untoward ever happened

Afterwards, a member of the production filed a formal complaint about the incident and it was shut down. The cast mates were told to pack their bags and return to the US as bosses looked into it.

In his statement on Monday, Singer reiterated the fact that it was someone else - and not Corinne - who first aired concerns about what had happened.

'It needs to be made crystal clear that production of Bachelor in Paradise was shut down because of multiple complaints received from producers and crew members on the set. It was not shut down due to any complaint filed by Corinne against anyone,' he said.

What exactly happened is heavily disputed.

Some sources told DailyMail.com last week that Corinne was the instigator of the oral sex and presented her genitals to him by sticking them in front of his face.

Another told how she frolicked with three other men, straddling them and kissing them after interrupting their conversations with other women, before making her move on DeMario.

Walking in the shadow of her companion, Corinne maintained a solemn expression as she was photographed

Corinne's lawyer (not pictured) said it was 'no surprise' Warner Bros ruled that she had not been the victim of any sexual assault or molestation

The 24-year-old reality star insists she is a victim and says she has been living every woman's worst nightmare since the scandal broke last week

Corinne says she was too drunk to have given consent for DeMario Jackson to perform oral sex on her while on the set of Bachelor in Paradise last week. DeMario (above in Los Angeles after being sent home with the rest of the cast last Tuesday) has always maintained that he did nothing wrong

Others tell a different, concerning story in which she comes off as a vulnerable victim.

They claim she was clearly inebriated by the time she beckoned DeMario into the pool and kept slipping under the water as she enticed him. Producers encouraged the action and kept rolling instead of stopping to assess her state, they claimed.

Those insiders say it was not until the following morning when crew members and other stars of the show began recounting what happened that Corinne had any idea she may have been violated.

Ever since, she has not been quiet about airing her case.

Last week, she told TMZ: 'I am a victim and have spent the last week trying to make sense of what happened on June 4.

Witnesses tell different stories about what exactly happened on the night in question. Some paint Corinne as the instigator of the encounter, say she was more than willing to participate and appeared able to give consent. Others say she was clearly inebriated and vulnerable

On the same day as her encounter with DeMario, others on set say Corinne straddled and kissed Chris Harrison (left), Alex Woytkiw (center) and Nick Benvenutti (right)

'Although I have little memory of that night, something bad obviously took place, which I understand is why production on the show has now been suspended and a producer on the show has filed a complaint against the production

'As a woman, this is my worst nightmare and it has now become my reality.'

According to DeMario's version of events, he is the injured party.

'Its been difficult for DeMario and his family. Hes a celebrity for all the wrong reasons,' his attorney said, lamenting that he had been fired from his day job because of the scandal.

Filming will resume on Bachelor in Paradise once producers have been able to replace some of those involved in the disastrous first attempt, People reports.

The magazine cites one source who claim producers are frantically calling participants from previous series of The Bachelor and Bachelorette to try to fill the spots.

Without confirming names, the contestants were told that some of the cast mates from the failed first attempt would not be returning.

'It was presented as a new adventure,' they said.

Neither has yet shared any plans to sue the show or Warner Bros.
Jason Reid (pictured) met his girlfriend on the dating app Bumble and has now been jailed for six months

A thug who was jailed for beating up his girlfriend after meeting her on a popular dating app was still using the site to try and date more women during his trial, it has been revealed.

Jason Reid, 39, met his 38-year-old girlfriend on the Bumble app and has been locked up for six months after attacking her twice.

A court heard he smashed up his girlfriend's mobile phone and wrecked her home before leaving her 'covered head-to-toe in bruises', reports The Sun Online.

Magistrates in Stratford, east London, described the attack in nearby Stoke Newington and abuse she suffered as being the 'worst they have ever seen'.

The court was told Reid, who described himself as being a record producer and 6ft 2ins on the dating site in order to impress women, lashed out on a number of occasions.

His girlfriend started laughing when he brought a pink blanket to her home when he was supposed to move in earlier this year, the court heard.

But he started to kick and punch her and a heavy box of books landed on top of her when she ended up on the floor.

Terrified, she screamed 'You're going to kill me' but he told her he knew 'how to do this without leaving a mark'.

The victim told the Sun Online: 'I just kept crying. I was scared and I wasn't thinking about anything. He had my phone, keys  everything.

'I wanted to appease him because he was so angry  and I also didn't want my friend to see me, so I just went.'

On his profile, he described himself as being a record producer (left) and 6ft 2ins tall. Reid (right), from London, has now been jailed

And it has been revealed that Reid did not stop using dating apps - including Tinder - during his trial.

A 29-year-old woman, called Elizabeth, advised other women to avoid talking to Reid online when she spoke to the website.

She said: 'It's a formula. He knows exactly what to say and how to act so these women fall for him  but when they do it turns nasty.

'It makes me feel sick that he's been using these apps to hunt for new women while on trial for such an awful thing.'

Reid was jailed for 18 weeks for attacking the woman in March and locked up for a further eight weeks in relation to a different incident in February when he punched her in a hotel.
A high school valedictorian had his microphone turned off after criticizing school administrators during a commencement speech last Friday.

Peter Butera began to deliver the keynote address at Wyoming Area Secondary Center's graduation ceremony at Sobieski Stadium in West Pittston, Pennsylvania.

In his remarks, Butera criticized administrators for their 'authoritative nature' that has left the school with 'a lack of real student government' and that this state of affairs 'prevents students from developing as true leaders.'

In video of the incident, Butera is seen being asked to leave the stage by the principal, Dr. Jon Pollard.

'He said, "Alright Peter, you're done,"' Butera said Pollard told him.

A high school valedictorian had his microphone turned off after criticizing school administrators during a commencement speech last Friday

Peter Butera (left) began to deliver the keynote address at Wyoming Area Secondary Center's graduation ceremony at Sobieski Stadium in West Pittston, Pennsylvania

In his remarks, Butera criticized administrators for their 'authoritative nature' that has left the school with 'a lack of real student government' and that this state of affairs 'prevents students from developing as true leaders'

In video of the incident, Butera is seen being asked to leave the stage by the principal, Dr. Jon Pollard

As Butera was told to get off the stage, students began to jeer. They then gave Butera a standing ovation.

'I don't think it could have gone any better,' Butera, 18, told Citizens' Voice.

'I got my point across and them cutting the microphone proved my point to be true.'

School officials said that Butera had submitted the text of his remarks for approval before the ceremony.

That text did not include the statements he made about administrators.

As Butera was told to get off the stage, students began to jeer. They then gave Butera a standing ovation

'I don't think it could have gone any better,' Butera (seen above with his parents), 18, said

School officials said that Butera had submitted the text of his remarks for approval before the ceremony. That text did not include the statements he made about administrators

Butera accused school officials of censorship. 'I assume if I went off script and praised the administration it would not have gotten pulled,' he said

'The speech was changed as it was being given,' Wyoming Area Superintendent Janet Serino said.

Serino said that she was open to input from students and that she scheduled a meeting with Butera to listen to his views on how things could be improved.

Pollard said that Butera was wrong to use commencement as a forum to air grievances.

'There is an expectation that graduation speakers deliver their prepared and practiced speech during the ceremony,' Pollard said.

'I recognized that he was not presenting the speech that he had submitted.

'I needed to ensure that no one was offended. He never brought any of his concerns to me and he certainly could have. A graduation ceremony is not the venue for that type of discord.'

Butera accused school officials of censorship.

'I assume if I went off script and praised the administration it would not have gotten pulled,' he said.

After the ceremony, Butera posted the full text of his speech on Facebook.

The post was liked and shared hundreds of times.

Had Butera been allowed to continue he would have said: 'Hopefully for the sake of future students, more people of authority within this school will prioritize the empowering of students as well as preparing them to further their educations.

'Because, at the end of the day, it is not what we have done as Wyoming Area students or athletes that will define our lives, but what we will go on to do as Wyoming Area alumni.

'And I hope that every one of my fellow classmates here today, as well as myself, will go on to do great things in this world and find true happiness and success.

'Thank you all for coming out to this great celebration today.'

Butera said that his speech was not all negative.

'They cut me off right before I started talking positive again,' he said.

Butera is planning to enroll at Villanova University, where he will pursue a degree in business administration.


Marco Rubio came up against an unexpected border wall on Tuesday morning as he greeted Ivanka Trump at the US Capitol.

The man President Trump condescendingly called 'Little Marco' on the campaign trail made the decision to greet Ivanka with a hug when she entered the building, a decision that the First Daughter unfortunately did not make.

As a result, the Florida Senator appeared to be tumbling into a rigid Ivanka in a photo snapped at that moment, which once again showed a Trump towering over Rubio.

The photo was made even more awkward by the expressions of the pair, with Rubio flashing a giant smile and lvanka displaying a look of complete indifference.

She also had not yet taken her sunglasses off as she was just entering the building.

Even the Secret Service agent assigned to Ivanka seemed to be confused about what was happening, with the photo capturing the utterly perplexed look on the man's face.

Fade into you: Senator Marco Rubio and Ivanka Trump had an awkward encounter when they met Tuesday morning on Capitol Hill (above)

No go: Rubio went to hug Ivanka with a giant smile on his face while the First Daughter stood motionless with her arms by her side

Assessing the threat: Even the Secret Service agent assigned to Ivanka seemed to be confused about what was happening at that moment

Back in action: The pair were soon in sync again as they headed off to their meeting in the building

Soon after, the two appeared to move past their awkward meet-and-greet as they were seen walking down the hallway of the Capitol together on their way to a meeting.

Tuesday marked Ivanka's first trip to Capitol Hill in an official capacity, with the senior advisor to President Trump working on a paid family leave bill with Senator Rubio.

The Florida representative is the co-sponsor of a bill currently in the Senate that would give families a tax credit of $2,500 per child.

Ivanka meanwhile has long said that children and working mothers would be a big part of her platform when she arrived in Washington DC.

Ivanka was outfitted for the big day in a pair of Kellsee Pumps from her eponymous line, which retail for $140, and carrying her brand's $275 Tribeca Leather Satchel.

Also part of her line were the $32 Open Drop Earrings she wore with her dark-green silk t-shirt dress.

She made a stealthy exit from her Kalorama home earlier in the day, electing to depart from a waiting SUV in the garage rather than walk out in front of the house.

That was not the case with husband Jared Kushner however, who put on a grinning and leggy display as he strutted down the main stairwell of their $5million rental on Tuesday.

Jared's jovial jaunt to his waiting SUV came one day after he shocked the entire country by delivering his first public speech since arriving in Washington DC.

Up on the hill: Tuesday marked Ivanka's first trip to Capitol Hill in an official capacity, with the senior advisor working on a paid family leave bill with Senator Rubio

Getting to work: The Florida representative is the co-sponsor of a bill currently in the Senate that would give families a tax credit of $2,500 per child

Children are the future: has long said that children and working mothers would be a big part of her platform when she arrived in Washington DC

Stronger together: Rubio and Ivanka's father famously butted heads on the campaign trail

It was in February of last year when President Trump tore into Rubio with a little help Chris Christie, on the same day the New Jersey governor endorsed him for president.

'Its one act after the other,' Christie said of the Florida Senator.

'We don't need any more of these Washington, D.C. acts. The problem is Washington, D.C., and we dont need Washington politicians to come in and fix it.'

Trump said of Rubio; 'I watched a part of his little act and hes a desperate guy. Hes a nervous nelly.

'I watched him backstage. Hes a mess. I've never seen a human being sweat like this man sweats.'

Trump also said Christies debate plastering of Rubio earlier that month was one of the greatest prosecutions Ive ever seen.

I saw Chris take him apart, and honestly I thought he was going to die, Rubio, Trump said. He was so scared, like a little frightened puppy.

He walks and talks: Jared Kushner was all smiles as he exited his home in Kalorama on Tuesday

Mugging: He made his way down the front staircase to his waiting SUV outside the residence

Feeling great: Kushner delivered his first public speech since he arrived in DC on Monday

Uniform: A s always, Kushner wore a slim-fitting suit and skinny tie with white button down to work

That same day, Rubio was also going after Trump on the campaign trail.

Speaking at a rally in Dallas, Rubio read out some of Trump's tweets from that time, which accused the Florida senator of a 'meltdown'.

'Let me tell you something, during the debate last night he went backstage during one of the breaks, two of the breaks - he was having a meltdown,' Rubio told supporters.

'First he had this makeup thing, he was applying makeup around his mustache because he had one of those sweat mustaches.

'Then he asked for a full-length mirror. I don't know why because the podium goes up to here,' Rubio continued, motioning to his chest.

'Maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet?' Rubio suggested.

'I don't know.'
A beggar has been accused of fronting as a Grenfell Tower survivor in order to swindle money from kind-hearted strangers

A beggar has been accused of fronting as a Grenfell Tower survivor in order to swindle money from kind-hearted strangers.

The man was spotted in the middle of busy Oxford Street, central London, with a sign saying 'Im legend victim which didnt get help after Grenfell Tower fire'.

Doubting the legitimacy of his claims after all residents were promised 5,500, several passersby reportedly grilled him on specific details, including the postcode of the tower block, but he was unable to give a convincing answer.

This reportedly caused fury among shoppers, who then began to form an angry circle around him.

Witness Ben Keenan, 36, told metro.co.uk: A big crowd formed around him. One guy was saying "I lost a cousin in the fire" and told him to take the sign down.

If someone was a victim of that there is 5 million in a fund.

There is no reason for him to be standing in Oxford Street with a piece of cardboard.

The man was then spoken to by police after several people reported him, but no further action was taken against him.

The announcement was made by Downing Street on Sunday evening, as the Prime Minister faced intense scrutiny over her government's reaction to the disaster

Residents were trapped "screaming for their lives" as flames raged through a 27-storey tower block in west London

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'On the afternoon of Monday 19th June in Oxford Street, local Westminster officers were made aware of a man with a placard referring to the Grenfell Tower fire.

'Police spoke to the individual and words of advice were given. No criminal offences were substantiated. The man was referred onto the relevant authorities.'

Residents whose homes were destroyed in the Grenfell Tower fire are meant to have received a 5,500 Government down payment yesterday.

The announcement was made by Downing Street on Sunday evening, as the Prime Minister faced intense scrutiny over her government's reaction to the disaster.

Residents were supposed to be given 500 in cash over the weekend followed by a bank payment for the rest today.

Red Cross workers will provide 'psychological support' to survivors and their families after Theresa May said the initial response 'has not been good enough' (file picture)

However, survivors are being let down by the botched response effort to the horrific blaze, those helping them have said.

Nearly a week on from the tower block blaze that killed at least 79 people, some of those displaced by the fire have been forced to sleep in their cars while others have been prevented from claiming promised cash.

Some of those who lost their flats in the blaze fear being declared 'intentionally homeless' - meaning authorities no longer has a responsibility to house them - if they refuse to a move outside the area.

Anger over the relief effort was reported as the NHS said 14 people are still being treated for injuries from the fire, eight of whom remain 'critical'.

The official death toll stands at 79, but may still increase as fire crews work their way through the gutted 24-storey building.
A man was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his retrial for the shotgun murders of his mother, stepfather and stepbrother in their rural upstate New York home in 2011.

A Washington County court jury returned guilty verdicts on murder and arson charges against 29-year-old Matthew Slocum, whose earlier conviction on the same charges was tossed out on appeal in 2015.

The nine-day retrial ended with Slocum convicted of killing 44-year-old Lisa Coon Harrington, her husband, 41-year-old Dan Harrington, and his 24-year-old son, Joshua O'Brien.

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Guilty: Washington County Sheriff's Officers place handcuffs on Matthew Slocum, 29, after he was found guilty on all counts in his triple murder retrial on Tuesday

Victims: The nine-day retrial ended with Slocum convicted of killing 44-year-old Lisa Coon Harrington (left), her husband, 41-year-old Dan Harrington (center), and his 24-year-old son, Joshua O'Brien (right)

Prosecutors said Slocum used a 12-gauge shotgun to kill all three on the morning of July 13, 2011, by shooting them in the head as they slept in their home in White Creek, a small farming town on the Vermont border. He then set the house on fire to destroy evidence, prosecutors said.

Afterward, Slocum fled to New England with his then-girlfriend, Loretta Colegrove, who testified against him, and their infant son, Raymond. Slocum was eventually captured in New Hampshire after holding his four-month-old baby hostage.

It took the jury six hours spread over two days to convict Slocum at the conclusion of a nearly two-week trial. After the guilty verdicts were read on Tuesday, the victims' families applauded and cried out, 'Thank God!' according to the Albany Times Union.

Slocum's attorney said Colegrove was the one who carried out the slayings because she was angry that the Harringtons - prompted by her drug problems - were trying to seek custody of the child she shared with Slocum.

This is the 12-gauge shotgun that Slocum used to shot his family as they slept in July 2011

After the murders, Slocum (left) went on the run with his then-girlfriend, Loretta Colegrove (right), and their infant son, Raymond

Slocum's first trial in 2012 ended in convictions, which were overturned on appeal in 2015

'Lorettas wearing that shirt. Lisas blood spatters on that shirt. Lisas bloods in the barrel, outside the barrel. She knew how to shoot a shotgun. She murdered Lisa, Dan and Josh,' argued Defense Attorney Mike Mercure, according to reporting by WNYT.

But the jury believed the prosecution's argument that Slocum, an ex-convict with swastika tattoos on his arms, shot all three as Colegrove looked on.

'It's been 2,192 days waiting for this. Dan, Lisa, Josh, we got you justice,' said Diana Harrington, Dan Harrington's mother, according to the Albany newspaper.

Slocum was convicted of murder and arson following his first trial in 2012, but those convictions were overturned when a New York appeals court ruled he was denied his right to a lawyer while being questioned by investigators.

His statement to police, which was left out of his retrial, reportedly included the phrase, 'I just shotgunned my mother, dude.'

Slaughtered: A grave marker is seen bearing the names of Lisa and Dan Harrington

Slocum will be sentenced on July 14. He had previously been sentenced to 88 years to life.

Records show Slocum was jailed in 2006 for breaking into a house and stealing cash. He was released but broke his parole conditions twice and was sent back before being released again in December 2009.
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From the publisher Censored News is published by Brenda Norrell, a journalist in Indian country for 40 years. Norrell created Censored News after she was censored and terminated as a staff reporter at Indian Country Today in 2006. She began as a reporter at Navajo Times during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. She was a stringer for AP and USA Today and later traveled with the Zapatistas through Mexico. She has been blacklisted by all the mainstream media for 14 years. Contact brendanorrell@gmail.com

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Reports about the death of a British pilot in a plane fighting Portuguese forest fires have turned out to be a false alarm.

A rescue chopper and ambulances were mobilised after reports a plane fighting the fires had crashed.

A loud explosion was reportedly heard in the hills where the aircraft crashed, around six miles from the Pedrogao Grande region where firefighters are battling the wildfire.

But it emerged last night no British pilot had been killed and there appeared to have been no crash.

The official death toll from the fire currently stands at 64, half of whom have been identified, while another 157 people were injured.

Reports about the death of a British pilot in a plane fighting Portuguese forest fires have turned out to be a false alarm

A rescue chopper and ambulances were mobilised after reports a plane fighting the fires had crashed. Pictured: The blaze in Alvaiazere, central Portugal

The official death toll from the fires currently stands at 64, half of whom have been identified, while another 157 people were injured

A loud explosion was reportedly heard in the hills where the aircraft crashed, around six miles from the Pedrogao Grande region

Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha, which initially reported the death of an English pilot in a crash on its website, admitted last night it was a 'false alarm'.

The admission followed confirmation all the firefighting planes involved in the operation to tackle the deadly forest fires had been accounted for.

Civil Protection chief Vitor Vaz Pinto said exploding gas containers in an abandoned caravan could have sparked the plane crash reports.

Witnesses had reported seeing a ball of flames and several electricity pylons come down near the village of Louriceira.

Initial reports were that the aircraft that had crashed was Spanish and that it had come down near the village of Louriceira but the country's Ministry of Defense said it had not lost a plane.

Maria Jose Andre, from Portugal's Air Accident Office, said her office immediately sent a crash investigation team to the area but has no details about the plane, its crew or where exactly the crash happened.

Officials with the Portuguese government and the Civil Protection Agency said they could not confirm the crash.

Maria Jose Andre, from Portugal's Air Accident Office, said her office immediately sent a crash investigation team to the crash area

Officials with the Portuguese government and the Civil Protection Agency said they could not confirm the crash

Spain, France and Italy have sent a total of 19 water bombers to help the operation

It emerged last night no British pilot had been killed and there appeared to have been no crash

Spain, France and Italy have sent a total of 19 water bombers to help the operation.

Meanwhile Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa Tuesday led calls to know why a highway now dubbed the 'road of death' - where most of the 64 victims perished - had not been blocked off, as questions mounted over the disaster management response.

On Tuesday, 1,150 firefighters and nearly 400 vehicles were still battling the fires, helped from the air by water-bombing planes including some sent from France, Italy and Spain.

Press reports suggested that the fire plan had not been revised for four years and that there had been communications problems while trying to contain the blaze.

Portugal's Publico newspaper reported that while the fire plan was meant to be revised every two years, in recent years lawmakers had not considered it a priority.

Climate change expert Joao Camargo pointed to the industrial-scale planting of eucalyptus, which is highly inflammable, in comments to Publico.

Around 1,150 firefighters and nearly 400 vehicles were still battling the fires on Tuesday

'These last decades, we have seen a rise in the frequency of forest fires' in Portugal, more than in Mediterranean countries, he said.

The emptying out of the countryside as people leave for more urban areas also meant that there were fewer people to clear the brush that has fed the fires.

'This can't be nobody's fault,' said Helder Amaral of the rightwing opposition People's Party (CDS) in a Facebook post.

'It is not enough for the president of the republic to kiss it better. Saying there is nothing to be done is not enough,' he said.

Nearly 26,000 hectares (64,250 acres) of forest have already been destroyed by the fires, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

As water-bombing planes made regular passes over the flames, there were growing suggestions that forestry practices and outdated emergency planning might have contributed to the disaster.
Top ISIS cleric Turki al-Binali has been killed in an airstrike in Syria, the US-led coalition said Tuesday.

Though rumors have circulated since the strike, only now has there been official confirmation of his death, in a town near the Iraqi border.

'Coalition forces killed Turki al-Binali, the self-proclaimed 'Grand Mufti' or chief cleric of ISIS in an air strike May 31 in Mayadeen, Syria,' the coalition said in a statement.

Turki al-Binali (pictured) ISIS's top cleric, has been confirmed dead by US-led coalition forces, who killed him in an airstrike on May 31

Al-Binali was 'a close confidant' of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and 'had a central role in recruiting foreign terrorist fighters and provoking terrorist attacks around the world,' said Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve.

He was born in Bahrain in 1984 to a wealthy family with close ties to the Al-Khalifas, Abu Dhabi's royal family, the New York Times wrote in 2015.

The US Treasury described him as 'a recruiter for ISIL foreign fighters'. ISIL is the Treasury's chosen name for ISIS.

It said he 'provides literature and fatwas for ISIL training camps and has written several pamphlets to recruit more fighters to ISIL, including the first call for Muslims to pledge allegiance to ISIL leader'.

The cleric was also listed under UN sanctions, which described him as having been chosen as ISIS's 'chief religious advisor' in 2014. Baharain revoked his citizenship in 2015.

Al-Binali had served as head of ISIS's religious compliance police, as a recruiter of foreign fighters, and on a team of advisers to Baghdadi, according to the UN listing.

Al-Binali was a heavy recruiter for the group, and came from a rich Bahraini family. Bahrain revoked his citizenship in 2014

He was killed in a strike that came days after another US-led coalition air raid on Mayadeen that reportedly killed the founder of ISIS's notorious Amaq propaganda agency.

The May 29 strike killed Rayan Mashaal, also known as Baraa Kadek, according to local Syrian activists, though the coalition has not yet confirmed that.

The ISIS deaths come as the group is under major pressure in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Its fighters are surrounded in the Old City of Iraq's Mosul, and under attack in their Syrian stronghold of Raqa from a US-backed alliance that has also seized four neighbourhoods of the city.

Russia said on Friday it was seeking to verify whether Baghdadi was killed when its warplanes hit the group's leaders in a night raid in Syria last month.

More than 320,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests before spiralling into a war that has drawn in jihadists and foreign powers.

ISIS had previously confirmed al-Binali dead on June 1, according to Al Arabiya.
Police have arrested a suspect who they believe bludgeoned with a bat and stabbed to death a 20-year-old man who had taken part in a threesome with his girlfriend in Brooklyn.

Christopher Membreno, 24, was apprehended on Monday night and charged with murder in the killing of 20-year-old Manos Ikonomidis just hours earlier.

Ikonomidis was discovered unresponsive and bleeding in the lobby of a building in the 300 block of 16th Street in Park Slope after sustaining at least five stab wounds to his chest and back.

Investigators say Ikonomidis and his friend Jack Doherty, 21, had a consensual sexual encounter with Membreno's girlfriend inside Doherty's apartment on 16th Street in early Monday morning.

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Victim: Manos Ikonomidis, 20, was beaten with a baseball bat and stabbed to death after participating in a threesome with his male friend and a woman in Brooklyn Monday

Grisly crime scene: The 20-year-old man was bleeding on 16th Street in Park Slope (pictured)

The group sex session reportedly ended on a sour note after one of the men started filming the menage a trois, which made the female participant upset.

Doherty then drove the woman home to Staten Island, leaving Ikonomidis alone, reported the New York Post. Doherty is not facing any charges.

The woman later called her boyfriend, Membreno, claiming she had been raped.

Around that time, the victims girlfriend, who was not involved in the orgy, got a message on Instagram from Membreno's girlfriend that reportedly read: 'your boyfriend f***ed up and will be taken care of,' according to the New York Daily News.

Surveillance video from the area captured two white men and a black men running after Ikonomidis as he tried to escape from the building.

The victim was rushed to Brooklyn Methodist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.

Ikonomidis (left and right) collapsed in the first-floor hallway of the building after being chased by three suspects. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital 30 minutes later

Unanswered questions: Police officers and crime scene investigators spent the morning hours interviewing residents and collecting evidence at the scene

Witness Mike Rivera, who lives on the first floor in the building on 16th Street, tells DNAInfo New York that he emerged from his apartment into the hallway after hearing a womans screams and saw Ikonomidis bleeding profusely and looking pale.

Rivera said the 20-year-old was mumbling something incoherent before he collapsed.

Moments earlier, the mortally wounded man knocked on neighbor Joy Liguori's door begging for help, with blood gushing from his wounds. A relative of Liguori's told the News that Ikonomidis apologized profusely before falling to the floor.

Neighbor Ros Hayes tells CBS New York he heard the sounds of partying coming from the back of the building at around 2.30am.

Membreno was taken into police custody shortly before 1am Tuesday on charges of murder and criminal possession of a weapon, reported DNAInfo New York.

The 24-year-old suspect's criminal record included two arrests from 2011, one of them on a charge of criminal mischief.
A renowned Pennsylvania radio host has quit after he was ordered to stop criticizing Donald Trump on air.

Bruce Bond revealed he chose to resign as host of The Bruce Bond Late Afternoon Show after he disagreed with an order by station general manager, Tim Michaels, not to 'talk disrespectfully' about the president.

'It wasn't my agenda to talk politics, but it's impossible to avoid the topic of Trump [while] doing a three-hour talk show,' Bond told Philly.com. 'That fact that my bosses would censor me and not allow me to talk about this stuff is ridiculous.'

Pennsylvania radio host, Bruce Bond, has quit after he was ordered to stop criticizing Donald Trump on air

Bond, who has worked in radio since the 1980s, was hired by the WTPA three years ago

Station general manager, Tim Michaels, had ordered him not to 'talk disrespectfully' about the president

The outspoken radio host shared a photo of the letter he received from Michaels on Facebook.

'I have received backlash in the form of emails, phone calls and such,' the manager had written. 'I have asked previously to cease political discussion. If this cannot be achieved we will have no choice but to discontinue the show.'

However, Bond said that management had not seemed to care when he had talked about then-President Obama.

But after Trump was elected, their attitude towards politics changed.

Bond, who has worked in radio since the 1980s, was hired by the WTPA three years ago

Perhaps the pro-Trump stance is not surprising as the owner of WTPA, Pat Garrett, is a huge fan of the president and even released pro-Trump song, I'm Voting for Donald for President, during his campaign.

However, Bond said that he would not be doing his job in this 'ugly political environment' if he wasn't able to be honest about the leadership of the country.

'They've warned me a couple times about speaking against Trump, which I just ignored,' Bond said. 'But this last time, I decided to take a stand and walk away. I didn't want to have to walk on eggshells every time Trump comes up.'

WTPA accepted his resignation and Michaels refused to elaborate except to say he 'wished him well'.

'That's basically my comment on Bruce.'

Bond, who has worked in radio since the 1980s, was hired by the WTPA three years ago after he was released from jail for his involvement in a $4.3 million forged-check scheme.
Khalid Masood died after killing five people after driving car into pedestrians in London

The moment that blood-soaked Westminster Bridge terrorist Khalid Masood was wheeled into hospital after killing five innocent victims has been shown for the first time.

Masood was the first person to be wheeled into St Mary's Hospital, in Paddington, after he carried out the atrocity.

Footage from BBC show Hospital, which follows some of the victims from the terror attack, shows hospital staff rushing to try to save the terrorist.

The camera crew were just two or three days into recording the new series, which follows the Imperial College Healthcare Trust, when a meeting being filmed at St Mary's was interrupted by news of the attack.

As Masood is brought in, an armed police officer tells the cameraman: 'You can't film this, mate. It's a counter-terrorism incident, sir.'

His blood-soaked stretcher is also shown, as hospital staff frantically discuss tactics of how to save him.

Masood was the first person to be wheeled into St Mary's Hospital, in Paddington, after he carried out the atrocity

His blood-soaked stretcher is also featured in the extraordinary documentary, which captured the footage by chance

Armed police were on the scene straight after the incident and encouraged camera crews to stop filming

Staff at the hospital, one of London's 'major trauma centres', are seen quickly putting a major incident plan into place as they prepare to receive the first casualties

The footage then cuts to after Masood has been declared dead - a doctor says: 'The first one's RIP, it's going to go in there'.

As his corpse is wheeled into another room, the doctor tells a police officer: 'It's a formed area with just one door, so you guys can guard it, much easier for yourselves'.

The extraordinary documentary, filmed in London hospital, shows victims being treated and discussing what they remember during the terrorist attack, which took place on March 22.

Five people died in the rampage, which saw Masood drive at pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before fatally stabbing Pc Keith Palmer in the grounds of the Palace of Westminster.

The 52-year-old attacker was then shot by armed police and was the first casualty to arrive at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington, where he was pronounced dead.

A camera crew filming series two of the BBC Two documentary Hospital were at St Mary's and captured the fatally wounded Masood being stretchered in.

A meeting that was being filmed at St Mary's was interrupted by news of the attack

The meeting is immediately adjourned and all staff moved to pre-planned positions for an emergency incident

The episode also tracks the progress of three people injured during the attack - two French teenagers on a school trip, and a 40-year-old British man who was on a birthday excursion in the capital.

Simon Dickson of programme maker Label1, said of the decision to include the attacker: 'He's part of the story, and his appearance in the film is as you see it.

'It's brief, but his arrival is a key part of the day, and that is fully reflected in the way that scene is handled.'

Masood's family were not consulted about showing him, and his face is blurred out in the footage.

BBC Two controller Patrick Holland said: 'The decision was made to treat him in exactly the same way, from the point of view of the hospital.

The Hospital camera crew were just two or three days into recording the new series, which follows the Imperial College Healthcare Trust

All non-emergency surgery was cancelled, and doctors had to decide which existing patients are well enough to be transferred to another hospital to free up beds

'That's where we're seeing him, that's where the audience is being allowed to see this incident unfold, he's the first casualty that comes to the hospital and we followed the same protocol that we do with any other patient which is that if they don't consent, you blur them.'

The camera crew were just two or three days into recording the new series, which follows the Imperial College Healthcare Trust, when a meeting being filmed at St Mary's was interrupted by news of the attack.

Staff at the hospital, one of London's 'major trauma centres', are seen quickly putting a major incident plan into place as they prepare to receive the first casualties.

All non-emergency surgery was cancelled, and doctors had to decide which existing patients are well enough to be transferred to another hospital to free up beds.

Some of the staff at St Mary's (left to right): Lesley Powls, Asif Rahman, Simon Ashworth, Dr. Shehan Hettiaratchy

Lesley Powls is the Head of Intensive Care at the Paddington hospital and played a major part in the operation

Dr Alison Sanders, clinical director at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: 'When a major incident happens, within 12 minutes the entire hospital has kicked into a completely different way of working, and obviously, subsequently we've had to do that twice more since this programme was made (with the London Bridge attack and the Grenfell Tower fire).

'It just demonstrates, that's something that won't be unique to us, it's a countrywide ability of the NHS to step up on top of what is already huge pressure.'

She added: 'We have to do something entirely different with zero notice, and you see everybody just switch into it, and then the following day we have to go back to normal because the work is still building up, the ambulances will still be coming in, as soon as we open the doors again, the floodgates open.'
The director of a campaign group which praised Jihadi John has denied terror offences after refusing to hand his computer passwords to police.

Muhammad Rabbani, 36, was detained at Heathrow Airport last November under counter-terror stop-and-search powers.

He allegedly refused to hand over his phone code and later on May 17 this year he attended Bethnal Green police station with his lawyer to answer bail and was charged.

Rabbani is the director of the group Cage, which caused outrage in 2015, when a senior members described ISIS executioner Jihadi John as a beautiful young man.

Muhammad Rabbani, 36, the director of a campaign group which praised Jihadi John denies terror offences after refusing to hand his computer passwords to police

Rabbani faces one charge that on 20 November 2016, at Heathrow Airport, he did wilfully obstruct, or sought to frustrate, an examination or search under schedule seven of the Terrorism Act 2000.

In court, wearing a carnation flower in his blazer pocket, Rabbani spoke to confirm his name, address and date of birth and pleaded not guilty to the single count.

He was joined by around 40 supporters who packed out the public gallery in the court, with some of the men also wearing the same flower in their top pocket.

Describing the issues in the case Gareth Peirce defending, said: 'The issues are the legality of the stop, the legality of the examination and the legality of the request for Mr Rabbani to hand over the PIN number for his phone.

He was detained at Heathrow Airport last November under counter-terror stop-and-search powers and allegedly refused to hand over his phone code. Pictured in Westminster Magistrates Court today

'They are the issues all contained in within the charge.'

Chief magistrate Emma Arbuthnot set a date for trial, estimated to last one day for September 25.

Rabbani, of Bethnal Green, East London, was bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates court for his trial on September 25.

Rabbani was once an activist in the extremist Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). The IFE is based at the East London mosque where Cage has also held events.

Cage campaigns against anti-terror policing against Muslims which it says is oppressive.

Jihadi John, a 27-year-old Londoner was killed on November 12 after US intelligence 'evaporated' him with by a drone strike in Raqqa.

Cage caused outrage in 2015, when one of its senior members described ISIS executioner Jihadi John, named Mohammed Emwazi, as a beautiful young man

Emwazi had been known to intelligence services in the UK since at least 2009 and had been on a list of potential terror suspects.

Despite a ban prohibiting him from leaving the country, Emwazi first escaped Britain in 2011, when he headed to Lisbon.

He returned a short time later but successfully evaded border control again to leave for good in 2012.

After making it to Syria, he became ISIS executioner in chief, filmed beheading western hostages in sickening propaganda videos.
President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that his strategy to get to North Korea through China was not working.

Trump had cozied up to China's Xi Jingping, hosting him earlier this year at his Palm Beach resort, in hopes of building a bridge for talks with Kim Jong Un's government and a decrease in tensions.

The death Monday of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old student that North Korea held prisoner for 17 months, appeared to change the president's mind.

'While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!' he said on Twitter.

President Donald Trump admitted Tuesday that his strategy to get to North Korea through China was not working

Trump had cozied up to China's Xi Jingping, hosting him earlier this year at his Palm Beach resort, in hopes of building a bridge for talks with Kim Jong Un's government

The new president had hoped that Xi would exert his influence over North Korea's economy in return for economic concessions

Trump may have been taking his cues from the White House's press briefing.

A reporter asked spokesman Sean Spicer early on in the news conference if Trump had a message for China following Warmbier's death.

'Well, I think the president has spoken very clearly about how he, the first lady and our country feels about the loss of this American,' Spicer said. 'And obviously, when you look at how he was handled, it's something that we will continue to apply economic and political pressure and try to continue to work with our allies.'

Spicer said then that the administration would continue to lean on China for help with North Korea, which has amplified its missile tests in recent months.

'We've had I think positive movement on China over the past five months of this administration,' Spicer told the reporter. 'And we'll continue to work with them and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea to change this behavior and this regime.'

Shortly after Spicer left the podium took to Twitter to defend China's Xi- a man he's repeatedly said he's become fond of since their Florida summit.

A White House official at the same time confirmed that the president's eldest daughter, Ivanka, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, had been invited to China by the country's government for talks this year.

The official did not say whether the senior White House advisors would accept the formal invitation that Bloomberg first disclosed on Tuesday morning.

Ivanka and Jared's trip would likely precede a State visit. Trump told Xi in April that he would like to come and the State Department told reporters it was working with the Chinese government to make it happen.

Trump opted to let China off the hook for alleged currency manipulation in an about-face from his campaign rhetoric and backed off a Pacific Rim trade agreement Barack Obama negotiated to help the US and its allies contend with the economic giant in a shift that was intended to grease the skids for better US-China relations.

The new president had hoped that Xi would exert his influence over North Korea's economy in return for the concessions.

China accounts for more than 90 percent of the isolated regime's trade.

Otto Warmbier (pictured in custody in Pyongyang last January) died Monday just days after being brought back to the United States in a coma from North Korea

Trump put direct pressure on China to address North Korea's provocations. 'China is very much the economic lifeline to North Korea so, while nothing is easy, if they want to solve the North Korean problem, they will,' he said in an April 21 tweet.

He changed his tune on on Tuesday, saying on Twitter that Xi had 'tried' to help the US, but he'd been unsuccessful.

Trump suggested with the tweet that his administration plans to get more aggressive with Un's regime.

The US was already prepping additional sanctions against North Korea, in case it needed them.

A State Department official on Monday warned companies in Beijing with ties to North Korea's missile program that they could be next.

'We continue to urge China to exert its unique leverage as North Koreas largest trading partner, including by fully implementing all the UN Security Council sanctions,' Susan Thornton, the acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said.

Spicer contended at his Tuesday briefing that the US has been 'very forceful in our political and economic pressure that has been applied in North Korea' and it would continue to apply that pressure at the U.S.-China Security and Defense Dialogue this week.

'Obviously China can play a -- has played and can continue to play a greater role in helping to resolve this situation,' Spicer said. 'And we will continue to, hopefully, build on the relationship and the dialogue that we've had with China.'

The Trump spokesman professed that 'positive steps' had been taken by China 'to help strengthen the case against North Korea.'

'But I'm not going to get ahead of where we may or may not go,' he said in a somewhat ominous statement that the president most likely heard. 'And obviously, we hope that those discussions with China are productive and continue to -- to move us forward.'
The family of an Ohio woman who died after contracting a brain-eating amoeba has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a North Carolina outdoor recreational park.

The family of Lauren Seitz filed the federal lawsuit Monday in Columbus, Ohio, a year after the 18-year-old died from meningoencephalitis, a disease caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri.

The lawsuit says Seitz contracted the amoeba at the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina after she was thrown overboard into the water.

The center issued a statement at the time of Seitz's death last year saying it filtered and disinfected the water.

But an employee complained about the conditions and a federal epidemiologist found the filtration and disinfection systems were inadequate. The level of amoeba in the water was also off the charts, the Charlotte Observer reported.

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Lauren Seitz (pictured) died of a brain infection from a rare brain-eating amoeba after going whitewater rafting in North Carolina. Her family filed a federal lawsuit on Monday

On June 8 2016, Seitz went on a whitewater rafting trip with her church group. The raft overturned, and the 18-year-old died just over a week later from Naegleria fowleri

The family, which is seeking punitive damages of more than $1million, also claims the center failed to properly chlorinate the water, regulate the temperature of the water and warn visitors of the possible dangers.

On June 8 2016, Seitz went on a whitewater rafting trip with her church group.

The raft overturned at one point, marking her only known underwater exposure before she died.

Seitz's pastor Jim Wilson, with the Church of the Messiah United Methodist Church in Westerville said June 8 was the only day that the group went swimming before they returned home on June 11.

Just eight days later, Seitz died on June 19 from Naegleria fowleri, a one-celled organism commonly found in warm freshwater.

The organism does not cause illness if swallowed, but can be deadly if forced up the nose. The CDC said only 10 cases or so are reported each year, although nearly all of them fatal.

WHAT IS NAEGLERIA FOWLERI? Naegleria fowleri (pictured) is commonly referred to as the 'brain-eating amoeba' Naegleria fowleri is commonly referred to as the 'brain-eating amoeba' as it can cause a rare and devastating infection of the brain called primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM). But the infection is very rare, and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been about 35 cases reported in the U.S. in the last decade. The single-celled organism is commonly found in warm freshwater, such as lakes, rivers, and hot springs, as well as in soil. It usually infects people when contaminated water enters the body through the nose. Once the amoeba enters the nose, it travels to the brain where it causes PAM, which is usually fatal. Infection typically occurs when people go swimming or diving in warm freshwater places, like lakes and rivers. In very rare instances, Naegleria infections may also occur when contaminated water from other sources (such as inadequately chlorinated swimming pool water or heated and contaminated tap water) enters the nose. You cannot get infected from swallowing water contaminated with Naegleria. Source: CDC Advertisement

The Whitewater Center issued a statement at the time of Seitz's death, saying the water was filtered and and disinfected with chlorine as well as ultraviolent radiation sufficient to 'inactivate' the amoeba, a process the center described as 99.99 perc ent effective.

Seitz graduated from Westerville South High School one month before she died

But a federal epidemiologist found that the filtration and disinfection systems at the center were inadequate, and the level of amoeba in the water was beyond what the CDC had previously seen, the Charlotte Observer reported.

A park employee also complained about dead animals, and trash in the water, while saying raft guides often got staph infections and ringworm.

The center's water was not inspected by the county or state because the man-made system is not considered to be a public pool, Mecklenburg County's health director said.

By late 2016, the U.S. National Whitewater Center worked with both the Mecklenburg County and North Carolina Health Department officials to develop new water quality standards.

The center is now required to hold an annual permit proving its water quality is up to standards after a park.

The filtration and disinfection systems at the center (file photo) were found to be inadequate, and the level of amoeba in the water was beyond what the CDC had previously seen

Seitz had graduated with honors from Westerville South High School, where she was drum major of the school's marching band, in May 2016, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

'This was an enormous loss for the band, but also to the Westerville community and family,' band director John Laswell said in a Facebook post.

'Lauren just graduated in May and was one of the most talented, humble and caring students I've ever taught.'

She was enrolled at Denison University, where she planned to study Environmental Science and had declared a minor in music, her obituary says.

'Lauren understood the overwhelming beauty and fragility of life with uncommon clarity and cared so deeply about the welfare of other people and this world we all share,' it adds.
Federal agents and sheriff's deputies in Georgia have found three children living in a Coweta County home doubling as a meth lab during last week's drug bust that netted more than 300lbs of illegal narcotics.

DEA agents descended on a private home in the 200 block of Shell Road near Palmetto last Thursday and conducted a search that yielded about 6lbs of methamphetamine inside one bedroom.

Another bedroom on the premises was found to house a 'small conversation lab that contained liquid methamphetamine in an unfinished state,' along with four more pounds of meth, according to charging documents.

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Record-breaking raid: DEA agents and Georgia authorities carried out a massive drug bust at this house near Palmetto, which netted 310lbs of methamphetamine. Three young children were found living on that property

Move over, Walter White: Agents recovered 286lbs of meth inside the larger of the two labs operating on the property. The drugs (pictured left) had a street value of nearly $3million

A larger conversation lab, equipped with acetone, propane tanks, large screens and fans, was discovered inside an out building in the back of the property, along with 286lbs of illegal narcotics, reported the station WSB-TV.

Officers also recovered four guns and a bulletproof vest inside the residence; additional firearms and 6lbs of meth were found in a truck parked outside the house.

According to officials, the street value of all 310lbs of meth seized during Thursdays record-breaking raid amounts to $2.5 to $3million.

Ramiro Hermosillo-Salazar surrendered to DEA agents without incident, telling them he had lived in the home for about a year and that he was in the US illegally.

The suspect was arrested and charged with drug trafficking and firearms counts. He remained in federal custody on Tuesday.

Let's cook: A large conversation lab, equipped with acetone, propane tanks, large screens and fans, was discovered inside an out building in the back of the property

Hermosillo-Salazar had been sharing the home in Coweta County with his wife and their three elementary school-aged children.

The wife has not been charged with any crime and her name has not been made public.

Neighbors reported seeing a lot of activity at the home at all hours and hearing bursts of gunfire almost ever day.
Malkeet Singh Rathod, 48, was jailed for nine years

A fraudster banked nearly 600,000 by duping the Home Office into allowing 188 'religious workers' into the UK illegally.

Shopkeeper Malkeet Singh Rathod, 48, was jailed for nine years yesterday after a judge told him his five-year deception undermined the public's trust in the immigration system.

Rathod charged people thousands of pounds for acting as their licensed sponsor to gain them entry into the UK from India, posing as religious workers who were needed in the Sikh community.

But a jury heard many of those who came to Britain through Rathod found there was no work when they got here.

Father-of-three Rathod, of Birkinshaw, Bradford, was convicted of fraud by misrepresentation and five charges of money laundering following a trial lasting more than 11 weeks at Leeds Crown Court.

Jailing him, Judge Christopher Batty said: 'This was a fraud that goes to the very heart of the immigration system in this country.

'The sponsorship system is based on trust, and the conduct of people like you undermines the confidence the public has in that system. It raises suspicion against those who have come to this country legitimately and those who provide a genuine service to citizens of this country.'

A fraudster banked nearly 600,000 by duping the Home Office into allowing 188 'religious workers' into the UK illegally

Judge Batty said the immigrants who were admitted through Rathod's fraud had access to public services they would not otherwise have been entitled to. People can come to the UK on a visa specifically for carrying out religious work, but must have a sponsor. They can then legally live and work in the UK for two years.

Rathod came to the UK as a religious migrant in 1999 and after initially obtaining leave to remain as a member of a religious order, he became a naturalised citizen in 2007.

Judge Batty said: 'It is clear from that time you saw an opportunity to do this on a much larger scale involving a large number of migrants, sensing the rich rewards you could reap from it.'

Rathod set up two charities, Guru Nanak Mission UK and Sri Guru Nanak Jot Parkash Sikh Society, using them to bring Indian nationals into the country after charging them thousands of pounds for visas and other bogus documents.

Police found that 594,000 had passed through his bank accounts or those of his wife and his sister-in-law.

His wife Manpreet Rathod, 44, was convicted of money laundering and sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for 18 months.

His sister-in-law Saroj Kaur, 44, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to four months in prison, suspended for 18 months.
Business / Economy

by Staff reporter

The cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe's low income urban earner monthly basket for a family of six decreased from the end-April figure of $ 579,15 to $577,77 by end-May 2017, showing a decrease of $1,38 or 0,24 percent.The CCZ survey is conducted twice during the first and the last weeks of every month. The total cost of the food basket and the price of each commodity are arrived at by averaging prices gathered from retail outlets throughout the country, the consumer price watchdog said, adding the basket is a fairly accurate depiction of the cost of living in urban Zimbabwe.The food basket decreased by $1,74 or 1,30 percent from $133,80 by end-April to $132,06 by end-May 2017.The price of detergents increased by $0,36 or 3,17 percent from $11,35 to $11,71.Decreases were recorded in margarine by $0,06 from $1,05 to $0.99, maize-meal by $0,02 from $11,85 to $11,83, sugar by $0,03 from $1,88 to $1,85, tea leaves by $0,05 from $1,65 to $1,60, bread by $0,05 from $0,70 to $0,65, flour by $0,05 from $1,80 to $1,75, tomatoes by $0,06 from $0,80 to $0,74, meat by $0,15 from $4,40 to $4,25.Increases were recorded in cooking oil by $0,06 from $1,39 to $1,45, rice by $0,13 from $1,85 to $1,98, salt by $0,03 from $0,25 to $0,28, onions by $0,10 from $1,15 to $1,25, cabbage by $0,17 from $0,75 to $0,92, bath soap by $0,09 from $0,60 to $0,69.The price of milk, washing powder and laundry bar remained unchanged from the end-May figure."As CCZ, we assume that the decrease in prices has been caused by promotions on various commodities in some supermarkets such as the OK Grand Challenge promotion. Supermarkets are competing to entice and attract consumers to buy from them," it said in a commentary."The CCZ continues to encourage consumers to shop conscientiously and to always buy certified products."Where the products are not certified, to exercise their right to information by carefully examining if the products they are purchasing are well labelled, packaged and provided with vital information such as manufacturing and expiry dates and ingredients used in the make-up of the products."
A hitman was most likely behind the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich, according to a group of Washington D.C. forensic-psychology students.

The Profiling Project, an independent group funded by GOP lobbyist Jack Burkman who has also offered a reward for information leading to the conviction of Rich's killer, claim that the 27-year-old was not the victim of a random homicide or robbery, as police suggest, but that is death was the work of a professional.

'The person folks [should be] looking for, and considering, isn't a robber who kills, but really is a killer, and maybe a killer that doesn't rob,' says Kevin Doherty, one of the volunteers with the project.

'The fact that this person has gotten away with it shows a level of proficiency.'

Rich was shot in the back and killed while walking home from a Washington, D.C. bar in the early hours of July 10, 2016.

Conspiracy theories have swirled around his death ever since with some suggesting he was behind the WikiLeaks publication of DNC emails, and he was assassinated in a failed bid to stop the leak.

A group of Washington D.C. forensic-psychology students have claimed that a hitman was most likely behind the murder of DNC staffer Seth Rich (pictured)

The Profiling Project, an independent group funded by GOP lobbyist Jack Burkman, claim in their new report that the 27-year-old was killed by a professional

Rich's family, who have repeatedly denounced the suggestions, may fear this new report could also be used to fan the flames of the wild theories.

The family's spokesman, Brad Bauman, said that the public, 'in no way should take any findings contained within as new, credible or otherwise lending credence to conspiracy theories surround the circumstances of Seth's death,' adding that it should be seen as little more than a research gathering exercise for the students.

The project, which consists of a group of 20 volunteers who are current and former George Washington University forensic-psychology graduate students and instructors, published their findings in an 83-page report on Tuesday. They say they hope it may be able to assist with the police investigation into Rich's death.

Rich (pictured) Rich was shot in the back and killed while walking home from a Washington, D.C. bar in the early hours of July 10, 2016

The report disagrees with the police's theory that Rich was killed in a robbery gone wrong, and state that the 'death was more likely committed by a hired killer or serial murderer,' and that the killer is likely still at large.

While the group has received no special access to police and coroner reports, or victim statements, the volunteers applied the skills learned in forensic class to the information already on the public record.

The report points to the crime scene, which was 'organized to the point of being sanitized', and could indicate 'an experienced, sophisticated criminal with in-depth knowledge of law-enforcement procedures.'

Specifically, there were no bullet casings found at the scene, while they say a random killer or robber would have been unlikely to target a strapping, 5ft 9in man like Rich and 'most likely would have selected a more desirable victim.

'With such a sanitized crime scene and no emotional indications,' the report says, 'this is not Offender['s] first kill.'

Rich's family (pictured) has begged the public and media outlets to stop spreading unfounded theories about Seth's death. Police said his murder appeared to be a robbery gone wrong

The report also points out that Rich's watch, phone, wallet and necklace were recovered from his body, meaning they had not been stolen - surprising in a robbery. It adds that 'most robbers are not killers'.

The students also say that many of the circumstances around Rich's death were unusual and 'not statistically random', such as him straying from his typical routine to be out in that area at 4am, and the fact that he was white - which puts him in the vast minority, just six per cent, of homicide cases that were unsolved in D.C. last year.

However, if it was a hitman, they didn't do a great job as Rich was alive was police responded to reports of gunfire in the area. He died a short time later in hospital.

'A professional killer, whose sole job would have been to terminate Seth, did not accomplish their mission prior to escaping,' the project stated.

The suggestion that Rich could have been killed by a hired assassin may send the rumor mill churning back into action.

Conspiracy theories began flying again last month after internet hacker Kim Dotcom's bold, and unsubstantiated claims that he had evidence Rich was behind the leaks, along with a debunked news report from local station Fox5.

Fox5 ran a piece in which an individual, Fox New legal commentator, Rod Wheeler, said it was 'confirmed' that Rich had ties to Wikileaks.

Wheeler was identified in the Fox5 story as the Rich family's investigator but in fact, Wheeler's investigation had been funded by a third-party, and the Rich family sent him a cease and desist.

Mega-upload founder Kim Dotcom claimed last month - in a widely debunked theory - that Seth Rich's death was a political assassination after he allegedly leaked DNC documents

Fox News host Sean Hannity supported Dotcom's assertions on his show and on Twitter - despite pleading from Rich's family to stop

People on the right have been trying to connect the dots between Rich and Wikileaks, as it would provide an explanation for why Rich was killed, and also taint the storyline that Russia was behind the Democratic National Committee hack.

The Profiling Project research was funded by GOP lobbyist and Trump supporter Burkman who is also offering $100,000 reward for information into Rich's death.

Burkman insists he does not want to lend credence to the conspiracy theories, and says his support was not political, but said he simply wanted to help the family get justice.

'This is a young kid in our profession,' he told Newsweek. This could have happened to any of the young people who work for me,' he said.

However, Rich's family who say they were not consulted during the compilation of the report, nor provided with a copy of the preliminary report before publication, fear it could impede the official investigation.

'We further hope that this doesn't continue to impede the Metropolitan Police Department's ability to find the killers and give folks who might have information to their arrest cover to stay silent.'
A teacher is accused of sodomizing a middle school student and raping him during their alleged months-long sexual relationship.

Lindsey Jarvis, 27, pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape at the Fayette County Courthouse in Kentucky, where she held hands with her husband of three years.

She was also charged with rape, sodomy and unlawful transaction with a minor in neighboring Woodford County, where she was accused of sexually assaulting the boy in May 2016.

Police found evidence on the victim's phone suggesting the two were in a 'romantic relationship', and Jarvis was arrested on Friday.

Lindsey Jarvis, 27, is accused of sodomizing a male middle school student and raping him during their alleged months-long sexual relationship

She pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape at the Fayette County Courthouse in Kentucky with her husband Andrew Jarvis by her side

Jarvis sodomized the alleged victim, who is under the age of 16, in May 2016, while she was a social studies teacher at the Woodford County Middle School, according to the indictment.

The 27-year-old then had sex with him in June, and resigned from her position that same month, the indictment from Woodford County states.

Jarvis is accused of continuing the sexual relationship with the boy even after she got a job as a para-educator at Veterans Park Elementary in Lexington in August 2016.

Video courtesy of WKYT

She was arrested on Friday and resigned from her position the same day.

The student's identity and age have not been disclosed.

Lisa Deffendall, a spokesperson for Fayette County Schools, confirmed Jarvis is no longer a teacher at the elementary school and said they are 'aware of the matter'.

Jarvis sodomized the alleged victim in May 2016 while she was a social studies teacher at Woodford County Middle School (general view), according to an indictment

On her 25th birthday, husband Andrew Jarvis paid tribute to his wife, writing: 'Happy 25th birthday to my sweetest Lindsey!

'So thankful for your wonderful heart, which teaches me so much about compassion and kindness.

'So thankful for your wisdom and discernment that help guide us through life....Love you with all my heart, and so thankful to have you as my best friend.'
Neil Rodney Smith (pictured) was found inside his home in Dumbo, Brooklyn, shortly before 2pm on Monday with a pillow covering his face and a wet towel stuffed in his mouth

A New York financier has been found dead and naked in his pricey apartment, with police believing he died after a sex romp went wrong.

Neil Rodney Smith was found inside his home in Dumbo, Brooklyn, shortly before 2pm on Monday with a pillow covering his face and a wet towel stuffed in his mouth.

Police sources said they believe the 57-year-old died shortly after he was heard having sex with a man he met on the internet, the New York Post claims.

'He went online and hooked up with some guy and, whatever they were doing, he died,' a source reportedly told the newspaper.

The insider added that moments before the man died, a guest staying in the apartment with his wife allegedly: 'heard a guy in there with him... he heard them having sex.'

According to the Post, Smith and the man he was with had been communicating via text messages and social media in recent days.

'There were text messages exchanged and Facebook stuff where hes hooking up with this guy,' the NYPD source told the newspaper.

Smith (left and right) was the CEO of Manhattan-based investment firm, Infraccess

Smith's house-guest told police he had not seen the 57-year-old CEO since he had a visitor about 1:30 on Sunday morning. The guest who spoke to officials was in New York visiting from Colombia.

Investigators are said to be examining security footage from the glitzy building, where the average apartment sells for about $3million.

The footage shows a man and a woman arriving at the apartment, however only the man goes inside the apartment while the woman with him waits outside, according to the New York Daily News.

The duo arrived about the time Smith's guest said he last saw his friend in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Smith was the CEO of the Manhattan-based investment firm, Infraccess.
At least 10 passengers aboard a United Airlines flight which landed in Houston on Tuesday were injured due to turbulence, it was reported.

Firefighters rushed to the tarmac of George Bush Intercontinental Airport after United flight 1031 landed from Panama City, KPRC-TV reported.

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Boeing 737 began to experience in-flight turbulence as it flew 80 miles east of Cancun, Mexico.

Houston firefighters said that between 10 and 15 passengers required medical assistance after the plane landed.

At least 10 passengers aboard a United Airlines flight which landed in Houston on Tuesday were injured due to turbulence. A Houston firetruck is seen on the tarmac at George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Tuesday

According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Boeing 737 began to experience in-flight turbulence as it flew 80 miles east of Cancun, Mexico. The radar picture above shows inclement weather in the area

At least seven people were evacuated to hospital with minor injuries, according to ABC 13.

United Airlines released a statement on Tuesday saying: United flight 1031 experienced turbulence while en route from Panama City, Panama to Houston.

Paramedics met the aircraft to provide medical care and initial reports are that nine customers and one crew member were transported to the hospital for evaluation.

Our thoughts and concerns are with those who were injured and our team is reaching out directly to our customers to provide further care and support.
Andy Warhol did not like to get up in the morning and was a penny pincher, according to his plastic surgeon.

Dr Pamela Lipkin, a New York City-based plastic surgeon specializing in noses, used to treat Warhol during the artist's hey-day.

According to her, Warhol was not only cheap, but had some strange requests including calling to ask for collagen injections in the middle of the night.

Famed pop-artist Andy Warhol (pictured in November 1975) was cheap, didn't like getting up in the morning and would ask for collagen injections in the middle of the night, according to his plastic surgeon

Dr Pamela Lipkin (pictured with now ex-husband Bruce Ratner in December 2014) told all about her client, who she saw in the 1980s, at a fundraising gala on Saturday

Dr Lipkin, who recently divorced Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner after eight years of marriage, spoke at the fundraising gala on Saturday for Les Couleurs - a charity that supports children who come from underprivileged socioeconomic background - according to Page Six.

'Andy Warhol, who was a client in the '80s, would call in the middle of the night and ask if he could come over to get collagen injections,' Dr Lipkin said.

'When I suggested he come in the morning before I operate, he was not pleased.'

She also added that the pop artist was a bit of a miser, saying: 'He would also always try to negotiate my fee for something lower.'

Warhol's (pictured in 1981) love-affair with plastic surgery is no secret. He's known for having said: 'I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood. They're so beautiful. Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic'

Some claim that little about the art icon (pictured circa 1966) was real considering that he had his nose re-shaped and wore a wig after losing all his hair as a young man

As for Warhol's penny-pinching ways, Dr Lipkin (pictured with now ex-husband Bruce Ratner in December 2014) said: 'He would also always try to negotiate my fee for something lower.' Warhol, in fact, started his diary to document tax deductions

In fact, Warhol started his diary to document tax deductions - but his love affair with plastic surgery is no secret.

In fact, he's known for having once said: 'I want to be a machine. I like boring things. I like things to be the same over and over again...I love Los Angeles. I love Hollywood.

'They're so beautiful. Everything's plastic, but I love plastic. I want to be plastic.'

Some critics have claimed that little about Warhol was real. The artist had his nose re-shaped, wore a wig after losing all his hair as a young man, and had to wear a girdle to support his damaged stomach muscles after being shot in 1968.
A terror suspect has been charged with a string of offences after being held during a series of raids following the London Bridge attack.

Irfan Khan, 33, faces seven counts of possession of a record of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing to commit an act of terrorism.

A Met Police spokesman said: 'He will appear in custody at Westminster Magistrates' court on Wednesday June 21.'

Khan of Walthamstow, east London, was arrested in east London by detectives from the Met Police Counter Terrorism Command on June 8.

Police carried out a number of raids on addresses throughout London in the aftermath of the London Bridge attacks

Police say two other men arrested as part of the same operation at separate addresses in Newham, east London, have been released without charge and will face no further action.

The Met Police said the raids were not linked to the investigation into the London Bridge attack on June 3.
Prince Harry has described in detail the panic attacks he suffered because of the death of his late mother Diana, saying his body felt like a 'washing machine'.

In an interview to publicise the forthcoming Invictus Games, a Paralympic-style event he devised for injured service personnel, the Queen's grandson said he would become ill 'every single time' he found himself in a room full of people.

Speaking to Forces TV, he said: 'When you can get your own head and self back on the right path, the amount of people you can help is unbelievable, because you can tell the signs in people. You can see it in their eyes. You can see it in them, their reactions.

'In my case, suit and tie, every single time I was in any room with loads of people, which is quite often, I was just pouring with sweat, like heart beating  boom, boom, boom, boom - and literally just like a washing machine.

Prince Harry was speaking on Forces TV to promote the upcoming Invictus Games which is due to take place later this year

The 32-year-old spoke about losing his mother, Princess Diana (pictured together, left), and said he felt ill afterwards. He said being in Afghanistan (right) finally made him deal with it

The Queen's grandson (pictured) opened up about losing his mother and said his body felt like a 'washing machine'

'I was like, 'Oh my God, get me out of here now. Oh, hang on, I can't get out of here, I have got to just hide it.'

Earlier this year the fifth in line to the throne admitted for the first time that he had sought professional help for his mental health issues at the age of 28 after what he described as 'two years of total chaos'.

It was during this period he first began to suffer panic attacks during royal engagements and was feeling 'on the verge of punching someone'.

Since conquering his own demons, the Prince has turned his focus to publicly helping others battling mental health illness, along with his brother and sister-in-law.

Speaking to his friend, Dave Henson, a double amputee and former Invictus competitor who went on to win bronze at the Rio Paralympics, the prince said: 'You go through all that stuff and then you met other lads who are on a similar journey or the similarities are there.

'You help yourself so you can help others. That is hugely powerful.

'So many people are, you know, like slightly mental. Awesome! We are, we are all mental and we have all got to deal with our stuff.

'Rather than running around at 50 per cent capacity, imagine if we could run around at 100 per cent capacity. Imagine what we could achieve.'

Harry, 32, also reveals in the interview how fighting in Afghanistan was the 'trigger' that finally forced him to deal with his mother's death, which happened 20 years ago this August.

The prince, who was 12 at the time, went on to graduate from Sandhurst and undertook two frontline tours of Afghanistan, finally leaving the forces after ten years.

He said: 'Once I plucked my head out of the sand post-Afghan - yes, it had a huge life-changing moment for me as well.

The prince has previously said he first began to suffer panic attacks during royal engagements

The prince said: 'Afghan was the moment where I was like, 'Right, deal with it (the death of his mother)'

Harry went on to graduate from Sandhurst and undertook two frontline tours of Afghanistan

'I was like, right, 'You are Prince Harry. You can do this. As long as you're not a complete t*t then you are going to be able to get that support because you've got the credibility of ten years' service and therefore you can really make a difference'.

'Actually going through Invictus and speaking to all the guys about their issues has really healed me and helped me.

'I have got plenty of issues. None of them really relate to Afghanistan but Afghanistan was the thing that triggered everything else and the process.

'If you lose your mum at the age of 12 you have got to deal with it.

'The idea that 20 years later I still hadn't really... that 15, 17 years later I still hadn't dealt with it. Afghan was the moment where I was like, 'Right, deal with it.'

'Sharing the stories and being amongst people who you know that when they tell you the issues they are having it is like, 'Yeah, been there done that. Yep yep yep yep yep.'

'And you go through all these lists and you are like wow, so actually we have got a lot more in common than would meet the eye.

'Then people suddenly jump to conclusions and say, 'Oh, it must be Afghanistan.' No.

'So many people who suffer from depression, anxiety, alcoholism, it can be from when you were younger and Afghanistan is the trigger to bring it all to light and to deal with that stuff.'

Asked whether he had been inspired to set up the Invictus Games, which will be held in Toronto this year, to in part deal with his own issues, he replied: 'Yeah, 100 per cent.

'For me, Invictus has been sort of like a cure for myself. '

Harry said setting up Invictus has been a 'wonderful journey' and that watching the injured competitors competing is 'an inspiration that this country needs'.

'Everybody needs to get up off their arse and just say, 'You know what, I'm not beaten, I'm unconquerable. Let's do this,' he added.
An autopsy will not be performed on Otto Warmbier's body, after a coroner granted his family's request not to do so.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office released a statement Tuesday after conferring with doctors at the Cincinnati hospital where the 22-year-old student died just days after he was returned from North Korea.

Warmbier had been held captive in the country for 17 months.

Coroner Dr Lakshmi Sammarco said in the statement the student's family stated it did not want an autopsy to be completed after an external examination.

US student Otto Warmbier (left) died on Monday at age 22, just days after his release from North Korea in a vegetative state (right) following 17 months in custody. A coroner granted his family's request on Tuesday not to conduct an autopsy

'Our deepest sympathies are with the family and friends of Mr Warmbier at this time of their tragic loss,' Sammarco said in the statement.

Dr Lakshmi Sammarco (pictured) from the Hamilton County Coroner's Office explained why an autopsy was not being conducted on Tuesday

'No conclusions about the cause and manner of Mr Warmbier's death have been drawn at this time as there are additional medical records and imaging to review and people to interview.'

There was no immediate word from the family about why relatives opted not to perform an autopsy, which may have shed more light on the cause of the neurological injuries Warmbier suffered in North Korea.

The news was announced as the US ramped up pressure on Pyongyang to release three other Americans being held in the country.

'We want to see three other Americans who were unjustly detained brought home as soon as possible,' State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday.

Warmbier's death came just days after he was released by the North Korean government and returned home while suffering from extensive brain damage, according to the American doctors who treated him.

The young man was returned with severe brain damage and suffered 'extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain' consistent with oxygen deprivation for a prolonged period. He is pictured in North Korea in February 2016

North Korea claims Warmbier contracted botulism shortly after he was sentenced and said a sleeping pill put him into a coma from which he never awoke. Doctors found no evidence that he had the rare form of food poisoning

Warmbier, an Ohio native and student at the University of Virginia, was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 while visiting as a tourist.

He was sentenced two months later to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, the nation's state media said.

The circumstances of his detention and what medical treatment he received in North Korea remain unknown.

A team of Cincinnati doctors (pictured) said Warmbier had brain damage that looked like it was caused when the brain is deprived of oxygen for a period of time, such as cardiac arrest

After returning to the US last week, Otto was taken straight to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center (pictured). He died there on Monday afternoon
British families could be banned from all-inclusive holidays in a backlash against bogus food poisoning claims, tour operators warn today.

Ambulance chasing firms are behind an embarrassing spike in claims from Britons which is said to have cost the holiday industry 40million.

Rogue firms use touts to encourage travellers to make illness allegations on the basis they can win payouts of between 3,000 and 5,000 per person. The firms take a fLat fee for securing the payout.

Tour operators are warning that anyone found to be making such a claim could face a criminal prosecution or be sued.

British families could be banned from all-inclusive holidays in a backlash against bogus food poisoning claims, tour operators warn today (file image)

Most cases involve all-inclusive resorts. Claimants can then say they only ate at their hotel in a bid to identify it as the source of their supposed bug. Holidaymakers are being told they can make a claim based on little more evidence than a receipt for a diarrhoea remedy from a resort chemist.

Since spring 2016 travel firm Tui has recorded around 15 times more illness claims than in previous years.

Tuis UK managing director, Nick Longman, said there has been friction in the travel industry because hoteliers have been concerned that tour firms were not doing enough to stop the scam.

Theres a distinct risk that if this carries on unabated, the hoteliers will say to us either We dont want to work with the British market or Were not going to offer you all-inclusive, he said.

That would be a terrible thing for the British customer.

Mr Longman described the situation as totally embarrassing because it is only the British customers who are complaining.

Earlier this week, it emerged that two Britons who claim they were bed-ridden as a result of food poisoning actually ordered 109 alcoholic drinks over nine days, according to their hotel bill.

Jet2holidays chief Steve Heapy is among those unhappy at the fraudsters

The Liverpool duo had tried to sue Jet2holidays and the Gloria Palace Hotel in Gran Canaria after claiming they fell ill as a result of the Spanish resorts buffet.

Jet2 chief Steve Heapy said: We take genuine claims very seriously. But the food bug fraudsters are fooling customers into thinking they can make a claim even when they werent ill without any consequences, which is not true.

Thomas Cooks UK managing director, Chris Mottershead, also warned that the scam could lead to the end of all-inclusive holidays for the UK market. Hoteliers will stop British customers coming into their hotels, he added.

Trade body organisation Abta is urging the Government to close a loophole which it says is encouraging the scam. It claims legislation designed to halt the surge in fraudulent whiplash claims  a cap on fees that can be charged by law firms pursuing personal injury cases  has fuelled the rise in travel sickness reports because it does not apply to incidents overseas.

It also warned that holidaymakers pursuing fake or exaggerated claims risk ending up in jail either in the UK or abroad.

THE SOLUTION TO WOBBLY SUITCASE WOES Most of us will be familiar with the embarrassment of trying wheel our suitcase through a busy airport while it falls over every few seconds. But now mathematicians have found a solution that could save holidaymakers from having to battle with their misbehaving luggage. When the irritating rocking begins, they recommend pulling the case faster and lower to the ground. Scientists at Paris Diderot University found that stability of the case depends how far apart the wheels are relative to the cases height and handle length. Researcher Dr Sylvain Courrech du Pont said it is better to speed up rather than slow down to get the case back under control when it starts wobbling  especially with cheaper models that have less suspension. He added: To prevent the case from rocking at all, one should choose a thin case with a large wheel base. Then, put the heavy stuff close to the centre of the wheels axis. If you experience rocking, the best thing is probably to get the case as close to the ground as possible. Advertisement

Couple could lose their home after hotel hits them with food poisoning counter-claim

A couple accused of being food bug fraudsters claim they face losing their home after the hotel launched a 170,000 counter-claim for damages.

Sean and Caroline Bondarenko allegedly fabricated a 10,000 claim against the five-star Caldera Palace Hotel in Crete after saying the resorts food and drink made them ill.

Sean Bondarenko and his wife face losing their home through the counter-claim

The couple from Darlington, County Durham, claim they were been encouraged to bring the case by a claims management company.

Court documents show the Crete hotel has made a counter-claim, saying the couple consumed large quantities of alcohol when they were supposed to have been sick.

Atlantica Hotel Management Ltd say the couple did not report any illness during their one-week stay in October 2013, and did not make their bid for compensation until three years later.

The hotel chain says it has a dossier of Facebook posts which demonstrate the Bondarenkos enjoyed their stay. It is thought to be the first time holidaymakers have been taken to court accused of making a fake sickness claim.

After the counter claim was launched by the hotel, the couple tried to drop their case.

Mr Bondarenko, 47, said he and his 42-year-old wife had been ill, but only for a day or so.

He said: We would not have made a claim if the claims management firm hadnt got in touch.

Caroline Bondarenko and her husband allegedly fabricated a 10,000 claim against the five-star Caldera Palace Hotel in Crete

We asked our solicitor to drop the claim in February because we felt uneasy about it, but they said we would have to pay legal costs.

Mrs Bondarenko added: I was horrified when I saw the court papers which listed all these negative things we were supposed to have said about the hotel.

We never said any of those things. I rang the solicitor and she told me not to worry about it. We are terrified for our future and petrified we will lose our home.

Their solicitors, Opes Law, said: The allegations are unequivocally denied. Opes takes its duties to its clients seriously. When things occasionally go wrong, clients are advised to use our complaints policy and procedures to resolve any dissatisfaction.
Significant splits have opened up between the European Union's so-called gilded elite and the 'simmering discontent' of ordinary citizens, a damning report has revealed.

A withering study by a major think-tank found a 'visible divide' between the opinions of Eurocrats and the bloc's population of 508million.

The data  based on a survey of public opinion  showed a 'continent split', according to London-based international affairs organisation Chatham House.

The wider public were more likely to express concerns over a range of contentious political issues changing the face of Europe, from the huge influx of immigration and the power wielded by the EU over sovereign states.

Significant splits have opened up between the European Union's so-called gilded elite and the 'simmering discontent' of ordinary citizens, a damning report has revealed. Pictured: Italian employees battle police in Rome in 2012

The report is the first crucial test of the views of European citizens since Britain voted to seize back control of its borders by leaving the 28-nation bloc almost exactly a year ago.

The findings, from a survey of more than 10,000 citizens plus 1,800 'influencers' from politics, the media, business and civil society, come as the UK begins Brexit negotiations with EU chiefs.

They will make grim reading among the pro-EU elite such as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

The UK's move to break away has already sparked rumblings in other EU countries about whether they would also be better off out of a so-called 'United States of Europe'.

The report said: 'Compared to the public, decision-makers and influencers are notably more liberal and optimistic, more committed to a pan-European identity and a common set of European values, and more likely to feel the benefits of integration.

'Meanwhile, there is simmering discontent among the public about a range of political concerns.

'Large sections of the public view the EU in negative terms; want to see it return some powers to member states; feel anxious over immigration and its perceived effects, as well as over the role of Islam in society; and are pessimistic about the future.'

A withering study by a major think-tank found a 'visible divide' between the opinions of Eurocrats and the bloc's population of 508million. Pictured: Migrants boarding a UK-bound lorry in Calais

The study found that the 'elite' were more than twice as likely to feel they had done well out of the EU  71 per cent saying they had benefited compared with just 34 per cent of the public.

Some 29 per cent of Eurocrats said they felt 'very proud' of their European identity, while for the public the figure was 14 per cent.

And 55 per cent of ordinary citizens expected another country to leave the EU within the next decade, while only 43 per cent of the elite agreed.

The research paper, entitled The Future of Europe, said that the EU and its member states had faced 'almost a decade of political tumult' through the financial crash, the eurozone crisis and the influx of migrants from Africa and the Middle East.

It said that if the bloc was to 'move beyond crisis management' it was essential for Brussels chiefs to understand public attitudes. The EU was facing the 'most challenging political environment since the union's founding' 60 years ago, said the paper.

The report named Brexit as one of the six main challenges facing the European Union.

It said: 'The British decision will place strains on the EU budget, remove one of the voices most supportive of structural reform as well as of completion and expansion of the single market, and change the political balance between large and small member states.'

The research paper said that the EU and its member states had faced 'almost a decade of political tumult' through the financial crash and migrant crisis. Pictured: Migrants arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos

But Britain's exit was not viewed as a significant threat to the fragmentation of the EU by the elite  who ranked it only 12th of 15 possible threats to the bloc.

Other challenges include the rise of populist anti-EU parties, an 'illiberal drift' to authoritarian parties in central and eastern Europe and a 'legitimacy crisis', with high numbers of citizens believing it was anti-democratic.

Kantar Public surveyed 10,195 people from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK in December and January. In the same countries, it spoke to 1,823 politicians, journalists, business chiefs and civil society leaders in January and February.
Lifestyle / Health

by R. Masakui

International Day of Yoga is on June 21. R. Masakui is India's Ambassador in Harare.

Celebration of 3rd International Day of Yoga is being held in Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare, Gweru, Kwekwe, Victoria Falls and Rusape cities of Zimbabwe; between June 10 to 25.Organized by Embassy of India, Harare; these celebrations are supported by "The Art of Living" (Bengaluru, India, headquartered organization) and "Brahma Kumaris" ("spiritual movement" headquartered in Mount Abu, India).Embassy is also organizing a Quiz Contest on Yoga which has 233 questions; besides an Article Writing Contest on Yoga on the topics of benefits of yoga for cancer, depression and antenatal care.Yoga is reportedly becoming popular in Zimbabwe. Reports suggest that there are over a dozen yoga studios and fitness-Pilates studios/gyms/health-club/sports-club/wellness-centre offering yoga in Harare.There are few yoga places/teachers in Bulawayo, yoga facilities in Mashonaland East, yoga opportunities in Victoria Falls area and sometimes the classes are held in Mutare. A "7 Days Luxury Yoga Safari in Zimbabwe" has been advertised from US$23,200, besides few other yoga safari offers. A lodge in Masvingo highlights "enough space in the living area to conduct a yoga class", reports add.The Art of Living reportedly has centers in Harare, Bulawayo and Kwekwe; while Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Centres are in Harare and Bulawayo. The Hindoo Society Harare conducts twice-weekly yoga classes and there is Ananda Marga Zimbabwe Yoga Society. Embassy of India in Harare celebrated open-to-all International Day of Yoga in June 2016.Welcoming the reported interest in yoga in Zimbabwe, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada (USA) today, urged Zimbabwe government to introduce multi-beneficial yoga in Zimbabwe schools.Yoga, referred as "a living fossil", was a mental and physical discipline, for everybody to share and benefit from, whose traces went back to around 2,000 BCE to Indus Valley civilization, Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, noted.Rajan Zed further said that yoga, although introduced and nourished by Hinduism, was a world heritage and liberation powerhouse to be utilized by all. According to Patanjali who codified it in Yoga Sutra, yoga was a methodical effort to attain perfection, through the control of the different elements of human nature, physical and psychical.According to US National Institutes of Health, yoga may help one to feel more relaxed, be more flexible, improve posture, breathe deeply, and get rid of stress. According to "2016 Yoga in America Study", about 37 million Americans (which included many celebrities) now practice yoga; and yoga is strongly correlated with having a positive self image. Yoga was the repository of something basic in the human soul and psyche, Zed added.
Two children have been hit by a car during early morning school traffic in south Queensland.

One male and one female child were airlifted to Lady Cilento Hospital in Brisbane and both are in a serious but stable condition after suffering head and spinal injuries.

Paramedics arrived on the scene to treat the children after they were struck by a vehicle on Yandilla and Murray Street in the Toowoomba suburb of Pittsworth.

The young students were on their way to St Stephen's School in Pittsworth when the incident happened at 8.20am, the Chronicle reports.

Emergency crews tended to the victims before they were transported to Pittsworth Showgrounds and loaded onto a helicopter to be taken to south Brisbane.

The Forensic Crash Unit is now investigating the cause of the incident.

More to come.

Paramedics are on the scene and are treating the victims on Yandilla (pictured) and Murray Street in the Toowoomba suburb of Pittsworth
Almost half of top firms are now asking their employees whether they went to a private school as part of a drive to boost social mobility, a major new study has found.

Data gathered from 100 companies by the Social Mobility Foundation (SMF) revealed many are also requesting information on economic background, parents jobs and area in which they grew up.

Around one in five  17 per cent  of the firms taking part now set targets on social mobility as part of their business strategy.

Almost half of top firms are now asking their employees whether they went to a private school

The information is collected anonymously from employees after they have joined companies and is used to review workforce demographics.

The SMF said that a low proportion of workers from state schools or deprived backgrounds could indicate class bias in the recruitment process.

Factors such as accent and whether the candidate has travelled widely can sometimes cause unconscious prejudice, they said.

Companies can use the data to alter their recruitment processes to make sure underrepresented groups are not disadvantaged.

The study, which is believed to be the first social mobility index, ranks employers on the efforts they are making to provide opportunities for those from poorer backgrounds.

Factors such as accent can sometimes cause unconscious prejudice

It comes after the Prime Minister Theresa May made disadvantaged youngsters a key priority and pledged to help the just about managing (JAM) families.

Research has shown that people from more affluent backgrounds take a disproportionate number of the best jobs.

Some parents of private school pupils have previously voiced disquiet at any sort of social engineering which could mean a disadvantage for their own children.

But yesterday, Education Secretary Justine Greening praised the companies taking part in the study and urged others to adopt similar measures.

She said: No-one should be held back because of their background or where they come from.

This index shows the positive steps that some firms are taking to ensure everyone can go as far as their talents will take them.

These trail blazing organisations need to become the norm, and that is the collective goal we must all have if we are truly to tackle poor social mobility.

Research shows people from affluent background take a disproportionate number of the best jobs

We are committed to making sure that everyone can get a world-class education which prepares them for a successful career.

The study found 41 per cent of the companies ask new and existing employees the type of school attended, and 26 per cent ask if an employee received free school meals.

Meanwhile 39 per cent ask if employees were the first in their family to go to university and 7 per cent ask about parental occupation.

It also found 11 per cent ask workers about the postcode where an employee grew up, as this can indicate if they lived in an impoverished area.

The Index, which will be annual, is a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation, a charity, and the governments Social Mobility Commission, in partnership with the City of London Corporation.

The research found that 39 per cent ask if employees were the first in their family to go to university

It ranks Britains employers for the first time on the actions they are taking to ensure they are open to accessing and progressing talent from all backgrounds.

Nearly 100 employers from 17 sectors, who collectively employ just under one million people, submitted entries about their practices and procedures in areas such as work with young people, recruitment, selection and progression.

The top ten firms named are Grant Thornton UK LLP, KPMG UK LLP, Skanska UK PLC, Standard Life, Deloitte UK, J.P. Morgan, PwC, Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP, WM Morrisons Supermarkets Plc and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Nearly three quarters of the organisations  72 per cent  are offering apprenticeships.

However, 77 per cent are at Levels 2 and 3  GCSE or A level equivalent  which have been shown to offer lower returns for the apprentices.

Nearly three quarters of firms are now offering apprenticeships

And although 96 per cent of firms say they accept degrees from any university, 61 per cent of successful applicants attended one of the countrys most selective 24 universities.

David Johnston, chief executive of the Social Mobility Foundation, said: While no one firm has cracked the issue and there is still progress to be made, they should be congratulated both for having prioritised social mobility and for being prepared to have their processes and practices independently scrutinised.

Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, added: It is very welcome that more employers are changing their workforce strategies to ensure they dont lose out on talented people from less privileged backgrounds.

The annual publication of this Index aims to shine a light on how and where progress is being made.
Advertisement

Australian and international scientists returning from a month-long marine voyage have found a total 21 deep sea creatures, as well as some never before seen species.

The team which comprised 58 scientist, technicians and crew, from fourteen institutions locally and the world ended their trip on Friday but not before discovering and rediscovery several amazing sea creatures along the way.

Led by Museums Victoria and supported by CSIRO Marine National Facility and the NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub, the team was headed by Chief Scientist and Museums Victoria's Senior Curator of Marine Invertebrates Dr Tim O'Hara.

Scroll down for video

The peanut worm, from the group Sipuncula, not to be confused with the penis worm (despite appearances) is a deep sea worm and that when threatened contracts its long head inwards, resembling a peanut

'Australia's deep-sea environment is larger in size than the mainland, and until now, almost nothing was known about life on the abyssal plain.

'We're really excited about the discoveries that we've made and are thrilled that we can now share them with the Australian and international public,' Dr Tim O'Hara said in a statement.

WHAT ARE PEANUT WORMS? Peanut worms - not to be confused with penis worms (despite it resembling a penis) - are a type of worm that resemble a penis and belong to a group called 'Sipuncula'. The worm-like animals range in size from a few to 500 millimeters (1.6 feet) or more in length, and their heads bear a retractable anterior section called an 'introvert'. Their 'introvert' section is muscular, highly extensible and capable of being withdrawn into the trunk by retractor muscles when threatened. Most peanut worms burrow in the mud or sand between tide levels or in oozes of the deepest ocean trenches. They can reproduce both sexually and asexually - meaning a single worm can produce offspring on its own without a partner, with the offspring inheriting identical genes to the parents Source: Britannica.com Advertisement

The team of scientist had traveled from Launceston to Brisbane on board the Marine National Facility research vessel Investigator and were elated to have rediscovered the 'faceless' fish in Australian waters after 140 years.

With no eyes and a Mona Lisa smile, the 'faceless' fish had the crew completely baffled when it was brought up from 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) below the surface.

Officially called the blind cusk fish, it was rediscovered by by scientists after 140 years of absence

The researchers also discovered a new species of peanut worms - which resemble a penis.

Peanut worms are a type of worm that resemble a penis and belong to a group called 'Sipuncula'.

The worm-like animals range in size from a few to 500 millimeters (1.6 feet) or more in length, and their heads bear a retractable anterior section called an 'introvert'.

Their 'introvert' section is muscular, highly extensible and capable of being withdrawn into the trunk by retractor muscles when threatened.

Most peanut worms burrow in the mud or sand between tide levels or in oozes of the deepest ocean trenches.

They can reproduce both sexually and asexually - meaning a single worm can produce offspring on its own without a partner, with the offspring inheriting identical genes to the parents

Researchers also found a fish called the shortarse feelerfish.

The scientific name of this fish is Bathymicrops brevianali (Bathymicrops = deep small eye; and breveanalis = short anus).

The name refers to the characteristically short-based anal fin of this species, and it belongs to the same family as the iconic deep sea tripodfish, and like them has tiny reduced eyes.

Deep sea peanut worms can reproduce both sexually and asexually - meaning a single worm can produce offspring on its own without a partner, with the offspring inheriting identical genes to the parents

The shortarse feelerfish's name came from New Zealand. Thescientific name of this fish is Bathymicrops brevianali (Bathymicrops = deep small eye; and breveanalis = shortanus). The name refers to the characteristically short-basedanal fin of this species. It belongs to the same family as theiconic deep sea tripodfish, and like them has tiny reducedeyes

This faceless fish with no eyes and a 'Mona Lisa smile' was rediscovered by scientists after 140 years of absence. It had the crew baffled when it was brought up from 4km below the surface

This 'faceless fish' species called a blind cusk fish was first collected in the northern CoralSea more than 140 years ago during the Voyage of HMSChallenger, the world's first round the world oceanographicexpedition. It was rediscovered in Australian waters after over 140 years

Next, scientists discovered a little deep sea coffinfish with bluish eyes and red feet belonging to the anglerfish group.

Its the deepest species collected in Australia, setting a new record.

Scientists have also labelled the find as a potentially new species.

Marine scientist have also discovered a new species of coffinfish which was the deepest one collected from the expedition. This mysterious deep sea coffinfish with its bluish eyes and red feet belongs to the anglerfish group. It attracts unsuspecting prey using a fishing rod tipped with a fluffy bait on top of its head. When threatened, coffinfish often inflate themselves with water to make themselves look more menacing

Another first timer discovered from voyage was the Cookiecutter Shark.

The cookiecutter shark has neatly arranged serrated teeth which it uses to latch onto prey such as big fish, whales, dolphins and the occasional unfortunate swimmer, before gouging out cookie-sized chunks of flesh.

This is the first time the species has been found in Australian waters.

It's small and bioluminescent, and inhabits the oceanic 'twilight zone' at 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) deep.

The cookiecutter shark preys on big fish, whales, dolphins andthe occasional unfortunate swimmer, latching onto thembefore gouging out cookie-sized chunks of flesh

The cookiecutter shark is a small bioluminescent shark that inhabits the oceanic 'twilight zone' at 1,000 meters (3,280 feet) deep

The cookiecutter shark has neatly arranged serrated teeth which it uses to latch onto prey before gouging out cookie-sized chunks of flesh. This is the first time the species has been found in Australian waters

Then there were the giant anemone-sucking sea spiders which has been known to be one of the oldest arthropods to mankind.

These sea spiders have legs that glow in the dark.

This orange coloured giant anenome-sucking sea spider is little more than a tube within a tube. Many of these types of sea spiders have legs that glow in the dark

Remember Mr Blobby, the social media marine species that was voted the World's Ugliest Fish in 2013?

Just like its cousin, the blob fish which was discovered 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) off New South Wales, has soft watery flesh and is an ambush predator that lies very still on the bottom waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass through.

This blob fish, which was discovered 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) off New South Wales, has soft watery flesh and is an ambush predator that lies very still on the bottom waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass by

Blob fish Mr Blobby, the social media phenomenon that was collected in the Tasman Sea in 2003, was voted the World's Ugliest Fish in 2013. Like his cousin, this blob fish has soft watery flesh and is an ambush predator that lies very still on the bottom waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass by

The blobfish's body is less dense than water, allowing it to drift above the seabed. They remaining mostly still, waiting for prey to pass by, opening their jaws and sucking prey in

Then there is this bright red gorgeous spiny crab with armors tailored to protect it from the dangers that lurks in the deep blue sea.

These crabs are not true crabs but are related to hermit crabs.

This bright beautiful red spiny crab sports an armor of spikes tailored to protect it from the dangers of other sea creatures

Spiny crabs are not actually true crabs but related more to hermitcrabs, although this hermit has traded in its shell for spikes

The researchers also discovered a deep-sea lizard fish (Bathysaurus ferox).

They're largely made up of a mouth and hinged teeth, and they lie in wait for prey.

They live at depths of 1,000-2,500 metres (3,280-8,202 feet) where there is very little food, so lizard fish exists in small numbers to maximize resources.

It can be even harder to find a mate than a meal at those depths, so they have evolved to become hermaphrodites - they have male and female reproductive organs.

So whatever lizard fish they come across, they will be able to mate.

This deep-sea lizard fish (Bathysaurus ferox) is largely made up of a mouth and hinged teeth. It lives at depths of 1000-2500 metres where there is very little food, so lizard fish exists in small numbers to maximize resources

The researchers also found a blind cusk eel specimen.

These eels have transparent, gelatinous skin and no scales, and live at depths of 2,000 to 6,000 metres (6,561 to 19,685 feet).

They don't have functional eyes, and they don't need them seeing as it's very dark at the depths at which they live.

The blind cusk eel is a small fish with transparent, gelatinous skin and no scales that looks more like a larvae than an adult fish. They live at 2000 to 6000 metre (6,561 to 19,685 feet) depths

The skeleton of this blind cusk eel is only partially calcified, and the muscles and gills are underdeveloped. The eyes and nasal organ are reduced, and they lack a swim bladder

Another type of fish discovered was the tripod fish.

They have tall, spindly fins and tiny, non-functional eyes.

They prop themselves on the seafloor with extended rays of their paired pelvic fins and tail, positioning themselves in slow moving currents and filter suspended food particles with their comb-like spindly fin gill rakers.

Tripod fish are iconic abyssal fish. They're often called spiderfish, and prop high off the seafloor on their stilt-like fins. Like all fish in the spiderfish family, they have very reduced eyes

To feed, tripod fish face into the current, extending their elongated pectoral fins forward feeling their prey items drifting by

The crew also discovered Tripod Fish, Flesh Eating Crustaceans, Zombie Worms, Carnivorous Sponge, Glass Sponge, Bioluminescent Brittle Stars, Shortarse Feelerfish, Hard of Sea Pigs, Dumbo Octopus, Corallimorph, Jumbo Prawn, Bamboo Carol, Peanut Worms, and Pancake Urchin.

Dr O'Hara said Melbourne museum will be showcasing a selection of these recently discovered marine creatures in an exhibition in the coming months.

The Jumbo Prawn discovered by scientists recently is a deep sea prawn that swims in the dark depths of the Australian abyss

Flesh-eating crustaceans such as this amphipod are deep sea scavengers and will eat almost anything nutritious they come across

Flesh-eating crustaceansCrustaceans such as this amphipod will eat almost anything, including the decaying remains of a dead whale, drifted downfrom the world above

This deep-sea batfish belongs to a family called Ogcocephalidae. They crawl about the sea floor and are found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas, but are absent from the Mediterranean Sea. Their body is usually depressed and flattened

Zombie worms are 2 to 7 centimeters (1 to 3 inches) long and were first discovered in the bones of a rotting gray whale on the deep sea floor - nearly 3,000 metres (10,000 feet) deep.

They have no functioning mouths, guts or anuses, but have bacteria that digest remains for them.

They burrow into bones to feed, digesting fats within the bone.

According to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, they secrete an acid from their skin that dissolves bone, freeing up the fat and protein inside.

Then, symbiotic bacteria living inside the worms digest the fat and protein.

Zombie worms, from the genus Osedax, are commonly found in the decaying remains of whales on the ocean floor, burrowing into their bones to feed. They have no functioning mouths, guts or anuses, but have bacteria that digest remains for them

These carnivorous sponge differ from others of their species in that they hook crustaceans and other miniature creatures in wicked, hook-and-loop fastener like spines, while they are slowly digested by the sponge

Glass sponges have a skeleton made of a lattice of silica fillaments, some of which can be up to a metre long

The scientists also collected samples of sea pigs, which live on deep ocean bottoms.

They function as the oceans vacuum cleaners, using their tube like feet to move across the abyssal mud, hoovering up microorganisms.

They gather in great numbers, just like many sea cucumbers, in places on the seafloor where food is abundant.

Sea pigs use their tube like feet to move across the abyssal mud, hoovering up microorganisms. They are the only type of sea cucumber with feet and can gather in great numbers where food is abundant in the abyssal realm

A herd of sea pigs in the Freycinet Marine Reserve off Tasmania. These little pink pigs are the oceans vacuum cleaners, using their tube like feet to move across the abyssal mud, hoovering up microorganisms

Sea pigs are the only type ofsea cucumber with feet and can gather in great numberswhere food is abundant in the abyssal realm

Another specimen that was collected, a dumbo octopus, gets its name from the fact that it has prominent ear-like fins that it uses to flat from one spot to another - just like the Disney character Dumbo the flying elephant.

According to Oceana, they are foraging predators that eat deep-sea invertebrates that swim above the sea floor.

Because they liv at extreme depths of at least 4000 metres (13,100 feet), they're rarely captured in fishing nets

Dumbo octopuses flap their ears to glide gracefully to move from one spot to another, say marine scientists studying the species

Dumbo octopuses flap their ear-like fins to 'fly', just like theDisney character of the same name, except this animal flapsits ears to glide gracefully through the deep dark abyss

While Corallimorph is technically a coral and belongs to the same group as anemones, jelly fish, hard corals and other tentacled creatures of the sea, it lacks the exoskeleton of its more familiarrelatives

Bamboo corals have a calcium carbonate skeleton with joint like nodes giving them the appearance of bamboo.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, they can be immensely abundant in the deep-sea and form large, single-species fields or meadows.

Their bony internodes are increasingly used in jewelry, both in its natural white form and as a dyed polished form.

The bamboo coral is a delicate deep sea organism that has a calcium carbonate skeleton with joint like nodes giving it the appearance of bamboo. It can live incredibly long with specimens recorded at around 4000 years old. They have growth rings like trees and so can record events in the oceans history in their biology

Pancake urchin are round disks of concentrated urchin that are not actually flat in their natural habitat. Their buoyant bodies are held up by water pressure in the deep ocean, but when brought to the surface they quickly deflate

Brittle Stars, scientifically known as Amphiophiura bullata, are found right across the globe from Siberia, in the north, to Antarctica, in the south. There is very little information that marine scientists know about this wonderful sea creature
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Founders of a 4,000mph (6,400 km/h) Hyperloop-style super-shuttle claim it will whisk passengers between London and Edinburgh in just eight minutes.

The ambitious Hyper Chariot concept uses roller coaster-type technology to catapult car-sized capsules through airless concrete tubes at five times the speed of sound - and more than five times faster than Elon Musk's Hyperloop.

The hypersonic public transport system, presided over by Hollywood actor Matthew Modine, will be fully operational by 2040 with test centres opening next year, the founders claim.

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The hypersonic public transport system (pictured) which looks straight out of a sci-fi movie could be fully operational by 2040 and will connect 'cities and even countries in a way never before possible' the company claims

WHAT IS THE HYPER CHARIOT? The founders claim the Hyper Chariot uses roller coaster-type technology to catapult car-sized capsules through airless concrete tubes at five times the speed of sound. The apparent public transport of the future will accelerate from 0 to 1,000mph (1,600 km/h) in just 60 seconds and will reach an astonishing top speed of 4,000mph (6,400 km/h). A spokesman for Hyper Chariot said tickets for the eight minute journey would be 'highly competitive', with fares for London to Edinburgh costing around 100 ($127). The ultra-powerful electric linear motors which rocket the hyper-chariot to record-breaking speeds, provide nearly double the sensation of acceleration as a Boeing 747. It will take three minutes and 100 miles for the pods to reach 4,000mph (6,400 km/h), and a similar time and distance to decelerate, the company claims. Advertisement

Hyper Chariot's President and Hollywood actor Matthew Modine, said: 'With Hyper Chariot, we are aiming to bring nothing less than space travel on Earth, connecting cities and even countries in a way never before possible.

'It may seem like something out of science fiction but the technology is now available for travel through airless tubes at 4,000mph (6,400 km/h) to become not only a reality, but a daily occurrence for passengers and cargo.

'It will also be the safest form of transport by far. Most injuries during travel are caused by human error or adverse weather conditions', he said.

The apparent public transport of the future will accelerate from 0 to 1,000mph (1,600 km/h) in just 60 seconds and will reach an top speed of 4,000mph (6,400 km/h).

'Hyper Chariot is self-driving, monitored from a central command centre, and is contained within a tube so the infamous British weather can't cause any disruptions', Mr Modine said.

Founders Nick and Joanna Garzilli told MailOnline they would be looking to set up their first test centre next year, possibly in Arizona.

The couple are currently looking for private investors and say they have already invested around $1 million (789 000) of their personal funds into the project.

They did not wish to name their potential investors.

Mr Garzilli claims he had a two hour meeting with Elon Musk before he released his Hyperloop white paper in 2013 and said 'it threw a wrench into what I was doing'.

'The idea of going fast in a tube is over 100 years old... Hyperloop is a bit different as he [Elon Musk] came up with his own twist', he said.

'The final designs for Hyper Chariot will work underground and it's possible they might be operational before 2040', Mr Garzilli said, who also claimed the company had already made a prototype.

Mr Garzilli claimed it 'made sense' to put the tubes underground at speeds greater than 500 -600mph (805 - 966 km/h).

A spokesman for Hyper Chariot said tickets for the eight minute journey would be 'highly competitive', with fares for London to Edinburgh costing around 100 ($127).

The Hyper Chariot (pictured) uses roller coaster technology to catapult car-sized capsules through airless concrete tubes at five times the speed of sound and will take three minutes and 100 miles for the pods to reach 4,000mph (6,400 km/h)

The same 332-mile (534 km) journey would take more than seven hours by car, at least four by train, and 1h 10 minutes by plane.

The ultra-powerful electric linear motors which rocket the hyper-chariot to record-breaking speeds, could provide nearly double the sensation of acceleration as a Boeing 747.

According to the couple, the technology relies on ET3 technology which was originally conceived in the mid 1980s and received the first patent in 1999.

The ultra-powerful electric linear motors which rocket the hyper-chariot (pictured) to record-breaking speeds, could provide nearly double the sensation of acceleration as a Boeing 747

JOURNEY TIMES LONDON TO EDINBURGH Hyper Chariot - 8 minutes Hyperloop - 50 minutes Car - seven hours Train - 4 hours 20 minutes Plane - 1 hour 10 minutes Advertisement

The company says it is looking to create 'Space Travel on Earth'.

'Speed in initial ET3 systems is 600km/h (370 mph) for in state trips, and will be developed to 6,500 km/h (4,000 mph) for international travel that will allow passenger or cargo travel from New York to Beijing in 2 hours', the website says.

'ET3 is networked like freeways, except the capsules are automatically routed from origin to destination.'

Mr Modine from hit series Stranger Things, said: 'Transport technology has stagnated since the turn of the 20th century, with the invention of the automobile and plane.'

'For decades, we've been waiting for the next revolution. The automation of transportation is the future, but not just through self-driving cars, which will still face the same problems of congestion and environmental pollution that we see today.'

The Hyper Chariot team claim it will be both the safest and environmentally friendly mode of passenger- transport available.

The 4,000 mph (6,400 km/h) machine can be 100 per cent solar-powered, produce zero emissions as well as being reported to be safer than any other form of mechanised transportation, including riding a bicycle.

A spokesman for Hyper Chariot said tickets for the eight minute journey would be 'highly competitive', with fares for London to Edinburgh costing around 100 ($127). Pictured is a Hyper Chariot model with seat

The 4,000 mph (6,400 km/h) machine can be 100 per cent solar-powered, produce zero emissions as well as being reported to be safer than any other form of mechanised transportation, including riding a bicycle, the spokesperson said

Passengers will experience relatively small G-Forces, but will be unable to stand for the duration of their trip because of F1 car-like seating positions (pictured). Each limo-sized pod is pilotless, but the user has the ability to control the vehicle's destination in much the same way as operating a car's satellite navigation system

The one drawback for passengers is that they will have to hold on for the whole eight minutes because a the Hyper Chariot will be without a toilet.

The 'rail gun' technology is nothing new and its hypersonic speed capabilities were demonstrated in military tests during the 1980s.

The idea of travelling at hypersonic speeds in a capsule shot through a depressurised tube was first mooted by inventor Alfred Beach in the 19th Century.

But the prospect became a reality in the late 1990s when American engineer and inventor Daryl Oster was issued his first patent.

It will take three minutes and 100 miles (161 km) for the pods to reach 4,000mph (6,400 km/h), and a similar time and distance to decelerate.

Passengers will experience relatively small G-Forces, but will be unable to stand for the duration of their trip because of F1 car-like seating positions.

Each limo-sized pod is pilotless, but the user has the ability to control the vehicle's destination in much the same way as operating a car's satellite navigation system, the company claims.

 Slide me  Pictured left is the Hyper Chariot (left) which would travel between London and Edinburgh in eight minutes and bears a striking resemblance to the Hyperloop (right) which promises to do the same journey in fifty minutes

WHAT IS HYPERLOOP? The Hyperloop is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at 745mph (1,200km/h) between distant locations. It was unveiled by Elon Musk in 2013, who said it could take passengers the 380 miles (610km) from LA to San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes a plane. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum. Passengers would sit in either individual or group pods, which would then be accelerated with magnets. Advertisement

Individual pods will be able to interchange like cars on a motorway, allowing the passengers to travel to different destinations with ease - or even stop for a loo break en-route.

Passengers will also have full control of the pod's interior lighting and ambient temperature, and will even be able to choose the 'outside view' they enjoy during the ride thanks to augmented-reality windows.

In March, Los Angeles-based start-up Hyperloop One unveiled new photographs of its full-scale prototype, which stretches for more than 1,600ft (500 metres) across the Nevada Desert.

The first tube of 'DevLoop', which looks set to become the first full Hyperloop system, is now being put through its paces in the desert in North Las Vegas.

If the companies complete this DevLoop, it will be the first full-scale Hyperloop system and the world will see a whole new mode of transportation.

Hyperloop is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum.

The tube is suspended off the ground to protect against weather and earthquakes.

The Hyperloop (pictured, concept image) is a proposed method of travel that would transport people at 745mph (1,200km/h) between distant locations. It is essentially a long tube that has had the air removed to create a vacuum

The first tube of 'DevLoop', which looks set to become the first full Hyperloop system, is now being put through its paces in the desert in North Las Vegas. If the companies complete this DevLoop, it will be the first full-scale Hyperloop system and the world will see a whole new mode of transportation

The DevLoop tube will contain a low-pressure environment to achieve speeds of more than 700 mph (1126 km/h) with pods full transporting people or cargo.

The 'DevLoop' project, short for 'development Hyperloop', will test both track and pod systems.

Passengers would sit in either individual or group pods, which would be accelerated with magnets.

Hyperloop One has raised a total of $160 million (128 million) to date in order to make DevLoop a reality.

The DevLoop tube will contain a low-pressure environment to achieve speeds of 700 mph (1126 km/h) with pods full transporting people or cargo. The 'DevLoop' project, short for 'development Hyperloop', will test both track and pod systems
WhatsApp's encrypted messenger service may not be as secure as once thought, according to a new finding.

A computer programmer discovered a flaw in the app that could be revealing the location of its users after they've sent a weblink using the service.

The study suggests that people who assume messages sent via the service are totally untraceable could be less protected than they believe.

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A security loophole in a process designed to detect malicious web links in WhatsApp could be exposing your location to hackers and other criminals (stock image)

THE DESIGN FLAW When WhatsApp's link checker detects a URL is being entered manually, it sends a small package of information called a ping to the server that hosts the website. Each time a new character is typed, the system checks for a valid page. This process was found to be exposing IP addresses, the personal identifier assigned to each internet connected device, as well as other information. The system is useful for protecting users from malicious links. And IP addresses are normally linked to the location of your internet service provider, so don't provide much of a risk on their own. But hackers and other criminals can combine them with other information to learn a lot about the people or even specific individuals using the internet from that address. Advertisement

The security hole was exposed by Adam Wolk, a software developer from Sanok, Poland.

He found that a facility designed to ensure that URL links sent via the app are not malicious was exposing IP addresses, the personal identifier assigned to each internet connected device, as well as other information.

The bug only applies to URLs that have been typed into WhatsApp manually, not any that have been copied and pasted from browsers or elsewhere.

Mr Wolk was able to see the details of users visiting his server who had typed address into WhatsApp.

Although the contents of the messages sent via the app remain encrypted, visible to only the sender and recipient, this loophole could be exploited third parties with nefarious intentions.

The design glitch means that anyone with access to network traffic between your device and the website you are visiting could use this information.

Speaking to The Register, Electronic Frontier Foundation staff technologist Erica Portnoy said: 'You can see where someone made a design decision there.

'If you assume that people copy rather than type in URLs, well, it's probably fine because they just visited it anyway.

'But it becomes less fine when, say, you were careful to visit that site over Tor (an encrypted browser), but now your IP address is leaked to the server because you typed it in the message.

'Imagine you found out that someone posted revenge porn about you, and WhatsApp just leaked your IP address, which gives the person running the website information about your location.

'You can imagine why that might be a problem.'

When WhatsApp's link checker detects a URL is being entered manually, it sends a small package of information called a ping to the server that hosts the website.

Each time a new character is typed, the system checks for a valid page.

This system is useful for protecting users from malicious links.

The security hole was exposed by Adam Wolk, a software developer from Sanok, Poland, who shared his discovery on Twitter (pictured)

IP addresses are normally linked to the location of your internet service provider and on their own don't provide much of a risk.

But hackers and other criminals can combine them with other information to learn a lot about the people or even specific individuals using the internet from that address.

Speaking on Twitter about the discovery, Mr Wolk said: 'Very creepy WhatsApp, someone was apparently typing in an URL and WhatsApp was fetching it off my server char-by-char.'

WhatsApp is said to be aware of the issue and is planning to issue a fix in a future update, according to reports in The Register.

MailOnline has contacted WhatsApp for a comment.
A leading astrophysicist has warned the next asteroid strike is just a matter of time as thousands of potentially threatening objects circle Earth.

Dr Alan Fitzsimmons has said it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen, with more asteroids being discovered every day.

An unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city and a larger one could potentially wipe out humanity, the expert warned.

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A leading astrophysicist has warned the next asteroid strike is just a matter of time as potentially thousands of threatening objects are circling in space

TUNGUSKA MYSTERY Dr Alan Fitzsimmons is highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event next Friday. On that day in 1908, a massive explosion ripped through the sky over the Tunguska region of Siberia, flattening trees nearly 31 miles around. The blast is thought to have been produced by a comet or asteroid hurtling through Earth's atmosphere at over 33,500 miles per hour, resulting in an explosion equal to 185 Hiroshima bombs as pressure and heat rapidly increased. Eighty million trees had been laid flat in the blast, and the charred carcasses of reindeer were found by the hundreds. The object likely entered the atmosphere at 9-19 miles per second, and would have been extremely fragile, destroying itself roughly six miles above Earth. But, with no impact crater and little evidence of such an object ever found, scientists remain perplexed as to what truly caused the event in which 'the sky was split in two'. The possibility of an asteroid explosion was first proposed in 1927 by Leonid Kulik, 20 years after the event. Others suggested the space-object may instead have been a comet, made up of ice rather than rock, meaning it would have evaporated as it entered Earth's atmosphere. Advertisement

'It is important to know that scientists and engineers have made great strides in detecting Near-Earth Asteroids and understanding the threat posed by them', said Dr Fitzsimmons from Queens University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre.

'Over 1,800 potentially hazardous objects have been discovered so far, but there are many more waiting to be found.

'Astronomers find Near-Earth Asteroids every day and most are harmless.'

'But it is still possible the next Tunguska would take us by surprise, and although we are much better at finding larger asteroids, that does us no good if we are not prepared to do something about them', he said.

Joined by scientist Brian Cox and astronauts such as Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart and International Space Station astronaut Nicole Stott, Dr Fitzsimmons is highlighting the threat for Asteroid Day, a global event next Friday.

On that day in 1908, a small asteroid exploded over Tunguska in Siberia and devastated 800 square miles.

The blast is thought to have been produced by a comet or asteroid hurtling through Earth's atmosphere at over 33,500mph, resulting in an explosion equal to 185 Hiroshima bombs as pressure and heat rapidly increased.

The object likely entered the atmosphere at 9-19 miles per second, and would have been extremely fragile, destroying itself roughly six miles above Earth.

In January 2017, an asteroid as big as a 10-story building passed by Earth at a distance half that of the Moon.

This one-mile-wide Metero Crater in Arizona was caused by a small 50-metre asteroid impacting 49,000 years ago. An unexpected strike in today's world could easily destroy a major city, Dr Alan Fitzsimmons said

And experts have previously warned that humans are not prepared for an asteroid impact and, should one head for Earth, there's not much we can do about it.

Asteroids are hunks of rocky space debris, left over from the creation of the planets, which whizz around our solar system, orbiting the sun.

From time to time they cross paths with us and, while impacts on the scale of the infamous 6.2-mile (10km) 'dinosaur-destroyer' are rare, an asteroid a fifth the size could spell disaster for civilisation.

Dr Fitzsimmons (pictured) from Queens University Belfast Astrophysics Research Centre said it is a case of when an asteroid collision will happen, rather than if it will happen

With energy greater than 10 million Hiroshima bombs, the impact shock would flatten everything within a 186-mile (300km) radius.

Dust and debris would cause an 'impact winter' and most living things would perish.

Alternatively, an ocean strike would trigger monumental tsunamis, obliterate entire coastlines and inject seawater into the atmosphere, destroying huge swathes of the ozone layer and exposing survivors to devastating levels of UV radiation.

Dr Joseph Nuth, is a researcher at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, and proposed the idea.

Speaking in December 2016, he said: 'The biggest problem, basically, is there's not a hell of a lot we can do about it at the moment.'

'They are the extinction-level events, things like dinosaur killers, they're 50 to 60 million years apart, essentially.'

'You could say, of course, we're due, but it's a random course at that point.'
The release date for Nokia's new health and fitness-based smartwatches has finally been revealed, with an official launch expected in September.

Three versions of the watch will release worldwide this autumn and will range in price from 40 ($50) up to 170 ($215).

The wearable will release alongside a matching set of weighing scales as well as a matching blood pressure monitor, both of which will be released this Autumn.

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Three versions of the watch will release worldwide in September and will range in price from 40 ($50) up to 170 ($215). The stylish Steel HR (left) will cost 170 ($215) while mid-range the Nokia Steel (right) will cost 120 ($150)

THE NEW NOKIA SMARTWATCHES Nokia will release three smartwatches this September. The 'Go' - 40 ($50): Will house a simple activity and sleep tracker and will not be compatible with the new weighing scales and blood pressure monitor. The 'Steel' - 120 ($150): Will connect to Nokia's matching scales and blood pressure monitors, which will need to be bought separately, and will have a battery life that lasts almost a year. The Steel HR - 170 ($215): Will come with a heart rate tracker, sleep cycle analysis and alarm as well as text, call and event alerts, and will have a battery life of around 25 days. Advertisement

While details of Nokia's new smartwatches came through earlier this year, the official release date was revealed on Tuesday after industry insiders spoke to the SunOnline.

Nokia will offer a range of watch straps to give customers a number of customisation options.

Of the three new versions, the cheapest - the 40 ($50) 'Go' - will house a simple activity and sleep tracker and will not be compatible with the new weighing scales and blood pressure monitor.

A mid-range watch, known as the 'Steel', will cost 120 ($150) while a high range 'Steel HR' will set customers back 170 ($215).

Both of these watches will connect to Nokia's matching scales and blood pressure monitors, which will need to be bought separately.

Nokia's scales will cost around 60 ($76) while the blood pressure monitor is priced at 110 ($140).

The wearable will release alongside a matching set of weighing scales that will cost around 60 ($76), set for release in Autumn

A companion blood pressure monitor, also set for release in Autumn, will be priced at 110 ($140)

The company's premium watch, the Steel HR, will come with a heart rate tracker, sleep cycle analysis and alarm as well as text, call and event alerts.

Its battery life will max out at around 25 days, which is considerably better than the latest Apple Watch, which requires charging almost daily.

Nokia's middle-range Steel model has a battery that lasts almost a year.

Nokia recently bought watchmakers Withings, giving the new devices a distinct style.

The watches are mostly a re-brand of older healthy and fitness models already offered by Withings in the past.

'Nokia's line of digital health products delivers actionable insights, giving users the equivalent of a daily check-up,' said Cedric Hutchings, vice president of digital health at Nokia.

'Today's launch extends the accessibility of our products to a broader range of users and needs, giving families the personalised experience they need to live healthier lives together.'
Samsung has announced that it has rolled out its digital wallet, Samsung Pay, for people banking with HSBC, first direct and M&S Bank in the UK.

The system, which is similar to Apple Pay, allows users to pay for purchases directly from their smartphone.

HSBC, first direct and M&S Bank join a growing list of partners using Samsung Pay in the UK, including MasterCard and Visa, MBNA, Nationwide and Santander.

Samsung has announced that it has rolled out its digital wallet, Samsung Pay, for people banking with HSBC, first direct and M&S Bank in the UK. The system, which is similar to Apple Pay, allows users to pay for purchases directly from their smartphone

HOW TO USE IT Samsung Pay can be used in most outlets where contactless payments are accepted  including on Transport for London (TfL) services. To use Samsung Pay, users must swipe up from the bottom edge of their screen to bring up the last used credit or debit card. They can then use either their iris or fingerprint to prove their identity, and tap the device on a payment terminal to make a payment. Samsung Pay is available on the Galaxy S8/S8+, S7/S7 edge, S6/S6 edge (via software update). Advertisement

Samsung says that more partners, including American Express will be available soon.

Conor Pierce, Vice President of the IT & Mobile Division of Samsung Electronics UK & Ireland, said: 'Since launching in the UK last month, Samsung Pay has provided our UK users with a simple and secure payment method that can be used almost anywhere they can use their contactless payment cards.'

To use Samsung Pay, users must swipe up from the bottom edge of their screen to bring up the last used credit or debit card.

They can then use either their iris or fingerprint to prove their identity, and tap the device on a payment terminal to make a payment.

To make sure the system is secure, Samsung uses an encrypted digital token to replace sensitive card information.

Additionally, Samsung's Knox security platform is built into the hardware and software of the device, which ensures mobile information and data is secure.

This provides real-time protection and monitors malicious software and activities on your device for added security.

To make sure the system is secure, Samsung uses an encrypted digital token to replace sensitive card information

Samsung Pay can be used in most outlets where contactless payments are accepted  including on Transport for London (TfL) services.

Users are also able to upload their loyalty cards at selected merchants across the UK, to accumulate and redeem points.

Samsung Pay is available now on the Galaxy S8/S8+, S7/S7 edge, S6/S6 edge (via software update).
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Commercial supersonic air travel could return in just half a decade after a Richard Branson-backed company aiming to replace the concord announced it will begin test flights next year.

Boom Supersonic has said initial test flights for its 1,451mph (2,330kph) aircraft, nicknamed the 'baby boom', will begin by the end of 2018, with both subsonic and supersonic tests taking place in the US.

Supersonic flight tests will be conducted near Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California in partnership with Virgin Galactic's The Spaceship Company.

If the firm's full-sized, 55-seater aircraft is approved, the first passengers could be making a supersonic journey across the Atlantic by 2023 at a top speed more than 100mph (160km/h) faster than the infamous Concorde.

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Boom Supersonic has said initial test flights for its 1,451mph (2,330kph) aircraft, nicknamed the 'baby boom', will begin by the end of 2018, with both subsonic and supersonic tests taking place in the US. Pictured is a display model of the company's XB-1 jet prototype, which will pave the way for a 55-seater passenger aircraft

BOOM PASSENGER AIRLINER SPECS - Crew: Two - Length: 170 feet (52m) - Wingspan: 60 feet (18m) - Passengers: 45 standard (up to 55 in high density) - Flight attendants: Up to 4 - Lavatories: 2 - Powerplane: 3X non-afterburning medium bypass turbofan; proprietary variable geometry intake and exhaust - Aerodynamics: Chine, refined delta wing with swept trailing edge Long Range - Cruise: Mach 2.2 (1,451mph, 2,335 km/h) - Nose Temperature: 307F (345F on ISA+20 day) Maximum Design Route: 4,500 nautical miles without refuel (8300km) Advertisement

Boom Supersonic, or 'Boom' for short, made the announcement at the Paris air show on Tuesday.

Blake Scholl, the founder and chief executive of the company, said that the design of Boom's XB-1 demonstration plane had passed a performance and safety review ahead of manufacturing.

Boom said that it had already received 76 orders for its passenger plane from five unnamed airlines, which could take passengers from London to New York in just 3.5 hours.

The larger of the company's two aircraft resembles a Concorde but is missing the loud and inefficient afterburner engine.

'By using a modern turbofan engine like Boeing and Airbus, you can make the aircraft both quieter and significantly more fuel efficient,' Mr Scholl told the BBC.

Backed by Virgin tycoon Richard Branson, the 'Baby Boom' jet could usher in a new era of affordable supersonic travel.

It hit headlines earlier this year when Boom Supersonic announced it had received $33million (26million) in funding and was ready to build its XB-1 jet prototype.

The company said in March that the jet, which will cost more than $200 million (160 million) to build, may carry passengers by the early 2020s.

'I have long been passionate about aerospace innovation and the development of high-speed commercial flights,' Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, said at the time.

'As an innovator in space, Virgin Galactic's decision to work with Boom was an easy one.'

The airline tycoon confirmed that Virgin has options to buy 10 of the supersonic Boom jets.

'Sixty years after the dawn of the jet age, we're still flying at 1960s speeds,' said Blake Scholl, a former Amazon executive and CEO and founder of Boom.

The XB-1 Supersonic Demonstrator is due to take off on its first test flight in late 2018 and could take passengers from London to New York in 3.5 hours. The jet is designed to carry two crew members

The subscale XB-1 'Baby Boom' jet (pictured top) is set to pave the way for the larger Boom Passenger Airliner (pictured bottom)

'Concorde's designers didn't have the technology for affordable supersonic travel, but now we do.

'Today, we're proud to unveil our first aircraft as we look forward to its first flight.'

The Boom jet was created by top aviation experts with collective experience working at Nasa, SpaceX and Boeing.

Learning from the Concorde, they combined advanced aerodynamics, efficient engine technology and new composite materials to produce a 'safe and affordable' supersonic aircraft 2.6 times faster than current jetliners.

The prototype has been subjected to more than 1,000 simulated wind tunnel tests and features a tapered carbon fibre fuselage, and efficient turbofan jet engines.

The firm hopes London to New York could be one of its most popular routes, with a 3.6 hour saving on a normal flight

A concept image shows what the interior of the Boom passenger jet could look like. Test flights of the first subscale prototypes begin in late 2018

XB-1 SUPERSONIC DEMONSTRATOR SPECS - Crew: Two (pilot + optional flight test engineer or passenger) - Length: 68 feet (20m) - Wingspan: 17 feet (5.2m) - Maximum Takeoff Weight: 13,500 lb (6,120kg) - Powerplant: 3X General Electric J85-21, non-afterburning; proprietary variable-geometry intake and exhaust - Aerodynamics: Chine, refined delta wing with swept trailing edge - Cruise: Mach 2.2 (1,451mph, 2,335 km/h) - Nose Temperature: 307F (345F on ISA+20 day) - Range: > 1,000 nautical miles (1852km) Advertisement

In March, Virgin told MailOnline Travel: 'Richard has long expressed interest in developing high speed flight and building high-speed flight R&D through Virgin Galactic and our manufacturing organisation, The Spaceship Company.

'We can confirm that The Spaceship Company will provide engineering, design and manufacturing services, flight tests and operations and that we have an option on the first 10 airframes. It is still early days and just the start of what you'll hear about our shared ambitions and efforts.'

Speaking to Bloomberg earlier this year, Mr Scholl said: 'The idea is for a plane that goes faster than any other passenger plane built before, but for the same price as business class.'

According to the simulations, Boom's design is quieter and 30 per cent more efficient than the Concorde.

It will be split into two single-seat rows, so everybody has a window and an aisle.

To reduce weight, the seats are of the standard domestic first-class variety, so no lay-down beds.

To cut flight time, Boom's plane will cruise at 60,000 feet, where passengers will be able to see the curvature of the earth, while going 2.6 times faster than other passenger planes.

Scholl said about 500 routes fit the craft's market, including a five-hour trip from San Francisco to Tokyo and a six-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney.

A concept drawing shows what the interior of the futuristic passenger jet could look like - all passengers would have a seat that sits both on the window and the aisle

Created by aerospace company Boom, the jet nicknamed 'Baby Boom' could pave the way for the larger Boom passenger jet (pictured) and usher in a new era of affordable supersonic travel

A mock-up of the craft at Heathrow - its founders hope it will use existing airports once tests are complete

Boom CEO Blake Scholl said about 500 routes fit the craft's market, including a five-hour trip from San Francisco to Tokyo and a six-hour flight from Los Angeles to Sydney

The first test flights will occur at Centennial Airport in Denver, with supersonic testing near Edwards Air Force Base in California
Samsung plans to hold a media event in New York City to unveil its next Galaxy Note smartphone sometime in the second half of August, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The person, who was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter and so declined to be identified, said the Galaxy Note 8 phone will sport a curved screen that is marginally larger than the 6.2-inch version of the Galaxy S8 smartphone and feature two rear cameras.

The person did not elaborate further on the phone including the pricing.

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Although Samsung is still riding on the success of its Galaxy S8 handsets, it appears the South Korean firm is gearing up for its next flagship smartphone  the Note 8. A series of leaks claiming to be the Android device has surfaced

NOTE 8 RUMORS Rumors surrounding the Note 8 first came to light in April, which had suggested that the Android could have significantly smaller bezels, an infinity screen and dual cameras. Sources have said its design will mirror that of the Galaxy S8. Sources have suggested that the Note 8 will have an Infinity display, which has an 18.5-to-9 width-to-length ratio. Advertisement

Although Samsung is still riding on the success of its Galaxy S8 handsets, it appears the South Korean firm is gearing up for its next flagship smartphone  the Note 8.

A series of leaks claiming to be the Android device recently surfaced, showing a dual lens camera, an S Pen stylus inside and the same edge-to-edge screen as the S8 family.

The Galaxy Note 8 is expected to be released late August and its manufacturers hope it will finally put memories of the Note 7 fiasco behind them.

The new renders were published online by a Twitter users that goes by the name Ice universe, who made the claim that the leaks are in fact the Note 8.

If the renders are real, than Android users can expect the smartphones design to mirror that of the Galaxy S8, as it appears to have the stunning edge-to-edge screen with no physical bezels.

Samsung had first dropped hints about a follow-up to its exploding Galaxy Note Series in April  the smartphones were found to have irregularly sized batteries that caused them to overheat and catch fire.

Although the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was one of the biggest blunders in smartphone history, the South Korean firm believes it's Note 8 has the ability to stand up to Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone 8.

And in order to do so, Samsung is set to release the smartphone before Apple's does theirs.

Earlier this month it was speculated that it could unveil the Note 8 in late August.

The report regarding the Android smartphone was revealed by The Korea Herald and picked up by BGR, which noted that the Note 8s design is set to mirror that of the Galaxy S8.

If the renders are real, than Android users can expect the smartphones design to mirror that of the Galaxy S8, as it appears to have the stunning edge-to-edge screen with no physical bezels

Sources have suggested that the Note 8 is set to include the Infinity display, which has an 18.5-to-9 width-to-length ratio.

A separate report had claimed that the Note 8 was being tested on Android 7.1.1 (Nougat), rather than a beta version of the upcoming.

This news has suggested that the smartphone will launch before the new OS, dubbed 'O', is released - which is set to be released in the fall.

Another rumor had surfaced last month, which was a nice second video claiming to be the first glimpse of the Note 8.

The clip was first uploaded to Weibo, China's leading social media site.

Although the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 (pictured) was one of the biggest blunders in smartphone history, the South Korean firm believes it's Note 8 has the ability to stand up to Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone 8.

FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE NOTE 8? A nine second video was uploaded to Weibo, China's leading social media site in May. It was later posted on Twitter by the leaker @mmddj_china. If the video is to be believed, the new Note 8 would have a 6.3 inch screen which would reach to each edge of the device. This bezel-less design is similar to the Infinity Display featured on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ released earlier this year. A similar design is rumored for the next flagship iPhone. The screen dimensions shown would make the Note 8 0.6 inches larger than its predecessor. It would also be 0.1 inches larger than the S8 + which would make it the largest flagship smartphone ever released by Samsung. Other rumors suggest it will have a fingerprint scanner on the front as well as a dual camera on the rear. Advertisement

It was later posted on Twitter by the leaker @mmddj_china with the simple question 'Note 8?'.

If the video is to be believed, the new Note 8 would have a 6.3 inch (16 centimeter) screen which would reach to each edge of the device.

This bezel-less design is similar to the Infinity Display featured on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ released earlier this year.

A similar design is rumored for the next flagship iPhone.

Earlier this month it was speculated that it could unveil the Note 8 in late August and that it would mirror that of the Galaxy S8 (pictured). Sources said Note 8 is set to include the Infinity display, which has an 18.5-to-9 width-to-length ratio that was first released in April with the S8 model

The screen dimensions shown would make the Note 8 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) larger than its predecessor.

It would also be 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) larger than the S8 + which would make it the largest flagship smartphone ever released by Samsung.

A vidoe also surfaced recently that suggests the new Note 8 would have a 6.3 inch screen (left) which would reach to each edge of the device. The screen dimensions shown (right) would make the Note 8 0.6 inches (1.5 centimeters) larger than its predecessor

Other rumors suggest it will have a fingerprint scanner on the front as well as a dual camera on the rear.

In April, Samsung dropped a huge hint on the follow-up to its exploding Galaxy Note 7 series.

This bezel-less design (left) is similar to the Infinity Display featured on the Galaxy S8 and S8+ released earlier this year. The screen (right) would also be 0.1 inches (0.25 centimeters) larger than the S8 + which would make it the largest flagship smartphone ever released by Samsung

A Samsung spokesperson has said to expect a 'new flagship smartphone' before the end of the year.

A new device could hit shelves in the second half of 2017 once hype around its new Galaxy S8 and S8+ smartphones has settled down.

Samsung was forced to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 range last year after repeated reports from users that they were catching fire.

Airliners banned the devices over safety fears and the company had to recall three million handsets.

Samsung launched a vast inquiry into the issue that is expected to cost the company an estimate $5.3 billion (4.3 billion)

Samsung was forced to scrap its Galaxy Note 7 (pictured) range last year after repeated reports from users that they were catching fire (stock image)

Airliners banned the devices over safety fears due to overheating batteries led to the devices catching fire (pictured). Samsung had to recall three million handsets

It later claimed a battery fault in the Galaxy Note 7 was to blame.

Last week it was announced that the South Korean firm will begin to sell refurbished versions of its its ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, as well as plans to rebrand it.

Pictures of the new handset leaked online revealed what it will look like and, unsurprisingly, it's exactly the same.

WHAT'S INSIDE YOUR PHONE? The hazardous ingredients of mobile phones have long been kept under wraps by manufacturers who are tight lipped about the recipes they use for their high-tech components. Cobalt is also used in rechargable batteries found in many laptops, mobile phones and electric vehicles. HeathyStuff.org sampled 36 different mobile phones to see what lurks behind the sleek smartphone covers. The phones were completely disassembled and interior and exterior components were sampled by X-ray Fluorescence spectrometry - a process which determines the chemical composition of a material. Each phone reportedly had either lead, bromine, mercury, cadmium, chlorine, or some combination of those chemicals. These hazardous substances can pollute throughout a product's life cycle, including when the minerals are extracted; when they are processed; during phone manufacturing; and at the end of the phone's useful life. The average smartphone contains up to 62 different types of metals and many are rare-earth metals. Advertisement

The only difference, according to the images sent to Droidholic, are a large R stamped onto the back of the handset.

A recent report has revealed that the South Korean firm has renamed the smartphone 'Galaxy Note FE', which stands for 'Fandom Edition', in a bid to 'minimize the refurbished phone image'.

Samsung's senior official, Lee Myung-bak, has also chimed in to give more details regarding the Note 7 FE's price and release date.

'The Galaxy Note 7 Ripper Phone is most likely to launch in Korea at the end of June,' he explained.

The term 'ripper' is used in Korea to signify a refurbished phone.

The handset is said to boast the same look as the original, but with a smaller 3,200 mAh battery  it is also speculated to cost 30 per cent less than the Galaxy Note 7.

The refurbished Galaxy Note FE is set to hit the South Korean market by the end of June.

And Samsung plans to release 30,000 units at launch.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Destiny for Africa Network leader Reverend Obadiah Musindo has fired a salvo at retired Anglican bishop of Harare Diocese and Manicaland, Sebastian Bakare, describing him as a new version of disgraced Pius Ncube.According to NewZimbabwe.com, Musindo said Bakare, like Ncube, was not ashamed of parading his hatred for President Robert Mugabe in the public.He was speaking on the sidelines of the official opening of a Dangamvura Information Communication Centre by President Mugabe in Mutare on Friday.Musindo said Bakare was not biblically oriented because he wanted to "incite" youths to boycott President Mugabe's Sakubva rally but was ignored.The controversial cleric said a true man of God does not speak evil against leaders.He added, "If Bakare has issues with Mugabe he can engage him or the party leadership not for him to come in the open inciting people to boycott rallies or revolt against the president".Musindo said Bakare should not talk of miracles because he cannot even cast out a demon from a kindergarten kid."Bakare must go to hell and join Satan," said Musindo.
Male chimpanzees in Ugandas notorious Ngogo clan are now known to patrol the borders of their territory, actively seeking out members of rival groups to fight and even kill.

The insight comes as part of ongoing analyses of 20 years worth of data on the 200-member-strong community, which has dramatically increased its size over the last decade.

While other animals tend to get into territory fights as a result of chance encounters, the Ngogo chimps appear to deliberately search for enemies on the edges of their land, in what researchers say is a remarkable example of group-level cooperation.

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Male chimpanzees in Ugandas notorious Ngogo clan are now known to patrol the borders of their territory, actively seeking out members of rival groups to fight and even kill. A chimp named Wilson and his cohort can be seen testing the boundaries of their group's region

According to the new research, led by a scientist at Arizona State University, these patrols often involve multiple individuals who travel to the boundaries of their territory and exhibit hyper-vigilant behaviour.

Sometimes, they even travel deep into their neighbours territory.

Patrolling may give the Ngogo chimps in Kibale National Park a leg up on the competition, the researchers explain, as this group has been found to benefit from long life expectancies, massive territory, and unusually bountiful food supply.

This behaviour, though, is dangerous, and often leads to violent spats with members of other communities.

The Ngogo chimpanzees patrol and kill neighbours more frequently than any other chimpanzee group, said John Mitani of the University of Michigan, who has studied the group for 22 years.

Patrolling also requires a lot of energy  and, it takes away from time the males could be mating, the researchers note.

While the exact benefits of these patrols remain unclear, the researchers uncovered several patterns.

THE NGOGO 'WARRIOR APES' A recent Discovery documentary has provided a captivating glimpse into the lives of the Ngogo chimps, following the group for 23 years to reveal their human-like complexity as the chimps hunt, fight, and support each other. The chimps at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda are the largest known chimpanzee community. In 1996, researchers estimated the population to be about 142 members. Now, the group has grown to 204, and vastly increased their territory. With a community of more than 200 members, the Ngogo chimps in the Ugandan rainforest are said to be the most brutal troop in the world, often waging violent attacks on neighbouring tribes to expand their territory Over the course of 10 years they had killed so many members from that neighbouring community that they had reduced the coalitionary strength of that neighbouring group to an extent where our chimps could simply move in,' one of the researchers explained in the documentary. In one shocking clip, several chimps can be seen cooperating to take down a monkey  and later dividing the kill amongst themselves. Another clip shows the chimps ganging up on a member of their own group, beating and kicking him. Despite their often brutal nature, the Ngogo chimps were also found to show a much gentler side toward each other. Advertisement

Males varied how often they patrolled, and high-ranking individuals in good physical condition were found to partake more frequently.

And, males who had more offspring in the group patrolled more often as well.

But, patrols were even observed in groups that had no offspring or relatives to protect.

The observations suggest many of the gains are long-term, rather than immediate.

Those with no relatives to protect are still likely to reproduce in the future, they explain, and will benefit from protecting the group as a whole.

Researchers have observed the chimps at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda for decades, watching as theyve grown from a population of 142 in 1996, to more than 200 today. A recent Discovery documentary revealed remarkable new insight into their lives

We know that humans have means ranging from gossip to drastic punishment to aid cooperation in group settings, said Kevin Langergraber of ASUs School of Human Evolution and Social Change and Institute of Human Origins.

The puzzle has been to explain cooperation in animal societies, where shirking would seem an attractive option.

While most studies have focused on short term benefits of this type of behaviour, Langergraber says the new work shows the benefit of long-term data collection, and also that we still have a lot to learn from these chimpanzees.

Over the last few months, more and more information has steadily emerged on the remarkable lives of the Ngogo chimps, who are said to be the most brutal troop in the world.
When it comes to getting airplanes off the ground in broiling weather, it's not the heat or the humidity. It's the air density.

Hotter air gets thin, making it harder to take off and land safely, mostly for smaller jets.

That's what has kept some planes grounded in Phoenix this week where temperatures have been pushing 120 degrees.

American Airlines cancelled dozens flights out of Phoenix today due to extreme heat on Tuesday. The cancellations are for operations by smaller regional jets that have lower maximum operating temperatures than full size jets. Above an American Eagle jet seen through heat ripples as it lands at Sky Harbor International Airport on Monday in Phoenix

THE LIFT ISSUE Airplanes take off and stay aloft because of lift, the force from the movement of air underneath the plane's wings that push it upward. Hotter air gets thin, making it harder to take off and land safely, mostly for smaller jets. Smaller jets that generate less thrust, like Bombardier's CRJ regional jets, which have a 118-degree limit at Phoenix's elevation, are more likely to be stuck in the heat. High heat also means a plane climbs at a lower rate.

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Airplanes take off and stay aloft because of lift, the force from the movement of air underneath the plane's wings that push it upward.

'As air warms up, it expands and there's fewer molecules to be under your wing,' said Lou McNally , professor of applied meteorology at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

With less lift, 'you need more of everything. You need more thrust to take off. You need more distance (on the runway) to take off. You need more distance to land. You need more speed to land. It gets to a point for some aircraft that it gets just too much,' he said.

High heat also means a plane climbs at a lower rate, said pilot Patrick Smith, author of the book 'Cockpit Confidential .'

To compensate, planes have to generate more thrust or power and have larger wings.

The first day of summer is being marked in the Southwestern part of the United States with a punishing heat wave that has caused flights to be canceled in Phoenix and health warning issued

Smaller jets that generate less thrust, like Bombardier's CRJ regional jets, which have a 118-degree limit at Phoenix's elevation, are more likely to be stuck in the heat.

At Dubai International Airport and other Gulf airports, which are used to hot weather, many flights - but not all - arrive at night and early morning to get around the heat problem.

Gulf carriers also tend to operate longer flights using larger planes that aren't as limited by high heat.

In Phoenix, temperatures around 118 are infrequent enough that airlines continue to use regional jets for shorter trips.

If a plane does try to take off beyond its temperature threshold, it may keep racing down the runway and not get up in time and have to abort.

And if it tries to land when the air is too thin and hot, that's not good either because it can run out of runway, McNally said.

Before they fly, pilots consult a sheet that tells them about the temperature, elevation and even humidity - factors that go into something called density altitude, a key measurement of flight conditions.

Heat waves ripple across the tarmac at Sky Harbor International Airport as downtown Phoenix stands in the background as an airplane lands, Tuesday, June 20, 2017 in Phoenix. Phoenix hit a high of 118 on Monday with an excessive heat warning in place until Saturday.

Airlines can take other steps when the temperature climbs too high. They can lighten the plane's load by selling fewer seats - a tactic American Airlines is using in the Phoenix heat wave - or reducing cargo.

They can take off with less than a full tank of fuel and then stop somewhere cooler to refuel.

The density altitude is the main issue, but there also could be simple heat issues on internal components like seals that might become too soft or even melt at higher temperature, MIT aeronautics and astronautics professor R. John Hansman said.

Pilot Smith said electronics overheat, brake temperatures run high and internal machinery gets overly hot and then toss in ground temperatures racing past 110 degrees 'and things begin to break down.'

Las Vegas is likely to hit 117 degrees on Tuesday; it was already 96F around 7.30am (PST) on The Strip. Above the sun reflects from the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino

This Associated Press series was produced in partnership with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Archaeologists have long been perplexed by a bizarre structure built hundreds of years ago in Peru that appears to be modeled in the form of a volcano.

Situated in the Nepena Valley, there are no volcanoes in the vicinity of the prehistoric pyramid, or any similar artificial structures that resemble its shape.

In a new investigation, researchers uncovered a collapsed stairwell inside the mound leading to a mud-plaster floor  and a hearth containing charcoal and shell.

And, radiocarbon dating has revealed the unusual occurrence of four total solar eclipses at the site over the span of just 110 years, suggesting it may have been used to celebrate the victory of the moon over the sun.

Situated in the Nepena Valley, there are no volcanoes in the vicinity of the prehistoric pyramid (shown right), or any other structures in the world that resemble its shape. The researchers compare its appearance to the volcanic cinder cone in the Andahua Valley (left)

WHAT THEY FOUND The researchers dug a trench on the south wall of the crater, revealing a collapsed stairwell, a row of adobe bricks, and a fragment of a mud-plaster floor two meters below the surface. They also found the remains of an ancient fireplace below the center of the inner core. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth has traced the feature to about AD 1563, with a potential range from AD 14921602 And, during this time, the researchers discovered something very unusual  a rare cluster of four total solar eclipses. According to the researchers the people living in coastal Peru at this time, known as the Yungas, would have greeted an eclipse of the sun with joy, not fear,. By climbing to the top of the nearby San Isidrio mountain for a better view, where there are platforms that align with the December solstice sunset, discovered that any ceremony at the site would have been visible. While it remains unclear why the structure was built in this shape in the first place, the find suggests the pyramid may have had ties to the solar eclipse, to celebrate the 'victory of the moon (and the sea) over the sun (and the land),' at least in its final days. Advertisement

The strange pyramid, also referred to as a mound, was first identified back in the 1960s.

While its not known exactly when it was built, its proximity to the Late Formative centre of (900 BC200 BC) of San Isidrio suggests there may be a link to this period, the researchers explain in a new study, published to the journal Antiquity.

It stands roughly 15.5 meters tall (50.8 feet), and has a strange crater-like feature dug into the top.

Since its discovery, scientists have been baffled by the structure.

When viewed from a distance, the site resembles a volcanic cinder cone, such as the one in the Andahua Valley in southern Peru, and we have therefore named the site El Volcan, the authors wrote.

It should be noted, however, that there are no volcanoes in the vicinity of El Volcan to serve as models, nor indeed are any other examples of volcano-shaped structures known from Peru or elsewhere.

Over the years, researchers have suggested several explanations, leading to two prevailing hypotheses: one arguing that the crater is the result of looting or erosion later in its life, and another suggesting it was originally constructed to resemble a volcanic cone, and could be tied to astronomical events.

In the new study, however, the researchers argue that subsequent activities or natural processes are not likely to have created the feature.

The researchers dug a trench on the south wall of the crater, revealing a collapsed stairwell, a row of adobe bricks, and a fragment of a mud-plaster floor two meters below the surface.

They also found the remains of an ancient fireplace below the center of the inner core.

In a new investigation, researchers uncovered a collapsed stairwell that leading to a mud-plaster floor  and a hearth containing charcoal and shell. Radiocarbon dating of the hearth has traced the feature to about AD 1563, with a potential range from AD 14921602

While it remains unclear why the structure was built in this shape in the first place, the find suggests the pyramid may have had ties to the solar eclipse, at least in its final days. The location of the stairwell is indicated by the arrow in the map above

Radiocarbon dating of the hearth has traced the feature to about AD 1563, with a potential range from AD 14921602.

And, during this time, the researchers discovered something very unusual  a rare cluster of four total solar eclipses.

As total solar eclipses in any single location occur by chance about every 360 years, the probability of four eclipses occurring in 110 years is 0.0003 by the Binomial Expansion, the authors wrote.

The inhabitants of the area would have had no previous experience with such a cluster.

It is even less probable that four eclipses would occur in the observed range of 32 years between the eclipses of AD 1521 and 1543.

By climbing to the top of the nearby San Isidrio mountain for a better view, where there are platforms that align with the December solstice sunset, the researchers discovered that any ceremony at the site would have been visible

According to the researchers the people living in coastal Peru at this time, known as the Yungas, would have greeted an eclipse of the sun with joy, not fear, unlike the Incas.

By climbing to the top of the nearby San Isidrio mountain for a better view, where there are platforms that align with the December solstice sunset, the researchers discovered that any ceremony at the site would have been visible from where they stood.

While it remains unclear why the structure was built in this shape in the first place, the find suggests the pyramid may have had ties to the solar eclipse, at least in its final days.

Possibly the El Volcan hearth was a place celebrating the victory of the moon (and the sea) over the sun (and the land), the researchers concluded.

It could also have marked the final use of this unique structure.
A mum claims her 12-year-old daughter was told the only replacement for her 8 pre-ordered dinner on a four-hour flight to Greece was a Pot Noodle - but later spotted another passenger apparently tucking into her meal.

Vicki Easthope, 39, had been travelling to Kos with her ex-partner and two daughters when staff announced there were no chicken tikka masala on board, despite youngster Hannah ordering one.

Staff allegedly informed Hannah that the only replacement was a Thai green curry or a Pot Noodle and - since she didnt like Thai curries - she was forced to settle for the snack without getting any refund.

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Hannah Easthope, 12, wasn't happy when she was denied her meal - and then spotted a fellow passenger enjoying it

But, in a bizarre twist, Hannah smelt her favourite meal a short time later - and claims she discovered a man tucking into a tikka masala.

Then, upon complaining, the family say they were told that this was of lower quality and not the same as the pre-ordered chicken tikka masala - though both were priced 8.

Vicki, from Shropshire, said: 'I had pre-ordered a hot meal and they told me the only alternative [if she didnt like Thai green curry] was a Pot Noodle.

'We had ordered it well in advance and Hannahs and my ex-husbands both cost 8, while my other daughter and I ordered cold meals.

'Luckily, my daughter is really placid and was getting fed up so just said it was fine and shed eat the Pot Noodle.

'Half an hour later and the other meals are coming out that have been ordered off the in-flight menu. My daughter turned to me and said "mum, I can smell chicken tikka masala".

'She looked in front of us and a man was tucking into his chicken tikka curry.'

Unimpressed: Mother Vicki Easthope (L) and her youngster after they arrived in Kos, Greece

'The staff claimed that the only alternative was a Thai curry which just isnt acceptable for young children. But after that, they were serving pastas and all sorts to others. But they never mentioned these as options for us.'

The air stewardess on board the flight allegedly claimed that they used two separate trolleys for pre-ordered and in-flight food.

The curry eaten by the other customer was apparently of lower quality from the in-flight food and Vicki says the stewardess claimed this was why she hadnt offered it.

Vicki, a mental health volunteer, said: 'We were told by the stewardess that there were none of those onboard at all.

'She started explaining to me that food from the pre-ordered menu came in a different trolley from the inflight menu.

'She was going on and on about this red box like it made any difference. I paid 8 for the meal and instead my daughter gets 1 Pot Noodle and no refund.

Family holiday: The travellers together, including Vicki's youngest daughter (R) and ex-partner

'Apparently the chicken tikka that the other customer had was of lower quality than the one we had ordered, yet it was still 8.

'She really just didnt get what I was saying and told me to complain to the customer services team when I got back. We didnt get a reason for the difference in quality.

'I dont know how it could be any different, apart from the red box that it comes in and the fact that the pre-ordered one comes with a little pudding.

'This was a 4hr 15-minute flight. A Pot Noodle isnt an acceptable meal for that length of time.

'Thankfully we hadnt ordered meals on the way back and theyd ran out of food inflight anyway. To run out of food is bad. The first meal Hannah had when we got home was a chicken tikka masala.'

Oops! The budget airline has denied receiving any complaint, but offered to sort a refund

So far, Vicki and her ex-partner Steven say they have been offered no refund following the incident and have only received one message via social media asking them to get in touch with the customer services team.

A spokesperson from Jet2 said: 'We are sorry for any inconvenience caused to Vicki and her family.

'We have not received a complaint from Vicki about this matter, and always encourage customers to contact us directly so that we can resolve any issues that they may have.

'However, we are contacting Vicki to ensure that she is refunded.'
Most commuter options leave Londoners between a rock and a hard place.

But, according to new research, more than half of the capital's workforce could save time and money by ditching their vehicles in favour of the train.

An infographic highlights significant differences in journey time and costs across a number of major commuting routes.

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True cost of travel: Residents in well-connected cities such as Brighton can claw-back an extra four days by ditching their car for public transport

REVEALED: TOP THREE COMMUTER SAVINGS Brighton to London, where rail commuters could save 392 hours a year (16 days) choosing the train

Bletchley to London, saving 10 days each year on the train (245 hours)

Crawley to London, with a saving of 228 hours, or 9.5 days, on trains Advertisement

The research, published on Tuesday by marbles.com, looked into the average time and annual costs involved in taking a car or a train.

In 55 per cent of cases, trains come out the winner due to being the faster option, taking 534 hours per year, while cars rack up 634  thats 22 days compared to 26.

However, cars came out the slightly cheaper choice, with an average cost of 4395.80 for the year, compared to 4491.50 on trains.

Although any financial gain would certainly be off-set by an increased carbon footprint.

Whether the train or car is the better option depends on where the commuter lives - and the differences between the commuter-belt towns is striking.

Analysis: Researchers studied many busy routes across the commuter-belt into the capital

Brighton locals could save 392 hours a year (16 days) by taking the train instead of the car, while those who reside in Bletchley could claw back 10 days each year on the train (245 hours).

Meanwhile, people who live in Crawley and commute to London could save 228 hours, or 9.5 days, by leaving their car in the garage.

However, some would benefit from hitting the road.

What's more valuable to you? Calculating location with need could economise many journeys

THE INSIDE TRACK ON THE METHODOLOGY All distances to/from Tottenham Court Road.

All petrol prices (based on distance) at 35mpg with a 15% non-optimal driving offset.

All times based on Google results as at 17/01/17.

Train costs based on cheapest 0900 arrival at London (any).

Train costs include Tube season ticket zones 1-6.

Congestion Charge assumes Auto-Pay registration - and accordingly reduced cost.

Total average value for insurance, MOT, tax is 623.85 per year. This average is included in the total cost above. Advertisement

For example, people who normally drive from Dartford to London would lose nearly six days if they took the train instead, and those in Windsor about 5.5 days.

Money-wise, the biggest cost savings were again for trains.

Ashford commuters could save a massive 3,824.60 by taking the train, and those in Crawley and Brighton could save 2,370 and 1,425.50 respectively if they ditch their cars.

However, cars were cheaper in 68 per cent of cases  making them the standout winner on the majority of routes, with an average saving on these routes of 609.50.
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It was once a remote - and little-known - part of the world.

But, since the advent of global travel, Machu Picchu has become a victim of its own success - with local officials now trying to manage visitor numbers with timed tickets.

According to a report announced on Tuesday, Peru's Ministry of Culture will implement a new permit system, which will limit tourist access from July 1.

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Must-see: Now limited to visitors, a stunning view of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian department of Cusco

Much like a theme park, the initiative will require all travellers to make reservations online from the official Machu Picchu website or via a UK or Peru-based tour operator.

Guests will be restricted to two entry periods, in the morning from 6.0012.00, or in the afternoon from 12.00 to 17.30. Those wishing to stay for the day will have to purchase two tickets, one for the morning and one for the afternoon.

An official Machu Picchu Tour guide will also be compulsory, with groups facing a maximum capacity of 16 people.

The decision comes just ten years after the ancient citadel was first declared a 'New Wonder of the World', sparking huge global interest from globe-trotters.

But, featured on myriad bucket lists the world over, its new-found popularity caused unwelcome human traffic.

In 2008, Unesco and the Peruvian Government agreed that no more than 2,500 people should visit the site per day.

Demand: The decision comes just ten years after the ancient citadel was first declared a 'New Wonder of the World', sparking huge global interest from globe-trotters

Due to a lack of emergency management, limited road access from Santa Maria and Santa Teresa and poorly managed waste facilities, increasing numbers of tourists would be potentially very dangerous.

In 2014 1.1million people reached its dizzying peak.

Fortunately, LATA member Journey Latin America believes that Machu Picchu will remain just as popular with the new system - and it will allow authorities to closely manage footfall around the site.

Tony Mason, CEO of the Latin American Travel Association, said: 'LATA brings together a number of Peruvian tour operators who organise tours to Machu Picchu and it also has a wealth of experience working with Perus official tourism body, PromPeru.

Busy: In 2008, Unesco and the Peruvian Government agreed that no more than 2,500 people should visit the site per day

'Machu Picchu is one of Perus most important tourist sites, attracting millions of visitors every year. We anticipate that the new system introduced by the Ministry of Culture will regulate the flow of travellers entering the site and help to preserve the authenticity of this national treasure.

'This new system emphasises the importance of tourism to Peru as well as the efforts being made by governments to improve the visitor experience at the destinations tourist attractions.

'We would like to highlight that for the first six months of the new permit system, Machu Picchu entry tickets booked using the old system for visits between July and December 2017 will be honoured'.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, London's Peckham has become the latest - albeit surprising - region in the world to crack down on tourism.

Residents of the district are being warned by Southwark council not to let out their rooms or houses via Airbnb if they are current or former council properties, as it claims a steady flow of visitors can be 'damaging to local communities'.

Officials are following in the footsteps of other cities including Paris and New York, as well as Barcelona, which is currently having a major crackdown on the use of sites like Airbnb.
She is an international modelling star who has posed for Burberry, Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

And Poppy Delevingne showed off her sartorial eye in a coordinating skirt and crochet shirt as she stepped out in New York City on Monday.

The model, 31, fended off the sizzling weather in her ice blue ensemble, which she paired with strappy silver heels.

Floral beauty: Poppy Delevingne combated the heat in New York City with an ice blue ensemble, which she paired with strappy silver heels

The King Arthur star's blouse featured a ruffled collar and a graphic floral pattern, which was echoed in her pencil skirt.

The risque crochet skirt, which was covered in petal-shaped swatches of the floral material, left little to the imagination and showed off the model's toned legs.

She wore her peroxide blonde tresses in a centre parting, letting her thick locks fall down her back.

Poppy cooled down by opening the neck of her shirt and rolling up her sleeves as she strutted through the Big Apple.

Risque: The model's crochet skirt showed off Poppy's shapely legs and left little to the imagination

The model, who will be appearing in the Kingsman sequel, kept her accessories to a bare minimum with a simple pair of studs and a couple of rings.

Poppy carried her phone, with a monogrammed case, and a pink band in her left hand as she got into a car in New York City.

Even though she has made small appearances in 2014's She's Funny That Way and Ab Fab: The Movie, Poppy is starting to move into the realm of Hollywood blockbusters.

Flowing locks: Poppy wore her peroxide blonde tresses in a centre parting as her locks cascaded down her back

The model played Queen Igraine in Guy Ritchie's action fantasy flick King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, and has finished filming her scenes for Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

In a teaser released in April, Poppy's character Clara Von Gluckfberg performs a racy striptease.

Poppy's sister Cara is set to make an appearance on the big screen in upcoming flicks Life In A Year and Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets in the next few months.

Despite breaking into the film industry at the same time, Poppy has insisted there is no sibling rivalry between the two sisters.

Describing her relationship with Cara and acting, she told the ES magazine: 'Six years is quite a jump. We are very different. We have a different look.

'At least we are not a year apart and competing for the same roles. She has been so supportive.

'In terms of the acting she has taken a big sister role.'
He may be only 17 months old.

But Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's toddler Saint knows his grandmother when he sees her.

The little cutie cuddled up to a giant poster of Kris Jenner and gave her a kiss on the lips, in an Instagram the momanager posted on Monday.

Sealed with a kiss: 'How cute is my little grandson when he sees my @dujourmedia cover?!' Kris Jenner gushed in the caption for this Instagram she posted on Monday

'How cute is my little grandson when he sees my @dujourmedia cover?!' the 61-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashians star gushed.

And she added: 'My little love bug,' with emojis of hearts and lips and the hashtags #saintwest and #kiss.

The image looked like Kris's cover shot for the December issue of the magazine and was likely on display at her home in Calabasas, Los Angeles County.

DuJour also reposted the Instagram, captioned: 'Cuteness Alert. When you realize #SaintWest has great taste in magazines.'

Doting grandma: The 61-year-old took Kourtney's four-year-old Penelope, far left, and Mason, six, right, plus Kim's four-year-old North West, center, to the cinema near their home in Calabasas, Los Angeles County last month

Including Saint, Kris has six grandchildren thanks to her large family.

North, four, and Saint are from 36-year-old Kim Kardashian's marriage to rapper and entrepreneur Kanye West, 40.

Mason, seven, Penelope, four, and two-year-old Reign Disick are from 38-year-old Kourtney's relationship with her ex, Scott Disick, 34.

With her crew: Aside from Mason and Penelope, Kourtney, 38, also shares two-year-old Reign with her ex-boyfriend, Scott Disick, 34, seen here in January

Adding to the count: Kris's daughter Kim, 36, shares four-year-old North and baby Saint with husband Kanye West, 40

And Kris's son Rob, 30, has a seven-month-old daughter Dream with Blac Chyna, 29.

Viewers will have to wait until next year for their next fix of Keeping Up With The Kardashians.

The reality show concluded its 13th season Sunday on the E! network.

Meanwhile, a spin-off focusing on Kylie Jenner, called the Life Of Kylie, will premiere on July 6.
Earlier this year, Matt Preston sparked a bitter feud with celebrity chef Marco Pierre White by criticising his wayward son on The Kyle And Jackie O Show.

And on Tuesday, the MasterChef star returned to KIIS FM's breakfast program and was expected to address the controversy which resulted in Marco's high-profile defection to Channel Seven.

But the 53-year-old food critic was left scrambling for a quick exit when 'Intern' Pete Deppeler called up Marco Pierre White Jr in England and put him live on the air.

'I need to go!' MasterChef's Matt Preston (left) was taken by surprise on Tuesday when Marco Pierre White Jr (right) unexpectedly joined his interview on The Kyle And Jackie O Show

During the interview, co-host Kyle Sandilands made several attempts to get Matt talking about his rivalry with Marco Pierre White - but he resisted and repeatedly said the issue was 'done and locked away'.

He appeared slightly awkward and desperately tried to steer the conversation towards culinary topics and Kyle's recent health problems.

Kyle joked that they would try to get Marco Jr on the air to settle their bitter feud - and remarkably 'Intern' Pete did actually manage to contact him in England.

Headlines: During the interview, Kyle Sandilands (left) tried to get Matt talking about his rivalry with Marco Pierre White - but he resisted and repeatedly said the issue was 'over'

Marco Jr, who sounded tired and confused as it was late at night in the UK, joined the conversation towards the end of the discussion.

Unsurprisingly, Matt - who had made it clear the interview was supposed to cover only MasterChef-related topics - promptly shut down the segment.

'Is that the time? I need to go!' he said before making a swift departure.

'Good one, Pete! How awkward was all that?' said an exasperated Jackie 'O' Henderson afterwards.

Kyle added: 'And in all honesty, you should have got him on-air four minutes ago when I first mentioned it!'

Bitter feud: In May, Marco Pierre White Sr (left) revealed Matt's comments about his son on The Kyle And Jackie O Show last year were the reason he decided to leave MasterChef

'No one should ever say that about someone elses children. I will never forgive that man': Marco Sr now hosts Hell's Kitchen on rivals Channel Seven. Pictured with Marco Jr (left)

In May, Marco Sr revealed Matt's comments about his son on The Kyle And Jackie O Show last year were the reason he decided to leave Network Ten's MasterChef.

Matt was asked about Marco Jr's antics on Celebrity Big Brother, including romping with a female contestant and his confessions about drug use and paying for sex.

At the time, Matt said: 'Anyone who's got tattoos on their face normally behave badly, don't they?'

When asked if he was shocked Marco Jr had spent more than $500,000 on drugs, he added: 'That's that whole rich, London... trustifarian-type stuff - it's another world.'

'Is that the time?' Matt, who had made it clear Tuesday's interview was supposed to cover only MasterChef-related topics, promptly shut down the segment when Marco Jr was put on-air

In response to Matt's remarks, Marco Sr told the Adelaide Advertiser: 'No one should ever say that about someone elses children. I will never forgive that man.'

He was reportedly visibly shaken as he declared: 'With my hand on my mothers grave I will get that man.'

Shortly afterwards, Marco Jr went on a Twitter tirade against Matt, calling him a 'c**t' and threatening to 'slap him up in front of his family' if they ever cross paths.

He later deleted the furious tweets, and told The Kyle And Jackie O Show the following day that he regretted his actions and the rivalry was over.

That particular radio interview was supposed to be with Matt himself, however the reality TV judge cancelled at the last minute reportedly due to scheduling issues.

Rivalry: Matt's comments which sparked the feud were in response to Marco Jr's recent wild behaviour on Big Brother UK, including him appearing to have sex with a female contestant
She was given the flick from the Today show in 2006 after Channel Nine's then-boss Eddie McGuire reportedly said he wanted her 'boned'.

And more than a decade on from the incident, Jessica Rowe has made a VERY brief appearance in a video montage on the show.

On Tuesday, the 46-year-old only made a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance as the breakfast program flashbacked to footage of previous hosts, to celebrate 35 years on air.

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Boned again? Jessica Rowe (pictured left with Karl Stefanovic) made a blink-and-you'll-miss-it appearance on Tuesday's Today show as it flashbacked to previous hosts to celebrate 35 years on air

Jessica, who co-hosted Today alongside Karl Stefanovic, was seen on screen for a noticeably shorter time period than her peers.

However, as she now co-hosts Studio 10 on a rival network, the lack of footage could well be Nine reluctant to promote Channel Ten competition.

The TV presenter was sacked from her role on Today while on maternity leave and was replaced by Sarah Murdoch.

Today is now co-hosted by Lisa Wilkinson and Karl Stefanovic.

Former Nine News Director Mark Llewellyn claimed in 2006 that Eddie, who was Channel Nine's CEO at the time, said while referring to Jessica's future at the network: 'What are we going to do about Jessica? When should we bone her? I reckon it should be next week.'

Eddie later denied using the term 'bone' in these discussions.

'When should we bone her? I reckon it should be next week': Channel Nine's then-CEO Eddie McGuire (pictured right) was accused of using the term 'bone' before sacking Jessica

A decade on: Today is currently hosted by Karl Stefanovic (left) and Lisa Wilkinson (right)

Jessica has since spoken out about the tumultuous period of her career.

'It was a terrible time in my life,' the journalist revealed on her Studio 10 show, last year.

'And it was not helped by public abuse, abuse from within the network that I worked at and abuse from someone who was in charge of that particular network.'

'It was a terrible time in my life': On Studio 10 in 2016, Jessica said the incident was difficult point in her career

Jessica claimed she made a scapegoat by Channel Nine's management.

In her new memoir, Is This My Beautiful Life, Jessica recounts the time she interviewed Brigadier Michael Slater in East Timor and asked him how safe he felt given there were armed soldiers behind him.

The interviewee then pointed out the armed soldiers had been placed there by Channel Nine stage managers, which later led to backlash against the network including Jessica.

'Of course, I realised the buck stopped with me, but I felt like I was being hung out to dry, ' she said.

Scapegoat: The Studio 10 host claimed she was 'hung out to dry' by her former network




News / National

by Staff reporter

When job opportunities come knocking at the door, the brave will disregard all, not even the coldest of weather or the fear of attending interviews will deter them from trying their luck at securing a job.Thousands of Bulawayo youths braved the cold weather pattern experienced in the City of Kings this morning as they headed to the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) exhibition centre to try their luck for job placements that were advertised by a local mobile operator.With a target of recruiting 2000 brand ambassadors, the multitude of job applicants patiently waited for their turn to attend the interview with high hopes of success.For the lucky ones, who were able to meet the interview expectations their faces told the story.The recruiting company indicated the programme dubbed "Ispano Yispano" is meant to augment government efforts in job creation especially for the youths.The programme that started in Harare is set to be taken to Victoria Falls and Beitbridge, bringing a glimmer of hope to those in search of job placements.
They revealed they were expecting a child last month.

And on Sunday, Matthew Morrison and his wife Renee Puente attended the Dsquared2 show during Milan Fashion Week.

The Glee star's ladylove drew attention to her tiny bump courtesy of a sheer blouse adorned with ruffles.

High-class date: On Sunday, Matthew Morrison, 38, and his wife Renee Puente attended the Dsquared2 show during Milan Fashion Week

Matthew put a modern twist on a classic black-and-white look.

The 38-year-old layered a solid white T-shirt underneath a slim-fit, printed blazer.

The Broadway star added a pair of ultra-tight skinny jeans and black sneakers to complete his ensemble.

Dressing for the moment: Matthew put a modern twist on a classic black-and-white look with a simple T-shirt and fitted print blazer

Her look: The Glee star's ladylove drew attention to her tiny bump courtesy of a sheer -top dress adorned with ruffles

Looking glam! Renee kept her blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail, complete with a piece wrapped around it. The actress' beauty routine was complete with a smokey eye and pale lip

Wife Renee, who wed the California native in 2014, looked to be wearing a dress, that featured a sheer front.

The Divergent star added a pair of lace-up heels, simple stud earrings and her wedding ring.

Renee kept her blonde hair tied back in a high ponytail, complete with a piece wrapped around it.

The actress' beauty routine was complete with a smokey eye and pale lip.

Adventures before birth: The couple, who announced their pregnancy on Instagram last month, have been enjoying a babymoon in Italy

The couple, who announced their pregnancy on Instagram last month, have been enjoying a babymoon in Italy.

In an interview with People, the Sherpapa Supply Co. co-owner discussed his then-plans to spend Father's Day in Europe.

'My Father's Day, we're actually going to be on our babymoon. We do feel like this will be our first Father's Day, we really celebrated Mother's Day this year for [Renee],' he said.

'We'll be just enjoying our travels before we have our addition.'

The new dad revealed his over-the-moon feeling of his unborn child, due this fall.

'I feel like through pregnancy and infancy, a lot of fathers are confused of their role. I'm just so excited to just go after it and this is going to be the greatest adventure of my life and it's starting soon.'
ITV may have to do without their star presenting double-act Ant and Dec for a year, it emerged last night.

Ant McPartlin has been offered a sabbatical as he battles an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol.

Six months after ITV agreed the terms of a three-year, 15 million golden handcuffs deal, the broadcaster has given him its full support  and the prospect of a paid year off.

It means his on-screen partner Declan Donnelly may have to go solo for the first time in 23 years.

Ant McPartlin has been offered a sabbatical as he battles an addiction to prescription drugs and alcohol, meaning Declan Donnelly may have to go solo for the first time in 23 years

The offer is expected to relieve much of the anxiety the 41-year-old feels as he prepares to spend his third day in a 6,000-a-week rehab facility.

Last night a television insider said: It is all still too early to say for sure what will happen, but all anyone wants is for Ant to get well again.

He and Dec are the backbone of the ITV family and ... Ant has the networks complete and utter support.

Formally, Ant has no work commitments until November and obviously the hope is that he will be completely better by then, and able to fulfil them. But ITV will not rush him in any way, and the feeling is he must take as long as he needs.

'If he wants a 12 month sabbatical, frankly he deserves it. The sense is though that both Ant and Dec love working, and Ant will want to get back down to work before the end of the year.

Should the Britains Got Talent star decide to take ITV up on their offer, it leaves the possibility of Donnelly, 41, presenting alone.

A friend of the duo yesterday insisted no conversations about the possibility had yet occurred, adding: At the moment it is not an issue.

The pair have no commitments lined up until November when Im A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! returns. It would involve McPartlin filming in Australia until just before Christmas. Their show Saturday Night Takeaway resumes in February, as does filming for BGT.

Six months after ITV agreed the terms of a three-year, 15 million golden handcuffs deal, the broadcaster has given Ant (left) its full support  and the prospect of a paid year off

McPartlin is understood to have promised his family not to take on any unnecessary projects while he recovers. A friend said: Ant knows his health is the number one priority.

He will be more selective about the things he says yes to going forwards, and presumably will be turning down far more work than he accepts. He loves his job, but doesnt want to burn out again.

McPartlin shocked his fans after releasing a statement at the weekend revealing his forthcoming stint in one of Britains most exclusive residential clinics.

It follows a botched operation on his leg two and a half years ago that left him with a fractured kneecap  and led him to develop a dependency on painkillers, including Tramadol.

His time in the 6,000 a week facility will see him able to embark on activities ranging from tai-chi to electroshock therapy. In addition to a one-to-one psychotherapy session twice a week, he will undergo hour-long appointments with a psychiatrist to monitor his mental well-being and check his medication doses.

Last night an ITV spokesman said: We are sending Ant our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and, of course, he has our full support.
Woman's Day magazine suggested she was expecting a baby with Bachelorette winner, Lee Elliott, 35, last week.

And on Tuesday, Georgia Love, 28, once again refuted the pregnancy claims.

Appearing on Studio Ten, she explained how she had just had a big breakfast with a friend in Bondi after pictures were taken of her wearing activewear.

'100% not pregnant': Georgia Love once again denied pregnancy claims while appearing on Studio 10 on Tuesday

'No, I'm not pregnant,' she confirmed.

'I just did have a big breakfast! Which I am not sorry for, because it was delicious.'

Georgia, who showed off her cleavage in a low v-neck dress for the telecast, went on the express her frustration.

Stunning! Georgia showed off her cleavage in a low v-neck dress for the telecast

'I'm not a big girl,' she continued.

'So to go out for a walk and go out for breakfast with a friend and I'll be wearing my daggy walking clothes because I'm walking and to have people label me as pregnant for that reason!'

The TV journalist also revealed that she didn't initially see the paparazzi taking pictures of her, but when she realised she kept a look out on online publications for the shots.

'I just did have a big breakfast! Which I am not sorry for, because it was delicious' she said

'If that kind of photo doesn't appear on the online publications within 24 hours, that means it will be in a magazine.'

Georgia also appeared via correspondence on Ten's The Project last week to address the rumours.

'I'm 100% not pregnant,' ensured the Melbourne native.

Fake news: Georgia also appeared via correspondence on Ten's The Project last week to address the rumours

With speculation surfacing after her big breakfast, Pete hilariously asked what she had ordered to spark such a media frenzy.

'I had zucchini and corn fritters,' she replied, with Carrie declaring that corn makes you bloated.

Georgia also took to Instagram Stories to refute the front page story that featured various images with the speculative headline: 'Georgia's baby bombshell: Is the Bachelorette PREGNANT?!''
The fate of the Time Lord has long captivated audiences, with Doctor Who fans eagerly anticipating each regeneration.

But Peter Capaldi has revealed he is leaving the show because he has lost interest in the plot lines and modern television audiences wanting the same thing all the time.

He also appeared to complain about the day-to-day routine of playing the Doctor, saying he had never done a job where you must turn up every day for 10 months.

Why he's leaving Who: Peter Capaldi has revealed he has lost interest in the plot lines of Doctor Who and found it difficult to adjust to having to be on set every day for 10 months

He told the Radio Times: I cant think of another way to say This could be the end of civilisation as we know it.

With episodic television of any genre, the audience wants the same thing all the time - but the instinct that leads the actor is not about being in a groove.

I love this show, but Ive never done anything where you turn up every day for 10 months.

I want to always be giving it my best and I dont think if I stayed on Id be able to do that.

Teasing his demise: The actor also said that his regeneration will be more complicated than recent ones, but declined to disclose any further details

Growing tired: Peter, 59, who plays the Time Lord opposite Pearl Mackie as Bill and Matt Lucas as Nardole, said: I cant think of another way to say This could be the end of civilisation as we know it'

The 59-year-old former The Thick of It star, who is on the cover of this weeks Radio Times, also said that his regeneration will be more complicated than recent ones, but declined to disclose any further details.

He said: I cant go into the details. I know what happens, but I dont know how it happens. Certainly its not straightforward. Its more complicated than recent ones.

Thats one of the appeals of being in the show - it has death at the heart of it. Hes the only hero on TV who dies again and again.

Bringing the show up to date: The current series saw the introduction of the first openly gay companion, with Pearl Mackie playing the Doctors sidekick Bill Potts

The actor will step down from the role after the Christmas special, along with show boss Steven Moffat and Michelle Gomez, who has played the villainous Missy since 2014.

It has not yet been announced who will step into the lead role, but Death in Paradise actor Kris Marshall and Fleabag comic Phoebe Waller-Bridge are both thought to be in the running.

The 58-year-old broke the unexpected news that he was leaving the BBC sci-fi series after three series in January.

Role of a lifetime: Peter, who has been a lifelong fan of the show, announced he will be stepping down as the two-hearted alien in the Christmas Special of this year

He told BBC Radio 2: I suppose the big thing about [the new series] is itll be my last.

In April, he said on the Graham Norton Show: Doctor Who is a great job. But it is a TV factory with so many episodes. And I would worry I wouldnt do my best work with the same vigour and fun.

Three years is probably enough because people get wiped out by it.

This week's issue of the Radio Times is on sale from Tuesday 20 June 2017

The current series saw the introduction of the first openly gay companion, with Pearl Mackie playing the Doctors sidekick Bill Potts.

When the news was announced, Miss Mackie, a former West End Star, said: It shouldnt be a big deal in the 21st Century. Its about time isnt it?

'Its important to say people are gay, people are black.

I remember watching TV as a young mixed race girl not seeing many people who looked like me, so I think being able to visually recognise yourself on screen is important.

That representation is important, especially on a mainstream show.

The next episode of Doctor Who - the penultimate in this series - will air on BBC One on Saturday at 6.45pm.
At just 27 years old, she is mother to two young children, and stepmother to their older siblings.

But despite having such a busy household, Emily Macdonagh has revealed that she still has babies on the mind.

But the doctor, who shares 3-year-old Amelia and 6-month-old Theo with husband Peter Andre, 44, admitted he didn't appear quite so keen on adding to their brood just yet.

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'I picked up a little pink dress and jokingly told Pete we should have another baby girl': Emily Macdonagh has revealed that she still has babies on the mind

Writing in her column for Ok! magazine, she recalled the moment they were filming a travel segment for This Morning.

There was one scene where I picked up a little pink dress and jokingly told Pete we should have another baby girl so we can dress her up in cute outfits. He didnt say a word!

'Im not ready for another baby yet  I need to get my teeth back into work and enjoy the two children I have  but Id never say never. The thing is, Ive reached the stage with Theo where its all becoming so much easier.

Content for now: The doctor, who shares 3-year-old Amelia and 6-month-old Theo (pictured with Princess) with husband Peter Andre, 44, admitted he didn't appear quite so keen on

Keeping busy: Pete, who also shares 12-year-old Junior and 9-year-old Princess with ex wife Katie Price, told the publication he was content with the size of his family for now

'Now when I see a newborn baby I think theyre gorgeous but I dont actually want one any time soon! she added.

This comes after Pete, who also shares 12-year-old Junior and 9-year-old Princess with ex wife Katie Price, told the publication he was content with the size of his family for now.

'Im content with what Ive got and I dont really want any more children,' he said.

Last week we had a lovely holiday at our home in Cyprus with Pete's parents, who met baby Theo for the first time', she revealed

Plenty of help: Princess, 9, feeds baby Theo, 6 months, in their busy household

'Saying that, in a couple of years I might change my mind  but right now Im like, no, no way!'

For Emily's full column buy this week's Ok! Magazine out on Tuesday 20th June 2017

Speaking about their recent family holiday, Emily revealed they reunited with Pete's parents, who met baby Theo for the first time.

Last week we had a lovely holiday at our home in Cyprus and the weather was gorgeous. Petes parents had flown over from Australia and were absolutely thrilled to meet Theo for the first time.

'Petes Mum, Thea, couldnt stop cuddling him. It was really sweet. They loved seeing Millie too  I dont think theyve seen her since our wedding and she has changed so much since then.

For Emily's full column buy this week's Ok! Magazine out on Tuesday 20th June 2017.
She shot to fame as a contestant on the fourth season of The Bachelor Australia.

And on Monday, reality star Kirralee 'Kiki' Morris was back in front of the camera, this time documenting her trip to the doctors.

Taking to Instagram, the 29-year-old posted footage of herself being injected with muscles relaxants in her jaw.

Injection time: The Bachelor's Kirralee 'Kiki' Morris (pictured) shared footage of muscle relaxants being injected in her jaw on her Instagram on Monday

'So it's no secret I use muscle relaxants in my jaw for medical reasons - grinding teeth in my sleep!!' she wrote in the caption accompanying the video.

'But this additional treatment is a lil something extra, and I bet you are wondering what a Nefertiti Lift is? And does it hurt?' Kiki continued.

'Dr Maz really knows his stuff, I actually learnt so much today during my visit and felt like I was in the most capable hands... I'll be updating you on the results as the take affect.'

'It's no secret I use muscle relaxants in my jaw': The blonde bombshell didn't look scared by the prospect of a needle being so close to her face

No pain: The former reality contestant told one of her followers that the procedure didn't hurt and that it fixed her issue with grinding teeth in her sleep

In the video the blonde , who vied for Richie Strahan's heart in the series last year, is seated on a medical chair.

A man wearing white latex gloves can be seen injecting Kiki with what is presumably the muscle relaxant.

Despite a needle closing in on her face, the full-pouted star look unperturbed during the experience.

Comfortable in front of a camera: The busty blonde found fame trying to win Richie Strahan's heart on The Bachelor Australia last year

When questioned by one of her followers whether the procedure was painful, Kiki claimed it wasn't.

'No babe, not at all!' the busty blonde replied.

'The results are so incredible too! Slimmer face and taught jawline but best of all, My jaw clenching and grinding in my sleep is fixed. It was so bad I broke teeth.'
He married Uzbek beauty Nigora Whitehorn, who is 31 years his junior, in an intimate beach wedding in Portugal at the start of June.

And Duncan Bannatyne looked the picture of happiness as he made his first public appearance with his new bride on Monday night.

The businessman, 68, and the former dental hygienist, 37, were inseparable at a fundraising dinner for The Petra Stunt Foundation.

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The look of love: Duncan Bannatyne and his new wife Nigora Whitehorn looked deliriously happy as they made their first public appearance since their intimate beach wedding in Portugal on June 3

Nigora oozed elegance in a glittering black gown with a lacy split up the side.

The form-fitting frock featured a cut out sweetheart neckline and cinched in her slender frame as the sequinned fabric skimmed her thighs.

The bottom of the dress was made from a delicate floral lace, which fell to the floor.

She teamed her sparkling gown with a pair of patent black heels and accessorised with a chunky watch.

Glittering glamour: Nigora, 37, wore a black gown, which was covered in sequins and featured a lacy split up the side

Nigora wore her raven tresses down and had backcombed her hair slightly to give a more voluminous finish.

She finished off her look with a defined brow and rosy blush.

Enamoured husband Duncan looked smart in a navy two-piece suit, with a matching bow tie.

Glowing: Nigora wore her raven tresses down and had backcombed her hair slightly to give a more voluminous finish

He wore a crisp white shirt underneath his jacket and completed the ensemble with a pair of suede shoes.

Former dental hygienist Nigora met the twice-divorced father-of-six in 2015 when he walked into the Harley Street clinic where she was working.

The couple looked madly in love as they tied the knot in Portugal on June 3.

Love at first sight: Former dental hygienist Nigora met the twice-divorced father-of-six in 2015 when he walked into the Harley Street clinic where she was working

The multi-millionaire told MailOnline: 'It was a perfect family wedding and I was overwhelmed by how beautiful Nigora looked. Our wedding was filled with love, laughter and happiness.

'My new Uzbek family are generous, caring, giving people and I am proud to be part of what is to me a wonderful new world. I feel very blessed and look forward to our life together as husband and wife.'

Nigora, 36, also said: 'I am so happy to have married my love, best friend and soul mate.

'It was the most wonderful weekend and sharing it with our families and friends made it complete. I am so proud to be Mrs Duncan Bannatyne.'

The couple defended their 31-year age gap on This Morning on their honeymoon as Nigora said: 'It's their loss and they can sit back and be jealous. Im happy with the man with I love. Look at him.'
News she and her co-star Sue Perkins had quit The Great British Bake Off had shocked viewers last year.

But Mel Giedroyc has insisted her decision to leave the show following its move to Channel 4 had been a no-brainer.

The TV presenter, 49, has recalled that it took her just 'three seconds' to hang up her boots after being informed it would no longer air on the BBC.

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No-brainer: Mel Giedroyc, 49, has admitted it took her all of 'three seconds' to decide to quit The Great British Bake Off after learning of its channel move

Following seven series fronting the show, both Mel and Sue revealed in a statement that they wouldn't be following The Great British Bake Off over to Channel 4.

And sharing an insight into the moment the duo decided to walk away, Mel has told the Press Association it took about 'three seconds' for herself and Sue to make up their minds about their Bake Off future.

'I think there was no question where we were heading, but I miss the gang... we were like a big family.

'All the camera guys, the sound guys, home economists behind the scenes, so knowing a lot of them are there filming as we speak, it feels kind of strange,' she confessed.

Speaking of her exit, the TV presenter said: 'I think there was no question where we were heading, but I miss the gang... we were like a big family'

Loved: Mel and Sue had been a hit with fans on Bake Off thanks to their witty one-liners and kind-hearted nature towards the show's contestants

Show judge Mary Berry, 82, had followed suit and her exit from The Great British Bake Off was announced shortly after Mel and Sue's.

Paul Hollywood, meanwhile, decided to stick with the baking competition and revealed during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show that he wasn't ready to give up the job he loves so much.

He explained: 'I love doing what I do... I've got a family and I'm just coming to the end of my career I suppose, I'm 50 odd - I haven't got long left. I'm not going to last like Mary... I'll never last, but while it's here, I will carry on doing my job as a judge.'

Knowing that Paul will be back in the tent when Bake Off returns on Channel 4, Mel has said she hopes the show's new presenters Noel Fielding, 44, and Sandi Toksvig, 59, will continue the tradition of poking fun at the baker.

Moving on: Like the presenting duo, Mary Berry decided to hang up Bake Off boots and quit the baking competition out of loyalty to the BBC

Sticking with it: Paul Hollywood (pictured above with Mary) decided to stay the show with, claiming he wasn't ready to give up his job

She claimed: 'I'm fascinated to know whether they're going to give him a bit of gyp. I hope so. They really must, it's part of tradition.

Mel quipped that '99% of the footage' from her seven years on Bake Off was 'on the cutting room floor' because it was 'utter filth' and 'endless teasing'.

She added: 'I mean relentless, almost bullying at work of Paul.

'The guy could not open his mouth without one of us wisecracking. A lot of times we were crying, where we just had to stop filming because we were crying with laughter. I mean, the poor guy.'

Although, she did add: 'He gave as good as he got, actually.'

'Almost bullying': Mel confessed that she and Sue were known for teasing Paul during filming, she said, 'The guy could not open his mouth without one of us wisecracking'

She recalled: 'A lot of times we were crying, where we just had to stop filming because we were crying with laughter. I mean, the poor guy... he gave as good as he got, actually'

Paul will judge the contest alongside chef Prue Leith, 77, who will step in to fill Mary Berry's shoes on the new series.

And despite the backlash Channel 4's lineup initially received, Paul was quick to defend his new co-stars.

Speaking on Loose Women about his new co-judge Prue and the addition of Noel and Sandi, he said: 'I'm really excited. Obviously it's a big thing for the country and when I heard the names read out, I was really excited.

'I'm a big fan of Noel and Sandi actually. I did know about Prue but I didn't know about the others at all, but it's perfect. I'm really, really excited.'

New lineup: Paul will now judge The Great British Bake Off alongside Prue Leith (far right) while the show will be presented by Sandi Toksvig, 59, and Noel Fielding, 44 (centre)

Meanwhile, Mel's latest comments on the series come after she recently revealed that she had worked with Noel when speculation had been rife about her Bake Off replacement and she quipped that the comedian had kept 'very quiet'.

Although she admitted she 'loved the idea' of him taking over the reins.

'I am extremely fond of Fielding. I love the idea of him being in the Bake Off tent. It makes me laugh, he is great,' she said during an appearance on Lorraine earlier this month.

She also joked that she had given the comedian some advice ahead of him getting to work and said: 'I said to him, 'Noel, two words: Elasticated Trousers.''

When Lorraine Kelly pointed out that Mel was looking particularly petite, she quipped in response: 'Well it's because I don't have cakes in my life anymore, Lorraine. I'm not doing Bake Off anymore. I was eating cake solidly for five months of the year!'
Imogen Anthony went to a raucous London club on Monday night, seemingly not in the company of her boyfriend Kyle Sandilands.

During the evening the 26-year-old was seen partying in a skimpy boob tube, close to topless stage performers.

Her star beau didn't appear in a video shared from the venue, which was taken after he learned his brother had gone into a coma following a motorbike crash.

Solo? Imogen Anthony parties with scantily clad models at London club without beau Kyle Sandilands... after his brother's horrific motorbike accident

After marveling at the egg pod-style bathrooms at Mayfair's lavish Sketch restaurant earlier in the night, Imogen shared Instagram story videos from a nearby club.

Selfie footage showed the blonde bombshell in her favourite policewoman hat, a glitzy embellished choker necklace and leather gloves.

Joined by a lookalike accomplice, she flaunted her assets in a skimpy top and danced seductively to the pulsing club music.

Marvelous! After marveling at the egg pod-style bathrooms at Mayfair's lavish Sketch restaurant earlier in the night, Imogen shared Instagram story videos from a nearby club

Minutes later, she shared videos of the neon-drenched club's wild stage show, which featured topless models twirling fire and twerking.

Dressed in fishnet stockings, tartan skirts and black g-strings, one performed head-stand stunts.

Later, another exposed her posterior as she danced over the top of strobe lights placed in the floor.

Absent: Her KIIS FM radio host beau Kyle Sandilands was absent after discovering his younger brother Chris had been placed in an induced coma on Monday

Selfie queen! Selfie footage showed the blonde bombshell in her favourite policewoman hat, a glitzy embellished choker necklace and leather gloves

Imogen and her pals then downed shots brimmed with smoke after being set on fire.

The Instagram model continued to share clips past 2am Tuesday morning London time, blowing a cheeky kiss to camera in one.

Her KIIS FM radio host beau Kyle Sandilands was seemingly absent, having discovered his younger brother Chris had been placed in an induced coma on Monday.

Twerk it! Minutes later, she shared videos of the neon-drenched club's wild stage show, which featured topless models twirling fire and twerking

Shots! Imogen and her pals later downed shots that brimmed with smoke after being set on fire

Kyle's brother suffered critical injuries following a motorbike accident, and had to be airlifted to hospital where he underwent two operations.

'He's in ICU, he's still critical and they're going to wake him up tomorrow, the good news is they can't see any bleeding on the brain,' Kyle announced on his radio show with Jackie O Henderson.

The emotional host told listeners he was glad his brother was still alive.

Tragedy: Kyle's absence comes hours after his brother suffered critical injuries following a motorbike accident and had to be airlifted to hospital where he underwent two operations
Edward Norton went shirtless on Friday for a family paddleboard session during his seaside holiday in Amalfi.

It was a rare sighting of the 47-year-old Golden Globe winner with his wife Shauna Robertson and their three-year-old son Atlas, who coordinated in matching wetsuits atop her board.

The Collateral Beauty actor - sporting black dotted swim trunks - used to be a competitive rower while attending Yale University.

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Italian vacation: Edward Norton went shirtless on Friday for a family paddleboard session during his seaside holiday in Amalfi

Snorkel mask: It was a rare sighting of the 47-year-old Golden Globe winner with his wife Shauna Robertson and their son Atlas, 3, who coordinated in matching wetsuits atop her board

Sporting stubble: The Collateral Beauty actor - wearing black dotted swim trunks - used to be a competitive rower while attending Yale University

'I would say personal life, family life, you want to balance things. But it's an interesting paradox because being an actor is not a thing you do all the time,' Edward said of fatherhood in the UK's Independent back in 2015.

'If you are lucky enough, it leaves a lot of time to engage in other things. And if you are engaged in other things that are really compelling or interesting or challenging to a different part of your brain or your personality, paradoxically it raises the threshold that a piece of work has to meet to interest you and pull you away from all that other stuff.

'Whereas before, my ambition was almost unilaterally focused on acting, it's not anymore.'

Edward said of fatherhood in the UK's Independent: 'I would say personal life, family life, you want to balance things...it raises the threshold that a piece of work has to meet to interest you and pull you away from all that other stuff. Whereas before, my ambition was almost unilaterally focused on acting, it's not anymore'

Still going strong! Norton - who was also spotted in nearby Positano and Capri - secretly wed the Canadian 42-year-old in 2012 following a five-year romance and they reside in Manhattan

Settled down: Before tying the knot with Robertson, the three-time Oscar nominee reportedly dated Brianna Bell, Salma Hayek, Courtney Love, and Drew Barrymore

Norton - who was also spotted in nearby Positano and Capri - secretly wed the Canadian 42-year-old in 2012 following a five-year romance and they currently reside in Manhattan.

Before tying the knot with Robertson, the three-time Oscar nominee reportedly dated Brianna Bell, Salma Hayek, Courtney Love, and Drew Barrymore.

The Sausage Party funnyman collaborated with his Grand Budapest Hotel director Wes Anderson for the third time for Fox Searchlight's stop-motion animated comedy Isle of Dogs.

Next gig: The Sausage Party star collaborated with his Grand Budapest Hotel director Wes Anderson for the third time for Fox Searchlight's stop-motion animated comedy Isle of Dogs

Hitting US/UK theaters April 2018! In the Japanese-set flick, Norton voices a dog called Rex alongside Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Yoko Ono, Bill Murray, and Yojiro Noda

In the Japanese-set flick - hitting US/UK theaters April 2018 - Norton voices a dog called Rex alongside Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Yoko Ono, Bill Murray, and Yojiro Noda.

The UN Goodwill Ambassador will next travel to Poland for the first time to appear as 'special guest' of the Seventh Annual Transatlantyk Festival in odz, which runs from July 14-21.

Meanwhile, Shauna retired from producing movies in 2008 and co-founded CrowdRise (purchased by GoFundMe in January) with Edward, which has amassed $3B since 2010 from 25M+ donors across over 2M campaigns.

Runs July 14-21: The UN Goodwill Ambassador will next travel to Poland for the first time to appear as 'special guest' of the Seventh Annual Transatlantyk Festival in odz
News / National

by Staff reporter

In a Nigerian movie style, a Whitecliff family is having sleepless nights as owls and snakes have turned their home into a wildlife conservative area.Her husband died mysteriously some years ago living her to look after the family alone.Her children have been returned from school due to baffling incidents.As if that is not enough, during nights they are troubled by the noise of owls and rattling snakes.Early yesterday morning a three-metre snake was found dead outside their house close to a peg which was put by a member of the Apostolic Church.A visit by ZB News to the home coincided with a visit by Madzibaba Mateu who then ordered the removal of the property from the house so that he could cleanse the home.The Zimbabwean law does not recognise witchcraft.For many years Zimbabweans agitated for the amendment of the act so that the country could recognise the existence of witchcraft which was made illegal by the post-colonial regime.
The Bachelor's Alex Nation recently returned from her Thailand getaway.

And it seems she has the post-holiday blues after taking to Instagram to share throwback snap from her holiday.

In the photo posted on Monday, the 25-year-old poses on what appears to be Paradise Beach in Phuket.

Wish you were here? It seems The Bachelor's Alex Nation has the post-holiday blues after she took to Instagram on Monday to share a throwback photo from her recent getaway in Thailand

In the photo, the mother-of-one flaunts her toned figure in a skimpy black bikini and stylish sarong.

She wrote in the caption: 'Craving weather like these Thai days.

Alex, from Melbourne, has been on vacation this month without her boyfriend Richie Strahan.

Going solo! Recently, the 25-year-old shared a photo of herself on a rope swing at Paradise Beach. She was not accompanied by boyfriend Richie Strahan on her overseas trip

Despite being away from her partner, Alex's frequent holiday snaps suggested she had been enjoying her solo trip.

Recently, she shared an Instagram photo of herself on a rope swing at Paradise Beach.

She also posted a picturesque snap of herself sitting on a rock and looking out across Phang Nga Bay.

Independent woman! Despite being away from her partner, Alex's frequent holiday snaps suggested she had been enjoying her solo trip

Meanwhile, Alex and Richie are no stranger to spending time apart.

The couple, who fell in love on The Bachelor last year, are in a long-distance relationship.

Alex is based in Victoria with her son Elijah, six, while Richie lives in Perth.
Her wildly successful show Homeland doesn't make it's return until 2018.

In the meantime, Claire Danes is filming another project in New York City.

The actress, 38, is currently shooting A Kid Like Jake, where she plays the mother of a son who prefers to dress up as a girl.

Drama: Claire Danes was seen on the set of her new movie A Kid Like Jake in Brooklyn on Monday

The transgender drama also stars Jim Parsons and Octavia Spencer who were not seen on set Monday as Claire filmed in Brooklyn.

Danes shot a scene at a picnic table wearing a green dress with a tropical leaf pattern adorned on it.

Her character's outfit was completed with a pair of unique orange slip-on shoes.

Summertime: The actress, 38, wore a green and white dress printed with tropical leaves

Picnic: She took part in an outdoor meal on a patio for the role, where she plays the mother of a child who may be transgender

The film centers around a couple who are encouraged to use their child's gender variant status to get a private school scholarship for his Kindergarten enrollment.

Silas Howard of Transparent fame is directing the film, due out in 2018.

Quantico actress Priyanka Chopra is also said to be attached to the project.

In bloom: She was surrounded by foliage for the summery outdoor day of shooting

Co-stars: Jim Parsons will play her husband in the movie, Octavia Spencer has also signed on

Danes has been starring as Carrie Mathison for six seasons on Showtime's hit drama Homeland.

She'll be busy over the next two years, as the show has already been renewed for seasons seven and eight.

Claire has been married to actor Hugh Dacy since 2009 after playing opposite each other in the 2006 film Evening.

A new project: Danes has been playing Carrie Mathison on Showtime's Homeland for six seasons

Future: She will be busy, the show has already been renewed for seasons seven and eight

The duo has four-year-old son Cyrus together, and in an interview with Weekend magazine earlier this year, Claire quipped that 'I don't think there could be a worse mother' than her Homeland character Carrie Mathison.

She assured Weekend: 'The parallels between our attitudes are non-existent!' and: 'As far as Hugh and I are concerned what life is really about is raising this little boy.'

In fact, after plunging herself into Carrie's troubled psyche at work, 'Its good to have Cyrus take me out of all that turmoil, whatever darkness Ive had during the day.'

Small talk: Danes chatted with another blonde on the set in between takes
He is believed to be single after briefly dating Network Ten employee Hannah Scott back in April.

But it seems unlucky-in-love Kris Smith is still enjoying his 'bromance' with former Bachelorette star Sasha Mielczarek.

The friends went for burgers at Hungry Jack's on Monday, later sharing a photo of their man date on Instagram.

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'Cheat day!' Unlucky-in-love Kris Smith (right) went for burgers at Hungry Jack's with his friend Sasha Mielczarek (left) on Monday, following his rumoured split from Hannah Scott

In the photo, the Myer ambassador holds a burger and looks ready to take a bite.

He wrote in the caption: 'I want a woman that looks at me the way I look at my burger on cheat day.'

It comes after Kris and Hannah were rumoured to have split after she shared a cryptic post about relationships.

Over already? Last month, Kris Smith and rumoured girlfriend, Channel Ten employee Hannah Scott (right) were believed to have split after not being seen together in weeks

'A sincere and positive impact will last a lifetime, even if the relationship does not,' read a quote Hannah shared on Instagram.

Back in April, the English former rugby player appeared to debut the TV research executive as his new girlfriend.

He shared a photo of the 'couple' on Instagram, before several friends congratulated the pair on going public.

A rumble in the jungle? It is possible Kris and Hannah first met when he appeared on Channel Ten's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! (pictured)

It is possible they first met when Kris appeared on Channel Ten's I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!

Hannah also shares a striking resemblance to Kris' ex Maddy King, who he split from in October after four years.

Before entering the jungle, Kris said he had been trying to reconcile with the Sydney-based model and nutritionist.
Mariska Hargitay was honored at the seventh annual Elly Awards in Manhattan Monday for her acting career as well as her sexual assault organization, Joyful Heart Foundation.

The Golden Globe winner easily defied her 53 years in a sleeveless black pencil dress and white peep-toes with bedazzled high heels.

The LA native sported minimal make-up and a middle-parted shoulder-length locks for the feminist function at the Plaza Hotel.

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At the podium: Mariska Hargitay was honored at the Elly Awards in Manhattan Monday for her acting career as well as her sexual assault organization, Joyful Heart Foundation

Mariska mingled with the likes of legendary songwriter Carole King as well as Jujamcyn Theaters president Jordan Roth.

Hargitay also posed with powerful blondes, New York's 12th district congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney and Tony-winning producer Daryl Roth.

The Emmy winner will next attend this Thursday's screening of the rape kit documentary she produced, I Am Evidence, at the Nantucket Film Festival in Massachusetts.

LBD: The Golden Globe winner easily defied her 53 years in a sleeveless black pencil dress and white peep-toes with bedazzled high heels

Philanthropist: The LA native sported minimal make-up and a middle-parted shoulder-length locks for the feminist function at the Plaza Hotel

Rubbing elbows: Mariska mingled with the likes of legendary songwriter Carole King (L) as well as Jujamcyn Theaters president Jordan Roth (R)

Double take: Hargitay also posed with powerful blondes, New York's 12th district congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney and Tony-winning producer Daryl Roth

On May 12, NBC renewed Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - in which Mariska plays Detective Olivia Benson - for a 21-episode 19th season premiering on September 27.

Missing from Hargitay's side was her Law & Order castmate-turned-husband Peter Hermann, with whom she'll celebrate an impressive 13 years of marriage on August 28.

The UCLA drop-out and her 6ft5in 49-year-old beau are parents to three children - son Andrew, 5; daughter Amaya, 6; and son August, turning 11 on June 28.

Appearance: The Emmy winner will next attend this Thursday's screening of the rape kit documentary she produced, I Am Evidence, at the Nantucket Film Festival in Massachusetts

More to come! On May 12, NBC renewed Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - in which Mariska plays Detective Olivia Benson - for a 21-episode 19th season premiering on September 27

The Bad Blood video vixen also happens to be the nepotistically-privileged daughter of Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay.

The blonde bombshell and Hollywood sex symbol mothered three children with her second husband, a boodybuilder who famously won the Mr. Universe competition.

Met on set in 2001: Missing from Hargitay's side was her husband Peter Hermann, with whom she'll celebrate an impressive 13 years of marriage on August 28 (pictured January 23)

Inside Out: The UCLA drop-out and her 6ft5in 49-year-old beau are parents to three children - son Andrew, 5; daughter Amaya, 6; and son August, turning 11 on June 28 (pictured in 2015)
She's the TV journalist known for her chirpy demeanor.

But Georgia Love had heads turning for another reason during an appearance on Studio 10 on Tuesday.

Co-hosting breakfast show, the 28-year-old donned one her raciest ensembles yet, a cleavage-baring low-cut navy dress.

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What a way to wake up! Bachelorette star Georgia Love took the plunge and flashed her ample cleavage while hosting Studio 10 breakfast show on Tuesday

'Getting my kicks wearing @rodeo_show on @studeio10au this morning! Love this show, love the team and love my life,' she captioned an Instagram video of herself wearing the ensemble.

Along with the low-cut neckline, the knee length dress also featured a slit at the front of the hem and large bell sleeves.

Georgia teamed her frock, which retails $329.00, with a pair of classic tan Tony Bianco heels.

Chic: Along with the low-cut neckline, the knee length dress also featured a slit at the front of the hem and large bell sleeves

Cover up? Georgia's outfit was certainly a lot more daring that her co-hosts' attire

Addressing the rumours: Georgia addressed rumours she was pregnant on the show

This isn't the first time the former Bachelorette has upped the sex factor.

Appearing on the morning show in March, Georgia was seen alongside host Sarah Harris in a white Finders Keepers mini dress that also showcased at hint of cleavage.

And just last week when appearing on The Project, Georgia again went for a daring look in another low cut blouse.

This isn't the first time she has upped the sex factor: Appearing on the morning show in March, Georgia was seen alongside host Sarah Harris (left) in a white Finders Keepers mini dress

Deep V: And just last week when appearing on The Project, Georgia again went for a daring look in another low cut blouse.

Georgia has made headlines in the last few days after Woman's Day magazine suggested she was expecting a baby with Bachelorette winner, Lee Elliott, 35,.

Denying the rumours, Georgia confirmed once again on Tuesday that she was not pregnant and had just eaten a large breakfast.

'No, I'm not pregnant,' she declared on Studio 10.

'I just had a big breakfast! Which I am not sorry for, because it was delicious.'
An 18-year-old from Queensland, Australia says she looks so similar to Taylor Swift, she even fooled the paparazzi.

Teegan Jarratt revealed to The Courier Mail that during Taylor's last trip to the state, she 'couldn't walk around at all' because of the attention.

After initially being unable to see the likeness herself, she's now launched a company that will charge in excess of $100 per hour to have her appear at parties.

Taylor's Twin! 18-year-old Teegan Jaratt (L) from Queensland, Australia says she looks so similar to Taylor Swift, she even fooled the paparazzi

Her steadily growing Instagram account features several side-by-side comparisons, with Teegan boasting the same haircut and similar facial features to the megastar.

The teen from Collingwood Park, south-west of Brisbane, revealed she didn't join the dots until she went to the Gold Coast last year to try and meet Taylor, 27.

'I had the paparazzi all following me on the beach thinking I was her,' she told the publication.

No bad blood! She revealed on Tuesday that during Taylor's last trip to the state 'everyone was pulling over on the side of the road holding up traffic trying to see me'

'Everyone was pulling over on the side of the road holding up traffic trying to see me.'

At that time, Teegan insists she was completely oblivious to the likeness and did not attempt to dress like the star to gain attention.

'The first time it happened I was a bit shocked because even though a lot of people have told me I look like her, I personally dont see it,' she confessed.

Didn't see it: 'The first time it happened I was a bit shocked because even though a lot of people have told me I look like Taylor (pictured), I personally dont see it,' she confessed

Financial gain: But after the flattered surprise wore off, the teen (pictured here) quickly spied an opportunity for financial gain

But after the flattered surprise wore off, the teen quickly spied an opportunity for financial gain.

This month, she launched a company called Tay Tay Parties on Facebook, that advertises photo shoots, VIP parties and Meet and Greet packages.

Teegan charges $100 per hour for a 'professional photo shoot' with 'equipment to be supplied by agency or individual.'

The VIP package asks for $175 from fans (or their parents), who'll then get 2.5 hours with the lookalike, who'll run karaoke, pass the parcel and other games.

Party on! This month, she launched a company called Tay Tay Parties on Facebook, that advertises photo shoots, VIP parties and Meet and Greet packages starting at $100 per hour
She has enjoyed a stellar stint as a model, posing for some of the biggest brands in the world.

And Suki Waterhouse looks set to rule the roost in Hollywood as she stunned at the premiere of The Bad Batch.

The British beauty looked sensational in a cut-out khaki dress, which showed off her fabulous figure in all its glory.

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Stunning: Suki Waterhouse looks set to rule the roost in Hollywood as she stunned at the premiere of The Bad Batch

The sleeveless dress complete with multiple cut-outs, black belts and a ruffled edge showed off her abs while the side-split made the most of her killer legs.

She was joined by some serious Tinseltown pulling power - Keanu Reeves.

The duo coordinated perfectly in their contrasting ensembles; Keanu in all-black and Suki in olive green.

Keanu kept his red carpet look simple, choosing to layer a T-shirt underneath a casual blazer.

The 52-year-old completed his look with a pair of dark pants and worn-in brown dress shoes.

Her sexy side: The sleeveless dress complete with multiple cut-outs, black belts and a ruffled edge showed off her abs while the side-split made the most of her killer legs

Planned? She was joined by co-star Keanu Reeves. The duo coordinated perfectly in their contrasting ensembles; Keanu in all-black and Suki in olive green

Classic look: Keanu kept his red carpet look simple, choosing to layer a T-shirt underneath a casual blazer

The London-born beauty styled her long, blonde locks in soft curls, brushed through to frame her face perfectly.

Suki, who has landed the female lead in multiple films this year, chose a heavily winged eye and pale pink lip for make-up.

Because of her dress' heavy design elements, the Future World star kept her accessories to a minimum, choosing a collection of rings.

Different design: Co-star Suki sported a sleeveless dress complete with multiple cut-outs, black belts and a ruffled edge

Keeping it classic: Suki, who has landed the female lead in multiple films this year, chose a heavily winged eye and pale pink lip for make-up

In The Bad Batch, Suki plays Arlen, a woman who is abandon in Texas and taken hostage by cannibals.

The gritty, R-rated drama features Keanu as The Dream, Jim Carrey as Hermit, Jason Momoa as Miami Man and Diego Luna as Jimmy.

The Bad Batch hits theaters on Friday, June 23.

Hot new role: In The Bad Batch, Suki plays Arlen, a woman who is abandon in Texas and taken hostage by cannibals

Superstar style: Suki used her model credentials to make sure she made an impact at the bash, adding a pair of killer heels

Final touch: Because of her dress' heavy design elements, the Future World star kept her accessories to a minimum, choosing a collection of rings
She's the famous daughter of the late 'King of Pop' who's already experienced more ups and downs than most would in a lifetime.

And after making her debut in Vogue Australia's July issue, Paris Jackson has thanked the magazine for being the first publication that hasn't 'twisted' her words.

In a first for the magazine, the 19-year-old conducted her interview via text messages.

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'One of the first where my words haven't been twisted': Paris Jackson has praisesed Vogue Australia for publishing a truthful interview... which was conducted via text messages

Sharing the cover with her fans on Monday: Paris revealed in the caption alongside it: 'vogue australia...so grateful to the below for this opportunity. july issue available monday, june 26th.'

'... one of the first interviews where my words haven't been twisted, and they get all the info straight from the source! so thankful. please check it out.'

Off limits: Speaking openly about her 'passions, empowerment and enlightenment', Fairfax reports that family was one topic off limits during the chat

Speaking openly about her 'passions, empowerment and enlightenment', Fairfax reports that family was one topic off limits during the chat.

'Sorry, I don't do family questions,' Paris reportedly told Vogue editor-in-chief, Edwina McCann.

McCann told the newspaper that Vogue had never approved an interview conducted via text messages, up until now.

'[It's] something we have never before agreed to at Vogue, but when seemed appropriate for someone of her [Paris's] generation,' she explained.

Shot by Patrick Demarchelier and styled by Kanye West's Yeezy runway stylist, Christine Centenera, during her interview Paris said she hopes to make her first visit to Australia in the near future.

'My parentals got married there so it's for sure on my bucket list to go,' she explained.
Roxy Jacenko has revealed she is hosting a 'welcome home party' for her husband Oliver Curtis this weekend following his release from jail on Friday.

Speaking at her 'In Conversation With' seminar in Melbourne, the PR maven also explained how the couple's children, Pixie, five, and Hunter, three, would be reunited with their convicted criminal father after he walks out of the prison gates.

The father-of-two was jailed for insider trading in June 2016, and will be released from Cooma Correctional Centre in a matter of days.

'No plane involved, or handcuffs for that matter': Roxy Jacenko has revealed she is throwing husband Oliver Curtis a 'welcome home party' at their Bondi home following his release from prison this week

According to Fairfax, the Sweaty Betty Founder, 37, said at the seminar: 'It will be amazing for the children and I am just excited to see their faces when they see him.'

'She's (Pixie) marking off the days and now we're down to however many sleeps, she can count now she goes to school.'

Roxy appears to have had a change of heart, having previously told Daily Mail Australia she wasn't going to 'celebrate' and Oliver, 31 would be 'straight back to work.'

With her kids still under the impression that Oliver's been on a business trip to China, she also revealed she'd have to be tactical so they continued to believe her.

'Marking off the days': 'She revealed daughter Pixie, 5, is: 'marking off the days and now we're down to however many sleeps, she can count now she goes to school'

PR spin: With Pixie, five, and Hunter, three, still believing their dad had been on a business trip to China, the 37-year-old revealed she planned 'to take them in the car with him to (his) office'

She explained that after the weekend she would be taking the couple's two children to Oliver's office on Monday, hinting that her husband would in fact be going straight back to work.

'I might have to take them in the car with him to (his) office so they can see there is no plane involved, or handcuffs for that matter,' she explained.

'After insisting numerous times she'd be meeting Oliver at the prison gates, she did not say whether she would be going to pick up Oliver from jail when he is released, according to Fairfax.

In April Roxy went onto Morning television to speak about her marriage and its challenges.

'Look, no marriage is ever perfect,' she said.

'Obviously mine is challenged because of the situation we're in, but Ollie is a wonderful father and I've got my rings on (today), but I don't wear them to the gym ... all is fine.'

Change of heart? Roxy appears to have had a change of heart, having previously told Daily Mail Australia she wasn't going to 'celebrate' and Oliver, 31 would be 'straight back to work'

This comes after Roxy was spotted kissing her ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal at his Sydney apartment in April.

Nabil has been described as one of Roxy's more 'serious' past boyfriends, and the pair dated until 2010. However, little is known about their relationship prior to the split.

More change: This comes after Roxy was spotted kissing her ex-boyfriend Nabil Gazal at his Sydney apartment in April

'Elsewhere during the seminar, Roxy spoke of the difficulties of raising her children as a single parent over the past year.'

The busy PR maven confessed that playing both parent's roles was draining, and she likened the experience to being a 'hostage in her own home'.

Additionally, Roxy said her business suffered from the bad press, with some clients leaving Sweaty Betty as a result.

Oliver is expected to be released on Friday June 23, providing he has qualified for good behaviour.

Needs a lie down! Elsewhere during the seminar, Roxy also revealed that the past twelve months had been the most difficult of her life
She welcomed her baby daughter Evie in September 2016.

And Maria Fowler showed off her sensational body just nine months after giving birth when she soaked up the sunshine on her getaway in Parga, Greece on Thursday.

Showing off more than her tan lines, the former TOWIE star, 30, put her eye-popping cleavage on display in her skimpy patterned bikini.

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What a figure! Maria Fowler flaunted her eye-popping cleavage in a skimpy string bikini when she soaked up the sunshine on her getaway in Parga, Greece on Thursday

The mum-of-one showed off the rewards of her fitness labour as she flaunted her impressive set of abs while she baked in the Grecian sunshine.

Wind swept, Maria was utterly at ease when she swept the loose wisps off her face, accentuated by minimal touches of make-up.

Leaving little to the imagination, she showed off her Latin inking 'Aut viam inveniam aut faciam' on her right shoulder which translates as 'I will find a way or make one'.

The Derby native oozed sex appeal as she accessorised with a huge pair of sunglasses, sheltering her eyes from the blazing sunshine.

Utterly relaxed! The Only Way Is Essex reality star, 30, sent temperatures soaring as she soaked up the Grecian sunshine

Showing off her cheeky side! The Essex native flaunted her peachy derriere and her Latin inking 'Aut viam inveniam aut faciam' on her right shoulder

Abs-olutely ripped: Maria put the fruits of her fitness labour on display as she flaunted her impressive set of abs

Maria was enjoying her holiday with her long-term partner and motocross racer Kelvin Batey and their daughter Evie.

The couple have slipped into their role of parents with ease after they were excited to welcome their first child into the world in September 2016.

At the time of the birth, Kelvin gushed on Twitter: 'Finally got my girls home after a complicated birth.

Specs appeal: The Essex beauty oozed sex appeal as she accessorised with a huge pair of sunglasses

Gone with the wind! Maria let her brunette locks down to frame her face which she accentuated with natural touches of make-up

'So proud of the both of them and thankful things are ok now. Evie Paris Batey 25/9/16.'

'To meet my soulmate & be lucky enough to start a family with her is the best thing that has ever happened to me. nothing can compare. so happy.'

Maria discussed she struggled to lose her baby weight at first after she gave birth.

Incredible: Maria ensured all eyes were well and truly on her when she put her sensational body on display

Wow: The TOWIE beauty worked on her tan as she left little to the imagination in her barely-there beachwear

Family time! The mum-of-one enjoyed her holiday with her long-term partner and motocross racer Kelvin Batey and their daughter Evie

Body confidence! She struggled with losing her baby weight after she gave birth in September 2016

At the time, she told the Daily Mirror newspaper: 'You do see some stars who lose their mummy tummies crazily quickly - posing up with a flat stomach weeks after the birth.

'That wasn't the case with me. I didn't want to go too quickly because I knew that would not be healthy.

'And I wanted Evie to be rooted in any exercise that I did so I would not spend much time away from her.'

As for her career, the brunette was propelled to fame during her year long stint on TOWIE from 2010-2011.

Pregnancy: She went up from 9st to 11st 7lbs after giving birth to her daughter

Goals: The new mum was pleased she lost two and a half stone soon after giving birth

Fitness guru: She credited her weight loss to a healthy diet and five-mile power walks while pushing Evie in a buggy

As for stardom! The brunette was propelled to fame during her year long stint on TOWIE from 2010

Revealed: But the former Page 3 girl left the set of The Only Way Is Essex after a year on the show
News / National

by Staff reporter

The Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai says the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) should immediately recall a draft statutory instrument that will make it mandatory for all prospective voters to produce proof of residence.In a statement, the MDC-T said, "It is a fact that the majority of urban dwellers are lodgers and tenants who will not easily have access to proof of residence such as utility bills  For the record, the MDC would like to state that it is one of the several stakeholders that strenuously argued against the planned move to make it mandatory for people to produce written proof of residence before they can be permitted to register as voters."In fact, the party wrote a letter to the ZEC chairperson, Rita Makarau, on April 20, 2017, making our party position on this crucial issue abundantly clear. We advocate for a system whereby people must be allowed to register as voters as long as they can affirm their places of residence during the voter registration exercise."The party claimed that the ruling Zanu PF party is already sensing a crushing and humiliating defeat in next year's elections and as a result it is trying to influence ZEC to make it extremely difficult for most people to register to vote."It is trite that dictatorships thrive on voter apathy as well as on voter demotivation and intimidation. The MDC will not allow ZEC to unconstitutionally usurp the right of all eligible Zimbabweans to register as voters."The MDC-T urged all Zimbabweans, especially the youth, to register to vote in the next elections.The party noted that "a democratic, free and fair election entails that all eligible voters, without exception, are not deliberately and/or unnecessarily disenfranchised through a cumbersome and difficult process of registering as voters."In terms of the Electoral (Voter Registration) Regulations, 2017, Section 5 stipulates that for the purposes of registering as a voter, a voter shall be required to provide a residential address to be filled in on the claim form for registration and affirm, before the voter registration officer that he or she resides at the address given, or the address so given is the intended address to be used by the voter for purposes of registration.
Stephanie Davis was spotted with her on-off boyfriend Jeremy McConnell in a north London hotel on Sunday where they appeared to lock lips following the meeting.

The 24-year-old former Hollyoaks actress kept things low-key as she was reunited with the Irish star, 27, on Father's Day - his first since the arrival of their son Caben-Albi - yet the six-month-old tot was nowhere to be seen.

Sources claim the duo spent two days and nights in the hotel, with the reunion coming hot on the heels of a fresh police probe into the disclosure of private sexual images, although they seem to have resolved their woes.

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Crisis talks? Stephanie Davis was spotted with her on-off boyfriend Jeremy McConnell in a north London hotel on Sunday as their fractious relations rumble on

Stephanie's convoluted romance with Jeremy has grown increasingly difficult to track as time goes on as the duo have frequently made up and broken up, yet their latest status saw an acrimonious split in which the police have become involved.

As he awaits trial on an assault charge against the star, last week it was confirmed the actress had made a formal complaint over the 'disclosure of private sexual images' - yet fresh reports claim they are set for make-or-break discussions.

The London reunion appeared to hint at a refreshed status of their relationship as they grabbed a coffee and appeared to be in total ease together, although their straight faces alluded to the serious nature of their chat.

While both parties gave a nod to one another on Father's Day, Caben was nowhere to be seen as they held their chats - just hours before Stephanie appeared to return to Liverpool and Jeremy headed to the Transformers: The Last Knight Global Premiere.

Kiss, kiss: The couple appeared to lock lips in the latest shock development

Locking lips: Stephanie and Jeremy got closer than ever in recent days

All forgiven? Stephanie appeared prepared to put their woes behind them

Pretty in pink: After their summit, Stephanie seemed calm and relaxed

Alone: Elsewhere however, Stephanie made it abundantly clear she was ringing in the landmark day for the duo with just her son while also pointedly paying tribute to her own father in a sweet post shared with her 806,000 followers

Hot topic: The 24-year-old former Hollyoaks actress kept things low-key as she was reunited with the Irish star, 27, on Father's Day - his first since the arrival of their son Caben-Albi - yet the six-month-old tot was nowhere to be seen

Serious stuff: Sources claim the duo spent two days and nights in the hotel, with the reunion coming hot on the heels of a fresh police probe into the disclosure of private sexual images, although they seem to have resolved their woes

Deep chat: Stephanie's convoluted romance with Jeremy has grown increasingly difficult to track as time goes on as the duo have frequently made up and broken up, yet their latest status saw an acrimonious split in which the police have become involved

Them days: As he awaits trial on an assault charge against the star, last week it was confirmed the actress had made a formal complaint over the 'disclosure of private sexual images' - yet fresh reports claim they are set for make-or-break discussions

Blonde beauty: Stephanie's newly dyed blonde locks were flawlessly styled as she headed out of the hotel although she went make-up free beneath an over-sized pair of sunglasses while sporting a low-key pink ensemble

Low-key: Jeremy meanwhile stuck to his favoured vest look paired with shorts and a brightly-coloured pair of trainers - he sported an oversized rucksack undoubtedly laden with his overnight goods following the trip

Stephanie's newly dyed blonde locks were flawlessly styled as she headed out of the hotel although she went make-up free beneath an over-sized pair of sunglasses while sporting a low-key pink ensemble.

Jeremy meanwhile stuck to his favoured vest look paired with shorts and a brightly-coloured pair of trainers - he sported an oversized rucksack undoubtedly laden with his overnight goods following the trip.

Representatives for Stephanie and Jeremy declined to comment when approached by MailOnline.

Hours later, Jeremy made a rare red carpet appearance at the premiere having dismissed their woes by posting a family shot with a gushing caption, in which he also referenced his late father.

The reality star, whose dad passed away in March, penned: 'Happy Father's Day , and to my dad I'll make you proud , slowly learning and growing as a person each day'.

Moving on: Hours later, Jeremy made a rare red carpet appearance at the premiere having dismissed their woes by posting a family shot with a gushing caption, in which he also referenced his late father

Holding on: As they headed out, they were ready for some food following their summit

Listening in: The handsome star looked at ease with his love as they chatted

Surprise entry: Jeremy joined a host of stars at the London premiere of Transformers: The Last Knight Global Premiere on Father's Day on Sunday

Serious stuff: The pair were in deep talk as they enjoyed their coffee

Gentleman: Jeremy helped Stephanie with her suitcase as she climbed into the car

Cooling off: They stopped for refreshments before parting ways after the summit

Elsewhere however, Stephanie made it abundantly clear she was ringing in the landmark day for the duo with just her son while also pointedly paying tribute to her own father in a sweet post shared with her 806,000 followers.

With her snap of Caben, she wrote: 'Just me and my boy on this hot hot day! Nappy only, fan on and windows open! Remember to kept your babies in the right temperature to avoid over heating.

'Even a bowl of ice and water in the room to keep it nice. Time for food and a film with my little one and to wind down for the night. Also get a temperature egg for your room so you know it's JUST right xx'.

Helping hand: The handsome star was every inch the chivalrous gent

Off we go: After a reported two days and nights in the hotel, Stephanie was headed home

Fond farewells: The star helped her into the car as she headed off

No concern? Jeremy was all smiles as he posed for photographers in a lace shirt

Posing: The star went solo at the event despite the drama swirling around his private life

Fallen down: Despite this she still sent a message to Jeremy from Caben, as she shared a snap of the duo and penned: 'Happy Father's Day daddy... Fall down 7 times, stand up EIGHT! U can do this. I have faith. Love Caben-Albi'

Despite this she still sent a message to Jeremy from Caben, as she shared a snap of the duo and penned: 'Happy Father's Day daddy... Fall down 7 times, stand up EIGHT! U can do this. I have faith. Love Caben-Albi'.

When a follower asked if she was angry at the star, she graciously responded: 'I ain't no fool &TRUST I'm angry!But dont judge till u know some1s full life.I would never be a mum 2 use their son against their dadd... People saying I'm ignoring Jeremy on Father's Day,i would never use my son against his father. You don't kick someone when their down enough'.

Shirking his family woes, Jeremy looked carefree at the premiere as he strutted the red carpet in an all-black ensemble complete with a bizarre lace shirt, under which his bare chest and nipple piercings were on full display.

Sad times: In his tribute to his son, he also gave a nod to his dad who he was left devastated after his father passed away following a short battle with cancer

Adding to his cutting edge style was a pair of skin-tight jeans complete with a flood-length and his favoured suede ankle boots.

In his tribute to his son, he also gave a nod to his dad who he was left devastated after his father passed away following a short battle with cancer.

His representative confirmed: 'On Friday March 3rd, 2017, Jeremy McConnell's father passed away after a short battle with cancer. We ask that Jeremy is given space and privacy at this incredibly sad time.'

Adding to his heartbreak, the Celebrity Big Brother star was just 15, when is mother died of a brain hemorrhage. A year later, his brother died in a fatal motorcycle accident, while his sister died of a heart attack after suffering from epilepsy.
It's the reality series that provides plenty of cringe-worthy antics.

And that was certainly the case for Tuesday night's episode of Channel Seven's First Dates.

Brendan, 27, did not hold back when attempting to woo Ellie, 22, declaring: 'I like naked Twister but I'm sick of playing it alone.'

'I like naked Twister but I'm sick of playing it alone': First Dates' Brendan, 27, did not hold back as he fell hook, line and sinker for blonde bombshell Ellie, 22, on Tuesday night's episode

Brendan, a construction worker from Victoria, made it clear from the get-go that he was attracted to blonde bombshell Ellie.

And when talk turned to what board games they prefer, Ellie's date did not hold back.

'I'd say naked Twister but I'm sick of playing it alone. It's no fun when you're playing it alone. Legs are going everywhere,' he said on-camera.

Banter: When talk turned to board games, Brendan flirtatiously offered: 'I'd say naked Twister but I'm sick of playing it alone. It's no fun when you're playing it alone. Legs are going everywhere'

Caught off-guard: Ellie, appearing suddenly shy, bowed her head down, simply offering 'I'm sorry.' Yet Brendan's charm worked in his favour, with Ellie agreeing to a second date

Ellie, appearing suddenly shy, bowed her head down, simply offering 'I'm sorry.'

Yet Brendan's charm worked in his favour, with Ellie agreeing to a second date.

Another successful date for the night, was between 'extra fiery' Ana, 35, and Brazilian Rodrigo, 41.

There was plenty of chemistry between the pair, even attempting a samba in the restaurant, in front of prying diners.

Both Rodrigo and Ana agreed to a second date, with Portuguese/South African Ana revealing that she was keen to find 'The One'.

All going swimmingly: Another successful date for the night, was between 'extra fiery' Ana, 35, and Brazilian Rodrigo, 41. There was plenty of chemistry between the pair, even attempting a samba in the restaurant, in front of prying diners

Perfect match? It was also a yes to a second date for country boy Harry, 19, and brunette Keira, 21. The pair appeared to have a lot in common, with both sharing a love of the country and outdoors

Giving out compliments: Harry who revealed that he often gets 'nervous and shaky' when meeting a beautiful girl, was certainly not shy in showering Keira with compliments

It was also a yes to a second date for country boy Harry, 19, and brunette Keira, 21.

The pair appeared to have a lot in common, with both sharing a love of the country and outdoors.

Harry who revealed that he often gets 'nervous and shaky' when meeting a beautiful girl, was certainly not shy in showering Keira with compliments.

Friend-zoned: However, there were also a few unsuccessful dates during the episode. French-born Mathilde, 23, turned down a second date with Nicholas, 21, stating that although they got along well, she could see them better as friends

Emotional: Nicholas looked utterly disappointed, making a broken heart hand gesture for the camera

However, there were also a few unsuccessful dates during the episode.

French-born Mathilde, 23, turned down a second date with Nicholas, 21, stating that although they got along well, she could see them better as friends.

Nicholas looked utterly disappointed, making a broken heart hand gesture for the camera.

Awkward: And it was certainly awkward to watch the date between gym junkie Steve, 21, and party girl Kennedy, 21. Kennedy appeared taken back at first by Steve's revelation that he hardly ever parties or goes out, rather preferring to exercise and stay as healthy as possible

And it was certainly awkward to watch the date between gym junkie Steve, 21, and party girl Kennedy, 21.

Kennedy appeared taken back at first by Steve's revelation that he hardly ever parties or goes out, rather preferring to exercise and stay as healthy as possible.

Not even a tequila shot could convince Steve to go on a second date, despite Kennedy admitting that she would be keen.

Bizarre: And that was not the only awkward encounter between Steve and Kennedy, with a waiter providing a rather bizarre comment. Approaching Steve, the hospitality worker told the diner: 'Your shirt looks like it's a bit too small'

And that was not the only awkward encounter between Steve and Kennedy, with a waiter providing a rather bizarre comment.

Approaching Steve, the hospitality worker told the diner: 'Your shirt looks like it's a bit too small.'

'He's quite large hey,' Kennedy quipped, before adding: 'Quite muscly.'

Steve then shared that he thought the waiter was 'flirting' with him.
It's quite often that we see a number of awkward encounters on reality series First Dates.

But on Tuesday night's episode, it was bizarrely between a waiter and show contestant Steve, 21.

Noticing Steve's dress shirt was clinging quite tightly to his frame, the hospitality worker offered: 'Your shirt looks like it's a bit too small.'

'Your shirt looks like it's a bit too small': First Dates' Steve, 21, was left feeling very awkward on Tuesday's episode, as a WAITER noticed his fabric was straining against his large frame

Approaching Steve, the waiter told him: 'Your shirt looks like it's a bit too small.'

'He's quite large hey,' his date Kennedy, 21, quipped, before adding: 'Quite muscly.'

Steve then shared that he thought the waiter was 'flirting' with him, which Kennedy seemed to find rather bizarre.

Observant: 'He's quite large hey,' his date Kennedy, 21, quipped, before adding: 'Quite muscly'

Quick response: Steve then shared that he thought the waiter was 'flirting' with him, which Kennedy seemed to find rather bizarre

And that was not the only awkward moment during the date between gym junkie Steve, and self-proclaimed party girl Kennedy.

Kennedy, an outgoing blonde, appeared taken back at first by Steve's revelation that he hardly ever parties or goes out, rather preferring to exercise and stay as healthy as possible.

Not even a tequila shot could convince Steve to go on a second date however, despite Kennedy admitting that she would have been keen.

Successful: However for Brendan, 27, he had a rather successful date with Ellie, 22. The chemistry palpable, the construction worker openly flirted when discussing his favourite board games

However for Brendan, 27, he had a rather successful date with Ellie, 22.

The chemistry palpable, the construction worker openly flirted when discussing his favourite board games.

'I like naked Twister but I'm sick of playing it alone,' Brendan declared.

Banter: 'I like naked Twister but I'm sick of playing it alone,' Brendan declared on-camera

It's a yes! Blonde bombshell Ellie, appearing suddenly shy, bowed her head down, simply offering 'I'm sorry.' Yet Brendan's charm worked in his favour, with Ellie agreeing to a second date

'It's no fun when you're playing it alone. Legs are going everywhere,' he playfully continued.

Blonde bombshell Ellie, appearing suddenly shy, bowed her head down, simply offering 'I'm sorry.'

Yet Brendan's charm worked in his favour, with Ellie agreeing to a second date.

All going swimmingly: Another successful date for the night, was between 'extra fiery' Ana, 35, and Brazilian Rodrigo, 41. There was plenty of chemistry between the pair, even attempting a samba in the restaurant, in front of prying diners

Another successful date for the night, was between 'extra fiery' Ana, 35, and Brazilian Rodrigo, 41.

There was plenty of chemistry between the pair, even attempting a samba in the restaurant, in front of prying diners.

Both Rodrigo and Ana agreed to a second date, with Portuguese/South African Ana revealing that she was keen to find 'The One'.

Perfect match? It was also a yes to a second date for country boy Harry, 19, and brunette Keira, 21. The pair appeared to have a lot in common, with both sharing a love of the country and outdoors

It was also a yes to a second date for country boy Harry, 19, and brunette Keira, 21.

The pair appeared to have a lot in common, with both sharing a love of the country and outdoors.

Harry who revealed that he often gets 'nervous and shaky' when meeting a beautiful girl, was certainly not shy in showering Keira with compliments.

Giving out compliments: Harry who revealed that he often gets 'nervous and shaky' when meeting a beautiful girl, was certainly not shy in showering Keira with compliments

However, there were also a few unsuccessful dates during the episode.

French-born Mathilde, 23, turned down a second date with Nicholas, 21, stating that although they got along well, she could see them better as friends.

Nicholas looked utterly disappointed, making a broken heart hand gesture for the camera.

Friend-zoned: French-born Mathilde, 23, turned down a second date with Nicholas, 21, stating that although they got along well, she could see them better as friends
She never fails to look glamorous when she hits the red carpet in an array of show-stopping dresses.

But Eva Longoria proved her natural beauty on Monday, as she made an uncharacteristically fresh-faced arrival in Vancouver, Canada.

The actress, 42, cut a more fatigued figure than usual as she touched down in the city without a scrap of cosmetic help, to film her latest film project, Overboard.

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Stunning: Eva Longoria made an uncharacteristically fresh-faced arrival in Vancouver, Canada on Monday ahead of filming for her new flick Overboard

The Desperate Housewives star touched down at the airport with a completely fresh face - proving her natural beauty without a shred of help from make-up, despite her seemingly tired complexion.

She kept casual and comfortable for the long flight in a baggy T-shirt and loose-fitting trousers, which skimmed her long legs all the way to their cuff at the ankle.

Maintaining the low-key vibe from head to toe, she finished her look with co-ordinating black trainers and a warm jumper, which she tied round her waist upon arrival.

Stunning: The Desperate Housewives star touched down at the airport with a completely fresh face - proving her striking natural beauty without a shred of help from make-up (R)

Gorgeous: Adding nothing but dark shades and sweeping her brunette locks off her face, Eva left her enviably glowing skin on show as she headed through the terminal

Sweeping her locks off her face, Eva left her smooth, glowing skin on show as she headed through the terminal - clad with numerous items of luggage and a pair of dark shades covering her tired eyes.

The brunette beauty had jetted to the city from Malibu, California - where she had spent a romantic few days with her husband Jose Baston, 49.

The pair were spotted enjoying a number of dinners together at swanky eatery Nobu, as well as a low-key lunch at Soho Beach House - where they sweetly indulged in a number of smooches outside.

Loved-up: The brunette beauty had jetted to the city from Malibu, California - where she had spent a romantic few days with her husband Jose Baston, 49 (right)

Pucker up: The pair were spotted enjoying a low-key lunch at Soho Beach House - where they sweetly indulged in a number of smooches outside

The couple celebrated their first wedding anniversary in Cannes last month, where Jose had joined Eva for the annual film festival - after tying the knot in a lavish ceremony in Mexico in May 2016.

However Eva has now parted from her beau and returned to Canada, to continue filming the remake of 1987 comedy Overboard.

Eva stars alongside Anna Faris in the flick - which reverses the premise of the original film, where a wealthy woman fell off her yacht and is saved by a carpenter she had previously rejected.

Back to work: However Eva has now parted from her beau and returned to Canada, to continue filming the remake of 1987 comedy Overboard with Anna Faris (R)

In the new version, Spanish heartthrob Eugenio Derbez plays spoiled playboy Leonardo who loses his memory after falling overboard, but is saved by Anna.

Meanwhile Eva portrays Theresa, although it is not known how her character is involved in the plot.

The comedy is due out in 2018, 31 years after the original hit, but is yet to announce its official release date.
She's been showing off her sensational physique in an array of fabulous bikinis as she holidays in Barbados.

And Manchester United WAG Lisa Carrick, 35, looked amazing as she frolicked on the idyllic Caribbean white sands - wearing supportive black bandage tape on her back following a potential injury.

Sunning her toned bod in a grey snakeskin bikini, the wife of Manchester midfielder Michael Carrick, also 35, looked amazing as she paddled in the waters.

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Sizzling: WAG Lisa Carrick, 35, looked amazing as she frolicked on the idyllic Caribbean white sands wearing supportive black bandage tape on her back

Despite her recent injury, the beauty looked carefree as she showcased her taut abs and gym-honed pins, whilst sporting a beautifully bronzed glow.

Scraping her golden tresses back into a relaxed topknot, Lisa smiled as she went make-up free for her day on the beach, and slipped a pair of shades over her eyes.

While displaying her pert posterior, she displayed strips of long black kinesio tape down the middle of her back and across her derriere, which is water resistant and made from cotton.

Ouch: While displaying her pert posterior, she displayed strips of long black kinesio tape down the middle of her back and across her derriere, which is water resistant and made from cotton

The method is a rehabilitative taping technique that is intended to facilitate the bodys natural healing process while providing support and stability to muscles and joints.

The positives of the taping technique mean that it doesn't restrict the bodys range of motion while alleviating discomfort and facilitating lymphatic drainage.

Lisa and her footballer husband Michael have been dating since they were both at school and tied the knot in Leicestershire in 2007.

He recently signed a one-year contract extension at United and enjoyed his testimonial match last week.

Loved-up: Lisa and footballer husband Michael have been dating since they were both at school and tied the knot in Leicestershire in 2007 (Pictured at United For UNICEF charity event, 12 Dec 2011)

Marking his ten years of service for the club, stars of past and present joined an All Star match pay tribute to the classy midfielder.

Longtime pal Rio Ferdinand was one of many Manchester United legends to pull on the red shirt again.

Playing against Chelsea All Stars in a repeat of the famous Champions League final victory in Moscow, Carrick was snapped jogging onto the field along with two children.

Lisa Tweeted: Couldn't be more proud. Amazing day for my family. Unbelievable turn out at Old Trafford.'
BRIAN VINER: Philippa lives in Edinburgh, where she works in a dreary sales job and is passed over for promotion. 'You are at the right level for you,' says her condescending boss.
She recently underwent a gruelling full surgical makeover in a bid to recapture the youthful looks of her past.

And Daniella Westbrook, 43, showed off the results of her facelift - as she displayed painful looking bruising on the side of her face and jaw whilst sunning it up in Marbella on Sunday.

With her smooth skin offset by the grey-blue marks, the former Eastenders actress - who also underwent a boob augmentation and extensive work on her teeth - looked happy and relaxed as she basked al fresco with friends.

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Ouch: Daniella Westbrook, 43, showed off the results of her facelift - as she displayed painful looking bruising on the side of her face and jaw whilst sunning it up in Marbella on Sunday

Incredible transformation: She underwent a gruelling full surgical transformation, with a facelift, teeth correction, and breast augmentation

She wore a sweet blue playsuit with a strapless neckline, which boasted the results of her recently enhanced bosoms.

Showcasing her slender pins, the actress smiled as she glided down the stairs, and kept comfortable with a pair of silver espadrilles.

She scraped her blonde tresses off her face in a sleek ponytail, and glowed with healthiness as she showed off her incredible transformation and clutched her sunglasses and phone in one hand.

Happier than ever: She wore a sweet blue playsuit with a strapless neckline, which boasted the results of her recently enhanced bosoms

Sporting kohl-rimmed eye make-up, which brought out the dazzling blue hue of her peepers, the legendary actress appeared to be in high spirits as she enjoyed her well-deserved break.

Reading a Costa Del Sol guidebook, the beauty was no doubt preparing activities to fill her days whilst holidaying on the Spanish coastline.

Previously, Danniella insisted others shouldn't follow in her footsteps when it comes to altering their image. The actress shared her regret over her decision to go under the knife and insisted 'surgery isn't worth it'.

Activity planning: Sporting kohl-rimmed eye make-up, the legendary actress appeared to be in high spirits as she showed off the results of her surgery (Right picture: In May 2016)

In a candid chat with The Sun on Sunday, Danniella referenced her latest procedures and admitted she is 'petrified' about revamping her image once more.

The former EastEnders star had spoken of her plans to give her face and body a cosmetic makeover in her bid to get back to a 'happy and healthy life', but the severity of the work she has had to have done has left her with concerns.

She has already endured a six-hour operation on her face and is set to be put through another eight hours of surgery in her bid to build herself a new jaw and prevent her face from collapsing.

Acting legend: Danniella rose to fame playing the character of Sam Mitchell on and off between 1990-2016

Danniella explained she has been forced to undergo the work on her face after previous dental implants had left her with septicemia and osteoporosis.

Her cheeks had disintegrated and her jaw had been left damaged. But in order to correct her jaw, Danniella was told she needed her face to be made 'smaller' and 'tighter'.

Danniella confessed: 'I'm petrified. I'm petrified that it won't work and my face will be ruined, but also that something might go wrong and I won't wake up at all. People don't realise surgery isn't worth it.'

New chapter: The former EastEnders star had spoken of her plans to give her face and body a cosmetic makeover in her bid to get back to a 'happy and healthy life'

She encouraged those contemplating cosmetic surgery to 'look at me and think again' to try to warn them of the complications it can bring.

'You could spend the rest of your life getting something fixed that you didn't need in the first place.'

The actress has struggled with cocaine addiction in the past and has been candid about her relapses.

She recently completed a stint in rehab to finally quash her demons, and her recent surgical makeover marks the start of a fresh beginning with clean living.
She shot to fame on the sandy beaches of Los Angeles in the hit 1990s series Baywatch where her curves took centre stage.

And Pamela Anderson made a dramatic entrance at the terminal when she arrived at Orly Airport in Paris, France with a male companion on Monday.

The Baywatch queen, 49, struggled to contain her impressive cleavage in the plunging neckline of her navy fitted Vivienne Westwood frock.

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Dramatic entrance: Pamela Anderson struggled to contain her famous curves in a plunging dress when she arrived at Orly Airport in Paris, France with a male companion on Monday

Showing off all her best assets, the V.I.P star flaunted her bronze model-honed pins in the thigh-skimming mini dress.

The Playboy magazine 1990 pinup added a hint of sparkle to her airport ensemble with her gem-studded circular Bulgari sunglasses.

Pammy proudly showed off her age-defying beauty as she let her golden locks fall naturally to frame her face in a sea of loose curls.

Carrying her tote handbag, the model was joined at the airport by a male companion who was dressed in a matching navy polo top.

Age-defying looks: The Baywatch queen, 49, flaunted her bronze model-honed pins in the thigh-skimming midi dress as she strolled with her male companion through the terminal

As for romance, Pamela was first linked to the founder of WikiLeaks when she was seen leaving the Knightsbridge embassy in September 2014.

The meeting was set up for the Canadian American actress to try to persuade Julian to back her foundation, which supports women who are victims of sexual abuse.

Instantly hitting it off, the February 1990 Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine pin up has regularly visited the political prisoner ever since.

Julian was subject to a European Arrest Warrant over allegations he raped a woman in Sweden but the charges have since been dropped.

The US Justice Department is currently deciding whether to prosecute Julian over documents published on Wikileaks back in 2010.

Always glamorous! The Playboy magazine 1990 pinup dazzled with her gem-studded circular sunglasses

In the light of the speculation, the television sensation has remained coy about whether their relationship is romantic.

Speaking about their relationship, she told People: 'Julian is trying to free the world by educating it. It is a romantic struggle, I love him for this.

'I understand that our "affair" and the curiosity surrounding that might bring some attention to his situation.

'That's fine but I'd rather not go into private details but let's just say everyone deserves love.'

Pamela and Julian's rumoured romance comes after the star's three failed marriages.

The Baywatch star was married to rocker Tommy Lee from 1995 to 1998 after knowing him for only four days.

Letting her hair down! Pammy proudly showed off her age-defying beauty as she made a stylish arrival

The former flames share her two children Dylan Jagger Lee, 19, and Brandon Thomas Lee, 20.

Pamela went onto marry Kid Rock in 2006 but they were separated in 2007.

In the same year, she tied the knot with Rick Salomon and despite a 2008 annulment, she remarried him by 2014 - but they parted ways for good in February 2015.

Meanwhile on-screen Baywatch: The Movie hit cinemas in May, a new flick comedy adaptation of the NBC drama series which propelled her into the spotlight.

Kelly Rohrbach slipped into the role Pamela played from 1992 until 1997, alongside stars Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron and Priyanka Chopra.
She has been enjoying a new romance after meeting her new beau James Abercrombie at a party in Los Angeles in recent weeks.

And Mischa Barton looked blissfully happy under the influence of love when she hit the shops with a female pal at the Grove in Hollywood, California on Monday.

Putting on a spectacle, the O.C. star, 31, teased a glimpse of her skin in the lace-up trousers, with flesh flashing panels cut up to her thigh.

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Girls' day out! Mischa Barton (left) flashed a hint of flesh in her lace-up trousers when she hit the shops with a female pal at the Grove in Hollywood, California on Monday

The actress dressed down her look with a casual emerald green shirt, only doing up one button over a skimpy white Tee.

The Noughties 'It Girl' opted for the ultimate comfort in a pair of preppy trainers, needing no heels to add to her statuesque model height.

Proudly flaunting her buys, Mischa carried a huge Nordstrom shopping bag as she headed through the busy centre alongside her pal.

Shop until you drop! The actress dressed down her look with a casual emerald green shirt, only doing up one button over a skimpy white Tee

It makes a change since Mischa has been inseparable from new man James since a chance first meeting at a party in recent weeks.

Fashion model James is the son of a former Victorian Liberal Party treasurer who is set to inherit as much as $574 million, according toAFRA Rich List.

FRM Model Management director Stephen Bucknall confirmed their relationship status to Daily Mail Australia, three weeks ago.

He explained: 'James is currently dating well known actress Mischa Barton.

'He's very ambitious': Mischa is swept up in her new romance with beau James Abercrombie (pictured together on Instagram) but her friends are concerned about his intentions

'James met Mischa at a party in Los Angeles just on a month ago.

'They then headed off on a small trip to France. He is now back in Los Angeles and they are spending a lot of time together."

But there could be trouble on the horizon for the pair as a close friend has already voiced their concerned about James' intentions, according to NW magazine.

An insider told the publication: 'He's very ambitious.

'Mischa's getting her life back on track after a lot of drama and although she's doing well, her friends are understandably worried about her new relationship.'

'He didn't have an Instagram until very recently and immediately posted a picture of them together, and he seems to love being spotted with her.'
She's the glamorous model and journalist who hosts E! News Australia.

And Ksenija Lukich flaunted another glitzy look upon a luxury boat cruise in Sydney on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old showcased her unique style in a gold-patterned matching set with a leather jacket thrown over shoulders.

Champagne and smash cakes! Ksenija Lukich dons glam ensemble for luxury boat cruise in Sydney with Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne on Tuesday

Ksenija appeared in high spirits as she was spotted hopping on the boat, where a lot of the guests had been pictured drinking.

The Australian beauty had previously taken to Instagram to pose alongside Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne at what appeared to be streaming site HayU's launch.

She wrote: 'What did you do today? Drink champagne on a boat with @theprettymess....yeah me too #RHOBH #Kween #Yasss #ErikaJayne.'

Making friends? The Australian beauty took to Instagram to pose alongside Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne at what appeared to be streaming site HayU's launch of the series to their service

All smiles! Ksenija appeared in high spirits as she was spotted hopping on the boat, where a lot of the guests had been pictured drinking

Cheeky! She made her fans jealous by writing on Instagram during the working week: 'What did you do today? Drink champagne on a boat with @theprettymess....yeah me too'

Sweet tooth craving? She also sat alongside the reality star as she broke a Sydney Smash Cake on deck to celebrate Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills being added to HayU

She also sat alongside the reality star as she broke a Sydney Smash Cake on deck to celebrate Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills being added to HayU.

Ksenija seen raising her hands to deflect the shards of lollies flying at her as she laughed.

She later commented the boomerang clip: 'Don't f*ck with @theprettymess.'

It's believed Ksenija was on board as a guest of HayU to interview Erika.

Windswept beauty: The bold trousers billowed in the breeze as she walked with purpose, heading home after the event

Biker chic: A pair of black stiletto heels added to the fashionista's flawless look, while she casually slung a black leather jacket over her shoulders to give it an edgy appearance

The bold trousers billowed in the wind as she walked with purpose, heading home after the event.

A pair of black stiletto heels added to the fashionista's flawless look, while she casually slung a black leather jacket over her shoulders to give it an edgy appearance.

Ksenija accessorised with a designer Yves Saint Laurent quilted leather shoulder bag.

She also appeared to be gifted a goodie bag from HayU, as guests disembarked the vessel with a white bag with the logo's name printed on it.

Party: It's believed Ksenija was on board as a guest of HayU to interview Erika

Luxury touch: Ksenija accessorised with a designer Saint Laurent quilted leather shoulder bag, while also toting a gift bag from the event

In order to safely disembark the vessel, Ksenija removed her heels.

She was helped off the boat by two women as she toted her bags in her arms.

The TV presenter gave them a pleasant smile to show her gratitude and later put on her heels again to walk the wooden wharf.

Steady! In order to safely disembark the vessel, Ksenija removed her heels and was helped off the boat by two women as she held her bags in her arms

She made it! The TV presenter gave them a pleasant smile to show her gratitude and later put on her heels again to walk the wooden wharf

Her brunette locks were worn down in her signature loose waves.

The journalist appeared to opt for a minimal coverage makeup application, with a lashing of mascara and a matt pink lip.

While on the boat she appeared to ditch her leather jacket to make the most of the warmer winter weather in the sun.

Natural beauty! The journalist appeared to opt for a minimal coverage makeup application, with a lashing of mascara and a pink pout while leaving her brunette locks down in loose waves
News / National

by Chihwa Bus Co

I confirm that there was armed robbery at our offices in Belville when five armed men accessed the offices. NB: The robbery was not carried out on the bus.



They attempted to break the drop-in safe and failed before turning to two of our staffers and taking their cellphones.



They then went on to search two passengers who were in the office and robbed them of their phones and cash.



The forensic police came in shortly and the case still under investigation. They are still studying the CCTV footage to identify the suspects.



The company has assisted the two passengers that have been affected. One got a free return ticket from Zimbabwe.



The company has already intensified security at the offices to give maximum safety to clients.



You can email for further detail and answers.



Kind Regards



Chihwa Tours

Below is the Official Statement from Chihwa Bus Company
Her ex partner Gabriel Aubrey may have been linked to her Oscar-winning peer Charlize Theron.

But Halle Berry didn't seem to have a care in the world as she attended the Cannes Lions Festival in France on Tuesday.

The stunning actress, 50, was on the panel discussion about modern media and connecting with fans - and certainly looked as if she was having a ball.

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High spirits: Halle Berry didn't seem to have a care in the world as she attended the Cannes Lions Festival in France on Tuesday

The beauty laughed and beamed throughout the presentation - which she stole the show thanks to her chic LBD by Ramy Brook.

The number showed off her sensational legs - further complemented by a pair of chic Aquatalia heels - and made the most of her trim figure.

During the discussion, Halle revealed she is relaunching her 2000 website Hallewood in a bid to re-connect with her fans.

However, she seemed completely unfazed by the gossip swirling around her baby daddy Gabriel, father of her daughter Nahla, nine.

Legs be having you: The beauty stole the show at thanks to her chic Ramy Brook LBD

What a look! The number showed off her sensational legs - further complemented by a pair of chic Aquatalia heels - and made the most of her trim figure

Berry good time: The beauty laughed and beamed throughout the presentation

Having a hoot: The stunning actress, 50, was on the panel discussion about modern media and connecting with fans - and certainly looked as if she was having a ball

Giving her view: Pop star Halsey stunned in a patterned pink suit as she discussed her breakthrough in panel talk 'Authentic, Creative, and Unafraid: How Halsey Broke out'

Unfazed: However, she seemed completely unfazed by the gossip swirling around her baby daddy Gabriel, father of her daughter Nahla, nine

According to US OK! magazine, the 44-year-old Mad Max: Fury Road actress has been quietly dating Halle Berry's ex-boyfriend Gabriel Aubry, 40.

Theron and Aubry were seen having fun together at the Santa Monica Pier in late May. The two met at their children's Los Angeles school.

'They are really into each other,' a source told the magazine.

'Its still the early days so they want to keep things discreet, but they have a genuine connection and obviously a huge attraction.'

DailyMail.com has not heard back from Theron's rep about this claim.

The Canadian model and the South African actress bonded when they kept running into each other at the LA area private school that their kids attend.

'They look right for each other': The pair are said to have met at their children's school and are 'really into each other'

His ex: The Versace model dated Halle Berry for several years; here they are seen in 2009

Theron has her eldest child, son Jackson, aged six, at the school. The blonde bombshell also has daughter August.

'They bonded at play dates and parenting events,' it was alleged.

Then the flirting turned into romance. 'They've had dinner together a few times and talk often when they're not together,' said a source.

Busy mommy: Theron is still an A list actress as she raised two kids; here she is seen entering the Jimmy Kimmel show in Hollywood this week

New film: She has been promoting Atomic Blonde from director David Leitch, which comes out in July

'Gabriel's trying to play it cool but Charlize is smitten. The more they get to know each other the more they realize they have a lot in common.'

Both started out as models.

Charlize worked for several magazines and Gabriel was the face of Versace.

They also have had high-profile relationships. Gabriel was with Halle, 50, for years before a bad split in 2010. He was also seen on a date with Kim Kardashian.

Charlize was seeing rocker Stephan Jenkins then actor Stuart Townsend. She also dated longtime pal Sean Penn from 2014 until 2015.

'They are at the point in their lives where they crave serenity and friendship,' said a source.

'They can converse about the simple things in life.'

Theron's next film is Atomic Blonde which comes out in July.
They are the US actors who are currently touring the country for the Supernova Comic Con and Gaming Expo.

And Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, who one shared the shared the small screen in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, reunited on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Tuesday.

While Dean isn't able to 'leap tall buildings at a single bound' like his one-time superhero namesake, he managed to don a safety harness and take his former co-star up the iconic landmark.

Up, up and away: Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher, who one shared the shared the small screen in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, reunited on the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Tuesday

Teri, taking to Instagram, shared a photo of the reunion that showed the pair clearly chuffed to be back in each other's company.

Smiling broadly, Teri had her arms wrapped around Dean's neck as her raven locks blew in the high-altitude Sydney breeze.

Dean meanwhile kept a more stoic facial expression as her held his fist aloft, just as Superman would have done.

Super power: Teri, taking to Instagram, shared a photo of the reunion that showed the pair clearly chuffed to be back in each other's company

'Soaring together again. So fun to reunite,' Teri captioned the picturesque post that was met with a flurry of fans gushing about the reunion.

'Just like old times!! All Dean needs is a cape,' one fan offered while another commented with a similar: 'Omg! Yor show used to be my favourite show when I was small.'

Some, however took the post to mean that a potential reunion on the small screen could be in the works, while others seemed more interested in linking the dynamic duo romantically.

Happy together: 'Soaring together again. So fun to reunite,' Teri captioned the picturesque post that was met with a flurry of fans gushing about the reunion

'Trying to contain my excitement but obviously I can't!!! This is sooo sooo nice!!! So you're flying with him again, huh???' one follower exclaimed.

Another opined: 'Have to say this...and I know majority of others say the same...why are you and Dean not together for real!!?...you look so great and happy together!. Have fun you two xxx'

Lois and Clark, which ran over four seasons from 1993 to 1997 made household names of both Dean and Teri.

While Dean hung up the cape after the series wrapped, Teri has kept the superhero theme going after taking on the recurring villainous role of Queen Rhea of Daxam in the TV series Supergirl.
She is one of the most glamorous women in Hollywood.

And Helen Mirren, 71, made a striking summery appearance at the Grimaldi Forum on day five of the 57th Monte Carlo TV Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Tuesday.

Posing up a storm, the Woman In Gold actress looked effortlessly elegant in a bold and beautiful 1,740 Dolce & Gabbana dress.

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Bright and beautiful: Helen Mirren, 71, proudly showed off her natural beauty at the Grimaldi Forum on day five of the 57th Monte Carlo TV Festival in Monte Carlo, Monaco on Tuesday

The Calendar Girls beauty showcased her slender physique in the slim fitted designer frock, edged with black lace.

The Oscar winner happily embraced her natural beauty as she showed off her glowing complexion.

Helen styled her icy cropped locks in a tousled effect which framed her pretty face.

Showing off her great posture, she sashayed through the A-list affair in towering Pandora stilettos.

Strike a pose: The Woman In Gold actress looked effortlessly elegant in a bold and beautiful Dolce & Gabbana dress as she posed with her hand on her hip

Age-defying: The 71-year-old showed off her natural beauty as she opted for minimal makeup

As for romance, Helen waited until she was 52 before she walked down the aisle with her life-long partner and director Taylor Hackford.

The married lovebirds have gone from strength to strength ever since they tied the knot on New Year's Eve 1997.

Dame Helen discussed how despite marrying later in life it has worked out 'great' for the couple.

Sky's your limit! The actress sashayed through the A-list affair in towering bold stilettos

All eyes! The A-list star caught the attention in the vibrant dress as she enjoyed the showbiz bash

Speaking at Tulane University in Louisiana recently, she told the students: 'I married Taylor a lot later in my life and its worked out great.

'And always give your partner the freedom and support to achieve their ambitions.'

The award winning actress also offered a whole host of life tips including not to confuse sex with life, ignore anyone who judges the way they look and to call their parents once a week.

Speak out! Helen showed off her natural flare for public speaking and her confidence

People pleaser! She was in high spirits as she greeted her fans

Woman in gold! The Hollywood beauty signed autographs for people waiting for her

Elsewhere in Monte Carlo, 50 Cent looked very dapper when he posed at the TV series 'Power' photocall.

The rapper showed off his smoldering good looks in the pinstriped suit for the occasion.

The musician added a touch of glamour to his attire with his swish watch and shiny brogues.

Dapper: Rapper 50 cent - also known as Curtis Jackson - styled a pinstriped suit when he attended the Monte Carlo TV festival

People pleaser! The rapper waved to the audience as he made a starry appearance at the bash

Smoldering: He teamed his statement suit with a pair of flashy brogues and a swish watch
Kenya Moore has finally revealed the identity of her new husband.

On Monday evening the 46-year-old Real Housewives Of Atlanta star posted a photo to Instagram with her lucky man, who she wed in St Lucia over the weekend. Not only did she show his face, but she announced his name is Marc.

This comes just as the beauty won a one year restraining order against her ex-boyfriend Matt Jordan.

Here he is! This report surfaces after she named the mystery man she wed in St Lucia over the weekend

Another shot: In a photo shared on Sunday, all that could be seen of her groom was the back of his head

Another look: The stunner also posted this photo of her new man

His face can be seen for the first time - he is handsome and appears to be about her age - and she looks radiant as she bumps knuckles with him.

'Marc, you are the best man I have ever known. Thank you for loving me unconditionally,' she captioned a wedding photo.

She also said he was her 'ride or die.'

Later RadarOnline claimed the man's full name is Marc Daly and he is the owner of the Brooklyn restaurant SoCo.

Bad Blood: Kenya Moore has won a one year restraining order against her ex-bf Matt Jordan, according to TMZ; seen in 2016

The actress has been with Marc for several months. But last week she did not want to reveal her husband's identity. And she only showed photos of the back of his head.

She started dating Marc soon after she broke up with Matt.

A judge made a decision earlier this month, according to TMZ, to grant Moore a one year restraining order against Matt. The star had a temporary restraining order, but it ended in April when she didn't show up in court. She said at the time she had been unable to find Matt to serve him.

Happy at last: Moore tied the knot with a businessman she has been seeing for several months; pictured January

Matt has to stay at least 200 yards away from Kenya and her family, according to the site.

After it was reported she had wed in secret, Jordan expressed his dismay on Instagram. 'As if the embarrassment from the show wasn't enough,' he captioned a throwback photo of himself and the star.

'The false aligations [sic] of domestic violence, the unwarranted restraining order, the loss of business opportunities, money. My personal & professional image. I can deal with that. losing my queen is a blow I never want to feel again.'

Nice setting: Website Tamra Tattles shared photos from the wedding, which took place on the beach. Here is an image from the location shard by Moore this week

Champagne for two with her husband: Here the star showed off two glass of Veuve

This is the first time the Michigan native has been married.

Website Tamra Tattles was the first to share photos from the wedding, which took place on the beach.

Kenya can be seen in a low-cut white dress and a veil while her husband wore a white shirt and khakis. Guests can be seen in the background.

'I'm just ecstatic,' the former Miss USA told the site. 'This man is the love of my life and Im so happy to begin our lives together as husband and wife.'

Her show: (l-r) Cynthia Bailey, Moore, Kandi Burruss, Andy Cohen, Phaedra Parks, Porsha Williams, Sheree Whitfield of RHOA

Kenya has also dated Walter Jackson.

Moore worked as an actress for years in movies such as Waiting to Exhale and Deliver Us From Eva before doing RHOA.

She also had roles on TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Girlfriends and In The House.

Skills: Moore worked as actress for years in Waiting to Exhale and Deliver Us from Eva before doing RHOA. She also had roles on TV's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Girlfriends, and In The House; seen in March

She joined RHOA during season five and feuded with Porsha Williams, Phaedra Parks and Sheree Whitfield.

Kenya will be back for season 10 along with season on vets Kim Zolciak and NeNe Leakes.

Williams, Whitfield, Kandi Burruss and Cynthia Bailey 'are all likely to return' said People.
She's been on an endless promotional trail for her latest cinematic offering.

Despite her lengthy travel, actress Kaya Scodelario, 25, was a picture of class as she attended the Japanese premiere of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo alongside her co-star Johnny Depp, 54.

The British beauty - who became a mother for the first time late last year - stunned in a black lace fishtail gown that skimmed her sensational figure on Tuesday.

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Castmates: Kaya Scodelario, 25, was a picture of class as she attended the Japanese premiere of Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo alongside her co-star Johnny Depp, 54

The semi-sheer fabric teased at her subtle skin while it accentuated her honed curves as she chatted to the crowds.

Her show-stopping garment featured eye-catching 3D floral embellishment in both black and blue down the centre of her fashion choice.

Upping the fashion ante, she added a touch of sparkle to her ensemble with a statement diamond ring on her right-hand and matching earrings.

While working a glamorous beauty look for the occasion, she styled her chestnut-coloured bob into a deep side-parting and soft wave.

Striking: The British beauty - who became a mother for the first time late last year - stunned in a black lace dress that skimmed her sensational figure on Tuesday

Sheer style: The semi-sheer fabric teased at her subtle skin while it accentuated her honed curves as she chatted to the crowds

Beaming: The pair chatted with each other during the premiere

Show-stopping: Her show-stopping garment featured eye-catching 3D floral embellishment in both black and blue down the centre of her fashion choice

Elsewhere, Hollywood star Johnny cut a dapper figure as he donned a petrol blue blazer for the event.

The Black Mass actor teamed the stylish jacket with a plain black shirt and complementing pants as he posed for photos with Kaya and fellow co-star Brenton Thwaites, 27.

Leaving his trademark locks loose, he wrapped a number of chains around his neck and placed safety-pin inspired earrings into his lobes.

Johnny's appearance comes after he offered to 'sell his possessions' in a bid to rectify his financial situation, yet refused to give up using a private jet as he insisted commercial flights would be a 'f**king nightmare' in a string of leaked emails.

Catching up: Kaya and the film's leading man, Brenton, stopped for moment inbetween photos

Stepping out: The Black Mass actor teamed the stylish jacket with a plain black shirt and complementing pants as he posed for photos

Picture perfect: Leaving his trademark locks loose, he wrapped a number of chains around his neck and placed safety-pin inspired earrings into his lobes

The film star is locked in a legal battle with his former management company, The Management Group (TMG) - who he sued for mismanaging his money, while they hit back insisting his money problems are his own fault.

Now the firm have submitted emails he sent as part of a 109-page document fighting back against the Rum Diary star's attempts to keep his former agent and lawyer from being subpoenaed in the case.

Johnny has been locked in the feud, with the latest twist coming as leaked emails showed an exchange between TMG's Joel Mandel and the actor, dating back to 2009.

The businessman urged his famous client to 'take it easy' on holiday spending, consider setting a limit for participating in a Dilinger Museum auction and asking to set up a meeting to 'look realistically at income and expenses and to work together on how to make sure that these are back in balance.'

Action-packed: The trio appear in the film which was released in the UK on May 11

Elsewhere, Hollywood star Johnny cut a dapper figure as he donned a petrol blue blazer for the event (Picture with Kaya and Brenton Thwaites, 27)

Mane attraction: While working a glamorous beauty look for the occasion, she styled her chestnut-coloured bob into a deep side-parting and soft wave

Dapper display: Johnny's appearance comes after he offered to 'sell his possessions' in a bid to rectify his financial situation (Pictured with Chiaki Kuriyama, Kaya, Brenton and Taishi Nakagawa L-R)

Furious: One grievance however saw the star insist one expense he couldn't do without was flying by private jet as a commercial flight would be a 'f***ing nightmare of monumental proportions'

In response, Johnny, who shares kids Lily-Rose, 18, and Jack, 15, with ex-partner Vanessa Paradis, promised to do what he could.

One grievance however saw the star insist one expense he couldn't do without was flying by private jet as a commercial flight would be a 'f***ing nightmare of monumental proportions'.

MailOnline had contacted representatives for Johnny for comment.

Yet more earnings: The businessman urged his famous client to 'take it easy' on holiday spending, consider setting a limit for participating in a Dilinger Museum auction and asking to set up a meeting to 'look realistically at income and expenses and to work together on how to make sure that these are back in balance.'

Promise: In response, Johnny, who shares kids Lily-Rose, 18, and Jack, 15, with ex-partner Vanessa Paradis, promised to do what he could

Other documents submitted in the filing included 2010 correspondence between Joel and the Pirates of the Caribbean star's sister, Christi Dembrowski, in which the business manager wrote the actor's accounts were almost $4 million overdrawn, and requesting Johnny's signature to secure a $6 million loan.

TMG insist the exchanges with various agents, managers, and lawyers prove Johnny was aware of his financial situation.

According to E! News, they said: 'Depp wants to deny this discovery because it will establish that TMG did everything within its power to make Depp, and all of his closest advisors, fully aware of Depp's financial condition.

'If TMG was trying to hide Depp's finances to cover-up their alleged misconduct, they would not have repeatedly advised Depp's long-term personal lawyer, Jake Bloom, and his longtime agent, Tracey Jacobs, regarding the situation.'
She's a successful British actress, whose endeavours includes starring roles in The Tudors, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Endless Love.

But Joely Richardson, 52, has taken a step away from her A-list life to carry out charity work as a Save The Children ambassador in Uganda, Africa.

Appearing on Lorraine on Tuesday, the actress broke down as she discussed her rewarding and often difficult time helping out at the Early Childhood Development & Care centre in the Bidi Bidi camp of the country.

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Emotional: Joely Richardson, 52, broke down on Lorraine on Tuesday as she discusses taking a step away from her A-list life to carry out charity work in Uganda, Africa for Save The Children

Embrace: Joely met with Mary, who attends the Accelerated Learning Programme run by Save the Children in Rhino Camp, Uganda, June 2017

Caring for child refugees in the camp, Joely spoke of the close bonds she struck up with orphaned children, whom the charity seeks to improve the quality of life of through education and healthcare.

Holding back tears, she spoke candidly of how the experience touched her.

You know what, I think most of us have moved into a place of compassion and the past few weeks have difficult.'

Candid: Appearing on Lorraine on Tuesday, the actress broke down as she discussed her rewarding and often difficult time helping out at the Early Childhood Development & Care centre

Meet and greet: the Save the Children Ambassador met the first group of children that arrived on the bus

Exploring: She was led to the landing point where buses carrying refugees first dock

She spoke of the experience as a life-changing one, which opened her eyes to the atrocities of young people in Uganda and the precious work Save The Children does to help them.

The Accelerated Learning Programme is designed for 12-17 year olds who have missed years of schooling due to the conflict in South Sudan, and therefore need to catch-up in accelerated classes.

These are provided by Save the Children trained teachers before entering back into the camp's school system.

New arrivals: Joely watched the first of three buses arrive at the Imvepi reception centre in Uganda

Refugees: Joely was introduced to some of the children that had just arrived off the bus from South Sudan

Amazing cause: Joely greeted a number of women just as they arrived off the bus at Imvepi Reception Centre. They were on their way to receive health checks, hot food and be fully registered in the country

Experience: Joely met with Flavia, Senior Child Protection Officer for Save the Children in Uganda, at Imvepi Reception Centre in Uganda

The actress continued, and spoke of her hope in the future of the plight of the children.

'Yet, people are coming to together and people rallying around. The thing we're known for...

'Is it age, is it life? The more we can spread it, the better. Caring about each other and do on to your neighbour.'

Honoured: The actress was greeted by Dr. Ronald Mutuma at the Save the Children health clinic in Rhino Camp

Life-changing: Joely spoke of how the experience in Africa has shaped her outlook on life

Amazing cause: Joely heard how unaccompanied children in Imvepi receive psychosocial support from trained case workers once they have been referred to Save the Children staff

Sorting: Flavia showed Joely where the operations support tent was, where the clothes are sorted before being distributed

The actress learned how unaccompanied children in Imvepi receive psychosocial support from trained case workers once they have been referred to Save the Children staff.

'The spirit of hope will carry us on. It gets you out of your troubles.'

Joely, whose acting royalty family counts Liam Neeson and Lynn Redgrave to name a few, also broke down when speaking of the tragic events that have happened in London in the last few weeks.

Hands in the air! Joely visited The Save the children Early Childhood Care & Development Centre, Bidi Bidi camp Uganda

New experience: Joely listened to talks given by the staff

Save the Children has been operating in Uganda since 1959.

The organisations work is guided by the National Development Plan and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Save the Children works with key stakeholders that include children, civil society organisations, communities, donors, the Government and the media in contributing to the realisation of childrens rights.

Their mission is to inspire breakthroughs in the way the world treats children and to achieve immediate and lasting change in their lives.

Helping hand: Joely met Brian, as Doctor Ronald goes over his prescription medicine with his mother at the Save the children health clinic in Rhino camp

Sound advice: Joely observed as the health worker consults a mother about her child's health

Looking out for each other: Joely met with Mary at Imvepi Reception Centre as she came to visit Save the Children staff who provided her with clothes for her one week old baby

Necessities: Mary's baby was born as she crossed over the border from South Sudan

Teaching kindness: Joely Richardson, commented on the anti bullying poster at the Save the Children health clinic in Rhino Camp

Learning: Joely met with Sarah, a child refugee

Getting to know you! Joely looked inside her home. Sarah has been fostered within the camp and attends the Save the Children CFS

Famous family: Joely is from one of the world's most famous acting dynasties, and is supporting a 'Save the Children' campaign to help child refugees

New venture: As well as that the Hollywood star spoke about her latest role in new film Red Sparrow alongside Jennifer Lawrence

Smart: Joely wore a smart ensemble for her appearance, and sported some black trousers paired with a cream silk shirt
Sean Penn is one of the most successful stars in the movie business thanks to several acclaimed performances and two Oscar wins: one for 2004's Mystic River and the other for 2009's Milk.

But when landing at JFK airport in New York on Monday the 56-year-old actor looked like just another traveler.

The Los Angeles native had no security around him and not one VIP airport handler. He also carried his own luggage.

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Solo: Sean Penn looked like just another traveler as he landed at JFK on Monday

Still has his boyish good looks: Penn looked slender in his grey T-shirt with light beige slacks and an olive green bomber jacket. He added white beakers

Penn looked slender in his grey T-shirt with light beige slacks and an olive green bomber jacket.

He added white beakers.

This sighting comes after the star was seen with his ex Robin Wright at the same airport in late May.

The pair arrived at John F Kennedy airport, climbing into the same car.

Still pals: This sighting comes after the star was seen with his ex Robin Wright at the same airport in late May

House Of Cards star Robin carried just a purse while her ex-husband appeared to be carrying all their luggage, pulling an over night bag, while carrying a duffel bag in his arms.

The pair share two adult children from their intense decade-long on/off romance - Dylan, 26, and Hopper, 25.

But while Robin and Sean co-parented their children following their split, the two exes were rarely seen together.

His offspring: The pair share two adult children from their intense decade-long on/off romance - Dylan, 26, and Hopper, 25; seen in 2016

Following in her parent's footsteps, Dylan is now an actress and model.

And in a new interview Wonder Woman actress Robin showed her admiration for Sean when she said of Dylan: 'She gets her skills from her dad. Seans a great writer.'

Hopper appeared in Brad Pitts new movie War Machine which was released on Netflix in May. 'They call us for advice all the time,' Robin told Rhapsody Magazine for United Airways.

Following their 2010 divorce Sean went on to day a slew of beauties, most recently Charlize Theron. The two were engaged to be married, before she called things off in June 2015.

His ex: Following their 2010 divorce Sean went on to day a slew of beauties, most recently Charlize Theron. The two were engaged to be married, before she called things off in June 2015; seen in May 2015

Around the same time Robin split for the second and final time from her then-fiance, Ben Foster, who is now dating actress Laura Prepon.

Sean and Robin's relationship began in 1989 following his split from first wife Madonna, with the two swiftly welcoming their two children.

But despite their mutual adoration their romance was famously unstable, with the pair publicly splitting and reconciling before they eventually tied the knot in 1996.

Another ex: Sean and Robin's relationship began in 1989 following his split from first wife Madonna, with the two swiftly welcoming their two children; Madonna, Sean and her two kids in 2016

Various splits followed - with reports that Sean had been spotted romancing other women.

Indeed in the years before the two eventually split for good in 2009, the two had filed for both divorce and legal separation on separate occasions, later withdrawing the papers.
She's been linked to Liev Schreiber following her on-off relationship with Gerard Butler.

And former model and interior designer Morgan Brown stepped out solo on Monday, rocking head-to-toe black.

The star looked sported in her black leggings, T-shirt, and beige sandals as she headed out in West Hollywood.

Stepping out! Gerard Butler's ex-girlfriend Morgan Brown stepped out in West Hollywood solo on Monday

Morgan wore her brunette locks down and propped a pair of sunglasses into her hair.

She accessorized with an arrowhead pendant necklace, a beaded bracelet, and carried a brown shopping bag.

Morgan also opted for minimal makeup.

The star's outing comes over a month after she was spotted out on a coffee date with with Liev in Los Angeles.

Low-key: Morgan wore her brunette locks down and propped a pair of sunglasses into her hair

Caffeine fix: The star's outing comes over a month after she was spotted out on a coffee date with with Liev in Los Angeles

Morgan and Gerard had been dating on and off since 2014 and were said to be broken up for good in 2016 before being spotted together again earlier this year.

She was also spotted jetting into Baltimore, Maryland with Gerard on June 15, a little over a month after she was spotted out with Liev.

Liev and Naomi began dating in 2005 before announcing their split in September 2016 and have two children, Alexander 'Sasha', nine, and Samuel Kai, eight.

Liev is the star of the hit Showtime series Ray Donovan, which will premiere it's fifth season on August 6.

So fly: Morgan was also spotted jetting into Baltimore, Maryland with Gerard on June 15, a little over a month after she was spotted out with Liev
She fell in love with a fellow contestant on the Bachelor last year.

And though Megan Marx has now split from former flame Tiffany Scanlon, she has continued to share raunchy photos with her fans on social media.

The 27-year-old bared her ample cleavage in an extremely low-cut dress as she posed for a sultry picture posted to her Instagram on Tuesday.

Sultry and seductive: Megan Marx, 27, exposes her ample cleavage as she gets 'red-y' to party

The blonde threw herself a sideways look as she stood before a mirror and made her way through a glass of red wine.

Her dimly lit bathroom highlighted her ample bust, which stood out prominently in the elegant burgundy ensemble.

She swept her blonde tresses into a bun at the back of her head, parting it straight down the middle.

Megan captioned the seductive snap with a sneaky pun: 'Gettin' red-y to party.'

Blonde beauty: The Perth-based beauty bared her ample cleavage in a low-cut burgundy dress

After breaking up with Tiffany in March this year, Megan has been concentrating on perpetuating her fame.

She has entered into the world of Instagram modelling and has shot for a number of bikini and lingerie brands and worked with multiple different photographers.

The Perth-based beauty has also revealed to fans she would be heading to her holiday destination of choice, Bali, in a week's time.

Work it! She has entered into the world of Instagram modelling and has shot for a number of bikini and lingerie brands and worked with multiple different photographers

Her new adventure follows on from hers and Tiffany's failed plan to start a business on the holiday island together.

But rumors of trouble in paradise swelled following Tiffany's shock decision to return to Perth and Megan's abrupt announcement that she would be flying out to travel around Europe.

It was in the following months that it became evident the pair had decided to go their separate ways.
News / National

by Staff reporter

The Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) has begun the hunt for the new Prosecutor-General (PG) after it issued a notice inviting nominations for candidates seeking to fill one of the country's coveted but difficult jobs within the legal fraternity.This comes as there is already serious jockeying for the PG's post, hardly two weeks after government sacked Johannes Tomana, over incompetence and misconduct."The JSC announces that a vacancy of prosecutor-general of the Republic of Zimbabwe has arisen. It is necessary to appoint a PG for the Republic of Zimbabwe. In terms of section 259 (3) as read with section 180 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, members of the public are hereby invited to nominate suitably qualified persons to fill in the above position," said the JSC.According to the JSC, among the requirements are that the person to fill the PG's post should be above 40 years of age and should have been a judge or a lawyer for 10 years.President Robert Mugabe will pick the new PG from a list submitted by the JSC after it finishes conducting its interviews.Tomana was appointed PG in November 2013, after the functions of the attorney-general and the prosecutor-general were split under the country's new Constitution.Until then, he was Zimbabwe's attorney-general, a position he had been appointed to by Mugabe in December 2008 when the country was still operating under the old Lancaster House Constitution.Before he was fired, Tomana had been on suspension since July last year facing a slew of allegations which included criminal abuse of office and gross incompetence involving a number of cases that were before the courts.The tribunal, which was headed by retired High Court judge Moses Chinhengo, completed its probe in February.The panel also included University of Zimbabwe Dean of Law Emmanuel Magade and Harare lawyer Melina Matshiya.Meanwhile, analysts recently told the Daily News that the selection of a new PG is likely to be hard fought given the public brawling by Zanu-PF factions which marred the selection to choose the country's new chief justice after the retirement of Godfrey Chidyausiku who died last month.The selection had decidedly taken a factional tone.Acting PG Ray Goba, veteran lawyers Florence Ziumbe and Wilson Manase are said to be leading the race to succeed Tomana.Manase, who is representing First Lady Grace Mugabe in her diamond ring suit against Lebanese Jamal Ahmed, came short of being appointed the attorney-general (AG) before Mugabe eventually settled for Prince Machaya.Ziumbe is said to be well regarded and was once touted as the potential first woman AG before Machaya got Mugabe's nod.
She has been pining for her boyfriend Joey Morrison as he bides his time in a category C prison.

Completely smitten, Lauren Goodger shared a couple selfie on Instagram ahead of her visit to her jailbird beau in HMP Highpoint South, Newmarket on Tuesday.

Madly in love, the former TOWIE star, 30, couldn't contain her excitement when she posted a never before seen picture of her cosying up to her boyfriend.

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'With my one today': Lauren Goodger shared a couple selfie on Instagram ahead of her visit her jailbird beau Joey Morrison in HMP Highpoint South, Newmarket on Tuesday

Making her feelings known, the Essex native scrawled a neon heart around the cosy couple snap as a declaration of her love.

On her Instagram story, Lauren captioned the picture: 'With this one today.'

They celebrated their one year anniversary as a couple together with Morrison behind bars in April.

Madly in love! The Only Way Is Essex star, 30, is completely smitten with her beau after celebrating her first year anniversary with her jailbird in April

Lauren is eagerly anticipating the release of her man as she makes the time to visit her lover once a week.

The Only Way Is Essex beauty discussed how the pair 'kiss, cuddle and hold hands' during their short time together in a recent interview with Now magazine.

She added: 'People stare at me all the time because I'm Lauren Goodger but I don't care I'm there to see Joey and I make the most of the time there.'

Here for you! Lauren is eagerly anticipating the release of her man as she makes the time to visit her lag lover once a week

The reality star also admitted she would like to become a mother as she expressed her 'broody' instincts.

Describing her maternal ambitions, she said: 'I'd like it to happen. I've made no secret of the fact that I want a baby and the sooner the better.'

Insisting Joey is a 'good guy', Lauren told OK! magazine: 'Joey is a good guy and he makes me feel really good about myself. We're very happy together.'

Despite reports which claim he could be released in a few months, it is more likely he will not be let out until 2018.

As a tribute, she had his name tattooed on her right wrist while he serves 17 years and eight months sentence for possession of a firearm, kidnap, blackmail and aggravated burglary.

Lauren had her former flame and co-star Mark Wright's name removed from her bikini line during her TOWIE days.

Earlier this year, she had Jake McLean's moniker removed from her left wrist.
She's currently enjoying a vacation at Blue Lagoon Spa, Iceland, with husband Sam Worthington, 40.

And Lara Worthington (nee Bingle) poked lighthearted fun at her beau, in a snap shared to Instagram on Tuesday.

'My husband's first and last face mask,' the 29-year-old playfully captioned the photo that saw the actor with silica mud, a white beauty product, plastered across his face.

'My husband's first and last face mask': Lara Worthington (nee Bingle), 29, poked lighthearted fun at Sam Worthington, 40, to Instagram on Tuesday, while on an Iceland vacation

'My husband's first and last face mask,' Lara shared to Instagram alongside a selfie of herself and Sam posing in a blue lagoon, with silica mud applied to his skin.

While the mother-of-two appeared relaxed and at ease, embracing her husband, Sam pulled a rather startled expression.

Lara's Instagram fans were quick to comment underneath the snap, with one joking of their own partner: 'Lol! Josh would never ever let me do this. Good work power wife'.

Luxurious: The power couple are currently enjoying a vacation at Blue Lagoon in Iceland, that's renowned for their luxurious spa experience. Visitors are said to reap the benefits of immersing themselves in geothermal seawater, while applying silica mud to their skin

The power couple are currently enjoying a vacation at Blue Lagoon in Iceland, that's renowned for their luxurious spa experience.

Visitors are said to reap the benefits of immersing themselves in geothermal seawater, while applying silica mud to their skin.

Lara's post came shortly after the entrepreneur praised motherhood as she prepares to enter her thirties.

Speaking to InStyle magazine, Lara gushed: 'Everything just seems much more rich and meaningful now.'

'Everything is more rich and meaningful': The entrepreneur praised motherhood in an interview with InStyle, as she enters her thirties

'I've never felt happier. I'm so incredibly excited about entering this new decade of my life,' Lara told the publication.

'Everything just seems much more rich and meaningful now,' the blonde beauty continued, before admitting to a few downsides of motherhood.

'If I'm lucky I'll get to sleep until 7.30am, but usually (Rocket) comes calling sometime between 6 and 7am,' Lara said with a laugh.

'He's an amazing husband, and he's so good with the kids': Lara had nothing but praise for actor husband Sam, during an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald just recently

This is not the first time the star has opened up about life with Sam and their growing brood.

Over the weekend, Lara told The Sydney Morning Herald: 'Sam has a really good heart.

'He's an amazing husband, and he's so good with the kids. He's very hands-on, and I think we really complement each other. He is our world,' she continued.

Busy mum! The couple welcomed their first child, Rocket Zot (pictured), in March 2015 and their second son, Racer, in October 2016

Lara married Sam in 2014 in a secret wedding in the beachside suburb of Cronulla.

The couple, who confirmed the news a year later, welcomed their first child, Rocket Zot, in March 2015 and their second son, Racer, in October 2016.

Lara and Sam have remained relatively quiet on the social circuit, calling New York their home base.
As UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie has a very important role in helping refugees and victims of sexual violence.

To mark World Refugee Day on Tuesday, the actress was in Nairobi, Kenya and met with adolescent refugee girls.

The 42-year-old actress also addressed staff at the International Peace Support Training Centre during training on sexual violence prevention in conflicts.

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UNHCR Special Envoy Angelina Jolie visited at a training center in Nairobi, Kenya on Tuesday as she marked World Refugee Day 2017 in the country

Angelina was seen in a beige pant suit over a white T-shirt as she walked through the grounds of the property before making a speech.

During the day the star also visited at least 20 of girls at the Heshima Kenya Safe House.

They had fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi and Rwanda, UNHCR said in a statement.

It said almost all had experienced sexual and gender-based violence and many had given birth after being raped or were pregnant.

The 42-year-old actress addressed staff during a sexual and gender-based violence prevention course at the International Peace Support Training Centre

'The role of sexual violence is compounded when it is carried out by someone in uniform who has taken an oath to protect,' Angelina said

'The role of sexual violence is compounded when it is carried out by someone in uniform who has taken an oath to protect,' Angelina said.

'So it is a responsibility of those who wear uniform to take the lead now by correcting from within, setting an example and stepping forward with new commitments.'

The UNHCR says Kenya hosts some 491,000 refugees, of which 101,713 are from South Sudan, which the U.N. has said is the world's fastest growing refugee crisis.

Angelina jet out of Los Angeles on Saturday, one day before Father's Day, with her six children in tow.

Important role: During the day the star also visited at least 20 of girls at the Heshima Kenya Safe House

Hollywood star: Angelina wore a simple beige pant suit and white T-shirt

As Special Envoy Angelina focuses on major crises that result in mass population displacements

Her estranged husband Brad Pitt, 53, reportedly got to see several of his children before they left the country.

According to E! News the kids were spotted being dropped off in a Suburban at the actor's home on Saturday morning.

It's been nine months since the Maleficent star filed for divorce from Pitt.

Together he and Angelina are parents to Maddox, 15, Pax, 13, Zahara, 12, Shiloh, 11, and eight-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox.

There is still a temporary custody agreement in place however it seems Angelina has primary custody with the Fight Club star getting regular visits.

In May, Pitt admitted to GQ Style magazine he was drinking too much and that caused problems with his family.

Leaving town: Angelina jet out of Los Angeles on Saturday, one day before Father's Day, with her six children in tow
The pair have had a year to remember since getting married and announcing their baby news.

And pregnant Abi Titmuss certainly looked blissfully happy as she headed to the beach on her Hawaii honeymoon this week.

The 41-year-old - famous for her stint on reality shows and as a glamour model in the UK - enjoyed a romantic trip with her new husband, Ari Welkom.

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Oh baby! Pregnant Abi Titmuss certainly looked blissfully happy as she headed to the beach on her honeymoon in Hawaii this week

The blonde mum-to-be showed off her blossoming baby bump in a halterneck bikini, which also made the most of her ample curves.

She gazed out to sea as her adoring actor husband looked on and made sure to flaunt his own toned torso as he wore a pair of blue swimming shorts.

The couple wed in an intimate ceremony in Malibu while five months pregnant with the couple's child.

Abi revealed how she could feel the unborn infant moving as she walked down the aisle on May 7.

Happy couple: The 41-year-old - famous for her stint on reality shows and as a glamour model in the UK - enjoyed a romantic trip with her new husband, Ari Welkom

Stunning: The blonde mum-to-be showed off her blossoming baby bump in a halterneck bikini, which also made the most of her ample curves

Nice view: She gazed out to sea as her adoring actor husband looked on and made sure to flaunt his own toned torso as he wore a pair of blue swimming shorts

Ecstatic: The star revealed she was five months pregnant when she married Ari in May

Eyes for each other: Abi beamed as she gazed longingly at her new husband

The actress married American Ari at the Inn of the Seventh Ray, California, after an engagement of just under a year.

She told Hello! magazine: 'I was aware throughout our wedding day that there were three, not two, of us experiencing it together.

'The baby is able to hear now and it was lovely to think that he or she could have been listening to us making our vows. When the harpist started to play, I could feel him or her moving around.'

She added that, as well as a baby, she had butterflies in her stomach as she joined Ari at the altar. But Ari said: 'When I turned to look at her, I thought I was looking at an angel.

Baywatch moment: The couple then changed into matching red swimsuits

Hand in hand: Abi and Ari shared a joke together as they walked along the sand

'She was more beautiful than I'd ever imagined she would be and, when she stopped in front of me, it was the happiest moment of my life.'

'It was the happiest moment of my life': Ari said: 'When I turned to look at her, I thought I was looking at an angel'

The newly wedded pair paid a special tribute to their loved ones who flew to Los Angeles to make the date.

'To share our wedding day with all the people we love the most was amazing,' said Ari, 'and now that Abi and I are married, we really do feel different.

Abi announced she was pregnant just weeks before the ceremony.

Their romance blossomed between the lovebirds after they met when Abi moved to America to star in cult soap Days Of Our Lives.
She fully admits that she's had work done to her body, following her transformation from a size 30 to a size 12.

But actress and Loose Women panelist Lisa Riley has vehemently insisted that lip fillers have not featured on her roster of body transformation surgery.

The TV star, 40, recently underwent surgery to remove excess skin due to her 11 stone weight loss; but that's where the cosmetic procedure has stopped, contrary to a recent photo of her with very puffed up lips.

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'I woke up looking like a baboon!' Lisa Riley passionately denies having lip fillers... insisting that her recently swollen mouth was caused by an allergic reaction to pumpkin seeds

'Trout pout': 'I haven't had any fillers,' she declared on Tuesday's edition of Loose Women. 'I had a photo shoot in London and used the same make-up I always use. I had no warning sign'

'I haven't had any fillers,' she declared on Tuesday's edition of Loose Women. 'I had a photo shoot in London and used the same make-up I always use. I had no warning sign and I woke up looking like a baboon.

'It was so swollen and full of blisters. I have a rainbow of blister inside!'

Setting the record straight to her fellow panelists Janet Street Porter, Ruth Langsford and Coleen Nolan, she added: 'They gave me an antihistamine and lotion, it didn't go down. I kept thinking "I have to go to set and film like this?"

'I went to the doctor and they said Cmon on Miss Riley be honest with us, you've had a lot done recently, you've had lip filler, haven't you? I don't need lip fillers!

'I don't need them!' She fully admits that she's had work done to her body, following her transformation from a size 30 to a size 12. But actress and Loose Women panelist Lisa Riley has vehemently insisted that lip fillers have not featured on her roster of body transformation surgery

Transformation: The TV star, 40, recently underwent surgery to remove excess skin due to her 11 stone weight loss; but that's where the cosmetic procedure has stopped, contrary to a recent photo of her with very puffed up lips

Denial: Setting the record straight to her fellow panelists Janet Street Porter, Ruth Langsford and Coleen Nolan, she added: 'They gave me an antihistamine and lotion, it didn't go down. I kept thinking "have to go to set and I film like this?"'

'She thinks I had an allergic reaction to pumpkin seeds. It was so scary, my lips are like paper.'

Sure to hammer home one more time that she had not had work done, Lisa said: 'I swear on my life and my mothers ashes Ive had nothing done, I dont need them done!'

She also retained that she would never had them done: 'I wont get them done, I pride myself on my lips.'

Not gonna happen: She also retained that she would never had them done - 'I wont get them done, I pride myself on my lips'

Lisa is set to star in Age Before Beauty - the show she was filming at the time of the lip disaster - which is a new BBC drama that tells the story of a family feud at a failing beauty salon in Manchester.

She joins Robson Green on the series - who takes on a central role as Teddy in the series.

Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, previously said about the forthcoming drama: 'Age Before Beauty has it all: a dysfunctional family, bitter rivalries and Botox!

'BBC One is the proud home of Debbie Horsfield's new contemporary series that is set to be the Cutting It for a new generation.'

Busy: Lisa recently starred in BBC drama Three Girls, based on the true events of the Rochdale grooming gang scandal, where she played one of the girls' mother Lorna Bowen to critical acclaim

The series has been penned by Debbie Horsfield, best known for her hugely-popular adaptation of period drama Poldark.

The writer has a long association with Manchester after working on Cutting It - starring Angela Griffin, Amanda Holden and Sarah Parrish - in the early 2000s.

Lisa recently starred in BBC drama Three Girls, based on the true events of the Rochdale grooming gang scandal, where she played one of the girls' mother Lorna Bowen to critical acclaim.

New project: Lisa is set to star in Age Before Beauty - the show she was filming at the time of the lip disaster - which is a new BBC drama that tells the story of a family feud at a failing beauty salon in Manchester

Coming soon: Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content, previously said about the forthcoming drama 'Age Before Beauty has it all: a dysfunctional family, bitter rivalries and Botox!'

High spirits: Peter Andre had joined the Loose Women panellists on Tuesday's show

Awkward: The singer was left cringing, however, as the panel played a clip of his recording of A Whole New World with ex-wife Katie Price at the end of the show

Red-faced: Coming over all embarrassed, Peter joked: 'I need a whole new cup of coffee I think'
It's not often when Uma Thurman shares a family photo.

But that's what the 47-year-old did on Tuesday as she proudly looked at her father while sitting close to her three children: 18-year-old Maya Ray, 15-year-old Levon, and four-year-old Rosalind Arusha Arkadina Altalune Florence Thurman-Busson, AKA Luna.

'Robert A.F. Thurman with me and his three grandchildren. We are all so grateful for a Father like this,' the movie star wrote.

'We are all so grateful': Uma Thurman and her three children joined her dad Robert for a sweet family Instagram snap on Tuesday

She even added a plug: 'Other than that is his newest and most whimsical work, "Man of Peace." A graphic novel about the life of the Dalai Lama.'

The 75-year-old is an acclaimed scholar on the subject of Tibetan Buddhism, and has written and translated dozens of works on the subject.

He is Columbia University's Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies, and co-founded Tibet House New York along with Richard Gere and composer Philip Glass.

The ex: Uma shares her eldest two with ex husband Ethan Hawke, whom she married in 1998 while she was seven months pregnant with Maya; seen in 2003

Another ex: Luna's dad in French financier Arpad Busson, to whom Uma was engaged twice before breaking it off twice more; seen in 2013

Uma shares her eldest two with ex husband Ethan Hawke, whom she married in 1998 while she was seven months pregnant with Maya.

The separated in 2003 and divorced two years later.

Luna's dad in French financier Arpad Busson, to whom Uma was engaged twice before breaking it off twice more.

After separating for the second time in 2014, they fought a custody rough custody battle over their daughter, which the Pulp Fiction star ultimately won.

The actress was also married to first husband Gary Oldman from 1990 to 1992.
She has been soaking up the sun in the French Riviera of late.

But as her short break away in Cannes came to a close, Gwyneth Paltrow made sure to bow out in style as she boarded her private yacht on Tuesday.

The actress, 44, cut a chic figure as she stepped out in a pretty floral printed jumpsuit and complementing hot pink heels on her feet.

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Floral dream: Gwyneth Paltrow, 44, made sure to bow out in style as she boarded her private yacht while leaving Cannes on Tuesday

While she may have been pictured in nothing but her bikini while overseas, Gwyneth decided to keep herself covered up in her stylish all-in-one.

The sartorially savvy number cinched in at the waist with tie-up detailing to flaunt the Iron Man star's slender frame and boasted flared trouser legs that were cropped to just above the ankle.

It's eye-catching design made sure to turn heads and Gwyneth stole a look at her decolletage by leaving the first few buttons of her jumpsuit undone.

She left her blonde tresses down to fall past her shoulders and appeared to go make-up free underneath her huge pair of shades.

Struggling? The actress' fancy footwear proved to provide her with difficulty as she attempted to board her private yacht while enlisting the help of a male companion

And relax: Back on board Gwyneth was seen reclining back into her seat on deck

Gwyneth accessorised her outfit with a pair of complementing hot pink heels, but her fancy footwear proved to give her some difficulty as she attempted to board her luxury yacht.

The former Glee star was seen clutching onto the hand of a male companion ahead of climbing onto the vessel, taking it easy as she steadied herself one leg at a time.

Her appearance in France comes after Gwyneth recently revealed she is planning on giving up acting to focus on her lifestyle company Goop.

Savy: The sartorially savvy number cinched in at the waist with tie-up detailing to flaunt the Iron Man star's slender frame and boasted flared trouser legs that were cropped to just above the ankle

Heading off: She later was spotted getting into her waiting car in Cannes

In an interview with Extra she shared: 'I'm not sure how I'll feel about acting going forward. I'm doing just a teensy little bit here and there when I have time, but I am loving running my business.'

Gwyneth - who has daughter Apple, 13, with her ex-husband Chris Martin, along with son Moses, 11 - admitted she's instead relishing the challenge of running her own company.

'You know, my life has been skewing far more heavily towards my business, and it has to right now that we have so much going on,' she explained.

Fresh-faced: She appeared fresh-faced as she headed off for the evening

'We're growing so fast (at my company), and it's such an exciting time to be doing what I'm doing.'

Gwyneth's most recent role was an appearance in 2016 TV series Nightcap, while her last movie was the 2015 flop Mortdecai, opposite Johnny Depp.

The actress comes from Hollywood stock, being the daughter of director and producer Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner.

New direction? Her appearance in France comes after Gwyneth recently revealed she is planning on giving up acting to focus on her lifestyle company Goop

But she cut back on her work when she became a mother and since 2008 has been focused on her website Goop, which started as a weekly lifestyle newsletter.

Speaking about her move away from acting, she also told Today: 'I'm still going to do a little bit here and there, but [Goop] really requires almost all of my time.'

'I'm in the office all day, every day. I have a pretty big team  we're almost 85 people  so I kind of need to be at work.'
Last week saw the addition of Nicola McLean, Gemma Collins and Marnie Simpson to the house.

And Big Brother has revealed the identities of the three new housemates joining the house on Tuesday.

Savannah OReilly, Isabelle Warburton and Sam Chaloner will join the house, but only two will nab places in the house.

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Contestant number 1 entering the Big Brother house on Tuesday: Savannah, 26, counts Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande as close pals, and has her eye on Kieran

With housemates voting which two they will keep on, the contestants are likely to make a memorable entrance.

Savannah, 26, counts Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande as close pals, and has her eye on Kieran, describing him as 'the most chilled out'.

The Irish siren, who spends her time working between LA, London and Dublin admits she's competitive and will do anything to win.

She is joined by fellow blonde Isabelle, who describes herself as 'funemployed and living off dad's money'.

Contestant number 2: Sam, 24, gets compared to Scotty T regularly, and admits he once got with his mum's friend at a hen do

The 21-year-old's presence may cause tension, as she previously hooked up with Kieran, who Savannah has her eye on.

And the only boy, Sam, is a self-confessed ladies' man who admits he has an eye for the older woman.

The 24-year-old construction worker gets compared to Scotty T regularly, and admits he once got with his mum's friend at a hen do.

Contestant number 3: Isabelle, 21, describes herself as 'funemployed and living offf dad's money'

Meanwhile on Monday night's episode it was revealed that Chanelle McCleary, Joe Quaranta, Rebecca Jane and Hannah Agboola would face eviction on Thursday.

Shaking things up further, Rylan Clark-Neal confirmed that three new housemates would be entering the house on Tuesday, fighting for two spaces in the house.

And with housemates voting for their favourite two contestants to stay in the house, it could surely get racy.

Speaking on Bit On The Side earlier, Nikki Grahame mused that an ex would be the best addition to the house.

Raphael Korine, Lotan Carter and Kieran Lee are all safe from eviction this week.

Will she stay? Rebecca Jane, who some housemates have deemed 'annoying' also faces eviction this week

The end? Straight-talking Joe Quaranta also faces the chop on Thursday

Splitting up the sisters? Hannah faces eviction while Deborah didn't get a single nomination

Meanwhile Big Brother were forced to step in as Monday night's episode saw a vicious row erupt between Rebecca Jane and Joe Quaranta.

After Joe, 55, admitted he found Rebecca, 32, annoying, the argument escalated into a full-blown screaming match- with Big Brother intervening.

As the housemates participated in in drinking game, Joe was asked to reveal who he thought wasn't being their real self.

Injecting some spice: Shaking things up further, Rylan Clarke confirmed that three new housemates would be entering the house on Tuesday, fighting for two spaces in the house

Emotional: Big Brother were forced to step in as Monday night's episode saw a vicious row erupt between Rebecca Jane and Joe Quaranta

'It's hard I've only known you for 13 days, he said, adding, 'I'm gonna say Rebecca because I've heard you say you're different outside and you're not being the same person you are. Take it or leave it.'

Not rising to the bait, Rebecca didn't respond.

However the topic arose later in the evening when they sat around the table and Joe continued: 'I'm being true and if people take it personally I don't give a sh**!'.

Blunt: After Joe, 55, admitted he found Rebecca, 32, annoying, the argument escalated into a full-blown screaming match- with Big Brother intervening

'I didn't take it personally', Rebecca responded calmly, 'I just think you don't like me which is fine.'

'You irritate me and that my brutal answer simple as that- the way you talk, smile..', he responded bluntly.

'We're good with avoiding each other', she replied.

'You irritate me and that my brutal answer simple as that- the way you talk, smile..', he responded bluntly after playing the truth game

'I thought you were nasty- how would you feel if someone spoke to your daughter like that?' Rebecca asked Joe

'I don't give a f***', Joe hit back, with Rebecca responding: 'No need to be rude.'

And upset that best friend Kieran hadn't stuck up for her, the argument reignited moments later.

As Joe sat outside with Kieran and Rebecca and asked if she was still angry, she replied: 'I thought you were nasty- how would you feel if someone spoke to your daughter like that?'

'Don't bring my daughter into it you silly f*****g cow'. Joe squared up to Rebecca

Taking sides? Kieran jumped in the middle, scolding Rebecca with: 'You can't talk about daughters!'

Infuriated with the question, Joe erupted, squaring up to Rebecca shouting: 'Don't bring my daughter into it you silly f*****g cow'.

With the duo squaring up to each other, and Rebecca screaming- 'Back away from me', Kieran jumped in the middle, scolding Rebecca with: 'You can't talk about daughters!'.

At this point Big Brother stepped in, requesting Rebecca come to the diary room.

All is forgiven: Rebecca finally agreed to speak to Big Brother, admitting her disappointment in Kieran for not backing her up

With the girls escorting her to the room and the argument continuing, the duo were not to be calmed.

Rebecca finally agreed to speak to Big Brother, admitting her disappointment in Kieran for not backing her up.

But with Kieran joining her in the diary room, the duo soon forgave each other.

However it was a different story for Joe, who told Big Brother: 'She played the personal card. I'll accept her apology, otherwise I don't want to know.'
They're not only among some of the most successful models of their generation, but they also happen to be good friends.

Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid had the time of the life posing up a storm together while working a photo shoot in Los Angeles on Monday.

The ladies danced, hugged, as they worked their magic in front of cameras.

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Double trouble! Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid had the time of the life posing up a storm together while working a photo shoot in Los Angeles on Monday

Kendall, 21, and Bella, 20, rocked a number of stylish and trendy looks for the multifaceted shoot as well.

Among one of the outfits Bella wore was one that showed off her svelte physique to full effect: a white crop top, jeans, and red beanie.

Kendall, meanwhile, wore a sporty red, white, and blue top and jeans.

Rocking fur coats over their edgy looks, the girls looked elated as they pulled each other in for a warm hug.

BFFs reporting for duty! Kendall, 21, and Bella, 20, rocked a number of stylish and trendy looks for the multifaceted shoot as well.

Start your engines! The 21-year-old wore a sporty red, white, and blue top

Girl power! Bella grinned from ear-to-ear as she swayed with her pal

Dance break! Jenner let her hair down as she modeled beside her pal

Holding hands and swaying from side to side, the stars let their hair down as they danced and shook their heads about.

The friends couldn't stop smiling as they turned their photo shoot into an impromptu dance party.

Kendall and Bella at one point ditched their winter wear for something more glamorous as well.

Move it! The friends couldn't stop smiling as they turned their photo shoot into an impromptu dance party

Legs eleven! Bella kicked her silver boot clad legs up into the air

Fur-get about it! The smiling ladies were clearly in high spirits

Casual cool: Bella rocked a red beanie and winter-ready jacket

The Keeping Up With The Kardashian star swapped out of the edgy outfit for an elegant green gown.

Bella opted for a long blue maxi dress, stylish sweatshirt, and windbreaker jacket.

Ever the professionals, Kendall was all ears as she received direction from a set worker.

Twice as nice! The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star swapped out of the edgy outfit for an elegant green gown

On they go: A photographer followed the ladies on set, camera in hand

These boots were made for walking! Jenner rocked ankle boots while Bella sported a higher pair

The reality star appeared receptive as she paid close attention to the instruction.

Kendall and Bella have risen the ranks to be among the most successful models in recent year.

The reality star admitted she had been idolizing models ever since she was 10 years old.

Hitting her stride: Jenner stepped out in thigh high suede boots

Just the girls: Hadid slung her arm around Jenner's shoulders

So much fun: The ladies were clearly enjoying their work day

Beautiful in blue! The 20-year-old rocked a beautiful flowing blue skirt and statement sweatshirt

'I was, like, ten when I started thinking models were the coolest people in the world,' she told W Magazine last year. 'My favorite model when I was ten was Gisele. I didnt really know what I was talking about, and I think it's the only name I knew.'

She even practiced walking down the runway in her home.

'I would definitely like practice a walk that was very bad. I was a tomboy for a couple years, so those years I think I was more into sports. Once I came out of that, I was secretly doing walks in my room and stuff.'

Strike a pose: Hadid looked glam as she got her hair touched up

Windswept: Kendall posed up a storm as a fan was turned in her direction

Having a word: Ever the professionals, Kendall was all ears as she received direction from a set worker

Bella, who is the younger sister of model Gigi Hadid, became the new spokesperson for Nike Cortez over the spring.

The star recently revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that modelling for the brand had been a lifelong dream of hers.

'It's crazy because my biggest dream was doing Chanel and having a Dior contract, I did a Fendi campaign  so I did a lot of the fashion stuff, and then being able to walk the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was so crazy to me because it took me into that more commercial lingerie land.

'And now I'm able to work with Nike, which has always been my number one, its been a dream of mine since I was a kid. I don't even know if it was a dream because I didn't think it was a realistic thing to think about.'

New gig! Bella, who is the younger sister of model Gigi Hadid, became the new spokesperson for Nike Cortez over the spring

Gorgeous in green: Kendall rocked a camouflage print jacket and glittering emerald socks
Charlie Hunnam played one bad dude on TV's Sons Of Anarchy.

But in real life the actor appears to be one of the most affable celebrities around.

When in West Hollywood on Monday the 37-year-old British star was seen giving a female friend a warm hug. Later, when approached by a fan, he stopped to take a selfie with her.

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Nice guy: Charlie Hunnam was friendly when leaving a restaurant inside Fred Segal in West Hollywood on Monday

Close pal or business acquaintane? The woman he hugged appeared to be a friend who he knew well

Cool for summer: She wore a stylish black outfit with a black woven purse and black sandals. Her hair was worn up and she had little to no makeup on

The King Arthur actor was leaving Fred Segal, a shopping center with the Mauro's Restaurant inside.

Hunnam was dressed casually in a white T-shirt and old jeans. He wore scruffy facial hair and his blonde locks were cut short.

He also had on a big silver sports watch.

Group effort: The two were also seen laughing with a man in a blue shirt and another woman in a floral outfit with sneakers

The woman he hugged appeared to be a friend who he knew well.

She wore a stylish black outfit with a black woven purse and black sandals. Her hair was worn up and she had little to no makeup on.

The two were also seen laughing with a man in a blue shirt and another woman in a floral outfit with sneakers.

This man walked into a bar... : Hunnam seemed to have them all in stitches with a joke

After a few laughs, Charlie seemed to make his own way through the parking lot.

But then he was stopped by a pretty brunette fan with red lipstick and a pink top with black sneakers.

She spoke to him for a while then he leaned back to take a selfie with her.

He has been dating Morgana McNelis for the past 10 years.

See ya: After a few laughs, Charlie seemed to make his own way through the parking lot

It's for my mom, I promise! But then he was stopped by a pretty brunette fan with red lipstick and a pink top with black sneakers

One for her IG page: She spoke to him for a while then he leaned back to take a selfie with her

Hunnam is best known for his role as Jackson 'Jax' Teller in the FX drama series Sons of Anarchy, which ran from 2008 until 2014.

His last film was Guy Ritchie's King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England and went to Heaton Manor School in Newcastle then Ullswater Community College then Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, Cumbria.

He graduated with a degree in the theory and history of film with a side in performing arts.

Hunnam nearly co-starred with Dakota Johnson in Fifty Shades Of Grey but had to drop out due to a schedule conflict. He said losing out on the opportunity to play Christian Grey was a big let down for him.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zimbabwe's late Vice President, Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo, is a man credited with shaping the country's economic and social fibre.So much has been said about his exploits before, during, and after the country's liberation struggle against white colonial rule.One of his many exploits was the idea of setting up the Ekusileni Medical Centre in the country's second largest city, Bulawayo with hopes of making it an internationally-acclaimed referral hospital dealing with complicated diseases and illnesses.To ensure the idea did not die a natural death, Nkomo went on to see to it that a board for the hospital was set up, and ensured that it was operational.However, years after he mooted the idea, the hospital dream is yet to come to its full fruition, save for a building that stands on a piece of land just outside the city.The 200-bed medical centre, built at a cost of ZW$4 million in 2000, has been lying idle since then.It is now an open secret in Bulawayo that the board that Nkomo highly favoured with responsibility to get the health centre off the ground failed to reciprocate the trust that he had thrust on it.Information at hand shows that at some point, the board procured obsolete equipment that was given a face-lift and made to look new. The equipment was condemned as obsolete by health machinery experts who had to be hired to look at the machines.To this date, nothing has happened to those that were behind the procurement.It is also common cause that huge sums of money, then Zimbabwe dollar denominated, could have gone unaccounted for under the previous administration. The accounts and the bank statements, then, were not audited.Of late, efforts to have the hospital opened by several players have also hit a brick wall. Many dates have been given for the re-opening of this state-of-the-art medical facility funded by the National Social Security Authority (Nssa) but nothing has materialised.Several ministers including vice president, Phelekezela Mphoko have separately visited the abandoned medical facility and all they have done is to give promises in typical politicking style and unfortunately this has led to Nkomo's wish just remaining a pie in the sky.As if that is not enough, last week, government put a tender to find a private investor by next month to run the hospital as a specialist medical institution.Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister, Prisca Mupfumira, in May expressed optimism on the re-opening of the specialist hospital, saying a number of investors had expressed interest in running the medical institution.She said her ministry and the Health and Child Care ministry would soon be negotiating with potential investors in preparation for the opening of the hospital.While the latest move might signal hope, it is the 14-year history of failure and inconsistence that has made residents and stakeholders view those responsible for making the hospital operation as insincere in their words and action.Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA) spokesperson Zibusiso Dube described the development as a clear failure by the government to prioritise health."We see the continued closure of Ekusileni Medical Centre as a failure by the government to prioritise access to health. That such a facility remains a white elephant is testament to the fact that we lack leadership that cares enough for the people," Dube said."We would like to urge the government and other stakeholders such as the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to take concerted steps towards reopening of the facility. This is critical as there are already shortfalls with regards to health services in the city, with the existent facilities evidently overwhelmed by a growing population."Former Education minister Senator David Coltart believes that while the delay did not really affect the people in this city, it was in fact the name of the revered nationalist Nkomo that has been dragged in the mud."The delay actually hasn't affected the people of Bulawayo that much because other medical institutions have been able to cope. The downturn in the general economy and the exodus of people since the hospital was first planned has meant that there has not been the anticipated need for it," Coltart said."However, given that Nkomo's name was given to the centre, it has been a constant reminder of the shame which has been brought to his name by the fact it has remained empty all these years. If government had really wanted to honour Nkomo they would have worked much harder to ensure that the centre opened," said the respected lawyer.He further noted that the best use of it would be to rent it out to a private medical institution as government does not appear to have sufficient funds to run it alone."Sadly, until sensible policies are adopted by the government which will boost the general economy this will probably remain a white elephant."Affirmative Action Group (AAG) regional president Reginald Shoko said certain people were sleeping on duty."There is no reason why the hospital does not operate, it's clear that some people are sleeping on their job. For a long time, it's been an issue of ownership now that it's clear that Nssa owns the hospital what has been stopping them to open it," Shoko said.He took a swipe at the Matabeleland region leadership for having let down the vision of Father Zimbabwe."The hospital must open without failure and the Health minister must be taken to task on this or he must just go if he cannot carry out his mandate."Shoko added: "If as a country can take such years to resolve a minor issue around a hospital it means we will take a century to deliver the water from Zambezi to Bulawayo. The government must be proactive not reactive in such important issues."Government has failed to ensure the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project (MZWP)  a long-term solution to Bulawayo's water woes  that was mooted in the 1900's is made a reality. The project entails constructing a pipeline to draw water from the Zambezi River to the city.Bulawayo mayor Martin Moyo also expressed concern at the delay in opening the health institution."It is a very important investment in the city that would create certain traffic in the city since it's meant for specialist medical services," Moyo said."What this means is that instead of having people flocking to India or South Africa for treatment, patients can be even referred to Bulawayo.If properly equipped it could serve as a regional referral hospital as the late VP Nkomo had envisaged when he came up with the initiative."
Joanna Krupa was photographed gamboling about a beach in Malibu on Monday, showing off her svelte figure in a stylish two-piece.

The 38-year-old, who from 2012 to 2013 was a Real Housewife Of Miami, had popped on a bikini with stripes in various shades of blue over a white field.

Her blonde hair had been gathered back and wound into a ponytail, and she was seen wading a bit where the waves were fizzling out on the sand.

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By the sea: Joanna Krupa was photographed gamboling about a beach in Malibu on Monday, showing off her svelte figure in a stylish two-piece

The onetime Dancing With The Stars contender had married Romain Zago in 2013, but E! News reported on May 8 that the pair of them separated this past December.

A report US Weekly ran this May 17 alleged she'd got a burgeoning romance with businessman Nico Santucci, and the magazine's quoted a source who's gossiped: 'Joanna and Nico are feeling it out and like each other. Theyve been hanging out.'

Quoth another source of Nico and Joanna: 'They've been inseparable and enjoying their time together, and they spent Mother's Day together.'

The look: The 38-year-old, who from 2012 to 2013 was a Real Housewife Of Miami, had popped on a bikini with stripes in various shades of blue over a white field

Basking in the sun: Her blonde hair had been gathered back and wound into a ponytail, and she was seen wading a bit where the waves were fizzling out on the sand

In an interview Express.co.uk ran this past December, Joanna brushed off Internet sniping about her penchant for showing off her body on Instagram or in magazines.

Said she: 'I'm very proud of my body, I work really hard, I workout and try to stay in shape and eat healthy. I'm super proud of it and I believe if you have it you flaunt it! No matter what shape or size you are you should feel confident.'

She's trumpeted that 'You should feel like a beautiful woman, no matter what and what I do on my Instagram is my business,' pointing out that 'It's my personal Instagram, if somebody feels like they shouldn't be looking at the photos that I'm posting then they shouldn't be following me.'

'I'm a model': In an interview Express.co.uk ran this past December, Joanna brushed off Internet sniping about her penchant for showing off her body on Instagram or in magazines

'I believe if you have it you flaunt it!': Said she: 'I'm very proud of my body, I work really hard, I workout and try to stay in shape and eat healthy'

Moreover, 'I'm a model, that's my background, if you look at the biggest top models in the world they've all posed super sexy and naked and in lingerie, so I just think it's part of the industry we are in.'

She's conceded that 'In the past I used to get a little bit upset about certain comments from people, but I just realized these are pathetic people that sit behind a hidden desk,' the Warsaw native said defiantly.

Joanna's pointed out that 'A lot of the time they don't even show their real photo on social media and they find the balls to comment on your behalf.'
She always manages to look effortlessly chic.

So it came as no surprise to see Dame Helen Mirren looked breathtaking at the closing ceremony for the Monte Carlo TV festival in Monaco on Tuesday.

Clad in an elegant Sassi Holford gown, the 71-year-old actress dazzled as she hit the red carpet before cosying up to her unlikely new friend, 50 Cent, 41.

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Dazzling in white: It came as no surprise to see Dame Helen Mirren looked breathtaking at the closing ceremony for the Monte Carlo TV festival in Monaco on Tuesday

The thespian and the rapper seemed in great spirits as they chatted away on the red carpet, before mingling with the host of stars at the bash.

Showcasing her sensational figure, the Oscar-winning actress donned a cream gown with a sheer overlay that cinched in at her tiny waist and flared out into a dramatic full skirt.

Beaming broadly, Helen was a vision of beauty as she beamed for the cameras.

Two's company: Clad in an elegant Sassi Holford gown, the 71-year-old actress dazzled as she hit the red carpet before cosying up to her unlikely new friend, 50 Cent, 41

Double trouble: The thespian and the rapper seemed in great spirits as they chatted away on the red carpet, before mingling with the host of stars at the bash

Loving life: Helen put on a flirtatious display as she fanned herself on the red carpet

Meanwhile 50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - looked dapper in a black tuxedo as he cosied up to Helen for snaps.

The rapper turned actor seemed in good spirits at the festival - where he had been promoting his series, Power, of which he is the executive producer.

50 Cent has a history of befriending Britain's most beloved thespians, famously inviting Dame Julie Walters to touch his tongue during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.

Two's company: 50 Cent - real name Curtis Jackson - looked dapper in a black tuxedo as he cosied up to Helen for snaps

Laughing away: The duo seemed to be enjoying each other's company on the night

Chatting away: The pair looked like they were loving each other's company

Mixing with royalty: Prince Albert of Monaco also wanted to join the group

Bit of all white! Showcasing her sensational figure, the Oscar-winning actress donned a cream gown with a sheer overlay that cinched in at her tiny waist and flared out into a dramatic skirt

Cute couple: Helen was later joined on the red carpet by her husband Taylor Hackford

Award-winner: Helen beamed as she received the Crystal Nymph Award from Prince Albert II of Monaco

Successful: The Crystal Nymph, created in 2013, is awarded to a television actor or actress 'whose acting career has made an outstanding contribution to the television world'

Looking good: Helen beamed broadly as she received the coveted gong

Looking good: The pair seemed in great spirits at the ceremony

Pucker up: Helen received a kiss as she picked up her award

Meanwhile, at the festival, Helen spoke about her evolving views of feminism in a chat with The Hollywood Reporter.

She revealed: 'Ive always lived my life as a feminist, Ive always believed in all the theory of feminism without a doubt  it wasnt like I changed my mind in that direction, Im just saying that I wasnt the kind of person who went on marches.

'I loved people like Germaine Greer and I loved what they were saying, but I was the kind of feminist that wanted to wear high heels and lipstick and that wasnt on in the late '60s.

'You couldnt be a feminist and do that kind of thing. Well you can nowadays, so Im a modern feminist.'

Dapper dudes: 50 Cent was promoting his series, Power, of which he is the executive producer and he posed on the carpet with actor Omari Hardwick

Royal greeting: 50 Cent also joined Prince Albert II of Monaco on the red carpet

Blue-tiful! Paula Patton dazzled in a baby blue dress with a plunging neckline that showed off her sensational figure and her lean legs

Five's company: US actress Reign Edwards, Canadian actress Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, US actresses Courtney Hope, and Heather Tom all posed together on the red carpet

Two's company: Bo Derek and Miranda Rae Mayo dazzled on the red carpet

Helen's love life also blossomed later in the life, as she waited until she was 52 before she walked down the aisle with her life-long partner and director Taylor Hackford.

The married lovebirds have gone from strength to strength ever since they tied the knot on New Year's Eve 1997.

Dame Helen discussed how despite marrying later in life it has worked out 'great' for the couple.

Lady in red: Jacqueline MacInnes Wood looked sensational in a scarlet ballgown

Loving life: Prince Albert II of Monaco and Kyle Maclachan looked in good spirits

Speaking at Tulane University in Louisiana recently, she told the students: 'I married Taylor a lot later in my life and its worked out great.

'And always give your partner the freedom and support to achieve their ambitions.'

The award winning actress also offered a whole host of life tips including not to confuse sex with life, ignore anyone who judges the way they look and to call their parents once a week.

Blooming lovely: Malin Akerman dazzled in a plunging floral gown on the red carpet
She is always turning heads with her sartorial choices.

And Tuesday proved to be no exception for Naomi Campbell, who put on a stunning display as she attended the Cannes Lions Festival in the French Riviera town.

The model, 47, looked exquisite in her fitted number that boasted a semi-sheer skater skirt and teased a look at her catwalk worthy pins.

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Sartorially savvy: Naomi Campbell, 47, looked exquisite in a chic tailored skater dress as she attended Cannes Lions Festival 2017 on Tuesday

Naomi was certainly dressed to impress as she stepped out overseas, choosing to don a pristine white frock that sat just above the knee.

Her dress featured a stylish high neckline and fitted bodice, before cinching in at the waist to accentuate the starlet's model frame.

It then billowed out into a skater skirt that featured a striped design of semi-sheer panels, but Naomi ensured her modesty was protected by sporting a thigh-grazing nude slip underneath.

Stunning: The model's frock featured a stylish high neck and cinched in at the waist to flaunt her slender frame

Arm candy: She accessorised her outfit with a statement cobalt blue handbag - that no doubt toted her day's essentials - and featured an embellished design

She accessorised her outfit with a statement cobalt blue handbag - that no doubt toted her day's essentials - and featured an embellished design.

Naomi wore her dark-hued tresses down past her shoulders in a sleek and straight style, finishing off her look with a chic pair of aviator shades.

And choosing to flaunt her natural beauty, she opted for a subtle look when it came to her make-up.

Her appearance in Cannes comes just weeks after she held her annual Fashion For Relief runway show at this year's Film Festival.

Finishing touches: Naomi wore her dark-hued tresses down past her shoulders in a sleek and straight style, finishing off her look with a chic pair of aviator shades

It marked the twelfth Fashion For Relief event and saw Naomi, along with a slew of other highly regarded models including Kate Moss, Bella Hadid and Heidi Klum, don items donated by some of the world's most well-regarded fashion houses.

The proceeds from the show were given to Save The Children to help provided life-saving food, shelter and medical treatment to children around the world, including those who have been affected by the conflict in Syria.

Along with her charity initiatives and modelling work, Naomi has revealed she would love to become a mother herself.

She spoke of her desire to have children, despite not being in a relationship, in an interview with ES magazine and said: 'I think about having children all the time but now, with the way science is, I think I can do it when I want.'

'I do want a father figure though,' she claimed. 'I think it is important.'
Actor Josh Peck, 30, has wed his longtime girlfriend Paige O'Brien.

But an old pal wasn't too happy that he was not invited to the small celebration in Malibu last week.

The actor's Drake & Josh co-star Drake Bell lashed out on Twitter after her learned of the wedding. 'True colors have come out today. Message is loud and clear. Ties are officially cut. I'll miss you brotha,' he typed, then deleted the message.

Now foes: Drake Bell has said he has cut ties with Josh Peck after he was not invited to the actor's small wedding in Malibu on Saturday; seen in 2014

Mr and Mrs Peck: Josh, 30, wed his longtime girlfriend Paige O'Brien

Famous folks: Peck's former Grandfathered costar John Stamos and his girlfriend, Caitlin McHugh, were there (far right)

'Loyalty is key. ALWAYS remember where you came from,' he added.

They played stepbrothers on the Nickelodeon show that aired from 2004 till 2007.

Peck is upset over Bell's tweets, a source told UsWeekly. And he finds them inappropriate since the two have not spoken in over a year. They were last seen together in December 2015 on the set of Josh's show Grandfathered.

Ouch: 'True colors have come out today. Message is loud and clear. Ties are officially cut. I'll miss you brotha,' he typed, then deleted the message

A long time ago: The actors in 2003 during Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards

Better times: They played stepbrothers on the Nickelodeon show that aired from 2004 till 2007

'They would tweet each other back on social media a couple times a year, but never actually spoke,' the source told Us.

'When Drake didnt get invited to Joshs wedding, he started tweeting all of those dramatic memes. Josh was really hurt. They arent close anymore and Josh had a very small wedding.'

Peck has not yet reacted.

Josh and his longtime love tied the knot in Malibu on Saturday in front of friends and celebrities. Peck's former Grandfathered costar John Stamos and his girlfriend, Caitlin McHugh, were there.

He got his feelings hurt: Bell at 102.7 KIIS FM's 2017 Wango Tango in May

The New York native has also worked on the movies Red Dawn and Ice Age.

The bride wore a lovely wedding dress befitting a princess. It was strapless with a sweetheart neckline and came in nicely at the wait. The color was a light beige with a floral pattern.

The beauty's hair was worn in soft beachy waves befitting the location. The stunner showed off her wedding jewelry including a large engagement ring.

Seen together a year and a half ago: On the set of Josh's show Grandfathered in December 2015

The groom looked dashing in a black tuxedo.

On Instagram he showed a photo of himself in his tuxedo asking his fans what they thought.

'What do you guys think of this look? Getting ready for a big night coming up, plus I'll be able to wear this when I eventually become a waiter,' he wrote.

They announced their engagement in March 2016. The two were in Paris and posed in front of the Eiffel Tower. He popped the question with an elegant diamond engagement ring.

This is the first marriage for both the actor and O'Brien.

First time lucky: This is the first marriage for both the actor and O'Brien
Daniel Day-Lewis has quit acting in decision that will come as a surprise to many.

The legendary actor, 60, who is the only person to win three Best Actor Oscars, confirmed the news via a short public statement released on Tuesday.

The British star, who rocketed to fame in films including Gangs of New York and The Last of the Mohicans, did not reveal the reason behind his retirement.

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'Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor': Daniel Day-Lewis has quit acting in decision that will come as a surprise to many

A statement released to Variety by his spokeswoman confirmed the shock news.

In it, Leslee Dart said: 'Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years.

'This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject.'

'He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years': The legendary actor, 60, seen in 2002 hit Gangs Of New York, confirmed the news on Tuesday

Daniel has earned himself a plethora of awards over his illustrious career, including three Academy Awards for Best Actor for his performances in My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007) and Lincoln (2012).

The father-of-three is a famously dedicated method actor, and in the role that won him his first Oscar, his acclaimed 1989 performance as Irish writer and cerebral palsy victim Christy Moore in My Left Foot, he reportedly asked the crew to wheel him around in his wheelchair between takes and feed him with a spoon.

To prepare for his part as the wrongly convicted alleged IRA bomber Gerry Conlon in the film about the Guildford Four, In The Name Of The Father, he spent three nights on meagre prison rations in a freezing cold cell.

Method acting: Daniel, seen here as President Abraham Lincoln, would get into character weeks in advance

Those passing by on the set were instructed to abuse him and throw cold water on him.

One technician, who has twice worked with Day-Lewis, said at the time: 'I have never known anything like it.

'We all had to call him by his character's name, even if we bumped into him in the toilets.

Pictured accepting his Oscar for Best Actor for 2013 hit Lincoln: Daniel is the only person to win three Best Actor Oscars

'If he was doing a scene where he was being aggressive or having a fight, he would start getting really angry a few days beforehand, and would be glaring and snarling at people on the set.

'You had to know when to steer well clear of him because he could be pretty terrifying when he was in character.

And as well as having a successful career under his belt, has been married to fellow actress Rebecca Miller since 1996, and the couple share two sons- Ronan Cal Day-Lewis (born 1998) and Cashel Blake Day-Lewis (born 2002).

In June 2014, Daniel, who has dual British and Irish citizenship, received a knighthood at Buckingham Palace for services to drama, making his wife's official title, Lady Day-Lewis.

But multi-talented Rebecca is revered in her own right as a talented film director, screenwriter, author and actress best known for her films Personal Velocity, Three Portraits, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Angela and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, all of which she wrote and directed.

The couple celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary on November 13th last year.

Daniel also has son Gabriel, born in 1995, during his six year relationship with Isabelle Adjani.

Pictured in There Will Be Blood in 2007: Despite his talent and success, Daniel is said to be shy about his fame

Speaking about parenthood previously, Daniel told The Sun that becoming a dad was really special to him.

He revealed: 'It utterly changed my life. I don't think there's a parent on this earth who would give you a different answer.

'I experienced this vast unknown in the period leading up to me becoming a father. Then, the unknown reveals itself. This is in spite of your preconceived notions.'

He added: 'I don't know if I can describe my feelings about being a father in real life.

'In real life, I have sons. Sons are different. Sons are a pushover. Daughters can be quite difficult. At least, that's what I hear.'

Decades of talent: Daniel pictured in The Last Of The Mohicans in 1992

Next career move? The father-of-three, who has been married for 20 years, reportedly previously trained as a cobbler during breaks from his acting career

And Daniel has always treasured his privacy, preferring a life out of the limelight.

In 2008, neighbours in the tiny Irish village that he was often known to retreat to, revealed he was dreading the limelight of receiving an Oscar.

After buying his estate in 1993 for 500,000, he subsequently bought another 45 acres of surrounding countryside to preserve his privacy.

And he was said to spend his days practising his skills as a cobbler in a small workshop.

Revealing that the modest actor preferred to keep a low profile, a fellow villager revealed at the time: 'He seems embarrassed when he is recognised and obviously has a bit of a problem with fame.

'Most people understand that and leave him in peace.'
Just days ago she was enjoying the City of Light with hunky beau Alex Rodriguez.

And it was right back to reality for Jennifer Lopez.

The 47-year-old star was spotted in a slinky LBD while on the New York City set of her series Shades Of Blue on Tuesday.

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Stunner: Jennifer Lopez was spotted in a slinky LBD while on the New York City set of her series Shades Of Blue on Tuesday

It certainly appeared to be quite the change of pace from her romantic holiday in Paris just days prior as she appeared to be filming a funeral scene at a church.

J-Lo was decked out in a clinging, sleeveless black midi dress along with matching leather heels.

She accessorized with large sunglasses and a black coat draped over her forearm as she walked out of the building.

LBD: The 47-year-old actress was decked out in a clinging, sleeveless black midi dress along with matching leather heels

In character: The Waiting For Tonight hitmaker donned her character's signature curly brunette tresses as she showed off her natural looks by wearing minimal make-up

Tough times: It certainly appeared to be quite the change of pace from her romantic holiday in Paris just days prior as she appeared to be filming a funeral scene at a church

The Waiting For Tonight hitmaker donned her character's signature curly brunette tresses as she showed off her natural looks by wearing minimal make-up.

Jennifer also walked alongside Sarah Jeffery who plays her daughter on the show Cristina Santos.

On the show, J-Lo portrays tough NYPD vet Harlee Santos. Jennifer not only acts on the NBC series, she is also one of the producers.

Dynamic duo: Jennifer also walked alongside Sarah Jeffery who plays her daughter on the show Cristina Santos

Warm: She had a black coat draped over her forearm as she walked out of the building

Cup of Joe: She sipped on coffee in between takes

Looking good: She also accessorized with large black designer shades

Aww: She even posed up for a photo with a co-star

Last week the World Of Dance star spent time with her new beau Alex as they soaked up the sun in France.

They started their trip in Antibes, which is in the country's southern region near Nice.

They lounged on a mega yacht where Lopez showed off her incredibly toned body while in a monokini. Her makeup was done nicely and she sported large sunglasses.

Hair-raising moment: The wind gave Jennifer's curly locks a ride

Sleeping beauty! Traveling must have certainly tired out the star

Striking: Jennifer looked chic in a head-to-toe black ensemble

Emotional scene: Later, she headed inside a church to shoot a funeral scene for her TV show

Pulpit: She put on quite the emotional display as she spoke to the congregation from the pulpit

Crowd: A number of extras were drafted in to make up the congregation at the ceremony

Next they were seen out to dinner where Jennifer wore a super tight pink dress.

And on Sunday the lovers were caught getting ice cream by the Louvre in Paris.

J-Lo and 41-year-old former New York Yankees player A-Rod have been dating since March.

Hand in hand: She recently returned from a romantic trip with beau Alex Rodriguez as they are pictured leaving their yacht in Nice on Saturday

Toned Jenny: The cover girl showed off her abs in a crop top with white sailor slacks and black heels

So yesterday! On Sunday Lopez was with new hunky love Alex Rodriguez in Paris during a romantic vacation; they both got ice cream cones
Lisa Vanderpump's restaurant Sur was evacuated on Monday night after a major fire.

The West Hollywood eatery was full of diners and staff when the blaze broke out at around 11.30pm.

A number of units from the fire department were scrambled to tackle the fire and managed to get it under control.

Close call: West Hollywood eatery Sur was full of diners and staff when a blaze broke out at around 11.30pm on Monday night

Blaze: Lisa Vanderpump said 'everyone got out safely, thank God'

The Los Angeles Fire Department told Radar: 'A fire broke out in the electrical room at Sur last night, causing approximately $50,000 worth of damage.'

They confirmed that everyone was evacuated safely and there were no injuries.

Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills star told the site: 'The fire actually started in the electrical section of building that Sur shares with Chrome Hearts.

'There were a lot of people in the building at the time and luckily a busboy smelled smoke and was able to get to the fire before it got worse,' she said

Safe: A number of units from the fire department were scrambled to tackle the fire and managed to get it under control

The 56-year-old lauded Vanderpump Rules cast member Jeremy Madix as 'a hero' after the busboy raised the alarm.

'Jeremy smelled smoke, and he saved the day. Everyone got out safely thank God,' she said.

'The fire department came and put it out and we called an electrician. It could have been much worse.'

The mother of two owns the business with husband of 35 years Ken Todd.

In May, Vanderpump's Beverly Hills restaurant Villa Blanca also caught fire, but again no one was injured.

In 2012, a home she sold a year earlier also went up in flames.
Chloe Lattanzi likes to look her best in photos posted to her social media.

But in an image share to Instagram on Wednesday, the 31-year-old's makeup looked odd, with her eyelashes and smoky liner appearing to sit over the edge of her hair.

The corner of her eye shadow was nestled well over her blonde locks, and her hair appeared to vanish right into her eyes on either side.

Odd image: In an image share to Instagram on Wednesday, Chloe Lattanzi 's makeup looked odd, with her eyelashes and smoky liner appearing to sit over the edge of her hair

The cannabis farmer's contouring also looked unusual, with brown lines painted on either side of her nose.

Her lips appeared cartoonish, in a bright, metallic pink with highlighted sections in the middle of her bottom lip and top of her upper lip.

It's unclear if Chloe used a face filter on the image, but filters that alter the appearance, often in fun and surreal ways, are very popular with social media users.

The dancer shared images that appear to be from the same photo shoot over the weekend, with her eye make-up looking less intense and her lipstick a light pink.

Unusual makeup: The corner of her eye shadow was nestled well over her blonde locks, and her hair appeared to vanish right into her eyes on either side

Usually more natural: It's unclear if Chloe used a face filter on the image, but filters that alter the appearance, often in fun and surreal ways, are very popular with social media users

The purpose of the earlier pictures was sharing the seduction technique she uses on fiance James Driskill, across three saucy instructive snaps.

She captioned the images: 'When you in the mood for your man, but he's playing video games..... so you take sexy pics send them and..... oh here he comes!'

In the series of images, the beauty, wearing skin-tight leggings and a revealing work out top, is posed on all fours on the bed.

Another angle: The dancer shared images that appear to be from the same photo shoot over the weekend, with her eye make-up looking less intense and her lipstick a light pink

Revealing: The purpose of the earlier pictures was sharing the seduction technique she uses on fiance James Driskill

Loved up: Chloe moved with James to Oregon in December last year to set up a cannabis business in The Beaver State, where growing the plant is legal

The blonde beauty has shared other photos in the past that look as though they may have had a filter applied.

Chloe moved with James, 33, to Oregon in December last year to set up a cannabis business in The Beaver State, where growing the plant is legal.

The dancer and her Jiu-Jitsu instructor partner announced their engagement in 2010.
Miley Cyrus is one lucky girl.

Her fiance Liam Hemsworth was seen showing off his super buff body as he stripped off his wet suit following a surf in Malibu on Tuesday.

Liam, 27, and his older brother Luke, 36, started their day by hitting the beach to catch some waves.

Lucky Miley! Liam Hemsworth shows off his buff body as he strips off his wet suit following a surf in Malibu

While in the ocean, the pair were joined by dolphins.

As The Hunger Games star strolled to his car, he peeled off his black patterned wet suit to reveal his lean and muscular body.

The actor was also seen carving up the surf with ease, effortlessly catching wave after wave.

Hot: As The Hunger Games star strolled to his car, he peeled off his black patterned wet suit to reveal his lean and muscular body

Tatt's hot: He also showed off his arm tattoo during the outing

Liam and his brother's surfing expedition comes after their other brother Chris ran into trouble last Thursday when he decided to take on a stormy swell on the Gold Coast, Australia.

The actor, 33, unfortunately snapped his board in half while being filmed navigating the large waves.

Chris was surfing with Channel Seven reporter Luke Munro, who was driving a jet ski in the clips.

Thor gets hammered! Liam and his brother's surfing expedition comes after their other brother Chris ran into trouble last Thursday when he decided to take on a stormy swell on the Gold Coast, Australia

Footage from the reporter's GoPro was shared on Sunrise, showing Chris's snapped board.

The Hollywood star appeared in high spirits despite the incident, laughing it off as he held up the colourful board to the camera while the pair headed back to shore.

'The actor admitting after a bit of time out of the water it was a grueling workout,' Sunrise revealed.

Taking it well! Footage from the reporter's GoPro was shared on Sunrise, showing Chris's snapped board while he laughed off the incident

'It was a grueling workout': Sunrise revealed the actor had considered the morning surf a tough workout

Meanwhile, Chris posted a video of his successful surf moments before the incident.

The Thor star wrote: 'Thanks for the drop off @lukemun yeoooow.'

Looking muscular in a black wetsuit, Chris was dropped into the waves by Luke, who continued to film him from the safety of the jet ski.

Surf's up! Looking muscular in a black wetsuit, Chris was dropped into the waves by Luke, who continued to film him from the safety of the jet ski

He's a natural! Chris, who regularly indulges in his passion for surfing, had a flood of praise by fans commenting on his expertise at the sport

In his clip, Chris could be seen showing off his surfing skills, maneuvering his board impressively in the rainy weather.

His followers immediately took to the video's comments section to praise his expertise at the sport.

The father-of-three, who married Spanish actress Elsa Pataky in 2010, spends a lot of time at the beach with his family.
She has played a prominent role in the drama that has occurred in the Big Brother house this series.

And after being nominated by her fellow housemates, Chanelle McCleary decided to get revenge by secretly smashing eggs on the kitchen floor.

The former Ex On The Beach star claimed she wanted to make her co-stars 'miserable', as they have voted for her to face the public vote on Thursday.

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Up to no good: Chanelle McCleary played a prank on her housemates in Tuesday night's episode of the show by smashing eggs all over the kitchen floor

Chanelle is one of the four housemates set to face eviction this week, as she was nominated by the rest of the house along with Rebecca, Joe and Hannah.

Following the result of the latest round of nominations being revealed, Chanelle was seen fuming on Tuesday night's episode of Big Brother.

Launching into a rant about her housemates, she branded them 'two-faced' and claimed it was 'no shock' that they had nominated her.

'I knew I'd be up, I knew I would because people are f**king two-faced in this house anyway,' she vented.

Oops: Her trouble-stirring antics came after she learned she is one of four housemates nominated to face the public vote

Fuming: Launching into a rant about her housemates, she branded them 'two-faced' and claimed it was 'no shock' that they had nominated her

'If they have an issue they need to come and say it to my face, but they don't, they just lick my a**e... Carry on because it tastes like honey!'

She was then swayed to start causing mischievous when it got relayed back to her that a slew of housemates were criticising herself and Hannah for 'kicking off' because they've been nominated.

The busty brunette decided to drop a few eggs in the kitchen and sparked paranoia among the house, as the housemates began to question who was behind the mess.

Keeping quiet, Chanelle was determined not to own up to her prank and instead informed Big Brother that she was planning on smashing some more eggs in a bid to make her fellow housemates 'miserable'.

She confessed: 'I dropped some eggs and I'm going to drop some more, I just want to play around!

Seeking revenge: Wanting to get her own back on her housemates for nominating her, Chanelle said: 'I'm going to make you guys miserable because you voted for me'

Sneaky: Chanelle ruffled feathers further by dropping another two eggs without anybody noticing

'I'm not going to lick anyone's a**e to not get put up, it's up to the public now and hopefully they'll see I'm being genuine. If it's my time to go, it's my time to go.

'I just think if I'm leaving on Friday, I'm going to make you guys miserable because you voted for me. I want to put all of the clothes in the hot tub because it really p****d me off.'

Sticking to her word, Chanelle then further ruffled feathers as she smashed another two eggs, prompting her housemates to start pointing fingers.

Tom didn't take being accused of the crime lightly and he threatened to pour two huge cartons of milk all over the floor unless somebody owned up to the egg smashing.

Not impressed: Tom threatened to pour two cartons of milk all over the floor after housemates suggested he had been the egg smasher

He was only thwarted when Ellie pointed out that it could be Big Brother playing mind games on the house.

Lotan agreed, adding: 'I think we're being f**ked with. I hope we are.'

Rebecca, meanwhile, launched into an expletive-filled rant about Joe - she had been removed from the house during an explosive row the duo had just the night before - after being told he believes she was behind the eggs on the floor.

'I'm 32 f**king years old, he's out to get me,' she raged. 'Joe is a malicious nasty b*****d. I've had enough of him.

Pointing fingers: Joe claimed the egg dropper had to be one of the girls and was quick to suggest Rebecca as the culprit - following their heated row just 24 hours earlier

'I would never do something like that': Rebecca was outraged to hear Joe had accused her of dropping the eggs and launched into an explosive tirade about her housemate

'Joe is a nasty f**king old sh***ing horrible man. I'm f**king fuming. I'm furious. I would never do something like that.'

Chanelle, meanwhile, found the entire debacle highly amusing and was seen laughing to herself in bed.

She giggled: 'I found tonight very funny,' before teasing: 'I'm just getting started.'

As the scenes played out onscreen, viewers appeared divided over Chanelle's antics as they commented on her prank on Twitter.

Some accused the starlet of 'playing up to the camera' now she has been nominated, while others praised her for getting one up on her housemates.

They penned: 'Go Chanelle! They think she's stupid but she's way ahead of the lot of them! #BBUK.

'So, really been liking Chanelle, always seems the most real in the hse but 2night, I fell in love with her deliciously wicked side.

'Chanelle needs to stay': The busty brunette appeared to win over some viewers with her prank, while others praised her for entertaining

'Chanelle says she's not bothered about being nominated then why is she been so childish.

'Chanelle needs to stay please. Loving this naughty pettiness. This is the essence of big brother.

'So chanelle up for eviction her reaction smash eggs everywhere, grow up you child . Rebecca needs to stop moaning about joe as well.

'Not gonna lie, absolutely loved Chanelle's sneaky prank. Shes my fave one in there #BBUK

'Chanelle is an absolute ledge! Exactly what I'd do what a "cracking" lass eggcited for the next episode absolute yolkes.

Backlash: Not everyone was a fan of Chanelle's egg-smashing antics, with some viewers branding her 'childish' and accusing her of 'playing up to the cameras'

'Wasnt a big fan of Chanelle but my opinion has changed after tonight. Love the way she's stirring it up.

'Can't stand Chanelle get her out of the house asap! Pure trouble.

'Chanelle is desperately looking for camera time... hasn't the intelligence to do it in a less obvious way.'

Others, meanwhile, hit out at the reality star for 'wasting food'.

'I like Chanelle, but why is she wasting food like that, its pointless,' one wrote, while another fan penned: 'Why is Chanelle wasting food? B***h needs to appreciate the value of it and how much energy goes in to creating produce.

Big Brother airs nightly on Channel 5.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Liberation war musician Dickson Chingaira, aka Cde Chinx, could make history by becoming the first musician to be declared a national hero.Cde Chinx succumbed to prostate cancer last Friday and died at the age of 62.By yesterday evening, there was no news on what President Robert Mugabe and his party might agree on with Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Kaya Moyo and Zanu-PF Harare provincial chairperson Shadreck Mashayamombe, both still to be briefed of the outcome.Harare province has written to the politburo, requesting that the war veteran be declared a national hero. Zanu-PF is seen bestowing the status on him once the consultations have been completed."At the moment, we are still waiting for communication and anticipating, maybe it might come tomorrow (today) because as of now we are still waiting," Mashayamombe told the Daily News yesterday evening.Khaya Moyo was also in the dark."I am not aware if any decision has been reached. You could try the secretary for administration Cde Ignatius Chombo," he said.Chombo could not be immediately reached for comment by the time of going to print.Family spokesperson Deeds Chingaira, who is Cde Chinx's son, told the Daily News yesterday they had not been "ordered to stop the burial by the state but all we have is hope that there might be something that might come through."We heard that the responsible offices sat today (yesterday) to deliberate on the way forward on burial."Deeds said his father's body is in the custody of a local funeral parlour.Should Cde Chinx be declared a national hero, he will become the first musician to be accorded the status.Fellow musician Simon Chimbetu, aka Chopper, was accorded the lesser liberation war hero status.There have been loud choruses from all sectors of society who feel Cde Chinx deserves the honour as illustrated by his decorated contribution during the war and more so his consistency and unwavering support of Zanu-PF post-independence.Born on September 27, 1955 in the Makoni District of Manicaland, Cde Chinx was unwell for some time before his last breath on Friday at West End Hospital in Harare.Deeds told the Daily News his father had succumbed to prostate cancer contrary to reports of leukaemia as initially reported.Chingaira had battled prostate cancer for the past three years or so.He revealed to the media before his death that he was not aware of what really was the problem; hence ended up in different clinics as well as consulting both prophets and traditional healers in the process.
The Wisconsin case will be the first time since 2004 that Supreme Court justices will address political gerrymandering

The US Supreme Court announced Monday it would hear a case about possible gerrymandering in the drawing up of Congressional district boundaries, a running sore point between Republicans and Democrats.

The case involves the state of Wisconsin, where ruling Republicans have been accused of taking partisan measures to redraw boundaries in their favor, but the court decision could have implications for the rest of the United States.

The Wisconsin case will be the first time since 2004 that Supreme Court justices will address political gerrymandering.

US district maps for state and federal elections are drawn up every 10 years following a census. Politicians elected in each state are usually responsible for making any changes.

The next changes are due after the 2020 census, giving the Supreme Court ruling a potentially significant impact on how re-districting is carried out.

The process is frequently accompanied by claims between US parties of partisan measures being taken to ensure a political advantage.

The term gerrymandering -- or an attempt to gerrymander -- was born in the US state of Massachusetts in 1812, when governor Elbridge Gerry signed a bill that was felt to benefit his party.

The US high court's decision to hear the Wisconsin case was welcomed by advocates of boundary reform.

"Gerrymandering has become so aggressive, extreme, and effective that there is an urgent need for the Supreme Court to finally step in and set boundaries," said Wendy Weiser, director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program.
In April US President Donald Trump (R) hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of efforts to persuade Beijing to turn the screw on North Korea

Washington will host two of China's most senior officials Wednesday to deepen the dialogue between the world's greatest powers and test Beijing's willingness to turn the screw on North Korea.

President Donald Trump's administration has had mixed results in its efforts to shake up US foreign policy, but officials feel they have made inroads with China that could prove productive.

In April, Trump hosted China's President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago resort, dropping his harsh campaign comments about Beijing and hailing the dawn of "a very, very great relationship."

Last month, Beijing and Washington signed a limited deal to open new markets for each other's exports and a long-standing friend of the Chinese leadership, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, was confirmed as ambassador.

Washington has some 28,000 troops deployed in South Korea and has a naval armada in the region

But tensions remain -- particularly over China's building of artificial islands in disputed South China Sea waters -- and the White House dearly wants Beijing to rein in Kim Jong-Un's isolated North Korean regime.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will welcome State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of Chinese army staff, to the State Department.

Susan Thornton, the US acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said this first edition of the new "US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue" would focus on North Korea.

"We continue to urge China to exert its unique leverage as North Korea's largest trading partner, including by fully implementing all UN Security Council sanctions," she said, referring to efforts to halt Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Despite international condemnation and sanctions, North Korea has built a small nuclear arsenal and is developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could threaten Japan, South Korea and -- one-day -- even some US cities.

Washington has some 28,000 troops deployed in South Korea and has a naval armada in the region but has limited diplomatic or economic leverage over Kim.

- Prisoner in a coma -

Last week, what initially seemed a gesture of goodwill by Pyongyang -- the release of a detained US tourist -- turned sour when it was revealed that 22-year-old Otto Warmbier had been brain damaged and in a coma for some time.

China has tightened controls on trade in North Korean coal in apparent punishment for a series of missile tests

Warmbier died on Monday after returning to his hometown in Ohio.

Trump's White House made halting the nuclear threat its number one foreign policy priority, putting aside concerns over China's trade imbalance with the United States to seek Beijing's help in facing down Kim.

But while China has tightened controls on trade in North Korean coal, many experts say it is not ready to truly enforce any sanctions that might threaten the stability of its unpredictable neighbor.

"We're going to be focusing, as I said, on particularly on the urgent threat posed by North Korea, and we expect that that will take some time," Thornton said.

"We don't expect that we'll resolve that problem on Wednesday. But we hope that some of the other issues we're tackling, like military-to-military confidence-building measures -- we might make some progress there."

The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, agreed that the few short weeks since the Mar-a-Lago summit was probably too short to be able to tell whether China is ready to isolate Kim.

- If deterrence fails -

He said the Pentagon would maintain lines of communication with the Chinese military to head off any escalation in the South China Sea -- but keep this separate from the diplomatic effort on North Korea.

"Secretary Tillerson has said that a key element of any success we would have in de-nuclearizing the peninsula would be the cooperation of China," he said.

"The military dimension today is in support of the diplomatic and economic effort led by the State Department and at the same time we have an effective posture in the region to deter KJU (Kim) and also to respond in the event that deterrence fails."
The US Supreme Court blocks Ecuadorean villagers from collecting an $8.65 billion judgement against oil giant Chevron

Oil giant Chevron prevailed in a long-running legal battle over pollution in Ecuador, with the US Supreme Court blocking villagers from collecting a $8.65-billion foreign judgment against the company.

The court declined to hear an appeal against lower-court decisions which had refused to enforce the Ecuadorian damages award over pollution in the rainforest, finding that the foreign judgment resulted from corruption and other illegal acts.

Chevron did not deny that the pollution had occurred but argued that it was not liable and that the plaintiffs' attorney had bribed an Ecuadorian judge to win the award in 2011.

"The facts of the Ecuadorian judicial extortion scheme and the illegality of the plaintiffs' lawyer misconduct have been finally and conclusively affirmed by the legal system of the United States," R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron's general counsel, said in a statement.

Steven Donziger, the attorney for the plaintiffs, vowed to pursue the case elsewhere, calling the Supreme Court decision "a grave mistake" that reflected poorly on the US legal system.

"Chevron will be held accountable in Canada where courts have agreed to consider the overwhelming evidence Chevron bribed a witness and manufactured evidence to evade paying the Ecuador pollution judgment," Donziger said in a statement.

In 2001, Chevron acquired Texaco, which had agreed to clean up soil and water contamination from operations spanning 1964 to 1992. Ecuadorian authorities had certified Texaco's successful cleanup, according to Chevron.

A federal judge in New York blocked enforcement of the Ecuadorian judgment in 2014, saying it had been corruptly obtained. An appeals court upheld this judgment last year.

The attorney general's office in Ecuador said Monday that the country had not been a party to the case.

The Supreme Court's action "has no effect outside the United States and does not invalidate the ruling of an Ecuadorian court ordering the oil company to pay compensation for the environmental damage caused," the agency said in a statement.
A pair of brown bears play in a pond at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center in Portage Glacier

A 16-year-old boy was mauled and killed by a bear during a running race in Alaska at the weekend, managing to text his family as the attack was under way, authorities said Monday.

Patrick Cooper, of Anchorage, was competing in the annual mountain race on Sunday that goes through rugged terrain when he apparently encountered the bear.

He reportedly texted a member of his family to say he was being chased by the animal.

"The mother was here with her family, her children, they were running the race," Nathan Michell, of the Anchorage police department, told reporters.

The race director said the boy had raced up a mountain and was on his way down extremely steep terrain that goes through thick wilderness when the attack took place.

Several fellow runners and rescuers rushed to the site but initially couldn't get close as the animal was still in the area.

"The bear was remaining in the area where the young man was," Tom Crockett, a park ranger with Chugach State Park, told local media.

He said a park ranger shot the bear in the face but the animal managed to escape.

Cooper's body was found about 500 yards from the trail in heavily wooded terrain.

Bear encounters are not common in the area and it was unclear what prompted the attack, Crockett said.

"This young man didn't do anything wrong. He was just in the wrong place," he told the Alaska Dispatch News.

"You can't predict which bear will be predatory."
China's People's Liberation Army is responsible for defending Hong Kong and has a garrison in the city

Enthusiasts in Hong Kong snapped up stamps issued to mark 20 years since the city was handed back to China by Britain Tuesday with a design paying tribute to the Chinese military.

The first stamp, released ahead of the July 1 anniversary, depicts marching troops from China's People's Liberation Army under the title "The Mighty and Civilised Forces".

It comes as the city remains deeply divided between those loyal to Beijing and groups demanding political reform who feel China is threatening Hong Kong's cherished freedoms.

The semi-autonomous city's liberties were guaranteed for 50 years in the handover agreement, but critics say China is trampling the deal with interference in a number of areas, from politics to education and the media.

The PLA is responsible for defending the city and has a garrison in central Hong Kong.

Some feared the army would be heavy-handed when it arrived in 1997, given the crackdown on student protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Instead it has maintained a very low profile and is barred from interfering in local affairs.

Collectors said the stamps, which cost HK$10 ($1.28) each and are on sale for three months, were more nationalistic than previous commemorations as they gathered to buy them at Hong Kong's General Post Office.

Stamp collector Vincent Lian, 62, poses in front of a mural made from stamps as he holds military-themed postacards that he printed

"This stamp is very relevant and has a heavy military and Chinese flavour to it," explained collector Lok Ka-chung, 70, who said he would exchange them with fellow philatelists in mainland China.

"They've been stationed here for 20 years, they should be on the stamp," added collector Tommy Ying, a 40-year-old engineer.

Enthusiasts had queued earlier in June to buy PLA-themed envelopes, which have already sold out.

"The PLA's Hong Kong Garrison has a very important sense of mission for Hong Kong, stabilising its economy and law and order," said Joe Kwan, 58, a retired civil servant, when he lined up for the envelopes.

Kwan said he would send them to friends in China and overseas.

Many of the collectors Tuesday had created special envelopes or backgrounds on which they stuck the new designs and received a custom-made date stamp.

Before Hong Kong was handed back to China, there was also a rush on stamps featuring the profile of Queen Elizabeth II.
Afghan security forces have used water cannon, tear gas and live rounds fired into the air to disperse protesters angry at Kabul's rising insecurity

Kabul authorities Tuesday demolished a sit-in camp erected to protest spiralling insecurity, triggering street clashes that left at least one demonstrator dead in the latest bout of violence to shake the city.

Tensions have been high in Kabul since a truck bomb on May 31 killed more than 150 people and wounded hundreds in the fortified diplomatic quarter, the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since 2001.

People enraged by rising insecurity had established a protest tent near the bombing site, demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani's government. Authorities moved in unannounced after midnight Tuesday to mow down the tent, prompting a backlash from protesters as police responded with live rounds.

"In this unfortunate incident ... one person was killed and six wounded," said Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, pledging an investigation.

"These kind of incidents damage the trust between the government and the people."

But protest organisers claimed two demonstrators were killed and 12 were detained by authorities.

"We assure the people that despite this barbaric attack by the government and this grave crime against humanity we will continue our civil movement," the organisers said in a statement.

Kabul bomb attacks

The latest violence comes after four people were killed when protesters clashed with police in days after the truck bombing, prompting officials to beat them back with live rounds fired into the air, tear gas and water cannon.

Protesters had set up at least six sit-in camps around Kabul after those clashes. They took down most of them after an agreement with the government, but had refused to leave the tent near the bombing site despite insurgent threats looming over the city.

Much of Kabul is effectively on lockdown, with many streets blocked with shipping containers and armoured vehicles, but that had not stopped dozens from joining the sit-ins.

Any violent showdown between authorities and protesters could spiral into chaos, a threat that has prompted government allies including former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to call for peace.
Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18A Hornets fly in formation after refuelling from a KC-30A on a mission over Syria. Australia has temporarily halted air missions following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces

Australia's military on Tuesday said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces.

The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets", and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident.

"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement.

No reason for the suspension was given, but The Australian newspaper said it was implemented as a precaution after the jet's downing.

"ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," the spokeswoman added.

"ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition."

The United States has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation after the jet was downed on Sunday evening when regime forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS.

A top US general said the country would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline established in 2015, after Russia said Washington had failed to use the line -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before targeting the plane near Raqa.

Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in late 2015 extended air operations into Syria, with a total of 780 defence personnel based in the Middle East.

The staunch US ally in September said it would widen the scope of targets in the air war against IS by allowing its pilots to strike jihadist support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria.

Australia's Air Task Group consists of 300 personnel, six F/A-18 Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker and Transport plane.
Bahrain has been rocked by unrest among its Shiite majority since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister

A bomb in a Shiite village outside the Bahraini capital has killed one person, the second blast in a suburb of Manama this week, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The Sunni-ruled Gulf state has been rocked by unrest among its Shiite majority since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

The interior ministry gave no date for the latest bombing saying only that a body discovered on Monday was found to have been killed in a bombing.

"An initial investigation into a body found on a farm in the village of Hajar on June 19 showed the death was the result of a bomb blast," the ministry said, without elaborating.

Police meanwhile made several arrests in connection with a Sunday night bombing outside Manama that killed a policeman and wounded two others, the ministry said.

That blast struck in the flashpoint village of Diraz, home of the spiritual leader of Bahrain's Shiite majority, Isa Qassim.

Five people were killed in the village last month when security forces opened fire to disperse a months-long sit-in in protest at measures taken against the cleric by the authorities.

Last year, a court order stripped Qassim of his Bahraini citizenship, a sanction used against dozens of dissidents that has drawn the condemnation of human rights groups.

In May, a court sentenced him to a suspended one-year jail term on charges of money laundering and illegal fundraising.

The Bahraini courts have sentenced dozens of dissidents to long jail terms, many of them on "terrorism" charges.

The authorities have also banned the main Shiite opposition group Al-Wefaq -- the largest in parliament before 2011 -- as well as the main secular opposition group Al-Waad.

Foreign press access is severely restricted in the tiny but strategic island state, which lies between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and is home to the US Fifth Fleet.
US soldiers on patrol in Kabul

Taliban gunmen have killed eight Afghan guards working at the largest American base in Afghanistan, officials said Tuesday, as the US appears set to boost its troop presence in the country.

The guards were ambushed near Bagram base north of Kabul as they were driving home in a convoy late Monday, said district governor Abdul Shakoor Quddusi.

"They were all local residents serving as guards at Bagram," he said, adding that two other guards were wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as the insurgents intensify their nationwide spring offensive against Western and government targets.

Washington is soon expected to announce an increase in the US military deployment to bolster Afghan forces, who are struggling to contain the insurgency. American military commanders in Afghanistan have requested thousands of extra boots on the ground.

US troops in Afghanistan now number about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers.

Bagram, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul, houses the largest contingent of US soldiers in the country.

The assault comes after seven American soldiers were wounded Saturday when an Afghan soldier opened fire at them inside a northern military base, the second "insider" attack in a week.

Analysts say such attacks are expected to increase this year as US troops engage with the Afghan military to double the size of its special forces, considered to be effective in the fight against insurgents.

The Afghan conflict is the longest in American history, with US-led forces at war since the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.
Myanmar residents wait at the border in Muse wait to cross into China's Yunnan province. Chinese banks have frozen the accounts of more than 100 commodities traders in northeast Myanmar in a bid to clamp down on smuggling

Chinese banks have frozen the accounts of more than 100 commodities traders in northeast Myanmar in a bid to clamp down on smuggling and illegal gambling, state media reported Tuesday.

Myanmar's government has been negotiating with Chinese officials since the accounts were suspended last week by three banks based in China's Yunnan province, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar.

Many of the accounts belonged to Myanmar merchants who trade foodstuffs, such as rice and pulses, which are often exported to China through the border town of Muse in eastern Shan state.

"These accounts were frozen after their (China's) crackdown on 27 illegal rice trading gangs in recent days," Soe Tun, vice-chairman of the Myanmar Rice Federation, told AFP.

He estimated that up to 1,000 accounts had been frozen -- a figure not immediately confirmed by the three Chinese banks affected: the Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China.

"This freeze is the worst in decades," Soe Tun added. "Although some accounts were frozen in the past, it wasn't that many -- about four to five to 10 at the most."

According to Myanmar state media, some of the accounts were also suspended over "possible links to illegal internet gambling."

The Chinese embassy in Yangon said the accounts had been closed to "combat illegal border trading" and it was working with both sides to resolve the issue.

Chinese authorities often confiscate rice and other foodstuffs at the border due to restrictions on imports and because of confusion over tax issues as the levy paid in Myanmar is lower than in China, according to local media.

The bank crackdown comes as Chinese President Xi Jinping drives forward a sweeping anti-graft campaign launched in 2012.

Border trade between the two countries was also disrupted in November when armed groups launched a major attack on Myanmar's military close to Muse, sparking the most intense fighting for decades in the conflict-racked region.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

Police details from the Law and Order Section of the ZRP, today interrogated the editor of NewsDay, Wisdom Mdzungairi and journalist Everson Mushava.The questioning was in connection with a story recently published in NewsDay in which former ZANU-PF official, Godfrey Tsenengamu, is alleged to have called on war veterans to use unconstitutional means to topple President Mugabe.The ZRP officers wanted to know what methods the media organization used to gather the information. The journalists referred the police to their lawyers.Zimbabwe Union of Journalists (ZUJ) Secretary General Foster Dongozi condemned the questioning of the journalists saying it was an attempt to intimidate and muzzle them from doing their work."Police should conduct their own investigations without trying to use journalists to do their work for them," said Dongozi.
Malaysia is using chemical dispersants to break up an oil slick off its coast after a tanker carrying marine diesel sank last week

Malaysia is using chemical dispersants to break up an oil slick off its coast after a tanker laden with marine diesel sank last week, a top official said Tuesday.

The MT Putri Sea, registered in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, went down on Thursday in a busy shipping lane off the southern state of Johor, near Singapore.

Authorities said all six Indonesian crew were missing and feared dead.

Two marine department boats were using chemical dispersants on the more than three kilometre-wide (two-mile) slick, Zulkifili Abu Bakar, director-general of the Maritime Enforcement Agency, said in a statement.

The oil spill is close to Petronas' billion dollar refinery and petrochemicals integrated development project in Pengerang.

Zulkifili said the spill had not affected shipping activities and that the affected area was not a fishing zone.

Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, natural resources and environment minister said a "tier one" response has been initiated to fight the oil spill.

"Measures are being put in place to ensure the oil slick does not reach land," he said in a separate statement.

Tier one is regarded as a minor oil spill that can be resolved within days.
A revolutionary figure who is still a hero to many in west Africa, Thomas Sankara was killed on October 15, 1987, during the coup that brought Blaise Compaore to power

A second set of tests on the suspected remains of Burkina Faso's iconic ex-president Thomas Sankara have returned inconclusive, with "no DNA profile" to confirm it was his body, the family's lawyer has said.

Sometimes referred to as Africa's "Che Guevara", Sankara died during a coup d'etat in October 1987 with the circumstances of his death a mystery.

Although the 37-year-old former army captain's death certificate said he died of "natural causes", several reports have suggested he was executed by a hit squad at government headquarters.

In May 2015, remains believed to be those of Sankara and 12 colleagues were exhumed from a cemetery in the capital Ouagadougou as part of an investigation into their deaths.

An autopsy conducted in October of that year showed his body had been "riddled with bullets" but further tests were needed to confirm a DNA match, the family said.

However, genetic tests carried out in southern France were inconclusive, with a police laboratory saying in December 2015 that due to the state of the remains it was impossible to detect any DNA.

The family contested the results and in July 2016 a judge ordered that a second round of testing be carried out in Spain.

But on Monday, the family's lawyer Benewende Sankara -- who is no relation to the former president -- said the Spanish tests had returned the same result.

- 'No match found' -

Thomas Sankara's emphasis on pan-African solidarity and measures to end dependency on foreign aid made him an icon of nationalists across the continent

"Following this new analysis, no genetic profile match was found for these markers... which means the result was exactly the same as the first analysis, namely a negative result because it was not possible to identify the DNA," he said.

"This means that the request of president Thomas Sankara's family that the DNA be identified has not succeeded."

Family members would wait to see what the judge said before deciding what to do next, he said.

"It is unfortunate, even sad to realise that this has not been possible but it does not end the (investigation) procedure which will go on despite major difficulties in regards to the ability to confirm the DNA" is that of Sankara, he added.

A revolutionary figure who is still a hero to many in west Africa, Sankara was killed during a coup that brought his friend and former comrade-in-arms Blaise Compaore to power.

- A 28-year wait -

Compaore, who was suspected of ordering Sankara's assassination, went on to rule Burkina Faso with an iron fist for 27 years. During that time, he dismissed calls for an investigation into Sankara's death.

His family had to wait until Compaore's ouster in a popular uprising in October 2014 for their requests for an investigation to get the official nod.

Thomas Sankara's family had to wait until the ousting of Burkina strongman Blaise Compaore in 2014 before their requests for an investigation into his murder got the official nod

In total, 13 people have been charged in connection with Sankara's killing, with Ouagadougou issuing an international arrest warrant for Compaore who is wanted for complicity in an attack, murder and conspiracy to conceal a body.

The former Burkinabe strongman is currently living in exile in Ivory Coast.

Another international arrest warrant was also issued for Hyacinthe Kafando, one of Compaore's former bodyguards who is believed to have headed the unit which killed Sankara.
A member of Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service mans a machinegun inside a building during the advance towards the Old City of Mosul on June 19, 2017

Iraqi forces said Tuesday they were fighting fierce battles with the Islamic State group and rescuing escaping civilians as they pursued their offensive against Mosul's jihadist-held Old City.

Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi, a senior commander in the Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), said the battle was proceeding as expected but that progress was slow.

"Things are good and the battle is going as planned," he told AFP.

"We have many obstacles -- the nature of the land, the nature of the construction, the roads and the civilian population -- all of which make us slow down our work."

He said civilians were escaping from the Old City, with up to 400 approaching the positions of Iraqi forces on Monday.

Federal police forces said they were moving forward on the southern front of the battle with support from heavy weapons fire and on the northern front had surrounded a hospital.

The battle for Mosul

Iraqi forces launched the operation on Sunday to retake the Old City, the last part of Iraq's second city still held by IS after a months-long offensive.

Commanders say the jihadists are putting up fierce resistance and there are fears for more than 100,000 civilians believed to be trapped in the maze of narrow streets. The UN has said IS could be holding them as human shields.

The UN children's agency, UNICEF, said Tuesday that tens of thousands of children were among the civilians trapped in the Old City, and that those who managed to flee were traumatised.

"50,000 children are trapped in the Old City of west Mosul in absolutely horrifying conditions," said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF representative in Iraq.

"Many children fleeing the violence are severely distressed and need psychological care," he added, calling on all parties involved in the conflict to provide safe passage for civilians.

Iraqi forces have been inching forward in the face of heavy sniper and mortar fire and booby-traps laid by the jihadists.

- 'Surrender or die' -

On Monday, three French journalists were wounded and Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad killed in a mine explosion while accompanying Iraqi forces in Mosul.

French public broadcaster France Televisions said Tuesday that one of the wounded journalists, Stephan Villeneuve, had died of his injuries.

The push into Mosul's historic heart on the west bank of the Tigris River marks the culmination of a campaign launched in October by Iraqi forces to retake IS's last major urban stronghold in the country.

A member of Iraqi forces patrols inside a damaged building during the advance towards the Old City of Mosul on June 19, 2017

The US-led coalition battling IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria has backed the offensive, including with months of air strikes.

The loss of Mosul would mark the effective end of the Iraqi portion of the cross-border "caliphate" that IS declared in summer 2014 after seizing swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Earlier this week, Iraqi forces dropped nearly 500,000 leaflets over the city, urging civilians to stay indoors and escape if they can.

They have also stationed Humvees facing the Old City mounted with loudspeakers telling IS fighters: "You have only this choice: surrender or die".

Surrounded by Iraqi forces on three sides and blocked on the other by the Tigris that runs through Mosul, the jihadists are cornered but commanders have said the battle could last weeks.

On Tuesday, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the "success" of Iraqi forces while President Hassan Rouhani said the "liberation of Mosul" would spell the end "of terrorism".

Their remarks came as they met separately with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Tehran, a key backer of the Baghdad government.

- Children wounded -

Iraqi forces launched a vast operation to retake Mosul eight months ago, seizing the city's eastern side in January and starting an assault on the west the following month.

It is not clear how many civilians have been killed in the operation.

Aid groups have raised concern that civilians could be caught in fierce street fighting.

Iraqi children peer through a tarpaulin as they collect water from a tank at the Al-Khazir camp for civilians displaced by the fight for Mosul

"UNICEF is extremely concerned about children who are being injured and killed in the escalating violence. Half of those being treated with bullet and shrapnel wounds in trauma centres in west Mosul are children," Hawkins said.

Around 862,000 people have been displaced since the Mosul battle erupted. Around 195,000 have since returned, mainly to the city's east.

It was in the Old City's emblematic Al-Nuri mosque in July 2014 that IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance.

He urged Muslims worldwide to move to the group's "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

The jihadists have since lost most of the territory they once controlled in the face of US-backed offensives in Iraq and in Syria, where a Kurdish-Arab alliance is advancing on their last major stronghold Raqa.
Amona will be the first Jewish settlement in the West Bank for more than 25 years and will rehouse 40 families it evicted from a wildcat outpost in February 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the start of work Tuesday on a new settlement in the occupied West Bank as US envoys prepared to discuss a new peace push.

"Today, the work on the ground has begun, as I promised, to establish a new settlement for the Amona settlers," Netanyahu tweeted over a picture of a small bulldozer and a digger working on a rocky hill overlooking a vineyard.

The Amichai settlement, in the northern West Bank, is earmarked for some 40 families evicted from the wildcat outpost of Amona in February under a high court order which ruled their homes had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.

It is the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank in some 25 years. The extensive construction in the meantime has focused on expanding existing settlements.

"After dozens of years, I have the privilege to be the prime minister building a new settlement in Judaea and Samaria," Netanyahu tweeted, using the Hebrew biblical term for the West Bank.

Israel's changing borders

His announcement comes a day after Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on relaunching peace talks that collapsed in 2014.

Greenblatt is to be joined by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday.

Together they will "spearhead the peace effort" the US administration believes is possible, a White House official said.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and are considered one of the main obstacles to peace.

Trump has asked Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks to build momentum for a new peace push.

But the Israeli leader faces political pressure from the settler movement, which wields strong influence in his right-wing governing coalition.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called the new building work a "serious escalation," in a statement published by official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The project, he said, was "an attempt to thwart the efforts of the American administration, to thwart the efforts of US President Donald Trump."

Ahead of the arrival of the two envoys, the White House urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "create an environment conducive to peacemaking".

More than 600,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank, including in annexed east Jerusalem

"Those who want to make it harder rather than easier to make peace, whether by their statements or their actions, must be prevented from subverting the chances for peace," the official said.

Tuesday's ground-clearing work was in preparation for the installation of dozens of mobile homes for the families evicted from Amona, a spokesman for the main settler organisation, the Yesha Council, said.

The settlers would live in the temporary accommodation while work continues on building more permanent homes, the spokesman added.
A five-year-old Indian girl with a rare condition which caused her head to swell to twice its normal size has died.

Roona Begum, who made international headlines after images of her condition first appeared in 2013, passed away on Sunday at her home in a village in remote northeastern India.

Fatima Begum, the girl's mother, said she developed breathing difficulties and was rushed to hospital, but died on the way.

Roona Begum, a five-year-old Indian girl suffering from hydrocephalus, or water on the brain, has died in her remote village home

Her case drew international attention after pictures of her tragic condition were published in 2013, prompting a New Delhi hospital to offer to treat her for free

Mother Fatima said the girl developed breathing difficulties on Sunday night and died before they were able to get her to hospital

Roona had been just days away from a fresh round of surgeries in an attempt to return her head to normal size.

Fatima said: 'She was otherwise fit and fine. But on Sunday she started having breathing problems and I rang up my husband asking him to come back home.

What is hydrocephalus? Hydrocephalus, otherwise known as 'water on the brain', is a condition which causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up around the brain. Congenital hydrocephalus, when a baby is born with the condition, is usually caused by an illness in the child such as spina bifida, or an illness in the mother during pregnancy, such as mumps or rubella. The illness is usually treated by inserting a 'shunt' into the brain to drain the fluid. Even so, most children with the condition will develop some form of brain damage. Source: NHS Choices Advertisement

'He rushed home and gave her water but before we could take her to the hospital she died.'

Roona was born with hydrocephalus, a potentially fatal condition that causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up on the brain.

Her desperate parents turned to the media in 2013 in an attempt to get their daughter help, and in 2013 a New Delhi hospital agreed to treat her for free.

Over the last four years, surgeons had operated a total of eight times and managed to reduce her head circumference from 94 centimetres (37 inches) to 58 centimetres (23 inches).

The fluid build-up was putting pressure on Roona's brain and making it impossible for her to sit upright.

Despite the surgeries she was still unable to walk, eat unassisted, or speak, but her parents still held hope that further operations would eventually allow her to live a normal life and attend school.

Roona underwent two rounds of surgery last year to relieve the swelling and reduce the size of her skull, and though doctors warned she could die she lived and showed improvement

Roona learned to laugh, smile, turn her head on her own and react to her name being called following the first rounds of surgery

Mother Fatima had hoped Roona would one day lead a normal life and attend school, though surgeons warned this was unlikely

Doctors had warned ahead of the first round of surgery that she was unlikely to survive, but the girl pulled through.

Roona was then able to move her head, smile and laugh for the first time, and reacted if her name was called.

At the time Neurosurgeon Dr Sandeep Vaishya said: 'I see a lot of improvement, which I didn't expect. She has started laughing, she makes a lot of sounds and she occasionally speaks a few words.

'She has gained a lot of weight and her activities have improved a lot. But whether she will be able to live a normal life, nobody can say.'
Otto Warmbier, 22, died on Monday after 18 months in detention in North Korea. He was medically evacuated back to the US last week in a coma with severe brain damage.

China on Tuesday expressed sorrow over the death of US student Otto Warmbier following his release from North Korea in a coma, and urged Washington and Pyongyang to resolve tensions through dialogue.

"I think this is an unfortunate thing," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news briefing.

"We hope that North Korea and the US can handle it appropriately," he added.

Asked if Warmbier's death would affect China's relations with its ally North Korea, the spokesman only repeated Beijing's call for the nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula to be resolved through talks.

Warmbier, 22, died on Monday after 18 months in detention in North Korea. He had been medically evacuated back to the US last week in a coma with severe brain damage.

His death came as top diplomats and defence chiefs from the United States and China were due to meet in Washington on Wednesday.

The meeting is expected to focus on North Korea and US President Donald Trump, who condemned North Korea following news of Warmbier's death, has urged Beijing to use its diplomatic and economic influence to pressure Pyongyang about its nuclear programme.

Geng said the meeting would be an opportunity for the two countries to have an "in-depth exchange of views" on issues including North Korea, the South China Sea and cooperation on counter-terrorism.

"China hopes that joint efforts with the US will promote dialogue and achieve positive results," he said, adding that Beijing "hopes to continue communication and cooperation with the US and relevant parties" to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Former Rwandan planning minister Augustin Ngirabatware pictured during his first appearance before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, on October 10, 2008

A UN tribunal has agreed to review its appeals judgement against a former Rwandan minister found guilty of genocide crimes, a case blocked for months by the detention of one of the court's top judges.

In a statement released Monday the UN's Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said in a rare legal move it would review its ruling convicting Augustin Ngirabatware for his role in Rwanda's 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

Ngirabatware, planning minister at the time of the genocide, was found guilty of inciting, aiding and encouraging militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill their Tutsi neighbours.

He was sentenced in 2012 to 35 years in jail, but this was cut to 30 years on appeal in 2014.

In 2016 he filed a request for a review of his convictions "on the basis of a new fact, which he claims exonerates him," said the statement by the court set up in 2012, which took over from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda after it closed in 2015.

A 1994 Rwanda genocide memorial guardian stands next to skulls of victims in Kibeho, Rwanda on February 21, 2004

Ngirabatware was found guilty of inciting, aiding and encouraging militiamen in his home district of Nyamyumba in northwestern Rwanda to kill their Tutsi neighbours.

His case has been held up for months by the detention of Turkish bench judge Aydin Sefa Akay.

Akay was last week sentenced to over seven years in jail on charges of links to a group blamed for an attempted coup in Turkey last year in a case which caused an uproar in the international legal community.

He has been released pending an appeal and "confirmed his ability and willingness to exercise his judicial functions in this case," said the UN court.
Libyan coast guards carrying a body at the beach of the coastal town of Tajoura near Tripoli

Nearly 2,000 people are believed to have drowned trying to cross the Mediterranean this year, the UN's refugee agency said Tuesday on World Refugee Day, as it reported fresh deaths.

"This is among the world's most dangerous routes -- a journey that no one takes lightly," it said, as witnesses described the horror of watching friends and loved ones drown.

After reports on Monday of a shipwreck off the Libya which claimed nearly 130 lives, the UNHCR said dozens of families with children were feared drowned in a separate incident after their boat snapped in two and sank off the North African country.

"According to witnesses, a boat carrying at least 85 people broke in two and sank shortly after setting off from Sabratha on Thursday," spokesman Federico Fossi told AFP.

Three wooden boats had set sail together from the conflict-hit country that morning: those travelling on one of them were rescued at sea and brought to Italy, where they described the fate of the other two.

One was intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and towed back to shore, while they saw the other snap in half, throwing many of those onboard into the sea, Fossi said.

"Some survived, later calling people they knew on the first boat to say they had been rescued by the Libyans. We don't know how many others were lost to the waves," he said.

There were many families with children from Syria and North Africa among those feared dead.

Migrants brought to Sicily on Monday told aid workers of yet another shipwreck in which seven people had died after falling overboard, including the husband of a pregnant survivor from Cameroon.

"These incidents are a reminder of the grave dangers that people confront when forced to flee their countries because of war and persecution," UNHCR's Cecile Pouilly said.

"Since the beginning of the year, over 77,000 people have tried to cross the Mediterranean to Europe," said Pouilly, a spokeswoman.

"Despite the heroic work of those involved in rescue at sea, the death toll continues to rise. Close to 2,000 people are reported to have died or gone missing since the start of the year," she said.

The UNHCR said it was appealing for "enhanced" rescue operations and safe alternatives for those in need of international protection so that people are not compelled to take such dangerous journeys.

It also urged greater international efforts to address the root causes behind the movement of people to Libya -- conflicts and poverty -- as many of those arriving in the crisis-struck country find it difficult to leave again if not by sea.
The DR Congo region of Kasai has been shaken by violence between security forces and militias since August 2016

More than 3,000 people have been killed in eight months of spiralling violence in DR Congo's troubled central region of Kasai, a report by the Roman Catholic church said.

According to figures compiled by the church and listed in a report by the papal envoy, a copy of which was seen by AFP on Tuesday, some 3,383 people have died in violence between security forces and a tribal militia.

The UN's MONUSCO peacekeeping mission had previously spoken of "more than 400 dead" while about 1.3 million people are estimated to have fled their homes in the Kasai provinces.

The papal envoy's note, which was dated June 19, said that 20 villages have been "completely destroyed", 10 of them by the DRC armed forces (FARDC), four by the tribal militias and six by unidentified forces.

It mentioned 30 mass graves, while the UN mission has spoken of 42.

The violence began last year when Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chieftain in territory near the southern border with Angola, openly challenged the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government, provoking a crackdown by security forces.

Nsapu was killed in a police operation in August 2016, but his armed followers fight on in the belief he is still alive, because he was buried by the regime without respect for traditional rites accorded leaders of his stature which would have opened the way to a rightful succession.

Last February, MONUSCO accused the Kamwina Nsapu militia of "atrocities ... including the recruiting and use of child soldiers," but also condemned "a disproportionate use of force" by the FARDC.

Two western experts sent to investigate the conflict by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres went missing in March and their bodies were found in a shallow grave by peacekeepers a fortnight later.

The government blamed the tribal militia for their murders.
Catholic devotees in Sri Lanka: a minister has come under fire for apparent ignorance about Christianity in the island

Sri Lanka's justice minister faced calls for his resignation Tuesday after accusing a human rights lawyer of misleading the public about a spate of crimes against Christian places of worship.

Minister Wijayadasa Rajapakse threatened to disbar Lakshan Dias after Dias said nearly 200 Christian holy sites had been vandalised since a new government took office in 2015.

The justice minister demanded on national television that Dias apologise for making "inflammatory statements", saying the Catholic church had personally assured him no such incidents had taken place.

However civil rights group were quick to point out that evangelical churches had long been targeted by radical groups. They suggested Rajapakse had confused Catholicism and evangelism and was not fit to serve as minister.

Human Rights Watch said the minister's threat against a lawyer trying to defend a minority group would "have reverberations beyond Sri Lanka".

"Sri Lankas friends should be clear they are watching the governments response closely," Brad Adams, from the New York-based group, said in a statement.

Dias said Rajapakse had attacked him without verifying facts. He pointed to a recent report by a Sri Lankan evangelical alliance that recorded 215 incidents of violence against Christians since President Maithripala Sirisena took office in January 2015.

It also listed 41 incidents targeting Muslims, a minority which has been subjected to a series of arson attacks in the Buddhist-majority island in recent months.

A radical Buddhist group blamed for torching Muslim businesses, cemeteries and mosques said Tuesday its fugitive leader Galagodaatte Gnanasara would turn himself into police if his protection was assured.

Gnanasara maintains close ties with Wirathu, an extremist monk in Mandalay whose hate speech has galvanised religious tensions in Myanmar.

The government has vowed to protect Muslims and other religious minorities and prevent violence from escalating. It promises tougher laws to combat hate speech.
Opinion / Columnist

There will be elections in Rwanda in August this year. President Kagame is being challenged by 35-year-old Diane Shima Rwigira. She is clearly an underdog. The likelihood is that she will have a big majority of bystanders rooting for her. This columnist will probably be cheering her on as well, because everyone loves an underdog. But here is the problem; those who will be egging her on are likely to be those not be eligible to vote in the Rwandese elections.So she will have followers on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms. Those who leaked her indecent photos gave her even a better social media visibility (Reader please don't start searching googling for her photos). That couldn't hurt her in that department. This might be a popularity contest, but it's a different genre of popularity that she will win. It is very unlikely that it will be for the presidency of Rwanda. This has been made highly improbable by her standing as an independent candidate. She is not motivated by greed. Revenge is one of her motivations. All this is exciting.In France someone without a political party won presidential elections and only formed a party to contest their version of parliamentary elections after. This inspired a lot people and we are seeing movements on the ground with Zimbabwe joining the independent candidates craze. Some reject the whole idea of a party. They have said that a party forces them to have misplaced loyalties and cannot independently see their vision through. But to govern one needs to be a consensus builder. So this is a failure at the first point of asking.An independent candidate can only do well if they were a third force to two candidates who were so poor and so dispiriting that the electorate would need that third way. Now in this case there is only one poor and dispiriting candidate. This reduces the independent candidate's only realistic effect to that of a spoiler haemorrhaging votes from the opposition. So those of this columnist's party cannot complain. Remember what somebody said recently, "President Mugabe has supporters, Tsvangirai has sympathisers". So only sympathisers will shift their allegiance and supporters will remain.Independent presidential candidates are dreamers. We had one who was well known. He had run Sadc. He had been a minister at 30. He had come back from Sadc and been a Minister of Finance and the public had considered him a moderate in both the Politburo and Cabinet. He was already being touted as possible future leader of both Zanu-PF and the country. The problem of believing your own hype is that when you fall you go flat on your face. The rest is history. But he is not the only one. Zimbabwe has had a fair share of jokers for presidential candidates. Democracy is just beautiful. Let's go.Zanu-PF has continued to face an opposition with no discernible policy. Its own policies are not tested by the said mediocre opposition that just comes up with one mantra after another. We have had it all: "Breadbasket to basket case, Mugabe must go, Zanu Yaora," etc. And the Zanu-PF rebuttal has always been that insults are not ideas. Now comes the third way.But without parliamentary representation, how do you govern with a legislative assembly checkmating every decision you make? This shows that some of these independent candidates are not so serious. Independent candidates can work as a Member of Parliament (MP), not a president.It is good to be articulate and independent, but how you channel that unrestrained thought and what you articulate are equally important. Unless this columnist is missing something, there is something neurotic or eccentric about what these independent presidential candidates are trying to do. But whatever it is, let's encourage them so as to make all reactionaries squirm. It won't affect the Zanu-PF machinery. Any party or individual that is opposed to Zanu-PF and fails to address the source of its appeal will not win an election in Zimbabwe.It is tough for an independent to excel in any political climate. It is just impossible in ours. You are not issuing cards or taking subscriptions to help you fund your campaign. Your foot soldiers are not likely to be ideologues or influence pedlars or people whose political importance is tied to yours. This point is seen very much in the conventional parties. Those who are close to an MP will do everything in their power to make sure that he wins so they remain close to power.Same for councillor all the way to the top. In the case of an independent candidate these franchises do not exist so one has to outsource the service. And these foot soldiers who are the service providers are not going to do it for free. Even those driven by a national purpose to fight the liberation struggle have been fighting for their just rewards for years after, proving nothing is really for free. In this day it's even worse.Best case scenario for an independent presidential candidate is that one would need the whole body of social media movement behind them. Despite the fact that some of these are the worst mercenaries out there. And in Zimbabwe one actually needs to cover the physical ground. It's not a question of a few tweets or even an avalanche of same. Cyber activism without pressing flesh will get one a lot of goodwill in cyberspace. But that would hardly ever translate into votes.One poll which needs to be taken is about how many of the most vocal Twimbos (tweeting Zimbabweans) are actually registered to vote and how many Facebook "likes" translate into countable ballots. The cyberspace and the physical political space are different. Pressure groups have efficacy in cyberspace. But in real life one should realise that the "likes" were just feeding onto a well held delusion.A corporate brand and a political brand are different and in many cases the corporate brand will not cause a ripple in the political world. Even the likes of Donald Trump realised that they needed a party machinery behind them despite having billions in the bank.We have now seen hatchet public relations jobs being put out there. In some cases, a lot of banal rhetoric is thrown in there for good measure. Some of the ideas can work very well in different contexts, but tragically not in our context. That is part of the big difference between intelligence and wisdom.Wisdom is being able to come up with a sound judgment that is relevant to your context. Intelligence is the capacity to accumulate knowledge. But after accumulating that knowledge, if you fail to adapt it and apply it to your political or social context, then you are not wise. And one of the things that Zimbabweans have shown is an antipathy towards the smart alecks of this world. Politically it has never worked.Otherwise a certain law professor would have such a large following. So it is good for one to have an exaggerated opinion of themselves. It's therapeutic, cathartic even. But it's not convertible to votes. Some smarty-pants got tired of being led by someone they perceived to be a charismatic idiot and they are now trying to converge after they once diverged. It is a merciless jungle.Now let's talk of a complete political outsider. Does anyone actually think these independent presidential candidates are serious or they are using this as a way of promoting some non-political goals they have? Is there really a serious intention to form a government when in terms of the constitution they can only appoint five members of Cabinet from non-constituency MPs?Unless the general election produces some more independent MPs, but then teaming up with them forms an alliance. And isn't that the antithesis of being independent? That's actually stretching the underpinning premise here. Without a political infrastructure, it's a gambol to contest for the presidency of Zimbabwe. The country hopes that one day it will understand these intellectuals' underlying motivations but whatever they are, we in Zanu-PF can only encourage them. In fact, let the ballot be as long as an unwieldy A3 paper.People that have met one such a candidate and spent time with him saying he is an affable character. A person one wouldn't mind having as their neighbour or son-in-law. This is great. But is anyone's president? He cannot win any accolade for bravery or courage. His appeal is to his friends, a few sympathisers and acquaintances and maybe a few family members. Beyond that it will be sad to see a person who is generally viewed as very intelligent and likeable turn into a proper joke.
Largely ethnic Chinese Singapore, which has close security ties with the United States and has a large Muslim minority, considers itself a prime target for extremist attack

A Muslim border security officer in Singapore has been arrested for planning to fight in Syria, officials said Tuesday.

Muhammad Khairul bin Mohamed, 24, an unarmed traffic officer working at the crossing with Malaysia, was arrested under the Internal Security Act, the Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement.

The act allows for detention without trial for up to two years.

"Through prolonged exposure to online materials on the Syrian conflict, Khairul perceived the Syrian conflict to be a 'holy war' in which he was prepared to die in battle as a 'martyr'," the statement said.

"He developed the view that the conflict in Syria was a sectarian struggle between Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, and being a Sunni Muslim, he wanted to fight against the Shiites in Syria by joining the Free Syrian Army (FSA)," the statement said.

A colleague who knew of Khairul's plans has been put under a travel restriction order after failing to report him to superiors.

Last week Singapore said it had arrested a young mother who wanted to marry an Islamic State group fighter in Syria.

Largely ethnic Chinese Singapore, which has close security ties with the United States and has a large Muslim minority, considers itself a prime target for extremist attack.

Southeast Asia has been on alert in recent weeks following the takeover of portions of Marawi city in the southern Philippines by militants flying the black flags of IS.
Tuesday's attack in Mogadishu came five days after another Shabaab assault on a pizza place, seen here, and a neighbouring restaurant which killed 18

At least 10 people were killed Tuesday when Shabaab Islamists drove an explosives-laden minibus into local government offices in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to the security ministry.

The minibus rammed through a security barrier outside offices in the southern district of Wadajir, injuring nine people including the district's top government official.

"More than 10 people died in the blast which was carried out by the Shabaab group and nine others are wounded," said security ministry spokesman Ahmed Mohamud Mohamed.

Most of the dead were civilians, he said.

"Security guards tried to stop (the minibus) but it managed to get in and the vehicle blew up," local security official Omar Adan told AFP.

Another security official, Abdi Jilibey, said more than 18 people were injured and that some of the bodies were so badly burnt as to be unrecognisable.

The attack was claimed by Al-Qaeda linked Shabaab militants.

"A martyrdom suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives onto the district headquarters which was the target, and where district authorities and intelligence officials were meeting at the time," said a statement carried by pro-Shabaab website somalimemo.net.

Somalia minibus bombing

It was the second major attack by the Shabaab this Ramadan, a time when there is often an uptick in extremist Islamist assaults in the country.

Last Thursday, at least 18 people were killed when six Shabaab militants launched a strike on two neighbouring restaurants in Mogadishu.

After a massive blast from a suicide car bombing, the gunmen roamed the restaurants, killing people they found trapped inside before security forces intervened and killed them.

The Shabaab group, which wants to impose a Taliban-style rule on Somalia, has been fighting for the last decade to overthrow successive internationally-backed governments in Mogadishu.

It has also launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda, both contributors to a 22,000-strong African Union force in the country.

Although pushed out of the capital in 2011, the group still controls parts of the countryside and launches regular suicide bombings and raids in the capital against civilian, government and military targets.
A Philippine air force Bronco OV-10 makes a bombing sortie in Marawi

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte apologised Tuesday for a military offensive that has left the nation's main Muslim city in ruins, but said it was needed to crush militants linked to the Islamic State group.

Duterte also vowed that US-backed air strikes on Marawi would continue, as the conflict entered its fifth week with no sign of an end and its reported death toll climbed towards 370.

"I am very, very, very sorry that this happened to us. I hope that soon you will find it in your heart to forgive my soldiers and government and even me," Duterte said in a speech at an evacuation centre near Marawi for people who have fled the fighting.

The fighting has seen Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, turn from a bustling trading centre into one resembling war-torn cities in Iraq or Syria.

It began when hundreds of militants waving black Islamic State flags rampaged through Marawi on May 23, torching buildings and taking Christian hostages.

Duterte immediately imposed martial law across the entire southern region of Mindanao, home to 20 million people, saying the assault was the start of an IS bid to establish a caliphate there.

The military deployed planes and attack helicopters to blast enemy positions, using American surveillance and intelligence assets, despite the risk to civilians and even their own soldiers.

The bombing has seen entire districts destroyed but the gunmen have remained holed up in pockets of Marawi, sheltering in bomb-proof basements and moving through tunnels, according to the military.

Hundreds of civilians are still believed to be trapped in the militant-controlled areas, according to local authorities and aid workers.

Duterte said his ground troops would lose the battle if they fought without the air support.

"The military said if we don't use them (bombs), we would be dragged even deeper into this. We will be finished off," he said.

"If we won't use them, our soldiers will all be killed."

A few hours before Duterte spoke, Philippine OV-10 Bronco planes were seen making diving attacks on Marawi, followed by deafening explosions.

Sixty-two soldiers have died in the conflict, including 10 killed in a "friendly fire" bombing, according to authorities.

They have reported three policemen and 26 civilians also dying in the conflict, with 19 residents dying of disease in displacement camps.

The government has reported 258 militants being killed, including a Chechen, a Libyan, Malaysians and other foreigners.

The militants' main leaders, including a Filipino on the US government's list of most-wanted terrorists, remain in Marawi, according to authorities.
A handout picture provided by the Saudi Royal Palace on June 19, 2017, shows Saudi King Salman (R) meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Mecca

Saudi Arabia and Iraq have made a "qualitative leap" in relations, they said Tuesday after a visit by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that followed years of strained ties.

It was Abadi's first visit to Saudi Arabia since he became prime minister in 2014.

After a quarter century without diplomatic relations, which were cut following Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Riyadh sent an ambassador back to Baghdad last year.

But he left amid controversy, reflecting the challenge of improving relations despite Abadi's support for better ties.

In a joint statement, Iraq and Saudi Arabia expressed "their happiness over... a qualitative leap in relations" after Abadi met King Salman on Monday.

Talks also included Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The talks stressed the need "to explore opportunities to support economic and trade relations," the statement said.

It made no mention of Gulf tensions with Qatar, but the two sides agreed to intensify efforts against extremism and "terrorism".

Abadi's visit came with the Gulf region in turmoil after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies cut ties with Qatar more than two weeks ago.

They accuse Doha of supporting extremist groups, including some backed by Iran.

Qatar strongly denies the charges.

Abadi, from his country's largest Shiite political bloc, is to also visit Kuwait and Iran, Saudi Arabia's Shiite-dominated regional rival.

Riyadh has long expressed concern about Iran's alleged interference in the region, including through Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group which has played a major role in reclaiming parts of the country seized by the Islamic State group.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it captured three Iranian Revolutionary Guards aboard an explosive-laden boat heading to an oil platform in the Gulf, further ratcheting up tensions in the region.

Iran said the three people detained were fishermen.
Singaporean volunteers sweep a public area inside the circuit of the Formula One Grand Prix in 2014: the future of the event is uncertain

Singapore will not be rushed into extending its contract with Formula One, the trade ministry said Tuesday as negotiations for the night race to continue in the city-state are underway.

"Negotiations for the term renewal for F1 is ongoing and a decision has not been reached," a ministry spokesperson told AFP in an emailed reply.

"The process has to be a deliberate one to carefully consider the terms and benefits."

Race organiser Singapore GP said it could not comment because negotiations are underway.

In a 2018 event calendar released Monday by motorsport's governing body FIA, there was an asterix next to the Shanghai and Singapore dates with a note that said "subject to commercial rights holder confirmation".

Singapore's Formula One future hangs in the balance as the city-state looks to renegotiate its contract to host the sport's only night race.

The then-Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said last year the promoter was trying to strike a "long-term" deal with Singapore, and played down comments that the Lion City was looking to drop the race.

Singapore's 23-turn, Marina Bay street circuit is seen as one of the most challenging on the calendar and has proved popular with fans.

But organisers said a slowing economic climate has seen daily attendance slump to 73,000 in 2016 from 87,000 in 2015.

If negotiations fall through, it would mark the end of Formula One in Southeast Asia. Malaysia has announced that this year's race there will be the last due to rising costs and low returns.
South African-born lawyer Joel Joffe (2nd from right) defended Nelson Mandela in the trial that saw the anti-apartheid icon jailed

Tributes were paid Tuesday to Joel Joffe, the lawyer who defended Nelson Mandela in the trial that saw the anti-apartheid icon jailed, following his death at the age of 85.

Lord Joffe died on Sunday, said Oxfam, the aid agency which he chaired. The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the human rights lawyer died in London.

Joffe was a key part of Mandela's defence team in the 1963-4 Rivonia Trial, which saw Mandela given a life sentence for sabotage against the apartheid South African state.

After leaving for Britain, he founded a big insurance firm and later became a parliamentarian spearheading the campaign for assisted dying for the terminally ill.

Leading British anti-apartheid campaigner Peter Hain said Joffe was an "iconic figure" who never sought the limelight -- "he just supported everybody else".

Joffe was "a totally generous person, warm, passionate, and he continued to fly the flag for the anti-apartheid struggle and subsequently the new South Africa," Hain said.

- 'General behind the scenes' -

Joffe was born to a Jewish family in Johannesburg on May 12, 1932 and studied business, then law at Witwatersrand University, graduating in 1955.

Mandela's wife Winnie approached him to defend her husband in the Rivonia Trial, where several leading members of the African National Congress (ANC) liberation movement were facing charges.

In his autobiography, Mandela described Joffe's role as being "the general behind the scenes in our defence".

Jailed for life, Mandela served 27 years in prison before his release in 1990, going on to become president of the new racially-equal South Africa.

"For me, it was about saving the lives of these wonderful people," Joffe told BBC radio in 2007.

"The nine members of the ANC were the finest people I had ever met -- such courage, such integrity, so committed... It was a great privilege to defend them."

Following the trial, South Africa offered him the opportunity to leave as long as he never returned.

Rejected by Australia, he moved to Britain in 1965.

Joffe co-founded what became the Allied Dunbar life assurance group in 1970. It was bought out by Zurich in 1998.

- 'Sharp legal mind' -

Joffe was the chairman of Oxfam from 1995 to 2001.

"He was able to use his sharp legal mind and years of experience in business to challenge authority and increase the effectiveness of our work around the world," said Mark Goldring, chief executive of Oxfam's UK branch.

"His fearless campaigning for care of the elderly, corporate responsibility and global development shaped the world for the better, yet he always maintained his trademark self-deprecating sense of humour."

Joffe was appointed a member of the British parliament's upper House of Lords in 2000, sitting for the Labour Party.

Joffe retired from the House of Lords in 2015 and was awarded the freedom of the City of London the following year.

In 2007, Joffe wrote a book about his experiences entitled "The State vs. Nelson Mandela: The trial that changed South Africa".

In its foreword, Mandela wrote that the book would serve as "one of the most reliable sources for understanding what happened at that trial and how we came to live and see democracy triumph in South Africa".
Months of ongoing violence in DR Congo's central Kasai region has claimed more than 3,300 lives and forced more than 1.3 million people into exile

The UN rights chief on Tuesday accused authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo of backing a new militia behind "horrific attacks" in the Kasai provinces, including killing and mutilating hundreds of civilians.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels)," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council.

Over the past two months, the militia had carried out "horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups," destroying entire villages, and shooting, burning and hacking to death villagers, among them babies and young children.

Since last September, the armed followers of tribal chieftain Kamwina Nsapu -- who was killed a month earlier -- have rebelled against the authority of the central government.

Figures collated by the Roman Catholic church in a report dated June 19 show violence in the Kasai region has killed more than 3,300 people in eight months -- a casualty figure far higher than the "more than 400 dead" given by the UN peacekeeping mission in April.

On Tuesday, Zeid accused "various actors" in the conflict of "fuelling ethnic hatred, resulting in extremely grave, widespread and apparently planned attacks against the civilian population in the Kasais."

He called for an "independent, international investigation" to be set up to probe the situation in the region.

The Human Rights Council is due to vote later this week on a resolution tabled by the European Union and backed Tuesday by a number of countries including the United States to create such a probe.

- Babies shot, toddlers dismembered -

Congolese Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa-Likulia told the council Tuesday the government would allow UN investigators to help a national probe into the abuses, insisting it was the Kamwina Nsapu rebels who were committing "true human slaughter" in the Kasai.

Interviews conducted by UN rights experts found evidence of mutilation using machetes

Zeid meanwhile said he had already deployed a team of investigators to interview refugees from the region and had been horrified by what they learned.

In areas attacked by the Bana Mura militia, "my team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off," Zeid said, adding that "many babies had machete wounds and severe burns."

"One two-month-old baby seen by my team had been hit by two bullets four hours after birth. The mother was also wounded, (and) at least two pregnant women were sliced open and their foetuses mutilated," he said.

In one case, a "well-known" local leader reportedly provided machetes, hunting rifles and fuel to Bana Mura militia members for their attack on the village of Cinq on April 24, in which dozens of men, women and children were reportedly shot, hacked or burned to death, Zeid said.

"Hundreds of assailants also allegedly attacked the main health centre in the village and killed some 90 patients, medical personnel and others," he said, adding that more than 20 other villages had faced similar attacks.

Victims and witnesses had repeatedly said local authorities, and in some cases "state agents" and members of local units of the national army and police forces, had armed and organised the militia.

Zeid stressed that the Kamwina Nsapu were also accused of committing serious abuses, including targeted killings and using child soldiers as young as seven.
Coping with Yemen's cholera outbreak is all the more difficult because the conflict has devastated the country's health system, says WHO

Cholera has killed 1,170 people in war-ravaged Yemen and the number of suspected cases is now at nearly 2,000 a day, the World Health Organization said Tuesday.

And the devastation wrought by the conflict there made coping with the outbreak that much more difficult, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

"The number of suspected cholera cases is rising," said Jasarevic.

"We are talking close to 2,000 suspected cases per day," he warned, which meant that Yemen was now suffering the world's largest cholera outbreak.

Since WHO began collecting data on the outbreak on April 27, it has registered more than 170,000 suspected cholera cases across 20 of Yemen's 21 governorates, Jasarevic said.

WHO has warned that a quarter of a million people could fall sick with the disease cholera by the end of the year there. Already, two-thirds of the population are on the brink of famine there.

Cholera is a highly contagious bacterial infection spread through contaminated food or water. The disease is easily treatable, but reining it in conflict-torn Yemen is particularly difficult.

Two years of devastating war between the Huthis and government forces backed by a Saudi-led Arab military coalition has killed more than 8,000 people, and wounded 45,000 others.

But it has also devastated the country's infrastructure, leaving more than half the country's medical facilities out of service.

"It is difficult in a situation where a country has a health system that is collapsing," Jasarevic said.

The WHO and other UN agencies and aid organisations were trying to scale up their response, he added.

WHO has so far provided more than 220,000 bags of intravenous fluid, has established 144 diarrhoea treatment centres, 206 oral rehydration therapy corners, and nearly 2,000 beds for the treatment of cholera patients, he said.

Yemen's healthcare workers have not received salaries for months, Jasarevic added. So WHO and UNICEF had begun paying incentives to some doctors and nurses to discourage them from demanding payment from patients who cannot afford it.
Hurbain Souomi, 11, and his younger brother Thierry, 10, hug their grandfather Lah Justin as they return to Goulaleu, their home village in western Ivory Coast after spending six years as refugees in Liberia

Hurbain Souomi was only five years old, but he still remembers the day he trekked 50 kilometres (30 miles) across the border into Liberia to escape gunfire strafing his Ivory Coast village.

"There was shooting everywhere. My big sister rounded us up and we ran away to go to Liberia," he recalled, caught up in a wave of violence linked to a disputed 2010 presidential election that would leave 3,000 people dead.

Now 11, Hurbain is nervous but excited to go home, ending six years as one of around 1,000 children growing up in neighbouring Liberia in refugee camps while separated from their families.

Setting off from Bahn, a village in northern Liberia, a Red Cross convoy snakes through the intensely green landscape of this border region to Goulaleu, where Hurbain was born in western Ivory Coast.

Accompanied by his two brothers Thierry, 10, and Oscar, 9, tears stream down Hurbain's face as a welcome party appears for the Souomis, with villagers waving mango tree leaves and rice plants in a festive ritual.

One old man dressed in traditional robes immediately jumps up, dancing towards the three little boys emerging from the Red Cross 4x4.

- Sister died in camp -

"My name is Lah Keuhoua Justin, and I am their grandad," he said. "I can't find the words to express my happiness to find myself in front of my grandchildren."

Justin said he didn't have the strength to walk the long distance across the border, but remembers the day they set off.

"We didn't have any idea where they went. Because of the Red Cross we eventually found out that they were in a Liberian refugee camp.

"Unfortunately their sister who took them over there died in the camp," he told AFP.

The children's mother also died giving birth not long after they left, their grandfather explained, and though their father was in hospital he would be home soon.

Hurbain is confused about his older sister's whereabouts. "I don't really know where she is," he says. He is too young to remember.

In his grandfather's arms, he closes his eyes.

- Foster families' anguish -

Since 2011, the Red Cross has reunited 300 children with their families, explains Varney Bawn, a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Liberia.

Six-year-old Estelle and 10-year-old Salomon are reunited with their father Robert Sankan Rufin in Goulaleu village in western Ivory Coast after living with a foster family in Liberia for six years

"This is the fourth time we are reunifying Ivorian children with their parents this year," he told AFP.

The number of Ivorians living in Liberian refugee camps peaked at 220,000 following the 2010-11 violence, but has now dwindled to around 14,000.

The anguish is not only among families who have lost precious years with their children, but for the foster parents who took in the scared and unaccompanied youngsters who arrived at refugee camps on the Liberian side.

"I love these children," said Koulahi Sonni, who has been caring for 10-year-old Salomon and 6-year-old Estelle.

"I don't know how I will see them again."

The children's mother made it to the camp, but died weeks after giving birth to Estelle, leaving them in Sonni's hands.

- 'I searched everywhere' -

As he waited for their return, their father Robert Sankan Rufin recalled the terrible years when he could not trace his children and had no idea about their fate.

"When there was an attack here, I told my wife to take the children and get ahead of me to Liberia. After I crossed, I started looking for them.

"I searched in almost all the refugee camps, but I did not find them," he told AFP.

After Red Cross staff passed through with photos of Salomon, he recognised his son.

Estelle has never lived in Ivory Coast and Salomon will barely remember it, but the brother and sister will now begin the process of getting to know their family.
US student Otto Warmbier died Monday in the United States after being medically evacuated from North Korea in a coma

South Korean President Moon Jae-In said Tuesday that North Korea bears responsibility for the death of US student Otto Warmbier, and described its regime as irrational.

Ahead of talks here next week with President Donald Trump, Moon said he hopes to engage North Korea in dialogue by the end of the year.

But Moon also said that as North Korea pursues its nuclear weapons program, he can envision a worsened scenario in which he and Trump might some day start talking about launching a pre-emptive strike against the Pyongyang regime.

"I believe that we will probably have such discussions," Moon said.

The 22-year-old Warmbier, who was released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea, died Monday -- prompting Trump to slam the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang.

He had been sentenced for stealing a political poster from his hotel.

Warmbier was medically evacuated to the United States a week ago, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati.

"Yes, this had happened while Mr Warmbier was in the detention of North Korean authorities," Moon told CBS television's "This Morning."

"We cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr Warmbier, but I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to his death," the president added.

North Korea has claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection.

Asked how the Warmbier case would affect Moon's efforts to engage North Korea as he has said he wants to, the president added: "I believe we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime.

"Working with such a country, we must achieve the goal of the complete dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear program," Moon said.

Moon, a center-left politician who was sworn in last month after a landslide election win, favors engagement with the North to bring it to the negotiating table, rather than the hardline stance taken by the conservative government of his ousted predecessor Park Geun-Hye.

- 'Draw North Korea out' -

Moon Jae-in favors engagement with North Korea as Pyongyang pursues a much criticized missile and nuclear weapons program

Trump too has signaled a willingness to try a different tack with North Korean leader Kim.

Still, Defense Secretary James Mattis said this month that "the regime's nuclear weapons program is a clear and present danger to all" and Pyongyang continues to behave provocatively despite UN censure and sanctions.

Despite the possibility of a ramped up conflict, Moon said dialogue with the North is necessary, though he will not rush into it, and hopes it can take place by the end of the year.

"What I hope to achieve by the end of this year is to draw North Korea out to the table for negotiation through the implementation of various and strong sanctions and pressure," Moon said.
Tony Bennett's takes on pop standards have landed him in the charts since the 1950s and as recently as 2014, when an album of duets with Lady Gaga made him at age 88 the oldest person to hit number one

Tony Bennett, the 90-year-old crooner who has remained a commercial success for seven consecutive decades, will be honored for his life's work by the Library of Congress, it announced Tuesday.

The world's largest library said Bennett will be the next recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, which recognizes lifetime achievement, with a ceremony to take place in November.

Bennett said that one of his earliest recordings was of a song written by George and Ira Gershwin, the brothers instrumental in creating the Broadway sound.

"To be receiving an award that was named in their honor is one of the greatest thrills of my career, and I am deeply appreciative to the Library of Congress to be named this year's recipient," Bennett said in a statement.

Bennett, whose style has often been likened to that of his friend Frank Sinatra, grew up in New York City although his signature song is "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."

His takes on pop standards have landed him in the charts since the 1950s and as recently as 2014, when an album of duets with Lady Gaga made him at age 88 the oldest person to hit number one.

He has shown no signs of slowing down, headlining a gala New York concert for his 90th birthday that was turned into a television special.

"His staying power is a testament to the enduring appeal of the Great American Songbook the Gershwins helped write, and his ability to collaborate with new generations of music icons has been a gift to music lovers of all ages," Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said.

The Library of Congress, the government-backed hub for research and cultural preservation, created the Gershwin Prize a decade ago to honor contributions to popular music.

Folk legend Paul Simon was the inaugural recipient in 2007, with Motown great Smokey Robinson honored last year. Paul McCartney is the only non-American winner.
Syria has been hit by its first outbreak of polio since 2014

A polio outbreak in war-ravaged Syria has paralysed at least 17 children since March, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, describing the situation as "very serious".

Fifteen more cases have thus been confirmed since WHO first announced, less than two weeks ago, that Syria had been hit by its first outbreak of the crippling disease since 2014.

"We are very much worried, because if there is one case of polio with a kid that is paralysed, it is already an outbreak," WHO spokesman Tarim Jasarevic told reporters in Geneva.

He pointed out that for every polio-caused paralysis, there are on average nearly 200 children who have the virus but no symptoms.

"The virus is circulating. It is very serious."

The new cases all surfaced between March 3 and May 23, but were only just confirmed, since it can take up to two months to determine with certainty that a case of acute flaccid paralysis stems from polio, he said.

"It is expected that we will have more confirmations," Jasarevic warned.

All but one of the cases were registered in the Mayadeen district of the oil-rich Deir Ezzor province, most of which is controlled by the Islamic State group and where a siege of the capital has restricted access to basic goods and services for some of the population.

WHO did not specify whether the Deir Ezzor cases were in areas under IS control.

One case of the crippling and potentially fatal viral disease that mainly affects children under the age of five has also surfaced in IS stronghold Raqa.

But Jasarevic said it remained unclear if polio was actually circulating in Raqa, or if the paralysed child had caught the virus elsewhere.

- Vaccine-derived polio -

Unlike the last polio outbreak in Syria, which affected 36 children, the current outbreak does not involve the so-called "wild" version of the virus.

Instead, it originated from a specific type of polio vaccine, which contains small amounts of weakened but live virus.

Oral polio vaccine (OPV) replicates in the gut and can be passed to others through faecal-contaminated water -- meaning it won't hurt the child who has been vaccinated, but could infect their neighbours in places where hygiene and immunisation levels are low.

WHO plans to bring in more of the vaccine to get immunisations levels high enough to ensure they can halt the outbreak, Jasarevic said, adding that the aim is to vaccinate more than 400,000 children under five in Deir Ezzor.

"Our teams on the ground are currently looking into the logistics," WHO spokesman Oliver Rosenbauer told AFP.

"We still don't know how we will get the vaccine in... by truck or helicopter," he added.
A US F-15E fighter jet destroyed an Iran-made Shaheed-129 drone, operated by Syrian forces northeast of the Al-Tanaf garrison, which is close to the Jordanian border

A US warplane shot down an Iran-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, officials said, the second such incident in less than two weeks.

The US-led coalition said in a statement that an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed the Shaheed-129 drone around 12:30 am (2130 GMT) northeast of the Al-Tanaf garrison, which is close to the Jordanian border.

"It displayed hostile intent and advanced on coalition forces," the statement read.

Coalition troops were working in the area alongside local forces who are being trained to fight the so-called Islamic State group.

A US military official told AFP the drone was "on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them," so the coalition shot the unmanned aircraft down in self defense.

Al-Tanaf, on the key highway connecting Damascus with Baghdad, has been menaced by a surge of Iran-backed troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Coalition forces use the area -- just northeast of the Jordanian border -- as a training and staging area for attacks against IS.

The incident has similar hallmarks to a June 8 shoot-down, when a US F-15 destroyed a pro-regime drone after it dropped what turned out to be a dud bomb near US-backed local forces.

It also comes after an American F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet shot down a Syrian SU-22 fighter-bomber Sunday in northern Syria as it "dropped bombs" near the Syrian Democratic Forces, a US-backed alliance fighting IS.

"Hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated," the coalition statement read.

The downing of the regime jet led Moscow to say it would sever a vital hotline it uses to communicate with the US coalition to avoid mishaps in Syria's increasingly crowded and complicated battlespace.
Protesters gather in Morocco's northern port city of Al-Hoceima on June 10, 2017

Police have arrested three more members of a protest movement in northern Morocco's neglected Rif region, prompting hundreds of demonstrators to rally demanding their release, activists said Tuesday.

Three activists from Al-Hirak al-Shaabi, or "Popular Movement", were arrested Monday in the flashpoint northern port of Al-Hoceima, a member of the grassroots group told AFP.

Two other activists, one of them a minor, were summoned by the police and told to "sign a pledge vowing not to take part in any future protest", the source said, adding that the pair were later released.

Al-Hoceima has been rocked by protests since the death in October of a fishmonger, who was crushed to death in a rubbish truck as he tried to retrieve swordfish that authorities had thrown away because it was caught out of season.

Calls for justice snowballed into a wider social movement led by Al-Hirak demanding development, an end to corruption and jobs for the mainly Berber Rif region.

Demonstrators have rallied nightly in Al-Hoceima and the nearby town of Imzouren since the arrest of Al-Hirak leader Nasser Zefzafi on May 29.

Since then, authorities have arrested more than 100 people, many of them prominent Al-Hirak members, accusing them of undermining state security.

They have also cracked down on the protest movement in Al-Hoceima, with police deploying in the city and blocking access to roads making it impossible for demonstrators to hold rallies.

Since Friday, protests in Al-Hoceima have become "sporadic" because "the police has sealed off the city, preventing people from gathering on the streets", a local journalist told AFP.

A protest demanding the release of those arrested by the authorities took place instead on the outskirts of Imzouren overnight Monday, an activist said, adding that 500 people took part in the demonstration.

The demonstrators also chanted slogans calling for jobs and the development of the neglected Rif region.
Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed in a wave of unrest since October 2015 were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks

A Palestinian attempted to stab Israeli soldiers in the occupied West Bank Tuesday before being shot dead, the army said.

A military statement said that the incident occurred near Qalandia, north of Jerusalem.

"An assailant armed with a knife attempted to stab (Israeli) forces operating on a road," it said. "Forces fired towards the attacker."

An army spokeswoman later confirmed the attacker's death to AFP, as did the Palestinian health ministry in a statement without naming him.

A wave of unrest that broke out in October 2015 has claimed the lives of 273 Palestinians, 42 Israelis, two Americans, two Jordanians, an Eritrean, a Sudanese and a Briton, according to an AFP tally.

Israeli authorities say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks.

Violence has subsided in recent months but last Friday an Israeli policewoman was stabbed to death in Jerusalem, with three Palestinian assailants shot dead.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika dropped a libel suit against Le Monde after the influential French daily apologised for running a photo linking him to the Panama Papers financial scandal

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on Tuesday dropped a libel suit against Le Monde after the influential French daily apologised for running a photo linking him to the Panama Papers financial scandal.

Basile Ader, a lawyer for the ailing 80-year-old president, told a Paris court Bouteflika's "magnanimous" decision came after a recent apology from the paper.

Le Monde's lawyer Christophe Bigot praised Bouteflika's "welcome" gesture.

At issue was an April 6, 2016, article by Le Monde titled "The hidden money of heads of state" that included a photo of Bouteflika among those of leaders implicated in the so-called Panama Papers, a trove of leaked documents that revealed murky offshore financial dealings involving shell companies designed to help the world's rich and powerful evade taxes.

The paper clarified in its next edition that Bouteflika was not tied to the affair but that members of his entourage were "suspected of having embezzled some of the country's resources".

That did not satisfy the Algerian authorities.

During a visit to Algeria just days later by then French prime minister Manuel Valls, the paper's reporters were denied visas to travel to the former French colony.

Algeria's then prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal said the decision was taken because a "respected and respectable newspaper has gratuitously hurt (Bouteflika's) honour and prestige".

The names of dozens of family members and associates of prime ministers, presidents and kings around the world appeared in the Panama Papers.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appeared before an anti-corruption investigation commission last week over revelations from the documents that have threatened to bring him down.
A worker uses a bulldozer to clear the land for the new Amichai settlement, between Ramallah and Nablus in the West Bank, on June 20, 2017

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the start of work on a new settlement in the occupied West Bank Tuesday, as US envoys prepared to discuss a new peace push.

The Amichai settlement will be the first new government-sanctioned Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories in some 25 years.

It is being built for the roughly 40 families evicted from the wildcat outpost of Amona earlier this year after Israel's high court ruled their homes had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.

"Today, the work on the ground has begun, as I promised, to establish a new settlement for the Amona settlers," Netanyahu tweeted over a picture of a small bulldozer and a digger working.

"After dozens of years, I have the privilege to be the prime minister building a new settlement in Judaea and Samaria," Netanyahu tweeted, using the Hebrew biblical term for the West Bank.

On the site in the mid afternoon, a single Caterpillar bulldozer was clearing rocks and rubble to create a path near a vineyard, while four others stood idle.

The bulldozer's driver, a kippah-wearing Israeli who said he was from a settlement in the southern West Bank, said they were laying the foundations for two new roads that would lead to the new settlement.

The land is surrounded by a number of other small settlements and is a few kilometres from the Palestinian village of Duma, where a Palestinian family were burned alive by radical settlers in 2015.

While Israel has not launched new settlements in recent decades, extensive construction has focussed on expanding existing settlements.

- 'Thwarting Trump' -

Netanyahu's announcement comes a day after Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on relaunching peace talks that collapsed in 2014.

Greenblatt is to be joined by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday.

Together they will "spearhead the peace effort" the US administration believes is possible, a White House official said.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and are considered one of the main obstacles to peace.

The international community considers all Jewish settlements in the West Bank illegal but Israel draws a distinction between those it sanctions and those it does not -- so-called outposts.

Trump has asked Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks to build momentum for a new peace push.

Amichai will be the first Jewish settlement in the West Bank for more than 25 years and will rehouse 40 families it evicted from a wildcat outpost in February 2017

But the Israeli leader faces political pressure from the settler movement, which wields strong influence in his right-wing governing coalition.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called the new building work a "serious escalation," in a statement published by official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The project, he said, was "an attempt to thwart the efforts of the American administration, to thwart the efforts of US President Donald Trump."

Ahead of the arrival of the two envoys, the White House urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "create an environment conducive to peacemaking".

"Those who want to make it harder rather than easier to make peace, whether by their statements or their actions, must be prevented from subverting the chances for peace," the official said.

Tuesday's ground-clearing work was in preparation for the installation of dozens of mobile homes for the families evicted from Amona, a spokesman for the main settler organisation, the Yesha Council, said.

The settlers would live in the temporary accommodation while work continues on building more permanent homes, the spokesman added.
Israel's jailed former premier Ehud Olmert, here shown on December 29, 2015, has been taken to hospital with chest and shoulder pains

Former Israeli premier Ehud Olmert, who is serving a 27-month prison sentence for corruption, was taken to hospital Tuesday with chest and shoulder pains, prison and hospital officials said.

A spokeswoman at Sheba hospital, near Tel Aviv, told AFP he was being given "a complete medical checkup".

Olmert, who was prime minister between 2006-2009, is Israel's first former premier to serve jail time.

The 71-year-old has been at the centre of a fierce public row over press freedoms since police last week seized drafts of a book he is working on.

Daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot said security forces on Thursday raided the premises of Olmert's publisher Yediot Books, a subsidiary of the newspaper.

The paper said police also seized a draft of a book on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by journalist Ben Caspit, a fierce critic of the premier.

And they took a manuscript by former defence minister Moshe Yaalon, who was fired by Netanyahu last year and is now a political rival.

Yediot Ahronot said detectives also raided the home of the editor working on Olmert's book.

Caspit was one of several commentators to slam the police action, which he called "more befitting of the acts of an ignorant regime in a totalitarian state".

On Sunday, the justice ministry said there were suspicions some passages in Olmert's book might contain classified material "liable to cause grave harm to state security".

It said the searches were carried out under a court order, and other confiscated materials would not be examined.

"Contrary to claims that have been made, we would like to make clear that nobody intended to study material unrelated to Olmert's book and nobody will examine it or make any use of it," the ministry said in a statement.

"The remaining materials will be returned to the publisher and no copy will be kept by the police."

Olmert was convicted of graft and entered prison in February 2016.

He recently went before a parole board to request his sentence be shortened by a third, and a decision is expected on June 29.

Media reports have said the public prosecutor's office has opposed parole in light of the suspicions against him.
Ford said the Michigan plant that currently produces the Focus will be retooled to make a pickup truck and SUV models, so no hourly jobs will be lost by moving production of the Focus to China.

Ford will import its next-generation Focus sedans into the US market from China, after a highly-publicized move to cancel plans to build the car in Mexico, the company announced Tuesday.

The move runs counter to the US car industry's recent efforts to highlight American production amid intense criticism from President Donald Trump.

Ford, which already produces the Focus in China for that market, couched the move as a cost-saving strategy, and said no American jobs would be lost as a result of the change.

Ford's plan to move production of the Focus to a factory in Hermosillo, Mexico, announced in 2016, angered then-candidate Trump, who threatened to impose a border tax on any imported cars. Trump has repeatedly singled out the auto industry and pressured them to keep plants and jobs in the country.

Ford in January canceled the move, as well the plan to build a new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and then in March, announced $1.2 billion in investments in American plants, earning praise from Trump.

"Car companies coming back to US JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!," the president tweeted at the time.

Under the strategy announced Tuesday, the next-generation Focus will begin production globally in mid-2019, and will be imported into the US market primarily from China, with additional variants coming later from Europe, the company said.

Ford's Michigan plant will continue to produce the Focus through mid-2018, and then will be converted to make a pickup truck and SUV, so no hourly jobs will be lost.

Ford also said it would invest $900 million in a Kentucky plant to retool it to build new full-size SUV models.

The American car giant recently ousted its CEO and installed Jim Hackett in the top job, amid a management shakeup that signaled a desire to focus more on high tech, such as self-driving cars.

In announcing its China plans, the company said it would save $1 billion in costs it would have incurred to retool a Mexico plant to build the Focus and to build the new factory there.

"Finding a more cost-effective way to deliver the next Focus program in North America is a better plan, allowing us to redeploy the money we save into areas of growth for the company," including in autonomous and electric vehicles, Joe Hinrichs, Ford's head of global operations, said in a statement.

But pressed by reporters during a conference call, Hinrichs conceded the decision could cause political blowback.

"China gets a lot of attention, we'll see how this plays out," he said on the call, according to US media, adding that consumers are less concerned with where products are made.

"iPhones are produced in China, for example, and people don't really talk about it."
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L) scored a meeting with US leader Donald Trump in the Oval Office, as Washington rolled out more sanctions against pro-Russian rebels

US President Donald Trump greeted his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in the White House on Tuesday as Washington rolled out more sanctions against pro-Russian rebels, in a diplomatic coup for Kiev.

Amid speculation that Trump would refuse to meet the Ukrainian leader, Poroshenko had what the White House described as a "drop-in" with the US president.

"We've had some very, very good discussions," Trump said as the pair sat side-by-side in the Oval Office.

"I think a lot of progress has been made," Trump added, saying it was a "great honor" to host Poroshenko.

Trump did not touch on the thorny details of the relationship.

For three years, ties between Washington and Kiev have been dominated by efforts to contain a destabilizing Russian-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

The crisis has left 10,000 dead and heightened tensions between the West and the Kremlin, which considers Ukraine inside its "sphere of influence."

Ukrainian officials have long been frustrated by Washington's refusal to provide lethal weapons and its insistence on linking financial help to deep economic reforms.

But that concern has intensified since the election of Trump, who has often appeared reluctant to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to solve the crisis.

Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised eyebrows by suggesting that the United States should not be "handcuffed" by an international plan to end the crisis.

Trump did not speak publicly about either of those two substantive issues, but described Ukraine as "a place that we've all been very much involved in and we've been seeing it and everybody has been reading about it."

Despite the lack of substance, Poroshenko will likely see the meeting as a victory.

The sit-down was not announced in advance by the White House -- as is customary -- and when it was described, it was billed as something less than a full bilateral.

In the world of diplomacy, where symbolic actions can have real consequences on the ground, no meeting at all would have been seen as a snub.

"We're really fighting for freedom and democracy," Poroshenko told Trump, describing the United States as a "partner."

"It's a great honor, a great pleasure to be together with you, Mr President."

Shortly before the meeting, the US Treasury announced a fresh round of economic sanctions on Russia and Ukrainian separatists.

The 38 individuals and organizations named included two Russian government officials and 11 others who operate in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea.

Among the individuals sanctioned was Petr Jarosh, head of the Russian Federal Migration Service in Crimea and Alexander Babakov, a Russian official liaising with Russian expatriates.

The Treasury also barred Americans from offering new loans of greater than 90 days to 20 subsidiaries of the Russian energy firm Transneft, which already was subject to US sanctions.
Months of ongoing violence in DR Congo's central Kasai region has claimed more than 3,300 lives and forced more than 1.3 million people into exile

The UN accused DR Congo on Tuesday of backing a militia that has mutilated toddlers and hacked pregnant women in the troubled Kasai region as the Catholic Church put the death toll there at more than 3,300.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels)," Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

The new group "has carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups," Zeid said.

"My team saw children as young as two whose limbs had been chopped off. Many babies had machete wounds and severe burns ... At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their foetuses mutilated."

A UN official told AFP that it was unclear which authorities were behind the new militia group.

Some 1.3 million people are estimated by the United Nations to have fled their homes in eight months of spiralling unrest in Democratic Republic of Congo's central Kasai.

The violence began in September when security forces moved in against followers of Kamwina Nsapu -- who had been killed a month earlier -- rebelling against the increasing authority of the central government.

Earlier Tuesday, the papal envoy to DR Congo said in a report that 3,383 people have been killed since October in Kasai, a far higher toll than the UN's previous figure of 400 dead.

The church report dated June 19 said 20 villages had been "completely destroyed", 10 of them by the DRC armed forces (FARDC), four by the tribal militias and six by unidentified forces.

It mentioned 30 mass graves, while the UN mission has spoken of 42.

Kamwina Nsapu, a tribal chieftain in territory near the southern border with Angola, had openly challenged the authority of President Joseph Kabila's government, provoking a crackdown by security forces.

- UN wants independent probe -

Interviews conducted by UN rights experts found evidence of mutilation using machetes

Last February, the UN's Congo mission MONUSCO accused the Kamwina Nsapu militia of "atrocities ... including the recruiting and use of child soldiers," but also condemned "a disproportionate use of force" by the FARDC.

Two Western experts sent to investigate the conflict by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres went missing in March. Their bodies were found in a shallow grave by peacekeepers a fortnight later, one of them decapitated.

The government blamed the tribal militia for their murders.

On Tuesday, Zeid called for an "independent, international investigation" to be set up to look into the situation in the region.

But government spokesman Lambert Mende said DR Congo "is not disposed to agree to the idea of deploying an international committee of inquiry on its territory" that would function independently of Congolese bodies.

Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa-Likulia instead told the UN council in Geneva that the Kinshasa government would allow UN investigators to help a national probe into the abuses.

She insisted Kamwina Nsapu rebels were behind the "true human slaughter" in the Kasai and said that 1,333 civilians and 289 police had been killed in the unrest.

The UN quoted witnesses as saying local authorities, and in some cases "state agents" and members of local units of the national army and police forces, had armed and organised the Bana Mura militia.

In one case, a "well-known" local leader reportedly provided machetes, hunting rifles and fuel to Bana Mura militia members for their attack on the village of Cinq on April 24, in which dozens of men, women and children were reportedly shot, hacked or burned to death, Zeid said.

"Hundreds of assailants also allegedly attacked the main health centre in the village and killed some 90 patients, medical personnel and others," he said, adding that more than 20 other villages had faced similar attacks.
A US F-15E fighter jet destroyed an Iran-made Shaheed-129 drone, operated by Syrian forces northeast of the Al-Tanaf garrison, which is close to the Jordanian border

A US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in Syria early Tuesday, officials said, prompting growing international concern over rising tensions between the two sides.

Russia, a key ally of the Syrian regime, accused the US-led coalition of "complicity with terrorism" after the drone was downed in southern Syria.

It comes days after a US warplane shot down a Syrian government fighter jet in the north of the country, prompting a furious reaction from Russia.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the incidents could be "very dangerous" and lead to an escalation of the war.

Moscow has now suspended a hotline intended to prevent confrontations in Syria's crowded air space, and warned it could consider US-led coalition planes "targets".

The rising tensions prompted Australia to announce it was suspending its participation in air missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

The jihadists are under major pressure in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

The US-led coalition said Tuesday that it had killed IS's self-proclaimed top cleric, Turki Binali, in an air strike in May on the Syrian town of Mayadeen near the Iraqi border.

It described Binali as "a close confidant" of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and said he "had a central role in recruiting foreign terrorist fighters and provoking terrorist attacks around the world".

In Tuesday's incident, the US-led coalition said an F-15E Strike Eagle jet destroyed an armed Shahed-129 drone in the early hours of the morning as it neared the Al-Tanaf base along Syria's eastern border.

"It displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces," the statement said.

A US military official told AFP the drone was "on a run toward our folks to drop a munition on them" and was shot down in self-defence.

- US presence 'illegal': Russia -

Coalition forces are using the Al-Tanaf base by Syria's borders with Jordan and Iraq to train anti-jihadist Syrian fighters and stage attacks against IS.

But their presence there has led to a series of confrontations with pro-regime forces, including on June 8 when a US plane also downed a drone after it dropped munitions near Al-Tanaf.

That incident followed two others involving US fire against pro-regime forces on the ground as they came close to the garrison.

The battle for Raqa

Tensions have also flared between US forces and the Syrian regime further north, where the coalition is supporting an alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters battling to oust IS from the city of Raqa.

On Sunday, a US fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane for the first time in the country's conflict south of Raqa, sparking an angry reaction from regime ally Russia.

Moscow said it was suspending an incident hotline set up two years ago and warned that it would consider international aircraft operating in central Syria "aerial targets".

Washington said it would "work diplomatically and militarily... to reestablish deconfliction" but Moscow continued to take a hard line even before the latest incident.

"It is absolutely illegal," Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Tuesday of the presence of American forces in Syria.

"There has been neither a Security Council decision, nor a request from the official authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic as a sovereign state," Russia's Interfax news reported.

- Risk of escalation -

The growing tensions come as the coalition supports the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighting to take Raqa from IS.

The SDF now control four neighbourhoods in the city, and on Tuesday also advanced along its southern outskirts, moving closer to completely encircling Raqa.

Syria's government is not involved in the operation and is instead looking further east to the largely IS-held oil-rich province of Deir Ezzor.

Despite the increasing number of incidents, analysts say neither Syria's regime nor Washington currently wants a major confrontation.

"It doesn't look like anyone currently intends to deliberately escalate further, but when you've got these little skirmishes... the risk is that you can end up in an escalation by accident," said Sam Heller, a Syria expert at The Century Foundation.

More than 320,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011.

It has became a complex war drawing in multiple foreign players, including Russia, which launched a military campaign to support the regime in 2015 that has helped the government recapture large swathes of territory.

Guterres played down expectations of a breakthrough in the next round of UN-led peace talks on Syria starting on July 10.

He said that given the "complexity of the situation... I don't want to create false expectations about immediate results" from the upcoming round of negotiations.
Yemeni security forces stand guard near Aden Airport in 2016

Clashes between Yemeni security forces and gunmen in the southern city of Aden on Tuesday left six civilians dead, a security official said.

The fighting erupted when security forces stormed a house in the Omar al-Mukhtar neighbourhood and arrested a man suspected of being a member of the Islamic State jihadist group, the official said.

Shortly after the operation, unidentified gunmen from the district attacked a checkpoint, triggering clashes that lasted for around three hours.

Three other civilians were wounded in the gunfight, the official said.

Aden serves as a temporary base for the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as the capital Sanaa has been held by Shiite Huthi rebels since September 2014.

Despite several security campaigns, government forces in Aden appear to have failed to flush out jihadists who have taken advantage of the war with the Huthis to expand their presence.

Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, has occasionally visited the port city since loyalists backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition pushed the Huthi rebels out of the city and four southern provinces in the summer of 2015.

Hadi fled Aden in March 2015 as the Shiite rebels closed in on his refuge, prompting a military intervention by the Arab coalition.

More than 8,000 people have been killed in the past two years and tens of thousands wounded in the war in Yemen, according to the World Health Organization.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, seen here during a visit this month to Afghanistan, says a US withdrawal from global affairs would be bad both for America and the world

Drastic cuts in US funding to the United Nations would create an insoluble problem for the world body, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday as he announced plans to lobby US lawmakers to reject the cutbacks.

Guterres will travel to Washington next week to make the case directly to US members of Congress who have the power to amend President Donald Trump's budget proposals.

Last month, the US State Department laid out plans to slash Washington's budget for diplomacy and foreign aid by more than 30 percent, including a dramatic cut of 60 percent to US funding for peacekeeping missions.

The United States is the biggest contributor to the United Nations, paying 22 percent of the $5.4 billion core budget and 28.5 per cent of the $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget.

"The proposal of budget that was presented to the Congress would create an insolvable problem to the management of the UN," Guterres told a news conference at UN headquarters.

"The process is still in the Congress and I will soon be going to Washington," he added.

Guterres has no plans to visit Trump at the White House during the June 27-29 visit, or hold talks with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

He will meet with key players on Capitol Hill: Republican speaker Paul Ryan, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, Republican Senator Marco Rubio and members of the foreign relations and appropriations committees in both houses, among others.

In April, Guterres traveled to Washington for a first brief meeting with Trump, but there was no public handshake or joint press conference to expand on the state of US-UN relations.

Aside from the funding cuts, the Trump administration has also announced the US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, the culmination of years of UN-led negotiations, and has taken aim at refugee resettlement.

Guterres warned that a US retreat from global affairs would create a void that would allow other powers to step in.

"If the United States disengages in relation to many aspects of foreign policy... it will be unavoidable that other actors will occupy that space," he said.

"I don't think that this is good for the United States and I don't think this is good for the world."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (R) meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in the capital Tehran on June 20, 2017

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday praised the "success" of Iraqi forces in the battle against the Islamic State group in Mosul.

"Today Daesh is fleeing Iraq and this is an admirable success," Khamenei said in reference to the jihadist group as he received Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in Tehran.

But he warned that Iraq "should not trust" the United States, which is leading a coalition fighting IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria.

Abadi is on a regional tour that started in Saudi Arabia and will include a stop in Kuwait.

He also met Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, as Iraqi forces on Tuesday pressed an assault on the Old City in western Mosul, the last part of Iraq's second city still held by the jihadists.

"The liberation of Mosul is the symbol of the end of terrorism and a victory for Iran, Iraq, Syria and all the countries of the region that are fighting against terrorism," Rouhani said during talks with Abadi.

He said Iran stands by Iraq in its fight against the jihadists and considers a "victory over terrorism" as its own.

Iraqi commanders said fierce clashes were taking place in the Old City on Tuesday but admitted that the jihadists were putting up fierce resistance.

"We have many obstacles -- the nature of the land, the nature of the construction, the roads and the civilian population -- all of which make us slow down our work," Staff Lieutenant General Abdulghani al-Assadi told AFP in Iraq.

Shiite-majority Iran has been a key backer of the Syrian and Iraqi governments as they seek to root out IS and other Sunni rebels, sending thousands of fighters and military advisers.
Due to the current Gulf crisis, Qatari farmers living in Saudi Arabia have been forced to trek back to their homeland with their sheep and camels, after being given a two week deadline to leave the kingdom

Around 12,000 camels and sheep have become the latest victims of the Gulf diplomatic crisis, being forced to trek back to Qatar from Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

Qatar has so far provided temporary shelter, as well as water and fodder, to 7,000 camels and 5,000 sheep returning from the kingdom, Qatari newspaper The Peninsula said.

On June 5, Saudi Arabia and its allies cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar and gave its citizens a two-week deadline to leave the kingdom.

This has forced Qatari farmers with livestock in Saudi Arabia to move their animals back to the emirate, The Peninsula said.

Qatar is home to around 22,000 racing camels, but the animals are also farmed for meat and milk.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt have accused Qatar of supporting extremism, charges Doha firmly denies.
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UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that the recent downings of a Syrian jet and of an Iranian-made drone could be "very dangerous" and lead to an escalation of the war in Syria.

Guterres also sought to downplay expectations of a breakthrough in the next round of UN-led peace talks on Syria starting on July 10.

"Indeed I am concerned and I hope that this will not lead to any escalation of the conflict that is already as dramatic as it is," Guterres told a news conference at UN headquarters.

A US warplane shot down an Iranian-made drone operated by pro-regime forces in southern Syria early Tuesday, in the latest incident in rising tensions between the two sides.

On Sunday, a US fighter jet downed a Syrian government warplane for the first time in the country's conflict just south of Raqa, sparking an angry reaction from regime ally Russia.

"I strongly hope that there will be a de-escalation of the situation because these kinds of incidents can be very dangerous in a conflict situation in which there are so many actors and in which the situation is so complex on the ground," said Guterres.

The United Nations is preparing to host in Geneva a new round of talks on ending the six-year war.

Guterres said that given the "complexity of the situation... I don't want to create false expectations about immediate results" from the upcoming round of negotiations.
Journalists accompanying the Iraqi forces trying to wrest Mosul's Old City from entrenched jihadists are themselves in the firing line

The death of two journalists in Mosul has highlighted once more the particular dangers of covering the battle to recapture the Iraqi city from Islamic State group fighters.

A mine blast killed Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiyar Addad, 28, on Monday. His French colleague Stephan Villeneuve later died of his wounds and two other French journalists were wounded.

They were accompanying Iraqi special forces during the battle for the city, where the jihadists are using around 100,000 civilians as "human shields", according to the UN.

These latest deaths brought the toll for journalists in Iraq to 28 killed since 2014, said Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Paris-based media rights watchdog.

It was RSF -- it is known by its French acronym -- that broke the news of their deaths along with broadcaster France Televisions.

"Iraq is one of the world's deadliest countries for journalists," said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

"In 2015 and 2016, it was one of the three countries where the most journalists were killed in the course of their work."

Covering the battle for Mosul, especially in the narrow streets of the Old City, where the last jihadists are holed up, is particularly risky.

Ziad Al-Ajili, of Iraq's Journalistic Freedoms Observatory, said nine journalists -- eight of them Iraqi -- had now died covering the battle for the city since it began last autumn.

Mosul is particularly dangerous because of the labyrinth of narrow alleys in the Old Town, the last bastion of the jihadists

"It is one of the most dangerous places to cover," said Etienne Leenhardt, head of reportages at France Televisions.

"It is impossible to foresee what might happen: there are snipers waiting in ambush, drones that can drop explosive charges on your vehicle."

"It's a labyrinth," said Leenhardt. "A maze of little streets and lanes, with civilians in the middle. You have no visibility."

- Targeting journalists -

"Mosul, it's the final combat for a few hundred jihadists who are playing their last hand to save their 'capital'," veteran correspondent Georges Malbrunot told AFP.

Malbrunot, a reporter for French daily Le Figaro, who in 2004 was held hostage for four months by jihadists in Iraq, still makes regular visits to the troubled country.

"They are trying to inflict the maximum damage, and human life has no value for them," he said of the jihadists.

The news media, particularly Iraqi journalists, paid a heavy price when IS fighters first captured Mosul in 2014.

"Mosul was subjected to a journalistic cleansing, with most journalists forced into exile," said RSF's Deloire. The jihadists still hold at least 10 journalists hostage, he added.

But the journalists covering the battle for the city were volunteers, said Leenhardt at France Televisions -- and they were under strict orders when it came to wearing helmets and bullet-proof vests. They also carried a tracker so they could be located if the need arose.

The battle for Mosul

But there are limits.

"One of our teams went to Raqa (in neighbouring Syria) last week, and we decided to get them out after 48 hours, because we considered it was not a 'reasonable' risk," he said.

But these conflicts had to be covered, he stressed.

"We have to cover the suffering of civilians, the political stakes, the ethnic conflicts that arise, so that it doesn't fall under the radar," he said.
An American Airlines airline plane is seen on the tarmac at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

A scorching heatwave in the western United States has grounded flights, caused fires and prompted power outages, with record temperatures expected Tuesday in several states including Arizona and Nevada.

The extreme temperatures prompted American Airlines on Tuesday to ground 43 flights to and from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, where temperatures were set to reach a record 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius).

Company spokesman Ross Feinstein told AFP the flights were run by two regional partners -- Skywest and Mesa -- which operate smaller airplanes that cannot take off when temperatures reach a certain level.

"Each aircraft has different International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) performance specifications, which is set by the aircraft manufacturer," Feinstein said. "This also takes into account the elevation at the airport.

"For Phoenix, that is limited to 118 degrees."

He said the airline's other mainline flights, which concern larger jets, had not been affected by the blazing temperatures.

The soaring heat has affected much of the western United States where triple-digit temperatures were expected throughout the week in several states including Nevada and California, a spokeswoman for the National Weather Service said.

"Yesterday in Phoenix we tied the record for last year, which was 116 degrees, and now we are expecting to hit 120 degrees today," Bianca Hernandez told AFP.

She added that temperatures were expected to stay in the 110-115 range until next week.

In California, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning for southern parts of the state including the cities of Banning and Desert Hot Springs, where temperatures could soar as high as 122 degrees.

Officials said the heat has led to electricity outages, as more people turn on air conditioners, overtaxing the power system.

Several wildfires were also burning in the state, including a massive one in the San Bernardino National Forest, east of Los Angeles, where 450 firefighters were battling the blaze that has already scorched 950 acres.

Authorities urged people to stay indoors and keep hydrated to avoid any heat-related illnesses.

"If you can avoid being outside in general, that's the best thing you could do today," Fernandez said. "Everyone should hydrate, and if you have to be outside, try to do so before the sun rises or after sunset."
How This 25-Year-Old Woman Is Fighting Boko Haram - And What You Can Do To Help: BUST Interview

When the 276 Chibok girls were abducted in Nigeria in 2014, the world took notice. Rage, disgust, and terror permeated social media feeds; prayers and statements of hope were posted to those same media channels; with a single photo and a hashtag, Michelle Obama started the #BringBackOurGirls campaign. Perhaps it was that such an enormous group of young girls were kidnapped that this incidence was given the world stage, but ultimately it was nothing out of the ordinary in northeast Nigeria, where violence regularly instigated by military Islamist group Boko Haram is the order of the day.

For the group, which forbids any political or social activity associated with Western society, brutality is a way of life born out a history of violence in Nigeria, specifically against women. In the conflict zone in the northeast especially women are victims of domestic and intimate partner violence, which are both widely tolerated in Nigerian culture. In fact, two-thirds of women believe that violence should be tolerated to help keep the family together. Youre socialized into this through the modeling in the home, explains Hilary Matfess, a 25-year-old Boko Haram expert.

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Hilary Matfess

Dont let Matfesss age fool you: What started off as a way to offset the cost of grad school has turned into a fiery passion for the research analyst and freelance journalist. First hired in 2014 by her advisor, Peter Lewis, the director of the African Studies department at Johns Hopkins, to track all of the non-criminal lethal violent events in Nigeria since the transition to democracy in 1999, she went on to conduct fieldwork in Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. Fascinated by both Boko Harams similarities with other Nigerian insurgencies as well as its distinction from other regional threats, the structural violence against women and its relation to the the countrys vulnerability to insurgency is the focus of her research.

Matfesss work played a pivotal role in Futures Without Violences new report, Linking Security of Women and Security of States, which was released in May. It highlights that areas exhibiting violent extremism against women are at a higher risk for instability. Where systemic gender-based violence is used as part of a groups strategy for expansion and control, the overall level of violence against women is a better predictor of a state peacefulness, compliance with international treaty obligations, and relations with neighboring countries than indicators measuring the level of democracy, level of wealth, and civilizational identity of the state.

Woman for Kaga Borno State

Studies have also shown that violence against women in the home plays a key role in the shaping of young minds, teaching young boys how to treat their future wives and priming girls to expect attacks from their partners. Extreme subservience of women and girls and the acquiescence of violence against them deeply affect not only the victim, but also those forced to witness and perpetrate such acts, says Matfess in the report. Children who are deeply traumatized by exposure to violence become more vulnerable to perpetuating violence. As long as these attitudes are held, women are not safe.

These groups are appealing to the community, says Alexandra Arriaga, partner at consulting firm Strategy for Humanity and consultant to Futures Without Violence. While thousands of women have forcibly been abducted by Boko Haram and thousands of others are fleeing to internally displaced person (IDP) camps, Matfess says there is also a contingent of women who see joining the militant group as the best way to advance their status.

Painting people who join these groups as inherently evil  it misunderstands what has to motivate someone to join a group whose objective it to overthrow the order, says Matfess. You have to be so phenomenally underserved by that order to motivate you to join. She points out that though Michelle Obamas #BringBackOurGirls campaign was well-intentioned, a high-ranking government official friend of Matfesss asks what exactly would we be bringing the girls back to? Boko Haram took the girls from a life of forced marriage and domestic servitude into a life of forced marriage and domestic servitude.

According to Matfess, marrying well is frequently the only outlet for female ambition for many women in northeast Nigeria, who often lack access to education or career development opportunities. Of the women who willingly joined Boko Haram that Matfess has spoken with say that they did so because it was one of the only places they could receive, what they believed to be, a high-quality education. So there is obviously this human ambition and drive, but ambitions like water: It flows through the channels it can reach, says Matfess.

In the northeast, the epicenter of the Boko Haram crisis, female literacy rates are low while rates of female violence soar. In Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, where people have the best access to education, female literacy only clocks in at about 9 percent. In a country where early childhood marriage is practiced, the opportunity for women to receive an education is curtailed even more. A Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) report recently found that every year of education increases a womans earning potential about 10 percent. If women are getting married as early as 14  or earlier  that greatly reduces their opportunities to learn even more, not to mention poses severe health risks for those who have children when they are practically babies themselves.

One would think that the IDP camps are the safest places in these areas of conflict, but gender-based violence and survival sex is rampant and educational opportunities are borderline nonexistent. With no space completely safe for Nigerian women, Matfess says its their resilience that makes these women so inspiring  and the situation that much more heart wrenching. She spoke of one woman who, when she heard that Boko Haram was coming to her village, put her mother in a wheelbarrow and fled. Another woman, pregnant and hiding in the forest with her children and husband who had been shot in the leg, left her family to get to an informal settlement to give birth so that she wouldnt be alone in the woods with her wounded husband.

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IDP living in host community in Adamawa

When there is no space that is completely safe for women, joining Boko Haram can seem appealing as they are not only given access to education, but, when married, are also paid the bride price their fathers would have received. If gender-based violence is to continue, in their eyes, receiving education and money is a way they can empower themselves. A lot of these women dont have what we consider to be productive channels, Matfess adds. Their ability to engage in education is extremely curtailed, their ability to participate in the labor market is borderline nonexistent.

For the women abducted into Boko Haram who are lucky enough to be freed, many emerge pregnant. Matfess explains that the way that the global gag rule  Trumps reinstated ban on the U.S. funding of abortions overseas  is being implemented now applies to all public health funding and applies to 15 times more funding than it did under the previous administration. Which means that women the world over  and currently we are experiencing one of the greatest periods of humanitarian crises that weve seen since World War II  will be negatively impacted by this and they will survive these conflicts only to die as a result of inadequate health care, inadequate support for pregnant women, and just an unwillingness of the global community to recognize that the health of women is critical to the security of women and is central to the stability of states.

Were not trying to solve the whole problem and reverse the country tomorrow, adds Arriaga. With a number of low-cost, community-based initiatives that engage children which the report highlights is an important prevention tactic to start to shift the framework of long-held gender-based beliefs  Arriaga reiterates that engaging children in activities and conversations that get them to question their roles has been proven to show results.

When I brief or talk to people about my work, it often comes to, Well how do we stop Boko Haram? Matfess says. And its these initiatives that are just unbelievably affordable. Pennies per girl per year. Many of these programs are per participant, because you have to engage both men and women, that can shift social norms away from the acceptance and the practice of violence against women, violence against children, and it sets communities on an entirely different course.

At present I dont see programming underway so that, in a post-conflict era, women in northeastern Nigeria will live a more secure, stable, prosperous, empowering life, says Matfess. Womens issues are being marginalized, even though the demographic reality is 50 percent female, and yet women are still only an afterthought. The reservoir of ambition is there and the models and opportunities of productive engagement are not. Thats something that we need to prioritize in the post-conflict situation, but also now in IDP camps, giving women opportunities to organize communally, to advocate for themselves, for better treatment, and develop the types of skills and requirements necessary to help rebuild the northeast in the aftermath of this conflict.

If you would like to donate to programs in Nigeria to help women and children become free from violence, send your support to UNICEF and the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women. To provide support for elevating violence against women in policy and programs globally, Matfess and Arriaga recommend sending donations to Futures Without Violence and WomenStats.

Top photo: Fulani girl in IDP camp in Mubi

Photos courtesy the author

More from BUST

Boko Haram Abducted More Women And News Coverage Should Not Be Subsiding

200 Nigerian Girls Are Missing And Not Enough People Are Talking About It

One Year After #BringBackOurGirls, Over 200 Are Still Missing

Jessica Mahler is a freelance writer, yoga instructor, Reiki Master, and all-around magic maker currently based in Washington, DC. A New Age personality with a vintage heart, her work has appeared in publications such as Vogue, Men's Journal, and Shape. She loves to write about fashion, feminism, yoga, and vegan food, and is a firm believer in love, coffee, and unicorns. Follow her on Instagram @live_your_light on her blog, Downward Facing Blog.
Sudanese children whose parents were reportedly jihadists in Libya get off a plane in Khartoum on June 20, 2017

Sudanese authorities on Tuesday brought home from Libya eight children, including a one-year-old, whose parents are allegedly members of the Islamic State group.

The children were flown into Khartoum from the Libyan capital Tripoli, an AFP correspondent said.

"Thanks be to Allah, today eight children," were brought back from Libya, Brigadier Tijani Ibrahim of Sudan's powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NSS) told reporters.

Six of the children will be handed over to relatives while the state will take care of the other two because authorities could not find any next of kin, he said.

Ibrahim said the children were brought out of Libya with help from the Libyan Red Crescent, and that four more children were expected to be flown back to Sudan at an unspecified time.

A representative for the Sudanese community in the Libyan city of Misrata, Motaz Abbas, accompanied the children home.

He said their parents "are members of the Islamic State group".

"Their mothers have been arrested by Libyan authorities and their fathers are listed as missing," Abbas said.

Libya descended into chaos following the NATO-backed ouster of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations and militias vying for control of its vast oil wealth.

The infighting and lawlessness allowed extremist groups such as IS to seize several coastal regions, giving the jihadists a toehold on Europe's doorstep.

In February a four-month-old baby girl born to Sudanese parents who were IS fighters in Libya was also brought home and entrusted to the care of her grandfather.

Her mother and father were killed during fighting in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte, which IS had transformed into a bastion to train jihadists before pro-government forces retook it in December 2016.

Sudanese officials says dozens of young Sudanese have joined IS in Libya, Syria and Iraq.
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Major oil producers, including for the first time ExxonMobil, expressed support on Tuesday for a new US carbon tax, which could help cut emissions despite President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.

In addition to Exxon, BP, Total and Royal Dutch Shell all supported advertisements in US media outlets in favor of the tax, which had been promoted in February by prominent Republican figures, including former Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Under the plan, produced by the Climate Leadership Council which includes the oil giants, taxes would start at $40 per ton of CO2 and rise from there, theoretically increasing the price per gallon (3.8 liters) of gasoline by 36 cents but initially generating $200 billion to be paid as "dividends" to households.

The plan's authors say the tax could replace measures adopted by the previous Obama administration, such as a cap on emissions for coal-fired power plants, and would involve a "border adjustment tax" on goods imported from countries that do not similarly tax carbon emissions.

The policy would also protect polluters from legal liability.

Trump this month announced the US would exit the 2015 climate pact, provoking outrage around the world.

The proposal marks the first time Exxon has actively supported an initiative to reduce climate change. Although former CEO Rex Tillerson, now US Secretary of State, said he favored the idea in 2009, the company had yet to endorse it publicly.

"ExxonMobil believes the goal of carbon policy should be to reduce emissions at the most economic cost to society," Daren Woods, Exxon's newly installed CEO, said in a statement.

Other corporate members of the council include Pepsico, General Motors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.
Tuesday's congressional race in Georgia was seen as a referendum on President Donald Trump's agenda

Republican Karen Handel won a closely watched special congressional election Tuesday, salvaging a seat in the traditionally conservative Georgia where Democrats had hoped to strike a blow against Donald Trump's presidency.

Handel, an establishment Republican and former state secretary of state, defeated Democratic challenger and political novice Jon Ossoff by about five percentage points, US television networks projected, denying Democrats what would have been their first election victory of the year.

Her win marked an impressive rebound from polling that showed her narrowly trailing her rival as the vote approached, and signalled that Republican disillusionment about Trump was not as deep as Democrats were counting on.

In her victory speech, Handel even gave "a special thanks to the president of United States of America" as the crowd went wild chanting Trump's name.

The result comes as relief for Republicans who had grown concerned about whether their party, buffeted by the scandals that have plagued the Republican president, could hold the seat in Georgia's sixth district, which became the most expensive congressional race in US history.

"Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you!" tweeted Trump, who had publicly implored Republicans to troop to the polls to back the candidate.

While the White House had played down the national importance of the Georgia race, Trump had gone all in on Handel, and the Republican Party no doubt sees the victory as a shot in the arm as it prepares to fight to preserve its control of Congress in next year's mid-term elections.

"Tonight, the people of Georgia's sixth district overwhelmingly voted not only for Karen, but also for President Trump's agenda of replacing our broken health care system, reforming an outdated tax code, and prioritizing infrastructure investment," said Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

- Trump gloats, Ossoff vows to fight -

Trump's party also claimed victory in another congressional race Tuesday, in neighboring South Carolina. Both contests were held to replace lawmakers who vacated their seats in order to join the Trump cabinet.

Democrats have now lost all four opportunities to win in special elections so far this year, following earlier losses in Republican-held districts in Kansas and Montana.

The victories gave Trump a chance to gloat. "Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0," he tweeted, apparently believing that there had been a fifth race.

The Democrats had portrayed each of the races as a referendum on Trump's scandal-plagued presidency.

"We dodged a bullet tonight," Georgia-based Republican strategist Chip Lake told AFP.

"We're still going to be on the defense in November of 2018," with Trump a likely "liability," he added.

But while Republicans were facing a sobering reminder of their president's poor approval ratings, Handel steadied the ship in a district that only narrowly backed Trump in last November's vote.

In conceding the race, Ossoff, a filmmaker and former political staffer, signalled that Democrats could learn from these races and prepare for the larger battle for control of the US Congress in 2018.

"This is not the outcome many of us were hoping for," he told supporters. "But this is the beginning of something much bigger than us."

Later on Twitter, Ossoff wrote that for months the district "has been a beacon of hope for people across the country. We showed the world that in places no one even thought it was possible to fight, we can fight. And we will fight."

- 'Wake-up call' -

At least one Democratic lawmaker called Ossoff's loss a "wake-up call for Democrats."

"Business as usual isn't working," congressman Seth Moulton said on Twitter.

"We need a genuinely new message, a serious jobs plan that reaches all Americans, and a bigger tent not a smaller one," he added.

Ossoff tried to flip the Atlanta suburbs that Republican Tom Price left to become Trump's health secretary.

Republicans have held the seat since 1979. But as an increasingly well-educated and diverse suburban district, it is the kind of territory Democrats need to win if they want to gain the 24 seats necessary to reclaim the House in 2018.

Price won the district last November by 23 points, and Ossoff's much closer margin serves as a "silver lining," Democratic congresswoman Cheri Bustos said.

"We're moving in the right direction," she told CNN.

But Handel's win is expected to energize Republican lawmakers in Washington as they seek to push forward with their repeal of Barack Obama's health care plan as well as tax law overhauls.
Until a change in the law, children as young as 14 could get married in New York with parental permission and written consent from a judge

New York, the fourth most populous state in America, updated antiquated legislation on Tuesday to outlaw children as young as 14 from getting married.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, signed legislation raising the age of consent to marry from 14 to 18 years old, with a caveat that 17-year-olds wishing to marry must get approval from their parents and a judge.

"This is a major step forward in our efforts to protect children and prevent forced marriages, and I am proud to sign this legislation that puts an end to child marriage in New York once and for all," he said.

Until Tuesday, children as young as 14 could get married with parental permission and written consent from a judge. More than 3,800 minors were married in New York between 2000 and 2010, Cuomo's office said.

Those under 17 are now prohibited from marriage. Judges must ensure any 17-year-olds wishing to wed are not being coerced against their will and that the marriage will not endanger their mental, emotional, or physical well-being.

Heather Barr, senior researcher on women's rights at Human Rights Watch, called on dozens of other US states to follow New York's example.

"Around the world, a girl under age 18 married every two seconds. It is a national shame that so many of these marriages are happening in the US," she said.

"We hope the 47 states that have yet to act will follow New York's lead."

Nearly a quarter of a million children as young as 12 were married in the United States between 2000 and 2010, mostly girls to adult men, according to Unchained, a non-profit organization working against arranged or forced marriage.

A survey published by the Tahirih Justice Center in 2011 said forced marriage existed in immigrant communities from 56 different countries and affects people of different faiths, including Muslims, Christians, Hindus and Buddhists.

Cuomo's office said young women who marry before 19 are 50 percent more likely to drop out of high school and four times less likely to graduate from college.

Those who marry young are also at increased risk of developing health disorders, 31 percent more likely to live in poverty when older and three times more likely to be beaten by their spouses than women who wed at 21 or older, it said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - A member of the president's outside legal team says Donald Trump is not under federal investigation, days after Trump appeared to confirm he was with a tweet about being the target of a "witch hunt."

Appearing on a series of morning news programs, attorney Jay Sekulow repeatedly stressed Sunday that "the president has not been and is not under investigation." He said a Friday tweet from Trump was specifically directed at a story in The Washington Post about the expanding probe into Russia's election meddling.

As evidence, Sekulow said that Trump has not been notified of any investigation. He also cited the testimony from former FBI Director James Comey before the Senate intelligence committee, in which Comey said he had told Trump he was not under investigation in the months leading up to his May 9 firing.

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, and their son and Barron Trump, walk to Marine One across the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Saturday, June 17, 2017, en route to Camp David in Maryland. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Asked about the possibility that an investigation has since developed and the president just does not know, Sekulow said: "I can't read people's minds, but I can tell you this, we have not been notified that there's an investigation to the president of the United States. So that - nothing has changed in that regard since James Comey's testimony."

The Post reported last week that Robert Mueller - the special counsel appointed to investigate Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election - was looking into whether Trump obstructed justice. Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and has expansive powers to probe any matters that develop from his initial investigation.

The president wrote on Twitter Friday: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

"Witch hunt" has become Trump's preferred phrase to dismiss the probe into Russian election interference. The message apparently referred to Rosenstein, whose role leading the federal investigation has become increasingly complicated. The White House used a memo he wrote to justify Trump's decision to fire Comey, but Trump's firing of the FBI director may now be part of the probe.

Meanwhile, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, may be getting new legal representation as the investigation heats up. Kushner has been represented on business matters and other issues by Jamie Gorelick.

In a statement, Gorelick says that after the appointment of the special counsel, she advised Kushner "to obtain the independent advice of a lawyer with appropriate experience as to whether he should continue with us."

The New York Times first reported that Kushner was weighing other legal options.

The president has denied that he has any nefarious ties to Russia and has also disputed that he's attempted to block the investigation into his campaign's possible role in Russia's election-related hacking.

The president has directed some of his frustration at Rosenstein and Mueller. Sen. Marco Rubio said Sunday that he does not expect Trump to seek to fire them.

"I don't believe it's going to happen," said Rubio on CNN's "State of the Union." ''The best thing that could happen for the president, and the country, is a full and credible investigation."

Trump is under pressure to reveal whether he has any tape recordings of private conversations with Comey. Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said that the panel - overseeing one of several congressional investigations - is looking forward to getting a response from the White House on whether recordings exist.

The president suggested on Twitter that he may have taped those conversations. Schiff said he wants the White House to acknowledge the tapes or make clear there are no tapes and "it was an idle threat."

The committee sent a bipartisan letter this month to White House counsel Don McGahn seeking an answer by this Friday. It also sent a letter to Comey asking for any notes or memos. Schiff said if the panel can't get an answer then he believes a subpoena will be needed.

Schiff also said he believes recent congressional testimony from Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions points to signs of possible obstruction by Trump that warrant further investigation. Schiff cited the fact that the president at one meeting "cleared the room" of advisers and asked to speak to Comey alone. Comey testified to Congress that Trump then asked him to back off the investigation into his fired national security adviser, Michael Flynn.

"That signifies this president knew all too well that it was inappropriate," Schiff said.

And Senate intelligence committee member Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine, stressed that the probe will likely last for a long time. King said the "collusion, the cooperation aspect of the investigation is not over." He added: "A lot of people have said, 'When do you think you'll be done?' Maybe the end of the year. This is a very complex matter, involving thousands of pages of intelligence documents, lots of witnesses. There's a lot of information yet to go."

While aides have advised Trump to stay off Twitter, the president continued to weigh in Sunday as he spent the weekend at Camp David, the government-owned presidential retreat in Maryland.

In a two-part tweet posted before 7 a.m., Trump wrote: "The MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt."

Sekulow appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," CNN's "State of the Union," CBS's "Face the Nation" and "Fox News Sunday" on Fox. Rubio spoke on NBC, CNN and CBS. Schiff spoke on ABC's "This Week"and King spoke on NBC.
OCALA, Fla. (AP) - A man has been charged after a nurse was shot and wounded at a Florida hospital.

Florida Highway Patrol troopers took 38-year-old Jason Ronald Gignac of Summerfield to West Marion Community Hospital in Ocala on Saturday after finding him walking along a highway.

Authorities have said Gignac grabbed one trooper's gun and fired, wounding a nurse in the leg. Three troopers also suffered minor injuries while struggling with Gignac.

Marion County jail records show Gignac was charged Sunday with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting a law enforcement officer with violence. He is being held without bond.

Gignac's mother, Rachael Delannoy, told WFTV (http://at.wftv.com/2rvMWFf ) that her son has a drug problem and he had a fight with his girlfriend Saturday morning before leaving her house without shoes.

___

Information from: WFTV-TV, http://www.wftv.com/index.html
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) - Authorities in northeastern Nigeria say 12 people are dead after suicide bombing attacks not far from the city of Maiduguri.

Police spokesman Victor Isuku said Monday that the attacks were carried about by five female bombers in Kofa, about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from Maiduguri.

The first attack killed several people near a mosque, while five others were killed in a house.

Last late year Nigeria declared that the Boko Haram extremist group had been crushed but attacks continue, often with young women strapped with explosives to carry out suicide attacks.

Many of the young women are believed to be among those abducted by the jihadists, who have pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The Brexit talks to lead Britain out of the European Union kicked off on Monday and the chief negotiators are already on a first-name basis. Here's a look at the people who are likely to dominate these talks over much of the next two years.

___

David Davis, United Kingdom Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union:

FILE - In this Monday, June 19, 2017 photo, EU Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier, center, and British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis, left, walk together as they arrive at EU headquarters in Brussels. With Brexit negotiations to lead Britain out of the European Union kicking off on Monday, June 19, 2017, Michel Barnier and David Davis are two of the chief protagonists who should dominate the next two years. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

The title is a mouthful and the task is even more challenging for Davis, a long-serving lawmaker and staunch Euroskeptic who served under Conservative Prime Minister John Major in bruising 1990s dealings with the EU.

The longtime advocate of Britain quitting the EU was a natural choice to lead the British government's new department overseeing the Brexit talks.

A former special forces reservist, Davis is expected to be a tough negotiator in Brussels. British newspaper The Guardian newspaper labelled him "the old knuckleduster leading Britain out of the EU."

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Theresa May, British Prime Minister:

The 60-year-old prime minister emerged victorious from a bitter and divisive leadership battle after her predecessor, David Cameron, quit following Britain's vote a year ago to leave the EU.

But her leadership has been thrown into doubt after her decision to call an early election in order to bolster her hand in Brexit negotiations backfired spectacularly this month. Her Conservative Party's comfortable majority in the lower house of the British Parliament evaporated following a lackluster campaign.

While May supported Britain remaining in the EU, since taking office she has pledged that "Brexit means Brexit."

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Boris Johnson, British Foreign Secretary:

Britain's shaggy-haired foreign minister is a Latin-quoting maverick and former journalist who once compared the EU to Adolf Hitler in trying, "by different methods," to create another super-state.

It is hardly shocking, then, that Johnson was a prominent leader of the successful referendum campaign to take Britain out of the EU. What was surprising was May's decision to appoint a man known for his countless gaffes as her country's top diplomat.

"I wish it was a joke but I fear it isn't," former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt tweeted last year when May made Johnson her foreign minister.

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Michel Barnier, Chief Negotiator - Task Force for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50:

If anything, the title is even more of a mouthful than Davis's and in theory, Barnier has a more complex job in trying to reconcile the whims of 27 member states and face Britain with one voice.

A mountain man from France's southeast, he made a name for himself as co-president of the 1992 Albertville Winter Olympics.

The 66-year-old has served four times as a minister in a French government, under presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

He was also twice European Commissioner and supervised the reform of the European banking system following the financial crisis that started in 2008. He was said to be the most hated man in the City of London's financial district for his efforts to apply EU regulation in Britain. It is a reputation he does not want to live up to.

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Donald Tusk, European Council President:

So far, so good, for the head of the EU summits, who must make sure that all 27 nations show no divisions during the talks. In a bloc where member states persistently disagree on everything from finances to migration, Tusk has been able to ensure remarkable unity in the face of Brexit, the biggest challenge in the EU's 60-year history.

The 60-year-old Pole has combined steely resolve in consultations with a human tough in personal relations to keep in line the political left and right and the geographic North and South. When he wants to, he speaks frankly of what is at stake for Britain and the need to stick to strict deadlines.

He was re-elected to his post in March, warmly endorsed by all - except the conservative government of his native Poland.

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Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission President:

With a different style to Boris Johnson's, Juncker is a master in his own right of blunt quips and deadpan humor. He's labeled one EU leader a "dictator" and threatened to call for the independence of Texas if U.S. President Donald Trump continues to criticize the EU.

But make no mistake: the Luxembourger is a canny political survivor who reached the EU's pinnacle from his tiny Grand Duchy of barely half a million people through shrewd alliances and an instinct for political survival.

His Commission, the EU's executive branch, is leading the Brexit talks and Juncker is bound to leave his prints on any outcome.

In this June 19, 2017 photo, Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks to the media outside 10 Downing Street in London. With Brexit negotiations to lead Britain out of the European Union kicking off on Monday, Theresa May is one of the chief protagonists who should dominate the next two years. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

In this Monday, June 19, 2017 photo, EU Chief Brexit Negotiator Michel Barnier, right, and British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis prepare to make statements as they arrive at EU headquarters in Brussels. With Brexit negotiations to lead Britain out of the European Union kicking off on Monday, June 19, 2017, Michel Barnier and David Davis are two chief protagonists who should dominate the next two years. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

FILE - In this April 3, 2017 file photo, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, right, speaks with the UK permanent representative to the EU, Tim Barrow, during a meeting of EU foreign ministers at the EU Council building in Luxembourg. With Brexit negotiations to lead Britain out of the European Union kicking off on Monday, June 19, 2017 Boris Johnson is one of the chief protagonists who should dominate the next two years. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo File)

FILE- In this April 29, 2017 file photo, EU Chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, left, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, center, and European Council President Donald Tusk make their way to a media conference at an EU summit in Brussels. With Brexit negotiations to lead Britain out of the European Union kicking off on Monday, Juncker, Tusk and Barnier are some of the chief protagonists who should dominate the next two years. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)

In this Monday June 19, 2017 photo, British Secretary of State for Exiting the EU David Davis listens to opening remarks during his arrival at EU headquarters in Brussels. With Brexit negotiations to lead Britain out of the European Union kicking off on Monday, June 19, 2017 David Davis is one of the chief protagonists who should dominate the next two years. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. shoots down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time. Syria attacks America's allies against Islamic State militants. Iran fires missiles into Syria. Russia threatens to target U.S. coalition planes.

As Syria's complex war ramps up, the Trump administration is scrambling to tamp down tensions and avoid open hostilities with the Russians.

This weekend's fast-paced developments bring new urgency to easing escalating strains between Washington and Moscow, who are both fighting in Syria but with opposing objectives. It's an effort made more complicated by the increasingly messy battlefield in the Arab country, which includes deepening Iranian involvement - its first missile foray into Syria occurred Sunday - and an ongoing probe in the United States into Russian meddling in the presidential election.

FILE - In this June 13, 2017 file photo, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford prepares to testify on Capitol Hill in Washington. Dunford said Monday, June 19, 2017, that Washington and Moscow are in delicate discussions to tamp down tensions arising from the U.S. shootdown of a Syrian fighter jet, which the Russians called a violation of a U.S.-Russian understanding on avoiding air incidents. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

In the first high-level U.S. public comments about the situation, Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Monday the former Cold War foes are in delicate discussions to restore normalcy to communications and maintain focus on fighting IS instead of each other.

"The worst thing any of us could do right now is address this with hyperbole," Dunford said at the National Press Club.

Throughout Syria's six-and-a-half year civil war, the United States has supported rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad's government and extremist groups like IS, while Russia has backed Assad. And that disagreement has constrained American leaders, who've made clear that any U.S. military activity in Syria avoid provoking an open confrontation between the U.S. and Russia, the world's two greatest nuclear powers.

At the White House, spokesman Sean Spicer said: "It's important and crucial that we keep lines of communication open to deconflict potential issues." The U.S. and Russia use the term "deconfliction" for discussions to prevent mishaps between their planes flying in Syria's skies.

But in a warning that the U.S. would protect its partners, Spicer said: "The Syrian regime and others in the region need to understand that we will retain the right of self-defense of coalition forces aligned against ISIS."

Tensions rose Sunday as the U.S. shot down a Syrian Air Force SU-22 fighter that U.S. officials said had bombed American-backed Syrian fighters involved in an emerging battle to recapture the Islamic State's self-declared capital of Raqqa. The U.S.-led coalition said it acted in "collective self-defense" of partnered forces. Russia called it a "cynical" violation of the Arab country's sovereignty.

Russia said its warplanes were flying over Syria at the time of the shootdown and the U.S. failed to use the existing deconfliction channel between U.S. military officers at al-Udeid air base in Qatar and Russian officers at Hemeimeem air base.

"We view these actions by the U.S. military as a deliberate failure to heed its obligations," the Defense Ministry said, adding that it was immediately suspending cooperation under an October 2015 agreement to ensure safe air operations over Syria. It also issued what appeared a threat to target U.S. coalition aircraft flying west of the Euphrates River.

Dunford seemed unperturbed.

"I'm confident that we are still communicating," he said, adding: "I'm also confident that our forces have the capability to take care of themselves."

The immediate effect on the U.S.-led campaign against IS is unclear. Coalition aircraft will continue flying throughout Syria, although some assets will be repositioned, said Col. Ryan Dillon, a coalition spokesman.

"We are going to make sure that we have the right aircraft in the right places," he said, noting that some aircraft may have to avoid "high-threat" areas.

The U.S. and its coalition partners fly combat and support missions daily out of several bases in the Middle East, including in Qatar and Turkey. The flights support Syrian Arab and Kurdish fighters aligned against Islamic State militants. The U.S. also has about 1,000 troops on the ground in Syria advising local fighters.

Russia has fighter aircraft, air defense weapons and other military assets in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad's government. Moscow has said it entered the fight mainly to combat IS. "We'll see if that's true here in the coming hours," Dunford said.

Syria's latest developments add significance to talks set for Friday in St Petersburg between senior U.S. and Russian diplomats meant to focus on key differences in the relationship, such as Syria and Ukraine. Tom Shannon, the State Department No. 3, will meet Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister.

"The Russians clearly are doing a lot of sabre rattling right now, but the reality is that the United States has significantly superior air power in the region, and it would be extremely foolish for the Russians to pick a fight with the United States in Syria," said Nile Gardiner, an international affairs expert at the Heritage Foundation think tank. "The balance of power in Syria is shifting away from Moscow and you are having a more assertive U.S. presence in the region."

___

Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor in Washington and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
HONOLULU (AP) - A Hawaii lawmaker who was ousted from her leadership post in the Republican Party after criticizing President Donald Trump has been accepted by the state's Democrats.

The Democratic Party of Hawaii said Monday that a committee voted to accept Rep. Beth Fukumoto over the weekend.

Fukumoto was minority leader in the Hawaii House and was considered a rising star in the Republican Party. But she upset her Republican colleagues when she called Trump a bully and said his comments were racist at the Women's March in Honolulu in January.

FILE- In this Feb. 1, 2017, file photo, Hawaii Rep. Beth Fukumoto talks with reporters in her capitol office in Honolulu, Hawaii. In deep-blue Hawaii, Fukumoto is considering switching parties to become a Democrat after she was pressured to resign her leadership role for criticizing President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Cathy Bussewitz, File)

The unanimous vote by the Democrats was the final step for Fukumoto to switch parties, leaving just five Republicans out of 76 lawmakers in the Hawaii Legislature.

Fukumoto's decision to leave the Republican Party was based on her colleagues' reaction to her speech at the Women's March and her feeling that there needed to be more pushback from Republicans about Trump's views, she said.

"I just said this is not a party that I can be a part of anymore, and there's not really a place for me here anymore," Fukumoto said.

Former Republican Party Chairman Fritz Rohlfing said Fukumoto, who was recently elected as a Republican, should have resigned her seat in the Legislature to be replaced by someone else in the party.

"She hasn't shown integrity in terms of the party that she came into office with, and I certainly hope that we will find a good person to run against her and recapture that district for a Republican representative," Rohlfing added.

Fukumoto sought feedback from constituents before switching parties. She said most supported her move.

The response Fukumoto generated from around the country was overwhelmingly positive. Her office was flooded with letters from people in nearly every state thanking her for voicing what many people were feeling, Fukumoto said.

"It's always worth having those conversations, even if it means you're getting booed on stage or you're losing your leadership position," Fukumoto said.

___

Follow Cathy Bussewitz on Twitter: https://twitter.com/cbussewitz . Her work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/bussewitz .
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut woman who lied about having cancer to avoid reporting to prison on a fraud conviction has been sentenced to more than two years behind bars.

Thirty-seven-year-old Aliyah Davis, of East Windsor, was sentenced on Monday to 30 months by a federal judge in New Haven. Davis had pleaded guilty to several charges in December.

She was sentenced to more than four years in prison in 2014 for defrauding Mass Mutual.

Prosecutors say Davis was granted postponements of when she would report to prison by lying she had terminal cancer. Authorities say she also changed her name to Aliyah Davis from Theresa Sutherland and committed unemployment compensation fraud.

Davis' lawyer says in court documents she survived a troubled childhood to become successful, but needs counseling and substance abuse treatment.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Six passengers from a cruise ship docked in Ketchikan, Alaska and signed up for a sightseeing flight but ended up going for a swim.

The passengers and a pilot for Ketchikan-based Alaska Seaplane Tours had to swim for their lives Sunday afternoon when the floatplane crashed and sank in a remote mountain lake in Misty Fjords National Monument. Alaska State Troopers described their injuries as minor.

Clint Johnson, head of the National Transportation Safety Board office in Alaska, said the crash of the De Havilland Beaver DHC-2 occurred under clear skies on Big Goat Lake about 46 miles (74 kilometers) northeast of Ketchikan. Troopers initially said the crash was 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Ketchikan.

"The little that we know, subject to change, is that one of the wings struck the water just after takeoff and the airplane ended up in the water and unfortunately sank," Johnson said.

Alaska Seaplane Tours on its website offers bear- and glacier-viewing trips and fishing trips out of Ketchikan. The website claimed a perfect safety record since the company's conception in 1999. A man answering the company's phone Monday asked who was calling, said "no comment," and hung up.

Misty Fjords National Monument covers 3,347 square miles (8,669 sq. kilometers) at the tip of the Alaska Panhandle. It's the largest wilderness area in the Tongass National Forest.

The monument is named for sheer granite walls along ocean bays that are frequently lined with low clouds in the nation's northernmost rainforest.

Big Goat Lake is a major "flight-seeing" attraction. The mountain lake at 1,775 feet (541 meters) is the source of Big Goat Falls, a spectacular waterfall that drops 800 feet (244 meters) into forest.

Misty Fjords was the scene of a fatal sightseeing crash on June 25, 2015. A de Havilland DHC-3 Otter operated by Promech Air Inc. crashed into mountainous terrain about 24 miles (39 kilometers) from Ketchikan, killing the pilot and eight passengers.

The NTSB concluded that the crash was due to pilot error, Promech's culture and its lack of a formal safety plan. The pilot had continued to fly under visual flight rules when weather called for instrument rules, the NTSB said.

In the crash Sunday the pilot was Matthew Perron, 30, of Ketchikan.

Troopers list two passengers from Germany: Tim Friedrich, 40, and Catrin Fredrich, 36.

The other four passengers were from California: Robert Grover, 63, Debra Grover, 60, Nicole Grover, 30, and Jonathan James, 36.

Hometowns of the passengers were not released.

They were flown to Ketchikan, treated by emergency responders and transported to a hospital, troopers said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - They threatened to slow the Senate's work with procedural motions. They forced the chamber's top Republican to swat aside reasonable sounding requests, like holding committee hearings. And they delivered speech after speech after speech.

Democrats used all those tools Monday evening to try drawing attention to the Senate GOP's secretive effort to craft a bill scuttling President Barack Obama's health care law and push it through the chamber by next week's end. Their largely symbolic effort was likely to have little or no impact on how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell handles the measure.

Yet Democrats were hoping it would have at least two effects - scare off Republicans wavering over whether to back the measure, and show liberal activists that Democrats are aggressively trying to thwart the legislation, even though they lack the votes to derail it.

FILE - In this April 6, 2017 file photo, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., walks from his office on Capitol Hill in Washington. Democrats plan to slow the Senate's work, force votes and make late-night speeches in an effort to focus attention on how Republicans are crafting legislation revamping the nation's health care system behind closed doors, a senior Democratic aide said Monday, June 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers seeking re-election next year "will reap the whirlwind" once voters learn about the legislation.

McConnell, R-Ky., is using closed-door meetings among Republicans to write a bill. In the sessions lawmakers try to resolve internal GOP disputes over how to reduce insurance coverage standards Obama's law requires, cut the Medicaid health care program for the poor and cut taxes Obama levied on higher earners and the medical industry.

"The only thing more secret than Republicans' health care bill is Donald Trump's tax returns," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

Democrats are increasingly worried that McConnell will jam the bill through the Senate with little debate, limiting their chance to scrutinize the bill and whip up opposition against it.

Under special rules, each party will have just 10 hours of debate on the measure before the chamber begins a vote-a-rama, a series of quick amendment votes with little discussion. Democrats have even suggested a scenario in which Senate debate begins on a preliminary version of the GOP measure and McConnell offers the final package as a late amendment, giving Democrats little or no time to criticize it.

As Democrats made a series of motions that McConnell turned aside, Schumer twice asked the GOP leader to ensure Democrats they will have more than 10 hours to study the bill before the vote.

"I think we'll have ample opportunity to read and amend the bill," McConnell answered each time.

The procedures McConnell will use will let Senate Republicans pass the bill as long as no more than two of the 52 GOP senators oppose it. It remains uncertain McConnell will be able to do that, but both parties respect his ability to keep his party unified and count votes.

"At the end of the process, Congress will have a chance to turn the page on this failed law," he said.

Senate Republicans have held no committee meetings or votes on the measure. The GOP-led House held just a handful of both before it finally approved its version of the legislation last month.

Democrats, who solidly oppose the Republican effort but lack the votes to block it, are trying to capitalize on the secrecy and contrast it with the numerous committee meetings and votes that produced Obama's 2010 statute. They say they will slow work on bills by refusing to let the Senate bypass time-consuming procedural steps, which it customarily does on most legislation.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - President Michel Temer has vetoed legislation that would have reduced the size of Brazil's protected environmental reserves, most of them in the Amazon region.

Temer tweeted the news of his vetoes on Monday in exchanges with supermodel Gisele Bundchen and the World Wildlife Foundation. The model had earlier tweeted Temer, imploring him to "protect mother earth" and kill the bills, which were passed by Congress last month. They would have converted around 1.4 million acres of protected land into areas open to logging, mining and agricultural use.

But the apparent victory for environmental groups may be short-lived as Brazil's environment minister is working on similar legislation that is being harshly criticized by environmental groups.

FILE - This Sept. 15, 2009 file photo shows a deforested area near Novo Progresso in Brazil's northern state of Para. Brazilian President Michel Temer vetoed legislation that would have reduced the size of the country's protected environmental reserves, most of them in the Amazon. Temer tweeted the news of his vetoes on Monday, June 19, 2017, in exchanges with supermodel Gisele Bundchen after she implored him to "protect mother earth" and veto the bills, which would have converted 1.4 million acres of protected land into areas open to logging, mining and farming. But the apparent win for environmental groups may be short-lived. (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

In a video posted Sunday on social media, environment minister Jose Sarney Filho announced plans to create a new bill in Congress that would downgrade the level of protection of 1.1 million acres of the Amazon rainforest. The measure is designed to legalize incursions by farmers and ranchers into protected areas in the state of Para.

"We want to allow people who have been there for a long time to continue growing and developing their work," he said in the video.

The announcement comes at a time when the Amazon and Atlantic rainforests are being cut at the fastest rate in nearly a decade.

Last year, deforestation of the Amazon jumped 29 percent over the previous year, according to the government's satellite monitoring, the highest rate since 2008.

For environmental groups, the new proposed bill would increase incentives for illegal logging just like the old bills.

Until Monday, Temer had agreed to back a series of measures promoted by Congress' so-called "rural caucus" - a group of lawmakers representing rural landowners, including agribusiness and ranchers - in exchange for help passing his own agenda - and hopefully avoiding impeachment.

For the Jaime Gesisky of the WWF Temer's position has not changed. Temer's vetoes were aimed at making him seem environmentally friendly on the eve of his trip to Norway, which has invested $3 billion to combat tropical deforestation, he said.

"He is exempting himself from the responsibility," Gesisky said, "while at the same time allowing his minister to make an agreement with legislators who have interests in the region."
A law enforcement officer sent to check on the welfare of three people living in a southwestern Idaho home instead found three bodies hidden on the property in an apparent homicide.

Investigators haven't yet identified the three people, and it's not yet clear how they died.

A law enforcement officer found the bodies about 11 a.m. Monday after responding to a welfare check at the small farmhouse on the outskirts of Caldwell, Canyon County Chief Deputy Marv Dashiell said.

Chief Deputy Marv Dashiell with the Canyon County Sheriff's Office speaks outside a home in Caldwell, Idaho. Police say three people were found dead inside

A family member asked for the welfare check because the occupants of the home had not been seen for some time.

The week before the bodies were found the property was quieter than usual. A bark that used to be heard every day was unusually quiet the previous week.

But Cindy Morrison told the Idaho Press that that she was woken in the middle of the night earlier this month by the sound of a womans scream coming through her bedroom window.

She said that because she was unable to tell whether it was an animal or a human noise, so decided not to call the police. The sound stopped after about five minutes, she said.

The deputy who responded noticed some things that didn't look quite right, Dashiell said, and found the bodies after he started looking more closely around the property.

The three residents who lived on the property moved there less than two months ago and appeared to be living out of a trailer, and had not yet moved into the house.

The state of the bodies indicated foul play, Dashiell said. 'Three dead bodies lying side by side is kind of an indicator to us that something is wrong with the scene,' he said.

The remains were partially covered, as if someone had tried to hide them, Canyon County sheriff's spokesman Joe Decker said.

Authorities investigate a scene in Caldwell, Idaho, on Monday, June 19, 2017. Police say three people were found dead inside a home and the Canyon County Sheriff's office is investigating the deaths as possible homicides. (AP Photo/Kimberlee Kruesi)

The three had likely been dead at least three days based on the advanced state of decomposition, Dashiell said.

Their genders and ages were not yet known, and investigators had not yet determined if the bodies belonged to the people who were living at the home.

A coroner was at the scene Monday afternoon to help investigators.

Because they didn't yet know who died, the investigators don't yet have any suspects in the case, Dashiell said.

It could take a few days for the coroner's office to determine the cause of death, he said.

'We haven't been able to see any overt trauma,' Dashiell said. 'But that doesn't mean it isn't present.'

The case is being investigated as a homicide, though officials have not yet ruled out a murder-suicide, Dashiell said.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. Security Council urged Eritrea and Djibouti on Monday to resolve their border dispute peacefully following the withdrawal of peacekeeping troops from Qatar.

Djibouti accused Eritrean troops of occupying the Dumeira mountain area shortly after 450 Qatari peacekeepers left last week and lodged a formal complaint with the African Union. Qatar, which is caught up in its own diplomatic clash with other Arab nations, had mediated a territorial dispute between Djibouti and Eritrea.

The Security Council said in a statement after a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun that it welcomed the African Union's intention to deploy a fact-finding mission to the Djibouti border.

Council member said they look forward to coordinating with the AU "to maintain an atmosphere of calm and restraint."

The Security Council said it would also welcome "the consideration of future confidence-building measures" and will continue to follow the situation closely.

The Qatari forces had been deployed on the Djibouti-Eritrean border for seven years to monitor the implementation of a ceasefire agreement signed in Qatar in June 2010 and to pursue a negotiated political settlement.

In a statement sent Saturday to The Associated Press, Eritrea's information ministry said the Horn of Africa nation has not received any explanation from Qatar on its "hasty" withdrawal, which it said occurred "against the backdrop of a turbulent climate."

Eritrea's top diplomat to the African Union, Araia Desta, said the country has not cut ties with Qatar. Eritrea has also said it doesn't want a confrontation with Djibouti.

The rebel Red Sea Afar Democratic Organization, known as RSADO, which opposes the Eritrea government, called on the international community to prevent a new border conflict between Djibouti and Eritrea.

But the group said in a statement that "for the border-straddling Afar people" the greatest threat is the continuation "of the last 26 years oppressive regime rule" of Eritrea's President Isaias Afwerki.
MILWAUKEE (AP) - The prosecutor who charged a former Milwaukee police officer with first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of a 23-year-old black man told jurors Tuesday the man was defenseless and "looked like a child" when he was fatally shot last year.

But an attorney defending Dominique Heaggan-Brown against the charge countered that the former officer acted in self-defense because the man was armed when a brief foot chase began after a traffic stop.

Jurors began deliberating Tuesday after attorneys delivered closing arguments shortly before noon. They ended the day without a verdict and will resume deliberations Wednesday morning.

Former Milwaukee police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown appears in Milwaukee County Court on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Milwaukee. Heaggan-Brown is on trail for first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old black man, on Aug. 13, 2016. Jurors have begun deliberating the case after attorneys delivered closing arguments Tuesday. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

The death of Sylville Smith at the hands of Heaggan-Brown on Aug. 13 sparked two nights of rioting in the Sherman Park neighborhood and highlighted the strained relationship between police and African-Americans in the city. But the case is different from recent high-profile police shootings that have inspired a national conversation about how officers interact with African-Americans: Heaggan-Brown and Smith are both black and from the north side of the city where the shooting occurred.

Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm told jurors Heaggan-Brown didn't need to use deadly force against Smith, who had thrown away the gun he was carrying. Heaggan-Brown shot Smith on his right bicep as he threw the gun away over a fence. He shot him again 1.69 seconds later, this time in the chest, when Smith fell on his back with his legs in the air.

"He's in the most vulnerable position that he can possibly be in," Chisholm said. "He looks like a child."

Heaggan-Brown and two other officers had approached Smith's rental car because it was parked more than a foot from the curb, and police believed a drug deal was happening. Heaggan-Brown and two officers were making their way back to their district station when they decided to initiate one last traffic stop.

Chisholm has said that Heaggan-Brown was justified when he fired the first shot, but argues the second shot was unnecessary.

Jonathan Smith, one of Heaggan-Brown's defense attorneys, told jurors the former officer had to make a split-second decision and didn't have the benefit of seeing the events unfold in slow-motion, which is how prosecutors have shown jurors the shooting using still frames from bodycam footage.

"That first shot was a justifiable shot and that justification did not change in 1.69 seconds," Smith said, alluding to the time that transpired before the first and second shot.

During the brief foot chase, Smith slipped and fell after turning into a path between two houses. Heaggan-Brown fired the first shot almost simultaneously with Smith throwing away his gun when he got up.

The fatal encounter transpired over 12 seconds from the time Heaggan-Brown got out of his car to begin chasing Smith to when the fatal shot was fired.

Heaggan-Brown faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted. Jurors are also being given the option to choose from two lesser charges instead - second-degree reckless homicide and homicide by negligent operation of a dangerous weapon. The lesser charges carry sentences of up to 25 years and 10 years respectively.

The jury is made up of nine women and three men. Four of the jurors are black and the rest are white.

Heaggan-Brown was fired two months after the shooting when he was charged with sexual assault in an unrelated case.

Former Milwaukee police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown appears in Milwaukee County Court on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Milwaukee. Heaggan-Brown is on trail for first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old black man, on Aug. 13, 2016. Jurors have begun deliberating the case after attorneys delivered closing arguments Tuesday. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office shows Sylville Smith. In August 2016, a north side Milwaukee neighborhood erupted in violence following the fatal shooting of Smith, by Milwaukee police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown. Jurors have begun deliberating the case against Heaggan-Brown after attorneys delivered closing arguments Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office via AP, File)

Dominique Heaggan-Brown, right, and his attorney Jonathan C. Smith, left, watch the power point presentation of use of force expert, Robert C. Willis on a video screen during the trial of former Milwaukee officer Heaggan-Brown Monday, June 19, 2017, in Milwaukee. A police expert in the use of deadly force says on Monday that Heaggan-Brown, on trial for fatally shooting a black man after a foot chase "acted in accordance with his training." Attorney Steven R. Kohn is at upper right. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)

Benjamin Lindsay, Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney, appears in court during the trial of former Milwaukee police officer Dominique Heaggan-Brown, Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Milwaukee. Heaggan-Brown is on trail for first-degree reckless homicide in the killing of Sylville Smith, a 23-year-old black man, on Aug. 13, 2016. (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Fire investigators were unable to determine what caused the blaze at an Oakland, California, warehouse that killed 36 people last December, according to a report released late Monday.

According to the report posted late on the city of Oakland's website, investigators cannot rule out an electrical failure, candles, incense, smoking material or an open flame as possible causes.

Investigators determined the blaze originated on a back corner on the ground floor of the two-story building but they couldn't pinpoint a cause because of the extensive fire damage.

Derick Almena, 47, and Max Harris, 27, were each charged earlier this month with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter for the deaths during an unpermitted dance party.

Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said Almena had turned the warehouse into a "deathtrap."

Visitors and tenants alike described the Ghost Ship as a warren of scrap wood, sofas, old pianos and snaking electrical cables. Several said Almena, who rented the building, brushed them off when they voiced concerns.

Lawyers for Almena and Harris say their clients are being used as scapegoats and that the building owner should be the one facing criminal charges.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping - but these days they face the added risk of being laid off.

A financial crisis in recent years has forced the country to cut back on efforts to remove explosives left over from decades of conflict - buried bombs that kill and maim dozens of people every month and render precious farming and grazing land unusable.

Wali Mohammad, a 32-year-old de-miner, spends long hours roaming the mountains south of Kabul, looking for mines left over from the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Like other de-miners, he wears a protective helmet and visor as well as gloves to protect his hands from snakes and scorpions.

In this Wednesday, May 24, 2017, photo, de-miners from The HALO Trust de-mining organization collect anti-tank mines to be destroyed on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

The painstaking work pays $300 a month, barely enough to support his wife and eight children, who live as refugees in neighboring Pakistan. "Whenever I go home I ask for (my family's) forgiveness, because it is a dangerous job and anything can happen at any time," he said.

At least 90 de-miners have been killed and more than 120 wounded since 2010, according to government figures. Another 720 have been kidnapped, though all but seven were later freed through military operations or tribal negotiations.

A far bigger threat, for many, is another round of layoffs. Some 5,000 de-miners have been let go since 2014, when the U.S. and NATO formally concluded their combat mission and switched to a support and counterterrorism role.

The HALO Trust Organization, which has been carrying out mine-clearing efforts since 1988, has had to lay off 1,000 de-miners, and now employs just 2,400 Afghans.

Over the same three years, the Taliban have widened their reach and an Islamic State affiliate has risen in the east. Aid agencies have been forced to scale back operations, and funding has dried up as they scramble to address crises in other parts of the world.

The government has set the ambitious goal of clearing all the country's known minefields by 2023, but that looks increasingly unattainable, especially since armed groups are actively planting new roadside bombs.

The shortage of funding and manpower will have a "huge impact" on the government's ability to reach its target, said Wais Ahmad Barmak, the state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs, which oversees mine removal.

Afghanistan remains one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, with millions of people living within 500 meters (yards) of a minefield, according to Farid Ahmad Homayoun, HALO's Afghanistan country director.

Around 140 people, mostly women and children, are killed or wounded by land mines or roadside bombs every month, according to the government.

Gul Hassan, a 25-year-old de-miner, says he had to accept the difficult job to support his four children. He is still haunted by an accident a year ago, when a blast tore off his co-worker's hands. But he takes pride in his work, which allows impoverished communities to reclaim much-needed land.

"When any of my countrymen can live freely and without fear it makes me proud," he said.

In this Wednesday, May 24, 2017, photo, de-miners from The HALO Trust de-mining organization collect anti-tank mines to destroy on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Tuesday, May 16, 2017, photo, A de-miner from The HALO Trust organization works on a mined field in Lalander village of Char Asyub district of Kabul, Afghanistan Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Tuesday, May 16, 2017, photo, Gul Hassan, 25, a de-miner from The HALO Trust de-mining organization works on a mined field in Lalander village of Char Asyub district of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Tuesday, May 16, 2017, photo, an Afghan de-miner from The HALO Trust de-mining organization clears dust from a Russian-made anti-personnel mine after finding it in a mined field in Lalander village of Char Asyub district of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Wednesday, May 24, 2017, photo, smoke rises after a controlled detonation of land-mines and other ammunition gathered by the HALO Trust on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Wednesday, May 24, 2017, photo, smoke rises after a controlled detonation of land mines and other ammunition gathered by the HALO Trust on the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

In this Saturday, June 17, 2017, photo, physiotherapists, left, and right, adjust an artificial leg of a land mine victim at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) physical rehabilitation center in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country's countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping _ but these days they face the added risk of being laid off. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The family of an Ohio woman who died after contracting a brain-eating amoeba has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a North Carolina outdoor recreational park.

The family of 18-year-old Lauren Seitz filed the federal lawsuit Monday in Columbus, Ohio, against the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Seitz died in June 2016 from meningoencephalitis, a disease caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri (nuh-GLEER'-ee-uh FOW'-lur-ee). The lawsuit says Seitz contracted the amoeba after she was thrown overboard while whitewater rafting at the park.

The lawsuit claims the center failed to properly chlorinate the water, failed to regulate the temperature of the water and failed to warn visitors of the possible danger.

The family is seeking punitive damages of more than $1 million.
I shared recently in this post that this spring has been a more-stressful-than-usual season for us because Christian has chosen to pursue a medical fellowship after his Otolaryngology (ENT) residency. This means he has traveled to 14 cities and interviewed for a one-person fellowship position with less than 50 available spots in the U.S. + Canada.

As a surgical subspecialty within an already small speciality its extremely competitive. Its stressful, exhausting and quite expensive.

I shared his ENT residency match in this reveal four years ago, so it felt appropriate to do the same this time, showing all of the places he has been traveling since March.

New York x 2, San Francisco, Austin, Houston, Kansas City, St. Louis, Atlanta, Chicago x 2, Philadelphia

Christian has matched in Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in

Oh snap! Cali has us hooked for another year and you know Im not complainin! Christian matched last week and weve been celebrating ever since. We still have one more year (year #5) for Christian to finish up his ENT residency and then well move to San Francisco for one year for his 10th and final year of training post-college. Ten. Years. The light at the end of the tunnel is there, guys. I can see it!!

In the meantime, we are really enjoying this palm tree journey God has blessed us with. It would have been really easy to stay in Mississippi or the South, and that would have been great too but I am so proud of Christian for spreading his wings and seeing whats out there. To put yourself out there is not only extremely vulnerable but also can be a big risk, and dreaming BIG doesnt come without both successes and failures (speaking from my own experiences). Were in it together and have always encouraged each other to take the leap of faith and here we are again, with another adventure ahead of us.

Ive always thought he was one of the smartest fish Ive ever met, and its been a beautiful thing to watch him discover that for himself. My boy is growing up and I feel so privileged to be a small part of his success! CHBoo, Ill ride the coattails of your lottery ticket any day.

Thanks so much for all of your support over the years. Honestly, there have been some really long and hard/lonely days and your comments and feedback have given me a feeling of community and a lump in my throat. You guys will never know how much I value and appreciate you.

And of course I have another year to soak up SoCal and graciously accept any SF recommendations you guys have! C has dabbled in looking at housing in the area where hell be working and it happens to be one of the most expensive neighborhoods in one of the most expensive cities in the country so I am just expecting to shell out, enjoy it and live like this for a year. That handbag I was going to buy myself for my birthday? Yeah, I decided that maybe I would just save that cash instead. #Adulting.

I actually pulled up this post back in 2014 when Christian and I drove up the coast to San Francisco to visit my brother and his fam when they were living there. And I already started making a bucket list like I did for SoCal when I found out we were moving here!

Thanks so much for reading and sharing in this celebratory moment with us  love you mean it! XO 
DUNWOODY, Ga. (AP) - Republican Karen Handel won a nationally watched congressional election Tuesday in Georgia, and she thanked President Donald Trump after she avoided an upset that would have rocked Washington ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Returns showed Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, winning about 52 percent of the vote over Democrat Jon Ossoff, who won nearly 48 percent in Georgia's 6th Congressional District.

"A special thanks to the president of the United States of America," she said late Tuesday night as her supporters chanted, "Trump! Trump! Trump!"

Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth District Congressional Seat Karen Handel, left, greets supporters at an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. Handel is in a hotly contested runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

It was Handel's most public embrace of the man whose tenuous standing in this well-educated, suburban enclave made a previously safe Republican district close to begin with.

Handel's margin allows Republicans a sigh of relief after what's being recognized as the most expensive House race in U.S history, with a price tag that may exceed $50 million.

Yet the result in a historically conservative district still offers Republicans a warning that Trump, for better or worse, will dominate the looming campaign cycle. Georgia's outcome follows similar results in Montana, Kansas and South Carolina, where Republicans won special House races by much narrower margins than they managed as recently as November.

Republicans immediately crowed over winning a seat that Democrats spent $30 million trying to flip. "Democrats from coast to coast threw everything they had at this race, and Karen would not be defeated," House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement.

Democrats still must defend their current districts and win 24 GOP-held seats to regain a House majority next November. Party leaders profess encouragement from the trends, but the latest losses mean they will have to rally donors and volunteers after a tough stretch of special elections.

Handel, 55, will become the first Republican woman to represent Georgia in the U.S. House, according to state party officials.

Her win comes after losing bids for governor in 2010 and the Senate in 2014, and it builds on a business and political career she built after leaving an abusive home as a teen.

"It's that fighting spirit, that perseverance and tenacity that I will take to Washington," she said Tuesday night.

Handel is the latest in a line of Republicans who have represented the district since 1979, beginning with Newt Gingrich, who would become House speaker. Most recently, Tom Price resigned in February to join Trump's administration. The president himself struggled here, though, edging Democrat Hillary Clinton but falling short of a majority among an affluent, well-educated electorate that typically has given Republican nominees better than 60 percent of the vote.

Handel emphasized that Republican pedigree often in her campaign and again in her victory speech.

She also noted throughout the campaign that she has lived in the district for 25 years, unlike Ossoff, who grew up in the district but lives in Atlanta, a few miles south of the 6th District's southern border.

In victory, she commended Ossoff and pledged to work for his supporters. She noted last week's shooting of Republican Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana and said politics has become too embittered.

"My pledge is to be part of the solution, to focus on governing," she said.

Ossoff, taking the stage at his own party after conceding the race, told his supporters his campaign "is the beginning of something much bigger than us," adding, "The fight goes on."

Party organizations, independent political action committees and donors from Los Angeles to Boston sent a cascade of money into a race, filling metro Atlanta's airwaves with ads and its 6th District neighborhoods with hordes of paid canvassers.

Contrary to the chants at Handel's victory party, she insisted for months that voters' choice had little to do with Trump. She rarely mentioned him, despite holding a closed-door fundraiser with him earlier this spring. She pointed voters instead to her "proven conservative record" as a state and local elected official.

Her protestations aside, Handel often embraced the national tenor of the race, joining a GOP chorus that lambasted Ossoff as a "dangerous liberal" who was "hand-picked" by House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. She also welcomed a parade of national GOP figures to Atlanta to help her raise money, with Ryan and Vice President Mike Pence holding fundraisers following Trump's April visit.

It was enough to help Handel raise more than $5 million, not a paltry sum in a congressional race, but barely a fifth of Ossoff's fundraising haul. The Republican campaign establishment, however, helped make up the difference. A super PAC backed by Ryan spent $7 million alone.

On policy, she mostly echoes party leaders. She said she'd have voted for the House Republican health care bill, though she sometimes misrepresented its provisions in debates with Ossoff. She touts traditional supply side economics, going so far as to say during one debate that she does "not support a living wage" - her way of explaining her opposition to a minimum-wage increase.

___

Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/BillBarrowAP.

Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth District Congressional Seat Karen Handel speaks to her staff before an election-night watch party Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. Handel is in a hotly contested runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Peter Ludwinski of Sandy Springs, Ga., laughs as he waits for an election-night watch party to begin for Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth District Congressional seat Karen Handel Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. Handel is in a hotly contested runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

A Campaign worker sets up for an election-night watch party for Republican candidate for Georgia's Sixth District Congressional Seat Karen Handel Tuesday, June 20, 2017, in Atlanta. Handel is in a hotly contested runoff with Democrat Jon Ossoff. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Democratic candidate for 6th congressional district Jon Ossoff concedes to Republican Karen Handel at his election night party in Atlanta, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Democratic candidate for 6th congressional district Jon Ossoff, left, concedes to Republican Karen Handel while joined by his fiancee Alisha Kramer at his election night party in Atlanta, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
BERLIN (AP) - German authorities are taking action against 36 people suspected of posting hate speech online, most of them accused of far-right incitement.

The Federal Criminal Police Office said police across the country searched homes of suspects, questioned them and took unspecified "further measures" early Tuesday. There was no word of any arrests.

The so-called "day of action against hate postings" followed a similar exercise last year. The police office said most of the postings targeted Tuesday had a far-right motivation, but authorities also targeted a suspected anti-government extremist, two far-left suspects and one case where the victim's sexual orientation was attacked.

In April, the Cabinet approved a bill to punish social networking sites if they fail to swiftly remove illegal content such as hate speech. Parliament has yet to approve it.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Less than one-third of Americans support President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a new poll shows, and just 18 percent of respondents agree with his claim that pulling out of the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions will help the U.S. economy.

The survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research earlier this month found that a slim majority - 52 percent - worry that withdrawing will actually hurt the economy. Twenty-seven percent think it won't have an impact either way.

But digging deeper into the numbers shows a sharp partisan divide on global warming, with Republicans more likely to align themselves with the president's views.

FILE - In this June 1, 2017, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks about the U.S. role in the Paris climate change accord in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. A new poll finds that less than a third of Americans support Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, with just 18 percent of respondents agreeing with his claim that pulling out of the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions will help the U.S. economy.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Seventy-eight percent of Democrats think withdrawing from the Paris agreement will hurt the national economy. Among Republicans, just 24 percent think it will hurt, 40 percent think it will have no impact and 34 percent think it will help.

Donald Nolan is a New Jersey businessman who has spent years living and traveling overseas. He worries that Trump is undermining U.S. credibility abroad. An independent voter, Nolan said he strongly opposes pulling out of the Paris accord.

"Where I live, we're 36 feet above sea level. It the polar ice caps melt, there won't be any dry land here," said Nolan, 60. "If you are pulling out of something that pretty much every other country in the world is a part of, then that is not seen as being a leader. When I lived overseas, America was always looked at as being first. But I see our position to be deteriorating."

Overall, 44 percent of Americans are very concerned and 26 percent are moderately concerned that withdrawing from the agreement will hurt the country's standing in the world, with that concern also dividing along party lines.

By a 46 percent to 29 percent margin, more oppose than favor the U.S. withdrawing from the agreement. Democrats are far more likely to oppose than support withdrawing from the agreement, 69 percent to 16 percent. Republicans are more likely to support Trump's withdrawal, 51 percent to 20 percent.

Independents are mixed in their views. Twenty-five percent support the withdrawal, 36 percent are opposed and 37 percent don't feel strongly one way or the other.

Similarly, 43 percent say they're very or extremely concerned that the U.S. withdrawing from the agreement will hurt global efforts to fight climate change, while 25 percent are moderately concerned. Seventy-two percent of Democrats, but just 13 percent of Republicans, are very concerned about the withdrawal hurting global efforts to fight climate change.

Sixty-four percent of Americans disapprove and just 34 percent approve of how Trump is handling the issue of climate change, the poll shows. That's similar to his overall approval rating, but there are other areas where Trump performs a bit better. For example, 43 percent approve of how he's handling the economy and 47 percent approve of how he's handling the threat of terrorism.

The poll shows about two-thirds of Americans think that climate change is happening, while only about 1 in 10 think it's not. The remaining quarter aren't sure one way or another.

Seven in 10 Americans - including some of those who aren't sure whether climate change is actually happening - think it's a problem that the U.S. government should be working to address. Among those who do think it's a problem the government should address, more oppose than support withdrawing from the Paris agreement by a 60 percent to 21 percent margin.

More than half of Americans -53 percent - say climate change is a very or extremely important issue to them. Women are more likely than men to call climate change an important issue, 59 percent to 47 percent.

Bonnie Sumner, an independent voter who has lived in Colorado the last nine years, is among those who said doing something to combat climate change is important. She said her community in the Rocky Mountains is still dealing with the after effects of a devastating wildfire.

"It's definitely gotten hotter than it used to be," said Sumner, 72. "I try to keep up with science, not people who have money to be made by not wanting things to change."

The poll shows that 35 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the scientific community, 51 percent have some confidence, and 11 percent have hardly any confidence. But, again, there's a big political divide: 53 percent of Democrats, but just 22 percent of Republicans and 19 percent of independents, say they have a great deal of confidence in scientists.

Sumner said Trump is too quick to dismiss the evidence of global warming compiled by climate scientists.

"His position, as it is with too many other things, is, 'I know what's best, I know better than everybody else, and this is a hoax, and this is fake news,'" she said. "I'm frightened for us, my children and my grandchildren. We only have one earth, we have to work together."

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,068 adults was conducted June 8-11 using a sample drawn from NORC's probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.

___

Follow Associated Press environmental reporter Michael Biesecker at http://Twitter.com/mbieseck and Emily Swanson at http://twitter.com/el_swan

___

Online:

AP-NORC: http://www.apnorc.org/
BEIRUT (AP) - The U.S. military said it shot down an Iranian-made, armed drone in southern Syria on Tuesday, marking the third time this month that that the U.S. has downed aircraft affiliated with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government.

The U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group said a U.S. F-15 fighter jet shot down the drone "after it displayed hostile intent" while approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. A similar drone was shot down in the same location after it dropped munitions near coalition forces on June 8.

The repeated incidents in the vicinity of the Tanf camp, where U.S. forces train and advise local ground forces in the fight against IS, add to soaring regional tensions that could spiral out of control just as the fight against the extremists enters a crucial phase, with U.S.-backed forces pushing into the group's de facto capital, the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif speaks with media members at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films." Iran fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The U.S. on Sunday shot down a Syrian jet for the first time during the conflict near Raqqa after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces, which are battling IS. Russia condemned the U.S. action and in retaliation suspended a hotline intended to prevent such incidents.

Asked Tuesday whether the hotline was no longer being used, a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, said he could not discuss the matter beyond saying the U.S. stands ready to use the line.

"The de-confliction line has proven effective at mitigating strategic miscalculations and escalating tense situations, and to be clear, we prefer to keep this channel of communication open. We want to de-escalate, not escalate," Davis said. "We remain available on our end. I'll leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation."

The U.S. has also fired on Syrian government ground forces in the east on two occasions in just the last month.

The U.S. military's Central Command said the drone shot down Tuesday was a Shaheed 129 and appeared to have been operated by "pro-regime" forces, a term which U.S. officials previously have used to describe Hezbollah elements.

There are concerns that further confrontations could lead to a breakout of hostilities that would hinder the battle against IS.

Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against IS targets in Syria as a precaution, after Russia announced it was suspending the hotline and warned the U.S.-led coalition not to fly over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Iran - another close Assad ally - fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Iran's Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

A spokesman for the Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, citing "local sources" and drone footage.

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran's "military power," though Iran has no intention of starting another war. It is still unclear what the missiles struck, and Iran has provided few details.

Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

The U.S. military meanwhile confirmed Tuesday that top IS cleric Turki al-Binali was killed in a coalition airstrike on May 31, in Mayadeen, Syria. The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of hundreds of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the IS branch in Libya.

Activists and IS supporters reported his death at the time but Tuesday's statement from Central Command was the first U.S. confirmation.

Fighting and bombardment meanwhile resumed early Tuesday between Syrian government forces and rebels in the southern city of Daraa and nearby areas, where a 48-hour truce had gone into effect on Saturday. The truce was meant to be extended but now appears to have collapsed.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

"The situation is back as it was in Daraa city and fighting is ongoing," said Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh. "The regime made the truce and then violated it."

The activist-run Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that government troops captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where the March 2011 uprising against the Assad family's four-decade rule began. The conflict quickly descended into a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assad's troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.

___

Burns reported from Washington, DC. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

In this picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Monday, June 19, 2017, a missile is fired from city of Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in charge of the country's missile program, said it launched six Zolfaghar ballistic missiles from the western provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan. (Morteza Fakhrinejad, IRIB News Agency via AP)

The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, left, speaks with The Associated Press reporters at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films." Iran fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

In this picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Monday, June 19, 2017, a missile is fired from city of Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in charge of the country's missile program, said it launched six Zolfaghar ballistic missiles from the western provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan. (IRIB News Agency, Morteza Fakhrinejad via AP)

In this picture released by the Iranian state-run IRIB News Agency on Monday, June 19, 2017, a missile is fired from city of Kermanshah in western Iran targeting the Islamic State group in Syria. Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard, a paramilitary force in charge of the country's missile program, said it launched six Zolfaghar ballistic missiles from the western provinces of Kermanshah and Kurdistan. (IRIB News Agency, Morteza Fakhrinejad via AP)
BEIJING (AP) - The German ambassador to China on Tuesday called on authorities to end the apparent confinement of a Catholic bishop and said he is concerned by proposed changes to the country's rules governing religion.

Ambassador Michael Clauss said in a statement posted on the embassy's website that Shao Zhumin appears to have been forced by authorities to move to unknown locations four times over the past year. Shao, who was recognized as a bishop by the pope but not by Beijing, now appears to be confined to his home.

"His full freedom of movement should be restored," Clauss said in the statement.

FILE - In this July 30, 2015, file photo, parishioners of Lower Dafei Catholic Church hold an impromptu prayer vigil as they wait for Chinese officials to arrive and cut down their church's cross in Lower Dafei Village near Wenzhou in eastern China's Zhejiang Province. Germany's ambassador to China has called on authorities on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, to end the confinement of a Catholic bishop in the city of Wenzhou, seen as evidence of the suppression of the church within the officially atheistic communist country. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

Shao was appointed in September by the Vatican as bishop in the eastern city of Wenzhou, which has a large Christian community. Ever since the officially atheistic communist state cut relations with the Holy See in the 1950s, the Vatican and Beijing have been at loggerheads over who has the right to name bishops in China and other issues governing the church.

The Vatican-affiliated AsiaNews website, which closely covers the underground church in China, reported that police had taken Shao away on May 18. Last week, Shao was spotted arriving back at Wenzhou airport in Zhejiang province, accompanied by government officers who then drove him to an unknown location, AsiaNews reported on Monday.

It said his disappearance was believed to be part of an attempt to persuade him to join the ruling Communist Party-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

A woman who answered the phone at Wenzhou's police headquarters declined to respond to questions about Shao's case. An officer in charge of the Catholic Affairs division at the Wenzhou City Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs referred calls to the propaganda department of Wenzhou's Communist Party Committee, where no one answered.

China's government has long had an uneasy relationship with Christianity, particularly when it comes to the pope's right to make decisions about canonical matters inside the country. In recent years, authorities in Zhejiang have removed hundreds of crosses and other outward symbols of the Christian faith, saying they violated building codes. Christian associations denounced the campaign as unconstitutional and humiliating.

China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, many of whom worship in non-state sanctioned congregations that often overlap with the government-recognized church.

Clauss also said that he was concerned by "a number of new rules" in a draft regulation on religious affairs, without specifying them.

"If unchanged, they could place further restrictions on the right to freedom of religion and belief," the ambassador said.

The proposed amendments made public in September have alarmed activists, who say they aim to suppress all unofficial religious activities. They include a clause that says religious sites should meet the requirements of urban planning, a clause that some observers have said is vague and could provide a legal basis for the removal of religious symbols such as crosses.

___

Follow Louise Watt on Twitter at twitter.com/louise_watt
PARIS (AP) - French authorities say a truck driver was killed in a highway accident prompted by a roadblock installed by migrants trying to board trucks traveling across to Britain.

The administration for the Pas-de-Calais region said in a statement that nine Eritrean migrants have been detained.

It says that migrants placed tree trunks on the A16 highway leading to Calais early Tuesday, forcing three large trucks to stop. It said a smaller truck then crashed into one of those trucks and caught on fire. The driver's identity is unclear.

Such roadblocks have caused accidents in the past but this is the first time they have been linked to a death, according to an official with the regional administration who was not authorized to be publicly named.
MOSCOW (AP) - The European Court for Human Rights has ruled that Russia's law banning dissemination of so-called gay propaganda to minors violates the right to freedom of expression.

The court on Tuesday found in favor of three gay activists who claimed the law violated the rights to freedom of expression and prohibition of discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights. Over the course of several years, the three men have staged pickets to promote gay rights and unsuccessfully applied for permission to hold gay pride parades in Russia.

Following legislation in several regions, Russia in 2013 adopted a federal law prohibiting dissemination to minors of "propaganda" legitimizing homosexuality.

The bill has been condemned as a ban on any public discussions of homosexuality. Authorities say it is in the interests of children.
LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making good progress in controlling a major wildfire that killed 64 people in the central area of the country, while officials said reports that a water-dropping plane had crashed in the area of the blaze turned out to be false.

Maria Jose Andre of Portugal's Air Accident Office said her department was told by the Civil Protection Agency that a Canadair water-dropping plane had crashed on Tuesday while fighting the wildfire. Her office immediately sent a crash investigation team to the area.

But in a bizarre sequence of events, officials with the Portuguese government and the Civil Protection Agency said they could not confirm a crash had taken place. They said airborne search-and-rescue teams dispatched to look for wreckage didn't find anything and that no firefighting planes were missing.

A firefighting airplane drops its load of water trying to prevent a forest fire from reaching the village of Ouzenda, outside Pedrogao Grande, central Portugal, Tuesday, June 20 2017. Ouzenda residents were evacuated and firefighters moved in to protect the houses while aircraft battled the fire approaching the small village. Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in their battle to control a major wildfire that killed more than 60 people in the central region of the country. (AP Photo/Armando Franca),

Civil Protection Agency spokesman Fausto Coutinho suggested that word of a plane crash was based on misleading information relayed from the fire area. He could not explain why Portugal's Air Accident Office said it received a call from the agency notifying it of a plane crash, but said the confusing situation on the ground could have misled people.

"It could have been a strange coincidence, with a plane passing over and an explosion occurring on the ground at the same time," Coutinho told the AP.

Vitor Vaz Pinto, another Civil Protection Agency spokesman, said an abandoned caravan containing gas bottles had exploded in the same area and sent up a fireball, suggesting that may have led people to think there was a crash.

The Civil Protection Agency said about 2,400 firefighters and 24 water-dropping aircraft were fighting the deadly wildfire around the area of Pedrogao Grande, which was raging for a third consecutive day about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Lisbon.

Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes said the wildfires were gradually ebbing and being contained.

"There are already some areas where the fires are contained and being extinguished," he told reporters.

Some firefighting resources were being diverted to Gois, about 20 kilometers from Pedrogao Grande, where almost 800 firefighters and four planes were battling flames. Vaz Pinto told reporters the Gois wildfire was "very fast and very explosive" and had forced the evacuation of 11 hill villages.

Temperatures forecast to reach 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), gusting winds and bone-dry woodland were fueling the blazes, Vaz Pinto said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Antonio Costa ordered an investigation into what happened on Saturday night when the deaths occurred, 47 of them on a road as people fled the flames.

Costa's order asked three questions: whether extreme weather could explain the scale of the disaster, why emergency services communications at times didn't work, and why the road where the deaths occurred was not closed.

____

Aritz Parra in Madrid contributed to this report.

A man, right, walks along a recently burnt patch of pine forest in Serra do Macario, central Portugal, Tuesday, June 20 2017. Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in their battle to control a major wildfire that killed more than 60 people in the central region of the country. (AP Photo/Armando Franca),

A house that escaped a recent forest fire stands out against the burnt ground in Serra do Macario, central Portugal, Tuesday, June 20 2017. Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in their battle to control a major wildfire that killed more than 60 people in the central region of the country. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

A couple standing on top of a hill look at the damage of the forest fire in Serra do Macario, central Portugal, Tuesday, June 20 2017. Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in their battle to control a major wildfire that killed more than 60 people in the central region of the country. (AP Photo/Armando Franca),

In this image made available by the Spanish Airforce on Tuesday June 20, 2017, a Spanish firefighting plane flies over the fires in the Pedrogao Grande area, Portugal. The Civil Protection Agency said about 1,200 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft were fighting the deadly wildfire in Pedrogao Grande, which was raging for a third consecutive day about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Lisbon. Officials said that blaze was mostly contained though still burning fiercely. (Spanish Airforce via AP)

In this image made available by the Spanish Airforce on Tuesday June 20, 2017, a Spanish firefighting plane flies over the fires in the Pedrogao Grande area, Portugal. The Civil Protection Agency said about 1,200 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft were fighting the deadly wildfire in Pedrogao Grande, which was raging for a third consecutive day about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Lisbon. Officials said that blaze was mostly contained though still burning fiercely. (Spanish Airforce via AP)

A burnt vehicle and farming tools by the side of a road in Casal de Alge, outside the village of Figueiro dos Vinhos central Portugal, Monday, June 19, 2017. More than 2,000 firefighters in Portugal battled Monday to contain major wildfires in the central region of the country, where one blaze killed 62 people, while authorities came under mounting criticism for not doing more to prevent the tragedy. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte)

Portuguese National Republican Guard firefighters take a break near the village of Ouzenda, outside Pedrogao Grande, central Portugal, Tuesday, June 20 2017. Ouzenda residents were evacuated and firefighters moved in to protect the houses while aircraft battled the fire approaching the small village. Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in their battle to control a major wildfire that killed more than 60 people in the central region of the country. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The Nelson Mandela Foundation has paid tribute to the late Joel Joffe, a South Africa-born human rights lawyer who defended Mandela during a 1960s trial at which the anti-apartheid leader was sentenced to life in prison.

Joel Joffe, who died in London on Sunday at the age of 85, was part of the defense team for Mandela and other leaders of the movement against white minority rule who were tried for sabotage in the Rivonia trial. He later moved to Britain and was made a member of the House of Lords in the parliament.

The Mandela foundation on Monday expressed sadness at Joffe's death and said he helped many other people in his career.

Mandela, who was jailed for 27 years, became South Africa's first black president in 1994.
BEIRUT (AP) - The Latest on the developments in Syria (all times local):

10:45 p.m.

Russia says it is waiting for the U.S. to explain its decision to shoot down a Syrian warplane.

The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, left, speaks with The Associated Press reporters at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films." Iran fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that Moscow had asked for a "detailed explanation" of Monday's downing of a Syrian Su-22 bomber.

The U.S. said it had downed the Syrian jet a day earlier after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group, adding that was something it would not tolerate.

Russia responded by warning it would track aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a hotline intended to avoid mid-air collisions.

Lavrov said that the hotline has been efficient in the past, noting that "it's quite crowded both on the ground and in the air."

___

10:30 p.m.

Israel's military Chief of Staff is disputing Iranian claims of successfully launching missiles at militants in Syria.

Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot said Tuesday the "operational achievement was much smaller" than what has been reported.

Speaking at an annual security and policy conference in Herzliya, he said they obtained "far from precise hits." He added the rare missile strike expressed Iran's aspirations in the region.

Israel and Iran are bitter enemies.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard has said that all six ballistic missiles it launched at Islamic State militants in Syria this week hit their targets.

It was not known what was hit and Iran provided no details.

Iran described the strike as revenge for attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50, the first such IS assault in the country.

___

8:15 p.m.

The U.S. military has confirmed it killed a top Islamic State cleric in an airstrike.

Central Command said Tuesday that Turki al-Binali was killed on May 31. Activists and IS supporters reported his death at the time, but the military is only confirming it now.

The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the IS branch in Libya. He rose to be one of the extremist group's leading ideologues.

The military said Binali was killed in Mayadeen, an IS-held Syrian town near the Iraqi border.

Several senior Islamic State figures have been killed in recent years as the group has been driven from large parts of Syria and Iraq. U.S.-backed forces recently pushed into Raqqa, the northern Syrian city that served as the group's de facto capital.

___

5:45 p.m.

The U.S. military says it shot down an Iranian-made, armed drone in southern Syria.

A defense official says the drone was approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. That is where U.S. forces have been training and advising local Syrian Arabs for the fight against Islamic State militants.

The official says the drone was considered a threat, and was shot down by a U.S. F-15 fighter jet.

The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official says the drone was a Shaheed 129 and appeared to have been operated by "pro-regime" forces.

It was the second time this month that the U.S. has shot down an armed drone in the vicinity of the camp at Tanf.

___

4 p.m.

The U.N. children's agency says the European Union has donated 90 million euros ($100.3 million) that will help provide critical services and support to Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

UNICEF said in a statement Tuesday that the donation on World Refugee Day will help it along with host countries to provide hundreds of thousands of children and young people with access to education, vocational training and psychological support.

It said the latest contribution brings the total funding from the EU Trust Fund for UNICEF's work on the Syria crisis response to nearly EUR200 million ($223 millions).

The announcement came days after UNICEF appointed its newest Goodwill Ambassador, Syrian Muzoon Almellehan, 19, the first person with official refugee status to become an Ambassador for UNICEF.

It said around 2 million children from Syria live as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, adding pressure on already stretched support systems.

___

12:20 p.m.

Syrian opposition activists say a truce that went into effect three days ago in the southern city of Daraa has collapsed amid a government offensive near the Jordanian border.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces pushed on Tuesday into some rebel-held areas in Daraa, as well as its western outskirts. The 48-hour truce that had started there at noon Saturday was supposed to be extended.

Daraa-based activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh says fighting is now underway in the city. He is blaming the government for the truce's collapse.

Daraa is where Syria's crisis first broke out in March 2011 as an uprising against President Bashar Assad's government. The crisis quickly became a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The Syrian government forces' march toward the Jordanian border comes two weeks after they reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.

___

11:55 a.m.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says all six ballistic missiles it launched at Islamic State militants in Syria earlier this week hit their targets.

Guard spokesman Gen. Ramazan Sharif told The Associated Press on Tuesday the force's "local sources and drone films say that all the six missiles the Guard launched hit their targets."

The remarks came amid questions whether the strike - Iran's first in the Syrian war - had been effective.

It was not known what exactly was hit and Iran has provided no details. Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

Sharif says the missile launch reflects Iran's "military power" though Iran has no intention of starting another war.

He says: "We are not the initiator of any conflict and war but we do not tolerate creation of insecurity in our country."

The Guard has described the missile strike as revenge for attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50, the first such IS assault in the country.

___

10:50 a.m.

Australia has suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria as a precaution after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week.

In Canberra, a Defense Department statement said on Tuesday that "Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats."

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

The development comes as tensions rise in Syria with Russia and Iran sending U.S. warnings.

Russia threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the U.S. military shooting down a Syrian warplane on Sunday. Also, Iran fired several ballistic missiles Sunday night at IS positions in eastern Syria.

The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif speaks with media members at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films." Iran fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

The spokesman of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif speaks with media members at the conclusion of his press conference in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films." Iran fired ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
United States Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. WILLIE MCCLOUD, Defendant-Appellant. No. 16-14858 Decided: June 16, 2017

Before WILSON, JULIE CARNES, and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges.

Willie McCloud appeals his 120-month sentence for being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, in violation of 18 U.S.C.  922(g)(1). On appeal, McCloud argues that his sentence is procedurally and substantively unreasonable. He contends that the district court did not adequately explain the sentence and that the factors listed in 18 U.S.C.  3553(a) do not support the sentence.

McCloud pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition, following an incident at a convenience store in which he attempted to walk out without paying for a one dollar beverage and removed a firearm from his waist band when the store clerk tried to stop him. At McCloud's 2016 sentencing hearing, the probation officer calculated a guidelines range of 70 to 87 months' imprisonment. The government moved for an upward variance and the district court granted it, sentencing McCloud to 120 months' imprisonment.

We review the reasonableness of a sentence under a deferential abuse-of-discretion standard. See Gall v. United States, 552 U.S. 38, 41, 128 S. Ct. 586, 591 (2007). When a defendant does not object to procedural reasonableness at the time of sentencing, we review for plain error. See United States v. Vandergrift, 754 F.3d 1303, 1307 (11th Cir. 2014). However, we review de novo a claim under  3553(c)(2) that the district court did not explain the reason for a sentence variance, even if the defendant did not object below. See United States v. Parks, 823 F.3d 990, 99496 (11th Cir. 2016).

In determining the reasonableness of a sentence, we first ensure that the district court committed no significant procedural error, such as improperly calculating the guideline range or inadequately explaining the chosen sentence. See Gall, 552 U.S. at 51, 128 S. Ct. at 597. We then examine whether the sentence was substantively reasonable in light of the totality of the circumstances. Id. The party challenging the sentence bears the burden to show [that the sentence] is unreasonable in light of the record and the  3553(a) factors. United States v. Tome, 611 F.3d 1371, 1378 (11th Cir. 2010).

I.

In sentencing a defendant, the district court must set forth enough to satisfy the appellate court that [it] considered the parties' arguments and has a reasoned basis for exercising [its] own legal decision-making authority. See Rita v. United States, 551 U.S. 338, 356, 127 S. Ct. 2456, 2468 (2007). However, a district court is not required to state on the record that it has explicitly considered each of the  3553(a) factors or to discuss each of the  3553(a) factors. See United States v. Sanchez, 586 F.3d 918, 936 (11th Cir. 2009) (internal quotation marks omitted). Rather, [i]t is sufficient that the district court considers the defendant's arguments at sentencing and states that it has taken the  3553(a) factors into account. Id.

Under  3553(c)(2), the district court is required to state in open court the specific reasons for a sentence outside the [guideline] range. See 18 U.S.C.  3553(c)(2). [T]he district court's reasons must be sufficiently specific so that an appellate court can engage in the meaningful review envisioned by the Sentencing Guidelines. Parks, 823 F.3d at 997 (internal quotation marks omitted). However, in determining a district court's compliance with  3553(c)(2), we may consider the record from the entire sentencing hearing and need not rely upon the district court's summary statement [at the end of the hearing]. See United States v. Suarez, 939 F.2d 929, 934 (11th Cir. 1991).

McCloud's sentence is procedurally reasonable. The district court considered the parties' arguments, the presentence investigation report (PSI), and took the  3553(a) factors into account. See Sanchez, 586 F.3d at 936. To the extent McCloud argues that the district court did not comply with  3553(c)(2), the government's motion for a variance, the parties' arguments, and the court's summary statement discussing the sentencing factors allowed for meaningful [appellate] review in compliance with  3553(c)(2). See Parks, 823 F.3d at 997; Suarez, 939 F.2d at 934.

II.

In considering the substantive reasonableness of a sentence, the district court must impose a sentence sufficient, but not greater than necessary, to comply with the purposes listed in 18 U.S.C.  3553(a)(2), including the need to reflect the seriousness of the offense, promote respect for the law, provide just punishment for the offense, deter criminal conduct, and protect the public from the defendant's future criminal conduct. See 18 U.S.C.  3553(a). In imposing a particular sentence, the court must also consider the nature and circumstances of the offense, the history and characteristics of the defendant, the kinds of sentences available, the applicable guideline range, the pertinent policy statements of the Sentencing Commission, the need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities, and the need to provide restitution to victims. See id.  3553(a)(1), (3)(7).

We vacate on substantive reasonableness grounds only if left with the definite and firm conviction that the district court committed a clear error of judgment in weighing the  3553(a) factors by arriving at a sentence that lies outside the range of reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of the case. See United States v. Irey, 612 F.3d 1160, 1190 (11th Cir. 2010) (en banc) (internal quotation marks omitted).

McCloud's sentence is substantively reasonable. McCloud brandished a firearm over a simple one-dollar dispute and has a lengthy criminal history. Given the nature of the offense and McCloud's criminal history, the district court's sentence does not lie outside the range of reasonable sentences dictated by the facts of the case. See Irey, 612 F.3d at 1190.

AFFIRMED.

PER CURIAM:
BEIRUT (AP) - The Islamic State group is in retreat across Syria and Iraq, and the contours of a new conflict among the array of parties battling it are already starting to appear.

The U.S. military shot down a Syrian government warplane on Sunday, saying it had targeted an American-allied Kurdish force that is battling the extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa. That led Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, to warn that it would target U.S.-led coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates River.

Another front is shaping up on the ground below, with Assad's forces, which are also battling the Islamic State group, reaching the Iraqi border in the distant east. There they appear set to link up with Iranian-backed militias, establishing a vital land corridor from Damascus to Tehran.

The latest events are unfolding in Syria's remote east, far from the main battles of the civil war, which is still raging despite a largely ignored "de-escalation" plan brokered by Russia, Iran and Turkey.

Here's a look at where things stand for the conflict's main players.

___

PRESIDENT BASHAR ASSAD

He has survived six years of war and largely defeated the uprising against his family's four-decade rule. Now in control of Syria's five largest cities, Assad is eyeing Deir el-Zour in the east, which has been besieged by IS since 2014.

Retaking Deir el-Zour would help Assad secure access to natural gas and mineral resources, and open a potentially lucrative corridor to nearby Iraq. But the drive toward the border has already brought him into conflict with U.S.-backed opposition forces to the south and east.

___

IRAN

No country has invested more in Assad's survival than Iran, which has sponsored thousands of pro-government militiamen from across the region and injected billions of dollars to keep the economy from collapsing.

Now it appears bent on helping Assad retake the east. On Sunday, Iran lobbed ballistic missiles at IS targets in eastern Syria, the first such attack it has carried out anywhere since at least 2001.

Iran cast the strike as a response to Islamic State attacks in Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50. But the Revolutionary Guard said it was sending a broader message to its archrival Saudi Arabia and the United States.

___

RUSSIA

Russia has been waging an air campaign in support of Assad since 2015, targeting both the Islamic State group and mainstream rebels. Moscow recently claimed to have killed IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but that hasn't been confirmed.

For most of the last two years the U.S. and Russia have coordinated their different campaigns in the crowded skies over Syria, but as their allied forces converge in the east that could prove more difficult.

Russia said Monday it was suspending its cooperative mechanism with the U.S. in response to the downing of the Syrian warplane and threatened to shoot down enemy aircraft over Syrian government-held territory in the west.

It could be bluster. Russia suspended the same mechanisms in April after the U.S. struck a Syrian military base in response to a chemical attack, but resumed its participation weeks later.

___

UNITED STATES

The U.S.-led coalition is providing close air support to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces as they fight to retake Raqqa, the capital of the IS group's self-styled caliphate, where the 2015 Paris attacks and other foreign plots have been hatched.

The U.S. also has special operations forces and advisers embedded with the SDF, raising the stakes in the fight for the northern city.

In addition to downing the Syrian jet near Raqqa, the U.S. has also fired on Syrian government forces in the east on three occasions in just the last month. There, Washington backs Syrian opposition forces trained in Jordan.

After the three encounters, Assad's forces wheeled around and seized territory to the north all the way to the Iraqi border, leaving U.S. forces and their allies largely isolated in the southeast and cutting off their path to the Islamic State group.

___

SYRIA'S KURDS

In recent years the SDF has driven IS from much of northern Syria and emerged as the most effective U.S. ally battling the group in Syria.

But its progress has alarmed NATO member Turkey, which views the main Kurdish militia in the group as an extension of the rebels that have waged a decades-long insurgency in southeast Turkey.

Turkey and the Kurdish fighters have come to blows on a few occasions in recent months, leading U.S. forces to establish a buffer between them.

___

OPPOSITION FORCES

The Syrian opposition, which once dreamed of sweeping into Damascus and toppling Assad, is now largely confined to scattered enclaves in the northwest and south of the country. Peace efforts have stalled, and even the limited "de-escalation" agreement has been repeatedly violated.

Beset by internal divisions, with some of the most powerful rebel groups allied with al-Qaida, it's unclear what role the rebels will play as the conflict enters a post-Islamic State phase. Perhaps now, more than ever, Syria's fate appears to be in the hands of competing foreign powers, none of which show any sign of backing down.

___

This story has been corrected to show that IS attacks in Tehran were earlier in June, not last week.
PARIS (AP) - The Latest on Europe migration issues (all times local):

1 p.m.

A Dutch court has rejected an aid organization's demand that the country's government house more migrants who are living in camps in Greece and Italy.

In this Thursday, May 25, 2017 photo three-year-old Ragika from Syria plays with a toy horse at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. On World Refugee Day, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are still stranded in Greece in a process barely moving: Forward to other countries of the European Union, or back to Turkey under a deportation deal launched 15 months ago.AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

The Hague Court of Appeal upheld a lower court's decision that the government can't be legally compelled to take in more migrants earmarked for relocation under a European Union agreement dating back to September 2015.

The court said in a statement Tuesday that numbers of migrants agreed to by EU member states in 2015 "are not absolute, but depend on the number of asylum-seekers who are actually selected for relocation."

The organization that started the legal proceedings said in a statement that fewer migrants than expected are eligible for relocation because EU nations have been slow in making space available and many migrants don't have faith in the relocation program.

___

11:25 a.m.

Starbucks has announced plans to hire 2,500 refugees in its European stores by 2022, as part of a global program announced in January.

The Seattle-based coffee house chain said Tuesday that the figure will be part of Starbuck's commitment to hire 10,000 refugees around the world.

Starbucks said it will work with agencies that aid refugees in eight countries to launch the hirings. They are Britain, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Germany and the Netherlands.

The Refugee Council, which works for refugee rights in Britain, welcomed the partnership, saying it could "make a positive difference to the lives of refugees." The council's head, Maurice Wren, said that "refugees bring an incredible wealth of skills, knowledge and experience which are hugely beneficial to society."

___

10:25 a.m.

French authorities say a truck driver was killed in a highway accident prompted by a roadblock installed by migrants trying to board trucks traveling across to Britain.

The administration for the Pas-de-Calais region said in a statement that nine Eritrean migrants have been detained.

It says that migrants placed tree trunks on the A16 highway leading to Calais early Tuesday, forcing three large trucks to stop. It said a smaller truck then crashed into one of those trucks and caught on fire. The driver's identity is unclear.

Such roadblocks have caused accidents in the past but this is the first time they have been linked to a death, according to an official with the regional administration who was not authorized to be publicly named.

In this Friday, May 26, 2017 photo a Syrian family tend their garden at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. The camp hosts around 600 people most of them families from Syria. On World Refugee Day, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are still stranded in Greece in a process barely moving: Forward to other countries of the European Union, or back to Turkey under a deportation deal launched 15 months ago. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

In this Monday, May 29, 2017 photo Syrian women queue for food distribution at the refugee camp of Ritsona about 86 kilometers (53 miles) north of Athens. On World Refugee Day, more than 60,000 refugees and migrants are still stranded in Greece in a process barely moving: Forward to other countries of the European Union, or back to Turkey under a deportation deal launched 15 months ago. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Dozens of international historians have come to the defense of a Holocaust scholar who is accused of slandering Poland's reputation with research that focuses on the participation of some Poles in the killing of Jews during World War II.

The Polish League Against Defamation says that Jan Grabowski's scholarship "falsifies the history of Poland, proclaiming the thesis that Poles are complicit in the extermination of Jews." The group made its claim in a public statement earlier this month signed by dozens of Polish academics.

Since then Grabowski, who is based at the University of Ottawa in Canada, has received several death threats, leading to security patrols in his department. The son of a Holocaust survivor, Grabowski describes the campaign against him as a "very brutal, vicious, and personal attack."

In this picture taken Dec. 8, 2014, and released by Yad Vashem, Holocaust historian Jan Grabowski gives a speech at Yad Vashem, the Israeli Holocaust research center, during a ceremony in which he was awarded for his scholarship, in Jerusalem, Israel. Dozens of international historians have come to the defense of the Holocaust scholar who is being accused of slandering Poland's reputation with research that focuses on the participation of some Poles in the killing of Jews during World War II. The Polish League Against Defamation said last month that Jan Grabowski's scholarship "falsifies the history of Poland." The international historians called the statement against him a "distorted and whitewashed version of the history of Poland during the Holocaust era." (Isaac Harari / Yad Vashem via AP)

Dozens of international historians of modern European history came to his defense with an open statement Monday in which they also described the campaign against him an "attack" and defended his scholarship, which they say "holds to the highest standards of academic research."

They said the Polish group is putting forth a "distorted and whitewashed version of the history of Poland during the Holocaust era."

Grabowski was awarded the 2014 Yad Vashem International Book Prize for Holocaust Research for his book "Hunt for the Jews: Betrayal and Murder in German-Occupied Poland," which documents the involvement of Poles in finding and killing Jews during the German occupation of Poland during World War II.

The subject touches a raw nerve for many in Poland, who prefer to see their nation as blameless during an era when the Germans subjected the nation to atrocities and terror. During the war about 5.5 million Polish citizens were killed, 3 million of them Jews.

Those protesting Grabowski's research have been encouraged by a nationalist government that seeks to focus exclusively on the heroic aspects of Polish behavior at that time, including the Poles who risked their own lives to save Jews. The founder of the Polish League Against Defamation, Maciej Swirski, has also advised the Polish Foreign Ministry on its historical policies.

The group accuses Grabowski of ignoring the Poles who saved Jews and of exaggerating the number of Poles complicit in killing Jews.

"During World War II, due to the demoralizing circumstances and German actions, it is true that vile-acting individuals could be found among Poles and Jews alike (especially in the ghettos). Yet, we should remember that the objective of the Germans was also to 'eradicate the Polish nation' and 'completely destroy Poland,'" the group wrote.

Grabowski's defenders say they see the campaign against him as "an attack on academic freedom and integrity."

Among more than 180 scholars to sign the statement in Grabowski's defense are prominent historians based in the United States, Israel, Poland, and elsewhere. They include Yitzhak Arad, former director of Yad Vashem; Omer Bartov, at Brown University; Christopher Browning, emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina; and Deborah Lipstadt at Emory University.
BRUSSELS (AP) - The European Commission wants all Belgians, and the world at large, to know: your famous fries are safe.

A regional Belgian minister had alarmed the nation with warnings that - sacrilege! - the EU would force fries to be blanched before they hit the fat to remove a cancer-causing element as much as possible. It would fundamentally change the family way of doing fries, which are raw, then dunked twice in fat of increasing heat.

The result should be soft on the inside, crispy and golden on the outside with enough fat to make sea salt - and slathers of mayonnaise - stick.

FILE- In this Feb. 4, 2010, file photo, a worker prepares a mitraillette (fries submarine sandwich) in Brussels. A regional Belgian minister recently alarmed the nation with warnings that the EU would force fries to be blanched before they hit the fat to remove cancer-causing elements. The EU on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 reported that it had no intention whatsoever of banning Belgian fries. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)

Blanch it first and the time-honored process would become impossible.

"It would be an enormous impoverishment of our fries culture," Flemish Tourism Minister Ben Weyts wrote to the European Health Commissioner. "It would be a shame if the EU would ban this heavenly tradition," said the letter, obtained by The Associated Press.

Have no fear, EU Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said Tuesday. "The Commission has no intention whatsoever, I repeat, no intention whatsoever, to ban Belgian fries, or any other type of fries," he said.

Schinas fully knows the EU had burned itself before when trying to meddle too meticulously in the way its 500 million citizens eat. When EU plans were made public four years ago to ban the refillable olive oil jugs from restaurant tables and only allow non-refillable bottles, it was the proverbial drop that broke the jar of excessive legislation which meddles in people's lives.

Since EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker came to power on a mandate to cut red tape and "be big on big things and small on small things."

A recipe for making fries is definitely in the "small category" these days.

"We are all very attached to the rich culinary heritage we find in our member states," Schinas said, before pronouncing a French riff on a disco classic "Les frites, c'est chic."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will certainly smile. She escaped an EU summit last year, especially to head to the nearest fries stand and get a steaming heap of Belgian delight.

___

This story has been corrected to show that the correct spelling of the French riff on a disco classic is "Les frites, c'est chic," not "Le frite c'est chique."
LONDON (AP) - The Latest on the London mosque attack (all times local):

11:50 a.m.

British health authorities say seven people remain hospitalized after a driver plowed into a crowd spilling out of north London mosques after Ramadan services.

A police officer stands near floral tributes in Finsbury Park after an incident where a van struck pedestrians, in London, Monday June 19, 2017. British authorities and Islamic leaders moved swiftly to ease concerns in the Muslim community after a man plowed his vehicle into a crowd of worshippers outside a north London mosque early Monday, injuring at least nine people. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

NHS England says three of the injured remain in critical care.

British leaders, including Prime Minister Theresa May, have moved swiftly to ease concerns in the Muslim community following the attack in London's Finsbury Park neighborhood, which is home to a large Muslim population.

The incident is being treated as a terror attack. One man died at the scene, although he was receiving first aid at the time and it wasn't clear if he died as a result of the attack or from something else. The attacker has been arrested and is from the Welsh city of Cardiff.

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11 a.m.

British media have identified the suspect held in connection with the van attack outside a London mosque as Darren Osborne, from the Welsh city of Cardiff. He is being held on suspicion of attempted murder and alleged terror offenses.

British media report that some of Osborne's neighbors have described the father of four as "aggressive" and "strange." Police haven't yet identified the suspect.

Witnesses said Osborne claimed he wanted to "kill all Muslims" after he drove into a crowd leaving a mosque early Monday morning. One man who was receiving first aid at the time of the attack died; it's unclear if his death was a result of the attack or from a previous condition.

Osborne was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

___

This item has been corrected to show that the suspect has been identified by British media, not police.

People take part in a vigil at Finsbury Park in north London, where a vehicle struck pedestrians in north London Monday, June 19, 2017. A vehicle struck pedestrians near a mosque in north London early Monday morning. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

Forensic officers move the van at Finsbury Park in north London, where a vehicle struck pedestrians in north London Monday, June 19, 2017. The vehicle struck pedestrians near a mosque in north London early Monday morning. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - An Alabama man has been hospitalized after being wounded in a shooting involving police in a Birmingham neighborhood.

Birmingham Police Lt. Sean Edwards tells news outlets officers received a call about 6:10 p.m. Tuesday officers from a resident who said a man dressed in black was walking around the area with a gun. Uniformed officers driving unmarked vehicles found the man while on patrol.

Edwards says the officers identified themselves to the man, and as they were doing so the man began to shoot. The man was struck during a shootout with police.

The man is recovering at UAB Hospital, and his injuries aren't believed to be life-threatening.

Further information hasn't been released. The State Bureau of Investigation is handling the case.
SOUTH BRISTOL, N.Y. (AP) - A couple whose South Carolina condominium burned up in a fire four years ago nearly lost their upstate New York home after it was struck by lightning on their 40th wedding anniversary.

WHAM-TV in Rochester (http://bit.ly/2tGGf3S ) reports Tim and Christine Callaghan were away from home celebrating their anniversary and Father's Day with family when thunderstorms passed through the Finger Lakes region Sunday.

Tim Callaghan says a neighbor called saying his house in South Bristol had been hit by lightning and the roof was on fire. The neighbor had called 911, and fire crews arrived in time to extinguish the blaze before it caused too much damage.

In March 2013, the couple's home near Myrtle Beach was among those destroyed when a wildfire spread to two dozen condominium buildings.

___

Information from: WHAM-TV, http://www.13wham.com
Online fraudsters have been selling the genitals of protected lizards and passing them off as plants considered to bring good luck.

They are being sold on sites such as Amazon and Ebay, an investigation by World Animal Protection has found.

The London-based group discovered that the dried penises of Bengal monitor lizards and yellow monitor lizards are being passed off as plant roots which are used in religious rituals.

Charity bosses believe the online trade in lizard penises, which purport to be hatha jodhi plants, is worth up to 100,000

Animal rights groups fear monitor lizards are being brought closer to extinction by the online fraud

The root is known as hatha jodhi, and bears a resemblance to two people holding hands, but has disappeared from the Indian countryside.

A lizard's penis looks similar, prompting criminals in India and Britain to put them up for sale online.

Wildlife authorities conducted raids in five Indian states last month and some raids are continuing, Neil D'Cruze of WAP said today.

Although illegal, researchers discovered Monitor lizard genitalia sold as Hatha Jodi available for purchase from major online retailers including Amazon and Ebay

While the plant has disappeared from the Indian countryside, wildlife traffickers have been buying the dried lizard penises and selling them online, the Wildlife Trust of India said in New Delhi.

The dried penises can fetch up to 200 each, Mr D'Cruze told IBTimes.

He said: 'This could be further pushing monitor lizards towards extinction. There's also no doubt that the animals go through a huge amount of suffering when they are poached and killed.'

Mr D'Cruze estimated that the online trade in jodhi root could be worth between 50,000 and 100,000, but this could be the 'tip of the iceberg'.
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - More than 3,300 people have been killed in central Congo's volatile Kasai provinces since August, according to a document released Tuesday by the Catholic church, as the United Nations called for an international investigation after accounts of babies with machete wounds and pregnant women sliced open.

The sharply higher death toll came as the U.N. human rights chief faulted Congo's government for failing to protect civilians, citing "harrowing" reports from U.N. rights experts deployed this month to interview people displaced by the fighting between government forces and militia members.

"My team saw children as young as 2 whose limbs had been chopped off; many babies had machete wounds and severe burns," Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said in his report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. "One 2-month-old baby seen by my team had been hit by two bullets four hours after birth; the mother was also wounded. At least two pregnant women were sliced open and their fetuses mutilated."

The previous death toll had been 400 before the Catholic church released its figure of 3,300. Among the victims were two foreign U.N. experts - American Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, a Swedish-Chilean national.

The government soon will publish its own report on the crisis, Congolese government spokesman Lambert Mende told The Associated Press.

"Beyond verifying whether these figures are true or not, it demonstrates that this is a real security situation that must absolutely lead to an appropriate government reaction to put an end to this," Mende said.

The region in central Congo exploded into violence after a traditional chief known as Kamwina Nsapu was killed in a military operation in August after his militants revolted against Congolese authorities.

The U.N. human rights chief said the situation has become more complex in recent months. In addition to the Kamwina Nsapu fighters, another militia has arisen to defend civilians against the attacks.

This group, known as Bana Mura, is now implicated in human rights abuses as well, the U.N. said.

"Refugees from multiple villages in the Kamonya territory indicated that the Bana Mura have in the past two months shot dead, hacked or burned to death, and mutilated, hundreds of villagers, as well as destroying entire villages," Zeid said.

"Victims also reported that members of local units of the Congolese army and police, as well as some traditional chiefs, have accompanied some Bana Mura attacks, and said some state agents are involved in arming and directing the militia," he added.

___

Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva and Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed.
PARIS (AP) - France's far-right National Front has refused to let Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party's co-founder, attend a meeting, blocking him at the gate on his 89th birthday.

Le Pen, whose daughter Marine now runs the party, said on Tuesday outside party headquarters that while forced out of the party he had a right to attend because of his status of honorary president for life, confirmed by a court.

Speaking outside the gate, Le Pen noted that he lent the party 9 million euros ($10.04 million) for his daughter's failed presidential race and legislative elections. The loan was from his funding group Cotelec.

FILE - In this May 1, 2017 file photo, former far-right National Front party leader Jean-Marie Le Pen clenches his fist at the statue of Joan of Arc, in Paris. France's far-right National Front has refused Tuesday June 20 2017 to let Jean-Marie Le Pen, the party's co-founder, attend a meeting of its political bureau, blocking him at the gate on the day of his 89th birthday. (AP Photo/Kamil Zihnioglu, File)

With his trademark irony, Le Pen said that his daughter doubtless was offering him a birthday gift "by this particular delicacy of the heart."
United States Court of Appeals, Third Circuit. DELMY EDILA CORDON-IPINA; JESLY CRISELL CASASOLA-CORDON, Petitioners v. ATTORNEY GENERAL UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Respondent No. 16-3231 Decided: June 16, 2017

Before: AMBRO, VANASKIE and SCIRICA Circuit Judges.

OPINION*

This petition for review arises from a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) denying Delmy Cordon-Ipina's application for asylum and withholding of removal. The BIA determined that Cordon-Ipina had not established a well-founded fear of future persecution should she be returned to her home country of Guatemala. For the following reasons we will deny the petition for review.

I.

In 2000 Cordon-Ipina was living with her family in Guatemala when her father and her brother, Hector, found a body on their property and were jailed for two years on suspicion of being involved in the murder. Both men were eventually cleared and released. Soon after their release from prison, Hector and another brother, Samuel, were shot at and Samuel was killed. Cordon-Ipina believed that Samuel was killed by the murder-victim's family as means of revenge. After the shooting, Cordon-Ipina remained with her family in Guatemala for 12 years without incident, even though she insisted she lived in fear of another attack.

In 2014, Cordon-Ipina came to the United States amid what she described as continuous threats against both her and her family. On June 11, 2014, the Department of Homeland Security commenced removal proceedings against Cordon-Ipina. She conceded that she was subject to being removed for not having been admitted or paroled into the United States, but sought asylum on the basis of past persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution based upon the incidents involving her family members and continuing threats of harm to family members. When asked by the Immigration Judge for specific instances of such threats, Cordon-Ipina was unable to come up with any examples.

Since the original incidents in 2000 and 2002, no harm has come to her family, including those who have continued to live in Guatemala permanently. Even before she came to the United States, the record before the Immigration Judge indicated that Cordon-Ipina was living comfortably. She was able to marry, attend school, have a child, and apply for a visa. Based on this information the Immigration Judge determined that she had not established past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution, and denied her asylum application.

In February of 2016, Cordon-Ipina timely appealed the decision of the Immigration Judge to the BIA. Agreeing with the Immigration Judge's determinations, the BIA dismissed Cordon-Ipina's appeal on June 30, 2016. Cordon-Ipina then timely petitioned for review of the BIA's determination that Cordon-Ipina failed to establish an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution should she be returned to Guatemala.

II.

The BIA exercised jurisdiction pursuant to 8 C.F.R.  1003.1(b)(3), which grants it appellate jurisdiction over decisions of Immigration Judges in removal proceedings. This Court's jurisdiction to review the BIA's order is controlled by section 242(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C.  1252(a). We defer to the BIA's factual findings unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary. 8 U.S.C.  1252(b)(4)(B). Thus, in order to grant the petition for review the evidence on record must be such as to compel a reasonable fact-finder to conclude that the petitioner had, in fact, established the requisite fear of future persecution. I.N.S. v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 (1992).

III.

To establish eligibility for asylum, a petitioner needs to demonstrate either past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Wang v. Gonzales, 405 F.3d 134, 138 (3d Cir. 2005). To establish eligibility for withholding of removal, a petitioner needs to demonstrate that it is more likely than not that her life or freedom would be threatened if returned to her country of origin based on one of the aforementioned protected grounds. 8 U.S.C.  1231(b)(3)(A)(emphasis added); I.N.S. v. Stevic, 467 U.S. 407, 429-30 (1984).

Cordon-Ipina's main evidence of generalized threats does not rise to the level of persecution necessary to achieve asylum or the higher burden under withholding of removal. Chavarria v. Gonzalez, 446 F.3d 508, 518 (3d Cir. 2006) ([W]e have refused to extend asylum protection for threats that, while sinister and credible in nature, were not highly imminent or concrete or failed to result in any physical violence or harm to the alien.); Jarbough v. Att'y Gen., 483 F.3d 184, 191 (3d Cir. 2007) (Abusive treatment and harassment, while always deplorable, may not rise to the level of persecution.); Fatin v. I.N.S., 12 F.3d 1233, 1240 (3d Cir. 1993) (persecution denotes extreme conduct, including threats to life, confinement, torture, and economic restrictions so severe that they constitute a threat to life or freedom.).

Cordon-Ipina argues that too much emphasis was placed upon the interval of time between when her brother Samuel was killed in 2002 and her departure for the United States in 2014. She also contends that too much weight was accorded to the fact that members of her family, including her father, have remained in Guatemala without incident since 2002. The BIA, however, did not err in assessing these factors in determining that her fear of future persecution was not reasonable. Indeed, we have stated that [w]hen family members remain in petitioner's native country without meeting harm, and there is no individualized showing that petitioner would be singled out for persecution, the reasonableness of a petitioner's well-founded fear of future persecution is diminished. Lie v. Ashcroft, 396 F.3d 530, 537 (3d Cir. 2005).

Finally, she asserts that evidence that other siblings and relatives have been granted either asylum or withholding of removal was disregarded. Contrary to her assertion, however, the BIA made explicit reference to this fact, but found that it was not dispositive of Cordon-Ipina's claim. We discern no error on the part of the BIA in this regard. The BIA was assessing a claim for asylum in a different context and at a point remote in time from when other family members were granted relief.

Cordon-Ipina has not brought forth evidence of any instance of violence, threats, or intimidation against herself or her family members since 2002. The record indicates that members of her family have continued to live in Guatemala unharmed, and until the point in which she herself immigrated to the United States, she too lived in Guatemala without incident. On these facts we cannot say that no reasonable fact finder would have rejected her claim that she has a well-founded fear of future persecution based on any protected ground such that she should be granted asylum. Accordingly, petitioner did not satisfy the standard for being granted asylum or the higher burden for withholding of removal. See Lukwago v. Ashcroft, 329 F.3d 157, 182 (3d Cir. 2003).

IV.

For the reasons set forth, we will deny the petition for review.

FOOTNOTES

. Cordon-Ipina's minor daughter is listed as a derivative beneficiary on her application for asylum and withholding of removal. Cordon-Ipina also sought protection under the Convention Against Torture, with her minor daughter listed as a derivative beneficiary on that claim for relief. She has since abandoned her Convention Against Torture claim.

. Cordon-Ipina does not challenge the BIA's decision that she had failed to establish past persecution.

VANASKIE, Circuit Judge.
DETROIT (AP) - Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019.

Ford said Tuesday it plans to move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers. Ford will continue to make the Focus in Europe, and will also export some variants of the Focus from Europe to the U.S.

Sales of small cars have dropped sharply in the U.S. and companies are seeking to cut costs making them. Ford's president of global operations Joe Hinrichs said the move to China will save the company $1 billion, including $500 million for canceling plans to build the Focus in Mexico.

FILE - In this Jan. 12, 2015, file photo, Ford vehicles sit on the lot at a car dealership, in Brandon, Fla. Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019, announced Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Ford will move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Wary of the response from President Donald Trump, who has criticized Ford for making vehicles outside the U.S., Ford said the move won't cost U.S. jobs. The suburban Detroit plant that currently makes the Focus will be converted late next year to produce the Ford Ranger pickup and Ford Bronco SUV.

Ford also said Tuesday that it plans to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to make the new, aluminum-sided Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. Those vehicles will go on sale this fall and will be exported to more than 55 markets globally, the company said. The investment will secure 1,000 jobs at the Kentucky plant.

But the White House response was muted. Asked Tuesday whether Trump plans to get tougher on China or on automakers who leave the U.S., White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president wants to lower business taxes and reform the tax code so businesses will want to "come back to the United States, grow in the United States, manufacture more in the United States."

Hinrichs said Ford's research shows that customers - who are used to phones and other gadgets from China - care more about product quality than where their vehicles are made.

Plans for production of the 2019 Focus - which will be larger and have some significant updates - have bounced around over the last few months as Ford tries to squeeze some profits from the ailing small car segment. U.S. Focus sales were down 20 percent through May, hurt by low gas prices and consumer preference for SUVs.

In January, the company announced it would cancel a new plant in Mexico and instead use capacity at another plant in Mexico to build the Focus. But over the last few months, Hinrichs said, Ford decided it could save another $500 million in tooling and other manufacturing costs if it moved production to China.

Hinrichs said last month's departure of former CEO Mark Fields had no bearing on the decision, which was in the works for some time.

Hinrichs said Chinese wages are lower than wages in Mexico, although the cost to ship the vehicles erases some of that advantage. It's still cheaper to make cars for the U.S. in Mexico, he said, but Ford has extra capacity in China and the move frees up capital for the company immediately.

Ford isn't the first car company to export vehicles to the U.S. from China. Volvo Cars made the move in 2015. General Motors Co. started importing the low-volume Buick Envision midsize SUV from China in 2016. GM also imports some plug-in hybrid-electric Cadillac CT6 sedans from China.

Hinrichs said he didn't know other automakers' plans, but as of now, the Focus would be the highest-volume vehicle exported from China to the U.S.

Ford shares fell 1 percent to close at $11.12 Tuesday.
"The Marsh King's Daughter" (G.P. Putnam's Sons), by Karen Dionne

Karen Dionne takes a standard story involving the kidnapping of a woman and the life she experiences with her captor and elevates it to a new level in "The Marsh King's Daughter."

Jacob Holbrook found a 14-year-old girl and lured her away with a "lost dog" routine. He took her deep into the marshlands of upper Michigan where they lived in a remote cabin. She gave birth to a daughter, who grew up unaware of her mother's background or why her father would sometimes do extremely cruel things. It wasn't until Helena was a teen that the truth was revealed and she and her mother were able to escape Jacob's clutches. He was finally captured and sent to prison for his crimes.

This cover image released by G.P. Putnam's Sons shows "The Marsh King's Daughter," a novel by Karen Dionne. (G.P. Putnam's Sons via AP)

The media frenzy that occurred after their rescue was difficult for both of them. Her father was dubbed "The Marsh King," and when the fervor died, they both tried to avoid publicity.

She never saw her father after his capture, and although she had some good memories of spending time with him, it was time for her to move on. Ten years later, she was happily married with two young girls. Then her father escaped from prison.

The way the story unfolds both captivates and disturbs. Since Helena is telling the story, she brings a lack of understanding and naivety to the tale that makes everything more vivid in the reader's mind. Her past and eventual realization of what's truly going on makes this novel resonate. The present day and Helena's eventual confrontation with her estranged father is necessary for closure, but at the same time, it's a bit of a letdown.

The story's finale is a bit unnecessary since by then everyone loves Helena and we care more about her growth than revenge. That aside, Dionne has written a book that invokes raw emotion mixed in with the turning of pages.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The U.S. often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesday's flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the U.S. and North Korea and compound efforts by South Korea's new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, to improve ties with the North.

Moon said in an interview with CBS television broadcast Tuesday that Warmbier's death showed "we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime," but that talks are still necessary because "we were unable to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only the sanctions and pressure."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. military says it shot down what it called an Iranian-made, armed drone in southern Syria.

A defense official says the drone was approaching a military camp near the Syria-Jordan border. That is where U.S. forces have been training and advising local Syrian Arabs for the fight against Islamic State militants.

The official says the drone was considered a threat, and was shot down by a U.S. F-15 fighter jet.

The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. The official says the drone was a Shaheed 129 and appeared to have been operated by "pro-regime" forces.

It was the second time this month that the U.S. has shot down an armed drone in the vicinity of the camp at Tanf.
Dan and Fran Keller had spent more than two decades in prison for a series of shocking crimes that never happened: sacrificing and molesting children as part of sick satanic rituals at their Texas day care center.

On Tuesday, District Judge Cliff Brown officially approved a prosecutors declaration of innocence for the Kellers absolving them of any crimes.

The married couple were found guilty in 1992 of sexually assaulting a 3-year-old girl after children in their care told investigators of dismembered babies, tortured pets and other tall tales.

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Cleared: Dan Keller, 75, and wife Fran, 67, on Tuesday were cleared of all charges in connection to a 1992 case involved violent satanic rituals targeting children at their day care

Fran Keller (pictured in foreground in 1990s) and husband Dan (seen behind her), were convicted of sexually abusing a toddler and sentenced to 48 years in prison

Dan and Fran were ultimately freed in 2013 after the Texas County of Criminal Appeals found a doctor was mistaken in determining there was physical evidence of assault.

The appeals court ruled the doctor's testimony during the Kellers' trial was false. The physician himself also had recanted.

Judge Browns determination of outright innocence now makes Dan and Fran Keller each eligible for $80,000 in compensation for every year they were wrongfully imprisoned, which amounts to about $1.7million apiece.

'It seems like we can breathe again, Fran told Austin American Statesman. 'We can sleep again without nightmares. We can go out without having to worry about people recognizing us in the grocery store.'

Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore told The Associated Press her office had to review the evidence that remained in the case after removing the false testimony.

Children made wild claims of abuse that occurred as part of satanic rituals at the day care the Kellers operated out of their three-bedroom South Austin home (pictured)

Fran Keller and her husband (pictured in court in the 90s), were found guilty based on testimony from a young ER doctors, who later recanted

We were left with the determination that there was not sufficient credible evidence upon which a reasonable juror could be expected to convict, she said.

Further bolstering the Kellers' case was an interview the victim provided in 2013 in which she acknowledged having no memory of being abused, Moore said.

The couple was sentenced to 48 years in prison after three young children made wild claims of abuse that occurred as part of satanic rituals at the day care the Kellers operated out of their three-bedroom South Austin home.

Some of the young accusers claimed to have witnessed the husband and wife cut up babies, torture animals, including a gorilla at a local zoo, dig up and desecrate corpses in a graveyard, videotape orgies, serve Kool Aid mixed with blood, and even throw kids into a shark-infested pool, reported Fox 7 Austin.

No proof of such rituals was found, but the Kellers' attorney, Keith Hampton, said notorious claims of abuse at other day care centers nationally were part of a hysteria known as the 'satanic panic' that began in the 1980s about secretive cults targeting children.

Day care panic or the satanic panic began to occur and it reached a fever pitch around the time the Kellers were prosecuted, Hampton said. And like most hysterias, it thereafter died away.

The couple were freed in 2013 after 21 years in lockup. 'I forgave everybody,' Mr Keller said at the time

The couple had been convicted in 1992 after therapists testified that they helped the three alleged victim recover memories of satanic rituals and sexual abuse suffered at the hands of the Kellers.

However, an appeals court found that the only physical evidence came from Dr. Michael Mouw, a young emergency room physician who examined the 3-year-old accuser in 1991 and testified that internal lacerations on the child's hymen were evidence of abuse.

In court documents filed in 2013, Mouw acknowledged that what he had thought at the time were cuts were actually normal physiology.

Pro bono: Attorney Keith Hampton has been working on the Kellers' case for free for many years to get them exonerated

That prompted prosecutors in Travis County to agree to release the Kellers on bond and to ask the courts to throw out their convictions.

'I forgave everybody,' Mr Keller said in 2013.

As they awaited their exoneration, the elderly couple struggled to piece their lives back together because of the stigma associated with their high-profile case.

'You cant get a job as a "child molester,"' said Mrs Keller. 'They wont even talk to you. Would you hire me? Would your neighbors hire me? Would you let me live next door to you and youve got kids? No you wouldnt. Nobody would.

Keith Hampton, who has been working on the case for free, said Dan Keller, aged 75 and in poor health, and Fran Keller, 67, don't fault those who made allegations decades ago as young children. They instead appreciate the state compensation that will free them from financial struggle.

They were one step away from homelessness. They were in very dire circumstances, he said. This couldn't happen at a more perfect time, because with compensation they can get a house, health insurance and good food.
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) - Heavy fighting erupted Tuesday between armed groups in Central African Republic only hours after a peace deal was signed in Rome, aid officials said, while the United Nations warned that humanitarian aid was running out.

Thirteen of the 14 armed groups signed the agreement Monday that called for an immediate cease-fire. However, Doctors Without Borders said fighting resumed early Tuesday in the beleaguered town of Bria.

"At 9:30 a.m. we already received 35 wounded at the hospital, mostly gunshot wounds," said Mumuza Muhindo Musubaho, project coordinator in Bria for the international aid group also known by its French acronym MSF.

Gunfire also was reported Tuesday in the towns of Bangassou and Alindao, according to MSF, which said the security situation "remains extremely volatile."

The peace deal was brokered by the Sant'Egidio Catholic Community, though there was widespread skepticism in Central African Republic given similar failed efforts in the past.

Ten armed groups and the country's Defense Ministry signed a peace deal in 2015. Another accord, shepherded by the African Union, was signed in 2014. Neither lasted.

"The priority now is a cease-fire," said Vlad Monteiro, a spokesman for the U.N. peacekeeping mission. "The armed groups should cease the hostilities and put an end to people's suffering."

Central African Republic has faced fighting since 2013, when predominantly Muslim Seleka rebels seized power in Bangui. Anti-Balaka militias, mostly Christians, fought back, resulting in thousands of people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced.

As international donors gathered Tuesday in the capital, Bangui, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for the country said only 28 percent of the emergency humanitarian funding needed had been provided by donors.

Najat Rochdi said the U.N. hoped to accelerate the process of getting aid money disbursed. "Obviously, there are new displaced people and there are new needs," she said.

The international community already has pledged $2.2 billion in recovery aid for Central African Republic over the next five years.

President Faustin-Archange Touadera said he is counting on the support of the international community to help bring stability. Recent unrest has left 300 people dead and more than 100,000 internally displaced. Another 20,000 have fled to neighboring Congo.

The new violence "shows the fragility of the situation in the Central African Republic," Touadera said.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on two Russian officials and three dozen other individuals and companies over Russian activities in Ukraine.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin (mih-NOO'-shin) says the new penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."

In all, Tuesday's action targets 38 individuals and firms. Any assets they have in the U.S. are now blocked. Americans are prohibited from doing business with them.

The U.S. has been punishing Russia with sanctions since its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

The Treasury Department says the new measures address people and companies who've sought to circumvent those sanctions.

Moscow's envoy for overseas Russians and chairman for humanitarian assistance in separatist-held, eastern Ukraine are the Russian government officials affected.
WINFIELD, W.Va. (AP) - Police say a West Virginia man found asleep in a stranger's home has been charged with burglary.

WSAZ-TV cited a criminal complaint in reporting that a Putnam County homeowner called dispatchers after finding a glass door broken at his residence and a man asleep in his bed. The homeowner told police a second glass door and a stained glass window also were damaged.

Responding deputies arrested 39-year-old Stacy Foster, who was charged with burglary and destruction of property. He was booked on Sunday into the Western Regional Jail. Online records didn't indicate whether he has an attorney.

___

Information from: WSAZ-TV, http://www.wsaz.com
CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's military says its air force has killed 12 "extremely dangerous" militants in airstrikes in northern Sinai, a militant hotspot.

In a Tuesday statement, the armed forces said the strikes also destroyed four vehicles as it targeted a "terrorist stronghold" of the local Islamic State affiliate, formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.

Egypt has in recent years been battling a stepped-up insurgency in northern Sinai, mainly by militants from the IS affiliate. The militant campaign accelerated after the military ouster of elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in 2013.

The military claims to kill hundreds of militants in the area each year, although it rarely offers proof and journalists and non-residents are banned from the area. Hundreds of security forces have been killed.
ASCOT, England (AP) - American filly Lady Aurelia won at Royal Ascot for the second straight year, cruising to a three-length victory in the King's Stand Stakes under replacement jockey John Velazquez on Tuesday.

"She's a once-in-a-lifetime horse," said trainer Wesley A. Ward after Lady Aurelia backed up her win in the Queen Mary Stakes in 2016.

Frankie Dettori was scheduled to ride Lady Aurelia, but pulled out of the entire meeting early Tuesday after failing to recover from an arm injury sustained when he was thrown off a horse in a parade ring last week.

Lady Aurelia ridden by jockey John Velazquez, leads the field as they come home to win the King's Stand Stakes during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Ascot England Tuesday June 20, 2017. American filly Lady Aurelia won at Royal Ascot for the second straight year, cruising to a 3-length victory in the King's Stand Stakes under replacement jockey John Velazquez . (John Walton/PA via AP)

Velazquez was drafted in and settled the U.S. horse into a good early position. Lady Aurelia took the lead with two furlongs to run and pulled away, winning the five-furlong race in 57.45 seconds, just short of a course record.

"This is wonderful for American racing," said Ward, who has eight career winners at Ascot since 2009. Six of those wins have been by juveniles.

Ward has 10 entries at the prestigious meeting staged just outside London, as part of the largest contingent of U.S. runners - 14 - to compete at Royal Ascot.

Following the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II at the course ahead of the start of the meeting, racing was preceded by a minute's silence in honor of the victims of attacks in Britain in recent weeks.

Lady Aurelia ridden by jockey John Velazquez on his way to winning the King's Stand Stakes during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Ascot England Tuesday June 20, 2017. American filly Lady Aurelia won at Royal Ascot for the second straight year, cruising to a 3-length victory in the King's Stand Stakes under replacement jockey John Velazquez . (John Walton/PA via AP)

Jockey John Velazquez gives the thumbs up after winning the King's Stand Stake with Lady Aurelia during day one of Royal Ascot at Ascot Racecourse Ascot England Tuesday June 20, 2017. American filly Lady Aurelia won at Royal Ascot for the second straight year, cruising to a 3-length victory in the King's Stand Stakes under replacement jockey John Velazquez . (John Walton/PA via AP)

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, left, waves to the crowd with Prince Philip at right, as they arrive by open carriage to the parade ring on the first day of the Royal Ascot horse race meeting in Ascot, England, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. CENTER FOR POWELL CROSSING, LLC, Plaintiff-Appellee, CITY OF POWELL, OHIO, Defendant-Appellee, v. BRIAN EBERSOLE, Proposed Intervenor-Appellant. No. 16-3867 Decided: June 16, 2017

Before: GUY, CLAY, and WHITE, Circuit Judges.

Proposed intervenor-appellant Brian Ebersole appeals the district court's order denying his motion to intervene. Because Ebersole lacks standing, we affirm.

I.

After the Powell City Council authorized a downtown high-density housing development, Ebersole sponsored a petition drive to submit a ballot proposal to the voters of the City of Powell. The proposal included a charter amendment prohibiting high-density housing in downtown Powell, set forth a new comprehensive land-use plan, and created an advisory committee to make land-use recommendations to the city council.

The City initially refused to place the proposal on the ballot, asserting that it violated the Ohio Constitution's prohibition on municipal referenda acting upon administrative decisions. See OHIO CONST. art. II,  1f; see also State ex rel. Oberlin Citizens for Responsible Dev. v. Talarico, 836 N.E.2d 529, 534-35 (Ohio 2005) (enactment of an ordinance comparable to approving a site plan for development of land constitutes an administrative action, which is not properly the subject of either referendum or initiative seeking its repeal). After initially denying relief, the Ohio Supreme Court granted rehearing, granted Ebersole's mandamus petition and ordered the City to put the initiative on the ballot. State ex rel. Ebersole v. City of Powell, 21 N.E.3d 274 (Ohio, 2014). The Ohio Supreme Court wrote that [t]he proper time for an aggrieved party to challenge the constitutionality of the charter amendment is after the voters approve the measure, assuming they do so  which they did in November 2014. Id. at 277.

The Center for Powell Crossing  the proposed developer of the downtown parcel  challenged the amendment, arguing inter alia that the referendum used to ratify it repealed an administrative action and thus violated procedural due process. Ebersole filed an extensive amicus brief raising the same jurisdictional argument he renews on appeal. The district court agreed with Powell Crossing and granted permanent injunctive relief against enforcement of the amendment. The City declined to appeal, although it stated its intent to challenge any further claims and mitigate continuing exposure to damages.

Following the district court's judgment, Ebersole moved to intervene solely for purposes of appealing the permanent injunction. The district court denied the motion in a written order, ruling that Ebersole lacked standing to intervene. He appeals.

II.

We review de novo the district court's ruling on Ebersole's motion to intervene as of right; however, we review timeliness for an abuse of discretion. Coal. to Def. Affirmative Action v. Granholm, 501 F.3d 775, 779 (6th Cir. 2007). We review its ruling on Ebersole's motion for permissive intervention for an abuse of discretion. United States v. Michigan, 424 F.3d 438, 445 (6th Cir. 2005).

III.

a. Standing

An intervenor normally has the right to appeal an adverse trial court judgment just like any other party. Cherry Hill Vineyards, LLC v. Lilly, 553 F.3d 423, 428 (6th Cir. 2008). Where an original party declines to appeal, however, an intervenor-appellant must have Article III standing. See Hollingsworth v. Perry, 133 S. Ct. 2652, 2662 (2013); see also Diamond v. Charles, 476 U.S. 54, 68 (1986) (an intervenor's right to continue a suit in the absence of the party on whose side intervention was permitted is contingent upon a showing by the intervenor that he fulfills the requirements of Art. III); Cherry Hill Vineyards, 553 F.3d at 428 (an intervenor seeking to appeal, like any other party, must fulfill the requirements of Article III of the Constitution before it can continue to pursue an action in the absence of the party on whose side intervention was permitted).

Unlike in Perry, Diamond, and Cherry Hill Vineyards, Ebersole never intervened before seeking an appeal. He moved to intervene only after an adverse final judgment, and the district court was aware that the City of Powell  on whose side he sought to intervene  would not pursue an appeal. This puts Ebersole in a position analogous to the appellants in Perry, Diamond, and Cherry Hill Vineyards: a would-be intervenor attempting to take up an appeal where the original party declined to do so. In these circumstances, Article III standing is essential to preserve the personal stake at the core of our adversarial system. Perry, 133 S. Ct. at 2663 (quotation omitted). Ebersole thus must establish that he has suffered a concrete and particularized injury that is fairly traceable to the challenged conduct and likely to be redressed by a favorable judicial decision. Lujan v. Defs. of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992). He asserts four such injuries, each inadequate to provide standing.

i. Comprehensive Plan Commissioner

Ebersole first claims that he can show an injury from his appointment to the Comprehensive Plan Commission created by the initiative  a position which no longer exists as a result of the district court's ruling that the amendment is unconstitutional. However, the president of Ebersole's homeowners' association purported to appoint him to the committee 29 days after the district court's judgment, 12 days after Ebersole filed his motion to intervene, and 2 days after the City responded to his motion by arguing that he lacked standing. The district court determined that this amounts to manufactured standing, and we agree. The Supreme Court has declined to find standing in contrived circumstances. See Clapper v. Amnesty Int'l USA, 133 S. Ct. 1138, 1151 (2013). Further, the standing of a prospective intervenor  is properly measured at the time intervention is sought in the district court. Dillard v. Chilton Cty. Comm'n, 495 F.3d 1324, 1339 (11th Cir. 2007).

ii. Initiative Sponsor

Next, Ebersole claims standing by virtue of his status as a sponsor of the ballot initiative. Although initiative sponsors have an interest in having the initiatives they support appear on the ballot, Providence Baptist Church v. Hillandale Comm., Ltd., 425 F.3d 309, 316-17 (6th Cir. 2005), their interest stops there. Initiative sponsors lack standing to defend the merits of initiatives against constitutional challenges. See Arizonans, 520 U.S. at 65 ([W]e are aware of no  law appointing initiative sponsors as agents of the people  to defend, in lieu of public officials, the constitutionality of initiatives made law of the State. Nor has this Court ever identified initiative proponents as Article-III-qualified defenders of the measures they advocated.). Ebersole thus lacks standing as an initiative sponsor.

iii. Landowner

Ebersole also argues that he has standing by virtue of the proximity of his property to the planned development. He contends that the development will cause increased crime, blight, air pollution, parking, traffic, noise, and a resulting loss of quiet enjoyment of his property. Ebersole's residence is nearly a mile by car from the development site. Moreover, his property is on a residential cul-de-sac unlikely to encounter any substantial increase in foot or car traffic as a result of the development, which is on a main road in the downtown business district. To the extent Ebersole may encounter additional traffic in the downtown Powell area, his purported injury is undifferentiated from that of the community in general.

This is a far cry from the type of land use or residential proximity at issue in, for example, Lujan, 504 U.S. at 572 n.7 (property adjacent to the site for proposed construction of a federally licensed dam). Furthermore, Ebersole presents no facts or evidence that high-density housing a half mile from his home will lead to the sorts of injuries he asserts. This leaves Ebersole only the sort of unparticularized interest in the amendment shared by every Powell citizen.

iv. Citizen Interest

Ebersole lastly cites his interest in the enforcement of the amendment as a Powell resident, elector, and taxpayer as a basis for standing. However, the Supreme Court has never before upheld the standing of a private party to defend the constitutionality of a state statute when state officials have chosen not to. Perry, 133 S. Ct. at 2668. Absent a direct, personal stake in the outcome of a case, a citizen does not have standing based on his and every citizen's interest in proper application of the Constitution and laws. Id. at 2662 (citation omitted).

b. Subject Matter Jurisdiction

Apart from his claim to standing to intervene, Ebersole argues the district court lacked subject matter jurisdiction over Powell Crossing's challenge to the amendment. We are satisfied that it did.

Ebersole characterizes plaintiff's action as a disguised and unripe takings claim. Per Williamson Cty. Reg. Planning Comm. v. Hamilton Bank of Johnson City, 473 U.S. 172, 194 (1985), a developer's takings claims for failure to provide just compensation are not ripe for federal court review unless and until unsuccessfully seeking just compensation through state procedures. In Braun v. Ann Arbor Charter Twp., 519 F.3d 564, 572 (6th Cir. 2008), we held that a due process claim alongside and couched within a takings claim is subject to these exhaustion requirements.

Plaintiff, however, asserts no takings claim. Although plaintiff mentions the purchase price of the land for the proposed development in its complaint, it sought no compensation whatsoever in its prayer for relief. See Coniston Corp. v. Vill. of Hoffman Estates, 844 F.2d 461, 463-64 (7th Cir. 1988) (no takings claim where plaintiffs have not explored the possibility of obtaining compensation for an alleged regulatory taking but instead want their site plan approved). It is thus immaterial that plaintiff did not seek just compensation through Ohio state-law procedures. Accordingly, plaintiff's claim is not an unripe takings claim as Ebersole urges, and the Williamson exhaustion requirement is inapplicable. The district court therefore had jurisdiction over this case under 28 U.S.C.  1331.

* * *

Ebersole has not suffered a cognizable injury, and therefore does not have Article III standing. This precludes him from independently appealing when the City of Powell has declined to do so. Diamond, 476 U.S. at 64. Because he moved to intervene solely to appeal the district court's ruling on the merits, the district court rightly denied his motion for lack of standing.

AFFIRMED.

RALPH B. GUY, JR., Circuit Judge.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Are the nation's students and professors intolerant when it comes to free speech on college campuses?

Students and academics insist the golden rule is for the speech to go on as long as violence can be prevented as a Senate panel examined whether free speech on college campuses is becoming threatened.

The hearing came after two high-profile speeches at the University of California at Berkeley were canceled amid fears of violent student protests. More recently, a commencement address by the No. 2 Senate Republican, John Cornyn of Texas, was canceled after opposition from students at the historically black university where he was scheduled to speak.

Eugene Volokh, a professor at the UCLA School of Law, said what he described as a "heckler's veto" should not be allowed.

"I think the answer is to make sure they don't create a disturbance and to threaten them with punishment, meaningful punishment, if they don't have their way," Volokh said. "If thugs learn that all they need to do in order to suppress speech is to threaten violence, then there will be more such threats."

But Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said the universities can't always deal with the fallout when anarchists and others respond to the appearance of a speaker they oppose. "You don't think we learned a lesson at Kent State way back when?" Feinstein said at one point.

In 1970, National Guardsmen opened fire on protesters of the Vietnam War at Kent State in Ohio. Four students died and nine others were wounded.

The witnesses on Tuesday acknowledged that university officials at times have a difficult choice to make.

"These are always judgment calls that are made," said Frederick M. Lawrence, secretary and CEO of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, the oldest honor society for the liberal arts and sciences in the United States. "I think the way to start with this is a strong presumption in favor of the speech."

Republicans on the committee were overwhelmingly critical of the cancellations. Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa said that on too many campuses, free speech appears to have been "sacrificed at the altar of political correctness."

Grassley said college students vote and when universities suppress speech they may "cause and exacerbate the political polarization that is so widely lamented in our society."
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Actress and U.N. refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie on Tuesday denounced the impunity with which rape is committed in conflict zones and the mistreatment of vulnerable women and children.

Jolie spoke in Kenya to mark World Refugee Day. She visited a training center on how to prevent sexual violence in conflict and met with refugees from conflicts in Burundi, South Sudan, Somalia and Congo.

"The reality is that women and girls as well as boys and men can still be raped with near-total impunity in conflict zones around the world, and there are still appalling cases of rape and mistreatment of vulnerable women, children and men by peacekeepers sent to protect them," she said.

Jolie added: "The horror of sexual violence is compounded when it is carried out by someone in uniform who has a taken an oath to protect."

The way people treat refugees, the majority of who are women and children, is a measure of humanity, she said, according to a statement by the U.N. refugee agency.

"Not only have they had to flee extreme violence or persecution, lost everything and witnessed the death of family members, but they have also had to face so much abuse and intolerance and hardship. They are doing their best to carry on with minimal support, trying to live lives of dignity against impossible odds," Jolie said.

Kenya is home to nearly 491,000 refugees from conflicts in neighboring countries. A Kenyan court recently stopped the government from closing what had been the world's largest refugee camp, Dadaab, and sending more than 200,000 people back to Somalia. The court said the government had not proved Somalia is safe for refugees to return.
CHICAGO (AP) - A retired Chicago police detective and two former prosecutors face another lawsuit accusing them of framing an innocent man in a murder case.

The lawsuit filed Monday in federal court alleges that retired detective Reynaldo Guevara and former prosecutors John Dillon and Matthew Coghlan concealed evidence and coerced witnesses resulting in Jose Montanez being convicted for a 1993 murder. Montanez and co-defendant Armando Serrano spent more than two decades in prison. They were released last summer when prosecutors dropped charges.

Serrano filed a similar lawsuit against the three in April.

Dillon couldn't be reached for comment. Coghlan is now a Cook County judge and is prohibited from commenting under Illinois Supreme Court rules. The lawsuit also names other officers and the city. A city Law Department spokesman declined comment.
NEW YORK (AP) - Nestle has bought a minority stake in the ready-to-eat meal service Freshly as the global food giant moves to expand its distribution network.

The move comes a week after the world's largest packaged food maker said it may sell its U.S. candy business, which includes Butterfinger candy bars and Raisinets. The investment also comes on the heels of Amazon's plan to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, potentially transforming the market for retailers and grocers.

Nestle is the lead investor in a $77 million round of funding for New York-based Freshly, which has raised $107 million in capital. The company is looking to expand and has already announced plans to open an East Coast kitchen and distribution center.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Seeking to advance her family-focused agenda, Ivanka Trump made her first official sojourn to Capitol Hill Tuesday to talk tax policy with Republican lawmakers.

The senior adviser and daughter of President Donald Trump attended a meeting led by GOP Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida that included talks about expanding the child tax credit, paid family leave and other family-focused tax policies.

After the session, Ivanka Trump tweeted: "Just left a productive meeting on the Hill to discuss issues affecting American working families, including childcare & paid family leave!"

Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump who also serves as an adviser, is escorted by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as she arrives at the Capitol to meet with lawmakers about parental leave, in Washington, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rubio said the gathering was spurred by a talk he had with Trump over a month ago, calling it a "first step" for Republicans to discuss tax policies for working families.

"If we're going to do tax reform and we should, there should be a discussion and hopefully action on how the tax code can strengthen the family, particularly working families who are struggling with the increased cost of everything," Rubio said.

Participants included Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Rep. Dave Schweikert of Arizona, Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona and Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas.

The meeting did not include any Democrats, who traditionally are more sympathetic to the family policies Ivanka Trump has been working on.

Ivanka Trump has stressed that paid parental leave and support for child care costs are priorities of the administration, but she has signaled flexibility on the approach. Advancing parental leave in the Republican-controlled Congress is considered highly unlikely, but winning some family-oriented tax changes are possible.

Rubio said Trump did not have a specific "ask" for lawmakers. Rather, he said she was "in the input stage, listening to the different ideas and proposals that are out there."

Rubio and Lee have proposed enhancing the child tax credit, which currently provides a tax credit of up to $1,000 for qualifying families. Fischer has proposed a tax credit for businesses that offer paid family leave.

In a statement, Fischer said she looked "forward to continuing to work with (Ivanka Trump) on a way forward with policy solutions that can make a difference."

Trump has indicated she was open to revising the paid parental leave proposal laid out in the White House budget, which would require states to finance the benefit for new mothers, fathers and adoptive parents through unemployment insurance programs.

Response to that proposal has been mixed. Democrats, who traditionally support paid leave, say they would prefer a more robust benefit that also covers people caring for sick relatives. And both Democrats and Republicans raised questions about the cost burden for states.

Democratic women in the House of Representatives announced a Wednesday hearing on family leave, calling the White House proposal "inadequate" in a news release.

__

Associated Press Congressional Correspondent Erica Werner contributed from Washington.
COPIAGUE, N.Y. (AP) - Parents of students barred from their New York high school commencement ceremony because of a senior prank are asking district officials to reconsider.

Officials say students broke into Copiague (COH'-payg) High School on Long Island earlier this month and vandalized portions of the building. The damage included a smashed projector and the ransacking of an assistant principal's office.

District officials aren't saying how many students were involved or how they're being punished. But parents tell Newsday (http://nwsdy.li/2tnzMLX ) that more than 30 seniors out of a graduating class of 388 are barred from attending Thursday night's graduation ceremony.

Parents urged board of education members Monday night to allow the banned students to attend, including those who were there during the vandalism but never entered the school.

___

Information from: Newsday, http://www.newsday.com
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has spoken out against a referendum on independence for Iraqi Kurds set for later this year.

A Tuesday report on Khamenei's website quoted him as telling visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, that Iraq "should remain integrated" and that advocates of Kurdish independence are "opponents of the independence and identity" of Iraq.

Iran has its own Kurdish minority in the west of the country and the central government dismantled a self-proclaimed Soviet-backed Kurdish government in the 1940's.

Kurdish officials in Iraq say the referendum will be held in Sept. 25.

Iran and Iraq have been close allies since fall of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) - The Latest on a wildfire burning in Utah near a Utah ski town (all times local):

1:10 p.m.

Utah Gov. Gary Herbert says a weed torch ignited a wildfire that has forced more than 700 people to evacuate.

Firefighting crews get ready to roll out for the day on the fire line, Monday, June 19, 2017, to put out a wildfire burning north of the southern Utah ski town of Brian Head, Utah. Utah firefighters were battling a wildfire Monday that shut down a highway and forced hundreds of people to flee a ski town as crews in New Mexico mop up another blaze amid scorching heat in the Southwest U.S. (Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)

Herbert is touring the fire-damaged area around the ski town of Brian Head in the Dixie National Forest on Tuesday. He tweeted that experts told him the blaze was started by somebody using a weed torch in dry conditions.

Forest Service spokeswoman Cigi Burton says one home has been destroyed and another damaged in the fire that started Saturday. Part of a highway also is shut down.

Burton says one firefighter suffered a concussion and another a puncture wound. She says "both are recovering and doing well."

Burton says the fire is growing slowly and has blackened roughly 1.5 square miles (2 square kilometers).

___

9 a.m.

Two firefighters are recovering from injuries at a wildfire in southwest Utah that has forced the evacuation of more than 700 people and shut down part of a highway.

Gov. Gary Herbert plans to tour the fire-damaged area around the town of Brian Head in the Dixie National Forest on Tuesday. One home has been destroyed and another damaged.

Forest Service spokeswoman Cigi Burton says one firefighter suffered a concussion and another a puncture wound. She says "both are recovering and doing well."

Burton says the fire is growing slowly and crews are lighting backfires to help consume fuels in the path of the flames that have blackened roughly 1.5 square miles (2 square kilometers).

From left, Twin Falls, Idaho, firefighters Tenli Bright and Kori Neiwirth get ready to roll out for the day on the fire line, Parawan, Utah, Monday, June 19, 2017. Utah firefighters were battling a wildfire Monday that shut down a highway and forced hundreds of people to flee a ski town as crews in New Mexico mop up another blaze amid scorching heat in the Southwest U.S. (Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - Turkish troops have arrived in Qatar in a show of support for the Gulf country after Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations cut ties and imposed measures to isolate it.

Qatar's state TV on Tuesday carried images of Turkish troops in Qatar's capital, Doha. The state TV broadcast did not specify how many Turkish troops had arrived and Turkish officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Qatari media reported that the Turkish troops had arrived on Sunday for joint military exercises. Days after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut ties with Qatar, Turkey's parliament approved the deployment of troops to a Turkish military base there.

The Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of backing terror groups. Qatar has vehemently denied the allegations.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. AUTUMN TIBBS, PlaintiffAppellant, v. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE ILLINOIS COURTS, DefendantAppellee. No. 16-1671 Decided: June 19, 2017

Before POSNER, KANNE, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Plaintiff Autumn Tibbs worked as an administrative assistant in the Illinois court system. She was suspended the day she returned to work after taking leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, 29 U.S.C.  2601 et seq. She was then fired after she chose not to attend a disciplinary meeting. Tibbs sued the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. She contends that this agency employed her and that she was fired in retaliation for taking FMLA leave. The district court granted summary judgment for the agency, reasoning that it never employed Tibbs and thus could not have discharged her, and that in any event, there is no evidence of retaliation. We affirm because Tibbs cannot point to evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer that any of her supervisors harbored retaliatory animus against her. We do not resolve the question whether the Administrative Office employed Tibbs.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Because we are reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we accept as true the evidence offered by Tibbs, the nonmoving party, and she is entitled to the benefit of conflicts and the evidence and any reasonable inferences in her favor. Whitaker v. Wisconsin Dep't of Health Servs., 849 F.3d 681, 682 (7th Cir. 2017). We summarize the facts without vouching for their objective accuracy, but in light of the applicable summary judgment standard.

Before she was fired in September 2012, Tibbs worked as the administrative assistant to the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of the Seventh Judicial Circuit, which covers six counties in Illinois, including Sangamon County where Tibbs worked. The Chief Judge of the circuit, who serves for two years, is responsible for the administrative functions of the entire circuit. Each county also has a Presiding Judge who is responsible for administrative functions within that county. When Tibbs was fired, Judge Richard Mitchell was coming to the end of his twoyear term as Chief Judge of the circuit. Judge Leslie Graves was the Presiding Judge of Sangamon County at the time, and she supervised Tibbs's daytoday functions. Barbara Mabie, the trial court administrator for the Chief Judge, also supervised Tibbs.

Tibbs twice took unpaid leave under the FMLA because of health issuesfirst from March to May 2011 and later from June to August 2012. The day she returned from leave in August 2012, Judge Graves gave her a letter saying she was being placed on paid administrative leave pending a disciplinary meeting with Chief Judge Mitchell. This disciplinary letter described several instances of misconduct. First, the letter noted, more than a year earlier, in March 2011, Tibbs had tried to change the assignment schedule for court reporters. Assigning court reporters was one of Tibbs's primary responsibilities, but she had asked the court reporters to keep this new system quiet while she tried it out. The change led to harsh criticism from one judge and controversy among the courthouse staff. The disciplinary letter from Judge Graves said that Tibbs had lacked authority to make the change and accused her of insubordination, bringing the Court [into] disrepute or attempting to discredit the Court; and conduct unbecoming a judicial employee.

The second instance of misconduct described in the disciplinary letter had also occurred a year earlier, when Tibbs was preparing to return to fulltime status after her first FMLA leave. Judge Graves had asked Tibbs to meet with her about returning to work full time, but according to the letter, Tibbs disregarded this instruction and instead contacted Chief Judge Mitchell about the issue. This action, too, was described as insubordination and conduct unbecoming a judicial employee.

The disciplinary letter also described an incident that had occurred immediately before Tibbs took her second period of FMLA leave beginning in May 2012. A former court reporter, Lynn Ruppert, needed to retrieve notes for transcription from the vault area of the Sangamon County Courthouse. She contacted Tibbs to gain entry. Ruppert twice looked for the box containing her notes, and at some point she reported to courthouse security that the box was missing. Tibbs herself later found the box, but in an unusual location in the vault and with the words jury commission written on the side visible to onlookers. The other side of the box had Ruppert's name and the case number on it. Tibbs concluded that the box had been recycled and simply misplaced. Tibbs used a marker to line through the words jury commission and then showed Ruppert where she had found the box in the vault. They then put the box back up on the shelf the way that it should have been in the first place.

The disciplinary letter said that Tibbs had committed misconduct by failing to notify anyone that a box was missing from the vault and by taking Ruppert to the vault without authorization. Judge Graves apparently had told Tibbs several days earlier that another employee, Sandra Merrill, not Tibbs, was to handle all of the vault requests going forward. The letter also said that Tibbs had reshelved the box improperly in such a way as to further inhibit its discovery.

Finally, the disciplinary letter said that Tibbs had repeatedly attempted to undermine her supervisor's authority by making disparaging comments to coworkers. Neither the comments nor the recipients of them have been disclosed.

The letter invited Tibbs to respond to the allegations at a meeting with Chief Judge Mitchell and others. The letter also said that Tibbs could respond in writing, but it warned that the meeting would proceed with or without her. Tibbs wrote Chief Judge Mitchell saying she would not attend. In that letter, she did not address the accusations against her. After she had skipped the meeting and not refuted the allegations, Chief Judge Mitchell discharged her.

Tibbs then brought this suit. The only claim relevant on appeal is her claim against the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. Tibbs described the Administrative Office as an agency of state government that has the responsibility of providing administrative assistance to the courts of the State of Illinois, and she characterized it as her employer. She alleged that the Administrative Office had retaliated against her for using FMLA leave.

The court granted the Administrative Office's motion for summary judgment for two reasons. First, the court found that the Administrative Office had not actually employed Tibbs and was not otherwise responsible for terminating her employment. Second, the court found that even if the agency did control and terminate Tibbs's employment, she had not offered sufficient evidence to support an inference that she was fired to retaliate against her for using FMLA leave.

II. Analysis

On appeal Tibbs argues that, despite the district court's contrary view, a jury could find that the Administrative Office employed her. She also asserts that the timing of her discharge and her disagreements with the official explanation are evidence from which a jury could find that the agency retaliated against her. The Administrative Office responds that, even if it was one of Tibbs's employers, it was not responsible for her discharge or any retaliatory motive behind it. Instead, the agency argues, Chief Judge Mitchell, whom Tibbs did not sue, had sole authority to fire her. The Administrative Office also contends that Tibbs lacks evidence that she was fired in retaliation for taking FMLA leave.

As noted above, because we are reviewing a grant of summary judgment, we accept as true the evidence offered by Tibbs, the nonmoving party, and we give her the benefit of conflicts in the evidence and all reasonable inferences in her favor. Whitaker, 849 F.3d at 682. We turn first to the issue of retaliatory intent. To survive summary judgment on her claim of retaliation under the FMLA, Tibbs had to point to evidence supporting a reasonable inference that she was fired because she took protected leave. See Preddie v. Bartholomew Consol. School Corp., 799 F.3d 806, 819 (7th Cir. 2015). The principal evidence she offered in support of her claim was the timing. She was suspended immediately upon returning from the FMLA leave.

That timing is suspicious, of course. The problem is that suspicious timing alone is rarely enough by itself. A plaintiff must ordinarily present other evidence that the employer's explanation for the adverse action was pretext for retaliation. Harden v. Marion County Sheriff's Dep't, 799 F.3d 857, 86465 (7th Cir. 2015); Simpson v. Office of Chief Judge of Circuit Court of Will County, 559 F.3d 706, 71314 (7th Cir. 2009). The critical question is simply whether the inference of unlawful intent is reasonable (at summary judgment) or correct (at trial). See Loudermilk v. Best Pallet Co., 636 F.3d 312, 315 (7th Cir. 2011) (occasionally an adverse action comes so close on the heels of a protected act that an inference of causation is sensible). Answering that question calls for some factual context. Id.

The Administrative Office introduced evidence that Tibbs was fired for facially legitimate reasons: ignoring Judge Graves's instruction not to handle vault requests from court reporters, going over Judge Graves's head about returning to work full time, and creating a new assignment schedule for court reporters without the authority to do so. Tibbs argues that these reasons are phony and thus are pretexts to cover the Administrative Office's true retaliatory motives.

Pretext involves more than just faulty reasoning or mistaken judgment on the part of the employer; it is [a] lie, specifically a phony reason for some action. Burton v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. of Wis. Sys., 851 F.3d 690, 698 (7th Cir. 2017) (quoting Harden, 799 F.3d at 864). We have recognized that an employer's explanation for discharging a worker may sometimes be fishy enough to support an inference that the reason must be discriminatory. Loudermilk, 636 F.3d at 315 (reversing summary judgment where employer claimed it fired plaintiff for taking photographs at workplace to support his claims of discrimination); see also Stalter v. WalMart Stores, Inc., 195 F.3d 285, 28991 (7th Cir. 1999) (reversing summary judgment where employer claimed it fired plaintiff for theft, consisting of eating a handful of taco chips from an open bag left in the employee break room).

Merely disagreeing with an employer's reasons does not meet this standard. A plaintiff must point to evidence tending to prove that the employer's proffered reasons are factually baseless, were not the actual motivation for the discharge in question, or were insufficient to motivate the termination. Carter v. Chicago State Univ., 778 F.3d 651, 659 (7th Cir. 2015), quoting Tank v. TMobile USA, Inc., 758 F.3d 800, 808 (7th Cir. 2014). Where multiple reasons are given, as in this case, the plaintiff faces a greater challenge. Showing that just one reason was a pretext may not be enough. See Simpson v. Beaver Dam Cmty. Hosps., Inc., 780 F.3d 784, 798 (7th Cir. 2015); Bodenstab v. County of Cook, 569 F.3d 651, 659 (7th Cir. 2009); Fischer v. Avanade, Inc., 519 F.3d 393, 403 (7th Cir. 2008).

Tibbs has failed to offer evidence sufficient to support an inference that any reason was false. First she asserts that she was never told not to accompany court reporters to the courthouse vault. But at her deposition, she acknowledged that she had accompanied Lynn Ruppert to the vault after being told by Judge Graves that, going forward, Sandra Merrill would handle all of the vault requests. The following exchange then took place:

Q. But you took Lynn down to the vault after you had notification on May the 25th that Sandra was supposed to comply with those requests

A. I did.

Q. to go down to the vault?

A. I did, and I shouldn't have.

Thus, Tibbs's own understanding of the instructions from Judge Graves was she did not have authority to take Ruppert into the vault. By conceding that she should not have done so, Tibbs admitted misconduct. She asserts that the new policy limiting her access to the vault did not take effect until June 1, after she had taken Ruppert to the vault, pointing to an email announcing that the new policy would take effect on that date. But that email changes nothing about her testimony. That the policy did not become official until June 1 does not mean that Tibbs could ignore Judge Graves's instructions directly to her a few days earlier. Tibbs herself agreed that she should not have done so.

Tibbs has not argued on appeal that any of the other reasons given for firing her was false. Those reasonsher failed attempt at assigning court reporters to a new rotation a year earlier, her decision to speak with Chief Judge Mitchell instead of Judge Graves about returning to work, also a year earlier, and her alleged disparaging comments seeking to undermine supervisorscould be viewed as mistaken or unfair. Keeping in mind the summary judgment standard, we must acknowledge that Tibbs had not been disciplined before the action leading to her firing. Assigning court reporters was part of her job, and, according to the Administrative Office itself, she supposedly was employed by Chief Judge Mitchell, not Judge Graves. But the role of judges and juries is not to exercise our own judgment about management decisions and reasons. It is to decide whether the stated reasons were or could reasonably be found dishonest. Mere disagreement about the reasons given for Tibbs's discharge does not support an inference of pretext, particularly where Tibbs declined even to participate in the disciplinary process.

Tibbs did not dispute the testimony that Chief Judge Mitchellwho ultimately decided to fire herhonestly believed that each reason listed in the disciplinary letter supported her discharge. He confirmed by affidavit that he fired Tibbs for those reasons, that he did so independently, and that he made the decision only after Tibbs had declined to participate in the disciplinary process. It is not enough for Tibbs to argue that Chief Judge Mitchell was wrong in his assessment of her performance. She needs to point to facts showing that his explanation is unworthy of belief. See Burton, 851 F.3d at 698; Harden, 799 F.3d at 864. The district court correctly concluded that Tibbs failed to raise a genuine issue of fact about pretext.

The second issue in this appeal is whether the Administrative Office could be held responsible on Tibbs' claim under the FMLA. Only employers and those acting on their behalf face liability for retaliation under the FMLA. 29 U.S.C.  2615(a) (creating liability for employers who interfere with FMLA rights);  2611(4)(A)(ii)(I) (defining employer to include any person who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an employer); see also 29 C.F.R.  825.220(c) (explaining that FMLA's prohibition against interference encompasses retaliation for taking valid leave); Lewis v. School Dist. #70, 523 F.3d 730, 741 (7th Cir. 2008) (same). The Administrative Office argues that Chief Judge Mitchell, and not the agency, employed Tibbs. The Administrative Office also argues that even if it was one of Tibbs's employers, it was not responsible for the decision to fire her because Chief Judge Mitchell made that decision of his own accord.

This debate seems to miss the point that, no matter what person or agency Tibbs reported to, she was employed by the State of Illinois. The Administrative Office points to one opinion of this court indicating in dicta in a footnote that the state agency that employed the plaintiff, rather than the state itself, is the proper defendant in suit claiming employment discrimination. See Holman v. Indiana, 211 F.3d 399, 401 n.1 (7th Cir. 2000) (indicating that Title VII plaintiff could sue only Indiana Department of Transportation and not State of Indiana). In support of this comment, which addressed an issue not disputed in Holman, the footnote cited Hearne v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, 185 F.3d 770, 777 (7th Cir. 1999), which held that Chicago teachers employed by the local board of education could not sue the Governor, the State of Illinois, or the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board under Title VII because none was plaintiffs' employer. The Hearne decision distinguished between local and State government entities, not the much finer difference between a State and its agencies. We will not wrestle this issue to the ground in this appeal, where the decision does not depend on it. We hope that plaintiffs, defendants, and district courts might handle such issues about State agency employees so that such technicalities will seldom if ever be decisive. If they do become decisive, we will deal with the problem then.

The judgment of the district court in favor of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts on Tibbs's claim of FMLA retaliation is

AFFIRMED.

FOOTNOTES

. Even if the FMLA does require such fine distinctions, we would be inclined in this case to find that the Administrative Office was Tibbs' sole employer. The Administrative Office admitted to employing Tibbs in its answer and never attempted to withdraw that admission through amendment. See Crest Hill Land Dev., LLC, v. City of Joliet, 396 F.3d 801, 805 (7th Cir. 2005) (concession in answer is binding judicial admission that has the effect of withdrawing the question from dispute for purposes of summary judgment).

HAMILTON, Circuit Judge.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuela's Supreme Court cleared the way for a trial against the country's chief prosecutor, who became a surprise hero to the opposition after breaking ranks with the government of President Nicolas Maduro over his efforts to concentrate power.

The government-stacked court in a statement Tuesday it had approved a request from a socialist party lawmaker to lift prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz's protection from prosecution for allegedly committing "grave errors" in her role as the nation's top law enforcement official.

Opponents of Maduro say Ortega Diaz is being targeted for her decision to break with the government over its plans to gut the opposition-controlled National Assembly and attempt to rewrite the constitution. In the past few weeks, as Ortega Diaz has pursued a number of legal actions seeking to block Maduro's power grab, government supporters have mounted a campaign to discredit her actions, alternately accusing her of being crazy or a spokeswoman for "right-wing terrorists."

FILE - In this May 24, 2017 file photo, Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz speaks to the press from her office in Caracas, Venezuela. The country's Supreme Court said Tuesday, June 20, that it will allow judicial proceedings against the dissident chief prosecutor. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

Ortega remained defiant in the face of the high court's move, saying the ruling was an attack not against her but the very foundations of the Venezuela's democracy.

"Hanging over the country is a bleak outlook that could destroy the state," she told Union Radio.

The opposition, for whom Ortega Diaz was until recently a favorite punching bag, was quick to condemn the ruling.

At a press conference, the Democratic Unity alliance vowed to redouble its campaign of street protests seeking Maduro's removal that have left at least 70 people dead and hundreds injured or arrested. In its strongest rebuke yet of Maduro, it vowed to disavow all actions by the government as it called on Venezuelans to organize themselves in "committees to restore democracy" to block Maduro's plans for a July election to choose delegates to a constitutional assembly under rules that heavily favor the government.

"All Venezuelans need to stand up to rescue our nation's democracy," National Assembly President Julio Borges said in a press conference surrounded by top opposition leaders. He said in coming days the opposition would announce a number of actions building up toward one last permanent, national protest to thwart Maduro.

Ortega Diaz, whose agency is semi-autonomous, has emerged as one of the most critical voices of Maduro within the government. A long-time loyalist, she has denounced Maduro for betraying the legacy of Hugo Chavez, who crafted the nation's current constitution.

A former leftist student activist, she was named chief prosecutor in 2007 and reappointed to another six-year term in 2014. Under the current constitution which Maduro now wants to scuttle, she can only be removed by the National Assembly.

A defiant Ortega Diaz on Monday vowed to continue her fight and touched on what many believe is her strongest chip against the government: investigations into corruption by top officials.

"We have to begin demanding that they start providing the bills of where all this money is coming from that that they spend on stages and for the marches," Ortega Diaz said. "Maybe what they spend on stages would be better used buying medicine and food."
WASHINGTON (AP) - When a Kansas strip-mall bank with possible mob ties folded in the mid-1980s, federal authorities investigated whether a shareholder, Iranian-born aviation magnate Farhad Azima, should face criminal charges.

The probe hit a dead end. Azima, a U.S. citizen, essentially had a stay-out-of-jail-free card because of secretive work he had performed for the U.S. government, a former federal prosecutor involved in the case said. Azima, a gunrunner later tied to the CIA and the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration, was never prosecuted.

Over decades, Azima has glided among different worlds, flying weapons to the Balkans, selling spy gear to Persian Gulf nations, dealing with a small Midwest bank and navigating Washington's power circles.

In this May 17, 2016, photo, Farhad Azima, the owner, chairman and chief executive officer of Kansas City-based Aviation Leasing Group poses for a photo at his home in Kansas City, Mo. The Associated Press has learned that the Iranian-born aviation mogul, described as holding a stay-out-of-jail card over his past work for the CIA, is the focus of a new global criminal corruption case. Authorities in the U.S. and abroad are investigating Azima as part of a global corruption case. Investigators are examining whether Azima, now 75, paid a kickback to a former United Arab Emirates official to reap the profits from a hotel sale in Tbilisi, Georgia. (Jill Toyoshiba/The Kansas City Star via AP)

If he enjoyed a loose, informal immunity during those years, it is being tested now. Authorities in the U.S. and abroad are investigating Azima as part of a global corruption case. Specifically, they are examining whether Azima, now 75, paid a kickback to a former United Arab Emirates official to reap the profits from a hotel sale in Tbilisi, Georgia.

That was of interest to U.S. law enforcement because Iranians involved in the deal were later blacklisted by the Treasury Department, accused of helping Iran avoid sanctions over its nuclear program.

More recently, Azima was involved in a plan that envisioned instigating mass protests in Kuwait to force out its government, apparently on behalf of a disgruntled member of the ruling family.

An Associated Press examination of Azima's past, drawing upon interviews, court filings and a recently obtained collection of tens of thousands of emails his lawyers say was stolen by hackers, reveals a man whose web of international business interests helped him make millions of dollars from federal contracts. A former comptroller for one of his firms described the company's work with the CIA.

Azima, who was traveling internationally earlier this month, declined through a spokesman to answer written questions from the AP or to be interviewed. He acknowledged his secretive work to his local newspaper last year, while sidestepping some questions about ties to the CIA.

"I've never been employed by the CIA," he told The Kansas City Star, though he acknowledged he may have been indirectly contracted. "I've done classified work. . It's not working for the KGB or the enemy. I'm proud of it."

A former employee once described Azima as "an Iranian with a bona fide gold-plated get-out-of-jail-free card." It was a label that seemed to please him. "Guilty as charged!" he exclaimed in a private email included in the recently obtained cache.

Azima has called Kansas City, Missouri, his home since he attended nearby William Jewell College in the 1960s. From his adopted city, he built Global International Airways, a charter and cargo carrier.

The carrier was initially intended to transport cattle from Nebraska to Iran, until the U.S. cut diplomatic ties after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Soon the flights were filled with mysterious cargo - including arms.

In 1979, 50 tons of arms on one of Global Airways' planes were found in Tunisia. Azima said the flight had been forced to land at a Tunisian military base to take the weapons onboard instead of medical supplies destined for Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica.

Seven years later, another of his planes - purportedly leased to his brother - carried 23 tons of weapons into Tehran as part of the Iran-Contra affair, the scheme of secret U.S. arms sales to Iran to pay for illegal U.S. support for Nicaraguan rebels. He again denied involvement.

In 1991, another Azima-owned aircraft carried 18 tons of arms sent to Croatia during that country's war for independence from Yugoslavia.

Jeffrey Fegley, the former comptroller of Global Airways, described the airline as a "seat-of-your-pants operation" run by brave pilots who flew cargo into hotspots worldwide.

"I was simply the bookkeeper, the guy who filled up the briefcases with $100,000 worth of small bills so you could bribe the ground crew to get your cargo unloaded in a foreign land," Fegley told the AP. "Other than that," he said dryly, "it was just business as usual."

Asked who the airline's main clients were, Fegley said a "reputable agency."

Asked again, he was more direct: "CIA."

These ventures continued as federal investigators in the 1980s began looking into the collapse of a small bank in Kansas City, Kansas, part of a nationwide probe of financial institutions during the savings and loan crisis. The collapse drew questions because a lawyer suspected of Mafia connections was among its directors.

Azima was a director, too, and owed the bank hundreds of thousands of dollars for outstanding loans to his airline.

The investigation of Azima was stymied by higher-ups, who a prosecutor said offered no clear reason why.

"It became apparent that we were not able to pursue prosecution of Azima," Lloyd Monroe, a prosecutor retired from the Justice Department's organized-crime task force in Kansas City, told the AP. "It was a source of real tension."

Azima later won multimillion-dollar contracts with the U.S. military. Before and after the 1991 Persian Gulf War, he had $30 million in deals to transport troops. A recent $8 billion contract to supply food to U.S. forces in Afghanistan saw him provide trucks to ship in the provisions, though paperwork never bore his name.

It "does not mean any less involvement on my part," Azima wrote in an email.

Now he's under scrutiny again by both Emirati and U.S. authorities over a planned hotel deal in Tbilisi in 2011.

When the hotel's owner - the UAE sheikhdom of Ras al-Khaimah - was looking to sell, Azima stepped in to mediate a deal for three would-be Iranian buyers. Ras al-Khaimah, like Dubai, is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE, a staunch U.S. ally on the Arabian Peninsula.

Ras al-Khaimah accuses him of improperly trying to profit from the deal by secretly arranging a 10 percent stake in the hotel for himself with the Iranians.

It also accuses him of bribing the then-manager of Ras al-Khaimah's state-owned investment fund, who oversaw the hotel sale. The accusations are made in a lawsuit brought by the emirate against Azima in British courts.

Separately, Ras al-Khaimah prosecutors have announced they are looking into unidentified American and British citizens in connection with a criminal corruption probe. Azima was one of the targets, according to a person familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to talk publicly about the matter. As part of that same probe, the investment fund chief was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison, though he maintains his innocence.

Azima also disputes the allegations, saying Ras al-Khaimah knew details of the hotel deal. He has said the payment to the investment fund chief was above board and involved the separate sale of an aircraft.

Meanwhile, the U.S. began looking into the hotel deal because the Iranians involved were later accused of helping Iran avoid sanctions over its nuclear program.

The investigators earlier this year were considering whether Azima's activities in Georgia violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which makes it illegal to bribe foreign governments. Discussions about Azima focused partly on the hotel deal and numerous accounts he has at a Midwest bank, according to a person familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity because the case was not public.

It is not known what the investigators concluded about Azima's activities. The Justice Department declined to comment.

Azima also filed his own lawsuit against Ras al-Khaimah in federal court in Washington, accusing it of taking advantage of, or orchestrating, the hacking of his emails.

In court documents, the emirate has raised the possibility of other hacking suspects - including Russia, because of Azima's ties as a donor to the Clinton Foundation, to which he gave at least $250,000. Most of Azima's political donations have gone to Democratic candidates, but he also gave smaller sums to the Republican Party and its candidates.

The email cache, which was leaked on the internet last year, brought to light other Azima ventures.

One was a business partnership, Denx LLC, that he appears to have owned along with two former CIA officers, Gary Berntsen and Scott Modell. Their names appear in the leaked documents along with the amounts of their initial capital contributions. Both men told the AP that the venture never got far, with Modell describing it as "just banter and talk and fun-sounding business proposals."

Denx LLC was a private intelligence firm that also dealt in surveillance equipment, at one point pursuing a $725 million sale of intelligence and reconnaissance material to the United Arab Emirates.

But the firm also devised a scheme, apparently on behalf of a Kuwaiti ruling family member, to install "new, bolder, more energetic leadership" in the Gulf nation.

It planned to do so by fomenting protests in support of the unidentified client by tens of thousands of people in the streets, including by a "rent-a-crowd flash mob." It detailed a PR campaign to depict current government officials as mired in corruption and involved in helping Iran's nuclear program.

Both Modell and Berntsen told the AP they knew nothing of the Kuwait plan, though an email address identified as Berntsen's in other correspondence sent Azima the PowerPoint deck of slides outlining it.

"We wrote proposals up and we didn't execute any of this," said Bernsten, who told the AP that he was in charge of Denx efforts overall. He also said that he would not have taken part in an effort to undermine a U.S. ally.

Kuwait's ruling emir, 88-year-old Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, took office in 2006 amid a succession crises as an emir sworn in days earlier suffered poor health. That short-circuited a long power-sharing arrangement between two branches of the ruling Al Sabah family, whose hereditary control of Kuwait was challenged by 2011 Arab Spring protests. Last year, three ruling family members and four other individuals were found guilty in a plot to publish anonymous Twitter posts sharing fabricated videos of judges receiving bribes.

The PowerPoint presentation, titled "A Methodology For Change," outlined steps for the plot proposed by Denx. It's thick with corporate-speak jargon: Graphs demonstrate "principles of influence progression" and blurbs speak of "face-to-face (F2F) engagements ... based on positive impact indicators."

It also includes dashes of spy-thriller pulp, at one point referring to a 29-hour visit with a contact identified only by the codename "Sheikh Jackal."

It warns the client that he may have to pony up more money if his opponents counter with their own PR campaign. Then it adds dramatically that he and his family could face a dangerous backlash.

"The stakes are very, very high ($30+ billion) and are easily worth killing over," it reads.

It was unclear whether any of Denx's plans were ever put into action. The company was disbanded last year, according to corporate registration paperwork filed in Florida.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writer Raphael Satter in Paris and news researcher Monika Mathur in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jongambrellAP. His work can be found at http://apne.ws/2galNpz.
MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. (AP) - Family, friends and law enforcement officers from across Georgia gathered Tuesday to honor the memory of the second of two slain prison guards to be laid to rest.

Milledgeville First United Methodist Church in central Georgia was packed to capacity for the funeral of Sgt. Christopher Monica, WSB-TV reported. Monica, who was 42, and 58-year-old Sgt. Curtis Billue were killed when two inmates escaped from a prison bus June 13.

Monica was remembered as a protector and a family man, leaving behind a wife, two daughters and grandchildren. He was "a man who loved deeply, shared abundantly and laughed often," his niece, Brooke Lawson, told mourners.

"We thought our family was big and happy to begin with, and we look around and see it's bigger than we ever thought possible," Lawson told those gathered, The Macon Telegraph reporte d.

Billue's funeral was held Saturday at a high school in nearby McIntyre. He was buried at Red Level Cemetery in Irwinton.

The inmates were captured Thursday in Tennessee, two days after their escape in Georgia. The Putnam County Sheriff's Office said Donnie Rowe and Ricky Dubose are due to appear in court Wednesday.

Law enforcement officers traveled to the funeral from Oregon, Nevada, South Dakota, Alabama and beyond, and hundreds of Department of Corrections officers came to pay tribute, Department of Corrections Commissioner Greg Dozier said.

"The love that Sgt. Monica shared with his family and corrections family is broad and wide," Dozier said. "How do you honor someone who's given so much?"

Monica had lived in Baldwin County for 20 years but was originally from Chicago. Before going to work for the Department of Corrections in 2009, he was employed by Rheem manufacturing for 10 years. He was dedicated to his job, but his favorite part of each day was going home to his family, Baldwin State Prison Warden Cedrick Taylor said.

Niece Lawson said Monica loved to tell stories, pull pranks and joke, and he used his sense of humor to defuse difficult situations. The Rev. Mac Efinger said he was a terrible cook but a great taste tester and a food lover.

"He was in the prime of his life," Efinger said. "He knew what mattered in life. He gave his very best self to every day. He worked hard, and sometimes he played hard."

___

Information from: The Telegraph, http://www.macontelegraph.com
FORT EDWARD, N.Y. (AP) - A man was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his retrial for the shotgun slayings of his mother, stepfather and stepbrother in their rural upstate home in 2011.

A Washington County court jury returned guilty verdicts on murder and arson charges against 29-year-old Matthew Slocum, whose earlier conviction on the same charges was tossed out on appeal in 2015.

The nine-day retrial ended with Slocum convicted of killing 44-year-old Lisa Coon Harrington, her husband, 41-year-old Dan Harrington, and his 24-year-old son, Joshua O'Brien.

Washington County Sheriff's Officers place handcuffs on Matthew Slocum after he was found guilty on all counts in his triple murder retrial on Tuesday, June 20, 2017, at Washington County Court in Fort Edward, N.Y. Slocum was found guilty on all counts Tuesday in his retrial for the 2011 shotgun slayings of his mother, stepfather and stepbrother in their rural upstate New York home.(Shawn LaChapelle /The Post-Star via AP, Pool)

Prosecutors said Slocum used a shotgun to kill all three in July 2011 as they slept in their home in White Creek, a small farming town on the Vermont border. He then set the house on fire to destroy evidence, prosecutors said.

Afterward, Slocum fled to New England with his girlfriend, Loretta Colegrove, who testified against him, and their infant son. Slocum was eventually captured in New Hampshire.

After the verdicts were read, the victims' families applauded and cried out, "Thank God!" according to the Times Union of Albany.

Slocum's attorney said Colegrove was the one who carried out the slayings because she was angry that the Harringtons - prompted by her drug problems - were trying to seek custody of the child she shared with Slocum. But the jury believed the prosecution's argument that Slocum shot all three as Colegrove looked on.

"It's been 2,192 days waiting for this. Dan, Lisa, Josh, we got you justice," said Diana Harrington, Dan Harrington's mother, according to the Albany newspaper.

Slocum was convicted of murder and arson following a trial in 2012, but those convictions were overturned when a New York appeals court ruled he was denied his right to a lawyer while being questioned by investigators.

Slocum will be sentenced July 14. He had previously been sentenced to 88 years to life.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Slocum was charged in the death of his stepbrother, not his father, and that his stepbrother was 24, not 44.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - An elderly New Jersey doctor convicted of accepting kickbacks as part of a long-running, $200 million bribes-for-test-referrals scheme run by a blood testing lab was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said Bernard Greenspan, 79, of River Edge, received a 41-month sentence. The family doctor also must forfeit $203,693.

Greenspan was convicted in March of crimes including conspiracy, wire fraud and violating federal anti-kickback laws. He is the only defendant to go to trial in the wide-ranging fraud perpetrated by Parsippany-based Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services. More than 40 others, including 30 doctors, have pleaded guilty.

Federal authorities in New Jersey have called the case the largest fraud of its kind ever uncovered. They estimated the Medicare program was defrauded of tens of millions of dollars, and the investigation has so far recovered more than $13 million through forfeiture.

Greenspan was charged with accepting about $200,000 in bribes from the now-defunct company over several years in exchange for sending his patients' blood samples there. Biodiagnostic Laboratory Services allegedly made about $3 million from its arrangement with Greenspan.

The bribes came in the form of inflated rental payments for the company to use space in Greenspan's office; bogus consulting fees and even a job at the lab for a patient who prosecutors said was having a sexual relationship with Greenspan.

Greenspan's attorneys characterized him as a respected doctor who practiced medicine for 50 years and even made house calls well after they were the norm. They also told jurors Greenspan accepted legitimate rental payments from BLS because he wanted patients to be able to give blood samples in his office to a BLS phlebotomist.

Former BLS President David Nicoll; his brother and co-founder, Scott Nicoll, who previously sold concert tickets for a living; and Craig Nordman, David Nicoll's cousin, are among those who have pleaded guilty.

David Nicoll testified against Greenspan. Authorities said David Nicoll used company profits to spend $300,000 on a Ferrari automobile, $392,000 on tickets to sporting events and $154,000 at a strip club and restaurant.

The lab company pleaded guilty last year and forfeited its remaining assets.
SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) - This was a very unwelcome turn for a race horse.

Shortly after Sunday's fifth race began at Minnesota's Canterbury Park, Tiz a Princess unseated jockey Patrick Canchari and jumped over the inside rail fence.

Tiz a Princess ran into the infield and headed toward the final turn. The horse then jumped over the inside rail and returned to the track. Jockeys Jareth Loveberry and Leslie Mawing both slowed their horses and avoided colliding with the wayward animal, which was eventually caught by an outrider.

Canterbury Park spokesman Jeff Maday says the race was declared "no contest," the first time that has happened at the track since August 2015. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports wagers on the race were refunded.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Sometimes all you can do is surrender to Twitter.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio probably started out his day Tuesday thinking about paid family leave, child care tax credits and other deep issues. But when Twitter went wild over an awkward photo of him leaning in for a hug with Ivanka Trump when she arrived for a Capitol Hill meeting, Rubio was smart enough to play along.

The photo, taken by an Associated Press congressional reporter with an iPhone, appears to show Trump declining to hug Rubio back as the two greet one another just outside the Capitol.

Ivanka Trump, daughter of President Donald Trump, is greeted by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as she arrives at the Capitol to meet with lawmakers about parental leave, in Washington, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Erica Werner)

Twitter users dissected the seemingly awkward moment endlessly. They compared Rubio to Ralph Wiggum from "The Simpsons" when he doesn't get a Valentine's Day card, and to Dr. Evil from "Austin Powers" asking his son for a hug.

Rubio responded in a series of joking tweets late Tuesday, announcing that he would be investigating what he termed the "alleged failed hug."

"We believe we have our own unclassified photographic evidence that will shed greater details on this incident," the Republican senator said, adding, "We are also attempting to acquire multi-angle video which we believe will provide greater insight into this important matter."

Rubio then posted a blurry photo, taken at a different moment, showing Trump's hand on Rubio's shoulder as he smiles. "New photo emerges providing more insight into alleged failed hug. (Faces blurred for security purposes)," was the accompanying caption.

Several minutes later that was followed up by another photo showing Trump with her hand on Rubio's shoulder, and the caption "BREAKING NEWS: Additional photo from moments right after today's alleged failed hug provide new details to this developing story."

Trump herself joined in Tuesday evening, tweeting: "Anonymous sources say @marcorubio planned the alleged failed hug. I have no comment (but I would have hugged him anyway!)"

She then added: "Fake news! Marco is an excellent hugger."

The Associated Press stands by its photo.
Ashley Cecilia Castaneda, who police say had a gun hidden in her vagina during her arrest, has received probation

A Texas woman who hid a fully loaded pistol inside her vagina during a 2015 arrest on drug charges has been handed probation.

Ashley Cecilia Castaneda was stopped by police in September 2015 for a traffic violation, but when cops searched the car, they found 2.7 grams of methamphetamine under the driver's seat.

Castaneda, 33, was being escorted into a Waco jail when police say she confessed she was smuggling the concealed weapon.

A cavity search recovered a .22 caliber semi-automatic Smith and Wesson pistol, according to police.

They also recovered drugs in her bra and purse, as well as a set of digital weighing scales.

Castaneda has now been sentenced to 10 years on deferred probation after pleading guilty to methamphetamine possession The 33-year-old Waco woman also was fined $2,500.

Her attorney, Seth Sutton, denied the story as impossible in court, and argued that much-reported claim had caused his client more 'emotional pain' than the felony charges against her ever could, the Waco Tribune reports.

Castaneda, 33, was being escorted into a Waco jail when police say she confessed she was smuggling the concealed weapon (pictured is the gun recovered from her vagina, according to police)

'The ridiculous narrative circulated, first by police, and then by the media, that Ms. Castaneda somehow concealed a gun inside her vagina is and has always been completely false,' Sutton said. 'It's not possible.'

Gabriel Garcia, 33, who was in the car with Castaneda when she was arrested, pleaded guilty to possession

However, Waco police stand by the claims and say Castaneda was risking her life by smuggling the weapon in such an unusual way.

'It was a safety concern for the victim, who had a loaded firearm inside her body,' Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said at the time of the arrest. 'Depending on a number of factors, that gun could have gone off by body movements or compression of the trigger.

He added that Sutton was 'sadly mistaken' if he did not believe the extraordinary lengths they went to hide guns and drugs.

Gabriel Garcia, 33, who was in the car with Castaneda when she was arrested, pleaded guilty to possession of methamphetamine and was sentenced to two years in prison.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The president of the Security Council says members have approved the secretary-general's selection of former U.N. adviser Ghassan Salame, a Paris-based Lebanese academic, as the new U.N. envoy for Libya.

Bolivia's U.N. Ambassador Sacha LLorentty Soliz told reporters Tuesday that he sent a letter to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres approving Salame, the final step before an official announcement.

Salame, who would replace Martin Kobler of Germany, served as a senior adviser to then secretary-general Kofi Annan from 2003-2006, and later as Lebanon's culture minister. He is currently dean of the Paris School of International Affairs and a professor of international relations at the Paris Institute of Political Studies.

Several previous candidates to be the U.N. special representative for Libya were vetoed by council members, including the United States.
Striker Alfredo Morelos will be part of Rangers Europa League squad after the Ibrox side beat UEFAs transfer deadline to seal his signature.

The Ibrox outfit confirmed the signing of the 20-year-old from Finnish side HJK Helsink on a three-year deal just hours after learning their first two qualifying-round opponents.

Boss Pedro Caixinha is pinning his hopes on the youngsters deadly scoring record as he prepares the Light Blues for their first European clash in six years.

Alfredo Morelos

.@RangersTV spoke to Pedro Caixinha to get his thoughts on new signing Alfredo Morelos. Watch the full interview: https://t.co/nQuW9mAiVn pic.twitter.com/jzH2In92jZ  RangersTV (@RangersTV) June 19, 2017

Gers have been drawn against Progres Niederkorn of Luxembourg, with the winner of that tie progressing to a second-round showdown with Cypriots AEL Limassol or St Josephs of Gibraltar.

Morelos is eligible to feature in those first-round clashes with Niederkorn after work permit and visa documents were granted ahead of Mondays registration deadline.

Colombian Under-20s international Morelos hit 17 goals in 19 appearances for HJK this season, following last terms 30-goal haul.

Jonatan Johansson is looking forward to working with Alfredo Morelos having been impressed with him at HJK Helsinki: https://t.co/mWXta7JNbX pic.twitter.com/CuT28M2YID  Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) June 19, 2017

He becomes Gers sixth summer signing after the earlier arrivals of Bruno Alves, Ryan Jack, Dalcio, Fabio Cardoso and Daniel Candeias.

Morelos  who has cost Gers a fee Press Association Sport understands to be around 1million  is keen to carry on his hot scoring streak at Ibrox.

He told the Rangers website: Im very happy - Im really grateful to God and my family who have supported me in the best way to do things well every day.

This club has such a big support, so I have to make the most of it. Its safe to say that Rangers is a really big club and Im happy with the support the fans have shown me already - its been the best.

TRAILER: @RangersTV spoke to Alfredo Morelos after the Colombian joined the club today. Exclusive interview https://t.co/8heLzEQw1x pic.twitter.com/45aB5lMNUh  RangersTV (@RangersTV) June 19, 2017

I want to show the fans here what I did every day in Finland - to grow more as a player and as a person.

I did some research on the internet about the history and games - I know that its a really big club and that theyve played in really big tournaments.

I found out a lot of interesting things - its a really big club here so I want to make the most of this opportunity.

I want to do things the best way and try to do well in very match and every training session, to win trophies and to be a regular first team player.

I know it wont be easy  its going to be difficult because other team-mates will also be focused on this too.

I need to do things well every day and when I have the opportunity to play, to enjoy it and to continue to score goals and to grow more as a person and player.

He excited Rangers fans by adding: The most important thing is that I score goals - when the opportunity is there, I score.
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. JARRETT J. HAMILTON, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. CITY OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA, et al., Defendants-Appellees. No. 16-3901 Decided: June 16, 2017

Before JOEL M. FLAUM, Circuit Judge ILANA DIAMOND ROVNER, Circuit Judge ANN CLAIRE WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge

ORDER

Employees of the City of New Albany, Indiana, twice removed vehicles and property from Jarrett Hamilton's yard and driveway without his consent. Hamilton sued the City and four employees under 42 U.S.C.  1983, and the district court granted summary judgment for all defendants. We affirm that decision as to two of the individual defendants, because Hamilton lacks evidence that they participated in seizing his property, but otherwise we vacate the judgment and remand for further proceedings.

We recount the evidence in the light most favorable to Hamilton, the opponent of the motion for summary judgment. See Mulvania v. Sheriff of Rock Island Cty., 850 F.3d 849, 853 (7th Cir. 2017). The City of New Albany first performed a cleanup of Hamilton's property in 2013 when Judith Bischoff, the woman Hamilton was living with, was the owner of record. The Building Commissioner for New Albany, David Brewer, wrote Bischoff on February 22, 2013, giving her 10 days to remove all debris and blight throughout the property or the City would obtain a court order to have the debris and cars removed at her expense. Brewer did not obtain a court order, however, and instead sent a second letter on May 24 informing both Bischoff and Hamilton that he had deemed the property a hazard and had scheduled it to be cleaned. Neither letter complied with a statutory requirement that Bischoff and Hamilton be told they could request an administrative hearing. See IND. CODE  36-7-9-5(b)(6), 36-7-9-7. Instead, City employees arrived sometime in June 2013 and removed three vehicles and other property from the yard and porch. The City had not placed tags on the vehicles before impounding them, as required under Indiana's abandoned-vehicle law. See IND. CODE  9-22-1-11. More than six months later, though, the City notified Bischoff and Hamilton that the cars would be auctioned unless they paid for towing and storage. They did not pay, and the City sold the cars in April 2014. Hamilton says that at some point the City sent a bill in excess of $4,000 for taking the property from the premises.

A second cleanup followed an August 2014 complaint filed by the City against Bischoff in state court seeking approval to conduct an emergency inspection of the property. That complaint alleged that the house and appurtenant structures were being used as a catch-all for trash and other refuse. The same day the complaint was filed, the state court issued a one-paragraph order granting the City an emergency right to conduct an inspection of the property. That inspection never occurred, as far as the record shows. But soon after the order was issued, Bischoff conveyed the property to Hamilton, who was substituted as defendant in the City's lawsuit. Then in February 2015, almost six months after seeking the emergency inspection, the City asked for emergency authorization to clean up the property because, the City represented, refuse on the outside was enabling rats and other vermin to flourish, presenting a hazard to surrounding neighbors. The state court again issued a one-paragraph order, this time saying that the City had been granted an emergency right to conduct a clean-up of the property. No hearing was held after the City's cleanup motion, as would be required under an Indiana law authorizing emergency cleanups of unsafe premises. See IND. CODE  36-7-9-22(a). Also, cars are not mentioned in the City's motions or the court's two orders, yet after the second order the City impounded eight cars from Hamilton's driveway. Those vehicles, like the first three, were impounded without first being tagged, and they remain in the City's possession.

Hamilton sued in April 2015two months after the second cleanup. The district court screened his complaint, see 28 U.S.C.  1915(e)(2)(B), Rowe v. Shake, 196 F.3d 778, 783 (7th Cir. 1999), and allowed two claims to proceed: that (1) Brewer, the Building Commissioner, and City employees Paul Speights, Dennis Smith, and John Burger had seized Hamilton's property in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and (2) the City had imposed excessive fines in violation of the Eighth Amendment. In granting summary judgment the district court reasoned that Hamilton lacked evidence that Smith or Burger was involved in taking his property, that a jury could not conclude his property was seized unreasonably, and that the City's fees were not punitive.

In this court the defendants initially contend that Hamilton's brief fails to satisfy Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 28(a)(8). But we construe pro se filings liberally and will address any cogent arguments we are able to discern in a pro se appellate brief. Parker v. Four Seasons Hotels, Ltd., 845 F.3d 807, 811 (7th Cir. 2017); see Anderson v. Hardman, 241 F.3d 544, 545 (7th Cir. 2001). Hamilton's brief clearly argues that the seizures were unreasonable and the City's fees, excessive. We can identify an articulable basis for error in his brief, see Haxhiu v. Mukasey, 519 F.3d 685, 69192 (7th Cir. 2008), and see no reason to dismiss the appeal on this ground.

Hamilton does not challenge, however, the grant of summary judgment for Smith and Burger. Even if he did, that challenge would fail. A defendant must have personally participated in a violation of the Constitution to be liable under  1983, Brooks v. Ross, 578 F.3d 574, 580 (7th Cir. 2009), and Hamilton never introduced any evidence that Smith or Burger was involved in seizing his property.

That is not the case, though, with Brewer or with Speights, a police department worker. Neither defendant disclaims involvementSpeights does not dispute that he removed the cars and other propertybut both defendants contend that Hamilton failed to establish a property interest in the items taken, rendering irrelevant the question whether the seizures of those belongings were unreasonable. They point out that the three cars seized in 2013 were registered to Bischoff, not Hamilton. But the defendants confuse Indiana's registration requirement with proof of ownership. See Storie v. Randy's Auto Sales, Inc., 926 N.E.2d 487, 489 (Ind. 2010) (noting that ownership of vehicle in Indiana is determined by Uniform Commercial Code instead of Certificate of Title Act); Madrid v. Bloomington Auto Co., Inc., 782 N.E.2d 386, 39195 (Ind. Ct. App. 2003) (same). And more importantly, ownership is not dispositive under the Fourth Amendment; a seizure occurs when a government official interferes with a possessory interest. See Soldal v. Cook Cty., Ill., 506 U.S. 56, 6566 (1992) (holding that Fourth Amendment protects possessory interest even absent liberty or privacy interests); United States v. Carlisle, 614 F.3d 750, 75859 (7th Cir. 2010) (recognizing that either ownership or possessory interest is needed to invoke Fourth Amendment rights). The evidence raises an inference that Hamilton at least had a possessory interest in the carshe testified to purchasing them, and the City's impoundment notices were addressed to both Hamilton and Bischoff.

The defendants also argue that Hamilton abandoned his interest in the vehicles and other items seized from his property because, they say, he did nothing to protect his interest after being notified of the impending seizures. This contention misses the point. If, as Hamilton maintains, the City had no right to take his property, he cannot have abandoned anything by ignoring the City's unlawful commands. See United States v. Alexander, 573 F.3d 465, 472 (7th Cir. 2009) (recognizing that police misconduct cuts against inference of abandonment). This circular abandonment defense strikes at the very question the defendants seek to avoidwhether Brewer and Speights lawfully seized Hamilton's vehicles.

As for that question, the defendants argue that the district court correctly concluded that the seizures were reasonable and thus constitutional. The district court's analysiswhich contrasts Hamilton's property rights against the City's asserted interest in public safety and healthdoes not address a crucial point: without a warrant or an exception to the warrant requirement, a seizure of private property is presumptively unreasonable. See Illinois v. McArthur, 531 U.S. 326, 330 (2001); Bell v. City of Chicago, 835 F.3d 736, 73839 (7th Cir. 2016), cert. denied, 137 S. Ct. 1231 (2017). Probable cause to conduct a search for administrative rather than criminal purposes will exist if reasonable legislative or administrative standards are satisfied, but a warrant nonetheless is required. Camara v. Mun. Ct. of the City and Cty. of S.F., 387 U.S. 523, 52834, 538 (1967); see Platteville Area Apartment Ass'n v. City of Platteville, 179 F.3d 574, 578 (7th Cir. 1999); Wilson v. Health and Hosp. Corp. of Marion Cty., 620 F.2d 1201, 1208 (7th Cir. 1980). In this case, we are dealing with seizures rather than searches, but the same logic applies. See Camara, 387 U.S. at 52834 (describing policy reasons behind requiring warrants for administrative searches). Thus the question is not whether Brewer's and Speights's actions were reasonable but whether they were supported by an administrative warrant that satisfies state legislative or administrative standards, or by an exception to the warrant requirement. See Montville v. Lewis, 87 F.3d 900, 902 (7th Cir. 1996).

In the district court Brewer and Speights contended that the seizures of Hamilton's property were authorized by state law. On appeal the defendants effectively have abandoned this reliance on state law, which they mention in just one sentence of their 30-page brief. As we explain, this change of course was sensible, though the defendants have no fallback.

Brewer and Speights had argued first that the impoundment of three vehicles in 2013 and eight more in 2015 complied with Indiana statutes concerning abandoned vehicles. See IND. CODE  9-22-1-0.3 to 9-22-1-32. An exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement applies to impoundments authorized by statute. See Bell, 835 F.3d at 740; Wilford v. State, 50 N.E.3d 371, 375 (Ind. 2016); Fair v. State, 627 N.E. 2d 427, 432 (Ind. 1993). Indiana law authorizes impoundment of abandoned vehicles in specified circumstances, including when a vehicle is at least three (3) model years old, is mechanically inoperable, and is left on private property continuously in a location visible from public property for more than twenty (20) days. IND. CODE  9-13-2-1(7).

It is undisputed that all 11 vehicles were more than 3 years old, but the defendants, whose burden it was to justify seizing Hamilton's property, see Bogan v. City of Chicago, 644 F.3d 563, 568 (7th Cir. 2011), offered scant evidence that any car was inoperable and no evidence that the cars had been left continuously in a location visible to the public for more than 20 days. Further, as Hamilton points out, a state official relying on  9-13-2-1(7) must attach to the vehicle a notice tag containing the official's contact information and a warning that the vehicle is considered abandoned and will be removed after 72 hours if the owner does not take action. IND. CODE  9-22-1-11. Only if a vehicle is tagged but then not removed within the applicable period does it become subject to impoundment. Id.  9-22-1-14(b); see Fields v. State, 382 N.E.2d 972, 97475 (Ind. Ct. App. 1978) (holding that police officers had had no legal right to remove vehicle without following statutory notice procedures). There is no evidence that this procedure was followed, so a jury could not find that Brewer and Speights seized the cars under the authority of Indiana's impoundment laws.

In the district court Brewer and Speights also had sought to justify the seizures of Hamilton's cars and other belongings under Indiana's Unsafe Building Law, IND. CODE  36-7-9-1 to 36-7-9-29. Not only does that law have no apparent relevance to vehicles, but there is no evidence that either seizure was supported by an administrative warrant under this law or any exception to the warrant requirement. For the 2013 seizure, Brewer and Speights focused at summary judgment on a portion of the law authorizing the enforcement authorityin this case, Brewer, as the Building Commissionerto issue an administrative order requiring a homeowner to remove trash, debris, fire hazardous material, or a public health hazard in and about the unsafe premises. IND. CODE  36-7-9-5(a)(4). Such an order must include information specified by statute, including a statement that the order will become final after 10 days unless an administrative hearing is requested. Id.  36-7-9-5(b)(6). Under this statutory scheme, Brewer did not have authority to direct a cleanup of Hamilton's property unless an appropriate order had been served on Hamilton in compliance with the statute and Hamilton did not ask for an administrative hearing as a prelude, if necessary, to judicial review in state court. See id.  36-7-9-10(a).

There is no evidence that Brewer complied with the Unsafe Building Law before sending Speights to seize Hamilton's property. For that reason we can avoid the thornier question whether this administrative order scheme is a constitutionally permissible substitute for an administrative warrant. See Platteville Area Apartment Ass'n, 179 F.3d at 578 (noting that the Supreme Court has not as yet held that the requirements of particularity and issuance under oath are to be bent for administrative warrants). As far as the seizure of Hamilton's property in 2013 goes, neither of the letters Brewer sent to Bischoff and Hamilton that year told them they could demand a hearing under  36-7-9-7, as an administrative order must under  36-7-9-5(b)(6). This is significant because the City's right to perform a cleanup in this case, at least under the Unsafe Building Law, depended on Hamilton and Bischoff having known they could request a hearing but electing against a request. Id.  36-7-9-10(a)(3). And Hamilton and Bischoff likely were under the impression that they would have an opportunity for some type of administrative or judicial review, since Brewer said in his February letter that he would obtain a court order and never did. Thus the letters in 2013 cannot be said to have complied reasonably with administrative or legislative standards.

Neither can the defendants rely on the two court orders obtained before the remaining cars and other property were taken in 2015. Only the second of those orders even purports to authorize a cleanup of Hamilton's propertyon an emergency basis. Again, we do not address whether that order is constitutionally deficient in that it fails to describe the place to be searched or the property to be seized. See Platteville Area Apartment Ass'n, 179 F.3d at 578. Brewer and Speights have never attempted to demonstrate how they or anyone else actually complied with the provisions of the Unsafe Building Law. Instead, at summary judgment they asserted that the cleanup order was equitable relief granted within the spirit of  36-7-9-18, the provision of the Unsafe Building Law authorizing mandatory or prohibitory injunctions to remedy unsafe premises. However, the state judge's order supports no such reading, and the City's application for that order does not cite any section of the Unsafe Building Law, let alone  36-7-9-18. Moreover, that section applies only to persons with a property interest in the unsafe premises, id.  36-7-9-18(2), and so cannot have authorized the City to take action on Hamilton's property.

Nor does the state judge's order fall within the provision of the Unsafe Building Law allowing for an immediate cleanup to remedy emergency conditions. Id.  36-7-9-22(a). That section requires a hearing to be held within ten (10) days after the filing of a complaint. Id. As previously noted, there is no evidence that Hamilton was offered such a hearing. Another provision,  36-7-9-21, allows a court to authorize the Building Commissioner to take action after a property owner has failed to comply with an administrative order that was issued under  36-7-9-5 and has been affirmed or modified at a hearing and is not subject to judicial review, id.  36-7-9-21(a). Since Brewer's two letters in 2013 were not valid administrative orders under state law, they could not support judicial action under  36-7-9-21. Brewer and Speights thus failed to produce evidence to rebut the presumption of unreasonableness that follows from a warrantless search or seizure. See Bogan, 644 F.3d at 568; Valance v. Wisel, 110 F.3d 1269, 127879 (7th Cir. 1997).

What Brewer and Speights are left with are their contentions that the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, see D.C. Ct. App. v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983); Rooker v. Fid. Tr. Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923), deprived the district court of subject-matter jurisdiction to address the 2015 seizure, and that they are shielded from liability for either seizure by the doctrine of qualified immunity. Initially we note that Brewer and Speights make only passing reference to applying the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, which is understandable because there is no support for their invocation of the doctrine. For Hamilton's claims to be barred by Rooker-Feldman, he must have had a reasonable opportunity to litigate them in state court. See Jakupovic v. Curran, 850 F.3d 898, 904 (7th Cir. 2017). With no evidence that any hearing was conducted pursuant to Indiana law, and with only a cursory order authorizing the removal of his property, we would be hard pressed to conclude that Hamilton had an opportunity to raise Fourth Amendment issues with the state court. See id.; Long v. Shorebank Dev. Corp., 182 F.3d 548, 558 (7th Cir. 1999). In any event, the state court's order did nothing more than grant permission to officials to clean up Hamilton's property (and said nothing about removing cars). Whether to act on that permissionincluding deciding how and what to seizewas the decision of Brewer and Speights, and it is possible to review their conduct without setting aside the state court's order. See Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Indus. Corp., 544 U.S. 280, 293 (2005); Mains v. Citibank, N.A., 852 F.3d 669, 675 (7th Cir. 2017).

Brewer and Speights also have attempted to invoke the shield of qualified immunity. See Pearson v. Callahan, 555 U.S. 223, 231 (2009). As we have explained, the defendants introduced no evidence that the cleanups or resulting vehicle impoundments were undertaken in compliance with state law, and only an administrative warrant satisfying state legislative or administrative standards could have justified the taking of Hamilton's belongings from his property. See Camara, 387 U.S. at 52834. Brewer and Speights still might have asserted that they did not act unreasonablyfor example, if they made a reasonable mistake or relied on another City official to ensure compliance with the law, see McGee v. Bauer, 956 F.2d 730, 738 (7th Cir. 1992). But at summary judgment they did not try to explain their actions or to justify their noncompliance with state laws intended to allow for administrative searches complying with the Fourth Amendment. Thus, Brewer and Speights did not establish entitlement to qualified immunity.

With that we turn to Hamilton's claim against the City of New Albany under the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment. Hamilton appears to contend that the City imposed two excessive finesnot one as the City suggests: (1) a bill of approximately $4,300 for the 2013 cleanup and (2) for each vehicle a towing charge of $110 and storage fees of $20 per day. The City admitted that it billed Hamilton for cleanup costs but refused to submit evidence identifying the actual amounts billed. The City's right to charge Hamilton anythingwhether for cleanup costs, towing charges, or storage feeshinges on the lawfulness of the seizures of the cars and other items. That is a question for a jury, so the district court's entry of summary judgment for the City on this claim was premature.

We have considered Hamilton's other contentions and none has merit. The district court's order granting summary judgment in favor of defendants Speights, Brewer, and the City of New Albany is VACATED, and as to these defendants the case is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this order. In all other respects the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.
Barclays and four individuals, including former boss John Varley, have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud relating to the banks emergency fundraising during the financial crisis.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it had brought the charges against the bank itself as well as ex-chief executive Mr Varley, 61, Roger Jenkins, also 61, who is the former executive chairman of Investment Banking and Investment Management in the Middle East and North Africa for Barclays Capital, as well as two former senior executives, Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58.

The SFO has also charged Barclays plc, Mr Varley and Mr Jenkins with the provision of unlawful financial assistance.

the charges relate to the bank's fundraising in 2008, which saw Barclays raise emergency capital from Qatari investors

It said the charges relate to the banks fundraising in 2008, which saw Barclays raise emergency capital from Qatari investors as the financial crisis sent the sector into meltdown.

The SFO charges come after a five-year investigation and centre on the banks move to raise cash from Qatari investors Qatar Holding and Challenger Universal in June and October 2008, and a 3 billion US dollar (2.4 billion) loan made available to the State of Qatar in November of that year.

Barclays said it is considering its position in relation to these developments. The bank added: Barclays awaits further details of the charges from the SFO. The SFO has informed Barclays that it has not made a decision as to whether it will also bring charges against Barclays Bank Plc in respect of the loan.

Former Barclays Bank chief executive John Varley

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also reopened its probe into the Qatari fundraising deal and is understood to be reviewing new evidence which could prompt it to reconsider a 50 million fine against the banking giant four years ago.

The emergency funds raised by Barclays allowed it to avoid a government bailout in 2008 at a time when rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were forced to rely on a taxpayer rescue.

Mr Varley, who was chief executive between 2004 and 2011, headed the bank at the time of the fundraising, while Mr Jenkins is also said to have played a key role in orchestrating the deal. Mr Kalaris  an American banker living in London  used to lead the banks wealth and investment management division, while Mr Boath was the former European head of financial institutions group at Barclays.

The defendants will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on July 3.

Barclays said it is "considering its position in relation to these developments"

The way the bank secured the investments in 2008 has since been mired in controversy. Investigations have focused on two advisory services agreements worth 322 million, which Barclays agreed to pay the Qatar Investment Authority.

The FCA slapped a 50 million penalty on the bank in 2013 after finding that Barclays had failed to disclose arrangements and fees it paid to the Qatari investors. Barclays contested the fine and the challenge was put on hold while the SFO conducted its investigation, but that stay has been lifted.
Sale Sharks have signed Australia international James OConnor on a three-year deal from Toulon.

The 26-year-old utility back, who was suspended by the French club in February for drug offences but has since returned to action, becomes the Sharks latest high-profile signing.

Faf de Klerk, Jono Ross and Josh Strauss have already arrived at the AJ Bell Stadium ahead of the new Aviva Premiership season, and director of rugby Steve Diamond said: We are delighted that James OConnor will be joining us.

Toulon's James O'Connor

He added: He is the type of player that alongside a group of incredibly talented home-grown lads, will help us as a club to push on and achieve the vision of our owners Simon Orange and Ged Mason.

He has great feet and an unbelievable running and kicking game which will threaten any opposition.

What is exciting about James OConnor is his potential. He was capped for Australia 44 times by the age of 23 and even now at only 26, he has played in the English Premiership, French Top 14, Super 15 and at international level.

He has a lot of experience and is keen to show his international calibre. We are all pleased he has chosen to do this at Sale Sharks.
The British and Irish Lions registered a first midweek victory of their New Zealand tour by routing the Chiefs 34-6 at Waikato Stadium.

Warren Gatlands tourists dominated from start to finish with wing Jack Nowell crossing twice, Jared Payne touching down and referee Jerome Garces awarding a penalty try.

The Lions have now won four of their six games and the victory continues the momentum that has been generated heading into Saturdays first Test against the All Blacks in Auckland.

I think our performances have been good; not everyone agrees with that opinion. We are pretty happy with where we are at the moment with the players in the group. The selection meeting will be tough and thats the way we want it. Guys put up their hands tonight and Ive no doubt there will be some healthy debate.

Tweet of the match

Great to see #LionsTour2017 @lionsofficial playing with fluency This type of play comes from 3 weeks on tour & playing for that famous badge pic.twitter.com/WVovHDuRTy  Scott Hastings (@ScottHastings13) June 20, 2017

Hero of the match

Jack Nowell

Nowell played himself back into Test match contention in a glorious return to form at Waikato Stadium. The nuggety Exeter wing arrived in New Zealand with the All Blacks in his sights only for his claim to suffer through a dismal outing against the Blues in the second fixture. Two well-taken tries against the Chiefs, however, have given him every chance of participating in the Test series at some point.

Options

Elliot Daly

There was more pleasing news for the Lions in the previously misfiring back three department after Liam Williams and Elliot Daly produced eye-catching performances. George North, Anthony Watson and Leigh Halfpenny are likely to start the Eden Park opener against the All Blacks but should any of them be dropped or suffer injury, then Williams, Daly and Nowell have proved they are now ready to step in.

Canny Gatland

Warren Gatland

Warren Gatlands claim that New Zealand deliberately block opponents off the ball was intended to level the playing field for Saturdays first Test, but it has already had a positive impact. On two occasions the Chiefs were guilty of illegal obstruction and both incidents were punished by a penalty from Garces.

Villain of the match

Joe Marler

Against a weakened Chiefs side missing their All Blacks it ultimately made little difference, but Joe Marlers 13th-minute off the ball shoulder charge on Nepo Laulala that resulted in a yellow card was a moment of indiscipline that could cost the Lions dear if it occurred in the Test series.

Player ratings

Liam Williams

Liam Williams 8, Jack Nowell 9, Jared Payne 7, Robbie Henshaw 7, Elliot Daly 8, Dan Biggar 7, Greig Laidlaw 6, Joe Marler 4, Rory Best 7, Dan Cole 7, Iain Henderson 7, Courtney Lawes 7, James Haskell 7, Justin Tipuric 8, CJ Stander 7. Replacements: Allan Dell (for Haskell, 13-23) 7, Alun Wyn Jones (for Lawes, HIA 52-57) 7, Tommy Seymour (for Daly, 59) 7

Whos up next?

Thanks to all the fans who turned up tonight. Now we look forward to the first Test between the #AllBlacks and @lionsofficial on Saturday. pic.twitter.com/Xu5U9uc8TO  All Blacks (@AllBlacks) June 20, 2017

New Zealand v British and Irish Lions, first Test (Saturday, June 24, in Auckland).
The family of the man being held after the Finsbury Park attack have said he had been troubled for a long time.

Darren Osborne was arrested after worshippers were targeted by a man driving a van near Finsbury Park Mosque in north London early on Monday.

Neighbours of the father-of-four from Cardiff said they were shocked when they saw pictures of him being arrested but one revealed he had called her Muslim children inbred and another said he rang the police after spotting a man he believes was Osborne sleeping in a van on Saturday night.

In a statement, Osbornes family said he had been troubled for a long time.

We are massively shocked. Its unbelievable. It still hasnt really sunk in.

We are devastated for the families. Our hearts go out to the people who have been injured.

Finsbury Park Mosque

They said the 47-year-old was not a racist and had never expressed racist views, adding: Its madness. It is obviously sheer madness.

The attack unfolded as a man who had been taken ill was receiving first aid from the public near the mosque, where people had been saying Ramadan night prayers. The van was driven at people who were helping him.

The man was pronounced dead at the scene and paramedics took nine people to three London hospitals while two others were treated for minor injuries.

Updated figures: We took nine patients to three hospitals following the incident in #FinsburyPark https://t.co/oL75V7ZUWD pic.twitter.com/WDCbzDVk8D  London Ambulance Service  (@Ldn_Ambulance) June 19, 2017

Witnesses described hearing the driver, who was detained by members of the public before police arrived, shout: I am going to kill Muslims.

Osborne was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but Scotland Yard said he was later arrested for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism, including murder and attempted murder.

Images of the van showed it was rented from Pontyclun Van Hire, near Cardiff.

The van used in the attack

One of Osbornes neighbours, Edward Gardiner, 28, a self-employed builder and plumber, called police at 12.27am on Sunday morning to report concerns for the welfare of a man sitting in a Pontyclun Van Hire vehicle.

The man, who smelt of drink, was sleeping across the front three seats of the van with the door open, close to Osbornes home.

I called police because I saw a random van in my cul-de-sac with someone drunk in it and the door open, Mr Gardiner, who lives in a nearby property, said.

Police are searching a house in Cardiff as part of their investigation into the attack outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London (Ben Birchall/PA)

I could smell alcohol on him and he was grunting and groaning. I poked him but he didnt respond so I called 101. I gave them the reg, it was a 64 reg.

It was a Pontyclun Van Hire van. They said they would sort it out. They didnt give me a crime reference number, I dont know if they came out.

I thought it was some random drunk guy who wanted to pull over to have a kip. I thought someone should go and check on him.

Imam Mohammed Mahmoud

I didnt think anything about it but then I saw the news reports and it was the same guy, the same van.

It also emerged that Osborne had been asked to leave the nearby Hollybush pub on Saturday night after arguing about immigration.

Pub regular Phil Henry said: He was kicked out of here, the landlord said, for shouting about Islam. He was asked to leave quietly and he went.

He came in here and he was just staring before he started shouting.

When he came in the landlord said he was on his own and started shouting Ill kill every f****** Muslim.

They said We dont want to hear that and he just left of his own accord.

The Finsbury Park Mosque attack

Mr Henry said the community was absolutely shocked and that it was a mixed community where he had never seen any trouble.

It is a cosmopolitan city and always has been, he said.

It hasnt happened on our own doorstep but it has because the guy comes from here. We dont want to be linked to it.

Commissioner & officers were amongst hundreds who attended a vigil last night following the horrific #FinsburyPark attack #WeStandTogether pic.twitter.com/0rHcoOWClE  Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) June 20, 2017

Neighbours said Osborne had been living in a tent in woodland after being kicked out of the family home.

Khadijeh Sherizi, who converted to Islam in 2003, said Osborne was polite and her children, who are Muslim, would play with his children most days.

But on Saturday, Osborne approached Mrs Sherizis eldest son, 12, and called him inbred. The following day, Osborne repeated the insult to Mrs Sherizis 10-year-old daughter.

We are Muslim but I am white, Mrs Sherizi said.

It is shocking what he has done, for him to drive down Muslims. He was just so normal. We never had a problem with him, nothing.

In Cardiff, it can be quite racist. Sometimes I feel threatened with my veil on. I know exactly what people are thinking by their looks.

But there has been nothing from him (Osborne), no threats, no animosity at all.
Immigration to Britain will be managed but not shut down after a jobs first Brexit, Chancellor Philip Hammond has said.

Mr Hammond also signalled the UK would seek to maintain the frictionless border arrangements of the European Unions customs union for an implementation period after leaving the bloc.

In a keynote speech to City leaders at Mansion House, the Chancellor stressed Britain would leave the EU in a way that prioritises British jobs and underpins Britains prosperity.

The address will be interpreted as a fresh marker in an internal Cabinet battle over Brexit, with Mr Hammond apparently favouring an approach that puts businesses first while colleagues, including Theresa May, have made immigration controls a red line for negotiations.

Mr Hammond said he is not turning a blind eye to a growing tide of hostility against globalisation and mass immigration, and stressed he would push for a new phase of world trade that delivers clear benefits for ordinary working people.

But he added: We are not about to turn inward. But we do want to ensure that the arrangements we have in place work for our economy.

Just as the British people understand the benefits of trade, so too they understand how important it is to business to be able to access global talent and to move individuals around their organisations. So while we seek to manage migration, we do not seek to shut it down.

"...we can deliver, for British jobs; British businesses and British prosperity." @PhilipHammondUK at Mansion House. https://t.co/uvMVcmNRWm  HM Treasury (@hmtreasury) June 20, 2017

Mr Hammond insisted the economy must be a priority in Brexit talks, noting that British people did not vote to become poorer.

He said: We recognise that this is a negotiation, and our negotiating counterparts, while broadly sharing our desire for a close ongoing relationship, will have their own priorities. So we must be clear about ours.

I have said before, and I remain clear today, that when the British people voted last June, they did not vote to become poorer, or less secure.

They did vote to leave the EU. And we will leave the EU. But it must be done in a way that works for Britain. In a way that prioritises British jobs, and underpins Britains prosperity.

Anything less will be a failure to deliver on the instructions of the British people.

Philip Hammond delivers his keynote speech to City leaders at Mansion House

Mr Hammond outlined his three priorities for a Brexit for Britain  a comprehensive free trade agreement for goods and services, transitional arrangements to avoid unnecessary disruption and dangerous cliff edges, and frictionless customs arrangements for cross-border trade and crucially to maintain the open and free-flowing Irish border.

To do this in the context of our wider objectives will be challenging, he said.

It will almost certainly involve the deployment of new technology.

And therefore well almost certainly need an implementation period, outside the customs union itself, but with current customs border arrangements remaining in place, until new long-term arrangements are up and running.
Racegoers have hailed Royal Ascots fabulous traditions and fashions as the famous race meeting welcomed thousands of well-dressed punters.

Haute couture designer Isabell Kristensen has for many years been a fan of the Berkshire race meeting which is as much a social occasion as a celebration of sport.

She said: Its the fabulous tradition of Ascot that keeps me coming back, I love the horses, I like to gamble  although I always lose. Its fantastic to come here and see clients and friends and have a glass of champagne.

And I love seeing the fashion, what people are wearing  its a fabulous fashion show.

Racegoer Isabell Kristensen

Stephanie Del Valle, the current Miss World, poses for photographers at Royal Ascot (Alastair Grant/AP)

Stephanie del Valle, the current Miss World, said in her homeland of Puerto Rico she was a big fan of the sport of kings.

She said: Ive heard so much about Royal Ascot, my family are all big fans of horse racing and I practically grew up at the race track back home, so coming here is so exciting.

Lisa Tan from London (left) with Angela Menz from Australia during day one of Royal Ascot

(Jonathan Brady/PA)

(Jonathan Brady/PA)

Following the arrival of the Queen and royal party in the parade ring, the crowds will pay their respects to those who died in recent events.

Racegoers pose for a photo during day one of Royal Ascot

(Jonathan Brady/PA)

Royal Ascot

Racegoers enjoy a glass champagne during day one of Royal Ascot

Also joining the Queen will be the Duke of York and his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, as well as the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Peter Phillips and his wife Autumn, and Diana, Princess of Wales sister Lady Jane Fellowes and her husband Lord Fellowes.

William and Kate will present a trophy during the day, as will Charles and Camilla, double Olympic gold medal-winning showjumper Nick Skelton and actor Laurence Fox, best known for his role in the TV crime drama Lewis.
The public are being urged to take care as temperatures continue to soar in Britain.

Public Health England (PHE) said the hot weather could have a very real impact on wellbeing, with the elderly, young babies, children and those with medical conditions most at risk.

Get advice on helping people most at risk during this hot weather via @NHSChoices https://t.co/yorQ18ntoT pic.twitter.com/7lSB4zeWvr  UK Health Security Agency (@UKHSA) June 19, 2017

Here are some top tips for staying cool and safe during the heatwave.

Close curtains in rooms facing the sun to help keep temperatures low.

Children enjoy the beach in Scarborough. (Danny Lawson/PA)

Walk in the shade and wear a hat if you do go out in the heat.

Drink plenty of water. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA)

Drink plenty of water and avoid sugar-filled, caffeinated and alcoholic drinks that can make you more dehydrated.

Never leave a person or animal in a closed parked vehicle in hot weather.

Don't leave pets in cars. (Danny Lawson/PA)

Avoid physical exertion in the hottest parts of the day.
The United States has flown two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The US often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesdays flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of US college student Otto Warmbier, who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

US bomber

Seouls defence ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The US military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces.

It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States to defend against provocative and destabilising actions in the Pacific theatre.

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

On behalf of the @StateDept, Secretary Tillerson offers his condolences and prayers to the family of Otto Warmbier. pic.twitter.com/R98O0CIBWD  Ned Price (@StateDeptSpox) June 19, 2017

Analysts said his death is likely to cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea and compound efforts by South Koreas new liberal president to improve ties with the North.

Meanwhile, a coroners office in Ohio is investigating the death of Warmbier.

A spokesman for Hamilton County Coroner Dr Lakshmi Sammaraco said the office accepted the case of the 22-year-old college student who died on Monday in a Cincinnati hospital.

Mr Warmbiers parents did not state a specific cause of death, but cited awful, torturous mistreatment by North Korea.

Doctors had described Mr Warmbiers condition as a state of unresponsive wakefulness and said he suffered a severe neurological injury of unknown cause.

We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Otto Warmbier, a remarkable young Ohioan: https://t.co/qSGnPcJQra  Rob Portman (@senrobportman) June 19, 2017

He arrived in Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.
A lone-wolf dissident bomber who posed as a Swedish model to entrap men into taking part in her terrorist campaign has been branded dangerous and cunning by police.

Christine Connor, 31, was jailed for 16 years and four months at Belfast Crown Court on Tuesday after pleading guilty to a number of terrorist offences, including the attempted murder of a police officer in the city.

Connor twice attacked officers with blast bombs in May 2013 after tricking them into responding to fake 999 calls in North Belfast. Nobody was seriously injured.

Christine Connor (second right) walking to Laganside Courts, Belfast, accompanied by unknown people (Liam McBurney/PA)

In one of the calls, she pretended to be a victim of domestic violence. When officers responded, she threw two blast bombs at them. One of the bombs landed at an officers feet.

Connor, from Mill Valley in North Belfast, had enlisted the help of an English man she had befriended online  using a false identity and photographs  to source and purchase explosives and ship them to her.

Police in Northern Ireland said the region was a safer place with Connor behind bars.

Detective Superintendent Richard Campbell, from the Police Service of Northern Irelands Serious Crime Branch, described Connor as a dangerous woman who exploited others to further her own twisted ideologies.

Belfast woman Christine Connor was sentenced today for attempting to murder a police officer on Crumlin Road, 2013. https://t.co/TxqjyMPcZJ  Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) June 20, 2017

She was very cunning and duped a number of men through fake profile images on social media to become involved in her terrorist aspirations. She used online photographs of Swedish model, fashion designer and blogger Sanne Alexandra Andersson without her knowledge or consent. These bore no resemblance to Christine.

Co-accused, Stuart Downes, 31, from Meole Brace in Shrewsbury, had been befriended by Connor online.

Police believe he played a key part in the attacks on officers by sourcing and purchasing the explosives and then shipping them to Connor in Northern Ireland.

Richard Campbell

Mr Downes took his own life before he was due to stand trial in June last year.

Sentencing, Judge David McFarland described Mr Downes as a pitiful, troubled and vulnerable young man.

Why he became involved with you is a mystery, he said to Connor. You attempted to indoctrinate Mr Downes with your views of Irish history.

Its within your power to manipulate others. You are committed to a violent philosophy to achieve political objectives. You have shown little remorse. I find you dangerous.

Police revealed that Connor had also enticed an American man, Zachary Gevelinger, online.

Mr Gevelinger was arrested and questioned by officers after he visited Connor while she was on remand in Hydebank Prison in July 2013.

Hooded top

Police found correspondence from him to Connor in her house, as well as cheques he had sent her.

Mr Gevelinger took his own life in May this year.

Neither of these men, who are now both deceased, had previous connections to Northern Ireland or to Northern Ireland-related terrorism, said Detective Superintendent Campbell.

Her deceitfulness knew no bounds and involved using a fictitious name and a profile picture that bore no resemblance to her when communicating online with Stuart Downes to plan this sickening attack on officers who were simply carrying out their core job of protecting their community.
Emergency services in Portugal say they are making headway in controlling a major wildfire that killed 64 people in the central area of the country.

Bbut the welcome news came as another blaze nearby grew in size and amid conflicting reports that a water-dropping plane might have crashed.

Maria Jose Andre of Portugals Air Accident Office said she had been told by the Civil Protection Agency that a Canadair water-dropping plane had crashed in central Portugal while fighting the wildfires. Her office immediately sent a crash investigation team to the area.

Fire fighting aircrafts have been used against the fire (Paulo Duarte/AP)

But officials with the Portuguese government and the Civil Protection Agency said they could not confirm the crash.

Vitor Vaz Pinto, a Civil Protection Agency spokesman, said airborne search-and-rescue teams are looking for wreckage among the smoke-shrouded hills where wildfires are still raging.

He said all 13 planes hired by the agency to help fight the blazes are accounted for, but a total of 30 water-dropping aircraft are engaged in battling the blazes, some operating under bilateral agreements with the Portuguese government and others as part of a European Union cooperation agreement.

An abandoned caravan containing gas bottles had exploded in the same area and sent up a fireball, he said, suggesting that may have misled people into thinking there was a crash.

A source with the European Commission who declined to be identified according to internal protocol said that all seven planes provided under an EU civil protection mechanism are accounted for.

The Civil Protection Agency said about 1,200 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft were fighting the deadly wildfire in Pedrogao Grande, which was raging for a third consecutive day about 90 miles north of Lisbon.

Portuguese firefighters work to stop a forest fire

Officials said the blaze was mostly contained, though still burning fiercely. Some firefighting resources were being diverted to Gois, about 20 kilometres from Pedrogao Grande, where almost 800 firefighters and four planes were battling flames.

Mr Vaz Pinto told reporters the Gois wildfire was very fast and very explosive and had forced the evacuation of 11 hill villages. Temperatures forecast to reach 43 degrees Celsius, gusting winds and bone-dry woodland were fuelling the blazes, Mr Vaz Pinto said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Antonio Costa ordered an investigation into what happened on Saturday night when the deaths occurred, 47 of them on a road as people fled the flames.

Mr Costas order asked three questions: whether extreme weather could explain the scale of the disaster, why emergency services communications at times didnt work, and why the road where the deaths occurred was not closed.
HAMBURG, Germany, June 19 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Britain might end up following the example of other islands in the European Union with low tax rates when it quits the bloc.

Merkel, who said it was already hard to organise fair tax competition in Europe, also announced plans for a Franco-German corporation tax reform.

Speaking to non-governmental organisations in Hamburg before she hosts a G20 summit there next month, Merkel said: "I don't want to pillory anyone but the island states of Ireland, Malta and Cyprus say: we have a bad geographical location, we're at such a disadvantage, we can only attract companies by having very low taxes."

She added: "And when, within the context of Brexit, Britain one day decides to step into this tax competition too, then of course that would be a huge challenge for countries."

Germany and France will therefore attempt a joint corporation tax reform via a common tax assessment framework "so that at least two countries can be a role model", she said, adding that this could also be a blueprint for a global tax system.

The G20 summit is due to take place in Hamburg in early July. On July 13 the governments of Germany and France will meet in Paris for the Franco-German Council of Ministers, where they want to make proposals for closer cooperation in areas such as tax.

In a manifesto document ahead of a June 8 election, Britain's Conservatives - who emerged as the largest party but lost their parliamentary majority - said corporation tax would be cut to 17 percent by 2020. (Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Michael Nienaber and Ralph Boulton)
By Anthony Esposito

CANCUN, Mexico, June 19 (Reuters) - Mexico, the United States and Canada on Monday lobbied countries from across the Americas to adopt a watered-down resolution criticizing Venezuela's government after seeing resistance from some of the socialist oil exporter's allies.

After failing to reach consensus in May, ministers from the 34-nation Organization of American States (OAS) were meeting for three days at a resort in Cancun and attempted to hash out a joint statement on the political and economic crisis rocking Venezuela.

Mexico and Peru have led the push with the United States for a resolution that defends representative democracy in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is accused of leading the OPEC member towards dictatorship by delaying elections, jailing opposition activists and pressing to overhaul the constitution.

Both Mexican and U.S. officials were negotiating with a bloc of countries from the Caribbean, many of which are grateful to Venezuela for soft oil loans.

"We want to reach a unified resolution," Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray said at a news conference. He spoke of wanting to agree "to defend the values that unite us ... in this specific case it's the defense of representative democracy as the only form of government that should prevail in the American continent."

At least 72 people have been killed in two months of violence between protesters and police as Venezuelans decry shortages of food and medicine. Maduro says the protests, along with the diplomatic efforts, are part of a plot by the United States to topple him.

"Venezuela needs an international humanitarian channel that provides drugs and food to the Venezuelan population," OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro said.

Almagro called for an election timetable in Venezuela, for political prisoners to be freed, for an independent judiciary and respect for the autonomy of the National Assembly legislature.

Protests raged again in Caracas on Monday, as activists threw rocks and fireworks at security forces, who responded with volleys of tear gas.

"We don't expect much of the international community," said protester Luis Serran, 22. "We have seen cases like Syria, lots of talking and not much action."

While Venezuela has said it was withdrawing from the OAS in protest, Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez was in Cancun. "We don't recognize this meeting nor do we recognize that resolutions that come from it," she said.

Venezuela's socialists have long enjoyed the support of left-leaning governments in Latin America loathe to back measures they see as meddling in a sovereign country by an organization they consider an arm of U.S. foreign policy.

"We hope that we will be able to overcome some of those differences and approve action...to express some concerns about the situation in Venezuela, which is deteriorating," Kevin Sullivan, U.S. interim representative to the OAS, said on a conference call. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; editing by Grant McCool)
SEOUL, June 20 (Reuters) - South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday North Korea should swiftly return South Koreans and Americans detained in the isolated nation.

Moon expressed condolences to Otto Warmbier, an American university student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months and who died on Monday, according to the presidential office.

The presidential Blue House cited Moon as saying "it is deplorable that North Korea does not respect human rights". (Reporting by Ju-min Park; Editing by Michael Perry)
By David Lewis

JUBA, June 20 (Reuters) - South Sudans civil war has mutated from a two-way fight between the president and his ousted former deputy to a fragmented conflict, making it harder to put it back together and peace more elusive, the top U.N. peacekeeper in the country said.

David Shearer, head of the 13,000-strong United Nations mission, welcomed signs that regional leaders were rejuvenating the peace process but said any initiative must include all factions, including that of former Vice President Riek Machar, and discourage the multiplication of armed groups.

South Sudan slipped into civil war in 2013, just two years after becoming independent from Khartoum, and some 4 million people - around one third of the population - have fled to neighbouring countries or to pockets of relative safety.

The conflict, ignited by a feud between President Salva Kiir and Machar, has resulted in ethnic cleansing between the leaders respective Dinka and Nuer communities.

However, an escalation of fighting since last July that forced Machar to flee the country a month later has seen clashes spread to previously unaffected areas.

"The situation now is somewhat different to what it was a year ago, when it was largely bipolar," Shearer told Reuters in an interview late on Monday.

"We are seeing a lot more of the conflict being played out at a very local level and that is worrying because as it fractures it becomes more difficult to try to put the pieces back together again."

Fighting has in particular affected the southern Equatoria regions, previously largely spared violence. The spike in fighting resulted in South Sudan having the fastest growing refugee population in the world as civilians poured into Uganda.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled to camps within South Sudan that are ringed by U.N. troops.

Peacekeepers have frequently been criticised for failing to do enough to protect civilians but the U.N. leadership says troops are obstructed and restricted by the army.

A combination of red tape and unwillingness meant it took eight months for the first of 4,000 U.N. reinforcements approved to start deploying after last year's fighting.

PLACES AT THE TABLE

Analysts and diplomats say regional peace efforts have stumbled for much of the last year as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya adopted a more bilateral approach to the conflict.

But Shearer was optimistic that a recent meeting of regional leaders in Ethiopia would result in a more collective approach to the crisis.

"There was a sense that they want to rejuvenate the peace agreement and start moving that forward. That collective effort hasnt been apparent for the last year," he said.

Machar remains in exile in South Africa, excluded from the process.

Shearer said while regional leaders were reluctant to return to the "old formula" of insisting on a potentially explosive face-to-face between Kiir and Machar, there was recognition that Machars camp needed to be represented in talks and he could too, further down the line.

The U.N. chief said there was a delicate balance between a rejuvenated and broadened push for peace and creating incentives to add to the plethora of armed groups.

"What we dont want to do is to encourage a greater degree of conflict or arming of groups in order to be relevant and have a place at the table," he warned. (Editing by Michael Perry)
KIEV, June 20 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday for talks on security, political and economic issues, Poroshenko's office said.

"It is very important that my meeting, as the Ukrainian president, in the White House will be earlier than (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's meeting," it quoted Poroshenko, who is already in the United States, as saying. It will be their first meeting since Trump took office on Jan. 20.

Poroshenko said that he also would meet top officials from the State Department, ministries of defence, trade and energy.

"There never was such a powerful visit. And precisely in order to have the opportunity to talk about our cooperation in the security, political and economic spheres", he added.

Poroshenko praised the U.S. Senate for the decision to introduce new sanctions against Russia, saying that sanctions were a civilized mechanism "to force the aggressor to get away from Ukraine", withdraw troops and equipment.

Last week, the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly for new sanctions punishing Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and to force Trump to get Congress' approval before easing any existing sanctions.

The move was intended to punish Russia over issues including alleged meddling in the election, which Moscow denies, annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and support for the government of Syria in that country's six-year-long civil war.

The Minsk peace agreement, brokered by France and Germany and signed by Russia and Ukraine in February 2015, calls for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line and constitutional reform to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Stephen Coates and Nick Macfie)
SYDNEY, June 20 (Reuters) - Australia said on Tuesday it had suspended air strikes into Syria following the U.S. downing of a Syrian military jet and Russia's subsequent threat against U.S.-led coalition aircraft.

Russia said on Monday it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying west of the River Euphrates in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft, but stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.

"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," Australia's Department of Defence said in a statement.

Russia made clear it was changing its military posture in response to the U.S. downing of a Syrian military jet on Sunday, something Damascus said was the first such incident since the start of the country's conflict in 2011.

"ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," Australia's Department of Defence said, adding its operations in Iraq would continue as part of the coalition.

"Australian Defence Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats," it said. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Nick Macfie)
ASTANA, June 20 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan, Central Asia's biggest grain producer, sees its 2017 grain crop at between 17 million and 18 million tonnes, lower than last year, Agriculture Minister Askar Myrzakhmetov said, in his first estimate for the new season.

Last year's grain crop totalled 20.6 million tonnes.

Kazakhstan, which supplies grain to its Central Asian and Caspian Sea neighbours, plans to export 8 million-8.5 million tonnes of grain in the new 2017/18 marketing year, which starts on July 1, the minister told Reuters.

The spring grain sowing was completed within the planned timeframe despite unfavourable weather, and the moisture level in soil is not bad, the minister said, adding that the country needed between 9 million and 9.5 million tonnes of grain for annual domestic consumption.

He did not give forecasts for the wheat crop and exports.

According to the latest Reuters poll of estimates for 2017/18, Kazakhstan is expected to export 7 million tonnes of wheat, including flour, up 2.9 percent year-on-year, while the size of the crop will fall by 11.3 percent to 13.3 million tonnes.

The current 2016/17 marketing year runs until June 30. Kazakhstan exported 7.1 million tonnes of grain in July 1-May 10. (Reporting by Raushan Nurshayeva; writing by Polina Devitt; editing by Katya Golubkova and Susan Fenton)
By Philip Pullella

ROME, June 20 (Reuters) - Carla Fendi, one of the five Italian sisters who transformed their parents' small leather workshop into an international luxury fashion powerhouse, has died at the age of 79, the family said on Tuesday.

Fendi, who died late on Monday and was the fourth of the sisters, was the public face of the company famous for its line of colourful "baguette" bags that cost thousands of dollars.

While other members of the family were the creative forces, Carla concentrated on promoting the company brand, whose logo of two F's, one of them upside down and backwards, became an internationally recognised symbol for luxury.

The multinational LVMH luxury group gained a controlling stake in Fendi in 2001 in a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars that brought together some of the world's most famous luxury brands. LVMH significantly increased its stake later.

It was a far cry from the family's humble origins nearly a century ago.

The sisters' mother, Adele Casagrande, opened a small leather workshop in 1918 just off Rome's bustling Piazza Venezia.

Adele Casagrande married Eduardo Fendi in 1925 and the two opened a small boutique next door and lived above the shop.

The five sisters were born between 1931 and 1940 and as children they played among the leather shreds on the shop floor and slept amid the handbags.

"Accessories were our first toys," Carla Fendi once told Women's Wear Daily.

The sisters moved to company to the chic neighbourhood around Rome's Spanish steps in the 1960s and in later expanded into ready-to-wear, shoes, perfume, household goods and children's wear.

The company received a big boost from the creative collaboration of Karl Lagerfeld, who helped in the design of clothes, furs, and accessories.

Animal rights activists frequently protested against the company for its use of furs.

In her later years, Carla Fendi became a well-known patron of the arts. Deeply committed to Rome and its culture, her foundation financed the restoration of the city's famous Trevi Fountain.

She was also a chief patron of the Two Worlds arts festival in the Umbrian city of Spoleto. (Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
SYDNEY, June 20 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto on Tuesday said it was sticking to a recommendation of China-backed Yancoal as the preferred buyer of its Coal & Allied division in Australia, rejecting a counter-offer from Glencore .

Miner-trader Glencore earlier this month said it had offered $2.55 billion cash for coal mines owned by Rio Tinto, outbidding a previous offer from Yancoal.

Rio said in a statement it had reviewed additional information, including confirmation of Yancoal's funding plans, confirmation from Yancoal concerning regulatory approvals and improved terms.

"We believe Yancoal's offer to purchase our thermal coal assets for $2.45 billion offers the best value and greater transaction certainty for shareholders," Rio Tinto Chief Executive J-S Jacques said in a statement.

"The sale of Coal & Allied will create outstanding value for shareholders and is consistent with our strategy of simplifying our portfolio to ensure the most effective use of our capital."

Rio Tinto said Yancoal had agreed to accelerate deferred payments and pay a coal price-linked royalty. It said the offer could be completed in a more timely manner than Glencore's bid of $2.55 billion, plus a royalty.

Rio said Glencore had not secured clearance from various jurisdictions, including the Australian, Chinese, South Korean and Taiwanese authorities.

Rio Tinto general meetings have been convened for June 27 and 29 for Australian and British shareholders to vote on the proposed deal, which Rio said it expected to be completed in the third quarter of the year.

(Reporting by Barbara Lewis in London and Jim Regan in Sydney; Editing by Dale Hudson)
DUBAI, June 20 (Reuters) - Iraq and Saudi Arabia are setting up a coordination council to upgrade strategic ties, a joint statement said on Tuesday, as part of an attempt to heal troubled relations between the Arab neighbours.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met with Saudi King Salman a day earlier on the first leg of a Middle East tour that will also include Iran and Kuwait.

Iraq lies on the fault line between Shi'ite Iran and the mostly-Sunni Arab world. Deep-running animosity and distrust between the two sides is fuelled by sectarian divides.

"The countries agreed to establish a coordination council to upgrade relations to the hoped for strategic level and open new horizons for cooperation in different fields," said the statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

It said the two countries had achieved a "quantum leap" in bilateral relations and stressed the importance of further official visits.

Saudi Arabia reopened its embassy in Baghdad in 2015 following a 25-year break, and in February Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir made a rare visit to Baghdad.

That has been seen as heralding closer cooperation against Islamic State, which controls territory in Iraq and in Syria and has claimed bombings in Saudi Arabia.

Abadi arrived in Tehran on Tuesday, according to a post on his official Twitter account. Iran, by leveraging its ties with Iraq's Shi'ites, has emerged as the main power broker in Iraq after the United States withdrew its troops in 2011.

The trip was initially postponed to avoid appearing to take sides in a diplomatic dispute between Qatar and other Arab states including Saudi Arabia.

King Salman and Abadi last met in March on the sidelines of an Arab summit. Their countries are the first and second largest OPEC producers and cooperated in November to bring about an agreement to support crude prices.

(Reporting by Stephen Kalin, editing by Ed Osmond)
The participatory global art project called the "Before I Die" wall came to Chattanooga on Tuesday, with its unveiling at 2 p.m. The wall is located in the passageway between Coolidge and Renaissance parks on the North Shore in downtown Chattanooga.





"We are excited to present this exhibit and add Chattanooga to the list of locales around the world that have displayed the wall," said Tracy Wood, CEO of Hospice of Chattanooga, one of the local sponsors."The conversations this will spur are the ones that are most important to any family."

"Before I Die" walls around the world have created conversations about how to focus on making one's a life well-lived.





Mayor Andy Berke spoke and participated in the unveiling of the art project at the ceremony.The project is also sponsored by the city's Public Art.





Hospice of Chattanooga spokesman Garry Mac said the display will reside in the park through August. "For some it's a chance to list your bucket list, for others it is a place to make a statement on their desire to leave a great mark on society" he said. Mr. Mac says a regular photo schedule will result in Chattanooga's wall and comments being featured worldwide.






By Feisal Omar and Abdirahman Hussein

NAIROBI, June 20 (Reuters) - At least 10 people were killed on Tuesday in a car bomb attack on a government building in the Somali capital of Mogadishu that was claimed by Islamist insurgents, a government official said.

Al Shabaab frequently launches attacks in Mogadishu and other areas controlled by Somalia's federal government. It wants to force out African Union peacekeepers, topple the Western-backed government and impose its strict version of Islam.

"More than 10 persons died, 20 others were wounded. The explosion destroyed the building of Wadajir District headquarters. More than 10 cars were destroyed in the explosion," said Abdifatah Omar Halane, a spokesman for the Mogadishu mayor.

Al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab said they were behind the attack, and its target was government officials.

"It's a suicide car bomb on Wadajir District building in which Somali officials and their staff stay. There are government and their staff who have died at the scene. We will tell you the number of dead later," said Abdiasis Abu Musab, al Shabaab's spokesman for military operations.

In an attack last week, al Shabaab fighters killed at least 19 people in a car bomb and gun attack on a hotel and nearby restaurant in Mogadishu. (Reporting by Abdirahman Hussein and Feisal Omar, editing by Larry King; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Larry King)
CAIRO, June 20 (Reuters) - Egyptian jets bombed a gathering site of Sinai-based Islamist militants, killing 12 and destroying several four-wheel-drive vehicles, the military said on Tuesday.

An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The air strikes "resulted in the killing of 12 highly dangerous ... leaders of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis", the military said in a statement. It did not say when the aerial bombing took place.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province. It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks since then. The group has turned its guns on Egyptian Christians in recent months, killing around 100 in bombings at Coptic churches.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi carried out air strikes on militants in Libya in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians last month that left at least 29 killed.

Egypt's military says it has killed thousands of militants in operations in Sinai. Residents of the Sinai say the high death rates include civilians. (Reporting by Ahmed Tolba; Writing by Amina Ismail)
By Katy Migiro

NAIROBI, June 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Kenya's opposition leader has raised tensions weeks ahead of elections by criticising the Maasai community's sale of ancestral land to other ethnic groups in an area hit by political violence in the 1990s, land rights experts said.

Many cash-strapped Maasai have become landless after subdividing and selling swathes of land to the south of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, where they used to roam with their cattle.

"Years of neglect and abuse is forcing them to trade in their birthright for survival," opposition presidential candidate Raila Odinga told a news conference on Monday.

"Jubilee has refused to enact proper laws to protect these community lands," he said, referring to the ruling party of President Uhuru Kenyatta who hopes to retain power in elections on Aug. 8.

Last week, he called on non-Maasai communities to "remain" on their own land rather than buying up Maasai ancestral land around Kajiado, 80 km (50 miles) south of the capital, Nairobi.

Land has been one of the main drivers of conflict in Kenya since independence in 1963, with politicians whipping up historic grievances over land loss to incite their supporters to move away voters opposed to them, experts say.

Dozens have been killed and injured in Kenya's Laikipia region over the last year as armed herders searching for pasture have driven tens of thousands of cattle onto private farms and ranches from overgrazed communal land.

"We urge the politicians to stop making disturbing comments on land," Stephen Ambani, chairman of the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya, told a news conference on Tuesday.

"Our history has shown us how dangerous it can be in rekindling anxiety, hatred, hostility and conflict among communities."

PRIVATISATION

Much of Maasai-dominated Narok and Kajiado counties was made into group ranches, with shared title deeds, in the 1960s in an effort to better manage nomads' grazing lands.

But mismanagement by elected committees, who often proved corrupt, led to the subdivision of land into individual title deeds, which have then been sold on, often to other ethnic groups.

"The overemphasis on privatisation of land, in the long term, it's going to be very bad," said Hillary Ogina of the Kenya Land Alliance advocacy network.

"Pastoralism, as a way of livelihood, is also valid," he said, adding that herders require large, communally owned land to give the animals enough grazing.

With increasingly frequent droughts and population growth, it is becoming harder for nomads to continue their traditional way of life.

Many young, educated Maasai are keen to sell their land and invest in businesses like hotels, Johnson Mali ole Kaunga, a Maasai activist told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"They end up buying vehicles, investing in things which don't last," he said in a phone interview.

"The best thing would actually be to maintain land as communal but if the community themselves are pushing for subdivision into private (titles), then it becomes a challenge."

Leaders should help the Maasai find alternatives to livestock as a source of income, he said.

Odinga criticised the government for delays in implementing the 2016 Community Lands Act which lays out the steps for communities to acquire titles to their ancestral land.

Around two-thirds of Kenya's land is customarily owned without formal title deeds, making it easy for some individuals to sell it without other community members' knowledge.

The government finalised the regulations to roll out the law last week and they should be approved by parliament in a couple of months, Peter Kahuho, secretary of the lands ministry, told a news conference on Monday. (Reporting by Katy Migiro @katymigiro; Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, womens rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit http://news.trust.org to see more stories.)
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) - Top Republicans from Congress and the Trump administration vowed on Tuesday to complete tax reform by the end of 2017, despite party infighting and political distractions from investigations of alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

In a speech to U.S. manufacturers, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress hoped to complete the job in the autumn, with a new tax system in place by the beginning of 2018.

The goal is to get tax legislation to the floor of Congress during the first two weeks of September, Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn told technology industry representatives at the White House.

Republicans are promising the biggest tax overhaul since the Reagan era, saying a simplified system with tax cuts for individuals and businesses, along with reforms to eliminate taxes on the foreign profits of U.S. corporations, can boost economic growth and create jobs.

Independent analysts say there is no evidence that tax cuts drive long-term economic growth. Democrats contend that the Republican tax measures are designed to benefit wealthier Americans.

"I am here to tell you we are going to get this done in 2017. Why are we going to get this done in 2017? Because we need to get this done in 2017," Ryan told a conference hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers, a powerful Washington lobby group.

"This will create jobs. That is what this is all about, jobs, jobs, jobs, good-paying jobs," he said.

The effort has drawn warnings and criticism from Democrats. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Republican moves to grant new tax breaks to the wealthy could jeopardize Democratic support for an increase in the government's borrowing authority later this year.

Shortly after Ryan's speech, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi's office called his remarks "a poor attempt to distract" from a lack of Republican initiatives on job creation.

TOP CAMPAIGN PLEDGE

The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress face mounting pressure from U.S. businesses and their electoral base to deliver tax reform, a top 2016 campaign pledge that could determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.

It was not clear whether Republicans can overcome infighting over healthcare legislation and government spending to move forward on tax reform.

Earlier in the day, Vice President Mike Pence assured the same audience that tax reform would be done this year, in remarks echoed by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in a CNBC television interview.

Ryan and Mnuchin are among six officials trying to craft a tax deal in closed-door discussions with Cohn, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and the Republican chairmen of two tax committees.

"Were comparing and contrasting various versions of reform to get the best possible one that gives us the lowest possible rates and most internationally competitive tax system, and the best one we can pass," Ryan told CNBC after his speech.

The Nasdaq Composite is up nearly 20 percent while the S&P 500 has added 14 percent since Trump's election in November, as investors bet he would spark economic growth by cutting taxes and boosting infrastructure spending.

The Trump administration and Republican leaders in Congress have agreed that tax reform should eliminate estate and alternative minimum taxes, both levies on the wealthy. They also want to allow U.S. corporations to repatriate trillions of dollars in profits held overseas at a reduced tax rate and eliminate taxes on future foreign profits. (Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton and Richard Cowan; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)
ROME, June 20 (Reuters) - Italy's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it was investigating a hacking attempt, after a group calling itself Anonymous published what it said was stolen ministry data.

A site called cyberguerrilla.org carried a blog post titled "Foreign Affairs Ministry You Have Been Hacked" addressed to Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano and the head of the national magistrates association.

"Regarding the attempted hack of the ministry's website, a legal complaint has been lodged and investigations are now underway," the ministry said in a statement.

"We hope the public prosecutor's office will shed light as soon as possible on what happened, and, to this end, the ministry's technicians are working to give all possible support."

The ministry did not name suspected perpetrators or give details about the hacking attempt, and it was not immediately clear if any sensitive information had been leaked.

"Do keep having fun at your summits, in your commissions ... G7, G8, Intelligence, surveillance, terrorism," read the blog post, dated June 19 and signed "We are Anonymous", and "We are AntiSec Italy" in an apparent reference to an Anonymous-affiliated group.

"We already knew that we Italians were paying," the post continued. "In the meantime please enjoy the uncensored publication of some data stolen from your precious information systems."

Uploaded to the website were tables entitled "staff accommodation", "travel/expenses", including lists of names and amounts of money in euros.

There were also links to Excel files, some containing hundreds of email addresses, and others named "security conditions" and "sanitary conditions".

The foreign ministry said earlier this year it was stepping up cyber security after hackers attacked its system over a four-month period in 2016.

Tuesday's statement said "every ministry invoice is duly examined by the state accounting office and complies with the legitimate operating needs of the administration".

Anonymous is an international group of hackers and activists who have orchestrated hacks on U.S. institutions and gained notoriety in the virtual world by participating in protests wearing masks representing 16th-century plotter Guy Fawkes. (Reporting by Isla Binnie, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
By Hamid Ould Ahmed

ALGIERS, June 20 (Reuters) - Algeria's new government is preparing the legal framework for Islamic finance and new Islamic bonds and will make changes to its welfare system, largely unchanged for decades, to offset lower oil prices, according to an official document.

The document gave the first indications of policy for Prime Minister Abdelmadjid Tebboune along with new ministers in the key portfolios of finance, commerce and energy. He was named by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika last month.

The North African OPEC member has seen its energy revenues, which account for 60 percent of the budget, more than halved due to the slide in crude oil prices, forcing the government to cut spending, look for new revenue and announce economic reforms.

Tebboune's government will "prepare the regulatory and legal framework relating to participatory funding ... and to issue sovereign bonds for participatory funding," according to its action plan, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Tebboune is expected to present his plan to lawmakers in parliament later on Tuesday.

Participatory funding is generally a reference to Islamic financing tools. It was one of the first times the government has so openly discussed such financing options, though authorities have said they plan a local bond that is interest-free, complying with sharia law which forbids interest payments.

Authorities in Algeria are cautious about changes to an economic system still largely state run. Many Algerians are also wary about changes that upset social peace following a 1990s war with Islamist militants that killed more than 200,000 people.

The government has in the past largely failed to diversify the economy away from oil and gas, which make up 94 percent of total exports revenue. But it is under growing pressure to speed up reforms and adapt to the new circumstances.

Tapping into money from the country's informal, parallel market, estimated by some at around $90 billion, is among the government's aims in opting for sharia-compliant funding.

"The government plans encouraging and facilitating work in order to integrate activities of the parallel market into the formal sphere," its action plan said.

WELFARE REFORM

Tebboune's government also plans to reform the country's vast subsidy system as part of efforts to cut spending, a change to a system that in the past has helped maintain social peace.

Subsidy accounts for about $30 billion in state spending a year in Algeria, where the government subsidies everything from basic foodstuffs and gasoline to medicine, housing and education.

Algeria will remain committed to social welfare policy, but there are plans to "set up new mechanisms gradually so as to identify categories eligible for state aid in an efficient way," the government said in its action plan.

It aims for a "gradual adaptation of social transfers policy," it said.

To achieve that goal, the government, named just weeks ago after last month's legislative election, will launch consultation with parliament, political parties and civil society to help smooth the changes.

Algeria has increased the prices of subsidised products including electricity, gasoline and diesel for the first time in years, but experts say the price rise is insufficient to cover production costs for those products.

Authorities also started restricting imports, which will decline in 2017 by $15 billion from last year's $46 billion, according to the government.

Financial pressure has forced Algeria to cut spending for this year by 14 percent after a 9 percent reduction in 2016, with foreign exchange reserves falling to $114 billion at the end of 2016 from $144.1 billion in December 2015 and $178 billion the previous year. (Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed; Editing by Patrick Markey and Janet Lawrence)
By Maher Chmaytelli

ERBIL, Iraq, June 20 (Reuters) - Iraq's army said it had encircled Islamic State's stronghold in the Old City of Mosul on Tuesday after taking over an area to the north of the densely populated historic district.

The army's 9th armored division seized al-Shifaa district, which includes the city's main hospitals, alongside the western bank of the Tigris river, a military statement said.

The fall of Shifaa means the Old City in the eastern half of Mosul is now surrounded by U.S.-backed government forces, deployed north, west, south and east, across the river.

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the eight-month old U.S.-backed offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq and the largest city the group came to control in the country.

A mine explosion on Monday at the Old City frontline killed two journalists, Stephane Villeneuve from France and Bakhtiar Haddad from Iraq, and wounded two other French reporters, according to foreign ministry and diplomatic sources in Paris.

Aid organisations are expressing alarm at the situation of more than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water and medicine and no electricity.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines were dying in "high numbers".

The militants are moving stealthily in the Old City's maze of alleyways and narrow streets, through holes dug between houses, fighting back the advancing troops with sniper and mortar fire, booby traps and suicide bombers.

They have also covered many streets with cloths to obstruct air surveillance, making it difficult for the advancing troops to hit them without a risk to civilians.

The Iraqi army estimates the number of Islamic State fighters at no more than 300, down from nearly 6,000 in the city when the battle of Mosul started on Oct. 17. A U.S.-led international coalition is providing air and ground support.

A program presenter who had worked for Islamic State's Mosul-based Al-Bayan radio station, Alaa Sami al-Khateeb, was arrested on Tuesday in eastern Mosul, according to an Iraqi army statement. Al-Khateeb was denounced by residents, it said.

GROUND SUPPORT

The fall of Mosul would, in effect, mark the end of the Iraqi half of the "caliphate" that Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared three years ago and which once covered swathes of Iraq and Syria.

The Iraqi government initially hoped to take Mosul by the end of 2016, but the campaign took longer as militants reinforced positions in civilian areas to fight back.

The militants are also retreating in Syria, mainly in the face of a U.S.-backed Kurdish-led coalition. Its capital there, Raqqa, is under siege.

About 850,000 people, more than a third of the pre-war population of the northern Iraqi city, have fled, seeking refuge with relatives or in camps, according to aid groups.

Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi headed on Tuesday to Iran, the second leg of a Middle East tour after Saudi Arabia to pursue efforts to foster regional reconciliation and coordination against terrorism.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia agreed to set up a coordination council to upgrade strategic ties, a joint statement said on Tuesday at the end his talks with Saudi King Salman a day earlier. After Iran, he will visit Kuwait.

Iraq lies on the fault line between Shi'ite Iran and the mostly-Sunni Arab world. Deep-running animosity and distrust between the two sides is fuelled by sectarian divides.

(Additional reporting by Stephen Kalin in Dubai; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Ralph Boulton)
NAIROBI, June 20 (Reuters) - U.N. Refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie marked World Refugee Day on Tuesday at a Kenyan home housing refugee girls who fled unaccompanied or split from their parents while fleeing conflict.

The Hollywood star visited at least 20 of girls in a safe house in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. They had fled conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Somalia, Burundi and Rwanda, UNHCR said in a statement.

It said almost all had experienced sexual and gender-based violence and many had given birth after being raped or were pregnant.

"The role of sexual violence is compounded when it is carried out by someone in uniform who has taken an oath to protect," Jolie said.

"So it is a responsibility of those who wear uniform to take the lead now by correcting from within, setting an example astepping forward with new commitments."

The UNHCR says Kenya hosts some 491,000 refugees, of which 101,713 are from South Sudan, which the U.N. has said is the world's fastest growing refugee crisis. (Writing by George Obulutsa Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
CAIRO, June 20 (Reuters) - Egyptian jets bombed a gathering site of Sinai-based Islamist militants, killing 12 and destroying several four-wheel drive vehicles, the military said on Tuesday.

An Islamist insurgency in the rugged, thinly populated Sinai Peninsula has gained pace since the military overthrew President Mohamed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's oldest Islamist movement, in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

The air strikes "resulted in the killing of 12 highly dangerous ... leaders of Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis", the military said in a statement. It did not say when the aerial bombing took place.

Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, Egypt's most active militant group, swore allegiance to Islamic State in 2014 and adopted the name Sinai Province.

It is blamed for the killing of hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks since then. The group has turned its guns on Egyptian Christians in recent months, killing around 100 in bombings at Coptic churches.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi carried out air strikes on militants in Libya in response to a deadly attack on Coptic Christians last month that left at least 29 dead.

Egypt's military says it has killed thousands of militants in operations in Sinai. Residents of Sinai say the high death rates include civilians.

Three other militants were killed on Tuesday in Egypt's second city Alexandria.

Police raided an apartment in the Mediterranean coastal city based on intelligence that wanted members of the Hasam militant group were hiding there, the Interior Ministry said.

Police attempted to arrest the militants, the ministry said in a statement, but they shot at the force leading to a firefight. All three were killed.

Hasam, a recently emerged group which is active in Cairo and other cities and is separate from Islamic State, claimed responsibility for a roadside bomb that killed a policeman on Sunday.

Egypt says Hasam is the armed wing of the Muslim Brotherhood but the Brotherhood, the world's oldest Islamist movement, denies any connection to Hasam and says it is peaceful. (Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Haitham Ahmed,; Writing by Amina Ismail and Ahmed Aboulenein, editing by Ed Osmond)
By Crispin Dembassa-Kette

BANGUI, June 20 (Reuters) - Around 50 people were killed on Tuesday in the Central African Republic town of Bria when fighting erupted between rival armed factions despite the signing a day earlier of a peace deal aimed at ending years of bloodshed, the town's mayor said.

Bodies lay in the streets of Bria, around 580 km (360 miles) northeast of the capital Bangui, and dozens more people were treated for wounds including gunshots, aid workers after clashes broke out at dawn.

Thousands have died and a fifth of Central Africans have fled their homes in the conflict that broke out after mainly Muslim Seleka rebels ousted President Francois Bozize in 2013, provoking a backlash from Christian anti-balaka militias.

Thirteen of the 14 armed groups along with representatives from the government signed Monday's accord in Rome. The deal, brokered by the Roman Catholic Sant' Egidio peace group, called for an immediate ceasefire.

But the fighting in Bria broke out between former Seleka members and anti-balaka fighters less than 24 hours later.

"I can say there are around 50 dead. There are 42 bodies that were taken to the hospital. There are also bodies in the neighbourhoods that have not been picked up yet," mayor Maurice Belikoussou told Reuters.

Witnesses said houses were looted and set on fire during the clashes. The medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said it had already received 35 wounded by 9.30 a.m. (0830 GMT) at the hospital it runs in the town. Most had been shot.

The presence of rival factions in Bria has made the town a regular flashpoint, including during fighting that killed around 300 people and displaced 100,000 last month.

Tuesday's clashes broke out near a camp housing people who had been forced to flee previous bouts of violence, according to the country's U.N. peacekeeping mission, MINUSCA.

"We regret the presence of armed elements in IDP (Internally Displaced Persons) camps, which causes problems not just in Bria but also in other locations. It's a reality," said MINUSCA spokesman Vladimir Monteiro.

Monday's peace deal is only the latest in a series of agreements aimed at putting an end to the conflict in Central African Republic, which has in recent months witnessed some of the worst bloodshed in years.

The office of President Faustin-Archange Touadera, who was elected last year, applauded on Tuesday what it said was "an historic accord". However, other reactions in the capital Bangui were less optimistic.

"(This accord) simply follows the same scenario repeated over and over," said Joseph Bindoumi, president of the Central African League of Human Rights. "Those who signed are mocking the people." (Additional reporting by Emma Farge in Dakar; writing by Joe Bavier; editing by Richard Balmforth)
There's Officially A Bid To Keep The Sun-Times From Tronc: Report

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 19, 2017 10:50PM



Getty Images / Photo: Scott Olson

The quest to keep Chicago a two-paper town* took a major step in the right direction on Monday, when a group spearheaded by a former alderman officially put forth an offer to buy the Sun-Times, along with the Chicago Reader, according to a report from Robert Feder. Tronc, the publisher of the Tribune, announced back in May its intent to purchase both.

Backed by the large union coalition the Chicago Federation of Labor and other unnamed investors, a group led by former 43rd Ward alderman Edwin Eisendrath put in a robust $15 million offer for the papers, according to Robert Feder.

Proud to make a bid to purchase the @Suntimes and @Chicago_Reader with a group of great Chicagoans including Labor. https://t.co/zvmNdpykU3  edwin eisendrath (@eisendrath) June 19, 2017



Tronc made public in May its letter of intent to purchase the Sun-Times and the Chicago Reader. With time running out for other potential purchasers to step in, the Department of Justice pushed back the deadline to allow other possible bidders to come up with offers. Hedge-fund investor Thane Ritchie and billionaire Neil Bluhm were reportedly also mulling separate bids; but now it looks like Eisendrath has formally put up the challenge.

News of Tronc's wallop-of-a-consolidation bid had many Chicagoans shuddering at the ramifications, with the publishing Goliath's grip on the local media landscape already very firm. Not to mention CEO Michael Ferro's unsettling preference for hyper-optimizationand its requisite nothing-burger jargon. There's also the fact that a union-backed bid would seemingly help preserve the historic liberal-leaning/conservative-leaning balance of the daily-paper market. (Eisendrath served office as a Democrat, and unsuccessfully challenged Rod Blagojevich for governor in the party's primary in 2006. He told Feder he wants the paper to be for "the 99 percent.") Taken all together, the bid looks like a very encouraging lifeline.

Read Eisendrath's interview with Feder here and stay tuned for developments.

*Yes, assurances were made that the Sun-Times newsroom would retain independence when Tronc announced its letter of intent, but "one-paper-owner" doesn't really ring, does it?
By Khalid Abdelaziz

KHARTOUM, June 20 (Reuters) - Qamr al-Dawla Abdullah had never met his niece and nephew who grew up in Libya, where their father Yehia was killed fighting alongside Islamic State, but he stood tearfully at Khartoum's airport on Tuesday waiting to pick them up.

The Sudanese children were two of eight returning from Libya, where their parents had joined Islamic State in the coastal city of Sirte. The youngest of the children has not turned 1 yet, and the eldest is only 9 years old.

After being placed in a corrective institution in Libya, the children were being sent to live with family members in their native Sudan, said Moataz Abbas, a Sudanese community leader in the Libyan city of Misrata. "The mothers are detained and the fathers are dead or missing... Six children are being picked up by their families, but there are two whose families we have been unable to locate," Brigadier General Al-Tigany Ibrahim told reporters at Khartoum airport.

Islamic State captured Sirte in early 2015, turning it into its most important base outside its heartland in Syria and Iraq, and attracting large numbers of foreign fighters to the city, many of them Sudanese.

The group imposed its hardline rule on residents and extended its control across some 155 miles (250 km) of Libya's Mediterranean coastline.

"It is painful for the sun to rise and for you to not find your daughters or grandchildren at home and to not know where they went or why. We are simple people ... our daughters had never even left Sudan," Hassan Sughayroon, grandfather of four of the rescued children, told Reuters.

Two of Sughayroon's daughters fled the country last year. He only learned of their whereabouts when Sudan's intelligence agency called him four months ago. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nadine Awadalla; Editing by Eric Knecht)
By Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, June 20 (Reuters) - Israel is flouting a United Nations Security Council demand to halt settlement building on occupied Palestinian land, while both parties are ignoring a call to stop provocation, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, a senior U.N. envoy said on Tuesday.

U.N. Middle East envoy Nickolay Mladenov made the assessment in his second quarterly report to the 15-member council on the implementation of a Dec. 23 resolution adopted with 14 votes in favor and a U.S. abstention. Then U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Israel had urged Washington to wield its veto.

"The policy of continued illegal settlement construction in the occupied Palestinian territory contravenes resolution 2334," Mladenov said.

"The large number of settlement-related activities documented during this period undermine the chances for the establishment of a viable, continuous Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution," he said.

Israel for decades has pursued a policy of constructing Jewish settlements on territory captured by Israel in the 1967 war with its Arab neighbors. Most countries view Israeli settlement activity as illegal and an obstacle to peace. Israel disagrees.

The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem.

The December resolution calls on both parties to refrain from acts of provocation, incitement and inflammatory rhetoric, and to condemn all acts of terrorism. "Regrettably, such calls continued to go unanswered," Mladenov said.

Mladenov again warned the council that Gaza, controlled by the Islamist Hamas movement, was a "tinderbox."

"Two million Palestinians in Gaza can no longer be held hostage by divisions," he said. "For a decade they have lived under the control of Hamas. They have had to deal with crippling Israeli closures, Palestinian divisions and have lived through three devastating conflicts."

U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has accused the Security Council of "bashing Israel," called on the body to address the threat of Hamas.

"Every ounce of what we do should be against Hamas. They are a dangerous actor who has no care for the Palestinians, no care for the Israelis, and they are determined to destroy everything in their path," Haley said.

The United States traditionally shields Israel, Washington's long-time ally that receives more than $3 billion in annual U.S. military aid, from council action. The five council veto powers are the United States, Russia, France, Britain and China.

The December resolution, put forward by New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal a day after Egypt withdrew it under pressure from Israel and Trump, was the first adopted by on Israel and the Palestinians in nearly eight years.

(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Following a meeting of the Karaka Sangha Sabha, the Mahanayake of the Asgiriya Chapter, the Most Venerable Warakagoda Gnanaratana Thera in a strongly worded statement today highlighted concerns about the challenges posed by internal and external conspiracies against Sinhala Buddhists and emphasized the need for the Mahanayake Theras of the Three Nikayas and the patriotic people of the country to act in unison to face such injustices.

All other religious groups in the country should keep it in mind that Buddhists in Sri Lanka had always respected and allowed unhindered the existence of other religions. We condemn acts by other religious groups that insult this tolerant Buddhist ethic, the statement said. Although we do not approve the aggressive behaviour and speech of Bhikku Galabodaatte Gnanasara the viewpoint expressed by him cannot be discarded. Insulting Bhikkus by various groups without inquiring into the veracity of the issues raised by him cannot be condoned."
The Cabinet had granted approval to increase bus fare by 6.28 percent from July 1, Transport Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said.

He said the approval had been given during the Cabinet meeting held today. Accordingly, the minimum bus fare Rs. 9 will be increased to Rs.10.

The bus fare increment would applicable to both the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) and private bus operators. Details of long-distance fare would be published later, he said. He said that establishing of a National Policy on Annual Bus Fare Increase was also discussed at the Cabinet meeting. (Darshana Sanjeewa)
Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapkshe yesterday denied allegations of harbouring Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Galabodaatte Gananasara Thera.

"I am extremely saddened by the false allegations which have been made by some Muslim extremists that I am harbouring the monk. I have nothing to do with him" the minister said in Parliament yesterday.

"The BBS has been engaged in various activities in 2014. Accordingly Ganasara Thera should have been arrested after the clashes in Aluthgama that year. I ask those who make allegations against me whether the others was harboured by the then justice minister Rauff Hakeem during that time," the minister said.

He said it was the duty of the police to arrest the monk. (Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana)
With leading hospitals in Colombo and the suburbs over crowded with dengue patients, the Health Ministry today decided to equip rural hospitals in Wetara, Piliyandala, Aniyakanda and Dankotuwa with additional staff, drugs and medical equipment to ease the congestion.

A special dengue control committee headed by Health Secretary Janaka Sugathadasa were informed that the North Colombo and Colombo South Teaching Hospitals, Negombo District Hospital, Infectious Disease Hospital (IDH) and the Ratnapura General Hospital were over crowded with dengue patients.

The committee decided to use the yet unopened wing of the Ratnapura District Hospital to accommodate dengue patients.

Mr. Sugathadasa instructed officials to immediately supply these hospitals with medical specialists, nursing and minor health staff, drugs and medical equipment and if necessary to appoint medical interns to assist the medical staff.

Meanwhile, the Education Ministry has instructed principals of National Schools to carry out a cleaning programme at their respective school premises between 11.00 am to 12.00 noon every day. (Sandun A Jayasekera)
The six Army intelligence personnel, who were in remand custody as suspect in the assault case of journalist Keith Noyhar had been granted bail by the Colombo High Court today.

Senior journalist Keith Noyhar, attached to a weekend news paper, was abducted by an armed group on May 22, 2008 and was later found assaulted. The CID arrested the six Army personnel over the incident.

The men were suspended from service by the Sri Lanka Army, till the CID investigation was completed.
The excitement at Cinnamon Life Presents George Calombaris, a Masterclass with Knorrwas at its zenith as lucky foodies thronged to see the celebrity chef and taste his mouth-watering food. While whipping up pillowy-soft doughnuts and kneading crumbly feta into disc-shaped roti, Calombaris palpable enthusiasm and energy was infectious and spilled over into the audience who immediately warmed up to the popular chef.

For many of Colombos foodies this was a rare opportunity tointeract with the MasterChef Australia Judge and celebrity restaurateur, who has built a firm culinary following internationally. The telegenic chef chattedand jokedwithall at the class, pausing for selfies and winning the hearts of those who attended.

He was down to earth, funny and an incredible food instructor! This was hands down one of the most memorable food experiences in Colombo!enthused a thrilled Tulsi Liyanage who attended. I loved that he came by to our seats,personally speaking to all of us! I never dreamed Id get to see him in real life in Colombo.

Calombaris blithely darted around the hall, playfully bantering with the audience and dishing out exclusive tips and tricks behind his successful food empire. As the aroma of delectable food filled the hall, an absorbedaudience began toeagerly question Calombaris about all things food-related and his thoughts on Sri Lanka.

The celebrity chef, restaurateur and MasterChef Australia judge, who was recently in Sri Lanka, conducted an exclusive Masterclass in association with Knorr and presented by Cinnamon Life. The Masterclass was sold out weeks ahead and wasfilled to the brim with culinary enthusiasts eager to learn fromthe celebrity chef.

For Jehan Aloysius, a longstanding fan of Master chef Australia and amateur cook, meeting Calombaris was definitely a highlight. I really enjoyed being a part of the Masterclass and was excited I had a chance to talk to George about my cooking. I was glad to get a few tips from him to add some excitement to the food I cook at home and Im grateful that Knorr was able to facilitate us. Its wonderful to see a MasterChef here this year as well Ihope Knorr continues to hold more of these events because people are excited about different styles of cooking!

The days delectable menu took on contemporary and classic Greek flavours and were an example of how simple ingredients can result in a heady taste explosion. Participants were taught to make salt and vinegar Greek donuts (a twist from the sweet donuts) paired with a flavour-packed tea tarama. A second dish fused local produce, serving raw local fish with fava, caper leavesand pickled onions with feta roti on the side. The final dish was dessert  caramelized yoghurt and honey comb topped with local fruits such as pineapple and creamy, raw cashew.

Calombaris, Alex Xinis and Sri Lanka-born Shehan Setunga, who both work with Calombaris in Australia, took on the menu with aplomb, whipping up individual tasting plates for every single attendee.

A proponent of culinary expertise and chefmanship and celebrated international food brand,Knorr partnered with Cinnamon Life as the associate sponsor for Cinnamon Life presents George Calombaris in Colombo. The flagship food brand for Unilever has partnered with over 600 chefs around the world to craft Knorr products to varying global palates and is committed to steer Sri Lankas culinary landscape to world class standards. Last year, Knorr partnered with Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts to host renowned Chef Marco Pierre White, taking Colombos culinary enthusiasts on a memorable gastronomic adventure.

Calombaris, who was here on his first visit to Sri Lanka,has vowed to return for more.The celebrity chef wasenthusiastic about the abundance of fresh produce and seafood Sri Lanka has to offer and spoke animatedly about his experiences trying out delicacies such as aasmi and halapain Sri Lankas rural villages.

You guys have got a really incredible country! You should cherish it and tell the world about it because its incredible. Im going to be telling all my friends about Sri Lanka,he smiled.

To learn more about the Knorr Masterclass, please visit the Knorr Sri Lanka Facebook page.
Ranil de Silva  Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka and Raj Deepak Das - Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asialights the traditional oil lam

Leo Burnett Sri Lanka,the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide recently celebrated its 18thanniversary. Leo Burnett Sri Lanka has grown exponentially into one of the most acclaimed and awarded advertising agencies in the country and has also successfully added several new clients to its roster.

Making history for the country once again, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka repeated its success at Campaign Asias Agency of the Year (AOY) awards by securing the Gold for Agency of the Year for the Rest of South Asia and the agency was also ranked at No. 27 by Campaign Brief Asias Hottest Agencies in Asia list. Leo Burnett Sri Lanka was also crowned as Campaign Brief Asias Sri Lanka Agency of the Year.

The agency commemorated its anniversary with the lighting of the ceremonial oil lamp at a special gathering, which took place at the agency premises. Ranil de Silva  Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka lit the oil lamp, along with the senior management and long-standing team members of Leo Burnett Sri Lanka. Raj Deepak Das  Chief Creative Officer, Leo Burnett, South Asia and Awais Dhakan  Executive Creative Office, Leo Burnett Pakistan also joined the celebrations as they were visiting the Colombo office to conduct a workshop on Creativity.

Arosha Perera  CEO, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka lights the traditional oil lamp

A total of 19 agency professionals were also recognized and received promotions for their hard work and performance throughout the year. Thereafter, the team enjoyed a celebratory breakfast together to commemorate this auspicious occasion.

Ranil de Silva  Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lankastated, I am most impressed with our 18 year journey. Today we step into adulthood on our 18th anniversary. However in our growing up years we have made our mark not only in Sri Lanka but in the region and even in the global stage. This success has been possible due to the valuable partnerships we enjoy with each and every client of the agency. Their belief in us has helped us to truly reach for the stars. Our business partners too have been invaluable to our success. Their commitment and support has been a corner stone in our journey. Most importantly the 98 Burnetters in the team must be saluted for their passion, dedication and hard work. They have really made this journey very remarkable.

As Leo Burnett celebrates its 18th year of operations in Sri Lanka and looks ahead to the future, the agency will continue to focus on its Human Kind approach to help build powerful brands and meaningful partnerships with its clients, while delivering gratifying results and gaining peer recognition in the industry.

Murtaza A. Tajbhoy, Chief Strategy Officer  Leo Burnett Sri Lanka lights the traditional oil lamp

Lalindra Nanayakkara  Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka lights the traditional oil lamp

Kumudini Gomes  Head of People and Culture, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka lights the traditional oil lamp

Selonica Nalawansa  Director, Publicis Sri Lanka lights the traditional oil lamp

Leo Burnett team trying to find the piece of the puzzle

Ranil de Silva  Managing Director, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka and Arosha Perera  CEO, Leo Burnett Sri Lanka completing the Leo Burnett Puzzle

Completed puzzle with the Leo Burnett quote  You can grow up in the advertising business,but you don't have to grow old in it

19 individuals who were recognized and promoted for their performance  (From Left to Right) Back rowJayantha Liyanage, Dennis Mather, Chandika Samaraweera, Surani Perera, Caryll Van Dort, Kumudini Gomes, Ruwantha Patabendige, Rinesh Jayarathne, Middle row  Thusharika Anthony, Chandani Abeyratne, Rochelle Jayawardene, Tara Ramanayake, Front row  Falul Hallaj, Ajantha Kumara, Dhanushka Madushan, Malik Monnekulame, Janath Gamage
President Maitripala Sirisena is reported to have asked for a report on the salaries paid to the members of the board of directors of SriLankan airlines.

The Cabinet yesterday summoned the airline's board of directors to inquire into the alleged irregularities in operating and managing SriLankan.

At this meeting, it had transpired that some key officials draw exorbitant salaries with the monthly salary of a particular official being as high as Sterling pounds 13,000.

According to reports some ministers including Rajitha Senaratne and Sarath Fonseka had been critical of the airline operations.

SriLankan airlines is known to be struggling under the burden of a massive loss while the government is seeking to restructure airline on the basis of a Public Private Partnership with the government said to be holding informal talks with Emirates. (Kelum Bandara)
This Guy Is Suing The Bears So He Can Dress Like That On Soldier Field

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 19, 2017 8:20PM



Russell Beckman (right) / Russell Beckman vs. Chicago Bear Football Club

Free-speech champion? Diehard fan with a masochistic streak? However you choose to cast Russell Beckmana Green Bay Packers mega-fan living in Chicagohe's "plaintiff" as far as the Chicago Bears and the courts are concerned: Beckman is suing the team after they allegedly wouldn't allow him to wear his Packer regalia on the field during pregame events.

Beckman apparently earned the "perk" of being allowed to stand at the edge of the field before games while the opposing teams do their warmups. It's all part of something called "STH Experiences," extra little pseudo-enticements that the team offers to season-ticket holders. Beckman, who's bought season tickets since 2003, pulled the stunt of going full yellow-and-green while on the field for two consecutive seasons; but he got a stern no-no from the team last year. No opposing team gear will be allowed," the team reportedly told him in an email.

Knowing some Bears fans (ahem), it seems like a bit of a reckless move on the part of Beckman, who is reportedly merely seeking the right to Cheesehead where he pleases, per the constitution, rather than any damages. But we say let the man troll, Bears. Not out of some sense of free-speech absolutism, but because this is the nature of pro-sports fandom and all its requisite ribbing.

Plus after these last several seasons, Bears fan should by now have developed a thick enough skin.

You can read more, including a copy of the lawsuit, at Crain's or at the Sun-Times, which first reported the story. Honestly, he sounds like a dude who just likes his team.
Security forces personnel do not engage in garbage disposal, Military Spokesman and Army Media Director Roshan Seneviratne said yesterday.

He said however they were currently involved in monitoring the unauthorized and haphazard disposal of garbage.

Military personnel will inform relevant authorities about such incidents and monitor the proper collection of garbage, he said.

Brigadier Seneviratne said the security forces would assist the Police to arrest persons involved in illegal and improper disposal of garbage. (Darshana Sanjeewa)
The Sri Lankan government should immediately reject statements made by Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe allegedly threatening to disbar a prominent lawyer for speaking out against attacks on religious minorities, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.

Issuing a statement, the HRW said the incident highlights the governments failure to fully investigate and prosecute recent attacks on Muslims and Christians in the Buddhist-majority country.

On June 17, 2017, Minister Rajapakshe threatened to take necessary steps to remove Mr. Lakshan Dias from the legal profession unless Dias apologized for remarks on a television program three days earlier about attacks on the Christian community. Dias had cited a report by church groups that there were nearly 200 attacks and other harassment against Christians and their places of worship since 2015. The government of President Maithripala Sirisena, which took office in January 2015, has failed to meet its pledge to protect the rights of religious minorities, it said.

It further said the government needs to put a quick end to Justice Minister Rajapakshes attempts to bully Lakshan Dias, a leading human rights lawyer who stands up for Sri Lankans at greatest risk

Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said by threatening Diass license, the government is threatening all marginalized groups that depend on him and other rights defenders for protection.

He said Sri Lanka has witnessed a spate of attacks against Muslims and Christians in recent years, with the government doing little to stop the violence. On May 18, in Devinuwara in Matara district, for example, some 2,000 people, including about 30 Buddhist monks, protested against a Christian place of worship, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.

In June 2014, Buddhist militants attacked the Muslim community in Aluthgama, leaving four dead and nearly 80 injured, and many homes and businesses destroyed. The authorities have yet to arrest those responsible, although the leaders behind the attack are well known to the authorities.

The statement said the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on May 31 expressed concern over acts of violence and aggression against Muslims, and urged law enforcement agencies to take all necessary action against the instigators and perpetrators of violence against religious minorities.

The Sri Lankan constitution grants everyone the right to freedom of religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, or teaching. The right is also protected in international human rights treaties to which Sri Lanka is a party, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Human Rights Watch said.

Lawyers like Dias are protected by the right to freedom of expression. According to the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, lawyers have the right to take part in public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of justice, and the promotion and protection of human rights without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action

Government inaction in the face of the justice ministers threat to revoke the license of a prominent rights lawyer for speaking out on behalf of an embattled community will have reverberations beyond Sri Lanka, Adams said. Sri Lankas friends should be clear they are watching the governments response closely, it said.
Swim Week Colombo's new position is to create an eco-system of practices that not only enhances the environment but empowers individuals to adopt practices and methods that unburden the environment. Green Conscious and Earth Sensitive is the result of the need to become conscious of the actions towards development of fashion. Swim Week has developed a roadmap that aims to foster a 'New Normal' approach that takes into account the design approach, supply chain and the environment.

"Currently it takes an effort to adopt clean practices and that effort becomes the barrier. The idea was to open a consciousness, where the heart turns green and then every action comes from that place, hoping this becomes the New Normal." Says Ajai V Singh, Founder of Swim Week Colombo.

He adds "There is global talk to take action, as Fashion is largely polluting as an industry. Planning can only take you so far, we need to change hearts and bring in a consciousness that drives the corrective action - that is our attempt."

Globally, an estimated 17 to 20% of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and treatment and an estimated 8,000 synthetic chemicals are used throughout the world to turn raw materials into textiles, many of which will be released into water sources. Furthermore, it is not only the production of raw material that is water-intensive, the wet processing of clothing, such as washing and dyeing, also consumes high quantities of water; all being contributory factors in positioning the fashion industry as the second most polluting industry after oil.

Internationally the fashion industry recognizes its responsibility and the role it plays in protecting the environment from which its natural resources drive the industry; with many resources going into R&D as well as multiple conferences, brainstorming sessions and other forums, which focus on innovations in an effort to minimize adverse environmental impacts. Moving in line with the global fashion industrys concern on the matter, Swim Week Colombo recognizes the need to encourage and empower Sri Lankan designers in this direction as well.

Designers will be encouraged towards creating more environmentally and ethically conscious designs as well as partnering with suppliers and manufacturers who hold the same environmental ethics. By establishing a set of guidelines in alignment with Swim Week Colombos Pillars of Impact, designers showcasing not only conform to addressing the impacts they have on garments, the supply chain and the environment but also address the importance of investing in the environment rather than merely offsetting their impacts.

The First eco-ethical fashion week in the region and a global 'first' with its approach, Swim Week Colombo is creating a strategic eco-platform which can foster this aspiration, with the presence of manufacturers, suppliers, designers and end users in the same market, it aims to integrate an ecosystem approach to environmentally responsible fashion.

Swim Week Colombo, with its intent of creating this facilitating ecosystem to address these impacts, has formed relevant and strategic partnerships with some of Sri Lankas frontrunners who share SWCs vision. Olu Tropical Water - Title Partner, Linea Aqua - Main Partner, Hilton - Hospitality partner and Wine World, Spa Ceylon, Ramani Fernando and Leo Burnett and MSL Group Sri Lanka and Emerging Media, with MAS Sustainability and Biodiversity Sri Lanka advising on Swim Week Colombos environmental positioning, Swim Week Colombo intends to foster a completely eco-ethical fashion week in the consecutive years ahead.
The government will prosecute the politicians and the public servants who misused public funds and the country's national resources, Minister Mahinda Amaraweera said.

He said the government would not allow the perpetrators of fraud and corruption to roam free but would take legal action against them.

The minister said some public officials wrongly believed they were off the hook after they being suspended for some time but this would not be the case.

We will make sure that if found guilty wrongdoers will be jailed at least for seven to eight years, he said and added that under President Maithripala Sirisena's leadership there would be no breathing space for corrupt officials.

We did not set up the Yahapalana government to protect thieves, he said and adding that currently several cases of fraud and corruption were being investigated and that some of the miscreants were produced in Court.(Darshana Sanjeewa)
The late Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake, as a true statesman, was the first to see and talk about the dangers of the executive presidency when a system of governance based on such a position was proposed by his own party, Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said yesterday.

Speaker Jayasuriya came up with this remark at a ceremony held to mark the 106 birth anniversary of the late prime minister near his statue in Borella last evening.

Late Prime Minister displayed skills of a true statesman who thought only of the countrys future when his own party proposed the setting up of an executive presidency by speaking about the dangers such a system would bring, Speaker Jayasuriya said.

Mr. Senanayake who was a statesman was able to bring Tamil politicians and Sinhala political leaders such as the late Philip Gunawawadane onto a single political platform. He did this for the sake of the country without thinking of his political future. What we need today are such politicians, he added.

Joint opposition Parliamentary Group leader Dinesh Gunawardene said late Mr Senanayake never sold out countrys assents to foreigners. Not many people are aware that Mr Senanayake nationalized the Trincomalle Port. It is highly appropriate for the politicians of the present time to study about this leaders policy who was a great believer of a mixed economic system. He said political leaders such as Mr Senanayake who even associated with his political opponents were rare.

Southern Province Governor Hemakumara Nanayakkara recalled how Mr Senanayake created a revolution in the agriculture industry by introducing the cultivation of potatoes in Sri Lanka for the first time. One Agriculture officer named Normon Gunaratne once came to see Mr Senanayake and told him that potato could be cultivated in the country. Accordingly this officer was sent to the then Minister of Agriculture by the late Prime Minister and thus potatoes became a crop which is grown in Sri Lanka, Mr Nanayakkara said.

Dudley Senanayake Commemoration Society President Dr Karunasena Kodithuwakku recalled how the late Prime Minister Senanayake laid the foundation to build up Sri Lanka- China bilateral relationship which was followed by the late Premier Ms Sirimavo Bandaranaike and other leaders. (Yohan Perera)
Recently, senior Congress politician Sandeep Dikshit had compared Indias serving army chief to a sadak ka goonda. It was a shocking statement, mostly because it was the first time someone used such derogatory remarks against the serving Army chief.

Naturally, everyone criticised the deplorable comment. This comment comes in the backdrop of the Army chief calling a spade a spade with respect to terrorism in Kashmir. There has been some criticism about an Army major tying a Kashmiri man to a jeep to use him as a human shield; the same officer was then awarded the Army chiefs commendation.

Unique

This appears to be a unique case, where an Army major fighting insurgency had successfully avoided any loss of life or property but was still criticised for his actions. It was the perfect handling of a situation, where no religious or communal sentiments were hurt.

Yet, the doer seems to have got maximum abuse from certain quarters of the society. Currently, the Indian armed forces are engaged in fighting an asymmetric warfare and it is increasingly becoming clear that various asymmetric attacks require asymmetric responses.

Particularly, in the Kashmir Valley, the soldiers are required to take split-second decisions depending on the ground situation, and at the same time ensure that collateral damage is avoided. In future too the forces should not discard the option of human shield. For all these years, it has been observed that non-state actors do not take the political signalling very seriously.

Hence, there is no harm if the military leadership speaks loud and clear. Everyone understands that Indian military establishment means business and, therefore, their messaging could have the desired impact.

Unfortunately, today some political activists, NGOs, and human rights groups are found challenging certain actions of the military without understating the actual problem. However, in a democracy, this cannot be avoided. Also, gone are the days when military used to be stationed only in barracks and cantonments. Owing to the security situation today, military presence in some regions is increasing.

Owing to the media, certain military actions get undue publicity. Simultaneously, the interaction of the defence community (serving and retired of all ranks) with other members of the society is found increasing significantly owing to various reasons. Because of social media (remember the viral video of the Indian Army and the BSF jawan) and open debates like sahayak system and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), various military issues are now becoming close to public scrutiny.

Naturally, with increasing exposure to defence matters, the understanding of the civilian community is growing and they have started forming their independent opinions, good or bad. In a democracy, this is bound to happen and the defence fraternity should be ready to accept some criticism (just or unjust). Likewise, now the time has come for the community to do some soul-searching too.

Currently, those in uniform are doing exactly what is required. They are speaking less and concentrating on their job. They are also doing timely signalling, like giving a chiefs commendation to the officer accused of using a local as a human shield. This one action has sent out a signal to many. But, how about the veteran community?

Since they cant be a part of action anymore, some of them have converted themselves as a shouting brigade (on various media and social platforms). Now, the question is: Are they doing service or disservice to the larger national cause? This is creating confusion in the minds of citizens.

Complexities

Is the increased acquaintance of the defence community with various other sections of society increasing complexities? Is over-familiarity breeding contempt? Today, the media creates images and its interested in viewership. It finds more viewership by warmongering and debating hawkish views.

A few years back, there used to be a talk in the armed forces about how effectively the media could be managed (the word, media always detested) for the purposes of military requirements (read information warfare).

But, it appears that today, the electronic media is managing and using various defence issues to its advantage. One classic case is the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue. The media projected the issue till there was story value in it. Subsequently, no media platform was available for the defence community to examine and debate the shortfalls of the provision of revising such pensions after every five years.

Image

Also, it is important to appreciate that the image of the services is being damaged owing to few bad apples amongst themselves. There have been cases of army officers being involved in poaching, hunting and weapons rackets, et al. These days, retired offers involve themselves in various community-related agitations demanding quotas and other such things. Even retired military chiefs are found fighting elections with some even forfeiting their security deposit. This leads to a

This leads to a loss of reputation in the society as a whole and also somewhat contributes to the biased view about the forces. At present, society is changing and social media is making people more visible and, at times, their voice gets more currency. In addition, images of institutions and individuals are increasingly based on market relevance. The recent unjust criticism of the Army chief is a signal for the times to come. Yet, the forces cant be above criticism in a democratic setup.

In every case of criticism of the forces, it would be important to reflect logically and ask, Is there any merit in the case? And if there isnt, the issue should not be pursued just because someone has criticised the armed forces.
Last Sunday, the president of a key NDA ally summed it up best when asked about the identity of the NDA's choice for the post of Indias President - "Only God and the PM know about it".

In what is now becoming established practice when it comes to choosing candidates for key positions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah once again stumped the political class by choosing a relatively unknown Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA's presidential candidate.

Nobody within the BJP, not even senior cabinet ministers, key allies or even journalists, had the remotest inkling that Kovind would make the cut.

Choosing the Bihar Governor as their presidential candidate is certainly an astute political move on the part of the Modi-Shah duo. It caught everybody by surprise and sent the Opposition scurrying to come up with a response and, more importantly, prevent division within its ranks.

In picking Kovind, a Dalit from UP, the BJP has put the Opposition on the backfoot, forcing the likes of the BSP and JD (U) to make a hard choice. The BSP cannot be seen preventing a Dalit from becoming President; now its only hope is that the Opposition too will put up a candidate from the same community thereby making it easier for the BSP to oppose the BJP.

It was evident from the very beginning, given the fact that for the first time since Independence the BJP has the numbers to elect one of their own as President and vice-president of the country, that whomsoever the party will choose would have to be in tune with the PM's style of functioning, and not somebody who at any stage will have an adversarial relationship with the Prime Minister.

That automatically ruled out stalwarts like LK Advani, MM Joshi, Venkaiah Naidu and Sushma Swaraj. Kovind in that sense fits the bill. He may be unexceptional but he is also non-controversial. He has so far been relatively unknown but is no greenhorn in politics either.

He has been a Rajya Sabha MP twice and former Prime Minister Morarji Desai's secretary. Above all his nomination adds value to the BJP. It may help the BJP expand its support base among the Dalits, not just in UP but across the country.

Ram Nath Kovind is the governor of Bihar.

None of the three BJP stalwarts barring their seniority would have added in terms of votes to what the BJP under Modi already has on its side.

As things stand, Kovind is poised to become the 14th President of India. The Opposition will undoubtedly try and make a fight of it, but given the arithmetic of the electoral college, the challenge may not amount to more than a symbolic fight.

Of the 10,98,903 value votes in the electoral college, the majority mark is 5,49,452. The ruling combine, bolstered by support from the BJD, TRS and YSR, is comfortably placed and already has 60.8 per cent, or 6,09,433, of the votes, with the Opposition lagging behind with 3,81,295 votes.

In case the SP, JD (U) and BSP decide to support Kovind, the ruling combines vote share might go up to 65.98 per cent.

The word coming out from the Opposition camp is that it may in all probability decide to put up a Dalit or tribal as its candidate, in the hope of denying any advantage that the BJP might want to derive among the community by putting up Kovind.

On Thursday, the 17-party Opposition combine will meet to pick its candidate, and the names being mentioned are that of former home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar.
Close A Major Lakefront Entry Point In Streeterville Overnight? Alderman Urges Yes

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 20, 2017 5:55PM



Flickr / Photo: Curt Smith

Chicago's Lakefront Trail and Navy Pier are two of the city's most popular summertime draws, so does it make sense to close off a key entrywayeven if only during late-night hoursto both? With fears ratcheted up after a high-profile shooting near Ohio Street Beach, one alderman is floating that very idea.

In an email to constituents, Ald. Brendan Reilly (42th) wrote that he's reached out to the Chicago Department of Transportation and the Chicago Park District to "consider gating" the underpass, which connects Ohio Street to the beach and lakefront, between midnight and 6 a.m. "during the warm weather months."

The request comes just in the wake of a highly publicized fatal shooting near the beach, in Streeterville. Raven Lemons, 25, was in the 500 block of E. Ohio St. at around 2:40 a.m. early on Sunday when she was shot in the head while standing with an acquaintance, according to police.

Reilly wrote that he's also met with the mayor asking for a "significant increase in police visibility and beat patrols" during late-night hours and weekends for on the Ohio block and on the Lakefront, Riverwalk and larger Streeterville area.

It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of the closure request, given how highly used the pathway is during the summer.



Underpass entrance at E Ohio St and Lake Shore Drive / Google Maps

[H/T Tribune]

Correction: An early version of this article described the underpass in question as located near Oak Street Beach on some references. It is actually Ohio Street Beach.
Man Accused Of Murdering 3-Year-Old In Little Village

By Rachel Cromidas on Jun 20, 2017 4:04PM



2500 block of South Homan Avenue via google street view.

A Chicago man has been charged with murdering a 3-year-old girl Little Village.

Police responded to a call from an apartment in the 2500 block of South Homan Avenue saying the young girl was not breathing, around 1:10 a.m. early Sunday morning. She was pronounced dead at 1:26 a.m. The girl was identified by the Cook County medical examiner as Jesipel Aleman. Her death was ruled a homicide after an autopsy report showed she sustained multiple injuries from an assault, according to the Sun-Times Wire.

Eduardo Aleman, 26, has been charged with first-degree murder and is expected to be arraigned in bond court Tuesday. Police have not commented on his relationship to Jesipel.
Pilsen's Iconic Casa Aztlan Murals Are Painted Over Ahead Of Apartment Conversion

By Stephen Gossett in News on Jun 20, 2017 3:20PM



Facebook / Pilsen Neighborhood, Ricardo Gamboa

For all those who are anxious about gentrification and displacement in Pilsen, there could hardly have been a more terribly apt visual metaphor. The iconic murals that adorned the front-facing exterior of Casa Aztlan's former space were painted over on Monday by crews ahead of the property's conversion into apartments.

A wave of lament poured out across social media after photos spread of the new paint joba uniform gray replacing the vibrant, colorful portraits of historic Chicano leaders. Neighborhood advocacy group Pilsen Alliance has now organized a vigil, called Mourning of Casa Aztlan, for Tuesday evening, in response.

The mural was painted back in 1971 by students under the tutelage of beloved Pilsen muralist Ray Patlan. It featured portraits of key figures such as Rudy Lozano, Frida Kahlo and others. Casa Aztlan was an important focal point of the city's Chicano movement, dating back to 1970s. The community group lost the space, at 1831 S Racine Ave., in 2013 amid mounting debt and escalating repair costs.

"Its a loss," said Byron Sigcho, Executive Director of Pilsen Alliance, about the murals being covered over. "Its a big loss for what they represents, which is not only a space, but culture, identity, decades of community services like adult education classes, immigration services It really reflected the history of the community."

About the remembrance planned for Tuesday, Sigcho added, "We want to make sure we raise awareness of whats happeningnot even slowly anymorein terms of displacement and shifts from the community space now to condos."

City records show a limited-liability company plans to convert space in the former Casa Aztlan into at least 10 residential units"luxury apartments," according to Univisionwith nearby off-site parking. The LLC could not be reached for comment.

Sigcho said he was aware of chatter that the developers plan to create a new mural on the exterior but he has been unable to reach representatives for the development to learn more about "a complete plan."

Pilsen Alliance asks attendees to Tuesday's event to bring candles and flowers. "History is more important than profit... Let's show how we do it in the Barrio," the group wrote.

Alderman Daniel Solis expressed regret at the decision to paint over the mural while also acknowledging that the developers were within their rights. He said he hopes the developers work with the community to create a new mural.

Solis said:



"I am deeply saddened by the developer's decision to paint over our beautiful mural at the former Casa Aztlan. The mural was a reminder of where we come from, our culture and our traditions. Unfortunately, the developers have the rights to their property, however, I want to encourage everyone to remember that being a good neighbor means respecting the culture and wishes of your community. I sincerely hope these developers are interested in creating another mural with community artists, who share our culture and history through their creativity and talents."

This post has been updated.
China unveiled a historical book series on Monday to disclose the atrocities of Japanese forces, as the 80th anniversary of the 1937 "July 7 Incident" approaches.

The 51-book series collects data such as cipher telegrams and secret documents from the Japanese military and government at the time.

China unveils a historical book series on June 19 to disclose the atrocities of Japanese forces, as the 80th anniversary of the 1937 "July 7 Incident" approaches. [Photo/Xinhua]

The editorial committee selected, categorized and photocopied more than 20,000 pages related to the July 7 Incident and the full invasion, according to Tang Zhongnan of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The series is a series of confessions regarding Japan's militarism and "ironclad proof" of Japan's criminal invasion, according to the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

The museum organized the publication to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the nation's resistance against Japanese invasion.

China was the first nation to fight against fascist forces. The struggle started on September 18, 1931, when Japanese troops began their invasion of northeast China. It was intensified when Japan's full-scale invasion began after a crucial access point to Beijing, Lugou Bridge, also known as Marco Polo Bridge, was attacked by Japanese troops on July 7, 1937.
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Modern ink-brush master Huang Binhong (1865-1955) once said, "People will acknowledge my paintings 50 years after I die."

Yellow Mountain by Huang Binhong. [Photo/cguardian.com]

Achieving artistic maturity in his 80s, Huang was not as well received as his peers, as his paintings were not considered to be visually appealing.

People have only just come to deeply understand his philosophy of brushwork over the last three decades, as the market garners more acceptance of his works.

Huang's momentum mountain-and-water piece, Yellow Mountain, grossed 345 million yuan ($50.6 million) at China Guardian Auctions' sale in Beijing on Monday, an auction record for the artist.

Huang executed the painting at 90 years old. He suffered an eye disease but he painted based on the memories of his nine trips to the scenic mountain in Anhui province.

The painting highlights his signature thick laying and shading of ink and colors to create a view of natural splendor.

The painting fetched 47.7 million yuan at a Beijing auction in 2011.

Last night it aroused a bidding war and was sold to Shandong-based electric vehicle manufacturer Levdeo.

The last five years have seen well-curated exhibitions at museums, which have helped raise public awareness of the significance of classic Chinese paintings and painters.

The National Art Museum of China in Beijing held a grand exhibition marking Huang's 150th anniversary of birth in 2015 and another marking master painter Pan Tianshou (1897-1971) earlier this year. Both raved wide acclaim.

At the same Guardian auction, Pan's flower-and-bird painting, After Plowing, fetched 158.93 million yuan, the second highest price for his work at auction.

The painting depicts a leisurely scene in which a buffalo rests in water and under a bunch of flowers reaching out from a huge rock. It demonstrates Pan's experimental spirit which directs the age-old Chinese painting traditions into the modern age.

A calligraphic scroll of four Southern Song Dynasty (11127-1279) emperors sold for 149.5 million yuan, the third most expensive piece of the night sale.

Modern artist Li Keran's (1907-89) Red Classic landscape, inspired by Mao Zedong's poem, fetched nearly 90 million yuan.

Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) painter Wu Bin's ink-and-color painting on paper, Twelve Sages, sold 66.7 million yuan.
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Few Chinese know Wang Shikuo (1911-73), but most know his works - realistic oil paintings that depict China's Communist revolution.

Works by nominated artists for this year's Wang Shikuo Award are now on display in Beijing. Photos Provided To China Daily

The professor of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts passed away while sketching in rural Henan province. It's believed overwork contributed to his death.

He remains so admired that a contemporary-art award bearing his name was announced last year.

The Wang Shikuo Award aspires to become a Chinese answer to such prominent international honors for up-and-coming artists as the Hugo Boss Prize and the Turner Prize.

It's administrated by Beijing's Today Art Museum and sponsored by the Wang Shikuo Art Foundation that Wang's family established in 2015. It honors one artist, typically younger than age 45, every year.

Twelve artists have been nominated this year. Their works are displayed at the Amassing Force exhibition at Today Art Museum.

Visitors can vote for their favorite artists. The winner will be announced on Saturday.

The foundation also has established a scholarship with the Central Academy of Fine Arts last year to sponsor overseas exchanges among undergraduates.

Wang's daughter, Wang Qun, the foundation's secretary, says the jury doesn't make judgments based on single works.

"We review the whole course of an artist's career," she says. "We especially talk with candidates to see if they'll remain dedicated to creating for at least another decade."

Gao Peng, the museum's director and a jury member, says organizers have monitored many candidates, following their graduations from art academies.

"Some artists quit art two or three years after winning other important awards," he says.

"They start their own businesses once they become financially stable. That disappoints their patrons, such as art institutions and serious collectors, who anticipate they'd continue to pursue higher levels of creation."

Gao says the award hails artists' experimental spirit.

"They explore a distinct style or medium that's not quite mature at the moment, but they believe will bring major breakthroughs. We don't watch artists whose works are market-oriented because they already had a lot of market support."

The award also honors artists of all mediums, even though it takes its name from a painter.

The ongoing exhibition of nominees' works displays multimedia installations and abstract ink-brush paintings on paper.

Hangzhou-based China Academy of Art instructor Ying Xinxun is presenting her light installation, Metamorphosis. The 36-year-old used translucent ox hide to create a creature that's half man and half insect that rides a motorcycle. She surrounded it with dozens of luminous fibers.

It looks beautiful at first sight. But viewers may feel as if they're trapped like a bird in a cage as they walk through the fibers.

Ying created the work to reflect on crises caused by rapid urbanization, such as air pollution and tainted foods.

"People are manufacturing all kinds of things that, in turn, transform them physically and mentally," she says.

Cong Ming, who lost his hearing at age 1, shows paintings inspired by classic Chinese philosophies including I Ching.

The 28-year-old from Liaoning province's Dalian, who has exhibited in China and overseas, uses circles and squares to reflect how people who speak different languages can harmoniously communicate.

The winner will receive 100,000 yuan ($14,700) or can hold a solo exhibition at the museum.

Huang Du, a Beijing-based art curator, critic and jury member, expresses hopes the jury will include international members in the future so winners can be introduced to a global audience.

Beijing native Tian Xiaolei won last year for producing animations of surrealist scenarios. The 35-year-old says the award has given him exposure abroad, including his Canada premiere titled Overload that's now running at Toronto's Katzman Contemporary gallery through Aug 5.
China has moved up the list of the world's top 25 innovative economies, rising three notches from 25 to 22, with strong performance in several indicators, according to the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) released last week.

In 2016, it was the first middle-income country to make the list. China's technological innovations have made headlines in recent months, from the launch of its first X-ray space telescope to observe black holes and development of the world's first quantum computing machine, to the debut of its home-grown C919 passenger jet and its successful sampling of combustible ice.

A Long March-4B rocket carrying X-ray space telescope to observe black holes, pulsars and gamma-ray bursts blasts off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gobi Desert, June 15, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Jointly released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), Cornell University, and INSEAD, the 2017 GII is in its 10th edition this year. The rankings are a leading benchmarking tool for business executives, policy makers and others seeking insight into the state of innovation around the world.

A closer look into the general index shows that China moved up one spot to 16th in innovation quality, retaining its position for the fifth consecutive year as the top middle-income economy and edging closer to high-income economies.

The report showed that China tops in a number of sub-rankings, including domestic market scale, human resources, patents by origin, high-tech exports, and industrial designs by origin.

The world's second-largest economy was once seen as an imitator and the "world's factory," churning out mountains of low-quality goods, but it is becoming capable of producing innovative products and ideas.

China's qualified patents exceeded one million last year, becoming the third country after the United States and Japan to join the world's million patent club.

Meanwhile, the number of "unicorn" companies in China -- young, unlisted companies with a market value of over 1 billion U.S. dollars -- rose from 70 in 2015 to 131 in 2016, most of which are high-tech firms, according to the Ministry of Science and Technology.

More unicorn companies are expected to pop up in China thanks to the country's support for entrepreneurship and public innovation. One case in point is the bicycle-sharing industry, with two industrial giants, Ofo and Mobike, having received billions of dollars in investment and expanding steadily overseas.

Wu Wensheng, executive deputy head with Great Wall Strategic Consultants, a leading private think tank, attributed China's impressive innovation progress to the country's large talent pool, growing investment in research and development as well as government policy support.

Innovation is at the core of the country's 13th five-year plan, which aims for China to become an "innovative nation" by 2020, an international leader in innovation by 2030, and a world powerhouse of scientific and technological innovation by 2050.

Innovation hubs, incubators and demonstration zones have sprung up across the country, with a string of government preferential policies to nurture start-ups.

However, the utilization rate of innovation resources still remains rather low in China, according to the report released by the Research Center for Technological Innovation with Tsinghua University.

The government should continue to invest in R&D and improve the efficiency of the application of innovation technology and products to convert them into social and economic benefits and boost China's innovation capability in the next 30 years, the report added.
Two snow leopard cubs have recently been spotted in bushes in the headwater region of the Yangtze, China's longest river. [Photo provided by Shan Shui Conservation Center]

Snow leopard cubs have recently been spotted in bushes in the headwater region of the Yangtze, China's longest river.

The two snow leopard cubs were found by a Tibetan named Tsering Gyatso at a den on a mountain in Chidu county, Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Qinghai Province Thursday. He reported finding the cubs to the local government.

On Friday morning, scientists rushed to the site. They said the cubs were about two-weeks old and in good health, according to Rinchen Nyima, deputy director of the county's cultural affairs bureau.

The cubs were found in the bushes rather than their traditional habitat in bare rocks on high mountains.

The find, which may indicate that the snow leopard population is increasing or that their habitat has expanded, will help researchers to learn about living habits of the snow leopard in bushes and forests, said Xiao Lingyun with Peking University Center for Nature and Society.

Rinchen Nyima said the mother leopard went back to the den to feed the cubs Saturday morning.

Snow leopards are a Class A protected animal in China and are classified as "endangered" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They live in the Himalayas in central and south Asia at an altitude of 2,500 to 4,500 meters. They have been spotted in China's Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Tibet, Yunnan and Xinjiang.
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Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who was released by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) less than a week ago, died on Monday, his parents said.

"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20 p.m. (1820 GMT)," his parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

Warmbier's parents thanked the "wonderful professionals" at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and denounced the DPRK for mistreating their son.

In a statement, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his passing and condemned the "brutality" of the DPRK.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said.

Warmbier's parents have told U.S. media that he was medically evacuated from the DPRK in a coma.

The DPRK confirmed his release in a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, saying he was sent back home "on humanitarian grounds."

The 22-year-old student from the University of Virginia has been in a state of coma for more than a year after contracting botulism soon after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a trial by the DPRK supreme court on March 16, 2016, according to U.S. local media.

Warmbier was detained by the DPRK authorities at the Pyongyang International Airport on his way back home in January 2016 after he attempted to take a political slogan from a staff-only area in a hotel where he stayed during his tour to the country.
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Police officers patrol near the Champs-Elysees avenue on June 19, 2017 in Paris, France. A car rammed into a police van Monday on the Champs-Elysees avenue inParis before bursting into flames, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said. [Photo/Xinhua]

A car rammed into a police van Monday on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris before bursting into flames, French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said.

Collomb said the driver died when the car exploded, noting that weapons and explosives have been found in the car.

"Once again our security forces have been targeted. The threat is extremely high," Collomb said on Twitter.

At 15:40 local time (1340 GMT), a man with his vehicle crashed into police van near the presidential Palace. His car had caught fire due to a gas cylinder on board which likely triggered the fire, according to BFMTV news channel.

The 31-year-old driver was armed and has been already on police radar, it added.

Speaking to reporters, interior ministry's spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the incident "seems to be a voluntary act".

On Twitter, Paris prefecture wrote "situation under control". But, it called Parisians to avoid the area which is cordoned off.

No casualties have been reported into the incident, it added. Paris prosecutor's anti-terrorism section had opened an investigation into the incident.

The Champs Elysee attack came a few days after a PhD student on media tried to attack police officers with a hammer outside Notre Dame Cathedral in the French capital in an act to revenge war in Syria.

Under pressure to muscle security at home and forge an effective action plan against alarming terror risks, President Emmanuel Macron decided to create the National Center for Counter Terrorism, a new body including all the country's intelligences services to better coordinate response to eventual terror risk.

Adding to that, he is seeking further extension of the state of emergency, beyond its normal term in July 2017.

France remains in a state of emergency and on high alert over possible terrorist attacks due to its military intervention in Syria, Iraq and the Sahel region.

It imposed emergency security rules in the wake of the 2015 attacks which killed 130 people. It also deployed 10,000 of gendarmes and police units to protect public places and sensitive site

However, several more attacks have occurred since, with the bloodiest on Bastille Day last year in Nice where a man drove his truck into a crowd, killing 86 people.
New Delhi: Government head-hunter PESB has suggested that the Centre may choose an appropriate course of action for selection of CMD of Coal India Limited as it did not find any of the six candidates interviewed as fit for the top post.

Those who were interviewed are NTPC Director (finance) Kulamani Biswal, CCL CMD Gopal Singh, WCL CMD Rajiv Ranjan Mishra, MCL CMD Anil Kumar Jha, CMPDIL CMD Shekhar Saran and NMDC Director (commercial) Tanugula Ramakishan Rao, the Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB) said on its website.

"The board (PESB) did not find any candidate suitable for the post and recommended that the government may choose an appropriate course of further action for selection," it said.

The current Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Coal India, Sutirtha Bhattacharya, is scheduled to retire on August 31, according to a company official. Bhattacharya assumed charge as CMD on January 5, 2015. Prior to joining CIL, Bhattacharya was the CMD of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd (SCCL). The PESB had recommended Bhattacharya's name from among 12 contenders who were interviewed for the key post.

CIL, which accounts for over 80 per cent of domestic coal production, is eyeing 1 billion tonne of production by 2020.
Forty one per cent of the Indian companies said they experienced a data breach as a result of malicious or criminal attacks.

New Delhi: Indian companies could lose Rs 11crore to data breaches this year, up 12.3 per cent from last year, a report by tech giant IBM today said.

A breach is described as an event where an individual's name and a medical/financial record is potentially put at risk - either in electronic or paper format. Interestingly, the average cost of a data breach globally is expected to decline by 10 per cent this year to USD 3.62 million (Rs 23.35 crore) compared to last year.

The study, conducted by Ponemon Institute, found that the average per capita cost of data breach increased from Rs 3,704 in 2016 to Rs 4,210 in 2017. Forty one per cent of the Indian companies said they experienced a data breach as a result of malicious or criminal attacks.

Another 33 per cent experienced a data breach as a result of system glitches, while 26 per cent of data breaches involved employee or contractor negligence (ie human factor).

"Services, financial, industrial and technology companies had a per capita cost well above the mean of Rs 4,210, while public sector, research and transportation companies had a per capita cost well below the mean," the study added.

The study, in its sixth edition this year, examined the costs incurred by 39 Indian companies in 13 industry sectors.

"The study clearly outlines the rapidly changing threat scenario through a significant rise in both number and sophistication of breaches," IBM India/South Asia Integrated Security Leader Kartik Shahani said. He added that securing data on cloud is of top priority as cloud services have become the key for digital enterprise transformation.

"Enterprises need to ensure that robust security practices are adopted, incident response plans are in place and regular security training given to all stakeholders of the company," he said.

The study found the average number of breached records was around 33,167. Both indirect and direct costs related to data breaches have surged over the past year. Indirect costs, which refer to the amount of time, effort and other organisational resources spent to resolve a breach, increased from Rs 1,923 to Rs 2,212 per capita.

Direct costs -- expenses like purchasing a technology or hiring a consultant -- rose from Rs 1,781 to Rs 1,998 per capita.
New Delhi: Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Defence Ammunition has entered a strategic partnership with Serbia's state-run defence major Yugoimport

to manufacture ammunition in India and target business opportunities of Rs 20,000 crore over the next 10 years.

The company made the annuncement here today, a day after Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, met President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic in Paris.

Defence Minister of Serbia, Zoran Dordevic, Assistant Minister of Defence Nenad Moloradovic and the CEO of Yugoimport were also present at the meeting.

"Two companies will work together in the field of ammunition amongst others, with projected minimum requirement of Rs 20,000 crore over next 10 years from Indian armed forces," Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) said in a statement.

It said there is also an option for exporting ammunition, adding the proposal envisages transfer of technology by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and indigenous manufacturing in India.

Yugoimport, a state-owned enterprise, is a market leader in the field of ammunition production and has offered a fully compliant technical solution to meet the Make in India requirements of the Indian government, as per RDL.

RDL has proposed to set up a greenfield facility for the production of ammunition.

"Reliance Defence Ammunition will also undertake joint development of next generation ammunition to meet the future requirements of the Indian armed forces," the company said.

India currently imports nearly 50 per cent of its ammunition requirements by value term, with an annual spending of more than Rs 10,000 crore on ammunition.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court today extended till July 4 the time for embattled Sahara chief Subrata Roy to deposit Rs 709.82 crore, out of Rs 1,500 crore which was to be aid by June 15, with a warning that failure to pay the remainder may again land him in jail.

Extending its interim order granting bail to Roy till July 5, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi said, "If the balance amount is not paid by that date, we will be compelled to send the contemnor (Roy) to the custody and we are sure he shall not give rise to such an occasion."

At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Roy, said that out of Rs 1,500 crore, which was to be paid by June 15, the Sahara chief has deposited Rs 790.18 crore and ten more working days be granted to him to comply with the undertaking given by him on April 27.

Roy, who was present in courtroom, had told the court that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before June 15 and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter. "As the contemnor has deposited Rs 790.18 crore, we are inclined to extend the time by ten working days so that the undertaking can be complied with. The balance amount, i.e, Rs 709.82 crores shall be deposited with the SEBI Sahara Refund Account by 4th July, 2017," the bench noted its order.

Meanwhile, the court allowed Sahara Chief to sell Grosvenor House Hotel by transferring shares of the company to the buyer firm, GH Equity UK Limited.

The bench, however, rejected the plea of Roy that he be allowed to sell land, admeasuring 87.03 acres, in certain villages of Haridwar in Uttarakhand in Rs 109.75 crore as the amount was 62 per cent of circle rate prevalent in the area.

"The said amount is 62 per cent of the circle rate and, thereby, less than 38 per cent of the circle rate. Permission is sought to sell the property at that rate. As advised at present, we are not inclined to grant the said permission," the bench said. "We think that the said property shall be put to public auction by SEBI with the assistance of approved agency. In the bid, SEBI can mention 90 per cent of the circle rate, as some time this court had permitted at that rate," it said. The auction be conducted by the competent authority of SEBI through approved agency on or before July 5, it said, adding that "e-auction can be done".

Meanwhile, the court took on record the draft terms and conditions submitted by the Official Liquidator of the Bombay High Court for effecting sale of the Amby Valley properties of Sahara Group. Vinod Sharma, the official liquidator, submitted that the terms and conditions have been scrutinized by Justice B N Agarwal, a former apex court judge who has been nominated to supervise the refund process. "A copy of the terms and conditions be handed over to the counsel for the contemnor (Roy)...The prayer for approval of the terms and conditions of sale notice shall be considered on the next date of hearing," it said.

Earlier, Roy had appeared before the court which extended his parole till June 19 with a warning that failure to pay Rs 1,500 crore, as promised, may land him in jail again. The apex court had taken note of an affidavit and a personal undertaking of Roy that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before June 15 and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter on July 15.

The bench had noted in its order on April 27 that Rs 11,169 crore towards principal was due on the Sahara Chief and around Rs 12,000 crore has already been paid. Earlier, the court was irked over non-submission of money and had decided to sell off Rs 34,000 crore worth of properties of the Sahara Group at the Aamby Valley.

The apex court had on April 6 warned the Group that if it failed to deposit Rs 5,092.6 crore in SEBI-Sahara refund account by April 17 in pursuance of its order, it will be "compelled" to auction its property at the Aamby Valley. The court had on November 28 last year asked Roy to deposit Rs 600 crore more by February 6 in the refund account to remain out of jail and warned that failure to do so would result in his return to prison.

It had on May 6, 2016 granted a four-week parole to Roy to attend the funeral of his mother. His parole has been extended by the court ever since. Roy was sent to Tihar jail on March 4, 2014.

Besides Roy, two other directors -- Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary -- were arrested for failure of the group's two companies -- Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL)  to comply with the court's August 31, 2012 order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors. Director Vandana Bhargava was not taken into custody.
New Delhi: Shashi Shanker will be the next Chairman and Managing Director of India's biggest oil and gas producer, ONGC.

Government headhunter Public Enterprise Selection Board (PESB) selected Shanker to head Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) from October 1. Shanker is currently Director (Technical and Field Services), ONGC. He will replace Dinesh K Sarraf who retires on September 30 upon attaining superannuation age.

PESB said it interviewed nine candidates including Oil India Director (HR) Biswajit Roy and ONGC Videsh Ltd Director (Finance) Vivekanand. "PESB recommended the following name for the post of Chairman and Managing Director, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) - Shashi Shanker," it said on its website.

His name will now be vetted by the administrative ministry -- the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas  and after obtaining clearance from anti-corruption watchdog CVC and CBI sent to the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet. His appointment will be finalised after ACC, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approves it.

Shanker, 56, will have a nearly four-year term till March 2021.
London: Tata Group and American aerospace giant Lockheed Martin today signed an "unprecedented" deal to produce, operate and export the combat-proven F-16 fighters in India, boosting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' plan ahead of his first summit with US President Donald Trump.

Under the deal, Lockheed will shift its Fort Worth, Texas plant to India without directly affecting American jobs, a campaign pledge of Trump who has vowed to put "America First".

The deal announced during the Paris Airshow between Tata Advanced Systems Ltd (TASL) and Lockheed Martin is ideally suited to meet Indian Air Force's single-engine fighter needs.

According to defence experts, the Indian Air Force needs around 200 medium weight category aircraft and currently does not operate F-16s. The deal is going to be among the largest projects under the Make in India initiative.

In August last year, Lockheed had offered to move its lone production line the F 16-Block 70 from Texas to India, the world's top defence importer. It, however, had made clear the proposal was "conditional" to Indian Air Force choosing

the fighters for its fleet.

In February this year, Lockheed had said this unique opportunity strengthens the strategic ties between the US and India. Around the same time, the defence major had also said that it has briefed the Trump administration on the deal which was supported by the previous Obama administration as part of a broader cooperative dialogue with India.

The announcement of the deal comes a week ahead of Modi's first bilateral meeting with Trump after the billionaire tycoon became the president of the United States in January.

Modi will be on a two-day visit to the US from June 25. The agreement was signed by Sukaran Singh, CEO of TASL, and George Standridge, vice president of Strategy and Business Development, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. Ratan Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Tata Sons, and Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, were also present.

The two companies said this unmatched US-Indian industry partnership directly supports New Delhi's initiative to develop private aerospace and defence manufacturing capacity in the country under the 'Make in India' initiative.

"This agreement builds on the already established joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tata and underscores the relationship and commitment between the two companies," said N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons.

The company said the "unprecedented" F-16 production partnership between the world's largest defence contractor and India's premier industrial house provides India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter.

F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US, creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the centre of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world.

"Lockheed Martin is honoured to partner with Indian defence and aerospace leader Tata Advanced Systems Limited on the F-16 programme," said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics.

"Our partnership significantly strengthens the F-16 'Make In India' offer, creates and maintains numerous new job opportunities in India and the US, and brings the world's most combat-proven multi-role fighter aircraft to India," he said.

The Lockheed Martin-TASL F-16 partnering agreement builds on TASL's proven performance manufacturing airframe components for the C-130J airlifter and the S-92 helicopter.

With more than 4,500 produced and approximately 3,200 operational aircraft worldwide being flown today by 26 countries, the F-16 remains the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter ever produced.

Lockheed Martin claims the F-16 Block 70 is the newest and most technologically advanced F-16 ever offered. And TASL, a Tata Group firm, is focused on providing integrated solutions for Aerospace, Defence and Homeland Security. Last year, India agreed to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets

from France for around USD 8.9 billion.
Chandigarh: After Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh waiving off farmer loans in the wake of large scale protests, Punjab followed suit on Monday with Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh announcing a waiver of the entire crop loan for small and marginal farmers in the state.

The loan waiver will provide relief up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers (with land up to five acres), along with Rs 2 lakh waiver for all marginal farmers. The waiver was decided based on an interim report made by a group of experts headed by economist T Haque.

Captain Amarinder Singhs announcement is a partial fulfilment of the major poll promise of entire loan waiver, made by the ruling Indian National Congress in Punjab. He said that his government has remained committed to salvaging farmers woes and has additionally decided to pay back the outstanding crop loans of farmers who committed suicide in the state. The Punjab government will raise the ex-gratia for families of farmers committing suicide from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.

During his speech in the Punjab Assembly, the chief minister said this move by the government would provide double the relief announced by the state of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra. Of the 18.5 lakh farmers in the state, the decision is in the interest of a total of 10.25 lakh farmers. This includes 8.75 lakh marginal farmers.

Addressing the farmer loans raised from non-institutional resources, the government has decided to review the Punjab Settlement of Agriculture Indebtedness Act. Relief to such farmers will be provided through mutually acceptable debt reconciliation, which shall statutorily bind both the lender and the borrower. "The government has already constituted a Cabinet Sub-Committee to review this Act," Amarinder said.

He also proposed that a five-member committee constituted by the Speaker could visit families of the suicide victims. They will examine the reasons for suicides and suggest measures that can be taken to avoid such instances. He also said that his government has decided to repeal Section 67A of the Punjab Cooperative Societies Act, 1961, deals with the auction (kurki) of farmers' land.

The chief minister appealed to all well-off farmers in the state to give up their power subsidy willingly, in order to support the debt-ridden farmers. In a leading example to big farmers, he announced his decision to immediately give up the subsidy at his own farms.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets U.S. President Donald Trump next week in Washington, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Trump has ordered a review of the U.S. visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possible changes ahead.

The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM's visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former U.S. President Barack Obama.

However, Trump's focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.

The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the U.S. trade deficit with India also widened.

The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.
Mumbai: Filmmaker Milan Luthria, who is returning to the big screen with actor duo, Ajay Devgn and Emraan Hashmi for Baadshaho, says he is not afraid of the comparisons being made with their previous outing Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai. The director says the setting of the film is completely different from that of the 2010 hit.

"Even if people feel the hangover of Once Upon A Time in Mumbaai looking at Baadshaho its ok. I dont fear that comparison (referring to story and recreating the success of the film) as both the stories are completely different," Milan told PTI.

"One was a gangster film about the rise and fall of two gangsters, this (Baadshaho) is an action drama film about the six main characters and the heist that takes place against the backdrop of 1975 Emergency period," he says. Milan says he is happy to reteam with Ajay and Emraan.

"It was special to work with Ajay and Emraan again, who transformed themselves for the film. Also, it was special working with Vidyut Jammwal, Ileana DCruz, Esha Gupta and Sanjay Mishra. We have designed special looks for each of them." The filmmaker says the movies plot is based on the raids that were conducted during Emergency where royal families were looted.

Produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-Series and Milan, the action thriller is scheduled for a worldwide release on September 1. While the makers have already introduced us to the badass characters of Ajay Devgn, Emraan Hashmi, Esha Gupta, Ileana Dcruz and Vidyut Jammwal, they released the sixth face, Sanjai Mishra on Monday.
 Flash

Chinese President Xi Jinping (4th R) meets with the heads of delegations from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa who are in Beijing to attend the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting in Beijing, capital of China, June 19, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that BRICS cooperation would be more productive and usher in a new "golden decade."

Xi made the remarks when meeting with the heads of delegations from Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa, who are in Beijing to attend the BRICS foreign ministers' meeting.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi chaired the meeting, which also included Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and India's Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh.

Xi extended congratulations on the success of the meeting and thanked other BRICS members for their support.

He said that BRICS countries faced the common task of safeguarding domestic stability and development, creating a favorable international environment and working to make the international order more just and equitable.

"The BRICS cooperation is an innovation, which transcends the old pattern of political and military alliance and pursues partnerships rather than alliances," Xi said.

"The BRICS mechanism surpasses the old mindset of zero-sum game and practices a new concept of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation," he said.

He said that the cooperation mechanism fitted the needs of the five nations as well as the historical trend.

"The BRICS cooperation mechanism has been in existence for 10 years and BRICS members have focused on development, which not only benefits the people in the five countries but also offers a recipe for the world to address food and security problems," Xi said.

"BRICS countries are a community of shared interests and future," Xi said.

He urged the countries to give full play to the win-win spirit and jointly contribute to the development of the organization.

Xi called on all countries to continue to prioritize development, follow multilateralism and the basic norms of international relations.

"As long as we think and work toward the same goal, the BRICS cooperation will be more productive and usher in a new golden decade," the president said.

The five countries' share in the global economy increased from 12 percent to 23 percent in the past decade while contributing to more than half of global growth.

To help finance infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies and developing countries, China co-founded the BRICS New Development Bank in 2014 with its headquarters in Shanghai.

It became fully operational in 2016 when the bank approved loans involving financial assistance of over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars for projects in green and renewable energy, and transport.

The heads of delegations thanked China for promoting BRICS cooperation as rotating chair, saying the BRICS is an emerging and promising mechanism.

They said all members should closely collaborate and jointly address global challenges, expressing confidence that the BRICS cooperation would further enhance the well-being and prominence of the BRICS.

They said their countries would work with China to strengthen BRICS cooperation and support China in hosting a successful BRICS summit in Xiamen in September.
New Delhi: To celebrate 70 years of bilateral relations between India and Russia, the 39th Moscow International Film Festival, for the first time, will feature a section dedicated to Indian cinema.

'Indian Panorama' at the international film festival will showcase some of the path-breaking films from the Indian film industry including the 'Baahubali' series, 'Badman', 'A Death in the Gunj', 'BeyYaar', 'U Turn' and 'Kothanodi'.

"It is a special way of celebrating the 70 years of diplomatic relations between India and Russia. However, it is beyond just diplomatic relations," Anatoly V Kargopolov, charge d'affaires, Embassy of Russian Federation in India, said.

Organised by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the specially curated festival scheduled to be held from June 22 -29 will open with 'Badman' starring veteran Bollywood actor Gulshan Grover.

"It is not an average, ordinary film. It is the first Indian 'mockumentary' with all the Bollywood settings.

"The audience in Russia will have an opportunity to see some great works of creative brilliance by master Indian filmmakers by way of these iconic Indian movies which will go a long way in strengthening the bonds of friendship between the two countries via cinema," Grover said.

Grover along will S S Rajamouli, director of the Baahubali series, will be present at the festival in Moscow to represent the Indian film fraternity amongst a galaxy of film stars from Russia and across the world.

Rahul Bali, who has co-curated the Indian Film Festival World Wide (IFFW) that organises Indian film festivals across the globe, said the Indian films set to be screened at the festival have been chosen based on their languages to represent different parts of the country.

"We would be showcasing seven award-winning Indian films in six different languages - Assamese, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Gujarati and Hindi to mesmerise the world audience with the magic of Indian cinema and spreading the fragrance of India in Moscow.

"The Indian Panorama is unique and first-of-its-kind due to its sheer reach across the Russian mainland. With a spectacular amalgamation of life, festivity, fashion, films, music and culture, we are ready to bring the feel of India alive in Russia, taking the Indo-Russian friendship to the next level," Bali said.
Aamir Khan with a fan in Malta (L) and in a still from 'Dangal'.

Mumbai: Aamir Khan is an advocate of perfection. So when he had to portray the role of a potbellied former athlete, Mahavir Singh Phogat, in Dangal, Aamir wasted no time in getting into the skin of the character and brought his weight up to 98 kgs.

But Thugs of Hindostan, his upcoming film based on four pirates- Amitabh Bachchan, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Katrina Kaif and himself- is a different challenge altogether that demanded a much leaner version of the superstar.

In order to do complete justice to his role, Aamir has shed significant amount of weight, 28 kgs to be precise. Yes, according to reports, Khan has brought his bodyweight down from 98 kgs (during Dangal) to a mere 70 for Thugs

This look is also believed to be his thinnest in many years.

When fans meet the actor on the sets of Vijay Krishna Acharyas Thugs in Malta, they were overwhelmed with joy and shared some pictures with the superstar, which hae now gone viral.

Take a look at some of the photos:
Junior NTR, Aamir Khan, Alia Bhatt and Dhanush were the winners of the awards.

Hyderabad: Bollywood actors Aamir Khan, Alia Bhatt and South superstars Dhanush and Junior NTR will be honoured with inaugural Shankarabharanam Awards.

The awards, instituted by South Indian actress Tulasi as a token of regard for her guru and Dadasaheb Phalke award recipient K Viswanath, will be given away here on Tuesday.

"My guru and mentor Dadasaheb Phalke Awardee, Dr K Viswanath has worked with both the Northern and Southern industries in his illustrious career. He stands for the unity of our cinema, a beautiful aesthetic medium that knows no boundaries of geography or language," Tulasi said.

The awards are named after the renowned director's iconic 1982 film 'Shankarabharanam.'

This year, talents across Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Malayalam film industry will be honoured.

Aamir will receive the best actor-Hindi trophy for Dangal', while Alia will get the best actress-Hindi for Udta Punjab'.

Junior NTR will get the best actor-Telugu trophy for Janata Garage'. Dhanush will receive the best director-Tamil award for Pa Pandi.'
Mumbai: Just like Shah Rukh Khans previous film Dear Zindagi, the team of his next Jab Harry Met Sejal have also decided to come out with several short clips or Mini Trails before the release of the official trailer.

The first such short clip saw Shah Rukhs character Harry tell Anushkas character Sejal how he looked at women in a lecherous manner and the second one saw Sejal reading him the content of an indemnity bond in case the two do indulge in any sexual interaction with each other.

While the two trails had raised enough curiosity for the film, the third one is also out now and perhaps is the most interesting one of the lot.

In the video, Harry seems extremely irritated in Sejals presence as he expresses his frustration in Punjabi, with the latter just looking at him helplessly.

While Harry is all Punjabi, Sejal is also seen calling him A1 character in the typical Gujarati accent.

She also tells him she wont leave without the ring, revealing perhaps why the film was tentatively titled The Ring earlier.

Jab Harry Met Sejal is directed by Imtiaz Ali and releases on August 4.

Watch the video here:
The petite Punjabi actress Rakul Preet Singh is going places. Having conquered the Telugu film industry with a slew of successes, she is back in Mumbai with a film titled Aiyaary opposite Siddharth Malhotra and directed by Neeraj Pandey.

Yes, its official now. I am doing the film. For some time, I had to keep quiet about it because the producers wanted to make their own announcement, reveals Rakul.

Rakul, who started her career with a Kannada film Gilli in 2009 did her first Hindi film Yaariyan for T-Series in 2013. She admits that doing another Hindi film is like a homecoming for her.

Recalling her debut, Rakul says, I was doing my B.Sc in mathematics, barely able to understand life, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Acting was not even an option and I was doing some modeling when this offer to act in a Kannada film came my way. I agreed only because I was offered `5 lakh for it. It was a lot for a girl in college 8 years ago, whose pocket money was only `2,000.

After Gilli, Rakul was flooded with Kannada film offers, but she chose to go back to college. She returned with a Telugu film Keratam, after which there was no looking back. Ive done close to 18-19 films in Telugu since 2011. It has not been a rapid climb, rather my success has been slow and steady. In fact, for my first Telugu film, I chose to do a guest appearance rather than the lead, says Rakul.

Playing the lead in a succession of Telugu hits put Rakul in the top league of Telugu cinema. Most of the films I did were hits. I can speak Telugu fluently, though I havent done my own dialogues in any of my Telugu films, except one where I played a London-based character. As an NRI, my character could get away with some mistakes in the Telugu diction as they are otherwise very particular here about how the lines are spoken.

Rakul says she has not been particularly hit by the patriarchal system of working in Telugu cinema. Of course, there is male dominance, but nothing has affected my career or put me in a secondary situation, she says.

For her next Telugu release SPYder, Rakul is paired with Mahesh Babu. But she is not embarrassed about the length of her role. Ive a very interesting part as a medical student who is a little weird and clumsy. She has her own ideas about life and I am quite amused by my character, she shares.

Rakuls own expectations are quite simple. Good well-defined roles in cinema of any language, be it Telugu, Tamil or Hindi. I dont think language is a barrier any longer. Look at what Baahubali has achieved, says Rakul.
Members of the federal police carry a Nazi statue at the Interpol headquarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, June 16, 2017. In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police discovered on June 8th the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country's history. Authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)

In a hidden room in a house near Argentina's capital, police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in the country's history, including a bust relief of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas and even a macabre medical device used to measure head size.

Some 75 objects were found in a collector's home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during World War II.

"Our first investigations indicate that these are original pieces," Argentine Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told The Associated Press on Monday, saying that some pieces were accompanied by old photographs. "This is a way to commercialize them, showing that they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects."

Among the disturbing items were toys that Bullrich said would have been used to indoctrinate children, a large statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika, a Nazi hourglass and a box of harmonicas.

Police say one of the most-compelling pieces of evidence of the historical importance of the find is a photo negative of Hitler holding a magnifying glass similar to those found in the boxes.

"We have turned to historians and they've told us it is the original magnifying glass" that Hitler was using, said Nestor Roncaglia, head of Argentina's federal police. "We are reaching out to international experts to deepen" the investigation.

The photograph was not released to the public, but was shown to The Associated Press on the condition that it not be published.

The investigation that culminated in the discovery of the collection began when authorities found artworks of illicit origin in a gallery in north Buenos Aires.

Agents with the international police force Interpol began following the collector and with a judicial order raided the house on June 8. A large bookshelf caught their attention and behind it agents found a hidden passageway to a room filled with Nazi imagery.

Authorities did not identify the collector who remains free but under investigation by a federal judge.

"There are no precedents for a find like this. Pieces are stolen or are imitations. But this is original and we have to get to the bottom of it," said Roncaglia.

Police are trying to determine how the artifacts entered Argentina.

The main hypothesis among investigators and member of Argentina's Jewish community is that they were brought to Argentina by a high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after World War II, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals, including some of the best known.

As leading members of Hitler's Third Reich were put on trial for war crimes, Josef Mengele fled to Argentina and lived in Buenos Aires for a decade. He moved to Paraguay after Israeli Mossad agents captured Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, who was also living in Buenos Aires. Mengele later died in Brazil in 1979 while swimming in a beach in the town of Bertioga.

While police in Argentina did not name any high-ranking Nazis to whom the objects might have originally belonged, Bullrich noted there were medical devices.

"There are objects to measure heads that was the logic of the Aryan race," she said.

Ariel Cohen Sabban, president of the DAIA, a political umbrella for Argentina's Jewish institutes, called the find "unheard of" in Argentina.

"Finding 75 original pieces is historic and could offer irrefutable proof of the presence of top leaders who escaped from Nazi Germany," Cohen said.
Anosmia, or the severe loss of smell occurs as a result of damage to the olfactory nerve cells located in a small patch of tissue (Photo: Pixabay)

People who have lost your sense of smell, worry not! A study found that, after a single injection, patients were able to detect strong odors including coffee and garlic.

Most of the five study participants had their ability to smell totally restored at the end of the fourth injection.

Anosmia, or the severe loss of smell occurs as a result of damage to the olfactory nerve cells located in a small patch of tissue.

Chemical molecules that carry smells dissolve in mucus in this area and the receptor nerve cells then send signals to the olfactory cortex in the brain. However, if the receptor nerve cells are damages, they do not readily regenerate.

Casued by sinusitis or even head injury, its more common among the elderly, as nerve cells in the nose degenerate with age.

Researchers from Semmelweis University, Budapest has now conducted the new study where the jabs help the nerve cells to regenerate. They contain platelet-rich plasma (PRP) which play an important role in the growth of new tissue.

Platelets are key to the new treatment. First, blood is taken from a patients arm and spun in a machine to separate the platelets and plasma  these are then injected (under local anaesthetic) into the smell-related tissue at the top of each nostril.

The jabs were tested on five patients with anosmia: all had previously tried treatments such as steroids, oral antihistamines and nasal wash for at least three months without improvement. They were each given four PRP injections over six months and, according to the results, published in the International Journal of Tinnitus Research, after the first jab they could smell strong odours, and after the second they all could smell moderately strong odours, including orange, oregano and basil.

After the last injection, four of the five said their smell had completely come back, while the fifth could smell many, but not all, odours. None of them lost the sense of smell during the one-year follow-up period, suggesting the effects are long-lasting.

Commenting on the treatment, Professor Jaydip Ray, clinical director and ENT consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals and Sheffield Childrens Hospital, said: This is an unusual experimental treatment, which seems to have given a good result and hope to a small number of patients with complete loss of smell. However, this needs to be tested further with a more rigorous study design before it can become widely available.
Bengaluru: Yoga, the ancient discipline, with earliest mentions found in the Rig Veda. Thousands of years later, yoga has evolved into worldwide rage, with different schools and approaches taught around the world. Its the perfect antidote, after all, to the many stressors that comprise modern life and has evolved as a social activity, too. Amidst the hype and the glamour, however, as yoga experts range from children to nonagenarians, a new breed of twenty-somethings are moving away from their more worldly ambitions to the more austere, spiritual way of life that yoga offers. Prerna Ramanathan, Chandana Manjunath and Nidhi Srivatsa, three young, Bengaluru-based yoga teachers talk to DC about what compelled them to follow this rather unusual calling in a world defined by material pursuits and the challenges they face in doing so.

26-year-old Prerna Ramanthan, who teaches Yoga at Inventure Academy, a city school, who completed her degree in Psychology before she changed tracks. She found, to her amazement, that she could heal the damaged ligament in her knee with the right combination of asanas. Her days are spent at the schools quiet yoga pavilion, where every free moment is dedicated to poring over books on human anatomy to supplement her knowledge.

Prerna Ramanthan

"After the injury, I was drawn towards a profession that would teach the importance of a fitness regime and find a balance, to help cope with any sort of physical or mental challenges." Her interest lies in yoga's therapeutic benefits, which she combines with her degree in Psychology. "I want to work with psychotherapists and psychologists to understand how yoga can be applied as exercise therapy," she explained. Ramanathan, who completed a teacher-training course and went on to specialise in yoga for children, has been teaching for two-and-half-years now. "My family has supported me right through," she says, gratitude in her voice. "I was determined to do this - the fact that I would earn less money than my peers didn't stop me. I have my family to thank for this."

25-year-old Chandana raised many an eyebrow as she quit the security of a bank job to follow her passion, yoga. Now a senior instructor at Akshar Yoga, a prominent, city-based yoga institute, the 25-year-old says, "Yoga enables you to improve your environment by turning within." Her journey, however, has been less smooth. "I faced a lot of opposition when I said I wanted a career in yoga," she admitted, adding, "I believe the best gift you can give yourself is the chance to do what you truly believe in." And teaching, she maintains, helps her do this. "It makes me responsible for another person's well-being, teaching is my way of expressing my gratitude."

A law student at Christ University began practicing yoga in Grade 6 and it stuck! "There is no substitute for yoga," she said, emphatically. She was 11 when she took her first yoga class, at Carmel School in Padmanabhnagar. "After that, our school began entering us in competitions - they started with taluk and district levels and went on to inter-state events as well." The standard, Srivatsa found, was very high and she upped her practice from twice a month to a couple of hours each day. "If I'm training for a competition, my teacher ensures that this goes up to around five hours every day," she said. PR Krishnamurthy, a national level referee with the Yoga Federation of India, has trained her for eight years now. "I entered my first national level competition last year," Srivatsa added.
Increasing sexual drive is a priority for people in an age of rising awareness regarding sexuality and more platforms to meet new people. While several wonder drugs and herbal medicines have flooded the market, India is known for bizarre solutions being peddled to people due to lack of awareness.

Poaching of exotic animals for medicinal purposes at times is no secret in India and neighbouring countries, now monitor lizards are being targeted since their genitals are being sold to consumers across Indian states for increasing sex drive. The sexual organ of a monitor lizard is used as a lucky charm for fertility in men, and is called hatha jodi for its forked appearance.

People fall prey to sellers as they confuse the organ with an ayurvedic medicine called hath jod. A task force in Madhya Pradesh recently seized 68 pieces of monitor lizard genitals from poachers, and a priest of a famous temple in Khargone was among those detained.

There is also indication of creating religious beliefs around hatha jodi as it is also found in temples smeared with vermillion. The item is mostly taken from MP and the Thar Desert in Rajasthan where these lizards are found in large numbers.

The genitals are sold between Rs 500 to Rs 15000 as desperate buyers pay more in hope for a better sex drive and even reasons like luck in gambling and prosperity in business. Like any other superstitious practice, this one is quickly gaining popularity among several cities.

The downfall in population of monitor lizards can directly affect out ecosystem since their role as scavengers is crucial. Meanwhile many such raids have also been conducted in Odisha and Hyderabad recently.
Chennai: With just four days to retire, Justice Karnan of Calcutta high court, against whom the Supreme Court had ordered six months jail term for a contempt case, had completed 30 days in hiding since he disappeared on May 10, a day after the SC order, from a state government guesthouse in Chennai.

Police from West Bengal and Tamil Nadu had been searching for, the VIP fugitive ever since. He is set to retire on June 12 and sources noted that the police are waiting for him to retire so that they can avoid the situation of arresting a sitting judge of a high court.

Karnan once again failed to get relief from the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The apex court refused to hear his plea seeking a stay on its May 9 order, which sentenced him to six months jail term and asked the West Bengal police to immediately execute it. While issuing the arrest warrant against him, the Supreme Court also ordered the media to refrain from reporting Justice Karnans statements.

Since May 10, the WB police team headed by an officer of the rank of DGP had been camping in Chennai.
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Russia on Monday suspended cooperation with the United States in Syrian airspace after the U.S.-led coalition shot down a Syrian jet on Sunday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it "terminates cooperation with the U.S. side within the framework of the Memorandum on Incident Prevention and Aviation Safety in operations in Syria from June 19, and demands a thorough investigation by the U.S. command (into the downing)."

According to the statement, a U.S. F/A-18 fighter jet on Sunday shot down a Syrian Su-22 bomber, which was carrying out a combat mission in support of government troops conducting an offensive against Islamic State terrorists in the vicinity of Raqqa, the group's stronghold.

The U.S. Central Command said, however, that the Syrian plane bombed U.S.-backed forces and the action against it was "in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces."

In Monday's statement, the Russian Defense Ministry said it considered the downing of the Syrian warplane "a cynical violation of the sovereignty" of Syria, and "a gross violation of international law and, in fact, a military aggression against Syria."

It added that Russian warplanes were also operating in Syria's airspace at the moment of the attack, but the U.S.-led coalition didn't use the existing communication channels to warn the Russian military.

From now on, all aircraft and drones of the coalition detected west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by Russian air- and ground-based air defense systems as targets, the ministry warned.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday extended the parole of Sahara India's Chief Subrata Roy till July 5.

A case is being heard in the Supreme Court involving Subrata Roy and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) over a dispute of returning money to its investors.

Roy on May 18 did not appear before the SEBI court after filing an exemption application on medical grounds.

However, the special SEBI court rejected Roy's plea.

The SEBI court was to frame charges in the case against Roy and his three group firms' directors - Ravishankar Dubey, Ashok Roy Choudhary and Vandana Bhargava.

On April 21, a SEBI court had cancelled the non-bailable arrest warrants against Roy and three of his group firms' directors after they appeared before it in a case filed by the SEBI against them.

The SEBI court cancelled the NBWs against them after they furnished fresh bail bonds of Rs. 2 lakh each and gave undertakings to the court that they would attend its trial proceeding against them regularly.

The SEBI had registered a case against Sahara India Real Estate Corporation, Sahara Housing Investment, their promoter Subrata Roy and the three directors in 2012, alleging that these companies had collected a huge sum of money from investors without listing the securities on the stock exchanges.
Patna: After coming under the Income Tax radar, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday rejected any wrongdoing by his family and stressed that rumours being spread are part of a political conspiracy and vendetta.

Yadav made the statement after the income tax department on Tuesday released a list of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's relatives' seized Benami properties. Tejashwi Yadav is son of the RJD chief.

Without naming Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi, Yadav said, "an insignificant person levels false allegations against our family to malign us and you (media) seek clarification, then why should we react.

In the recent past, Modi has levelled a slew of corruption charges against Lalu Yadav, his wife Rabri Devi, daughter Misa Bharti and others.

"First it was reported that Misa Bharti was fined Rs 10,000 as penalty by the IT department. Then it was reported that Bharti was again penalised Rs. 20,000. I fail to understand what type of news is being reported in the media. If any news channel or newspaper has some proof, then they must show the said notices, or else those organisations should tender apology who had reported 'false' news," said Bihar's Deputy Chief Minister.

Lalu's son further said they were ready to explain their side to the appropriate authority, but wanted to know who the real authority is.

Meanwhile, Sushil Kumar Modi has alleged that former chief minister Rabri Devi owns more than 18 flats and 18 parking spaces in Patna.

"The land on which the complex has been built was bought by Rabri Devi when she was the Railway Minister. For all those whom she provided jobs, higher education and other needs, she (Rabri) had taken a bribe and bought this land which is worth more than Rs 18 crores. She owns more than 18 flats and 18 parking spaces in Patna alone. There is also another area which is under the name 'Sherya Construction' it was bought in 2011 and another complex which is on 'Ranjan Path- which consist of 10 flats in the name Marachhiya Devi (mother of Lalu)," he said.
Lucknow: Thanking all political factions for extending their support to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday stressed that India would set an example following its implementation.

"GST is commencing from July 1. I am grateful to all those who gave consensus for GST. After successful implementation of GST, India will set an example in the world," the Prime Minister said while addressing media at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University here.

Thanking all political parties, state governments for its support, the Prime Minister further said that all the political parties have shown that country is above politics.

"I am thankful to all the political parties. The GST will proved to be a miracle. The credit goes to all parties, assemblies, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. We will try to overcome difficulties," he added.

The GST will be rolled out from midnight of June 30 in the presence of several dignitaries including President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President M Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Modi, besides other luminaries.

Addressing media, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said that he anticipated the uniform tax system would help generate revenue and strengthen the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

While asserting that post the GST roll out in the medium and long term, the spending capacity of Centre and states would increase, Jaitley predicted short term challenges for all sections of society.

"We anticipate over the medium and the long term, being a more efficient system which is prone to checking evasion, the revenues will grow. The spending capacity of the government at the Centre and the states will increase. Consequently, it should have a positive impact on the GDP. We must be prepared for short term challenges on the GST rollout," Jaitley said.

He also cautioned that those states not implementing the GST from July 1, could face challenges and problems.

Elucidating the chronology of the programme organised to launch the tax system, Jaitley said the launch would take place at midnight, which will be followed by the address of President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, all members of parliament and the GST Council, chief ministers, officials who have assisted in the whole process, the chairpersons of the empowered committees and former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda will be present at the event.
Karnan is the first sitting High Court judge to be awarded a jail term by apex court. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

Coimbatore: Absconding former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was on Tuesday arrested in Coimbatore, more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

A team of West Bengal police arrested the 62-year-old Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six km from here, a top police official said.

According to the official, Karnan, who had been staying there for the last few days, resisted the arrest and argued with the police.

However, he was taken into custody, he said.

"We have arrested former high court judge Karnan from south India," a senior officer of the CID said in Kolkata.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping here for the last three days and traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls.

The police here gave the technical support to trace his whereabouts, the official here said.

Karnan will later be taken to Kolkata, the police said.

The arrest came eight days after the controversial former judge ended his tenure as a fugitive from law with no customary farewell being given to him in the Calcutta High Court in view of his absence.

He has been evading arrest since May 9 after being given the jail term by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar.

The court later turned down his pleas for staying the sentence.

Though the former judge arrived in Chennai on the day the Supreme Court gave the verdict, his whereabouts were not known thereafter with Kolkata Police continuing the search.

Karnan had on May 12 moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Karnan, who enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983, was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on March 11, 2016.

He was transferred from the Madras High Court for his repeated allegations and run-ins with its then chief justice and fellow judges.
Thiruvananthapuram: A man from Kerala, who was suspected to have joined terror outfit Islamic State (IS), has reportedly been killed in Afghanistan.

A photograph of the body of Shajeer M Abdulla was received on WhatsApp by BC Abdul Rehman, a social activist in Kasaragod district, on Monday.

Rehman said the picture, along with a message, was forwarded to him by another man from Kasaragod, who too was believed to have joined the IS.

"I do not know any other details of Shajeer M Abdulla, who is said to have been killed," he said.

But the exact date or cause of the death was not mentioned in the message, he said.

When contacted, police in Kozhikode, from where Abdulla hails, said they do not have any official information about the development.

"Shajeer hails from Moozhikkal under Chevayur police station limit in Kozhikode. He completed his engineering studies and went to the Middle East for a job. This is the information we have. Nothing more," a police officer said.

The probe on all matters connected with these issues is being handled by the National Investigating Agency (NIA), the officer, who did not wish to be named, said.

NIA has been probing cases of the missing of at least 21 men who had left the state under mysterious circumstances over a period of time and are suspected to have joined the IS.

Among them, 17 were from Kasaragod and four from Palakkad. They include four women and three children.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets US President Donald Trump next week in Washington, a senior Indian government official said on Tuesday.

Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possible changes ahead.

The review threatens Indian Information Technology (IT) services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM's visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former US President Barack Obama.

However, Trump's focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the US runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.

The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the US trade deficit with India also widened.

The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.
Five farmers had been shot dead at Mandsaur when they were protesting, asking the government for loan waivers earlier in June. (Photo: ANI Twitter)

Sagar (MP): Leader of opposition in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly Ajay Singh on Monday claimed that autopsy didn't find bullets in the bodies of victims who died in police firing in Mandsaur during farmers' agitation.

"No bullet was found in the bodies of the farmers killed in the police firing (on June 6) during post-mortem.

Five farmers had been shot dead at Mandsaur when they were protesting, asking the government for loan waivers earlier in June.

"I demand forensic examination of policemen's guns to know the truth behind missing bullets," the Congress leader said to the media.

"It also means that the state government deliberately removed the bullets from the bodies of dead farmers," he alleged.

Singh was here to participate in Congress' protest against farmers' deaths in Mandsaur.

But he himself landed in a small controversy as a video purportedly showing him smacking a party worker to push him away from the police barricade emerged.

#WATCH: Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Singh aka Rahul Bhaiyya slaps party worker during a protest in Sagar for pelting stone at police pic.twitter.com/Y686ghXRlF  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

Singh said he did not hit the worker but only pushed him away.

"When we were going to submit a memorandum to the district collector, some workers were getting angry. I stopped them as we wanted peaceful protest," he said.

State Congress chief Arun Yadav and others addressed party workers near Pili Kothi as a part of the protest.

As to Ajay Singh's claim that autopsy found no bullets, Mandsaur superintendent of police Manoj Kumar Singh said that he will look into the facts before making any comment.
New Delhi: Opposition parties are likely to field their own consensus candidate against NDA's nominee Ram Nath Kovind for the July 17 presidential polls, sources in the Left parties said on Tuesday.

Leaders of the non-NDA parties, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, will meet on June 22 to discuss the matter, they added.

According to the sources, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CPI national secretary D Raja, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader and grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, Prakash, and retired diplomat

Gopal Krishna Gandhi are some of the probable contenders whose names the Opposition parties are considering.

Sources in the CPI said Raja's name has been proposed by "some individuals and not any non-NDA parties".

The Left party will discuss the issue within itself before Opposition leaders meet on June 22, the sources added. They also claimed that the BJP fielding Kovind has "not hurt" the unity among the 17 opposition parties. "These are very crucial polls and we will have to ensure we protect the Constitution. There will be a contest," a source said.

The sources reiterated that since the BJP has named Kovind, a Dalit leader, the Opposition may also zero in on a candidate from the same community.

They alleged the BJP made the "unilateral" decision probably to remake its image in the wake of alleged attacks on the Dalits in recent past.

They also said the party picked a candidate from politically crucial state keeping in mind the the next general election.

Kovind hails from Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh. The sources said the BJP's decision to nominate the 71- year-old without consulting the Opposition has not "surprised" them. They, however, said the Opposition should have declared their consensus candidate before the BJP announced the NDA nominee on Monday.

Asked if there was a division among the opposition arties, particularly after Mayawati said BSP was "positive" about Kovind's nomination, the sources said, the unity is not hurt. "It is very much there."

The sources also said that before the ruling party announced Kovind's name, the opposition parties had thought of fielding a tribal candidate after reports that the NDA would field Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, a tribal leader.

"But now that they have named a Dalit leader, the equation has changed altogether, one of the sources added.

Meanwhile, Raja termed the presidential election as "very critical" and one that will have "far-reaching" impact on the country's future.

"It has become critical election, it has become battle of ideology, it has become battle for safeguarding the Constitution, safeguarding the secular democracy," he added.
New Delhi: Opposition parties and NDA ally Shiv Sena remained wary about Bharatiya Janata Partys presidential candidate Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, as the party hoped for a consensus on the same.

Opposition parties have sought to keep up the suspense on extending their support and may even put up a joint candidate.

With both the names suggested by it -- RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and noted agriculturist M S Swaminathan -- rejected, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Dalit candidate was chosen merely for vote-bank politics.

The Sena will take a final decision on Wednesday regarding its support to 71-year-old Kovind, who is the governor of Bihar.

The name of Kovind, who has served two terms as Rajya Sabha MP from BJP and was also the party's Dalit wing head, was announced by Amit Shah on Monday.

The Congress, however, spurned the BJP's appeal for consensus on its choice and said the opposition would take a call on contesting the election after a meeting on June 22.

The BJP had taken a "unilateral decision", Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said soon after the announcement.

"Congress does not want to comment on this issue as we want to take a unanimous decision with all other opposition parties on the presidential elections. The final call will be taken in a meeting of all opposition parties on June 22," he said.

On the BJP fielding a Dalit candidate, Azad said, "... I don't want to comment on this... I don't want to comment on the merits and demerits of the candidate."

Sources in the Left parties said the Opposition may field a joint candidate and the issue will be discussed at the June 22 meeting.

Former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde; Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh leader and grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, Prakash Yashwant, and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are some of the names the opposition parties are considering.

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who was part of the three-member panel formed to hold discussions and build a consensus on a presidential candidate, said the suggestions of opposition parties played a role in the NDA picking Kovind.

"I hope they (opposition) should not have any reason now to oppose the candidature of Ram Nath Kovind because of his background, non-controversial nature, and also sound legal and social background," he said.

CPI national secretary D Raja, however, said Naidu and Rajnath Singh, who was also part of the panel, had not proposed any name.

"Now, they have named a person with RSS background. We are against it, but we will have to discuss the issue within the CPI and with other opposition parties. A meeting will be held soon to discuss the same," he said.

Indirectly expressing her party's reservation about the candidature of Kovind, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee said he was nominated only because he had been a leader of the BJP's Dalit Morcha in the past.

"There are other big Dalit leaders in the country. Just because he (Kovind) was a leader of the BJP's Dalit Morcha, they have nominated him," she said in a statement.

"The office of President is a key post. Someone of the stature of Pranab Mukherjee or even Sushma Swaraj or (L K) Advaniji may have been made the candidate."

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the BJP "unilaterally" selected Kovind and the non-NDA parties will take the decision "keeping in mind the country's history that the ruling and opposition parties contested the polls on all occasion except once".

He said it was the NDA's proposal that it would get back to the opposition after zeroing on a candidate.

"They did not come back to the opposition and announced the candidate," he said.

The NCP also said the future course of action by the opposition parties will be decided in the June 22 meet.

In Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati said her party is positive about the nomination but wished the NDA had named a non-political Dalit candidate for the top post.

"Although Kovind has been associated with the RSS and the BJP from the beginning but since he is a Dalit, our party's stand towards him cannot be negative. It will be positive, provided Opposition parties do not field any Dalit for the post who is more capable and popular than him," she said.

"Had the BJP and NDA brought any non-political Dalit for the post, it would have been better," she said.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar expressed happiness over the state governor's candidature for the president's post, but stopped short of committing support to the NDA nominee.

"In my capacity as the Bihar Chief Minister, it is a matter of happiness that our governor has been declared as the candidate for the next president of India," he told reporters in Patna after paying a courtesy call to Kovind at the Raj Bhawan.

CPI general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy said the Opposition parties must put up their candidate against Kovind as he is from the ranks of the RSS.

"Anybody from RSS rank will further divide the country. The three-year rule of the BJP government has divided the country. We feel that definitely there is a need for a democratic candidate, not from hardcore of the RSS," he told PTI in Hyderabad.

In Bhubaneswar, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced his party's support to Kovind.

Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan extended full support to Kovind, saying his choice is a political masterstroke by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The ruling TRS in Telangana and the ruling TDP and opposition YSR Congress party in Andhra Pradesh also backed Kovind's candidate and pledged their support to him.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday talked to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and reaffirmed India's commitment to take forward the Paris climate agreement.

Trudeau had called up Modi on Monday evening where the issue of Paris agreement came up for discussion.

Sharing details of the conversation through the prime minister's Twitter handle, the PMO said the two exchanged views on developments of mutual interest, specifically climate change.

"Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed India's commitment to take forward implementation of the Paris Agreement," the statement said.

Modi congratulated Trudeau on the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation this year. He also appreciated the steady all round progress in diverse areas of bilateral engagement with Canada.

Both leaders agreed to continue communication and cooperation to promote stronger ties.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (front) addresses the opening ceremony of the Meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, capital of China, June 19, 2017. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that the BRICS cooperation has shown strong vitality during the past ten years.

Wang made the remarks at the opening ceremony of the meeting of BRICS Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Relations, attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes and India's Minister of State for External Affairs Vijay Kumar Singh.

He said BRICS cooperation has greater importance, as the five countries' share in global economy has increased from 12 percent to 23 percent in the past decade while they have contributed more than half of global growth.

Trade and investment among the five countries have increased sharply, and their cooperation expanded from economy to political fields and people-to-people exchanges, Wang said.

The BRICS countries have strengthened coordination within the UN and G20 framework to safeguard the interests of developing countries, and contributed wisdom to cope with global challenges, he said.

This year marks the beginning of the second decade of BRICS cooperation, and China holds the BRICS rotating presidency, Wang said, adding that the country stands ready to work with all sides to contribute to worldwide stability and prosperity, as well as the healthy development of multilateralism.

A media note published at the meeting said that the ministers commended the fruitful cooperation forged in the past and look forward to continued and positive cooperation among BRICS countries.

They appreciated the work by China as it holds BRICS chairmanship for 2017, and reiterated their commitment to the success of the Ninth BRICS Summit under the theme of "BRICS: Stronger Partnership for a Brighter Future," it said.

The ministers recommitted their strong support to the central role of United Nations in international affairs, and committed to strengthening the coordination and cooperation among BRICS in the areas of mutual and common interest within the United Nations and other multilateral institutions, including through regular meetings among their permanent representatives in New York, Geneva and Vienna, and further enhancing the voice of BRICS in international fora.

On the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the ministers underscored the importance of its full implementation within the framework of revitalized global partnership for sustainable development.

The ministers also welcomed the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change on 4 November 2016 and urged all countries to implement the Paris Agreement under the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change including the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

On terrorism, they deplored the continued terrorist attacks, including those in some BRICS countries, and condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever committed and by whomsoever.

The ministers highly valued the Second BRICS Counter-Terrorism Working Group Meeting held in Beijing on 18 May and called for an expedited adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN General Assembly.

On international and regional issues, they supported political and diplomatic solutions for conflicts, such as those in Libya and on the Korean Peninsula, and promoted preventive diplomacy in a consensus-based manner.

The ministers looked forward to their meeting on the margins of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly, and welcomed South Africa's offer to host the next stand-alone meeting in 2018.
The five-year-old was born with hydrocephalus, a potentially fatal condition that causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up on the brain. (Photo: AFP)

Agartala: A girl who made international headlines when a rare condition caused her head to swell to more than twice the normal size has died, days before she was to undergo corrective surgery.

Roona Begums family said she died Sunday at her home in a village in the remote northeast after complaining of breathlessness.

She was otherwise fit and fine. But on Sunday she started having breathing problems and I rang up my husband asking him to come back home, said Fatima Begum.

He rushed home and gave her water but before we could take her to the hospital she died, she told AFP.

The five-year-old was born with hydrocephalus, a potentially fatal condition that causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up on the brain.

Publication of pictures taken by an AFP photographer in the remote state of Tripura prompted a New Delhi hospital to treat her for free in 2013.

Her condition caused her head to swell to a circumference of 94 centimetres (37 inches), putting pressure on her brain and making it impossible for her to sit upright.

After several round of surgery at the Fortis Hospital, her head circumference shrank to 58 centimetres.

Pictures showed the distraught parents sitting next to her body, wrapped in a cream towel as her younger brother looked on.
Hyderabad: Minister K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday met Union minister Arun Jaitley in Delhi and requested that the Centre take steps to speed up the process of handing over 160 acres of defence land in the city to the state government so that works on the new Secretariat and Strategic Road Development Plan could be taken up.

The minister did not elaborate on the details of the representation that he handed over to Mr Jaitley.

According to the minister, Mr Jaitley spoke to the defence secretary and promised to get favourable orders soon. Mr Rama Rao said he would brief the defence secretary.
Hyderabad: The Union power ministry has advised all states to follow the banking model of Uttar Pradesh state, by entering into an arrangement with Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh to meet the power demand.

Under this banking model, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh will supply power to Uttar Pradesh but it need not pay money. However, it has to pay back power only to Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh states.

Whenever Maharas-htra and Madhya Pradesh need power, UP will supply it from its generation. If UP does not have power at that time, the power loan stays. When UP supplies power, the other two states will reduce their own generation.

In the wake of AP and TS fighting over power dues and stopping power supply to each other, the advice of the power ministry has acquired significance.

The power ministry said such arrangements will help all concerned in their time of need.

Most of the states have surplus power at present and some states like Punjab are closing the thermal power units to reduce the power generation. UP, which is facing a power shortage, is likely to become power surplus at the end of the current financial year, according to Central Electricity Authority.

In UP, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, BJP is in power so there is no problem with such arrangements.

In Telangana state, TRS is in power and in AP it is the Telugu Desam, which is an Opposition party in Telangana state.

In this situation to come into an arrangement like, UP and Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh is not possible. At present both AP and TS have stopped power supply to each other with the dispute over power dues.

The officials said that such arrangements are possible in the states where the same party or like-minded parties are in power.
This month, Kerala is celebrating the 200th anniversary of the introduction of local language education in the state through the proclamation on education for all issued during the reign of Rani Gowri Parvathy Bayi in 1817 that made education the primary concern of the state. The proclamation made it clear that the state should defray the entire cost of education of its people in order that there might be no backwardness in the spread of enlightenment among them, that by diffusion of education they might become better subjects and public servants and that the reputation of the state might be advanced thereby. The beginning of modern education in Travancore can also be traced to this royal proclamation, through which the state provided budgetary support for education. A rule was enforced to ensure that every school appointed two teachers paid directly by the state.

Rani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, the mother of Swathi Thirunal, had died young leaving Swathi in the hands of her sister Rani Gowri Parvathy Bayi who took over in 1815 as the regent Rani and remained there till Swathi Thirunal assumed office in 1829 on attaining the age of 16. The proclamation was issued on Edavam 19 of the Malayalam era of 992 (June 1817). She also fixed the wages for teachers as 50 panam, the currency which was in use then in Travancore. The teachers appointed then were called Vadhyars. Rani said in the proclamation that Malayalam, Tamil, Mathematics and Jyothisham should be taught in schools. Jyothisham was a form of astronomy used for understanding the climate at the time. It was utilised for determining the agriculture season. For harvesting for Kannikoythu, seeds have to be sown in the heavy rains of Edavam known as Edavapathi. Likewise, for harvesting for Makarakoythu, sowing is done in the month of Thulam known as Thulavarsham.

Rani also appointed officials to assess the learning outcome. They would evaluate the knowledge level of the student and how efficiently knowledge was transmitted by the teacher to the students. The proclamation said that the objective was to ensure the welfare and reputation of the public, which is the objective even now-- to empower the public to get employment and intellectual advancement. In another significant decision of the period, teachers were appointed for teaching English to soldiers to help them interact better with British officers. English education was introduced as part of enhancing the skill needed for employment.

Actually, even before the missionaries established a network for educational institutions, there was local intervention to make education popular. It was not just external compulsion but local interventions that led to the development of education in the state. I am not arguing that missionaries did not make any contribution in popularising education. They played their part in the introduction of printing technology and imparting knowledge. For example, though Chandu Menon wrote Indulekha in Malayalam, it was his familiarity with novel as a literary form due to his English education that prompted him to write it. Rani introduced Malayalam education because the officials could serve the people better if they had knowledge of the local language.

This is also the reason why the state government has made Malayalam compulsory now. Take for example the students in CBSE and ICSE schools who do not learn Malayalam. They may speak in Malayalam as they learn the language from their parents. However, they would not be able to serve the people efficiently if they enter government service without learning to write Malayalam, especially because Malayalam has been made the official language. They can clear PSC tests as questions of 10 marks are from Malayalam. It is poetic justice that the 200th anniversary of Malayalam language teaching in the state has coincided with the government decision to make Malayalam compulsory in schools.

(As told to Sabloo Thomas)

(V. Karthikeyan Nair, director of Kerala Bhasha Institute, is former director of higher secondary education and a retired professor of history).
Forest Minister Ramanath Rai speaks during the Assembly session in Bengaluru on Monday. (Right ) Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly raising an issue during the session. (Photo: DC)

MANGALURU: Upset with district in-charge minister Ramanath Rai's directions to Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police, Bhushan G. Borase, register a criminal case and arrest RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, leaders of the district unit of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party filed a complaint against the minister at Bantwal town police station on Monday.

In his complaint, district SC-ST Morcha president Dinesh Amtoor alleged that Mr Ramanath Rai used intimidating language against Mr Bhat as well as abetted communal tension.

Besides, Mr Ramanath Rai tried to misuse his power by asking the Superintendent of Police to register a case against Mr. Bhat.

Meanwhile, the situation in Kalladka was peaceful but communal tension was palpable in the region.

What commenced as a case of personal rivalry between two persons sparked ommunal tension in the town.

Both the incidents- the first on May 26 was due to personal rivalry and the second on June 13 when two rowdy-sheeters clashed-acquired communal colour with stone-throwing, according to local police officers.

At Kalladka, many personal clashes between individuals acquire communal colour when the individuals are from different communities. Kalladka has always been communally sensitive since the murder of Kalladka Ismail witnessed about three decades ago, added police sources.

Sundays episode, however, assumed a political twist with the involvement of Mr Ramanath Rai.

Congress leaders, who wanted action against Mr Bhat, however, restrained themselves fearing a backlash from Hindu outfits.

Police booked cases against all involved in the incident.

10 cases filed
New Delhi: Chief ministers of the states ruled by the BJP and its allies are likely to be present on June 23 when NDA pick Ram Nath Kovind file his nomination for the July 17 presidential election.

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, virtually the entire council of union ministers, NDA chief ministers and MPs and MLAs from across the country will be among proposers and seconders of his candidature.

Kovind, who resigned as Bihar governor today, is a Dalit leader and two-time Rajya Sabha member. He was picked as the ruling NDA's presidential nominee yesterday.

Sources said union minister M Venkaiah Naidu spoke to NDA chief ministers and urged them to be present at the time of the filing of nomination by Kovind.

Naidu also spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palanisamy and asked him to be present.

PDP chief and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti assured him of the support of his party to Kovind.

Naidu also spoke to former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, DMK leader MK Stalin, PMK leader Anbumani Ramdoss and sought their support.

He met Om Prakash Chautala of INLD also, sources said.

He also spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, who has already announced his party's support to Kovind, and invited him to be present during the nomination-filing.
Chennai: Electricity, prohibition and excise minister P. Thangamani on Monday announced that the government would issue licence to farmers for extraction and processing of Neera from coconut trees for the benefit of farmers.

The minister hailing from the Kongu region known for high production of coconuts said licence for marketing and export of Neera and products manufactured from it.

Replying to the discussion in the Assembly on demands for grants to Prohibition and Excise department, he said jaggery, honey, biscuits and sugar could be produced from Neera. Suitable amendments would be made in the Tamil Nadu Prohibition Act, 1937 to issue the licence to farmers, he said.

He also announced a pay increase for TASMAC retail vending personnel by Rs. 500 to Rs. 300 based on their grade. His ministry would conduct awareness campaigns against consumption of liquor in all the districts. The state government would provide assistance for rehabilitating pesons who had been weaned away from illicit distillation and illicit liquor trade.

Earlier, reacting to charges of DMK member A.L.S. Lakshmanan against the opening of liquor shops despite protests from the people and the order of the Supreme Court, he said the government policy is to bring prohibition in a phased manner.

Referring to the AIADMK manifesto for the 2016 Assembly elections, the minister said the party had promised prohibition in a phased manner and it had started it by closing 500 TASMAC shops.

He said people would be given awareness on the evils of liquor before the introduction of prohibition. Citing the statement of DMK president M. Karunanidhi when he was the Chief Minister in 1971 that the state is like a camphor amid raging fire, Thangamani said people from Cuddalore and Villupuram would go to Puducherry to obtain liquor even if there are no shops in Tamil Nadu. So, an awareness campaign on the evil effect of liquor would be necessary before the introduction of prohibition, he added.
The ongoing agitation in Darjeeling by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), triggered by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees announcement that Bengali would be made compulsory till Class 10 in all schools in the state brought back into focus the politics of linguistic, ethnic and cultural identity. In a multicultural society like India, identity politics revolve not only around major indicators like region, religion and caste; but also the ethnic, linguistic and socio-cultural diversity of the Indian population. Linked to this are broader questions of national unity, collective and multiple identities, and the rights of ethnic and linguistic minorities. Ms Banerjees later clarification that Bengali would remain optional and not compulsory in the hills did little to help calm the situation. The agitation turned violent, three people lost their lives, and Darjeeling and its surrounding areas have come to a standstill in the peak tourist season, leading to a loss of revenue for the state and loss of livelihood for hundreds of locals dependent on tourism.

But it would be over-simplistic to limit the Gorkhaland agitation, or any agitation demanding a separate state, to just ethnic and language parameters. Its about sharing and devolution of political power, redistribution of resources coupled with real or perceived threats to ethnic identities. However, in a multi-lingual society, language does play a key role in reassertion and reconstruction of identities underscoring political dynamics. The north-south divide over Hindi goes back to pre-Independence times. The late 1930s and 1940s saw violent protests in the region over a move to make Hindi compulsory in 125 schools of the Madras presidency. The anti-Hindi agitation in the 1960s led by the DMK brought it to power in 1967. Since then, opposition to compulsory teaching of Hindi has been a regular policy of almost all Dravidian parties. The bid to impose Hindi on the non-Hindi-speaking population of the South is seen as an attack on Dravidian identity and an attempt to enforce North Indian hegemony on the South.

A classic example of a language movement in contemporary history comes from neighbouring Bangladesh. Known as East Pakistan after the 1947 Partition, the land erupted when in 1948 the then Pakistan government declared Urdu as the sole national language in that country. After massive protests, the government banned all rallies and public meetings. Defiant students of Dhaka University and other activists organised a protest on February 21, 1952, when the police brutally killed the protesting students, which provoked widespread unrest throughout the area. The Bhasha Andolan triggered the assertion of Bengali national identity as a political movement and was the forerunner of the subsequent nationalist movement and Bangladeshs war of independence against Pakistan. In 1999, Unesco declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day as a tribute to language movements and an acknowledgement of the ethno-linguistic rights of people around the world.

In post-Independence India, states were reorganised on linguistic lines and the process of linguistic reorganisation of states under the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Commission was broadly over by the late 1960s. The idea was to incorporate cultural identities into political and administrative units and to strengthen this expression of diversity by devolution of power through the federal structure. The process continued, and new states were carved out due to agitations over language and cultural identities. The demand for Punjabi Suba by the Akali Dal stressed linguistic considerations for creating a new state primarily for Punjabi-speaking people. This demand was accepted, and the then state of Punjab trifurcated into Punjab, Haryana, and with the Pahari-speaking areas merged into Himachal Pradesh by Punjab Reorganisation Act 1966.

In a geographically vast and culturally diverse country like India its not possible to have perfect demarcation for creating administrative units based on ethno-linguistic markers. While some attempts have been made, its an ongoing process to handle major linguistic issues in a way that preserves the cultural integrity of major linguistic groups in India, within newly-formed states, as communities of ethno-linguistic minorities continue to exist. Coupled with the continuous stream of inter-state movement and migration, the issues over the right of linguistic minorities and the status of migrants in linguistically-organised states still pose a major challenge and remain a source of potential conflict. The agitation in Assam between the majority Assamese and the migrant Bengali minority community in the 1980s revolved around ethnic, linguistic and cultural identities. The majority population of indigenous Assamese resented the presence of a sizeable migrant community of Bengalis. They not only had to share the resources of the state, specially land, with people seen as illegal immigrants, they also feared their presence as a polluting effect on indigenous culture. The Bengalis in Assam, on the other hand, agitated for citizenship rights and for the right to maintain their own cultural identity. In 1961, the Bengali language movement in the Barak valley, which has a concentration of Bengali-speaking people, violently protested against the Assam governments decision to declare Assamese as the states only official language.

After violent mob protests in which nine people were killed, the state had to revisit the decision and include Bengali as an official language in three districts of the Barak valley. The Northeast too has witnessed violent ethno-linguistic agitations and even secessionist movements over decades. In a vast multi-cultural, multi-lingual pluralistic India, a certain degree of ethno-linguistic conflict is perhaps inevitable, but these are not irreversible. While recognising the importance of ethno-linguistic elements as a key component of identity politics, one cant ignore links between the dynamics of development and ethnic conflicts. One thing is certain: there cant be a straightjacketed one-time solution for such conflicts. For each such agitation, there has to be nuanced solutions. To preserve a unified national identity without disturbing the diverse ethno-cultural identities of the Indian people is indeed a challenge, but this unity in diversity is also perhaps our greatest strength.
It may be inevitable, but not as yet

The contending mainstream narratives on women in combat in the Army propelled by male and female protagonists lend bias and hues to disparate arguments. The epithet combat by itself is non-conformist in usage. Riot control is combat, engaging an adversarial aircraft by firing an air defence missile is so, as is establishing communication infrastructure in Kargil, supplying ammunition in Kupwara or erecting a bridge on the Lohit river. For the task that the Army undertakes, these are imperative combat roles. In debate, however, combat roles for women actually are deemed identical to that of a self-contained infantry soldier in a small patrol in the dense jungles of the Northeast, or along the LoC in J&K. Combat is again thought to be in the steaming deserts of South Rajasthan as part of tank crew. It is presumed that the mental and physical capabilities for women, despite the physiological concerns and the skeletal structure, can be attained by training, though the current standards have been watered down at the entry stage, during training and subsequent testing during career.

For women, the longevity in combat (as evinced currently by the frontline infantry soldiers with sustained separation from families), and the rigours of overstretching to retain the physical and psychological conditioning, is bound to take its toll on their health and cause attrition. In a highly competitive environment, this becomes a serious management issue, to carry and place the unfit in scarce peacetime assignments, and ensure motivation for those repeatedly deployed in hardships. Not wanting to sound misogynistic, with the traditional and cultural roots of Indian society, specially the rural recruitment base, the male population of the Indian Army will require a credible psychological reorientation. Of course there will be need for gender-sensitisation for men, by no measure a small task. This is specially so with a larger number of males and a few females, cooped up for days, weeks or months in a very small post of a dozen soldiers or so, as is but normal in super-high-altitude areas. There are bound to be physical, physiological and psychological anxieties.

Most importantly is to fathom the operational environment that exists, currently. Mutilation of soldiers has occurred in recent times in patrolling in proximity to LoC and caused nationally heated passions. There is a psychologically and culturally, protective behaviour characteristic among male society towards women, which at the heat of military operations, say under fire or in an ambush, may lead to poorer decisions that will have far-reaching implications. Understandably, poor decisions are still being made in the current scenario, and these could well multiply. Over-protectionism in operations may reduce the proverbial bayonet strength. All that has been stated above may not be new or original. It may also be hyperbole, exaggeration and overstating the obvious. And, yes, women may be willing to accept the risks, and why should men decide what is in store! But for the operationally committed Corps of Infantry, Armoured Corps and the Mechanised Infantry, haste at this juncture may adversely affect and lead to loss of combat effectiveness. Induction of women even in combat units may be inevitable over time, and the writing may be on the wall, but well into future, but not as yet!

Lt. Gen. Rakesh Sharma recently retired as adjutant-general of the Indian Army. He had earlier commanded the Fire and Fury Corps in Ladakh.

It is a facet of womens empowerment

There was an official announcement recently that the Army was opening its doors for women in combat roles. Indeed a wow moment for women in India! It is not a small or insignificant move by the government. The Indian Army is one of the best and the largest armies in the world. However, it swings in favour of men in numbers. Way back in the 90s, after a series of heated debates and discussions, a green signal was sent out for women to enter the Army. Today, they are represented in Ordnance, ASC, Medical, Educational Corps, etc. The adversities were many, the physical vulnerability of women, the stereotyped mentality of the male dominated force, social unpreparedness to reintegrate women affected by violence and aggression the list is endless. But the arguments in favour of women in the armed forces far outweighed the ill consequences. It is in a way, a facet of womens empowerment.

Entering a male bastion, working shoulder to shoulder with fellow men and comrades, overcoming patriarchal stereotypes, engaging in all activities on the same footing as men, serving in difficult terrain with no preferential treatment, boosts the morale of women who know and believe that they are second to none.

Perhaps because of the species-specific growth differentials, some selection criteria might have been tweaked to allow women into the Army. But then, this is essential as the bars have to cater to the differentials and cannot be the same. If it were, it would have eliminated many from making this career choice and surely would not have been fair to women. Anyone would agree that women display a great level of tolerance, patience, professionalism, empathy and understanding and a high degree of emotional quotient  the qualities essential in a hostile and aggressive environment. Operations today go beyond the physical level; they are technologically sophisticated. Use of technology in most of the aspects of a battle is on increase and will continue to do so. There is no reason why women dont fit the bill here. The vulnerability that they may face is when they are captured by the enemy and subjected to physical and sexual abuse. Personal and social adjustment could become a nightmare and our social fabric is possibly still ill-equipped to receive and reintegrate them in society. However, these are only assumptions and fears.

While the government has taken decision in the positive direction to include women in combat roles, it needs to simultaneously sensitise men in the force to accept women at par, help overcome any stereotypes which prejudice actions; empower women to acclimatise to combat roles; build, rebuild and strengthen the social fabric to accept and take pride in the giant steps taken by women to be a part of this great and reputed Army and to educate more and more young women to have belief in ones own strength and confidence and to choose this career path. Women constitute almost nearly half of Indias population and it is but fair that they have an equal opportunity to all careers, including combat roles in the Army. Inclusiveness is a sign of development and maturity of a nation. We have notable instances in the history of our country where valiant women have fought fearlessly in combat role against enemies. Its high time that they regain the lost glory. I have no doubt that women will be able to take up this challenge and emerge victorious, as always.

Maj. Gen. K.R. Prasad (Retd) is from the Corps of Signals. He is now chief mentor to Janaagraha, an NGO in Bengaluru.
The history of the struggle against the Narmada dam has been one of the great narratives of democracy in India. One can criticise the activists, lampoon Medha Patkar, agree with the World Bank and yet when all is said and done, one will salute it as one of the great acts of protest, non-violence and citizenship in modern India. I want to state this as clearly as possible because this regime, like the previous one, has created a wall of complete indifference and contempt for the struggle of the Narmada. The sadness is that our media, toeing the line of the regime, has no place for what is happening at Dharmapuri and other villages on the Narmada. Today what is news, what is an epic struggle of history, hardly appears as news. The Narmada has been written off by our middle class desperate for the litany of development. When I record this both with shame and despair, I am reminded of a beautiful story by late Mahasweta Devi, the Pterodactyl.

It is a tale told by a journalist, a good modernist like you and me, who moves around the arid famine-ridden areas of Pumae, covering drought and starvation in Bihar. As people are dying and as rumour spreads, the journalist hears a strange story of the arrival of a large bird, an evolutionary throwback. It is a Pterodactyl, a creature which disappeared a million years ago. The bird sets huddled in a cave waiting to die. A tribal recognises in the bird his cousin and ancestor, and keeps it company. There is a caring and a companionship between the two, which is amazing to watch. The two sit with ease, and wait with ease, for the bird to die. The smell of death does not bother the tribal, who feels privileged to be a part of the ritual. The journalist ponders, moved by the pair. He then realises that the tribal and the Pterodactyl are contemporaries, kinsmen. In fact, a million years separate the journalist as modernist from the pair.

Reading Mahaswetas story, I was touched by the sense of affinity and companionship, of primordial memory that tied the tribal and the bird together. I then saw the bleak contrast between that fable and what is happening today on the Narmada. The newspapers suffer from amnesia. One has to tap into the archives of the National Alliance of Peoples Movements (NAPM), which has been serving as a memory and conscience to the nation. What one is witnessing is an act of eviction  a mass-scale forced eviction  by a government that has failed to keep its promises of relief and rehabilitation. When one looks at the 88 sites for relief and rehabilitation, one hears that none are ready for settlement. The response of the regime is always the same. It adds lies, threat and violence to the original lie. Today the police and the Army are ready to enact another great tragedy of eviction. It is only a small fragment of civil society, a few activists and a few students who stand in solidarity with the villagers. Development has become a process of erasure and indifference where the word citizenship for marginal groups is a travesty. The Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) has insisted that its struggle will be a peaceful one. However, one is not looking to create a romantic fragment of narrative memorialising the struggle. What one wants to emphasise is the arguments it is putting forward as government intransigence and hysteria mount are a few simple but poignant points.

The tribal begins by pointing out that their social contract, which is of a more sacramental rather than utilitarian kind. The tribal compact is with land and ancestors. Together the three form a dwelling creating a sense of home and responsibility. It captures the notions of citizenship and civics that the regime is illiterate about. The tribals respond with a simple statement that they would rather choose to drown than abandon a valet which has been life-giving. Ms Patkar and the NBA, while echoing this heroic act of civics, only amplify the argument. She points out that the government has not been able to build these 88 sites for resettlement over the last three decades. How then does it plan to do anything within the next few weeks? The deadline for the forced eviction of these villages is July 31. Sometimes, when one faces this illiteracy of governance, one has to ask what is the law and order problem  the government threatening forced eviction or a disciplined people arguing about their right to a way of life.

There is something disturbing about the responses of the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. At Mandsaur, he accused peasants fighting for fair prices of being insurgents. Here his indifference to the valley, his refusal to meet a people makes one wonder what his sense of citizenship and responsibility is. Does law and order and the emptiness of development exhaust the idea of governance and ethics? Or is Mr Chouhan part of a new mentality that has declared war on the agricultural and tribal way of life, fetishing the cow while celebrating the extinction of the tribe? Contemporary India can pretend to be silent about it but these are questions the future as a tribunal will ask. The regime in its devious way is playing the numbers game. It has reduced the ambit of eligibility for rehabilitation from 40,000 to 18,800. Such a magical accounting has been the ban of development projects. It also reveals a blatant contempt of Supreme Court judgments.

The lie proceeds as a spectacle. Mr Chouhans politics has already been called nautanki politics by over 60 peasants organisations. Today he enacts the BJPs favourite tactic, the yatra, as a sign of false acclamation. Such political yatras overadvertised in newspapers as if they are the new kumbh for development. They insult the sense of sacred, of place, which yatras as an act of pilgrimage should have. To the obscenity of indifference and the spectacle of the lie, they add the violence of submergence. Activists point out that lakhs of trees and acres of pristine forest will disappear. Yet despite such courage of conscience, the battle of Narmada no longer appears to be news to the media. It is as if India has lost its memory or feels that the tribal and the nomad are fated to die. It is the genocidal impetus of development that haunts the Narmada valley. As a citizen, one begins to witness storytelling, appealing to the memory as conscience. As you read this piece, all I ask you is to salute this battle and spare a moment in prayer to one of the epic struggles of conscience being enacted in India. It is the least one can do as development and the waters submerge memory and destroy a way of life and living.
 Flash

China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) voiced willingness to improve bilateral relations during a strategic dialogue between foreign ministries.

China hoped the ROK would show political will and resolution, honor its commitment, and work together with China to properly handle relevant issues, to improve relations as soon as possible, said State Councilor Yang Jiechi while meeting with ROK First Vice Foreign Minister Lim Sung-nam on Tuesday.

Lim's visit comes at a crucial period of China-ROK relations, which have been severely affected by the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

Yang said that the two countries should stick to friendly cooperation, and respect each other's core interests and major concerns.

Lim cited ROK President Moon Jae-in saying the ROK hoped to improve relations with China.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the China-ROK diplomatic relations. The ROK hopes to use the opportunity to strengthen communication and coordination with China, Lim said.

Lim, who used to be the chief ROK delegate to the six-party talks, is visiting Beijing to co-chair the eighth high-level strategic dialogue between China and ROK foreign ministries with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui.

According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang, the two sides will discuss the bilateral relations, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and other issues of common concern.
The complaint to the attorney general's office by nine people followed a report by the New York Times that some of them had been spied on with software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group sold to Mexico's government.

Activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists in Mexico filed a criminal complaint on Monday following a report that their smartphones had been infected with spying software sold to the government to fight criminals and terrorists.

The complaint to the attorney general's office by nine people followed a report by the New York Times that some of them had been spied on with software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group sold to Mexico's government.

Citing a report by a research group that investigated the alleged spying, the complaint says the attorney general's office and the defense ministry were among government organizations that purchased the software.

Those claiming to be targeted by the software included Carmen Aristegui, a journalist who in 2014 helped reveal that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife had acquired a house from a major government contractor, as well as Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist at leading television network Televisa.

Others included in the complaint were anti-corruption activists and lawyers representing the families of 43 trainee teachers whose disappearance and apparent massacre in 2014 created a huge public relations headache for Pena Nieto.

Daniel Millan, a spokesman for Pena Nieto's office, issued a statement saying that there was no proof the Mexican government was responsible for the spying described in the New York Times story. "We condemn any attempt to violate the right to privacy of any person," the statement said.

A Reuters report in 2015 showed government surveillance requests were gathering speed in Mexico, raising concerns about a lack of oversight in a country plagued by corruption and collusion between security forces and criminal gangs.

Mexico's government purchased about $80 million worth of spyware from NSO Group on condition it would only be used to investigate criminals and terrorists, the Times said.

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Before meeting with Trump, the CEOs met in 10 small group sessions with Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, along with the presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ohio State University.

President Donald Trump met on Monday with the heads of 18 US technology companies including Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and Microsoft Corp, seeking their help to make the government's computing systems more efficient.

The White House wants to update government information technology systems, cut costs, eliminate waste and improve service. Trump on Monday cited estimates that the government could save up to $1 trillion over 10 years through such measures.

"Our goal is to lead a sweeping transformation of the federal governments technology that will deliver dramatically better services for citizens," Trump said. "Government needs to catch up with the technology revolution."

The executives are part of the so-called American Technology Council that Trump formed in May to support efforts to modernize the US government.

The US should have the most modern government in the world. Today it doesnt, Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said

Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos said he wanted the Trump administration to make use of commercially available technologies, worker retraining, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Before meeting with Trump, the CEOs met in 10 small group sessions with Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, along with the presidents of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Ohio State University.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and adviser, said the administration wanted to "unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before."

He said the administration was scrapping unneeded regulations for government computing systems, such as a rule on preventing Y2K issues. Most of the government's 6,100 data centers can be consolidated and moved to a cloud-based storage system.

The White House is seeking to shrink government, reduce the federal workforce and eliminate regulations.

Trump in March signed an order to overhaul the federal government and tapped Kushner to lead a White House Office of American Innovation to leverage business ideas and potentially privatize some government functions.

Many of the tech executives are eager to get White House help in dealing with regulatory and other policy issues such as visas for highly skilled workers.

Others attending include Alphabet Inc Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Chairman John Doerr and the CEOs of Microsoft Corp, International Business Machines Corp, Intel Corp, Qualcomm Inc, Oracle Corp and Adobe Systems Inc. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was invited but could not attend because of a conflict, the company said.

A 2016 US Government Accountability Office report estimated the US government spent more than $80 billion in IT annually, excluding classified operations. In 2015, the US government made at least 7,000 separate IT investments and some agencies were using systems that had components at least 50 years old. "This structure is unsustainable," Kushner said.

VISA PROGRAM

The CEOs and White House also planned to discuss Trump's review announced in April of the US visa program for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the country. Cook plans to raise immigration, a person briefed on the matter said Sunday.

The council also seeks to boost the security of US government IT systems and wants to learn from private-sector practices. In 2015, hackers exposed the personal information of 22 million people from US government databases.

The White House thinks it can learn from credit card companies about significantly reducing fraud. A 2016 government audit found that in Medicaid alone there was $29 billion in fraud in a single year.

Following Trump's June 1 decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords, Tesla (TSLA.O) CEO Elon Musk and Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger stepped down from White House advisory panels. White House officials said the dispute had little impact and that they had to turn away tech leaders from Monday's event because of lack of space.

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In a bid to inspire art enthusiasts around the world to brush up their art knowledge and become art experts, Google today announced the latest updates on Search and Maps driving newer ways to experience artworks online.

Starting today, when you search for art-related things, youll have access to more relevant results and the ability to dive deeper into topics of interest. Google has also added a new feature in Panoramic View that gives you key insights about the artworks on your virtual museum visits.

With more than 500 million art-related searches on Google, the Google Arts & Culture team worked with Google Search engineers to improve systems understanding in recognition of artworks, the places you can see them in person, the artists who made them, the materials they used, the art period they belong to; thus, delivering a much more refined and relevant results to art related queries.

Next time you search for an artist like M.F. Husain, Google Search will pull up an interactive Knowledge Panel that will highlight ways you can explore on a deeper level, like seeing a collection of the artists works or even scrolling through the museums where you can view the paintings on the wall. And for some pieces, you can click through to see picture-perfect high-resolution imagery right from Google Arts & Culture.

Google Arts & Culture, your virtual museum guide

Using machine learning capabilities, Google has also introduced new updates to Maps to enhance your virtual tour experience and make it more informative. Now as you walk through the rooms of the museums including Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai or National Museum in New Delhi on Google Maps youll see clear and useful annotations on the wall next to each piece. Clicking on these annotations will bring you to a new page with more information provided by hundreds of the worlds renowned museums. Youll also be able to zoom into high-resolution imagerygetting you closer to these iconic works than you ever thought possible.

Google made use of visual recognition software to scan the walls of participating museums all over the world, identifying and categorizing more than 15,000 works.

So, if you are among those who gets intrigued by piece of art or curious to know more about artworks from around the world, you are set to have a delightful experience.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Suicide car bomber has detonated at a district headquarters in Somalias capital, killing 7 people. (Photo: Representational/File)

Mogadishu (Somalia): A police officer on Tuesday said a suicide car bomber has detonated at a district headquarters in Somalias capital, killing at least fifteen people.

Captain Mohamed Hussein said the bomber posing as a milk delivery van sneaked into the Wadajir district headquarters in Mogadishu.

Hussein said most of the dead are civilians. The al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility for the attack via its Shahada News Agency, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The blast comes less than a week after al-Shabab gunmen carried out an overnight siege on a popular restaurant in the Somali capital, killing at least 31 people.
Washington: While condoling the tragic death of college student Otto Warmbier, US President Donald Trump condemned the "brutality of the North Korean regime".

"Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him," the White House said in a statement.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," the statement further read.

Otto, the college student who returned to the United States last week after 17 months of detention in North Korea, died on Monday afternoon.

He had suffered severe brain damage during his captivity.

The Trump administration placed intense pressure on Pyongyang to release Warmbier when they learned of his condition.
Muzoon Almellehan said when she fled Syria she only took her school books with her. (Photo:Twitter-UNICEF)

United Nations: The UN childrens agency on Monday announced the appointment of its youngest goodwill ambassador 19-year-old Syrian refugee and education activist Muzoon Almellehan.

Unicef deputy executive director Justin Forsyth said that Muzoon is the first goodwill envoy with official refugee status.

Unicef said she received support from the agency while she was living in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. She follows in the footsteps the late actress and goodwill ambassador Audrey Hepburn who was also supported by Unicef as a child.

Muzoon said when she fled Syria she only took her school books with her. As a refugee, I saw what happens when children are forced into early marriage or manual labor, she said.

Working with Unicef, she said, will help to give these children a voice and to get them into school.
Analysts said his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea (Photo: AFP)

Seoul: The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The US often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesday's flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The US military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea.

Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea and compound efforts by South Korea's new liberal president to improve ties with the North.
Russias defence ministry on Monday also said it would view as targets any flying objects over Syria in the areas of the country where its air forces operate, Russian news agencies reported. (Photo: Representational)

Moscow: The downing of a Syrian government warplane by the United States is a step toward a dangerous escalation, and Moscow is warning Washington not to use force against Syrian government troops, a senior Russian diplomat told Interfax news agency on Monday.

Russias defence ministry on Monday also said it would view as targets any flying objects over Syria in the areas of the country where its air forces operate, Russian news agencies reported.

The ministry said it was suspending its interaction with the United States on preventing air incidents over Syria from June 19, the agencies reported.

The US did not use its communication channel with Russia ahead of the downing of the Syrian government warplane, the ministry was quoted as saying.

The US-led coalition said the Syrian plane had dropped bombs on its allies fighting against the Islamic State group in the war-torn country.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov also told the agency that a set of new US sanctions that can be imposed on Russia will lead Moscow to retaliate.

Ryabkov said he and US undersecretary of state Thomas Shannon will meet in St Petersburg on June 23 to discuss problems in bilateral ties, Interfax reported.

He described the incident as an act of aggression.

This strike has to be seen as a continuation of Americas line to disregard the norms of international law, Ryabkov told journalists in Moscow, according to the TASS state news agency.

What is this if not an act of aggression? he said in Russias first official reaction to the downing of the plane on Sunday.

It is, if you like, help to those terrorists that the US is fighting against, declaring they are carrying out an anti-terrorism policy, Ryabkov said.


By choosing Kovind, the BJP intends to expand its Dalit support base in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.



Soft-spoken Kovind, like BSP founder Kanshi Ram, belongs to the extremely poor section of the Dalit community of Uttar Pradesh.



A lawyer by profession, Kovind belongs to Koli community, a sub-caste of larger Dalit community who have faced extreme depravation and discrimination in Northern India.



The BJPs choice of Kovind comes at a time when Dalit groups have protested in Uttar Pradesh and other states against increased atrocities by upper castes and cow vigilantes.



If elected as the NDA nominee, Kovind will be Uttar Pradesh's first leader to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He will the second dalit president after K R Narayanan who hailed from Kerala.



Till date UP has only sent prime ministers --Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Indira Gandhi, Charan Singh, VP Singh and Chandra Shekhar. Justice Mohammad Hidayatullah was the only UP-born leader to have held the highest post but he was only acting President for two brief terms.



Kovind as an NDA choice cannot be easily rejected or defeated by the opposition parties as he is known as a non-controversial BJP politician.



Kovind's name was a surprise to even those within the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) who wanted somebody with a Hindutva image.



However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah managed to convince the RSS leadership with a strategy that could see the opposition split on choosing the next president.



Two years ago, when he picked Kovind as Bihar governor, Modi had tweeted that "he has spent his entire life working for the Dalits, the marginalised communities."



On Monday, after his name was announced, the PM said he will make an "exceptional president" and reminded everyone that he is a "farmer's son" who comes from a humble background and his "knowledge and understanding of the Constitution will benefit the nation."



Though the opposition is not too happy that the BJP announced its candidate without getting its nod, Kovind is known to enjoy good rapport with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has indicated support for his candidature.



Hailing from Derapur tehsil of Kanpur Dehat, Kovind was BJP's Lok Sabha candidate from Ghatampur seat in 1990. He lost and never contested again. He was elected twice to Rajya Sabha in 1994 and again in 2006.



Kovind's political innings began when he became one of the personal secretaries to then prime minister Morarji Desai during the Janata government in 1977. A lawyer for 16 years, he practised in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court (SC).



Kovind enrolled as an advocate in 1971 before becoming Central Government Advocate in the Delhi HC from 1977 to 1979 and Central Government Standing Counsel in the SC from 1980 to 1993. He became Advocate-on-Record of the SC in 1978.



Seventy-one-year-old Kovind is a former BJP national spokesperson who was close to AB Vajpayee and LK Advani. He headed BJP's SC/ST Morcha (1998 to 2002). Till he became an MP, Kovind lived in a rented apartment in Delhi's Kalibari. Known to avoid controversy, he never appeared on television when he was party spokesperson.



Kovind served as a member on many important Parliamentary Committees, including that of home affairs, law and justice, social justice and empowerment.



In 2012, Kovind was sent to Uttar Pradesh as BJP general secretary in 2012. Kovind refused to take up any responsibility for more than a year.



During his parliamentary tenure of 12 years, he emphasised on the development of basic infrastructure for education in rural areas by helping in the construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttrakhand under M.P. L.A.D. Scheme.



As a lawyer, Kovind took a leading role in providing free legal aid to the weaker sections of society, especially SC/ST women, needy and the poor under the aegis of Free Legal Aid Society in Delhi. He is married to Savita Kovind and has a son and a daughter.





A Maha Dalit leader from rural Kanpur, Ram Nath Kovind was chosen as the NDA's presidential candidate by the BJP with an eye on wooing the most backwards and poor classes.
India has become the 71st country to ratify the United Nations TIR Convention.



Managed and developed by IRU, the world road transport organisation, TIR is the global standard for goods customs transit.



The milestone decision puts India and her neighbours at the centre of efforts to increase overland trade and regional integration across South Asia and beyond, fast-tracking the regions potential to become a strategic trade hub.



TIR will help India to integrate with Myanmar and Thailand as well as Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. It will also enable India to move cargo along the International North-South Transport Corridor via Chabahar port in Iran, to access landlocked Afghanistan and the energy-rich Eurasian region.



The accession to the TIR Convention is part of Indias multi-modal transport strategy that aims to integrate the economy with global and regional production networks through better connectivity.



Umberto de Pretto, IRU Secretary General, in a press statement issued from Geneva, said, I am delighted to welcome India into the TIR family of nations. This is an important step in harmonising standards and boosting transport, trade and development across South Asia.



We look forward to working closely with the Indian government and business community as we turn our attention now to implementing the TIR system, he added.



TIR will be critical in helping India implement the World Trade Organizations Trade Facilitation Agreement, which entered into force this year.



The Convention on International Transport of Goods Under Cover of TIR Carnets (TIR Convention) is a multilateral treaty that was concluded at Geneva on 14 November, 1975 to simplify and harmonise the administrative formalities of international road transport. TIR stands for "Transports Internationaux Routiers" or "International Road Transports".
In a landmark verdict vis-a-vis honour killing and khap panchayats, a sessions court in Nashik has awarded capital punishment to a man who had killed his pregnant doctor in 2013 for marrying outside the caste.



District and Sessions Judge Suchitra Ghodake awarded death penalty to Eknath Kisan Kumbharkar to Eknath Kisan Kumbharkar after prosecution proved the charges of murder and satisfied the court that it was a rarest of the rare case.



Kumbharkar's daughter Pramila had tied the knot with a man, outside the caste.



This is a landmark judgement and would be a deterrent, said social activist Krishna Chandgude, who had been pursuing the case.



There were 10 witnesses in the case.
Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani today unveiled the world's largest cushion at an exhibition here.



At the inauguration of the Heimtexil India fair here today, Irani said India's home textile business this year has contributed 12 per cent to the country's overall shipments globally.



She said the initiative, organised by Messe Frankfurt India, has witnessed a 30 per cent increase in exhibitors this year, which shows the capacity of Indian businesses to come up with new ventures as well as the appetite of the country's consumers or buyers.



India is set to host its first-ever mega textile fair in Gandhinagar on June 30. A total of 180 companies from India, Bangladesh, China, Korea, Thailand and Nepal are participating in the Heimtexil and Ambiente India 2017 fair.
Australia's military today said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces.



The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets", and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident.



"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement.



No reason for the suspension was given, but The Australian newspaper said it was implemented as a precaution after the jet's downing.



"ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," the spokeswoman added.



"ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition."



The United States has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation after the jet was downed on Sunday evening when regime forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS.



A top US general said the country would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline established in 2015, after Russia said Washington had failed to use the line -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before targeting the plane near Raqa.



Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in late 2015 extended air operations into Syria, with a total of 780 defence personnel based in the Middle East.



The staunch US ally in September said it would widen the scope of targets in the air war against IS by allowing its pilots to strike jihadist support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria.



Australia's Air Task Group consists of 300 personnel, six F/A-18 Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker and Transport plane.
Britain's Serious Fraud Office said today it had charged Barclays bank and four former managers, including a chief executive, with "conspiracy to commit fraud" linked to emergency fundraising from Qatar during the financial crisis.



"The Serious Fraud Office has today charged Barclays Plc and four individuals with conspiracy to commit fraud and the provision of unlawful financial assistance" linked to capital raising from Qatar in 2008 worth billions of pounds (euros/dollars).



The SFO added in a statement that former chief executive John Varley was one of those to face court following a five- year investigation.



"The charges relate to Barclays Plc's capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC and Challenger Universal Ltd, which took place in June and October 2008," the SFO said.



It added that they relate also to a USD 3-billion loan facility made available to the State of Qatar acting through the country's Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008.



The other three charged are Barclays' former executive chairman of investment banking Roger Jenkins, the former chief executive of Barclays wealth and investment management Thomas Kalaris and former European head of financial institutions group Richard Boath.



The defendants will appear before London's Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 3, the statement added



In a separate statement, Barclays said it "is considering its position in relation to these developments" as it "awaits further details of the charges from the SFO".



Investigations have focused on advisory services worth 322 million pounds, which Barclays agreed to pay the Qatar Investment Authority.



In early trading, shares in Barclays were down around half a per cent on London's benchmark FTSE 100 index, which was flat overall.



By raising money from Qatar, Barclays avoided a UK government bailout at a time when rivals Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds had no choice but to be pumped with billions of pounds of British taxpayers' money.
President Donald Trump slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.



The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.



"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement yesterday announcing Warmbier's death.



Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.



Trump condemned Pyongyang following news of his death.



"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."



He then added with no explanation: "We'll be able to handle it."



In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."



"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."



Added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."



Ex-Vietnam war POW Senator John McCain said in a statement that Warmbier "was murdered by the Kim Jong-Un regime," and added that the United States "cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."



On Twitter, Republican Senator Marco Rubio wrote that Warmbier "should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it."



Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who spent almost two years in a North Korean prison before he was released in November 2014, asked people to pray for Warmbier's family.



"For Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in - and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family," Bae said in a statement.

"This did not have to happen and should never happen again."



Doctors last week said that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.



His family said that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, and that he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.



Tests carried out in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.



They said that Warmbier's brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.



Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."



His death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record.



The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea tied Warmbier's fate to "millions of unknown North Koreans" who are "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."



Warmbier's family said they believed the student had found peace after being flown home.



"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.



Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.



Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.
In a bid to enhance the technical repair infrastructure for ships based in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Indian Navy on Tuesday gets high-tech Floating Dock (FDN-2), which specifically designed and built by Larsen and Toubro for the Indian Navy at the companys greenfield shipyard at Kattupalli in Tamil Nadu near Chennai.



The Floating Dock was formally lowered into the waters of the Bay of Bengal. L&T was mandated by the Ministry of Defence in May 2015 to design and build the FDN-2 for an order value of Rs. 468 Crores.



The Floating Dock will be delivered at Port Blair. On completion of its launch at Kattupalli, FDN-2 would be put through a series of harbour trials before delivery to the Navy.



Once operationalised, it would enhance the technical repair infrastructure of the Navy for ships based in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as well as for visiting Naval ships.



The Floating Docks 185m long and 40m wide and is designed for docking Indian Naval ships and submarines of up to 8000 T displacement with draughts of up to 7 m, during both day and night.



Simultaneous docking of multiple ships and off-center docking options are also feasible.



The dock, which conforms to internationally accepted norms, incorporates a fully automated ballast control system, State-of- the-art technology in its equipment.



L&T has also been mandated by the Coast Guard to design and build seven Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs). Two of these OPVs are to be launched in the second half of this financial year, on schedule.








The NDA presidential candidate Ramnath Kovind on Tuesday resigned as Bihar Governor. The Governor of neighbouring West Bengal, Keshari Nath Tripathi, will hold the additional charge of Bihar till a new incumbent is announced. But if one takes into account the list of Governors who have served the State since Independence, then surprisingly only four out of 29 Governors have been able to complete their term.



It was the third Governor of Bihar RR Diwakar who was the first incumbent to complete his term from June 1952 to July 1957. (The first Bihar Governor Jairam Das Daulatram served on the gubernatorial post for barely five months from August 15, 1947, to January 11, 1948).



In that era, an educationist and an intellectual Dr Zakir Hussain succeeded RR Diwakar. Dr Hussain was the second Governor to complete his term from 1957 to 1962. Later, he went on to become Indias President in 1967. In fact, Kovind will be the second Bihar Governor to become President, if elected.



Though the State has seen as many as 29 Governors taking oath since Independence, the other two persons who could complete their terms were: MAS Ayyangar and AR Kidwai. While Ayyangar was Governor here from 1962 to 1967, Kidwai occupied the gubernatorial post twice: from September 1979 to March 1985, and then again from August 1993 to April 1998.



Its worth mentioning here that KN Tripathi, who was given additional charge of Bihar today, was earlier also given the same role from November 2014 to August 2015, when the then incumbent DY Patil, a UPA nominee, was asked to quit.



In the annals of Bihars history, it is believed that it was Gopal Krishna Gandhi who had one of the shortest stints of four months and 21 days as Governor here. Incidentally, Gandhi, who was then Bengal Governor, was also holding the additional charge of Bihar following the ouster of Buta Singh as Governor after the Supreme Court passed strictures against him for the 2005 Presidents Rule fiasco.



Otherwise, technically, it was RD Pradhan, a retired bureaucrat, who had the shortest term as Bihar Governor for barely four days: from January 29 to February 2, 1989.










Like the first Dalit President K R Narayanan, NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind has risen from a modest background but the two Dalit leaders took different paths to reach the zenith of their public life.



The election of Kovind, 71, as India's 14th President, is a virtual certainty with several non-NDA parties to lending their support to BJP's surprise candidature of the little-known Dalit activist and a former lawyer.



While it is the right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) which chose Kovind, Narayanan, a diplomat-turned-politician, became vice president in 1992 and the president in 1997 courtesy active support from the Left, which had proposed his name first. Kovind's candidature was announced yesterday.



Narayanan entered politics from the top, a noted diplomat, he was asked by Indira Gandhi to join the Congress and contested his first Lok Sabha election at the age of 64 in 1984- Kovind has risen through the BJP's ranks and held various organisational posts.



The Dalit leader from Kerala won three back-to-back elections and was union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government.



Kovind lost two elections- one Lok Sabha and one assembly- but the BJP ensured his political rise by sending him to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and then in 2000.



It is said the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao did not make Narayanan a minister because he was seen as too "Left-leaning" but the Left parties ensured that he became the vice president as a trade-off for their support to Shankar Dayal Sharma's presidential bid in 1992.



As the vice president, he was the natural choice for the president's post in 1997 and all major parties, from the Congress to the BJP, supported him.



Shiv Sena, which has now voiced its reservations to Kovind's candidature, had projected T N Seshan as its candidate who lost in a one-sided contest.



Educated at London School of Economics and an IFS officer, Narayanan's qualifications may be more impressive but Kovind too was a diligent student and had reportedly cracked the prestigious UPSC examination but opted out as he did not get the service of his choice.





He chose to practise law and was the central government's standing counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993.



Coming from Uttar Pradesh, a hotbed of caste politics and a state with maximum cases of atrocities against Dalits, Kovind has also been a champion of SC/ST rights and had taken up their issues at various fora.



As a Rajya Sabha MP, he is said to have lobbied hard for the passage of three amendments in the first NDA government to get some "anti-SC/ST" orders passed by the previous government annulled. Dalit rights bodies had said those orders adversely affected their interests.



There is also a stark difference in political environments under which both leaders rose to the top post.



The period between 1997-2002 was a time of seismic political churn as the BJP, then the main opposition, was a rising force while the so-called secular front of the Congress and the Janata Parivar was on a decline.



Kovind will take to the office when the BJP is firmly entrenched in power and there is little instability of the kind which often confronted Narayanan, who had dissolved the Lok Sabha twice.



The leader from Kerala, who died in 2005 at the age of 85, distinguished himself by returning twice union cabinet's recommendations to dismiss elected state governments, sending a firm message that he was no 'rubber stamp President.'



First, he did so when I K Gujral was the prime minister and the union cabinet sent him a proposal to dismiss the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.



He did so again a year later in 1998, this time sending back the Vajpayee cabinet's recommendation to dismiss the Rabri Devi government. Both times he went by the book and won praise.



Kovind comes to the highest office after earning praise from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a political rival to the BJP, for his work as a governor.



Kovind brings to the table not just a marginalised caste background but also a clean image, solid if not spectacular compared at least to Narayanan's educational accomplishments, proven experience, as a governor and MP, in handling constitutional matters, and a disciplined political career devoid of the usual excesses.



But Narayanan, son of an "ayurvedic" practitioner always declined to draw special attention to caste as a factor in his election.



"Please do not overemphasise my caste background," Narayanan asked reporters during the run up to the 1992 vice- presidential elections. "A creature of circumstances," was how Narayanan called himself.



As a lower caste member of Kerala society, he overcame poverty and public humiliation to become the top student in his masters degree examination in English literature in 1943.



He tried journalism in New Delhi before securing a scholarship to the London School of Economics. On his return to India in 1948 he was inducted into the foreign service and sent to Burma (now Myanmar) as a diplomat.



He was ambassador to Thailand, China and the United States before the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked him to enter politics. He was also vice chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU).



It was during Narayanan's time in Beijing that political, economic and trade normalisation was established between India and China.



Narayanan, named the minister of science and technology in Rajiv Gandhis cabinet in 1985, had also earned an image of being a "clean politician."
Problems being faced by domestic IT industry on the H1B visa front are one of the issues "on the table" between India and America, a top government official said today ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US.



Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on that list.



Asked whether India would raise the H1B issue during Modi's visit to the US, she said: "I cannot say what would be the issues that would come up in the discussion. This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. But in the event the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up."



Modi is slated to visit the US on June 25 and 26. India has time and again raised the issue of H1B with the US authorities and asked them to liberalise their visa regime as Indian companies contribute significantly to the American economy.



The H1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.



On the trade policy review being carried out by the US, she said India and the US have a robust mechanism under the trade policy forum (TPF) to discuss matters like stents and others.



She said other issues like market access for products and those relating to investments are all being dealt with regularly at the TPF meetings. "The US has commenced a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on the list of those countries. So certainly, we would figure, but we are confident that our exports to the US are a win-win for both countries in the sense that we are able to provide cheaper products," Teaotia added.



The secretary further said a cross-section of Indian companies supports American industry in becoming much more competitive. "Therefore, this is a partnership that has many benefits across sectors and I think this would be the trend of our communication with the US," she added.



The bilateral trade between the two increased to USD 64.67 billion in 2016-17, from USD 62.11 billion in the previous fiscal. The trade balance is in favour of India.
With the Uttar Pradesh government all set to organise a grand International Yoga Day function in the state capital tomorrow, BSP president Mayawati today alleged misuse of funds, resources and time over it.



"Instead of fulfilling its prime constitutional duty by using its power, resources and time towards providing jobs to crores of jobless poor, farmers, labourers to help them get two square meals, the Modi government is using government funds and machinery on the well-off people," Maywati said in a press note here, condemning the alleged misuse.



Joining issues with farmers' organisations who have opposed the Yoga Day functions, Mayawati said their protest against the "anti-poor and anti-farmers" function and policy was fully justified.



Lashing out at the "wrong policies and working" of the BJP-led government which, she claimed have further compounded the problems of the jobless and farmers and has also forced them to commit suicide, Mayawati said farmers will now hold peaceful dharna at the Niti Ayog and Jantar Mantar in Delhi from next month to draw government's attention over it.



Alleging dwindling job opportunities and employment crunch in the IT sector also, Mayawati said under such trying times, the BJP governments at the Centre and state have "adopted lax attitude and using government funds, machinery and time on programmes like yoga."



"RSS should have been made responsible for such functions rather than BJP governments...why must the various government facilities and exemptions that RSS is getting be only allowed to sow seeds of hatred?", she asked.
After Saharanpur, sectarian violence rocked Uttar Pradesh's Meerut district in which one person was killed and around two dozen were injured.



According to the police sources here, members of Dalit and Jat communities clashed at Gejha village in the district following a dispute over a trivial issue on Monday night.



Police said that violence sparked off after a youth of Jat community allegedly made an objectionable remark on a Dalit man, who was passing by.



The alleged comments triggered a violent reaction from the Dalits of the village, who attacked the house of the Jat youth. Around two dozen people from both sides were injured in the clash.



A Jat youth, identified as Pintu Chaudhary, who had suffered serious injuries, died in the hospital late in the night triggering tension in the village.



Two persons have been arrested in connection with the killing, the police said adding that security personnel in strength had been deployed in the village to prevent clashes and maintain law and order.



Senior police and civil officials have also rushed to the village to monitor the situation.



The neighbouring Saharanpur district had also witnessed large-scale clashes between Dalits and Thakurs that left three dead and scores others injured.



The opposition parties attacked the BJP regime in the state for what they alleged not ensuring the safety of the Dalits. ''Dalits do not feel safe in this government...there have been several instances of attacks on the Dalit community in different parts of the state since Yogi Adityanath assumed charge of the state,'' said Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav.




India on Monday became the associate member of a major European research facility that will allow hundreds of scientists explore new frontiers in biology.



The agreement of association was signed between Regional Centre of Biotechnology, Faridabad and European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Grenoble, France. The three-year membership came with a membership fee of Rs 17.5 crore.



With the signing of the agreement, India became the 22nd country to join ESRF, set up and maintained by the European Union. The money has been provided by the Department of Biotechnology under the Union Science and Technology Ministry.



ESRF produces the world's brightest source of hard X-rays - 100 billion times brighter than the X-rays used in hospitals  used to look into protein structures.



The French facility has 43 highly specialised experimental stations, called beamlines, each equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, which are in demand for scientists all over the world.



We were using an ESRF beamline since 2008 with successful results. But the new pact would improve our access to other facilities that ESRF provides, Sudhanshu Vrati, executive director of the RCB told DH after signing the agreement here.



The pact provides access to multiple & more intense beamlines for macromolecular crystallography and also small angle X-ray scattering. In addition, access to the cryo-electron microscopy facility of ESRF will be available from November 2017 onwards.



India joins the ESRF at a critical time as a new extremely brilliant source synchrotron source will become operational in 2020.



While the Department of Atomic Energy also offers a synchrotron source at one of its centres in Indore, the researchers said the indigenous source is not so powerful to conduct difficult experiments. The ESRF beam is at least 10,000 times better than the DAE one, said Deepak Nair, a scientist at the RCB.



The access to the previous ESRF beamline (BM14) resulted in over 200 research publications, deposition of over 600 structures in the Protein Data Bank, training of more than 150 research personnel and over 100 Ph. D theses involve data collected under this programme.


India's indigenous Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), the maiden interplanetary launch of ISRO, which was launched on November 5, 2013, completes 1000 earth days in its orbit.



MOM is credited with many laurels like cost-effectiveness, a short period of realisation, economical mass-budget, miniaturisation of five heterogeneous science payloads etc. Satellite is in good health and continues to work as expected. Scientific analysis of the data received from the Mars Orbiter spacecraft is in progress.



ISRO has also launched MOM Announcement of Opportunity (AO) programmes for researchers in the country to use MOM data for R&D. The success of Mars Orbiter Mission has motivated Indias student and research community in a big way. Thirty-two proposals were supported under this AO. A Planetary data analysis workshop was also conducted to strengthen the MOM-AO scientist's research interest.



First-year data from MOM was released to the public on September 24, 2016. The Mars Colour Camera, one of the scientific payloads onboard MOM, has produced more than 715 images so far. Mars Atlas was prepared and made available on ISRO website.



MOM went through a communication 'blackout' as a result of solar conjunction from June 2, 2015, to July 2, 2015. Telemetry data was received during most of the conjunction period except for 9 days from June 10-18, during superior conjunction. MOM was commanded with autonomy features starting from May 18, 2015, which enabled it to survive the communication 'blackout' period without any ground commands or intervention.



The spacecraft emerged out of 'blackout' period with auto control of the spacecraft systems successfully. This experience had enabled the mission team to program a spacecraft about one month in advance for all operations.



MOM spacecraft experienced the whiteout geometry during May 18 to May 30, 2016. A whiteout occurs when the Earth is between the Sun and Mars and too much solar radiation may make it impossible to communicate with the Earth.



The maximum duration of whiteout is around 14 days. MOM spacecraft experienced the whiteout during May 2016. However, MOM is built with full autonomy to take care of itself for long periods without any ground intervention. The entire planning and commanding for the whiteout was completed 10 days before the actual event. No commanding was carried out on the satellite in the whiteout period.



Payload operations were suspended. Fault Detection, Isolation and Recovery were kept enabled, so as to take care of any contingency on the spacecraft. Master Recovery Sequencer was programmed, to acquire the attitude of the spacecraft and ensure communication with earth even in the case of loss of attitude. The spacecraft came out of whiteout geometry successfully on May 30, 2016, and has been normalised for regular operations.



An orbital manoeuvre was performed on MOM spacecraft to avoid the impending long eclipse duration for the satellite. The duration of the eclipse would have been as long as 8 hours. As the satellite battery is designed to handle eclipse duration of only about 1 Hour 40 minutes, a longer eclipse would have drained the battery beyond the safe limit.



The manoeuvres performed on January 17, 2017, brought down the eclipse duration to zero during this long eclipse period. On the Evening of January 17, all the eight numbers of 22N thrusters were fired for a duration of 431 seconds, achieving a velocity difference of 97.5 m/s. This has resulted in a new orbit for the MOM spacecraft, which completely avoided eclipse up to September 2017. About 20 kg propellant was consumed for this manoeuvres leaving another 13 kg of propellant for its further mission life.




Senior Gujarat Congress leader and former chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela on Tuesday again said that he was not joining Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Despite having left BJP over two decades ago, the clarification from Vaghela came as he was continuously hit by a blizzard of talks over the last month-and-a-half that he was quitting Congress and re-joining his former party.



Instead, Vaghela talked of his discomfort within Congress party over issues and said that he would hold a meeting of his supporters in Gandhinagar on June 24. Perhaps a show of strength by the man who is being seen as getting isolated gradually within his party and not for the first time though. He is still rued by many in Congress for his connect with the saffron brigade and RSS in the first half of his political career. All matters will be settled on the 24th...I will consult my friends and colleagues and convey the feelings to the party high command, he said.



On being asked whether he would rejoin BJP if his supporters tell him to do so on June 24th, Vaghela quipped, I do not think they will do so. The 77-year-old Vaghela also reiterated his stand that he was not in the chief ministerial candidacy race of Congress. I am here as the leader of Opposition and shall continue to attend party meetings even after 24th. I am not unhappy with the leadership. All I want is to see the Congress return to power. Im not interested in power equations or what happens thereafter.



He reiterated his demand that party announce names of its candidates at the earliest and makes it stand on possible alliances with other parties as JD(U) or NCP clear.



Meanwhile, BJP national president Amit Shah, who was in the state meeting party functionaries from Saurashtra region at Junagadh again said Tuesday that the party would win more than 150 of the 182 Assembly seats in the forthcoming polls. BJP hasnt lost election in Gujarat since 1990. But upcoming Assembly polls are not to be fought just for victory but to wipe out Congress completely from the state, he told BJP workers.
Pakistan's Ambassador to the US Aizaz Chaudhry today faced some blunt and tough questions from his Afghan counterpart about Islamabad's destabilisation and terrorist activities inside Afghanistan.



"We call it an undeclared war because the objectives are not set. We don't know what the objectives are for Pakistan. And that's something that we have been trying to discover," Afghan Ambassador to the US Hamdullah Mohib told an audience at an event organised by Indus Think-tank here.



In an unusual aggressive mode, reflecting the new tough approach being adopted by the Afghan government, Mohib said that Kabul is not sure who to talk to in Pakistan.

"But which Pakistan? The Pakistan that occupies by a militant group, by a military, or the Pakistan of the civilians?" Mohib asked.



He said the Pakistan government led by the civilians doesn't have a voice and the reality is that policies are made by the military which uses militancy as a foreign policy.



The Afghan diplomat warned that there is a new generation on the rise in the military, the generation that has been trained by former dictator Gen Zia-ul-Haq and that is going to take over Pakistan in the next decade or so.



"Once it does, this is no longer going to be a military that's trying to use extremism as a tool for foreign policy," he said, adding that it will be an extremist military that is going to be over a million strong, with very sophisticated intelligence, plus nuclear arms.



He said it will take four decades to clear Pakistan from that generation of extremists.

"We're not just worried about today's militancy...We're worried about next four decades of our lives...not just us, the world should worry. Every weapon, anything you sell to Pakistan today, will be used against it," he warned.



The Afghan diplomat said this is a message to the Chinese, a message to America and a message to Europeans.



Mohib said the Afghan government is confused. "If we cooperate with the military more, are we emboldening, are we encouraging more of a military Pakistan? Or are we solving our problem because it's always difficult on who we are talking to that has the authority to resolve the problem?" he asked.



A visibly upset Chaudhry took an exception to the remarks of his Afghan counterpart and alleged that Afghanistan has now resorted to blame game against Pakistan.



"It's not something new. We have heard for the last one and half years to two years...a mantra along these lines. And much more hostile rhetoric has been voiced. But it has been our view that we would not respond to that hostility...We do not think that blame game would get any country far," he said.



Stating that it was too easy to say that all the ills of today's Afghanistan are because of his country, the Pakistani diplomat said that there are a host of issues that pervade Afghanistan, including government issues, corruption issues, weakening of the Afghanistan national security forces issues, graft, production and debt paid issues, and economic issues.



He told the Afghan diplomat that putting the blame on Pakistan would, at best, deflect attention from the real causes of instability in Afghanistan.



Chaudhry said Afghanistan needs to focus inward, and see in itself what is it that it needs to do.



"We need to be realistic, instead of hurling blame all the time, as we say, we need a friendship, we need a cooperative spirit," he said, highlighting a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.



Chaudhry said the two countries would now be holding consultations to prepare some kind of mechanism to coordinate the actions against terrorist.



"These terrorists are nobody's friend. We would not like to see Taliban come to power by force in Afghanistan. And we have made it very clear that they do not represent Pakistan in any manner.



And we are squeezing space on them. Therefore, we would humbly suggest to curb this tendency of scapegoating Pakistan, because that will not solve the issue," he said.
The Union Cabinet will take a final call with regards to the way forward for the divestment of state-owned Air India, according to the minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha.



"The process is underway right now and as we have said many times, we are going through the analysis process and those recommendations are in front of the Cabinet right now and the Cabinet will take the process forward," Sinha told reporters on the sidelines of the airports investment summit organised by IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.



Asked on whether it will have only a privatisation element or whether it will involve a debt waiver as well, Sinha said, "All options are on the table and it is on Cabinet to decide on how best to move forward."



NITI Aayog had recently suggested that Air India should be completely privatised. The state-owned carrier has a debt of over Rs 50,000 crore on its books and had received a bailout package of Rs 30,000 crore from the government recently.



Sinha also did not rule out the possibility of Air India's stake sale to a foreign carrier. "All these options are on the table and there is a well-defined decision-making process which is for the Cabinet to take all of this into account and to provide guidance on how this will move forward," Sinha said.



With regards to the no-fly list, Sinha said that the process to release it is in the final stages. "National no-fly list is being prepared and we will be issuing them in the first week of July. We have received comprehensive and extensive feedback from many stakeholders, we are looking through all of that. What we want to do in putting forward the no-fly list is to ensure that we balance out all the various stakeholder interest," Sinha said.



Obviously, we have to keep safety as being of paramount priority but at the same time, we want to ensure that passengers are fairly and appropriately considered in terms of their concerns and that the due process of law is fully followed as far as they are concerned, Sinha added.




Absconding former Calcutta High Court judge Justice C S Karnan was arrested by the West Bengal CID in Coimbatore on Tuesday.



The arrest comes more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six- month imprisonment for contempt of court. We arrested former high court judge Justice Karnan at around 6.45 pm from a private resort at Malumichampatti in Coimbatore, said a senior officer in the West Bengal CID.



Justice Karnan, who retired on June 12, had been hiding in the resort for the last few days and tried to resist the team of CID officers from West Bengal when they tried to arrest him. He resisted our officers and there was an argument also. Despite that, we arrested him, the officer said, adding he will be produced in a court in Chennai on Wednesday before being taken to Kolkata. Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore for the past three days and traced the judge on the basis of his phone calls.



Justice Karnan, who has been evading arrest since May 9, became the first high court judge to have retired as a fugitive and also earned the dubious distinction of becoming the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court.




The Opposition is all set to put up a candidate against NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind with the Left parties looking to the Congress to come with suitable names.



Congress would sit down with other Opposition parties on Thursday to decide on a candidate where parties like JD(U), Samajwadi Party and BSP are likely to express their reservations about opposing Kovind, a Dalit from Uttar Pradesh, and field another from the deprived section "just for the sake of contesting".



Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has rushed to Patna to attend an 'iftar' and use the occasion to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has indicated his support for Kovind and convince him on a joint opposition candidate.



With an aim to ace the Dalit card played by BJP, a section of the Opposition feels that they should also field a Dalit candidate.



Sources said Congress leaders Meira Kumar, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, and Sushil Kumar Shinde, former Home Minister, have gained currency as a possible Opposition choice but it is to be seen whether non-Congress parties would be keen to support them.



Names like that of prominent agriculturist M S Swaminathan, nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar and B R Ambedkar's grandson Prakash Ambedkar are also being speculated as possible candidates.



Opposition camp's hopes on Shiv Sena to break ranks with BJP were also dashed when the party announced its support to Kovind and this could eventually eject Shinde from the list. Some leaders were hoping to rope in Shiv Sena using candidature of Shinde or Prakash Ambedkar, both belonging to Maharashtra.



With their choice Gopalkrishna Gandhi out of the reckoning, sources said the Left parties may be open to the names suggested by Congress. A senior CPI leader said the Congress should now take the lead and come up with names.



A senior Samajwadi Party leader said they were "against a contest for the sake of contest" while admitting that opposing a candidate from Uttar Pradesh remains a problem for them. Like the JD(U), the SP also describe Kovind as a "good man".



Though not committing to support Kovind, the SP leader said a decision would be taken on Thursday before the Opposition meeting.



JD(U) would decide its stand on Wednesday during a Core Committee meeting in Patna on Wednesday. Sources said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has already told Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav about the discomfiture in opposing Kovind.



"There was not a single statement to embarrass the government, there was no ideological inflammation," a senior JD(U) leader said while pointing out that former Governor Buta Singh, a Congress leader, had troubled them a lot when JD(U) was in power with BJP.



He also referred to JD(U)'s support to UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee in 2012 when the party was in alliance with BJP.






If one asks Chief Minister Siddaramaiah whether caste or poverty should be the base for designing the governments welfare schemes, probably he would settle for the former. He has been vehemently arguing that poverty among the Dalits and the backward class is very high and the governments intervention schemes are necessary to address the same.



After completing four years in power and getting ready for the 2018 elections, he has now positioned himself as the crusader of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Class which also includes the religious minorities. These castes, according to political parties, constitute nearly 62% of the total voting population in Karnataka.



Holding the placard of social engineering, Siddaramaiah has explored every avenue to allow free flow of funds for the SC/STs and OBC. There has been a nearly four-fold increase in funds allocation for the social welfare department in the last five years including in 2017-18. If the allocated Rs 27,000 crore is spent this year, then the total allocation would stand at Rs 87,000 crore after the Siddaramaiah government came to power.



These funds are routed to 37 departments to be spent on only the SC/STs. As per the rules framed under the Karnataka SCs Sub Plan and Tribal Sub Plan Act of 2013, 24% of the total states budget has to be earmarked for the SC/STs. Karnataka emulated this from Andhra Pradesh as funds set aside for these communities were underutilised or diverted.



With this enlarged allocation and spending, Siddaramaiah has also earned the dubious distinction of being labelled by the Opposition parties  BJP and JD (S)  as the most casteist CM of Karnataka. This is mainly because of the populist measures he has been announcing from time to time.



Last week, JD (S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on the floor of the legislative assembly as well as at a public function in Mangaluru, charged that Siddaramaiah is not the only casteist, is also witch hunting certain major communities. His party colleague Basavaraj Horatti, MLC, without mincing words, has been saying that the chief minister should not have adopted the divide and rule policy.



NARROW VIEW



BJP Member of Parliament Shivakumar Udasi says Siddramaiah, a self-proclaimed Ahinda leader, has given a go bye to inclusive growth while spending the public money. Siddaramaiah has forgotten that he is the chief minister of the state. He has such narrow view that he did not even want to accompany President Pranab Mukherjee to Sri Krishna Mutt in Udupi. He should have set aside his differences with the Mutt and attended the programme as the chief minister, Udasi observed.



But according to sources in the Congress party, Siddaramaiah seems to have taken a political rather than policy decision to keep off from mutt which includes Sri Krishna temple. It is a known fact that he is not an atheist as he keeps visiting Hindu mutts and temples. But he, being the voice of Kurubas so far in the state, chose to ignore the mutts invite to the programme, obviously to register his continued resentment over the 2004 Kanaka Gopura controversy. The Presidents visit was a private one. There was no breach of protocol as such by the chief minister. But his rigidity has not gone well with the Udupi Congress leaders, for whom the mutt is not just a religious place but a culture as well as power centre.



Some time ago, Social Welfare MInsiter H Anjaneya, a Dalit, had been to the mutt. The Pejawar seer had personally served him food. Siddaramaiah seems to be misled by some of his advisors, is the reading in the Congress. Anjaneya has often said that poor in all communities including among Brahmins should be given reservation facility.



HOW INCLUSIVE?



Siddramaiah, in the budget for the current year, has stated, Ours is an all inclusive, universal development model with a human face. To supplement this in the last four budgets I have put forth before the people an extensive economic framework for social justice  one of the objectives of our Constitution.



In this universal development plan of his, it looks he is not ready to take note of poverty, talent or needs of all communities. His focus has been mainly to position himself as a giver. He has announced free laptops to SC/ST students pursuing college education not just in government colleges but even in private colleges, free bus passes to SC/ST students, increasing the subsidy to these community people who purchase taxis, tractors and construct houses and freely distribute seeds to SC/ST farmers.



The government has been giving handsome financial assistance to SC/ST students who wish to pursue higher education in foreign countries. There are no pre or post conditions to the students while offering lakhs of rupees. The social and agricultural departments have been asked to select 1,000 SC/ST farmers to foreign tour this year. Special provisions have been made to financially strengthen societies managed by the SC/STs and OBC. There is already the reservation for these castes in government housing schemes and even in allocation BDA sites.



He has announced that the government would provide shoes and socks for only SC/ST students pursuing vocational courses in Industrial Training Institutes. Nearly Rs 10.22 crore is expected to be spent to cover 10,000 students. The students are also supposed to get free toolkits for which the budget is Rs 47.84 crore.



In 2013, the government had decided to send only SC/ST school students on free tours by the tourism department. After being criticised for blatantly indulging in discrimination, the facility was extended to students of all castes.



He has not stopped at that. He wants to provide boiled eggs to only SC/ST girl children to attract them to Anganwadi centres in villages. The caste based identification drive is yet to begin. When it comes to giving free mid-day meal, milk, textbooks, uniform clothes and bicycles to students, there is no caste-divide. However, only SC/ST students get annual cash assistance and bags from the government. And, this practice was not initiated by Siddaramaiah.



LARGER PLANS



Siddaramaiah has much bigger plans in the months to come before going to the polls. After releasing the socio-economic survey report, which is popularly known as caste survey, he will take up the exercise to increase the reservation ceiling from the present 50% to 70%. For this to happen, the Constitutional amendment is required. He has already announced that when Tamil Nadu can exceed the 50% reservation ceiling, why not Karnataka increase the quota.



One of the intentions, according to the Congress, is to bring the Kurubas, who are now under the OBC category, to the ST category. In addition, certain sub-castes under Lingayats and Vokkaligas may be pushed under the OBC category. His caste plans may not materialise easily. But he is sure to prepare forum for a caste-based polity.



The Siddaramaiah government has already questioned the Supreme Court direction on the reservation in promotions to the state government employees. The court had ruled that the Karnataka Determination of Seniority of Government Servants Promoted on the Basis of Reservation (to the posts of the civil services of the state) Act, 2002 is invalid. There can be no consequential seniority to the SC/ST employees, it has observed.



The government is in a hurry to get the Presidents assent to the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurements (Amendment) Bill, 2016. This has provision to provide reservation for civil contractors belonging to the SC/ST categories while grating projects up to Rs 50 lakh. Minister Anjaneya last week met the President to seek his assent.



CONSOLIDATION



With all these and more, it has become obvious that Siddaramaiah is trying his best to consolidate his position as Ahinda leader. The Opposition party leaders say he has nothing else but to play caste card in the next elections because he is aware that he has to continue to bank only on the 62% of the voting population. If this is the calculation of the Congress too, then it may not be correct because the BJP could come to power in 2008 in the state because it also got the support of Dalits and Vokkaligas.



Shivakumar Udasi, who belongs to powerful Lingayat caste, argues that there is a perception among the public that Siddaramaiah is serving only his community. Socialist Siddaramaiah should have emerged as the voices of the masses by going in for inclusive growth. He is not doing walk the talk, the MP says.



If he is really the champion of the oppressed, then he should have written to Sonia Gandhi to support the OBC bill in Rajya Sabha. It has provision to set up National Commission for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes, with judicial power and Constitutional status. As the Congress opposed the bill, it has been referred to a joint select committee, Udasi points out.



Horatti says, Siddaramaiah is playing bad caste politics. Young minds should not be corrupted on the lines of caste. It is said there is instruction for officials and ministers to ignore files put up by Jalebi (in Kannada abbreviation for Gowda, Lingayat, Brahmins and Jains). For him, caste matters and not poverty. His approach is bound to backfire in the elections.



But a seasoned politician such as Siddaramaiah knows how to play his cards, be it caste card or Bhagya cards. If Siddaramaiah really wants to know the results of social engineering exercise he has carried out, he should assess the impact of the Bhagya schemes and freebies he has distributed over the last four years. Scientific evaluation can throw light on the structural changes that might have taken place due to his thinking and planning. That would be a bold and positive move.








Problems being faced by the domestic IT industry on the H-1B visa front are expected to figure during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump next week in Washington.

Modi is slated to visit the US during June 25-26.



Asked whether India would raise the H-1B issue during Modi's visit, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said: "I cannot say what would be the issues that would come up in the discussion. This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. But in the event the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up."



Teaotia also said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on that list. India has time and again raised the issue of H-1B with the US authorities and asked them to liberalise their visa regime as Indian companies contribute significantly to the American economy.



The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.



On the trade policy review being carried out by the US, she said India and the US have a robust mechanism under the trade policy forum (TPF) to discuss matters like stents and others. She said other issues like market access for products and those relating to investments are all being dealt with regularly at the TPF meetings.



"The US has commenced a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on the list of those countries. So certainly, we would figure, but we are confident that our exports to the US are a win-win for both countries in the sense that we are able to provide cheaper products," Teaotia added.



The secretary further said a cross-section of Indian companies supports American industry in becoming much more competitive. "Therefore, this is a partnership that has many benefits across sectors and I think this would be the trend of our communication with the US," she added.



The bilateral trade between the two increased to USD 64.67 billion in 2016-17, from USD 62.11 billion in the previous fiscal. The trade balance is in favour of India. The US, under a new executive order, proposes to replace the current lottery system for issuing H-1B work visas with a merit-based approach. The country is reviewing its visa programme for foreign workers to curb purported abuse and frauds related to visas.



Indian IT companies use temporary work visas to send employees to work on client sites. With visa programmes in countries like the US becoming more rigorous, domestic technology firms will face challenges in movement of skilled professionals and spike in their operational costs.
State BJP president B S Yeddyurappa will address the protest meet against Dakshina Kannada In-charge Minister B Ramanath Rai on June 24 at Bantwal, the latters Assembly constituency.



But police are yet to issue the pre-requisite permission for the meeting, which has been organised by pro-Hindu outfits to protest the remarks made by the minister against RSS leader Dr Prabhakar Bhat Kalladka recently.



Speaking to journalists, BJP district unit president Sanjeev Mathandoor said: As the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC are in force till June 21, the protest meet has been organised on June 24. We will take permission from police for using loudspeakers and making other arrangements.



When journalists reminded Mathandoor about the BJPs futile attempts to organise the protest meet on June 20 and 22, as the district administration extended the prohibitory orders, a BJP leader accompanying him said: Wait and watch.



Option to resign



Mathandoor promised to call off the protest meet if the minister resigned from the Cabinet and apologised. Besides, he demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the recent clash at Kalladka, the illegal sand mining and other events in the district.



Questioning the ministers attitude towards the Dakshina Kannada Superintendent of Police, Bhushan G Borase, and asking him to book Bhat in a criminal case, Mathandoor said: Is Rai a judge or public prosecutor to ask the police officer to register the case under a particular IPC section (307)?



He said that being the local MLA, Rai should ensure the rule of law instead of taking the police officer to task in front of his acolytes and other people with criminal background.



Mathandoor claimed that such inflammatory remarks by the minister would embolden the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and the Karnataka Forum for Dignity (KFD) to disturb the peace.



He recalled how Rai, while speaking in the Legislative Assembly, had blamed communal forces for the murder of Karopady Gram Panchayat vice president Abdul Jaleel Karopady. Police records, according to Mathandoor, state that the murder happened over personal reasons.



The BJP functionary also objected to Rais remarks against the activists in the Nethravathi movement.




The Congress will sit down with other Opposition parties on Thursday to decide on a joint candidate to contest against BJP nominee Ram Nath Kovind in the July 17 Presidential election.



To ace the Dalit card played by the BJP, a section of the Opposition feels that they should also field a Dalit candidate. But parties like the JD(U), SP and the BSP are likely to express their reservations about opposing Kovind, a Dalit from Uttar Pradesh, and fielding another candidate from the deprived sections just for the sake of contesting.



Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad rushed to Patna to attend iftar and use the occasion to meet Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has indicated his support for Kovind. Azad is expected to convince Nitish to field a joint Opposition candidate.



A source said, from the Congress, former Speaker Meira Kumar and former home minister Sushil Kumar Shindes names are doing the rounds. But it is to be seen whether non-Congress parties would be keen on supporting them.



CPI national secretary D Raja, eminent agriculturalist M S Swaminathan, nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar and B R Ambedkars grandson Prakash are also being talked about.



However, the Oppositions hopes on the Shiv Sena to break ranks with the BJP were dashed when the party announced its support to Kovind. Some leaders were hoping to rope in the Sena using Shinde or Prakashs candidature as both are from Maharashtra.



Another source said with the Left parties choice, Gopalkrishna Gandhi, out of the reckoning, they may be open to names suggested by the Congress. A senior CPI leader said the Congress should take the lead now and come up with names.



A senior SP leader said that opposing a candidate from Uttar Pradesh remains a problem for them. Like the JD(U), the SP also describe Kovind as a good man.



The JD(U) would decide on its stand at a core committee meeting in Patna on Wednesday. A source said Nitish has already told Congress president Sonia Gandhi, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav about his discomfiture in opposing Kovind.



There was not a single statement to embarrass the government..., a senior JD(U) leader said while pointing out that former governor Buta Singh, a Congress leader, had troubled them a lot during the reign of the JD(U)-BJP alliance government in the state. He also referred to the JD(U)s support to UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee in 2012 when the party was in alliance with the BJP.






He also assured that the cost of treatment will not be fixed arbitrarily. An expert committee comprising all the stakeholders will be formed to fix the rates, he added.



The bill seeks to regulate private medical establishments and not the doctors, as has been projected. The government is giving more than Rs 1,000 crore to the private hospitals to treat the poor patients under various schemes. Many of the private hospitals are over-billing. Hence, we want to regulate these hospitals, he stated.



Ramesh Kumar said Karnataka Cancer Centre has claimed crores of rupees under the government-sponsored Suvarna Arogya Kavacha scheme by submitting fictitious bill. The hospital has been found guilty of 10 different charges. About 250 complaints have been received from patients against private hospitals in connection with lapses in implementing Arogya Kavacha scheme.



The government is the custodian of tax payers money. It cannot sit silent when the private hospitals are taking it for a ride, he added.



Faced with stiff resistance from the Opposition parties in the legislative Assembly, the state government on Tuesday agreed to refer the controversial bill to regulate private hospitals to the joint select committee of the legislature.The committee will be asked to submit its report within a month. The panel will look into the doubts raised by the members and recommend modifications to the bill, Health and Family Welfare Minister K R Ramesh Kumar said after a lengthy debate on the bill.Hundreds of doctors held a protest against the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017, in Bengaluru recently.Earlier, the health minister made a strong pitch for passing the bill, contending that it is aimed at protecting gullible patients. The poor patients are not as organised as those who are staging protests (doctors). So it is the duty of the government to protect their (patients) interest. I am flooded with complaints of excess-billing, repetitive tests and over-pricing of drugs. The government does not intend to trouble anybody, he said, explaining the statement and objectives of the bill.The minister said the government has decided to do away with the clause that stipulated imprisonment up to three years for those who violate provisions of the bill .
Congress leader and former MP A H Vishwanath said he will tender his resignation from the primary membership of the Congress party to KPCC president G Parameshwara in Bengaluru.



Speaking at a meeting here on Tuesday, he said he is yet undecided on joining an alternative party, but said he will take a decision after Eid.



He has been hinting at quitting the Congress for almost six months. Recently, he had announced, in his hometown K R Nagar, that he will resign from the Congress. If he quits the Congress, he will become the second prominent leader to rebel against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in his home district.



A couple of ex-MLAs, a few corporators, ex-corporators, ex-members of zilla, taluk panchayat and some Congress office-bearers and ex-office-bearers took part in the meeting.


In 2014, his Delhi account, which vanished, was traced and money was transferred to his account.



In a writ petition, Joshi contended that he suffered a lot of mental agony and had incurred heavy expenditure on running from pillar to post to have his grievances redressed. He sought directions to the Central Provident Fund Commissioner and others to pay the interest on Rs 3,45,106 from 2011 till date. Besides, he also sought Rs 5 lakh compensation for his unnecessary harassment, mental agony and undue expenditure.



Agreeing to his plea, Justice Anu Malhotra said, To ensure that justice is meted out fairly and properly, taking the factum into account that the petitioner was paid his EPF dues only on 07.04.2014...it is considered appropriate to direct the commissioner to pay a sum of Rs 1 Lakh for the trauma and mental agony caused to the petitioner.



The high court, however, did not agree to his request for grant of interest as his EPF account at Bengaluru and at Delhi had become inoperative.



The court did not consider it appropriate to direct any investigation into his missing EPF account saying the same may have been a technical lapse.





A Bengaluru-based company's employee, whose provident fund money went missing on his transfer to Delhi, has been awarded a compensation of Rs 1 lakh by the Delhi High Court for trauma and mental agony suffered by him.L D Joshi, who joined Bosch Ltd at Bengaluru in 1984, was transferred to Delhi in 1988. In February, 2008, when he applied for transfer of his employee provident fund account to Delhi, it was not done despite several reminders and personal visits to the Bengaluru office. His EPF account was not transferred to Delhi till September 2011. As he quit the job in 1989, there was no contribution to the account thereafter.
The city is all set for the third edition of International Yoga Day on Wednesday. Bengaluru will witness numerous yoga professionals and enthusiasts joining hands to perform yoga at the break of the day.



The state governments department of Ayush, in collaboration with renowned yoga institutions, will demonstrate Suryanamaskara and Kriyathmaka yoga activities at Kanteerava Stadium. This will be followed by a 35-minute programme, which includes pranayama and other important yoga postures. The event will witness around 5,000 yoga enthusiasts participating. The speciality of the day is that 98-year-old yoga expert Tao Portan Lynch from New York, who has taken part in Salt Satyagraha, and Amma Nannamal, 97-year-old yoga expert from Tamil Nadu, will guide and demonstrate the common yoga protocol.



The event will bring in awareness among the people about the importance of yoga in life. We are demonstrating those asanas that are easy for people to follow and perform, said Dr V P Satish, deputy director for Yoga and Naturopathy, Ayush department.



He said the theme for this year is Yoga for peace and harmony. The Karnataka State Yoga Academy, in association with S-VYASA University, will celebrate the International Yoga Day at PES University. The event will be inaugurated by Governor Vajubhai Vala along with Union Minister Ananth Kumar. The programme will see around 3,000 people taking part in a mass yoga demonstration.



Among other programmes are yoga demonstration by teachers and students of Shankara Ashtanga Yoga. The focus of the programme is the demonstration of asanas for the cure of chronic ailments.



The Bangalore University, BNM Institute of Technology and Akshar Power Yoga Academy will celebrate International Yoga Day by demonstrating yoga and through discussions on the topic.




The BBMP project of remodelling stormwater drains (SWDs) has become scam-ridden.



The BBMP approved a Rs 55-crore tender in Hebbal Valley (Package-2) for a contractor who had submitted fake work done and turnover certificates. After issuing the letter of intent, the BBMP has now withheld the work order. The civic body had invited tenders for remodelling a 192-km network of stormwater drains under the Nagarothana scheme with the state government contributing Rs 600 crore. For Hebbal Valley, Tam Tam Pedda Guruva Reddys bid was finalised as L-1, the lowest bidder. After negotiation, Rs 55 crore was fixed for the work and the letter of intent was issued in October 2016.



Meanwhile, former BJP corporator N R Ramesh filed a complaint with the Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) and the Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force (BMTF) against Reddy, accusing him of submitting fake experience and work done certificates. One of the conditions in the tender notification was that the bidder should have a turnover of more than Rs 30 crore. Reddy submitted the certificate, claiming to have conducted work at Field Irrigation Canal Division-7 at Bheemarayanagudi for the Krishna Bhagya Jala Nigama Ltd.



The TVCC then submitted a report stating that all the documents were verified and seemed genuine, an official said. On the other hand, the BMTF sent a fax to the chief engineer of the KBJNL, enquiring about the veracity of the certificate. Though there was no reply by fax, the BMTF received a letter from FIC Division-7. Subsequently, even the BMTF stopped the investigation based on the letter from FIC Division-7, concluding that Reddy indeed executed the said work.



Enquiries by DH show that FIC Division-7 was renamed FIC Division-4 and transferred to the KBJNL. It turns out that the reply received by the BMTF was not sent by the KBJNL. The KBJNLs reply was: When KBJNL Division Number 7 (at) Bheemarayanagudi was no more in existence with effect from August 1, 2000, any letter, work done certificate or confirmation letter issued subsequently in the nomenclature of that division will not naturally be authentic. Through an order in 2000, the engineering wing of CADA, including its establishment, was transferred to KBJNL.



A senior BBMP official said a decision would be taken soon whether to invite fresh tenders or award the contract to the second lowest bidder.




BJP president Amit Shah will visit Karnataka for three days from August 3 as he turns his attention towards the state ahead of next years Assembly elections.



Shah will interact with BJP office-bearers, MPs and MLAs to get a feedback on the organisational issues and preparedness for the Assembly elections. The BJP is keen on doing well in Karnataka, keeping the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind.



The BJP is banking on its performance in the Assembly polls in other states to bolster its look south strategy. The BJP leaders here are preparing facts and figures on the Central assistance to Karnataka, which may be used by Shah to take on Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on governance. The Central government had provided Rs 21,000 crore to state last year under the Centrally sponsored schemes but the Congress government in the state has just managed to spend half of the total amount, said BJP sources.



Recently, Union Minister Ananth Kumar had criticised the state government for not implementing initiatives of the Narendra Modi government. He had said that, as Chemical and Fertilisers minister, he had personally taken up with the chief minister for opening a drug store in each of the government hospitals for providing medicines prices 30% less than the MRP. Despite repeated reminders, the state has failed to respond to the move aimed at benefiting common people, Kumar had charged.


It has stood guard over Fletcher Cove for more than 70 years, but its reign atop the bluff is coming to an end.

With nearly every feature long having exceeded its useful life, the Solana Beach Marine Safety Center is heading toward a date with a bulldozer after the city council last week decided that two other options werent up to snuff.

The council on Wednesday, June 14, heard a long-awaited report on three paths forward for the citys lifeguard headquarters: Option 1, a cluster of modular structures; Option 2, renovate and expand the existing building; and Option 3, tearing the whole thing down to start anew. After hearing the presentation, councilmembers were unanimous: the facility is too inadequate and the risks of renovating it are too high to pursue anything other than a total rebuild.

I hope we build it, and I hope we build it now, said Councilwoman Judy Hegenauer. Weve been talking about this for pretty much as long as I can remember. Im afraid to not do it. I could see the next council in 20 years, 30 years, not being able to move forward. I think its a very important building to this community and I say Option 3 and lets go ahead.

The report by Steven Dalton Architects laid out a litany of failings: walls nearing collapse, cramped spaces and widespread violations of building codes and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Modular structures would carry a $1.65 million price tag over the short term but would cost the city $7 million over a 50-year window, according to the report. Renovation would cost $3.37 million but would not meet the full range of lifeguards needs. A new facility built from the ground up would cost $4 million.

From both an economic and functional sense, a new facility is the best option, said Solana Beach Mayor Mike Nichols.

Its from the emotional [and] historical standpoint that you start to feel like, Oh man, wouldnt that be a shame to lose, he said. Thats where the challenge comes in for the architect or designer, is to really capture that texture, that feel, and make it feel like maybe its been there for all of Solana Beachs history.

Another challenge could be the buildings size.

A rough schematic envisioned a facility of 4,770 square feet in two stories  more than three times the size of the existing structure. Two councilmembers  Ginger Marshall and David Zito  expressed concern that something so big could feel far out of step with the rest of Fletcher Cove.

Almost a 5,000-square-foot building just seems like it would be really monstrous compared to whats there right now, Marshall said. Some people dont even like to go onto the sand; some people just like to hang out in the recreation area right there. Id just hate to see the view and the bulk and scale of a 5,000-square-foot lifeguard property overshadow what our cute little Fletcher Cove park is right now.

Zito suggested minimizing the facilitys footprint by recessing it deeper into the abutting hillside and by setting the facility further back from the bluffs edge. He and other councilmembers also noted the eye-popping price tag. Councilwoman Jewel Edson wondered whether the project can be split into phases to spread out the cost.

We may not need all of those 4,700 square feet right now, she said.

Not included in that $4 million estimate: a $450,000 seawall and a $410,000 stairway for lifeguards that would go down the face of the bluff.

A seawall would be a problem for the San Diego Surfrider Foundation.

There needs to be a deeper discussion before preemptive construction of a seawall, said Kristin Brinner, a Solana Beach resident and co-chair of the foundations beach preservation committee. We urge that a more thorough options analysis be performed before defaulting to a preemptive seawall.

City Manager Greg Wade said city staff will outline a funding plan at a future meeting, which could include the possibility of drawing funds from the first overhaul in more than a decade to the citys Transient Occupancy Tax levied on guests at hotels and vacation rentals in the city.
Solana Ranch Elementary School announced recently that it has been named as a Leader in Me Lighthouse School by Franklin Covey Co. This recognition comes because the school has achieved outstanding results in school and student outcomes by implementing The Leader in Me process with fidelity.

Sean Covey, Education Practice Leader, Franklin Covey, said, We are thrilled to recognize Solana Ranch Elementary as a Leader in Me Lighthouse School. Schools who achieve the Lighthouse Milestone are great examples of a strong leadership model, process, and of what it means to be a Leader in Me school. Solana Ranch has experienced transformational results by implementing the principles and practices related to The Leader in Me. We are so pleased to celebrate the success they are experiencing.

Jerry Jones, principal of Solana Ranch Elementary said, We are honored to become a Leader in Me Lighthouse School. We have seen such amazing growth in our students who literally lead everything we do at our school. From Friday morning leadership assemblies, school tours, our student news broadcast (Hawk News Network), school-wide community service projects, morning announcements, speaking at board meetings and Back to School Night, training parents in the 7 Habits, student-led conferences, fourth grade students who tutor second grade students in reading, project-based learning assignments that involve problem-solving and collaboration with integrated lessons on leadership, school, grade, class and individual mission statements written for every individual and team at the school, Leadership Notebooks where students track their goals and celebrations, to applied leadership positions within the classrooms; every student at Solana Ranch has opportunities for leadership and see themselves as a leader. This process has had a significant impact on our students and our school culture.

The Leader in Me is a whole-school transformation model  developed in partnership with educators  that empowers students with the leadership and life skills they need to thrive in the 21st century. It is based on principles and practices of personal, interpersonal and organizational effectiveness. Visit www.theleaderinme.org.

 Submitted press release
19 June 2017 (United Nations)  Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nation refugee agency today reported, stressing the very high pace at which conflict and persecution is forcing people to flee their homes.

The figure equates to one person displaced every three seconds  less than the time it takes to read this sentence.

The report, Global Trends, released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), marks a jump of 300,000 since the end of 2015.

By any measure this is an unacceptable number, said UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, urging solidarity and a common purpose in preventing and resolving crisis.

He also called for properly protecting and caring for the worlds refugees, internally displaced and asylum-seekers  who currently number 22.5 million, 40.3 million, and 2.8 million, respectively.

According to the report, Syria remains the worlds biggest producer of refugees with 12 million people living in neighbouring countries and away from the region. There are 7.7 million displaced Colombians, 4.7 million Afghans and 4.2 million Iraqis.

However, in 2016, South Sudan became the biggest new factor when peace efforts broke down in July resulting in some 737,400 people fleeing by the end of the year.

Nyawet Tut, a South Sudanese mother of five in her 30s, described how soldiers set fire to her village and she had to run for her life with her own five children and five others of relatives killed in the conflict.

My husband was killed in the war which, in addition to the shortage of food, made me decide to leave my home, everything, behind, she told UNHCR staff during an interview at a temporary way station in Ethiopia.

In total, about 3.3 million South Sudanese had fled their homes by the end of the year, in what is known as the fastest-growing displacement of people in the world.

Youngest faces of war

About half of the refugee population last year were children younger than 18 years of age, according the report.

This is in contrast to the fact that children make up only about 31 per cent of the total world population.

Among its findings, the report noted that some 75,000 asylum claims were received from children travelling alone or separated from their parents. These include youngsters like Tareq, 16, who dodged armed combatants to walk out of Syria into neighbouring Turkey.

There was no future where we lived, he told UNHCR. There was no university and no work. There were troops grabbing young children like me, and they send them to war, and they get killed. I wanted to study.

Seeking refuge in poor countries

Developing countries are hosting the majority of the worlds refugees, UNHCR reported.

About 84 per cent of the people were in low- or middle-income countries as of end 2016. Of that figure, one in every three people, roughly 4.9 million people, were hosted by the least developed countries.

This huge imbalance reflects several things including the continuing lack of consensus internationally when it comes to refugee hosting and the proximity of many poor countries to regions of conflict, the UN agency said.
WhatsApp has updated the end-of-life date on BlackBerry OS until December 31,2017. The support has also been extended for Nokia S40 platform.

WhatsApp is extending the support for its application on BlackBerry OS and Nokia S40 platforms until December 31, 2017. This is the second time that Facebook-owned WhatsApp has extended the end-of-life for its service on BlackBerry's platform.

WhatsApp's support for BlackBerry OS, including the latest BlackBerry 10 was pushed back to June 30, 2017 after the initial deadline of 2016. According to CrackBerry, WhatsApp for BlackBerry is now receiving a new update that extends the end-of-life date until December 31. WhatsApp has also extended the support for its Nokia S40 client till the end of this year.

WhatsApp will stop working on Nokia's Symbian S60 platform after June 30, 2017, but its renewed support for S40 comes as a surprise. WhatsApp is currently used by over 1.2 billion users globally and claims to have over 200 million monthly active users in India.

In the past few months, WhatsApp has added new features like two-factor authentication, voice and video calls and now even has Status features, which is pretty similar to Snapchat. The service is also reportedly testing an option on iOS to recall sent messages.
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Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site.
Georgia's Fetal Pain Law Must be Enforced



NORCROSS, Ga., June 20, 2017 /



The demand came following Monday's ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court that dismissed a challenge to the ban.



"This law has been in limbo for too long," said GRTL President Ricardo Davis. "Officials need to do their duty and notify every abortion provider in the state that the law is in effect and that failure to comply will result in prosecution."



The law has been tied up in legal proceedings since a Fulton County Superior Court judge issued an injunction in 2012 blocking its implementation before it was scheduled to go into effect.



"Hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent children have been killed because this law has not been enforced," Davis added. "It's time to put an end to this injustice."



Monday's decision was based on the finding that the state is immune from being sued without its consent.



The challenge was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three doctors who provide abortions and claimed the law is unconstitutional.



GRTL was originally in favor of the bill, but withdrew its support after an exemption for "medically futile" pregnancieswhich many times are misdiagnosedwas added.



Such claims can also be used as an excuse for providing an abortion, ultimately denying the personhood of babies in the womb.



Georgia Right to Life promotes respect and effective legal protection for all innocent human life from earliest biological beginning through natural death. GRTL is one of a number of organizations that have adopted Personhood as the most effective pro-life strategy for the 21st century.

Share Tweet Contact: Genevieve Wilson, Georgia Right to Life , 770-339-6880NORCROSS, Ga., June 20, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) today called on state officials to strictly enforce a fetal pain law that bans abortions after 20 weeks of gestation.The demand came following Monday's ruling by the Georgia Supreme Court that dismissed a challenge to the ban."This law has been in limbo for too long," said GRTL President Ricardo Davis. "Officials need to do their duty and notify every abortion provider in the state that the law is in effect and that failure to comply will result in prosecution."The law has been tied up in legal proceedings since a Fulton County Superior Court judge issued an injunction in 2012 blocking its implementation before it was scheduled to go into effect."Hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent children have been killed because this law has not been enforced," Davis added. "It's time to put an end to this injustice."Monday's decision was based on the finding that the state is immune from being sued without its consent.The challenge was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three doctors who provide abortions and claimed the law is unconstitutional.GRTL was originally in favor of the bill, but withdrew its support after an exemption for "medically futile" pregnancieswhich many times are misdiagnosedwas added.Such claims can also be used as an excuse for providing an abortion, ultimately denying the personhood of babies in the womb.Georgia Right to Life promotes respect and effective legal protection for all innocent human life from earliest biological beginning through natural death. GRTL is one of a number of organizations that have adopted Personhood as the most effective pro-life strategy for the 21st century.
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Florida is the only state bringing business-backed charter schools to work sites so far, but several other states are encouraging them.



By EMERY P. DALESIO

Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C.  A rarely applied experiment in education enabling companies to host taxpayer-funded charter schools for their employees' children may be about to spread.

Florida is the only state bringing business-backed charter schools to work sites so far. The first launched in 1999, across the street from the Ryder truck rental company's headquarters near Miami.





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KENNEWICK (AP)  A bookkeeper who embezzled about $720,000 over a four-year period from the Richland doctor's office where she worked has been sentenced to five years in prison.

The Tri-City Herald reports that 43-year-old Jennifer Morris received the sentence Thursday in Benton County Superior Court.





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PASCAGOULA, Miss. (AP)  The U.S. Navy will pay Huntington Ingalls Industries $3 billion to design and build an amphibious assault ship at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Mississippi.

Construction is set to begin in late 2018 on the Bougainville, which will be capable of launching Marine Corps landing craft at water level, and accommodating helicopters and fighter planes on its flight deck. The ship is scheduled to be completed in 2024.





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By By PATRICK WHITTLE

Associated Press

BANGOR, Maine  Fewer of North America's Atlantic salmon are making it back to rivers to spawn, which bodes poorly for the future of the imperiled fish, an international conservation group says.

Atlantic salmon were once abundant in the rivers of New England and Atlantic Canada, but they are now endangered or have disappeared in parts of both areas. The salmon are born in rivers, swim to the Atlantic and return to their natal river to spawn.





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BOTHELL  An office building at 20001 North Creek Parkway, has sold for $26.7 million, according to King County records.

The sellers were three Oregon LLCs which, under a different name, acquired the property in 2007 for $23 million.





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Christians Care International Partners with Bila Tserkva to Open First Westernized Advanced Assisted Living Facility in Ukraine Contact: Greg Menken, 646-843-1826



KENSINGTON, Md., June 20, 2017 /



Don Horwitz, Executive Director of Christians Care International, recently met with the Mayor of Bila Tserkva, Gennady Dikyi, to arrange the partnership. The city will donate a building for the facility, and Christians Care International will hire and train the medical and psychological staff who will provide advanced Western-style care for elderly populations.



"The situation for many holocaust survivors and elderly in Ukraine is terrible," explained Horwitz. "Our new assisted living facility will spread God's love by helping these poor people who live alone in dire conditions get the world-class elder care they so desperately need."



CCI expects the facility to open in one year, which will operate in accordance with the highest standards of Westernized advanced care. Seniors at the facility will receive 24-hour medical care as well as psychological care that will stimulate healthy brain activity. The neuropsychologists will be trained by CCI's team of neuropsychologists based in Washington, DC.



CCI will provide all funding to open and operate the facility and to cover the costs of residents.



"This is a unique opportunity to partner with Christians Care International to open an assisted living facility here in Bila Tserkva," said Dikyi.



Since 1991, CCI (formerly known as 49:22TRUST) has helped more than 87,000 Jews make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. The organization cares for more than 1,700 Jewish orphans and children who have suffered from neglect and abuse and enables more than 500 Jewish teenagers to get a world-class education by attending high school in Israel.



Aliyah in the Jewish tradition means to "rise up" to Israel  to immigrate to Israel. CCI believes that in addition to helping Jews make aliyah to Israel, it is equally important to "raise up" the individual with programs like this new assisted living facility, so they can lead healthy, secure lives. CCI does this through its unique approach of treating the entire person by providing a direct continuum of care that combines on-the-ground, advanced therapeutic services with education, humanitarian aid and emergency shelter.



Share Tweet Contact: Greg Menken, 646-843-1826KENSINGTON, Md., June 20, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- Christians Care International (CCI), the only Christian charitable organization that provides a full continuum of direct support services to impoverished Jews of the former Soviet Union (FSU), will partner with the city of Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, to open the first Westernized advanced assisted living facility in Ukraine to care for Holocaust survivors and the elderly.Don Horwitz, Executive Director of Christians Care International, recently met with the Mayor of Bila Tserkva, Gennady Dikyi, to arrange the partnership. The city will donate a building for the facility, and Christians Care International will hire and train the medical and psychological staff who will provide advanced Western-style care for elderly populations."The situation for many holocaust survivors and elderly in Ukraine is terrible," explained Horwitz. "Our new assisted living facility will spread God's love by helping these poor people who live alone in dire conditions get the world-class elder care they so desperately need."CCI expects the facility to open in one year, which will operate in accordance with the highest standards of Westernized advanced care. Seniors at the facility will receive 24-hour medical care as well as psychological care that will stimulate healthy brain activity. The neuropsychologists will be trained by CCI's team of neuropsychologists based in Washington, DC.CCI will provide all funding to open and operate the facility and to cover the costs of residents."This is a unique opportunity to partner with Christians Care International to open an assisted living facility here in Bila Tserkva," said Dikyi.Since 1991, CCI (formerly known as 49:22TRUST) has helped more than 87,000 Jews make aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. The organization cares for more than 1,700 Jewish orphans and children who have suffered from neglect and abuse and enables more than 500 Jewish teenagers to get a world-class education by attending high school in Israel.Aliyah in the Jewish tradition means to "rise up" to Israel  to immigrate to Israel. CCI believes that in addition to helping Jews make aliyah to Israel, it is equally important to "raise up" the individual with programs like this new assisted living facility, so they can lead healthy, secure lives. CCI does this through its unique approach of treating the entire person by providing a direct continuum of care that combines on-the-ground, advanced therapeutic services with education, humanitarian aid and emergency shelter.
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Continuing our series on dog art around the world, we take a look at sculptures of canines in Canada that have managed to carve a place in history as well as in the hearts of dog lovers.

The Atlantic Region

Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador

Visitors to the Gander Heritage Memorial Park can pay their respects to the memory of Sergeant Gander, a mascot for the Royal Rifles of Canada who saved the lives of many soldiers during the Battle of Hong Kong, but lost his own life in the process. Created by sculptor Morgan MacDonald, the Newfoundland silently stands guard by a statue honoring the men he once served alongside.

St. Johns, Newfoundland and Labrador

Five breeds of dog are believed to have originated from Canada  the Canadian Inuit Dog, Labrador Retriever, the Newfoundland Dog, the Nova Scotia Duck-Trolling Retriever, and the Tahltan Bear Dog. The Lab and the Newfoundland are honored with statues in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador at Harbourside Park in the city of St. Johns.

A post shared by Sarah Schmidt (@sschmidt1300) on Apr 25, 2017 at 9:43am PDT

Central Canada

Meaford, Ontario

The true tale of a dog who embarked on a new chapter in his life after his rescue from an abusive guardian resulted not only in a classic novel (Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography of a Dog) by Margaret Marshall Saunders, but a park which bears his name. Visitors to the 8.5-acre park in Meaford will come across a bronze depiction of the beloved dog welcoming all to the area as well as a tribute in stone to Sirius, a Canadian police dog who lost his life on 9/11, a K-9 Memorial and a salute to service dogs. While at the park, dog lovers can pay their respects to Beautiful Joe at his flower-bedecked final resting place, which is topped with a plaque that tells the story of the book which brought worldwide attention to animal rights.

A post shared by Peter Snelling (@snellingpeter) on Jun 17, 2017 at 11:03am PDT

A tribute to Sirus, a Canadian police dog who lost his life on 9/11:

A post shared by Rosie Beans (@rosiefrenchton) on Sep 7, 2015 at 3:08pm PDT

Montreal, Quebec

Positioned in the Place dArmes square in 2013, a pair of bronze sculptures created by Montreal-born artist Marc-Andre J. Fortier are meant to depict cultural disparity in the country. A couture-clad woman cradling a fluffy French Poodle looks down her nose at the English- Bank of Montreal, while nearby a stylishly-suited man with an English Pug gives a haughty gaze to a building revered by French Canadians, the Notre Dame Basilica. Although the two hoity-toity humans never notice each other, their canine companions take no notice of minor differences and look intently at each other across the distance, ready to become fast friends.

The French Poodle

A post shared by Corey (@wood.corey) on Apr 21, 2017 at 11:17am PDT

The English Pug

A post shared by Palm Dream&Travel  Rob Palm (@palmdreamandtravel) on Jun 1, 2017 at 9:55am PDT

Montreal, Quebec

At the base of the Maissonneuve Monument to Montreals founder Paul Chomedey, sculptor Louis-Philippe Hebert added at depiction of Raphael-Lambert Closse and his faithful dog Pilote, whose bronze likenesses have both watched over the Place dArmes square since 1895.

By Jean Gagnon  Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4677696

Ottawa, Ontario

Paw prints and horseshoe impressions in the pavement lead visitors in Confederation Park to the Animals in War sculpture. Created by Canadian sculptor David Clendining, since November 3, 2012 a date deemed War Animals Day a representation of a stout-hearted military dog looks out on plaques which tell of the many Canadian dogs, horses, mules and pigeons who have laid down their lives in the name of freedom.

A post shared by Kris Simundson (@simundson_photography) on Jun 16, 2017 at 9:05am PDT

Toronto, Ontario

Playfully squirting streams of water, a pack of 27 pups perched on a three-tiered fountain in Berczy Park are making a big splash with Toronto dog lovers. The 26,000 pound creation by landscape architect Claude Comrier is scheduled to be officially unveiled on June 28, 2017.

A post shared by core team (@coreteam416) on Mar 2, 2017 at 4:56pm PST

A post shared by BuzzBuzzHome (@buzzbuzzhome) on Jun 18, 2017 at 4:54pm PDT

The Prairie Provinces

Edmonton, Alberta

Since 1988, five four-legged members of the Edmonton Police Service Canine Unit have lost their lives serving and protecting their community. In recognition of their bravery, in 2015 a monument was unveiled at the police departments kennels. Sculpted by Shirley Stephen Begg, a likeness of a K9 officer named Maverick stands guard over the names and memories of the citys fallen canine heroes  PSD Brix, Titus, Arry, Caesar and Quanto.

Saskatchewan

His novels are literary love stories to the natural world, and the statue of author Farley Mowat which stands on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan campus has been one way for Canadians to express their love for the renowned environmentalist. Erected in 2014 shortly after Mowats passing, the George Boileau sculpture includes the writers beloved canine companion, Chester.

An author whose works touched a universal chord with readers, in his lifetime Mowat sold more than 17 million books, which have been translated into 52 languages. Along with his look into the lives of Canadian wolves in the bestseller Never Cry Wolf and his urgent message to end the mass slaughter of whales in his book A Whale for the Killing, Mowat also told the true tale of his tail-wagging childhood chum Mutt in The Dog Who Wouldnt Be.

A post shared by Stacey (@smcwrites) on Apr 28, 2016 at 7:44am PDT

The West Coast

Vancouver, British Columbia

As dog lovers, it could be said that we figuratively put our pals with paws on pedestals. Artist Gisele Amantea has made that dogged devotion literal by putting an aluminum cast canine on a 25-foot perch. Commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program and TransLink Corporation, the seven-foot-tall poodle enjoys a birds eye view of commuters on Main Street and 17th Avenue.

Delighted to see everyone at @carfreemain today! Hope you all had a grand time! *wags tail* pic.twitter.com/EEVFYJ3lyg  Main Street Poodle (@MainStPoodle) June 16, 2014

Victoria, British Columbia

Known for her post-Impressionist paintings, since 2010 a realistic portrait of artist/writer Emily Carr by sculptor Barbara Paterson has greeted guests on the grounds of the Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria. Animals were her constant companions in life, and depictions of two of her furry friends  Woo the Javanese monkey and her dog, Billie  keep her image company. Fido-loving fans of fine art can find out more about Carrs pals with paws through her books, which include Emily Car & Her Dogs: Flirt, Punk and Loo, and Studio Billies Calendar: A Perpetual Calendar by Emily Carr.

Victoria, British Columbia

In the 1970s he was a constant presence in the life of Chateau Victoria Hotels and Suites owner Clive Piercy. Although he crossed Rainbow Bridge back in 1985, the German Short-Haired Pointer named Shaker can still be seen gazing admiringly at his favorite human thanks to the bronze sculpture that decorates a fountain outside the stylish retreat. Beloved by his pet parent, the Piercy family plot at Ross Bay Cemetery was chosen for the dogs final resting place.
The Marianna Police Department reported the following incidents for June 19, the latest available report: 28 traffic stops, one abandoned vehicle, one suspicious vehicle, three suspicious persons, one special detail assignment, one report of mental illness, one burglar alarm, one larceny, one trespass complaint, one accident, one illegally parked vehicle, four animal complaints, one fraud complaint, 24 non-residential property checks, one assist of a motorist or pedestrian, two assists of other agencies, two public service calls, three patrol requests and 13 home security checks.

The Jackson County Sheriffs Office and county fire/rescue reported the following incidents for June 19, the latest available report: One armed/dangerous person, two drunk driver reports, one drunk pedestrian, two hit-and-run vehicles, three accidents, two deaths, one stolen vehicle, one abandoned vehicle, one reckless driver, one suspicious incident, five suspicious persons, one escort, one highway obstruction, two verbal disturbances, one drug offense, 30 medical calls, two traffic crashes, three medical transports, four burglar alarms, four fire alarms, two reports of shooting in the area, seven traffic stops, one larceny complaint, five civil disputes, four trespass complaints, one lost property report, three follow-up investigations, one juvenile complaint, one assault, one suicide attempt or threat, one noise disturbance, one animal complaint, one disabled vehicle, seven property checks, one assist of a motorist or pedestrian, one public service call, five 911 hang-ups, one K-9 deployment, three general criminal registrations, four sex offender registrations, one welfare check, one transport, one patrol request, one open door or window discovered, one report of counterfeit money.
Point 27 Awards Little Elm First Responders Shields of Strength to Honor Detective Jerry Walker, Killed in the Line of Duty January 17 Contact: Marcia Davis, 972-834-5898



LITTLE ELM, Texas, June 20, 2017 /



Photo: Following gifts of Thin Blue Line Shields of Strength given by Atlanta-based nonprofit, Point 27, to the Little Elm, Texas Police Department Monday, Sgt. Nicole Shaw prepares to do a television interview in the public safety center, in front of a display case with mementos honoring a fellow- and fallen-officer Detective Jerry Walker. Walker was shot in the line of duty January 17.



For the surviving family members of fallen Detective Jerry Walker, Point 27 presented Folded Flag Pendant Necklaces inscribed with John 15:18, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."



In the Public Safety Center foyer, facing a glass case displaying Walker's photo, a folded flag and mementos honoring him, Little Elm Police Chief Rodney Harrison and Fire Chief Brian Roach received the gifts on behalf of their departments.



A letter signed by U.S. Army (Ret.) Col. David Dodd, director of Point 27, to Harrison, read: "Thank you for your leadership, courage, and perseverance in the face of great adversity. We pray for God's mercy, comfort, and strength for you and the brave men and women you lead.



"We know the loss of one of your own, Detective Jerry Walker in the line of duty January 17, has taken its toll upon each member of your department and all the first responders that served alongside him."



Police Chief Harrison expressed appreciation for the recognition and encouragement from Point 27, and the nonprofit's remembrance of Walker's sacrifice.



The Thin Blue Line dog tag necklaces are inscribed with the scripture Mathew 5:8 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God."



The Thin Red Line Shields of Strength are inscribed with Isaiah 6:8, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Who shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"



Last summer, following the Dallas police shootings, Point 27 awarded Dallas Police Thin Blue Line Shields of Strength and honored the families of those fallen officers with Folded Flag Necklaces.

Share Tweet Contact: Marcia Davis, 972-834-5898LITTLE ELM, Texas, June 20, 2017 / Christian Newswire / -- Point 27 , a national nonprofit based in Atlanta, Georgia, honored Little Elm Police Officers and Firefighters at the Public Safety Center this week with gifts of Thin Blue Line silver scripture-inscribed Shields of Strength www.shieldsofstrength.com/about-us/ for police and Thin Red Line Shields of Strength for firefighters.Photo: Following gifts of Thin Blue Line Shields of Strength given by Atlanta-based nonprofit, Point 27, to the Little Elm, Texas Police Department Monday, Sgt. Nicole Shaw prepares to do a television interview in the public safety center, in front of a display case with mementos honoring a fellow- and fallen-officer Detective Jerry Walker. Walker was shot in the line of duty January 17.For the surviving family members of fallen Detective Jerry Walker, Point 27 presented Folded Flag Pendant Necklaces inscribed with John 15:18, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends."In the Public Safety Center foyer, facing a glass case displaying Walker's photo, a folded flag and mementos honoring him, Little Elm Police Chief Rodney Harrison and Fire Chief Brian Roach received the gifts on behalf of their departments.A letter signed by U.S. Army (Ret.) Col. David Dodd, director of Point 27, to Harrison, read: "Thank you for your leadership, courage, and perseverance in the face of great adversity. We pray for God's mercy, comfort, and strength for you and the brave men and women you lead."We know the loss of one of your own, Detective Jerry Walker in the line of duty January 17, has taken its toll upon each member of your department and all the first responders that served alongside him."Police Chief Harrison expressed appreciation for the recognition and encouragement from Point 27, and the nonprofit's remembrance of Walker's sacrifice.The Thin Blue Line dog tag necklaces are inscribed with the scripture Mathew 5:8 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called children of God."The Thin Red Line Shields of Strength are inscribed with Isaiah 6:8, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Who shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"Last summer, following the Dallas police shootings, Point 27 awarded Dallas Police Thin Blue Line Shields of Strength and honored the families of those fallen officers with Folded Flag Necklaces.
A community corrections inmate reported to have walked away from a work site last Saturday was apprehended in Jackson County Monday evening.

The Fugitive Apprehension Division of the Jackson County Sheriffs Office, along with the Cottondale Police Department and the Florida Highway Patrol, took Shannon Lee Harrison into custody at a residence on Zion Street in Cottondale.

Harrison, 25, of Geneva County, was reported as an escapee from the Houston County Community Correctional Facility on Saturday, June 17, after he slipped away from a work detail, officials said.

With the help of the public, Harrison was located and taken into custody without incident. The residents where he was staying were unaware that he had escaped.

He also had outstanding warrants from Covington, Geneva, Houston, and Coffee counties, as well as a warrant from Holmes County in Florida.

Charges ranged from probation violations to burglary, theft, and forgery, as well as escape.

He was taken to the Jackson County Jail to await first appearance and will be extradited to other jurisdictions to face their various charges.

Sheriff Louis Roberts thanked the Cottondale Police Department and the Florida Highway Patrol for their assistance in the arrest.
It has become apparent in recent times that America is suffering from a crisis in civics education. Too many Americans lack clear understanding of how the government works, from the Electoral College to the line of succession to the presidency to the makeup of Congress.

In many states, including Alabama, state legislatures have established mandates for civics instruction with the hope that future generations of students will have an understanding of our government and how it works  at least at the level expected of naturalized citizens.

Thats why it was encouraging to see so many young people at Dothans Harley-Davidson dealership this past weekend participating in flag retirement ceremonies. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were there, assisted by Cub Scouts and the Dothan Chapter 87 Disabled American Veterans, to properly dispose of U.S. flags that had become too worn to fly.

Proper, respectful treatment of the U.S. flag, along with rules for its handling and display, is codified in another woefully disregarded piece of civic importance, the U.S. Flag Code.

These youngsters learned the importance of treating our nations flag with the dignity and respect it deserves. We applaud them, as well as the adults who took the time to pass along this important instruction.
A Houston County jury awarded $2 million to Suzette Osborne, former wife of Dr. Andrew Osborne, who was convicted of second-degree domestic abuse against her in 2011.

Suzette Osborne filed a civil suit against Osborne about four and a half years ago, claiming assault and battery. On Monday, the jury awarded Suzette Osborne $800,000 in compensatory damages and $1.2 million in punitive damages.

According to police reports, Osborne struck Suzette Osborne more than 24 times in the fall of 2010. Court records said Suzette Osborne suffered vertigo and diminished hearing as a result of the incident.

Osborne was convicted of second-degree domestic violence in June 2011 and later appealed the conviction. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction in 2012, and a later petition for a new trial was denied.

Osborne formerly was the chief of staff at Flowers Hospital. Osbornes medical license was suspended in 2011, but it has since been reinstated. Osborne is the chairman of the department of anesthesiology at Midtown Medical Center in Columbus, Georgia.

Adam Jones, a Dothan attorney who represented Suzette Osborne, said Osborne has changed his story concerning the incident, apologizing for his actions at his sentencing hearing, but later disputing his former wifes version of events.

 I think this verdict leaves little doubt, said Jones. No one believes this is a hoax or scam. He needs to own this.
Fine Gael Deputy Fergus ODowd, said the US Government approval of the unique, high quality of Irish Beef is great news for beef farmers here in Louth

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has approved the proposal to advertise the unique qualities of Irish beef in the United States. This decision will accelerate its activities with beef buyers and retailers and bring its message closer to the US consumer.

The USDA seal of approval has now been given to the claims that Irish beef is:

More than 80% grass diet

From farms participating in Bord Bias Origin Green Sustainability Scheme

Fully traceable from farm to fork

From quality assured farms and processing systems

Pasture for more than 6/7/8 months per year

Raised on family farms

Raised without the use of growth hormones

Treated responsibly with use of antibiotics

The announcement came following a meeting involving the USDA, Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine Michael Creed and Tara Mc Carthy, CEO, Bord Bia on day one of the trade mission to the United States.

Deputy ODowd said: Our beef is rated as among the best in the world in terms of quality. This decision by the US Government is a real boost to our beef farmers here in Louth.

The Quality Assurance and animal movement systems we have in Ireland are among the finest in the world. This enables to collect a vast amount of information in our farm audits. This is key to backing up our claims and demonstrating the quality of our product.

The claims we make to US customers are independently verifiable at farm and animal level and the Irish beef exporters who wish to use these marketing claims must comply with the requirements of the USDA Process Verified Program and be independently audited.

I want to thank Minister Creed, his staff and Bord Bia for their hard work in making this decision possible.

Following the meeting with the US Department of Agriculture, Minister Creed said I am extremely pleased that we have received the green light to proceed with a measure which has the potential to add significant value to our beef offering to the US.

Irish beef processors will now have the opportunity to market their produce as Irish Grass Fed Beef subject to adherence to the verification process.

Such a marketing tool will allow our beef exporters pursue the Premium US beef market and will boost Irish beef exports to the US which will be crucial in terms of Brexit mitigation.
The Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has encouraged small business operators to take advantage of the Governments instant asset write-off extension.

More businesses are now eligible to buy equipment (new or second hand) up to $20,000 and write it off immediately after legislation passed the Senate. Multiple claims can be made under the program. Small business has also been redefined for tax purposes as having a turnover less than $10 million, up from $2 million. Ombudsman Kate Carnell welcomed the changes.

The instant asset write-off program enables small business to immediately deduct assets costing less than $20,000 instead of claiming deductions over a number of years, she said.

This is a welcome incentive for small business to invest, which provides benefits for the broader economy and employment.

Carnell said anecdotal evidence suggested only a small proportion of eligible businesses were taking advantage of the opportunity.

I encourage small business operators to invest before June 30 and claim the tax deduction, she said.

Assets that cost $20,000 or more cant be immediately deducted.

Carnell said small businesses in some industries would generally require assets above the $20,000 threshold.

Effectively, this means that some industries are disadvantaged, she said.

It makes more sense for the threshold to be raised so that all businesses can benefit, upgrade their assets and continue to grow to benefit the economy.

I will continue to urge the Government to lift the $20,000 threshold because for some industries, like farming, its too low for them to purchase equipment.

For more information visit www.business.gov.au/smallbusiness
With over seven million monthly active Instagram users on the platform in Australia, there is a real opportunity for businesses to tap into this community to create authentic customer relationships and turn their passion into a business.

With 80% of Instagram users following a business and the average Australian checking their feed 11 times a day, 6 out of 7 days per week, there are obvious advantages for a small to medium business (SMB) to be on the platform.

75% of Australians say that they are inspired by individual Instagram posts and are taking action; whether that is visiting a website, searching for more information, actually shopping or telling a friend. Further to this, 60% of people say they learn about new products and services from seeing a post on Instagram.

With the development and introduction of new features and tools on Instagram such as Business Tools and Instagram Stories, businesses now have new and multiple ways to maximise their exposure, connect with their customers, and build a loyal community of customers with whom they can share the business story and everything in-between.

Instagram Business Tools unlocks valuable opportunities and insights for SMBs, allowing any brand, venue or entrepreneur to connect directly with their customers. Services include a business profile, contact button functionality, insights, analytics and promotional tools. Its easy and its free for all users.

Instagram 101 for any business is to be visual, be consistent and know your target audience; however Instagram has shared its top three tips to help establish your business on the platform:

1. Set up a business account

Firstly, set up a business specific profile for your brand, by separating your personal and business accounts. This allows users to keep personal interests detached from professional and creates a clear differentiation between the two allowing you to market your brand in a unique way.

When creating a business account we recommend streamlining your business profile with any branding that exists on other platforms, such as the consumer facing website, by keeping a consistent photo and name for the account. This makes it easy for users to recognise your brand profile.

Make sure your bio is catchy, interesting and able to hook people in right away. By including a link in the bio section back to the brand website you directly connect people to the point of sale and create a call-to-action.

2. Post the right thing for your audience

The most successful brands on the platform share images that tell a story and create an emotional connection to their target audience. By thoughtfully crafting content that is relevant to your audience, you will have the best impact. That means businesses dont have to invest time and money on a photo shoot or production. As long as you are telling your story visually and utilising the tools Instagram has to offer, there is a spectrum of ways to find success.
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Government officials working to cover up questionable behavior is as old as politics itself but its rare to catch them boldly doing it in real time. That, however, is exactly what Progress Michigan staff did during a recent investigation into what appears to be improper use of private emails to do government business and possibly doing political work while at work on taxpayer time. This investigation is being done as part of Progress Michigans new project, Great Lakes Beacon.

From their original reporting:

The Great Lakes Beacon has obtained an e-mail sent by Schuettes Director of Public Affairs, Rusty Hills, from his personal Gmail account, sent during work hours after the attorney general held a press conference announcing new charges in his offices Flint Water Crisis investigation, this time against Department of Health and Human Services Director Nick Lyon, and the states Chief Medical Executive, Eden Wells, among others, for their alleged roles. Hills, who has previously served as Schuettes campaign manager, sent an e-mail on June 14th to Interested Parties roughly two hours after Schuette announced the charges in a press conference. And while Schuette has not yet declared himself a candidate of any sort, he is widely seen as a potential contender for the GOPs gubernatorial race in 2018. Though the content of the e-mail tracks Schuettes Flint messaging, the fact that Hills appears to have used his personal Gmail account for the matter raises many questions: Who received the e-mail? Was it political or campaign-related? If so, why is Hills cultivating Schuette donors and/or campaign staff during work hours at taxpayer expense? And if the e-mail was about state business, why wasnt a government e-mail account used?

This past Monday, June 19th at 11:34 a.m., Progress Michigan reached out to Attorney General Bill Schuettes staff to inquire about a memo sent during the work day using a private email account. A half hour later, they emailed Hills and Schuettes spokesperson Andrea Bitely asking them to comment.

What happened next is pretty incredible. Bitely responded to the email at 1:34 p.m. saying that the memo in question was public. The memo you are referring to is a public memo shared as a supplementary explanation of the AGs announcement Wednesday, she told them. As such, I am happy to provide you with a link to where this is housed on the Department website (link to pdf provided), alongside the press releases, report and other public documents here: (link to Flint-related materials provided).

Heres when things got interesting. From reporting by Great Lakes Beacon:

[M]etadata analysis of the PDF link provided shows the page was created on Monday at approximately 12:49 p.m. by Beth Nurenberg, who appears to be an analyst for the Department of Attorney General. That means a reproduction of Hills memo was created and posted merely 25 minutes prior to Bitelys response, and nearly an hour and half after the Beacon first requested comment. Documents have been provided in support of this claim. Upon the discovery of the Monday creation of the document, the Beacon responded, via e-mail at 1:31 p.m., to Bitely with more questions regarding when the document was posted online at the address provided and why Hills was using a personal e-mail in the first place, as well as a request for the recipients of the e-mail that Bitely said was a public memo. Bitely has not yet responded. The multiple webpages leading to the document in question appear to have been modified throughout the Beacons attempted discussion with the AGs office. There was an intermediary page with a link to the actual PDF of Hills memo, which when first viewed said memo to interested parties and was timestamped in the metadata as Monday, June 19, 2017, at 1:12 p.m. It then reverted back to letter to interested parties with a metadata timestamp of Monday, June 19, 2017, at 1:03 p.m. It has since reverted back to memo.

So, to sum it up, once Schuettes staff knew they had been caught red-handed improperly using private emails to conduct government work and, possibly, political work while on the clock, they began to edit a so-called public online document to cover their tracks. Progress Michigan staff tracked in real time the editing of the documents. If you click through to their documentation, you can see screenshots of the real-time editing of the memo.

Schuettes office has still not responded to questions about why this supposedly public work was being done using private emails, something Schuette himself was caught earlier this year.

The two top Republicans who will run for governor in Michigan in 2018 are AG Schuette and Lt. Gov. Brian Calley. Calley is forever yoked to the politically toxic Gov. Rick Snyder. Calley is running on a clean up government platform, an apparent effort to clean up the government run by his own Party and that he was the Number Two official of for the past 6+ years. Bill Schuette is exploiting the Flint Water Crisis to propel his own candidacy and to put as much distance as possible between himself and the corrupt Snyder administration. In the process, his staff appears to be engaging in potentially illegal behavior and then clumsily attempting to cover it up once they got caught.

The Republicans running our state are, without question, a hot mess of corruption and illicit, self-dealing behavior. Its going to be up to us, the voters, to clean things up in 2018 by replacing them with honest government officials who are working in the best interests of Michiganders and not for their own personal gain.
A data contractor working on behalf of the Republican National Committee earlier this month allowed the personal data of 198 million voters to be exposed online, marking the largest ever leak of voter data in history, according to the cybersecurity firm that discovered the incident.

Deep Root Analytics left 1.1 terabytes of sensitive information  including names, home addresses, dates of birth, phone numbers and voter registration information  on a publicly accessible Amazon Web Server, according to UpGuard.

The data, which was compiled during the 2016 presidential cycle by DRA and two other firms  Target Point Consulting and Data Trust  included modeled ethnicities and religions.

The previous record for a voter data leak was the exposure of 100 million records in Mexico, UpGuard reported.

Deep Root acknowledged that a number of files within its storage system had been accessed but claimed that the exposed database had not been built for any specific client. Rather, it was the firms proprietary analysis meant for television advertising purposes.

The information accessed consisted of voter data that already was publicly available and readily provided by state government offices, Deep Root maintained.

Nevertheless, it took steps to prevent further access and took full responsibility for the breach.

Open Access

Deep Root Analytics uses standard industry protocols and last updated its security settings on June 1, it said. However, access was gained through a change in access settings on that same date.

Although the company does not believe it was hacked, it has hired an outside cybersecurity firm, Stroz Friedberg, to conduct a thorough investigation.

The only person known to have access to the data was Chris Vickery, the Upguard researcher who discovered the problem, said Bill Daddi, a spokesperson for Deep Root.

That being the case, its unclear that the incident can be characterized as a data exposure issue, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Deep Root Analytics was founded in 2013 by Alex Lundry, a data researcher who worked on Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign, according to Upguard.

The firm uses proprietary big data analytics technology to target campaigns toward specific voters. It has provided services for numerous major political campaigns, including Chris Christies 2013 re-election campaign for New Jersey governor, the Greg Abbotts 2014 campaign for Texas governor, and Donald Trumps 2016 campaign for U.S. president.

Deep Root informs local ad buys, but it does not engage in digital marketing or targeted outreach, according to Daddi.

Amazon Cleared

Based on information made available about the leak, it appears that Amazon Web Services is not responsible for the incident, said Mark Nunnikhoven, vice president for cloud research at Trend Micro.

From the little technical detail that is available, it appears as if the company managing the data left it exposed to the public, he told the E-Commerce Times. This is not the default setting for the service they used. Making data publicly available is a feature of this service, but one that requires explicit configuration.

Vickery, a cyber risk analyst at Upguard, regularly searches for misconfigured, publicly exposed databases as part of his job, said Kelly Rethmeyer, a spokesperson for the company.

Unfortunately, the specter of misconfigured cloud-based storage servers spilling data into the open Internet continues to be an all too-common phenomenon, as evidenced by Chris discovery of an RNC data firms publicly accessible database exposing the details of 198 million potential voters, she told the E-Commerce Times.

While the scale may be unprecedented, the core issues driving the exposure are pervasive around the Internet, noted Sam Elliott, director of security product management at Bomgar.

This significantly increases the risk of that information being leaked, he told the E-Commerce Times, or a breach occurring due to a contractor being compromised, as was the case in the infamous OPM breach.

Organizations falsely assume that outside contractors operate under the same security standards as the hiring entity, Elliott told the E-Commerce Times.

They should set policies in advance, with the backup of full enforcement, he recommended, because organizations in the public and private sectors alike are increasingly working with external vendors who either have access to or store sensitive data.
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New Program Aims to Make More Teachers in the Region

If you live in Halifax County, and want to be a teacher, but perhaps commuting to Elizabeth City State University each day for classes is a problem, there is now a solution.

Halifax County Community College (HCC) and ECSU have partnered to create the 2+2 Teacher Prep Program, and that means Halifax students dont need to leave home to complete a four-year degree.

Many times in the rural communities of northeastern North Carolina, the opportunity to complete and four-year degree and do great things is thwarted due to economic constraints. There are people who just cant leave a full time job to attend university classes an hours drive or more from home.

The 2+2 program is one way to solve that dilemma. Students living and working in Halifax County can now complete their Associate Arts degree and then enroll at ECSU, but not leave the Halifax campus to finish a four-year degree in elementary education.

Halifax students participating in the program take all of the courses at HCC, or through distance learning. Students are provided with orientation to help them navigate the transition from a community college to ECSU.

There is a site coordinator at HCC, and student advisors are available to assist the 2+2 Program students.

Elizabeth City State University adjunct professor, Dr. Mary Stephenson, is working in Halifax County to facilitate the program. According to Dr. Stephenson, students are able to successfully finish their degrees while working full time jobs because classes are held in the evenings.

These students could not have done the degree without the 2+2 Teacher Prep Program, said Dr. Stephenson.

Some students will go on to graduate school, earning a graduate degree or National Board Certification in teaching.

Teachers are needed all across North Carolina. Elizabeth City State Universitys original mission when founded in 1891 was to produce teachers for the region. Today ECSU is still producing teachers, and creating stronger programs to provide educators for years to come.
When New Orleans officials removed the last of four Confederate monuments in the city in May, social studies teacher Hayley Breden didnt avoid the potentially explosive topic. Instead, she used it as a jumping-off point for a discussion in her Holocaust and Human Behavior class on how history is remembered, transmitted, and commemorated.

One of the assignments was to pick a shameful event, write a paper, and create an educational piece or memorial to teach it to otherswhat are appropriate and not appropriate, effective and not effective ways to remember events in the past? said Breden, a teacher at Denvers South High School. The Confederate-monument issue paired really well with that question.

The spate of efforts to remove the statues stretches from Baltimore to St. Louis to Arizona and shows no sign of abating by fall. Given how the movement is steeped in sensitive questions of identity, racism, and oppression, talking about it with students poses significant challenges for teachers, say history and education experts.

Yet as Bredens unit suggests, done well, such discussions can create rich learning opportunities. The topic provides an entry point in U.S. history classes for discussing the Reconstruction era following the Civil War and the subsequent introduction of Jim Crow oppression.

More generally, the controversy offers lessons on how students can learn to read and interpret the monuments that populate public spaces all over the United States, said Kevin M. Levin, a Civil War historian and a former high school history teacher in Charlottesville, Va.

The monuments themselves tell two stories. On the one hand, its about Robert E. Lee. Its also about what the people who put up the monument want you to believe about Robert E. Lee, he said. In suggesting history is being erased by removing these statues, whats often missed is that monuments already erase historyby selecting what will be remembered and how it will be remembered.

One of the difficulties of approaching the topic of Confederate memorials is that Americans in general have a shaky grasp of Civil War history and an even worse understanding of the Reconstruction, leaving a vacuum that teachers need to be prepared to fill.

Often, curricula focusing on Reconstruction have emphasized significant political events, such as President Andrew Johnsons impeachment, rather than on the stories of the hundreds of freed slaves who rose to prominent positions as mayors, legislators, and governors during that time.

Were skipping over a 12-year period that helped lay the foundation for the civil rights movement, for example, with the Civil Rights Act of 1866 that was the first law to define citizenship and equal protection under the law, said Jeremy Nesoff, an associate program director for Facing History and Ourselves, a nonprofit group that provides professional development to secondary teachers on controversial topics, including the Reconstruction.

Lost Cause Thinking

Some of those omissions have roots in the continued prevalence of Lost Cause thinking. The term refers to a discourse that views the Civil War as a fight over states rights or culture, omitting what nearly all historians agree was the prime cause of the war: slavery. Most of the Confederate monuments now under debate were erected between 1880 and 1940 as Lost Cause mythology flourished, and as Jim Crow laws undid the Reconstructions promise of a racially integrated America.

Lost Cause depictions also dominated school textbooks through at least the 1970s, Levin said.

And while many curricula now reflect contemporary historiography about the war, the falsehood that it wasnt primarily fought over slavery remains influential, even among some who set classroom standards.

Look no further than Rep. Tommy Benton, a Georgia lawmaker who in March introduced a resolution to designate a Confederate History Month. The resolution conspicuously neglected slavery as the cause of the Civil War, and despite the ensuing controversy, the Republican lawmaker was recently named to a state panel on civics education.

Even for teachers who are up to date on their history, pitfalls await. For one, its easy for even well-meaning attempts at student discussion of monument removal to spill over into debates rooted in identity and ideology.

The Facing History group suggests having students probe some core questions firstfor example, what responsibility do Americans bear for confronting their history?and setting up rules for class discussion. Then, teachers should keep the talk anchored in content from primary- and secondary-source texts.

For a unit on the Confederate memorials, teachers might have students spend time analyzing the speech that New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu gave upon the removal of the final Confederate statue; an article on the black activists key to bringing public attention to the statues; and a New Yorker piece outlining both supporters and opponents viewpoints.

If you continue to return to the evidence and return to the texts and really interrogate that and make your arguments based on the texts, you can deepen students critical thinking about an issue, rather than prompting a reaction based on identity, the groups Nesoff said.

Breden used a similar strategy in her Denver classroom. Whenever I talk about something in class that might be uncomfortable for students, I try to have them talk about a piece of writing or a video clip, rather than something about themselves, she said.

Levin, the Civil War historian, has in the past used the monuments themselveswith plenty of structured preparationas the centerpiece of a lesson.

During visits to the Robert E. Lee memorial in Charlottesville, he had students put their research skills to use to answer increasingly sophisticated questions about the monument: What kind of a monument is it? How is the subject depicted? How visible is it? Who paid for it? What was said about it when it was dedicated? Would we dedicate a monument to Robert E. Lee today? If a contextual marker was placed in front of it, what would it say?

One of the things I really want my students to understand is that monuments are not really about history; its about the people who put it up, he said. I want them to think about what that means today ... And how does that shape how we see that monument today?

Connecting the past to the present is a lesson that Breden especially appreciates, because the echoes of the Lost Cause ripple even in true-blue Denver. Benjamin Stapleton, the citys mayor from the 1920s to the 1940s, had ties to the Ku Klux Klan, and the city was then a stronghold for white supremacists, she noted. For decades, South High Schools mascot was Johnny Rebel, a Confederate soldier. (Souths mascot is now a gargoyle.)

Those connections helped make the Confederate-statue controversy relevant to her students. Shes proud that their discussions yielded different, but well-reasoned, arguments. Some of her students favored removing the statues to museums where they could be better contextualized; some favored coupling them with new explanatory plaques or exhibits acknowledging the horrors of slavery. But all of them thought about what it must be like for black residents to walk by or eat lunch in a park featuring a Confederate monument.

They felt like it was really important to consider where the statue is, she said, and how accessible it is to people.
Vietnam's aquaculture industry faces more challenges

Besides the anti-dumping duties imposed on tra fish and shrimp by the US, Vietnam's aquaculture industry has to hurdle several other challenges to achieve its export targets this year, according to expert observers.

These include tighter regulations on food safety imposed by the South Korea, Australia and the EU; import duties, technical barriers set by importers; and the pressures of competition.

Drought, saline intrusion and maritime environmental incidents in the central region have also continued to shrink material resources.

Economist Le Dang Doanh said Vietnamese exporters must quickly overhaul production and trading models to deal with the risks of climate change and changing market demand.

"Businesses and farmers in the Mekong Delta must break lifetime habits and flexibly respond to market fluctuations and signed contracts. Quality must take precedence over quantity", he was quoted as saying in a report by VOV5 (Radio The Voice of Vietnam) as relayed by vietnamnet.

"Production models must adapt to climate change. For example, if a kilo of shrimp is worth 20 kilos of rice, farmers in areas of brackish water should alternate rice crops with shrimp crops", he further stated.

Shrimp is one of Vietnam's key export earners but it must prevail against fierce competition and adapt to stricter importer requirements.

Completing action plan

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam also said that in order to achieve the target of US$10 billion in shrimp exports by 2025 (Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc set this goal last February), the sector should focus on increased application of scientific and technological breakthroughs to seedlings, food production and epidemic control.

Tam noted said that this year the aquatic sector intends to complete an action plan for developing Vietnam's shrimp industry until 2025.

"We should increase science and technology application to productivity in the areas of intensive farming and shrimp raising using industrial methods. The current brackish shrimp farming area of 140,000 hectares can be expanded in a short period of time, and the current average productivity of 4 tonnes per hectare can rise to 6 or 8 tonnes.

"We need to restructure the 600,000-hectare shrimp farming area, design policies to attract businesses, organise production households into cooperatives or associations linked with enterprises, and apply advanced science and technology", Tam said.

Vietnam expects to earn US$2.8 billion from aquatic exports in the first five months, up 10.4% from last year.

The US, Japan, China and South Korea are the leading importers of Vietnamese aquatic products.
To build the largest and most complete Amateur Radio community site on the Internet - a "portal" that hams think of as the first place to go for information, to exchange ideas, and be part of whats happening with ham radio on the Internet. eHam.net provides recognition and enjoyment to the people who use, contribute, and build the site. This project involves a management team of volunteers who each take a topic of interest and manage it with passion. The site will stand above all other ham radio sites by employing the latest technology and professional design/programming standards, developed by a team of community programmers who contribute their skills to the effort. The site will be something of which everyone involved can be proud to say they were a part. We welcome your comments. The eHam.net Team, Revision 07/2020.
Youssra Nawasra

Growing up in Deraa, Syria, Youssra Nawasra always wanted to be a fashion designer. Then the civil war broke out. When she arrived in Lebanon as a refugee, her plans seemed like a distant dream, until she took a training class with a local non-profit called Al Majmoua. Courses in sewing, business management and finance led to a job as a seamstress and she now is thinking of starting her own business with a small loan from Al Majmoua, which has twice received financing from the European Investment Bank. A new window opened up in my life, says Youssra, and there was light again.

The root causes of the current migration crisis are complex and global. But millions of ordinary people like Youssra have seen their lives fall apart. How the EU can respond to the plight of people like Youssra will be a key focus for EIB President Werner Hoyer at the United Nations Summit for Refugees and Migrants in New York this week. He will lay out how the EU Bank and its partner Development Banks and International Financial Institutions can help cope with the refugee crisis and the longer term challenge of migration. He will be setting out the EIBs new Economic Resilience Initiative, which is now ready to go.

Migration crisis and the EU bank

The EIB is currently working on a series of new initiatives combined with existing programmes to help give communities in regions troubled by poverty, climate change, and violent conflict a real chance of building a settled and sustainable existence as close to home as possible.

War is the most obvious reason people become refugees. But poverty and the impact of climate change are two important factors that drive people to leave their homes in search of a better life elsewhere. The EIB has just announced a EUR 800 million initiative to increase investment in the most fragile and vulnerable areas of Africa, including the Sahel region just below the Sahara, around Lake Chad and in the Horn of Africa. The scheme will provide an essential alternative to life threatening journeys and uncertainty in Europe, President Hoyer said.

When people can look forward to a dignified and peaceful life in their own countries and are protected from conflicts and natural disasters, they have every incentive to build their future where they really feel at home. EIB President, Werner Hoyer

Projects to improve water and sanitation in cities on the edge of the Sahara, energy supply to remote rural areas in East Africa, and financial security for vulnerable smallholder farmers are have already been identified, as have measures to strengthen the role of public banks in the Horn of Africa.

An EIB investment helped back ITWorx's school for Syrian refugees in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley

Resilience and the migration crisis

The origins of the current refugee crisis lie in violent conflicts beyond the borders of Europe. The EIB aims to invest in the communities and people affected, to create opportunities for those fleeing to nearby countries to escape violence and persecution. The idea is that, when peace comes, it will be easier for them to return to their homes.

This is the idea that lies at the heart of our Economic Resilience Initiative. Focused on the Western Balkans and Europes Southern Neighbourhood, which covers North Africa and the Middle East, the initiative would substantially increase EIB financing in these regions: a new EUR 6 billion in addition to the EUR 7.5 billion already planned.

It will combine support for the private sector, particularly for young people and women, with more investment in socially important sectors like water, health and education. The Bank estimates this additional financing would trigger around EUR 15 billion in additional investments from 2016 to 2020, taking the total EIB mobilisation of investment in the regions to some EUR 35 billion.

The initiative aims to ease the pressure on those countries hosting huge numbers of refugees, and to provide more opportunities for those driven from their homes by investing even more in the overall development of these economies.

Support for individuals

As Youssra Nawasras story shows, EIB support can touch individual lives in a very direct way. Supported by EU grants, the EIBs first microfinance operation in Jordan was with Microfund for Women, which provides microloans and training to help low-income women, both native Jordanians and now Syrian refugees, to start small businesses, provide for their families and regain confidence.

An online education company ITWorx, owned by EIB-backed EuroMena Fund, set up a school in a camp for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Children who havent been able to attend school for years, now study a cloud-based version of the Lebanese curriculum on $60-tablets with the aid of only a couple of teachers. ITWorxs initiative is aimed at rebuilding the future of those who fled the civil war in their homeland. You can fight the refugee problem politically, says Romen Mathieu, ITWorx chairman. But the best way to fight is with culture and investmentsby creating hope in the region.

Silicon Badia Impact Fund also benefited from EIB backing. The Jordan-based fund provides mentorship, expertise and finance to young people designing tech products and solutions to tackle the regions numerous problems. Managing Director Emile Cubeisy describes the business environment in which the fund operates as a golden era of entrepreneurship born from very difficult circumstances.

The EIB is committed to boosting the resilience of economies and individuals across the regions affected by migration and forced displacement. Our support will mean that as many people as possible will be able to live a dignified and peaceful life at home. It should also mean that those who do need to move will not have to travel too far and will be able build skills which will be useful on their return. Above all, our support should bring the light back into peoples lives, the way it did for Youssra.
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Scientists from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the ESRF have taken the first 3D snapshots of a sperm protein attached to a complementary egg coat protein at the beginning of fertilisation. The study reveals a common egg protein architecture that is involved in the interaction with sperm in both mollusc and mammals and is published in the journal Cell.

The encounter between female and male gametes at fertilisation is one of the most fundamental processes in biology because it transmits the genetic information to the next generation and marks the beginning of a new life. Although egg and sperm were first observed centuries ago, how sperm recognises the coat of the egg and penetrates it has remained unknown.

Using X-ray crystallographic data collected at the ESRF's ID29 beamline, the team first visualised the sperm-interacting regions of two egg coat proteins, ZP2 and VERL. These are respectively found in mammals - including humans -, and in the marine mollusc abalone, a classic model system of invertebrate fertilisation. Remarkably, both ZP2 and VERL contain repeated sequences that play a key role in gamete recognition.

Mammals and molluscs are thought to be separated by 600 million years of evolution, and their sperm receptor proteins are almost completely different in sequence. However, comparison of the structures of ZP2 and VERL repeats conclusively demonstrates that both proteins share a common 3D architecture, says Luca Jovine, Professor of Structural Biology at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition and the Center for Innovative Medicine at Karolinska Institutet.

The ESRF played an important role in the research: The determination of the structures reported in this study was possible thanks to great performance of the ESRF beamlines, explains Luca Jovine. The collaboration between the ESRF and Jovines team has been going on for many years and has always been very fruitful. Back in 2010, the team reported the structure of ZP3, another major egg coat protein from vertebrates that has also been implicated in sperm binding. However, that study did not show how the egg coat interacts with sperm at the atomic level.

Lock and key mechanism

The research group determined crystal structures of different VERL repeats bound to lysin, the counterpart protein of VERL on abalone sperm. This gave an unprecedented view of how gametes recognise each other in a species-specific way at the beginning of fertilisation.

Abalone was our system of choice for this investigation, as it is one of the few organisms where complementary egg coat and sperm proteins are known. Moreover, fertilization in abalone is highly species-specific: even if different species of abalone spawn in the open sea and there are overlapping habitats and breeding seasons, hybrids rarely occur, says Jovine.

The VERL-lysin complex structures also suggest how lysin opens a hole into the egg coat, allowing sperm to penetrate into the egg.

Gamete recognition was first compared to a lock and key mechanism more than one hundred years ago. Our study provides the first example of how this is achieved at the very beginning of fertilisation, concludes Luca Jovine.

VERL/lysin interaction. a) VERL VR3/lysin complex show in cartoon representation, VR3 (dark pink) and lysin (blue). b) Surface representations of VR3 (left) and lysin (right), highlighting hydrophobic regions (yellow) at the interface with the respective partners. Main secondary structure elements involved in the interaction are marked. c) Proposed mechanism for egg coat recognition and penetration by sperm involves disruption of VERL repeat branches by lysin. Positively charged lysin molecules are represented by blue circles, with the hydrophobic VERL repeat-binding site shown as a yellow ellipse.

Daniele de Sanctis, scientist on ID29 at the ESRF, says that it is great to be part of this very exciting project that has already been running for many years. It is amazing to capture the molecular details of a crucial moment of the beginning of life and that the ESRF could help to illustrate it.

Reference

Isha Raj et al., Structural Basis of Egg Coat-Sperm Recognition at Fertilization, Cell, online 15 June 2017. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.05.033.

The research was supported by the European Research Council (grant 260759), the Center for Innovative Medicine, the Swedish Research Council (grant 2012-5093), the Goran Gustafsson Foundation for Research in Natural Sciences and Medicine, the Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg foundation, and an EMBO Young Investigator award to Luca Jovine.
Iraqi Kurds announced last week that they would organize a referendum on independence. Iraq is expected to oppose this move strongly  the leader of Iraqs Shiite Ammar al-Hakim coalition had mentioned already earlier this year that it would be against any such referendum. Mr. al-Hakim especially warned the Kurds against any attempt to try to annex oil-rich Kirkuk.

The Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani who has been serving as President of Iraqi Kurdistan announced that the poll would take place on 7 July in the disputed region of Kirkuk and three other regions that are claimed by the central government  Makhmour in the north, Sinjar in the northwest and Khanaqin in the east.

As expected, the European Union supported the territorial integrity of Iraq yesterday (19 June). An EU diplomat said there was hesitation over the vote, because in his opinion the major concern was the stabilization of the country and of its institutions within its territorial borders. The diplomat also added that the Kurdish referendum would not be mentioned in the Council conclusions but the message to both the central authorities of Iraq and the Kurds would be that they need to make progress with the process of reconciliation, engagement and discussion.

While the EU emphasizes the notions of sovereignty, stability, territorial integrity, the EU diplomat also admitted, when speaking to a handful of journalists on Friday (16 June), that if some level of autonomy within the border of Iraq emerges from the referendum and the subsequent internal process, this would a matter between them. The United Nations commented that it would not intervene in the planned poll.
Greece has blocked the efforts of the European Union to criticize Chinas human rights records by rejecting an EU statement at the United Nations. European diplomats said that this move undermined the blocs struggle to address Chinas crackdown on dissidents and activists. The EU seeks to promote free speech and end death penalty around the world and was meant to make its statement last week at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva but did not get the necessary support from all 28 EU states. It was the first time that the EU could not deliver its statement due to the lack of an EU-wide support.

Greece said that it decided to block the statement, calling it unconstructive criticism of China, and said that separate EU talks with Beijing outside the UN would be a better option. Greeces position is that unproductive and in many cases, selective criticism against specific countries does not facilitate the promotion of human rights in these states, nor the development of their relation with the EU, a Greek foreign ministry spokesperson said on Sunday (18 June).

The EUs statement on human rights, which is presented three times a year, gives the bloc a way to highlight human rights abuses around the world on issues that other states and actors are reluctant to raise. The Greek decision is a blow to European standing as a defender of human rights and raises questions whether the EUs soft power is powerful enough. The EU has welcomed China as an ally against the new administration in Washington in the fight against climate change and trade protectionism but the growing cooperation in this area also makes it more difficult for the EU to criticize Beijing on human rights issues.
Two civilians who were working for the European Union were killed in an Islamist attack on a Mali tourist resort. The four attackers, who had also held 36 hostages, were killed and other five suspected jihadists are being held in custody over the Sunday attacks (18 June). EU chief of diplomacy Federica Mogherini confirmed that the two victims were our colleagues  a Malian woman and a Portuguese man. She added that their deaths demonstrated how strongly the EU ties with the African country and the region as they are struggling to deal with the extreme poverty and an increasing terror threat.

Extremists are very active in the north and center of the country but attacks on civilians in and around the capital of Bamako are relatively rare. The EU has an advisory mission that helps train the Malian armed forces and a delegation in Bamako. Mrs. Mogherini stressed that the EU stands together with Africans in our fight against terrorism and added that these are difficult and dramatic hours which testify to how European and Africans are brothers and sisters in both the fight against terrorism and in the solidarity of our response to it.

EU foreign ministers were meeting in Luxembourg yesterday (19 June) to address counter-terrorism issues as well as the Africa-EU partnership and European support to Mali and the Sahel region. Brussels recently decided to provide additional funding of 50 million to the G5 Sahel joint counter-terrorism force. Our partnership is very strong and will be consolidated, strengthened on the occasion of the Africa-EU summit this November, Mrs. Mogherini commented.
Libya has been recently in the news due to the Manchester bomber who was a British national of Libyan descent. He is suspected to have been radicalized by the Islamic State in Libya and visited the North African country a few days before the attack. In Egypt, the attack on Christians south of Cairo was allegedly carried out by terrorists who had been also trained in Libya. In the meantime, Libya itself is on the brink of collapse, being permeated with instability and ongoing conflict.

Amidst declining engagement of the United Nations in the country, Egypt is increasingly seen as key to a new settlement in Libya. Cairo has both soft and hard power tools to deal with Tripoli. Egypt is key to Libya and Libya is key to Egypts security and economic interests. Estimated 750,000 Egyptians live and work in Libya, although this number represents a drop compared to 2 million Egyptian nationals who had lived in the country before Muammar Gadhafi was toppled. On the security front, Egypt is poised to prevent Libya from falling apart also due to the operations of al-Qaida and ISIS affiliates on Libyas territory. Egypts border with Libya has been vulnerable since 2011. As Cairo is fighting the Islamic State in the east of the country, the stability of its western border is quintessential.

Cairo also has another motivation  ideology. After the Muslim Brotherhood government had been ousted in 2013, Egypt declared the brotherhood a terrorist organization and has planned to suppress it in Libya as well. Egypt fears that if Islamist groups were to gain more support in Libya, the country may become a safe haven for the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. While it is always up to the United Nations to navigate the security situation in Libya, Egypt is taking over diplomatic initiatives. Yet, Cairo still needs the UN as a stabilizing factor and not the trigger of a new conflict in the relatively peaceful Western half of Libya.

Although Cairo has become a major player in the country, a road to stability also leads through Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and Abu Dhabi but also through Tripoli and Misrata. While it is key to ensure international support for a new settlement, Libyan buy-in is vital as well. Such an agreement will, however, need to be built around the independence of the military from the civilian government and the exclusion of the forces that Egypt considers too Islamic.

Does the Road to Stability in Libya Pass Through Cairo?  Commentary by Adel Abdel Ghafar & Mattia Toaldo  European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

(The Commentary can be downloaded here)
Hi All,



I've gone through some big changes in my life over the past year and a half. After receiving my 10 year residency card two years ago, my French husband and I decided to divorce. I've of course since moved, still living in the Ile de France region though. Anyway, I want to be able to remove his last name from my residency card (as well as update my address), especially if I ever want to get married again, or apply for citizenship (which I may attempt to do this year). Plus, in general it's just weird having his name on my card for whenever I need to use it, which I must admit is not often, but still.



We were married for a little over 5 years on the date of our official divorce which happened last September (2016).



I tried my chances at my new prefecture this morning (Nanterre), with all the required docs, but the "etrangers" line was literally a kilometer long. I still attempted to wait, but after two hours, we were told there were no more tickets and to come back another time.



My question is, is it worth it for me to change this on my card? I didn't realize getting it changed would be such a hassle at the lovely Nanterre Prefecture (which btw, has stopped receiving residency card address and civil status changes by snail mail since this February), and I must say, that waiting line really discouraged me. Plus, what if I signal some red flags? It would just be my luck to have some surly fonctonnaire take away my card or something, after I go in to try to make these changes, though from what I've read I should be in the clear considering my situation.



Anyone have any advice? Can I apply for citizenship with my current card, even if it's not up to date with my current status?
kernowexpat said: perhaps I should go knock on some agency doors or something Click to expand...

EverHopeful said: 'Freedom of movement' in the EU means that you can move to look for work for up to 3 months, but that you must have private health cover and sufficient resources to ensure that you will not be a burden on the social security system of the country you move to - otherwise you are not legal. Click to expand...

If you start off with a solid stint of travail saisonnier in an office for a French employer, that would be something to big up on your CV. It would also get you into the social security system, and depending on how long you work for, your rights would probably continue for a certain period after the work ends, if you don't find anything else straiight away.A random thought on that: if you'll be using computers as part of your job, how are your azerty skills? If you're not used to an azerty keyboard, that's something you could usefully acquire and practise on before you move. Getting q's and z's all over the place used to drive me demented for the first couple of weeks after I switched - best get over that phase in the privacy of your own home I think, rather than amusing your new colleagues with your bad language.In Caen, employment agencies have notices on the doors giving a couple of time slots per week when new candidates can queue up to apply to go on the books. Sign of the times, they don't need more job-seekers on their books, that's how bad it is round here. But saying that, I expect the employment situation would be somewhat better in Bordeaux.Absolutely don't give up on the dream if it's what you want but don't expect it to magically come true without proper planning. You really do need to find out how things work in real France as opposed to dream France, to know in advance what issues you're going to come up against and how you can deal with them. On the other hand, if the dream essentially consists of walking straight into a job without fluent French, renting a beautiful apartment without credentials, getting carte vitales and free healthcare just for the asking, etc, it would be a shame to spoil it by superimposing reality. Leave it as a nice dream for a winter's evening.Note that this is an EU requirement, not just France. I don't think it's any easier in Spain, for instance.
check for hotels in sultanahmet on agoda or booking.com and you can get a good deal. Blue mosque, hagia sophia and topkaki palace will be a 5-10 walk from your hotel. Spice bazaar, grand bazaar and bosphorous cruise will also be a 15-20 minute walk but you can get a tram for a few liras as well.
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On May 18, a four-alarm fire at the business center where the Spay-Neuter Assistance Program (SNAP) is located claimed the life of San Antonio firefighter Scott Deem. From this tragic loss of life to the disruption of SNAPs services, its been an emotional roller coaster for us all these past few weeks, says Marcia Lawler, executive director of SNAP.

While the clinic did not sustain damage, the staff didnt know that the night of the fire. They worried about the pets inside who finally were retrieved after midnight.

Service halted for several days. Fire officials let SNAP back in the building a few days later, but only to remove surgical equipment, since the electricity would be out for the next several days during the fire investigation.

SNAP was determined to relocate its operations and keep services going. Our staff is extremely dedicated to the mission, Lawler said. They gave up their day off to move the operations just because they care so much about the animals in our community.

Lawler got permission from Danny Earl to access Ingram Park Animal Hospital, a nearby vacant animal hospital that was empty and up for sale. It was a herculean effort by the SNAP team to get everything moved to that clinic, Lawler said.

SNAP operated in the facility for two weeks, using pet carriers and collapsible wire kennels for the patients since the cages had already been removed from the old clinic. They also used several mobile anesthesia machines for the surgeries.

While not the perfect scenario, SNAP continued providing spay/neuter services at about half its normal surgery rate.

Hour by hour, day by day, I kept thinking we have to keep going, Lawler said. Its crucial that SNAP, San Antonio Humane Society, Pet Shotz and the Animal Defense League consistently continue our community spay/neuter projects. We have made so much progress in San Antonio, but were not at a point where we can lose momentum. Animal Care Services is doing a fabulous job keeping the live release rate up, but if we stop now, we could lose ground on those accomplishments pretty quickly.

SNAP moved its operations back to its facility June 5 and is operating at full capacity again. Lawler realized, though, how quickly a nonprofit can experience financial stress when a revenue stream is suddenly disrupted and is reaching out to the community for help.

If you would like to help SNAP, you can drop off paper towels, computer paper, isopropyl alcohol, distilled water and hydrogen peroxide at its clinic at 6758 Ingram Road. Monetary donations can be made at snapus.org or mailed.

Lets help them out. It would be hard to imagine our community with SNAP.

Send your pet tips, stories and questions to cathy@petpundit.com. You can read her blog, Animals Matter, at blog.mysanantonio.com/animals.
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Three months after hiring an outside law firm to review how police detectives handled some evidence in the 2014 officer-involved shooting of Marquise Jones to ensure full transparency, the city says it will not release the report to the public, citing attorney-client privilege.

For Jones family, the refusal to disclose the law firms findings is another slap in the face.

When everything is said and done, when the officer has been (criminally) cleared, why wont they release it? asked Debbie Bush, Jones aunt. I dont understand why they wont release it.

I feel like it was a ploy to keep us quiet, she added. I dont think it was even conducted, if you want me to be totally honest.

The report purportedly focused on an internal police department investigation into the death of Jones, a 23-year-old father of one who shot in the back by an off-duty San Antonio police officer as he ran from the scene of fender-bender in the drive-thru of Chachos and Chaluccis on the far Northeast Side.

Officer Robert Encina said he shot Jones after Jones brandished a gun, though Encina admitted in court that Jones did not point the gun at him. A Bexar County grand jury voted not to indict Encina on criminal charges.

In April, a federal court jury heard evidence in a civil wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jones family and found that Encina did not use excessive force.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley and City Attorney Andy Segovia said in March they commissioned the report to ensure full transparency so that the parties involved, the City Council and the community have full confidence in the Citys handling of the investigative and litigation process.

In a statement Monday, Segovia said that the outside review did not find any facts that indicated illegal or unethical activity. He said the report included legal analysis and recommendations that related to the general investigatory process, which are being implemented.

Transparency comes from granting an independent set of eyes full access to review the facts and processes, Segovia said. We must balance the best interests of the Citys position with all other considerations.

A spokeswoman for Mayor-elect Ron Nirenberg declined to comment.

The move to commission the report came near the eve of the trial, after Segovia and City Manager Sheryl Sculley requested a meeting with a San Antonio Express-News reporter and announced that the San Antonio Police Department forensics team did, in fact, attempt to secure fingerprints from the handgun that police say Jones pointed at Encina. Previously, the city had claimed the handgun was not tested.

The city said no fingerprints were found on the weapon when it was tested in 2016 and maintained that Encina was justified in using force.

However, Sculley and Segovia said they hired Kyle Watson, a lawyer with Goode Casseb Jones Riklin Choate & Watson, a San Antonio law firm previously hired by the city, to review how some of the evidence was handled in an abundance of caution.

To our knowledge, there exists no evidence of any tampering or deliberate withholding of information by any officer within the chain of custody of the handgun involved in the shooting of Mr. Jones, Sculley and Segovia wrote in March in a memo.

In April, two weeks after the city hired the law firm, a reporter with the Express-News asked if the report was completed.

A spokeswoman with the city said the report wasn't completed and once it was, it would be protected under attorney-client privilege. The reporter asked if the city could legally waive its attorney-client privilege but received no response.

Between April 7 and May 15, the reporter asked for the report four more times.

On May 30, the spokesperson said the city would not release the report. Instead, it forward the request to the Attorney Generals office, seeking a ruling.

In a letter to the attorney general, the city argued that it did not need to disclose the report because the investigation report was a confidential communication, not intended to be disclosed to third persons 

In the statement, Segovia also said the civil lawsuit is in the appellate process, and therefore, the report doesnt have to be released.

The Jones familys attorney has requested a new jury trial.

A lawyer for the Express-News intends to file a response, arguing that the Texas Public Information Act permits governments to release factual portions of reports prepared under attorney-client privilege that do not contain legal analysis.

In its letter, the city also said it received a second request for the outside review from Roland Smith, a community activist. The city consolidated the requests into one.

In an interview with the Express-News, Smith says his request was much more broad: He requested all investigatory records regarding Jones death.

He also requested the names and credentials of all external consultants or advisers used by the city in relation to the investigation; the contracts for external consultants; and a copy of all press releases prepared by the city relating to Jones death.

Smith said he is also preparing a response to the attorney generals office, arguing that the city mischaracterized his request.

Obviously, there is nothing that can be done for Marquise Jones, Smith said, explaining why he requested the information. There is something we can do for his family  The Jones family is entitled to respect, to transparency, which has never been provided.

Questionable start

From the beginning, the Jones family was skeptical of the outside review.

The day before the city announced the hiring of the outside law firm, Daryl Washington, a lawyer for the family, filed an emergency motion to compel an inspection of the gun.

A pretrial conference in the wrongful death lawsuit was scheduled for the following day and the trial was set to begin in a week.

We should not be receiving this type of information on the eve of trial, Washington said at the time. Thats clearly bad faith.

Bush, Jones aunt, also said it was odd that the handgun was tested in January 2016, one month after a grand jury voted not to indict Encina. She wondered why the city didnt test the handgun prior, especially if lawyers wanted to prove that Jones was in fact carrying a gun. The Jones family has maintained that the gun was planted in a cover-up by the police department.

Additionally, the Jones family said the announcement was suspicious because this was not the first time the city withheld evidence.

In 2014, according to court documents, a lawyer for the family asked Chachos and Chaluccis to provide any photographs, video or audio recordings from the night of the shooting. An attorney for the restaurant replied, saying there was none, according to the documents.

But in 2016, according to Washington, Chachos provided surveillance video from the inside of the restaurant to the Bexar County District Attorneys Office. The Jones family found out about the video in February and alleged the city must have known about the evidence. City attorneys denied the claim.

From my perspective, when it comes to transparency, nothing about the case, from start to finish, even in the federal trial, there was no transparency provided anywhere in the investigative process, said Mike Lowe, founder of SATX4, a local community group similar to Black Lives Matter.

Lowe, who became a friend of the Jones family after Jones was killed, attended several days of testimony during the federal wrongful death trial.

Johnathan-David Jones, a community activist who has no relation to the Jones family, said he doesnt have confidence that the city tried to seek justice and tried doing the most it could for the family.

Ive been asked how the case was handled, Jones said. Either it was a cover-up or it was handled absolutely poorly. I imagine the report would show one of those two things.

eeaton@express-news.net

Twitter: @emilieeaton
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DEL RIO  The federal trial of two former Crystal City officials on multiple public corruption charges began Monday, but not before the judge gave one of them a public scolding.

Before the jury pool of 70 people had entered the courtroom, U.S. District Judge Alia Moses reacted angrily to a mysterious hearing loss claimed by former Crystal City Mayor Ricardo Lopez.

Lopez was also refusing the headset being offered by the court.

What kind of health problems could you have because of a headset? Moses asked the defendant, who claimed to be deaf in one ear and hard of hearing in the other, problems not evident in Crystal City.

The judge was having none of it and ordered him to stop making faces and to use the headset.

Mr. Lopez, quit playing games. You are in federal court. I dont want you to complain later on, especially on an appeal, she steamed.

Lopez and former City Manager and City Attorney James Jonas face an 18-count federal indictment that includes charges of bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud and theft of services. Some of the offenses carry maximum penalties of 20 years.

Four other co-defendants, including three former city councilmen who are expected to testify during the trial, have already pleaded guilty. They are yet to be sentenced.

In his opening statement to the jury, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jay Hulings minced few words in laying out the findings of a four-year government investigation.

This is a case about corruption, bribery, kickbacks and fraud, he told the panel of six women and nine men, including three alternates.

Hulings described four separate illegal schemes that he said the two defendants, either together or individually, perpetrated.

One, he said, involved Jonas soliciting bribes from Austin civil engineer Dan Hejl in exchange for getting city contracts and being able to collect what he was owed by the city.

The second alleged scheme involved San Antonio lawyer Manny Pelaez, who was recently elected to be the new District 8 councilman.

According to Hulings, Pelaez went to the FBI after Jonas approached him with a kickback scheme involving a solar energy company seeking to do a project in Crystal City.

After becoming a federal witness, Pelaez recorded conversations with Jonas about the illegal plan, Hulings said. Pelaez is expected to testify Thursday.

The third scheme involved an 8-liner operator from North Texas who allegedly paid cash in exchange for favors, including reduction of his city taxes, and other breaks the city could provide, such as lenient treatment by inspectors.

The fourth alleged plot involved deliberate misuse of money borrowed by the city for a $2 million energy project by Siemens Industry Inc. Instead of putting the money in an escrow account, as required, Jonas used it to pay his own salary, the city payroll and other unrelated expenses, Hulings said.

Defense lawyers painted a dramatically different picture of Jonas and Lopez, claiming the minor errors and innocent mistakes they committed were made out to be serious crimes by overreaching government agents.

The government had Dan Hejl set his sights on James Jonas. Dan Hejl was sent to Crystal City to pay a bribe. He was sent there to save himself, said Rogelio Munoz, who represents Jonas.

Hejl, he said, had earlier been caught by the feds paying bribes to public officials in Maverick County, but had not been prosecuted, leaving him in debt to the government.

Conceding that Jonas had accepted money on several occasions, Munoz said, Were not disputing that those transactions happened. Were only asking you to look at it in a full context.

In similar fashion, he said Jonas interactions with Pelaez, his former personal lawyer, did not constitute a crime. And the shortfall in the Siemens project fund should have come as no surprise either, he said.

You will see, no one was defrauded. The bank and Siemens both knew there were red flags, but despite that, they took a risky bet, he said of the project.

Representing Lopez, public defender Joseph Cordova painted his client as a naive and idealistic newcomer to the dangerous politics of Crystal City, whose only motive was to make things better.

He was taken advantage of by more experienced politicians, Cordova said.

jmaccormack@express-news.net
The National Park Service is saying heat stress likely caused the death of a 46-year-old woman who went hiking in Big Bend National Park on Sunday.

The woman and her male partner began hiking the Dog Canyon trail, known for its barren desert landscape and narrow limestone canyon, around mid-morning Sunday, according to public information officer Jennette Jurado.

The couple were from Cedar Hill, a suburb southwest of Dallas, Jurado said. The NPS is not yet releasing her name, pending notification of her family, she said.

By noon, the hikers began experiencing signs of heat stress. The womans partner then hiked back to the trailhead and flagged down a park visitor, who alerted park staff about 2:30 p.m., Jurado said.

About two hours later, park rangers and Border Patrol agents found the womans body near the trail. Heat stress is believed to be a factor, though a coroner will determine the official cause of death, Jurado said.

The fatality is the first in the park this year and the latest since October, when two people died in the park from heart attacks, she said.

In the past week, park staff have responded to at least four heat-related illnesses, with temperatures on the desert floor reaching up to 116 degrees, she said.

In those kinds of conditions, hiking out anytime in the afternoon can be an incredibly risky scenario, Jurado said.

bgibbons@express-news.net

Twitter: @bgibbs
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The U.S. Patent Office has granted San Antonio a trademark for an old nickname: Military City, USA.

For years many have referred to San Antonio as Military City, USA, and now we are officially a registered trademark, a name that no other city can claim, Mayor-Elect Ron Nirenberg said in a statement.

The Office of Military Affairs, headed by Juan G. Ayala, a retired Marine major general, worked for a year to obtain the trademark.

A lot of other cities have also had claims that theyre Military City USA: San Diego, Colorado Springs, Ayala said. The reason to make it official is that we think that we are truly Military City USA.

City officials traced the first use of the phrase to an ad in the San Antonio Light in the 1950s, Karen Rolirad, deputy director to Ayala, said.

Other cities were given the chance to challenge the patent, but had not built a strong-enough historical case, Rolirad said.

In the future, organizations wanting to use the phrase Military City, USA will have to contact the city attorney or public affairs office. City officials are still developing the process for organizations already using the phrase, Rolirad said.

The city received the trademark in March and approved a logo this summer, according to a statement.

The military presence in San Antonio alone contributes $48 billion to our economy and is the largest single employer in the area, said Sen. Jose Menendez. Its natural for San Antonio to officially be Military City, USA, considering our active and retired military population that help make this city unique and prosperous.

jlawrence@express-news.net
Energy Secretary Rick Perry added another thwack to the drum beat of the apocalypse on Monday when he said that carbon dioxide emissions are not the primary cause of climate change.

Most likely, the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in, Perry told CNBCs Squawk Box.

Thats not only nonsensical, its wrong: Like a thermostat, atmospheric carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that controls the Earths temperature, according to a 2010 study published in the journal Science.

Since humans are responsible for changing the level of atmospheric carbon dioxide, they then also have control over the global temperature of the Earth, stated an article on NASAs website that summarized the studys findings.

Carbon dioxide is the direct cause fueling an impending climate disaster, the article warned. There is no viable alternative to counteract global warming except through direct human effort to reduce the atmospheric CO2 level.

There will be no such effort from President Donald Trump, who announced this month that the United States  the Earths second-largest polluter  would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, an agreement for environmental action signed by 195 nations.

By denying reality, Perry isnt merely aping his boss. The former Texas governor also is repaying an energy sector that shoveled more than $2.5 million into his two presidential campaigns.

Perrys climate denial is nothing new. In his 2010 book Fed Up! he called the science that showed humans are causing climate change a contrived phony mess.

But wait! Heres something new and not apocalyptic: On Wednesday, Ron Nirenberg will become San Antonios next mayor, and on Thursday hell ask his colleagues  six of them new to council  to endorse the spurned climate accord.

Days before losing the runoff, Mayor Ivy Taylor ducked the issue, saying she still was determining whether signing a pledge on climate action would help San Antonio.

The climate, though, isnt about one city, just as it isnt about one nation. Taking no action at the local level would only imitate Trumps isolationist crouch, a posture that makes no sense in the face of a threat to the entire planet.

A single city, however, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Nirenberg said.

Council creates policy that can help reduce traffic congestion, work with CPS (Energy) on local power generation fuels, encourage private energy efficiency, reduce the carbon footprint of building developments, etc., he texted Monday. The actions necessary to reduce GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions happen largely at the local level.

Why bother doing this?

Without major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, up to 3 in 4 people will face the threat of dying from heat by 2100, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change. (Thirty percent of the worlds population already faces deadly heat waves.)

Yet humans keep turning up the heat.

In the United States, summers in more than 90 percent of cities have grown hotter since 1970  and cities in Texas and the Intermountain West are the most affected, according to data compiled by ClimateCentral.

Maybe Perry forgot how hot it gets down here when he blamed rising temperatures on ocean waters.

Fortunately, as of Friday, 323 mayors across the country had joined Climate Mayors, a network of leaders working together to strengthen local efforts for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and supporting efforts for binding federal and global-level policy making, according to its website.

If the President wants to break the promises made to our allies enshrined in the historic Paris Agreement, the group stated, well build and strengthen relationships around the world to protect the planet from devastating climate risks.

At ground zero for the lethal heat waves that accompany climate change, San Antonios new council should not need to think twice about joining them.

bchasnoff@express-news.net
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As light pours into the bone room at the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts, ghostly white shapes and faces emerge from the gloom. It is here that many of the plaster sketches and models by the schools founder and namesake, Pompeo Coppini, are stored.

Its all the bits and pieces of things hes done, said Charlotte Cox, president of the academy.

Those bits and pieces are part of a considerable legacy. Though he is perhaps not as well-known as might be expected, the sculptors work looms large in San Antonio, most notably - and quite literally - in the form of The Spirit of Sacrifice, the 60-foot tall cenotaph, or hollow tomb, honoring the fallen defenders of the Alamo.

Recently, Coppinis name has been back in the news, with talk of relocating the cenotaph as part of a major makeover of Alamo Plaza. In Austin, the sculptors statue of Confederate President Jefferson Davis recently found a new home at the Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin after it was removed from UTs Main Mall amid student protests.

Born in 1870 in Moglia, Mantua, Italy, Coppini grew up in Florence, where he studied at the Academia di Belle Arte. In 1896, he immigrated to the United States, arriving in New York with $40 in his pocket and no knowledge of English. Coppini found a modicum of success working as an apprentice to established French and American sculptors, but when the artist got wind of an opportunity in Texas, he packed his bags.

Coppini arrived in San Antonio just after Thanksgiving in 1901. In an oft-quoted passage from his autobiography, the sculptor described his surprise at finding himself in real Italian sunshine, with the same gorgeous blue sky ... the old houses resembling very much the historic villages and small towns of Sicily, or the extreme southern parts of Italy.

Coppini later established studios in Chicago and New York. But he ultimately made San Antonio his permanent home, living here until his death in 1957.

Though the cenotaph is Coppinis major work here, smaller works by the sculptor can be found around the city, including the bronze doors of the Scottish Rite Cathedral; the George Brackenridge statue at the park entrance on Broadway; the Ludwig Mahncke bronze bust across from Mahncke Park on Broadway; the relief over the doors of the Express-News building; and the Atom Allegorical figure at the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Beyond his artistic output, Coppini made an impact on the city, becoming involved in early efforts to preserve the Alamo by discouraging commercial development adjoining the chapel. As leader of a civic mens group called the Knights of Omala  thats Alamo spelled backward  and also known as the Phunny Phellows, he was also instrumental in the early days of Fiesta. In his later years, Coppini headed the art department at Trinity University.

After arriving in San Antonio, Coppini went to work with German sculptor Frank Teich. He was commissioned to model a statue of Jefferson Davis and four Confederate soldiers for a monument on the grounds of the state Capitol. The project was a resounding success.

From there, his career blossomed, said Ben Wright, director for communication at the Briscoe Center and curator of From Commemoration to Education: Pompeo Coppinis Statue of Jefferson Davis, now on view. He became the go-to guy for commemorative statuary.

In all, Coppini created 36 public monuments in the United States, most of them in Texas.

His relevance today is that such a large portion of Texas historic commemorative statuary was done by him and still stands, whether its statues at the University of Austin or the state Capitol or in San Antonio, Wright said.

The reason Coppinis work still stands has everything to do with his skill as a sculptor, Wright said.

A lot of Coppinis work, the relevance is found in the political radioactivity around it rather than the aesthetic quality, he said. However, the aesthetic quality remains salient because the reason some of his most controversial work isnt melted down or put in storage is that its beautiful.

One of his best-known works is the Littlefield Fountain Memorial at UT Austin. The 1933 piece depicts Columbia - the personification of the United States - on the bow of a ship, returning victorious after World War I. She is flanked by an Army soldier and Navy seaman. A trio of mythical creatures that are part horse, part fish surge through the water ahead of the ship.

His work has this sort of Renaissance feel to it, Wright said. I think that kind of look and feel was important to places like San Antonio and Austin, especially campuses like UT Austin, because it lent a sort of Western, educated dynamic to those spaces.

In 1937, Coppini established a studio at 115 Melrose in San Antonio. He needed the space to work on the cenotaph, a commission for the Texas Centennial. Coppini wanted to make the outdoor monument out of bronze. He favored bronze because he felt it would endure, but the architects in charge of the project wanted marble. Ultimately, Coppini was forced to work in stone.

About eight years later, Coppini founded the Classic Arts Fraternity, subsequently renamed the Coppini Academy, in the studio. The light filled room has not changed much since Coppinis day.

It looked just like this, said Cox, standing in the space bathed in natural light from north-facing windows overhead.

There are still crumbling remnants of clay that Coppini used in a storage box beneath a platform where a small replica of the cenotaph and an assortment of portrait busts and other sculpture by the artist and his protege and foster daughter Waldine Tauch are displayed. The studio is used as a classroom.

As a San Antonian and artist, I would have to say Coppinis greatest legacy is leaving his studio to the artists of San Antonio in order to provide a haven for artists to continue the pursuit of classical art studies, Cox said. Coppini believed all art needs to start from classical representational studies before one can attempt the abstract. There is no other place like Coppini Academy in San Antonio, where artists can pay a small fee of $10 and paint and draw from the live model in a classical manner in an artists studio surrounded by the great works of Coppini and Waldine Tauch for inspiration.

Earlier this year, the City Council approved a plan for changes for Alamo Plaza that include moving the cenotaph to a small park near Market Street. Cox and Fran Bixby, vice president of the academy, are dismayed by the possibility.

Im afraid its going to fall apart, Bixby said. And then I had said, Well, we want all the pieces when it falls apart.

In spite of Coppinis Italian roots, Bixby sees him as a son of Texas, one deserving of greater renown than he currently enjoys.

I wish he could come back and give one speech or address to the city and tell us Dont forget this in the future, she said.

lsilva@express-news.net
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Its hard to imagine today that Monte Vista, the neighborhood about 1 miles north of downtown San Antonio, was once considered a remote area.

Before Monte Vista filled with stately mansions and grand homes in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the area was a dry and barren wildness populated by jackrabbits, cottontails and an occasional wolf, coyote and jaguar, the late Trinity University professor Donald E. Everett recounted in a 1999 book.

But Denver real estate man Jay E. Adams and his brother Lee saw the areas potential for residential development and began assembling acreage in 1889 for the seemingly exorbitant price of $350 per acre, Everett wrote in San Antonios Monte Vista: Architecture and Society in a Gilded Age.

Jay Adams plotted 73 contiguous acres bounded by Summit, McCullough, Woodlawn and San Pedro avenues. The property, known as Jay Adams Laurel Heights, marked the areas first real estate development, Everett wrote, even though several very distinguished San Antonio families had already built stately homes along French Place.

Proximity to the homes of some of the areas power brokers encouraged Adams to be optimistic in his plans to develop an exclusive neighborhood, Everett added. Nevertheless, Adams had to offer inducements  a free lot, a parlor mantel and a gold watch  to entice initial customers.

The area was promoted at the turn of the 20th century as 100 feet above the city and offering the finest view, widest streets and best shade, according to a 1995 news report.

Two of the more prominent developers in Monte Vista were Wallace Rogers and Russell C. Hill, who offered a $100 gold prize for the person who came up with a name for the area. Two contestants suggested Monte Vista, Everett noted in his book.

Monte Vista attracted an array of architects, who incorporated an eclectic mix of design styles, including Georgian, Spanish Colonial, Moorish, Mediterranean, antebellum, English Tudor and Craftsman. The distinguished architecture mainly hails from San Antonios Gilded Age, which ran from 1890 to 1930 and was described by Everett as when newly prosperous residents built the finest neighborhood of the era remaining in Texas.

Its an interesting neighborhood because while there were these huge, beautiful mansions built by the oil and cattle barons, there were also homes for the people  who worked for them, said Dolly Holmes, president of the Monte Vista Historical Association. Thats why you see these really grand, elegant houses on some streets and some of the smaller bungalows (and) cottages on streets north and south of those areas.

Today, the neighborhood encompasses about 100 city blocks and is home to about 3,000 residents, according to the associations website.

Whiles the homes in the neighborhood are cherished, that wasnt always the case. Encroaching development and demolition sparked concern from community activists, who formed the Monte Vista Historical Association in 1973.

Two of those activists, sisters Emily Denman Thuss and Molly Denman Branton, mobilized after watching the home they grew up in  built in the late 1800s by their great-grandfather Judge Leroy G. Denman  razed and replaced by the French Place apartments.

Its a wonderful, sweet story of people with a lot of passion and dedication  making sure that this neighborhood is preserved, Holmes said.

One of the first organizational meetings of the Monte Vista Historical Association was held in Thuss home.

Unfortunately, when the city says there is nothing they can do to protect neighborhoods, neighborhoods are left to fight brush fires on every front, Thuss told the North San Antonio Times in 1985. Thankfully, City Council changes more often than neighborhoods. Thuss died in December at age 71.

Two years after the associations formation, the city designated Monte Vista a historic district  the third in the city after King William and La Villita. (The number of historic districts in San Antonio stood at 28 as of June 15.)

Actual protection of properties comes from the local designation, said Shanon Miller, director of the citys Office of Historic Preservation. There are restrictions on demolition, and all exterior alterations to the building require review.

Property owners rehabbing a house in a historic district are eligible for tax incentives through the city, Miller added.

Not everyone was in favor of the historic district designation, including Trinity University, likely because of concerns that it would limit its ability to expand. An unsigned letter from Citizens for a United Community included in the San Antonio Public Librarys archival files posed numerous questions, including, Why are people drawing lines around neighborhoods in our city? If your home is declared outside the Historic District it could affect your property values, the letter added.

In 1998, Monte Vista was added to the prestigious National Register of Historic Places.

Were one of the larger historic neighborhoods in the nation, said Paul Kinnison Jr., chairman of the associations architectural review committee. We want to preserve as much of that as possible.
Warrenton, VA (20186)

Today

Thundershowers following a period of rain early. Potential for heavy rainfall. High 71F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

A steady rain in the evening. Showers continuing late. Low 58F. SSE winds shifting to W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a quarter of an inch.
The UK Serious Fraud Office brought criminal charges Tuesday against Barclays Plc and four individuals for offenses allegedly committed when the bank sought huge loans from sources in Qatar during the 2008 financial crisis.

The SFO charged the defendants with conspiracy to commit fraud and providing unlawful financial assistance contrary to the Companies Act 1985.

The charges relate to Barclays capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC and Challenger Universal Ltd when the bank secured a $3 billion loan facility.

Qatar Holding is part of the emirates sovereign wealth fund. Challenger Universal is an investment vehicle that in 2008 was directed by Qatars prime minister.

In an SEC disclosure in March this year, according to FCPA Tracker, Barclays said the DOJ and SEC are undertaking an investigation into whether the Groups relationships with third parties who assist Barclays PLC to win or retain business are compliant with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

The U.S. agencies are also investigating Barclays hiring practices in Asia and elsewhere, the disclosure said.

Earlier this year, the UK Financial Conduct Authority re-opened an investigation into fees Barclays paid for the Qatar loans.

On Tuesday, the FCA said in a statement:

We are pleased that this matter, which led to the stay of our own case, is now in the public domain. We welcome a fair and transparent hearing on the basis of the charges set out today by the SFO. We work closely with the SFO across a range of matters, in pursuit of our distinct objectives.

The SFO started its investigation in August 2012.

The former executives charged Tuesday were:

John Silvester Varley, 61, the former Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Plc. Hes a UK citizen living in London.

Roger Allan Jenkins, 61, the former Executive Chairman of Investment Banking and Investment Management in the Middle East and North Africa of Barclays Capital. Hes a UK citizen living in Malibu, California.

Thomas Llewellyn Kalaris, 61, the former Chief Executive of Barclays Wealth and Investment Management, a division of Barclays Plc. Hes an American citizen living in London.

Richard William Boath, 58, the former European Head of Barclays Financial Institutions Group. Hes a UK citizen living in London.

The defendants are scheduled to appear in Westminster Magistrates Court in London on July 3.

____

Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog.
Upon the release of her new book Without Borders- Syria- author Susanne Burge tells us a little bit about herself.

Susanne Burge

I grew up with curly hair, (and have a particular aversion to bullies), no television or car, two siblings and various pets. As a young child during WWII, my mother, a classical pianist, watched her home burn to the ground in the industrial heartland of Germany, her grandfather taken away for questioning, yet again, and shared the fear of her mother, that next time the knock on the door would be for them all. Her father, a butcher by trade, was conscripted to the Russian Front. My father, a working class English boy, won a Physics scholarship to Cambridge and did top secret work for the MOD.

My favourite subjects were art, music, literature and languages but my parents encouraged me into medicine. I have enjoyed the thrill of healing for almost thirty years, working in the NHS.

With some less conventional experience in the use of Neuro-hypnotic re-programming and NLP, Im fascinated by who we are, why we do the things we do and the potential of the human mind.

1987 saw me working in an Arab hospital in Israel at the start of the first Intifada and this is where my interest in Middle Eastern politics began. Ten years later, I was living out of a Kayak with my husband-to-be, in the wilderness of Alaska.

My greatest achievement is our children and one of my greatest joys, making music with others. I play cello in various ensembles.

I believe in the sanctity of life and the power of music; in singing loudly in the car and stopping to hear the birds sing; in carefree walks along the beach, smiles, compassion and laughter; being out in all weathers and looking after the bees; that I live in a global community and that we were all created equal. I know what it means to be part of everything, to have everything in me and that combating violence with violence does not work.

I believe that we need to nurture our planet back to health; that no woman should have more kids than she wants; that our children are our hope for the future and that Love Conquers All (Virgil). And I believe that, Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain. (Dick Moore).

I love the company of friends, the solitude of an early dog-walk in the wildest of places and the hypnotic rhythm of swimming front-crawl.

I write as a catharsis and to make a noise for justice and humanity, though our fourteen-year-old has made me promise that my next book will be for children, and happy.
Prince Charles and Duchess Camilla will have a jam packed three-day trip to Canada later this month.

Duchess Camilla and Prince Charles

The royals will start their visit in the Northern Territory, Nunavut - in what will be the 18th tour of Canada for the Prince of Wales and the fourth for the Duchess of Cornwall - and will receive a traditional Inuit welcome. Prince Charles will also inspect the Quarter Guard of Canadian Rangers.

Once that is done, the pair will go their separate ways for the time being with the Prince visiting Charities Canada whilst also attending another engagement on the environment and climate change effects in this area.

The Duchess of Cornwall will attend a meeting on improving the life and health of women in the North before reuniting with her husband for a "community celebration" featuring local performers.

Their second day will begin in Trenton, Ontario, where they will visit the 8 Wing-Canadian Forces Base to meet with the Royal Canadian Air Force Members and will be given a guided tour through the hangers.

From there, the Prince of Wales will meet beneficiaries and supporters of the Prince's Operation Entrepreneur whilst the Duchess of Cornwall will visit The Queen's Own Rifles, an Army Reserve Regiment. The day will end with a visit to a local farmer's market and the Norman Hardie Winery.

They will end their visit celebrating Canada Day in Canada's capital, Ottawa and border city Gatineau, Quebec. There will be a 21-gun salute during an Inspection of the Guard, followed by a visit to the Canadian Museum of History and then the opening of the National Arts Centre, which has been recently renovated.

Prince Charles will then go and visit Shopify to learn about the "company's unique work environment and education program" before the couple end their day taking part in Canada Day celebrations on Parliment Hill.

The royals will unveil The Queen's Entrance at Rideau Hall in honour of the Queen's Sapphire Jubilee and they will be honoured with a Departure Guard.
Paul O' Grady is filming a new dog show in India.

Paul O'Grady

The 62-year-old comedian has just returned to screens for the revamped 'Blind Date' for Channel 5, but he's set for a busy year as he'll be fronting the new programme which will highlight the just how many mutts are walking the streets of Delhi without homes and being neutered.

He will visit a dogs' home where he will learn more about the issues they face with the vast amount of owner-less canines.

Of his new role, the lovable Liverpudlian said: "I am off to India to do a show about a dogs' home in Delhi. It is a big problem, the street dogs. They all need spaying, really. People feed them, they are not neglected, and they are all so friendly and give you the sad eye."

The 'For The Love of Dogs' host devoted his time to filming the dogs and feeding them and not even the famous landmark, the Taj Mahal distracted him from the job in hand.

According to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he said: "We all went to the Taj Mahal and I said, 'That's nice ' turned round to feed the dogs. They said, 'Don't you want to go inside?' And I said, 'No, I have seen it, I haven't come for this. I've come to film these dogs."

Paul's new show is expected to be called 'For The Love Of Animals: India'.
E-commerce giant Flipkart has launched its private label in the fashion segment, Divastri, a women's ethnic wear brand with a view to target the unstitched garments category. Long tail merchants usually deal in this category of garments in order to control pricing and quality of the category. About 1,500 options are currently available under the label.

Fashion makes up for over 60 per cent of all the products sold on the platform and half of the products under fashion are Indian contemporary wear and ethnic wear, according to Flipkart.

"We have some basic line of private label but Divastri will be our first brand in the fashion space. We have selected over 20 sellers, some of whom double up as manufacturers to licence the brand and sell on the Flipkart fashion marketplace. We have started with a selection of 1,500 and will soon ramp it up to 2,500," said Rishi Vasudev, vice president of fashion (retail), Flipkart.

E-commerce giant Flipkart has launched its private label in the fashion segment, Divastri, a women's ethnic wear brand with a view to target the unstitched garments category. Long tail merchants usually deal in this category of garments in order to control pricing and quality of the category. About 1,500 options are currently available under the label.#

Flipkart also plans to introduce new labels under the fashion segment in the next few months, added Vasudev.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Adobe Walls gin in Texas is hoping to become the largest ginnery in the United States. The Texas gin is in the process of expanding its ginning capacity to meet the increasing demand of cotton. The production of cotton in the United States is likely to increase 21 per cent from last year, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Apart from the current expansion process, another phase of construction will increase its ginning capacity, said Jerrell Key, general manager for Adobe Walls, according to the media. The expansion will help to meet the increasing demand for cotton. The gin is now in the process of $14.5 million expansion with four new lines. In an attempt to produce cotton in 12.2 million acres, Adobe Walls gin intends to double its current capacity of ginning about 1,000-1,100 bales a day.

"Our biggest obstacle is getting new growers and getting people comfortable with growing it," said Key. (RR)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has urged Union finance minister Arun Jaitely and Hasmukh Adhia, secretary, department of revenue, for reducing GST rates on man-made fibres (MMF) and yarns from 18 per cent to 12 per cent. The association said that 18 per cent GST on MMF and synthetic yarn will dent fabric manufacturing in India.

J Thulasidharan, chairman, CITI has requested to address the issue of 18 per cent GST slab on MMF and synthetic yarn on urgent basis as this would affect the MMF textile segment prospects in the country in a big way. He explained that this will come as big blow to small fabric manufacturers in powerloom, knit and processing segments and prevent seamless flow of input tax credit and allow breakage of value chain.

The chairman explained that MMF and synthetic textile manufacturers will not only lose profit but also gradually start losing grounds against competitors like China, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Cambodia who enjoy fiscal and non-fiscal advantage in their countries compared to India. He said, "Around 166 countries have GST in place with lower slab compared to what India has announced."

The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has urged Union finance minister Arun Jaitely and Hasmukh Adhia, secretary, department of revenue, for reducing GST rates on man-made fibres (MMF) and yarns from 18 per cent to 12 per cent. The association said that 18 per cent GST on MMF and synthetic yarn will dent fabric manufacturing in India.#

Powerloom accounts for more than 86 per cent of the total man-made fabric production in India while rest comes from other segments like handloom, hosiery and mills. If rates, are not reduced then there will be flooding of the fabrics from China which would wipe out powerlooms and other SME fabric manufacturers from business. Powerlooms employ around 65 lakh workers in 5.5 lakh units spread across the country.

CITI also highlighted that SMEs and those who do not have composite mills are going to suffer from excessive competition and high cost. These players have majority share in fabric production of the country. Therefore, he requested that government must ensure lowest rates on raw materials essentially for man-made sector to hold the investment in the industry and to encourage production.

Currently SMEs' margins are very thin and industry keeps only 2 to 5 per cent of the turnover in a year, therefore extra burden in the form of extra taxes would add to the woes of the industry. "High rates on MMF and synthetic yarns would inevitably affect the actions and incentives of the SMEs of the textile to remain in the business," said Thulasidharan.

CITI has also requested that the highly labour oriented garment and made up segments should also be considered under the 5 per cent GST slab of service tax as the job work related these segments still come under 18 per cent service tax slab.

Chairman CITI has urged the government and GST council to accommodate industrys demand of 12 per cent GST rate on MMF and synthetic yarn or refund of duty under inverted duty incidence at fabric stage as prescribed in the GST Act in the upcoming GST council meeting on June 30, 2017 as this would facilitate the industrys growth.

At the same time, the association has welcomed the GST councils announcement on increasing the turnover limit for Composition Levy for CGST and SGST to special category states also. This will give further boost to the investment in the textile sector in these special category states. (KD)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Gorakhpur may house Uttar Pradeshs first regional silk research centre. The state is seeking to increase its share in the national production of silk and aiming to meet the demands of its weaver community. Despite good quality cocoons, the states share in production at the national level is barely three per cent, at around 270 metric tonnes.Central Silk Board Chairman K M Hanumantharayappa said an acre of mulberry sericulture has a potential to generate a gross income of more than Rs one lakh per year, which is higher than the returns from most agricultural crops, according to a news agency report.

Gorakhpur may house Uttar Pradesh's first regional silk research centre. The state is seeking to increase its share in the national production of silk and aiming to meet the demands of its weaver community. Despite good quality cocoons, the state's share in production at the national level is barely three per cent, at around 270 metric tonnes.#

Our endeavour is to take this to at least 15-20 per cent. Regional silk research centre will be established in Gorakhpur. This will be the first of its kind in UP, Hanumantharayappa said in the report. Women in rural areas should be trained in sericulture, he said.Besides, establishment of cocoon market is a must. For the want of an organised marketing support, the states farmers sell their cocoon to West Bengal and Karnataka at low prices, he said. For meeting the demand of domestic weaving clusters such as Varanasi, quality silk production should be increased, he said.UP has better water supply compared to states like Karnataka, he said. However, awareness level among the farmers is low, the market is relatively small and the size of farm land holding is also smaller compared to other states, he said.Krishi melas are being organised on a large scale in order to popularise sericulture in rural areas of the state, he said. Sericulture will definitely help farmers augment their income. Till now, I have not heard that a farmer engaged in sericulture has committed suicide, he said.Hanumantharayappa also stressed on the need for Multi-end Reeling Machines (MRM) and said the government would make efforts to provide these machines to entrepreneurs at a subsidised rate after imparting them proper training. There are 170 government silk farms in the state and a proposal has been sent to the state government for installing the automatic reeling machines. Superior yarn produced thereon will replace the imported yarn. We are planning to arrange awareness visits to such machines, he said.Tasar culture is a subsidiary occupation of the tribals living in south UP, he said. Chandauli, Sonbhadra, Lalitpur and Fatehpur are the major districts identified for tropical Tasar. Eri culture is practised in Kanpur, Kanpur Dehat, Jalaun, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Banda and Fatehpur districts. There is a vast potential in this sector, he added. (SV)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk  India
Shenaz Treasury

Shenaz Treasury visited the Herodeon, an ancient amphitheater which was built 2000 years ago.

Poseidon

Shenaz stands proud and tall at the ancient temple of Poseidon in Greece.

Hydra Island

Shenaz goes on an island hopping and visits the Hydra Island situated in Greece. The backdrop is just fantastic!

Oldest City In Europe

A lot of shows and music concerts are still conducted at the Herodeon.

It's Party Time

Shenaz Treasury parties like there's no tomorrow!

Sun, Sand & Beaches

She visited several exotic beaches and looks calm and relaxed.

Soaking In The Sun

Shenaz soaks in the sun sporting a hot blue bikini.

Queen!

She is truly living her life Queen size, folks!

Globetrotter

Shenaz is a globetrotter and loves to visit new places all the time.

Greece Holiday

Shenaz Treasury holidays in Greece and has a wonderful time there!

Just Wow!

She is seen soaking in the sun and enjoying all the natural beauty.

Mexico To Greece

Just a few weeks ago, she was holidaying in Mexico.

Happy Girl

We guess in another weeks time, she'll be in an entire different continent itself on a holiday.
All the fans and admirers of actor R Madhavan would have watched this particular movie, that we are going to discuss about, today. This film had actor R Madhavan in top gear and he went on to prove why he is one of the most versatile actors of the Indian film industry.

Yes, we are talking about the film Nala Damayanthi, released in the year 2003. This R Madhavan starrer, directed by Mouli, was a perfect comedy entertainer, which narrated a beautiful love story, as well.

Nala Damayanthi narrated the story of a cook named Ramji (R Madhavan) hailing from a Kerala Iyer family, who lands up in Australia, due to various reasons. The film featured Geethu Mohandas as the leading lady.

The film had loads of comical moments and the story and premises of the film, is perfect for a Malayalam remake. What if Nala Damayanthi is remade in Malayalam? Who all will be the perfect choices to replace R Madhavan, Geethu Mohandas and others in such a remake. Here we discuss about this interesting scenario in this week's Mollywood Retake.

Nivin Pauly As Ramji Narayanaswamy Iyer (Madhavan) Well, Madhavan was at his best portraying Ramji Narayanaswamy Iyer, a cook born in the Kerala Iyer family. This innocent and naive character was portrayed excellently by R Madhavan and we simply can't think about any other actor in his shoes. But, if ever the film is remade in Malayalam, we feel that Nivin Pauly will be the apt choice for this role. Well, the way in which he made the character Kuttan from Bangalore Days memorable, proves that he can do perfect justice to this role. Madonna Sebastian As Damayanthi (Geethu Mohandas) It was actress Geethu Mohandas who portrayed the role of Damayanthi, an Australian citizen, in Nala Damayanthi. In case of a Mollywood remake, we feel that Madonna Sebastian will be perfect for this role, which has good scope for performance. Rahul Madhav As Ivan Ivan, the fiancee of Damayanthi, is an important character in the movie. This particular character has some grey shades associated with it and young actor Rahul Madhav can be a good option for this particular role. Joju George As Badri (Sriman) Badri, is a restaurant owner, settled in Australia. It is this particular character along with his family, who helps out Ramji in tough situations. It was actor Sriman who played the role in the original and if ever a remake happens, Joju George will be a real good choice for this role. Lena As Amloo (Anu Haasan) Anu Haasan played this character, who stands a big support to Ramji. This particular character, filled with loads of positivity will be safe in the hands of Lena, if ever a Mollywood remake happens.

Well, it would be a real treat if Nala Damayanthi gets remade in Malayalam with Nivin Pauly and Madonna Sebastian in the lead roles. Interestingly, the original version had Kamal Haasan in a cameo role, as well. If a Mollywood remake happens, wouldn't it be great to see either Mammootty or Mohanlal in that particular role?
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.
SANDEEP DADLANI JOINS MARS AS CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER

GEORGE CORBIN JOINS MARS AS CHIEF DIGITAL DEMAND OFFICER

MCLEAN, Va., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Mars, Incorporated announced today two important hires as the business accelerates its focus on digital innovation and growth.

Mars CEO and President, Grant F. Reid, said: "Digital is changing the way our consumers and customers experience our products and services. New expectations, competition, distribution channels and opportunities present themselves every day. As we use digital capability to transform our business, we're delighted that Sandeep Dadlani and George Corbin will bring their depth of expertise in this area."

Sandeep Dadlani will take up the role of Chief Digital Officer of Mars, Incorporated. He will be responsible for working with Mars' global business segments to drive its digital transformation agenda, while delivering effectiveness and efficiency to our existing technology platforms. Dadlani will bring the power of design thinking, new data analytics capability and automation to accelerate digitization at Mars.

Dadlani succeeds Chief Information Officer, Vittorio Cretella, who after 26 years with Mars, will retire on September 1, 2017. Cretella has led a significant transformation of Mars' Information Technology function, building strong mutual partnerships between key vendors and the business while pursuing innovative digital solutions to bring Mars closer to its customers.

Reid added: "Vittorio has been a committed leader and we thank him for his hard work and dedication during his decades-long career at Mars. We will be building on the solid foundations that he put in place to pave the way for our digital transformation."

Dadlani's leadership, technology and business expertise will be critical to continue to drive digital forward at Mars. Before joining Mars, Dadlani worked at Infosys, a $10 billion global systems integration firm, where he was President and Head of Americas. He also was the Global Head of Infosys' Manufacturing, Retail, CPG and Logistic Practices. In this role he has helped more than 300 global clients embrace digital technologies, including Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.

Dadlani, who gained a B.E (Electronics Engineering) from M.S University, Baroda, India, and has an MBA in Finance from Mumbai University in India, will relocate to Mars' New Jersey offices. He will report into Angela Mangiapane, President Mars Global Services, and Claus Aagaard, Chief Financial Officer.

George Corbin, who will join Mars as the Chief Digital Demand Officer, will be responsible for leading Mars' Digital Demand transformation across the globe focusing on consumers and customers. Corbin will be responsible for ensuring the Mars e-commerce and digital businesses are an integrated and seamless experience for consumers. He will also lead the relationship with the key global digital commerce partners to drive Mars' approach to innovation. Corbin will work closely with the leaders in the global business segments to transform Mars' digital demand approaches.

Corbin brings a wealth of experience that will propel Mars forward in the digital arena. He joins Mars after a 14 year career in Digital at Marriott International, the world's largest hotel company, where he served as the Senior Vice President of Digital and led Marriott's Digital Strategy and Transformation. Before joining Marriott International, George was the Managing Director and Vice President of Digital Strategy for a major internet consultancy, where he developed and launched B2C and B2B e-business strategies for Fortune 500 companies.

Corbin holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of California-Davis, and an MBA from Harvard Business School. George will be based at Mars office in McLean, Virginia. He will report to Andrew Clarke, Chief Customer & Marketing Officer for Mars, Incorporated.

About Mars, Incorporated

Mars is a family-owned business with more than a century of history making diverse products and offering services for people and the pets people love. With almost $35 billion in sales, the company is a global business that produces some of the world's best-loved brands: M&M's, SNICKERS, TWIX, MILKY WAY, DOVE, PEDIGREE, ROYAL CANIN, WHISKAS, EXTRA, ORBIT, 5', SKITTLES, UNCLE BEN'S, MARS DRINKS and COCOAVIA. Mars also provides veterinary health services that include BANFIELD Pet Hospitals. Headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars operates in more than 80 countries. The Mars Five Principles - Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom - inspire its more than 85,000 Associates to create value for all its partners and deliver growth they are proud of every day.

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

Logo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524676/mars_inc_LOGO_big_Logo.jpg
PALM BEACH, Florida, July 18, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Big Pharma and Biotech companies have recently experienced their best performance since the beginning of 2017. The major factors driving the biotech market appear to be a result of activities such as the increasing growth of government support for pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries as well as rising R&D activities for development of innovative treatments and therapies for serious diseases and conditions.Pharma and Biotech stocks on high alert this week include:Moleculin Biotech Inc. (NASDAQ: MBRX), AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACRX), Cymbay Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CBAY), Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUPH) and Impax Laboraties Inc. (NASDAQ: IPXL).

Moleculin Biotech, Inc. (NASDAQ: MBRX), a preclinical pharmaceutical company focused on the development of anti-cancer drug candidates, some of which are based on license agreements with The University of Texas System on behalf of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, today announced it has signed a new technology license agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center based on new patent applications it intends to file relating to its drug Annamycin for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).Read this and more news for Moleculin Biotech athttp://www.marketnewsupdates.com/news/mbrx.html.

"In anticipation of beginning our planned clinical trials for Annamycin," commented Walter Klemp, CEO of Moleculin, "one of our priorities has been to ensure the best possible protection for our intellectual property. Some key patent applications had yet to be filed and signing a new license agreement with MD Anderson clears the way for those patents." Mr. Klemp continued, "We have benefitted greatly from our collaboration with MD Anderson, and this license helps ensure that collaboration continues."

In strong trading activity in the industry this week of note and recent developments:

AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACRX) closed up over 31% on Monday at $3.15 with over 10.9 Million shares by the market close. ACRX previously closed at $2.40 at the end of the trading day on last Friday.AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, focuses on the development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of acute pain. In a research report issued last week Friday , Jefferies analyst Matthew Andrews assumed coverage on shares of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ACRX), with a buy rating and a $7.00 price target, which implies an upside of 208% from current levels."ACRX is under-valued due to potent oral opioid Dsuvia's promise in medically supervised acute pain markets (~92M patients) and we see high likelihood of U.S./EU approvals in Q4'17/H1'18. Risk/reward is favorable into H1'18 with floor of ~$1.25 (no approvals) vs. $12/share (upside scenario)."

Cymbay Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: CBAY) came to a close up 5.84% at $5.98 after 10.7 million shares were traded by the close on Monday. CBAY closed at $5.65 last Friday. The company recently announced it intends to offer and sell 10,000,000 shares of its common stock, subject to market and other conditions, in an underwritten public offering.In connection with this offering, CymaBay Therapeutics, Inc. expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to 1,500,000 additional shares of common stock. There can be no assurance as to whether or when the offering may be completed, or the actual size or terms of the offering. CymaBay anticipates using the net proceeds from the offering to fund ongoing development of seladelpar and for working capital and general corporate purposes.

Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AUPH) closed up over 10 on Monday at $7.45 with over 8.9 million shares traded by the market close. AUPH previous close from last Friday was $6.72. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, engages in the development of a therapeutic drug to treat autoimmune diseases in Canada and internationally. The company is developing Voclosporin, a calcineurin inhibitor for the treatment of lupus nephritis. It has partnership agreements with Paladin Labs Inc. and 3SBio, Inc. The company was formerly known as Isotechnika Pharma Inc. and changed its name to Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. in October 2013. Aurinia Pharmaceuticals Inc. was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Victoria, Canada.

Impax Laboraties Inc. (NASDAQ: IPXL) finished Monday up over 8% at $18.10 with over 3.1 million shares traded by the end of the day. The company recently announced it has received an AB therapeutic equivalent rating and final U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") approval on its Abbreviated New Drug Application ("ANDA") for a generic version of Concerta (methylphenidate hydrochloride) Extended-Release tablets USP CII, 18, 27, 36 and 54 mg. "Approval of our AB-rated generic version of Concerta further demonstrates the capabilities of Impax's R&D organization," said Paul Bisaro, President and Chief Executive Officer of Impax.

DISCLAIMER:MarketNewsUpdates.com (MNU) is a third party publisher and news dissemination service provider, which disseminates electronic information through multiple online media channels.MNU is NOT affiliated in any manner with any company mentioned herein.MNU and its affiliated companies are a news dissemination solutions provider and are NOT a registered broker/dealer/analyst/adviser, holds no investment licenses and may NOT sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security.MNU's market updates, news alerts and corporate profiles are NOT a solicitation or recommendation to buy, sell or hold securities. The material in this release is intended to be strictly informational and is NEVER to be construed or interpreted as research material.All readers are strongly urged to perform research and due diligence on their own and consult a licensed financial professional before considering any level of investing in stocks.All material included herein is republished content and details which were previously disseminated by the companies mentioned in this release.MNU is not liable for any investment decisions by its readers or subscribers.Investors are cautioned that they may lose all or a portion of their investment when investing in stocks.For current services performed MNU has been compensated three thousand nine hundred dollars for news coverage of the current press release issued by Moleculin Biotech Inc. by the company.MNU HOLDS NO SHARES OF ANY COMPANY NAMED IN THIS RELEASE.

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. "Forward-looking statements" describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies and are generally preceded by words such as "may", "future", "plan" or "planned", "will" or "should", "expected," "anticipates", "draft", "eventually" or "projected". You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, and other risks identified in a company's annual report on Form 10-K or 10-KSB and other filings made by such company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and MNU undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

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TOKYO, June 20, 2017 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation (TSE: 6701) today announced the global commercialization of industry-specific Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) templates to enable a quick, low-cost and high-quality introduction of the Obbligato III PLM solution, which consolidates the management of product technology data such as design drawings, specifications and bill of materials (BOM).The new product provides templates that feature the best practice analysis in a series of steps, from the requirement definition and design to construction and transfer, and systematizes critical functions specific to each industry. This is based on the experience gained from introducing the Obbligato series to approximately 850 companies.Since the templates enable companies to introduce a PLM system by utilizing deliverables such as business models, system models and prototype environments, they can minimize the working hours required for development, as well as the risk of failure for individual customization, while enabling a system to be set up quickly and efficiently.Initially, NEC is providing two types of templates for industries with strong needs for PLM systems, namely the auto parts industry and the industrial machinery industry. Using these templates, medium-sized companies, in particular, can expect to reduce the construction period for their PLM system by 40%, and halve the introductory cost, when compared to the introduction of a conventional PLM system from scratch.The template for the auto parts industry efficiently implements the critical functions of a PLM system for this industry, such as global integrated BOM that promotes the sharing and utilization of BOM at domestic and international development and production sites, as well as process and resource management that improves the efficiency of process design by standardizing the information concerning processes and facilities together with BOM. With these functions, it enhances the global quality traceability and improves quality, cost, delivery (QCD) in the preparation for development and production.The template for the industrial machinery industry efficiently implements the functions that are critical for a PLM system used in this industry, such as integrated BOM management that promotes cross-sector sharing in BOM design and production in standard development and individual order intakes. Moreover, the template enables product definition management that leads to increased efficiency in the module selection for preparing estimates and taking orders by visualizing the relationship between the specifications and modules. With these functions, it seamlessly coordinates a series of operations, from sales to design and production, and reduces the lead time from order intake to production."NEC remains focused on the promotion of its social solutions business and continues to work on the provision and expansion of solutions that contribute to the transformation and advancement of the world's manufacturing infrastructure," said Miwako Satou, General Manager, Services and Technologies Division, NEC Corporation.Please refer to the following for more details on Obbligato III:http://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/obbligato/index.htmlAbout NEC CorporationNEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.Based on its Mid-term Management Plan 2015, the NEC Group globally provides "Solutions for Society" that promote the safety, security, efficiency and equality of society. Under the company's corporate message of "Orchestrating a brighter world," NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, please visit http://www.nec.com/en/global/about/solutionsforsociety/message.html.Source: NEC CorporationContact:Copyright 2017 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
TORONTO, 2017-06-20 06:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mandalay Resources Corporation ("Mandalay" or the "Company") (TSX:MND) is providing an update and further information on the flooding at the Cerro Bayo operation that was originally announced on June 9, 2017, and updated on June 14, 2017.



On June 9, 2017, between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. local time, a catastrophic inundation event occurred in the Delia NW mine, one of three producing mines at the operation. The Delia NW vein in the area of the event is situated approximately 100 metres landward from the original shore of Laguna Verde. The subsidence of the original lake shore created a new bay on the lake that measures approximately 100 metres by 100 metres.



Immediately following the inundation, underground and surface operations at the mine were curtailed in a safe, orderly way and they remain curtailed. On June 16, the Government of Chile declared a "State of Constitutional Exception" for the commune of Chile Chico (in which Cerro Bayo is located), which allows the government to control the site and coordinate the search efforts described below. Mandalay supports and respects the State of Constitutional Exception as it assists in ensuring the safety of the site as well as the search efforts.



Two miners remain missing in the Delia NW mine, Jorge Sanchez and Enrique Ojeda. Efforts to search for them to date include:



-- Pumping from the flooded ramp and escapeway. This has not achieved any water level reduction due to hydraulic conductivity with the lake. -- Drilling multiple holes to the bottom level of the mine, approximately 200 metres below the surface. -- Two of these holes intersected the target mine workings on Saturday, June 17, finding them to contain water and mud, but no trapped air. -- Two more holes are being drilled to intersect the area of the mine with the closest rescue chamber to where the miners were working. These holes are expected to reach target on Wednesday morning, June 21. However, the rescue chambers are designed to protect against contaminated air and not the significant amount of water pressure that Mandalay now believes is present in the area. -- In addition, construction of a berm began with the aim of isolating the new bay of the lake from the main volume of the lake and perhaps enable pumping of water out of the mine. Construction of this berm was halted for safety reasons. -- Military expert divers and submarine drones from the Chilean government have explored down the flooded ramp and in the new bay. Limited visibility in the muddy water prevented useful information from being obtained.



Mandalay has been receiving abundant resources and support from various levels of Chilean government, including the military, the police, Sernageomin and the Minister of Mines. In addition, local mining companies, drilling companies, and contractors have been engaged in the search efforts.



With respect to the possible impacts of this event on Cerro Bayo operations, Mandalay notes that:



-- Approximately 12,000 tonnes of ore remained on the bottom of the level at the time of the event, or approximately 12 days of mill throughput at the current 1,000 tonnes per day rate. Therefore, the immediate impact on reserves and ultimate total production at the property is expected to be small. -- The remaining two producing mines at the current time are Coyita and Delia SE, both located close to and under Laguna Verde. These mines are planned to supply a significant portion of the remaining life of mine plan and are entirely unflooded and intact. The Company confirms that the reopening of any mine at Cerro Bayo is dependent on the results of detailed investigations into the root causes of the Delia NW event, resulting risk analysis of the possibility of reopening and government permits to reopen. This work is likely to take several months. -- The Marcela and the Raul mines, both mined in the past by a previous owner and in the process of permitting at this time for future restart, are the two other mines contained in the current Life of Mine plan. These are located far from the lake, and are isolated from inundation risk. These mines will not be operated until the investigation and risk analysis is completed for the Life of Mine plan as a whole.



Once the intensive search phase is completed, Mandalay will begin consultations with its unions and government on the future of the mine.



Dr. Mark Sander, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mandalay, commented "Our thoughts and prayers are with Jorge's and Enrique's families, friends and co-workers. We are continuing to do everything possible to locate them. The Company is extremely grateful to all our employees, contractors, suppliers, Ministry of Mining, Armed Forces, Government of Aysen, Sernageomin, Firemen of Chile Chico, among other active participants, for all their effort, solidarity and support."



About Mandalay Resources Corporation:



Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia, Chile, and Sweden, and a development project in Chile. The Company is focused on executing a roll-up strategy, creating critical mass by aggregating advanced or in-production gold, copper, silver and antimony projects in Australia, the Americas, and Europe to generate near-term cash flow and shareholder value.



Forward-Looking Statements:



This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the Company's production of gold, silver and antimony for the 2017 fiscal year. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, changes in commodity prices and general market and economic conditions. The factors identified above are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect Mandalay. A description of additional risks that could result in actual results and developments differing from those contemplated by forward-looking statements in this news release can be found under the heading "Risk Factors" in Mandalay's annual information form dated March 31, 2017, a copy of which is available under Mandalay's profile at www.sedar.com. In addition, there can be no assurance that any inferred resources that are discovered as a result of additional drilling will ever be upgraded to proven or probable reserves. Although Mandalay has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. 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, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.



For Further Information: Mark Sander President and Chief Executive Officer Greg DiTomaso Director of Investor Relations Contact: +1.647.260.1566

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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CBW) ("Cannabis Wheaton", "CW", or the "Company") is pleased to feature its partner 2368523 Ontario Limited (d/b/a Curative Cannabis) ("Curative"). Curative has applied to become a licensed producer pursuant to the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations ("ACMPR") with its proposed facility in Chatham-Kent, Ontario (the "Facility").

Curative's Facility will be purpose built for cannabis cultivation and has been designed by the expert team from Cascadia AC. Cascadia has emerged as one of the leading design and build firms in the Canadian cannabis industry and has worked on several ACMPR facilities across Canada, including leading the design and build out of the environmental control systems at Broken Coast's facility in British Columbia. The Facility is anticipated to have an initial footprint of 21,000 sq. ft. However, Curative owns an option to purchase the neighboring 33.09 acres of land thereby allowing Curative the option to expand its Facility up to 800,000 sq. ft., subject to market demand and regulatory approval.

Apart from the strength of the Facility and the ease with which it can be expanded, Curative also enjoys other competitive advantages.

1. Curative has developed a strong relationship with the municipality of Chatman-Kent and Curative's principals have assisted the municipality in developing site specific policies regarding cannabis production and related zoning matters. 2. Curative's principals have long standing relationships and significant experience in the regulated cannabis industry through their work in patient education and outreach, cannabis breeding and cultivation consultation, as well as branding and white labeling. They have worked in collaboration with many licensed producers in optimizing cultivation techniques and improving patient outreach. 3. Curative has an extensive library of cannabis genetics, all of which were transferred to several licensed producers during the transition phase of the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations. These are highly sought after cannabis genetics which have been standardized and validated within the regulated environment of the ACMPR.

Chuck Rifici, Chairman and CEO of Cannabis Wheaton noted, "We are very excited to work with the talented team from Curative Cannabis. They are some of the most knowledgeable and innovative cannabis entrepreneurs in the industry. We consider Curative to be a strong strategic partner with great leadership and excellent potential for further expansion. Curative brings valuable expertise to our platform that we believe will ultimately benefit Cannabis Wheaton and all of our streaming partners".

Ian Rapsey, Chief Creative Officer of Cannabis Wheaton commented, "I am looking forward to collaborating with industry pioneers such as Curative's management team. They have successfully created brands and patient outreach programs and we want to help them leverage that experience to build Curative into a top-tier licensed producer with incredible brand awareness and value for the industry".

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Chuck Rifici, Chairman & CEO

About Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp. (TSX VENTURE: CBW)

Backed by a team of industry experts, Cannabis Wheaton is the first cannabis streaming company in the world. Our streams will include production from across Canada coming from our partners comprised of licensed producers of cannabis (LP) and LP applicants. Cannabis Wheaton's mandate is to facilitate real growth for our streaming partners by providing them with financial support and sharing our collective industry experience.

Stay Connected

For more information about Cannabis Wheaton and our management team, please visit: http://www.cannabiswheaton.com, or follow us on Twitter @CannabisWheaton. Call: 1-604 687 7130 Email: Mario@skanderbegcapital.com http://www.skanderbegcapital.com.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or information that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. This information is only a prediction. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking information throughout this news release. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to: entering into definitive streaming agreements, the ability to generate revenue through the streaming agreements, the ability to consummate transactions which are currently in discussions, requirements to obtain additional financing, timeliness of government approvals for granting of permits and licences, including licences to cultivate cannabis, completion of the facilities, where applicable, actual operating performance of the facilities, regulatory or political change, competition and other risks affecting the Company in particular and the medical cannabis industry generally. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is 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 information. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

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:

Media:

Natali Tofiloski

(416) 655-1070

natali@themintagency.com




PARIS, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Vertu, the world's leading manufacturer of luxury mobile phones, is pleased to announce that it has signed a major agreement with TCL Communication. This is the first agreement signed by Vertu since the company was purchased by entrepreneur Hakan Uzan in mid-March of 2017. This agreement, worth $40 million, will enable Vertu to use advanced and innovative technology from TCL Communication for 30,000 handcrafted Vertu phones, to be produced at the Vertu facility in Church Crookham, Hampshire.

(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524701/Constellation_Octane_Original_1.jpg )



(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524703/Constellation_Octane_Original_2.jpg )



Speaking from the new corporate offices of Vertu AK France in Paris, Hakan commented, "We are delighted to have signed this agreement with TCL Communication. It is the first of many, considerable investments we are making into the business. TCL Communication is a valued partner of Vertu and we hope that this will be the start of a prosperous new chapter in our relationship."

Today's announcement is seen as a first step in helping Vertu enable its full potential as a powerful global brand. Under new patronage and the leadership of Hakan, Vertu is going through a substantial restructuring and modernisation of all its business units, whilst preserving the heritage and craftsmanship it is renowned for around the world.

"Customers will have access to limited, special edition Constellation X products as soon as mid-July, with full ramp up by early September. The new generation of Vertu Concierge Services will start being introduced in mid-July in limited markets, with a new wide ranging portfolio of Vertu Life Style Products becoming available in Vertu Boutiques in early September," Hakan added.

"As a leading smartphone innovator, TCL Communication is very pleased to extend our successful relationship with Vertu," said Alain Lejeune, Senior Vice President of TCL Communication. "Combining our advanced smart phone technology with Vertu's superb craftsmanship and commitment to superior design and performance, it will help create an outstanding experience for its discerning customers."

Vertu AK France, the parent company, is aiming to launch new services and products in September, alongside announcing several exclusive luxury partnerships with leading global brands. The new products will be sold in the key luxury markets of France, UK, China, Asia, Russia, Western Europe and the Middle East.

While the company has moved its corporate offices to Paris, all Vertu products are designed and manufactured in the UK, with around 90 per cent destined for export markets. The company has operated from its Hampshire base since 2000, shipping its first phone in 2002. To date, Vertu has sold more than 500,000 devices worldwide. The new Vertu phones have an entry selling price of 7,500 and the company has more than 225,000 registered users.

Notes to editors:

About Vertu

Vertu aims to deliver the world's best luxury mobile phone experience for its customers by combining expert craftsmanship and peerless materials with innovative technology and unique services. Today, Vertu leads the market that it pioneered over a decade ago.

The Vertu range of mobile phones is made up of four distinct models - Signature S, Signature Touch, Aster, and soon to be launched, Constellation X. The Vertu Audio Collection comprises V Headphones (HP-1V) and V Speaker (SP-1V).Vertu mobile phones are handmade in England using the world's finest materials.

Vertu is renowned for its curated services: a suite of carefully selected exclusive offers, content and assistance especially selected to enhance the Vertu customer's lifestyle. At the heart of these services is Vertu CONCIERGE, offering luxury lifestyle assistance and enrichment. The new Generation of Vertu Concierge Services will usher in a new area of services to discerning clients and exclusive to Vertu users.

Vertu is available from around 300 stores, including 56 Vertu Boutiques, in 62 countries.

About TCL Communication

TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited (TCL Communication) designs, manufactures and markets an expanding portfolio of mobile and internet products and services worldwide under three key brands - TCL, Alcatel and BlackBerry. The company's portfolio of products is currently sold in over 160 countries throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, with TCL Communication ranked as a top-10 global smartphone manufacturer by IDC. Headquartered in Hong Kong, TCL Communication operates nine R&D centers worldwide, employing more than 12,000 people across the globe. For more information, please visit http://www.tclcom.com.

TCL is a registered trademark of TCL Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For further information please contact:

Danielle Silvester - Vertu AK

Director Brand & Communications

Email: danielle.silvester@vertu.com

Dominic McCarthy - Neville McCarthy Associates

Email: Dominic@nevillemccarthy.com

Phone: +44(0) 207-940-2900

Kate Ng - TCL Communication

Email: globalpr@tcl.com


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - Ultra Electronics (ULE.L) said that it will deliver a major surveillance and security system valued at $18 million over the next 26 months. It is also planned for the Group's Communications & Integrated Systems business (CIS) to provide five years of specialist support over the course of the system's use. The company said no further information can be provided in relation to this award, due to security considerations. 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.
Passengers on board Silversea's luxurious cruise ships are enjoying broadband connectivity with speeds of up to 150Mb/s through SES Networks' Maritime+ Solution

SES (Euronext Paris:SESG) (LuxX:SESG) announced today that Telenor Maritime has signed a multi-year agreement to provide high-speed broadband access to Silversea's luxurious cruise ships via SES Networks' Maritime+ solution.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170619006309/en/

Credit- Photo courtesy of Silversea Cruises

Telenor Maritime will be using SES Networks' fully-managed maritime solution to offer capacity of up to 150Mb/s to provide passengers on Silversea's ultra-luxury cruise ships a true broadband experience at sea. Passengers onboard these eight ships will be able to stay connected through social network accounts, audio and video conferencing apps, and will also be able to stream video as they sail to the most exotic travel destinations ranging from the tropical paradise of Brazil to the epic wilderness of Antarctica.

Designed especially for service providers, the SES Networks Maritime+ solution combines SES's product innovation with unparalleled global ground and space infrastructure to deliver consistently high-quality connectivity as vessels sail across the region, and allows for upgraded coverage and service as needed. SES Networks is a newly-created SES business unit focused on delivering differentiated satellite-enabled solutions for data-centric customers.

"We are pleased to work together with SES to provide passengers the same high-quality connectivity they enjoy at home. This seamless and reliable connectivity is also vital in retaining experienced crew and operational efficiency," said Frode Stoldal, CEO at Telenor Maritime. "SES Networks' Maritime+ provides comprehensive coverage and customised service, enabling us to serve our customers very effectively."

Steve Collar, CEO at SES Networks, said, "We are very pleased and proud to serve Telenor Maritime in its mission to provide the best connectivity available to cruise line customers. This solution is an excellent example of how Maritime+ was designed to serve unique needs and requirements in specific markets within the maritime industry. SES Networks' Maritime+ is a truly customisable and cost-effective platform that enables us to fulfil the ever-growing needs of global connectivity."

Follow us on:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/SES_Satellites

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ses

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SES.Satellites

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/SESVideoChannel

Blog: https://www.ses.com/news/blogs

Media Gallery: https://www.ses.com/media-gallery

SES White papers are available under: https://www.ses.com/news/whitepapers

About SES

SES is the world-leading satellite operator and the first to deliver a differentiated and scalable GEO-MEO offering worldwide, with more than 50 satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and 12 in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). SES focuses on value-added, end-to-end solutions in two key business units; SES Video and SES Networks. The company provides satellite communications services to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions. SES's portfolio includes the ASTRA satellite system, which has the largest Direct-to-Home (DTH) television reach in Europe, O3b Networks, a global managed data communications service provider, and MX1, a leading media service provider that offers a full suite of innovative digital video and media services.Further information available at: www.ses.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170619006309/en/

Contacts:

SES

Markus Payer, +352 710 725 500

Corporate Communications PR

Markus.Payer@ses.com


LONDON (dpa-AFX) - British lender Barclays Plc (BARC.L, BCS) on Tuesday announced that the Serious Fraud Office or SFO has charged the company regarding matters in its capital raisings in 2008.



SFO has charged Barclays with two offences of conspiring with certain former senior officers and employees of Barclays to commit fraud by false representations. This is related to two advisory services agreements entered into with Qatar Holding LLC in June and October 2008.



The company is also charged with one offence of unlawful financial assistance in relation to a $3 billion loan provided to the State of Qatar in November 2008.



Barclays said it is considering its position in relation to these developments.



The Charges arise in the context of Barclays' capital raisings in June and November 2008. Barclays said it awaits further details of the Charges from the SFO.



The SFO has informed Barclays that it has not made a decision as to whether it will also bring charges against Barclays Bank PLC in respect of the Loan.



As announced earlier, the FCA issued warning notices in connection with its investigation into the advisory services agreements. The United States Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission have also been conducting investigations relating to these same agreements.



The FCA's investigation in relation to the advisory services agreements had been stayed in view of the SFO's investigation but that stay is currently lifted. Other authorities have also been kept informed of developments in these matters.



Further, a civil claim has been served on Barclays Bank PLC by PCP Capital Partners LLP and PCP International Finance Limited in relation to the November 2008 capital raising, which Barclays Bank PLC is defending.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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BERLIN, GERMANY -- (Marketwired) -- 10/31/17 -- (NYSE: CAE)(TSX: CAE) - CAE announced today at the 2017 European Aviation Training Symposium (EATS) the signature of an exclusive long-term A350 pilot training contract with Iberia Airlines, one of the world's distinguished legacy carriers. Under the agreement, Iberia pilots will receive Airbus A350 training at CAE's training centre in Madrid starting in the second half of 2018.

CAE has been Iberia's training partner of choice for more than 50 years, beginning with the sale of the airline's very first full-flight simulator. Iberia's pilots and cabin crew have been training on Airbus A320, A330 and A340 aircraft platforms at CAE's training centre in Madrid since 2004.

"CAE is proud to serve our long-standing partners like Iberia. I think that the length and the expansion of our relationship with Iberia speaks volumes to the quality of our training products and services, and customer support. It is always a privilege to support our airline customers for their growing training needs," said Nick Leontidis, CAE's Group President, Civil Aviation Training Solutions.

About CAE

CAE is a global leader in training for the civil aviation, defence and security, and healthcare markets. Backed by a 70-year record of industry firsts, we continue to help define global training standards with our innovative virtual-to-live training solutions to make flying safer, maintain defence force readiness and enhance patient safety. We have the broadest global presence in the industry, with more than 8,500 employees, 160 sites and training locations in over 35 countries. Each year, we train more than 120,000 civil and defence crewmembers and thousands of healthcare professionals worldwide. www.cae.com

Follow us on Twitter @CAE_Inc

This press release was issued to Trade Media

Contacts:

CAE contacts:

General Media:

Helene V. Gagnon, Vice President,

Public Affairs and Global Communications

+1-514-340-5536

helene.v.gagnon@cae.com



Trade media:

Frederic Morais, Marketing Leader,

Civil Aviation Training Solutions,

+1-514-506-8331

frederic.morais@cae.com



Investor relations:

Andrew Arnovitz, Vice President,

Strategy and Investor Relations

+1-514-734-5760

andrew.arnovitz@cae.com




- The agreement is the sixth consecutive joint venture in the long-term partnership.

- These three additional air separation plants will double Linde's production capacity of air gases in the Ningbo cluster and will be connected to its existing pipeline supply network across Ningbo.

NINGBO, China, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SINOPEC, the biggest integrated refining and chemical company in China, and The Linde Group, a world-leading industrial gases and engineering company, today announced that they have established a EUR 145 million joint venture to supply vital industrial gases to local customers from key industries such as petrochemical, steel and electronics, within the Ningbo Chemical Industrial Zone in China's Zhejiang province.

SINOPEC Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company (ZRCC) and Linde will each hold a 50% stake in the newly formed Ningbo Linde-ZRCC Gases Company Ltd (Linde-ZRCC), the sixth consecutive joint venture between the companies. The agreement will see Linde-ZRCC acquire two existing air separation units (ASUs) from ZRCC and construct a third for a combined 150,000 m3/h of oxygen capacity. The new ASU, expected to be on stream in 2018, will incorporate Linde's intelligent solutions for remote operation, diagnostics and analytics, as well as a modular design to increase efficiency, reduce energy requirements and enhance flexibility of production.

These three additional ASUs will double Linde production capacity of air gases in the Ningbo cluster and will be connected to Linde's pipeline supply network across Ningbo.

Sanjiv Lamba, Member of the Executive Board, Linde AG and Chief Operating Officer, Asia Pacific, said, "Linde is excited about the growth opportunities in China and further strengthening of our partnership with SINOPEC. Today's Linde-ZRCC agreement underscores not only the trusted long-term partnership Linde has with SINOPEC, but also highlights the advantage of world-class technology and operating expertise that Linde brings to our customers. Linde remains fully committed to supporting our customers in China in their growth aspiration. This year alone, we have signed multiple projects for major investments across China, which represents a significant part of Linde's strategy for growth in Asia."

"Linde operations in Ningbo is an excellent example of our cluster strategy in action. Leveraging Linde's gas and engineering expertise and innovations, we are able to consolidate our plant operations which enables our cluster customers to benefit from economies of scale - improved energy efficiency, better quality management, and safer and even more reliable service," said Steven Fang, Regional Business Unit Head, Linde East Asia. He added, "Linde's approach is well aligned with the Chinese government's plans to develop Ningbo into a modern petrochemical hub."

Linde's Engineering Division will design and construct the new air separation unit. Linde's world-leading technology in air separation design offers high energy efficiency and operational reliability.

About Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company

Sinopec Group ranked 2nd on the 2015 Fortune 500 list. With a combination of annual crude oil processing capacity of 23 million tons, annual ethylene production capacity of 1 million tons, annual marine terminal throughput of 45 million tons, and tank storage of more than 3.9 million cubic meters, Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Company is not only the biggest integrated refining & chemical company under Sinopec, but also the largest one in China. The business mix characterized by extra large scale capacities in refining, ethylene production, terminal handling, and storage is a strong indicator of its leadership in China's refining & chemical industry. A performance evaluation report from the world-renowned HSB Solomon Associate LLC showed the company's competitiveness has been remained in the top echelon of Asian Pacific refineries since 1990s. In addition, the performance evaluation of its ethylene plant also ranked in the top echelon of global ethylene plants in 2011, 2013, and 2015 respectively since its startup in 2010.

About The Linde Group

In the 2016 financial year, The Linde Group generated revenue of EUR 16.948 bn, making it one of the leading gases and engineering companies in the world, with approximately 60,000 employees working in more than 100 countries worldwide. The strategy of The Linde Group is geared towards long-term profitable growth and focuses on the expansion of its international business, with forward-looking products and services. Linde acts responsibly towards its shareholders, business partners, employees, society and the environment in every one of its business areas, regions and locations across the globe. The company is committed to technologies and products that unite the goals of customer value and sustainable development.

For more information, see The Linde Group online at www.linde.com.

In East Asia, Linde is headquartered in Shanghai and employs more than 5,500 employees at about 70 subsidiaries and joint ventures in Greater China. In China alone, Linde operates more than 200 production facilities across key industrial centres. For more information about Linde in China, please visit www.linde-gas.com.cn.

Photo - http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525244/SINOPEC_Linde_JV.jpg
LONDON and TORONTO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Finastra today announced that it is partnering with SIA, European leader in payment infrastructures and services, to provide real-time payment capabilities to financial institutions operating all over Europe. This will enable financial institutions to use the Finastra (formerly D+H) payments solutions to connect via SIAnet to RT1, EBA CLEARING's pan-European instant payments infrastructure.

Prior to EBA CLEARING's platform going live in November 2017, financial institutions will be able to experiment with real-time payments on the Finastra cloud-based testing environment. This environment will provide simulated connectivity to EBA CLEARING's RT1, and enable banks adhering to the SCT Inst Scheme to test instant payments quickly, easily and with low risk.

"The collaboration with Finastra allows us to strengthen our path of innovation, supporting the access and onboarding of the banks on EBA CLEARING's pan-European instant payments infrastructure," said Andrea Galeazzi, Network Services Director SIA. "Financial institutions can now easily benefit from the high-speed, low-latency network infrastructure SIANet thanks to its reliability, solidity and security."

"The Finastra payments technology already supports the processing of millions of faster payment transactions throughout the world every day," said Moti Porath, Head, Product Management, Global Payments Solutions, Finastra. "SIA shares the Finastra vision of making faster payments a reality, and we are proud to expand our client's access to instant payments and instant clearing in Europe through SIAnet."

About Finastra

Finastra unlocks the potential of people and businesses in finance, creating a platform for open innovation. Formed in 2017 by the combination of Misys and D+H, we provide the broadest portfolio of financial services software in the world today-spanning retail banking, transaction banking, lending, and treasury and capital markets. Our solutions enable customers to deploy mission critical technology on premises or in the cloud. Our scale and geographical reach means that we can serve customers effectively, regardless of their size or geographic location-from global financial institutions, to community banks and credit unions. Through our open, secure and reliable solutions, customers are empowered to accelerate growth, optimize cost, mitigate risk and continually evolve to meet the changing needs of their customers. 48 of the world's top 50 banks use Finastra technology.

Please visithttp://www.finastra.com.

Corporate headquarters

One Kingdom Street

Paddington

London W2 6BL

United Kingdom

T: +44-20-3320-5000



For further media information, please contact:

Caroline Duff

Senior PR Manager

Finastra

T: +44(0)20-3320-5892

E: caroline.duff@finastra.com

http://www.finastra.com



Patrick Kilhaney

Public & Analyst Relations Manager

Finastra

T: +1-917-286-1053

E: patrick.kilhaney@finastra.com

http://www.finastra.com


PARIS LE BOURGET, FRANCE -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- In the weeks leading up to the Paris Airshow, Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) has signed maintenance agreements for more than 300 Auxiliary Power Units (APUs) with major airlines. P&WC is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. (NYSE: UTX).

"APUs are the unsung workhorses of the aviation industry and P&WC has established itself as a leading supplier of these engines which greatly lessen an aircraft's environmental impact while on the ground, conserve fuel and assist with the operation of the aircraft," says Marty Kessell, Vice President, APU Market, P&WC.

P&WC offers several types of APU maintenance agreements to suit our customers' varying needs and operational environments. The pay-per-hour (PpH) plan allows the customer to make monthly payments based on a set rate for every hour flown to cover ongoing maintenance costs. The event cost plan allows the customer to pay for hours flown at the time of the shop visit for the specific maintenance event, rather than on a monthly basis. P&WC also has a material cost guarantee plan which is offered to customers who do their own repairs in their own shops.

In many cases, P&WC also provides spare-part support options which complement these APU maintenance support programs. All of P&WC's service plans provide excellent value and flexibility to customers and allow for predictive costs.

P&WC currently has more than 6,000 APUs in service in 19 different models; the entire P&WC APU fleet has flown more than 96 million hours. Today, there are nearly 3,000 APUs currently enrolled in maintenance programs.

"Our family of APUs covers a broad variety of aircraft platforms and the critical mass of APUs we have flying has been the impetus for us to create an exceptional customer service network," says Kessell. "We have one of the the world's largest worldwide service networks and the most experienced service experts in the business ready to serve APU customers 24/7 virtually anywhere in the world."

P&WC's support network includes CFirst response centres in Montreal and Singapore which provide 24/7 support, dedicated Customer Managers who work directly with customers to provide guidance and help resolve issues, plus a global service network that includes APU MRO services in Poland and West Palm Beach, Florida, and APU leasing centres strategically located around the world.

P&WC will be at the Paris Air Show, Pavilion C2. Interested operators are invited to drop by to speak with a marketing or customer service representative.

100,000 reasons to go beyond

P&WC reached a significant milestone in April 2017, when it produced its 100,000th engine, a testament to the company's longevity and leadership in the global aerospace market. P&WC will celebrate this achievement throughout the year, recognizing all families of products as well as dedicated employees and loyal customers who, together, have marked the many accomplishments of its journey.

About Pratt & Whitney Canada

Founded in 1928, P&WC is a global leader in aerospace that is shaping the future of aviation with dependable, high-technology engines. Based in Longueuil, Quebec (Canada), P&WC is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp. United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the global aerospace and building systems industries.

Note to Editors:

For more information, visit our media page at www.pwc.ca/PAS2017-media.

Follow us on Twitter (www.twitter.com/pwcanada) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/PrattWhitneyCanada) for our latest news and updates.

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Karine Baccichet

+1-514-240-6143

karine.baccichet@pwc.ca

www.pwc.ca




CHICAGO (dpa-AFX) - Boeing (BA) has raised its forecast for new airplane demand, projecting the need for 41,030 new airplanes over the next 20 years valued at $6.1 trillion dollars. The company's annual Current Market Outlook suggests total airplane demand rising 3.6 percent over last year's forecast. Boeing said the single-aisle segment will see the most growth over the forecast, fueled by low-cost carriers and emerging markets. 29,530 new airplanes will be needed in this segment, an increase of almost 5 percent over last year. The forecast for the widebody segment includes 9,130 airplanes. Boeing projects the need for 920 new production widebody freighters over the forecast period. Boeing said the Asia market, including China, will continue to lead the way in total airplane deliveries over the next two decades. 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.
Cosmo Tech, a leading provider of decision management solutions that augment intelligence by combining human expertise with complex systems modeling, today announced it has raised $3 million in a follow-on round. The round was led by returning investor Sofimac Partners, and includes additional participation from new investor BNP Paribas Deiveloppement and existing investor Aster Capital. With the new round, Cosmo Tech has raised $8.2 million in total funding since 2014.

Cosmo Tech is at the forefront of the new field of Augmented Intelligence, a collection of technologies purposefully built to combine human and machine intelligence, and in doing so, exceed the bounds of both. Cosmo Tech provides decision management solutions that bring this higher order intelligence to decision makers by combining human expertise with complex modeling, then simulating all the various scenarios that arise.

Cosmo Tech's decision management solution provides insights into both emergent phenomena new behaviors or scenarios that arise from the interactions of different systems as well as cascading effects the ripple effects of a single decision throughout a connected, complex system. Cosmo Tech's offering provides clarity beyond any data solution, including big data, because it relies on the combination of human expertise and complex systems modeling, as opposed to historic data, to derive insights. Unlike Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Intelligence doesn't replicate the human brain at greater scale or with more data, but rather, combines the expertise of multiple humans to uncover insights no human brain could identify on its own.

"I tell clients that what we do isn't magic, it's deep science coupled with incredibly advanced technology," said Michel Morvan, co-founder and Executive Chairman of Cosmo Tech and CEO of Cosmo Tech USA. "But the power of what we do providing a holistic view of the global interactions of your decisions and the likelihood of certain events happening, even ones never seen before that can feel like magic."

Cosmo Tech Independent Board Member and former head of marketing at Oracle, Andre Boisvert, is bullish about Cosmo Tech's Augmented Intelligence technology ability to revolutionize information management.

"Relational Data Base Management Systems (RDBMS) were revolutionary at the time of their inception because they allowed application developers to draw links between formerly siloed data points. Though RDBMS will continue to play an important role in the digital world, the requirement to model relationships and extrapolate valuable insights across multiple complex siloed systems, many of which were built using a RDBMS, is quickly emerging. I believe that Cosmo Tech is uniquely positioned to address this game changing requirement."

As part of today's announcement, Cosmo Tech also unveiled a new brand and name. Cosmo Tech got its start in France in 2010 as The CoSMo Company, raising a $5.2M Series A round in 2014 from Aster Capital, Sofimac Partners and Credit Agricole. Since this Series A round, the company has doubled its revenue each year, year-over-year, adding new customers such as Alstom, GE, RTE, EDF and Sanofi Pasteur. The company has received widespread industry recognition, including being named a Gartner Cool Vendor for Data Science in 2016, winning the EY-Syntec Prize as France's Most Innovative Software Developer in 2016, and being named to the Red Herring 100 in both Europe and the United States in 2017.

Major utilities and transit companies in Europe including RTE and Alstom already leverage Cosmo Tech's Asset Investment Optimization solutions to plan for the future and save tens of millions of dollars annually. But Cosmo Tech's unique platform has applications for any industry where complex organizations need insight into the cascading effects of their decisions.

"The potential to take the interest and success we've found in Europe to the global market is enormous," said Hugues de Bantel, co-founder and CEO of Cosmo Tech. "From planning for epidemics to optimizing a smart city, executives in every field can augment their own intelligence, and in doing so, gain a new level of understanding into the impact their decisions will have throughout the business."

About Cosmo Tech

Cosmo Tech is a technology company and key player in the emerging field of Augmented Intelligence. Headquartered in Lyon, France and San Francisco, Calif., Cosmo Tech's unique approach to complex modeling is used to speed the transformation of the world's most complex industries. By combining human expertise and complex systems modeling, Cosmo Tech can simulate uncharted scenarios, providing interconnected insights about the impact of decisions to help CEOs plan for today and tomorrow.

Global leaders such as RTE, Alstom, GE, Total, EDF, Veolia, SNCF and Sanofi Pasteur already rely on Cosmo Tech to give their C-level executives the information they need to make optimal business decisions in the complex fields of energy, transportation, urban systems and life sciences. Follow Cosmo Tech on LinkedIn and read more on the company blog.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005648/en/

Contacts:

Hotwire PR for Cosmo Tech

Ryan Mattison, 415-820-4484

ryan.mattison@hotwirepr.com
PORTLAND, OR -- (Marketwired) -- 07/31/17 -- BudCube Construction Services ("BCS"), a subsidiary of Cherubim Interests, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHIT) ("the Company"), an expansion-stage alternative construction and real estate development has release images of its new proprietary cannabis cultivation technology.

The AeroBloom 1.0 is a low pressure Aeroponic flowering station that will serve as the flowering component used in BudCube Cultivation Systems controlled environment agriculture technology. The complete system will comprise of the AeroVeg 1.0 and the AeroClone 1.0 technologies respectively. Images of these systems will be released in the coming weeks.

"We will begin our beta test of the AeroGrow 1.0 in the coming week to work out any kinks we may find during the cultivation cycle," said Patrick Johnson.

Images of the AeroGrow 1.0 can be found here https://photos.app.goo.gl/HRu4EM2w6is6q3mq1.

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: Cherubim Interests, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHIT) and BudCube Cultivation Systems USA is planning execution of its stated business objectives in accordance with current understanding of State and Local Laws and Federal Enforcement Policies and Priorities as it relates to Marijuana (as outlined in the Justice Department's Cole Memo dated August 29, 2013), and plan to proceed cautiously with respect to legal and compliance issues. Potential investors and shareholders are cautioned that the companies will obtain advice of counsel prior to actualizing any portion of their business plan. Advice of counsel with regard to specific activities of the companies, Federal, State or Local legal action or changes in Federal Government Policy and/or State and Local Laws may adversely affect business operations and shareholder value.

About BudCube Cultivation Systems

BudCube Cultivation Systems USA ("BCS") has developed a proprietary, fully portable and scalable, Controlled Environment Cultivation Technology that serves as a turnkey solution for cultivators of legal medical and recreational cannabis, as well as any other plant species. Coupled with a real estate development and property management business model, BudCube Cultivation Systems can position itself anywhere in the world where the cultivation of cannabis is legal.

BCS provides cultivation solutions for commercial application. It offers cultivators quick entry into a fast growing market at a price point that is very attractive when compared to the traditional construction and cultivation solution. BCS features a business model unparalleled in the industry and stands to benefit greatly as more and more market participants seek to gain entry into this sector.

For more information, visit www.budcube.com

About Cherubim Interests Inc.

Cherubim Interests specializes in alternative construction projects, as well as covering the entire spectrum of real estate development: due diligence, acquisition, planning, construction, renovation, and management; providing complete beginning-to-end development programs for mixed use, single, and multifamily projects and properties.

For more information, visit www.cherubiminterests.com

Safe Harbor Statement

This release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E and/or 27E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are based upon assumptions that in the future may prove not to have been accurate and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties, including statements as to the future performance of the company and the risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Although the company believes that the expectations reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations or any of its forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause results to differ include, but are not limited to, the company's ability to raise necessary financing, retention of key personnel, timely delivery of inventory from the company's suppliers, timely product development, product acceptance, and the impact of competitive services and products, in addition to general economic risks and uncertainties.

For more information please contact:

Cherubim Interests, Inc.

Patrick J. Johnson

Chief Executive Officer

(844) 842-8872

pjohnson@cherubiminterests.com




First ANZ regional webinar in the highly successful "Claim the Future" series

FINEOS Corporation, a market leading provider of core administration systems for Life, Accident and Health insurance, will host a webinar 'In a digital world, why do life insurers continue to drive customer claims?' this Wednesday, 11 October at 12:30 PM Australian Eastern Daylight Time. The webinar will be presented by Adam Edwards, FINEOS Product Consultant, and hosted by FST Media.

During the 45-minute presentation, Adam will discuss how life insurers can optimise their claims process to deliver a true customer centric experience, including:

Providing customers with opportunities to manage their own claims

Delivering an experience that customers want and expect

Transforming current processes including the use of new technology innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and chatbots.

Adam has over 20 years' experience working for direct and group insurers, underwriting agencies and broking companies, leading, business change, design and implementation, and managing claims teams for Australia's largest life insurer.

For those interested in finding out more about FINEOS Claims or to register for the webinar, please go to www.FINEOS.com/claim-the-future.

FINEOS is a global market leader in core systems with customers in nine countries and has been chosen by 8 of the top 20 Group Life, Accident and Health insurers in the US and 4 of the top 5 Life, Accident and Health insurers in Australia. FINEOS has many years' experience working with insurers in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

About FINEOS Corporation

The FINEOS flagship product, FINEOS AdminSuite, is a cloud based core product suite for Life, Accident and Health carriers. FINEOS AdminSuite delivers full service Policy, Billing, and Claims, providing best-in-class functionality for Group, Voluntary, and Individual administration on a single platform, while also supporting self-admin, full-admin, and TPA assist models. FINEOS delivers innovative core systems to a global market and has customers, employees, and established bases in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific markets. For more information, visit www.FINEOS.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171009005554/en/

Contacts:

FINEOS Corporation

Victoria Jamison

Marketing Manager

+ 353 1 639 9700

Victoria.Jamison@FINEOS.com
STOCKHOLM (dpa-AFX) - Sweden's unemployment rate held steady in May, defying economists' expectations for a slight decrease, figures from Statistics Sweden showed Tuesday. The jobless rate came in at 7.2 percent in May, the same rate as in April. Meanwhile, economists had expected the rate to fall to 7.1 percent. In the corresponding month last year, the unemployment rate was 7.6 percent. The number of unemployed people grew to 387,000 in May from 386,000 in the prior month. The employment rate edged up to 67.4 percent in May from 67.2 percent in April. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the jobless rate also remained unchanged at 6.7 percent. 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) -- 06/20/17 -- Galane Gold Ltd. ("Galane" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: GG) is pleased to provide an update on its proposed acquisition of Vantage Goldfields Limited ("Vantage"), a gold mining company with operations in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa (the "Acquisition").

As previously announced, Galane and Vantage entered into a letter of intent (the "LOI") with respect to the Acquisition. The parties have agreed to extend the date on which a binding acquisition agreement is to be executed to June 26, 2017.

About Galane

Galane is an un-hedged gold producer and explorer with mining operations and exploration tenements in Botswana and South Africa. Galane is a public company and its shares are quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Botswana Stock Exchange under the symbol "GG". Galane's management team is comprised of senior mining professionals with extensive experience in managing mining and processing operations and large-scale exploration programmes. Galane is committed to operating at world-class standards and is focused on the safety of its employees, respecting the environment, and contributing to the communities in which it operates.

Cautionary Notes

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements". All statements other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those regarding the Company's future financial position and results of operations, strategy, proposed acquisitions, plans, objectives, goals and targets, and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include the words "believe", "expect", "aim", "intend", "plan", "continue", "will", "may", "would", "anticipate", "estimate", "forecast", "predict", "project", "seek", "should" or similar expressions or the negative thereof, are forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts but instead represent only the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding future events. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted in such forward-looking statements.

Additional factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability to complete the Acquisition in accordance with the terms disclosed herein, or at all; the Company's ability to obtain all necessary consents and approvals for the Acquisition; the Company's dependence on two mineral projects; gold price volatility; risks associated with the conduct of the Company's mining activities in Botswana and South Africa; regulatory, consent or permitting delays; risks relating to the Company's exploration, development and mining activities being situated in Botswana and South Africa; risks relating to reliance on the Company's management team and outside contractors; risks regarding mineral resources and reserves; the Company's inability to obtain insurance to cover all risks, on a commercially reasonable basis or at all; currency fluctuations; risks regarding the failure to generate sufficient cash flow from operations; risks relating to project financing and equity issuances; risks arising from the Company's fair value estimates with respect to the carrying amount of mineral interests; mining tax regimes; risks arising from holding derivative instruments; the Company's need to replace reserves depleted by production; risks and unknowns inherent in all mining projects, including the inaccuracy of reserves and resources, metallurgical recoveries and capital and operating costs of such projects; contests over title to properties, particularly title to undeveloped properties; laws and regulations governing the environment, health and safety; operating or technical difficulties in connection with mining or development activities; lack of infrastructure; employee relations, labour unrest or unavailability; health risks in Africa; the Company's interactions with surrounding communities and artisanal miners; the Company's ability to successfully integrate acquired assets; risks related to restarting production; the speculative nature of exploration and development, including the risks of diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; development of the Company's exploration properties into commercially viable mines; stock market volatility; conflicts of interest among certain directors and officers; lack of liquidity for shareholders of the Company; risks related to the market perception of junior gold companies; and litigation risk.

Management provides forward-looking statements because it believes they provide useful information to investors when considering their investment objectives and cautions investors not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and other cautionary statements or factors contained herein, and there can be no assurance that the actual results or developments will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on, the Company. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release and the Company assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect subsequent information, events or circumstances or otherwise, except as required by law.

Information of a technical and scientific nature that forms the basis of the disclosure in the press release has been approved by Kevin Crossling B.Sc Earth Sciences (Geology and Chemistry), B.Sc Honours in Geology, AusIMM and SACNASP, and a "qualified person" as defined by National Instrument 43-101.

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:

Galane Gold Ltd.

Nick Brodie

CEO

+ 44 7905 089878

Nick.Brodie@GalaneGold.com

www.GalaneGold.com




VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - June 20, 2017) - Endeavour Silver Corp. (TSX: EDR) (NYSE: EXK) announces the release of its 2016 Annual Review and Sustainability Report entitled "Sustainability and Growth". This marks the fifth consecutive year the company has reported on its sustainability initiatives, including the last four under the GRI G4 sustainability reporting framework.

Highlights include:

Health and Safety: Achieved a 6.6% decrease in reportable injury frequency rate; hired a new Regional Health and Safety Manager to oversee coordinators at each mine

Economic: Distributed $140 million in economic value in Mexico (including $40 million in employee wages and benefits, and $17 million in taxes)

Employees: Invested in more than 68,000 training hours for 1,600 full-time employees in Mexico, and 5,600 hours of on-the-job mine training for new employees at Terronera

Environment: Invested $1.5 million in environmental initiatives; reduced energy consumption by 5%, and planted 34,500 trees

Community: Identified potential strategic community investment projects near each mine; invested in community infrastructure projects and local cultural, environmental, sports, health and education projects

Recognition: Received the Socially Responsible Company award from CEMEFI (the Mexican Center for Philanthropy) and the Alliance for Social Responsibility for all three mines

At the corporate level, Endeavour also actively supports several charitable foundations. For example, in 2017, Endeavour and its employees donated C$35,390 to the BC Children's Hospital Mining for Miracles campaign in Vancouver, in addition to several other worthy charitable causes. Since becoming involved with Mining for Miracles in 2007, the company and its employees have donated a total of C$445,000.

Endeavour CEO Bradford Cooke commented: "Our commitment to sustainability has been a key part of our corporate culture since we acquired our first mine in 2004. It is a key to building any successful mining enterprise. Creating benefits for all stakeholders will be even more important going forward as we build new mines to fuel the next phase of our organic growth.

"The 2016 Annual Review and Sustainability Report reflects our commitment to fully disclose the impacts of our activities and the results of our sustainability programs. We welcome your feedback on this year's report and our sustainability performance."

Endeavour's 2016 Annual Review and Sustainability Report can be viewed here, and a printed copy of the summary brochure can be requested by emailing info@edrsilver.com.

About Endeavour - Endeavour Silver is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that owns three high grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. Since start-up in 2004, Endeavour has grown its mining operations organically to produce 9.7 million ounces of silver and equivalents in 2016. We find, build and operate quality silver mines in a sustainable way to create real value for all stakeholders. Endeavour Silver's shares trade on the TSX (EDR) and the NYSE (EXK).

Contact Information - For more information, please contact:

Meghan Brown, Director Investor Relations

Toll free: (877) 685-9775

Tel: (604) 640-4804

Fax: (604) 685-9744

Email: mbrown@edrsilver.com

Website: www.edrsilver.com
Commenting on the markets, Evy Hambro and Olivia Markham, representing the Investment Manager noted:

Performance

It was a difficult month for the bulk commodities, with iron ore coming under pressure and declining by 14.8% in May. This was in keeping with market consensus that the iron ore price would roll and give back some of its gains, and follows strong performance in 2016 where the commodity increased by 84.7%. For the base metals, performance was mixed with nickel, zinc and copper declining by 5.1%, 1.2% and 0.9% respectively, whilst the price of aluminium increased by 1.2%. The decline in the nickel price was driven by anticipation that Indonesia, which had previously banned the export of nickel ore and bauxite, would begin to export a modest amount.

In the precious metals space, the price of gold bullion was broadly flat in May, ending at $1,268/oz on the back of relatively benign macro data points. Early in the month, the markets focused on the French election, however, the event had little impact on gold, as a Macron win was widely expected in the run up. Elsewhere, political risk remained elevated, with North Korea announcing it had successfully conducted missile testing, and speculation mounting around the potential for President Trump to be impeached in relation to conversations with the former Director of the FBI, James Comey, regarding the investigation into Michael Flynn. These events helped the gold price as investors looked to the precious metal for its safe-haven qualities.

Strategy and Outlook

The mining sector has had a positive 2016 reporting season with deleveraging emerging as the key theme as improved commodity prices have allowed companies to significantly improve their balance sheets. For example, Rio Tinto and Glencore announced reductions in net debt of -30% over the last 12 months and -48% over the last 18 months respectively. Positively, the capital discipline story remained intact, with limited capex increases announced and management rhetoric still focusing on shareholder returns. Our view is that for now the pain of the recent down-cycle is too fresh and do not see companies falling back into old habits of poor capital discipline in the near-term.

Many of the miners are now trading on attractive free cash flow yields, for example, Glencore, Rio Tinto and Vale (the Company's three largest mining positions) are all trading on free cash flow yields of between 9% and 11% at consensus pricing. The market does not appear to believe these yields are sustainable, with many still cautious of mining shares, but every day that commodity prices remain at current levels, the miners are growing cash on their balance sheets. BHP Billiton, Glencore and Rio Tinto all announced sizeable increases in their dividends in the recent reporting season, less than two years after being forced to cut them, showing cash is being returned to shareholders.

Looking ahead, we expect the mining sector's performance to remain volatile but see the outlook as positive. The macroeconomic backdrop points to a stable to improving demand picture, whilst the underinvestment of recent years is constraining the supply side of the equation. Capital expenditure in the mining sector has fallen by two-thirds since the peak in 2012 and this is feeding through to production, with most mined commodities recording declines in 2016 versus 2015. China remains the key risk for investors in the mining sector and, should sentiment deteriorate significantly again, the sector would likely come under pressure.

All data points are in US dollar terms unless stated otherwise

20 June 2017

ENDS
MONTREAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- SEMAFO Inc. (TSX: SMF)(OMX: SMF) announces that it has drawn down the incremental $60 million of the credit facility with Macquarie Bank Limited for a total drawdown of $120 million. The recent visits to the Mana and Boungou Mine sites by Macquarie Bank Limited were key conditions for drawing down the incremental $60 million. The credit facility is repayable in eight equal quarterly installments of $15 million, starting March 31, 2019. Accessing the additional funds allows SEMAFO to maintain a high level of financial flexibility.

In addition, the Corporation announces receipt of the mining convention for the future Boungou Mine (Natougou Gold Project) from the Council of Ministers of the Government of Burkina Faso, which follows receipt of the mining permit in December 2016. Its fiscal and legal terms, which are based on the 2015 Burkina Faso Mining Code, were previously disclosed in the Natougou Technical Report NI 43-101 dated March 28, 2016 and filed on SEDAR. The convention is valid for the seven-year mine life of the initial mineral reserves at Natougou and can be renewed for additional periods of five years.

About SEMAFO

SEMAFO is a Canadian-based mining company with gold production and exploration activities in West Africa. The Corporation operates the Mana Mine in Burkina Faso, which includes the high-grade satellite deposit of Siou, and is targeting production start-up of the Boungou Mine in the second half of 2018. SEMAFO's strategic focus is to maximize shareholder value by effectively managing its existing assets as well as pursuing organic and strategic growth opportunities.

CAUTION CONCERNING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as "maintain", "pursuing", "growth", "opportunities" and other similar words or expressions. Factors that could cause future results or events to differ materially from current expectations expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements include the ability to maintain a high level of financial flexibility, the ability to execute on our strategic focus, fluctuation in the price of currencies, gold or operating costs, mining industry risks, uncertainty as to calculation of mineral reserves and resources, delays, political and social stability in Africa (including our ability to maintain or renew licenses and permits) and other risks described in SEMAFO's documents filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities. You can find further information with respect to these and other risks in SEMAFO's 2016 Annual MD&A as updated in SEMAFO's 2017 First Quarter MD&A, and other filings made with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available at www.sedar.com. These documents are also available on our website at www.semafo.com. SEMAFO disclaims any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

The information in this release is subject to the disclosure requirements of SEMAFO under the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. This information was publicly communicated on June 20, 2017 at 7.00 a.m., Eastern Daylight Time.

Contacts:

SEMAFO Inc.

Robert LaValliere

Vice-President, Corporate Affairs & Investor Relations

Cell: +1 (514) 240 2780

Robert.Lavalliere@semafo.com



Ruth Hanna

Analyst, Investor Relations

Ruth.Hanna@semafo.com



Tel. local & overseas: +1 (514) 744 4408

North America Toll-Free: 1 (888) 744 4408

www.semafo.com




THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Mexican Gold Corp. ("Mexican Gold" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: MEX) is pleased to announce a 3,000 metre diamond drilling program for its Las Minas gold - copper - silver project. The drilling program targets expansion of the recently discovered mineralization at the Cinco Senores zone as well as step-out drilling at the El Dorado / Juan Bran zone to extend the on-strike and down-dip mineralization. Additionally, a field exploration program, consisting of trenching, sampling and mapping will be carried out at the Santa Cruz zone to test the upward continuation of the zone above the area of previous drilling. Trenching, sampling and mapping will also be undertaken at the Pueblo Nuevo concession to further outline the quartz veins recently sampled at the site.

Brian Robertson, President and CEO, stated, "The exploration program is focused on three high priority mineralized zones at Las Minas. The program combines a geophysical survey with expansion and discovery diamond drilling and preliminary field exploration work. We believe the program will expand the resource at El Dorado - Juan Bran and lead to the discovery of new zones of mineralization at both Cinco Senores and Santa Cruz. The Pueblo Nuevo concession, with its numerous historical high-grade mines, is a high-priority target area."

Exploration Drilling at Cinco Senores Zone

Widespread mineralization has been outlined at the Cinco Senores zone by numerous historical mine workings, a large ground magnetic geophysical anomaly, plus mapping and sampling. Extensive sampling of the mineralized zone outlined a wide area of highly mineralized skarn (see press release dated February 2, 2011). Recent drilling at Cinco Senores intersected a high-grade 2.0 metre interval with massive chalcopyrite grading 10.8 g/t gold, 41.7 g/t silver and 2.8% copper or 15.98 g/t Au Eq. in hole LM-17-CS-04.(see press release dated May 15, 2017). The strong presence of chalcopyrite-mineralized magnetite at the targeted skarn elevation in the step-out hole, when combined with earlier drilling and sampling results (see press releases dated February 2, 2011 and August 8, 2011) is believed to be indicative of a potential El Dorado/Juan Bran type zone at the Cinco Senores zone. The Cinco Senores zone is located 670 metres west of the El Dorado/Juan Bran zone. The mineralization occurs on the same contact of a district-scale diorite sill with the overlying Cretaceous platform as the large scale El Dorado/Juan Bran zone - see Figure 1.

Figure 1: Cross Section of Cinco Senores, El Dorado/Juan Bran and Santa Cruz Zones

The exploration program at the Cinco Senores zone will commence with a detailed ground magnetic geophysical survey to identify high priority targets for diamond drilling. Ground magnetic geophysical surveys at Las Minas have proven to be very successful for identifying highly mineralized zones. An earlier geophysical survey at Cinco Senores outlined a large magnetic anomaly coincident with historical mine workings (see press release dated February 4, 2013). Following the geophysical survey, a diamond drilling program will be undertaken to test high-priority drill targets and extend the mineralization discovered in Hole LM-17-CS-04.

Expansion Drilling at El Dorado / Juan Bran Zone

The Phase 1 drilling program at the Eldorado/Juan Bran zone was successful in expanding the El Dorado/Juan Bran zone both on-strike and down dip. The drilling results are being incorporated in a mineral resource estimate. The Eldorado/Juan Bran zone remains open both on strike and down dip. The Phase 2 drilling program will focus on expansion of the current footprint of the mineralized zone, which has been outlined up to 420 metres in width, extending over 600 metres down dip, with thicknesses varying from 6 to 38 metres.

Exploration at High-Grade Santa Cruz Zone

The Santa Cruz zone has been partially outlined by high-grade diamond drill hole intersections, including 10.06 g/t Au Eq over 16.0 metres within 2.70 g/t Au Eq over 97.2 metres in hole LM-14-SC-03, 4.36 g/t Au Eq over 25.0 metres in LM-14-SC-07, and 24.1 g/t Au Eq over 9.6 metres within 3.57 g/t Au Eq over 99.0 metres in hole LM-14-SC-08 (see press releases dated May 31, 2017, April 7, 2014 and August 6, 2014). Recent field work identified highly mineralized boulders dislodged from the area above the drill sites. Additionally, in-situ mineralization has been identified in the upward extension area of the known mineralized zone. The area is also the site of a large magnetic geophysical anomaly. A field exploration work program, including trenching, sampling and mapping, is scheduled to identify the upward extension of the high-grade Santa Cruz zone.

Exploration at High-Grade Pueblo Nuevo Concession

The Pueblo Nuevo concession is host to several historical underground mines and adits, including the La Miqueta, La Miqueta Alta, Tamiagua, Marangola, Murcielagos, Dos Rios and El Cobre. The La Miqueta mine was extensively mined in the past and has 21 known levels. Historic mining activity was carried out on narrow (10-20 cm) quartz veins in both diorite and marble, extending approximately 100 metres on strike and over 100 metres down-dip. A recent sampling program at the Tamiagua 1 vein structure yielded up to 24.86 g/t gold and 17.8 g/t silver or 25.13 g/t Au Eq over 0.25 metres, contained within a 0.72 metre interval grading 19.09 g/t gold and 10.6 g/t silver or 19.24 g/t Au Eq (see press release dated May 31, 2017). The Phase 2 field exploration program will consist of trenching, sampling and mapping to extend the known veins on strike and explore for parallel vein systems. All of the vein structures at Pueblo Nuevo strike NNE to NE, indicative of a potential series of parallel vein structures.

Status of Mineral Resource Estimate

Mexican Gold contracted John T. Boyd Company to complete a mineral resource estimate for the El Dorado/Juan Bran and Santa Cruz zones. The required site visit has been completed and the estimate is well advanced. Because of the steep topography at Las Minas and heavy vegetation cover, the existing PhotoSat survey of the area did not provide sufficient survey accuracy for bare ground elevations. A ground or LiDAR survey is required to obtain the accuracy required for the estimate. Mexican Gold is working with companies providing LiDAR and ground surveys in Mexico. The mineral resource estimate is now expected to be completed by late July, following a LiDAR or ground survey of the resource area.

About Las Minas

The Las Minas Project hosts near-surface gold - copper and silver skarn mineralization and high-grade gold - silver quartz vein deposits. The project is comprised of six mineral concessions covering approximately 1,616 hectares (3,995 acres), with numerous small scale, past-producing mines and a number of untested targets.

The district is host to one of the largest under explored gold - silver copper skarn systems known in Mexico, and has a production history that extends back to the Aztec era. The Las Minas granodiorite intrusive measures approximately 10 kilometres in diameter and underlies the Las Minas concessions. The mineralization controls and association with magnetite appear to be similar to the Guerrero Gold belt, which is the site of the Los Filos and Morelos gold deposits.

Las Minas is an early-stage exploration project and does not contain any mineral resource estimates as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The potential quantities and grades disclosed herein are conceptual in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource for the targets discussed herein. It is uncertain if further exploration will result in these targets being delineated as a mineral resource.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Sonny Bernales, P. Geo., a registered Professional Geoscientist in the Province of British Columbia and a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101. Mr. Bernales is responsible for logistics and supervision of all exploration activity conducted by Mexican Gold on the property.

The Company has implemented and adheres to a strict Quality Assurance/Quality Control program which includes inserting mineralized standards and blanks into the sample stream, about 1 for every 10 samples. The standards and blanks were obtained from CDN Resource Laboratories Ltd. of Langley, BC, Canada. Each sample bag is properly sealed and kept in a secured, restricted storage place prior to shipping to the lab. Samples are shipped directly by Mexican Gold with chain of custody/sample submittal signed and dated. The Company sends its samples to SGS Mineral Services (ISO/IEC 17025) at Durango, Mexico, an accredited and independent laboratory.

About Mexican Gold Corp.

Mexican Gold Corp. is a Canadian based mineral exploration company committed to building long-term value through ongoing discoveries and strategic acquisitions of prospective precious metals deposits in Mexico. Mexican Gold is exploring the Las Minas Project, which is located in the core of the historic Las Minas mining district in the Veracruz State, Mexico. The district is host to one of the largest under-explored skarn systems known in Mexico and has a strong production history that dates back to the Aztec era.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION: This news release includes certain information that may constitute "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements about the magnitude or quality of mineral deposits, timing for completion of a mineral resource estimate at Las Minas, anticipated advancement of mineral properties or programs, future operations, results of exploration, prospects, commodity and precious metals prices, future work programs, anticipated financial and operational results, capital expenditures and objectives and the completion and timing of mineral resource estimates. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including the risks identified in the Company's disclosure documents available at www.sedar.com. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof. 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, except as required by law.

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.

Contacts:

Mexican Gold Corp.

Brian Robertson

President & CEO

807-474-4270 or 807-251-1816

807-474-4272 (FAX)

info@mexicangold.ca

www.mexicangold.ca




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- First Cobalt Corp. (TSX VENTURE: FCC)(OTCQB: FTSSF) (the "Company") today announced its exploration program at its Kipoi East Project in Katanga province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The program is scheduled to commence immediately following the definitive joint venture agreement execution.

Highlights

-- US$650,000 exploration program for the Kipoi East property, a 23 square- kilometre property northwest of Lubumbashi -- Start-up program includes structural mapping, soil geochemistry, outcrop stripping and blasting -- Follow-up of over 1,500 metres of percussion and diamond drilling on geological, geochemical and geophysical targets

Trent Mell, President and CEO commented,

"The Democratic Republic of the Congo is responsible for almost two thirds of global cobalt production, while the second largest national producer supplies less than 6%. Simply put, there can be no electric vehicle market without the DRC. As we continue to advance our flagship project in Canada, the initial DRC budget provides investors with potentially meaningful upside in this prolific country. Our local team has years of experience and an impressive track record of operating in the country."

DRC Project Area

As announced May 1, 2017, the Company has formed a strategic alliance for a 70% interest over seven prospective copper-cobalt exploration properties in the DRC. The transaction represents a low-risk entry point into the world's leading cobalt jurisdiction. In aggregate, the land package covers 190 km(2) (19,000 hectares) on the Central African Copperbelt in Katanga, DRC, all with known surface mineralization.

All seven properties are on prospective ground proximal to several major copper-cobalt operations and projects in the Central African Copperbelt (see Figure 1). Five of the properties form a cluster and are grouped into the Luishi North, Luishi Central and Luishi South project areas. They are located approximately 50 kilometres northeast of Lubumbashi, central to existing smelters and refineries. The Kipoi East property is also nearby; close to the former producing Luishia Cu-Co mine and the active Kinsevere Mine. The Nkala property is approximately 55 kilometres east of the Tenke-Fungurume mines.

Kipoi East Program

The Kipoi East property is the most advanced of the seven properties, with detailed mapping, airborne geophysics as well as bedrock and soil geochemical surveys conducted during 2014 and 2015. Access to the property is excellent; directly via a major highway, N1. The property is approximately 20 km to the east of the active Kipoi Mine. A detailed work program has been designed at the Kipoi East property totaling approximately US$650,000.

Kipoi East has high exploration potential as the Lower Roan "Mine Series" sequence rocks are exposed on surface and host Cu-Co mineralization at the Kempesimpesi deposit, approximately 850 metres due north of the property boundary (Figure 2). This host sequence extends onto the Kipoi East property and anomalous Cu has been found in the previous soil geochemical surveys.

To view Figure 1: General geology and location of First Cobalt properties, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/FCC_Figure1.pdf

At the Kempesimpesi occurrence, copper-cobalt mineralization is widespread at surface and exposed over a 400 m strike-distance. The host rocks are an evaporite breccia sequence. Within the exposed area a high-grade zone over 15 m thick contains chalcocite within laminated siltstone that is open along strike.

The work program will begin with field validation of the existing data, including structural mapping and soil geochemistry specifically in the area where anomalous Cu had been previously outlined, southeast of the Kempesimpesi deposit. Outcrop stripping and blasting will be done to expose prospective rocks, particularly where Cu-Co are found in the new soil geochemical survey. Channel samples from the stripped outcrop will be analyzed for multi-element geochemistry, including Cu and Co.

Over 1,500 m of drilling, using a combination of both percussion and diamond coring methods, are planned based on geological and geochemical targets. Ground geophysical surveys may be done following channel sampling or during the drilling program to refine the location of the drill targets.

To view Figure 2: Detailed geology and stratigraphy of the planned work area within Kipoi East area (based on government mapping), please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/FCC_Figure2.pdf

Geologic Setting

The Central African Copperbelt is a prolific geological setting for sediment hosted Cu-Co mineralization with an extended history of mining, exploration and academic research. As a result, exploration models are reasonably well understood. Cu-Co mineralization was initially thought to be constrained to the lower sedimentary sequences within the Lower Roan sub-group rocks; hence this sequence is also known historically as the "Mine Series". In the last 20 years, several other deposits have been developed in the overlying sedimentary units; specifically, in the Mwashya and Nguba sub-group, highlighting the widespread Cu-Co prospectivity throughout the stratigraphic sequence. Most recently, the major discoveries reported by Ivanhoe Mines in the Kamoa area within the Grand Conglomerate formation, previously considered to represent the upper stratigraphic boundary to Cu-Co mineralization, demonstrate the high potential for new deposits to be found.

The size and distribution of the First Cobalt properties permit a full range of Copperbelt mineralization styles to be explored and developed. The properties cover prospective strata comparable to world class-sized Cu-Co mineralization at the Tenke-Fungurume deposits which characterize the "Shaba-Type" endmember. These deposits are hosted in evaporite-rich breccias with Cu-Co minerals concentrated in the matrix and replacing the precursor sedimentary rocks. The properties are also close to the active Kinsevere Mine with a similar style of mineralization. The Luputo-Kasonto deposits represent "Zambia-Type" mineralization in this region with Cu-Co minerals as disseminations and veins as well as within hydrothermal breccias replacing sedimentary rocks, specifically shale, siltstone and conglomerate. A number of smaller Cu-Co prospects are also known throughout the area.

Program Execution

First Cobalt's strategic partner will act as operator for the Kipoi East program. JayBird Invest Ltd., an associate of South African-based Madini Minerals, has extensive experience running exploration programs in Africa, as well as strong in-country relationships. The work program and budget was prepared jointly by JayBird and First Cobalt, with First Cobalt having final approval as the sole provider of the exploration funding.

First Cobalt has conducted confirmatory due diligence on the properties and definitive documentation and regulatory approvals are nearing completion. The parties anticipate that the Kipoi East work program could commence in three weeks. The agreement is still subject to final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange.

Qualified Person

Dr. Frank Santaguida, P.Geo., Vice President, Exploration for First Cobalt is the Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 who has reviewed and approved the contents of this news release.

About First Cobalt

First Cobalt is focused on building a diversified global portfolio of assets that are highly leveraged to the cobalt market. The Company's current assets include almost 3,000 hectares and three former mines in the Cobalt camp in Ontario, Canada. Cornerstone assets include an option for the former producing Keeley-Frontier mine, a high-grade mine that produced over 3.3 million pounds of cobalt and 19.1 million ounces of silver from 301,000 tonnes of ore, as well as a joint venture on a fully permitted cobalt refinery in Cobalt, Ontario. The Company also has interests in seven prospective copper-cobalt properties covering 190 square kilometres in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, all with known surface mineralization.

On behalf of First Cobalt Corp.

Trent Mell, President & Chief Executive Officer

For more information visit www.firstcobalt.com

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.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as "plans", "expects', "estimates", "intends", "anticipates", "believes" or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements include the reliability of the historical data referenced in this press release and risks set out in First Cobalt's public documents, including in each management discussion and analysis, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although First Cobalt believes that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, First Cobalt disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Contacts:

First Cobalt Corp.

Heather Smiles

Investor Relations

+1.416.900.3891

info@firstcobalt.com

www.firstcobalt.com




HKTDC Director of Research Nicholas Kwan (centre), HKTDC Principal Economist (Global Research) Daniel Poon (right) and HKTDC Principal Economist (Asian and Emerging Markets) Dickson Ho (left) announce the latest HKTDC Export Index and discuss the latest global market outlook.



HKTDC Communication and Public Affairs Department Joe Kainz Tel: +852 2584 4216 Email: joe.kainz@hktdc.org

HONG KONG, June 20, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - The HKTDC Export Index, for the second quarter of 2017 (2Q17), has climbed to a 16-quarter high of 50.1 and up from the 47.1 recorded in the first quarter of the year, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) announced today. The results are the first since the second quarter of 2013 to surpass the 50 mark, reflecting positive sentiment among local exporters. HKTDC Research also raised its 2017 Hong Kong export growth forecast to five per cent from a flat projection issued last December."Overall, exporters have turned cautiously optimistic with regard to their likely export performance over the short term," HKTDC Director of Research Nicholas Kwan said at today's press conference."Given an improving global trade environment, Hong Kong's export performance has been above par thus far. With the expansion in both developed and emerging economies staying generally on course, overall foreign demand should remain sturdy over the medium term, although growth of Hong Kong exports is expected to moderate in the second half of 2017 amid a higher comparison base," he added.Nevertheless, Mr Kwan warned of major downside risks, namely an undercurrent of protectionism in the United States, political uncertainties in the European Union and heightened geopolitical tensions.According to the 2Q17 Export Indices for individual markets, China surpassed the US and Japan as the most promising market as viewed by local traders. The Chinese mainland market figure was 51.9, while the EU was up slightly to 49.6, and numbers for the Japan and the US declined. The HKTDC Export Index monitors the current export performance of Hong Kong traders and gauges their near-term prospects. Readings above and below 50 indicate positive and negative sentiment, respectively.- Continued recovery in mature markets"Helped by a low comparison base and faster recovery of the global economy, Hong Kong's export performance has so far been above expectations," said HKTDC Principal Economist (Global Research) Daniel Poon. Hong Kong exports surged 9.4 per cent year-on-year in the first four months of 2017, reversing a 0.5 per cent fall during the whole of 2016."In the developed world, rising confidence and falling joblessness have continued to fuel US growth. Given accommodating policies, improving labour markets and increasing exports, the EU is also witnessing a cyclical economic upturn, while the Japanese economy is growing at a modest pace amid sustained fiscal stimulus and steady exports," Mr Poon said.In the first four months of this year, Hong Kong exports to the US rose 1.3 per cent, those to the EU were up three per cent, and those to Japan increased 5.3 per cent.- Emerging markets remain promisingWhile Hong Kong exporters are advised to intensify their sales efforts to capitalise on growing opportunities in the developed world, they should not overlook emerging economies, which are expected to continue to do well over the medium term, he said."A projected stabilisation of oil and commodity prices should continue to augur well for the economies dependent on natural resources," remarked Mr Poon. He added that an improved appetite for consumption in developed nations will further boost export-oriented emerging economies at large."Developing Asia continues to be the most dynamic region," said Mr Poon, noting that although China is experiencing slower growth in the midst of economic restructuring, its pace of expansion is still relatively enviable. In the first four months of 2017, Hong Kong exports to the mainland and ASEAN grew 10.3 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively.- Bright spotsWith cautiously optimistic prospects for overall exports, Mr Poon expected a brighter outlook for several industries:Electronics:The sector will remain the main growth driver. Augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) technologies, which are closely related to audio-visual applications, are popular. Wearable electronics are expected to enjoy massive growth, while smart home items have good potential.Clothing:An improving global trade environment should stimulate sales, but prospects will be clouded by continued competition from neighbouring countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.Toys:There are decent sales prospects on the back of sustained interest in licensed toys related to blockbuster movies, strong spending on educational toys, growing interest in toys marketed to adults, and the rising popularity of AR/VR applications for traditional toys.Timepieces:A more stable external environment will likely lend support to exports. Smart watches, especially hybrid versions with analogue displays that look like their traditional counterparts, will probably become the new growth medium.Jewellery:Demand for high-end items will still be capped by diehard consumer conservatism, but demand will be increasingly robust for more affordable items that feature good design, quality and craftsmanship.- Philippines as an option for manufacturing relocationFor manufacturers seeking alternative production bases to relocate or diversify production in view of soaring costs in the mainland, the Philippines is an alternative, according to an HKTDC Research study highlighted today. Dickson Ho, HKTDC Principal Economist (Asian and Emerging Markets), said that the skilled and trainable workforce and burgeoning retail market in the Philippines offer opportunities."The Philippines as a manufacturing base enjoys a distinct edge compared with other relocation hotspots in Southeast Asia with its English-speaking workers, who are both skilled and trainable," Mr Ho said. "This presents an attractive option to foreign investors confronted with the challenge of labour management and training in alternative production bases."The Philippines registered strong economic growth of 6.8 per cent in 2016, driven by robust manufacturing and business processing services, amid strong investment and consumption buttressed by hefty overseas remittances. "Fast income growth and a surge in purchasing power have combined to transform this archipelago state of more than 100 million people into a burgeoning modern consumer market. Foreign manufacturers can find local sales opportunities while also serving the export market," added Mr Ho.During a recent trip to Manila, HKTDC Research found that businesses were optimistic about the country's future development. "They were generally supportive of the government's economic policy and believed President Rodrigo Duterte's strong government could better tackle the long-standing problems of red tape and bureaucracy in the Philippines," reported Mr Ho. "Besides, infrastructure is showing encouraging signs of improvement in areas within and near Metro Manila," he said.More than 70 per cent of Hong Kong's imports from the Philippines in 2016 were re-exported to the mainland, indicating Hong Kong's important role in Philippine-China trade.Podcast: 2017 Export Review: http://bit.ly/2sRphD8Photo Download: http://bit.ly/2sKBpW3To view press releases in Chinese, please visit http://mediaroom.hktdc.com/tcAbout HKTDCEstablished in 1966, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. With more than 40 offices globally, including 13 on the Chinese mainland, the HKTDC promotes Hong Kong as a platform for doing business with China, Asia and the world. With 50 years of experience, the HKTDC organises international exhibitions, conferences and business missions to provide companies, particularly SMEs, with business opportunities on the mainland and in international markets, while providing information via trade publications, research reports and digital channels including the media room. For more information, please visit: www.hktdc.com/aboutus. Follow us on Google+, Twitter @hktdc, LinkedIn.Google+: https://plus.google.com/+hktdcTwitter: http://www.twitter.com/hktdcLinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/hong-kong-trade-development-councilSource: HKTDCContact:Copyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
ALBANY, New York, September 8, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The competition in the global market for digital freight brokerage will likely heat up in the next couple of years on the back of entry of a substantial number of solution providers. As a result, the market is slated to make gigantic progress in the foreseeable future.

Some of the prominent players in the global market for digital freight brokerage are Echo Global Logistics Inc., Coyote Logistics, Transfix, LLC, Convoy, Cargomatic Inc., Trucker Path Inc., J.B. Hunt Transport, Inc., Cargocentric Inc., Uber Freight and TGMatrix Limited.

A report by Transparency Market Research finds that the global market for digital freight brokerage was worth US$144.5 mn in 2016 and by clocking a whopping 61.7% CAGR during the period between 2017 and 2025, it would likely become worth US$10,964.3 mn by 2025.

Depending upon the industry vertical, the digital freight brokerage market can be classified into food and beverage, healthcare, automotive, retail and e-commerce, manufacturing, and others such as aerospace and defense. Of them, the segment of retail and ecommerce is projected to grow at a maximum pace primarily on account of the fast growing large economies of Asia Pacific.

Geographically, the key segments of the global market for digital freight brokerage are North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East and Africa. At present, North America rakes in maximum revenue and is expected to retain its dominant share in the market in the upcoming years as well. By 2025, the region is predicted to generate almost US$4.03 bn revenue.

Get PDF Sample for this Research Report @ http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=S&rep_id=29144

Proliferation of Technologically Advanced Phones Boosts Market

Majorly fuelling the global market for digital freight brokerage is the growth in the number of sophisticated smartphones, improved wireless connectivity and their swift uptake, and advantages of digital platforms. "In the traditional freight brokerage market, carriers and the load might sit idle till the deal is finalized by brokers over the phone or mail. But, the proliferation of smartphones and tablets makes this process much more efficient by letting shippers find carriers on demand and also eliminate steep brokerage fees," explains the lead analyst of the TMR report.

Swift uptake of wireless connectivity technologies, namely 3G and 4G, particularly in developing countries and efforts by developed nations to usher in 5G in the near future will have a positive impact on the market.

Blockchain Technology Presents Enormous Opportunity

Posing a challenge to the market, on the other hand, is the quality of carriers matched with digital freight platforms. To overcome the challenge, companies operating in the market are trying to supply quality carriers by acting upon feedbacks from shippers and pre-verifying the carriers. Blockchain technology presents enormous opportunity to the market as they can serve to make digital freight platforms transparent and secure.

Other factors serving to stoke growth in the global digital freight brokerage market are the rising uptake of applications and tool to bring down costs incurred on brokerage and efforts to utilize unutilized cargo space in trucking industry.

This review is based on the findings of a TMR report, titled, "Digital Freight Brokerage Market (Transportation Mode - Roadway, Seaway, Airway, and Railway; Industry Verticals - Food and Beverages, Automotive, Retail and E-Commerce, Healthcare, and Manufacturing) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017-2025."

Get more information from Research Report Press Release: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/pressrelease/digital-freight-brokerage-market.htm

Global Digital Freight Brokerage Market, by Transportation mode

Roadway

Seaway

Airway

Railway

Global Digital Freight Brokerage Market, by Industry Vertical

Food & beverages

Automotive

Retail & E-commerce

Healthcare

Manufacturing

Other(aerospace & defense)

Global Digital Freight Brokerage Analysis, by Country/Region

North America The U.S. Canada Rest of North America

Europe The U.K. Germany France Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific China India Japan Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa GCC South Africa Rest of Middle East and Africa

& South America Brazil Rest of South America



Top Research Report by TMR:

Digital Asset Management Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/digital-asset-management-market.html

Digital Certificates and Public Key Infrastructure Market: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/digital-certificates-public-key-infrastructure-market.html

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TMR's data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.



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Conference Guests Will Learn How Location Intelligence Enables International Social and Environmental Progress

Esri, the global leader in spatial analytics, today announced that its founder and president, Jack Dangermond, will be a keynote speaker at the EFGS 2017 Conference in Dublin, Ireland, to be held Thursday, November 2 through Friday, November 3.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171031005908/en/

Esri, the global leader in spatial analytics, today announced that its founder and president, Jack Dangermond, will be a keynote speaker at the EFGS 2017 Conference in Dublin, Ireland, to be held Thursday, November 2 through Friday, November 3. (Photo: Business Wire)

The European Forum for Geography and Statistics (EFGS) started as a voluntary cooperation between National Statistical Institutions (NSIs) in the Nordic countries on the use of geographic information system (GIS) technology and statistics. Today, the EFGS has national contact persons from more than 40 states and territories and holds annual conferences and meetings.

Dangermond will be a keynote speaker at this year's conference to discuss the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and how Esri's location intelligence technology, known as The Science of Where, can help countries and engage communities around the world to achieve these goals.

WHO: Jack Dangermond, Esri Founder and President WHAT: EFGS 2017 Conference Keynote discussion detailing a new approach for monitoring the UN's SDGs and their progress using spatial analytics technology WHERE: Dublin Castle Dublin, Ireland D02 HW86 WHEN: Thursday, November 2, 9:40 a.m.-10:20 a.m. LEARN MORE: go.esri.com/ModernStatistics

About Esri

Esri, the global market leader in geographic information system (GIS) software, offers the most powerful mapping and spatial analytics technology available. Since 1969, Esri has helped customers unlock the full potential of data to improve operational and business results. Today, Esri software is deployed in more than 350,000 organizations including the world's largest cities, most national governments, 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies, and more than 7,000 colleges and universities. Esri engineers the most advanced solutions for digital transformation, the Internet of Things (IoT), and location analytics to inform the most authoritative maps in the world. Visit us at esri.com.

Copyright 2017 Esri. All rights reserved. Esri, the Esri globe logo, The Science of Where, esri.com, and @esri.com are trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of Esri in the United States, the European Community, or certain other jurisdictions. Other companies and products or services mentioned herein may be trademarks, service marks, or registered marks of their respective mark owners.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171031005908/en/

Contacts:

Esri

Karen Richardson

Public Relations

Mobile: 587-873-0157

krichardson@esri.com
DETROIT, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Stratview Research announces the launch of a new research report onGlobal Composite Filling Market in Dental Restoration by Material Type (Nanohybrid, Microhybrid, Microfilled, Nanofilled, and Others), by Defect Class Type (Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, and Class 5), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2017-2022.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160831/402975LOGO )



This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the composite filling market in dental restoration over the period 2011 to 2022. The report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.

Composite Filling Market in Dental Restoration: Highlights

As per Stratview Research, the global composite filling market in dental restoration offers a robust growth of 4.8% CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2022 and reach US$ 509 million in 2022, which offers an opportunity to the related industry players to align themselves with the market growth.

There are several factors bolstering the growth of composite filling market in dental restoration. The author of the report cited ageing population, increasing awareness for oral hygiene causing worldwide rise in dental check-ups, advantages of composite resin over amalgam in tooth-filling, and increasing demand for dental aesthetics as the major growth drivers of the composite filling market in dental restoration.

In terms of material type, nanohybrid and microhybrid composites currently dominate the global composite filling market in dental restoration, driven by a wide array of factors including ease of application, reduced sitting period, and ease of availability. These materials are also projected to witness high growth rates during the forecast period, driven by increasing demand from the dentists and dental care organizations.

Register Here for a Free Sample of the Report

Based on defect class type, class 1 type of defect is likely to remain the largest and fastest growing defect type for the market during the forecast period. The rising index of population and unhealthy eating habits amongst teenagers and young children have significantly increased the cases of class 1 defect in the population, supporting the high growth of class 1 defect type. Class 5 is the second fastest-growing defect type in the same period.

As per the study, Europe is expected to remain the largest market for composite filling for dental restoration during the forecast period owing to higher preference of composite filling over amalgam and the presence of key dental companies in this region. However, APAC is projected to witness the highest growth in the same period. This is mainly because of high population growth rate in key countries, such as India and China, and a gradual shift from amalgam to composite filling.

Globally, the major dental composite filling manufacturers include 3M ESPE, Dentsply Sirona, Coltene, The Danaher Corporation, Denmat Holdings, Heraeus Kulzer GmbH, etc. These companies manufacture the dental composite filling materials either in the form of injectable or paste materials along with their accessories as complete dental kits.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors.

This report studies global composite filling market in dental restoration and has segmented the market in three ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The following are the three ways in which the market is segmented:

Global Composite Filling Market in Dental Restoration by Material Type:

Nano-hyrbid (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Micro-hybrid (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Nano-filled (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Micro-filled (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Others(Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global Composite Filling Market in Dental Restoration by Defect Class Type:

Class 1 (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Class 2 (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Class 3 (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Class 4 (Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Class 5(Regional Analysis: NA, Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Global Composite Filling Market in Dental Restoration by Region:

North America (Country Analysis: the USA , Canada , and Mexico )

Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , the UK, Russia , and Rest of Europe )

Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

Rest of the World(Country Analysis: Middle East , Latin America , and Others)

Stratview Research has several high value market reports in the composites industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Composites Industry

Related premium market reports in the advanced materials industry are:

Global Composite Vacuum Consumables Market by Material Type, by End-Use Industry, by Application Type, and by Region, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021

Global Composite Preforms Market by Application Segment, by Fiber Type, by Product Type, by Structure Type, and by Region, Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2016 - 2021

About Stratview Research

Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas.

We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies.

Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.



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Stratview Research

E-mail:sales@stratviewresearch.com

Direct: +1-313-307-4176



Please feel free to drop an enquiry with us or ask for a free sample in the below page and our team will get back to you very soon: http://www.stratviewresearch.com/register.html.
ESPOO, Finland, 20 June, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Basware, the leading provider of e-invoicing and purchase-to-pay solutions, today announced that its customer Celgene has been awarded overall winner in the Best Card Solution category in the Adam Smith Awards 2017. Treasury Today's Adam Smith Awards have run for ten consecutive years, recognizing recipients globally with this ultimate benchmark of corporate achievement.

Celgene won their award for their solution developed by Basware together with Citi. With the prompt payment solution used by Celgene, early payment to suppliers is triggered by an invoice approval and is processed securely using Mastercard's virtual card technology. The suppliers also gain greater visibility to receivables and easy remittance reconciliation.

Anna Bianchi, Associate Manager, T&E at Celgene says, "We have a philosophy to innovate and continuously challenge the way things are done to improve productivity and efficiency across all areas of business. As Celgene's suppliers were increasingly requesting early or upfront payments, we worked with Basware and Citi to pay our suppliers early without directly impacting our working capital position. We are honoured to receive the Adam Smith award for what we did together."

Celgene, Basware and Citi will join the Gala Presentation Lunch at Plaisterers' Hall in the City of London on Thursday, 22 June to celebrate the award with Celgene and representatives from other innovative financial organizations.

For further information, contact:

Niclas Rosenlew

Chief Financial Officer

niclas.rosenlew@basware.com

Tel. +358(0)50-480-2160

Ben Selby

Head of Investor Relations

ben.selby@basware.com

Tel. +358(0)50-305-8077



About Celgene

Celgene Corporation, headquartered in Summit, New Jersey, is an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through next-generation solutions in protein homeostasis, immuno-oncology, epigenetics, immunology and neuro-inflammation.

About Basware

Basware is the global leader in networked purchase-to-pay solutions, including e-invoicing and financing services. Basware's commerce network connects businesses in over 100 countries and territories around the globe. As the largest open business network in the world, Basware provides scale and reach for organizations of all sizes, enabling them to grow their business and unlock value across their operations by simplifying and streamlining financial processes. Small and large companies around the world achieve significant cost savings, more flexible payment terms, greater efficiencies and closer relationships with their suppliers.

About Citi

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

Additional information may be found at http://www.citigroup.com/ | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://new.citi.com/ | Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/company/citi

About Mastercard

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world's fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities - such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances - easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on theBeyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/basware/r/celgene-wins-the-adam-smith-award-for-best-card-solution-with-basware--citi-and-mastercard,c2292228


PYONGYANG (dpa-AFX) - An American student, whom North Korea released last week in a coma after 18 months of captivity, has died.



Wambier's death evoked widespread outrage and criticism in the United States against North Korea. Describing North Korea as 'a brutal regime,' President Donald Trump said 'We will be able to handle (the regime.)'



Otto Warmbier, the 22 year-old University of Virginia student, was arrested in January 2016 at the end of a brief tourist visit to the isolated country allegedly for trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.



He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor.



North Korea returned Warmbier, who was suffering from severe brain damage, to the United States on June 13, saying he had been in a coma for a year and that it was acting on humanitarian grounds.



Warmbier was admitted at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, but was not responding to treatment.



Doctors revealed that Otto had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of 'unresponsive wakefulness,' opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.



He died Monday afternoon, his parents announced.



Fred and Cindy Warmbier said their son died as a result of the 'awful torturous mistreatment' by the North Koreans.



'Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency,' Trump said in a statement.



John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused the Kim Jong-un regime of murdering Warmbier.



Senators Benjamin L. Cardin and Marco Rubio said North Korea must be held accountable for the 'murder.'



In a message condoling the death of Warmbier, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson demanded the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained in North Korea. They include two men who taught at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for South Korea.



Meanwhile, Young Pioneer Tours, the China-based travel agency that organized Wambier's trip to North Korea, said it would no longer take US citizens to the reclusive Communist country.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
BSD Crown Ltd. (the "Company")

(LSE: BSD)

Company Update: Meinl Bank Deposit

Ramat Gan, 20 June 2017

Further to the announcement dated 17 May 2016, the Company hereby updates the market on recent developments in relation to the cash amounts (the "Deposit") of approximately US$30 million deposited by the Company with Meinl Bank ("Meinl") in Austria in 2013.

The Company has received a notification from Meinl claiming that certain events of default have occurred under the pledge agreement allegedly signed between the Company and Meinl and therefore, under Section 7.01 of such pledge agreement, the collateral posted in a pledged account for the purpose of settling certain obligations of Terminus Ventures Limited ("Terminus") under a loan agreement between Terminus and the Company has now become due and payable pursuant to such loan agreement. Consequently, Meinl reserves its rights against the Company, secured by a pledge over the Company's deposit of US$30 million held in Meinl (the "Company's Deposit"). In addition, Meinl has requested from the Company to increase the pledged deposit for an additional amount of EUR 1,110,212 related to alleged unpaid margins.

The Company denies any and all claims of Meinl. Without prejudice to any rights, and as stated in the announcement referenced above, the Company has never agreed to use the Deposit as collateral or as a guarantee in favor of any third party. Furthermore, the Company possesses certain documents that indicate that the Deposit is held in Meinl on behalf of the Company, free and clear of any encumbrance.

TheCompany will continue to seek the return of the Deposit and has instructed its legal advisors to act, on its behalf, in order to explore and pursue all courses of action and rights regarding the Deposit.

Furthermore, the Company herby announces that on 18 June 2017, the Tel-Aviv District Attorney's Office (Taxation and Economics) notified Mr. Gregory Gortovoy, the former controlling shareholder and chairman of the Company's board of directors, that it is considering filing an indictment against him, subject to a hearing, based, inter alia, on suspicions of theft by authorized personnel, money laundering, fraud, breach of fiduciary duties and falsification of corporate registrations. According to the notification, as of July 2015, Gortovoy has used his position as controlling shareholder and chairman of the board of directors of the Company to conceal the fact that the aforementioned deposits were allegedly pledged in favor of loans given to banks in connection with loans provided by the banks to companies related to Gortovoy.

Enquiries: Joseph Williger, Active Chairman of the Board Yossi@ydekel.co.il
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Arcus Development Group Inc. (TSX VENTURE: ADG) ("Arcus") provides the following updates related to its wholly-owned Dan Man and Touleary properties, both located in the White Gold District of Yukon Territory.

Dan Man Property

Preparation for the 2017 exploration program at the Dan Man property is nearing completion. The Dan Man property is located immediately north and adjacent to the Goldcorp Inc. ("Goldcorp") Coffee project. The Arcus program is expected to begin in late July and will include reverse circulation drilling, soil sampling, geological mapping and prospecting.

The primary focus of the 2017 drilling will be to test a number of coincident structural and geochemical features in the Kwazulu, Kambaa and Rooibos zones. The program has been budgeted at $1,260,000 and will be carried out by Arcus personnel with some logistical support from Goldcorp.

Touleary Property

Arcus has recently added 91 new mineral claims to its Touleary property. The new claims were acquired through staking following a reinterpretation of existing Touleary exploration data by Arcus. The new claims cover prospective volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") targets located in an existing gap between the Touleary property to the south and the White Gold property to the north. The White Gold property was recently acquired by White Gold Corp. from Kinross Gold Corporation (see White Gold Corp. news release dated June 14, 2017).

The Touleary property is the location of the first significant VMS system identified in the White Gold District. The Touleary VMS system was discovered by Arcus as part of a five hole (935 m) diamond drill program in 2011. The best drill intersection from the limited 2011 program was a 2.25 m interval containing 7.18% Cu, 116 g/t Ag, 3.55 g/t Au and 4.30% Zn.

The location of the new Touleary claims and full results for all previous work on the Touleary and Dan Man properties can be viewed on the Arcus website (www.arcusdevelopmentgroup.com).

The technical information in this news release has been prepared and approved by William A. Wengzynowski, P. Eng., a consultant to Arcus and a qualified person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

On behalf of Arcus Development Group Inc.

Ian J. Talbot, President and CEO

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

CAUTIONARY NOTE: This news release contains certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation (collectively "forward-looking statements"). The use of any of the words "will", "will be", "will have", "is expected to" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Arcus Development Group Inc.'s expectations are the risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by Arcus Development Group Inc. with securities regulators. Those filings can be found on the Internet at http://www.sedar.com.

Contacts:

Ian J. Talbot

President & CEO

Arcus Development Group Inc.

(604) 687-2522

(604) 688-2578 (FAX)

italbot@telus.net

www.arcusdevelopmentgroup.com



Grant Longhurst

Corporate Communications

Arcus Development Group Inc.

(604) 506-2445

(604) 688-2578 (FAX)

grant@highpci.com

www.arcusdevelopmentgroup.com




The Nykredit Group will pre-issue covered bonds (SDOs) on 21 June 2017 in accordance with the rules of the Danish Executive Order on bond issuance, balance principle and risk management of the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority. The relevant bond are shown in the attached pdf-file. The pre-issued bond will subsequently qualify as LCR Level 1B assets. Following the daily tap-issues, the pre-issued bond amount will be reduced accordingly. Questions may be addressed to Christian Mauritzen, Group Treasury, tel +45 44 55 10 14, or Morten Bkmand Nielsen, Head of Investor Relations, Group Treasury, tel +45 44 55 15 21. Other questions may be addressed to Corporate Communications, tel +45 44 55 14 50. Attachment: https://cns.omxgroup.com/cds/DisclosureAttachmentServlet?messageAttachmentId=635887

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.
LAKE SUCCESS, New York, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) today announced the launch of its trade reporting solution for the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) forthcoming Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR). Broadridge's new offering will enable market participants of all types to achieve a seamless implementation and meet the projected regulatory deadlines in 2018.

SFTR requires EU counterparts engaging in securities finance transactions to report trade data to a registered Trade Repository. To support the new rules, Broadridge will deliver a transaction reporting solution that spans the entire reporting lifecycle.

This new offering includes system-level data extracts from its securities finance and collateral management solution, through to unique trade identifier (UTI) generation, matching and direct reporting to trade repositories. Customers will be able to take advantage of Broadridge's unified solution for all of their SFTR requirements. Clients will also have the option of a modular solution that can be combined with other third party reporting platforms as required.

"The SFTR rules present a major challenge for all market participants due to their complex nature, dual-sided reporting and proximity to MiFID-II compliance deadlines," said Tom Carey, President of Global Technology and Operations, International for Broadridge. "Broadridge's in-depth expertise in both securities finance and trade reporting regimes, combined with this new solution, will enable clients to adapt to SFTR smoothly while minimising operational disruption and reducing the resource impact of complying with multiple concurrent reporting mandates."

This new solution leverages Broadridge's deep expertise in multi-jurisdictional transaction reporting across multiple reporting regimes including US (CFTC), Europe (EMIR, MiFID I and II), Canada, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, as well as its latest innovations in leading technologies to deliver efficient and timely client implementations.

About Broadridge



Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) a global fintech leader, provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90 percent of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes more than $5 trillion in fixed income and equity trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 10,000 full-time associates in 16 countries.

For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.

Contact Information:

Media:

EMEA

Paul Bowhay

+44 207-426-9417

BroadridgeEMEA@cognitomedia.com

APAC .

Peggy Wu

Ryan Communication

Tel: +65 6875 5785

peggy@ryancommunication.com

Brett Philbin

Edelman

+1 212-704-8263

brett.philbin@edelman.com

Gregg Rosenberg

Head of Corporate Communications

+1 212-918-6966

gregg.rosenberg@broadridge.com

Investors:

W. Edings Thibault

Head of Investor Relations

+1 516-472-5129

edings.thibault@broadridge.com

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/broadridge-launches-trade-reporting-solution-for-sftr-regulatory-change-300476557.html
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2017) - Argo Gold Inc. (CSE: ARQ) ("Argo Gold" or the "Company") commenced exploration activity at its Wawa area gold projects in early May 2017. Argo Gold has five gold projects in the Wawa area including; the South Wawa, Macassa Creek, Mishi Lake, Abbie Lake and the Rockstar Gold Projects. All projects are 100% owned by Argo Gold, subject to a 2% NSR on three of them.

Field exploration activity includes re-establishing access, grab and channel sampling, geological and structural mapping, geochemical surveys and prospecting in conjunction with the compilation and review of historical geological and geophysical data as well as planning for follow-up drilling. Initial samples were sent for assay in mid-May and results are pending.

The South Wawa Gold Project (256 hectares in Naveau Township) is located south of the Wawa Gold Project and contains the Valentti Gold Vein, which was trenched and sampled in the early 1990's and averages 4 g/t gold over a 3.4 metre width and 60 metre length of the exposed vein with channel samples ranging up to 15.4 g/t gold over 2.6 metres.

The Macassa Creek Gold Project (208 hectares in the Davids Lake Area) is located on the western extension of the Mishibishu Lake Deformation Zone that also hosts Wesdome's Mishi Gold Mine. Exploration activity by Dominion Explorers in 1986 and 1987 identified gold mineralization at surface and in drill core.

The Mishi Lake Gold Project (640 hectares in the Mishibishu Lake Area and St. Germain Township) is located on the eastern extension of the Mishibishu Lake Deformation Zone that hosts Wesdome's Mishi Gold Mine. Exploration activity in 2011 identified gold mineralization at surface.

The Abbie Lake Gold Project (4528 hectares in the Abbie Lake Area) is located on the Iron Lake Deformation Zone approximately 10 kilometres north of Wesdome's Magnacon mill. Exploration activity by Tundra Resources between 1983 and 1988 identified gold mineralization at surface and in drill core.

The Rockstar Gold Project (2,656 hectares in Jacobson and Riggs Townships) is located in the Michipicoten Greenstone Belt, which hosts Richmont Mine's Island Gold Mine and past gold producers including the Magino, Edwards, Cline and Renabie Mines. Exploration activity has identified six known areas of gold mineralization at surface. Drilling in 2004 and 2005 on the Rockstar Vein (2 to 3 metres wide) identified continuous gold mineralization for 250 metres along strike and to a depth of 250 metres.

The Company has not yet completed the work necessary to verify the past exploration results and since some of these results are historical in nature and some results pre-date National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") standards. In addition, a qualified person has not completed sufficient work to verify these historical results. The technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in NI 43-101 and reviewed and approved by Delio Tortosa, P.Eng., a "Qualified Person" as defined by NI 43-101 and a Technical Advisor for Argo Gold.

Argo Gold's website is www.argogold.ca

Judy Baker

(416) 786-7860

judybakertoronto@gmail.com

NEITHER THE CANADIAN SECURITIES EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATIONS SERVICES PROVIDER HAVE REVIEWED OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement

Except for statements of historic fact, this news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking information is frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates 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 anticipated in the forward-looking statements including, but not limited to delays or uncertainties with regulatory approvals, including that of the CSE. There are uncertainties inherent in forward-looking information, including factors beyond the Company's control. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking information if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by law. The reader is cautioned to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties that could affect financial results is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com.
STOCKHOLM, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Tobii Pro, the global leader in eye tracking research solutions, announces a new solution for conducting high-end, eye tracking research within immersive virtual environments (VR) - Tobii Pro VR Integration. The research tool, based on the HTC Vive headset integrated with Tobii eye tracking technology, comes with the Tobii Pro software development kit (SDK) for research applications. Researchers can collect and record eye tracking data from a VR environment with pinpoint accuracy and gain deeper insights on human behavior.

Eye tracking research in immersive VR is transforming how studies can be conducted and opens up entirely new possibilities in psychology, consumer behavior, and human performance. Through VR, researchers have complete control over a study environment which allows them to run scenarios that previously would have been too costly, risky or difficult to conduct in real life.

"Combining eye tracking with VR is growing as a research methodology and our customers have started to demand this technology to be part of their toolkit for behavioral studies. The Tobii Pro VR Integration is our first step in making eye tracking in immersive VR a reliable and effective research tool for a range of fields. It marks our first major expansion of VR-based research tools," said Tom Englund, president, Tobii Pro.

Through eye tracking in VR:

Researchers can get deeper insights to the shopper journey and a store environment can be readily duplicated in the virtual world without having to go through the time and money of setting up an actual store. Shopper behavioral tests can be conducted on products pre-production as well as the effectiveness of campaign messages.

Researchers can study anxieties, phobias and PTSD in entirely new ways where they can fully control the visual stimuli, such as spiders or stressful situations, and regulate the experience in a safe environment without putting the participants in serious distress.

Skills in a variety of fields can be tested without risk e.g. surgery procedures on virtual operating rooms where the visual strategies of an expert can be applied to new training protocols.

An objective, unbiased look at what drives decision-making and reactions in the virtual world is obtained, providing unparalleled insights into how people act in these virtual environments for a deeper understanding of human behavior in the real world.

"Eye tracking in immersive VR will open up opportunities for new ways of evaluating research questions that leverage the ability to control the environment and the net gain for researchers will be stronger insights that will be more predictive of real-world behaviour," said Dr. Tim Holmes, director of research and development at Acuity Intelligence and Honorary Research Associate at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The technology behind the Tobii Pro VR Integration

Tobii Pro VR Integration is a retrofit of the HTC Vive business edition headset with a seamless integration of Tobii eye tracking technology. It is capable of eye tracking all types of eyes, collecting binocular eye tracking data at 120 Hz (images per second). The solution allows study participants to move naturally while wearing the headset without compromising the user experience or the output of the eye tracking data.

The solution comes with Tobii Pro's software development kit (SDK) enabling eye tracking data collection for both live interactions and analysis. The Pro SDK supports millisecond synchronization and gives researchers the freedom to build analysis applications customized to their research on either Matlab, Python, C. or .Net compatible with Unity.

To receive updates on Tobii Pro's tools for eye tracking research in immersive VR sign up here.

More information and media assets:

Watch a video about Tobii Pro VR Integration

Watch a video on Tobii Pro in 2 minutes

Visit the news room of Tobii Pro for images

The Tobii reference design VR4 is the basis for the Tobii Pro VR Integration. The technology is aimed at device manufacturers that need eye tracking in their VR headsets. You find more information regarding the VR4 here

CONTACT:

Cecilia Lago Albright, PR & Communications Manager, Tobii Pro, Phone: +46-707-43-13-45, email: cecilia.albright@tobii.com

Anthony Suarez, Media Relations Manager, North of Nine Communications, Phone: +1-212-614-4331, email: anthony.suarez@nof9.com

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/tobii-pro/r/tobii-pro-expands-eye-tracking-research-into-virtual-reality,c2292164

The following files are available for download:
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - October 26, 2017) - GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSX VENTURE: GQC) (FRANKFURT: M1W) (BERLIN: M1W) ("GoldQuest" or the "Company") is pleased to report assay results from the latest drillhole and the lower part of the previous drillhole from its Cachimbo Discovery, a Volcanogenic Massive Sulphide (VMS) deposit located within the Company's 100% owned Tireo Concessions in the Dominican Republic. Cachimbo remains open in all directions. The Company's 50 km long land package also hosts the multi-million-ounce gold/copper Romero Project, 22 kms to the north-west, along with multiple targets areas identified by the Company.

The new TIR-17-45 drillhole was drilled in the eastern part of the discovery, and intersected 26.57 m @ 3.36 g/t gold, 21.55 g/t silver, 0.03 % copper, 0.11 % lead and 0.55 % zinc. (4.20 g/t AuEq.*) within a wider mineralized envelope of 94.56 m @ 1.88 g/t AuEq*. The richest horizon was found in a silica-barite matrix, associated with the upper parts of a VMS system from 7 metres below surface. Hole TIR-17-45 was drilled from the same drill pad as hole TIR-17-44, where the top 70 metres of assays were reported last week. The remaining assays are reported today, showing the previously reported 21.0 m @ 10 g/t AuEq.* lies within a wider intersection of 125 m @ 2.6 g/t gold. Anomalous mineralization continues intermittently to the bottom of both drillholes.

"Our Cachimbo discovery is consistently showing higher gold grades in an upper horizon deposited on the seafloor, above longer, lower gold grade intervals, which may have been deposited below the seafloor. The company continues to do detailed mapping, ground geophysics and grid soil sampling as we develop new targets in tandem with ongoing step out drilling at Cachimbo," commented Bill Fisher, GoldQuest's CEO and Executive Chairman.

Step out drilling is ongoing, seeking a potential sub-seafloor copper-gold rich feeder system, analogous to the core of the Company's Romero deposit, which has not yet been recognized at Cachimbo.

A plan map and cross-sections showing the Cachimbo drilling can be found at the following links.

Plan Map: http://goldquestcorp.com/images/PlanView_Loma_El_Cachimbo.pdf

Section B-B': http://goldquestcorp.com/images/Long_Section_Loma_El_Cachimbo_B-B.pdf

Table 1. Tireo Drilling TIR -17-45 Intersection ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole From To Length Au Ag Cu Pb Zn Au (m) (m) (m) g/t g/t % % % Eq ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIR-17-44 11.04 135.81 124.77 2.07 11.31 0.03 0.07 0.39 2.62 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl. 11.04 22.00 21.00 7.86 39.60 0.17 0.26 1.81 10.20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIR-17-45 6.96 101.52 94.56 1.59 8.39 0.01 0.04 0.16 1.88 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- incl. 6.96 33.53 26.57 3.36 21.55 0.03 0.11 0.55 4.20 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

*The Gold Equivalent (AuEq.) has been calculated using the following prices for metals (in USD): Gold $1300/oz; Silver $16/oz.; Copper $2.90/lb; Zinc $1.50/lb.; Lead $1.15/lb. Interval grades are calculated using uncapped assays. Gold values did not exceed 21 g/t. Intervals may not represent true widths. There is insufficient drilling to determine the exact orientation of the mineralized zones at this time.

Table 2. Collar location and directions for TIR-17-45 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole Easting Northing Elevation Azimut Dip Depth ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIR-17-44 266578.00 2097162.00 1067.44 0 -90 262.13 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- TIR-17-45 266578.00 2097162.00 1067.44 240 -70 205.74 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

QA/QC

As part of the Company's Quality Assurance and Quality Control procedures (QA/QC) the Company reviews results from Certified Standard Reference materials (CRSM or Standards), which are inserted at a rate of five per 100 samples. Within the results disclosed herein there were no samples with results outside of the recommended tolerances for the standards. In GoldQuest's drill programs, composite intervals were chosen using a combination of geological criteria and mineralization, averaging around two metres core length. The drill core is cut in half with one half of the core sample shipped to ACME Labs by GoldQuest technicians. The remaining half of the core is kept at the Company core shack for future assay verification, or any other further investigation. Assays within intervals below the 0.005 g/t detection limit for Au were given a zero value. All drill samples were prepared and screened by Bureau Veritas Ltd in Maimon Dominican Republic; metallic fire assay and multi-element ICP-MS were assayed by Bureau Veritas Ltd, Vancouver. Gold values are determined by standard fire assay with an AA finish, or, if over 10.0 g/t Au, were re-assayed and completed with a gravimetric finish. Copper and zinc values exceeding 0.2% were re-assayed with a 4-acid digestion and AAS finish. When zinc values exceeded 10% a classic titration was carried out for zinc. QA/QC included the insertion and continual monitoring of numerous standards, blanks and duplicates into the sample stream, at random intervals within each batch.

The information in this press release has been reviewed and approved by William Fisher, P. Geo., CEO and Executive Chairman of GoldQuest and a Qualified Person for the technical information in this press release under NI 43-101 standards.

About GoldQuest

GoldQuest is a Canadian based mineral exploration and development company with projects in the Dominican Republic. GoldQuest is traded on the TSX-V under the symbol GQC and in Frankfurt/Berlin with symbol M1W. The Company is well funded to carry out the exploration programs reported on in this release and to advance the development of its Romero gold/copper discovery, also located in the Tireo Formation of the Dominican Republic.

Forward-looking statements:

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forward-looking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the 2015 drill program, the results of the drill program and the interpretation of the results of the drill program, further drilling, the timing of drilling and assay results, mineral resource estimates, the merits of the Company's mineral properties, future drill programs and studies, and the Company's plans and exploration programs for its mineral properties, including the timing of such plans and programs. In certain cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "likelihood", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "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", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

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 future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. 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, do not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable, including expectations regarding mineral exploration and development costs; expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral resource estimates; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

CONTACT INFORMATION



GoldQuest Corp.



Bill Fisher

Executive Chairman and CEO - Toronto

+1-647-271-4505

BFisher@GoldQuestCorp.com



Red Cloud KS



Chad Williams/Sebastian de Kloet

Investor Relations

1-877-919-5979

CWilliams@redcloudKS.com


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Canadian dollar slipped against major rivals in the European session on Tuesday as oil prices fell, with investors cautious ahead of weekly data on U.S. stockpiles later in the day amid global supply overhang.



Crude for August delivery fell $0.82 to $43.61 per barrel.



The American Petroleum Institute releases its U.S. crude oil inventory data later in the day.



Official data from the Energy Information Administration is due tomorrow. Analysts expect the U.S. inventories to shrink by 1.2 million barrels last week.



Sentiment dampened on news of reviving oil output from Libya, after Paris based Kpler SAS co. said the amount of oil stored in nation's tankers hit a 2017 high of 111.9 million barrels earlier this month.



The loonie traded mixed against its major rivals in the Asian session. While the loonie held steady against the greenback and the euro, it rose against the yen. Against the aussie, the currency declined.



The loonie dropped to a 5-day low of 1.3282 against the greenback, after having advanced to 1.3204 at 2:00 am ET. Continuation of the loonie's downtrend may see it challenging support around the 1.335 region.



The loonie weakened to a 4-day low of 1.0098 against the aussie, from its early high of 1.0027. The next possible support for the loonie is seen around the 1.02 mark.



Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that Australia's house prices rose 2.2 percent on quarter in the first three months of 2017.



That was in line with expectations and down from 4.1 percent in the previous three months.



The loonie edged down to 1.4822 against the euro and 83.86 against the yen, off its near 2-month high of 1.4726 and a 3-month high of 84.55, respectively. The loonie is likely to find support around 1.02 against the aussie and 1.49 against the euro.



Looking ahead, U.S. current account for the first quarter and Canada wholesale sales for April are due in the New York session.



Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan speaks about the economy and monetary policy at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco at 3:00 pm ET.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
AMSTERDAM, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Nominations for excellence in research in chemistry, mathematics and physics accepted until September 15, 2017

Nominations opened today for the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, a high-profile award which honors the scientific and career achievements of women from developing countries in five regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab region, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and East and South-East Asia and the Pacific. The theme for 2018 will be physical sciences, including chemistry, mathematics and physics. Nominations will be accepted until September 15, 2017.

The awards are a collaboration between the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The Elsevier Foundation. The competition will be judged by a distinguished panel of international scientists. One winner from each region will be announced in February 2018 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Austin, Texas. The five winners will each receive a cash prize of US$5,000 and all-expenses paid attendance at the AAAS meeting.

The awards rotate annually between disciplines (biological sciences, engineering sciences and physical sciences) to ensure optimal exposure and networking synergies.

Previous winners say the awards have had a powerful impact, enhancing the visibility of their research and creating new research and career opportunities. "I am happy and proud to have received the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation award. It strengthens my commitment to engage in the scientific development of my country and of the Andean region," said Dr. Rivera Velasquez, who received the 2017 award in engineering and innovation.



"I was overwhelmed by the commitment and determination of the five winners in 2017. Their ambition to succeed, even under the most adverse conditions, is an inspiration to women scientists world-wide. They are true role models and we applaud their achievements," said Jennifer Thomson, President of OWSD. "The value of these awards is far more than a mere prize. The exposure that the winners receive, not only at the award ceremony and during the AAAS conference, but long after due to the contacts they are able to make, is life-changing."

Nominations for the 2018 awards will be accepted for early-career women working in the physical sciences who have received their PhDs within the past 10 years and live in one of the 66 scientifically lagging countries as defined by TWAS. All nominations will be reviewed by a committee of eminent researchers who represent the five regions, including members of TWAS and OWSD, and chaired by OWSD President Jennifer Thomson.

"Visibility and role models are critical for early career women scientists, and even more so in developing countries where women often face compounding societal pressures. This year, we have awarded our 7th group of winners and I can vouch for the impact this has on their careers: opening doors to new research assignments, greater mobility and enhanced international collaboration opportunities," remarked Ylann Schemm, Director of the Elsevier Foundation. "Partnering with OWSD to support a new generation of emerging women leaders in science and technology continues to be a real honor."

Read more on Elsevier Connect.

Nomination applications can be downloaded from the OWSD website and submitted through September15, 2017 to info@owsd.net.

About OWSD

The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) provides research training, career development and networking opportunities for women scientists throughout the developing world. Headed by eminent women scientists from the South, OWSD has more than 6,000 members and runs various programmes, including a PhD fellowship programme with 200 successful graduates from Least Developed Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa. OWSD is the first international forum to unite eminent women scientists from the developing and developed worlds with the objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leadership. OWSD is affiliated with The World Academy of Science (TWAS) and based in Trieste, Italy, with national chapters throughout the developing world. www.owsd.net

About The Elsevier Foundation

The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to knowledge centered institutions around the world, with a sustainability focus on innovations in health information, diversity in STM, research in developing countries and technology for development. Since 2006, the Foundation has awarded more than 100 grants worth millions of dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. The Elsevier Foundation is a corporate not-for-profit 501(c)(3), funded by Elsevier, a global provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. www.elsevierfoundation.org

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics company that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries.www.elsevier.com

Media contacts

Tonya Blowers

Program Coordinator, OWSD

+39-040-2240-682

tblowers@owsd.net



Elisa Nelissen

Communications Officer

+31-20-4852492

e.nelissen@elsevier.com


Page Content

The Council of the European Union adopted on 19 June its conclusions on the EU Action Plan for nature, people and the economy. The Council recognises the CoR's key role as regards outreach and building ownership of the action plan at regional and local levels. Environmental ministers highlighted funding shortages and the need to ensure 'predictable, adequate, regular and targeted EU financing'. Following the Council's conclusions, CoR member and rapporteur Roby Biwer organised a visit to some Luxemburgish Natura 2000 sites with EC Director-General for Environment Daniel Calleja Crespo and representatives from the Luxemburgish Ministry for Environment.

The European Committee of the Regions has found the support of the Council in specific and important aspects as regards the implementation of the new EU Action Plan for nature, people and the economy, a set of fifteen measures to support the implementation of the EU Birds and Habitats Directives across the EU. The Council conclusions were adopted yesterday 19 June in Luxembourg. The Council highlights the key role of the CoR to ensure the Plan's outreach and ownership at local and regional level as well as in monitoring the Plan's execution. The Council recognises that the timeframe for delivery (end of 2019) is short and 'urges the Commission to monitor its delivery across the 15 actions identified in close collaboration with the Member States and the EU institutions, in particular the Committee of the Regions.'

The Council also 'recognises that funding shortages are a key obstacle preventing the Natura 2000 network from delivering its benefits in full.' The Council 'underlines the need to ensure predictable, adequate, regular and targeted EU financing'. In line with the CoR's recommendations adopted under the opinion of Roby Biwer (LU/PES), Member of Bettembourg Municipal Council in December 2015, the Council also 'reiterates its call on the Commission to put forward a proposal for a trans-European network for green infrastructure (TENG) to support better connectivity of Natura 2000 in a cross-border context', as it has been supported by the CoR before.

Right after the Council ended, rapporteur Roby Biwer organised a study visit to some Luxembourgish Natura 2000 sites managed bySICONA, the Intercommunal Syndicate for Nature Conservation. The CoR's ENVE commission secretariat took part together with Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director-General for Environment of the European Commission, Nicola Notaro, Head of the Nature Unit at DG Environment and representatives from the Luxemburgish Ministry for Environment.

SICONA is a nature conservation public association of 45 municipalities, active since 1990 and covering a substantial part of Luxembourg's territory. SICONA's main task is biodiversity and landscape conservation, working to fulfil the missions of the Country's Nature Protection Act, counselling municipalities on nature and landscape protection and raising public awareness. From elaborating specific annual work programmes, to pre-financing projects and negotiating and contracting conservation programmes with owners and land managers, SICONA arises as a Natura 2000 best practice that reconciles nature protection with socio-economic benefits for local communities.

The CoR and the European Commission are closely cooperating to improve environmental law implementation in Europe. For the first time, the CoR joined a project team of EU commissioners to steer the new Nature Directives Action Plan launched last 27 April. Local and regional governments have welcomed this inter-institutional cooperation which it hopes will set a benchmark for other areas where cities and regions hold large competencies such in the case of EU environmental law.

CoR members are further contributing to the Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) via an opinion currently being drafted by Andrew Cooper (UK/EA) , Member of Kirklees Council. It is scheduled to be adopted in October 2017.

Additional information

New EU Nature Directives Action Plan supports regions to protect biodiversity and drive socio-economic growth

The Natures Directives Action Plan foresees the direct involvement of the CoR in four specific actions: the promotion and dissemination of the new multi-lingual guidelines which include site permitting procedures, species protection and management and the integration of ecosystem services (action 1); encouraging the engagement of local and regional authorities within the action of refocusing the Natura 2000 biogeographical process and roadmaps, including cross-border issues (action 6); supporting knowledge exchange and engagement of local and regional authorities through the above mentioned CoR/EC Technical Platform for Cooperation on the Environment (action 13) ; and supporting recognition of good management of Natura 2000 sites and awareness-raising of the Nature Directives through relevant fora, availing of new technologies and outreach activities, strengthen links between natural and cultural heritage, especially in the context of 2018 as European year of cultural heritage (action 14).

To execute common actions, the EC and the CoR are setting up a new structure on cross-border nature protection within the existing Technical Platform for cooperation on the environment . Its first meeting is to take place during the European Week of Regions and Cities in October this year.

The Nature Directives are the cornerstone of Europes legislation on nature conservation, protecting around 2,000 of Europes most vulnerable species and habitats. The Directives established Natura 2000, the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. Natura 2000 covers 18 % of the EUs land area and almost 6 % of its marine territory.

Natura 2000 contributes between 1.7% and 2.5% of EU GDP through the provision of ecosystem services such as carbon storage, water purification, pollination and tourism. While the cost of implementing Natura 2000 has been estimated at EUR 5.8 billion per year, its annual benefits are assessed at EUR 200-300 billion.

Contact:

David Crous | Tel. +32 (0)470 88 10 37 | david.crous@cor.europa.eu




PARIS, FRANCE -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- PARIS INTERNATIONAL AIR SHOW - Esterline Corporation (www.esterline.com) (NYSE: ESL), a leading global specialty manufacturer primarily serving the aerospace and defense markets, today announced it will supply distributor Triman Industries, Inc., with its Korry-branded press-to-test indicators for resale to the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). The DLA is the combat logistics support agency for the U.S. Department of Defense, and will be restocking its inventory with a multi-year supply of Korry indicators, which are critical components for master-caution assemblies in the F-16 cockpit.

Esterline has supplied Korry switching and display products and other human-machine interface solutions for the F-16 multirole fighter since the inception of the program. Triman Industries is a specialized distribution company providing military land, sea and air aftermarket products to the defense industry.

"Esterline has been a consistent supplier to the F-16 program since first production in the 1970s and over many upgrades," said Rob Gibbs, president of the Esterline Control & Communication Systems business unit providing Korry products, "Our partnership with Triman, a highly regarded distributor, underscores our commitment to keep supporting this versatile aircraft, one of the most common in service among the U.S. armed forces and those of our allies worldwide."

"This procurement by DLA of Esterline's Korry products for the F-16 highlights our core competence: to serve as the critical link between end users and best-in-class suppliers," said Scott Truskin, President of Triman Industries. "We pay close attention to the details, especially in the attentive service and uncompromising quality assurance that support long-term relationships. Both our suppliers and customers know they can rely on us."

About Esterline Control & Communication Systems

Esterline Control & Communication Systems (www.esterline.com/controlandcommunication) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Esterline Corporation that designs and produces leading technology control and communication components and subsystems for today's advanced requirements, focusing on delivering high-reliability human-machine interface (HMI) solutions to its customers across the globe.

About Esterline Corporation

Esterline Corporation is a leading worldwide supplier to the aerospace and defense industry specializing in three core areas: Advanced Materials; Avionics & Controls; and Sensors & Systems. With annual sales of approximately $2 billion, Esterline employs roughly 13,000 people worldwide.

Operations within the Advanced Materials segment focus on technologies including high-temperature-resistant materials and components used for a wide range of military and commercial aerospace purposes, and combustible ordnance and electronic warfare countermeasure products.

Operations within the Avionics & Controls segment focus on technology interface systems for commercial and military aircraft and similar devices for land- and sea-based military vehicles, cockpit displays and integration systems, flight training and simulation equipment, secure communications systems, specialized medical equipment, and other high-end industrial applications.

The Sensors & Systems segment includes operations that produce high-precision temperature and pressure sensors, specialized harsh-environment connectors, electrical power distribution equipment, and other related systems principally for aerospace and defense customers.
WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- DirectTrust today announced the election of health care industry executives Linda Van Horn and Dan Paoletti to its board of directors and the election of Paul Uhrig, an executive at Surescripts, as its new Board chair. Additionally, Chris Muir from the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, ONC, has been named Board Liaison, a new position. DirectTrust is a health care industry alliance created by and for participants in the Direct exchange network.

"We are pleased to add individuals with Linda and Dan's high level of experience and knowledge to our talented board of directors," said David C. Kibbe, MD, MBA, President and CEO of DirectTrust. "Linda and Dan are highly-regarded leaders and innovators in health care information exchange and are known for their collaborative leadership. They will be valuable assets to our Board and our members in their efforts to help health care professionals, health IT vendors and their patients and customers communicate safely and securely."

Ms. Van Horn is founder, president and Chief Executive Officer of iShare Medical, an EHNAC Accredited Trust Anchor Bundle HISP and Governmental Trust Anchor Bundle HISP. She is also founder, president and CEO of 21st Century Edge, a management consulting firm serving hospitals, physicians and ambulatory surgery centers in the field of pain management. Earlier, Ms. Van Horn was a senior manager in IT Consulting at Deloitte.

Mr. Paoletti is Chief Executive Officer of the Ohio Health Information Partnership. As a founding member of the partnership, Mr. Paoletti has helped shape the vision, mission and policies of the organization since its 2009 inception. He is the creator of CliniSync HIE. With 2,500 organizations serving 10.5 million patients, CliniSync is one of the nation's largest and most successful health information exchanges (HIE). Earlier, Mr. Paoletti was vice president of the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) and Chief Operating Officer of OHA Solutions.

Mr. Uhrig, chief administrative, legal and privacy officer for Surescripts, was elected Board chair to replace Dr. John Blair, whose term expired. At Surescripts, Mr. Uhrig is responsible for a number of critical corporate functions, including internal audit, legal, privacy, security, policy, and governmental affairs, as well as certification compliance.

"The Board has tremendous confidence in Paul's experience and leadership qualities," said Dr. Kibbe. "His knowledge, expertise and commitment to the Board and all of our members make him the ideal candidate to serve as Board chair. I also want to thank Dr. John Blair for his many contributions and dedicated service as Board chair for the past four years."

Mr. Muir was named to the newly-created Board Liaison position. Liaisons are individuals employed or contracted by, or affiliated with state or federal government and who represent the interests of their respective governmental agency to the Board. Mr. Muir works at ONC's Office of Standards and Technology as division director of Health IT Infrastructure and Innovation. He is responsible for ONC's nationwide situational awareness of HIT standards adoption and the Interoperability Standards Advisory.

In other Direct Trust action:

Lucy Johns MPH was re-elected to serve another term as board vice chair. Ms. Johns is a strategic planner and policy analyst with Health Care Planning & Policy in San Francisco. As a volunteer, her interest in data brought her to CalRHIO, where she served on the Governance Committee that led to formal incorporation and learned of PHRs that could be patient-controlled.





Bruce Schreiber was elected treasurer. Mr. Schreiber is chief technology officer at MaxMD. He is responsible for technical strategy and development as well as for building the company's technological systems. MaxMD has participated in the Direct project since the Direct Project Rules of the Road workgroup in 2010.







About DirectTrust

DirectTrust is a five-year old, non-profit, vendor neutral, self-regulatory entity initially created by and for participants in the Direct exchange community, including Health Internet Service Providers (HISPs), Certificate Authorities (CAs), Registration Authorities (RAs), doctors, patients and vendors. DirectTrust supports both provider-to-provider and patient-to-provider Direct exchange. In the period 2013 to 2015, DirectTrust was the recipient of a Cooperative Agreement Award from the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as part of the Exemplar HIE Governance Program. DirectTrust serves as a forum and governance body for persons and entities engaged in the Direct exchange of electronic health information as part of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN). DirectTrust's Security and Trust Framework is the basis for the voluntary accreditation of service providers implementing Direct health information exchange. The goal of DirectTrust is to develop, promote, and, as necessary, help enforce the rules and best practices necessary to maintain security and trust within the Direct community, consistent with the HITECH Act and the governance rules for the NwHIN established by ONC. DirectTrust is committed to fostering widespread public confidence in the interoperable exchange of health information. To learn more, visit www.directtrust.org.

Contact

Ed Emerman

Eagle Public Relations

609.275.5162

eemerman@eaglepr.com




OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Sophos (LSE: SOPH), a global leader in network and endpoint security, today announced its partnership with Konica Minolta Inc. to integrate Sophos XG Firewall and Sophos Wireless into Workplace Hub. Konica Minolta recently announced Workplace Hub, an innovative enterprise IT solution that integrates everything from basic office automation functions to security, IoT device management and data storage in a single platform designed for small and medium enterprises. Konica chose to partner with Sophos because of its expertise in providing fully integrated, enterprise-grade solutions that are easy to deploy and manage for organizations without a large IT security team.

The constantly evolving threat landscape and increasingly complex networks and IT environments are driving greater demand for dependable security solutions that can cope with the latest threats. Sophos, with its proven-in-the-field security technologies, strengthens the Workplace Hub IT Security with its easy to integrate, simple to manage solutions, and offers a revolution in advanced threat protection.

"Due to its easy management and deep visibility into network activity, the XG Firewall is perfect for Konica Minolta's vision for the workplace of the future. We both share the same philosophy of providing simple yet comprehensive technology for businesses of all sizes," said Francois Depayras, vice president for Global OEM Alliances at Sophos. "By embedding Sophos' security using powerful and flexible APIs, Konica Minolta achieves the value and reliability they are seeking for their customers. Sophos products offer simple deployment, industry-leading protection, and great performance making them a great choice for innovative technology vendors like Konica Minolta."

Commenting on the partnership with Sophos, Dennis Curry, executive director of Global R&D and deputy CTO at Konica Minolta, said, "Workplace Hub not only allows businesses of all sizes to achieve effective digital transformation but also future-proof themselves against the next wave of technology innovations. We needed a reliable yet simple security solution that can support our roadmap for future integration of IoT, artificial intelligence and other mature capabilities as they become more central to the business environment of tomorrow. Sophos proved to be the perfect partner for us due to their recognized security expertise, proven-in-the-field solutions, and their ability to support us through every phase of this project."

The Sophos next-gen XG Firewall offers many features that make OEM integration simple and effective. These include:

A flexible management interface that can be branded or accessed via APIs

Multiple options for bundles, including email and web security, sandbox, next-gen firewall and wireless security

An extensive sales training program to enable fast adoption within the sales team

Mature support and integration processes, allowing partners to more quickly get to market

Sophos is a leader in both network and endpoint security and has world-class threat intelligence infrastructure with SophosLabs. Sophos' solutions are licensed by top security companies, networking vendors and other leading global IT brands.

Read the latest security news and views on our award-winning Naked Security News and read more about Sophos News at Sophos Blog

Protect every Mac and PC in your home with the next generation of centrally managed free internet security software, Sophos Home.

Connect with Sophos where you are

Twitter

LinkedIn

Facebook

Google+

Spiceworks

YouTube

About Sophos

More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos' complete security solutions as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Simple to deploy, manage and use, Sophos' award-winning encryption, endpoint security, Web, email, mobile and network security solutions are backed by SophosLabs -- a global network of threat intelligence centers.

Sophos is headquartered in Oxford, UK, and is publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol "SOPH." More information is available at www.sophos.com.
NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Industry thought leaders will discuss and debate the impact of LTE-A Pro, Gigabit LTE and 5G on the wireless industry at Light Reading's (www.lightreading.com) "LTE Advanced Pro and Gigabit LTE: The Path to 5G" breakfast workshop set for the morning of September 13 at Mobile World Congress Americas (https://tmt.knect365.com/ltepro).

Held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in San Francisco, California, from 7:30 - 9:00 AM, the breakfast features keynote speaker Gunther Ottendorfer, Chief Operating Officer, Technology at Sprint, and covers the following topics:

The role of LTE-A Pro in driving superior capacity economics and end-user performance

How carrier aggregation, 256 QAM and massive MIMO combine to support gigabit downlink speeds

The use of unlicensed 5GHz and shared 3.5GHz (CBRS) spectrum to enable extreme peak rate services

Deployment of non-standalone 5G NR in an LTE network

Mobility and dual-connectivity between mmWave 5G and evolved LTE RANs

System architecture evolution covering the core network, edge computing and SDN

"LTE-Advanced Pro is the major upgrade release for LTE. It introduces a host of new capabilities that will lay the groundwork for commercial 5G services," says Gabriel Brown, Principal Analyst at Heavy Reading, and conference chair. "Investment in 5G-ready LTE-A Pro technology is vital for US operators to achieve superior capacity economics, to compete on performance, and to open up advanced new services. This special breakfast discusses how LTE-A Pro and Gigabit LTE will have an immediate market impact and pave the way for the introduction of 5G."

"LTE Advanced Pro and Gigabit LTE: The Path to 5G" is sponsored by Qualcomm.

Speaking and sponsor opportunities are available. Contact events@lightreading.com for more information.

To view the full event agenda, click here. To register to attend, click here.

Follow Light Reading on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube for all the latest news.

About Light Reading

Light Reading (www.lightreading.com) combines its research-led online communities and targeted events portfolio to help those in the global communications industry make informed decisions. Lightreading.com is the ultimate source for telecom analysis for more than 400,000 subscribers each month, leading the media sector in terms of traffic, content and reputation. Light Reading produces targeted communications events and focused one-day and two-say conferences each year for cable, mobile and wireline executives across five continents.

Erin Cardinal

516-512-4345

cardinal@lightreading.com




GRASS VALLEY, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Simlatus Corporation (OTC PINK: SIML) announces today the company has begun manufacturing its new SyncPal immersive product and anticipate making deliveries next month in July.

The company's Chief Executive Officer, Bob Stillwaugh, discussed the 2017 roll-out of another innovative commercial broadcast product referred to as SyncPal. Stillwaugh stated, "The SyncPal has a target of 10,000 studios in the USA alone. Many of these studios continue to have embedded audio/video lip-sync problems and our SyncPal is a solution. The potential revenue is approximately $30M, and to date we have received orders for over $500,000 which is 300% above our projected revenue for SyncPal's 2017 sales. More important is that we already have positive relationships with many of these studios, and they will be responsive to our cost effective solution to improve the quality of their program."

ABOUT SIMLATUS: www.simlatus.com

Simlatus Corporation designs, manufactures and sells commercial audio and video broadcast equipment worldwide. The company has a current expanding revenue base in the broadcast industry with long-term national and international distribution. Our customers include large broadcast giants such as CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN and DIRECTV, as well as many smaller broadcast customers which include religious facilities, international broadcast facilities, colleges, and radio stations. The new Simlatus-IBS will allow the company to capitalize in the $150B growing industry of augmented/virtual reality.

Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements. While these statements are made to convey to the public the company's progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the company at this time, actual results may differ materially from those described. The Company's operations and business prospects are always subject to risk and uncertainties. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ are and will be set forth in the company's periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:



Tom Nelson

Tenassociates33@gmail.com

1-480-326-8577




FARGO, ND -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- FBS, the creators of the industry-leading Flexmls System and Spark Platform, announced a partnership with Solid Earth to build their Spring Consumer Portal on the Spark API, an integration that will give Multiple Listing Services the ability to create and quickly deploy hyper local consumer portals in their marketplaces, delivering better quality leads to its members for the first time.

Just as FBS previously announced a partnership with AgentSquared Instant IDX websites powered by Spark, this new partnership with Solid Earth's Spring is yet another demonstration of the growing popularity of Spark and FBS's intention of working with technology innovators to offer the very best tools and resources to real estate professionals.

Michael Wurzer, CEO of FBS said, "Once complete, the Spring built on Spark integration brings the plug-and-play dream to life creating a better, more collaborative experience for both consumers and agents. Instead of the consumer house-hunting experience being separate and disconnected from the agent experience in the MLS, with this integration, we'll join them together through the Spark API, all without duplicate entry or effort by the agent."

Matt Fowler, Chief Executive Officer of Solid Earth, describes this partnership and subsequent integration work as "the most exciting change to the real estate space since IDX." He elaborates upon the powerful reach of the benefits with a potential real life scenario: "Imagine a consumer searching an MLS-powered consumer portal with hyper-local content specific to their region -- whether in the Midwest, mountains, or on the coast -- and now the consumer wants to work with an agent. Instead of the agent having to duplicate that search and customer information to set up a subscription and listing alerts in the MLS system, that same consumer search and contact information is immediately available to the agent in the MLS system, all without duplicate entry. While this kind of automation is available in many industries already, until now, it has been elusive in real estate. With Spring on Spark, FBS and Solid Earth will bring automation to real estate."

The first MLS set to launch Spring powered by Spark is the Staten Island MLS. Sandy Krueger, President/CEO of the 1,800 member MLS and CEO of the Staten Island Board of REALTORS, which owns the MLS, said, "It's exciting to be at the forefront of where MLS technology is heading. Most importantly, we are creating new value for our members and their clients through the Spring MLS solution in collaboration with the FBS Flexmls and its Spark API to fuel real time data to our site."

Wurzer and Fowler both note that Spring can serve as both a consumer portal and an alternative MLS system for agents. "We've had discussion in our industry for several years about offering a 'front end of choice,' well, the future is now," Wurzer said. Wurzer also notes that when purchasing Spring, MLSs and Brokers already licensing the Flexmls system can produce an entirely unique user experience and deploy a consumer facing website "without worrying about how to handle data feeds, as the Spark API does all the work for you."

Fowler points out that many MLSs have struggled in creating consumer-facing portals because third-party website providers often do not know how to handle the deployment of comprehensive, real-time MLS information. With FBS and Solid Earth's long-standing history in the MLS space, they confidently address the challenges while admirably demonstrating how once-competitors in the space can work harmoniously to create a better future for the industry as a whole. "The Spring platform delivers an attractive and engaging consumer site that follows the Fair Display guidelines while the Spark API gives you fully tested, reliable, and real-time MLS data to fuel the site. MLS customers get the benefit of decades of experience working intimately in and with the nuances of the MLS."

Spring portal sites allow MLSs to provide members with an array of features including blog posts, RSS feeds and tweets, so that consumers see one set of property data, social and blog content, and members see another set. The consumer-facing website is designed to drive higher quality leads directly to MLS members instead of the big national portals. New Flexmls licensees (converting from other MLS software systems) can purchase Spring in the same contract, deploying Spring with Flexmls, once the integration work is complete.

About FBS, Creators of Flexmls

FBS is the leading innovator of MLS technology and one of the industry's three largest MLS technology providers, with more than 200,000 real estate professional subscribers. Its Flexmls system is built on the Spark standards-driven technology platform, and is the MLS industry's first and most innovative Web API. Spark fuels real estate professionals' businesses collaboration tools with a mobile-first approach that delivers timely and accurate real estate information. Uniquely, as an employee-owned (ESOP) company, FBS staff has earned one of the highest customer service performance measurements in any industry (NPS Score 84). Based in Fargo, North Dakota, discover more about FBS at www.flexmls.com.

About Solid Earth

Solid Earth has been in the real estate software business for more than 19 years and is located in Huntsville, Alabama. Publishers of the LIST-IT MLS system and the Spring Portal Platform, Solid Earth now serves more than 90,000 real estate professionals nationwide. Spring is an API-driven user interface to MLS information using innovative, patented technology. Significant markets include: Dallas, TX; San Diego, CA; Indianapolis, IN; Statewide Vermont and New Hampshire; Staten Island, NY; Birmingham, AL and about a dozen other US cities. Discover more at www.solidearth.com.

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Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3149975

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=3149978



Media Contact:

Kevin Hawkins

WAV Group Communications

kevin@wavgroup.com

206-866-1220 Cell/Direct/Text




Netcracker's Comprehensive BSS Will Enable HT to Deliver a New Level of Digitalized and Converged Customer Experience

Netcracker Technology announced today that Hrvatski Telekom (HT) in Croatia has selected the Netcracker Billing solution as one of the key platforms for its large-scale IT transformation. HT will use Netcracker's solution and Consulting Services to commercialize and monetize its fixed-mobile convergence initiative. HT will also use Netcracker's Professional Services to consolidate legacy billing systems onto the Netcracker platform and ensure a smooth and successful transition to a new, advanced platform.

Hrvatski Telekom is the leading provider of telecommunications services in Croatia, serving 2.2 million mobile subscribers, almost 1.0 million fixed lines, 408,000 television services and 763,000 broadband connections.

With its unique assets in fixed, mobile, broadband and video, HT creates converged offerings and packages customized to its various market segments. Leveraging Netcracker's Billing solution, HT will be able to bill and monetize its innovative offerings, providing its customers flexibility and choice in how they consume and pay for their services. As part of the program, HT will retire its legacy mobile billing platform, using Netcracker Professional Services to migrate those customers onto Netcracker's Billing solution. Netcracker is also the preferred revenue management vendor at Deutsche Telekom, HT's parent company.

As a result of its billing system consolidation, HT will have a single platform for its digitalized converged offerings. By eliminating the dependency on multiple systems, HT will also lower its total cost of ownership using the Netcracker solution.

"We at Hrvatski Telekom want to be the leader in the regional telecommunications and digital service market by year 2020. We want to have the best network, the best digital services and the best customer experience. To achieve this, it is important we have an advanced, convergent billing system which will support future offerings and enable shorter time-to-market," said Ivana Vranic, Billing Transformation Project Director at Hrvatski Telekom. "For that reason, we have chosen the leading telco solution which provides us with an innovative platform, superior billing capabilities and proven professional services that will help us monetize our investment in converged infrastructure."

"As communications service providers become digital service providers, the requirements of BSS and billing solutions have to support this transformation," said Mitat Kizilelma, General Manager of EMEA at Netcracker. "We are excited to bring proven billing solutions and best practices to HT to transform and enable its journey into a true digital service provider with the best customer experience."

For more information on Netcracker's Billing solution, please contact Erin O'Reilly at Erin.OReilly@Netcracker.com.

About Netcracker Technology

Netcracker Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is a forward-looking software company, offering mission-critical solutions to service providers around the globe. Our comprehensive portfolio of software solutions and professional services enables large-scale digital transformations, unlocking the opportunities of the cloud, virtualization and the changing mobile ecosystem. With an unbroken service delivery track record of more than 20 years, our unique combination of technology, people and expertise helps companies transform their networks and enable better experiences for their customers.

For more information, visit www.netcracker.com.

About Hrvatski Telekom

Hrvatski Telekom is the leading provider of telecommunications services in Croatia, and the only company in the country that provides a full range of telecommunication services. Company is structured with maximum flexibility and efficiency in mind, allowing for quick response to the market and technology changes.

More information at http://www.t.ht.hr/en/.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620005536/en/

Contacts:

Netcracker Technology

Erin O'Reilly, +1-781-366-7049

Erin.OReilly@Netcracker.com

or

SmartMark Communications for Netcracker

Juliet Shavit, +1-215-504-4272

jshavit@smartmarkusa.com
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/29/17 -- North American Nickel Inc. (TSX VENTURE: NAN)(OTCBB: WSCRF)(CUSIP: 65704T 108) (the "Company") is pleased to report on the results of the Annual General and Special Meeting (the "Meeting") of shareholders held on June 29, 2017.

The shareholders ratified and approved the number of directors at six (6) and Doug Ford, Jim Clucas, Gilbert Clark, Christopher Messina, Keith Morrison and John Sabine were re-elected as directors of the Company for the ensuing year.

In addition, Dale Matheson Carr-Hilton LaBonte LLP were re-appointed as auditors and shareholders approved the Company's Stock Option Plan as detailed in the Management Information Circular dated as of May 25, 2017.

Following the meeting, the board of directors re-appointed John Sabine as Chairman, Keith Morrison, CEO, Alex Dann, CFO and Mark Fedikow, President.

About North American Nickel

North American Nickel is a mineral exploration company with 100% owned properties in Maniitsoq, Greenland and Sudbury, Ontario.

The Maniitsoq property in Greenland is a Camp scale project comprising 2,985 square km covering numerous high-grade nickel-copper sulphide occurrences associated with norite and other mafic-ultramafic intrusions of the Greenland Norite Belt (GNB). The greater than 75km-long belt is situated along, and near, the southwest coast of Greenland accessible from the existing Seqi deep water port (See NAN News Release dated January 19, 2015) with an all year round shipping season and abundant hydro-electric potential.

The Post Creek/Halcyon property in Sudbury is strategically located adjacent to the past producing Podolsky copper-nickel-platinum group metal deposit of KGHM International Ltd. The property lies along the extension of the Whistle Offset dyke structure. Such geological structures host major Ni-Cu-PGM deposits and producing mines within the Sudbury Camp.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Mark Fedikow

President

North American Nickel Inc.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts:

North American Nickel Inc.

Jaclyn Ruptash

Corporate Communications

(604) 770-4334

Toll free: 1-866-816-0118




DALLAS, TX -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHRO) announced today its Form 10 Registration Statement registering its Class A Common Stock as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has become effective as of June 20, 2017. Following the effective date, CHRO will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. This means the Company will be begin filing annual reports with the SEC on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, periodic reports on Form 8-K and subject itself to additional reporting obligations related to proxies, shareholder actions and stock ownership rules.

The Form 10 the Company filed with the SEC provides information on its current and planned operations, developments and acquisition, including its key operating subsidiaries Zen Technologies, Inc. and Zen Energy, Inc. CHRON's SEC reports can be viewed by clicking the following link: https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/CHRO/filings.

CHRON President, Alex Rodriguez, said, "One of our primary goals entering this year was to become a fully reporting company with the SEC to position us to raise additional capital and seek listing on a national stock exchange or quotation platform. With the first milestone -- our Form 10 filing -- now complete, CHRON is moving towards fulfilling these goals. Following this achievement, we now intend to file an application for quotation of our Class A Common Stock on the OTCQB tier of the OTC Markets Group, Inc. subject to completion of the applicable uplisting requirements. Our Class A Common Stock is currently quoted on the OTC Pink tier."

CHRON Chairman, Byron Young, added, "After spending the greater part of 2016 and the first two quarters of 2017 incubating and laying the foundation for our retail smart home technologies and planned retail electric energy businesses, we hope to begin generating revenues, complete our planned acquisition, and continue to grow our current and planned business. We are excited about our prospects and look forward to maximizing the value of our company for our shareholders in the years to come."

To see the full chronicles of the Company's journey to date, please visit the 'Press Release' and the 'Corporate Blog' sections on its corporate website at www.chronorganization.com.

ABOUT THE CHRON ORGANIZATION, INC.

The Chron Organization, Inc. (OTC PINK: CHRO), founded and envisioned by Mr. Byron Young and Mr. Alex Rodriguez, operates on a business model built around the philosophy that smart home services such as automation and video safety, the Internet of Things (IoT), energy conservation, and overall responsible decision making that supports sustainability are burgeoning trends. Combined, these are creating two megatrends known as the "Internet of Everything" and the "Smart Home". Towards making our claim in this emerging industry, we have built a "Smart Services" platform and have plans to launch a "Retail Energy Platform" that when combined are expected to position us to become a provider of a unique suite of products and services to both residential and commercial customers. To learn more about CHRON, visit the company's corporate website at www.chronorganization.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains statements that involve expectations, plans or intentions (such as those relating to future business or financial results) and other factors discussed from time to time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings. These statements are forward-looking and are subject to risks and uncertainties, so actual results may vary materially. You can identify these forward-looking statements by words such as "may," "should," "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "intend," "plan" and other similar expressions. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors not within the control of the company. The company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. The company disclaims any obligation subsequently to revise any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of such statements or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events.

INVESTORS & MEDIA CONTACT:

The CHRON Organization, Inc.

Email: investors@chronorganization.com

Phone: (469) 626-5275

Fax: (469) 626-5101




CALGARY, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- The Royal Canadian Legion, North Calgary Branch No. 264 is immensely proud to announce the grand opening of its new multi-use building, featuring not only new space for the Legion itself, but a public restaurant and premier-quality office space. The four-storey structure located at 1918 Kensington Road NW was built in partnership with Truman Homes, features modern architecture and represents the first such unique endeavour by a Legion branch.

The first and second floors of the 36,000 square foot structure hosts an impressive restaurant and Legion space, extending to a Legion-members lounge and restaurant on the mezzanine level. The third and fourth floors, at 10,000 square feet each, have leasable, Class-A office space with 12 foot ceilings, modern amenities and views of downtown Calgary.

The 7,000 square foot restaurant, aptly named 1918 Tap & Table, greets the public on the ground-level on Kensington Road NW. 1918 Tap & Table prides itself on its commitment to the community, choosing to source many ingredients, from vegetables and meat to bread and the bottles behind the bar from local vendors. Guests can expect fresh, authentic fare on a menu that evolves every three months to ensure in-season ingredients are always prioritized. Seating 140 guests inside and an additional 56 on the patio, 1918 Tap & Table will prove to be a favourite for all ages throughout the year.

"This modern building represents not only a new chapter for the Kensington Legion, but for its surrounding communities and Calgary as a whole," said Mark Barham, Branch Trustee. "Our ground-breaking partnership with Truman Homes provides the Legion a home for future generations, amenities to the surrounding neighbourhood and, through profits from 1918 Tap & Table, support for community initiatives. We can't wait to share it with Calgarians."

The public can find menus and more from 1918 Tap & Table on its website at www.1918tapandtable.com, and on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About The Kensington Legion

A branch of the Royal Canadian Legion, The Kensington Legion is run by members, for members. Founded in 1953 with just 61 active members, today we are one of Canada's largest branches with over

1,500 members ranging in age from 18 to 100. When you join the Legion, and any Canadian can, you'll become part of one of the most welcoming communities in the city, with access to the best events and activities. For more information, please visit: http://www.kensingtonlegion.ca/.

Contacts:

Leanna Kruk

Brookline Public Relations

(403) 538-5641 x121

lkruk@brooklinepr.com




LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM: HZM)(TSX: HZM) ('Horizonte' or 'the Company'), the nickel development company focused in Brazil, is pleased to announce that, further to the announcement on 6 March 2017, it has awarded further contracts for key parts of the Feasibility Study ('FS'), for its 100%-owned Araguaia nickel project ('Araguaia' or 'the Project').

The contracts awarded are as follows:

-- Steinweg Handelsveem (Latin America) S.A - Material transport and logistics -- SM&A Electrics - Power infrastructure and power transmission line -- VCE Mine Consultancy - Mining Permit reporting

The Feasibility Study is at an advanced state with a number of the principal work streams over 50% complete. The Company's strategy is to position itself as one of the lowest cost nickel producers globally. The Araguaia Project is designed to produce 14,500 tonnes per annum ('tpa') of nickel using the proven rotary kiln electric furnace technology ('RKEF').

Further Details

Horizonte has awarded contracts to the following groups to deliver the relevant infrastructure work and permitting for the Araguaia Feasibility Study:

Material Transport and Logistics - Steinweg Handelsveem (Latin America) S.A

Steinweg is a well-established company in Container and Break-Bulk Operations, in the non-ferrous world, soft commodities, general cargo, etc. with offices and operations in more than 70 locations worldwide. Founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1847 Steinweg has grown to a global network of offices and has a presence in Brazil since the 1980's. It is active in providing word wide logistics solutions including, forwarding, chartering, port operations, warehousing, processing, general and bulk cargo amongst other logistics relate services. Steinweg has extensive experience in the region around the Araguaia Project currently operating the logistics for a number of operating mines in the Carajas mining district.

Power infrastructure and power transmission line - SM&A Electrics

SM&A has developed a strong track record delivering complete electrical engineering solutions in Brazil since foundation in 2000. It has an experienced management team and an open range of electrical engineering activities, acting in various segments of industrial activities, such as steel, mining, cement, projects for infrastructure works, and power systems up to 345kV. The company undertakes work in the following areas: Conceptual projects, Basic and Detailed projects, operational commissioning and full operations.

Mineral concession legal report for Mine operation permitting - VCE Mine Consultancy

VCE is a consultancy based in Brazil, specialising in mine engineering and permitting. The company performs strategic planning, process optimisation and technical legal reports for mine operation permitting. VCE has worked for a number of flagship mining projects in the same region of Brazil as the Araguaia Nickel project which makes it well placed to undertake the current work.

The Araguaia Nickel Project

Araguaia, which is 100% owned by Horizonte, is located on the eastern margin of the State of Para, north-eastern Brazil, to the north of the town of Conceicao do Araguaia (population of 46,206), south of the main Carajas Mining District.

The Project has good regional infrastructure including a network of Federal highways and roads, with access to low tariff hydro-electric power. The Carajas Mining District, situated approximately 200km northwest of Araguaia, is host to a number of major iron and copper mines operated by mining major Vale SA.

The Pre-Feasibility Study ('PFS') released in October 2016 considers open pit mining for the exploitation of nickel laterite to establish the production of run of mine ('ROM') from eight open pits to supply a targeted 0.9 million tpa ('Mt/a') of ore to a processing and smelter facility. This facility will use the proven RKEF process with the product being sold at free on board ('FOB') at the selected port of export.

A Base Case of 0.9 Mt/a production throughput was selected because of the Company's objective to minimise the capital expenditure and overall capital intensity, and to optimise overall cash flow, payback, and the economics of the Project.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

For further information visit www.horizonteminerals.com.

About Horizonte Minerals:

Horizonte Minerals plc is an AIM and TSX-listed nickel development company focused in Brazil, which wholly owns the advanced Araguaia nickel laterite project located to the south of the Carajas mineral district of northern Brazil. The Company is developing Araguaia as the next major nickel mine in Brazil, with targeted production by 2019.

The Project has good infrastructure in place including rail, road, water and power.

Horizonte has a strong shareholder structure including Teck Resources Limited 17.9%, Lombard Odier Asset Management (Europe) Limited 14.11%, Richard Griffiths 13.8%, JP Morgan 8.98%, Hargreave Hale 6.84% and Glencore 6.4%.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the success of exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration, production and development; the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; and the realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates. Generally, forward-looking information 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 statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to risks related to: exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates.

Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

Contacts:

Jeremy Martin

Horizonte Minerals plc

+44 (0) 20 7763 7157



David Hall

Horizonte Minerals plc

+44 (0) 20 7763 7157



Emily Morris

finnCap Ltd (Corporate Broking)

+44 (0) 20 7220 0500



Christopher Raggett

finnCap Ltd (Corporate Broking)

+44 (0) 20 7220 0500



James Thompson

finnCap Ltd (Corporate Broking)

+44 (0) 20 7220 0500



Damon Heath

Shard Capital (Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7186 9952



Erik Woolgar

Shard Capital (Joint Broker)

+44 (0) 20 7186 9952



Lottie Brocklehurst

St Brides Partners Ltd (PR)

+44 (0) 20 7236 1177



Megan Dennison

St Brides Partners Ltd (PR)

+44 (0) 20 7236 1177




MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 10/18/17 -- Bee Vectoring Technologies (the "Company" or "BVT") (TSX VENTURE: BEE) is pleased to announce that it has been selected as one of three finalists for the prestigious global Agrow Awards in the category of Best Application Technology Innovation.

The Agrow Awards recognize excellence in the global crop protection and production industries. Entries in 14 categories are evaluated using a wide range of criteria by an independent judging panel consisting of a group of experts from around the world.

"The Agrow Awards is a prestigious international competition that showcases the best innovations in the industry," said Claude Flueckiger, Independent Director of BVT and former executive at Syngenta AG. "Now in their 10th year, the Awards have recognized unique technologies, programmes and industry collaborations that are advancing sustainable agricultural practices around the world. This nomination validates our long-standing belief that the BVT platform is one of the most innovative technologies to reach the market in recent years and that its commercialization is coming at exactly the right time."

The Company's unique system addresses several problems inherent to traditional crop protection application systems, by using commercially-reared bees to deliver biological compounds in a very targeted way. The system is simple and effective; as the bees leave their hive to forage they pick up trace amounts of a beneficial fungus and carry it to the bloom of the crop, where it can colonize and outcompete other pathogens and pests. The patented system contains multiple levels of technology that enable successful crop protection. The bee delivery method drastically decreases the amount of wasted product and off-target application that are problems for conventional techniques and can save thousands of gallons of water used in sprays.

Winners of the 10th Annual Agrow Awards will be announced at the Awards Gala scheduled to take place on October 30th, 2017 at 8 Northumberland, London.

About Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.

BVT has developed and owns patent-pending bee vectoring technology that is designed to harmlessly utilize bumblebees and honeybees as natural delivery mechanisms for a variety of powdered mixtures comprised of organic compounds that inhibit or control common crop diseases, while at the same time enhancing crop vigor and productivity. This unique and proprietary process enables a targeted delivery of crop controls using the simple process of bee pollination to replace traditional crop spraying, resulting in better yields, superior quality, and less impact on the environment without the use of water or disruptions to labour.Additional information can be viewed at the Company's website www.beevt.com

On Behalf of Bee Vectoring Technologies International Inc.,

Ashish Malik, President & 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:

Ashish Malik

President & CEO

marketing@beevt.com



Investor Relations:

Babak Pedram

416-644-5081

bpedram@virtusadvisory.com



For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:

Josh Stanbury

416-628-7441

josh@sjspr.co.uk




TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/22/17 -- Crystal Peak Minerals Inc. ("Crystal Peak" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: CPM)(OTCQX: CPMMF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a convertible loan agreement (the "Loan Agreement") with EMR Capital Investment (No. 5B) Pte. Ltd., an affiliate of EMR Capital Resources Fund 1, LP ("EMR"), its largest shareholder, pursuant to which EMR will lend Crystal Peak US$12,000,000 (the "Loan"). The Loan will mature in 18 months from the date of issuance, and will bear interest at the rate of 12%, compounded quarterly.

The principal amount of the Loan, in whole or in part, is convertible into common shares of the Company at the option of the holder, at a price per common share of C$0.55. In addition, the interest on the Loan is payable in common shares of Crystal Peak at the market price of the Company on the earlier of the date of conversion or certain prescribed interest payment dates, subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Crystal Peak intends to use the funds received from the Loan to fund the continuing development program for its specialty fertilizer project on the Sevier Playa in southwestern Utah, U.S.A. including construction and engineering activities for the project as well as for general working capital purposes.

The closing of the Loan is subject to certain customary closing conditions set out in the Loan Agreement and is expected to take place on or about June 29, 2017. All of the securities issued pursuant to the Loan Agreement will be subject to a four month and one day hold period from the closing date of the Loan. The Loan remains subject to the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

About Crystal Peak Minerals Inc.

Crystal Peak is focused on the production of premium specialty fertilizers. Crystal Peak controls, directly or through agreement, mineral leases on more than 124,000 acres on its Sevier Playa property in Millard County, Utah. With a brine mineral resource known to contain potassium, magnesium, sulphate, lithium, and a suite of other beneficial minerals, Crystal Peak is targeting the production of specialty fertilizers, initially focused on potassium sulphate ("SOP"), through the use of a cost-effective solar evaporation process. SOP and other specialty fertilizers are used in the production of high value, chloride-sensitive crops such as fruits, vegetables, and tree nuts. Crystal Peak is currently engaged in engineering and analysis designed to support a feasibility study, environmental permitting, and ultimately mineral production.

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 Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, the completion and timing of the Loan; the feasibility study and the results thereof; the targeting of the development and production of specialty fertilizers and associated minerals, including SOP, lithium, and magnesium compounds through the use of a cost-effective solar evaporation process; and Crystal Peak's future business. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "is expected", "expects" or "does not expect", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "believes", or variations of such words and phrases; or terms that state that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could", "would", "might", or "will be taken", "could occur", or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the information is made, and is based on a number of assumptions and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Crystal Peak to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although Crystal Peak has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Crystal Peak does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Contacts:

Crystal Peak Minerals Inc.

Lance D'Ambrosio

Chief Executive Officer

(801) 485-0223

lance@crystalpeakminerals.com




SINGAPORE, Aug 15, 2017 - (ACN Newswire) - Singapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD; SGX:SGE) has announced that its indirect subsidiary, Global BioLife Inc., is collaborating with U.S.-based Chemia Corporation to develop specialised fragrances which can counter mosquito-borne diseases, diminish stress and anxiety, and act in anti-viral medical applications.3F (Functional Fragrance Formulation) is a suite of functional fragrances being developed. The first product, 3F Mosquito, is made of specialised oils sourced from botanicals which mosquitoes avoid. 3F Mosquito was designed with an objective to identify, then create a suitable formula that was pleasant, yet excels in providing layers of protection against mosquitoes.Daryl Thompson, Global BioLife Director of Scientific Initiatives, leads the 3F research. "The specialised oils in 3F Mosquito are scientifically proven to affect a mosquito's receptors, essentially making the mosquito blind to your presence," says Thompson.In addition to 3F Mosquito, Global BioLife and Chemia are developing fragrances as additives for use in laundry detergents, shampoos and lotions, providing additional layers of protection against mosquitoes, and developing advanced coatings for industrial and medical applications."Biomedical science has become increasingly vital. Global BioLife is taking steps toward providing solutions to issues that have plagued the biomedical field for decades. This working collaboration marks a first steps in actively changing the game of healthcare," said Chan Heng Fai, SeD Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and a Global BioLife Director.Global BioLife is an 80%-held subsidiary of SeD wholly-owned Global BioMedical Inc. The remaining shareholding in Global BioLife is held by Thompson's GRDG Sciences LLC and Australia Securities Exchange-listed Holista CollTech Limited, in equal proportions of 10% each.About Chemia CorporationChemia Corporation provides high quality, cost effective fragrances to the manufacturers of personal care, household and industrial & institutional products. Thomas A. Meyer is the Vice-President of Innovation and Sustainability. For further information, please visit www.chemiacorp.com.About GRDG Sciences LLCGRDG Sciences LLC is a natural products discovery drug research company incorporated in Florida, USA. The Company was set up by natural products scientist Daryl Thompson. Thompson is a biochemist, nominated for the Nobel Prize in 2015 and 2016 for his research in pandemic technology.About Holista CollTech LtdHolista CollTech is incorporated in Australia and listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. A research-driven biotechnology company, Holista focuses on research and development of product in the natural products space. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dr Rajen Manicka holds a PhD in Holistic Medicine and a Masters of Business Administration. For further information, please visit www.holistaco.com.About Singapore eDevelopment LtdSingapore eDevelopment Ltd (SeD) was incorporated on 9 Sept 2009, and listed by SGX Catalist (SGX:SGE) in July 2010. SeD is involved in (i) property development and investments primarily in the United States and Western Australia; (ii) information technology related businesses; (iii) development, research, testing, manufacturing, licensing and distribution of biomedical products; and (iv) investment activities. For more information, please visit: www.SeD.com.sg.Issued for the Company:WeR1 Consultants Pte LtdIan LauTel: +65 6737 4844Email: ianlau@wer1.netSource: Singapore eDevelopment LtdCopyright 2017 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
LAVAL, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 12/15/17 -- Typhoon Exploration Inc. (TSX VENTURE: TYP) ("Typhoon") announces that it has completed a non-brokered Private Placement by issuing a total of 2,610,000 flow-through common shares at a price of $0.06 per share, 290,058 common shares at a price of $0,06 and 2,900,058 warrants, for total gross proceeds of CAD$174,000. The securities issued in the Private Placement are subject to a four-month-and-one-day hold period expiring on April 16, 2018, pursuant to applicable securities legislation and the rules of TSX Venture Exchange. Typhoon's directors subscribed for 22,99 % of the securities in this placement.

Each warrant will entitle its holder to subscribe for one (1) common share of Typhoon at the price of $0.06 per share for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the closing date, that is to say until December 15, 2019.

Typhoon will use the Private Placement proceeds to finance exploration work on its properties.

Grant of stock option

The Company granted 1,800,000 stock options to its directors, employees and consultants under the company's Stock Option Plan.

Each stock option is exercisable at a price of $0.05 per share, for a period of 10 years, until December 15, 2027.

As a result of the Private Placement, there are 39,077,849 common shares of Typhoon issued and outstanding.

The common shares of Typhoon are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "TYP".

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:

David Mc Donald

450.622.4066

dmcdonald@explorationtyphon.com

www.typhoonexploration.com




TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2017 / Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp. (TSX-V: ZOM), a veterinary pharmaceutical and healthcare solutions company, will present at this year's MicroCap Conference on June 27 in Toronto and will be available to participate in one-on-one meetings with investors registered to attend the conference.

Investors and other interested parties will be able to access a live audio webcast of the presentation by visiting Zomedica's website at http://www.zomedica.com/investor-information/events-presentations/. A replay of the audio webcast and copy of the presentation will be accessible on the Zomedica website following the event.

CONFERENCE OVERVIEW AND STRUCTURE

The MicroCap Conference is an exclusive event for investors who specialize in small and microcap stocks. It is an opportunity to be introduced to and speak with management at some of the most attractive small companies, learn from various expert panels, and mingle with other microcap investors.

The MicroCap Conference will take place in Toronto at the Sheraton Centre Hotel on June 27th. Registration will begin on Tuesday at 7:00AM, and the event will last until the evening. The day will be jam-packed with company sessions, presentations, good food, and plenty of time to network with other investors over drinks at the reception. This event does not allow service providers - only portfolio managers, analysts, and private investors.

REGISTRATION FOR INVESTORS

To register, please go to our website (http://microcapconf.com/conferences/toronto-2017/) and click "Request Registration."

News Compliments of ACCESSWIRE.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Please visit: www.microcapconf.com

Or, contact Tony Yu at tony@microcapconf.com.

SOURCE: Zomedica Pharmaceuticals Corp.
ROUYN-NORANDA, QUEBEC -- (Marketwired) -- 07/05/17 -- GLOBEX MINING ENTERPRISES INC. (TSX: GMX)(FRANKFURT: G1MN)(STUTTGART: G1MN)(BERLIN: G1MN)(MUNICH: G1MN)(XETRA: G1MN)(OTCQX: GLBXF) is pleased to inform shareholders that Enforcer Gold Corp. (TSX VENTURE: VEIN)(FRANKFURT: N071) has started an up to 8,000 m drill program on the Montalembert high grade gold property optioned from Globex.

Drilling will be focused primarily on the Galena and No.2 gold bearing vein systems where previous surface channel sampling has returned assays in excess of 500 g/t Au. (See Globex Press Release dated March 31, 2017)

Drilling will be at 25 m centers to a vertical depth of 100 m. HQ sized core will be recovered in order to obtain a larger rock sample that could be gotten using more common and smaller diameter BQ or NQ core. This is being done in order to try to limit the "nugget effect" (the erratic distribution of coarse free gold) which makes it difficult to determine the true average grade of the vein systems. The larger the sample, the more likely it will be representative of the area being drilled. The "nugget effect" is a two edged sword. It is difficult to establish an average gold grade by drilling but the presence of coarse free gold can potentially result in a significantly higher recoverable gold grade than indicated by drilling, when mining.

Globex has optioned the Montalembert property to Enforcer Gold for $2.7 million cash option payments, 8.5 million Enforcer shares and $15 million in exploration expenditures, all payable over a 4 year period. Globex will retain a 3.5 % Gross Metal Royalty on all production but a 6% Gross Metal Royalty on the first 150,000 ounces produced (See Enforcer's press release dated November 17, 2016 for details).

This press release was written by Jack Stoch, P. Geo., President and CEO of Globex in his capacity as a Qualified Person (Q.P.) under NI 43-101.

We Seek Safe Harbour. Foreign Private Issuer 12g3 - 2(b) CUSIP Number 379900 50 9

Forward Looking Statements :

Except for historical information, this news release may contain certain "forward looking statements". These statements may involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity and performance to be materially different from the expectations and projections of Globex Mining Enterprises Inc. ("Globex"). No assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking information will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits Globex will derive therefrom. A more detailed discussion of the risks is available in the "Annual Information Form" filed by Globex on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

50,172,424 shares issued and outstanding

Contacts:

Jack Stoch, P.Geo., Acc.Dir.

President & CEO

Globex Mining Enterprises Inc.

819.797.5242

819.797.1470 (FAX)

info@globexmining.com

www.globexmining.com




Blockchain Powered Asset Management Software, Melonport, in Partnership with Oyente, Announces Smart Contracts Verification Tool

ZUG, SWITZERLAND / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2017 / Melonport AG, in partnership with the Oyente development team, is very proud to announce the beta release of Oyente, an open source analysis and formal verification tool for Ethereum smart contracts. Oyente can be used for any Ethereum smart contracting language (Solidity, Serpent, LLL, etc.), and its current iteration also has many features specifically geared towards Melon protocol module developers. An online version is available now at http://oyente.melonport.com.

Reto Trinkler, CTO and Chairman of Melonport, states,

"We are very pleased to see the development efforts of Oyente come to fruition. We believe analyzing disassembled opcodes from bytecode deployed to the blockchain and checking them against a set of properties is one of the most cost- and time-effective ways to reason about smart contract security to date. For the Melon protocol, this translates to a great open-source tool to help ensure quality and security standards in Melon modules."

Explaining more about the product, Oyente project's Lead Developer, Loi Luu, said,

"I am very happy to see the results of our academic efforts getting used in practice to bring value to the Ethereum community. Oyente can be used to detect many common bugs found in smart contacts like reentrancy, transaction ordering dependence and so on. What's more interesting is that Oyente's design is modularized, so this allows advanced users to implement and plug in their own detection logic to check self-defined properties in their contracts. I look forward to seeing more contributions from the community to make Oyente even more powerful and useful."

The Oyente project started as an academic paper released by National University of Singapore Ph.D. student Luu and a group of his peers. After an initial open source release of Oyente covering ~80% of EVM opcodes, funding unfortunately depleted, and the maintenance of the Oyente project was put on hold. Following Melonport's $2.5 million CHF raise during a contribution period in February 2017, the Melonport team identified the potential of Oyente to greatly augment the Ethereum developer community's ability to create safe and secure decentralized applications.

Specifically, the Melon protocol module ecosystem's security and standardization can be greatly improved by usage of the tool. After an additional six months of hard work by the Oyente and Melonport developer teams, Oyente now covers 100 percent of EVM opcodes and had a plethora of other useful tools in the works such as ERC20 support. For more detailed information, please refer to our Oyente release blog post.

Mona El Isa, CEO of Melonport, said,

"While formal verification is not a magical bullet for smart contract security, we're very proud to be able to fund and share this open source symbolic execution tool with both our own module developers and the Ethereum community as a whole."

Following this new release of Oyente, the developer team intends to continue adding new features to the tool, which may include functionality for the analysis of ERC20 and token contracts. For example, the team aims to detect if some function accidentally prints more tokens than expected in an ERC20 contract due to imprecise coding logic.

Learn more about Melonport at - https://melonport.com

You can try Oyente online today at - http://oyente.melonport.com

Know more about Oyente beta at - https://medium.com/melonport-blog/oyente-beta-release-announcement-dd573cac1dff

Media Contact

Contact Name: George Hallam

Contact Email: george@melonport.com

Location: Zug, Switzerland

Melonport is the source of this content. Virtual currency is not legal tender, is not backed by the government, and accounts and value balances are not subject to FDIC and other consumer protections. This press release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.

Additional Links:

Bitcoin PR Buzz

Melonport

SOURCE: Melonport AG
OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- A contemporary take on Canada's Arctic, as seen through its rich natural diversity and connections to people, is ready to open June 21 at the Canadian Museum of Nature. The permanent Canada Goose Arctic Gallery represents the museum's legacy project to the mark Canada's 150th anniversary.

"Our goal with the gallery is to transform people's understanding of the Arctic and to create a space that will expose Canadians and visitors from abroad to this important part of our country," says Meg Beckel, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Nature. "We have drawn on the museum's historic leadership in Arctic knowledge and exploration, as well as consultations with Northern Indigenous groups and individuals, to reflect the deep connections between the Arctic's natural environment and the activities of humans."

Canada's Arctic represents about 40% of the country's land mass. It includes 53 communities with more than 100,000 people, and is home to a surprising diversity of aquatic and land-based organisms. The Canada Goose Arctic Gallery reveals this beautiful yet mysterious region through more than 200 specimens and artifacts, interactives, multimedia and special surprises. Visitors will explore the Arctic's natural landscapes and its plants and animals, hear the voices of the people such as the Inuit that live there and be prompted to reflect about the impacts of change-in the past, in the present, and into the future.

"The Canadian Museum of Nature highlights the richness of our natural world and the importance of sustainable stewardship of the environment. I invite everyone to visit the new Canada Goose Arctic Gallery to discover and understand this fascinating part of the country," said the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage. "Enjoy the Canada 150 celebrations!"

Gallery Overview

Upon entering the 8,000-sq.-ft. gallery, a unique multimedia installation called Beyond Ice transports visitors to the Arctic with a sensory experience of the region's sounds, light, sights, and even touch-through real ice! Developed as a co-creation with the National Film Board of Canada, Beyond Ice features Arctic scenes and animation by Inuit artists projected on the ice, which bring the installation to life as visitors walk around it and explore the ice up close.

Visitors then enter the Wing, where four themed zones covering climate, geography, sustainability and ecosystems immerse visitors in the Arctic's diversity and human connections with the land. Each zone features specimens or artifacts, interactive games and activities, videos and infographics. Timeframes range from the deep geological past, when the Arctic was much warmer than today, to the present, where animals and humans are facing the challenges of climate change.

Highlights include an assortment of "star" objects that represent the themes in each of the four zones. A 3-D circumpolar map anchors the geography zone, for example. A bowhead whale skull leads into the sustainability zone, which examines how Arctic peoples have used, and continue to use natural resources-from interactions with animals and plants for food, clothing, and tools, to the extraction of energy resources, to the continuing connections to the land.

In the ecosystems zone, look forward to a magnificent specimen of a polar bear, a muskox and its calf, a caribou, a colony of Thick-billed Murres, and many lesser known, yet relevant species - from phytoplankton, to plants to birds and small mammals. Inuit and Dene names for many of the animals are included. Two aquaria, one including Arctic Cod from the Vancouver Aquarium, vividly bring to life the Arctic's marine food web.

Brief videos called "People Capsules" in each zone present the first-person experiences of those who live or work in the Arctic. There are also numerous human artifacts to convey the story of a region where people have lived for millennia. Some of the objects are on extended loan from the Government of Nunavut, including a traditional kayak made of sealskin and items from the crew of Sir John Franklin's doomed final expedition. Notebooks and gear from the first Canadian Arctic Expedition 100 years ago represent the museum's long-standing history of Arctic exploration and species discovery, which has resulted in one of the world's finest collection of Arctic natural-history specimens.

Among the gallery's surprises is a larger-than-life deconstructed mural entitled Ilurqusivut (Our ways). The artwork, designed by Inuk artist Nancy Saunders from Kuujjuaq, Quebec, fuses realism and abstract geometric shapes to present key aspects of Inuit culture. Adapted for the wing of the gallery, it presents an optical illusion that appears to present a two-dimensional work of art in three dimensions, with an image that becomes fragmented when viewed from different perspectives (a style referred to as Anamorphosis).

The museum developed the Canada Goose Arctic Gallery with input from an advisory committee, in order to include perspectives of Indigenous communities and others with experience in the Arctic. One outcome is the Northern Voices Gallery, a special exhibition space to be curated by Northerners. Exhibits will reflect past and current responses of northern peoples to their environment and landscapes. The inaugural show "Inuinnauyugut: We are Inuinnait", is presented by the Kitikmeot Heritage Society, based in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. It explores the culture of the Inuinnait (Copper Inuit) and examines the centennial anniversary of Inuinnait contact with Europeans, with around 50 historic artefacts and contemporary items on display.

Partners that have helped achieve the vision of the Canada Goose Arctic Gallery include the National Film Board of Canada, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, Ocean Wise and the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre, the Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Oceans North Canada, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, Nunavut Sivuniksavut, Polar Knowledge Canada, ArcticNet, Lindblad Expeditions, BuildFilms, the Canadian Museum of History, the McCord Museum, Students on Ice, Carleton University and Dalhousie University.

In addition to the signature title sponsorship from Canada Goose Inc., the museum has received financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (for the programming zone), First Air, The Salamander Foundation and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation. The design consultant for the gallery is GSM Project in Montreal.

Entry to the Canada Goose Arctic Gallery will be included with general museum admission. The Canadian Museum of Nature is located at 240 McLeod Street, Ottawa. Follow the museum on Twitter (@museumofnature) or on Facebook. For more information, visit nature.ca.

About the Canadian Museum of Nature

The Canadian Museum of Nature is Canada's national museum of natural history and natural sciences. The museum provides evidence-based insights, inspiring experiences and meaningful engagement with nature's past, present and future. It achieves this through scientific research, a 14 million specimen collection, education programs, signature and travelling exhibitions, and a dynamic web site, nature.ca. The museum's Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration continues the museum's legacy of more than 100 years of research, documentation, and collections about the biodiversity of Canada's North.

Contacts:

Information for media, including images:

Dan Smythe

Media Relations

Canadian Museum of Nature

613-566-4781; 613-698-9253 (cell)

dsmythe@mus-nature.ca



Laura Sutin

Media Relations

Canadian Museum of Nature

613-698-7142 (cell)

lsutin@mus-nature.ca






WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A majority of voters think it was inappropriate for Donald Trump Jr. to meet with an attorney linked to the Russian government, according to the results of a new Politico/Morning Consult poll.



The poll found that 52 percent of voters think Trump Jr.'s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya was inappropriate, while just 23 percent said the meeting was appropriate.



Eighty percent of Democrats and 50 percent of independents said the meeting was inappropriate, although only 24 percent of Republicans agreed.



When told the meeting was set up because the attorney was purportedly offering incriminating evidence about Hillary Clinton, the percentage of GOP voters saying the meeting was appropriate rose to 52 percent from 44 percent.



The poll also found that 53 percent of voters think the meeting should be included in special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of alleged collusion between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.



Seventy-six percent of Democrats and 51 percent of independents said the meeting should be included in the investigation, while 48 percent of Republicans disagreed.



The Politico/Morning Consult survey of 1,994 registered voters was conducted July 13th through 15th and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.



(Photo: Gage Skidmore)



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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WEST PALM BEACH, FL--(Marketwired - June 20, 2017) - The American Cancer Society (ACS) and RGF Environmental Group Inc. (RGF) announced a strategic partnership to raise funds for cancer research and services in Florida. Through the Halos for Hope partnership, RGF will donate a portion of sales from its most popular IAQ products, the REME HALO  In-Duct Air Purifier, BLU QR  UV stick light, Quad-DM Ion Generator for In-Duct HVAC units and the Quad-MS Ion Generator for Mini Split units from June 1 through December 1, 2017. The American Cancer Society will receive a portion of the proceeds for each of these units sold in the state of Florida. In addition, RGF is making available its environmentally-friendly, 110 ft. motor yacht, M/Y Envision, to serve as a venue for ACS fundraising activities.

"This partnership is a natural fit for RGF as we are first and foremost a research and innovation company striving to improve the quality of lives worldwide. Research is critical to eradicating cancer and continuing its funding is imperative. We are dedicated to this cause, because every one of us and our family members have been touched by some form of cancer," stated Ron Fink, RGF's President/CEO.

These funds will stay in Florida and help citizens receive lifesaving ACS services like Free Rides to Treatment, Free Wigs and Support Programs, Free Lodging, 24/7 Live Telephone Support, Research and other statewide programs.



Annual statistics reporting from the American Cancer Society shows the death rate from cancer in the U.S. has declined steadily over the past two decades. The cancer death rate for men and women combined fell 27% from its peak in 1991 to 2015, the most recent year for which data is available, translating to more than 1.7 million deaths averted during this time period. Research done by the American Cancer Society proves that 1-2 men and 1-3 women will develop cancer in their lifetime. Consequently 1-4 men and 1-4 women will die of cancer in the United States.



Chris Snyder, Director of Estate and Gift Planning with the American Cancer Society of Palm Beach County said, "It is my pleasure to announce that the American Cancer Society and RGF will work together to put an end to cancer. Without the constant support of generous donations from organizations like RGF, we cannot fund research and provide lifesaving services to the community. I take great pride in knowing that there are thoughtful organizations like RGF who believe in our mission to help people in every community stay well, get well, find cures and fight back."



About the American Cancer Society

The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society's efforts have contributed to a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since 1991, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. Thanks in part to our progress nearly 14 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year. We're determined to finish the fight against cancer. We're finding cures as the nation's largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org



About RGF

RGF manufactures over 500 environmental products and has a 30+ year history of providing the world with the safest air, water and food without the use of chemicals. RGF is a research and innovation company which holds numerous patents and patents-pending for waste water treatment systems, air purifying devices, and food sanitation systems. Situated in the heart of the Port of Palm Beach Enterprise Zone, RGF Headquarters spans 7.5 acres, with 100,000 square feet of manufacturing, warehouse and office facilities. RGF has recently upgraded their facilities, creating an increased vertical approach to manufacturing, allowing the company to provide the highest quality and engineered products available in the market.

For more information, go to www.rgf.com/halos or contact RGF Environmental Group, Inc. 1101 West 13th Street, The Port of Palm Beach Enterprise Zone, Riviera Beach, Florida 33404 USA Tel: (561) 848-1826 or (800) 842-7771; Fax (561) 848-9454.

Image Available: http://www.marketwire.com/library/MwGo/2017/6/20/11G141495/Images/SharonRinehimerChrisSnyderTonyJulian-5dfd31d9e06690e2b54cd662f3f39546.jpg

Contact:

Kelly Kendrick

kkendrick@rgf.com

Tel: 561.848.1826
At 65.6 million people worldwide, the world's forcibly displaced population remains at a record high. As these people flee conflicts tearing apart their home, they often face stark options for settlement within their own country or internationally. An estimated 90% of people in refugee camps lack electricity. More must be done to provide energy access to refugees.Last month, a 2 MW solar plant was commissioned to supply power to the Azraq refugee camp in Jordan. The plant, funded by the IKEA Foundation, will supply free power to Syrian refugees fleeing the brutal, 6-year civil war. A similar project is underway to power the Zaatari refugee camp, the biggest refugee camp in Jordan. UNHCR, the United Nation's refugee agency, described the solar plant's impact on the residents through the words of a refugee named Fatima, a 52-year-old single mother from rural Damascus. "In Syria, we were used to a particular lifestyle, and then we were disconnected from it when we became refugees," she said. "For someone who is used to having electricity, you cannot imagine how difficult it is to live without it." "Before [the solar plant], when we cooked a meal we had to throw the leftovers away because there was no safe way to store food," Fatima explained. "When we got too hot, we had to pour water on our clothes to keep cool. Now we can listen to music or have a cold glass of water, and daily life no longer ends when the sun sets." 90% unelectrified The Moving Energy Initiative, a collaboration seeking to meet the energy needs of refugees and internally displaced people, estimates that 90% of all refugees in camps do not have electricity access. Of the 17 million refugees in 2016 under the UNHCR's mandate, 50% were living in private accommodations, 25% were in refugee camps, and 20% had an unknown living status. Limited and short-term ...

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Der britisch-indische Schriftsteller Salman Rushdie ("Golden House") hat sich als Star-Wars-Fan geoutet. Die Faszination fur diese Science-Fiction-Reihe erklart er auch mit der Strahlkraft von Prinzessin Leia und ihrer Hauptdarstellerin Carrie Fisher.

"Carrie Fisher war eine krasse Prinzessin. Eine knallharte Kinoheldin", sagte Rushdie der "Welt am Sonntag". "Carrie spielte Prinzessin Leia als Anfuhrerin. Sie ist keine, die anderen hinterherrennt. Sie ist es, die die Armee der Rebellen anfuhrt. Und, das sollten wir an dieser Stelle auf gar keinen Fall vergessen, sie killt Jabba den Hutten."

Rushdie und die Star-Wars-Schauspielerin waren viele Jahre eng befreundet. Fisher war Ende vergangenen Jahres gestorben, nachdem sie am 23. Dezember auf einem Flug von London nach Los Angeles einen Herzstillstand erlitten hatte.

Rushdie verriet jetzt, dass er sie noch am Abend vor ihrem Abflug in London zum Essen getroffen hatte. "Ich war einer der Letzten, der sie gesehen hat, bevor sie den Flug von London nach Los Angeles nahm - und kurz darauf starb", sagte Rushdie der Zeitung. "Ich wei noch, dass ich dachte, wie gut sie aussah. Ich war wirklich hoch erfreut, sie in so einer guten Verfassung zu erleben. Und dann blieb auf diesem Flug ihr Herz stehen und sie starb kurz darauf."

Rushdie und Fisher hatten sich vor vielen Jahren nach einem gemeinsamen Talk-Show-Auftritt in England angefreundet. "Carrie Fisher war eine meiner besten Freundinnen. Ich wurde sogar sagen: Sie gehorte zu meinen zehn engsten Freunden", sagte Rushdie der "Welt am Sonntag".

"Wir haben viel zusammen unternommen. Ich mochte ihre Ausgelassenheit, sie war oft einfach wahnsinnig komisch." In dem neuen Star-Wars-Film "Die letzte Jedi", der ab 14. Dezember in die Kinos kommt, ist Carrie Fisher noch einmal in ihrer alten Rolle zu sehen. Sie hatte die Dreharbeiten vor ihrem Tod abgeschlossen.

Rushdie sagte, er habe den neuen Film zwar noch nicht gesehen, dafur aber den Vorganger "Das Erwachen der Macht" (2015). "Ich mochte den Film. Mir gefiel besonders, dass er es den ursprunglichen Charakteren Leia, Han Solo und, nun ja, auch Luke Skywalker, der ja nur einen Kurz-Auftritt hat, erlaubte, wurdevoll zu altern", sagte Rushdie, "vor allem jene Szene, in der Leias schwierige Beziehung zu Han Solo thematisiert wird, war sehr gut inszeniert und von beiden groartig gespielt." Rushdie hat in vielen seiner Romane, auch in dem aktuellen "Golden House", stets Hinweise auf Star Wars untergebracht - auf Darth Vader, Yoda oder die Jedi-Ritter. "Im 18. oder 19. Jahrhundert konnten Schriftsteller davon ausgehen, dass ihre Leser die griechische Mythologie recht gut kannten. Dieses gemeinsame Vokabular haben wir heute nicht mehr", sagte Rushdie der "Welt am Sonntag", "an diese Stelle ist ein neues Vokabular getreten, das aus der Welt der Musik und der Filme hervorgeht. Und dieses Vokabular nutze ich. Wenn ich beispielsweise in meinem neuen Roman auf den Film 'Der Pate' eingehe, auf Werner Herzog, Klaus Kinski oder eben 'Star Wars' anspiele, dann wei jeder genau, was ich meine."
LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

39% of workers admit that they have experienced a form of bias in the workplace or when applying for a job, according to research released today by Badenoch & Clark, part of The Adecco Group UK and Ireland.

The Badenoch & Clark research report, 'Inspiring Inclusion in the Workplace' also found that one in five (20%) of employees have taken action to hide their age, disability, social background or sexuality in the workplace or when applying for a job. In addition, 22% think that their company does not embrace diversity and inclusion at any level, 29% have never read their company's diversity and inclusion policy and a worrying 11% said that their company does not even have one.

Having said that, despite this, some workers were surprisingly positive about inclusion in the workplace. Almost half think that their organisation embraces diversity and inclusion at a board level (46%) and at management level (43%). 86% also agree that their organisation employs a broad range of people from all social backgrounds.

Nicola Linkleter, President of Professional Staffing said: "Whilst it's great to see that employees are, in some cases, positive about the level of diversity and inclusivity in UK organisations, there is still a long way to go. Each worker that has experienced bias is one too many, and employees will only ever flourish if they feel they can truly be themselves at work. Businesses need to commit to living and breathing diversity and inclusion throughout the entire employee lifecycle and in everything they do - every strategy, every hire, every decision. Ultimately, they should become inclusive by instinct."

James Nazroo, Professor of Sociology, University of Manchester and Director of the ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity, added: "This report is extremely valuable in highlighting ongoing problems in making workplaces truly inclusive and in attempting to minimise the negative effects of discrimination on a diverse workforce. This not only impacts on career progression, but also profoundly on the health and wellbeing of employees. Employers in both the private and public sectors need to really engage in these issues and talk about the problems of discrimination in relation to age, gender, ethnicity and social background, not only to meet their legal responsibilities, but also to improve their workplace cultures and the experiences of their employees."

According to workers, the top five improvements they would like their organisations to make are:

Diversity and inclusion training (21%)

More social events (18%)

More consistent diversity and inclusion communication (12%)

Mentoring programmes (12%)

Depersonalising CVs (11%)

Linkleter concluded: "The potential benefits for truly inclusive companies are considerable - from unlocking different opinions and boosting retention to improving engagement and profitability. All these factors will help an organisation to thrive and differentiate itself, something that is increasingly hard to do yet more and more important as the war for talent wages on."

For more information and advice on how to improve diversity and inclusion within your organisation, please download the Inspiring Inclusion in the Workplace report here.


Regulatory News:

Stallergenes Greer (Paris:STAGR), a biopharmaceutical company specialising in treatments for respiratory allergies, announces that following the completion of a formal audit tender process, conducted in accordance with the relevant requirements and led by the Company's Audit Committee, the Board has approved the appointment of EY LLP as the Company's auditor for the financial year commencing 1 January 2017. This appointment was approved by shareholders at the Company's Annual General Meeting held on 8 June 2017.

The Board of Stallergenes Greer extends its appreciation and thanks to PwC LLP for its past contributions.

ABOUT STALLERGENES GREER PLC

Headquartered in London (UK), Stallergenes Greer plc is a global healthcare company specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of allergies through the development and commercialisation of allergy immunotherapy products and services. Stallergenes Greer Plc is the parent company of GREER Laboratories, Inc. (whose registered office is in the US) and Stallergenes SAS (whose registered office is in France). Additional information is available at http://www.stallergenesgreer.com.

Trading information

Name: Stallergenes Greer

ISIN: GB00BZ21RF93 1 Ticker: STAGR

ICB Classification: 4577

Market: Euronext Paris regulated market

DISCLAIMER

This document (including information incorporated by reference in this document), oral statements made and other information published by the Company contain statements that are or may be forward-looking with respect to the financial condition and/or results of operations and businesses of the Company. These statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "believe," "expects," "project," "estimated," "forecast," "should," "plan," "may" or the negative of any of these, or other variations thereof, or comparable terminology indicating expectations or beliefs concerning future events. These forward-looking statements include risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. Without being exhaustive, such factors include economic situations and business conditions, including legal and product evaluation issues, fluctuations in currencies and demand, and changes in competitive factors. These and other factors are more fully described in the Company's 2016 annual report published on 28 April 2017 on the Company's website www.stallergenesgreer.com. Actual results may differ from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, due to various factors. Save as required by applicable law, neither the Company nor any other person assumes any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to notify any person of any such update.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006126/en/

Contacts:

Communications and Investor Relations

Natacha Gassenbach

Tel: +1 (617) 225 8013

Email: natacha.gassenbach@stallergenesgreer.com

or

Investor Relations Agency

FTI Consulting

Arnaud de Cheffontaines

Tel: +33 1 47 03 69 48

Email: arnaud.decheffontaines@fticonsulting.com

or

Media

Bloom

Serra Saridereli

Tel: +1 (212) 715 1604

Email: Sariderelis@bloompr.com

or

Havas Worldwide Paris

Samuel Rousseau

Tel: +33 (0) 6 51 03 51 43

Email: samuel.rousseau@havas.com
BURLINGTON, ON / ACCESSWIRE / September 15, 2017 / Memex Inc. ("MEMEX" or the "Company") (TSX-V: OEE) is pleased to announce that it has entered into an amended letter of engagement with Eight Capital acting as sole bookrunner and lead agent, on behalf of a syndicate (together, the "Agents"), under which the Agents have now agreed to offer for sale units of the Company (the "Units"), on a "best efforts" private placement basis, subject to all required regulatory approvals, at a price per Unit of $0.16 (the "Issue Price") for total gross proceeds of up to approximately $2,850,000 (the "Offering") from the original offering of $1,500,000 with an option to offer an additional $500,000.

Each Unit shall consist of one common share of the Company (a "Share") and one-half of one Share purchase warrant (each full warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Share at a price of $0.25 for a period of 24 months following the closing of the Offering. In the event that the closing sale price of the Company's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange is greater than $0.35 per Share for a period of 20 consecutive trading days at any time after the closing of the Offering, the Company may accelerate the expiry date of the Warrants by giving notice to the holders thereof and in such case the Warrants will expire on the 30th day after the date on which such notice is given by the Company.

The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. The securities issued under the Offering will be subject to a four month hold period from the date of closing of the Offering in addition to any other restrictions under applicable law.

The closing date of the Offering is scheduled to be on or about September 26, 2017 and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

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 any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and applicable state securities laws.

About MEMEX

Memex Inc. was founded with a vision to improve the way automated machinery and production equipment work and connect on the factory floor. Since then MEMEX has proved itself a pioneer in IIoT time and again. The company is committed to its mission of "successfully transforming factories of today into factories of the future" and envisions converting every machine into a node on the corporate network, creating visibility from shop-floor-to-top-floor. MEMEX is the developer of MERLIN, an award-winning IIoT technology platform that delivers tangible increases in manufacturing productivity in Real Time. MEMEX's software and hardware IIoT solution enable customers to achieve tangible IIoT-centric business outcomes. The MERLIN software suite and connectivity products have enabled manufacturers to achieve upwards of a 50% increase in productivity and a 20%-plus increase in profit, on average. Additionally, customers have secured payback in less than four months, which equates to an Internal Rate of Return greater than 300 per cent. For more information, please visit: www.MemexOEE.com.

Cautionary Notes

Certain statements contained in this news release, constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things the expected completion of the Offering and the Corporation's ability to obtain necessary approvals from the TSX Venture Exchange. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. MEMEX believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct and should not be unduly relied upon. Information on additional risks related to MEMEX's business is included in our management's discussion and analysis of our financial results for the year ended September 30, 2016 which may be accessed through the SEDAR website (www.sedar.com). The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. These forward-looking statements and information speak only as of the date of this news release. MEMEX does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable securities laws.

For investor inquiries, please contact:

Rashi Rathore

Marketing Manager

Phone: 905-635-3040 ext. 103

Rashi.Rathore@MemexOEE.com

David McPhail

President & CEO

519-993-1114

David.McPhail@memexOEE.com

Sean Peasgood

Investor Relations

416-565-2805

Sean@sophiccapital.com

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.

SOURCE: Memex Inc.
SANTA CLARA, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/16/17 -- Cohesity, the pioneer of hyperconverged secondary storage, has announced that Cohesity DataPlatform was named a 2017 SIIA CODiE Awards finalist in the Best Storage & Back Up Solution category. Finalists represent the best products, technologies, and services in software, information and business technology.

Cohesity DataPlatform is the only hyperconverged solution designed to eliminate secondary storage silos by converging all secondary data workloads on a unified platform that spans multi-cloud and on-premises infrastructure. Its hyperconverged architecture supports not only storage but also the convergence of data management functions. With Cohesity, enterprises can simplify their storage and data protection infrastructure, improve service levels by reducing backup RTOs and RPOs, and leverage public cloud economics with native cloud integration. In addition, the platform empowers companies to gain visibility into their dark data with in-place analytics, accelerate test/dev with copy data management, and reduce total cost-of-ownership for secondary storage by 80 percent or more.

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries, and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. The awards offer 93 categories that are organized by industry focus of education technology and business technology. Cohesity DataPlatform was honored as one of 205 finalists across the 59 business technology categories.

"I am impressed by the level of innovation and creativity of the products that have been selected as this year's CODiE Award finalists. We are happy to recognize these products and the power they have to transform the future of how we do business," said Ken Wasch, president of SIIA.

"Cohesity's hyperconverged approach has transformed the secondary storage landscape, providing an answer to the surging size and complexity of secondary data by consolidating fragmented point solutions on a unified architecture," said Cohesity Head of Marketing and Product Patrick Rogers. "It is an honor to receive this recognition from SIIA's prestigious awards program along with the incredible response we've experienced from the global market for Cohesity's solutions."

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry's only peer-recognized awards program. Business technology leaders including senior executives, analysts, media, consultants and investors evaluate assigned products during the first-round review, which determines the finalists. SIIA members then vote on the finalist products and the scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners. Winners will be announced during the CODiE Award Business Technology Winner Announcement & Celebration, July 25 in San Francisco. For more details about Cohesity's submission, please visit the Best Storage & Back Up Solution awards website.

About the SIIA CODiE Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology's finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.

About Cohesity

Cohesity makes your data work for you by consolidating secondary storage silos onto a hyperconverged, web-scale data platform that spans both private and public clouds. Enterprise customers begin by radically streamlining their backup and data protection, then converge file and object services, test/dev instances and analytic functions to provide a global data store. Cohesity counts many Global 1000 companies among its rapidly growing customer base. CRN named Cohesity a Top 25 Disrupter and one of the 10 Coolest Hyperconverged Products of 2016. For more information, visit www.cohesity.com and follow @cohesity on Twitter.

Media Contacts

BOCA Communications for Cohesity

cohesity@bocacommunications.com




Magnolia Petroleum Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: MAGP / Sector: Oil & Gas

20 June 2017

Magnolia Petroleum Plc

('Magnolia' or 'the Company')

Notice of General Meeting and Posting of Circular

Magnolia Petroleum Plc, the AIM quoted US focused oil and gas exploration and production company announces that a circular ("Circular") and notice of a general meeting ("GM") is being sent to all shareholders. The Company's GM will be held at 15:30 p.m. (BST) on 18 July 2017 at the offices of Hill Dickinson LLP on the 8th Floor of The Broadgate Tower, 20 Primrose Street, London, EC2A 2EW. The documents will shortly be available on the Company's website and an extract of the Circular appears below.

The information contained within this announcement constitutes inside information stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014.

* * ENDS * *

For further information on Magnolia Petroleum Plc visit www.magnoliapetroleum.com or contact the following:

Rita Whittington Magnolia Petroleum Plc +01918449 8750 Jo Turner / James Caithie Cairn Financial Advisers LLP +44207213 0880 Colin Rowbury Cornhill Capital Limited +44207710 9610 Lottie Brocklehurst St Brides Partners Ltd +44207236 1177 Frank Buhagiar St Brides Partners Ltd +44207236 1177

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN OF MAGNOLIA PETROLEUM PLC

Magnolia Petroleum plc

(Registered in England and Wales with company number 05566066)

Directors Registered Office

Ronald Harwood (Non-executive Chairman) Suite 321

Rita Whittington (Chief Executive Director) 19-21 Crawford Street

Leonard Wallace (Non-executive Director)London W1H 1PJ

20 June 2017

Notice of General Meeting

Dear Shareholder,

The board of the Company unanimously recommends that you

VOTE AGAINST the requisitioned resolutions

1. Introduction

On 30 May 2017 the Company received a requisition for a general meeting (the "General Meeting") to consider resolutions for three proposed directorate changes (the "Requisition") from Mr Steven Snead, Snead Family 2012 LLC, Snead Family LLC and Mr R Sterling Snead (together the "Snead Group").

The Snead Group together holds greater than 5 per cent. of issued shares of the Company and, accordingly, the Company is required under the UK Companies Act 2006 to convene a general meeting of shareholders to consider the resolutions put forth.

The purpose of this document is to convene the General Meeting referred to in the Requisition and to set out why the Directors of the Company believe shareholders should vote against all of the resolutions proposed by the Snead Group.

2. Resolutions to be Proposed at the General Meeting

The Requisition proposes three resolutions to be put to Shareholders, which are set out below in the form in which they were received:

Ordinary Resolution

a. THAT in accordance with the provisions of Article 90 of the Articles of Association of the company and section 168 of the Companies Act 2006 Rita Fern Whittington be removed from office as a director of the Company immediately.

b. THAT in accordance with the provisions of Article 86 of the Articles of Association and subject to the AIM Rules for Companies of the London Stock Exchange Plc Kristian Ewen Ainsworth be appointed a director of the Company.

c. THAT in accordance with the provisions of Article 86 of the Articles of Association and subject to the AIM Rules for Companies of the London Stock Exchange Plc Donald Zac Phillips be appointed a director of the Company.

3. Background to and Reasons for the Requisition

Overview

On 12 May 2017, the Company was contacted by both Steven Snead, former CEO of the Company and Matthew Lofgran, CEO of Nostra Terra Oil and Gas Company plc ("NTOG"), on separate occasions. Mr Lofgran advised that he has been contacted by former directors and brokers who required changes to be made to the Company's board and cost structure. At the time, neither Mr Lofgran nor NTOG was a shareholder of the Company and, at the time of publication of this circular, neither still appear to be shareholders.

The Board advises that there have been four former directors, and the current management team remains in touch and on good terms with two previous chairmen of the Company, Mr Wagenhofer and Dr Cubitt. Both Mr Wagenhofer and Dr Cubitt wholeheartedly support the current management team and have stressed that they will be voting against the Resolutions. The other former directors are Mr Snead and Mr Burnell. Mr Burnell is based in London and has a generalist rather than an oil and gas background, having served on the Board of a number of non-resource companies including Globo plc, which was wound up following the appointment of administrators by order of the Court within days of his resignation from Globo plc's Board. Mr Burnell and Mr Lofgran were both directors of Elephant Oil Limited from January 2013 until Mr Burnell's resignation in September 2016.

On 26 May 2017, the Company learnt by way of a Regulatory News Service ("RNS") announcement that NTOG had, conditionally, agreed to acquire the shares of the Snead Group subject to certain conditions (which were not disclosed and still have not been disclosed despite the Company's requests) via a delayed settlement which has yet to occur. In this announcement, it was stated that prior to the settlement of the consideration for the Snead Group shares, that, "...it has been agreed that Nostra Terra has direction over the voting rights of the Magnolia Shares."

On 29 May 2017, the Company received a requisition notice served by the Snead Group, containing the resolutions first informed by NTOG prior to its acquisition of these shares. The Company is unsure for how long the Snead Group and NTOG may have been working together or the intentions of either party, however, it was later made clear that discussions had been held prior to the conditional NTOG agreement with the Snead Group to potentially acquire shares at some future point.

On 31 May 2017, Mr Lofgran made a public statement on Vox Markets regarding his views of Magnolia in which he states, inter alia, that:

"...we were approached by former directors and brokers in London who came to us and said we think that the company [Magnolia] needs to be fixed, it needs to be addressed and we think that you guys have the ability to do that..."

"...the company [Magnolia] is subscale... do have some production, excessive debt, overheads are too high.."

He further states that, "... just looking at an alternative way for us to have additional exposure in the US."

At this stage, neither the Snead Group nor Mr Lofgran, either personally or on behalf of NTOG, had engaged with the Company in respect of the validity or practicality of their "plans" to ensure that shareholder value would be safeguarded for all shareholders.

On 19 June 2017, Magnolia published its report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2016 in which the Company highlights that Rita Whittington, as COO at the time, has reduced the Company's operating costs by more than 30 per cent. for the second year running. It should also be noted that Mr Snead, who resigned on 31 March 2017, was the CEO of the company for the entirety of the financial year.

On 6 June 2017, NTOG released a further announcement that delayed, for the second time in recent years, publication and posting of its accounts for a separate meeting. Therefore, at the time of publication of this document, there is little current financial information to assess NTOG's performance. From the financial information available, it should further be noted that should the Snead Group and NTOG be looking to liquidate the assets of Magnolia, NTOG would not appear to have the financial strength to acquire the assets in cash and would either need to raise funds or make a share based offer.

Background of Mr Snead

Mr Snead was CEO of Magnolia and a member of the Board from its admission to AIM in November 2011 until his resignation on 31 March 2017. Had he not stepped down, the Board had at the time been discussing the removal of Mr Snead from his position due to concerns that the Board had regarding Mr Snead's views of the Company, including:

- Mr Snead consistently proposed the disposal of all of Magnolia's assets, effectively liquidating its portfolio of developed and undeveloped oil and gas properties. This was at a time when oil prices were trading at or near the low point in the cycle, and as a result the Board believes this would have resulted in considerable value destruction and substantial loss to shareholders.

- During a conference call with the Board, Mr. Snead had proposed that Magnolia leave the oil and gas sector and change direction into the computer software business. The rest of the Board rejected his proposal and subsequently believed that Mr. Snead intended to use Magnolia as a vehicle to acquire the interests of his son, Mr R Sterling Snead, one of the requisitioning shareholders, in several ventures in the technology sector.

- Mr Snead repeatedly opposed both the Company's fundraising efforts in order to participate in the drilling of several wells and the acquisition of leases during what was the bottom of the cycle, which could have seen Magnolia significantly increase its footprint in its chosen areas of focus such as the prolific and low-cost SCOOP and STACK plays. Notwithstanding his opposition, Magnolia continued to increase its interest within these prolific areas.

- A number of months prior to his resignation, Mr Snead had for the first time requested a salary for his role as CEO. He was advised that a salary demands full time employment which, he would be unable to do because of his other business interests. Mr. Snead then advised the Board that if he did not receive a salary, he no longer wished to be involved with the Company.

Since the remainder of the Board refused to accept Mr. Snead's proposal, specifically to liquidate Magnolia's producing assets and, as the Board believes, to use the resultant shell as a vehicle with which to acquire interests in the technology sector, it is the opinion of the Board that Mr Snead is now attempting to achieve this same objective by requisitioning the General Meeting to approve the above three resolutions. The Board further believes that NTOG recognise the value in Magnolia's producing assets and has positioned itself to opportunistically acquire these assets. The Board unanimously believes that, if the Resolutions are passed, there is a considerable likelihood that the Company's assets will be sold which will not be in the best interests of all Magnolia shareholders.

The Board is further dismayed that, despite the insistence of NTOG that the requisition is to reduce corporate overhead, NTOG and the Snead Group were unwilling to discuss their intentions or objectives in advance of formally requisitioning the meeting. Overhead at the Company has reduced by more than 30 per cent. over the last 12 months for the second year and the Company continues to seek operational and corporate savings.

The Board unanimously recommends that investors vote against the Resolutions.

4. Reasons why the Independent Directors Recommend Shareholders Vote Against the Resolutions

a. Resolution for the immediate removal of Magnolia's CEO, Rita Fern Whittington.

1. Ms Whittington has been the driving force behind Magnolia since its inception

Ms Whittington is a petroleum landman with more than 30 years' experience in acquisitions, operations and management of oil and gas properties and is the driving force behind the building of the Company's portfolio of leases in proven US onshore formations; the near perfect success rate achieved in participating in drilling activity alongside other operators; the increase in Magnolia's portfolio of wells to a peak of over 220; and the increase in daily production.

During her career, Ms Whittington has developed significant knowledge, contacts and negotiating skills which she has used to the benefit of the Company considerably. Examples include:

in January 2013, Magnolia relinquished its 25% interest in the Prucha 1-23 MH well ('Prucha' or 'the Well') following disappointing production rates without any funds having been transferred from Magnolia to the operator due to a clause Ms Whittington inserted into the contract regarding Magnolia's election to participate in the Well. This resulted in Magnolia saving approximately US$1 million and avoiding any losses due to Prucha.

in September 2014, Magnolia received a US$1 million fee for consulting services provided to an international company acquiring an oil and gas project in Oklahoma. Once again, it was Ms Whittington who was responsible for providing these consulting services and for securing this fee, a testament to her expertise and deep knowledge of the onshore US oil and gas industry.

Between 2011 and 2014, under Ms Whittington's stewardship Magnolia grew strongly in terms of its key performance metrics: number of producing wells; leases; production; and reserves. In terms of share price performance, in 2012 Magnolia was one of the best performing oil and gas producers on AIM and the fourth best performer overall after the share price rose by 472.6% over the course of the year.

The fall in the oil price to its worst sub US$30 per barrel required a significant retrenchment in the Company's activities. Since the second half of 2014, Ms Whittington has been working tirelessly to ensure that Magnolia not only weathers the downturn but is able to take advantage of any opportunities that would benefit the Company. Ms Whittington oversaw a substantial decrease in the Company's operating cost base both in the 2015 and 2016 financial years. As recently announced during the 2016 financial year, operating costs were reduced by more than 30 per cent. Since the year end, the Company's cost base has been lowered further still following a change of offices from Mr Snead's premises to Ms Whittington's home office, at no charge (a saving of US$3,500 per month). In addition, Ms Whittington has been responsible for the Company's push into the highly active SCOOP and STACK plays which has seen Magnolia elect to participate in 28 wells since January 2017.

Magnolia has a low-risk, low-cost business model that has weathered the sharp downturn better than many in the sector. This platform is one that has, at its core, the active management of all types of risk associated with the oil and gas industry: exploration risk is managed by focusing on proven formations; execution risk is managed by participating in drilling alongside established operators such as Continental Resources and Chesapeake Energy; individual well risk is managed by building a diversified portfolio of leases and wells and limiting Magnolia's interest in any one well; while oil price risk is managed by focusing on areas that require relatively low oil prices to breakeven.

As a former partner of Primary Natural Resources I and II, two oil and gas property acquisition and development companies, Ms Whittington successfully managed the land department, assets, acquisition and divestitures, and as a result played a key role in both companies achieving approximately a 3:1 return on equity upon divestment. Ms Whittington brings this knowledge, experience, skills, contacts and low-risk strategy to Magnolia. Furthermore, Ms Whittington has proven herself to be fully capable of sourcing and acquiring leases in US onshore formations, securing attractive terms with established operators when participating in drilling new wells, and actively managing both a diversified portfolio of wells and the associated risks.

It is the Board's view that Ms Whittington's skills and knowledge are essential for Magnolia and that her departure from the Company would be materially adverse to the performance of the Company. The Board also notes that neither of the London-based proposed appointees are petroleum landman nor have they specifically worked in the Company's immediate area of operations.

2. A change of control could trigger an obligation to immediately repay the bank loan

The Board, including Ms Whittington, and the current management team have an excellent relationship with the Company's bank and Ronald Harwood, Director and Interim Chairman, was responsible for negotiating the reserves based lending facility. However, the terms of the Company's reserves based lending facility, which was entered into while Mr Snead was a director, contain a change of control provision which may trigger an obligation to immediately repay the loan which is secured against all of Magnolia's producing assets.

As noted in the Company's recently published report and accounts, the Company does not have the cash reserves to repay this loan in full and would therefore be required to raise funds or sell down its assets to repay this loan. In the event that the bank is unwilling to allow the Company time to achieve this, the bank would be entitled to call upon its security which could involve a formal insolvency of its subsidiary.

3. Employee Rights and Entitlements

Were resolution (a) to be passed, Ms Whittington would retain all of her employment rights and entitlement to a notice period. The removal of Ms Whittington therefore will not just lead to a change of direction for Magnolia but could unnecessarily bring the Company's future into doubt with shareholders potentially left with little or no value if the Company's loan is called.

4. Magnolia is asset backed and revenue generative while NTOG has negligible tangible assets and generates only nominal revenues

Today and largely thanks to the efforts of Ms Whittington, Magnolia has emerged from the downturn still a revenue generative, asset-backed business with good prospects for the future. Other than to fund new wells to be drilled and possible future acquisitions, or due to the occurrence of any adverse circumstances, the Board considers the Company to have sufficient resources to cover its costs for the next 12 months.

As announced on 26 May 2017, NTOG has agreed to acquire from Mr Snead and his family, 204,226,748 ordinary shares in Magnolia, which represents a 10.9% interest in the Company's ordinary share capital of Magnolia. In its announcement, NTOG states it is making the acquisition "as an alternative and additional way to increase its exposure to the oil and gas market in the USA". However, as mentioned earlier, the removal of Ms Whittington from the Board, which NTOG and Mr Snead are calling for, is not consistent with NTOG's statement that it is looking to increase its investment in the US oil and gas market as it would remove the key individual behind that very investment and also could lead to the triggering of the repayment of the bank debt facility.

The Board believes that a comparison of NTOG's last half year report covering the six months to end of June 2016 with Magnolia's provides a more plausible rationale behind NTOG's motives in acquiring the Snead Group's interest in Magnolia and working in concert with him to propose the removal of Ms Whittington from the Board and the appointment of two of its nominees as directors:

For the six months to 30 June 2016, NTOG generated revenues of 133,000 (30 June 2015: 393,000) while Magnolia's revenues for the half year period came in at US$633,585 (H1 2015: US$1,083,998). Even after considering exchange rates, Magnolia's half year revenues were 3.5 times higher than NTOG's;

As at 30 June 2016 Magnolia's non-current assets stood at US$8,893,414 which included US$7,217,415 of tangible assets comprised primarily of Magnolia's interests in producing wells. By contrast, NTOG's non-current assets were reported as being 2,124,000 at 30 June 2016, the vast majority of which (approximately 2 million) were intangibles as opposed to real assets. While Magnolia's total assets, inclusive of current assets were US$9,884,324 as at 30 June 2016, NTOG's were 3,800,000 or approximately US$5,054,000 (at an exchange rate of 1GBP: $1.33USD being the closing exchange rate on 30 June 2016); and

Both companies had similar total liabilities as at end of June 2016: Magnolia's total liabilities were reported as US$3,350,252 or approximately 2,500,000 (using the exchange rate noted above).

Please note we have used the interim results to 30 June 2017 to compare both companies, as at the time of writing NTOG has delayed publishing its final results for the year ended 31 December 2017.

The Board believes that NTOG has an asset light balance sheet and only nominal revenues are being generated. It would appear that, despite NTOG claiming that Magnolia's costs are too high and that the Company needs to be restructured, NTOG regularly has to raise funds just to cover its general corporate overheads let alone grow as evidenced by it recently raising 260,000 via a mobile application platform. In addition, there has been much written in the press regarding NTOG's financial position and its need to constantly raise funds to remain in business. Articles on this matter can easily be found on the internet and we advise our shareholders to read these to gain a fuller picture of both NTOG and its management team and practices.

We believe by agreeing to acquire the Snead family's interest in Magnolia and by proposing the removal of Ms Whittington and the election of two directors to the Board, NTOG is looking to strengthen its own balance sheet at the expense of Magnolia's shareholders by either acquiring Magnolia's portfolio of producing wells and incorporating them within NTOG or by disposing of them.

b. Resolution for the appointment of Kristian Ewen Ainsworth as a director of the Company

Mr Ainsworth is a chartered management accountant and the Non-executive Chairman of NTOG.

The Board notes that Mr Ainsworth's experience in the oil and gas sector has been as a financial controller, finance director and CFO at a number of companies. Further, the Board notes from his publically available biography that he states that he has not worked with companies with assets in the US and does not appear to have experience in the specialist discipline of securing oil and gas leases, managing a portfolio of developed and undeveloped properties, and dealing with, and participating in drilling alongside, oil and gas operators.

The Company's current CFO has specific experience of working in the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma and was hired from Chesapeake Energy Corporation, one of the operators with which Magnolia participates.

The Board notes that Mr Ainsworth's experience is neither comparative to or compensates for Ms Whittington's experience nor would his appointment add to the Company's finance capability. Noting further that Mr Ainsworth is not independent from NTOG, the Board is deeply concerned that his proposed appointment supports its view that the assets of the Company may be divested to NTOG.

It is not clear if it is the intention of the two parties for Mr Snead to assume a management role in Magnolia or NTOG, either on an interim or permanent basis, but even if this is the case, as mentioned earlier, the Board believes that Mr Snead does not have an interest in growing the business, let alone managing the Company's existing assets.

c. Resolution for the appointment of Donald Zac Phillips as a director of the Company

Mr Phillips is Senior Research Oil & Gas Analyst at SP Angel, a London-based broker and has previously worked as head of Oil & Gas research at a number of specialist resource sector investment banks. The Company recognises Mr Phillip's technical qualifications and industry and city experience. The Board also notes, however, that Mr Phillips is London-based and has little to no experience in the US onshore oil and gas sector, particularly in the specialist discipline of securing oil and gas leases, managing a portfolio of developed and undeveloped properties, and dealing with, and participating in drilling alongside, oil and gas operators.

Whilst the Board recognises Mr Phillips' experience, it is of the firm opinion that his experience does not make him a suitable replacement for Ms Whittington and, at this stage, his appointment would only bring additional administrative cost to the Company.

5. Summary

In consideration of the above the board of the Company strongly advises shareholders to vote against the proposed resolutions:

The Board believes your Company is being targeted by two parties, namely the Snead family and NTOG, to further their own specific aims and not those of all shareholders of Magnolia. In the case of the Snead family, it is the Board's belief that they are looking to reduce Magnolia to a cash shell for their own ends, while NTOG is aiming to gain control of Magnolia's assets cheaply to shore up its own balance sheet. We firmly believe the hostile and unwanted actions of the Snead family and NTOG have already caused material damage to Magnolia and its shareholders by negatively impacting the share price, the Company's ability to raise funds to cover potential drilling commitments has been adversely affected.

Following the departure of Mr Snead, the Company has a team with the requisite skillset and experience to take advantage of the improving sentiment and market conditions. In Leonard Wallace, it has a highly experienced petroleum engineer, while in Lanny Woods it has a geologist with many years' experience working in the proven US onshore formations where Magnolia is focused. Together with Ms Whittington's proven expertise in acquiring and managing portfolios of leases and wells and the Company's CFO Derec Norman's specialist oil and gas finance experience, the Board and management team of Magnolia has never been stronger. The Company urges shareholders to reject all the above unwelcome resolutions and allow the team to focus on what it does best - building US onshore focused oil and gas companies and selling them at multiples of the invested capital. We believe that Magnolia now has the best management team, technical advisors and Board of Directors to move forward for the benefit of all shareholders.

6. Action to be taken by Shareholders in respect of the General Meeting

Shareholders will find enclosed with this document a form of proxy for use at the General Meeting. Whether or not you propose to attend the General Meeting in person, you are strongly encouraged to complete, sign and return the form of proxy in accordance with the instructions printed on it as soon as possible, but in any event so as to be received, by post or, during normal business hours only, by hand, by 3.30 p.m. (BST) on 14 July 2017 (or, in the case of an adjournment, not later than 48 hours before the time fixed for the holding of the adjourned meeting (excluding any part of a day that is not a Business Day)).

The appointment of proxies or the giving of any instruction by the CREST system will be accepted for the purposes of the General Meeting.

Appointing a proxy in accordance with the instructions set out above will enable your vote to be counted at the General Meeting if you are unable to attend. The completion and return of the form of proxy will not prevent you from attending and voting in person at the General Meeting, or any adjournment, should you wish to do so.

7. Recommendation

The Directors believe that the resolutions to be proposed at the General Meeting are not in the best interests of the Company and Shareholders as a whole and recommend that you vote against them as they intend to do (or procure to be done) in respect of their own holdings totalling 138,788,080 Ordinary Shares, representing approximately 7.42 per cent. of the Share Capital.

Yours faithfully

Ronald Harwood

Non-executive Chairman

DEFINITIONS

The following definitions apply throughout this document (including the Notice of Annual General Meeting and General Meeting) and the forms of proxy unless the context requires otherwise:
According to the Complaint, during the Class Period, Anadarko made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose: that the Company's maintenance and safety protocols concerning certain of its vertical wells were inadequate; that due to those shortcomings, these wells were at an increased risk of explosion; and that as a result of the above, Anadarko's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times. On April 17, 2017, a deadly explosion killed two people and critically injured another in a home located within 170 feet of an Anadarko well. On April 26, 2017, The Denver Post reported that the Company "plans to shut down 3,000 vertical wells in northeastern Colorado" after the April 17 explosion. On May 2, 2017, the Frederick-Firestone Fire Protection District concluded that the fatal explosion on April 17 was linked to a faulty gas line connected to an Anadarko well. After release of this news, Anadarko's stock price fell materially, which caused investors harm.

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.
HIGH WYCOMBE, England, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Muslims with Type 2 diabetes are being encouraged to use a new 'Better Living' guide on staying well during the fasting month of Ramadan (from 27thMay).

Recent figures suggest that there are around 325,000 Muslims in the UK who have diabetes (Types 1 & 2).[1]

The 'Better Living' guide, produced by Takeda UK Ltd, a company that produces Type 2 diabetes medicines, contains tips and advice including suggestions on healthy food to eat at Suhur (pre-dawn meal before fasting begins) and Iftar (meal taken to break the fast, around sunset). It also covers health issues to be aware of and action to take to avoid low blood sugar, known as a 'hypo', which can make people with Type 2 diabetes very ill.

Donna Roberts, Marketing Manager for Diabetes, Takeda UK & Ireland, said: "At Takeda we put patients first and strive to support them to best manage their health and wellbeing. We developed the 'Better Living' guide for people with Type 2 diabetes to help them stay well during Ramadan and to encourage people to have a fresh start with their health after Ramadan and Eid. Our main message to people with Type 2 diabetes who are considering fasting is to be sure you are fit and well before you start, and to always speak to your nurse or doctor."

Debbie Hicks, Nurse Consultant - Diabetes, Enfield Health Adult Community Health Services, said: "During Ramadan, restricted food and water intake can make fasting a health issue for people with Type 2 diabetes so it is very important that before choosing to fast people have all the information they need. Takeda's Better Living guide covers many of the important issues and is a really useful booklet to have to hand before and during Ramadan."

Takeda has produced the Better Living guide, available at http://www.better-living.co.uk, as part of an online diabetes education and information programme for all people with Type 2 diabetes. The Better Living programme features a website and app, as well as a printed and downloadable magazine which is available for free. Visit http://www.better-living.co.uk. Download the better-living app from both the Apple and Google app stores.

Download 'Ramadan & Type 2 diabetes - A practical guide' at: http://www.better-living.co.uk

About Takeda UK Ltd.

Takeda UK Ltd., located in High Wycombe, is the UK marketing and sales organisation of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Osaka, Japan. Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited is a global, research and development-driven pharmaceutical company committed to bringing better health and a brighter future to patients by translating science into life-changing medicines. Takeda focuses its R&D efforts on oncology, gastroenterology and central nervous system therapeutic areas plus vaccines. Takeda conducts R&D both internally and with partners to stay at the leading edge of innovation. New innovative products, especially in oncology and gastroenterology, as well as our presence in Emerging Markets, fuel the growth of Takeda. More than 30,000 Takeda employees are committed to improving quality of life for patients, working with our partners in health care in more than 70 countries. Additional information about Takeda UK Ltd. is available through its corporate website, http://www.takeda.co.uk.



References
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Joining several other Republican lawmakers that have recently announced plans to retire, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Virg., revealed Thursday he will not seek re-election in 2018. Goodlatte noted in a statement that his time as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee will come to end next year and said he decided this is a natural stepping-off point and an opportunity to begin a new chapter of his career. 'Every two years, Maryellen and I sat down to discuss whether to run again or not,' Goodlatte said. 'When we discussed the 2018 election, the conversation ended a little differently than in past years.' He added, 'After much contemplation and prayer, we decided it was the right time for me to step aside and let someone else serve the Sixth District.' Goodlatte joins House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Tex., and House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Tex., among Republicans that have recently announced plans to retire. The announcement from the Virginia congressman comes just two days after Republican candidates lost several statewide and local contests in his home state. Goodlatte listed several goals he hopes to accomplish in the next year, including bolstering enforcement of immigration laws, simplifying the tax code, enacting criminal justice reform, and repealing Obamacare. 'I look forward to working with the House Leadership, the Senate, and President Trump in bringing real conservative change to our country,' Goodlatte said. 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 ANTONIO, TX--(Marketwired - June 20, 2017) - National education researchers and scholars came together during April's annual meeting of AERA in San Antonio, Texas to hear GSEP's Dr. Reyna Garcia-Ramos deliver her paper, entitled Preservice Teachers Use a Sociocultural Approach to Help High School Students Find Their Voice during the session she chaired on preservice teacher preparation. Dr. Garcia-Ramos is the current secretary of AERA's Bilingual Education Research Committee, as well as the award-winning former director of legislative affairs for the California Association for Bilingual Education. During her years of bilingual classroom experience throughout the Los Angeles School District, Dr. Garcia-Ramos worked to raise funds for teachers and designed culturally relevant curricula for Spanish-speaking immigrants now living in California.

Dr. Garcia-Ramos describes her commitment to bilingual education as informed by her personal history. In an essay featured in the Los Angeles Times, she described having encountered teachers who labeled Spanish-speaking students as "illiterate," simply because they did not know how to read and write in English despite proficiency in their native language. "Bilingual education made a difference in my life, and it continues to make a difference in the lives of our English learners today," she says.

With a theme for the 2017 meeting of "Knowledge to Action: Achieving the Promise of Equal Education Opportunity," the scholarly conference also featured Dr. Eric Hamilton, Associate Dean of Education at GSEP. Dr. Hamilton served as a discussant to authors who completed research and inquiry in Embodying, Personalizing, and Rendering Mathematics Using Technology. Dr. Hamilton also presented his poster: Technology Ensembles, Interactional Bandwidth, Participatory Teaching, and Identify Shifts in Secondary STEM Education, an ongoing participatory teaching and media-making project.

A former division director with the National Science Foundation, international speaker and active researcher in the development of innovative learning technologies, Dr. Hamilton has become a national leader in the areas of mathematics educational reform and promoting the role of technology in both formal and informal education. "I think combining technology with an astute understanding of how people learn can help lead to a new golden age for education," he explains.

GSEP graduate and current assistant professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University Dr. Crystal Moore (Jensen), EDLT '13, chaired topics in gamification and game-based learning and curriculum studies. Dr. Moore also presented her paper on intergenerational mentoring partnerships. A current PhD student in GSEP's Global Leadership and Change program, Ms. Sonya Sharififard served as a chair in the Mentorship, Law and Education session, as well as in the Social Sciences Divisions. Additionally, as part of the AERA Service Project, Ms. Sharififard participated in the World Literacy Day Children's read-aloud.

Reflecting the graduate school's mission to provide not only the highest standards of academic excellence but to perpetuate a tradition of purpose, service, and leadership both on a local and global stage, GSEP faculty, graduates and current students will continue to participate in conclaves similar to AERA as well as other worldwide projects, conferences and events throughout the year.

About Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology

The Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP) is an innovative learning community where faculty, staff, and students of diverse cultures and perspectives work collaboratively to foster academic excellence, social purpose, meaningful service, and personal fulfillment. GSEP offers eleven master's degree programs and five doctoral programs for working professionals across five locations throughout Los Angeles, Orange, and Ventura Counties. GSEP endeavors to educate and motivate students to assume leadership roles in professions that improve and enrich the lives of individuals, families, and communities. Follow GSEP on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Dr. Karen Semien-McBride

Executive Director of Marketing & Enrollment

karen.semien-mcbride@pepperdine.edu

gsep.pepperdine.edu

310.258.2892
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2017 / Oyster Oil and Gas Ltd. ("Oyster" or the "Company") (TSX-V: OY, FSE: 13L) is pleased to announce that, further to the Company's press releases dated May 31 and June 6, 2017, Oyster also announces updated terms to its previously announced private placement financing. The Company now intends to proceed with concurrent non-brokered private placements of units (the "Units") and convertible debentures (the "Convertible Debentures") pursuant to which it expects to raise aggregate gross proceeds of up to CAD$1,500,000.

Pursuant to the Unit financing (the "Unit Financing"), the Company intends to do a raise of up to CAD$632,500 by issuing up to an aggregate of 1,265,000 Units at a price of CAD$0.50 per Unit. Each Unit will consist of one Common Share and one transferable common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant shall entitle the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of CAD$0.55 for a period of two years from closing of the Unit Financing.

Pursuant to the Convertible Debenture financing (the "Debenture Financing," and together with the Unit Financings, the "Financings"), the Company also intends to do a raise of up to CAD$867,500 by issuing Convertible Debentures. The Convertible Debentures shall accrue interest at the rate of 10% per annum and shall be convertible at the option of the holder into Common Shares at a deemed price of the lesser of CAD$0.50 or a 20% discount to the AIM Listing offering price of Oyster's Common Shares, subject to compliance with TSX Venture Exchange ("TSX-V") minimum pricing policies, at any time before one year from closing of the Debenture Financing, subject to acceleration upon completion of the AIM listing, or otherwise shall become due and payable by the Company. The subscribers to the Debenture Financing shall be issued one detachable Warrant for every CAD$0.50 of principal Convertible Debentures subscribed for, with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share at a price of CAD$0.55 for a period of one year, subject to acceleration upon completion of the AIM listing. Accrued interest on the Convertible Debenture may be converted into Common Shares at a minimum conversion price of not less than the Market Price (as defined in TSX-V policies) at the time such interest becomes due and payable.

The closing of the Financings are expected to occur by no later than July 13, 2017, and remain subject to certain closing conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the completion of required regulatory filings with the TSX-V. Commissions and/or finder's fees payable in cash or securities may be paid by the Company in connection with the Financings subject to compliance with TSX-V policies. The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Financings for costs associated with the AIM Listing and general corporate and working capital purposes.

The Company also announces that it has settled aggregate indebtedness of CAD$205,051 (the "Settlement") owed to an arms' length creditor by issuing 512,627 units (each, a "Settlement Unit") at a deemed price of CAD$0.40 per Settlement Unit. Each Settlement Unit consisted of one Common Share, and one Warrant exercisable at an exercise price of CAD$0.55 until June 19, 2019. All securities issued pursuant to the Settlement are subject to a four-month statutory hold period commencing June 19, 2017, in accordance with applicable securities legislation.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it intends to list its Common Shares on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange. The Company is in the process of engaging a nominated advisor and one or more brokers as well as other advisors in connection with the AIM Listing and will provide a further corporate update in due course.

About: Oyster Oil and Gas Ltd.

Oyster is an upstream oil and gas company with a focus on Eastern Africa. Oyster holds production sharing contracts interests with the Government of Djibouti and the Government of Madagascar. Oyster holds four blocks comprising approximately 3.5 million acres onshore and offshore in Djibouti; and holds a 100% working interest and is the operator of an onshore block located in northwest Madagascar covering approximately 2.8 million acres.

For further information please contact:

Emily Davis, Corporate Secretary

Tel: (604) 628-5616

Fax: (604) 662-7950

This news release contains statements about the Company's expectations regarding the completion of the Financings and AIM Listing that are forward-looking in nature and, as a result, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on them as actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements and there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to complete the Financings for any reason whatsoever, including failure to obtain TSX-V acceptance, or the AIM listing not occurring. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date hereof, and 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, except as required by applicable securities laws. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

This news release does not constitute and the subject matter hereof is not, an offer for sale or a solicitation of an offer to buy, in the United States or to any "U.S. Person" (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act")) of any equity or other securities of the Corporation. The securities of the Corporation have not been registered under the 1933 Act and may not be offered or sold in the United States (or to a U.S. Person) absent registration under the 1933 Act or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act.

Neither the TSX-V nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX-V) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

SOURCE: Oyster Oil and Gas Ltd.
BBI's Device Takes Aim at 2.1bn Public Health Problem

MANCHESTER,England and LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A wireless handheld scanner detected bedsores developing under the skin earlier than visual inspection of the surface of the skin. This gives clinicians an alert that enables them to intervene early and reverse damage before the sores break through the skin and turn potentially deadly, researchers have found.

The study involved 182 patients at risk for bedsores at 12 hospitals, nursing home and long-term rehabilitation centers in the United States and the United Kingdom -- the first large-scale study of the scanner to be conducted simultaneously in both countries, according to Bruin Biometrics ("BBI, LLC"), which developed the device, known as the SEM Scanner.

SEM Scanner received CE Mark approval and is currently available in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. BBI included the study findings in a filing to the U.S. Food And Drug Administration for approval to market the device in the U.S.

Bedsores (or "pressure ulcers") can lead to pain, disfigurement, infection and deadly complications that kill more people annually than any form of cancer except lung cancer at a total annual cost of 2.1bn to the National Health Service. The sores result from pressure involving shear and/or friction causing localized damage to the skin and underlying tissue, usually around areas of bony prominence -- such as the vertebra, tailbone, heels, and hips.

In the new study, investigators conducting daily visual skin assessments and scans for up to twenty days found that the SEM Scanner detects pressure damage to skin earlier than visual skin evaluation by nurses. Investigators are presenting their topline results today at the scientific session of Wound Care: From Innovations to Clinical Trials 2017, a medical conference in Manchester, U.K.

"Nurses can get a head-start on prevention with the early warning from the scanner," said Jeanette Milne, clinical lead for tissue viability at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. "Scanner data provides objective information that not only identifies patients with incipient damage, but also those who are at risk but with no visiblesigns of tissue damage. This will enable clinicians to provide bespoke care rather than to prescribe generic interventions based just on risk assessment and clinical judgement, which can be inaccurate and labour-intensive."

Henry Okonkwo, a study investigator providing skilled wound care to nursing homes and acute care facilities in the United States, said:"The study results indicate that the SEM Scanner can detect changes before they are visible. Objective, scientific data from the scanner would give me confidence to take action in my clinical practice."

BBI's vice president of product, Rachael Lester, said: "With these new findings, we expect that early detection technology will move to the forefront of bedsore prevention. The holy grail in prevention has been the search for a biophysical indicator that could reliably signal the presence of a condition at an early enough stage to meaningfully alter a patient's prognosis. Our SEM Scanner technology uses sub-epidermal moisture, or SEM, to monitor changes occurring at the cellular level where there is pressure damage."

The new research builds on earlier evidence from 1,200 patients participating in a BBI-sponsored program incorporating SEM Scanner into existing hospital bedsore prevention protocols. Seven hospitals in the U.K. and Canada eliminated bedsores and two achieved reductions of nearly 90 percent as a result of the program.

Findings from the program, presented last November at the Wounds UK annual conference, include research from Virgin Care and from St. Mary's Hospital on Isle of Wight that represent real-world evidence of SEM Scanner's effectiveness and upend the prevailing view that pressure ulcers cannot be diagnosed and treated until there is visible and irreversible damage at the skin's surface.

"We hope that today is a turning point in the war on pressure ulcers," BBI CEO Martin Burns declared. "We aim to massively decrease unnecessary patient injury and cost through a simple bedside scan that can detect developing wounds when they are at a preventable stage."

About Bedsores

Bedsores (or "pressure ulcers") can lead to pain, disfigurement, infection and deadly complications that kill more people annually than any form of cancer except lung cancer. The National Health Service spends 2.1bn - four percent of its annual budget - on bedsore treatment and prevention. The sores result from pressure involving shear and/or friction causing localized damage to the skin and underlying tissue, usually around areas of bony prominence -- such as the vertebra, tailbone, heels, and hips.

Across Europe and the United States, an estimated 18 to 25 percent of patients in both acute care and long-term care settings suffer from pressure ulcers, which disproportionately impact the elderly and patients with limited mobility. There are some 2.5 million pressure ulcer cases annually in the European Union, and nearly 500,000 in the United Kingdom.

Some 2.5 million Americans develop pressure ulcers annually in acute care facilities, and 60,000 Americans die annually from pressure ulcer complications such as cancer, sepsis, cellulitis, and MRSA.

About BBI

Bruin Biometrics("BBI LLC"), a pioneer in biometric-sensor based medical devices, develops point-of-care diagnostic solutions for early detection and monitoring of chronic, preventable conditions. The company's first product is the SEM Scanner, a hand-held non-invasive device that assesses sub-epidermal moisture, a biomarker for pressure ulceration. Pressure ulcers affect approximately 25 percent of acute care hospital and long-term care patients - typically the elderly and immobile. SEM Scanner is CE Mark approved and is currently in full commercial launch in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. SEM Scanner is pending approval from FDA, and is not available for sale in the United States.

BBI is also developing OrthoSonos, a non-invasive device for real-time orthopedic joint monitoring and assessment of prosthetic implant failure; and P02M, the first device for monitoring tissue oxygenation at a specific location in real time. P02M is initially being tested for continual monitoring of tissue and vascular viability in the feet of diabetics. Diabetes can cause peripheral artery disease and peripheral neuropathy, putting patients at risk for foot ulcers.

BBI is based in Los Angeles and maintains a European office in Manchester, UK.

For additional information, visit www.bruinbiometrics.com. Follow BBI on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bruinbiometrics.
EDMONTON, ALBERTA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd. (the "Company" or "Liquor Stores") (TSX: LIQ), North America's largest publicly traded liquor retailer, announces the election of a new board of directors following its annual and special meeting of shareholders (the "Meeting") held earlier today. The new board of directors of Liquor Stores (the "Board") comprises two incumbent directors, Gary Collins and Peter Lynch, together with Derek H. Burney, John R. Barnett, Karen A. Prentice, Kenneth G. Barbet, James F.C. Burns and Richard D. Perkins, each of whom were nominated by PointNorth Capital Inc. and certain of its affiliates who collectively hold approximately 9.66% of outstanding common shares in the capital of Liquor Stores.

Final voting results on all matters at the Meeting will be included in the Report on Voting Results to be filed on Liquor Stores profile on www.SEDAR.com.

Shortly following the Meeting, the Board held its first meeting of directors, at which Derek H. Burney was appointed Chair of the Board. The committees of the Board will be constituted at a future meeting of the Board.

"The Board of Liquor Stores looks forward to working with the company's employees to drive improved value for shareholders, build on the great franchise employees have already created for Liquor Stores, and take the customer experience to market leading levels," concluded Derek Burney.

ABOUT LIQUOR STORES N.A. LTD.

The Company operates 251 retail liquor stores in Alberta, British Columbia, Alaska, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Liquor Stores' retail brands include: Liquor Depot, Liquor Barn, and Wine and Beyond in Alberta (177 stores); Liquor Depot and Liquor Barn in British Columbia (34 stores); Brown Jug in Alaska (22 stores); Liquor Barn "The Ultimate Party Source" and Liquor Barn Express in Kentucky (15 stores), Joe Canals Discount Outlet in New Jersey (2 stores), and LQR MKT in Connecticut (one store). The Company's common shares and convertible subordinated debentures trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbols "LIQ" and "LIQ.DB.B", respectively.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward looking statements or information (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the "safe harbour" provisions of applicable securities legislation. All statements and information other than statements of historical fact contained in this press release are forward-looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to among others: the anticipated outcome of the upcoming Meeting. Forward-looking statements reflect our current plans, intentions, and expectations, which are based on management's perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors it believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Our plans, intentions, and expectations are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive and other uncertainties and contingencies regarding future events and as such, are subject to change. There is no assurance that the plans, intentions, or expectations upon which these forward-looking statements are based will occur. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to, those discussed elsewhere in this press release and our other filings made with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although Management believes that the expectations represented in such forward-looking statements are reasonable there can be no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking statements should not be unduly relied upon. Some of the factors that could affect future results and could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to: risks relating to government regulation and changes thereto (whether by court decisions, citizen referenda, or otherwise); competition; the state of the economy including general economic conditions in Canada (including Alberta) and the U.S.; the unpredictability and volatility of Liquor Stores' common share price; restrictions on potential growth; availability of sufficient financial resources to fund the Company's capital expenditures; changes in commodity tax rates and government mark- ups; risks relating to future acquisitions and development of new stores; the ability of management to execute the Company's business and strategic plans; Liquor Stores' ability to locate and secure acceptable store sites and to adapt to changing market conditions; poor weather conditions; dependence on key personnel; labour costs, shortages and labour relations including Liquor Stores' ability to hire and retain staff at current wage levels and the risk of possible future unionization; supply interruption or delays; dependence on suppliers; reliance on information and control systems; income tax changes; leverage and restrictive covenants in agreements relating to current and future indebtedness of Liquor Stores; and credit risks arising from operations. These factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The information contained in this press release, and as disclosed in other filings made by the Company with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, identifies additional factors that could affect the operating results and performance of Liquor Stores. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive. The forward-looking statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward-looking statements included in this press release are made as of the date hereof and Liquor Stores assumes no obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances except as expressly required by applicable securities law.

Contacts:

Matthew Rudd

Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer

Liquor Stores N.A. Ltd.

(780) 702-7389




VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Rui Armando Figueiredo (a.k.a. Roy Figueiredo), 56, currently of Coquitlam, B.C., was arrested on June 13, 2017, following an investigation by the British Columbia Securities Commission's (BCSC) Criminal Investigations Branch, with assistance from Surrey RCMP. The warrant for Figueiredo's arrest was issued in connection with multiple charges against Figueiredo under the Securities Act, and he was arrested in Burnaby, B.C., with assistance from Burnaby RCMP.

It is alleged that on or between October 11 and December 15, 2016, Figueiredo traded in securities and acted as a director and officer of 1092580 B.C. Ltd., contrary to a Commission order issued July 7, 2016. As a result, Figueiredo is currently charged with three counts under the Securities Act of breaching the Commission order. If proven, the charges are punishable by a fine of up to $3 million, up to three years imprisonment, or both.

Figueiredo was denied bail and is detained pending trial. A trial date in this matter has yet to be set.

The order that Figueiredo is alleged to have breached was issued by the BCSC under the Securities Act on July 7, 2016, for operating a fraudulent investment scheme through his companies PARE Realty Ltd. and 0929870 B.C. Ltd. As a result of these proceedings, Figueiredo is permanently banned from purchasing and trading in any securities or exchange contracts and from becoming or acting as a director or officer of any issuer or registrant. He is also permanently prohibited from becoming or acting as a registrant or promoter, from engaging in investor relations activities, and from acting in a management or consultative capacity in connection with the securities market. Figueiredo was further ordered to pay $57,875 in disgorgement and an administrative penalty of $130,000.

Surrey RCMP also investigated Figueiredo's involvement with PARE Realty Ltd. and 0929870 B.C. Ltd., with the result that Figueiredo was charged with 34 counts of fraud over $5,000 and one count of causing another person to use a forged document under the Criminal Code. Figueiredo is currently awaiting trial on these charges.

The Commission would like to thank the Surrey, Burnaby, and Ridge Meadows detachments of the RCMP for their assistance during the investigation and arrest of Figueiredo.

About the British Columbia Securities Commission (www.bcsc.bc.ca)

The British Columbia Securities Commission is the independent provincial government agency responsible for regulating capital markets in British Columbia through the administration of the Securities Act. Our mission is to protect and promote the public interest by fostering:

-- A securities market that is fair and warrants public confidence -- A dynamic and competitive securities industry that provides investment opportunities and access to capital

Learn how to protect yourself and become a more informed investor at www.investright.org.

Contacts:

Media Contact:

Alison Walker

604-899-6713



Public Inquiries:

604-899-6854 or 1-800-373-6393 (toll free)

inquiries@bcsc.bc.ca




The growing concern over the accumulation and management of huge amounts of data in the healthcare industry along with increasing treatment costs, prevalence of diseases, and a need to improve the quality of life have sparked up a need to adopt big data to cater to all these problems.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006438/en/

Infiniti Research offers a variety of healthcare market intelligence solutions. (Graphic: Business Wire)

The growing need for innovation in patient monitoring, and the convergence of several changes in the healthcare industry are the two major reasons that have driven the need for adopting big data. Infiniti Research says other reasons which have triggered the need for big data in this industry include: high demand for better data, availability of relevant data in the form of EHRs, adoption of analytical tools for patient care, and levying of market-friendly policies by governments across the globe.

Read more: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/thoughts/top-3-ways-big-data-can-transform-patient-monitoring

Market Trends

Many hospitals and health care providing units have adopted the use of electronic health records (EHRs). EHRs makes use of big data in a huge scale. These digital records are responsible for storing crucial patient information like their medical history, results of lab tests, demographic detail, among others. By the help of the data which gets collected in these electronic documents, doctors can get a clear picture of the patient history which in-turn facilitates better and timely delivery of the healthcare services. Also, by using big data, patients can easily keep track of their prescriptions and lab tests. This has helped in reducing the patient's unnecessary hospital visits and lab tests.

Another market trend is the technological advancements in telemedicine. Digitization, smartphones, wireless devices, and online video conferences have set the ball rolling for delivery of remote clinical services. The data collected from these devices can be easily shared which makes diagnosis much easier.

Request a brochure and see how Infiniti's insights can help you

Market opportunities

Massive growth is expected for big data spending in the healthcare industry until the year 2019. Healthcare organizations are increasingly leveraging technology trends such as cloud computing, social networking, and big data analytics to reduce medical costs and help in effective remote patient monitoring.

The adoption of health technologies and the large number of data being generated is putting an increased emphasis on market intelligence. Healthcare intelligence solutions are helping organizations cope with the changing market landscape, so they can tackle key challenges and cater to changing demands to remain competitive.

Recent Infiniti Research Healthcare Industry Studies

Market Landscape for Mammography Devices

View Study: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/casestudy/competitive-intelligence-assessment-mammography-devices

Healthcare Information Mapping on COPD and NIV Treatment

View Study: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/casestudy/healthcare-information-mapping-copd

Market Intelligence Study for Rare Earth Metals in the Healthcare Industry

View Study: https://www.infinitiresearch.com/casestudy/market-intelligence-study-on-demand-for-rare-earth-metals-in-healthcare-industry

About Infiniti Research

Established in 2003, Infiniti Research is a leading market intelligence company providing smart solutions to address your business challenges. Infiniti Research studies markets in more than 100 countries to help analyze competitive activity, see beyond market disruptions, and develop intelligent business strategies.

With 14 years of experience and offices across three continents, Infiniti Research has been instrumental in providing a complete range of competitive intelligence, strategy, and research services for over 550 companies across the globe.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170620006438/en/

Contacts:

Infiniti Research

Jesse Maida

Media Marketing Executive

US: +1 630 333 9501

UK: +44 208 123 1770

www.infinitiresearch.com

Contact Us
CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2017 / viiz communications, a leader in platform services for the telecommunications industry, announced today that it has acquired Hawaiian Telcom's payphone services business throughout the Hawaiian Islands. viiz has a strong presence in Canada and the continental US and is pleased to expand its market coverage into Hawaii. Payphone service remains crucial to those without access to cellular networks, and viiz is happy to be able to provide this service for those who need it.





This is the third telecommunications acquisition viiz has made within recent months, following the purchase of 1 800 COLLECT in November 2016 and the directory assistance and operator services business from Spoken Communications in April 2017. The company is an emerging leader in platform services for the industry and is a trusted provider for managing core operations for their telecommunications partners.

About viiz

viiz is voice! viiz serves over 1,200 communications providers and enterprise customers with outsourced, on-premise, cloud and hybrid solutions. The company also offers VoIP communications solutions to consumers and businesses, as well as technology and software solutions to the enterprise marketplace. The viiz call center provides operator services, directory assistance, and customer care support, staffed with a team of experienced business professionals dedicated to customer service excellence. The company operates on the philosophy of providing solutions with a smile! To learn more, please visit www.viiz.com.

Media Contact:

Susan Robinson

Email: srobinson@viiz.com

Phone: 973.219.3800

SOURCE: viiz communications
ZHANGJIAKOU, CHINA -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- Adamant DRI Processing and Minerals Group (OTCQB: ADMG), "Company"), a Hebei Province, People's Republic of China based producer and supplier of direct reduced iron (DRI) feedstock for China's steel manufacturing and processing industries, today announced it has secured a supply contract with JiangSu YanCheng YunQiJia Trading Co ("YunQiJia"), a leading processor and supplier of specialized steel to industry bellwethers Nanjing Iron and Steel Group and Jiangyin Xingcheng Special Steel Works.

The purchase order calls for delivery of minimum 25,000 tons, high quality DRI (88%-92% iron content) at prices ranging between 1,400-1,800 RMB/ton (approximately $209-$269/ton) within 2017, potentially generating sales of $5 million.

This is the Company's first substantial order, and booked revenue, since it shut down in 2015 for a coal-to-natural gas power conversion and production overhaul intended to comply with strict Chinese environmental regulation, transforming the Chinese steel industry.

This relaunch was previously disclosed in an April 27, 2017 press release from the Company.

YunQiJia operates its own shipping port facility with two 20,000 ton and three 10,000 ton berths, serving as a vital logistical gateway for DRI produced and shipped from the Company's Huaxin facility.

Given today's announcement and a multitude of business development initiatives taking hold, the Company reaffirms its overall business outlook for 2017, which calls for revenue of at least $16 million.

"Since restart of commercial scale production in Q1, our product grade and reliability has risen to a level where we can deliver on orders from larger industry players," commented Mr. Changkui Zhu, Adamant CEO. "This first order since restart of operations in Q1 is an important milestone."

About Adamant DRI

Adamant DRI Processing and Minerals Group produces and sells direct reduced iron for use as feedstock to Chinese state owned and locally owned steel manufacturers. The Company is now emerging from a 2-year retooling period in response to Chinese environmental reforms. The Company's stock is traded on the OTCQB under the ticker symbol ADMG. Adamant DRI is based in Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, People's Republic of China.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding prospects, statements of future expectations, future events or our future financial performance. All statements other than present and historical facts and conditions contained in this release, including any statements regarding our future results of operations and financial positions, business strategy, plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). These statements are only predictions and reflect our current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risk and uncertainties and subject to change at any time.

Investor Inquiries

646-801-6088

ir@adamant-dri.com




The New 50-Cabin MV Magellan Explorer to Begin Service to Antarctica in November 2019

PUNTA ARENAS, CHILE / ACCESSWIRE / June 20, 2017 / Antarctic air-cruise specialist, ANTARCTICA XXI, announces the addition of MV Magellan Explorer to its fleet of small expedition vessels.

The ship will be delivered to ANTARCTICA XXI for the 2019-2020 Antarctic season, introducing a modern new vessel that is custom built for the company's innovative fly and cruise Antarctic expeditions.

"MV Magellan Explorer is the first small passenger ship to be purpose built for Antarctica in the last 14 years," states Jaime Vasquez Sapunar, ANTARCTICA XXI'S President and Chairman. "To ensure we continue to offer an exclusive boutique experience to our guests, we will limit the capacity to a maximum of 70 guests for each Antarctic air-cruise departure."

Built by Santiago-based ASENAV, with interiors by the Chilean company Enrique Concha & Co., the ship features 50 passenger cabins in five categories of accommodation, including dedicated single cabins. The cabins are very spacious, ranging in size from 40 m2 (440 sq. ft.) to 20 m2 (220 sq. ft.). All double cabins have two twin beds that can be configured as one queen-size bed, offering great flexibility to accommodate guests. Forty-two cabins feature a large window and a private balcony, while 8 cabins feature a porthole. Sixteen adjoining cabins can be configured as 8 two-room suites to offer guests the most spacious accommodation. All cabins feature a private bathroom and a sitting area.

Public areas include a large forward-facing observation lounge that is also suitable for the delivery of briefings and educational presentations, an observation deck, a dining room that accommodates all guests and expedition staff in a single sitting, two meeting rooms, a gift shop, a protected outdoor barbecue area, a gym, and a sauna. The bow of the ship is accessible to guests to offer expansive views during exploration. Adventure activities, such as kayaking and snowshoeing, will be available to guests.

MV Magellan Explorer has been planned specifically for the operation of the Company's Antarctic air-cruises, with many technical features designed to support long periods of time away from port. Extended fuel range, comfortable crew quarters, spacious storage areas for provisions and supplies, and a well-equipped workshop for equipment maintenance are just some of the features that make MV Magellan Explorer the ideal vessel for fly and cruise operations.

The ship is being built to the latest Polar Code Specifications established by the International Maritime Organization and carries a Polar Class 6 ice-class (Lloyd's Register PC6). For comfortable navigation, the ship features stabilizers; for maneuverability, it features bow and stern thrusters.

Specific measures have been taken to minimize MV Magellan Explorer's carbon footprint. The ship is equipped with state-of-the-art efficient engines and meets MARPOL's stringent Tier III emission standards, the most stringent standards in the industry. To minimize fuel consumption, a waste heat recovery system recycles the heat produced by the ship's engines and repurposes it to power the ship's heating system and to warm the water used onboard.

SHIP SPECIFICATIONS:

Passengers: 100 maximum

Staff and crew: 60

Length: 90.7 m (298 ft.)

Breadth: 16.2 m (53 ft.)

Draft: 4.3 m (14 ft.)

Gross tonnage: 4,900

Ice-class: LR PC6

Propulsion: 2X MAN main engines, total 3,440 kW

Speed: 14 knots

Flag: Bahamas

For this project, ANTARCTICA XXI built an alliance with two strategic partners that bring extensive ship-building and ship management expertise to the venture. In partnership with these two companies, ANTARCTICA XXI has created a new entity, Minke Shipping Company Ltd., owner of the ship. Minke, in turn, provides the ship on an exclusive, long-term charter to ANTARCTICA XXI.

About ANTARCTICA XXI

Established in 2003, ANTARCTICA XXI is a pioneering operator of Antarctic air-cruise expeditions that combine a flight over the Drake Passage, known for rough seas, with an adventurous expedition cruise aboard a small expedition ship.

About ASENAV

With a ship-building history spanning more than 42 years, Santiago, Chile-based ASENAV has built more than 180 ships, including expedition ships such as the Stella Australis and Nomads of the Sea. ASENAV is currently building the 200-passenger Ventus Australis.

About Enrique Concha & CO

Enrique Concha & Co. is a renowned Chilean design and architectural studio. Among the many projects completed are the expedition ships Stella Australis, Nomads of the Sea, and a number of luxury hotels, including the Singular Patagonia hotel and the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge and Spa.





CONTACT:

Kristina Smith

ksmith@springfedcreative.ca

+1-647-889-7981

SOURCE: ANTARCTICA XXI
TORONTO, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 06/20/17 -- North American Palladium Ltd. ("NAP" or the "Company") (TSX: PDL) (OTC PINK: PALDF) is pleased to announce the signing of a Definitive Option Agreement (the "Option Agreement") with Impala Platinum Holdings Limited ("Implats") and Transition Metals Corp ("Transition") that provides the Company with the exclusive right to acquire a 75% ownership position in the Sunday Lake Project located near Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Sunday Lake Project is host to a recently discovered platinum group element ("PGE") - copper - nickel sulfide deposit. The Company is also providing details on its regional exploration strategy.

Highlights:

-- Option Agreement signed with Implats and Transition, through its wholly- owned subsidiary, HTX Minerals, providing the Company with an option to acquire a 75% ownership stake in the Sunday Lake PGE-Cu-Ni sulfide project, by making cumulative total cash payments of $3.5 million and completing a minimum of $4.5 million in qualified expenditures over a five year staged earn-in period. -- The Sunday Lake Project is located within trucking distance of the Company's Lac des Iles mine and hosts a recently discovered magmatic sulfide deposit having typical, combined Pt + Pd grades in the 2 to 5 g/t range over true thicknesses of several metres up to a maximum of approx. 40 metres. -- The Company has commenced the implementation of a new exploration strategy, as part of its overall business plan, which features up to $10 million of annual exploration spending over the next three years on targets at the Company's Lac des Iles mine, Sunday Lake and its current Greenfields properties.

"We are very pleased to announce the signing of a Definitive Option Agreement with Impala Platinum and Transition Metals in connection with the Sunday Lake property. The Sunday Lake property rounds out our portfolio of early-stage to advanced exploration opportunities within our strategic exploration area of interest extending over a radius of 50 km from our Lac des Iles mill," said Mr. Jim Gallagher, the Company's President and CEO.

"Late last year, our board of directors approved a comprehensive exploration strategy that will potentially deliver timely resource additions on our Lac des Iles Mine property and our substantial Greenfields property portfolio. Following the recently announced increases in our mineral reserves and life of mine production plan at Lac des Iles, NAP is now well positioned to execute on this strategy," continued Mr. Gallagher.

"We look forward to building on the encouraging, recent exploration results on the Sunday Lake Project. Our immediate priority is to advance the project to the resource delineation stage. In addition, after a multi-year effort, we now hold mineral rights over all of the known Lac des Iles suite of intrusions and are well-positioned to translate our new insights into the ore-forming processes at Lac des Iles into future discoveries of PGE-rich magmatic sulfide deposits on a condensed timeframe," said Dr. David C. Peck, the Company's Vice President, Exploration.

Sunday Lake Agreement

On June 20, 2017, the Company, signed a Definitive Option Agreement (the "Option Agreement") with Impala Platinum Holdings Limited ("Implats") and Transition Metals Corp ("Transition") through its wholly-owned subsidiary of HTX Minerals Corp, with respect to the Sunday Lake PGE-Cu-Ni exploration project (Figure 1). The Sunday Lake property comprises approximately 2,600 hectares of mineral claims and patents and is located 25 km due north of the city of Thunder Bay and approximately 95 km by road from the Company's Lac des Iles mill. Exploration drilling completed in the period 2013-2015 under a joint venture agreement between Implats and Transition completed 20 diamond drill holes totaling 12,017 metres on the Sunday Lake property. This drilling delineated a semi-continuous zone of PGE-rich magmatic sulfide mineralization covering an area of approx. 800 metres long and 300 metres wide and reaching approx. 40 metres in vertical thickness (Figure 2). Drilling highlights are provided in Table 1. Additional details on the exploration results from the Sunday Lake property are available www.transitionmetalscorp.com. The Sunday Lake PGE-Cu-Ni deposit remains open to surface and along strike. This summer, the Company will conduct geophysical and geochemical surveys in advance of its initial approximately 7,000 metre surface drilling program later in the year. Initial exploration will focus on:

-- Determining the lateral and vertical limits of the deposit; -- Testing for local areas of thicker and/or higher-grade mineralization, including more massive accumulations of magmatic sulfide mineralization and more PGE-rich disseminated sulfides; and -- Testing for a mineralized feeder along-strike from and beneath the currently-delineated mineralization.

Table 1. Selected Highlights from Recent Exploration Drilling on the Sunday Lake Property

---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hole From To Length(1) Pt Pd Cu Ni Number (m) (m) (m) (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SL-13-002 395.0 415.2 20.2 2.11 0.95 0.26 0.11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SL-15-013 849.7 892.6 42.9 1.92 1.40 0.44 0.17 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- including 871.4 881.5 10.1 3.18 2.28 0.71 0.28 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SL-14-003 389.3 401.0 11.7 1.79 0.94 0.12 0.04 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- and 526.0 541.0 15.0 1.80 0.92 0.22 0.09 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SL-14-008 656.6 674.4 17.8 1.17 0.70 0.27 0.11 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SL-14-006 825.0 835.9 10.9 1.38 0.83 0.30 0.12 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- SL-15-010 723.0 738.0 15.0 1.25 0.75 0.20 0.08 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Source: Transition Metals news releases on the Sunday Lake property for the period 2013-2015 (www.transitionmetalscorp.com)

(1)All interval lengths have been interpreted by Transition Metals as approximating the true thickness

The Option Agreement provides the Company with the exclusive right to acquire a 75% ownership in the Sunday Lake property by making cumulative total cash payments of $3.5 million and completing a minimum of $4.5 million in qualified expenditures over a five year staged earn-in period. Should Lac des Iles Mine Property complete all requirements under the Option Agreement, it will hold an undivided 75% interest in the property and Transition will retain its existing 25% interest. Thereafter, the Company and Transition will enter into an Exploration Joint Venture with Transition having no financial commitments to the Joint Venture until a Feasibility Study is completed, whereupon Transition can elect to participate in future programs at its pro-rata ownership level or have its interest diluted.

To view Figure 1 accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/a1097668.pdf

To view Figure 2 accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/b1097668.pdf

Exploration Strategy

This year the Company commenced the implementation of a new exploration strategy, which is designed to increase the Company's inventory of PGE-rich magmatic sulfide deposits within a strategic exploration area of interest extending 50 km from the Lac des Iles mill. The Company's revamped long-term exploration strategy is summarized as follows:

-- Mineral Reserves replacement on the Lac des Iles Mine Property through extension and conversion drilling adjacent to the principal Mineral Reserves and mining areas; -- Mineral Resource additions (both underground and at surface) on other parts of the Lac des Iles Mine Property through exploration drilling, supported by geophysical and geochemical surveys; and -- Delineation of new Mineral Resources on other Lac des Iles suite intrusions and on the Sunday Lake property.

The Company intends to invest up to $10M annually in exploration over the next three years on targets at the Lac des Iles minesite, Sunday Lake Project and its current Greenfields properties.

Lac des Iles Minesite

Current priorities for exploration on the Lac des Iles Mine Property include:

-- Underground extensions to the known orebodies and a recently added high- priority target south of the Offset Zone and the Camp Lake fault (Figure 3); and

Two surface targets, including the central-east part of the Property and far southern end of the Property (South Lac des Iles intrusion), which is modelled to contain the extension of the main feeder structure to the Offset and Roby zone deposits (Figure 4).

To view Figure 3 accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/c1097668.pdf

To view Figure 4 accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/d1097668.pdf

Greenfields Properties

The Company is also increasing its investment in Greenfields exploration. The current Greenfields properties cover an area of 43,088 hectares and capture all known Lac des Iles suite intrusions (Figure 5). All of these properties are situated within 50 km of the mine site and many of them are known to host near-surface, Pd-rich magmatic sulfide mineralization having similar characteristics to the Roby and Offset zone deposits in the Mine Block intrusion at Lac des Iles. Historical exploration data for the Greenfields properties have been integrated with more recent geophysical and geochemical survey information to guide the selection and ranking of anomalous features having geological characteristics similar to the PGE deposits at Lac des Iles. The current Greenfields exploration program will focus on the search for thick, vertically-oriented PGE-rich sulfide mineralization within major, regional structures that may have acted as feeders to the Lac des Iles suite intrusions.

Concurrently, the Company is preparing to resume exploration drilling on several existing targets including, but not limited to:

-- The Tib Lake property, where the Company intends to test for the presence of a mineralized feeder structure in an area hosting Pd-rich disseminated sulfide mineralization known as the Kuhner showing; and -- The Shelby Lake property, where recent exploration work identified Lac des Iles-style, Pd-rich magmatic sulfide mineralization at several different locations.

The Company will provide regular updates on its Lac des Iles and Greenfields property exploration programs as significant new results become available.

To view Figure 5 accompanying this press release, please visit the following link: http://media3.marketwire.com/docs/e1097668.pdf

Note: All dollar amounts discussed in this news release refer to Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated

Technical Information and Qualified Persons

Dr. David C. Peck, P.Geo., the Company's Vice President, Exploration and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved all technical items disclosed in this news release.

About North American Palladium Ltd.

North American Palladium Ltd. (TSX: PDL) (OTC PINK: PALDF) is a Canadian company with over 20 years of production at Lac des Iles mine, located northwest of Thunder Bay, Ontario. North American Palladium is the only pure play palladium producer in the world. With over 500 employees, Lac des Iles mine features a unique world class ore body and modern infrastructure, including both an underground mine and an open pit mine.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Certain information contained in this news release constitutes 'forward-looking statements' within the meaning of the 'safe harbor' provisions of Canadian securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. The words 'target', 'plan', 'should', 'could', 'estimate', 'guidance', and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, without limitation: information pertaining to the Company's strategy, plans or future financial or operating performance, such as statements with respect to, long term fundamentals for the business, operating performance expectations, project timelines, tailings management plan, mining method change, production forecasts, operating and capital cost estimates, expected mining and milling rates, cash balances, projected grades, mill recoveries, metal price and foreign exchange rates and other statements that express management 's expectations or estimates of future performance. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risk factors that may cause the actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by the forward -looking statements. Such risks include, but are not limited to: the possibility that metal prices and foreign exchange rates may fluctuate, the risk that the Lac des Iles mine may not perform as planned, that the Company may not be able to meet production forecasts, the possibility that the Company ma y not be able to generate sufficient cash to service its indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions, inherent risks associated with development, exploration, mining and processing including environmental risks and risks to tailings capacity, employment disruptions, including in connection with collective agreements between the Company an d unions, the risks associated with obtaining necessary licenses and permits and uncertainty regarding the ability to consummate the Recapitalization. For more details on these and other risk factors see the Company's most recent Annual Information Form / Form 40-F on file with Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities and the SEC.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by management, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The factors and assumptions contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: that the Company will be able to continue normal business operations at its Lac des Iles mine, that metal prices and exchange rates between the Canadian and United States dollar will be consistent with the Company's expectations, that there will be no significant disruptions affecting operations, and that prices for key mining and construction supplies, including labour, will remain consistent with the Company's expectations. The forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. The Company disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except as expressly required by law. Readers are cautioned not to put undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

Contacts:

North American Palladium Ltd.

Investor Relations

416-360-7374

IR@nap.com




Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - June 20, 2017) - Indigo Exploration Inc. (TSXV: IXI) (FSE: INE) is pleased to announce that it has reacquired the full original Kodyel permit area via the granting of the new Hantoukoura permit from the Minister of Mines of Burkina Faso. The Hantoukoura permit, covering 238 square kilometres, is valid for three years and renewable for up to 6 additional years. The Kodyel permit was the Company's flagship permit located near the Niger border but the Company had been denied access to the full area of the permit due to a border dispute, which has now been resolved. The restricted access through the term of the Kodyel permit justified a new permit.

The new Hantoukoura permit (as was the former Kodyel permit) lies close to the Niger border approximately 300km east of Ouagadougou. Access is by paved and laterite roads. The Hantoukoura permit, covering an extension of the Fada N'Gourma greenstone belt, is traversed by a regional northeast-trending fault that stretches from Ghana to Niger. There are several artisanal workings within the permit including: the extensive Tangounga pit, Hantekoura (CFA) and Kodyel 1.

Previously, the Company announced its rock and soil sampling results which are posted on the Company's website. The sampling work demonstrates a greater than 15 kilometre stretch of favourable geology, multiple soil anomalies and artisanal workings between the Tangounga pit (undrilled at this time) and the Kodyel 1 site drilled by Semafo in 1997. The east end of the Company's soil grid ended 2.5 kilometres short of the Tangounga pit, but will be extended over the pit in its future work. On the grid, the most significant soil anomaly measured 5.5 kilometres long by 600 metres wide, with values generally greater than 50 ppb Au.

"With such a long hiatus from our last work there, we are ecstatic to regain access to the site with more certainty and with an adequate timeframe to unlock its potential. We will resume exploration once the summer rains abate", says Paul Cowley, President.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Paul Cowley"

President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

Paul Cowley: (604) 340-7711

Website: www.indigoexploration.com

Paul Cowley, P.Geo., President, CEO and Director of Indigo Exploration Inc., is the Qualified Person as defined in National Instrument 43-101, who has read and approved the technical content of this news release.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulations Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 07/06/17 -- Conifex Timber Inc. ("Conifex" or the "Company") (TSX: CFF) announced today that it plans to release its second quarter 2017 results prior to the market open on Thursday, August 10, 2017. The Company has scheduled a conference call at 8:00 AM Pacific time / 11:00 AM Eastern time on the same day to discuss its financial results. To participate in the call, please dial one of the following numbers:

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.
NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / June 28, 2017 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Celadon Group, Inc. ("Celadon" or the "Company") (NYSE: CGI) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Southern District of New York, and docketed under 17-cv-03806, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Celadon securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants' violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

If you are a shareholder who purchased Celadon securities between January 27, 2016 and May 1, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until June 19, 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]

Celadon, through its subsidiaries, provides long-haul, full-truckload freight service across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The Company also provides supply chain management solutions such as warehousing and dedicated fleet services, as well as freight brokerage services.

Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operational and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Celadon's equity contribution to its joint venture with Element Financial Corp. was $68.2 million, rather than the $100 million contribution the Company reported in its public filings; (ii) the Company is being actively investigated by the SEC; (iii) Celadon had errors in previously reported consolidated financial statements related to its accounting of transactions involving dispositions and acquisitions of revenue equipment; (iv) in turn, the Company lacked effective internal controls over financial reporting; and (v) as a result of the foregoing, Celadon's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On April 5, 2017, the market research website Seeking Alpha published a detailed report authored by a Prescience Point Research Group, entitled "Celadon Group: A Story That Ends At Chapter 11," which, among other things, alleged that "CGI has used . manipulative accounting practices to hide its insolvent condition from investors and creditors."

On this news, Celadon's share price fell $0.85, or 13.6%, to close at $5.40 on April 5, 2017.

On April 19, 2017, the same prominent market research group published another report entitled "FOIA Requests Reveal CGI as the Subject of an Active SEC Investigation," which reported that the research group was denied information about Celadon sought under the Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") due to an ongoing SEC investigation.

On this news, Celadon's share price fell $0.20 or 4.55%, to close at $4.20 on April 19, 2017.

On May 1, 2017, post-market, Celadon issued a Current Report filed on Form 8-K in the SEC, stating that "the Company's financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2016 and quarters ended September 30 and December 31, 2016, and related reports of [Celadon's auditor], should not be relied upon."

On this news, Celadon's share price fell $2.20, or 55%, to close at $1.80 on May 2, 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.

SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP
HANGZHOU, China and CAPE TOWN, South Africa, 2017-08-31 06:36 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starting today, Chinese tourists in South Africa will have more opportunities to pay via smartphone as Alipay, the world's largest online and mobile payment platform, operated by Ant Financial Services Group ("Ant Financial", "Ant"), partners with Zapper, the fast-growing mobile payment, customer insights and digital marketing platform developed in South Africa.



This partnership will allow them to use their Alipay app to settle payment at 10,000 Zapper-affiliated merchant locations across the country. Chinese tourists will also be able to search for restaurants, bars, theatres, book shops, adventure parks and more through Alipay's in-app Discovery platform, and pay for their orders in RMB via Alipay by scanning a Zapper QR code.



"South Africa is a must-experience country for Chinese tourists visiting Africa. We are excited to partner with Zapper, the largest mobile payment provider in South Africa, to offer Chinese tourists a safe and convenient payment solution and seamless travel experience," said Rita Liu, Head of Alipay EMEA.



"This cross-continental alliance is in line with a series of expansions into new verticals that Zapper has undertaken to diversify its services and further strengthen its position as South Africa's mobile payment and loyalty rewards app of choice. These verticals include hospitality, retail, bill payment, e-commerce, donations, parking, fuel and convenience," said Will Heygate, General Manager of Zapper South Africa.



This development arrives on the heels of the online payment service for "hop-on-hop-off" bus ticketing in Cape Town and Johannesburg that Alipay launched in June this year.



According to statistics from the South African Department of Tourism, over 110,000 Chinese tourists visited South Africa in fiscal 2016, with a year-on-year growth rate of 38%. Tourism in South Africa has grown continuously for 7 years and comprises 9% of the country's GDP.



The South African government has recognized the tourism sector's potential to generate economic growth and employment. Through the Department of Tourism's strategic plan - National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS), the tourism sector is committed to creating a total of 225,000 additional jobs by the year 2020.



With Alipay's more than 520 million Chinese users and Zapper's rapidly burgeoning presence within the global payment landscape, each brand is now better positioned to support this local strategy and to strengthen its respective appeal to both Asian and South African customers.



About Alipay Operated by Ant Financial Services Group, Alipay is the world's largest mobile and online payment platform. Launched in 2004, Alipay currently has over 520 million active users and over 450 financial institution partners globally. Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Over 10 million brick-and-mortar merchants now accept Alipay across China. Alipay's in-store payment service is covering more than 30 countries across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 24 countries and regions. Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 19 currencies.



About Zapper Zapper is a South African mobile payment and loyalty rewards application that allows users to make fast, easy and secure payments in a matter of seconds with their smartphone.



Through the power of QR code technology Zapper provides seamless all-in-one mobile payments, vouchering and loyalty services to a variety of businesses and brands from across the retail, hospitality, retail, bills, fuel and convenience and ecommerce sectors.



The Zapper application has been downloaded more than one million times since entering the marketplace. With more than 300 employees supporting its expansion, Zapper's reach extends beyond South African borders, including the UK, USA and Europe; allowing for successful transacting across all major currencies.



By using Zapper, businesses have access to empirically-rich data to better understand customer habits and encourage brand loyalty through targeted digital strategies that increase revenue and market share.



Media Enquiries Xinyun Yang International Communications Ant Financial Services Group Tel: +86 1381 6896 301 Email: xinyun.yang@antfin.com Jessica Fowlds Marketing Manager Zapper South Africa Tel: +27 87 150 9277 Email: marketing@zapper.co.za

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
Cosmo Tech (fka The CoSMo Company), a Lyon, France and San Francisco, Calif.-based provider of decision management solutions, raised $3m in funding.

The round was led by returning investor Sofimac Partners, with participation from new investor BNP Paribas Deiveloppement and existing investor Aster Capital.

The company, which has raised $8.2m in total funding since 2014, intends to use the capital to

Led by Michel Morvan and Hugues de Bantel, Cosmo Tech provides decision management solutions that augment intelligence by combining human expertise with complex systems modeling. The solution provides insights into both emergent phenomena  new behaviors or scenarios that arise from the interactions of different systems  as well as cascading effects  of a single decision throughout a connected, complex system in in the fields of energy, transportation, urban systems and life sciences.

Customers include RTE, Alstom, GE, Total, EDF, Veolia, SNCF and Sanofi Pasteur.

FinSMEs

20/06/2017
Back in April of 2016, Tesla CEO Elon Musk took to the stage at a keynote to unveil what would be a revolution for the electric car industry. On stage, Musk introduced and gave owners their first glimpse of the Model 3, a low cost option of the pricier performance-oriented Model S electric sedan.

Interested customers could head to a pre-order page which opened up an hour before launch. Indeed, Tesla and SpaceX employees were allowed to make reservation a whole two weeks before the general public.

And those orders sure did stack up quickly despite the $1000 booking amount for what is expected to be a $35,000 electric vehicle (EV). In just the first week, Tesla announced that it had received more than 3,25,000 orders for its Model 3 sedan. The surprising bit here is that the general public who had access to the pre-order page, were ready to throw their money on a car that had yet to see. Clearly, everyone was interested in the low price, and they knew that it was coming from a reputed company from the EV space and it was spearheaded by the icon, Elon Musk. Not everything happened online, in the US, people even camped out overnight waiting in long queues to hand over their deposit amounts for the new EV outside Tesla Motors Inc. Customer were literally handing over deposits for car that was expected to roll out by "late 2017".

So what did Elon Musk unveil up on stage? Well, it was a Model 3 prototype and not the actual production car. Back then manufacturing was yet to commence

In October 2016, Tesla Motor Inc's shares rose by more than 5 percent. While the news came as a reassurance to customers as CEO Elon Musk said that the plan did not require any funding.

However, the company soon began to fall back on deliveries. A Reuters report pointed out that the inclusion of the Autopilot driving feature had slown down production of the Model S with the company falling short by 2,800 deliveries. Demand of Tesla vehicles however, did not seem to drop.

What we know

Until June this year, there was barely any information about the Model 3 apart from the usual sightings of production cars being tested.

Things however got clearer when the sightings in June started to rise with the Tesla Model 3 cars showing up all around Silicon Valley.

"Q: I'm guessing this is not official.

James Bond: Not even remotely." Meet candidate 007 #Model3 #Tesla pic.twitter.com/ZCiQnonvGl  Tesla Owners Club BE (@TeslaClubBE) June 7, 2017

Good morning fam : @luxeautospa A post shared by Tesla Motorsports (@teslamotorsports) on Jun 13, 2017 at 4:33am PDT

One thing's for sure. The design sure looks finalised with the production ready model looking very similar to the prototype design.

There are about three wheel options. A single silver one and two black, matte-finished rims.

Just recently a group of three Model 3 cars were spotted by Reddit user "inamachineshop" (first reported by Electrek). These were reportedly release candidates, out for Sunday drive in Silicon Valley.

Which is when customers who had booked their Model 3 EVs got their first glimpse of the almost production ready interiors.

The interiors look different from what customers have come to expect from other Tesla models. There's a standard steering wheel but the traditional (digital instrument cluster) seems to be missing.

All the information seems to be displayed on a massive infotainment screen that sits at the center of the dashboard.

Another detail that Electrek pointed out was that the gear lever selection behind the steering wheel now includes Autopilot as a driver mode similar to the standard Park, Reverse, Neutral and Drive.

Indeed we near closer to the roll out, more details about its performance and range should pop up as well.

Roll out

As reported by Clean Technica, the Tesla had earlier shared that deliveries of the Model 3 should begin in July.

Production has been ramped up and this will result in thousands of models being manufactured and out for delivery by the end of July. Production is expected to ramp up in the 4th quarter of 2017, with Tesla adding the AWD version by the 1st quarter of 2018.

The roll out and delivery plan is not official. Still then the latest information points to the first few thousand deliveries going to SpaceX and Tesla employees. Next in line would be Tesla owners followed by non-Tesla owners and then internationally. Indeed, it looks like it will take a while till the model reaches Indian shores. But customers who pre-booked should not mind as the infrastructure has yet to be put into place.

Last we heard, Tesla was in discussion with the Indian government, requesting temporary relief on import penalties/restrictions until a local factory is built. Indeed, these would not be for locally manufactured Tesla EVs, but instead would be for the battery plants and for Tesla's electric products.

Musk had earlier responded on Twitter that Tesla would launch in India in the summer of 2017. Indeed his response could not come at a better time, as the government is looking to go green with a plan to go completely electric by 2030.
Bootstrapping is the process of self-starting a company without external financial aid or funding from third parties. The finances are self-arranged by the founders. Businesses tend to function well when they are backed up by sufficient financial aids, but bootstrapping is quite a risk to start with.The outcomes of the strategies are unpredictable. Failures get costly to deal with and chances of taking risks gets unmanageable.

Bootstrapping is a wise heads game; its only through strong intellectual grounds and rational strategies that bootstrapped companies sustain bottleneck competition to emerge successful. It is quite surprising to encounter that a lot of companies have begun through the concept of bootstrapping.

Positives of bootstrapping

There are quite a few advantages of bootstrapping viz:

Efficient channelizing of resources: Working with your own funds means that super-efficiency is extremely necessary. Founders are more aware, thrifty of resources and get things done on the lean business model.

Zero backup: No additional funding is involved in bootstrapping and hence the risk of failure is higher. However, the founders that cut through the edges through bootstrapping, use extremely skilled resources and plan contingencies to show commitment towards growth.

Dilution of operational power: Without any funding, there are less likely chances that the decision-making lies solely in the hands of founders. They have to set cultures, functionalities and run the business in the desired direction.

Building the growth foundation: Building a business successfully is also a huge benefit to future investors. Investors, such as banks and ventures companies fund businesses that are have shown commitment towards growth.

Opting financial strategies: Strategies such as asset re-financing and trade finance become part of the process when bootstrapping, due to the limited availability of funds.

Precedence to customers: As long as the company is bootstrapped, the priority is foremost to the customers. Investor hunting is not a botheration and the same time can be categorized in customer service.

Self-hewed path to success

Numerous companies have bootstrapped and paved ways to reach heights and stand as leaders in their respective segments. They have not only proven that funding is not the utmost priority to run business successfully, but also reckoned the thought process of young minds to embrace entrepreneurship.

Quick Heal: Incorporated in 1993, the Indian IT security solutions company has grown globally with strong footprints in US, Middle East, Kenya and Japan. Bootstrapped organically, Quick heal now has up to 25 million product installations and over 7 million customer license base.

Zoho : Incorporated in 1996, it was started as a network management framework. The company now has several suite applications that simplify the everyday communication at business level. They now cater their services to over 10,000 businesses successfully.

Zapstitch: Founded in 2014, it allows users to synchronize data across multiple cloud platforms seamlessly. The firm is now used in more than 1200 online stores successfully. Zapstitch also raise 2 Million USD funding recently.

Wooqer: Founded in 2014, it is a work enablement platform that creates easy and simple ways of everyday communication through web applications. The firm already caters to 100+ clients and has over 1 lakh users.

Fusion Charts: Launched in 2002, it provide charts, widgets and graphs to cater easy access on all mobile devices and platform browsers. The firm caters to over 23,000 customers across 120 countries with over 80 percent companies listed in Fortune 500.

Bootstrapping is certainly not the hardest lay-back, but the challenging part is to achieve the companys objective through bootstrapping. With right vision, impeccable strategy and empowering leadership, many new entrepreneurs have charted ways to achieve success through bootstrapping, and shattered the myth that funding alone leads to secured companys future.

(The author is CEO & Co-Founder, Solutions Infini, a cloud communications company)
So at the stroke of the midnight hour on 30 June, a gong is reportedly going to be struck to signal the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) regime. Even the most unimaginable wild card cannot now stop the beginning of what could be the biggest tax reform in Indian history on 1 July.

But will this be more disruptive than if implementation gets deferred to 1 September? Or by a year, or whatever period the unprepared and those opposing it for the sake of opposing it ask for? Not really. Change will always be disruptive; and businesses will never be fully prepared for it. Just look at the divergent stands of the apex business chambers  some have said industry is well prepared and others sought a deferral.

Kavita Rao of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP) feels the same. When there is a big change, you dont settle into it in two months. So we are going to have disruption for a few months, but that would have happened whenever you did GST. So we need to deal with it.

The 18 June meeting of the GST Council has tried to ease the pain of transition by relaxing deadlines for new registrations and filing transaction-wise returns. But there is no getting away from the fact that what could have been a grand idea has been whittled down and distorted beyond recognition.

GST has always been about simplification of the tax regime and ease of doing business. But what India is going to get on 1 July is neither of these.

Much has been written about the multiple slabs against the ideal one or two slabs and how this goes against the idea of one nation one tax. It clearly is a huge political compromise to manage the initial impact on prices. And the idea, says Rao, was to keep the rates as close to the current rates as possible. Complicated and dispute and litigation prone as it is, this can be condoned on the grounds that at least it is going to be a uniform tax for a particular good or service across the country. Concerns that rogue states will set their own rates may well turn out to be unfounded; after all they did agree to the rates that have been finalised and concerns of individual states have been taken into account. But other worries abound.

Theres a bit more clarity about how the anti-profiteering provision is going to be implemented. A full-fledged authority is going to be set up and till then theres going to be a standing committee of nine members to examine complaints and pass them on to the Director General Safeguards for investigation. Whats far more worrying is that the proposed authority is going to be in place for two years  the chief economic adviser had suggested a sunset clause of nine months. So for two years, businesses will have babus looking over their shoulders and deciding whether price increases are warranted or not.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley has again said that he hopes this provision will not be resorted to, but why give bureaucrats and politicians a power that is prone to misuse? Politicians love to meddle with prices and bureaucrats love to misuse that power. Why Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who appears to understand all about ease of doing business and non-interference beyond a certain point, agreed to this provision and does not now step in to ensure that this does not lead to harassment boggles the mind.

As Rao rightly asks, when a multiple rate GST structure has been put in place just so that items are broadly taxed at the same levels as under the earlier regime, what is the point of this elaborate anti-profiteering mechanism. I dont see the point of giving a stick to a tax administrator in the first few months of introduction of GST. When I am already dealing with a whole lot of other issues, why do you want to poke me with this? Let me ease into GST.

There will be a lot of easing in to do. Large companies have one set of problems  every branch in every state will need a separate registration. Small companies have a different set of problems  they need to get used to a larger number of returns and be more particular about deadlines.There is also the issue of what to do with pre-GST stocks. Retailers are giving huge discounts and this, says Rao, shows that the transitional provisions on tax credit are not as liberal as they needed to be in order to ease businesses into the new regime.

A lot of the rules appear to increase the compliance burden. Take the issue of e-way bills that transporters have to carry. The draft rules only increase the cost for transporters. As this report points out, trucks have to reach their destination within a certain stipulated timelines else the e-way bill will be cancelled, regardless of the reason for delay, truck drivers are expected to be familiar with using the GSTN portal. This is probably prompted by valid apprehensions of tax evasion, but is such micro-management the right way of going about it?

Then there are the numerous returns that businesses have to file, the favourite number being 36. Revenue secretary Hasmukh Adhia rubbished this figure at a media workshop  a number of returns are auto-populated, he said. This means that these forms will be filled up automatically by a firms supplier and the firm merely has to authenticate it and reconcile records. The tedium of filling up forms may have been taken care of but the fact that these many returns have to be filed does not change. This pushes up compliance costs for businesses.

For GST to be transformational, Rao believes it has to be compliance-friendly, so that people voluntarily agree to be part of it. An enforcement-heavy regime, as the current one is turning out to be, will make people want to opt out. The latter may not be an option but there is no getting away from the fact that Indias politicians and bureaucrats (the latter mostly) have joined forces to transform what is a revolutionary reform into a regulatory nightmare.

The only way out for the government is to make the post-implementation stage as painless as possible. At the very least, the provisions that could spell a return of inspector raj need to be implemented with an extremely light touch. The tax babudom which will be itching to go after real or imagined transgressors will have to be reined in and a message clearly sent that any harassment will invite strong action. Otherwise the gains of GST may be more than neutralised by the pains. It is clear that the GST Council is not up to the task  it has been responsible for much of this mess. It is now over to the Prime Minister to ensure that GST is truly the transformational tool it is meant to be.
Mounting losses at the debt-laden Air India, the government-controlled air carrier, recently prompted finance minister Arun Jaitley to favour disinvestment amid shrinking market share and bloating costs.

Even as the government is working on plans to privatise the loss-making airline, employees of Air India are coming forward to help the company cut its debt with suggestions that range from hilarious to ludicrous.

A cabin crew member said he is ready to forego two months salary, besides giving up flying allowance -- amounting to Rs 4 lakh pending since three years, layover allowance and special allowance when travelling abroad, a Business Standard report said.

The said member also factors in that this suggestion may not help: I know this will not make much difference as an individual, but if this can encourage a small portion of the mammoth employee size, it will make a dent in the Rs 50,000 crore debt wall that holds us in this situation, the report said quoting the member, who wrote a letter to Chairman & Managing Director (CMD) Ashwani Lohani.

However, the report says Air India's management may not be in a position to implement the suggestions as the company is a public-owned company and the salary payment is governed by the stipulated rules.

Some employees suggested that their transportation claims allowances be waived till the time company shows some improvement. A few others had unique suggestions like eliminating salad from in-flight menu, for instance. The reasoning was that most passengers do not prefer it and it adds to the cost.

Or this one: Cut the size of in-flight magazine Subh Yatra. The crew member who suggested this took the cue from IndiGo which he said started operations without an in-flight magazine and later started one whose size is 'minimal'.

National carrier in red

Air India's market share today is around 14 percent while debt is a whopping Rs 50,000 crore. To put it in perspective, the debt figure is 5.5 times that of private carrier Jet Airways' debt of Rs 7,223 crore and 16 times that of IndiGo's Rs 3,201 crore.

You now get an idea the gigantic size of the white elephant that Air India has become which the government is wrestling with.

In an indication of a sell-off of the loss-making entity, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley recently said, "In this country, if 87 or 86 percent flying can be handled by the private sector... then they can also do 100 percent."

According to Jaitley, of the total debt, around Rs 20,000-25,000 crore are related to aircraft valuation. "What to do with the remaining amount... Air India also has some assets," he said, even as he emphasised that the civil aviation ministry is making efforts to explore all the possibilities.

Air India, which is surviving on a Rs 30,000-crore bailout package spread over 10 years announced by the Manmohan Singh government in 2012, is working on ways to improve its financial position.

In 2015-16, the airline posted operational profit of Rs 105 crore on account of low fuel prices and increased passenger numbers. Last fiscal, the airline is estimated to have earned a total revenue of Rs 21,000 crore while passenger revenue stood at Rs 16,500 crore.

While rumours of the government selling stake in the national carrier have been doing the rounds, there has been no official word on the same. The Civil Aviation ministry has been maintaining that it wants the airline to survive. In the past also, there have been at least two significant attempts for disinvestment of Air India, but they failed.

Last week, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said Air India's books are "bad", and "business as usual" is not going to help it, but the government wants the airline to survive. He had also said the airline was grappling with "legacy" issues.

A recent report in Firstpost said Air India's revenue growth has largely been in single digits over the last six years. Only once did the company post a double digit growth of 21.2 percent - in 2013-14.

(With PTI inputs)
New Delhi: Reminiscent of India's tryst with destiny at the mid-night of August 15, 1947, Parliament's historic Central Hall will host a function on the intervening night of 30 June-1 July to ring in the nation's biggest tax reform -- GST.

Announcing that the switchover to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will kick in at the stroke of mid-night, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the hour-long function will mirror the contribution made by different political parties and states to the revolutionary new tax regime.

The circular-shaped Central Hall had previously hosted a function that marked 50 years of Independence.

President Pranab Mukherjee, who had piloted the first Constitutional Amendment Bill to bring in GST in 2011 when he was finance minister with the previous UPA regime, will share the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion.

Also on dais will be former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, apart from Vice-President Hamid Ansari and Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

All Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament have been invited as also chief ministers and state finance ministers, Jaitley said, adding that all the members -- past and present -- chairmen of the GST Council and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers have been invited.

GST, he said, over the medium to long term will lead to a rise in revenues of the Centre and states as the size of the formal economy will grow.

GST being a more efficient system will also result in better tax compliance, the finance minister stressed.

However, in the short term, "there will be some challenges" in switchover to GST, he pointed out without elaborating.

Asked about industry bodies talking about small and medium enterprises not being prepared for the switchover to GST, Jaitley said 1 July as the rollout date has been announced well in advance and so "nobody had any business not to be ready".

Besides, additional time has been given in the initial period for filing of the results, thus giving enough time to prepare for the transition, he said.

On the anti-profiteering clause in the GST law, he said the provision has been made as a deterrent which is not intended to be used unless forced to.
Paris: Lockheed Martin signed an agreement with India's Tata Advanced Systems on Monday to produce F-16 fighter planes in India, pressing ahead with a plan to shift its Fort Worth, Texas plant to win billions of dollars worth of order from the Indian military.

Indian Air Force needs hundreds of aircraft to replace its Soviet-era fleet, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has said foreign suppliers would have to make the planes in India with a local partner to help build a domestic industrial base and cut outright imports.

The agreement is an "intent to partner together to meet Indias Make-in-India requirement through the establishment of an F-16 production line in India," Lockheed Martin's leader of F-16 business development, Phil Howard, said on Monday on the sidelines of the Paris Airshow. But Prime Minister Modi's Make-in-India drive runs the risk of conflicting with US President Donald Trump's America First campaign under which he has been pressing for companies to invest in the United States and create jobs instead of setting up factories abroad.However, Lockheed has met and briefed the current US administration on its plan, and Howard said he had a sense of full support from the Trump administration.

In announcing their agreement at the Paris Airshow, Lockheed and Tata said moving the production base to India would still retain jobs in the United States."F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US, creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the center of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world," a joint statement by the firms said.

Sweden's Saab is the other contender to supply the Indian Air Force, offering to make its Gripen fighter in India. It has not yet announced a local partner for the plane which it has pitched as a modern alternative to the F-16s.

The announcement comes days before Modi travels to Washington for a first meeting with Trump, scheduled for 26 June. India and the United States have built a close defence relationship in recent years with Washington emerging as among the top three arms suppliers to India, along with Russia and Israel.India will also have the chance to export the F-16 that is flown by air forces around the world, the joint statement said. Some 3,200 of these planes are being flown by 26 countries and the model that is being offered to India will be Block 70, the most modern of all the F-16s.

"This unprecedented F-16 production partnership between the worlds largest defense contractor and Indias premier industrial house provides India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the worlds most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter," the statement said. Tata is already building airframe components for the C-130 military transport aircraft. India has not opened formal bidding for the jet order, which is expected to be anything from 100 planes to 250.
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi termed the roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 1 July as "historic" and said that the world will witness how political parties of various ideological hues came together to usher in this major reform.

"Roll out of the GST from 1 July will be historic. It will set an example for the world," the prime minister said, addressing a gathering at the APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU).

Modi said that he was grateful to all those who had contributed towards the formation of a consensus over the tax reform.

I am grateful to all the Vidhan Sabhas, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and political parties, Modi said.

"The world will witness a transformation (in India) and how all the political parties of different ideologies united for the implementation of the GST," he said.

GST, which was originally planned to be implemented from 1 April, was deferred by three months. It will be launched at a grand function in the historic Central Hall of Parliament on the midnight of 30 June.

The biggest tax reform since Independence will gradually re-shape India's business landscape by making the country an easier place to do business in and would bring down barriers between 30 states.

It would unify the $2 trillion Indian economy and 1.3 billion people into a single market.

GST over the medium to long term is expected to lead to higher revenues for the Centre and the states while also increasing the size of the economy and having a positive impact on the GDP.

It is also expected to check tax evasion and in the long run due to a rise in number of the assesses.
The Supreme Court on Monday extended till 4 July the time for embattled Sahara chief Subrata Roy to deposit Rs 709.82 crore, out of Rs 1,500 crore which was to be paid by 15 June, with a warning that failure to pay the remainder may again land him in jail.

Extending its interim order granting bail to Roy till 5 July, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Ranjan Gogoi said, "If the balance amount is not paid by that date, we will be compelled to send the contemnor (Roy) to the custody and we are sure he shall not give rise to such an occasion."

At the outset, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Roy, said that out of Rs 1,500 crore, which was to be paid by 15 June, the Sahara chief has deposited Rs 790.18 crore and ten more working days be granted to him to comply with the undertaking given by him on 27 April.

Roy, who was present in courtroom today, had told the court that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before 15 June and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter.

"As the contemnor has deposited Rs 790.18 crore, we are inclined to extend the time by ten working days so that the undertaking can be complied with. The balance amount, i.e. Rs 709.82 crores shall be deposited with the SEBI Sahara Refund Account by 4th July, 2017," the bench noted its order.

Meanwhile, the court allowed Sahara Chief to sell Grosvenor House Hotel by transferring shares of the company to the buyer firm, GH Equity UK Limited.

The bench, however, rejected the plea of Roy that he be allowed to sell land, admeasuring 87.03 acres, in certain villages of Haridwar in Uttarakhand in Rs 109.75 crore as the amount was 62 percent of circle rate prevalent in the area.

"The said amount is 62 percent of the circle rate and, thereby, less than 38 percent of the circle rate. Permission is sought to sell the property at that rate. As advised at present, we are not inclined to grant the said permission," the bench said.

"We think that the said property shall be put to public auction by SEBI with the assistance of approved agency. In the bid, SEBI can mention 90 percent of the circle rate, as some time this court had permitted at that rate," it said.

The auction be conducted by the competent authority of SEBI through approved agency on or before July 5, it said, adding that "e-auction can be done".

Meanwhile, the court took on record the draft terms and conditions submitted by the Official Liquidator of the Bombay High Court for effecting sale of the Amby Valley properties of Sahara Group.

Vinod Sharma, the official liquidator, submitted that the terms and conditions have been scrutinized by Justice B N Agarwal, a former apex court judge who has been nominated to supervise the refund process.

"A copy of the terms and conditions be handed over to the counsel for the contemnor (Roy)...The prayer for approval of the terms and conditions of sale notice shall be considered on the next date of hearing," it said.

Earlier, Roy had appeared before the court which extended his parole till June 19 with a warning that failure to pay Rs 1,500 crore, as promised, may land him in jail again.

The apex court had taken note of an affidavit and a personal undertaking of Roy that he will pay Rs 1,500 crore on or before 15 June and Rs 552.22 crore exactly a month thereafter on 15 July.

The bench had noted in its order on 27 April that Rs 11,169 crore towards principal was due on the Sahara Chief and around Rs 12,000 crore has already been paid.

Earlier, the court was irked over non-submission of money and had decided to sell off Rs 34,000 crore worth of properties of the Sahara Group at the Aamby Valley.

The apex court had on 6 April warned the Group that if it failed to deposit Rs 5,092.6 crore in SEBI-Sahara refund account by 17 April in pursuance of its order, it will be "compelled" to auction its property at the Aamby Valley.

The court had on 28 November last year asked Roy to deposit Rs 600 crore more by February 6 in the refund account to remain out of jail and warned that failure to do so would result in his return to prison.

It had on 6 May, 2016 granted a four-week parole to Roy to attend the funeral of his mother. His parole has been extended by the court ever since. Roy was sent to Tihar jail on 4 March, 2014.

Besides Roy, two other directors -- Ravi Shankar Dubey and Ashok Roy Choudhary -- were arrested for failure of the group's two companies -- Sahara India Real Estate Corporation (SIRECL) and Sahara Housing Investment Corp Ltd (SHICL) -- to comply with the court's 31 August, 2012 order to return Rs 24,000 crore to their investors. Director Vandana Bhargava was not taken into custody.
New Delhi: Problems being faced by domestic IT industry on the H1B visa front are one of the issues "on the table" between India and America, a top government official said today ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on that list.

Asked whether India would raise the H1B issue during Modi's visit to the US, she said: "I cannot say what would be the issues that would come up in the discussion. This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. But in the event the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up."

Modi is slated to visit the US on 25 and 26 June.

India has time and again raised the issue of H1B with the US authorities and asked them to liberalise their visa regime as Indian companies contribute significantly to the American economy.

The H1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.

On the trade policy review being carried out by the US, she said India and the US have a robust mechanism under the trade policy forum (TPF) to discuss matters like stents and others.

She said other issues like market access for products and those relating to investments are all being dealt with regularly at the TPF meetings.

"The US has commenced a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on the list of those countries. So certainly, we would figure, but we are confident that our exports to the US are a win-win for both countries in the sense that we are able to provide cheaper products," Teaotia added.

The secretary further said a cross-section of Indian companies supports American industry in becoming much more competitive.

"Therefore, this is a partnership that has many benefits across sectors and I think this would be the trend of our communication with the US," she added.

The bilateral trade between the two increased to US $64.67 billion in 2016-17, from US $62.11 billion in the previous fiscal. The trade balance is in favour of India.
The Madhur Bhandarkar-directed Indu Sarkar  based on the Emergency declared in India in 1975  has become the subject of the Congress' ire.

Congress spokesperson Jyotiraditya Scindia said Indu Sarkar was "fully sponsored", adding, "The organisation and the individual who is behind the film is known to us. We totally condemn the false depictions in the film".

Bhandarkar has said that he made the film as it was essential to educate today's generation about the Emergency. In his film, Kirti Kulhari plays a housewife-turned-activist, who takes on the authorities after witnessing the excesses of the Emergency.

One scene has Anupam Kher exhorting Kirti: "Bharat ki ek beti ne desh to bandi banaya hua hai. Tum wo beti bano, jo desh ko mukti ka marg dikha sake."

It also features vignettes of actors portraying Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi (played by Neil Nitin Mukesh) as they order ever-greater injustices on the populace.

Incidentally, the Central Board of Film Certification chief Pahlaj Nihalani had said that Bhandarkar would not have to seek any No Objection Certificate for his film, contrary to rules that state films about real incidents and situations require NOCs from the concerned people.

Nihalani said: "Indu Sarkar does not name anyone. There is no mention of Indira Gandhi or Sanjay Gandhi or anyone else in the trailer. You are only presuming the film is about (them) because of the physical resemblance."

Just a few days before that, Nihalani had been reported as saying the makers of The Accidental Prime Minister  a film on Manmohan Singh, based on the book of the same name by Sanjay Baru, and starring Anupam Kher  would have to abide by the guidelines regarding all films based on real-life characters. The Accidental Prime Minister's, producer Sunil Bohra will have to get an NOC from Manmohan Singhji, Sonia Gandhiji and all the other real-life politicians who are part of the narrative. This rule applies without fail. There are no exceptions, Nihalani was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.

Indu Sarkar is not the first film on the Emergency to run afoul of the Congress.

When Gulzar's Aandhi (featuring Suchitra Sen and Sanjeev Kumar in the leads) had released in 1975, it was amid a huge row over its alleged depiction of Indira and Feroze Gandhi's relationship.

The film drew attention because Suchitra Sen's character, a politician named Arti Dev, seemed modelled on Indira Gandhi, right down to the silver streak in her hair.

After assurances from the makers of Aandhi that the film was not based on Indira, the then Information and Broadcasting minister IK Gujral, cleared it for release.

However, the film was pulled out of theatres when the Emergency was declared some time later  just when it was in the midst of a very successful 20-week run. It was only after the Janata Party came to power after the 1977 national elections that the film was cleared once again, and broadcast on television.

Kissa Kursi Ka, Amrit Nahata's 1977 film that satirised the politics of Indira and Sanjay Gandhi, was banned and all prints confiscated by the government during the Emergency. In a twist of fate, the film proved to be a thorn in Sanjay Gandhi's side  it landed him and then I&B minister VC Shukla in a 11-month long legal case for destroying all the prints and the master-print of the film: Sanjay spent a month in jail, with the court denying him bail, on the charge of burning the prints, while Shukla was sentenced to prison for two years.

Most recently, the Soha Ali Khan-Vir Das starrer 31st October (about the anti-Sikh riots in Delhi after the assassination of Indira Gandhi) suffered a setback in the run-up to its release when a Congress aide filed a PIL against it for portraying an unspecified political figure "in a bad light".

Meanwhile, the Ajay Devgn-Emraan Hashmi starrer Baadshaho is also set during the Emergency. However, it seems to have eschewed political drama in favour of a desert action adventure.

 With inputs from IANS
Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma's new film, directed by Imtiaz Ali, has been making news right from the time it was announced.

First it was speculation over what the film would be called that had industry watchers agog  The Ring, Rehnuma and Raula were all considered at one point.

Then, Imtiaz Ali, SRK and Anushka revealed that the film would be called Jab Harry Met Sejal, along with some really fun posters that depicted the lead stars living it up in Europe.

During the India vs Pakistan final of the ICC Champions Trophy 2017, the team also released a promotional video and song, along with 'mini trail 1' (short for theatrical trailer). That was followed up with 'mini trail 2' on Monday, 19 June 2017.

Both these 'mini trails' were based on one scene  a quirky interaction between Harry (SRK) and Sejal (Anushka), where they discuss his 'cheap' character, her legal expertise, indemnity bonds, and sex!

Now, 'mini trail 3' is out, and it displays more of the duo's zany chemistry:

We see Harry getting increasingly exasperated with Sejal, while she labels him a "character...A1."

Without much further ado, here's 'mini trail 3' from Jab Harry Met Sejal:

It was also marked by this Twitter exchange between SRK and Anushka:
Jagga Jasoos, the adventure comedy starring Ranbir Kapoor and Katrina Kaif has found its way into the headlines once again. This time, the matter at hand seems to be a plagiarism row involving none other than Pritam.

The song 'Galti Se Mistake' was recently released by the Jagga Jasoos team. Sung by Arijit Singh and Amit Mishra, it is said to be inspired by Bihu folk music according to the makers of the song, The lyrics have been penned down by Amitabh Bhattacharya.

Following the release of the song, a report published by Koimoi brought to the world's attention a A Mexican pop DJ trio that call themselves 3BallMTY and their song 'Intentalo'.

The report stated that if one is to hear 'Intentalo' and 'Galti Se Mistake' one after the other, the similarities between the two songs would become glaringly apparent.

After hearing the song, we agree that there is a disturbing musical resemblance between the two songs, however no official complaint has been filed by 3BallMTY for the same.

The plagiarism claims that were made have been rubbished by the music producers of 'Galti Se Mistake'  Dj Phukan Sunny MR and Rohan Chauhan.

According to a new report by Koimoi, the music producers released a statement in which they said, Galti Se Mistake is basically an arrangement that is totally based on Assamese Bihu, with lots of pepa (an Assamese folk instrument), Bihu dhols, Gagana and is based on Bihu folk melodies. The similarity which a few people feel in the song might be just because we have used some samples of a licensed Cumbia tribal library to make it a little contemporary and more enjoyable to the common listeners, especially the young crowd."

The makers went on to call the people who are alleging plagiarism 'half knowledged, pseudo music critics' whose 'ignorance and overconfidence has resulted in unnecessary controversy'. They added that these people probably have 'no knowledge' of the rich folk music that hails from India.

In the past, Pritam has been caught in the middle of controversies over many of his alleged 'original creations'. Some of the compositions that came under cross-firing for being copied were the songs 'Bulleya' from Ae Dil Hai Mushkil (inspired by international artist Papa Roachs 'Last Resort'), 'Ya Ali' from the movie Gangster (inspired by Guitaras Ya Ghali, a Kuwaiti band ) Bheegi Bheegi Si also from Gangster (inspired by the song 'Prithibita Naki Chhoto Hote Hote' by a Bengali rock band that calls themselves Moheener Ghoraguli), and Hare Rama Hare Krishna from the movie Bhool Bhulaiya (said to be inspired by Bill Haleys 'Oriental Rock') amongst others.

Jagga Jasoos is touted to be a children's film, and so far, with the first song, 'Ullu Ka Patha' followed by 'Galti Se Mistake', it's seems like it's all coming together.

Ranbir Kapoor, who plays a schoolboy in Jagga Jasoos is collaborating with filmmaker Anurag Basu again after their successful pairing that was seen before in Barfi.

There are also speculations that much like Shah Rukh Khan's cameo in Tubelight, Anurag Basu's Jagga Jasoos too will see a brief appearance by SRK.

Jagga Jasoos is slated for release on 14 July, 2017.
What's more fun than passing off stalking celebrities on social media as work?

Very little, right?

And so, we scanned the Instagram and Twitter accounts of celebs from India and abroad, to bring to you weekly updates from the interwebz. Who tweeted to whom? Who reposted last night's party pics? Who went on a rant about what? Whatever it is, don't worry, we've got you covered.

We stalk, you read. Deal?

So what do we have today? From fitness, friendships, movie teasers and posters  a little bit of everything. Ajay Devgn's Baadshaho and Anil Kapoor-Arjun Kapoor's Mubarakan released new posters, Ranveer Singh put up a Monday motivation post (that made us drool on Tuesday), Varun Dhawan stabbed Baahubali aka Prabhas in the back with a sword (!), while guy-next-door Ayushmann Khurrana commenced work on his upcoming movie Shoot The Piano Player.

Let's get started!

Ranveer Singh's #MondayMotivation

Ranveer Singh's workout photo was meant to inspire us to get fit. Instead, we settled before our screens and spent several long hours minutes staring at his chiselled frame workout regime.

Varun Dhawan channels Kattappa to Prabhas' Baahubali

Only 2 people in the history of the world have managed to do this. One is #katappa and the other one is ME. #BAHUBALI #prabhas is a really cool down to earth guy more power to him A post shared by Varun Dhawan (@varundvn) on Jun 19, 2017 at 8:27pm PDT

Varun Dhawan and Baahubali superstar Prabhas hung out. Then they recreated that famous Baahubali scene. Yes, the one that spawned that burning question: "Why did Kattappa kill Baahubali?"

Anil Kapoor unveils the poster for Mubarakan

I don't know how we managed to fit in this much crazy in one frame, but there you go! #Mubarakan #MubarakanSelfie MUBARAKAN TRAILER TOMORROW pic.twitter.com/bUt23gikVi  Anil Kapoor (@AnilKapoor) June 19, 2017

We'd seen the Arjun Kapoor double role poster for Mubarakan. Now, uncle Anil Kapoor shared a poster that depicts the entire cast. Our verdict: This looks like fun.

Ayushmann Khurrana begins work on Shoot The Piano Player

Ayushmann Khurana took to Twitter to announce the beginning of the shooting for his latest venture with Viacom 18, titled Shoot The Piano Player. An intense-looking Khurrana sits at the head of a piano, and stares over his shoulder. All very poignant and haunting. Will this film bring together Ayushmann's musical talent and histrionics once again?

Yet another poster for Baadshaho

Teaser out today... Here's the new poster of#Baadshaho... 1 Sept 2017 release. pic.twitter.com/FJX6hNUkR8  taran adarsh (@taran_adarsh) June 20, 2017

A new poster (yes, another one) for Baadshaho has been unveiled. All six 'badasses' are finally seen together in the same frame  with the focus on Ajay Devgn, flanked by Emraan Hashmi and Vidyut Jammwal.

Rana Daggubati releases special teaser for Nene Raju Nene Mantri to mark Kajal Aggarwal's birthday

Rana Daggubati posted a message on Facebook, along with this special teaser: "Congratulations Kajal Aggarwal on (completing) 10 years in cinema and on reaching the milestone of 50 films! Proud and honoured to have worked with you." "Happy birthday Radha!" he added, in a reference to Kajal's character's name in NRNM.
Telugu star Mahesh Babu has finished shooting for AR Murugadoss' spy thriller Spyder. According to Hindustan times, the major chunk of the film has been shot, with just two songs remaining. The makers will soon move to the post-production stage and work extensively towards bringing in some immaculate VFX.

Spyder has been constantly generating a lot of curiosity in the viewers after they were treated to some fascinating visuals in the teaser of the film. The teaser features a mechanical spider that crawls up to Babu's shoulder, who then, asks it to keep quiet. The film also stars Rakul Preet Singh and SJ Surya. Spyder is slated to be released this Dusshera on 27 September.

With Spyder moving towards the final stage, Babu has started prepping for his next film already. Babu will now be seen in Koratala Siva's Bharat Ae Nenu opposite Kiara Advani, who was last seen in Machine. Babu will be seen in a minister's avatar and actor Sarath Kumar will be playing his father.

Babu might be given a makeover for this role. However, makers of the film are still contemplating what look to go ahead with, as per the same HT report.
Bengaluru: Two city traffic policemen have won fulsome praise and reward from their department for quick thinking in allowing an ambulance ahead of President Pranab Mukherjee's convoy during his recent visit.

Traffic sub-inspector ML Nijlingappa with about 38 years of experience along with his subordinate Vishwanath was on duty at the city's busy Trinity Junction when the incident happened on 17 June.

Senior police officials said as the two policemen saw an ambulance heading towards a private hospital stuck in the traffic that was halted for the president's movement, they took a split-second decision and allowed it to go.

Their spot decision came even as the president's convoy was just a couple of minutes away from the junction.

"Sh Nijlingappa, PSI-8, Ulsoor Tr PS, allowed the ambulance before President of India's convoy at Trinity junction and he took reward for deftly allowing the ambulance before the 1st citizen of India," Bengaluru Traffic Police posted on its Facebook page.

Both Nijalingappa and Vishwanatah have earned approbation from social media users for their presence of mind and quick decision.

Commissioner Praveen Sood has rewarded both the police men.

Sood in a tweet also said "... It's not as simple as it appears. Situation in field is (more) complicated than it appears. Consequences can be either way."

The president was in the city to attend a Bengaluru Metro rail function.

The incident has come as a positive sign for the city traffic police, which had come under severe criticism for stopping ambulances to allow the convoys of the chief minister and home minister, following which the city police chief had issued strict instructions to give priority to the movement of ambulances.
Bhubaneswar: Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday asked the Odisha government to support UNESCO's plan of developing Chilika Lake as world heritage site.

"UNESCO in association with ONGC is planning to support the development of Chilika as world heritage site and enhance the value of the lake to become a brand of conservation linked sustainable development," the Union petroleum minister said in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Regarding initiatives to preserve the ecosystem around Chilika, the largest coastal lagoon in India, Pradhan said he had discussed the issue with Shigeru Aoyagi, director and UNESCO Chief Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

ONGC and UNESCO are in a process of taking short and long-term measures to conserve Chilika lake, protect animals and birds, and improve the livelihood of fishing community, Pradhan said in the letter.

The measures also include income generation and welfare activities in the lake area.

UNESCO has also proposed to set up a world-class conservation centre with climate change observatory and state-of-art data and monitoring facilities, the minister said.

He said that these plans require the mentorship and guidance of Odisha government and Ministry of Environment and Forests and Culture.

"I am writing to you for soliciting your support in taking up various development works in the area," Pradhan said.
The trilateral engagement between India, Iran and Afghanistan during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Iran in May 2016 expanded avenues of trade for India with Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia and Russia through the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC). Chabahar, Irans only oceanic port, consists of two separate ports named 'Shahid Kalantari' and 'Shahid Beheshti'  each of which have five berths.

India and Iran first agreed upon plans to further develop 'Shahid Beheshti' port in 2003, but India was deterred by sanctions against Iran. Under the India-Iran agreement of May 2016, India is to refurbish one of the berths at 'Shahid Beheshti', and reconstruct a 600-metre-long container handling facility at the port. The bilateral agreement between India and Iran gives India the right to develop two berths of Chabahar as agreed in 2015, allowing them to be operated for 10 years by India Ports Global  a joint venture between Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Kandla Port Trust, in partnership with Iran's Aria Banader.

Along with the development of Chabahar Port, India is also to construct a railway line linking Chabahar with Zahedan on the Iran-Afghanistan border, which beyond Zahedan will be linked to the Iranian Railway running west and then north close to the Iran-Afghanistan border, avoiding the volatile Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Indias development of Chabahar will be at a cost of $85 million over the course of 18 months. Upon completion of upgrade work agreed to in May 2016, Chabahar's capacity will be increased to eight million tonnes from the current 2.5 million-ton capacity.

Indias investment is supplemented with a $150 million credit line to Iran through Exim Bank of India. India has also offered to supply $400 million worth of steel towards the construction of the rail link between Chabahar-Zahedan. Chabahar Port and the INSTC give India the strategic access for trade with Afghanistan and Eurasia, faced with denial of the land route through Pakistan.

Prior to the Indo-Iranian agreement on Chabahar, Iran had offered the same project to China and Pakistan also in addition to India, with China, Pakistan not responding. Iranians grudge that India agreed to develop Chabahar in 2003 but despite US being amenable to India doing so, India remained complacent. However, it did emerge in 2015 that there were problems in clearing backlog payments for imported Iranian oil even through European banks because of the sanctions.

But the fresh agreement of May 2016 implies that India should complete the project within the stipulated 18 months  by November 2017. However, this appears impossible with US-Iran relations gone sour and the threat of sanctions by the Trump administrations. Trump has called the agreement between Iran and six major world powers restricting Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting of sanctions "the worst deal ever negotiated".

India committed $500 million to speed up development of Chahabar after sanctions on Iran were lifted but Indias Ports Global Pvt Ltd has not been able to award a single tender for cranes and forklifts etc. Swiss engineering group Liebherr and Finland's Konecranes and Cargotec, both of which dominate the market for customised equipment to develop jetties and container terminals, maintain they are unable to take part in the bids as their banks are not ready to facilitate transactions involving Iran due to the uncertainty over US policy. The lifting of UN and EU sanctions in 2016 partly reconnected Iran with the international financial system but large international bankers remain unwilling because of the US stance, especially due to possibility of unilateral US sanctions that may be imposed irrespective of the nuclear deal.

There is little progress on the Iranian side as well; even an initial credit line of $150 million that India wants to extend to Iran for development of Chabahar has remained a non-starter as Tehran has not been able to do its part of the work. So, the 18-month deadline for completion is impractical, especially with the Indian Ambassador to Iran stating that "some of the customised cranes needed take up to 20 months to build".

In 2011, Beijing and Tehran signed a deal giving China exclusive rights to multiple several Iranian oil and gas fields through 2024, including rights to build necessary infrastructure. In return, China promised to treat any foreign attack against these regions as attacks against its own sovereign territory, and defend them as such. China needs no prior permission from Iranian government to maintain and increase its military presence in Iran, and will control the movement of Iranians in and out of these territories.

According to Green Experts of Iran, this agreement was the basis for PLAs General Zhang Zhaozhong stating, "China will not hesitate to protect Iran even with a Third World War." China and Iran aim to increase bilateral trade to $600 billion within the next decade, even though economists feel it is not attainable. Just last week, the Chinese and Iranian navies undertook joint exercise in the strategic Straits of Hormuz, preceded by a China-Pakistan joint naval exercise off the coast of Karachi.

According to James M Dorsey, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, the Donald Trump administration appears to take be getting ready to back Saudi Arabia and the UAE to destabilise Iran, possibly topple its Islamic government and force Qatar to fall into line with Gulf policies that target Iran. If that were to happen, the US in all probability may re-impose unilateral sanctions.

This would adversely affect Indias development of the Chabahar Port and consequently trade with Afghanistan, Central Asia and beyond through the INSTC. India will need to find a way to continue developing the Chahabar Port even in the event of fresh sanctions against Iran. This will require sustained high-level diplomacy including perhaps discussion of the issue between Modi and Trump.

The author is a retired lieutenant-general of the Indian Army
Beijing: China on Tuesday hinted at blocking a United Nations ban on Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad leader Masood Azhar once again, saying that disagreements continue to prevail in the UN Committee related to terrorism issues in this particular case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang's comments came in response to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month.

"We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld", Geng told media briefing in Beijing.

Geng was responding to a question whether there can be a forward movement over China's repeated technical holds to block India's move to get a UN ban on Azhar.

"At present, some members have disagreement over the listing matter. And China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue", he said.

Beijing put a technical hold to a move in the UN by the US and other countries to declare Azhar a terrorist for his role in the Pathankot terror attack.

Last year, China had put technical holds on India's application to designate Azhar as a terrorist.
In a big win for the LGBTQ community, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has officially recognised a woman who underwent a sex-change operation, as a man.

The constable whose identity is not revealed said in a report in The Hindustan Times that he took the decision because of the strict laws in India that do not legally recognise homosexual relationships. He decided to undergo a surgery six years ago because he wanted to marry the woman he loved.

Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code makes same-sex marriages illegal in India.

The constable who joined the forces as a woman in 2008, hails from Bihar. In an interview with the newspaper, he said that though he was born as a woman, he treated himself as a boy.

I had decided not to marry ever because in that case I would have to marry a man. But I got selected in CISF and decided that I will never go back to my hometown as people would force me to marry, he said in the interview.

Life at CISF was not easy for him as he was given a job role which required him to frisk women. Overcoming all the social taboos, he decided to undergo the surgery 2012, reports Newsbytesapp. After fighting with the authorities for years, the CISF is now deciding whether to give the constable the work of frisking men.

A CISF official told The Hindustan Times said,"It was a unique case but we have taken a stand. It was important for us to ensure that he has all the criteria required for a male constable.
By Jonathan Allen

The Ohio coroner examining the death of a University of Virginia student who was held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months expects to share preliminary findings of the autopsy on Tuesday or Wednesday, her office said.Otto Warmbier died at the age of 22 in a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after the North Korean government sent him home in a coma and suffering from extensive brain damage, according to the U.S. doctors who treated him.His body was transferred to the Hamilton County Coroner's office later that day, Don Jasper, its chief investigator, said on Tuesday. The coroner, Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, is expecting to release initial results from her examination later on Tuesday or on Wednesday, Jasper said.Warmbier, who was born in Ohio, was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 while visiting as a tourist. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel in Pyongyang, the nation's state media said.

His family did not give a cause of his death but said in a statement on Monday that the "awful torturous mistreatment" Warmbier endured while in North Korean custody meant "no other outcome was possible." Relatives have said U.S. envoys told them that North Korean officials said Warmbier contracted botulism after his trial and became comatose after taking a sleeping pill, according to the Washington Post. Fred Warmbier, the student's father, has said he does not believe this account.

North Korea said they released Warmbier last week on "humanitarian grounds." U.S. President Donald Trump offered condolences to the Warmbier family on Monday and denounced "the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim." U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson repeated demands that North Korea release three other U.S. citizens it holds in detention: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song.

The government of China, North Korea's main ally, said Warmbier's death was a tragedy.Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions. The North Korean government has vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Lisa Von Ahn)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Darjeeling/Kolkata: Terming the demand for a separate Gorkhaland state as "priority", Jana Andolan Party (JAP) chief and former Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) spokesperson Harka Bahadur Chhetri said his party would send a representative to Tuesday's all party meeting with "certain demands" amid the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown in north West Bengal hills.

The leader, however, ruled out the possibility of attending the meeting himself.

"We would send a representative to the meeting with certain demands. However, the demand for Gorkhaland is our topmost priority," Chhetri told IANS over the phone on Monday.

JAP was absent from the GJM-sponsored all-party meeting in the hills last week but has extended support to the Gorkhaland movement. GJM, the dominant party in the hills, has launched an indefinite shutdown which entered the eighth day on Monday.

Vowing to resign from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), the developmental body in the North Bengal hills, Chhetri said they would also not participate in the forthcoming GTA election to be held this year.

The former GJM MLA, who formed his own political outfit last year, said that they would urge the BJP to support the demand of separate Gorkhaland through a political resolution and put pressure on SS Ahluwalia, the BJP MP from Darjeeling, to either table the 'Gorkhaland bill' in Parliament or resign.

Accusing the Trinamool Congress-led state government of bulldozing the locals in the hills, Chhetri said that they would advocate a non-violent agitation there only if these demands are fulfilled.

"The state government is completely bulldozing the people. They are looking for administrative solution to a political problem," he alleged.

"If all these conditions are agreeable, then we will see that the agitation in the hills be peaceful and not violent," he added.

Amid the massive unrest in Darjeeling, GJM has called for the second all-party meeting on Tuesday to discuss the future course of action.

In the GJM-sponsored all-party meeting last week, several other parties in the hills including Gorkha Rashtriya Nirman Morcha, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh and Trinamool ally Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) got together to adopt a unanimous resolution for the creation of Gorkhaland.
New Delhi: The Delhi Police has been placed on high alert and has asked its counterparts across India to tighten security after receiving an intelligence tip-off of a possible terror attack in crowded public spaces, a senior police officer said on Monday.

"The Delhi Police special cell has issued an advisory to all security agencies across the country to beef up the security measures at interstate bus terminals, railway stations, five-star hotels, malls and markets, religious places, embassies of western countries, metro stations, airports, stadiums, and tourist places or other sites visited by foreign nationals," the officer said.

The security agencies have also been directed to keep a tab on suspicious articles, if found, in vehicles and to conduct proper checking on interstate borders.

"According to the specific intelligence inputs on June 10 about militants are planning a series of terror attacks at various places in India. While further details are yet to emerge, initial indications point towards the possibility of crowded public places, market and locations frequented by foreign nationals being among the possible targets," said the Delhi Police advisory.

It also said, any additional details such as likely timing, locations, identities of the terrorists or tactics of planned attacks, are not available.
Chicago: President Donald Trump slammed the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang following the death of Otto Warmbier, the US student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months in detention in North Korea.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States last Tuesday, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement on Monday, announcing Warmbier's death.

Warmbier was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment US officials decried as out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump condemned Pyongyang following news of his death.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents," he said.

He then added with no explanation: "We'll be able to handle it."

In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," he added.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said,"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."

Ex-Vietnam war prisoner of war senator John McCain said in a statement that Warmbier "was murdered by the Kim Jong-Un regime," and added that the United States "cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."

On Twitter, Republican senator Marco Rubio wrote that Warmbier "should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it."

Kenneth Bae, a Korean-American missionary who spent almost two years in a North Korean prison before he was released in November 2014, asked people to pray for Warmbier's family.

"For Otto to be returned to the US in the state he was in  and then for him to die because of it - is not only an outrage, but it is a tragedy for his entire family," Bae said in a statement.

"This did not have to happen and should never happen again," he said.

Doctors last week said that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, and that he had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Tests carried out in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that Warmbier's brain injury was probably caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

His death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record.

The Washington-based Committee for Human Rights in North Korea tied Warmbier's fate to "millions of unknown North Koreans" who are "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."

Warmbier's family said they believed the student had found peace after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on 13 June, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable, almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.
Mumbai: The first meeting of the state-appointed committee to decide the criteria of farm debt relief remained inconclusive as farmer leaders demanded loan waiver to all cultivators and sought changes in the criteria fixed for providing Rs 10,000 initial help.

Farmer leaders burnt the copy of the Government Resolution (GR) about the initial crop loan assistance, outside the Sahyadri guest house where the meeting was held, and warned to launch state-wide protest if its criteria were not changed.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Maharashtra Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil.

While announcing loan waiver for marginal farmers in Maharashtra amid an intense agitation earlier this month, the government had also promised Rs 10,000 initial loan assistance at the start of Kharif season. According to a Government Resolution (GR), dated 14 June, those getting income from other jobs, even if they own farms, will be out of the ambit of the scheme, under which the initial crop loan assistance is provided to farmers.

Farmer leader Ajit Navale of CPM, who was present at Monday's meeting, said, "We demand a flat loan waiver to all the farmers' debts. Only if the state government approves it, we will participate in the next round of meeting. We will burn the copies of the GR across the state as a protest."

MP Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatna (SSS) who also attended the meeting, said, "We do not approve of the criteria in the GR, such as omission of tax-paying farmers and vehicles owners. Such criteria are anti-farmer. We will stage agitations across the state and burn the GR copy."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chandrakant Patil said that state was ready to amend some of the criteria mentioned in the GR for the initial loan assistance so that more farmers could benefit.

"The farmer leaders have objected to some criteria in the GR that income tax paying farmers cannot avail benefits of loan assistance scheme," Patil said.

When asked about the estimated burden on the state coffers if a flat Rs one lakh loan waiver scheme was introduced, Patil said, "It would need Rs 30,000 to Rs 32,000 crore rupees. It will be a huge amount."

As per the GR, people's representatives have been disqualified from availing the loan assistance scheme and farmer leaders have demanded that the criteria should be amended and representatives up to Panchayat Samiti should be allowed to avail the scheme stating that they hardly get any benefit from such posts, Patil said adding that it could be considered.

"There are 16 districts, where public sector and private banks have been asked to provide Rs 10,000 as initial loan assistance to farmers. In other districts, where district central cooperative banks are facing some financial crisis such as shortage of funds, the Maharashtra central cooperative banks have agreed to make the arrangements. Hence, there would not be any issues with the disbursement of Rs 10,000 to every needy farmer," Patil said.

Commenting over the issues of relaxation of criteria in the GR for Rs 10,000 loan assistance, Patil said, "The farmers representatives demanded that farmers having gross income up to Rs five lakh should not be omitted from loan waiver scheme, but those having more income than this limit can be excluded from loan waiver scheme. We will work on it and come up with fresh suggestions."

Sources in the Cooperation Department said, "The state government's proposed offer of loan waiver up to Rs one lakh is categorically opposed by the farmers from Nashik and Sangli, the grape growing belt of the state."

"A grape cultivator gets around Rs two lakh loan for one hectares of grape plantation. Out of that, Rs one lakh loan is waived, these grape cultivators still have outstanding loan and farmers with outstanding debt are non-eligible for fresh loans. Hence, leaders from these two districts are staunchly opposing the state's proposal," sources said.

Farmers in Maharashtra, who had been on a war path from 1 June to press for their various demands had called off their stir on 11 June after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced loan waiver for them.

The government had also announced setting up of a high-level committee for the implementation of the scheme. The panel will decide on the criteria of debt relief.
Paris: French Defence Minister Sylvie Goulard announced her resignation on Tuesday over a fake jobs scandal that has hit her small centrist MoDem party, allied with President Emmanuel Macron's party.

Goulard, who was previously a member of the European Parliament, said she could not remain in the government while there was a possibility that she could be investigated over alleged misuse of expenses at that parliament.

Her resignation comes as Macron carries out a minor reshuffle of his government following parliamentary elections on Sunday which handed him and his allies MoDem a commanding majority.

Goulard had only been in the defence job for a month following Macron's election to the presidency.

But she said the possibility of an investigation made it difficult for her to stay in the post given Macron's agenda to clean up politics.

"The president is committed to restoring confidence in public office, reforming France and relaunching Europe," she said in a statement.

"This reform agenda must take precedence over any personal considerations.

"That is why I have asked the president, with the agreement of the prime minister, to leave the government."

Earlier this month, Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation into claims in the Canard Enchaine newspaper that MoDem was using European parliamentary funds to pay staff based in France.

MoDem's leader Francois Bayrou was a key backer of Macron's one-year-old Republic on the Move (REM) during the presidential campaign and whose support was crucial in winning centrist votes for the new president.
Just a day before a Gurugram woman was abducted from near her house in Sohna area of Gurugram district of Haryana and repeatedly raped in a car, an incident in which seven-year-old girl was raped by her neighbour in Dundahera village has come to light.

While the accused has been arrested, the girl is still battling for her life at Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital, The Times of India reported. According to the police, the survivor's father hails from Uttar Pradesh and lives in Dundahera village with his wife and two children. The accused, identified as Kamal Singh, lives in the same village and had been following the girl for some time.

Singh works as an Ola auto driver and was arrested on Monday afternoon after a manhunt was launched. A case of rape has been registered against him at the Udyog Vihar Police Station, reported The Hindustan Times.

The accused seems to be pretending that he has some psychological problem but the truth will come out after medical examination, the police said.

The police further said that the accused visited the survivor's home on Friday evening and befriended her cousin. On Sunday, he again asked the girl and her cousin to accompany him to a nearby shop, where he bought them cakes. He then took the girl to a secluded place and raped her. Later, Singh dumped the girl in a critical condition near her home and went to a liquor shop.

On the direction of Gurugram Police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar, 25 police teams were formed to arrest the accused and prevent him from leaving the city. "This was a heinous crime and catching the accused was a priority," The Hindustan Times quoted Khirwar as saying.

The accused was arrested after the girl's cousin identified him from a CCTV footage taken from near the liquor shop. "Early in the morning, the survivor's brother managed to identify the culprit. Our teams soon began combing the area and arrested him. The accused is an alcohol addict, who has confessed to his crime," said Sumit Kuhar, DCP (crime), Gurugram.
She was suave, persuasive and appeared as the saviour of young girls from impoverished families in western Assam. Employment offers from her were hardly refused as it meant more money and a better livelihood. But many among these girls never returned home as they were trafficked and sold at unknown destinations.

Sofia had already vanished by the time her modus operandi was unearthed and the police began searching for her. She was too smooth an operator to be apprehended  she was seen less, heard more and operated with incredible skill for at least four years through a wide network of agents who were always on the prowl for victims.

Additional superintendent of police SR Saikia has confirmed that two cases were registered against Sofia at Baksa after complaints were received from the relatives of two minor girls who went missing.

Sofia hails from Dumuni in Baksa but she was last seen around six years ago. We are investigating the case, Saikia said and admitted the possibility of more girls being trafficked by her from different districts of Assam.

The police version of Sofia, however, does not match with the findings of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA), an NGO founded by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, that has been meticulously working to prevent trafficking among other issues.

A cell in BBA led by activist Rakesh Senger has been tracking the activities of Sofia and other human traffickers in the country for the past several years. He says that she could be clubbed in the category of top human traffickers in the country comparable to Panna Lal Mahato and Baba Bamdev of Jharkhand.

The information that we have gathered on Sofia suggests that she might have trafficked around 500 children with the help of middlemen. Our local activists have received more than 50 complaints against her from parents whose children are untraceable and from the local student groups of Adivasis (tea tribes), Senger claimed. He explained that besides Delhi, there were several districts in neighbouring Haryana where the children might have been sold.

Sofia continues to be elusive with hardly any effort by the law enforcement agencies to nab her and the agents who had been responsible in trafficking the children from Assam. Her case bears ample indication of the impunity with which the traffickers have been operating in the state. While organised gangs are found to be active in most cases, but in some instances, even well known NGOs were involved in trafficking as revealed last year by the investigations of Outlook and Cobrapost when two organisations affiliated to the RSS  Sewa Bharati and Rashtriya Sevika Samiti  trafficked 31 girls to Punjab and Gujarat to initiate them into Hinduism. In 2010, the Supreme Court barred children below 12 years from being sent outside Assam and Manipur for education which came after a probe found 76 children from these states in homes run by Christian missionaries in Tamil Nadu.

No wonder, Assam has topped the list among the states in 2015 with as many as 1,494 cases out of a total of 1,539 in the entire country. In the same year, only eight were convicted although 1,552 persons were arrested and chargesheets filed in 365 cases. Clearly, Assam has a long way to go to check the menace in spite of the existence of 14 anti-human trafficking units in the state including one attached to the Government Railway Police (GRP).

The victims families are usually reluctant to inform the police and register cases for fear of harassment which perhaps also explains the wide gulf in the data gathered by the BBA on Sofia and the law enforcement agencies. They are usually families with low income, awareness and literacy rates.

A study carried out by UNICEF and the Assam government some years ago found Sonitpur and Kokrajhar as the worst affected districts which have a sizeable population of Bodos and Adivasis. Many children rescued from trains, railway stations and other places incidentally belong to these communities.

(The author is a senior journalist in Guwahati and author of 'Rendezvous With Rebels: Journey to Meet Indias Most Wanted Men')
Coimbatore: Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was arrested, more than a month after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court.

A team of West Bengal Police arrested the 62-year-old Karnan, who earned the dubious distinction of being the first sitting high court judge to be awarded a jail term by the apex court, from a private resort at Malumichampatti, about six kilometres from Coimbatore, a top police official said.

According to the official, Karnan, who had been staying there for the last few days, resisted the arrest and argued with the police.

However, he was taken into custody, he said. "We have arrested former high court judge Karnan from south India," a senior officer of the CID told PTI in Kolkata.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping here for the last three days and traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls.

The police here gave the technical support to trace his whereabouts, the official here said. Karnan will later be taken to Kolkata, the police said.

The arrest came eight days after the controversial former judge ended his tenure as a fugitive from law with no customary farewell being given to him in the Calcutta High Court in view of his absence.

He has been evading arrest since 9 May after being given the jail term by a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar.

The court later turned down his pleas for staying the sentence.

Though the former judge arrived in Chennai on the day the Supreme Court gave the verdict, his whereabouts were not known thereafter with Kolkata Police continuing the search.

Karnan had on 12 May moved the apex court for relief, saying neither the high courts nor their judges, were "subordinate" to it.

He had sought recall of the apex court's order, contending he could not be held guilty of contempt of court.

Karnan, who enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu in 1983, was appointed a judge of the Madras High Court in 2009. He was transferred to the Calcutta High Court on 11 March, 2016.

He was transferred from the Madras High Court for his repeated allegations and run-ins with its then chief justice and fellow judges.
Thiruvananthapuram: A trial court on Tuesday denied bail to a 54-year-old godman who was allegedly bobbitised in May by a young woman at a house in Thiruvananthapuram he often visited.

The court also agreed to a plea by the police demanding a polygraph test on the young woman. The incident occurred on 18 May when Hari Swami was at the residence of the 23-year-old woman and her parents.

Soon after the incident, Hari Swami was hospitalised and based on the complaint of the young woman, he was arrested. Hari Swami's judicial custody ends on 1 July.

But the case has taken several twists and turns. Swami first told the doctors that he bobbitised himself and later, the young woman's mother gave a clean chit to the godman.

A few days back the young woman said the godman had never misbehaved with her and accused the police of fabricating the story against him.

She sought a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the matter, saying she had no faith in the Kerala Police.

The court on Tuesday asked the young woman to appear before it or through her counsel on 26 June to say if she was ready for the polygraph test.

In a related development, a friend of the young woman filed a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala High Court on Monday stating she was under house arrest and hence various stories were being floated about the incident.

The petition filed by Ayyapa Das said the godman had misbehaved with the woman when she was young.
Muslim leaders in Kerala were in a state of shock ever since security agencies confirmed that 21 youths, who were reported missing from Palakkad and Kasargod districts in June last year, had crossed over to Afghanistan to join the Islamic State (IS).

Many have spurred into action after the youths started luring young men back home from the IS territory in Khorasan. The Malappuram-based Ma'din Academy, one of the leading centres of Islamic spiritual and scientific learning in the state, is trying to counter this radicalisation move by undertaking a mass campaign.

Madin, which runs a chain of 30 educational institutions and charity organisations in the state, has planned to take the message of peace to one million homes in the states northern districts of Malappuram, Palakkad, Kozhikode, Kannur and Kasargod in the next few months.

Karnataka minister UT Khader, who hails from Kasargod, will launch the campaign named 1 Million Peace Homes at the Vicennium celebration of Madin Academy at Malappuram on 21 June. Over 2,000 peace volunteers trained to run the campaign will visit houses and spread the message of harmony and togetherness, Ummer Melmury, director of International Interfaith Harmony Initiative of the academy, said.

Khader told Firstpost that the volunteers will conduct special learning sessions on the harmony message of Islam and inform families about the atrocities being committed by terror organisations like IS. They will also install the academys peace logo at the entrance of the house.

"The campaign will have a special focus on families of migrants since their children are more vulnerable to radicalisation. The IS recruiters are targeting the children of the migrants working in Gulf countries since they are not under the direct control of their fathers," said Ummer.

The people who gather for the event, that marks the 26th night of the holy month of Ramadan, will also be asked to take a mass pledge against terrorism, intolerance and hatred spread by IS and its affiliated outfits. Ummer said they were expecting four lakhs people to attend the event.

Though Muslim youth in the state started associating with radical outfits ever since the demolition of the Babri Masjid, leaders of the community never expected them to join a dreaded organisation like the IS. To their utter dismay, they have found that some of the youths who joined the IS were also trying to recruit young men from the state.

Abdul Rasheed Abdulla, who was among the 21 youths who crossed the border, is said to have risen as the chief IS recruiter for India. He embraced radical ideology after he joined the Peace International School at Kozhikode after completing his engineering degree.

Hailing from Thrikkarippur in Kasargod, he first radicalised a Christian woman named Sonia from Ernakulam. He got her converted into Islam and married her. He took Sonia, who changed her name to Ayisha after conversion, to Afghanistan along with their little daughter.

Police said that the other members in the 21-member group were also recruited by Abdulla. The group, which included four women and three children, are believed to be at Khorasan in Afghanistan now. Four of these men have died in the last four months during operations, according to reports.

The latest victim is Shajeer Mangalaserry (32). According to a message received by an activist at Padanna in Kasargod from Afshfaq Majeed, one of the 21 youths who joined the IS, from Afghanistan on Monday, Shajeer was killed in an attack in last week.

Along with Abdullah Shajeer was also involved in radicalising young men. They have been luring the youths from the state through secure messaging apps. The messages of Abdulla cracked recently by India Today from the Telegram messaging app revealed that he lured youths by offering house, meat, chocolate and even women.

It is not known how many the duo has so far weaned into IS. The India Today report said that 75 people from across the country were arrested by police for suspected links till March this year. They included 16 from Telengana, nine from Karnataka, eight from Maharashtra, six from Madhya Pradesh and four from Tamil Nadu.

After enticing, Abdulla indoctrinated his target with his own interpretation of sacred Islamic texts and Sharia, which he called purely Islamic. His messages obtained by the India also justified violence saying it was part of jihad, the report said.

It's a sunnah to do jihad. Islamic State also does jihad-against the mushrikeen, kuffaar, murtadeen and the munafiqeen. Let Allah show the correct path to all and may we all meet in heaven!" he said.

Abdulla is wrong. This is not un-Islamic, rather anti-Islamic. Islam is a religion that embodies the values of love, tolerance, and respect to all. It never allows infringement of the rights of others," says Sayyid Ibrahim Khaleel Al Bukhari, chairman of Madin Academy.

Bukhari told Firstpost that no devout Muslim can approve the IS atrocities and their other actions of persecuting minorities and trapping women and children. They have been doing it in the name of Islam. Nobody has given any mandate to IS to act as the authority of the Muslim community. They have grabbed it for their own silly political gains, he added.

Muslims have a rich tradition of peaceful coexistence in states like Kerala. We will not allow anybody to destroy this. We will work with other communities for the betterment of the society, he said.

Writer and activist MN Karaserry believes that the increasing radicalisation of the youth in the state was the result of the migration, which has brought them under diverse influences. The petrodollar they have earned has led to commercialisation of religion and politics in Kerala.

The youth, he said, have been following destructive ideologies as they have nothing constructive to do. Last year, over a dozen Keralites were deported from the United Arab Emirates for sharing Islamic propaganda in the social media.

Karaserry, former head of the Malayalam department at Calicut University, said that the major problem faced by youth in the state nowadays is that they have no models to emulate.
Bhopal: Deaths of two more debt-ridden farmers were reported on Tuesday in Madhya Pradesh, taking the death toll in similar cases in the state in the past nine days to 15.

Police said Lakshmi Prasad, 70, a resident of Dhamana village in Narsinghpur district, consumed a pesticide. He succumbed while being taken to the district hospital.

The reason why the elderly farmer committed suicide was yet to be ascertained, Kotwali police station incharge Akhilesh Dahiya said.

The bereaved family said Prasad was under a debt of Rs 7 lakh.

The crop he sowed on seven acres of land was destroyed in a fire, following which he had been pleading with officials concerned for compensation but to no avail, they alleged. He was, therefore, anxious on this count.

Babulal, 40, of Randhal village in Hoshangabad district, set himself ablaze after dousing himself with kerosene on Friday. He succumbed to his burn injuries in Hameediya hospital in Bhopal late on Monday night.

His family alleged that he was facing harassment at the hands of moneylenders, who will be booked in the case, area police station incharge Ram Snehi told IANS.
I am a fan of ACAUT because its a cut above the rest. But this Nagaland-based organisation is much more than an opportunity for a weak pun.

Against Corruption and Unabated Taxation (ACAUT) displays courage above and beyond normal in a state with immensely corrupt state machinery, and with several active, heavily armed rebel groups that freely impose parallel administrations as well as system of donations and outright extortion.

On 18 June the citizen-watchdog took on the largest Naga rebel group, National Socialist Council of Nagalim (Isak-Muivah), or NSCN (I-M). A few days earlier the rebel group was widely regarded as having stopped road-widening work on a stretch of the Dimapur-Kohima national highway, demanding a cut of the fee. Local media reported accompanying or-else threats to burn down machinery of the projects contractors.

No other rebel group in the area has the heft or gumption to act so brazenly, even as it conducts to my mind a largely hollow peace negotiation with the Government of India.

ACAUT waded right in. It released to media a three-day ultimatum for NSCN (I-M) to come clean. Had the group demanded tax? If so, was it the groups policy to stop all developmental works in Nagaland till a settlement was arrived at with government? If not, would the groups leadership contemplate action against rogue cadres and expose such rogue elements with their complete identity and designations, so that people of Nagaland know who these anti-people are?

Alongside, the watchdog urged contractors to deliver quality work, and asked the state government to not sit idle as Nagaland was yet again held to ransom.

NSCN (I-M) will expectedly be livid, but ACAUT simply doesnt give a damn. Last year the organisation earned the rebel groups wrath when it raised matters of extortion. What is this nuisance called ACAUT? the group shot back, adding with a sentimental twist that didnt travel far: No Naga organisation or party had ever mobilised Naga public support to reject the absolute sovereign rights of the nationalist government to impose and collect taxation.

Well, ACAUT has, and continues to question such nationalist governments of rebels who also typically call their cadres national workers. Since its birth in May 2013 ACAUT has emerged as a tough act in this state that at last count had two major and six minor rebel groups: all armed, and, even with the ceasefire process ongoing with some, all dangerous.

Taxation  or donation, or extortion  in Nagaland comes with a twist. Since a peace deal with an earlier generation of rebels birthed the state of Nagaland in 1963, citizens of the state have been exempt from paying any tax as a special dispensation. It hasnt stopped rebel groups from collecting tax from nearly every manner of business from auto-rickshaw driver to construction conglomerate, taxing households, and even, with the help of a supine administration, deducting a percentage of government payroll. Besides, rebels interfere in everything from neighbourhood disputes to general elections to the assembly and Lok Sabha.

Alongside is an administration that counts among the most corrupt in India. Even a casual scan of reports by Comptroller and Auditor General of India shows a steady leaching of several thousand crores of rupees, and malpractices by nearly every sector of government. Massive central government funding for development and security has with little accountability  and the ever-lucrative economy of conflict that encourages a blind eye for the sake of nation-building, whatever that is  turned Nagaland into a breeding ground of billionaires.

Former chief ministers and ministers own vast estates and control vast businesses. As I have repeatedly written elsewhere, in a book and numerous columns and essays, the wealthy also count among them rebels who are now landed gentry. Contractors to government have patrons in the bureaucracy, polity and among rebel groups. Often they are the contractors. Just how corrupt things can be was again exhibited when in early June a former police officer in Nagaland, MKR Pilliai was raided by tax officials.

On top of it all, Nagalands infrastructure has for long been in absolute shambles.

Some citizens clearly had enough, and a collective comprising community leaders, students, even a sparse handful of upright former bureaucrats, formed ACAUT. It began to ask hard questions questions that hadnt been effectively asked for decades in Nagalands lamentable complicity of silence.

ACAUT quickly faced rebel ire. A key episode was an anti-taxation rally against rebels on 31 October, 2013, in Dimapur. Several thousand attended. It drew an outraged, even stunned response from NSCN (I-M) in a media statement five days later. NSCN (I-M) claimed that with the full backing of the Indian armed forces some among Dimapurs Naga Council had created a Frankensteins monster out of a rat. The rebel group even invoked our Lord Jesus Christ, a frequent rebel trope in this deeply Christian region, to warn away ACAUT.

Bluster and outsourced humility didnt work. Protests only intensified.

In August 2014, ACAUT riled another faction, NSCN (Khole-Kitovi). As I wrote at the time during a visit to Nagaland, and later, ACAUTs secretary Solomon Awomi had just been released after being held for several days in that groups headquarter at Kehoi Camp, east of Dimapur. Citizens had intervened. Rebels were compelled to give in as ACAUT and its support base of citizens stood firm.

It also stood by its open letter of April that year to senior government officials to stop giving nearly a quarter of the pay of government employees to rebel groups  among other things a provocation that led to the kidnap and threat.

ACAUT has since questioned the government on numerous malpractices, and exposed numerous scams, including in recruitment to various government posts, misutilsation of central government funds, and even bogus voter rolls. In 2015 it went as far as to publish photos of injuries inflicted by a rebel group on a Naga citizen for refusing to pay tax.

The group is now a force, whether the rebels, Nagalands government, or those not from Nagaland who dip freely into that states well of wealth like it or not.

It is making its presence felt across various forums. For example, ACAUT has a robust Facebook presence, with just shy of 51,000 members as I write this, not shabby for a state with a population of less than 3 million. Many students and professionals from Nagaland live in the larger cities and university towns of India, and a modest number of expatriates are sprinkled largely across Western Europe and North America. ACAUT has fans and followers at home and in all such communities.

ACAUT now stands for accountability in a region where there is so little of it, a model to follow for outraged citizens anywhere.

As I said, Im a fan.

Sudeep Chakravarti is an award-winning author of several books, a columnist, and consultant to think-tanks and media. He tweets @chakraview
Cuttack: The Odisha High Court began 'contempt of court' proceedings against Central Board of Secondary Education joint secretary Manoj Srivastava for allegedly making scurrilous remarks over the courts order. Issuing notice to CBSE JS (Academics) Srivastava, Justice Biswanath Rath asked the officer to reply by 3 July as to why contempt proceedings should not be continued against him for "making scurrilous remarks over the courts order."

Srivastava allegedly had issued a press statement in New Delhi questioning the propriety of an order issued by Justice Rath directing the CBSE to re-evaluate the answer sheets of some aggrieved class XII students.

Srivastava had even stated that the court order was made for a "wrong submission" by the CBSE counsel in the vacation bench of the court.

On going to the press and insulting the court verdict, Justice Rath observed: "Some officers are becoming too arrogant while dealing with court orders."

At least 22 students had approached the high court alleging discrepancies in the marks awarded to them in certain papers. Engaging experts, the board re-evaluated the papers to find out that marks awarded initially changed in at least 18 of the 51 papers re-evaluated.

The high court subsequently ordered re-evaluation of answer sheets of another 159 aggrieved students, whose results were also published in May.

Expressing displeasure over the happenings in the CBSE and observing that the board was playing with the future of the students, the high court said: "There is an apparent mistake in the evaluation process of the CBSE and the students have a genuine grievance."
Professor Predhiman Krishan Kaw, the man who pioneered India's nuclear fusion reactor research programme, passed away at the age of 69 on Sunday night in Ahmedabad.

Kaw was the founder of the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) in Gujarat, an institute that made India one of the seven member entities building the world's largest fusion experiment  the $14 billion International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), according to The Times of India.

He founded IPR in 1986 and was the institute's director till 2012.

Kaw began building India's first Tokamak fusion reactor 'Aditya' which progressed into the Steady State Tokamak reactor.

Born on 15 January, 1948, Kaw was a child prodigy. According to this IIT Delhi webpage, "he had a brilliant academic record".

He completed his PhD from IIT Delhi in a span of two years when he was just 18 years old. He also had the distinction of being the first student to be conferred a doctoral degree by the institute.

In 1967, he joined the University of Princeton as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. It was there that he discovered the phenomenon of laser-induced anomalous heating of plasma and filamentation instability. He eventually joined the research staff of the University of Princeton in 1969.

In 1971, Kaw came back to India. When he founded IPR, he was a young scientist in his 30s.

He had written over 150 research papers and was the associate editor of the Journal of Plasma Physics (UK).

PK Kaw was awarded the Padma Shri in 1985.

Kaw had a by-pass surgery recently and he had also been suffering from Parkinson's disease. But he was a scientist right till the very last days of his life, DNA quoted Professor Amita Das  Kaw's associate of 26 years and senior professor at IPR  as saying.

"It is a huge and irrepairable loss to the whole nation at large and IPR in particular. His contributions in plasma and fusion sciences and for his tireless efforts in nurturing the Institute for Plasma Research since its inception will be remembered for long (sic)," D Channa Reddy, Dean  Research and Development, IPR, said in a statement.
A day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said that his party is not interested if the National Democratic Alliance has put forward Ram Nath Kovind's name as the presidential candidate to garner Dalit votes, he expressed his support for Kovind. Addresing the media, Thackeray said that while Shiv Sena endorses Kovind, it does not want any kind of politics on it.

#KovindForPresident We will support #RamNathKovind but we don't want any kind of politics on it: Shiv Sena Chief, Uddhav Thackrey

Image: ANI pic.twitter.com/LWC7PNsBZJ  News18 (@CNNnews18) June 20, 2017

"We wish Ramnath ji all the best and expect that the nation prospers in his tenure. We do not want to oppose just for the sake of it. Ram Nath Kovind is a good person. They have suggested a good name. Hope he does a good job," India Today quoted Uddhav as saying.

Earlier, he had said, "If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner Dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone." Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut had also questioned the BJP's decision. "Why was the name not discussed with the allies?" Raut was quoted by NDTV as saying.

Raut had said BJP chief Amit Shah called up Thackeray after the NDA's presidential choice was decided by the BJP's parliamentary board meeting, and sought the party's support for Kovind. Shah, along with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, visited Thackeray's residence on Sunday and held a close-door meeting with the Shiv Sena chief.

Sena had earlier rooted for the candidature of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and later proposed the name of MS Swaminathan. "Considering that there may be objections to Bhagwat's name, we mooted the name of MS Swaminathan taking note of his service to the cause of farmers," Thackeray had said.

However, Shiv Sena's approval of Kovind's candidature could be a strategic move as Mahesh Vijapurkar argues in this Firstpost article that if the Maratha party refuses to go along with the BJP's choice for the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it risks the plausible mid-term elections to the Maharashtra State Legislature.

"For, not voting for Ram Nath Kovind on any pretext would amount to breaking up the already fraught relationship with the BJP," the article stated.

Sena had earlier said it may choose an "independent" path in the election to the highest constitutional office. It had backed Congress nominees  Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee  in the last two presidential elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Nupur Sharma on Monday registered a police complaint against journalist Rana Ayyub after she posted a tweet about National Democratic Alliances announced its presidential candidate. Sharma, in her complaint, called the tweet defamatory, hate-filled and derogatory.

Filed a complaint against Journalist Rana Ayyub under SC/ST Act, 1989 for her derogatory tweet about Hon'ble Sh. #RamNathKovind ji pic.twitter.com/sVk7ZqjQUk  Nupur Sharma (@NupurSharmaBJP) June 19, 2017

Sharma filed the complaint against the journalist under The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 for "insulting and humiliating" the current Bihar governor. Ayyub, earlier on Monday, had tweeted criticising the NDA's decision to propose Ram Nath Kovind as its presidential candidate.

And you thought Pratibha Patil was the worst bet https://t.co/1jdGDtJmxF  Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 19, 2017

The complaint, registered with the Delhi police commissioner, says, To classify a sitting and incumbent Governor of Bihar and now NDA nominee for post of President of India, namely Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji, as Worst Bet for the post of President of India is not only directly undermining the abilities and position in society of a member of the Scheduled Castes but is also blatantly and scurrilously slanderous and casteist.

Soon after the complaint was widely ciculated on Twitter, Ayyub responded to Sharma's complaint with a series of tweets.

Dear Nupur, if you are done with ur publicity stunt, can i send a copy of Gujarat files where some serious stuff is said about ur leaders https://t.co/stGp2cAM7T  Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 19, 2017

Dear BJP spokies, please promise to come up with a better one next time. You know I am so freaked out already  Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 19, 2017

Can somebody please advice BJP spokies that if they need to intimidate, at least come up with better ones. I insist !  Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 19, 2017

Rana Ayyub is best known for her investigative journalism book titled Gujarat Files: Anatomy of a Cover Up.
Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will contact his West bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee to seek her Trinamool Congress's support for National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, Telgu Desam Party sources said.

After BJP finalised the candidature of Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Naidu over phone and sought his party's support.

Naidu, whose party is a constituent of ruling NDA, welcomed the choice of a Dalit as the candidate and assured party's full support.

Modi also requested Naidu to approach Banerjee to get her party' support for NDA candidate. Naidu conveyed to the prime minister that he will contact her after her return from foreign tour.

Reacting to NDA's choice, Banerjee said he never heard of Kovind. She said she was surprised by the decision.

"I have not heard his name ever before. I do not know him. I could recognise him only after he was mentioned as the Bihar Governor. I can say that I am surprised by the decision", Banerjee said at Dubai en route the Netherlands to address a United Nations' event.
The selection of Ram Nath Kovind as NDA's presidential candidate is a politically astute move. It goes to show just why Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are politicians 24x7.

They have set very clear-cut goals within definite time frames and are pushing ahead to meet targets relentlessly. In the chaotic, ad hoc and rambunctious landscape of Indian politics, Modi and Shah have been, to a large extent, successful in introducing order, planning and method. Their effectiveness is evident in BJP's continuous electoral success.

Their persistence towards expanding BJP's base among the subalterns and hitherto inaccessible pockets of Hindu voters to cleanse the party of its upper-caste image reflects a change in the nature of Indian politics. It is no longer a Congress-style laissez-faire pastime of entrenched elites and entitled dynasts but a churning from below that demands total commitment from practitioners. In this sense, 66-year-old Modi is a new-age politician while 47-year-old Rahul Gandhi represents the old school. Little wonder that the Opposition have been caught on the wrong foot.

Politics is not an exact science. Quite often, a throw of the dice may have unintended consequences. For instance, the loan-waiver genie that was uncorked ahead of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections threatens to disrupt BJP's political equation in many states and upset the Centre's push towards fiscal prudence. However, being consummate politicians, the prime minister and his trusted general have not wavered from their plan of consolidating BJP's presence where it is strong and creating its footprint where it had none.

The BJP had the requisite numbers in Electoral College. It could have gone for an eminent, apolitical figure. Yet unlike Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who reportedly telephoned India's 'missile man' at his Chennai residence to offer the nomination, Modi took an intensely political decision that sought to exploit and profit from the paradigm of identity politics in India.

The move might be construed as cynical, yet as Ashok Malik argues in CNN-News18, "Non-political choices such as Kalam usually emerge when a compromise is needed When the government is strong enough to push its nominee, it makes a political selection. This is what Indira Gandhi did when she chose a lower-caste Sikh, Zail Singh This is what PV Narasimha Rao did when he went in for a northern Brahmin-southern Dalit combination of Shankar Dayal Sharma for president and KR Narayanan for vice-president. In 2007, when the Congress was well placed, Sonia Gandhi sent Pratibha Patil to the presidential palace."

Modi's lessons from Vajpayee's defeat

For all his antagonism towards Congress and stated goal of replacing it as India's national party, Modi remains extremely fascinated by it. This may explain why, in a marked deviation from Vajpayee's stint, he has adopted some of Congress' tactics. The nomination of a Dalit face for India's highest constitutional post should be viewed in this context. It is also an indication that Modi has drawn his own conclusions from Vajpayee's failure to secure a second full term in office and has no intention of giving even an inch to Opposition.

The Patil-Kovind false equivalence

There have been some comparisons between UPA's move to send Patil to Rashtrapati Bhavan and NDA's move to throw its weight behind the Bihar governor. This is a false equivalence. Patil was a political lightweight and a deeply controversial figure. As president, her frequent foreign jaunts with relatives raised eyebrows and her own conduct as the chairperson of a cooperative bank, which turned insolvent, gave rise to many questions. Her image also suffered on account of the controversies linked to her family members.

In contrast, RSS ideologue Kovind is squeaky clean. As a lawyer, he is a high achiever, having served as central government advocate in Delhi High Court and Centre's standing counsel in Supreme Court. As a politician, he lent his untiring efforts towards the uplift of the downtrodden and social outcasts.

He is also a proven administrator. Kovind served two stints in Rajya Sabha. In Parliament, he was a member of important panels such as parliamentary committees on SC/ST welfare, home ministry, petroleum and natural gas, social justice and rights, law and justice and chairman of Rajya Sabha housing committee.

He has also been BJP's SC morcha chief and served as president of the All-India Koli Samaj. His Koli background, a sub-caste within the Dalit community in Uttar Pradesh, and rise to prominence from humble beginnings also mirrors Modi's journey. In many ways, the Bihar governor ticks all the right boxes.

Two birds with one stone



The selection is expected to serve two important functions for BJP:

1. Dalit outreach.

2. Disintegrate unity of Opposition around a presidential probable.

Let's start with the second point. Modi is aware of the significance of Sonia Gandhi's lunch gambit. BJP's muscle at Electoral College makes it difficult for any Opposition candidate to be sent to Rashtrapati Bhavan. When Gandhi sat down with Opposition leaders for lunch  Nitish Kumar was a notable absentee who instead broke bread with Modi  Sonia's effort was directed more towards consolidating unity to throw a worthwhile challenge at BJP in 2019.

Thus, Kovind's nomination has achieved its purpose.

Several Opposition leaders have broken ranks and sided with the BJP. The list includes heavyweights Nitish Kumar, Naveen Patnaik, TDP, TRS and even Mayawati, who has extended her conditional backing. TMC has been vociferous in opposing the move while Left and Congress have raised weak, procedural objections. To sum it up, Gandhi's effort at opposing Kovind's candidature can be characterised as ineffective at best and politically damaging at worst.

On Dalit outreach, however, it remains to be seen to what extent the Modi-Shah combine succeeds in countering the new wave of subaltern uprising against the party. Going into 2019, it is critical for BJP to retain its electoral support in Uttar Pradesh. This nomination is expected to assuage some anger and tap into the narrative of Dalit pride.

The outcome, however, won't be immediate. After all, Rome wasn't built in a day.

Meanwhile, Modi has shown yet again why he is India's most talented politician.
New Delhi: NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind has been accorded a 'Z+' cover of NSG commandos by the Union government.

Officials said the 'black cat' commandos force will secure Kovind, who resigned Tuesday as the Bihar governor.

A security and threat analysis carried out by central security agencies favoured an armed security cover for the presidential candidate, who till now had a similar cover by virtue of being the Bihar governor.

They said a squad of 10-12 armed National Security Guard (NSG) commandos will be with Kovind, along with escort and pilot vehicles.

It is expected that the elite force will guard him till he takes over the office of the first citizen of India, who is also the supreme commander of the armed forces. The NDA has the numbers to ensure Kovind's election.

The NSG commandos will move around with Kovind, who is expected to travel across the country extensively to meet legislators and leaders of political parties to seek support for his candidature.

The BJP on Monday announced the name of 71-year-old Kovind, a low-profile Dalit activist and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, as its nominee for the president's post.

The NSG protects high-profile politicians such as Union home minister Rajnath Singh, senior BJP leader LK Advani, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal, among others.

The presidential election, if required, will be held on 17 July.

President Pranab Mukherjee completes his five-year term on 24 July.
New Delhi: Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind has resigned from the his post as the governor. The resignation follows his nomination as the ruling National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate.

President Pranab Mukherjee has accepted the resignation of Kovind as the governor of Bihar, a communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said on Tuesday. West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will discharge the functions of the governor of Bihar, in addition to his own duties, it said.

The BJP on Monday announced the name of 71-year-old Kovind, a low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, as its nominee for the president's post. Kovind met home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Met Shri Ram Nath Kovind ji. I conveyed my best wishes to him on his nomination as NDA's candidate for the office of President of India pic.twitter.com/HF95QtyEyQ  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 20, 2017

Kovind met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah after he arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening from Patna. He drove down to Shah's residence where he was greeted by senior BJP leaders. He stayed at the BJP chief's residence for nearly an hour where both are believed to have discussed the formalities related to the presidential poll.

He said he was a "small citizen" entrusted with a big responsibility.

"All those who are members of the electoral college...I will meet leaders of major political parties and seek their support...I hope that every citizen will support me," he said.

The presidential election is scheduled for 17 July. Mukherjee completes his five-year term on 24 July.
Welcoming the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) courts recent decision in the second leg of the 1993 Mumbai blasts trial, convicting six of the seven accused, retired justice Pramod Kode, who pronounced 123 persons guilty for the attacks in 2007, stated that the coordinated explosions, as opposed to the prosecutions case, were more than just a retaliatory blow following the Babri Masjid demolition. Kode feels that the intent was to create a national crisis, and had the plan been executed exactly as per the blueprint in the terrorists minds, the repercussions would have been far catastrophic.

Kode, who presided over the trial in the country for eleven years between 1996 and 2007 said:

Demolition of Babri Masjid was an act that deserved to be condemned. It did create discontent, but it would not evoke such a response. These men, who perpetrated the attacks, were radicalised under a religious guise with the mosques demolition for an immediate hook. The conspirators wanted to destabilise India, create chaos, and terrorise us

Kode stated that the attack, as per its original plan, had the potential to lead to a major emergency, which would have left the commercial capital of the country as well as India pining for months. He illustrated his statement with the attack near the Bombay Stock Exchange building, stating how a devastating economic crisis was averted since the attackers were not allowed to park their car (laden with bombs) in the buildings basement. It was a diligent security guard who recognised that the car was not one of the regular ones, and asked the driver to park it outside. Had the car been allowed to be parked in the basement, the explosion would have brought the entire building down, leading to a crash of economy. A similar disaster was averted at the Air India building as well, said Kode, due to another watchful security guard. He added that the ploy to destabilise the country also ensured that it hit tourism on a major scale by targeting the international airport, markets, and three premier hotels.

Apart from the twelve bomb explosions, the terrorists had also planned a shootout at the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) while an important meeting was in progress on the afternoon of 12 March, 1993. They had also got into a van, and left for their target. However, when their van was passing by the passport office, it suffered some damage because of the explosion which took place there. A detonator in their van came alive, and the terrorists panicked. They aborted the BMC shootout plan, rushed to Worli, and abandoned the vehicle there. Later, several detonators and weapons, including AK-47s were retrieved from the van. Investigations revealed that it belonged to the Memons (brothers Tiger and Yakub Memon, main conspirators in the case), said Kode, who went on to pronounce Yakub guilty for the attacks. He was subsequently hanged while Tiger is still wanted in connection with the blasts.

In light of the recent TADA court verdict in the case, when asked if the longest-running trial in the country could have been expedited in any way, Kode stated that the coordinated attack was unlike any other case. While a general murder case has a maximum of fifty eyewitnesses, the 1993 Mumbai blasts trial initially recorded 4000, of which, 684 were subsequently examined. A total of 38,000 questions were asked to the 123 accused persons in the case, and since each response needed to be recorded, every question took an average of three to fifteen minutes. Investigation records in the case comprised of 60,000 pages while the total evidence recorded in the case ran into 15 to 16,000 pages. Further, till computers became available to courts, the court had to record evidence via typewriters which only covered 11 to 15 pages a day, thereby slowing the process. With computers being made available in 1999, their speed increased to 30 to 35 pages a day.

This trial was not about one incident alone. It was many incidents, right from December 1992 to 12 March, 1993. There were 148 different accused belonging to different groups and different places  Bombay, Dubai, Raigad, Thane, Pakistan. There was bulk evidence, and several acts that led to the inference of conspiracy. Its not easy, participating in such a trial. It requires a lot of zeal, a lot of patience, and the recent verdict is one which reinstates faith in law and order, in the Indian judiciary. It shows that no matter how tiring, legal circles in India do see completion.

Speaking about main conspirators Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, who are two of the over thirty alleged absconders in the case, Kode said that with the globalisation of crime, it is imperative that all countries in the world recognise the disease, and sign an extradition treaty so that fugitives in the 1993 blasts trial, among other wanted men, can also be brought to justice.

Even in the 1993 blasts trial, there are some accused who have been extradited from the countries they were hiding in. However, there are a few others who have sought refuge in countries that India does not have an (extradition) treaty with. The fugitives are aware that if they take shelter in such a country, they cannot be brought back until India signs a treaty with them, and they take advantage of this fact. Preventive measures like sealing borders in the aftermath of such crimes are important, but it is also essential that we impress upon the world that such offences are offences against the entire world, and that men who have committed crimes these need to be sent back for their lawful trials, said Kode, adding that he is hopeful that some day, Dawood and his henchmen will be brought back to the country, and made answerable for the 257 lost lives and over 700 injured people.
By Fathin Ungku and Ruma Paul

| SINGAPORE/DHAKA

SINGAPORE/DHAKA Mohammad Ashadul Islam placed all his hopes for a better life for his family in Bangladesh on getting a construction job in Singapore.He sold his father's land and fish farm and also borrowed money from banks and relatives to pay S$17,000 ($12,000) in fees to multiple agencies who helped arrange the job and his trip to the island state early last year.But in December, his employer told him that there wasnt enough work and he was laid off from a job doing a range of tasks, such as directing traffic around building sites, and operating excavators. Islam was given a month by Singapore's Ministry of Manpower to find another job but, unable to do so, he returned home still owing S$6,000. He had only earned S$5,000 during his time away  based on basic pay of just S$18 a day and overtime of S$3 per hour.For Singapore, a system of temporary labour to do many jobs in the construction, shipping, manufacturing and service industries  including hotels and restaurants - works as an effective buffer. When times are good it means Singapore can fill jobs that would otherwise be vacant but when the economy is weak and unemployment rises  as has been happening in the past year - it is easy to cut back on foreign workers.However, for the workers it is a brutal system that can leave them in big debt and regretting they ever made the move to Singapore."I go back for what? No fish, no land. I go back or die, same-same," Islam said in an interview just before heading back to Bangladesh.Islams former boss, Maqbool Ahmed Khan, who owns building company Elchim Construction Services, confirmed the Bangladeshi's story. Khan said he faced a "market slowdown" late last year, without elaborating. The Singapore Contractors Association Ltd. and The Association of Singapore Marine Industries declined comment.Singapore's Ministry of Manpower said the agency fees foreign workers incur in their home countries are beyond its jurisdiction. "We hope that source countries would do more to address the issue of high agency fees incurred, and we will refer cases to their embassies here for follow up where appropriate," it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

Islam, 25, is among thousands of migrant workers, mainly from Bangladesh and India, who left Singapore's shipyards and building sites last year because of a 30 percent contraction in the marine sector largely related to a drop in demand from the energy industry, and a downturn in construction. It was the first year since 2009 when the number of low-skilled jobs taken by foreigners fell here.Reuters interviewed around two dozen Bangladeshi workers who were laid off recently in Singapore, and many of them provide similar pictures of growing hardship. Many face agency fees that cost between 26 and 51 months of their total basic wage in Singapore, and they leave the island with heavy debt burdens.To be sure, many workers still in jobs say they are happy with their working conditions and are motivated by success stories of fellow countrymen who built homes and started businesses back home after working for a few years in Singapore.While conditions are tough  many live 12 to a dorm room and work 12 hour days with only one day off a month  it is still often much better than the alternatives in Bangladesh.The number of work permit holders in Singapore, excluding domestic workers, fell by 12,600 to 753,000 in 2016, with most of the losses in the construction and shipping industries, according to the Ministry of Manpower.

But two diplomats from countries that are a source for such workers say they are taking the brunt of the contraction.Singapore does not disclose the breakdown of nationalities of its migrant workers, but the Bangladeshi High Commission's labour councillor Ayesha Shelly estimates its workers in Singapore decreased more than 30,000 last year to some 120,000."Every day my staff are in the airport sending workers back," said David Leong, managing director of Singapore-based recruiting agency PeopleWorldwide, adding that the number of workers he supplied to shipyards last year dropped 40 percent.This is likely to have an impact on Bangladesh's economy because remittances are the nations second-biggest source of foreign income after garment exports. Bangladeshs remittances fell more than 11 percent in 2016 to $13.6 billion, according to the nations central bank, with much of the decline because of the impact of lower energy prices on Middle East employment.

MYRIAD OF MIDDLEMEN

Workers say there are not many established recruiting agencies for Bangladeshis, and many job seekers rely on a myriad of middlemen and brokers who share recruiting, training and transportation and then split fees, making it difficult to properly regulate the industry. At least 98 recruiting agencies have been suspended over the past decade for alleged wrongdoings such as fraud and trafficking, according to a senior Bangladesh government official."People easily fall prey to recruiters who promise them higher paying jobs," said the official in the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.A broker, who declined to disclose his name, said his company charges around 1 million taka ($12,400) in fees but doesn't think they are charging too much, as the cost covers basic job training, language support and transportation.And even those who have had one bad experience in Singapore seek ways to come back."My agent told me I would have to pay $5,000 to get back this (Singapore) job. How can I take that risk again? What if I lose the job after one year," asked Ataur Rahman, who was laid off last year and came back to Bangladesh with 300,000 taka ($3,716) of debt. He is now looking for a cheaper way back, he says. (Additional reporting by Marius Zaharia in JAKARTA; Editing by Miyoung Kim and Martin Howell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy is at it again. The former president of Bengal BJP, notorious for making highly communal statements, tweeted on Sunday about how Syama Prasad Mukherjee, who had founded the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, had said in his diary that "the Hindu-Muslim problem won't b solved without a Civil War".

Syama Prasad Mookerjee wrote in his diary on 10/1/1946: "The Hindu-Muslim problem won't b solved without a Civil War". So much like Lincoln!  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 18, 2017

Because of a backlash on Twitter, Roy soon took a U-turn from his statement, saying that he had never advocated a civil war between Hindus and Muslims in India.

Ystday I quoted Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee's diary entry of Jan 1946 saying that the Hindu-Muslim problem won't be solved without a Civil War  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 19, 2017

Instantly couple of dozen dimwits began trolling that I was advocating a civil war. None stopped to ponder that I was QUOTING,not ADVOCATING  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 19, 2017

If that was actually true, it is hilarious to assume that Roy was simply stating a historical fact without any reason or opinion behind it and was in fact neutral, even when he compared Mukherjee to Abraham Lincoln.

This is not the first time, though, that Roy has made such an insensitive and caustic remark.

In January 2016, Roy had suggested that the bodies of the terrorists killed in the Pathankot attack be wrapped in pigskin. "I seriously suggest Russian treatment to terrorists' carcasses. Wrap them in pigskin,bury them face down in pig excreta. No chance of Houris," he had said on Twitter.

In November 2015, Roy  in an interview to The Economic Times  had said, "People have the right to eat what they want but the scales would be even when Muslims come out and have pork in the open. And that day, we can really call it war against intolerance."

In July 2015, Roy had called many people present present at the funeral of Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon "potential terrorists".

Intelligence shd keep a tab on all (expt relatives & close friends) who assembled bfr Yakub Memon's corpse. Many are potential terrorists  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) July 31, 2015

In April 2015, Roy had said that if Hindus of West Bengal did not reject secularism and polarise, they would be "annihilated".

Hindus of West Bengal: either chuck yr 'secular','politically correct' values and polarise. Or prepare to be either annihilated or converted  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) April 23, 2015

In March that year, Roy had painted the 2002 Gujarat riots as positive action.

@tani_sana One exception was Gujarat,2002. I'm glad you appreciate what the Hindus did then @AdityaRajKaul  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) March 23, 2015

And back in August 2014, Roy had congratulated UP BJP for bringing up the infamous 'Love Jihad' issue and had even suggested that the issue be taken up in West Bengal.
Agartala: Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy on Tuesday said it was an "outlandish allegation" that he was trying to foment a civil war between Hindus and Muslims and "was motivated".

"Fairly certain that this outlandish allegation, that I am trying to foment a civil war between Hindus and Muslims is not stupid, but motivated," Roy tweeted.

Fairly certain that this outlandish allegation,that I am trying to foment civil war between Hindus and Muslims,is not stupid,but motivated  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 20, 2017

He had courted controversy by tweeting what he called a diary entry by Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder of erstwhile Jan Sangh, in 1946 which said that "Hindu-Muslim problem would not be solved without a civil war." Roy, who identified himself as a Swayamsevak and a Hindu, made his twitter remark at 12.23 am on 18 June. He wrote Syama Prasad Mookerjee wrote in his diary on 10/1/1946: "The Hindu-Muslim problem wont b solved without a Civil War".

Syama Prasad Mookerjee wrote in his diary on 10/1/1946: "The Hindu-Muslim problem won't b solved without a Civil War". So much like Lincoln!  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 18, 2017

This had raised sharp reactions and exchanges on the social media with one person accusing him of advocating a civil war. To this Roy had tweeted yesterday "couple of dozen dimwit" trolled him for "advocating a civil war", and that "I was quoting, not advocating".

Instantly couple of dozen dimwits began trolling that I was advocating a civil war. None stopped to ponder that I was QUOTING,not ADVOCATING  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 19, 2017

"I was quoting a diary of 70 years back, pre-partition India. And it was prophetic. Because Jinnah unleashed that civil war 7 months later. And Jinnah won that civil war and got his Pakistan. That is ALSO something Dr Mookerjee predicted," he tweeted.

I was quoting a diary of 70 years back,pre-partition India. And it was prophetic. Because Jinnah unleashed that civil war 7 months later  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 19, 2017

Roy in his tweet account (@tathagata2) identified himself as : "Civil Engineer, Swayamsevak, Professor, Politician, Writer, Lawyer, Hindu. Now Governor of Tripura. Love travel, music; hate hypocrisy and double standards." He also posted a banner put up by Shyampur Masjid Committee which had prohibited playing of DJ or any music in the Shyampur village in West Bengal.

"See that notice? It says "All music foridden, violation will call forth penalties".

"Not ISIS, not Taliban, not Saudi. But West Bengal, India," he wrote.

See that notice? It says "All music forbidden,violation will call forth penalties". Not ISIS,not Taliban,not Saudi. But West Bengal,India pic.twitter.com/rMwL1Cgfiy  Tathagata Roy (@tathagata2) June 18, 2017

Roy had courted controversy earlier too in August 2015 when in one of his tweets he described people who had attended Mumbai blast convict Yakub Memons funeral as "potential terrorists" and said "they ought to be kept under surveillance."
The unrest in Darjeeling took a deadly turn on Monday when protesters set ablaze an entire truck along with its driver. According to The Times of India, GJM (Gorkha Janmukti Morcha) supporters blocked arterial roads in Darjeeling and prevented Aniket Chetri, the driver of the bus, from alighting the bus that was stopped at Kalijhora.

According to the report, on Monday, around 1.30 pm, Chetri was transporting bricks to Sikkim when he was stopped at Kalijhora on National Highway 10.

GJM activists poured petrol on the truck and set it on fire. Due to intervention of locals, GJM supporters relented. However, by then Chetri had already suffered severe burns.

Ajit Yadav, superintendent of police, Kalimpong, told Hindustan Times: Aniket Chhetri was taking bricks from Kalimpong to Sikkim. The vehicle was severely damaged and Chhetri sustained more than 70 percent burn injury.

According to Live Mint, Chertri has been admitted to North Bengal Medical College in Siliguri.

"The attack was without provocation. The GJM workers were livid that the driver had dared to ply the truck defying the bandh," a local reportedly told The Times of India.

More instances of arson have been reported. According to Hindustan Times, a truck was set on fire at Kalijora, which is about 30 kilometres from Siliguri. But this attack reportedly did not claim any lives.

Furthermore, an abandoned police outpost was set ablaze around midnight on Sunday in the Goiribus area of Kalimpong.

The burning of a truck intensified the protests as internet services remained suspended for the second day on Monday as GJM supporters held a candle light march and burnt effigies of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for rejecting their demand for a separate state.

Darjeeling: Candle light march taken out by GJM supporters against police firing #DarjeelingUnrest #Gorkhaland pic.twitter.com/wz0Lr3RJJ4  ANI (@ANI_news) June 19, 2017

GJM has called an all-party meeting in Darjeeling on Tuesday to discuss the next course of action.

In Kolkata, the chief minister urged all concerned parties and stakeholders to attend an all-party meeting convened by the state government in Siliguri on 22 June to discuss the prevailing situation in Darjeeling.

"Violence cannot be a solution to any problem and only talks can solve it," she told reporters.

With inputs from PTI
As Vice-President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari's term comes to a close in August, Rajya Sabha TV (RSTV) will likely see a transition, media reports said.

According to The Indian Express, the transition became clear once five guest anchors  Bharat Bhushan, editor of Catchnews, Siddharth Varadarajan and MK Venu; editors of The Wire; Urmilesh Singh and Govindraj Ethiraj, former editor-in-chief Bloomberg TV India who runs IndiaSpend.com and FactChecker.in were told not to host any show with effect from 1 June.

RSTV editor-in-chief and CEO Gurdeep Singh Sappal said this was integral to 'forward planning' and the new chairman will decide on a fresh team of anchors. While a few anchors had a whiff of things for over a year, the others took it in their stride later.

Over the years, Rajya Sabha TV has been under scathing attack from different quarters. A report by The Hindu mentioned how in 2015 the channel was criticised for the inadequate telecast of International Yoga Day celebrations by Ram Madhav.

Sources in the channel said the ruling BJP party members had criticised the channel for its critical take on government policies. They also went on to clarify to The Hindu that it was not the governments channel and was not obliged to be the mouthpiece of the government.

In May, Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, PJ Kurien of Congress, reconstituted the content advisory committee of the channel to keep a check on the objectivity.

On 12 June, amid raging debates over the role of the press and its freedom in the country, Ansari said only a "free and responsible" media could hold power to account in this age of "post-truths" and "alternative facts". Ansari added that freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution was subject "only to reasonable restrictions in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, public order, decency, contempt of court, defamation and incitement to an offence".

It is, however, not clear whether the transition is the ruling party's way of taking over the reins of the channel after being dissatisfied with the content in recent years.

With inputs from IANS
With the (now former) Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, now poised to take over the Rashtrapati Bhavan, as the majority party's presidential pick, the responsibility of Bihar Raj Nivas has once again descended upon the shoulders of Keshari Nath Tripathi.

Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, culturally and politically similar to the state, Tripathi was an obvious choice for the Narendra Modi government, after Kovind was chosen as NDA's presidential candidate. Besides, the Brahmin leader has earlier too, between November 2014 and August 2015, headed the Bihar Raj Nivas.

However, Bihar is not the only state that would demand Tripathi's attention. He is also the governor of West Bengal, which is reeling under turmoil from the Nepali-speaking Gorkha tribes' demand for a separate state. The 82-year-old BJP leader had also held additional charges of sensitive border state Mizoram after the Centre sacked Aziz Qureshi in March 2015. However, given Tripathi's long years of experience in law and polity, it didn't come as a surprise that the Centre relied on him once again to fill the void created by Kovind's nomination to the presidential race. He also has the experience of occupying the constitutional post in states where non-BJP governments are ruling. West Bengal is ruled by All India Trinamool Congress, a staunch opponent of BJP, and Congress-ruled Mizoram has seen seven governors since BJP came to power, according to Scroll.

An astute politician and a constitutional expert, Tripathi is a lawyer by profession. He was a senior Allahabad High Court lawyer from 1956 till 2014, according to Jagran English. His political experience also goes back a long way. Tripathi has been a five-time legislator in Uttar Pradesh Assembly. He was also the Speaker of Uttar Pradesh Assembly from 1991-1993, 1997 to 2002 and from May 2002 to March 2004.

Tripathi is also known to maintain a clean image, his profile on the election watch website MyNeta, lists zero criminal cases against him. Unlike his predecessor Kovind, who is a staunch supporter of demonetisation, Tripathi had said that the move will cause inconvenience to the people, at least initially, The Economic Times reported. He also once spoke against the Modi government's much touted move while addressing West Bengal's lawmakers on the first day of the state Assemblys budget session. The speech was drafted by the state government, Live Mint reported.

Meanwhile, his stint as Bihar governor will be closely watched by the Opposition and the ruling JD(U) which has shared a bitter-sweet relationship with the BJP. His predecessor Kovind, had steadily worked to improve the once sour relationship between the Raj Nivas and Chief Minister's Office in Bihar, according to The Indian Express. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who was bitterly against BJP playing the 'Dalit card' in Kovind's appointment just when Kumar was dealing with an embittered Jitan Ram Manjhi, later on established an amicable relationship with the Raj Bhawan.

Kovind not only stayed away from media to avoid making adversarial comments about the incumbent government, but he also rarely confronted the Bihar government. Kumar, who almost stopped short of announcing his support to Kovind's candidature, and was all praise for him, will be looking expectantly at Tripathi to continue the bonhomie.
According to a report by the Software Freedom Law Centre, India has seen 20 internet shutdowns in 2017. It said that since 2012, the Indian government has shut down the internet 79 times.

Very recently, on 5 June and 6 June, the government had shut down the internet in the states of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, respectively, during the farmer agitation. Meanwhile, on 7 June, the People's Development Party (PDP) had called for a shutdown of the internet in Jammu and Kashmir when a civilian was killed by security forces. The following day, the shutdown was called in Uttar Pradesh, where a Dalit leader had been arrested following a clash between the upper and the lower caste.

In all these cases, the shutdown was used as a preventative measure so that India's internal administrative machinery does not get jeopardised, since most of the content encouraging violence was circulated through social media apps like WhatsApp or Facebook. From merely three instances of shutdown in 2012 to a massive leap of 20 cases in 2017, the Jammu and Kashmir's shutdown, in early May, was condemned by the United Nations (UN). The UN special rapporteur, David Kaye, said, The internet and telecommunications bans have the character of collective punishment [and] fail to meet the standards required under international human rights law to limit freedom of expression. The government authorities had banned all social media websites, like Whatsapp, Facebook, and Twitter.

According to the data provided by the Software Freedom Law Centre, most of these shutdowns happen on the internet used through mobile services. Reacting to this data, the Human Rights Watch, South Asia director, Meenakshi Ganguly said, Indian authorities concerns over the misuse of the internet and social media should not be the default option to prevent social unrest." She further said, The lack of transparency and failure to explain these shutdowns only further the perception that they are meant to suppress nonviolent reporting and criticism of the government.
Junagadh: BJP chief Amit Shah on Monday asked the party workers that instead of just focusing on winning the upcoming Assembly elections in Gujarat, they need to work towards uprooting the Congress from the state.

Addressing a gathering of local workers of the party's Saurashtra zone in Junagadh on Tuesday, Shah said the Congress was just day-dreaming about winning the polls, slated to be held later this year.

"Though the Congress is day-dreaming to win the upcoming polls, it could not defeat the BJP since 1990 in Gujarat. This time, party workers will not just fight to win, but to uproot the Congress," Shah said in his address.

"Today, each and every party worker of Saurashtra zone should take a pledge to win 150 seats (out of total 182)," he said.

Commenting on the completion of three years of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government at the Centre, Shah said no opposition party could point its finger on the NDA government.

"If you look at the figures, one cannot even believe that a government can do so many things in just three years. Our country is touching new heights globally under the prime minister's leadership," he said.

Before pointing their fingers on us, the Congress leaders need to introspect and see what their government did in the past. In their 10 years of rule, Sonia-Manmohan government were involved in one scam every month. They indulged in scams and corruption worth Rs 12 lakh crore, Shah alleged.

"I want to tell Sonia ji that the opposition could not level a single allegation during these three years. The Modi government made India free from corruption and gave a transparent regime," the BJP chief said.

He also attacked the Congress on the issue of Modi's foreign visits. "(Congress leader) Kamal Nath had recently said that Modi is visiting foreign countries frequently. When I saw the figures, I learnt that Modiji made only a couple of visits more than previous Prime Minister Manmohan Singh," said Shah.

"However, the Congress feels that Modiji's visits were more. It is because people take note of Modiji's foreign tours. Earlier, such visits by the Prime Minister used to go unnoticed.

Now, thousands gather to welcome Modi and the entire world has to take note of our prime minister," he said.
BJP in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday joined issue with Communist Party of India (Marxist) for the party's 'irresponsible statements' of blaming Hindutva forces  BJP and RSS  for petrol bombs being hurled at its district party office in Coimbatore recently.

"The incident of hurling a bomb at the CPM office, for that matter any party office, is condemnable. But CPM has blamed Hindutva forces, BJP and RSS without proof. It is not in good taste... the party should have reacted in a responsible manner," BJP state general secretary, Vanathi Srinivasan, said.

She recalled that during the DMK regime, petrol bombs were hurled at the BJP Headquarters in Chennai and even now many demonstrations are held in front of that office.

On 17 June, some unidentified persons had hurled a petrol bomb at the CPM office in Coimbatore, drawing strong condemnation from opposition parties in the state.

None were injured in the incident, but a car parked there was partially damaged.

CPM had blamed 'Hindutva' activists for the attack and claimed it was a "continuation" of the recent attempt to attack party general secretary Sitaram Yechury in Delhi.

Vanathi lauded the Tamil Nadu government for passing the GST Bill and said minister of state for commerce and industry, Nirmala Seetharaman, would be on a three-day visit to the state to highlight various advantages of GST, particularly among traders and industrialists.

Nirmala would have an interactive session in the city on 22 June where she would respond to queries and clear doubts, Vanathi said.

The minister would go to the textile hub of Tirupur where textile associations will facilitate her that evening. The next day, Nirmala will go to Tiruchirapalli, where she will have an interaction with all stakeholders.

Vanathi also welcomed the presidential candidate announced by NDA and appealed to all political parties in Tamil Nadu to extend support to him.
New Delhi: Union minister SS Ahluwalia on Tuesday called for a "high-level" probe into the alleged police firing in Darjeeling in which three people were killed and demanded compensation from the state government for the victims' families.

The BJP MP from Darjeeling termed as "unpardonable" the firing on unarmed people who were protesting peacefully and asked if all other steps to control the agitation were used under the law before giving the firing orders.

"The killing of unarmed protesters is unpardonable. There should be high-level probe into the incident. There should be action against the officials who are responsible for the deaths," he told reporters at a press conference in New Delhi. Ahluwalia said three people were killed in the police firing on Saturday.

He accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of not taking cognisance of the incident and "not even expressing condolence" over the incident or help the family of the deceased.

"She should behave like a chief minister of the state, not a TMC (Trinamool Congress) leader," he said. Security forces are patrolling the streets and an internet ban is in effect in Darjeeling, where people, mainly Gorkhas, are protesting for a separate Gorkhaland.

An all-party meet convened by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) will also chalk out the "next course of action" as the indefinite shutdown crippled normal life in the district for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday.

Ahluwalia alleged that the present crisis in Darjeeling was triggered after West Bengal chief minister said that Bengali would become mandatory in schools there.

He claimed that a large section of Nepali and Santhali speaking population of Darjeeling have reservations over the move.

Terming as "violation of human rights" a ban on use of internet, the BJP MP said the ban was adversely impacting the students, particularly those preparing for competitive examinations, and small traders, among others.

He alleged that Banerjee was filing FIRs against the entire population of Darjeeling and whoever said that "I am Gorkha and I am fighting for my identity".

Asked why he has not visited Darjeeling, he said, "When I am speaking from here (Delhi), Bannerjee is saying that central ministers are fanning the violence, think what she would say if I go there."

Asked about the BJP's stand on the demand for separate state of Gorkhland, Ahluwalia said, "The BJP promised in its election manifesto of 2014 that it will sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demands of the Gorkhas, the Adivasis and other people of Darjeeling district and the Dooars region. We stand by it."

He said that it is a 110-year-old demand and a solution cannot be delivered overnight. "There is a procedure that has to be followed and the West Bengal government should prepare a political environment for the purpose," he added.

Ahluwalia said that it seems, Bannerjee has forgotten that she was dealing with Gorkhas, who are known for their valour and loyalty.

"It was shameful that Banerjee and her administration has treated them like insurgents and terrorists, choosing to use live bullets instead of using other way and means to control the crowd," he said.
New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday termed Punjab's farm loan waiver as a "historic step" and accused the Modi government of running away from its responsibility towards the debt-ridden farmers, demanding that it replicate the step taken by its state government.

Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar said despite the financial stress faced by it, the state had shown the way and "we expect the prime minister to follow suit and not to look at farmers as merely a vote bank".

Accusing the Narendra Modi government of running away from the issue by terming it as a state subject, he asked, "Why can't this debt waiver be replicated across the country, that is a humble question I would like to ask the NDA government." He said the farmers may be sitting in Punjab, Maharashtra or Tamil Nadu, but the problems being faced by them were the same and the issue of farm debt was nationwide.

"The government is running away from farmers' problems by saying that it is a state subject. Farmers are facing a bad time as they are reeling under debt and are committing suicide. Instead of getting relief, they are now getting bullets under the NDA government," Jakhar alleged. He was referring to the violence in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur in which six farmers were killed. He also asked if the government was so moved by the violence in Kashmir, why do the problems of farmers not move it.

"I urge the prime minister to announce a similar farm loan waiver across the country as done by the Congress government in Punjab," he said. He claimed the central government was not doing so now as elections were not due till 2019 and if the NDA announced a farm loan waiver it would not derive any benefit. He said Punjab was already facing financial constraints but despite that it had come forward to help the debt-ridden farmers.

Jakhar said Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi had taken up farmers' problems with the prime minister in a meeting with him along with Amarinder, but no steps were taken to address the issue.

The Punjab Congress chief asked why the central government was not able to utilise the "windfall gains" accrued by it due to a fall in international crude oil prices and announce a farm loan waiver as done by the UPA earlier.

Jakhar said there are about 18.50 lakh farming families in Punjab, of which two-thirds were small and marginal farmers. From this block of small and marginal farmers, about 70 per cent have taken loans from institutions or banks and this roughly translated into something like 13 lakh marginal and small farmers who were under debt and would benefit from the scheme.

He said the state government was going to ensure that farmers prosper in Punjab by encouraging a support system which also took care of ecological balance so that small and marginal farmers have sustainable income. He said higher production of foodgrains should translate into prosperity for farmers and higher income for them.

"This is why this focus of debt waiver has been towards those small and marginal farmers," he said.
The period of apparently peaceful coexistence between the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM)-led Gorkha Territorial Administration (GTA) and the West Bengal government seems to be over, for now.

When the West Bengal ordered a financial audit of the GTA during its cabinet meeting in Darjeeling to look into financial transactions, GJM raised the issue of separate Gorkhaland state again. The official reason was making Bangla a mandatory language in schools of West Bengal though Mamata Banerjee has since clarified that this does not apply to the Darjeeling hills. There was stone throwing and extensive damage and arson of government properties, including police posts, government vehicles, private vehicles, panchayat offices and so on. The West Bengal government responded in an extremely unfortunate 'law and order' maintenance mode by deploying security forces, which has resulted in multiple deaths of Gorkhaland protesters. The impasse is still on amid some hope of talk and negotiations.

There is an immediate political context to this. Gorkha parties have for long dominated the politics of the Darjeeling hills. In the past couple of years, the Trinamool Congress has been making some limited inroads in the area. In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election, it increased its vote percentage all across the Darjeeling hills, though the GJM still has huge dominance. Then, earlier this year, in the municipal elections to the four municipalities, the TMC got another boost when it actually won Mirik, one of the four municipalities and got the kind of vote percentage elsewhere in the hills that is rarely associated with a 'Bengali' party. However, this limited success of the TMC was not based on some Bengali resurgence in the hills but by TMC's consolidation of non-Gorkha/Nepali hill groups like Lepchas, Bhutias, etc. This brought into forth that there was more to the Darjeeling hills than Gorkhas/Nepalis. This happened in May 2017. The GJM protests started next month, in June 2017.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted on 18 June  In a democracy like India resorting to violence would never help in finding a solution. Every issue can be resolved through mutual dialogue. All concerned parties and stakeholders should resolve their differences and misunderstandings through dialogue in amicable environment.

In a democracy like India resorting to violence would never help in finding a solution. Every issue can be resolved through mutual dialogue.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 18, 2017

All concerned parties and stakeholders should resolve their differences and misunderstandings through dialogue in amicable environment.  Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) June 18, 2017

This is an extraordinary statement coming from a person who called for no such mutual dialogue when protesting stone-pelting crowds in Kashmir were met with much, much greater security force violence. Also, by making a comment on what stakeholders "should" do, he is in effect saying what the West Bengal government should do. Law and order is a state subject in the same Constitution under which he is the Union home minister. Has the West Bengal government asked for advice on what it should do? No. Whether what it is actually doing is right or wrong is a different matter. This is a question of federalism  arguably the most sacred part of the Indian Union constitutional structure. Thus, such apparently innocuous encroachments in state government affairs either shows, at best, a lack of knowledge about the federal structure, or at worst, a lack of respect for the federal structure.

Mamata has already announced that Bangla will be optional in the Darjeeling hills. In spite of this, Delhi media houses have been repeatedly misrepresenting this issue. In stark contrast to this, Kolkata-based media, that works more on facts on Bengal and less on nostalgia and hearsay about a land they dont inhabit anymore, has clearly pointed this out. Perhaps Delhi took Mamata's Bangla optional in the Darjeeling hills declaration in the spirit of the Union governments Aadhaar optional declaration because in New Delhi speak, optional Aadhaar means mandatory Aadhaar.

West Bengal happens to be a state whose own education board offers the largest number of languages as school education medium  Nepali, Santhali, Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and English. These are schools which are funded solely by the West Bengal government. The state also has six more secondary official languages apart from Bangla, the state official language. Any language spoken by more than 10 percent people of a district are accorded that status in West Bengal  something unparalleled in the Indian Union and something unthinkable by the Hindi imposing Union government at Delhi. The Anglo-Hindi yuppiedom that wrings its hands at the supposed Bangla imposition tend to mysteriously forget that in CBSE schools run by the Union governments MHRD, there is no option for a Bengali to study in Bangla medium or a Gorkha/Nepali to study in Nepali medium. Can anyone point out one school run by the Union governments agencies where Hindi is not mandatory?

Darjeeling hills have long had CBSE schools that offer no Nepali medium and mandatorily teach Hindi. Have their been any protests against this marginalisation of Nepali and imposition of Hindi? No. One wonders what is this selectivity in protests  where Bangla 'imposition' is protested in spite of Nepali medium being offered when the agency is West Bengal government but the blatant Hindi imposition and lack of Nepali medium is not protested when the school belongs to a Union government agency. Reorganisation of states in the Indian Union have primarily happened along the axis of language  hence the term linguistic reorganisation of states. Let us not forget that West Bengal is fully within its right to make Bangla mandatory in its territorial limits because it is a linguistic state. Let us also not forget that the Indian Union has no right to make Hindi mandatory in its territorial limits because it is not a Hindi linguistic nation, unlike West Bengal, which is a Bengali linguistic state.

One also needs to examine the central issue here  the Gorkhaland state demand. Language is the basis of all real nationalities. Every linguistic group has the right to self-determination. This right of self-determination can span from being a sovereign nation, or in the Indian Union context, a linguistic state or partially autonomous entities to which some powers are devolved, within a state. No other linguistic group has the right to dictate to any other linguistic group what the limits of its autonomy aspirations ought to be. In fact, before Partition, there was the demand for Gorkhasthan, an independent nation comprising of present day Nepal, Darjeeling hills and Sikkim. Using the Darjeeling hills as its base, Indian Union sponsored Nepalis, created the protests in the independent kingdom of Sikkim, thus creating the pretext that New Delhi needed to unilaterally swallow an independent entity. Indian Union citizens do not remember this chapter because Indian nationalism airbrushes out its crimes out of its history but the Indian Unions neighbours like Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh remember this very well. After the Sikkim episode, the king of Bhutan drove out many Nepalis from Bhutanese territory. Bhutan naturally didnt want to become another Sikkim ultimately.

The present demand is for a Gorkhaland state within the Indian Union. Let us revisit the Constitution since that is the sole and the highest guide in all such matters. Can the West Bengal government veto the formation of a Gorkhaland state? No. Does the West Bengal government need to agree to the division of its territory in order for the Gorkhaland state to be formed? No. Then why are demands for the granting of Gorkhaland state being pursued in the form of protests against the West Bengal government? Only the Gorkhaland state demand forces can answer this. In the Indian Union Constitution, the Centre can make new states. That power solely lies with the Centre. If West Bengal does not agree with the Gorkhaland demand, the Centre can still form a Gorkhaland state. If West Bengal assembly opposes the Gorkhaland demand or does not even take it up for discussion, even then the Centre can go ahead and form the Gorkhaland state.

The Union government is led by the BJP which enjoys an absolute majority in the Lok Sabha. The GJM supported the BJP candidate SS Ahluwalia  he is the one who represents Darjeeling in the Lok Sabha at present. The BJPs national manifesto voices support for the Gorkhaland state demand. The BJPs hill committee has taken part in the present protests with the BJP flag. So, if anyone stands between the actualisation of the Gorkhaland state demand and its supporters in the Darjeeling hills, it is the BJP dominated Union government. Then why are demands for the granting of Gorkhaland state not being pursued in the form of protests against the Union government? Again, only the Gorkhaland state demand forces can answer this.

In this whole fiasco, the West Bengal branch of the BJP is playing the most dubious role. In Kolkata, it maintains that it is against the Gorkhaland state demand. When SS Ahluwalia, the BJP MP from West Bengal, openly supports Gorkhaland, it does not protest. When BJPs hill committee leaders march with BJP flags in support of Gorkhaland, its affiliating branch, the West Bengal BJP does not protest. GJM's leaders come down to Kolkata to consult with West Bengal BJP leaders. Never has West Bengal BJP addressed the press and the people of West Bengal with GJM leaders on its side and said that they are against Gorkhaland state demand.

Mamata has done that multiple times, including instances when GJM supremo Bimal Gurung was present. When BJPs national manifesto supports the Gorkhaland demand, the West Bengal BJP does not say that it opposes its partys national manifesto while taking people for a ride when it still maintains that it is against Gorkhaland. West Bengal BJP probably thinks that this speaking in one voice in Kolkata and another voice in Darjeeling is something that the people of West Bengal cannot see through. What it fears its the decimation of the BJP in West Bengal if the Gorkhaland state is granted by the Centre. The fact that the BJPs national manifesto supports the Gorkhaland demand shows how irrelevant West Bengal is to BJPs national leaderships political calculation.
Lucknow: After giving indications of supporting the NDA's presidential candidate, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav today attended a dinner hosted by Uttar Pradesh chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mulayam was among the first to reach the CM's official 5, Kalidas Marg residence in Lucknow. Governor Ram Naik, deputy chief ministers Keshav Maurya and Dinesh Sharma, a number of UP ministers and senior BJP leaders also attended the dinner.

However, Samajwadi Party president and former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not attend it. "No, he (Akhilesh) will not be attending the dinner," Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI when asked whether the party president would be at the table with Modi.

BSP supremo Mayawati too skipped it. The BSP chief had yesterday said that her party is positive about the NDA nominating Ram Nath Kovind for the presidential election but wished that the ruling alliance had named a non-political Dalit candidate for the top post.

"Although Kovind has been associated with the RSS and the BJP from the beginning but as he is a Dalit, our party's stand towards him cannot be negative. It will be positive, provided Opposition parties do not field any Dalit for the post, who is more capable and popular than him," she had said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Mulayam, who is the Samajwadi Party patron, extended his support to the NDA presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind, saying he is a deserving candidate.

"Ram Nath Kovind is a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him. BJP has selected a strong candidate. The most important thing is that the BJP has a majority. Can't say what will opposition decide now," he told a TV news channel. Mulayam had earlier indicated that he would back the NDA candidate even before the announcement of Kovind's name for the top constitutional post.

Nominations for the Presidential elections, to be held on 17 July, ends on 28 June. The BJP had on Monday stumped the opposition parties by announcing the name of Kovind, a Kori (Dalit) from Uttar Pradesh.

The prime minister arrived here this evening on a two-day visit to take part in the International Yoga Day event on Wednesday morning after which he will fly back to Delhi.

On the first day of his visit, he inaugurated the new building of Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU) and visited the Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI) in Lucknow. He will spend the night at Raj Bhawan.
New Delhi: Chief ministers of the states ruled by the BJP and its allies are likely to be present on 23 June when NDA pick Ram Nath Kovind file his nomination for the 17 July presidential election.

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi, virtually the entire council of union ministers, NDA chief ministers and MPs and MLAs from across the country will be among proposers and seconders of his candidature.

Kovind, who resigned as Bihar governor on Tuesday, is a Dalit leader and two-time Rajya Sabha member. He was picked as the ruling NDA's presidential nominee yesterday.

Sources said union minister M Venkaiah Naidu spoke to NDA chief ministers and urged them to be present at the time of the filing of nomination by Kovind.

Naidu also spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister EK Palaniswami and asked him to be present.

PDP chief and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti assured him of the support of his party to Kovind.

Naidu also spoke to former Prime Minister and JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, DMK leader MK Stalin, PMK leader Anbumani Ramdoss and sought their support.

He met Om Prakash Chautala of INLD also, sources said.

He also spoke to Odisha Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, who has already announced his party's support to Kovind, and invited him to be present during the nomination-filing.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday threw a surprise by nominating Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA choice for the president's post, stunning the opposition which accused the ruling party of unilateralism.

Party president Amit Shah announced the name of Kovind, 71, after a nearly two-hour-long meeting of the BJP parliamentary board attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi among others, ending all suspense about the NDA's candidature for the top constitutional post. Though the main opposition parties did not criticise Kovind, who emerged as a dark horse, they kept their cards close to the chest on whether they would back him.

Barring the TRS and the BJD which expressed support to Kovind, all other non-BJP parties accused the ruling party of unilateralism and will meet here on Thursday to finalise their strategy for the 17 July battle.

Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu insisted that all parties were consulted. On his part, the soft-spoken Kovind said he would appeal to all political parties and members of the electoral college to back him.

"We have decided that Ram Nath Kovind will be the NDA presidential candidate," Shah told the media, adding he was likely to file his nomination on Friday. Modi said Kovind would make an "exceptional" president and called him a strong voice for the poor and the marginalised communities. "With his illustrious background in the legal arena, Kovind's knowledge and understanding of the Constitution will benefit the nation."

If elected, Kovind will be the second Dalit president after KR Narayanan. A former head of the BJP Dalit wing and a two-time Rajya Sabha member, the low-key Kovind, who hails from Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh, became the Bihar Governor after Modi stormed to power in May 2014.

Opposition leaders reacted cautiously

BSP chief Mayawati, a Dalit leader herself, said Kovind cannot be opposed unless the opposition fielded a popular Dalit nominee. Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar called on Kovind immediately after Shah's announcement. But he was non-committal on whether his Janata Dal-United will support Kovind. He said he congratulated Kovind on his nomination. "I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate."

As to whether the JD-U will back his candidature, Nitish Kumar said: "It is difficult to say at this point of time. I had talks with (RJD chief) Lalu Prasad and (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi. We will discuss later and decide." Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad declined to go into the merits and demerits of Kovind and did not say whether or not the opposition will field a candidate. "All the opposition parties had collectively decided on evolving a consensus on the presidential candidate when leaders of 18 parties met recently," he said.

Sitaram Yechury of the CPM struck a different note. "Kovindji was the chief of the RSS Dalit branch. So somewhere it is a political fight or a contest. We are not commenting or giving any character certificate to anyone." He said the BJP leaders had promised to seek the opposition' consent on the presidential candidate which did not happen.

A sulking Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray disapproved of caste being the basis for presidency. But another BJP ally, Ramvilas Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party, said those who oppose Kovind will be considered anti-Dalit.

'The Dalit card'

Quite a few op-eds in the papers on Tuesday pointed to how this was a clever move by the BJP to pull the Dalit card where it matters.

According to The Indian Express op-ed, Kovind's Dalit status has "catapulted him to the top" and that this is a deliberate move by Modi and BJP to send him to Bihar in 2015, to counter the focussed strategy on backward castes and Dalits by the Nitish Kumar government. The op-ed also hinted that this is a move that is aimed at securing the 2019 election as well and shows that the prime minister and BJP are interested in letting Nitish Kumar know that there's still time to switch sides.

According to an opinion piece in Hindustan Times, if elected, BJP will get the credit for putting a Dalit in the role of a president (KR Narayanan was the only scheduled caste president before) and it the op-ed notes that BJP is not particularly concerned with suitability for the role as much as it is for the "political expediency" and that Kovind's election to the office of President of India will "consolidate BJP's social base," adding:

"As much integral to that social repair-cum-consolidation script is Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Hes a backward who represents UP and not his home-base of Gujarat in the Lok Sabha. That makes it a one-plus-one equal to eleven deal for the populous state which is central to the BJPs game to win Delhi in 2019."

But, maybe this might not be such a clever move, because the Dalit community is most likely to realise that this nomination is pure optics. Martin Macwan, a Dalit activist quoted in DNA said that that the BJP is concerned about the Dalit votes. "They are trying to kill two birds with a stone. Firstly, they will be able to appease Dalits. Secondly, no party will want to challenge a Dalit candidate, he is quoted.

A political choice to forge a 'Hindu rashtra'

In one of the op-eds on The Economic Times blogs, an argument has been made that this is a purely political choice by the BJP  that the BJP needs to shore up Dalit support base, especially in view of the Rohith Vemula suicide issue, thrashing of Dalits in Una and the attacks in Saharanpur. Another blog on The Economic Times states how the Modi-Shah team has made presidential polls "less about mandate and more about the quality and amplitude of political power the duo can wield and then disperse".

According to a report in The Economic Times, Kovind is a "moderate Hindu" who believes in the RSS' philosophy. An RSS associate quoted in the report said, "Kovind has mentored the Sangh extensively on its reach out efforts towards dalits as part of samajik samrastha. His favourite words that he uses in all his speeches are that every one of us needs to work to the best of this shamta (capacity), samata (maintain parity), namrata (humility) and mamata (love)."

An op-ed in NDTV argued that this was a "shrewd" move by the Modi-Shah duo to bring in a candidate who pleases Shiv Sena with his ideology rooted in that of a Hindu rashtra and also a non-controversial candidate who would leave the Opposition split.

Not a robust candidate

While the opinion and analysis around BJP's nomination of Kovind for the post of president has been described as a political one, what stands out is that most of the opeds look at Kovind as less than deserving. The Tribune's editorial said: "The person who gets to live in the sprawling Rashtrapati Bhavan has to inspire confidence that he/she can be relied upon to be a robust custodian of the republic and its constitutional values and traditions. On that count, the Kovind choice falls considerably short."

With inputs from IANS
If the Shiv Sena were to refuse to go along with the BJPs choice for the Rashtrapati Bhavan, it risks the plausible mid-term elections to the Maharashtra State Legislature. For, not voting for Ram Nath Kovind on any pretext would amount to breaking up the already fraught relationship with the BJP.

Even a couple of days prior to Amit Shah calling on Uddhav Thackeray at his residence to discuss the presidential elections, the Maharashtra chief minister had spoken of mid-term elections as something that would favour the BJP, obviously at the cost of Senas 63 seats. It has to be noted that BJP does not speak of further weakening of Congress or NCP.

No doubt the Sena has been telling its cadre to be ready for a snap poll, but so far, apart from being a nagging partner in a bad marriage of convenience with the BJP, had done precious little to take any step. Apparently, it is unsure and hoped that a bargain on support to BJPs nominee would strengthen its position in the alliance.

BJP does not, in the arithmetic as has now developed, need Senas support for the NDA, with Telangana Rashtra Samiti, AIADMK, and the YSR Congress pledging support, has improved its chances. The electoral college vote strength has improved from its earlier 48.93 percent of the total to 57.85 percent.

Shiv Sena is the third largest component in the vote shares, next to Telugu Desham, with a contribution of 2.34 percent. TDPs share is 2.82 percent. If Senas votes dont go into the ballot box in support of Kovind but remain neutral, the candidates chances do not dim one whit. Kovind can edge past any Opposition nominee.

Unless the BJP, in its afterglow of securing a victory for its candidate, turns magnanimous and decides to overlook the Sena decision not to support Kovinds candidature. It has already said that his choice was on the strength of his Dalit caste which can only help build vote banks, not nation-building.

The Shiv Sena leadership is to meet sometime later today to weigh its options but as its half-a-century's history has revealed, it is the chief, earlier the late Bal Thackeray, and now Uddhav Thackeray, who takes the call. Others merely ratify it. A beleaguered but ambivalent Sena is unlikely to marshal any gumption for dissent.

If the Sena weighs in with support for the Opposition candidate, then any rationale for remaining in the NDA at the Centre or in a post-poll partnership with the BJP in Maharashtra just ceases to exist. In that case, Narendra Modi, who likes to serve his revenge cold, may even act quicker and put the Sena on the mat in a mid-term poll.

Sena has got away with supporting Pratibha Patil, a Congress candidate, on the basis of her being a Maharashtrian, and Pranab Mukherjee because he called at Matoshree seeking support, meant it has broken ranks twice in the past. It would be hard to expect Modi to swallow any opposition from Sena to Kovinds candidature.
New Delhi: The NDA's presidential nominee and Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday met home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. The home minister conveyed best wishes to Kovind on his nomination.

"Met Shri Ram Nath Kovindji. I conveyed my best wishes to him on his nomination as NDA's candidate for the office of President of India," Singh tweeted.

The BJP on Monday announced the name of the 71-year-old Kovind, a low-profile Dalit leader and a two-term BJP Rajya Sabha member, as its choice for president.

Kovind met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah after he arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening from Patna following the BJP's decision to project him as the ruling NDA candidate. Kovind then drove down to Shah's residence where he was greeted by senior BJP leaders. He stayed at the BJP chief's residence for nearly an hour where both are believed to have discussed the formalities related to the presidential poll.

He said he was a "small citizen" entrusted with a big responsibility.

"All those who are members of the electoral college...I will meet leaders of major political parties and seek their support...I hope that every citizen will support me," he said.

Later, Kovind briefly visited the Bihar Niwas where he declined to answer any question from the media and only said, "I thank everyone."

President Pranab Mukherjee completes his five-year term on 24 July.
Bengaluru: Jailed AIADMK general secretary Sasikala will take a decision on how the party will vote in the presidential election, party Deputy General Secretary TTV Dinakaran said on Friday.

"It will be decided by Sasikala," Dinakaran told reporters after meeting her in jail when he was asked which way the party MPs and MLAs would vote in the 17 July election.

Both the factions of AIADMK are widely expected to vote with the BJP for the NDA government. Both Dinakaran and Sasikala are said to have been kept out of the affairs of the party reportedly at the instance of the ruling BJP in the wake of the split after the revolt by former chief minister O Panneerselvam,

Dinakaran said there was no political discussion with Sasikala.

Earlier, Dinakaran had said that it was natural for the "enemies" of the AIADMK to try and destabilise the party and the government, but "we will" do everything to protect the government. "In politics, our enemies will try to destabilise our party and the government. It is natural, but we will protect the government," he told reporters after meeting Sasikala. He was replying to a question whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government was involved in any political conspiracy against the AIADMK government and himself personally.
When defeat is inevitable, step back and avoid it.

The Opposition must understand the inevitability of Ram Nath Kovind becoming the next President of India and withdraw from a fight it has no chance of winning. In doing so, it would not only avoid political defeat but also retain a semblance of unity. And, more importantly, appear dignified and graceful.

The presidential election was lost by the Opposition the day BJP swept the polls in Uttar Pradesh and the AIADMK self-destructed in Tamil Nadu. Until then, the numbers were delicately poised to promise a contest that could have embarrassed the BJP. But, since these events reshaped the balance, the presidential election has turned into a mere formality.

Also, the BJP has played its game smartly. By naming Kovind, it has tried to use the election to pit itself as a champion of Dalits, a ploy summed up by Ram Vilas Paswan's statement that whoever opposes the NDA nominee would be seen as anti-Dalit.

This is a specious argument primarily because in a democracy, except for N Sanjeeva Reddy, nominees of the ruling party have always faced a challenge from the Opposition. Contesting against KR Narayanan did not make the Opposition anti-South India or anti-Dalit. Pitting Bhairon Singh Shekhawat against Pratibha Patil did not make the BJP anti-women. (Incidentally, Paswan himself has had a history of contesting against both women and Dalit candidates.) So, the Opposition has every right to put up its candidate and expose Paswan's double-standards.

Yet, the Opposition is in a tight spot for two reasons. One, it is now caught in a situation where the presidential election is not about the right candidate. It has, like any other election, morphed into a battle of symbolism and caste politics. Any debate, thus, on the merits of the candidate is meaningless.

Two, the BJP has found its very own Mulayam Singh Yadav in this battle. Just like Yadav broke the Opposition ranks in the previous presidential polls, even after singing songs of unity with Mamata Banerjee, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar appears ready to do the same this time.

Just after Kovind's name was revealed by the BJP, Kumar went to meet him at the Raj Bhawan and dropped enough hints to show he would back the BJP candidate. Kumar may have his own political calculations to run with the BJP and hunt with the Opposition, but his stance leaves the Opposition with absolutely no option but to either avoid a contest or see its own rank and file support Kovind.

In hindsight, Kumar's stand on the election has always been shrouded in mystery. Though he was the first to talk of Opposition unity, Kumar later skipped a meeting of the Opposition parties to discuss their strategy and candidate. Could he have been tipped off by the BJP about its decision to name the Bihar governor as its nominee?

With Kumar gone, Mayawati confused  she is 'positive' on Kovind unless the Opposition comes up with another Dalit candidate  the fight is as good as won for BJP.

In fact, with the deep schisms within its ranks, the Opposition parties would only embarrass themselves by exposing their confusion and divides.

There is, of course, the argument that it is the duty of the Opposition to oppose. But, in Kovind's case, it would be opposition just for the sake of hubris. The fight would have weak moral, political and ideological edifices.

Though Kovind is from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), he is not known to be a hardliner. His public utterances and conduct have been balanced and mature. Unlike some of the Sangh superstars, Kovind has not displayed a bias against minorities or made egregious statements about women  like asking them to produce more kids for the sake of Hindutva.

His tenure as governor of Bihar suggests Kovind does not create unnecessary roadblocks to serve his political alma mater. He adheres to the spirit of the Constitution and avoids controversies and spotlight. The Opposition scores no ideological or moral points by putting up a fight it would lose.

Several years ago, when the Congress under Indira Gandhi realised it had no chance of stopping Reddy's march to the Rashtrapati Bhawan, it gracefully stepped back.

Sonia Gandhi could learn from the history of her party and the legacy of her mother-in-law. Instead of fighting for her own nominee as the next president of India, it would be better if she addressed the question of the next president of the Congress party.

In the long run, choosing her successor wisely would help the Congress more than getting battered in the contest for Rashtrapati Bhawan.
Ram Nath Kovind has grown through the ranks of right-wing politics, all along raising his voice for the welfare of Dalits and presenting their issues. Thats what has made Narendra Modi and Amit Shahs choice for the NDA's presidential candidate something no sane Opposition leader can turn down. But, beyond being a crusader for Dalit rights, Kovind was also known in some circles for his strong views and policy positions, along with some controversial decisions that will be interesting to revisit at this juncture.

Demonetisation

Kovind was one of the big supporters of Modis move to demonetise around 86 percent of the country's cash  one of the biggest economic policies implemented by the NDA government in the first three years of its rule. In fact, there is an interesting contrast in the views of Kovind and those of current president Pranab Mukherjee on the note ban. While Kovind is a big fan of Modis November demonetisation drive, Mukherjee has cautioned the government on the possible consequences on the economy and the lives of poor people, after initially welcoming it.

In December last year, speaking at the annual function of the Bihar Chamber and Commerce in Patna, Kovind said, "Demonetisation is a positive effort in the direction to free the society of black money and corruption... As a result of demonetisation, weaker sections of society will get relief while financial and trade activities will get a boost through the greater transparency the measure will bring in".

As against this, in January this year, Mukherjee had warned that demonetisation could lead to a temporary slowdown of the economy. "Demonetisation, while immobilising black money and fighting corruption, may lead to a temporary slowdown of the economy," Mukherjee had said. Further, he also cautioned that the government must be "extra careful" to alleviate the suffering of the poor. "We will all have to be extra careful to alleviate the suffering of the poor which might become unavoidable for the expected progress in the long term," Mukherjee said, adding that while he welcomed the thrust on the transition from an entitlement-driven approach to an entrepreneurial one for poverty alleviation, he was not too sure that the "poor can wait that long", referring to the expected long-term gains of the note ban and the ability of the poor to wait till then.

In hindsight, Kovinds expectations on the positive outcome of Modis demonetisation exercise havent come true, at least going by the evidence so far. In fact, the whole exercise turned out to be a disastrous economic move, although its long-term gains are still debated. In the January-March quarter, the GDP fell to 6.1 percent from eight percent from the corresponding quarter a year prior. Also, the note ban has resulted in major job losses impacting the poor.

According to this Financial Express report, casual workers were among the worst hit by demonetisation. The report quotes Labour Bureau data, to say that around 1.52 lakh casual workers engaged across eight sectors, including manufacturing and IT/BPO, lost their jobs during the three-month period of October to December 2016.

Contrary to the presidential candidate's expectations, the weaker sections and trade activities in the country didnt really benefit from the note ban shock, and, and are still in shock from the unprecedented cash crunch inflicted on their businesses. In fact political parties, both the BJPs allies and opponents (read here and here), have pointed to demonetisation as the main reason that the hardships for farmers were exacerbated. This in turn has triggered requests for a series of farm loan waivers across states, that is now estimated to be worth around Rs 3.1 lakh crore (read report here) putting a massive burden on state exchequers and leading to the destruction of credit culture. Kovinds prediction on the note ban has been proved wrong.

Bangaru Laxman

As defence witness in the 2001 former BJP president Bangaru Laxman bribery case, Kovind deposed that he knew Laxman for the "last 20 years". He deposed that Laxman was a straightforward, simple and honest person, who became president of the BJP.

Eventually, Laxman was convicted in the case and was arrested, while the BJP distanced itself from the case saying the matter referred to Laxmans personal conduct.

Some 16 years later, when Kovind is now the presidential candidate of the NDA, this old case and the position taken by him might raise fresh questions to the BJP leadership that is running an anti-corruption campaign.

Views about other religions

Third, Kovind expanded his support base both in the party and outside, presenting himself as a crusader for Dalits. Back in 2003, when he was a member of Parliament, the former president of the BJP Dalit Morcha and president of the All-India Koli Samaj said tougher laws needs to be in place to check atrocities against Dalits. But, he was against an anti-conversion law saying it "would be in contravention of the spirit of the Constitution, which gave the people the right to practise the religion of their choice".

Kovind, however, opposed reservations in government jobs for religious minorities in 2010, when he was acting as a BJP spokesperson. The backdrop was the Ranganath Misra Commission report, that recommended a 15 percent quota in government jobs for socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities in India. Back then, Kovind opposed the commissions report saying, "Including Muslims and Christians in the Scheduled Castes category will be unconstitutional." He also added, "Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation," when asked why Sikh Dalits were given quota privileges and not Muslims and Christians, according to the report.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Tuesday she was prepared to consider new French President Emmanuel Macron's proposals for a shake-up of the eurozone.

Speaking to business leaders in Berlin, Merkel acknowledged that the "economic cohesion of the eurozone member states leaves something to be desired".

Merkel, who is running for a fourth term in a September general election, said Germany would be open to an "economic government" to pool "best practices" for promoting jobs and growth among the 19 eurozone members.

"We could, of course, consider a common finance minister, if the circumstances are right" with the proper balance among risk, liability for debt and the power to dictate policy, Merkel said.

"We could also consider a euro-budget if it is clear that we are really strengthening the structure of the economy and doing sensible things," she added, backing another suggestion by the French leader.

During his campaign, Macron had put forward ideas for reforming the eurozone, noting that the currency bloc cannot go on as it is if it wanted to avoid falling prey to protest and populism.

Among reforms he wants to see are setting up a separate budget for the group, as well as giving it its own parliament and finance minister.

Macron has forged the beginnings of a strong working relationship with the German leader since his election last month and chose Berlin for his first trip abroad as president.

At a joint press conference, Merkel threw her support behind Macron's call for a "historic reconstruction" of the European Union, even expressing openness to a possible change to key treaties governing the bloc despite some scepticism in Berlin.

Germany and France, traditionally the twin engines of European integration, agreed last month to launch a bilateral panel to kickstart the eurozone reform process.

The new working group will look at how the currency bloc can better coordinate economic policies, harmonise its tax regime and find potential Franco-German investment projects.

The bilateral panel will report to a joint ministerial meeting of the eurozone's two biggest players in July.
Berlin: German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that the United States is "an important part" of the Group of 20 summit, which her country is hosting next month, and that "they will be most welcome by the German government despite all differences in opinion."

Despite the warm words, Merkel, who was speaking at a pre-summit event in Hamburg on Monday, nonetheless renewed her criticism of US president Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of the Paris climate accord, which she called a "bitter blow."

Merkel and Trump have had an uneasy relationship since Trump took office in January.

The chancellor has criticised several of Trump's policy decisions including his project to build a wall against immigrants on the US's southern border.

Trump, on the other hand, has condemned Germany for its export-driven economy and for taking in so many migrants in 2015.
German chancellor Angela Merkel urged the European Union's remaining 27 members on Tuesday to stick together during talks on Britain's exit from the bloc, which began on Monday.

Merkel also said the talks were important for the future of European integration. Brexit was a setback but election results in the Netherlands and France this year have presented an opportunity for the EU to push ahead, she added.

"The risk of the exit negotiations with Britain is that we do not take adequate care of our own future. Let's stay together, let's not divide from each other," she said with reference to the remaining EU 27 and the 19 euro zone countries.

"This is not just about the exit of Britain, with which we want to remain friends, with which we want to live in a good partnership, but it is also about the future of the European Union," she said at a German industry conference.

"The four freedoms that give us the internal market must not be jeopardised," she said with reference to the EU's freedoms of movement of goods, capital, people, and services. "This will be significant at the exit negotiations."

Merkel said she wanted the talks to be conducted "in a good spirit" and that Britain's position would become evident in the coming months.

"We will, of course, implement what Britain pitches, but in a way that the interests of the 27 member states are safeguarded."

Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat (SPD) chancellor candidate who Merkel will square up against in her bid to win a fourth term in September's election, told the same conference: "The best result of the Brexit negotiations would be - there wouldn't be a Brexit."

At their first meeting in Brussels on Monday, British and EU negotiators agreed on a timetable for the Brexit talks. Both sides stressed their goodwill but acknowledged the task's huge complexity and a tight deadline.

Almost a year to the day since Britons voted in a referendum to quit the EU, the Brexit strategy debate within the United Kingdom government has intensified since Prime Minister Theresa May lost her majority in a snap parliamentary election on 8 June.

She had called the early vote herself, saying it was to strengthen her mandate in the Brexit talks.

Merkel also said she was open to the idea of a joint finance minister for the euro zone, and a common budget for the currency union. "Of course one can think about a common finance minister if the conditions are in place and if we do not mutualise in the wrong areas," she said.

Germany has resisted the idea of introducing so-called Eurobonds, which could allow euro zone countries to issue debt jointly, with some benefiting from lower risk premia thanks to Germany's creditworthiness.

"One can indeed consider a European budget if it is clear that structures are really strengthened and this is used to sensible ends," Merkel added.
On his second trip to Russia in less than four months, Arun Jaitley  who holds the defence and finance portfolios  will be leading a high-powered military delegation to Moscow from Wednesday with an aim to procure defence supplies.

He is slated to hold wide-ranging discussions with the Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin and defence minister Sergey Shoygu. He is also expected to hold discussions in the high-level committee on cooperation in field of high technologies of military, dual and civil purpose, according to a report in The New Indian Express.

Jaitley is also expected to have a closed door meeting with his Russian counterpart to work out pending issues, including sale of S400 air defence systems.

His visit to Russia just days ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the United States is crucial in the backdrop of the uncertainty looming around US president Donald Trump's commitment to its relationship with India and the complicated relationship between Washington and Moscow.

According to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India accounted for 13 percent of global arms imports between 2012 and 2016. A senior researcher with SIPRI told Livemint that despite India's 'Make in India' program to encourage local arms production, its domestic defence sector is not capable of meeting its growing requirements. India is therefore, heavily dependent on arms exports from Russia, Israel and the US.

India's defence ministry is also working on an ambitious plan to spend about $223 billion over the next 11 years to boost its defence preparedness, as The International Business Times reported. As part of the Long-Term Integrated Perspective Plan (LTIPP) for the year 2012 to 2027, the ministry is considering purchasing 170 fighter aircraft, 12 submarines, 500 choppers, artillery guns, tanks and aircraft carriers.

Modi's plans to modernise the armed forces coupled with Indian Army chief Bipin Rawat's assertion that New Delhi is ready for a "two-and-a-half front war" are reasons enough for India to look to loyal arms exporter Russia while assuring the US of a stable relationship.

Considering the tricky position that China and Pakistan's ever-growing friendship has put India in, New Delhi is in the process of acquiring weapons and ammunition. Early this year, India bought anti-tank missiles, tank engines, rocket launchers and various kinds of ammunition from Israel and Russia, according to a report in Huffingtonpost.

According to reports, China has sold most of its weapons to Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Jaitley's trip to Moscow to procure defence deals and set in motion some abandoned sales is India perhaps preparing itself for a two-front war and sending a message to the US ahead of Modi's visit.

If the Trump administration decides to back out of deals or refuses to follow the path of former president Barack Obama in declaring India as a major defence partner, New Delhi will have Moscow to fall back on.

The Telegraph quoted some senior Indian officials as saying that the stability Russia  a traditionally all-weather friend with which ties have drifted in recent years  offers appears attractive again, considering the Trump administration.

However, US national security adviser HR McMaster has reassured Modi and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval of India's position as Washington's "major defence partner". Jaitley's trip to Moscow can therefore, also be seen as an attempt to balance US and Russia. It might be a way of providing solace to Russia after reports of India's increasing arms deals with the US.

With the deteriorating ties between the US and Russia, India wants to stay neutral. Modi's visit to Washington and Jaitley's visit to Moscow might reaffirm Indias commitment to both nations. After more sanctions were imposed on Russia by the US Senate, India's plans to procure defence equipment from Russia appear to be in jeopardy, reported The Economic Times. Russian firms are unable to furnish the requisite guarantees from Indian banks, which is a requisite for bidding on any projects in India.

As the ties between Moscow and Washington continue to fray, it is perhaps best that India not appear to favour either side.
Quetta: Pakistani separatists riding motorcycles killed two naval officers in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan, police officials said on Tuesday, near the site of a major Chinese-funded project.

Senior police officer Abdul Hafeez Baloch said four armed men on Monday attacked a vehicle taking food to a naval base in the costal town of Jewani, about 80 km west of the port city of Gwadar.

"One officer died on the spot while another succumbed while being moved to hospital," Baloch said, adding that three officers were wounded in the attack.

A spokesman for the separatist Baluch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed responsibility for the attack.

Balochistan, which has rich mineral and natural gas reserves but remains Pakistan's poorest province, is the site of long-running rebellion by separatists who argue the state is taking over their lands and have targeted Chinese-funded projects.

Beijing has pledged $57 billion for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a flagship "Belt and Road" project that first focused on Chinese firms building roads and power stations but is now expanding to include setting up industries.

Gwadar, which houses a natural deep-water port, is central to the establishment of the corridor and is among the most guarded areas in the country.

In May, BLA insurgents gunned down 13 Pakistani labourers working on CPEC-linked projects in Baluchistan in two separate attacks.

Taliban and other Islamist militants also operate in the province, which shares borders with Afghanistan and Iran.

Last month, Islamic State militants abducted and killed two Chinese nationals in Quetta, Baluchistan's provincial capital.

Pakistan's interior ministry later said the couple were preachers who had not registered with the government and turned down security offers.

The attack prompted Pakistan to boost security around Chinese nationals and other foreigners.
Brussels: It's possible for the European Union (EU) and Britain to strike a fair Brexit deal which is "far better than no deal", a European Union official said.

"Both for the European Union and the United Kingdom, a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal, that is what I say to David today, that is why we will work all the time with the United Kingdom and never against the United Kingdom" chief negotiator Michel Barnier said at a press conference on Monday, after wrapping up the opening salvo of the Brexit talks in Brussels.

He hailed that the first session was "important", "open" and "useful indeed to start off on the right foot as the clock is ticking", Xinhua news reported.

"Today, we agreed on dates, we agreed on organisation, and we agreed on priorities for the negotiation," he said, outlining a two-step negotiation.

"In the first step, the negotiation rounds will be broken down into three groups: citizen rights, the single financial settlement, and other separation issues," Barnier said.

"These groups will report back to their respective principles during each negotiation week. David Davis and I, as chief European Union negotiator, will discuss the issues together, tackle difficulties, and lift obstacles," he added.

"Then in the second step, we scope our future partnership; we also agree on how we structure our tools."

Barnier said the two sides will have one week of negotiation every month, and use the time in between to work on proposals and exchange them.

"There will be no austerity on my side, I will display a constructive attitude firmly based on interests and support of the (European Union) 27, and I will all the time seek to the continued support of the European Parliament," he said.
By Phil Stewart and Jonathan Landay

| WASHINGTON

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump has ordered stepped-up military operations against Islamic State and delegated more authority to his generals, but without a comprehensive Syria strategy, his approach risks further confrontation with Syria, Iran and even Russia, according to U.S. officials and analysts.While the U.S. military's shootdown of a Syrian jet on Sunday was a rarity in modern warfare, the first in 18 years, it was not an isolated incident.The United States has taken a series of actions over the past three months demonstrating its willingness to carry out strikes, mostly in self-defence, against Syrian government forces and their backers, including Iran.In April, Trump ordered cruise missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which Washington said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched. Since then, the United States has repeatedly struck Iranian-backed militia and last week even shot down a drone threatening U.S.-led coalition forces.These incidents, however, are tactical, not part of any U.S. strategy in Syria, analysts said.Both the administration of former President Barack Obama and Trump's have focused exclusively on defeating Islamic State, but with the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate shrinking, U.S.-backed and Syrian-backed forces appear to be competing for territory."There isn't an over-arching U.S. strategy driving this," said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute."This is just the result of tactical decisions by a commander on the ground whose only focus is a specific theatre in Syria. He is acting to protect his assets ... This is purely a series of tactical decisions that are creating a series of very serious strategic consequences."Russia and Iran both support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.

The larger problem, the officials and analysts said, is that Trump and his national security team have not advanced a long-term political strategy for Syria's future.Like Obama, Trump has focused on Islamic State, leaving for later the question of Assad's fate and the region's mangled alliances."We have never had a coherent Syrian strategy," said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We oppose Assad, but our main enemy is ISIS, which also opposes Assad. Our most capable allies are the (Kurdish) peshmerga, but Turkey, who is a NATO ally and host to an airbase that is central to our efforts, considers the Kurds enemies."Jennifer Cafarella, of the Institute for the Study of War, said the U.S. strikes are unlikely to deter Assad and his backers.

"The absence of a civilian-led U.S. strategy in Syria and the narrow U.S. military focus on ISIS will continue to provide an open invite for the pro-Assad regime coalition to extend and escalate," Cafarella said.A White House spokesman did not respond to calls and an email seeking comment. A senior White House official said: "The strategy for Syria is to defeat ISIS and first and foremost achievement of a de-escalation of the conflict so we can work toward a political resolution. Were not close to that, but that's the strategy."TRUMP AIDES SPLIT OVER IRAN

Russia reacted angrily to the U.S. shootdown of the Syrian jet, which the Pentagon said was dropping bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a mixed Kurdish-Arab militia fighting Islamic State.Moscow said it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying west of the River Euphrates in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft. It stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.

The White House said on Monday that coalition forces fighting Islamic State militants in Syria would retain the right to self-defence, and said the United States would work to keep lines of communication open with Russia.In another complication, Iran on Sunday launched ballistic missile strikes at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria, the first time it has carried out such an action. U.S. intelligence analysts quickly concluded that Iran fired the missiles mostly in retaliation for a pair of Islamic State attacks earlier this month on Iran's parliament building and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder.A second U.S. official said the use of ballistic missiles may also have been intended as a signal that Iran remains committed to supporting Assad and a reminder that U.S. forces and bases in the region are within reach of Iranian missiles and ground forces.As it tries to craft a Syria strategy, the Trump administration is divided between those who consider Islamic State the primary enemy and some officials who think the war in Syria is part of an existential struggle between the United States and its Gulf allies on the one hand and Iran on the other, said a third U.S. official, who has participated in government deliberations on Syria.Some Trump appointees saw Iran's missile strike as an illustration of Tehrans regional ambitions, which they have argued make it an existential enemy, according to the three U.S. officials.These Iran hawks, they said, are pushing for a Syria strategy that calls for concentrating first on defeating Islamic State, then turning on Iran and its allies, including Assad, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iraq's Shi'ite militias, and Houthi rebels in Yemen. (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Jonathan Landay; additional reporting by John Walcott and Steve Holland; Writing by Warren Strobel; editing by Grant McCool)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Paris: French police have taken into custody four members of the family of a radicalised Islamist who was killed when he rammed a car loaded with guns and a gas bottle into a police van on the Champs-Elysees, a judicial source said on Tuesday.

The ex-wife, brother and sister-in-law of Adam Dzaziri were detained on Monday after police questioned them at the family home outside Paris.

The assailant's father was also "taken into custody during the evening", the source said.

Dzaziri was killed in Monday's attack, but there were no other casualties.

Sources close to the probe said he had been on France's security watchlist since 2015 over ties to "the radical Islamist movement".

The suspect's father said that his son "had a registered weapon, he practised shooting". A source close to the case said the 31-year-old had a firearms permit.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the assault, which occurred just a short distance from where a jihadist shot a police officer dead two months earlier.

France remains under a state of emergency imposed after the November 2015 attacks in Paris, when Islamic State jihadists slaughtered 130 people in a night of carnage at venues across the city.

The latest attack came two days before the French government planned to unveil a new anti-terrorism law, designed to allow the state of emergency to be lifted.
By Emmanuel Jarry and Richard Lough

| PARIS

PARIS A man who rammed a car into a police van in Paris stored a cache of weapons at his home and held a gun permit despite being on a secret service list of people linked to radical Islam, police sources and French officials said on Tuesday.A source close to the investigation said the 31-year-old assailant had sworn allegiance to Islamic State in a letter to his brother-in-law. Investigators were compiling an inventory of the arms and equipment found in his home. The man, who died in the attack, was also carrying in his car an assault rifle, two pistols, ammunition and two large gas canisters when he rammed a police convoy on Monday. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said the individual first received a permit to possess a gun before he was flagged to intelligence agencies as a potential militant threat. At the time there was no reason to deny him the permit, Philippe said.Philippe said it was "quite possible" the licence was active at the time the attacker was on a security watchlist. Three sources close to the investigation confirmed it was. "Nobody can be happy, and certainly not me, that someone who has been flagged to security agencies can continue to benefit from such an authorisation," Philippe told BFM TV.

The man was placed on France's so called 'Fiche S' watchlist after he was found to belong to a radical Islamist movement, two police sources said. Individuals on the list are placed under surveillance though the intensity of that surveillance varies depending on the perceived threat the individual poses.Interpol issued a search notice for the attacker in 2013 on the request of Tunisia but that was no longer active, one source said. ARRESTS

Philippe said draft legislation drawn up in May envisaged changes to allow officials who handle gun permits to check if individuals seeking licences are on a watchlist. But refusing permits in such cases had its drawbacks, he said. "If you revoke the authorisation of someone who is under surveillance, they're going to know why."On Monday, witnesses saw the man being pulled from the car as thick yellow smoke poured out.

Police arrested four of his close relatives in a raid south of Paris late on Monday, a police source said. They included his father and brother.France has been on high alert after a wave of militant Islamist attacks over the past two years, including most recently an attack on police outside the Notre Dame Cathedral and an Islamic State-claimed attack on police on the Champs Elysees in April.In July last year, 86 people were killed when a truck ploughed through a crowd in Nice, and similar incidents have occurred in other European cities.Philippe said the government would be presenting a draft law soon to toughen counter-terrorism legislation."We need to find legal instruments that at once guarantee that we continue to live in a Fifth Republic which safeguards freedoms and ensure the security of French people," Philippe said. (Additional reporting by Marine Pennetier and Brian Love; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Pritha Sarkar)

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Beijing: China expressed sorrow over the death of US student Otto Warmbier following his release from North Korea in a coma, and urged Washington and Pyongyang to resolve tensions through dialogue.

"I think this is an unfortunate thing," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular news briefing. "We hope that North Korea and the US can handle it appropriately," he added.

Asked if Warmbier's death would affect China's relations with its ally North Korea, the spokesman only repeated Beijing's call for the nuclear tensions on the Korean Peninsula to be resolved through talks.

Warmbier, 22, died on Monday after 18 months in detention in North Korea. He had been medically evacuated back to the US last week in a coma with severe brain damage.

His death came as top diplomats and defence chiefs from the US and China were due to meet in Washington Wednesday.

The meeting is expected to focus on North Korea and US president Donald Trump, who condemned North Korea following news of Warmbier's death, has urged Beijing to use its diplomatic and economic influence to pressure Pyongyang about its nuclear programme.

Geng said the meeting would be an opportunity for the two countries to have an "in-depth exchange of views" on issues including North Korea, the South China Sea and cooperation on counter-terrorism.

"China hopes that joint efforts with the US will promote dialogue and achieve positive results," he said, adding that Beijing "hopes to continue communication and cooperation with the US and relevant parties" to work towards denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.
Kathmandu: China on Tuesday said it will support Nepal's efforts in safeguarding its sovereignty, promised not to interfere in its internal affairs and offered to provide assistance for the Himalayan nation's socio-economic development.

China also appreciated the Nepal government's adherence to the 'one-China' policy, Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said after talks with his Nepal's Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi.

Kong said that China will, as always, support Nepal's efforts in safeguarding national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, China and Nepal have set a good example in forging ties between the countries of different sizes and different social systems based on equal treatment and mutual respect, Kong said.

China will continue to uphold the principle of non-interference in Nepal's internal affairs and is willing to provide assistance within its ability for its socio-economic development, he said, in an apparent reference to India's alleged interference in the Himalayan nation.

Bairagi said Nepal treats China as a great neighbour and a great friend, and the two countries have forged solid ties based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Attaching great importance to developing ties with China, Nepal has been upholding the 'one-China' policy (regarding Taiwan and Tibet) and will never allow any forces to use its soil to conduct anti-China activities, Bairagi said.

Nepal supports the 'Belt and Road' Initiative and will take an active part in building the China-proposed initiative, he said, adding Nepal is also willing to earnestly implement the consensus reached between leaders of the two countries.

The one-day meeting also reviewed bilateral relations, political issues and the latest political developments in Nepal.

They also discussed bilateral economic cooperation, investment, trade and connectivity along with land and air route connectivity.

The 11th Meeting of NepalChina Consultation Mechanism consist of a 11member Chinese delegation and 20member Nepali delegation.

The Nepali delegation was led by Foreign Ministry's Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi and Chinese delegation was headed by Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuan You.

The meeting comes shortly after Nepal signed a memorandum of understanding on China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative.

The OBOR aims to enhance connectivity and cooperation among countries, primarily between China and the rest of Asia and Europe through land as well as maritime routes.

While the implementation of OBOR is one of the agendas, the meeting will also dwell upon a host of other issues, including those related to security, trade and transit, according to foreign ministry officials.

The 10th Meeting of Nepal  China Consultation Mechanism was held in Beijing in 2013.
Vienna: Cuba's foreign minister Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla said that Cuba will never negotiate under pressure and would not make any concession to the US.

The visiting Cuban foreign minister made the remarks on Monday in response to US President Donald Trump's order of tighter restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba, Xinhua news agency reported.

US President Donald Trump's policy on Cuba is ill-advised and going back to the past failed policy, he said.

"Cuba will never negotiate under the pressure," he said, adding that the sovereignty and independence of his country must be respected.

The Cuban minister said but his country still needs to wait to analyse the negative effects of the Trump policy.

Cuba has the patience to normalise the relationship with the United States, he said, questioning Trump's motivation of going back to the failed policy on Cuba.

The foreign minister called Trump's remark on Cuba was a "grotesque spectacle" straight out of the cold war and will strengthen patriotism in Cuba.

The new policy is not only a setback of the US policy on Cuba, but also would affect the US relationship with Latin America, he added.

President Trump last Friday ordered tighter restrictions on Americans travelling to Cuba and prohibitions on America's business dealing with Cuba's military, rolling back parts of former president Barack Obama's Cuba policy, saying that easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people.

"When Cuba is ready to take concrete steps to these ends, we will be ready, willing, and able to come to the table to negotiate that much better deal for Cubans, for Americans," Trump said.

Rodriguez also said his country would not return the political refugees who had received the asylum from the Cuban government to the US, saying as the US has no legal or moral basis to demand that.
President Donald Trump's administration appears ready to harden its approach towards Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, United States officials said.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding United States drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some United States officials, however, are sceptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous United States efforts to curb Pakistan's support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening United States ties to India, Pakistan's arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

United States officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Precise actions have yet to be decided.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistan's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

"The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift towards a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistan's war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on America's longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

"We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the United States official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other United Sates officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behaviour. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that United States-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional United States troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

"I believe there will be a much harder United States line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States said without citing specific measures under review.

Kabul has long been critical of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan.

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at United States claims that Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

"What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full," a senior Pakistani government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: "They dont want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism."

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

Experts say Pakistan's policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the United States battle against Al-Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus U.S. military hardware.

Some United States officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.

"Pakistan is not an ally. Its not North Korea or Iran. But its not an ally," said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.

But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

"The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honour," said a former United States official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistan's former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

"Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one," said the February report.

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating 31 May truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan's main intelligence agency said the attack  one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul  had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, United States officials said.

United States' frustration over the Haqqani's presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organisation in 2012. United States navy admiral Mike Mullen, then the top United States military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of the ISI.

The potential United States pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when United States officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obama's deputy assistant secretary of defence for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a "disaster."

"It didn't affect Pakistan's behaviour one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistan's behaviour worse," Sedney said.

Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in United States assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a United States defense department programme to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.

In 2016, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declined to sign authorisation that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

United States officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.

Curtis' report also singled out the aid as a target.

But United States aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, United States officials and a Pakistan expert said.

"Now the Americans (will be) saying, you aren't taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves," the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.

Pakistan's army chief of staff last week criticised "unilateral actions" such as drone strikes as "counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan".
Paris: France's new president Emmanuel Macron has vowed to quickly implement security, anti-corruption and labor measures he considers as priorities. They are expected to easily pass parliament during a special session in July, now that the government has a wide majority at the National Assembly.

The French government is going to seek an extension of the state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until Nov. 1.

The measure is in place since the November 2015 attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris. It would be its sixth extensions.

The state of emergency gives police exceptional powers to make house arrests, raids, and ban protests, among others.

In parallel, the government plans to pass a bill to make some extraordinary security measures permanent beyond the end of the state of emergency.

The Socialist party and other voices on the left have called on Macron to abandon the project, saying the state of emergency is specific and cannot become a permanent rule to the risk of regressing on human rights.

ETHICS INTO POLITICS

France's government has presented a draft law on cleaning up political ethics after years of corruption scandals.

The new bill notably would ban lawmakers and government members from hiring family members, following the scandal surrounding conservative candidate Francois Fillon during the presidential campaign. His wife, Penelope, was richly paid as a parliamentary aide, allegedly without actually working.

Judges would be allowed to ban a person convicted for fraud or corruption-related crimes from running for an elected office for up to 10 years.

Lawmakers would be asked to report their expenses  a first in the country. Until now, they get monthly allowances to cover expenses they don't have to justify.

Yet the measure, a key Macron campaign promise, is already clouded.

Justice minister Francois Bayrou's centrist party Modem is under investigation for possible misuse of European Parliament funds.

Two other government members are facing a probe, one for a similar claim and the other for his past business practices. They all deny wrongdoing.

LABOR REFORM

The most sensitive of Macron's reforms is a set of measures that would ease hiring and firing with the aim to bring down the unemployment rate  now just below 10 percent. Unions fear it would destroy workers' protection instead.

The government proposes to cap the financial penalty for companies illegally firing employees. It also wants to simplify employee representatives' bodies and allow every business to have more flexibility to define its own internal working rules.

The details of the bill haven't been disclosed yet. A series of meetings between government and unions are scheduled during summer.

Workers unions have criticized the labor reform and Macron's decision to skirt normal procedure in parliament to pass changes.

The government plans to use a special procedure to pass the measures by the end of the summer without an extended debate in parliament. The process doesn't allow lawmakers to amend the text.

The measures will then have to be ratified by parliament.
By Maria Kiselyova

| MOSCOW

MOSCOW France's Foreign Minister pushed for closer co-operation with Russia on Tuesday, especially over Syria, and said relations could be driven by a renewed "spirit of trust".Relations between Paris and Moscow were increasingly strained under former President Francois Hollande especially over Russia's support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and its role in bombing rebels in Aleppo. France also took a tough line on European Union sanctions on Russia, first imposed when it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014."We are facing the same threat of terrorism which we are determined to battle," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters at a news conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"We are neither looking to isolate Russia from the rest of Europe nor weaken it economically. We want to work together in a pragmatic and concrete way to resolve the problems that impact us as much as Russia," said Le Drian, who was defence minister under Hollande for five years.New President Emmanuel Macron has said that dialogue with Russia is vital in tackling a number of international disputes, In May, he welcomed Russian leader Vladimir Putin with great pomp to the royal palace of Versailles.

Dangling economic potential between the two, Le Drian emphasised that France remained one of the leading direct investors in Russia, that its firms had not abandoned the country despite EU sanctions and that there were extremely strong cultural and tourism ties.

He hailed the quality of his relationship with Lavrov and said that he believed there was now a foundation to enter concrete talks, especially on Syria."Perhaps the spirit of trust to understand each other better was missing," Le Drian said. "After today's meetings we can continue the spirit of trust." (Writing by John Irish)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Paris: A French journalist has been killed in Mosul after a mine exploded in the war-torn city, public broadcaster France Televisions said on Tuesday.

Stephan Villeneuve and two other French journalists were injured in the explosion on Monday in Iraq's second city that killed Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad, according to France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Villeneuve later succumbed to his injuries, the broadcaster added.

"The management and staff at France Televisions sympathise with the pain of his partner Sophie, his four children, his family and all those he was close to. They offer their most sincere condolences," the head of the news department said in a statement.

A video journalist who had covered a number of conflicts across the world, Villeneuve was filming a piece together with Veronique Robert on the battle of Mosul for French news programme Envoye Special, aired on public television channel France 2.

They were both taken to a hospital on a United States military base following the explosion.

Reporter Samuel Forey, who worked for a number of French media organisations including French daily Le Figaro, also suffered light injuries.

"I am very sad for Bakhtiyar and my colleagues, I ask you to not contact me for a couple of days," he wrote on Twitter.

The journalists were accompanying Iraqi special forces during the battle to reconquer Mosul from the Islamic State (EI) group, where some 1,00,000 civilians are being used as "human shields" by jihadists, according to the United Nations.
In the middle of the diplomatic crisis, Qatar has found an ally in Turkey. The country has strongly criticised the measures against Qatar after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegations that the Gulf nation backs terror groups and that its policies, including its support for Islamist groups, threatens the region. The Yemen government, Libya's eastern-based government and Maldives too followed suit.

While Qatar strongly denies its support to the terror groups, Turkey on other hand, which is a strong backer of Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, has authorised the deployment of additional troops to Qatar in a show of support. Turkey also sent additional supplies of dairy products to Qatar's capital, Doha, after Saudi Arabia sealed shut Qatar's only land border, impacting a significant source of food imports.

According to The Wall Street Journal, for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, this diplomatic standoff has personal implications. The report added that if Qatar's autonomy is crushed, then Turkey could feel the "international pressure".

"Whatever Qatar is accused of, Turkey can also be accused of, and Erdogan is aware of that. There is a sense in the Turkish leadership that they are aiming at Qatar but really are trying to target us," Asli Aydintasbas, a Turkey specialist at the European Council on Foreign Relations, was quoted as saying by The Wall Street Journal.

Describing the blockade on Qatar as "inhuman", Erdogan compared it to a "death sentence", reported the BBC. Turkey went ahead and passed a bill that allowed deployment of Turkish troops in Qatar, added the report.

According to The Guardian, Erdogan told members of his party, "We will not abandon our Qatari brothers."

In fact, after the failed coup last year, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, Emir of Qatar, was one of the first leaders to call Ergodan. As per the BBC report, "150-strong elite unit of Qatari special forces" were sent for Erdogan's protection after the attempted coup.

Both Qatar and Turkey does not classify the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas as "terrorist organisations", they have a similar stand on Iran and have extended support to the Islamist groups to fight against Syria's Bashar al-Assad's regime. As per the BBC report, apart from the defence cooperation, Qatar has been making heavy investments in Turkey.

Meanwhile, ties between Saudi Arabia and Turkey have begun to fray due to sharply different policies toward Qatar. An Arabic hashtag on Twitter has also appeared calling for Saudis to cut ties with Turkey.

Erdogan raised eyebrows over the weekend when he said King Salman agreed to consider an offer to establish a Turkish military base in the kingdom alongside a Turkish base in Qatar.

In an interview aired Thursday with Portuguese broadcaster RTP, Erdogan said work on the Turkish base in Qatar began in 2014 with the aim of supporting regional security. Erdogan added that he had previously raised the possibility of a Turkish base in Saudi Arabia and said the Saudi king agreed to consider the offer, reported AP.

The official Saudi Press Agency released a statement Saturday strongly rejecting any such offer.

"Saudi Arabia cannot allow Turkey to establish military bases on its territories," the statement, adding that the country "has no need for this."

Ties between Saudi Arabia and Turkey had become strained under King Salman's predecessor over Turkey's support for the Muslim Brotherhood during the height of Arab Spring protests. Those ties, however, began to improve under Salman after he aligned Saudi Arabia closer with Turkey and other Sunni Muslim countries in a bid to counter Shiite-ruled Iran.

According to Al-Jazeera, Turkey's support for Qatar is a clear departure from its "soft power" policy towards its neighbours. The report added that this move could be seen as Turkey's attempt to end the over-dependence on its western allies.

The report adds: "As Ankara looks to stretch its military presence across Arab and African soil, a deepening strategic alliance with Qatar - one of the world's largest exporters of natural gas  fits the country's foreign policy aspirations and boosts its $857 billion economy."

Leaders and experts in Turkey believe that Turkey could be the next target in a move is which is likely to be orchestrated by the Gulf countries with US president Donald, according to Sputnik.

With inputs from AP
Jerusalem: Saudi Arabia and Iraq have made a "qualitative leap" in relations, they said on Tuesday after a visit by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that followed years of strained ties.

It was Abadi's first visit to Saudi Arabia since he became prime minister in 2014.

After a quarter century without diplomatic relations, which were cut following Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Riyadh sent an ambassador back to Baghdad last year.

But he left amid controversy, reflecting the challenge of improving relations despite Abadi's support for better ties.

In a joint statement, Iraq and Saudi Arabia expressed "their happiness over a qualitative leap in relations" after Abadi met King Salman on Monday.

Talks also included crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef and deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The talks stressed the need "to explore opportunities to support economic and trade relations," the statement said.

It made no mention of Gulf tensions with Qatar, but the two sides agreed to intensify efforts against extremism and "terrorism".

Abadi's visit came with the Gulf region in turmoil after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other allies cut ties with Qatar more than two weeks ago.

They accuse Doha of supporting extremist groups, including some backed by Iran.

Qatar strongly denies the charges.

Abadi, from his country's largest Shiite political bloc, is to also visit Kuwait and Iran, Saudi Arabia's Shiite-dominated regional rival.

Riyadh has long expressed concern about Iran's alleged interference in the region, including through Iraq's Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary group which has played a major role in reclaiming parts of the country seized by the Islamic State group.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that it captured three Iranian Revolutionary Guards aboard an explosive-laden boat heading to an oil platform in the Gulf, further ratcheting up tensions in the region.

Iran said the three people detained were fisherme
By Jeffrey Heller

| JERUSALEM

JERUSALEM Israel broke ground on Tuesday on its first new settlement in the occupied West Bank for two decades, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, announcing the symbolic move on the eve of a peace mission by White House senior adviser Jared Kushner."Work began today on-site, as I promised, to establish the new settlement," Netanyahu wrote on his Twitter feed, which included a photograph of mechanical equipment digging into a rocky field.He was referring to the construction of Amichai, which will house some 300 settlers evicted in February from the Amona outpost after Israel's Supreme Court ruled their homes had been built illegally on privately-owned Palestinian land.By highlighting the earth-moving work - no date has been announced for actual housing construction - Netanyahu appeared to suggest he believed he had little to fear from U.S. President Donald Trump's administration over settlement building that has drawn Palestinian and international condemnation.During a meeting at the White House in February, Trump asked Netanyahu to "hold back on settlements for a little bit", a request seen as part of an effort to build trust with the Palestinians ahead of a renewed push for peace. The White House said on Sunday that Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, would arrive in Israel on Wednesday and that he and Jason Greenblatt, a top U.S. national security aide who preceded him on Monday, would meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Nabil Abu Rdainah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, called the ground-breaking "a grave escalation and an attempt to foil efforts by the American administration to revive negotiations", especially (before) the arrival of the U.S. envoys".LENGTHY PROCESS

Kushner and Greenblatt will sound out both sides "about their priorities and potential next steps" as part of Trump's attempt to revive peace talks that collapsed in 2014, a White House official said.

But the official said any peace deal "will take time" and likely require "many visits by both Mr. Kushner and Mr. Greenblatt" to the region.Palestinians regard settlements, around 200 of which have been built over the past 50 years on occupied land that they seek for a state, as obstacles to a viable and contiguous country. Around 400,000 Israelis now live in West Bank settlements, among around 2.8 million Palestinians.When Trump visited Jerusalem on May 22-23, he studiously avoided any mention of settlements, at least in public.

Israel decided in March to build Amichai, which means "My People Live", and in recent weeks it has approved plans for more than 3,000 settler homes elsewhere in the West Bank.Most countries view settlements that Israel has built on land captured in the June 1967 Middle East war as illegal. Israel disputes that, citing biblical, historical and political links to the West Bank, as well as security interests.The Palestinians want an independent state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with its capital in East Jerusalem, and also claim historical and political links to the land.Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and the territory is now ruled by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas. (Additional reporting by Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; editing by Mark Heinrich)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Jerusalem: Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the start of work on Tuesday on a new settlement in the occupied West Bank as US envoys prepared to discuss a new peace push.

"Today, the work on the ground has begun, as I promised, to establish a new settlement for the Amona settlers," Netanyahu tweeted over a picture of a small bulldozer and a digger working on a rocky hill overlooking a vineyard.

   ,  ,     .   ,          pic.twitter.com/sNDKlDzaCu  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) June 20, 2017

The Amichai settlement, in the northern West Bank, is earmarked for some 40 families evicted from the wildcat outpost of Amona in February under a high court order which ruled their homes had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.

It is the first new Jewish settlement in the West Bank in some 25 years. The extensive construction in the meantime has focused on expanding existing settlements.

"After dozens of years, I have the privilege to be the prime minister building a new settlement in Judaea and Samaria," Netanyahu tweeted, using the Hebrew biblical term for the West Bank.

His announcement comes a day after Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on relaunching peace talks that collapsed in 2014.

Greenblatt is to be joined by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday.Together they will "spearhead the peace effort" the US administration believes is possible, a White House official said.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and are considered one of the main obstacles to peace.

Trump has asked Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks to build momentum for a new peace push.But the Israeli leader faces political pressure from the settler movement, which wields strong influence in his right-wing governing coalition.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called the new building work a "serious escalation," in a statement published by official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The project, he said, was "an attempt to thwart the efforts of the American administration, to thwart the efforts of US president Donald Trump."

Ahead of the arrival of the two envoys, the White House urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "create an environment conducive to peacemaking".

"Those who want to make it harder rather than easier to make peace, whether by their statements or their actions, must be prevented from subverting the chances for peace," the official said.

Tuesday's ground-clearing work was in preparation for the installation of dozens of mobile homes for the families evicted from Amona, a spokesman for the main settler organisation, the Yesha Council, said.

The settlers would live in the temporary accommodation while work continues on building more permanent homes, the spokesman added
JERUSALEM Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian who tried to stab them in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Israeli military said, and the Palestinian health ministry confirmed a Palestinian had been killed.The Israeli military said the soldiers had been under immediate threat from the Palestinian when they opened fire on him. A wave of Palestinian street attacks that began in October 2015 has slowed in recent months but not stopped. At least 253 Palestinians and one Jordanian citizen have been killed since the violence began.

Israel says at least 171 of those killed were carrying out attacks while others died during clashes and protests.

Thirty-eight Israelis, two American tourists and a British student have been killed in Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car-rammings. Israel blames the violence on incitement by the Palestinian leadership, while the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, says desperation over Israeli occupation of land sought by Palestinians for a state is the cause.

U.S.-brokered peace talks between the sides broke down in 2014. Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to try and reach a "historic deal" between the sides. His Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt met Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Tuesday and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner was due in the region on Wednesday. (Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Richard Balmforth)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that Americans who are "stupid" enough to still want to travel to North Korea should be required to sign a waiver absolving the US government of any blame should they be harmed while there.

McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said North Korea "murdered" Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American college student who died just days after North Korea released him from detention in a coma. He had arrived in Ohio on 13 June after being held for more than 17 months.

"They just murdered him," McCain said.

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was convicted of subversion. He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor.

"There should at least be a form for them to fill out that says, 'If I go to North Korea, I understand I am taking great risk and I do not hold the American government responsible. Now I hope the American government will help, etc., etc. But I realize what has happened to previous American citizens, including their deaths,'" McCain, R-Ariz., said in a brief interview.

"I would have that first because if people are that stupid that they still want to go to that country then at least they assume the responsibility for their welfare," McCain said.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the US should think about banning US citizens from visiting North Korea.

"I think we should strongly consider it," Corker said. "It puts us in a really precarious situation when Americans are detained there."

The United States, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of using foreign detainees has hostages to secure diplomatic concessions. Three Americans remain in custody in the North.

"It's unsafe," Corker said, adding that the "trumped up charges" like those Warmbier was accused of "can continue to happen."
Kabul: Kabul authorities on Tuesday demolished a sit-in camp erected to protest spiralling insecurity, triggering street clashes that left at least one demonstrator dead in the latest bout of violence to shake the city.

Tensions have been high in Kabul since a truck bomb on 31 May killed more than 150 people and wounded hundreds in the fortified diplomatic quarter, the deadliest attack in the Afghan capital since 2001.

Protesters enraged by rising insecurity had established a protest tent near the bombing site, demanding the resignation of President Ashraf Ghani's government. Authorities moved in unannounced after midnight Tuesday to mow down the tent, prompting a backlash from protesters as police responded with live rounds.

"In this unfortunate incident one person was killed and six wounded", said Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah, pledging an investigation.

"These kind of incidents damage the trust between the government and the people".

The latest violence comes after four people were killed when protesters clashed with police in days after the truck bombing, prompting officials to beat them back with live rounds fired into the air, tear gas and water cannon.

Protesters had set up at least six sit-in camps around Kabul after those clashes. They took down most of them after an agreement with the government, but had refused to leave the tent near the bombing site despite insurgent threats looming over the city.

Much of Kabul is effectively on lockdown, with many streets blocked with shipping containers and armoured vehicles, but that had not stopped dozens from joining the sit-ins.

"The government once again committed a human rights violation, we will not remain silent, we will return", protest leader Haroon Mutaref said after today's clashes.

Any violent showdown between authorities and protesters could spiral into chaos, a threat that has prompted government allies including former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to call for peace.
London: Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gathered at the spot where a man ploughed a van into Muslims leaving prayers at a mosque, the fourth terror strike in Britain in four months.

Eleven people were injured in the attack, which took place early on Monday near Finsbury Park mosque, north London, raising fears of retaliation against Muslims after recent assaults by Islamic extremists.

One elderly man, who had collapsed just before the incident, was pronounced dead at the scene, but it is not yet known whether his death was directly linked to the van assault.

Among the roughly 100 people at the vigil, some carried signs reading "United Against All Terror".

"One of the things that all these terrorists share is a perverse ideology that wants to fuel division and divide our communities. We're not going to let them," said Mayor Sadiq Khan, speaking after prayers at the Muslim Welfare House on Monday evening.

Flowers were left at the scene where hours earlier the 47-year-old van driver was pinned down by locals and shielded from violence by an imam, before being detained by police.

The driver was later arrested on suspicion of "the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder", the police said.

The suspect was identified by British media as Darren Osborne, a father of four who lived in the Welsh capital Cardiff.

As police searched a property, five residents speaking to journalists from the Press Association news agency identified images of the arrested man as their neighbour, Osborne.

Security Minister Ben Wallace told BBC radio that the suspect was "not known to us".

London police chief Cressida Dick said the incident was "quite clearly an attack on Muslims" and promised a stepped-up police presence near mosques as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close.

Witness Abdiqadir Warra told AFP the van "drove at people" and that some of the victims were carried for several metres along the road.

"He was shouting: 'I want to kill all Muslims'," another witness, Khalid Amin, told BBC television.

The Finsbury Park Mosque said the van "deliberately mowed down Muslim men and women leaving late evening prayers" at the mosque and the nearby Muslim Welfare House shortly after midnight.

Eleven people were hurt, all Muslims, with nine requiring hospital treatment. Two were in a very serious condition, police said.

One Algerian man was among those injured, the north African country said.

Locals pinned down the driver and the imam of the Muslim Welfare House stepped in to stop him receiving a mob beating.
Bamako(Mali): Thirty-one people were killed over the weekend in central Mali as ethnic groups clashed over land in a zone where the state is near-absent and jihadists roam freely.

Nomadic Fulani people and farmers from the Dogon ethnic group have engaged in tit-for-tat violence sparked by Fulanis grazing their cattle on Dogon land.

Dogons also accuse Fulanis in the area of colluding with cleric Amadou Koufa, whose Islamist group recently joined the Group to Support Islam and Muslims, a jihadist alliance with links to al-Qaeda.

The Malian army confirmed "31 dead, (comprising) 27 Fulanis and four Dogons," along with nine more injured, in a statement released last night.

The army said it had spoken with mayors, village chiefs and imams to persuade them to halt the violence in Mopti region.

But a local official in the area said the absence of the government in the area had created a vacuum where jihadists were thriving.

"The absence of the authorities in this part of the country because of the presence of jihadists like Koufa facilitates this kind of behaviour," the official said on condition of anonymity.

A resident of the area described a "revenge attack" by Dogons against two Fulani villages, following the widely reported murder of a Dogon in a fight last week.

Increased availability of arms from Libya has contributed to intercommunal violence in Mali, experts say, while drought has forced herders into areas traditionally cultivated by farmers.

Human Rights Watch said in April that herder and farmer groups "have long had disputes and misunderstandings over access to water and land," but cautioned that the proliferation of Islamist armed groups meant such disputes "have become increasingly deadly.
An Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist alliance claimed responsibility on Monday for an attack on a tourist resort near Mali's capital that left five people dead, including members of a European Union mission to the country.

The Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, a fusion of jihadist groups with previous Al-Qaeda links, said in a statement three of its "martyrs" had killed Westerners in Sunday's assault on the Kangaba Le Campement resort.

The group, also known as Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimeen in Arabic, said the attackers were from the Fula ethnic group and battled for "many hours" at the popular eco-lodge near Bamako, which termed it a site of "debauchery".

Their statement was quickly picked up by extremist monitor SITE and two Mauritanian news agencies known for reporting on the region's jihadist activity, after being posted on the group's Telegram channel.

Three foreigners, a Malian civilian and a Malian soldier were killed in the latest high-profile assault in north and west Africa targeting locals and tourists, including in neighbouring Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.

Witnesses said European Union and United Nations staff raised the alert to speed up the deployment of Malian and French special forces when the shooting began at Kangaba.

Some assailants had shouted "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest), according to other witnesses interviewed.

European Union foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini, speaking in Luxembourg, confirmed two of the victims were European Union staff, a Portuguese soldier who was training troops in the Malian army and a Malian woman.

Prosecutor Boubacar Sidiky Samake said other victims were a Chinese man, a Malian woman and a Portuguese man who died from bullet wounds, while a man from Cameroon died of a heart attack at the scene.

Samake also announced that a criminal investigation has been opened and that Kalashnikovs, a pistol and ammunition had been retrieved from the site of the atttack.

At least four suspected jihadists have been placed in custody while four attackers were killed during the incident, security minister Salif Traore said.

Traore said 36 hostages, mostly French and Malian, were freed, but around 20 members of Mali's special forces remained at the eco-lodge on Monday.

Kangaba is known to be popular with expatriates. The Portuguese soldier who died was among off-duty members of the European Union's army training mission in Mali, and of MINUSMA, the United Nations peacekeeping force in the country.

A Kangaba employee described ushering clients into a hiding place, a possible explanation for the relatively low death toll compared with the lives lost in previous assaults on tourist targets in west Africa.

Among those saved on Sunday were two Spaniards, two Dutch and two Egyptian nationals, according to the security ministry.

Domestic and foreign forces deployed in Mali's troubled north and centre have been repeated targets of jihadist forces, but attacks on civilians in and around the capital are rare, with the last major incident in November 2015 when gunmen stormed the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako.

Samake said on Monday that the Kangaba attack "bore all the hallmarks" of the Radisson Blu assault.

That siege, which left 20 people dead, led to the government imposing a state of emergency which has been in place more or less ever since.

Earlier in June, the United States embassy in Bamako had warned about "a possible increased threat of attacks against Western diplomatic missions, places of worship" and other places frequented by Westerners.

In January, Kangaba's owner Herve Depardieu had complained about the "alarming security information" issued by foreign consulates.

In a sign of Mali's ongoing instability, one soldier was killed and three wounded on Monday in the northern town of Bamba, in what the armed forces said was yet another "terrorist attack".

In 2012, Mali's north fell under the control of jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaeda who hijacked an ethnic Tuareg-led rebel uprising, though the Islamists were largely ousted by a French-led military operation in January 2013.

Since then, jihadists have continued to mount numerous attacks on civilians and the army, as well as on French and United Nations forces stationed there.

The unrest has continued despite a 2015 peace deal between the government and Tuareg-led rebels that aimed to tackle some of the grievances held by separatists in the north.

Despite the presence of the 12,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping mission and French troops serving in a separate counter-terrorism force operating across the Sahel region, instability is growing.

France is pressing the United Nationa Security Council to quickly adopt a resolution to fund and support a new African anti-jihadist force in the Sahel, comprising troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso.

But Washington says the resolution is too vague. As the leading financial contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations, it also wants to tighten spending.

After paying homage to victims, African Union Commission (AU) Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat on Monday described "the crucial importance of the Security Council's support to the collective efforts of the countries of the region," referring to the proposed resolution.

Mogherini, who has promised 50 million euros ($56 million) to back the new force, said Monday that Europeans and Africans were "brothers and sisters" in the fight against terror.
Mexico City: Activists, human-rights lawyers and journalists in Mexico filed a criminal complaint on Monday following a report that their smartphones had been infected with spying software sold to the government to fight criminals and terrorists.

The complaint to the attorney general's office by nine people followed a report by The New York Times that some of them had been spied on with software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group sold to Mexico's government.

Citing a report by a research group that investigated the alleged spying, the complaint says the attorney general's office and the defense ministry were among government organisations that purchased the software.

Those claiming to be targeted by the software included Carmen Aristegui, a journalist who in 2014 helped reveal that President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife had acquired a house from a major government contractor, as well as Carlos Loret de Mola, a journalist at leading television network Televisa.

Others included in the complaint were anti-corruption activists and lawyers representing the families of 43 trainee teachers whose disappearance and apparent massacre in 2014 created a huge public relations headache for Pena Nieto.

Daniel Millan, a spokesman for Pena Nieto's office, issued a statement saying that there was no proof the Mexican government was responsible for the spying described in the story by The New York Times. "We condemn any attempt to violate the right to privacy of any person," the statement said.

A Reuters report in 2015 showed government surveillance requests were gathering speed in Mexico, raising concerns about a lack of oversight in a country plagued by corruption and collusion between security forces and criminal gangs.

Mexico's government purchased about $80 million worth of spyware from NSO Group on condition it would only be used to investigate criminals and terrorists, the Times said.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets United States' president Donald Trump next week in Washington, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Trump has ordered a review of the US visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possible changes ahead.

The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the prime minister's visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on 26 June. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former US president Barack Obama.

However, Trump's focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.

The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the US trade deficit with India also widened.

The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.
Wellington (New Zealand): Three months away from an election, Prime Minister of New Zealand Bill English is facing awkward questions about how he handled a lawmaker who is accused of making secret recordings and then lying about what he did.

English on Tuesday released a statement he made to police in 2016, saying that lawmaker Todd Barclay told him he left a recording device running in his district office and captured criticism from a staffer.

Under New Zealand law, it is illegal to secretly record other people's conversations. Police investigated Barclay, but the conservative lawmaker refused an interview and police said they closed the case due to insufficient evidence.

Barclay told reporters early on Tuesday that he was aware of the allegations and "totally refute them," a statement that echoed earlier denials.

But after English released his police statement, Barclay said he'd read it and accepted it.

"I'm sorry if any of the answers I gave this morning were misleading," Barclay said during a hastily arranged news conference.

He said that it was a stressful time during a difficult employment dispute, but that he couldn't comment further due to legal reasons. He left without answering any questions.

So far, Barclay hasn't faced any political sanctions. English was asked by reporters why he hadn't censured the lawmaker.

"I told the police. The police conducted an investigation," English said. "As far as I was concerned, that was the end of the matter. Now it's a matter for Todd around the statements he might have made."

English released his police statement after an investigation by the Newsroom website revealed he sent texts that formed part of the police investigation.

In those texts, English said Barclay had recorded staffer Glenys Dickson. He said that after Dickson quit, she'd been given a settlement that was larger than normal "because of the privacy breach," and that part of it had been paid for from the prime minister's budget. "Everyone unhappy," English wrote in one text, according to Newsroom.

English has declined to say how much Dickson was paid.

Opposition leader Andrew Little said that English's previous comments about the case were dismissive and that he seemed to be covering things up to protect Barclay.

"All that time he was, in fact, donkey deep in this scandal," Little said in a statement.

Recent opinion polls indicate that English's National Party remains the most popular party and English the preferred prime minister ahead of September's nationwide elections. Under New Zealand's proportional voting system, larger parties typically form alliances with smaller parties to govern.
By Stephanie Nebehay

| GENEVA

GENEVA A senior North Korean official speaking after the death of a U.S. student held prisoner for 17 months by Pyongyang said on Tuesday his country followed national law and international standards in its treatment of detainees.Otto Warmbier, 22, died at a hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday, a week after being released from North Korea in a coma.Han Tae Song, North Korea's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, speaking in his first interview since taking up the post in February, declined to comment specifically about Warmbier's case or the fate of other American, South Korean and Canadian detainees still held by his country.But he firmly rejected two statements issued last week by Tomas Ojea-Quintana, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, about detainees and stalled family reunions between Koreans on both sides of the divided peninsula."His remarks are unacceptable and distorting realities," Han told Reuters at the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) diplomatic mission along Lake Geneva.

Ojea-Quintana had called on Pyongyang on Friday to explain why Warmbier was in a coma when he was returned home after being denied access to legal and consular services. The U.N. expert said his crime of stealing an item bearing a propaganda slogan seemed "disproportionate" to the 15-year prison term."NOT AFRAID"

"That is what we expected from him. As I said already, he (Ojea-Quintana) is the model servant of the hostile forces," Han said, making clear he was referring to the United States and its allies who conduct joint military exercises regularly along the volatile border.

"We are doing according to our national laws, and according to the international standards," Han said, adding that he was not an expert on detention issues.Asked about the United States and other countries possibly imposing wider sanctions on North Korea, he replied: "My country has been under sanctions for more than 60 years by Americans."I don't know what kind of sanctions they are going to impose on us, but we are not afraid."

Ojea-Quintana said that "time is running out" for many elderly Koreans keen to see relatives separated since the 1950-53 war and backed Seoul's proposal to resume them in August. He said North Korea had demanded the return of 13 North Korean workers "resettled in Seoul", as a precondition to further talks on reunions, halted in Oct. 2015."If the issue of the reunion of families is to be resolved properly, the one who is responsible for the unheard-of abduction of DPRK (North Korean) citizens should be brought to international justice...and the South Korean authorities should repatriate the DPRK women abductees to their parents without further delay."Han said the North Koreans - 12 waitresses and their manager - were young and had not been seen in public since their "abduction" by South Korean agents in China last year.Seoul says the workers defected in April 2016 and sought asylum. (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
United States ambassador to the Unites Nations Nikki Haley on Tuesday lashed out at North Korea over the death of a 22-year-old American student after he was freed by Pyongyang, saying his memory will serve as an "indelible reminder" of the "barbaric nature" of the regime's dictatorship.

"Countless innocent men and women have died at the hands of the North Korean criminals, but the singular case of Otto Warmbier touches the American heart like no other," Haley said in a statement on the death of Otto Warmbier.

Warmbier was a student at the University of Virginia and had visited North Korea during a trip to China.

He was detained at the Pyongyang airport in early January in 2016 and charged with committing "hostile act" against the country's authoritarian government for trying to steal a propaganda poster.

Warmbier was released from a North Korean prison last week and was sent back home in a coma, a condition he had been in for more than a year in a coma. He died on Monday at the Cincinnati hospital.

Haley said while Warmbier's memory will always be a blessing to his family, "it will also serve as an indelible reminder to us of the barbaric nature of the North Korean dictatorship".

She lashed out against the decades-long "inhumanity" of the North Korean regime, saying numerous investigations have been conducted and endless volumes have been written about how "that outlaw government has tortured and murdered generations of its own citizens".
Vatican City: Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to the tombs of two Italian priests known for their progressive social views and works during Italy's postwar years.

The pontiff began with an early visit to Bozzolo, a village in the country's north where Father Primo Mazzolari died in 1959.

"Father Mazzolari was convinced that the destinies of the world play out at the margins," said Francis, who has often made efforts to reach the faithful who live on society's edge.

The pope also praised him as a "priest who was poor and not a poor priest, which is not the same thing."

Mazzolari's preaching was marked by calls for social justice, positions that often earned the ire of his superiors, to the point that he was banned at one point from preaching outside his diocese.

Some of his books were also banned, but in 1959, three months before his death, he met with Pope John XXIII, who welcomed him as a priest inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Pope Francis then travelled to Barbiana, about an hour's drive northeast of Florence in central Italy, to visit the grave of Father Lorenzo Milani. Shortly after arriving in the village in 1954, Milani opened a school for working-class children while advocating the use of innovative teaching methods.

Milani, who died in 1967, had "a spiritual concern... for schools, which he never stopped believing could be a field hospital for helping the wounded and reclaiming society's outsiders and outcasts," Francis said in a video message published in April.
Moscow: The next round of Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital Astana has been scheduled for 4-5 July, the Kazakh foreign ministry said on Monday.

"The participants plan to discuss the situation in Syria, the process of abiding by agreements reached during previous rounds of talks in Astana, including the creation of de-escalation zones in Syria", the Kazakh foreign ministry said in an official statement.

Earlier on Monday Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said the talks would be held on 10 July.

A source in Geneva close to the negotiations confirmed to AFP that the Astana talks would take place on 4-5 July but that the Geneva talks would start on 10 July.

Lavrov told reporters in Beijing that the UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura  who announced the date for the Geneva round on Saturday would take part in the Russian-backed talks.

A new round of Astana talks had been scheduled for June but was indefinitely postponed as key players wrangled over the future of fragile safe zones agreed for Syria in May.

Russia and Iran, which back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces in the war, and Turkey, a supporter of rebel forces, signed an agreement on 4 May on setting up four safe zones.

Lavrov today said these zones "are one of the possible options to move forward together".

Moscow has spearheaded the Astana talks since the start of the year as it tries to turn its game-changing military intervention on the ground into a negotiated settlement.

The tense negotiations  seen as a complement to the broader UN-backed talks in Geneva  have involved armed rebels and government officials and have focused mainly on military issues.

The last Geneva talks ended on 19 May after four days without making any real progress.

The six-year Syrian conflict has killed more than 320,000 people and seen nearly two thirds of Syrians forced from their homes.
Somalia: At least 15 people are dead after a suicide car bomber posing as a milk delivery van detonated at a district headquarters in Somalia's capital, police said Tuesday.

The death toll may rise, as some were badly hurt in the explosion at Wadajir district headquarters in Mogadishu, Captain Mohamed Hussein told The Associated Press.

Most of the dead were civilians, Hussein said. Aamin Ambulance service said it had transported 18 wounded, seven of them women. Two of the eight bodies it transported were women, it said.

The al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab extremist group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack via its Shahada News Agency, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist groups.

At the blast scene, debris was burning and bricks and body parts were scattered among destroyed cars. One man was pulled alive from under a large stone after a wall fell on him in the explosion.

Weeping women stood nearby, anxiously waiting for news about loved ones.

The blast comes less than a week after al-Shabab gunmen carried out an overnight siege on a popular restaurant in the Somali capital, killing at least 31 people.

The Somalia-based al-Shabab often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu, including hotels, military checkpoints and areas near the presidential palace. It has vowed to step up attacks after the recently elected government launched a new military offensive against it.

Al-Shabab last year became the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa, with more than 4,200 people killed in 2016, according to the Washington-based Africa Center for Strategic Studies.

The extremist group also faces a new military push from the United States after President Donald Trump approved expanded operations, including airstrikes, against al-Shabab.
Seoul: South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday condoled the death of a United States student who was released by North Korea less than a week ago.

Moon sent a consolation letter to the family of Otto Warmbier, 22, who passed away within days of his release, Xinhua news agency reported.

Moon's spokesman Park Soo-hyun told the media that the President expressed regrets for the American university student's death in the letter sent to the Warmbier family.

The University of Virginia student was held prisoner in North Korea while travelling.

Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 for allegedly trying to steal an item showing a propaganda slogan, and was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in March.

Following a series of diplomatic contacts with Washington, Pyongyang released Warmbier, who was in coma.

Moon took the opportunity to urge Pyongyang to return other South Korean and United States citizens held there, vowing to make all-out efforts for their release.

Moon's comments came ahead of his 29 June visit to Washington for his first two-day summit meeting with United States president Donald Trump.
Colombo: Sri Lankan health authorities on Tuesday warned that the country was facing a dengue epidemic with over 63,000 people affected by the virus and at least 200 patients dead.

Health workers at the Ministry of Health's Epidemiology Unit said there was a tremendous rise in the Type 2 virus and urgent preventive and curative measures were ongoing to prevent it from spreading further, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Mosquito breeding places are abundant throughout the country. With 63,987 patients reported in the first six months of this year alone, what we are facing is an epidemic," the workers said.

"This situation warrants regular removal of possible mosquito breeding sites from the environment. It is also important to seek medical attention in the event of fever by day three of the illness," he added.

Last year a total of 54,727 dengue patients and 78 deaths were reported throughout the island nation.

So far this year, the most number of cases have been reported from the Western Province, with 27,272 patients.

Colombo district recorded the highest number with 14,189 patients while Gampaha district recorded the second highest number with 9,370 patients.

Trincomalee district recorded a total of 4,318 dengue patients.
Bangkok: A suspect arrested for the bombing of an army hospital in Bangkok says he carried out the attack that wounded 21 people to symbolize defiance against Thailand's ruling military junta.

Wattana Pumret, a 61-year-old retired electrical engineer, said Tuesday at a police news conference that he acted on his own when he planted a bomb in a guest reception room in Phramongkutklao Hospital on May 22, the third anniversary of a military coup that ousted a democratically elected government.

Police said they have also charged him for several other bombings as long ago as 2007 for which Wattana took responsibility. No one was killed in any of them.

Thailand experienced intermittent but sometimes severe political violence after another coup in 2006, as contending factions battled for power.
Washington: Pakistan and Afghanistan should have "effective" political and military ties and their borders must be secure for the US to succeed in the war-torn country, the top American military officer has said.

Marine General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said, "Pakistan is a key to Afghanistan and its security."

"And ensuring that Haqqani does not have sanctuary in South Asia, and making sure the Taliban don't have sanctuary in South Asia, making sure there's a secure border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is critical, making sure there's a effective political and military relationships between Pakistan and Afghanistan, that's one of the interdependent variables that's going to allow us to be successful," he said.

Dunford said this on Monday during an appearance at the National Press Club when asked how would the Afghan crisis be resolved and to what extent it involved pressurising Pakistan.

Gen Dunford, however, said that "no decision" has been made yet on US troop numbers in Afghanistan.

US Defence Secretary James Mattis last week said President Donald Trump has authorised him to "manage" troop levels in Afghanistan. That confirmation was seen as an indication that more American forces could be sent to the war-torn country amidst a surge in attacks by the Taliban.

"One decision that was made by the president was to delegate that decision to Secretary Mattis in terms of forces that would be on the ground," he said.

"But (Defense) Secretary (James) Mattis' decision about additional forces in Afghanistan will be made in the context of a broader strategy review for South Asia that is ongoing and is expected to report back probably in some time in the middle of July," he said.

"So when Secretary Mattis makes a decision about force levels...You can expect that he'll communicate that in a broader context; again, specifically the context of that strategy review. So, it won't be just about Afghanistan. There are a number of interdependent variables that bear on the problem inside of Afghanistan across the region. And we'll be prepared to talk about those as well when we talk about force management levels," Dunford said.

Asked whether Mattis has recommended an increase of 4,000 American troops, the top American military officer said the reason why this number has been raised is there is a request by the commander to "thicken the advise-assist effort in Afghanistan".

"In other words, he's identified areas where he believes additional forces could make the adviser effort in Afghanistan more effective," Dunford said.

"There is also an outstanding requirement for forces that the commander asks for from NATO last year. So that's what you also heard him talk about publicly. And we're short about 3,000 from the stated NATO requirement for forces in Afghanistan. That's where the numbers come from, but again, what I'd emphasise is that, any decision on numbers is going to be done in that broader context," he said.
UNITED NATIONS The United Nations Security Council on Tuesday approved the appointment of a former Lebanese culture minister as the new U.N. envoy to Libya, diplomats said, ending an unusually contentious four-month search.U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Friday officially put forward Ghassan Salame, a professor of International Relations and Conflict Resolution at Sciences Po in Paris, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Saturday. The 15-member council must agree by consensus on the appointment of special envoys and members had until Tuesday evening to raise any objections. There were none, diplomats said.

The search for a successor to Martin Kobler, a German diplomat who has served as the U.N. representative in Libya since November 2015, began in February when Guterres proposed former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad for the job.The United States rejected Fayyad because of his nationality. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the United Nations had been "unfairly biased in favour of the Palestinian Authority to the detriment of our allies in Israel."

Guterres described the U.S. rejection as "a loss for the Libyan peace process and for the Libyan people."

Following that objection, Russia and other council members then rejected a British candidate and an American candidate, said diplomats. Kobler's posting was briefly extended until the end of June. Libya slid into turmoil after the 2011 overthrow of ruler Muammar Gaddafi, with rival governments and armed alliances competing for power. A U.N.-backed government in Tripoli has struggled to impose its authority and has been rejected by factions in the east. The U.N. envoy to Libya has been trying to broker peace.The political chaos and security vacuum has allowed Islamist militant groups to gain a foothold and human traffickers to thrive. Libya is the most common departure point for migrants trying to reach Europe by sea. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Washington: The US State Department bluntly questioned on Tuesday the motives of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for their boycott of Doha, saying it was "mystified" the Gulf states had not released their grievances over Qatar.

In Washington's strongest language yet on the Gulf dispute, the State Department said the more time goes by, "the more doubt is raised about the actions taken by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.". At this point, we are left with one simple question: Were the actions really about their concerns regarding Qatar's alleged support for terrorism or were they about the long-simmering grievances between and among the GCC countries," State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, referring to the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

The State Department's comments came in contrast to the language taken by US President Donald Trump who has accused Qatar of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism.Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are key American allies.

The fact the State Department bluntly questioned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi's actions in public suggest Washington was keen for the parties to end the dispute. "We've said to the parties involved: Let's finish this. Let's get this going," Nauert said.

The State Department's comments came in contrast to the language taken by US President Donald Trump who has accused Qatar of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are key American allies.

The fact the State Department bluntly questioned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi's actions in public suggest Washington was keen for the parties to end the dispute. "We've said to the parties involved: Let's finish this. Let's get this going," Nauert said.

The State Department's comments came in contrast to the language taken by US president Donald Trump who has accused Qatar of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are key American allies.

The fact the State Department bluntly questioned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi's actions in public suggest Washington was keen for the parties to end the dispute. "We've said to the parties involved: Let's finish this. Let's get this going," Nauert said.

The State Department's comments came in contrast to the language taken by US president Donald Trump who has accused Qatar of being a "high level" sponsor of terrorism.Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar are key American allies.

The fact the State Department bluntly questioned Riyadh and Abu Dhabi's actions in public suggest Washington was keen for the parties to end the dispute. "We've said to the parties involved: Let's finish this. Let's get this going," Nauert said.

Qatar hosts the vital US military base, Al Udeid, in which more than 11,000 US and coalition forces are deployed or assigned to and from which more than 100 aircraft operate.The United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed the measures to isolate Qatar, has said the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days.

The State Department, headed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was encouraging "all sides to de-escalate tensions and engage in constructive dialogue."Qatar's foreign minister said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the Gulf dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago. He added that Doha still believed a solution was possible.

The United Arab Emirates, which along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain imposed the measures to isolate Qatar, has said the sanctions could last for years unless Doha accepted demands that the Arab powers plan to reveal in coming days.

The State Department, headed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was encouraging "all sides to de-escalate tensions and engage in constructive dialogue."Qatar's foreign minister said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the Gulf dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago. He added that Doha still believed a solution was possible.

The State Department, headed by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, was encouraging "all sides to de-escalate tensions and engage in constructive dialogue."Qatar's foreign minister said Doha would not negotiate with its neighbours to resolve the Gulf dispute unless they first lift the trade and travel boycott they imposed two weeks ago. He added that Doha still believed a solution was possible.

"Now that it has been more than two weeks since the embargo started, we are mystified that the Gulf states have not released to the public nor to the Qataris the details about the claims that they are making toward Qatar," Nauert added.There was no immediate comment from Riyadh or Abu Dhabi.Qatar has denied accusations by its neighbours that it funds terrorism, foments regional instability or has cosied up to their enemy Iran.

There was no immediate comment from Riyadh or Abu Dhabi.Qatar has denied accusations by its neighbours that it funds terrorism, foments regional instability or has cosied up to their enemy Iran. The dispute has opened a rift among some of the main US allies in the Middle East.

Since the dispute erupted, US President Donald Trump has taken a tougher stance against Qatar, while the State Department had sought to remain neutral.Nauert said Tillerson had three phone calls and two in-person meetings with the Saudi foreign minister.

Tillerson also spoke by phone three times with Qatar's foreign minister and with the Qatari emir.The UAE's ambassador to the United States said last week a list of demands for Qatar was being compiled and would soon be handed to the United States.He said they would broadly address the three areas of support for terrorism, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms.

The Pentagon has said the boycott was hindering US ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. The Al Udeid base is where a command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place.

Since the dispute erupted, US President Donald Trump has taken a tougher stance against Qatar, while the State Department had sought to remain neutral. Nauert said Tillerson had three phone calls and two in-person meetings with the Saudi foreign minister.

Tillerson also spoke by phone three times with Qatar's foreign minister and with the Qatari emir. The UAE's ambassador to the United States said last week a list of demands for Qatar was being compiled and would soon be handed to the United States.

He said they would broadly address the three areas of support for terrorism, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms.The Pentagon has said the boycott was hindering US ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. The Al Udeid base is where a command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place.

Tillerson also spoke by phone three times with Qatar's foreign minister and with the Qatari emir. The UAE's ambassador to the United States said last week a list of demands for Qatar was being compiled and would soon be handed to the United States.

He said they would broadly address the three areas of support for terrorism, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms.The Pentagon has said the boycott was hindering US ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. The Al Udeid base is where a command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place.

He said they would broadly address the three areas of support for terrorism, meddling in the internal affairs of these countries and attacks through Qatari-owned media platforms. The Pentagon has said the boycott was hindering US ability to plan for long-term operations in the region. The Al Udeid base is where a command for the anti-Islamic State air campaign takes place.
By Steve Gorman

An American university student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his parent said. Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness.""Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement after Warmbier's death at 2:20 p.m. EDT (1820 GMT).His family has said that Warmbier lapsed into a coma in March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in North Korea.Physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he was being treated, said last Thursday that Warmbier showed no sign of understanding language or of awareness of his surroundings, and had made no "purposeful movements or behaviours."There was no immediate word from Warmbier's family on the precise cause of his death.The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.The University of Virginia student and Ohio native was arrested, according to North Korean media, for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan.

North Korea released Warmbier last week and said he was being freed "on humanitarian grounds."The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment on Monday. U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing "the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."Trump told a group of corporate executives meeting with him at the White House that Warmbier had faced tough conditions during his captivity.

The president drew criticism in May when, in an interview with Bloomberg, he said he would be "honoured" to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honoured to do it," Trump said in the interview. "If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that."The student's father, Fred Warmbier, said last week that his son had been "brutalized and terrorized by the Pyongyang government and that the family disbelieved North Korea's story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.Doctors who examined Otto Warmbier after his release said there was no sign of botulism in his system.

Warmbier was freed after the U.S. State Department's special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, travelled to Pyongyang and demanded the student's release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official said last week.Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year. Pyongyang has also vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. Susan Thornton, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said earlier on Monday that the United States was concerned for the welfare of the three other U.S. citizens still held in North Korea - Korean-Americans Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak Song. Jonathan Bae, whose father, Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae spent two years in North Korean captivity before his release in 2014, expressed sadness at Warmbier's death."My heart goes out to the family. I will pray for them and hope they find peace," Jonathan Bae said.Young Pioneer Tours, the group with which Warmbier travelled to North Korea, will no longer be organising tours for U.S. citizens to the isolated country, Troy Collings, a company director, said in a statement. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by David Alexander and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Toni Reinhold)

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By Steve Gorman

University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier died on Monday in a Cincinnati hospital only days after being released in a coma from 17 months of detention in North Korea, his family said in a statement.Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors who examined him last week as having suffered extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness."Physicians said last Thursday that Warmbier had shown no sign of understanding language or of awareness of his surroundings, and had made no "purposeful movements or behaviours."The circumstances of his detention in North Korea, and what medical treatment he received there, remained a mystery. But relatives have said his condition suggests he was physically abused by his captors."Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement following Warmbier's death at 2:20 p.m. EDT (1820 GMT).

His family has said that Warmbier had lapsed into a coma in March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in North Korea.He was arrested, according to North Korean media, for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan. North Korea released Warmbier last week, saying he was being freed "on humanitarian grounds." The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not immediately available for comment.

The University of Virginia student's father, Fred Warmbier, said last week that his son had been "brutalized and terrorized by the Pyongyang government and that the family disbelieved North Korea's story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.Doctors who examined Otto Warmbier after his release said there was no sign of botulism in his system.Warmbier was freed after the U.S. State Department's special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, travelled to Pyongyang and demanded the student's release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official said last week.

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year. Pyongyang has also vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland. U.S. President Donald Trump offered condolences to the Warmbier family and denounced North Korea as a brutal regime with no respect for "basic human decency" and said Warmbier faced tough conditions.Susan Thornton, the U.S. acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said earlier on Monday that the United States was concerned for the welfare of the three other U.S. citizens still held in North Korea - Korean-Americans Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak Song. Young Pioneer Tours, the group with which Warmbier travelled to North Korea, will no longer be organising tours for U.S. citizens to the isolated country, Troy Collings, a company director at the group, said in a statement after his death. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by David Alexander and David Brunnstrom in Washington; Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Timothy Mclaughlin in Chicago; and Michelle Nichols in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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The United States wants China to become more involved in supporting the global fight against terrorism and efforts to defeat Islamic State, including in Iraq, a senior US official said on Monday ahead of high-level security talks with Beijing.

Susan Thornton, the US acting assistant secretary of state for East Asia, said that China has taken only a limited role in counter-terrorism efforts, although it appeared to be becoming more interested.

"We would like to see them step up and take more responsibility," Thornton told reporters as Washington and China's diplomatic and defence chiefs prepared for a meeting in the US capital on Wednesday.

"They have a lot of interests, for example in Iraq, and we think they should be doing to more to contribute to the efforts of the international coalition to defeat Islamic State," she said.

Thornton said Beijing, which is not a member of the 68-member coalition, was increasingly affected by terrorism, as was seen by the recent killing of two Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

Beijing has sent out "early feelers" about getting more involved, Thornton said.

"We'd like to have a good discussion with them about what more we think they can do, certainly in the way of providing resources to governments that are battling against terrorism and trying to help with capacity-building for governments and security forces in various places," she added.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a regular press briefing in Beijing on Tuesday that China and the United States were both victims of terrorism.

"Cooperation is in the interests of both sides," he said, without elaborating.

Wednesday's talks will involve US secretary of state Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis as well as China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of state of the Peoples Liberation Army.

The State Department says they will focus on ways to step up pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs, but also cover areas such as counter-terrorism and territorial rivalries in the strategic South China Sea.

The United States has been at odds with China over the latter's building and fortifying of islands in the disputed waterway.

Thornton said now that there were moves towards agreeing on a code of conduct over the South China Sea, Washington would like to see a freeze on all such construction activity.

She reiterated a call on China to fully implement UN sanctions on North Korea and, while praising Beijing for imposing a ban on North Korean coal imports, added: "We would like to see China do more."
Damascus: At least 45 Islamic State militants were killed in the Syrian city of al-Raqqa, a UK-based war monitor reported on Tuesday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that most of the militants were killed in airstrikes carried out by the United States-led international coalition, reports Efe news.

The international coalition backs the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led alliance that has been fighting against the Islamic State since 6 June in al-Raqqa, the terror organisation's main stronghold in Syria since it established its self-proclaimed caliphate in 2014.

The SOHR said there were clashes between SDF fighters and Islamic State militants in the neighbourhoods of al-Barid and al-Batani, in the western and eastern parts of the city, respectively.

More than 320,000 people have been killed and millions more displaced since Syria's conflict broke out in March 2011.
Seoul: The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The US often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

The latest flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a US college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's defense ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The US military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died on Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea and compound efforts by South Korea's new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, to improve ties with the North.

Moon said in an interview with CBS television broadcast on Tuesday that Warmbier's death showed "we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime," but that talks are still necessary because "we were unable to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only the sanctions and pressure."
Otto Warmbier, the United States student released in a coma last week after nearly 18 months of detention in North Korea, died on Monday, leading President Donald Trump to decry the "brutal regime" in Pyongyang.

The 22-year-old was medically evacuated to the United States on Tuesday last week, suffering from severe brain damage. He died six days later surrounded by relatives in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement announcing Warmbier's death.

The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March 2015 to 15 years hard labour for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the United States decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following the news of his death, voicing compassion for his family.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."

In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson added: "We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."

Doctors last week revealed that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said on Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home but died "at peace."

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced in 2015, saying the college student had contracted botulism and was given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests carried out last week in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that given his young age, Warmbier's severe brain injury was most likely caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, focusing attention on an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

The young man's death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record. A Washington DC-based non-profit group tied Warmbier's fate to many others "starved, tortured, brutalised and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."

"Millions of unknown North Koreans are subjected to the brutality of the Kim regime," the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said in a statement.

Warmbier's father, Fred, lashed out at North Korea last week, telling a news conference, "There is no excuse for any civilised nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long."

In their statement Monday, Warmbier's family said they believed the young man had found a peace of sorts after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on 13 June he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable, almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed, he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

Three more United States citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.

"The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier's life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists. There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result," China-based Young Pioneer Tours said in a statement.

"Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high. The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated," it said.
Washington: The United States will work to restore the deconfliction channel with Russia in Syria that Moscow suspended after Washington's forces downed a Syrian warplane, an official said here.

At a luncheon in Washington, Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the United States would work both by diplomatic and military channels to re-establish the line of communications to avoid confrontations and reduce tensions, adding that there are still ways to avoid clashes although the United States and coalition forces can fully defend themselves, Efe news reported.

"I'm confident that we are still communicating between the coalition operations centre and the Russian operations centre," he said adding,"I think the worst thing any of us could do would be to address this with hyperbole."

The chairman noted that Washington's main objective in Syria is to destroy the Islamic State, something that Russia has also said is central to its own strategy in Syria, where it is defending the interests of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Over the weekend, a US Navy F-18 shot down a Syrian SU-22 fighter-bomber that had bombarded rebel Syrian Democratic Forces, who are US allies and who are participating in the allied offensive to liberate Raqqa from the Islamic State.

Russia said that the shootdown incident was a "cynical violation of Syria's sovereignty".

Dunford said that if Russia is serious about eliminating the Islamic State, it should understand that it is necessary to work to reduce tensions in Syria, where the United States has increased its presence by deploying elite ground forces.
VATICAN CITY The Vatican's first auditor-general, who was appointed two years ago in a move aimed at ensuring transparency in the finances at the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, has resigned, the Vatican said on Tuesday.A brief statement gave no reason for the resignation of Libero Milone, saying merely that he had presented it on Monday to Pope Francis and that the pontiff had accepted it.

It said Milone's relationship with the Vatican, where he had been expected to serve until 2020, had been concluded "by mutual accord".A search for a new auditor-general will begin soon.

Milone, a 68-year-old Italian who is a former chairman and CEO of the global auditing firm Deloitte in Italy, could not be immediately reached for comment.

When Milone was appointed in 2015, Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican's Secretariat for the Economy, said he would be autonomous, answerable only to the pope and free to "go anywhere and everywhere" in the Vatican to review the finances and management of any department.Since his election in 2013, the pope has enacted a series of reforms to clean up the Vatican's sometimes murky finances, including a re-vamp of its bank, the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR). (Reporting by Philip Pullella, editing by Ed Osmond)

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By Jonathan Allen and Ian Simpson

A teenage Muslim girl killed near a Virginia mosque was an apparent victim of "road rage" and her death is not being investigated as a hate crime, police said on Monday.The 17-year-old girl was assaulted before dawn on Sunday in Sterling, Virginia, about 30 miles (50 km) west of Washington, after attending overnight prayers for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims fast from dawn until sunset.The exact cause of her death has not been made public, but a statement from the Fairfax County police said Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, has been arrested and charged with murder.Martinez, a Sterling resident, was in his car when he got into a dispute with the girl and a group of her friends as they walked back from a McDonald's restaurant following prayers at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque, known as ADAMS, police said.

"This tragic case appears to be the result of a road rage incident involving the suspect," a police statement said. "Our investigation at this point does not indicate the victim was targeted because of her race or religion."Officials have declined to identify the girl, with police saying only that she was from Reston, Virginia, but the Washington Post has named her as Nabra Hassanen.

She and her friends were dressed in abayas, the robe-like dress worn by some Muslim women, according to the Post, prompting fears the victim was targeted because she was Muslim.Police arrested Martinez an hour or two after the assault when he was seen driving suspiciously. They found what they believed to be the girl's body on Sunday in a pond.

"Something happened and he (Martinez) became upset. The group started separating a little bit. The victim happened to be closest to him and then he assaulted her," Tawny Wright, a Fairfax County police spokeswoman, said by telephone.She said she was unable to comment further.Martinez was assigned a public defender on Monday and a judge ordered that he remain in jail without bail, according to Raymond Morrogh, the Fairfax commonwealth's attorney, the county's chief prosecutor. (Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York and Ian Simpson in Washington; Additional reporting by Peter Szekely; Editing by Steve Orlofsky and Tom Brown)

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By Anthony Esposito

| CANCUN, Mexico

CANCUN, Mexico Governments from across the Americas on Tuesday chastised Venezuela's socialist leadership for its handling of a political and economic crisis, prompting the OPEC nation's foreign minister to call the critics "lapdogs of imperialism." The United States, Brazil and 10 other members of the 34-nation Organization of American States issued a letter accusing Venezuela of undermining democracy, failing to feed its people and violating rights. "Considering the interruption of the democratic process in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, we believe that there should be a settled solution that includes all Venezuelan parties for the benefit of the people of that nation," said the letter issued at the OAS general assembly in Cancun, Mexico.It called for the release of political prisoners, respect for rights, an election timetable, a "humanitarian channel" to ship food and medicine, and the creation of a group or mechanism to help "effective dialogue among Venezuelans."The 12 nations also called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to abandon a July 30 vote for a super-body with powers to rewrite the country's constitution. Critics see Maduro's move as a ploy to hold on to power.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez fired back, criticizing Mexico's rights record and highlighting poverty, violence and migration in Honduras and other nations.Rodriguez said the country's planned constituent assembly was the only way to peacefully overcome the current crisis and called her critics "lapdogs of imperialism."

"Do you want war? Is that what you want for Venezuela?" the minister said, wearing a red dress, the colour identified with Venezuela's Socialist Party."Great, we've reached the boss," she said as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan began a speech, repeating her jibe that the OAS is an arm of U.S. diplomacy."The only way you could impose this on us is with your Marines, which would meet a strong response in Venezuela," Rodriguez said, referring to the proposal to create a group of nations to help resolve the crisis.

Honduran Foreign Minister Maria Dolores Aguero said Rodriguez should explain how her government was going to alleviate Venezuela's problems."Instead of responding to all of us who want peace for your people, why not tell us how you are going to resolve the crisis they are living?" Aguero said.A meeting on the sidelines failed on Monday to agree on a resolution formally rebuking Venezuela, where 75 people have been killed in protests in recent weeks. (Reporting by Anthony Esposito; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Leslie Adler)

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With the food sector impacted by worker shortages and inflated costs throughout the year, automated food retail is leveling up with new solutions that help cut down on... Read More
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Delta Airlines (NYSE:DAL) ordered 10 more Airbus A321ceo aircraft, signing the agreement with the French-based planemaker at the 2017 Paris Air Show on Tuesday.

The latest order adds to Delta's existing order of 30 A321 aircraft, which it placed last month. Overall, the Atlanta-based airline has ordered 122 A321s, the largest jet in the A320 family of twin-jets.

"It's excellent operating economics and customer capacity also make it a great fit for our U.S. domestic network," Greg May, Delta's senior vice president of supply chain management and fleet, said.

Delta will receive many of the new aircraft from Airbus' U.S. Manufacturing Facility in Mobile, Ala. The planemaker said the plant is expected to produce four more aircraft per month by the end of the year, most going to its U.S. customers.

The A321 can hold up to 236 passengers with a range of 3,700 miles with Sharklets-- wingtip devices, similar to Boeing's Blended Winglets, used to increase fuel efficiency and lower emissions on Airbus aircraft.
Middle East air carrier Qatar Airways was named Airline of the Year at the 2017 Paris Air Show on Tuesday, by Skytrax, an air carrier ratings organization.

Last year the airline came in second place on Skytraxs list of the worlds top 100 airlines, but is no stranger to the top spot; it has won the award in 2011, 2012 and 2015.

The award comes at a time when Qatar Airways is struggling to maintain its presence in the Gulf region as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have cut diplomatic ties with the airlines home country, Qatar, including halting air traffic.

Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker said Monday the blockade on the country would leave a lasting wound, according to The Associated Press. Baker added that he believes the Trump administration would intervene "to make sure that this blockade is lifted soonest and that life in our region comes back to normal, especially since he knows that we are part of his alliance against terrorism and that we are a major player in his strategy in the region."

While the White House has not officially commented on the airlines issue, it released a statement earlier this month regarding President Trumps phone call with Sheikh Tameem bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar.

The president offered to help the parties resolve their differences, including through a meeting at the White House if necessary, it said.

Delta Air Lines was the highest-ranked U.S. carrier on the list at No. 32. JetBlue, Virgin America, Alaska, Southwest, American, United and Hawaiian also made the top 100 list, respectively.

Considered to be the Oscars of the aviation industry, the awards is are based on votes by airlines customers around the globe.

Worlds Top 10 Airlines in 2017:

1) Qatar Airways

2) Singapore Airlines

3) ANA All Nippon Airways (Japan)

4) Emirates (United Arab Emirates)

5) Cathay Pacific (Hong Kong)

6) EVA Air (Taiwan)

7) Lufthansa (Germany)

8) Etihad Airways (United Arab Emirates)

9) Hainan Airlines (China)

10) Garuda Indonesia
Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Monday to a seven-month low as market players saw more signs that rising crude production in the United States, Libya and Nigeria undercut OPEC-led efforts to support the market with output curbs.

"We're seeing more tankers used for storage and more crude from West Africa and Europe being offered into the U.S. Gulf Coast at the same time the Gulf Coast has been an exporter of light sweet crude," said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates in Houston.

"These are all signs of an oversupplied market."

Brent <LCOc1> futures for August fell 46 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at $46.91 a barrel, their lowest since Nov. 29, the day before the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut output for the first six months of 2017.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude <CLc1> futures for July dropped 54 cents, or 1.2 percent, to settle at $44.20 per barrel, the lowest close since Nov. 14. The July contract will expire on Tuesday, and August will become the front month.

Both benchmarks are down more than 15 percent since late May, when producers led by OPEC extended by nine months their pledge to cut output by 1.8 million barrels per day (bpd).

There were still almost 70,000 WTI contracts for July outstanding at the end of trade on Friday, which would require delivery of about 70 million barrels ofoil to Cushing, Oklahoma after Tuesday's expiration.

"Some of the pressure on Monday is because it is hard to get rid of that many (WTI) contracts in just two days," said Phil Davis, managing partner at PSW Investments in Woodland Park, New Jersey, noting "very few traders actually want to take physical delivery."

Traders noted the Brent front-month contract was at the highest premium since late May over the same WTI contract <WTCLc1-LCOc1>.

OPEC supplies jumped in May as output recovered in Libya and Nigeria, two countries exempt from the production cut agreement.

Libya's oil production has risen more than 50,000 bpd after the state oilcompany settled a dispute with Germany's Wintershall, a Libyan source told Reuters.

Analysts said rising U.S. crude production has fed the global glut. Data on Friday showed a record 22nd consecutive week of increases in U.S. oil rigs.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs said if the U.S. rig count holds, fourth-quarter domestic oil production would rise substantially.

There are also signs of stalling demand growth in Asia, the world's biggestoil-consuming region.

Japan's customs-cleared crude imports fell 13.5 percent in May from a year earlier. India took in 4.2 percent less crude in May than the year before.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Louise Heavens and David Gregorio)
Polaris Industries is recalling up to 35,000 all-terrain vehicles in Australia, Europe and New Zealand because they may have violated bans on asbestos use in those countries.

Polaris announced the recall in Australia of a dozen different ATV models sold since Dec. 31, 2003 on Monday. The details of recalls in New Zealand and Europe are still being finalized.

Polaris spokesman James Fuller says a supplier inadvertently provided parts with asbestos to the company. A firm Polaris hired tested the parts and determined they didn't represent a health risk.

No recalls are expected in the United States and Canada because those countries don't ban asbestos in brake pads and other parts.

Polaris is based in Minneapolis and makes ATVs, snowmobiles and the three-wheeled Slingshot roadster.
Alan Schwandt was rushing to his second job of the day when his phone rang with another desperate Phoenix homeowner calling about a broken air conditioner amid a scorching heat wave.

Dressed in gray shorts and a navy long-sleeve shirt emblazoned with the bright-red logo for "Alan's Air," Schwandt quickly crisscrossed the Phoenix metro area to bring relief to flushed residents.

He toiled in temperatures close to 120 degrees (49 degrees Celsius), sometimes with one hand on his cellphone and the other on his tools. Residents who had just spent the night in a stifling home rejoiced when his work was done.

The Associated Press spent part of Monday alongside Schwandt to provide a snapshot into the hectic work necessary in a region heavily reliant on air conditioning to beat the heat. Health officials with Maricopa County, which is home to the Phoenix area, say most heat-related deaths involve people with non-functioning air conditioners.

"Sometimes you wish the phone would ring for more calls, and sometimes you hope the phone doesn't ring," Schwandt said. "This is probably the day you don't want it ringing because there's more work than you can do."

___

Schwandt knew early Monday that it was going to be busy. The temperature was expected to peak at 118 degrees and calls were already coming in.

As a child in Florida, Schwandt watched his father work as an air conditioning repair worker. He later went to school to learn the trade and started his own company in 1978.

He said he hasn't advertised in 20 years, garnering service purely from word of mouth and online reviews.

Monday morning started in Scottsdale, a Phoenix suburb, with a longtime customer who had called the night before.

Russ Goodman said the temperature in his house had risen to 89 degrees (32 degrees Celsius) by the time he went to bed.

"Just in case the whole thing went caput, I'm all set: I have a villa reserved at the hotel," Goodman said as Schwandt and technician, Mike Miller, examined the air conditioning unit.

Schwandt worked methodically, checking blue and red pressure gauges and adding coolant.

He determined they needed to swap the capacitor, which acts like a battery and boosts the heart of the cooling cycle inside the machine.

Twenty minutes later, Goodman gleefully put his hand up to a vent relishing the cold air.

"These are like the unsung heroes  the people that keep my life going," he said.

___

As the mercury climbed above 100 degrees, Schwandt and Miller traveled south to the city of Tempe.

Schwandt fielded another call from a customer before joining his technician on a roof to examine a 15-year-old air conditioner.

The pair replaced a blown fuse and finished the job in less than half an hour.

Schwandt headed back to Scottsdale to drop off Miller at his home office for a separate assignment.

___

Schwandt arrived at a Scottsdale apartment complex at 10:30 a.m. His maintenance truck was among three others at the complex.

The client, Sean Robertson, was relieved to see Schwandt and said that he'd slept on his living room couch Sunday night with a cooling pad on top of his pillow.

Schwandt climbed onto the roof and discovered the unit was too hot to touch because it had been running for 24 hours.

"Turn your unit off if it's not cooling," he said. "All it can do is cause more damage to it."

Schwandt removed several metal panels from the unit's exterior, climbed down the ladder and retrieved a hose and a bucket. He poured cup after cup of water over the fan as two other air conditioning repairmen worked on a nearby rooftop.

Eventually the machine cooled enough so Schwandt could unscrew it to look inside.

He determined that the unit's motor needed to be replaced, but he didn't have the part on hand.

Schwandt promised Robertson he would return later to switch the part, leaving tools behind as he moved on to the next customer.

___

With the sun almost at its zenith, Schwandt reunited with Miller at a home in Phoenix.

Michelle Franklin's air conditioning unit stopped working months ago, but she knew she needed to get it replaced when she saw the heat wave forecast this week.

Miller brought the new unit and Schwandt brought in the heavy equipment: a crane.

Jayme Martens, a crane operator for Smiley Crane Service, said the company helps lift about 180 new air conditioning units every day in the summer. Each crane is equipped with an ice chest, so air conditioning repair workers can have cold bottled water as they work.

"It's always hot but you have a job and have to do your job no matter what it is," Schwandt said.
Jack Ma, the chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, visits Detroit this week to educate U.S. small business owners on marketing their companies to Chinese consumers.

The Chinese market presents tremendous opportunities for U.S. small businesses and farmers to grow their businesses, and in turn, create more U.S. jobs, Ma said in an open letter last April. Chinas middle-class population is projected to exceed 600 million by 2022, or nearly twice the size of the entire U.S. population.

Ma is the featured speaker at Alibabas Gateway 17, a two-day conference beginning Tuesday that is expected to draw more than 3,000 entrepreneurs, the Wall Street Journal reported. Journalist Charlie Rose will moderate a panel featuring Ma and his business experiences during the conferences first day, and the Alibaba chairman will deliver a keynote address on Wednesday.

Entrepreneur Martha Stewart is also set to speak at the conference. Local politicians, including Detroit mayor Mike Duggan, will attend the event as well, Quartz reported.

Ma met with President Donald Trump last January. At the time, he pledged to help U.S. small business owners by selling more American-made goods through Alibabas massive ecommerce market.

Chinese officials have invited Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to visit the country later this year, Fox News reported. At present, it is unclear if a trip will occur.
Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS has announced a $1.8 billion divestment plan to reduce its debt and financial leverage.

The world's largest meatpacker says in a Tuesday statement it plans to sell its U.S.-based unit, Five Rivers Cattle Feeding; shareholding stakes in Brazilian dairy company Vigor Alimentos; and Moy Park, its poultry business in Northern Ireland.

The meatpacker earlier this month sold its units in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay for $300 million to companies controlled by a rival meat processing company in Brazil.

JBS executives are at the center of a political crisis engulfing President Michel Temer. In a secret audio recording of JBS executive Joesley Batista in March, Temer appears to be condoning a payment of hush money to imprisoned former House Speaker Eduardo Cunha.
Updated

Ford (NYSE:F) said Tuesday it will shift production of its Focus compact car to China, not Mexico, beginning in 2019.

The decision comes more than five months after Ford revealed that it would scrap plans to build a new factory in Mexico, a plan that drew the ire of President Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Ford initially opted to shift production to an existing plant in Mexico, but now the company says it will build the Focus in China to serve North America and other markets.

By exporting the Focus from China, Ford expects to save $1 billion compared to its original production plan for the next generation of the compact sedan and hatchback.

Ford also announced on Tuesday that it will invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant, securing 1,000 hourly jobs. The investment will support production of redesigned Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator sport-utility vehicles.

When the redesigned Focus launches in the second half of 2019, it will mark the first time that Ford has exported vehicles from China to the U.S. Rival General Motors (NYSE:GM) already has a Chinese-built model in its showrooms, the Buick Envision crossover.

Shoppers havent been deterred by the Envisions origins. After reaching U.S. showrooms last year, the Envision is already the second-most popular model behind the smaller Encore. Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Autotrader, said the car-shopping websites surveys have found that most consumers dont put much weight on where a car was built.

China is the biggest car market in the world. In this way, it made sense for Ford because theyre looking to become more efficient and cut costs, Krebs added. Especially with sales falling, they dont need multiple plants [making the Focus].

Ford, which already manufactures the Focus in China for local buyers, has seen waning demand for the small car at home. U.S. sales of the Focus are down 20% this year through May, consistent with an industry-wide slump for passenger cars.

Trucks and SUVs have increased their share of the market in 2017. They now account for 61.6% of all new-vehicle sales, according to Autodata. Sales of trucks, SUVs and vans are up 4.7%, while passenger cars have dropped 11%.

Small cars also challenge the industrys profits. Larger vehicles like hot-selling SUVs generate stronger returns. Manufacturers such as Ford and GM build many of their car models south of the border, a strategy that cuts down on production costs.

Fords Joe Hinrichs, president of global operations, noted that Ford will continue to export more vehicles to China than it imports, according to multiple reports. In Fords announcement, Hinrichs said no U.S. hourly jobs will be lost once the Focus moves to China. Ford plans to replace the Focus and C-Max hybrid with two new vehicles, the Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV, at its Michigan Assembly Plant.

Ford confirmed on Tuesday that it will export the 2018 Navigator from Kentucky to China. The Dearborn, Mich.-based automaker also said it will ship the Expedition and Navigator to more than 55 global markets combined.

Large SUVs are attracting a new generation around the world  and were finding new ways to deliver the capability, versatility and technology that customers around the world really want with our all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, Hinrichs said in a statement. At the same time, we also have looked at how we can be more successful in the small car segment and deliver even more choices for customers in a way that makes business sense.

Ford shares fell seven cents, or 0.7%, to $11.16 in recent trading.
The last remaining statewide health insurance company on the ObamaCare exchanges in Iowa, Medica, is requesting a premium increase of 43.5 percent in order to remain in the marketplace for 2018.

The company says the exorbitant price increase is necessary to maintain operations in Iowa where all other insurers have fled. Earlier this year Aetna (NYSE:AET) and Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield both said they would not participate in Iowas Affordable Care Act marketplace next year. Another small company that had provided coverage this year throughout five counties in the state did not file proposed 2018 rates by Mondays deadline.

Insurers across the country are pulling out of the Affordable Care Act marketplace due to instability on the exchanges, the damaging costs of participation and policy uncertainty as Republicans try to pass a new health care bill.

Minnesota-based Medica could still pull its Affordable Care Act plans before next year, it has until September to finalize its decision.

The company insures about 12,500 Iowans through the Affordable Care Act exchange, which offers subsidies for those meeting income guidelines and about 1,400 who buy their own insurance off the exchange.

Iowa is seeking a waiver that would allow it to repurpose federal subsidies to attract younger, healthier individuals into the market.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
McDonalds (NYSE:MCD) rallied to a new all-time high on Tuesday, while shares of Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) sank after the fast-casual chain warned of heavy spending to come.

Analysts at Cowen raised their price target for McDonalds to $180 from $142, noting that the iconic restaurant plans to replace some cashiers with self-service kiosks by the end of the year. Cowen also lifted its same-store sales estimate to 3% growth from 2%.

McDonalds Experience of the Future renovations will reach 2,500 locations in 2017, according to Cowen. The initiative includes kiosks that allow customers to place orders, in addition to table service and dessert counters.

Shares rose 0.7% to $154.23 in recent trading. McDonalds climbed to $155.28, a record high.

Rival Chipotle didnt fare as well, falling nearly 7%. In a regulatory filing, Chipotle issued a warning that second-quarter expenses are on pace to increase up to 0.3%, as the company looks to win back customers. Chipotle plans to invest more money in marketing and promotions.

Chipotle was down 6.6% at $428.47 on Tuesday afternoon. The stock reached a three-month low.

Denver-based Chipotle hasnt returned to its highs of 2015, when the chain had an E. coli outbreak in its restaurants.

FOX Business Networks Charlie Brady contributed to this report.
Whole Foods (NYSE:WFM) founder and CEO John Mackey is stoked about his companys tie up with e-commerce giant Amazon (NADAQ:AMZN). At least, thats the impression he gave in a town hall meeting with employees Friday in his only remarks after the $13.7 billion deal was announced the same day.

Mackey said the proposed purchase amounts to the second most-important day in the history of the company, behind only its creation.

Without a doubt, this is utterly amazing, Macky, who appeared on stage with Amazon executives, said. I am, like, super, super excited.

He likened Whole Foods buyout deal with Amazon to a blind date, and recalled a trip six weeks prior to Seattle where the two companies sat down and mapped out ways they could work together. Though the official announcement last week was scant on detail about the future of Whole Foods brand  other than to say Mackey would remain in his CEO role and the companys headquarters would stay put in Austin  Mackey sought to reassure his team the deal is a favorable one for the brand.

He explained that the company would continue to find ways to evolve the business model, including ongoing efforts to implement its customer-rewards program, and said Boston Consulting Group is conducting cost reduction and customer-service analysis aimed at making the transition into one company more seamless.

Whole Foods has struggled in recent years amid increased competition in the grocery-store space as more mainstream brands like Kroger (NYSE:KR), Sprouts (NYSE:SFM) Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT) and others move to offer more of the fresh, organic food offerings Whole Foods pioneered. The companys struggle to continue differentiating itself from industry mainstays caught the eyes of activist investor Jana Partners, which pushed the brand to make haste on cost-saving indicatives.

In its fiscal second quarter, the company booked revenue of $3.72 billion on adjusted earnings of 37 cents. Sales at stores open at least 12 months, a key measure of success for retailers, declined 2.8% during the period as transactions dipped 3%. At the same time, Whole Foods said it aimed to book total sales of more than $18 billion along with $300 million in cost savings.

During last weeks town hall, Mackey said the Amazon combination would be amazing for customers and employees alike, and put an end to speculation the Whole Foods quality standards would suffer under the Amazon umbrella

Were not changing our quality standards. They [Amazon] love our quality standardstheyre not stupid enough to change that, he said while hinting another brand could emerge from the deal.

Over time, there could be other formats the evolve that, wouldnt be branded Whole Foods Market, potentially. It wouldnt be our standards. But the Whole Foods Market stores and our brands, theyre going to stay all the quality standards we have, he said, to which Amazon CEO of Worldwide Consumer Jeff Wilke remarked his company would be crazy to change them.

We have been incredibly impressed with the pioneering work that youve done over four decadeswe have enormous admiration and respect for that. And the worst thing we could do would be to ask you to change it in some discontinuous way. We want you to continue to do what you do best, Wilke said.
Retired Gen. Jack Keane believes a war would break out if North Korea launched a nuclear missile at the United States.

We will take action before they would launch a missile like that  Thats the worst scenario because that means war with North Korea and horrific casualties in South Korea to be sure, and thats why we have given the Chinese a lot of leeway here to see if they can come through with a sanction program, he told FOX Business Liz MacDonald, adding, What has got us so concerned here  is the acceleration of this program [North Koreas nuclear program], which Kim Jong-un has really put on fast forward. And secondly, the absolute explosive reckless rhetoric associated with what his intentions are to do with a ballistic missile thats nuclearized.

Keane also discussed the death of Otto Warmbier, an American student held in North Korea for 17 months, who passed away Monday.

They murdered him for certain  this outcome was not what they intended. They normally torture our people that they are holding, but we normally get them back because they use them as bargaining chipsthats the reason that they take these hostages, he said.
President Trump met with Silicon Valleys top executives Monday in an effort to streamline the federal governments digital infrastructure.

Our goal is to lead a sweeping transformation of the federal governments technology that will deliver dramatically better services for citizens, stronger protection from cyber-attacks, Trump said during a roundtable meeting at the White House.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) CEO Brian Krzanich, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) CEO Satya Nadella, IBM (NYSE:IBM) CEO Ginni Rometty, Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt and Accenture (NYSE:ACN) CEO Julie Sweet, were among the leaders who met with the president in Washington.

Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright told FOX Business Melissa Francis that Trumps meeting with the tech luminaries is vital to the Americas national security.

Yesterdays technology, tomorrow has been the motto of the federal government since as long as Ive been working with them, he said. This is a huge opportunity to really change forever how government is served.

Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to President Trump, is leading the American Technology Council, which was established in May by an executive order signed by the president to modernize the archaic technology of the federal government.

We created the White House Office of American Innovation in an effort to bring business sensibility to a government that for too long has relied too long on past practices as automatic justification of their continuation, Kushner said Monday.

Wright added that the tech leaders, many of who have criticized the administration's positions on policies such as immigration and climate change in recent months, needed to put their political beliefs aside for the greater good of the nation.

Its not about your legacy, its about whats best for the American people. And whats best for the American people is that we secure our power grid and we secure our nuclear plants, he said.
Senate GOP leaders are moving towards a health care vote next week that would repeal and replace ObamaCare.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday shed some light on the progress of the GOP health care plan.

We are going to make every effort to pass a bill that dramatically changes the current health care law, he said. McConnell went on to say that he plans on releasing a discussion draft of the health care bill on Thursday.

In an interview on FOX Business Networks Countdown to the Closing Bell, Rep. Phil Roe, M.D. (R-TN) said they are aware of the parameters behind the GOP health care bill.

We are going to reform Medicaid, its just how we do it and we know that the Affordable Care Act cant continue like it is at least in many states across the union, he said.

According to Rep. Phil Roe, Tennessee is showing decreasing numbers on the exchange and the need to reform health care is vital to lowering cost and increasing the number of people who care covered.

The prices are going up to where families cannot afford this without these verysubsidies so it has to be reform. We dont have a choice, he said.

Dr. Roe said pre-existing conditions are the deal breaker for him when it comes to the Senates health care bill.

Thats already covered in Medicaid, Medicare and the general insurance market. We already have that, its only the individual market so that would be a hands-off thing for me, he said.
Two main actors in the Republican tax reform debate vowed on Tuesday to complete an overhaul of the federal tax code in 2017, despite party infighting and political distractions from alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

In a speech to U.S. manufacturers that was released by his office, House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan said President Donald Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress cannot afford to let the opportunity for tax reform slip this year.

"We are going to get this done in 2017. We need to get this done in 2017," Ryan said in the speech to be delivered Tuesday afternoon to the National Association of Manufacturers, a powerful Washington lobby group.

"Transformational tax reform can be done, and we are moving forward. Full speed ahead," he added.

The Trump administration and congressional Republicans face mounting pressure from U.S. businesses and voters to succeed on tax reform, a top 2016 campaign pledge that could determine whether Republicans retain control of Congress in the 2018 midterm elections.

It was not clear whether Republicans can overcome infighting over healthcare legislation and government spending to move forward on tax reform.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin echoed Ryan's remarks on CNBC television, saying: "The focus is lower rates. What comes with that is reform, which is broadening the base, making sure that we cut lots of special interest deductions, simplifying the tax code."

Ryan and Mnuchin are among six officials trying to agree on tax reform in closed-door discussions aimed at producing legislation in September. The others are Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, White House economic adviser Gary Cohn and the Republican chairmen of two tax committees.

Major stock indexes hit multiple record highs from Trump's November election to the end of the first quarter, on bets that he would improve economic growth by cutting taxes and boosting infrastructure spending.

The discussions appeared to have achieved little of substance so far, according to lobbyists, aside from broad agreement on concepts including the need for a "territorial" system that would no longer tax the foreign profits of U.S. corporations.

In his speech, Ryan is expected to emphasize the importance of permanent reforms, reject the notion that legislation should do little more than reduce tax rates and make a case for mechanisms to prevent U.S. corporations from moving income, assets and jobs overseas. (Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Leslie Adler and Jeffrey Benkoe)
Illinois will not meet a court-set deadline Tuesday to increase spending on backlogs of Medicaid payments, pushing the problem off until the end of the month as the states unprecedented budget impasse is on the verge of entering its third straight fiscal year.

Medicaid talks will continue past Tuesday, with a new deadline set for June 28  just two days before the final deadline for the state legislature to agree on a spending bill during a special session, an attorney said late Monday. The new fiscal year begins July 1.

Illinois owes Medicaid providers $2 billion for care provided to more than 3 million people  a small sum compared to the state's total unpaid bill of $15 billion, or 40 percent of Illinois' operating budget. After failing to pass a spending bill for two straight fiscal years, the state has been functioning on appropriations since 2015.

Failure to strike a budget agreement by the end of the state legislatures annual session on May 31 resulted in a critical credit downgrade for the countrys fifth largest state to Baa3, the lowest of any state and only one level above non-investment grade  also known as junk. Illinois has received 8 downgrades in as many years and most states are rated at least 8 levels higher, according to Moodys.

The states backlog of unpaid bills will skyrocket to $28 billion by June 2019 without a deal, Moodys predicted, which would rack up even more interest and penalties than what is already owed. Even if a deal is reached, state debt and taxpayer dues will both likely increase.

Additionally, the state currently has more than $250 billion in unfunded pension obligations, annual payments of which could be cut if a deal isnt struck  a scenario that Moodys warned would be a negative credit event for bondholders.

The state legislatures special session begins Wednesday and will take place over 10 days. The impasse between the Democratic-controlled legislature and the Republican governor has paralyzed the state so severely that Gov. Rauner even compared Illinois to a banana republic earlier this month because it cannot manage its finances.
As security pressures mount, with new threats this week from Russia and heightened tensions with North Korea, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that American manufacturers are the backbone of the United States' defense system.

aIn this time of widening challenges and unknowable threats a We do not build Navy ships and aircraft and the weapons that defend our freedom, we do not fill the arsenal of democracy without [manufacturers],a the vice president said during a speech before the National Association of Manufacturers in Washington, D.C.

After a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane, Russia warned this week that U.S. planes flying over the same airspace would be considered aair targets.a

Pence also addressed the growing threat from North Korea after the death Monday of 22-year old college student Otto Wambier, who was returned to his family in a coma after being detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half. While investigators are still trying to determine the exact cause of his death, his parents have cited aawful, torturous mistreatment.a

aThe United States of America condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn their latest victim,a Pence said.

As Pence honored 7 American sailors killed when a Navy destroyer collided with a container ship off of the coast of Japan, the vice president said strong manufacturing remains essential for the country to produce products that will protect our citizens and soldiers.

aTogether we will make American prosperous again, together we will make America safe again and to borrow a phrase, together we will make America great again,a Vice President Pence said.

The vice president also said the administration will work with businesses to create new jobs and also to fill open positions with its newly announced apprenticeship expansion program. Pence said they will continue to eliminate job crushing regulations, while repealing and replacing the ObamaCare a which is to be completed by the aend of this summer.a
Georgia's special runoff election between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff has morphed into a battle for national party dominance with millions of dollars on the line.

Republicans, who have historically held the seat, are looking for a Handel win to boost momentum for their legislative agenda as roadblocks have stalled progress on big ticket policies such as tax reform and health care  key cornerstones of Trumps campaign.

A [Republican] loss will signal momentum for the Democrats, especially picking up a seat once held by [former House] Speaker Newt Gingrich and HHS Secretary Tom Price, Kevin Paul Scott, an Atlanta-based Republican strategist, told FOX Business.

Handel, who leads in local fundraising, has drawn most of her funds, $1.3 million, from Georgia, followed by $332,252 from Washington, D.C. and $170,143 from Virginia. Her total contributions clock in at about $4.3 million.

However, Democrats have elevated 30-year old Ossoff to national fame with $23.6 million in total contributions to match. Since the beginning of the election cycle, Ossoff has received $1.6 million in donations from California, $1.2 million from New York and $962,617 from Georgia, according to the Federal Election Commission. He also boasts endorsements from political legends including civil rights icon John Lewis, actress Jane Fonda, as well as a string of celebrities such as comedian Chelsea Handler and television personality Rosie ODonnell.

Some believe the national to local funding imbalance could make Ossoff less accountable to the constituents he would be elected to represent.

[Ossoff] will feel a stronger sense of accountability to the extreme left of the Democratic Party than the voters of the 6th district of Georgia, Scott said.

The 6th Congressional District seat was vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price earlier this year. Price had occupied the seat since 2004, in a district that has been under Republican control for decades.

While President Trump barely edged out a victory in Georgias 6th district over rival Hillary Clinton this past November  by a margin of just 1.5 percentage points  Rep. Tom Price won the seat handily, by more than 23 percentage points. Polling data suggests the race Tuesday will be very tight.

President Donald Trump took to Twitter Monday to stump for Handel, warning Americans that health care and tax reform are on the line.

....because he doesn't even live there! He wants to raise taxes and kill healthcare. On Tuesday, #VoteKarenHandel.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2017

A win by Ossoff would be the first Georgia Congressional seat to flip during a special election since 1872, according to an analysis by the University of Minnesota.
President Trump met with top tech CEOs at the White House on Monday, to discuss efforts to modernize the governments technology infrastructure and boost cyber security. Trump estimated the initiative could save the government up to $1 trillion over ten years. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross discussed the administrations efforts to improve information technology across the government, telling the FOX Business Networks Maria Bartiromo, A lot of archaic equipment is being used, a lot of equipment we can barely get proper support anymore.

According to Ross the outdated computer systems are a financial drain on the government.

There are various estimates that government may be spending something like $90 billion a year on maintain systems that fundamentally are obsoleted by modern standards.

Ross then compared the governments spending on maintaining obsolete computer equipment to the higher and higher costs of keeping an old car running.

Think about your car, once your car gets to be what, ten years old you start putting in inordinate amount into its maintenance relative to what would be the maintenance on a new vehicle.

Ross then explained the benefits of capital expenditures to improve the governments computer systems even though government accounting doesnt treat it differently than an expense.

So one of the peculiarities of government accounting is that a capital expenditure and an expense more or less are treated the same way from a budgetary point of view, whereas the capital expenditure has enduring value, it has a long term asset value.

With Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly in attendance at the tech meeting as well, Ross said cyber security was also a key issue that needs to be addressed.

Well, homeland security and cyber security are inextricably linked together and cyber security is a problem everywhere.
Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019.

Ford said Tuesday it plans to move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers. Ford will continue to make the Focus in Europe, and will also export some variants of the Focus from Europe to the U.S.

Sales of small cars have dropped sharply in the U.S. and companies are seeking to cut costs making them. Ford's president of global operations Joe Hinrichs said the move to China will save the company $1 billion, including $500 million for canceling plans to build the Focus in Mexico.

Wary of the response from President Donald Trump, who has criticized Ford for making vehicles outside the U.S., Ford said the move won't cost U.S. jobs. The suburban Detroit plant that currently makes the Focus will be converted late next year to produce the Ford Ranger pickup and Ford Bronco SUV.

Ford also said Tuesday that it plans to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville to make the new, aluminum-sided Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. Those vehicles will go on sale this fall and will be exported to more than 55 markets globally, the company said. The investment will secure 1,000 jobs at the Kentucky plant.

But the White House response was muted. Asked Tuesday whether Trump plans to get tougher on China or on automakers who leave the U.S., White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president wants to lower business taxes and reform the tax code so businesses will want to "come back to the United States, grow in the United States, manufacture more in the United States."

Hinrichs said Ford's research shows that customers  who are used to phones and other gadgets from China  care more about product quality than where their vehicles are made.

Plans for production of the 2019 Focus  which will be larger and have some significant updates  have bounced around over the last few months as Ford tries to squeeze some profits from the ailing small car segment. U.S. Focus sales were down 20 percent through May, hurt by low gas prices and consumer preference for SUVs.

In January, the company announced it would cancel a new plant in Mexico and instead use capacity at another plant in Mexico to build the Focus. But over the last few months, Hinrichs said, Ford decided it could save another $500 million in tooling and other manufacturing costs if it moved production to China.

Hinrichs said last month's departure of former CEO Mark Fields had no bearing on the decision, which was in the works for some time.

Hinrichs said Chinese wages are lower than wages in Mexico, although the cost to ship the vehicles erases some of that advantage. It's still cheaper to make cars for the U.S. in Mexico, he said, but Ford has extra capacity in China and the move frees up capital for the company immediately.

Ford isn't the first car company to export vehicles to the U.S. from China. Volvo Cars made the move in 2015. General Motors Co. started importing the low-volume Buick Envision midsize SUV from China in 2016. GM also imports some plug-in hybrid-electric Cadillac CT6 sedans from China.

Hinrichs said he didn't know other automakers' plans, but as of now, the Focus would be the highest-volume vehicle exported from China to the U.S.

Ford shares fell 1 percent to close at $11.12 Tuesday.
Lawyer Angela Agrusa is relieved to be back home in Los Angeles just a few days after a Pennsylvania judge declared a mistrial in the sexual assault case against her client Bill Cosby.

My body was in a state of clench for the entire week, the 54-year-old attorney told The Hollywood Reporter. Agrusa, who tried the case with co-counsel Brian McMonagle, revealed there were moments upon hearing juror questions last week that convinced her the verdict returned would be guilty.

While jurors didnt exonerate the 79-year-old entertainer of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004, shes still declaring victory.

COSBY ALTERNATE JUROR SPEAKS OUT

We wanted an acquittal, but a mistrial or a deadlock is the same result as the group of jurors finding him not guilty, she said. Prosecutors didnt have the evidence,

Still, Agrusa has heard rumors about the jury vote.

I heard it was a split, said Agrusa. I dont believe it was a single holdout.

However, a spokesperson for the Montgomery County District Attorneys Office told the publication Agrusa couldnt have possibly known. Per Pennsylvania guidelines, Judge Steven O Neill told jurors not to discuss what happened during deliberations.

Agrusa did confirm Cosby didnt rule out taking the witness stand.

He is a very charismatic man, she explained. He is a storyteller. We knew a jury would want to hear from him. We were always prepared to put him on the stand. We were still talking about this on the weekend before close.

Despite her confidence, Agrusa experienced a rollercoaster of emotions during the week of jury deliberations.

BILL COSBY TRIAL: WHAT IS A MISTRIAL?

Every time a question came in that seemed detrimental [to Cosby], I thought a guilty verdict was coming, she explained. Then, a question would come that was more favorable and I would look over to the prosecutors faces and see their concern.

After the verdict, the Montgomery County DAs Office immediately put out word there would be a re-trial. However, she isnt sold on the idea.

I believe that the Commonwealth had to state [the intention of a re-trial] when they stated it, said Agrusa, referring to the prosecution. They have a lot of searching to do when they make a decison. I hope they don't [re-try]. I don't think the outcome would be any better for them ... Everyone knows that cases don't get better with time."
Count Daniel Day-Lewis out.

The actor has decided to hang up his hat and announce he has quit Hollywood.

"Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor," a rep for the actor told Fox News. "He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years."

His rep added, "This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject."

The 60-year-old's acting career has spanned four decades. He won Oscars for best actor for his leading roles in "Lincoln," "My Left Foot" and "There Will Be Blood."

His last film role was in 2012 in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln." However, he will appear in "Phantom Thread" set to premiere on December 25, 2017.
Last Man Standing is seriously struggling to find a new home.

The canceled ABC series, which starred Tim Allen, wont be heading to CMT  or NBC for that matter  Fox News has learned.

Though CMT was in talks with production company 20th Century Fox Television late last week to revive the show, those talks have fallen through. A source told us the discussions to bring the show to CMT arent moving forward.

The source added that the decision ultimately came down to the numbers and the production company and CMT couldnt come to terms on the financials.

CMT did not return Fox News request for comment.

A source told Fox News last week CMT, which currently airs reruns of Last Man Standing, was considering picking up the popular series but "It feels like a long shot."

Meanwhile, another source told us NBC wont be picking up the show either because they have too many shows right now, and the networks schedule is booked solid.

The source said NBC has already turned down 4-5 shows they wanted for next year because there's no space.

Last Man Standing was a ratings hit for ABC during its six-season run. Allen, a real-life Hollywood republican, played a conservative on the series.

ABC announced the cancellation of Last Man Standing in May.

Finding a new home for "Last Man Standing" has been a priority for 20th Century Fox Television ever since. Howard Kurtzman, president of 20th Century Fox Television, told The Hollywood Reporter in May, "If there's a way to bring it back, we will explore those opportunities."

The cancellation came as a shock for many fans and for Allen himself.

"Stunned and blindsided by the network I called home for the last six years," Allen tweeted days after ABC's announcement.

ABC told Fox News at the time "this was a scheduling decision," while an online petition accused the network of booting the show over its conservative values.

20th Century Fox Television did not immediately return Fox News request for comment.
Actor Miles Teller is out of jail after being arrested for public drunkenness over the weekend. However, the 30-year-old star of Whiplash and Fantastic Four denied the charge on social media.

San Diego Police officer Billy Hernandez said Teller was arrested Sunday morning after officers spotted him swaying and falling into the street.

While Teller wrote on Twitter Monday that "there was no evidence to charge me with a crime," Hernandez said the actor was booked on suspicion of public intoxication, a misdemeanor.

Teller's publicist did not respond to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ever since the invention of the sponge  that magical tool for cleaning dishes, pots and surfaces  humans have grappled with a paradox: How to clean a sponge itself?

On a recent episode of The Splendid Table podcast, Tucker Shaw of America's Test Kitchen stopped by to reveal his favorite method: toss the sponge in boiling water for 5 minutes.

That's all well and good if you're into dish-sponge soup (or if you're the most frugal person on the planet), but I have another suggestion: Don't try to deep-clean your sponge at all. Just throw it out. (And for the record, I'm known around the Epi office as the guy who tries to repurpose everything  even terrible beer.)

"My sponge-tossing beliefs were formed earlier this year when I spoke to Dr. Charles Gerba, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. He told me, in no uncertain terms, that a used dish sponge is unequivocally the dirtiest item in your entire house.

When I asked him how to properly clean a sponge, he referred me to a study entitled "Reduction of faecal coliform, coliform and heterotrophic plate count bacteria in the household kitchen and bathroom by disinfection with hypochlorite cleaners." I didn't have to read further than the title to know that I didn't want to know what was making those sponges so dirty.

So these days, I follow the advice of cleaning expert Donna Smallin Kuper, who recommends not only microwaving dish sponges for three minutes every day to sanitize them, but also changing out your sponge for a nice, fresh one at least once every month. I don't care how rigorous the testing team at ATK is  there's no way I'm using a nice clean pot to make my nasty sponge smell better.

I know that some of you are thinking "what a waste!" and feeling bad about my/your carbon footprint, etcetera, etcetera, so here's another revelation that may jive a little more with your #wasteless lifestyle: Buy cellulose sponges only (which are pretty ubiquitous, so don't worry). Once they've done their duty, they can be rinsed clean and tossed into the compost bin.

So please, let's all hold hands and vow together that we'll stop subjecting our friends and lovers to funky sponge. That when that familiar putrid smell first starts to emanate from the workplace kitchenette, we'll take action and toss the offensive dish scrubber into the waste bin. Let's all make sure that Tucker Shaw never has to worry about discovering a newer, faster, more effective odorkilling technique for how to clean a sponge.

Instead, at the first sign of putrid sponge stank (yes, stank), let's toss those smelly offenders and bask in the glow of a fresh, new sponge. Only then can we focus on the kind of sponge that really matters  the kind I would never, not in a million years, suggest throwing away  the sponge cake.
"I feel like they did me real dirty," Katrina Bookman tells the New York Daily News.

Last August, Bookman was on top of the world when a slot machine at Resorts World Casino in New York informed her she had won nearly $43 million.

According to CNN, it would have been the largest slots jackpot in U.S. history  and on a penny slot machine, no less. But when Bookman tried to collect her winnings, she was escorted out of the casino and told to come back the next day for a "decision," Courthouse News reports.

When she returned, the casino offered her a free steak dinner and $2.25  the balance left on the machine. On Wednesday, Bookman sued the casino.

A Resorts World spokesperson says the slot machine was having an "obvious malfunction," and the New York State Gambling Commission says the machine bore a disclaimer reading, "Malfunctions void all pays and plays," the BBC reports.

Bookman's lawyer, Alan Ripka, calls those explanations "ridiculous." The lawsuit claims the "bells, noises, and lights" on the machine all indicated Bookman had won the jackpot, and she even took a selfie with the machine bearing the message "printing cash ticket $42,949,672.76."

"You can't claim a machine is broken because you want it to be broken," Ripka tells CNN.

Bookman, who is claiming "mental anguish," may need help from Lady Luck: An 87-year-old woman was denied a $42 million payout by the Iowa Supreme Court in 2011 in a similar case of an allegedly malfunctioning slot machine.

(In related news, were slot machines to blame for this man's death?)

This article originally appeared on Newser: "Woman Sues Casino That Won't Pay Her $43M Jackpot."
The Yale University dean criticized for posting Yelp reviews that called people white trash is leaving her position, according to a report Tuesday.

June Chu, the dean of Yales residential Pierson College, had been placed on leave after her controversial postings surfaced.

Yale's college paper, which broke the story about the Yelp reviews, reported on Twitter that Chu was leaving. The report didn't say if she had resigned voluntarily or been fired.

YALE DEAN FORCED TO APOLOGIZE AFTER INSENSITIVE YELP REVIEWS

In one review, she cited a restaurant as perfect for anyone who was white trash.

"This establishment is definitely not authentic by any stretch of any imagination and perfect for those low class folks who believe this is a real night out," Chu wrote.

In another post, she said she was surprised that a New Haven, Conn., movie theater had a lack of sketchy crowds.

Many found her Yelp critiques elitist and offensive.

Pierson College Head Stephen Davis announced Chu was leaving in an email to members of the Pierson community, the Yale Daily News reported.

Davis said a new dean would be named before the fall semester, the college paper reported.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Davis announced in May that Chu had been placed on leave after initially sticking by her.

His change of heart came after he said the college discovered numerous reprehensible posts that were part of a widespread pattern. He said her posts made him question her ability to lead the college.

"Let me be clear," he wrote. "No one, especially those in trusted positions of educating young people, should denigrate or stereotype others, and that extends to any form of discrimination based on class, race, religion, age, disability, gender identity or sexual orientation."

Chu apologized to her students, ackowledging she made poor choices.

"There are no two ways about it," she wrote. "Not only were they insensitive in matters related to class and race; they demean the values to which I hold myself and which I offer as a member of this community."

TOO MUCH ED SHEERAN BAD FOR RESTAURANT BUSINESS, SAYS STUDY

Chu was appointed Pierson's dean in May 2016 after serving as an assistant dean of undergraduate students at Dartmouth College. She was also director of the Pan Asian American Community House at the University of Pennsylvania.
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina  a Category 3 hurricane at landfall - slammed into the coast of southern Louisiana, causing massive flooding in New Orleans after the citys levees burst. More than 1,800 people died in the hurricane and flooding that followed  solidifying the storm as one of the deadliest hurricanes in United States history.

Now, seven years later to the day, New Orleans is faced with yet another storm  Hurricane Isaac. Although it is only ranked as a Category 1 hurricane, the city is not taking any chances this time around, especially when it comes to medical relief.

Hospitals in New Orleans started preparations several days ahead of Isaacs arrival. In fact, some of the preparations have technically been going on for months.

Starting in May, as part of our Hurricane Awareness Month, we all review our hurricane plan, Jennifer Steel, a public information officer for West Jefferson Medical Center, told FoxNews.com. Our hospital staffers all sign on, and we're divided up into activation and recovery teams, and we go over what we've pledged to do. We have a person that's identified as our liaison officer to help us follow the national model for disaster awareness.

Ochsner Health System, a non-profit health care provider located in and around New Orleans, is keeping all of its hospitals and emergency rooms open during and after the storm to help treat potential patients. Ochsner, along with other hospitals located in the city, gathered employees and supplies together as soon as there was a risk the storm would head their way.

Were going for our normal storm prep, Warner Thomas, president and CEO of Oschner, told FoxNews.com. Over the weekend, we started that whole process  ordering extra supplies, food, pharmaceuticals, fuel for back-up generators. We then activated our central personnel [Tuesday] night by 11 p.m. We are basically staffed to run all our facilities, do surgeries, etc.

Lessons learned from Katrina

According to Thomas, one of the biggest downfalls of hospitals and medical centers during Hurricane Katrina was their inability to sustain themselves after loss of power. Two of the most important aspects a hospital needs to consider, Thomas said, are air conditioning and water.

You really need to make sure you have auxiliary power that is going to run your air conditioning and that you have water, in case the water supplies get disrupted, Thomas said. It allows you to withstand the storm. That way, if you have utilities interrupted outside of campus, you can continue working.

Many hospitals during Katrina required outside help from federal agencies in order to continue running their operations. Some hospitals became flooded or too full and needed to transport patients to other facilities. However, the slow response from FEMA, along with flooding that essentially shut down traditional forms of transportation, took a toll on medical centers.

Because of those oversights years ago, Oschner realized the need for hospitals to have a degree of independence in times of emergency.

One of the things we cant afford to do as a private employer  we cant be in a situation where we have to wait for assistance, said Norris Yarborough, the assistant vice president of emergency preparedness and response for Oschner. Because of our history of flooding, weve developed our own search and rescue facilities. We have 10 flat-bottomed boats, capable of carrying 26 people in each boat, and if theyre stretcher-bound, we can get 10 stretchers in each boat with their caregivers.

Yaborough explained that if one of its hospitals needs to evacuate, the boats and vehicles can get patients and staff out in just 12 hours, liberating them from relying on state and federal assistance.

Better prepared for hurricanes

Intense storms such as Isaac can bring about a diverse amount of medical issues for health care providers. Steel noted that West Jefferson is prepared to handle just about anything.

You could have flying debris, eye injuries, Steel said. You could have fires  that's a concern, of course. Youll see things like heart attacks from stress. Any natural disaster is very stressful to the body.Generators can cause serious injuries if not used properly; you have to be absolutely cautious of following the manufacturers recommendations.

Because of the potential for so many accidents and health conditions, hospitals in New Orleans have much larger staffs on call to treat incoming patients. According to Thomas, taking care of the hospitals nurses and doctors  keeping them fed and well-rested  is key to success during times of crisis.

Another important factor when it comes to employees is communication. Yarborough said that Oschner has invested a great deal in Facebook and Twitter over the years, which has allowed them to keep their staff in the know at all times.

Our ability to communicate with our employees exactly where we are with the different portions of our emergency plan has been really helpful, Yarborough said. We dont have a bunch of employees wondering when theyre going to need to come on, how bad it is, etc We have the ability to put a message on the computer and push it out to cell phones.Dealing with situations such as this where theyre isolated from their families  keeping them informed is huge.

Not only does Oschner stay in constant contact with its employees, but all of the hospitals coordinate with each other as well  a trait that is somewhat unique to the southern Louisiana health care system.

Well help each other out and share our resources, Yarborough said. For example, if a hospital in our upper parishes got in trouble, and we had the resources, we could ship to them things such as a boat or a generator  and visa versa.Prior to Katrina, hospitals were much more clannish and less likely to come to the table and share.

Although it took the devastation and downfalls of Katrina to bring about these progressive changes, Yarborough and other health care providers are proud they have been able to learn from past mistakes.

The fact that we can take that tragedy and grow from it makes me feel really good, Yarborough said.
The family of an Ohio teen that died after contracting a brain-eating amoeba during a Whitewater rafting trip last June recently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a North Carolina recreation facility.

Lauren Seitz died in June 2016 after contracting meningoencephalitis when she was thrown overboard during a rafting trip near Charlotte, according to the New York Daily News.

The deadly infection is caused by the amoeba Naegleria fowleri.

Swimmers enjoying the summer weather may want to take some extra precautions to prevent contracting the dangerous brain-eating amoeba.

Heres what you need to know.

What does the brain-eating amoeba do?

A single-celled organism, it "causes primary amebic meningoencephalitis (PAM), which destroys brain tissue and causes swelling and death," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

How does the amoeba enter the body and reach the brain?

The amoeba gets into the body via the nose, and people can be infected while swimming in freshwater lakes or rivers. There has to be significant force to send the water and amoeba into the brain (jumping into the water could cause the infection to occur).

BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA: HOW ONE GIRL SURVIVED

Where does the amoeba live?

Naegleria fowleri lives in many lakes, rivers and streams in warm water locations. The amoeba can also live in swimming pools that aren't being properly maintained.

What sort of symptoms can people show?

Infected people may experience symptoms ranging from headache, fever, and seizures to a stiff neck and vomiting.

How fatal are infections?

There were 143 known U.S. infections from 1962 to 2016. 139 of them were fatal, according to the CDC.

How can survivors be treated?

Some survivors have been treated with miltefosine, a drug which originally was used to treat breast cancer, and by lowering their body temperatures.

FAMILY SUES WATER PARK AFTER TEEN'S BRAIN-EATING AMOEBA DEATH

One survivor, Sebastian DeLeon, was 16 years old last summer when he suffered a severe headache and was taken to a Florida hospital by his parents. Acting on a hunch, emergency room doctors ordered a spinal tap to test for meningitis, and a lab scientist found the amoeba moving in the spinal fluid.

Doctors lowered the teen's body temperature to 33 degrees, induced a coma, inserted a breathing tube and gave him a cocktail of drugs, including miltefosine, that helped kill the amoeba.

How can swimmers prevent contracting the amoeba?

Health officials recommend that swimmers hold their noses or wear nose clips when jumping feet first into freshwater lakes and rivers. The lower the water level and the warmer the water, the greater the risk of contracting the amoeba, officials have said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The family of an Ohio teen who died last year after contracting a rare brain-eating amoeba infection while rafting at a North Carolina park has filed a lawsuit, claiming that operators showed a conscious disregard for the safety of visitors.

MAN GETS $870G AFTER DOCTOR REMOVES WRONG TESTICLE

Lauren Seitz, 18, had visited U.S. National Whitewater Center with her church group on June 8, 2016, The Charlotte Observer reported.

According to the lawsuit, when the raft Seitz was in overturned, she was completely submerged in the water which exposed her to the Naeglweria fowleri amoeba. Days after returning from the trip, Seitz began complaining of sinus congestion which progressed and later required hospitalization, The Columbus Dispatch reported. She died one day after being diagnosed with the brain-eating amoeba.

The rare and almost always fatal infection enters a persons body through the nose and is typically found in warm freshwater lakes, rivers and soil. However, testing at the park revealed that filtration and disinfection systems were not fit to clean the centers waters properly, leaving visitors at risk of infection, The Charlotte Observer reported.

The lawsuit, which is seeking $1 million, names the water park and Recreation Engineering and Planning of Boulder, and claims chlorine levels were ten times lower than they should have been.

WOMAN WRONGLY DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER HAD UNNECESSARY MASTECTOMY, SUIT CLAIMS

The lawsuit also claims the Whitewater Center failed to regulate the water temperature or warn visitors about possible danger of the amoeba.

The center did not respond to request for comment from The Charlotte Observer.
The United States is in the middle of an opioid crisis, so it's easy to assume that all opioids can be equally detrimental to people's health. But now, the Food and Drug Administration says one in particular is especially contributing to the opioid epidemic.

The FDA has asked Irish pharmaceutical company Endo International to take one of its pain medications, Opana ER (oxymorphone hydrochloride), off the market because of its potential for abuse. After careful consideration, the agency is seeking removal based on its concern that the benefits of the drug may no longer outweigh its risks, the FDA said in a press release. This is the first time the agency has taken steps to remove a currently marketed opioid pain medication from sale due to the public health consequences of abuse.

The FDA says its decision is based on a review of data that shows a significant shift in the abuse of Opana ER, with more people moving from crushing and snorting the drug to injecting it after the product was reformulated. (Opana ER was first approved by the FDA in 2006, but the reformulated version, which was intended to lower the potential for abuse, was released in 2012.) Now, the FDA says that injections of the new version of Opana ER have been linked with an outbreak of HIV and hepatitis C, as well as cases of thrombotic microangiopathy, a serious blood disorder.

Endo International said in a press release on its website that the company is reviewing the request and is evaluating the full range of potential options as we determine the appropriate path forward. The company also said that despite the FDA's request to withdraw Opana ER from the market, this request does not indicate uncertainty with the product's safety or efficacy when taken as prescribed.

Opana ER is an opioid that is intended to help manage pain that is severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term treatment.

Its also meant to be used when alternative treatment options dont work. Essentially, it shouldn't be prescribed lightlybut Andrew Kolodny, M.D., codirector of Opioid Policy Research at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, tells SELF that the overwhelming majority of patients receiving prescriptions for Opana don't have the severe pain for which this kind of drug should be reserved.

James J. Galligan, Ph.D., a professor of pharmacology and toxicology and director of the neuroscience program at Michigan State University, tells SELF that the drug itself isnt necessarily harmful if people use it as prescribed. Opana ER is prescribed for patients who have severe pain, he says. It is effective...and the overdose liability is low if taken as prescribed [because] the extended release formulation allows the oxymorphone to be absorbed slowly from the gastrointestinal tract after the patient takes the pill.

However, if people crush the tablets and either snort or inject them, there is a high risk of an overdose. The amount of the drug that gets into the bloodstream is extremely high, Galligan says. Endo has tried to develop new formulations to prevent crushing, but apparently these have not been as effective as hoped.

Overdose-related deaths in the U.S. nearly tripled between 1999 and 2014, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and opioids were largely to blame. Per CDC data, there were 47,055 drug overdose deaths in 2014, and 28,647 of them were due to opioids like heroin, OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, and other prescription painkillers.

Unfortunately, all opioids can be addictive, even if theyre taken as directed.

However, Galligan says that some drugs like tramadol (found under the brand names Ultram, Ryzolt, and ConZip) and buprenorphine (Buprenex, Butrans) have a reduced abuse potential. That's because they're often not as effective as other opioids at relieving pain, so there's an extremely important trade-off there. If you're prescribed pain medication, here are other things to keep in mind to lower your chances of addiction.

The FDA has requested that Endo voluntarily remove Opana ER from the market. However, the agency has made it clear that theyll take steps to formally require its removal by withdrawing FDA approval if Endo doesnt decide to pull it from shelves. "We must take all necessary steps to reduce the scope of opioid misuse and abuse, said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., in a statement.

This story originally appeared on SELF
Leave it to Britney Spears to show us a killer core move weve never seen before. The sculpted pop star posted a video on Instagram of her a.m. workout in Japan, where she kicked off her world tour.

At the start of the clip, Spears does a few reps of camel drop-backs, a variation on the classic Camel yoga pose, in which you start in a kneeling position and arch your upper body back, lifting your chest to the ceiling, and reach for your heels.

RELATED: 27 Fat-Burning Ab Exercises (No Crunches!)

Instead of staying there for several deep breaths (as we're used to doing in this restorative pose), Spears lifts her upper body to return to a kneeling position, and raises her arms overhead; then repeats the entire movement.

Great workout this morning! Spears wrote in the caption for the video, which racked up more than 1 million views in 10 hours. Woke up in Japan feeling free and grateful. Better work bitches!

Theres no question Spears' hard work will pay off. Camel, also called Ustrasana, is a pose that comes with multiple benefits (including better sex!).

Im assuming shes doing it to stretch out her abdominals, says Kristin McGee, Healths contributing yoga and wellness editor. But its also great for strengthening the core and the lower back, while also opening up the hip flexors, quad muscles, and psoas." (The psoas is a muscle that connects your trunk to your legs.)

Adding drop-backs to the typically stationary pose makes it more challenging: "When you move back and forth more rapidly, it works the core and hip flexors even more," says McGee.

Just be careful if you suffer from low-back injuries or high blood pressure, she cautions. People with hypertension may not want to dip their heads back.

Our favorite part about the pop star's spin on Camel? Between each drop-back, we can sing, Oops, I did it again.

This article originally appeared on Health.com
Desperate to salvage their decimated party after losing at every level last November, Democrats have put all their chips on the special election for Georgias 6th District.

Democrats from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco to New York City have dug deep into their wallets to support Jon Ossoffs attempt to take the congressional seat last held by Dr. Tom Price.

So it should come as no surprise to my fellow Georgians that just 3.5 percent of the last $15 million raised by Ossoff actually came from within the state. In fact, four times more money has come from donors in California and New York than his supporters in Georgia. In all, hes raised a whopping $23.8 millionmore money than has ever been dumped into a single congressional campaign.

Campaign donations arent the only thing being funneled in from outside the state. Ossoffs campaign enjoys support from far-left politicians, like Nancy Pelosi, Bernie Sanders, and Tom Perez and elitist celebrities like disgraced comedian Kathy Griffin, who recently decided it would be funny to release a video of her holding up a prosthetic that looked like the bloodied, decapitated head of President Trump.

Super PACs and the Democrats campaign arm have shelled out millions of dollars and dispatched hundreds of volunteers to try to convince the people of Georgias Sixth to elect Jon Ossoff.

Despite Democrats dumping all their resources and manpower into this race, Georgians still arent sold on Ossoff.

Could it be that he doesnt actually live in the district he wants to represent? Jon Ossoff wont even be able to vote for himself on Election Day.

Could it be that he has virtually zero experience? Ossoff has repeatedly misled voters about his qualifications. Even the left-leaning Washington Post accused him of resume puffery.

Handel, on the other hand, has lived in Georgias 6th District for decadesalmost as long as Jon Ossoff has been alive, as she pointed out at a recent debate.

Her record of good stewardship with taxpayer dollars has been on full display throughout her career, both during her service as Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissionerswhere she took their budget from the red to the blackand as president and CEO of the North Fulton Chamber of Commerce. Karen also served Georgia as secretary of state, the first Republican to do so in the state since Reconstruction.

Handel is a proven leader with a mile-long track record of working for Georgians. Despite Jon Ossoff and Democrats best efforts to throw false and misleading attacks at her throughout this campaign, nothing seems to stick.

The cheap political tricks used by the Democrats prove just how desperate they are. They were decimated in November and have since failed to win special congressional elections in Kansas and again in Montana. This is their last shot to regain relevance.

Georgians arent buying their despair and, along with the American people, have made it abundantly clear they are ready for strong Republican leadership in Washington. Time and again, the people in Georgias 6th District have proven our values are rooted in conservative principles. From my time serving the district, to Johnny Isakson, and Dr. Tom Price, who both succeeded me, this seat has been held by those committed to upholding and preserving those values  a legacy Karen Handel will surely continue.

We must preserve this seat by turning out on Election Day to vote for Karen Handel to be the next representative for Georgias 6th District. We must tell Democrats that Jon Ossoff and Nancy Pelosis values do not represent the people of Georgia, and that we are committed to the direction Republicans are taking this country.
Franklin Graham denounced it in a tweet to President Trump, who is known to check his Twitter account now and again. Newspaper editorials have called it unjust. Still, unless a judge intervenes, dozens of Iraqi Christians living in Detroit are going to be deported to their war-torn country of origin for crimes committed as long as 30 years ago. Thats probably not what Trump intended when he ordered a round-up of alien criminals.

As many as 114 Chaldean and Assyrian Christians, including some U.S. military veterans, were apprehended on June 10-11 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. Their fate is in the hands of U.S. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith, who scheduled a hearing for Tuesday. They are now being held in Youngstown, Ohio.

To be fair, these arent saints. All of the detainees have criminal records, though their lawyer, Clarence M. Dass, argues the majority of the convictions are for minor drug offenses and financial crimes dating back to the 1990s. Some have already served prison sentences for their crimes, and thus, paid their debt to society.

Unless the judge halts this, theyre going to be deported to Iraq, which amounts to harsher punishment that they would receive here in the United States, Dass told me. They are being subjected to the kind of religious discrimination our country has been fighting against for years.

Indeed, congress last March passed a resolution designating Chaldean and Assyrian Christians the targets of attempted genocide by the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq. Making things even worse, the majority of the Christian detainees would probably be destined for Mosul, where the Iraqi Army and ISIS are engaged in fierce fighting for control of the city.

In addition to tweeting his alarm, Graham wrote on Facebook: I find it very disturbing what I have read about Chaldean Christians being rounded up by U.S. ICE for possible deportation. I would encourage the president to have someone investigate these cases thoroughly."

One of the potential deportees, Haydar Butris, 39, was convicted in 1999 of manufacturing and delivering seven pounds of marijuana. Because it was his first criminal offense, he got off with three years probation. His brother, Marten Mansor, a U.S. citizen who came from Iraq in 1995, says Butris has had a clean record since then. When Saddam Hussein was in power, the country was better off. If ISIS gets hold of these people, they will be beheaded or worse. Why send them back to their deaths?

Its a question a lot of Christians are asking.
Editor's note: The following column originally appeared in The Hill newspaper and on TheHill.com.

How times have changed on ObamaCare.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll late last month found that 49 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), as ObamaCare is officially called, while 42 percent have an unfavorable view. That is the highest level of support the poll has found for the law since the summer of 2010.

And then there is the GOP failure to find a palatable substitute.

Kaiser found that just eight percent of the public think the Senate should pass the GOP House bill being advanced to replace ObamaCare, a bill the Senate is using as the basis for its health care reform plan.

Even President Trump on a visit to Capitol Hill last week reportedly told Republican senators that he doesnt like the House GOPs American Health Care Act (AHCA) because it is mean.

Seeing Trump jump off the House plan is a very bad sign for Congressional Republicans as they get ready to talk health care with constituents over coming recesses around Independence Day and in August. Even when the president was celebrating the House bill, Republicans faced unruly Memorial Day town hall meetings, with outright protests against their health care proposal.

But Senate Republicans are betting they can do reconstructive surgery on the framework of the unpopular House plan  which the Congressional Budget Office concludes will take insurance away from 23 million people  by making the House bill less mean.

They are reported to be looking at increasing subsidies for the poor while providing more time to achieve the far-right goal of doing away with federal guarantees of Medicaid funds to pay medical bills for the poor. The GOP Senate majority also may include special grants to areas hard hit by opioid addiction.

None of this is being done in public hearings. The Congressional Budget Office has not been given a proposal to score. No committees have met.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is keeping his caucus on board this night train ride by promising bright days ahead. The dawn will bring tax reform that will cut taxes for the rich  another promise the GOP wants to keep ahead of the 2018 midterms. But they can only get there once passage of a health care deal is in the rearview mirror.

So Senate Republicans steam ahead on this night train despite red lights warning of political derailment. Their proposals have not been vetted by their own caucus, the health care industry or their constituents.

The Wall Street Journals editorial page buys into the McConnell strategy. It contends the big players know what is in the Senate bill. Also, the paper views Democrats as insincere on the grounds that nothing will please liberal critics except renewal of ObamaCare.

Well, the proof will be in the bill.

Lets see if the GOP can put a plan before the public that provides medical insurance to more people than ObamaCare and lowers premiums; that offers protections for people with pre-existing conditions; that pays bills for mental health, maternity and drug problems; that does away with yearly and lifetime caps on spending; and that protects young people from being prematurely pushed off of their parents plans.

To be clear, it isnt all 52 Senate Republicans who are on board for these secret negotiations. A working group of 13 arch-conservative men led by McConnell got tickets to ride.

Noticeably not on board are female GOP senators, including the most senior Republican woman in the Senate, Susan Collins of Maine, who has a background as a state insurance regulator. Also excluded was South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the upper chamber, who made his fortune as an insurance executive in the Palmetto State.

This lack of diversity is important because smoke signals coming from the GOPs private talks appear to include changes to health care law that will disproportionately harm the poor, the elderly, women and people of color.

Polls show the public consistently rejecting the House plan. A Quinnipiac poll earlier this month found 62 percent of voters disapprove of the House bill while just 17 percent approve of it.

Quinnipiac also found that 30 percent of voters say Trump and Congress should not repeal any part of ObamaCare. And 47 percent said they should repeal only some parts of it.

Meanwhile, Democrats are rushing into the town square in advance of the 2018 elections pointing to rising support for ObamaCare. And they are damning the Republicans with charges of hypocrisy.

They point to then-House Republican Leader John Boehners (Ohio) epic rant before the Democrats pushed through ObamaCare on a party-line vote in 2010.

Look at how this bill was written, Boehner fumed. Can you say it was done openly, with transparency and accountability, without backroom deals struck behind closed doors, hidden from the people? Hell, no you cant! Have you read the bill? Hell, no you havent! ...Shame on this body!

But the Republicans of 2017 roll along, even though they are open to the very same charges.

Even if the Senate bill gets 50 votes once the deal is public, it will still have to survive a conference committee with the House Freedom Caucus hardliners.

Is it any wonder the Senate Republicans want to keep their plan secret?
As a member of the Berkeley College Republican club, I table everyday  which means I sit at a table on campus and try to recruit new members, have discussions with passersby, and expose Berkeley to the Republican platform. One day this past semester, though, I was sitting at the club table reading for my classes when I was approached by a red-haired woman who appeared as if she was dying to get something off her chest. I greeted her with the common salutation, Hi there, can I help you maam? From there, the conversation immediately declined.

In addition to verbally insulting my heritage  I am a Hispanic-Asian  she insisted that it was people like me who were making this country disgusting and an uninhabitable land. After she had finished venting to me, I smiled and simply replied as I do to all who would say the same, Thank you. You have a nice day.

Thats a pretty typical interaction between Republicans and the rest of liberal Berkeley.

It was my goal to meet open-minded individuals who had opposing views to that of mine, and would be welcoming of intellectual conversations on various hot-button topics. After having been at UC Berkeley for three years now, I am greatly disappointed.

I knew I was a Republican from the time of the Bush presidency (W., that is). That was when I was still in middle school in a predominantly blue city--Miami, Florida--where I attended liberal-leaning schools all the way through high school. At a young age I realized how fond I was of debates and discussions about politics. Thats part of what helped me in my decision-making process when selecting a university to attend. It was my goal to meet open-minded individuals who had opposing views to that of mine, and would be welcoming of intellectual conversations on various hot-button topics. After having been at UC Berkeley for three years now, I am greatly disappointed.

Now, for those of you who dont know, BCR has a bad name on campus, and its not just for being full of Republicans. It originates from those who wish to seek publicity through ego-driven stunts that actually detract from what we should be trying to accomplish on campus. For instance, instead of calling ourselves the Free Speech Movement only for the cameras, we should actually become the Free Speech Movement by calling for legislators to protect our First Amendment right. BCR has also pushed for a lawsuit to be filed against the university in the hopes of granting us the freedom to invite high-profile speakers to the campus. However, the lawsuit has done nothing to remedy that situation and has been dragged out to soak up media attention. Our lawyers should be frantically pushing the envelope and getting us our freedom as soon as possible so that we may once again invite speakers to our campus without the infringement of the administration.

Our club, as with all clubs, is not perfect. I remain a member because I want to change BCR from the inside for the better. And until certain attention-seeking colleagues of mine and the angry liberals around me realize how far they have fallen, I remain a moderate stuck in the middle, fighting for reasonable discussion on two fronts.

It is obvious that Republicans at Berkeley are a minority and may never have a majority. That is not my intention though. Right now, the first step is simply getting the word Republican to be tolerated. The way things are now, I feel reluctant in expressing my political opinions in class or in professional settings as it could be detrimental to my education. There are certain departments on campus that I know are not welcoming to conservative students. After all, I was physically attacked by a Graduate Student Instructor employed by UC Berkeley. If he is willing to try and do me physical harm, what is stopping him from tampering with my grades? So, for now, I choose to be silent in the classroom. But I hope its not like that forever.

I merely want to listen to people who are interested in calmly deliberating their political opinions--even those that are different from my own--and backing their thoughts with facts and sources. But that cant happen as long as people on campus treat Republican like its a dirty word.

And yet, I have hope. Every so often, when I spend all day tabling on Sproul Plaza, there are some individuals who will come up to me and engage in a lively conversation -- a real conversation. Well go back and forth on the ethics of abortion, or global warming, or gun regulations, for hours at a time. In some cases, we start agreeing and coming up with new ideas on how to tackle these issues. And in these moments, it feels like the UC Berkeley I originally came for.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it would take up a Wisconsin redistricting case. Its decision in Gill v. Whitford will determine whether the Court intrudes into the realm of partisan gerrymandering, a political thicket into which previous justices have feared to tread.

In Gill v. Whitford, a split three-judge federal panel invalidated Wisconsins redistricting plan for its state legislature. The two-judge majority claimed that it was an unconstitutional gerrymander, because the Republican-controlled legislature had drawn districts favoring the Republican Party.

The panel came to this conclusion despite the factundisputed in the casethat the legislature had followed all the redistricting criteria traditionally used by states. For example, the plan ensured that districts consisted of contiguous territory, were as compact as possible, and respected political subdivisions like counties and cities.

Over 70 years ago, Justice Felix Frankfurter warned the Supreme Court against getting into the political thicket of redistricting.

Over 70 years ago, Justice Felix Frankfurter warned the Supreme Court against getting into the political thicket of redistricting.

In Colegrove v. Green, he said that the court should not get into the business of drawing political maps. But starting in the early 1960s, the Supreme Court ignored that warning. It has since handed down a series of decisions regarding redistricting. Unfortunately, the rules established in these decisions are very confusing, which is why there are more redistricting cases before the Supreme Court almost every term.

Generally speaking, the court has decreed that when states redraw their congressional boundaries, they must create districts with as equal a population as possible, in order to avoid violating the one person, one vote standard of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. The Court gives states a little more leeway with state legislative districts in order to allow the states to comply with traditional redistricting requirements.

Under the Voting Rights Act, states are also in trouble if race is the predominant factor in their redistricting. But they are allowed to use some race in redistricting to comply with the VRA and protect minority voting rights. How much race they can use is unclear  it has to be just right, which is why I call it the Goldilocks Rule of Redistricting.

Until now, however, the Supreme Court has stayed out of political gerrymandering as opposed to claims over racial gerrymandering or unequal populations in districts.

The holding in the Wisconsin case violates prior precedent of the Supreme Court. In 2004, in Vieth v. Jubelierer, which involved a similar claim by Pennsylvania Democrats against the Republican-controlled legislature, the Supreme Court tossed out their lawsuit. Four justices held that political gerrymandering claims are not justiciable, meaning they are not claims that courts should consider.

Justice Anthony Kennedy agreed that the Pennsylvania claim should be thrown out, although he left open the possibility that the Court might consider a political gerrymandering claim if some kind of legal standard could be established for what type of behavior was unconstitutional. But that is virtually an impossible task.

Drawing up political districts is, by its very nature, a political exercise by the legislative branch. How could one possibly determine how much or how little politics is acceptable in the redistricting process? The Constitution says nothing about this at all, other than to give state legislatures the authority to draw not only their own state legislative districts, but congressional districts as well.

In the Gill case, two federal judges bought the arguments of two law professors (not professional mathematicians, statisticians, or political geographers), who claim to have come up with a standard that has eluded the courts  a judicially manageable standard to determine when a political gerrymander is unconstitutional.

They call their standard the Efficiency Gap, because it considers any vote wasted if not properly distributed. They define every vote for a losing candidate as wasted, as well as every vote not needed to secure a victory. So if there are only two candidates in a race, all of the votes above 50 percent for the winning candidate are wasted.

This dubious theory has so many problems, it is hard to understand how a federal court could possibly give it any credence. It ignores the reality of political geography that some voters who support particular political parties are naturally packed as a result of residential patterns, not because of choices made by legislatures.

Democratic voters tend to congregate in urban areas, while Republicans tend to congregate in suburban areas. Trying to draw districts that ignore these residential patterns to meet the Efficiency Gap test would result in even more bizarrely drawn districts than we already get from legislators, and would make it much more difficult to draw districts that are compact, contiguous, and dont cross political lines.

As the dissenting judge said, it is also hard to understand how anyone could believe that a purported proof of intent to act for political purposes in redistricting, a task that has been constitutionally entrusted to the political branches of government, is unconstitutional.

Moreover, the Efficiency Gap is based on comparing the number of seats in a legislature with the number of statewide votes that different parties get. But the Constitution does not require proportional representation of the political parties (indeed, it does not refer to parties at all). Such a concept should be soundly rejected by the courts.

In Cooper v. Harris, a North Carolina redistricting case that the Supreme Court decided on May 22, dissenting Justice Samuel Alito echoed Justice Frankfurter when he warned the Court against transforming the federal courts into weapons of political warfare. Otherwise, they will invite the losers in the redistricting process to seek to obtain in court what they could not achieve in the political arena.

That is exactly what is going on this case. The Supreme Court should heed Justice Alitos advice.
I was taken aback by something Fred Warmbier said the other day. His son Otto had just been released from captivity by the North Koreans.

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Mr. Warmbier said he was told by the Obama administration to do nothing that would offend or upset the North Koreans. They were not even allowed to put ribbons on a tree.

A reporter asked if the Obama administration could have done more to secure Ottos release. Mr. Warmbier replied, The results speak for themselves.

The results certainly do speak for themselves. Otto Warmbier died yesterday. He was 22-years-old.

Lets be clear about something: Otto was held prisoner by the North Koreans. He was tortured. He was left to languish. And ultimately -- he was murdered.

President Obama was famous for kicking the can down the road. But sometimes, when you kick the can down the road, people like Otto Warmbier die.

This nation has a storied history of standing up to dictators and despots from Hitler to Saddam Hussein.

And the time has come for President Trump to do what the previous administration was afraid to do -- stand up to the North Koreans.

The president must send an unequivocal message to Kim Jung Un -- harm another American citizen and the Armed Forces of these United States will rain down hell fire on his godforsaken wasteland of a nation.

We are the United States of America -- and we will not be trifled with -- not any more.
And if a stranger sojourn with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself. Leviticus 19.33-34

Think about how it would feel if you had to leave your home, right now, quickly, without much of a plan because delay might mean death. Now, go! Where will you go?

Your friends and neighbors have to leave their homes too, so you cant just sleep on their floor or their couch until the crisis blows over. All of you have to go. And take with you only what you can stuff into a bag, and carry in your hand or on your back.

Of all your things to take, which are most important? Clothes? Food? Money? You face hard choices. But the hardest is where to go. Who will have you? A nearby village, state or country?

We decided to say, Hello. We dont know how this is going to work out, but you come to church with us and well figure it out together. And so, two wildly different peoples with different cultures, languages, customs, worldviews, and experiences began worshipping alongside one another.

It seems like nobody wants people in your situation anymore. Self-preservation dictates many communities cant welcome you because you pose a threat to their comfort, security, livelihood, the character of their neighborhoods, churches, schools, places of work.

I am a parish priest, and I dont pretend to understand refugee policies or legislation on national, state or even on local levels. But I do know what refugees are.

First, they are human beings; human beings forced to leave their nations, their homes, because of natural disaster, war, or persecution.

It is probably the case that most refugees dont want to leave, but to stay places them in mortal danger. They flee to be safe and to protect their families. Their greatest difficulty is not leaving their homes, as painful as that may be. Their greatest difficulty is finding a place to go. Who will have them?

In 2008, while priest of an Episcopal church I feared would be sold due to low attendance and crippling debt, a community of Karen refugees from Burma arrived at our service one Sunday saying they would like to attend our church, and needed help with food, clothing, transportation, medical care, and employment.

Their needs, at first, seemed overwhelming in the face of my congregations paucity of resources and the impending loss of our church. I was counseled by well-meaning colleagues not to take on this community of refugees, as they would sink an already vulnerable church. As well-meaning as they were, I couldnt help but think their counsel was cynical, faithless even.

We decided to say, Hello. We dont know how this is going to work out, but you come to church with us and well figure it out together. And so, two wildly different peoples with different cultures, languages, customs, worldviews, and experiences began worshipping alongside one another.

In time, we began living and then thriving with one another. While we were immediately and spontaneously welcoming, I did have concerns whether or not a relatively conservative, semi-rural congregation of mostly white southerners would be receptive to such a dramatic and foreign change to the face of their church community, and how this might even change the face of the town they lived in.

I didnt have any control over the latter, but I did bear some responsibility for the former. In the vast majority of cases I neednt have worried.

In the isolated instances where my fears were well founded, such as when one member told me she just wanted to go to church with people who looked like her and another who had brown people fatigue, I caught a glimpse of unvarnished racism that led to their departures from the church.

It was their loss, because what they missed out on was better than anything they could imagine for themselves or find in a more like them congregation.

I am no longer the minister at All Saints Church in Smyrna, Tennessee, but today it is one of the larger Episcopal churches in the area, and it continues to grow, debt free.

The Karen are beginning to see their children graduate from college, and their quality of life is steadily improving. The locals who welcomed them in have seen their lives enriched by sharing their own lives and experiences with the Karen, which have helped them better acclimate. They have also helped many to become citizens, which is a source of pride shared by Anglo and Karen alike.

My experience at All Saints didnt teach me much about refugee and immigration policy. It did teach me that while I dont have control over who shows up on my doorstep, I do have control over my response to them, if and when they arrive.

I learned that Hello is a good place to start and though you wont necessarily know how things are going to work out, you may just find that figuring it out together brings peace and wellbeing for everybody.
Two top House Democrats are questioning whether Michael Flynn failed to report a 2015 trip to the Middle East to federal security clearance investigators, a potential omission that could add to the legal jeopardy President Donald Trump's former national security adviser faces over the truthfulness of his statements to authorities and on government documents.

The lawmakers  Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.  said in a letter released Monday that they believe Flynn may have violated federal law by failing to disclose the trip, which they believe involved a proposal to provide nuclear power to several Middle Eastern countries, and any foreign contacts he had during another trip to the region that year.

The letter from Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House oversight committee, and Engel, the ranking Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, is the latest to call attention to potential problems with what Flynn reported to the U.S. government about his foreign travel, contacts and business after he left the Defense Intelligence Agency in August 2014.

Federal and congressional probes have been looking closely at Flynn's foreign travel and contacts as part of investigations into Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion with associates of Trump or his campaign.

Separately, federal investigators have been scrutinizing Flynn's work for a Turkish businessman and the Defense Department's inspector general has been looking into whether Flynn failed to get U.S. government permission to receive foreign payments. Among those payments was more than $33,000 he received from RT, the Russian state-sponsored television network that U.S. intelligence officials have branded as a propaganda arm of the Kremlin.

Flynn's attorney, Robert Kelner, declined to comment on the allegations in the letter.

In their letter, Cummings and Engel said they believe Flynn was not forthcoming about a trip to the Middle East in the summer of 2015.

They cited a recent Newsweek report that Flynn flew to Israel and Egypt that summer as part of an effort promoting a U.S.-Russian partnership to construct nuclear reactors for civilian power needs. They also point to Flynn's June 10, 2015, testimony before a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee.

During the testimony, Flynn told lawmakers he "just came from a trip  fairly extensive trip to the Middle East," during which the issue of developing nuclear energy in the region came up. But Cummings and Engel said it "does not appear that General Flynn disclosed this trip or any foreign contacts as part of his security clearance renewal process," noting that intentionally concealing such information from a security clearance form is a felony.

Cummings and Engel also raised questions about an October 2015 trip to Saudi Arabia, which Flynn did report as part of his security clearance review. The review took place in the early months of 2016.

The lawmakers said Flynn told security clearance investigators that he traveled to Saudi Arabia because "as a business owner, he is working on developing business with another country."

Flynn reported that he went on the six-day trip with a friend, who was also American, to speak at a conference, stayed at a hotel called the King Khaled International Hotel and had the trip paid for by a "work sponsor."

But congressional staffers could not confirm the existence of such a hotel, though they note the airport in Riyadh shares that name. They also could not find any evidence of a conference that Flynn would have attended during the time frame, noting that three speakers' bureaus affiliated with Flynn did not report being involved with the trip or a conference in Saudi Arabia.

In the letter, the lawmakers asked Flynn's former firm, Flynn Intel Group, to provide additional information about his foreign travel and his involvement with two other companies who spearheaded the nuclear power plan.

In financial disclosures Flynn filed out earlier this year, he reported serving as an adviser between August 2015 and last December to one of the companies, identified as X-Co Dynamics/Iron Bridge Group.

X-Co Dynamics is a Virginia-based consulting firm headed by former U.S. Rear Admiral Michael Hewitt, whose board of retired military advisers included former National Security Agency chief Keith Alexander and former Marine Corps General James "Hoss" Cartwright, who was prosecuted last year for lying to the FBI in a leak investigation.

A representative for Hewitt reached by the AP on Monday afternoon said he was not available because he was traveling.

Flynn did not detail his work with X-Co Dynamics in the disclosure, but the Newsweek report alleged that Flynn's trip to Israel and Egypt in summer 2015 was part of a private effort by the firm to advance the idea of a massive ring of atomic reactors that would be built by the U.S. nuclear industry and the Russian government and largely bankrolled by Saudi Arabia.

According to an internal memo obtained by Newsweek, the project was the brainchild of ACU Strategic Partners, a U.S. firm promoting the idea of a partnership between the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates to build and operate 40 nuclear power reactors across the Middle East. Russia would have financial incentive to join the project, according to the ACU plan, because it would take the lead in building the plants and providing a burial ground for their waste.

ACU Strategic Partners managing director Alex Copson did not immediately respond to an email from the AP seeking comment.

Newsweek reported that Flynn's role in the project, via X-Co Dynamics, was to design and put into play "a vast security network for the entire enterprise." Flynn's financial disclosure did not show any financial payment from X-Co Dynamics for his involvement.

Newsweek reported that the proposed deal was scuttled by the Obama administration. Saudi Arabia later signed a deal with Russia's nuclear agency, Rosatom, to build 16 reactors.
U.S. officials renewed efforts Tuesday to ban or restrict tourism in North Korea after the death of college student Otto Warmbier.

Inside the Trump administration, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has been weighing such a move since late April, a senior State Department official said. The official told the AP that deliberations gained new urgency after Warmbier's death.

On Capitol Hill, calls to crack down on U.S. travel to the rogue state already are being made.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said those "stupid enough to want to travel to North Korea should be required to sign a waiver that would absolve the U.S. government of any blame for harm to those citizens while abroad.

McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said North Korea "murdered" Warmbier.

President Trump said Tuesday that what happened to Warmbier is a total disgrace and his lengthy detention should never ever be allowed to happen.

Separately, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., called for the passage of a bill he had introduced with Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., that would ban U.S. tourist travel to the country.

The North Korean regime has shown once again that it is perfectly willing to treat Americans who visit their nation as hostages to extract concessions from the United States, and to put their lives in danger, Schiff said in the statement.

The North Korea Travel Control Act, introduced last month, would have the Treasury Department require a license for any travel related to North Korea by American citizens  and would ban licenses for tourist travel.

University of Virginia student Warmbier died Monday in a Cincinnati hospital, days after returning to the U.S. in a coma after being held in North Korea for 17 months.

While the State Department has strongly warned against any travel to North Korea for years, at least 17 Americans have been detained in the past 10 years -- three are still currently imprisoned.

Schiff said Tuesday that traveling to North Korea is not only dangerous but helps fund one of the most brutal and despotic regimes in the world.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


College students and professors delivered a dire warning to Capitol Hill Tuesday that free speech on campus is coming under "attack," telling lawmakers that conservative views are in danger of being "shut down."

Students who say they've faced considerable backlash for exercising First Amendment rights testified as part of a packed panel of witnesses before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"In classrooms, liberal arguments are often treated as unquestionable truths," said Zachary Wood, a 21-year-old student at Williams College in Massachusetts.

Other views, he suggested, are not welcome. I cannot name a single conservative speaker that has been brought to campus by the administration, Wood said.

Wood is the president of Uncomfortable Learning, a program that gives a forum to speakers with highly controversial views. It has not been an easy gig.

I have faced considerable backlash from the student body, yet I resolved to ignore those attacks, Wood testified. Speaking to what has become a common practice on American campuses, he described how administrators have disinvited speakers over "inflammatory remarks" such as "anti-feminist" Suzanne Venker.

'I cannot name a single conservative speaker that has been brought to campus by the administration.'  Zachary Wood, student at Williams College

Tuesdays hearing was spurred by a string of incidents on college campuses where controversial speakers have been blocked by administrators or their presence has led to violent protests.

Most recently, the University of California at Berkeley canceled conservative commentator Ann Coulters April 27 speech amid threats of violence. In February, UC Berkeley also canceled a campus event featuring conservative Milo Yiannopoulos, after protesters threw rocks, broke windows, and set fires outside the schools student union building to protest his appearance.

But Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told the panel Tuesday that this issue is hardly new, citing protests against the war in Vietnam.

Respect for the rule of law is really so fundamental to this conversation, Blumenthal said in his opening statement. And disrespect for the rule of law, we have seen all too often, outside universities, as well as in.

Richard Cohen of Southern Poverty Law Center said that students and universities should not give racists an audience.

They are not First Amendment martyrs, Cohen said in response to universities disinviting certain speakers to address the student body.

But Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said that free speech seems to have been sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.

Many administrators believe students should be shielded from hate speech, as an exception to the First Amendment, Grassley said. This anti-constitutional attitude is so pervasive that students are being socialized and possibly indoctrinated into favoring censorship at odds with the First Amendment.

Isaac Smith, a student at University of Cincinnati Law School and legal intern at Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, told lawmakers about his experience suing the University of Ohio in 2013 after administrators banned a shirt his group, Students Defending Students, wore on campus that read, We get you off for free. Administrators said the shirts objectified women, but ended up settling, favorably to the students, and changing their code of conduct.

MILO YIANNOPOULOS: BERKELEY RIOT 'SELF-DEFEATING FOR THE SOCIAL JUSTICE LEFT'

We know that administrators nationwide are stifling free speech, Smith said, saying that examples of censorship across the nation are plentiful.

Frederick Lawrence, CEO of Phi Beta Kappa Society and visiting professor at Georgetown University, said speakers are welcome so long as they are willing to answer questions.

I trust my kids to ask them the hard questions, the pointed questionsthats how well get to the truth, he said.

Witnesses acknowledged that universities have a tough judgment call.

Make it a closed event and only invite members of the community, Lawrence said, but added: Its not an easy line to draw.
It all depends on the meaning of the word investigation.

That, apparently, is where we are in the constant debate about President Trump, Robert Mueller and the prosecutorial machinery clanking into action.

It seems to me largely semantics, but the is-he-or-isnt-he argument stems from the latest push by the White House.

Jay Sekulow, a conservative attorney who is now a member of Trumps legal team, has emerged as the presidents chief television defender. And in blitzing four Sunday shows, he mounted the argument that the special counsel is not investigating Trump.

Which would seem to be at odds with the presidents Friday tweet:

I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt. (That was a swipe at his own deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who both wrote the fire-Jim-Comey memothough Trump was already planning to do soand named Mueller as special counsel.)

But in his contentious Sunday interviews, Sekulow said the tweet had been misinterpreted.

Heres what he told Chris Wallace: That tweet, Chris, was in response to the Washington Post story that alleged that five unnamed sources, anonymous sources, leaked to the Washington Post that the president was, in fact, under investigation. So that tweet was in response to that. There's been no notification of an investigation. Nothing's changed since James Comey said the president was not a target or subject of investigation. Nothing's changed."

Wallace was quite surprised, since Sekulow himself had twice referred to the president being under investigation. What followed was one of the most contentious interviews Ive seen on Fox News Sunday:

"Here's what you're trying to do, Chris," Sekulow said.

"Now you're reading minds again," Wallace said.

"No, Chris, I deal with fact and law," Sekulow said. "You're asking me to read people's minds."

Sekulow pressed the same points with Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper and John Dickerson, telling Todd that the Washington Post story was a fake reporta report with no documented sources.

But no one has denied the substance of the Post story. The paper said that Mueller had arranged interviews with two top intelligence officials, Dan Coats and Mike Rogers, to ask about previous reports that Trump asked them to intervene with Comeys investigation, and that they refused.

That would amount to looking into Trumps actions on potential grounds of obstructing justice.

Sekulow clashed again yesterday with CNNs Chris Cuomo, who said the lawyer could just make a phone call to find out whether his client is under investigation or not.

It is true that Mueller hasnt said he is investigating Trump and hasnt notified the presidents lawyers that he is under investigation. It is also true that Trump isnt the subject or target of the probe. Were still at a preliminary phase. And theres still no evidence of what was supposed to be the point of the probe, collusion with Russia.

But Im a bit mystified that the president would have one of his lawyers get into an endless back-and-forth over whether he is officially under investigation. At times it sounded like Bill Clinton debating the meaning of the word is. And Trumps own tweet seemed to concede the point last week.

It might make more sense to argue that the president didnt do anything wrong or that the investigation is straying far from its original mandate. Mueller and the prosecutors he has hired so far are clearly looking in part at Trumps conduct. We may not know for some time whether they find anything.
Republican congressional candidate Karen Handel on Tuesday ripped Democratic opponent Jon Ossoff for the flood of outside donations that have pumped up his war chest and helped make Tuesdays Georgia special election the most expensive House race in U.S. history.

Speaking on election morning with Fox & Friends, Handel voiced confidence about GOP turnout putting her over the top once ballots are counted.

Republicans  are coming home to vote in this runoff, she said.

And Handel, who plays up her experience as a state and local elected official, continued to cast her bid as a battle against outside forces trying to buy the 6th Congressional District seat.

[Voters] are not interested in Hollywood and California coming in and buying this seat, Handel said.

GEORGIA SPECIAL ELECTION: WHY IT MATTERS

The race, however, is very tight, according to recent polling.

More than $50 million has been spent on the two candidates in the special election runoff. In terms of individual donations, Ossoff has vastly outpaced Handel, with nearly $24 million to her $4.5 million  millions more was spent by outside groups.

Most of Ossoffs money has come from out of state, especially from states like California and New York. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis showed just 3.5 percent of his donations between the end of March and May came from Georgia.

Handel has also benefited from outside spending, but it mostly hasnt come to her campaign directly. Rather, groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, have spent millions on her behalf.

National Republicans' House campaign arm added $4.5 million, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce chipped in another seven figures.

All this spending reflects just how politically important the Georgia race has become.

Another race, in South Carolina, also is being held Tuesday. Voters in the Palmetto States 5th Congressional District are going to the polls to determine who will succeed Mick Mulvaney  now the White House budget director -- in Congress. Millionaire developer Ralph Norman, the Republican, is favored over former Goldman Sachs tax adviser Archie Parnell, the Democrat.

Georgias race, by contrast, is locked up in the polls  and Democrats see it as a critical pickup opportunity after having lost two earlier special elections in Kansas and Montana. Democrats are eager to advance the narrative of voters delivering a referendum on President Trumps policies but have yet to snag a House victory to support it.

Each candidate has heavy-hitters in their corner. Trump again took to Twitter Tuesday morning to make a closing sales pitch for Handel, writing:

KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS. She will fight for lower taxes, great health care strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY

Handel used an election-eve rally to urge suburban Atlanta Republicans not to be wowed by the attention and money showered on this House special election.

"We cannot let up. There is too much at stake," Handel said.

Across town, an even more boisterous crowd dominated by millennials chanted "Flip the 6th! Flip the 6th!" as the 30-year-old Ossoff took the microphone.

A former congressional staffer making his first bid for public office, Ossoff has spent the monthslong campaign bouncing between excited Democrats eager to topple Trump and the independents and moderates who are unhappy with Washington yet wary about voting for a Democrat.

On the final night before voting, though, he played to the base.

"Politics does not have to be about fear and hate and deception and division," he said, avoiding mentioning Trump directly, as is his custom, but blistering "those cynics in Washington, D.C."

A gaggle of national and foreign media looked on at both rallies, a testament to how a single congressional seat has become a dominant story in U.S. politics.

The seat in play was held by Tom Price, now Trumps Health and Human Services secretary. The seat has been represented by Republicans since 1979.

More than 140,000 voters have cast early ballots, suggesting total turnout will exceed a typical midterm election.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ivanka Trump visited Capitol Hill Wednesday to meet with Republican lawmakers on a proposal to expand a tax credit for families.

The senior adviser and daughter of President Donald Trump was at the Capitol for a meeting with GOP Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and other lawmakers. As she entered the session, Trump said she was "looking forward to a robust discussion."

A White House official said the group would be discussing the possibility of expanding the child tax credit. The official, who sought anonymity to discuss details of a private meeting, said the administration has heard from lawmakers that this approach will help working families.

While Trump has met with lawmakers previously, this was her first public visit to the Capitol. She tweeted Tuesday: "Childcare is a major expense for American working families. This Admin. is focused on creating policy solutions to enable them to thrive!"

Trump has been looking to include tax relief for working families in the administration's tax reform effort. Rubio and Lee have proposed enhancing the credit, which currently provides a tax credit of up to $1,000 for qualifying families.

Rubio said the meeting would focus on the credit and other policies.

"It's on our pro-family agenda, ours I mean the president's as well, and so it's broader than just one topic but it certainly is a part of it," Rubio said.

Asked if he supports paid family leave, which Ivanka Trump has also been working on, Rubio said: "I think we need to do something about family leave, absolutely."
Two construction workers were seriously injured and a third remained trapped by a load of building materials that smashed through a Queens home Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

The mishap took place at 31-25 28th Road in Long Island City around 3:40 p.m., when a crane operator accidentally dropped the bundle onto the buildings top floor, according to the FDNY.

The injured workers were rushed to a nearby hospital after being rescued from the basement, where firefighters were working to free the workers colleague, FDNY spokesman Jim Long said.

READ MORE NEWS FROM NEW YORK POST.
Republican congressional leaders put their two major legislative priorities on a fast track Tuesday -- aiming for a Senate vote to overhaul ObamaCare as early as next week and a vote on tax reform by year's end.

We are going to cut taxes, House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a major tax reform speech in Washington. We are going to get this done in 2017.

Hours later, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Capitol Hill he expects to have a draft by Thursday of Senate Republicans health care bill and a decisive floor vote by next week.

The vote could be close. The House last month passed its legislation to overhaul ObamaCare. A group of about 13 Republican senators has since been working behind closed doors on a Senate version, eager to give President Trump and the entire party a major legislative win this year.

Democrats have criticized McConnell for the secretive process and their exclusion from the drafting process.

Our friends on the other side of the aisle have made it perfectly clear no Democrats will be voting to replace ObamaCare, the Kentucky lawmaker countered on the Senate floor.

McConnell spoke after Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., accused Senate Republicans of crafting the bill in the dark of night and called for an open hearing before a final vote.

McConnell denied the request for a hearing and defended his use of a parliamentary tactic known as budget reconciliation that allows him to pass the bill with no fewer than 50 of the chambers 52 GOP senators.

Its an open amendment process, said McConnell, who also declined to say whether senators will have more than the minimum 10 hours to review the bill before voting.

Schumer called the situation a travesty, amid plans by him and fellow Senate Democrats to give extended floor speeches and limit hearings to two hours to try to stop the bill from passing.

The remaining undecided issues reportedly include how to keep tax subsidies intended to pay for ObamaCare from being used to buy insurance that covers abortions.

The 2010 health care law has extended insurance coverage to tens of millions of Americans, but many customers are facing rising costs and dwindling policy options.

Trump has been relatively quiet about his demands for the Senate bill, and top administration officials have kept a distance, at least publicly, from the drafting process.

However, Trump recently said the House version was mean -- implying the Senate version could provide more subsidies to help defray the cost of insurance.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer seemed to confirm that position Tuesday when he told reporters the president wants the bill to have heart.

Ryan, in his speech before the National Association of Manufacturers, vowed tax reform for individuals and businesses.

He said the GOP House plan for individuals calls for eliminating the death tax and Alternative Minimum Tax and ending special-interest carve outs and excessive deductions, while keeping taxes on home ownership, charitable giving and retirement savings.

Ryan, as he has suggested before, said the plan would also consolidate the existing seven brackets into three, double the standard deduction and simplify things to the point that you can do your taxes on a form the size of a postcard.

He said eliminating so-called loopholes would lower taxes. However, he did not elaborate on whether the cuts would be across the board for all Americans.

Spicer said Tuesday after Ryans speech that the administration and congressional Republicans have an agreement  on what tax reform should include.

Spicer said changes should simplify the tax code and help U.S. companies more easily sell goods overseas.

We need to get this done sooner than later, he said. We are working with House leaders and hosting listening sessions to iron out details on what needs to happen.
A growing chorus of U.S. lawmakers are declaring the death of American college student Otto Warmbier just days after he was released from a North Korean prison "murder," and all eyes are on the White House as the Trump administration weighs possible responses.

Warmbier, the University of Virginia student detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half, died on Monday as a result of what his parents called "awful torturous mistreatment... at the hands of the North Koreans." His death came just a week afer he was flown home in a coma-like state with devere brain damage.

"There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life," a somber President Trump said Monday.

As anger built around the nation at the North Korean regime's deadly brutal treatment of an American, Trump declared North Korea's treatment of Warmbier "a total disgrace," and called the North Korean government is "a brutal regime."

"The North Korean regime is mistaken if it believes that its barbaric mistreatment of an American citizen held in depraved captivity for over a year will pass quietly."  Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas

The U.S. will "be able to handle it," Trump added.

The administration was already wrestling with option for containing an increasingly belligerent North Korea before the shocking return of a mortally wounded Warmbier. As the rogue regime repeatedly threatened the U.S. and its regional allies, testing missiles at least nine times since Trump's election, the administration looked to China to help.

On Tuesday, Trump signaled he could be ready for the U.S. to act alone.

"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out," Trump tweeted.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the U.S. will "hold North Korea accountable" for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment," and is also demanding the release of three other Americans who are being detained.

Some U.S. lawmakers, however, are calling for a powerful and unmistakable response"

"The North Korean regime is mistaken if it believes that its barbaric mistreatment of an American citizen held in depraved captivity for over a year will pass quietly," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also suggested North Korea "must be held accountable for this brutality," and scoffed at North Korea's justification for sentencing Warmbier to 15 years hard labor. The stgudent allegedly took down a poster of dictator Kim Jong Un.

"Otto Warmbier should never have been in jail for tearing down a stupid banner. And he most certainly should not have been murdered for it," Rubio tweeted.

Finally, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., suggested in a statement that "The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.

Channelling the outrage into a diplomatic or military response falls to the Trump administration. The U.S. and others have long turned to economic sanctions as a form of punishment, and the State Department confirmed that a travel ban is being considered. South Korean officials announced Tuesday that the U.S. flew two supersonic bomber jets over the Korean peninsula today in what was described as a show of force responding to Warmbiers death.

Appearing on The Story w/Martha MacCallum Monday night, retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane said he also believes Warmbier's death to be "a murder committed...by the North Koreans," and added that he thinks the incident will "strengthen our resolve, that we really have to do something once and for all about this regime.

"I kind of think the administration is there, but I think this will toughen them up," Keane said.

Keane also seems to believe that the diplomatic route is the way to go, and that the U.S. could have to independently pursue "tougher sanctions" if our allies (ie: China) are unable to help.

Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico and a 2008 Democratic presidential candidate, apparently had a hand in Warmbier's release via his foundation, The Richardson Center. In a recent interview, Richardson suggested that Warmbier's death will "set back any serious discussion about a diplomatic dialogue until this is cleared up.

Gordon Chang, a Daily Beast columnist and author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes On the World," called Warmbier's death a case of "state-sanctioned murder," and believes that President Trump will have to do more than the usual song and dance.

"North Koreans thought it was safe to brutalize Otto Warmbier," Chang wrote. "Now is the time to make sure they never harm another American again."

Asked today whether the U.S. is considering retaliation beyond sanctions or a potential travel ban, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said it was too early to say just over 24 hours after Warmbiers death. She conceded that the U.S. is considering our options.

Nauert declined to comment on the characterization of Warmbier's death as murder, and bristled at one reporter's suggestion that the administration had been slow to express outrage at Warmbier's treatment.

"It's something that's of great concern to the administration, Nauert told Fox News' James Rosen. "Everyone's grieving. Everyone is concerned about that, and understandably upset about that. So we're just going to be - continue to take a look at what we can do about this. And I'm just going to have to leave it there."
Republican Karen Handel on Tuesday night defeated rival Jon Ossoff in Georgias record-spending, special-election congressional race, keeping yet another House seat in GOP hands and denying Democrats a chance to deliver a rebuke to President Trump.

With all precincts reporting, Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state, led Ossoff 52 percent to 48 percent -- a margin of nearly 11,000 votes out of more than 250,000 ballots cast.

The race smashed fundraising records for a House contest -- with both campaigns and outside groups combining to spend a record $50 million.

Ossoffs defeat was another setback for Democrats hoping to capitalize on Trumps low approval ratings to win a long-standing Republican seat.

It was the partys fourth straight defeat this year in attempts to win a Republican seat and take the momentum into the 2018 midterms. They now must win 24 GOP House seats to retake control of the chamber next year.

This race was going to require all hands on deck, and thats what we had, Handel said at her victory party. Tonights victory is for you. Its for every citizen in the 6th (Congressional) District.

To be sure, the contest was close since Handel and Ossoff were the top finishers in April's first balloting, which sent them to Tuesdays runoff.

Ossoff lead by nearly 5 percentage points as recently as June 12, before the race deadlocked in the final days, according to the RealClearPolitics.com polls average.

The 30-year-old Ossoff, whose campaign was hurt by revelations that he didnt live in the suburban Atlanta district, thanked his campaign team and voters in a short concession speech.

Thank you for the most extraordinary process that I have ever been a part of, Ossoff said. The fight goes on. Hope is still alive.

The House seat has been occupied by Republicans since 1979. GOP Rep. Tom Price gave up the seat in February to become Health and Human Services secretary.

President Trump didnt campaign in Georgia for Handel. But he attacked Ossoff on Twitter for living outside the district and warned voters that he would increase taxes and be soft on national security.

Handel supporters chanted Trump, Trump, Trump at her victory party. And the president tweeted his own message of congratulations.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., also congratulated Handel, saying, Karen is all business. Ive campaigned with her, and I know how eager she is to get to work. Im excited to have her as a partner in the House.

Ossoff tried to thread the needle in the conservative-leaning Georgia district by vowing to cut taxes for small businesses, while championing equal rights for women and minorities, which earned him the support of civil rights icon and Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis.

Handel touted her experience as a state and local elected official and argued that outside forces were trying to buy a win.

Voters are not interested in Hollywood and California coming in and buying this seat, she said Tuesday morning on Fox News Fox & Friends.

In terms of individual donations, Ossoff vastly outpaced Handel, with nearly $24 million to her $4.5 million. An Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis showed just 3.5 percent of Ossoffs donations between the end of March and May came from Georgia.

Still, Handel also benefited from outside spending, though most didnt go directly to her campaign.

Groups like the Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee backed by Ryan, have spent millions on her behalf.

Also on Tuesday, Republicans held onto the House seat in South Carolina that was vacated in February by Mick Mulvaney so he could become the White House budget director. Millionaire developer Ralph Norman, the Republican, defeated former Goldman Sachs tax adviser Archie Parnell, the Democrat, in a closer-than-expected contest.

The other two special-election races this year in which Democrats failed to win a GOP House seat were in Kansas and Montana.

In Kansas, Republicans held onto the seat of Mike Pompeo, now the CIA director, and they kept the Montana seat of Ryan Zinke, who became Trumps secretary of Interior.

Democrats have one last outside chance to win a GOP House seat, Rep. Jason Chaffetzs in a conservative Utah. The special election is on August 15. Democrats won one special House election this year, holding onto the California seat vacated by Xavier Becerra.

While Republicans have held the Georgia seat since former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took it from Democrats nearly four decades ago, the district does not appear as conservative as in years past.

Trump won the district over Democrat Hillary Clinton last year by just 1.5 percent, compared to 2008 when Republican presidential nominee Arizona Sen. John McCain won by 18.9 percent.

The race attracted national attention and record money, but Georgia voters also took a big interest in the outcome.

More than 40,000 people voted early, including 36,000 who didn't vote in the April contest.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Senate GOP leaders have set a timeline to vote next week on legislation to repeal large chunks of the Affordable Care Act, even though they dont yet appear to have secured enough support to pass it.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R., Ky., is intent on keeping pressure on Senate Republicans to move quickly on the bill rolling back and replacing much of the 2010 health law, lawmakers and GOP aides said. The push for a quick vote before the weeklong July 4 recess could backfire, however, as some conservative and centrist Republicans have expressed concern about the emerging shape of the legislation.

I expect us to vote on it next week, Sen. Richard Burr, R., N.C., said Monday evening of the health bill. I believe the majority leader when he says hes going to take it up.

McConnell could pull back if he calculates that a little extra time could get him the votes needed to cross the finish line. He can lose no more than two GOP votes for a bill to pass. All Democrats are expected to oppose it.

Still, McConnell has reasons to try for a quick health-care vote. The pressure could force lawmakers to reach a consensus on sticking points that have divided them. And GOP leaders in both chambers want to move on to other legislative items.

Click for more from WSJ.com
Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is overseeing the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, will meet with senior Senate Judiciary Committee members to make sure there is no conflict between his probe and the committees.

Reuters, citing congressional aides, reported that Mueller will meet with Sen. Charles Grassley, the committees Republican chairman, and its top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on Wednesday.

Fox News reported that President Trump's legal team and his defenders are taking an aggressive defensive stance, now that Special Counsel Bob Mueller has announced an initial hiring of 12 attorneys, some of whom appear to harbor political leanings.

The president has denied that he has any nefarious ties to Russia and has also disputed that hes attempted to block the investigation into his campaigns possible role in Russias election-related hacking. It was unclear whether his tweet about being under investigation was based on direct knowledge or new media reports that suggest Mueller is examining whether the president obstructed justice by firing FBI Director James Comey.

In an appearance on ABC's This Week, former House Speaker, and Trump advisor, Newt Gingrich suggested it raises questions of a politically motivated prosecution.

"The first four names are all people who gave to Democrats," Gingrich said. "Now in this environment with a Justice Department where 97 percent of the donations last year went to Hillary -- 97 percent -- explain to me why I should relax as a Republican."

Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to the president, tweeted a report citing a Federal Election Commission report that states "Mueller's team includes big Democrat donors. Some maxed out, none wanted Trump to be POTUS."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich led one line of attack with a tweet that said "Republicans are delusional if they think the special counsel is going to be fair." He added that fundraising records show some of the lawyers whom Mueller selected for his team have contributed to Democrats.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
President Trump said Tuesday that efforts to get China's help pressuring North Korea have not worked out -- in the wake of imprisoned American college student Otto Warmbier's death.

Trump had reached out to Chinese President Xi Jinping early in his administration for help curbing Pyongyang's belligerent behavior. And while White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer moments earlier touted those efforts, Trump appeared to throw in the towel on Twitter Tuesday afternoon.

While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried! Trump tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

Warmbier died days after North Korea released him. Trump on Tuesday called his treatment a "disgrace."

The U.S. response is unclear. Minutes before the president tweeted, Spicer told reporters that the administration had a positive movement with China over the last five months in an effort to change the behavior of Kim Jong Uns regime.

We have been very forceful in our political and economic pressure and we will continue to apply that, Spicer said. We will continue to build on our relationship and the dialogue weve had with China.
A 3-year-old albino dolphin was spotted swimming with its mom in California's Monterey Bay last week, and the little one appears healthy, scientists say.

The crew of a Blue Ocean Whale Watch boat saw the albino Risso's dolphin (Grampus griseus) swimming with its mom on June 7 about 3 miles (nearly 5 kilometers) offshore near Moss Landing. They identified it as the same animal that was last seen on Sept. 29, 2015, said Kate Cummings, a naturalist and co-owner of the whale-watching company. Before that, other tour operators had seen the albino animal in Monterey Bay in 2014, when it was a small calf, she said.

"Albinism in the wild is incredibly rare, and I believe this is the only known albino Risso's dolphin in the eastern Pacific," Cummings told Live Science. [See Photos of the Rare Albino Risso's Dolphin]

Albino animals like this one are white (or pink) because the cells that normally produce melanin  the pigment that gives skin, hair and eyes their coloration  are not doing their job (or not doing it well). Its pink eyes result from light reflecting off the red blood vessels in the dolphin's retinas, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye. Nonalbino animals have melanin in their pupils that absorbs incoming light, keeping it from reflecting off of the retina.

This white dolphin may look cute, but albino animals often have health problems. "Albino animals may be more prone to skin problems because there's no melanin to protect the skin from UV [ultraviolet] rays, and they can have poor eyesight and hearing," Cummings said. "As far as we can tell, this juvenile appears healthy."

When Cummings and her crew spotted the dolphin, it was swimming with its mom and a pod of about 50 Risso's dolphins, including many other juveniles.

"Risso's dolphins often form nursery pods, which consist of mothers and their calves," Cummings said. "They were most likely on the hunt for squid, their favorite food source."

Squid are partly to blame for the circular markings seen on most Risso's dolphins, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Risso's dolphins sometimes rake their teeth against other dolphins' bodies, which can also result in scarring.

No other cetacean has the distinctive vertical crease seen on the foreheads of these dolphins, which have indistinguishable beaks, according to NOAA.

Original article on Live Science.
The personal details of nearly 200 million voters have been accidentally exposed in the largest U.S. leak of voter data, according to a security expert.

Information on more than 198 million American voters was left exposed to the Internet by a firm working on behalf of the Republican National Committee (RNC) in their efforts to elect Donald Trump, reports Chris Vickery, a cyber-risk researcher at UpGuard.

The data, he explained in a blog post, was stored in a publicly available cloud server owned by Republican contractor and data firm Deep Root Analytics (DRA). This included 1.1 Terabytes of unsecured personal information compiled by DRA and at least two other Republican contractors, TargetPoint Consulting and Data Trust.

SECURITY FAILURE LEFT NEARLY 7 MILLION GEORGIA VOTER RECORDS EXPOSED, RESEARCHER FINDS

Information on the misconfigured database included names, dates of birth, home addresses, phone numbers and voter registration details, according to Vickery, as well as data described as modeled voter ethnicities and religions.

Vickery found the data, which were hosted on Amazon Web Services, on June 12 while searching for misconfigured data sources. The files, he said, lacked any protection against access. The voter data was secured against public access on the night of June 14, shortly after Vickery notified federal authorities.

The data exposure provides insight into the inner workings of the Republican National Committees $100 million data operation for the 2016 presidential election, an undertaking of monumental scope and painstaking detail launched in the wake of Mitt Romneys loss in 2012, Vickery wrote.

DID THE CIA HACK YOUR ROUTER?

In a statement released Monday, Deep Root Analytics said a number of files within its online storage system were accessed without the contractors knowledge.

The company explained that it builds voter models to enhance advertisers understanding of TV viewership. The data accessed was not built for or used by any specific client, it said. It is our proprietary analysis to help inform local television ad buying.

The data that was accessed was, to the best of our knowledge, proprietary information as well as voter data that is publicly available and readily provided by state government offices, it said.

YOUR SMART TV COULD BE HACKED A LOT MORE EASILY THAN YOU MIGHT THINK

Access was gained following a change in access settings since June 1, according to the company. Since this event has come to our attention, we have updated the access settings and put protocols in place to prevent further access, it added. We take full responsibility for this situation.

The company has launched an internal review of the leak and has brought in cybersecurity firm Stroz Friedberg to conduct an investigation. Based on information gathered so far, Deep Root Analytics does not believe that its other systems have been hacked.

Gaurav Banga, CEO of breach prediction specialist Balbix, said that the incident highlights the risks facing organizations and enterprises. These kinds of vulnerabilities speak to a comprehensive lack of awareness about your risk environment that is pervasive in both corporate and government sectors, he explained, in a statement emailed to Fox News.

5 WAYS TO TEST YOUR COMPUTERS SECURITY

According to research from security company RedLock, 82 percent of databases in public cloud computing environments are not encrypted. The research also found that 31 percent of databases in public cloud environments are openly available on the Internet.

The security of voter data has been in the spotlight recently. Last month, for example, a researcher identified a security failure that left nearly 7 million Georgia voter records exposed.

TargetPoint Consulting and Data Trust have not yet responded to a request for comment on this story from Fox News.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
A decades-old camera found at a Portland, Ore., Goodwill store contained film with haunting images of the deadly 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

Photographer Kati Dimoff told Fox News that she always checks the Goodwill store on Grand Ave. for film cameras with exposed but undeveloped rolls of film. On May 26, she bought an Argus C2 camera, likely manufactured around 1938, which contained a damaged roll of Kodachrome slide film.

The process for developing Kodachrome, a color slide film, has been discontinued, so Dimoff took the film to photo specialist Blue Moon camera and Machine in Portland, which developed the prints in black and white.

When I picked up the prints on Monday, June 12th, there was a note on the package that said is this from the Mt. St. Helens eruption? she explained, in a statement emailed to Fox News. Some of the shots showed Mt. St. Helens way off in the distance with just the little puffs of ash from the beginning of the eruption, with the Longview Bridge in view, so it must have been shot from just off highway 30.

PHOTOGRAPHER CAPTURES INCREDIBLE IMAGES OF ISOLATED AMAZON TRIBE

Dimoff noted that two of the shots showed a larger ash cloud with John Gumm Elementary School in St. Helens, Oregon, in the foreground.

Another image shows a family in a backyard. When the photo was published in the Oregonian, Mel Purvis contacted the newspaper to explain that he is in the picture with his wife Karen, son Tristan and grandmother Faye. Purvis said that the camera had belonged to Faye, so Dimoff will be mailing the camera, as well as the negatives and prints to him.

Dimoff was amazed by the images. Mt St. Helens is my favorite place, she explained, via email, noting that her family takes a trip to Loowit Lookout on the mountain every summer. It feels sacred there. So, when i realized my found film had images of the eruption, it felt like it was meant to be.

7 AMAZING THINGS YOUR SMARTPHONE'S CAMERA CAN DO

The deadly volcanic eruption at Mount St. Helens occurred on May 18 1980, blasting more than 1,300 feet off the top of the volcano and raining volcanic ash for miles around. Some 57 people lost their lives in the aftermath of the eruption.

Dimoff said she was surprised that the film in the camera was not developed, particularly following such a major event.

I was curious how it could be that anyone would shoot images of the eruption (which was such an iconic time here in the Pacific Northwest) and not run right out and get them developed. Instead, leaving them in the camera and somehow forgetting about it for 37 years, she explained.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
An Uber driver in Florida was fined for violating a county ordinance that requires ride-sharing drivers to be able to communicate in the English language.

Cellphone video obtained by Telemundo 51 purportedly showed Carmen Echevarria receiving a $250 ticket from a Miami-Date police officer outside Miami International Airport.

Echevarria violated a 2016 Miami-Dade County memorandum that requires ride-sharing drivers to be able to communicate in basic English, according to NBC Miami.

"I felt discriminated against," Echevarria told Telemundo 51 in Spanish. "I asked the (passenger sitting in her car) Can you please help translate what she is saying? Then she asked why, if I was an Uber driver, I didnt speak English."

Karla Damian, a Miami-Dade Department of Transportation Public Relations officer, told NBC 6 in a statement that the driver should have some knowledge of English in case of an emergency.

A spokesman for Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said usually warnings are given instead of citations.

It does seem like she could communicate in the English language and take directions so it's unfortunate that a fine was issued," the spokesman said. The county can work with this driver and with Uber to address this situation."

Uber spokesman Javi Correoso said in a statement to NBC 6 that the ride-sharing service asks all of its drivers to follow the local laws and regulations. He added that some fines for Uber drivers have been paid for in the past by the company, but did not clarify whether Echevarrias fine would be paid for as well.
Cops have nabbed a Florida robbery suspect thanks to the "Find my iPad feature on a stolen tablet.



The Orlando Sentinel reports that a man who was looking to help out a stranger in need ended up helping to catch an alleged thief. The man, whose name was withheld, was outside of a local Publix supermarket when he spotted 28-year-old Raymond Ingberg, who he presumed to be hungry.

After a brief discussion that involved offering to buy Ingberg some food, the Good Samaritan went into the store, leaving him behind. Later, he realized he had mistakenly left his iPad Mini on the ground outside, according to the Sentinel.

HOW TO HIDE SENSITIVE DATA ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE

The Good Samraitan then returned to the spot where Ingberg had been, where he discovered Ingberg had disappeared, along with the device.

Meanwhile, the Sentinel reports, a nearby resident returning home discovered his residence had been broken into and ransacked. Among the missing items, the resident reported five guns and two watches that were unaccounted for.

In addition, the resident noted that the thief visited his shoe collection when he discovered a pair of black boots that did not belong him had been swapped for a pair of his Michael Jordan sneakers.

Ingberg was tracked down after the Good Samaritan reached out to the authorities and used the Find my iPad feature to pinpoint the tablet's location. A resident at the home where Ingberg had left the iPad said he had been there recently and asked them to hold onto the device, according to the Sentinel.

AFTER HER HUSBAND WENT MISSING, AN APP LED HER TO HIS BODY

The Sentinel reports that authorities found Ingberg nearby wearing the Michael Jordan shoes and with the stolen merchandise on his person. Ingberg then led authorities to nearby woods, where they discovered the five guns in a green duffel bag.

Ingberg is being held on a $55,000 bond, according to the Sentinel.
In keeping a company promise to hire veterans and military spouses during the next five years, Amazon announced Monday that the company is creating a new apprenticeship program in Texas.

The program in Dallas-Fort Worth will be a 16-week certification program where veterans can learn about cloud computing, and then complete a 12-month paid Amazon internship before interviewing for a full-time Amazon position.

AMAZON OPENING NYC PHYSICAL BOOKSTORE

"For us, veterans are a great fit," Ardine Williams, a veteran who oversees Talent Acquisition for Amazon Web Services, told NBC 5. "The culture I work in is incredibly important. I want to be part of a team that trusts and challenges each other, that rolls up its sleeves to solve problems for customers -- and that kind of culture is very familiar to the women and men who have served in the military."

Veterans with military experience in communications, intelligence, cyber-security or industry-recognized IT certification and those who were active military within the last 6 months of transition, Guard/Reserve members, and veterans would be a good fit for the program, according to Amazons website.

In 2016, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos expressed interest in hiring 25,000 veterans and military spouses during the next five years, in addition to training 10,000 more in cloud computing skills.

AMAZON IS PUTTING A HOMELESS SHELTER IN ITS NEW HQ

The company has already hired around 10,000 veterans since 2011, and is among more than 200 employers, colleges and labor organizations that have signed up as part of the Joining Forces initiative spearheaded by Michelle Obama and Jill Biden. The initiative works to help veterans get back into the U.S. workforce.

Amazon has already chosen 15 veterans in the DFW area to participate in their inaugural class, according to NBC 5.
At least 20 American Airlines flights out of Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona have been cancelled amid a weather forecast that predicts a temperature of 120 degrees for Tuesday.

The American Eagle regional flights in question use the Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which has a top operating temperature of 118 degrees, according to an American Airlines statement provided to The Arizona Republic.

NORTHEAST BRACES FOR SEVERE STORMS AS SOUTHWEST TO BE HIT WITH HEAT WAVE

Extreme temperatures hamper a planes ability to get off the ground. The higher the temperatures rise, the more speed the plane needs to take off. Runways may not be long enough to accommodate the extra need.

Jets like Airbus and Boeing have bigger engines and arent expected to be sidelined by the heat.

Flight changes, American Airlines said, would be free of charge. Customers have been encouraged to contact the airline for rebooking options or to get their money back.

The airline is the only one so far to have reported cancellations.
As many as 170 lost family photos were recovered by a photographer on vacation in Florida, and now he's launching an effort to find the family they belong to.

Josh Zuelke found a small underwater camera on a recent trip to Sanibel Island. The camera was covered in mud and barnacles, but Zuelke managed to recover its photos from the SD card.

The photographs showed a family on vacation at Key Largo, about 200 miles southeast of Sanibel Island.

DISNEY PLANNING SCULPTURE TO HONOR BOY WHO WAS KILLED BY ALLIGATOR

In one of the photos, a young boy was wearing a Pennekamp Park hat, likely from the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which features snorkeling tours in Key Largo. Others featured locations including Snooks Bayside restaurant, and a pool that appeared to be at the Holiday Inn Key Largo, according to Fox 13.

The pictures were time-stamped with dates ranging from July 7, 2012, to July 8, 2012, and the photos feature two sets of parents, three young girls and a young boy.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS



Zuelke has since shared the pictures on social media, asking other people to share the post in order to help reunite the family with the camera. The post has reached about 2,700 shares so far.

Zuelke also posted a picture of the type of camera found along with the pictures.
A man and a woman were arrested and charged Monday after the remains of a newborn were found in the woods behind a Massachusetts home.

Edwin Santiago, 31, and Jennifer Rheaume, 36, both of Worcester, face charges of removing a human body and concealment of the death of a child.

Officers were sent to the area shortly after 9 a.m. after a caller reported a strange odor coming from a garbage bag. Soon after the remains were discovered, officers spotted Rheaume and Santiago walking on some nearby railroad tracks. The pair were arrested for trespassing.

It was not immediately clear what caused the baby's death or if it was alive at the time of delivery.

The local medical examiner is set to conduct an autopsy that will determine the relationship between Santiago, Rheaume, and the infant as well as the baby's cause of death.

Rheaume and Santiago are set to appear in court on Tuesday.

Click for more from Fox25Boston.com.
A mom and dad from Alabama were arrested after allegedly taking their infant daughter to party at an Indiana bar -- as witnesses said the mother drank and smoked while breastfeeding her child.

Michael Trosclair, 45 and Shari Treba, 42, were taken into custody and charged with neglect of a dependent in a situation that endangers the dependent. They were also hit with a public intoxication charge.

"Partying was more important than their child," a detective wrote in an affidavit. The suspects reportedly were in town for a work conference. Trosclair's LinkedIn profile shows he's a former senior pastor, AL.com noted.

Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers were dispatched to the Wild Beaver Saloon early Friday morning following reports of a woman asking customers for beer, according to the probable cause affidavit obtained by AL.com.

SUPREME COURT RULES IN FAVOR OF ALABAMA DEATH ROW INMATE

Police confronted Treba while she was standing near a stroller. When police asked her who the baby belonged to, she said the baby girl was hers. Police said that Trebas breath and person smelled like alcohol. She allegedly had to be asked several times who she was and where she was from.

A witness at the bar told the officer that Treba had been offering sex to individuals who would go inside the establishment and get her a beer. The witness also told police that he had watched Treba drink while simultaneously breastfeeding. Other witnesses told police that Treba had previously chained the stroller  with the baby still in it  to a post outside the bar and went inside to buy a drink.

Treba allegedly informed police that she was with her husband and friends from his job.

ALABAMA REPLACES WORK REQUIREMENTS ON FOOD STAMPS

Her breath alcohol content at the time of her arrest was .193.

Trosclair allegedly became angry after Treba was confronted by police. "Mr. Trosclair became belligerent and started demanding to talk to a lawyer and telling us we weren't going to do anything,'' according to the affidavit. "It was at this time, due to Mr. Trosclair's behavior, I put him in cuffs for fear he may fight us with the baby right there."

The baby would be checked out by medics, officers told Treba. They also called Child Protective Services and a child abuse investigator to the location at the time of the incident.

Trosclair and Treba have since been released from Marion County Jail 1 in Indianapolis.
The Arizona Court of Appeals says young immigrants granted deferred deportation status under a program started by former President Barack Obama are not eligible for lower in-state college tuition.

Tuesday's ruling says a judge's 2015 decision that deferred action recipients were considered legally present in the U.S. and therefore qualify for state benefits was incorrect.

Instead, presiding Judge Kenton Jones wrote for the court that the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program known as DACA did not confer that status. He says federal immigration law allows each state to decide on optional benefits for DACA recipients and Arizona law bars in-state tuition.

The decision affects at least several hundred current state university students and an unknown number attending community colleges. There are nearly 28,000 DACA recipients in Arizona.
A California Navy veteran and his wife say they're outraged after the city of Galt told them to remove one of two flagpoles on their property flying Old Glory, saying it violates neighborhood codes.

We thought it would look beautiful to show our patriotism of having two beautiful American flags on our property, Sherri Raeta, whose father was a World War II vet, told KOVR.

Raeta said she initially thought the order was a joke, but according to City Community Development Director Chris Erias, the code limits flagpoles to one per parcel with the maximum height of 20 feet.

Erias told Fox News that the city is considering changing the development code to allow for a second pole.

MARINE'S AMERICAN FLAG SET ON FIRE IN ACT OF VANDALISM

He added that any potential changes -- which will be discussed at the end of the year -- will include public input and review by the Citys Planning Commission with ultimate approval by the Galt City Council.

Ronald Raeta, who served in the Navy along with his son, said he was furious.

We both love the American flag, we love America. I just cant believe anybody would want us to take down an American flag, he told the news station.

APARTMENT COMPLEX BACKTRACKS AFTER TELLING WOMAN TO TAKE DOWN AMERICAN FLAG

I believe this was really put in to respect the integrity of residential neighborhoods, Erias said to the couple during a meeting with the Raetas.

Click for more from KOVR.

Fox News' Greg Norman contributed to this report.
Ohio authorities appealed for tips Monday about the former boyfriend of a young woman killed last year along with seven other members of her family.

"Specifically, information could include, but is not limited to, information regarding vehicles, firearms, and ammunition," Attorney General Mike DeWine and Pike County Sheriff Charles Reader said in a statement.

The unusual appeal targets Edward "Jake" Wagner, 24, his brother George Wagner IV, 25, and their parents George "Billy" Wagner III and Angela Wagner, who are both 46. DeWine and Reader also took the unusual step of releasing photos of the four.

Jake Wagners 19-year-old ex-girlfriend Hanna Rhoden was one of eight members of her family shot execution-style at four locations in rural Pike County April 22, 2016.

Billy Wagner reportedly was friends with another victim, Charles Rhoden Sr., the father of Hanna.

THREESOME GONE WRONG: MURDER SUSPECT ARRESTED

DeWine and Reader said they were seeking information from anyone who may have had personal or business dealings with the Wagners.

They said the Wagners may have moved recently to Alaska.

None have been named as suspects in the unsolved case.

In May, investigators searched property in Pike County and Adams County recently sold by the Wagners.

MOM ACCUSED OF STABBING DAUGHTER CLAIMS GIRL'S IN 'HEAVEN,' PROSECUTORS SAY

Jake Wagner and his mother told the Cincinnati Enquirer after the searches that they were not involved in the murders.

"Please let's concentrate on finding the real monsters who did this," Jake Wagner said in a combined email from him and his mother, the newspaper reported June 8.

"What has happened to us in the last few weeks has been devastating and will follow us for the rest of our lives," Angela Wagner wrote in an email to the Enquirer. "Hanna was loved by all of us. She was like a daughter to me then and now."

The Enquirer reported Monday that family and neighbors claimed Hanna and Jake Wagner were involved in a nasty custody dispute over their daughter, Sophia.

Both Wagners have denied that and said they have been interviewed and cooperated in the investigation, the paper reported.

DeWine has said investigators believe the killers knew the victims.

Investigators have also speculated the killings may have been drug-related after finding marijuana growing operations at two of the murder scenes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A California universitys decision to put a limit on the number of American citizens it enrolls -- while placing no such restrictions on illegal immigrants who want to attend the school -- is drawing sharp criticism from education activists.



The regents in the University of California system recently instituted Regents Policy 2109 in response to state lawmakers threatening to withhold from the university system nearly $20 million if school officials didnt cap the number of out-of-state American students. The university's response to the state governments threat was to limit the percentage of out-of-state American students in the student body to 18 percent on most campuses.

The move is being criticized as discriminatory against Americans.

The UC system, like many others around the country, is routinely giving preferential treatment to illegal aliens at the expense of American students, many of whom are attending at great sacrifice of their parents, Kyle Olson, founder of Education Action Group, told Fox News.

It is disturbing to know the UC system is not even sure how many illegal students it has enrolled and is enabling by not enforcing our immigration laws.

The University of California currently has 16.5 percent of its student body comprised of out-of-state students. Its estimated that there are roughly 3,700 illegal immigrants studying in the UC system.

Officials for the University of California say that the school system is simply being consistent with state law.

This policy applies to students who, under California law AB (Assembly Bill) 540, qualify as state residents for tuition purposes, Ricardo Vazquez, spokesman for the University of California, said to Fox News. AB 540 allows students to pay in-state tuition fees if they meet certain requirements.

Olson says the policy may actually hurt the state and its students.

Ultimately, and ironically, the California government is actually penalizing Californians by not counting illegals as out-of-state students and thus allowing them to, in effect, take seats away from in-state students, he said.
A Navy commander could be the first officer court-martialed in the massive $35 million Fat Leonard bribery scandal.

The commander has been accused of accepting prostitutes, travel and other gifts from rotund Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Glenn Francis in 2012 and 2013, The Washington Post reported Monday.

The alleged gifts included four suckling pigs, as well as tickets to a Julio Iglesias concert and a Gucci fashion show for the officer and his wife, the paper reported.

NAVY ADMIRAL GETS 18 MONTHS IN 'FAT LEONARD' BRIBERY SCANDAL

Navy officials said the commanders name would be made public next week at a preliminary hearing, according to the Post. He is currently assigned to the Naval Air Force Atlantic.

If the case reaches trial, it would mark the first time the Navy has court-martialed anyone in the scandal, the paper reported.

Francis has pleaded guilty to bribing scores of Navy officials in a decades-long billing scam to resupply Navy ships in Asia.

NAVY ADMIRAL, 8 OTHERS CHARGED WITH CORRUPTION IN 'FAT LEONARD' BRIBERY CASE

The investigation has resulted in criminal charges in federal court against 21 current and former Navy officials. Ten have pleaded guilty.

Three other Navy officials have also been charged with accepting bribes from Francis and they may also face court-martials, the Post reported.
Its an officers job to protect and service, but that doesnt mean they are invincible. On a hot Georgia day, A Polk County Officer passed out while providing security on a job site.

Thats when six inmates took action and helped saved the officers life. According to the Polk County Sheriffs Office, the inmates called 9-1-1 on the officers work phone and requested EMS to the scene. They also took off his outer vest to help cool him off.

The sheriffs office expressed their gratitude to the inmates in a heartfelt message. They referenced the two Georgia escaped inmates who were captured last week after killing their Correctional Officers.

As we watched the horrific man hunt this week of the two inmates that killed two Correctional Officers and were captured last night we all know that Monday could have ended differently for our Officer.

The inmates are being treated to homemade lunch and desserts prepared by the officers family.

Click here for more from Fox 5 Atlanta.
A suspicious fire destroyed a historic train station in Western Pennsylvania, fire officials told Fox News.

The century-old train station in Beaver Falls, Pa. had often been used by students at the nearby Geneva College and stopped servicing riders in 1986.

The vacant building had no electrical utilities, which Beaver Falls Fire Chief Mark Stowe says leads him to believe someone had to have initiated the fire.

"There was fire throughout the entire buildingand it was starting to go through the roof, Stowe said.

GIRL SAVES VETERAN DAD FROM HOUSE FIRE

There was little evidence left in the extensive damage to the building, Stowe told Fox News.

"We just cant get in to do any further investigation, he said.

Police are now looking for potential witnesses as a last resort for finding a suspect.
The family of a 26-year-old Chinese scholar at the University of Illinois has joined officials offering $40,000 for information leading to an arrest in the disappearance of Yingying Zhang.

Zhang was from Jianyang, China, and was about a month into a yearlong appointment at the University of Illinois when she disappeared.

FBI OFFERS $10G REWARD TO HELP FIND MISSING CHINESE SCHOLAR

Surveillance video showed Zhang entering a black Saturn Astra in Urbana June 9, campus police said. Her friends claimed she had gone out to sign a lease.

Zhangs relatives announced Monday night they were working with Champaign County Crime Stoppers to offer the reward in addition to the FBIs reward of up to $10,000 for information to help locate Zhang.

We have never offered a reward of this magnitude, Crime Stoppers President John Hecker said.



NAVY FINDS BODIES OF MISSING SAILORS

Hecker said they raised the money through a GoFundMe account and are still accepting donations, The News-Gazette reported.

Authorities have labeled the case a kidnapping, but haven't ruled anything out.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Friends and family of a New Jersey middle school student who died last week donned light blue Monday to honor her memory.

Mallory Grossman, 12, died suddenly on Wednesday. Her death is being investigated by the Morris County Prosecutor's Office.

Authorities have not commented publicly on the investigation, but a Rockaway Township official told the Bergen Record last week that Mallory's parents recently met with school officials to discuss problems she was having with another student.

NBC New York reported that Mallory's mother complained to the school about alleged bullying the day her daughter died, and Facebook posts suggested the girl had been bullied over Snapchat.

Heather Hitzel, Mallory's former gymnastics instructor, told the Record that she came up with the idea of wearing light blue to honor her memory.

"She was a former gymnast of mine," Hitzel said, "and then her mom and I stayed close friends."

"We became our own little unit," said Hitzel, who added that she became so close to the Grossman family that Mallory became like one of her "babies."

Mallory's obituary described her as a "compassionate" child who often raised money for a charity offering "summer camp experiences" for children affected by cancer.

"She inspired. She was kind. She was innocent. She was beautiful. And she was pure," the obit read.

A GoFundMe to raise money for a memorial had fetched more than $68,000 by Tuesday afternoon, when Mallory was to be laid to rest.
A married Kentucky teacher has been accused of sexually assaulting an underage student while working as a teacher at two different schools, reports said.

Lindsey Jarvis, 27, pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape on Monday. She also was charged with rape, sodomy and unlawful transaction with a minor in Woodward County last Wednesday.

Jarvis is accused of having a sexual relationship with the student under the age of 16 while she was a teacher at Woodford County Middle School and Veterans Park Elementary School, WKYT reported. She allegedly sodomized the student in May 2016 and had sexual intercourse with him a month later at Woodford County Middle School, where she worked since 2013. She resigned from her position at the school in June 2016.

NEW YORK THREESOME GONE WRONG: MURDER SUSPECT ARRESTED

Jarvis was then hired at Veterans Park Elementary School in Lexington in August 2016, where she allegedly continued her "romantic relationship" with the student. The student told police they had sexual intercourse, adding that there was evidence of their "relationship" on Jarvis' phone, according to WKYT.

Jarvis resigned from her position on Friday, the same day she was arrested.

Lisa Deffendall, a spokeswoman for Fayette County Schools, confirmed to The Sun that Jarvis had resigned.

"While we cannot comment on individual personnel issues, we can assure families and community members that we are aware of the matter. Our personnel protocols in a case like this would call for placing an employee on administrative leave pending resolution," Deffendall said.

Click here for more from The Sun.
A Mexican man was arrested at an international bridge in El Paso, Texas, Sunday night after trying to cross the border with $689,506.

The man was traveling from El Paso to Juarez when Customs and Border Protection agents asked if he had any money, weapons, or ammunition to declare. The 28-year-old said he didnt and agents decided to give his car an extra inspection. During the inspection, agents found the bundles of money in a speaker box.

The currency was found in a large speaker that was operable. Its easy to let it go because we are used to seeing these large speakers. In this case the officer was vigilant, talked to him a little longer, decided it was time to send it into secondary (inspection) and thats how it was found, said Ruben Jauregui, Chief Customs and Border Patrol Officer in the El Paso Field Office.

The driver was arrested and handed over to Homeland Security Investigations and faces charges associated with smuggling.

There is no limit to how much money travelers can bring back and forth across the border, but they have to declare amounts larger than $10,000. Travelers from El Paso are not allowed to bring weapons into Mexico.

Jauregui said a lot of the money that people try to smuggle out is the profit from narcotics drug cartels smuggle in. He added, its important to make these seizures because it disrupts the cartels ability to do business.

FAMILIES OF IRAQI CHRISTIANS ARRESTED BY ICE SAY THEY'RE BETRAYED

Thats money they cant use to buy guns, to buy more narcotics, said Jauregui. It creates the crime wave whether its in Mexico or here in the U.S.

He cautions, however, some of the people who dont declare are business owners or individuals who bring money back and forth and legitimately might not know they have to declare.

BORDER PATROL RAIDS ARIZONA DESERT CAMP

Travelers who do not follow federal currency reporting requirements run the risk of losing their currency and may potentially face criminal charges, U.S. Customs and Border Protection El Paso Port Director Beverly Good said in a statement.

When agents search cars they pull out speaker boxes, vents, check for false compartments, check luggage, and often have a dog sniff the car.

Agents look at all cars crossing the border but only inspect suspicious cars and drivers going into Mexico. They conduct thorough investigations of all cars traveling across the border.
A Michigan mother is desperately searching for a lost locket that contains the ashes of her son, who died at just 11 months.

Amanda Shears, of Niles, Michigan, has been searched for the missing cremation necklace since June 2 after losing it following a surgery at a hospital in Kalamazoo.

It was on a white gold chain, Shears told Fox 17. The pendant itself is silver and its a heart with wings on it. Somebody might not recognize it as something that holds cremations. But it does have a screw. If you turn it you can tell there is something in it.

OHIO GIRL, 7, SAVES VETERAN DAD FROM HOUSE FIRE

Shears son Zealan was born with heart complications. He passed away in 2012 and since then, she has worn the necklace containing his ashes.

The necklace also had Shears wedding ring.

In a Facebook post, which has been shared more than 25,000 times, Shears said she left the necklace in her coat pocket, which she accidentally left inside her car. She said they didnt realize it was missing until June 9th.

Shears said either she lost it somewhere between the hospital in Kalamazoo or someone stole it from her car outside their home.

Of course I would love to have it all back, but I cant replace Z and the necklace is not valuable to anyone except me, she wrote on Facebook.

Shears said she has filed a police report and hopes with the help of social media, she will get them back.

Really, we just want it back. If somebody took it, Im not looking to get somebody in trouble, she told Fox 17. Its just something that is very, very precious to us.

Read more news at Fox 17.
The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday will begin interviewing the Philippines-flagged container ships crew that collided last week with a U.S. destroyer, the USS Fitzgerald.

"We are scheduled to interview the crew members," said U.S. Lieutenant Scott Carr told Reuters referring the crew of the merchant ship.

GEORGIA SPECIAL ELECTIONS

With campaign spending expected to top $50 million, the race to fill the suburban Atlanta congressional district, vacated when Tom Price was named Health and Human Services Secretary, is the most expensive in U.S. history. Both candidates in the 6th District are calling on heavy hitters with Georgia roots to get out the vote on Tuesday.

WHY THE SPECIAL ELECTION MATTERS

Its time to be knocking on those doors. Its time to be making those calls. Its time to be sending those emails, Secretary Price told supporters at a weekend rally for Republican Karen Handel. Its time to be making certain that you are asking every single individual that you see within the 6th District, Have you voted?

'TUCKER CARLSON TONIGHT'

Tucker Carlson debated a New Jersey Democratic operative who tweeted an insensitive message after the shooting of Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.).

TUCKER: WARMBIER'S DEATH IS FAILURE OF THE OBAMA ADMIN

"We are in a war with selfish, foolish, foolish & narcissistic rich people. Why is it a shock when things turn violent? #HuntRepublicanCongressmen," James Devine tweeted on June 14.

'HANNITY': NBC SHOULD RELEASE FULL ALEX JONES INTERVIEW

'HANNITY' JAY SEKULOW SLAMS RUSSIA INVESTIGATION: THERE IS NO EVIDENCE

MUELLER TO MEET WITH SENATE PANEL

Robert Mueller, the special prosecutor who is overseeing the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, will meet with senior Senate Judiciary Committee members to make sure there is no conflict between his probe and the committees.

Reuters, citing congressional aides, reported that Mueller will meet with Sen. Charles Grassley, the committees Republican chairman, and its top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, on Wednesday.

COMING UP ON FOX NEWS

9 AM ET: Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein make remarks at the National Summit on Crime Reduction and Public Safety. Watch live on FoxNews.com

10 AM ET: The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing on free speech on college campuses: "Free Speech 101: The Assault on the First Amendment on College Campuses." Watch live on FoxNews.com

COMING UP ON FOX BUSINESS

6:30 AM ET: Wilbur Ross, commerce secretary, will be on Mornings with Maria

7 AM ET: Rep. Marsha Blackburn will be a guest on Mornings with Maria

7:30 AM ET - Alan Dershowitz, Harvard Law Professor Emeritus, will appear on Mornings with Maria

10 AM ET - Randy Evans- National Committeeman of Georgia/Member of the RNC Rules will be a guest on Varney & Company
West Shore Regional Police are searching for a Palmyra man after a robbery in Lemoyne on Sunday.

Police said they are looking for William Thomas Sharp, 34, who was last known to reside in Palmyra. Police said he is wanted in connection with a robbery at Turkey Hill Mart, 438 S. Third St., Lemoyne, at 10:35 p.m. Sunday.

Police said Sharp entered the store, walked around and brought an item to the counter. When he went to pay for it, he grabbed money out of the cash register, according to police.

The employee pushed him back, and Sharp then walked to the front of the counter and attempted to climb over it, police said. The employee stopped him there, and Sharp left the store with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Sharp was last seen leaving the area on foot.

Police ask anyone with information regarding his whereabouts to contact them at 717-238-9676.
A Pennsylvania homeowner is reminded of the alarm clock that's stuck in the wall of his home when it goes off -- every day for the last 13 years.

Jerry Lynn told KDKA that he dropped the alarm clock in September 2004 while trying to drill a hole in the living room wall of his home in Ross. Lynn said he was using the alarm clock to pinpoint the spot where he could run a wire to connect his television.



"As I was laying it down, all of a sudden I heard it go thunk! as it came loose," Lynn told the news station. "I thought, well, thats not a real problem. You know its still going to go off. And it did."

NORTH CAROLINA MAN RECEIVES SHOCKING $100 MILLION CHARGE ON WATER BILL

Lynn and his wife Sylvia thought the clock's battery would run out in three or four months, but 13 years later, they're still hearing the beeps.

"It is still going off every day. And during Daylight Saving Time it goes off at ten minutes til eight. And during standard time it goes off at ten minutes to seven at night," Lynn said.

GATOR LASSOED AFTER TRESPASSING ON CATTLE RANCH

The couple said the alarm starts off as soft "beep, beep, beeps" and increasingly gets louder and closer together.

"That will set people like, 'What is that?'" Sylvia Lynn said.

The couple said for them, the alarm has become a routine sound they hear every night.
Authorities have released dashcam footage of the traffic stop in which Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez fatally shot black motorist Philando Castile.

The squad-car video, which filmed the encounter between Yanez and Castile, shows the officer firing seven gunshots at the motorist during a traffic stop last July.

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC CONTENT

The graphic footage is evidence from the trial of Yanez, who was let go from the St. Anthony police force last week after he was acquitted of manslaughter in the shooting death of Castile.

The dashboard camera shows the shooting itself -- unlike the Facebook live video that was filmed by Castile's girlfriend Diamond Reynolds in the aftermath of the shooting.

The video shows Yanez following Castile's car, then pulling it over. Yanez approaches Castile's car and asks for a driver's license and proof of insurance.

PHILANDO CASTILE SHOOTING: OFFICER YANEZ ACQUITTED OF MANSLAUGHTER, DISMISSED FROM POLICE FORCE

Castile then gives the proof of insurance to Yanez through the driver's side window. Castile is then heard saying, "Sir, I have to tell you, I do have a firearm on me."

Castile had a permit to carry his weapon.

Yanez then reaches for his own gun, pulls it from the holster and tells Castile not to reach for his gun. There is shouting, and Yanez screams "Don't pull it out!" before he fires seven shots into the car.

The video shows Yanez's backup, Officer Joseph Kauser, standing on the passenger side of the vehicle, jumping back and retreating when the shots were fired.

PHILANDO CASTILE SHOOTING: BLACK GUN OWNERS WORRIED BY ACQUITTAL IN OFFICER-INVOLVED SHOOTING

After the shooting, the video shows Yanez standing at the car window, with his gun drawn for some time. Reynolds' then-4-year-old daughter starts to get out of the car and is grabbed by an officer. The video then shows help arriving at the scene.

Yanez's defense attorney argued the officer "did what he had to do" when he shot Castile. Yanez testified that he feared for his life after Castile refused to put his gun away.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A group of Jewish students and local residents have sued San Francisco State University, saying administrators foster an anti-Semitic environment.

The lawsuit filed Monday accuses school officials of encouraging hostility toward Jews. It cites several incidents, including the disruption by protesters of an April 2016 campus speech by the mayor of Jerusalem.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the suit also alleges the university has "repeatedly denied" Jewish student groups equal access to campus events.

The suit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco seeks unspecified damages and court orders barring the alleged anti-Semitic policies.

San Francisco State University attorney Daniel Ojeda says the school had not been aware of the suit or its allegations.

He says officials have been working closely with the Jewish community to address their concerns and will continue to do so in spite of the lawsuit.
At least three United passengers were hospitalized Tuesday after the Houston-bound flight struck severe turbulence.

The Houston Fire Department arrived at Bush Intercontinental Airport in response to at least ten people who complained of turbulence-related injuries on the flight from Panama City, Panama.

FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford told the Houston Chronicle that United Flight 1031 hit severe turbulance over Mexican airspace outside of Cancun.

Three passengers were taken to local hospitals with unknown injuries.

READ MORE FROM FOX 26 HOUSTON.
Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico, and may bring "life-threatening flash flooding" across the central Gulf Coast, according to forecasters.

The National Weather Service said the storm is centered about 250 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana and has top sustained winds of 45 mph. The storm is presently stationary in the Gulf, and has tropical-storm-force winds extending outward up to 205 miles from the center, according to the NWS.

Cindy, the third tropical storm of 2017, is expected to reach the Louisiana coast sometime late Wednesday and then move inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday.

The storm is expected to bring 6 to 9 inches of rain in areas, and up to 12 inches in some spots across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday. The weather service said the rain "could cause

life-threatening flash flooding in these areas" in its latest advisory.

A tropical storm warning is now in effect from High Island on the upper Texas coast all the way to the mouth of the Pearl River at the state line of Louisiana and Mississippi. A tropical storm watch is in effect elsewhere on the Texas coast, from west of High Island to San Luis Pass.

TRACK THE STORM AT MYFOXHURRICANE

In Louisiana, local officials are taking steps to prepare for the potential of flooding from Cindy.

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and several city and emergency officials told residents Tuesday to be prepared, FOX 8 New Orleans reported.

There is no system that can take more than so much rainfall in a short period of time. That is where the danger is, Landrieu said. So, if we get hit really, really hard for a prolonged period of time that's when the streets are going to start to flood.

Landrieu said the city's pumps will eventually catch up with the rain, but residents know what parts of their neighborhoods will see flooding during heavy rains.

The Louisiana National Guard dispatched high water vehicles and helicopters into flood-prone areas. The state said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving 125,000 meals and 200,000 liters of water into Louisiana.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the advance notice of the storm gave officials time to put emergency plans in place. Louisiana was slammed with major flooding last summer from an unnamed storm that heavily damaged the Baton Rouge and Lafayette regions.

In Alabama, Governor Kay Ivey declared a statewide State of Emergency in anticipation of severe weather moving through.

Hurricane season is underway and that means the potential for increased tropical activity along the Gulf Coast, Ivey said in a statement. To ensure the state of Alabama is prepared, I have issued a State of Emergency effective today. This State of Emergency will guarantee state resources are on standby and are ready to assist impacted communities if necessary.

The Alabama National Guard is also being activated in preparation for the potential impact of the severe weather.

Based on the forecast and prediction of the National Weather Service Offices for Alabama, residents need to start preparing for widespread rain totals of 4 to 8 inches with isolated areas of greater than 10 inches possible through Thursday, Alabama Emergency Management Agency Director Art Faulkner said in a press release. Being prepared for potential flood conditions is critical, because flash flooding can be a very dangerous situation.

In Saraland, Alabama, residents near Bayou Sara spent Tuesday picking up free sandbags from the city's public works department before Cindy moves in, FOX 10 reported.

Public works crews told FOX 10 they served about 1,500 people in four hours. Many of those getting sandbags told FOX 10 issues they've had in the past.

"Last time it rained really, really bad, me and mom were going to the movies," Richard Metts told FOX 10. "We came back and it literally, my road was completely flooded: like the fire truck was going up and down the road getting the cars that were stuck in the water."

At the Escatawpa Hollow Campground in Alabama, near the Mississippi State line, owner Larry Godfrey told the Associated Press he was prepared for flooding that would add to the woes of a rainy spring.

"We've had so much rain, we haven't done any business in about eight weeks because of the rain," said Godfrey, whose campground typically hosts swimmers and boaters. He said the Escatawpa River, at 15 feet ), would typically be lower than 3 feet at this time of year.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the State Operations Center to raise its readiness level as Cindy approached the Gulf Coast.

The center's readiness would be raised from level four/normal conditions to level three/increased readiness as of noon Wednesday. Also, Abbott has activated four Texas Task Force 1 boat squads and two Texas Military Department vehicles squads of five vehicles each to respond to any weather-related emergencies.

Abbott also put on standby the Emergency Medical Task Force of the Department of State health Services, as well as Texas Military Forces aircraft and shelter and feeding teams.

A voluntary evacuation notice has been issued for those with medical and other special needs on the Bolivar Peninsula, between Galveston and High Island, Texas. The National Weather Service advises that services may be limited for those on the peninsula around high tide from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.

While the northern Gulf Coast braced for Cindy, the southern Caribbean region was dealing with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Bret, which unleashed heavy flooding, knocked out power and ripped off several roofs in some areas of Trinidad &Tobago. Bret had degenerated into a tropical wave by Tuesday afternoon.

All airports in Trinidad & Tobago reopened later Tuesday, though public schools and many businesses remain closed.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump met with his Ukrainian counterpart Tuesday amid intensifying questions over whether his administration will step in to protect partners in the face of Russian aggression.

The meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was originally described by the White House as a brief "drop-in." But the two presidents posed for photographs in the Oval Office and made brief remarks following Poroshenko's more extensive meetings with Vice President Mike Pence and the administration's top national security advisers.

With the Ukrainian leader sitting by his side, Trump said it was a "great honor" to meet Poroshenko and that "a lot of progress has been made" in the U.S. relationship with Ukraine.

There was no mention of Russia, nor did Trump respond to questions about the ongoing investigation over possible collusion by members of the Trump administration with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Trump staunchly denies he had any contact with Russian officials during the campaign and has tweeted that the investigation is a "witch hunt" spearheaded by Democrats bitter over losing the election.

Trump has maintained that he hopes to establish better ties with Moscow, repairing ill will from the Obama era that resulted from Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region and its widely condemned support of Syria's President Bashar Assad, despite his attacks against civilians. In April, following a suspected chemical attack against civilians in northern Syria by government forces, Trump said U.S. relations with Russia "may be at all-time low."

But less than a month later, the president hosted top Russian diplomats in a closed-door Oval Office meeting that suggested relations weren't so bad after all. Photos later emerged showing Trump laughing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russia's envoy to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak. The White House press corps was not allowed access to that meeting.

Trump has also raised concerns among NATO allies about whether he would turn his back on the military alliance, which partly promises U.S. support for European allies against Russian aggression. Trump has worked to assure European leaders that he will continue to support the alliance but insists that member countries meet their financial obligations to "pay their fair share."

Poroshenko, speaking softly, said Tuesday he hopes the two countries can engage in "effective collaboration."

In his meeting later with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Poroshenko said, "I think that we can expand our cooperation because we fight not only for our territorial integrity and our independence, not only for our sovereignty, we are fighting for freedom, we are fighting for democracy."

The White House meeting began shortly after the Trump administration announced it has imposed sanctions on two Russian officials and three dozen other individuals and companies over Russian activities in Ukraine.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the new penalties are designed to "maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution."

In all, Tuesday's action targets 38 individuals and firms. Any assets they have in the U.S. are now blocked. Americans are prohibited from doing business with them. The Russian officials affected are Moscow's envoy for overseas Russians and its chairman for humanitarian assistance in separatist-held, eastern Ukraine.

Lavrov, speaking in Moscow Tuesday following talks with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian, said the new restrictions "don't help to improve the climate." He added that he could "only voice regret about the Russo-phobic obsession of our American colleagues ... that has gone beyond any limits."

Tensions between the U.S. and Russia are high even as the White House considers scheduling a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of next month's G20 meeting.

Russia threatened this week to target U.S. coalition planes after the U.S. shot down a Syrian fighter jet for the first time.

White House statements on Poroshenko's meetings with both Trump and Pence made no mention of Russia. However, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday that the topic of Russia "obviously came up to discussion with the president today."

Spicer said the administration will continue to "advocate" for sanctions so long as Russia continues its aggression in eastern Ukraine.

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain on Tuesday lambasted the administration's nominee to be the No. 2 official at the Pentagon, Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan, for initially sidestepping questions on whether he favors providing lethal weaponry to Ukraine. Shanahan told McCain he now supports it, but that did not seem to satisfy McCain, who said he was disappointed that the nominee did not initially have an opinion.

"Do not do that again, Mr. Shanahan, or I will not take your name up for a vote before this committee," said McCain.

The Pentagon said plans to provide lethal weapons are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

"We've not provided lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine in the past, but we also don't rule out the option of doing so in the future," said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis.

___

Associated Press writers Robert Burns and Lolita Baldor contributed to this report.
A lawyer asked a Nevada judge on Tuesday to throw out charges of terrorism and possessing weapons of mass destruction against a Las Vegas man being held on $8 million bail after police found large amounts of powders at his home that prosecutors say could be mixed to produce powerful explosions.

Clark County District Court Judge Jennifer Togliatti said she plans to issue a written ruling in days to come.

Allegations against Nicolai Howard Mork "don't rise to probable cause for terrorism," and there was no evidence the compounds found at Mork's home last Dec. 29 were weaponized for mass destruction, defense attorney Nicholas Wooldridge argued in a hearing called to challenge the foundation of Mork's arrest.

The substances that Las Vegas police found in Mork's home are commonly used to make exploding targets for shooting practice and are not illegal to buy or possess, Wooldridge said.

The raid at Mork's home came two days before New Year's Eve, which draws hundreds of thousands of tourists to southern Nevada. Authorities have not linked Mork's actions with the Las Vegas Strip event.

Prosecutor Jacob Villani told the judge on Tuesday that authorities needed to act before Mork hurt people.

"We're charging intent," Villani said. "We don't have to wait for him to actually blow up a building. That's what the law is for."

Police reported that a probe of non-injury fires and explosions in yards near where Mork lived led to the discovery of 251 pounds (114 kilograms) of ammonium nitrate, about 26 pounds (12 kilograms) of aluminum powder and almost 10 pounds (4.54 kilograms) of red iron oxide.

Ammonium nitrate was a component of the bomb that destroyed a section of a U.S. federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and killed 168 people. Aluminum powder and iron oxide can burn rapidly when mixed.

Police also seized a bin with 33 pounds (15 kilograms) of a mixture that resembled a commercially available blend used in targets that explode when shot.

Mork pleaded not guilty in April to eight terrorism, weapon possession, explosives and firearm charges. His trial is scheduled Nov. 13.
A suspect who tried to attack security forces on the Champs-Elysees shopping district in Paris Monday afternoon -- when he rammed his car into a police van -- had a rifle and explosives in his vehicle, French investigators said.

The attacker died shortly after the incident, the French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said. The attacker, a 31-year-old man from the Paris suburb of Argenteuil, was badly burned after his car exploded when he deliberately crashed it into a police van. The police van caught fire, but it was quickly contained, officials said. The bomb squad was called to the scene.

Authorities discovered a gas tank and an AK-47 rifle in the attacker's car, Fox News confirmed. The man had been flagged by investigators earlier for extremism, French police said.

The attacker was identified as Adam Dzaziri. Dzaziri, who had been raised in the Salafi Islamic ideology, didnt have a criminal record but he had been on Frances security watch list since 2015 due to ties to the radical Islamist movement, according to news.com.au.

France's anti-terrorism prosecutor has opened an investigation into the incident.

Eric Favereau, a journalist for Liberation newspaper who was driving a scooter behind the military officers, said he saw a car blocking the convoy's path, then an implosion in the vehicle. Favereau wrote that the officers smashed open the windows of the car while it was in flames and dragged out its occupant.

Other officers used fire extinguishers to put out the flames, Favereau said.

There were no other reported injuries.

Champs-Elysees is Paris' most popular avenue and one of the city's most famous tourist attractions. This was the second incident on the avenue this year. An attacker defending the Islamic State terror group shot and killed a police officer on the Champs-Elysees in April, days before a presidential election, prompting an extensive security operation. France is under a state of emergency after a string of deadly Islamic extremist attacks.

Collomb said said he will present a bill on Wednesday at a Cabinet meeting to extend the state of emergency from July 15, its current expiration date, until Nov. 1. He added that Monday's incident showed that a new security law "is needed" in France and the measure would "maintain a high security level" beyond the end of the state of emergency.

France has been under a state of emergency since the November 2015 attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris.

The incident also came after a van mowed down several people leaving a London mosque just after midnight on Monday. One person died and 10 people were injured in the assault.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The death toll in Portugal has risen to 63 following a massive wildfire Saturday night in the central area of the country.

The latest victim, an injured firefighter who died in the hospital, was one of four firefighters who were hospitalized since early Sunday due to serious burns received when putting out the flames, according to a Portuguese firefighter group.

PORTUGAL, A COUNTRY HELPLESSLY PRONE TO FOREST FIRES

Twenty-five of the victims had been identified by Monday afternoon and authorities are continuing to work to identify others, Portugals Interior minister said.

Cooler temperatures Monday helped firefighters and soldiers bring some blazes associated with the wildfire under control, but some fires are still raging about 90 miles northeast of Lisbon in inaccessible areas.

The country is observing three days of mourning for those who have died in the wildfire, which is the deadliest recorded in Portugals history.

An environmental lobbying group in Portugal blamed Saturdays fire on forest management errors and bad political decisions by governments in recent decades. The group cited the decision by authorities to permit eucalyptus to be planted. The plant, the countrys most profitable species, is often blamed for starting fires.

HOW TO PREPARE FOR WILDFIRES SO YOU CAN ESCAPE SAFELY IF A BLAZE APPROACHES

The country is prone to forest fires, and between 1993 and 2013, Portugal recorded more wildfires than Spain, France, Italy or Greece, even though it is smaller than any of those countries, according to a report last year by the European Environment Agency.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An armed Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in the Baltic Sea on Monday, two U.S. officials told Fox News.

The Russian Su-27 jet had air-to-air missiles under its wings and approached the U.S. Air Force RC-135 recon jet "rapidly," coming within 5 feet of the American aircraft, the officials said.

Once alongside, the Russian jet was provocative in its flight maneuvers and flying erratically, according to another official.

Since June 2 there have been more than 35 interactions in the Baltic Sea region between U.S. and Russian jets and warships, but the incident Monday morning is notable because the U.S. military considered it unsafe, according to one official.

The incident comes one day after the Russian Defense Ministry said it would treat any U.S. jet flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as a potential target, following a U.S. Navy jet's shoot-down of a Syrian jet that was targeting U.S.-aligned fighters.

The Russian military has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad for decades and deployed dozens of fighter jets and helicopter gunships to shore up the Syrian regime in September 2015.

In February, Russian jets buzzed a U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer in the Black Sea, while the U.S. Army was unloading dozens of tanks and 500 U.S. Army soldiers arrived in a port in nearby Romania.

Two months later, that same destroyer, USS Porter, fired Tomahawk cruise missiles into Syria hitting an airbase belonging to the Russian-backed Assad regime.

For the past few weeks, the U.S. military has participated in a large military training exercise in the Baltic region, including the use of B-52 nuclear-capable bombers and the long-range B-1 bomber.

Dozens of U.S. and allied warships also participated in the Baltic Sea exercise amid heightened tensions with Russia. The Baltops exercise concluded over the weekend.

It was not immediately clear how close the U.S. military recon jet was flying near Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between NATO allies Poland and Lithuania. This fall, Russia moved nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, putting some European capitals in strike range.

The U.S. Air Force did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Australia said it was suspending military flights over Syria two days after a U.S. Navy F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian jet near the ISIS stronghold of Raqqa.

The Australian military also flies Super Hornets, the only other nation besides the U.S. to do so.

A U.S. official in the Middle East called the move a temporary measure, when reached by Fox News.

The official added the U.S. has repositioned its air forces in Syria in the wake of the U.S. downing of the Russian-made Syrian jet.

As an example of the change, fewer American jets are bombing ISIS targets and more are being tasked with air-to-air roles in case Syria or Russia seeks revenge for the loss of the Assad regime jet after it was shot down, the official said.

Two weeks ago on a visit to Sydney, Australias Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, "We are united in our resolve to defeat ISIS."

According to the Australian Defense Ministry, its F-18 Super Hornets have not flown over Syria since February.
The central train station in the Belgian capital of Brussels was evacuated Tuesday after an explosion was reported and police shot a suspect wearing an explosive belt who shouted "Allahu Akbar," in what officials described as a foiled terror attack.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said authorities are treating the incident "as a terrorist attack" that was foiled when the suspect was "neutralized."

Prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said early Wednesday the suspect had been lying still since soldiers shot him on Tuesday night, adding that medics were unable to attend to him for several hours out of fear he could be carrying explosives.

Van Wymersch said authorities only could confirm his death once a bomb squad had finished its work, but no one else was injured in the foiled attack, and the damage was limited.

National newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted the Brussels prosecutor's office as saying the suspect was wearing a backpack and an explosive belt.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, an employee at Brussels Central station, told reporters that the suspect had cried "Allahu Akbar," Arabic for "God is great," and detonated something on a luggage cart, Sky News reports.

Herreweghen described the suspect as a man in his 30s, who was wearing black jeans and a white shirt which has "visible wires around his waist."

Federal police confirmed to VTM News the bomb squad conducted a controlled explosion on an explosives belt.

Brussels police said via Twitter that there was "an incident with an individual at the station. The situation is under control."

Security officials will gather late Tuesday to determine whether the incident was terrorism or not, according to local media.

A witness to the incident, Remy Bonnaffe, told Fox News he heard two loud bangs like an explosion at the station.

Bonnaffe said he first heard two loud bangs like an explosion, with the first bang taking place while everyone was still at the boarding platform. When the second bang took place, everyone then hid, according to Bonnaffe.

Bonnaffe told Fox News he then ran across the street to the Hilton and heard two noises that sounded like gun shots.

Bonnaffe took a photo which shows an object on fire, which he thought was a suitcase that could have been the thing that exploded.

The Belgian capital's Grand Place, a major tourist site, was evacuated along with the station about 200 meters away, but officials stressed it was only for security reasons.

Brussels Central station has been evacuated and searched, with rail services from the station suspended. Train services at two other stations in the capital, Brussels North and Brussels South, have also been disrupted by the incident, according to Sky News.

Rail company spokeswoman Elisa Roux said Tuesday evening that trains were diverted from the station and buses sent out to take passengers to the area.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport on March 22, 2016. The center that monitors security threats in Belgium says the available information so far doesn't yet merit going to the highest possible terror alert level.

Soldiers have been stationed at railway stations, government buildings and EU institutions since the March 2016 attacks.

There have been incidents involving extremists in Paris and London in recent days, including the attack by a van driver who tried to run down worshippers outside a London mosque.

Read more from Sky News.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Egypt's security forces killed 15 militants, 12 of them in airstrikes in the restive Sinai peninsula and three in the coastal city of Alexandria, according to two separate statements by the Interior Ministry and the armed forces on Tuesday.

The armed forces said the strikes in North Sinai also destroyed four vehicles as it targeted a "terrorist stronghold" of the local Islamic State affiliate, formerly known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis.

In a separate development, Egypt's Interior Ministry said it killed the three other militants, belonging to a shadowy group calling itself the Hasm Movement, in an apartment raid in Alexandria. The ministry added that they were killed in an exchange of fire.

The militant group, which is suspected of links to the banned Muslim Brotherhood, claimed responsibility for a deadly roadside bombing earlier this week, in the Egyptian capital's upscale suburb of Maadi, killing one police officer and wounding four others. The group has previously claimed several smaller attacks, mainly targeting policemen.

Insurgent attacks have dramatically increased in Egypt since the military ouster of elected President Mohammed Morsi, ending the Islamist leader's divisive, one-year rule. The violence has been concentrated in the northern Sinai Peninsula, where Islamic State-linked militants are battling the army.
The German ambassador to China on Tuesday called on authorities to end the apparent confinement of a Catholic bishop and said he is concerned by proposed changes to the country's rules governing religion.

Ambassador Michael Clauss said in a statement posted on the embassy's website that Shao Zhumin appears to have been forced by authorities to move to unknown locations four times over the past year. Shao, who was recognized as a bishop by the pope but not by Beijing, now appears to be confined to his home.

"His full freedom of movement should be restored," Clauss said in the statement.

Shao was appointed in September by the Vatican as bishop in the eastern city of Wenzhou, which has a large Christian community. Ever since the officially atheistic communist state cut relations with the Holy See in the 1950s, the Vatican and Beijing have been at loggerheads over who has the right to name bishops in China and other issues governing the church.

The Vatican-affiliated AsiaNews website, which closely covers the underground church in China, reported that police had taken Shao away on May 18. Last week, Shao was spotted arriving back at Wenzhou airport in Zhejiang province, accompanied by government officers who then drove him to an unknown location, AsiaNews reported on Monday.

It said his disappearance was believed to be part of an attempt to persuade him to join the ruling Communist Party-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association.

A woman who answered the phone at Wenzhou's police headquarters declined to respond to questions about Shao's case. An officer in charge of the Catholic Affairs division at the Wenzhou City Bureau of Ethnic and Religious Affairs referred calls to the propaganda department of Wenzhou's Communist Party Committee, where no one answered.

China's government has long had an uneasy relationship with Christianity, particularly when it comes to the pope's right to make decisions about canonical matters inside the country. In recent years, authorities in Zhejiang have removed hundreds of crosses and other outward symbols of the Christian faith, saying they violated building codes. Christian associations denounced the campaign as unconstitutional and humiliating.

China has an estimated 12 million Catholics, many of whom worship in non-state sanctioned congregations that often overlap with the government-recognized church.

Clauss also said that he was concerned by "a number of new rules" in a draft regulation on religious affairs, without specifying them.

"If unchanged, they could place further restrictions on the right to freedom of religion and belief," the ambassador said.

The proposed amendments made public in September have alarmed activists, who say they aim to suppress all unofficial religious activities. They include a clause that says religious sites should meet the requirements of urban planning, a clause that some observers have said is vague and could provide a legal basis for the removal of religious symbols such as crosses.

___

Follow Louise Watt on Twitter at twitter.com/louise_watt
German authorities are taking action against 36 people suspected of posting hate speech online, most of them accused of far-right incitement.

The Federal Criminal Police Office said police across the country searched homes of suspects, questioned them and took unspecified "further measures" early Tuesday. There was no word of any arrests.

The so-called "day of action against hate postings" followed a similar exercise last year. The police office said most of the postings targeted Tuesday had a far-right motivation, but authorities also targeted a suspected anti-government extremist, two far-left suspects and one case where the victim's sexual orientation was attacked.

In April, the Cabinet approved a bill to punish social networking sites if they fail to swiftly remove illegal content such as hate speech. Parliament has yet to approve it.
India and Portugal inks Agreement to Promote Cooperation in The Field of Archives

Published: June 20, 2017

India and Portugal have signed a protocol of cooperation in the field of archives. The agreement has been signed between the National Archives of India and the Ministry of Culture of the Portuguese Republic in Lisbon, Portugal.

Salient Highlights

As a part of the Cooperation, the Torre do Tombo (National Archives of Portugal) has handed over digital copies of 62 volumes of the collection known as Moncoes do Reino (Monsoon correspondence) to the National Archives of India. These volumes were originally part of over 456 volumes which is the largest of all record collections in the Goa State Archives. The collection consists of direct correspondence from Lisbon to Goa and covers the period from 1568 to 1914. These volumes serve as the most important primary source for the study of the Portuguese expansion in Asia and their trade rivalries with the Arabs and European powers as well as their relations with neighbouring Kings in South Asia and East Asia.

In 1777, 62 volumes out of the 456 comprising over 12,000 documents, belonging to the period from 1605 to 1651 were shifted from Goa to Lisbon. At Lisbon, these volumes were subsequently got printed under the title Documentos Remetidos da India(Documents sent from India) by the Academy of Science at Lisbon between 1880 and 1893. Since then the original volumes had remained in Lisbon.

After a gap of 240 years, Director General of Books, Archives and Libraries has handed over a set of digital images of the missing volumes of the Moncoes do Reino series to India.

Background

From 1505 to 1961, some territories of India remained under Portuguese State of India (Estado da India) or Portuguese India (India Portuguesa). The Indian empire of Portuguese was mainly confined in isolated colonies in both East and West Coast of India and was part of Portuguese possessions in Asia, East Africa and Pacific.

Earlier, during the visit of Prime Minister of Portugal to India as the chief Guest of 2017 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in January, India and Portugal had signed sixmemorandam of understandings (MoUs) including in defence cooperation.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017

Topics: Current Affairs - 2017  India-International Relations  India-Portugal  International

Latest E-Books
A woman testifying in Germany Monday identified three Eritrean men who allegedly held her down and repeatedly raped her near a train station last year.

The 28-year-old woman said in her three-hour long statement that the men took turns sexually assaulting her in a secluded area near the Muhlhausen train station in August 2016, German newspaper Thuringer Allgemeine reported. The men lured her there during a carnival near the German station, she alleged.

"Each of them raped me three times," she said in her statement.

The men would then beat and kick the woman, she claimed, adding that she tried running away and calling for help but the men had taken her phone. They later used the device to record part of the assault.

The three men have been charged with group rape and bodily harm, according to the newspaper. Prosecutors are using DNA evidence found on the woman and her testimony as evidence in the case.

One of the men previously said in court that he and the woman had consensual sex on the day of the incident.

"I was very drunk at the carnival and I slept with her once," the man said.

The two other men accused of the crime have denied taking part, claiming they were at home and asleep that night.
U.S.-led coalition forces said they have killed Turki al-Binali, ISIS' chief cleric, in Syria airstrike last month.

Al-Bin'ali, who called himself "Grand Mufti," was killed in an airstrike on May 31 in Mayadin, Syria, according to a news release from the Combined Joint Task Force  Operation Inherent Resolve.

The cleric's main role was recruiting extremists and causing terrorist attacks across the globe. Al-Bin'ali, who has been the terror group's chief cleric since 2014, supplied propaganda encouraging murder and other atrocious acts. He tried to legitimize the formation of the so-called "caliphate" and was a close confidant of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the jihadi group.

The cleric's recruiting efforts for the terrorist organization included many filmed lectures trying to condone and provoke the slaying of innocent people.

The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the ISIS branch in Libya. He rose to be one of the extremist group's leading ideologues.

Several senior Islamic State figures have been killed in recent years as the group has been driven from large parts of Syria and Iraq. U.S.-backed forces recently pushed into Raqqa, the northern Syrian city that served as the group's de facto capital.



Fox News' Jennifer Griffin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A young Sudanese man grabbed the steering wheel of a bus and tried to steer it off the road in Sicily on Tuesday, local media reported, but police said they did not suspect it was an act of terror.

After off-duty soldiers aboard intervened and managed to stop him, the man was taken off the bus and questioned by DIGOS security police, ANSA reported.

126 REFUGEES KILLED IN BOAT WRECK OFF LIBYA

So far there are not reasons to suspect that it was an act of a terrorist nature, Palermo Chief Prosecutor, Francesco Lo Voi said. The bus was heading from Trapani to Palermo, ANSA reported.

In recent years, waves of African migrants have arriving in Sicily. Many travel to family members and migrant communities in northern Europe, while others will stay behind and find work.

2 SYRIAN TERROR SUSPECTS STOPPED IN SICILY DURING G7 MEETING

Palermo prosecutors are still investigating a motive, but at the moment, it appears to be personal, Lo Voi said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Latest on the explosion at a train station in Brussels: (all times local):

00:30 am

A spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office says the suspect in the explosion at a train station in the Belgian capital has died.

Prosecutor's spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said early Wednesday the man had been lying still since soldiers shot him on Tuesday night. She says medics were unable to attend to him for several hours out of fear he could be carrying explosives.

Van Wymersch says authorities only could confirm his death once a bomb squad had finished its work.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt says soldiers "neutralized" a suspect at the Central Station immediately after a small explosion there.

He says the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.

___

11:25 p.m.

Belgian authorities say they foiled a "terror attack" when they shot a suspect at one of the nation's main train stations.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said soldiers "neutralized" a suspect at the Central Station immediately after a small explosion there on Tuesday night and "we do not know if the man is still alive or that he is dead."

Van der Sypt added that "this incident is considered as a terrorist attack."

Belgium's Crisis Center, which monitors security threats in the country, says based on initial information it doesn't see a need to raise the terror threat in the country to the highest level.

___

10:15 p.m.

Belgian authorities say soldiers "neutralized" a person at a main Brussels train station amid media reports of explosion-like noises there.

Belgium's Crisis Center, which monitors security threats in the country, said via Twitter that "soldiers had to neutralize an individual" at the Central station on Tuesday.

Brussels prosecutor's office spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch tells VRT network there was a small explosion at the station, one of the nation's busiest, but the damage was limited.

Van Wymersch said authorities were on the scene quickly and a person was shot. She says at first sight no one else appears to have been wounded.

Photos posted on social media showed a small fire in the station, which was evacuated along with the main Brussels square.

___

9:30 p.m.

Belgian media are reporting that explosion-like noises have been heard at a Brussels train station, prompting the evacuation of a main square.

Broadcaster RTL quoted Fires Services spokesman Pierre Meys confirming that some kind of an explosion had happened in the city's Central station on Tuesday. Meys could not say what had caused the blast.

He could only confirm that firefighters were at the scene.

Brussels police said via Twitter that there was "an incident with an individual at the station. The situation is under control."

They asked the public to follow police instructions.

The Belgian capital's Grand Place, a major tourist site, was evacuated along with the station about 200 meters (656 feet) away.

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport in March 2016.
The cars still zip over London Bridge at their typical fast clip, drawing little obvious attention.

But some pedestrians walking the bridge over the River Thames each day say they find themselves glancing at the passing traffic and wondering: Is that the one? Is that the one that's going to swerve my way? The one whose driver wants to kill me for reasons I'll never quite grasp?

"Of course I do think about it every day," said 55-year-old Phil Bradley, who notes with approval that police have installed extra barriers since the June 3 attack when three Islamic extremists slammed a van into pedestrians on the bridge then went on a stabbing rampage in nearby Borough Market, killing a total of eight people. "But you have to keep it in perspective."

Londoners tend to take their city for granted  until something goes terribly wrong. When the great city is ticking along, its residents barely notice its unique cosmopolitan blend, its seemingly effortless mix of dozens of different cultures. But when the city's multi-ethnic personality is under threat, as it is now, people are uneasy, but also proud and protective, determined not to change their routines or their outlook.

The city has endured three deadly Islamic extremist attacks in the last three months alone. And the pace of horrific events has quickened: In the last week, London's worst fire in decades claimed at least 79 lives and a group of Muslims leaving prayers marking the holy month of Ramadan were intentionally run down by a man in a van.

The city  and the country  seem divided: Between rich and poor, Muslim and non-Muslim, between those who welcome outsiders and those who fear them. Signs of division are everywhere  the general election in early June did not produce a clear majority for any party, leaving the makeup of the next government unclear.

Still, London retains much of its imperial grace: The West End theaters are full, the pubs and restaurants are jammed with people enjoying the long lingering light of balmy summer nights. But Britain has suffered a traumatic year of political change and unrest since the momentous vote one year ago to leave the European Union.

It seems the veil of civility has been lifted, and what lies beneath is not pretty. Britain, which perceives itself as a beacon of stability, seems at time to be coming unstuck, increasingly vulnerable to conflicts that have their roots abroad but are being felt at home.

The attack this week on Muslim worshippers outside Finsbury Park Mosque marks a new and long-feared escalation  an out-and-out attempt to harm Muslims simply for their faith. It comes as security officials report a dramatic increase in hate crimes directed at Muslims.

The mosque attack, in which nine people were injured, has produced a paradoxical response. Muslim residents say they are more wary and nervous than ever, and at the same time heartened by the moral support they've received from wide segments of society since the attack.

Farhad Ahmad, an imam at the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Center near the attack site, said Muslims in the neighborhood are living with more apprehension than ever before.

"The situation in the country, there is so much more division," he said. "You see a change in the tide. The three attacks, Westminster, Manchester, London Bridge, and then this happened here as well. It seems it might be turning into a vicious cycle of revenge attacks. So we have that in the back of our minds."

He said he thinks the assailant in Monday's mosque attack believed Islam poses a danger because of the earlier violence by Islamic State-inspired extremists.

"If this person targeted Muslims thinking there is some problem with the teachings of Islam, then it means that there are people who think that on a larger scale as well," he said. "So they need to be reached out to, otherwise the divide is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger."

The deadly fire at the Grenfell Tower public-housing high-rise is not primarily about the gulf between Muslims and the rest of British society; it's about class, the widening gap between those with plenty and those scratching to get by.

At least 79 people died, with dozens more injured and several hundred displaced after the fast-moving blaze destroyed the subsidized housing tower in the wealthy borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

In the hours after the June 14 tragedy, furious residents said they had complained about dangerous fire conditions for years. But the residents  mostly poor, mostly immigrants, many of them Muslims  got the cold shoulder from the politicians in charge of London's wealthiest borough, a place where the scions of Middle Eastern potentates routinely fly in for a week of shopping in their private jets, a bright red Ferrari or orange Lamborghini in the cargo hold for their own version of rapid transit.

There is no pleasure in the "I told you so" of residents who predicted last year that only a catastrophic fire would focus attention on conditions there. Those who survived are now homeless, more dependent than ever on the government.

The fact that many of them are Muslims is a simple reflection of how people have long looked to London as a place to get a foothold and slowly build a better life. It's a pattern dating back centuries  Jews fleeing pogroms came first, settling in neighborhoods now largely populated by Muslims from the Middle East and Africa  but rarely have the divisions and resentments seemed so deep.

Those living in Grenfell Tower had hopes but little political clout. The first victim of the blaze to be identified was Mohammad Alhajali, a 23-year-old refugee from Syria. His broken-hearted family said he had come to London out of a desire to make something of himself in a city where advancement was possible, where hard work could pay off.

Other victims likely have similar tales. But their remains were incinerated, making identification weeks or months away  or impossible.

Neighbor May Naroee, who left a piece of art and a message at a condolence wall, said it was easy for the borough council to ignore the safety complaints from tower residents.

"The council wrote them off as just a bunch of Muslims," she said. "Are we not truly living in a state that is Third World if we're living in Third World conditions? These people were sent to their death in the most expensive city in the world."
Several prominent journalists and activists in Mexico are accusing the government of spying on them by hacking into their phones.

A criminal complaint filed with the Attorney Generals Office on Monday by nine people follows a report by Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto which claimed that Mexican journalists, lawyers and activists were targeted by spyware.

Among the targets were journalists Carmen Aristegui and Carlos Loret de Mola, who were investigating alleged government corruption and purported human right abuses by security forces.

COLOMBIAN REBELS BELIEVED TO BE HOLDING 2 DUTCH JOURNALISTS

The agents of the Mexican state, far from doing what they should be doing legally have used our resources, our taxes, our money to commit serious crimes, Aristegui said at a news conference in Mexico City, the BBC reported.

The report comes at a time when Mexican journalists and human rights defenders already feel under attack. Six journalists have been killed this year.

"Enrique Pena Nieto must explain," Aristegui said.

"We don't know if the journalists killed were spied on beforehand," she said. "We don't know if something happened, but in light of this we have a right to think it."

Aristegui, who exposed a case of possible conflict of interest involving a luxury home acquired from a government contractor by President Enrique Pena Nieto's wife, was aggressively targeted according to Citizen Lab.

The Mexican government has categorically denied the allegations, saying that just like any other democratic country, it conducts intelligence operations to combat organized crime and defend national security. It denied any illegal spying.

VENEZUELA WALKS OUT OF AMERICAS SUMMIT IN MEXICO

Titled Reckless Exploit, the report said the people targeted received message with links, that when clicked on, opened up their devices to being exploited and spied upon. It used spyware produced by Israels NSO Group that is sold exclusively to government, the internet watch group said.

NSO's Pegasus spyware allows hackers access to phone calls, messages, cameras and personal data. The company says it sells the product only to governments for the purposes of fighting crime and terrorism.

Citizen Lab said it had "no conclusive evidence attributing these messages to specific government agencies in Mexico. However, circumstantial evidence suggests that one or more ... of NSO's government customers in Mexico are the likely operators."

The report noted that the targets involved domestic issues of immediate concern to powerful Mexican interests and the government, and that multiple government agencies in Mexico are reportedly NSO customers.

The messages were both brazen and extremely obvious. ... Were these messages sent to lower-profile private individuals, the ruse may never have been discovered. But instead, the messages were sent to very high profile and well known journalists, increasing the likelihood of discovery, Citizen Lab said.

Citizen Lab said it documented at least 76 messages containing links to the security exploit. Many were sent in August 2015 or between April and July of the following year.

Loret de Mola, in a recorded message played at a news conference Monday in Mexico City, said initially he declined to participate because in the context of Mexican journalists being killed the spying seemed minor. He has a news program on the Televisa network and writes a column for El Universal newspaper.

But upon further reflection he changed his mind because spying opens the door to go farther: the intimidation, the harassment, the censorship, the firings, the beatings, the abductions, the kidnappings, the disappearances, the murders, the impunity that makes it likely that none of this is investigated, that none of it is punished, he said.

Other targets included members of the Centro Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez, a prominent human rights group that has investigated cases such as the disappearance of 43 students whom police allegedly detained and turned over to drug gang killers; the anti-graft group Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity; and the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness, a civil society group working on economic policy and combatting corruption.

Frank Smyth, executive director of the U.S. group Global Journalist Security, called Citizen Lab's report a reminder of the perils that spyware represents in an increasingly wired world.

This is an escalation of surveillance, but its a predictable one considering our technological capabilities and potential, Smyth said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Iranian opposition group has found 12 sites, not previously disclosed, where the Islamic government is developing ballistic missiles with the help of North Korean experts.

The disclosure, one of many in a lengthy and detailed report released Tuesday by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), describes how Irans missile program has accelerated since it signed an agreement on July 14, 2015, to limit its development of nuclear weapons. The reports material reflects intelligence gathered by the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran.

The findings show the first full picture of the missile program of the Iranian regime, which is very extensive and costly. It also shows a close tie between the nuclear weapons program and the missile program, Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the NCRIs U.S. office, said to Fox News.

Tehran has accelerated its missile program [since signing the nuclear deal] to make up for its domestic impotence and increasing regional isolation. The missile program of the regime is essential for its survival. Unfortunately the missile program of the Iranian regime has remained primarily unchecked.

The report shines a light on three key aspects of Irans missile program: It reveals the existence of 12 previously unknown missile developments sites; it discloses details about the sites, including locations and facilities at the sites; and it describes the partnership between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and North Korean experts.

Among the 42 missile sites -- which include the 12 newly disclosed sites -- 15 are part of a manufacturing network, another 25 are being used as missile storage sites, 13 are being used as launching sites and another eight are being used to train missile brigades, the report says.

The NCRI also documents the extent of the Tehran-Pyongyang partnership.

North Korea has been closely aligned with Iran in developing its missile program, Jafarzadeh said. All of the tunnels under the mountains are built after the North Korean model. [For example] North Korean experts have been present in Al Mahdi Garrison, a key missile site allocated to missile training near Tehran.

The NCRIs report comes just days after Iran launched missiles at targets in Syria, a move that Tehran said was intended to attack ISIS but which the NCRI said was a propaganda ploy in response to growing opposition from Iranian citizens to the missile and nuclear projects  not to combat the Islamic State.

The primary reason for launching these missiles was in no way ISIS, Jafarzadeh said.

According to many reports, the missile did not hit ISIS, but took a lot of casualties among ordinary citizens. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps has tens of thousands of forces, including foreign fighters in Syria. It has built missile manufacturing sites on Syrian territory.

So, there was absolutely no need to fire missiles from inside Iranian territory. In the past few years, the [Revolutionary Guard] was stationed very close to ISIS in Syria, but did not even fire a single bullet against it, Jafarzadeh said.
The China tour agency that organized a trip to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, who died after being released in a coma from North Korean detention, said it would no longer take Americans to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours said on its Facebook page Tuesday that the death of the 22-year-old Warmbier shows that the risk American tourists face in visiting the isolated nation has become too high.

The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier's life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists, the agency said, There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result. Now, the assessment of risk for Americans visiting North Korea has become too high.

The company runs its North Korean tour out of Yangshuo, China with its tours beginning and ending in Beijing, according to the agencys website. The tour offers biking trips along the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea as well as scuba diving, according to USA Today.

Warmbiers family announced his death Monday. Doctors said last week that he had suffered extensive brain damage and was unresponsive to his surroundings. Officials from the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, which treated the student upon his return, labeled his condition as a state of unresponsive wakefulness.

While there was no physical evidence he was beaten, doctors said that Warmbier had suffered extensive loss of brain tissue, suggesting he had lost blood supply to his brain for a period of time.

The North Koreans told U.S. officials that Warmbier had suffered from botulism and then slipped into a coma after taking a sleeping pill but Cincinnati doctors said that their examination showed no evidence of botulism, the strong neurotoxin produced by a bacterium.

Warmbier was medically evacuated from North Korea on June 13 following diplomatic talks at the top of the U.S. government. A former University of Virginia student, he was serving a 15-year sentence in North Korea for allegedly attempting to steal a banner containing a political phrase that was hanging from a wall in his Pyongyang hotel.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Emergency services in Portugal said Tuesday they were making headway in controlling a major wildfire that killed 64 people in the central area of the country, but the welcome news came as another blaze nearby grew in size and amid reports that a water-dropping plane had crashed.

The Civil Protection Agency said about 1,200 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft were fighting the deadly wildfire in Pedrogao Grande, which was raging for a third consecutive day about 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Lisbon. Officials said the blaze was mostly contained, though still burning fiercely.

Later in the day, an official with Portugal's Air Accident Office said a Canadair water-dropping plane has crashed in central Portugal while fighting the wildfires. Maria Jose Andre told The Associated Press that the Civil Protection Agency, which is overseeing firefighting operations, informed her office that the plane had crashed.

Her office immediately sent a crash investigation team to the area but that she had no details about the plane, its crew or where the crash happened, she said.

Officials with the Portuguese government and the Civil Protection Agency said they could not confirm the crash.

"We are investigating if (the reports) are true," Secretary of State for the Interior Jorge Gomes said.

Civil Protection Agency spokesman Fausto Coutinho says authorities had received reports of a plane crash near where wildfires are raging and dispatched a helicopter to check.

Some firefighting resources were being diverted to Gois, about 20 kilometers from Pedrogao Grande, where almost 800 firefighters and four planes were battling the flames. Commander Vitor Vaz Pinto told reporters said the Gois wildfire was "very fast and very explosive" and had forced the evacuation of 11 hill villages.

Temperatures forecast to reach 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit), gusting winds and bone-dry woodland were fueling the blazes, Vaz Pinto said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Antonio Costa ordered an investigation into what happened on Saturday night when the deaths occurred, 47 of them on a road as people fled the flames.

Costa's order asked three questions: whether extreme weather could explain the scale of the disaster, why emergency services communications at times didn't work, and why the road where the deaths occurred was not closed.
A charity in Qatar that was recently sanctioned for links to terrorism by some Arab countries has worked with the U.S. governments main aid agency and several United Nations agencies, Fox News has learned.

The sanctions came as a result of fallout from a growing diplomatic fight between a Saudi Arabia-led coalition and Qatar over what the Saudis and its allies contend are Qatars ties to Iran and its financial support of terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Earlier this month, four allies  Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)  sanctioned 59 individuals and 12 institutions for financial links with Qatar over that country's support of terrorism.

BARCLAYS, FORMER CEO CHARGED WITH FRAUD OVER QATAR DEAL

One of the entities sanctioned is the Qatar-based Qatar Charity, whose website claims it is dedicated to fighting global poverty. Its the largest non-governmental charity in that country and has worked with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which is the lead government agency responsible for overseeing U.S. civilian foreign aid, and continues to work with several UN agencies.

USAID and the UN should look for different partners that arent connected with terrorists. Qatar Charitys connection with Hamas and Al Qaeda makes any agency cooperating with it an accessory to terrorism, said John Rossomando, a senior analyst at the Washington D.C.-based Investigative Project on Terrorism. Qatar Charity and the Qatar Charitable Society are both the same group.

Rossomando told Fox News that before it changed its name, the charity was known as the Qatar Charitable Society and in a 2002 federal terrorism case it was noted that Osama Bin Laden allegedly used it to fund Al Qaedas activities in the 1990s.

ARAB STATES IN ROW WITH QATAR LAUD TRUMP'S SUPPORTIVE STANCE

U.S. prosecutors noted that Qatar Charity acted as a major financial conduit for funding Al Qaeda attacks against U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. French intelligence noted in 2013 that Qatar Charity was involved in funding a group in Mali connected with Al Qaeda. Rossomando told Fox News.

A USAID spokesman said the organization has worked with the group to save lives.

As a leader in humanitarian assistance, USAID works with a wide range of partners to ensure that life-saving aid reaches those most in need, the spokesman said. USAID has worked with them (Qatar Charity) in the past to respond to specific humanitarian disasters.

USAID didnt respond to further Fox News questions on whether it had ever funded the Qatar Charity, and if it has considered ending its cooperation with the group over the recent sanctions.

The last time USAID worked with Qatar Charity was during the December 2014 flooding in Malaysia, when the agency transported tents that were provided by Qatar Charity.

We do not fund them, and we do not receive funds from them but they have been a partner in implementing a number of projects, UN Secretary General spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Fox News on confirming the world bodys relationship with the charity.

Dujarric seemed to dismiss the groups inclusion on the terror list, telling Fox News that as a matter of principlethe sanctions list that the UN abides by are the ones that are produced by the UN.

I've heard of no change in our relationship with them, he said.

The UN agencies that have partnerships with the charity include UNICEF, the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East and several other UN organizations.

Questions to both the Qatar Charity and the Qatar embassy in Washington were not answered.

Qatari-based broadcaster Al Jazeera reported that the Qatari government rejected the terror listings, calling them baseless allegations.
India ratifies UN TIR Convention in a bid to Counter China's OBOR

Published: June 20, 2017

India has become the 71st nation to join the United Nations TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) Convention. Indias decision to join the convention is part of its multi-modal transport strategy that aims at integrating Indian economy with global and regional production networks through better connectivity.

In March 2017, Union Cabinet had approved Indias accession to the Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under TIR Convention. The UN has confirmed that the TIR Convention will enter into force in India in 6 months.

Contents TIR

Significance

TIR

The Customs Convention on International Transport of Goods under Cover of TIR Carnets, 1975 (TIR Convention) is an international customs transit system under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with the widest geographical coverage. It is more than a transport convention. At present, there are 70 parties to the convention including the European Union.

The TIR is managed and developed by International Road Transport Union (IRU) which is the world road transport organisation. The TIR procedure facilitates movement of goods under customs control across international borders without the payment of the duties and taxes. It provides a robust guarantee mechanism facilitating the higher growth of Intra-regional trade.

Significance

Accession to TIR will help India in implementing the World Trade Organizations Trade Facilitation Agreement which it has already entered into this year.

With Chinas ambitious One Belt One Road (OBOR) project, India has no other option other than to join TIR if it wants to be counted as a serious rising power. China is already a TIR member.

Accession to TIR will ensure enhanced security in the supply chain as it allows only approved transporters and vehicles to operate under the terms of the Convention.

The Indian traders will get access to fast, reliable and hassle-free international system for movement of goods by road or multi-modal means.

It will improve Indias cross-border road transport. On the eastern front, it will help in integrating with Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. On the western front, it will help in transporting cargo along the International North-South Transport Corridor via Chabahar port in Iran. Further, it will give access to landlocked Afghanistan and the energy-rich Eurasian region.

It can help in implementing the Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) Motor Vehicles Agreement by addressing policy incompatibility issues among the BBIN nations.

Month: Current Affairs - June, 2017

Topics: Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN)  International  International Road Transport Union (IRU)  One Belt One Road (OBOR)  UN  United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)  United Nations TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) Convention  World Trade Organization (WTO)

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Syrian government troops and their allies have steadily positioned themselves in key areas on the flanks of the U.S.-led coalition battle for the Islamic State's self-declared capital of Raqqa.

They are attempting to become an indispensable player in uprooting the extremists from Syria entirely.

That presents a major challenge for the coalition, which so far has shunned any cooperation with President Bashar Assad and has partnered instead with local Kurdish-led forces.

As the U.S. has intensified its fight against IS in Syria, Assad and his trusted allies of Russia and Iran are increasingly asserting themselves. A Syrian military offensive has unfolded on several fronts, coupled with Russian airstrikes and a show of force by Iran, which fired ballistic missiles on an IS stronghold this week and pushed militias that it sponsors deeper into the battlefield.

Damascus and its allies have long argued that they are the essential partner to any international effort in Syria, portraying all opposition forces as terrorist groups.

A close look at the map shows that pro-Assad troops have placed themselves in key locations in the anti-IS battle, while staying close to the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces who lead the ground offensive. The Syrian government forces and their allies have placed themselves south of Raqqa and on the outskirts of Deir el-Zour, the IS militants' last refuge.

While government troops may be far from in control of that area and are unlikely to go after the city of Raqqa, Syria expert Sam Heller of the Century Foundation said the forces "have done enough to insert themselves that they're now a fact on the ground."

The aim is "to ensure that they can't easily be excluded, and that they remain on track to ultimately retake the entirety of the country," Heller said.

The United States, he added, "is dealing with it defensively and reactively. I don't think there's any real sense of what to do, beyond defending U.S. troops and partner forces."

The government push against IS began after a cease-fire deal brokered in May by Russia and Iran that designated four "de-escalation zones" in northern, central and southern Syria.

Having largely succeeded in neutralizing most of his rebel opponents, Assad's forces, with the help of Iranian-sponsored Lebanese and Iraqi militias began an elaborate military campaign. It was a multipronged thrust, choking IS supply and escape routes and encircling coalition forces.

With Russia's backing, they sprang out in the desert of Palmyra, eyeing the town of Sukhna, the last IS stronghold in central Syria. Taking Sukhna would cut the militants' supply line to the border with Iraq.

Almost simultaneously, they advanced south and east of Aleppo all the way to Raqqa province, where the coalition is backing the mostly Kurdish force against IS. The battle for Rasafa, a key town southwest of the city of Raqqa, triggered clashes with the Kurdish forces and led to the downing of a Syrian fighter jet by a U.S. warplane.

For the first time in two years, Syrian troops reached the border with Iraq, establishing a link with Iraqi forces that were advancing on their side, and outflanking U.S. troops and allied rebels in Tanf, near the border with Jordan. Syrian military officers described it as a major achievement that boosts the coordination of border security between Iraq and Syria.

That also increased tensions.

U.S officials said the pro-Syrian troops violated a de-confliction agreement between Washington and Moscow and had "threatened" U.S. fighters and allied rebels.

Subsequent U.S. airstrikes hit a convoy and a base of pro-Assad troops and later carried out another raid in the same area, followed by shooting down a drone believed connected to Iranian-supported forces. The drone had fired near the base where the coalition trains Syrian rebels.

It was a sharp escalation in an area that is essential in operations to secure Iraq's borders and potentially advance toward Deir el-Zour.

The U.S. then deployed a truck-mounted missile system in Syria, showing that the U.S. military intends to protect itself.

Bassam Abu Abdullah, a professor of International Relations at Damascus University, said the advances by pro-Assad troops undermined U.S. plans in the area to sever a land corridor linking the capitals of Syria, Iraq, Iran and Lebanon.

The advances also opened the way for cooperation among Syrian, Iranian-backed fighters and the Iraq Popular Mobilization Units for any moves against Deir el-Zour.

These battles are critical for Syria's future, Abdullah said, noting they will force the U.S. to negotiate with the Assad government.

"We are heading toward a bare-knuckle fight, which is likely to be in favor of the Russia-Iran-Syria axis," he said.

Abdullah argued that the U.S. position is being weakened by splits within the Trump administration over Syria policy.

Unlike in Iraq, where the U.S. is a partner with Iraqi troops to liberate Mosul and other IS bastions, Washington has refused to work with Assad, who is mired in Syria's civil war that is in its seventh year and has killed more than 400,000 people.

Aron Lund, also a fellow at the Century Foundation, said that even though Russia and the U.S. may not be interested in an escalation, it is not a given that they can help their allies in Syria avoid it.

Advances by the Syria-Russia-Iran axis offer the U.S. a way out of a bind over how to handle what follows the retaking of Raqqa.

"This is probably something Washington will end up approving of, if not necessarily colluding in," he said, speaking of the Syrian government's designs on Deir el-Zour.

The alternative would be for the Americans to try to do it themselves, either with the Kurdish-led forces  who are unpopular in the largely Arab tribal areas  or by creating a new force while remaining in the area until it is formed.

"In both cases, it would also be likely to draw various forms of Syrian, Russian, Iranian, Iraqi, and of course jihadi resistance," Lund said.
Uganda's government and the United Nations are appealing for $8 billion to deal with the crisis of refugees from South Sudan.

In a statement on World Refugee Day, the U.N. children's fund said the money is needed for emergency aid as well as "resilience interventions" targeting both refugees and host communities over the next four years.

Most of the refugees are women and children, the reason UNICEF is calling the refugee influx "a children's crisis."

"More than one million children have been forced from their homes in South Sudan, often amid horrific violence," said Leila Pakkala, a UNICEF official in the region. "Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya. Despite great efforts on many fronts, the systems in these countries are tremendously stretched."

UNICEF in Uganda requires nearly $50 million in 2017 as well as $30 million each year from 2018 to 2020 to provide critical services, including education and child protection, to both refugees and host communities, the UNICEF statement said.

This week Uganda will host a U.N.-backed summit aimed at raising awareness of the refugee crisis.

More than 1.8 million people have crossed into neighboring countries since the start of South Sudan's conflict in December 2013. More than 900,000 of them are sheltering in Uganda, on plots of land often donated by Ugandans.

Amnesty International charged on Monday that rich countries have failed in their obligation to help Uganda support thousands of refugees fleeing violence in South Sudan.

The rights group urged donors, including the United States and the European Union, to ramp up refugee support, saying it had spoken to refugees and aid agencies who spoke of a desperate lack of food, water, shelter and other basic services.

Uganda's refugee policy has been called one of the most progressive in the world because refugees are allowed freedom of movement and can operate their own businesses.

Yet South Sudan's refugee crisis is testing the limits of Uganda's generosity, with the continuing influx exerting a lot of pressure on the available resources.
The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The U.S. often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesday's flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seoul's Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States "to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater."

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the U.S. and North Korea and compound efforts by South Korea's new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, to improve ties with the North.

Moon said in an interview with CBS television broadcast Tuesday that Warmbier's death showed "we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime," but that talks are still necessary because "we were unable to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only the sanctions and pressure."
A U.S. aircraft shot down an armed Iranian drone advancing on coalition forces in southern Syria on Tuesday, Fox News confirmed.

The armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 UAV was shot down by a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle about 12:30 a.m. after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces. This is the second the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone in less than a month.

The coalition forces were manning an established combat outpost to the northeast of At Tanf where they are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS. This is the same location where another pro-regime UAV dropped munitions near Coalition forces before it was shot down on June 8.

The F-15E intercepted the armed UAV after it was observed advancing on the coalition position. The armed UAV was shot down when it continued to advance on the coalition's position without diverting its course.

The coalition has made it clear to all parties publicly and through the deconfliction line with Russian forces that the demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated.

There is a deconfliction mechanism in place with Russian forces to reduce uncertainty in this highly contested space and mitigate the chances of strategic miscalculation. Given recent events, the coalition will not allow pro-regime aircraft to threaten or approach in close proximity to Coalition and partnered forces.

The coalition presence in Syria addresses the imminent threat ISIS in Syria poses globally. It does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat. The coalition calls on all parties to focus their efforts on the defeat of ISIS, which is our common enemy and the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and security.

Tuesday's incident also marks the fifth time since late May that the U.S. military has bombed pro-Syrian forces in southern Syria.

On Sunday, a U.S. F-18 Super Hornet shot down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet near the town Tabqa for the first time, U.S.-led coalition headquarters in Iraq said in a statement. The Syrian government SU-22 dropped bombs near the Syrian Democratic Forces.
A day after the death of an American college student who was detained in North Korea for more than a year, the United States flew a pair of supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force, South Korean officials said.

The U.S. often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesdays flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of Otto Warmbier, who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

"Lot of bad things happened," President Trump said Monday, but at least we got him home to be with his parents."

He added: "It's a brutal regime -- and we'll be able to handle it."

Seouls Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater.

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts said his death would likely cast a shadow on relations between the U.S. and North Korea and compound efforts by South Koreas new liberal president to improve ties with the North.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The Mineral Area College Little Theatre Guild will present The Laramie Project, a contemporary play that looks into the aftermath of a hate crime and how it changed the face of a nation.

The story is about a small town in Wyoming and how one hate crime changed not only the town but the nationwide laws surrounding hate crimes and homosexuality, said Chuck Gallaher, the theater department chair.

The play is set in Laramie, Wyoming in the aftermath of the murder of 21-year-old Matthew Shepard, an openly gay student who was a first-year political science major at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

The story is about people from the New York Tectonic Theater Program who went out to Laramie, and over a two-year period of time, interviewed the town people who lived through it, Gallaher said. They talked about how changes in small towns, how people are perceived in small towns and how different lifestyles can penetrate those small towns.

For the actors performing in the play, the controversial topic was one of the reasons many of them were attracted to the project.

I dont remember hearing about this when it happened. I had just graduated in 1998, said Sandra Szendrey, one of the cast members who plays multiple characters in the show. So when I found out we were doing it, I did a little research, and because it is a true story, it intrigued me.

Since working on the play, Szendrey thinks the play is a very important and timely piece.

Nothing has really changed, Szendrey said. I do not relate to a lot of the characters in the play, but I know people who are a lot like the characters I play, and they are not very pleasant people.

For other actors in the cast, the play hits a little too close to home, especially for Logan Shropshire, who is an openly gay man. According to the actor, he plays two characters who are diametrically opposite of each other  one is a gay man from New York and the other a homophobic native of Laramie.

I really think this play hits home, Shropshire said. As an openly gay man, this is everyones worst fear.

For guest director John Turner, the play's topic was not what concerned him the most. It was the actual size of the cast.

I wasnt apprehensive about the plays storyline as much as I was about how many people I had to put in it, and if they would show up for auditions, Turner said. There is a total of 66 characters in the show. Usually, it has 15 to 20 people playing these characters. That is a pretty big cast.

Turner has had to have actors playing multiple characters, something that also caused some worries.

When you have one person playing multiple characters, you want to make sure you dont confuse the audience, Turner said. You have to worry about how you are going to differentiate the characters.

The play opens Thursday evening and runs through Saturday evening with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and curtain at 7 p.m. Tickets are available the Mineral Area Book Store or at the door and are $7 for general public and $ 3 for students and senior citizens. All seats are reserved.
Walmart remains king of the Fredericksburg-area grocery market for the fifth straight year.

The discount behemoths 10 area stores raked in $295.9 million from April 1, 2016, to March 31 of this year, according to Food World magazines latest annual market share survey for the Mid-Atlantic region. Thats up from $293.1 million in the previous survey, a nearly 1 percent increase.

Giant Food moved up from third to second place with $182.97 million in sales. That was thanks in part to Food Lion selling 13 of its area stores to Weis Markets in October following the merger of Giant Foods and Food Lions parent companies, Royal Ahold and Delhaize. The sale was part of a Federal Trade Commission-mandated divestiture.

Weis Markets came in third place in the new survey with $134.92 million in sales, followed by CVS with $103.1 million and Wawa with $92.57 million. Food Lion, which now has 10 stores in the region, fell to sixth place with $73.7 million in sales, just ahead of Target with $68.9 million in sales.

Eighth-ranked Wegmans posted the best single-store sales$63.6 million. Thats more than wholesale clubs Costco ($27.5 million) and BJs Wholesale Club ($27.1 million) combined.

Rounding out the top 10 for the region are: 7Eleven in ninth place with $44.6; and Sheetz in 10th with $40 million.

Sales figures will be different in the next survey because new players are preparing to enter the areas grocery scene.

Lidl, a division of German retailer Schwarz Group with U.S. headquarters in Arlington, recently announced that its Culpeper store will be among the first 20 that it plans to open in the United States this summer. There are no opening dates yet for it or the store Lidl has completed at the corner of Gordon Road and State Route 3 in Spotsylvania County, or the ones it is working on in Southpoint II in Massaponax and on U.S. 17 in Stafford County.

Lidl is a major competitor of Aldi, which has five area locations in Fredericksburg and Culpeper and Spotsylvania counties. Both are German discount food retailers that primarily sell their own brands. Aldi currently ranks in 13th place with $31.2 million in sales locally in the current survey, up from $30.9 million in the previous one.

Meanwhile Publix has announced that it will open a 49,000-square-foot store sometime next year in front of the Kohls at the Cosners Corner shopping center in Massaponax. And Mosaic, which is developing Aquia Town Center in Stafford County, has announced that a Harris Teeter will anchor that mixed-use developmentif new contingencies are met.

Tuesday night, Staffords Board of Supervisors is expected to discuss amending a tax increment financing agreement with Mosaic and the countys Economic Development Authority so the developer can complete negotiations with Harris Teeter and proceed with redeveloping Aquia Town Center.

Food World, a Maryland-based industry publication, has been publishing a grocery market share survey for the Mid-Atlantic region for 39 years. The level of competition among bricks-and-mortar stores is now more intense than ever, plus theyre facing growing competition from meal delivery kit providers and internet delivery businesses, publisher Jeffrey Metzger said in his analysis of the surveys findings.

Competition varies from locality to locality, however. The four Walmarts in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, localities that Food Worlds report combines, dominated with 21 percent of the market share there, or $138.2 million in sales. Thats nearly as much as it rings up in King George and Orange counties, where it also commands the largest part of the market, plus its sales in Culpeper and Stafford counties.

Giant Food, however, beats out Walmart in Stafford, and sister chain Martins captures the largest share of the market in Culpeper. Its closest rivals in both counties are Walmart and Weis.

Meanwhile, Food Lion continued to reign supreme in Caroline and Westmoreland counties, where it faces little competition. Its two Caroline stores rang up a total of $15.3 million in sales, which accounted for two-thirds of the grocery market in the county. Its only competitors are a CVS, which had $4.1 million in sales, and a Rite Aid, which had $3.3 million.

Food Lion captured almost 57 percent of market share in Westmoreland, where its two stores rang up $23.2 million in sales. Its competitors there include two Rite Aids ($5.6 million), a Great Valu ($5.1 million), and a FasMart and a 7Eleven ($1.8 million each).
RICHMONDOne of the hot-button issues in Southern states is the controversy over monuments that celebrate Confederate figures from the Civil War. A new monument in Richmond that commemorates the Emancipation Proclamation might help balance the scales a bit.

A state commission is designing the monument for placement on Browns Island, part of the James River Park in downtown Richmond. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commission met recently to discuss who might be honored on the Emancipation Proclamation and Freedom Monument.

There is a statue of a newly freed woman holding a baby and a man, the commissions chairwoman, state Sen. Jennifer McClellan of Richmond, said in an interview after the meeting. The base will have four people from pre-Emancipation on one side and four people from post-Emancipation on the other.

The MLK Memorial Commission has been considering which African-Americans from Virginia should be depicted on the monument. In a previous meeting, the panel selected nine historical figures from before Emancipation for consideration. The focus of Wednesdays meeting was to select finalists to represent the period from Emancipation to the present.

Public hearings then will be held on the finalists selected by the commission, so people will be able to voice their opinions about who will be on the monument.

The figures that the members discussed at the meeting were categorized by their occupation or field of contribution and also by which region of Virginia they are from.

It is very difficult to boil down 400 years of African-American history to eight people, McClellan said during the meeting. Wed like to, as much as possible, have a good representation of geographical locations, gender balance, period balance and occupation balance.

The commission reviewed a list of 60 nominees from the post-Reconstruction period. Members of the panel each voted for their five favorites.

The commission members had intended to narrow down the list to 12 finalists, but during the discussions, they had a hard time eliminating prominent figures because they felt all deserved to be honored.

One of the panels members, Dr. Lauranett Lee, made an argument for putting Jennie Serepta Dean on the list of finalists. Dean was a former slave who founded the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth in the 1890s.

Another nominee who received a lot of support was Peter Jacob Carter.

The Eastern Shore always gets forgotten. Ive seen maps of Virginia that dont even include it, said Dr. Gregg Kimball, a member of the MLK Commission. Peter Jacob Carter has a great story. Hes a United States Colored Troops veteran, a major political player during Reconstruction. He represents a region that we dont have at all.

By the end of the meeting, the commission had chosen 21 post-Emancipation finalists to move forward to the public hearings, along with the nine pre-Emancipation finalists.
Of course Bonnie Baker of Fredericksburg would recognize the woman wearing a riding habit in a recent Mystery Photo: It was her mom, Lucille Kishpaugh Baker.

The Free LanceStar often publishes photographs from the Central Rappahannock Heritage Center that are missing identifications on one or more of those pictured.

This mystery photo wasnt a mystery for long.

Baker says her mother and a friend, Kitty Jones, were participating in a fashion show put on by Ulmans dress shop in the late 1930s. Jones daughter has a similar photo of her own mom taken that same day.

The fashion show was just one of the pairs adventures. Lucille and Kitty stood for each other in their weddings and remained longtime friends, Baker said.

The photograph was taken at stables that were behind what is now a Bob Evans off State Route 3 in Fredericksburg, Baker said. Mary Washington College students rode there, but area residents could, too, if they paid, she added.

Bakers mother never owned a horse, but she enjoyed riding, Baker said.

She rode as a young person. She and Kitty used to ride very often, Baker said. She was quite fond of horses.

Baker did not take after her mother in that regard.

A friend whose family owned horses talked her into riding twice, but she didnt take up the hobby.

I love animals, I just wasnt comfortable riding, she said.

Bakers family has deep local roots. Her mother met her father when he moved to Fredericksburg with his dad to open Fredericksburgs first JCPenney on Caroline Street. Bakers mother worked at The Young Mens Shop, also on Caroline Street, for more than 35 years. And her great-uncle operated Kishpaughs, a downtown stationary shop.

Lots of our ephemera at the center was printed by Kishpaugh (calendars, booklets, postcards, etc., said Elizabeth Daly of the Heritage Center.

Baker vividly recalls a mural, painted on one of the walls at Kishpaughs, that depicted a Civil War battle.

I remember I just loved looking at it, she said.

Baker lives in the same house she grew up in off Lafayette Boulevard, one that once stood in Spotsylvania County but is on land that was later annexed by Fredericksburg. She graduated from James Monroe High School and attended Mary Washington and Virginia Commonwealth University before embarking on a 37-year career as an educator in Stafford County schools. She and her husband moved into her mothers home to help care for her in the 1990s. After her mothers death, the couple decided to remodel the home and stay.

Baker and her husband have considered relocating, since the area has become increasingly commercial, she said.

Weve thought about selling the family home, Baker said. But I just cant.
With the hope to bring awareness to kidney disease and to lend a helping hand to a member of the community, the Raelynn Winick Benefit Car and Bike Show was held Saturday at 300 Woodlawn Drive in Leadington.

We really had two purposes for todays car show, said Josh Grant, the event coordinator. We wanted to help a member of the community out whose daughter has kidney issues and to bring awareness of kidney disease as well.

Proceeds from the event will assist Raelynn Winick, the daughter of Leadington Mayor Dustin Winick, as she recovers from kidney complications.

According to Dustin, his daughter became sick in August and after 10 days in Cardinal Glennon Hospital, she was diagnosed with with Acute Tubular Necrosis, a kidney disease that will affect her the rest of her life.

In addition to the proceeds raised from the entries fees of the car and bike show, the organizers of the event sold T-shirts. Shirts are still available at the Leadington Pit Stop.
Former Viburnum city clerk Dana Mayberry has been charged with receiving stolen property.

Earlier this month Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway released the results of the audit her office conducted that uncovered more than $100,000 in potentially fraudulent activities spanning several years. Iron County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Parker has filed the Class B felony charge.

Mayberry served as Viburnum's city clerk for 14 years. After losing her re-election bid last November, city officials identified discrepancies in accounts that had been under her control.

After Mayberry admitted to stealing at least $25,000 in city funds, Mayor Johnny Setzer contacted law enforcement and the State Auditor's Office to investigate. Galloway's office conducted the audit that revealed more than $100,000 in potentially fraudulent activities had occurred over a number of years.

The audit described an elaborate scheme that allegedly involved Mayberry adjusting customer utility accounts and then destroying records and other evidence.

According to the findings, when citizens made cash payments, the former city clerk would pocket the money  and then instead of marking their accounts as paid  Mayberry would adjust the accounts to show they owed less than they actually did. The audit shows an estimated $104,000 in adjustments to 1,800 water and sewer accounts over a seven-year period.

Mayberry is also alleged to have adjusted her own personal utility account to avoid paying for water and sewer services to her home for four years at a cost of around $4,000.

Numerous records and receipt documents were destroyed, however, based on existing documents and citizen interviews and receipts, the former clerk may have also stolen several thousand dollars in court fines and property tax payments.

Although the mayor and board of aldermen ultimately requested an investigation by the state auditor, Galloway determined that "their previous lack of oversight contributed significantly to the city clerk being allowed to scam the city and its citizens for years before being caught."

Galloway's report outlined a series of steps for the city to take, including recommendations to improve accounting practices in the city and court and increase oversight of the utility and property tax system. The report results were turned over to law enforcement authorities and at the time the state auditor said her staff would assist prosecutors "in any way possible to bring justice for the citizens of Viburnum."

On Monday, Galloway released the following statement regarding the felony charges filed in Iron County against Mayberry.

"I thank Iron County Prosecuting Attorney Brian Parker for taking swift action following my audit. Public officials who violate the public's trust by using their positions to enrich themselves are on notice. Corruption will be uncovered.

"Last month, I worked closely with the law enforcement community to pass legislation making it easier for my office to work with local prosecutors in public corruption investigations. This case, which involves the deliberate destruction of records to conceal a crime, is a prime example of why we need this law."

In May, Galloway worked with Missouri's Prosecuting Attorneys and Sen. Bob Dixon to pass new anti-corruption measures for public officials. Included in Senate Bill 128, the measures would allow local prosecutors to request the state auditor to assist in forensic investigations where fraud and theft is suspected by government officials. The bill awaits the governor's signature.
Most other selfish genes identified to date seem to stand alone, Malik said, while the wtf family is a large collection of selfish genes, and at least some of them seem to be acting together to drive the division of species.

While the wtf family seems to be specific to these particular yeast, the general concept of selfish genes  and the possibility that they could be affecting species evolution or even fertility  is likely universal. But it can be difficult to study this type of reproduction-linked evolution in organisms more complex than the single-celled yeast, Zanders said.

Genes that are doing something similar to this are present in mammals, said Zanders, who now runs her own research lab at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri. We can study our simple little genes in our simple little yeast and that can teach us some general principles about how [such] genes can work in more complex systems that are too hard to study.

In a previous study, Zanders and Malik showed that the reproductive breakdown between the two types of yeast happens when chromosomes separate to daughter cells during meiosis, the special type of cell division that forms spores (in yeast) or sperm and eggs (in us). The poisonous gene results in spores with the wrong number of chromosomes, which kills the offspring.

Having the incorrect number of chromosomes is also a hallmark of miscarriage  and it happens more often than you might expect in humans, Malik said. (The rates of early miscarriage in U.S. women range from 15 to 50 percent, according to the National Institutes of Health.)

In their current study, they pinpointed the genes responsible and showed that the wtf4 poison is made early in meiosis  before the walls of the spore cells have formed so the poison leaches into every one of the daughter cells. But the antidote is made later in cell division, once the walls have formed around each tiny poison-filled sac. So those offspring without the wtf4 gene are out of luck.

Theres as yet no evidence that such reproduction-linked selfish genes could have anything to do with unexplained infertility in humans. But Malik is intrigued by the fact that humans dont seem to be doing as good a job at meiosis as you might think, he said, pointing to the fact that rates of female infertility and miscarriage are much higher in humans than in many other mammals.

That makes us wonder about human infertility, he said.

A cell is not a Swiss watch

Their findings also point to the ways biology and evolution sometimes work in unexpected ways.

By their nature, selfish genes dont contribute much or anything to their hosts, making discovering them through a traditional viewpoint difficult. Zanders, whose new lab is built around the study of selfish genes, said it can be a tricky viewpoint to explain to those who dont study evolution.

Most biologists spend their time studying genes that are good for you and the diseases that come about when those genes are broken. That general idea is an idea almost every biologist spends all day thinking about, she said. They come and talk to me and I say, No, our genes are bad. Youd be better off if these genes were totally gone. Thats a tough sell.

Even biologists can fall into the trap of thinking all genes should benefit their hosts, Malik said. In a simplistic sense, scientists might think that a gene thats stuck around through evolution must be doing something really important, which is why its kept around, he said.

But much like a culturally embedded acronym, when it comes to wtf and other selfish genes, their hosts just cant shake them.

If you go in with the assumption that everything should be well refined, like a perfectly operating Swiss watch, everything is working perfectly well together in a cell, you might miss something interesting, he said.
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Plant breeders and agrochemical groups were eager to show off new improved varieties and pesticides at the Cereals 2017 event in Lincolnshire  with the aim of helping growers face a likely future fall in farm subsidies.

New cereal and oilseed rape varieties could offer growers the chance to cut costs as farm payments are under pressure with Britain set to leave European Union.

Seed companies were focusing on new varieties with higher yields, better marketability and good disease resistance to give growers a helping hand.

See also: Cereals 2017: Wheat and beet could be hit by extended neonic ban

Something extra

Les Daubney, marketing director of breeders Limagrain UK, said the company is looking to add something extra to new varieties, such as better septoria disease resistance, as with its winter wheat, Sundance.

With high risk varieties, growers need to use top-of-the range products and timing is critical, whereas with better resistance comes more flexibility and the possibility of cutting costs, he says.

Sundance has the highest resistance to wheats most yield-sapping disease on the AHDB Recommended List, and it could offer growers the change to use just one SDHI fungicide rather than two and so help trim costs.

The variety has the highest resistance rating of septoria at 7.3, ahead of the next best Siskin at 6.8, and there is enough seed this autumn to drill 2-3% of the certified seed market.

Two of the groups oilseed rape varieties Architect and Annalise offer resistance to turnip yellows virus meaning that using an autumn insecticide to control virus-carrying aphids in the autumn is redundant.

Both come up for AHDB recommendation this autumn with reasonable quantities of the hybrid Architect available to drill this autumn.

Adding value

Fellow plant breeder KWS stressed that growers need varieties which can add value, give a high yield and have a good agronomic package.

Growers want varieties with more than just higher yields. They want ones which they can easily sell, are worth more and have no obvious weakness, said KWS managing director Andrew Newby.

The groups variety, Kerrin, is available this autumn and has the joint highest yield on the Recommended List, is even more consistent than one of its parent Santiago and is expected to take 7% of the seed market this autumn.

Its breadmaking variety, Zyatt, is the highest yield milling wheat with the second highest protein content behind Crusoe, and could take share away from the runway millers favourite Skyfall this autumn.

The group is also offering a German elite or E milling wheat Montana with a price premium of up to 25/t over other milling wheats, and it expects over 100 growers will be drilling the variety this autumn rather than 26 this season.

New gravity

Skyfall breeder RAGT has a new feed wheat variety Gravity coming up for recommendation this year with a yield 2% higher than the current top yielders.

Simon Howell, group UK managing director, said as milling price premiums have narrowed to 5-8/t from 25-30/t a few years ago some growers are turning their attention to feed wheats.

With the pressure on milling wheat premiums growers are looking back to high yielding feed varieties, he said.

The variety has a good specific weight above 76kg/hl with good yellow rust resistance and an average septoria resistance score.

Seed treatment

The worlds biggest agrochemicals group, Syngenta, has the first wheat seed treatment with an SDHI fungicide on offer this autumn plus two new high-yielding feed wheat varieties and a new hybrid winter barley.

Gary Mills-Thomas, managing director of Syngenta UK and Ireland, said the group had a number of products to help growers improve productivity.

We are looking at how we can help farmers to lift output in terms of new products, better spray applications and the better use of data, he said.

The groups new wheat seed treatment Vibrance Duo, which contains the new SDHI sedaxane plus an older fungicide, fludioxonil, is said to improve rooting and therefore yield.

It will be an advantage in dry conditions and with late drilling, as it produces plants which are more robust, Mr Mills-Thomas added.

The new seed dressing, costing about 20/ha, will be more expensive than the groups single-purpose Beret treatment, but offers advantages in rooting and disease control.

The groups two new feed wheat varieties Shabras and Savello will be widely available this autumn as will its new hybrid winter barley Sunningdale. All three varieties are new entrants to the current Recommended List.

Hard-milling Shabras is the joint top yielder, while Savello is the highest-yielding soft-milling feed wheat in the northern region and so could be of interest to the Scottish distillers.

New hybrid winter barley Sunningdale is slightly earlier to mature than stablemate Bazooka, and could be attractive to growers in northern England and Scotland.

Pipeline

Another agrochemical giant Bayer has a new blackgrass herbicide in the pipeline along with new products for potatoes and sugar beet.

With likely lower subsidies growers will need to become more efficient and we hope to be the go-to company in term of advice, said Mike Muncey, managing director of Bayer Crop Science UK.

The group has an improved version of its Atlantis (iodosulfuron + mesosulfuron) blackgrass herbicide for use this spring which gives 10% better control of the grassweed and is said to be the best post-emergence product to control bromes.

This product, Monolith, takes one of the two components of Atlantis, mesosulfuron, and adds propoxycarbazone, which has good contact activity and some residual action against the grassweed.

In addition, Bayer hopes to complete its takeover of Monsanto by the end of this year and this will give it a much bigger footprint and offering of oilseed rape varieties in the UK.

European focus

Dow AgroSciences, which is in the process of merging with fellow American group DuPont, said its focus is very much on Europe for its array of new products.

John Humphreys, UK and Ireland managing director, said its focus is very much on Europe especially for its new herbicide and new fungicide products.

Two of our big blockbuster new products are designed for Europe, said Mr Humphreys.

These include the Arylex family of herbicides (halauxifen) which was first launched as Pixxaro in a mix with fluroxypyr in 2016 and then as Zypar in 2017 mixed with florasulam. A new fungicide, Inatreq, which has a novel mode of action, is due to be launched in 2019.

Ed Ford who farms 600ha in Essex said he had used Zypar this spring and was pleased by its effectiveness and timing flexibility.

He had been reluctant to invest too much in his winter wheat due to a very dry spring, and only applied Zypar with his T2 fungicide spray on 19 May.

After the herbicide spray, cleavers started to wilt after 48 hours and it also gave good control of cranesbill, he added.
Scotlands food and drink exports increased by over 11% in the first quarter of this year, compared with the same period in 2016.

Over the first three months of 2017, food and drink worth 1.2bn was exported, an increase of 124m on 2016.

The EU remains Scotlands largest regional export market outside of the UK, with exports growing by 50m.

See also: Farmers not feeling the benefit of the booming Scots food exports

North America was the second largest export destination for food and drink, with the Asia and Oceania region third.

Politicians and representatives of the food industry have used the figures to highlight the importance of Scotland retaining access to the EU single market after Brexit.

Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing said: Losing access will put Scottish industry at a significant disadvantage, exposing business to damaging export tariff barriers and regulatory requirements.

Scotch Whisky and Scottish Salmon were the top two UK export products by value in the first quarter of 2017, making up 22% of the value of total food and drink exports from the UK.

The Prime Minister must include the Scottish government at the Brexit negotiating table, with the starting point for any new approach the continued membership of the single market and customs union.

Smooth access

James Withers, Scotland Food & Drink chief executive, agreed pointing out that Europe was the destination for 70% of Scotlands food exports.

Ongoing, smooth access to that market will be critical for our sectors future. However, we are strongly committed to extending our global footprint well beyond Europe, something that the Scotch Whisky industry had led the way on.

So its very encouraging to see such strong growth in Asia and North America, with rises of 50% to 70% in the value of food sales in those markets so far this year.

These results are the fruits of having a clear export plan and a unique partnership between the industry and government.

We believe we can double the turnover of food and drink sector in Scotland to 30bn by 2030. International sales are becoming an increasing part of that story.

Farm leaders recently warned that while the boom in exports was celebrated by politicians, there was a concern that primary producers were not feeling the benefits.
A major shortage of migrant workers to harvest crops this summer is being reported by UK farmers and food processors.

NFU horticulture chairman Ali Capper issued the warning during a union council meeting at Stoneleigh Park, Warwickshire, on Tuesday (20 June).

Findings from the NFUs latest labour survey  due to be published later this week  are expected to confirm a shortfall in seasonal workers of up to 20%.

See also: Horticulture under pressure as migrant workers shun farms

Ms Capper said: We can say with some certainty that there has been a significant tightening of the labour supply in recent weeks compared with 2016.

The shortfall was not affecting all growers  but others were being severely affected and taking action to mitigate the implications for their businesses.

Some migrant workers are staying away from the UK because the fall in the value of sterling since last years Brexit vote means they earn less money here.

Others are staying away because they simply dont feel welcome.

Very concerned

Ms Capper said: It is fair to say I am receiving daily phone calls from farms and labour providers that are very concerned about the situation.

The NFU was lobbying the government for a long-term solution  but short-term plans were also needed, Ms Capper told the NFU Council meeting.

We need to expose the risks from not having sufficient number of workers after Brexit. she said. This included unharvested crops being left to rot in fields.

Key risks are crop waste  fruit and vegetables being left unpicked.

But there was also a risk of growers disinvesting in UK production. Some larger-scale growers had already been investing overseas instead of the UK.

Government help

It was vital that government ministers addressed the horticultural sectors concerns over labour as a matter of priority, said Ms Capper.

The NFU is calling for a system of visas and work permits so farmers and growers can recruit overseas labour after Brexit  as well as a stable, clear immigration system.

Any solution should impose minimum burden and costs on growers, while being attractive to overseas workers, it says.

Speaking at the Three Counties Show, Defra secretary Michael Gove said he would consult with all sectors about farmers access to migrant labour. And he was determined to make sure the industry had access to the people it needs to stay economically ahead of the game .
Story Highlights Potential net migration falls in Latin America, Middle East and North Africa

Germany up, United Kingdom down

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- People's desire to migrate permanently to other countries rebounded slightly between 2013 and 2016, but Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index (PNMI) shows adult populations would continue to grow only in Northern America, Europe (European Union and non-EU countries), and Australia, New Zealand and Oceania if everyone who wanted to move actually moved to where they wanted. At the same time, populations in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and Asia would wither.

Gallup's Potential Net Migration Index Potential change to the adult population through out- and in-migration, based on expressed desire 2010-2012 2013-2016 Change Australia/New Zealand/Oceania +138 +162 +24 Northern America +53 +54 +1 Europe (other) +31 +42 +11 European Union +20 +21 +1 Southeast Asia -3 -2 +1 Middle East and North Africa +2 -3 -5* East Asia -6 -6 0 South Asia -8 -7 +1 Commonwealth of Independent States -11 -9 +2 Latin America -14 -17 -3* Sub-Saharan Africa -24 -25 -1 * Significant decline Gallup World Poll

Gallup's PNMI is the estimated number of adults who say they would like to move permanently out of a country if the opportunity arose subtracted from the estimated number who say they would like to move into it, as a proportion of the total adult population. The higher the resulting positive PNMI score, the larger the potential net adult population gains. The latest results include 156 countries or areas surveyed between 2013 and 2016 and are based on nearly 590,000 interviews. PNMI scores for 2010 to 2012 are based on surveys in 154 countries and areas and interviews with nearly 520,000 adults.

For the most part, not much has changed at the regional level since Gallup last calculated its PNMI scores. Scores fell significantly in only two regions, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The decline in MENA is particularly worth noting because the score went from positive to negative for the first time -- meaning the region would experience a net loss of adults.

However, it is important to look beyond these broad, regional patterns and look at scores at the country level because they don't always mimic the region as a whole. For example, while sub-Saharan Africa overall scores a -25 PNMI, scores range from a +40 in Botswana to a -62 in Sierra Leone. And in non-EU countries in Europe, scores ranged from +173 in Switzerland (also the highest PNMI score in Europe) to -39 in Albania.

At the same time, some countries follow the same patterns as their region as a whole. In former Soviet states, for example, not one country posted a positive PNMI score. This is not to say that the situation has not improved in some countries. Russia's score in 2010 to 2012 was -9, and it improved significantly to -4 in the most recent analysis period. The percentage of Russians who want to leave their country has been much lower in the past several years than it has been for most of the past decade -- possibly reflecting a surge in patriotism after Crimea joined Russia in 2014.

Notable Increases, Declines in the European Union

Within the European Union, PNMI scores increased significantly only for Germany. The increase from +23 in the previous period to +41 in the current one coincides with the massive influx of migrants and refugees into the country beginning in 2015 and the growth in the country as a desired destination among potential migrants.

Potential Net Migration Index in the European Union Potential change in adult population through out- and in-migration, based on expressed desires 2013-2016 Luxembourg +92 Sweden +85 Denmark +62 Germany +41** Austria +40 United Kingdom +39* France +38 Malta +34 Spain +33* Finland +30 Ireland +29 Netherlands +24 Belgium +21 Portugal +18 Latvia -2 Czech Republic -3 Italy -3* Cyprus -5* Greece -7 Croatia -10 Slovakia -13 Estonia -15 Bulgaria -16 Slovenia -16 Hungary -18 Poland -19* Lithuania -22 Romania -22 * Significant decline; ** Significant increase Gallup World Poll

Elsewhere in the European Union, as the United Kingdom became a less desirable destination for potential migrants, it saw its PNMI score drop significantly from +53 to +39. Italy's score dropped from +10 to -3 (the first time it has had a negative score), Poland's dropped from -14 to -19 and Cyprus' score declined from +71 to -5. Notably, in Greece, which has been the entry point to Europe for many migrants, there has been no change in its typically negative scores.

Venezuela Leads Losses in Latin America

The PNMI scores for Latin America as a whole worsened in the most recent analysis period, dipping lower to -17. Changes in populous countries such as Venezuela, which has teetered on the edge of economic and political collapse since 2013, are largely behind the sinking scores in the region. The country's PNMI dropped from -9 between 2010 and 2012 to -20 between 2013 and 2016. Negative scores in Brazil and Mexico nearly doubled, likely reflecting the political and economic turmoil in those countries.

Potential Net Migration in Latin America Potential change to adult population from out- and in-migration, based on expressed desires 2013-2016 Belize +90 Costa Rica +21 Panama +19 Trinidad and Tobago +1 Argentina -2 Paraguay -7 Chile -10 Brazil -15* Ecuador -15 Jamaica -19 Mexico -19* Nicaragua -19 Venezuela -20* Bolivia -22 Colombia -24 Puerto Rico -28 Peru -29 Guatemala -30 Dominican Republic -40 El Salvador -41 Honduras -43 Haiti -56 * Significant decline Gallup World Poll

Conflict Hurts Net Migration in MENA

In the 2013 to 2016 period, PNMI scores for the Middle East and North Africa region as a whole dipped into negative territory for the first time, dropping to -3. While scores in Gulf Cooperation Council countries continued to be positive and high, significantly lower index scores in conflict-ravaged Syria (-42), Iraq (-24) and Libya (-10) contributed to the lower score for the region. Morocco's score improved since the previous period. While Yemen also showed some improvement, it scores among the lowest in the region.

Potential Net Migration Index in Middle East and North Africa Potential change in adult population from out- and in-migration, based on expressed desires 2013-2016 United Arab Emirates +207* Kuwait +161 Saudi Arabia +114* Bahrain +50 Israel +14 Morocco -3** Lebanon -9 Jordan -10 Libya -10* Turkey -10 Iran -16 Palestinian Territories -19 Tunisia -19 Egypt -20 Yemen -20** Iraq -24* Algeria -25 Syria -42* *Significant decline; **Significant increase. Note: Surveys in Gulf Cooperation Council countries before 2013 did not include non-Arab expatriates. Gallup World Poll

Bottom Line

While Gallup's PNMI does not predict migration patterns, it does provide useful information about whom these countries are attracting around the world and the areas where they need to work to ensure they retain the talent already at home.

People's desire to migrate showed signs of rebounding after bowing slightly in the wake of the Great Recession, but some countries, such as the United Kingdom, while remaining highly desired destinations, have lost some of their allure in that same period. While it has declined significantly, the U.K.'s positive PNMI score suggests the adult population would still grow through migration. Others, such as Germany, are even more desirable and would see larger influxes. The situation presents a double-edged sword for the United Kingdom, Germany and a host of other countries where native workers are aging faster than they are being born.
Saying he is ready for his next new adventure, Larry Mullins said Monday he will step down as president and CEO of Samaritan Health Services at the end of the year.

Mullins will assume the role of executive director of Samaritan Solutions Institute, a series of leadership sessions for health care and business leaders at the Lebanon health sciences campus.

Doug Boysen, Samaritans chief administrative officer, will succeed Mullins as head of the health care network, which includes five hospitals located in communities from the coast to the foothills of the Cascades, more than 5,000 employees and the Samaritan Health Sciences campus in Lebanon.

There is always one more thing to do, Mullins said of the change. Hopefully, through the institute, I will be able to help with projects. Im ready for the next adventure in life. The benefit is that I will be able to retain my connections with the organization and people that have meant so much to me over the last 25 years.

Mullins came to the mid-valley in 1992 when he was hired as the CEO of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis, which at the time employed 700 people.

Mullins began a five-year program to unify Albany General Hospital and Lebanon Community Hospital and Good Samaritan, along with hospitals in Lincoln City and Newport to form Samaritan Health Services.

The Newport hospital remains owned by Pacific Communities Health District, but is managed by Samaritan Health Services.

Mullins said building Samaritan Health Services was a key into transforming the health care organization into what it is today, starting at a time when rural hospitals were closing in large numbers.

Twenty years ago, I said I believed the formation of Samaritan Health was a win-win for our communities and would allow us to achieve both cost savings and enhance services in a number of areas, Mullins said. That statement holds true today.

In his new role, Mullins said he will have more time to consult, teach and pursue other areas of interest.

Mullins said Samaritan Solutions Institute was formed about a year ago to provide others with information about how Samaritan Health Services was born and functions.

People are constantly asking us how we put it all together, Mullins said. We start each session by explaining how we turned what had been a grass seed field into the Samaritan Health Sciences campus in Lebanon.

Mullins said he began transitioning toward his job shift more than a year ago with each of the hospitals governing boards.

Boysen, who had been Samaritans general counsel from 2006-2014, was working for another health care organization in the Midwest when he was invited to return to Samaritan as part of that transition process in 2015.

Larry was instrumental in forming Samaritan Health Services 20 years ago and he has provided tremendous vision and leadership throughout his 25-year tenure with the organization, said Loren Roth, Samaritans board chair. We could not have envisioned then all that we have been able to accomplish under Larrys leadership, and our entire region has benefited from what has happened here.

Roth said Samaritan is equally fortunate to have a highly qualified successor in Boysen, who is already in the organization and will help ensure a smooth leadership transition.

Under Mullins leadership, Samaritan established the multidisciplinary Samaritan Health Sciences campus in Lebanon, which includes the COMP-Northwest medical school (operated by Pomona-based Western University of Health Sciences), Linn-Benton Community Colleges new Health Occupations building, a hotel and conference center, SamFit fitness facility, medical office buildings and several other businesses.

Samaritan also earned national accreditation to serve as a training site for physician residents, with nearly 200 doctors now completing the final phase of medical training at Samaritan-affiliated facilities.

Mullins and his wife, Barbara, are community philanthropists, supporting outreach efforts to local veterans and strengthening education and awareness of mental health issues and suicide prevention.

Mullins has served in numerous local, state and national leadership roles during his tenure with Samaritan. He is a Fellow in the American College of Healthcare Executives, and received a Lifetime Leadership Award by the Oregon Health Forum. He was named CEO of the Year by the Health Academy of the Public Relations Society of America.

Locally, he received the Robert C. Ingalls Business Person of the Year award from the Corvallis Area Chamber of Commerce and the Business Leader of the Year award from the Lebanon Chamber of Commerce.
An opportunity for foodies and beer lovers to get lost in a world of food and drink from a hand-selected range of food trucks and breweries from around New Zealand.
clarajancita at 20-06-2017 01:06 PM (5 years ago) (f)

A deadly Nigerian prostitution syndicate luring innocent girls to Ghana to sell their bodies for money has been discovered by the police. The prostitution syndicate lures girls from Nigerian and force them to sell their bodies in Ghana. Ashanti regional police command has arrested three persons in connection expose on Nigerian syndicate engaged in teenage prostitution in Kumasi. It was gathered that the incident came to light after News investigations uncovered a Ghanaian-Nigerian syndicate that lures girls from Nigeria into prostitution under the pretext of securing them jobs in Ghana.

A deadly Nigerian prostitution syndicate luring innocent girls to Ghana to sell their bodies for money has been discovered by the police. The prostitution syndicate lures girls from Nigerian and force them to sell their bodies in Ghana. Ashanti regional police command has arrested three persons in connection expose on Nigerian syndicate engaged in teenage prostitution in Kumasi. It was gathered that the incident came to light after News investigations uncovered a Ghanaian-Nigerian syndicate that lures girls from Nigeria into prostitution under the pretext of securing them jobs in Ghana.

Reproter Julius Caesar Anadem reported that the police are currently questioning the two persons. Though the police officers are yet to confirm names, Vivian Nkechi, the Madam of the prostitutes is suspected to be part of the people who were picked up by the police at the brothel at Adum, a suburb of Kumasi. The three persons have been sent to the ridge police station. Reproter Julius Caesar Anadem reported that the police are currently questioning the two persons. Though the police officers are yet to confirm names, Vivian Nkechi, the Madam of the prostitutes is suspected to be part of the people who were picked up by the police at the brothel at Adum, a suburb of Kumasi. The three persons have been sent to the ridge police station.

Post Reply I am a metro reporter on Gistmania, I have been publishing news materials for over 5 years Posted: at 20-06-2017 01:06 PM (5 years ago) | Hero
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WhatsApp will not work on Nokia Symbian and BlackBerry OS smartphones starting June 30 News oi -Samden Sherpa WhatsApp has decided to abandon the Nokia Symbian and BlackBerry OS platforms.

WhatsApp the most popular and widely used messaging app in the world will not be supported by old software platforms like BlackBerry OS and Nokia Symbian OS from June 30.

The Facebook-owned company had announced that it was ending support for various platforms last year and staying true to its words the company did end the support for Android 2.2 Froyo, iOS 6, and Windows Phone 7 in December. However, WhatsApp had extended the time for the aging BlackBerry and Nokia software from December 2016 to June 2017.

WhatsApp will be ending support for BlackBerry OS, BlackBerry 10, Nokia S40, and Nokia S60 platforms by the end of this month. So if you are still using a phone with these software platforms, then it is time to upgrade your smartphone or find another app the supports your phone.

WhatsApp in its support page has more or less clarified why it is ending the support. The company has said, "These platforms don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer OS version, or to a newer Android running OS 2.3.3+, iPhone running iOS 7+, or Windows Phone 8+ so that you can continue using WhatsApp." Besides, the messaging service provider has advised the users to upgrade to a newer operating system or a new device.

Currently, the market is dominated by Android and iOS devices, and while the market has changed over the years Nokia and BlackBerry OS have lost popularity and use case. Thus, WhatsApp has decided to discontinue the support for the above-mentioned platforms.

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Alleged Samsung Galaxy Note 8 launch date and venue are out News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Samsung Galaxy Note 8 could be coming in August.

We have been coming across numerous rumors regarding the upcoming flagship phablet - Galaxy Note 8 of late. One set of rumors points out at an IFA 2017 unveiling in early September while another set claims that the Note 8 will be unveiled earlier.

The latest information that comes in from Weibo sheds light on the launch date and venue of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. According to the post, Samsung's next stylus-toting phablet will go official in the third week of August. By saying the third week, the leakster mentions the time frame between August 14 and August 20. He further adds that the alleged Galaxy Note 8 launch event will be hosted in New York.

This date given for the Galaxy Note 8 makes us believe that Samsung is pushing the launch of the phablet earlier in order to make make it compete against the Apple iPhone 8. The same thing was done by the company last year as Samsung rushed the launch of the Note 7 to pit it against the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus those came in September.

The Galaxy Note 8 is believed to boast of a similar design as the Galaxy S8 and S8+ launched in March. The display could be a little larger than that of the Galaxy S8+, measuring around 6.3 inches. The leakster has also revealed an image of the device's front panel.

Detailing on its specs, the Galaxy Note 8 is believed to arrive with a dual-lens rear camera setup with 12MP and 13MP sensors along with 3X optical zoom. The front facer is said to be an 8MP one. There are claims that this device will use the Snapdragon 836 SoC or the Exynos 8895 SoC under its hood. The Snapdragon 836 SoC is believed to be launched next month. It is an incremental upgrade to the Snapdragon 835 SoC used in the Galaxy S8 and S8+.

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2 days left for the biggest launch of the year News oi -GizBot Bureau Stay tuned for the biggest launch of the year.

OnePlus, one of the successful global smartphone manufacturers is gearing up to launch their upcoming flagship - the OnePlus 5. The company has managed to build a great reputation for itself in the market within a few years.

Undoubtedly, this was possible for them as they came up with flagship devices those are feature rich just like the other high-end models in the market and priced at almost half of them. Notably, the OnePlus 5, which is awaiting its launch on June 20 is believed to be priced in the mid-range market segment. The other high-end flagships from rival companies are priced expensively and for this reason the OnePlus phones are dubbed flagship killers.

As the OnePlus 5 launch is nearing, it is not only the gossip mongers but also the company itself that is keeping the fans and onlookers excited by revealing the details one by one. We should say that these constant rumors and leaks are definitely keeping us hooked onto the OnePlus 5 as we are curious to know what the device will arrive with.

With just three more days left for the launch of the OnePlus 5 in India, here what we expect from the device.

OnePlus 5 innards seem to be powerful

As seen above, there are a few official confirmations regarding the OnePlus 5. One such confirmation came in from the forums saying that the upcoming OnePlus flagship smartphone will arrive with the powerful octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. The forum did mention that their developers will add a new feature to manage the app performance so that the power consumption is reduced and the overall performance is improved.

A few days back, OnePlus confirmed the use of a Qualcomm SoC on the OnePlus 5 by revealing the same on Twitter. The tweet shows us what a great powerhouse the OnePlus 5 could be.

Glad to have you on board for our launch, @Qualcomm See you on June 20 for the #OnePlus5 launch. https://t.co/uuWc1lLOar https://t.co/mL0aQ74egS  OnePlus (@oneplus) June 16, 2017

Once the processor to be used in the OnePlus 5 got confirmed, there came in speculations regarding the device's other hardware aspects. One such speculation that has been long rumored is the use of 8GB RAM in the OnePlus 5. We have seen many leaks showing 8GB RAM in the smartphone but we are yet to know if the device will arrive with such a massive chunk of RAM.

Another official hardware confirmation came in from the company's CEO Pete Lau (Lui Zuotu). He took to the social media a few days to announce that the OnePlus 5 will arrive with 128GB UFS (Universal Flash Storage). His post read, "Now the flagship machine UFS have become a selling point, too much fun."

It is said that this smartphone will be faster than the Galaxy S8 on the basis of the leaked benchmark scores. With a better hardware comprising of 8GB RAM than the Samsung offering, we can't disprove this claim.

Smoothness is the ultimate aim

The OnePlus 5 is speculated to arrive with a refreshed OxygenOS on its global variant. Going by the official OnePlus tweets, we can say that the device could arrive with a refreshed interface and powerful specs that will make it extremely smooth.

The manufacturer has also put up a teaser showing the smoothness while there is a change in the color. This shows that the refreshed OxygenOS will be great.

Get a taste of how we've refreshed OxygenOS  pic.twitter.com/JNAKJWiucw  OnePlus (@oneplus) June 15, 2017

Dual rear camera will not fall short of capability

At a point in time, when the dual camera setup on the OnePlus 5 wasn't confirmed, the company posted a camera comparison pic on its official Twitter handle. The second part of the picture on the right appeared sharper and clearer than the one on the right. This picture confirmed that the clearer picture was shot by the OnePlus 5 camera.

Can you tell which photo was taken with the OnePlus 5? pic.twitter.com/Pd27la4ewn  OnePlus (@oneplus) May 29, 2017

Following this, the OnePlus CEO Pete Lau shared a night shot clicked by the OnePlus 5. Despite being a low light shot, the image was almost noiseless and packed in immense details. The metadata of the same showed that a 16MP sensor was used to click the same.

One of the camera samples shared by the company pointed out at the use of a monochrome lens. OnePlus shared a black and white image that was clicked by the OnePlius 5. It looks like the snap was clicked by a monochrome sensor, confirming the previous leaks. This tipped that one of the lenses in the dual camera setup at the rear could be a monochrome sensor. Following the same, a tweet showing another camera sample pointed out at the presence of the Portrait Mode in the OnePlus 5. We say so as the sample shows the portrait mode with bokeh effect as well.

The leaked renders show that the OnePlus 5 might arrive with a dual rear camera setup with the two lenses placed horizontally at the top left of the device's rear panel. This camera setup is said to have been developed by DxO Labs.

We're proud to announce that we'll be working with @DxOLabs to improve the photography experience of the #OnePlus5. https://t.co/rccJWStjQi pic.twitter.com/TwQ3fCdblt  OnePlus (@oneplus) May 18, 2017

With the bokeh effect and portrait mode, we can say that the OnePlus 5 will be able to render a similar camera performance as the iPhone 7 Plus. Notably, the iPhone 7 Plus is one of the first smartphones to arrive with a dual lens rear camera setup with the bokeh effect that was possible only with the professional cameras. Following the same line, even the OnePlus 5 will have the bokeh effect that will help you click professional looking photos using your smartphone camera.

OnePlus launch event will have a place in history

OnePlus is definitely planning something different and its attempt will reserve a place for it in history. We say so as the OnePlus that will be launched on June 20 globally will be launched in India on June 22 at an event in Mumbai. Also, the device will be going on sale on the very same day of its launch. Moreover, even fans who have managed to grab hold of the invites can attend this launch event. Also, the OnePlus 5 will be available for sale from June 22 itself via both Amazon India and the official OnePlus store.

Following the announcement and release of their flagship device, the company will host pop-up events in cities such as Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai for the interested consumers. This will happen in the OnePlus Experience Store in Bengaluru on June 24 and at Ambience Mall in Delhi on June 23. In Chennai, the OnePlus 5 event will be held on GST Road on June 24 and in Hyderabad, it will be held in Jubilee Hills on June 25.

Being a flagship smartphone priced in the mid-range market segment, the OnePlus 5 will definitely compete Being a flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 5 will directly compete with the other flagship models such as the Samsung Galaxy S8, Xiaomi Mi 6 and Apple iPhone 7. If the ongoing reports turn out to be authentic, the device will really be a flagship killer and live up to the brand tagline Never Settle.

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Vodafone and cab services join hands; upgrade to 4G SIM and get 4GB free data News oi -Abhinaya Prabhu Upgrade to Vodafone 4G easily using these steps.

Vodafone and Meru, Easy and Mega cabs have tied up in Delhi-NCR to assist commuters who want to upgrade to 4G SIM cards. Vodafone has refurbished almost 500 cabs to convert them into 4G SIM mobile dispensers so that they provide faster and superior 4G SIM cards.

In the dispensers of these cabs, there are both prepaid and postpaid 4G SIM kits along with instructions for commuters in the cab who wish to upgrade to 4G SIM. Interested customers can chose the SIM kit as per their requirement and follow the given instructions to upgrade from Vodafone 3G to Vodafone 4G for free of cost.

In addition to upgrading to 4G, the users will get 4GB of free 4G data for 10 days for prepaid customers and 4GB of data until the first bill cycle for postpaid customers.

During the upgradation process, if you face any issues, you can call 199 or get assistance from any Vodafone store.

Vodafone is also in plans to offer 4 assisted SIM replacement demos in the cabs. As a part of this activity, an executive will travel in these cabs on preset routes and help in solving the customer queries. Vodafone subscribers go to these cabs and can ask the driver for 4G SIMs.

Steps to upgrade to Vodafone 4G SIM easily

All that you need to do to upgrade to a 4G SIM is just get a 4K SIM kit, and proceed with the identification process and 4G enabled handset compatibility check.

You need to use your existing Vodafone number to an SMS reading, 'SIMEX ' to 55199 to activate the SIM card.

You will receive reply SMS from 55199 with partial SIM number entered.

Do send the last 6 digits of the new SIM card number to 55199 within 2 hours of receiving the SMS.

You will receive an SMS and your 4G SIM will be activated in a few minutes.

With these steps, you can enjoy uninterrupted 4G service on your smartphone without much hassle.

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Coalition Defends Partner Forces from Syrian Fighter Jet Attack

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170618-02

Release Date: 6/18/2017 7:17:00 PM

From Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve

SOUTHWEST ASIA (NNS) -- At approximately 4:30 p.m. Syria time, June 18, Pro-Syrian regime forces attacked the Syrian Democratic Forces-held town of Ja'Din, South of Tabqah, wounding a number of SDF fighters and driving the SDF from the town.

Coalition aircraft conducted a show of force and stopped the initial pro-regime advance toward the SDF-controlled town.

Following the Pro-Syrian forces attack, the Coalition contacted its Russian counterparts by telephone via an established 'de-confliction line' to de-escalate the situation and stop the firing.

At 6:43 p.m., a Syrian regime SU-22 dropped bombs near SDF fighters south of Tabqah and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet.

Ja'Din sits approximately two kilometers north of an established East-West SDF-Syrian Regime de-confliction area.

The Coalition's mission is to defeat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat.

The Coalition presence in Syria addresses the imminent threat ISIS in Syria poses globally. The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated.

The Coalition calls on all parties to focus their efforts on the defeat of ISIS, which is our common enemy and the greatest threat to regional and worldwide peace and security.

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Counter-ISIS Strikes Continue; U.S. Super Hornet Downs Syrian Jet

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, June 19, 2017  U.S. and coalition military forces continued to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria yesterday, conducting 22 strikes consisting of 89 engagements, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

U.S. Central Command continues to work with partner nations to conduct targeted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the comprehensive strategy to degrade and defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS.

Officials reported details of yesterday's strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted 15 strikes consisting of 20 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Abu Kamal, two strikes destroyed two ISIS wellheads.

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, a strike destroyed nine ISIS oil stills.

-- Near Raqqa, 12 strikes engaged 10 ISIS tactical units and destroyed four vehicles, two fighting positions, two mortar systems, a vehicle bomb, a tactical vehicle and a heavy machine gun.

Additionally, on June 18 at 6:43 p.m., a Syrian regime SU-22 military jet aircraft dropped bombs near Syrian Democratic Forces fighters south of Tabqah, Syria, and, in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defense of coalition partnered forces, was immediately shot down by a U.S. F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft.

The coalition presence in Syria addresses the imminent threat ISIS in Syria poses globally. The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated.

Strikes in Iraq

In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted seven strikes consisting of 69 engagements against ISIS targets:

-- Near Beiji, a strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed an ISIS staging area and a weapons cache.

-- Near Kisik, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a front-end loader and an anti-air artillery system.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units; destroyed 30 fighting positions, five medium machine guns, three mortar systems, two supply caches and a rocket-propelled grenade system; damaged six ISIS supply routes and a tunnel; and suppressed two ISIS tactical units.

June 17 Strikes

Additionally, 15 strikes were conducted in Syria and Iraq on June 17 that closed within the last 24 hours:

-- Near Raqqa, Syria, 13 strikes on June 17 engaged six ISIS tactical units and destroyed six fighting positions, two command-and-control nodes, a vehicle bomb, a tunnel and a sniper position.

-- Near Kisik, Iraq, a June 17 strike damaged four fighting positions.

-- Near Mosul, Iraq, a June 17 strike engaged an ISIS tactical unit; destroyed 22 vehicles, two command-and-control nodes, a vehicle bomb and an artillery system; and damaged five ISIS supply routes.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

These strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to destroy ISIS in Iraq and Syria. The destruction of ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria also further limits the group's ability to project terror and conduct external operations throughout the region and the rest of the world, task force officials said.

The list above contains all strikes conducted by fighter, attack, bomber, rotary-wing or remotely piloted aircraft; rocket-propelled artillery; and some ground-based tactical artillery when fired on planned targets, officials noted.

Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike, they added. A strike, as defined by the coalition, refers to one or more kinetic engagements that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single or cumulative effect.

For example, task force officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIS vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of ISIS-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use. Strike assessments are based on initial reports and may be refined, officials said.

The task force does not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

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Lockheed Martin, Tata Announce F-16 India Partnership

Landmark agreement supports F-16 Block 70 'Make in India' offer

PARIS, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) signed a landmark agreement affirming the companies intent to join hands to produce the F-16 Block 70 in India. The F-16 Block 70 is ideally suited to meet the Indian Air Force's single-engine fighter needs and this unmatched U.S.-Indian industry partnership directly supports India's initiative to develop private aerospace and defense manufacturing capacity in India.

This unprecedented F-16 production partnership between the world's largest defense contractor and India's premier industrial house provides India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter.

F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the U.S., creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the center of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world.

"This agreement builds on the already established joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tata and underscores the relationship and commitment between the two companies," said Mr. N. Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons.

"Lockheed Martin is honored to partner with Indian defense and aerospace leader Tata Advanced Systems Limited on the F-16 program," said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "Our partnership significantly strengthens the F-16 'Make in India' offer, creates and maintains numerous new job opportunities in India and the U.S., and brings the world's most combat-proven multi-role fighter aircraft to India."

The Lockheed Martin-TASL F-16 partnering agreement builds on TASL's proven performance manufacturing airframe components for the C-130J airlifter and the S-92 helicopter.

With more than 4,500 produced and approximately 3,200 operational aircraft worldwide being flown today by 26 countries, the F-16 remains the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter ever produced. The F-16 Block 70 is the newest and most technologically advanced F-16 ever offered.

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.

About Tata Advanced Systems Limited

Tata Advanced Systems Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons, focused on providing integrated solutions for Aerospace, Defence and Homeland Security. In a short span of five years, Tata Advanced Systems Limited has become a significant player in the global aerospace market, becoming the premier manufacturing partner for global OEMs, including Boeing, Airbus Group, Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, Pilatus Aircraft Ltd, Cobham Mission Equipment, RUAG Aviation, as well as the Government of India's Defence Research & Development Organisation. It has capabilities throughout the entire aerospace value chain from design to full aircraft assembly, and is well positioned in other areas that include missiles, radars, unmanned aerial systems, command and control systems, optronics and homeland security.

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USS Ross Arrives in Reykjavik, Iceland

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170619-17

Release Date: 6/19/2017 10:45:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Robert S. Price

REYKJAVIK, Iceland (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) arrived in Reykjavik, Iceland, for a scheduled port visit, June 18, 2017.

The ship's port visit serves to enhance U.S.-Iceland relations as the two nations work together for a stable and secure Europe.

Quotes:

"Ross' port visit to Iceland highlights our commitment to all of our NATO allies and our ability to conduct multi-nation missions throughout the entire European theater. As activity in the North Atlantic increases, we remain committed to ensuring regional security through our maritime partnerships."

Cmdr. Bryan S. Gallo

commanding officer, USS Ross (DDG 71)

"This is something new for the ship. It's a clear demonstration of our continuing and strengthening relationships with Iceland and NATO."

Lt. Harry Gregory

anti-terrorism officer, USS Ross (DDG 71)

"I joined the Navy to see the world, so I'm really looking forward to our port visit in Iceland. It's an experience I never would've gotten outside of the Navy."

Gas Turbine Systems Technician (Mechanical) Fireman Marissa Romero

USS Ross (DDG 71)

Quick Facts:

* Strengthening partnerships during the port visit to Reykjavik demonstrates enduring relationships and our shared commitment to promoting safety and stability within the region while seeking opportunities to enhance our interoperability.

* The ship's presence in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations is a demonstration of our continued commitment to the collective security and NATO under Operation Atlantic Resolve.

* USS Ross departed Naval Station Rota, Spain, for the ship's fifth patrol in the U.S 6th Fleet area of operations, April 3rd, 2017. Ross (DDG 71), forward deployed to Rota, Spain, is on a routine deployment conducting naval operations with allies and partners in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operations in order to advance security and stability 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.

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USS Lake Erie Sailors, Personnel Complete Relief Mission in Sri Lanka

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170619-13

Release Date: 6/19/2017 10:22:00 AM

From Destroyer Squadron 7 Public Affairs

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (NNS) -- U.S. Sailors from the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG 70) completed their contributions to the humanitarian assistance mission in Sri Lanka, June 17.

More than 400 Sailors participated in the mission in Sri Lanka, where recent heavy rainfalls brought by a southwest monsoon triggered flooding and landslides throughout the country, displacing thousands of people and causing significant damage to homes and buildings.

"Our mission here was straight-forward, to provide support and relief efforts to our friends in Sri Lanka who were impacted by this disaster," said Capt. Alexis T. Walker, commodore, Destroyer Squadron 7. "Working alongside Sailors and Marines from the Sri Lankan Armed Forces, our team conducted irrigation repairs, well rehabilitation and levee repairs throughout the region. I'm proud of our efforts this week and the assistance we were able to provide."

Sailors from Lake Erie spent a last week working alongside local government agencies and the Sri Lanka Red Cross to assist local communities with community cleanup, food distribution, and dewatering of wells in support of humanitarian relief efforts in the island nation. Major projects included a three-day irrigation repair in Matara Province and a groundwater well rehabilitation in Kalutara. A total of 125 wells were repaired in Colombo and Galle, ensuring pure water was available to local citizens.

"It was a very rewarding experience for the entire Lake Erie crew," said Capt. Darren McPherson, commanding officer, Lake Erie. "To be able to help the people of Sri Lanka, to make a difference in their lives, is something they will not soon forget. Moreover, we established a fantastic working relationship between our militaries. The newly established Sri Lankan Marine Corps worked side-by-side with us each day, and the Sri Lankan Navy liaison elements coordinated our efforts with local officials. And it was the local officials, like those in the Sri Lankan Red Cross who assisted us in getting the help to the people in need the most."

Electronics Technician third class Andrew Newbegin talked about the significance of being a part of the efforts in Sri Lanka.

"It was really amazing getting to participate in a humanitarian assistance mission on my first deployment, he said. "We were working all around the local community, in people's yards, interacting with them and creating bonds that will last forever. We got to see first hand the difference our work was making. The crew will never forget this mission."

The U.S. military has a history of successfully working with international relief organizations and host nations to provide relief to those affected by disaster. In March 2017, U.S. Navy doctors and civil engineers aboard USNS Fall River (T-EPF 4) visited Hambantota, Sri Lanka for Pacific Partnership, a two week humanitarian and disaster relief preparedness mission, establishing key relationships with the Sri Lankan Navy and civil service agencies in the country.

A small group of military specialists will remain in Sri Lanka to assist the US Embassy and relevant government agencies with the final phases of relief operations.

On behalf of Commander, Task Force 73, Destroyer Squadron 7 conducts advanced planning, organizes resources, and leads the execution of maritime engagements such as the CARAT exercise series, the Naval Engagement Activity (NEA) with Vietnam, and the multilateral SEACAT exercise with Bangladesh, Cambodia, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.

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America ARG, 15th MEU Complete CERTEX

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170619-12

Release Date: 6/19/2017 10:19:00 AM

By Amphibious Squadron THREE Public Affairs

SAN DIEGO (NNS) -- The America Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), Commander, Amphibious Squadron (CPR) 3 and the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) recently completed their 17-day Certification Exercise (CERTEX), qualifying them for their upcoming Western Pacific deployment, June 16.

The America ARG is comprised of the amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), the amphibious transport dock ship USS San Diego (LPD 22), the amphibious dock landing ship USS Pearl Harbor (LSD 52) and Marines assigned to the 15th MEU.

As the final integrated-training event for the America ARG and 15th MEU, CERTEX is a comprehensive, complex training evolution that combines the Navy and Marine Corps maritime and sea-to-shore capabilities.

Following successful completion of Amphibious Squadron (PHIBRON)-MEU Integrated Training (PMINT) in April and Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) in May, CERTEX rounds out the required three evolutions necessary to prepare for deployment.

"I'm confident that [America ARG] will sail on deployment next month and do our nation's bidding and if called upon, you will unleash the full power of your military might, and nothing will stop you," said Rear Adm. Ross Myers, commander, Carrier Strike Group 15 (CSG 15), as he addressed the crew of the America over the ship's 1MC, who was on board America with his team to assist with COMPTUEX and CERTEX. "As you finish up CERTEX and prepare for deployment, know that part of CSG 15 is forever with you."

All three phases of training evolutions allowed the Navy/Marine Corps team the opportunity to completely integrate and seamlessly work together to conduct a variety of sea-based operations.

"What PMINT, COMPTUEX, and CERTEX guaranteed for the ARG and MEU is ensuring we maintained a higher state of readiness each time," said Capt. Daniel Nowicki, America's executive officer. "We've trained for every possible scenario, ensuring we are more than ready for whatever our nation requires us to do."

The America ARG and 15th MEU was evaluated on many different scenarios testing their ability to operation in several mission-critical areas, including maritime boarding, combat, flight operations, and civilian evacuation drills.

"Amphibious platforms are unique in that, we work hand-in-hand with our Marine Corps counterparts," said Nowicki. "We provide capabilities for them, that other platforms cannot. Together, we showed that the 15th MEU can qualify to conduct an array of missions and we can support whatever they require."

The skill-set that all three training evolutions have equipped the America ARG and 15th MEU with will ensure that all deployed Sailors and Marines are prepared to take on everything deployment may bring.

"Because we've been practicing our basics, we're built our foundation of expertise, and that's allowed us to deal with short notice tasking in a safe and effective manner," said Capt. Pete Collins, San Diego commanding officer.

"By the time we get [to the 7th and 5th Fleet] we'll have already seen and practiced scenarios enough to where we are comfortable - that's what these phases are all about, getting to know the possibilities and how to react."

Cmdr. Benjamin Miller, Pearl Harbor's executive officer, agreed with Collins' assessments.

"I believe across PMINT, COMPTUEX, and CERTEX, we have really grown as an ARG," said Cmdr. Benjamin Miller, Pearl Harbor executive officer. "CSG 15 and [Expeditionary Operations Training Group] have done a phenomenal job of getting us ready for our deployment. We've truly stressed the ships and Marine's capabilities, both at sea and ashore, and I am confident that we are ready for any contingency."

More than 1,800 Sailors and 2,600 Marines are assigned to the ARG and 15th MEU in preparation for the ARG's deployment later this year.

The ARG and accompanying MEU is comprised of a team whose combined skill sets allow them to execute a wide variety of missions, to include, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, amphibious assaults, visit board search and seizure, maritime interdiction operations, noncombatant evacuation operations, tactical recovery of aircraft and personnel, and theater security operations.

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USS Dewey To Visit Jeju Republic of Korea

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170619-03

Release Date: 6/19/2017 8:51:00 AM

From Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Korea Public Affairs

JEJU-DO, Republic of Korea (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey (DDG 105) is scheduled to arrive in Jeju-do, Republic of Korea (ROK) on June 20, 2017.

Dewey will join Royal Canadian Navy Halifax-class frigates HMCS Winnipeg (FFH-338) and HMCS Ottawa (FFH-341) for a routine port visit and planning meeting at the southern ROK island prior to the navies participating in a trilateral exercise with the ROK Navy.

Capt. Glenn Leverette, the deputy commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea, will greet the ship along with Rear Adm. Kim, Jeongsu, the commander of Maritime Task Force Flotilla 7, as more than 100 ROK sailors, welcome Dewey to the southern island.

"This visit is yet another example of our longstanding partnership with the ROK Navy," said Leverette, "The ROK Navy and Flotilla 7 leadership have routinely welcomed our ships in ports throughout the ROK and to have Dewey welcomed today with our Canadian partners is a true testament to the strong maritime partnership between all three navies."

Dewey is going to Jeju as part of a routine port visit prior to a scheduled exercise with the ROKN and Royal Canadian Navy.

"We are honored to be guests in Jeju and we look forward to training with our ROK and Canadian partners," said Cmdr. Anthony Webber, Dewey's commanding officer. "This visit is important because with each engagement, we improve our cooperation and enhance our combined defensive capabilities."

While in Jeju, Dewey Sailors will have the opportunity to participate in various Morale, Welfare and Recreation (MWR) activities, sporting events, and participate in community relations projects to give back to the local Jeju community.

"This visit gives us a chance to develop new friendships through combined sporting events and by giving back to the island through a community relations event," said Cmdr. Paul Lorio, Dewey's executive officer.

Dewey is on patrol in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.

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Carl Vinson, Embarked Tigers, Depart Pearl Harbor for Home

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170619-01

Release Date: 6/19/2017 8:42:00 AM

By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zackary Alan Landers, USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Public Affairs

PACIFIC OCEAN (NNS) -- Aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and the embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 departed Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, after a scheduled four-day port visit, June 17.

While in Hawaii, Carl Vinson Sailors hosted tours and greeted family and friends who will ride the ship on her easterly transit to her homeport of Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.

"Being able to have my family get a feel of the ship when we're out here grinding every day is really special," said Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Jason Stanfield, of Cypress, Texas. "I'm really looking forward to showing them my spaces and the air power demonstration the ship has coordinated. It's a rare opportunity."

Stanfield's father shared his son's enthusiasm, noting that he is excited to see what life is really like on a Navy warship at sea.

"We see many portrayals of life at sea in the media, but I am looking forward to experiencing it firsthand," said Chad Linna. "As I do that, I get to spend the final days of my son's deployment with him. It's an all-around rewarding and unique experience."

U.S. Navy aircraft carrier strike groups have patrolled the Indo-Asia-Pacific regularly and routinely for more than 70 years and will continue to do so. Carl Vinson has deployed to the region several times, starting with a deployment to the Western Pacific in 1983 a year after commissioning. Most recently in 2015, Carl Vinson conducted port visits and exercises with regional navies in the South China Sea.

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US-Led Coalition Refuses to Disclose Aircraft Re-Position Details in Syria

Sputnik News

20:41 19.06.2017(updated 20:54 19.06.2017)

The US-led coalition will not specify details on re-positioning of its aircraft in Syria in the aftermath of incidents involving pro-Syrian government forces, Operation Inherent Resolve spokesperson told Sputnik on Monday.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  Earlier in the day, the coalition told Sputnik that it has taken steps to reposition aircraft in Syria after incidents involving pro-Syrian government and Russian forces.

"For operational security reasons we do not specify the airspace Coalition aircraft will be operating in," the spokesperson said.

On Sunday, a US jet shot down a Syrian Su-22 fighter-bomber near the city of Tabqa. The coalition said the Syrian aircraft attacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions, adding that the coalition downed the Syrian jet as part of "collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces."

Earlier on Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it suspends the deconfliction channel with the United States for flight operations in Syria.

The ministry added that any aircraft and drones in the area of Russian Aerospace Forcess operations in Syria west of Euphrates would be tracked by the air defense systems as aerial targets.

 Sputnik

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Violence and persecution uprooted record 65.6 million people in 2016, UN agency reports

19 June 2017  Nearly 66 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes last year, the United Nation refugee agency today reported, stressing the "very high" pace at which conflict and persecution is forcing people to flee their homes.

The figure equates to "one person displaced every three seconds  less than the time it takes to read this sentence."

The report Global Trends, released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), marks a jump of 300,000 since the end of 2015.

"By any measure this is an unacceptable number," said UN High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, urging "solidarity and a common purpose in preventing and resolving crisis."

He also called for properly protecting and caring for the world's refugees, internally displaced and asylum-seekers  who currently number 22.5 million, 40.3 million, and 2.8 million, respectively.

According to the report, Syria remains "the world's biggest producer of refugees" with 12 million people living in neighbouring countries and away from the region. There are 7.7 million displaced Colombians, 4.7 million Afghans and 4.2 million Iraqis.

However, in 2016, South Sudan became "the biggest new factor" when peace efforts broke down in July resulting in some 737,400 people fleeing by the end of the year.

Nyawet Tut, a South Sudanese mother of five in her 30s, described how soldiers set fire to her village and she had to run for her life with her own five children and five others of relatives killed in the conflict.

"My husband was killed in the war which, in addition to the shortage of food, made me decide to leave my home, everything, behind," she told UNHCR staff during an interview at a temporary way station in Ethiopia.

In total, about 3.3 million South Sudanese had fled their homes by the end of the year, in what is known as the fastest-growing displacement of people in the world.

Youngest faces of war

About half of the refugee population last year were children younger than 18 years of age, according the report.

This is in contrast to the fact that children make up only about 31 per cent of the total world population.

Among its findings, the report noted that some 75,000 asylum claims were received from children travelling alone or separated from their parents. These include youngsters like Tareq, 16, who dodged armed combatants to walk out of Syria into neighbouring Turkey.

"There was no future where we lived," he told UNHCR. "There was no university and no work. There were troops grabbing young children like me, and they send them to war, and they get killed. I wanted to study."

Seeking refuge in poor countries

Developing countries are hosting the majority of the world's refugees, UNHCR reported.

About 84 per cent of the people were in low- or middle-income countries as of end 2016. Of that figure, one in every three people, roughly 4.9 million people, were hosted by the least developed countries.

"This huge imbalance reflects several things including the continuing lack of consensus internationally when it comes to refugee hosting and the proximity of many poor countries to regions of conflict," the UN agency said.

In addition, the figure "illustrates the need for countries and communities supporting refugees and other displaced people to be robustly resourced and supported," UNHCR said, warning that the absence can create instability in the host countries.

Today's report is being released on the eve of World Refugee Day, marked annually on 20 June.

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Investigators Question Delay in Reporting US Destroyer Collision

By VOA News June 19, 2017

U.S. and Japanese authorities say they are investigating why personnel on a U.S. destroyer and a massive Japanese merchant vessel took nearly a hour to report the deadly collision that killed seven sailors on the destroyer off the coast of Japan.

Officials from both countries say the accident was reported by both ships at approximately 2:30 a.m. Saturday, but tracking data shows the accident happening at 1:30 a.m.

The tracking data has the ACX Crystal, the container ship, making a u-turn shortly after 1:30 and returning to where it had been at 1:30.

A U.S. Seventh Fleet spokesman said the accident appears to have happened at 1:30 a.m. Saturday, not at 2:30 a.m. as the USS Fitzgerald reported.

Nanami Meguro, a spokeswoman for Nippon Yusen, the container ship's operator, said the ship's tracking information showed that it was "operating as usual" until the collision at 1:30 a.m. She did not have any information about the delay in reporting the accident.

"Because it was an emergency, the crewmembers may not have been able to place a call," she said.

The collision is being investigated by the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard and Japan's Coast Guard and its Transport Safety Board.

Earlier Monday, the U.S. Navy identified the seven sailors who were found dead in the flooded sleeping compartments of the Fitzgerald.

Acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley said, "We are all deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our fellow shipmates."

Vice Admiral Joseph Aucoin said Sunday "a significant portion of the crew was sleeping" when the destroyer and the Philippine-flagged container ship collided. He said that sea water gushed into sleeping compartments and that part of the ship's right side was caved in.

Aucoin said, "The ship suffered severe damage rapidly flooding three large compartments that included one machinery room and two berthing areas for 116 crew."

Three of the crew were injured in the accident, including the vessel's commanding officer Bryce Benson, whose cabin, Aucoin said was "directly hit, trapping the CO inside."

Aucoin said Benson, who is in stable condition with a head injury, "is lucky to be alive." The two other sailors suffered cuts and bruises.

"Unfortunately, we don't have the details regarding the conditions during the final moments, but hope that the investigation may shed some light on that matter," Aucoin said.

The victims were Gunner's Mate Seaman Dakota Kyle Rigsby, 19 from Palmyra, Virginia; Yeoman 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego, California; Sonar Technician 3rd Class Ngoe T Truong Huynh, 25, from Oakville, Connecticut; Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Noe Hernandez, 26, from Weslaco, Texas; Fire Controlman 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista, California; Personnel Specialist 1st Class Xavier Alec Martin, 24, from Halethorpe, Maryland; and Fire Controlman 1st Class Gary Leo Rehm, Jr., 37, from Elyria, Ohio.

The Crystal is nearly four times the size of the destroyer. The 29,000-ton Philippine ship is 222 meters long, while the 8,315-ton Navy destroyer is 154 meters long.

None of the Crystal crew was hurt.

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US Soldiers, Australian counterparts enhance readiness through intelligence exercise

By Sgt. John Heinrich, 8th Theater Sustainment Command June 20, 2017

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii -- The 8th Theater Sustainment Command recently hosted Perspicuous Provider 17, a joint intelligence exercise with Australian military services, from May 29 - June 17.

The two-week exercise is designed to increase sustainment-centered intelligence through a humanitarian assistance/disaster relief scenario within the Pacific theater.

"Week one is collective training in the COMEX (communications exercise) and the second is the actual execution through a CPX construct with simulation towards a humanitarian assistance/disaster relief effort that simulates U.S. Army Pacific giving a mission to 8th TSC to go in and support," explained Lt. Col. Claudia Penaguzman the 8th Theater Sustainment Command G2 officer in charge.

Participating units included the 8th Theater Sustainment Command, 130th Engineer Brigade, 8th Military Police Brigade, 205th Military Intelligence Battalion, 593rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command, and an intelligence cell from Australia's 1st Division.

Penaguzman said this was the first time that the Australians were able take part in the exercise.

"For this exercise, they are part of the intelligence cell which is where all the different intelligence feeds from each kind of source are coming in," Penaguzman said. "They are working side-by-side with the U.S. Army intel professionals in building a fused picture that will provide situational awareness and understanding of the operational environment to the commander."

"It's really good to have all the units come here because it allows for us to be able to learn other people's focus, especially when we're able to sit in on their meetings in person instead of having to go do a video teleconference," said Spc. Corey McMullin, an intelligence analyst with 8th Theater Sustainment Command.

McMullin, who has participated in the previous two Perspicuous Provider exercises, reported that this year's exercise has also been successful.

"We've integrated a lot of new systems and got them up and running," McMullin said. "We've been able coordinate a lot better with different sections and the training event itself is different than last year."

"Typically exercises like Ulchi Freedom Guardian really focus on mission command and the maneuver aspect of it," Penaguzman said. "This one is not a decisive-action training scenario. It's a humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, which brings a realism of the Pacific Theater, because that is something that we would be requested to support for any of the 36 nations within the U.S Pacific Command Area of Responsibilities."

Penaguzman said that Perspicuous Provider, besides promoting cross-training with partner nations, is also a great exercise for achieving the Army Chief of Staff's number one priority: readiness.

"It really helps us to hone in and get after how would we look to evaluate ourselves or have someone look at us for meeting the new objective as far as insuring it feeds back into readiness," Penaguzman said.

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USS James E. Williams Visits Kiel, Germany for Kiel Week

Navy News Service

Story Number: NNS170620-07

Release Date: 6/20/2017 11:31:00 AM

By Lieutenant Junior Grade Reuben Carson USS James E. Williams Public Affairs

KIEL, Germany (NNS) -- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS James E. Williams (DDG 95) arrived in Kiel, Germany June 16 for a scheduled port visit, following the conclusion of exercise BALTOPS 2017 and to participate in Kiel Week.

The ship's port visit serves to enhance U.S.-Germany relations as the two nations work together for a stable, secure and prosperous Europe.

BALTOPS is an annual joint, multinational maritime-focused exercise executed by Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO and designed to improve training value for participants, enhance flexibility and interoperability, and demonstrate resolve among allied and partner forces defending the Baltic Sea region. Maritime, ground, and air forces participated to strengthen their combined capabilities to ensure regional stability.

James E. Williams' participation in BALTOPS 17 is a demonstration of our continued commitment to the collective security in the region. The visit during Kiel Week enhances our enduring relationship with Germany and the citizens of Kiel.

Kiel Week is an annual maritime festival event held in Kiel, Germany and is considered to be the largest event of its type in the world, attracting millions of visitors each year. While in Kiel the Sailors aboard the ships, along with many of our NATO allies and partners, will participate in Kiel Week events, strengthening our enduring relationships throughout the North Atlantic and European region.

Quote:

"Our crew did an outstanding job during a challenging BALTOPS 17, and we are looking forward to being a part of Kiel Week and experiencing the rich history of Kiel."

- Cmdr. Allen Siegrist,

commanding officer USS James E. Williams (DDG 95)

Quick Facts:

BALTOPS 17, which took place June 1-17, is the premier annual maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic Region and one of the largest exercises in Northern Europe.

James E. Williams conducted a wide-range of combined maritime security operations during BALTOPS 17 including anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction and air defense.

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Pentagon Seeks To Cool Tensions With Russia After Clash Over Jet Downing

RFE/RL June 20, 2017

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top-ranking U.S. military officer, said on June 19 that the United States is working to reestablish communications with Russia's military that Moscow said it had severed after an American jet shot down a Syrian warplane.

The so-called "deconfliction" hotline in Syria has been a vital tool in protecting both sides' forces as the risk of accidental clashes has increased with both sides conducting separate campaigns in the same increasingly crowded territory.

"We will work diplomatically and militarily in the coming hours to reestablish deconfliction" and try to lower tensions, said General Joseph Dunford.

"The worst thing any of us could do right now is address this with hyperbole," he said.

Dunford said he is focused on ensuring the United States can achieve its main purpose in Syria -- the defeat of the Islamic State extremist group.

"The Russian Federation has indicated that their purpose in Syria, like ours, is to defeat ISIS, and we'll see if that's true here in the coming hours," he said.

Russia's Defense Ministry earlier said it was suspending the hotline, which it said the Pentagon failed to use before it downed a Syrian Su-22 bomber on June 18.

Despite Russia's contention, Dunford said the hotline had been used "over the last few hours."

Russia also warned on June 19 that its air-defense systems would begin tracking all U.S.-led coalition aircraft in central Syria, prompting the Pentagon to move some of its planes.

"We have taken prudent measures to reposition aircraft over Syria so as to continue targeting [Islamic State] forces while ensuring the safety of our aircrew given known threats in the battle space," Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the United States is "going to do what we can to protect our interests," adding that Washington would keep an open line of communication with the Russians.

"The escalation of hostilities among the many factions that are operating in this region doesn't help anybody," he said.

Moscow has previously threatened to scrap the deconfliction line, after an April 7 U.S. cruise missile strike on a Syrian air base in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack against civilians.

But that suspension proved to be brief. The line has been a life-saving though imperfect tool since it was set up soon after Russia entered Syria's civil war in late 2015 to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

The hotline connects U.S. military officers at an operations center in Qatar and their Russian counterparts operating in Syria.

Following the warning from Russia, Australia announced it was suspending air strikes into Syria "as a precautionary measure."

"A decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," Australia's Department of Defense (ADF) said, adding its operations in neighboring Iraq would continue as part of the U.S.-led coalition fighting against the IS group.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pentagon-seeks-cool- tensions-russia-after-clash-over-syrian-jet-downing- deconfliction-hotline/28565769.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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EU Warns Against Planned Changes In Electoral System In Moldova

RFE/RL's Moldovan Service June 20, 2017

The European Union has joined in criticism of planned changes in Moldova's electoral system, saying a national consensus does not exist to make such far-reaching changes.

"The proposed changes raise serious concerns in the current political context," EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said in a June 19 statement, noting that Moldovan political parties are "polarized around this legislative initiative," preventing a "broad consensus" in favor of the changes.

The spokesman warned that "democracy and the rule of law are at the core" of Moldova's Association Agreement with the EU, so if the Moldovan parliament adopts the proposals, the agreement will be reassessed.

Moldova currently elects its parliament under a proportional representation system. The Democratic Party, of which Prime Minister Pavel Filip is a member, wants a mixed system, with some lawmakers elected, as now, on party lists, and others running in first-past-the-post constituency races.

Supporters of the change say having legislators represent particular constituencies would improve the connection between parliament and voters. Opponents say it is an attempt to skew the electoral system in favor of the ruling Democratic Party.

The changes were criticized last week by the Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) Office for Democratic Institutions, which singled out potential problems with inadequate representation of women and minorities and the risk of influence on political candidates.

The European organizations have also expressed concern that the plans do not contemplate regulation and oversight of political parties and campaign finance.

The shortfalls led the Venice Commission to conclude that "such fundamental change...is not advisable at this time."

Despite these warnings, Moldovan speaker Andrian Candu said the government will go ahead with revising the system.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/eu-warns- against-planned-changes-electoral-system- moldova-venice-commission/28565671.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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US F-15 Shoots Down Pro-Syrian Government Armed Drone Near al-Tanf

Sputnik News

16:55 20.06.2017(updated 18:47 20.06.2017)

The United States continues attacking pro-government forces in Syria.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  A US F-15 fighter jet shot down an Iranian-made Shaheed-129 drone near Syria's al-Tanf on Tuesday morning, after it was assessed that it posed a threat to the US-led coalition forces, Operation Inherent Resolve said in a statement.

"The F-15E intercepted the armed UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] after it was observed advancing on the coalition position. When the armed UAV continued to advance on the coalition position without diverting its course, it was shot down," the statement said on Tuesday.

The coalition noted the drone showed "hostile intent," adding that the incident took place in the same location where another pro-Syrian government drone dropped munition on June 8 targeting the Syrian Democratic Forces.

The coalition also said that amid recent developments related to the deconfliction line with Russia, it will not allow pro-Syrian government aircraft to threaten or closely approach its forces.

"The coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend coalition or partner forces from any threat," the statement added.

On June 18, a US jet shot down a Syrian Su-22 fighter-bomber near the city of Tabqa. The US-led coalition said the Syrian aircraft attacked Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions, adding that the coalition downed the Syrian jet as part of "collective self-defense of Coalition partnered forces."

The Russian Defense Ministry announced Monday that it suspended the deconfliction channel with the United States for incident prevention in Syria following the attack.

Additionally, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that any airborne objects west of the Euphrates River would be tracked by Russian ground and air defenses as targets.

 Sputnik

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Africa's largest refugee crisis now a 'children's crisis' - UNICEF

20 June 2017  Raising alarm over the plight of refugees, in particular the situation of women and children, arriving in Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya having fled violence and instability in South Sudan, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has called on governments to do more to ensure that the most vulnerable are protected.

Since violence erupted in South Sudan in December 2013, more than 1.8 million people, including more than one million children have arrived in neighbouring countries.

Many of them have fled "horrific violence," according to the UN agency's Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Leila Pakkala.

"Day after day, week after week, they are being received by countries such as Uganda, Ethiopia and Kenya," she added.

In just one year the refugee population in Uganda has more than doubled from 500,000 to more over 1.25 million, making the country host to the fastest growing refugee emergency in the world.

According to estimates, nearly 86 per cent of all refugees in the country are women and children and Uganda is now the third largest refugee-hosting country in the world, after Turkey and Pakistan.

"Uganda has a progressive and generous open door policy to refugees [] providing better prospects for refugee children than in many contexts globally," said Ms. Pakkala, expressing hope that such a model is supported widely across countries.

However, the sheer scale of the crisis has put both the Government as well as host-communities under tremendous stress. UN agencies and humanitarian partners too are in urgent need of resources.

In order sustain relief programmes, the Government of Uganda and UN are calling for $8 billion in funding for both emergency response and resilience interventions for the country's refugees and refugee-hosting population over the next four years.

Within this appeal, UNICEF operations require nearly $50 million in 2017 as well as $30 million each year from 2018-2020 to provide critical health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education, early childhood development, adolescent development, and child protection interventions, for both refugee and host community children.

Resources are also needed in Ethiopia and Kenya  together hosting about 800,000 South Sudanese refugees.

UNICEF requires $13.6 million for its programmes to respond to the new influx of refugees in Ethiopia's Gambella Region, and $7.3 million for its response in Kenya.

In addition to funds, the UN agency has also reiterated its call on governments to adopt its six-point agenda for action to protect refugee and migrant children and ensure their well-being, which was launched ahead of the G7 Summit in Italy in late May.

At the same time, UNICEF also called for efforts ensure that families are kept together and uprooted children stay in school and stay healthy but above all causes that force children to flee in the first place are addressed.

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On World Refugee Day, UN urges support, solidarity for record number of displaced people

20 June 2017  With a record 65.6 million people last year forcibly uprooted from their homes by violence and persecution, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres today called on the international community to provide support and solidarity.

"We reflect on the courage of those who fled and the compassion of those who welcome them," the Secretary-General said in his video message for World Refugee Day, marked annually on 20 June.

He noted that more people than ever in our lifetimes are fleeing war, disasters and persecution.

"Hardship, separation, death," Mr. Guterres said, recalling nightmare stories heard from refugees and displaced persons, whose number rose 300,000 since the end of 2015.

Conflicts have displaced 12 million Syrians, 7.7 million Colombians, 4.7 million Afghans and 4.2 million Iraqis, according to a report released yesterday by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Despite the hardships of fleeing with nothing, "they never lose their dreams for their children or their desire to better our world," Mr. Guterres said. "They ask for little  only our support in their time of greatest need and our solidarity."

The UN chief said it is "so inspiring to see countries with the least doing the most for refugees."

According to the report, about 84 per cent of the people were in low- or middle-income countries as of end 2016. Of that figure, one in every three people, roughly 4.9 million people, were hosted by the least developed countries.

To mark the Day, Mr. Guterr will hold a press conference in New York later today.

When we stand #WithRefugees, we also stand for respect and diversity for all

In his remarks, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the Day is also a moment to recognize those communities and people around the world who receive refugees and the internally displaced in their midst, offering them a safe place, and welcoming them in their societies.

In a world in which uncertainty often abounds; economic instability, political upheaval and violence close to home "can make us want to shut our eyes or close our doors. But fear and exclusion will not lead us to a better place  they can only lead to barriers, alienation and despair," he stressed.

"It's time to change this trajectory. And for the better," he stated, noting that in countless communities, including in the poorest countries that host the vast majority of the world's refugees, business people, faith communities, teachers, journalists and many more are joining together to provide refuge to the displaced and foster their inclusion in their societies.

"Inclusion requires opening our minds, hearts and communities to refugees. It requires a whole of society approach," Mr. Grandi underscored.

World Refugee Day is a moment to ask what each of us can do to overcome indifference or fear and embrace the idea of inclusion, "to welcome refugees to our own communities, and to counter narratives that would seek to exclude and marginalize refugees and other uprooted people," he emphasized.

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US Downs Armed, Iranian-made Drone Over Southern Syria

By Carla Babb June 20, 2017

A United States fighter jet shot down an armed, pro-Syrian regime drone early Tuesday, as the drone advanced on coalition forces in southern Syria, military officials said.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis said an F-15E Strike Eagle shot down an Iranian-made Shahed 129 drone about 12:30 a.m. local time as it approached an established coalition combat outpost near al-Tanf, where the U.S. is training local fighters battling the Islamic State.

Davis said the drone destroyed Tuesday was located where another Iranian-made drone was shot down on June 8.

We do not seek conflict with any other party in Syria other than ISIS, but we will not hesitate to defend ourselves or our partners if necessary, he told reporters at the Pentagon, using an acronym for the Islamic State terror group.

Deconflict hotline

While the U.S. and Russia have used an established hotline to deconflict air operations in Syria and prevent miscalculations between the two major powers, Davis said the deconfliction line was not used Tuesday prior to taking out the drone due to the urgency of the threat.

The pilot ... took immediate action to bring that drone down as it was approaching our forces with hostile intent, he said.

The downing of the drone came on the same day Australia announced it would temporarily suspend airstrikes by its forces in Syria, after Syrian ally Russia threatened to target planes from the U.S.-led coalition operating in the skies over Syria in response to the downing of a Syrian fighter jet by the United States Air Force on Sunday.

Monitoring 'air situation in Syria'

A statement from Australia's Defense Ministry said it would monitor the "air situation in Syria" and make a decision on resuming airstrikes there "in due course." The ministry said strikes in neighboring Iraq, also part of the U.S.-led coalition campaign, would continue.

The Pentagon spokesman said the Syrian SU-22 jet had attacked U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces positions near the towns of Ja'Din and Shuwayhan.

Davis added that the U.S. on Sunday gave the plane several warnings, including multiple communications through the deconfliction line, launching flairs and even performing a head butt maneuver, where a U.S. plane flies just in advance of another plane to create heavy wake, in order to get the Syrians to leave.

The SU-22 went into a dive, dropped munitions anyway and was subsequently shot down, Davis said.

'Act of aggression'

Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the shoot-down an "act of aggression," but the U.S. balked at the Russian threats and said it would continue to protect its interests in Syria.

"The Syrian regime  needs to understand that we will keep the right of self-defense of coalition forces aligned against ISIS," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on Monday.

When asked whether the hotline between the American and Russian forces remained open, Davis stressed that the Pentagon feels this communication is effective and should not be cut.

We remain available on our end, Ill leave it to the Russians to state their level of participation, he said.

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UN Calls for International Probe Into Recent DRC Killings

By VOA News June 20, 2017

The United Nations human rights chief has called for an international investigation into recent murders in the central part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and partially blamed Congo's government for failing to stop the killings.

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein told the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday hundreds of villagers had been "shot dead, hacked or burned to death, and mutilated" over the past two months.

At times, Zeid said, the militia carrying out the killings had been directed by "state agents" from the Congolese military and police.

"I am appalled by the creation and arming of a militia, the Bana Mura, allegedly to support the authorities in fighting the Kamwina Nsapu (rebels), but which has carried out horrific attacks against civilians from the Luba and Lulua ethnic groups," he said.

The Human Rights Council is expected to vote this week on a proposal to authorize an independent investigation into the violence in Congo's Kasai region, including the murder of two U.N. experts earlier this year.

Congolese Justice Minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba rejected the call for an international investigation, saying it would be unacceptable to launch such an investigation without including Congolese officials.

"That would be a pity, for the simple reason that if a resolution is voted for and doesn't take us into account, implementing it will be difficult," he told reporters in Geneva. "Do you want experts to go into a foreign country without reporting to the national authorities?"

He said Congo had been working with the U.N. to map out a plan for the investigation, and it submitted that plan to the U.N. in late May. Zeid said the Congolese response was insufficient.

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As Africa Faces More Terrorism, Experts Point to Saudi-spread of Fundamentalist Islam

By Salem Solomon June 20, 2017

On June 5, Saudi Arabia and its allies, including Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding extremist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic State.

In response, Qatar said it was the victim of a policy of "domination and control" by its larger neighbor and that Saudi Arabia was, in fact, the one responsible for backing extremism.

So what is the truth? Fundamentalist strains of Islam, including Saudi-born Salafism and Wahhabism, form the ideological bedrock for most terror groups. According to a study by Leif Wenar of King's College London based on the Global Terrorism Database, three out of four terror attacks in the last 10 years have been conducted by people espousing Salafist ideology.

Wenar said Saudi Arabia is the chief exporter of Salafism around the world, spending tens of billions of dollars to build mosques, fund madrassas, finance preachers and offer scholarships to students to study the rigid form of Islam. The effort is possibly the most expensive ideological campaign in human history, Wenar said.

The effort is possibly the most expensive ideological campaign in human history, Wenar told VOA.

"Saudi Arabia is not the only factor, of course, in the spread of violent extremism. But for 50 years Saudi Arabia has been funding schools and mosques and radical preachers worldwide who have set down their particular narrow and puritanical version of Islam, which has in many places mutated into the violent extremism we see today," Wenar said.

Saudi Arabia said it has changed, stating publicly that it wants to take a hardline stance against radical Islam. In May, it welcomed 50 world leaders to Riyadh to commemorate the opening of a new Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. It said it has also increased oversight of charitable organizations that may be linked to terrorism.

Ali Shihabi, executive director at the Arabia Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, said that since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011, Saudi Arabia has become a world leader in fighting terror.

"It is extremely, actively involved in police and security measures in the region against terrorism, and it is using its religious establishment now to fight terrorism," he said. "It is turning this whole infrastructure that it has, this whole religious, what some people even call Wahabi, infrastructure, into a tool to fight terrorism."

Shihabi draws a line between the "quiet Salafism" spread by Saudi religious organizations that teach respect for authority and rejects violence and the "revolutionary Salafism" that promotes attacks on authorities and non-believers.

"There's a fundamental disconnect between Salafism as it is practiced in Saudi Arabia and the Salafism that terrorists have used or misused for their own purposes," Shihabi said.

Exporting religion to Africa

The impact of Saudi Arabia's support of conservative Islam is felt across the African continent. Hussein Solomon of the University of the Free State in South Africa has studied the phenomenon and said Africa's traditional Sufi form of Islam has been steadily pushed out of some countries in favor of Salafism.

This has given an ideological backing to terror groups who reject Sufi mysticism and forbid things like secular music, Western-style clothing and women speaking to unrelated men.

In some countries, such as Mali, Salafists have conducted attacks against non-Muslims or Muslims they consider to be heretics.

"We are seeing a tremendous escalation of terrorist attacks," Solomon told VOA. "We actually are seeing three terrorist attacks per day on the African continent, and [they] are linked directly to Wahabi ideology."

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates offer scholarships to young Africans to attend religious schools in the Gulf states. According to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the number of East African students enrolled in Gulf state universities has grown from several hundred in 2010 to nearly 10,000 in 2014.

Solomon said he has interviewed parents whose children have returned home from these schools with radically changed, hardline views.

One Malian boy came home and denounced his father for listening to music and smoking cigarettes, and his mother and sisters for not wearing a full hijab. "It caused tremendous ruptures just inside the family," Solomon said.

Saudi Arabia has also built hundreds of mosques around the continent. Solomon said the divisive form of Islam taught in these mosques has caused tension between Muslims and Christians in areas where they live side-by-side.

"Part of the deal in terms of the construction of the mosques is that the Imam either comes from Saudi Arabia or [is] trained by the Saudis and is given a syllabus in terms of what to say and what to preach, and, of course, this is an ill-effect to a continent like Africa which is multi-ethnic, multi-racial and certainly multi-religious," he said.

Wenar said he has also reviewed textbooks published in Saudi Arabia that compared Christians and Jews to animals and taught children that they are prohibited from befriending infidels.

"This really is quite an archaic and extreme ideology that the Saudis have been sending, and it seems [that] to check it, we should make the world more aware of what's going on," he said.

Fighting extremism

Shihabi said the rise of Islamic extremism in some African countries is not a result of textbooks or what is preached at Saudi-funded mosques. Mainly, he believes, extremists twist religious doctrine to fit their own local, political purposes.

"And people realize that if you want to be a revolutionary today and you want to attract attention, you put on this Islamic cloak, and it gets you much more attention than if you just package yourself as a domestic player with no transnational reach," he said.

In a recent New York Times story, William McCants, a Brookings Institution scholar, accused Saudi Arabia of being "both the arsonists and the firefighters" when it comes to Islamic extremism.

Shihabi argues that is no longer the case. "Saudi Arabia may have been... an accidental arsonist in ways in the past if part of its ideology was misused, but now it has certainly become a very dedicated fireman, and it's been doing that for the last fifteen years."

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Trump Calls North Korea's Treatment of Warmbier 'a Disgrace'

By VOA News June 20, 2017

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that North Korea's treatment of American college student Otto Warmbier was "a total disgrace" and suggested that he might not have died if Pyongyang had allowed him to return home sooner to the United States.

"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto," Trump told reporters at the White House. "That should never, ever be allowed to happen. And frankly if he were brought home sooner, I think the result would have been a lot different. But what happened to Otto is a disgrace. And I spoke with his family; his family is incredible what they've gone through. But he should have been brought home a long time ago."

The 22-year-old Warmbier died Monday after being detained in North Korea for nearly a year-and-a-half. His parents said in a statement he had "completed his journey home" and was "at peace" shortly before passing away.

Trump on Monday offered his condolences to the family, saying in a written statement, "There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life." Trump called the North Korean government "a brutal regime" and said the death deepens his determination to prevent future tragedies "at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.''

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Warmbier's death will be a lasting reminder of "the barbaric nature of the North Korean leadership."

Ohio Governor John Kasich said "all Ohioans mourn" the death of Warmbier, a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. He, too, lashed out at Pyongyang, saying, "This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime."

Ohio Senator Rob Portman, who worked to free Warmbier, called him a "promising young man," and said "his passing today is a loss for Ohio and for all of us."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Tuesday Warmbier's death was a "tragedy" and hoped the United States and North Korea would "handle the matter appropriately." He declined to comment on whether the death would affect issues regarding the North's nuclear program, but encouraged "all sides" to resume negotiations as soon as possible.

Adam Schiff, the top-ranking Democrat on the U.S. House Intelligence Committee, called for enactment of a law to place "effective limits on the travel of Americans to this pariah state, and to ban tourist travel entirely" to North Korea.

The organizers of Warmbier's trip to North Korea say they will no longer take U.S. citizens to the country. Young Pioneer Tours posted on its Facebook page Tuesday that Warmbier's death indicates the risk that American tourists face in North Korea "has become too high."

Returned in coma

Warmbier was returned to the United States last week in a coma. Doctors in Cincinnati said the 22-year-old had suffered severe brain damage while in North Korea, but that it was not clear what caused it.

North Korea said Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced in March of last year for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel. The government claimed the young man fell into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

But the Warmbier family heatedly disputed that claim, saying North Korea had "brutalized" Otto.

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous treatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family statement said.

Tensions heightened

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year.

U.S. officials have said they are concerned about three Korean-Americans who remain held in North Korea. There are also at least six South Koreans believed to be in custody as well.

South Korea on Tuesday said it will make every effort for the quick return of its detainees and the U.S. citizens being held in North Korea.

The U.S. government accuses North Korea of using the detainees as political pawns. North Korea accuses the United States and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

The organizers of Warmbier's trip to North Korea say they will no longer take U.S. citizens to the country. Young Pioneer Tours posted on its Facebook page Tuesday that Warmbier's death indicates the risk of American tourists face in North Korea "has become too high."

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Macron's Party Wins Clear Majority In French Parliament

RFE/RL June 18, 2017

French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist party has won a clear majority in the lower house of parliament after the second round of voting on June 18, official results show.

With nearly all of the ballots counted for the June 18 election, Macron's Republique en Marche (Republic on the Move) party and its allies won 351 seats in the 577-member National Assembly -- a clear majority but below many projections that had estimated the final total to be well over 400.

About 41 of the Macron bloc's seats were won by his party's allies in the centrist Democratic Movement of Justice Minister Francois Bayrou.

The leader of the conservative Republican party, Francois Baroin, wished Marcon "good luck," but he declared his party the main opposition force in the parliament after his center-right bloc's second-place finish with 126.

Allies of Macron, 39, allies hailed his new party's big victory.

"Through their vote, a wide majority of the French have chosen hope over anger," Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said. "This is an opportunity for France. One year ago, no one would have imagined such a political renewal."

Philippe vowed "total" determination to work on major reforms, including an easing of the country's strict labor laws and a reform of the pension system.

The new session of parliament will begin on June 27, with half of the candidates running in Macron's party having no previous political experience.

A record number of women will be serving in the parliament, with 156 expected to become lawmakers in the National Assembly.

Catherine Barbaroux, Republique en Marche's acting president, hailed the increase of women's share of parliamentary seats.

"For the first time under the Fifth Republic, the National Assembly will be deeply renewed -- more diverse, younger," she said.

"But above all, allow me to rejoice, because this is a historic event for the representation of women in the National Assembly," she said.

Both far-right and radical-left opponents pointed to the low turnout of about 42 percent, saying it casts doubt on Macron's political mandate.

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who lost to Macron in the May 7 presidential runoff, won her first parliamentary seat, gaining about 58 percent of the vote in Henin-Beaumont in northern France.

She will lead at least seven other lawmakers from the National Front into the parliament, not enough to form a bloc in the assembly.

The Socialist Party, which had been in power prior to Macron's victory, has secured 28 seats, the lowest level in the postwar period and down from 280 in the previous parliament.

With reporting by AFP, dpa, AP, and Reuters

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/macron-parliament- french-elections-majority/28561878.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Russian Military Cooperation Service Denies Demands of Extra $7Bln From India

Sputnik News

20:52 19.06.2017

Reports that Moscow demanded an additional $7 billion from Deli for the Sukhoi/HAL Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) joint project are not true, the head of Russia's Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) said Monday.

LE BOURGET (France), (Sputnik)  On May 24, Defense News reported that the Russian side was demanding more than $7 billion as part of India's share in the development of the FGFA, arguing the project will comprise transfer of technology of several high-tech systems.

"These reports are not consistent with the reality. If the contract is signed, FGFA will by on par with our PAK FA," FSMTC Director Dmitry Shugaev said at the Paris Air Show.

He stressed that not a single country in the world, except Russia, has shared "such sensitive" technologies with India.

"India will receive not just an airplane, but the right to its [intellectual] property," he said.

Shugaev stressed that Russia was not talking about downgrading the jet's technical characteristics during negotiations with the Indian side but rather about adapting it for India's needs.

Russian Sukhoi T-50 (PAK FA) is a Russian fifth-generation stealth fighter. It is a single-seat, twin-engine multirole jet fighter designed for air superiority and attack roles. The first flight of the aircraft took place in 2010.

FGFA is based on the PAK FA. In the project, the Russian side is represented by the aircraft manufacturer and the Indian side by Hindustan Aeronautics. The initial FGFA agreement was signed in 2007, the final agreement, which will include the project's financing conditions, is yet to be signed.

 Sputnik

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Tata, Lockheed Martin to Produce F-16 Block 70 Fighter Jet Together in India

Sputnik News

17:16 19.06.2017(updated 20:00 19.06.2017)

The F-16 Block 70 will be produced in India under a partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), Lockheed Martin said in a press release on Monday.

The F-16 Block 70, the newest version of the fighter jet, will be produced in India under a partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL), Lockheed Martin said in a press release on Monday.

"Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited signed a landmark agreement affirming the companies' intent to join hands to produce the F-16 Block 70 in India," the release stated.

The release noted this "unprecedented" partnership will allow India to produce, operate and export the F-16 Block 70.

The agreement builds on a previous agreement between Lockheed Martin and TASL, which successfully build airframe components for the C-130J airlifter and the S-92 helicopter, the release added.

"The strategic partnership procurement model mandates a foreign  Indian vendor tie-up for bidding. The TASL & Lockheed Martin agreement is an in principle tie-up to facilitate bidding. The tie-up will remain on paper till TASL is designated strategic partner, which may never happen," Vijainder K Thakur, senior editor of Geopolitics and a former IAF squadron leader, said.

The Lockheed announcement comes in the backdrop of the protectionist policy followed by US President Donald Trump to provide much-needed employment to thousands jobless in the US. "F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the US, creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions the Indian industry at the center of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world," the statement said, considering Trump's approach towards employment.

"Our partnership significantly strengthens the F-16 "Make in India" offer, creates and maintains numerous new job opportunities in India and the US, and brings the world's most combat-proven multi-role fighter aircraft to India," Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, added.

It is considered that assembly of aircraft in India will increase US jobs not reduce them, as Lockheed Martin would have to step up production of major assemblies and kit components for assembly in India.

"You could say manufacture in India would limit US job expansion as a result of the deal, but that doesn't contravene Trump policies," Vijainder K Thakur added.

The manufacturing experience of airframe components for the C-130J airlift aircraft and the S-92 helicopter provides a major advantage to TASL for gaining the confidence of Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin claims that approximately 3,200 F-16s are in operation in 26 countries including Pakistan.

 Sputnik

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India to Make Native Navigation System Mandatory For All Aircraft

Sputnik News

16:17 19.06.2017

The Indian government will soon require all aircraft registered to fly in India to use Gagan, the country's own navigation system.

New Delhi (Sputnik)  The notification for this will be issued in the next few weeks and will be effective from January 2019.

The availability of Gagan signal in space will bridge the gap between European Union's EGNOS and Japan's MSAS coverage areas, thereby offering seamless navigation to the aviation industry. Sources in India's Ministry of Civil Aviation told Sputnik that Gagan or GPS aided geo augmented navigation has obtained (APV1/1.5) certification for approach and precision landing operations over the subcontinent. India is the fourth country to offer space-based satellite navigation services to the aviation sector.

"Any Gagan-enabled receiver will provide accurate positional information which can be relied upon. It is accurate to one meter," A. S. Kiran Kumar, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman, said.

Gagan provides accurate navigation services over the Bay of Bengal, southeast Asia, Indian Ocean, Middle East and African regions. Gagan works by augmenting and relaying data from GPS satellites with the help of two augmentation satellites and 15 earth-based reference stations. It corrects any anomalies in the position data and gives accurate routes, landing guidance and time-saving information to the pilots.

Launching the system in July 2015, the ISRO claimed that "Gagan is better than any GPS as it ensures that at any given point in time, the measurements are reliable."

Domestic airlines will have to make their aircraft compliant in order to use Gagan. Doing so would entail a major investment on their part.

Smaller aircraft are already equipped with Gagan while the government is enforcing airline companies to equip all the bigger aircraft like the Airbus A320, A330, Boeing 737 etc to install it. Despite making several attempts to persuade airline companies to retrofit bigger aircraft with Gagan, the flight operators seem to be reluctant to take to the indigenous technology. Close to 1000 aircraft have been ordered by Indian flight operators which need to be equipped with Gagan.

 Sputnik

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Limited missile attack just part of Iran's armed forces combat ability

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 19, IRNA -- Limited missile attack is just part of Iran's armed forces deterrence and combat ability, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Army Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said.

Pourdastan pointed to Iran's recent missile attack on terrorists in eastern Syria, and said, 'Today, defense power is not restricted to geographical borders, but it engulfs any place under threat.'

He warned the world to be aware of the fact that Iran is ready to act whenever it is required.

Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced Sunday night that it had carried out a missile attack against the headquarters and logistics of the Takfiri terrorists in Deir Ez-Zor, the largest city in eastern Syria, to punish perpetrators of recent terror attacks in Tehran.

After the Takfiri terrorists' June 7 attacks in Tehran which left 17 killed and dozens more wounded, the IRGC had announced that the spilling of innocent blood will not go unanswered.

"During the operation, a number of surface-to-surface mid-range missiles targeted Takfiri terrorists from IRGC's bases in Kermanshah and Kordestan provinces, Western Iran."

9376**2050

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Zarif: Iran using missile power to protect citizens, hit terrorists

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 19, IRNA -- The Islamic Republic of Iran uses its missile power to defend its citizens and at the same time advance the common global fight to uproot Daesh and extremist terrorists, says Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"Iran's missile capability protects its citizens in lawful self-defense and advances common global fight to eradicate ISIS [Daesh] and extremist terror," Zarif wrote in a Twitter message on Monday.

Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced Sunday night that it had carried out a missile attack, targeting the headquarters and logistics centers of the Takfiri terrorists in Deir Ez-Zor, the largest city in eastern Syria.

Iran said the attack was conducted to punish perpetrators of the June 7 terrorist attacks in Tehran.

After the Takfiri terrorists attacks in the Iranian capital that left 18 killed and dozens more wounded, the IRGC announced that the spilling of innocent blood will not go unanswered.

The IRGC forces used bases in Kermanshah and Kordestan provinces in western country to fire six mid-range ground-to- ground missiles and destroy command centers of the Takfiri terrorists in Syria.

9376**2044

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Anti-Daesh operation successful: IRGC spokesman

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 19, IRNA -- The spokesman of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said that according to the confirmed information, the anti-ISIS missile operation in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, has been completely successful.

Commenting on June 18 missile attacks on Daesh (ISIS), Second Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif said that the attack annihilated the command centers and arms depot in Deir ez-Zor.

Saying that the attacks were made from two-mostly Sunni Muslim residing provinces to send the message of Iranian unity against terrorism, Sharif added, "The operation was a minute part of Irans punitive power against the terrorists and enemies."

The regional and international supporters of terrorists should receive the eye-opening message of the assault, he added.

The IRGC said in a statement, "After the Takfiri terrorists June 7 attacks in Tehran which left 18 killed and dozens more wounded, the IRGC announced that it will never allow the spilling of innocent blood to go unanswered."

During the operation, six ground-to-ground mid-range missiles targeted Takfiri terrorists from IRGCs bases in Kermanshah and Kordestan provinces, western Iran.

"A large number of the terrorists are reported to be perished and their equipment and arms were destroyed.'

9417**1771

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IRGC launches missile attack on Takfiri terrorists HQ in Deir Ez-Zor, Syria

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 19, IRNA -- The Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) announced Sunday night that it has carried out a missile attack against the headquarters and logistics of the Takfiri terrorists in Deir Ez-Zor, the largest city in eastern Syria, to punish perpetrators of recent terror attacks in Tehran.

The IRGC said in a statement, "After the Takfiri terrorists June 7 attacks in Tehran which left 18 killed and dozens more wounded, the IRGC announced that it will never leave any bloodshed unanswered.

"Therefore, seeking help from God and on behalf of the Iranian heroic nation as well those affected during the recent terror attacks in Tehran, the IRGC launched a missile strike on Takfiri terrorists command center as well as the center for their logistics and manufacturing suicide automobiles in Deir Ez-Zor with the aim of punishing the criminal terrorists.

"During the operation, a number of surface to surface mid-range missiles targeted Takfiri terrorists from IRGCs bases in Kermanshah and Kordestan provinces, western Iran.

"A large number of the terrorists are reported to be perished and their equipment and arms were destroyed.

"The message of the revolutionary and punishing move is totally clear; IRGC is sending a warning to the Takfiri terrorists and their regional and extra-regional sponsors that if the evil and satanic measures against the Iranian nation are repeated, the revolutionary anger and flames of IRGCs revenge will engulf the perpetrators and lead the criminals to hell.

"IRGC ensures the noble Iranian nation that it will spare no effort to safeguard national security and defeat seditions and anti-security phenomena to the accompaniment of military, disciplinary, intelligence forces."

8072**1394

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Terrorist ringleader killed in clashes with IRGC in SE Iran

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 19, 2017 3:4PM

The ringleader of a terrorist group has been killed in clashes with Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-and-Baluchestan, a provincial security official says.

Sistan-and-Baluchestan Province's deputy governor for security affairs, Ali Asghar Mir-Shekari, said on Monday that Molavi Jalil Ghanbar Zehi, the ringleader of the so-called Ansar al-Furqan group, had been killed during the recent clashes with the IRGCs Qods Headquarters in Qasr-e Qand Heights.

He added that the body of this "international terrorist" along with four of his deputies and elements is now in the hands of the IRGC Ground Forces.

The official noted that Iranian security officials had been conducting measures over the past 25 years to arrest this terrorist due to his numerous crimes committed in the southeastern Iranian border areas.

Commander of IRGCs Ground Force Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour told Fars news agency on Sunday that IRGC forces had managed to kill all members of the Takfiri terrorist outfit and completely dismantle it after the start of the operation in the town of Qasr-e Qand on Thursday.

He added that the identity of the terrorists had not been determined yet, adding, "The terrorists were members of the Ansar al-Furqan group and their identities are under investigation."

The IRGC said in a Thursday statement that its Qods Headquarters had dispatched its units to Qasr-e Qand after obtaining information about the presence of a Takfiri terrorist group in the area and engaged the group in mountainous areas.

"During the anti-terror operation, the IRGC's Qods Headquarters fighters destroyed a vehicle laden with 600 kilograms of explosives, and seized five bombs ready to be used in suicide attacks, 700 kilograms of explosives, tens of thousands of bullets and a number of weapons and ammunition," the statement read.

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Iran among major missile powers in world: Senior military official

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 19, 2017 1:51PM

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri has hailed the Islamic Republics great missile capabilities, saying Iran is currently among the major missile powers in the world.

"In many areas, including underground, marine, air, space and intelligence andtechnologies, we are competing with the arrogant system," Baqeri said on Monday after Iran's ballistic missile attack against Daesh targets in eastern Syria.

Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired six medium-range ground-to-ground ballistic missiles into Daesh bases in Syrias Dayr al-Zawr on Sunday in retaliation for twin terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital Tehran, which killed 17 people and injured over 50 others.

On June 7, gunmen mounted almost simultaneous assaults on Irans Parliament and the Mausoleum of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini. The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assaults.

Baqeri further pointed to the US military presence in the Middle East, saying, "In addition to its military measures, the hegemonic system created Daesh terrorist-Takfiri group in the region which is a result of its research work on extremist Islamist groups."

The Iranian military official added that the hegemonic system is weak in confrontation with the Islamic Republic.

"They [hegemonic system] currently do not have the capability to confront us and we also have no intention to confront them, but we are in a permanent competition with them in different sectors, including the missile sector," Baqeri pointed out.

In recent years, Iran has made great achievements in its defense sector and reached self-sufficiency in producing essential military equipment and systems.

The Islamic Republic has conducted several military drills to enhance the defense capabilities of its Armed Forces and to test modern military tactics and equipment.

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly assured other countries, especially the regional neighbors, that its military might poses no threat to anyone, reiterating that its defense doctrine is merely based on deterrence.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday defended the countrys right to develop it missile program, saying it is aimed at uprooting terrorism and extremism.

Zarif said, "Irans missile capability protects its citizens in lawful self-defense."

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Irans missile power aims to eradicate terrorism, extremism: Zarif

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 19, 2017 12:24PM

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has defended the countrys right to develop it missile program, saying it is aimed at uprooting terrorism and extremism.

"Irans missile capability protects its citizens in lawful self-defense," the minister said on his Twitter account on Monday following the countrys missile attack against Takfiri terrorists positions in eastern Syria.

He added that the Islamic Republics missile power advances common global campaign to eradicate Daesh, extremism and terrorism.

Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) fired six medium-range ground-to-ground ballistic missiles into Daesh bases in Syrias Dayr al-Zawr on Sunday in retaliation for twin terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital Tehran, which killed 17 people and injured over 50 others.

On June 7, gunmen mounted almost simultaneous assaults on Irans Parliament and the Mausoleum of the late Founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini. The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the assaults.

In an exclusive interview with Press TV on Monday, the IRGC spokesman, Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, warned terrorists and their sponsors of "more serious revenge" should they try their hands at staging more terror attacks against the Islamic Republic.

His remarks came a day after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the Islamic Republic was standing against world powers with full strength and will continue to do that in the future.

The Leader stated, "The Islamic Republic is standing fast and know that they [enemies] cannot slap us in the face, but we will slap them in the face."

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IRGC warns terrorists, backers of 'more revenge'

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 19, 2017 9:34AM

Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has warned terrorists and their sponsors about "more serious revenge" should they try their hands at staging more terror attacks against the Islamic Republic.

IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Press TV on Monday.

Late Sunday, the IRGC fired six medium-range ballistic missiles at Daesh targets in Syria's Dayr al-Zawr in response to a June 7 attack by the Takfiri terror outfit against two locations in Tehran, which killed 18 people.

Sharif reminded that the counterstrike had taken place "on a very limited scale."

"If similar behavior is repeated with similar terrorist operations, more serious revenge will be exacted on them by our missile power and also by our forces against terrorists," he cautioned.

"The message of this operation for terrorist groups and also their regional and international sponsors is that they should never try to undermine the national security of Iran," he noted.

"Fortunately, all incoming reports and images of drones which were monitoring the operation suggest that the six medium-range powerful Iranian missiles have precisely hit the targets, the key bases of terrorists in the general area of Dayr al-Zawr inside Syria."

He said field reports gleaned by the IRGC suggested that the attack had inflicted considerable casualties on terrorist groups and destroyed their equipment and systems.

The retaliation, he said, came after the IRGC vowed to retaliate against the terror assaults

"As the Leader said, they will receive a slap in the face," Sharif asserted, echoing Sunday's remarks by Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

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Iranian Military Sheds Light on Iran's Missile Strikes in Syria's Deir ez-Zor

Sputnik News

11:06 19.06.2017(updated 11:45 19.06.2017)

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps' spokesperson shed light on Iran's ballistic missile strikes on Daesh positions in Syria's Deir ez-Zor.

Iran's missile strikes in Syria have been coordinated with Damascus, General Ramezan Sharif told Tasnim news agency.

"The firing of these missiles had previously been coordinated with Syria and the missiles entered the Syrian airspace through Iraq," he said.

The missiles successfully hit designated targets, including terrorists' HQs, ammunition and logistic depots among others.

He said that Iran fired six mid-range ballistic missiles on Daesh targets within a rage of 650-700 kilometers, adding that home-made Zolfaqar high-precision missiles were also used in the operation.

According to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps statement released earlier, the missiles were fired from Iranian Aerospace Forces' bases in the west of the Islamic Republic.

On June 18, the IRGC announced that a large number of terrorists were killed by Iran's missile strikes in Deir ez-Zor, adding that it was a "warning to terrorists" following Tehran terrorist attacks earlier in June. "In case if attacks on Iran continue, the flame of our justifiable anger will burn terrorists to ashes."

On June 7, a group of armed men attacked the Iranian Parliament and Imam Khomeini shrine in Tehran. Four gunmen attacked the building of the Iranian parliament on Wednesday morning. Two of them was captured and one of the attackers blew himself up inside the building.

Several attackers raided the shrine of the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini, South of the capital Tehran. The attackers started a shooting at the visitors of the shrine, One of the attackers detonated himself in front of a police station opposite the shrine.

Daesh terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the terrorist attacks.

 Sputnik

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Assembly of Experts hails IRGC missile attack

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, June 20, IRNA -- Assembly of Experts of the Leadership in a message on Tuesday appreciated the recent Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) missile attack on the Takfiri terrorists of Daesh.

The move indicated that IRGC has managed to accomplish its duty aimed at punishing the Takfiri group affiliated to global imperialism and Zionism, the message read.

Assembly of Experts of the Leadership also appreciated the IRGC's air force for targeting Daesh group and wished success for all armed forces that are defending Islam and the Islamic lands.

The IRGC said in a statement on Sunday evening (June 18), six surface to surface mid-range missiles targeted Takfiri terrorists in Syria from IRGC's bases in Kermanshah and Kordestan provinces, western Iran.

"A large number of the terrorists are reported to be perished and their equipment and arms were destroyed.

9060**1771

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Silent Stalkers: Russia's Anaerobic Subs to Become Invisible to Sonar

Sputnik News

14:33 19.06.2017

The Kronstadt diesel-electric submarine, scheduled to be floated out in 2018, will be the first in the Russian Navy to feature the worlds most advanced anaerobic propulsion system, Izvestia reported.

The newly-designed air-independent propulsion units will spare the Project 677 Lada-class submarine the need to surface or use snorkel tubes to breathe air, thus exposing itself to detection by radar and other sensors.

Thanks to its anaerobic engines, the Kronstadt will be able to stay submerged for weeks and be less exposed than conventional diesel-electric subs.

Air-independent (closed cycle) submarines usually use hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells and are quieter compared to the diesel-electric boats that exist today.

The Russian-designed air-independent power plant (AIP) differs from its foreign analogues in that it obtains hydrogen within itself by reforming the onboard diesel fuel.

The Lada-class submarines, which carry six 533-mm torpedo launchers and can fire cruise missiles, are designed to defend naval bases, coastal waters and sea communication lines.

They can be effectively employed against both surface ships and submarines.

There are currently over 50 AIP submarines in service around the world, with the number likely to double in the coming decade.

 Sputnik

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Russia blasts US shooting down of Syrian jet as violation of intl. law

Iran Press TV

Mon Jun 19, 2017 2:27PM

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov has strongly condemned the United States for shooting down a Syrian Air Force fighter jet in Syria's militant-held northern province of Raqqah as a "massive violation of international law and de facto military aggression."

"This strike has to be seen as a continuation of America's line to disregard the norms of international law," Ryabkov told the state-owned TASS news agency in Moscow on Monday.

He added, "What is this if not an act of aggression? It is, if you like, help to those terrorists that the US is ostensibly fighting against, declaring they are carrying out an anti-terrorism policy."

Ryabkovs remarks came a day after the Syrian army said that the US-led coalition purportedly fighting the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group had targeted one of its Sukhoi Su-22 warplanes over al-Rasafa area in the southern countryside of Raqqah Province.

The Syrian General Command of the Army and Armed Forces announced in a statement that the military aircraft was on a combat mission against Daesh terrorists, noting that the pilot of the jet had gone missing after the "flagrant aggression."

In return, the US-led Combined Joint Task Force said in a statement that pro-government Syrian forces had attacked the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the town of Ja'Din south of Tabqa, wounding a number of the US-backed militiamen and driving the rest from the town.

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry has terminated its use of a military hotline for avoiding incidents in Syrian airspace, stating that it will now track all coalition flights west of the Euphrates River.

"The command of the coalition forces did not use the established communication channel for preventing incidents in Syrian airspace," the Russian ministrys statement read.

It added, "As a result, it now ends cooperation with the American side from June 19 based on a memorandum for prevention of incidents and ensuring safety of air flights during operations in Syria, and demands a careful investigation by the US command of the downing."

"Any flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, discovered west of the Euphrates River will be tracked as aerial targets by Russia's air defenses on and above ground," the statement pointed out.

On April 7, US warships in the eastern Mediterranean launched a barrage of 59 Tomahawk missiles against Shayrat Air Base in Syrias Homs Province, which Washington alleged was the origin of a suspected chemical attack on the town of Khan Shaykhun in Syrias Idlib Province earlier that month.

Washington has so far failed to provide any evidence to support the accusations, prompting criticisms from many countries and international intuitions for choosing to take unilateral military action hastily and without proof.

The strike drew the praise from anti-Damascus militant groups as well as the countries long viewed as their staunch supporters, including Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey.

Syria has categorically denied carrying out the purported gas attack, with Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem stressing that the Idlib airstrike had targeted a depot, where terrorists stored chemical weapons.

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US Sends Armored Vehicles, Machine Guns to Syrian Rebels

Sputnik News

21:48 19.06.2017(updated 21:49 19.06.2017)

According to information from sources in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) the United States has delivered a seventh round of heavy weapons and armored vehicles to the forces.

"In the framework of the operation for the liberation of Raqqa the US has sent us armored vehicles and weapons, including mortars, thermal missiles, heavy machine guns, semi-automatic and automatic rifles, night vision binoculars and demining facilities," a source who chose to remain anonymous told Sputnik Turkey.

He further said that the armament and armored vehicles arrived in 90 wagons and were delivered overland through the territory of Northern Iraq to the border post Semelka and further to Rojave (a Syrian Kurdish territory).

"From there the weapons supply was delivered to Tabka. This time we received a significant number of armored cars. We are experiencing a great need for them, because at present there are fierce clashes between our forces and the terrorists of Daesh in three districts of Raqqa," the source said.

He added that the forces intend to use the US-designed armored vehicles to deliver reinforcements to the areas of fighting.

"This gear is resistant to mines and impacts from other types of heavy weapons," the source concluded.

Earlier US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) rebels vowed to "retaliate" in case the Syrian army attacked their positions in Raqqa. The statement comes following the US-led coalition's downing of a Syrian army jet in the area.

The SDF claimed that the Syrian government forces have recently been "mounting large-scale attacks" on their positions near Raqqa.

On June 18, the Syrian army said that the US-led coalition had brought down its aircraft in the countryside of southern Raqqa when it was fulfilling its mission against Daesh.

 Sputnik

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Syrian Army Frees Ancient City of Sergiopolis Near Raqqa From Daesh

Sputnik News

15:08 19.06.2017

Syrian government troops have regained control over the historical complex of the ancient city of Sergiopolis, known as Resafa in Arabic, which is located just southwest of the city of Raqqa, an informed source on-the-spot told Sputnik on Monday.

DAMASCUS (Sputnik)  The source noted that the offensive operation of the ground forces received aerial support from planes of both Russian and Syrian air forces.

"In the wake of battles with the Islamic State (Daesh, a terrorist group banned in Russia), the Syrian army freed the historical Resafa in the south of the Raqqa province," the source said.

Sergiopolis has great historical and archaeological significance as an ancient Roman city from the Byzantine times and is known for its partially preserved walls of temples, palaces, and streets.

The city is located 99.4 miles north of Palmyra, another ancient city which has been changing hands between the Syrian Army and Daesh since 2015. On March 2, the Syrian Army retook control of Palmyra. However, some of the city's valuable artifacts and remnants were damaged by Daesh sabotage.

 Sputnik

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Lavrov Urges US to Respect Syrian Sovereignty After Attack on Syrian Army Jet

Sputnik News

08:43 19.06.2017(updated 15:23 19.06.2017)

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov commented on the US-led coalition's attack on a Syrian army's warplane in Raqqa.

Russia calls on the United States to coordinate actions in Syria and avoid unilateral actions, Lavrov said.

He commented on the US' boosting of its presence in southern Syria, saying that all actions in Syria need to be coordinated with legitimate Syrian authorities, "especially when it comes to the occupation of certain territories in Syria, including those that could prompt questions from the point of view of the true intentions of those who carry out such seizures [of territory]."

"We call on the United State and all others who have their forces or advisors on the ground [in Syria] to ensure the coordination in our work. Zones of de-escalation are one of the possible options to jointly move forward. We call on everyone to avoid unilateral moves, respect Syrian sovereignty and join our common work which is agreed with the Syrian Arab Republic's government," the Russian foreign minister said.

Moscow calls on Washington to respect Syrian territorial integrity and the country's sovereignty according to the UNSC 2254 resolution and other documents, the Russian top diplomat said.

"As for the events on the ground in the Syrian Arab Republic,  it is necessary to fully respect sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. Therefore, any actions on the ground, and there are many involved parties, including those who carry out military operations, must be coordinated with Damascus," Lavrov said.

On June 18, the Syrian army said that the US-led coalition had brought down its aircraft in southern Raqqa countryside when it was fulfilling its mission against Daesh.

Later, the coalition confirmed the information saying that it shot down the Syrian government forces' Su-22 aircraft as it had allegedly been bombing in an area where US-backed rebel forces, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were stationed, south of Tabqa in the Raqqa province. The US-led coalition called its attack on the Syrian army's jet "collective self-defense," adding that it contacted the Russian military to de-escalate the situation after the incident.

The coalition's attack came after three US-led coalition's bombings of Damascus' allied forces in al-Tanf in southern Syria. On June 8, the US-led coalition bombed pro-Damascus forces near al-Tanf in the area of a deconfliction zone following an alleged attack by a combat drone resulting in no coalition forces' casualties.

On May 18, the US-led coalition struck pro-Assad fighters near the town of al-Tanf in the area of an established deconfliction zone with Russia. The coalition strikes occurred near al-Tanf, where US' and British special operations forces have been training Syrian rebel fighters near the border with Iraq and Jordan. Russia slammed the move as a violation of international law.

On June 6, the Pentagon announced the coalition conducted a new strike on pro-Syrian government forces as they entered the de-confliction zone with Russia and posed threat to its personnel. A Syrian source told Sputnik on Tuesday that at least two Syrian servicemen were killed and more than 15 injured as a result of the coalition attack.

 Sputnik

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Russia to Treat US Planes in Syria as 'Targets'

By VOA News June 19, 2017

Russia says it will now treat all U.S.-led coalition planes in the air over Syria, west of the Euphrates, as targets after an American fighter jet for the first time in the six-year conflict shot down a Syrian military plane.

In a statement Monday, the Russian military also said it is suspending use of a hotline that that was set up to prevent any accidental military engagement.

Despite the Russian statement, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in Washington that officials are trying to re-establish their link to prevent potentially deadly accidents and that the de-confliction efforts have worked well in the past.

"The Russian Federation has indicated that their purpose in Syria, like ours, is to defeat ISIS," Dunford told reporters. "And we'll see if that's true here in the coming hours, because all of our operations in and around Raqqa and southern Syria are designed specifically to get after ISIS. We have agreed in the past, that is we and the Russian Federation Pro-Regime Forces, that operations that the coalition were conducting in Syria were effectively degrading ISIS capability and will work to restore that de-confliction chain in the next few hours."

Earlier, the Russian military alleged that "the command of the coalition forces did not use the established communication channel for preventing incidents in Syrian airspace." Moscow's reaction came a day after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian plane for bombing U.S.-backed fighters battling Islamic State.

The U.S. described its attack as an act of "collective self-defense of Coalition-partnered forces."

It said the Coalition "does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat."

The Pentagon said Sunday a Syrian SU-22 dropped bombs on Coalition-partnered fighters near the town of Tabqah.

A U.S. Super Hornet immediately responded and shot down the Syrian plane. There is no word on the pilot or any other casualties.

"What is this, if not an act of aggression?" Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said.

Frants Klintsevich, deputy head of the defense committee in Russia's upper house of parliament, said the defense ministry statement does not mean there will be war with the U.S. in Syria, but rather that Moscow will not accept attacks on its Syrian allies.

Earlier, Syrian forces attacked Coalition fighters in Ja'Din, wounding a number of fighters and driving them from the town. Coalition aircraft stopped the pro-regime forces from advancing on Ja'Din.

The Coalition said it contacted Russian commanders to set up a "de-confliction line" to prevent the fighting from worsening.

The dispute over the Syrian attack on the U.S.-backed fighters and the American response came as Iran launched ballistic missiles at Islamic State strongholds in eastern Syria in retaliation for a pair of attacks by extremists in Tehran earlier this month that killed 17 people.

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Ukraine's Poroshenko Hails Domestic Reforms As He Pushes Trump For Support

RFE/RL June 20, 2017

WASHINGTON -- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has praised his country's commitment to reforms as he meets with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.

Poroshenko's June 20 visit is being hailed by Kyiv as a small victory, since it comes ahead of Trump's own meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, set for next month in Germany.

But the U.S. administration has been decidedly playing down the visit, signaling a wariness of angering the Kremlin.

"We are really fighting to bring freedom and democracy. And with a very strong support in the security and defense sector, support of our reforms, support of my 45 million nation, of the country who is the biggest in the European continent, and I am absolutely confident that Ukraine is a story of success," Poroshenko told Trump during his meeting in the Oval Office.

Trump, in his brief remarks before reporters, praised the tenor of the meetings.

"We've had some very, very good discussions. It's going to continue throughout the day and I think a lot of progress has been made. It's a great honor to have you, Mr. President," he said.

Poroshenko did get a boost from the U.S. Treasury Department, which announced new sanctions against dozens of separatist fighters, leaders, and their allies, who have been fighting Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region for more than three years.

Prominent on the list of those targeted was a Russian named Dmitry Utkin, who is believed to be the head of an unregistered, private military-contracting agency that has recruited soldiers fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Also included was a company linked to Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman who has provided catering to the Kremlin. He was targeted by the Treasury Department last year.

Ahead of the meetings, Poroshenko said that he would be holding talks with top officials from the State, Defense, Commerce, and Energy departments.

"There never was such a powerful visit," Poroshenko said. "And precisely in order to have the opportunity to talk about our cooperation in the security, political, and economic spheres."

Poroshenko hailed the U.S. Senate's recent decision to introduce new sanctions against Russia, saying that measures were a civilized mechanism "to force the aggressor to get away from Ukraine" and withdraw troops and equipment.

The U.S. Senate last week voted overwhelmingly for the sanctions aimed at punishing Russia for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and to force Trump to get Congress's approval before easing any existing sanctions.

The sanctions legislation still must be approved by the House of Representatives. A vote is not yet scheduled.

Poroshenko's visit comes as the conflict between Ukrainian armed forces and the Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine is reportedly intensifying despite a peace deal known as the Minsk accord.

The Minsk peace agreement, brokered by France and Germany and signed by Russia and Ukraine in February 2015, calls for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines, and constitutional reforms to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy.

A United Nations report on June 13 said at least 10,090 people, including 2,777 civilians, have been killed during the conflict since it began in April 2014.

With reporting by Reuters and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-poroshenko-trump-visit/28564061.html

Copyright (c) 2017. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.

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Trump Says Much Progress Made in Discussions With Poroshenko

Sputnik News

18:55 20.06.2017(updated 19:21 20.06.2017)

The leaders of the United States and Ukraine have started their conversation in Washington.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik)  US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that he had very positive talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, during which the two leaders have achieved much progress.

"We had some very, very good discussions. It is going to continue throughout the day. I think a lot of progress has been made," Trump stated.

Poroshenko expressed confidence that effective cooperation between the United States and Ukraine can help establish lasting peace in Ukraine and "support its territorial integrity and sovereignty."

The Ukrainian leader praised Trump's global leadership during first five months of his presidency.

While in Washington, DC, Poroshenko is also set to meet with Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

"President Donald J. Trump met today with President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine to discuss support for the peaceful resolution to the conflict in eastern Ukraine and President Poroshenko's reform agenda and anticorruption efforts," the White House announced in a release.

 Sputnik

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Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has successfully completed a firing trial with the Long-Range Artillery weapon system (LORA), marking as part of the demonstration and validation phases of the system, under a number of procurement programs involve the system. On this experiment, the missile was launched from a cargo ship toward a target at sea.

LORA is an artillery weapon system which consists of a long-range, tactical ground-to-ground missile developed by IAIs MALAM division. It is intended for strike scenarios with a range of up to 400 km and boasts a precision range better than 10 meters.

The version tested was an operational, ground launched version, tested on a vessel to enable the Israeli company to demonstrate the weapons full range, in compliance with safety requirements for trials of this kind. The system on board consists of a command trailer and ground launcher. Following the launch, the missile has navigated its course to the designated location, striking the target with high precision. Both the weapon system and the missile have successfully met all objectives.

This was one of the most complexed trials we held over the past few years Boaz Levi, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Systems, Missiles and Space Group commented. The trial was held according to a full operational outline, including an assessment of the systems manoeuvring, terminal attack and precision. According to Levi, the impressive results attest for the systems maturity and advanced capabilities.
In this June 14, 2017, photo, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza responds to a reporter's question during an interview in her office about the state budget in Chicago.
Following the death of University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier, Rep. Tom Garrett, R-5th, has called for tougher sanctions against North Korea, as well as the nations placement on a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

Warmbier died Monday in Ohio after just being returned to the U.S. from North Korea, where he had been held for 17 months. The 22-year-old was in a coma when he was freed.

The entire UVa community, Virginia and the United States offer our most heartfelt sympathies for those close to Otto, Garrett said in a news release. He was a tremendously talented young man with a very bright future, and today, we mourn with you in his passing.

The congressman said the detainment and treatment of Warmbier has forced the nations hand and that the U.S. must take the appropriate measures to stop [North Korea and the Kim Jong-un administration] dead in their tracks.

As such, I call for the immediate placement of North Korea on the designated list of state sponsors of terror while lawmakers and President [Donald] Trump work towards a solution with China and other allies, Garrett said.

The United States has designated Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism. North Korea was removed from the list in 2008 after it agreed to continue disabling a plutonium plant and permit access for inspections to verify that it froze its nuclear program, according to CBS News.

Countries on the list are subject to restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance, a ban on defense exports and sales, certain controls over exports of dual-use items and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions, according to the State Department.
Its been almost three years since then-President Obama dramatically ramped up U.S. military operations against the so-called Islamic State, or ISIS as it then called itself. American troops were advising Iraqi forces fighting the jihadi militants in the western part of the nation; U.S. allies in the region were supporting anti-ISIS Syrian rebel groups inside that civil war-torn country while Russia was bombing anyone and everyone opposed to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

In other words, the United States was in the thick of an all-but-undeclared war.

Thats when Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine and his Republican colleague, Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, stepped in to reassert Congresss role as the only branch of government empowered by the Constitution to commit the nation to war.

The White House had been operating under whats known as an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) passed by Congress in wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that gave the president the power to pursue al-Qaida and its allies whenever and wherever they were to be found. Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan  all operations in those countries and others came under the purview of that 2001 AUMF.

But as the years dragged on, the rationale of basing virtually all U.S. anti-terrorism military actions on that 2001 act of Congress grew weaker and weaker. When Kaine was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2012, he quickly decided it was past time for Congress to reassert itself on the military police front, and he found an ally across the aisle in Republican Flake.

An AUMF is not a declaration of war, as defined by the Constitution. While a declaration of war is a blunt, last-resort policy tool that grants the commander-in-chief broad powers to wage war against another state, an AUMF is much more targeted to a specific purpose and has more parameters and boundaries written into it after consultation between Congress and the White House.

During the last 2 years of the Obama administration, U.S. military actions against the Islamic State increased as the terrorist organization increased its control over vast swaths of eastern Iraq and western Syrian, even going so far as to declare itself a caliphate.

And all that while, Kaine, a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, grew more and more unsettled with the presidents refusal to come to Congress for a new AUMF. Obama had submitted a proposed AUMF to Republican congressional leaders, but they considered it limited in scope militarily. The president considered their alternative too open-ended and non-specific as to goals, what would constitute victory and an exit strategy. Since then, its been a standoff with no action.

Now, the Trump administration is proposing dramatically increasing the U.S. militarys involvement in the fight against the Islamic State. The president has officially handed the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis broad powers to set policy in the fight, including the power to put additional U.S. troops on the ground.

Kaine and Flake are again leading efforts to bring Congress back into the picture, and it appears their colleagues finally may be listening. The New York Times is reporting the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, under the leadership of Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee, will starting discussing what an anti-Islamic State AUMF would look like, with deliberations beginning between now and the start of the Fourth of July recess.

It is past time for this move, and for it, we have Kaine and Flake to thank. Our troops deserve nothing less than a government united behind them.
MARTINSVILLE  In the mood for something different for lunch, but dont have time to try a new restaurant? Theres an alternative cooking at the New College Institute. For several Thursdays this summer, food trucks and vendors are setting up in NCIs parking lot near the plaza. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., people have a chance to try out different options.

This is not a fundraiser, said Stacy Peters, the colleges coordinator of corporate and community events. The New College Foundations purpose of Food Truck Thursdays is to bring awareness to NCI, to provide something new and fun for the community and to promote the use of the plaza at New College.

Peters emphasized it's not a fundraiser because that's typically what the New College Foundation does. While the operation itself is held at NCI, the New College Foundation actually approved it. What's the difference? The foundation was set up 11 years ago as a nonprofit group designed to help support NCI, through private fundraising and projects.

These summer Food Truck Thursdays don't happen every week. Right now, they're scheduled for June 22, July 13, July 27, Aug. 10 and Aug. 24.

When the idea first came about, Peters contacted the Health Department, who provided a list of licensed mobile food units in the area. Peters reached out to the food vendors, as well as a couple of craftsmen, and invited them to set up shop at NCI.

So far, its been around five each week, Peters said. We expect more for the future events since school is out for the summer and the vendors will have summer help.

For some, serving a delightful delicacy is a dream come true, both as a mobile unit and a brick-and-mortar eatery.

Its a lifelong dream to own The Wreath Loft and Cafe, said Deborah Adkins-Foley. I have always loved serving delicious food and seeing the joy a great meal can bring others.

At NCI, Adkins-Foley serves chicken salad croissants, salads, homemade cakes and cookies.

People continue to come back for more because we offer a quality product that is totally worth the price, Adkins-Foley said. We take pride in the products we offer and we only serve items we would want to purchase ourselves.

While the Wreath Loft and Cafe prides itself with offering healthy options for the Martinsville-Henry County community, other vendors offer southern comfort foods.

At NCI, the foods I offer are fish, shrimp, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, fries [and] drinks, said Joseph Ray of H and R Foods.

A relative introduced Ray into the food industry. As a husband and father of five boys, its an entrepreneurial way to make a living and support his family.

Starting H and R Foods was tough and although Im not out of the fire yet, I have breathing room, Ray said. Owning my own business is great. It gives me something to hand down to my kids and/or branch off of to build an empire.

While Ray said owning his business is harder than he initially imagined, its worth it when he sees repeat customers enjoying his food.

Its the taste, Ray said. We have other perks like competitive pricing and excellent customer service.

Joe Hylton said that he assumes two factors are why people keep coming back to his truck, Hylton Wood Cook Grilling: The food taste and quality.

Specializing in chicken and barbecue, as well as offering beef brisket plates with cole slaw, macaroni salad or green beans, the business initially came about after Hylton discovered a love for cooking.

I started cooking for family events and everyday life, Hylton said.

As both a father and grandfather, the former industrial technology teacher said that the business was another endeavor in self-employment that I enjoy.

No matter a persons reason for owning a small business or serving delicious meals, theyre all at NCI for the same purpose: to offer a variety of cuisine to the Martinsville-Henry County community in one central location.

The community seems to really enjoy Food Truck Thursdays, Peters said. The reaction from social media and face to face conversations at the event has been very positive and well received. I believe it is because it offers something different to enjoy outside. And who doesnt love good food?

The event has attracted people that work uptown, community groups and others, Peters said, noting that some of the food vendors have had so much success that theyve sold out of their products prior to the end of the event.

However, theres more than just food available at Food Truck Thursdays. There are games and music, as well as specialty vendors like Paparazzi Jewelry.

Even though the next event is quickly approaching, theres still time for area vendors to set up shop at NCI.

Food Truck Thursdays is an open invite to all of the mobile units and food locations in the area. The more the merrier, Peters said. The only requirement is that you must act as a legal business in the state of Virginia and [be] up to date on your health certifications.

Food Truck Thursdays take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the New College Institute, located at 191 Fayette Street. Upcoming dates are June 22, July 13 and 27 and August 10 and 24.
VANCOUVER, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - Kootenay Silver Inc. (TSXV: KTN) (the "Company" or "Kootenay") is pleased to announce that the Company is exercising its right under a Grub Stake Agreement (the "Grub Stake Agreement") with the Kennedy Group to acquire a 100% interest in the Mark Project located in southeast B.C. (the "Acquisition"). The Mark Project is comprised of 17 mineral tenures totaling approximately 14,093 hectares. Pursuant to the terms of the Grub Stake Agreement, in order to complete the Acquisition, the Company must issue 100,000 common shares to the Kennedy Group upon receipt of TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") approval. Following completion of the Acquisition, the Kennedy Group will retain an underlying 1% net smelter returns royalty, which can be purchased by the Company, in whole or in part, for $1,000,000 per each one-half percent (0.5%).

In conjunction with exercising the option to acquire the Mark Project, the Company is pleased to announce that it has entered into an earn-in agreement (the "Earn-in Agreement") with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Antofagasta plc. ("Antofagasta") whereby Antofagasta can, over a 4 year term, earn a 65% interest in the Mark Project by expending or incurring US$3 million (the "Earn-in Expenditures") in respect of the Mark Project (the "Earn-in Option"). Upon exercise of the Earn-in Option, a joint venture will form between the Company and Antofagasta, with industry-standard future funding and dilution terms. The exploration budget for year one under the Earn-in Agreement is anticipated to be US$150,000. Antofagasta has the right to accelerate payment of the Earn-in Expenditures.

Kootenay President and CEO James McDonald states, "This is an exciting new prospecting discovery in a belt of rocks that host some of the largest silver-copper deposits in North America. The similarity to the mineralization and geology at Mark to the deposits in Montana indicates excellent potential for the discovery of the first silver-copper deposit in the Canadian part of the basin. We are very much looking forward to advancing this project to drill stage and are pleased to have such a strong industry partner in Antofagasta providing financial and technical support."

The Mark Project is hosted in the same geologic formation that contains the large sediment hosted silver-copper deposits in Montana, where deposits such as Rock Creek and Montanore each contain in excess of 200 million ounces of silver and 1.5 billion pounds of copper with grades of 1.6 to 2.0 ounces per ton ("opt") silver and 0.72% to 0.74% copper within tonnages of 136 and 116 million tons, respectively. This geologic formation is called the Creston in Canada and the Revett in Montana, USA.

Thus far, silver and copper mineralization at the Mark Project has been found variably along an approximate 9 km strike length within quartzite's of the upper portion of the Revett equivalent Middle Creston Formation. Copper mineralization is visible as clots, disseminations, fractures fills, and also within quartz-carbonate-chlorite veins that cut the favourable quartzite package. Silver, which is not readily visible, occurs along with the copper. Mineral zoning, an important feature of the Revett hosted deposits in Montana, is evident at the Mark Project where core areas of bornite and chalcocite mineralization are flanked outboard by chalcopyrite, galena, and pyrite.

Limited rock sampling (28 samples) from 2016 returned elevated copper values up to 0.2% copper and up to 40 grams per tonne (about 1.3 opt) silver, with eight of the samples returning values greater than 500 ppm copper and 18 samples returning values above 100 ppm copper. Silver assays range from background to 40 grams per tonne (about 1.3 opt). Assays from 2017 work are not yet available but prospecting confirms the system is extensive and holds good discovery potential leading to the decision to acquire the project through the Grubstake agreement.

This is a greenfields, early stage, surface prospecting discovery and project and as such there is no assurance a drill target or targets will be generated or a drill discovery will be made.

Qualified Persons

The Kootenay technical information in this news release has been prepared in accordance with the Canadian regulatory requirements set out in National Instrument 43-101 (Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects) and reviewed on behalf Kootenay by James McDonald, P.Geo, President, CEO & Director for Kootenay, a Qualified Person.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

About Kootenay Silver Inc.

Kootenay Silver Inc. is an exploration company actively engaged in the discovery and development of mineral projects in the Sierra Madre Region of Mexico and in British Columbia, Canada. Supported by one of the largest portfolios of silver assets in Mexico, Kootenay continues to provide its shareholders with significant leverage to silver prices. The Company remains focused on the expansion of its current silver resources, new discoveries and the near-term economic development of two of its priority silver projects located in prolific mining districts in Sonora, State and Chihuahua, State, Mexico, respectively.

Neither the 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.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

The information in this news release has been prepared as at June 19, 2017. Certain statements in this news release, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", constitute "forward-looking statements" under the provisions of Canadian provincial securities laws. These statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expected", "may", "will" or similar terms.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Kootenay as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, known and unknown, could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by law, Kootenay expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any such statements to reflect any change in Kootenay's expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

Cautionary Note to US Investors: This news release may contain information about adjacent properties on which we have no right to explore or mine. We advise U.S. investors that the SEC's mining guidelines strictly prohibit information of this type in documents filed with the SEC. U.S. investors are cautioned that mineral deposits on adjacent properties are not indicative of mineral deposits on our properties. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. 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.

This press release uses the terms "Measured", "Indicated", and "Inferred" resources. United States investors are advised that while such terms are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission does not recognize them. "Inferred Mineral Resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence, and as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an Inferred Mineral Resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Under Canadian rules, estimates of Inferred Mineral Resources may not form the basis of feasibility or other economic studies. United States investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of Measured or Indicated Mineral Resources will ever be converted into Mineral Reserves. United States investors are also cautioned not to assume that all or any part of a Mineral Resource is economically or legally mineable.

SOURCE Kootenay Silver Inc.
VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - June 20, 2017) - Silver Range Resources Ltd. (TSX VENTURE: SNG) ("Silver Range") is pleased to provide results of a sampling and geologic mapping program conducted at the Stinson Property, north of Ely Nevada.

Work in April at the Ben Hur Mine defined the surface trace of shear-zone-hosted vein mineralization over a strike length of 100 m. Confirmatory sampling was conducted in the area which yielded a 50.1 g/t Au float grab sample during the initial property examination in September 2016 (Press Release dated November 7, 2016). A selected float grab sample of similar material returned 248 g/t Au and a chip sample across exposed hematite stained sheared quartzite returned 1.5 m @ 20.6 g/t Au. Grab samples from dump material at workings along the vein 50 metres southwest and northeast of this location returned 5.97 g/t Au and 5.15 g/t Au respectively. The vein is hosted in a north-striking, moderately east-dipping shear zone cutting Cambrian quartzite and is exposed underground in a cross-cut 40 metres east and down-dip of the surface exposures. Chip sampling of the partially exposed vein here returned 0.4 m @ 3.58 g/t Au. The crew was unable to sample mineralization in the production stopes because of poor ground conditions. A plan map and cross section showing sample locations and results can be found at www.silverrangeresources.com.

Additional claims were staked to cover open ground between the Ben Hur Mine and the Stinson Mine to the north. At the Stinson Mine, similar style mineralization occurs in Silurian to Ordovican dolomite. A chip sample collected at the Stinson Mine during initial examination in 2016 returned 3.8 m @ 2.57 g/t Au including 0.7 m @ 8.16 g/t Au (ibid.).

Mineralization at the Stinson and Ben Hur Mines may be related to hydrothermal activity associated with the intrusion of the Steptoe Warm Springs Pluton approximately 3 kilometres north of the property. Silver Range believes that shallow drilling could locate similar mineralization along parallel structures.

The sampling program described in this press release was conducted by Aurora Geosciences Ltd. under the supervision of Roger Hulstein, P.Geo. A total of 13 grab and chip samples were collected, 5 of which returned analyses greater than 5 g/t Au. Samples were secured and shipped in custody to ALS Minerals facilities in Reno NV for sample preparation and pulps were shipped to North Vancouver for assay. Rock samples were analyzed by Ultra-Trace Aqua Regia ICP-MS (ALS code ME-MS41) and fire assayed for gold (30 g sample) (ALS code Au-AA25). Technical information in this news release has been approved by Mike Power, M.Sc., P.Geo., CPG, President and CEO of Silver Range Resources Ltd. and a Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101.

Silver Range also announces that it has granted incentive stock options under its Incentive Stock Option Plan to its directors, officers, consultants and employees, entitling these individuals to purchase up to an aggregate 2,580,000 Silver Range shares at a price of $0.25 per share for a period of five years. All of these options are subject to vesting provisions under which 25% of the options will vest at the conclusion of each three months during the first year of the exercise period.

Silver Range is a precious metals prospect generator working in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Nevada. The company is actively seeking joint venture partners to explore the assets in its portfolio.

ON BEHALF OF SILVER RANGE RESOURCES LTD.

"Mike Power"

President, C.E.O. & 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.

This news release may contain forward looking statements based on assumptions and judgments of management regarding future events or results that may prove to be inaccurate as a result of exploration and other risk factors beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially from the expected results.
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwired - Jun 20, 2017) - Horizonte Minerals Plc, (AIM:HZM)(TSX:HZM) ('Horizonte' or 'the Company'), the nickel development company focused in Brazil, is pleased to announce that, further to the announcement on 6 March 2017, it has awarded further contracts for key parts of the Feasibility Study ('FS'), for its 100%-owned Araguaia nickel project ('Araguaia' or 'the Project').

The contracts awarded are as follows:

Steinweg Handelsveem (Latin America) S.A - Material transport and logistics

SM&A Electrics - Power infrastructure and power transmission line

VCE Mine Consultancy - Mining Permit reporting

The Feasibility Study is at an advanced state with a number of the principal work streams over 50% complete. The Company's strategy is to position itself as one of the lowest cost nickel producers globally. The Araguaia Project is designed to produce 14,500 tonnes per annum ('tpa') of nickel using the proven rotary kiln electric furnace technology ('RKEF').

Further Details

Horizonte has awarded contracts to the following groups to deliver the relevant infrastructure work and permitting for the Araguaia Feasibility Study:

Material Transport and Logistics - Steinweg Handelsveem (Latin America) S.A

Steinweg is a well-established company in Container and Break-Bulk Operations, in the non-ferrous world, soft commodities, general cargo, etc. with offices and operations in more than 70 locations worldwide. Founded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands in 1847 Steinweg has grown to a global network of offices and has a presence in Brazil since the 1980's. It is active in providing word wide logistics solutions including, forwarding, chartering, port operations, warehousing, processing, general and bulk cargo amongst other logistics relate services. Steinweg has extensive experience in the region around the Araguaia Project currently operating the logistics for a number of operating mines in the Carajas mining district.

Power infrastructure and power transmission line - SM&A Electrics

SM&A has developed a strong track record delivering complete electrical engineering solutions in Brazil since foundation in 2000. It has an experienced management team and an open range of electrical engineering activities, acting in various segments of industrial activities, such as steel, mining, cement, projects for infrastructure works, and power systems up to 345kV. The company undertakes work in the following areas: Conceptual projects, Basic and Detailed projects, operational commissioning and full operations.

Mineral concession legal report for Mine operation permitting - VCE Mine Consultancy

VCE is a consultancy based in Brazil, specialising in mine engineering and permitting. The company performs strategic planning, process optimisation and technical legal reports for mine operation permitting. VCE has worked for a number of flagship mining projects in the same region of Brazil as the Araguaia Nickel project which makes it well placed to undertake the current work.

The Araguaia Nickel Project

Araguaia, which is 100% owned by Horizonte, is located on the eastern margin of the State of Para, north-eastern Brazil, to the north of the town of Conceicao do Araguaia (population of 46,206), south of the main Carajas Mining District.

The Project has good regional infrastructure including a network of Federal highways and roads, with access to low tariff hydro-electric power. The Carajas Mining District, situated approximately 200km northwest of Araguaia, is host to a number of major iron and copper mines operated by mining major Vale SA.

The Pre-Feasibility Study ('PFS') released in October 2016 considers open pit mining for the exploitation of nickel laterite to establish the production of run of mine ('ROM') from eight open pits to supply a targeted 0.9 million tpa ('Mt/a') of ore to a processing and smelter facility. This facility will use the proven RKEF process with the product being sold at free on board ('FOB') at the selected port of export.

A Base Case of 0.9 Mt/a production throughput was selected because of the Company's objective to minimise the capital expenditure and overall capital intensity, and to optimise overall cash flow, payback, and the economics of the Project.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014.

For further information visit www.horizonteminerals.com.

About Horizonte Minerals:

Horizonte Minerals Plc is an AIM and TSX-listed nickel development company focused in Brazil, which wholly owns the advanced Araguaia nickel laterite project located to the south of the Carajas mineral district of northern Brazil. The Company is developing Araguaia as the next major nickel mine in Brazil, with targeted production by 2019.

The Project has good infrastructure in place including rail, road, water and power.

Horizonte has a strong shareholder structure including Teck Resources Ltd. 17.9%, Lombard Odier Asset Management (Europe) Limited 14.11%, Richard Griffiths 13.8%, JP Morgan 8.98%, Hargreave Hale 6.84% and Glencore 6.4%.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

Except for statements of historical fact relating to the Company, certain information contained in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the potential of the Company's current or future property mineral projects; the success of exploration and mining activities; cost and timing of future exploration, production and development; the estimation of mineral resources and reserves and the ability of the Company to achieve its goals in respect of growing its mineral resources; and the realization of mineral resource and reserve estimates. Generally, forward-looking information 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 statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forward-looking information is based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analysis and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, and are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to risks related to: exploration and mining risks, competition from competitors with greater capital; the Company's lack of experience with respect to development-stage mining operations; fluctuations in metal prices; uninsured risks; environmental and other regulatory requirements; exploration, mining and other licences; the Company's future payment obligations; potential disputes with respect to the Company's title to, and the area of, its mining concessions; the Company's dependence on its ability to obtain sufficient financing in the future; the Company's dependence on its relationships with third parties; the Company's joint ventures; the potential of currency fluctuations and political or economic instability in countries in which the Company operates; currency exchange fluctuations; the Company's ability to manage its growth effectively; the trading market for the ordinary shares of the Company; uncertainty with respect to the Company's plans to continue to develop its operations and new projects; the Company's dependence on key personnel; possible conflicts of interest of directors and officers of the Company, and various risks associated with the legal and regulatory framework within which the Company operates.

Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.
The Corvallis School Board voted to approve a $120 million budget for the 2017-18 school year Monday night at its last meeting of the school year. The budget includes no program cuts and keeps similar class sizes as the current school year.

The budget includes a $70 million general fund, of which 82 percent goes to staffing costs.

The budget passed by the board was approved by the districts budget committee in May and had no changes from the draft budget prepared by district staff.

Ryan Noss, the district's superintendent, said the Oregon legislature is now expected to allocate $8.2 billion to the state school fund for the next two fiscal years, which is a higher level of funding than what was assumed in estimates in the draft budget. The district would get about a $1 million more than it was expecting if that funding level goes forward.

Before the budget was approved, board member Scott Newsham made a motion that the district modify the proposed budget to take $208,000 from reserve funds and use it to expand funding for elementary school libraries so they could all be open six hours a day.

Newsham said he thought the district's targeted percentages for reserves, of 12.5 percent of the general fund, are too high, which is depriving students of things that would enhance their education.

"We are not funding basic needs," he said.

However, most of the board members said they supported being conservative about spending reserves.

Tom Sauret, also in his last meeting on the board, said during the recession the district avoided cuts as deep as those faced by other Oregon schools because of the district's reserves.

"It has been a hallmark of this board to be quite conservative, and I think that is wise," he said.

Alexis McQuillan, the departing board chair, said she thought the board should be more deliberate in asking educators about how to spend any funds above whatever had been budgeted, suggesting that more educational assistants was also an important need.

Newsham said he felt compelled to advocate for the district reconsidering its focus on reserves.

"We form a committee to make a decision, and it's a year before we get money to students," he said.

Vince Adams, one of only three members who will be on the board next year, said he didn't think it was fair to accuse board members who opposed adding funding to libraries of keeping money from kids, since they were trying to anticipate future funding shortfalls.

"We're not trying to be mean," he said. "We're not trying to keep money from kids. There will be a time when we need that money (to avoid laying off teachers)."

"I have trouble with people who are about to walk out the door trying to push us into fiscally irresponsible action," said Judy Ball, who also will remain on the board.

Newsham's motion to amend the budget ultimately failed, with only him voting for it. Bill Kemper, also in his last meeting, had seconded Newsham's proposal, but said he did it primarily so the board would discuss the proposal on the record, and to let incoming board members know this had been a discussion.

The budget was approved by a vote of six to one after that, with only Newsham opposed.

Denise Cardinali, a regular public observer at board meetings, said Nesham's proposal to modify the budget was the first one she'd seen in more than a decade of attending board meetings.
The imperative for developing countries to accelerate the implementation of Article 11 of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was highlighted by the Minister of Health and Quality of Life, Dr Anwar Husnoo, yesterday at the opening ceremony of a Sub-Regional Meeting on Graphic Health Warnings at Le Meridien Hotel in Balaclava. Article 11 of the FCTC requires Parties to the Convention to use large, rotating health warnings on all tobacco product packaging and labelling to deter smoking.

The use of large rotating pictorial health warnings on all tobacco product packaging and labelling as a cost-effective means of increasing public awareness about the dangers of tobacco use is at the fore of discussions at the three-day Sub-Regional Meeting on Graphic Health Warnings being organised by the WHO Regional Office for Africa in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life. It brings together representatives of Health Ministries and civil societies of 15 African countries to share experience, and discuss the way forward and how support can be provided to countries aiming at sensitising their population with large graphic health warnings.

In his address, the Minister deplored the use of enticing products by the tobacco industry to initiate and maintain addiction to its lethal products among consumers, especially the young people. He outlined the vulnerability of young people who are not mature enough to understand the dangers of tobacco use, and who underestimate the risk of becoming addicted to nicotine in the face of the tobacco industrys marketing strategies.

Referring to the alarming rate in the use of tobacco products in the developing world compared to high-income countries, Dr Husnoo pointed out that more than 80% of the world smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. In light of the situation, the Minister recalled that graphic pictures are more powerful deterrent than words, and that the use of pictorial health warning and messages on tobacco products packages has proved to be a very cost effective method to raise public health awareness on the harmful effects of tobacco use.

The Minister also briefed participants on the status of Mauritius as regards the implementation of Article 11 of the WHO FCTC. Since passing of relevant legislation in 2009, all cigarettes packages sold in Mauritius should bear one of the eight prescribed pictorial health warnings which must occupy 60% of the front display area and 70% of the black display area. Health warnings in both English and French are also displayed on 65% of the side display area.

He reiterated Governments commitment to fight the tobacco epidemic and gave assurance that Mauritius will soon be implementing new large rotating pictorial health warnings in line with WHO guidelines. According to these guidelines, Parties are recommended to rotate warnings and messages at a 12-24 months interval.

For his part, the WHO Representative in Mauritius, Dr Laurent Musango, commended Mauritius for being the first African country to have fully implemented the use of graphical health warning on tobacco product packaging. He urged other participating countries to champion the implementation of WHO FCTC, as the effectiveness of large pictorial health warnings on all tobacco product packaging and labelling in reducing tobacco consumption is widely acknowledged. WHO will continue to support all Parties to raise awareness on morbidity and premature mortality due to tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke, he said.
An unannounced VIP added some star power to Oregon State Universitys commencement ceremony on Saturday: Oprah Winfrey.

The actress, talk show host and billionaire media mogul watched the ceremony from a box in the loge level at Reser Stadium, posed for a picture with OSU mascot Benny Beaver and made a celebratory video with Letso Maepa, who graduated with honors and earned dual bachelors degrees in economics and sociology.

Maepa came to Oregon State in 2013 from the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, a boarding school for disadvantaged young women near Johannesburg, South Africa. Winfrey founded the school after a meeting with South African President Nelson Mandela.

Oregon States graduation was one of nine commencement ceremonies around the United States that Winfrey attended this year for her daughter girls, as she calls the students at her leadership academy.

It was a wonderful overture on her part, said Steve Clark, vice president for marketing and university relations at OSU.

Winfreys party, which also included Wild author Cheryl Strayed, had lunch at Big River Restaurant in downtown Corvallis before leaving town, Clark said.

Even though Winfrey was the highest-profile guest to attend an OSU graduation ceremony since first lady Michelle Obama gave the commencement address in 2012, the celebritys presence was not announced during the event in keeping with her wish to maintain a low profile.

That changed quickly, however, when pictures taken on the Corvallis campus began popping up on Winfreys Instagram account.

A still photo of the superstar posing with Benny Beaver garnered more than 72,000 likes on the social media platform, while a short video clip that captured a cap-and-gowned Maepa showing off her twin sheepskins as she and Winfrey chant Double diploma! Double diploma! got more than half a million views.

Oprah came quietly  at least that was her intent  to celebrate a student who had been part of her academy, Clark said. (But) she certainly added a lot of national attention and local attention to commencement.
(TNS) -- The state Department of Taxations new computer system has generated so many complaints from taxpayers and raised so many concerns among lawmakers that the Legislature this year stepped in to halt the flow of new funding into the project.Lawmakers this year refused a request from Gov. David Iges administration for $18 million in additional funding to continue the Tax System Modernization project, or TSM, forcing tax officials to scramble to find funds within the department that can be used in the year ahead to keep the project moving.A consultant hired to monitor state progress in replacing the critical computer system warned in a new report that if the state Department of Taxation cant persuade lawmakers to put up the necessary money next year, that would almost certainly mean the new system wont be completed.House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke, who struggled to use the new system to pay her own state excise taxes, said the interruption in funding should send a message to tax officials to fix the problems with the new system before they expand it to include individual income taxes. That expansion is scheduled for next year.Once you hit individual income tax, which is going to hit so many hundreds of thousands of people more, how are you going to be able to deal with the technical and computer problems that you encounter? asked Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu). In every instance they kept telling me that all of their problems have been solved, which has not been true. Im a (general excise) filer, and I knew for a fact that I still had problems.State Tax Director Maria E. Zielinski said slowing the project down would be the worst possible thing that we could do.It is critical to move TSM forward quickly because the old tax system doesnt work, Zielinski said. I mean, were using it, but people dont know it has already crashed twice in the past year. Because we do things behind the scenes, it may not be obvious to taxpayers, but this is a very fragile system.The department is deferring some planned purchases to help free up $2 million in the tax department budget that will be used to keep the modernization initiative moving in the year ahead, she said. The next phase of the project is scheduled to launch on Aug. 14 and will shift corporate income taxpayers and withholding taxes over to the new system.The state has spent an estimated $18.74 million on the program so far, and Zielinski said the project is on time and on budget. The tax modernization initiative is expected to cost a total of $60 million, and the final phase of the project is scheduled to launch in July 2019.Lawmakers repeatedly questioned tax officials this year about public complaints surrounding the launch last August of the second phase of the computer system, which shifted general excise taxes, hotel room taxes and motor vehicle rental taxes from the old system to the new.AdvanTech LLC, the consultant tasked with overseeing the project, said in its most recent report in May that some taxpayers had difficulty registering with the new system, a problem mostly related to security controls built into the new process.However, once taxpayers were registered, the filing and payment system worked as intended and the number of people registered to file excise taxes online increased from 70,000 under the old system to 93,000, according to AdvanTech. The consultant reported that the number of problems with the system and the turnaround for resolving them is in the normal range for implementation of this particular system in other states.Lawmakers, including Luke and Republican Rep. Gene Ward, paint a different picture of the August rollout, recounting their own problems with the new system as well as complaints from others.Luke, who pays excise tax on rent from a condo she owns, recalled how she asked the system to send her security code to her phone, and it never arrived, which prevented her from registering for a time. When she asked where the code went, tax officials told her they didnt know, but they acknowledged the texting feature was not working for some phone carriers.Staff in the tax offices on the neighbor islands were unable to answer questions of many excise tax filers because the workers had not been fully trained, Luke said, and those taxpayers had to be referred to the centralized call center, which was overwhelmed.Concerns about those problems prompted lawmakers to withhold the $18 million requested by the Ige administration this year, and to pass House Bill 1414 requiring an audit of the modernization project. Lawmakers also transferred a half-dozen of the key tax department staff involved in the project to the Office of Enterprise Technology Services, where they will work under the supervision of state Chief Information Officer Todd Nacapuy.Luke said she believes the tax department established a series of deadlines for implementing components of the system, and is declaring the project to be a success if it meets those deadlines. Thats not what we should be doing, Luke said. Just because you met the deadline doesnt mean it is successful.Since the system depends on voluntary taxpayer compliance, the system needs to be user friendly to encourage people to file and pay, she said. I mean, Department of Taxation has to understand theyre there for the users.Zielinski said the new system has new security features that caused some problems for people trying to register and use it. The department knew there would be calls and visits from taxpayers with questions about it but I think we werent as proactive in what we needed to do. I think we didnt expect that kind of initial volume, she said.Since then the department made registration more user friendly for taxpayers, and the average time to register is now 18 minutes, which Zielinski described as pretty good. The department also beefed up its call center from 16 people last year to the low 20s today, and made improvements in its automated phone answering system, she said.Its all about customer service, we get that, she said. She said the Tax Department will return to the Legislature next year to ask for more funding to complete its computer modernization program.The consultant AdvanTech noted that the TSM project is undergoing particular scrutiny because it is highly visible, and because some major state information technology projects failed in the past. One example involves the Tax Department itself. The department launched a system modernization effort in 1999, and eventually paid CGI Group Inc. $87.5 million to install what state officials later described as an already outdated computerized tax collection system.Tax officials began rolling out the first phases of the entirely new tax system last year under a $59 million contact with Fast Enterprises.
(TNS) -- The Springfield-Beckley Municipal Airport now has new mobile radar equipment to research unmanned aircraft as part of $5 million state and federal grants.The equipment and grant will be used to test beyond line of sight operation, said Art Huber, deputy director of operations with the Air Force Research Laboratory. Currently drones can only be flown in the line of sight of the pilot but the research will test flying them further and using radar and other technology to avoid crashes.The Federal Aviation Administration requires that you be able to avoid airborne collisions with other traffic in the airspace, Huber said.Thats called see and avoid. Every pilot has that responsibility, Huber said, but pilots cant do that with a drone they cant see.We are looking for means to enable that operator, who is on the ground, who is separated from his aircraft, to be able to do the see-and-avoid function, Huber said.That could be accomplished in a variety of ways, he said, like with multiple observers. Someone else could see the drone and radio back to the pilot in charge to tell him which way to turn to avoid traffic.Another way is a chase airplane. Someone could follow the drone and look out for other traffic and command the drone to change its course.A third way would be to put sensors on board the drone and have it look for other traffic, Huber said. That test is very expensive and the technology is not quite there yet to do that reliably.But Huber and his partners believe they have found a way to perform the see-and-avoid function successfully.It enables the pilot to see the wide area thats out there that even aircraft goes beyond his visual line of sight, he could still have situational awareness about where that aircraft is and other traffic is to avoid it, Huber said.That is beyond line of sight operation and it could make a big difference for many industries,The project would use airspace from Dayton, Columbus and London, Ohio. It would monitor those fields in order to fly a drone.The new technology could help the military, commercial and civil industries.You can imagine you are an Amazon or Google or some other company that wants to deliver a product using a drone, Huber said. They have to solve this problem  being able to deliver from many miles from some central distribution point to the customer and do that without seeing everywhere that drone is traveling.David Gallagher, chief of staff at Ohio/Indiana UAS Center and Test Complex, which is headquartered in Springfield, said it could help those industries located in the Miami Valley.They bring in people from other parts of the country to test their systems so this will allow an environment for people to test their aircraft, he said. We believe that will attract more business and bring jobs to Ohio.The best way to test beyond line of sight, they believe, is at the Springfield airport using the new mobile radar unit in a trailer to track the unmanned aircraft.A study called Oasis was done a few years ago, Huber said, and it found there was a common interest between the state of Ohio and Air Force Research Lab.The two entities came together and found Springfield was the best area to accomplish its goals.Springfield is a relatively rural setting, small towns, lots of farm land  we have minimized the risk by being here, Huber said.The program has been going on for about a year and a half and after more research is done, it will be presented to the Federal Aviation Administration.After we conduct our experiments and gather data, we need to make our application to the FAA. I imagine it will take another six to nine months for that to be granted, Huber said.If it is granted, then Huber and his partners will be able to operate and conduct more research and later bring in universities and firms to help.It will be the first of its kind to operate in unrestricted airspace, Huber said, which is uncommon but would allow many people and companies to flock to the area to test operations.Testing will begin in about a month at the Springfield airport and it will later be presented to the FAA once completed.
(TNS) -- The job title may lack a certain zing, and it's probably not what most 5-year-olds want to be when they grow up.For non-business folks who watched primetime TV in the '90s, it might even conjure up those scenes on Friends when nobody knew what their longtime buddy Chandler Bing did for a living.But embarking on a career as a data analyst, data scientist or database manager is a surefire way to become among the nation's most-sought-after and highest-paid employees, industry data show.With those benefits in mind, the Community College of Allegheny County announced that it's offering a new associate's degree of science program in data analytics technology . Courses begin this fall.The program was developed in collaboration with local employers to meet the growing need for trained analysts, said Jeffrey Thomas, dean of academic affairs for CCAC's North Campus and West Hills Center.According to Thomas, the addition makes CCAC the only college in the state and among a handful of colleges in the country to offer an associate's degree in data analytics. Westmoreland County Community College does not offer such a program nor similar types of courses, spokeswoman Pamela Hollick said.CCAC officials described the new option as a great choice for those with a head for problem-solving and an attention to detail. They noted students who complete the degree could choose to pursue more advanced big-data skills through a related bachelor's degree and find openings across a wide range of sectors, including e-commerce, finance, government, health care and communications.Students will learn about tools and methods for evaluating complex business scenarios, coordinating data analytics projects and pinpointing trends and correlations using large datasets. Coursework spans business, macroeconomics, introductory programming, statistics and data visualization.Similar programs are increasingly popping up at community colleges nationwide and taking off at four-year universities, Inside Higher Ed reports Data scientist, data engineer and analytics manager were deemed among the top five jobs to have in 2017 , USA Today reported last month, based on an online survey measuring earning potential, employee satisfaction and job availability.Analysts can start at salaries topping $50,000 to $70,000 a year, and the typical data scientist earns more than $120,000 annually, according to data by career websites Indeed.com and Glassdoor.CNBC has gone as far as to dub data analyst the sexiest job of the 21st century. So sorry, 1990s Rachel from Friends, but seems like Chandler gets the last laugh (His character, by the way, was an IT procurement manager specializing in statistical analysis and data reconfiguration. Not a transpondster ').Fall classes in CCAC's new data analytics technology degree program have opened for enrollment. For more information, go to CCAC.edu or call 412-369-3600.
(TNS) -- Nevada displayed its dedication to refining autonomous vehicles, with the passage of and signing of Assembly Bill 69 , industry officials said.AB69 strengthens the states efforts in policy, as well as the research and development of fully autonomous vehicles. Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the bill into law on Friday, after it passed the Legislature with industry support from various automotive groups including General Motors, the Self-Driving Coalition  including Waymo, Uber, Lyft, Ford and Volvo  and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.AB69 is an important step forward for self-driving in Nevada, said David Strickland, general counsel for the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets. We applaud Gov. Sandoval and state lawmakers for enacting this crucial legislation, which will update existing statutes to permit the testing and commercial public deployment of fully self-driving vehicles while also supporting innovation and promoting competition."The legislation allows for testing and operations of fully autonomous vehicles; simplifies and clarifies the legal authority for entities testing or operating autonomous vehicles in Nevada; authorizes commercial use of fully autonomous vehicles; authorizes testing and operations of driver-assistive platooning technologies.Sandoval said that AB69 will help ensure that Nevada is the leader in the future of fully autonomous vehicles. With safety at the forefront, we have created the opportunity for innovative companies to not only test and operate their autonomous vehicles in our state, but also to conduct the research and development, in partnership with our universities, that will move driverless technology from exciting concept to reality, Sandoval said.Testing for the first completely autonomous, fully electric shuttle to ever be deployed on a public roadway in the U.S. took place in downtown Las Vegas in January. Arma , the driverless vehicle developed by the Paris-based company Navya, made trips down Fremont Street for just over a week. The vehicle held a dozen passengers and operates at up to 27 miles per hour. During the test run, the shuttle was limited to 12 mph.Steve Hill, director of the Governors Office of Economic Development, said the signing of AB69 showed the governor's push toward technology and the industry developments within it.In working closely with industry, this legislation was crafted to ensure safety is and would remain the paramount focus in fostering the driverless industry. Hill said. Through that, Nevada is quite simply the place to be for testing and deploying this exciting, safety-enhancing technology.
Recent development

Wheres the green?

Electrical backbone

(TNS) -- BRUSH PRAIRIE  Urban Oaks, a subdivision near Prairie High School, springs out from the fields. Its more than 100 homes are new, sleek and modern; but their most important trait may be that they are being purchased.They are energy-efficient homes. Most dont show the telltale solar panels on the roof, but they are built airtight and are primed for all sorts of energy savings. Developer Troy Johns said it only seemed recently that buyers started showing interest in these features.When we started building these eight years ago, it was kind of a new concept and people were like Eh, all right,  said Johns, who founded Urban NW Homes in 2008. Now, 30 to 40 percent of our homebuyers are coming for these types of houses.Homes are changing in Clark County, trending toward more energy efficiency and automation. Ask a homebuilder about these trends and the conversation sounds like it could take place at a car dealership.Its like the (Toyota) Prius versus a Corolla, said Tony Marnella, whose company Marnella Homes builds energy-efficient homes. The Prius is probably more expensive than the Corolla, but its no matter to some people because thats what they want.Homes at Urban Oaks vary in size and style. Thats mostly a manifestation of Johns philosophy that neighborhoods be inclusive to different classes, so the homes there range in price more than usual, he said.They all have a few things in common, though. Each home can be easily outfitted with solar panels and become net-zero, meaning it generates as much electricity as it consumes.Its the sort of feature that Vancouver resident Peggy Ellis said she had hoped to find in a home for decades, but only now has been able to actually purchase. Ellis and her husband, Lyle Bush, are building a net-zero home in Felida through Urban NW Homes.Theres the expression It takes green to be green. I do think theres some truth to that, she said. But not as much as a few years ago. Today, she said, the technology is there and it doesnt cost much more to do it.Part of the price drop is a byproduct of the changing home market. Mike Selig, a program development manager for Clark County Building Safety, said building codes have been updated across the country, requiring homes to meet a tighter standard.It was a challenge for some builders, he said. Others saw it as the new way they were going to be building homes.With builders pushed to adopt newer building codes, there are also more subcontractors capable of building energy-efficient homes. Labor costs that used to be marked up are now dropping, Johns said.There are ways that we frame houses that, when we started doing this eight years ago, it was brand new and nobody had done it before, he said. Eight years ago, it cost us (an extra) $10,000 per house. Now the costs are way down.In 2010, Clark County officially adopted the National Green Building Standard as its preferred certifier of energy-efficient homes. Though its voluntary to get certified, the NGBS reports that just nine homes were certified between 2010 and 2014; but between 2015 and today, 152 homes have been certified, with another 71 in the process.Though these homes are becoming cheaper, they are still more expensive than homes that are built at the standard building code.To build for energy efficiency, builders spend extra on features like blown-in insulation that help seal the air currents in the home. They take added measures to keep moisture out. They use less wood, too, so the homes need more engineering.Marnella said he hoped prospective buyers weigh the price of an energy-efficient home against the money they will save on a utility bill.If someones trying to pay anywhere from 3 to 5 percent more, youve got to be able to make that return on investment within three to five years, he said. The national consumer research shows they are willing to spend extra if theres an ROI in a shorter period of time.But even if they are more energy conscious, said Terry Wollam, managing broker at ReMax Equity Group in Vancouver, hes not seeing a sea change in the habits of would-be homebuyers. A lot of them still prefer the cheaper house built to the standard building code, he said.The broad brush stroke is: Is it important to them? Yes. Are they willing to pay for it? Not really, he said. There are a lot of people that buy homes built by national builders that meet building codes, and theyre not doing anything beyond building homes.Big national builders are offering more energy-efficient homes than they used to, however. Miami-based Lennar Homes, the second-largest homebuilder in the United States, has only had a presence in Clark County since 2009. Chris Kincaid, its vice president of marketing, said Lennar is constructing more energy-efficient homes here because governments and consumers both want it.The green home demand is full-on and its not going back, he said. Part of that reason is consumer demand, and part of that reason is code-driven, he said. Its resonating well with the customer.Another new concept gaining a toehold is automation. While futurists predict drone landing pads will someday come with our high-rise apartments, todays technology is already playing a role in the housing market.For example, smart thermostats, such as Nest, are becoming more and more in demand, said Tony Curtis, who owns Better Home Technologies in Vancouver. The device studies its owners and varies its heating and cooling based on their habits.A big seller for Curtis are moisture sensors. The quarter-sized devices, he said, can help a homeowner detect black mold before it festers or learn about a leaky pipe while away. The sensors are bundled with security cameras that can be used on smartphones.If the moisture sensor in the laundry room was triggered, on the app you flip over to a separate screen in the house and see if youve got water flowing, he said. Then you can call your neighbor.Curtis said this has always been talked about in his industry.We were talking about this in the 90s, he said. We were told refrigerators were going to do all the grocery shopping in the future.To that end, Johns, the head of Urban NW Homes, said the future is already here.Homes at Urban Oaks come with a backbone,  high-speed wiring to connect appliances to the internet. He said he used to only have to worry about getting water to the refrigerators; now he has to get them fiber optics.
(TNS) -- The opening of the Golden 1 Center downtown last fall was billed as a rare opportunity for Sacramento Regional Transit to attract new riders. The agency stepped up its game, scrubbing trains, bolstering security and improving customer service.By many accounts, it made a good impression. Yet new numbers show SacRT ridership on buses and trains has dropped 12 percent since last summer.What happened?The answer is simple. The transit agencys ongoing challenges are bigger than an arena, and will require more work to address than an image upgrade.While light rail trains did carry 1,700 fans on some arena nights, that amounts to only a small slice  about 2 percent  of daily transit travel, and those riders materialize only when the arena is hosting major events.SacRT has been losing ridership almost annually for seven years  a 30 percent decline since 2010. American Public Transit Association data show that transit ridership is dwindling in most other cities as well.Dan Sperling, founder and head of the Institute of Transportation Studies at UC Davis, who is writing a book about revolutions in transportation, says public transit in America is at a pivotal juncture.The story is of transit under great duress, he said. Transit is under great risk of shrinking. That is not in anyones interest.Nationally, transit experts point to many factors, including low gas prices that cause more people to get back in their cars. Others point out that poorly funded transit agencies, SacRT included, dont provide sufficient service to be useful to many.The most provocative possibility is what transit officials call the Uber phenomenon. App-based ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft have arrived on the scene in cities across the country, siphoning riders from traditional, or legacy, transit.Ride-hailing companies do not release ridership details, but an Uber spokesman told The Sacramento Bee earlier this year his company has 2,000 drivers signed up in Sacramento. The streets around Golden 1 Center during event nights tell a story. Cars with U stickers or pink mustache stickers on windows frequently roll through the area, picking up and dropping off fans.Ride-hailing allows people to hit a button on their cellphone and be picked up within minutes right where they stand, and then be dropped off directly at their destination. The price is typically higher than a bus fare, but the convenience improvement is obvious.Jim Corless, head of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments regional planning group, says transportation is dealing with a generational disruption.This disruption technology and the drop in ridership numbers means that every transit provider across the country has to rethink their business model, he said. They have to understand their competitive advantage.It may be what RT can do best is serve high-frequency, high-volume corridors. Nothing will ever beat a frequent, safe and reliable bus or train ... that can move volumes of people.While the ride-hailing phenomenon represents a challenge, transit experts say it also provides an inspiration and potential collaboration opportunities.SacRT has been putting its toe in those waters. The agency teamed up on a test basis with Uber, Lyft and Yellow Cab this winter, offering discount vouchers for light rail riders to take ride-hail services to and from transit stations. Regional Transit officials say they do not have data yet for how that turned out.Lyft spokeswoman Darcy Nenni also did not offer an analysis of how that went, but, in an email to The Bee, called it a great learning experience for us and SacRT.We hope to continue working with them on future endeavors, Nenni said.Devra Selenis, SacRT communications head, said she envisions a day when a single phone app will tell a person their best bet is to grab an Uber to a light rail station and allow the person to pay for both with a single tap on the phone.Transit agencies say they realize they must become more tech-friendly in order to attract millennials and future generations of new riders.SacRT recently added smartphone payment apps, and last week joined eight smaller local transit agencies in introducing Connect Card, an ATM-like universal card that riders can use at any of those agencies. Peter Tateishi, president of the Sacramento Metro Chamber, suggests transit agencies might be even bolder by considering merging more of their operations.But transit officials acknowledge their challenges go far beyond Uber. SacRTs existing bus route system is out of date. The agency has launched a bus route analysis that likely will result next year in the most dramatic route changes in the agencys history.Travel patterns have shifted, but our bus routes havent shifted, chief operating officer Mark Lonergan said. That is why we talk about a clean slate.SacRT has begun meeting with business leaders on how to attract and retain young people who are less inclined to own cars, and are interested in using transit if it works for them, according to SacRT consultant Wendy Hoyt, who has been pushing SacRT to be more entrepreneurial.The Metro Edge business group, made up of young professionals, conducted a survey that shows transportation issues are members No. 1 concern, up from No. 3 the previous year. That suggests there is an opportunity for SacRT to gain some footing.Rachel Zillner, Metro Edge chair, uses light rail at times. She said she loves Uber, but considers the ride-hailing service partially a Band-Aid for the transit connection that is not there yet.SacRT officials say the ridership slide is a catalyst for reinvention. The biggest drop in its ridership came in 2010, when the financially strapped agency cut service more than 20 percent. The agency took another ridership hit last year when it raised fares.That points to another long-standing problem: the lack of sufficient, ongoing funding for public transit, SacRT officials said.The agency had hoped to get an infusion of money last year from a countywide sales tax measure, but that proposal lost at the ballot box. SacRT and others in transportation circles locally are talking about trying again, especially if they can pass legislation to lower the required voter approval threshold from the current two-thirds.Nailah Pope-Harden of the Capital Region Organizing Project, which works in disadvantaged neighborhoods, said that a lot of the riders SacRT lost over the last few years are poorer people who feel abandoned by the agency as it focuses on attracting millennials.Agency officials say they realize their mission includes serving people who dont have cars, but say they need new, higher-income riders to help fund service that can be used by everyone.Even with new funds, progress will be incremental, they say.It may take some time for people to come back, said SacRT executive Laura Ham. It may happen gradually.
Ryan McCauley was a staff writer for Government Technology magazine from October 2016 through July 2017, and previously served as the publication's editorial assistant.
The First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet), which earlier this year partnered with telecom company AT&T to build out its nationwide network for public safety officials over the next five years, announced the early rollout of individual plans to rapidly deploy that system to 56 U.S. states and territories.These plans, which can be personalized to states and territories, arent the last word from FirstNet or AT&T, which will deepen its collaboration and continually update and improve the network during the 25-year contract.But the Monday, June 19 announcement comes three months ahead of schedule for FirstNet  which had six months to deliver state plans from the time it partnered with AT&T in late March  and is a milestone likely to evoke a response from states that have not yet decided to join.Governors should begin receiving their plans shortly and can join the network after reading them, FirstNet Senior Adviser Bill Schrier told. Otherwise, theyll have until early August to review and return them with comments.AT&T is expected to make any revisions and issue a final plan for each state sometime in September. At that point, governors will have 90 days  until sometime in December  to decide whether their state or territory will opt in or out of FirstNet "With this step, we're ready to deliver the first nationwide network for public safety, by public safety," FirstNet CEO Mike Poth said in a statement . "This network will drive innovation, security and interoperability for public safety across the country. It's what EMS [emergency medical services], fire and law enforcement spent years fighting for and need right now."In good times and bad, Schrier told, existing cellphone and Internet service options frequently put first responders  police and law enforcement agencies, firefighters and EMS personnel  on par with citizens and businesspeople.Cell sites can typically handle up to 1,000 people at any given time without becoming overloaded  but in times of stress, traffic backs up, slowing or stopping.One thing I often talk about is when the Seattle Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2014, we had a victory parade in downtown Seattle and the cellular networks were overloaded . This will fix that, said Schrier, who also is the former CIO for the Seattle Police Department.States that join FirstNet will receive AT&Ts quickest LTE broadband service where its available. Areas where its not available will receive its fastest-available service, either 3G or 4G  though AT&T plans to upgrade its entire nationwide network to LTE over the next five years.But theyll also receive priority over citizens and businesses  and, sometime before the end of 2017, will have pre-emption authority allowing them to bump residents and commercial users off the network during emergency situations.I dont expect that to happen very often. Youd have to have a very congested network, Schrier said.Other upgrades planned for next year include an evolved packet core due around March of 2018 that will provide first responders with end-to-end encryption of their messages, and the ability for incident commanders to prioritize their own first-responder users during a disaster.FirstNet users, who already have a dedicated AT&T help desk, will later receive their own dedicated operations center, as well as Identity Credentialing and Access Management, which will uniquely identify first responders allowing them to use the devices of others during a disaster.FirstNet, created in 2012 to build, deploy and operate a nationwide broadband network for public safety agencies, is an independent authority within the U.S. Department of Commerce. Its investment, funded by Congress, is $6.5 billion; AT&T is expected to spend about $40 billion over the life of the contract.The network rollout has not been entirely drama-free. Also in March, the agency announced resolution of litigation brought by Rivada Mercury, a partnership of companies created specifically for the FirstNet project, alleging it was unfairly dismissed from the procurement process.At least five states  Alabama, Arizona, Colorado , Michigan and New Hampshire  have issued requests for proposals (RFPs) to explore opting out of FirstNet . New Hampshire selected Rivada Networks as its vendor in 2016.Brian Shepherd, point of contact at Colorado, which issued its RFP on March 24, called for creativity and innovation from potential bidders.We believe the full benefit of this network lies not only in providing a solution for first responders, but in enabling a comprehensive statewide critical communications infrastructure that can support multiple services, Shepherd said at the time.FirstNet proponents understandably see things differently. Former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge called joining the network one of the most economical and technologically advanced decisions a leader can make.The network will help transform how the nation's fire, law enforcement and EMS personnel communicate. First responders will be able to coordinate and respond more quickly and effectively during emergencies and everyday situations, Ridge said in the June 19 statement.Schrier toldthat issuing their own RFPs could actually help states gain a better understanding of the process, and the cost involved in opting out and creating their own high-speed broadband plans for first responders.An RFP can actually be a good thing for some states because it allows them to explore other options," he said. "The options are fairly onerous. AT&T will do this at no charge."
A treasure trove of personal data

Hackers dressed as ISIS fighters

Searching for state voting systems

Bolstering defenses

(TNS) -- Two months before the U.S. presidential election, international hackers slipped into the computer systems of at least four Florida school district networks in the hopes of stealing the personal data of hundreds of thousands of students.They infected the systems with malware  malicious software  that turned off the logs recording who accessed the systems, according to United Data Technologies, the Doral-based cybersecurity company that investigated the incidents. For three months, the hackers probed the systems, mapping them out and testing their defenses. At one point, they even posted photos of someone dressed as an ISIS fighter on two school district websites.They werent just looking for the names of kids and valuable Social Security numbers, UDT found. The hackers were also searching for some way to slip into other sensitive government systems, including state voting systems.Luckily, the hackers  from Morocco, not Moscow  never found one or managed to get their hands on personal data. But the attempted hacking exposed the vulnerabilities of Floridas school district networks: vast computer systems that store sensitive information on thousands of students, and their parents, and could potentially provide a backdoor into other government systems. Amid the national obsession with the alleged Russian hacking during the U.S. election and the constant stream of headlines on corporate data breaches, like the ones at Target and Chipotle , experts say the dangers of cyber attacks targeting school districts are being overlooked.School districts around the country have been hit with cyber attacks in recent years.In 2015, for example, the computer system of a New Jersey school district was held for ransom by a foreign hacker who demanded 500 bitcoins  about $128,000  to hand control of the system back to school administrators, according to the technology news site FedScoop In a separate incident that year, three high school seniors in New York were accused of hacking into their schools computer system to change grades and schedules.And in Florida, state standardized testing was interrupted in 2015 when hackers overwhelmed a testing vendors server with traffic, making computer screens go blank. Students in Florida, like their peers in other states, have also broken into school servers to change grades.Verizons 2017 Data Breach Investigations Report, which provides a snapshot of cybersecurity incidents across the country, recorded 455 security incidents in the education sector last year.There are hackers  like students seeking to change grades  who specifically target schools. But in most cases, they arent after a particular government agency or company, said Mike Sanchez, chief information security officer at UDT. Unless they have a real motivation to bring you down, theyre looking for the low-hanging fruit, theyre scanning for vulnerability, Sanchez said.And for hackers, school networks are a gold mine.A large school district like Miami-Dade, which was one of the districts targeted in the attempted hack last fall, handles the personal information, including Social Security numbers, of hundreds of thousands of current and former students, along with data on thousands of employees and parents.Unlike corporations with trade secrets and data to protect, many school districts have set up systems to make connectivity easy. With free Wi-Fi in school buildings and a generation of students glued to their smartphones, there are thousands of opportunities for a hacker to gain access to a school network. Students downloading free apps on their phones or hopping from one school computer to the next can spread a computer virus faster than the flu during flu season.Theres always this want to have open access and it is a learning environment so some things that corporate America does just by rule we wouldnt apply in an education environment, said Paul Smith, the Miami-Dade school districts director of data security. Were talking hundreds of thousands of devices on our network. Thats one of the challenges that we face.And the data school districts handle is particularly valuable to cyber criminals.If youre trying to steal identities or cobble together identities, if you can get a persons name, date of birth, home address, youre starting to get a fairly complete record, said Michael Kaiser, the executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance. Think of the things school districts have  its more than many businesses.Students Social Security numbers are particularly valuable, said Yair Levy, a professor at Nova Southeastern University who researches cybersecurity.High school kids, almost all of them have a very clean slate when it comes to credit scoring. So theyre trying to gain access to a large volume of teenagers [information] that can help them down the road, he said. These guys have time. Theyre willing to wait a year, two years before they can actually monetize that data.And on the dark web, these Social Security numbers sell for $25 to $35 a piece, Sanchez said. The information from just one school could easily be worth more than $10,000.That appears to have been one of the principal motivations for the hackers who sent malware to Florida school districts last fall  the promise of thousands of untarnished Social Security numbers.The attacks began with an email message containing an image that, once clicked, activated a code that sent malware into the system.The malware went undetected for several months as the hackers conducted reconnaissance, according to UDT.Then in November, a photo of someone who appeared to be one of the hackers dressed as an ISIS fighter went up on a school district website. It stayed there for about 24 hours. The following month, the same photo flickered onto another school districts website.The districts contacted UDT, and in early December the company discovered the malware.What they found was troubling.The hackers had been able to turn off the logs recording who entered certain computer systems and what they did while logged on. That made it difficult for the UDT analysts to know, with total certainty, what the hackers had done. It was a sophisticated maneuver that Sanchez and his team had never seen before.UDT contacted the FBI and re-engineered the malware so it was no longer a threat. The analysts found no evidence that any data had been taken. The FBI declined to comment on the incidents or on cyber crimes in general.Smith said Miami-Dade was one of the districts targeted in the attempted hack, but UDT would not identify the other school districts. The hackers also targeted a Florida city network with a similar attack.In Miami-Dades case, Smith said, the hackers put one of the ISIS-inspired photos on a school district website, but Miami-Dade didnt find any evidence of malware or access to its computer systems. I would say if anything it was an attempted hack, Smith said. But it was raised up to law enforcement and we did go through all the systems.As UDT conducted its investigation, the company learned that Social Security numbers werent the only thing the hackers appeared to be after.On a site hackers use to brag about their exploits, the hackers said they were trying to get into voting systems hosted by Diebold voting platforms. They wanted to bring down what they thought were state voting systems.But in this case, the hackers did not appear to be Russian. Instead, UDT identified them as a Morocco-based group called MoRo. UDT said there is no evidence the hackers had any connection to the Moroccan government.The Moroccan hackers were far from the only ones trying to access election systems last fall. Russian hackers tried to break into the computer systems of at least five Florida county elections offices days before the 2016 presidential election.By the time the Moroccan hackers posted online about voting systems, in December, the election had come and gone. The hackers never found what they were looking for. But their message was clear, Sanchez said. If they wanted to, the hackers could get into school district systems. And once they get into one government network, cybersecurity experts say, its easier for hackers to find a backdoor into others.That is a very common tactic, Kaiser said. A school district network almost likely is attached to other networks in the town or city or even the state, depending on how the network is set up.For example, a hacker could steal the log-in information for a system administrator who also has access to other government networks, Kaiser said, or use that persons email account to send emails infected with malware to government employees at other agencies, tricking the recipient into believing the sender also works for the government.There are a lot of different techniques that they might use in that situation and getting into the network opens all of that up, Kaiser said.Sanchez from UDT said that in mapping out school district networks, the company has discovered connections between school computer systems and different county and city systems. The connections are easy for school districts, caught up in the day-to-day stuff, to miss, Sanchez said.Sometimes the school districts dont have all of the right tools in place or the right knowledge to map out these networks, he said.Its impossible for school districts to protect against every potential threat, experts say.For one thing, everyone from the cafeteria worker to the school principal has access to at least some student information.In 2014, a fired Miami-Dade schools cafeteria worker was sentenced to almost seven years in prison for stealing the personal information of hundreds of students from a school computer network and using it to commit income-tax fraud. A few years earlier, a Broward Schools employee was sentenced to five years in prison for selling teachers Social Security numbers and dates of birth to identity thieves.School districts also typically have tight budget constraints, which impact their ability to hire a big enough cybersecurity team and pay for the necessary tools to protect school networks.Security is always a tough item in the budget because a lot of it is proactive, Smith said. A lot of it isnt things that you see huge benefits or direct results from. Its almost like insurance. Youre buying it hoping that youre going to prevent things in the future.Miami-Dade has a team of six people focused just on cybersecurity, and another 20 who help with cybersecurity issues in addition to other tasks.The district has dumped older operating systems and applications that are difficult to secure and added new tools to identify where attempted hacks are coming from, said Debbie Karcher, the districts chief information officer. Miami-Dade has also made an effort to educate employees and students about cyber threats, Karcher said, and even offers cybersecurity programs at some high schools.People need to become acutely aware that their digital security is as important as their home, valuables in their home, Karcher said. They take great care to lock their homes, lock their cars, but then theyll click on emails that they dont recognize the sender, they dont use good passwords.The district has also restricted the data employees have access to in order to prevent breaches like the ones carried out in the past by unscrupulous employees, Smith said.But, like any large organization, Miami-Dade still worries about cyber attacks. As far as breaches through our data systems, we havent seen evidence of that on our side, Smith said. Thats always a big fear. We hold every students [personal information].Its a worry Sanchez wishes more school districts shared. To effectively prevent cyber attacks, he said, administrators first have to recognize the seriousness of the threat and prepare their employees accordingly.Sometimes I just scratch my head and think, Are these people asking the right questions or do they just not want to know? Is it safer not to know? I think for me were messing with kids information. Little Johnny, by the time he finds out his credit is ruined, its too late.
A Bend man faces assault accusations after allegedly fleeing from a crash that sent three people to the hospital in the Cascade Mountains of east Linn County on Saturday night.

Salvador Marcelo Blas, 21, was charged in Linn County Circuit Court on Monday with three counts of third-degree assault, reckless driving and failure to perform the duties of a driver to injured persons.

The crash happened at about 9 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 126.

Blas turned himself in to the Bend Oregon State Police office on Sunday, saying he was the driver of a Kia Optima that caused the wreck.

The Kia Optima was traveling eastbound at a high rate of speed when the driver was unable to control the vehicle and crossed into the westbound lane, according to an Oregon State Police news release.

A Kia Sorento was able to avoid a collision by driving into a ditch. The Kia Optima then crashed, almost head-on, into a westbound Ford Focus.

Two passengers of the Kia Optima and the driver of the Ford Focus were all transported by helicopter ambulance to a Bend hospital.

Oregon State Police did not divulge the names of the crash victims, citing the complexity of the crash and the ongoing investigation. Court records indicate that the victims of the assault charges were Alonso Mendez, Juan Rodriguez and Daniella Buegli.

In the aftermath of the crash, Highway 20 was partially closed until about 4 a.m. Seatbelts were apparently used by all occupants of the cars involved in the wreck.
Sebastian Vettel has defended his decision to keep a low public profile.

The German is notoriously private, as he is rarely photographed with his wife and children and has no social media profiles on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

"I just don't understand why you have to constantly tell everyone what you are doing, where you are, who you are with," the Ferrari driver told the German broadcaster RTL.

"I simply don't have this need, but at the same time I don't blame people if they are constantly talking about themselves," Vettel insisted.

"I think I grew up in a generation that was quite shy of having pictures taken or seeing themselves," said the 29-year-old.

But Vettel also thinks the current trend of demanding 'selfies' with famous people is taking something away from more genuine human interaction.

"People come and say 'Can we take a picture' and suddenly they are gone again," he said.

"I sometimes ask what they will do with it, and often the answer is 'No idea'. The other day someone said they needed a photo to prove to his friends that he actually met me.

"I said 'You cannot be a reliable friend if they don't believe you!'

"I have to admit I get a lot more out of shaking someone's hand and then sharing the experience of meeting someone," Vettel concluded.

(GMM)
An Albany man who purchased a dashboard camera found himself in demand after a June 3 road rage incident that ended with a car suspended on the cable stay of a power pole.

The surprise incident became a viral sensation online, and revealed a strange market for such footage.

Mike Mathews, a former video producer who works as an events coordinator at Oregon State University, was waiting to merge into traffic on Waverly Drive when a late model Chevrolet Camaro blasted out of nowhere, traveling at what Mathews estimates was about 60 mph. It was Mathews' turn to pull into traffic, which put him behind the driver.

For a couple of blocks the Camaro driver sped up, switched lanes, pumped his brakes, and generally acted aggressively toward Mathews as he followed. Stopped at a light on Queen Avenue, Mathews said he was prepared for a confrontation when the driver sped off again, this time swerving onto the sidewalk and straight up a power pole cable, trapping the car in a nearly vertical position. (The driver of the car is facing charges of reckless driving, DUII and failure to perform the duties of a driver.)

When Mathews got home and had a look at the video, he said he was "literally dying" with laughter, and so he posted it on his Facebook page and left for a fishing trip.

When he got back on Sunday, friends asked him to make the footage public. Thinking nothing of it, he changed the setting to let more than just his Facebook friends see it.

"I had no idea about viral videos," he said.

But he was about to learn.

"When I got to work on Monday, my office phone was full of messages," he said. The messages were from TV news stations, websites and other media entities from across the world, all asking to purchase his video. Apparently the public footage had gained 5 million views in a 48-hour period.

"It was incredible because they all somehow tracked me down to my work phone number," he said.

So now Mathews had a bunch of offers for his video, and he decided he'd better educate himself on how such transactions work. Through that process, he found a 3-year-old company out of Bozeman, Montana, called Viral Hog. By Tuesday, he'd signed a contract with them to license the footage for sale on a profit-sharing basis.

"It seemed more advantageous to license it, rather than just selling it to somebody," he said.

Viral Hog has 12 office employees, and about 20 researchers across the globe, said licensing and contract manager Wendy Sly in a phone interview. The company employs a legal team to verify that the footage in fact belongs to the seller before licensing, and then it sells the rights to the licensed footage for anywhere from $50 to $700, depending on the user and the intended use.

Mathews, like others who contract with Viral Hog, gets 60 percent of each sale. To put that in perspective, the views for his video peaked at about 9 million worldwide. Of course, views are different from licensed content, but Mathews said he is surprised about the windfall.

"I knew it was going to be something," he said of having captured the crazy incident on camera. "But I had no idea how big it was going to be."

He also was surprised by the variety of comments, some of them negative, that were posted with the video.

"There are so many opinions," he said. "From 'He caused this because he was driving as crazy as the other guy was,' to 'He's just making money off somebody's misfortune.'"

Mathews said he warned his family against arguing with people who are posted comments. One friend, he said, warned him that "the internet is a pit of vipers."

"Now I understand the viral part in viral video," he said.

But he also understands the pure luck element that comes with having captured such footage and then finding it in such demand. But in terms of quality, as a video producer, he is amazed.

"I've spent hundreds of hours shooting video, and hundreds behind an editor," he said, "but this ridiculous video clip has far exceeded anything else I've ever done."
LINN COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT

Unlawful use of a weapon  Daniel Vincent Gonzalez, 34 of Lebanon, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and menacing. The crimes allegedly occurred on Friday. The prosecution filed a notice of intent to seek an enhanced sentence, as Gonzalez has previously been convicted of a crime involving domestic violence against the same victim. Lebanon police logs indicate that Gonzalez threatened the victim with two large kitchen knives.

Identity theft  Kimberly Jeanette Wolf, 36, of Lebanon, was charged with attempted identity theft and two counts of conspiracy to commit identity theft. The crimes allegedly occurred on Sept. 6.

Drug charges  Joshua Gerald Wooley, 22, of Sweet Home, was charged with delivery and possession of heroin and delivery and possession of methamphetamine. The crimes allegedly occurred on May 21.

Failure to report  John Henry Youngman, 42, of Sweet Home, was charged with felony and misdemeanor failure to report as a sex offender.

ALBANY POLICE

Theft arrest  Sunday, no time listed, 900 block Fulton Street. Steven Allen Duran, 33, was arrested on a charge of first-degree theft.

LINN COUNTY SHERIFF

Stolen chainsaws  11:49 a.m. Sunday, 30600 Ty Valley Road. A caller reported that three chainsaws were stolen from his residence.
In the United States June 19, or Juneteenth, is known as Freedom Day. The day commemorates the end of slavery in the United States.

On June 19, 1865, Major Gen. Gordon Granger visited Galveston, Texas, to inform the community that President Abraham Lincoln had abolished slavery two years prior.

There is speculation about the delay, but many believe the news was purposely withheld from some regions.

Juneteenth is celebrated throughout the nation. Some celebrations occurred over the weekend, including Juneteenth parades in a number of cities.
Production of the next-generation Focus begins in the second half of 2019, with models coming from the companys existing Focus plants globally. Most new North American Focus models initially will come from China, with additional variants coming from Europe later, Ford said. Production of the current North American Focus at the Michigan Assembly Plant continues through mid-2018. Following that, the plant will be converted to produce the Ranger midsize pickup truck in late 2018 and the Bronco midsize SUV in 2020.

Ford announced a series of global manufacturing actions centered on improving the companys operational fitness, among them that it would source the next-generation Ford Focus for North America primarily from China, rather than Hermosillo, Mexico.

The new North America Focus production plan saves $1 billion in investment costs versus the original plan$500 million on top of the $500 million savings announced earlier this year by cancelling plans for an all-new manufacturing facility in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, and moving Focus production to Fords Hermosillo, Mexico, plant.

Ford also announced a $900-million investment in Kentucky Truck Plant for plant upgrades to build the all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator, which begin arriving in dealerships this fall. Both full-size SUVs will be exported to more than 55 markets globallyincluding Navigator to China. Ford is a top auto exporter in the US.

The $900-million investment secures 1,000 jobs for hourly workers at the Louisville plant. This is in addition to the $1.3 billion investment and 2,000 jobs created at that plant in late 2015 to build the all-new Ford Super Duty.

Large SUVs are attracting a new generation around the worldand were finding new ways to deliver the capability, versatility and technology that customers around the world really want with our all-new Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator. At the same time, we also have looked at how we can be more successful in the small car segment and deliver even more choices for customers in a way that makes business sense.

Finding a more cost-effective way to deliver the next Focus program in North America is a better plan, allowing us to redeploy the money we save into areas of growth for the companyespecially sport utilities, commercial vehicles, performance vehicles as well as mobility, autonomous vehicles and electrified vehicles. Joe Hinrichs, Ford executive vice president and president, Global Operations

January-May 2017 US sales of the FocusFords second-highest selling car model in the USare down 19.7% compared to the same period in 2016, from 83,653 units to 67,146 units. Overall sales of Ford cars during the five-month period are also down 19.6% year-to-date, from 322,795 units to 259,617 units. Sales of the companys top-selling car model Fusion are down 26% for the same period.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is developing safe steering for the remote-monitored and controlled autonomous ships of the future. The new technology has been developed for navigation systems and ship autopilots, which steer ships automatically.

The ships of the future will largely be controlled by artificial intelligence. However, these autonomous unmanned vessels must be monitored and controlled on demand by land-based professionals. This trend sets new challenges also for autonomous ship navigation systems, which must be able to control ships in various situations. This requires an autopilot, which is used to control a moving vessel, including during evasive maneuvers according to COLREGs (International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea).

The Apilot autopilot under development by VTT has three modes: track, heading and slow joystick control e.g. for docking situations.

In the track mode, Apilot steers the ship along a previously agreed route. If the ship detects another vessel, which must be avoided, the autopilot switches to heading mode. This enables Apilot to avoid the other vessel with a small change in the ships heading. Autopilot returns to track mode after the other vessel has been avoided.

In the joystick mode, control and propulsion equipment are adjusted to low speeds maneuverings. Apilot puts the ship into the desired operating modefor example, to maneuver sideways into a dock.

In all situations, the autopilot ensures that the ship remains within a set distance from the planned route. If the limits in question are exceeded, the autopilot gives a warning and remote control must be taken of the ship.

VTT has studied interaction between humans and technology in maritime transport and has developed new concepts for the bridges and remote shore control centres of the autonomous ships of the future. In such design activities, the aim is to make operations more safe, efficient and comfortable by seeking new solutions that enhance operating methods, as well as the usability and user experience of technologies.
The Volkswagen Group and its partner city, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, have submitted a bid to host the 2021 ITS World Congress. Under their strategic mobility partnership concluded in 2016 ( earlier post ), the partners have joined forces to shape the urban mobility of the future and to develop the city as a model for forward-looking, sustainable and integrated urban mobility. To this end, intelligent mobility solutions for both personal mobility and freight transport are to be brought together in an integrated approach.



An intelligent fully-connected vehicle of the future: the Volkswagen I.D. CROZZ show car. (Earlier post.) Click to enlarge.

The Volkswagen Group is participating in the ITS European Congress in Strasbourg from 19-22 June, where it is presenting its activities for the intelligent transport of people and goods. As a member of the ERTICO  ITS Europe network, the Group along with other partners is showcasing intelligent, safe and sustainable mobility.

The goal of the Groups TOGETHER Strategy 2025 is to make the transformation from a car manufacturer to a mobility provider. This also includes making mobility more comfortable, safer and more sustainable for our customers. That is why we are stepping up our activities in the field of new, intelligent mobility solutions  in collaboration with cities, public institutions, researchers, associations and other car makers. Ludger Fretzen, Head of Group Strategy for New Business at the Volkswagen Group

The Group said that its e-mobility offensive is a key building block in this engagement in intelligent transport systems: the Group will be launching more than ten new electrified models by the end of 2018. A further 30 purely battery-powered vehicles will follow in the period to 2025.

Spearheaded by Porsche, the Group is driving the expansion of a fast-charging infrastructure for electric cars. Sedric, the Volkswagen Groups concept car, gave a glimpse of autonomous driving of the future. (Earlier post.) Audi recently founded a new subsidiary, Autonomous Intelligent Driving GmbH, to work on a system for autonomous vehicles for the entire Group. MOIA, the Volkswagen Groups new company for mobility services committed to individual mobility solutions such as ride hailing via app and car-pooling (earlier post), will also play a decisive role in ITS.
An outside group that supports President Donald Trump is running a radio ad in Atlanta ahead of Georgia's special election Tuesday that takes the voice of former President Barack Obama out of context to make the argument that Democrats take black voters for granted.

Great America Alliance, a pro-Trump non-profit group that previously ran ads attacking former FBI director James Comey during his testimony, is running an ad that quotes Obama narrating his autobiographical book "Dreams From My Father." The ad, however, does not mention that in the selected passage, Obama is actually quoting someone else who is speaking about the black community and Chicago politics before the early 1980s.

The ad begins with narration from conservative activist Autry Pruitt.

"Hi, my name is Autry Pruitt, a fellow black American working hard every day, just like you. It may seem out of season, but all of a sudden, Democratic politicians have started coming around again. We normally only see them every other November, swarming around and making promises to get our vote. But nothing ever changes for us, does it? Here's what President Barack Obama had to say about it."

Then Obama can be heard saying, "Plantation politics. Black people in the worst jobs. The worst housing. Police brutality rampant. But when the so-called black committeemen came around election time, we'd all line up and vote the straight Democratic ticket. Sell our souls for a Christmas turkey."

Pruitt then says, "Let's not sell out for another Christmas turkey. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Democrats keep taking our votes for granted."

In the book, Obama was quoting a barber telling him about the political system in Chicago before the city elected Harold Washington, the city's first black mayor, in 1983. Immediately after the Christmas turkey line in the book, Obama quotes the barber as saying, "White folks spitting in our faces, and we'd reward 'em with the vote."

The ad is running days before the special election in Georgia's 6th congressional district, with Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel facing off in a tight race to fill the House seat left vacant by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

Eric Beach, a co-chair of Great America Alliance, said the ad was an attempt to run something "outside the box" and that the group was trying to show "creatively" that Democrats have a history of failed promises.

Asked about the cut line, Beach said, "it's like any ad, those are his words and we want to use his words and I'll leave it at that."

Eric Schultz, a senior adviser to President Obama, told CNN's KFile: "This spot is a fraudulent use of President Obama's voice. It is a shameful, indefensible tactic that should never be heard on the public airwaves. Deceptively using President Obama's voice to suggest people sit out of the democratic process is a form of voter suppression and it not only signals weakness, it runs counter to our American values."
The Portland-based Asian-American rock band The Slants scored a First Amendment hit with the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, although the ruling likely wasn't that much of a surprise to anyone who has followed the high court under Chief Justice John Roberts.

In an unanimous 8-0 ruling (the case was argued before Neil Gorsuch joined the court, and so he did not participate), the court struck down part of a law that bans offensive trademarks, ruling in favor of the rock band  and likely giving a boost to efforts by the NFL's Washington Redskins to keep its trademark.

The case before the Supreme Court, however, didn't directly affect the Redskins. Instead, the case involved an attempt in 2011 by Slants founder Simon Tam to trademark the band's name. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied the request on the grounds that the band's name disparages Asians. A federal appeals court in Washington later found that the law banning offensive trademarks is unconstitutional, and the Supreme Court agreed in its Monday ruling.

The law, wrote Justice Samuel Alito, "offends a bedrock First Amendment principle: Speech may not be banned on the ground that it expresses ideas that offend."

This particular law is particularly troublesome in that it places the government in a position where it gets to determine what's offensive and what's not, a notion that anyone who values free speech should find, well, troubling.

That was part of the reasoning Justice Anthony Kennedy used in choosing to strike down the law: In an opinion that was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonya Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, Kennedy wrote that the ban on disparaging trademarks was a clear form of viewpoint discrimination forbidden under the First Amendment.

"A law that can be directed against speech found offensive to some portion of the public can be turned against minority and dissenting views to the detriment of all," Kennedy wrote.

As a matter of fact, critics of the law have argued that the Patent and Trademark Office has been wildly inconsistent in applying the law, which lends additional weight to Kennedy's argument.

Alito took a bit of a different tack in his opinion, which was joined by Clarence Thomas, Stephen Breyer and Roberts: "Speech that demeans on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, religion, age, disability, or any other similar ground is hateful; but the proudest boast of our free speech jurisprudence is that we protect the freedom to express the thought we hate," Alito wrote. (The online version of this editorial includes a copy of the ruling.)

For his part, Tam said he was "beyond humbled and thrilled" with the ruling: "This journey has always been much bigger than our band: it's been about the rights of all marginalized communities to determine what's best for ourselves."

In any event, Monday's ruling is in line with similar First Amendment decisions from the Roberts court. The court has ruled in favor of free speech in a series of high profile cases, including a case involving hateful speech at military funerals. Even the court's controversial ruling in the Citizens United case drew on the First Amendment.

But it hasn't been completely consistent: It has ruled against a government whistle-blower, a student expressing pro-drug opinions, a prisoner and a human-rights activist, according to The New York Times. A legal scholar tried to explain the difference this way: "The Roberts court," he said, "is very pro-speech except when the institutional interests of the government are at issue."

That's worrisome. Nevertheless, we're pleased that the court made the right call in The Slants case. Here's hoping this ruling leads the way to a continuing string of victories for free speech. (mm)
Former Gov. Pat McCrory continues to congratulate himself on what a terrific job he did  when he's not complaining about his shabby treatment now.

Yet more information keeps coming out pointing to a different reality.

There was the Charlotte Observer series about corruption in North Carolina's prison system that went on all during McCrory's tenure. And a new audit showing lapses in the administration of the state's Medicaid program. And tepid economic growth.

McCrory's upset that Harvard didn't invite him to teach, and even a hoped-for gig at Duke didn't work out because within 15 minutes of being on the campus, the students and professors objected, McCrory said. Thats kind of a sad commentary on the culture of our universities now because I would have loved to teach public policy."

No, McCrory disqualified himself from teaching public policy at Harvard or Duke because of his advocacy for HB2, the anti-gay discrimination law he signed in March 2016. It gave North Carolina a shining black eye for all the world to see and was repealed once he left office.

He followed that, after his election defeat to Roy Cooper, by signing legislation removing many of the governor's powers  a spiteful kick in the shins to his successor. What a statesman!

McCrory's record is likely to look worse with time, so he'd be wise to abandon any plans for running for office again.
Nine men were charged Friday after a day-long prostitution operation involving participation from local, state and federal officers.

The sting, organized by the Graham Police Department with assistance from the Alamance County Sheriffs Office, Burlington, Mebane and Gibsonville police departments, the State Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations, took place throughout the day at a hotel in Graham.

It was definitely an eye opener for me, said Sgt. Adam Nicholson, who supervised and helped organize the operation after local officers heard some complaints about prostitution occurring at hotels. They werent sure how bad the problem was, though.

I know it happens, but I didnt know it was going to be this big, Nicholson said. It was really only about six hours of advertising and soliciting and things like that. We got nine people in six hours. It got to the point where we ran out of manpower.

Through cameras, officers watched the suspects as they entered hotel rooms as part of the operation. Nicholson said it appeared there was a mix of experience levels among the men seeking prostitutes that day.

You could tell some had experience doing this and others did not, he said. Some wanted to search the room to make sure we werent police officers. Others were just so nervous they could barely talk. We had both extremes.

For the record, attempting to search the hotel room for recording devices didnt keep anyone from being placed under arrest, Nicholson said.

The following men were arrested after arriving at the undisclosed hotel, and were charged with misdemeanor solicitation of a prostitute and misdemeanor occupying a place for the purpose of prostitution.

Jacob Samuel Harris, 37, of 7636 Landis Drive, Browns Summit, was held under a $20,000 bond.

Denzell Dewayne Bradley, 23, of 2107 James Boswell Road, Green Level, was held under a $12,000 bond. In addition to the prostitution charges, Bradley was allegedly found in possession of drugs and charged with felony delivering marijuana, misdemeanor possession of marijuana up to half an ounce, and misdemeanor possession of marijuana paraphernalia.

Derronntay Jevon Byrd, 33, of 2508 Calumet Court, High Point, was held under a $10,000 bond.

Anthony Jerome Williams, 27, of 406 Trail One, Burlington, was held under a $5,000 bond.

Gary Wayne Hatfield, 36, of 2701 Altamahaw Union Ridge Road, Burlington, was held under a $2,500 bond.

Ramiro Garcia, 45, address unavailable, also was arrested on the charges, though neither his bond nor mugshot were available.

Christopher Earl Evans, 43, and Matthew D. Shaw, 24, each were served warrants on the prostitution charges but were not booked into the Alamance County jail. Evans was released on a $500 unsecured bond, and Shaw was released on a written promise to appear in court.

Jose Angel Mora, 38, was arrested as part of the operation but charged only with no operators license. Nicholson said Mora remained in the parking lot communicating with undercover officers but didnt enter the hotel.

Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson, who sent 15 deputies to take part in the sting, has repeatedly told the Times-News he feels strongly about addressing prostitution  sometimes a guise for sex trafficking  occurring at hotels in the area.

We have a major problem with prostitution and human trafficking in Alamance County, Johnson said. North Carolina is ranked No. 9 in the nation for human trafficking, and its time that law enforcement did something about it.

Though the men arrested each face multiple charges, Johnson has said he believes state law needs to be changed to make the crime of johns, or individuals who patronize prostitutes, a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

I am adamant about pushing for legislation to make solicitation of a prostitute a felony because, if you cut the demand, you will cut the supply, Johnson said. It is all money-driven.

He said such demand has led to women being abused as part of sex trafficking.



2017 Times-News (Burlington, N.C.)

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
$8.20 down, $1,499,991.80 to go.

Thats how members of the American Legion Post 10 are looking at a check that arrived in the mail recently.

Kat Sanderson-Cox was opening the mail at the American Legion Post 10 as she does regularly, as the posts finance officer. But one check caught her attention and not because it was unusually large.

In fact, it was for only $8.20.

What makes the check so special is that it is the first restitution payment made by Trent Allen Fox, who on the 4th of July, 2010, set a fire that destroyed the posts former building at 1215 Pacific Blvd.

The fire caused more than $1.57 million in damage and for a while, it seemed, caused the post to teeter on the verge of closure. In 2011 Fox was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution.

We have thought about framing the check, but decided we will make a color copy and get the satisfaction of cashing it, Sanderson-Cox said.

The fire caused the post to operate out of a temporary building in downtown Albany until a new $2.7 million building could be constructed at the same location.

But the new buildings $4,000-per-month mortgage and a declining membership put the post in a precarious financial position that while improving, is not over yet.

Steve Adams said he took over as post commander last August and there were some hard decisions that had to be made.

Among those decisions was closing the club for a time.

We couldnt afford the $12,000-per-month payroll, Adams said. When we did reopen, it was with volunteers, many of whom had been employed here before.

The club, which had been open every day of the week, now is open on Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The club lost its lottery license, but is working to get it back, Adams said.

The club had more than 1,000 members when the arson occurred and has 637 members today, but is slowly climbing forward.

Were actually seeing a lot of new, younger members, Adams said. Were seeing guys from the Linn-Benton Veterans Club and they are really great.

They include veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Gulf War.

Adams said the post now hosts the annual Veterans Day lunch and sponsored 18 youths to Boys State; the Auxiliary sponsored seven girls to Girls State.

The local Points for Profits group meets at the post as do the American Legion Riders and the Sons of the American Legion.

Adams noted that the Legion has also reached out to other veterans groups, including the VFW and Amvets, to cooperate with each other.

Were all veterans groups. We should be working together to help all veterans, Adams said.

The Vets Helping Vets group recently moved its operations into the post building, Adams said, and the relationship has been tremendous.

Adams emphasized the process is not a one-person event and that it is a work in progress.

As times changes, we have to change the way we do things, Adams said. Some guys have told me, Well, thats not how we used to do this or that and they are right. But those methods wont work today.

Adams said he does value the counsel of several long-term post members, including Bob Griffin.

We were both raised in the American Legion culture, because our dads were active in their posts as we were growing up, Adams said.

Adams said that due to the changes, the post is making its monthly mortgage payments and the future looks bright, but its a challenge.
About 2:15 a.m., Garret Torney, 30, crashed a 2017 Dodge Challenger into several trees on the eastbound side of West Cone Boulevard near Lafayette Avenue, according to a police news release.
GREENSBORO  During her first pregnancy, Elizabeth Scott managed everything on her own.

Now eight months into her second, Scott attended a community baby shower Monday to learn about the resources available to her  both now and after her baby is born.

The first time, I didnt have any of that, she said. It was just me fending for myself.

Scott was one of about 50 pregnant women to attend the community shower, hosted by United Healthcare in conjunction with a handful of local organizations.

Organizers hoped to connect the women with nearby services to ensure good care for both the moms-to-be and their babies, part of a larger goal of reducing infant mortality rates in North Carolina. The state ranks 42nd in the country in infant mortality, according to the United Health Foundations Americas Health Rankings.

A lot of it has to do with education, racial health disparities and access to care, said Corinna Miller, community relations manager for United Healthcare. So were trying to connect people to services that can help.

United Healthcare worked with Guilford County to invite pregnant women who had received prenatal care through the health department. On Monday, expectant mothers met with representatives from local organizations to learn about available services.

At the end, each woman completed a health assessment survey and provided contact information, which United will use to follow up in three to six months.

Well reassess their needs then, said Adam Hartzell, the North Carolina executive director of Uniteds myCommunity Connect program. Well help make sure they are getting connected to the social service programs that will improve their health and the health of their babies.

Many shower guests had been pregnant before, but they still had questions or concerns about postpartum and infant care. Shanay Porter has three daughters but is pregnant with her first son, and she came hoping to learn more about vaccinations.

Im hoping to just be educated on aftercare and shots, and just to be knowledgeable about whats going on, she said. With me having all girls and now having a boy, I feel like its totally different.

Others, like Scott, were simply grateful to learn that there is help available.

Its way more resources now than six years ago, or maybe they were there then and I just didnt know, she said.
Updated at 3:35 p.m.

WASHINGTON  The Supreme Court struck down a North Carolina law Monday that bars convicted sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites.

The justices ruled unanimously in favor of North Carolina resident Lester Packingham Jr. His Facebook boast about beating a traffic ticket led to his conviction for violating a 2008 law aimed at keeping sex offenders off internet sites children might use.

The court rejected the state's argument that the law deals with the virtual world in the same way that states keep sex offenders out of playgrounds and other places children visit.

"In sum, to foreclose access to social media altogether is to prevent the user from engaging in the legitimate exercise of First Amendment rights," Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas cautioned that Kennedy's "loose rhetoric" could prevent states from taking any measures to restrict convicted sex offenders on the internet. "This language is bound to be interpreted by some to mean that the states are largely powerless to restrict even the most dangerous sexual predators from visiting any internet sires, including for example internet dating sites," Alito wrote for the three justices.

Louisiana is the only other state with a law similar to North Carolina's, although the Louisiana law applies only to people convicted of sex crimes with children, according to a legal brief the state filed with the Supreme Court. But many states have laws that require sex offenders to provide information about their internet use to authorities. Separately, many states limit internet use as a condition of parole or probation.

Packingham originally pleaded guilty in 2002 to taking indecent liberties with a child. He had been indicted for the statutory rape of a 13-year-old and ordered to register as a sex offender.

In 2010, a Durham police officer was using his own Facebook account to look for people who shouldn't be on the site. He came across a post from Packingham, who used an alias but also included a photo of himself and linked to an account used by his father and namesake. The officer found six other registered sex offenders in the same session, a lawyer for North Carolina told the justices when the case was argued in February.

"No fine. No Court costs. No nothing. Praise be to God. Wow. Thanks, Jesus," Packingham wrote in the post that led to his conviction and suspended prison sentence.

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court has struck down a North Carolina law that bars convicted sex offenders from Facebook, Twitter and other popular sites.

The justices ruled unanimously Monday in favor of North Carolina resident Lester Packingham Jr. His Facebook boast about beating a traffic ticket led to his conviction for violating a 2008 law aimed at keeping sex offenders off internet sites children might use.

The court rejected the state's argument that the law deals with the virtual world in the same way that states keep sex offenders out of playgrounds and other places children visit
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STAMFORD  Retail institutions such as the Saks Fifth Avenue store in Manhattan represent crown jewel properties  but they might generate more value for their owner by being transformed for other uses, argues the head of a Stamford-based activist hedge fund.

Land and Buildings founder and chief investment officer Jon Litt recommended in a letter Monday to Hudsons Bay Co. the Canadian company explore redeveloping brick-and-mortar assets to maximize the embattled firms stock price or consider taking the firm private. Hudsons Bays share price has dropped from a 52-week high of more than $18 to a current total of about $10.

Hudsons Bay, whose portfolio includes the Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue Off 5th stores, has grappled with instability in recent months. It announced earlier this month it would eliminate 2,000 positions in North America as part of a restructuring plan. It has reportedly explored mergers with Macys and Neiman Marcus.

We believe this sequence of events underscores a core fact: the path to maximizing the value of Hudsons Bay lies in its real estate, not its retail brands, said Litt, whose firm holds a 4.3 percent stake in the company, in his letter. In our view, the whole time the companys management has been struggling to navigate this complicated maze of M&A options, the answer lies in its own real estate portfolio.

A message left Tuesday for Hudsons Bay was not immediately returned.

Hudsons Bay would be well-positioned to pursue other uses of its holdings because it owns the vast majority of its real estate, which could be worth four times the companys current share price, according to Litt. Hudsons Bays area properties include Lord & Taylor stores in Stamford, Trumbull and Danbury, an Off 5th store in the Stamford mall and a Saks Fifth Avenue establishment in Greenwich. The Stamford Lord & Taylor store completed a two-year renovation late last year.

Litt cites the potential of the flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store, between 49th Street and 50th Street, in Manhattan. He rates it as one of the most valuable locations in the U.S.

Is the best use of this location truly a department store? Litt said in his letter. What about a hotel? Or office? Or boutique retail stores the likes of Apple and Gucci? Or an internet retailer looking to go upscale through a bricks-and-mortar presence as Amazon appears to be doing with its purchase of Whole Foods? The point is that with real estate this valuable, there are a myriad options for value creation, all of which must be explored.

Other retail experts said they thought Litt made a credible case in his letter.

The reality is many of the holdings the company has are going to be worth a lot more than the in-place operating concerns of the parent company, David Eyzenberg, founder and managing partner of Eyzenberg & Co., a Manhattan real estate investment bank, said in an email. It probably makes sense to go through either outright sales or sale-leasebacks of certain locations to allow the company to repatriate money to its investors and also continue as an ongoing operating concern.

Land and Buildings, which is based in the downtown Landmark Square complex, is leading a campaign with Taubman Centers, the company that owns the Stamford Town Center and 20 other malls in the U.S. Litt ran unsuccessfully in the Taubman board election earlier this month, but Land and Building is still pushing for Taubman to bring in new board members and institute annual board elections.

In contrast with his criticisms of Taubmans board, Litt expressed more confidence in Hudsons board, which he said includes true real estate professionals.

pschott@scni.com; 203-964-2236; Twitter: @paulschott
Hedge fund billionaire and Greenwich resident Ray Dalio ranks as Connecticuts biggest donor in the last 15 years, according to a philanthropic study published Tuesday.

The founder and chairman of the worlds largest hedge fund, Westport-based Bridgewater Associates, has donated more than $87 million in charitable gifts since the early 2000s, based upon information collected by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
STRATFORD  The body of a missing New York man was recovered from Long Island Sound.

The body of Gregory Blanco, 41, from Northport, N.Y., was found after an all-out search by the Coast Guard and local agencies.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family and friends of Mr. Blanco during this painful time, said Cmdr. Kevin Reed, deputy Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound.

Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound watchstanders received a call Monday about 8:30 a.m., from a good Samaritan reporting an unmanned red, 14-foot, one person kayak north of Stratford Shoal Middle Ground.

Sector Long Island Sound issued an urgent marine information broadcast on VHF-channel-16 and launched a boat crew from Coast Guard Station New Haven and Eatons Neck.

The boat crews arrived on the scene and located the kayak with personal items on board. Markings on the kayak and the position it was found in suggested the owner departed out of the Northport area.

Suffolk County Police Department officials located Blanco's vehicle at the Soundview Boat Ramp Marina in Northport.

The National Weather Service posted a small craft advisory for Monday because seas were two to four feet, with southwest wind gusts of up to 25 knots. The water temperature is a chilly 60 degrees in the middle of the Sound.

Stratford Shoal is essentially in the middle of Long Island Sound. A lighthouse on the site warns mariners of rocks and shallow water depths.
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Tribute has been paid to gentle giant Paul Humphrey, who had died in hospital after a long and brave battle with cancer.

The family of the 37-year-old have described their devastation that Paul did not get the chance to die at home and not his hospital where he had been treated for almost a year.

His family appealed through the Grimsby Telegraph for a specially-adapted home for him in which to die in peace.

He had lost around 12 stones while in hospital where he had been admitted in August last year, weighing 42 stones.

Paul, who had worked as a carer for HICA, was diagnosed with penile cancer. He died on Saturday in Diana, Princess of Wales Hospital, Grimsby.

His family visited him every day and their greatest wish was for a home where he could be cared for in his final days at home.

North East Lincolnshire Council had offered Pauls family a home but over two weeks ago he contracted an infection.

His mother Linda of Lister Street told the Grimsby Telegraph: I miss my boy. I cant believe he has gone. He died in hospital and I did not wish for that to happen. We are devastated.

She said she was expecting to go into hospital for treatment herself as she requires a below-the-knee amputation.

Her partner, Norman Howe said: Paul was a gentle giant who would do anything for anyone.

He added: We are still desperate for a new place as this place is not suitable for Linda as she will soon be having a below-knee amputation and if we dont get a new place she could be stuck in hospital like Paul was.

He said Linda was due to have the operation next week but they hope that can be postponed until after Pauls funeral.

Norman said he will still be going ahead with a head shave to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Norman, who provides computer training for a caring support service, has been growing his hair since December.

He said: Sadly that will be in Pauls memory now. It will help all those who are going through what Paul has been for nearly a year. It is what Paul wanted.

The family also paid tribute to the care their son had in hospital.

Norman said: The staff did all that they could.

Norman said the family had no money to pay for Pauls funeral and appealed for donations.

His brave-the-shave fund raising event will be happening on July 1 at Limelight hair and beauty salon on East St Marys Gate, Top Town Grimsby.

People can make donation at the salon which will be hosting a coffee morning for the appeal.

The fund for Paul's funeral in www.gofundme.com/the-humphrey-home-fund

The Brave the shave link is: bravetheshave.org.uk/shavers/Norman-howe/
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
Cafe Altro Paradisos radicchio burger. Photo: Bobby Doherty/New York Magazine

Once a month or so, the Underground Gourmet takes stock of all the excellent (and not so excellent) food weve shoveled down our gullets to bring you this  our slightly random, completely subjective, 100 percent delicious top-ten new things to eat and drink.

1. Burger at Cafe Altro Paradiso

234 Spring St., at Sixth Ave.; 646-952-0828

A fish-sauce-lacquered Wagyu-blend patty topped with Gorgonzola and radicchio mostarda on a brioche bun, plus a caper-berry garnish ($22, including fries). On paper, it sounds terrifically misconceived, the culinary equivalent of one of those great Broadway flops that open and close after a single performance. In actuality, its eye-poppingly good, the best burger weve had all year. And the year before that.

2. Smoked Eggplant Carpaccio at Nur

34 E. 20th St., nr. Park Ave. S.; 212-505-3420

Holland eggplants get roasted beyond recognition over open flames; smashed down into soft, thin rounds; squeeze-bottled with raw tahini, date honey, and rosewater-spiked olive oil in logarithmic spirals; then blitzed with herbs and feta snow. A kaleidoscopic treatise on sweet, smoky, salty, earthy flavors almost too cool-looking to eat; $17.

3. Egg Sandwich at Dus Donuts & Coffee

111 N. 12th St., at Wythe Ave., Williamsburg; 718-215-8770

Wylie Dufresnes toothsome new griddle-toasted bacon-egg-and-cheese ($4.75) is a cheap, sleek, extra-wieldy retort to the the current vogue for supercolossal gourmet egg sandwiches.

4. Sweet-Potato Bread and Burned Leaf Butter at Hemlock

65 Rivington St., nr. Allen St.; 646-649-2503

The increasingly feeble argument against restaurants charging for bread takes another hit with this stupendous loaf made from a mix of flours and starchy white sweet potatoes. One bite and five bucks seems like a steal.

5. Popcorn-Cheddar Frico at Public Kitchen

215 Chrystie St., nr. Stanton St.; 212-735-6000

Jean-Georges Vongerichtens new restaurant at the Public Hotel delves into bar food with what you might call a kind of 80s-fusion suavity. Not least among the snacks is this take on the Friulian fried-cheese crisp called a frico. One side is sprinkled with chives and crushed chiles, the other thoroughly embedded with popcorn; $8.

6. Schnitzel Dinner at Dizengoff

75 Ninth Ave., at 15th St.; 646-833-7097

You have to dodge an army of Chelsea Market zombie tourists, sit on a stool, and book way in advance (though you may get lucky just walking in like we did). But the hummus specialists $60 set-menu dinner (served Thursday to Saturday) is completely worth it. Its a ton of grub, all of it great, especially the cavalcade of seasonal vegetable meze called salatim. The current main, a zaatar-crusted veal schnitzel, is crisp yet tender, and as good as schnitzel gets.

7. Salado Verde at Atla

372 Lafayette St., at Great Jones St.; no phone

In an often-too-sweet cocktail world, Yana Volfsons savory salados (one red, one green, echoing the house salsas; $15) provide thirst-quenching relief. The verde is powered with mezcal, spiked with serrano water, flavored with cucumber and lime, and garnished with chopped nopalespart green juice, part snack, part pick-me-up.

8. Bulgogi Steak Sandwich at Oppa at Canal Street Market

265 Canal St., nr. Lafayette St.; 646-694-1655

Bulgogi beef meets American cheese and sauteed onions on the flattop, plus pickled chiles and spicy mayo on a toasted brioche bun. Think Korean cheesesteak or uptown chopped cheese, but about ten times more savory and addictive; $9.75.

9. Pizza Romana at Chefs Club Counter

62 Spring St., at Lafayette St.; 646-438-9172

Magnus Hanssons current contribution to the pop-up spinoff of the revolving-superchef restaurant Chefs Club is not what we think of as Roman-style pizza. Its more like a cross between focaccia and grandma-style, and it is superb: soft and yielding with a slightly tangy flavor that speaks of long fermentation. Skip the pepperoni slice, which is thin and top-heavy, and get the springy tomato and stracciatella; $6.50.

10. Feltmans Hot Dog at McSorleys Old Ale House

15 E. 7th St., nr. Third Ave.; 212-473-9148

The oldest saloon now griddles the original frankfurter. If theres a more atmospheric place to tuck into a tube steak (Coney Island excepted), we dont know about it; $5.50.
Oops. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Coca-Cola is clearly not a fan of Philadelphias soda tax, and has been waging a war to repeal the law ever since it passed last June. (It spent at least $9 million on paid media opposing the law, and is part of a lobby group thats still suing the city on grounds that the tax is unconstitutional.) Given this obvious familiarity, Cokes official Twitter account posted an item on Sunday that made the brand look pretty silly. In a tweet thats still up, the soda-maker encouraged people in Pittsburgh, a separate city in the state of Pennsylvania, to cool off during a record-hot weekend by cracking open a cold Coke product.

The problem was an incredibly conspicuous GIF that somebody created for the tweet  it suggested that Coca-Cola might want to brush up on its fourth-grade U.S. geography:

Todays forecast in Pittsburgh: Record heat, followed by an ice-cold wave of ahhhhhhhh. #ShareaCoke pic.twitter.com/tr28Ia0bxo  Coca-Cola (@CocaCola) June 18, 2017

But Coke still may have done Pittsburghers some good. That tweet got such an ice-cold reception by Pittsburghers whove never seen their hometown so maligned, theres no way these people could have felt any warmth:

It's ok @CocaCola. Be glad your drink comes in bottles. Philly hasn't had a Cup in town since 1975z  BOOM  (@DudeheresMakar) June 19, 2017

Yinz got the wrong town on that map  c (@NickSavereno) June 18, 2017

Everyone I know from Pittsburgh prefers @pepsi to @CocaCola and this is why  Griffin Stryker (@Stryker_53) June 18, 2017

The mayors offices of both cities got involved eventually, too. From Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto responded directly on Twitter, writing, I was elected to represent the people of Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia, a double dig at Coke and President Trump, who announced Americas withdrawal from the Paris climate accord by saying, I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.

Ahem... "I was elected to represent the people of Pittsburgh, not Philadelphia."



Right Mayor @PhillyMayor https://t.co/38BRCgxzjs  bill peduto (@billpeduto) June 19, 2017

It was Philly mayor Jim Kenneys press secretary who really hit below the belt, though:

Youd think after spending $12

million against us that the soda industry would know where we are https://t.co/dfmP1qd3pV  Lauren Hitt (@LaurenHitt) June 19, 2017

A rep for Coke has apologized, explaining that the mix-up occurred because the company is exploring innovative, adaptive technologies to serve up personalized content to our fans. In this case, she said, Cokes map accidentally missed the mark  literally.
A couple of weeks ago, we looked at how bezels shrunk throughout the years. It was very easy to spot when the market transitioned from regular phones to current touchscreen-dominated landscape. Lets see if we can find an interesting pattern in which phones were the most popular in any given year.

We'll go as far back as the year 2006 in our statistics and well present you the top three phones for each year (we won't include 2017 as it isnt even halfway done yet).

Things start as you might expect with Nokia and Sony Ericsson on top. Nokias popularity was so huge that the companys darlings - N95, 5800 - managed to keep even the iPhone in its early years at bay. That battle was lost in 2009 when the 3GS topped the chart, but the Finns managed to swing it back around in 2010 with the awesome cameraphone that was the N8.

But look at that chart. Apples S models are not as strong as their non-S models - i.e. when a brand new design is introduced? Its not a huge advantage, but a new exterior seems to have a bigger draw than improved internals.

Year Most popular phone Runner up Third place 2006 Nokia N73 Sony Ericsson K800 Nokia N80 2007 Nokia N95 Apple iPhone Nokia 6300 2008 Nokia 5800 XpressMusic Nokia E71 Apple iPhone 3G 2009 Apple iPhone 3GS Nokia N97 BlackBerry Curve 8520 2010 Nokia N8 Apple iPhone 4 Samsung I9000 Galaxy S 2011 Samsung I9100 Galaxy S II Apple iPhone 4s Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830 2012 Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III Apple iPhone 5 Samsung Galaxy S Duos S7562 2013 Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4 Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Apple iPhone 5s 2014 Samsung Galaxy S5 Apple iPhone 6 Samsung Galaxy Grand Prime 2015 Samsung Galaxy S6 Samsung Galaxy J7 Samsung Galaxy J5 2016 Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Samsung Galaxy J7 (2016) Samsung Galaxy S7

2011 was a turning point for Nokia - it bet the farm on Windows Phone and slandered Android. The market made its feelings quite clear, though, as the Galaxy S topped each year from 2011 (S II) to 2015 (S6). Things look good for the Nokia 6 this year, however, so HMD might turn things around.

Anyway, 2015 marked another major shift in the market - mid-range phones won for the first time. Samsungs Galaxy J series came to prominence, then the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 elbowed it out. The Galaxy S7 managed only 3rd place in 2016, breaking the 5-year streak. The S8 could end up 2nd this year, behind the Nokia 6 (unless the S8 rallies in the last six months of the year).

Our data captures the last days of the feature phone relevance too - the Nokia 6300 was the last to make a mark while Symbian offerings dominated. It wasnt the last non-touchscreen on the chart, that honor goes to the BlackBerry Curve 8520 and its optical trackpad and QWERTY keyboard.

Will the Nokia 3310 (2017) return the humble feature phone to popularity? Can the BlackBerry KEYOne resurrect interest in QWERTYs? Well have to check the charts again next year.
The Oppo R11 has been selling in China for a few days and it has been a successful endeavor as in just 40 minutes it broke the record for first day sales (both on and off-line).

And now the R11 is coming to Singapore, set to launch on June 22, this Thursday. The press release gave no clue on the price, however. In China, it sells for CNY 3,000 (around $440) and it should start selling tomorrow in Taiwan at NTD 16,000 (around $525).



Oppo R11: in Black  Gold  Rose Gold  Heat Red

The Oppo R11 has two major features that work in harmony  a dual camera (16MP + 20MP) and the Snapdragon 660 chipset. The 16MP sensor is the Sony IMX 398 we know from the R9s and the 20MP sensor (IMX 376) handles telephoto shots.

This is the first phone with the Snapdragon 660 chipset and leverages its advanced image processing, featuring the 14-bit Spectra 160 IPS and HVX. If the latter sounds familiar, Google uses HVX for the excellent HDR+ effects on its Pixel phones.

You can learn more about the camera from our preview.
Vertu and TCL have signed a deal for manufacturing a new line of phones. All 30,000 units will be handcrafted in the UK, with a price starting at 7,500 a piece.

This is the first deal Vertu strikes after a change in ownership back in March. A Turkish millionaire named Hakan Uzan bought the company from Godin Holdings, and said he wants to help Vertu reach its full potential.

Now, according to sources, Uzan shared his excitement of working with TCL Communication and hopes this will be the start of a prosperous new chapter in our relationship.

TCL Communication is a company known for building the latest BlackBerry phones, as well as Alcatel devices.

The Vertu devices should appear in UK, France, China, Russia, Western Europe, the Middle East and Asia around September.

Via
Back in February last year, WhatsApp announced that it will stop supporting versions of BlackBerry OS - including BlackBerry 10 - by the end of 2016. That, however didn't happen, and the date was pushed back to June 30, 2017.

Now, the Facebook-owned service has confirmed that the support has been extended yet again - till 31 December 2017 this time.

In fact, WhatsApp's Blackberry client has started receiving a new update, with change-log clearly saying: changed client end-of-life date to December 31, 2017.

Aside from BlackBerry, support for the Nokia S40 has also been extended to end of this year. The app, however, will stop working on Nokia S60 devices after June 30 2017.

Source | Via




Haiti - Weather : BRET storm represents no danger to Haiti





According to experts in meteorology and the National Hurricane Center of the Florida (NOAA) in the United States, tropical depression No. 2 which became the storm "Bret" will pass this Tuesday near Trinidad and Tobago.



According to the Weather Report of the Hydrometeorological Unit of Haiti (UHM) issued Monday afternoon and valid until Wednesday 21 June 2017



"The wet air mass continues to influence the weather in the Greater Antilles. This situation will be a little more marked tomorrow on the country with the planned crossing of a tropical wave located at the level of Puerto Rico.



Moreover, the tropical storm named Bret does not present any direct danger for the country at the moment. However, the UHM will keep the population informed in a timely manner in the event of any change in the trajectory of this system."



Forecast for Haiti, Tuesday 20 June :

- Cloudy and windy skies during the day;

- Cloudy skies in the afternoon and evening;

- Sensation of heat during the day, but more or less pleasant during the night;

- Stormy showers are expected over the country in the afternoon and evening.



Trends for Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 June :

- Sunny weather in the day, cloudy in the afternoon, thunderstorm in the evening.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Vietnam : Youri Latortue, talks with his Vietnamese counterpart





Monday Youri Latortue heading a delegation of parliamentarians, on an official visit from June 17 to 22 in Vietnam, https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21261-haiti-news-zapping.html met with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, President of the National Assembly.



Welcoming the delegation's visit, President Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said he hoped that this first activity between the two legislative bodies of the two countries would help to promote their friendly and cooperative relations. She recalled that Vietnam was still closely following the situation in Haiti and welcomed the achievements that contributed to enhance its role and prestige in the region and in the world.



Welcoming the achievements in bilateral cooperation, Senator Latortue, stressed that Haiti wished to promote its cooperation with Vietnam, in particular in the sectors of telecommunications, agricultural production and gender equality.



Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, who considered as modest the value of bilateral trade ($50 million in 2015), said the two countries could strengthen their economic and investment cooperation through cooperation models such as the one between the military telecommunications group (Viettel) and the company NATCOM in Haiti.



That same day, the Haitian delegation visited the Viettel telecommunications group and later the President of the National Assembly, organized a banquet in honor of the President of the Senate, Youri Latortue, his wife and the Haitian delegation.



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Politics : Two Brazilian ministers expected in Haiti





The Embassy of Brazil in Haiti announces that Ricardo Barros, Minister of Health of Brazil and Osmar Terra the Minister of Social Development, will be on an official visit to Port-au-Prince on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 June.



The two ministers will participate, along with Marie-Greta Roy Clement, the Minister of Public Health and Population (MSPP), at the baptismal ceremony of the Bon Repos Community Hospitals, built by the Brazilian Cooperation, in honor of Zilda Arns, Brazilian pediatrician, founder of the Pastoral Care of the Child, who died in Haiti during the 2010 earthquake.



Minister Ricardo Barros and Minister Clement will sign the document for a cooperation project that will allow the use of US $20 million from the Government of Brazil's contribution to the Haiti Reconstruction Fund.



This project concerns the strengthening of the management of health services and the health system in Haiti, including until 2020, the support of the operations of three community hospitals of reference (HCR) built by the Brazilian Cooperation in Carrefour, Beudet and Bon Repos .



Also during his stay, the Minister Barros will formalize a donation to the MSPP of 15,000 doses of human rabies vaccine (against rabies) and will also attend the opening of the XXX Meeting of the Tripartite Steering Brazil-Cuba-Haiti Committee.



HL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - News : Zapping...





Amending budget ratified by both chambers

The amending budget 2016-2017 voted last Friday in the lower chamber https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-21261-haiti-news-zapping.html 70 votes for, 1 against and 1 abstention was ratified Monday in the same terms in the Senate by 21 votes for 1 against (Patrice Dumont) and 0 abstention.



Professional State Examinations

Maggy Durce, the Director of the National Institute of Vocational Training (INFP), recalled that the States exams for the vocational training which started on June 17, will continue until June 30, 2017. These examinations will involve 4,049 candidates who will participate in one of the 35 subjects: electricity, plumbing, building construction, accounting and entrepreneurship...



World Music

Let's recall that the 3rd edition of the Rencontres des Musiques du Monde, organized around the Fete de la Musique, which opened last weekend at the initiative of Tamise and Caracoli, will continue until 24 June in Port-au- Prince.



Minustah closes its office in the South

The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) announces the closing ceremony of the regional office of the UN mission in the South of Haiti this Tuesday morning, June 20, at the auditorium of the Nadia Hotel, located in the avenue Cartagena extended, neighborhood Brefet.



Bolivian President soon in Haiti

Bolivian President Evo Morales plans to accompany the members of the Security Council during his trip to Haiti from 22 to 24 June.



MICT supports women mayors

Fednel Monchery, the Director General of the Ministry of the Interior and Territorial Communities, was present at the training seminar in drafting and editing of projects, for the women mayors of the Municipal Cartels. This training was held jointly by the Ministry and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI), with a view to strengthening the role of women in the Cartels which manage municipalities.



Carifesta XIII

Monday at the Minister of Culture was held a planning meeting around Haiti's participation in Carifesta XIII to be held in Barbados from 17 to 27 August 2017.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















By Vasia Orion | Published on 2017/06/19

Episode nine of "Circle" answers a lot of questions about the chip technology's origins and it raises a few very dark ones about its current condition and Woo-jin's existence in 2037. In 2017, Beom-gyoon has been found only to be lost again as his memories are wiped by the bug and Dong-geon takes over Yong-woo's research on behalf of someone who has been running it in the shadows all along.

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Joys do not last long in the world of "Circle" and the twins' reunion is a short-lived joy. We have known that Beom-gyoon (An Woo-yeon) lost his memories back in 2017, but his recognition of his captor gave me hope that the brothers would have time to bond before the bug wiped everything clean. It is sad to see the two constantly miss each other, but it makes for good drama. The technology which keeps them apart is truly horrible.

Han Yong-soo (Song Young-kyu) faces a worthy fate as its first victim and its functions are now clearer. I am still piecing some things together, but it seems like Byeol's (Gong Seung-yeon) method did not require a bug, chip or other carrier for the code. The reason why the research does not work for others is because it lacks her non-invasive ways. The star she created seems to act as a security system and a scanner which can detect, copy and possibly alter the biology its light can see.

Which brings me to the talk of cloning in this episode and a very grim possibility. If Woo-jin's (Yeo Jin-goo) physical presence is what runs Byeol's technology, then his body would be enough to run the system. Woo-jin could very well be a dead, as Yong-woo says, or a comatose human battery running the company's supercomputer as Human B. Perhaps that is why Dong-geon (Han Sang-jin) wants the cloning bill to pass so badly. New battery, new possibilities.

Of course Byeol/Jeong-yeon is the better option and that is why Dong-geon wants her. She truly is a very tragic character. She created something to give a boy back his precious memories, yet this system has been twisted. Everyone sees her as a tool for their personal quests. She has lost a father and in this episode we realize that Woo-jin does not hold her emotional well-being as a priority either.

As much as I love this packed episode, it is worrisome that new characters enter the scene near the drama's end. "Circle" has not been doing well in the ratings and sequels are still rare in Korean drama. I hope that we will not be left hanging. While mysteries such as Byeol's origins can stay unknown, a lot of them need wrapping up. Please end as well as you have progressed, "Circle".

"Circle" is directed by Min Jin-gi, written by Kim Jin-hee-III, Park Eun-mi-I, Ryoo Moon-sang and Yoo Hye-mi and features Yeo Jin-goo, Kim Kang-woo, Gong Seung-yeon and Lee Gi-kwang.

Written by: Orion from 'Orion's Ramblings'

Note: Due to licensing, videos may not be available in your country
Published on 2017/06/19 | Source

Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo are in a rumor mill once again and their managements have come forth to explain.

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Song Joong-ki's management claimed they were 'looking into things'.

A media reported on the 19th that Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo left for Bali, Indonesia at different times.

The two were in the drama "Descendants of the Sun" and have been in a rumor maill before this.
Published on 2017/06/20 | Source

Added episodes 11 and 12 captures for the Korean drama "Bad Thief, Good Thief" (2017)

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Directed by Jang Joon-ho, Oh Kyeong-hoon

Written by Cha I-yeong, Son Yeong-mok

Network : MBC

With Ji Hyun-woo, Seohyun, Kim Ji-hoon-I, Lim Ju-eun, Ahn Kil-kang, Jung Kyung-soon,...

50 episodes - Sat, Sun 22:00

Synopsis

A story of thieves who affect the authorities that manipulate Korea. It serves to bring satisfaction to those who are frustrated at the reality of the world.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/05/13

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Published on 2017/06/20 | Source

Added episodes and 4 captures for the Korean drama "Secret Forest" (2017)

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Directed by Ahn Gil-ho

Written by Lee Soo-yeon-I

Network : tvN

With Cho Seung-woo, Bae Doona, Lee Joon-hyuk, Yoo Jae-myung, Shin Hye-sun, Choi Byung-mo,...

16 episodes - Fri, Sat 20:00

Synopsis

A prosecutor who's lost his emotions delves into the secret of the District Attorney's Office to track down the real criminal.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2017/06/10

More
Vinexpo partners with Alibaba in China and reboots NYC event

By Andrew Catchpole

Vinexpo has announced an agreement with leading Chinese online platform Alibaba to promote recognition of the exhibition brand in China and deliver a partnership with its annual 9 September wine fair.

Speaking to Harpers at Vinexpo in Bordeaux, Vinexpo CEO Guillaume Deglise said that this years event, confirmed that the Chinese market is so important to us and the wine trade, revealing that after France, China is now the leading source of overseas visitors to Vinexpo Bordeaux, followed by the US.

There are two sides of the agreement, the first [focuses on] promotion and communication of our activities, through the Alibaba network, which is important for recognition and awareness of Vinexpo in China, he said.

The second part is that Alibaba run a wine festival on 9 September, a special date for wine. The translation of the number nine is close to the word wine in Mandarin, so 9 September will always be day of wine festival and this year the guest country of honour will be France.

The reintroduction in March 2018 of the New York event comes 15 years after Vinexpo last ran a dedicated show in the US, but is to have a very different format, according to Deglise.

This will be taking a b2b model to Manhattan, very business focused, targeting the three tiers of the US distribution system, also allowing producers to better understand the US market.

Deglise, who took the helm at Vinexpo ahead of the last edition, has driven a more proactive than reactive approach with the brand, also shaping the Bordeaux show to better reflect the global trends affecting the wine world.

What is key for us is being more active to the requirements of the trade, [introducing] new initiatives, that will reflect the trends of the market and the future of the market, continued Deglise.

We work on projection surveys with IWCR, which allows us to identify trends for the future, and the organisation in Bordeaux reflects those projections. And its been a success  we listened to organic producers and have a big focus, with smaller stands and greater flexibility  also with the organisation of exhibitors generally reflecting famous brands and family producers as a community of wine, rather than being organised by country.

Vinexpo research confirms the major trend in global wine consumption as being away from Europe, with China and the United States as the major growth markets.

Europe currently accounts for 64% of global wine consumption, but this is predicted to fall to a 59% share of the total market by 2020 as China, the US and other markets continue to fast grow.
Will the new regulations make Rioja more "market-driven"?

By Jo Gilbert

Two weeks ago, Riojas D.O.Ca. control board announced two major changes for Spains heartland wine region.

The first was to pave the way for the identification of single vineyard wines.

The other, to greenlight the production of sparkling wine bearing the regions name.

The changes are major for Rioja, but look sideways to the sparkling revolution marching out of Italy and elsewhere, and also the single plot classifications of places like Italy and Burgundy which give far greater flexibility to producers around how they make and classify wine, then the changes begin to seem far more familiar.

For producers wishing to include information about individual plots of land on their labels, they will have to adhere to many different stipulations including a minimum age for vines (in this case, 35 years) and specified yields (5,000 kilos per hectare), all of which will bear yet-to-be-specified trademark(s).

Jose Luis Lapuente, the director general of the Consejo, told Harpers that the decision had grown from a desire to show that Rioja is market-driven, and open to making the most of terroirspecific opportunities while still staying true to Riojas traditional categories of Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva.

The line from the Consejo is that these changes come from the wishes of consumers and the market itself.

Others are more skeptical about their usefulness, such as Richard Cochrane, head of the UK office of leading Spanish producer Felix Solis, who is keen to stress that the new regulations are not necessarily a new benchmark for quality.

These are for a small number of producers who want to be seen and heard, he told Harpers, pointing to the vast majority of value sales (47%), which come from wine produced under the bread-and-butter DO classification.

Adhering to these requirements doesnt necessarily mean better wine. You can produce delicious Rioja without them. They are not in themselves a guarantee of excellence.

Sitting alongside the long-running review of Riojas classification system is also the discussion around municipalities and enabling greater geographical specification.

Talks have reached a state of maturity around bringing more regionality to the area, beyond the existing sub-zones of Alaversa, Alta and Baja.

Like other municipalities around Europe, these municipalities have already making wine for a long while, but in their case they have so far been excluded from labels.

If changes to these regulations go ahead, which it is looking likely that they will, it will being greater flexibility to the region, bringing it in line with others across Europe.

Again however, apart from the Consejo attempting to keep its producers on side, what are the real benefits to the market?

Rioja is not widely crying out for this, Cochrane believes. With Rioja, consumers dont need great wine knowledge to access it, and thats [the regions] great niche.

Similar single vineyard and municipality rules exist in Italy and Burgundy, but you have to ask, who is that there to serve and protect? You can argue its to give shoppers clarity. But mainly, it means that you can deliver and serve on a higher price. At the top is not where everyone can afford to be or want to be.

Despite this, he says that roping off the top part of the pyramid is a good solution for those producers who want to be able to specify things like single plots, although once again, it should not be considered or confused with a set-in-stone progression of quality.

A great example is Italy, where some of the most expensive and best wines fall outside of the regulations, he observes. The idea of the Super Tuscan falls outside of it. Often winemakers believe they can make better wine by not adhering to particular regulations, such as the top Antinori wines from Italy.

David Gleave MW, MD at Italian specialists Liberty Wines, concurs that Italian producers have more freedom to pick and choose from a list of classifications systems which fit them and their wine best  including ones for tighter geographical areas  and have also benefited from this freedom.

In Chianti, if you want to make a reserva there is some restriction. But winemakers can step outside of reserva can use DOC, DOCG or IGT. In the 1970s, things were more restrictive. The increased flexibility has resulted in greater innovation. On the IGT, that has fed into the DOC and so on.

Some regions will be more interested in reaching the top of the specificity pyramid than others, Cochrane says, predicting that Rioja Alavesa and also Rioja Alta will want to drive this agenda.

While these decisions werent made overnight  it took two years for a plenary agreement to be made at the beginning of June  the changes can only be viewed in context of the recent permutations travelling through Europe.

An increased focus on terroir is one, but even more relevant is the sparkling revolution which shows no signs of slowing.

Rioja is hoping to jump on board with the new regulations which will allow rose and white sparkers to be produced.

While Lapuente says the Consejo is conscious about our brand identity others are concerned that Rioja is moving too far from its niche.

Gleave is urging Rioja to play to its strengths.

Rioja has had a huge success story with its reds. They do well with white and not bad with rose. But theyve got to be careful and need to continue to build on their reds. They shouldnt try and become all things to all people, he advised.

Cochrane equally sees opportunity elsewhere for Rioja, particularly in its whites.

Youve got to think of the reputation of the region and what its based on. Its not that it cant evolveRioja has a great reputation globally, especially for its red wines.

Its great to see so many crisp, dry mineral, whites made from Viura with a bit of Tempranillo taking off. One example is the Arnegui we have in Waitrose. Its made from Virua, stainless steel, at the heart of whats doing well in white Rioja. Its possible that that could be extended into sparkling, but white and sparkling are different markets.

For Lapuente, there is no conflict between the worlds of white, red, and sparking.

We are conscious about our brand identity and see diversification as a means to open up new opportunities. For example, our sparkling wines are going to be top quality and will complement our portfolio, he says.
Explosion and blaze at Israeli munitions factory injures one

An explosion and fire at an arms development site in central Israel left one person injured on June 1. The incident, at the Israeli Military Industries factory in Ramat Hasharon near Tel Aviv, was caused by an explosion on a production line according to an initial investigation reported in the Times of Israel.

The cause of the blast was not known and IMI said it was looking into the incident. The injured man was taken to Meir Hospital for treatment.

The IMI site covers over a thousand acres and produces various kinds of ammunition and other military hardware.



In 1992, some 10 tons of explosives blew up at an IMI storehouse in Nof Yam. Two people were killed, and over 60 injured.


US Supreme Court rules in favour of Chevron in Ecuador pollution case

The long-running $8.65 billion pollution case against Chevron brought by Ecuadorian villagers and their American lawyer passed a significant milestone when the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of the oil major on June 19. The court turned down an appeal of lower court rulings blocking enforcement in the United States of an Ecuadorian judgement against Chevron in 2011.

Stock image

A New York court found in 2014 that the $8.65 billion damages against Chevron had been the result of "a parade of corrupt actions" by the villagers representative, New York-based lawyer Steven Donziger, including coercion and fraud, culminating in a bribe offer to the court in Ecuador. The Supreme Courts decision backs up this ruling.

Donziger and representatives of residents of the Lago Agrio region in the Ecuadorean rain forest alleged Chevron was responsible for water and soil contamination caused from 1964 to 1992 by Texaco, which Chevron acquired in 2001. While not disputing that pollution occurred, Chevron said a 1998 compensation agreement between Texaco and Ecuador absolved it of further liability.



The two decade-long legal battle with Chevron has now in all likelihood reached the end of the road in the US, but the plaintiffs have said they plan to continue efforts to enforce the judgement in other countries, including Canada.



Contact Details and Archive...
seek out and entertain possibilities, creating ways for good ideas within the business to get airtime

look outwards across networks and adjacent businesses, as well as major technology trends, to scan for opportunities and possible threats

command and control leadership  that can separate decisions from their context and impact

layers of hierarchy  that slow decisions and blur roles

gatekeepers to leadership  that can keep out new ideas and challenge diverse thinking

extensive reporting  that consumes effort, reduces speed and filters out ideas and information





Impact beats power  Digital leaders are often motivated by meaning and impact rather than traditional power and authority. They will ask themselves, what growth and success have we delivered? What have we built that was not there earlier? What impact have we achieved that we could not have imagined before?

 Digital leaders are often motivated by meaning and impact rather than traditional power and authority. They will ask themselves, what growth and success have we delivered? What have we built that was not there earlier? What impact have we achieved that we could not have imagined before? Create transparency  Sharing information broadly enables faster decision-making at scale and better performance. Digital leaders believe in the transparency of business information, and of their own leadership. They are open about their personal limitations and encourage others to be self-aware and use this understanding to improve performance.

 Sharing information broadly enables faster decision-making at scale and better performance. Digital leaders believe in the transparency of business information, and of their own leadership. They are open about their personal limitations and encourage others to be self-aware and use this understanding to improve performance. Foster resilience  This is particularly important for digital leaders because in digital businesses pivots or failures often signal the end of someones passion project. Digital leaders must model discipline and encourage others to hold ideas loosely, respect the evidence, manage negative emotions, and find the energy and enthusiasm to move on.

Cultivate discipline  Effective digital leaders understand that discipline is as important as creativity in making innovation work. They know how to focus their attention and balance business improvement with growth and innovation. They only pursue ideas that have tested positively and ensure the business learns from every experiment before moving on.

WORDS INTO ACTION

Here are some tangible actions to help you meet the digital leadership challenge:



 Start every communication with the purpose or vision, to provide the context people need to make sensible, quick decisions.



 Resist the temptation to punish failure,

where it is the outcome of trying hard with good, well-informed intent.



 Bring in digital resources from outside to change the dynamic, disrupt the current system and accelerate adaptation.



Create time for purposeful reflection to deliver ROI in innovation and experimentation.



 Sponsor hackathons to trigger productive conversations, build relationships and demonstrate the business willingness to invest in cohesion.

Sources:

1 Graham P. Waller, Gartner Global Human Capital Trends 2017;

2 Global Human Capital Trends 2017.

Nous is the largest Australia-founded management consulting firm, with over 250 staff across Australia and the UK. We partner with leaders to shape world-class businesses, effective government and empowered communities.

, principal at Nous Group , outlines the key skills required of leaders to succeed in the digital era. How do you shape up?Digital business doesnt just disrupt markets; it disrupts tried and true management behaviours as well.1 As the world we live and work in becomes increasingly digital, business leaders are challenged to provide a new kind of leadership  leadership that taps into potential, to meet the challenges of an emergent, uncertain future. Yet when it comes to digital leadership, the facts tell a story of strong demand and constrained supply. While the majority of organisations agree that digital leadership is important, 65% have no significant program in place to drive digital leadership skills.2Nous defines digital leadership as the ability to engage people to achieve digital business success by creating the conditions that maximise purposeful innovation with pace and discipline.To meet this challenge, digital leaders:Seizing the opportunities of the digital age and avoiding the extinction that comes with standing still demands a new type of leadership. This digital leadership challenges many traditional expressions of leadership, such as:Nous recently collaborated with a selection of digital leaders  CEOs, CIOs and digital executives  from some of Australias leading businesses to build a framework to help define the leadership that is needed in the digital age and how it can be cultivated:How we think about things guides what we do and how we behave. It is important for digital leaders to think about their leadership in ways that produce the right behaviours and drive results. Some habits of mind that Nous has identified in effective digital leaders are:Digital leaders do not watch from the sidelines. They are purposeful in modelling themselves and seeking in others certain key characteristics to sense and exploit opportunities; to constantly find new ways to deliver better customer experiences. Ideas are not held back by burdensome layers of oversight, bureaucracy and control mechanisms.Organisations must consider how to cultivate digital leadership at scale. Growing and learning fast demands great leadership across more levels. This is because distributed leadership engages people and motivates them to do their best work. It creates an environment in which answers can be found by many rather than told by a few, and it fosters daily experimentation and innovation closer to customers.But this positive effect also exacerbates the challenge, because it means digital leadership must be fostered across a broader and often large segment of the workforce, beyond the executive level that is the go-to layer for investment in development.At the same time, we are operating in a world where traditional training is time-consuming, costly and less helpful to modern learners who are self-directed, digitally savvy and easily distracted.The ability to grow digital leadership at all levels and at scale can be a differentiator and an accelerator for businesses. Like the world of digital business, the path to great digital leadership is not a question of best practice but requires fresh thinking, experimentation, and adaptation.




Todays the day in GA-06. The most recent poll shows Ossoff up but within the margin of error, as most polls have shown. This one has Ossoff winning with 49.7% to Handels 48.0%, despite Ryan and Trump pouting tens of millions of dollars into the race. Many see the race as a referendum on Trump. 91% of Ossoff voters have an unfavorable opinion him and 78% of Handel voters have a favorable opinion. About 140,000 people have already voted-- a gargantuan number which favors Ossoff

Ossoff has a 15-point lead among self-described early voters in the Opinion Savvy poll, a 13-point lead in a poll from The Trafalgar Group, a 14-point lead in a SurveyUSA poll conducted for WXIA-TV in Atlanta and a 9-point lead in a WSB-TV/Landmark Communications poll. Then there is the Atlanta Journal Constitution poll, the only live-caller poll, where Ossoff led by 31 points among early voters.

The key to winning these kinds of races is field-- something the DCCC opposes, since none of their crooked staffers can funnel money into their own pockets-- but, thankfully, Ossoff has poured millions of dollars into an unprecedented ground game to turn out new voters and those who havent voted in non-presidential elections previously. If that reporting is accurate, hell win.





NY Times that first and foremost, this is a GA-06 voters are divided on Trump-- 50% approve and 50% disapprove. Tom Cole (R-OK), former chair of the NRCC told thethat first and foremost, this is a referendum on the Trump presidency . The stakes here are not just for the House, the stakes are for the Trump presidency. But theres another important factor voters will be using today: TrumpCare, which divides the 2 campaigns and which the voters oppose.





The GOP is in a bad situation. If Handel wins, all she did was win a deep red district that Tom Price won last year by 23 points-- and at a cost of over $40 million. Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin wrote that Republicans, weighed down by Mr. Trumps growing unpopularity, must demonstrate they can separate themselves from the president enough to hold suburban districts that only now are becoming battlegrounds.





The DCCC hacks they spoke with for their piece emphasized that a win by Ossoff will help the DCCC recruit more candidates. Thats something that should scare all progressives, since DCCC recruitment-- led by 2 conservatives, multimillionaire New Dem Denny Heck (WA) and wretched Rahm Emanuel protegee Blue Dog Cheri Bustos (IL)-- means wealthy self-funders, ex-Republicans, corrupt careerists and, first and foremost, dull conservatives who will take orders from leadership and not rock the corporate, donor-driven boat.

Republicans, weighed down by Mr. Trumps growing unpopularity, must demonstrate they can separate themselves from the president enough to hold suburban districts that only now are becoming battlegrounds.



An outright win in Georgia would serve as validation of the partys overall strategy. Democrats have been recruiting aggressively in Republican-leaning seats-- including in Michigan, Illinois and New Jersey-- and party officials expect a wave of new challengers to announce their candidacies after the start of the next fund-raising quarter in July.



The stakes are highest for Republicans, who have held the district since the Carter administration without much of a challenge to speak of. Ms. Handel, the well-known former board chairwoman of the states most populous county, Fulton, and also a former Georgia secretary of state, is facing Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old Democrat and former congressional aide who does not even live in the district.



Its a race that we have to win, said Georgia State Senator Brandon Beach, a Republican whose district includes part of the terrain being fought on here.



Republican officials worry that if Mr. Ossoff wins, it would send a resounding statement about the intensity of the backlash to Mr. Trump, prompting incumbents to think twice about running for re-election, slowing fund-raising and, most significantly, further imperiling their already-stalemated legislative agenda.



Its not just symbolic-- we really cant afford to lose any seats at this point, said Representative Tom Rooney, Republican of Florida, noting that the factions among congressional Republicans make their majorities more tenuous in practice than they may seem on paper.



In a district that was once nobodys idea of swing, the parties themselves have elevated the stakes. The two candidates and outside groups have now spent more than $51 million.



Republican Party leaders thought having total control of Washington would end the gridlock of the Obama years. But with lawmakers unable to put a single piece of significant legislation on Mr. Trumps desk and the president threatening the party with his unceasing Twitter eruptions and intervention in the investigation surrounding his campaign, Republicans fear that losing in Georgia may hasten the sort of every-man-for-himself acts of self-preservation that typically do not come this early in an election cycle.



And if vulnerable lawmakers turn inward, that could make passing controversial legislation, like an overhaul of the health care or tax system, even more difficult.



Such a vicious cycle, retrenchment ensuring inaction, could only further demoralize grass-roots Republicans, deteriorating the partys standing even more. That malaise has already hobbled Republicans in Georgia, forcing national super PACs to spend heavily to aid Ms. Handel while Mr. Ossoff has raised over $24 million on his own, mainly with support from small donors.



We actually have to have victories, Mr. Rooney said.



Notably, Mr. Ossoff has made opposition to the American Health Care Act, the health care bill approved by House Republicans last month, a signature issue of his campaign. And while Mr. Ossoff has run on a centrist message over all, Democrats have run advertisements targeting liberal-leaning voters, especially African-Americans, with appeals to send a message to Mr. Trump: Republicans on Saturday circulated a picture of a truck parked in the district with a sign reading, Hold Donald Trump Accountable, Vote Tuesday, June 20.



On the Democratic side, elected officials and party strategists say that Mr. Ossoffs campaign has already served as a galvanizing force, spurring small donors into action and focusing the attention of voters and activists on the battle for the House. The notion that Mr. Prices once-safe seat could be in play, strategists said, has helped encourage Democrats in other conservative-leaning seats.



Should Mr. Ossoff win, it could spur another wave of Democratic candidates to run in challenging districts.



Citing Georgia as a model, Andy Kim, a former national security official in the Obama administration, said he is likely to enter the race against Representative Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, who vaulted into the national spotlight as an architect of the House Republicans health care bill.



We want that same energy, Mr. Kim said. We want people around the country to focus in and say: This an opportunity for us to push back and hold MacArthur accountable for his actions.



In Arizona, Randy Friese, a trauma surgeon turned state representative, said he has watched the Georgia race as he weighs a challenge to Senator Jeff Flake. Mr. Friese, who said he is leaning toward running, noted that Mr. Ossoffs message-- casting him largely as a nonpartisan candidate-- had resonated with both Democrats and independent voters.



Voters need people who have the political courage to stand up for their values and not just bend to the will of the party, said Mr. Friese, who entered politics after treating Representative Gabrielle Giffords for a near-fatal gunshot wound in 2011.



Among the Democrats likely to announce campaigns in conservative-leaning districts, according to party strategists, are Matt Longjohn, a physician who is the Y.M.C.A.s national health officer, against Representative Fred Upton of Michigan; Brendan Kelly, the St. Clair County, Ill., states attorney, against Representative Mike Bost; and Nancy Soderberg, a former ambassador, against Representative Ron DeSantis of Florida. Elissa Slotkin, a former Defense Department official, is moving toward a campaign against Representative Mike Bishop of Michigan.



All would be running in seats that tilt clearly toward the Republicans and where Democrats typically struggle to enlist strong candidates.



And in California, Gil Cisneros, a Navy veteran who won $266 million in the lottery, has been meeting with strategists about a challenge to Representative Ed Royce, according to Democrats familiar with his preparations. Mr. Royce has already drawn a promising Democratic opponent in Mai Khanh Tran, a pediatrician and former refugee.



Democratic officials argue that even a razor-thin defeat for Mr. Ossoff should be taken as an encouraging sign, but the party is under pressure to win. House Democrats only reluctantly, and minimally, competed in special elections earlier in the year in Kansas and Montana. But they poured millions into this race, even as Mr. Ossoff largely ran from the partys agenda and leadership.



My concern is that we might raise the bar too much, the expectations, said Representative Michael E. Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat. Look guys, these are seats we shouldnt even be playing in.



Republicans are not even bothering to play down the consequences of losing.



We all know this is a harbinger of national politics, Mr. Perdue said, and the world is looking, the nation is looking.

Wow, enough identity politics in there to make you want to puke your guts up. Early today, I saw some well intentioned woman candidate from Houston babbling on twitter that the solution to the countrys problems was getting more women into Congress. I was happy to point out that though the best voting record in the House belongs to a woman-- Pramila Jayapal (100%)-- the worst Democrat, by far, also belongs to a woman-- Blue Dog nightmare Kyrsten Sinema (10.0%). How about kf we look at the quality of candidates instead of the identity politics bullshit?





NY Times yesterday that listed the 15 best educated districts in the country-- best educated in terms of college degrees-- and correlated the list with congressional representation. All but 2 are represented by Democrats and of the two represented by Republicans-- GA-06 and VA-10-- only one was won by Trump last year, GA-06, very narrowly. Theyre the only districts where at least half the adults have degrees. The list, he wrote, includes plenty of caricatures of the liberal elite: limousine liberals; Hollywood liberals; latte liberals; San Francisco liberals; Massachusetts liberals; and the D.C. establishment. It also includes Georgias Sixth Congressional District, where a special election on Tuesday has been held up as the first big litmus test of Democratic strength in the Trump era. Education explains why the race is competitive at all. The list includes some of the most committed and effective progressives in Congress-- Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna, Jerry Nadler, Pramila Jayapal, Jamie Raskin and Katherine Clark. It would be nice seeing a Georgia district on a list like that! Nate Cohn did a fascinating piece for theyesterday that listed the 15 best educated districts in the country-- best educated in terms of college degrees-- and correlated the list with congressional representation. All but 2 are represented by Democrats and of the two represented by Republicans-- GA-06 and VA-10-- only one was won by Trump last year, GA-06, very narrowly. Theyre the only districts where at least half the adults have degrees. The list, he wrote, includes plenty of caricatures of the liberal elite: limousine liberals; Hollywood liberals; latte liberals; San Francisco liberals; Massachusetts liberals; and the D.C. establishment. It also includes Georgias Sixth Congressional District, where a special election on Tuesday has been held up as the first big litmus test of Democratic strength in the Trump era. Education explains why the race is competitive at all. The list includes some of the most committed and effective progressives in Congress-- Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna, Jerry Nadler, Pramila Jayapal, Jamie Raskin and Katherine Clark. It would be nice seeing a Georgia district on a list like that!

The district has been staunchly Republican for a generation. Mitt Romney won it by 23 percentage points in 2012-- larger than his margin of victory in Alabama or Kansas.



But President Trump won it by just 1.5 points, and Jon Ossoff, a 30-year-old Democrat, won 48.1 percent of the vote in a big field in the first round of voting. Of the 15 best-educated districts in the country, this is the only one Mr. Trump won in November.



If Mr. Ossoff wins the election, Republicans can argue-- with some credibility-- that Georgias Sixth was a particularly ripe opportunity for Democrats at a time when Mr. Trumps ratings among college-educated voters have sunk into the low 30s.



But even if he loses, Mr. Ossoffs strong performance has already demonstrated that Republicans in well-educated but traditionally conservative areas now shoulder the burden of Mr. Trumps weak performance. It suggests that previously safe Republican incumbents in Orange County, Calif., or the suburbs of Dallas and Houston could face serious challenges next November. And most important, a close race in Georgias Sixth suggests that control of the House is in play, regardless of which candidate comes out on top.
The collection of support cards will begin soon, Simon Elo, the chairperson of the New Alternative Parliamentary Group, says in a press release.

The 20 Members of the Parliament who left the Finns Party Parliamentary Group last week have established an association called Blue Reform with the intention of entering it into the party register in the imminent future.

A total of 5,000 support cards from citizens entitled to vote are required to enter a party into the national party register.

Blue Reform, the press release indicates, will be established to serve as a force for change to foster well-being, justice and security in Finland. The party's mission will also be to ensure all individuals across generations have an equal opportunity to develop themselves, their environment and the society at large.

We will become a party that offers clear and unprejudiced solutions and modernises Finland while respecting human dignity. We believe nation states must be act independently in the international world. We respect human rights and do not tolerate any form of misanthropy, the press release reads.

The name of the newly established association was selected to reflect peace, stability, patriotism, productivity and reform-orientation. The Finnish name of the proposed political party is Sininen tulevaisuus and the Swedish name Bla Framtiden.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Antti Aimo-Koivisto  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
The "Seneca Cliff" is the point at which a system that grew large slowly, starts to collapse rapidly. This is the way the 1929 stock market and 2008 banking assets collapsed (image source). Any complex system can go over the Seneca Cliff, says climate scientist Ugo Bardi. (Can you guess why he's studying it?)

Is this an epidemics of brain disease? Or do the Gods really drive crazy those whom they want to destroy?



Maybe. But there is also a perfectly rational explanation for what's happening. Imagine that you are part of the elite of the Maldives. And imagine that you are smart enough to understand what's going on with the Earth's climate. As things stand today, it is clear that it is too late to stop a burst of global warming that will push temperatures so high that nothing will save the Maldives islands. Maybe not next year but in a few decades, it is nearly certain.



So, given the situation, what is the rational thing for you to do? Of course, it is to sell what you can sell as long as you can find a sucker who will buy. Then you can say good riddance to those who remain.

I won't belabor this here, since I have a longer piece in draft that makes the same point much more directly. But the basic idea is this: Climate people  activists, scientists, concerned citizens, "woke" politicians  think that the elite drive to march human civilization over the climate cliff is, to put it frankly, "nuts." Irrational. Or "insufficiently self-interested," to put it much too mildly.I've begun to think differently though. I've begun to think that elites who are driving us over the cliff are not at all irrational. Someone who's had that same thought as well is climate scientist Ugo Bardi, who offers a lay person's view of much of his current work at The Seneca Effect Bardi's goal is to study, in his words, "why complex systems fail," and further, why they often fail rapidly. For more about Bardi's work on rapid system collapse, see " The Seneca Effect: Why decline is faster than growth ." It explains phenomena like those detailed here  as well as what might soon happen to Uber (see " Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Ten: The Uber Death Watch Begins "). The Seneca Effect is named after the Roman philosopher Seneca, who wrote that "increases are of sluggish growth, but the way to ruin is rapid."Now to my own point. In a recent post, Dr. Bardi looked at the Maldive Islands, one of the most seriously threatened inhabited places in the world when it comes to climate change. According to the IPCC, 75% of the Maldive Islands could be under water by 2100.Yet here's what the rulers of the Maldives plan to do  stimulate development:Full Guardian article here . Boggles the mind, doesn't it?Actually it doesn't. Dr. Bardi In the case of the Maldives, Dr. Bardi concludes (emphasis mine): "What we are seeing, therefore, is a game in which someone will be left holding the short end of the dynamite stick.. For them, the Seneca Cliff ends underwater."This is a developer's dream  own something worthless, enhance it enough to sell at a much higher price, then leave. "Then you can say good riddance to those who remain."Can you guess where this logic leads us with respect to the planet? Not interstellar travel for the elites, but something else. If you still haven't figured out what "then leave" means for them, stay tuned.GP

Labels: climate, climate change, Gaius Publius, Maldives, pathology of the wealthy, sea level rise, Seneca Effect, Ugo Bardi
Water could be seen slowly seeping through the irrigation reservoir in the northern province of Thai Nguyen in recent days.

Thai Nguyen Province in northern Vietnam has declared a state of emergency after water permeated through some parts of a giant reservoir that holds 100 million cubic meters of water.

The province said in a recent statement that it was monitoring the situation, saying the safety of Nui Coc Reservoir "has been threatened."

The province is preparing to fix the problem by adding an extra waterproof layer. Work is expected to cost VND47 billion, or more than $2 million, and finish by August 20.

The news website of national broadcaster VTV on Monday warned that there's a risk of a collapse, considering the reservoir will receive a large amount of rainfall during the monsoon season. It says tens of thousands of families living in the area are in danger.

Experts at a meeting with the agriculture department on Monday urged the province to devise a plan for evacuation.

The irrigation reservoir of 25 square kilometers, one of the largest of its kind in Vietnam, was built between 1973 and 1982, with a capacity of 40,000 Olympic swimming pools combined.

It has been providing water to 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) of agriculture land, mitigate flooding on the Cau, one of the biggest rivers in northern Vietnam.

It also serves tourism and fish farming.
A Dublin man wanted for questioning in relation to the feud murder of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch's nephew has a week to decide if he will fight his extradition back to the capital from the UK.

Jonathan Keogh (31) was arrested by heavily armed officers in Essex more than a week ago on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

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He appeared via video-link before a sitting of Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday morning.

The matter was adjourned and Keogh is due to be presented on June 26 in relation to the extradition hearing.

"He will either consent to his extradition or raise new issues regarding the extradition request," said a spokesman for the Magistrates' Court Service.

"His case will be listed before the Senior District Judge."

It means that Keogh will have until next Monday to decide if he wants to fight his extradition in relation to a Hutch/Kinahan feud murder.

Detectives want to question Keogh over the gangland killing of Gareth Hutch (35), who was shot dead in May of last year.

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The nephew of 'The Monk' was murdered outside his apartment in Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, on the morning of May 24, 2016.

CCTV images captured the father-of-one walking to his car before two gunmen approach him from behind and fire a number of shots at him.

Challenges

A hearing for Keogh's case in a Magistrates' Court is also scheduled for August if he challenges his extradition.

However, if he decides to accept his deportation he could be brought back to Dublin as early as next week.

Exclusive images obtained by the Herald show Keogh being detained by elite police officers from the UK's National Crime Agency.

He was arrested in Romford, Essex, and has since been detained in a London jail.
The man being held by police over the Finsbury Park attack

A man held by police over the Finsbury Park attack has been identified as 47-year-old father-of-four Darren Osborne.

Osborne, from Cardiff, was arrested after pedestrians were targeted by a man driving a van near Finsbury Park Mosque in north London early yesterday.

Witnesses described hearing the van driver, who was detained by members of the public at the scene, shout: "I'm going to kill Muslims."

The man was initially arrested on suspicion of attempted murder but Scotland Yard said he was later arrested for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

Residents near Cardiff were "shocked" after seeing photographs of their neighbour being arrested in London. Police are searching a residential address in Pentwyn, where Osborne is listed as living, in connection with the attack.

Singing

Five residents identified images of the man being arrested as their neighbour, Osborne, who according to reports is originally from Somerset.

One of Osborne's neighbours, taxi driver Saleem Naema (50), said: "I can't believe it. I know him. I've lived here for five years, he was already living here when I moved in.

"If I ever needed anything he would come. I just can't believe that he did that. I am a Muslim."

Khadijeh Sherizi, who lives next door to Osborne, said: "I saw him on the news and I thought 'Oh my God' that is my neighbour.

"He has been so normal. He was in his kitchen yesterday afternoon singing with his kids. He was the dad of the family. He seemed polite and pleasant to me. I just can't believe it."

Police said the attack happened while a man, who later died, was receiving first aid after being taken ill in Seven Sisters Road. It is not clear if there is a link between his death and the attack.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu said: "This is being treated as a terrorist incident and is being investigated by the counter-terrorism command. The investigation is ongoing and we are working fast to know the full details of how and why this took place.

"All the victims were from the Muslim community and we will be deploying extra police patrols to reassure the public, especially those observing Ramadan."

The attacker, who is thought to have acted alone, struck as the area was busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at the mosque.

Eight people were taken to hospital, with one since discharged, while two others were treated at the scene.

Earlier, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said the incident was "quite clearly an attack on Muslims".

"Sadly we have suffered a number of attacks and very sad events over the last few weeks," she added.

Security Minister Ben Wallace said the suspect was not known to the security services.

"What I can say on this case is this individual, so far as we know at the moment, was not known to us, but we are aware of a rise in the far right," he said.

British prime minister Theresa May condemned the incident as "every bit as sickening" as the recent atrocities in London and Manchester.

Carnage

Witnesses said the suspect was smiling and waving as he brought carnage to Seven Sisters Road, with video posted online showing him give a nonchalant wave as police put him in the back of their vehicle.

Imam Mohammed Mahmoud was hailed for his efforts to calm the chaotic situation before police arrived and was said to have used his body to shield the suspected terrorist from the fury of onlookers.

Images of the van showed it was rented from a company near Cardiff.

Flowers have been laid near the scene, one card reading: "This is an attack on all Londoners - and on my community.''

Another read: "I was so sorry to hear the news this morning. #NotInMyName''.

A 30-year-old male neighbour of Osborne said Osborne previously moved out of the address but had been living back with his partner and children there for a "couple of months".
This has played itself out in the courts. Shes tenured so this is complicated, unfortunate and not fun, but I recommend the board accept the settlement agreement.

Bristol Tennessee school system attorney Chris McCarty

BRISTOL, Tenn.  To avoid what could be a costly civil proceeding, the Bristol Tennessee Board of Education voted unanimously Monday night to approve a $71,000 settlement with a former school official.

The settlement agreement is with Cherith Roberts, a former program assistant at Holston View Elementary School, who was indicted on a felony child neglect charge involving a 5-year-old student at the school in 2015. Roberts, who pleaded not guilty, was granted pretrial diversion in March and if she stays out of trouble, shell be eligible to have the charge wiped from her record. Pretrial diversion does not require an admission of guilt.

School system attorney Chris McCarty recommended that the agreement be accepted by the board. Roberts, who has been on unpaid leave, is a tenured employee who is currently due $115,000 in back pay, he said.

This has played itself out in the courts, he told the board. Shes tenured so this is complicated, unfortunate and not fun, but I recommend the board accept the settlement agreement.

In exchange for the settlement, Roberts will resign on June 30 and not seek any more damages, he added.

Because shes tenured she could appeal to a higher court, McCarty said. If she does, Bristol Tennessee City Schools would be responsible for the court cost and any other back pay that could be accrued. This is the cleanest, easiest, and least troublesome way to handle this.

School officials issued a written statement and declined further comment.

"Per our understanding, Ms. Roberts will be absolved of any criminal wrongdoing, according to the statement. Therefore, based on the recommendation of school system counsel, Bristol Tennessee City Schools wishes to resolve any possible claims or issues stemming from her employment. The school system feels this is the best decision for the district to avoid what could potentially be a costly civil proceeding."

Originally, two people were charged in connection with their treatment of the same child: Roberts and former Holston View Principal Jerry Poteat. Poteat was charged with one felony count of attempted child abuse and one misdemeanor charge of attempted child neglect.

He was accused of locking the girl outside the school in 27-degree weather after she disrupted her class, but the charges were dismissed because the language in the indictment was insufficient, according to the judge.

Roberts was charged in a separate incident that was discovered while the Poteat case was being investigated. The details of that incident never emerged.

Roberts was originally hired as a sixth-grade teacher at Avoca Elementary for the 2002-03 school year and had been in her job as program assistant since 2009.
UPDATED

BRISTOL, Va.  Three Bristol residents face felony drug charges after a federal search warrant was executed at a residence on Reedy Creek Road.

Elizabeth Pauline Eaton, 35, of Bristol, Virginia, was charged with possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute, according to a news release from the Washington County Sheriffs Office. Bruce Douglas Ferguson Jr., 45, of Bristol, Virginia, and Sarah Helen Zint, 29, of Bristol, Tennessee, were each charged with possession of meth.

All three were transported to the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon. Eaton and Zint are being held without bail. Ferguson was released on a $1,500 secured bail.

Sheriff Fred Newman said a tip was received that meth was being manufactured at the residence, which led to the search warrant on Thursday.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Virginia State Police and the Russell County Sheriffs Office assisted.

BRISTOL, Va.  Three Bristol residents have been charged on three felony methamphetamine charges by the Washington County Virginia Sheriff's Office, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, the Virginia State Police and the Russell County Sheriff's Office.

On June 15, a federal search warrant was executed at a residence on Reedy Creek Road by members of the law enforcement agencies, according to a news release from the Washington County Sheriffs Office.

Elizabeth Pauline Eaton, 35, of Bristol, Virginia, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine with the intent to distribute. Bruce Douglas Ferguson, Jr., 45, of Bristol, Virginia, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine. Sarah Helen Zint, 29, of Bristol, Tennessee, was arrested and charged with possession of methamphetamine.

All three were transported to the Abingdon Facility of the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail. Eaton and Zint are being held without bond. Ferguson was released on a $1,500 secured bond.

Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman said a tip was received that methamphetamine was being manufactured at the residence, which led authorities to obtain the search warrant.
Virginia voters delivered one clear, unmistakable message in last Tuesdays primaries.

It had nothing to do with Confederate statues or President Trump or natural gas pipelines or any other issue that was talked about during the campaigns.

It was this: Southwest and Southside Virginia are disenchanted with  and disconnected from  the rest of Virginia.

This was a theme that showed up in both the Democratic and Republican primaries governor and lieutenant governor.

Each of those four results was marked by the same thing: A stark divide between this part of the state and the urban crescent that runs from Northern Virginia to Richmond to Hampton Roads.

Lets be clear: This isnt simply a rural/urban divide. There are rural parts of the state in the east, too  principally east of Interstate 95. In three of the four statewide races (the Republican lieutenant governors race was the exception), those rural parts of the state generally voted the way the urban crescent did.

This is very much a split between Southwest and Southside Virginia and the rest of the state. In all four races, the winning candidate won in the urban crescent, the losing candidate won in this part of the state.

There might be extenuating circumstances to some of those contests. Or maybe not.

In the Democratic governors race, Tom Perriello won his old congressional district  the Southside-based 5th District  and parts of Western Virginia where natural gas pipelines are a big issue. He ran as an opponent of such pipelines. Still, that alone doesnt explain his strength in Southwest Virginia counties that are nowhere close to the pipeline routes. He took 65 percent in Bland County, for instance; 58 percent in Washington County.

Likewise, in the Republican governors race, Corey Stewart positioned himself to the right of Ed Gillespie  and it would be fair to say that Republican voters in Southside and Southwest Virginia are more conservative than their coun-terparts in, say, Alexandria and Arlington. Perhaps that explains why Stewart ran so strong in Southside and Southwest; his high point was Russell County, where he took nearly 75 percent of the vote.

On the other hand, are Republican voters in Southwest and Southside really more conservative than Republican voters in some of the rural counties along the Chesapeake Bay? Gillespie won most of those counties, often handily.

Comparable splits showed up in both the Democratic and Republican races for lieutenant governor, both of which lacked the sharply-delineated issues that marked the two gubernatorial contests.

A geographical split in a general election is not at all surprising. Rural areas tend to be more conservative, urban areas more liberal, so its natural that wed see a partisan split in November. But this isnt November. So why would this geographical split show up in all four party primaries?

Well advance a theory: Each of these results  be they on the Democratic side or the Republican side  underscore the same point. Southwest and Southside Virginia increasingly feel disconnected from the states governing class.

In both the Democratic and Republican gubernatorial primaries, voters in Southwest and Southside generally backed the most anti-establishment candidate available  Perriello and Stewart.

That theory may not hold up entirely on the two lieutenant governors races. Its hard to say that Justin Fairfax was an establishment candidate for the Democrats, but it is fair to say that he ran a more conventional campaign (mostly talking about workforce development) while Platt ran a more insurgent-style campaign that called for impeaching President Trump.

Likewise, on the Republican side, Jill Vogel ran as a more normal Republican; Bryce Reeves campaigned as a more hot-button candidate.

The result: Fairfax and Vogel won their respective races by winning big in the suburbs, especially Northern Virginia, while Platt and Reeves mostly dominated in Southwest and Southside.

Viewed that way then, heres what we see: Southwest and Southside feel so disenfranchised from Richmond that they instinctively went with the candidates most likely to disrupt existing norms.

On the Republican side: Rural voters east of Interstate 95 may be just as conservative as their counterparts in this part of the state, but they may not feel as disconnected from state government. On the Democratic side: Look at the unusual way that African-American voters in Roanoke differed from African-American voters in the urban crescent. Northam won 3-1 among black voters there, but in Roanoke, it was Perriello who carried the citys black precincts by nearly the same margin. On both sides, we are out of sync and out of step.

Our theory: These results are really a cry for help from Southwest and Southside Virginia, two parts of the state that have suffered most heavily from the economic dislocations of the past few decades.

The partisan nature of the general election likely will paper over this geographical disconnect in November. Conservative rural voters will back Gillespie simply because hes a Republican, even if he is Establishment Ed, as Stewart called him. Voters in the more liberal urban pockets of Southwest Virginia will vote Northam because, as liberals, why would they want Gillespie?

That means its these primaries  where partisan issues dont get in the way  where we can most clearly see just how disenchanted voters in Southwest and Southside Virginia are.

Geographical discontents are nothing new. Thats what led to the creation of West Virginia. Its what has led to secession movements in northern California, northern Colorado, eastern Washington and various other places. Some of those are easy to laugh at. Those pushing the State of Jefferson in northern California even have their own flag, with two black Xs  to signify how their part of the state feels double-crossed by the capital in Sacramento.

Reality check: Southwest and Southside Virginia arent going to secede politically from Virginia, but they have, in many ways, seceded emotionally. Or, more accurately, we feel like the rest of the state has seceded from us.

What do Ed Gillespie and Jill Vogel, Ralph Northam and Justin Fairfax  all of whom were essentially rejected by voters in this part of the state last Tuesday  have to say about that?
Nearly 80 PA people have been charged for Jan. 6 riot. Three are dead.

news
NEWTON  Bradley Dwayne Davis, 41, of Statesville, made his first appearance in District Court Tuesday morning.

Davis was charged with murder Tuesday, a Class A felony, with a maximum sentence of death or life in prison.

According to the Catawba County Clerk's Office, Davis is being defended by Victoria Jayne of the North Carolina Capital Defenders Office until another attorney is assigned.

Davis is being charged in connection with a shooting that occurred outside Alessios Lounge early Saturday that resulted in the death of Shamar Rashad Wilson, of Hickory.

Several of Wilsons family and friends were at Catawba County Justice Center Tuesday, including Patty Wright, Wilsons aunt.

How many times is he going to kill somebody before they see that he (Davis) is a menace? Wright said. You could see in his face, he has no remorse.

Davis was convicted of second degree murder in 1997 in Catawba County.

The previous incident occurred at the Red Roof Inn on Lenoir Rhyne Boulevard SE and resulted in Ruben Miller, 19, of Hickory, dying of gunshot wounds. Davis was released in 2011.

He (Davis) doesnt know that he took away a good man, a good father, a good brother, a good son. Wilson family friend Ladonna Harshaw said after Tuesdays court proceedings.

The probable cause hearing is set for July 11 at Catawba County Justice Center.

Davis remains in jail without bond.
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Actor Aamir Khan stunned everyone with the physical transformation that he underwent for his film Dangal (2016), where he played the role of wrester Mahavir Phogat. As the film continues to reap gold overseas, Aamir has been shooting for his next, Thugs of Hindostan. A recent picture of the actor, where he is seen as having lost a lot of weight - almost half his original size, has gone viral and has left his fans shocked.

Check it out

THUGS OF HINDOSTAN BEGINS @aamir_khan with a crew member in Malta pic.twitter.com/D41LXSZS7P  AAMIR KHAN FAN CLUB (@Aamir_KhanFC) June 5, 2017

The actor posed with a crew member in Malta, where his film is being shot. His co-actors Amitabh Bachchan and Fatima Sana Shaikh, who played the role of Aamirs daughter in Dangal, have also joined him on the sets of Thugs of Hindostan.

Hey guys, thanks for the fantastic response to Haanikarak Bapu & Dhaakad! Here is our second poster, hope you like it. Love. a. pic.twitter.com/lqL5LUjQla  Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) November 24, 2016

In the wilderness of Arunachal. It's a really beautiful place! pic.twitter.com/gAmRFAnWOV  Aamir Khan (@aamir_khan) November 3, 2016

The 52-year-old had to put on 20-25 kg to portray the role of a wrestler and was almost 98 kg while shooting Dangal. He is now he is down to 70kg. In fact, his current weight is less than what he weighed while shooting PK (2015) and Dhoom 3 (2013). This is an outcome of rigorous training since the last six months.

Although he left many impressed with is weight transformation in Dangal, it was not easy for Aamir. There were reports of him facing difficulty in breathing as well as bending when he had added the extra kilos for the film. He needed help in tying his shoe laces and putting on socks.

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Whats common between Gauri Shindes Dear Zindagi (2016), Maneesh Sharmas Fan (2016) and Rahul Dholakias Raees, apart from the fact that Shah Rukh Khan starred in them? In all the films, the superstar worked with the respective directors for the first time in his career. Interestingly, the same holds true for his upcoming films too  Imtiaz Ali-directed Jab Harry Met Sejal and Aanand L Rais untitled next.

Ask SRK about working with Imtiaz, and he says, Main ek bahut badi baat bolne wala hoon (I am going to say a very big thing). [Till now], I have worked with some really nice directors but I can say that Imtiaz is like a modern-day Yash Chopra. I dont think apart from Adi (Aditya Chopra) and Karan (Johar), who have learnt hands-on from Yashji, anyone else gets the same vibe (as Chopras films).

So nice to see sooo many meeting so many. This is my contribution "Jab Harry Met Hair all over the place Ali" A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) on Jun 12, 2017 at 4:11am PDT

Shah Rukh adds that hes doing a romantic film after a long time. In that sense, you can call it a pure love story, says the actor. So, what makes Imtiaz stand out? Be it his writing or the way he gets [the essence of] man-woman relationship in a very sweet manner, along with having a modern take on it, its very beautiful, he says.

And a fulfilling Fathers Day at Arth designed by @gaurikhan A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) on Jun 19, 2017 at 3:23am PDT

The Chennai Express (2013) actor says, sometimes, Imtiazs (films) can be edgy also. But Jab Harry Met Sejal (JHMS) is not edgy (smiles); this one is funny and happy. Also, Imtiaz believes in songs, and so you will see the girl and boy breaking into a song in the streets. But he prefers more of [other cities in] Europe than just Switzerland (Chopras favourite shooting location). He has a lot of Yashji kind of qualities, says Shah Rukh.

Excuse yeh hai ki main character huA1! @anushkasharma @imtiazaliofficial @redchilliesent #JHMSMiniTrail3  A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) on Jun 19, 2017 at 9:50pm PDT

Adding that Imtiaz is also a very nice writer and an equally good human being, SRK adds that it was great fun working with him. I wish I could do a film with Imtiaz every year in the genre that he wants because its very easy working with him. He also loves his actors the way Yashji would. Also, he is very gentle and kind, so it was great fun to team up with him, he says.

Well, they have all agreed to be my Radha! Do you? @anushkasharma @redchilliesent @imtiazaliofficial #RadhaComingTomorrow A post shared by Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) on Jun 20, 2017 at 3:40am PDT

Also, by now, it is well known that Shah Rukh has averted a clash with Akshay Kumars next film by moving JHMSs release date to August 4. Does he think such avoidance of clashes is great for films? Absolutely. Honestly speaking, for our film, we will have a great weekend with the Raksha Bandhan holiday. And, as I have already said, since JHMS is in the space of a long-running film, we will go into the holiday mood in the subsequent week too. But the other film will also get a free run, says Shah Rukh. In fact, the superstar admits that it will help him talk more about his film rather than competition, clashes, etc.

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A lecture about pornography, which landed Anthony Burgess, the author of A Clockwork Orange, in hot water with the Maltese authorities in 1970, is to be published for the first time, alongside previously unseen photographs.

The talk, which was given to a packed audience of priests and government officials, so upset the Mediterranean islands authorities that they seized Burgesss house.

The book, to be published as Obscenity and the Arts, will also include a provocative response to Burgesss essay by academic and feminist Germaine Greer, who knew him personally, and an essay about his years on the island. It will be the first new work by the author, who died in 1993, to appear in 20 years.

Burgess regarded himself as a conservative libertarian and used the lecture to argue that obscenity and pornography should be judged according to literary merit.

Published by small Mancunian independent Pariah Press , it has been released in conjunction with The International Anthony Burgess Foundation, to mark the centenary of the writers birth.

Andrew Biswell , professor of English at Manchester Metropolitan University and director of the foundation, said the author had been provoked by the authorities, after state censors seized some of his books on his move to the island in 1968. He was trying to move in with his library when quite a large chunk of it was seized by the Maltese post office, said Bissell.

Among the books taken were The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, everything by DH Lawrence and any featuring homosexuality. However, Biswell said, the authorities appeared to be motivated less by the content of the titles than by their packaging and titles: He struck up a correspondence with the post office asking for the books to be returned, and they said they would let him know as soon as they had read them.

Newly married to his second wife, Italian translator Liliana Macellari (known as Liana), Burgess fled to the island in 1968 amid a wave of celebrities who left Britain after the then Labour government introduced a 90% tax rate for the highest earners. The lecture was given at the invitation of the Malta Library Association to a 1,000-strong audience, dominated by Catholic clergy.

Burgess, whose work included the Enderby quartet and Earthly Powers , regarded himself as a conservative libertarian and used the lecture to argue that obscenity and pornography should be judged according to literary merit.

Burgess was a vocal supporter of Salman Rushdie during the Satanic Verses furore.

In a move guaranteed to raise hackles with his religious audience, he cited a range of texts, from the Song of Solomon in the Old Testament to Shakespeares Titus Andronicus  which he described as a story of rape, murder and cannibalism  to argue against banning books, quoting John Miltons 1644 anti-censorship pamphlet, Areopagitica , that to destroy a good book is to kill reason.

Burgesss defence is basically that it is a slippery slope to ban books: if we start with the Marquis de Sade, then we end up banning Saul Bellow and Sartre and eventually he would be next, Biswell said. To offset the author and composers argument, Germaine Greer has been commissioned to write what Biswell described as a punchy counterpoint for inclusion in the new book.

Unfortunately for the author, his arguments fell on deaf ears in the newly independent state. On leaving the island for a short break to Italy, the Maltese government sequestered his family home, which was returned only after it made front-page news in the Guardian. So bitterly did the author feel about the action that he never returned, choosing to write about the experience in novels including M/F and Earthly Powers.

Publisher Jonny Walsh, of Pariah Press, said the famously prescient authors work spoke to modern concerns about censorship and freedom of speech. It is likely though that, had he been alive, he would have moved the focus of his criticism towards religious censorship. He was a vocal supporter of Salman Rushdie during the Satanic Verses furore.

However, Biswell said that there were limits to what Burgess thought acceptable: There is another essay by him about a pornographic novel that he was sent to review and he felt was just too much. The novel that pushed the author of A Clockwork Orange too far was The Night Clerk by Stephen Schneck.

Among other publications planned to mark the authors centenary is the novelisation of a previously unpublished screenplay, The Black Prince, written in the 1970s. It will be adapted by Adam Roberts, if he receives sufficient backing through the crowdfunding website Unbound.

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Nine state-owned companies spent Rs 15 crore to organise 30 events in Prime Minister Narendra Modis home state of Gujarat to celebrate the three years of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance storming to power at the Centre, the Indian Express said on Tuesday.

Out of the 30 programmes in Gujarat, 18 were hosted by public-sector undertakings (PSUs) in the petroleum and natural gas sector and four in power, the newspaper reported. It said some PSUs even spent up to Rs 50 lakh per event held across the state and presided over by Union ministers Prakash Javdekar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Smriti Irani, Mansukh Mandaviya and JP Nadda.

The Express said the PSUs in the petroleum and natural gas and power sectors agreed the expense of the events, which began on May 26 and ended on Sunday, put a strain on their event budget allocations but said that getting a foothold in Gujarat is incentive enough.

It cited official estimates that said each PSU that floated tenders for the event management opened the bid at Rs 45 lakh. And, an official told the newspaper it included the cost of printing brochures, standees, backdrop and other promotional material, commissioning a video of the PSU based on the theme of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas to be played at the venue, rent, refreshments, electricity, and other logistical expenses.

Rajendra Kumar Bhati, director of National Highways Authority of Indias Project Implementation Unit in Gir Somnath, said they Rs 50 lakh for an event in Veraval presided over by Irani. Our headquarters had approved it and we shall credit the expenditure under the head directed by our headquarters, Bhati told the Express.

An Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) official said the Centre asked them to follow a Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) regarding banners, standees, posters and videos that were to be played at the venue were given in advance so that there was no discrepancy.

We were told to find a suitable venue, indoors or outdoors, to hold about 2500 people. Every PSU was asked to display their logo and put up standees of achievement and also play a 3-5 minute video highlighting the achievements of the PSU of three years towards the vision of Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas, the official said.

Most PSUs said they saw their association with the central governments celebration as an opportunity for image building and that the events give us a platform to network.

We know that since we often go in for land acquisitions to build airports, people who lose their lands are not happy and they have a negative view about AAI. The event allowed us to showcase our own work through CSR and other activities. It was more an outreach programme, KL Sharma, Airports Authority of India regional executive director (western region), was quoted as saying.

It said some PSUs such as the Tehri HDC India Limited (THDCIL), which held the SSSV event at Patan on June 7 with Hari Chaudhary, minister of state for the ministry of micro, small and medium Enterprises as the chief guest, have said they hosted the events for outreach in Gujarat.

The newspaper cited an unnamed official as saying that the undertaking rented plush Utsav Party Plot at Chanasma Road in Patan for the event attended by about 2000 people.

Officials of ONGC, responsible for six SSSV events in Gujarat  Gandhinagar district, Junagadh, Kheda, Navsari, Sabarkantha, and Narmada  said associating with rare government events such as the SSSV help build a rapport with the state administrative wing.

This kind of an event helps us build our own brand image and network with the administrative wing that would otherwise be unknown to us. When we organise such events from the scratch, it acquaints us with some officers who can help us in our own operation, an ONGC official told the Express.
Budget carrier AirAsia X is giving up on the idea of low-cost, long-haul flying to Europe for now, and will concentrate on growth in Asia instead, AirAsia chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said on Tuesday.

We looked at every aircraft, every configuration, its coming, but for the moment theyre all killing each other so well wait, he told Reuters at the Paris Airshow.

Low-cost, long-haul has taken off recently, especially across the North Atlantic, but there are doubts whether it can work in other regions.

We think we have so much growth right now in Asia, Fernandes said, adding China and India were of particular interest.

My core strategy is about connecting Asias secondary and tertiary cities rather than going into a fight with the Arab carriers, he said, referring to the likes of Etihad, Emirates and Qatar Airways, which connect Europe to Asia via their hubs in the Middle East.
Takata shares dived again on Tuesday, losing one-third of their value in just two days of trading on reports the troubled airbag maker will file for bankruptcy protection and sell its assets to a US company.

The embattled stock finished the day at 324 yen, tumbling by nearly 20% -- its maximum daily loss limit -- on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, after it plunged 16.5% on Monday.

Investors bolted for the exit doors after Japans Nikkei business daily said the company, with liabilities exceeding one trillion yen ($9 billion), would make a formal decision about the bankruptcy filing at a board meeting this month.

Takata, at the centre of the global auto industrys biggest-ever safety recall, was suspended from trading on Friday pending a response to the Nikkei story and other similar reports.

Later Friday Takata said that no decision had been made but all options were on the table.

American autoparts maker Key Safety Systems, owned by Chinas Ningbo Joyson Electronic, will take over the firms operations, the Nikkeis report on Friday said.

The board of Takatas US-based unit TK Holdings is expected to approve a filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy there this month, it added.

Like on Monday, the shares went untraded for most of Tuesday sessions as the number of sell orders swamped buy orders.

Nearly 100 million cars, including about 70 million in the United States, were subject to the airbag recall, the largest in auto history, over the defective Takata airbags. They have been blamed for at least 16 deaths globally.

Global ratings agency Standard and Poors said Monday that the possible bankruptcy filing by Takata will not immediately impact its rating on Honda, a major Takata customer, as the Japanese automaker has already written down costs linked to the faulty airbags.

Last month four automakers including Toyota and BMW agreed to pay $553 million to settle a US lawsuit over the airbags.

The suit filed in late February claimed the carmakers were aware of the dangerous defects and used the airbags in their vehicles anyway. Nearly 16 million cars were involved.

Takata pleaded guilty to fraud in February and agreed to pay a $1 billion penalty to settle the issue with US regulators.

The Friday reports said a new company created under Key Safety would buy Takatas operations and continue supplying airbags, seat belts and other products.

The downsized Takata would remain responsible for recall-related liabilities, the Nikkei said.
Dealers of General Motors in India have decided to meet later this week to decide on the future course of action, including taking the legal route, against the American automaker over measly compensation.

A majority of 96 dealers, which operate around 140 showrooms across India, are unhappy with the companys offer of just around 12% of total investments they have made as compensation.

Some of the major dealer partners of the company will meet on June 24 in Delhi to decide on the future course of action against the company. They are totally dissatisfied with the way the company is dealing with them, a source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Around 20-25 major dealers of the company, with many of them running multiple dealerships across the country, will take part in the meeting.

These dealers are totally unsatisfied with the terms of settlement that the company has offered to them. Each one of these dealers are feeling cheated and misled, the source said.

As per the conditions set by the company, a dealer who does not accept its offer by July 15, would only get 50% of the compensation amount being offered.

In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he wont get any of the compensation at all. Some of the dealers who have financial challenges may accept the deal being offered by the company. But there are many who are exploring ways to challenge the company, the source said.

A dealer, who did not wish to be identified, said that the company totally misled them in terms of its future plans in the country.

In May they (GM India) were telling us that there will new product launches and more investment will be done in the country and suddenly in June they announce the closure of domestic operations. They have completely misled us, the dealer, who runs two dealerships in central India, said.

The dealers, among other things, would also decide whether to file a case in India or go for a class action suit in the US.

In 2015, the company had announced to invest $1 billion in India to enhance manufacturing operations and roll out 10 locally produced models in the country over the next five years.

In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for the country as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country.

On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.

The company will now focus on exporting vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra after it stopped production at its first plant at Halol in Gujarat last month.
Indian small business has been given enough time to prepare for the July 1 rollout of a new national Goods and Services Tax (GST), finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday, ruling out any further slippage in the timeline.

Jaitley, addressing a news conference, said there would be initial challenges after launching the tax, which will require all but the smallest businesses to file three detailed returns online every month.

But, with 6.5 million firms already registered for GST and more expected to sign up, there was no excuse for firms not to be ready for what has been billed as the biggest tax reform in Indias 70-year history.

A decade in the making, the GST would bring down barriers between more than 30 states and territories, unifying Indias $2 trillion economy and 1.3 billion people into a single market. The government says it will boost both commerce and state revenues.

We have been saying for the last six months it would be July 1 - nobody has any business not to be ready, Jaitley told reporters. If hes still not ready, then Im afraid he does not want to be ready.

To ease the transition, a GST coordination panel agreed on Sunday to allow companies to file simplified, aggregate tax returns in July and August before they have to comply fully with the GST from September.

Any company generating a large number of invoices will need to adopt special software packages that enable them to format and reconcile invoices, then upload them to the GST Network, an IT system that will process up to 5 billion invoices a month.

If companies struggle to comply, that could block the flow of input tax credits that are a new feature of the tax, experts and business groups say. This would force firms to pay tax on the full cost of an item rather than just value added, tying up working capital and cutting into profits.

Jaitley said he expected there to be some challenges in the short term after the launch, but he dismissed concerns that registering for and complying with the GST would be too hard.

Industry and trade have to prepare themselves. Its not a complicated process, he said.

Jaitley said he anticipated, over the medium and the long term, that improved tax collection under the GST would cause revenues to grow, and the spending capacity of Indias federal and regional governments would increase.

Consequently, it should have a positive impact on the GDP, said Jaitley. The size of the formal economy should also increase.
Tata Motors Ltd said on Monday it had no plans to list its luxury British car brand Jaguar Land Rover after Bloomberg reported that the automaker was considering an initial public offering of the unit.

There are no plans to list Jaguar Land Rover, a Tata spokesman told Reuters. There is no truth in those rumours.

Bloomberg had on Monday reported: Senior Tata Group officials have held preliminary internal discussions over the past few months about the potential listing of Jaguar Land Rover on an international stock exchange, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The conglomerate is weighing London and New York as possible listing venues for Jaguar Land Rover, which is a unit of Tata Motors Ltd., one of the people said.

Tata Motors, owned by the salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, bought the loss-making British luxury car brand JLR from the Ford Motor Company in 2008, and has turned it into profit. Not only is the luxury carmaker flourishing in India, it is also supporting the parent companys Tata Motors, whose profits and market share in India have dropped drastically over the last few years.

(With Reuters inputs)
Indian conglomerate Adani Group has signed an MoU with one of Chinas largest private companies to invest $300 million in a manufacturing unit of an Indian port.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Adani and East Hope Group proposes to set up manufacturing units in Mundra special economic zone in Gujarat to produce solar power generation equipment, chemicals, aluminium and animal feed, a statement by the Indian Consulate in Shanghai said.

It will also put in place East Hope Groups engineering and industrial integration chain to recycle and economise the product cost at Mundra SEZ, it said.

The MoU was signed between Amit Uplenchar, President of Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone and Meng Changjun, President of East Hope Group (Investment) in the presence of Consul General Prakash Gupta yesterday.

The MoU is proposed to convert into a definitive agreement within a period of 180 days and would cover areas of specific cooperation outlined as per agreement between the two sides, the statement said.

An estimated investment of more than $300 million is expected to be made by the East Hope Group in India, as part of the proposed cooperation between the two companies.

East Hope, the Chinese counterpart signing the MoU, is a Renminbi 70 billion Group, and is one of the largest corporate house in China, having business interests in aluminium, polysilicon, power and animal feed.
Donald Trumps decision last week to remove the US from the Paris Agreement on climate sent a crystal-clear signal that were now living in a G-zero world, a world without consistent leadership. Who is leader of the free world today? Not Trump, the first US president since the 1930s who does not believe that international leadership is in the US national interest. For Trump, everything is a transaction. He sees the world not as a communitysometimes cooperative, sometimes contentiousbut as an arena in which strong leaders fight for dominance. This view appeals to Trump personally, and he knows his loyal supporters like it too.

Are Europeans now leading the free world? Not exactly. The transatlantic alliance has been gradually hollowing out for many years, and the election of Trump has veteran leaders like Germanys Angela Merkel and new ones like Frances Emmanuel Macron scrambling for new strategies. The Americans are sceptical of NATO, the British are leaving the European Union, and anti-EU political parties continue to make gains, even if they arent yet winning elections. Merkel and Macron dont appear to agree on Europes best course forward, and if Europes leaders fail to meet the demands of their people for change, the populist forces that have transformed European politics in recent years will continue to rise.

The ground is also shifting in the Middle East. Trump may have better relations with Russias Putin, Turkeys Erdogan, and Israels Netanyahu than Barack Obama did, but that brings no new order to a still-volatile region. On Syrias battlefields, the US, Russia, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel have distinctly different interestsand none of them is strong enough to impose its will. ISIS will lose the little ground it has left, but it will continue to use new media tools to inspire followers, imitators, and the emotionally disturbed. The principal G-zero terrorism problem is that mutual suspicion, not the acknowledged need to share information among the worlds intelligence agencies, is now cyberspaces defining feature. Nowhere is the G-zero more obvious.

Who now carries the standard for free trade? The United States, long its champion, has pulled out of the Transpacific Partnership, an agreement of historic scale that would have aligned large economies on both sides of the Pacific. Despite the best efforts of Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the US looks likely to remain outside the deal for at least as long as Trump as president. But this isnt simply about Trump. Remember that Democrats Hillary Clinton (reluctantly) and Bernie Sanders (resolutely) opposed TPP, as well. Trump has also made clear that he wants to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. A mega-deal with Europe, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, now lies buried beneath the weight of opposition in multiple countries. There are still genuinely ambitious multilateral trade deals taking shape, notably Canadas new agreement with the EU. But this is an exception.

Is China the new leader on trade? Not quite. President Xi Jinping made headlines earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos with a rousing defence of global commerce. Pursuing protectionism, he warned, is like locking oneself in a dark room. Wind and rain may be kept outside, but so is light and air. But the China-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a deal composed of the 10 ASEAN countries plus Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand, involves much less genuine market integration than the more ambitious TPP. It says little, for example, about investment, intellectual policy, and competition policy.

Then there is Chinas One Belt One Road project, an enormously ambitious plan to direct massive investment toward south and central Asia to create new paths for commerce between Asia and Europe. If wisely executed, this project could provide an historic economic boost for China, the EU, and many poor countries between them. Unfortunately, theres no guarantee that money will be invested for economic rather than political reasons. Corruption and incompetence may well delay progress, dampen ambitions, and stoke political conflict. Nor is China ready to offer credible leadership on security questions, and the inability of China and the US to work together to resolve the North Korea problem suggests that conflict might trump commerce, even in East Asia.

In short, the number of global flashpoints and problems without borders continues to grow, and there are no credible cooperative plans to manage them, much less to solve the problems that have created them. For now, the G-zero order looks here to stay.

Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and author of Superpower: Three Choices for Americas Role in the World.

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DEHRADUN: The authorities at Corbett and Rajaji tiger reserves are gearing up for patrolling during monsoon season. While Corbett has a fresh batch of elephants from Karnataka, Rajaji will be using its old trained pachyderms this season.

Expecting rains by the month-end, the Corbett management called its circle meeting on Thursday. During the meeting, officials were asked to chalk out plan to patrol the reserve during heavy rainfall. They were asked to take additional precautionary measures on porous southern boundary of the reserve.

The reserve, which is home to over 200 tigers, had six domesticated elephants for patrolling. With nine more elephants brought from Karnataka, the number of elephants has gone up to 15. However, only three of the Karnataka animals will be used for patrolling. We will be using three elephants that are adults for patrolling as remaining six brought from Karnataka are still sub-adults. However, occasionally we will take young elephants too for a ride so that they get accustomed to the forest, Amit Verma, deputy director, Corbett, told Hindustan Times. The authorities will be deploying at least three elephants for monitoring southern boundary of the park, which shares border with Uttar Pradesh and is highly vulnerable to poaching. In 2012, a tiger poaching incident was reported from Savalde range, close to the boundary.

There are 1,035 wild elephants in the reserve.

Rajaji, however, will be receiving elephants by the year-end. The reserve has only three domesticated elephants that will be used for patrolling. The reserve is highly porous from all sides. We needed elephants for patrolling. About nine elephants from Karnataka will be brought here by year-end. Until then, we will have to manage with our three domesticated elephants, said Sanatan Sonkar, director, Rajaji.

Elephants become the most efficient medium of patrolling during monsoon when the vegetation increases drastically. Weed, grass and ground plants multiply making it difficult to scan the area.

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The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has officially recognised as male a woman constable who underwent surgery to change her sex and beat laws that dont allow gay marriages in India.

Ignoring the taunts of fellow workers, the 29-year-old married a woman colleague after the operation six year ago that has left him with all the visible features of a man  a muscular body, a moustache and a deep baritone.

In February, three medical boards of the CISF, Central Reserve Police Force and All India Institute of Medical Sciences cleared him as a male officer after four years of bureaucratic vacillation in absence of a precedence and multiple fitness and gender tests. HT is not revealing the identity of the man to protect his privacy.

We have intimated Ministry for Home Affairs after medical boards set up by us declared the constable a male. The issue was pending for four years but we have taken a decision now. In our record he is now a male constable, OP Singh, CISF DG, said.

But it was not an easy victory for the male constable who hails from Bihar and joined the force as a woman in 2008.

To convince the bosses of his masculinity, the constable endured multiple medical tests and tough physical exercises that are reserved for male staff. Raising funds for surgery and the painful hormonal injections he took daily was another challenge. He took out a loan for the year-long sex-change operation that cost him about Rs10 lakh.

All this to beat Indias British-era laws that make gay sex and marriage a crime. The laws, which are now being challenged in Supreme Court, dont address sex-change.

Had same-sex marriage been allowed in India I would have not undergone sex-change. I knew society will make fun of me but I was ready to face the challenge, he told Hindustan Times.

Since my childhood I always treated myself as a boy and had decided not to marry ever because in that case I would have to marry a man. But I got selected in CISF and decided that I will never go back to my hometown as people would force me to marry.

At work, he was treated just as another woman constable, giving rise to piquant situations.

I was posted for frisking duty of female passengers in Delhi metro. I was hesitant and told my seniors I should not be doing this as I consider myself a male, he said. But his women colleagues did not consider him a woman and complained against sharing their barracks with him.

In May 2012 my operation was completed, and I applied in the force for gender change. Though no decision was made I got married in 2013. Some colleague teased me and called me by my earlier name but I ignored them, he added.

CISF officials now have a challenge in deciding the mans next posting, including whether he could be given the work of frisking male passengers.

It was a unique case but we have taken a stand. It was important for us to ensure that he has all the criteria required for a male constable, said a CISF official.

Since he has proved it during physical fitness exam, the medical board has cleared him as male constable.

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On International Yoga Day, June 21, dont be surprised if you see more than 2000 cops at Ramlila Ground. Theres no rally or emergency but Delhi Police personnel in the Capital is set to celebrate the day by practising a few yoga asanas. To add to this, Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik will also join them for the session.

Of late, yoga has become an integral part of the police personnel in the city. They have been benefitting from the regular camps that their departments organise regularly. They practise equanimity through yoga exercises. About a year ago, the office of welfare commissioner started organising yoga sessions in police colonies and stations. The initiative has been a hit since then.

Since the year 2016, we have organised 130 yoga camps at various police stations and colonies, says Vasudeva Rao, Special CP (Welfare) Delhi Police. He informs that all district commissioners of police (DCPs) have been advised to organise yoga camps regularly.

We have organised a three-day yoga camp in our district at 10 police stations. The motive is to help our men de-stress. Due to the busy schedule, we cant focus on ourselves but through this initiative we want our cops to break the monotony of their life, says AK Lall, Additional DCP, Shahdara.

Similarly, DCP (North), Jatin Narwal has taken a number of initiatives in his area of service. We have been organising yoga sessions for our team for the past one week. We have also conducted lectures on how to maintain physical and mental health amid the tough routine. Around 300 police officers are participating every day in the camps, says Narwal.

Officers of all ranks are enthusiastically participating in the yoga camps.

District commissioner of police (South-East) Romil Baaniya has organised yoga sessions in the five police stations of South Delhi in the last month. Besides helping the cops cope with stress and strain, yoga also helps reduce fatigue and tension that helps our cops manage their duties better, says Baaniya, adding that the last session was attended by 275 cops.

The participants are happy with this praiseworthy initiative of Delhi Police. Constable Babulal, at the Amar Colony Police Station, says, This is a great initiative. We feel so fresh and energetic after the yoga sessions. It should be a regular activity and organised in all police stations.

Constable Sachin from the same police station adds, Yoga sessions should be organised every morning in all police stations. Yoga not just helps in dealing with stress but also helps us perform better. We are happy that the department is giving us valuable sessions.

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The Delhi Police has asked restaurants and shops in the Connaught Place area to close down early on Tuesday for International Yoga Day preparations.

The traders and restaurateurs, however, were unhappy with the move saying their business was affected as people visit the area more in the evening hours.

Connaught Place remained out of bounds for visitors from 8pm today (Tuesday) as we had asked all shops and restaurants to shut down by then, said a senior police officer.

He added that only those who reside in the area will be allowed entry on Tuesday night.

A restaurateur, who was not willing to be named, said many of the restaurants closed by 5pm since they were asked to do so by the police.

People mostly visit restaurants post 8pm. On a day when the weather is pleasant, we have been asked to close our venues early. This has affected our business, he said.

Atul Bhargav, the president of New Delhi Traders Association (NDTA) echoed similar views and said that many shopkeepers and restaurateurs shut their businesses at 5pm.

He said the Delhi Police had earlier asked them to shut down their shops from 5 pm on June 19 and open after the International Yoga Day celebrations on June 21.

However, they raised objection to the move and it was agreed that they would have to shut their shops by 8pm on June 20.

They should hold events like these at the India Gate. There were no customers today and our business saw a decline of 30% to 35%, rued Bhargav.

The New Delhi Municipal Council, which is organising the event on Wednesday, however, said it has not issued any such directive.

We have not issued any directives to close down the restaurants early. Since the parking is closed, some restaurants may have decided to shutter early on their own but no such communication from the NDMC has been made, a senior official from the civic body said.

Vehicular traffic and parking areas in Connaught Places inner circle were closed from the night of June 19 till tomorrow morning in the wake of preparations for the International Yoga Day.

As many as 10,000 people will join Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in the common Yoga performance in the national capital on Wednesday.
A United States fighter downed a Syrian military aircraft for the first time when it bombed a Syrian rebel faction backed by Washington. Russia, which backs the Syrian government, responded angrily and warned that US aircraft and drones could be targeted by Russia. Moscow, for good measure, cut off the hotline designed to avoid accidental run-ins between the US and Russia military in Syria. Iran meanwhile has fired missiles on an Islamic State (IS) base in eastern Syria. All of these actions are unprecedented and represent an escalation of the military activity of almost all the major external players in the Syrian civil war.

In the overall carnage that continues in Syria and the related conflict in western Iraq these actions may not amount to much. But in the larger geopolitical game they indicate that the defeat of IS in its present territorial form is now being seen as inevitable. With their enemies closing in on their capital Raqqa and their forces being pushed out of their largest city, Mosul, even the caliphate leadership accepts the end is nigh.

On the Iraqi front, the political map is largely clear. Baghdad will restore sovereignty over Iraqs accepted borders. There is a major internal issue of the status of the Kurdish area, but even there it is an issue of autonomy, not independence. That is not the case with Syria.

The Bashar al-Assad government is backed by Iran and Russia but physically holds only a strip of western Syria. His military successes are wholly dependent on his external backers. The regime remains actively opposed by the US, Turkey and various Sunni regimes. These governments support a pantheon of rebel groups ranging from the secular to Al-Qaeda affiliates. The postwar map of Syria, in other words, remains highly uncertain.

The various external players have begun jockeying for position  and capture of territory is an important part of this  as IS retreats in Syria. The Assad government, for all its claims otherwise, has spent more time attacking rebels who are not affiliated to IS. This is partly true even for Russias airstrikes. The entry of the US into the equation is the most uncertain variable. It has used its military power sparingly but could easily become the most powerful player, irrespective of Russias warnings. As one Syrian conflict is winding down another one, unfortunately, seems to be hotting up. And this one, in terms of its global implications, could be even more dangerous.
After All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) MBBS 2017 examination results dashed the hopes of medical aspirants from Chandigarh. Now, there is a bit of excitement and anxiety among city medical aspirants, who are eagerly waiting for National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET 2017) results.

The results will be declared in a day or two.

Gurasis Sodhi, a medical aspirant who scored 245 marks in AIIMS entrance test, said I am pretty confident that I will get good marks but my only concern is if I will be able to get admission in Maulana Azad Medical College or not.

I am not too worried as I have already calculated my marks with the answer sheet and OMR. I am expecting around 640 marks, which will be good enough to take admission in majority of medical colleges, he said.

Another student, Sushobhit Garg, said, I am more concerned about getting good All India Rank. Getting admission in state medical colleges is not a big deal. The challenge is to get admission in central medical institutes. So, rather than being nervous, I am more curious.

Arvind Goyal, city based NEET trainer said, Students have already calculated their marks, so they are prepared for results. What is bothering them is that whether they will be able to get admissions in their favourite medical colleges or not.

He said, There is no stress but curiosity among students. We hope that city students do well in NEET results.

In AIIMS MBBS entrance only two students, Navtej Mangat of St Johns High School and Ankush Jindal of British School secured the position in the top 100 rank.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is all set to declare the results of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET), which was taken by 12 lakh students aspiring to join medical and dental colleges across the country.

The process of declaring the result was set in motion after the Supreme Court on June 12 gave a go-ahead to the board by staying a May 24 interim order of the Madras high court, which restrained it from publishing the result.

The top court said it was inclined to grant a stay on the high courts order, which was indirectly diluting the schedule for NEET-2017 earlier fixed by the apex court.

A vacation bench comprising justice PC Pant and justice Deepak Gupta directed the authorities to proceed with the process of announcing the results, subsequent counselling and admission as per the schedule fixed by the apex court.

However, the bench said the result declaration, as well as the subsequent counselling and admission through NEET 2017, would be subject to the decision of the apex court in the matter pending before it. It also asked the high courts not to entertain pleas in the matters relating to NEET 2017.

The bench posted the matter for hearings after the summer vacation.

The CBSE moved the Supreme Court on June 9 seeking an immediate stay of the Madras high court order. The board also sought the transfer of petitions on NEET 2017 from various high courts to the apex court.

The petitioners demanded before the high court that NEET 2017 should be cancelled and a fresh exam with a uniform question paper be conducted. They claimed that different sets of question papers were used at various places, though a common syllabus had been announced.

The school board released the answer keys of the examination on June 15 and candidates were given time until 5pm on June 16 to challenge the keys. On June 13, CBSE displayed the images of OMR answer sheets and responses to the questions marked by candidates who appeared in the exam.

According to the schedule of the exam, the CBSE was expected to declare the results on June 8.

Candidates can check their results on cbseresults.nic.in after they are declared.

Steps to check the results:

1) Go on cbseresults.nic.in

1) Click on link for NEET 2017 results to visit the login page

2) Enter required details

4) Result will be displayed on the screen

5) Take a printout and download it on your computer for future reference

(With PTI inputs)

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The National Green Tribunal on Monday issued notices to Haryana government, forest department, NCR planning board, and Bharti Land Ltd for destroying environmentally sensitive areas in the Aravallis for a 52-acre housing project.

This came as the tribunal was hearing a petition filed by Lt. Col. (retd) Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi, demanding to keep the realty projects out of the Aravalli gair mumkin pahar area, which is deemed forest area.

The issue surfaced last month, as environmentalists questioned the approval of tree felling at Sarai Khwaja village of Faridabad district, in the Aravalli region, for the housing project. HT, in a report, pointed out that if the permission was granted for one project, more than 50,000 acres in the Aravallis, which are under yet to be decided category, will be at risk.

The petition stated that even as permission was sought for the purpose of developing a Group Housing Society, the firm only sought permission for felling of an estimated 1,000 trees of mesquite species. The area has at least 5 to 10 times more trees of a variety of species.

The plea also pointed out that the state government tried to twist the norms for the benefit of the reality firm as it directed the forest department to grant necessary approval for felling of mesquite trees to the Bharti Land Ltd.

A letter issued in April by former additional chief secretary (forest) of Haryana to the principal chief conservator of forest states that the land of Ms Bharti Land is not protected, reserved or unclassed forests and is not notified under section 4 and/or 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900.

Since this area does not constitute forest component of the NCZ as per the decision taken by the NCR Planning Board on 20.12.2016, you are directed to accord necessary approval for felling of mesquite trees to the applicant as per the provisions of the PLPA, 1900, with intimation to the government, the letter said.

However, green activists pointed out that as the area is under natural conservation zone (NCZ) under the Regional Plan 2021, restrictions are in place on the extent of construction (0.5% of area) and purpose of construction (regional recreational activities only) so as to conserve the environmentally sensitive areas and ensure that construction is minimal.

Read I Gurgaon: Axe falls on more than 70 trees in Aravali hills

This is a complete violation of the directions of the Supreme Court, which had directed states to identify the areas which can be classified as forests, Oberoi said.

Another green activist, Chetan Agarwal, said, The Aravalli hills are identified as recharge zones for the region by the Central Ground Water Board and efforts should be made to conserve the area.

Last month, responding to a query on a similar issue, the realty firm confirmed to HT that the project was cleared by the state government.

We have received all approvals regarding our project. The application for the felling of mesquite bushes has been applied as per the requirement and we are awaiting approval of the same, a spokesperson of Bharti Realty, which is building the housing project, had told HT earlier. The representatives were not available for comments on Tuesday.

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The detailed project report (DPR) on the Northern Peripheral Road (NPR) project, also known as the Dwarka Expressway project, is almost ready and the consultant will submit it to the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) this week.

Soon after NHAI receives the DPR, it will invite tenders for construction. NHAI officials said that tenders will be floated by the end of this month.

Construction for the last leg of the 28-km Dwarka Expressway is likely to begin anytime in the next couple of months and a key part of it will be the building of a cloverleaf, or the connecting peripheral road (CPR) linking the NPR to the SPR (Southern Peripheral Road).

AECOM, the NHAIs consultant, is an American multinational engineering firm that provides design, consulting, construction and management services to its clients.

Ashok Kumar Sharma, NHAI project director, Gurgaon, said, We will float tenders soon after the DPR is received and approved. The DPR includes the 28km stretch and a cloverleaf roadway on National Highway-8 near Kherki Daula in Gurgaon.

Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) confirmed that the big-ticket infrastructure project is a priority for both the state government and the Centre and construction work will begin and conducted phase-wise.

An official in the ministry said, The construction will take place over five-six phases. We hope construction for the cloverleaf and CPR will begin in the first phase. The entire project will be completed in a year-and-a-half.

Read I Gurgaon: Huda hears owners plea on NPR plot return

Once opened, those coming from Delhi will be able to access the Dwarka Expressway near Shiv Murti on NH-8. The Gurgaon border, from this point, spans nearly 10km. The expressway will cover the airport, Dwarka and Bijwasan before entering New Palam Vihar in Gurgaon. It will culminate on NH-8, near Kherki Daula, from where motorists could access the SPR. The SPR is the gateway to several residential areas and landmarks in east Gurgaon.

The state governments aim is to connect SPR and NPR by constructing a cloverleaf, which is part of the DPR. We have requested the NHAI to construct cloverleaf and CPR at the earliest, Yashpal Yadav, administrator, Haryana urban development authority (Huda), said, adding that the cloverleaf an CPR would spur infrastructure growth in the area.

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All Sanah and Ruchika (names changed to protect identity) wanted to do was have a good time after a gruelling day. So the two friends, both in their twenties, stopped by the bustling Mehrauli-Gurgaon road on Friday evening.

What followed was a nightmare they would remember their entire life with dread.

As visiting a pub would have burnt a hole in their pockets, Sanah and Ruchika decided to buy a bottle of liquor from a neighbourhood wine shop and head back to their apartment near the MG Road metro station. It was around 10-10.30 pm. The shopkeeper gave us what we asked for with an extremely sleazy look. Then he clearly told us what was on his mind, Sanah, a Young India fellow, told HT. Their ordeal had just begun.

As the two friends stayed nearby, they decided to walk back home. MG Road  a stretch lined by a dozen malls  was bustling with ice-cream vendors and autorickshaw drivers, among others. But there were no women around. Not a single policeman was in sight either, said Sanah.

Just then, somebody shouted: Kitna leti hain (How much do you charge)? The women responded by quickening their pace.

Their tormenters, however, could not be ignored in this manner.

Two men ran towards us. How much do you charge? they asked multiple times. It was then that we decided to take an autorickshaw and get the hell out of there, said Sanah, who has also shared an account of the harrowing episode on Facebook. They first followed us till the autorickshaw, and then started groping us. Their hands were everywhere.

Nobody, including the autorickshaw driver, came to their aid. He wasnt exactly empathetic. Even after we started off for home, the driver kept sniggering under his breath, she added.

The experience left the two feeling shocked, angry and helpless. They touched my breast. My friend was completely shattered. At that time, we just wanted to run away, an angry Sanah told HT. She, however, mustered the courage to file an FIR at the Sonepat police station later on Monday night.

We dont leave our college campus most of the time. The incident occurred when we had gone to Gurgaon for two days. So we thought it best to file a complaint with the police, the student said.

Sanah said she dialled the womens helpline number a couple of times on Sunday, but received no response. She then called 100, only to have the woman on the other side give her another number to dial. That didnt work either.

Inspector Rishikant, SHO of the Sonepat police station, said Sanah filed the complaint around 8 pm on Monday. Instead of filing a zero FIR and delaying the case, we registered an FIR under sections 354-A (sexual harassment), 354-B (assault or use of criminal force with intent to disrobe) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. We will send our team to the spot soon and launch an investigation, he added.

Rishikant said his team would examine the CCTV footage and ask the complainant to help them draw a sketch of the culprits.

This incident comes a week after a video showing women beating up an alleged molester with sandals on MG Road went viral on the social media. A fashion designer was molested at the Iffco Chowk metro station while returning from work last Tuesday.
Hollywood star Johnny Depps former business managers have made public the emails from him in their latest court filing, which reveal that he was willing to sell off some of his belongings to help ease the financial situation.

Depps ex-business managers are fighting to subpoena his longtime representative as part of the ongoing dispute over whether the actor knew the dire state of his finances or was kept in the dark, reported Deadline.

Among the 109-page document are emails from TMG to various members of Depps team, including an exchange in 2009 between TMGs Joel Mandel and Depp himself.

Depps ex-business managers are fighting to subpoena his longtime representative as part of the ongoing dispute over whether the actor knew the dire state of his finances or was kept in the dark. (AFP)

Madel urged Depp to take it easy on his spending over the Christmas and wanted to set up a meeting where they could discuss about balancing his finances.

Depp responded, I am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much I can do, as I need to give my kiddies and families as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason.

He added that he was about to start shooting The Tourist (which would pay him USD 20 million), then he had the next Pirates movies (USD 35 million), followed by Dark Shadows (USD 20 million).

I hope that by the amount that will be coming in from work in the coming year and also from back end proceeds, etc., will put everything straight (sic), he wrote.

Actor Johnny Depp arrives on the red carpet for the global premiere of the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, in Shanghai, China May 11, 2017. (REUTERS)

Depp then suggested he could sell various belongings if Mandel thought it would help.

What else can I do? You want me to sell some art??? you want me to sell something else??? sure ... what??? ...

I got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings, and some semblance of a soul left. Where would you like me to start???, the actor wrote.

Johnny Depp portrays Jack Sparrow in a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. (AP)

Depp, 54, sued Mandel and The Management Group in January, claiming the firm cost him USD 8 million in unnecessary tax penalties and fees, loaned without permission USD 10 million of his money to parties close to him, secured a USD 12.5 million hard money loan with his residuals and failed to repay itself for a USD 5 million bridge loan it issued without his knowledge.

Mandel countersued, claiming Depp was aware of the situation and so were his longtime agent Tracey Jacobs and lawyer Jake Bloom, as well as his sister Christi Dembrowski.

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The recent resolution of the syndicate of Magadh University in south central Bihar to transfer its affiliation of 87 private B Ed colleges to Aryabhatta Knowledge University (AKU) has snowballed into a major controversy.

The AKU, established by the government of Bihar for the development and management of educational infrastructure related to technical, medical, management and allied professional education in the state, has outrightly rejected the MU resolution and categorically denied no-objection certificate (NOC) or affiliation to these private colleges.

Claiming that the matter related to affiliation was sub-judiced, the affected BEd colleges have decided to file a contempt petition against the MU, in the Patna high court.

Justifying the June 15 resolution , Qamar Ahsan, vice-chancellor of Bodh Gaya-based MU, 110 kms south of Patna, said the decision was in accordance with the Bihar Universities Act. The syndicate or senate was empowered under the law to initiate such resolutions, he said, adding that the state now had a university (read AKU) exclusively for granting affiliation to all technical and professional colleges. If there is a technical university in Bihar now, why should we bear the burden of 87 private BEd colleges? he asked.

Rejecting the contention of Ahasan, AKU vice-chancellor Samarendra Pratap Singh said, How can the Magadh University syndicate recommend transfer of affiliation of private B Ed colleges to AKU? The MU syndicate is quite ignorant about the rules and statute of our university. We grant affiliation or NOC only to the government colleges and consider affiliation to private colleges only in case of recommendation by the state government.

He, however, added: The state government, taking into consideration the circumstances under which the resolution was adopted by MU syndicate, will never do so. We have already put an embargo on issuing NOC to private technical or vocational colleges and there is no chance to grant affiliation to these BEd colleges.

The association of the private colleges said the MU vice-chancellor had been acting against the law. We have already filed a case in the court over the affiliation issue and the matter is sub-judiced. We are now going to file a contempt petition. We are accountable only to the NCTE. The state government, Raj Bhawan and the vice-chancellor had no authority to deny affiliation under any circumstances, Bihar Teachers Training Colleges Association general secretary Brajendra Kumar Chaubey said.

The MU syndicate had on June 15 adopted a resolution to transfer affiliation of all 87 BEd colleges, besides vocational institutions under it to the AKU. It had also put the seal of approval on the disaffiliation of 58 colleges, which in its opinion, had violated rules and norms to grant admissions to students, without clearance from the MU, after they had been derecognised by the state.

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The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Andhra Pradesh on Monday caught a sub-registrar working with stamps and registrations department in Visakhapatnam, possessing massive properties worth over Rs 75 crore, disproportionate to his known sources of income.

According to ACB director general RP Thakur, Doddapaneni Venkaiah Naidu, presently working at Gajuwaka, was found to have amassed huge wealth through ill-gotten means. Following raids on his properties at 11 different places in Visakhapatnam and Chittoor, the ACB sleuths recovered cash, gold, silver and vehicles, besides documents pertaining to lands and houses, whose market value would be more than Rs 75 crore.

The ACB authorities were shocked when they raided Naidus house at Maharanipet. It was a huge apartment with ultramodern facilities, imported furniture and luxurious cars. The properties were registered in the name of his two wives, their brothers and other close relatives. He allegedly fabricated documents to show that he had divorced his first wife Rupa, but she was found to be staying in the same house along with his second wife, the ACB sources said.

Naidu, who joined as a Group-II officer in 1995, worked as sub-registrar in various places including Nellimarla, Narsipatnam, Gajuwaka, Lankelapalem, Dwaraka Nagar, Amadalavalasa and Madhurwada and allegedly indulged in registration of disputed lands in the name of influential people with fake documents. He was once arrested in 2011 for possessing unaccounted cash and was suspended for four years. He was back in the prime locality of Gajuwaka after the suspension period.

Now, most of these lands are believed to be part of the multi-crore land scam that has recently surfaced in Visakhapatnam. The AP government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the scam and expose the land sharks.
Will seek support of all parties, says NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind

The NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind has expressed the hope that all political parties will back his nomination in the July 17 election. I appeal to all members of the electoral college who are MPs and MLAs from all political parties. I will appeal to them, I will meet them and take their blessings, Kovind told the media on his arrival in Delhi. He thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP family for reposing trust and entrusting such a big responsibility on an ordinary citizen. Kovind was greeted at the airport by a host of union ministers and BJP leaders including Thawar Chand Gehlot, JP Nadda, Bhupendra Yadav, Kailash Vijayvargiya and Manoj Tiwary. Read the story here.

Who is Ram Nath Kovind, PM Modis surprise pick for the next president of India

The Prime Ministers surprise nominee for President, Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, spent most of his political career away from the spotlight but shed his soft-spoken manners when he had to fight for the right of Dalits and weaker communities. An advocate with a decade-and-half of experience in the high courts and the Supreme Court, Kovind first gained popularity in 1997 when he joined the movement of SC/ST employees against certain orders of the central government and got them annulled. When Kovind took over as the 36th governor of Bihar in 2015, he was seen as a BJP man whose appointment wasnt welcomed by the Nitish Kumar government that had just stormed to power. But over the two years, the 71-year-old has got along well with the chief minister despite being seen as a BJP man.

Read the story here.

Delhi on alert after intelligence warning of terror attack

The Delhi Police has been placed on high alert, and has asked its counterparts across India to tighten security after receiving an intelligence tip-off warning of a terror attack on crowded public spaces, a senior police officer said on Monday. The Delhi Police Special cell has issued an advisory to all security agencies across the country to beef up the security measures at interstate bus terminals, railway stations, five star hotels, malls and markets, religious places, embassies of western countries, metro stations, airports, stadiums, and tourist places or other sites visited by foreign nationals, the officer.

Read the story here.

London mosque attack: British media name suspect as UK leaders call for calm

British authorities and Islamic leaders moved swiftly to ease concerns in the Muslim community after a man plowed a large van into a crowd of worshippers outside a north London mosque early Monday, injuring at least nine people. British media named the suspect as Darren Osborne, 47-year-old father of four who was living in Cardiff, Wales. British security minister Ben Wallace said authorities were aware of rising far-right activity but the suspect was not known to them prior to the attack. Police are treating the incident as a terror attack.

Read the story here.

Afghan president inaugurates first air corridor with India, bypassing Pakistan

President Ashraf Ghani has inaugurated the first Afghanistan-India air corridor during a ceremony at the Kabul international airport  a direct route that bypasses Pakistan and is meant to improve commerce. Ghani, who thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the air corridor, said the aim of the route is to create more opportunities and make Afghanistan an exporter country. India is a big market for Afghan goods, he said. The presidents adviser, Sediqullah Mujadedi, said Afghan agricultural products will for the first time head to India on cargo planes. Mujadedi said the first India-bound flight on Monday included 60 tons of medicinal plants and a second flight will carry 40 tons of dry fruits from the southern Kandahar province.

Read the story here.

Punjab waives crop loan of up to Rs 2 lakh for small farmers

Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday announced crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers who own up to 5 acres of agriculture land and a flat relief of Rs 2 lakh for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of the loan amount. Making the announcement in the Vidhan Sabha, the chief minister said the move will benefit a total of 10.25 lakh farmers, including 8.75 lakh farmers owning up to 5 acres. It would provide double the relief announced by the states of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, he said.

Read the story here.

Rajasthan lynching: Zafar Hussain died of cardio-respiratory failure, says autopsy report

The autopsy report of Zafar Hussain, who died last week after alleged assault by civic officials for objecting to them photographing defecating women in Pratapgarh, revealed that he died due to cardio-respiratory failure. According to the postmortem report which was released on Saturday, the tentative cause of Khans death was cardiac-respiratory failure, SHO Pratapgarh Sadar Mangi Lal Bishnoi told HT on Monday. The final cause of death could only be ascertained after the report from the forensic science laboratory (FSL) arrives, he added. Read the story here.

Indians wont need to fill departure cards when flying abroad from July 1

Indians flying abroad wont have to fill out departure cards come July 1 as the Union home ministry has decided to discontinue the practice to save on time. So far, Indians had to fill in details such as their name, date of birth, passport number, address in India, flight number and date of boarding on the departure card. The order announcing the change noted that this information was available in the system from other sources. However, those leaving the country through rail, seaport and land immigration check posts will still have to fill embarkation cards.

Read the story here.

Russia says US downing of Syria warplane act of aggression

Russia said on Monday it would treat US-led coalition aircraft flying west of the river Euphrates in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft, but stopped short of saying it would shoot them down. In a move that will fan tensions between Washington and Moscow, Russia made clear it was changing its military posture in response to the US downing of a Syrian military jet on Sunday, something Damascus said was the first such incident since the start of the countrys conflict in 2011. The Russian defence ministry said it was also scrapping a Syrian air safety agreement with the US designed to avoid collisions and dangerous incidents with immediate effect.

Read the story here.

Opinion: Darjeeling isnt going anywhere, Bengal must dump emotional opposition to Gorkhaland

Ask any average Bengali and they will tell you that they are dead against Gorkhaland. Their primary objection to the creation of a separate state is essentially the possible loss of the hill resort of Darjeeling to the new entity. Just as we Bengalis are outraged at the very thought of losing Darjeeling, we were equally shocked at the prospect of not being able to visit our favourite holiday destination of Puri on Odishas coast. A decade and a half later, our misgivings about Puri have proven to be misplaced. It is about time Bengalis should set aside their emotional opposition and weigh the demand for separate Gorkhaland for whatever its worth.

Read the analysis here.
As a parliamentarian, Ram Nath Kovind has expressed interest on a variety of subjects even as his key focus was rural and Dalit welfare.

In 1996, Kovind had asked if Doordarshan, cable networks and private channels are prohibited from telecasting adult movies.

Whether government proposes to initiate a clear policy to stop the cultural invasion by foreign channels, he had asked in another question. Kovinds queries came in the backdrop of complaints that private channels  new entities at that point of timewere often showing sexual content.

A year later, he wanted to know from the then defence minister Mulayam Singh Yadav about a sensitive report on India-China war in 1962.

Whether any proposal is under the governments consideration to make public the General Henderson Report on Indias debacle against China in 1962? he had asked. Yadav responded that the report contains very sensitive details relating to military operations and cant be made public.

Kovind posed 283 questions during the two terms and also made five Special Mentions in Parliament. He mentioned about inclusion of Tansi caste in SC list and atrocities against Dalits in Bihar. In 1995, he also wanted to know why there was a delay in announcing the results of air hostess examination.

From India-Israel agreement to power project by Japanese firms, Kovind had shown interest in foreign affairs as well.
A purported government order, viral on the social media, advising states and Union territories to digitise land records and subsequently link them with Aadhaar, has prompted the Union cabinet secretariat department to lodge a complaint with the Delhi police.

The letter, purportedly signed by an undersecretary, advised chief secretaries, additional chief secretaries of states and Union territories to complete digitisation of land records, mutation, sale and purchase records of any immovable property, including land and houses, from 1950.

It further said that the government, by an Act of Parliament, was considering linking Aadhaar numbers with the ownership of said properties. The properties which are not linked shall be considered for appropriate action under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Amended Act, 2016, the letter, dated June 15, said.

The government order being circulated on social media. (WhatsApp image)

Taking cognizance of the letter, undersecretary to government of India, cabinet secretariat, Sheo Nath Singh, lodged an FIR with the Delhi police on Monday.

While Singh could not be contacted as he was attending a training session in Faridabad, an official in the cabinet secretariat, requesting anonymity, said: The letter is fake. We have not issued any such order. The signatory of the purported letter lodged a police complaint yesterday and investigations are on.

The pattern of the letter and the officers signature are almost the same, though it is not as courteous as our official letters. Someone who is familiar with government procedure has faked it, the official added.

Earlier, Bihar chief secretary Anjani Kumar Singh told HT, I dont remember any such letter having come to my attention. You may like to cross-check with the department of revenue and land reforms or the rural development.

HT shared the letter on WhatsApp with the principal secretary, revenue and land reforms, Bihar, Vivek Kumar Singh, who promptly replied, Not received any such letter.

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The government will appoint 11 high court judges this week despite lack of agreement with the judiciary over a proposal to bring transparency in nominating judges to higher courts.

These judges will be appointed in the Madras, Punjab and Haryana and Chhattisgarh high courts, sources in the law ministry said.

Judges are selected by a Supreme Court collegium -- a body of top five judges headed by the Chief Justice of India -- according to a process laid down in what is known as the memorandum of procedure (MoP).

HT had reported on June 4 that the government will start the process of appointing 44 judges on the basis of the top courts recommendations, despite objecting to it earlier.

The move signalled a climb down by the government in its face-off with the judiciary since the Supreme Court struck down the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) Act in 2015.

The law was enacted to end a more than 20-year-old practice, unique to India, of judges appointing judges, with the government having no say in the process.

The ministry had proposed a new MoP last year to improve the quality of judges.

The sources added the Centre will try to build public opinion around issues concerning the judiciary, by highlighting the lacunae in the system that the judiciary can and must fix.

Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad last week refused to discuss details of the contentious issues between the two sides.

It is a work in progress, he told reporters. Prasad, however, added the government will continue to make appointments as recommended by the collegium.

At the conference, called to highlight the ministrys achievements in three years, Prasad said the case of CS Karnan  a controversial former judge of Calcutta high court who retired on June 12 while on the run  called for greater scrutiny and screening of the judiciary.

As regards a specific case of a specific judge, I would not like to make any comment, except observe that, may be, there is a case for greater scrutiny and screening of judiciary. The particular incident only underscores the compelling need, he said.

Prasad will write to the chief justices of all 24 high courts asking them to expedite cases that have been pending for more than 10 years.

The government is preparing a road map for reducing pendency by working in tandem with the judiciary. We hope that the 6000 or so vacancies in the subordinate judiciary will be filled up soon, junior law minister PP Chaudhary told HT on Tuesday.

Chaudhary said the government expects the collegium to finalise the MoP soon.

The draft has been lying with the ministry since March after the SC collegium sent it back.

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For almost a decade, the BJP has slowly made inroads into the Darjeeling hills, riding on its alliance with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) that commands a wide following in the region. The saffron party has won the Darjeeling Lok Sabha twice on the back of a promise to back a separate state of Gorkhaland.

But now, BJP leaders in the hills are feeling the heat as a violent movement for Gorkhaland rages in the hills. Increasingly, the local population is asking party leaders to take a stand on an issue that has simmered for more than a century. The Darjeeling BJP unit is in a dilemma, said a hill BJP leader who refused to be named as the BJP central leadership has authorised only the state BJP chief to speak on the issue.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has taken the Nepali speaking people of the hills for a ride, said another senior party leader from Darjeeling.

The BJP won Darjeeling parliamentary seat in 2009 and 2014. The current MP, SS Ahluwalia speaks about favouring a separate state for the Nepali speaking people of Darjeeling, but has over the last decade done practically nothing to fulfill the aspiration, say local residents.

The BJP central leadership should understand the sentiments and emotions of the peopleBJP leadership has to come clear on its stance on the formation of Gorkhaland. The hill BJP unit has no other option but to join the movement for a separate state.

Ashok Bhattacharya, former Bengal minister whose government and party had opposed the demand for a separate Gorkhaland, said the BJP government at the Centre wasnt obliged to favour Gorkhaland, considering the strategic location of the region. The area is bordered by Nepal in the west, Bhutan in the east and China not too far in the north.

The BJP at the Centre will not want to create another Kashmir-like situation in the border districts of Darjeeling and Kalimpong keeping in mind the defence perspective and the strategic location of the region, Bhattacharya said. The BJP the centre is playing a dual game and using the GJM.

Bhattacharya said that Bimal Gurung, the GJM chief, has a legitimate right to raise the Gorkhaland demand because a tripartite agreement that saw the setting up of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) in 2011 had a clause that said the demand for Gorkhaland wont be dropped.

While signing the tripartite agreement for the setting up the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, Subash Ghising-led Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNFL) in the 1980s had dropped the demand of a separate state.

A separate state is neither practical nor feasible or a solution and we do not support the demand. But we want peace and stability in the region at any cost, Bhattacharya.

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The standoff in the Darjeeling hills escalated on Tuesday with the Bimal Gurung-led Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) deciding to pull out of the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) after ruling it since 2012.

Besides, all 14 influential political parties and public organisations in the region unanimously declared their support to the longstanding demand for a separate Gorkhaland state in north Bengal.

The decision was taken at a crucial all-party meeting at the Gymkhana Hall.

The twin developments posed a major challenge to the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, which made it mandatory this month for students in the states schools to learn Bengali.

The majority in Darjeeling speaks Nepali and they opposed the governments move, which is viewed as an attempt by the states dominant Bengali population to foist their language on the northern hills. The Trinamool governments directive reignited a simmering fire for statehood.

The hill parties decided on Tuesday to boycott an all-party meeting that chief minister Mamata Banerjee has convened on June 22. The Left Front too announced it wont attend the meeting.

The meeting loses its relevance as the major stakeholders have no interest in it and the ruling Trinamool will not be represented by Banerjee, who is touring the Netherlands.

The parties, including the BJP, signed a resolution in which they decided to boycott the next GTA election.

The GTA accord was signed in July 2011 and the quasi-autonomous administrative council was formally formed next year.

GJM spokesman P Aryun said his party will leave the GTA and honour the decisions taken at the meeting.

A separate Gorkhaland state is the common goal and we all will now concentrate on our united movement to achieve this goal, he said.

Darjeeling has been on the edge after policemen were wounded in clashes on June 18 and three GJM supporters were killed in police firing on June 19. The popular tourist destination is paralysed because of a government clampdown on protests and an indefinite strike called by the GJM.

Aryun said the strike would continue until the government withdraws security forces from the hills.

Six companies of central forces and two columns of the armys Maratha Light Infantry are deployed in the hills.

The government wants additional eight companies of central forces, officials at the state secretariat in Kolkata said.

Pro-Gorkhaland organisations such as the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), which led a mass movement in the past for a separate state, pledged not to rest till the goal is achieved.

Neeraj Zimba of GNLF said: Now Kanchenjunga will only smile with the new dawn at Gorkhaland.

(With inputs from Sumanta Ray Chowdhary)
Like the first Dalit president KR Narayanan, NDAs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind has risen from a modest background but the two Dalit leaders took different paths to reach the zenith of their public life.

The election of Kovind, 71, as Indias 14th President is a virtual certainty with several non-NDA parties too lending their support to BJPs surprise candidature of the low profile dalit leader and a former lawyer.

While it is the right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) which chose Kovind, Narayanan, a diplomat-turned politician, became vice president in 1992 and the president in 1997 courtesy active support from the Left, which had proposed his name first. Kovinds candidature was announced on Monday.

If Narayanan entered politics from the top  a noted diplomat, he was asked by Indira Gandhi to join the Congress and contested his first Lok Sabha election at the age of 64 in 1984  Kovind has risen through the BJPs ranks and held various organisational posts.

The Dalit leader from Kerala won three back-to-back elections and was union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Kovind lost two elections  one Lok Sabha and one assembly  but the BJP ensured his political rise by sending him to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and then in 2000.

It is said the then Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao did not make Narayanan a minister because he was seen as too Left-leaning but the Left parties ensured that he became the vice president as a trade-off for their support to Shankar Dayal Sharmas presidential bid in 1992.

As the vice president, he was the natural choice for the presidents post in 1997 and all major parties, from the Congress to the BJP, supported him.

Shiv Sena, which has now voiced its reservations to Kovinds candidature, had projected T N Seshan as its candidate who lost in an one-sided contest.

Educated in London School of Economics and an IFS officer, Narayanans qualifications may be more impressive but Kovind too was a diligent student and had reportedly cracked the prestigious UPSC examination but opted out as he did not get the service of his choice.

He chose to practise law and was the central governments standing counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993.

Coming from Uttar Pradesh, a hotbed of caste politics and a state with maximum cases of atrocities against Dalits, Kovind has also been a champion of SC/ST rights and had taken up their issues at various fora.

Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI)

As a Rajya Sabha MP, he is said to have lobbied hard for the passage of three amendments in the first NDA government to get some anti-SC/ST orders passed by the previous government annulled. Dalit rights bodies had said those orders adversely affected their interests.

There is also a stark difference in political environments under which both leaders rose to the top post.

The period between 1997-2002 was a time of seismic political churn as the BJP, then the main opposition, was a rising force while the so called secular front of the Congress and the Janata parivar was on a decline.

Kovind will take to office when the BJP is firmly entrenched in power and there is little instability of the kind which often confronted Narayanan, who had dissolved the Lok Sabha twice.

The leader from Kerala, who died in 2005 at the age of 85, distinguished himself by returning twice union cabinets recommendations to dismiss elected state governments, sending a firm message that he was no rubber stamp President.

First he did so when IK Gujral was the prime minister and the union cabinet sent him a proposal to dismiss the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

He did so again a year later in 1998, this time sending back the Vajpayee cabinets recommendation to dismiss the Rabri Devi government. Both times he went by the book and won praise.

Kovind comes to the highest office after earning praise from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, a political rival to the BJP, for his work as a governor.

Kovind brings to the table not just a marginalised caste background but also a clean image, solid if not spectacular compared at least to Narayanans educational accomplishments, proven experience, as a governor and MP, in handling constitutional matters, and a disciplined political career devoid of the usual excesses.

But Narayanan, son of an ayurvedic practioner always declined to draw special attention to caste as a factor in his election.

Please do not overemphasize my caste background, Narayanan asked reporters during the runup to the 1992 vice- presidential elections. A creature of circumstances, was how Narayanan called himself.

As a lower caste member of Kerala society, he overcame poverty and public humiliation to become the top student in his masters degree examination in English literature in 1943.

He tried journalism in New Delhi before securing a scholarship to the London School of Economics. On his return to India in 1948 he was inducted into the foreign service and sent to Burma (now Myanmar) as a diplomat.

He was ambassador to Thailand, China and the United States before the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked him to enter politics. He was also vice chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University(JNU).

It was during Narayanans time in Beijing that political, economic and trade normalisation was established between India and China.

Narayanan, named minister of science and technology in Rajiv Gandhis cabinet in 1985, had also earned an image of being a clean politician.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominated Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind as the National Democratic Alliances presidential candidate on Monday, putting to rest speculations about BJP veterans Lal Krishna Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi being considered for the top post.

The names of external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan were also being bandied about in this regard.

BJP chief Amit Shah said the party examined a long list of candidates before zeroing in on Kovind. Here are the four reasons that turned the balance in the Dalit leaders favour:

Further the Dalit agenda

By picking Kovind, BJP and the RSS leaders have given a fresh push to their strategy of integrating Dalits into Hindu society. The BJP will highlight the fact that it chose a lower caste leader for the countrys top post at a time when it has absolute majority in the Lok Sabha, a position that allows it to put up a President of its choice.

Sideline the veterans

BJP sources said nominating a Dalit for the Presidents post also makes it difficult for Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi to further their own interests in this respect. The two veterans, who were potential candidates for the position of President and vice-president after missing the ministerial bus in 2014, have been marginalised in the new party setup.

Divide the Opposition

While the NDAs combined strength of MPs and MLAs is closer to the majority mark in the electoral college meant for electing the president, the BJP wants to go one step further and take the fizz out of the Oppositions newfound unity. Propping a Dalit for the presidential post helps it achieve this purpose. While the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, YSR Congress and the Biju Janata Dal have already announced their support for Kovind, leaders such as Mayawati and Nitish Kumar have also come under pressure to back him.

Focus on Uttar Pradesh

Indias most populous state is crucial in the BJPs scheme of things. It gave 73 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats to the BJP in 2014, and propped a saffron government with two-thirds majority in the 2017 assembly polls. Kovind is a Dalit from Uttar Pradesh, and if elected, he will be the second state leader after Modi (who is the Varanasi MP) to land a top post in the government. He will also become the first leader from Uttar Pradesh to be appointed President.

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The West Bengal government reportedly plans to extend an internet ban in the restive Darjeeling hills till June 26 in a move to halt rumours from spreading through social media.

But people alleged that the proposed step will violate their freedom of expression, a fundamental right.

The picturesque but volatile Darjeeling hills in north Bengal was engulfed by public unrest after the Mamata Banerjee government made it mandatory to learn Bengali in the states schools. The majority in Darjeeling speaks Nepali and they opposed the governments move.

The language protest reignited the regions longstanding demand  a separate Gorkhaland state.

Internet service providers were asked to suspend services till the midnight of June 20, a day after three Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) supporters were killed in police firing and policemen were wounded in clashes on June 18. Only phone voice calls remained active.

The latest plan to extend the ban till June 26 was not officially announced till Tuesday afternoon. But an executive with a private service provider said the telecoms were asked to stop services till next Monday. We have no option but to follow the government directive, he said.

According to district magistrate Joyoshi Dasgupta, Internet services were suspended till Monday midnight but extended by another 24 hours.

It was necessary to stop spreading of rumours. People in the hills are generally emotional and sentimental. They could get carried away by rumours. So, the state government had to order suspension of internet services for some time, she said.

The internet ban frustrated the strategy of GJM leaders and supporters, who were coordinating their protest through social media and mobile apps such as WhatsApp.

The GJM called the ban an attack on the peoples rights.

Using social media to spread our views is part of our right to freedom of expression. The clampdown on internet services is an oppressive measure by the state to curb that freedom, said Jiten Rai, chief advisor of the Gorkha Janmukti Yuva Manch, the GJMs youth wing.

The restrictions are stopping the GJM from responding to chief minister Mamata Banerjees allegation that the Darjeeling organisation is equal to insurgent groups in the Northeast, he said.

Stopping internet connections is a deliberate attempt to stop GJM from clarifying its stand.

Critics of the ban called it a measure to silence dissent.

Dissent is the essence of a vibrant democracy. If the government wants to stop rumours it should be done through the use of its own propaganda machinery, said Asish Chhetri, an assistant professor of English at St Josephs College in Darjeeling.

For youngsters whose life revolves around social media and the internet, the curbs are like pushing them to the dark ages.

The internet is a daily necessity, not a luxury. Without it, everybody is bound to suffer  People cant send or receive important mails, said Sandhya Chhetri, a college student from Kalimpong.
An all-party meeting convened by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) at Darjeeling on Tuesday afternoon could determine the future of the movement for Gorkhaland. Seven hill parties are likely to appoint a collective leadership.

The Jan Andolan Party (JAP), headed by Harka Bahadur Chhetri, skipped an all-party meeting last week, but said that it will participate this time around. Though it supports the cause of Gorkhaland, the JAP has opposed GJMs tactics.

Other parties to attend Tuesdays meeting include the Gorkha National Liberation Front, Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, Gorkhaland Rajya Nirman Morcha, Bhartiya Janata Party, and Bharatiya Gorkha Parisangh.

DK Pradhan, a senior GJM leader and the chairman of the Darjeeling Municipality, told HT that the Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League, the oldest extant Gorkha political party, might also attend.

It was not clear at the time of publication whether GJM president Bimal Gurung would attend the meeting. He has remained incommunicado since Thursday, when his office and residence were raided by the police.

Thousands of Gorkhaland supporters, irrespective of party affiliation, are hitting the streets every day to rally in support of a separate state for the Gorkhas. On Monday, people burned effigies of chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Darjeeling, Kurseong, Kalimpong, and even Mirik, where Trinamool defeated the GJM for its first electoral victory in the hills on May 14.

It is the sixth day of the indefinite bandh called by the GJM. Unrest in the hills originally began as a response to the announcement that the instruction of Bangla would be mandatory in all schools from Class I.

The goals of the protest have multiplied. In addition to calling for the establishment of Gorkhaland as a separate state, protesters are also drawing attention to alleged police atrocities. On Saturday, the GJM said that three of its supporters had been killed by the police.

Paramilitary and army personnel have been deployed in large numbers around Darjeeling. Internet services in the region have been suspended since Sunday.

The raid on the GJM office last Thursday and the police firing on Saturday have added urgency to the Gorkhaland movement, which had otherwise run out of steam in recent years.

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The income tax department has charged family members of RJD chief Lalu Prasad, including his wife, son and daughters, under the Benami Transactions Act in connection with its probe into land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore and tax evasion.

The I-T department has served notices of attachment of assets to Lalus daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, son and Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav and daughters Chanda and Ragini Yadav.

The attachment notice, accessed by PTI, has been issued under Section 24(3) of the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act and Lalus kin have been identified as beneficiaries of the benami assets.

The department has attached immovable assets such as land, plots and buildings in Delhi and Patna which bear a deed value of Rs 9.32 crore but the taxman has estimated their current market value at Rs 170-180 crore.

Humne kuch nahi chupaya hai, humein bulaya jaayega toh hum jawab dene ke liye taiyyar hain: Bihar deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav pic.twitter.com/9XO2LrSSSE  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

A total of nine plots in Phulwari Sharif in Patna, where a mall is reported to have been coming up, has also been attached by the tax department.

Read more: Gandhis to Gehlot, Maya to Mamata: Corruption cases weigh down Oppn leaders

The department had carried out country-wide searches in this case last month.

Benami properties are those in which the real beneficiary is not the one in whose name the property has been purchased.

Violation of the Act carries rigorous imprisonment of up to seven years and a hefty fine.

The 1988 Act was implemented by the Union government from November 1, last year.

Tax department officials had said Prasads kin held some of the properties under their scanner in a benami way.

The RJD chief, however, had sought to put up a brave face after the raids, saying he was not scared at all and would continue to fight against fascist forces.

BJP mein himmat nahi hai ki Lalu ki awaz ko daba sake... Lalu ki awaz dabayenge to desh bhar me karoron Lalu khare ho jayenge... Main gidarbhabhki se nahi darne wala hoon (BJP does not have the courage to stifle my voice... If it tries to silence one Lalu, crore of Lalu will come forward. I am not scared of empty threats), he had said in a series of tweets after the search operation.

The BJP had also accused Prasad, Bharti and his two sons Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, both ministers in the Bihar government, of involvement in corrupt land deals worth over Rs 1,000 crore, and asked the central government to probe one such transaction in Delhi.
Victims of a genocide in their native land of Myanmar, thousands of Rohingya refugees have fled to India following violence in their country after 2011. In parts of Delhi, they live in ghettoized camps at Kanchan Kunj (near Kalindi Kunj) and at Shaheen Bagh in Okhla.

With some fifty families living in these camps, the refugees lack basic amenities like potable water and sanitation. Despite the deplorable living conditions in Delhi, most Rohingya refugees prefer living here than the life they had back in Myanmar where they are victims of draconian restrictions, brutality and persecution.

The Rohingya ethnic minority are different from the Buddhist majority which does not recognize their rights as citizens and brand them as Bangladeshis even though they have lived there for many generations.

The community has become internally displaced and approximately 14,000 Rohingyas now live in India. According to a new report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a record 65.6 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict or persecution by the end of 2016.

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India on Tuesday said it would sign future long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) purchase deals with Qatar if only Doha agrees to acquire stakes in the South Asian nations power plants, oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.

India is the latest major LNG buyer to seek concessions from Qatar, the worlds biggest LNG exporter, in order to re-sign long-term supply contracts. Amid a global glut of LNG and a slump in prices, other buyers have sought more flexible contracts, including clauses that would allow them to resell gas they do not consume.

Yesterday, we have given a firm proposal to Qatar. If they want to have a long-term off-take assurance, there is a window. They can deal with our stranded power plants, from end to end they can give some solution, Pradhan told Reuters on Tuesday.

India is suffering from natural gas shortages that have required power plants with capacity of as much as 25,000 megawatts to shut down or run as lower rates. Qatars RasGas is Indias biggest LNG supplier.

It wont be quid pro quo but mutual interest...They can share the profit of those power plants, said Pradhan, adding New Delhi wants to expand its ties with Doha beyond simply buyer and supplier.

India wants to gradually move to a gas-based economy and has plans to raise its annual LNG import capacity to 50 million tonnes in the next few years from 21 million tonnes now.

India is also open to granting stakes to Qatar in local oil and gas companies and LNG terminals, should the Gulf emirate make such a proposal, said Pradhan.

Indias biggest gas importer Petronet LNG annually buys 8.5 million tonnes under a long-term contract. It also buys additional volumes from Qatar under spot deals.

Prabhat Singh, chief executive of Petronet, said the Gulf nation needed to decide quickly on the Indian proposal. He said India could be a stable outlet for Qatars LNG.
India has re-nominated Justice Dalveer Bhandari as its candidate for another term as judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN.

Bhandari, 69, was elected in April 2012 during simultaneous balloting in both the General Assembly and the Security Council to a seat on the International Court of Justice, which is also known as the World Court and is based in The Hague in the Netherlands. His current term runs through February 2018.

India filed Bhandaris re-nomination on Monday with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres here, well ahead of the July 3 deadline. The ICJ elections will be held in November and if elected, he will serve a term of nine years.

During his term at the ICJ, Bhandari has been engaged actively in the work of the Court and has delivered individual opinions in eleven cases covering a broad spectrum of subjects such as maritime disputes, whaling in Antarctica, crime of genocide, delimitation of continental shelf, nuclear disarmament, financing of terrorism and violation of sovereign rights.

Before joining the ICJ, Bhandari was a judge in the higher judiciary in India for more than 20 years. He had served as a senior judge in the Supreme Court of India.

The ICJ is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council that vote simultaneously but separately. In order to be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes in both bodies.

According to ICJs website, judges must be elected from among persons of high moral character, who possess the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or are jurisconsults of recognised competence in international law.

Judges are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, not their nationality, but no two judges can be from the same nationality. Effort is also taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are reflected in the composition of the court.

Established in 1945, the ICJ settles legal disputes between States and gives advisory opinions on legal questions that have been referred to it by other authorized UN organs. The Court is open to all parties to its Statute, which automatically includes all UN Member States.
India and Russia will explore further ramping up of bilateral defence and security cooperation during defence minister Arun Jaitleys three-day visit to Moscow beginning on Wednesday.

Jaitleys visit to Moscow comes nearly three weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to upgrade and intensify defence ties through joint manufacture and co-production of key military hardware, during their annual summit talks at St Petersburg.

On June 23, Jaitley will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military- Technical Cooperation with his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu.

The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries, the Defence MInistry said in a statement.

Jaitley, who is leading a high-level delegation, leaves for Moscow on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, he will co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology with the deputy prime minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin.

This is a newly established committee to discuss cooperation in high technologies.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. The Defence Minister will also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of that country.

Russia has been one of Indias key major suppliers of arms and ammunition. However, it has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time affecting maintenance of military systems procured from that country.

In March, Jaitley had argued Russia should adopt a liberal approach in sharing technology for components of major defence platforms as it was critical to keep them in operational readiness as most of Indias weapon systems are of Russian-origin.

A vision document, issued after the talks between Modi and Putin in St Petersburg, said both the countries decided to work towards a qualitatively higher level of military-to- military cooperation.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee is playing with fire, says Union minister SS Ahluwalia who represents Darjeeling in the Lok Sabha. The five-term parliamentarian and BJP leader reiterates his partys position on the demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland, saying he will fight to get justice for the Gorkhas.

He gave Hindustan Times his views on crisis in Darjeeling.

Q: Why is Darjeeling in turmoil?

A: The crisis in Darjeeling was triggered after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjees statement about making Bengali mandatory in schools. A large section of the Nepali- and Santhali-speaking population of Darjeeling has reservation about this, as that would involve them giving up one of the three preferred languages: their mother tongue, English, or Hindi.

The protest started as a peaceful demonstration, but police action made matters worse. The issue could have been handled more sensitively. The first thing that Mamata Banerjee should do is to clarify categorically that there is no order and that she is not going to impose Bengali as compulsory language for the hills and Dooars regions. Given the distrust and flared-up emotions, the clarification should be official and must come from the government and not just a statement.

Q: What has the present crisis to do with the Gorkhas demand for a separate state?

A: The demand for a separate state by Gorkhas, Santhalis and others is pending. Mamata Banerjees is desperate to make inroads in Darjeeling and Dooars by dividing the Gorkhas, Adivasis and Rajbonshis. This divisive policy to serve her political interest is to be blamed for the crisis. It has reinforced, especially among the Gorkha community and others, a sense that Kolkkata is insensitive towards them. Due to this, the Gorkhas felt the need to revive their demand for a separate state. Such a divisive politics is always counterproductive.

Q: Do you blame Mamata Banerjee for the crisis?

A: She is playing with fire in Darjeeling. In order to suppress the voice of the people, she is denying access to the internet, which as per the UN Charter is a violation of human rights. As a recipient of a UN award, I wish we dont have to remind her of these duties. It is a clear-cut example of the abuse of states authority. We hope Mamata Banerjee will correct herself and perform her duty as the chief minister, and not as the president of the Trinamool Congress. She would do well to remember the debt of gratitude this nation owes to Gorkhas for their role in defending our nation, and keep that in mind whenever she looks at the hills of Darjeeling.

Q: But why is the BJP government at the Centre not clarifying its stand on Gorkhaland?

A: The BJP promised in its election manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha election that BJP will sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long-pending demands of the Gorkhas, the Adivasis and other people of Darjeeling district and the Dooars region; of the Kamtapuri, Rajbongshi and other people of North Bengal (including recognition of their language).

We remain committed to this promise. There is a procedure to be followed. We are working on it. It is an old demand and a solution cannot be delivered overnight. The state government should prepare a conducive environment to take this issue to a logical end.

Q: Is there any contradiction in the BJPs stand and the Gorkhas demand?

A: There is no question of a contradiction. We remain committed to every word mentioned in the party manifesto. But, as I said, the issue has been there for more than 100 years, so a solution cannot be expected overnight. As Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar and Jharkhand, I fought for justice for the Gorkhas and will continue to do so.

Q: What role does the Centre play to defuse the crisis?

A: The home ministry was prompt to respond to West Bengals demand for additional security forces for Darjeeling to maintain peace. But the way the state police and administration handled the situation was not appropriate.

Instead of deescalating the crisis, they used every tactic to gain political benefit out of it, settling scores with opponents and turned a simple peaceful demonstration into a battlefield. Houses of Gorkha leaders were raided and false cases registered against them. Is this how such a situation should be dealt with? The Centre is cooperating with the state, but Mamata Banerjee should take the initiative to solve the political issue.

Q: Have you taken up the matter with the central government?

A: Its my duty, as the local MP, to act as a bridge between the people and the central government. I continue to perform my duty there, and have been in constant touch with the local leadership and the central government. I briefed the home ministry and the BJP leadership about the situation as well as the state of affairs, and have appealed to them to intervene. But, unfortunately, when the Centre requested the state to send a ground report and officials for discussing the problem, Mamata Banerjee refused to send a team to Delhi. The home ministry is concerned about the situation and it is monitoring it closely.

Q: How do you see the protest turning violent in Darjeeling?

A: The killing of unarmed protesters is unpardonable, and I have asked for an inquiry. The administration is responsible for this and shall be held accountable. The family of the deceased should be compensated. Such action against people is unacceptable, and shall not be tolerated.

Q: How do you respond to Banerjees alleging the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha with insurgents?

A: The CM seems to have forgotten that she is dealing with Gorkhas, people known for their valor and loyalty to India. The Gorkha community served and continues to serve the nation and is known to be second to none when it comes to defending our borders.

It is shameful that Mamata Banerjee and her administration treated them like insurgents and terrorists, choosing to use live bullets instead of other means to control crowds. This would be unacceptable in any civilized society.

The Gorkhas have been, and still are, fighting for their identity and a separate state that recognizes them as equals. And it is the states mistreatment over decades that led them to do so.

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A former sarpanch was killed, allegedly by Maoists in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada district after they suspected him to be a police informer, police said on Tuesday.

Chhannuram Mandavi (55), the ex-Sarpanch of his native Cholnar village, was attacked with sharp edged weapons at his house under Kirandul police station limits late Monday night, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.

As per preliminary information, some armed Maoists stormed into the victims house in Cholnar, around 450 kms from here, and slit his throat while he was asleep, killing him on the spot, the SP said.

Soon after getting information, a police team was rushed to the spot and his body was brought for postmortem, he said.

Some Maoists pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which Mandavi was branded as a police informer, the SP said adding that a search has been launched in the forests to nab the assailants.

The victim was also a local Congress leader.

According to police, Mandavi was earlier arrested and jailed in connection with the Maoist attack on the house of Congress leader Avdhesh Gautam in Nakulnar village of Dantewada in 2010. Gautams family member and one of his employees were killed in the incident. However, Mandavi was later released, he added.
A marginal Dalit farmer allegedly immolated himself in Uttar Pradeshs Bulandshahr district on Sunday evening after his land was absorbed by the state government during a consolidation drive, officials said on Tuesday.

Officials of the department of consolidation took four out of six bighas of land that Ramkumar owned in Murtajabad Bhatwara during a drive in the village to pool and re-allot fragmented land holdings.

The 53-year-old reportedly paid a bribe to officials after taking a loan from a moneylender to get his land back. Despite his efforts, he could not get his land back and came under pressure from the moneylender to pay back the loan.

Ramkumar killed himself on Sunday by setting himself on fire. He was immediately taken to a hospital in Bulandshahar where doctors declared him dead after examination.

Over the past few weeks, farmers across India have been protesting as prices of farm produce have crashed and they are demanding farm loan waivers. Some states, including Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, have said they will write-off loans of small and marginal farmers.

Punjab is the latest to announce a crop loan waiver. The Amarinder Singh government on Monday approved a loan waiver up to Rs 2 lakh for farmers who own up to 5 acres of agriculture land and a flat relief of Rs 2 lakh for all other marginal farmers, irrespective of the loan amount.

Angry villagers jammed the road outside the office of the district magistrate of Bulandshahr on Monday afternoon and also demonstrated with Ramkumars body. They were seeking assurance of financial support to the family of the deceased farmer and stern action against those found guilty of his death.

DM Roshan Jacob directed additional district magistrate (E) Arvind Kumar Mishra to investigate the charges and submit a report to her by Tuesday night.

I have been investigating the case from every possible angle, Mishra said and claimed that a family feud seems to be the reason behind Ramkumars suicide.

He admitted farmers often come with complaints against the consolidation department during the process of consolidation and said that charges levelled against the staff also have been taken into consideration during the investigation.

Mishra is expected to submit his report to the DM by Tuesday night for further action in the case.
A movement for a separate Gorkhaland state is sweeping the Darjeeling hills and women are at the forefront of the protests.

Thousands of slogan-shouting women led by the Gorkha Janmukti Nari Morcha confronting police and paramilitary forces is now a common sight. The Nari Morcha, the womens wing of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), is headed by party chief Bimal Gurungs wife, Asha. Most of the members of the group are housewives, who say they believe in Gandhi and non-violence .

Women power is more effective than any other form of violence and we believe that the Nari Morcha can achieve more in pressurising the Centre to fulfill our dream of Gorkhaland, said Pratibha Rai, a senior womens wing leader.

With most frontline leaders, including Bimal and Asha Gurung, having gone into hiding after police raids at the GJM office, the foot soldiers of the womens wing are leading the rallies.

This is an emotional agitation and a peoples movement, said Pratibha. The Nari Morcha is always in the forefront during any peaceful demonstration or rally, as we do not believe in violence and never will.

The hills have been gripped by violent clashes that have claimed three lives and injured scores. Angry protesters have torched vehicles and ransacked property but violence has dwindled ahead of all-party talks on Tuesday.

Most Morcha leaders may have gone into hiding but they are constantly guiding the Gorkhaland supporters.

Women from different communities in the hills are mentally, physically and emotionally connected to Gorkhaland and we have thousands of active members across the hills and in neighbouring Dooars, said Pratibha.

The women protesters have also flummoxed security forces, says a Darjeeling-based journalist.

Women protesters are more vociferous on their protests and more effective in the manner in which they protest, as it attracts more media attention and wider coverage, said the journalist who does not wish to be named.

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Two farmers allegedly committed suicide in separate incidents in Madhya Pradesh, officials said on Tuesday, in the state hit by violent protests by farmers over plummeting crop prices and ballooning debts.

According to officials, 40-year-old Babulal Verma from Hoshangabad district died at Bhopals Hamidia Hospital early on Tuesday after he attempted self-immolation last Thursday and 65-year-old Laxmi Gomasta killed himself in Narsinghpur district after consuming sulphas tablets on Monday night.

The total number of farmer suicides in the central state has now risen to 17 since the protests started on June 6 in Mandsaur by farmers, who have been demanding loan waivers and better prices for their produce.

Sources said Verma owned half an acre of land and had taken a loan of Rs 7 lakh. The money lenders were pressuring him to repay the loans, which forced him to take the extreme step. He poured kerosene and set himself on fire. He was referred to Bhopal for treatment on Thursday night, but he succumbed to his injuries around 3am on Tuesday.

Hoshangabads sub-divisional officer of police (SDOP), SN Chaudhary, said a case of death was being registered. We are awaiting the details from Bhopal. We will investigate why he committed suicide, Chaudhary said.

Local sources in Narsinghpur said Gomasta had taken a loan of Rs 4 lakh and two months ago his wheat crop was destroyed in a fire. He was in distress after that, they added.

Narottam Mishra, public relations minister and spokesperson of the state government, said during a press briefing after a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the suicides by farmers were sad and serious.

But farmers have committed suicide for different reasons. Not all farmers committed suicide due to loan overburden, he said.

A 55-year-old farmer hanged himself in Sehore, Chouhans home district, on Monday and a 35-year-old farmer ended his life in Vidisha on Sunday night.

There has been a spate of farmer suicides in the state since the violent protests erupted in Mandsaur when five farmers died in police firing during demonstrations to demand a loan waiver and better crop prices. Since June 12, a farmer has committed suicide almost every day.

The Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state has struggled to contain the acute agricultural crisis, despite assurances from chief minister Shivraj Chouhan and promises of a partial loan waiver.

(With inputs from Monika Pandey from Jabalpur )
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday issued a notice to All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) MLA and deputy mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Iqbal Ahmed, to appear before it on June 22 in connection with the Narada sting.

Earlier on Saturday, the Muchipara Police summoned Narada News CEO Mathew Samuel to appear before it on June 27.

Talking to media, Samuel said, The police asked me three questions and put me sitting over there for such a long time, the same question they asked me first day. Yesterday, they asked me 10-12 questions about my bank statement.

He further said that he would cooperate with the police and would come up with the documents asked by them later in the month.

Earlier on Thursday, the Kolkata Police questioned Samuel in connection with a case of an alleged extortion call to a former Bihar MP.

Talking to the media outside the airport, Samuel said he would not react on anything except the registered case.

I got a summon from the Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). So, for that purpose I am here. I couldnt come because of health reasons. Lets see what happens. They can only ask about the case which has been registered, but I will not answer anything about the sting operation, he said.

Samuel had created a political furore after releasing videos of a sting operation allegedly conducted by him that showed people resembling senior Trinamool Congress leaders in West Bengal receiving money.

The CBI is probing the matter on a Calcutta High Court order and has registered FIRs against 12 senior Trinamool leaders, including lawmakers and ministers and an IPS officer.

It was claimed in the FIR that an ex- lawmaker of Bihar was asked to pay Rs 5 crore failing which a sting operation footage of him allegedly accepting bribe would be made public.

The extortion call was allegedly made from a hotel in the Muchipara area of the city.

Samuel had earlier been asked to appear before the police by April 20, but he had then sought time claiming that travelling for him was prohibited as doctors had advised him complete bed rest for at least three months after a surgery.
The ruling NDAs presidential candidate, Ram Nath Kovind, looked headed for a comfortable victory on Tuesday with divisions widening in the opposition camp even as it braced for a contest for the July 17 polls.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad indicated on Tuesday the grand old party was not inclined to support a hardcore BJP leader as the presidential candidate and would continue to work on building a consensus on an opposition nominee.

The Left parties including the CPI(M) and the CPI share the Congress stance, but more chinks surfaced in the opposition camp.

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav joined Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and BSP supremo Mayawati in endorsing Kovinds candidature.

The BJP has given a good candidate. I have a very old relation with him, the SP patriarch told ANI.

While the victory of the NDA nominee seems to be almost certain, the presidential election has become a test case for the oppositions unity, the centrifugal idea behind efforts to field an opposition candidate. If opposition parties end up splintered, it would be a setback to the idea of non-BJP alliance referred to as mahagathbandhan, a term that gained currency after a successful experiment in the 2015 Bihar assembly elections.

Kovind, who resigned as Bihar Governor on Tuesday, is likely to file his nomination papers on June 23, before Prime Minister Narendra Modi leaves for abroad.

Kovind will later go on a countrywide tour to seek support from members of Parliament and state legislatures who form the electoral college that votes in the presidential polls. He was given NSG cover on Tuesday.

The Congress on Tuesday played down the significance of the BJPs gambit, stating it had made a Dalit president 15 years ago. We dont want to comment on his personality, but will talk on merit. This is a fact that he is a hardcore BJP leader. How can one support a hardcore BJP leader? This seems a little impossible, Azad told ANI, adding that a decision will be taken with consensus.

Opposition parties will meet on Thursday to finalise their stand but the NDA move appeared to have flummoxed many of them. Senior JD(U) leaders will also meet on Wednesday but chief minister Nitish Kumar set the tone on Monday, expressing happiness over Kovinds candidature.

BSP supremo Mayawati has declared that she will support Kovind if the opposition grouping doesnt field a Dalit candidate.

BJP ally Shiv Sena also said on Tuesday it will vote for Kovind, swelling the ruling alliances already staggering votes.

Other constituents of the NDA have endorsed Kovinds candidature and while some non-NDA parties such as the YSR Congress, the TRS and a section of the AIADMK too have pledged support.

Meanwhile, a comment Kovind had made as BJP spokesperson in 2010 returned to haunt him.

Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation, he had said at a press conference, while demanding that the Justice Ranganath Misra commission, which had recommended inclusion of Muslim and Christian converts among Dalits, be scrapped. At least three senior BJP leaders refused to comment on it, saying they had not heard of it.

Kovind reached Delhi on Monday night and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.
The Civil Aviation Ministry would ensure that the norms for no-fly list, to be finalised in the first week of July, balances the interests of all stakeholders, according to Union Minister Jayant Sinha.

Noting that the ministry has received very comprehensive and exhaustive feedback from the stakeholders on the proposed rules to deal with unruly passengers, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation said the norms are being finalised.

The ministry has already come out with draft rules for a national no-fly list of unruly passengers for all domestic carriers, under which the flying ban could extend from at least three months to an indefinite period.

National no fly norms are being finalised... we will be issuing it in the first week of July. We have received very comprehensive and exhaustive feedback from stakeholders. We will ensure that it balances out all stakeholders interests, Sinha said here.

The proposed issuance of the norms assume significance amid a Lok Sabha member currently being barred by most major local carriers for unruly behaviour.

TDP member JC Diwakar Reddy has been banned by major airlines from taking their flights following allegedly creating the ruckus at Vizag airport last week as he was denied boarding by IndiGo. Reddy belongs to the same party as that of Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju.

This is the second incident involving a Lok Sabha member after Shiv Senas Ravindra Gaikwad was banned by carriers for some time after he had assaulted an Air India staffer a few months ago.

As per the draft norms, the national no-fly list will include names of passengers identified as unruly after an inquiry by a committee constituted by a particular airline. A person identified as a threat by security agencies would also be included in this list.

While the list is characterised as national and would have data on disruptive passengers from all airlines, the ban recommended by the committee is not mandatory for all airlines to follow.

The government had recommended three levels of unruly behaviours, each with a corresponding duration of flying ban.

To queries related to foreign direct investment in the aviation sector, the minister said, 100% FDI is available for foreign participants... So we would welcome all those who participated in Indias aviation sector, he noted.

Under current FDI regime, foreign entities can own up to 100% in airport projects as well as in scheduled commercial carriers. However, foreign carriers are allowed to have only up to 49% stake in local airlines.

On Qatar Airways, Sinha said, we have not yet received a formal proposal from Qatar and as and when we get it, we will certainly examine it. The leading carrier had announced plans to set up an airline venture in India.

About GST preparedness, the minister said the aviation sector is fully prepared for the July 1 roll out and there would be another round of meeting with the stakeholders to ensure that all systems are in place.

We people are working very closely with the Finance Ministry to make sure that everybody is ready for July 1 (roll out), he said on the sidelines of an event organised by industry body IMC here.

The ministry had sought deferment of the new tax regime citing that airlines are not yet ready with their systems to be in compliance with GST.

Airlines, including Air India, had expressed concern over certain aspects of GST.
Maintaining that he is not unhappy and Congress should do homework for forthcoming assembly elections, stalwart Shankersinh Vaghela in an apparent warning said on Tuesday that he would do what supporters would say after a meeting with them on June 24.

Denying rumours that he is going back to the BJP fold, he also ruled out forming a party. I am not going back to the BJP. And decide whatever my supporters would say in the meeting, he told mediapersons at his office of Congress legislative party leader in Gandhinagar. Meeting will be held after he will offer prayers at Ahmedabad Jagannath temple on eve of annual rath yatra. He ruled presence of any of the current 57 Congress MLAs in the forthcoming meet.

The former CM, who had formed Rashtriya Janta Party in 1997 leading coup against first BJP government in the state, also ruled out another coup.

Coup is out of question. In 1997, we were the ruling party and now, in the Opposition.

He made clear the issues on which he demands clarity from high command. I told Soniaji (Gandhi), Ahmed Patel and Rahulji clearly that this time there are bright chances for Congress( in assembly elections). So we must do homework and prepare all 182 candidates well in advance. The BJP, which is in power for 22 years now, will be seeking another term amidts anti-incumbency and in the backdrop of the Patidar agitation.

Gujarat will see polls by end of the year.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will lead International Yoga Day celebrations on Wednesday morning with 51,000 participants, including dignitaries, politicians and bureaucrats, in Lucknow.

People in 195 countries will come together to celebrate Indias oldest fitness regimen on the summer solstice, which is the longest day in the year in the Northern Hemisphere. The participants will gather at Lucknows Ramabhai Ambedkar Sabha Sthal and begin yoga at 7am.

To mark the importance of yoga  which began in India about 5,000 years ago  Indian missions in the Netherlands, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States, among other countries, will hold programmes on yoga, with participants from various sections of the society.

The first International Yoga Day celebration was organised at Rajpath in New Delhi in 2015.
Noted social activist Aruna Roy, while addressing a protest meeting in Jaipur on Monday, said that people she meets on her foreign tours often ask her why a Taliban is being created in India. Her comments came in the wake of recent incidents of mob violence and vigilantism in the country.

The five-day sit-in, which began on Monday, has been organised by civil rights groups to protest against the alleged lynching of Zafar Hussein.

Hussein, who protested against civic officials clicking photographs of some women defecating in the open in Pratapgarh, died after he was brutally beaten up by civic officials. The officials were photographing the women as part of the naming and shaming policy under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Roy said that India had shown the way of peace to the world and it was disturbing that it is now earning infamy over incidents of mob violence. What Gandhi demonstrated in this country was followed by Martin Luther King Jr in the United States and Nelson Mandela in South Africa, said Roy, the founder of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS).

Furthering the discourse, Kavita Srivastava of Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) said that Rajasthan was slowly becoming lynchisthan (lynching ground) and rule of the mob had taken over the state. The PUCL general secretary mentioned the lynching of Pehlu Khan by cow vigilantes in Alwar in April among a number of other incidents of mob violence in the state.

Srivastava also said that the most shameful aspect was the registering of FIR against the victims. It happened in the case of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri and Pehlu Khan, and the same script is unfolding in the case of Zafar Hussein, said Srivastava.

The municipal commissioner, who is an accused in Zafars lynching along with three others, has filed a case against Zafar alleging that he had attacked the officials. He denied that his men had assaulted Zafar.

The post-mortem report of the victim said that Zafar died due to cardio-respiratory failure but his kin rejected the report, alleging that it had been manipulated. Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje termed Zafars death as demise on Twitter on Sunday.

We are angry at the authorities trying to project it as a natural death. We demand the immediate suspension and arrest of the accused, a constitution of a high-level inquiry into the case, a compensation of Rs one crore for the victims family and the immediate construction of community and individual toilets in Husseins locality, said Srivastava.

In addition, the activists said that photographing defecating women was a crime under section 354C (capturing image of a woman in a private act) of Indian Penal Code and demanded that the policy be stopped immediately.

The groups are also demanding accountability from the government, places for democratic protests in all cities close to district authorities, and protested against the mandatory linkage of Aadhaar with the public distribution system, mid-day meals and pensions of integrated child development services.

Aruna Roy also expressed her disapproval regarding the recent changes in the school textbooks of Rajasthan. The way they are distorting history and changing the curriculum, no student from the state will get admission in foreign universities, said Roy.
Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday announced the partys support to National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate Ram Nath Kovind for the post of president.

The Senas announcement comes as an additional support for the ruling BJP which has already received adequate backing from constituents of the NDA as well as non-NDA parties such as Biju Janata Dal and Telangana Rashtra Samiti to Kovinds candidature.

The decision was announced by Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray after a crucial 90-minute meeting with his senior party leaders at his Bandra home.

We are supporting Ram Nathjis candidature and our best wishes are with him, Thackeray told a crowded media conference.

Thackeray said that RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat was still his first choice for the post of president, but since the BJP picked Kovind as its candidate, Sena would lend its support.

The Senas decision comes two days after BJP chief Amit Shah visited Thackerays residence and had a brief chat with him.

(With agency inputs)
A probe is underway into alleged graft in granting bail to former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati by a Lucknow court around two months ago.

The order granting bail to the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader was stayed by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court shortly afterwards.

According to sources, the confidential inquiry was directed by an administrative order of the High Court and it was being conducted by a sitting judge.

The sources said the inquiry was ordered following intelligence reports that a lot of money had changed hands to ensure bail for the former minister, who is in jail in connection with a rape case.

Based on these intelligence inputs, the Chief Justice of the High Court is learnt to have sent a confidential report to the Supreme Court collegium, which then reportedly recalled its recommendation to elevate the then District Judge of Lucknow as a High Court judge.

Further action may be taken upon the completion of the probe, depending upon its findings, the sources added.

The intelligence inputs reportedly pointed fingers at the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court judge, who had granted bail to Prajapati, besides the then District Judge of Lucknow and two other senior lawyers there.

Questions have also reportedly been raised about the appointment of the Additional District Judge (ADJ) in question to the POCSO court, barely three weeks ahead of his retirement, replacing an incumbent whose track record was said to be good.

Prajapati was granted bail by a POCSO court in Lucknow on April 25, which was challenged by the Uttar Pradesh government before the High Court.

On April 28, sitting on the Lucknow Bench, Chief Justice D B Bhosle stayed the bail granted to the ex-minister.

On the very same day, the CJ also passed the order of suspension of the POCSO judge who was scheduled to retire on April 30.
Did BJPs presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind in 2010 say Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation? Or was he misquoted and meant notion?

Nation and notion were buzzing on Twitter after a March 2010 report by news agency IANS on Kovinds views on reservation was dug up after the BJP announced on Monday that he will contest the presidential election.

Kovind was a BJP spokesperson on March 26, 2010 when he commented on the Ranganath Misra commission report that recommends 15% quota in government jobs for socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities in India.

The Misra report had recommended 10% quotas for Muslims and 5% for other minorities in government jobs and favoured SC status for Dalits of all religions.

No, that is not possible, said Kovind. Including Muslims and Christians in the Scheduled Castes category will be unconstitutional, IANS quoted him as saying at a press conference in Delhi.

Kovind was asked how Sikh Dalits were given quota in the same category. Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation, he reportedly said according to IANS.

But on Tuesday some Twitter users said Kovind, who is a Dalit leader and the former president of the BJPs Dalit Morcha, had been misquoted.

a lie being spread by MSM gang~in context of reservations, Mr.Kovind had said "Christianity & Islam are alien to the NOTION (of caste)"  Vivek Wagh (@vmwagh) June 20, 2017
A little over three weeks ago, Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, the BJPs presidential nominee, was denied entry into Mashobras Retreat Building, part of the presidential estate in Himachal Pradesh, during a family trip.

A few weeks from now, the low-profile Kovind, whose family roamed around in hired taxis, could well be the custodian of the sprawling presidential summer retreat, about 15 km from Shimla.

Kovind is expected to win the July 17 presidential poll and succeed Pranab Mukherjee as Indias head of state. The BJP chose Kovind, who has worked for the uplift of Dalits, to reach out to the countrys backward castes.

The 71-year-old, who arrived on May 28, visited several places in and around Shimla. However, when he reached the Mashobras Retreat Building in a high security zone in the leafy Mashobra hills, Kovind could not enter the complex as he did not have the required permission.

The retreat is managed by the President of Indias office. Entry to the retreat is allowed only after permission from the Presidents office. The Himachal Pradesh Police guard the retreat.

Kovind did not call up anyone for permission but quietly returned to the Governors house at Barnes Court in Shimla. It was only on his return to Raj Bhawan that he told us that he was not allowed entry to the retreat, Shashi Kant Sharma, the adviser to governor Acharya Dev Vrat, told HT.

The Mashobras Retreat Building was made a part of the presidential estate after the Viceregal Lodge, which was turned into Rashtrapati Bhavan after Independence, was handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study.

The Bihar governor visited the Kalyani helipad, constructed especially for the president, and I suggested he should visit forests of Shimla water supply catchment area, known as one of the best maintained forests in the world. He was fascinated by the greenery and scenic beauty, said Sharma.

There is a long tradition that every year the President will take a break from work in Delhi and spend a few days in The Retreat.

In summer, the President goes to Mashobra, while in winter the President of India goes to Hyderabad.

The location of The Retreat Building in Shimla and the Rashtrapati Nilayam in Hyderabad are indicative of the integrative role of the Office of the President of India in our country. These locations, one in north and another in south, symbolise unity of our country and unity of our diverse cultures and people, says an official communique.

The Mashobra Retreat is a building that was taken over in 1895 by the then Viceroy. When the President visits The Retreat, his or her core office also shifts to that place for that period.

Kovind maintained a low-profile. Though he and his wife used an official vehicle, other family members went sightseeing in hired taxis.

The governor went to Mall Road and the Ridge. He expressed concern over increasing traffic congestion in the hill town and said steps should be taken to decongest the roads for the convenience of tourists.

He visited Cheogh that has one of Asias dense forests, said Sharma. He was so impressed by natures bounty that he had nothing but praise for successive governments for protecting the flora and fauna there, he says.

A close friend of the Himachal Pradesh governor, Kovind gifted a box of mangoes and an idol of Lord Buddha to him.

(With inputs from agencies)
CS Karnan, a former Kolkata high court judge who had triggered an unprecedented face-off in the judiciary over alleged corruption, was arrested from Coimbatore on Tuesday, more than a month after he became the first judicial officer to retire as a fugitive.

Karnan, 62, was sentenced to serve a six-month jail term by the Surpeme Court on May 9 for contempt of court. He was a serving judge then but went into hiding within a couple of days.

Three teams of West Bengal police arrested him from private resort in Tamil Nadu, his home state.

Raj Kanojia, West Bengal director general of police (home guards), told reporters Karnan was arrested at around 7pm.

He resisted our officers and there was an argument also. Despite that, we arrested him, a senior officer of the CID said in Kolkata.

Peter Ramesh Kumar, the advocate defending Karnan, confirmed Karnans arrest.

The former judge will be produced in a court in Chennai on Wednesday for a transit remand required to take him to Kolkata, the official added.

A six-member team led by Kanojia was camping in Tamil Nadu for a hunt to hunt for former judge, who retired on June 12.

Coimbatore city police commissioner Amalraj said they only provided technical support to the Bengal police team to trace Karnan.

The SC sentencing of Karnan came after a months-long, and sometimes farcical, standoff with the top court that saw the two sides issuing a string of orders against each other.

The top court had barred the media from reporting anything on Karnan or quoting him.

The controversy began in January when Karnan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order an investigation against judges of the Madras high court and the apex court of corruption.

Karnan was transferred to Calcutta from the Madras high court in March last year after repeated allegations and run-ins with fellow judges.

The government has cited the controversy to push for transparency in appointment of judges in higher courts.

(With agency inputs)
Santosh Rai, 23, was fortunate to escape death in the 2015 earthquake that devastated Nepal. The disaster spared him but destroyed the hotel where he worked for 25,000 Nepalese currency a month.

He left for Darjeeling, the closest tourist spot, and found a job as an attendant at an eatery, for a meagre Rs 3,000. But the dream of finding a foothold in the hills vanished when he went out on to the street, speaking to his mother in Nepal over the phone on June 8. Policemen chasing GJM supporters caned him without provocation. Scared of a repeat in such incidents, Rai now waits to catch the first bus to Nepal after the bandh by GJM is called off.

Anxious to know how her son was, his mother had telephoned Rai. Ironically, that conversation marked the end of his decision to stay in Darjeeling.

Around 11am, as I was talking over the phone, a police personnel suddenly hit me hard with a baton. I was on the street narrating the situation here to my mother, said Rai. The market is popularly known as the meat market, where the hotel he works in is located. I felt a sharp pain and I started running even while holding the phone to my ear. I told my mother about the incident and she asked me to return home, said Rai.

The eatery where Rai worked has also downed its shutters, thanks to the indefinite bandh enforced by GJM.

For Rais family, his return to Nepal is a difficult choice. His father is a carpenter back at Ilam. He has seven siblings. The family is so poor that they used to depend on Rais income. I will have to go back to Kathmandu looking for a job, said Rai, who started doing odd jobs to make ends meet since the age of 12.

For now, Rai seems to be stuck in Darjeeling. I dont know when I will get a vehicle to reach Pashupati Gate, a drive of about 90 minutes. I also need to send whatever little money I managed to save. My mother is ill and I have to support my father for her treatment, he said, bending to lift two buckets and trudge back uphill to his eatery five minutes away.

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India hopes the Donald Trump administration will take a serious view of terrorism in South Asia and put pressure on Pakistan to mend its ways. However, it is unclear which way the new US President and his team will swing in dealing with a country that has always been a key Washington ally.

Several issues  including terrorist infiltration, funding and sanctuaries  will figure in the discussions between Trump and Narendra Modi during the Indian premiers visit to the US from June 25 to 26.

As Pakistan is Americas frontline state in its fight against terrorism and geopolitical designs for Afghanistan, Washington has hardly ever walked the talk on India-related militancy issues. However, in a speech at the recent Arab-Islamic-US summit, Trump proclaimed India as a victim of terrorism and asked certain countries to ensure that terror groups do not take sanctuary on their soil. The nations of Europe have endured unspeakable horror, and so did the nations of Africa and South America, India, Russia, China and Australia... he said.

For India, this meant two things. While Trump did not mention Pakistan, he did ask every country to ensure that terrorists do not find sanctuary on their lands. India maintains that Pakistan harbours terrorists, affecting the regions peace and stability.

Another signal that India views as positive is the Trump administrations plan to launch an inter-agency policy review of relations with Pakistan.

We are beginning an inter-agency policy review towards Pakistan. This (continuation of US aid to Pakistan) is going to be one of the considerations, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson told lawmakers during a Congressional hearing on the state departments annual budget proposals last week. The top official made the remarks while responding to a question from Congressman Dana Rohrabache.

The President has asked the question specifically about our level of support and funding to Pakistan. No decision is to be taken until we complete that policy review, Tillerson said. But the words that followed expressed the importance that the US places on the Pakistan, its oldest ally in South Asia.

As you can well understand and appreciate, our relationship with Pakistan touches on some broader issues related to stability in Afghanistan and the Indo-Pacific region. It is a very complex relationship we have with the government of Pakistan, but your concerns are all well-founded, he added.

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One person was killed and his two brothers were severely injured when they were thrown out of a running train for resisting robbery in Bihars Kishanganj district, 371 kms east of Patna, late on Monday night.

Railway sources said the victims, who hailed from Assam, were travelling in the general compartment of Howrah-Guwahati Kamrup Express. Locals found three persons lying in pools of blood near the railway tracks, 5 kms from Aluabari station, within the limits Government Railway Police (GRP), Kishanganj, in the wee hours of Tuesday.

One of them, identified as Panchu Satnami had died on the spot. The injured, Anil Satnami and Bonu Satnami, were taken to Siliguri, 82 kms from the site of the incident, by Brahmputra Mail and admitted to the North Bengal Medical College Hospital there, said Ravindra Kumar Tiwari, additional divisional railway manager, Katihar.

READ| Class 10 student gangraped, pushed out of train in Bihars Lakhisarai

We do not know the reason behind the incident, Tiwari said, adding that the Kishanganj GRP were investigating the matter.

Railway sources quoted Anil Satnami as saying that they were robbed of their belongings and beaten up severely before being thrown out of the train.

Senior commandant of Railway Protection Force (RPF), Katihar, told HT that the other injured, Bonu Satnami, was unconscious and battling for his life.

The police could not get much information from Anil as he was not in a position to speak. He, however, told the police that they were travelling from Howrah to Guwahati and some unidentified persons threw them out of the train when they resisted their loot attempt between Rangapani and Aluabari.

READ| Pregnant woman thrown out of train, dies on the spot

Katihar rail SP Umashankar Prasad said prima facie it appeared that the three brothers were travelling on the footboard in an overcrowded bogie. As the train was approaching Rangapani station, they fell down, Prasad said, adding that they sustained injuries in head and other parts of the body.

On the other hand, railway sources said that the three travelling in the general compartment allegedly had an altercation with a group of sadhus.

Meanwhile, a case has been registered with the Kishanganj GRP in connection with the incident. A team of officers had been sent to Siliguri to record the statement of the injured, Prasad said, adding that further investigation was on..

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A girl who made international headlines when a rare condition caused her head to swell to more than twice the normal size has died, days before she was to undergo corrective surgery.

Roona Begums family said she died Sunday at her home in a village in the remote northeast after complaining of breathlessness.

She was otherwise fit and fine. But on Sunday she started having breathing problems and I rang up my husband asking him to come back home, said Fatima Begum.

He rushed home and gave her water but before we could take her to the hospital she died, she told AFP.

Read | Giant head baby Roona needs another medical miracle

The five-year-old was born with hydrocephalus, a potentially fatal condition that causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up on the brain.

Publication of pictures taken by an AFP photographer in the remote state of Tripura prompted a New Delhi hospital to treat her for free in 2013.

Her condition caused her head to swell to a circumference of 94 centimetres (37 inches), putting pressure on her brain and making it impossible for her to sit upright.

After several round of surgery at the Fortis Hospital, her head circumference shrank to 58 centimetres.

Pictures showed the distraught parents sitting next to her body, wrapped in a cream towel as her younger brother looked on.
The Uttar Pradesh government plans to shift water-polluting industries away from Ganga as part of the Centres ambitious drive to clean the river.

The state governments spokesperson and its power minister Shrikant Sharma told reporters on Tuesday that the Yogi Adityanath dispensation has drawn up plans to move such industries, which are a major source of pollution to the river.

We are now working in a big way to join the central governments drive to clean the river, Sharma said.

The shifted industries will be provided with treated water from the sewage treatment plants. It will also help in augmenting water supply to households, he added.

Soon after coming to power at the Centre in 2014, the Modi government had launched Namami Gange programme aimed at cleaning the holy river but has not been able to meet its target so far.

The BJP had blamed this for the alleged lack of cooperation from the then Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh and the Congress government in Uttarakhand, the state from where Ganga originates.

The BJP came to power in the two states in March following the assembly elections.
Hardline hindutva outfit, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), has objected to a proposal by the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) to start a helpline for minorities in distress.

At its meeting earlier this month, chaired by the newly appointed chairperson Syed Ghayorul Hasn Rizvi, the NCM had decided to expedite the process of setting up the helpline, which could be used by minorities to register complaints against atrocities and communal violence.

The RSS-affiliate has however slammed the decision and dubbed it as one that will "foster separatism".

Surendra Jain, the joint general secretary of the VHP said the NCM's move will strengthen the feelings of separatism in the Muslim community and demanded the setting up of a majority commission.

The VHP leader said the NCM must answer whether only Muslims in the country are victims of communal violence.

The NCM chief could not be reached for his comment.

In June last year, the hardline outfit demanded an inquiry into the alleged exodus of Hindus from Uttar Pradeshs Kairana, which they claim has been precipitated by strain between communities. It had blamed the Samajwadi Party, then in power, for appeasing the minorities and failing to take action on complaints registered by the Hindus in the area.

Reacting to the NCMs proposal Jain said, the tone of the decision suggests that atrocities against the Muslim community has reached such proportions that the extreme step of opening a helpline for the Muslims had to be taken up.

The events unfolding in the world prove that the rights that the Muslims in Bharat enjoy cannot be matched by even the Muslims of the Islamic states. Despite this, the jihadi elements foment enmity by creating dissatisfaction among the Muslims. The Minority Commission too is only fomenting the same feelings of dissatisfaction by its work thereby strengthening minoritism and separatism, he said.

The VHP, which was at the forefront of the Ayodhya movement, also wants the government to impose a complete ban on cow slaughter and beef consumption. Its demands come in the backdrop of an increase in the number of cases of so-called cow vigilantes thrashing and lynching people, suspected to have slaughtered cows or ferried beef.

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It decidedly looked futuristic  a robot managing traffic at a busy intersection in Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, which has one of the highest vehicle densities in the country.

People of the city were taken by surprise when they saw the 14-feet robot mounted on a five-feet pedestal towering over and directing the traffic on MR 9 and Ring Road at Barfani Dham on Sunday evening. Many gawked at it but followed the robots directions.

The robot can rotate on its axis, move its arms and also has a public address system installed within. It is also equipped with a camera and once connected through wi-fi to the police control room, it will be able to take photos of traffic violators and generate e-challan.

Indore deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Hari Narayan Chari said this was the first time in Madhya Pradesh that a robot had replaced humans in managing the traffic.

It was a successful experiment, and the robot will stay there and manage traffic every day. We also have plans to put up such robots in other squares in Indore, Chari said.

Deputy superintendent of police (traffic) Pradeep Chouhan said the robot has a major psychological effect on people and they are willing to obey it, compared to an ordinary signal.

It replaces at least two traffic constables, which is a big relief as we are always short staffed, Chouhan said.

The project was undertaken confidentially by the city police and the Venkteshwar Institute of Technology, Indore.

College head Vishnu Pasari told the Hindustan Times they conceived the project when additional director general Vipin Maheshwari was posted as the Indore zone inspector general of police.

He saw our robotics department and during discussions, we hit upon this idea. Initially, we had approached several companies and universities to help us, but they were quoting too high a price. So we built everything from scratch, Pasari, an engineer by profession, said.

Rahul Tiwari, one of the faculty involved in the project, said due to the secrecy different students were given different assignments without telling them about the entire project.

But since this was the first time we were attempting such a thing, there were a lot of hits and misses, but we managed to overcome them, Tiwari said.

The robotics faculty and final year students of the college were mainly involved in the project that took two years in the making and cost around Rs 20 lakh. However, Pasari is confident that the cost would come down to Rs 12 lakh when they make the next robot.

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Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav said on Tuesday he was not aware of any income tax notice to anyone in his family.

He was responding to reports that the I-T department has charged his father, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, and the family under the benami transactions law in connection with an inquiry into land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore and tax evasion.

I have not seen any such I-T notice. Whatever is being said is conjecture and plain lie, the deputy chief minister said.

Notices were reportedly served to Prasads daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar, his wife and former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi, son Tejashwi and daughters Chanda and Ragini Yadav.

If those levelling charges have any proof, let them put it up. As far as we know, we have not violated any provisions and everything is declared and above board. If they call us for investigation, they will have the answers, Tejashwi said.

The BJP accused Prasad, Bharti, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap, another minister in the Bihar government, of involvement in corrupt land deals and asked the central government to probe one such transaction in Delhi.

Tejashwi countered that this is a stratagem to brush the family with taint.

It is clear that this is part of a political vendetta  We have also charged people with amassing illegal wealth. In their case nothing is happening. What does that show? What the media is writing is without proof, he said.

Tax officials in Patna were not available for comments. It was not immediately known which properties owned by the Prasad family were being probed, or had provisionally been attached.

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Bhabua Police have arrested a woman in Kaimur district for allegedly plotting the murder of her ailing father after he sold off a portion of his property to meet his medical expenses.

As the only child of her father, the accused woman, identified as Dipali Prakash, was to get the entire property  five bighas of cultivable land and houses at Chhtauna, Jagadishpur and Parsathuan villages after his death, the police said.

The husband of Dipali Prakash and the contract killer she had allegedly hired to eliminate her father were also arrested on Monday along with her, the police said, adding that the vehicle and firearm used in the crime had been recovered.

Police said Dipali had registered a murder case with Kudra police station in Kaimur district, 187 kms south west of Patna, against unknown persons after the bullet riddled body of her father Bhagwan Singh, 60, was found on June 5. The body was lying by the side of a canal near Basahin village of the district, the police added.

Dipali even visited the janata darbar of Kaimur superintendent of police (SP) Harpreet Kaur at Bhabua, 197 kms southwest of Patna, thrice and requested her to arrest of her fathers killers.

A police team was subsequently formed under Kudra station house officer Vijay Kumar Singh to crack the case. During investigation Singh got suspicious about the role of Dipali and her husband Narendra Prakash and scanned their call details. After the probe established their complicity in the crime, the couple was arrested, Kaur said.

Spilling the beans during interrogation, Narendra said after Singh fell ill last year, he transferred half of his property to Dipali, with a provision that his daughter would inherit the remaining property after his death. However, Singh later sold one bigha of his land to meet his medical expenses. This infuriated Dipali, who asked Narendra to finish the old man, she added.

The couple then hired a contract killer Satyendra Yadav alias Dhannu of village Amarpur for murder. On June 4, they took the old man in a car to an abandoned place at Kudra, where Yadav shot him dead and dumped the body, she said.
For most urban residents frogs seem to hop right out of the tale of the princess and the frog: dull, ugly and occupying dirty city puddles. Sonali Garg, 29, a native of Uttar Pradesh and now a resident of Delhi, who recently described four new frog species, was no different. Till she started her research work as a graduate student.

When I started travelling, I was surprised by the beauty of frogs, said the doctoral student at the University of Delhi who recently identified four new species of burrowing frogs. She co-authored a paper published in Zootaxa on Tuesday, with her supervisor, Biju Das, who is an expert on frogs, describing the species.

The newly-identified CEPFI frog species. (Courtesy: SD Biju)

The Western Ghats, which is Gargs study area, and also the site where all four species were discovered is a global biodiversity hotspot. Of all the new species of amphibians that were described between 2006-15 (1581), the second highest number was from the Western Ghats- Sri Lanka biodiversity hotspot (approximately 159), of these 103 were from the Western Ghats region alone. Three of the species described by Gargs paper were found in Kerala and one was found in Maharashtra.

In their fieldwork scientists they rely heavily on local communities that inhabit the areas, so to recognise their support, the research team decided to name one of the frog species after a local community, so one of the species was named Fejervarya kadar after the Kadar tribe of Kerala.

The newly-identified Neil Coxi species (Courtesy: SD Biju)

The names are also given recognising the work of individuals associated with the field and so one species is now called Manoharini (Fejervarya manoharani) , after T.M. Manoharan, former principal chief conservator of forests in Kerala, who extended his wholehearted support to Prof Biju during the early years of his amphibian career. There is also a species Fejervarya cepfi now, named after the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) and a new Fejervarya neilcoxi species named after Neil Cox, the manager of the biodiversity assessment unit at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

What does it take to discover a new species? A lot of midnight walks in dark, muddy jungles, after the monsoons. This is when the frogs are most active because they are nocturnal and breed during the monsoon season. They do their reconnaissance during the daytime and start their fieldwork just before sunset, walking into the forests with their headlights and gum boots, keeping their ears open for frog calls. The boots allow them to walk in the terrain but also protect them from predators that are dangerous for frogs and humans alike. Where there are frogs, there are bound to be snakes, Garg said.

The newly-identified Manoharini species (Courtesy: SD Biju)

The Manoharini species was observed by Biju Das many years ago, he noted then that it was an interesting but no specimens were collected. The team went looking for the species in 2012 with no luck. The next year they returned having identified a site where the species was believed to be abundant and collected a specimen. In 2014, they returned to collect another specimen.

Sometimes when you are out in the field you get this feeling that this would be interesting, the researcher said, but you need to collect data, study their morphology and DNA to decide whether they are a distinct species.

The following year in 2015 they managed the difficult task of recording the Fejervarya manoharanis call. It was an achievement because recording a frog call allows other researchers to identify the same species elsewhere without having to capture one or do time-consuming analysis.

For this particular species, it was an even bigger challenge. They are extremely shy, Garg said. Sometimes we would find them and hear them calling but when you actually go closer and try to record their calls, they would stop.

The shy species uncovered by the team will now be the subject of even more research, Garg said.

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The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has announced a statewide protest on June 22 against what it called the anti-labour policies of the BJP-led government at the Centre.

The protest call follows an agitation by the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS), another RSS-affiliated body, in support of distressed farmers in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. The farmers protest turned violent in MPs Mandsaur district, killing five people in police firing.

The BKS has suspended the agitation, saying the MP government has accepted its demands, including buying onions at 8 a kg. The organisation also called off its agitation in Rajasthan after holding talks with the state government.

Backing farmers protests in Rajasthan, BMS state secretary Jagdish Dhadhich hit out at the labour law reforms proposed by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog.

The planning bodys proposals have given an anti-labour face to the government, Dhadhich said on Monday while addressing a meeting of the BMS Barmer unit.

Currently, farmers are committing suicide in the country; the manner in which the government, especially NITI Aayog, is working, days are not far away when labourers will also be forced to commit suicide.

NITI Aayog has pressed for reforms in labour laws to take the country out of what it calls the low-productivity and low-wage jobs situation.

The governments think-tank, in its 3-year draft action agenda, has said that unifying the existing large number of labour laws into four codes without reforming them will serve little purpose.

NITI Aayog, instead making policies favourable to farmers and labourers, is furthering the corporate lobbys agenda, Dhadhich said.

At the recently held triennial conference in Kanpur, the BMS has decided to demand reorganisation of NITI Aayog, he said.

We are protesting against the NITI Aayog; we demand rejection of the planning bodys anti-worker action plan document on labour and employment, he said.

The BMS will lay siege to parliament in November if the government does not accept the organisations demand, Dhadhich said.

From the 2014 election campaign till the demonetisation move, we have supported the government agenda at every stage, but now we are feeling betrayed.

The BMS also opposes the disinvestment of public sector units, he said. PSUs are contributing 20% of the governments income, and disinvestment will weaken the economy.

Addressing the meeting, BMS Barmer president Babulal Ghanchi and secretary Jitendra Changani protested against the labour reforms policies.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) president Raj Babbar, has assured farmers that his party will continue to fight for their cause. After holding chaupals and panchayats of farmers in Aligarh, Agra and Ghaziabad districts, Babbar attended more such programmes at Kaithi and Ghurghuri villages of Lucknow on Monday.

He also heard problems of the farmers and said the Congress will take up the issues concerning inflated power bills and acquisition of land for the Lucknow Industrial Development Authority.

Read more| Between land and a hard place: Big-ticket projects hurting Maharashtra farmers

Earlier speaking to media persons, the Congress leader said people in rural areas, including farmers, were turning up in large numbers at the chaupals that had been launched at the behest of Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi to bring into focus their problems.

Referring to International Yoga Day celebrations being attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lucknow on June 21, Babbar said most people living in rural areas will not be able to connect with such celebrations as earning bread and butter was a big challenge for them.

About the likely recommendation of a CBI probe into Gomti river front project, Babbar said chief minister Yogi Adityanath had not done anything for the peoples welfare in the past 100 days. The people of the state will also like to know from the chief minister about the work done for them, said Babbar.

Read more: MP farmers plan a shavasana protest against police firing, govt policies

He also attended Sankalp Divas programme organised at UPCC headquarters to mark Congress vice president Rahul Gandhis birthday.
Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav skipped the roza iftaar hosted by former chief minister and party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday setting at rest the speculations over a fresh patch-up bid between the father and son.

While Mulayam left for New Delhi in the afternoon, senior SP leader Mohd Azam Khan also skipped the function and was said to be in his home constituency Rampur.

Shivpal Yadav has been a persona non grata at SP headquarters ever since Akhilesh took over the partys reins, therefore, his absence did not raise an eyebrow.

Read more: Is the political iftar fading away in Mumbai?

All this, however, did not prevent party workers and a section of the Muslim clergy known for their political leanings from making a beeline to get a glimpse of Akhilesh and take a selfie with him.

A lavish spread was arranged for the rozedaars inside a waterproof aluminium tent spreading over 20,000 square feet inside the party office. Dressed in a starched white kurta-pyjama, a green keffiyeh (a kind of scarf) and skull cap, Akhilesh was jostled by supporters and party leaders as he reached the venue.

Senior party leaders Ram Govind Chowdhary, Rajendra Chaudhary, Ahmed Hasan and Ashu Malik played host and remained by the side of their leader.

Party leaders claimed that over 20,000 people attended the function but sources said arrangements were made to accommodate at least 10,000 guests.

Read more: Celebrating brotherhood: Punes Muslims hold iftar party for warkaris

Prominent clerics who attended the iftar included Maulana Saedur Rehman Azmi, rector of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema and Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahali.

Ironically, Nadwa had once given a statement urging the Muslims not to participate in iftars organised by political parties.
There are holidays and then there are holidays! We ask some Delhi-based celebs to recount their favourite vacation memories that will remind you of your own vacation memories.

Annual ritual for Kalyani Chawla

Fashion entrepreneur Kalyani Chawla recalls her yearly holiday routine and says its also a time to celebrate family bonds.

Victoria Station London , where the Blenheim Dior Express took off from #diorcruise #diorworld #attentiontodetail A post shared by kalyanisaha (@kalyanisaha) on May 31, 2016 at 4:51am PDT

Every year, I take a break for one week and holiday with my daughter (Tahira). She is in a boarding school and thats the only time we get together. It is like a ritual that we follow every year. Well also have a pre-birthday bash for her, she says.

When Vesna Jacob got locked out in the middle of the night

Fitness expert Vesna Jacob was once locked out of her rented flat in Paris.

The fitness guru had an interesting episode in the French capital. It happened two years ago. I was in Paris with my best friends from India. We had rented a flat in the heart of Paris. One day, the two of us decided to walk around while the others went back to the flat. When we went back, it was 3am, we realised we didnt have a key with us. We tried ringing the bell and calling them, but nothing worked. We spent one hour giggling away and finally got in, thanks to one girl who had got up to use the washroom and heard the noise, says Vesna.

Shovana Narayans season surprise: Sorry, the sun is not out today!

Kathak exponent Shovana Narayan recalls: This year in mid-May, my students had organised a dance workshop in the Evia Island of Greece. Since most of them were from Lithuania, they all wished to have the dance workshop in sunny weather. My husband Herbert, too, said he would join as Vienna had been going through a very cold bout with temperatures hovering between 15 and 10 degrees! I too did not mind thinking that I shall be visiting Greece again after a gap of 15 years. And what happens? Instead of the expected 25 degrees, we all, including my husband and the Lithuanian girls were in for a shock. We found the temperature ranging between 18 and 12 degrees, accompanied by incessant rainfall. So much for the warm sunny beaches. And as for me, with rains and extended teaching hours, my desire to re-visit all historic sites remained a dream.

A stroke of fate for Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgi

Artist Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgis tryst with serendipity landed her in the lap of luxury.

Artist Bahaar Dhawan Rohatgi recalls a holiday episode, which is unforgettable for many reasons. Little did I know how a flight to the US would re-route me and my husband to a private pad of one of the members of the ruling family in Abu Dhabi. On our transit flight from Delhi to Abu Dhabi, I suddenly complained of excruciating stomach pain which was resolved by a brufen. They flight attendants insisted that I get a medical checkup at the airport hospital before boarding our flight to New York. The airport hospital declared me unfit to travel as they told me I have arrhythmia (irregular heartbeat). Three hours of tests later, they said I needed to be moved to a local hospital for treatment (on special visa). I was not prepared to set foot in any country without my husband. Help was extended by a member of the ruling family of Abu Dhabi. Special visas were arranged, flights were changed and police vans escorted us to the Cleaveland Hospital. Thereafter, we were put up in a five-star hotel and we spent the evening eating a lavish 20-course meal!

Alarming revelations for Rina Dhaka

Sometimes, the smallest of episodes make for unforgettable memories. Designer Rina Dhaka, says, Earlier, when my kids were young, their school holidays became our holidays, which were a must-do. Once, when we were in London, I was shopping and the stroller was where I was putting everything. And as I walked out, the alarms went berserk. The entire hook carrying the undergarment rail had stuck to the pieces and we had dragged that along!

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more

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Firoz Khan, one of the six convicts in the March 1993 Mumbai blasts case, on Tuesday pleaded with the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court with tears and folded hands to spare him from the gallows.

A special TADA court on Friday had held Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Khan, Tahir Merchant, Karimullah Khan, Riyaz Siddique guilty and acquitted Abdul Qayyum Shaikh.

Khan on Tuesday put himself forth as a witness. He said he had type-2 diabetes and his family was struggling for money. He said he helped his fellow inmates, a reason for which he should not be given capital punishment. My wife worked as Mehendi artist in Dubai for some days to meet expenses. My children dont know where I am. They still hope that I would return one day, Khan told the court.

Khan also said after his arrest he confessed to the crime and gave a detailed statement out of remorse. I had not participated in all the conspiracy meetings. I also refused to go to Pakistan to attend training in handling arms and ammunition, Khan said, adding that he had not played a role for which death penalty should be awarded.

While Khan disputed the evidence brought by the prosecution and the contents of his own confessional statement, judge Govind Sanap warned him he should not say anything against the verdict.

Khan broke down while concluding his deposition and pleaded with the court to not give him death penalty. I hope to see my children and be at the side of my ailing father. I am ready to forgo all the benefits given under the constitution, including furlough and parole. I will spend my entire life in jail, but please dont give me death, Khan sai. Earlier, the court rejected the plea of the defence for the prosecution to open with the arguments on quantum of sentence.

Read

Highlights: 1993 Mumbai serial blasts accused Abu Salem, 5 more convicted, next hearing on June 19

1993 Bombay bombings: Here are the 7 accused

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The anti-narcotic cell of the Navi Mumbai police arrested a 36-year-old Nigerian with 178 grams of methaqualone worth Rs8.95 lakh at Kharghar.

Acting on a tip off, a team caught him. It found the drugs on him.

We received information that a foreign national was coming to sell drugs in the city on Monday morning. We immediately alerted all senior officers and laid a trap to catch him. Our officials were placed at different locations and we managed to arrest the accused near Owa village at 3.45pm, said Rani Kale, police sub-inspector from the anti-narcotic cell.

The police however, dont know who his customers were.

Had the amount been 20 grams or less, we would have assumed that the accused had bought it for himself. But we recovered is a huge amount and it appears that he has a network and was trying to sell it to someone in the city. He stayed in a rented house in Kharghar. We are interrogating him for more details, Kale said.

The police have booked the accused under relevant sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. He was produced before the judicial court on Tuesday and has been remanded in police custody till June 25.

The police are now investigating to find out if more foreigners are involved.

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The refusal of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to blindly endorse the choice of president by the Modi government at the Centre and his flat denial to Bharatiya janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shahs face, once again underlines the by now incontrovertible fact of the tremendous distrust between the BJP and its allies.

Whatever may or may not happen in the month ahead with regard to the contest for Rashtrapati Bhavan, what was largely missed during Shahs visit to the state was that all is not well in the Maharashtra government with other allies too  and there could soon be a break-up of the party with more than just one partner. Much of this has to do with the poor handling of the allies by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis per se, though it was generally presumed that it was only the Shiv Sena smarting at having to play second fiddle to the BJP in the state.

Now, however, the cracks with the Swabhimani Shetkari Sangathana (SSS) as well have become visible and the mishandling of the recent farmers strike is just one aspect. After Fadnaviss dramatic midnight deal with farmers the day after they went on strike and the arbitrary announcement that the agitation was over, the ryots had burned effigies of Sadabhau Khot, the minister of state for agriculture, for allegedly having sold them down the drain. That was surprising because Khot is a member of the SSS, which had been in the forefront of campaigns against the previous Congress-Nationalist Congress government for giving a raw deal to farmers. Along with the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh of Mahadev Jankar, who is minister for animal husbandry and daily development in the Fadnavis government and also in personal conflict with the CM, they were largely responsible for turning farmers votes against the Congress-NCP and towards the BJP and Shiv Sena which are not parties normally associated with farmers.

But when Shah visited Mumbai and called a meeting of allies, I was startled to see a rude statement from Shetti, saying, Who is Sadabhau Khot? I am the president of my party and I, not Khot, will represent the SSS at the meeting with Shah.

As it turns out, this resentment of Shetti towards his own party worker precedes Shahs visit to Bombay. With various issues like procurement prices, the mismanagement of tonnes and tonnes of tur daal rotting in market yards, the crashing prices of vegetables due to continuing after-effects of demonetisation that also led to the failure of various co-operative banks to extend crop loans to farmers etc, Shetti had been seeking an appointment with Fadnavis for months. But everytime he asked, Fadnavis had no time and directed him to Khot instead.

Now that is akin to a CM in the previous regime asking Sharad Pawar to meet Ajit Pawar to thrash out government matters. Pawar has always been a troublesome ally to the Congress and all the four Congress chief minsters  Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan  were hard put to deal with him. But I always saw them handling Pawar with kid gloves and a lot of tact and diplomacy. In fact, I was in the middle of an interview with Pawar at his residence when I had a glimpse of Deshmukhs master management of his troublesome ally. Pawar had wanted him to clear a difficult file but when he called Deshmukh, he was told the chief minister was asleep  it was the middle of the afternoon on a weekday. So startled was Pawar that he couldnt help but turn towards me to ask Can you imagine a CM sleeping in the middle of the day with all the work pending in Mantralaya?

Both Pawar and I knew that was not quite true but when his secretary asked if he should leave a message for Deshmukh to call back, Pawar said, No. Call the deputy chief miniser, instead. Who, at that time, was Chhagan Bhujbal. Quite akin to Fadnavis dodging Shetti and leaving him to Khot but accomplished with much more finesse and political dexterity.

But now the Congress seems to have caught on to Fadnaviss souring relations with his partys allies and is waiting in the wings to apply some balm to bruised egos. In a recent interview to the digital channel Hinduworld.com, state party president Ashok Chavan did the unthinkable by throwing his partys doors wide open to Shetti saying categorically, Come to us better late than never.

The fruit is ripe for the plucking, even if the tree belongs to the BJP. The Congress, obviously, is ready for the harvest.

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A 56-year-old housewife was allegedly duped of Rs34,997 by a man posing as a bank executive at Andheri (West) on Friday. He tricked her into sharing her credit card details, which he used to withdraw money from her bank account, said the DN Nagar police.

According to the police, the woman received a call at 2.05pm when she was cleaning her house at Manish Nagar. The man introduced himself as an executive from State Bank of India.

He told her that her credit card would soon expire, and to increase its validity period he needed the card details, said the police. Convinced, the woman shared the 16-digit number and CVV number on the back of the card. After the call, she received messages informing her that Rs34,997 had been withdrawn from her account.

Such cases are called vishing attacks in which cheats pose as officials from victims bank and persuade them to share credit or debit card details.

The police have registered a first information report (FIR) against the man under Sections 419 (impersonation), 420 (cheating) of the IPC and under Section 66 C (identity theft) of the ITAct.

We keep spreading awareness that banks never call asking for card details. But still they fall prey to such calls. Even banks need to help us in spreading awareness on the issue, said an officer from DN Nagar police station.

Waiter among three arrested for card cloning

The Bandra police this week busted a gang of three men from Mumbai and Thane who allegedly cloned credit and debit cards of people and withdrew cash from their bank accounts.

One of the arrested men worked as a waiter in a bar at Santacruz. He allegedly cloned customers cards there, using skimmers, the police said. Skimmers are devices which are used to capture card details. Some of the patrons would also share their four-digit debit card PINs (personal identification numbers) to the waiter, said police.

The investigation has revealed that the gang duped two people of Rs62,000. The police suspected that the three men had cheated many people.

According to the Bandra police, a private sector bank in May told them that somebody had cloned one of its customers credit card and withdrawn money from an ATM on Carter Road in Bandra (West).

Based on technical evidence, the police identified and arrested the man who had withdrawn the money from the Carter Road ATM. The arrest led the police to another man who spilled the beans about the third.

Cyber experts have repeatedly warned people not to share card passwords during shopping. People must swipe the card themselves and also cover the keypad of the swiping machine while entering the four-digit PIN, said an expert.

In this case the patrons not only gave their cards but also gave their PINs to the waiter, who swiped the card on a skimming device. He passed on the details to the other accused, who cloned the cards and withdrew cash different ATMs in Mumbai.

The police have seized the equipment used to steal card details and clone cards.
A 29-year-old actor was found dead at her Juhu residence on Monday noon. The police said it was a case of suicide.

1. According to the DN Nagar police, Anjali Shrivastava has appeared in a few Bhojpuri films. She was, however, not doing well in her career, her friends told the police.

2. Shrivastava lived in Parimal Society in Juhu. The police have not found a suicide note. We are investigating the possible reasons why she may have killed herself and at what time the incident took place, said DCP Rashmi Karandikar.

3. Her relatives had called her several times since Sunday but she had not responded. They alerted her landlord on Monday. Her landlord used a spare key to open the door to her rented room on the fifth floor of the building to find her hanging body. He then alerted the police control room.

4. The buildings watchman told the police that he had last seen her on Saturday night. Shrivastava has been staying in the building for two years. Her phone was switched off. The police are looking for access to the data on her mobile phone, which is password protected.

5. Senior police inspector, Vasant Pingle of DN Nagar police station said, We informed her parents and they are coming on Tuesday. Her parents are in Allahabad and were expected later today.

Read: Bhojpuri actor found dead at Mumbai home
The Bombay high court on Tuesday asked the Mumbai Economic Offences Wing (EOW) on Tuesday to file a charge sheet against Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials and others accused in the BMC desilting scam within four weeks.

The court denied the EOWs request for additional time to file the charge sheet saying that an FIR had been filed in the case over a year ago and both the EOW and the civic body had already taken much time to identify the culprits involved in the scam. So, there was no reason for any delay in filing the charge sheet.

In an affidavit filed in HC on Tuesday, the EOW had said that they were still probing the roles and responsibilities of BMC engineers in the case and that the probe was of a technical nature. The police said that it also had to look into and collect documentary evidence, and so be granted more time.

The directions came while the court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by Vivekanand Gupta through his counsel Sushant Chavan, highlighting irregularities by the BMC in construction of roads and de-silting of drains between 2013 and 2016.

In June 2015, Mumbai had witnessed massive flooding and waterlogging after heavy showers. This was despite the BMCs claims of having completed the de-silting and road repair work before the rains.

At that time, the BMC commissioner had announced a five-member team to probe the incident and to verify the corporations claims of having completed the pre-monsoon projects. The preliminary probe report had revealed irregularities in such projects.

In the last hearing, the EOW submitted a sealed report of its interim probe. It had also informed the court that 24 people had already been arrested in the case and further investigations were on.

The BMC counsel submitted that the corporation had already suspended 14 of its staff members for their roles in the scam.

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The Bombay high court rapped the state government, the Railways and the Thane Municipal Corporation for failing to protect the Parsik Tunnel in Thane and making it free from encroachments. The court on Tuesday took suo motu cognisance of the issue.

The court said that the authorities had been callous and had failed to act upon the courts previous orders, putting the passengers and the functioning of the Central Railways in danger.

Last year, the encroachments resulted in a landslide and disrupted train services. In the past year, no step has been taken to ensure that the incident is not repeated this monsoon too, said Justice Oka. All authorities appear to be very casual and callous. They are only shifting responsibility on each other, he said.

The court noted that since the authorities had failed to initiate any step to safeguard the tunnel and lives of hundreds of passengers, it must take suo motu cognisance of the issue, and convert it into a public interest litigation to pass appropriate orders and address the problem.

The court was hearing an application filed by CR about a high court order on eviction of the hutments.

In June last year, after a landslide in the area, the Thane Municipal Corporation had issued eviction notices to the shanties on and around Parsik tunnel at Mumbra in Thane.

The tunnel cuts right through Parsik hill and is an important link for the Central Railways suburban and long distance lines.

The slum dwellers had then approached the high court which stayed the eviction notice and asked the Thane civic body to first work out a rehabilitation scheme for the hutment dwellers.

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After the first showers flooded Mumbra, corporator Ashraf Pathan staged a protest against the shoddy nullah cleaning work on Tuesday and demanded that the corporators responsible for it be blacklisted.

He protested outside the general body meeting.

Despite providing Rs2 crore for cleaning the nullahs in Mumbra, they remain dirty, causing the area to flood.

The work started late in Mumbra as none of the contractors were willing to clean the nullahs. When it rained in the first week of June, several areas of Mumbra were flooded due to choked nullahs. Water entered homes near Jama Masjid near Kedar Palace. This has worried residents about the next three months.

Water entered about 75 homes in the area destroying electronic appliances. The corporation should give Rs25,000 to each of these families as compensation for the loss. The corporation has reportedly spent Rs2.30 crores on the nullahs in Mumbra but they are still not clean. The contractor responsible should be blacklisted.

He asked the Meenakshi Shinde, Thane Mayor to intervene and ensure that the nullahs in Mumbra are cleaned on a priority basis. Shinde assured him that civic officials will intensify the work.

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Debit and credit card frauds in Navi Mumbai fell to 300 between January and May this year from 365 in the corresponding period last year  a drop of 22%. The Navi Mumbai police have attributed the drop to increasing awareness programmes. After demonetisation in November last year, cybercrimes, including card frauds, have seen an upward swing in many cities, including Mumbai.

The police said most cases were related to vishing calls in which imposters identified themselves as bank officials and tried to obtain credit or debit card details. Other cases pertained to phishing attacks in which peoples computers were hacked to get card information.

Tushar Doshi, deputy commissioner of police (crime branch), said the police would undertake more campaigns to reduce such crimes further.

There is also a proposal of converting the cryber cells of some cities into full-fledged cyber police stations. If the state government takes the decision, our cyber cell will also become a police station, he said.

Ankush Khedekar, senior police inspector of city cyber cell said, As far as cybercrimes in Navi Mumbai are concerned, demonetisation had no effect. We did not see any difference in the statistics of the last two months of 2016 and that of the previous months.

Earlier, the Navi Mumbai cyber cell alone was handling all cybercrime cases. The scenario has changed since last year. Two to three officers from every police station have been trained to handle such cases. These police stations have also started registering and investigating such cases from their respective jurisdiction. Khedekar said.

We are undertaking massive drives during festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehera. We put hoardings, sharing tips on how to prevent such crimes. We also prepared a CD on such crimes last year and are now distributing them among the people. Khedekar said.

It was earlier assumed that the residents of rural areas are not that exposed to internet and the outside world and hence their possibility of falling for such criminals was higher. The police started conducting more awareness drives compared to the urban areas. However, they have now realized that there is no truth in that.

The cyber thieves do not call people seeing their bank balance. They call random people and try to win their confidence on various pretexts. Some officials from the cyber cell have also received such calls, another police officer said.

Creating awareness among the people seems to be only solution. Therefore we are now thinking what more could be done to do that people can understand the fake calls easily, he added.

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Blame it on low scores or fewer students interested in joining state-run engineering institutes.

This year, only 42% of engineering aspirants who cleared the state entrance exam, MH-CET, registered for the next step of the admission process.

This means, seats in engineering institutes will once again go unused  there are more than 1.30 lakh engineering seats in the state, only 1.19 lakh candidates are currently interested.

There could be two reasons for the drop in registrations, said said Dayanand Meshram, joint director, Directorate of Technical Education (DTE). Either students have not scored 50% in their Class 12 exams or they have scored very well in the Joint Entrance Examination-Advanced (JEE-Advanced is the test students take to qualify for national institutes).

Meshram said many students must be hoping to get through one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), National Institutes of Technology (NITs) or Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs) using their JEE-Adv scores. This year, all students who wrote the MH-CET exam got five bonus marks owing to some errors in the paper. This made everyone eligible to apply for state-run colleges.

READ: Engineering aspirants, brace for competition, 13,000 fewer seats in Maharashtra this year

While more students appeared for the MH-CET this year, compared to the past few years, there werent too many top scores when the results were announced on June 3. Just 1% of the applicants scored above 75% in the exam. Principals of engineering institutes in the state are expecting lower cut-offs for engineering admissions this year.

Similarly, of 2.38 lakh students eligible for pharmacy admissions, only 52,014 students have registered. Meshram said the fall in registrations of pharmacy aspirants was natural as most students wrote the CET only as a backup, after the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) was introduced.

As competition for medical and dental seats in the state and country is getting fiercer with the introduction of NEET, most students opted for the CET for pharmacy only as a backup, he said. There are 36,000 seats available in pharmacy institutes in the state.

This year, the DTE will only conduct three rounds of admissions for private engineering institutes and four rounds for government-run colleges. For a few years now, seats in state engineering institutes have been increasingly going vacant  45% seats went unused in 2016 itself.

This year, we hoped high registrations for CET would bring more students to our institutes, but the figures are dismal. Once IITs and NITs start admissions, there will be more cancellations from state engineering institutes, said the director of a Mumbai engineering institute.

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While Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC)will pass a resolution waiving property tax for houses with a carpet area of up to 500 square feet before the monsoon session of the legislature, his refusal to back BJPs presidential candidate underlines the fact of tremendous distrust between the BJP and its allies. Three Mumbai scientists won the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) young scientist awards this year, for their exceptional work in science and technology. For those seeking admission in the states medical colleges, the Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) recently made public the brochure for the upcoming admission process. Also, in a major boost to the Mumbai Metro projects in the city, two multilateral financial institutions have agreed to fund Rs13,660 crore for four metro projects.

Here are todays top five picks:

1. BMC will pass Senas property tax waiver before monsoon session: Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray said the Mumbai civic body, which his party heads, will pass a resolution waiving property tax for houses with a carpet area of up to 500 square feet before the monsoon session of the legislature in mid-July. Speaking at the Shiv Senas 51st foundation day on Monday evening, Thackeray said this was one of the major promises made by the Sena in its manifesto for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and he has instructed his corporators to act on it.

2. Want admission in a medical college in Maharashtra? Check DMERs new brochure

Maharashtras Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) recently made public the admission brochure for the upcoming admission process. While results for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) are still awaited, DMER has highlighted rules and regulations applicable for this years admissions to all medical and dental institutes in the state.

3. Three Mumbai scientists win prestigious Indian National Science Academy awards

Three Mumbai scientists won the prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) young scientist awards this year, for their exceptional work in science and technology. The INSA Young Scientists Award is considered to be the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist across the globe. The awards were started in 1974.

4. Mumbais Metro projects get a boost, two financial institutions agree to fund 13,660 crore

In a major boost to the Mumbai metro projects in the city, two multilateral financial institutions have agreed to fund Rs13,660 crore for four metro projects. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA)the nodal agency for the metro projectswill soon ink the loan agreements. With this development, the work on the crucial metro lines will gather pace.

5. All is not well with BJPs allies

The refusal of Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray to blindly endorse the choice of president by the Modi government at the Centre and his flat denial to Bharatiya janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shahs face, once again underlines the by now incontrovertible fact of the tremendous distrust between the BJP and its allies. Whatever may or may not happen in the month ahead with regard to the contest for Rashtrapati Bhavan, what was largely missed during Shahs visit to the state was that all is not well in the Maharashtra government with other allies too  and there could soon be a break-up of the party with more than just one partner.
The Maharashtra government has decided to constitute a policy research institute to formulate policies and evaluate the existing ones. Experts from various sectors will be appointed to help the government draft policies and suggest changes to existing ones. The decision was taken in the state cabinet meeting held on Tuesday.

The Maharashtra Cabinet decides to set up a Maharashtra Policy Research Institute of global repute at Tathavade in Pune, chief minister Devendra Fadanvis tweeted. This Institute is for regular assessment of policies, policy research, adopting best practices &administrative reforms via continuous training. It will also study the best policies, practices of other states, nations and suggest the government accordingly, he said in a series of tweets.

In 2013, the Congress-NCP government had also tried to introduce public policy think-tank but the proposal was rejected by the cabinet members.

A senior official from general administration department said the institute will be an advisory body which will work on projects or policies approved by the government and for the approval of a proposal, the government has to introduce a three-tier system. This means, an administrative reform cell will be formed in every department. After it identifies the policies that need reform, the proposal will be sent to the high power committee headed by the chief secretary, which will study the need and its repercussions. If cleared, the proposal will be placed before the apex committee headed by the CM. The proposal will be sent to the policy research institute only if the apex committee gives it a go ahead.

To devise basic structure of the institute, the state government has formed five-member advisory council, which will be headed by an eminent social scientist. Law expert, policy making expert, director general of Yashada, (A government-run administrative training institute, Pune) and chief of policy research cell of Yashada will be members of the council.

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Nearly three years after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government stopped the Congress regimes flagship urban renewal scheme stalling several projects, the Maharashtra government has decided to fund the completion of 18 such works stuck in the state.

The projects, originally planned under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), are mostly related to water supply, sewerage and solid waste infrastructure. They are spread across cities such as Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad, Thane, Nanded, Malvan, Nagpur, Dhule and so on.

The state cabinet on Tuesday decided to contribute Rs843 crore towards the projects and has set a target of completing them in the next two years. This includes its own contribution of Rs333 crore towards the projects as per JNNURM norms as well as 80 per cent of what was originally to be the Centres contribution.

Under JNNURM, the Union government was expected to contribute 50 per cent of the cost of every project approved. Soon after the BJP-led government came into power at the Centre, it halted the JNNURM scheme and launched its own urban development scheme  the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT).

The 18 projects stuck in Maharashtra were supposed to get Rs636 crore from the Centre. The BJP-led state government will now spend Rs508.8 crore, which is 80 per cent of the amount, while the urban local bodies implementing the projects will have to shell out the rest.

An official from the state urban development department said, We sorted the pending JNNURM projects under two categories  ones that can be discontinued at the current stage and the ones that need to be completed as per the original plan for them to boost a citys infrastructure.

The government mostly weeded out projects that involve procurement of buses or construction of independent roads and decided to focus on completing water supply, solid waste or sewerage projects that will only help a city if the entire planned network is built, the official added.

Since last year, the state urban development department has been trying to complete infrastructure development projects being implementing by urban local bodies by helping them with resources, resolving obstacles and taking regular reviews.

READ

Maharashtra decides to set up a policy research institute

Maharashtra governments digitization drive too slow, says chief secretary

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A day after the BEST workers union threatened to strike work from Friday over unpaid salaries, the management paid 50% of Mays salary to 42,000 employees on Tuesday.

But the workers were not happy.

The union said the management had until June 22 to pay the remaining salaries, or they would strike.

The strike could spell chaos on Mumbais roads as the BEST bus service, the citys second largest mass transport system after the railways, caters to 30 lakh commuters every day.

Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport Undertaking (BEST), facing one of its worst financial crises in years, has been unable to pay salaries to employees for May.

Shashank Rao, leader of the BEST Workers Union, said there was no change in the workers decision to strike work.

The BEST administration, however, claimed they have not yet got an official notice from the union about the strike, but said they will try to prevent it.

We have not received any strike notice from the union. We learnt about it through newspapers, said Sanjay Bhagwat, the additional general manager of BEST.

He said he has called a meeting of officials on Wednesday to take stock of the current situation. Bhagwat said 50% of the staff salary was given out on Tuesday and that BEST was trying to pay the remaining amount to all employees.

Everyday, we take review of the amount we have in our bank accounts to pay off the salaries, he said.

He, however, did not specify a date by which the salaries

will be given out to the employees.

BEST runs the city bus service and distributes electricity in some parts of Mumbai.

An industrial court had earlier directed BEST to pay all pending salaries of employees before June 20, 2017.

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For the fourth year in a row, the state government printed incorrect maps of India, this time in the new textbooks for Class 7 and Class 9, which recently hit the stands. The textbooks contain maps that look like they have been hand-drawn, while outlines of Gujarat, Kashmir and Mizoram have been shown inaccurately.

Retired teacher Narendra Tamboli from Ahmednagar and retired professor Vidyadhar Amrute from Mumbai on Tuesday complained to the Survey of India, Dehradun, which had pulled up the state on several occasions in the past for showing Arunachal Pradesh as part of China, some part of Gujarat in Pakistan, among other errors.

Similar mistakes are repeated in the new textbooks for Marathi medium, with roughly drawn maps that are not to scale. One of the maps shows Bangladeshs capital Dhaka under water, while an entire chunk of Gujarat close to the border is missing in another.

Asias terrain is not correctly depicted in one of the maps. This is misleading students because the markings are not realistic, said Tamboli. It is surprising that similar mistakes were made by the state this year, even though they were reprimanded by the Survey of India couple of years ago, Tamboli said.

Since 2013, every year, experts are pointing out embarrassing mistakes in the state boards textbooks used by more than 17 lakh students.

Like factual content, maps are equally important, Amrute said. Maps are crucial for students understanding. They help them visualise the concepts. By printing inaccurate maps, we are leaving students with a wrong impression of the country.

Before writing to the Survey of India, Tamboli had approached the states textbook publishing bureau, but his complaint fell on deaf ears. We do not take complaints from an individual. Everyone has their own opinion and interpretation of the maps, said Sunil Magar, director, Balbharti.

Magar said the maps are included in the books after a careful study by a board of experts. We have our own checks in place before publishing and these maps had cleared them, said Magar.

Ironically, it was an individual complaint that forced the state government to stick corrective stickers on maps in all the Class 10 geography textbooks in 2013 after Amrute, an individual teacher, complained about the errors.

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The Kherwadi police on Tuesday traced and arrested a 30-year-old man wanted in connection with the murder of a 40-year-old man whose body was found in Bandra East on May 28.

A few days earlier, the police arrested the wife of the victim, Sachin Chari, for conspiring with the arrested accused, Chetan Waghela, purportedly her paramour.

According to the Kherwadi police, the murder took place on the terrace of building no. 3 in Government colony in Bandra East on May 28. Chari, a driver and Waghela, a housekeeper, were friends.

According to the police, Chetan and Sachins wife Sonali, 35, a househelp had an affair. Sachin and Sonali have a 12-year-old daughter.

Chetan was married and his wife and four children live in Khar. He used to live in the neighbourhood of the victim, but had moved to Khar a year ago, police said.

According to the police, Sachin was unaware Sonali was having an affair, but the couple regularly fought over domestic issues after which Sonali conspired with Chetan to murder him.

On May 28, Chetan took Sachin to the terrace to have drinks, police said. After getting him drunk, Chetan slit his throat with a knife. He threw away his phone and fled to Nashik, said police.

Senior police inspector, Rajendra Patil, of Kherwadi police station said, He was traced and brought back by a team led by assistant inspector Sohan Kadam.

The accused will be produced before a magistrate court on Wednesday. The police had earlier arrested Sonali, who is in police custody.

Read

40-year-old found with throat slit in Mumbai; cops suspect friends role
After breaking ranks with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the past two presidential elections, the Shiv Sena has this time declared its support for Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind, the NDAs candidate for next months presidential poll.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray announced his partys support for Kovind after an internal meeting of the partys leaders at his residence, Matoshree, Bandra. Thackeray said Kovind is a good candidate, a straightforward person from a simple family and has the potential to work for the countrys benefit. The Senas support to the NDA comes amid increasingly strained relations between the Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within the Maharashtra government.

If we look at the overall condition right now, there is an NDA government and we are its constituent. So the Sena will back the NDA candidate. Now that we have extended support, I dont think there should be any obstacle, Thackeray said, adding he cannot endlessly wait for the opposition parties to finalise their candidate for the post.

The Shiv Senas relations with the BJP have been particularly choppy of late. The Sena not only backed the recent farmers agitation against the state government, in which it is a junior partner, but also demonstrated against the government on the streets and joined the Opposition in bitterly criticising the BJP. Speaking at the partys 51st foundation day on Monday evening, Thackeray also challenged the BJP to call a mid-term election and warned its warring ally to not test its strength.

Announcing his partys support to Kovinds candidature, Thackeray on Tuesday said, The Sena does not want to oppose just for the sake of opposition. Where we agree with them, we say we agree. Where we dont see eye-to-eye, we specifically say so.

Thackeray had earlier said his party will have no interest in supporting Kovinds candidature if the NDA has picked a Dalit simply with an eye on the that vote bank. He said he will back the NDA candidate only if he is going to work in the benefit of the entire country.

Attempting to put the BJP in a spot, the Sena was originally insisting on two different names. The party first pitched Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat as its first preference, saying only a person like him can guide the country in the direction of being a Hindu nation, resolve the Ram Temple issue in Ayodhya and help enforce a uniform civil code  all core promises of the BJP. After Bhagwat ruled himself out for the position, the Sena suggested agricultural scientist 91-year-old MS Swaminathans name for the post, saying he will be able to provide solutions to the deepening agrarian crisis in several parts of the country.

BJP president Amit Shah met Thackeray on Sunday, the last day of the formers visit to Mumbai, to enlist the partys support for the NDAs presidential candidate. On the Senas choices for the post, Shah informed Thackeray that while Bhagwat was not vying for the position, Swaminathan has not been in good health.

Shah, however, did not disclose any potential names then, but called Thackeray on Monday soon after the BJP parliamentary boards meeting to convey the partys pick  Kovind.

Voting for the presidential election is scheduled on July 17, while the counting will take place on July 20, four days before President Pranab Mukherjees term ends.

With 18 MPs and 63 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), the Sena has 25,893 votes for the election, as the electoral college for the presidential poll includes 708 points for every MP and 175 for every legislator in Maharashtra.

For the past two presidential elections, the Sena has broken ranks with the NDA and backed Congress nominees Pranab Mukherjee and Pratibha Patil.

Read more:



Presidential polls: Uddhav keeps BJP guessing, to hold meeting with Sena leaders today

Oppn to meet on June 22 as BJP picks Ram Nath Kovind as presidential candidate
Three city scientists have won prestigious Indian National Science Academy (INSA) Young Scientists Awards this year.

INSA Young Scientists Award is considered the highest recognition of promise, creativity and excellence in a young scientist in India. The academy began distributing this award in 1974.

Rucha Patil, 31, a scientist at The National Institute of Immunohaematology Centre run by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Srishti Dar, 30, a scientist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and Dr Vikram Vishal, 31, from Indian institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) were among the 22 winners this year.

A thrilled Patil told HT that she was nominated for the award by her research guides Dr Shrimati Shetty and Kanjaksha Ghosh. It feels great when your work is recognised at a national level, said Patil. Dar too was happy on winning the award. It feels humbling as we were up against scientists from Cambridge and Harvard where they do cutting-edge research. Every year the winners are shortlisted from some 2,000 applications, she said.

Dr Vishal said, The recognition makes me feel more responsible and committed to my research.

The winners will get a bronze medal, a cash price of Rs 25,000 and an initial funding for their research projects.

THEIR RESEARCH PROJECTS

Dr Rucha Patil

She worked in the field of health science and identified novel roles of cell-derived micro particleswhich are important in understanding and treating clinical conditions such as recurrent loss of pregnancy.

I found that levels of these cell-derived microparticles are elevated in women with unexplained recurrent pregnancy loss. We know that these microparticles are essential in clot formation, so we started with some women who were a part of the study, on anti coagulants and 70% of them responded and delivered babies, she said.

Dr Srishti Dar

Her work was essential in understanding how cell division happens.

In my work, I tried to understand how a protein called Dynamin catalyses membrane fission (cuts in the cell membrane). This is an important player in many centro-nuclear myopathies such as Alzheimers. Using similar approaches we can now understand our cell division, she said.

Dr Vikram Vishal

He worked on reducing greenhouse emissions which may help combat global warming.

About 75% of Indias energy requirements are met by burning coal. But this, releases carbon-di-oxide (CO2) in the environment which is a greenhouse gas. My work tries to capture CO2 from the air and compress it to the underground rocks, he said.
Around 1,000 tribals at Aarey Milk Colony protested against the governments plan to rehabilitate them under a Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) scheme mentioned in the Development Plan of 2034. They dont want to be tagged as slum dwellers or give up their 35-acre land for the project.

They say they have been living there since before the Aarey Milk Colony was established. They will tag us as slum dwellers and usurp our 35-acre land. We come under Adivasi Vikas Vibhag Yojana (the state tribal development department) and we belong here. This is our only place unlike slum dwellers that have ancestral houses outside the city,  said Prakash Bhoir, an Aarey resident.

Social activists said the tribals are indigenous people and their rights are protected under Forest Right Act 2006. Now, the government is casking tribals to provide proof of residence and have told them that they will be shifted to buildings, said Amrita Bhattacharjee, a member of Aarey Conservation Group (ACG), which is campaigning to protect the area from construction.

The tribals said that Forest Right Act 2006 gives them the right to cultivate the land and sell forest produce to earn their livelihood. Aarey is spread over 12 sq km and has 27 adivasi padas (villages) with over 8,000 tribals. Nathu Rathod, Aareys chief executive officer said, After Tuesdays protest, we will consider the tribalss demands and see what we can do to make ends meet.
Two boys on their way back from a tuition class drowned in a pond at Rabale on Tuesday.

The police said the boys, both 14, were at Rabale to meet a teacher with some of their friends.

On their way back, around 3pm, the group decided to stop near the pond and play in the water for a while.

The pond is on the Thane-Belapur highway and close to the Rabale MIDC police station.

None of the boys knew how to swim. Two of them, Sonu Gupta and Sachin Saroj, ventured into the water, but in just a few minutes, they started drowning, said Chandrakant Katkar, senior police inspector at the police station.

Some residents who had gathered at the spot by then said they saw one more boy who was standing on the bank slip into the water, Katkar

said.

A few of the locals were able to save this boy, but the other two had drowned by then, he said.

Fire brigade officials were called. They said they found the boys bodies a few hours later. They were taken to a nearby hospital, but doctors declared them dead.

Their bodies were sent to NMMC hospital in Vashi for a postmortem and then sent to their families, Katkar said.

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More seats are up for grabs for vocational courses in the states Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs), but these are still not enough to meet the demand.

This year, there are 7,403 more seats across the state, including 370 in Mumbai and its suburbs and 200 in Thane.

Anil Jadhav, director, Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET), said more seats were available as new, private ITIs were established, and existing ones introduced new courses. The intake of the welder trade course increased by the most margin  with 1,029 more seats. The online registrations, under the states centralised admission process (CAP) for 417 government and 454 private ITIs began on Monday and will continue till July 2. There are 1,33,084 seats across 79 trades up for grabs this year. Aspirants can register themselves on www.admission.dvet.gov.in

The additional seats, however, are nowhere near meeting the demand for vocational courses. DVET received 3,24,136 application in 2016, 42% more than the 2,28,289 application it got two years ago. But intake across the state has gone up only by 8%.

READ: ITIs across Maharashtra asked to make their campuses greener

Principals said educational trusts were reluctant to start new institutes or courses as they need large investments, while returns from fees were poor.

The stringent rules of the National Council for Vocational Training  the regulatory body  only adds to the problem, they said.

No one seems interested in ITIs because, unlike engineering colleges or polytechnics, they are not profitable. The cost of training students exceeds the fees we charge, said Devendra Patne, principal Father Agnel ITI, Vashi.

The government fixes fees, even at private ITIs and organisations that run them are not allowed to earn profits.

Shrinivas Sapre, principal, Bombay Technical School of Engineering ITI, said while ITIs offer several specialised courses, only a few are popular. In Mumbai, theres hardly any demand for Fitter and Turner trades. But if we want to start a popular course, we will need funds.

Last year, PMO had directed the skills ministry to open 7,000 ITIs in a year. But not a single new government ITI has come up in the state.

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In order to strengthen the security at banks in the district, the Noida police met with bank representatives on Tuesday and agreed to step up surveillance at branches and ATM kiosks.

A meeting was attended by senior superintendent of police Love Kumar, superintendent of police (city) AK Singh, SP(rural) Suniti and representatives of all major banks.

Issues such as proper functioning of CCTV cameras in ATM kiosks, deployment of security guards at bank branches and kiosks, safe transportation of cash and security of lockers were discussed by the officials.

All ATM kiosks in the district must have guards and cash feeding in the kiosks must be done through cash vans fully covered and protected with adequate security. Also, the cash feeding schedule must be changed from time to time so that criminals are unable to keep a track of the exercise, said Gajendra Shotriya, public relations officer, SSP.

Security of banks must also be increased in order to avert any unfortunate incidents such as the heist at the Punjab National Bank in Modi Nagar, Ghaziabad, last week.

All banks must compulsorily have security guards and even at night, there must be a security guard present on the premises so that criminals are not able to dig a tunnel or bore a hole into the building. Banks in rural areas must function in safe buildings, Shotriya said.

Read I Two men loot Rs13.5 lakh from Greater Noida after holding bank staff at gunpoint

The need for CCTV monitoring was also emphasized in the meet.

CCTV cameras must be placed at important points outside and inside the bank and they should be functional at all times. Every ATM kiosk must have a CCTV camera, he said.

Police also asked bank officials to take them in confidence during heavy cash transfers.

Police should be informed about any heavy cash transfer and, under no circumstance, should security be compromised for the sake of being customer friendly, Shotriya said.
The villagers of Shyampur Dadayra in Hapur chased three alleged robbers and lynched one of them late on Monday night in Hapur district. The three had fled on a bike after allegedly looting Rs4.56 lakh in cash from a substation and were chased by the police for around 25km.

By Monday night, the police had cornered the robbers in the villages sugarcane fields when agitated villagers nabbed two of them and severely beat them up. One of them succumbed to his injuries.

It all started around 2pm on Monday when the three men allegedly held the staff at the Delhi Road substation on gunpoint and escaped with over Rs4 lakh in cash.

After the police was informed, a patrol bike spotted the Apache bike the men were riding. They started to chase the men and also informed police officials as the three fled towards Dhanaura Road.

Major reinforcement was received from police stations and they cornered the robbers in the fields of Shyampur where the men opened fire on the police. However, they were cornered after a combing operation that lasted around two hours. Two of them were finally traced, but agitated locals entered the fields and severely beat them up. The two men were rushed to the hospital where one succumbed to his injuries. We also recovered all the cash that was looted, said Hemant Kutiyal, superintendent of police (SP), Hapur.

Police said that the condition of the second man was stable. A combing operation to trace the third robber was also launched late Monday night but he managed to escape.

The three had come from Bulandshahr and have around a dozen cases of robberies against them in Bulandshahr, Hapur and Ghaziabad. They also have a case of murder. The two who were arrested were repeatedly trying to hide their identities. The deceased was identified as Iqbal but had said that his name was Rahul Malik. The robbers were chased for around 25km from the incident site and finally tracked, the SP said.

As soon as the information of robbers fleeing with cash was flashed, the Hapur police sealed all the borders of the district, affecting traffic on Hapur-Delhi Road. The police also recovered the Apache bike used during the crime. Officials said it was a stolen bike with a fake number plate.

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A 35-year-old woman, who was allegedly gang-raped in a moving car by three men after being abducted from Haryanas Gurgaon on Monday night, recorded her statement with Noida Police, officials said on Tuesday.

Initially, it was believed the woman was abducted from Sohna but Noida Police later said she was picked near Gurgaons MG Road Metro station and taken to Noida and then Greater Noida, in an incident which has put the spotlight back on the lack of safety for women in the national capital and areas surrounding it.

Gurgaon police commissioner Sandeep Khirwar, deputy commissioner of police (Crime) Sumit Kuhar, and DCP (East) Deepak Saharan were present at the Sector 29 police station as the woman recorded her statement in the presence of a woman lawyer as per the legal norms.

Khirwar said that the matter was under investigation and he will brief the media later.

An official said they got the information about the incident at 3am and immediately took the woman, who was spotted crying in front of Yatharth Hospital under the jurisdiction of Kasna police station, to a hospital for medical examination.

A resident of Rajasthans Bharatpur who had come to Sohna for work, the woman said she was walking near her residence in Sohna when she was pulled into a car by the men and assaulted for nearly eight hours. The woman came to Gurgaon 10 to 15 days ago and was living with her family in Sohna area.

She said the men took turns to rape her in the moving car and after driving through Delhi, they reached Greater Noida where they threw her out in a dark spot before escaping.

The victim has claimed that she was picked up at around 8.30pm on Monday in Gurgaon. She was allegedly raped in the car while the accused were driving around, Suniti, Noida superintendent of police (rural), said.

Some beer bottles were also found from the spot which indicates that the accused persons were inebriated at the time, a senior Greater Noida police officer told PTI.

Sources in the police department said there is some confusion regarding the case and that the matter needed to be probed further.

India brought in more stringent laws against sexual offenders after the fatal gang-rape of a student in Delhi inside a moving bus in December 2012, but they have failed to stem the tide of violence against women across the country.

On May 29, a woman was allegedly abducted and gang-raped in Gurgaons Manesar area and her nine-month-old baby killed to smother her cries. She, too, was left on the roadside after about four hours of assault.

The incidents highlight poor patrolling by the police particularly at night in places such as Gurgaon and Gautambudh Nagar.

(With agency inputs)

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In recent times, school girls have been making news in many parts of rural Haryana. They have been demanding the addition of two years to their schools which currently run up to Class X. This upgradation will make commuting to a neighbouring village unnecessary, thereby protecting girls from harassment. Authorities have been ready to accept the demand, which is hardly surprising. It is a lot easier to add two higher secondary classes than to control harassment on rural tracks. Whether the upgraded schools will get adequate number of qualified teachers for +2 level optionals is, of course, a different matter.

This kind of child activism makes good headlines and leaves everyone happy. Politicians acquire merit by responding to a public protest made by children, especially when these children happen to be girls in Haryana. By accepting their demand, the State improves its record and poor public image in gender equity. Attractive though this potential benefit is, it contributes little to the States capacity to make sound policies and implement them. Also, upgradation does not respond to the core issue, i.e. the insecurity that girls feel commuting to a senior school located in a nearby village. Precipitous upgrading of rural schools ignores and dents the prevailing policy. According to it, schools covering different stages should be networked physically and academically in order to maximize the utilization of scarce resources.

Quick acceptance of a demand voiced by children also distracts attention from the deeper crisis the system is facing. It is sharply divided between fee-charging private and free government schools. This division has exacerbated caste, class and gender gaps. Families that cannot afford to place both sons and daughters in a private school leave the latter in government school.

This larger picture is not confined to Haryana. Last year, girls in a Rajasthan village had staged a hunger strike in order to draw attention to teacher vacancies in their school. Their action was resented by officials. Shortage of teacherscaused by chronic postponement of recruitment--is a common problem across northern India. State governments and the HRD ministry at the centre are well aware of this problem. Nothing much has changed even at the elementary stage since the Right to Education was promulgated almost seven years ago. In secondary and higher secondary schools, the situation is worse, and there is no law to compel a government to fill up teacher vacancies quickly. It is worth wondering about why governments now need laws to feel motivated to fulfill a routine responsibility. Childrens civic awareness and activism can hardly compensate for the absence of a sense of responsibility among authorities.

Child abuse presents a similar case. Responding to frequent stories of small children being sexually abused while at school, many urban parents now train their children to recognise their vulnerability and to resist abuse. Children are taught to differentiate between good touch and bad touch. They are also told to report their everyday school experience when they come home. Thus, children as young as three or four are now expected to protect themselves because the school and higher authorities cannot protect them. The consequences of early awareness of sexual vulnerability are both complex and open to debate. What is not debatable is the failure of society and state to accept their responsibility towards children.

When small boys and girls are told to practice wakeful vigilance for their own safety and security, something precious is subtracted from their experience of childhood. As a society, we probably dont recognise childrens need for childhood perhaps because we ourselves feel insecure leaving children in institutions that we dont fully trust. The idea of a monster cant be a fantasy if a child is required to expect one at school. Turning children into perpetually alert, self-defending activists can hardly resolve this institutional crisis. State functionaries who say that they cannot resolve it without social support are evading the truth.

Problems like chronic scarcity of teachers or stodgy recruitment and training procedures cant be laid at the door of society. If the State is unable to ensure the human quality of the adults who have access to children at school, parents cant compensate for this failure. Nor can their attempt to find a personal solution help improve the system. Though it may help to cope with a larger problem, child activism signifies policy failure. It also indicates Indias mutation from a welfare state into a laissez-faire raj where children must fend for themselves.

Krishna Kumar is former director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

The views expressed are personal
Its that time again during the term of a prime minister, when he has to prepare to call on the President of the United States, a country that is still seen as powerful enough to count as a desirable parti in times of stress. Apart from plans to buy a fleet of commercial aircraft guaranteed to catch the attention of an anxious industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the United States is also expected to focus on Pakistans proxy wars against India.

As always when negotiating with the US, it is not only White House aides, bureaucracy and members of the Congress who matter, but also the think tanks and media who aim to influence policy at the Hill. Any diplomatic mission worth its salt aims to engage with these expert groups and bring them into public debate preferably in aid of India, but at least not against its stated positions.

This is where the difficulty starts. Major think tanks in Washington have a very different view on terrorism in the region. For instance, a prestigious think tank while classifying conflicts, cites Afghanistan as a civil war on its interactive map. This flies against facts, given that almost the entire top Taliban leadership lives, strategies and more importantly, banks in Pakistan. A civil war is an internal phenomenon, and the term Af-Pak itself illustrates the cross border pall under which the war is being fought. The only instance of cross border terrorism that is cited in Asia is oddly enough limited to sectarian conflict in Pakistan.

Other think tanks also have different views on what constitutes terrorism. One with an impressive global database had put India at the eighth position on the top 10 countries affected by terrorism. This position was earned by taking into account attacks by Maoists in central India as well as those by Northeast insurgents. In relative proportion, terrorism in Kashmir was only an also ran position. While the data is right, the context is wrong. The Northeast has long been classified as a classic insurgency. Indeed, it bears all its characteristics, apparent to any expert dealing with the subject.

None of this is to say that sections of the US government which matter are ignorant of the situation in India. The point here is that insofar as terrorism goes, there is little awareness or indeed much interest in our main terrorism plaint  that action should be taken against Pakistan as a terrorist sponsor. There is little interest in Pakistans actions in Kashmir, apart from the oft repeated fear that it occurs between nuclear rivals. The fact that Islamabads terrorist operations in Kashmir empower the deep state to play the same game in Afghanistan is hardly ever appreciated.

The trouble is that India does not make its own task any easier. In a world where big data lies at the centre of analysis and public policy, New Delhi has no data to offer. The website of the ministry of home affairs updates on Kashmir is more than a year old, and it requires an imaginative reading between the lines to understand its annual report.

Think tanks in India are hardly any better. Most offer opinion pieces, without the backing of hard data. Where is the data that can show that districts affected by terrorism are less than 10 and that the whole of Kashmir is not affected by terrorism. Barring one, no think tank offers updated information on the Jaish-e-Mohammad, at a time when India is working to get it notified as a terrorist group at the United Nations. Neither is there any precise coverage of the activities of the Lashkar e Taiba in Afghanistan, as a direct threat to US troops.

Todays wars, and the diplomacy that has to back it are fought through the medium of the media. Data is put out that colours thinking, and its lack is often at the core of post-truth politics. In an information age, we are constantly being bombarded by a world according to some data that also complicates the debate at home. Its too late, besides being downright unwise, to hide behind bureaucratic red tape. Accept that he who provides the data, lives to close the file.

Tara Kartha is former director, National Security Council Secretariat

The views expressed are personal
Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Tuesday made fresh allegations against RJD chief Lalu Prasads family saying his wife Rabri Devi, a former Bihar chief minister, owns 18 flats in Patna worth around Rs 20 crore.

The allegations come on a day the income tax department charged family members of Lalu, including his wife, son and daughters, under the Benami Transactions Act in connection with its probe into land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore and tax evasion.

Modi, Bihars deputy chief minister between 2005 and 2013 when the NDA was in power in the state, said he would submit by July 15 documents related to the properties held by Lalu, Rabri Devi and other family members to investigating agencies, including the income-tax department.

Modi, who has repeatedly attacked Lalu and his family for purportedly owning benami properties, said all the flats were procured through unexplained sources.

He said he did not have faith in Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who has so far not acted against Lalu or his family. I have no other alternative but to approach the agencies to bring the matter to its logical end, said Modi.

Lalus RJD is a part of the Grand Alliance coalition government in Bihar along with Nitish Kumars JD(U) and the Congress. His son, Tejashwi, is the states deputy chief minister.

Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav speaks to the media at the old secretariat in Patna on Tuesday. The Income Tax department on Tuesday carried out raids at various locations in Delhi-NCR on companies and people associated with RJD chief Lalu Prasad in connection with the benami land deals worth Rs 1,000 crore. (PTI)

Speaking on the sidelines of his Janata Durbar in Patna, Modi said the 18 flats owned by Rabri Devi were housed in two complexes located in Patna -- one plot of 20.074 decimal land is located in Danapur, the other plot of 15.4155 decimal of land is located at Sheikhpura.

At the Danapur plot, which is a residential-cum-commercial complex, Rabri Devi has 10 flats, while in Sheikhpura she owns eight, said Modi.

He said the plots were registered in Rabri Devis name when she was the chief minister (1997-2005) and when Lalu was the railways minister (2004- 09).

The apartments in Danapur were built by Shreya constructions, said Modi, and christened Maa Marichhiya Devi Complex after Lalus late mother and with engravings of lanterns, the RJD poll symbol.

He alleged that Rabri Devi got registered the two separate pieces of land from three persons who were either given jobs or contracts in the Indian Railways or were benefited in some other way when Lalu Prasad was the railway minister.

Rabri Devi got one of the plots from the family members of one late Arvind Kumar Yadav, said Modi, adding that a cheque drawn on Awami Co-operative Bank was given to Yadavs family but it was never encashed.

In February 2011, said Modi, Rabri Devi entered into an agreement with the proprietor of M/s Shreya Constructions, Amrendra Kumar Sinha, to develop the two plots measuring 37,405 sq ft on which 36 flats were to be constructed. As per the agreement, Rabri Devi got 50% as her share -- 18 flats along with parking space.

The former deputy chief minister had earlier claimed to have unearthed documents relating to a Rs 600-crore mall coming up in Phulwari-Danapur areas, besides land given in gifts to members of Lalus family by former Union ministers Raghunath Jha and Kanti Singh and Lallan.

Modi had also sought to expose the family on acquiring up to five plots from the MLAs cooperative, when no more than one flat could be procured by a legislator, as per the norms of association. He also sought to expose Lalus and his eldest daughter Misas properties in New Delhi, which is now under investigation by the IT.
Two persons were killed and another of the family injured on Monday when neighbours fought over digging of soil from a disputed piece of land at Raghopur, about 35 kms east of Patna, in Vaishali district.

Relations between Bhagwat Rai and Munshi Rai had soured a long time back over a contentious chunk of land in their neighbourhood. On Monday Bhagwat Rai, 60, along with his son Anil Rai, 40, and grandson Mithilesh Rai, 30, went to dig soil from the disputed land.

Seeing them, Munshi Rai, 55, resisted their action. A heated conversation followed between the two families that culminated in Munshi Rai and some of his cahoots allegedly firing at the trio. While Bhagwat and his grandson Mithilesh succumbed to bullet injuries, Anil Rai was injured and admitted to the Patna Medical College Hospital In the state capital.

Following the incident, supporters of the deceased staged a dharna with the bodies. They demanded that deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, who is the legislator from Raghopur, visit the spot and assuage their hurt sentiments. The cops who arrived there were initially not allowed to lift the bodies for post-mortem examination. It was only after over 12 hours of persuasion that they finally relented on the assurance that the killers would be booked soon. The police subsequently lifted the bodies for post-mortem examination in the wee hours of Tuesday.

Superintendent of police, Vaishali, Rakesh Kumar said, The search for killers are on. We hope to arrest them soon.
The weighing scales  also Shiromani Akali Dals poll symbol  have tilted among the estranged cousins. Manpreet Badal had earlier presented the budget from the Akali benches. Seven years later, he returned fire to SAD president and cousin Sukhbir Badal, as finance minister of the Congress. In an interview to HT, Manpreet said the SAD had no option left but to disrupt the House. Excerpts:

Q: Sukhbir has dubbed the loan waiver a farce, a crude joke with farmers. Is Rs 1500-crore allocation enough?

Manpreet: What has Sukhbir done in the 10 years in power. Both Sukhbir and (his wife) Harsimrat have never even sympathised with farmers committing suicides. On the contrary, they pushed generations of Punjab under debt. Why couldnt Harsimrat  being a Union minister  get a farm loan waiver? Rs 1,500 crore will take care of farmers with up to five acres of land by settling their loan of up to Rs 2 lakh. Nearly 8.75 lakh farmers will come out of debt completely. They should be applauding us as unlike the BJP governments in UP and Maharashtra, we have announced relief of Rs 2 lakh, not just Rs 1 lakh.

Q: You announced just Rs 10 crore for 50 lakh smartphones. Will they come so cheap?

The smart phones will come for free. Even Rs 10 crore will not be used. There is so much competition among service providers and we would opt for global tenders.

Video below: Key points from the budget

Q: You have promised 3 lakh jobs for Punjab youth through Ola and Uber cabs. Sukhbir says there are just 25,000 taxis in the state. Isnt the figure too ostentatious?

Ola and Uber cabs will be a small part of the 3 lakh jobs. It would also include autos and light motor vehicles. In my constituency Bathinda alone, there are 8,000 autos. Punjab has a capacity to absorb many more cabs. They will compete with buses of the Badals.

Q: In your first budget speech as Akali Dal finance minister, you had accused the Congress of leaving a legacy of debt. Sukhbir says your speech is just the same, only your colours have changed.

Punjab has been struggling with legacy of debt for the past many decades. I can show Sukhbir the budgets of his governments on how many promises he fulfilled. At least, we are coming good on our promises. They have nothing to say against the government and the only option left for them is to disrupt the session.

Q: Is naming schemes after Shaheed Bhagat Singh not mere symbolism?

I am a student of history and Bhagat Singh has inspired me the most. Punjab has not been able to produce someone with same intellect and stature in the past 100 years. He can be a role model for generations to come. Naming schemes after him is just a small tribute.

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Finance minister Manpreet Badal presented a budget of Rs 1.18 lakh crore for the financial year 2017-18 for Punjab. Presenting his maiden budget as a part of the Capt Amarinder Singh government, Badal said Punjabs outstanding debt will be Rs 1.95 lakh crore by the end of the financial year. He earmarked Rs 1,500 crore for waiving crop loans of distressed farmers.

Manpreet has an unenviable task. The state finances are in dire straits and he has to implement the lofty promises made by his party ahead of the 2017 polls. The FM, who was the architect of the Congress manifesto, has tried a balancing act between fiscal prudence and poll promises. HT looks at 10 takeaways from the first budget of the new govt:

1. FINANCIAL MESS A WORRY

The government inherited a fiscal crisis, as the previous government while demitting office left huge pending liabilities with the treasury virtually lying closed. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also suspended payments to the state government. Unpaid liability of welfare schemes, dearness allowance and power subsidy added to fiscal woes. Worse, the full extent of the financial problem is still not known and a special audit is being planned. A testing situation it is.

2. DEBT JUST KEEPS MOUNTING

The states debt has been the most talked about issue for years, but that has not had any impact. It just keeps going up. Though the previous regime had shown outstanding debt as Rs 1.48 lakh crore at the end of 2016-17, the white paper brought out by the Congress government revised the figure to Rs 1.87 crore. The budget estimates for 2017-18 have pegged it at Rs 1.95 lakh crore at the end of the current fiscal.

3. REVENUE DEFICIT RISING

Revenue deficit, which indicates excess of revenue expenditure over revenue receipts, is a reason for worry. The deficit saw a slight dip in 2013-14, but has been going up since. Last year, the finance minister pegged it at Rs 7,983 crore, 1.76% of gross state domestic product (GSDP). However, it rose to Rs 11,362 crore in 2016-17 revised estimates. This year, it is estimated to go to Rs 14,784 crore. The number implies lower availability of funds for meeting revenue expenditure and increased dependence on borrowed money.

4. SALARY AND PAY OUTGO

Committed liabilities are a huge burden on the state exchequer, eating into bulk of its revenue. In financial year 2017-18, the outgo on salary, pensions and retirement benefits will eat away three-fourth of the states own tax revenue  Rs 31,019 crore out of Rs 39,526 crore. The salary and pensions bill has been rising consistently. The state employees get higher wages than their counterparts in most other states, but another pay hike is on the cards.

5. FIVE-FIGURE POWER SUBSIDY

Chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh has appealed to big farmers to forego their power subsidy. Whether the give-it-up slogan works or not will be known in a few months but the subsidy continues to increase, crossing the five-figure mark for the first time. The government has pegged the subsidy at Rs 10,255 crore in budget estimates 2017-18, up from Rs 8,966 crore, due to increased consumption and thousands of new tubewell connections released by the previous government.

6. COUNTING ON GST

Constrained by the states fiscal crisis, the state government is counting on the Goods and Services Tax (GST) that kicks in on July 1, with the finance minister hoping that his revenues would double in the next years due to 14% increase promised by the Centre. Being a consumption state, Punjab is expected to benefit from the new tax regime.

7. AGRICULTURE GETS ATTENTION

With farmers getting restless due to dwindling yields and mounting losses, the sector needed immediate attention. Besides announcing a waiver of crop loans and hike in crop damage compensation, the government is looking at ways to modernise agriculture by investing more funds and improving marketing of their produce. Agriculture Produce Marking Act is being amended to ensure direct access to national and international markets, said the FM in his speech.

8. JOBS, JOBS, JOBS

Unemployment being a huge political issue, the budget focuses on job creation big time. Cabs, tractors, setting up enterprise and skill upgrading are just some of the innovative initiatives being planned by the new government. Already, it is in talks with app-based cab aggregators, Uber and Ola, to introduce cabs in different cities. We hope to create one lakh additional jobs every year, said the finance minister. Other schemes also have potential.

9. FILIP TO URBAN AREA PROJECTS

Reeling under financial crunch due to delay in release of over 80% of funds received from the Centre, the local bodies department can finally start to implement its projects. Its outlay has been more than doubled from Rs 2,268 crore to Rs 4,610 crore for projects such as Smart Cities, AMRUT and Swachh Bharat Mission. With a pushy minister at the helm, things can finally get moving.

10. REAL ESTATE REVIVAL

A major source of revenue for long, the real estate sector hit by slowdown is on the government radar. A massive 3% cut in stamp duty, reducing it to 6% from the existing 9%, is likely to give a boost to demand and help revive the sector. The relief will remain in place till the end of the current year.

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The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has described as unfortunate the Union home ministrys decision to turn down the visit of 251 Sikh pilgrims to Pakistan to observe the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh from June 21-29.

This is the second Sikh jatha (group of pilgrims) to have been denied permission to visit the neighbouring country amid deteriorating Indo-Pak ties.

1) WHAT WILL THE SGPC DO NEXT?

SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh says the committee will write to the Union home ministry in a day or two to protest against the unfortunate decision.

If its a security issue, the government of India must take it up with Pakistan. Denying permission is wrong. We cant send pilgrims across the border at our risk. Their safety is the responsibility of the governments, he says.

The external affairs ministry told the SGPC recently to give an undertaking that the jatha is going to Pakistan at its own risk. The SGPC begs to differ.

2) HOW OFTEN DO JATHAS GO TO PAKISTAN?

Every year, around five to six thousand Sikh pilgrims cross the border to visit shrines there. Of the several gurdwaras, the main ones visited by pilgrims are Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurudwara Dehra Sahib Lahore, Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib at Narowal, Gurdwara Sacha Sauda.

The SGPC sends four jathas to Pakistan in a year. The biggest jatha goes to Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Guru Nanak Dev, in November to celebrate his birth anniversary. Another jatha goes on the harvest festival of Baisakhi in April. The two other jathas leave in May-June on the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev and the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh empire.

3) HOW DOES A SIKH PILGRIM GO TO PAKISTAN?

The Sikh pilgrim submits his/her passport and identity proofs to the SGPC. The committee sends the passports to the Pakistani high commission, which seeks a clearance from the Government of India. The entire visit and arrangements are looked after by the SGPC and it also appoints a jatha leader. After the clearances, the Pakistan government sends special trains to Attari railway station from where the pilgrims leave for Lahore, 23 km from the border.

4) WHY DO SGPC JATHAS TO PAKISTAN FACE REJECTION?

The Union home ministry cites the tension at the border of the two countries for turning down permission. The Pakistani embassy can only issue visas after the Union home ministry clears the pilgrimage. The frosty ties have not dampened the spirits of the pilgrims, who visit Gurdwara Panja Sahib, Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, and Gurdwara Dehra Sahib, Lahore.

5) WHEN WAS PERMISSION LAST DENIED?

The SGPC jatha was denied permission to travel to Pakistan on the martyrdom anniversary of Guru Arjan Dev in May on security grounds amidst deteriorating ties between the two countries.

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Barely 24 hours after he painted a grim picture of the states financial crisis, Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal on Tuesday presented his big plans to implement the partys poll promises, including the long-awaited farm debt waiver, with meagre fund allocations.

The finance minister, who presented the first budget of the Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government in the state assembly, incorporated the agricultural loan write-off, free smart phones, hike in social security pension, employment generation initiatives, crop damage compensation and some other promises in his proposals.

However, the allocations made for most of these fund-guzzling schemes are token, raising questions about the state governments ability to implement them  in particular, farm loan waiver  within the promised timeframe. Chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh had on Monday evening announced crop loan waiver up to Rs 2 lakh of small and marginal farmers (owning up to five acres) after an expert panel constituted by the state government to assess the farm debt situation gave its interim report.

The bank and cooperative loans write-off, which is expected to benefit 10.25 lakh farmers, involves a liability of over Rs 20,000 crore, but the finance minister has proposed an outlay of only Rs 1,500 crore for waiving the debts of the distressed farmers in the state, calling it the first action initiated by the government to salvage the farmers.

Punjab finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal presenting the state budget in the assembly on Tuesday. (Photo: DPR)

Similarly, a sum of Rs 10 crore has been proposed to provide free smart phones to youth of the state. In its manifesto, the Congress had promised to give free phones to 50 lakh youth. The crop damage compensation to farmers is being raised from 8,000 per acre to 12,000 per acre despite the promise of Rs 20,000 per acre. The hike in monthly social pension has been staggered with the minister proposing to increase it from Rs 500 to Rs 750 against the promised Rs 1,500.

Manpreet, who presented a Rs 1.18 lakh-crore budget, made these proposals in his 45-page speech that he finished in 55 minutes, skipping several paragraphs altogether. When he made his budget presentation, Capt Amarinder, who had stolen the finance ministers thunder by announcing debt write-off and other schemes during his reply to the governors address a day earlier, was not in the House.

The token allocation upset the opposition parties, as the Akali MLAs flung the budget papers and started protesting immediately after the minister announced the outlay for debt waiver. The slogan-shouting legislators went to the well of the House, accusing the government of betraying the farmers.

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Thieves cut through the grille to enter the Martyrs Well at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on Monday evening and took away money left by visitors. The well has a sombre history as several people jumped into and died while trying to escape gunfire ordered by British Raj officer Reginald Dyer during the April 13, 1919, massacre.

Tourists throw money, articularly coins, into the grille-mesh-covered well in remembrance of the martyrs in this Martyrs Well. Though the police on Tuesday said they had detained one person, the exact amount of money taken from the well was not known.

Gaya Parshad, the watchman, told the police: On Monday, after completing my duty, I was going towards my quarters when I spotted a rope hanging into the well. I immediately went on top of the well and found the mesh from the ventilator window broken. The thieves had taken away money.

Police suspect the thieves may have come from the residential area around the historical monument.

After identifying two persons, we have rounded up one of them. Though the exact amount stolen is still unclear, the man detained has been found with coins worth Rs 3,000-4,000, said additional deputy commissioner of police Charanjit Singh.

Efforts were made to contact the management trusts secretary, SK Mukherjee, to know how much money was stolen, and when was the last time that money was collected from the well; but calls went unanswered.

A peep inside the Martyrs Well in Amritsars Jallianwala Bagh. (HT File Photo)
While the number of blackbucks in the 2011 census stood at 3,500, in the recent census conducted jointly by the Punjab Biodiversity Board (PBB) and department of forest and wildlife preservation, Punjab, at Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary on June 1 and 2, 2017, the population count stands at 3,273.

The marginal decrease indicates continued peaceful co-existence of this Schedule 1 and near-threatened species with the humans in sanctuary area with the Bishnoi community continuing to protect them as per the tradition of this nature-friendly community. The situation may, however, take a turn for the worse in times to come with rapid habitat changes and other factors.

There are great challenges ahead as this sanctuary is on the private farm land of the Bishnoi community. They need to take measures to protect their crops that are at times detrimental to the state animal. However, we are making all efforts towards positive intervention, says Geethanjali, conservator of forests (parks and protected areas), Punjab.

The blackbuck was notified as the state animal of Punjab in 1989 and its presence in the state is confined only to Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary, Fazilka, due to unique habitat of semi-arid plains consisting agricultural fields, intermittent fallow/barren lands, scattered sand dunes, sand mounds and ridges.

The sanctuary, having an area of 186 sq. km spreading across on private land of 13 villages, was notified in the year 2000. The land is mostly owned by Bishnoi community, which is contributing towards conservation of the blackbuck and other flora fauna of the area.

The June census, conducted by adopting worldwide standardised scientific methodology of line transects, records the male/female sex ratio recorded as 35:65 (male: female) and a herd with maximum of 219 members was also seen. The highest density of blackbucks was found in Duttarawali, Rajahwali and Khairpur villages of the sanctuary.

The census teams observed current and impending challenges in long-term suitability of the habitat of sanctuary to sustain viable populations of blackbucks. Senior scientist of the bio-diversity board Gurharminder Singh, who designed the census, says: The major threats are putting up of barbed wires including deadly cobra wires with bladed edged iron wire mesh on the periphery of agricultural fields to avoid crop damages from stray cattle and Nilgai.

Another danger zone is the substantial rise in the population of stray dogs, leading to organised hunting by them in packs like feral dogs, targeting fawns/sub-adults and expecting females. The fencing of agriculture fields with the barbed wires also restricts the free movement of blackbucks, putting them under stress, besides causing severe and fatal injuries especially from cobra wires during dog chase incidents.

The injured animals are very easily predated upon by dogs. The district administration recently issued a notification for banning the sale and use of Cobra Wires in the district under section 144 of CrPC for protecting the wild animals in the Abohar Wildlife Sanctuary.

Population of stray cattle in the sanctuary areas is also rising as farmers from nearby districts prefer to abandon their unproductive cattle there due to the protective behaviour of Bishnoi community towards all animals. The growing population of stray animals also competes with blackbucks for the already shrinking open grass lands, resulting in their migration to adjoining areas outside the sanctuary.

The census activity was taken up as a special action-oriented activity to commemorate United Nations proclaimed International Day for Biological Diversity, 2017 in the state, with the support of the National Biodiversity Authority, Government of India.

In the present census activity, total 45 personnel in 13 teams consisting of the officers/officials of Ferozepur Wildlife Division & Punjab Biodiversity Board, expert from WWF-India, selected wildlife photographers/ enthusiasts from Punjab and volunteers from Bishnoi community were involved. A special orientation workshop of participants was also conducted on May 31, 2017, to acquaint them to finer nuances of the census activity. The whole area of the sanctuary was covered through selection and earmarking of 13 transect lines of 5 kms each in diverse habitats.
A 66% jump in allocation, plans to modernise, a call for diversification, and a token allotment for crop debt waiver marked the share of agriculture in Punjabs 2017-18 budget, which was presented by finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal in the Vidhan Sabha on Tuesday.

Telling farmers, Akal naal vaah (cultivate smartly), Manpreet started the presentation of the new Congress regimes first budget by saying that productivity couldnt witness a further increase, and farming couldnt sustain on growing for the central pool alone. He stressed on diversification into the allied sectors.

The outlay this fiscal is Rs 10,581 crore, 9% of the total budget of Rs 1.18 lakh crore. Additionally, Rs 10,255 crore has been set aside for electricity subsidy to continue free supply to the agriculture sector; this is 14% higher than previous fiscals Rs 8,966 crore.

What about waiver?

Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal interacting with the media after budget presentation in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh on Tuesday, June 20. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

The crop loan waiver of up to Rs 2 lakh to small and marginal farmers would require around Rs 20,000 crore. But the FM announced only Rs 1,500 crore for the 10.25 lakh targeted beneficiaries. This means Rs 14,600 per farmer, which is 7% of whats promised.

Manpreet, speaking to the media later, termed the amount a token for now, adding: We will come up with a package in the next budget, as the final report by the expert group is still not compiled.

Opposition Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal rejected the proposal, calling it a joke and a bluff with the farming community. Both the parties staged a walkout in protest.

As for compensation for weather damage to crops, the FM announced a hike from the present Rs 8,000 per acre to Rs 12,000, though the manifesto of the Congress had promised Rs 20,000.

Having rejected the centres crop insurance scheme as not suited to Punjab, the government announced to constitute a committee under the state farmers commission to set up a Punjab Agriculture Insurance Corporation.

Also, the FM announced to merge all 20 district cooperative banks with the state cooperative bank, to make it give up to Rs 10,000 crore more credit to the farmers in a year. This will help the banks increase their lending capacity.

Modernisation, new policy

The budget announced to modernise the milk plants at Mohali, Jalandhar and Amritsar, spending Rs 110 crore, to increase daily handling capacity from 20 lakh litres to 25 lakh.

The government also plans to come up with a new agriculture policy within two months. At present there is no such formal policy.

The FM urged farmers to adopt horticulture, and said the government would constitute a marketing board for it. For development of piggery, two breeding farms would come up in Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur; and the one in Nabha would be upgraded.

There are plans to amend the law to make national and international markets reach out to products from Punjab.

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Beyhadh actor Aneri Vajani posted a picture of herself on Instagram on Tuesday to celebrate International Yoga Day. Perhaps, what she didnt see coming was the hate on her picture for being too skinny.

When You Own Your Breath NoBody Steals Your Peace! Happy Yoya Day! :) #yoga day! A post shared by Aneri Vajani (@vajanianeri) on Jun 19, 2017 at 3:25pm PDT

In the picture, Vajani is seen posing in a red bra and yellow underwear. She captioned the picture: When You Own Your Breath NoBody Steals Your Peace! Happy Yoya Day! :) #yoga day!

A lot of people, however, were not impressed. They told her to eat more and made jokes on her name.

Even with all the hate, a lot of her fans also came to her support. Tanusha_fiha wrote, Being skinny is a fashion..u have a naturally flat belly which usually people dont have. Ur an amazing actress n a nyc human being love u for that. Bing_a_liing wrote, Her life ! Her pictures aao dekho jao!!.

A post shared by Aneri Vajani (@vajanianeri) on Apr 23, 2017 at 12:22pm PDT

Vajani plays Saanjh in the popular show that also stars Jennifer Winget and Kushal Tandon.

Recently, actors Priyanka Chopra and Fatima Sana Shaikh were also shamed on social media for their choice of clothes.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Britain accepted the European Unions timetable for Brexit talks on Monday, in an apparent climbdown on the first day of formal negotiations in Brussels.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said the talks with Brexit minister David Davis, which are starting a full year after Britains seismic vote to leave, had started on the right foot.

In carefully choreographed talks that even saw the two men exchange mountaineering gifts, they agreed to discuss divorce issues before negotiations on a future trade deal can start.

These include the thorny issues of Britains estimated 100-billion-euro ($112 billion) exit bill, the rights of EU citizens living in Britain, and the fate of the border in Northern Ireland.

But the agreement appeared at odds with British Prime Minister Theresa Mays earlier insistence that the divorce and the future relationship should be discussed in parallel.

Frenchman Barnier struck a firm tone as he said the timetable for Britains divorce after four troubled decades of membership made sense.

If you ask me are we going to make concessions, I must tell you that it is the UK that is leaving the EU, the single market, the customs union and not the other way around, the former European commissioner and French foreign minister told a joint press conference with Davis.

Position hasnt changed

Davis said the talks were off to a promising start and denied that Britain had caved in on the sequencing of the talks.

That position hasnt changed, its the same as it was before, said Davis, a tough-talking figure in the Leave campaign in last years Brexit referendum.

He also confirmed that Britain would opt for a hard Brexit that involves quitting the EUs single market and customs union, rejecting suggestions that after a poor election performance by May the line might be softened.

We need back control of our borders, we will leave the single market and the customs union. he said.

Worried by immigration and loss of sovereignty, Britons voted last June to become the first nation ever to leave the 28-nation EU.

The vote came as a profound shock to Brussels against a backdrop of rising anti-EU sentiment, with many -- including now US President Donald Trump -- predicting the blocs eventual break-up.

But Mays mandate for a hard Brexit has since eroded after her Conservative party lost its parliamentary majority in the June 8 general election.

Britains political instability has caused concerns in European capitals hoping to get the negotiations over with quickly and cleanly, as has Mays oft-repeated threat to walk away from the talks without a deal if necessary.

Barnier however said that a fair deal is possible and is far better than no deal -- that is what I said to David today. That is why we will work all the time with the UK, and never against the UK.

Rebuild trust

The two sides will hold four further monthly rounds of talks, with the next on July 17, with the aim of getting the remaining 27 EU countries to agree this autumn to move on to the trade talks phase.

The talks will be in English and French, they said in a joint statement.

Davis said Prime Minister May will also set out at an EU summit on Thursday her proposals for the rights of the three million EU nationals living in Britain, and one million Britons in the EU, with the British government to publish a detailed offer next Monday.

EU officials had earlier warned May not to make that offer so early in the talks.

The best way we can spend this week is to rebuild trust, rather than tackle the big difficult issues right at the start, a European source said.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel emphasised the unity of the remaining 27 EU countries, who have been alarmed in recent weeks by Mays threats to walk out of the talks.

I would like us to get a good agreement that is in both sides interests. But the 27 of us will formulate our interests very clearly and hopefully, together, Merkel said.

2019 deadline

After the initial shock of last years Brexit vote, the bloc at 27 appears to have steadied in recent months and got a real morale boost with the election of French President Emmanuel Macron in May

Macron, a committed pro-EU leader and ally of Merkel, also easily won French legislative elections on Sunday, cementing his power base.

But many in Brussels fear that London has no real strategy, with May under pressure at home and still trying to close a deal with a conservative Northern Ireland party to stay in power, and facing criticism for her handling of the aftermath of a devastating tower block fire.

Barnier has warned that the negotiations must be wrapped up by October 2018 to allow time for all parties to ratify a final accord by March 2019.
The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that senior officials from president George W Bushs administration cannot be held responsible for abuses against Muslim immigrants and others held in the frantic response to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The 4-2 decision marked a victory for ex-attorney general John Ashcroft and former FBI director Robert Mueller, who have claimed along with other Bush era officials that they have immunity from prosecution.

With the courts rulingwhich saw two justices recuse themselves and another skip the voteAshcroft and Mueller also avoided being held personally liable.

The court was not making a decision on the prisoners treatment but rather as to whether the Bush officials should be granted legal protection from lawsuits and damages related to detention policies.

The risk of personal damages liability is more likely to cause an official to second-guess difficult but necessary decisions concerning national-security policy, Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in his majority opinion.

If the court had held the officials liable, he added, high officers who face personal liability for damages might refrain from taking urgent and lawful action in a time of crisis.

After the deadly airliner attacks on New York and Washington, authorities arrested and detained more than 750 people on immigration charges, sometimes based on a simple tip to police.

The six plaintiffs were among non-US citizens living in the United States who were held without bail until cleared in the Brooklyn borough of New York.

Five of the men, all of Arab or South Asian descent, were Muslim. They said they were targeted because they were Muslim or Arab, and for no reasonable cause.

The group also complained of harsh detention conditions, held for 23 hours a day in small, constantly lit cells with little opportunity for exercise or recreation and no access to basic hygiene products such as soap or a toothbrush.

They said they were often strip-searched, largely barred from communications with the outside world and subjected to physical and verbal abuse by guards, who they said slammed detainees into walls, twisted their limbs, broke their bones and called them terrorists.

Some were held in these conditions for up to eight months after 9/11. They were deported from the United States after their release.

If the facts alleged in the complaint are true, then what happened to respondents in the days following September 11 was tragic, the courts ruling read. Nothing in this opinion should be read to condone the treatment to which they contend they were subjected.

It left open the possibility for the men to challenge their detention conditions by proving their case against the prison warden.

Allowing rampant discrimination?

Justices Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, of the courts liberal wing, dissented.

History tells us of far too many instances where the executive or legislative branch took actions during time of war that, on later examination, turned out unnecessarily and unreasonably to have deprived American citizens of basic constitutional rights, Breyer warned in the dissent he penned.

In wartime as well as in peacetime, it is important, in a civilized society, that the judicial branch of the nations government stand ready to afford a remedy for the most flagrant and patently unjustified, unconstitutional abuses of official power, he added, citing previous court decisions.

Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights who represented the detainees, said she was very disappointed with the ruling.

The Courts decision allows for high-level officials to violate the Constitution without fear of personal accountability, a dangerous message in this time of rampant state-sponsored discrimination against Muslim and immigrant communities, she said.

Mueller, who led the FBI from 2001-2013, has recently been named special counsel to oversee a massive probe into claims of Russian collusion with President Donald Trumps campaign to tip the 2016 elections in his favour.
Worshippers leaving a London mosque early Monday were helping an elderly man who had collapsed when a van deliberately rammed them, driven by an attacker who shouted: I want to kill all Muslims, witnesses said.

Shortly after midnight, the van swerved towards people who had just left prayers at the Finsbury Park Mosque and the Muslim Welfare House in north London and were assisting their stricken fellow worshipper.

The man who collapsed was pronounced dead at the scene and 10 people were injured, with eight taken to hospital.

But the driver, pinned to the ground and facing a mob beating, was saved by the Welfare House imam who ordered infuriated younger men to stand back.

He just drove at people, witness Abdiqadir Warra told AFP of the attacker. Some of them he took a few metres.

The old man was also on the ground, and I see some people were also injured. Some of them were very bad.

Another witness Mohammed Abdullah told Sky News television: He actually went on top of the people, he actually ran them over. And then all I can just see is people getting hit.

A man leaves flowers beside the police cordon, close to the scene of a van attack in Finsbury Park, north London. (AFP)

Im restraining him

Locals pounced on the driver and two or three men pinned him down, then others waded in, trying to punch and kick him.

Imam Mohammed Mahmoud then stepped in and, according to onlookers, saved the drivers life by ordering angry bystanders to stand away.

Im restraining him, one man shouted. Dont touch him! Dont touch him!, eyewitness video footage showed.

Look whats happened! shouted another.

Calm down, someone says as the driver reels on the ground.

He had been restrained by about three people. The injured and the deceased brother were being tended to, Mahmoud told reporters.

We found a group of people quickly started to collect around the assailant. Some tried to hit and punch and kick him.

By Gods grace we managed to surround him and protect him from any harm.

A police van drove by, and the driver was dragged up to his feet.

When the suspect was being led away into the police van, he seemed dazed and bewildered.

Why did you do that? What did they do to you? someone shouted in an angry voice.

There were furious shouts as he was put into the police van, with one man wading in with a kick.

The driver of the van said, I did my bit, said MWH chief executive Toufik Kacimi.

He did what he did deliberately to hit and kill as many Muslims as possible.

Khalid Amin told BBC television that when people seized the driver, he was shouting: All Muslims, I want to kill all Muslims.

Witness Abdul Rahman, who told the BBC he struck the driver and helped subdue him, also claimed the man had said he wanted to kill all Muslims.

Police confirmed that a 47-year-old man had now been arrested on terror grounds.

Police officers stand guard, close to the scene of a van attack in Finsbury Park, north London. (AFP)

People were screaming

Meanwhile one man was thought to be trapped under the suspects van and a dozen or so men tried to lift it up.

A video clip taken by a female witness and seen by AFP shows the white rental van and one man laying on the side of the road with his head propped up. A man said the wounded victim was pulled from under the van.

Another clip shows a man administering heart massage to a man on the ground, another person lying face down on the street, and a third sitting up with fellow worshippers holding what looked like a towel or a top to his head, with many worried-looking people close by.

Zahra Musa, 43, who filmed the second clip, told AFP that people were leaving the mosque for a food break when the incident happened.

Another witness, who gave his name as Athman, told AFP: People were screaming: Its a terrorist attack, its an attack, this guy attacked us, and I had to run back and tried to save people who were still alive and giving water, helping the police.

While he was in the police van he was waving for victory, he was very happy.

May condemns

British Prime Minister Theresa May vowed to fight extremism in all its forms. May condemned the assault as sickening, saying Britains determination to fight terrorism, extremism and hatred... must be the same, whoever is responsible.

Londoners bearing flowers and messages of solidarity gathered Monday at the spot where the man ploughed the van into worshippers.

Among the roughly 100 people at the vigil, some carried signs reading United Against All Terror.

One of the things that all these terrorists share is a perverse ideology that wants to fuel division and divide our communities. Were not going to let them, said Mayor Sadiq Khan, speaking after prayers at the Muslim Welfare House on Monday evening.
Two Dutch journalists were detained by suspected National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels in northern Colombia, authorities said Monday.

The leftist guerrilla group, which neither confirmed nor denied any kidnapping, said on Twitter they were looking into the case.

This morning, reporter Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender, 58, both Dutch nationals, were stopped in El Tarra, Norte de Santander, by presumed ELN rebels, police said in a statement.

In May 2016 in the same El Tarra region ELN rebels kidnapped a Colombian-Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters. The reporters were handed over days later to intermediaries.

The government ombudsmans office via Twitter demanded the immediate liberation of the two Dutch nationals being held, and said it will try to help solve the situation.

Meanwhile police specialists in kidnapping and extortion headed to the region in an attempt secure the release of the two men.

President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN started a peace dialogue in Quito in February, seeking to end more than five decades of fighting.

The countrys most numerous rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is scheduled to complete its disarmament by June 27.
The Ohio coroner examining the death of a University of Virginia student who was held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months expects to share preliminary findings of the autopsy on Tuesday or Wednesday, her office said.

Otto Warmbier died at the age of 22 in a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after the North Korean government sent him home in a coma and suffering from extensive brain damage, according to the US doctors who treated him.

His body was transferred to the Hamilton County Coroners office later that day, Don Jasper, its chief investigator, said on Tuesday. The coroner, Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, is expecting to release initial results from her examination later on Tuesday or on Wednesday, Jasper said.

Warmbier, who was born in Ohio, was arrested in North Korea in January 2016 while visiting as a tourist. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan from his hotel in Pyongyang, the nations state media said.

His family did not give a cause of his death but said in a statement on Monday that the awful torturous mistreatment Warmbier endured while in North Korean custody meant no other outcome was possible.

Relatives have said US envoys told them that North Korean officials said Warmbier contracted botulism after his trial and became comatose after taking a sleeping pill, according to the Washington Post. Fred Warmbier, the students father, has said he does not believe this account.

North Korea said they released Warmbier last week on humanitarian grounds.

US President Donald Trump offered condolences to the Warmbier family on Monday and denounced the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson repeated demands that North Korea release three other US citizens it holds in detention: missionary Kim Dong Chul and academics Tony Kim and Kim Hak Song.

The government of China, North Koreas main ally, said Warmbiers death was a tragedy.

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. The North Korean government has vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.
Sensitive information of nearly 200 million people in the US was accidentally leaked by a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee, the countrys largest breach of electoral data to date, according to a media report.

The data leak by Deep Root Analytics contains personal information of roughly 61% of the US population, technology news website Gizmodo reported.

The 1.1 terabytes of data seems to have been collected from a wide range of sources - from posts on controversial banned threads on a social network, to committees that raised funds for the Republican Party, the report said.

Apart from personal details, the data also contained citizens suspected religious affiliations, ethnicities and political biases, such as where they stood on controversial topics like gun control, the right to abortion and stem cell research, the report said.

The information was stored in spreadsheets uploaded to a server owned by Deep Root Analytics. It had last been updated in January when President Donald Trump, a Republican, was inaugurated and had been online for an unknown period of time.

We take full responsibility for this situation. Based on the information we have gathered thus far, we do not believe that our systems have been hacked, Deep Root Analytics founder Alex Lundry by quoted by the report.

Since this event has come to our attention, we have updated the access settings and put protocols in place to prevent further access, Lundry said.

Although it is known that political parties routinely gather data on voters, this is said to be the largest breach of electoral data in the US to date and privacy experts are concerned about the sheer scale of the data gathered.

There are fears that leaked data can easily be used for nefarious purposes, from identity fraud to harassment of people under protection orders, or to intimidate people who hold an opposing political view.
Wildlife investigators from India and Britain said Tuesday they have uncovered an international fraud in which dried penises of endangered monitor lizards are being sold as a plant root regarded as a good luck charm and used in religious rituals.

The London-based group World Animal Protection said the dried penises of Bengal monitor lizards and yellow monitor lizards look similar to a rare plant root sought by people who believe it brings good luck.

Wildlife authorities conducted raids in five Indian states last month and some raids are continuing, said Neil DCruze of WAP.

While the plant has all but disappeared from the Indian countryside, wildlife traffickers have been buying the dried lizard penises and fraudulently selling them online, said the Wildlife Trust of India in New Delhi.

The two lizard species are on Indias list of endangered animals, said Jose Louies, who investigates wildlife crime control at WTI.

During raids in the eastern Indian state of Odisha, several dozen hemipenis, or paired male reproductive organs of the lizards, were recovered, he said.

The dried lizard hemipenis looks like two hands joined in prayer and is similar to the hatha jodi root that people believe can ward off evil, Louies said. There is a widespread belief that it saves you from court cases.

Scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University in England have confirmed that various specimens of the magical root were actually the dried hemipenis of monitor lizards, WAP said in a statement.

These lizards are being illegally poached from the wild, caught in traps and snares. Some will have their throats slit or skulls smashed in before their genitals are removed, it said.

Wildlife activists said the volume of the item being sold online was huge.

We were shocked at the sheer audacity and scale of the illegal wildlife trade, DCruze said. Deceitful traders claiming to sell holy plant root labeled as hatha jodi are in fact peddling dried lizard penis to their unwitting customers.

Tribal people in remote forests in central and eastern India used to hunt and eat the large-sized lizards, with most of them unaware that killing or possessing the animal is a crime punishable by seven years imprisonment, said Aniruddha Mookerjee, a researcher who was part of the investigation.
Indian-origin owners of a former coffee club have been fined more than 180,000 dollars in Australia for exploiting an Indian employee by forcing him to hand back his wages and threatening to have his visa cancelled if he refused.

Federal Court Judge Michael Jarrett fined Saandeep Chokhani 30,000 dollars and imposed a further 150,000 dollars penalty against the company he and his wife owned over the unlawful cash-back arrangement, Australian Associated Press reported.

Chokhani formerly owned and ran the Coffee Club at Nundah Village Shopping Centre in Brisbane with his wife.

The worker, an Indian national in his late 20s, was threatened with visa cancellation if he didnt pay back 18,000 dollars.

The Indian worker was sponsored by a company run by Chokhani and his wife to work as a cook while on a 457 visa, the most common visa for Australian or overseas employers to sponsor skilled foreign workers to work temporarily in the country.

The court found that Chokhani, who then owned and operated a Coffee Club franchise at Nundah, had failed to pay the Indian national any wages for four months from July to November 2014 and for another four weeks in Feburary/March 2015.

He then transferred just over 19,300 dollars to the worker, only to ask him to pay back 18,000 dollars and in 2015 threatened to have the workers 457 visa cancelled unless he complied.

Judge Jarrett said the worker felt he did not have any choice but to pay the money and Mr Chokanis behaviour was especially egregious and a grotesque exploitation of the power imbalance between the two men.

He could not leave his employment because if he did so he would breach a condition of his visa and his ability to remain in Australia would be seriously compromised. He was effectively working for nothing, Judge Jarrett said.

Fair Work Ombudsman Natalie James said she was concerned that cashback schemes were being used by unscrupulous operators to get around record-keeping laws and disguise serious underpayment of wages.
A French journalist has been killed in Mosul after a mine exploded in the war-torn city, public broadcaster France Televisions said Tuesday.

Stephan Villeneuve and two other French journalists were injured in the explosion Monday in Iraqs second city that killed Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad, according to France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Villeneuve later succumbed to his injuries, the broadcaster added.

The management and staff at France Televisions sympathise with the pain of his partner Sophie, his four children, his family and all those he was close to. They offer their most sincere condolences, the head of the news department said in a statement.

A video journalist who had covered a number of conflicts across the world, Villeneuve was filming a piece together with Veronique Robert on the battle of Mosul for French news programme Envoye Special, aired on public television channel France 2.

They were both taken to a hospital on a US military base following the explosion.

Reporter Samuel Forey, who worked for a number of French media organisations including French daily Le Figaro, also suffered light injuries.

I am very sad for Bakhtiyar and my colleagues, I ask you to not contact me for a couple of days, he wrote on Twitter.

The journalists were accompanying Iraqi special forces during the battle to reconquer Mosul from the Islamic State (EI) group, where some 100,000 civilians are being used as human shields by jihadists, according to the UN.
Sitting on an airplane from Qatar trying to get home to Dubai, I could only watch frustrated as a scrolling map showed my flight pass overhead of my skyscraper-studded city and continue further east.

Its typically an hour flight between Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Doha, the capital of Qatar, cities that are home to two of the worlds biggest long-haul airlines. My trip would end up taking five and a half hours.

The reason? It was the same one that got me on one of the last direct flights leaving Dubai on June 5. The UAE, along with Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, had cut diplomatic ties to Qatar and would soon shut down transportation links between them and the small, energy-rich nation.

Suddenly, the air route between the two cities that typically saw dozens of daily flights had none. And as I finished up my reporting on the crisis, I suddenly had a new challenge in trying to figure out how to get home.

I ended up deciding to try to fly first to Muscat, Oman, and then catch a connecting flight to Dubai. To my surprise, most flights were fully booked. Agents offered me a sole remaining one-way business class ticket at 4,000 dirhams ($1,090). That shocked me. Flights between Doha and Dubai used to be under $100 and direct.

Options on other airlines had me travelling over 10 hours. That was too much. But I got lucky when a last-minute cancellation got me on an Oman Air flight to Muscat, the capital of the sultanate. That flight and another to Dubai cost 1,805 dirhams ($490). It still was a lot, but I was happy to get a ticket. The airline has since increased the frequency of its flights to Doha.

Dohas brand-new Hamad International Airport, which cost over $15 billion to build, was quiet on Friday afternoon when I set out to return home. But the line at the Oman Air counters moved slowly. Staff there said most catching flights were those trying to go to Dubai. Typically, business travelers and those working in the region routinely shuttle between cities with relative ease.

My flight to Muscat, No. WY664 on a Boeing 737, was full as we passed far above the worlds tallest building and the other wonders of Dubai. When we landed in Muscat, I was surprised to find my connecting flight to Dubai had over half its seats empty. I was among the 33 people taking the ride on flight No. WY611, another Boeing 737.

I had no issues with passport control in Doha and Muscat, but I had worried about possible problems arriving in Dubai. Qatari citizens were given 14 days to leave the UAE. Anyone carrying a Qatari residency visa in their passport also is no longer allowed to get a visa on arrival in Dubai. But I had no problems and I was glad to be home.
US vice-president Mike Pence will be the chief speaker at the annual meeting of the US-Indian Business Council (USIBC), an advocacy organisation, on June 27, the day after his boss President Donald Trumps first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Modi will be in the Netherlands, his next destination after the US, when Pence takes the stage, but the two would have met possibly by then during the prime ministers visit to the White House on June 26, the details of which are still being worked out, according to multiple US sources.

Modis only publicly confirmed engagements so far are a reception with the Indian American community on June 25, the day he arrives in Washington, a meeting with Trump in the White House the next day  specifics remained unclear  and a meeting with business leaders, the date for which is yet to be announced.

The USIBC announced Pences speech on Monday, with the two business leaders it will honour with the Global Leadership Awards. This years recipients are Adi Godrej, chairman of the Godrej Group, and Andrew Liveris, CEO of The Dow Chemical Company.

Since 2001, The Dow Chemical Company (TDCC) has owned Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), whose pesticide plant in Bhopal malfunctioned on the night of December 2-3, 1984, leaking deadly methyl isocyanate. The final death toll is put between an estimated 15,000 and 20,000 people.

UCC chairman Warren Anderson would, in subsequent years, become one of Indias most infamous fugitives and US courts  he was American and stayed here till his death in 2014  refused to extradite him.

Seventeen years after the tragedy thats been called the worlds worst industrial accident, Dow bought UCC in 2001 and has since found itself compelled to explain time and again that it didnt own the controversial company at or around the time of the tragedy and it was not responsible for UCCs legal commitments.

Dow has an explainer on its website about its ties to UCC in a Q&A format that says, among other things, it had not inherited any liability for Bhopal on account of its purchase of Union Carbide. While UCC's stock is owned by TDCC, UCC remains a separate company as a TDCC subsidiary. Under well-established principles of corporate law, both in India and the United States, TDCC did not assume UCC's liabilities as part of the 2001 transaction.

Indeed, according to the formal legal opinions of two respected Indian jurists, Senior Counsel, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Mr Arun Jaitely, TDCC cannot be found liable under the laws of India. Singhvi is a Congress leader and Jaitley, a BJP leader, is minister of finance.
An American university student held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his family said.

Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of unresponsive wakefulness.

Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today, the family said in a statement after Warmbiers death at 2:20 pm EDT (1820 GMT).

His family has said that Warmbier lapsed into a coma in March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea.

Physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died, said last Thursday that Warmbier showed no sign of understanding language or awareness of his surroundings, and had made no purposeful movements or behaviours, though he was breathing on his own.

There was no immediate word from Warmbiers family on the cause of his death.

Otto Warmbiers detention

Otto Frederick Warmbier taken to North Korea's top court in Pyongyang, North Korea, in this photo released by Kyodo March 16, 2016. (REUTERS/Kyodo/File Photo)

The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.

The University of Virginia student and Ohio native was arrested, according to North Korean media, for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan.

North Korea released Warmbier last week and said he was being freed on humanitarian grounds.

The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not available for comment on Monday.

Trump reacts

US President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

The president drew criticism in May when he said he would be honoured to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it, Trump said in the interview. If its under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that.

Fred Warmbier, father of Otto Warmbier, speaks during a news conference in Cincinnati, Ohio, US, June 15, 2017. (Reuters)

The students father, Fred Warmbier, said last week that his son had been brutalized and terrorized by the Pyongyang government and that the family disbelieved North Koreas story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

Doctors who examined Otto Warmbier after his release said there was no sign of botulism in his system.

US tense relationship with North Korea

Warmbier was freed after the US State Departments special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, traveled to Pyongyang and demanded the students release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a US official said last week.

Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of North Korean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions. Pyongyang has also vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the US mainland.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States holds North Korea accountable for Warmbiers unjust imprisonment and demanded the release of three other US citizens still held by Pyongyang - Korean-Americans Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak Song.

Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae, who spent two years in North Korean captivity before his release in 2014, expressed sadness at Warmbiers death, calling it an outrage. I cannot understand what the Warmbier family is feeling right now. But I mourn with them, and I pray for them, Bae said in a statement, noting three Americans and a Canadian are currently detained in North Korea.

Young Pioneer Tours, the group with which Warmbier traveled to North Korea, will no longer be organizing tours for US citizens to the isolated country, Troy Collings, a company director, said in a statement.
Pakistan said Tuesday that it will soon begin building a fence along its border with Afghanistan to improve security, a move that has angered authorities in Kabul.

The two nations are divided by the 2,400-kilometer Durand Line, drawn by British rulers in 1896. Kabul does not recognize it as an international border, causing friction between the two neighbours, with Pakistan suggesting Afghanistan has designs on part of its territory. The line runs through ethnic Pashtun territory, dividing families and tribes between the two countries.

A Pakistani army statement said the first phase of the project will focus on the Bajur, Mohmand and Khyber tribal regions  all regarded by authorities as areas prone to cross-border infiltration by militants. The military said it will also build new forts and border posts to improve surveillance and defensibility.

It said a secure border is in interest of both countries and a well-coordinated security mechanism is essential for peace and stability.

Afghanistan and Pakistan have long accused each other of turning a blind eye to militants operating along their porous frontier, but Afghanistan is opposed to the building of the fence.

Pakistan has no right to fence or construct any building along the border with Afghanistan, said Najib Danish, deputy spokesman for Afghanistans Interior Ministry. He warned of retaliatory action, referring to previous firefights that erupted when Pakistan sought to build border fortifications.

In the past also Pakistan made a mistake by constructing buildings along the border and faced strong reaction from us. We hope they dont repeat such mistakes once again, he said.
Questions arose Tuesday over how a known radical Islamist who rammed a car into a police van on Pariss Champs-Elysees was able to hold a gun licence.

Adam Djaziri, a 31-year-old who had been on a watchlist for radical Islamists since 2015, was killed on Monday as his car loaded with a gas canister smashed into the van on the French capitals most famous avenue.

Two handguns and a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle were found in the car, while a weapons stash was found at the home of the assailant, who died in the incident.

Djaziris father, who has since been detained, told AFP that his son was a licensed gun-owner, and a source close to the probe said he owned nine weapons including pistols and an assault rifle.

The attempted attack comes with France still under a state of emergency after a wave of jihadist assaults that have left more than 230 people dead since 2015.

As the one-month-old government of President Emmanuel Macron prepares to unveil a tougher new anti-terrorism law, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe expressed dismay that Djaziri was able to have a gun permit despite being on a jihadist watchlist.

What I know at this stage is that the first weapons permit was given before this individual was flagged up, he said in an interview with BFM television and RMC radio, but he added that no one can be satisfied -- and certainly not me that Djaziri had evidently still been able to possess dangerous weapons.

Relatives detained

Djaziris ex-wife, brother and sister-in-law were detained late on Monday after police questioned them at the family home in Plessis-Pate outside Paris. Djaziris father was also taken into custody, a judicial source said.

Burn marks were found on Djaziris body but it was not yet clear how he died, according to a source close to the investigation. There were no other casualties from the attempted attack, and no group claimed responsibility.

Since the November 2015 Paris attacks that saw 130 people slaughtered, and last years Nice truck assault that claimed 86 lives, the country has seen a string of smaller attacks targeting security forces.

Djaziri died just a short distance on the Champs-Elysees from the spot where a jihadist shot dead a police officer two months ago.

Earlier this month an Algerian man attacked a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame cathedral, another key tourist draw, while troops shot dead a man at the capitals Orly airport in March after he attacked a soldier on patrol.

Few details have emerged of the new anti-terrorism law due to be unveiled Wednesday, but a draft leaked to the daily Le Monde has sparked concern among civil liberties campaigners who worry the emergency measures could become permanent.

The measures allow security forces to monitor suspects and carry out searches without warrants, place suspects under house arrest and ban public gatherings.

The current state of emergency is due to expire on July 15 but the government is seeking to extend it until November 1 -- presumably after the new anti-terrorism law takes effect.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Monday that the Champs-Elysees incident shows once again that the threat level remains extremely high in France.
Pope Francis made a pilgrimage to northern Italy on Tuesday to honour two 20th-century parish priests whose commitment to the poor and powerless brought them censure from the Vatican.

Francis flew by helicopter to Bozzolo, near Cremona, to pray at the tomb of Don Primo Mazzolari. Mazzolari, who died in 1959, was an anti-fascist partisan during World War II who, like Francis, preached about a church for the poor.

Afterward, Francis was flying to Barbiana, near Florence, to pray at the tomb of Don Lorenzo Milani, a wealthy convert to Catholicism who founded a parish school to educate the poor and workers. He died in 1967.

Both priests were considered rebels in their lifetimes and were censured by Vatican authorities for their writings.

At his first stop, Francis stood in silent prayer before the simple tomb of Mazzolari, who is considered now to be Italys parish priest.

Pope Francis greets children as he arrives at Bozzolo, near Cremona, northern Italy, to pray at the tomb of Don Primo Mazzolari, Tuesday, June 20, 2017. (AP Photo)

He then delivered a lengthy tribute to the priest, quoting Mazzolaris writings about the need for the church to accompany its flock that Francis himself could have penned.

The Argentine Jesuit, who has emphasized the churchs merciful face during his four-year papacy, recalled Mazzolaris exhortation that a priests job isnt to demand perfection from the faithful, but to encourage them to do their best. Quoting Mazzolari, he said: Let us have good sense! We dont to massacre the backs of these poor people.

Mazzolaris social activism got him in trouble with church authorities: For a time he was forbidden from preaching outside his diocese without permission, and a magazine he founded was so controversial the Vatican suspended its publication in 1951.

Milani, for his part, also emphasized social justice issues, especially about the rights of workers to go on strike. The Vatican in 1958 ordered the retraction of a book of his on his pastoral experiences.
A man accused of killing a teenage Muslim girl appeared before a Virginia court on Monday to face a murder charge, the court clerks office said, as police said the killing was not being investigated as a hate crime.

Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, was in his car when he got into a dispute with the girl and a group of her friends before dawn on Sunday in Sterling, Virginia, about 30 miles (50 km) outside Washington, according to the Fairfax County Police Department. Martinez got out of the car and assaulted the girl, police said.

The girls and her friends had attended overnight prayers at the nearby All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) in observance of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when many Muslims fast from dawn till sunset. They were walking back from a McDonalds restaurant when they encountered Martinez, said Tawny Wright, a Fairfax police spokeswoman.

Something happened and he became upset, Wright said in a telephone interview, declining to describe what the dispute was about. The group started separating a little bit. The victim happened to be closest to him and then he assaulted her.

Her friends sought help at ADAMS, the mosque said in a statement.

Police arrested Martinez an hour or two later after he was seen driving suspiciously, and found what they believe to be the girls body later on Sunday in a nearby pond.

It was not clear whether Martinez had a lawyer and whether he had entered a plea to the charge of second-degree murder during the court appearance. The county prosecutors office did not immediately respond to questions.

This police booking photo obtained June 19, 2017 courtesy of the Fairfax Co Police, shows Darwin Martinez Torres, 22, charged with murdering 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen in Sterling, Virginia. (AFP)

Neither the police nor the mosque confirmed the girls identity, but the Washington Post named her as Nabra Hassanen. Police said she was 17, while the county prosecutors office said she was 16, the Post reported.

The girl and her friends were dressed in abayas, the robe-like dress worn by some Muslim women, according to the Post, prompting fears the victim was targeted because she was Muslim.

Fairfax police said in a statement on Monday morning that they were not investigating the murder as a hate crime, defined in Virginia as a crime motivated by bias against someones race, religion or national origin.

Nothing suggests that this girl or the group was targeted because of who they are or what they believe, said Wright.
While the bilateral relationship between India and Canada has taken a knock in recent months, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus call to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on Monday is being seen as an overture to overcome the recent rift that has developed between the two nations.

The prime ministers had a cordial conversation, indicating an effort to restore the upswing in ties that was evident even earlier this year.

A statement issued by the Indian Prime Ministers Office said, He appreciated the steady all round progress in diverse areas of bilateral engagement with Canada. Both leaders agreed to continue communication and cooperation to promote stronger ties.

Significantly the call was initiated by Trudeau. The conversation appears to have focused on the Paris climate treaty, as the statement noted: Both leaders exchanged views on developments of mutual interest, specifically climate change. Prime Minister Modi reaffirmed Indias commitment to take forward implementation of the Paris Agreement.

Modi also congratulated Trudeau on the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation.

While as many as eight Canadian cabinet Ministers visited India over the past 10 months, the last of those came in April, that of Canadas minister of national defence Harjit Sajjan. However, that trip was mired in controversy.

A series of events have also irritated New Delhi. Those include a private members motion passed in the assembly of the province of Ontario which termed the 1984 anti-Sikh riots as genocide. Soon after that, Trudeau himself appeared at a Khalsa Day nagar kirtan in Toronto at which the motions mover Harinder Malhi was honoured while the parade at the event featured Khalistani flags and separatist floats.

The Indian government has been irate over a resurgence in the Khalistani movement in Canada, which, it considers to be partly due to the Liberal Party (led by Trudeau) playing to hardline groups and gurdwaras that act as gatekeepers of the community, as officials have complained.

New Delhi has found that particularly troublesome since it had initiated multiple measures, including backchannel talks, to wean away a section of Indo-Canadians from the movement.

Meanwhile, both prime ministers are expected to be at the Hamburg G20 summit in July but there appears to have been no move, as yet, for them to meet on the margins of that global event. Trudeaus much-anticipated visit to India too has been delayed several times and is now expected either at the end of this year or in early 2018.

While plenty of frost has formed in the relationship in recent months, the call from Trudeau could possibly be an overture meant at getting some warmth back between Ottawa and New Delhi.

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President Donald Trumps administration appears ready to harden its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on Pakistan-based militants launching attacks in neighbouring Afghanistan, US officials tell Reuters.

Potential Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding US drone strikes, redirecting or withholding some aid to Pakistan and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistans status as a major non-NATO ally, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Some US officials, however, are skeptical of the prospects for success, arguing that years of previous US efforts to curb Pakistans support for militant groups have failed, and that already strengthening US ties to India, Pakistans arch-enemy, undermine chances of a breakthrough with Islamabad.

US officials say they seek greater cooperation with Pakistan, not a rupture in ties, once the administration finishes a regional review of the strategy guiding the 16-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Precise actions have yet to be decided.

The White House and Pentagon declined to comment on the review before its completion. Pakistans embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues, Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump said.

But the discussions alone suggest a shift toward a more assertive approach to address safe havens in Pakistan that have been blamed for in part helping turn Afghanistans war into an intractable conflict.

Experts on Americas longest war argue that militant safe havens in Pakistan have allowed Taliban-linked insurgents a place to plot deadly strikes in Afghanistan and regroup after ground offensives.

Although long mindful of Pakistan, the Trump administration in recent weeks has put more emphasis on the relationship with Islamabad in discussions as it hammers out a the regional strategy to be presented to Trump by mid-July, nearly six months after he took office, one official said.

A combination of still images taken from a video released by the US Department of Defence on April 14, 2017 shows (clockwise) the explosion of a MOAB, or "mother of all bombs", when it struck the Achin district of the eastern province of Nangarhar, Afghanistan, bordering Pakistan where US officials said a network of tunnels and caves was being used by militants linked to Islamic State. (REUTERS)

Weve never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically, the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Other US officials warn of divisions within the government about the right approach and question whether any mix of carrots and sticks can get Islamabad to change its behaviour. At the end of the day, Washington needs a partner, even if an imperfect one, in nuclear-armed Pakistan, they say.

The United States is again poised to deploy thousands more troops in Afghanistan, an acknowledgment that US-backed forces are not winning and Taliban militants are resurgent.

Without more pressure on militants within Pakistan who target Afghanistan, experts say additional US troop deployments will fail to meet their ultimate objective: to pressure the Taliban to eventually negotiate peace.

I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past, Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

Ghafoor Haideri, a Pakistani politician, speaks during an anti-US rally in Islamabad. (REUTERS)

Kabul has long been critical of Pakistans role in Afghanistan.

Pakistan fiercely denies allowing any militants safe haven on its territory. It bristles at US claims that Pakistans spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) directorate, has ties to Haqqani network militants blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan.

What Pakistan says is that we are already doing a lot and that our plate is already full, a senior Pakistani government source told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source doubted the Trump administration would press too hard, saying: They dont want to push Pakistan to abandon their war against terrorism.

Pakistani officials point towards the toll militancy has taken on the country. Since 2003, almost 22,000 civilians and nearly 7,000 Pakistani security forces have been killed as a result of militancy, according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, which tracks violence.

Experts say Pakistans policy towards Afghanistan is also driven in part by fears that India will gain influence in Afghanistan.

Is Pakistan an ally?

Nuclear-armed Pakistan won the status as a major non-NATO ally in 2004 from the George Bush administration, in what was at the time seen in part as recognition of its importance in the US battle against al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents.

The status is mainly symbolic, allowing limited benefits such as giving Pakistan faster access to surplus U.S. military hardware.

Some US officials and experts on the region scoff at the title.

Pakistan is not an ally. Its not North Korea or Iran. But its not an ally, said Bruce Riedel, a Pakistan expert at the Brookings Institution.

But yanking the title would be seen by Pakistan as a major blow.

The Pakistanis would take that very seriously because it would be a slap at their honour, said a former US official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Lisa Curtis, senior director for South and Central Asia at the National Security Council, co-authored a report with Husain Haqqani, Pakistans former ambassador to Washington, in which they recommended the Trump administration warn Pakistan the status could be revoked in six months.

Thinking of Pakistan as an ally will continue to create problems for the next administration as it did for the last one, said the February report.

In this file photo, Hafiz Saeed, head of Jamaat-ud-Dawa and wanted by Pakistan, speaks to the Associated Press in Lahore. (AP)

It was unclear how seriously the Trump administration was considering the proposal.

The growing danger to Afghanistan from suspected Pakistan-based militants was underscored by a devastating May 31 truck bomb that killed more than 80 people and wounded 460 in Afghanistans capital, Kabul.

Afghanistans main intelligence agency said the attack - one of the deadliest in memory in Kabul - had been carried out by the Haqqani network with assistance from Pakistan, a charge Islamabad denies.

Washington believes the strikes appeared to be the work of the Haqqani network, US officials told Reuters.

US frustration over the Haqqanis presence in Pakistan has been building for years. The United States designated the Haqqani network as a terrorist organization in 2012. US Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top US military officer, told Congress in 2011 that the Haqqani network was a veritable arm of the ISI.

The potential US pivot to a more assertive approach would be sharply different than the approach taken at the start of the Obama administration, when US officials sought to court Pakistani leaders, including Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani.

David Sedney, who served as Obamas deputy assistant secretary of defence for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia from 2009 to 2013, said the attempt to turn Islamabad into a strategic partner was a disaster.

It didnt affect Pakistans behavior one bit. In fact, I would argue it made Pakistans behaviour worse, Sedney said.

More drones, cash cut-off

Pakistan has received more than $33 billion in US assistance since 2002, including more than $14 billion in so-called Coalition Support Funds (CSF), a US Defense Department program to reimburse allies that have incurred costs in supporting counter-insurgency operations.

It is an important form of foreign currency for the nuclear-armed country and one that is getting particularly close scrutiny during the Trump administration review.

Last year, the Pentagon decided not to pay Pakistan $300 million in CSF funding after then-U.S. Secretary of Defence Ash Carter declined to sign authorization that Pakistan was taking adequate action against the Haqqani network.

US officials said the Trump administration was discussing withholding at least some assistance to Pakistan.

Curtis report also singled out the aid as a target.

But US aid cuts could cede even more influence to China, which already has committed nearly $60 billion in investments in Pakistan.

Another option under review is broadening a drone campaign to penetrate deeper into Pakistan to target Haqqani fighters and other militants blamed for attacks in Afghanistan, US officials and a Pakistan expert said.

Now the Americans (will be) saying, you arent taking out our enemies, so therefore we are taking them out ourselves, the Pakistan expert, who declined to be identified, said.

Pakistans army chief of staff last week criticized unilateral actions such as drone strikes as counterproductive and against (the) spirit of ongoing cooperation and intelligence sharing being diligently undertaken by Pakistan.
Relations between the United States and North Korea are likely to worsen after Otto Warmbier, an American student medically evacuated recently from Pyongyang after 17 months in jail, died on Monday.

The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim, President Donald Trump said in a statement. And Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the US will hold North Korea accountable for the students unjust imprisonment.

Senior Republican senator John McCain, who is also chairman of the powerful senate armed services committee, said North Korean leader Kim Jong-uns government had murdered Warmbier.

Though there were no immediate indications of impending sanctions or other punitive measures, the death could add to tensions between the two countries that are already high over a string of missile tests by Pyongyang and its leaders repeated threat of a nuclear attack against the United States.

President Trump has said he expects China to rein in North Korea, its chief ally, but is prepared for the United States to act alone if needed.

The Washington Post said, Warmbiers death could push Congress or the Trump administration to restrict or ban Americans from travelling to North Korea.

In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said, It really is a tragedy. I hope that North Korea and the United States can properly handle the issue.

Warmbier, a 22 student of university of Virginia, died at a Cincinnati hospital just days after he was brought back to the United States. When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands, his parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day, the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that.

Doctors at the hospital have said he had suffered extensive loss of brain tissue in all regions of his brain, caused possibly by a cardiopulmonary arrest. He might have suffered a massive brain injury around the time of his conviction in April, but it is not sure how.

Warmbier had gone to North Korea as part of a study-abroad programme conducted by a Chinese tour agency.

He was stopped at the airport from leaving and after a staged trial he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for what were described by the government as hostile acts against the state.

He was denied consular access and his parents were not allowed into the country to see him.

Three other Americans remain in North Korean prisons  Kim Dong-chul, Virginia resident, and Tony Kim and Kim Hak-song, Americans attached to the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology.
The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The US often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesdays flights by B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a US college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months of captivity.

Seouls Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The US military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theatre.

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the US and North Korea and compound efforts by South Koreas new liberal president to improve ties with the North.
The United States wants to re-establish a military hotline that Russia said it had severed after an American jet shot down a Syrian regime warplane, the top US general said Monday.

The so-called deconfliction line has been a vital tool in protecting both sides forces as they conduct separate campaigns in Syrias crowded battlespace.

We will work diplomatically and militarily in the coming hours to re-establish deconfliction, said General Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referring to the special communications channel.

Russias defense ministry earlier said it would halt its use of the incident-prevention hotline after US forces downed a Syrian jet, though Dunford noted it had remained in use over the last few hours.

Russia also warned that its air defense systems would begin tracking all US-led coalition aircraft in central Syria, prompting the Pentagon to move some of its planes.

We have taken prudent measures to re-position aircraft over Syria so as to continue targeting ISIS forces while ensuring the safety of our aircrew given known threats in the battlespace, Pentagon spokesman Major Adrian Rankine-Galloway said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said we are going to do what we can to protect our interests, adding that the United States would keep an open line of communication with the Russians.

Moscow has previously threatened to scrap the deconfliction line, after an April 7 US cruise missile strike on a Syrian regime airbase in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack against civilians.

The line has been a lifesavingalbeit imperfecttool since it was set up soon after Russia entered Syrias civil war in late 2015 to prop up President Bashar al-Assad.

The hotline was established between US officers monitoring the war from an operations center at a base in Qatar and their Russian counterparts operating in Syria.

If Moscow does indeed abandon the hotline, it could dramatically raise the risk to pilots and ground forces on all sides.
Vietnamese human rights bloggers and activists are being beaten and intimidated, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Monday, as it urged the Communist government to end attacks and hold those responsible accountable.

The New York-based rights group described 36 incidents in which unknown men in civilian clothes beat rights campaigners and bloggers between January 2015 and April 2017, often resulting in serious injuries.

Despite sweeping reforms in Vietnams economy and increasing openness towards social change, the Communist Party retains tight media censorship and zero tolerance for criticism.

With information tightly controlled by the government, some critics take to web blogs to air their grievances. Social media sites, including Facebook, are also hugely popular.

The rights group said many victims reported beatings occurred in the presence of uniformed police who did not intervene. It is common for Vietnamese police to push activists into vans or buses to prevent them protesting on the streets.

The Vietnamese government should understand that tolerance of these violent attacks will lead to lawlessness and chaos instead of the social order and stability it says it is striving for, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

The group said in January at least 112 bloggers and activists were serving prison sentences in Vietnam, down from at least 130 at the end of 2015.

The rights group said the decrease coincided with a rise in recorded beatings during the period in which Vietnam was negotiating a trade agreement with the United States.

Vietnams human rights record was a major focus of the negotiations, it said in a statement.

It is possible that the government of Vietnam wanted to show a decrease in political arrests and trials but still pursued measures to crack down on dissent.

False information

The rights group said 35 out of 36 cases featured in their report found no identified and prosecuted perpetrator despite the fact that victims often reported their beating to the police.

Vietnam rejected the report saying the government acted in accordance with international human rights treaties.

The report is based on false information and lack of objectivity about the situation in Vietnam, foreign ministry spokeswoman Le Thi Thu Hang said in a statement sent to Reuters.

The report follows a meeting this month between U.S. President Donald Trump and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the first White House talks with a Southeast Asian leader since Trump took office in January.

Though a joint written statement included a brief section on the importance of protecting and promoting human rights, Phucs visit was dominated by the burgeoning economic relationship between the two former wartime foes, with the signing of business deals worth billions of dollars.

Trump and his aides have mostly publicly sidestepped human rights issues in their dealings with autocratic governments, including Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally Trump visited last month where political parties and protests are banned.

The Trump administration has made clear that its America First approach prioritises economic and security interests.
It was illegal for this Army private to serve in the U.S. military.

During a tour of duty with Company A of the 38th Infantry, one of the all-black Army regiments established after the Civil War, one privatedifferent from all the restmarched with the unit more than 500 miles from Fort Harker, Kansas, to Fort Union, New Mexico Territory and, some months later, some 400 more miles to Forts Cumming and Bayard, New Mexico Territory.

The U.S. Army, though tough duty, was an attractive destination for newly freed slaves, who had few postwar employment opportunities. In the Army, they could get a paycheck, regular meals, a bed and medical care. Physical exams were cursory; recruits who could march and shoot often were simply declared fit for duty.

Marching was an essential component, as in 1867 the 38th Infantry was on the move. From central Kansas the soldiers tramped across plains, forded rivers, ventured into hostile Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), plodded across shadeless desert sands, trekked the dusty Santa Fe Trail and scrambled over mountains higher than they had ever imagined. Exhaustion must have been their constant companion.

One particular recruitPrivate William Cathey, who had enlisted at a St. Louis recruiting office in November 1866successfully made the long march while keeping an extraordinary secret. Catheys mystery, had it been known, would have resulted in court-martial, for it was illegal for this soldier to be in the U.S. Army.

Cathey, who marched with the company, ate with them, joked with them and slept beside them, was not as he seemed. His fellow soldiers would have been shocked to learn that beneath the privates bulky Zouave uniform was the body of Cathay Williams, a female ex-slave who had joined the Army to support herself. (Documents suggest the female spelling was Cathay, the male spelling Cathey; other references call her Cathy. Williams herself was illiterate and likely would not have known the difference.)

Although female soldiers had fought in both the Union and Confederate armies, it remained illegal for women to serve in the military. Williams must have been ever alert to ensure the subterfuge would not be revealed.

This young recruit, age unknown (perhaps only 15 but possibly in her early 20s), had been born near Independence, Missouri, to a free father and a slave mother. Little else is known of her early life except that the Union Army had pressed her into service as a young girl to cook and launder clothes for XIII Corps. She grew accustomed to military life and being on the march, which must have made her later deception easier.

Catheys enlisted life, like that of the other buffalo soldiers, was tough. The Army provided these black men with inadequate supplies and equipment, the environment in the frontier West was harsh, and they endured racism from white civilians and even their own white officers. Whats more, cholera was endemic in the areas where they marched.

Cathey/Cathay performed the same duties required of everyone in her troop and showed no signs of femininity during the long march. She continually faced the fear of discovery, as well as the specter of disease that claimed the lives of so many others in her regiment. It took determination and vigilance to maintain her secret. She could never drop her guard, not for a minute.

While she may have been able to conceal her body shape, for basic hygiene she required privacya rarity in the Army. Surely she sought seclusion, but that, too, was scarce. No one knows how she coped with these challenges.

The career of this young, illiterate black woman, unlike the secret she held close, was unremarkable. She marched and performed duties conscientiously and stayed out of trouble. In an interview published in the St. Louis Daily Times on January 2, 1876, after her service, she recalled, I carried my musket and did guard and other duties while in the Army. She also boasted of having never been put in the guardhouse.

Although Cathey may have appeared healthy, the 5-foot-7 soldier often fell ill, suffering from smallpox, rheumatism and neuralgia, and at some point doctors amputated her toes, a possible result of diabetes. The young private logged several visits to the infirmary and several hospital stays, yet her secret remained undetected, which speaks volumes about the medical care (seemingly superficial) provided to the black soldiers at the time.

Eventually, she explained in the Daily Times interview, I got tired and wanted to get off [out of the Army]. I played sick, complained of pains in my side and rheumatism in my knees. During an 1868 visit to the infirmary she finally revealed the secret she had held so firmly though, it turns out, others already knew the truth. In her newspaper interview Williams explained:Two persons, a cousin and a particular friend, members of the regiment, knew that I was a woman. They never blowed on me. They were partly the cause of my joining the Army. Another reason was I wanted to make my own living and not be dependent on relations or friends. The [Fort Bayard] post surgeon found out I was a woman, and I got my discharge, she continued. The men all wanted to get rid of me after they found out I was a woman. Some of them acted real bad to me.

The surgeon issued a certificate of disability, dated October 14, 1868, stating the soldier was of feeble habitcontinually on sick report without benefit [and] unable to do military duty. He said the condition predated enlistment. The subsequent discharge papers refer to Cathey/Cathay as he, perhaps because the officers feared courts-martial for having a female in the regiment.

After her release Williams remained in New Mexico Territory, where she had spent two-thirds of her military duty. She soon moved to Pueblo, Colorado, and had a brief, unhappy marriage. According to Williams her husband was no account. She had amassed horses and wagon, which he stole, along with her watch and chain, [and] a hundred dollars. Refusing to bow to anyone, she had the man arrested. Williams retained her independent spirit. Ive got a good sewing machine, and I get washing to do and clothes to make, she told the St. Louis reporter. I want to get along and not be a burden to my friends or relatives.

Although she was not the only woman to serve in uniform in her era, Cathay Williams was the only documented female buffalo soldier, and she seems to have kept her gender disguised for the longest period. From 1866 to 1868 an uneducated, illiterate former slave managed to deceive her fellow soldiers, officers and post medical personnel. To this day no one knows how she did it, but if not for that secret she carried daily, her name, like those of countless other ex-slaves, would have vanished into history.

Williams didnt join the U.S. Army to highlight the often-desperate plight of women, black or white, or to prove she could outwit her peers and superiors. She was simply an independent woman who found a way to take care of herself. Her story is amazing, even if she didnt shoot anyone or win any medals.

Originally published in the April 2013 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
This Western animal confused Lewis and Clark when they discovered it in 1804 and called it the prairie wolfbut the coyote has been around for ages and roams nationwide.

Autumn 1804 looms large in the natural history of the American West and, indeed, in the history of Western science. While as- cending the Missouri River in what is now Nebraska and South Dakota, American explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark described for science most of the diagnostic species that made the West so unique. On August 23, encouraged by President Thomas Jefferson to collect wildlife not found back East, the party downed the first bison most of them had ever seen. By September 7 they had bagged their first prairie dogs, or ground rats, in Clarks rather less-flattering description. A week later Clark killed a Buck Goat of this Countrey . . . more like the Antilope or Gazelle of Africa than any other Species of Goat. That was, of course, the pronghorn. Three days later expedition member John Colter shot a Curious kind of Deer of a Dark Gray Colr. . . the ears large & long. Thus did the mule deer come to the notice of science.

The next day, somewhere in the vicinity of present-day Chamberlain, S.D., one more American original emerged from the wilds of the Great Plains, soon to arrest the attention of scientists in Philadelphia, Paris, London and Stockholm. For most of that month the party had reported seeing what they had assumed to be a kind of fox. The more they observed these sleek, beautiful canids, however, the less foxlike they seemed. So on the morning of September 18 Clark finally decided to collect one. With the animal lying in the grass before him, the explorer was mystified by its ambiguityabout the Sise of a Gray fox, yet neither a fox nor the gray wolf of Europe and the East. Clark finally decided to call the creature a prairie wolf. He then went on to correct his journal: What has been taken heretofore for the Fox was those wolves, and no Foxes has been seen.

This account of the discovery of the American coyote, while common in the biological literature, cannot stand as the creation story for what has become, two centuries later, Americas most widely observed wild predator. Like the other animals Lewis and Clark discovered, coyotes had hardly been invisible to the inhabitants of the West over the previous 15,000 years. Nor had they escaped the notice of French traders traversing the Plains since the early 1700s, or Spanish colonists in New Mexico and California, who had even borrowed the Nahautl (Uto-Aztecan) name coyotl to describe the animal.

As Jeffersons explorers neither wrote up a scientific description nor proffered a Latin binomial for their 1804 coyote, they did not become its official discoverers even in Western science. That honor fell to Thomas Say, naturalist on Stephen Longs 181920 expedition to the Rockies, who in 1823 officially described the type specimen of the prairie wolf from a Nebraska coyote he trapped with a bobcat as bait. His binomial, Canis latrans (barking dog), has been the recognized scientific name ever since.

William Clarks 1804 description of his prairie wolf does, however, tantalize us in three particular respects. First, this animal, unlike the gray wolf, was unknown to Anglo Americans. Thus they had no preconceptions about coyotes. Second, Clark and compatriots found the coyote biologically ambiguous. Was it a fox? A wolf? Something else? That ambiguity has since played a role in the coyotes story. Finally, 19th-century Anglo Americans had to get halfway across the continent, to the Great Plains, before they ever saw a coyote. That becomes most interesting, given the modern story.

That the coyote plays such a significant role in the ancient religions of North America is a testament to how powerfully it captured the human imagination. But to religion and history add the sciences as critical to understanding why we cant turn our eyes from the coyote. There are sound scientific reasons, readily expressed through religion and history, for why we have subconsciously intuited so much human nature from coyote nature. The coyote, then, is perhaps the best American totem animal of our continental historical experience, past and especially present.

How so? . Consider coyote evolution. The coyote as a distinct species is less than 2 million years old and may be as young as 300,000 years In fact, the coyotes relative youth is the first of its many similarities with humans. Were also a young species, theoretically emerging out of an earlier hominid soup in Africa some 200,000 years ago. As a family the Canidae are older, evolving in North America 40 million years ago and spreading across the globe about 5 million years ago. Ancestors of the gray wolf (Canis lupus), particularly, became cosmopolitan, eventually colonizing almost the entire planet.

The coyote, however, did not emerge directly from the lineage of the world traveler gray wolf but claims more indigenous, North American roots. The best nursery candidate is the red wolf of the mid-South, whose original habitat stretched from Florida to west Texas and north to the Ohio River. As naturalist E. Raymond Hall wrote of the red wolf, it has a smaller size and more slender build than the much more widespread gray wolf. Its nose is sharper and longer than the gray wolfs, its footpads are smaller, and its general coloration [is] more tawny. While the red wolf remained a creature of the forests and swamps of the American South, somehow its descendant, the coyote, became the jackal of the American prairies and deserts. Its a track similar to the one our ancestors followed to the African savannahs.

The advantages may have been similar for both coyotes and human beings. During the Pleistocene epoch, the extensive savannahs were where most of the action was. In America, elephants, giant bison, wild horses and a diverse bestiary of smaller animals flocked to the Great Plains. Perhaps spawning the smaller, quicker coyote enabled North American canids to compete in a situation with many opportunities but also many larger carnivores like dire wolves, saber-toothed cats, short-faced bearsand, eventually, gray wolves, returning to their evolutionary homeland.

The paleontological record suggests that Pleistocene coyotes had to be especially creative adapters, and that, too, has had consequences. About the time that extreme climate stresses (thought to have been caused by a number of volcanic eruptions on the island of Sumatra some 70,000 years ago) led our ancestors to transform their cultural lives, in what author-scientist Jared Diamond has termed our great leap forward, coyotes were acquiring some of the traits that made them unique, resilient and successful in North America.

Like humans, who are intensely social but whom anthropologists describe as having developed a unique kind of social lifefission-fusion societiescoyotes became the rare predator to do the same. Fission-fusion adaptability grants unusual flexibility to individuals, who can be either social or solitary, depending on the circumstances. The gray wolf, which specialized as a pack animal to pursue large prey, is not a fission-fusion carnivore. Indeed, that would become a near-fatal flaw in wolves trying to survive in the modern age. Most other predators are either solitary or social, not both.

Humans and coyotes are exceptions. Our successes stem from our plasticity. Coyotes can be solitary hunters, focusing on the kinds of small prey an individual animal can capture. They can also band together as pack animals when prey like deer call for cooperation. Such adaptation made them, like us, opportunists able to thrive in a range of situations. Adaptation enabled coyotes to survive 20th-century Americas war on predators when wolves could not.

This adaptation seemingly traces its origins to the Pleistocene. Coyotes then were distinct from the animal Lewis and Clark encountered on their trek to the Pacific Ocean in 1804. Their skulls and jaws were thicker, their teeth wider, most likely because their initial response to life on the American Plains was to pursue larger prey in packs. This was, unfortunately, a niche gray wolves also occupied. So in the wake of the Pleistocene extinctions of 10,000 years ago, when scores of animal species on the Plains disappeared, competition between gray wolves and coyotes intensified. The genius of the coyote was to back out and switch to the strategy of individual effort. Wolves remained big 5- to 6-foot-long pack hunters weighing 80 to 120 pounds. Coyotes became 3- to 4-foot-long, 30- to 40-pound solitary foragers for small game, even omnivores. Fission-fusion at work.

Through the years Coyotes have developed an array of other traits worth noting. Like domesticated dogs, as well as humans, coyote pups require a lengthy maturing process to learn skills and critical information about the world from their mothers and fathers. The social life of canids is also similar to ours on many levels, even incorporating a census of sorts. Coyotes become mated pairs whose average litter size is 5.7 pups, but they seem to have an autogenic mechanism that allows them to assess the ecological possibilities around them. If they sense plentiful resources they produce larger litters, or vice versa. Their classic yodeling howl, that iconic sound of the starry-skied West heard so often in motion pictures as well as in reality, has many functions, but one is assessing the size of the surrounding coyote population.

American Indians ready identification with the social lives of coyotes prompted ubiquitous Old Man Coyote traditions in North America. Ten thousand years ago North American Indians could choose from scores of animal candidates for their deity figures. But for those living in the American West, something about the coyote captured their imaginations. As they, too, moved West, American explorers, settlers, government officials and literary figures also found the coyote worthy of special attentionbut often with very different ends in mind.

Our evolutionary background as hunters fuels a certain human fascination with other predators, but we long ago recognized them as danger and competition. Given our Old World experiences with wolves, we were suspicious of coyotes from the first. While they seemed too small to arouse fear, they were without doubt competitors, especially with regard to our domestic livestock. Over polite conversation in the churches, saloons and ranch houses of the 19thcentury West, no North American predator escaped general excoriation. But for intriguing reasons, coyotes struck everyone as particularly vile. With no ingrained mythology and scant knowledge of the Indian concepts of a coyote deity, we found the species ripe for original interpretation. And for a half-century after 1872 a very unflattering one emerged.

It was Mark Twains description of the coyote in his 1872 book Roughing It that perhaps saddled the animal with an infamous reputation that only grew worse with time. The coyote is a long, slim, sick and sorry looking skeleton, the satirist wrote, with a gray wolf-skin stretched over it, a tolerable bushy tail that forever sags down with a despairing expression of forsakenness and misery, a furtive and evil eye, and a long, sharp face, with slightly lifted lip and exposed teeth. He has a general slinking expression all over. The coyote is a living, breathing allegory of Want.

Wanting meant becoming a target. Strychnine, first manufactured domestically in the 1830s, had by the 1850s become a regular commodity at Western trading posts. As a result, predator pelts entered the international fur trade that decade. The commercial buffalo harvest of the 1860s80s created boom conditions for Great Plains canids but also inaugurated the campaign of extermination against them. The real target was the wolf, but strychnine did not discriminate: A single poisoned bison carcass in Kansas yielded 13 wolves, 15 coyotes and 40 skunks. No one knows the exact toll of collateral damage, but naturalist George Bird Grinnell estimated that wolfers killed hundreds of thousands of coyotes on the Great Plains in those years.

Meanwhile, cattlemen and sheepmen were moving their herds and flocks West. Cattle ranchers didnt get too heated up about coyotes, so long as wolves remained, but sheepmen regarded coyotes as a parasite on civilization and pushed for bounties. Most Western states enacted bounties on both wolves and coyotes in the late 19th century. Montana officials went even further, with the deliberate introduction of sarcoptic mangean early form of biological warfare.

Gone was the Indian deity who created the world. Observing the same animal, Americans saw a sick, despairing, forsaken, miserable creature to which they ascribed traits of both cunning and cruelty. Articles by such popular writer-naturalists as Ernest Ingersoll and Edwin Sabin described coyotes as contemptible and especially perverse. Their howls were eerie and blood-stilling, even defiant. Coyotes supposedly lacked higher morals and were cowardly to the last degree. Exploring ideas for commercial gain from coyotes, a 1920 article in Scientific American asserted that coyotes were not worth the price of the ammunition to shoot them, then added the ultimate insult for the age: The coyote, the writer avowed, was the original Bolshevik. These writers presumably missed the implications of both Old Man Coyote and Darwinisms animal in the mirror. At the very least they failed to appreciate a point made by one of their colleagues, who declared, If we are only a little higher than the dog, we may as well make the dog out to be as fine a fellow as possible.

Eradication of such an unsavory animal seemed the logical next step, and a century ago everyone was on the bandwagon. Writer-naturalist John Burroughs argued that predators certainly needed killing. William Temple Hornadaythe conservationist credited with saving the last bison and who led the charge to replace market hunting with sport huntingconsidered firearms, dogs, traps and strychnine thoroughly legitimate weapons of destruction. For such animals no halfway measures suffice. Not even John Muir, who found coyotes beautiful and graceful, came to the defense of predators. With packets of strychnine available in every hardware store in America, it had become almost a patriotic duty to scatter a few and beat back the continents wild predator horde.

By the 20th century, however, many Americans believed the extermination of animals like coyotes too big a task for individual effort. It also seemed too important a matter for livestock associations or state bounty programs. Coyotes, in particular, seemed practically impossible even to thin out. No, the extermination of such predators called for experts in mass killing.

If ever there was a poster child for the stereotypical government agency that lingers even when the tides of both science and public opinion threaten to drown it, it was the Bureau of Biological Survey. The bureaus roots lay in the 1880s; until 1905 its mission was to conduct a nationwide survey of North American flora and fauna. But doing pure science threatened it with extinction every time appropriations votes came up. Western stockmen particularly blamed the federal governments new public lands systemnational forests and national parksfor creating a system of refuges for predators fleeing eradication on the open plains. In its search for an economic mission, the bureau, under director Vernon Bailey, positioned itself as the expert on the problem of predators.

The first large congressional appropriations went to the bureau in 1914, to be used on the national forests and the public domain in destroying wolves, coyotes and other animals injurious to agriculture and animal husbandry. Within two years the bureau had hired 300 hunters across the West to wage this federally mandated war on predators. It then pressed Congress to allow it also to accept funding from stockmens associations and state legislatures. Meanwhile, the bureaus PR office assured hunters that its project of destroying predators would produce bumper populations of game animals, bringing new allies to the cause.

As poisoning, not shooting, proved the quickest way to kill wolves and coyotes en masse, the bureau built an Eradication Methods Laboratory in Albuquerque to produce strychnine tablets in volume. In 1921 it relocated the lab to Denver, where it would perfect a witches brew of ever more efficient and deadly poisons. Hunters first engaged in pre-baiting strewing cubes of fat and meat across the countryside to habituate coyotes to the food source. Poison bait stations went in next. Stanley Young, a field hunter who became director of the bureau in 1921, found that using strychnine it was possible to kill 350 coyotes in just 10 days. At his bait stations, he found every dead coyote frozen in a signature strychnine convulsion, their tails sticking straight out as if theyd been electrocuted.

Senor Coyotes turn had come. While federal hunters initially concentrated on the wolves so loathed by stock associations, by 1923 wolf populations had diminished such that the average federal hunt seldom tallied more than a single wolf a year. Yet in Colorado the bureau set out 31,255 poison baits in 1923.

Truth be told, the bureaus arguments for making coyotes public enemy No. 1 may not have been mere propaganda. An ecological revolution was under way across North America. As the bureau had all but eradicated the keystone predator, the gray wolf, the coyote exercised its ancient fission-fusion adaptability, some forming packs to hunt larger preyincluding sheep and calves. And with the wolf in retreat, not only did the coyote population bloom in the American West, in the 1920s the coyote began an unprecedented and historic expansion of its range eastward across the Mississippi River, where it gradually filled the wolfs vacant niche in the East and South.

With the bureaus Denver lab cranking out strychnine, its hunters by 1924 had set out 3,567,000 poison baits across the West in what amounted to a scorched-earth policy against coyotes. In that decade the bureau on average poisoned 35,000 coyotes a year. But the coyote, it turned out, was not as easily erased as the wolf, whose pack-based social ties had doomed it. Like Old Man Coyote of Indian tradition, the real coyote seemed impossible to kill off. Even as newspapers such as Denvers Rocky Mountain News ran stories headlined U.S. AGENTS STALK DESPERADOES OF ANIMAL WORLD THRU DESERTS AND OVER MOUNTAIN RANGES OF WEST, somehow, in its clash with the lowly, slinking, immoral coyote, the bureau could not win the war of civilization.

And unexpectedly, coyotes began to attract champions across the nation. At its annual meeting in 1924 the American Society of Mammalogists debated whether predators served essential functions in nature, and whether American policy was tragically wrong in pressing for their eradication. Scientific luminaries such as Joseph Grinnell, E. Raymond Hall, Olaus Murie and Aldo Leopold demonstrated with their field studies that, lacking predators, the natural world often swung precipitously to new and often very fragile paradigms.

The reaction of the bureau to this mission-threatening input from the scientific community was to double-down on denials of a role for predators and propose a shocking final solution. Large predatory mammals, destructive to livestock and to game, no longer have a place in our advancing civilization, bureau representative E.A. Goldman thundered. Ignoring the accumulating science, in 1928 the bureau offered up its faunal endgame. If Congress would fund the bureau at $10 million for a decade, it would wipe out coyotesthe archpredator of our time once and for all.

The proposed 10-year plan for coyote eradication was the final straw for many scientists and ecologists. One of them, Murie, employed with the bureau as a wildlife biologist since 1920, was known for his conviction that scientists must above all be ethical. Now Goldman tasked him to study coyotes, hoping to buttress the bureaus position. In his report Murie evaluated the factions interested in [the] coyote question, including an emerging group he called the nature lovers. Murie argued that the latter faction might actually represent a state of human evolutionary enlightenment. As he put it, I firmly believe that it is working against the best interests of humanity toridicule those who see beauty in a coyotes howl.

Regardless, in 1931 Congress passed the Animal Damage Control Act, appropriating $1 million a year for 10 years for the bureau to pursue the eradication of coyotesthe gangsters of the animal kingdom, in the medias phrase. The bureau pursued its coyote mission relentlessly, and well beyond a single decade. World War II prompted explosion of knowledge about chemicals, and in 1946 the bureau offered up thallium(I) sulfate as an improved predacide. Its advantage over strychnine was that poisoned coyotes would not alarm other coyotes; thallium sulfate killed them slowly, often causing their hair to fall out first. The lab rolled out a second new poison, sodium fluoroacetate, or Compound 1080, which brought the bureau closer to its goal, sometimes approaching local coyote extirpation. The bureau pursued a third technique, the humane coyote getter, to close the deal. It featured an upright tube capped by a scented cloth coyotes found difficult to resist. When an animal approached, the device fired a mist of sodium cyanide directly into its face.

But wasnt overconfidence often the downfall of Old Man Coyotes plans to change the world? The new poisons did kill untold numbers of coyotes, yet the species not only survived, but also expanded its range. Unlike wolves, coyotes are fertile by a year old. Poisoned to scarcity, they simply had larger litters. Employing their fission-fusion adaptability, they then turned to a broader array of prey, particularly the massive rodent population. They readily hunted as loners or pairs, making them harder to wipe out. And without question they took refuge in the huge American public lands, which thanks to the scientists had been off-limits to bureau hunters since 1931.

So the coyote held on, and meanwhile the cultural pendulum began to swing. Rachel Carsons pivotal 1962 book, Silent Spring, dramatically changed the way many Americans regarded poisons. By then scientists had published sufficient work on the role of predators to change how many people felt about them, too. And in the 1960s and 1970s the science of ecology and the environmental movement created a whole new appreciation for species innate right to exist. Surfing this wave, Richard Nixon not only banned the federal use of poisons for predator control in 1972, but also supported the Endangered Species Act of 1973, one of the most important and controversial environmental laws in U.S. history.

A glance over the decades since might lead one to believe little has changed for coyotes in America. That would be a mistake. Like so many policies, coyote control has become a marker of politics and the culture wars. Nixons poison ban did not survive the Reagan years. And while the Endangered Species Act protects coyotes from extermination, in 1985 Congress moved Animal Damage Control from the Fish and Wildlife Service to the Department of Agriculture and renamed it Wildlife Services. Thus, on behalf of agriculture, federal coyote control continues, and between 2006 and 2011 Wildlife Services hunters culled 512,710 coyotes nationwide.

The coyotes response to all this pressure has been remarkable. In the 1920s people began spotting the animal in places it had never before inhabited. In 1949 a Wisconsin biologist collected a coyote on the Apostle Islands. Within another two years marginal records of coyotes had cropped up in Indiana, Illinois and 200 miles east of the Great Lakes. With some confusion a 1955 work on mammal distributions noted coyote sightings in Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, the Carolinas, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

Then this former denizen of the desolate Great Plains did something even more astonishing. Confronted with a continent transformed by humans, it adopted man as a lifestyle. The coyote went urban. Since 1940 most American cities, from Los Angeles to New York, have recorded resident coyotes. Studying this urban coyote phenomenon, biologist Stanley Gehrt was surprised to discover that hundreds of coyotes were roaming the streets and alleyways of Chicago. Indeed, by the early 21st century the most common large wild animal most urban Americans had ever encountered was a coyote.

A final demonstration of the coyotes smarts and adaptability is the best evidence yet that this American original is truly our totem animalnot just for ancient America but for our age as well. In a striking nod to Lewis and Clarks puzzlement over the animals identity in 1804, coyotes are now mirroring our own multicultural patterns in modern America. Even as we rapidly become a nation of blended ethnicities, coyotes are blending canid populations in the wild. What scientists call a canis soup is their version of our melting pot. Careful genetic work shows that by interbreeding with remnant gray and red wolves (and assorted dogs), the last 75 to 140 generations of coyotes have thoroughly mixed wild canids in the East. Remnant Eastern gray wolves are now 40 percent coyotehybrids known as coywolves. Red wolves, from which coyotes may have separated a half-million years ago, are now 75 percent coyote.

In the Southwestern United States, where Anglo-Hispanic intermarriage grows by the decade, the vernacular term for the offspring of such unions is, predictably enough, coyote. And that, in the way of so much of coyote history, merely confirms the logic: The American original, almost by default, has all along been the best candidate for a North American animal deity that we possess.

Dan Flores divides his time between New Mexico and Montana and teaches at the University of Montana in Missoula. His Coyote America: The Coyote in Continental Culture and History is forthcoming. Suggested for further reading: The Clever Coyote, by Stanley P.Young and Hartley H.T. Jackson; Predatory Bureaucracy: The Extermination of Wolves and the Transformation of the West, by Michael J. Robinson; and A Coyote Reader, by William Bright.

Originally published in the April 2013 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
A brave conductor also paid the ultimate price.

Around noon on November 3, 1893, veteran conductor William P. McNally left Poplar Bluff, Missouri, with 300 passengers bound for Little Rock, Arkansas, on Train No. 51 of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. Nearing retirement, McNally looked forward to this run as one of his last, but he didnt count on it being his very last.

After a dinner break at Walnut Ridge, Ark., the seven-car train stopped at the Jackson County village of Olyphant shortly before 10 p.m. to let off a single passenger and then pulled onto a siding to let a northbound cannonball express pass. Train No. 51 had scarcely come to a halt on the sidetrack when seven masked bandits charged out of the cold, rainy darkness to surround the engine, while an eighth robber held the gangs horses at a nearby canebrake. Brandishing Winchester rifles, the outlaws covered the engineer and fireman and shouted for them to throw up their hands.

Jim Wyrick, Tom Brady and George Padgett had formed the gang several weeks earlier in Benton County, the northwest corner of the state, with the idea of holding up a train as a get rich quick scheme. They soon recruited Ol Truman, Bob Chesney, and brothers Sam and Pennyweight Powell. Although at least one of the organizers had been involved in selling illegal whiskey in nearby Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), the recruits were just farmers from the Siloam Springs area, and none of the gang had any real outlaw experience.

In early October the three ringleaders rode east to reconnoiter the railway line, settling on No. 51 as their target. During the scouting expedition the fledgling outlaws also hooked up with Albert Mansker, who claimed prior experience robbing trains and wanted to do so again.

Later that month Wyrick returned to Benton County to collect the other four gang members, and the eight men rendezvoused near Jamestown, where they stayed on the property of H.H.Wackerly a few days before riding 35 miles southeast to Olyphant.

Now three of the bandits marched the engineer and fireman toward the express car while four others, two on either side of the train, maintained a lookout. The trio ordered the express messenger to open up and started shooting at the door. He quickly complied, and the outlaws entered the express car, forced him to open the safe and emptied the strongbox. Meanwhile, the four lookouts kept pelting the train with lead and shouting oaths to intimidate the passengers.

Toward the back of the train, McNally heard the commotion and then a baggageman rushed up and told him it was a holdup. McNally hurried through the passenger cars, warning folks to hide their valuables. Borrowing a pistol, McNally then stepped out on the platform of the baggage car and fired two shots at the gang. The bandits promptly returned fire, mortally wounding McNally.

After emptying out the express safe, the outlaw trio marched the engineer and fireman through the passenger cars. One bandit collected all of the valuables and money the passengers had been unable to conceal. The other two kept the rail company hostages and passengers covered. The northbound express sped by while the robbery was in progress.

After plundering the passenger cars, the three robbers strode back through the train, still herding their prisoners. Arriving back at the trains engine, they jumped off, retrieved their horses and galloped west into the dank night.

Informed of the robbery, a telegrapher at Olyphant station wired area lawmen about the holdup, and several posses were soon trailing the bandits northwesterly toward Batesville. By daylight on Saturday, November 4, nearly 100 men had joined the chase. That afternoon, acting on a tip that evil-looking men had been hanging around the Wackerly home during the past week, the posses closed in on the fugitives near Jamestown.

A three-man posse caught up with two of the gang about 5 p.m. Saturday. Carrying only concealed revolvers, the lawmen got the drop on the heavily armed fugitives before they realized who the newcomers were. Taken to the Independence County seat at Batesville, the captives, who gave their names as Mark Arnett and Bill Lemons, were identified as two of the robbers by plunder in their possession.

Scores of lawmen continued to scour the countryside for the remaining robbers. After beating the bushes around Jamestown all night, a posse that included local postmaster M.C. Long and two of H.H. Wackerlys sons came upon several armed men on horseback in a canebrake around daybreak Sunday morning, and Long fired a shotgun blast at them as they bolted. During the brief skirmish, 21-year-old Clem Wackerly threw down his weapon and ran off. He was later captured and held on suspicion of being in cahoots with the train robbers.

On Thursday night, November 9, a Searcy County deputy marshal captured a third bandit, who gave his name as Jack Williams. He, too, was sent to Batesville. Meanwhile, the men calling themselves Arnett and Lemons were transported to the state penitentiary at Little Rock, and the newest captive soon joined them.

By mid-November lawmen had tentatively identified most of the gang members based on reports from Benton County. A few days later two Benton County citizens viewed the prisoners at Little Rock and testified that Lemons was actually farmer Tom Brady and Arnett was George Padgett. The five bandits still at large were also named.

The identity of the man calling himself Jack Williams remained a mystery. But a few days after officials had positively identified the other seven robbers, Williams said he was really Albert Mansker, from Howell County, Mo. A claim later arose that he was actually John Hill of Mammoth Spring, Ark., although the prisoner insisted he was Mansker.

In early December lawmen captured Wyrick near Van Buren, Ark., and took him directly to the penitentiary at Little Rock. By Christmas, Chesney and the Powell brothers were also in custody. Truman eluded capture, though lawmen eventually caught up with him, too.

The trials for the three original members of the gang were set for late January 1894 at Newport, the Jackson County seat, and the circuit judge ruled that anyone convicted of the robbery would also be accountable for McNallys death. George Padgett quickly agreed to turn states evidence in exchange for leniency, and he was not tried for murder, even though testimony suggested he was the robber who had gathered loot from the passengers and was one of the main leaders of the gang.

Padgett testified that Brady and Wyrick came to him with the idea of robbing a train, and the trains brakeman testified that Wyrick was the man who fired the shot that killed McNally. Both Wyrick and Brady were convicted of first-degree murder and scheduled to hang on April 6. Mansker claimed he was the man who held the horses during the holdup, but some considered him the ringleader of the group, as he had participated in previous robberies. At his trial in early February he, too, was convicted of first degree murder and slated to join his two partners on the gallows. Juries later brought indictments against Truman, Chesney and the Powell brothers, but they were never brought to trial.

On the night of April 5, 1894, townswomen visited the three convicts in the Jackson County Jail at Newport to sing hymns and pray. The next morning a large crowd gathered as the condemned men were led to the scaffold, but only 25 witnesses were allowed inside an enclosure surrounding the platform. In final statements all three men suggested that drink and bad company had led to their downfall and shirked responsibility for the crime, claiming that Padgett had been the instigator. Moments later, their protestations of innocence still on their lips, all three dropped to their deaths in the only triple execution in Jackson County history.

Originally published in the April 2013 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
J.E. Carson (recorded elsewhere as Christopher J. Carson) discovered promising float samples southwest of Lake City, Colo., in 1876. Returning to the area after exploring near Leadville, he staked the Bonanza King and other claims in 1881.

By 1882 Carson Camp was hopping. Straddling the Continental Divide at around 12,000 feet, it boasted 150 claims and more than a dozen prosperous mines, including the Bonanza King, St. Jacob, Bachelor, George III, Maid of Carson and St. Lawrence. The St. Jacob alone produced more than $1 million in ore over its lifetime. While silver was the principal target, the ore also yielded gold, lead, copper and zinc.

Its remote location and extremely harsh winters hindered development. In 1887 work crews finally roughed out a road, best suited to pack trains, from Lost Trail, on the Atlantic side of the divide. In 1890 they made an equally difficult wagon road from Lake City, on the Pacific side.

In 1892 The Creede Candle noted, Carson is directly on the Continental Divide, about half of the camp on either side of the apex. The Candle also reported on the wintertime transport of ore by toboggan, as well as the death of one Robert Smith, who was warming giant powder on a forge at the Legal Tender, when the powder exploded.

The economic Panic of 1893 slowed development of the Carson mines until miners discovered rich gold deposits in 1896, particularly at Channing Frank Meeks George III and Bachelor mines on the Lake City side of the divide. This renewed development gave rise to the lower camp becoming known informally as Bachelor Cabins. The older area on the Lost Trail side remained Carson.

In 1898 the St. Jacob Mine was working three shifts, produced $190,000 and built a new boardinghouse and smelter. Within two years more than 400 people lived in the Carson district.

Labor troubles heated up in southern Colorado in 1902, and Meek lost interest in gold mining, turning his attention to the Yule Marble quarries in Marble. By the end of the year a Gunnison newspaper reported that Carson was practically deserted, and the post office closed in 1903. In 1909 a visiting geologist found only six resident prospectors, and by 1910 the official population had dropped to 20.

Author Muriel Sibell Wolle visited Carson on horseback in 1946 and was briefly trapped in the deserted town by an electrical storm. She returned in 1948 and was again caught in a storm that old-timers said was drawn by iron deposits.

Robert L. Brown 1963 guidebook of Jeep trails to Colorado ghost towns described the route to Carson as one of the worst in the state. The road has since seen improvement due to periodic attempts to rework the mines, but access still requires high clearance. The lower camp, on private land but accessible to the public, comprises several well-preserved buildings, now sheltered under metal roofs. Only a few dilapidated log structures remain on the Atlantic side of the divide.

Originally published in the April 2013 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
In the early morning hours of March 30, 1972, a massive barrage from four North Vietnamese Army artillery regiments slammed into the newly formed 3rd Infantry Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in South Vietnams northernmost province. Under cover of these fires, two NVA divisions poured across the Demilitarized Zone toward the town of Quang Tri. At the same time, another NVA division attacked from the west toward Hue, Vietnams ancient imperial capital.

The March 30 attack was the opening of North Vietnams Nguyen Hue Campaign (named for an emperor in the 1700s who united the northern and southern parts of what became Vietnam), also commonly known as the Spring Offensive of 1972 or the Easter Offensive.

The offensive consisted of a three-front attack that hit towns in the north, central and southern regions of South Vietnam in an effort to strike a knockout blow against the South Vietnamese government and ARVN.

A total of 14 NVA divisions and 26 separate regiments, totaling 125,000 troops and approximately 1,200 tanks and other armored vehicles, participated in the offensive. The North Vietnamese also introduced weaponry not used in earlier Communist offensives in South Vietnam, such as T-54 tanks, ZSU 57-2 tracked anti-aircraft guns and SA-7 Strela shoulder-fired, heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles. The NVAs combined arms assaultsfeaturing coordinated masses of infantry, tanks and artillerywere more like the Red Armys attacks in the latter stages of World War II than the previous battles in Vietnam.

Indeed, U.S. Army Capt. Harold Moffett, an adviser working with South Vietnams 3rd Ranger Group, described the scene in the especially hard-hit southern city of An Loc as looking like Berlin at the end of World War II.

According to captured documents and NVA sources, the North Vietnamese hoped to destroy much of the ARVN and occupy key cities, which would put the Communist forces in a posture to threaten Saigon and President Nguyen Van Thieus government.

Soon after the initial thrust in South Vietnams northern region, another NVA force attacked Kontum in the Central Highlands with three divisions. On April 4, the NVA opened the offensive on this front with a massive artillery and rocket barrage of ARVN firebases along Rocket Ridge, northwest of Kontum City.

North Vietnam Targets An Loc

Meanwhile, to the south three more NVA divisions advanced in the Saigon region, focusing on Binh Long province, north of Saigon and bordering Cambodia. One of the primary targets was the provincial capital, An Loc, a city of 15,000 surrounded by vast rubber plantations totaling 75,000 acres.

Only 65 miles north of Saigon, An Loc was in a dangerous spot astride Highway 13, a paved road that could take Communist forces directly from the Cambodian border to the South Vietnamese capital.

The coordinated Communist thrusts, characterized by a ferocity never before experienced by South Vietnams forces, were initially successful. In some of the most bitter fighting of the war, the South Vietnamese defenders reeled under the NVA assaults.

By this time in the war, most U.S. ground combat forces had been withdrawn, and Americans on the ground in combat roles were primarily advisers who served with ARVN forces in the field. President Richard Nixon had instituted in 1969 his Vietnamization program: a gradual transfer of combat operations to the South Vietnamese so that all American troops could be eventually withdrawn. To achieve that goal, the U.S. had to strengthen the South Vietnamese army and bolster Thieus government until they could stand on their own against North Vietnams Communists.

In one of the critical aspects of the Vietnamization program, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, or MACV, the senior U.S. military headquarters in-country, increased the number of advisers to help improve the quality of the ARVN force. U.S. advisers had been serving with South Vietnamese units since 1955, but they took on added importance as the number of American combat units dwindled.

There were U.S. advisers at corps, division and regimental levels. The elite airborne, ranger and marine units also had American advisers with each battalion. Other advisers were assigned to each South Vietnamese province and district headquarters. These advisers would figure prominently in the ARVN defense against the North Vietnamese invasion in spring 1972.

On April 2, the offensive in the Saigon region began when the 24th and 271st NVA regiments attacked 25th ARVN Division firebases along the border with Cambodia in Tay Ninh province, which abuts Binh Longs western boundary. The Tay Ninh attack, supported by tanks, rockets and heavy mortar fire, seemed to confirm earlier intelligence that the main North Vietnamese effort in the region would take place in that province, although the South Vietnamese were surprised at the fierceness of the attacks and the use of tanks.

For three days after the Tay Ninh attacks, Binh Long was relatively quiet. The only ARVN division in the province was the 5th Infantry Division, commanded by Brig. Gen. Le Van Hung.

Senior U.S. advisers with the division picked up indications of increased enemy activity in the area, but MACV analysts in Saigon insisted that the main attack would come in Tay Ninh. The analysts would soon be proved wrong.

About 6:50 a.m. on April 5, the enemy arrived in Binh Long province with a coordinated attack on Loc Ninh, a town on Highway 13 about halfway between An Loc and the Cambodian border. The North Vietnamese attackers relentlessly employed tanks and large volumes of artillery, mortar and rocket fire against the small ARVN force of about 2,000 troops (mostly from the 9th Regiment of the 5th ARVN Division and the local militia garrison) and their seven American advisers.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Minh, commander of the military region surrounding Saigon, and Maj. Gen. James F. Hollingsworth, his American adviser, at the regions headquarters in Bien Hoa just outside Saigon, realized that Binh Long, not Tay Ninh, was the focus of the main attack and directed all available tactical air support to assist the beleaguered garrison. Skillful coordination of this air support by the American advisers in Loc Ninh inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers, but ultimately the sheer numbers of the North Vietnamese troops overwhelmed the defenders. The ARVN positions fell in late afternoon on April 7. While some ARVN soldiers and one of the advisers escaped, the others were killed or captured.

As the battle unfolded in Loc Ninh, the NVA also attacked an 18th ARVN Division regimental-size task force, designated TF-52, under the operational control of the 5th ARVN Division commander. The task force had been conducting operations from two small firebases west of Highway 13 between Loc Ninh and An Loc. The NVA overran the ARVN positions and forced the task forces survivors to withdraw into An Loc. During that process, the three advisers with the task force were wounded and evacuated.

The North Vietnamese planned to hit An Loc with three Viet Cong divisions and supporting forces. By this stage of the war, although some Communist formations still carried the traditional Viet Cong designations, the three divisions were organized and equipped as main-force NVA units manned primarily by North Vietnamese soldiers who had come down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. These divisions ranged from 7,000 to 9,000 soldiers. An additional 10,000 NVA troops in various support units would also participate in the battle for An Loc.

The 9th VC Division, considered one of the elite NVA divisions, was sent against An Loc itself, while the 7th NVA Division was ordered to cut Highway 13 between Chon Thanh and Lai Khe to stop supplies and reinforcements moving north from Saigon. And the 5th VC Division, which had initiated the Binh Long campaign at Loc Ninh, was to join the 9th VC Division in its assault on An Loc after securing Loc Ninh.

The Siege Begins

Shortly after the fall of Loc Ninh, the 9th VC Division made its opening move against An Loc by seizing the airstrip at Quan Loi, just 2 miles northeast of the city. Meanwhile, south of the city, the 1st ARVN Airborne Brigade, which had been shifted from Saigon to Binh Long, was directed to move up from Lai Khe to reinforce the An Loc garrison. The airborne forces, traveling north on Highway 13, immediately ran into heavy contact with elements of the 7th NVA Division, by then entrenched in blocking positions across the highway.

With the loss of the Quan Loi airstrip and the imposition of roadblocks on Highway 13, An Loc was surrounded and cut off from the outside, a siege that would last for more than two months.

A brief lull occurred as the NVA prepared for the main attack on the city itself. By the afternoon of April 12, ARVN forces in and immediately around An Loc had grown to nine infantry battalions, consisting of regular infantrymen from elements of the 5th and 18th divisions, rangers and local militia forces. General Hung, the 5th ARVN Division commander, was given operational control of all South Vietnamese units in the city, about 3,500 soldiersgrossly outnumbered by the NVA forces surrounding An Loc.

Preparations for a direct assault on An Loc began in the early morning of April 13, when the North Vietnamese brought a wide range of guns, rockets and mortars to bear on the city. Shortly after dawn, the NVA forces began a coordinated tank and infantry attack from the northeast. Soviet-made T-54 and PT-76 tanks stormed down the main north-south street into An Loc.

Many of the ARVN defenders had never encountered tanks before and panicked. Several units broke and ran. The situation stabilized somewhat when an ARVN soldier knocked out one of the lead tanks with an M72 light anti-tank weapon, confirming that ARVN infantrymen could stop tanks.

South Vietnamese M41 tanks take Route 13 to An Loc on April 9. (AP Photo/Koichiro Morita)

The battle raged for three days as the NVA advanced house-to-house. Casualties were heavy on both sides. The NVA had lost 23 tanks but had forced ARVN defenders in the southern part of the city into a small redoubt, measuring just 1,000-by-1,600 yards.

The NVA held the northern part of the city; in many cases the opposing forces there were separated only by the width of a city street.

Meanwhile, other NVA forces completely surrounded the city. The battle seesawed back and forth.

On several occasions, the attackers almost succeeded in taking Hungs command bunker.

Communist forces lose momentum

After three days, the intensity of the fighting abated somewhat as the North Vietnamese momentum was slowed by continual pounding from the air. U.S. advisers coordinated airstrikes with ARVN units engaging the NVA on the ground. Air Force, Navy and Marine attack aircraft, AC-130 gunships and Army Cobra attack helicopters hit the NVA inside An Loc, while General Hollingsworth directed B-52 bomber strikes against North Vietnamese staging areas in the rubber plantations around the city. This air support saved the ARVN from almost certain defeat and set the pattern for U.S. and South Vietnamese actions during the next two months.

Even though the airstrikes hampered NVA movement, the Communist forces were still able to tighten their stranglehold on An Loc while shelling the city heavily. They had hit An Loc with 25,000 artillery rounds and rockets during the first three days of the attack and continued to fire 1,200 to 2,000 rounds per day into the city for the next week as they regrouped for a renewed assault.

On April 16, General Minh directed the 1st Airborne Brigade to send troops by helicopter to the high ground southeast of An Loc to reinforce the city. That same day he received operational control of the 21st ARVN Division, which had been in the Mekong Delta, and ordered the division to Lai Khe for an attack up Highway 13 to relieve An Loc.

NVA commanders, who had hoped to occupy An Loc no later than April 20, revised the attack plan and repositioned their forces for an assault from the east.

The 9th VC Division would make the main attack against the city, while elements of the 5th VC and 7th NVA divisions attacked the 1st Airborne Brigade positions southeast of An Loc. To counter American air support, the NVA moved up additional anti-aircraft weapons, including Soviet-made, shoulder-fired Strelas.

The second major attempt to take An Loc began in the pre-dawn hours of April 19 with a massive artillery bombardment of both the city and the 1st Airborne Brigade positions. The North Vietnamese overran one airborne battalion and drove the two other battalions out of their positions and into the city.

Inside the city, the ARVN defenders and their advisers fought off repeated waves of attacking NVA troops supported by tanks and finally beat them back with the help of unrelenting air support.

A Ghastly Human Toll

The North Vietnamese attacks had abated somewhat by April 20. However, conditions inside the city continued to deteriorate drastically. The NVA was still pouring a withering amount of tank, rocket, mortar and artillery fire into the city. The South Vietnamese soldiers lived underground with the unfortunate civilians who had been unable to leave before the NVA attacked. Moving around above ground invited near-certain death.

Most of An Locs buildings had been destroyed in the repeated ground attacks, shelling and airstrikes. The city was strewn with mounds of rubble, shattered trees, garbage and dead domestic animals. The human toll was ghastly.

Captain Moffett, the adviser to the 3rd Ranger Group, reported that the bodies of men, women and children are everywhere.

A South Vietnamese soldier later remembered the agonizing screams of the wounded and dying and the bodies and body parts blown around the area, even hanging from tree limbs or laying on the roofs of houses. The smell of death permeated the air.

A helicopter over Route 13 evacuates wounded on June 25. (AP Photo)

Innumerable diseases, including cholera, soon ran rampant. To avoid a full-fledged epidemic, bodies were buried in mass graves by soldiers operating bulldozers during the infrequent lulls in the shelling. Some graves contained 300 to 500 corpses, and many bodies had to be reburied after exploding shells churned up the original graves.

There was so much anti-aircraft fire that it became almost impossible to resupply An Locs defenders by air. Medical supplies were exhausted. The food and ammunition situation was not much better. Little could be done for the increasing number of casualties. There was no way out for the wounded.

ARVN resolve and morale plummeted. U.S. advisers were afraid the South Vietnamese troops would break if the NVA attacked in force. The Americans redoubled their efforts to bolster the confidence of their ARVN counterparts. Under these bleak conditions, the defenders, now numbering about 4,500 troops with the arrival of the two airborne battalions, prepared for the next North Vietnamese onslaught.

Having been stopped twice, the NVA again changed its plans. The 9th VC Division commander was reprimanded for failing to accomplish his mission after two attempts, and the new mission was given to the 5th VC Division commander. The plan called for the 5th to make the main attack, supported by elements of the 7th NVA and 9th VC divisions.

The attack began at 5 a.m. on May 11 with an opening artillery barrage. During the next 12 hours, An Loc was struck by 10,000 rounds of artillery fire. Under this bombardment cover, the NVA attacked with seven regiments from the north and northwest. The attacks, supported by tanks, were successful in forging two salients in the ARVN lines, almost bisecting the defensive perimeter. The fighting was intense, and the citys defenders were close to the breaking point on several occasions.

U.S. Airstrikes turn the Tide

Continuous air support, however, prevented a disaster. The airspace over An Loc was crowded as U.S. Air Force, Navy and Marine close-support aircraft, AC-130 gunships, Cobra attack helicopters and B-52s vied for position to pummel the attackers. Advisers on the ground worked with airborne strike coordinators to make maximum use of the available aircraft. During the battle, 297 sorties were flown on May 11, followed by more than 250 on each of the next four days. Additionally, 30 B-52 missions on May 11 struck enemy positions surrounding An Loc.

This air support, flown in the face of some of the most severe anti-aircraft fire ever encountered in South Vietnam, broke the NVA attack, enabling the ARVN forces to stabilize their lines and eventually push back the enemy.

Unfortunately for the An Loc relief effort, the battle along Highway 13 was not going as well. The 21st ARVN Division had fought its way up the road almost inch by inch, sustaining heavy casualties. But the ARVN attacks were not coordinated and failed to dislodge the entrenched North Vietnamese forces along the road. Although the 21st Division wasnt able to link up with the An Loc forces, it had tied down most of one NVA division, which thus was unavailable for the battle in the city. That was a major contribution by the South Vietnamese unit because one more NVA division in the direct assault on An Loc would almost certainly have tipped the scales in the attackers favor.

By the end of May, although the fighting was not over, the tide had turned in favor of the defenders. Around-the-clock airstrikes took a horrendous toll on the NVA forces. ARVN intelligence estimated that the Communist forces sustained 10,000 casualties in An Loc during April and May. In early June, General Minh was able to get reinforcements into An Loc and withdraw the much battered 5th ARVN Division. On June 18, Thieu declared the siege of An Loc broken.

Even then, enemy artillery and mortar rounds continued to fall on An Loc. The shelling, estimated at more than 78,000 rounds during the two-month period, had reduced the city almost to ruins. The ARVN defenders had sustained 5,400 casualties, including 2,300 dead or missing. Many of the advisers had been wounded at least once. As Maj. John Howard, an adviser with the 1st Airborne Brigade, described it: The graves, burned out vehicles, and the rubble were mute testimony to the intensity of the battle that had been fought there.

Despite the costs, the defenders and their advisers, with the help of American air power, had decisively defeated three of the NVAs finest divisions and held An Loc against overwhelming odds.

The NVA attacks in the central and northern regions of South Vietnam were eventually thwarted as well. In late May, the ARVN defenders at Kontum, supported by massive U.S. airstrikes and missile-equipped anti-tank helicopters, rebuffed the NVA attacks. Quang Tri, captured by the Communists in late April, was retaken in September with assistance from U.S. air power and naval gunfire from ships in the South China Sea.

South Vietnamese morale was high, and Nixon proclaimed Vietnamization a resounding success. After a peace agreement in January 1973, the last American troops departed that March. But fighting resumed in Vietnam after a brief cease-fire, and reduced U.S. aid had an impact on South Vietnams combat capabilities.

When the North Vietnamese launched an offensive in early 1975, South Vietnamese forces, without the U.S. advisers and air support that had been crucial in 1972, were defeated in 55 days. The valor and sacrifice of spring 1972 had been in vain.

James H. Willbanks, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, was an adviser with a South Vietnamese regiment at

the Battle of An Loc. He was wounded at An Loc on July 9, 1972. He is the General of the Army George C. Marshall Chair of Military History at the Armys Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the author or editor of 14 books including The Battle of An Loc (Indiana University Press, 2005).

This article was published in the August 2017 issue of Vietnam magazine.
The Star Wars actress had heroin, cocaine, methadone and ecstasy in her system at the time of her tragic death, according to the autopsy report.

While the coroners report on Carrie Fisher's death listed sleep apnea as the primary cause of death, it was added that a cocktail of illegal drugs also played a role.

The autopsy report also stated that a likely exposure to heroin could have suppressed her breathing as she went into cardiac arrest. But the report concluded: The manner of death has been ruled undetermined.

In addition to the Class-a drugs, Fisher was also taking Prozac, Abilify, Lamictal and oxycodone.

Carrie Fisher was only 60 years old when she suffered a suspected heart attack on a flight home last Christmas from London to Los Angeles. She died in hospital some three days later, with her loved ones by her bedside.

The autopsy also pointed out that the actress's family objected to a full autopsy, which meant that coroners investigators had access to limited toxicology specimens. The report is based on toxicology results and an external examination of the body.

"The exposure to cocaine took place sometime approximately in the last 72 hours of the sample that was obtained," stated the report. "Based on the available toxicological information, we cannot establish the significance of the multiple substances that were detected in Ms. Fishers blood and tissue, with regard to the cause of death."

Reacting to the report, Fishers daughter, Billie Lourd, told People magazine: My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases

"I know my Mom, shed want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles. Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programs. Shame and those social stigmas are the enemies of progress to solutions and ultimately a cure.

While the actress's brother, Todd Fisher told the Associated Press, Theres nothing about this that is enlightening.... I am not shocked that part of her health was affected by drugs. If you want to know what killed her, its all of it.



Leading the tributes at the time of her death, Harrison Ford proffered: "Carrie was one-of-a-kind, brilliant, original. Funny and emotionally fearless. She lived her life, bravely. My thoughts are with her daughter Billie, her Mother Debbie, her brother Todd and her many friends. We will all miss her."


Concrete And Gold will be released on September 15 through Columbia.

This is the follow-up to the bands 2014 release Sonic Highways. The album was produced by Greg Kurstin and will feature tracks such as Run and Lah Dee Da which the band have already released.

Check out the video for Run here:

The band have also announced their tracklist for the album:

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01. T-Shirt

02. Run

03. Make It Right

04. The Sky Is A Neighborhood

05. La Dee Da

06. Dirty Water

07. Arrows

08. Happy Ever After (Zero Hour)

09. Sunday Rain

10. The Line

11. Concrete and Gold

Foo Fighters will be headlining Glastonbury festival this weekend. The band will also be curating their own festival in October at Glen Helen Regional Park in San Bernardino. Other acts on the line-up include Queens of the Stone Age, Liam Gallagher, Royal Blood, Cage The Elephant and Wolf Alice.
Their eagerly-anticipated self-titled album will be released on August 25.

The band announced the news on their Twitter account.

BIGGEST ANNOUNCEMENT EVER ?

Our debut album "Picture This" will be released on August 25th.



Pre-order June 30th pic.twitter.com/jK4nNYEmpK  Picture This (@BandPictureThis) June 19, 2017

Fans can pre-order the album from June 30 on the bands official website.

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Picture This recently played 5 sold-out dates in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. The band will also be playing a slot on the mainstage at Longitude on Friday July 14.

Check out their latest video for Never Change here:
The sun came out for The 1975s visit to Malahide, but before the Manchester boys took to the stage, Irish rockers The Blizzards showed them how its done in Ireland. Their Malahide set included favourites like Trust Me, Im a Doctor, and even a standout rock-and-roll cover of Neikeds Sexual- yeah, just when you thought you never wanted to hear that song again for as long as you live, Bressie and the Blizzards made it cool again.

Its been over a year now since The 1975 released their latest album I like it when you sleep for you are so beautiful yet so unaware of it. While their self-titled debut three years earlier was more boy band fun, actually becoming a boy band with a massive following (only a fraction of whom were lucky enough to attend the sold-out gig at Malahide) seemed to make them shy away from pop-candy bangers in favour of disorienting ambient techno 80s fare in the latest album, which was probably why it clocked in at seventeen tracks. They hadnt released any new material before the Malahide gig, but it didnt seem to matter- the gig sold out anyway.

Most of the band keeps it casual on the fashion front- bassist Ross McDonalds biggest fashion statement is his classic Red Sox cap- but Matty Healys reputation demands a little more than that. He steps out onstage at Malahide in a disheveled dress shirt and jacket that-were it not for the adorned sleeves- wouldnt be much of a fashion statement on anyone else- but its all about style. With stumbling dances across the stage, hes so cool he doesnt even have to really have moves- the crowd loves him anyway. From the press pit where Im remembering that Ive tragically forgotten my earplugs, the sound of screaming teenage girls is enough to shatter some eardrums.

As evidenced by the wide array of fashion on display at Malahide this Saturday, todays kids are bringing back their parents 80s looks- with a twist. It's not dissimilar to the kind of things that The 1975 themselves are doing musically. A track like Love Me, when presented by Healy, eyeliner and all, to a massive crowd is a surefire 80s Bowie-inspired jam, but lyrically, it tackles internet fame and the narcissism inherent to todays selfie culture: You've got a beautiful face but got nothing to say/You look famous, let's be friends and portray we possess something important. Love Me, Shes American and The Sound are all jam worthy, and all made an appearance at Malahide, to the crowds delight. A less-expected track to hear live was If I Believe You, a meditation on religion and identity which combines soulful jazz grooves with gospel vocals. As for the throwbacks, Sex is a classic favourite with the crowd yell-singing the chorus of we might as well just fuck/shes got a boyfriend anyway. With the sun steadily going down, Chocolate, arguably the bands hit thats got the most airtime, brought the most energy to the fields as the night began to draw to a close.

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English rock band to play through Scotland & England

The last weve heard from The Libertines was their 2015 album, Anthems For Doomed Youth which brought them to Dublin for their first (and so far, only) headline concert in Ireland.

Now, the band has announced a 2017 UK tour through seaside towns on the coasts of England, and just added three new locations in Scotland (Dunfermline, Inverness and Kilmarnock).

The Tiddeley Om Pom Pom Tour will also see The Libertines headlining the By The Sea festival in Margate.

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With luck, maybe the band will return to Ireland, but for now, its off to the seaside to see The Libertines.

Tour dates:

JULY

21-22  Tramlines Festival, Sheffield

21-23  Truck Festival, Cambridge

AUGUST

3  Times Square, Newcastle

SEPTEMBER

17  Dunfermline Alhambra

18  Inverness Ironworks

19  Kilmarnock Grand Hall

22  Blackpool Empress Ballroom

23  Hull Arena

25  Plymouth Pavilions

26  Scarborough Spa

30  Lowestoft Claremont Pier

OCTOBER

1  Margate By The Sea Festival (Margate Dreamland)

2- Brighton Brighton Centre
SAN FRANCISCO - A decadeslong lawsuit to make Chevron Corp. pay for cleaning up oil field pollution in Ecuador suffered another blow Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in the case, which has been closely watched worldwide.

The justices let stand a 2016 U.S. District Court ruling that a $19 billion judgment against Chevron in an Ecuadorean court in 2011 was the result of an elaborate fraud orchestrated by an American attorney, Steven Donziger.

Although Ecuador's highest court later cut that amount to $9.5 billion, Chevron vowed not to pay. Instead, Chevron accused Donziger of bribing an Ecuadoran judge and ghost-writing the judgment against the company.

"The facts of the Ecuadorean judicial extortion scheme and the illegality of the plaintiffs' lawyer misconduct have been finally and conclusively affirmed by the legal system of the United States," R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron's general counsel, said in an email. "Today's decision is an important step toward bringing this illegal scheme to a final conclusion."

The Supreme Court's action appears to end one tumultuous chapter in the fight - but does not stop the fight itself. Although further legal action in the U.S. now seems unlikely, Ecuadorans who want Chevron to fund cleanup efforts in a corner of the Amazon rainforest are also pursuing the company in Canada.

Chevron's opponents on Monday accused the U.S. Supreme Court of acting like "biased referees" in a ballgame, allowing an American company off the hook for misdeeds aboard. They maintain that Chevron, based in San Ramon, Calif., bribed a witness and forged evidence.

"Ultimately, Chevron will be forced by other jurisdictions to pay every last dollar of the judgment imposed on it for criminal behavior in Ecuador," read a statement Monday from the Amazon Defense Coalition, an organization that represents villagers and farmers living near Ecuador's oil fields.

The lawsuit's roots stretch back decades.

Texaco, which Chevron bought in 2001, drilled for oil in Ecuador from 1964 to 1992, working alongside the state-owned oil company Petroecuador. Chevron insists that Texaco fulfilled all of its cleanup obligations when it left the country. Any remaining pollution, according to Chevron, is Petroecuador's responsibility.

The lawsuit, based in the Ecuadorean town of Lago Agrio, became an international cause celebre and the subject of a 2009 documentary film, "Crude." But the film, which profiled Donziger and his legal team, became the key to Chevron's defense. One scene showed the team working with a court-appointed technical expert, Richard Cabrera, who was supposed to be neutral.

Chevron in 2011 sued Donziger in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accusing him and his colleagues of running an extortion scheme. Chevron's lawyers even obtained Donziger's diary, filled with unflattering descriptions of Ecuador's judges and legal system.

In March 2014, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sided with Chevron, saying Donziger and his colleagues had obtained the judgment against Chevron through fraud. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his decision last year.
XTO Energy, the shale drilling arm of Exxon Mobil Corp., plans to shift a third of its domestic workforce from Fort Worth to the Houston area in coming years, further expanding Exxon Mobil's footprint in the U.S. energy capital.

Exxon Mobil, which snapped up the largest U.S. shale gas producer in a $31 billion stock deal in 2010, will relocate 1,600 employees, including geologists, engineers, accountants and land administrators, to its sprawling campus near The Woodlands starting in mid-2018, a move that puts the unit's headquarters north of Houston after more than three decades in Fort Worth.

XTO will follow a number of others that in recent years have rotated high-paying jobs into Houston, the city with the nation's highest concentration of oil and gas producers, energy services providers, oil equipment makers, fabricated metal shops and engineering firms that employ tens of thousands across the region. Between late 2014 and late 2016, however, Houston lost some 80,000 jobs in both the oil industry and businesses that support it during a downturn in oil prices, but producers shifted some of their operations into Houston from faraway places like Singapore and Norway - a pattern that goes back to the oil bust of the 1980s. Last week, for example, Houston oil company Noble Energy said it planned to shift 100 jobs into Houston and Greeley, Colo., from its Denver offices.

"When the industry contracts, it often contracts back into Houston," said Patrick Jankowski, senior vice president of the Greater Houston Partnership. "It's easier to manage things when they're closer to home than when they're far-flung. They're managing overseas projects from here."

XTO Energy said about 1,200 workers will move to the campus near The Woodlands in mid-2018, with another 400 following in mid-2020, joining some 9,000 employees that Exxon Mobil already has there downstream. Having XTO's main workforce in the 385-acre campus will let the shale drilling team collaborate more often with Exxon Mobil's upstream research company, XTO spokeswoman Suann Guthrie said.

"We want all of our employees to relocate," she said. "We're not consolidating. We looked at how we can be better as an organization."

The move to the Houston area will involve selling off 600,000 square feet of office space in six of XTO's seven buildings in Fort Worth over the next few years, though XTO Energy will keep about 350 employees in North Texas to run its Barnett Shale operations near Fort Worth, as well as its midstream business.

Guthrie added XTO isn't moving away from Fort Worth because it doesn't want to do business there.

The shale driller, founded in 1986 as Cross Timbers, has about 5,000 employees across the United States and was snapped up by Exxon seven years ago as the world's largest publicly traded oil company bought its way into the U.S. shale gas boom.

XTO Energy also has begun shifting other workers closer to its oil field operations in places like North Dakota and West Texas.

In Denver, for example, it plans to shut down its offices in September and relocate employees closer to its operations in North Dakota's Bakken Shale. And in West Texas, it recently created a division focused on the Delaware Basin, where Exxon Mobil purchased 275,000 acres for $6.6 billion from the wealthy Bass family of Fort Worth.

"Now that Exxon has paid top dollar to go into the Permian, it makes a lot of sense to finish consolidating the Exxon staff into The Woodlands campus," said Ed Hirs, an energy economist at the University of Houston.
Texas barbecue and sweet tea is a match made in heaven, as anyone knows. But for those in the mood for something stronger to stand up to peppery brisket and smoky bones, there are many beer, wine and spirits possibilities. We asked a few local experts for their pairing ideas.

BEER

The expert

Kevin Floyd, beef aficionado, owner of The Hay Merchant

The possibilities

Beer and barbecue go hand in hand. It's a perfect marriage that nobody disputes. Beer is barbecue's buddy.

The challenges

Breaking the mold by pairing nontraditional beers while keeping in mind the environment in which barbecue is generally served: outside in the South during the summer. It's hot. Because of the high fat content of brisket or short ribs, big beers such as barrel-aged Russian Imperial stouts pair really well. Big beers like that aren't the best choice for a hot summer evening, but they're great if you happen to be enjoying barbecue indoors. The easy out is going with a lighter German style, such as a Pilsner or Helles, but what's the fun in that?

Recommendations

Light, seasonable sour beers. Look for fruited local options such as Saint Arnold's Raspberry AF (now in cans) or something from Belgium, such as Wittekerke Wild. Fruited sours from Cascade or Bruery are more expensive and more exotic options. For those intimidated by sour beers, look for lighter IPAs or Pale Ales. Firestone Walker Easy Jack or Lone Pint's Yellow Rose are both delicious lighter IPAs, and the traditionalist can always find a great pairing in a beer such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. All carry enough flavor to stand up to the boldness of the spice and fat in barbecue but are light and crisp enough to be easy drinking, even on hot summer nights.

WINE

The expert

Sean Beck, sommelier and beverage director for H-Town Restaurant Group, which includes Hugo's, Caracol, Xochi and Backstreet Cafe

The possibilities

The robust flavors of burly barbecued meat only become more interesting when off set by something vibrant. Wine - most wine - is inherently enchanting aromatically, visually and texturally.

The challenges

Picking wine to go with barbecue is like choosing an outfit to wear to a barbecue joint; it requires a little thought. You want varietals that are fleshy, round and forgiving when they come up against that smoke and spice. Big oak bombs (chardonnay, cabernet, merlot) are uncomfortable and just make the whole experience hotter and messier. Opt for reds such as Spanish monastrell, Italy's dolcetto and American zinfandel, or lush, juicy whites - off-dry riesling from Austria, South African chenin blanc and Argentina's torrontes.

Recommendations

For barbecue turkey and pork, De Morganzen Chenin Blanc from South Africa. It has beautiful layers of stone fruit, rich melon and a round, rich mouthfeel. For classic Texas brisket, Juan Gil's Monastrell from Jumilla, Spain. It's loaded with hedonistic dark red-to-black fruit with a mouth-coating lushness. Not to mention it can handle a little chill or be turned into a killer sangria.

WHISKEY

The expert

Mike Raymond, whiskey aficionado, co-owner of Reserve 101 whiskey bar

The possibilities

As a commonly oak-aged spirit made from cereal grain, whiskey provides a natural pairing of flavors that works with barbecue.



The challenges

Finding a whiskey that is big enough to stand up to the robustness of beef and pork and also complements smokiness with an inherent sweetness. Also, selecting a scotch that is not overly smoky or peaty. Conflicting smoke will not pair well.

Recommendations

American whiskeys - Wild Turkey Russell's Reserve, for example. Aged 10 years, it's a powerful product with a lot of oak flavor. This expression is a bit sharper and will cut through the fatty nature of barbecue, especially ribs, pork and brisket. Or Maker's Mark and Maker's 46, for a product that is midrange in terms of sharpness and sweetness. For brisket that has a cracked pepper bark (such as Killen's Barbecue and Pappa Charlies versions), having something on the sweeter side will balance it out - try Brenne, a sweet and fruity French single malt. For scotch, consider Ardberg.

Note: Responses have been edited for clarity and length.
Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle

That's the question framing The New York Times' piece on the reopening of the newly redesigned and renovated Emancipation Park over the weekend, in time for Monday's Juneteenth festivities. Michael Hardy writes that there was some skepticism in the historically black neighborhood over the $34 million project "given the influx of wealthier, often white residents who have been filling up new townhouse developments over the past few years, attracted by the relatively cheap homes prices and proximity to downtown." Hardy talked to Ramon Manning, who has lived in the Third Ward since the 1990s:

"You had a lot of folks saying, 'The park isn't for us; white folks are going to come in and take it over,'" Mr. Manning said. "But now that the park is open and folks are using the pool and the rec center, some of that is calming down. I always tell folks, look, take ownership. This is a park for everybody, no matter what your race is." (On two recent visits to the park, the overwhelming majority of park users were black.) There were also concerns about the park's $34 million budget, which was raised from private foundations, individual donors and a local economic development zone. "People say we have streets that need to be paved," said the development zone's vice chairwoman, Algenita Scott Davis. "Well, they will continue to be paved. But in the meantime, we're going to celebrate who we are. I'm sure the park's founders were attacked left and right by people saying they were wasting money on a park." The Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner, who is black and supported the renovation, said the city was working on ways to lighten the tax burden for longtime Third Ward residents so they can stay in their homes. But he made no apologies for trying to improve the neighborhood's quality of life: "The people of Third Ward deserve a park with all of the amenities, that is second to no other park in the city. African-Americans deserve that."
Sixteen years have passed since Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub in the Clear Lake home she shared with her husband Rusty Yates.

The tragic events of June 20, 2001 captivated and saddened the world, making headlines everywhere, with many mourning children that they never even knew.

FLASHBACK: 15 years ago the first Andrea Yates trial ends with a capital murder conviction

Yates called 911 that day, asking that Houston police come to her house. She didn't tell the dispatcher why.

In the years since, her name has reemerged, usually connected to similar cases of women stricken with postpartum depression killing or injuring their children, or when it's learned that she could be given certain privileges.

Story continues below...

Yates was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 after being convicted of capital murder for the drowning deaths of Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke 2; and Mary, 6 months.

An appeals court granted Yates a new trial and a jury found her innocent by reason of insanity in 2006, sentencing her to a mental hospital.

The Yates children are all interred at Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster. Their final resting place is marked by an ornate monument featuring etchings of their faces.

RELATED: Years after Andrea Yates case, attitudes towards postpartum are changing

Yates, who turns 53 on July 2, currently resides in the Kerrville State Hospital, where she will likely stay for the rest of her life.

The tragic case propelled conversations about women's mental health, specifically postpartum depression and the more severe postpartum psychosis. Yates suffered from both.

She and her husband Rusty divorced in 2004 and he has since remarried and started a new family. According to her longtime attorney George Parnham, she spends her free time doing arts and crafts. Parnham, his wife and another friend of Yates' are the only visitors she currently receives.

In 2002, Parnham and his wife created the Yates Children Memorial Fund, to help bring awareness about postpartum depression to the Houston community. Since the fund's creation, over 600,000 brochures on postpartum illnesses have been handed out around the community.
When Laquita Lewis waved a knife at her 16-year-old son and threatened to murder him, she got off with a slap on the wrist: 15 months of probation.

But now - less than a year later - the Houston mother of four stands accused of brutally stabbing her 4-year-old daughter to death inside a northwest Harris County apartment, leaving the toddler in a pool of blood.

This time she might not get off as easily. On Monday, the Harris County District Attorney's Office announced its intent to pursue a capital murder charge in the grisly case.

The sordid tale unfolded Sunday night after Lewis called the child's father and admitted to the killing, according to prosecutors.

"She's in heaven," Lewis reportedly said.

The worried father called police, who arrived at Lewis' apartment in the 5600 block of Timber Creek only to find the girl's lifeless body. She appeared to have been stabbed repeatedly in the chest.

"Our heart goes out to a 4-year-old girl named Fredricka Allen, her father, siblings and other family members," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said Monday.

"The unnatural act of a mother killing her own child is among the toughest for society to comprehend."

Before her knife-brandishing 2016 arrest, Lewis had no prior criminal record, though she'd landed in court repeatedly with a string of family court cases. The first was filed in 2011 by the Texas Attorney General's Office against the longtime husband who fathered three of Lewis' children - including the son she threatened to kill. After divorcing in 2012, the couple shared joint custody of their three sons, now ages 5, 15 and 16.

In 2014 and again in 2015, the attorney general filed suits against Fredricka's father, Frederick Allen. As with the earlier suit, a judge tossed the cases when Lewis failed to appear.

But Lewis didn't end up in a Harris County criminal court until the 2016 case that landed her on probation.

The details of the case aren't immediately clear, but court records show a Thanksgiving Day outburst ended in a misdemeanor charge for making terroristic threats.

Days after her initial arrest, Lewis was released on bond.

In February, she was awarded deferred adjudication, a form of probation in which she would not have had a conviction on her record if she completed the terms of probation.

Ogg's office said Lewis scored the lowest possible risk for recidivism when she was evaluated with the Texas Risk Assessment System as part of her probation requirements.

Fatal outburst

Now, she's being held in the Harris County Jail without bail. If convicted, she could face life in prison or the death penalty.

It's still not clear what sparked the slaying, authorities said.

Earlier in the day, it appears Lewis and her boyfriend got into a dispute, according to a sheriff's office spokesman. Authorities did not clarify what the fight was about, and it was not clear whether Lewis' boyfriend was the stabbed girl's father.

But the dispute may have contributed to Lewis' fatal outburst, Gilliland said.

After the slaying, Lewis abandoned the toddler and drove away, prosecutors said. Then around 6 p.m., she got into a minor car crash at Interstate 10 and Loop 610, to which the Houston Police Department responded.

Lewis wound up in Memorial Hermann Hospital that evening.

Prosecutors said in court Monday that Lewis told the child's father and aunt via text messages and phone calls that she had killed her daughter.

Eerie echoes

Lewis did not appear in court Monday because she was still being processed into the Harris County jail. She is expected to go before state District Judge Maria Jackson on Tuesday, when she will be formally arraigned and an attorney will likely be appointed.

The case rings eerie echoes of another Houston-area crime that narrowly avoided a similar ending.

In 2015, Jenea Mungia stabbed her 4-year-old son on the front lawn of the family's home. The boy survived, but Mungia was hit with the felony charge of serious bodily injury to a child.

Afterward, an attorney for the distraught mother said she was having "very delusional thoughts and hallucinations" at the time of the assault.

And, like other troubled Texas mothers before her - including Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in 2001, and Dena Schlosser. who killed her 10-month-old daughter with a butcher knife in 2004 - Mungia was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity.

On Monday, with Lewis still sitting behind bars, her apartment sat shrouded in silence, with tricycles and toys littered across the sleepy patio.

One neighbor said she had no idea there had been a murder next door.

"It's usually really quiet around here," Jessica Rivera said from the doorway of her second-floor apartment.

Blake Paterson contributed to this report.
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Ruth Simmons was retired. Absolutely retired. Until she met with Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp in Hobby Airport.

A renowned higher education leader, Simmons had led a swath of elite universities, breaking barriers, it seemed, with each appointment. She was the first black president of Smith College, a prestigious women's college in Massachusetts.

From there, she hopped to Brown University, serving as the first black president of an Ivy League university for more than a decade before stepping down in 2012.

In retirement, she moved to Houston, where her family lives, and she was peppered with job offers.

This time, it was Sharp's turn to make a pitch: Prairie View A&M University's longtime president was stepping down to focus on teaching. Would she come out of retirement to be our interim president?

She was speechless, she recalled Monday. And then - unlike every other time she'd been asked before - she said yes.

Simmons will start leading the historically black university on July 1 as it searches for a permanent president.

"To think of the young people who come from circumstances where they are striving to move ahead, it's very emotional to me to be a part of that after having been president of an Ivy League institution," she said. "It brings a certain balance to my career, finishing with something like this."

Elected to Brown in 2000

Simmons, 71 and the daughter of a sharecropper, graduated from Phillis Wheatley High School in the Fifth Ward before matriculating at Dillard University, a historically black institution in New Orleans.

After graduation, Simmons enrolled at Harvard University, earning her Ph.D. in Romance languages and literature before starting to teach, first at the University of New Orleans and then in California.

A job at Princeton University brought her back east. She held administrative positions there and at Spelman College, a historically black college in Atlanta, before moving to Smith in 1995. She was elected to Brown's presidency in 2000.

Simmons said she will serve until the university appoints a permanent president. She said she's "too old" to consider taking the permanent job.

Still, she insisted to Sharp that she will be fully in charge as an interim president to avoid stalling the university's progress. Former President George Wright introduced a strategic plan through 2020 to boost enrollment and improve the university's image several years ago. Simmons wants to speak with him, she said, about that plan and make sure the university makes progress under her leadership.

Regents approved her appointment unanimously on Monday afternoon on a call.

Sharp said Simmons wouldn't miss a beat, calling her "an important figure on the national stage for decades."

"She has the credentials to be the president of any university in America," he said in a statement. "I am so excited to have her join us."

Prairie View A&M students don't come from the same background as Brown students. Prairie View rejects about 15 percent of undergraduate applicants each year. Brown last spring accepted just 8.3 percent.

About two-thirds of Prairie View undergraduates receive Pell Grants, which benefit low-income students. The median family income of a Brown student is more than $200,000, the New York Times reported.

Prairie View is a historically black university. In fall 2015, less than 7 percent of students at Brown were black.

Using herself as role model

Simmons said she wants to show Prairie View students that they can make it - as she did.

"I believe that there is an extraordinarily strong continuum across all of higher education," she said by phone Monday. "We overly emphasize the so-called top tier, or the elite, as against community colleges ... at Brown, I talked about that continuum. I talked about the importance of community college students having access to the Ivy League. A student who goes to a place like Dillard, for example, can leave Dillard, as I did, and go to graduate school at Harvard."

She paused.

"It's rather troubling to me when those differentiations occur. The reality for the students is: if they go to Prairie View and perform well, they can go all the way to the top, just as a student who starts at Harvard as an undergraduate can. This is a message so few people get."

At Brown, Simmons increased the faculty's size by 20 percent and removed a student's financial needs from consideration in the admissions process. In 2003, she created a committee on slavery and justice to investigate Brown's relationship with slavery and the slave trade.

Marybeth Gasman, who directs the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Minority-Serving Institutions, said Simmons talked about graduating from a historically black college when she was Brown's president.

That representation showed outsiders the achievements that graduates of these schools could go on to accomplish, Gasman said.

Her time at Brown also left her with "incredible connections" with higher education's major players, including big donors. "The president ... is like the living logo of the institution," she said. "That's going to be great for Prairie View."

Wright said Monday night that Simmons's appointment was a "very significant step" for the university. The selection could boost alumni giving, he said, and would help the university's enrollment grow.

"Can you imagine, for the students who are considering Prairie View?" he said. "They'll be very excited to know the caliber of the person there."
As questions about transgender and gay rights continue to roil the Texas Legislature while it prepares for a July special session, Houston ISD Superintendent Richard Carranza proposed adding LGBTQ studies to the district's existing U.S. history curriculum.

Speaking Tuesday at a community meeting hosted by the Houston Defender, a publication that focuses on the area's black community, Carranza said including LGBTQ - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer - and ethnic studies in history curriculum will show students a broader picture of America's past.

"The LGBTQ movement in the U.S. has a history, and in many cases, many people would call it a civil rights history in terms of acceptance and in terms of who have been leaders of the movement," Carranza said. "I think its part of the American history. To include that as part of what kids study is just a bigger picture of who we are as America."

HOUSTON REP: Al Green pushes June as 'LGBTQ' month

Only in California are schools required to include the contributions of gay, lesbian, transgender, bisexual and queer people as part of social studies curriculum, thanks to a 2011 law. Texas, however, mandates that education programs "state that homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle," according to the Texas Health and Safety Code. Another rule within the health and safety code encourages school districts to emphasize "that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public."

It is unclear whether adding LGBTQ history to U.S. history courses would be at odds with those existing state rules.

Carranza's proposal comes as state legislators prepare to debate which restrooms transgender students and teachers should use on public school campuses during a special legislative session slated to begin in July.

PRIDE PORTRAITS: Mayor Sylvester Turner, Annise Parker, 'Drag Race' stars strike a pose

Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick have been outspoken in supporting laws that would require transgender people to use the restroom that matches their birth certificate at public schools and universities.

Although Abbott, Patrick and other social conservatives pushed for the so-called bathroom bill during the Legislature's regular session earlier this year, the proposal died after moderate Republicans in the House balked at determining how far-reaching such a bill should be.

Some feared economic and political repercussions similar to those experienced in North Carolina after that state passed a law in 2016 requiring transgender people to use the bathroom that corresponds with the gender on their birth certificates rather than the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity.

COLORFUL INTERSECTION: Gay-pride crosswalk makes debut in Montrose

While opponents of the bathroom bill say it will codify discrimination against transgender people and will open school districts up to civil rights lawsuits, those who favor it say it will protect the privacy and comfort of the majority of students who do not identify as transgender.

Click through to see a timeline of gay marriage in Texas.
Seth Wenig/STF

At least 10 passengers were injured Tuesday afternoon during a bumpy flight from Panama to Houston.

United Flight 1031 struck severe turbulence while headed over Mexican airspace about 80 miles east of Cancun, according to FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford.
In a surprising turn of events in the Texas Medical Center, Dr. Benjamin Chu is out as president and CEO of the Memorial Hermann Health System, just a year after he assumed the top job.

It was unclear Monday if Chu resigned or was forced out. In a news release, Memorial Hermann announced a "leadership change," effective immediately, and gave no new destination for Chu, one of the nation's leading architects of integrated health-care reform. His hiring in June 2016 was considered a coup for the health-care system, the largest in the Houston area.

"After much discussion with the system board, I have made the difficult decision to leave the organization to pursue my passion for health and public policy," Chu emailed employees and doctors Monday morning. "As a physician and longtime public policy advocate, I look forward to continuing my mission to enhance access to high-quality care and improve the overall health of our population."

Chu said in the news release that it had been "a privilege" to lead Memorial Hermann, but declined interview requests. Deborah Cannon, chair of the Memorial Hermann board, said in the release that "we thank Chu for his service and wish him the very best in his future endeavors," but also would not comment.

Chuck Stokes, the system's chief operating officer, has been promoted to interim president.

Two knowledgeable sources suggested the pairing of Chu and Memorial Hermann was a mismatch from the beginning - an executive at a long-established managed-care consortium in California who never had been a CEO and a sprawling Texas Medical Center health system relatively new to such reform. They said Chu struggled to adjust to the new role and culture change.

Memorial Hermann is composed of 13 hospitals and more than 200 care sites around the region. The region was described by one outsider as "the Wild, Wild West of health care, compared to California."

Nevertheless, the abrupt departure came as a surprise to most everyone in the medical center, where Chu was well-liked and highly regarded.

"This is a loss to the community," said Dr. Kenneth Mattox, chief of staff at Ben Taub General Hospital. "Dr. Chu was a great example of what we like in the med center - professionals who are highly competitive but get along with each other with respect."

Chu ranked No. 8 on Modern Healthcare magazine's list of the nation's 50 Most Influential Physician Executives and Leaders. He was the first physician CEO at Memorial Hermann.

Mattox asked, "where's a better position to pursue one's passion in health and public policy than Houston?"

Reputation as change agent

Chu, who replaced Dan Wolterman at Memorial Hermann, spent 11 years at Kaiser Permanente, a non-profit insurance plan that manages the health of its patients with its own networks and clinics. The organization is 71 years old.

Chu came to Memorial Hermann with a solid national reputation as a change agent, promising to help put in place new models of integrated and standardized care that would benefit both patients and the health system's bottom line. Wolterman had begun that process.

The appointment came amid a rapidly shifting landscape in the nation's health-care business model, the replacement of the traditional fee-for service system with value-based care. The evolution is seen as needed not only to streamline efficiency but also to curb over-treatment of patients and skyrocketing health care costs.

"We have a lot of work to do," Chu told the Houston Chronicle's editorial board Sept. 21, 2016.

"We've gotten doctors together to argue out the data and the evidence to come up with these protocols that drive, not just care, but also drive the tools that we can begin to move towards standardization of care," he said as he laid out his vision just 100 days into the job.

"At Kaiser, we were able to do it end to end because we control every aspect of that care," Chu said. "Here, it's still about end-to-end care experience, it's just going to be harder to control all of the pieces."

Vivian Ho, a health economist at Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy, said she was surprised Chu left after just one year. She shared many of his visions for the future of health care in Houston.

"When he addressed an audience at the Baker Institute last month, he emphasized the importance of population health and coordinated care, two concepts he gained great experience with at Kaiser in California. I was looking forward to him bringing novel ideas on patient care to Houston," she said Monday.

Stokes takes reins

Memorial Hermann spokeswoman Alex Rodriguez said Memorial Hermann's vision will remain unchanged.

Memorial Hermann said Chu will continue to pursue health-care policy as part of numerous national boards, including chair of the Commonwealth Fund in New York, a member of the advisory committee to the director of the Centers for Disease Control and past chair of the American Hospital Association board of trustees. Cannon said she could "think of no better time for a champion like Chu to help lead public policy efforts."

Stokes, a registered nurse, joined Memorial Hermann as chief operating officer in 2008. He recently was named among the Top 25 COOs in medicine by Modern Healthcare.

"I am appreciative of the board's confidence in my ability to lead our organization through this change," Stokes said in the news release. "During this transition period, I am committed to reinforcing and advancing Memorial Hermann's unwavering commitment to patient safety, quality and high reliability."

Chu is the third major leader to step down in the Texas Medical Center this year. Dr. Ron DePinho resigned MD Anderson Cancer Center's presidency under pressure in March, and Dr. Robert Robbins in April left the Texas Medical Center top job to become president of the University of Arizona.
OUT OF TIME Chapter 5: Lawsuit against federal government will challenge Houston man's deportation

OUT OF TIME Chapter 5: Lawsuit against federal government will challenge Houston man's deportation

Published June 19, 2017

Over the weekend, the weight of the last few months came crashing down on Karen Rodriguez.

She closed the door to her bedroom and burst into tears.

"I am broken. I am broken ," Karen cried as she sat on the floor, with her head to the ground.

She didn't feel like "the leader of the house" any more, as her father typically called his eldest daughter.

The day of his deportation was fast approaching, and she was feeling more and more helpless.

But two days later, on Monday morning, she arrived at the Houston office of a prestigious national law firm ready for a fight.

She was eager to sign her name to a federal lawsuit against the U.S. government, one that would challenge, on religious grounds, the effort to deport Juan Rodriguez.

She stood in front of a notary with about 10 lawyers and paralegals looking on, as she and her mother became the plaintiffs, "individually and on behalf" of her two minor sisters.

Celia Rodriguez had worried - days before - about her three daughters becoming too exposed by the publicity surrounding her husband's case.

She thought people might be unkind to them, yell ugly things, make a bad situation worse.

But Karen felt empowered now, as she hadn't before.

She later took her turn before the microphones at a press conference, acting and sounding nothing like an 18-year-old.

* * *

Last Friday afternoon, the lawyers were still working on the details for the lawsuit.

Former Texas Supreme Court Justice David Medina, Juan Vasquez and David Calvillo, partners at the Chamberlain Hrdlicka law firm, had volunteered to help the Rodriguez family, with the support of the Hispanic Bar Association.

Vasquez, who also is an accountant, sat at the head of a long, granite table in a conference room, in a black suit and red striped tie. Calvillo sat to his left, without his jacket and wearing suspenders. The men spoke softly to each other before sharing details of their strategy.

Like their new clients, they are family men (Vasquez has four children, Calvillo has eight), and Christians.

A New America Keep up with the latest immigration coverage here. To see more stories about the Rodriguez family, go here. And to see what the Rodriguezes are going through in photos, go here.

They were struck, Vasquez said, by the Rodriguezes' faith, by Juan's role as the spiritual leader, by the Bibles scattered around their house, open to select pages.

It became clear, he said, that Juan and his family epitomized those the Religious Freedom Restoration Act was designed to protect.

The law, passed by a Republican Congress in 1993, says the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion even if the burden results from a rule of general applicability."

It was most notably applied in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby, where the chain successfully claimed before the U.S. Supreme Court that it could not be forced by the Affordable Care Act to provide birth control to its employees because it would violate the employer's religious beliefs. That decision was handed down in 2014.

Vasquez and the other lawyers expect to face strong counter-arguments, from the U.S. Attorney General's office, from Homeland Security and from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But Calvillo said it's clear that the religious law should apply, and Medina feels they have "a very strong case."

The Rodriguezes are Adventist Christians, and "their religion says, we have to stay together, because we are a reflection of the holy family," Calvillo said. If Juan were deported, the family could not live their faith, he said.

His wife and children  all American citizens  would be forced to follow him to El Salvador, creating "a religious, de facto deportation," Calvillo said.

The lawsuit also will claim that the family is being denied due process, as defined under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.

Karen Rodriguez, 18, signs documents witnessed by Kelly Jo Cannon, left, moments before submitting a lawsuit against the federal government, Monday, June 19, 2017, in Houston. Karen Rodriguez, 18, signs documents witnessed by Kelly Jo Cannon, left, moments before submitting a lawsuit against the federal government, Monday, June 19, 2017, in Houston. Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle Photo: Marie D. De Jesus, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close OUT OF TIME 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

The Rodriguezes should not be forced into "a war zone" in El Salvador through "an arbitrary and capricious change in the exercise of judgment at the federal level," Calvillo said.

Juan Rodriguez had been checking in with immigration officials for years and was allowed to stay in the country under prosecutorial discretion. But in February, he was informed that the rules had changed under President Donald Trump and that he would be deported on June 29. Vasquez said the recent lack of consistency in ICE rules, even from city to city, should be investigated.

In a separate legal action, Juan's attorney, Raed Gonzalez, has begun the process to reopen a petition for asylum.

* * *

At the press conference on Monday, in front of the federal courthouse, the family's lawyers discussed their hope that Juan will be allowed to stay in the country as the lawsuit makes its way through the judicial system. They had electronically filed the motions at the office.

Calvillo wore a tie covered in crosses, a gift from his mother when he became a lawyer.

Medina found it "very interesting" that Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the date when Muhammad Ali was convicted in Houston, at the same courthouse, for refusing to be drafted into the military during the Vietnam War. Ali cited "his sincere religious beliefs," Medina said, and he won his appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.

"We are making a similar argument," Medina said.

The Rodriguezes were surrounded not only by lawyers, but by supporters from FIEL Houston, an immigrants' organization, and clergymen, including Joseph Fiorenza, the archbishop emeritus of Galveston-Houston.

Their pastor, Lazaro Sanchez, spoke about the family's moral and religious qualities.

When it was time for Karen to take the podium, Vasquez offered her simple advice: "Speak from your heart."

She was encouraged, and strengthened, she said, by all the help the family had received.

And she asked for more support, for people to stand with her family in front of ICE headquarters in Houston at 9 a.m. on June 29.

Later, her father couldn't get over how well his daughter had handled everything. She seemed so mature, he said, so intelligent.

The day before, on Father's Day, she had said he was her hero.

But on Monday, he said, she was his.

olivia.tallet@chron.com

Twitter: @oliviaptallet
A series of inmates Monday offered vivid accounts of daily life locked inside prison dormitories without air conditioning in sweltering summer heat.

You can't read because sweat pools up in your eyes. You can't write a letter because the ink gets smeared with sweat. You accidentally brush against your bed post and it's like touching an oven that got left on.

"It's undescribable. It's real misery," said Thomas Pennington, a 52-year-old serving a life sentence. "You sit on your bunk, put your head down and you just sit there, you're soaking wet, clothes stuck to you."

Heat-induced illnesses

Pennington and four other inmates described sleepless nights, headaches, dizziness and nausea. One inmate, Carlos Huerta, 30, went to the emergency room for heat exhaustion with a body temperature of 102.3 and on another oppressively hot day, Huerta saw a sweat-soaked guard on his unit collapse.

The testimony came in a federal lawsuit by inmates seeking emergency relief from "cruel and unusual punishment" of indoor heat that sometimes tops 100 degrees in the summertime.

Lawyers for six inmates at the Wallace Pack Unit northwest of Houston say the heat is especially dangerous for sick and elderly inmates and those who take medicine that inhibits their bodies from cooling itself.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison previously ruled that the inmates needed a safer water supply because the well at Pack Unit had elevated levels of arsenic.

Twenty-two inmates have died from heat-related illness at the state prisons since 1998, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Most state prisons in Texas do not have air-conditioning in the housing units.

Inadequate remedies

Lawyers for TDCJ questioned the inmates about the remedies the prison has provided - including ice water, respite rooms and wellness checks.

The Pack inmates testified that the ample ice water and fans aren't enough to mitigate the heat. The cool showers help for about as long as it takes to walk back to one's bunk from the shower. The respite areas - including the craft shop, the barber shop and an administrative hallway - offer limited space for limited time periods.

Keith Cole, 63, told the judge the situation has improved since he and others sued the prison. There's always ice water available, for example.

But he said only truly assertive inmates like him take advantage of the respite areas on a daily basis. The fans just blow hot air. The dorms don't have cross-ventilation because the windows are sealed shut.

One of Cole's biggest fears is shortness of breath, which he says affects him every summer when the temperature rises.

"The best way to describe it is it feels like you're sucking in air, but you're not sucking in air. You have the sensation that you're suffocating," Cole said.

The hearing is expected to last into next week.
October 25, 1927-June 14, 2017

Born October 25, 1927Went home to be with the Lord June 14, 2017.

Earl was raised on a family ranch at Elburz, Nevada and attended a one room school house at Elburz through the 6th grade, from there he attended Elko schools and Graduated from Elko High School in 1947, then attended diesel mechanic School in Chicago.

As soon as age permitted he started working on the Western Pacific Railroad, being the last fireman hired on coal fired locomotives.

He was drafted into the Army in 1952 and after serving his country he was honorably discharged in 1954. Upon his return home; he resumed working for the Western Pacific Railroad, fulfilling his lifelong dream of being a Locomotive Engineer. He accomplished his goal and spent many years as an engineer after working his way up from being a fireman, including firing on the California Zephyr. In 1973 he moved his family from Elko to Winnemucca and retired in 1989.

He is survived by his wife of 52 years, Modene Smiraldo, Sons Walter Smiraldo and Marshall (Holley) Poole, daughters Linda (Rory) Webb and Shelly (Bill) Trakas. sisters Elinor Furlong and Rose Mary Mariani and numerous grandchildren, great grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents Giconie Smiraldo, (Carrie Glaser) Smiraldo, brother George Smiraldo and daughter Debra Poole Rogers.

He loved his Model A truck and learned to love everything Model A. He built a roadster from a rusted hulk to a road worthy machine and used it for touring. After retirement he and Modene enjoyed many trips with their Model A Club, He so enjoyed working on his antique cars and truck and was a member of the Sagebrush Chapter of Carson City and the French Ford As of Winnemucca.

He was a Mason for 50 years and belonged to the lodge at Elko and later Winnemucca. He loved his many dogs that he had during his lifetime and especially the present Shorty His kind, generous and friendly ways and witty remarks will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.

Our sincere gratitude for the kindness and great care given to him by the staff at Highland Village during this final battle with cancer and Alzheimers.

A Celebration of Life will be held August 5, 2017 at 11:00 A.M. at First Baptist Church at 5th and Garrison Street, Winnemucca Nevada.
Who do you trust to run your police department? A Houston cop or a bunch of Austin politicians?

That's the crux of the argument against one of the worst bills passed in the last session of the Texas Legislature. That's saying a lot. But it's the simple truth about Senate Bill 4, the so-called sanctuary cities bill that overrides local police department policies on whether officers can ask people about immigration status.

Houston City Council this week will debate whether to join San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and other local governments in a lawsuit fighting this usurpation of municipal powers. We agree with the parade of citizens who are scheduled to speak out against this law at City Hall today. Our council members should vote to battle this misguided legislation.

The new law dictates that local governments and police chiefs can't forbid their officers from asking people whether they're in this country legally. It also threatens to fine or jail sheriffs and chiefs who refuse requests from federal authorities to hold immigrants detained for other alleged crimes.

Nobody in Texas believes in law and order more deeply than our state's police chiefs, so it's compelling that leaders of police departments are actively opposing this legislation. Their biggest concern is fighting crimes against people and property, and they understand that their officers need to have strong and open relationships with the communities they're sworn to serve and protect. They know those relationships will suffer if officers start asking everyone they encounter whether they're here legally. It's an even bigger concern if those questions are posed because of the color of someone's skin.

Here in Houston, we're already seeing an ominous sign of how this legislation might make our city a more dangerous place to live. As the federal government has ratcheted up deportations of undocumented immigrants, rape reports filed by Hispanic victims dropped a stunning 43 percent during the first quarter of this year, and reports of other violent crimes against Hispanics dropped 13 percent. Getting rapists off our streets is way more important than getting otherwise law-abiding, undocumented immigrants out of our country.

When Gov. Greg Abbott was Texas attorney general, he bragged about how often he sued the federal government for encroaching on the powers of the state. Now that the state government is trying to tell local governments how to do their jobs, it's time for Texas cities to follow Abbott's example and take the "sanctuary cities" bill to court.
When Democrats passed the Dodd-Frank Act in the wake of the financial crisis, they promised it would lift the economy, make our financial system more secure and end bailouts. None of this has come to pass. Americans have suffered through the weakest recovery since World War II. The big banks have gotten even bigger, the small banks have become fewer, and our markets have become more fragile - all increasing risk to our financial system. Dodd-Frank promises more taxpayer-funded bailouts for the Wall Street banks that government bureaucrats officially designate "too big to fail."

Simply put, Dodd-Frank has failed to keep its promises.

After six years and 145 hearings on Dodd-Frank and its failures, House Republicans came up with a better way. It's called the Financial CHOICE Act (HR 10), and it stands for creating hope and opportunity for investors, consumers and entrepreneurs.

Far from being a "big bank giveaway," as a Houston Chronicle editorial "Don't be distracted" (Page A16, Wednesday) suggested, the Financial CHOICE Act holds Wall Street accountable with the toughest penalties in history for fraud and insider trading. It also ends bailouts so Washington can never again pick taxpayers' pockets and hand the money over to big banks. Perhaps that's why the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have all reported that big banks aren't supporting our bill and instead want Dodd-Frank to remain in place.

Furthermore, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the regulatory relief in the Financial CHOICE Act will benefit community banks and credit unions and that big Wall Street banks cannot or will not meet the bill's criteria for significant regulatory relief. The CBO also found that the Financial CHOICE Act will cut the deficit by $33.6 billion over 10 years. No surprise, because when you end bailouts, you save taxpayers money.

Dodd-Frank also failed to keep its promises when it comes to consumer protection.

True consumer protection respects consumers' economic rights, provides them with more choices and ensures consumers have access to competitive, transparent and innovative markets that are vigorously policed for fraud and deception. Americans deserve the opportunity to choose the checking account they want, the mortgage they want, the credit card they want. No unelected, unaccountable bureaucrat in Washington should be able to take that away from them. Unfortunately, that's exactly what Dodd-Frank's rogue agency known as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has done.

The CFPB has an important mission. Properly designed and led, it is capable of great good. That is why the Financial CHOICE Act re-establishes the CFPB as a constitutional civil enforcement agency that is responsible for actually enforcing the consumer protection laws written by Congress instead of making up its own law in an unfair, deceptive and abusive manner with no accountability. In short, the Financial CHOICE Act ensures that Washington's shadow regulators come out from the shadows and that government is held accountable to We, the People.

Hard-working taxpayers want Congress to end the bailouts. They want Congress to hold both Washington and Wall Street accountable. They want Congress to make our financial system safer, stronger and more secure. And they want a healthier economy, with equal opportunity for all. That's what they will get with the Financial CHOICE Act.

Hensarling, a Republican representing the Dallas area in the U.S. House of Representatives, is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
The field has narrowed for Houston city administrator, city officials said Tuesday.

Interviews are slated to begin Friday with a decision reached by mid-July, Mayor Don Tottingham said. About 25 initially applied for the job, which was held by Larry Sutton until three new members of the council and a fourth member opted for a change in leadership. Suttons last day on the job was May 31 and he will not be returning after a recently reached negotiation.

Records show that the Houston City Council reached a settlement related to the end of Suttons employment. The city will pay him wages until the end of November. He already had about two months of pay due him. The council voted 5-1 to approve the settlement. Alderman Donnie Wilson voted no.

The end of November would have marked Suttons 10th anniversary of employment.

Mayor Don Tottingham said there were conflicting ordinances on how the termination should have been conducted, and the council opted for a settlement rather than a lengthy court proceeding.

In other matters at meeting Monday, members:

Heard from a delegation from Houston Development Co. related to unused industrial development funds held by the city that would help it with financial obligations related to an industrial building on Spruce Street. The city is awaiting opinions from its attorney and accountant. HDC also would be open to selling acreage it owns near the fairgrounds.

Learned that the city is awaiting a building inspectors report before releasing property owner Terry Snelling from an earlier decision that required him to make improvements on Second Street.

Heard an update on a busy upcoming schedule for the Houston Area Chamber of Commerce. Crystal Stice, president, and Angie Quinlan, executive director, attended the meeting.
ELKO  If you have ever considered a career in medicine or biomedical research, Great Basin College has your undergraduate degree covered and is here to help you prepare for the next steps.

Great Basin College, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health Nevada INBRE (IDeA Network of Biomedical Research), will host a free BioMed Workshop Aug. 21-24 for those interested in studying biology, biomedical research or medicine. Participants will also tour one professional school at a Nevada university.

This particular workshop will focus on how to prepare for professional school, which for some include careers medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy and other professional fields.

Participants can expect to spend about eight hours on-campus per day during the workshop.

Margo Teague is the Great Basin College Site Coordinator of the NIH/INBRE Biomedical Research Program.

Teague explained that the goal of the workshop is to dedramatize going off to medical or professional school.

The goals of the workshop are to prepare students to succeed in their undergraduate courses at GBC and to establish connections with other GBC students. Students take part in discussions concerning admission processes, college success strategies, and are able to hear from guest speakers and current GBC students pursuing careers in medicine.

For one day of the workshop, students will travel to a Nevada professional school for a university-led tour. During the field trip, students will meet with advisors, visit research labs, and tour the campus. All expenses will be paid for by INBRE.

Teague said professional schools are continually recruiting rural students who will return to those areas upon graduation, helping to fill the high demand for health care professionals.

GBC Biology Instructor David Freistroffer mentioned Great Basin College graduates have the potential to fill these gaps.

This past semester, two GBC students were accepted into professional schools. One student will be attending pharmacy school, and another will be attending chiropractic school this fall. Its incredible that one degree can give so many students a pathway into many professional careers.

The BioMed Workshop is available to any student over the age of 18 and enrolled at GBC for Fall Semester 2017 who is interested in GBCs biology programs.

If you are interested in completing the application or requesting more information, contact Margo Teague by emailing margo.teague@gbcnv.edu or calling Teague at 775-397-0785. Applications are due by July 10.

The applicants chosen for this summer workshop will be a mix of students who are completely new to college and those who can offer their wisdom of a year or more of experience studying in the sciences. Interested students must plan to attend the entire workshop. Housing will be available for students attending from out of town.
The company currently has over 20 brands to its name  including Warehouse Stationary, Noel Leeming and Torpedo7  and has more than 12,000 people on the payroll.

First introduced in 1990, the concept of employer branding has been around for some time but has gained significant traction in recent years.

When I first started in my role, there were only two other people within New Zealand who were also doing employment brand, reveals Taylor. Fast-forward to 2017 and there are eight people within Auckland alone who are in dedicated employment brand roles.

Taylor says the uptick comes as employees increasingly seek out companies with a strong culture or clear purpose which matches their own priorities.

Data shows internationally that more and more people are looking for purposeful work and especially we see that come to the foreground with our millennial candidates, says Taylor.
OTTAWA  The Senate's Ethics Officer Lyse Ricard resigned suddenly Monday.

Ricard has been leading an investigation in allegations of workplace harassment in the office of former senator Don Meredith, who stepped down last month when it seemed he may be expelled over a relationship with a teenage girl.

Ricard cited "sudden and unforeseen family obligations requiring her full attention for her early departure," according to Senate Speaker George Furey. She will resign on June 30. She has been the Senate's ethics officer since 2012.

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It's unclear what this means for the Meredith report or another report into allegations concerning independent Liberal Senator Colin Kenny. Calls to the office of the Senate's ethics officer were not immediately returned.

According to the ethics code, an inquiry pertaining to a senator is automatically permanently suspended if they cease to be a senator. However, Senate committees do have the authority to override the permanent suspension of an inquiry if they decide it should be completed once started.

Meredith resigned a week after the Senate ethics committee recommended he be expelled for his relationship with a teenage girl.

Days before the committee recommended expulsion, HuffPost Canada published an investigation revealing the senator harassed and sexually abused his staff for years.

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Other senior Senate officials moving on

Conservative Senator Raynell Andreychuk told the Senate that Ricard was resigning due to the unexpected illness of her husband, Jean-Pierre Dubeau.

She acknowledged Ricard for her dedication, professionalism, hard work and the integrity she had brought to the Senate ethics officer position.

Ricard is the third senior Senate administrator to leave her post. Nicole Proulx, the chief corporate services officer and clerk of the standing committee on internal economy, budgets and administration, will retire on Aug. 31. The clerk of the Senate Charles Robert is also moving on. Robert will be the new clerk of the House of Commons.
Conservatives want to know if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau plans on balancing the federal budget when pigs fly or when hell freezes over.

Opposition House Leader Candice Bergen posed the tongue-in-cheek question to Trudeau in the House of Commons Monday as Tories pressed the prime minister about his deficit spending.

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Bergen noted during question period that the prime minister refused to answer a direction question about when  if ever  he plans on balancing the budget during a TV interview that aired over the weekend.

She said that future generations facing a big tab because of Trudeaus excessive spending deserve a straight answer on when the books will be balanced.

Trudeau responded these were all arguments hed heard before  ones that formed the core of the Conservatives election platform in 2015 that was soundly rejected by Canadians because it focused on balancing the budget at all costs.

The prime minister lauded his government for investing in a brighter future for Canadians through infrastructure and middle class tax cuts, financed by raising taxes on the richest Canadians.

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All things those members stood against, he said.

But Liberals pledged in 2015 to run deficits no larger than $10 billion per year, with a return to balance by the end of their mandate. This years budget projected a deficit of $28.5 billion, nearly three times the cap Trudeau promised two summers ago, with no path back to black.

Tory MP Alain Rayes, who kicked off question period, also wanted to know what happened to those modest deficits Trudeau promised on the campaign trail.

Hes being completely irresponsible with taxpayer money and hes doing it at the expense of our children and grandchildren, Rayes said of the prime minister before asking him to tell Canadians once and for all when they will return to balance.

Trudeau said Canadians chose more spending when they elected Liberals instead of two parties wanting to make cuts at any price"  a dig at New Democrats who also campaigned on balanced budgets.

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The investments being made are needed after 10 years of Tory mismanagement, he said.

PM pressed during TV interview

Those are much the same arguments Trudeau made in his sit-down with "The West Block"s Vassy Kapelos, who asked him several times to share his strategy to tackle bulging deficits.

The prime minister lauded investments that he said would help grow the economy in meaningful, tangible ways but wouldnt commit to a date on balancing the books.

This country needs growth after 10 years of sluggish growth under (former prime minister Stephen) Harper, he said.

Watch Trudeaus West Block interview below:

With a file from The Canadian Press

Also on HuffPost

Trudeau Government's Broken Promises (So Far) See Gallery
If you find yourself in a small New Brunswick village and are looking for a cheap place to lay your head, there's always the old Dorchester jail.

For just $34 a night, you can live like an inmate in a former jail cell. Except instead of a warden, this prison has a friendly host who brings you toast and coffee in the morning.

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Bill Steele bought the old Dorchester, N.B. provincial jail in March and has turned it into a unique Airbnb that he also lives in.

He officially started accepting guests last week and says people have contacted him from across Canada.

"Everybody that has stayed so far has loved it to death," he told HuffPost Canada.

The village of Dorchester is a half-hour drive outside of Moncton. Steele says he's already known in the area.

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"People in Moncton call me the jail guy," he says.

The building is more than 200 years old but only closed 20 years ago, according to CTV Atlantic.

While Steele has added some perks like new beds, Wi-Fi, dimmable LED lighting and optional privacy curtains to cover the cell doors, it's still a creepy old jail.

"You're getting a bare bones prisoner treatment," he told HuffPost. There is no heating or air conditioning in the cells.

Graffiti from former inmates is still on the walls.

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The $34 gets one person a stay in a single bed. He charges $5 extra for a second person to share the cell.

Larger rooms or even the whole building can be booked for events. There is also a gym available for $5 a day.

Steele has opened seven rooms so far for guests, and hopes to open more soon.

He also has several ideas to make the stay more interesting.

He's trying to get in touch with Bernard Robichaud, who plays Cyrus on the "Trailer Park Boys," to ferry people who are flying in to their lodgings.

As an antique collector, he also owns some "morbid and unusual things" that he wants to display for his guests, including a 1940s-era hospital gurney that he says was used on the set of a horror movie.

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"I have some human skulls, and an old tombstone that's popped up on the front lawn," he says.

He says he believes that the place is haunted, but doesn't think the spirits have any ill intentions.

"I'm a chickenshit, believe me," he says.

"I can walk around at 3 o'clock in the morning... And I don't feel scared."

If any place is haunted, it might be the jail  New Brunswick's final double hanging took place there in 1936, according to CBC News.

Brothers Arthur and Daniel Bannister, who were 17 and 20 years old, were hanged for murder and buried in a pine box behind the building.

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Even though their grave is unmarked, Steele says he's pretty sure he knows where it is. He wants to set up a memorial for them.

The 50-year-old recently experienced a tragedy of his own. His only son, Billy, died in March at age 25 after his body rejected a heart transplant.

"I was going to surprise him with the jail, to tell you the truth," he says.

Steele had sent Billy a Facebook message to let him know he'd just bought it, but he never saw it.

He quit his job as a City of Toronto garbage worker and sold his house to buy the jail and move out to New Brunswick. He had wanted to relocate to the Maritimes, and was looking for a unique property when he came across the jail.

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He sees his move and new venture as a tribute to all of the people he knows that never got to follow their dreams. He spoke to HuffPost Canada while on a hike, looking out at the Bay of Fundy.

"I pulled it [off], I bought a damn jail, I am the happiest person in the damn world," he says.
When you're travelling with kids, you try to prepare for emergencies. And that's what one grandmother thought she was doing, until an Air Canada flight attendant allegedly kept her granddaughter from going to the bathroom.

In a Facebook post last week, Stacey Pyke-Osmond of Okotoks, Alta., described taking her two-year-old granddaughter Ruby, who is potty-trained, on a flight from Calgary to Halifax. She requested a seat close to the bathroom, and the booking agent placed them right near the executive bathroom at the front of the plane, despite their seats in economy. But things got dicey once they were in flight.

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"On ... Ruby's second trip to the bathroom I was told by the front flight attendant that we could no longer use the front bathroom. Her exact words were, "I can't have you coming up here any more". I was totally taken aback and shocked. I informed her that I was given my seats to be close to a bathroom and she continued to tell me that she did not care about that and we were not to use that bathroom. We had a bit of a discussion about the fact that Ruby is two years old but she still told me not to come back to that bathroom."

Later on, when a service cart blocked the way towards the back bathroom, and the flight attendant once again prevented them from using the front one, Ruby ended up peeing in her pants. She sat on napkins and a blanket for the three hours remaining in the flight.

Once she'd landed, Pyke-Osmond complained to the airline, and was offered 25 per cent off her next flight. After she refused, they called her to give a $200 voucher and gifts for Ruby, reports CBC.

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But that wasn't quite what the grandmother was looking for.

"I'd like [the flight attendant] to have to call and apologize and maybe she'll think twice about how she acts in the future," she told the network. "It was a very unpleasant flight for us."

Some people commenting on the article, meanwhile, turned the blame onto Pyke-Osmond, saying she should have been ready with a change of clothes or a diaper to prevent such an occurrence.

"To not bring a pull up or any changes of clothes for a child on any flight is being ill prepared and is not the responsibility of the airline."

"If someone was having a bout of nausea and was occupying the bathroom for an extended period of time, the child would still have had an accident. The child could have spilled her entire drink all over her lap and the responsible adult would have had to sit there with a child covered in juice or soda for hours. What if there was minor turbulence the entire flight and you could not leave your seat? To not bring a pull up or any changes of clothes for a child on any flight is being ill prepared and is not the responsibility of the airline," wrote one person on CafeMom.

Others, however, defended the passengers, noting that the crew was able to help, but chose not to.

And perhaps that's exactly what people are railing against with the increasing complaints about airline service  the seeming lack of humanity being displayed by the companies, and sometimes, the people who are doing their jobs, exactly as they were told to.

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"We're in contact with our customer about this regrettable incident. We have no further comment," Air Canada spokesperson Angela Mah wrote in a statement.

And Pyke-Osmond is keeping it in perspective.
The makeup community is dealing with yet another divisive blackface controversy.

Social media has exploded with people accusing the company of portraying the star in blackface in its photos, People reported.

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Pictures posted on both Kardashian's personal accounts and the KKW Beauty pages depict her looking visibly darker than usual.

"Black women get told to lighten meanwhile Kim spends her entire career in perpetual Black face and is lauded for her beauty," one user commented.

Black women get told to lighten meanwhile Kim spends her entire career in perpetual Black face and is lauded for her beauty. https://t.co/Nkbps038nl  Austin (@seniWnitsuA) June 14, 2017

"I love Kim but that's def black face in the form of makeup she is no where near that dark," another tweet added.

I love Kim but that's def black face in the form of makeup she is no where near that dark  Jasmin Leigh (@RealJasminLeigh) June 14, 2017

Another user edited the photo to be lighter and compared them side-by-side. "You dont have to do blackface," the post said.

You dont have to do blackface pic.twitter.com/MLcJ5Hbg9R  Wynters (@Sacha_Wynters) June 14, 2017

Others defended her and stated her skin had naturally darkened while she was in Mexico.

don't get why people are saying you did blackface. Your jus tan from vacation. Do people not follow your snap and see you in Mexico tannin?  Em Hinds (@helloohemmy) June 15, 2017

Everyone saying that @KimKardashian is doing blackface in her latest picture for her contour kit is dumb. She looks tan.... NOT BLACK!  ANAI (@Anaidchvz_94) June 15, 2017

Kardashian isn't the first person in her family to be accused of blackface. Her sister and fellow beauty businesswoman, Kylie Jenner, was also slammed on Twitter and Instagram after uploading pictures from a photoshoot where her skin appeared much darker due to blue-black bodypaint. She eventually deleted the photos and uploaded a new one from the shoot, explaining that she had used neon lights and black lights for the photos.

This is a black light and neon lights people lets all calm down @marcelocantuphoto @joycebonelli @chrisdylanhair @hubblestudio A post shared by Kylie (@kyliejenner) on Apr 4, 2015 at 3:48pm PDT

Kardashian addressed the controversy in an interview for The New York Times.

"I would obviously never want to offend anyone. I used an amazing photographer and a team of people," she says. "I was really tan when we shot the images, and it might be that the contrast was off. But I showed the image to many people, to many in the business. No one brought that to our attention. No one mentioned it."

The reality TV star also says she has learned from the backlash, and has worked with her team to rectify it. Most of the darker photos have been deleted and replaced with lighter ones.

Creme Contour and Highlight Kits. Coming 6.21 to KKWBEAUTY.COM #KKWBEAUTY A post shared by KKWBEAUTY (@kkwbeauty) on Jun 15, 2017 at 9:47pm PDT

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"I have the utmost respect for why people might feel the way they did. But we made the necessary changes to that photo and the rest of the photos. We saw the problem, and we adapted and changed right away," she said.

KKW Beauty launches on June 21 with its Creme Contour and Highlight Kits.

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NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair is accusing the prime minister of a "con job" for breaking another campaign pledge, this time on Canada's access-to-information law.

Mulcair hammered Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in question period Tuesday for backtracking on a promise to ensure the Access to Information Act applies to the Prime Minister's Office and those of his ministers. Such a change would make the offices subject to requests for information from Canadians.

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The promise was not included in a Liberal bill unveiled Monday, which seeks to make a host of big changes to the decades-old act.

Mulcair twice quoted sections from the 2015 Liberal platform dealing with raising the bar on government transparency.

"It's entirely possible that the prime minister doesn't understand some of the things he says but is he actually telling us today that he didn't understand his own electoral platform?" Mulcair asked

When Trudeau abandoned his promise of electoral reform  that the 2015 election would be the last conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system  the prime minister "blamed" the opposition parties, the NDP leader said.

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"What's his excuse this time?" Mulcair bellowed.

Trudeau noted that the bill includes a system of "proactive disclosures" for the PMO, ministers' offices and administrative institutions that support Parliament.

Liberals are making the most consequential changes to the act since it took effect in 1983, Trudeau boasted.

"We continue to demonstrate to Canadians our commitment to openness and transparency," he said.

Mulcair shot back: "There's a term for someone who commits to something in writing and then reneges on that commitment. It's called a con job."

The offices of the prime minister, cabinet ministers, MPs, senators and administrative institutions will be legally forced to release more information by default, if and when the just-tabled legislation passes. Documents such as briefing notes and certain types of records, including travel expenses and contract information, would need to be regularly released.

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Bill gives watchdog more teeth

But those same offices and institutions would not be required to answer access requests filed by individuals, which was something Liberals promised on the campaign trail.

The Liberal platform, which is still available online, reads:

We will ensure that Access to Information applies to the Prime Minister's and Ministers' Offices, as well as administrative institutions that support Parliament and the courts.

The proposed changes come on the heels of criticism from federal information commissioner Suzanne Legault, who charged in her annual report that the Trudeau government has used the Access to Information Act as a "shield" against transparency.

The new bill would empower the watchdog to order the release of government records, instead of merely arguing for disclosure.

The Access to Information Act allows people who pay a $5 filing cost to request information such as meeting minutes, federal audits, and expense reports. Departments are supposed to respond within 30 days.

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With files from The Canadian Press

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The Downtown Hotel in Dawson City, Yukon is in a bit of a toe jam.

You see, it's missing a toe. A very special, rare, mummified toe that is vital to the bar's most infamous drink  the Sourtoe Cocktail.

According to the Vancouver Sun, the toe went missing Saturday night, after a patron threatened to steal it and apparently made good on his word.

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"We are furious," Terry Lee, the hotel's Toe Captain, said in a statement.

"This guy asked to do the toe after the 9-11 p.m. Toe Time hours and one of the new staff served it to him. And this is how he pays her back? What a low life."

The tradition of serving the shrivelled-up digit in a drink started in 1973 after a toe believed to belong to a prohibition-era rum runner was found in a cabin by boat captain Dick Stevenson, prompting him to start the "Sourtoe Cocktail Club."

According to the Downtown Hotel website, the toe was originally placed in a beer glass full of champagne. But the rules have changed over the decades and the Sourtoe can now be had with any drink, even non-alcoholic ones.

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One rule remains the same, however: "You can drink it fast, you can drink it slow  but the lips have gotta touch the toe."

The hotel upped the fine for swallowing or stealing the toe to $2,500 in 2013, after a tourist chugged back the toe and left the then-$500 fine on the table.

The missing toe is one of a few donated toes the bar has in stock, manager Geri Coulbourne told CBC News, but this one was one of the better toes in their arsenal.

"This was our new toe, and it was a really good one. We just started using it this weekend," she said.

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She said it was donated by a man who had to have it surgically removed. It was cured in salt for six months before going into cocktails.

According to the hotel's release, the suspect is from Quebec and left behind his Sourtoe Cocktail certificate, so they have his name.

The release warns that they will charge and fine the thief "unless the Toe is returned safe."

Anyone with information about the missing toe is asked to contact Dawson City RCMP at 1-867-993-2677.

With a file from The Canadian Press

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The Best Obscure Places To Visit In Canada See Gallery
A woman has been caught on camera demanding a "white doctor" treat her ill son at an Ontario walk-in clinic.

A four-minute cellphone video shows the woman repeatedly asking for a "white doctor" who "doesn't have brown teeth and speaks English." The woman brought her son to Rapid Access to Medical Specialists in Mississauga because of chest pains.

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"You're saying in this whole entire building, there isn't one white doctor?" she asks clinic staff.

After complaining about a five-and-a-half hour wait time, she is told by several others in the waiting room to "go to the hospital."

"Being white in this country, I should just shoot myself."

The woman and her son's face have been blurred out in the video to protect the boy's identity.

A staff member also suggested the woman take her son elsewhere due to the wait time, to which the woman responds by saying the hospital only has brown doctors who did not help her son.

"Oh my god, what type of horrible country do I live in?" she says. "Being white in this country, I should just shoot myself."

After several minutes of asking clinic staff for someone who "speaks perfect English," she then asks for a doctor "Canadian," who was "born here."

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"My kid's at least part not-white, so can we get someone to see him that at least speaks English?"

When the staff member suggests another medical centre, she repeats that her son is sick and has chest pains.

"I'm not going there with all those P*ki doctors, and I don't have money to go Georgetown," she says.

At the mention of "P*ki doctors," another woman gets up to confront the woman.

"Your child clearly has more issues with you being his mother than him needing to see a doctor. You are extremely rude and racist," she says.

"This is bad, this is inappropriate and shouldn't go unnoticed."  Hitesh Bhardwaj

Hitesh Bhardwaj, who recorded the video, told CTV Toronto he had "a mixed feeling of being angry being frustrated."

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Bhardwaj immigrated to Canada five years ago, and can be heard on the video telling the woman a doctor doesn't need to be white to speak English.

He told CBC News he is proud to be in Canada and couldn't believe what he saw.

"This is bad, this is inappropriate and shouldn't go unnoticed," he said.

According to 2011 census data Mississauga is Canada's sixth-largest city, with a population of over 700,000. More than half of its residents belong to ethnic minorities, and over 20 per cent of its residents are South Asian.

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Are you looking for some eye candy the next time you paddle your board? Do stunning backdrops, snow-capped mountains, mangrove forests, alpine lakes, lagoons, emerald-green rivers and tropical beaches tickle your fancy? Then you're in luck because the world's stand-up paddle boarding hotspots have them all!

SUP is the new rage and the fastest-growing watersport in the world. One reason for this is that learning to ride a paddleboard is a breeze -- almost anyone can do it 30 minutes after stepping on it. Another reason is that it allows for a lot of freedom. You are not restricted to the ocean and waves; the only limit is your imagination. You can stand-up paddle board on the nearest lake or river, even in your city if there's a winding waterway passing through it. SUP offers the chance to become one with nature in incredibly picturesque locations, all the while 'walking on water.'

To help you find your next SUP oasis, here is a list of the world's most epic stand-up paddleboarding trips you absolutely need to take in your lifetime.

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1. Oahu, Hawaii

SUP Lanikai Beach, Oahu - Photo credit kailuasailboards.com

You can never go wrong with the birthplace of stand-up paddle boarding -- Hawaii. Sunset Beach on the north shore of Oahu is famous for its big wave surfing during winter. During summer, the waves are smaller and friendlier, just perfect for paddle boarding. Those seeking a bigger challenge can paddle from Sunset Beach all the way to Waimea Bay, a 4-mile (6.5 km) trip.

Sunny and warm Oahu has plenty of other SUP spots worth hitting, like Puaena Point, Haleiwa, and Lanikai Beach, which are favorites among stand-up paddling beginners. Water temperature in Oahu is usually a pleasant 80 F (27 C).

2. Florida Keys

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SUP Florida - Photo by Bill Dickinson

With almost the entire state surrounded by water, it is no wonder that the SUP community in Florida is flourishing. The coral cay archipelago of Florida Keys off the southern coast of the state offers literally hundreds of spots to launch your paddle board. With a rich marine life that includes stingrays and manatees, mangrove forests, a diverse ecosystem and Caribbean-like waters, Florida Keys is an island paradise that's best explored on a kayak or SUP.

Paddleboarders can take advantage of the trade winds to cover long distances. When there's no wind, the paddleboard can be used for fishing, SUP yoga, meditation or simply gliding in a slow, laid-back pace. Back on land, Florida's Fort Lauderdale is often referred to as the 'Venice of the East.' Its winding canals that empty in the Atlantic make it one of the most scenic SUP destinations in the USA.

3. Mexico

SUP Los Arcos in Perto Vallarta, Mexico - Photo credit SurfMexico.com

With over 9,000 miles (14,500 km) of coastline, azure waters and sandy beaches, Mexico is one of the best surfing destinations on the planet. Quality surf awaits on both the Pacific coast and the Gulf of Mexico, and there's always a cool wave to catch throughout the year.

Puerto Vallarta is a culturally rich city that offers excellent SUP opportunities for all levels. Here, Banderas Bay, with its warm and calm water, is a Pacific haven. Los Muertos Beach is the most popular and active when it comes to water sports, and you can expect to see sea turtles, dolphins and humpback whales while paddling here.

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The small tropical town of Sayulita is considered the SUP capital of Mexico. Beginner and pros alike are guaranteed to have a good time, as a growing SUP community will welcome them. Cancun and Punta Mita are excellent locations too, great for the whole family.

4. British Columbia, Canada

SUP Emerald Lake in the Canadian Rockies - Photo credit rockiesfamilyadventures.com

It may not be the first destination that springs to mind when thinking about SUP, but British Columbia (B.C.) is a hidden gem with plenty of surprises in store. After all, it is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts and a popular destination for kayakers and canoe trippers. Why should stand-up paddle boarding fall behind?

With lakes, rivers, a maze of waterways along the rugged central coast, no wonder B.C. has a thriving SUP community. There are so many amazing spots to paddle it would be tough to list them all. So we'll just mention what we believe are the best -- the coastal waters of Tofino, Kalamalka Lake in Vernon, Muncho Lake, Emerald Lake, Whistler and the west side of Vancouver are the places to start for a scenic SUP adventure.

5. Lake Tahoe, California

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SUP Lake Tahoe - Photo credit standuppaddletahoe.com

North America's largest alpine lake is perhaps the most photographed SUP location in the world. And with good reason -- its mesmerizing blue water, 72 miles (115 km) of shoreline covered in coniferous trees and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background make it a dream destination for a variety of recreational activities. What better way to enjoy this natural beauty than on a laid-back paddle boarding session?

The crystal-clear waters of Lake Tahoe offer an astounding visibility of up to 70 feet (21 m) down on a good morning. Conditions are great from late spring until early fall, and the best time of day to paddle is in the morning or early evening. That's when the surface is calmer and the winds are gentle, ensuring an intimate experience. These conditions are also ideal if you're a beginner. Lake Tahoe is the venue of the annual Tahoe SUP & Paddleboard Race Series, an annual event worth attending if not even participating in.
During my first semester at university I was studying at the library with a good friend of mine. He studied business and had to practice cost-benefit analysis and decided to do a little case study on me. He compared all the costs my parents had for my education to what I would earn later in life and he did the same regarding taxes and the pay-off for society.

When he presented his results to me they came out negative. I was confused. How is it possible that I devote so much time to getting a good education and it is not supposed to pay off for me or for society? I took a look at his notes myself. It turned out he made the assumption that I would leave the work force to have children at a certain age and never return.

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I told him I had no intention of doing so and we had a laugh about the whole situation. But the story holds a truth that goes far beyond my personal plans in the future. We simply can't afford that so many women in Germany leave the work force once they have children, not returning at all or more importantly not to their full potential.

This is not just an issue regarding female rights or female empowerment. It's an economical need. As an aging society in a globalized world we need to ensure that we are using all the potential we have.

How do we make it possible for more women to return to their job once they have had children? And how do we ensure that when they return they are able to flourish and reach their full potential?

What we need are not new laws on equality but more people putting the rules we have into action.

One obvious assumption is that we need to improve the laws on parental leave. But taking a look at the German law it already provides a lot of opportunities, including paid leave for mothers and fathers, job-security and various part-time options.

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What we need are not new laws on equality but more people putting the rules we have into action and leading as an example for others. Men and women in all work areas and on every job level have to show that taking time off to start a family does not have to be the end of a successful carrier. We have to stop viewing it as stepping down but rather as stepping up by taking on even more responsibility in society.

What we need is a social setting in which both men and women feel comfortable and supported to start a family and find ways to equally share their responsibilities. That includes a corporate culture that allows longer absences for both parents, a proper child-care system and flexible working hours.

Once we establish such a culture, child care will no longer be linked as strongly to one gender. That ensures that an employer can chose between candidates based only on qualification, they are no longer presented with the choice between a woman that might leave the job at some point and a man who will most likely not.

I hope that by the time I decide to have children society has adapted to these standards and I will be able to contribute to the labour force for many more years after.

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By Marleen Och, G(irls)20 Delegate, Germany
benjaminec via Getty Images Conceptual image with pencils on vintage background to stop discrimination. Six handcrafted wooden pencils arranged in a circle and the word Discrimination with red line in the middle.

Two years ago I wrote an article condemning Stephen Harper's attempt to stir up anti-Muslim sentiment for political advantage. Harper has since been defeated, but the election of Donald Trump and the murders in the Quebec mosque show that bigotry is becoming a more potent force in our society. Unfortunately, the politics of division and right-wing populism has led to a dramatic increase in incidents of hatred aimed at Muslim Canadians. It's up to all of us to figure out how we step up and respond, but those who hold political office or are recognized as leaders in business, labour or civil society have a special responsibility to challenge racism and discrimination.

I remember clearly how Dominic D'Alessandro, CEO of Manulife, took up the issue at the founding meeting of the Toronto Region Immigration Employment Council in early 2002. He spoke passionately about rejecting the xenophobia that was sweeping across the United States after the tragedy of 9/11. While he talked about his experience in an immigrant family, he also referred to the backlash against Muslims. I wish other corporate executives were as courageous in speaking out over the last two years.

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For Canadians to effectively tackle this issue, we need leaders with a clear understanding of the foundations of racism. Racism was institutionalized to justify the horrors of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and then to affirm the brutal expansion of colonialism. Racism has been used for centuries to divide and conquer working people. Today, "systemic racism" is an institutionalized feature of society, throwing up barriers to racialized workers and families in every community. All of our institutions and cultural norms are touched by its impact.

Bigotry is not something new. Despite our self-image as a tolerant people, prejudice and discrimination are a real feature of Canadian history, starting with treatment of Indigenous peoples, and continuing through the ensuing centuries. Today when we identify the need to fight Islamophobia, it is not because Muslim Canadians are the only victims of hate. Anti-Black racism pervades our society up to the present day. At different times visceral hatred has been aimed at all kinds of people - Irish Catholics, Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Jews, "DP's", Italians, South Asians, Africans and many others. But at this point in history Muslims have become a special target.

OVERCOMING DENIAL

Many of us would be more comfortable imagining that racism isn't a factor in our workplaces or communities. Very few Canadians want to own up to the prejudices we have grown up with, and talking about race can make even the most fair-minded person uneasy. Overcoming denial will be an important task for this work to succeed. The terrible murders of six men at prayer in Quebec reminds us that hateful ideas can lead to real consequences, as does the clear evidence outlined in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Report and the ongoing concern about fairness in the criminal justice system. Denial is no longer an option.

In order to reach millions of Canadian families, there has to be a clear and simple narrative around why we want to be a welcoming, inclusive society. In 1952 the Toronto Labour Day Parade featured the demand for "A Fair Deal for All, regardless of Race, Religion or Ancestry", at a time when many businesses were still claiming their right to discriminate in who they hired, rented to, or served as customers. It took many years before Human Rights policies were adopted by governments and employers, and there are important initiatives to celebrate. Recently the City of Toronto partnered with OCASI to bring a powerful message about prejudice to the public eye, while the Society of Energy Professionals has launched a Charter of Inclusive Workplaces and Communities.

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Research shows that we receive thousands of messages per day from a wide variety of sources. That means that a message of tolerance and inclusion needs to be repeated many times over for it to connect with the public. To be successful, every leader in political office, civil society, business, labour and faith communities needs to commit to and develop an ongoing campaign within the constituencies they influence.

In greater Toronto half of us were born outside of Canada, and half of us are people of colour. There is no way our future can be healthy if we are divided. It won't be an easy task to talk about the difficult issues and systematically challenge discrimination. But as we commemorate the 150th anniversary of Confederation and recognize that people have been on this land for millennia, we must reach out to all our communities to win the battle against hatred and division. It can't wait until another tragedy hits the headlines.
This World Refugee Day, I'm remembering my trip to Afghanistan. It was a poignant visit for me, because it's when I met Aysha.

I had walked past room after room in a maternity hospital filled with 10 to 20 women, each all in various stages of labour and delivery. Aysha, a 15-year-old woman, had just delivered her first baby, a daughter she named Anita. As she waited in recovery we spent some time talking. She asked me if I liked the name she had chosen and I asked her what she hoped for Anita's future. She said that she hoped Anita could be a doctor.

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It may seem a bit cliche for us to want our children to become doctors, yet what an incredible aspiration for this young mother in Afghanistan to even dream for her daughter. How, when there seems so little reason to hope, when the odds are stacked against you, do you find the strength or even the courage to dream big? It truly is awe-inspiring. It is that dream that has the potential to change everything.

Different place, same dreams

Through encounters like this one with Aysha, I have seen firsthand that all mothers have the same dreams for their children. We want them to be safe, happy and successful, and that hope doesn't change even if your circumstances are difficult. If anything, it may even become more important.

I'm reminded of Aysha's dream as I think about the current crisis that spans across Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen and their neighbouring countries. More than 20 million people are in desperate need of assistance because of prolonged drought and violent conflict in these four countries alone. Finding solutions to a lack of food and water, and outbreaks of disease like cholera, are pressing needs.

If I try to imagine what it would feel like to be a mom in Somalia right now, my heart breaks.

And although she is from a different continent, I know that Aysha, and even mothers here in Canada, share so much with mothers struggling every day to keep their children alive across Africa. Aysha shares a resilience, a fighting spirit, and the will to help her child thrive.

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What if it was me?

If I try to imagine what it would feel like to be a mom in Somalia right now, my heart breaks. I might be struggling to feed my child, not knowing if I would be able to find the next meal, or even worse, watching my child slowly starve to death in front of me with nothing I could do. It is unacceptable, it is unjust and is a symptom of a very broken world. No child should be born into this world only to die because there was no food to keep her alive.

As a Canadian, I have never feared that I could not feed my nine-year-old son. And even if the worst did happen, there are safety nets like food banks, neighbours, churches and community groups to help me get by. This is not the case for millions of Somali women.

As a result of this unprecedented hunger crisis and the conflict in South Sudan, children are arriving at refugee settlements alone. Every single day World Vision is registering 100 unaccompanied children in a refugee camp in Uganda. The kind of desperation that pushes parents to send their children, alone, to what they hope is a better future is unimaginable. We have been witnessing this for months across the Middle East as result of the crisis in Syria. I had hoped we would not see it again. The sacrifice these parents make is staggering.

I can help moms like me

And it demands a response. Those of us living in Canada have hit the jackpot: We live in one of the most beautiful, peaceful countries in the world. Simply by being born here I have been given opportunities that I feel give me a responsibility to do good, to make even a small dent in the injustices I see, especially for other moms.

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I have seen how even the smallest donation can make an impact for a mom impacted by hunger and conflict in Africa. Your help is enabling World Vision's local humanitarian workers to literally save lives by providing food, livelihood support, health and hygiene services, and protection and education for children.

Not so very different

Through my humanitarian work, I have learned that people all around the world are not that different from each other, or from us. The hopes and dreams I have for my son here in Canada are not all that different from the hopes and dreams other parents have for their children, even in places like Afghanistan and Somalia. Everywhere I go, speaking to other parents about our children brings a sense of joy and wonder that unites us. We want our children to grow up healthy and happy, to have lives better than the ones we have lived.

I'm doing the best I can to ensure that my son grows up to be empathic and sensitive to the needs of those around him. I'm proud to say that he is already challenging me to do more. It's pretty obvious to him that if we have enough, we should share with those who don't. To him, it's "Why wouldn't we?" rather than, "Why should I bother?"

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So, on World Refugee Day, I'm encouraging you to donate to the African hunger crisis. Right now, is a unique opportunity: The Government of Canada will match your donations until the end of June, making your donation go even further. Think of the parents and children just like you who need a helping hand, and ask yourself, "Why not?"

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vgajic via Getty Images Creative Multi-Ethnic start-up business team working by 3D printer. Standing and looking at 3d printer and printed object. Male with headphones is looking at printed object in 3D printer. They are wearing name tags.

Canada's economy is inextricably linked to our infrastructure -- and it's always been so. Our nation and its economy would have developed very differently were it not for the construction of a transcontinental railway just fourteen years after Confederation in 1867.

On the eve of Canada's 150th anniversary, the country and the economy look vastly different than they did in 1881 when the first trains rolled from Montreal to British Columbia, by way of Kicking Horse Pass.

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However, what is similar today is that we are on the verge of yet another pivotal moment in our nation's infrastructure history -- one that is sure to again shape our future economy. This time, it's not the agrarian economy, but the innovation economy that will create wealth for all.

The federal government has demonstrated its commitment to infrastructure growth by dedicating nearly $190 Billion over the next 10 years to its New Infrastructure Plan , with priorities centred on communities and transportation.

The goals of Canada's New Infrastructure Plan are not just to grow our infrastructure, but at the same time to harness new and emerging technologies to make it cleaner, greener and smarter.

For the government's hallmark policy to date -- the Innovation Agenda -- we hear the consistent message that we need to support the people that innovate. The message needs to be the same for developing Canada's infrastructure talent, because just as it's people who innovate, it's also people who build.

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So where will Canada's next generation infrastructure talent come from? In particular, if there is a focus on infrastructure that is clean, green and smart, much of the talent is already being developed at Canada's polytechnics, colleges and institutes of technology.

Across Canada, polytechnic institutes are training the next generation of "green collar workers" with a hands-on model of education.

In Alberta, NAIT is building the talent that will maintain Canada's clean transportation infrastructure. Partnering with SAIT and BYD, a leader in battery technology and zero-emissions, NAIT and SAIT will deliver world class training for certifications in the maintenance of Heavy Duty Electric Vehicles.

As Canada's energy priorities shift, Alberta is leading the way to ensure we have the workforce capable of implementing innovative solutions.

In Ottawa, Algonquin College is training tradespeople for the green economy in the Algonquin Centre of Construction Excellence -- a sustainable, highly energy efficient, "living lab," complete with green roof, 22 metre high biofilter living wall and a Platinum certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). What better way to learn green than to live green?

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In Vancouver, BCIT's Smart Microgrid is revolutionizing the way clean energy is delivered. Incorporating renewable energy sources such as wind and photovoltaic solar, the Smart Microgrid is a small-scale version of a traditional electricity system that is deployable in a range of locations. It has sparked its own research program, in partnership with government and industry, that is testing and verifying the technologies and regulations required for Canada's future smart grid.

Though Canada looks like a very different country today than it did in 1867, high quality infrastructure that serves the needs of the people is the backbone of this country. That "backbone" is certainly more than the steel tracks, iron spikes and wooden ties we started with.

Today zero emissions vehicles, green and energy efficient buildings and innovations in "off the grid" delivery of energy are what's necessary for Canada to succeed in the new global economy, in the same ways it succeeded for the previous 150 years.

A 21st century economy requires the support of 21st-century infrastructure, and its Canada's polytechnics that are delivering the talent to build it.

Nobina Robinson is the Chief Executive Officer of Polytechnics Canada, a national alliance of Canada's leading polytechnics and colleges.

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Dr. Glenn Feltham was appointed President and CEO of the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2011. Under Dr. Feltham's leadership, NAIT plays an essential role in strengthening Alberta's and Canada's economies through hands-on, technology-based education and applied research in partnership with industry.
Every morning Nyakor wakes up before sunrise, prepares her family's only meal for the day -- porridge made of seeds gathered from a nearby tree -- and watches as children leave for school. Nyakor spends the rest of her day cleaning their living area, preparing meals and maintaining the household to the best of her ability.

She eats the least and last, and is the first to clean up to prepare for the next day.

Nyakor is a 10-year-old girl living in a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in South Sudan. For many girls like Nyakor fleeing conflict, famine, or both, everyday life is a complex and harsh reality.

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Ten-year-old Nyakor at her home at a camp for internally displaced people. (Photo credit: Plan International)

When resources are stretched thin, as in times of displacement and famine, gender inequalities become even more pronounced, and girls bear the greatest burden. Their stressors multiply tenfold as they struggle to survive, while also maintaining some kind of normalcy for their entire household. As a young child, that's quite the burden to bear.

This daily routine is already daunting for a 10-year-old, but girls like Nyakor also live in constant fear of the gender-based physical and sexual violence often experienced by adolescent girls in refugee camps.

But despite their additional hardships and fears, adolescent girls are often overlooked when we think of refugee crises.

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In many communities like Nyakor's, it is believed that boys are the future. Boys are encouraged to eat more to fuel their physical activity and provide them with energy to do well in school. Conversely, girls are generally assumed to be a burden, and are given less food and no access to education.

Girls in South Sudan are being pulled out of school to help their families search for food. (Photo credit: Plan International / Charles Lomodong)

Without options to excel outside of the household, many girls are kept silent and their needs are left unaddressed. Confinement to their homes also means they have restricted access to critical information and resources. Unfortunately, gender and age make refugee girls vulnerable to unique and especially dangerous challenges. Some are forced into child marriage in an effort to escape starvation for themselves or their families, often with older men. Close quarters in refugee camps mean that girls are subject to increased harassment and violence, often without recourse or any mechanism to punish perpetrators.

To make matters worse, there is currently a hunger crisis affecting more than 20 million people -- many of them already refugees or displaced internally in parts of Africa due to ongoing drought. This emergency is inflated by ongoing political turmoil and conflict in several regions, which has created the largest ever number of refugees on the African continent.

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The resilience of such African communities who live through cycles of drought, or survive despite harsh conflict conditions, has been pushed to its breaking point. Plan International is focused on ensuring those most at risk, like malnourished children under five, vulnerable young girls, and pregnant women, secure the emergency resources they need. We help distribute nutritious food and protect the well-being of children, particularly adolescent girls, who are most vulnerable during crises.

Plan International is on the ground responding to this crisis in South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda and Niger to provide urgent food supplies and lifesaving humanitarian support to children and families. In South Sudan, we've already reached more than 20,000 people through food distribution. In Nigeria, more than 7,000 children have been involved in activities at a child-friendly space that help them to thrive despite difficult circumstances. In Kenya, Plan is helping to keep kids in school by implementing school feeding programs.

A refugee girl writes on a blackboard at an early childhood care and development centre in Uganda. (Photo credit: Plan International / Anne Ackermann)

But current aid funding can't keep up with the pace of need, and support is needed now more than ever. In partnership with the Humanitarian Coalition, Plan International Canada urges all Canadians to help Stop Famine Together. Until June 30th, donations will be matched by the Government of Canada's Famine Relief Fund.

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On World Refugee Day, let's take a moment and make sure we stay informed about the plight of refugees around the globe. Let's mark the day by not only thinking about Nyakor and the millions of other girls in similarly dire situations, but making sure their stories are heard. Take time to learn more about the intricate complexities of surviving as a girl refugee in the face of famine. Then find a way to act, whether it's by sharing stories online or showing your support through a donation. Let's use World Refugee Day as a vital reminder of the significant issues we face as a global community, and the brighter future for all that we must continue to strive for every day of the year.

Dr. Tanjina Mirza is the Chief Programs Officer for Plan International Canada.

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This explosion was close -- much closer than the others that had rattled the village on the outskirts of Homs, Syria, where Sultanah Alchehade lived with her four young children. This one hit the school next door, blasting out one of the walls of their house.

Alchehade grabbed the children and ran into the night and the choking smoke and dust. A neighbor helped her carry her three-year-old twin boys, Mounzer and Kaiss; another drove the pickup truck they all clambered into. Over the next several days, as bombs continued to fall, the family -- including daughters Kawthar, age six, and Roukia, a baby -- took refuge in a nearby forest, sleeping under the trees as Sultanah tried to figure out their next move.

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In neighboring Lebanon, Sultanah's husband, Mazen, frantically tried to contact his wife. For years, Mazen had shuttled back and forth across the border every few weeks to do construction work on high-rise buildings in Beirut. While the jobs provided an income for his family, he says, the separation was hard. But their situation had just gotten much harder.

With the Syrian civil war now engulfing his village, Mazen couldn't return. And it would be four months before his wife and children could cross into Lebanon.

Eventually, the family was reunited. They were alive. But they were refugees, seeking asylum in any country that would take them, hoping to get far away from the violence that had driven them, along with millions of other Syrians, into foreign lands.

Meanwhile, 8,000 kilometers away, Rotary members in the small town of Amherst, Nova Scotia, were watching images of Syrian refugees on television and looking for ways to help.

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In September 2015, members of the Rotary Club of Amherst were thinking about their next international project. Over the years, the group has helped build and equip a school in South Africa, provided educational materials to students in the Bahamas, and raised funds for disaster-stricken areas around the world, but their thoughts turned to Syria as the plight of refugees dominated the news.

"We as Rotarians couldn't ignore what we were watching each and every day," says club member Ron Wilson. "Families dying while making their journey to Europe or other places. Families desperately trying to flee war and, sadly, their homes. The heart-wrenching images were the impetus for our club to do something."

The Rotary club began by gauging the community's interest in the project. They learned that two local churches, First Baptist and Holy Family, were also looking for ways to support refugees.

There was a logistical benefit to working with the churches: Both are sponsorship agreement holders, meaning they signed an agreement with the government to bring refugee families into the country -- something that would take the Amherst club two years to obtain. In return, the club handled administrative tasks, communicated with the Canadian government, and led fundraising efforts. It also donated $5,000 in seed money to get the project off the ground.

With the community firmly behind them, the club welcomed the Alchelades family into Amherst. Their long journey to a new home had ended. Their journey into a new life was just beginning.

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While many Syrian refugees prefer to settle in Toronto or Montreal where there are more resources and jobs, the Alchehades wanted a smaller community, like the one where they had lived in Syria. There, they had land where they grew almonds and olives, and raised cows, goats, and sheep.

The family arrived in Amherst with what they could carry. Most of the furnishings in their new home, a two-bedroom apartment in a modest house on a street that dead-ends at the marshes, are donated.

The four children are energetic and open with one another and the Rotary members who visit.

They love playing in the snow and singing the alphabet song, which they quickly learned from English tutors who regularly visit their home. They sing it while watching TV, while playing outside, when guests come over.

The Rotary club helped connect Mazen with a job at Fundy Landscaping, which does stonework and builds retaining walls and decks. There, he is using the skills he learned doing construction in Lebanon.

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"He does great work," says business owner Peter Michels. "I don't need to tell him anything twice. Everything we ask him to do, he runs with it. His skills and work ethic are very impressive."

Michels, whose parents immigrated to Canada after World War II, says he sees a little of himself in Mazen and his family.

"Everything you had is completely gone," he says. "Trying to start a new life in a place where you don't know if you're going to be accepted or if you're going to be rejected. I try to see things through his eyes. That's probably what my family went through -- hoping that when they came to this country, there would be somebody to help them."

The town has rallied behind the refugee family, with teachers volunteering to tutor the kids and dentists offering free care. Mazen has earned his driver's license, and Sultanah has joined other mothers in the community for cooking classes, even leading a class on preparing Syrian dishes.

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The kids are learning to ice skate, Canada's national pastime. These are small steps in the long process of integration that the club hopes will help them find their place in Canadian society. "We want them to be able to help improve this community and the country," says Wilson.

The Alchehades don't know if they will ever return to Syria. But right now, Canada is their home. This is where they want to see their children grow up.

While Mazen still struggles with English, he has no trouble finding the words to describe his dream for his children: "I want them to be pioneers."

A version of this article originally appeared on Rotary.org.
Who is a refugee? On the surface, it seems that the answer is straightforward: According to the UN's 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, a refugee is someone who has been forced outside his or her home country by conflict, violence and persecution, and who is unable to return due to the well-founded fear they will be targeted as a result of their ethnicity, beliefs or social identities.

Part of the reason the Refugee Convention was drafted was in response to the extreme suffering to which people fleeing violence and persecution are often exposed. In order to protect refugees, the convention sought to establish their rights and to outline the obligations that states have to protect them.

But in 2017, while the global legal consensus on the rights of refugees remains intact, the humanitarian spirit that led to the convention appears to be in short supply. Around the world, states are using the language of refugee law not to address the suffering of people fleeing war, violence and deprivation, but to find ways to avoid helping them. By confining their international obligations only to those who fit the narrow definition set out by the UN convention, states can then set out about forcibly preventing the arrival of anyone else seeking refuge.

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(Photo credit:  Lena Mucha)

Keeping borders closed

And so we have the spectacle of leading member states of the international community, including traditional champions of international humanitarian law, jumping through rhetorical hoops to close their doors to as many desperate arrivals as possible. By seeking to draw a line between "legitimate" refugees and other migrants, governments in some destination countries also seek minimize their obligations and keep their borders closed.

From a humanitarian perspective, this approach is an abrogation of the very purpose of creating international refugee law in the first place: namely, the prevention and alleviation of suffering for some of the world's most vulnerable people. Doctors Without Borders delivers emergency medical care to people who have been forcibly displaced by violence, conflict and persecution in more than 60 countries around the world. We do so not according to legal definitions of who should receive care, but according to the humanitarian needs we witness first-hand.

In Mexico, that means we treat victims of abuse, sexual violence and torture at the hands of gangs along the country's underground migration route. Regardless of the circumstances that led these patients to leave their home countries and risk their lives along one of the world's most notorious travel zones -- and our own data indicate that many felt they had no choice if they wanted to escape targeted violence and persecution in places like Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador -- we see their suffering, and their lack of alternatives for care, as a mandate to provide humanitarian assistance.

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In Libya, and through our search and rescue operations on the Mediterranean Sea, we treat victims of abuse, violence and neglect who are caught in a grim migratory netherworld run by people smugglers; in Bangladesh, we provide care to vulnerable members of the Rohingya minority trapped in stateless limbo on the border with Myanmar, where many are unable to access basic healthcare.

We don't know how many of these patients would be considered "legitimate" refugees, legally deserving of care and protection from members of the international community; we know only what we see when they enter our clinics: the marks of abuse and torture, the indicators of malnutrition, the exposure to disease. We treat them according to their needs, and seek to alleviate their suffering to the degree we possibly can.

A global migration crisis

On June 20, the world marks World Refugee Day, an observance created by the United Nations in 2000, one year before the 50th anniversary of the Convention on the Status of Refugees. It is an occasion intended to draw attention to the collective plight of the world's refugee populations. In 2001, the first year it was formally celebrated, that population was roughly 12 million people; in 2016, the year of the UN's most recent estimate, the official number of refugees worldwide had increased to 22.5 million, and is still growing. That in turn is less than half of the 65 million people currently estimated to be displaced overall, the largest number at any time since the Second World War.

World Refugee Day is an important opportunity to focus attention on the challenges faced by people seeking refuge. But it will also be a hollow event, one that fails to honour the humanitarian intentions of the convention it celebrates, if it remains focused only on those who have successfully managed to claim refugee status in host countries, rather than on the larger spectrum of needs experienced by those who have been displaced.

If we are truly serious about celebrating the legacy of our efforts to protect refugees and to alleviate their suffering, then we cannot let legal definitions determine the scope of our humanitarian action. The spirit of World Refugee Day is to recognize the challenges faced by some of the world's most vulnerable people. A good place to start would be by being honest about who refugees really are, what their challenges are and what we can do to help them.

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Undersell and overperform.

Those of us who had the honour and privilege of working for Jean Chretien knew that aphorism well. It was his mantra, and therefore ours, too.

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And the reason why he was so successful, politically? Along with being a regular guy, along with being likeable, along with having an innate understanding of what Canadians wanted? Because he undersold and overperformed.

He didn't brag a lot. He didn't take credit for the achievements of others. He didn't make everything about him. He kept quiet when he should, and he stayed out of the papers.

U.S. President Donald Trump, now under criminal investigation for obstruction of justice, could have benefited from following Chretien's example. He could have survived if he'd kept his mouth shut, just once. But he didn't. He couldn't.

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Trump's presidency is now measured in months, not years. Because, as the Washington Post has reported, special counsel Robert Mueller is conducting a criminal investigation into Trump's conduct on two fronts. One, whether he obstructed justice when he fired former FBI director James Comey; and, two, when he earlier told Comey to "let go" of a criminal probe into the connections between Russia and his campaign team.

When did the Washington Post discover that Trump was under criminal investigation by Mueller's FBI team? Well, just a day or two after Trump surrogates darkly warned that the Unpresident was seriously contemplating firing Mueller, that's when.

Cause and effect. Action, reaction. Trump just couldn't keep his mouth shut -- he just couldn't keep his stubby little thumbs away from Twitter -- and he made things markedly worse for himself by threatening Mueller. Now he couldn't fire Mueller if he tried: it would be a stronger admission of guilt than a signed confession and videotape of the crimes being committed.

Same thing happened with Comey. Trump just could not keep keep quiet. He. Could. Not. Shut. Up.

So, not long he after he fired Comey -- because Comey, he knew, was getting perilously close to finding out the truth about the alleged Trump-Putin pact to subvert U.S. democracy -- Trump tweeted that Comey better hope "there are no tapes" of their conversations at the White House.

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With that, Agent Orange bought himself a world of hurt, on two fronts. One, it prompted Comey to release a highly detailed account of a previously secret meeting with Trump -- a meeting in which the FBI director was directed to drop the Russia inquiries; and, two, it spurred Congress to demand the tapes.

But that is not all. Trump's mouth and tweets have gotten him in plenty of other messes. To cite just one example: executive privilege. Comey was a federal employee when he met with Trump. Their discussions entirely dealt with sensitive matters, most relating to national security.

All of Donald Trump's political wounds are the worst kind: they are self-inflicted.

Trump, therefore, could have easily invoked executive privilege -- a presidential prerogative that would have effectively silenced Comey, and prevented Congress from questioning him on Trump-Comey interactions.

So what did Trump do? He tweeted about his meetings with Comey. A lot. He himself disclosed what was not supposed to be disclosed -- thereby giving Comey the pretext for doing so, too. And he eliminated any credible argument for the invocation of executive privilege. How, everyone wondered, could executive privilege happen when the most senior member of the executive has personally violated it?

I believe the James Comey leaks will be far more prevalent than anyone ever thought possible. Totally illegal? Very 'cowardly!'  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 11, 2017

All of Donald Trump's political wounds are the worst kind: they are self-inflicted. Those are always the ones that cut deepest, and are the ones that are usually fatal. He is unlikely to see the inside of a jail cell -- his sycophantic vice-president will pardon him for his crimes, naturally -- but he is certain to be drummed out of office. How can it be otherwise? How can it be avoided, now?

It could have been different. It could have been avoided. If Donald Trump had kept his mouth shut -- if he had stayed away from Twitter -- he could have dramatically improved the odds.

Most of all, if he had simply undersold and overperformed -- as Chretien did -- it would have all been so, so different.

He didn't. He couldn't. He wouldn't.

He's done.

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Today is World Refugee Day. A poignant moment for us to reflect as the world grapples with the largest displacement of people since the Second World War.

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This is a humanitarian crisis that is not only getting worse, but one that is also taking a disproportionate toll on the lives of young people across the world.

As the CEO of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), one of the leading global youth movements with 10 million members worldwide, I see this terrible, heart-breaking story from two sides.

Daily reality

All too frequently I am reminded that conflict and displacement is a daily reality for many Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. But on the other hand, I also witness the energy, compassion and hope of young people who tell me repeatedly that they want to see a better, more tolerant world, and they want to play their part in making this happen.

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In Syria, under the ever-present threat of war, dedicated volunteers and leaders are working tirelessly to run Guiding activities to help give young girls a sense of normality, and safe space for them to play and make friends.

And for young refugees, arriving in a new country many miles from their home or loved ones, guiding can often be the only source of friendship and a familiar space in a new community.

Girl Guides and Girl Scouts are supporting refugees across the world

In the Gore refugee camps in Chad, Guiding has become a crucial part of daily life for refugees from Central African Republic, and in IDP camps in Northern Nigeria, Guides provide counselling and emotional support to girls and their families who have had to flee their homes because of Boko Haram.

Our programme on topics including gender-based violence, leadership and body confidence can provide essential skills, tools and opportunities for young people and a way to keep themselves safe.

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Joyce Sambo, a 21-year-old Guide in Nigeria who has visited the camps with her Guide group aims to support young people and teach them how to protect themselves. She embodies the hope and compassion that our young members display, telling me that she wants to support these young people and bring hope and light to an otherwise dark situation.

International friendship

While this might feel very far from many people's idea of Girl Guiding, we have a long history of international solidarity and friendship.

In Greece, where the International Rescue Committee estimate that some 62,000 refugees are currently stranded in Greece, Olympia Tsamasfyra has been educating Girl Guides in Greece about the refugee crisis and calling for a more tolerant and humane approach.

Greek Girl Guide leader, Olympia Tsamasfyra

"I don't want Greek society to see refugees as a threat. I want them to understand the hardship that refugees, especially girls, endure. As Girl Guides, I want us to work together to help make refugees' lives more decent."

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So as we think of all those living as refugees today, particularly those young people torn from their homes, many of whom are alone and afraid, we should also remind ourselves of their messages of tolerance, hope and compassion. And let these give us hope that there is a brighter future.
Nigel Farage - the, Tory enabled, architect of our leaving the EU - urged his troops into action with the cry "We want our country back".

Around 17 million people agreed that they too wanted our country back - whilst nearly as many wanted whomever has our country to keep it - or took the view that we actually still had our country after all.

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So, assuming the worst, who has our country and why have they got it?

It is of course the Europeans - they have it - like they must have all the other countries in the EU.

Confusingly though, it does raise the question - that if they have all the other countries in the EU then they must also have their own countries because they too are in the EU?

So if they have their own countries and we do not - how did this happen?

Is it because we are some how disadvantaged or weak within the EU - in a way that other countries (some much smaller than us) are not and that allowed our country to be taken?

By the way - we are also told we are 'strong and stable' and at one stage wielded a handbag at the EU, via Margaret Thatcher - but they must still have have our country in some way because Mr Farage wants it back?

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So why were we so weak in this regard despite all this tough talk?

Anyway - getting our country back apparently also means not being keen on having trade deals with the EU - but the good news is that this will enable us to make trade deals with all sorts of other countries - as long as they are not the countries nearest to us.

Having our country back apparently will enable us to make trade deals with authoritarian regimes all over the world such as Turkey and the Philippines.

Theresa May recently visited that country and spoke to Turkish leader - Tayyip Erdogan. He is a leader very busy closing down his countries free press and having political opponents arrested. It will be great trading with them rather than the EU because at least we will have our country back.

Liam Fox visited Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to talk about trade. According to Liam Fox we have much in common with Mr Duterte - presumably not the mass killing of his citizens in a war on drugs nor, as Mr Duterte has boasted, the actual killing of 22 suspects by his own hands.

But apparently - this is what you can do if you have you own country back - you can go begging to authoritarian regimes around the world and seek trade deals with them because that is far better than trading with the Europeans who currently have our country.

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All this does beg another question - that if we are so weak within the EU that we have allowed other members to take our country - whereas the other EU countries did not - then how are things going to turn out when we are dealing with ruthless authoritarian regimes?

The answer is not easy to find - it is not as if you will find the answer on the side of a bus or anything.

What I really mean, of course, is that the idea that we are taking our country back is a

stupidly meaningless phrase that happens to have a politically powerful appeal.

It appears that the phrase (and other bits of meaningless nonsense) may have had the effect of driving us away from trading with the open and democratic countries on our doorstep - through decent trade deals - to looking to trade with more dubious countries further away and we may end up poorer doing it.

If we really did have our country 'taken' from us by the EU - what makes us think we will thrive outside the EU without 'losing our country' in the same way.

Twenty seven countries are happy to be in the EU with up to six others waiting to join. I don't imagine that they all want someone to take their countries - but perhaps they are not in some way weak or disadvantaged as we in the UK must be?

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Of course what we need is a leader and the strong and stable variety to get our country back

so we can trade with any authoritarian regimes we choose. Luckily we have that person
This week - Muslim citizens of London were attacked, run over as they helped someone who had fallen ill near to the Finsbury Park Mosque. The suspect, a white, middle aged man, appears to have been motivated by racial hatred and it is being seen - quite rightly - as an terrorist incident.

News reports suggest that the Immam of the Mosque stopped the suspect from the van - the man apparently desperate to kill Muslims - from being assaulted by by-standers who had arrested him.

Setting aside the motivation of this particular man it highlights the problem and threat from far right extremism in the UK. It raises questions about how people motivated by ideas from the far right become indoctrinated enough to set out to kill and maim innocent people.

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Tommy Robinson the former leader of the far right group the English Defence League - immediately sought to justify the attack by referring to previous problems at the Mosque. Robinson is seen by many as a right wing hate preacher.

ITVs Good Morning Britain decided to invite Tommy Robinson onto their programme today and effectively raised his profile nationally.

More than that - because Robinson had made allegations against the Finsbury Park Mosque the Imman of the Mosque was forced to defend himself and the Mosque when he subsequently appeared on the show.

It would be the same as after the Manchester attack, ITV inviting on a Muslim hate preacher, perhaps Anjem Choudery - to the put the other side of the argument.

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Anjem Choudary - now in prison for encouraging up to 100 people into terrorism - often found himself invited onto television programs over many years. It has been argued that these media appearances helped him to raise his profile and to recruit more people into terrorism.

It is hard to see what good it has done to give Robinson such national exposure even though Piers Morgan shouted at him and interrupted him - this is something Morgan does to many non-extremists every other day.

Some of our fellow citizens were mown down as they helped someone who had fallen ill and as a result a far right hate preacher gets some national TV exposure - it is perversely unfair and damaging. Not only that some of the victims have to justify why they didn't deserve being run over.

Viewing figures must mean profit from advertising - is inviting far right hate preachers on to the program meant to increase controversy and therefore increase profits?

Increasing hatred towards any section of society usually leads to someone getting attacked on some darkened street corner some where. If nothing else it increases the levels of fear and it stops or inhibits normal life for those who fear being attacked.

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What are fellow citizens who are Muslims likely to conclude when they see someone who appears to hate them given national exposure on television so soon after an attack on them?

They may conclude that ITV have one rule for the majority of the population and another for British Muslims.
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There are so many legitimate responses to the terrible fire at Grenfell. We have seen care and compassion but there will also be a need for inquiry and justice. The local community responded practically with food and clothes, so rapidly that some reception centres had to ask for the temporary halt of spontaneous giving. And in far too short a time, our emergency services have once again been called into action. It feels at the moment that we are at war with disaster, and there is certainly a spirit of resistance.

The role of people faith should also be commended. Whether this be the Muslims, awake because of breaking their fast, who raised the alarm and woke their neighbours, or the churches, Gurdwaras and Temples which have provided places of coordination, shelter and comfort; faith has very much been active in the community, making a positive contribution.

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In the midst of horrific pictures of the burning tower, (which itself plucked at the long buried emotions related to 911), there were also positive images on our TV screens, as Mattresses were carried into shelters. Or the one woman, (not someone with the appearance of wealth), packed up her wardrobe to give to those in need. And the warming picture of a Fire Fighter side by side with a vicar, there to serve the body and the soul.

One of the first national figures at the scene was the Archbishop Justin Welby. Bringing wisdom and comfort, this did not seem unnatural. But as one person of faith said to me "... they want what we can give but they don't want to hear what we have to say..." This is maybe a rough way of recognising the conundrum that Tim Farron articulated in his resignation speech yesterday as the leader of the Liberal Democrats. We seem to be a society who wants the benefits of faith in the public square but does not want to allow for the very faith distinctive, that personal conviction of belief, that motivates people to act and means the faith is often the first to respond and the last to leave, #Firstinlastout.

Faith does not have a monopoly on compassion, the heroic actions of many at Grenfell came not only from those who hold to faith, but many motivated by their humanity. But although not unique to faith, compassion, care and practical response are common to faith.

Although Tim Farron's speech was widely reported, it is interesting that the last section was clipped from many reports. This is where he defined faith as the most important factor in his life, beyond politics or party:

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I want to say one more thing: I joined our party when I was 16, it is in my blood, I love our history, our people, I thoroughly love my party. Imagine how proud I am to lead this party. And then imagine what would lead me to voluntarily relinquish that honour. In the words of Isaac Watts it would have to be something 'so amazing, so divine, (it) demands my heart, my life, my all'.

There are many issues which Farron highlights in his speech about how 'liberal society' appears intolerant of different view and beliefs. However, what yesterday shows in part, is that faith can play a positive role in the public square, as long as it is not cramped out by illiberal liberalism.
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In response to the horrific events in Finsbury Park, Theresa May rightly described the attack as "an evil borne out of hatred and it has devastated a community". In doing so, she captured the outrage that many were feeling.

What was interesting however was the way in which she referred to Islamophobia. According to her, Islamophobia was a form of extremism. Of course, any attempt to tackle Islamophobia is not only welcome but so too long overdue in the British political spaces especially as the Conservatives had gone silent on the issue once the impotence of its Cross-Government Working Group on Anti-Muslim Hate had been exposed. However, referring to Islamophobia as a form of extremism and indeed continuing to frame it in this way is extremely problematic.

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Much has been made about the fact that Islamophobia is difficult to define. This isn't exclusive to Islamophobia. In fact the same is true of all discriminatory phenomena including racism, homophobia and sexism among others. As an attempt to bring some consistency to the debate, I recently submitted a briefing paper to MPs suggesting that a definition of Islamophobia could be shaped from a Governmentally-endorsed working definition of Antisemitism. In this way, I suggested:

"Islamophobia is a certain perception of Muslims, which may be expressed as hatred toward Muslims. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of Islamophobia are directed toward Muslim or non-Muslim individuals and/or their property, toward Muslim community institutions and religious facilities"

Encompassing both ideological and actual expressions and manifestations of Islamophobia, the definition also captured the perceptional, rhetorical and physical be that directed at individuals or the material structures associated with Muslims and Islam. Most importantly, it would bring Islamophobia in line with Antisemitism.

If this is compared to the Government's current definition of extremism, not only does it fail to offer consistency with other discriminatory phenomena but neither does it offer anything useful in terms of how Islamophobia becomes manifested or expressed in real-life settings. Accordingly, the Government's 2015 Counter Extremism strategy defined extremism as:

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"Extremism is the vocal or active opposition to our fundamental values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. We also regard calls for the death of members of our armed forces as extremist."

Even at its most straightforward, the Government's definition of extremism offers little in terms of understanding or conceiving what Islamophobia may or may not be.

Defining Islamophobia as extremism will also impact on how it is responded to in terms of policy and practice. If we consider for instance how manifestations of other discriminatory phenomena such as racism, homophobia or disablism are responded to by the police, hate crime legislation becomes paramount. Since 2007, the Police Service, Crown Prosecution Service, Prison Service (now known as the National Offender Management Service) and other agencies defined a hate crime as:

"any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic".

Not only is this quite different from the Government's definition of extremism but so too would there appear to very little overlap between them. This prompts a number of questions. So for example, if Islamophobic hate crime is to be framed by counter-terror and counter-extremism narratives, why is this necessary? What makes Islamophobia exceptional and distinct from other discriminatory phenomena? How does Islamophobic hate crime differ from hate crimes motivated by race, disability, sexual orientation and so on? Little evidence can be put forward to substantiate any of these.

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Referring to Islamophobia as a form of extremism would also be misleading as regards those who perpetrate it. While Darren Osborne's suspected attack in Finsbury Park may emerge as being motivated by certain extremist views or ideologies, most day-to-day manifestations and expressions of Islamophobia are not. On the contrary, the vast majority of hate crimes are committed by ordinary people. As research shows, extremists or 'mission offenders' - those whose life's mission it is to rid the world of certain groups they consider evil or inferior - make up only a small number of hate crime perpetrators. There is no evidence to suggest that those perpetrating Islamophobia are any different.

In truth, the linking of Islamophobia with extremism is far from new in the British political setting. When New Labour for instance sought to introduce legislation to protect against assault or abuse on the basis of religion, it did so via the Anti-Terrorism, Crime & Security Act 2001. In 2009 when Gordon Brown stated that a future Labour Government would be committed to doing more to addressing Islamophobia he balanced this by suggesting that British Muslims would need to 'do more' as regards tackling the extremists within their communities. Similar too in December 2013 when in the report of the Extremism Task Force, it stated that "...[the Coalition Government] must tackle extremism of all kinds, including the Islamophobia and neo-Nazism espoused by the murderer of Mohammed Saleem to justify his terrorist attacks against mosques in the West Midlands". While welcome, the reality was that this was the sole mention of Islamophobia in the entire report. Sadly, the reference to Islamophobia appeared to be little more than mere lip-service.

For me, the political linking of Islamophobia with extremism is rather more deliberate than today's announcement might suggest in that it would appear to serve two functions. First, it sends out the misguided message that Islamophobia is solely consequential of terrorism and extremism. In other words, if Muslims 'stop blowing themselves up' then people will 'stop hating them'. Second, it appears to be something of a pacifier to Muslims in that the Government is saying that if it commits to doing something about Islamophobia then Muslims should not rock the boat about the introduction of ever more stringent and pernicious counter-terror and counter-extremism measures that are likely to be announced in the Queen's speech on Wednesday.

Instead of exceptionalising Islamophobia by defining it as extremism, Islamophobia needs to be rather more normalised and brought in line with how we understand, define and subsequently respond to other discriminatory phenomena. In doing so, Islamophobia will have the potential to both speak to and indeed convince a greater number of people that Islamophobia is not only unfounded and unwanted but so too unnecessary in today's Britain.

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"Not again?" was Brenda from Bristol's response to Theresa May's decision to announce the last round of elections in the UK. In France as well, as people went to the ballot box this last Sunday, election fatigue was all but noticeable. On first glance, the two elections could not be any more different. The British electorate delivered a hung parliament, while the French legislative elections marked the rise and rise of Emmanuel Macron's centrist wave. On the second round on 18 June, Macron's party La Republique en marche (LREM), which did not even exist over a year ago, is expected to win a crushing landslide of anything between 400 and 455 of the National assembly's 577 seats.

Nonetheless, these elections have one thing in common. Both campaigns, usually defined by the mathematics of winning seats, were fought as referendums on one person, whether Theresa May in Britain or Emmanuel Macron in France. While May's wobbly performance only revealed the strong and stable emperor had been naked all along, Macron has exceeded expectation.

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The personalised character of the French legislatives had been expected. Even as the legislative elections are supposed to be about local party representatives, since 2000 they have in fact mostly served to validate a "presidential majority" to allow the newly elected President to enact his programme. At no point in time, however, has this majority been so transformative.

The last time such a large unknown force entered the French parliament was in 1919, when it was overrun by 369 MPs of the then National Bloc, mostly fresh veterans from the war trenches. Even after de Gaulle's takeover and launch of the new Fifth Republic in 1958, his newly formed party (UNR) "only" managed to win of 206 MPs, which sufficed to become the country's largest parliamentary force.

This time, the Macroniste wave has all but bulldozed France's traditional parties. The Socialists (PS), discredited by the Hollande presidency, are struggling for survival as a political formation. Les Republicains (LR) are set to become the second largest party, but are also expected to cooperate with LREM.

Just as interestingly, pundits and commentators did not expect this kind of Macron victory shortly after the presidential victory in May. The young centrist may have won a resounding majority against Marine Le Pen in the run-off, but the press was quick to highlight his flaws. After all, did he not just attract anti-Le Pen votes rather than gain actual support? Was he not slightly too slick and neoliberal for an angry electorate that yearns for anti-establishment fury? According to this logic, the legislative elections should have provided an opportunity for the French to impose a few checks on Macron's personal mandate by voting for other parties.

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And yet, LREM's candidates, in most cases previously unknown to the public and often without any political experience of their own, easily crushed experienced candidates in most constituencies. They often prevailed after amateurish campaigns. The only reason for their victory was often the proximity to the young President's broad smile on their blurry election posters.

Indeed, Macron has been smiling since his presidential victory. Together with parts of the media, he has focused on proving that he really was a spectacularly nice guy. This began quickly after the election results, as the TV channels TF1 and France 3 both showed documentaries about Macron's campaign and celebrated the new President's general loveliness rather than, let's say, political prowess.

On the other hand, Macron put in the work to improve his image as a "presidential" character. Directly after winning on 7 May, the new President began a tour of red carpets around the world, showing his mastery of the choreography of international relations. Macron showed polite camaraderie with Angela Merkel, while popular approval increased after his televised confrontations with Trump and Putin.

Essentially, Macron's personal performance has simultaneously channelled two sentiments. On the one hand, he tapped into the need for change and renewal. As the electorate had lost faith in established parties - and the Socialist Party in particular - Macron became the promise of change. Even though he began as a mascot for educated, urban Liberals, by the end his "neither left nor right" approached seduced voters from all ranks of society. As a former minister of Hollande observed during the campaign, "people want the wave. The wave is fresh, it's new, it's beautiful... Everyone wants to become a part of something positive, to feel like their voice brings instant change".

And yet, Macron did not owe his electoral success to the politics of 'anti-establishment'. He embodies a sense of novelty with the style of the only grownup in the room. This balance can be entirely illusory and may not hold once put to the test of governance, but it was enough to win elections.

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Ultimately, with some parallels to the UK, these elections tell a story of generational uncertainty. Macron's promise of 'newness' speaks to the squeezed generation of the middle, men and women in their late twenties to their early forties who have spent years fighting against a system that favoured the old and left too few opportunities for the young. So far, he has managed to represent some of the values of this generation. Not only does he advocate for European openness, but his party will usher in the highest number of women and non-white MPs in French history.
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At Kicks Count we have been working for many years to try to reduce the UK's stillbirth and neonatal death rate, which is currently the third worst in the developed world. And while progress is being made, there is one obstacle that just keeps getting bigger. The rise in the use of home dopplers.

Today we have launched a campaign which will run alongside a petition to ban the sale of these devices on the consumer market. The opinions about our call to ban home dopplers tend to be quite polarised. Midwives, Doctors, healthcare professionals, and maybe most significantly, bereaved mothers are mainly in favour of the ban. Mums who use them are against the ban and think I am being a killjoy.

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I completely get the appeal of home dopplers, if they had been around when I was pregnant I probably would have bought one. But that was before I was aware of all the risks they pose.

The most significant risk of using a home doppler is that mums may be falsely reassured when they hear a heartbeat, when actually their baby could be in distress. This could lead to life threatening delays in seeking medical assistance. The best indicator of fetal wellbeing is always baby's movements and this is what we should be focusing on - not these cheap imitations of medical equipment.

The most important message that we try to get across to pregnant women is that home dopplers are not microphones. They are not amplifying the sound of your baby's heartbeat. They are sending ultrasound waves into your body that reflect off moving blood vessels and SIMULATE a sound. There are a lot of blood vessels in a pregnant woman's abdomen, the baby's heart beating being just one. The placenta also pulses at the same rate as the heart and the mother's main artery runs across the abdomen and that can also be picked up on a doppler. There are so many vessels that can simulate the same sound as a fetal heart. NICE guidelines even highlight the risks to professionals "Do not rely solely on the CTG trace for fetal wellbeing. Be aware of limitations and artefacts i.e. doubling of maternal pulse being recorded as fetal heart."

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Midwives train for three years to be able to differentiate these sounds using equipment costing upwards of 400. A 30 device from Amazon does not operate to the same high standard, and a YouTube tutorial can't possibly hope to offer you the same education and skill that a midwife has. If that was the case, the NHS could save a fortune buying home dopplers instead of the high quality equipment that they do purchase. I would compare it by saying it would be like checking your friend's heartbeat with a Peppa Pig stethoscope rather than going to a doctor. The two pieces of equipment just can't compare.

But putting all that to one side for a moment and just for arguments sake, let's say these home dopplers pick up the heartbeat perfectly and the mum can pick it out flawlessly, what does that tell us? Absolutely nothing.

If you saw a person collapsed in the street would you check their pulse and walk away? No, you'd probably call an ambulance because this person is clearly unwell, even though they have a heartbeat. It is the same with a baby. If a baby's movements change, it can be a sign that they are unwell. Just because they have a heartbeat does not mean anything. Everyone has a heartbeat up until the second before they pass away. All a heartbeat tells you is the baby is currently alive, which is the only time something can be done to help a baby in distress. If you wait until you can't find a heartbeat it's too late. Picking up the fetal heartbeat is a snapshot in time - 5 minutes later the heart can stop. It is so important that mums do not use the presence of a heartbeat as a sign their baby is well. NICE guidelines also state "Auscultation of the fetal heart may confirm that the fetus is alive but is unlikely to have any predictive value and routine listening is therefore not recommended." Even for trained midwives this is not a reliable determinant of fetal wellbeing.

Fans of home dopplers say that they shouldn't be banned and there should just be more education about not using them for reassurance. But as a charity, Kicks Count has spent the last five years doing this and it isn't helping. People who buy home dopplers have all the information they need on the box to say that they shouldn't use them to replace medical advice but clearly the message isn't getting through.

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Users say they offer bonding, but there are other ways to bond. These are relatively new pieces of equipment and yet generations of mums have bonded effectively with their children. If siblings or partners want to hear the fetal heart ask your midwife to record it at your next appointment. If they are not being used for reassurance it won't matter that what they are hearing isn't "live". The risk of using them for 'fun' or bonding is the same - hearing a heartbeat is subconsciously reassuring, however much we tell ourselves they won't be used for reassurance.

The NHS, The Royal College of Midwives and even the FDA (Food and Drug administration in America) all warn of their dangers. The NHS choices website says home foetal heart monitors "are potentially dangerous to the mother and baby's health", The RCM website says: "Expectant mothers have been warned against the use of home fetal Doppler devices over fears that they may give false reassurances to mothers about the health of their baby." But these aren't the sites pregnant women are checking. They see a product in a pregnancy shop that makes some very exciting claims. Who wouldn't be enticed? We can't blame pregnant women for being drawn in by these devices when they are marketed so cleverly. This is why we need to ban them from general sale.

It is up to the Government to overrule these companies looking to make a profit and instead put the safety of mums and babies first. People may argue that they are 'fun' but I can promise that giving birth to a baby that never takes a breath is anything but fun.

This ban on home dopplers could save many mums from that devastating heartbreak. If you would like to sign our petition you can do so here
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My 'shared future' began in 1998 when my wife and seven and 10-year-old boys were forced to flee our home and our 'past' in Afghanistan. At the time the Taliban was occupying most of the country, including the capital city, Kabul. We heard news that they were headed for our city of Mazar-i-Sharif, so we left in July 1998 and managed to cross the border to Uzbekistan, which was the closest and safest route.

Over the following two months, we made our way by plane through Russia and Europe, helped by an agent. We were lucky enough to have the money to do this, many didn't and therefore didn't have the choice to leave. The journey was stressful, my wife cried a lot, but we did our best to hide it for the sake of our young boys. We finally arrived in Gatwick Airport on 16th September 1998, very thankful to be safe.

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Consider, we knew hardly anyone in London, we did not speak any English, we had no possessions and little money, yet we began to re-build our lives here. Raising a family in a place you are so unfamiliar with presents its own unique and complex challenges. One issue ourselves, and others in the community, faced was a fear that our children were exposed to so much more than they would have been back home, where it is far less liberal. We found ourselves worrying about our children becoming involved in anti-social behaviour, drugs, and even gangs.

At the same time, our children were learning English and integrating into their new society, as a much faster rate than us. They would often choose to communicate at home in English over our native language, so even the basic act of communicating and connecting with our children was slowly being challenged.

Many people responded by sending children to their local mosques in the hope that faith would help reinforce discipline and strengthen their sense of heritage.

I wanted to be able to send my children to a place that wasn't faith based, but community driven. I wished for a place that would inspire them, support their aspirations and help integrate them into the wider community. I wished for a place that could help parents and children to learn and grow together.

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But that place didn't exist at the time, so myself and five of my friends set about trying to create it.

In 2002, we persuaded a local primary school to let us use their classrooms on a Saturday, and supported by a group of volunteers, we offered classes in Afghan languages - Dari and Pashto - for refugee children, and English classes for their parents. We quickly broadened out the subjects to Maths, Science and English as it became clear that these children needed a little extra support to help them in their mainstream education.

It was a brilliant example of a community supporting each-other and of parent/child engagement. It was becoming a lifeline for many families and an environment that offered understanding and friendship.

Early on we also found many people needed help with things like accessing local services, with immigration applications and with legal support. So we grew again. We recruited more volunteers and started to offer these basic services.

While I was still learning English I was also learning about how to set a charity up in the UK. I was reading mind-boggling policy documents, with a dictionary constantly by my side. It often seemed like an impossible task, but we knew we had to keep going because so many people relied on us.

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15 years later our charity, 'Paiwand', now helps over 2,000 refugees, asylum seekers, and vulnerable migrants a year, who have come from all over the world. We help 500 children through our Saturday Schools who are taught a range of curricular subjects as well as the Afghan languages, by professional teachers. We offer extensive support to unaccompanied minors including housing, mentoring, youth clubs and help gaining employment. We also have a very busy Advocacy team that helps people to navigate the stressful immigration process and access basic services.
Three men were arrested Saturday in the shooting deaths of two Maryland teenagers, according to the Montgomery County Police Department.

Shadi Najjar, 17, and Artem Ziberov, 18, were found shot to death in Najjar's blue Honda Civic on June 5, the night before the two were set to graduate from high school.

On Saturday, police arrested Edgar Garcia-Gaona, 24, Roger Garcia, 19, and Jose Ovilson Canales-Yanez, 25, authorities said in a news release.

Officials said 30 shell casings were found at the scene. One of the teens was hit four times, and the other was hit 10 times.

Investigators said they think Najjar and Ziberov were killed in retaliation for a "drug-related robbery" that Najjar allegedly committed months ago.

During the investigation, a friend of Najjar's told authorities Najjar had stolen drugs from a woman during a drug deal in December 2016 or January 2017, according to the police department news release.

The same friend told investigators Najjar told him he was going to sell Garcia a ticket to their graduation. According to police, it was the last communication Najjar had with anyone, about a half-hour before he was killed.

"We're certainly working on the strong possibility that (the graduation ticket) was a ruse to get the two victims to that location," Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said in a news conference Saturday night.

Edgar Garcia-Gaona had a friend, Jose Canales-Yanez, who is thought to be either the boyfriend or husband of the woman Najjar allegedly robbed, Kara Yanez, the police news release said.

According to the police department release, Kara Yanez told police on December 14, 2016, that she was approached by a blue Honda Civic while walking. The passenger of the vehicle grabbed Yanez's iPad, she said, and dragged her about 50 feet before driving away.

"It's believed that this is the robbery that Najjar, the victim in the homicide, was rumored to have participated in," Manger said. Police have not made a determination as to whether Najjar robbed Yanez, or if it's merely a rumor.

It's unclear, he said, whether the suspects had a motive to kill Ziberov, "or if his death was incidental to the killing of Najjar."

On Saturday, Manger said, authorities executed a search warrant at Garcia-Gaona's house, where they found a box of Blazer 40 caliber ammunition.

According to police, 11 of the 30 shell casings recovered at the scene of the murder were Blazer 40 caliber ammo.

Manger said all three suspects have been charged with two counts of first degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit first degree murder.

"Although detectives have made these three arrests, this by no means should be interpreted that the investigation has concluded," Manger said in the news release, which stressed that the progress made in the investigation so far was thanks to the members of the community who came forward to help authorities.

"These most recent developments are the result of the community taking an active role in this investigation," Manger said. "It is believed that, considering the progress made over the past 36 hours, there are additional sources of information who have yet to come forward."

CNN's Lauren del Valle and Evan Simko-Bednarski contributed to this report.
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The post mortems about the widespread WannaCry ransomware attack in May have tended to overlook the most common consequences of cyber-attacks - the damage to the share price. Bad as it can be, it is compounded by customer uncertainty regarding the safety of personal data and increased concern along the supply chain - all exacerbating a loss of shareholder confidence and leading to loss of revenue.

While the criminals behind WannaCry only wanted a few hundred bitcoin, such well-publicised breaches can cost a business infinitely more through their effect on investor and indeed consumer confidence.

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A report from Oxford Economics in April (before WannaCry) calculated that around the world, cyber-attacks have cost investors 42 billion in total, with FTSE 100 companies having to bear the burden of an average of 120 million costs for each criminal success.

The researchers analysed 65 of most serious cyber security breaches since 2013 and found that a firm's share price suffered an average 1.8 per cent drop from which it did not recover. Some companies saw a crash in valuation of as much as 15 per cent. The figures were arrived at through careful analysis of post-attack performance when measured against a control group that had managed to avoid being breached.

There is nothing new in saying cyber criminality represents a huge threat to the reputation of a company. The Oxford Economics Report does however, give us some hard evidence of the effect on investor confidence.

Business wakes up as costs mount

Of course any company breached by cyber criminals faces the multiple costs of remediation, the installation of new defences and quite possibly, compensation claims.

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The seriousness of the threats prompted a long discussion on the topic at the World Economic Forum earlier this year where many agreed it was the biggest challenge facing the world's technology industries. Others warned that fear of data breaches is causing organisations to hold off investment in technology that they need for their growth.

Not surprising then that Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) are under pressure to be innovative and to find new, but cost-effective, solutions.

There remains, however, the strong suspicion that boards do not always listen or are still not fully aware of what is required to combat cyber threats effectively. The rapid growth of cyber insurance policies is a sign of defeatism in which corporations almost expect to be breached. The insurance covers only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the loss. While the immediate cost of clean-up and remediation is covered, the long term customer confidence is not factored in. This will be especially worrying when EU GDPR regulations come into force in 2018 and the story of a breach is played out in the European courts and media.

This is not the way forward if companies want to protect their value. Boards need to realise that a data breach or ransomware attack is not inevitable. Sadly, many CISOs are struggling to get the message across. A survey of IT and business leaders in 20 countries by the consultancy Control Risks found that less than half do not believe their boards are capable of managing cyber threats effectively.

Innovation protects value

It is imperative now that everyone in a senior position understands that constantly-evolving threats require innovation, rather than just post-infection sticking plasters. Criminals have moved on from signature-based threats and are now altering the structure of common file-types. This is a mechanism for defeating existing security and anti-virus solutions in order to breach an organisation's defences.

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When faced with well-resourced criminals and covert, state-backed hacking groups, legitimate businesses cannot afford to fall behind in the race to innovate and need to reassess their level of skill and motivation.

Most fundamental of all, CISOs have to make their boards understand that traditional signature-based anti-virus security is no longer a safeguard. They must make the case for investment in real innovation.

With more than 90 per cent of successful breaches beginning with malicious code hidden in email attachments, it is time senior executives got to grips with technologies such as file-regeneration. This keeps threats locked outside the organisation, thanks to its ability to match the common file-types we use in attachments against manufacturers' standards. In less than a second it rebuilds them as clean versions before allowing them into the business in line with risk policy.
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As tragedy after tragedy unfolds on our own doorstep here in the UK it becomes a little easier for me to imagine the kind of horror people fleeing war have experienced - the horror they are running from and the horrors they have seen while trying to get their families to safety.

Recent appalling events at home have given a fleeting insight into the unimaginable terror that is the norm for hundreds of thousands of families caught up in wars across the globe.

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The anniversary of Jo Cox's murder last week, the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire and recent terrorist attacks in Manchester, London Bridge and Finsbury Park have shown us that even in the face of adversity communities come together to support each other.

People have rallied around each other, despite their grief and anger at the senseless loss of so many lives and there will always be someone to help pick up the pieces after something awful happens; that's just the way people are.

The first victim of the Grenfell Tower tragedy Mohammed Alhajali was the embodiment of this spirit. The Syrian refugee, along with his brother Omar who survived the fire, was helping to organise his local Great Get Together to honour Jo Cox and to celebrate Refugee Week this week.

Mohammed was actively trying to bring his community together to celebrate the fact that, while we may all have different pasts, we have a shared future.

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At Barnardo's we are investing in the future of hundreds of thousands of children, including refugees like Mohammed. We now support more than 250 children in refugee families that have fled war in Syria, finding sanctuary in Northern Ireland.

There will always be someone to help pick up the pieces after something awful happens; that's just the way people are.

Our staff work intensively with families to help settle and support them to become independent in their local community. We give them practical and emotional support, helping them register with their GP, dentist and optician, securing school places for children and dealing with their housing needs.

We support them to build new lives in the UK - to help them become part of the shared future of all of us - and Barnardo's workers tell me that seeing families settle into their new lives is the most rewarding part of their jobs.

The Syrian families we support have fled unimaginable horror in their home country, made dangerous journeys to escape war and have sometimes spent months or even years in temporary, overcrowded camps.

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A 'head full of hope and a belly full of fear'

When they arrive in the UK they have a "head full of hope and a belly full of fear," as one of our workers put it. Seeing the hope grow as families settle down, integrate into their communities and become more and more independent means our workers know they are making a difference.

One worker painted a vivid picture of when he drove away from a family for the last time after giving them months of support. He watched them in his rear-view mirror, gathered outside their home with their neighbours and waving him off like an old friend as the children played in the street.

It's an ordinary scene that all of us have experienced and it's because it's so ordinary that it's so remarkable. When it boils down to it, we all need friends, family, a safe home and a community that welcomes us, no matter who we are or where we come from.
https://pixabay.com/en/security-secure-technology-safety-2168234/

By now, there's no excuse for ignoring IT security - lack of awareness is no longer a credible defence. Similarly, there's no shortage of places to go for advice, tools and services to protect vital systems, services and data. There's a multi-billion dollar security industry out there providing tried and tested technology, where the best levels of protection usually defeat all but the most determined attack.

But a quick look at media coverage around IT security disasters underlines not only the ongoing risks, but also a sense of urgency for a stronger response from businesses and authorities alike:

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". . . as companies count the cost, IT directors are drawing up radical plans to prevent a repeat."

"So what do we, and what should we expect the UK Government to do about computer security?"

"Unless we come up with some better protection than at present for the virus threat, our systems could be facing a major catastrophe in the near future."

The thing is - these are concerns and opinions as they were expressed in the media 17 years ago in the aftermath of the damage caused by the 'Love Bug' computer virus.

Yet, this coverage could just as easily have appeared last week. So, what's going on? Is the technology industry fighting a losing battle? Are the products and services just not good enough, or is the challenge more closely related to how many businesses treat IT challenges in general and security in particular - it's just not a big enough priority for them.

We're in this situation despite the fact that security breaches are exceptionally expensive. The 2016 Ponemon Institute 'Cost of Data Breach Study' put the average consolidated cost of a data breach at $4million.

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And, according to Dark Reading, 2016 saw over 4,000 data breaches exposing 4.2 billion records. The report goes on to detail that 82,000 cyber incidents (data loss, ransomware, phishing, etc) hit 225 organisations around the world every day. Experts quoted in the report believe that "more than 90% of cyber incidents could have been prevented."

Now, it's difficult to draw detailed conclusions by just looking at these reports, but what they help illustrate is that it's a very big problem costing an enormous amount of money.

As for the capabilities of the security industry - yes, security breaches are numerous, they happen globally and undoubtedly the ones we hear about probably represent a fraction of the real scale of the problem. But even then, the vast majority of organisations are rarely breached and a great many can resist most threats. Even though the volume of IT security incidents continues to rise, it seems clear that organisations determined to protect themselves can do a good job.

That's certainly reflected in the value of the global IT security market, which one study estimates will reach $202bn by 2021.

Procrastination is the thief of time

If we accept that the problem of IT security breaches is well understood, are a very common, hugely expensive problem but can often be prevented, where does that leave us?

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Arguably, we are back to a self-imposed mindset that was as well known in the year 2000 as it is today: it's all about priorities.

Is there perhaps a common mindset out there that stops businesses taking security seriously? Is it because business leaders see security as an investment with no return? You pay for IT security, but you never get anything back as a result because the ultimate objective is just that nothing bad happens.

Or is it just that the perceived danger isn't tangible enough? Either way, somehow, the risk/reward element doesn't create enough urgency, so businesses just put it off until later. Then, they get hit by an attack or breach, and only then do the financial brakes come off and they spend to prevent it happening again.
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Sadiq Khan treated the sickening prospect of Hezbollah flags on our streets with the utmost seriousness.

Despite one of the most difficult weeks of his mayoralty - when he's had to contend with the aftermath of the London Bridge outrage and then with the deadly fire at Grenfell Tower - he took time last week to reassure the community he'd heard their concerns over the Al Quds Day march and would raise them with police. I understand he made good on that pledge on Friday, pushing for the full force of the law to come down on anyone in breach.

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But therein lies the problem. In this case, it seems, the law is part of the problem.

Only Hezbollah's military wing is proscribed in this country, but absurdly, given its own leaders admit they are one in the same thing, the political wing is not. So no surprise that the organisers of the al Quds hate fest felt emboldened to publish the following directive ahead of the march: "You can bring a Hezbollah flag to show support for the political wing of Hezbollah."

And the marchers took that lead; on flags, banners, draped around young children, the symbol of Hezbollah (featuring, for those unclear about the group's aims, a rifle) littered the streets of London in scenes that shame our city and our country. You can almost hear the organisers laughing at the law. Chuckles which turned to belly laughs when they started openly pinning disclaimers on to rifle-emblazoned flags, seeking to make out support was reserved for the political wing. You couldn't make it up! The flags no more represent backing for one particular element of Hezbollah's 'work' than they did last year, the year before or any year since that well-known peacenik Ayatollah Khomeini introduced Al Quds Day.

Hezbollah's record is as clear as groups who've visited their terror on the UK. It was responsible for some one of the worst terrorist outrages against Jews; killing 85 civilians at a community centre in Argentina 23 years ago and another six in the bombing of a bus filled with Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012. As the group's leader Hassan Nasrallah put it: "If Jews gather on Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide."

You would have thought that this year, more than ever in wake of the terrorist horrors in Manchester and London, the police would have wanted to show teeth. But officers stood idly by as these symbols of terrorism were hoisted in full view. The flag leaves no room whatever for doubt about what Hezbollah is - but if the law leaves room for interpretation then this legal loophole must be closed.

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A year ago, the Jewish News and the Zionist Federation launched a campaign for the flag to be banished from our streets. It's nothing short of a disgrace that such a call must now be repeated. There can no longer be any room for interpretation when it comes to public shows of support for a murderous group that has my family and friends in Israel - and in the UK - in its crosshairs simply for being Jewish.

It should not have required atrocities to be carried out before action was taken to curb hate preachers in this country. And it should not require Hezbollah to commit an atrocity on our shores before its flag invokes the same zero tolerance approach - and utter revulsion - and as that of Isis.

Until that happens, its brazen appearance makes a mockery of our laws and threatens to undermine the vital work of the mayor and government to crack down on anti-Semitism and extremism wherever it rears its ugly head.
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So yet another twist in this extraordinary election is the resignation of Lib Dem leader Tim Farron. The blunt truth is that although he got more MPs elected, this was a very poor election for a party that went into the campaign with high hopes of kicking off a bounce-back from the disastrous wipe-out of a few years ago.

On paper, the election should have been perfect timing. The anti-Brexit voters should have swarmed to Lib Dem candidates as the only way to express their pro-European views. But instead, the party was squeezed out of the debate and its leader found himself the subject of endless questions about his views on gay rights.

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I've never been comfortable with the idea of calling for a second referendum, personally. I voted to stay but I accept the result and want to make Brexit work. I think campaigning to say that you will have a second vote on the detail but will still vote against leaving is intellectually flawed.

In essence, how could Tim Farron say to the British public that he wanted everybody to see the details and then make up their minds, yet regardless of that outcome he would still vote against Brexit? It's true that the anti-Brexit vote helped the party win the Richmond by-election, but it was a flawed assumption that the anti-Brexit vote would go to the Lib Dems in a general election that in the end was not so focused on Brexit after all.

In fact, the campaign was more about people and was the most 'presidential' yet. Theresa May showed she lacked humour, charm and emotional intelligence, which was hardly a surprise for people who have seen her operate. I was elected MP the same year as her and found her solid, reliable and a safe pair of hands: great qualities, but not on the election trail.

I've also found Corbyn rather dull, but he's sincere and straightforward and this seemed to come across in the campaign. But it was Tim Farron's performance that was most disappointing. I remember him well from Parliament as his office was next to mine. Hard working, polite, a totally nice guy and able to make great off-the-cuff speeches.

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It should have been his election to take by storm. Much as Nick Clegg emerged in 2010 as a hero, I expected Tim to create the same response. But the wheels came off in week one with his total mishandling of the gay sex issue.

Whilst I respect his religious views, I was astonished that he appeared to be saying that gay sex was a sin. Eventually he clarified his views, but clearly as his resignation speech shows they caused him personal issues. As a Liberal and a gay guy, I felt let down that my leader could not do a better job of handling such a fundamentally Liberal issue.

So where next? Much though I admire Vince Cable, I think his time has passed. Norman Lamb and Ed Dave are super guys - good brains and media-friendly - but I have come to the view that we need to take a risk, skip a generation and elect the first female leader to our party.
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Here are some numbers for you to conjure with. In the 10 years to 2022, some 12.5 million jobs will be opened up in the UK through people leaving the workforce, mostly through retirement or ill-health. Over the same period an estimated two million new jobs will be created, given a fair economic wind. Yet based on the number of young people reaching adulthood, just seven million will enter the workforce. Even allowing for the vagaries of economic forecasting, it is clear that we have a problem.

The UK population is becoming older. This is not something that will affect us in the distant future, but is happening right now. We have entered a period, likely to last for many years, when more people will be retiring than are old enough to begin full-time work. By delaying the retirement age, we begin to address this issue, but it is only a start. For example, it does not even come close to compensating for the steep fall in full-time employment that affects the over 50s. There are some three million people out of work aged between 50 and the state pension age. Poor health is a significant factor for this, but so too are recruitment policies that discriminate against older men and women, regardless of skills and experience.

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The figures I quote are from one of the Government's own reports, Future of an Ageing Population, which you can find them here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535187/gs-16-10-future-of-an-ageing-population.pdf at the Office for Science.

The work is robust, as you would expect from research led by Sir Mark Walport, the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser, and Professor Sarah Harper, who established Oxford's Institute of Population Ageing. The foreword was written by Oliver Letwin, who was then at the Cabinet Office, and with responsibility for the Office for Science. So, it was clearly supported at the highest level.

This report passed unnoticed when it was made public almost one year ago, in the aftermath of the referendum vote to leave the European Union. Despite the obvious implications for an ageing workforce, the report conspicuously avoided mentioning Brexit, and the impact of expected restrictions on immigration after the UK leaves the EU.

Its clear focus was the need for employers to consider how they can recruit and retain more employees over the age of 50 to avoid a shortage of staff and expertise. The emphasis was on recruitment practices, training provision for older workers and workplace adjustments, including investment in equipment to avoid heavy lifting.

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Yet as I revisit the report with Brexit negotiations underway finally, it feels like a missed opportunity. Given the timing, it should have been the start of an honest and open debate about the profound implications of an ageing UK workforce, including the economic impact. Instead, this landmark report was reduced to little more than a call to organisations to improve employment practices.

Yes, we can retrain people, provide incentives for them to remain in work for longer, and possibly afford to pay them a bit more for to secure their skills and expertise. But the harsh reality is that the numbers just don't add up. By their own admission, the authors of the Go Science report conclude that Britain will be short of millions of workers, at every level, early in the next decade. There are simply too few young employees coming into the workforce to replace those who are leaving.

Whatever one's views about Brexit, it is important that decisions are taken based on facts, and based on evidence. For many voters, Brexit must mean that fewer foreign workers will be allowed to enter the UK. But the implications of this are rarely spelled out.

Britain is currently as close as it can possibly be to full employment. The unemployment rate is at a 42-year low of 4.6 per cent, and a record number of people are in work. Even with immigration at current levels, there is little or no spare capacity in the workforce. It is not the case (and never has been) that there are jobs that British workers won't do. Quite simply, they are busy doing other jobs.

Even before the rules have changed, foreign workers are voting with their feet. The number of nurses from the European Union registering to work in the UK has fallen by 96 per cent since the Brexit vote last year. Figures collated by the Nursing & Midwifery Council show that the number of new applicants from the EU fell from 1,304 in July last year to just 46 in April this year. Already there is a shortage of around 30,000 nurses in the NHS. Over time, more UK nurses can be trained. But given the numbers of young people available, this may simply create skills shortages elsewhere in the workforce.

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UK elections bring up mixed emotions for me: I am a researcher and teacher of politics, but I'm also a migrant and therefore ineligible to vote here. I repeat ad nauseam that my expertise is in political violence, not electoral politics, and yet I'm utterly addicted to polls. Going into the June 8 vote, I was admittedly more or less ambivalent - a Tory landslide was being predicted by everyone from the media to my most voraciously Corbynite friends. That was before that shock of an exit poll.

It was impossible not to be swept up in the momentum of the Labour Party on election night, and so, the day after the election, I called up the Labour Party office and handed over my membership fee (and as an aside, spoke to some very upbeat people who were probably running on nothing but caffeine and adrenaline). I did it so that I could fully participate in campaigning for Labour in the next election - which is presently looking like it will be well in advance of my own voting eligibility. A month ago, the idea of joining a party I couldn't vote for (and that you pay to join!) seemed outrageous to me, so what is it about Labour that made me change my mind?

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Here are a few of the reasons:

Austerity. Microeconomics doesn't always translate to macroeconomics, and despite its "common sense" appeal, austerity simply doesn't make sense. Taking an overly simplified view - if you found that you had too many outgoings and not enough incomings, you would try to reduce your spending. You decide to make coffee at home and take it to work instead of buying it from the local cafe. But if everyone in your neighbourhood makes that decision, that cafe sees its profits shrink, its ability to meet overheads collapses, and the cafe closes. The economy shrinks a bit, people become nervous, and they save more (rather than spend or invest), and the cycle continues. Austerity, by virtue of cutting spending, cuts infrastructure investment and public service support, which cripples the growth potential of individual economic actors and the economy as a whole. It also entrenches socioeconomic inequality as it tends to hit the working class, and women, the hardest. The divisive nature of austerity was seized upon by Mr. Corbyn and presented to the electorate as both harmful and ultimately misguided. The Labour manifesto is a return to Keynesian economic principles after decades of neoliberalism; however, Keynes is clear that his model is applicable to times of crisis, and spending should be pared back once the crisis ends. Keynes is not without his critics, and it's by no means a perfect solution (as stagflation showed us), but his model works a lot better than the alternative.

The NHS. It isn't perfect, and of course there are problems, but the slow slide to privatisation is worrying. While there has been continued insistence that a semi-privatised NHS would not require users to pay at the point of service, the potential problem is bigger than an Americanesque copay - it's about access. And it's important to remember that private contractors have different priorities from a public trust. If ever there is a place to borrow from the progressive playbook's "people before profit", it's in healthcare. Take it from an American who weathered a year working three jobs with no health insurance - you, Britain, do not want to go the way of the Americans. The NHS, and indeed the whole social care system, was a major attraction for me in deciding to move to the UK, not because of its availability to me personally (because while I can access the NHS, the rest of public funding is off-limits), but because of what it said about the British people. You care about each other. What a wonderful way to live.

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Migration. Labour had my full attention with the promise to stop scapegoating migrants, and to replace the income thresholds on family visas (and thus ensuring that family life is a privilege available only to the wealthy) with a denial of recourse to public funds. Of course, under the Conservatives, non-EU migrants such as myself already don't have access to public funds - it's printed right on our visas. We do have access to the NHS, but since 2015 have had to pay a non-refundable fee on top of the visa application fee at the time of submission. I have no real problem with this fee (if the NHS needs money I'm happy to help), but it grates having to pay 500 on top of the nearly 1000 application fee while listening to the Tories' narrative of migrants as a drain on the economy and a strain on the NHS. The truth of migration is that migrants add more than they detract to a national economy - something my own home country would do well to remember - and despite being fully active members of their community, overwhelmingly lack any kind of representation. It was a relief to hear a political party put forward campaign promises in direct rebuttal to what amounted to a Conservative attack on migrants, especially after Ed Miliband's 2015 "controls on immigration" pledge that pandered to what Natalie Bennet called an "anti-migrant consensus".
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Just after midnight on the 19th of June 2017, a 47 year-old man called Darren Osborne is suspected to have driven his van into a crowd of worshippers outside Finsbury Park mosque in London. One man died and 11 others were injured. After chairing an emergency Cobra meeting, Prime Minister Theresa May said: "It is a reminder that terrorism, extremism and hatred take many forms and our determination to tackle them must be the same, whoever is responsible".

However, debate has been rife on social media, as some describe this particular attack as an act of retaliation, not terror. From apparently moderate claims that it was a 'hate crime', or that Osborne cannot be described as a suspected terrorist due to his apparent lack of affiliation to any organisation, to statements such as "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth", members of the British public seem to be having some difficulty establishing what constitutes a terror attack.

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Definitions of terrorism vary between countries. In the UK, The Terrorism Act 2000 describes terrorism as "the use or threat of an action" which is "designed to influence the government [or an international governmental organisation] or to intimidate the public or a section of the public and [...] the use or threat is made for the purpose of advancing a political, religious[, racial] or ideological cause". This is updated from the Reinsurance (Acts of Terrorism) Act 1993, which stipulated the acts must be of persons "acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which carries out activities directed towards the overthrowing or influencing, by force or violence, of Her Majesty's government in the United Kingdom or any other government [...]".

Therefore, the stipulation that Osborne needs to be a member of a terrorist organisation for his alleged attack to be considered a terrorist incident is 17 years out of date. Meanwhile, the definition of a hate crime in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is "any crime or incident where the perpetrator's hostility or prejudice against an identifiable group of people is a factor in determining who is victimised".

Witnesses to the attack at Finsbury Park Mosque describe Osborne as shouting "I'm going to kill all Muslims". It doesn't really need clarifying, but it seems the victims race and religion were evidently at the forefront of Osborne's motives. However, under current UK law, most terrorist attacks might then also be described as hate crimes. The propaganda used by self-described Islamic State encourages attacks against 'infidels', which includes both non-Muslims and Muslims who aren't deemed to follow the group's interpretation of the Quran. The definition of a hate crime applies to "any criminal offence which is perceived [...] to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person's religion or perceived religion", as well as hostility towards a person's race, disability, gender identity and sexual orientation.

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But attacks committed in the name of Islamic State aren't described as hate crimes are they? They're terrorist attacks. Perhaps this is a technicality, as the now-defunct definition which required terrorists to be acting in the name of an organisation more clearly applies to Islamic State's version of terror. But legally, there is no separation between Osborne and Khuram Shazad Butt, the presumed ringleader of the attacks in London Bridge and Borough Market earlier this month.

However, it is claims such as "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" which demonstrate the most profound misunderstanding, or even ignorance, of the motives behind acts of terrorism for the perpetrators. The truth is, the overwhelming majority of terrorist incidents are inspired by the attackers' desire for political or ideological revenge.

In a 'Letter to America' in 2002, Osama Bin Laden lists US support of Israel and other 'atrocities' or 'attacks' against Muslims worldwide among the reasons for 9/11. Similarly, Omar Mateen, the shooter who murdered 49 LGBTQ+ individuals at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando last year, told a 9-1-1 dispatcher that his attack was 'triggered' by the killing of Abu Waheed, an Islamic State leader in Iraq, by US forces. The bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, more popularly known as the Lockerbie bombing, was perpetrated by two Libyan nationals amidst ongoing military conflict between Libya and the United Sates. Needless to say, the list goes on.
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Most people's immediate thoughts, following last year's referendum, correctly focused on the situation of European citizens currently living in this country, as well as that of British citizens living in Europe. Now, however, attention has turned to the economy and jobs - exemplified by Labour's so-called 'jobs Brexit'.

Yet it is time that we reflected on a concern that has not received nearly enough attention - even though it is the most significant right that individual British citizens, and in particular young people, will lose if we leave Europe. Namely the 'right to roam' across our own continent - in other words the right to travel, work and study throughout Europe - and to do so freely and at will. This is then not just about what happens to the British already in Europe. It is about young people starting out in life, and the opportunities, too, for every future generation.

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And although what is now the European Union began as a political and an economic arrangement to ensure the continent's stability after a devastating world war, this freedom to roam has become increasingly regarded as a fundamental and democratic right of European citizens - indeed affirmed as such by the 2004 Citizens' Rights Directive, and incorporated into UK law in 2006.

This is a right, moreover, which, if we lose, will continue to be enjoyed by almost every other citizen within Europe, certainly those of the 27 other EU countries, as well as the four EFTA countries, all occupying the European Economic Area, excepting Switzerland which has a separate yet analogous agreement to the Directive. The young people of Albania - even with its status as a candidate for EU membership - would have more rights of free movement within Europe than us. Despite the accusation by Brexiteers that any time soon the EU is about to fall apart, the direction of travel is towards a Europe where all young people will enjoy this right (everyone excepting the British perhaps), the only thing in practice stopping other citizens doing so being the need to prove the democratic credentials and human rights records of the few remaining European countries outside the EEA.

Outside the UK there is incredulity that British citizens are willing to give up this right. For the British, traditionally used to travelling across the world pretty much at will, it is perhaps far too easy to take things for granted in a Europe that has moved on and continues to do so. In the UK all the concern, even up to now, has been about people coming into the country - very little about ourselves travelling into Europe. Yet the opportunities to work and study abroad have opened up tremendously in recent years - the Erasmus Programme, for instance, this month celebrates its thirtieth anniversary. It is perhaps an irony that many of those older people who voted leave will themselves have children, nephews and nieces - even grandchildren - who have taken jobs abroad, if only for a few weeks in the summer. Many of those Brexiteers believed that for young people things would carry on as before, without fully realising that any deal involving movement of people is one that has to be reciprocal.

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The most chilling phrase that the Conservative government has been repeating is 'attracting the brightest and the best' - code for established and well-salaried. Chilling because then all hope that ordinary young British people will continue to enjoy the current rights to work, study and travel outside the UK will be removed, as the rich and the privileged will be the only people able to cross borders with any degree of the freedom of movement enjoyed by all other ordinary Europeans.

Of course, the one European country that other Europeans won't have the free right to roam will be the UK itself. But what ordinary citizen will want to visit or work in the country that, in terms of free movement, might then become the new 'East Germany' of Europe, policing its borders and hardly allowing people in or out apart from the occasional increasingly expensive holiday? With a hard Brexit, this is not such a fanciful scenario.

What can be done? There needs to be mobilisation against the loss of this right. Many young people who found their political voice on June 8th and who voted Labour voted both against austerity and against Brexit, hoping that May's 'hard Brexit' would be countered and a debate could be opened up.

Brexit can be argued against on the basis of these principles alone. But there is also the offer that Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt made that any UK citizen who wished to keep an EU passport should be allowed to do so - what has been termed 'associate EU citizenship'. That should certainly be part of any deal that took us out of the EU. And when one starts to think about it who in their right mind would turn down a passport that offered so much more than the more restrictive one - at the very least a shorter queue at the other end for holiday-makers? At this point, it has to be said, the whole idea of Brexit seems to collapse like a house of cards.

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Dear Theresa May and Honourable Members of Parliament,

From the emergence of the youth vote, Jeremy Corbyn's elevation to political rock star, and goatskin vellum trending on twitter, who would've thought a snap general election would deliver such delights, or have others in store.

I understand the Prime Minister and her party may not agree with my rather enthusiastic embrace of the results, but I ask them to take note of the sub-text.

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This election has gifted us one of the most diverse parliaments in history. An infusion of energy, experience and expertise which promises to enrich the texture and tapestry of political debate and policy.

I had even started to hope of a creative shift, where the parties could soften their divisions, pool intellectual resources, exercise wisdom and imagination for the long-term needs of the country. Particularly when momentous and complex decisions need to be made. At this point in time, I am of course talking about Brexit.

However, like millions in the country I've been appalled at the Tory Party's decision to make a deal with the DUP, the Democratic Unionist Party, who's beliefs are particularly harmful to women and people in the gay community, to say the very least. If they've been promised funds as part of the bargaining process then we'll want to know where those funds have come from, given that school meals have been taken away from infants, the youngest in our society, for whom we have a moral and ethical responsibility.

Prime Minister, I expect you to put the nation's interests before party. Ditch the DUP, trust parliament to support the best way forward, one which is truly representative. You'll have shown your statesmanship and that you've read the sub-text.

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Call in the brightest minds from the other parties, from universities, businesses and social organisations. There's a treasure trove of intelligence, social passion and maturity out there. Instead of a coalition of dogma, let's have a coalition of brilliance.

Let's go even further, let the general election keep on giving, and take a road less travelled. Shift the focus from GNP to GNH. From Gross National Product to Gross National Happiness. Negotiate Brexit within the framework of Gross National Happiness.

'The what?" You must be exclaiming with disbelief and incredulity. It wouldn't be the first time an idea has provoked scepticism and scorn. When the Labour manifesto was released for the recent election, it was treated as yet another suicide note, and yet it's humanity, rationale and aims, galvanised large sections of the population and became a game changer.

So, I ask you, Prime Minister May, instead of making a deal of desperation with the DUP, whose consequences could backfire spectacularly, consider making GNH the aim of your politics and Brexit.

- His Majesty Jigme Singye Wangchuck, the Fourth King of Bhutan. With his famous declaration in the 1970s, the former King of Bhutan challenged conventional, narrow and materialistic notions of human progress. He realized and declared that the existing development paradigm - GNP (or GDP) - did not consider the ultimate goal of every human being: happiness.

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Thus GNH was born. Bhutan developed a 'middle path,' which concentrated on a fairer distribution of resources, along with environmental conservation and good governance.

The question which immediately arises is whether GNH can be applied to vastly different countries, which are heavily urban and industrialised. HRH Princess Kezang Choden Wangchuck, President of the GNH Centre Bhutan, puts it thus:

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Security and Sovereignty of the nation? How often did we hear these words during the referendum, and now about the Brexit negotiations? If Bhutan believes that security and sovereignty come from GNH, then surely, we can too?

'Happiness is more important than GDP.' Said Lord Gus O'Donnell, former head of the Civil Service, Permanent secretary to the treasury and UK member of the IMF. A man who should know something about national finance and the administration of the nation.

We're wedded to the idea that the more we produce, the more we facilitate business and its demands, the happier the country will be. I have no objection to hard work, production and providing for our material needs; as the daughter of Punjabi immigrant parents it was the mantra by which I was brought up. And yet we have huge levels of inequality, violence, social division, unhappiness and mental illness. Clearly something's not working.

Gross National Happiness (GNH) is no airy-fairy concept, where people expect 'magic money trees,' to provide for their needs. It has been developed into a practical tool, embedded into processes, and used as the filter by which to develop policies and make national decisions. It has four main pillars and nine domains.

The Four Pillars are: Good Governance, Sustainable socio-economic Development, Preservation and Promotion of Culture, Environmental Conservation.

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The Four Pillars are then subdivided into nine domains, which cover areas such as Health, Education, Psychological well-being, Living Standards, and more. These are all used as screening tools to determine whether policies are fulfilling the aims of GNH.

I'm sure Prime Minister May, you'll want to work for a Brexit which delivers happiness, and allows the happiness of the country to be developed. I therefore suggest you ditch the DUP, adopt the GNH, and use the tools for the framework of happiness, developed by Bhutan. We've been through a gruelling general election, let it create a sea-change, a quantum leap.

The legal code of Bhutan 1729 states: "...if the Government cannot create happiness (dekid) for its people, there is no purpose for the Government to exist."

Warmest regards,

Ravinder Randhawa (Ms)
If youve been wondering what loyalty means to President Trump, his most recent Cabinet meeting provides an illustration. Hint: It doesnt necessarily include loyalty to the United States of America.

Rather, to the assorted Wall Street billionaires, politicians and captains of industry that the president has surrounded himself with, loyalty equates with obsequious, sycophantic praise for Trump himself.

The televised spectacle has to be seen to be believed. And the question is: Was it more laughable, or more scary? I confess to being of two minds.

On the comic side, I couldnt help but think of the most mighty Emperor of Lilliput, Delight and Terror of the Universe in Swifts Gullivers Travels. To determine which of his courtiers gained preference, the emperor  every bit of 6 inches tall  conducted public exhibitions of leaping and creeping, rather like dog agility trials. The winners particularly excelled at groveling.

That would be quite a competition in Trumps Cabinet. In an obviously scripted moment, Vice President Pence set the tone by piously intoning how serving the great man was the honor of his life.

Hes really good at piety, Pence.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus then thanked Trump for the opportunity and blessing that youve given us to serve your agenda and the American people. Around the table it went, each secretary striving to outdo the others in expressing devotion to Trump.

The oleaginous Tom Price may have taken the prize: What an incredible honor it is to lead the Department of Health and Human Services at this pivotal time under your leadership. I cant thank you enough for the privileges youve given me and the leadership that youve shown.

This isnt a cabinet, its a fan club.

Where did they find such an assemblage of brown-nosers? And why would a confident chief executive want them? Good luck getting anybody at that table to ever tell Trump anything he doesnt want to believe.

Not that he ever listens.

Anyway, even with his disapproval rating in Gallups daily tracking poll at 60 percent (versus 36 percent favorable), Trump positively wallowed in the warm bath of his underlings praise. Ive seen cocker spaniels more resistant to petting. Whos a good boy? Donalds a good boy!

The president modestly allowed that only Franklin Delano Roosevelt had accomplished as much during his first months in office.

Nobody laughed.

Thankfully, I suppose, only Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis resisted the urge to flatter the president. Instead, he spoke highly of serving men and women of the Department of Defense, as well he should. I actually believe its the patriotic duty of Mattis and beleaguered national security adviser Gen. H.R. McMaster to remain on duty almost regardless of the presidents follies.

Somebodys got to man the watch.

Because on the scary side, youd have to go somewhere like North Korea or, yes, Russia to find contemporary examples of the Dear Leader school of political leadership. That said, if Vladimir Putin appears to be Trumps role model, theres no reason to think the cunning Russian dictator is anywhere near as susceptible to flattery as our man-child president.

Nor as vulnerable, ultimately, to public opinion. In Russia, anybody as dangerous to Putin as Gen. Michael Flynn appears to be to President Trump would already be dead. A figure like former FBI Director James Comey would be in prison or exile. Hed be well-advised to avoid high balconies and open windows.

But this aint Russia.

Trumps feckless attempts to co-opt, then fire Comey  a cagey, experienced political infighter  track almost exactly with Flynns legal perils. He first sought the FBI directors personal loyalty one day after then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates warned the White House that Kremlin operatives had compromised Flynn. Trump then asked Comey to lay off Flynn the day after newspaper accounts forced Flynns firing. Why?

The presidents attempts at damage control have failed spectacularly. Do you think Donald Trump colluded with Russia? Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton asked during Comeys recent Senate testimony.

Thats a question I dont think I should answer in an open setting, Comey answered, definitely not the response Cotton was looking for. He said a final answer would have to come from the ongoing FBI investigation.

Did I mention how cagey Comey can be?

Meanwhile, if upwards of one-third of American voters appear to have chosen party (in the person of Trump) over country, the rest of us surely have not. Moreover, Trump supporters loyalty to him is based less upon indifference to Russian meddling in U.S. elections than simple disbelief. Many seem to be buying the presidents (pardon me) childish alibi that Democrats have made it all up to explain away Hillary Clintons losing the election.

How these things normally work is that zealous supporters cling to Dear Leader until the day after it all comes crashing down. Then suddenly nobody knows him anymore.
Under the veil of the recent election result, the government published the briefing summary Grammar Schools in England, composed of three sections: Current Position; The Debate and A Brief History of Grammar Schools.

Currently there is a ban on opening new grammar schools, imposed under Labour in 1998. Previously Margret Thatcher closed or merged most grammars in favour of non-selective comprehensives. It has been suggested this was due to middle-class resentment of selection.

One of the main arguments for bringing grammars back is that selection will aid social mobility between classes, despite the briefing summary making references that contradict this. It will be interesting to see how parliament will address this issue.

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While we wait, it seems important to highlight one of the most prominent working-class grammar school students turned academic, Richard Hoggart, published in 1957 a ground breaking book The Uses of Literacy: Aspects of Working-Class Life. The book was so powerful it helped lay the foundations of British Cultural Studies. I wonder if he have become an academic had he not attended a grammar school?

Actually, I have met a multitude of older academics and professionals who are from a working-class upbringing, however, I have met only a handful from my own generation and younger. The common factor for the older generation is selection through grammar school. I wonder how many more of my working-class peers would have made it to university had we all been given the option to go to a grammar school?

From my own personal experience, university was a massive cultural shock to me. The vast majority of my university peers had very different childhoods to me: they had never been in fights or around drugs and crime; had money and nice houses with cars; went on yearly holidays to nice places abroad; were well spoken and came with a kind of innocence that I hadn't known since I was a young child. These differences left me feeling rather isolated and were rooted in the fact that most of my university peers were middle to upper class and grew up in a demographic served by a good school that destined them for university and professional careers.

As I have grown older and entered the professional world, my feeling of isolation and 'otherness' has remained, as the vast majority of my professional peers are also consistently from middle and upper class backgrounds. It seems that the decline of grammars has resulted in selection by social class.

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It was my cultural isolation, along with the sense of injustice at the lack of academic opportunities for kids from my background, that inspired me to go into teaching. I wanted to help change the status quo, acting as a role model for working-class youths, inspiring them to go to university and gain professional careers.

If grammars still existed at large I would not have become a teacher after university, as more working-class children would be selected for a good education. Currently good schooling is too often based on catchment i.e. selection by house price, and/or access to tutoring, often excluding the less well off. Should the future of child be based on the income of their parents and local demographic?

I believe that working-class children who show potential or have a thirst for a good education, which leads to a professional career, should be granted one. Unfortunately this is not the case, but more grammar schools could make it possible. It annoys me that the media and politicians are using pro-social-mobility for their anti-grammar stance, particularly when they use the argument that lifting the ban will result in the others getting left behind. Who are the others though? It seems to me this would be the rest of the working-class who are currently being left behind either way. We cannot all be socially mobile of course, but, surely its better that the most talented working-class children are supported to transcend social classes rather than none at all. In turn some would become as important and influential to society as Hoggart.

If proposals do go ahead then the selection process needs to be revised, for a number of reasons: Firstly there is the ethical question of selection at eleven, that is not solved by the conservative manifesto allowing later entry; Wealth enables private pre-schooling to help secure a place - currently the amount of grammar students from independent primary schools is disproportionate to those on Free School Meals (FSM - the governments poverty indicator), with prep schools providing four times the amount of students; There is also a big market for tutoring for the eleven plus exams, something that those from poorer backgrounds cannot afford, however, it has been suggested that entry grades for children on FSM should be lowered ; Although, even the FSM criteria itself is questionable as it is not a good indicator of poverty, meaning that many worthy candidates could miss out; We also need to ask, do entry tests actually work at all?

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Finally, should we be opening grammars at the expense of other schools? Many schools are already struggling with budgets and could make good use of the funds diverted to grammars and other schools, which have been designated 320 million in March's budget.
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A Hull family have been left distraught after discovering padlocks in memory of loved ones who have died have been removed from a pier overlooking the River Humber.

Melanie Allison, 49, from east Hull, placed a lock on the bridge in memory of her dad, Lawrence, who passed away when he was 41 and his ashes scattered in the water.

She went to pay her respects on the pier for Fathers Day - but was shocked to discover the padlock for Lawrence and others her family had placed there were missing.

Hull City Council has said they have removed the locks as bridges can "only tolerate a specific weight load".

Ms Allison said: "I was distraught, I was fuming.

"I went down as I usually do for Fathers Day, but the locks were gone - no notice or anything explaining why they had been removed.

(Image: Submitted picture)

"My dad's ashes were scattered at sea so it's the place I go to mourn. We go for birthdays, Christmas, Fathers Day - it's our tradition.

"I can't understand why they have been taken away, they meant a lot and were only tiny locks. I can't see how they were causing damage or offending anyone."

Ms Allison said the family had been left deeply upset at their sudden disappearance.

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"They have similar things in London, Paris, New York. I don't know why we shouldn't have them in Hull," she said.

"My daughter Lauren never met my dad but we go there to talk about him and remember him. It's part of our life."

(Image: Submitted picture)

Her daughter, Lauren, 19, said she was also distressed at the padlocks for her family members being removed.

She said: "It's disgusting, my mum only went there at the end of May and nothing had changed.

"It's the fact we weren't told about it, it's where we go to pay tribute.

"There's been no notices up about them being removed, I don't know why they would need to go."

James Kavanagh, 22, also from east Hull, said he was also shocked and upset to learn of the padlock removal.

He said it had hit him especially hard because one was dedicated to his stillborn son.

He said: "We put a padlock in memory of Alfie James Kavanagh, who was stillborn at 40 weeks.

"It was obviously very sad for us and to remember him we did it on his first birthday, in July.

"I was shocked to find out the locks had been removed yesterday. It feels wrong, it's very sore for me.

"Obviously it will be his second birthday soon so we were all going to go down and pay our respects but now we can't.

"I was going to take my other son down there yesterday but with it being fathers day I couldn't when the lock was removed.

"We did it to remember him, I kept the key in case it ever needed to be removed but we've had no notification of it, no notices were up saying what was happening, we don't know where the lock has gone."

He added his partner, Shauna Cook-Allison, Melanie's niece, was also upset.

A spokesman from Hull City Council said: The bridges are only able to tolerate a specific weight load. To maintain the safety and structure of Victoria Pier for visitors, the council removed the locks.

We understand that people who have placed engraved locks on the bridge will be disappointed at their removal, however anyone who placed a lock on the bridge can contact us to retrieve it by calling 01482 300 300."
Bots, Playlists, Blockchain, Value Gap & Growth  Top Trends From #Midem 2017

Fresh from a full week at Midem 2017, Romy Harber shares some of the key trends and hot topics discussed during the event, including the role of chatbots, the future of playlists, what we can expect from blockchain tech, and much more.

______________________

Guest post by Romy Harber on MidemBlog

Ive just returned from a great week of meetings, panels, networking & parties. The sun was shining in Cannes, and there was a positive mood amongst the attendees.

Here is a roundup of the key trends & hot topics I saw at Midem this year!



1. Chatbots

AI, and specifically chatbots, was a hot topic across the course of the week. A panel moderated by Music x Tech x Futures Bas Grasmayer & featuring The Bot Platforms Syd Lawrence discussed the opportunities and potential pitfalls of using automated answers on platforms like Facebook Messenger in your campaigns. It totally should have a personality, but should totally not pretend to be a human, was Laurences advice.

At Hospital, weve trialled chatbots for certain campaigns, and weve had a great response. With a 95% open rate, and the message appearing on a users phone within moments, its a great way to cut through the noise of social feeds. However the potential to spam someone and lose their attention is high. So be careful!

Watch the session here:

2. Playlists

As expected, streaming, and in particular the power of playlists, was discussed in every marketing-orientated panel. The value of building relationships with key tastemakers & services is paramount in a modern campaign. However, it shouldnt be forgotten that you should be building campaigns that drive fans to your music independently of those playlists. Relying on the services to drive those fans will not bring the long-term relationships that are needed for your artists to thrive.

If you can develop your own dedicated audience & prove that to a DSP, the playlist additions will follow.

Find out more here:



& also here



3. Blockchain

Its no secret that there is an issue with metadata in the industry. A lack of communication between publishers & labels, a problem with metadata delivery, and a lack of a strategy to clean it up. In the modern era of millions upon millions of micro-payments, your data needs to be bang on to make sure the payments make their way back to you.

A potential solution being put forward by certain parts of the industry is Blockchain technology  based upon the technology behind bitcoin. Im by no means an expert, however this article can explain the concept (as can this interview with Benji Rogers, who spoke on Midems blockchain panel, below). The technology has a huge amount of potential.

It needs someone to take the bold step towards doing so, and a universal willingness from almost every part of the industry. That is something I feel may take some time.

You can view more here:

4. The Value Gap

As Spotify has begun to pump significant revenues into the industry, the accusations that they dont pay enough have slowed. However YouTube is still relying on archaic safe harbour laws to stop it needing to license music & pay artists appropriately.

The value gap was mentioned across lots of panels, but in a particular one moderated by CMUs Chris Cooke, where it was pointed out that video streams in the UK were up 88% last year  but the payments to labels were flat at 0.4%. Whilst this is (hopefully) being resolved with updates to current legislation, it is important for labels to ensure that their content is claimed appropriately and they are making the most of the tools available.

You can view more here:

5. Growth

Ill end with a great one  that things are looking up. A Merlin report recently issued stated that 66% of their members had seen overall growth of their business in the last year, and according to the IFPI, the recorded music industry grew by 5.9%, the fastest rate of growth since they began recording figures in 1997. And that positivity was a recurring theme in many conversations I had at Midem.

Im aware there were many years of decline before this, however streaming is affecting the industry in a positive way. Finally companies are beginning to fully embrace this, and as long as this continues and we dont end up with one or two services calling all the shots  things are looking good for the future.

See you next year!

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Among the range of complex foreign policy issues yet to be addressed by the Trump administration is a serious concern for global internet freedom. The growing restrictions on internet freedom around the world are easy to document; less so any visible American strategy that would reverse the ominous trends at hand.

Lets review the dimensions of the problem in brief. The latest data from the respected nonprofit organization, Freedom House, provides a contextual understanding, based on tracking global internet freedom in 65 countries, comprising 88 percent of internet users worldwide.

According to its most recent annual report in this area, Freedom on the Net 2016, two-thirds of the worlds internet users live under government censorship. Internet freedom around the world declined in 2016 for the sixth consecutive year.

The types of blocked content include political communication aimed at promoting democratic values, such as online petitions and calls for public protests. Even satire can be punished severely: a 22-year old in Egypt was imprisoned for three years after photoshopping Mickey Mouse ears on President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Unfortunately, this type of criminal penalty is hardly unique.

Overall, Freedom House deemed only 17 surveyed countries to have real internet freedom; 28 were partly free and 20 were characterized as not free. The leading bad state actors should not be surprising: China, Syria, Iran, Ethiopia, Uzbekistan and Cuba (North Korea was not included in the survey, alas).

The Obama administration had mixed success promoting global internet freedom. It provided modest funding through a $45 million grant program, with most of these funds given to provide technology for bloggers and dissidents in select restricted countries. But the same tools that protect freedom of expression online can also hide drug traffickers and child pornographers. And the damaging leaks of highly classified NSA data by Edward Snowden hurt the U.S. as it advocated for greater internet freedom, since the notion of centralized government surveillance undercut the message that our nation intended to convey.

In spite of these setbacks, there was a recognition at the highest levels of government that restricting global internet freedom was a growing problem. Less freedom would have enormous potential consequences for dealing with authoritarian regimes and diminish promising communication and ecommerce capabilities of an open global internet

As technology expands these possibilities, many governments have placed greater restrictions on innovative new digital services. Freedom House has documented arrests for misuse of Facebook in 27 countries, of YouTube in 11 countries and of Twitter in 9 countries. These are sobering numbers that the Trump administration will have difficulty ignoring, if only because internet freedom can affect both national security interests and trade imbalance concerns. The U.S. would be hurt if the marketplace of ideas and the online commercial marketplace that thrive here are diminished overseas.

However, there has been radio silence to date about this issue from the White House and the Department of State. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson should provide both symbolism and substance for a new U.S. global internet freedom agenda in a high-profile address that echoes the words of his predecessor, Hillary Clinton, in a January 2010 speech at the NewseumThis is a very important speech on a very important subject.

This phrase alone would send a strong diplomatic signal to the international community that the United States still considers internet freedom to be a critical area of foreign policy engagement. Equally important, it would mark the start of an updated internet freedom agenda based on success metrics and aimed at reversing the all-too-apparent downward spiral of repression.

Source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2017/06/13/sending-a-strong-signal-on-global-internet-freedom/
State Sen. Adam Hinds, left, and Sen. Marc Pacheco held a hearing at Berkshire Community College on the state's future energy policies.

Senate Chair on Global Warming Takes Input on Energy Policy



State Sens. Adam Hinds and Marc Pacheco visit Seth Nash of Blue Q on Monday afternoon, before the hearing. Nash is one of the private-sector businesses to install a photovoltaic array to power his business. PITTSFIELD, Mass.  State Sen. Marc Pacheco has chaired the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture and thought he had heard everything about the environment.

Until 11 years ago, when he saw Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth."

"I saw the reality come to life on a movie screen," Pacheco said.

He signed up to become a "climate messenger" and went to a training in Nashville, Tenn. Focused on global warming  he was one of the few in politics chosen  and since then thousands of people throughout the world have gone through the seminar. He returned to Massachusetts and founded the Senate Committee on Global Warming & Climate Change.

The committee has helped shape Massachusetts' clean energy policy. Particularly, he helped usher in the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2008, which set in law targets for the state to reduce greenhouse gases.

"The evidence is now in. We don't need to talk about what may be in the future, we can talk about what has happened," Pacheco said.

Massachusetts is leading the country in hitting its clean energy targets and clean energy has actually become an $11.8 billion industry, Pacheco said. He said 105,212 green jobs have been created, an increase of 75 percent from 2010, along with 6,714 new companies. In Western Massachusetts, there were 12,335 jobs created and 1,014 businesses.

But yet, there is still work to do. In the last year, Massachusetts showed a 5 percent change in temperature from the average and the severity of weather events has increased. He says there needs to be more done and there are a number of bills in the state Legislature right now that need vetting.

On Monday, he was in Pittsfield, one of nine locations on his Clean Energy Future Tour, to ask for the public's input and to help motivate people to get involved.

"This year will be a crucial year for us in the Legislature in terms of ensuring that we aren't going to go backward on solar. We want to continue to incentivize solar power in the state and also look at, hopefully, doing what we can to alleviate the net metering caps and make sure the RPS standards are really going to be something that utilities are going to have to deal with," Pacheco said.

"But without citizen support across the commonwealth, there is a lot of mischief behind the scenes from the fossil fuel industry not so interested in seeing these initiatives going forward."

For state Sen. Adam Hinds, the work is even more important now because of the shifting changes in energy policy on the federal level.

"We do feel these rapid changes in energy policy at the federal level that it is incumbent of the states to take on a lot of that  whether it is joining the Climate Alliance (a group of states committed to the Clean Power Plan) or understanding how states interact with each other and also this third category of the shifting of legislation we undertake in the state," Hinds said.

Pacheco said those pieces of legislation won't get to the governor's desk without the support of citizens. To get that, he spent 3 1/2 hours in the auditorium at Berkshire Community College fielding comments on how to shape the next phase of the state's energy policy and to gain some ideas for what else can be done.

It was his sixth hearing of the year and 40 people signed up to provide testimony, while others lined up after the names were exhausted to provide more.

"There is a lot of interest, not just here in the Berkshires but across the state," Pacheco said.

The first hour and a half of the meeting, however, was hijacked by anti-wind advocates from the Hoosac Wind Project. A group of neighbors in the Florida and Clarksburg area have been fighting against the 28.5-megawatt wind farm since before it even went online in 2012.

Larry Lorusso, of Clarksburg, said the turbines have been causing health concerns from sinus issues to heart disease to anxiety because of the vibrating sound echoing through the area.

"At times I feel like I am inside a drum," Lorusso said.

He said the state knows the noise is too loud but is looking the other way. Michael Farineny, of Florida, said he's spoken with every government official he could to mitigate the issues but to no avail. He said the system of testing for sound issues is "rigged" because the company is in charge of hiring the consultants, and setting the schedule for tests. The low-frequency noises are caused relationship issues, has torn apart the neighborhood, and forced people to abandon their homes.

"Do you know what it is like waking up and coming back to what used to be your dream home and seeing and hearing an industrial product invading your world when it was once peace and quiet?" Farineny said.

They were called one after another, reading pages of prepared remarks citing their studies, delving into detailed specifics. One woman held up a laptop to play a YouTube video of the sound of the turbines.

Pacheco attempted to move the meeting along, encouraging people to keep their remarks short. An hour and 15 minutes into the meeting, only six of the 40 signed up to speak had had a chance, and all but one of those were specifically calling for action against the Hoosac Wind Project.

The Taunton Democrat has heard similar issues before. He says with any type of renewable energy projects, there is often opposition. For wind, he said, he heard the same type of issues raised from those on Cape Cod, just slightly different details.

"It was very similar to the Cape hearing. The Cape was saying they had some bad experiences with some of the on-land wind that was deployed early on in the process. There are some people who live next to on-land wind sites that are very opposed to the continuation of on-land wind based on their personal experiences," Pacheco said.

"On the other hand, we've had people in other places down the Cape that are very supportive of on-land wind that also live close to those sites. The level of opinions on those things is diverse."

He said siting for any type of project gets complicated and the state can only work within its confines. He said state policies will bump against local or federal laws, or the Constitution, so there isn't a clear and easy way to create a siting process for differing projects.

"The problem is that some of it has to do with the constitutionality of some of the things the people would want," Pacheco said. "These issues would be simple if they were as simple to solve as they are proposed sometimes."

Those who oppose the Connecticut pipeline expansion understand the legal issues with that. State law has protected land for conservation but the federal government was able to override the Chapter 97 Conservation Restriction in favor of building the pipeline through Otis State Forest.

"It is not that easy to try to deal with. I couldn't agree more with the people I heard today about Article 97 for example. I am a big Article 97 proponent and support Article 97 to the hilt. Unfortunately, it is not constitutionally allowed based on some pre-emption on the federal level. Now our problem really is with the federal level," Pacheco said.

Rather, he doesn't want to see any additional fossil fuels shipping into the state and believes in going to 100 percent renewables.

Will Elwell, of Ashfield, is known for the cabin he has built to obstruct the construction of the natural gas pipeline. He said the overturning of Article 97 "should never have happened" and that, in a way, the law has created more areas for federally approved fossil fuel projects. He says when looking for the energy policy of the future, the state needs to "look at what happened recently."

"My concern is this could set a precedent for projects in other parts of the state," Elwell said.

The concerns on siting didn't just hinge on projects that have already been constructed or are under construction. Lenox Selectman Channing Gibson urged a slow down of wind projects as well.

"The science needs to be there, the cost-benefit analysis, whether or not you have a good place for the solar array or wind where you will actually get the income," Gibson said.

Gibson said the town had a proposal to build two turbines on Lenox Mountain with the intent to meet its energy needs. The Board of Selectmen appointed a committee to focus on the project and get a clear understanding of what it would all entail. It turned out, the consultants early on had "wildly overestimated the wind power and we wouldn't meet our financial goals."

The town was close to risking impacting its tourism industry through the damage to the mountainside for a project that wouldn't have yielded the expected results.

Local conservationist Rene Wendell said the mountaintops of the Berkshires are a driver of the tourism industry. He said people come to visit the Berkshires because of the natural beauty. He opposed wind projects that cause damage to them.

"These things are our economic engine and if you put turbines up there, you are taking a tremendous risk," Wendell said.

A woman from Buckland voiced concern about a proposed biomass plant there. She said the state laws are designed to promote the burning of timber.

Lauren Gaherty, a planner from Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, read testimony from her colleague Melissa Provencher, who heads the brownfields program. Provencher praised the state's Green Communities program, saying it provides funding to small towns, many which have "little capacity" to tackle energy issues on its own. And she pushed for an expansion of the MassSave program, which provides businesses with free energy audits that then incentives energy projects.

Provencher wants a more focused target on the small businesses that are the "backbone of our economy" and expansion to help lower-income families. Others in the audience agreed that renewable energy projects should be expanded to those who can't afford it now, with one woman suggesting to create a portal like the one for health insurance to connect even renters to affordable renewable projects.

Pacheco had already had improvements to the Mass Save program on his radar. He said audits are simply not being performed even when some one has requested one.

"It is getting more complicated actually get it done. You get on a wait list to get the audit done," Pacheco said. "We need to have a better, more efficient system to have it move forward. A lot of the utilities are still very attached to the energy customer and the rate structure that keeps them afloat."

Eleanor Tillinghast wants a focus on transportation emissions. She pushed for passenger rail to major cities and more frequent bus service so people don't have to drive to work.

"We also need high-speed fiber internet in all of our towns and not just the ones that can afford it so people can work from home," Tillinghast said.

She wasn't on an island with those thoughts either, as others raised their hands in support of her and others used their testimony to touch on transportation.

Others focused on expanding hydro-electric, expansion of research and development of new products and energy storage, ridding subsidies for oil and gas companies, and doubling down on solar.

Some of the other bills not brought up at the hearing include setting benchmarks for gas emission decreases for 2020 and 2030, which was part of a piece of legislation state Rep. Gailanne Cariddi had released before she died.

"There is significant legislation pending at the state house ... Unfortunately, the tragic loss of our colleague who is chairing the natural resource and agriculture committee, she played a leadership role this year in having released the comprehensive adaptive management bill, which deals with resiliency, and the 2030 and 2040 targets to ensuring we not only meet our 2020 and our 2025 requirements but that we establish 2030 and 2040 targets statutorily," Pacheco said.

He is also looking to "modernize the grid." He said other countries have decentralized their electric grids so that streetlights are off until a vehicle or person passes underneath. And when that person or vehicle is gone, the lights turn off.

"The technology is there, we don't have to wait for the technology. It is just a matter of political will to get it done," Pacheco said.

On man at the hearing, however, said he wouldn't want the state to go all in on addressing global warming because it may not exist. He said science has ultimately been proven wrong throughout history and he'd rather have a more "balanced position" in case global warming also pans out to be wrong.

Pacheco responded by saying that 97 percent of scientists have fallen on the side that global warming is real, so he's going to believe them.

"If I went to 100 doctors and 97 of them told me I better go in for a certain type of procedure or I may die and three of them told me I didn't have to worry about it, you'll be OK, I definitely know I would pay attention to the 97 doctors," he said.




iciHaiti - Politics : Celebration of LGBTI Pride Month





"The Embassy of the United States of America in Haiti extends its warmest wishes to the Haitian people on the occasion of LGBTI Pride Month, which we celebrate throughout June 2017.



Democracy is most secure when all persons live freely without fear of violence and discrimination. We honor this truth now as we take pride in our differences, in our unique characters, and in the great and wonderful rainbow of human experience. But in our differences there are vulnerabilities, and there are members of our communities in both the United States and Haiti who are subject to abuse because of their orientations. Let us end that abuse. Let us not tolerate the perpetrators of violence against our basic human rights.



If you are lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual, transgender, or intersex you are first and always a human being with inalienable rights, including the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of your dreams. This month as you go to work, as you go shopping, or visit a club, or a church, remember the rainbow that includes all of us in its light.



Pride month is an opportunity and a reminder to reaffirm our respect and tolerance for all people, and to say loudly and clearly, no matter who you are and no matter who you love, we stand with you."



IH/ iciHaiti


















Remember during the primaries when Trump was accused of being a threat to democracy if he did not accept the election results? Democrats were so sure of themselves; had that election in the bag! So united in hate, they and many Republicans are treating our President as if he had committed a crime and see virtue in their most murderous viciousness. Their ideas have found a safe harbor in our schools, universities, the mainstream media, among celebrities and the Leftist establishment, and allowed free expression of choice to be stymied and irreconcilable. There has been a non-stop smearing, silencing, marginalizing and criminalizing of conservatives.

How short is their memory! In 1984 Ted Kennedy attempted to conspire with the USSR to lend a hand in challenging Reagan in that election. (Forbes-2009). Bill Clinton reclassified U.S. missile launching secrets to become non-secret, allowing them to be sold to China. Hillary and her co-conspirator, Huma Abedin (Muslim-Brotherhood family), let her e-mail server be easily hacked. The Clinton Foundation (long-overdue for investigation) was the recipient of Muslim Brotherhood money, and both Hillary & Bill were involved in the Russian buyout of 25% of our uranium deposits. Liberals once called for the firing of FBI director Comey over his Hillary-late-election investigation announcement (whops, I meant matter) and flip-flopping Maxine Waters said Comey had no credibility. Now shes livid! Obama is conspiring behind the scenes to create a shadow government but it was he who legalized millions of people without Congress, forced people to purchase health insurance, forced private health insurance companies to cap prices for higher risk clients, set school lunch menus, targeted conservatives for tax audits, and issued directives to ignore federal immigration law. They are investigating the wrong people. Call your Congressmen, tell them to openly support our President, to give him a chance to keep his promises.
Penelope Boston has spent the last 25 years visiting some of the most spectacular caves on Earth. Sometimes she needs to wear a special cooling suit and strap on a backpack respirator that produces chilled air. It is the only way to resist, even for just half an hour, the 60C inside the Crystal Cave of Naica, in northern Mexico.

Penelope Boston, NASA Astrobiology Institute director. Victor Sainz

To explore these depths is the closest thing to visiting another planet, explains Boston, a microbiologist who currently heads the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

Inside the spectacular giant crystals that formed here around 50,000 years ago, there are pockets of fluid. From these, scientists have been able to extract dormant microbes and grow cultures in a lab, thereby bringing them back to life.

Ive been working on this all my life, I deserve to see it before I die

Penelope Boston

These microorganisms are known as extremophiles because they thrive in some of the most hostile environments on Earth. They can survive without light or water and eat rocks or even toxic compounds, inside abyssal depths where the lack of oxygen and an abundance of gases would kill a person in a matter of minutes.

If there is life on other planets, it is very likely that it is also hiding inside caves and that it looks a lot like the creatures Boston is studying.

Boston is the daughter of an actor and a dancer who emigrated to the United States from Europe following World War II. When she began working in her field in the early 1990s, very few people believed that there could be underground life forms. The first research projects that were financed by US agencies sought to find out whether it would be possible to introduce microbes underground in order to clean up radioactive contamination from nuclear bombs.

But when they started to study it, they saw that the microbes were already there, recalls Boston.

This researcher has focused on a few dozen caves that are particularly interesting because of the microbes they contain. One of them is Lechuguilla  one of the longest caves in the world  and another is Snowy River, which contains an 18-kilometer-long stream bed made of petrified white calcite. Both are located in New Mexico.

Image taken by the Curiosity rover on Mars. NASA

Boston recalls the time when she and her entire team nearly died from the sulfur emissions inside Villa Luz, a cave in the Mexican state of Tabasco.

The concentration of oxygen in the air is 21%, and that time the meter went down to 9%. I was screaming but nobody could hear me with my mask on. After that, we started carrying oxygen bottles with us, she recalls.

What Ive discovered throughout my career is how different the various life forms can be from one cave to the next. This diversity is controlled by geochemistry. Its as though each cave were a completely different planet, says the researcher, who was in Madrid recently to take part in a symposium on extremophiles organized by the Ramon Areces Foundation.

These microorganisms are known as extremophiles, they thrive in some of the most hostile environments on Earth

Boston studies the mineral formations left by many of these microbes when they feed, and which on other planets could constitute a sign of life.

But reaching the caves and cracks of Mars, Europa or Enceladus  the sixth-largest moon of Saturn  with a rover remains a challenge that is still beyond the technological ability of NASA or any other space agency, she admits.

My opinion is that the first signs of life beyond Earth will not be found in the Solar System but in the atmosphere of exoplanets. There are thousands of possibilities, and we will soon be launching the James Webb telescope next year, and that will open up a whole new range of sensibility, she says.

Boston harbors no doubt that Mars will be colonized one day, although not as soon as the visionary entrepreneur Elon Musk says. And caves will play a fundamental role once this happens because they offer a perfect habitat.

Boston has worked on studies for NASA on how to use inflatable materials to line the inside of a cave and make it livable, which is a much cheaper and more efficient option than building a colony in space, she says. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) probe has revealed that the Red Planet has more than 2,000 cavities that could be used in this way.

The researcher, who was born in the 1950s, trusts that she will live long enough to see humanity reach Mars in the 2030s.

Ive been working on this all my life  I deserve to see it before I die, she jokes.

English version by Susana Urra.
The Spanish bullet train that will cover the Mecca-Medina route in Saudi Arabia reached a peak speed of 330km/h in a trial run held on Sunday. The high-speed railway link, a 6.7 billion project, is meant to improve journey times for travelers on the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

The high-speed train that will cover the MeccaMedina route. EFE

According to the consortium in charge of the project, the test was conducted between the stations of Kaec and Medina. It surpassed the threshold of 300km/h required for commercial operations once the line is officially launched.

The trial involved a Talgo 350 Haramain train, which has been adapted to the extreme conditions it will face, including hot desert sands. The consortium, which includes Spanish rail infrastructure manager Adif, train builder Talgo and construction companies OHL and FCC, said that it has added 30 technological components to the high-speed trains that will link Islams holiest cities.

The project has been plagued by delays that the consortium and Saudi authorities blamed on one another

The AVE trains (for Alta Velocidad Espanola, or Spanish High Speed) are due to start operating for private trips and for the Saudi royal family by the end of the year, before being opened up to the general public in March 2018.

The Al Shoula Group  made up of 12 Spanish companies and two Saudi firms  said that the train used the strictest standards of safety and quality, and a highly stringent trial regime.

A first trial of the so-called Desert AVE was conducted on May 18, and a second time on June 14.

Saudi and Spanish officials involved in the AVE project met in Medina on May 9.

So far, around 70% of the 450 kilometers of railway line have been laid down. The project has been plagued by delays that the consortium and Saudi authorities blamed on one another. In December 2014, the kingdoms newly appointed transportation minister, Abdullah bin Abdulrahman Al-Muqbel, issued a public statement calling on the consortium to speed up work or risk having the contract rescinded. Construction work at the stations of Mecca, King Abdullah Airport and Jeddah are significantly behind schedule.

English version by Susana Urra.
Around the year 1500, Venice was on the brink of political and economic isolation. The fall of Constantinople to the Turks and the changes made to European trade routes following the discovery of the Americas in 1492, among other events, had undermined the city-states great power.

Palma Vecchio's 'Two nymphs in a landscape', at the Thyssen. Museo Thyssen

But as so often happens in history, the political woes stimulated artistic creation. Venetians began searching for what we would now call a city brand, and they decided to convince the world that theirs was the most beautiful in the world, and that their main waterway  the Grand Canal  was the most dazzling.

Drawing inspiration from classical culture, painters and architects, with support from art patrons, began introducing light, color and sensuality into depictions of beautiful models, both male and female.

The country scenes draw inspiration from literature. No matter how many grazing sheep or how much cultivated land you may see, there are no actual fields in Venice

Fernando Checa, curator

Madrids Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum is now launching a summer exhibition called Renaissance Venice. The Triumph of Beauty and the Destruction of Painting, featuring 89 works on loan from major international collections. Many of these works, which will be on display between June 20 and September 24, have never hung in a Spanish gallery before.

Fernando Checa, the curator, said that this show, together with the Prados own formidable Venetian collection, will make Madrid the worlds biggest showcase of Venetian painting over the summer months.

The show opens with a view of Venice painted by Jacopo de Barbari in 1500. The work marked the first time that the city was represented from a birds eye-view and in a realistic manner. The woodcut is accompanied by three portraits of Venetian magistrates, signed by Gentile Bellini, Tintoretto and Veronese, three of the biggest artists to emerge from this glorious period in Venetian art.

Titian's 'Penitent Magdalene," on display at the Thyssen Museum this summer. Thyssen Museum

The curator explained that it took him four years to bring together all the works on display, and that nothing essential is missing from an exhibition that seeks to provide a comprehensive explanation of Venetian art in the 1500s.

Besides paintings, there are also sculptures and books on loan from the Pitti Palace in Florence, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the Louvre in Paris and the National Gallery in London, among others.

Also on display are around a dozen pieces that belong to the Thyssen collection, such as Tintorettos Paradise and Vittore Carpaccios Young Knight in a Landscape.

The ideal of beauty embodied by elegantly dressed, melancholy-looking young men as depicted by Veronese, Giorgione, Lorenzo Lotto or Giovanni Cariani give way to a gallery of beautiful women portrayed by Palma Vecchio, Giovanni Cariani, Sebastiano del Piombo and Titian  there are up to three different versions of his take on the theme of Penitent Magdalene.

In their quest to sell beauty, the artists turned to the canons of the classical world, said Checa. They are ideal portraits that do not reflect any specific woman, although there could have been noblewomen and prostitutes who provided inspiration.

This show, together with the Prados own formidable Venetian collection, will make Madrid the worlds biggest showcase of Venetian painting over the summer months

The exhibition underscores the role of power through the soldiers armor and the impressive indoor scenes. The portrait of Francesco Maria della Rovere, painted by Titian around 1536, is one of the most notable artworks in this section.

But the ideal of beauty reaches its climax with the nature and landscape paintings. The country scenes draw inspiration from literature. No matter how many grazing sheep or how much cultivated land you may see, there are no actual fields in the city of Venice, notes Checa.

He also warns that the famous views made by Canaletto and Guardi had nothing to do with reality, either. They were made to be contemplated by people who did not live in Venice  what we would call tourists these days.

Asked to select the jewel in the crown in the show, Checa said that if I was forced to choose, I would pick The Rape of Europa by Paolo Veronese, a work filled with mythology and beauty, on loan from the Doges Palace, which it has rarely left.

Rubens, Bacon, Rothko Sin titulo A.G. One of the chief traits of Venice's Cinquecento period is that color wins out over the brush strokes. The last room in the exhibition leads visitors to reflect on whether this technique ultimately carried within it the seed of its own self-destruction. Some works show how the violent chiaroscuro technique becomes so important in itself that even today, especially with Titian's work, there is debate on whether these works were actually completed or not, says Guillermo Solana, the artistic director at the Thyssen. But that stress on color had a major influence on all the later generations, including Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez, Goya and El Greco, who learned to paint in Venice. This influence also extends to abstract expressionists such as Rothko, Bacon and Freud.

English version by Susana Urra.
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I travel to Birmingham on one of the hottest days of the year to see the work of Sheela Gowda. I confess to being a long term follower of Gowda. Of all the installations at Tate Modern, Gowdas Behold (2009), containing 4,000m of rope made of human hair and 20 car bumpers is one of the most memorable installations currently on show. To make the length of rope necessitated 1,000 seamless knots which the artist herself made. Gowda has said: Handling a material makes me understand its limitations and its potential  I therefore do not outsource the physical aspect of art-making.

Behold recently acquired for the Tate collection was shown initially in the Venice Biennale. Its a mixture of hair and found objects  the steel car bumpers carefully hung horizontally wound together with ropes of hair allowed to loop and spill onto the floor. The talismanic quality of the hair, given initially as an offering to assure the drivers safe passage, here subjugated by the ever present modernity of a burgeoning economy. There is a strong linearity contrasting with the looping-forms sculpture that recalls drawing in space.

Gowda, who was born in 1957, trained to be a painter in her native India before being awarded a scholarship to study in London at the Royal College of Art. Her tutor, painter Peter de Francia, liked India, she says and she was excited as previously she had never thought she would get to travel to Europe. She studied first in London and then went to Paris where she studied for three months and met her now husband Christoph Storz a Swiss conceptual artist. Storz introduced her to European conceptual language and the work of Joseph Beuys. At the time Storz was considering making a work encasing the Swiss novel Heidi in cow dung.

Returning to India, Gowda continued to use De Francias methodology of always challenging oneself. His words always be inventive and his warnings dont be too subtle still implicit to her thinking. Her works also reflect her training as a painter with line, shape and colour, where line is the main form and her installations are often thought out with drawings in her omnipresent sketchbooks.

Behold at Tate Modern contains 4,000m of human hair ( Sheela Gowda)

Gowda largely gave up painting when she returned to India in the 1990s. In her large new and as yet untitled installation at the Ikon she has been using found objects. Metal drums are flattened, segmented and circles are pressed out before being hand beaten into bandlis, the bowls in which sand, concrete and slurry are carried to construction sites. On the wall, flattened sheets are manipulated and twisted to form towers. On the floor are a variety of bandlis, each different from its neighbour. Confidence is shown in the artists simple storytelling. The viewer is compelled to see the beauty and strength in these materials that would be ordinarily overlooked.

Made of metal: Gowdas new work at the Ikon Gallery appears effortless

In a second also unnamed work are coated rebars, rods and support poles that Gowda has found, cleaned and collected. This was a hard and physical work to make and yet it looks effortless. It is not trivialising human labour but drawing our attention to the beauty in ordinary craft. This is an artist that finds a material and then does what is necessary to make it work as an installation. She once said: I do not begin a work without an idea, an intuition, often inspired by my encounter with a material or an image. But this is deliberately placed at the teetering edge. It evolves and changes, sometimes quite drastically. It is a process where I stand my ground but let the material challenge me.

It may often mean hard work for Gowda but she does not shy away from it. She has given Birmingham and Ikon a wonderful, thought-provoking summer exhibition.
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Carrie Fisher had taken cocaine, heroin and ecstasy shortly before her death, according to an autopsy.

The results indicated that the 60-year-old actor had the three drugs in her system when she became ill on a flight last year. She had a heart attack as she flew from London to Los Angeles in December, and spent several days in intensive care until she died in hospital.

Recommended Mark Hamill pays tribute to Carrie Fisher at the Tony Awards

Fisher was best known for her role playing Princess Leia Organa in the original Star Wars trilogy, and later films in the franchise.

The exact cause of her death was unable to be determined in the coroners report, which indicated that several factors may have been involved. In addition to the drug use, Fisher suffered from sleep apnea. It was not clear if the drugs had actually contributed to her heart attack and death, or if they were merely coincidental.

Fishers drug abuse was well known previously, and she frequently discussed the diseases that challenged her in her work.

Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Show all 9 1 /9 Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher American actor and singer Debbie Reynolds smiles and holds her infant daughter, Carrie Fisher Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher American actress Debbie Reynolds with her daughter Carrie Fisher Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actress Debbie Reynolds, poses with her children Carrie Fisher and Todd Fisher Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher arrive at the premiere of 'Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith' Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actress Carrie Fisher and her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actress Debbie Reynolds accepts the Life Achievement Award from her daughter, actress Carrie Fisher onstage at the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California. Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Actresses Carrie Fisher, Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient Debbie Reynolds, and Billie Lourd pose in the press room during the 21st Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher A candle is seen on the star for Debbie Reynolds on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California Getty Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher A view of a temporary star made by fans in tribute to actress Carrie Fisher on Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California Getty

My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life, daughter Billie Lourd said in a statement provided to People magazine. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases.

She talked about the shame that torments people and their families confronted by these diseases. I know my Mom, shed want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles. Seek help, fight for government funding for mental health programmes. Shame and those social stigmas are the enemies of progress to solutions and ultimately a cure. Love you Momby, she wrote.

Fisher died just one day before her mother, fellow actress Debbie Reynolds. In addition to drug abuse, she frequently discussed suffering from bipolar disorder. She had previously admitted to taking cocaine and LSD.

The only lesson for me, or anybody, is that you have to get help. Im not embarrassed, she told People in 2013 when discussing her inability to permanently quit doing drugs.

That willingness to discuss her struggles with drugs and mental health was cheered when she died this past winter. Fans and columnists wrote about her honesty, and encouraged more people to open up to that sort of conversation so that the stigma of the diseases could be lifted, allowing people who are suffering to seek out help and treatment.

That message is particularly important in the United States these days, where a heroin epidemic has exploded. Mortalities related to heroin, prescription pain killers, and other opioids have skyrocketed lately in a spike that has shadowed increases seen during the HIV and crack epidemic seen in the late 1990s.
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Leaked emails between Johnny Depp and his ex-business managers apparently show the actor being asked to "take it easy" on spending.

Joel Mandel and The Management Group are currently fighting to subpoena Depp's attorney Jake Bloom and his ex-agent Tracey Jacobs as part of the ongoing battle as to whether he knew about the state of his finances. They claim the emails, which they have made public, prove their case.

Depp sued Mandel and TMG in January over claims of fraud and negligence. TMG then countersued, claiming he was well aware of his situation, as were Jacobs, Bloom, and Depp's sister Christi Dembrowski, and that they had pleaded with him to curtail his spending as far back as 2009.

The actor was said to have spent inordinate amounts of money on private jets, art, and fine wine.

There were also some more unusual items listed, including $4 million on a failed record label, $3 million to fire Hunter S Thompson's ashes out of a cannon, and hundreds of thousands of dollars on a sound engineer to feed him his lines on set so he "no longer has to memorise them".

The sound engineer was the subject of particular derision from some of his peers, including Jessica Chastain, who rolled her eyes and gave a scathing response when questioned about it during an interview.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, TMG claims that Mandel, Jacobs and Dembrowski worked as his "inner circle" and acted to protect his financial and business interests.

Attorney Suann MacIsaac wrote in a court filing: "Each member of the team had numerous individual communications with Depp and each other, which, taken together, will overwhelmingly establish that Depp was always fully informed regarding his financial problems, and of course, always knew that he was borrowing money to afford his extravagant lifestyle."

Only one of the leaked emails shows a direct exchange between Depp and Mandel, which addresses his need to "take it easy" on spending and asks him to curtail his holiday spending.

An email, apparently from Johnny Depp to his ex-business manager, where the actor says he is trying to watch his spending and also asking what else he could do to aid his financial issues (Screengrab)

In his emailed response a day later, Depp said was doing his "very best" on holiday spending but that he needed to give his family "as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason".

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He appeared to refer to the need for a private plane [presumably this was a suggested way to cut down on spending] as "a commercial flight with paparazzis in tow would be a f***ing nightmare of monumental proportions".

Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment Show all 9 1 /9 Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The dining room Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The kitchen Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The Art Deco exterior Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The bedroom Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The living area Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The dining table Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The kitchen Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The outside terrace area Partners Trust Johnny Depp's quirky 9.8 million Los Angeles apartment The pool Partners Trust

Depp also asked: "What else can I do??" and offered to sell his possessions: "i [sic] got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings and some semblance of a soul left. where would you like me to start???"

He closed the email by writing that he wasn't happy with his current financial situation "but there wasn't a whole lot of choice", and claimed that his last proper paycheck had been for his starring role in 2009 crime drama Public Enemies. He noted that appearing in the relatively low-budget drama The Rum Diaries the same year meant his finances would sufffer.

Michael J Kump, an attorney for TMG, called Depp's lawsuit a "fabrication" and wrote in a statement that the company did "everything possible to protect Depp from his irresponsible and profligate spending".

Depp was named as the fifth highest-paid actor of 2016, earning $48 million, according to Forbes, thanks to projects including the latest Pirates of the Caribbean installment.
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Sofia Coppola, a director renowned for films that give audiences an insight into how women think, had apparently never heard of the Bechdel Test until recently.

During an interview Coppola was asked about her new film The Beguiled, where the interviewer asked her if it was "the rare feminist film that struggles to pass the Bechdel test".

Responding, Coppola asked: "The what test?... I've never heard of that. What's that?"

The Bechdel test was created by American cartoonist Alison Bechdel as a way to test gender equality in films.

It asks two simple questions: Do two women characters have names? Do they speak to each other about something other than a man?

"I guess I've never studied film," Coppola joked. "That's so funny, but there are lot of women talking about a man in this [The Beguiled]."

Recommended How Nicole Kidman became Queen of Cannes

Coppola is currently promoting the film, which received rave reviews at Cannes (although it didn't impress our critic).

However Coppola has also been criticised over an apparent lack of diversity in her films. In a recent email to Buzzfeed she admitted that she removed a slave character's plot because she wanted to concentrate on the gender dynamics of the story, "and not the racial ones".

"I didn't want to brush over such an important topic in a light way," she said. "Young girls watch my films and this was not the depiction of an Africa-American character I would want to show them."
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The Greek philosopher Aristotle described pride as the crown of the virtues. It is, after all, an emotion we experience when weve achieved something great, or when someone close to us has. It usually has a recognisable physical expression  a slight smile, the head tilted back, the chest expanded, with arms raised or akimbo. Think Superman after hes defeated a villain.

Yet pride often gets a bad rep. While it can help us feel dignified and aware of our self-worth  ensuring that others do not walk all over us  it can seemingly interfere with empathy and make us come across as arrogant and egocentric. Pride comes before a fall, goes the saying. It is also one of the seven deadly sins, sitting alongside terrible traits such as envy, greed and arrogance.

So would it be better if we didnt feel pride at all? Lets take a look at what modern psychologists think.

Beware of hubris

Much of the research in this area has focused on determining whether pride is good or bad for us. A solution has been to split it into two emotions: hubristic pride and authentic pride. Some researchers argue that hubristic pride is what leads to states of arrogance and smugness, while authentic pride is what promotes confidence and fulfilment.

Recommended How I learned to wear my scar with pride

However, others say that this splitting of prides may be too simplistic. In fact, some argue that hubristic pride doesnt really qualify as an emotion at all. Its not that arrogant people are feeling a different emotion than non-arrogant people. The emotion of pride is present in both cases. Hubris is mainly about how someone communicates their pride to others. This is when pride might become problematic.

According to this research, people who express their pride in a hubristic or arrogant manner are those who tend to score high on narcissism, and who are less conscientious about how they present themselves socially. Consider US president, Donald Trump, who is often accused of narcissism. Many people thought he came across as hubristic when hitting back against reports that his inauguration drew significantly fewer people than his predecessors, Barack Obamas, did.

Meanwhile, when Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, said he was very proud of his partys 2017 general election results, it seemed more understandable. Corbyn dramatically outperformed expectations, overcoming seemingly insurmountable hurdles. But to many people, he comes across as a more humble individual. However, there is no reason to assume he is experiencing pride to any less degree than Trump.

Moral emotion?

When you look at the causes and consequences of pride, it emerges that pride may be a core moral emotion. Moral emotions encourage pro-social behaviour and group harmony. But how could pride  an emotion that seems so self-focused  be considered a moral emotion?

Proud or smug? (EPA)

In a forthcoming review of the literature, Jared Piazza and I found that pride is often elicited by actions that are considered socially praiseworthy. That is, we often feel proud about actions we think others will admire. For example, adults dont tend to feel pride when they lace up their shoes in the morning, but a young child might if they think their parents will praise them for it. Pride therefore is quite socially oriented.

A study conducted outside of the lab by Jeanne Nakamura obtained experiences of people feeling pride at work and at home. This research found that most situations that elicited high levels of pride were social in nature. That is, pride was experienced most strongly when others were around, such as family members or work clients.

Another study demonstrated the social aspect of pride beautifully. Participants were told that they had performed exceptionally well on a difficult task. Some of the participants were also praised for their performance (great job!). The participants that received this additional praise reported feeling more pride and tended to persevere longer in subsequent similar tasks. The study demonstrates that pride can motivate behaviours that are likely to bring us social praise.

That pride is experienced in response to achievements associated with social or moral value might encourage people to stand their ground to a greater extent than people who dont experience pride about a topic. Of course, in such instances, such pride  accompanied by the increased self-esteem and confidence associated with pride  might simply come across as stubbornness.

From an evolutionary perspective, the tendency to experience pride likely benefited our ancestors in a number of ways. First, by motivating people to achieve socially approved goals, pride can motivate us to contribute to society. By doing so, it can enhance the social status of the achiever  granting them greater influence over group resources and decision making. This can be especially effective depending on how we communicate that pride to others. For instance, raising ones hands in the air after winning a sporting event might be considered appropriate, but raising ones hands in the air after winning an argument with a romantic partner might be deemed as slightly less appropriate.

While pride can certainly lead to arrogant displays, this may be more about personality than the emotion of pride itself. Pride as an emotion seems to be quite functional and exist to encourage people to engage in socially valued behaviours more likely to bind people together than to separate and divide.

Neil McLatchie ia a lecturer in psychology at Lancaster University. This article was originally published on The Conversation (www.theconversation.com)
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The UK student population has doubled in the last 20 years to almost two million. During this time, higher tuition fees have placed increased pressure on students  with a recent survey finding that 75 per cent of students who receive a maintenance loan feel stressed about their debt.

It may not be a total surprise then that a 2015 NUS survey revealed that 78 per cent of students experienced mental health issues during the previous year. And for 33 per cent of those questioned, this included suicidal thoughts.

The situation has been described as a mental health crisis  with student support services struggling to meet demand. ONS data on the issue also shows student suicides are at a 10-year high.

A Unite survey of students in 2016 also found lower life satisfaction levels reported in the 16  19 and 20  24 age groups, compared to the general population, which suggests that attending university can negatively affect students well-being.

Student pressures

Of course, not all students are the same. Some will have the time of their lives at university, while others will struggle. There are many factors that can reduce a students ability to cope with the challenges of university life that include living independently for the first time, making friends, or managing an increased workload.

Some students may also have additional work responsibilities, family or care commitments. International students may encounter culture shock, language barriers, and homesickness. While other students may be dealing with pre-existing mental health conditions alongside their studies.

This has led to an increasing number of charities and universities now taking action to tackle mental health problems on campus and raise well-being among the student population.

Increased student suicides have also prompted the Samaritans to begin adapting their Step by Step schools programme for a university setting. Samaritans advisers will work with institutions to create a response plan of communication and support to help reduce suicide contagion on campus. This is when exposure to suicide can increase the risk of suicidal behaviour in vulnerable individuals.

Trying to help

Many universities also now offer dedicated events and initiatives to enhance student well-being, such as University of Leeds Light Cafe  which uses lighting to boost concentration, lift the mood and increase energy. Then there is also pet therapy sessions such as those run at the University of Edinburgh, as well as numerous well-being cafes, and well-being zones.

More ambitious projects include the University of Ulsters sport-based programme to increase mental health awareness and encourage students to seek treatment.

The University of Edinburgh also recently launched a mental health strategy that involves allocating 140,000 to their counselling services. They will train personal tutors in mental health first aid, and offer online support and mindfulness courses to students.

Letting students down

But while its great that schemes like these are up and running, there is currently no agreed minimum level of mental health support universities must provide to students.

This means that while some institutions may have appropriate policies and processes in place and are doing great work in this area, others may be letting their students down. And without a common standard of practice, its difficult to know on which side of this divide an institution sits.

Our research also found that some universities actively avoid collecting student mental health data, fearing Freedom of Information requests that may damage their reputation.

Rising standards

This is why, earlier this year, researchers at the University of Salford launched ProtectED, a not-for-profit national accreditation scheme to assess how well universities look after their students safety, security and well-being.

Developed by academics, in consultation with sector experts, the scheme is informed by a student survey, and discussion groups with university security managers, police officers and students union sabbatical officers.

The ProtectED Code of Practice brings together guidance recommendations, training programmes and university case studies to support its measures for addressing student mental health. And trained assessors have to verify that a university meets all the requirements before accreditation is awarded.

It also covers additional areas to create an all-round approach to student well-being. This includes university security, international student safety and well-being, student harassment and sexual assault, as well as measures to keep students safe on a night out. This includes training bar staff to support vulnerable adults and offering late night transport options.

Data collected during accreditation will also be anonymously combined with data from other ProtectED universities, which will help to give members an understanding of problems and solutions. And this is vitally important, given that recent figures show the number of students to drop out of university with mental health problems has more than trebled in recent years.

It is clear then that universities need to ensure the right sort of support is in place to avoid a continuing crisis on campus, as well as making sure that student mental health is taken seriously.

Lucy Winrow is a researcher at ProtectED at the University of Salford. This article was originally published on The Conversation (www.theconversation.com)
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Comments glorifying the Finsbury Park terror attack have been reported to the Governments terror alert system amid fears of further atrocities.

A woman who wished to remain anonymous told The Independent she discovered a stream of vile responses to a post on Britain Firsts Facebook page.

The far-right group posted a link to its leader Paul Goldings blog, reporting that the man suspected of ramming a van into worshippers leaving prayers declared that he wanted to kill Muslims.

The post on Monday afternoon was inundated with hundreds of comments from both supporters and opponents of Britain First, which is known for invading mosques and halal meat businesses.

Many of the responses attempted to justify the atrocity in Finsbury Park, which is being treated as a terror attack by authorities.

About time, actually it's past time to start striking back, wrote one man. Another added: The muslims are asking for it and your going to get it BIG TIME [sic].

Comments posted on Britain First's Facebook page on 19 June (Facebook)

In many of the vile posts, threats were made clear. This is war, a man wrote.

One commenter said: A hero hope he starts a wave of retaliation against the evil within our country that's killed do many already [sic].

Many praised a man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and terror offences, who has been named as Darren Osborne from Cardiff.

Some posters described him as a true hero and patriot. Well done that man, said one comment. Why didn't he use a bigger van? another asked.

The comments have been reported to the Home Office through a website dedicated to reporting online material promoting terrorism or extremism.

The woman who reported the threats told The Independent she hoped authorities would apply the same standards seen in prosecutions over celebrating Islamist terror attacks.

Darren Osborne is believed to have lived in this house on Glyn Rhosyn, Pentwyn, Cardiff (Getty)

It seems a double standard if theyre allowed to get away with that, because theyre advocating for something terrible here, she said.

I would have thought if the police would go after people after Islamist attacks they would apply the same standards after an attack on Muslims.

It doesnt matter who the attackers are, they are glorifying extremism and violence.

They shouldnt get away with it. The same standards should apply to anyone.

The woman said some of her Facebook friends share posts by Britain First, which does not moderate comments on its page.

The group is careful about what it posts but if you look at many of the comments its clear what its supporters believe, she added.

Facebook has been criticised for hosting extremist material and "fake news" but has outlined measures to crack down on extremist content, alongside other online firms.

 Finsbury attack: Imam who protected van suspect and fought off crowd describes events

The comments could amount to a crime under the Terrorism Act 2006, which brought in the offence of encouragement of terrorism.

Offenders can be punished by up to seven years in prison or a fine for publishing statements that glorify terrorism or constitute direct or indirect encouragement to commit an attack.

The Crown Prosecution Service said recent years have seen a rise in cases of far-right extremism in the UK, including messages of hate-filled prejudice which can encourage radicalisation.

It named the banned National Action group among those guilty of promoting offensive, anti-Islamic messages that run contrary to the values of respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.

Thomas Mair was convicted of terrorist murder for killing Labour MP Jo Cox, almost exactly a year before the attack in Finsbury Park.

Police have been deployed at mosques as the holy month of Ramadan draws to a close amid fears of further attacks targeting the UKs Muslim community.

Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images

The number of suspected far-right extremists referred to the Governments key anti-terror programme soared by 30 per cent in the past year, The Independent revealed.

Just under a third of all people being monitored under the Channel programme in 2016/17 part of Prevent - believe in extreme right-wing ideologies and are vulnerable to radicalisation, according to unpublished Home Office figures.

While all the rhetoric from the Conservative government has been about Islamic fundamentalism, it has largely ignored the rising threat from white extremists who are every bit as dangerous and depraved as any other terrorist, said Tim Farron, the outgoing Liberal Democrat leader.

Theresa May said the rampage in Finsbury Park was every bit as sickening as the recent atrocities carried out by Isis supporters in London and Manchester, while Jeremy Corbyn described it as an attack on us all.

One man died at the scene, where he had collapsed before the van struck.

Inquiries are continuing to establish whether there is any link between his death and the attack, said a statement from Scotland Yard.

Nine other people were injured and two more victims were treated for wounds at the scene.

To report online material promoting terrorism or extremism, visit the Home Office's site here
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Campaigners have launched a High Court challenge against the Government over the number of unaccompanied child refugees accepted into the UK under the Dubs scheme.

The Help Refugees charity, which is leading the case, accuses the Home Office of adopting a seriously defective process to measure the capacity of local councils to take in child refugees, after it emerged many local authorities were not properly consulted.

The Government announced in early February that it was to close the Dubs scheme  intended to grant 3,000 vulnerable unaccompanied minors a safe passage to Britain  after accepting just 350.

It later admitted that an administrative error led to 130 places for child refugees offered by local councils not being taken into consideration.

It has since emerged that the Home Office reportedly ignored almost 1,600 offers from councils to take in asylum-seeking children.

Freedom of Information requests submitted by Vice magazine showed that in total, councils had voluntarily offered to accept 1,572 more children than they were currently supporting.

Help Refugees is now asking the court to order the Secretary of State to consult local authorities again, urging that the Government reopen the Dubs Scheme.

Lord Alf Dubs and actress and activist Juliet Stevenson were among politicians and other supporters at a Choose Love demonstration outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London as the challenge got under way on Tuesday morning.

During the hearing, legal experts acting on behalf of Help Refugees will accuse the Home Office of carrying out a consultation by stealth, by failing to provide the local authorities with critical information such as the fact that there was a 14 October 2016 cut-off date for responses.

It will state that the Home Office initiated but abandoned a consultation in Northern Ireland and failed to count 91 per cent of the places offered by Scottish local authorities because they were sent after the cut-off date.

At least 86 per cent of the places offered by Welsh local authorities, sent soon after the consultation period ended, were reportedly also not counted towards the specified number. And at least 45 per cent of places offered in England were discounted for the same reason.

Since the scheme was ended, multiple councils have come forward to offer spaces for child refugees left destitute or living in camps across Europe.

Help Refugees is confident that if the consultation process is carried out properly, the number of children who can come to the UK will increase.

The court case will also challenge the Governments alleged failure to implement its expressly urgent statutory duty quickly enough, after it waited until 8 February 2017 to announce the specified number of children it intended to relocate, including a period of two months spent exclusively on developing a communications strategy.

Section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, also known as the Dubs amendment, requires the Government to make arrangements as soon as possible after the passing of the Immigration Act 2016 to relocate and support unaccompanied refugee children from Europe.

Further, the case will state that there was a lack of fundamental procedural safeguards for unaccompanied refugee children who receive adverse decisions about their eligibility for relocation, after many unaccompanied minors in France were told they had not been accepted with no written reasons or explanation, and no formal mechanism to challenge refusals.

There are currently 95,000 unaccompanied refugee children living in Europe, many of whom have suffered appalling abuse.

Speaking ahead of the court case, Lord Alf Dubs, a former child refugee and the original sponsor of the Dubs Amendment, accused the Government of putting refugee children's lives at risk.

I believe the Governments inadequate consultation to calculate local authority capacity, the woefully low number that the Government has set and the appallingly slow pace of relocations are all indicative of a level of incompetence in the current government thats verging on deep cynicism," Lord Dubs said.

"The Governments foot-dragging is putting refugee childrens lives at risk. That is why this legal challenge is so very important. What these children need is a helping hand, similar to the one Britain lent me when I was a boy. I wasnt left alone to live in camps or on the streets of Europe. I was saved by Britain and its people.

Juliet Stevenson, human rights activist and award-winning actress, urged that the refugees in question were "children and not statistics", saying: The focus in this incredibly important case might be on numbers, but these children are not statistics. They are desperately needy children. What happens with the Dubs Amendment is a test of our shared humanity.

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

"Are we going to turn our back on the children who are alone and most vulnerable, or do we choose to act with compassion and love, and offer a safe home and future to children we have the capacity to help?

Help Refugees CEO Josie Naughton said: Were taking this action because lone refugee children in Europe are sleeping in woods, on streets and in acutely under-equipped refugee camps in danger of the worst kinds of abuses.

"In May 2016, a law was put in place to help protect these children, but for over a year Amber Rudd and the Home Office have put childrens safety at risk by failing to uphold it. There are hundreds more local authority spaces available for these children and the Home Office knows it."
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Former Conservative deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine has warned the electoral base is dying off at a rate of 2 per cent a year and has called for a new party leader.

Lord Heseltine, who worked with Margaret Thatcher and was deputy to John Major, said the party needs to work hard to restore its electoral forturnes and that Theresa May should step down after a matter of months.

The 84-year-olds comments come weeks after the Tory party failed to achieve an overall majority in Parliament while Labour enjoyed a gain of more than 30 seats, defying the polls and commentators.

One thing which is just worth having in mind, and you can't do anything about it, 2 per cent of the older part of the electorate die every year - they are 70 per cent Conservative, Lord Heseltine told Sky News.

Another 2 per cent come in at the young end of the electorate - they are about 70 per cent Labour. That's about 2 per cent change each year. There isn't that much time.

Lord Heseltine said it would be dangerous for the Conservatives if Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn remained a credible candidate for prime minister.

UK Election Day 2017 Show all 38 1 /38 UK Election Day 2017 UK Election Day 2017 Door of Number 10 Downing Street is seen on the morning after Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in north London after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should "go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country" PA UK Election Day 2017 Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell arrives at Labour Headquarters on June 9, 2017 in London, England. After a snap election was called by Prime Minister Theresa May the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday. The closely fought election has failed to return a clear overall majority winner and a hung parliament has been declared Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britain's Green Party, speaks after retaining her seat in the general election, in Brighton REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Patrons watch the results for Britain's election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Leader of the Liberal democrats Tim Farron celebrates beating Conservative party candidate James Airey (R) following the announcement of the results at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre on June 9, 2017 in Kendal, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Paul Nuttal, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party reacts after failing to win the seat of Boston and Skegness at the counting centre for Britain's general election in Boston REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon arrives at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, as counting is under way for the General Election. PA UK Election Day 2017 Anna McMorrin hugs Jo Stevens MP after winning Cardiff North for Labour at the Sport Wales National Centre on June 9, 2017 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 Vince Cable wins the Twickenham election for the Liberal Democrats. Richmond and Twickenham election Rex Features UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn rubs his face after arriving for the declaration at his constituency in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Emily Thornberry speaks after holding her Islington South and Finsbury seat at the Sobell Leisure Centre in Islington, north London PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May listens as the declaration at her constituency is made for in the general election in Maidenhead, England, Friday, June 9, 2017. British Prime Minister Theresa May's gamble in calling an early election appeared Friday to have backfired spectacularly, after an exit poll suggested her Conservative Party could lose its majority in Parliament AP UK Election Day 2017 Labour Party candidate Emily Thornberry smiles at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 A picture shows the Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament in central London on June 8, 2017, on the night of Britain's general election. Prime Minister Theresa May is poised to win Britain's snap election but lose her parliamentary majority, a shock exit poll suggested on June 8, in what would be a major blow for her leadership as Brexit talks loom AFP/Getty Images UK Election Day 2017 DUP candidate for Lagan Valley Jeffrey Donaldson celebrates following his election at the Eikon Exhibition Centre in Lisburn as counting is under way for the General Election PA UK Election Day 2017 Britain's Home Secretary Amber Rudd attends the count for her seat at a counting centre for Britain's general election in Hastings REUTERS UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for BritainaAAs general election in London Reuters UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in blue, representing the Conservative Party, after the first exit polls announced in Britain's general election AP UK Election Day 2017 Election officials count votes in the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 The London Eye is illuminated in red, the color of the Labour Party, after first exit polls of Britain's national election announced in London AP UK Election Day 2017 BBC Television centre is illuminated with the exit poll results for Britains general election Eddie Keogh/Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Labours Bridget Phillipson (centre) smiles after being announced as the winner of the election for the constituency of Houghton and Sunderland South at a counting centre Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Members of the election staff prepare to count ballots, in Theresa Mays constituency in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Ballot papers are checked ahead of the count at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre Getty UK Election Day 2017 Ballots are counted at a counting centre for Britains general election in Kendal Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Theresa May arrives to vote at a polling station in Maidenhead AP UK Election Day 2017 Jeremy Corbyn arrives to cast his ballot at a polling station in north London EPA UK Election Day 2017 Lib Dems leader Tim Farron outside a polling station at Stonecross Manor Hotel in Kendal, Cumbria PA UK Election Day 2017 The leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (Ukip) Paul Nuttall arrives to vote at a polling station in Congleton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon with her husband Peter Murrell (left) the CEO of the SNP after casting their votes at a polling station at Broomhouse Community Hall, Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK Election Day 2017 Caroline Lucas, co-leader of Britains Green Party, arrives with her husband Richard Savage, to vote in Brighton Reuters UK Election Day 2017 An advertising van showing caricatures of Tim Farron, Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn and Paul Nuttall with the message who will be looking for a new job as Britain goes to the polls to elect a new government Rex UK Election Day 2017 Performers pose with puppet caricatures of Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May, leader of the Liberal Democrat Party Tim Farron and leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, in front of the Palace of Westminster Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Dogs wait for their owner outside a polling station in Penally, Wales Reuters UK Election Day 2017 Police officers speak with a Labour Party activist outside a polling station in London AP UK Election Day 2017 Benedictine nuns from Tyburn Convent leave after voting in Britain's general election at a polling station in St John's Parish Hall, London AP UK Election Day 2017 A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London Getty

The Brexit sceptic claimed that Ms May could do the party a service by holding on a little but should ultimately step down to make way for a new leader and a new party policy in a few months.

Ms May is facing increasing pressure to resign after a bungled initial Brexit meeting with EU counterparts and is being criticised for her efforts to strike a deal with the DUP, a socially conservative Northern Irish party. Repeated terrorist attacks at London Bridge and Finsbury Park have pushed back the Queens speech as well as talks with the DUP.

The prime minister has also been accused of hiding from the electorate during the campaign, on the scene of terrorist incidents and during the Grenfell Tower fire disaster.

Days before a fire swept through a tower block, killing at least 79 people, Ms Mays government had vowed that austerity was over and that the electorate wanted to be offered hope and better living standards after years of cuts to public services.

It signalled a major U-turn after almost a decade of austerity and Conservative government since the financial crisis of 2008.

Another turnaround was witnessed with the opposition.

On 8 June, seven weeks after Ms May changed her mind and called for the snap election, Labour gained 34 seats, including Tory strongholds such as Canterbury and Kensington.

It was a coup for Mr Corbyn, whose MPs had fled his shadow cabinet and vowed he would not become a leader just months before.

Mr Corbyn was given a standing ovation by his party colleagues when Parliament resumed.
Shes not the first celebrity to take her clothes off for a good cause, and she wont be the last. But Theodora of Greece, a cousin of Spains King Felipe VI, is the first member of European royalty to do so. The 34-year-old daughter of Constantine of Greece, brother of Spains Queen Sofia and Princess Anne-Marie, has agreed to pose for In the Tube 2, an initiative by photographer and filmmaker J.Scott to raise awareness about breast cancer.

Theodora  who uses the surname Greece  is an actress, and says her parents have been behind her throughout her career. They have supported me 100%. When I was in high school and college, they used to come to see all my theater works. They are my biggest fans, she has said in a past interview.

Theodora, second from left, with her brother and parents, Ana Maria and Constantine of Greece, in August 2005 in Barcelona. gtresonline

After a stint working in theater in London, where her family had settled following her fathers overthrow in 1967, she moved to Hollywood. To access English cinema requires a lengthy career, its like a secret society where a password is needed to enter, which is almost impossible for somebody starting out in the profession, she has said, describing the United States as a place where people do not conform and follow their dreams.

In two weeks [in the United States] I got more roles as an actress than in six months in London, she said in a past interview.

Theodora has acted in films such as Where Did You Sleep Last Night?, The Big Valley and Little Boy, along with appearances in several episodes of the television series The Bold and the Beautiful.

In the United States, few people are aware of Theodoras illustrious family ties (Queen Elizabeth II is her godmother), and she is known as Theo. She lives with her boyfriend in Los Angeles.

English version by Nick Lyne.
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The son of a vehicle-hire business owner whose van was used in a terrorist attack in Finsbury Park has allegedly claimed it was a shame they dont hire out steamrollers or tanks.

One man died and 11 people were injured when 47-year-old Darren Osborne allegedly rammed a white van into a crowd of worshippers in north London at around 12:30 on Monday morning.

A van from the Pontyclun Van Hire company was involved in the attack. Richard Gear Evans, who claims to be the son of the company owner, posted on Facebook that he was glad he wasnt contacted by police as they wouldnt like what my answer would be.

Recommended Victim of fatal van crash outside London mosque named

In comments that now appear to have been deleted, Mr Evans allegedly wrote: Its my dads company I dont get involved its a shame they dont hire out a steam rollers or tanks could have done a tidy job then [sic].

He was responding to a comment from a woman expressing hope that the attack in Finsbury Park would not hurt his fathers van hire business.

Mr Evans appeared to have previously responded to the news of one of his fathers vans being involved in the attack with the comment: Well its all we needed at the moment but he wasnt involved only the van they just said they are deeply sorry glad Im not running the Van Hire the police wouldnt like what my answer would be [sic].

South Wales Police are now investigating the comments, according to Wales Online.

 Video shows moment of Finsbury Park attack suspect's arrest

Mr Evans reportedly works as a freight movements director at Eddie Stobart.

A number of people responded to the comments with anger, while others posted screenshots of the comments on the Facebook page for the Stobart Group, which owns the company.

Pontyclun Van Hires owners issued a statement following the attack, expressing shock and sadness that one of the companys vehicles was used in the incident.

Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images

Responding to Mr Evans's comments, company director Mr L Evans said in a statement: I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms these ill-considered comments, which in no way reflect my own view or indeed those of the other directors.

The attack in Finsbury Park was shocking and cowardly. Together with all the staff at Pontyclun Van Hire, I am doing everything I can to assist the Metropolitan Police in their inquiries.

Eddie Stobart Logistics said in a statement: We can confirm that we are aware of the reprehensible remarks made by Richard Gear Evans on social media.

These remarks in no way reflect the view of Eddie Stobart Logistics and we have taken immediate action, the Daily Mirror reported.

Osborne seems to have deliberately targeted Finsbury Park at a time when it was busy with Muslim worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at their local mosques.

Witnesses described hearing Osborne shout: Im going to kill all Muslims.

He has been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

The Stobart Group have been contacted by The Independent for comment.
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Right-wing extremists have responded to the Finsbury Park terror attack by urging UK citizens to rise up and cast Islam out of their country.

Extremists also sought to defend the attack, in which a van ploughed into Muslims after late-night Ramadan prayers, by claiming: This is war  We have the right to fight back.

The social media posts were shown to The Independent amid anxieties that the British authorities are way behind the increasingly sophisticated tactics used by right wing extremists to radicalise followers online.

Tell Mama, the anti-hate and Islamophobia group said that extremists are now covering their tracks by using untraceable mobile phones and (Virtual Private Network) VPN services that conceal their computers location  leaving the police unable to find them.

They have also used less regulated social networks like the Russian-based VKontakte (VK) service to build up spiders web networks of like-minded individuals who then support and radicalise each other.

It is not clear what influence  if any  social media and online radicalisation played in the Finsbury Park incident.

But it appears that the tactics highlighted by Tell Mama have already been used by British right-wingers to plot violence online.

In December 2016 one extremist, thought to have been based in the West Midlands, responded to the Berlin Christmas market truck attack of December 2016, by asking on VK: It's time for Europe to act these vile creatures need flushing out of our homelands into the sea! Looking to join a group who is active in fighting Islamic invaders in Europe! I'm UK based but will travel to Paris and Germany, drop me a message!

Photographs posted on the extremists VK profile revealed him showing off his dagger, and posing in balaclava with the blade strapped to his belt. He also showed himself giving a Nazi salute.

One of the photographs posted on the extremist's VK profile

Tell Mama passed his post to the counter-terrorism police, but Fiyaz Mughal, founder of Tell Mama, said that more generally: There is a problem. The British authorities are way behind.

The Home Office has its own extremism analysis unit, but it doesnt act on some of the information. It doesnt see the extremism element as something it needs to work robustly on.

We are not fully using all legal means to challenge the extremists narrative. Initiatives to create a counter-narrative are stalled. Right now, the British Government is fumbling.

(

Meanwhile, he said, right-wing extremists were able to operate like a mirror image of Isis.

They are doing exactly what Daesh [Isis] are doing, said Mr Mughal. They are preying on people who are vulnerable, who may have some sort of crisis in their lives.

They are throwing out a net and seeing which fish they catch. Sadly, their assumption is that out of a population of 60 million people, someone will do something on the back of the information they put out.

The extremists behind some websites, he said, might be careful to avoid directly calling for violence, but they aimed to produce the inference of violence.

Its creating an atmosphere of hatred, of mistrust, said Mr Mughal. Its creating an enmity that basically says These people are in no way part of our society.

Tell Mama showed The Independent screengrabs of a Facebook paged linked to British far-right supporters which on Monday evening hosted an online discussion of the Finsbury Park attack.

One user, who appeared to be based outside the UK, praised the man suspected of carrying out the attack.

Good for him, he wrote. Muslims are killing them left and right over there, and their own government wont help them.

It is time for the citizens to rise up and cast them out of their country.

 London residents bring flowers in solidarity with Finsbury Park Mosque after attack

Another user responds: Its war  We have the right to fight back. There has to be something on the books if a war is brought to our streets the people have the right to fight back.

Elsewhere on social media, extremists sought to justify the Finsbury Park attack while stopping short of calling for violence.

A British user of the American white supremacist site Stormfront described the attack as A protest against these disgusting pigs.

Another British poster wrote on a Stormfront forum: If the police refuse to protect Britons, then you can expect more people to take the law into their own hands and do it for ourselves and they would be entirely within their rights to do just that.

The far-right group Britain First posted on its Facebook page that Finsbury Park Mosque was notorious as a haven for Islamist terrorists and extremists! It added a video from a documentary about the extremist preacher Abu Hamza, despite him having had nothing to do with the mosque since his arrest for terrorism offences in 2004.

The mosque has in fact now won national awards for its community work, but the post drew comments that included Demolish all the fxcking mosques, and 20 injured 1 dead! Wish it was the other way around!

Mr Mughal also said that some of the most disturbing online activities of the far-right were becoming harder to trace.

He explained that extremists were making direct contact with each other via the comments sections of websites or via twitter, and then messaging each other privately to build a spiders web of other like-minded people.

Such private online activity was less immediately visible than that of known far-right groups or parties.

They connect with each other with no formalised structure, said Mr Mughal. They may not have been on marches. They are not part of any formalised street demonstration structure.

Mr Mughal said some extremists might set up their own websites and were growing increasingly sophisticated in how they covered their tracks.

These people have now become very tech-savvy, he said. They use VPN to block their computers IP address or to give it a false location. They mask their phones by using sim cards that have no registration attached to it.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA 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 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They have gone untraceable. We have had numerous cases where the police have come back to us and said We cant do anything about this because we cant trace these guys.

He added that extremists were also becoming harder to trace because they were now swapping tips on line.

They are creating their own online manuals of how to bypass being identified. They are saying this is a server that wont have an ID check. Heres where I brought my sim from 

Right-wing extremists, he suggested, were now all the more dangerous because they were no longer simply the street thugs of old:

They are much cleverer now in how they are doing these activities. They are extremely sophisticated.

The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
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Hundreds of people took flowers to Finsbury Park and gathered outside a mosque in the area on Monday night at a vigil held for victims of the terrorist attack that took place less than 24 hours earlier.

One man died and 11 people were injured when 47-year-old Darren Osborne allegedly rammed a white van into a crowd of worshippers at around 12:30 on Monday morning.

He seems to have deliberately targeted the north London area at a time when it was busy with Muslim worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at their local mosques.

Witnesses described hearing him shout: Im going to kill all Muslims.

Recommended Muslims raise fears of further attacks after Finsbury Park

He was arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

Just hours after his arrest, people were filmed walking towards a vigil for the victims in their droves, many carrying roses and other bright flowers.

Some held signs stating United against all terror and #WeStandTogether.

Faith leaders were joined by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick at the vigil, which started with a short silence.

Mohammed Kozbar, chairman of Finsbury Park Mosque, praised the great response from the community and said the attack was similar to those on Westminster, Manchester and London Bridge.

"Yesterday we all experienced a horrific attack on our families, on our freedom, on our dignity. A man, a father of six children, being killed in cold blood and many injured by an extremist, by a terrorist," Mr Kozbar said.

"These people, these extremists, their aim is to divide our communities, is to spread hatred, fear and division among our communities.

(Getty Images ) (Getty Images)

(Getty Images ) (Getty Images)

(Getty Images ) (Getty Images)

"We all have harmony in this area, and these people try to divide us, but we tell them that 'We will not let you do that'."

Other faith leaders from the community also spoke at the vigil, including the Bishop of Stepney the Rt Rev Adrian Newman, who told the crowd "an attack on one faith is an attack on us all".

Rabbi Herschel Gluck said the incident hurt and was an attack on "every single Muslim in the UK and beyond".

"But really an attack on the Muslim community is an attack on every single citizen in Great Britain, because we are one nation, under one god, living together, working together, co-operating together in this country," he added.

Scotland Yard said extra police patrols would be deployed to reassure the public and those observing Ramadan.

Additional reporting by PA
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The man who died following the Finsbury Park terror attack has been named locally as Makram Ali, described as a good family man.

Mr Ali was receiving first aid after collapsing near the Muslim Welfare House after Ramadan prayers early on Monday morning, when a van struck the crowd, injuring 11 people. The vehicle hit Mr Ali, crushing him. He was pronounced dead at the scene, though police are still investigating whether he died as a result of the collision itself.

The 51-year-old reportedly had a pacemaker fitted.

Mr Ali died in the arms of his daughter, who had rushed by her home nearby following the incident.

Sultan Ahmed, a relative of Mr Ali, told the Standard: He was a good family man. He had a routine going to prayers, he was just a very nice person. His daughter and close family are distraught.

Mr Ahmeds uncle, Abdul Matin Choudhury, was also injured in the collision.

Hirsiyo Ali, 72, suffered cracked ribs, while a disabled victim is reported to have survived after a deaf friend pushed his wheelchair out of the path of the vehicle.

Among the other casualties are an Algerian man and a mother of three, who is reportedly in a coma.

Seven people were still in hospital on Tuesday, with three critically ill.

A 47-year-old man, named as Darren Osborne, of Cardiff, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

Hundreds of people took flowers to Finsbury Park and gathered outside a mosque in the area on Monday night at a vigil held for victims of the attack.

Some held signs stating United against all terror and #WeStandTogether.

Faith leaders were joined by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick at the vigil, which started with a short silence.

Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images

Politican leaders were quick to denounce the attack and show support for the Muslim community.

Theresa May said it targeted the ordinary and innocent and added: Hatred and evil of this kind will never succeed.

Jeremy Corbyn called it an attack on all of us that believe in a diverse society while Sadiq Khan said We will stay a strong city, we will ensure we are not cowed by terrorism, and we will not be defeated.
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The most populous London council has announced it will install sprinklers in all tower blocks of 10 storeys or above after the Grenfell Tower disaster.

Croydon councillor Alison Butler announced the measure, which will apply to 25 high-rises in the borough, following the north Kensington blaze that killed at least 79 people.

This evening I have announced that we will install sprinklers in all our @yourcroydon council blocks of 10 storeys and above, she wrote on Twitter.

The measure is the first phase of the review, said Ms Butler. It is expected to cost around 10 million and will not start until after the council submits a report on the project in September.

A council spokesman said they would be fitted as soon as possible and they hoped the work would be complete within months.

There are 39 high-rises over six storeys in Croydon.

Authorities said the Grenfell Tower death toll was likely to rise over the coming weeks, warning some people would never be identified due to the intensity of the blaze. The 67m-high building housed immigrants, refugees and elderly people, some of whom had physical issues yet lived on the top floors.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

Angry protesters, councillors and residents have questioned why Kensington and Chelsea Council did not provide fireproof cladding on the building during refurbishment in 2016, why the alarms did not work and why there were no sprinklers installed.

English law requires only buildings constructed since 2007 and which are taller than 30m to have sprinklers fitted, and the law was not applied retroactively. Grenfell Tower was built in 1974.

Sprinklers must be fitted to older buildings, however, if a fundamental change is made to the structure or use of the building. The same law applies in Northern Ireland.

Tory councillor Eve Allison warned of a summer of unrest and said the disaster, which mostly affected low-income residents and people of colour, should not have happened in a first-world country. She voiced concern for three nearby high-rises built in the same period: Markland House, Frinstead House and Whitstable House.

 Grenfell Tower fire: Hundreds attend peaceful demonstration

The council was found to have run up a surplus of 274m and offered rebates to residents paying the top rates of council tax, which Labour councillors claimed was an effort to bribe voters close to the election.

According to the British Automatic Fire Sprinklers Association, there are more than 3,800 residential housing blocks in the UK that are not fitted with sprinklers, because it is not required by law.

Asked whether there could be another fire like Grenfell, Bafsa's communications adviser, Wendy Otway, told The Independent, "As so many blocks don't have a robust fire protection system, even though most of them have a legally protected system, so, yes, we've been saying that for 20 years."

Many councils around the UK have indicated they will take action after the disaster, but Croydon Council has been the among first to report a definite plan.

Londons Southwark Council, referencing the Lakanal fire in 2009 which killed six people, emailed residents to say it was fitting new smoke alarms in all council blocks, adding that all fire risk works to all high rise and lower/more complex housing were complete as of February 2015.

Cardiff Council said it would review all safety procedures and discuss the need for sprinklers in its nine high rises.

The Welsh Government said sprinklers would be compulsory for all new-builds from 2016 but this would not require older buildings to be refurbished.

In Scotland, a law in 2005 was introduced to fit sprinklers in new high-rise flats, care homes and sheltered housing. In Edinburgh, none of the 44 tower blocks built before then have sprinklers and residents have called for urgent action. Fitting sprinklers has been estimated to cost around 8m.
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Several hundred people have attended a rally to demand justice for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire.

Emma Dent Coad, the newly elected Labour MP for Kensington, and human rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC spoke at the rally in a community centre near the tower where at least 79 people died in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The MP, who won a shock victory over incumbent Conservative MP Victoria Borwick during last weeks general election, vowed to keep fighting for the victims.

She told the crowd they would have a fight that will go on for years, dont let the press manipulate you.

"Many of you are angry and so am I, she said. I've watched as repeated warnings about safety in the tower were ignored, complainers vilified, threatened and marginalised.

She added that she had met the Home Office on Monday and warned them she was watching the relief process, saying: "I'm not their advocate, I'm yours."

The MP said she had also demanded funds be set aside for "rebuilding a community that has been eroded over the years".

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

Other speakers questioned the death toll from the fire, repeating unfounded allegations that authorities were deliberately covering it up.

Scotland Yard has repeatedly refused to confirm the number of people they suspect have died until they can confirm exactly who was in the building at the time of the fire.

One protester said "this is not a race war, it's a human race war" and there was criticism of Prime Minister Theresa May.

Meanwhile, a vigil was held outside the Houses of Parliament by supporters of the victims.

The rally follows protests on Friday which saw angry demonstrators storm Kensington Town Hall demanding answers about the lack of support in the days following the fire or information about missing loved ones.

Recommended A Kensington resident donated her council tax rebate to Grenfell

Kensington and Chelsea Council has been severely criticised for its handling of the aftermath of the fire, with families reportedly being taken to hotels and given just 10 a day to live on.

An emergency taskforce, spearheaded by Ealing Council, has now taken over the relief effort while money and donations continue to pour in from people across the country.

The council has also been attacked over its decision to use cheaper, flammable cladding during its refurbishment of the tower despite it reportedly being illegal for use on high-rise buildings.

The cladding is believed to be the reason the fire, which began on the fourth floor, was able spread up the building so quickly.

Additional reporting by PA
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Grenfell Tower families have received 202,000 of the Government's 5m relief fund in the days since the devastating fire, as Downing Street denied people were being re-homed hundreds of miles away.

Some 180 families had been given financial help by Monday night and 78 of those were due to be re-housed in the local area by that evening, according to the Grenfell Response Team (GRT).

Each household affected by the blaze will receive a 500 cash payment and 5,000 deposited into a bank account from a fund announced by Theresa May on Friday.

The GRT includes representatives of London local government, central government, the fire brigade, police and the Red Cross.

According to an update from Downing Street, council workers have been ordered onto the ground to provide a more visible official presence, following criticism from residents.

A spokesperson for No 10 also said: The Prime Minister received reassurances that the commitment to re-home people within the same or neighbouring borough would be met within the three-week deadline, and that reports of people being offered homes hundreds of miles away were false.

The GRT said in a statement: Work is taking place to assess the housing needs of all Grenfell Tower and Grenfell Walk families to identify suitable accommodation in Kensington and Chelsea and neighbouring boroughs.

It added: We have endeavoured to keep accommodation as local as possible, and we completely accept residents' wishes to remain close to the community.

The GRT said 50 families who wished to work with the authorities had been given a key worker on Monday.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

There are another 43 social workers from across London who have started to help assess and support the affected families.

There are also 16 Red Cross staff and volunteers who have been on the ground and helping at the Westway Centre.

A judge is expected to be appointed within the next couple of days to preside over the independent inquiry, and the Government said residents would be consulted on the probe's terms of reference.

Scotland Yard announced on Monday that 79 people were missing and presumed dead after the fire that enveloped the tower in the early hours of last Wednesday morning.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Thousands of people are preparing to flock to the ancient site of Stonehenge to celebrate the summer solstice once again, marking the longest day of the year and the first day of summer.

This year armed police are to be deployed to the Wiltshire site as part of an increase in security at major events and festivals in the wake of the terror attacks in London and Manchester, though Wiltshire police stressed there is no specific threat to the event.

English Heritage has advised all visitors they will only be able to take small bags onto the Monument Field and they will be searched.

But what is the summer solstice, when is it and why is it celebrated?

When is the summer solstice?

Recommended Thousands travel to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice

The summer solstice occurs around the 21 June in the northern hemisphere and is the time when then sun reaches its highest point of the year at the Tropic of Cancer, resulting in the longest day.

This year the summer solstice will see the UK bathed in sunlight for around 16 hours and 38 minutes on Wednesday 21 June.

Some northern countries such as Iceland and Norway will experience continuous daylight at this time of year, while the areas north of the Atlantic Circle will experience 24 hours of sunlight, the Met Office states.

Why is the summer solstice seen as special?

Solstice comes from the Latin, solstitium, meaning the stopping or standing still of the sun, and marks the first day of summer.

The summer solstice is marked with a number of festivals, feasts and rituals across different faiths, and strongly associated with fertility, growth and light.

The Christian feast day of St John the Baptist occurs within days of the solstice, while in ancient China, the solstice was associated with Li, the goddess of light.

The day is perhaps most strongly linked with pagans, who used it as a marker for planting and harvesting crops. It also marked the union of the pagan god and goddess, which was believed to create the harvests fruits, the BBC reports.

 Thousands gather at Stonehenge to celebrate winter solstice

Why is Stonehenge significant to the summer solstice?

Thousands of people descend on the ancient religious site of Stonehenge in Wiltshire each year to see the sun rise on the summer solstice, with many dressed in flower garlands or druids' robes.

The Neolithic monument is widely believed to be a prehistoric temple built to mark the movements of the sun, according to English Heritage. The heel stone and slaughter stones at the site are aligned with sunrise on summer solstice.

When is the winter solstice? And what are the vernal and winter equinoxes?

The winter solstice, which marks the shortest day of the year with the least hours of daylight, usually happens on or around 21 December.

The spring, or vernal, equinox and autumn equinox occur between the solstices and mark the point when the sun is positioned exactly over the equator, meaning daylight and darkness last for around the same amount of time.

The times for the two solstices and equinoxes in 2017, according to Greenwich Mean Time, are:

Vernal equinox - 20 March, 10:29am

Summer solstice  21 June, 04:24am

Autumnal equinox  22 September, 20:02pm

Winter solstice  21 December, 16:28pm
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Chancellor Philip Hammond has risked deepening a cabinet rift with Brexiteer ministers by demanding Britain maintain existing customs arrangements with Europe until a new long-term system is fixed.

In a speech seemingly aimed at realigning the Governments position on Brexit, Mr Hammond called for a feasible transition to provide stability for business before new arrangements kick in.

The Chancellor also hailed the benefits of foreign workers, striking a distinctly different tone to Theresa Mays immigration-centred Brexit rhetoric from before the election.

Recommended Business and the economy must take centre stage in Brexit talks

He made no mention of her no deal threat and warned that a failure to deliver prosperity would be a failure to deliver what British people voted for in the 2016 referendum.

Such a speech was unlilkely to have been possible before the election, with hard Brexit backers holding sway in the Cabinet and Ms May keeping her Chancellor, who wanted a different approach, locked in a cupboard during the campaign.

But the Prime Ministers authority has been severely weakened in the wake of the botched election, with Mr Hammond on Sunday refusing to say how long he thought she might remain in post. The credibility of her Brexit vision in also in doubt following a day one U-turn in Brussels talks, giving Mr Hammond space to set out how the Government could now take a different tack.

He began his speech laying out the Governments economic record, something he has previously said Ms May should have made more of during the election campaign.

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

He explained that a comprehensive free trade agreement was the key to achieving a Brexit for Britain and that it would require frictionless borders, where goods can flow freely.

Mr Hammond then said: Well almost certainly need an implementation period, outside the customs union itself, but with current customs border arrangements remaining in place, until new long-term arrangements are up and running.

Over the weekend, reports emerged that Brexiteer ministers are threatening to quit and challenge Ms Mays leadership if she weakens her staunch approach to Brexit, including any sign that the UK would remain in the customs union.

Mr Hammond then distanced himself from the anti-immigration rhetoric that has worried British business groups reliant on foreign staff.

Pointing out that the Tory manifesto had called for an open economy and a welcoming society, he said: While we seek to manage migration, we do not seek to shut it down.

The Chancellor, who is backed by other top Tories including Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, said it was now time to put economic performance at the forefront of Brexit negotiations.

Speaking alongside Bank of England Governor Mark Carney, he admitted the referendum had probably dampened economic growth, with businesses up and down the country holding back on investment decisions.

He said: I have said before, and I remain clear today, that when the British people voted last June, they did not vote to become poorer, or less secure.

They did vote to leave the EU. And we will leave the EU. But it must be done in a way that works for Britain.

 Theresa May should admit result is a rejection of hard Brexit, says EU negotiator

In a way that prioritises British jobs, and underpins Britains prosperity. Anything less will be a failure to deliver on the instructions of the British people.

Mr Hammonds speech was originally planned for last Thursday, but was postponed after the Grenfell Tower fire.

The delay meant it was pushed back to after Mondays launch of EU withdrawal talks, when Brexit Secretary David Davis went head to head with the blocs chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

In an embarrassing signal of Britains relative position to the bloc, Mr Davis was forced to drop his central demand that trade talks and divorce negotiations be staged in parallel.

Despite last month vowing to wage the row of the summer to secure immediate talks on a free trade agreement, Mr Davis caved on day one and agreed to first settle the UKs separation, including a hefty bill.
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Anti-EU campaigner and Butlins owner Peter Harris has been handed a record fined for breaching spending rules over pro-Brexit adverts in the days leading up to last Junes referendum.

Peter Harris was told to pay 12,000  the Electoral Commissions biggest financial penalty  after he missed the deadline for returning spending and audit information.

Mr Harris spent more than 400,000 on a series of newspaper adverts that featured a British bulldog wearing a Union flag tie in the run-up to the EU vote.

They included slogans such as "Let's be the top dog again  vote" and "You would be barking not to vote  this is our chance to leave the European Union" which appeared in full-page adverts in the Daily Mail and The Sun.

The Electoral Commission found that he had failed to deliver his spending return and audit report on time, and imposed its highest fine yet in relation to the referendum.

The Commission said former racehorse trainer Mr Harris had paid the fine.

Mr Harris, whose wealth is estimated to be 680m, owns dozens of caravan parks and hotels.

Brexit reactions  in pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Brexit reactions  in pictures Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign look at their phones after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall AP Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave supporters cheer results at a Leave.eu party after polling stations closed in the Referendum on the European Union in London Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Mr Cameron announces his resignation to supporters Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Donald Tusk proposes that the 27 remaining EU member states start a wider reflection on the future of our union Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Ukip leader Nigel Farage greets his supporters on College Green in Westminster, after Britain voted to leave the European Union PA Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as referendum results are announced today Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Boris Johnson leaves his home today to discover a crowd of waiting journalists and police officers Getty Brexit reactions  in pictures Leave EU supporters celebrate as they watch the British EU Referendum results being televised at Millbank Tower in London Rex Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In Campaign react as results of the EU referendum are announced at the Royal Festival Hall Reuters Brexit reactions  in pictures Supporters of the Stronger In campaign react after hearing results in the EU referendum at London's Royal Festival Hall PA

He was a major financial backer in the Leave camp but maintained a low-profile throughout the campaign.

The commission launched an investigation into the spending returns of the two main campaign groups in the EU referendum in February.

Vote Leave and Britain Stronger in Europe had not delivered all necessary invoices and receipts, as well as leaving necessary details out of submissions, it said.

Labour Leave and Ukip also submitted returns with discrepancies in the way they reported the same campaigning activity, the commission said, while the Liberal Democrats spending return was missing details including invoices, receipts and supplier names.

The Democratic Unionist Party, which has been holding talks with the Tories to agree a confidence and supply deal, was separately fined 4,000 for submitting an inaccurate spending return in relation to the 2016 election for the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Two days after an intense forest fire in central Portugal that killed at least 64 people and injured 62 others, the skies over the tiny hamlet of Nodeirinho remain an ashen gray. But worst of all is the silence. There is nothing. There is no one. Up until last Saturday, this village had 50 residents. Now there are 11 fewer. Nodeirinho smells of smoke and death. Even the survivors have gone. All that remains are burned-out cars and closed doors.

On Saturday, balls of fire rained down on this place, as unusually high temperatures, extremely dry conditions and electrical storms combined to create a horror scenario in this forested region, which is popular with tourists.

Two brothers were separated by the fire. One survived but had to watch as his brother was burning in his car

Now, the only sign of life is a rose placed at the door of one of the burned-out cars. Three generations  a grandmother, her daughter and her granddaughter  were traveling in the vehicle. They thought it was better to try and flee the blaze. The flower is the only survivor.

The neighboring village of Figueira fared a little better  at least at first. Spared on Saturday, the residents on Sunday saw the flames swallow up their homes. There were balls of fire flying and flying, and when they landed, things caught fire, says Celeste, 80, who has spent her whole life in the village. Some people thought it was better to get the car and leave but I thought that if the end of the world was coming, I wanted it to be in my house and with my possessions. I closed the windows and saved myself.

A flower placed in remembrance of those who died in this car in Nodeirinho. Joao Henriques (ATLAS video)

Two brothers were separated by the fire, says Antonia, 83, who has also spent her life in the village, and who has been left with burns on her arms from fighting the blaze. One of them survived but had to watch on as his brother was burning in his car without being able to help him.

Firefighters spent Monday morning hosing down the houses of Celeste, Antonia and fellow resident Laura. Avelino, the villages barman, handed out food to the firefighters. His mother entered her smoke-filled house, now nothing but four walls. There is no electricity and the phone lines have been out for two days.

I ate breakfast on Saturday but havent eaten since, says Laura. I am only drinking milk. I havent slept since everything started either.

Laura, 75, in Figueira. Joao Henriques

Drops of water are still falling on the village. Its the planes, says Laura. But this time it is real rain: the firefighting aircraft cant operate because of the columns of smoke.

Meanwhile, all the talk in Figueira and Pedrogao Grande, where people have remained, is of stories of survival: how a greyhound was saved, or the heroic firefighter who rescued a family by leading them through a tunnel of clear air in the middle of the fire. Then there is the village of Canical, where only one house has been left standing  the one with the swimming pool. The house in front of it and the house behind have been totally destroyed.

But the morning routine among the residents of Pedrogao Grande, Alvelas, Gois and Avelar hasnt changed, with people asking: All well?

And this followed by the typical Portuguese response. Ive been worse.

Powder keg

After last weekends blaze, Portuguese media outlets have been asking how it was possible that lightning strikes could have created such a violent fire, and how so many people could be caught unaware in their houses and cars.

Among the causes pointed to are the powder keg nature of the forest of pines and eucalyptus in the zone, and the lack of coordination among emergency services. But there are still plenty of questions remaining as to why lightning strikes in a forested area  a not unusual occurrence in the Iberian peninsula in summer  could cause such an unusual and explosive blaze.

Experts consulted by EL PAIS highlighted three main contributing factors. The first of those is the heat wave of the days beforehand, with temperatures up to 9C above average and very little rain, according to Ana Casals of Spains meteorological agency Aemet. This created the perfect conditions for storms.

Secondly, the difference between a hot surface temperature and the cold temperatures at high altitude led to the creation of the cumulonimbus clouds which bring summer storms, but not always rain. If the atmosphere is very dry the water evaporates before it even hits the ground. That can mean lightning strikes and strong winds, but no precipitation, as was the case here. This is particularly dangerous in forest zones, according to meteorologist Daniel Santos, pointing out that dry forest conditions significantly raise the possibility of a fire.

Thirdly, according to Ana Casals, when one or more bolts of lightning create fire under these circumstances, the air that the flames heat up rises rapidly in a vertical manner and is replaced by the surrounding [colder] air, which brings oxygen and therefore adds extra fuel for the fire.

At the weekend, the dryness of the air and intense heat of the zone affected by the fire in Portugal meant this circular dynamic accelerated, creating violent eddies and swirls that made it impossible to predict the direction of the fire. This probably explains why several firefighters died when caught out by the swift advance of the blaze.

English version by George Mills.
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More than 30 Labour MPs have reopened the partys split over Brexit by demanding Jeremy Corbyn campaigns to keep Britain in the single market.

The rebels urged the Labour leader not to throw in the towel by aping Theresa May in arguing withdrawal is inevitable when Britain leaves the EU.

Instead, they warned that quitting the single market would extend austerity for many years after an independent forecast of a 31bn hit to the public finances.

Recommended Labour Brexit policy in confusion over single market membership

In agreeing Britain would leave the trading arrangement, Mr Corbyn was siding with a motley crew of hard-right, pro-Brexit Tories  including Michael Gove. Boris Johnson, John Redwood and Iain Duncan Smith.

A letter penned by the 34 MPs reads: We must be clear  access to the European single market is both different and inferior to membership of the single market.

Why? Because, if we leave the single market, whatever the level of access is negotiated, working people across Britain will be worse off and revenue to the exchequer will plummet  revenue the next Labour government will need to bring an end to years of damaging Tory austerity.

And it adds: At the very least we should strongly oppose Mays decision to take membership off the table in these negotiations.

An ambitious and confident alternative government  with Corbyn at the helm  should not throw in the towel as May has done, but could seek membership with reforms on immigration and the other matters we seek.

Among the signatories are Labour big-hitters Chuka Umunna, Maria Eagle, Liz Kendall, Stella Creasy, Pat McFadden, Ann Clwyd, Chris Bryant and Ben Bradshaw.

The letter, published by The Guardian, follows growing dismay among the MPs at Labours confused and  they argue  timid stance on Brexit.

In the last Parliament, Labour said it would leave the single market, voting against an amendment to the Article 50 Bill which sought to keep Britain inside.

Its election manifesto then talked of fresh negotiating priorities that have a strong emphasis on retaining the benefits of the single market and the customs union.

In recent days, both Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer and Barry Gardiner, the trade spokesman, have hinted that Labour would try to stay in a reformed single market.

But John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor, ruled that out, saying: I cant see it even being on the table in the negotiations, I dont think its feasible.

Meanwhile, some senior Tories, in particular Scottish leader Ruth Davidson, are urging the Prime Minister to put single market membership back on the agenda.

In the new reality of a hung Parliament, it is unclear whether there will be a Commons majority for leaving, with the likely economic damage that will bring.

The letter  also signed by peers and MEPs  insists a country can be a member of the single market without being a member of the EU.

It argues membership also brings laws and court judgments that guarantee holiday pay, maternity and paternity leave, the right to join a union and protect the environment.

And it dismisses Mr Corbyns argument that membership prevents active industrial strategies, insisting it had not stopped the likes of Germany having a national investment bank or France and the Netherlands supporting their industries
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Theresa Mays deal with the Democratic Unionist Party will reportedly face a legal challenge on the grounds it breaches the Good Friday Agreement.

A legal team with experience making constitutional challenges is preparing a judicial review in anticipation of the controversial pact with the northern Irish party being announced, according to the Guardian.

If the challenge is lodged, high court judges would be asked to consider whether the Government would be in breach of its commitment to exercise rigorous impartiality as part of the Good Friday Agreement.

 Why the DUP is so controversial

In subsequent agreements, the Government has cast itself as an independent arbitrator in negotiations between the local parties.

However the Government's adherence to that position will clearly be brought into question if its control of Parliament is dependent on a deal with the DUP, endangering ongoing talks to try reach a power-sharing deal in the region.

The case, which could be brought to the Supreme Court because of its constitutional significance, follows cross-party warnings that the deal could jeopardise Northern Irelands peace process.

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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. 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The Prime Minister said the Government was still in talks with the party to define a confidence and supply arrangement. Transport secretary Chris Grayling said the deal could be announced after the Queens speech on Wednesday.

The deal would mean the DUPs 10 elected MPs would back the Government on confidence votes and budget or supply votes, preventing Ms Mays party from being brought down by motions of no confidence.

Ms May said the Government remained committed to the Good Friday agreeement, saying: "On reaching such an agreement we will make sure that the details of that are made public so that people can see exactly what that is based on.

"As a UK Government we remain absolutely steadfast in our commitment to the Belfast Agreement, its successor agreements."

However, a number of leading politicians have warned Ms May the agreement would be in breach of the Good Friday Agreement.

Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams said: "We told her very directly that she was in breach of the Good Friday Agreement, and we itemised those matters in which she was in default in relation to that agreement."

It is believed the legal challenge will focus on subsection five of article 1 of the 1998 Good Friday agreement which states that the UK and Irish governments affirm that whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, the power of the sovereign government with jurisdiction there shall be exercised with rigorous impartiality on behalf of all the people in the diversity of their identities and traditions and shall be founded on the principles of full respect for, and equality of, civil, political, social and cultural rights, of freedom from discrimination for all citizens, and of parity of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the identity, ethos and aspirations of both communities.
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The Conservative Party raised almost three times as much from donations as Labour during the election campaign, according to official figures.

The Electoral Commission published its final report into the election campaign donations, revealing the Conservatives to have received 12,703,791 compared to 4,547,410 for Labour.

The Liberal Democrats received 1,107,570.

Recommended Tories heavily reliant on donations from hedge funds and bankers

Nineteen out of twenty of the biggest individual donations were to the Conservative Party.

In the final two days of the campaign, the Tories were given 215,000 and the Socialist Party of Great Britain received 16,333 from Charlotte O'Gorman on June 7.

Donations to the Conservatives on June 7 and 8 included 25,000 from Leopold Noe and 10,000 from David Spencer-Percival, as well as 25,000 from Constantine Logothetis.

Recent analysis showed the Conservative Party to be heavily reliant on large donations from bankers and hedge funds, with 25 per cent of its donations since the 2015 election having come in the form of large donations from people working in these specific fields.

Since the 2015 general election the biggest hedge fund donor to the Conservatives has been Alexander Fraser, who gave the party 1,137,400 in that period. The former Barings Bank head of brokerage was elevated to the House of Lords for life by David Cameron in his resignation honours.

Swiss-born banker Henry Angest, who was knighted by David Cameron, gave 654,000. He is CEO of Arbuthnot Banking Group, which offers investment management services.

A Conservative spokesperson said: "All donations to the Conservative party are properly and transparently declared to the Electoral Commission, published by them, and comply fully with the law."
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Four former Government ministers are facing fresh accusations that they ignored warnings that residents in tower blocks such as Grenfell Tower were at risk from fires.

Labour is demanding answers after leaked letters revealed how experts pleaded with ministers to tighten regulations  arguing they could not afford to wait for another tragedy.

The letters were sent by the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group in the aftermath of a 2009 fire which killed six people in Lakanal House, south London.

Obtained by the BBCs Panorama programme, they reveal growing dismay after the Government promised a review of fire regulations in 2013  but then failed to act.

In March 2014, the group called for automatic sprinkler protection in the UKs 4,000 older tower blocks, arguing ministers had enough credible evidence to change guidance.

But then-government minister Stephen Williams, a Liberal Democrat, replied: I have neither seen nor heard anything that would suggest that consideration of these specific potential changes is urgent.

The group replied: We're at a loss to understand, how you had concluded that credible and independent evidence which had life safety implications, was NOT considered to be urgent.

And it added: Should a major fire tragedy, with loss of life, occur between now and 2017 in, for example, a residential care facility or a purpose built block of flats, where the matters which had been raised here were found to be contributory to the outcome, then the group would be bound to bring this to others' attention.

Three Conservative ministers then also received letters about fire regulations, according to the BBC, including former Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, in February 2014.

In December 2015, the all-party group wrote to James Wharton, warning about the risk of fires spreading on the outside of buildings with cladding.

Today's buildings have a much higher content of readily-available combustible material. Examples are timber and polystyrene mixes in structure, cladding and insulation, it wrote.

This fire hazard results in many fires because adequate recommendations to developers simply do not exist. There is little or no requirement to mitigate external fire spread.

Lastly, Gavin Barwell, who was recently appointed Theresa May's chief of staff, received further calls for action in September last year.

In November 2016, Mr Barwell replied to say his department had been looking at the regulations, and would make a statement in due course.

In April 2017, Mr Barwell wrote to say he did acknowledge that producing a statement on building regulations has taken longer than I had envisaged, according to Panorama.

Ronnie King, a former chief fire officer who acts as the groups secretary, said the Government had ignored repeated warnings about tower block safety.

We have spent four years saying 'Listen, we have got the evidence, we've provided you with the evidence, there is clear public opinion towards this, you ought to move on this', he said.

John Healey, Labours housing spokesman, has written to Communities Secretary Sajid Javid demanding to know what action was taken in response to the warnings.

He alleged minsters had been given specific criticisms and recommendations for the fire safety rules for tower blocks, vital parts of which were ignored or rejected

Will you release in full the correspondence between your department and the all-party group, Mr Healey wrote. Will you set out the reasons for not acting upon their concerns?
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Former business minister Jo Swinson is the new deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, the party has said.

She was elected unopposed after no other candidates were declared, a spokesman said.

Ms Swinson, who regained her East Dunbartonshire seat from the SNP in the general election, had been an early favourite to succeed Tim Farron as leader following his resignation.

However, she opted instead to stand as deputy.

Announcing her decision over the weekend in a blogpost for Lib Dem Voice, Ms Swinson said she was touched and flattered that so many colleagues had encouraged her to run for leadership of the party

But she added: Being the leader of a political party is a unique and all-encompassing job, even more than the roles of MP and minister that I have undertaken before. It should not be done simply to achieve status, to make a point, or to please others.

Feminist that I am, I have of course wondered what a bloke in my position would do. Its obvious. Most blokes in my shoes would run for leader like a shot. Its true that my many years of encouraging women to have the confidence to go for that exciting new role have taught me that women often dont go for things when they should. But just as often I have observed men going for the promotion when they shouldnt. Just because a man would do it doesnt make it the right thing to do.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 November 2022 A grey heron lands on the river Dodder in Dublin on a sunny autumn morning PA UK news in pictures 9 November 2022 Australia and Spain play during the Wheelchair Rugby League World Cup group A match at the Copper Box Arena, London PA UK news in pictures 8 November 2022 A migrant attempting to communicate with journalists is pinned against a fence by members of staff, before being taken out of view, at the Manston immigration short-term holding facility, located at the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Thanet, Kent PA 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 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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

It means the contest is likely to be fought between Sir Ed Davey, Sir Vince Cable and Norman Lamb.

Mr Lamb told BBC Question Time last week he was thinking about it, while Vince Cable told The Independent he had ruled nothing out. It is possible either Sir Ed or Sir Vince will step aside for the other.

Senior figures in the party have suggested that either of these three figures could win the leadership contest, and much will now depend on the campaign, and who can set out the clearest vision for how the Liberal Democrats position themselves in a highly unusual political landscape, and who can best rebuild their base from the catastrophe of the 2015 election.
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Sir Vince Cable has confirmed his bid to be the next Liberal Democrat leader, insisting he has the energy, enthusiasm and experience  even at the age of 74.

The former Business Secretary said he was the big figure required to lead the party through what will be a period of chronic uncertainty, as the Brexit talks get under way.

Sir Vince promised to build on outgoing leader Tim Farrons legacy of good policies to bolster public services. He said: The NHS, especially mental health, and social care and schools are now under severe financial pressure.

And he insisted there were big opportunities ahead, despite the Lib Dems struggling to make a breakthrough at the election, winning just 12 seats.

The Conservatives are in disarray and in retreat. The Labour Party outperformed expectations but complacently believes that one more heave will see it into office, he said.

Sir Vince added: There is a big space in British politics which I am determined that we should occupy.

He is expected to face competition from Ed Davey, another cabinet minister from the Coalition years, and from Norman Lamb, a former health minister.

Sir Vince remains popular with Lib Dem members and is remembered for successfully wounding Gordon Brown in Commons clashes, when temporary leader a decade ago.

But, as well as questions about his age  he will be 79 at the next scheduled general election  some Lib Dems may fear Sir Vince is tainted by the Coalition years.

In his statement, announcing he would run, Sir Vince himself referred to the party having survived five difficult years of Coalition government.

He was one of the highest-profile casualties of the Lib Dem collapse two years ago, but returned to the Commons as MP for Twickenham at the election earlier this month.

Sir Vinces path to the leadership has been eased by the withdrawal, last week, of Jo Swinson, the former equalities minister and once the bookmakers favourite.

Mr Lamb, the MP for North Norfolk and a high-profile campaigner on mental health issues, was defeated by Mr Farron in the 2015 Lib Dem leadership contest.

Mr Davey, the former Energy Secretary, is expected to launch his leadership bid later this week and has said that lots of people are encouraging him to run  including his wife.

On Brexit, Sir Vince confirmed he would continue to push for a second referendum on any Brexit deal, by working with like-minded people in other parties.

He described EU withdrawal as an iceberg about to hit the UK economy, vowing: Liberal Democrats need more than ever to warn of the dangers ahead and the need for a new course.

Mr Farron sparked surprise last week when he announced he was standing down, arguing it was impossible to be leader and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible's teaching.

Several high-profile Lib Dems had privately criticised the way he had answered questions on whether gay sex was a sin and his views on abortion.
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The Metropolitan Police will not have to find cuts worth hundreds of millions of pounds over the next three years, the Home Office has announced, following calls for the forces budget to be protected in the wake of two terror attacks.

The announcement signals an apparent climbdown by the Government after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, earlier warned it was facing 400m in cuts to meet a budget shortfall by the end of the decade, as the budget remains flat while costs rise.

That comes on top of 600m worth of cuts that have already been implemented.

Mr Khan urged the Prime Minister to reverse cuts to policing during a visit to the scene of the terror attack in Finsbury Park.

Recommended Corbyn calls on May to resign as PM over police cuts

My message to the Government is, the plans you have to make the further cuts of 400 million: dont do it, he said.

Cressida Dick, the Met Commissioner, also voiced concerns, telling the BBC her officers need the resources to do the job, while her predecessor Lord Blair sounded a similar warning.

Alarm at the projected cuts prompted the Home Office to rush out a statement.

A spokesperson said: The Government is not reducing the Metropolitan Polices budget by 400m.

Police spending was protected in the 2015 Spending Review, and the Met has had a broadly flat cash budget since then including precept  in line with every other force in the country.

The total number of police officers, PCSOs and other police staff in the Met has dropped from a high of 55,322 in March 2010 to 43,607 in April this year.

Commissioner Dick revealed she was in talks with the Government over cuts the force was expecting to make, which come at a particularly busy time for officers in the capital who are dealing with three terror attacks in as many months as well as the fire at Grenfell Tower.

We're stretched and I'm talking with the mayor and the government about the resources that we need, the country's most senior police officer said.

She added: We undoubtedly need a very capable police service in the future for all the reasons people can see.

A third senior figure with detailed knowledge of policing in the capital, Former Met Police Commissioner Lord Blair, also warned about prospective budget cuts.

Looking at what is happening, the idea of continually cutting the police services budget seem just an absurdity at this point, he said.

I think the crucial point now is to understand that the cuts being considered, certainly for the Met, need reconsideration.

Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images

As far as I understand it they're supposed to lose a further 400m by 2021, on top of 600m in the last few years.

That means that the Met must be a quarter less in size than when I left.

But the Home Office insisted funding remained stable and that no police force is seeing a reduction in their funding compared with 2015/16.

A spokesperson added: We expect the Met, along with all other forces, to manage their costs within their broadly flat cash budgets by improving efficiency and productivity.

Last month, in the immediate aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing, the chair of the Police Federation, Steve White, said police simply do not have the resources to manage a heightened national level of alertness without help from the army.
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A humbled Theresa May will propose a hollowed-out plan for government on Wednesday, as figures in her own party admitted it would be her first and last.

The Prime Ministers legislative agenda set out in the Queens Speech will be stripped of Tory pledges after Ms Mays election campaign left her party without enough MPs to pass more contentious plans.

Instead she will focus what little clout she has on pushing through Brexit  even there she adopted a distinctly softer tone in a bid to stave off a potentially damaging cabinet split.

Ms May will also be forced to endure the embarrassment of putting her Queens Speech before Parliament without knowing if it can be passed, as she wrote it having failed to secure the support of Democratic Unionist Party MPs needed for her Commons majority.

Speaking ahead of the speech, the Prime Minister appeared to acknowledge the limitations of her plans.

The election result was not the one I hoped for, but this Government will respond with humility and resolve to the message the electorate sent, she said.

It means that a string of key promises from her manifesto will be ditched  including U-turns on plans to axe universal school meals and dump the triple lock on pensions.

UK General Election 2017 Show all 47 1 /47 UK General Election 2017 UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May leaves 10 Downing Street for the 1922 committee on June 12, 2017 in London, England. British Prime Minister Theresa May held her first cabinet meeting with her re-shuffled team today Getty Images UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 DUP leader Arlene Foster stands alongside deputy leader Nigel Dodds as they hold a press conference at Stormont Castle as the Stormont assembly power sharing negotiations reconvene following the general election on June 12, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Discussions between the DUP and the Conservative party are also continuing in the wake of the UK general election as Prime Minister Theresa May looks to form a government with the help of the Democratic Unionist parties ten Westminster seats. Stormont and the political situation in Northern Ireland has been in limbo following the collapse of the power sharing executive due to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme scandal which implicated the DUP Getty Images UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 Priti Patel, International Development Secretary leaves 10 Downing Street Getty Images UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 Larry the Downing Street cat runs ahead of Michael Fallon Britain's Secretary of State for Defence as he arrives for a cabinet meeting at Downing Street in London, Britain, June 12, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth REUTERS UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 Michael Gove, Environment Secretary leaves 10 Downing Street on June 12, 2017 in London, England. British Prime Minister Theresa May held her first cabinet meeting with her re-shuffled team today Getty Images UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon (C) leaves after speaking to the media in Parliament Square. Getty Images UK General Election 2017 12 June 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May (C, L) holds the first Cabinet meeting of her new team. Getty UK General Election 2017 11 June 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May attends church in her constituency with her husband Philip May, a few days after disappointing results in a general election. Rex Features UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn leaves Labour Party HQ this morning, following a general election yesterday. Parliament is hung, with no individual party gaining an overall majority. Post general election reaction. Rex UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JUNE 09: DUP leader and Northern Ireland former First Minister Arlene Foster (C) holds a brief press conference with the DUP's newly elected Westminster candidates who stood in the general election Getty Images UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 A " Get May Out" demo took place opposite the gates of Downing Street, calling for May to resign, after the shock election results and Mays coalition with the DUP. Rex Features UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 A demonstrator wears a mask depicting Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May, poses with a mock gravestone bearing the words "Hard Brexit, RIP", during a protest photocall near the entrance 10 Downing Street in central London AFP/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters in London Reuters UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May flanked by her husband Philip delivers a statement outside 10 Downing Street in central Londo Getty UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Britain's Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party Theresa May leaves Buckingham Palace in London the day after a general election in which the Conservatives lost their majority Getty Images UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 A TV cameraman watches the door of 10 Downing Street in London Getty Images UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is greeted by his Office Director Karie Murphy as he arrives at Labour Party HQ in Westminster, London, after he called on the Prime Minister to resign, saying she should 'go and make way for a government that is truly representative of this country' Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May arrives at the Conservative Party's headquarters with her husband Philip in London REUTERS/Peter Nicholls UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Ukip leader Paul Nuttall speaks during a press conference at Boston West Golf Club where he announced that he is standing down as party leader Joe Giddens/PA UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, leaves the counting centre for Britain's general election with her partner Jen Wilson in Edinburgh, Scotland REUTERS/Russell Cheyne UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale celebrates with candidate for Edinburgh South Ian Murray as he retains his seat at the Meadowbank Sports Centre counting centre in Edinburgh, Scotland Getty Images UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, as counting is under way for the General Election Andrew Milligan/PA Wire UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson at Meadowbank Sports Centre in Edinburgh, as counting is under way for the General Election PA UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon reacts at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, Scotland EPA UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, arrives at the Labour Party's Headquarters in London REUTERS/Marko Djurica UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 UKIP Leader Paul Nuttall leaves in a car following the vote count for the constituency of Boston and Skegness in Boston, England Anthony Devlin/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 9 June 2017 British Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Theresa May speaks at the declaration at the election count at the Magnet Leisure Centre in Maidenhead, England. Getty Images UK General Election 2017 8 June 2017 A policer officer enters a polling station in London AP UK General Election 2017 8 June 2017 A woman leaves after casting her vote at the Hove Museum and Art Gallery near Brighton, in southern England Getty UK General Election 2017 8 June 2017 A polling station sign is seen on a telephone box outside the polling station at Rotherwick Hall, west of London Getty UK General Election 2017 7 June 2017 A woman walks past a general election display in the window of a betting shop in Camden on June 7, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. Britain goes to the polls tomorrow, Getty Images UK General Election 2017 7 June 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May visits Atherley Bowling Club during an election campaign visit on June 7, 2017 in Southampton, England. Britain goes to the polls tomorrow June 8 to vote in a general election. Getty Images UK General Election 2017 6 June 2017 A supporter wears a pair of Jeremy Corbyn decorated tights at a general election campaign event in Birmingham, central England, on June 6, 2017. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another deadly terror attack in the nation's captial. AFP/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 6 June 2017 A picture taken in London, shows election leaflets from various parties displayed ahead of the United Kingdom's general elections. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another terrorist attack on the nation's capital AFP/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 6 June 2017 Election workers, George Gaunt and Luca Tragid deliver the first ballot boxes, on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh AFP UK General Election 2017 6 June 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May meets with Conservative party supporters during an election campaign visit to a bakery during an election campaign visit on June 6, 2017 in Fleetwood, north-west England. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to vote in a general election only days after another terrorist attack on the nation's capital Getty Images UK General Election 2017 5 June 2017 British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks during a general election campaign visit to a removals depot in Edinburgh AFP/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 3 June 2017 Pro-Independence supporters hold a march through Glasgow AFP/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 3 June 2017 Opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn campaigns for the upcoming general election in Beeston, Nottinghamshire AFP/Getty Images UK General Election 2017 3 June 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn reacts to supporters after a rally at Beeston Youth and Community Centre as he visits the East Midlands during the final weekend of the General Election campaign on June 3, 2017 in Nottingham, England. If elected in next week's general election Mr Corbyn is pledging to create a million new jobs and to scrap zero-hours contracts Getty Images UK General Election 2017 1 June 2017 Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party leader Ruth Davidson joins a selection of Scottish Conservative election candidates and activists during campaigning on May 1, 2017 in South Queensferry, Scotland. With only seven days to go until the general election on June 8th, polls are showing the SNP out in front and the Conservatives set to close in on Labour. Getty Images UK General Election 2017 29 May 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May canvasses in Richmond with Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith on May 29, 2017 in London, United Kingdom. After suffering defeat in the London Mayoral election Zac Goldsmith resigned over the Government's position on Heathrow expansion. He stood as an Independent but lost in a by-election to the Liberal Democrats. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to elect a new parliament in a general election Getty Images UK General Election 2017 22 May 2017 Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron poses for a selfie taken by carer April Preston during a General Election campaign visit to the Barlow Medical Centre, in Didsbury, Manchester Yui Mok/PA UK General Election 2017 22 May 2017 Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaks at an election campaign event in Wrexham, Wales Reuters UK General Election 2017 22 May 2017 Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, and Labour's former deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, exit the party's general election campaign 'battle' bus as they arrive at an event in Kingston upon Hull, northern England Getty Images UK General Election 2017 22 May 2017 Britain's main opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn walks with supporters between venues, before speaking again at another general election campaign event in Kingston upon Hull, northern England Getty Images UK General Election 2017 22 May 2017 An anti-fox hunting protester is taken away and arrested by police outside the venue where Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May was due to launch the Welsh Conservative general election manifesto at Gresford Memorial Hall in the village of Gresford, near Wrexham, North Wales, on May 22, 2017. Britain goes to the polls on June 8 to elect a new parliament in a general election AFP/Getty Images

The major roll-out of new grammar schools  which Ms May had wanted to make a signature policy of her premiership  also looked set to be put on ice.

A senior member of the Government told The independent: Its fair to say what we end up with is going to be a long way from the manifesto.

Because of the election result, knowing it is all the more difficult to get legislation through, its going to be a Queens Speech that reflects the implications.

The main thing will be Brexit, and we now have a two-year session to achieve that. But the wish list for the world in which we were going to have a majority  thats just not reality anymore.

Another minister agreed, saying Ms Mays plans had simply needed to be cut back.

He added: That means its going to be a realistic Queens Speech that recognises how some of the more controversial proposals that we had will now be difficult to achieve.

Ms May said the first priority was getting Brexit right, with the related legislation likely to form the lions share of her agenda for a parliamentary session extended to two years in order to handle Britains withdrawal.

 Philip Hammond refuses to answer question of how long Theresa May has got as PM

But just hours after her own Chancellor Philip Hammond gave a speech challenging the hardline Brexit rhetoric she used before the election, Ms May herself signalled a softer approach.

She said: First, we need to get Brexit right.

That means getting a deal which delivers the result of last years referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support.

It follows on from a meeting with the influential Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, at which Ms May was forced to say she would listen to all the voices in the party, having initially called an election attacking those refusing to fall in behind her.

The Brexit negotiations have begun, with David Davis going head to head against the EU's chief negotiator, Michael Barnier (EPA)

Her approach also took a knock earlier this week, when Brexit Secretary David Davis undertook an embarrassing U-turn on the first day of negotiations with the EU  being forced to accept that withdrawal talks would be prioritised over discussions about future trade.

But indications that Ms May is looking to adjust her position on negotiations, to keep Tories desiring a softer Brexit happy, have riled Leave-backing cabinet ministers who have reportedly threatened to quit if the Prime Minister abandons her tough stance.

One backbencher told The Independent: The Queens Speech is basically all about Brexit.

It will be Brexit-heavy because thats pretty much the only big thing that everyone can agree needs to happen  putting disagreements about how it will happen aside.

 Theresa May responds to John Major criticism over DUP deal

As well as the planned Great Repeal Bill, to absorb all EU laws into British statute on day one of Brexit, there will also be a raft of other pieces of legislation relating to the UKs withdrawal from the EU and trade.

Then, instead of the bolder vision beyond Brexit she had set out in her manifesto, Conservative sources confirmed Ms Mays proposals would be limited to bills to reduce motor insurance premiums and restructure financial authorities, alongside draft bills to strengthen domestic violence laws and scrap tenants fees.

There are also likely to be measures relating to improving mental health care and technical education and to try and form a coherent policy on paying for social care  the issue that derailed her election campaign.

Plans to increase the national living wage and to bear down on the deficit as previously planned will also be confirmed.

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

A senior backbencher said: This is going to be her first and last Queens Speech.

She has very little leeway to get things through  if you look at grammar schools for example, how can that possibly be a part of it?

The whips are going to be telling her, you have very little political capital. Dont waste it on things like that.

Another Tory insider cited a hated new school funding formula as an area where Ms May could have to make concessions to keep her newly empowered backbenchers from toppling her, while a second Tory MP said: Its unlikely there are going to be too many Theresa May Queens Speeches.

But even as she tries to manage the pressures from her own benches, the Prime Minister must still secure the support of another party  the Northern Irish DUP  whose 10 MPs she needs to have a Commons majority.

 In 90 seconds: Philip Hammond on Brexit talks

The Conservatives had hoped to lock-in a confidence and supply deal before taking her planned laws to Parliament, but on Tuesday DUP sources reported that talks were not going as expected.

The party found itself urging the Government to give greater focus to the negotiations and warned that, despite only having a handful of MPs, it can't be taken for granted.

A vote to approve the Queens Speech delivered on Wednesday will not take place until the following week, giving Ms May a few more precious days to cement their support.

Another frontbencher said: We are hoping and praying that it will get through.

It is all the more embarrassing because Downing Street made it known that they had secured a deal with the DUP 10 days ago, only for the Northern Irish party to deny the claim.

Conservative sources have nonetheless said they are confident the Queens Speech vote will pass, citing Brexit, preserving the United Kingdom and fighting terror as common ground.
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A new alliance of Islamist militant groups linked to al-Qaeda has claimed responsibility for an attack that killed at least five people at a luxury resort in Mali.

The assailants stormed the Le Campement hotel on Sunday afternoon, opening fire on guests and battling with French and Malian special forces deployed to try to free those trapped inside.

Mali's Security Ministry said in a statement late on Monday that four of the dead were guests and one was a local soldier who died in the firefight.

Recommended At least two killed in terror attack at Mali holiday resort

The nationalities of the dead were a French-Malian, a French-Gabonese, a Chinese, a Portuguese and a Malian soldier, the ministry said. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, confirmed that two of the dead were working for its mission there.

Although the attackers succeeded in mounting a lethal assault, security forces backed by French and United Nations troops managed to rescue around 60 residents in two batches on Sunday night, including 13 French citizens and several children.

Some survived thanks to a hotel cashier who led them to a cave embedded in the red-earth hillside near the hotel, according to an interview he gave to Radio France International (RFI).

This was without doubt a terrorist attack, Security Minister Salif Traore told RFI on Monday.

Flames rise following an attack where gunmen stormed Le Campement Kangaba resort in Dougourakoro, to the east of the capital Bamako, Mali in this still frame taken from video June 18, 2017. (Reuters)

His ministry's statement added that authorities had killed four attackers and arrested five others.

Earlier in the day, Mr Traore said some of the militants' accomplices were still at large. Several security forces were still being treated for serious injuries.

Recommended Westerners once again the target of Islamist terrorists

Le Campement resort sits in Dougourakoro on the outskirts of Bamako, where the Radisson Blu hotel was the target of a previous terror attack that left more than 20 people dead in November 2015.

French troops and a 10,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force have been battling to stabilise Mali, a former French colony, ever since France intervened in 2013 to push back jihadists and allied Tuareg rebels who had taken over the country's desert north a year earlier.

The alliance that claimed the attack, Nusrat al-Islam wal Muslimeen, was created earlier this year from a merger of local groups and is led by a notorious Tuareg commander. It was later endorsed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Islamist groups have claimed increasingly frequent attacks on Western targets in Mali and the wider West Africa region, including a raid on a Bamako hotel in late 2015 which killed 20 people.

But analysts said security forces appeared to have responded more quickly this time than in previous such attacks.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. 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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

One thing is sure: They are becoming more responsive, said Adam Thiam, a Malian analyst and expert on the conflict. He said this was partly because an elite counter-terrorism unit was now properly up and running.

They're specialised in this kind of operation, he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to the leader of Mali after the attack and pledged his country's full support for the country, Macron's office said on Monday.

France condemns with utmost firmness this murderous attack, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The African Union condemned the attack and reiterated its commitment to support Mali in combating terrorism.

Earlier this month, the United States warned its citizens about a possible increased threat of attacks against places popular with Westerners.

I am tired, shocked. I have no other words to say, the resort owner Manou Morgane, a French national, told Reuters TV overnight. All I want to do is to see the list of my clients. I want to find them (anyone missing)."

A sign points to Le Campement, a resort near Bamako, Mali, that was attacked on 18 June (AP)

A spokesperson for the US State Department expresses its condolences to the victims and their families.

We appreciate the efforts of Malian, French, and United Nations peacekeeping forces in responding to the attack and securing the compound, a statement said.

The United States reiterates its firm resolve in the fight against terrorism worldwide and its solidarity with the government and people of Mali in that effort. 



The US Embassy in Mali released a warning over an increased threat of attacks last week, listing diplomatic missions, places of worship and other other locations in Bamako where Westerners frequent among potential targets.

Avoid vulnerable locations with poor security measures in place, including hotels, restaurants, and churches, said a statement released on 9 June.

The US warns its citizens against all travel to Mali, while the British Government advises against all travel to northern areas and all but essential travel to Bamako and the south.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Donald Trumps handling of the Russia investigation has pushed him towards an even lower approval rating, a new poll has found.

A CBS survey of more than 1,000 adults across the US discovered that just 36 per cent approve of the President, five months into his first term, the lowest point recorded so far.

One catalyst for those relatively poor ratings is the on-going investigation into ties between Russia and his administration before the election. CBS found that a third of Americans disproved of the Presidents approach to the issue  Mr Trump has repeatedly called the investigation fake news and a witch hunt and fired James Comey, former director of the FBI, who was leading the investigation.

Recommended Majority of Americans think Trump tried to interfere in Russia probe

Despite the President speaking against Special Counsel prosecutor Robert Mueller, who is now leading the Russia investigation, more than half of those surveyed  56 per cent  believe Mr Mueller is impartial and should be allowed to act unhindered.

Mr Trump appeared to have confirmed that he was being investigated for links to Russia himself when he tweeted about Mr Mueller: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

Americans are split, however, when it comes to whether the potential ties with Russians have serious consequences.

Most Republicans do not think the President did anything wrong at all relating to Russia, the survey found, but six in 10 Americans overall believe Russia tried to interfere in the presidential election.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

Only one third of Republicans think the Russia links are a matter of national security, a view which is peddled by the likes of Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham.

When Mr Comey testified under oath about his dismissal this month, his account of meeting the President disputed Mr Trumps version, and both said they hoped that there were tapes of the conversation to prove them right. More than half of those surveyed by CBS, 57 per cent, are on team Comey.

 Senator Kamala Harris and Jeff Sessions have testy exchange in Senate hearing over Russia

But even general support for Mr Trump among his party has dwindled, from 83 per cent in April to 72 per cent in June.

The CBS survey phoned 1,117 adults between 15 and 18 June by landline and cell phone, in English and Spanish.

The margin of error is 4 points.

Mr Trump tweeted on 18 June a new Rasmussen Poll, which found that he had a 50 per cent approval rating, a stark contrast to most other polls and higher than any other rating by at least eight percentage points.

Real Clear Politics calculated an average approval rating of 40 per cent, based on figures from several polls including Rasmussen, Gallup, CNBC and Quinnipiac.
Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

Armenia: EU and Armenia Hold annual Dialogue on Human Rights

Todays Shushi, Occupied and Cleared of Armenians, is a Real Example of Turkish-Azerbaijani Policy of Ethnic Cleansing of Artsakh

Ookla, the the global leader in internet testing and analysis has awarded Ucom

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Sweden will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union

Ameriabank: At the Vanguard of Armenia's Banking Sector

STATEMENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARTSAKH

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Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

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

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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
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Donald Trumps encounters with world leaders have been anything but boring. From his infamous white knuckle handshake with the newly elected French President to reportedly hanging up the phone on the Australian Prime Minister mid-conversation after yelling at him, it would be safe to say he has upended the usual diplomatic order.

In a similar vein, the President has now used a bilateral meeting with Panama's President on Monday to boast about building the Panama Canal. For the record, the 48-mile waterway in the Central American country is a century-old canal he of course did not build.

Sat side by side while cameras flared, the mogul-turned-politico claimed he and Mr Varela had many important issues to discuss, but nevertheless found time to declare: The Panama Canal is doing quite well. I think we did a good job building it, right - a very good job.

Turning to Juan Carlos Varela, Mr Trump asked: "Right?"

The President of Panama made sure to interject with: Yeah, about 100 years ago.

Apparently keen to make his point again, Mr Trump later added: But things are going well in Panama.

The US transferred control of the canal to Panama in December 1999. The massive waterway connects the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and is an important conduit for international maritime trade.

In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour Show all 39 1 /39 In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud arriving for a reception ahead of a banquet at Murabba Palace in Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud being welcomed at Murabba Palace in Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump with King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during a welcome ceremony with traditional sword dancers at Murabba Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with US President Donald J. Trump and wife Melania during a welcome ceremony at Murabba Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump adjusts the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal, after it was bestowed upon him by Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud presents U.S. President Donald Trump with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 Palestinians print posters depicting US President Donald Trump in preparations for his planned visit, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, before delivering his remarks to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump looks on as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef exchange a memorandum of understanding Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 First Lady Melania Trump shares a laugh with a child during a visit to the American International School in the Saudi capital Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Israeli soldiers rest during preparations ahead of President Trump's landing in Tel Aviv, Israel Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 First Lady Melania Trump makes her way to board Air Force One in Riyadh as she heads with her husband the US President to Israel Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One for Israel, the next stop in Trump's international tour, at King Khalid International Airport AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Israeli soldiers wait for the arrival ceremony of US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive aboard Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump disembark Air Force One on arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump and his wife, US First Lady Melania Trump are welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, in Lod outside Tel Aviv, Israel EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sit during welcome ceremony in Tel Aviv AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US First Lady Melania Trump chats wife Sara Netanyahu as US President Donald Trump chats to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a welcoming ceremony to welcome Trump at Ben Gurion International Airport Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump delivers a speech upon his arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump gestures during a press conference with Israel's President at the President's Residence in Jerusalem Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump watches as First Lady Melania Trump signs the guest book at the President's Residence in Jerusalem Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump in Jerusalem's Old City Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalems Old City Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump stands next to Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz at the plaza in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and White House senior advisor Jared Kushner leave notes at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US First Lady Melania Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Ivanka Trump, assistant and daughter of US President Donald J. Trump, touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump arrives in a vehicle to Saint Damaso's Court for a private audience with Pope Francis in Vatican City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis walks past Ivanka Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on the occasion of the private audience with President Donald Trump, at the Vatican AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis exchanges gifts with US President Donald Trump during a private audience at the Vatican Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis meets US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania during a private audience at the Vatican Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis with US President Donald J. Trump EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis gets into is car after meeting with US President Donald Trump AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 President Donald Trump and his wife Melania look at the frescoed ceilings during their visit to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald Trump security vehicles are seen in front of Air Force One before take off from Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wave to reporters before boarding the Air Force One to Brussels, at the end of a 2-day visit to Italy including a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, at Rome's Fiumicino international airport AP

Mr Trump also heaped praise on the relationship between America and Panama in the press slot, dubbing it very strong.

We are developing new things to do and only getting stronger. And also, friendship with the president is very, very good, he said.

Critics immediately seized on Mr Trumps decision to brag about the Panama Canal - judging it his latest gaffe.

Recommended Carla Bruni says Trump made up claims they had an affair

In response to the Bowling Green Massacre, President Andrew Jackson hired Donald Trump to build the Panama Canal to keep out the Australians, quipped Marie Conner.

This is a reference to the now notorious Bowling Green Massacre  a terrorist attack invented by senior Trump aide Kellyanne Conway which never took place. She falsely claimed Iraqi refugees committed a massacre within the United States but most people didnt know about it because it didnt get covered by the media.

Another critic added: Did Trump just take credit for the Panama Canal? Does he know when it was built? Maybe he thinks Frederick Douglas was the head engineer".
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Police are investigating whether the Muslim teenager who was allegedly murdered on her way to a local mosque was also sexually assaulted, The Independent has confirmed.

Police say 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen was kidnapped and killed by a passing motorist in her home of Fairfax County, Virginia. The teenagers death sent shock waves through the local Muslim community, which was celebrating the holy month of Ramadan.

Now, police say they are looking into whether Ms Hassanens abductor sexually assaulted her before her death.

Part of our investigation is to determine whether the victim was sexually assaulted, a Fairfax County Police spokesperson told The Independent. That determination is pending the results of a medical examiners evaluation.

The Daily Beast reported - citing two sources with knowledge of the probe - that police suspected Ms Hassanen may have been raped. The sources claimed that a pair of womens underwear had been found near Ms Hassanens body, and that investigators had submitted vaginal swabs for testing.

The Fairfax County Police Department would not comment to The Independent about any items that may be submitted for evidence.

Asked if Ms Hassanen had been raped, Chief of Police for Administration Tom Ryan said at a press conference that there had been two assaults that night  one in Fairfax County, and one in neighbouring Loudoun County. He declined to elaborate on the nature of the attacks.

The suspect in Ms Hassanens death, 22-year-old Darwin Martinez Torres, is currently in jail facing a single second-degree murder charge.

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

Meanwhile, there has been a heated debate in the community as to whether her killing should be tried as a hate crime.

Ms Hassanens father, Mohmoud Hassanen, told reporters he believes 100% that his daughter was targeted for her religion. Hassanen was dressed in an abaya  a traditional robe worn by some Muslim women  at the time of her abduction.

Local police, however, told The Independent there was no indication that the murder was motivated by race or religion. Police have instead labelled the killing a road rage incident.

Nothing indicates that this was motivated by race or by religion, Fairfax County Police Spokeswoman Julie Parker said at a press conference. It appears the suspect became so enraged over this traffic argument that it escalated into deadly violence.

Police say Mr Martinez encountered Ms Hassanen and a group of her friends heading back to their local mosque early Sunday morning. Mr Martinez allegedly began arguing with members of the group, particularly another young man on a bicycle.

The detectives say Mr Martinez followed the group with his car over a curb and into a McDonalds parking lot. The group scattered, at which point Mr Martinez allegedly grabbed Ms Hassanen and took her into his car.

Some of Hassanens friends ran to a local mosque for help, setting off a police hunt for the missing teenager.

Police believe Mr Martinez drove his alleged victim to at least one other location before killing her. Autopsy reports reveal Hassanen was killed by blunt force trauma.

Police would later find her body in a pond in Loudoun County.

"A horrific tragedy such as this should never, ever happen in our community," Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said on Monday. "...I am confident that justice will be served."
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The number of women admitted to the hospital for using heroin or prescription pain relievers has jumped 75 per cent in 10 years, according to a new data analysis from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

The AHRQ data provides insight into the growing opioid crisis in the US, which accounted for 28,647 deaths and 1.27m hospital visits in 2014, the last year for which data is available,

Men have traditionally been admitted to the hospital for opioid issues at a higher rate than women  but in the decade between 2004 and 2015, the female population caught up.

Recommended Opioid pain medication works differently on women than men

By 2014, women in three-quarters of the US were admitted for opioid use at a higher rate than men.

Deaths from prescription painkiller overdose have also increased more sharply among women than men, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Between 1999 and 2010, the number of women who died from prescription opioid overdose jumped more than 400 per cent. Deaths among men increased by 265 per cent.

This may be because women are more likely to have chronic pain, stemming from conditions such as endometriosis, fibromyalgia, chronic migraine headaches.

Women are also more likely to be prescribed prescription pain relievers, be given higher doses, and use them for longer periods of time, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). They may also develop a dependency more quickly than men.

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

"As the report makes clear, over the past decade, opioid abuse has affected both sexes and all age groups," AHRQ Director Gopal Khanna said in a statement. "The crisis, however, looks different in different places.

The study found women were most likely to be admitted to the hospital in West Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts. Both sexes were least likely to be hospitalised in Nebraska. The researchers suggest this may be because people living in urban areas are more likely to visit the hospital in general.

The statistics reflect a growing increase in opioid-related hospital visits overall. Between the years of 2005 and 2014, opioid-related visits to the emergency room jumped 99 per cent. In-patient hospital stays increased by 64 per cent.

The CDC have labelled the opioid crisis  which includes drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, and morphine, as well as heroin  an epidemic. Others have called it the worst drug crisis in US history.

The Trump administration recently suggested eliminating the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the agency tasked with fighting opioid abuse, but has since walked back the suggestion.

Mr Trump announced the creation of a bipartisan task force on opioids, lead by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, in March.
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Following the death of Otto Warmbier  the American student detained for more than a year by the North Korean government  world leaders have called on the repressive state to release all those still detained in the country, with John McCain accusing the regime of "murder".

Mr Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student, visited North Korea in January of 2016. He was detained in the country for allegedly stealing a political poster and eventually sentenced to 15 years hard labour.

He was returned home in a coma last week after 17 months. He died on Monday.

In the final year of his life, [Mr Warmbier] lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder, Senator McCain, a former prisoner of war, said.

Recommended Student detained by North Korea dies after being returned home in coma

The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers, the Senator added.

Mr Warmbiers parents believe their son was tortured into a state of what doctors called unresponsive wakefulness before his death.

North Korean officials claim Mr Warmbier slipped into a coma after contracting botulism and taking sleeping pills. However, US doctors found no evidence of botulism upon Mr Warmbiers release.

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

Han Tae Song, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, said the country is acting according to our national laws, and according to the international standards in regards to detainees.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called Warmbiers treatment unjust and cruel, but stopped short of calling it murder.

We cannot know for sure that North Korea killed Mr. Warmbier, Mr Moon said in an interview with CBS. But I believe it is quite clear that they have a heavy responsibility in the process that led to Mr. Warmbier's death.

I believe we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime, said Mr Moon, who was elected in May.

Even today, there are many Korean nationals and American citizens who are detained in North Korea, Mr Moon added. I also urge North Korea to return these people to their families.

North Korea has detained two Korean-American academics and a missionary, a Canadian pastor and three South Korean nationals who were doing missionary work there. Japan says at least several dozen of its nationals are being held in the country.

The US State Department has also pushed for the release of all American citizens currently detained in North Korea.

US President Donald Trump, in a White House meeting with visiting Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko, criticised the way Mr Warmbier's case was handled in the year since his arrest, appearing to assail both North Korea and his predecessor, Barack Obama.

What happened to Otto is a disgrace. And I spoke with his family," Mr Trump said. "His family is incredible ... but he should have been brought home a long time ago."

Experts believe the incident may have ruined hopes of improved relationships with North Korea under Mr Trump, who previously said he would be honoured to meet Mr Jong-un. The White House is reported to have been quietly pushing for the release of three other prisoners still detained in the country.

North Korea expert Bill Richardson told The New York Times that Warmbiers death would set back any serious discussion about a diplomatic dialogue.

I think the first objective has to be to get the three other Americans out, and get a full explanation of what happened to Otto Warmbier, he said.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said a meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Kim was less likely following Mr Warmbier's death.

Mr Spicer said Mr Trump would be willing to meet Mr Kim under the right conditions, but that, clearly we're moving further away, not closer to those conditions.

US relations with China, one of North Koreas biggest allies, could also be affected by the death of the American student. The US has already placed extensive sanctions on the North Korean regime, but has yet to apply "secondary sanctions" on Chinese companies that do business with the country.

Mr Warmbier's death appeared likely to increase pressure on Beijing ahead of a US-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue on Wednesday.

The talks will pair U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defence Secretary James Mattis with China's top diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, and General Fang Fenghui, chief of state of the People's Liberation Army.

The State Department says the dialogue will focus on ways to increase pressure on North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programmes, but also cover such areas as counter-terrorism and territorial rivalries in the strategic South China Sea.

Mr Trump, however, seemed to signal he would not increase pressure on China in a tweet.

"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out," he tweeted. "At least I know China tried!"

In a further sign that US-Chinese relations will remain stable, a White House aide said Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, were invited by the Beijing government to visit China later this year.

Mr Spicer said the Trump administration would "continue to work with [China] and others to put the appropriate pressure on North Korea".

Mr Warmbiers family, meanwhile, says they are choosing to focus on the short time they had with their son, ahead of his funeral on Thursday.

In last days of his life, his parents said, he was home, and we believe he could sense that.
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An armed Russian fighter jet flew within 5ft (1.5m) of a US plane in a "provocative" manoeuvre over the Baltic Sea, it has been reported.

The Sukhoi Su-27 jet approached an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane "rapidly" and flew "erratically", according to officials quoted by Fox News.

CBS said the fighter approached the wingtip of the larger aircraft before passing underneath it and reappearing by the opposite wing.

The US considers the incident, which took place some 25 miles north-west of Kaliningrad, an unsafe intercept.

Officials told Fox the Russian jet was armed with air-to-air missiles.

It was reportedly unclear how close the RC-135 was to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, both Nato members.

The Russian defence ministry said that a US reconnaissance RC-135 plane had swerved dangerously in the proximity of a Russian Su-27 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea, RIA news agency reported.

It said the Su-27 had also intercepted another RC-135 plane in the area.

The intercepts come a day after relations between the US and Russia regarding the war in Syria became frayed, following the US destruction of a Syrian government jet.

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

Russia, a close ally of the Assad regime, said its surface-to-air missile systems would track "all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River" as targets.

The US said the Syrian plane, an Su-22, had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the IS extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa.
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A 10-year-old boy from Texas has invented a gadget that could save the lives of young children accidentally left in hot cars.

Over the last two decades, at least 712 children left in vehicles have died of heatstroke in the US, according to a meteorologist who began tracking the preventable deaths in 1998.

Schoolboy Bishop Curry said he would spend his summer holidays developing his device  a small box with air ducts that blow cool air when it becomes too hot inside a car and an antenna that alerts parents and emergency services.

Bishop, from McKinney, a town 30 miles north of Dallas, told Fox News he has submitted a patent for his invention, which should be approved this year.

The schoolboy said he came up with the idea "when a baby named Fern died down the street" due to a hot car and he saw the story on the news.

Bishop and his family have a number of manufacturers lined up to build the device, which he has called the Oasis.

They have already raised more than $20,000 (15,800) through a crowdfunding campaign to help fund its development.

The device, currently in the design stages, is called the Oasis (Screenshot from NBC footage)

Bishop has built a model of his invention and will use the money raised to pay for prototypes and manufacturing.

"We live in Texas where hot car deaths are far too common," the boy's father, also called Bishop Curry, wrote on the GoFundMe page.

"Bishop already has a provisional patent and a 3D model of his invention".

Recommended Seven children in the UK are rescued from locked cars every day

He added: "Bishop is a 5th grader who is fascinated with making things. From creating a home-made catapult and ping pong ball cannon, to thinking of ways to melt ice and snow on roads without using salt."

The 10-year-old, who has a one-year-old sister, told NBC that "it would be a dream to have lots of inventions that would save many lives".

The box is designed to be latched on to a child's car seat.

Jan Null, a certified meteorologist and professor at San Jose State University, has remarked that the numbers of children dying in hot cars has remained steady over the last 19 years.

This could be due to a lack of awareness of the issue in the media and in local state laws, few of which have made leaving a child unattended in a car illegal, he told the Washington Post.

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

Three weeks ago, when temperatures hit 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit) in north east Texas, two children were found dead in a hot car on Friday afternoon.

The 16-month-old boy and two-year-old girl were reportedly found locked inside a "small four-door vehicle", which they are said to have climbed into themselves.

Such cases are uncommon in the UK, where summer temperatures are generally milder. But a baby girl was found dead inside a car in Tipperary, Ireland on 26 May, reported Sky News.

The seven-month-old, who was reportedly left inside the vehicle on the warm day from when she was due to be dropped off at a creche in the morning until when her father returned to the car at lunchtime, was airlifted to hospital but did not survive.
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Flash floods and emergency warnings did not deter voters heading to the polls, as thousands voted in a congressional election that could deliver a humiliating blow to Donald Trump.

As an eve of poll suggested the race between Democrat Jon Ossoff and Republican Karen Handel was too close to call, people cast their votes in a race that has become one of the most watched - and the costliest - congressional election in history. Officials expected a record turn-out.

A big factor was Trump. A lot of his policies seem to be going down the wrong way, said Nick Posey, who had gone to vote with his brother in voting station set up at the Sandy Plains Baptist Church in Marietta. I see this more about Mr Trump.

Both Mr Ossoff, a former documentary film-maker, and Ms Handel, who worked as a senior official for the state of Georgia, have campaigned hard to make this a race fought on local issues. Yet millions of Democrats across the country, in need of some sort of victory after Mr Trumps won last November, have poured in millions of dollars in money and huge support.

If Mr Ossoff can win a seat the Republicans have held since 1979, they believe they can inspire the partys grass roots and pick up momentum as they prepare for the 2018 midterms.

Rama Siva Kumar, an engineer who moved to the US from India 26 years ago, said he too had come to vote because he was concerned about the direction the country was heading in. He said he was especially worried about Mr Trumps rhetoric and actions over immigration.

I want my vote to be heard loud and clear, he said.

 Jon Ossoff answers questions on eve of polling day for Georgia congressional election

Ms Handel started the day casting her own vote, something her campaign and Mr Trump have repeatedly pointed out Mr Ossoff is unable to do because he lives a few miles outside of the district. He wishes he could vote like me because he doesnt live in the district, she told one reporter.

For his part, Mr Ossoff, who grew up in the district but who currently lives with his girlfriend, a full-time medical student, stuck to his script that he is focussing on Georgia and not the wider ramifications.

Im sure there are national implications, but its my job to consider them, he told CNN. My job is to be focussed on representing the people here, not a national political circus.

Nick Posey said his disgruntlement with Mr Trump was why was voting for Mr Ossoff (Andrew Buncombe ) (Andrew Buncombe)

Ms Handel realises that if she were to lose the contest, it would be a humiliating blow to Mr Trump and to the party. The seat was once occupied by House Speaker Newt Gingrich. It became vacant earlier this year, after incumbent Tom Price was selected to join Mr Trumps cabinet.

Reports suggest Ms Handel has tried to be careful in the way she has handled Mr Trump. She all but mentioned him ahead of finishing second to Mr Ossoff in an April primary. However, she subsequently welcomed him for a private fundraiser in late April.

Mr Trump has frequently inserted himself into the race, ensuring it receives even more media attention.

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

Karen Handel for Congress. She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up, he said in a pair of tweets on the morning of polling, in which he also accused Mr Ossoff of being weak on crime and security.

The district is one of the most affluent and highest educated in the country. Mitt Romney bettered Barack Obama by 23 points in 2012, but Mr Trump only to beat Hillary Clinton in the district by less than two points in last years contest. There are said to be fears within the Republican campaign, that some of the districts better-educated, wealthier residents may prefer to vote for Mr Ossoff because of their dislike of Mr Trump.

Yet Mr Trump clearly also has plenty of supporters in the district, centered on the small towns and suburbs north of Atlanta.

Loretta Philipps, a teacher, said she she was voting for Ms Handel because she liked the New York tycoon. She said she also wanted to land a blow against the global liberal conspiracy. She said she thought Mr Trump was doing a good job as president, but that the media failed to treat him fairly.

Another voter, Vivian Witterstein, said she was voting for Ms Handel because of her strong conservative stance on issues such as abortion. The other guy is a liberal, she said. I have her strong values.
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As the conflict in Syria rages on, the US-Russia tensions are increasing in the country as well as lines of communications are not being used and the politics over Iran play an ever more important role.

The most recent war of words began when a US Navy fighter jet shot down a Syrian war plane without communicating with Russian forces about it ahead of time per normal procedure.

Russia, which has been an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, responded by saying that any US war planes in the vicinity of the incident would be treated as targets.

As Joshua Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told The Independent the Syrian war plane was likely done bombing and the US "had to make a snap decision".

The Russian Defence Ministry called it "a cynical violation of the sovereignty of the Syrian Arab Republic". They have also said the US is blatantly violating international law "under the guise of combating terrorism."

The White House responded through Press Secretary Sean Spicer: The escalation of hostilities among the many factions that are operating in this region doesnt help anybody. And the Syrian regime and others in the regime need to understand that we will retain the right of self-defence, of coalition forces aligned against ISIS".

US Central Command (Centcom) confirmed that the US has shot down a pro-Syrian regime drone on Tuesday. It is the second such drone that has been shot down by the US in the last month.

Centcom said the drone was "display[ing] hostile intent" and was within firing distance of US troops. The Russian Defence Ministry has not yet responded to the drone being shot down.

Tensions had been mounting for some time now, however.

Russia has consistently vetoed any resolutions against the Syrian regime by the United Nations Security Council.

Ahead of the most recent veto in April 2017, the Russian UN representative Vladimir Safronkov said that Donald Trump's "aggression" in Syria is actually strengthening terrorist groups like Isis.

The comment came just hours after the US dropped nearly 60 missiles in the Idlib province of Syria after an apparent chemical attack in the area that killed approximately 100 people.

Graphic video footage of the aftermath showed several children were among the dead and injured.

After the missile attack, Russia made its first threat to sever the communications channel their and US troops had been using.

Despite the harsh rhetoric then, the Russians kept the line open. Frankly, thats because this channel is in the best interests of both sides, and the Russians should know that, Eric Robinson, Research Programmer & Analyst at RAND Corporation told The Independent.

The channel helps organise a crowded airspace and its critically important for protecting troops on the ground from an inadvertent airstrike targeted at other forces, explained Mr Robinson.

He said though that Russias stance after the recent jet incident has been more bellicose than in the past.

In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: US missile strike against Syria In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The United States military launched at least 50 tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's alleged use of chemical weapons in an airstrike in a rebel held area in Idlib province EPA In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Shayrat airfield in Syria Getty Images In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., after the US fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Syria's President Bashar al-Assad Reuters

Mr Robinsons view is that once again threatening to close down the communication channel is a bartering tool.

Russia hopes to get a concession from the US or paint the picture that the US is unwilling to cooperate in defeating the Isis terror group.

The concession they may be hoping for could be regarding a bill imposing more expanded sanctions on Russia, including their economically crucial energy projects.

The bill passed the Senate with an overwhelming majority and is currently sitting in the House. The new Russia sanctions was actually tacked on as an amendment to an existing bill on Iran sanctions, a bit of political manoeuvring to handcuff both Republicans and Democrats to voting for it.

Mr Trump has repeatedly made eradicating Isis and other terror groups a main priority of his campaign and administration.

He has even criticised allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), the UN, and Middle Eastern countries for not doing enough to counter violent extremism.

As a result, a new counterterrorism centre was set up in Saudi Arabia during Mr Trumps Riyadh visit.

Saudi Arabia and neighbours even cut diplomatic ties with Qatar over the small Gulf kingdoms supposed financing of terrorism, though it is not clear the two events are related.

Russian pressure on that front could push the US to ask that the communication line remain open or concede on another issue in order to save Mr Trumps falling job approval ratings and maintain his America First message.

Mr Robinson that the latest rhetoric is a clear indication that all the major players of the Syrian conflict are beginning to converge on the same piece of territory.

"As Isis collapses and retreats, new borders have to be hammered out" regarding which parts of Syria will be taken by the US and US-backed Kurds versus the al-Assad regime backed by Russia and Iran, said Mr Landis.

Mr Assads regime and Russia have consolidated control in Aleppo, so now attention is turned south and east as "Russia and Syria are probing into the edges of US territory," he explained.

It is no coincidence that the region in question is where most of Syrias oil production happens. Though the fields are currently in Isis control, but once they lose the territory it will be a free-for-all according to Mr Robinson.

Mr Landis said a similar situation happened in the north in Jarablus and in Tanf in the south, where the US has 150 special forces and the US attacked what it called Iranian-backed Syrian troops.

Syria is worried the US will use a "proxy army" to caputre more and more territory in the south, which Syria and Iran consider under the rightful control of Mr al Assad.

In any case, Russian, Iranian, American, and Syrian opposition forces will continue operating closer and closer to each other from here on out, with the potential for major flashpoints likely to increase.

Iran adds another element to the conflict, which at this point appears to be in terms of "short-term military needs; self-defence," said Mr Landis.

Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council and author of Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy, told The Independent: were in a very dangerous moment.

He thinks that the escalation of tensions between Russia and the US is not accidental.

He points to some of the aggressive elements of the White House who want a confrontation with Iran. However Mr Landis said he does not expect a full on war between any of the parties. The recent back and forth is more "teeth gnashing and growling".

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it launched its own air strikes against Isis on 18 June, in response to terror attacks on the parliament building and a shrine in Tehran earlier this month.

Iran said surface-to-surface medium range missiles hit the Deir Ezzor province, where Isis militants fleeing advancing troops in Raqqa are hunkering down.

According to a statement, the missiles were launched from Iran's Kurdistan and Kermanshah provinces, over Iraq, on to their targets in Syria.

It has been confirmed how many Isis members were killed or if weapons stashes were affected by the Iranian missiles.

The statement also warned Isis militants and regional and international supporters against any more attacks on Iran.

Mr Parsi said that with coalition forces, Russia, and Iran honing in on the same territory will at a minimum put the US and Iran in direct confrontation.

He also said the recent increase in tensions can be linked to Mr Trumps visit to Saudi Arabia, who is at odds with Iran over a number of issues - the latest of which is Qatars support of Tehran.

However, Mr Landis said that he does not think "anyone in Washington is going to be stupid" about what he refers to as the "new security architecture" in the northern Middle East where Iran has a strong influence.

He notes that though there are people in Washington calling for Mr Trump to get more aggressive with Iran, the real point is that "Israel will not be safe just because the US creates a state between Iraq and Syria" with the Kurds.
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Graduates of one of Americas most prestigious diversity fellowships wont get the fast-track into prime State Department roles they were promised.

The State Department has informed the most recent class of Rangel and Pickering fellows that the only positions open to them are temporary, non-career spots, according to a letter signed by more than 30 members of Congress.

The fellowships were created to help highly qualified applicants from diverse economic and racial backgrounds into foreign service roles. Fellows complete a two-year Masters degree, internships at the State Department, and  if they pass the rigorous selection, hiring, and background check process  go on to serve as foreign service officers for at least five years.

The State Department, however, offered this years graduates a different position: processing visas and providing support to Americans abroad in a temporary consular position.

According to a former State Department intern, thats about what foreign service officers can expect to do for their first two years on the job. But this years graduates would be doing it for five years, with no guarantee of a better, permanent position down the road.

In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour Show all 39 1 /39 In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud arriving for a reception ahead of a banquet at Murabba Palace in Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump, accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud being welcomed at Murabba Palace in Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump with King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud during a welcome ceremony with traditional sword dancers at Murabba Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud with US President Donald J. Trump and wife Melania during a welcome ceremony at Murabba Palace, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 US President Donald Trump adjusts the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal, after it was bestowed upon him by Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 20 May 2017 Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud presents U.S. President Donald Trump with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal at the Royal Court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 Palestinians print posters depicting US President Donald Trump in preparations for his planned visit, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump accompanied by first lady Melania Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, before delivering his remarks to the Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump looks on as U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef exchange a memorandum of understanding Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 First Lady Melania Trump shares a laugh with a child during a visit to the American International School in the Saudi capital Riyadh Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 21 May 2017 US President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Israeli soldiers rest during preparations ahead of President Trump's landing in Tel Aviv, Israel Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 First Lady Melania Trump makes her way to board Air Force One in Riyadh as she heads with her husband the US President to Israel Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump board Air Force One for Israel, the next stop in Trump's international tour, at King Khalid International Airport AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Israeli soldiers wait for the arrival ceremony of US President Donald Trump at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, Israel AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive aboard Air Force One at Ben Gurion International Airport in Lod near Tel Aviv, Israel Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump disembark Air Force One on arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump and his wife, US First Lady Melania Trump are welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, in Lod outside Tel Aviv, Israel EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sit during welcome ceremony in Tel Aviv AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US First Lady Melania Trump chats wife Sara Netanyahu as US President Donald Trump chats to Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a welcoming ceremony to welcome Trump at Ben Gurion International Airport Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump delivers a speech upon his arrival at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump gestures during a press conference with Israel's President at the President's Residence in Jerusalem Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump watches as First Lady Melania Trump signs the guest book at the President's Residence in Jerusalem Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump in Jerusalem's Old City Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray, in Jerusalems Old City Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US President Donald Trump stands next to Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz at the plaza in front of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and White House senior advisor Jared Kushner leave notes at the Western Wall in Jerusalem Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 US First Lady Melania Trump touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 Ivanka Trump, assistant and daughter of US President Donald J. Trump, touches the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, in Jerusalem's Old City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 22 May 2017 President Donald Trump visits the Western Wall AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald J. Trump arrives in a vehicle to Saint Damaso's Court for a private audience with Pope Francis in Vatican City EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis walks past Ivanka Trump and First Lady Melania Trump on the occasion of the private audience with President Donald Trump, at the Vatican AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis exchanges gifts with US President Donald Trump during a private audience at the Vatican Getty Images In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis meets US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania during a private audience at the Vatican Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis with US President Donald J. Trump EPA In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 Pope Francis gets into is car after meeting with US President Donald Trump AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 President Donald Trump and his wife Melania look at the frescoed ceilings during their visit to the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican L'Osservatore Romano/Pool Photo via AP In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald Trump security vehicles are seen in front of Air Force One before take off from Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy Reuters In pictures: President Donald Trump on tour 24 May 2017 US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump wave to reporters before boarding the Air Force One to Brussels, at the end of a 2-day visit to Italy including a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, at Rome's Fiumicino international airport AP

The decision is the result of a State Department hiring freeze imposed shortly after Donald Trump took office. Coupled with deep cuts to foreign aid, the freeze would help to cut back on State Department spending.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defended the cuts at a heated hearing on the department's budget last week.

Throughout my career I have never believed, or experienced, that the level of funding devoted to a goal is the most important factor in achieving it, he said. Our budget will never determine our ability to be effective  Our people will.

But many believe that the hiring freeze is hurting some of the most gifted people at the department. Thirty-one members of Congress have signed on to a letter asking Mr Tillerson to waive the freeze and allow this years Rangel and Pickering graduates to take jobs as foreign service officers.

The representatives say the new positions being offered are not what Congress intended when they required the State Department to invest in minority requirement in 2002.

The lawmakers also note the substantial financial investment the US has already made in these fellows: about $85,000 each for their education and professional development, and tens of thousands more for their security clearances.

As the Trump Administrations extreme proposed cuts to the State Departments budget threaten to hinder our diplomatic efforts around the world, exempting these young people from the agencys hiring freeze would be a positive and practical decision for Secretary Tillerson to make, Representative Joaquin Castro said in a statement.

But State Department spokesman Heather Nauert maintained the department was keeping our commitment to these fellows. She said graduates could perform many similar tasks to first-tour general officers in the temporary positions, with the potential to work as Foreign Officers after the freeze is lifted.

For many, however, the remedy is too little, too late.

These signals and decisions are beginning to have a genuine negative effect on morale and on our operating capacity, Senator Christopher Coons told The Washington Post.

Among American diplomats, he added, there is real lack of certainty about the path forward, about their careers. Im concerned we are going to lose the very best of our Foreign Service.
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A suspected suicide bomber was gunned down by Belgian soldier after he allegedly tried to detonate explosives at Brussels Central Station in a "terror attack", a federal prosecutor has said.

The unidentified man, reportedly carrying a suicide belt and a backpack full of explosives, detonated a small explosive inside the building before he was shot dead.

Police then evacuated the station and nearby the Grand Place "in seconds" according to witnesses.

One eyewitness reported that the man had shouted "Allahu Akbar" and had seemed very agitated.

Nicolas Van Herreweghen, who works for Belgium's national rail company, said the male suspect was yelling about jihadists before blowing up something on a baggage trolley.

He added that the man appeared to be 30 to 35 years of age.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said they were treating the incident as a "terror attack".

Brussels prosecutor's office spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch told the VRT network there was a small explosion at the station, one of the nation's busiest, but the damage was limited.

She said at first sight no one else appeared to have been wounded.

However, the government agency which owns Belgium's railways was warned by a train driver who saw people running across the rail lines inside the station, spokesman Arnaud Reymann told broadcaster RTL.

Rail company spokeswoman Elisa Roux said that trains were diverted from the station and buses sent out to take passengers to the area.

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

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport in March 2016.

There have subsequently been incidents involving Islamist extremists in Paris and London, including this week's attack by a van driver who tried to run down Muslim worshippers outside a mosque in Finsbury Park.

Belgium's Crisis Center, which monitors security threats in the country, says based on initial information it doesn't see a need to raise the terror threat in the country to the highest level.

Additional reporting by AP
Foreign Minister of Armenia to participate in the Fifth Paris Peace Forum

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SUBSCRIBERS OF UCOMS ALL TIME BEST OFFER TO ENJOY ADDITIONAL BENEFITS

Armenia-Azerbaijan: EU sets up monitoring capacity along the international borders

PACE co-rapporteurs on Armenia concerned by reports of alleged war crimes or inhuman treatment perpetrated by Azerbaijans armed forces

There is still 35% gender pay gap: Sona Ghazaryan

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Mikayel and Karen Vardanyans provided 136 million AMD support for the overhaul of the Myasnikyan statue, which was in unsafe state of disrepair

Believe me, as a representative of a country which uses the Schengen system very often, it is quite important. Vardanyan

I really look forward to having answers from the Azerbaijani side for these alleged gross human rights violations: Secretary General

I call on Armenian and Azerbaijani parliamentarians to use this Assembly as an agora of opportunities President Tiny Kox

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There is no place for the death penalty in a State that respects human rights: PACE General Rapporteur

EU and CoE call on two Member States that have not yet acceded to this Protocol  Armenia and Azerbaijan  to do so without delay

An urgent debate requested on "The military hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan".

UCOM AND PES-PES CONTINUE COOPERATION WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

The statement of the meeting between Prime Minister Pashinyan, President Aliyev, President Macron and President Michel of October 6, 2022

Largest Corporate Bond Program at the Securities Market of Armenia Completed Successfully

The statement of the Defender on the video of the execution of Armenian PoWs by the Azerbaijani armed forces

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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
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A van driver has been killed in Calais after refugees, and possible people smugglers, caused a pile-up by blocking the road with tree trunks in a bid to mount lorries heading for the UK, French authorities have said.

The vehicle, registered in Poland, crashed into other lorries on the A16 early on Tuesday morning and burst into flames, killing the man inside.

Nine Eritrean refugees were found stowed in one of the lorries and were arrested, according to the Prefecture du Pas-de-Calais.

British hauliers have previously warned of the dangers near the Calais port for UK-bound lorry drivers, as crude road blocks have been a long-time tactic for those desperate to stow away on board vehicles bound for the UK.

It comes amid growing concern among charities and volunteers working in the Calais that action isn't being taken to a abate the refugee situation in the region, which has seen a return of refugees to the area in recent months, less than a year after its Jungle camp was dismantled and residents relocated. Hundreds of refugees, including many children, are believed to be sleeping in the undergrowth of forests after being chased out of the town by police.

The Independent reported earlier this year that a rise in refugees returning to Calais and Dunkirk in a bid to reach the UK is generating a new consumer base for smugglers and people traffickers who target lorries passing through the port. Charities warned that the closure of legal routes to Britain and an absence of child safeguarding services in the region have provided smuggling networks with a terrifying new market that involves coercing children into taking illegal routes involving large debts or exploitation.

Calais and Dunkirk camps Show all 16 1 /16 Calais and Dunkirk camps Calais and Dunkirk camps (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A portrait of an Afghan man wearing a traditional Perhan Turban in the Calais Jungle (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps Two Gendarmes guard the main entrance to the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps One Kurdish Iraqi mans reminder to himself (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps Two young boys in the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps An Iranian hunger striker stands outside the only remaining shelter in the South Side of the Calais camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps A church in the South Calais camp, on of the the only structures not demolished in the South Side of the camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps A man gets a hair cut in the Calais camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps Night falls on the Calais Jungle. Fires burn in the distance (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps The containers provided as alternative accommodation for the people in the camps (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A young boy in the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A man listens to music inside one of the shipping containers (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps The awful living conditions in the Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps An Afghan man in the Calais camp (Photo: Emily Garthwaite) Calais and Dunkirk camps One of the Iranian hunger strikers (Photo: Alan Schaller) Calais and Dunkirk camps A family in their wooden shelter in the new Dunkirk camp (Photo: Alan Schaller)

In response to the incident, the Road Haulage Association (RHA), an organisation that campaigns for the road haulage industry, said French authorities must take urgent action. RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: Our worst fears have become a reality. We have been predicting this for two years. The security forces currently in place just cannot cope. Its not just Calais itself that need protecting; its the approach roads too.

President Macron must get a grip of this situation and we urge him to deploy the French military to provide safe passage for the thousands of UK-bound hauliers that use this route every day.
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Faroe Islanders have turned the sea red after slaughtering hundreds of whales as part of annual tradition.

The hunt has been criticised by animal rights campaigners, who say the ritual is cruel and unnecessary.

As long-finned and short-finned pilot whales swim close to the shore during migration, fishermen surround the mammals in boats and dinghies, herding them towards the beach.

The entire pods of whales become stranded, are dragged up the beach and slaughtered on the sand or in the shallow water.

The hunt, known locally as the grindadrap, draws large crowds. Many people enter the water to help bring the whales to the sand.

Faroe Islanders are allowed to carry out the annual slaughter by law, which is partially devolved from Denmarks government, although the legality of the practice has been questioned by activists.

Whaling in the Faroe Islands 2017 (Rex)

A PETA campaign and petition urges for an end of the centuries-old ritual.

Metal hooks are driven into the stranded mammals' blowholes before their spines are cut, the campaign states.

A video below shows several men pulling a whale onto the sand, which campaigners say causes the mammal pain and fear.

Whole families are slaughtered, and some whales swim around in their family members' blood for hours.

"Whales and dolphins are highly intelligent creatures and feel pain and fear every bit as much as we do," the PETA campaign continues.

There are around 1 million long-finned pilot whales and 200,000 short-finned pilot whales. Although they are not endangered species, campaigners say a lack of regulation around such traditions in the Faroe Islands could see significant reductions in whale populations.

An anti-hunting campaign called Sea Shepherd claims that up to 1,000 pilot whales are killed every year in the summer months and although whale meat is eaten by the local people, some of the meat is left to rot.

The conservation society sends a couple of boats to the Islands every summer to try and prevent locals from herding whales to the shoreline, but last year five crew members were arrested and their boats confiscated.
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More than 120 refugees are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean after a boat sank off the Libyan cost on Friday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has said.

Four survivors who were rescued by Libyan fishermen said the boat sank after its motor was stolen by human traffickers, according to IOM spokesman Flavio Di Giacomo.

After drifting for a while, the boat, believed to have been carrying 130 refugees  most of them of Sudanese and Nigerian nationality  capsized.

News of the deaths comes on World Refugee Day, during which NGOs encourage the world to commemorate and show support for those forced to flee persecution.

But there is little sign of the plight of refugees in the Mediterranean abating. The death toll passed 1,000 in April  marking a record high with that figure not reached until the end of May last year  and the latest count by the IOM shows at least 1,850 have lost their lives on the dangerous crossing.

Up to 146 people drowned when a refugee boat sunk in March, and up to 250 refugees, including a baby, were reported to have drowned in May after two refugee boats sunk in the Mediterranean Sea.

It comes after a report earlier this month accused the EU of disregarding human rights and international law in its desperation to slow refugee boat crossings across the Mediterranean Sea.

The bloc has pledged tens of millions of euros in funding for authorities in Libya, despite the countrys ongoing civil war and allegations of torture, rape and killings earning it the moniker hell on Earth among migrants, according to the report, published by the US-based Refugees International (RI) group.

In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby being taken on to MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A refugee boat carrying 101 people being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos all images by Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A baby among refugees on a boat carrying 185 people off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea Migrants and refugees sleeping after being rescued by MSF's Bourbon Argos ship Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A crew from MSF's Bourbon Argos ship rescuing a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya, at sunrise Lizzie Dearden In pictures: A day of refugee rescues in the Mediterranean Sea A woman in a stretcher being lifted onto MSF's Bourbon Argos ship from a boat carrying 130 migrants and refugees off the coast of Libya Lizzie Dearden

The UN Migration Agency (IOM) reports that 81,292 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 18 June, with 85 per cent arriving in Italy and the remainder divided among Greece, Cyprus and Spain. This compares with 215,702 arrivals across the region through 18 June 2016.

Nearly 70,000 migrants and refugees have been rescued in the Mediterranean so far this year and taken to Italy  a 23 per cent increase compared to the same period last year.

The most numerous nationality, representing 15 per cent of arrivals, are Nigerians, according to analysis by UNHCR. They are followed by people from Bangladesh (12 per cent), Guinea (10 per cent), Ivory Coast (nine per cent), Gambia (seven per cent) and Senegal (also seven per cent).
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Russias so-called gay propaganda law reinforces stigma and prejudice and violates the right to freedom of expression, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled.

The law, which bans the promotion of homosexual behaviour to minors, has been in place since 2013.

Gay rights groups have condemned it as discriminatory and warned the law is often used as a tool to target and intimidate the LGBT community in Russia.

Following a major court battle that ended on Tuesday, judges at the court agreed, saying that by adopting the law Russian authorities were encouraging homophobia.

Recommended Russia considers banning Beauty and the Beast if it violates gay laws

They said the government had overstepped the margin of appreciation" of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights that guarantees freedom of expression.

In its defence, the Russian government claimed that regulating public debate on LGBT issues may be justified on the grounds of the protection of morals.

But the ECHR found in favour of three gay activists who claimed the law violated the rights to freedom of expression and prohibition of discrimination under the European Convention on Human Rights.

The court rejected the governments claim that regulating public debate on LGBT issues had been justified by the need to protect morals, and said they had failed to demonstrate how freedom of expression would devalue traditional families, as Russian officials had claimed.

The judges said there was a clear European consensus about the recognition of individuals right to openly identify themselves as gay, lesbian or any other sexual minority, and to promote their own rights and freedoms.

The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe Show all 15 1 /15 The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 15. Italy Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 14. Macedonia The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 13. Poland Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 12. Liechtenstein The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 11. Lithuania The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 10. Latvia This content is subject to copyright. The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 9. San Marino The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 8. Moldova The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 7. Belarus Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 6. Ukraine Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 5. Monaco The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 4. Turkey Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 3. Armenia The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 2. Russia Getty Images The top 15 worst countries to be gay in Europe 1. Azerbaijan Getty/AFP

Commenting on the claim that minors could be converted to homosexuality, the court found that the Russian government had been unable to provide any explanation of the mechanism by which a minor could be enticed into [a] homosexual lifestyle, let alone science-based evidence that ones sexual orientation or identity was susceptible to change under external influence.

One of the claimants, Nikolai Alexeyev, a leading gay rights activist, described the ruling as an enormous court victory for LGBT people in Russia.

Along with two others involved in the case, Nikolai Bayev and Alexei Kiselyov, Mr Alexeyev had staged demonstrations to defend gay rights  for which he and others had been fined  and unsuccessfully applied for permission to hold gay pride parades in Russia.

Police detain Nikolai Alexeyev during a protest outside the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games (AP)

The court said: In staging their demonstrations, the applicants had not sought to interact with minors, nor intrude into their private space.

Nothing on their banners had been inaccurate, sexually explicit or aggressive; nor could their messages have been interpreted as an invitation for tuition on gender issues.

The adoption of the views expressed by the gay activists could only be conducive to social cohesion, the judges added.

By adopting such laws the court found that the authorities had reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia, which was incompatible with the values  of equality, pluralism and tolerance  of a democratic society.

The Strasbourg-based court oversees the application of the European Convention on Human Rights to the 47 members of the Council of Europe, of which Russia is a member.

However, it is unclear what impact the ruling will have. Although the courts rulings are binding, Russia passed a law in 2015 saying that its constitution superseded ECHR rulings.

In a recent case, Russias constitutional court said an ECHR ruling ordering a compensation payment to shareholders of a defunct oil company could not be enforced.

A Kremlin spokesman said the government would review the courts latest ruling.

Russias justice ministry also expressed its disagreement with the conclusions of the European court in a statement.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993, but anti-gay sentiment remains strong, including in the Russian federal republic of Chechnya, which has been the subject of international condemnation following the systemic abuse of gay men.

 Human Rights Watch report confirms 'gruesome' extent of gay persecution in Chechnya

Vladimir Putin claimed in a recent interview that the gay propaganda law was intended to provide children with the opportunity to grow up without impacting their consciousness.

When they grow up, they may take any decision on their future, including private and sexual ones.

Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty Internationals Europe and Central Asia research deputy director, backed the ECHR ruling, saying the legislation has always been nothing short of homophobic.

He told The Independent: The law is blatantly discriminatory and violates the right to freedom of expression, and its introduction has undoubtedly contributed to homophobia and violence targeting LGBTI people in Russia.

We strongly welcome todays ruling, not least given the renewed urgency over investigating the reports of a terrifying campaign of mass abduction and torture of gay men in Chechnya.

We reiterate our call on the Russian authorities to repeal its homophobic legislation, end discriminatory practices and fully respect every persons right to freedom of expression.
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Posters advocating equal rights for the LGBT community have appeared in the streets of Baghdad.

The posters show two hands, painted in rainbow colours, making a heart shape over the abbreviation LGBTI.

A phrase beside the picture, written in Arabic, reads, "I am equal to you. Difference is the basis of life."

It is not yet known who is behind the campaign.

Pictures of the posters were uploaded to the Baghdad1 Facebook page, which has prompted a mix of positive and outraged reactions.

I hope the day comes we accept each other, wrote one Facebook user, translated from Arabic.

"I care about the person, his humanity, and his morals, and his treatment and I have nothing to do with who participates in his bed, wrote another.

Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade Show all 8 1 /8 Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AFP/Getty Images Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AFP/Getty Images Thousands march against Donald Trump in LGBT rights parade AP

The campaign surfaced during the holy month of Ramadan in Iraq, a country which does not outlaw homosexuality but has been reported for human rights offences.

Human Rights Watch reported kidnappings, murders and brutal torture of members of the LGBT community over the last decade.

LGBT activism in Iraq has only recently gained traction thanks to the emergence of an underground group called IraQueer.

IraQueer says on its website that it is the first "human rights organisation focusing on the LGBT+ community in Iraq/Kurdistan region".

 Amir Ashour, founder of IraQueer

Its founder, Amir Ashour, was forced to flee to Sweden in 2015 after he received death threats.

Technology, and especially social media, have changed the face of activism, theyve had so much impact for us, Mr Ashour told The Independent last year.

That me and my fellow activists can talk long-distance and hide our identities that would never have been possible before the last few years.

With the rise of Isis in Iraq over the past three years, there has been renewed concern for LGBT equal rights and the communitys safety.

ARA News Network published reports - warning, it contains images readers may find distressing - of men convicted of being gay who were thrown from rooftops to their deaths.
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Australia has suspended its airstrikes against Isis targets in Syria as a precaution after Russia threatened it would treat any US-led coalition aircraft flying west of the Euphrates river as potential targets.

The announcement came after the US military shot down a Syrian warplane on Sunday, accusing the regime of attacking the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) battling militants in Isiss de facto capital Raqqa.

In retaliation, Russia threatened aircraft from the US-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the downing.

As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased, the Australian Department of Defence said.

ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition, it added.

 Theresa May refuses three times to say if she would join US in a strike against Syria

A spokesman told ABC the situation would be monitored and a decision on whether to resume operations in Syria will be made in due course.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq. The UKs Ministry of Defence said it would continue operations against Isis in Syria.

In response to the first US shooting down of a Syrian fighter jet during the six-year civil war, Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it would track US-led coalition aircraft with missile systems but stopped short of saying it would fire on them.

All kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates river will be tracked by the Russian SAM systems as air targets, the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement.

In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Show all 30 1 /30 In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian family arrives at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian woman, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, reacts as she stands with her children in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past resident fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood , after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-regime fighters, gesture as they drive past residents fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood, after regime troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian residents, fleeing violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood, arrive in Aleppo's Fardos neighbourhood Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-regime fighter speaks with a child, as residents flee violence in the restive Bustan al-Qasr neighbourhood. Syrian rebels withdrew from six more neighbourhoods in their one-time bastion of east Aleppo in the face of advancing government troops AFP/Getty Images In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Smoke rises as seen from a governement-held area of Aleppo, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers targeting rebels-held areas in the eastern neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria. According to media reports, the army is now holding on 99 percent of Aleppois eastern neighborhoods EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian pro-government forces patrol Aleppo's eastern al-Salihin neighbourhood after troops retook the area from rebel fighters Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian soldiers rest following the battle at al-Sheik Saeed neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria EPA In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian pro-government fighter walking past closed shops in the Bab al-Nasr district of Aleppo's Old City. Once renowned for its bustling souks, grand citadel and historic gates, Aleppo's Old City has been rendered virtually unrecognisable by some of the worst violence of Syria's war Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The crucial battle for Aleppo entered its 'final phase' after Syrian rebels retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The retreat leaves opposition fighters confined to just a handful of neighbourhoods in southeast Aleppo, the largest of them Sukkari and Mashhad Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilans arrive at a checkpoint, manned by pro-government forces, at the al-Hawoz street roundabout, after leaving Aleppo's eastern neighbourhoods. Syria's government has retaken at least 85 percent of east Aleppo, which fell to rebels in 2012, since beginning its operation Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian civilians flee the Sukkari neighbourhood towards safer rebel-held areas in southeastern Aleppo Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrians celebrate in the government-held Mogambo neighbourhood of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, after rebel fighters retreated into a small pocket of their former bastion in the face of new army advances. The fall of Aleppo would be the worst rebel defeat since Syria's conflict began in 2011, and leave the government in control of the country's five major cities Getty In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee Aliya inside the tent where she lives with her husband and ten children in a camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Syrian refugee women and children outside the entrance to their tents in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA Wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A Syrian refugee woman outside the entrance to the tent where her family live, in the refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, close to the Syrian border PA wire In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria A vehicle drives past a mosque at night in Idlib, Syria. Picture taken with a long exposure Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria The night sky is seen through damaged windows in the rebel-controlled town of Binnish in Idlib province, Syria Reuters In Pictures: The crisis unfolding in Syria Damaged buildings stand in the rebel-controlled area of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province, Syria Reuters

It also said a deconfliction hotline set up between Russia and the US to prevent mid-air collisions would be suspended immediately.

Russia accused the US of failing to use the hotline before targeting the plane.

The shooting down of a Syrian Air Force jet in Syrias airspace is a cynical violation of Syrias sovereignty, the ministry said.

The US repeated combat operations under the guise of combating terrorism against the legitimate armed forces of a UN member-country are a flagrant violation of international law and an actual military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic.

A statement released by US Central Command on Sunday said the Syrian jet was immediately shot down... in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defence of Coalition partnered forces.

Smoke rises from the al-Mishlab district at Raqqas southeastern outskirts on 7 June (Reuters)

The Coalitions mission is to defeat Isis in Iraq and Syria. The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat, it added.

Recommended US shoots down Syrian government fighter jet

The Coalition presence in Syria addresses the imminent threat Isis in Syria poses globally. The demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-Isis operations will not be tolerated.

It is the most significant clash between the US and the Syrian regime since April, when Donald Trump ordered a missile strike on a government airbase from which a chemical attack is it believed was launched.

In another first, Iran  another close ally of President Assad  fired ballistic missiles at Isis targets in the province of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria later on Sunday.

A spokesman for Irans Revolutionary Guard, General Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles hit their targets, according to local sources and drone films.

Mr Sharif told Associated Press the missile launch reflected Irans military power, though he stressed Iran has no intention of starting another war.

But his remarks came amid questions whether the strike had been effective. It was not known what exactly was hit and Iran has provided no details. Israeli security officials said on Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.
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A US fighter jet has shot down a pro-Syrian regime drone just outside the Syrian de-confliction zone, according to US Central Command (Centcom).

Centcom said an American F-15E fighter jet shot down a drone that was advancing on Coalition forces in Southern Syria and "display[ing] hostile intent". Officials told CNN the drone appeared to be armed and within firing distance of US troops.

"Given recent events, the Coalition will not allow pro-regime aircraft to threaten or approach in close proximity to Coalition and partnered forces," Centcom said in a statement.

This marks the third downing of an aircraft backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad this month.

The incident comes just days after a US fighter jet shot down a Syrian regime warplane that was dropping bombs near US-backed Syrian Democratic Force (SDF) fighters.

That downing drove the Russian government, which supports Mr Assad's regime, to announce they would treat American aircraft in some parts of the country as "targets".

In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: US missile strike against Syria In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) launches a tomahawk land attack missile in the Mediterranean Sea AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria The United States military launched at least 50 tomahawk cruise missiles at al-Shayrat military airfield near Homs, Syria, in response to the Syrian military's alleged use of chemical weapons in an airstrike in a rebel held area in Idlib province EPA In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Shayrat airfield in Syria Getty Images In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria US Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG 71) fires a tomahawk land attack missile in Mediterranean Sea Reuters In pictures: US missile strike against Syria President Donald Trump speaks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., after the US fired a barrage of cruise missiles into Syria in retaliation for this week's gruesome chemical weapons attack against civilians AP In pictures: US missile strike against Syria Syria's President Bashar al-Assad Reuters

Earlier this month, US forces shot down a similar drone that officials say fired on a military training camp housing US-backed troops.

These incidents indicate an escalating conflict near the training camp, located near the Syrian-Jordanian border, where the US says it is training troops to fight Isis.

Iranian-backed, pro-Assad troops have been encroaching on the area, adding to tensions.

The camp sits inside a roughly 50km de-confliction zone recently established by the US. Centcom said any "demonstrated hostile intent" toward their forces in the area "will not be tolerated".

The US has already launched two direct attacks on pro-Assad forces entering the deconflcition zone.

"The Coalition does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat," Centcom said on Tuesday.

The Russian Defence Ministry has contradicted this account of US operations in the country, calling the recent downings a "flagrant violation of international law" and "actual military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic".

They Russians accuse the US of operating "under the guise of combating terrorism."

The UN, meanwhile, has said US-led airstrikes in Syria are killing a "staggering" number of civilians.

Paulo Pinheiro, chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, warned that the war against terrorism in the country must not come at the expense of civilians who unwillingly find themselves living in areas where Isis is present.
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At least 25 Yemenis have been killed in a Saudi-led coalition air strike on a market in the latest in a string of deadly bombings in the conflict.

Yemen has been engulfed by a civil war since September 2014, when Iran-backed Houthi rebels swept into the capital of Sanaa and overthrew the internationally recognised government.

The Saudi-led, US-backed coalition opposes the rebels, who still control the capital and much of the north.

 Michael Fallon claims Saudi Arabia is only 'defending itself' when attacking Yemen

The director of the Houthi-run Health Department office in Saada said the aircraft conducted two raids on al-Mashnaq market in Shada district, which is close to the Saudi border.

"Rescue teams were unable to reach the area for some time for fear of being hit by artillery shelling of the area," the official, Dr Abdelilah al-Azzi, told Reuters by telephone.

A Saudi-led coalition air strike killed 22 people and wounded dozens when it struck a market in western Yemen near the Red Sea fishing town of Khoukha in March.

The Yemen war has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced more than three million and ruined much of the impoverished country's infrastructure.

The Saudi-led coalition was formed in 2015 to fight the Houthis and troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh who have fired missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The situation in Yemen Show all 14 1 /14 The situation in Yemen The situation in Yemen Houthi supporters trample on a US flag during a gathering mobilizing more fighters into several Yemeni battlefronts, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen People carry the coffins of men, who were killed in the recent Saudi-led airstrikes during their funeral, in the Old City of Sanaa, Yemen AP The situation in Yemen Pro-government fighters give food to Yemeni children on the road leading to the southwestern port city of Mokha. Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government force Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni stands in front of a graffiti protesting US military operations in war-affected Yemen, in Sana'a, Yemen. According to reports, US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen US Special Forces troops allegedly disembarked from US helicopters in the Yemeni town of Yakla and attacked several houses belonging to members of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda, killing three high-ranking Al-Qaeda members and nine civilians, six women and three children. One American serviceman has been killed and three injured in the attack EPA The situation in Yemen A Yemeni female fighter supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, takes part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen Yemeni female fighters supporting the Shiite Huthi rebels, and carrying weapons used for ceremonial purposes, take part in an anti-Saudi rally in the capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A boy shouts slogans next to pro-Houthi fighters, who have been injured during recent fighting, during a rally held to honour those injured or maimed while fighting in Houthi ranks in Sanaa, Yemen Reuters The situation in Yemen Balls of fire and smoke rise from a Houthi-held military camp following alleged Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sana'a, Yemen EPA The situation in Yemen Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty Images The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy looks on as Yemenis search under the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa Getty The situation in Yemen A Yemeni boy sits amidst the rubble of damaged houses following reported Saudi-led coalition air strikes on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital Sanaa AFP/Getty The situation in Yemen Marine One with US President Donald Trump flies with a decoy and support helicopters to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, for the dignified transfer of Navy Seal Chief Petty Officer William 'Ryan' Owens who was killed in Yemen Getty Images The situation in Yemen US President Donald Trump aboard the Marine One to greet the remains of a US military commando killed during a raid on the al Qaeda militant group in southern Yemen on Sunday, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, US Reuters

In December, the coalition acknowledged it had made "limited use" of British-made cluster bombs, but said it had stopped using them.

Human rights activists have accused the Saudis of carrying out more than 80 unlawful attacks, some of which used UK-made bombs.

Nearly half of Yemen's 22 provinces are on the verge of famine, according to the UN World Food Programme.
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Afternoon temperatures in the Arizona state capital, Phoenix, are expected to reach 120F (49C) in what local media has called a hellscape heatwave.

Recommended American Airlines drops plans to cut legroom to less than Ryanair

At the citys Sky Harbor airport, one of the 10 busiest in the US, dozens of flights have been cancelled because of the predicted heat. High temperatures make the air thinner, reducing lift and impairing an aircrafts performance.

Many American Airlines regional services use Canadian-build Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which are not certified to operate above 118F (48C). So the airline has pre-emptively cancelled around 50 flights that were due to be operated by Skywest and Compass airlines under the American Eagle brand.

Most of the affected flights are to and from Phoenix. But anyone hoping to leave their home in Tucson, Arizona, for some California grass will find that flight AA6031 to Los Angeles has also been cancelled.

Some services to and from Flagstaff/Grand Canyon are also grounded; the airport is at an altitude of 7,000 feet. Hot and high airports are especially challenging because of the rarefied air.

The US National Weather Service has told tourists visiting the Grand Canyon that temperatures at the Colorado River base could reach 116F (47C). A bulletin in effect until Friday evening warns: Temperatures are expected to rise to dangerous levels. Day hikers on Bright Angel Trail have been warned not to descend no further than 1.5 miles, and told to wear a wide-brimmed hat and sunscreen. They are also urged to take salty snacks as well as sufficient water and an electrolyte mix.

Airbus and Boeing jets are able to operate at higher temperatures, but performance may still be impaired by heat. Earlier this month Hainan Airlines decided to delay the departure of its flight from Las Vegas to Beijing for the summer, because of the capacity restrictions imposed by high afternoon temperatures.

The Chinese carrier has switched the departure time from 2.10pm to 1am. Flight HU7970 will take off in the early hours until the end of October.
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Were still in the European Union, and so you can visit dozens of countries with nothing more than a wave of your passport. But some non-EU nations are tightening up on red tape, raising the risk that British travellers could be barred from their destination  or even denied boarding from their holiday flight.

A recent survey by CS Global Partners suggests that 35 per cent of UK travellers fail to check if they need a visa. Consult this guide - for UK passport-holders - before you commit to an expensive long-haul trip.

Check you passport expiry date now

Recommended Stretch your holiday cash with our expert guide

If the document has less than six months to run, you could face problems getting in to Egypt, Turkey and some other countries.

Summer isnt the ideal time to apply for a replacement, because of the extra demand at the Passport Office, so if you need to take action do it now.

If there is less than nine months remaining on your existing passport, you will get full credit for unspent time. For example, if it runs out on 1 December this year, the replacement will be valid until 1 December 2027.

Do I need a visa for the USA?

Not if youre a normal holidaymaker, ie visiting for no more than three months and not planning to work, study or report. So long as you havent been in trouble with the police, you can fill in the online form for an ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization), pay $14 (11) and cross your fingers.

Permission is usually granted within a few minutes; if it is refused (for example because your name is similar to that of a person of interest), you face a tricky and expensive series of skirmishes with the US authorities before you can obtain a visa.

Note that an ESTA, like a visa, merely entitles you to apply for entry. Customs and Border Protection officials will decide if you can be admitted.

Is it true you need a visa for Canada now?

Yes, to the exasperation of many travellers, the government in Ottawa is marking the nations 150th anniversary by making it tougher to get there. It's as though the country has decided to deter as many visitors as possible. The ETA should be a formality, but The Independent has heard from plenty of people whose applications were refused  whether because of a mix-up with another person, making a mistake on the online form, or previous links with Canada. If this happens to you, consider contacting your MP to make representations on your behalf; he or she may have some clout with the Canadian High Commission. But for those whose applications work, the cost is gratifyingly low at C$7 (4).

But I paid much more than that

Then you were caught by one of the firms that pays search engines to be ranked above the official sites when people search online for Canada ETA or similar. Their business model is to charge many times the going rate while failing to add any real value. Watch out for that small Ad symbol beside the listing, and avoid it.

Is a visa for Australia really free?

Well, for most UK visitors, the red tape is cost-free. The eVisitor is just fine for most holiday and business visits for up to three months at a time within a year. The only vaguely tricky thing about the application is that you need to create an ImmiAccount. But once organised, responses are normally quick and positive.

How hard is it to get an Indian visa?

Easier than it was, at least if you apply for an e-Visa. Its a gruelling ordeal, in which you must upload your photo and the key passport page, answer a giddying number of questions, and pay US$75 (60).

You must apply between four days and three months ahead of your intended arrival. Note that your passport should be valid for at least six months from the date of arrival in India, and have at least two blank pages for stamping by the Immigration Officer. And bear in mind the Indian governments warning: It is advised not to believe or fall in trap of any such unscrupulous elements who claim speedy/express grant of e-Visa and charge money for it.

Is it true I can visit China without a visa?

Yes, on a short visit, so long as you adhere meticulously to the rules for a visa-free stay. For a 144-hour trip to Shanghai, or a 72-hour stay in Beijing, Guangzhou and various other cities, you can get in free so long as you arrive by air or sea direct from another country, remain within the city, and depart by air or sea direct to another country. So you could fly Heathrow-Shanghai, and six days later sail from Shanghai direct to Korea, Japan or Hong Kong (which counts, for this purpose, as outside the Peoples Republic). But flying Manchester-Beijing-Manchester for three days does not qualify, because you are not in transit to a third country.

If you do need a visa, prepare for expense and complication. It is easiest to organise through a visa firm or specialist China operator, though the 151 basic cost will increase when you do.

What are the entry requirements for Russia?

Expensive, for starters. Russia has outsourced visa applications to VFS Global. You apply at the Russia Visa Application Centre in London, Manchester or Edinburgh, from which your application is sent to be assessed by one of the Russia missions in London or Edinburgh.

An urgent application for next-day travel costs 186.60, while if you are more relaxed, 108.40 should do it. As with China, it is worth paying extra for expertise.

Can I pay on arrival for a Turkish visa?

Not anymore. Prospective British holidaymakers must apply online in advance. British visitors are generally granted visas valid for 180 days (just under six months) but for maximum stays of 90 days. The visa costs US$20 (16).

How about Egypt?

Access has become easier, with no need to plan in advance.

If you are heading for one of the resorts on the Sinai Peninsula (Sharm el Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba or Taba), do not intend to travel to the rest of Egypt, and are staying for 15 days or less, you qualify for a free entry permission stamp upon arrival.

Elsewhere, you pay US$25 (20) or equivalent in the airport arrivals hall, before the passport check. The Foreign Office warns: Theres no need to buy a visa from an agent. In many cases agents will charge more than US$25 for a visa. If youre harassed by an agent, report the incident to the tourist police in the airport terminal.
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It was a long, cold, dark and at times snowy winter in the UK, but  for a time at least  the sun is out and is set to blaze gloriously for the next few weeks.

And what better way to celebrate springtime than with a trip to one of the best beaches in the UK, some of which are among the most scenic spots in the country?

Trip Advisor has ranked the top beaches in the UK, Europe and the world for 2018, with Bournemouth Beach proclaimed number one domestically and fifth in Europe overall. Heres the full list and why they gained their place at the top of a very sandy (though occasionally pebbly) pile.

Bournemouth Beach stretches for 11 miles (Bournemouth Tourism)

With 11 miles of golden sand running from Hengistbury Head to Sandbanks, Bournemouth Beach is also feted for nearby attractions including the secluded Fishermans Walk and Oceanarium. The beach also hosts Bournemouth Air Festival each year.

Best hotels near Bournemouth Beach

The only Scottish entry on the list this year, Luskentyre in the Outer Hebrides boasts sand dunes, cycling, hiking and views of Taransay, where the early noughties show Castaway was filmed, launching a then unknown Ben Fogle to the wider world.

Best hotels near Luskentyre

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Voted Waless best beach, Rhossili Bay is popular for water sports, surfing and its numerous walking routes, such as Worms Head. From the cliffs visitors can sometimes spot dolphins and whales.

Best hotels near Rhossili Bay

With its restored pier, proximity to Brightons famous Lanes shopping quarter and easy access by train, Brighton Beach is the perfect day trip destination. Popular for kayaking and stand-up paddle boarding, its now also home to British Airways i360, the worlds tallest moving observation tower.

Best hotels near Brighton Beach

Weymouth's long, sandy beach is close to the historic town centre (TripAdvisor)

Weymouths three-mile beach is just a stones throw from the town centre and still has traditional donkey rides and Punch and Judy shows, but is also known for its volleyball championships, live music and firework displays.

Best hotels near Weymouth Beach

Jerseys family friendly St Brelades Bay Beach has a number of restaurants and cafes overlooking the sea and numerous sunbathing spots for those looking to catch some Vitamin D.

Best hotels near St Brelade's Bay

Dorsets second entry in the UKs top 10 is known for its rugged clay and ironside cliffs, pebble beach and Hengistbury Head Nature Reserve; an ideal place for kids to learn about wildlife and conservation projects in the UK.

Best hotels near Hengistbury Head

Three Cliffs Bay in Swansea is best known for its three stark, imposing limestone cliffs. Famously wild, swimming and water sports are not encouraged but the beach itself is ideal for walks and is highly photogenic, particularly on the Gower Coast Path.

Best hotels near Three Cliffs Bay

Families enjoying their holiday on Fistral beach, Cornwall, England. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Considered one of the best surfing beaches in both the UK and Europe, the long and sandy Fistral Beach is backed by rocks and cliffs and, on a fine day, is an ideal spot for families to take surfing lessons or relax with a picnic.

Best hotels near Fistral Beach

Pembrokeshires Barafundle Beach is characterised by clear waters and a calm atmosphere engendered by its relative remoteness. The beach can only be accessed by a half-mile walk from the nearest car park, which gives it a tranquil isolation different to other beaches on the list.

Best hotels near Barafundle Beach
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

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As strange, sad and illusory as it may sound, the European Union could well become stronger without the United Kingdom. Brexit is releasing the weakest link.

A Chatham House-Kantar opinion poll across nine continental countries  a sensible mix of new joiners and founding members  has just revealed this is by far and large what a majority of Europeans think: the UK has in all likelihood been an obstacle to proper unification and to the functioning of our complex supranational machinery.

As we leave, free movement will not work as it has before, but we will still need an approach to mobility from the EU that acknowledges the value that EU workers bring to our economy, Neil Carberry, director for people and skills at the CBI business lobby, told the Financial Times.

On either side of the Channel, everyone is still in the dark as to how such an approach would look. The problem is that the UK is at risk of seeing the inflow of middle immigrants  people offering mid- to high-skills  drastically reduced.

Unwilling to be caught up in that mess, many EU citizens are jumping the gun and moving away. Its understandable. A post-Brexit EU immigration system could well be made up of a US ESTA-type visa-waiver programme for EU business travellers and tourists, and one or two-year fixed visas for 18 to 30-year-olds to satisfy the need for non-seasonal jobs in construction or care (under this visa, workers would be strictly time-limited and banned from bringing dependants). Scary stuff if you are used to taking free movement for granted.

 Brexit will make Britain worse off, Bank of England chief Carney says

Meanwhile, it shouldn't come as a surprise to see that a Brexit brain drain is well under way. More than 1,300 academics from the EU have reportedly left British academia over the past year; and that's on top of all the other highly skilled EU citizens who have already left, are planning to leave or have changed their plans to move to the UK. These individuals would opt instead to remain where they are or leave for other European countries with tip-top universities and highly innovating enterprises like Germany, France, Holland and Sweden.

With a bit of luck, Britain's traditional openness could still endure Brexit, but the country won't be as open as in its recent and more distant past. Other countries will compete for "brains" and mercilessly exploit Brexit to their advantage (one example pops to mind: Milan is fighting tooth and nail to obtain the London-based EU drugs agency).

 In 90 seconds: Philip Hammond on Brexit talks

After Brexit, Europe will have unburdened itself from unnecessary ballast and will be free to progress towards more integration, with many people on the Continent clearly happy about the prospect. In truth, the UK has been holding us back: we have very different views of the future.

But how wonderful it would be if, one day, a regenerated Britain that has worked through its cumbersome past were to join the union again. In that eventuality, the EU could do one great thing to sweeten the deal: during negotiations for Britain to return, they could offer the new seat of the ECB  The European Central Bank  to London. No ifs or buts. We all know which the real financial centre of Europe is, and our politics ought to reflect that. Britain, we look forward to working with you again.
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Though invidious to choose, there is one man who more than any other has in recent months set an outstanding example of compassion, humanity and British values. The imam of Muslim Welfare House, Mohammed Mahmoud, realised the gravity of what was happening to his community from the moment a terrorist set about his mission of death, and the imam did the right thing: he protected a man who reportedly declared that he wanted to kill all Muslims.

With that brave action he set an important and powerful example of the sanctity of life and the rule of law. For anyone inclined to believe that all Muslim clerics are some sort of fellow travellers of Isis or the like, he is the rebuttal: a symbol of what Islam really stands for, not what some evil-doers would like to pretend it is about. He was the answer to the long gone Abu Hamza, who so notoriously preached hatred at the Finsbury Park Mosque next door. Hamzas malign spirit has been exorcised.

Where do we go from here?

Though little, in reality, can ever be done about a single terrorist driving a vehicle into any group of innocent people, there are already some lessons that emerge from this episode, and arguably ones that should have occurred to the authorities before.

Finsbury Park attack Show all 14 1 /14 Finsbury Park attack Finsbury Park attack Police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians in the Finsbury Park, killing one person and injuring eight Reuters Finsbury Park attack The incident is being treated as a potential terror attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Reuters Finsbury Park attack Police cordon off a street in Finsbury Park AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack A man prays in the street after the attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack Men gather and pray together in the street in the aftermath of the attack AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Reuters Finsbury Park attack PA Finsbury Park attack Onlookers gather near a police cordon EPA Finsbury Park attack Forensic investigators arrive at the scene PA Finsbury Park attack A forensic tent stands next to a van PA Finsbury Park attack A police officer talks with residents AFP/Getty Images Finsbury Park attack Onlookers watch proceedings at the security cordon AFP/Getty Finsbury Park attack Local residents react at the scene AFP/Getty Images

Places of worship need better protection. They are obvious targets for those with a perverted religious agenda, and have long been the subject of low-levgel acts of abuse, such as graffiti or pigs heads dumped on doorsteps. The Jewish community is also familiar with these sorts of depressing acts, such as personal assaults and insults. These often form part of a spike in hate crimes after some major attack, and pass. Even so, the potential for a massacre is obvious now, and the grisly murder of a Catholic priest in France earlier this year was another example of how vulnerable congregations and clergy are. So police protection, CCTV and other measures are obviously required in and around mosques, temples, synagogues, churches and graveyards. It will be money well spent, though it cant guarantee there will never be another attempt on a life.

We ought also to realise that raising security threat levels, encouraging communities to be vigilant and report extremism, and passing new laws will not be enough by themselves to defeat low-level unsophisticated terrorism from whatever source. More surveillance is not the answer, and certainly not if targeted at one community. We do not wish to live in a police state, and even if we did, we might find that an insufficient defence against barbarity (as Russia and Middle East states have discovered).

We may have to get used to a level of violence we have not been accustomed to since the IRAs bombing campaigns, for those who can remember them. We have to work hard at every level to avoid an escalation of these retaliatory attacks  it is a dangerous term to use, given that we are not in a war with two sides  and to win hearts and minds.

More practically, we must give the Prevent programme, the police and the intelligence services all the resources they need to track down plots and bombers. The authorities say they have enjoyed significant quiet successes in thwarting attacks, which the run of recent outrages have obscured. As the old phrase goes, the terrorist only has to be lucky once to cause havoc, and a small number can both do that and foment intercultural violence.

 Finsbury attack: Imam who protected van suspect and fought off crowd describes events

The encouraging aspect of this years attacks, like the ones in July 2005, is that violence is not really begetting that much more violence, and that the effect of the assaults is to isolate the murderers and bring other communities closer together, in the spirit of the assassinated Jo Cox and the Get Together days she inspired. Nor do these attacks cause mass fear and panic beyond the immediate assaults; there is a calm determination not to have our values and way of life destroyed. Terrorism isnt working.

Still, we have to face a future where there will more occasions for a minutes silence, more times for thought and reflection, and for more prayers  even with the fine example of people such as Brendan Cox and Mohammed Mahmoud. There will be more moments of solemnity, and we may as well face up to that.
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My daily commute takes me past Grenfell Tower. When I first saw the burnt-out building from the train window last Thursday morning, it came as a shock. Even though images of the blaze and its aftermath had filled news bulletins throughout the previous day, seeing the tower block without the filter of a TV screen was utterly gut-wrenching.

Plainly there are questions about the tragedy that require urgent answers  not only about how this disaster could have happened but also about the lackadaisical response from the local council in its aftermath. No wonder those residents who escaped the fire are angry: what they have been through is frankly unimaginable.

In the absence of clear leadership, however, some of that anger has been channelled into conspiracy theories that simply dont stack up. Walking out of Kensington Olympia station on Friday I heard a woman having a heated conversation on her mobile phone, angry at the failings of politicians to respond effectively to the catastrophe.

What made matters worse, I heard her say, was that the Government was deliberately covering up the Grenfell Tower death toll  known by everyone on the ground, she continued, to be at least 100.

At the time, the number of confirmed deaths was 17, although the police had been clear from the beginning that the death toll was likely to be significantly higher.

The missing people from Grenfell Tower Show all 23 1 /23 The missing people from Grenfell Tower The missing people from Grenfell Tower Jeremiah, son of Zainab Dean The missing people from Grenfell Tower Zainab Dean The missing people from Grenfell Tower Malek Belkadi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Tamzin Belkadi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Rania Ibrham The missing people from Grenfell Tower Jessica Urbano The missing people from Grenfell Tower Yasin el-Wahabi and Nurhada el-Wahabi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Ali Yawar Jafari The missing people from Grenfell Tower Anthony Disson The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mohamed 'Saber' Neda The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mariem Elgwahry The missing people from Grenfell Tower Hesham Rahman The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mohamednur 'Mo' Tuccu The missing people from Grenfell Tower Hamid Kani The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mary Mendy The missing people from Grenfell Tower Sheila Smith The missing people from Grenfell Tower Khadija Saye The missing people from Grenfell Tower Berikti Habtom (L) was still missing according to her sister Arsiema Alula (R) The missing people from Grenfell Tower Ligaya Moore The missing people from Grenfell Tower Dennis Murphy The missing people from Grenfell Tower Nadia Choucair The missing people from Grenfell Tower Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Sakineh Afraseiabi and Fatima Afraseiabi

Shortly afterwards, Lily Allen told Channel 4 News that firefighters had told her that close to 150 people had been killed. She went on to say that the death count was being was being downplayed by the mainstream media. Ramping up the establishment cover-up theory, The Swawkbox blog then claimed the Government had issued a defence notice (D-notice) to ensure a media blackout.

Quite where the D-notice theory came from is unclear. D-notices  now formally known as DSMA-notices  are a standing set of non-binding requests relating to the medias coverage of UK military operations, assets and personnel. They exist as part of a voluntary arrangement between the Government and the media, and they are publicly available should anyone wish to consult them. While the committee that oversees the system occasionally issues guidance in relation to one of the five standing D-notices, new ones are not simply issued at the whim of the Government.

If the D-notice theory was demonstrably wrong, it is perhaps easier to understand the broader idea of a conspiracy of silence over the number of fatalities at Grenfell Tower. Early statements from the authorities confirmed six deaths, then 12, then 17  even though, with dozens of people missing, it was fairly obvious that the final death toll would be much higher.

 Grenfell Tower fire: Hundreds attend peaceful demonstration

Nevertheless, neither the police, nor the Government, nor the media at any stage suggested that those early figures would not be revised upwards. That relevant agencies were seeking to approach the difficult task of accounting for the missing and identifying the dead with due rigour hardly seems to be something that is worthy of criticism. Today, 79 people are confirmed to have died or are presumed dead. The figure may rise again, but this is not the stuff of cover-ups.

Still, the fact that so many people are ready to believe that it is possible for the truth about the Grenfell Tower victims to be kept under wraps should concern us as a society. It shows that faith in government and in key authorities, including the police, has been thoroughly eroded. It demonstrates too that some people are more ready to believe rumours and social media than what is so dismissively referred to as the MSM.

Past experience is partly to blame  look at how long it took for the truth to come out about Hillsborough. The present, very real failures of politicians and others either to prevent last weeks tragedy or to respond effectively to it inspire further distrust. In that context, cynicism seems entirely reasonable.

The problem with such extreme cynicism, however, is that it assumes  without due reason  ulterior motives on the part of good people. It also feeds a destructive belief that a shady establishment is deliberately lying to the people for its own corrupt ends. And in the end, it can enable real misdeeds to be hidden because anger comes to be directed at imagined monstrosities.

We should all ask questions about the Grenfell Tower disaster  but they must be the right questions if we are to get to the answers we need.
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As always we were woken with a start: the lights came on and the automated Tannoy voice started shouting our call signs. Getting dressed I looked at the clock. I had lain down less than an hour ago. I headed down the pole to the trucks and was handed the call slip "Make pumps plenty". What? That's a big incident.

Approaching the tower we could see that this was a bad one. The sky was glowing and parts of the building were already starting to fall down. We received our brief: 23rd floor, people stuck in their flat. Go!

Weighed down carrying 30kg-plus of equipment, not including our fire kit and breathing apparatus (BA), we made our way up a crowded stairwell, struggling to make progress.

Around the ninth floor we lost all visibility and the heat was rising. Still we continued up and up through the blackness. We reached what we believed to be the 19th or 20th floor but there was no way to tell. It was here where we found a couple trying to find their way out, panicking, choking, blinded by the thick toxic air.

A quick gauge check showed us that the amount of floors we'd climbed had taken its toll; we were getting low on air. There was no way we could make it to the 23rd floor and back to the bridgehead.

The couple were shouting and screaming to us between choking coughs, trying to tell us there were five more people on the floor above.

I had horrible decisions to make and a very short amount of time to make them.

We had stopped and lost our rhythm on the stairs; would we have enough air to leave this couple and to reach the next floor?

 Grenfell Tower fire: How the community responded

Was the information we were getting from these people correct? After all, they were frantically panicking as they choked and suffered from the heat.

If we let them carry on down the stairs alone, could they find their own way out?

If we went up another floor, would we actually find the five?

If we found them, what state would they be in? Could the two of us get that many out, especially if one or more were unconscious?

How would we decide who to take?

Did we have enough air to make it back down to safety ourselves from where we were?

Could I live with the thought that saving two lives is better than taking the risk to go up and potentially save no one?

Come on, think! I thought to myself. Am I doing enough? Can I give more? Am I forgetting any of my training? Stop. Breathe. Think.

Then I started to panic. Why haven't we seen another crew for so long? Will another crew find them? The radios are playing up... have we missed an important message? Have all crews been pulled out? Is the structure still safe? Come on, make a decision...and make it quick, these people are choking.

I tried to radio down to entry control. "Alpha Control Priority!"

No response. I tried again. Still no response. Where are they? What's going on?

"Go ahead with priority, over."

Alpha control, two casualties found approx 20th floor, crew now escorting them down, request another BA team be committed to reach flat on 23rd floor. Five casualties are reported apparently trying to make their way out on the floor above. Over.

In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Show all 51 1 /51 In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police have released images from inside the tower where at least 58 people have died Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by polices what appears to be a stationary bicycle sitting among the ashes In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A still from a video shared by police shows the remnants of a burnt-out bathroom In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Picture showing the lifts on an unknown floor Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency crews outside the front entrance to the tower Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Fire crews inspecting flats in the burnt out tower London Metropolitan Police In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Grenfell Tower is seen in the distance PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A drone flies near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire 'Theresa May Stay Away' message written on the messages of support at Latymer Community Church for those affected by the fire Ray Tang/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire An aerial view of the area surrounding Grenfall tower Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Donated shoes sit in the Westway Sports Centre near to the site of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of support for those affected by the massive fire in Grenfell Tower are displayed on a well near the tower in London AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A local resident stands on her balcony by the gutted Grenfell Tower in Latimer Road Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Messages of condolence are left at a relief centre close to the scene of the fire that broke out at Grenfell Tower, EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A police officer stands by a security cordon outside Latimer Road station Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firemen examine the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London on a huge ladder AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A search dog is led through the rubble of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn comforts a local resident (name not given) at St Clement's Church in west London where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hugs councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement's Church in Latimer Road, where volunteers have provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn meeting staff and volunteers at St Clementis Church in Latimer Road David Mirzoeff/PA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Firefighters with a dog walk around the base of the Grenfell Tower REUTERS/Peter Nicholls In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emotions run high as people attend a candle lit vigil outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near the 24 storey residential Grenfell Tower block in Latimer Road, West London Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Debris hangs from the blackened exterior of Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman speaks to Mayor of London Sadiq Khan outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman holds a missing person posters near the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Sadiq Khan speaking with a resident James Gourley/REX In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Ken Livingstone walks near the scene of the Grenfell Tower fire Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan is confronted by Kai Ramos, 7, near Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Mayor of London Sadiq Khan speaks to a woman outside Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Yui Mok/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers distribute aid near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Family and friends of missing Jessica Urbano, 12, wearing photographs of Jessica pinned to their t-shirts gather near Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People gather to observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People light candles as they observe a vigil outside St Clement's Church following the blaze at Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People attend a vigil at Notting Hill Methodist Church near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man distributes food from the back of a van near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A firefighter is cheered near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A T-shirt with a written message from the London Fire Brigade hangs from a fence near The Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A young girl on her way to lay flowers near Grenfell Tower Getty Images In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire The remains of residential tower block Grenfell Tower are seen from Dixon House a nearby tower block Getty In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers prepare supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block which was destroyed in a fire REUTERS/Neil Hall In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Volunteers move a car to make space for a lorry picking up supplies for people affected by the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire People distribute boxes of food near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower bloc REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A woman touches a missing poster for 12-year-old Jessica Urbano on a tribute wall after laying flowers on the side of Latymer Community Church next to the fire-gutted Grenfell Tower AP In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire A man looks at messages written on a wall near the scene of the fire which destroyed the Grenfell Tower block REUTERS/Paul Hackett In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Candles and messages of condolence near where the fire broke out at Grenfell Tower EPA In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry a stretcher towards Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Emergency services at Grenfell Tower Rick Findler/PA Wire In Pictures: Grenfell Tower after the fire Police carry out a body from Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building Rick Findler/PA Wire

"Message received." OK, we really needed to get out. Let's go! Grab my arm.

Down and down we went. I heard a shout from behind me from my partner: the female casualty had become unconscious. My partner had to drag her down alone. I couldnt help.

Two floors later, we found another crew making their way out. One of them was carrying a little girl. I handed off my casualty to the firefighter who had a free set of hands. Please take him out," I shout, "we'll be right behind you." I turned to go and help my partner, but then he handed me something I'd not seen initially: a firefighter's helmet. Why does he have this? Where is the firefighter it belongs to?

Then I saw him. He was missing his helmet but was with my BA partner wearing no helmet and no breathing apparatus. Are you ok? Where's your BA set?!"

He had given it to a casualty, he tells us, coughing, delirious from the heat and smoke. Still, he tried to help carry the casualty. Helping others is still his first thought.

Get down those stairs, get down to the bridgehead! I shouted at him.

I took the casualty down to the ground floor, while my partner remained with the fireman we found, administering him oxygen at entry control on the fifth floor.

Ascending back to the bridgehead to find my partner, I shut my set down and I took my mask off, hoping for a deep breath of clean air. I sucked in a lungful of lightish smoke. I coughed and retched, but it was still clean enough to breathe. It was better than the air higher up. Then we were off again and we took the firefighter down and out with us.

As we got outside, we were desperate for a drink of water, collapsing on the grass by the leisure centre. Colleagues were all around us, tunics off, their T-shirts soaked through with sweat, no one able to talk.

We were all looking up at the building we had just come out of. It was getting worse. The fire was everywhere.

It was hard to comprehend that we were just in there.

We caught our breaths, serviced our BA sets with new oxygen cylinders, and then we were ready to go again.

At a cordon a woman pleaded with me. Crying and pushing her phone at me, she said she had her friend on the line, a mother with a child, both trapped on the 11th floor.

It threw me and I struggled to reply. I looked across at a police officer and pointed, telling her he will take her to the people who will take her friends information and pass it on to the crews inside. Stay on the phone with her, I said. Tell her not to give up, we are still coming. We are still getting to people, I promised.

A while later, a senior officer was telling us he knew we'd already broken all the policies we have. He said he knew the risks we had taken but thats not enough: we are going to have to take more. There are still a lot more people who need us.

He said he was going ask us to do things that would normally be unimaginable  to put our lives at risk even more than we already have.

The missing people from Grenfell Tower Show all 23 1 /23 The missing people from Grenfell Tower The missing people from Grenfell Tower Jeremiah, son of Zainab Dean The missing people from Grenfell Tower Zainab Dean The missing people from Grenfell Tower Malek Belkadi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Tamzin Belkadi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Rania Ibrham The missing people from Grenfell Tower Jessica Urbano The missing people from Grenfell Tower Yasin el-Wahabi and Nurhada el-Wahabi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Ali Yawar Jafari The missing people from Grenfell Tower Anthony Disson The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mohamed 'Saber' Neda The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mariem Elgwahry The missing people from Grenfell Tower Hesham Rahman The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mohamednur 'Mo' Tuccu The missing people from Grenfell Tower Hamid Kani The missing people from Grenfell Tower Mary Mendy The missing people from Grenfell Tower Sheila Smith The missing people from Grenfell Tower Khadija Saye The missing people from Grenfell Tower Berikti Habtom (L) was still missing according to her sister Arsiema Alula (R) The missing people from Grenfell Tower Ligaya Moore The missing people from Grenfell Tower Dennis Murphy The missing people from Grenfell Tower Nadia Choucair The missing people from Grenfell Tower Gloria Trevisan and Marco Gottardi The missing people from Grenfell Tower Sakineh Afraseiabi and Fatima Afraseiabi

Everyone was looking round at each other, listening to this officer try to motivate us into action again. He didn't need to, though: we were ready for it. This is what we train for.

Hour after hour, my colleagues were pushing themselves above and beyond what you'd think was humanly possible.

As the light broke, trucks with fresh crews arrived and those of us who were there early on were swapped over. No one wanted to leave, everyone willing to give more, but eventually we all had to leave the scene.

In four hours time we would be on duty again so we had to try to rest. I showered, but the smell of smoke wouldnt go away. I washed three times before giving up. I felt beyond tired but I couldnt sleep. There was too much going on in my head.

I had no appetite but I knew I needed to eat. I found a bed in the dorm room and eventually managed 45 minutes of sleep before waking up. I washed my face, got dressed and was ready to report for roll call, ready to do it all again.

This is only a small part of the things we saw and did on that night. Other stories will come out but some won't. Some will be kept by firefighters and the other emergency service workers hidden away deep in their thoughts, never to pass into words, but those emotional scars will be there forever.

We are a funny bunch  we like to laugh, to play jokes on each other; sometimes we are silent and won't tell you what we are thinking about. We laugh off the good-natured banter directed at us from outside the service and mostly manage to do the same with the insults we get as a public service, even when it's not always easy to do so.

But it is especially hard to think about those insults during times like this. When I think about all the things I've heard and seen on the news or social media, where people are calling us lazy or greedy because we dared to show anger at cuts to our service and the 1 per cent pay rise we've had imposed year after year, it's difficult.

After all that, I want to ask you this. If at some point we ask for your support or go out on strike, know it's not because we want to: it's because, when we say cuts are dangerous, it is you who we are looking out for.

The original version of this piece appeared as a Facebook post by Save the Fire Service UK.
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So, a government and their agencies failing to act on warnings of danger to the public. Health and safety put to be side for financial savings. A person in charge delaying visiting the site for 36 hours due to personal reasons. Huge loss of life, totally unnecessarily, due to poor communication and negligence. Grenfell 2017? Actually, no. Aberfan 1966. Good job we always learn the lessons.

Maurice Raphael

Lincoln

Despite the very creditable minutes silence observed, nothing could illustrate more clearly the division that still plagues Britain than the juxtaposition of the fire at Grenfell Tower and Trooping the Colour.

Here we have a tragedy where the valid concerns of disenfranchised residents were repeatedly ignored. On the other hand we have money pouring in for an exhibition of military prowess in support of an institutional monarchy, with not a note, step or hair out of place. Not a thing could be allowed to go wrong with such an event, and heads would no doubt roll if it did.

We do need our ceremonials but it is important to think upon this.

Hugh Jenkins

Goodwick

Did anyone think of asking the Disaster Emergencies Committee to assist with the Grenfell Tower fire? That organisation, of many NGOs, has managed far bigger catastrophes: tsunamis, famines and worse. DEC assistance in Kensington and Chelsea would be a great image.

Robin Le Mare

Cumbria

Is Theresa May personally to blame?

I do not believe that any one person should have to take the pressure that the PM is under at the moment. She may have gotten things badly wrong over the election, and must still be in a kind of shock over it. To then have two terrorist attacks to contend with and then the Grenfell Tower block fire, let alone Brexit, would send a normal human being over the edge.

Let us all have a bit more patience with Theresa May. She may not be getting everything right, but at least let's not blame her for everything that goes wrong.

Clive Applewhite

Newark

I'm utterly speechless at how Theresa May can still carry on in her job. The arrogance, contempt or just sheer bloody lunacy of cowardly hiding from the public is just astonishing. The people deserve so much more.

David Murphy

Address supplied

I was sickened today to hear right-wing commentators suggesting the people of Kensington had no right to protest after the Grenfell Tower disaster, and others suggesting that Theresa May should not be criticised, not to mention the suggestion that it is all a leftist plot led by Jeremy Corbyn. What many have been and are going through is a direct result of various Tory governments local and national policies towards the less well-off and powerless in our society.

The scrimping on expenditure to provide fireproof cladding is a disgrace  especially from a council with a reported 300m surplus, one that is so wealthy that all taxpayers not in receipt of benefits received a 100 rebate.

The fact that the residents complaints were met with the comment from one Tory councillor to the effect that they were being ungrateful after the council had spent 8.6m improving their accommodation is indicative of the Tory attitude to the poor in society  and why the one person who epitomises that view deserves all the criticism she is getting.

Geoff Forward

Stirling

Britain needs its own Macron

Jeremy Corbyn is enjoying a period in which he can do no wrong. But let us not forget that prior to the election campaign he could do no right, and was a dismal Leader of the Opposition. His predecessor was no better. Labour has let the country down by failing to hold governments to account for the past seven years.

The Conservatives (not specifically Theresa May) have got us into the current mess. The party is riven with ideological disputes. They have no interest in governing the country for the benefit of all.

The Liberal Democrats have shown that they are a party uninterested in government. They just want to snipe from the sidelines without taking any responsibility.

It is a complete shambles. Does the answer lie across the Channel? The French government has been equally shambolic for years. Now we see a young charismatic leader start his own party and, in a little over 12 months, he has convincingly won a presidential election and his party is on the verge of taking a substantial majority of parliamentary seats. He talks of investing in infrastructure and training people for future needs. He is encouraging new companies in new industries. It could all go horribly wrong but it is offering hope to the French people. Where is our Macron?

Bernard Cudd

Morpeth

Another angle on tourism in Cuba

After reading Simon Calders article on Cuba, I thought I should add this. When I flew to Cuba, some years ago, I combined it with a visit to Toronto. Apart from the joys of seeing my daughter, I apparently had a more pleasant journey than those who joined the group having flown via European airports. Perhaps Trump will just persuade more to go via Canada than the US.

Joanna Pallister

Address supplied
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It is said that in antiquity, three words could protect you no matter where you travelled: civis romanus sum  I am a Roman citizen. The Roman Empire would respond swiftly and with a terrible retribution should harm befall any of its citizens, wherever they may be. Lord Palmerston famously invoked the phrase to justify his use of force to protect British subjects around the world. How I wish civis americanus sum had similarly worked for poor Otto Warmbier.

Warmbier was a student at the University of Virginia who, on a study abroad trip to China in 2016, decided to join an excursion to North Korea. He was detained at the airport in Pyongyang as he tried to leave, charged with stealing a propaganda poster from a wall and sentenced to 15 years hard labour. Last week, North Korea released him  comatose  and he was returned home, where he passed away yesterday.

The release of Otto Warmbier has raised a number of issues in American foreign policy, chief amongst them whether President Donald Trumps policies led to his release and whether former president, Barack Obama, did enough to secure it before leaving office in January. Obama had a strategy of strategic patience, of back-channel negotiations for the release of Warmbier and the other Americans currently held by the North Korean state.

 Otto Warmbier death: Trump condemns 'brutal' North Korea

There was some precedent for this. The Obama administration sent Bill Clinton to negotiate with the late dictator Kim Jong-Il the release of two American journalists in 2009. Both Laura Ling and Euna Lee were returned home safely. The thought was that a similar approach could have secured Warmbiers release without jeopardising the lives of the other Americans held by North Korea or the delicate geopolitical balance of the peninsula.

It didnt work, though, and like many Americans, Otto Warmbiers father is blaming Obama for his sons death. When asked whether the previous administration couldve done more, Fred Warmbier said I think the results speak for themselves and praised Trump as kind.

Indeed, Trump is taking credit for Warmbiers release. At least we got him home, the President said yesterday, promising that well be able to handle the North Korean regime, which he rightly called brutal. The President has grown increasingly militaristic in his rhetoric lately, suggesting there could even be a major, major conflict between the US and North Korea, but its hard to take him seriously when he gushes over Kim so frequently. He has praised Kim Jong-un for seizing power at such a young age, calling him a smart cookie.

Yet State Department officials are not crediting the President or a change in policy for Warmbiers release, but instead saying that months of quiet diplomacy brought the student  who had been comatose for at least a year  home. As the New York Times reported, its tough for any single administration to sway the authoritarian regime.

In pictures: North Korea military drill Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: North Korea military drill In pictures: North Korea military drill North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un watches a military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) is seen in this handout photo by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill A military drill marking the 85th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean People's Army (KPA) KCNA/Handout via REUTERS In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video In pictures: North Korea military drill This image made from video of still images broadcast in a news bulletin by North Korea's KRT, shows what was said to be a 'Combined Fire Demonstration' held to celebrate the 85th anniversary of the North Korean army, in Wonsan, North Korea. KRT via AP Video

This is why, for years, the State Department has advised American citizens against travelling to North Korea. There is no way they can guarantee our safety there. With missiles aimed at our allies and homeland, and with a million-man army 20 miles away from South Korean civilians in Seoul and tens of thousands of American military personnel in or near the DMZ, negotiating the release of American hostages is exponentially more complicated than many give credit.

I mourn for Otto Warmbier, and my heart and prayers are with his family. Im grateful that we were able to get him home, even if the result was unbearable. An innocent young man was murdered by a brutal, repressive regime and used as a bargaining chip by its cruel, authoritarian dictator. There is a thirst for vengeance in many American hearts. This boy was one of ours.

But weve learned a lot since ancient times. Otto Warmbiers death is a tragedy, but rash actions on the part of the administration could lead to a catastrophe. Going in, guns-a-blazing, simply isnt a realistic option, no matter how tempting it is.
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The extraordinary destruction of a Syrian fighter jet by a US aircraft on Sunday has precious little to do with the Syrian planes target in the desert near Rasafa  but much to do with the advance of the Syrian army close to the American-backed Kurdish forces along the Euphrates. The Syrians have grown increasingly suspicious in recent months that most Kurdish forces in the north of Syria  many of them in alliance with the Assad government until recently  have thrown in their lot with the Americans.

Indeed, the military in Damascus is making no secret of the fact that it has ended its regular arms and ammunition supplies to the Kurds  it has apparently given them 14,000 AK-47 rifles since 2012  and the Syrian regime was outraged to learn that Kurdish forces recently received an envoy from the United Arab Emirates.

There is unconfirmed information that a Saudi envoy also visited the Kurds. This, of course, follows the infamous Trump speech in Riyadh, in which the US President gave total American support to the Saudi monarchy in its anti-Iranian and anti-Syrian policies  and then later supported the Saudi-led isolation of Qatar.

On the ground, the Syrian army is now undertaking one of its most ambitious operations since the start of the war, advancing around Sueda in the south, in the countryside of Damascus and east of Palmyra. They are heading parallel with the Euphrates in what is clearly an attempt by the government to liberate the surrounded government city of Deir ez-Zour, whose 10,000 Syrian soldiers have been besieged there for more than four years.

 Donald Trump says Iran has helped commit 'unspeakable crimes' in Syria

If they can lift the siege, the Syrians will have another 10,000 soldiers free to join in the recapture of more territory. More importantly, however, the Syrian military suspects that Isis  on the verge of losing Raqqa to US-supported Kurds and Mosul to US-backed Iraqis  may try to break into the garrison of Deir ez-Zour and declare an alternative capital for itself in Syria.

In this context, the American strike on Monday was more a warning to the Syrians to stay away from the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces  the facade-name for large numbers of Kurds and a few Arab fighters  since they are now very close to each other in the desert. The Kurds will take Raqqa  there may well have been an agreement between Moscow and Washington on this  since the Syrian military is far more interested in relieving Deir ez-Zour.

The map is quite literally changing by the day. But the Syrian military are still winning against Isis and its fellow militias  with Russian and Hezbollah help, of course  although comparatively few Iranians are involved. The US has been grossly exaggerating the size of the Iranian forces in Syria, perhaps because this fits in with Saudi and American nightmares of Iranian expansion. But the success of the Assad regime is certainly troubling the Americans  and the Kurds.

So who is fighting Isis? And who is not fighting Isis? Russia claims it has killed the terrible and self-appointed caliph of the Islamic State, al-Baghdadi. Russia says it is firing Cruise missiles at Isis. The Syrian army, supported by the Russians, is fighting Isis. I have witnessed this with my own eyes.

Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Show all 12 1 /12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man crosses a street in Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A vendor sits inside an antique shop in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors walk inside Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk inside the Khan al-Shounah market, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man walks past shops in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk along an alley in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors tour Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A general view shows the Old City of Aleppo as seen from Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk near Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Syria October 6, 2010 Reuters Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man stands inside Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters

But what is America doing attacking first Assads air base near Homs, then the regimes allies near Al-Tanf and now one of Assads fighter jets? It seems that Washington is now keener to strike at Assad  and his Iranian supporters inside Syria  than it is to destroy Isis. That would be following Saudi Arabias policy, and maybe thats what the Trump regime wants to do. Certainly, the Israelis have bombed both the Syrian regime forces and Hezbollah and the Iranians  but never Isis.

It is instructive that the West now expresses more outrage at the use of gas  it blames the Assad regime for this, of course  than at the continued cruelty of Isis towards civilians in most of the areas the caliphate still occupies in Syria and Iraq. If we are to believe all the Americans now say, they want to destroy Isis but are quite prepared to go on attacking the Syrian government forces that are fighting Isis. Does Washington want simply to break up Syria and leave it as a failed state? And can it succeed when Russia is threatening to attack US aircraft if they again strike at Syrian jets?
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It may be redundant to say so  this is America after all  but the Trump-Russia brouhaha that continues to consume le tout Washington really is very first-world in nature. Its meant to be a mark of a mature democracy that even the slightest notion of corruption or malfeasance at the highest level of government must not be overlooked. The trigger to impeach is a very soft one.

At what point does this quest to protect the countrys civic fabric end up just damaging it, however? It is a risky question to pose but New York Times columnist David Brooks just touched on it, reminding us that the maelstrom that overtook and paralysed the new US administration before it had the chance even to get started sprang from an allegation for which we still have no proof  that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia last year to help skew the presidential election.

Recommended Hidden Aztec temple unearthed in the middle of Mexico City

Brooks admits there may be revelations still to come. But he asks that we compare the Trump probe with the Whitewater scandal that overshadowed so much of Bill Clintons presidency. In retrospect Whitewater seems overblown, he writes. And yet it has to be confessed that, at least so far, the Whitewater scandal was far more substantive than the Russia-collusion scandal now gripping Washington. I covered Whitewater too and his point is well taken.

But how about a different comparison  with Americas neighbours to the south. If you live in Venezuela or Mexico you might look at the United States today and wonder, really, whether it isnt overreacting. The alleged sins of Trump look a tad meagre alongside what their leaders are accused of. Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela has in a few short years driven his populace over the economic precipice while using all manner of legally-dubious manoeuvres to neuter the political opposition, up to and including putting its leaders behind bars. At least 72 people have died in the last two months in Venezuela as popular anger has erupted on the streets.

Maduro, elected in 2013 after the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez, thus lingers in power. Neighbouring nations, youd think, might have been tried to intervene  or just say something  yet they have repeatedly failed to do so. It was the same story at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Organization of American States, OAS, in Cancun this week. A resolution of censure only needed the support of 23 of the 34 OAS nations to pass. They couldnt muster even that.

Mexico is not Venezuela, of course. Yet, its citizens continue to be cruelly betrayed by their elected leaders, sometimes in jaw-dropping fashion, both at the federal and state levels. Instead of delivering the great strides towards modernisation of the state and transparency of government that were promised, the first four years of President Enrique Pena Nieto have instead delivered mostly scandal and national embarrassment. He too remains in power though his party, the PRI, may face punishment when Mexico chooses his successor next June.

The Mexican Institute for Competitiveness calculates that corruption costs the country annually between 2 per cent and 10 per cent of its GDP, reduces foreign investment by 5 per cent, and wipes out 480,000 jobs. The Federal Auditors Office, meanwhile, this week released data showing that between 2013 and 2015 almost $5.5bn (4.4bn) of federal funds earmarked for infrastructure projects, social programmes as well as wages for public workers vanished into thin air. Translation: the money was embezzled. Half of it went missing in just five states and worst, by far, was Veracruz.

Javier Duarte, former governor of the Mexican state of Veracruz, is escorted by police for a hearing at the Supreme Court in Guatemala City in April (Getty)

Until his resignation and flight from the country last October, former Veracruz Governor Javier Duarte, also of the PRI, ran the state as a personal cookie jar. Tracked down to Guatemala in April and duly arrested, Duarte is accused of skimming hundreds of millions of dollars from public funds. His plundering of his own state left it in ruins. If Duarte has come to symbolise the culture of corruption that reigns in Mexico then one scam has become emblematic of his greed  allegations that children battling cancer in his state were given water instead of chemotherapy drugs so he could keep the funds meant to pay for their treatment for himself. Staggeringly, no fewer than 16 former state governors are either in prison, waiting to face justice or on the run.

The early optimism that greeted the election of Pena Nieto  his approval rating today is 17 per cent  first began to dim with the horrifying kidnapping and assumed murder of 43 teachers-in-training in the state of Guerrero in 2014. Then there was the so-called Casa Blanca scandal. Exposed thanks to the dogged work of journalists, notably the news website Aristegui Noticias, this was a tale of a luxury mansion built for the President and his wife in an exclusive neighbourhood of Mexico City by a construction company with close ties to the government. The election of Pena Nieto to the presidency was duly followed by large new federal contracts for the company. Finally, last summer Pena Nieto apologised for the misstep, conceding he had damaged the institution of the presidency. I reiterate my sincere and deep apology for the damage I caused, he said.

All well and good until you fast-forward to this week and another astonishing revelation. This is an expose released by Citizen Lab alleging that some of Mexicos most prominent journalists, anti-corruption activities and human rights lawyers have been victims of an illicit government surveillance programme made possible by the infection of their cellphones with spyware that is sold to governments by an Israeli firm, NSO, on condition it is used only to investigate criminals or terrorists  in other words not people whom the state considers politically troublesome.

Among those targeted, it is alleged, was Carmen Aristegui, the journalist whose reports helped bring the Casa Blanca story to light. She and eight others, including other journalists who have written articles embarrassing the state and activists who have attempted to expose human rights abuses in Mexico, have now filed suit against the government accusing it of illegally trying to spy on them. This is an operation by the Mexican state, in which state agents  far from doing what they should legally do  have used our resources, our taxes, our money to commit serious abuses, Aristegui declared at a press conference in Mexico City. When Aristegui grew suspicious of messages to her cellphone containing links which, had she clicked them, would have opened the door to the spyware, the perpetrators allegedly then targeted the cellphone of her son who at the time was in the US.

Such is the weariness in Mexico with scandal even a claim as explosive as this one  by illegally insinuating itself into the cellphones of its adversaries the state had the chance to monitor virtually every breath they took  may not be enough to force straight answers from Pena Nieto. A spokesperson for the President told the New York Times that there is no proof whatsoever that Mexican government agencies are responsible for the alleged spying. No one seriously doubts Pena Nieto will see out all of his five years in office.

I am not saying, of course, that the US should take a leaf from Mexicos book and take a more laissez-faire approach to suspected wrongdoing at the top. On the contrary, one wishes Mexico would more vigorously deal with crooked government. But as Washington continues to breath in the toxic and partisan vapour of yet another something-gate, a sense of perspective might be healthy, whether it comes from looking back to Whitewater or south to Mexico and Venezuela.
Fisherman Tomas Whelahan mending his nets on the pier at Clogherhead harbour, Co Louth, is worried about Brexits impact. Photo: Ciara Wilkinson

There are around 50 families involved in fishing in the small village of Clogherhead in Co Louth.

That's according to Tomas Whelahan, who is from one of those families and who has two fishing boats. Fishing is in his blood and he never thought of doing anything else.

"It is hard...There are long hours, irregular landings and irregular wages but, over the 12 months, it is OK," he said.

He is a prawn fisherman and 70pc of his catch is exported to Italy and Spain.

"For every crewman on board a boat, there are four people employed ashore in spin-offs. There is the oil man, the transport, the co-ops, the fish merchants, the net manufacturers and the processing sector as well," he said.

His primary Brexit concern is the knock-on effect if EU boats, including Irish ones, are not allowed to fish in UK waters. "We spend 50pc of our time in British waters and if the other boats - for example, French and Spanish - are displaced from British waters, they will end up in our waters," said Mr Whelahan.

This is of greater concern to him than Ireland not being able to fish in UK waters.

"We have the biggest and most productive fishing waters in the EU and [what worries me] is the fact that other boats could be displaced out of the North Sea and English Channel," he said.

Fisherman Barry Faulkner said Brexit was sold to UK fishermen "as bringing major changes and they would get back all of their quotas, they would become more independent once out of the EU". He believes Britain will seek to have the waters up to 200 nautical miles off its coast as its own.

"In effect, it would mean the Irish Sea would be split down the middle with one Irish side and one English side," he said. "This is not an Irish-UK thing, it is an EU-UK thing so we'll all be affected."

Mr Whelahan said the outcome of Brexit will be felt by the fishing families too.

"We have got 23 lads on our two boats. That has an effect on a lot of families - it will affect us all if our catch is down, our quota is down, our income is down and our already over-exploited waters will be exploited even more.

"It is scary to even think about, to tell you the truth."

Despite those concerns, he is optimistic and said: "We will survive, we have plenty of waters, we just have to diversify."

The optimism is reflected in the Clogherhead Co-Op, which represents "a group of owners from the Clogherhead area working together since 1999," according to general manager Paul Boyd.

The Co-Op boats are larger and they catch Dublin Bay prawns which are all frozen at sea.

"It is export-orientated, primarily because the main product is prawns and the market is primarily Europe," Mr Boyd said.

Mr Faulkner's message to Foreign Minister Simon Coveney is: "We need strong negotiations and negotiators to ensure we have as much access [to waters] after Brexit as before, even if it turns out to be common access for EU and British boats."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged the European Union's remaining 27 members to stick together during talks on Britain's exit from the bloc, which began on Monday.

Merkel also said the talks were important for the future of European integration. Brexit was a setback but election results in the Netherlands and France this year have presented an opportunity for the EU to push ahead, she added.

"The risk of the exit negotiations with Britain is that we do not take adequate care of our own future. Let's stay together, let's not divide from each other," she said with reference to the remaining EU 27 and the 19 euro zone countries.

"This is not just about the exit of Britain, with which we want to remain friends, with which we want to live in a good partnership, but it is also about the future of the European Union," she said at a German industry conference.

"The four freedoms that give us the internal market must not be jeopardised," she said with reference to the EU's freedoms of movement of goods, capital, people, and services. "This will be significant at the exit negotiations."

Merkel said she wanted the talks to be conducted "in a good spirit" and that Britain's position would become evident in the coming months.

"We will of course implement what Britain pitches, but in a way that the interests of the 27 member states are safeguarded."

Read More

Martin Schulz, the Social Democrat (SPD) chancellor candidate who Merkel will square up against in her bid to win a fourth term in September's election, told the same conference: "The best result of the Brexit negotiations would be - there wouldn't be a Brexit."

At their first meeting in Brussels on Monday, British and EU negotiators agreed on a timetable for the Brexit talks. Both sides stressed their goodwill but acknowledged the task's huge complexity and tight deadline.

Almost a year to the day since Britons voted in a referendum to quit the EU, the Brexit strategy debate within the UK government has intensified since Prime Minister Theresa May lost her majority in a snap parliamentary election on June 8.

She had called the early vote herself, saying it was to strengthen her mandate in the Brexit talks.

Merkel also said she was open to the idea of a joint finance minister for the euro zone, and a common budget for the currency union. "Of course one can think about a common finance minister if the conditions are in place and if we do not mutualise in the wrong areas," she said.

Germany has resisted the idea of introducing so-called Eurobonds, which could allow euro zone countries to issue debt jointly, with some benefiting from lower risk premia thanks to Germany's creditworthiness.

"One can indeed consider a European budget if it is clear that structures are really strengthened and this is used to sensible ends," Merkel added.
The British and European delegations face eachother at the start of their first day of talks at the European Commission in Brussels. Photo: REUTERS

Northern Ireland is emerging as the pivotal issue in Brexit talks, given the political sensitivities involved.

The issue dominated a first meeting of EU and UK Brexit negotiations yesterday, with both sides agreeing to handle the peace process, common travel area and Border separately to other issues in the talks.

"This is one of the most sensitive issues before us," said EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

However, UK Brexit Secretary David Davis warned the "very sensitive" issue of the Irish Border may not be resolved until near the end of the Brexit talks.

The Irish Border is one of the EU's top three priorities in the first phase of talks, along with citizens' rights and the UK's financial settlement.

The bloc insists on making "sufficient progress" on all three issues before discussing a future trade deal with the UK.

But while citizens' rights and the UK's financial settlement with the EU will be left to technical teams of officials, "a dialogue on Ireland/Northern Ireland has been launched under the authority of the Co-ordinators", according to the terms of reference for Brexit talks.

Sabine Weyand, the EU's deputy chief negotiator, and Olly Robbins, the British prime minister's main adviser, will steer the discussions.

"Given the range of political and technical issues at stake, I think this very much justifies our dialogue and the dialogue should indeed represent a safeguard to all concerned that we are very much committed to this as a priority," Mr Barnier said.

He said there was a "very sensitive political context" given the looming deadline for forming a Northern Ireland Executive, the fact that a new Government is only recently in place in Dublin and the "ongoing political discussions" in London.

Mr Davis said the move had "absolutely nothing to do with negotiations inside the Houses of Commons", where British Conservatives are in talks with the Democratic Unionist Party to try to form a minority government.

Manifesto

While the UK has said repeatedly that it wants out of the EU's single market and customs union - which offers tariff-free access to the EU, but requires countries to cede power to make their own trade deals - the DUP's manifesto says it wants a customs agreement and "arrangements to facilitate ease of movement of people, goods and services".

However, Mr Davis said a deal on Ireland would be linked to a future trade deal and customs arrangements.

"This is a technically difficult issue, but it's one which I am certain is soluble, although it will probably take us to the end of the process, when we have already decided what our customs and free trade arrangements are," Mr Davis said.

At the meeting yesterday, EU and UK negotiators did not get into substance, but instead worked out the logistics for future meetings, agreeing to hold monthly sessions and exchange position papers ahead of time.

The UK has given in to the EU's demand to keep talks on a future free trade deal for later, once "significant progress" has been made on citizens, money and Ireland.

Mr Davis also rowed back on previous rhetoric that "no deal is better than a bad deal", saying he wanted "to achieve the best possible outcome and strongest possible partnership" with the EU.

The UK will publish a detailed paper on Monday "outlining an offer" on citizens' rights, Mr Davis said, which he hoped would lead to a swift agreement.

Both sides were determined to give the talks a positive spin, with Mr Davis and Mr Barnier exchanging mountaineering gifts - a walking stick and a book on hiking - ahead of the all-day meeting.

Mr Barnier said the meeting was a "useful" opportunity to "get off on the right foot", and quoting French diplomat and EU founding father Jean Monnet, he said he was "neither optimistic nor pessimistic" but "determined".

"We must lift the uncertainty caused by Brexit," Mr Barnier added.

"For both the EU and the UK, a fair deal is possible, and far better than no deal."

Responding to Mr Barnier, Mr Davis quoted wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill: "No doubt the road ahead will at times be challenging, but as Churchill once said, a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity.

"An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

EU leaders meet in Brussels later this week, where they will be briefed on the talks.

Mr Barnier and Mr Davis will reconvene for a second round of talks in the week commencing July 17.
TAOISEACH Leo Varadkar has again opted for a conservative reshuffle by promoting just five backbench TDs to the ranks of Minister of State.

The new Taoiseach has risked backlash from some of his loyal backers by failing to promote those who were outspoken supporters during his bid to become Fine Gael leader.

Meanwhile, a number of Simon Coveney's supporters are expected to be demoted by Mr Varadkar this afternoon when he announces his new junior ministers.

Outgoing European Affairs Minister Dara Murphy told independent.ie that Mr Varadkar told him he had to look after those who supported him.

Wicklow's Andrew Doyle will also remain Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture.

The big winners today were Carlow-Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan who landed a junior ministry in local government and Wexford TD Michael D'Arcy who will take up minister of State portfolio in the Department of Finance. Cork South West TD Jim Daly was promoted to Minister of State with responsibility for older people and mental health. Meath East TD Helen McEntee, who previously held this position, is in line for a promotion.

Galway East TD Ciaran Cannon is the new Minister of State for the diaspora and international development. Mr Varadkar will promote one more backbench TD but it is so far unclear who this will be. He has risked alienating backers who expected to be promoted - this includes John Deasy, Alan Farrell, Pat Deering, Fergus O'Dowd and Brendan Griffin.

It appears junior ministers who supported Mr Varadkar during the leadership campaign will retain their positions but most will get new portfolios.

Limerick TD Patrick O'Donovan will leave the Department of Transport - where he regularly clashed with Cabinet Minister Shane Ross - and take up a new ministry in the Department of Finance.

Clare TD Pat Breen will remain a junior minister in the Department of Jobs with added responsibilities from the Department of the Taoiseach.

Meanwhile, the only female TD sacked by Leo Varadkar has said it is clear she was punished for backing his rival Simon Coveney.

Offaly TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy told Independent.ie that politics is a numbers game, adding: There needs to be more female voices.

Ms Corcoran Kennedy was dropped as Minister of State with responsibility for Health Promotion.

He (Mr Varadkar) told me he needs to make room for others. I was very committed to the role of health and health promotion, she said.
An 80-year old farmer has walked free from court after being at the centre of one of the worst cases of abuse of animals a district court judge has ever come across.

At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan strike out the five animal neglect charges that Thomas ONeill of Caherea, Lissycasey, had pleaded guilty to.

Before striking out the charges against the west Clare man, Judge Durcan said that the case was one of the worst cases of abuse of animals that I have come across as a lawyer and a judge.

A number of Dept of Agriculture inspections on the farm last year detected eight horse carcasses and a total of 46 horses running wild on two parcels of land owned by Mr ONeill with a number being emaciated.

Judge Durcan said that it was a very tragic case.

Judge Durcan said: The evidence is that the inspections were distressing for the officers involved.

Addressing Mr ONeill, the judge said that he accepted that there was no intent on your part in the neglect.

He said: Matters simply got beyond you.

Judge Durcan struck out the charges after Mr ONeills nephew came to his uncles aid to pay the 14,491 due to the State for the costs in investigation the offence and disposing of the animals.

Mr ONeill also paid an additional 2,000 to an animal welfare charity.

Directly addressing Mr ONeill, Judge Durcan said: There will be no criminal sanction on you. I am striking out the charges and I hope you can enjoy the years ahead.

Judge Durcan said that Dept inspectors had comes across the most appalling aspects of animal cruelty in their visit to the farm in January of last year.

Solicitor for Mr ONeill, Daragh Hassett said that Mr ONeills lands have been de-stocked.

In evidence, Dept inspector Aileen Tighe told the court that she was quite shocked at the state of the animals when first inspecting the farm in January of last year.

Ms Tighe said that she first visited the farm on January 8th 2016 on foot a complaint and saw that the land was completely bare where the horses were.

She said: There was no grass whatsoever and the horses had started to graze the bushes because no grass was available and that is something I had never seen that before.

Ms Tighe said that she arranged feed for the horses and served notice on Mr ONeill concerning the horses' welfare.

Ms Tighe carried out a number of visits to the land in January and February and in a visit in February, she saw eight carcasses of horses that had died in the previous month, the carcasses of two other animals that had died some time ago and bones strewn across the land.

Mr Hassett said that Mr ONeill has no previous convictions. He said: He wasnt able to look after the animals. There is no defence in this case.

He said: Mr ONeill was incapable of asking for help in looking after the animals.

Mr Hassett said: These cases properly carry an element of social disquiet because the public is appalled - with justification because these animals have no voice and rely on humans to make sure they are looked after.
United States Department of Agricultures (USDA) has approved of Bord Bia proposals to advertise the unique qualities of Irish beef in the United States.

Bord Bia today welcomed the decision and said the decision will accelerate its activities with beef buyers and retailers and bring its message closer to the US consumer.

The USDA seal of approval has now been given to the claims that Irish beef is:

More than 80% grass diet

From farms participating in Bord Bias Origin Green Sustainability Scheme

Fully traceable from farm to fork

From quality assured farms and processing systems

Pasture for more than 6/7/8 months per year

Raised on family farms

Raised without the use of growth hormones

Treated responsibly with use of antibiotics

The approval is the culmination of three years of engagement with USDA and last weeks visit by the USDA to Ireland to audit Bord Bias systems as the competent authority in registering and monitoring the Irish exporters who wish to use the claims.

The decision ensures that Irish beef sold in the USA from Bord Bia approved plants can now carry the USDA shield and provide a further guarantee to US buyers and consumers that the unique claims Bord Bia makes are validated by their own national authority.

The announcement came following a meeting involving the USDA, Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine Michael Creed T.D. and Tara Mc Carthy, CEO, Bord Bia on day one of the trade mission to the United States.

Following today's meeting with the US Department of Agriculture, Minister Creed said he was extremely pleased that we have received the green light to proceed with a measure which has the potential to add significant value to our beef offering to the US.

"Irish beef processors will now have the opportunity to market their produce as Irish Grass Fed Beef subject to adherence to the verification process. Such a marketing tool will allow our beef exporters pursue the Premium US beef market and will boost Irish beef exports to the US which will be crucial in terms of Brexit mitigation.

Bord Bia CEO Tara McCarthy said that this achievement is reward for the considerable effort involved in pursuing an application through the USDA Process Verified Program (PVP) route (see Notes for Editor) and will reinforce Bord Bias marketing and promotion strategy in the US.

Bord Bia has worked hard to ensure that this application was a success and approval now allows us to bring our message closer to the US consumer. Earning the trust of the USDA after such a rigorous process will also enhance Irelands reputation in other markets and Bord Bia will maximise all opportunities this enhanced creditability may present.

The claims we make to US customers are independently verifiable at farm and animal level and the Irish beef exporters who wish to use these marketing claims must comply with the requirements of the PVP and be independently audited. Irelands extremely robust Quality Assurance and animal movement systems, and the depth of information we collect in our farm audits, are key to backing up our claims and ensuring that they are protected she added.

US Beef Strategy

Speaking to an audience of targeted US meat buyers and government officials from the US and Ireland in Washington Tara Mc Carthy said Bord Bias beef strategy for the US is grounded in significant consumer insight work.

"Our consumer research identified the opportunity to position Irish beef as a premium branded beef, with the look and texture of grass fed beef but with a new taste that US consumers are looking for. Our green environment is a real point of difference, and within the US market, Ireland is well-known as green and natural, while the US consumer increasingly demands grass fed meat products.

With the USDA approval to market our grass fed beef, coupled with the other claims and the Ministers success in winning access for Irish beef Intended for Grinding, we will now accelerate our engagement with buyers, retailers and the wider foodservice industry.

Next Steps

Bord Bias New York office is targeting beef buyers for inward visits to Ireland to demonstrate the substance behind our claims. Bord Bia will also increase its presence at trade shows and food fairs in the US to facilitate promotion of its new marketing drive and to introduce Irish exporters to potential customers. Finally, the Irish Beef website for the USA http://www.irishbeefusa.com/ is being updated as a key source of information for trade.

Bord Bia researches US Consumer Attitudes

Bord Bia has identified the opportunity in the US to market Irish beef as a premium product that consumers will pay more for. Communicating quality, purity and creating a brand that symbolises Irelands green credentials is the key.

According to Bord Bia research, Irish Beef is New News in the USA as the US consumer doesnt currently associate Ireland with beef so the prospect of promoting Irish beef provides talkability for a growing cohort of consumers who care about their food and where it comes from.

The US consumer increasingly wants grass fed products and Ireland has an image in the US of a green, natural and pure land.

Consumers in the US want to taste the difference and they believe that Irish beef will deliver a different taste experience to grain fed US beef and, in turn, will deliver something that is really beyond the norm of mainstream standard US beef.

Blind taste tests revealed that Irish beef delivers a best of both worlds.

In terms of appearance, the consumer responds well to the deep red grass fed colour, however, the product experience is closer to US Prime, making Irish beef an option that delivers the best of both worlds.
The country's dairy giants are seeking Government supports as they explore post-Brexit options for cheddar exports.

Carbery, Dairygold, Glanbia and Kerry, along with the marketing body Ornua, held a meeting with the Department of Agriculture and Minister Michael Creed as they move to limit their Brexit exposure.

"Whatever happens with Brexit it will be a catalyst to ensure that everyone works together," said Dairygold's Jim Woulfe, adding collective involvement was crucial."The potential of the worst case scenario is well-known."

Irish Dairy Industries Association (IDIA) analysis has shown that 90pc of the cheese output from the four manufacturing firms is comprised of cheddar, with 56.5pc sold into the UK.

Cheddar exports alone from these companies are valued at almost half a billion euro.

The IDIA's Conor Mulvihill warned the potential of a Brexit "cliff edge" scenario for cheddar remained a major risk as it was so dependent on the UK market.

He said they wanted to retain and grow their UK markets and ensuring the UK remained within the customs union was a key objective.

"The loss of the UK portion of this cheddar export outlet would equate to just under one fifth of our manufacturing milk pool, something that would hit hard into every rural parish in Ireland," said Mr Mulvihill.

"The knock on impact of the potential loss of our whey streams from cheddar manufacture would also impact our growing high value specialised nutrition industry in Ireland."

In Dairygold's case 30,000t of cheese are destined for the UK, accounting for 200 million litres of their 1.3 billion litre raw milk pool.

"The market is very narrow for cheddar cheese and the issue is that all of us as processors have invested significant capital over the past decade," said Mr Woulfe.

He added that the valuable whey stream that goes into infant and adult nutrition would not be precisely the same if created from other cheese.

Solutions

Mr Mulvihill said they had put forward three potential solutions

Industry and Government to invest heavily in a market fund to target overseas markets and new product development there

An aggressive capital expenditure plan to adapt facilities for new core cheese products and packaging

Ensuring the EU raise State Aid ceilings to recognise the threat to Irish agriculture as a 'force majeure'.

Mr Mulvihill said the State bodies need to fully grasp the "enormity of the diversification challenge".

Glanbia Ingredients Ireland's Jim Bergin said around 20-25pc of GII products currently go into the UK market and they would diversify to other locations to a "degree".

He said Government support to diversify and build new markets would be important. "We are developing cheese in Asia," he said. "There are new horizons there, it is cheddar but a variant of cheddar, kind of drier."
Mark FitzGerald is stepping down as chief executive of the Sherry FitzGerald Group.

However, the co-founder of Ireland's biggest property agent will be staying on as the group's chairman.

Mark, who has spent over 40 years in the property industry, founded Sherry FitzGerald with partners in 1982 at the age of 25.

Group Finance Director Steven McKenna is to be assume the CEO position of Sherry FitzGerald from July 1.

Steven (39) joined Sherry FitzGerald Group as Financial Controller of the residential business in 2008 and was promoted to Group Financial Controller two year later.

As Group Finance Director from 2010, Steven has worked very closely with Mark and the management team in re-positioning the company for a recovering economy.

In the last seven years, the Groups turnover has more than doubled (37.3m in 2016 compared with 16.3m in 2012) the network has expanded nationwide with offices opened in Blackrock, Rathmines, Sandymount and Sundrive, and acquired offices in Galway, Limerick and Foxrock.

"Steven is a great appointment as he has that unique balance of strategic, operational, and people skills," said Mark FitzGerald of the appointment.

"He is also smart, calm, clear, and a really decent person."

Since the 1990s Mark has pioneered and supported research into the Irish housing market and was instrumental in setting up the Sherry FitzGerald House Price Index in 1996.

In 2001, Mark led the creation of MyHome.ie, which was subsequently sold in 2006.

In 2005, he successfully led the diversification of Sherry FitzGerald into the London residential market through the acquisition of the long-established business of Marsh & Parsons.

Mark is currently a non-executive director of Tedcastles and a former chairman of Bord Iascaigh Mhara.

He negotiated the companys commercial property link with the international firm of DTZ Holdings (now Cushman & Wakefield).

In 2016, the Group successfully rebranded its commercial business to global giants Cushman & Wakefield - a deal Steven McKenna was heavily involved in.

Originally from Galway, Steven is trained and qualified as a Chartered Certified Accountant with EY and holds a Masters in Business Practice from UCC. He is married with two children and living in Dublin.

Sherry FitzGerald Group now employs 388 people, up from 200 people in 2012.
CityJet recently took delivery of its sixth SuperJet-100 from Sukhoi, which is counting on the profile to boost orders

Russian aircraft maker Sukhoi is hoping that CityJet's use of the SuperJet aircraft in the Irish airline's wet-lease contract with Lufthansa-owned Brussels Airlines will boost the profile of the new jet among western European airlines.

Earlier this month CityJet took delivery of its sixth SuperJet. The Irish carrier placed an initial order for 15 of the SuperJets, with an option to acquire a further 16, in what would be a $1bn-plus outlay.

CityJet took delivery of its first SuperJet last year. It now has three of the aircraft in use at Brussels Airlines. CityJet operates the jets in Brussels Airlines livery under a so-called wet-lease contract with the carrier inked earlier this year, where CityJet provides the aircraft and crew.

CityJet, which is headed by executive chairman Pat Byrne, was the first European customer for the SuperJet-100.

The Dublin-based airline is also in the process of securing necessary permits for using the aircraft at London City Airport, but it will be 2018 at the earliest before they'll be used on routes from the facility.

Mr Bryne told the Irish Independent in May that CityJet has also secured a deal to extend contracts it has to operate routes on behalf of Air France until next year. Talks have been ongoing to extend that deal.

Vladislav Masalov, the chief executive of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, told industry publication 'Flight Global' this week that CityJet's use of the SuperJet is expected to stir interest among other carriers.

"We expect that operations in Brussels will attract interest from other European airlines," he said, adding that by the end of the year Sukhoi will have delivered eight SuperJets to CityJet.

Mr Masalov added that negotiations are also about to restart with Air France about the airline using SuperJets wet leased from CityJet.

Sukhoi needs a production rate of about 40 SuperJet-100s a year. It has delivered a total of 11 this year, but only has 30 orders for the jets beyond 2017.

CityJet's revenue from scheduled activities - flying regular routes under its own brand - was 141m last year. Revenue from its wet-leasing activities was 69.2m.

This year, scheduled revenue is expected to decline to 85.2m but CityJet's wet-lease revenue will jump to 194.5m, according to Mr Byrne.

CityJet has been generating increased wet-lease revenue from deals with carriers such as Scandinavia's SAS.
Northern Ireland poultry giant Moy Park  one of the region's largest employers  is being put on the market just two years after it was bought by its current Brazilian owner.

It is now one of the UK's top 10 food companies, and part of the Brazilian-based JBS Group, which bought the business in 2015 for $1.5bn.

Moy Park, based in Craigavon, employs 6,300 people in Northern Ireland and a total of 12,000, including its operations in Europe.

It recorded pre-tax profits of 35.7m in 2015.

Janet McCollum, Moy Park chief executive, said:

Earlier today, JBS SA announced a programme of divestment focused on strengthening JBSs financial position through net debt reduction. The assets currently under consideration for sale include the Moy Park business.

Moy Park is a successful and growing food business with a solid financial standing. I have no doubt that our success is due to the great strengths of this business  our exceptional people, innovation and performance.

I also know that this will ensure our continued growth and stability well into the future.

Our priority remains business as usual  delivering outstanding quality, innovation and service to our customers and consumers.

JBS is selling off different parts of its huge global business, including shareholding stakes in Moy Park.

Just last month, its chief executive, received the Lifetime Achievement Award in the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards in partnership with Ulster Bank.

Janet McCollum was honoured for making a hugely positive impact in the business community here as well as playing a major role in representing the agri-food industry nationally and internationally.

The Belfast-born executive, who is married with three children, has overseen a major expansion in the business, including its growth in the convenience food sector, which has helped drive profits.
Youtube will be beefing up its image-matching technology and artificial intelligence to sniff out and block terrorist videos. Photo: GETTY

So big tech companies now get the message: society expects them to do more in helping to stop the spread of extremist content.

The latest move comes from Google-owned YouTube. It's beefing up its image-matching technology and artificial intelligence to sniff out and block terrorist videos.

It's also pledging to cut off comments and ad-related income to what it deems "extremely offensive" videos, even if they aren't illegal.

These will include "videos that contain inflammatory religious or supremacist content", according to Google's chief lawyer Kent Walker.

So the content that Google decides to be offensive will be made to drown on YouTube, even if it's not extreme enough to actually be removed.

"We think this strikes the right balance between free expression and access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints," said Mr Walker.

YouTube's move comes after a major announcement by Facebook last week pledging similar actions. The social media behemoth has also recently pledged to hire 3,000 extra people (some of which will be in Dublin) to manually oversee a higher degree of prevention.

Read more - Online jihad: the war to stop radicalisation

Twitter is also under pressure to make its platform a less accommodating place for terrorists and hate-mongers.

So why are these tech companies ramping up their activities all of a sudden?

They say it's because they care about their communities. This is probably true. But the fear of being regulated is an even greater motivator. Companies the size of Facebook and Google are now utilities in all but name. As such, they generally enjoy a relatively light degree of legislative oversight, given their incredible influence and power.

Mark Zuckerberg and Sergei Brin understand that if they are not seen to be taking action, civil society might decide to legislate them into it.
The top firms in California's Silicon Valley carry more weight on the global stage than many countries, which makes building diplomatic relations with them increasingly important, the world's first national technology ambassador has said.

Chosen to fill what his country's foreign ministry has dubbed the first "techplomacy" posting on the US West Coast, Denmark's Casper Klynge will be tasked with building direct ties between his country and the likes of Facebook, Apple and Alphabet's Google.

"We are to continue doing traditional diplomacy with countries and organisations, but we also have to start looking into what relation you can have with these big tech companies," Klynge told Reuters in an interview.

The aim is to help Denmark understand the impact of rapid changes in digital technology while promoting the country's interests and values.

"If you look at these companies' involvement and significance for you and me, many of them have a much greater degree of influence than most nations," he said.

In economic terms, the new partners are comparable.

Denmark's 2016 gross domestic product was DKK2.06trn (277bn), putting it between the market values of Facebook and Oracle.

With tech companies under growing pressure to share encrypted information to prevent terrorism, Klynge also identified the ability of radical individuals or groups to exploit online platforms as a key issue.

"We saw what happened after the terror acts in London when Facebook came forward and said they are ready to discuss how we prevent terror organisations using its network to promote their actions," said Klynge, who takes up his new role on September 1.

"If you look at what impacts us in our daily lives and how much data they can pull on all of us ... (the firms) are truly influential players," Klynge said.

Technological diplomacy is one of Denmark's five foreign policy priorities alongside national security; Brexit; the Arctic region; and migration, instability and terrorism. (Reuters)
The European Central Bank (ECB) has revealed the full terms of its emergency bank funding scheme, including how much it charges lenders, as part of an attempt to make the often-criticised liquidity lifeline more transparent.

Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) kept many banks afloat, including in Ireland, in the aftermath of the great crash. In theory it can be provided by central banks, as lender of last resort, to solvent European banks experiencing a temporary loss of funding during a crises.

Irish banks have been weaned off emergency funds, or in the case of Anglo Irish Bank, the debt was replaced with other instruments. Critics long argued that ELA was not transparent and was used for political purposes at the height of the debt crisis.

That included forcing Greece to take unpopular action to stave off the collapse of banks or risk ejection from the euro.

In Ireland, shadowy ELA funds were used by the Central Bank to prop up Irish banks from 2008, a move that rapidly accelerated into tens of billions of euro in secret loans.

In November 2010 the then ECB chief Jean Claude Trichet wrote to Brian Lenihan, as Irish finance minister, and threatened to cut off ELA unless Ireland immediately signed up to a bailout.

At the time, the Irish banks were dependent on billions of euro of short-term ELA from the central bank.

If the ECB had carried through with its threat, Irish banks risked collapse, which would have sent the already crisis-wracked economy into meltdown.

Mr Trichet also sought, and received, a guarantee that Irish taxpayers were on the hook for the loans to the Irish lenders.

Later, in 2011, Mr Trichet told then Finance Minister Michael Noonan that a "bomb would go off in Dublin" if losses were allowed to fall on banks' senior bondholders, a comment widely seen as a threat to cut off ELA. The unprecedented power ELA gave central banks over democracies fuelled widespread criticism.

During the crisis the scale, cost or recipients of ELA were never revealed.

The ECB said its new policy increases transparency regarding ELA rules and procedures. The loans will be provided at a price at least 1pc above the ECB's marginal lending rate, which currently stands at 0.25pc, meaning a minimum cost of 1.25pc.

Banks using ELA must provide a funding plan within two months of receiving ELA and this needs to be updated every quarter while it receives liquidity help, the ECB said.

Banks also need to report regulatory capital ratios on a monthly basis and may also need to prepare a recapitalisation plan.

ECB President Mario Draghi
RTE is gearing up to make a new show filmed in New York and starring some of Ireland's biggest social media stars.

The broadcaster is trying to target the lucrative millennial market with its new offering, Making It In Manhattan.

It has assembled some of the country's best-known bloggers to feature in the show, which it describes as an "aspirational series".

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Among them are model and blogger Louise Cooney and lifestyle blogger Erika Fox, who between them have 140,000 followers.

The glamorous girls will be part of a cast who will be filmed as they try to make a name for themselves in the Big Apple.

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The publicity blurb for the show describes it as a mixture between Sex And The City and The Hills.

"This show is an ultimate feel-good, guilty pleasure," it reads.

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"Follow the cast as they adorn some of Manhattan's most glamorous locations for both work and pleasure."

The show, which is being made for RTE Player, will feature six episodes and is a clear attempt to create more digital content.
Counterfeit Damien Hirst artworks were used to scam dozens of art buyers out of 400,000 US dollars (314,000), prosecutors have said.

Three men have been charged in New York with fraud and theft after allegedly carrying out the international fraud using knock-off pieces claiming to be made by the British artist.

Vincent Lopreto, 52, Marco Saverino, 34, and Paul Motta, 50, are accused of conning buyers from countries including the UK, US, Italy, Taiwan and South Korea.

Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr said: Vincent Lopreto is charged with resuming the same scheme to knock off Damien Hirst artworks that sent him to prison just 15 days after being released.

The art markets demand for limited editions can lead to fake pieces with little value.

In this case, the alleged fraud went beyond plain imitation, and the defendants are charged with deceiving a multitude of buyers into purchasing counterfeit art that was falsely passed off as genuine.

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Lopreto, from New Orleans, created fake signed prints and marketed them as authentic with the help of Saverino and Motta, from Arizona, between October 2015 and February this year, prosecutors said.

Officials said Lopreto was sentenced to up to four years in prison in 2014 for forging work by the 52-year-old Bristol-born artist.
Marley, the golden retriever, is rescued from the cliffs at Sutton. Photo: Howth Coast Guard

The Coast Guard was called in to action in north Dublin to rescue a three-year-old golden retriever that had slipped down a cliff.

The Irish Coast Guard operations centre received a call yesterday afternoon from the animal's owners, who had been walking at Red Rock in Sutton. The dog, Marley, had slipped while near the cliff edge and had become trapped. A Coast Guard response team from Howth station that was in the area responded.

The crew met with the owner at the top of the cliff and then lowered a climber down to the dog. The Coast Guard climber secured the dog and lowered him to the beach below where he was reunited with his relieved owners. A unit from Dublin Fire Brigade also attended.

A spokesperson for the Coast Guard said the owners did the right thing by calling for help.
A judge has expressed hope for a successful mediation of a bitter dispute between a son and his mother concerning ownership of the well-known Kilkenny group of retail stores.

Mr Justice Brian McGovern, having been told at the Commercial Court the sides had agreed to explore mediation, said that was "very wise", and he hoped there would be a successful outcome.

Rossa Fanning SC, for Greg O'Gorman, on consent of Bill Shipsey SC, for Marian O'Gorman, secured an adjournment for three weeks to facilitate the mediation.

Greg O'Gorman's case is against his mother Marian, of Fernhurst, Tower, Blarney, Co Cork, who is CEO of the company running the Kilkenny stores. She denies his claims.

Mr O'Gorman's father Michael and siblings Christopher, of Castle Close Road, Blarney, Co Cork; Melissa, of Mount Street Crescent, Dublin 2; and Michelle, of Fernhurst Tower, Blarney, were all joined as notice parties to the case because its outcome will affect them.

Greg O'Gorman claims his mother "summarily terminated" his employment as group marketing director in July 2016 in a "humiliating" manner after 13 years' service and "no suggestion of misconduct or non-performance" on his part.

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This left him, his wife and three children "financially destitute", he said.

He claimed, despite promises over years of a share transfer for his hard work, his mother in June 2016 publicly repudiated a signed 'Family Constitution' document under which she held legal ownership of shares in the company in trust for the O'Gorman Family Business Partnership comprising himself and his siblings.

All four siblings hold a 25pc share, with the estimated value of his shareholding at 12.5m, it is alleged.

The "enormous personal toll" of these events had been compounded by marital disharmony between his parents who recently separated after 41 years married, he added.

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When admitting the case to the Commercial Court last February, Mr Justice McGovern urged the parties to consider mediation.

Mr Fanning, for Mr O'Gorman, said unfortunately there was a "history of acrimonious disputes" which Mrs O'Gorman had found herself at the centre of over years.

Mr O'Gorman, Castle Close Avenue, Blarney, said Clydaville Investments Ltd, which carries on the luxury design retail Kilkenny business brand, operates 15 stores and employs 300 people.

He was employed full-time by Clydaville between 2003 and 2016 and was ultimately promoted by his mother to group marketing director.

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The business flourished particularly during and since the economic recession, due "in no small part" to his management contribution, he said.

A 'Family Constitution' executed in September 2010 created a family partnership involving the four children as general partners and their mother as managing partner, with Mrs O'Gorman continuing as named shareholder of Clydaville but holding the shares in trust for the O'Gorman Family Partnership, he claimed.

At a company meeting on June 22, 2016, his mother read a statement that the company was no longer to be considered as a "family company" and his employment was summarily terminated without reasons shortly afterwards, he said.
A MAN dressed as a woman and wearing a long black wig pulled an automatic firearm from his handbag and shot dead a racing pigeon enthusiast in a car park outside a pigeon club, a jury has heard.

Christopher McDonald (34) was wearing make-up, as well as a long black wig, dark sunglasses, black gloves as well as black leggings and a black cardigan when he allegedly shot Keith Walker to death.

The Central Criminal Court heard that Mr Walker was struck by 18 bullets to his body and died as a result of multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Mr McDonald, from the East Wall area of Dublin 1, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 36-year-old Keith Walker at Blanchardstown Racing Pigeon Club in Clonsilla on June 12, 2015.

In his opening speech to the jury, prosecution lawyer Denis Vaughan Buckley SC said that on the day he died Mr Walker left his home in Clondalkin with his six-year-old son and went to the home of Jason OConnor in Mulhuddart.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said the two men had met through their interest in racing pigeons.

He said the men sat down, had a cup of tea and discussed what pigeons Mr OConnor was going to put forward for a racing competition that weekend.

Mr Vaughan Buckley sad the men then organised the birds into carrier baskets and Mr Walker loaded the birds into Mr OConnors partners car, a black Toyota Avensis.

Mr Walker then drove Mr OConnors partners car to the racing pigeon club.

The jury heard that Mr Walker arrived at the pigeon club at 5.48pm, and CCTV footage shows him standing in the car park outside the club talking to other members.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said it is the prosecution case that at 6.01pm Mr McDonald, dressed as a woman, walked into the car park, removed an automatic firearm from his handbag, ran the last few metres towards Mr Walker and then discharged the weapon multiple times.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said Mr Walker was fatally wounded, and died at the scene.

The jury was told it will be shown CCTV footage of the killing.

The court heard that the killer was a man dressed as a woman, was wearing a long black wig, black leggings, a black cardigan and was carrying a dark handbag. He was also wearing make-up.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said the jury will also be shown CCTV footage from a nearby supermarket which shows a man wearing the same clothes, but without the wig, soon after the alleged murder.

He said it will be for the jury to come to the conclusion if the man, Mr McDonald, who was filmed in the supermarket was the man who killed Mr Walker.

Mr Vaughan Buckley also said Professor Marie Cassidy conducted a post-mortem on Mr Walkers body. He said she will give evidence that Mr Walker died due to multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said Prof Cassidy will give evidence that 18 bullets struck Mr Walkers body.

He said the jury will hear from Mr OConnor as well as other members of the pigeon club who were talking to Mr Walker when he was shot.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said the jury may have sympathy for the dead man and his partner but that they must decide the case on the evidence that they hear in the witness box.

There will also be forensic evidence which will show that gunshot residue on a wig and gloves found by gardai were worn by the shooter.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of six men and six women.
Six people were left with neck and back injuries when they claimed to have been shaken in what was described as a little bump in a car park incident.

Forensic engineer Donal Terry told a judge the physical effect of the minor side impact would be similar to what passengers would experience in a vehicle rounding a bend or driving over a speed bump in a road.

Insurance company Liberty faced six compensation claims, possibly totalling 360,000, until Judge Jacqueline Linnane threw out two of them, stating there was some doubt the two claimants before the court had been in the vehicle.

Mr Terry and Robert McQuillan, consultant in emergency medicine, told the Circuit Civil Court that in their opinion Simon ODonnell and his uncle Michael Lawrence could not have suffered the injuries they complained of from such a minor side impact.

ODonnell, (19) of Shancastle Drive, Clondalkin, Dublin, and Lawrence, (46) of Loughnamona Close, Leixlip, Co Kildare, had sued Rhonda Dunphy who, they claimed, reversed her Landrover Freelander violently into a van in which they were passengers at Lidl, Fonthill, Clondalkin.

Both men told barrister Frank Martin, counsel for Ms Dunphy and Liberty Insurance, that the van was being driven by Simon ODonnells father, Michael, as they and three others, a group of six, were on a fishing trip to either Athy, Cavan or Baltinglass.

They told the court the Freelander had reversed out of a parking bay and struck Michael ODonnells van on the drivers rear side causing a small dent but shaking the van sideways. Both had suffered neck and back injuries for which they had to receive medical treatment.

Michael ODonnell, also of Shancastle Drive, said he was taking his brother-in-law Mr Lawrence and his son, Simon, together with three other sons, Martin, Anthony and Tommy, on the fishing trip. He had called to Lidl for refreshments for the trip which had to be abandoned as his van had been destroyed in the accident.

Mr Martin, who appeared with Tormeys Solicitors, told Michael ODonnell that Liberty Insurance had a video of him entering another store a very short time after the accident with his two youngest sons, Anthony and Tommy, after having apparently locked Mr Lawrence and his sons Simon and Martin, in the van for 15 minutes on a sweltering hot day.

Mr ODonnell denied a suggestion there had been no-one else in the van on the day in question. Mr Martin said Ms Dunphy had only seen Mr ODonnell and his two youngest sons following the collision which Ms Chelsea Dunphy, the defendants daughter, described as a little bump.

Judge Linnane said she had heard conflicting stories in evidence about whether or not there was fishing gear in the van. She had not found Michael ODonnell or his son, Simon, very convincing in giving evidence and felt the very low impact collision could not have caused the injuries Michael Lawrence and Simon ODonnell complained of.

The judge, dismissing both 60,000 claims and awarding Ms Dunphy her legal costs against the claimants, said there were two other claims in the pipeline and Mr ODonnell had indicated he intended taking two further claims on behalf of his two young under-age sons
Twenty people who had been staying at a Dublin north city premises described as a potential fire safety danger are to leave the property over the coming days and weeks, the High Court has heard.

A woman, her four children and three other members of their extended family, have been residing on the top floor of 24 Mountjoy Square, which incorporates 24 Charles Lane.

Approximately a dozen students have being living in the building's basement, the court also heard.

Dublin City Council issued a fire safety notice in respect of the property in August of last year.

Earlier this month, Anne O'Dwyer of Duff & Phelps, who was appointed receiver over the property in March, launched proceedings aimed at securing vacant possession of the property, on grounds including that a fire safety notice has not been complied with the property poses a risk to the residents, neighbouring buildings and the general public.

The action is against the property's owner, Christopher Singh and TWI Textile Machinery and Fabric Company Ltd, which partially occupies and operates from the premises.

It is claimed Mr Singh of Lisnacree, Castleknock Road, Castleknock, Dublin, is a director and the sole shareholder of the company.

Mr Singh, represented by Vincent P Martin Bl, opposes the appointment of the receiver and has also hired an expert to ensure that the required works to remedy the fire safety issues at the property are done.

The matter had been adjourned Mr Justice Paul Gilligan last Friday to give the parties an opportunity to reach an agreement in regards the fire safety issues.

When the case returned on Tuesday, Nevan Powell Bl, for the receiver, said that following an inspection of the property, the view of his client and the council remains that the premises should be vacated.

It was the receiver's view that works costing up to 90,000 were required to make the building fire safety compliant.

As well as the residents, counsel said, as far as his client knows the building hosts enterprises including a textile business, a language school and an office where an individual markets accommodation, "and not necessarily" the property at Mountjoy Square, for rental on AirBnB.

Counsel said his client had been unable to take possession of the building and had sought an injunction against the owner and the company requiring them to cease trespassing on the property.

Counsel told the court that there had been no agreement between the parties when the met at the building on Tuesday.

However following discussions outside of the court, at the invitation of the judge, counsel informed the court that they had come to an arrangement.

Counsel said it was agreed the family living in the upstairs should leave the building as soon as possible. The students would leave when their term concludes in mid July, counsel said.

Counsel said it had also been agreed that fire wardens, put in the building by the receiver to monitor the it 24 hours a day, will remain in place.

Counsel said the receiver was also making available a sum of money, on humanitarian grounds, that would be put towards the family's costs in getting new accommodation.

Mr Justice Gilligan adjourned the matter to Friday.
A witness lunged at a murder accused who allegedly disguised himself as a woman and shot dead a racing pigeon enthusiast with a sub-machine gun in a car park outside a pigeon club.

Jason OConnor was walking towards the witness box in Courtroom 6 in the Criminal Courts of Justice this afternoon when he went for murder accused Christopher McDonald (34), who was sitting in the dock with his back to him.

Mr McDonald, from the East Wall area of Dublin 1, has pleaded not guilty before the Central Criminal Court to the murder of 36-year-old Keith Walker at Blanchardstown Racing Pigeon Club in Clonsilla on June 12, 2015.

It is the prosecution case that Mr McDonald disguised himself as a woman and shot Mr Walker 18 times with a sub machine gun.

A woman sitting in the body of the courtroom shouted please Jay dont as four prison officers held Mr OConnor back.

Mr OConnor and Keith Walker were friends and the jury earlier heard that Mr Walker had driven Mr OConnors partners car to the pigeon club.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy asked Mr OConnor if he was prepared to behave in a civilised manner, and he said yeah, hes the one on trial, not me.

The judge warned him that he had powers to deal with people who do not behave in a civilised manner.

The jury of six men and six women was led away from the courtroom.

When they returned, Judge McCarthy said the jury has to decide the case on the evidence in a rational and calm manner and the accused enjoys the presumption of innocence.

The judge said the behaviour witnessed by the jury was quite disrespectful to the accused.

In his evidence, Stuart Kane said he was standing outside the club talking to other club members when he heard someone shout hitman. They all looked around, and he saw a woman pull a gun out and start shooting. They all just hit the floor, he said.

Mr Kane said the shooter was wearing a black wig, as well as black sunglasses and a long black dress or something like that.

He said he didnt know Mr Walker personally but had seen him the previous week with Mr OConnor.

He said he saw Mr Walker fall to the ground, and the shooter running backwards towards the entrance gate.

He said he rang 999 but passed over the phone to another individual when he was asked for the location of the pigeon club. He said he was in shock.

Another pigeon club member Terry Sutcliffe also said he heard someone shout hitman and he turned, could see someone pull something out and he jumped behind a parked van.

Mr Sutcliffe said he heard noises which sounded like a load of fire crackers. He also thought he saw shells hitting the ground or wall.

When he came out from behind the van Mr Sutcliffe said he saw Mr Walker lying on the ground. He went over to him and saw that he was dead, and he had a hole in his forehead.

Mr Sutcliffe said he rang Mr Walkers friend Jason OConnor, whose car Mr Walker had been driving, and told him that Mr Walker had been shot.

Earlier, in his opening speech to the jury, prosecution counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley SC said that on the day he died Mr Walker left his home in Clondalkin with his six-year-old son and went to the home of Jason OConnor in Blanchardstown.

The two men had met through their interest in racing pigeons.

He said the men sat down, had a cup of tea and discussed what pigeons Mr OConnor was going to put forward for a racing competition that weekend.

Mr Vaughan Buckley sad the men then organised the birds into carrier baskets and Mr Walker loaded the birds into Mr OConnors partners car, a black Toyota Avensis.

Mr Walker then drove Mr OConnors partners car to the racing pigeon club.

The jury heard that Mr Walker arrived at the pigeon club at 5.48pm, and CCTV footage shows him standing in the car park outside the club talking to other members.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said it is the prosecution case that at 6.01pm Mr McDonald, dressed as a woman, walked into the car park, removed an automatic firearm from his handbag, ran the last few minutes towards Mr Walker and then discharged the weapon multiple times.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said Mr Walker was fatally wounded, and died at the scene.

The jury was told it will be shown CCTV footage of the killing.

The court heard that the killer was a man dressed as a woman, was wearing a long black wig, black leggings, a black cardigan and was carrying a dark handbag. He was also wearing make-up.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said the jury will also be shown CCTV footage from a nearby supermarket which shows a man wearing the same clothes, but without the wig, soon after the alleged murder.

He said it will be for the jury to come to the conclusion if the man, Mr McDonald, who was filmed in the supermarket was the man who killed Mr Walker.

Mr Vaughan Buckley also said Professor Marie Cassidy conducted a post-mortem on Mr Walkers body. He said she will give evidence that Mr Walker died due to multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Mr Vaughan Buckley said Prof Cassidy will give evidence that 18 bullets struck Mr Walkers body.

He said the jury will hear from Mr OConnor as well as other members of the pigeon club who were talking to Mr Walker when he was shot.

There will also be forensic evidence which will show that gunshot residue on a wig and gloves found by gardai were worn by the shooter.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of six men and six women.
Donnah Vuma, (31), from Zimbabwe, and living in direct provision. Ms Vuma is one of 17 asylum seekers being awarded a third-level scholarship at University of Limerick.

A mother-of-three living in direct provision, described winning a University of Limerick scholarship as a "life-changing moment", as she pursues her dream of a career in psychology.

Donnah Vuma (31) is one of 17 people accepted on to the Place of Sanctuary scholarship programme at UL. The programme will start in September for the academic year 2017/2018, and will include a course fee waiver, and subsistence towards travel, printing and IT requirements.

Ms Vuma, along with her three young children, fled the corrupt political regime in Zimbabwe three years ago, where she had worked as a sales and marketing manager.

She described coming to Ireland "hoping for a better future", but found herself locked "in limbo", as she is not allowed to work under the rules.

"The biggest effect is psychological, depression and mental health," she explained.

"The amount of time spent in direct provision centres is ridiculous. It's draining, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually. I'd like to see it come to an end."

To break the boredom she engages in voluntary work and returns to the centre after her children, aged 12, nine and seven, finish their school day.

"They go to local schools and for them it's a sanctuary and a haven away from the centre. At school they are just like everyone else; no one can pinpoint that they are from a direct provision centre living under these conditions."

Ms Vuma said because she was not allowed work, and given 19.10 a week by the State, her children were learning "that being dependent (on the State) is a normal thing".

"I think this is one of the worst lessons you can ever teach your children."

Ms Vuma is "excited" at the prospect of being able to pursue her dream of a career in psychology.

Dr Mairead Moriarty, chair of the University of Limerick's Sanctuary steering committee, said the scholarship students would be studying a wide range of courses including business, humanities, law and politics.

"They are from a range of countries, including Syria, Zimbabwe, Iran, Iraq, Libya. Most have been in direct provision for up to four years," she said.

Dublin City University also announced last year it was to offer sanctuary scholarships.
The paper had a familiar start, but there were challenges waiting ahead for candidates sitting the Leaving Certificate higher level chemistry paper, said teacher Tara Lyons of the Institute of Education.

Ms Lyons said while "students did not need to write much, but as is nearly always the case with chemistry, they needed to be very precise in their answers.

In Section A, Ms Lyons said questions 1 and 2 were very manageable but Question 3 was challenging by comparison, with experimental data and graph drawing a requirement to get most of the marks.

She said many familiar topics appeared in Section B including old faithfuls in atomic theory , such as atomic structure and its history , but, surprisingly, water and its treatment failed to appear.

According to Ms Lyons, careful reading of the organic chemistry questions was needed as very specific answers were required: "There was no room for ambiguity and an in-depth knowledge of reaction types, molecular structures and reagents was a must."

She said that, generally, quite a substantial amount of calculation was needed in many of the Section B, with questions on equilibrium, pH and gas laws all requiring stoichiometric analysis.
Recruitment and retention issues in the HSE may be at the heart of "fairly shocking" new suicide figures, according to a TD.

Speaking on RTE Radio Ones Morning Ireland, Sinn Fein's Spokesperson for Health Louise OReilly said the HSE is suffering a "crisis in recruitment", which is leaving mental health services under-resourced and ineffective.

This comes after the release of Unicefs latest report card, which revealed that Ireland has the fourth highest teen suicide rate of 37 wealthy countries surveyed. It was ranked as the third worst of EU countries surveyed.

Ms OReilly blasted current Health Minister Simon Harris, saying he has "failed" to keep medical graduates in Ireland.

"Nothing has been done that has worked to date. I think the minister needs to look hard at the recruitment and retention issues in the HSE," she said.

"The heath service is not an attractive place to work, unfortunately. The healthcare graduates are showing us that with their feet, theyre leaving."

Ms OReilly said the reports findings were "fairly shocking", but claimed that the HSE is currently "running on 53pc of what it should be."

She also claimed there was a shortfall of over 500 full time staff.

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The Sinn Fein TD has previously stated a desire to work in the health department, saying the job of Health Minister is one she "would love."

According to the Unicef report, 10.3 adolescents died by suicide per 100,000 people in Ireland between 2012 and 2013. This was markedly higher than the UK, which reported just 3 suicides per 100,000.

Portugal had the lowest number (1.7), followed by Italy (1.9) and Spain (2). New Zealand reported the highest suicide rates, with 15.6 teen suicides per 100,000.

It was followed by Lithuania, Finland and Ireland.

The report, Building the Future: Children and the Sustainable Development Goals in Rich Countries, also examined Irish children's exposure to poverty.

It revealed that 18.3pc of Irish children live in "relative income poverty", while 23pc live in "multidimensional poverty."

It also showed that 17.9pc of children under 15 live with an adult who is "food insecure."
A Kilkenny pensioner has told how he was moments from death because of the early closures of a Waterford cath lab.

Speaking to Independent.ie last night, Jimmy Fitzgerald (72), from Ferrybank, said that only his ambulance arrived seven minutes before the lab closed - he would have died following a heart attack.

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Mr Fitzgerald contacted his doctor and the emergency services on a Tuesday, October 13, 2015 at around 3.45pm.

When the ambulance arrived shortly after 4pm, he said they were debating whether to go to St James Hospital in Dublin or Cork University Hospital because they didnt expect to make it to Waterford on time.

However, his doctor interfered, saying that his patient would die if they went to either.

The doctor said he wont make it to Cork, he might not even make Waterford', Mr Fitzgerald said.

They reached the Waterford hospital minutes before closure, with Mr Fitzgerald explaining that they were lucky traffic was quiet. If it had been on a Friday I would not have made the hospital, he said.

Meanwhile, Waterford woman, Maria Raftis (44) who has suffered from heart complications in recent years says she fears being left to die at the side of the road without a full-time cath lab.

Ms Raftis suffered with right atrial thrombus, which she was diagnosed with in 2012 - within a year of completing chemotherapy for breast cancer.

She, along with Mr Fitzgerald had contacted RTE's Liveline after hearing of the death of father-to-be Thomas Power (40) from Waterford, for the same reason.

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Ms Raftis said the current situation in the south east is sickening saying that those living in the catchment area of Waterford University Hospital are doomed if they require heart treatment after 5pm during the week or at weekends.

Ive four daughters, theyve already seen me come through a horror show, Ms Raftis said.

I didnt come through that horror show to end up dying on the side of the road at 5pm during the week or at the weekend.

We are doomed from 5pm to 8am - the whole region is at risk, she added.
The river beside Ormond Castle in Carrick-on-Suir. Photo: Arthur Carron

Stephen Hoare (25) died after getting caught in river whirlpool

A 25-year-old man has drowned after getting into difficulty while swimming in a river with friends in Co Tipperary.

Emergency services were called to the scene in Carrick-on-Suir shortly before 5pm yesterday after receiving reports of a man in difficulty while swimming in the River Suir.

The victim was named locally last night as Stephen Hoare, who is originally from Cashel but had been living in Carrick-on-Suir in recent times.

It is understood the 25-year-old got stuck in a whirlpool and was unable to get out.

As Mr Hoare got into difficulty he called out for help and his friends raised the alarm.

The Marine Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) in Dublin sent Rescue 117 helicopter and crew to the scene from Waterford.

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They were joined in the search by gardai, local fire services and divers.

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A spokesman confirmed that Coast Guard members spotted a body in the river shortly after 6pm and they directed boats to the location.

Mr Hoare was recovered from the river by a local diver and brought ashore close to the river rescue service's base along the quay in the town of Carrick.

Attempts were made at the scene to revive him but were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead close to the river.

Mr Hoare's remains were later transferred to Waterford University Hospital where a post-mortem examination will take place.

He had been swimming at the rear of Ormond Castle in the town when he got into difficulty.

A friend of Mr Hoare's told the Irish Independent of the frantic efforts his friends made to pull him from the water.

The man, who did not want to be named, said he is still in shock at the tragedy.

"As soon as I noticed that he was in trouble I dived into the water and tried to get him back, but I just couldn't get to him," he said.

"I haven't processed what has happened yet, I'm just numb with shock.

"There was nothing that we could do.

"The whirlpool was just too powerful for us to rescue him. We tried our best."

Another man who was at the scene praised the efforts of the emergency teams.

He said: "He was out swimming with his brother and some friends when he got into trouble.

"He was calling for help, but there was nothing anyone could do.

"He was trapped by the moving current and just disappeared.

"His brother was lucky to get out as he couldn't swim himself.

"It's so sad and I can't believe this has happened.

"There was a helicopter and a lot of emergency services around here to try and revive him.

"When they got his body out of the water they wouldn't let his brother see him as it would have been too much for him."

The stretch of the River Suir in which the man drowned is a popular swimming spot, particularly during spells of good weather.

Local Fianna Fail councillor Imelda Goldsboro said the drowning had left people in the town stunned.

She said: "This tragedy has cast a dark cloud over Carrick-on-Suir and has left a town in mourning over the loss of a young life."
Dublin City Council (DCC) has warned it will remove bikes rented out by a new shared bikes scheme - if it launches before council approval.

The BleeperBike scheme has not been regulated but was due to go live over the weekend.

However, despite an initial launch of its app, users will not be able to avail of the bikes yet, with the company due to meet with DCC on Friday over a lack of byelaw regulation. DCC is understood to be concerned about the quality of the bikes, along with parking concerns.

The council said it is preparing byelaws for such schemes.

It also said any potential launch would bypass byelaws with the city council along with giving BleeperBike an unfair advantage over competitors.

BleeperBike CEO Hugh Cooney said the company is eager to meet with the council.

"We don't have an official launch date until we meet the council and that will be happening on Friday," he said. "Our bikes meet the same European specification as Dublin Bikes. Our users are insured." He said supervising staff will ensure no bikes are illegally parked.
An Irish student is continuing to receive treatment in hospital after he was discovered unconscious after a night out in San Diego, California.

The victim, named by US police as Evan White from Farran in Co Cork, was celebrating his 21st birthday party in the city when the alleged attack took place.

Independent.ie understands that Mr White is in the city on a J1 summer work visa programme.

According to the Irish Sun, Mr White was "unrecognisable" when he was found in the Pacific Beach area of the city.

A police spokesman said Evan White was located in the south alley of 600 Law Street.

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"He was transported to Scripps La Jolla Hospital paramedics with a head injury.

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"He was unconscious when officers arrived to take his statement. It is unknown what caused the injuries since there wasnt any witnesses and officers had not had the opportunity to speak with White."

The spokesman said a detective is going to try to speak with him "today or tomorrow" to get his statement.

Mr White studies Business at University College Cork and it is believed his family have travelled to the US to be by his side.
A well-known Irish man detained for living illegally in Boston was wanted by US police for an alleged larceny offence.

Independent.ie has learned that there is an outstanding warrant for John Cunningham (38) in Massachusetts after he allegedly took a cheque for $1,300 (1,170) from a man to carry out electrical work at a home in March 2014.

The victim Christopher Waltham claimed that he never saw or heard from the Donegal native again and he filed a police report in May of that year.

A spokesperson for West Roxbury District Court confirmed that Mr Cunningham was ordered to appear in court on October 16, 2014 but he failed to show.

The spokesperson confirmed that a warrant was issued for his arrest at that time and this remains outstanding.

Mr Cunningham emigrated from Glencolmcille, Co Donegal to Boston, Massachusetts in February 2000 and had previously appeared in a RTE Prime Time documentary focused on undocumented Irishmen and women living in the United States.

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He is now awaiting deportation amidst a crackdown on immigration enforcement under the new Trump administration.

A spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency confirmed that Mr Cunningham was arrested by ICE officers on June 15 for "immigration violations".

"Cunningham entered the country lawfully under the Visa Waiver Program, but failed to depart in compliance with the terms of his visit.

"Cunningham is currently in ICE custody pending removal from the United States. Visa Waiver Program participants waive their rights to a hearing before an immigration judge and are subject to mandatory detention.

Shawn Neudauer, Public Affairs Officer for the agency said his arrest had nothing to do with the current Trump Administration.

"John overstayed his visa by 15 years. Oddly, enough a lot of people are trying to tie this with the current presidential administration.

"This has always been a priority. People were arrested and removed under the prior administration going back many years."

The ICE representative added that if a visitor to the US stayed in excess of 90 days without the required documents then they will be subject to arrest and immediate deportation.

"There is no hearing before an immigration court, there's no judicial involvement whatsoever.

"If I was to come to Ireland and stay 100 days Irish authorities can arrest me and keep me to jail before I get sent back.

"John will be held in custody until he will be sent back to Ireland. This will be relatively quick. He won't be kept in jail for very long and has no right to appeal," he said.

A source from a Boston GAA club told Independent.ie, Mr Cunningham is currently being detained at the Suffolk County House of Corrections and is waiting to be sent back to Ireland.

"They came to his door the other day and took him but hes getting a lot of good help," he said.

"Hes getting help from members from the GAA here, help from consular officials here, from Ireland and from Washington.

"Its a shame. Hes a high profile figure in the GAA community here. Hed be very well respected."

The Glencolmcille native was previously chairman of Boston Northeast GAA, and is also a member of the Board of Ambassadors for volunteer organisation Irish Network Boston.

Mr Cunningham is currently being detained at the Suffolk County House of Corrections and is waiting to be sent back to Ireland.

Arrests

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported a 38pc increase of individuals arrested who are known or suspected to be living in the country illegally.

A total of 41,318 people were arrested on civil immigration charges in a 100 day period between January and April 2017, a 37.6pc increase compared to same period in 2016.

The Boston Globe has noted that the crackdown is particularly evident in Boston, with the amount of federal arrests in relation to immigration doubling in the first two months of Donald Trumps presidency when compared to the same time period last year.

Speaking about the recent surge in these arrests, ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan said: "Agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security, which has resulted in a substantial increase in the arrest of convicted criminal aliens.

"However, when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law.

"As the data demonstrates, ICE continues to execute our mission professionally and in accordance with the law, and our communities will be much safer for it."
A man has been arrested after several people were assaulted during an unprovoked attack outside a West Dublin flat complex this morning.

The incident was caught on camera and footage shows the topless male approaching another man at Waterville Terrace in Blanchardstown and punching him.

The victim, who is carrying what appears to be a vacuum cleaner, falls against a car. He gets up and is seen coming face to face with the assailant before a group of people try to intervene.

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However, the attacker then turns his attention to the four people and hits one man before chasing them through a car park.

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A further violent tussle then takes place with three men attempting to control the assailant.

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Eventually the group flee leaving the man alone in the car park where he puts his hands on his knees and appears to be gasping for breath.

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Gardai say they were called to a public order incident at the Waterville apartments in Blanchardstown at 11.30am.

A spokesman said: "A man, aged in his 20s, was arrested and detained at Blanchardstown garda station under section four of the criminal justice act."

Independent.ie understands that the suspect is of Eastern European descent.
The Scottish Government has published a written request from DUP leader Arlene Foster asking that it restrict gay couples from Northern Ireland converting their civil partnerships to same sex marriages in Scotland.

The publication comes days after Mrs Foster said she had no recollection of sending such correspondence to the administration in Edinburgh.

The letter, written in September 2015 when Mrs Foster was Stormont finance minister, urged then Scottish local government minister Marco Biagi to exclude Northern Ireland-based couples from legislation that enabled people in civil partnerships to convert those unions to same sex marriages.

Mr Biagi tweeted about the existence of the letter in the wake of the General Election, amid increased UK-wide focus on the DUP's conservative stance on social issues such as gay marriage.

But in a radio interview last week, the former Stormont first minister denied sending such a letter.

"I'm not quite sure what he (Mr Biagi) was referring to but it certainly wasn't a letter from me and I've no recollection of a letter from me," she told BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics show.

"If I'd written to him officially as minister of finance or something like that around recognition laws here in Northern Ireland, I have no recollection of it. I certainly didn't write in a personal capacity."

The letter dated September 4, 2015 released by the Scottish Government on Tuesday is signed by Mrs Foster.

It was a follow-up to a letter from her predecessor as finance minister, the DUP's Simon Hamilton. Mr Hamilton's letter has also been made public.

The letters did not cite moral or political objections to the proposed legislation in Scotland, but highlighted potential legal issues.

They said complications could arise from couples having "dual status", where they are recognised as civil partners in Northern Ireland but as married in Scotland.

Mrs Foster wrote: "I'm sure neither of us would wish to place same sex couple in an uncertain legal position, which maybe difficult and expensive to resolve."

Mr Biagi rejected the request from the Northern Ireland ministers.

In his reply to Mrs Foster, dated November 24, 2015, he said it would "not be appropriate" to exclude Northern Ireland couples from availing of the legislation.

Stormont's department of finance has responsibility for marriage regulations in Northern Ireland.

In response to the publication, a DUP spokesman said: "This correspondence was exploring technical legal matters and was not personally driven by the minister.

"Marriage legislation is a fully devolved matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly."
A Dublin man wanted for questioning in relation to the feud murder of Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch's nephew has a week to decide if he will fight his extradition back to the capital from the UK.

Jonathan Keogh (31) was arrested by heavily armed officers in Essex more than a week ago on foot of a European Arrest Warrant.

He appeared via video-link before a sitting of Westminster Magistrates' Court yesterday morning.

The matter was adjourned and Keogh is due to be presented on June 26 in relation to the extradition hearing.

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"He will either consent to his extradition or raise new issues regarding the extradition request," said a spokesman for the Magistrates' Court Service.

"His case will be listed before the Senior District Judge."

It means that Keogh will have until next Monday to decide if he wants to fight his extradition in relation to a Hutch/Kinahan feud murder.

Detectives want to question Keogh over the gangland killing of Gareth Hutch (35), who was shot dead in May of last year.

The nephew of 'The Monk' was murdered outside his apartment in Avondale House, North Cumberland Street, on the morning of May 24, 2016.

CCTV images captured the father-of-one walking to his car before two gunmen approach him from behind and fire a number of shots at him.

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Challenges

A hearing for Keogh's case in a Magistrates' Court is also scheduled for August if he challenges his extradition.

However, if he decides to accept his deportation he could be brought back to Dublin as early as next week.

Exclusive images obtained by the Herald show Keogh being detained by elite police officers from the UK's National Crime Agency.

He was arrested in Romford, Essex, and has since been detained in a London jail.
A development in West Cork has saved from turning into a ghost estate by the work of a local group of people.

The development, originally built as a holiday village, near Glengarriff, in West Cork, was bought by the team, the Glengarriff Mountain View Management Company Ltd.

They bought the unfinished estate complete with leisure centre and pool in 2011 with the intention of furnishing the buildings and surroundings.

The group spent a significant amount of time and resources over the past five years in a bid to comply with planning permissions while the 14 houses were worked on. They say that they now believe the estate is ready to be given to the local authority.

And they hope this might promote similar work to be carried out in other abandoned housing estates across the country.

Originally, the 23-house Mountain View estate was built to be used as a holiday village near Glengarriff. But just nine of the homes were sold before the Anglo Irish Bank-funded Limerick Development partnership ran out of money and the remaining 14 houses and landscape left unfurnished.

These 14 houses were eventually placed on the market and stayed there for two years until a group of 14 private mortgage-free buyers who were interested in buying the development were gathered by Barry McSweeney, the first science advisor to the Government.

Mr McSweeney, who died in 2014, said at the time of the deal: " had seen the scheme being built and was impressed, but the developers just ran out of money to finish it.

"I didnt want a ghost estate or a Famine village on Glengarriffs doorstep, and decided to do something about it instead."

Speaking to the Irish Examiner about the experience, Owen Dinneen, a spokesman for the residents of the Mountain View estate, said: Weve ticked every box and we are hopeful that certificates of compliance will be issued soon by Cork County Council.

Now that were at the end of the road, we are looking forward to the council taking this beautiful estate in charge.

The team started their work by applying for planning permission to Cork County Council for permission to change the use of the dwellings, which were permitted in 2004 for managed short-term holiday rental, to dwelling houses with unrestricted occupancy.

The number of ghost estates in Ireland has greatly dropped in Ireland in the past few years.

In 2010, over 3,000 unfinished housing estates were identified across the country. Around 2,580 have been resolved.

Nama is now in charge of just 15 unfinished estates.

In March, it was reported that there are 291 housing estates where more then 8,600 households were living alongside uncompleted building.

Kerry and Cork are two counties with the highest number of ghost estates in Ireland.

Fine Gael Councillor for Killarney Bobby OConnell pointed out that the existence of ghost estates all comes down to planning.

There are so many ghost estates existing in Kerry due to poor planning.

I wouldnt necessarily blame the County Council in any county for it.

When it has been evident on many previous occasions that the initial planning permission for housing would be refused for an area, then the councillors come together and present a 140 plan to the Manager.

As a result, planning permission is often given for areas where it really shouldnt be, in areas where the work is sure to be abandoned.
Any deal to salvage power- sharing at Stormont should involve Northern Ireland's five main parties, Simon Coveney has said.

The newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister said an agreement should not be an accord struck only between the two largest parties - the DUP and Sinn Fein.

If a new executive is formed it should ideally include the SDLP, Ulster Unionists and Alliance Party, said Mr Coveney.

Recent political agreements in Northern Ireland have essentially been negotiated between the DUP and Sinn Fein.

During previous talks processes, the smaller parties have claimed they have been marginalised.

"I think it is important that whatever deal is done here involves all of the parties, not just the big two," said Mr Coveney.

"And that's why I think it is important to listen to the concerns and ideas and approaches on the key issues from all parties.

"I hope we will have an executive that will involve them all too."

Read more: May insists deal with DUP will not undermine Good Friday Agreement after first meeting with Varadkar

Mr Coveney, who was taking part in the latest talks initiative in Belfast for the first time since his appointment last week, said he believed all five parties were up for making a deal.

"From all the parties there was a sense of can do, of positivity, while at the same time having firm and clear positions, as you would expect," he said.

"And there's work to be done to find middle ground in some of those areas and to accommodate the concerns of people while understanding the political obstacles that other parties may have in terms of some of the issues that are still under discussion."

Mr Coveney pledged to "spare no effort" to help get the Stormont power-sharing Executive back up and running.

He said: "I will do my utmost to support the parties in reaching an agreement which ensures the integrity of the Good Friday Agreement is fully protected, that all of its institutions function effectively and fairly and that previous agreements are honourably implemented.

"The people of Northern Ireland need devolved government working in the best interests of the whole community."
New Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has announced the Governments new appointments as Minister of State.

While there have been many winners and losers, below is everything you need to know about the 15 newly appointed Junior Ministers of State.

Five new ministers have been appointed which include:

Michael DArcy (47): Minister of State for Financial Services and Insurance

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The Wexford TD has been rewarded with arguably the most influential role on the junior benches, having worked for many months behind the scenes on Mr Varadkars leadership bid. He is one of the Taoiseachs so-called choir boys - a label given to him and his colleagues by Dublin Bay South TD Kate OConnell.

Mr DArcy is known to have a cold relationship with his constituency rival Paul Kehoe.

His father Michael served as a junior minister in the eighties.

John Paul Phelan (38): Minister of State for Local Government

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Another so-called choir boy, the Carlow/Kilkenny TD is one of Mr Varadkars closest confidantes. Despite being in the Oireachtas as a TD and senator for 15 years, Mr Phelan has never held a ministerial post. He is a close friend of former minister Lucinda Creighton and her husband, ex-senator Paul Bradford. While a low key contributor to Dail debates, Mr Phelans profile grew as a member of the Banking Inquiry.

Brendan Griffin (34): Minister of State for Tourism and Sport

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The Kerry TD was a leading member of the one time five-a-side club - which was once seen as being a thorn in the side of former Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Mr Griffin , a former publican who topped the poll in 2011, learned his political trade as a parliamentary assistant to the ex-minister Jimmy Deenihan.

He is popular within social circles and known as a talented impersonator of fellow politicians.

Ciaran Cannon (51): Minister of State for Diaspora and International Development

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A keen cyclist, the Galway East TD has returned to the ministerial benches having previously been dropped by Enda Kenny.

Mr Cannon joined Fine Gael in 2009 having previously served with the Progressive Democrats (PDs). The father-of-one served as the fourth and final leader of the party, which has since been dissolved.

Jim Daly (45): Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People

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The former primary school teacher has proven to be a strong Dail performer in recent months, championing issues such as children and education. He is also regularly trotted out to defend his party in media appearances.

Mr Daly is from Clonakility in Cork and is one of 11 siblings.

He takes his counsel from his parliamentary assistant Darren Hourihane, who played a behind-the-scenes role in Leo Varadkars leadership campaign.

Other Ministers of State

Helen McEntee (28): Minister for European Affairs

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Ms McEntee was previously appointed Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People in May 2016.

She was elected to Dail Eireann in March 2013.

Ms McEntee was appointed by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny to the Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications. She is also a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht.

Before becoming a public representative Helen worked in the Department of Agriculture and previously for a subsidiary of Citibank.

Patrick O'Donovan (40): Minister of State for Public Procurement, Open Government and eGovernment

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Patrick Donovan TD was previously served as Minister of State for Tourism and Sport.

He was first elected to the Dail in February 2011.

Mr O'Donovan is also a qualified primary school teacher.

Catherine Byrne (61): Minister of State for Drugs and Health Promotion

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Ms Byrne was previously appointed Minister of State for Communities and National Drugs Strategy in May 2016.

She was first elected to the 30th Dail on May 24 2007, representing the constituency of Dublin South Central.

She was re-elected to the 31st Dail on 27th February 2011.

She was privileged to be Lord Mayor of Dublin from 2005-2006, and lived in the Mansion House with her family.

Pat Breen (60): Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection

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Mr Breen was previously appointed Minister of State for Employment and Small Business in May 2016.

He was first elected to Dail in 2002 and was successfully re-elected in May 2007 with an increased mandate.

In the General Election 2011, Pat Breen topped the poll in the Clare Constituency with 9,855 first preference votes, the highest vote ever achieved by a Fine Gael Candidate in County Clare.

Prior to Pats election to Dail Eireann, he was a member of Clare County Council and the Vocational Educational Committee from June 1999 to 2002.

Sean Kyne (42): Minister of State for Natural resources, Community Affairs and Digital Development

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Mr Kyne previously served as was Minister of State for Gaeltacht Affairs and Natural Resources in May 2016. He was first elected to Dail Eireann in 2011 and represents the constituency of Galway West which encompasses the City, Oranmore/Claregalway and Connemara.

From 2004 to 2011, Sean was a member of Galway County Council for the Connemara Electoral Area.

He attended St Marys College in Galway City before attaining a degree and Masters degree in Agricultural Science at NUI Galway and UCD respectively.

For 11 years, Sean worked as an agri-environmental consultant with particular responsibility for the Rural Environmental Protection Scheme.

John Halligan (62): Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation, Research and Development.

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Mr Halligan is an independent TD who previously served as Minister of State for Training and Skills in May 2016.

He was first elected to the Waterford City Council in 1999 for the Workers' Party of Ireland.

He joined the Independent Alliance upon its inception in 2015.

On 27 February 2016, he was re-elected as TD for Waterford at the general election.

After a spell of prolonged talks on government formation, Halligan voted Enda Kenny as Taoiseach on May 6 2016, allowing Kenny to become the first Fine Gael leader re-elected to this office.

Andrew Doyle (56):Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture

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Andrew Doyle TD was appointed Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture in June 2017 having previously been appointed in May 2016.

He is a member of Dail Eireann and represents the constituency of Wicklow-East Carlow.

He is currently the Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine.

He was previously a member of Wicklow County Council from 1999-2007 and was Cathaoirleach of Wicklow from 2005 to 2006.

Damien English (39): Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development

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Mr English previously served as Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal in May 2016.

He is a member of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party representing the constituency of Meath West.

Damien first stood for election in 1999 and was elected to Meath County Council for the Navan electoral area. In the 2002 general election, Damien was elected to the 29th Dail as TD for the Meath constituency. At 24 years of age he was the youngest TD in the 29th Dail.

Kevin Boxer Moran (54): Minister of State the Office of Public Works and Flood Relief

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Mr Moran is an independent TD.

He is a former member of Fianna Fail and was elected to the Dail on his third attempt at the 2016 general election, amassing 11,122 preferences.

As an Independent candidate, Boxer contested the 2014 Longford-Westmeath by-election, coming fourth with 5,629 first preference votes.

He joined Deputy Shane Rosss Independent Alliance for the February 2016 general election and took the 2nd seat with over 11,100 preferences. Upon entering Government with the Independent Alliance, Boxer agreed to share the new Junior Ministry for the OPW and Flood Relief with his Galway East Independent Alliance TD, Deputy Sean Canney.

David Stanton (60): Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration

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Mr Stanton was first elected to Dail Eireann in 1997 and has been re-elected at every election since. He served as the Chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality.

He was appointed Fine Gael Spokesperson on Defence in July 2010 and Assistant Whip (Dail Reform) with Special Responsibility for Disability Issues from October 2007-July 2010.

He was also the Fine Gael Front Bench Spokesperson on Social & Family Affairs & Equality from October 2004-September 2007.

Mr Stanton was formerly deputy spokesperson in Education and Science with special responsibility for the Information Society in June 2002. Prior to this he acted as deputy spokesperson on finance, public enterprise, agriculture and food and was the partys spokesperson on labour affairs, consumer rights and trade (1997-2000).
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has been taken to task for citing the movie Love Actually during his first visit to the British Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing Street.

Mr Varadkar told journalists in London after meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May that his first visit to the building was a little thrill.

I was reminded of that famous scene in Love Actually where Hugh Grant does his dance down the stairs, the new Taoiseach said.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said the words were not exactly in the spirit of Michael Collins.

During the Taoiseachs first session facing Dail questions, Mr Adams went on to say that Mr Varadkar had no popular mandate as leader of the Irish Government.

Mr Adams insisted that there were no new politics as people languished on hospital trolleys, and were on housing lists and left homeless.

The Sinn Fein leader also condemned Fianna Fail for keeping the current minority Coalition in power.

The Taoiseach replied that it was clear Mr Adams disliked the reference to Love Actually.

You were there more often than me, Mr Varadkar told Gerry Adams about Downing Street.

Mr Varadkar said he was aware from following Mr Adams on Twitter that he preferred the film director, Richard Curtiss later work, including the film About Time.

I think its about time we had a restoration of power-sharing in the North, Mr Varadkar said.

The Taoiseach said Sinn Fein appeared to love elections  but did not want responsibility in government. He also pointed to the partys policy of not taking their seats in the Westminster parliament.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has sacked European Affairs Minister Dara Murphy, telling the Cork North Central TD he had to "look after those who supported me."

In a phone call with Mr Murphy this morning, Mr Varadkar said there was no room for him in his junior ministerial ranks.

The phonecall came as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar begins the process of filling his junior ministerial team.

Mr Murphy told the new Taoiseach that this approach was a "different style to the one adopted by Enda Kenny."

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He added that he had worked strenuously as European Affairs Minister and had attended hundreds of meetings relevant to the Brexit discussion and other issues.

But Mr Varadkar "did not respond", adding that he had made his decision.

Speaking to Independent.ie, Mr Murphy said he wishes whoever succeeds him well into the future.

I am surprised, however, that the new Taoiseach would change the entire foreign affairs team," pointing out that Charlie Flanagan has also left Foreign Affairs.

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"It was made clear to me that Leo felt he had to look after the people who supported him."

Mr Murphy backed Simon Coveney in the leadership race.

A source close to Mr Varadkar said: "All appointments were made on the basis of performance."

Meath East TD Helen McEntee has been given a Brexit orientated role as European Affairs Minister.

Damien English will remain as Junior Minister for Housing - the same role he held before the Fine Gael leadership campaign.

Mr English was Simon Coveney's campaign manager and is one two of his supporters expected to be retained by Mr Varadkar.

Meanwhile, one of the first to receive a call this morning from the Fine Gael leader was Wicklow TD Andrew Doyle, who despite speculation is remaining in the Department of Agriculture.

Carlow/Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan has been promoted, sources say. He will be a Minister of State in the Department of Housing where he will have responsibility over local government issues.

Galway West TD Sean Kyne also was told today that he has been given a ministry.

Cork South West TD Jim Daly has been appointed as Minister of State for Older People and Mental Health. This portfolio was previously held by Meath East Helen McEntee, who is expected to also remain as a junior minister.

Clare TD Pat Breen will remain a Minister of State but it is unclear what his role will be as some his of portfolio was merged with the Department of Social Protection last week.

Galway TD Ciaran Cannon is now Minister of the State for the Disapora and International Development, a role previously held by Chief Whip Joe McHugh.

Sources are also saying Patrick O'Donovan is one of the two new junior finance ministers.

Mr Varadkar began notifying his new team last night - with sitting ministers understood to be the first to be contacted.

He is due to notify his new Cabinet this morning but making a formal announcement in the Dail later.

The only female TD sacked by Leo Varadkar has said it is clear she was punished for backing his rival Simon Coveney.

Offaly TD Marcella Corcoran Kennedy told Independent.ie that politics is a numbers game, adding: There needs to be more female voices.

Ms Corcoran Kennedy was dropped as Minister of State with responsibility for Health Promotion.

He (Mr Varadkar) told me he needs to make room for others. I was very committed to the role of health and health promotion, she said.
A well-known Irish man living illegally in Boston has been arrested and is understood to be currently awaiting deportation.

John Cunningham (38) emigrated from Glencolmcille, Co. Donegal to Boston, Massachusetts in February 2000 and had previously appeared in a RTE Prime Time documentary focused on undocumented Irishmen and women living in the United States.

He is now awaiting deportation amidst a crackdown on immigration enforcement under the new Trump administration.

A source from a Boston GAA club told Independent.ie, Mr. Cunningham is currently being detained at the Suffolk County House of Corrections and is waiting to be sent back to Ireland.

"They came to his door the other day and took him but hes getting a lot of good help," he said.

"Hes getting help from members from the GAA here, help from consular officials here, from Ireland and from Washington.

"Its a shame. Hes a high profile figure in the GAA community here. Hed be very well respected."

However it is still unknown how long Mr. Cunningham will be detained before being deported.

"Weve heard it could take a week, it could take three weeks, it could take a month or two. We dont know."

The Glencolmcille native was previously chairman of Boston Northeast GAA, and is also a member of the Board of Ambassadors for volunteer organisation Irish Network Boston.

Arrests

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported a 38pc increase of individuals arrested who are known or suspected to be living in the country illegally.

A total of 41,318 people were arrested on civil immigration charges in a 100 day period between January and April 2017, a 37.6pc increase compared to same period in 2016.

The Boston Globe has noted that the crackdown is particularly evident in Boston, with the amount of federal arrests in relation to immigration doubling in the first two months of Donald Trumps presidency when compared to the same time period last year.

Speaking about the recent surge in these arrests, ICE Acting Director Thomas Homan said: "Agents and officers have been given clear direction to focus on threats to public safety and national security, which has resulted in a substantial increase in the arrest of convicted criminal aliens.

"However, when we encounter others who are in the country unlawfully, we will execute our sworn duty and enforce the law.

"As the data demonstrates, ICE continues to execute our mission professionally and in accordance with the law, and our communities will be much safer for it."
'Science is science and facts are facts" according to dictum. However, a lack of political diversity in those undertaking research in the realms of social science, is now causing acute concern in academic circles.

Authors of a recent scientific paper argue that the social sciences once valued diversity of viewpoints as a means of enhancing creativity, problem solving and research. They believe that this diversity has now been eroded and that the political leaning of those working in research in these areas has become monochrome, restricting studies and viewpoints on major social issues as a result.

The issues affected are likely to vary - from society's response to substance misuse to the effect of marital breakdown on children or the role of poverty in crime.

The paper was written by a number of authors, including the renowned social and psychological scientists Jose Duarte and Jonathan Haidt. It was published online in the journal Behavioural and Brain Science. The title 'Political diversity will improve social psychological science' speaks for itself.

The five authors have been working together since 2011 to promote scientific diversity in what has become known as the Heterodoxy Academy. World-famous evolutionary biologist Steven Pinker has described their paper as one of the most important in the recent history of the social sciences.

The authors start by pointing out that researchers in the social sciences who describe themselves as "liberal" outnumber those who say they are "conservative" by a ratio of more than 12:1, and this has been the culmination of a gradual shift of several decades.

The authors argue that lack of political diversity can undermine the validity of social and psychological research by embedding liberal-leaning values into the research questions and methods.

This can create confirmation bias and the authors, themselves of "liberal leaning", believe that the absence of diversity among the peer reviewers of these papers limits challenges to methodological weaknesses and biases that emerge in the course of data analysis.

The inclusion of researchers with other opinions would strengthen the methodology, according to the writers. As an example, they describe the liberal-leaning researchers' rejection of the idea of stereotypes, which they believe increases prejudice. Yet, subsequent studies by one of the few conservative researchers in this area show that some stereotypes are accurate and this is now a robust finding.

The authors describe the plight of researcher Robert Putnam. Himself a liberal, he was at the wrong end of political correctness when he reached the conclusion that indigenous populations with high migrant populations tended to become withdrawn and isolated from their communities.

The authors also mention an anthropologist, Napoleon Chagnon, who was embroiled in a bitter row when he challenged the notion that some tribal peoples were not peace-loving, as previously portrayed, but often violent.

By coincidence, I came across a link on Twitter to a fascinating article in the Guardian newspaper on June 3 by Will Storr, the author of 'Selfie: How did we become so self-obsessed and what it's doing to us', in which he discussed the politics of self-esteem.

Storr records that this began with the work of a Californian politician John "Vasco" Vasconcellos, who was convinced that low self-esteem was the cause of a multiple social problems, including unemployment, educational failure, child abuse, domestic violence, gangland disputes and homelessness.

He persuaded the state of California to finance a task-force to promote self-esteem and to recruit the world's best researchers to explore it.

His ideas were initially pilloried by politicians, educationalists and cartoonists. But by 1987, he had become a national treasure and was lauded on major media outlets. A task force began hearing testimonies from the public and he organised teams to travel to schools to combat drug misuse using the mantra of self-esteem.

In 1988, the task-force and Neil Smelser, a retired sociologist, went public and announced that "the correlational findings" between self-esteem and social illness "are very positive and compelling". State after state instituted self-esteem courses and Vasco became the hero of moment based on the correlational findings.

Now, some of the task-force members have been interviewed by Storr and they claim that contrary to the findings reported, no such positive statistics were available. Instead, the results were mixed, but the legislature in California could not be presented with mixed results and the public was fed a falsehood.

According to those Storr interviewed, Vasco, as a politician, also had power within the university. "Scholarly gobbledygook" is how one of those working with Vasco described the findings.

These salutary papers and books now emerging are casting a troubling light on the power of uncritical, politically driven, social research.

How many other received wisdoms now accepted in public life are "scholarly gobbledygook"?
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Colette Browne Opinion Every effort must be made to retrieve oral histories of mother and baby home survivors

With three days to go until the Mother and Baby Homes Commission ceases to exist as a legal entity, we are being told that audio recordings of hundreds of witnesses which were deleted may not actually be gone forever. It is another usual twist in a most emotional saga. For decades, survivors of mother and baby homes have been denied a voice and denied autonomy. When they fell pregnant, many through rape and abuse, they were marched to the doors of religious institutions.
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Colm McCarthy Opinion Free money is not the way to head off a crisis

Managing the macro economy involves three perspectives. These are the short-term  the next six months or a year; the medium-term  the next four or five years; and the long-term  the issues that demand to be addressed decades in advance. From the perspective of Irish governments in recent times, only the short-term merits attention, with the medium-term left to the civil service and the long-term to sporadic commissions and academic worrywarts.
It's almost as if he expected Martine McCutcheon to come walking in with her tea trolley.

An excitable Taoiseach Leo Varadkar could barely contain his enthusiasm as he stepped across the threshold of 10 Downing Street, and his "thrill" as he encountered the same staircase where Hugh Grant's prime minister danced to Girls Aloud's cover of 'Jump' in 2004 film 'Love Actually'.

He can hardly be blamed for being somewhat overawed by his first experience of Downing Street just days into his new role as Taoiseach - but perhaps he could have kept his geek-out moment to himself.

Mr Varadkar had a 45-minute meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May during which they discussed Brexit and re-establishing the power-sharing executive in the North.

He began his remarks at their joint press conference by thanking Mrs May for the meeting at short notice, saying: "It's my first time in this building so there's a little thrill in it as well."

Mr Varadkar said that he was "reminded of that famous scene in 'Love Actually' where Hugh Grant was dancing down the stairs".

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"But apparently it wasn't actually filmed here," he added.

The British press and commentators seemed somewhat amused by Mr Varadkar's bizarre reference - with major media outlets posting video of his 'Love Actually' comments moments later.

Robert Peston, ITV's political editor, later tweeted: "Irish premier Varadkar says thrilled to visit 10 Downing St because saw it in 'Love Actually'. Apparently UK now has Disneyland status." A sadface emoji followed.

Tragedies

Mr Varadkar swiftly changed subject to the tragedies that have befallen Britain in recent weeks - the Manchester attack, the London Bridge terror attack, the Grenfell Tower fire and the van attack outside Finsbury Park Mosque in the early hours of yesterday morning.

In fairness to the Taoiseach, he recovered well, expressing the heartfelt horror of the Irish people for what has happened in London.

"London is a very important city for Irish people. I think pretty much everybody in Ireland has somebody who lives here, a relative of theirs, and when there is an attack on London, we feel in Ireland that it's almost an attack on us as well."

As the press conference went on, the pair appeared on friendly terms, unlike Hugh Grant's encounter with the hawk-like US president portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton in 'Love Actually'.

Relationships

Mr Varadkar's predecessor Enda Kenny was known for dropping one or two clangers on trips abroad but was also praised for the relationships he built with foreign heads of state.

Ireland has a new leader on the world stage now.

It's Leo, actually.
France has woken up to a parliament dominated by the centrist party of Emmanuel Macron, yet a curious ambiance reigns.

In theory, the newly elected president now has all the levers of power at his disposal and yet there remains a nagging question: does he have the democratic clout to drive through reforms after an election in which 57pc of the electorate chose not to cast a ballot?

It was supposed to be a landslide the likes of which haven't been seen since Charles de Gaulle. In the end, his La Republique en Marche! (Republic on the Move!) party took 308 out of the 577 seats up for grabs in the National Assembly - and 350 counting its centrist Modem allies.

That is an impressive score for a party that didn't exist a year ago, and gives it well over the 289 seats required for an absolute majority.

Three-quarters of the National Assembly has been renewed, with many MPs political debutants from civil society. A record number - some 223 are women - up from 155 seats in the previous parliament.

The main opposition will come from a mainstream right - which won 130 seats - many of whose number have already made it clear they will be co-operative when it comes to voting for reform.

Yet the Macron majority is smaller than that of Jacques Chirac in 2002 (365 seats for his UMP party and a presidential majority with allies of 400 MPs). It is well below the 484-MP majority the right clinched in 1993 - a record.

"This narrow electoral base weakens the Macron wave of the presidential elections and puts the brakes on his irrepressible dynamic of the past few months," said political analyst Bruno Cautres.

The searing question is: who is this army of abstainers and does its vision of France's future tally with Mr Macron's liberal, reformist, pro-European outlook?

By its very nature, France's presidential system breeds abstention, as even if crucial, the legislative election is seen as simply rubber-stamping the new head of state with a parliamentary majority and almost a foregone conclusion.

Yet this time, abstention was a full 13 points higher than in 2012.

Cause for concern is the fact 'la France populaire' of the young and the workers stayed away en masse.

The president's rivals, naturally, claim this proves he lacks legitimacy. Mr Macron made it clear he intends to press ahead with labour reforms, which he hopes to push through parliament via decree in the coming months. The worry is that yet again the street will block attempts to reform France. The man who would be the figurehead of 'la rue', far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, wasted no time staking claim over the abstainers - a force he called "available energy" to launch a "civic general strike" against Mr Macron's "social coup d'etat".

"Not a foot of ground will be given up in the labour law struggle," Mr Melenchon said in a fiery speech after winning a seat for Marseille.

A brilliant and rousing orator, Mr Melenchon will undoubtedly be a thorn in Mr Macron's side in parliament. Another will be Marine Le Pen, far-right leader of the Front National (FN). But the threat from both is limited; Mr Melenchon's Unbowed France party only has 17 seats, while the FN has just eight.

The Macron camp sees things differently. Edouard Philippe, his prime minister, interpreted high abstention as "an ardent desire to succeed". Yet on Sunday, Laurent Berger, head of the biggest, moderate, CFDT union, warned that France could expect violent protests if reform was bulldozed through.

On the plus side, the unions know and respect new labour minister Muriel Penicaud, a former head of HR at food group Danone who has also held a variety of posts in public and private institutions.

"Macron should seize this rather contradictory result and make proposals that show he cares about the electors who didn't go out and vote for his reforms," Mr Cautres told 'France Info'. "We all know the honeymoon period will end. It's up to him to prolong it by not giving the impression of being a hyper president who doesn't listen."

The really tricky part of the Macron presidency starts now.
William Jordan (2) shows off his toy digger at Portmarnock beach. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Aisling Gale cools off in the water at Portmarnock. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

Anna Purchala and Gracja Formlla, both from Clondalkin, have fun on Portmarnock beach. Photo: Gareth Chaney Collins

THE heatwave looks set to continue with temperatures predicted to reach highs of 27C tomorrow.

Met Eireann has issued a yellow weather warning for Dublin, Carlow, Kildare, Wicklow and Meath, as temperatures are expected to soar.

The warning is in place from Wednesday at midday until Wednesday evening at 6pm.

Sadly, the good weather will not last until the weekend with scattered showers predicted to fall on Friday and temperatures dropping to 15-18C.

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Today will be warm and dry with blue skies and sunny spells.

Moderate easterly winds will keep temperatures along coastlines around 19C or 20C.

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Further inland mercury readings will hit 25C or 26C degrees.

Liz Walsh of Met Eireann said the majority of the country will enjoy heatwave conditions over the next few days.

Wednesday will be a hazy and sun soaked in the early afternoon.

However, the increasingly humid conditions could result in thundery outbreaks later in the day.

Thursday will be mostly dry with some bright spells.

It will be a much fresher day with highs of 15C to 20C.

However, it will become cloudier along the west and north-west later in the day with some drizzle in the evening.

Ms Walsh said while the weather will take a turn for the worse on Friday,

it wont be raining all the time.

Ms Walsh said she was unable to confirm if Ireland is likely to have another heatwave this summer.

We cant say at this stage if we will experience similar weather for the rest of the summer, she said.
The Brexit negotiations suffered a pretty embarrassing setback yesterday over timetabling.

Brexit Secretary David Davis had wanted trade talks to take place in parallel with negotiations on the divorce bill from Brussels and had previously warned that the dispute would be the row of the summer.

But on day one, the UK ended up agreeing to a different Brexit timetable set out by the European Commissions chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, meaning those important trade talks will have to wait.

People are not impressed with the way things are looking so far.

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Although perhaps he was talking about a British summer in particular?

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Davis is now meeting members of Spains government on day two as part of his effort to build bridges across the continent, where talks are expected to include the tricky issue of Gibraltar after the EUs guidelines for talks suggested the territorys future economic status might be subject to a veto from Madrid.
Johnny Depp acknowledged he needed to work his ass off to fund his two million dollar-a-month lifestyle, his former managers have claimed.

Depp, 54, sued The Management Group (TMG) claiming they had cost him tens of millions of dollars and they retaliated with a suit saying they had repeatedly warned him about his excessive spending.

The firm handed Los Angeles Superior Court a batch of emails and records of phone calls on Monday in an attempt to overwhelmingly establish that the Hollywood actor was aware of his dire financial situation.

In one call in October 2009, the Pirates Of The Caribbean actors sister and personal manager Christi Dembrowski is said to have told TMG co-owner Joel Mandel that he acknowledged his situation.

In a record of the call, Mr Mandel wrote: She stated that she had spoken with her brother, and that he stated that he was well aware of his financial situation, and that he understood that he needs to work his ass off to make the money that he needs to support his life.

In an email in December that year, Depp told Mr Mandel he was trying to limit his spending but wanted to treat his family at Christmas.

I am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much I can do, as I need to give my kiddies and famille as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason, Depp wrote.

He added that he could only take private flights because commercial trips with paparazzi would be a nightmare of monumental proportions.

Video of the Day

Depp said he would be making 75 million dollars (59 million) that year from The Tourist, the fourth Pirates Of The Caribbean film and Dark Shadows.

I hope that by the amount that will be coming in from work in the coming year and also from back end proceeds, etc, will put everything straight, he wrote.

He also listed steps he had taken to shore up his finances, which are said to have taken a hammering from expenditure on a string of luxury properties and fine wines.

Other than that, I got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings and some semblance of a soul left. Where would you like me to start?? he added.

Depp is seeking damages of more than 25 million dollars (20 million) from the firm he sacked in March last year after 17 years together, while TMG is asking for 560,000 dollars (433,000) in damages.

The case continues.
A photo of a meeting between Marco Rubio and Ivanka Trump has gone viral after the Republican Senator looked to be rejected when he went in for a hug.

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Associated Press photographer Erica Werner posted the photo on Twitter explaining that the Presidents daughter was due to meet politicians to discuss child tax credit.

However, what began as a run of the mill tweet soon became an object of fun as Twitter users revelled in the seemingly awkward photo  in which Trump stands stock still as Rubio leans in for an embrace.

From drawing comparisons with popular culture

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 to making up their own captions, the internet was having a lot of fun with the image.

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Rubio ran against Donald Trump in the Republican primary last year, and was a vocal critic of the now US president at that time. However, he and his wife had dinner with the Trumps in February and he also dined at the White House in early June along with other Republican Senators.

Some we left wondering if this was Rubios approach to all people he meets, or just Ivanka.

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Others turned their attention to the chap in the background, who looks disapprovingly up at the pair.

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Whichever element of the photo is most awkward to viewers, it seems relations were a little less frosty after the meeting.
Taiwanese animal rights activists are calling for tougher rules on killing dogs for meat

Dogs in cages are sold by vendors at a market during a dog meat festival in Yulin in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Restaurateurs in a southern Chinese town are holding an annual dog meat festival despite international criticism.

A dog which was purchased by animal right activists in order to rescue it from dog dealers, is seen in a cage nearby a dog trading market ahead of local dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi Autonomous Region REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Bali is a popular destination for tourists. Attracting both budget backpackers and luxury honeymooners, its the most developed Indonesian island. But according to a new report, visitors to the island are being duped and unknowingly eating dog meat that they think is chicken.

Animal protection organisation Animals Australia recently conducted an investigation into the matter, entitled Bali's hidden meat trade - and its disturbing connection to Australian tourism.

They found that every day, dogs - including pets - are being taken off the streets of Bali and killed, often brutally, to be sold as meat to tourists.

Dumped in bamboo crates or plastic rice sacks, terrified dogs await the nightly slaughter with legs tied and mouths taped shut, Animals Australia say.

They may languish like this for hours or days without food or water. One by one they will be brutally slaughtered in full view of their companions.

And business is booming. Year on year, seven times more dogs are slaughtered in Bali than in Chinas notorious Yulin Dog Eating Festival.

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The full findings were broadcast on Australia's ABCs 7.30 program on Monday night.

Its reportedly street food vendors who are most likely to be selling dog meat as chicken, but about 70 restaurants in Bali have been found to sell dog meat too.

Often its sold with the word satay, and the sellers allow tourists to presume its chicken.

Tourists will walk down a street, they'll see a street store selling satay but what they are not realising is the letters RW on the store mean it is dog meat being served, Animals Australia campaign director Lyn White told the ABC.

Expand Close A dog which was purchased by animal right activists in order to rescue it from dog dealers, is seen in a cage nearby a dog trading market ahead of local dog meat festival in Yulin, Guangxi Autonomous Region REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon / Facebook

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Poisoned meat is entering the food chain.

The dog-meat trade breaches animal cruelty laws and food safety laws. That is a statement of fact, she said.

Animals Australia used an undercover investigator to find out just how bad the dog trade in Bali was.

I began the investigation by pinpointing and getting to know the key players in Bali's completely unregulated dog-meat industry, the investigator said.

Expand Close Dogs in cages are sold by vendors at a market during a dog meat festival in Yulin in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Restaurateurs in a southern Chinese town are holding an annual dog meat festival despite international criticism. / Facebook

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Eventually, they invited me to join them as their gangs stole, hunted, poisoned and killed dogs.

He spoke to a seller who admitted he was selling dog meat, but then proceeded to tell tourists it was chicken.

As an animal cruelty investigator, I have trained myself to cope with cruelty, but nothing prepared me for the brutal catching of dogs in the village, he said.

I focused on my camera work but it was gut-wrenching to hear these dogs... screaming and wailing in terror and sorrow.

Not only are dogs being tortured for this trade, but those who eat the meat could also be at risk.

According to New South Wales Poisons Information Centre director Dr Andrew Dawson, the dog meat could be poisoned, which could lead to symptoms such as nausea, muscle aches, shortness of breath and may also cause organ and nerve damage.

If you are eating, for example, a curry and it was including bits of the animal stomach or the heart, then you would expect really high concentrations of cyanide... which could be fatal, Dr Dawson said.

Some people in Bali are fighting to end the trade though - the Balinese Animal Welfare Association, for example, works to protect the islands dogs.

Theyre currently looking after about 150 dogs, but its a long way off the estimated 70,000 that are slaughtered every year for the dog meat trade.
Otto Warmbier being escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang in March last year (AP)

The organisers of a trip to North Korea by an American college student who died after being released from prison in a coma have said they will no longer take US citizens to the country.

Young Pioneer Tours said on its Facebook page that the death of 22-year-old Otto Warmbier shows that the risk American tourists face in visiting North Korea "has become too high".

Mr Warmbier died in Ohio on Monday, days after being released by North Korea.

Other North Korea tour operators, including Koryo Tours, founded by British expatriates in Beijing, and Uri Tours, with offices in New Jersey and Shanghai, said they are "reviewing" their policies for American citizens ahead of a possible travel ban that has been mooted by US secretary of state Rex Tillerson.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang called Mr Warmbier's death a "tragedy".

He told reporters at a daily news briefing that he hopes Pyongyang and Washington could communicate over related issues.

China, North Korea's long-time communist ally and biggest source of economic and diplomatic assistance, provides the largest number of tourists to the country by far.

Mr Warmbier was among the estimated 5,000 non-Chinese who visit North Korea every year on packages that often include trips to Pyongyang, the capital, as well as the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, Mount Paektu and sometimes the Masik ski resort.

Americans comprise about a fifth of all non-Chinese tourists to North Korea, tour operators say.

Young Pioneer Tours, which was founded by British expatriate Gareth Johnson, said that it was denied any opportunity to meet with Mr Warmbier after his detention, and that the way it was handled was "appalling".

"There has still been almost no information disclosed about his period in detention," the company said in its Facebook statement.

"Considering these facts and this tragic outcome we will no longer be organizing tours for U.S. citizens to North Korea."

The travel agency specialises in North Korea tours and is based in the central Chinese city of Xi'an.

It also offers tours to Iran, Turkmenistan and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site in Ukraine, among other locations.

Mr Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour, convicted of subversion after he tearfully confessed he had tried to steal a North Korean propaganda banner.

The University of Virginia student was held for more than 17 months and medically evacuated from North Korea last week.

Doctors said he returned with severe brain damage, but it was not clear how that occurred.

Three other Americans are still imprisoned in North Korea, accused of crimes against the Pyongyang regime.

The US government says North Korea is using such detainees as political pawns.

North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

The administration of President Donald Trump has been pushing China hard to use its influence with North Korea to curtail its development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

While Beijing may attempt to use such leverage to free Americans in the North, its influence is limited, said Jin Qianyi, a professor at Yanbian University's Institute of Northeast Asia Studies, which sits along the border with North Korea.

Beijing also needs to ensure it maintains channels of communication with Pyongyang, whatever their differences, Jin said.

"I personally believe that it is not possible for China to step up sanctions against North Korea because China has already been tough. How much tougher can it be?" Jin said.

AP
Doctors can withdraw life-support treatment from the baby with a rare genetic condition against his parents' wishes, a High Court judge has ruled

Doctors have been told to continue providing life-support treatment to a terminally ill baby at the centre of a high-profile legal battle for another three weeks to give judges in the European Court of Human Rights time to analyse the case.

Chris Gard and Connie Yates want 10-month-old Charlie Gard, who suffers from a rare genetic condition and has brain damage, to undergo a therapy trial in the US.

Specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London, where Charlie is being cared for, say therapy proposed by a doctor in the US is experimental and will not help.

They say life support treatment should stop.

Charlie's parents hope judges in the European Court of Human Rights, in Strasbourg, France, will come to their aid after losing battles in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court in London.

Supreme Court justices in London have ordered Great Ormond Street specialists to keep providing life-support treatment until midnight on July 10.

Expand Close Chris Gard and Connie Yates with their son Charlie Gard / Facebook

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Three justices had analysed issues relating to continued treatment, pending a decision by European court judges, at a hearing in London early on Monday.

Lady Hale, the Supreme Court's Deputy President, had headed the justices' panel and has outlined conclusions in a written ruling.

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She said justices had to consider whether to further "stay" a High Court judge's decision to allow doctors to stop providing life support treatment.

Lady Hale said Mr Justice Francis had decided what was in Charlie's best interests.

Charlie's parents had already been given time to mount challenges in the appeal court and Supreme Court.

"It is hard to over-stress the difficulty which, in this desperately painful case in which the intensity of the parents' feelings is so entirely understandable, the prospect of yet a further stay places upon this court, upon the hospital and, of course overarchingly ... upon Charlie himself," said Lady Hale.

"Mr Justice Francis made his declarations on 11 April 2017.

"Since then there have been numerous successive stays of them.

"Every day since 11 April 2017 the stays have obliged the hospital to take a course which, as is now clear beyond doubt or challenge, is not in the best interests of Charlie.

"The hospital finds itself in an acutely difficult ethical dilemma."

She added: "We three members of this court find ourselves in a situation which, so far as we can recall, we have never previously experienced.

"By granting a stay, even of short duration, we would in some sense be complicit in directing a course of action which is contrary to Charlie's best interests."

But Lady Hale said Charlie's parents also had a right to ask the European court to consider the case and she said justices had decided that treatment should continue.

"With considerable hesitation we direct that the judge's declarations be further stayed for a period of three weeks, namely until midnight on 10/11 July 2017," she said.

"We respectfully urge our colleagues in the European Court of Human Rights to do everything in their power to address the proposed application by then.

"We consider at present that we would feel the gravest difficulty if asked to act yet further against Charlie's best interests by directing an even longer extension of the stay."
The death toll from the Grenfell Tower tragedy rose to 79, police said yesterday, as Britain stopped to remember those killed in the fire.

Five people have been formally identified after a blaze tore through the residential block on Wednesday in west London, Metropolitan Police Commander Stuart Cundy said.

The rest are missing, presumed dead, and Mr Cundy said "the awful reality is that we may not be able to identify all those who died" inside what is now a blackened and charred shell.

Three victims were named yesterday: Ya-Haddy Sisi Saye, also known as Khadija Saye (24), Abufars Ibrahim (39), and Anthony Disson (65) all lived in the 24-storey block. The other two confirmed fatalities were Mohammad Alhajali (23) and a woman whose family do not want her name to be released.

There were emotional scenes at the site in north Kensington at 11am as firefighters halted work to join residents for a minute's silence held to remember those who lost their lives and all others affected by the blaze.

The silence was also observed at government buildings across the country.

Mr Cundy said the death toll may still change, but not as significantly as in recent days. He fought back tears as he told reporters at New Scotland Yard about the scene inside the tower. Footage has been released showing the extent of the damage.

He said it had been "incredibly emotional working in there", adding: "On Saturday I went in myself and went to the top floor.

"And it is incredibly hard to describe the devastation in some parts of that building."

Speaking later outside Scotland Yard, Mr Cundy added: "I have investigated major crime for most of my service and I have seen some terrible things. But I don't think anything prepared me for what I was going to see when I was in there. It's hard to describe my feelings, because I cannot imagine, and I would not want to put myself in the position of those families who have lost their loved ones.

"But being with colleagues from the London Fire Brigade when I was in there, colleagues from the London Ambulance Service and other police officers, I think it's fair to say it is incredibly emotional working in there. But we will do it with our utmost professionalism and we will do everything we can as quickly as we can to locate everybody who is in there."

Five people who had been reported missing after the disaster have been found safe and well, he added.

Amid anger in the wake of the disaster, which was described by London Mayor Sadiq Khan as a "preventable accident", the government announced those left homeless will be given at least 5,500 (6,279) from an emergency fund.

Residents will be given 500 (570) in cash followed by a bank payment for the rest from Monday and the money will come from the 5m (5.7m) fund announced by Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday.

Mr Cundy said police had received 70 pictures and videos of the fire from the public and urged them to send more as officers investigate the blaze.

He would not be drawn on the specifics of the criminal investigation of the fire, including whether anyone had been arrested or raids carried out.

He said 250 investigators were working on the case, with a primary aim of identifying victims and inform their loved ones as soon as possible.
Mohammed Mahmoud (C), an Imam at Finsbury Park Mosque, gives a statement to the media at a police cordon in the Finsbury Park area of north London on June 19, 2017, following a vehicle attack on pedestrians. / AFP PHOTO / Isabel INFANTESISABEL INFANTES/AFP/Getty Images

Mohammed Mahmoud, an Imam at Finsbury Park Mosque, gives a statement to the media at a police cordon in the Finsbury Park area of north London on June 19, 2017, following a vehicle attack on pedestrians. AFP PHOTO / Isabel INFANTESISABEL INFANTES/AFP/Getty Images

An imam from a nearby mosque helped calm the situation as angered witnesses swarmed around the suspect of the Finsbury Park mosque attack on Monday.

One man died and 10 others were injured when a van was rammed into worshippers, before the driver is said to have screamed: "I'm going to kill all Muslims".

Bystanders held down the Darren Osborne, the man suspected of driving a van into pedestrians and reportedly punched and kicked him.

Imam Mohammed Mahmoud shouted "don't touch him! No one touch him!" as police came to detain the suspect.

Incredible moment as hundreds of Londoners brought in solidarity with worshippers at Finsbury Park Mosque inc @SadiqKhan #WeStandTogether pic.twitter.com/X1aFqF5Jxp  James Bevan (@BevanJa) June 19, 2017

He told Sky News: "Last night as many of you know we arrived on the scene within minutes after the accident and we found the assailant on the floor, he'd been restrained by around three people, and the injured and deceased brother, they were being attended to and CPR was being administered on them.

"A group of people began to collect around the assailant and some tried to kill him with kicks or punches.

"With God's grace we managed to stop all forms of attack and abuse that were coming on him from every angle.

"A police drove past by coincidence, we flagged him down and told him what was going on.

Expand Close Mohammed Mahmoud (C), an Imam at Finsbury Park Mosque, gives a statement to the media at a police cordon in the Finsbury Park area of north London on June 19, 2017, following a vehicle attack on pedestrians. / AFP PHOTO / Isabel INFANTESISABEL INFANTES/AFP/Getty Images / Facebook

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"We said if you don't take him he might be seriously hurt. We pushed people away from him before he was safely taken away by police into custody and put into the back of a van."

The Muslim Welfare House praised the bravery of its imam who helped to calm the situation as members of the public detained the suspected attacker.

People shouted "Why did you do that? Why?" at the suspect, while another shouted "d---head".

But another shouted at them not to touch him.

A statement posted on the website of the Muslim Welfare House said the organisation had hosted a Great Get Together event in the memory of murdered MP Jo Cox for all faiths a few days ago and that the Muslim community in the area is "horrified" and "shocked" by Monday's incident.

"We have worked very hard over decades to build a peaceful and tolerant community here in Finsbury Park and we totally condemn any act of hate that tries to drive our wonderful community apart," it said.

"We would appeal for calm at this time. It is unhelpful for there to be speculation about the incident. All of our efforts should be towards getting justice for the victims and ensuring our community stays the diverse, tolerant and welcome place we know it to be. We call on all, including the media, to act responsibly at this time.

"We have already met with the police, council and our local MP, Jeremy Corbyn. We would like to thank them for their support.

"Our mosque and welfare centre provides vital support to many people in north London and we will continue to do this despite this incident.

"Muslim Welfare House has always welcomed the whole community. Only a few days ago we hosted a Great Get Together in memory of Jo Cox, attended by people of every faith and background.

"I would like to particularly thank our imam, Mohammed Mahmoud, whose bravery and courage helped calm the immediate situation after the incident and prevented further injuries and potential loss of life."

Mr Mahmoud continued: "This community of ours is a mild-mannered and calm community, not known for any violence. Our mosques are very peaceful and we will do our utmost to calm down any tensions.

"Immediately after the attack people were calm and they were praying for the victims of the attack".
A humbled Theresa May will propose a hollowed-out plan for government on Wednesday, as figures in her own party admitted it would be her first and last.

The Prime Ministers legislative agenda set out in the Queens Speech will be stripped of Tory pledges after Ms Mays election campaign left her party without enough MPs to pass more contentious plans.

Instead she will focus what little clout she has on pushing through Brexit  even there she adopted a distinctly softer tone in a bid to stave off a potentially damaging cabinet split.

Ms May will also be forced to endure the embarrassment of putting her Queens Speech before Parliament without knowing if it can be passed, as she wrote it having failed to secure the support of Democratic Unionist Party MPs needed for her Commons majority.

Speaking ahead of the speech, the Prime Minister appeared to acknowledge the limitations of her plans.

The election result was not the one I hoped for, but this Government will respond with humility and resolve to the message the electorate sent, she said.

It means that a string of key promises from her manifesto will be ditched  including U-turns on plans to axe universal school meals and dump the triple lock on pensions.

The major roll-out of new grammar schools  which Ms May had wanted to make a signature policy of her premiership  also looked set to be put on ice.

A senior member of the Government told The independent: Its fair to say what we end up with is going to be a long way from the manifesto.

Because of the election result, knowing it is all the more difficult to get legislation through, its going to be a Queens Speech that reflects the implications.

The main thing will be Brexit, and we now have a two-year session to achieve that. But the wish list for the world in which we were going to have a majority  thats just not reality anymore.

Another minister agreed, saying Ms Mays plans had simply needed to be cut back.

He added: That means its going to be a realistic Queens Speech that recognises how some of the more controversial proposals that we had will now be difficult to achieve.

Ms May said the first priority was getting Brexit right, with the related legislation likely to form the lions share of her agenda for a parliamentary session extended to two years in order to handle Britains withdrawal.

But just hours after her own Chancellor Philip Hammond gave a speech challenging the hardline Brexit rhetoric she used before the election, Ms May herself signalled a softer approach.

She said: First, we need to get Brexit right.

That means getting a deal which delivers the result of last years referendum and does so in a way that commands maximum public support.

It follows on from a meeting with the influential Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, at which Ms May was forced to say she would listen to all the voices in the party, having initially called an election attacking those refusing to fall in behind her.

Her approach also took a knock earlier this week, when Brexit Secretary David Davis undertook an embarrassing U-turn on the first day of negotiations with the EU  being forced to accept that withdrawal talks would be prioritised over discussions about future trade.

But indications that Ms May is looking to adjust her position on negotiations, to keep Tories desiring a softer Brexit happy, have riled Leave-backing cabinet ministers who have reportedly threatened to quit if the Prime Minister abandons her tough stance.

One backbencher told The UK Independent: The Queens Speech is basically all about Brexit.

It will be Brexit-heavy because thats pretty much the only big thing that everyone can agree needs to happen  putting disagreements about how it will happen aside.

As well as the planned Great Repeal Bill, to absorb all EU laws into British statute on day one of Brexit, there will also be a raft of other pieces of legislation relating to the UKs withdrawal from the EU and trade.

Then, instead of the bolder vision beyond Brexit she had set out in her manifesto, Conservative sources confirmed Ms Mays proposals would be limited to bills to reduce motor insurance premiums and restructure financial authorities, alongside draft bills to strengthen domestic violence laws and scrap tenants fees.

There are also likely to be measures relating to improving mental health care and technical education and to try and form a coherent policy on paying for social care  the issue that derailed her election campaign.

Plans to increase the national living wage and to bear down on the deficit as previously planned will also be confirmed.

A senior backbencher said: This is going to be her first and last Queens Speech.

She has very little leeway to get things through  if you look at grammar schools for example, how can that possibly be a part of it?

The whips are going to be telling her, you have very little political capital. Dont waste it on things like that.

Another Tory insider cited a hated new school funding formula as an area where Ms May could have to make concessions to keep her newly empowered backbenchers from toppling her, while a second Tory MP said: Its unlikely there are going to be too many Theresa May Queens Speeches.

But even as she tries to manage the pressures from her own benches, the Prime Minister must still secure the support of another party  the Northern Irish DUP  whose 10 MPs she needs to have a Commons majority.

The Conservatives had hoped to lock-in a confidence and supply deal before taking her planned laws to Parliament, but on Tuesday DUP sources reported that talks were not going as expected.

The party found itself urging the Government to give greater focus to the negotiations and warned that, despite only having a handful of MPs, it can't be taken for granted.

A vote to approve the Queens Speech delivered on Wednesday will not take place until the following week, giving Ms May a few more precious days to cement their support.

Another frontbencher said: We are hoping and praying that it will get through.

It is all the more embarrassing because Downing Street made it known that they had secured a deal with the DUP 10 days ago, only for the Northern Irish party to deny the claim.

Conservative sources have nonetheless said they are confident the Queens Speech vote will pass, citing Brexit, preserving the United Kingdom and fighting terror as common ground.

( Independent News Service)
Police and emergency services outside the mosque as a victim lies on the road. Photo: Rex/Shutterstock

The father-of-four suspected of mowing down a group of worshippers outside a London mosque was a "complex" and "troubled" individual known for flipping his lid when he drank too much, it has been claimed.

Darren Osborne, (47), was last night being held in custody on suspicion of terror offences including attempted murder.

After ploughing down a group of men as they left Ramadan prayers, he is alleged to have rammed his hired van into bollards before jumping out and shouting I'm going to kill all Muslims - I did my bit.

Mobile phone footage taken by onlookers showed him wild eyed and sweating as he repeatedly shouted kill me.

But as he left the vehicle he was chased and pinned to the floor before being dragged along the pavement where his victims bodies lay strewn.

When the police eventually arrived, Osborne smiled, waved and blew kisses, apparently taunting witnesses as he was bundled into the back of a van.

He was recognised on television by stunned Welsh neighbours more used to seeing him on the school run, who rang the police to identify him.

They later described him as "shouty" and "aggressive" but said they were gobsmacked to learn that he was a terror suspect.

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Osborne was born in Singapore but raised by his parents John and Christine in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, where he attended Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College.

Mrs Osborne, (72), told ITV News her son was a "complex" person, adding: "I'm not going to defend him but you know he's my son and it's a terrible terrible shock and it's not just robbing the bank, it's an atrocity.

At this moment in time I can't cope with it, I can't. It's a terrible, terrible shock."

She claimed he was "disturbed" and had been on medication for mental health problems. She said she had recognised him straightaway in television reports, describing it as "every mother's worst nightmare".

My son is no terrorist  hes just a man with problems and I dont know how to cope with all this", she told The Sun.

Neighbours described Mrs Osborne as "long-suffering. One said: "She is a great grandmother - Darren's nephew stays a lot.

"Darren's not had a bad life.

"He's had quite a privileged life. He's had more options than a lot of people."

His former drinking partners described him as a "loveable mentalist".

His sister, (50), said her brother had been "troubled for a long time."

She added: "Sorry is not a word that you can use really.

"I'm sorry that my brother has been that troubled that it has taken him to that level of troubledness."

She insisted he was "not interested in terrorism".

Osborne left Weston-Super-Mare several years ago and moved to a terraced house in Pentwyn, Cardiff with his partner, children and two dogs.

The couple have four children, aged between 16 and five and Osborne is said to help with the daily school run.

A complicated picture emerged of his personal life, with neighbours describing him as a "family man" who was heard singing in his kitchen with his children on Sunday afternoon, just hours before he is alleged to have driven to London.

However, others said they believed he and his partner had separated in recent months and that he was often seen shouting at her in the street.

Pharmacist Rebecca Carpenter, 26, said: "He's quite a shouty person, always shouting at his wife and kids.

"He drove around in an old car that was always damaged.

"He never caused us any real problems, but we could often hear him shouting from the other side of the street.

"None of us have ever really spoken to him but we recognised him straight away when we saw him on the telly this morning.

Another neighbour said: "I actually heard him singing in the street yesterday - weird really. I never knew what he did for a living.

His partner was described as "a really nice woman" by those who know her through work.

One said: "She's a kind and friendly person. Everyone said she was too good for him."

Osborne, who was not known to the police or security services, is believed to have driven 15 miles from his home in the Welsh capital to Pontyclun Van Hire on Sunday, hiring an 80-a-night Luton van.

He then drove more than 150 miles to north London throughout the evening, careering onto the pavement in Finsbury Park shortly after midnight.

Owners the van hire said they were shocked and saddened that one of their vehicles was used in the attack and pledged to help the police with their investigation.

Neighbour Saleem Naema, 50, a taxi driver, said: I can't believe it. I know him. I've lived here for five years, he was already living here when I moved in.

"If I ever needed anything he would come. I just can't believe that he did that. I am a Muslim."

Khadijeh Sherizi, who lives next door to Osborne, said: "I saw him on the news and I thought 'oh my God' that is my neighbour.

"He has been so normal. He was in his kitchen yesterday afternoon singing with his kids.

"He was the dad of the family. He has kids. He lives next door. He seemed polite and pleasant to me.

"I just can't believe it."

One of his former neighbours in Weston-Super-Mare, who did not wish to be named, said: "We all know Darren, from our youth generally.

"When I heard what happened it absolutely made me feel ill. You don't imagine this.

"Weston is a small town. He would just drink too much and flip the switch I guess.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
People are seen outside Brussels central station as police control access to the building in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

Police officials and firefighters speak on a street outside Gare Centrale in Brussels on June 20, 2017, after an explosion in the Belgian capital. AFP/Getty Images

Police officials and soldiers stand alert in a cordoned off area outside Gare Centrale in Brussels on June 20, 2017, after an explosion in the Belgian capital. AFP/Getty Images

Soldiers speak as they stand alert in a cordoned off area on a street outside Gare Centrale in Brussels. AFP/Getty Images

Belgian troops shot dead a suspected "terrorist" bomber in Brussels Central Station on Tuesday but there were no other casualties and the situation was brought under control after people were evacuated, officials said.

Spokeswoman Ine Van Wymersch said the man had been lying still since soldiers shot him on Tuesday night.

Leger is intussen ook aangekomen en veiligheidsperimeter is groter. #vrtnieuws #Brussels pic.twitter.com/HrsuUeXOto  Nikeli De Ceuninck (@NikeliDC) June 20, 2017

She said medics were unable to attend to him for several hours out of fear he could be carrying explosives.

Ms Van Wymersch said authorities could only confirm his death once a bomb squad had finished its work.

Expand Close People are seen outside Brussels central station as police control access to the building in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo / Facebook

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Whatsapp People are seen outside Brussels central station as police control access to the building in Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2016. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt says soldiers "neutralised" a suspect at Central Station immediately after a small explosion.

He said the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.

It appeared no one else was injured and the damage from the explosion was limited, Ms Van Wymersch said.

Police had quickly evacuated the station and surrounding areas of historic downtown Brussels after the incident around 8:30 pm . The streets had been busy with tourists and locals enjoying a hot evening but were soon largely deserted and calm. Rail traffic was largely suspended.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a station employee, told public broadcaster RTBF that he saw a man shouting in a lower level of the 1930s station, which serves lines running under the city centre. He then appeared to yell "Allahu Akbar" in Arabic and to detonate something on a luggage trolley. People standing within three metres of the trolley were unhurt, Herrewegen said.

As Prime Minister Charles Michel consulted with his security advisers, the national alert level was maintained at its second highest level.

The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell launched an attack that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015. Associates of those attackers, four months later, killed 32 people in their home city, including with bombs loaded on trolleys at Brussels Airport.

Combat troops have been a fixture at transport hubs and in the main public areas since the Paris attacks. A series of further attacks in neighbouring France and Germany in the past year, as well as recent bloodshed in London and Manchester, have added to anxiety.

Stationmaster Jean-Michel Michel was quoted by DH newspaper saying: "We heard the explosion. My colleague thought it was a bomb. The explosion was on the mezzanine level. The man went down to platforms 3 and 4. He said 'Allahu Akbar'...

"I would put him at about 35 years old."

Prosecutor Van Der Sypt said: "At about 8.30 p.m. there was an explosion in the Central Station, relatively small in size.

"The suspected perpetrator was neutralised by the soldiers present. We cannot confirm if the man is still alive or dead. There were no further victims. We consider this a terrorist attack."

Ronan Flood, Managing Director at Dublin based Advantage Group, wrote on Twitter that he was in a restaurant in the Royal Galleries - 500m from Gare Central when the incident took place.

"We went into lockdown under direction of armed security guard."

Writing on Twitter he added: "Police now all over this like a rash but v impressed with private security guard with k9, he did the business securing the public."

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs issued advice shortly after the incident on Twitter.

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With additional reporting by Reuters and PA
An Irish businessman has revealed how he was just yards from Brussels Central station on Monday evening when a soldiers shot a terror suspect.

Ronan Flood, Managing Director at Dublin based Advantage Group, said he was in a restaurant in the Royal Galleries - 500m from Gare Central when the incident took place.

Soldiers shot the man in the centre of Brussels after a small explosion at the busy train station.

A bomb squad later performed a controlled explosion of a bomb belt the suspect was wearing.

Mr Flood described the immediate aftermath: "We went into lockdown under direction of armed security guard."

Writing on Twitter he added: "Police now all over this like a rash but v impressed with private security guard with k9, he did the business securing the public."

The panic was short lived and Mr Flood later posted a photo saying that residents evacuated from the Hilton Hotel were moved to the Warwick hotel.

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"Life goes on as normal in #Brussels," he wrote.

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs issued advice shortly after the incident on Twitter.

"Be vigilant, avoid immediate area and follow advice of local security authorities."

Belgian counter-terrorism police are investigating the motives of the suspected suicide bomber.

"We consider this a terrorist attack," prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt told reporters, declining to comment on witness accounts that the man had shouted Islamist slogans before detonating what witnesses said were one or two devices in luggage.

Broadcaster VTM quoted Interior Minister Jan Jambon as saying investigators had identified the man but were not releasing his name. A larger bomb failed to go off, VTM said.

Public broadcaster VRT said investigators believed the man had a nail bomb that failed to detonate completely.

Although no one was hurt, billows of smoke pouring through Central Station and memories of Islamic State attacks in the city last year, and more recently in Britain, France and elsewhere, sent evening commuters racing for cover.

Police halted rail traffic, evacuated the site and cleared streets crowded with tourists and residents enjoying a hot summer's evening in the historic city centre between the station and nearby Grand Place, Brussels' landmark Renaissance town square.

The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell organised an attack that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015. Associates of those attackers killed 32 people in their home city four months later.

Since then, attacks in France, but also in Germany, Sweden and, most recently, in Britain, have been carried out in the name of the Syria-based Islamist militant group by other young men, many of them locals, raising fears of more violence in a city where almost a quarter of the population of 1.2 million are Muslim.

Witnesses spoke of a man who shouted Islamist slogans, including "Allahu akbar" - God is greatest - in Arabic, in an underground area of the station still busy with commuters making their way home and seemed to set off one or two small blasts.

'ISOLATED ACTS'

Security experts said Tuesday's incident could have been similar to "lone-wolf" assaults carried out by radicalised individuals with limited access to weapons and training.

"Such isolated acts will continue in Brussels, in Paris and elsewhere. It's inevitable," Brussels security consultant Claude Moniquet, a former French agent, told broadcaster RTL.

With Islamic State under pressure in Syria - where Belgium has been the most fertile European recruiting ground for foreign Islamist fighters - he said attacks in Europe could increase, although many would be by "amateurs" doing little harm.

He compared Tuesday's incident to that on Paris' Champs-Elysees avenue a day earlier, when a man was killed when he rammed his car, filled with explosive and weapons, into a French police convoy. No one else was injured.

Rail worker Nicolas Van Herrewegen told Reuters that he was heading downstairs toward the underground platforms that serve long-distance and suburban lines running under the city centre.

"There was a man shouting, and shouting and shouting," he said. "He was talking about the jihadists and all that and then at some point he shouted: 'Allahu akbar' and blew up the little suitcase he had next to him. People just took off."

He described the man as quite dark and with short hair and said he was wearing a white shirt and black jeans.

Remy Bonnaffe, a 23-year-old lawyer who was waiting on the concourse for a train home to Ghent, said he was startled by an explosion as he listened to music on his headphones.

He took a photograph, which he later posted on Twitter, of flames shooting up from what he thought was a briefcase. There was a second blast farther away, which he could not see, followed by what sounded like gunfire, prompting him to run.

"I think we had some luck tonight," he told Reuters. "I'm happy that no one was injured and that this was basically a failed attempt." People just feet from the explosion appeared unhurt and he said he saw no obvious damage to nearby walls.

As Prime Minister Charles Michel consulted his security advisers, the national alert was maintained at its second highest level.

Michel, who convened a National Security Council meeting for 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) on Wednesday, tweeted his thanks to the security forces and railway staff for their professionalism and courage. Mainline trains were running through the station by the morning rush hour, but not stopping. The adjacent metro station was open as normal, the transport authorities said.
Buildings destroyed during fighting between Iraqi forces and Islamic State in western Mosul, Iraq (AP Photo/Bram Janssen, File)

A French video journalist and an Iraqi colleague have been killed in a mine blast while covering the operation to root out Islamic State extremists from Mosul.

State-owned France Televisions said in a statement on Tuesday that it "regrets to announce the death of Stephan Villeneuve, following a mine explosion in Mosul".

It said he had covered numerous conflicts, and expressed condolences to his wife Sophie and his four children.

Villeneuve was reporting for an investigative news programme called Envoye Special aired by France-2 television. The network would not comment further.

Iraqi media reported that Iraqi Kurdish journalist Bakhtiyar Haddad was also killed while working for the French team as a fixer and interpreter.

His funeral was shown on Iraqi television on Monday night.

AP
Police believe they have found the biggest collection of Nazi artifacts in Argentina's history, including a bust of Adolf Hitler, magnifying glasses inside elegant boxes with swastikas and a macabre medical device used to measure head size.

Some 75 objects were found hidden in a collector's home in Beccar, a suburb north of Buenos Aires, and authorities say they suspect they are originals that belonged to high-ranking Nazis in Germany during the Second World War.

"Our first investigations indicate that these are original pieces," security minister Patricia Bullrich said, adding that many pieces were accompanied by old photographs.

"This is a way to commercialise them, showing that they were used ... by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects."

Among the disturbing items were toys Ms Bullrich said would have been used to indoctrinate children, and a statue of the Nazi Eagle above a swastika.

Police are trying to determine how the artifacts entered Argentina and came to be in the room hidden behind a library in the house, she said. The raid that found them was carried out on June 8.

The main hypothesis among investigators and member of Argentina's Jewish community is that they were brought to Argentina by a high-ranking Nazi or Nazis after the war, when the South American country became a refuge for fleeing war criminals, including some of the best known.

As leading members of Hitler's Third Reich were put on trial for war crimes, Auschwitz physician Josef Mengele fled to Argentina and lived in Buenos Aires for a decade.

He moved to Paraguay after Israeli Mossad agents captured Holocaust mastermind Adolf Eichmann, who was also living in Buenos Aires. Mengele later died in Brazil in 1979 while swimming off a beach in the town of Bertioga.

While police in Argentina did not name any high-ranking Nazis to whom the objects might have originally belonged, Ms Bullrich noted there were medical devices.

"There are objects to measure heads, that was the logic of the Aryan race," she said.

AP
Jewish settlers in Amona, an unauthorised Israeli outpost in the West Bank (Oded Balilty/AP)

Ground has been broken in the West Bank for the first new Israeli settlement in two decades to compensate for an outpost demolished earlier this year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

It comes as US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, as well as son-in-law and aide Jared Kushner, arrived in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Mr Netanyahu had vowed to build the settlement to replace Amona, a settlement outpost built on private Palestinian land that was dismantled in February following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling.

Pro-settlement hard-liners who dominate Mr Netanyahu's coalition and oppose Palestinian statehood on security or religious grounds had pressed him to keep that promise.

"Today work began in the field, as I promised, to establish a new community for the Amona settlers," Mr Netanyahu wrote on Twitter.

"After decades, I have the privilege to be the prime minister to build a new community," he said.

A picture posted with his announcement shows construction vehicles digging up ground.

More than 600,000 Israelis now live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005 and the Islamic militant group Hamas took over the territory soon after.

But Israel has not built a fully fledged new settlement since the 1990s.

Instead, construction during that period has expanded existing settlements or taken place in unauthorised outposts such as Amona.

The Palestinians claim the territory captured by Israel from Jordan in the 1967 war for their future state, a demand that has wide international support.

In December, weeks before Mr Trump was inaugurated, then-president Barack Obama allowed the UN Security Council to pass a resolution that declared all settlements in both areas to be illegal.

Mr Trump condemned the decision at the time.

On the campaign trail, Mr Trump indicated he would be far more sympathetic to settlements than Mr Obama.

His platform made no mention of an independent Palestinian state, and his inner circle includes strong supporters of the settlement movement.

But since taking office, Mr Trump has appeared to change his position.

The Palestinians and the international community consider the settlements obstacles to Palestinian statehood.

Israel says the status of settlements as well as other core issues, such as security, should be resolved in peace talks.

US-mediated negotiations collapsed in 2014.

Mr Kushner will arrive on Wednesday for meetings in Jerusalem and Ramallah.

Jason Greenblatt, Mr Trump's international envoy, arrived on Monday.

Press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Kushner and Mr Greenblatt will hear from Mr Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas and other senior officials during the trip.

AP
Russia warned yesterday that it would treat British and American jets operating in parts of Syria where its air forces are present as "targets", after US forces shot down a Syrian warplane for the first time in the six-year war.

Moscow, Syria's main ally, announced that it would start tracking jets and drones of the US-led coalition and halt an incident-prevention hotline with America, which was set up to avoid accidents in the crowded skies above Syria.

"Any flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, discovered west of the Euphrates river will be tracked as aerial targets by Russia's air defences on and above ground," Russian President Vladimir Putin's defence ministry warned.

The Syrian SU-22 fighter bomber was shot down by an American F18 Super Hornet on Sunday after it had dropped bombs near the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) north of the Isil-held city of Raqqa.

The US, which has special forces troops in the area, said it sent a warning to the Syrian military to stop targeting the forces and called on Russia to rein in its ally.

Russia denied that it was informed of the planned strike.

Moscow condemned the US action, saying it flouted international law.

"It is help to those terrorists that the US is fighting against, declaring they are carrying out an anti-terrorism policy," Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said, adding that it was a "dangerous escalation".

The SDF, meanwhile, warned that it would retaliate against further regime attacks on its troops - a combination of Kurds and Arabs which are leading the fight for Isil's self-styled capital Raqqa.

The Pentagon said in a statement that the coalition did "not seek to fight the Syrian regime, Russian or pro-regime forces" but will not "hesitate to defend itself or its "partnered forces from any threat".

The US-led coalition has in recent weeks escalated its aerial bombing campaign in northern Syria and Raqqa province.

On several occasions, its warplanes have also struck pro-government forces to prevent them advancing on a US-controlled garrison in south-eastern Syria.

The US military said yesterday that it was repositioning its aircraft to ensure the safety of American air crews.

British Prime Minister Theresa May downplayed any risk to Royal Air Force (RAF) pilots.

She said: "There are deconfliction arrangements in place already in relation to activity that takes place over the skies of Syria and those deconfliction arrangements will continue."

A British government spokesman added that it wanted all parties to focus on combating Isil.

The US had not shot down a Syrian regime aircraft before Sunday's confrontation, said Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

While the US has said since it began recruiting, training and advising what it calls moderate Syrian opposition forces to fight Isil that it would protect them from potential Syrian government retribution, this was the first time it resorted to engaging in air-to-air combat to make good on that promise.

America has been flexing its muscles in Syria ever since US President Donald Trump came to power, with a pledge to give more power to the Pentagon.

He strongly criticised his predecessor, Barack Obama, for his inability to resolve the Syrian civil war - even blaming Mr Obama for creating Isil. ( Daily Telegraph London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
An armed Russian fighter jet flew within 5ft (1.5m) of a US plane in a "provocative" manoeuvre over the Baltic Sea, it has been reported.

The Sukhoi Su-27 jet approached an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane "rapidly" and flew "erratically", according to officials quoted by Fox News.

CBS said the fighter approached the wingtip of the larger aircraft before passing underneath it and reappearing by the opposite wing.

The US considers the incident, which took place some 25 miles north-west of Kaliningrad, an unsafe intercept.

Officials told Fox the Russian jet was armed with air-to-air missiles.

Read More

It was reportedly unclear how close the RC-135 was to Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, both Nato members.

The Russian defence ministry said that a US reconnaissance RC-135 plane had swerved dangerously in the proximity of a Russian Su-27 fighter jet over the Baltic Sea, RIA news agency reported.

It said the Su-27 had also intercepted another RC-135 plane in the area.

The intercepts come a day after relations between the US and Russia regarding the war in Syria became frayed, following the US destruction of a Syrian government jet.

Russia, a close ally of the Assad regime, said its surface-to-air missile systems would track "all kinds of airborne vehicles, including aircraft and UAVs of the international coalition detected to the west of the Euphrates River" as targets.

The US said the Syrian plane, an Su-22, had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the IS extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqa.
Although Bill Cosby's sexual assault trial ended in a mistrial at the weekend, he still faces assault and defamation claims in civil lawsuits.

The bar for evidence in such cases is lower than in criminal trials.

In civil lawsuits in the US, plaintiffs need only show that the weight of evidence is on their side, meaning they have information to tip the scales above 50pc in their favour, as opposed to criminal cases in which prosecutors must prove claims beyond a reasonable doubt. At least 10 women have pending civil claims against Mr Cosby.

Two have brought claims against the 79-year-old entertainer for sexual assault. Others, barred from doing so because their claims were too old, have brought defamation claims against him, saying he smeared their reputations by publicly denying their accusations.

The judge in the criminal case against Mr Cosby in Pennsylvania declared a mistrial on Saturday after jurors said they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on charges that Mr Cosby sexually assaulted Andrea Constand in 2004.

David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law who specialises in criminal justice, said the hung jury did not mean that a civil jury would clear Mr Cosby of liability.

"There may not be enough evidence for a criminal conviction, but that does not rule out a civil verdict," said Mr Harris.

Approximately 60 accusations of sexual assault have been made against Mr Cosby over a number of years, but only Ms Constand's resulted in criminal charges because the other alleged incidents were too old to prosecute. Mr Cosby has denied all of the accusations.

Ms Constand herself sued Mr Cosby in 2005 and settled for an undisclosed sum.

Women bringing civil cases would also likely find it easier to introduce testimony from other accusers to support claims that Mr Cosby engaged in a pattern of assault, said Douglas Wigdor, a plaintiffs' attorney who represents clients in sexual harassment cases.

Little testimony about other accusations was allowed in the Pennsylvania trial because of the strict standards for admitting evidence in criminal cases.

Prosecutors had sought to have 13 other accusers testify in Ms Constand's case, but the judge allowed only one, finding that more would unfairly prejudice the jury.

Even with the lower standard of evidence in civil cases, Rodney Smolla, dean of Delaware Law School, said that plaintiffs bringing defamation claims faced a significant legal challenge.

In addition to proving that Mr Cosby assaulted them, Mr Smolla said, they would have to establish that he said something about them beyond denying the allegations.
Carrie Fisher's post-mortem report shows the actress had cocaine in her system when she fell ill on a plane last year, but investigators could not determine what impact the cocaine and other drugs found in her system had on her death.

The report released yesterday said Fisher may have taken cocaine three days before the December 23 flight on which she became ill. She died four days later.

It also found traces of heroin and MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy, but that they could not determine when Fisher had taken those drugs.

The findings were based on toxicology screenings done on samples taken when the 'Star Wars' actress arrived at a Los Angeles hospital.

Coroner's officials ruled Fisher died from sleep apnoea and a combination of other factors. A news release issued on Friday mentioned drugs were found in Fisher's system, but it did not provide details.

Yesterday's full report contains a detailed explanation of the results, such as why investigators believe Fisher took cocaine at least three days before her flight.

"At this time the significance of cocaine cannot be established in this case," the report stated. It also said that while heroin is detectable in the system for a briefer period of time, investigators could not determine when Fisher took it or the ecstasy.

"Ms Fisher suffered what appeared to be a cardiac arrest on the airplane accompanied by vomiting and with a history of sleep apnoea. Based on the available information, we cannot establish the significance of the multiple substances that were detected in Ms Fisher's blood and tissue," it said.
US First Lady Melania Trump smiles as her husband President Donald Trump meets with Panamas President Juan Carlos Varela, left, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington yesterday. Photo: Reuters

A leading member of US President Donald Trump's outside legal team has claimed that Mr Trump is not under federal investigation.

The claim came within days of Mr Trump appearing to confirm he was the subject of an inquiry with a tweet about being the target of a "witch hunt".

Appearing on a series of morning news programmes, attorney Jay Sekulow repeatedly stressed "the president has not been and is not under investigation". He said a Friday tweet from Mr Trump was specifically directed at a story in 'The Washington Post' about the expanding probe into Russia's election meddling.

As evidence, Mr Sekulow said Mr Trump has not been notified of any investigation. He also cited testimony of former FBI director James Comey before the Senate intelligence committee, in which he said he told Mr Trump he was not under investigation in the months leading up to his May 9 firing.

Asked about the possibility an investigation has since developed and the president just does not know, Mr Sekulow said: "I can't read people's minds, but I can tell you this, we have not been notified that there's an investigation into the president of the United States. So that - nothing has changed in that regard since James Comey's testimony."

The 'Post' reported last week that Robert Mueller - the special counsel appointed to investigate Russian involvement in the 2016 presidential election - was looking into whether Mr Trump obstructed justice. Mr Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and has powers to probe any matters that develop from his initial investigation.

On Friday the president wrote on Twitter: "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."

The message apparently referred to Mr Rosenstein, whose role leading the federal investigation has become increasingly complicated. The White House used a memo he wrote to justify Mr Trump's decision to fire Mr Comey, but Mr Trump's firing of the FBI director may now be part of the probe.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner may be getting new legal representation as the investigation heats up. Mr Kushner has been represented on business matters and other issues by Jamie Gorelick.

In a statement, Ms Gorelick said that after the appointment of the special counsel, she advised Mr Kushner "to obtain the independent advice of a lawyer with appropriate experience as to whether he should continue with us."

The president has denied that he has any nefarious ties to Russia and has also disputed that he's attempted to block the investigation into his campaign's possible role in Russia's election-related hacking.

The president has directed some of his frustration at Mr Rosenstein and Mr Mueller. Senator Marco Rubio said Sunday that he does not expect Mr Trump to seek to fire them.

"I don't believe it's going to happen," he said on CNN's 'State of the Union'. "The best thing that could happen for the president, and the country, is a full and credible investigation."

Mr Trump is under pressure to reveal whether he has any tape recordings of private conversations with Mr Comey. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, said that the panel - overseeing one of several congressional investigations - is looking forward to getting a response from the White House on whether recordings exist.

The president suggested on Twitter that he may have taped those conversations. Mr Schiff said he wants the White House to acknowledge the tapes or make clear there are no tapes and "it was an idle threat".

The committee sent a bipartisan letter this month to White House counsel Don McGahn seeking an answer by this Friday. It also sent a letter to Mr Comey asking for notes or memos. Mr Schiff said if the panel can't get an answer a subpoena will be needed. He also said he believes recent congressional testimony from Mr Comey and Attorney General Jeff Sessions points to signs of possible obstruction by Mr Trump that warrant further investigation.

While aides have advised Mr Trump to stay off Twitter, the president continued to weigh in Sunday as he spent the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland.

He tweeted "The MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN agenda is doing very well despite the distraction of the Witch Hunt."
Somali security forces attend the scene of a car bomb attack in Mogadishu (Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP)

At least 15 people are dead after a suicide car bomber posing as a milk delivery van driver detonated his device at a district headquarters in Somalia's capital, police said.

The death toll may rise as some of the at least nine people wounded were badly hurt in the explosion at Wadajir district headquarters in Mogadishu, Captain Mohamed Hussein said.

Most of the dead were civilians, Capt Hussein said.

The al Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack via its Shahada News Agency, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist groups.

The blast comes less than a week after al-Shabab gunmen carried out an overnight siege on a popular restaurant in the Somali capital, killing at least 31 people.

Somalia-based al-Shabab often targets high-profile areas of Mogadishu, including hotels, military checkpoints and areas near the presidential palace.

It has vowed to step up attacks after the recently elected government launched a new military offensive against it.

Al-Shabab last year became the deadliest Islamic extremist group in Africa, with more than 4,200 people killed in 2016, according to the Washington-based Africa Centre for Strategic Studies.

The extremist group also faces a new military push from the United States after President Donald Trump approved expanded operations, including air strikes, against al-Shabab.

AP
Relaxation in filing GST returns till September 2017

The GST Council meeting on June 18, 2017 delivered key resolutions ahead of the GST launch at midnight of June 30. The Council opted for a relaxation in return filing until September, meaning no late fees or penalties will be levied in the interim period.

RELATED: Tax Compliance Advisory

GSTR-1 with invoice level details for the month of July have to be filed by September 5, and for the month of August by September 20. Correspondingly, the GSTR-2 and GSTR-3 forms for these two months must be filed thereafter. The summary return form in GSTR-3B must be filed on a self-declaration basis for the first two months  July and August  by the 20th day of the following month, after paying taxes.

Resolution on the e-way bill system (electronic way bill for movement of goods) could not be reached and has been deferred to the GST Council meeting on June 30.

GST Council amends rates, approves anti-profiteering rules

The GST Council released amended rates of taxation for the hospitality sector on June 18. Hotels charging between US$39 and US$116 (Rs 2,500 to Rs 7,500) will be subject to 18 percent GST, while hotels charging upwards of US$116 (Rs 7,500) will attract 28 percent GST. Restaurants in these hotels will be subject to 18 percent GST, at par with air-conditioned establishments.

Integrated GST on shipping vessels will now attract a 5 percent tax. Also, input credit will not be available on ice cream, pan masala, and tobacco.

Further, the Council cleared anti-profiteering rules that will compel firms to reduce the prices of goods benefitting from lower taxation rates under GST. An anti-profiteering regulatory body will be setup for two years.

Previously, the GST Council widened the scope of a concessional tax payment scheme for small businesses and restaurants on June 11. This was in addition to revised GST rates for 66 items, including kitchen goods and movie tickets, the complete list of which is available on the website of the Central Board of Excise and Customs.

RELATED: Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India: Key Terms and Concepts

Aadhaar details mandatory for bank accounts, financial transactions

The federal government has now made Aadhaar (biometric identification number) mandatory for opening a new bank account.

The same is compulsory when conducting any financial transaction worth US$776.19 (Rs 50,000) and above. This amends the Prevention of Money Laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005, and mandates the quoting of the Aadhaar number along with the permanent account number (PAN) or Form 60 by individuals, companies, and partnership firms.

Meanwhile, according to a notice released by the Department of Revenue, existing bank accounts will need to be linked with the Aadhaar system by December 31, 2017, failing which the accounts will cease to be operational.

After June 1, a person opening a bank account in India will need to compulsorily furnish proof of application for enrolment in Aadhaar, and submit the Aadhaar number to the bank within six months of opening the account.

RELATED: The Aadhaar Card: Now a Mandatory Proof of Identification

Petrol, diesel price to change daily in India

From June 16, Indias fuel sector moved to a system of daily price change for petrol and diesel. This means that petrol and diesel will be sold in sync with international rates (price of crude oil), a system currently followed by the U.S. and Australia.

The state-run oil companies Indian Oil Corp. Ltd (IOC), Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd (HPCL) hold 90 percent of the countrys fuel market share, and previously tried the new dynamic pricing model in Udaipur, Jamshedpur, Puducherry, Chandigarh and Visakhapatnam since May 1.

The new pricing policy will hopefully reduce volatility in the fuel market, and ensure no drastic change in the domestic selling prices. Further, the benefits or costs of any change in the international oil prices can be carried unto the dealers and end-users. This also creates transparency in the sector.

Related Reading:

Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide.

An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we discuss payroll processing and reporting in India, and the various regulations and tax norms that impact salary and wage computation. Further, we explain Indias complex social security system and gratuity law, and how it applies to companies. Finally, we describe the importance of IT infrastructure, compliance, and confidentiality when processing payroll in India.
By Bradley Dunseith

On May 24, Indias Union Cabinet effectively eliminated the foreign investment promotion board (FIPB)  established 25 years ago as a single-window clearance for all foreign direct investment (FDI).

Indias regulatory landscape has undergone some major overhauls since the FIPB was first created: between 91 and 95 percent of FDI now comes through the automatic route while only 11 sectors still require government approval.

In this article, we explain the new regulatory landscape for foreign investment that the FIPB previously governed.

RELATED: Business Strategy & Operation Advisory

Implications of the FIPBs dissolution

With the FIPB having wound up, the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) will now direct FDI proposals that require government approval to the concerned federal ministry or department.

The DIPP will release a set of standard operating procedures (SOP) for ministries now tasked with approving FDI requests. Though not yet finalized, the DIPPs SOP will include:

The creation of an optimized FIPB online portal called the Foreign Investment Facilitation Portal;

A deadline of four weeks for ministries involved to digitally upload their comments on FDI proposals that do not require security clearance, and six weeks for FDI proposals that do require security clearance;

An overall ten week deadline for ministries to approve FDI requests requiring security clearance, and;

An overall eight week deadline for ministries to approve FDI requests that do not require a security clearance.

Furthermore, investors will no longer have to submit physical FDI proposals, so long as their digitally uploaded proposals are properly signed.

Ministries and departments can only reject an FDI proposal after receiving permission from the DIPP  a provision that will ease doing business in India.

RELATED: Business Intelligence Solutions

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) will be in charge of clearing any sensitive proposals (such as FDI into private security agencies or from countries of concern).

The Department of Economic Affairs will process cases in which FDI proposals do not neatly fit into the mandate of a specific ministry or department.

In light of the FDI transition policy, the FIPB is currently not considering FDI proposals submitted after March 31, 2017.

RELATED: India to be a favored FDI destination in 2017: UNCTAD report

Eliminating the FIPB: Bureaucratic streamlining or administrative maneuvering?

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley rationalized scrapping the FIPB as a way of bypassing red tape and improving the ease of doing business in India  the very same rationale that launched the FIPB 25 years earlier.

Despite these new changes, bureaucrats will still be responsible for approving FDI proposals. There has, as yet, been no announcement on increasing the capacity for concerned departments and ministries now charged with processing FDI proposals.

Ultimately, Indias FDI regulations landscape remains complex; federal government departments and ministries will require specialized knowledge to efficiently process incoming proposals.

Moreover, the scrapping of the FIPB will have no impact on the vast majority of Indias FDI categorized under the automatic route.

Finally, foreign investors should monitor how the DIPP implements this transition. Moving FDI approval authority from a single clearance window to a cluster of large bureaucratic bodies can be counterproductive no matter how it is pitched by the government.

Related Reading:

Dezan Shira & Associates is a pan-Asia, multi-disciplinary professional services firm, providing legal, tax and operational advisory to international corporate investors. Operational throughout China, ASEAN and India, our mission is to guide foreign companies through Asias complex regulatory environment and assist them with all aspects of establishing, maintaining and growing their business operations in the region. This brochure provides an overview of the services and expertise Dezan Shira & Associates can provide.

An Introduction to Doing Business in India 2017 is designed to introduce the fundamentals of investing in India. As such, this comprehensive guide is ideal not only for businesses looking to enter the Indian market, but also for companies who already have a presence here and want to stay up-to-date with the most recent and relevant policy changes.

In this issue of India Briefing Magazine, we discuss payroll processing and reporting in India, and the various regulations and tax norms that impact salary and wage computation. Further, we explain Indias complex social security system and gratuity law, and how it applies to companies. Finally, we describe the importance of IT infrastructure, compliance, and confidentiality when processing payroll in India.
New York, June 20(Just Earth News): United Nations Secretary-General AntAnio Guterres has condemned the terrorist attack carried out at a hotel on the outskirts of Bamako on 18 June and offered his full support to the Government of Mali to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by his Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, the UN chief expressed his condolences to the bereaved and the families of the victims, as well as to the people and Government of Mali. He also wished a speedy recovery to those injured.

Guterres also commended the rapid response by the Malian defence and security forces and the French forces, which the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA) supported.

According to statement, the Secretary-General has offered his full support to the Government in its efforts to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice.

This act strengthens the United Nations' determination to support the people of Mali, the Government and the signatory armed groups in their efforts to uphold the peace agreement, to counter terrorism and violent extremism and their quest for lasting peace and stability, the statement concluded.

News reports suggest that at least five people were killed in the attack against Le Campement Kangaba, a popular resort east of the Malian capital Bamako.

Yesterday, MINUSMA also strongly condemned the revolting terrorist attack and expressed its deepest condolences to the Governments and families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to the wounded.

The Mission reported that all United Nations personnel are safe, though four MINUSMA personnel were slightly injured and evacuated on the evening of the attack.

MINUSMA congratulates the Malian security forces for their diligent efforts and underlines the importance of full cooperation with the relevant Malian authorities to ensure that those responsible for this heinous crime are identified and brought to justice, said the mission.

Photo: MINUSMA

Source: www.justearthnews.com
In a new incident suspected to be a terror attack, a car deliberately rammed into a police van on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris. The driver, who has been on a security watchlist for his affiliation to a radical Islamist movement, died on the spot. No one else was injured. Police say they found a Kalashnikov rifle, a few handguns and some gas bottles in the car.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb called it an attempted attack and remarked how security forces have previously been targeted, most recently in an attack before the first round of presidential elections in France in April, where a policeman was shot dead and two others were injured.

The Avenue des Champs-Elysees usually has security round-the-clock, as the president`s official residence, the Elysee Palace, and the US embassy are within close range.
Reports have been doing rounds that the shooting of Kamal Haasan's 'Viswaroopam 2' is currently happening in Turkey.However it has been rubbished by the makers.

Rajesh M.Selva, the director of Kamal's previous film 'Thoongavanam' who is also a part of Raj Kamal Films International banner for a long time has said that the team is currently busy with the CG works for the film in Chennai and there is only 10% of work left.

He further said that though some portions need to be shot for the film the shooting is yet to start.

'Viswaroopam 2' stars Kamal Haasan, Andrea and Pooja Kumar in lead roles. The film is being directed by Kamal Haasan whose Raj Kamal banner acquired the rights of the long delayed sequel to the 2013 blockbuster.
Sensex zooms over 1,100 pts; Nifty above 18,300; IT index top contributor Domestic benchmark indices in the fast lane today led by IT and Metal stocks outperforming. Both the Sensex and Nifty benchmarks were nearly 2% higher amid positive global cues. On the se... November 11, 2022 | 2:00 pm

NIBE receives order of Rs11.88 crore from Goa Shipyard; Stock slips 1% Nibe Limited stocks in focus as the company announced the receipt of purchase orders. As per the regulatory filing, it has received two purchase orders dated November 08, 2022 from G... November 11, 2022 | 12:53 pm

Ashoka Buildcon receives provisional certificate for NHAI road project; Stock up 2% Ashoka Buildcon Limited has informed the declaration of October 26, 2021 as the Commercial Operation Date (CoD) for its Hybrid Annuity Mode (HAM) Project of National Highways Authority of ... November 11, 2022 | 12:26 pm

Niyogin Fintech appoints Abhishek Thakkar as Chief Financial Officer Niyogin Fintech Limited has announced the appointment of Abhishek Thakkar as the Chief Financial Officer. According to the regulatory filing, Abhishek Thakkar is a management profess... November 11, 2022 | 10:46 am

Q2FY23 Preview: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation: Loss After Tax seen at Rs91,740 million Result date: 11th November, 2022 Recommendation: Reduce Target price: Rs150 Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) could witness pressure on earnings (sequentially) owing... November 11, 2022 | 10:25 am
In 2014, the UN declared June 21 as the International Day of Yoga after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for the day to be adopted as a global celebration of yoga. Last year yoga enthusiasts across the world performed various asanas at events performed at iconic places in several countries. Here some of the images from across the world ahead of this year's International Yoga Day.

1. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi performs yoga with others to mark the International Day of Yoga, in New Delhi, India.

Reuters

Modi led tens of thousands of people in the yoga session in the centre of the capital on Sunday to showcase the country's signature cultural export, which has prompted criticism of fomenting social divisions at home.

2. Participants perform yoga to mark the International Day of Yoga, in Bengaluru, India.

Reuters

3. Participants perform yoga during World Yoga Day in New Delhi, India.

Reuters

4. School students practice yoga during a training session ahead of World Yoga Day in Agartala, India.

Reuters

5. Muslim women perform yoga at an event to mark the International day of Yoga during the holy month of Ramadan in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

Reuters

6. People take part in a group yoga practice on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square.

Reuters

The "Solstice in Times Square" event on Friday brought out thousands of participants to celebrate the year's longest day in New York.



7. People take part in a group yoga practice on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square.

Reuters

8. People take part in a group yoga practice during the afternoon of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square.

Reuters

9. People take part in a group yoga practice on the morning of the summer solstice in New York's Times Square.

Reuters

10. Participants perform yoga to mark the International Day of Yoga under the Eiffel tower in Paris, France.

Reuters

11. Participants perform yoga to mark the International Day of Yoga under the Eiffel tower in Paris, France.

Reuters

12. Participants attend the Yoga Fest to mark the International Day of Yoga at the Medeo skating rink at the altitude of some 1600 metres (5249 feet) above sea level in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Reuters

13. People take part in a group yoga practice marking the summer solstice and International Yoga Day, at the Tel Aviv port on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel.

Reuters

14. People take part in a group yoga practice marking the summer solstice and International Yoga Day, at the Tel Aviv port on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, Israel.

Reuters

15. People practice yoga at the National Theatre Ruben Dario as part of a Summer Solstice celebration on International Yoga Day in Managua.

Reuters

16. People practice yoga at the National Theatre Ruben Dario as part of a Summer Solstice celebration on International Yoga Day in Managua.

Reuters

17. Participants perform yoga to mark the International Yoga Day at Reforma Avenue in Mexico City.

Reuters

18. Participants perform yoga to mark the International Yoga Day at Reforma Avenue in Mexico City.

Reuters

19. People practice yoga at a glass sightseeing platform ahead of the International Day of Yoga, on the outskirts of Beijing, China.

Reuters

20. People practise yoga together ahead of World Yoga Day in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China.

Reuters

21. A participant performs a breathing exercise during World Yoga Day in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Reuters

22. A participant performs yoga during World Yoga Day in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Reuters



23. Hundreds participate in a mass yoga event in front of the Sydney Opera House on World Yoga Day in Sydney, Australia.

Reuters

24. Hundreds participate in a mass yoga event in front of the Sydney Opera House on World Yoga Day in Sydney, Australia.

Reuters

25. People do yoga during International Yoga Day in Minsk, Belarus.

Reuters

26. People do yoga during International Yoga Day in Minsk, Belarus.

Reuters

27. Participants perform yoga during World Yoga Day near Belem tower in Lisbon, Portugal.

Reuters

28. Revellers participate in yoga as they celebrate the summer solstice and International Yoga Day at Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain in southern England, Britain.

Reuters

Stonehenge is a celebrated venue of festivities during the summer solsticethe longest day of the year in the northern hemispherwand it attracts thousands of revellers, spiritualists and tourists. Druids, a pagan religious order dating back to Celtic Britain, believe Stonehenge was a centre of spiritualism more than 2,000 years ago.
India has sent out a clear message to the BRICS countries, including China, that they should not believe in the Pakistani narrative about making a distinction between "good" and "bad" terrorists. Pakistani leaders have been trying to propagate this theory to protect a section of extremists, and China has shown no signs of discomfort about this narrative.

afp

"I have pointed out that terrorism remains the most potent global menace and threatens global peace... And terrorists cannot be differentiated by calling them good or bad," V K Singh, minister of state for external affairs, said at a joint press conference after the meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in Beijing on Monday.

The press conference was also attended by foreign ministers of all BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

The meeting comes ahead of the BRICS summit of the heads of governments, which will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Xiamen city of southern China in September.

youtube/representational image

Pointing out that there was a need to expedite the adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism at the United Nations, Singh said all the BRICS countries are supporting this move. "The BRICS agenda has witnessed steady expansion," Singh said.

"The joint working group on counter-terror concluded its meeting in May. Our NSAs are scheduled to meet next month. In their meeting last year, they reached significant understanding to enhance BRICS cooperation in security and counter-terrorism."

ap

India has been unhappy about China's continued efforts to defend Pakistan on the issue of terrorism. Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi said, "China and India are both major countries with great influence, and that they should boost cooperation in the BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and all other multilateral frameworks to make a contribution to peace and stability in the region and the world at large."
It's been almost two weeks since the beautiful Gorkha region, Darjeeling has been completely wrapped in unrest. Several people have been killed in many rounds of violence that took place since West Bengal government made Bengali mandatory in schools. However, this is just a fresh round of protests, the demands for a separate state has been there for almost seven decades.

The political and social implications of this move werent masked in a haze. They were calculable, given the states diversity. Later, the government changed its stance by saying that it could be an optional second or third language, but it was too late  agitation had manifested on the streets.

ap

How did it all begin?

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), under the leadership of Bimul Gurung, called for an indefinite strike of all government facilities in the region that will threaten economic vitality in the region as its peak tourist season for Darjeeling. On June 10, GJM announced that it would launch a complete non-cooperation movement against the state administration.

All government offices will be closed indefinitely as part of the agitation movement. West Bengals Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, playing hardball, said that government employees, who dont report to work, will face strict action. Further, on June 11, the police arrested five members of GJM, for allegedly participating in violence.

AP

Arrest of Gorkhas resulted in further agitation

Following this, Gurung told India Today, So what if five of our men have been arrested, they can arrest five thousand but we won't cow down. The more force they use, the more we shall get emboldened. On the morning of June 11, the Gurungs organisation was encouraged as hundreds of Trinamool Congress workers joined the party at his residence.

Mamata Banerjee ordered more visibility of the army in the region, following which six columns of the Army and three companies of CRPF were deployed to assist Darjeeling Police. Meanwhile, Gurung has asserted that he will not stop till his partys demands are met.

What are these demands?

afp

The party and larger Gorkha community want a separate state  Gorkhland. This struggle isnt anything new. In fact, it is almost 70-years-old.

Bengali is the predominant language in most parts of West Bengal, but mostly Nepali-speaking people live in Kalimpong and Kurseong, which are the northern hilly regions of Darjeeling. So GJM is demanded that instead of Hindi or Bengali, Nepali be introduced in schools.

afp

Gurung said, We are not Bengalis, Bengali is not our mother tongue, almost everyone in Darjeeling hills speaks Nepali, so why should we be forced to learn Bengali in schools?

Violence has affected normal life

ap

Since the start of the agitation, five people have been killed and more than 100 people, including 30 policemen, have been injured. GJM has accused the police of using weaponry force to kill protesters, but the police deny this charge.

An angry mob in Singabari slashed a police officers throat. He was trying to stop the crowd from setting police and government vehicles on fire. Other policemen were also injured as the mob hit them with stones and knives.

As this is the busiest time for Darjeeling in terms of tourism, many tourists were left stranded last as Siliguri-bound buses didnt turn up.

Also read: Locals Help Stranded Tourists With Food And Water As Protests Continue In Darjeeling

Bimal Gurung has made it clear that this time his party wont back down until their demands are met. Only time will tell whether Mamata Banerjee continues to play tough or listens to the demands of the people of Darjeeling.
Cultural diaspora may appear classy and serve as a testament to diversity in many regions, however, in most cases, it bears a painful account.

onetoday

A report that was released ahead of World Refugee Day declared a jump in the number of people, 300,000, who were excavated last year, as opposed to the statistics from 2015.

The disturbing account includes 22.5 million refugees, 40.3 million internally relocated people and 2.8 million asylum seekers.

This is "the highest figure since we started recording these figures," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi told reporters ahead of the report launch, reports Al Jazeera.

soschildrensvillages

By any standards, the given numbers are outrageous and pose a strong message for the world asking for immediate respite. The report further clarified that 10.3 million people fled their homes and more than 3.4 million crossed international borders.

"One person is displaced every 3 seconds." it claimed.

lobelog

At the end of 2016, among the 40.3 million people who were moved internally, were close to the statistics of 40.8 million who have moved a year ago, with Syria, Iraq and Colombia being the major accountants.

Syrians continue to be the biggest victims of this situation and the news is not kept under wraps at all. More people than ever are shifting places just for safety and this is clearly one of the biggest humanitarian crisis.

crossculture

The report further questioned that the current Syrian crisis is being forgotten and it's almost like no one's paying any heed to their plight. Despite everyone trying to resolve the European refugee crisis, it's the poorer countries that suffer the most.

businessinsider

For the third consecutive year, it's Turkey that welcomed the largest number of refugees worldwide with 2.9 million people.

The country was followed by Pakistan (1.4 million), Lebanon (1 million), Iran (979,400), Uganda (940,800), and Ethiopia (791,600).
For a sex workers, life is more than just a struggle. Their dreams are shredded into pieces and every single day is about surviving the worst.

GMB Akash/Facebook

In a Facebook post shared by renowned photographer GMB Akash from Bangladesh, we get a glimpse into the dark realities of a teenage sex worker's life.

I cannot breathe behind a closed door. I also cry while I laugh, I cant control. says Afsana, who has no memory of how she landed up in the dark alleys of a brothel.

Picture for representation

Since then life has been a haze, she says, "I have no memory of any person; I do not see any face when I close my eyes, I feel all alone."

Despite the ordeal she goes through, day in and day out, Afsana still holds a ray of hope, " I tell myself, I must have someone, somewhere, may be a mother, a father or a lost family."

The only person she confides in is a friend who also works in the same brothel, "she wipes off my tears very quickly before I ruin my makeup. She always reminds me, makeup is costly than my tears. "

The story has stirred thousands of people and has yet again brought out the sordid truth about this demeaning trade.

Picture for representation

Read the full post below:

Its been a long time I want to go to a very green field. I have never been in any green field. But I really want to go. I have a disease, I cannot breathe behind a closed door. I also cry while I laugh, I can't control. Its causing a lot of trouble to our mother.





Our mother is our madam. I assured her I will be okay very soon, I will only laugh, will never cry. How I came to this brothel, I have no idea; I was too small to remember anything. But my only problem is, its very difficult to breathe here. Also I have no memory of any person; I do not see any face when I close my eyes, I feel all alone. Girls used to say they have no one too.





But I tell myself, I must have someone, somewhere, may be a mother, a father or a lost family. I never had anyone to remember. So I try hard to remember a face, just any face, and there comes no one. My friend, Prinyanka usually wipes off my tears very quickly before I ruin my makeup.





She always reminds me, makeup is costly than my tears. She told me that one day we will go to a green field, she will take me there and I will breathe as much as I can. Only I hope, on that day I will be able to see someone when I will close my eyes. At least once in my life, I want to feel that I am not alone.

- Afsana
Every year thousands of tourists flock to Bali and almost all of them are unknowingly fueling a brutal dog meat racket. Consumption of dog meat is not new, in Indonesia, however, killing animals cruelly or eating meat contaminated with poison is against the law.

Reuters

According to a distressing report by ABC, vendors are duping unsuspecting tourists into thinking that dog meat is nothing but 'chicken satay sticks or kebabs'.

Animals Australia

In a gut-wrenching footage shot by animal rights organisation Animals Australia, dogs are seen being cruelly captured and killed before their meat is served on the Balinese beaches.

Over the course of four months, an undercover investigator for Animal Australia exposed the shocking realities behind this illegal trade.

The catching was fiercely aggressive. The dogs screamed and writhed as the noose strangled them. Some tried to bite through the ties to free themselves but with their muzzles lashed, their attempts were futile. said Luke the undercover investigator to ABC.

"Aside from the cruelty, the greatest shock was to discover that tourists are unwittingly eating dog meat and fuelling the trade. " he added.

Animals Australia

Doctor Andrew Dawson, who is the director of the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre and head of toxicology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, told the ABC that dogs which are killed with poison, have a high concentration of cyanide in their meat. This, in turn, could prove fatal for those who consume it.

The clinical toxicologist told the investigation that concentrations of cyanide in the flesh of the dog commonly used in a satay stick could result in minor symptoms such as feeling nauseated, diarrhea, aches in the muscles and shortness of breath.

Animals Australia

Dog meat is often sold to unwitting tourists who have no clue they are ordering dog meat. Apart from fooling customers there are some restaurants that specifically sell dog meat, which again most tourists have no knowledge of.

Tourists will walk down a street, theyll see a street store selling satay but what they are not realising is the letters RW on the store mean it is dog meat being served, said Animals Australias campaign director Lyn White.

So the next time you visit Bali, be vigilant before you grab a bite.

Viewers discretion advised:
Hyperloop India's building blocks are currently underway, in the form of a crowdfunding project to develop its pod capsule. It has tied up with crowdfunding platform Ketto to raise cash for its pod prototype being developed with Workbench Projects in Bengaluru. The pod is currently in development to feature in a global design competition.

Hyperloop India

"We have partnered with Ketto to raise the final leg of funds required to build the pod prototype," Hyperloop India founder and team leader Sibesh Kar told PTI. "We urge the Indian community to contribute to our success in realising our goals."

Hyperloop India is comprised of over 80 students from BITS Pilani, Indian School of Business and IIM-Ahmedabad. Called OrcaPod, their design has been selected to participate in SpaceXs upcoming Hyperloop Pod Design competition.

Hyperloop India channels its parent project. The idea is to use a combination of vacuum tubes and magnetic levitation to send enclosed transport capsules or pods zooming across the country at speeds of up to 1,200 kmph. When successfully implemented, the transport system could drastically cut down travel times. A Bengaluru to Chennai trip would take only around 21 minutes, while a Delhi to Mumbai journey could be completed in a matter of just 80 minutes. To put that in perspective, a flight from Delhi to Mumbai would take you approximately 2 hours, including the takeoff and landing.

Workbench Projects CEO Pavan Kumar told PTI he expects to raise at least Rs 30 lakh for the project but would be delighted to exceed that expectation. Building the pod requires an investment of approximately Rs 75 lakh, of which Workbench and Hyperloop India have gathered approximately Rs 35 lakh from corporate funding so far. Hyperloop Indias OrcaPod is capable of touching 460 kmph as it travels through the tubes.

The 'Join the Loop' crowdfunding campaign will run for 45 days, during which time the Hyperloop India team hopes to reach its goal. The team hopes to not only eventually revolutionise the public transport system in India, but also apply it to goods and cargo transports around the country.
"Charting the Course for Coal  2017 and Beyond"

The new administration in Washington, DC has a distinctly different vision for the development and use of coal and other fossil energy resources. These abundant riches are seen as a strength, not something to be kept in the ground. They are viewed strategically as a means to achieve energy independence and provide energy security. Support for energy dovetails with other administration priorities including regulatory reform, job protection and creation, and growth of the U.S. industrial and manufacturing base.



Early and swift action is already making a difference, from legislation to rescind the Stream Protection Rule to the Presidents Executive Order on energy independence and economic growth, and much more.



Please join us August 14-16, 2017 at Coal Market Strategies in Park City, Utah to chart the course for coal in 2017 and beyond. Our program will cover marketplace, regulation, policy and technology issues.



Well be welcoming Glenn Kellow, President and Chief Executive Officer of Peabody, to Coal Market Strategies and we look forward to an engaging opening keynote session with him on the morning of August 15th.

Register today at http://www.etouches.com/207098
The cold war between the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi,and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State,has continued to beef up, the latest of the cold war is the threat by the minister to expose the governors wife if he (Wike) does not shut up his mouth. The cold war between the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi,and Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State,has continued to beef up, the latest of the cold war is the threat by the minister to expose the governors wife if he (Wike) does not shut up his mouth.

Amaechi, who was visibly angry at the allegation against his wife by the Rivers State governor, also described his successor as a thug who could hardly speak good English.

On Monday, Wike alleged that each commissioner and local government chairman in Rivers State paid the erstwhile governors wife, Judith, N3m and N2m monthly, respectively.

But when asked to react to this while speaking on the sidelines of an inspection programme at the Kaduna Dry Port, Amaechi replied, By accident of Goodluck Jonathan, I dont want to attribute it to God, but by the accident of Jonathan, the man takes office and talks rubbish. My wife and family, including my younger brothers and sisters, no one had access to government when I was governor.

Even as minister, nobody will have such because it is not a family business. It is government business. But the problem with Nyesom Wike, and I want you to state this if he doesnt shut up his mouth and do his work I will bring his wife to the focus. You see Ive been very matured not to talk about his wife.

But if Wike does not close his mouth and talk about my wife anymore, I will bring out his wife. My wife will never do such, we dont do family business. I care about transparency. My wife is a trader. She buys and sells and Wike knows that.

When asked why he was also accused of squandering over N30bn belonging to Rivers State, Amaechi said, And you believe that? The man who says he has about $50m in Lagos and could no prove it is the same man you believe. The man who said I didnt pay salaries until I left office and now he is saying no, it is pensioners that I didnt pay. Do you believe such a man?

Do you think such a man is well? You believe Nyesom Wike is well? First, he doesnt know how to speak English, he is poorly dressed, he is a thug, and you bring me to focus with that kind of a man?

On the decision of the Rivers government to handle some of the issues levelled against him in court, the transportation minister declared that his team was not given fair hearing by the panel set up in the state.

Amaechi said, Which court, okay let him go to court. He has no fact and he maligns peoples character. The process is that you set up a tribunal, but weve questioned the tribunal, we were not given a fair hearing.

Again, how do you know how the court came to its decision? We were not even informed. There is a panel of justices in Rivers State, which is the Court of Appeal. But by the time we knew it, they took away that matter from them and gave it to a panel that came from Adamawa.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Kidnappers operating on the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway have allegedly confessed to abducting a police officer attached to Police Air Wing, identified simply as Munir, a Deputy Superintendent of Police.

The suspects, who were paraded on Monday, also reportedly owned up to the abduction of five students of Ahmadu Bello University, and Nuhu Bamalli University, Zaria, identified as Idris Goga, Simon Terna, Kazzah Bulus, Ibrahim Kalin, and Augustine Climax.

PUNCH Metro learnt that they killed Climax for allegedly confronting them in an attempt to escape.

Reliable sources in the police told our correspondent on Monday that the suspects collected N1.5 ransom from the DSPs family and unspecified amount from families of the remaining four students before they were released.

It was also gathered that the gang kidnapped a retired police sergeant, and a driver to the Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs. It was gathered that N2m each was collected for their release.

It was reported that the suspects were arrested by the ACP Abba Kyari-led Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team.

Details of the gang members were given as Ali Rabo, aka Blacky, a native of Lilman, Ibada village, Kaduna; Umar Antijo, 27, an indigene of Rijana village, Kaduna, who is said to be an informant; Sheu Idris, 27, a native of Gadan Gayan village, Kaduna; Awwalu Ahmadu, aka Mota, from Rijana; and the gang leader, 35-year-old Adamu Mamman, aka Master, who hails from Amana village in the state.

One Babangida Abdullahi 31, Usman Abdulmumin, 27, and Ahmad Abdullahi 31  all from Rijana  were said to be receivers of cows, phones, laptops, among other items stolen by the kidnappers.

PUNCH Metro gathered that the arrest was a joint effort by operatives of the IRT, Special Anti-Robbery Squad and the Anti-Kidnapping Unit deployed by the IG following a spate of kidnappings and robberies on the expressway.

The suspects were reportedly rounded up from June 15 to June 17.

A senior police officer told one of our correspondents that all the victims families were forced to pay ransoms.

He said, The suspects have confessed to several kidnappings of motorists and passengers along the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway, including the kidnap of DSP Munir and five students of ABU.

The DSP was kidnapped last Monday and held hostage for three days. His family paid about N1.5m ransom. He was going to Abuja from Kaduna when he was abducted. The students were kidnapped while travelling to Kaduna, but their families didnt tell the police the amount paid as ransoms.

Another source said the suspects wanted to visit their respective families after sharing the proceeds when the police swooped on them.

They were arrested at Maraban Jos, Anguwa Pama, Sabon Gayan and Rijana village, all in Kaduna State.

The suspects further confessed that because of massive deployment of security men, most of their gang members wanted to relocate to their respective home towns.

They said there were two major groups of kidnappers operating in the Rijana area of the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.

They are assisting the IRT operatives in tracing the second group. Phones, N17,000 belonging to victims, SIM cards, cutlasses and two army uniforms were recovered from them, he added.

The Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Jimoh Moshood, who paraded the suspects at the Force headquarters in Abuja, said the suspects would soon be charged to court.

He said, The Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, last week deployed 600 policemen with a view to preventing kidnapping and ensuring a hitch free movement for the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway users.

The team swung into action and arrested eight suspects.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Undoubtedly two of the biggest names in the Nigerian music scene, Olamide & Davido have united once again on a new single.

The pair met up in Miami where they are recording the single as well as shooting a video for it. Although the title is not yet known, is it sure going to be eagerly awaited by fans of both acts.

See photos below:-



Source: Naijaloaded
Buharis aide, Femi Adesina was enthusiastic to be flown by his pilot son, Oluwatobi, for the first time.

He shared photos on Facebook and wrote;

FATHER AND SON IN THE COCKPIT On Monday, June 19, 2017, a day after Fathers Day, I had the privilege of being flown for the first time from Lagos to Abuja by my son, Oluwatobi Adesina, who is a pilot with Arik Airline. It was truly an extension of Fathers Day, as I had the privilege of sitting in the cockpit. Did I see anything as the Boeing 737 cruised through the azure sky? Not the foggiest thing. The wonders of our God, and of technology. To Him be all the glory.

Adesina wrote for Vanguard Newspapers and National Concord Newspapers before joining the staff of The Sun Newspaper, where he rose to editor-in-chief. In this position, he was named Editor of the Year for 2007 by the Nigeria Media Merit Awards.

He also served a two-year term as president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors. Although re-elected for a second term as Guild president, Adesina stepped down after receiving his government appointment.

Take a look another photo.

See more here
Five men will be arraigned by the Federal High Court, Abuja for allegedly kidnapping some pupils and members of staff of a school in Isheri, Ogun State, on January 13, 2017, and another six victims along the Ikorodu Expressway, Lagos, on December 16, 2016.

It was learnt late on Monday that the defendants would be arraigned before Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.

The Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation had, on June 1, 2017, charged the five alleged abductors before the Federal High Court in Abuja after taking over the case from the police.

The charges were signed on behalf of the AGF by an Assistant Chief State Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr. Aminu Alilu.

Those named as defendants in the case marked FHC/ABJ/CR/85/2017, are Bekewei Agbojule (aka Asari), Egbasimokumo Ayeomi (aka Effiong), Godspower Olopele, Toki Okuba and Super Allen Baye (aka Yanga).

Three of the defendants Agbojule, Ayeomi and Baye   were said to be from the Ijaw community of Arogbo town in the riverine area of Ondo State while the two others  Olopele and Okuba  were said to be residents of Ikorodu, Lagos State and Isheri in Ogun State, respectively.

The prosecution described the acts of hostage taking and receiving of ransoms which the defendants were accused of as acts of terrorism punishable by life imprisonment under the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
The Lagos State Rapid Respond Squad has arrested a 27-year-old well-trained killer identified as Nurudeen Kazeem also known as Onyabo, the suspect is reportedly well-known and feared by the residents of LASUIyana Iba axis as a member of the Eiye confraternity. The Lagos State Rapid Respond Squad has arrested a 27-year-old well-trained killer identified as Nurudeen Kazeem also known as Onyabo, the suspect is reportedly well-known and feared by the residents of LASUIyana Iba axis as a member of the Eiye confraternity.

According to a report by police PRO, Malik Nasir, the notorious killer was reportedly hired by another man, a 30-year-old Wilfred Ehis, to help rob and killed unsuspecting delivery men. Ehis was arrested by the Decoy Team of Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command sometimes in April, 2017.

He disclosed to investigators that he contracted Onyabo because of his fearlessness during robbery operations. According to Ehis: The guy that was helping me to rob delivery men was always jittery at operating in crowded places. Sometimes, he was too shy to rob the delivery men I lured to LASUIyana Iba side if there are people around.

He was always giving excuses, so, I contacted Nurudeen after learning that he was fearless and ruthless. And, he never disappointed. He did his work to precision. What Ehis did was to order expensive phones online posing as Barrister Deji. His delivery areas were always around LASUIyana Iba side where the sellers were dispossessed of expensive phones.

Three of the victims, who reported at RRS office after being robbed said they lost between N600,000:00 to N800,000:00 worth of phones and accessories to Ehis and Nurudeen partnership. According to them, what they ordered were very expensive phones with their accessories.

Barrister Deji ordered choice phones and accessories. The ones you dont have in your shop, you have to take on credit hoping that after sales, you pay back, one of the seller who recounted his experience at RRS Headquarters said. They added that while they were trying to locate the delivery address via mobile phone calls to Ehis posing as Barrister Deji, two gun wielding guys would appear on okada, point guns at them, collect the orders, fire into the air and disappeared.

Source: ( Gossip.naij.com)
Dear Hushpuppi,

Im an admirer. Of your pictures. I dont envy you. I think I would love to meet you in person  and disappear. Maybe, thats why I admire your tenacity to pepper the haters and humble them, but since they humbled the kidnapper Evans, I have been thinking about you. I didnt say you are a kidnapper. Far from that. I am just worried about you.

Lets take a spirituality class.

There is something called Wheel of Samsara in Hinduism. It rotates. It moves. It never stays in one place. It is like a table, which always turns. And within all of us, there is what we call willpower and the Cruel Mind. Its okay if you say I am saying rubbish, but let us watch between now and August and see what happens. What we want will always come to us, if we focus on them.

You have defeated poverty, but you spend a lot of energy dragging poverty along with you. You feel bad leaving poverty. You feel vengeful. You feel you need to retaliate. That is why you have chosen to oppress us, most of us who may never really enjoy the kind of life that you are enjoying.

Money is addictive; it is also an illusion. Everyone needs an addiction, everyone needs it. When we have it, it is like a magnet, it attracts everyone. You know when you hold a magnet, it attracts everything that it can attract. It grabs them, hold them. Thats what you have done.

I doubt there is any mind that has any positive vibes for you any more. We are tormented by your showcase of wealth. We may not say it, but we are not happy.

A very famous musician, William Onyeabor was laid to rest recently. Mr Onyeabor, before his death, dissociated himself from the proceeds of his music. He said he had made the music with finances and money from a Russian mafia and syndicate. He died a Born Again, but he didnt leave the house he built with that money. He died under the roof of that house.

The precious thing that Mr Onyeabor gave us is his music. I am sure you know one of his songs, When the Going is Smooth and Good? Let me share some of the lyrics of that song with you here, quickly:

When The Going Is Smooth And Good

Many, Many People Will Be Your Friend

Oh, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!

When The Going Is Smooth And Good

Many, Many People Will Be Your Friend

But When The Going Becomes Tough

Many Of Your Friends Will Run Away

Dear Hushpuppi, I love that you have really worked smart and escaped poverty. I can tell you that poverty is a terrible thing. When you are poor, nobody wants to be your friend. If people are honest with themselves, we only want to enjoy with the rich, like you, even if its just a pie of your happiness. You are really living well, based on statistics from social media. The pictures are so colourful, but I for once, I dont envy you. I know why and I will tell you.

Most of the victims of Chukwudi Dumeme Evans Onwuamadike are Igbo people. You know, they say the richest men in Nigeria are on the covers of Forbes magazine. I tell them, No. If you want to find the richest men in Nigeria, take a walk to Alaba, Balogun, Yaba, Onitsha markets and you will find them.

I have briefly done business with these men. They are very secretive with their wealth. They do not like attention. Those of us who seek for attention for the penny we have, are not wise and because we are mostly attention whores, we seek for attention with anything. Also, what doubles it is that some of us who seek attention and validation from the populace come from poor homes. When a poor man begins to see little wealth, it gets into his head.

I like that you want to humble people, but there is no competition in the pursuit of wealth. Wealth will come and go. We all know that and you sef, will get bored of humbling people some day and you will be humbled. But, please, shine! Its your turn to shine.

Dear Hushpuppi, I know you dont print money, so I want to assume that you have a glowing business that brings in lots of money. Hopefully, just like William Onyeabor left his music behind for us to enjoy, you will learn to leave a legacy behind; something that the next generations will talk about. It wont augur well if your story turns out to be something similar to Evans. That wont be nice. So, be nice to us.

Torment us with pictures. I look forward to reading captions that have your name on it. I actually genuinely admire the fact that you can have such freedom and expressively show your wealth to the public and dont expect any reprisal of any sort. If I had your kind of money, I would be scared showing it online, because I am certain that my phones will ring ceaselessly: those I owe money and those who need money will call and make requests. I dont know how you handle this.

Also, I admire how you spend that sort of money in clubs with friends. Your friends, I must say, are terrible people. They never show that they are proud of you. If I were you, when I am with you in the club, I would post pictures and even tell the world that you are the Reigning King and that everyone should fear you. Your Champagne Friends wouldnt do that, because the day you are going down, they are not going down with you. They are here for the drinks and the little cash. They are going to say sweet things to you, but you are going to carry your cross alone.

Just because like you, I am an attention whore, I will end this letter now and hope to meet you someday.

Hugs,

Onyeka Nwelue
It has been 26 days after the abduction of six students from Igbonla Model College, the Lagos State Government and the police have gave repeated assurances on the rescue of the abducted pupils, the victims parents say they have no other option but to count on God.

The parents said the assurances did not allay their fears, adding that they hoped that the children would be liberated by divine intervention.

All the parents, who spoke with our correspondent on Monday, said there was no development on the rescue efforts since June 9, when they raised and paid N10m ransom, before the kidnappers demanded additional N40m

This is just as the Lagos State Government on Monday insisted that paying the ransom was not an option it was considering, reiterating its resolve to rely on security agencies to free the pupils.

Our correspondent had reported that some gunmen stormed the school premises at about 6am on Thursday, May 25.

They picked 10 Senior Secondary School pupils and led them to a waterside where their boat was anchored.

After profiling their parents details, four pupils were released, while the assailants whisked away the remaining six pupils, identified as Peter Jonah, Isiaq Rahmon, Adebayo George, Judah Agbausi, Pelumi Philips and Farouq Yusuf, in a speedboat.

The kidnappers initially demanded N1bn ransom, but reduced it to N100m for all the children.

The parents had protested at the Governor Akinwunmi Ambodes office on Wednesday, June 7, accusing the government of indifference and asking it to facilitate the release of the children.

When PUNCH Metro spoke with the parents on the telephone on Monday, one of them said they had been left to their fate.

We have not heard from the kidnappers since Sunday, June 11, when they asked us to raise additional N40m ransom. The parents raised the N10m when we didnt get any response from the government. The Lagos State Government is not talking to us, the parent said.

Another parent said he was frustrated, noting that his fear about the safety of the children had heightened.

He said, I am confused. I dont know what to say. The safety and freedom of the children are important and we are looking up to God.

Another parent said, This is one of our test periods, but we have handed over everything to God. The only power now is prayer and we believe God will bring our children back to us safely. The government is there, the parents are there. Nobody can do anything, except God.

When asked whether the government was considering paying the ransom after almost one month of security effort without the expected result, the states Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, said, Lagos State Government is unrelenting in its effort to ensure that security forces rescue the pupils and return them to their parents safely.

The government shares in the pain of the parents. The police and other security agencies are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the pupils are rescued. Please, be assured that a structure that got the most notorious kidnapper (Evans) arrested is able to do the same in this instance.

Meanwhile, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 2, which supervises the Lagos and Ogun states police commands, Adamu Ibrahim, said the children would be freed very soon.

Ibrahim spoke after he met with Ambode on Monday at the Lagos House, Ikeja, adding that the police were working tirelessly to free the pupils.

He said, Very soon, you will hear good news on the issue. We are working seriously on it. At this stage, I will not want to disclose too much because these are security issues, but all I want to say is that people should give us a chance and very soon, they will hear good news.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
Taking to Instagram to pen down a heartfelt post, on winning a gold medal for at the Port Harcourt prison Olympics, controversial Nigerian journalist, Kemi Olunloyo disclosed revealed she is gong back to prison but this time, it is for something that means so much to her.

According to her, the gold medal is her badge of honor. Heres what she wrote ;

#BREAKING: I receive my gold medal tomorrow from Port Harcourt Prison Olympics. I took part and was called for medal day. Yes I am going back to prison while Im here for court. That prison was a badge of honor for me! I left an indelible mark there. Watch out for my book #StraightOuttaPHMax coming soon.
The Commissioner of Police in Kwara, Olusola Amore, on Monday, urged the Federal Government to improve funding of the police for the effective discharge of their constitutional roles.

He made the call in Ilorin in a speech he delivered on his retirement from the police service.

He said that setting up of quasi-security agencies was never an antidote or solution to security challenges in the country.

He stressed the need for government to focus on training and logistic support for a better Nigeria Police.

He urged officers of the force to make police service not only available but accessible to the public by ensuring that commissioners of police cell phone numbers were displayed at every police station.

He added that this will check the excesses of police officers that may want to abuse their powers and also give the public confidence in the Nigeria Police Force.

My advice to my colleagues left in the service is to always work with the community, earn their confidence and persevere with whatever condition they find themselves.

Amore appealed to the people of the state and Nigerians to cooperate with officers of the Nigeria Police with mutual understanding and cooperation.

Source: (NAN)
A businessman, identified as Abor Egwu, on Tuesday approached a Nyanya Customary Court, Abuja, accusing of wife of infidelity, saying she brings her lover into their matrimonial home whenever he was not at home.

He was testifying in a divorce petition filed by his wife, Gift Erima.

A neighbour told me that whenever I leave home, my wife brings her man friend into our house.

I did not want to believe that, because it is not always wise to act based on hear-say in issues of this nature.

I just disregarded it, and termed it gossip, he said.

Egwu told the court that he did not know that it was true until he found out the whole truth by himself.

He said that he would have confronted the man, but for the fact that the man was wealthier than him.

The man has a lot of money, cars, in fact he is very rich, he said.

Egwu also told the court that when he found out, he sent his wife to go to the village and stay.

I later heard that my wife took that same man to her parents and introduced him as the man she wants to marry.

He told the court to grant his wifes request and dissolve the marriage, as he was already fed up.

Egwu begged the court not to grant his wife the custody of their children, adding  I dont want another man to raise my children. Erima who was present in court, denied all the allegations.

He is lying, he is the one that is married, and ever since he married, he has not been taking care of me and the children, she said.

Erima begged the court not to grant her husband custody of the children of the marriage.

The judge, Mr Jemilu Jega, advised the couple to reconcile and adjourned the case until June 22, for report of settlement or hearing.

Source: ( PM News )
The operatives of the Nigerian Police Force, have arraigned a Lagos-based entertainer, before a Chief Magistrates Court in the Ebute Meta area of the state for r*ping and assaulting his female friend.

A 38-year-old entertainer, Christopher Agboro, on Monday appeared before an Ebute Meta Chief Magistrates Court in Lagos charged with raping and assaulting his female friend.

He was, however, released on N500, 000 bail.

The Magistrate, Mrs K.A. Ariyo, who gave the ruling, also granted the accused responsible sureties in like sum.

She said one of the sureties must be a blood relation of the accused and directed that a copy of the file should be duplicated and sent to the State Director of Public Prosecutions for advice.

The accused is facing a two-count charge of assault and unlawful sexual intercourse.

He, however, pleaded not guilty the charges.

But the Prosecutor, Insp. Cousin Adams told the court that the accused committed the offences on June 8 at 11. 10 a.m. at No. 54b, Wegbo St., Iwaya in Yaba.

He said the accused tricked the 20-year-old student into his apartment and tore her trousers before raping her.

He pretended that he wanted to have a talk with the complainant in his car, and when she entered the car, he drove off to his apartment where he allegedly r*ped her.

The prosecutor also alleged that the accused hit the girl with an object on the head which weakened her.

The offences contravened Sections 171 and 258 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015 which carries a penalty of life imprisonment under the Criminal Law.

The case was adjourned until July 26.

-NAN
A man recently sent his wife packing because she was making sweet moans while being raped by robbers in presence of her husband in Iyana Ejigbo area of Lagos State, Daily Post reports.

The incident, which happened around Bello Street left many people in confusion.

It was gathered that the heavily armed gunmen had invaded their house around 3am and demanded for money.

Tthe man, whose identity was given as Baba Eneh, a native of Owukpa in Ogbadibo LGA of Benue State told the robbers that he only had N3500 at home.

A resident of the area hinted that Baba Eneh, a road transporter begged the robbers to leave them after collecting the money, saying that they just got married and trying to settle down.

Angered by the mans inability to provide money, the robbers descended on the wife and started raping her.

Drama occurred during the incident as instead of the woman to scream for help, she was moaning in excitement.

Instead of her to cry for help, she was busy making some funny sounds, an indication that she was enjoying the sex, even in the presence of her husband, the source said.

After the robbery incident, the man reportedly ordered her to leave the house on the ground that she disgraced him.

According to the source, it is against the gods of Owukpa for a married woman to sleep with another man.

The man, who was apparently afraid of dying, asked the wife to return to her village until the necessary sacrifices are done.

Source: Daily Post
In a violent clash between Hausa and Igbo traders at Kuje, a satellite town in the Federal Capital Territory, one person died on Monday while four others sustained injuries during the clash.

There were conflicting accounts of the crisis but one had it that the crisis erupted after a Hausa youth was arrested by a vigilante group for breaking into a shop owned by an Igbo man.

The suspect, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was said to have died after he was beaten up.

A security officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, explained that the suspect died at the Gwagwalada Specialist Hospital, Abuja, where he was taken for medical care.

He said, But when the Igbo trader attempted to open his shop to take stock of what was there, some Hausa traders prevented him from doing so and in the course of the argument, the issue got out of hand and became a free-for-all.

Policemen, including other security forces, were deployed to restore peace; they had to fire tear gas canisters to end the violence which was almost assuming a terrifying dimension. In the course of the violence, four people were injured and they have been taken to the hospital.

Another account however said the clash was between two rival vigilante groups identified as Green House and Kungiyar Zama lafiya.

One Sani Adamu reportedly died during the fracas.

The FCT police spokesman, Usen Omorodion, confirmed the incident in an SMS, but he had yet to respond to a request for the details of the clash as of the time of filing this story.

Source: ( Punch Newspaper )
In LeadersNG report, the health of Nigeria president Muhammadu Buhari is deteriorating to the point where he no longer recognizes people or speaks with any one.

This is coming from the presidents personal doctors who have confirmed the report.

Recall that the president was reportedly not allowed to see his wife during her recent visit to the United Kingdom. In the stunning disclosure, the sources affirmed that the president has been kept away from several of his aides and even those bodyguards who supposedly traveled with him.

Read the report according to LeadersNG below;
There has been no interest from any club in Real Madrids star player Cristiano Ronaldo, who has threatened to leave Spain after running into problems with tax authorities, according to club president Florentino Perez.

No one has sent us an offer for either Cristiano or anyone else, Perez told Onda Cero radio station.

Ronaldo is a lot more powerful and more important than all of us who are here, he added.

Perezs first task after being reelected unopposed as Real Madrid president on Monday will be to appease Ronaldo amid speculation the four-time world player of the year wants to leave.

As no other candidature was put forward to the board  it is proclaimed that Mr Florentino Perez Rodriguez is president of Real Madrid, the Spanish and European champions said in a statement.

The 70-year-old construction magnates third term in charge of Europes most successful club spanning 15 years  2000-2006 and since 2009  will be rubber stamped at a ceremony at the Santiago Bernabeu later Monday.

And among the first issues he will have to deal with is Ronaldo  who he bought in 2009 from Manchester United for a record 94 million euros ($105.3 million).

Ronaldo is threatening to leave Spain after running into problems with tax authorities.

The frenzy of speculation began soon after Ronaldo was accused last week of a 14.7 million euro tax evasion through offshore companies.

The Portuguese international is currently in Russia competing for the European champions in the Confederations Cup.
Policemen in Enugu state have arrested two Fulani herdsmen in Enugu after they reportedly kidnapped Igbo businessman.

Two Fulani herdsmen have landed in serious trouble after they abducted Igbo businessmen identified as 24-year-old Chibuoke Amobi and Johnson Ajah, 40 in Enugu State.

The herdsmen-turned-kidnappers  24-year-old Musa Mohammed and Usman Haruna, 23  abducted the victims along the Nnara road in Nkanu East Local Government Area, Enugu State as they were returning from wedding ceremony on March 18, 2017.

Daily Sun reported that the Commissioner of Police, Enugu State, Mr. Mohammed Danmallam said that Musa and Usman, who were arrested by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, both hail from Kaduna State and had been involved in several abduction incidents along the highway.

He said that the duo with others still at large always took their victims to Akpugo in Nkanu East LGA, where their hideout is located and then proceed to demand for ransom. In the case of the Amobi and Ajah, they asked for N2million ransom

It was learnt from the Enugu police boss that a crack team led by Supol Alex Akinlolu and with the aid of intelligence report and precise surveillance raided the hideout of the kidnappers and arrested the suspects. The police team recovered some arms and ammunition from the suspects.

However it was gathered that the two victims were held for one day and released after their families rallied and paid the sum of N400,000 as ransom.At the headquarters of the Enugu State Police Command, where they are being held as investigation progresses, one of the suspects, Musa told Sunday Sun in a brief chat he and his alleged accomplice had dispossessed their victims of several valuable items and collected huge ransom.

He added: We dont kill victims. We were only after the ransom we demanded after kidnapping a victim. We are cattle-rearers who also engage in kidnapping. We have a five-member gang.Musa explained further that the relations of one victim paid N50,000 while the other victims relations paid N350,000.

But nemesis began to close in on the gang when one member died in an accident as the group was in the process taking the victims into the bush. He was knocked down he died on the spot.

The other two members are still at large.
Last year, we announced an exciting milestone for Intel Rack Scale Design (RSD): the community release of the first generation code based on the open industry-standard Redfish APIs (DMTF). Since then, weve seen growing excitement and momentum by the ecosystem with several products now shipping and even more on the way in the next few months! That was the first step in preparing the broader ecosystem for pooled resources and a path to software-defined infrastructure.

Im pleased to announce the release of software version 2.1 earlier this year, which ushered in the second generation Intel RSD products. Building on the foundation from last year, second generation products begin the era of physically disaggregated, pooled, and composable systems. The code has been released to our ecosystem partners and we anticipate system availability starting around mid-2017.

This release represents a significant step toward the Intel RSD vision of fully disaggregated compute, storage and I/O resources. It starts with storage pooling. Intel RSD 2.1 provides high-performance NVMe SSD pooling over high-speed PCIe interconnects. Future releases of Intel RSD specifications will bring expanded capabilities for other resource pools, including FPGA accelerators. This first step with NVMe SSD drive pooling represents a foundational milestone that marks the beginning of several key Intel RSD benefits that will reach their full potential in the next few years:

Workload-optimized, dynamically composed physical system builds via resource pooling. Physical (vs. simply virtualized) composed systems means that these systems can be used to support bare-metal, virtualized and containerized workloads.

via resource pooling. Physical (vs. simply virtualized) composed systems means that these systems can be used to support bare-metal, virtualized and containerized workloads. Enhanced upgradeability via a modular disaggregated design that prevents need for complete server replacement to upgrade just one resource group, such as storage or compute, allowing greater freedom to control costs and optimize resources.

that prevents need for complete server replacement to upgrade just one resource group, such as storage or compute, allowing greater freedom to control costs and optimize resources. Right-provisioning. Disaggregated servers, with their inherent modularity, can be built with whatever ratio of resources that best serve the workload mix running on that system. Control spending by buying only what is needed, when its needed.

For more information on Intel RSD, visit http://www.intel.com/IntelRSD.
An international team of scientists has for the first time used an X-ray free-electron laser to unravel the structure of an intact virus particle on the atomic level. The method used dramatically reduces the amount of virus material required, while also allowing the investigations to be carried out several times faster than before. This opens up entirely new research opportunities, as the research team lead by DESY scientist Alke Meents reports in the journal Nature Methods.

In the field known as structural biology, scientists examine the three-dimensional structure of biological molecules in order to work out how they function. This knowledge enhances our understanding of the fundamental biological processes taking place inside organisms, such as the way in which substances are transported in and out of a cell, and can also be used to develop new drugs.

Knowing the three-dimensional structure of a molecule like a protein gives great insight into its biological behaviour, explains co-author David Stuart, Director of Life Sciences at the synchrotron facility Diamond Light Source in the UK and a professor at the University of Oxford. One example is how understanding the structure of a protein that a virus uses to 'hook' onto a cell could mean that we're able to design a defence for the cell to make the virus incapable of attacking it.

X-ray crystallography is by far the most prolific tool used by structural biologists and has already revealed the structures of thousands of biological molecules. Tiny crystals of the protein of interest are grown, and then illuminated using high-energy X-rays. The crystals diffract the X-rays in characteristic ways so that the resulting diffraction patterns can be used to deduce the spatial structure of the crystal  and hence of its components  on the atomic scale. However, protein crystals are nowhere near as stable and sturdy as salt crystals, for example. They are difficult to grow, often remaining tiny, and are easily damaged by the X-rays.

X-ray lasers have opened up a new path to protein crystallography, because their extremely intense pulses can be used to analyse even extremely tiny crystals that would not produce a sufficiently bright diffraction image using other X-ray sources, adds co-author Armin Wagner from Diamond Light Source. However, each of these microcrystals can only produce a single diffraction image before it evaporates as a result of the X-ray pulse. To perform the structural analysis, though, hundreds or even thousands of diffraction images are needed. In such experiments, scientists therefore inject a fine liquid jet of protein crystals through a pulsed X-ray laser, which releases a rapid sequence of extremely short bursts. Each time an X-ray pulse happens to strike a microcrystal, a diffraction image is produced and recorded.

This method is very successful and has already been used to determine the structure of more than 80 biomolecules. However, most of the sample material is wasted. The hit rate is typically less than two per cent of pulses, so most of the precious microcrystals end up unused in the collection container, says Meents, who is based at the Center for Free-Electron Laser Science (CFEL) in Hamburg, a cooperation of DESY, the University of Hamburg and the German Max Planck Society. The standard method therefore typically requires several hours of beamtime and significant amounts of sample material.

In order to use the limited beamtime and the precious sample material more efficiently, the team developed a new method. The scientists use a micro-patterned chip containing thousands of tiny pores to hold the protein crystals. The X-ray laser then scans the chip line by line, and ideally this allows a diffraction image to be recorded for each pulse of the laser.

The research team tested its method on two different virus samples using the LCLS X-ray laser at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in the US, which produces 120 pulses per second. They loaded their sample holder with a small amount of microcrystals of the bovine enterovirus 2 (BEV2), a virus that can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, and infertility in cattle, and which is very difficult to crystallise.

In this experiment, the scientists achieved a hit rate  where the X-ray laser successfully targeted the crystal  of up to nine per cent. Within just 14 minutes they had collected enough data to determine the correct structure of the virus  which was already known from experiments at other X-ray light sources  down to a scale of 0.23 nanometres (millionths of a millimetre).

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the atomic structure of an intact virus particle has been determined using an X-ray laser, Meents points out. Whereas earlier methods at other X-ray light sources required crystals with a total volume of 3.5 nanolitres, we managed using crystals that were more than ten times smaller, having a total volume of just 0.23 nanolitres.

This experiment was conducted at room temperature. While cooling the protein crystals would protect them to some extent from radiation damage, this is not generally feasible when working with extremely sensitive virus crystals. Crystals of isolated virus proteins can, however, be frozen, and in a second test, the researchers studied the viral protein polyhedrin that makes up a viral occlusion body for up to several thousands of virus particles of certain species. The virus particles use these containers to protect themselves against environmental influences and are therefore able to remain intact for much longer times.

For the second test, the scientist loaded their chip with polyhedrin crystals and examined them using the X-ray laser while keeping the chip at temperatures below minus 180 degrees Celsius. Here, the scientists achieved a hit rate of up to 90 per cent. In just ten minutes they had recorded more than enough diffraction images to determine the protein structure to within 0.24 nanometres. For the structure of polyhedrin, we only had to scan a single chip which was loaded with four micrograms of protein crystals; that is orders of magnitude less than the amount that would normally be needed, explains Meents.

Our approach not only reduces the data collection time and the quantity of the sample needed, it also opens up the opportunity of analysing entire viruses using X-ray lasers, Meents sums up. The scientists now want to increase the capacity of their chip by a factor of ten, from 22,500 to some 200,000 micropores, and further increase the scanning speed to up to one thousand samples per second. This would better exploit the potential of the new X-ray free-electron laser European XFEL, which is just going into operation in the Hamburg region and which will be able to produce up to 27,000 pulses per second. Furthermore, the next generation of chips will only expose those micropores that are currently being analysed, to prevent the remaining crystals from being damaged by scattered radiation from the X-ray laser.

Researchers from the University of Oxford, the University of Eastern Finland, the Swiss Paul Scherrer Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in the US and SLAC were also involved in the research. Diamond scientists have collaborated with the team at DESY, with much of the development and testing of the micro-patterned chip being done on Diamond's I02 and I24 beamlines.

###

About Diamond:

Diamond Light Source is the UK's synchrotron science facility, and is approximately the size of Wembley Stadium. It works like a giant microscope, harnessing the power of electrons to produce bright light that scientists can use to study anything from fossils to jet engines to viruses and vaccines. Diamond is one of the most advanced scientific facilities in the world, and its pioneering capabilities are helping to keep the UK at the forefront of scientific research. 2017 marks a double celebration for Diamond  15 years since the company was formed, and 10 years of research and innovation. In this time, researchers who have obtained their data at Diamond have authored over 5,000 papers.

About DESY:

Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY is one of the world's leading particle accelerator centres. Researchers use the large-scale facilities at DESY to explore the microcosm in all its variety  ranging from the interaction of tiny elementary particles to the behaviour of innovative nanomaterials and biomolecules to the fundamental mysteries of the universe. The accelerators and detectors that DESY develops and builds at its locations in Hamburg and Zeuthen are unique tools for science and research. DESY is a member of the Helmholtz Association, Germany's largest scientific organisation, and receives its funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (90 per cent) and the German federal states of Hamburg and Brandenburg (10 per cent).

Reference

High-speed fixed-target serial virus crystallography; Philip Roedig, Helen M. Ginn, Tim Pakendorf, Geoff Sutton, Karl Harlos, Thomas S. Walter, Jan Meyer, Pontus Fischer, Ramona Duman, Ismo Vartiainen, Bernd Reime, Martin Warmer, Aaron S. Brewster, Iris D. Young, Tara Michels-Clark, Nicholas K. Sauter, Marcin Sikorsky, Silke Nelson, Daniel S. Damiani, Roberto Alonso-Mori, Jingshan Ren, Elizabeth E. Fry, Christian David, David I. Stuart, Armin Wagner, and Alke Meents; Nature Methods, 2017; DOI: 10.1038/nmeth.4335
Raw Sugar (SB) Reclaims 61.8% Fib Retrace of Apr-Sep Slide Tradable Patterns - Thu Nov 10, 10:40PM CST Raw Sugar (SBH23) edged higher yesterday, gaining for the 9th straight day and closing above the 61.8% Fib retrace of the April to September slide. SB is now comfortably above the October high, downchannel... SBH23 : 19.54 (+0.67%) SGG : 61.02 (+0.64%)

Hog Futures Weaken on Thursday Barchart - Thu Nov 10, 4:46PM CST Front month lean hog prices closed the Thursday session with 32 to 82 cent losses, but are still in the black on net for the week due to the Monday strength. The USDA National Average Base Hog Price was... HEZ22 : 84.875s (-0.47%) HEJ23 : 94.225s (-0.42%) KMZ22 : 95.500s (+0.05%)

Mixed Close for Thursday Cotton Barchart - Thu Nov 10, 4:46PM CST Cotton futures worked both sides of UNCH on Thursday, and settled the day mixed. December traded in a 251 point range on the day to close 12 points red. May 23 through the new crop futures were higher,... CTZ22 : 87.70 (+1.53%) CTH23 : 85.88 (+1.56%) CTK23 : 85.34 (+1.63%)

Cattle Rise on Weaker Grains Barchart - Thu Nov 10, 4:46PM CST Live cattle futures firmed up after a red midweek trade, erasing yesterdays action and going home back up by $0.72 to $1.50 in the front months. USDA reported cash sales from $149 to $150 in the South... LEZ22 : 153.075s (+0.99%) LEG23 : 155.025s (+0.57%) LEJ23 : 158.500s (+0.46%) GFX22 : 178.625s (+0.51%) GFF23 : 181.700s (+1.14%)

Wheat Holds Relatively Firm Barchart - Thu Nov 10, 4:46PM CST As corn and soybean futures fell 1-2% on Thursday, wheat markets were relatively firm on 1 1/2 to 8 cent losses across the complex. MGE wheat faired the worse of the domestic classes, and went home 6 3/4... ZWZ22 : 808-6 (+0.65%) ZWH23 : 831-2 (+0.67%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.3619 (-0.41%) KEZ22 : 931-0 (+0.62%) KEPAWS.CM : 8.8355 (-0.51%) MWZ22 : 936-6 (+0.56%)

Double Digit Drop in Corn Market Barchart - Thu Nov 10, 4:46PM CST Corn futures faded the Thursday session with double digit losses and closed near the low. December dropped the most on an 11 1/4 cent pullback to lows not seen since mid/late August. USDA announced a... ZCZ22 : 659-4 (+0.96%) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.5135 (-1.71%) ZCH23 : 665-4 (+0.91%) ZCK23 : 665-4 (+0.91%)
Police have arrested a man who allegedly flooded the interior of an Access Self Storage facility in Oakland, N.J. Security footage shows Matthew Guarriello, 21, turning on the bathroom sink at the property at 21 Raritan Road and rerouting the water onto the floor. The flood caused more than $5,000 in property damage, according to the source.

Guarriello, a resident of Franklin Lakes, N.J., surrendered at police headquarters after being contacted by Oakland Police Officer Stephen Broek, who was investigating the case. Guarriello has been charged with criminal mischief.

Founded in 1976, Access Self Storage owns or manages 17 self storage facilities in New Jersey and New York. The portfolio contains more than 12,000 storage units.
Peterborough, ON (June 19, 2017)- By its nature, the sport of short track stock car racing can be defined as a rough and tumble, and sometimes, even aggressive, spectator attraction. Saturday, June 24 fans at Peterborough Speedway will get the chance to see the softer side of Canadas Toughest 1/3-Mile Paved Oval as the track plays host to an Autism Awareness Night.

President of the Canadian National Autism Foundation Tina Fougere says its all about having family fun for a great cause.

Kids Race is all about accepting our loved ones with autism, Fougere said. We couldnt ask for a better place in Central Ontario to host our special event. The wonderful people at Peterborough Speedway have opened their doors and more importantly, their hearts to our cause.

Kids Race was started in 2010 as an idea to create a new platform for autism research and awareness. It wasnt too long after speaking with, and working alongside, track owners, officials, drivers, crews and fans that a common bond was formed. Everyone associated with the event quickly realised that passion, dedication, family and a love for what they do is something everyone shared.

Peterborough Speedway owner/promoter J.P. Josiasse says that Autism Awareness Night is an informative and educational event for everyone who comes through the gates.

Our drivers, teams, crew members, sponsors and fans are quick to throw their support behind a worthwhile cause, Josiasse said. Even if a member if your family hasnt been affected by autism, you probably know someone who has. Whatever we can do to help the Canadian National Autism Foundation is a win-win for everyone involved.

On track action for Saturday, June 24th at Peterborough Speedway will feature the home track Jiffy Lube Mini Stock and Trent Lakes Complete Plumbing Renegade Truck divisions, as well as the Can-Am TQ Midgets, Trailers Plus Eastern Ontario Legends and the Ontario Modifieds Racing Series. Pit gates will open at 3:00, with the general admission grandstands unlocked at 5:00 and the first green flag at 6:00.

To learn more about Kids Race, visit www.kidsrace.ca or call 888. 977.RACE (7223). The Canadian National Autism Foundation web-site is www.cnaf.net.

Full schedule details and the latest news can always be found by logging onto www.peterboroughspeedway.com, liking the Peterborough Speedway page on Facebook or following the track on Twitter. Fans can also download the free app on your Smartphone.

Prepared by: Jim Clarke, Clarke Motorsports Communications/First Draft Media

clarkemotorsports@hotmail.com, www.facebook.com/clarkemotorsports

613.968.6410
The daughter of first-generation Irish immigrants, a son of Indian immigrants, a Saudi national, and a woman from a small city in southwest China. All are among Institutional Investor magazine's Hedge Fund Rising Stars, class of 2017. Hedge funds have benefited from and have been made stronger by immigration. As in previous years, the 2017 pool of up-and-coming talent reflects that diversity. The 30 members of the 2017 list of Hedge Fund Rising Stars will be honored as part of Institutional Investor's Hedge Fund Awards Dinner in New York on Wednesday, June 21. They were each nominated by their peers, with the final selection made by Institutional Investor's editorial team.

These Rising Stars represent the core values of integrity, passion, and commitment and make up the very best of the hedge fund industry. We are proud to celebrate them here.

Alexander Ahari

Redington

The City of London was booming in 1999 when Alexander Ahari got his first job in finance at the tender age of 20. He joined Capel Cure Sharp, the asset management arm of a large U.K. private client brokerage. Ahari, who grew up in Hastings, East Sussex, got his start working in the middle office. After Capel was acquired, he was asked to join Attica Asset Management, the multimanager division of U.K.-based Threadneedle Asset Management. In 2004, Ahari left to became part of a team building a new fund-of-hedge-funds business, Eddington Capital Management. But the fledgling firm was unable to survive the mass contraction of the industry post-2008 and shut down in 2010. For Ahari, now 38, the closure created new opportunities. After more than two years as an independent hedge fund investment consultant, he joined Redington, a U.K. investment adviser with more than $400 billion ($520 billion) in assets under advisory, as a senior vice president working on illiquid credit, private debt, and specialty finance portfolios.

Brooke Beck

Marcato Capital Management

Mentorship means a lot to Brooke Beck. After graduating from Penn State University with a BA in pre-law and criminal justice, Beck was all set to go to law school  until she realized she didn't want to spend three more years in a classroom. Instead, Beck, who grew up in New Jersey, decided to try to get a job in finance. She succeeded, joining U.S. Trust Co.'s private wealth group in the summer of 2000. There she had an amazing mentor whom she followed to Mellon Financial, though she soon left to join Goldentree Asset Management. In late 2008, Beck joined Och-Ziff Capital Management, where she helped the New York-based multistrategy hedge fund firm diversify its investor base. She also became part of Och-Ziff's senior women leadership group, helped the firm structure its family leave policy, and mentored younger women at the firm. Last year, Beck, 38, joined Marcato Capital Management, a San Francisco-based, $1.5 billion activist hedge fund firm, as head of investor relations.

Ben Block

Ardsley Partners

While studying for a degree in physics at the University of California, San Diego, Ben Block learned to code. A series of jobs as a software engineer at start-ups in San Diego, where he grew up, followed. One of those firms, Cayenta, developed technology for utility companies. Having succeeded in start-ups, Block decided to go to business school, earning his MBA in finance and economics from NYU's Stern School of Business. Getting into finance was not the plan, but Block was interested in renewable energy. In 2007, while at business school, he wrote an award-winning paper entitled "Using Project Finance to Deliver Clean Energy to Emerging Markets." That paper helped Block secure a job at Ardsley Partners. The hedge fund firm was ramping up its renewables fund, and Block, 39, has been working on that fund ever since. He is now a partner and is also board chair and former executive director of Top Honors, a not-for-profit that provides free math tutoring to disadvantaged middle school students in New York.

Steve Blundin

Verizon Investment Management Corp.

Steve Blundin, 34, does not have much of a defined benefit pension plan, even though he has been with Verizon Investment Management Corp. for 12 years. Blundin joined the investment management arm of the telecommunications firm in summer 2005, after graduating with a double major in economics and business from Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. But Verizon Communications, which moved its asset management group to Basking Ridge, New Jersey, in 2006, froze its DB pension plan for management employees the same year Blundin arrived. Since then, Blundin, who grew up outside of Philadelphia, has risen through the ranks at Verizon Investment Management. Having originally joined in operations, he became an equity analyst in 2006, then moved to hedge funds in 2009. In August 2013 he was officially made head of the hedge fund portfolio  a challenge he has enjoyed. His responsibilities also include other alternatives strategies, such as commodities and risk parity.

Adri Chaikin

New York Presbyterian Hospital

Growing up in Atlantic Beach, Long Island, Adri Chaikin was surrounded by a menagerie. Her father was a vet, and their pets included seven or eight dogs, two turtles, several birds, and some snakes. Chaikin graduated from MIT in 2003 with a math major and an economics minor. She started her career as an analyst in the quantitative team of Goldman Sachs Group's Global Alpha group. After a little more than a year with Goldman, she joined a new private equity team being formed at Lehman Brothers. When Lehman filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2008, Chaikin chose to be part of the team that stayed on to help with the wind-down. She ended up working for the bankruptcy estate for more than three years. Chaikin then worked for Pine River Capital Management before going over to the asset allocator' side. She joined the investment office of New York Presbyterian Hospital in 2014, where she is director of investments. Now 36, Chaikin lives in Manhattan and has one dog, Stella. Back on Long Island the turtles are still going strong, as is one snake.

Martha deLivron

Texas Municipal Retirement System

The first days of June will be Martha deLivron's last as a senior investment analyst for absolute return strategies with the $25 billion Texas Municipal Retirement System. At 35, deLivron is moving to Hong Kong to join the marketing and IR team of Chinese hedge fund Oxbow Capital Management. She knew from an early age that she wanted to go into business, so she attended Babson College, a private business school in Wellesley, Massachusetts. After school, deLivron worked as research analyst with Birinyi Associates before moving to New York and joining fund-of-hedge-funds firm Permal Group, now EnTrustPermal. During her time at Permal, she spent three months working out of the Singapore office and traveling to Hong Kong. After close to ten years in funds of funds, deLivron felt it was time to do something different. While trying to decide between hedge fund marketing and working for an allocator, she landed a job with Texas Municipal in Austin, Texas. Now she is ready for a new challenge.

Tim Garry

Pelorus Jack Capital

All eyes are on Pelorus Jack Capital, the new hedge fund launched this year by Tim Garry and a team from San Francisco-based hedge fund Passport Capital. Garry left Passport in June 2016. He had been co-portfolio manager of Passport's long-short and liquid long-short equity strategies and head of the portfolio construction, risk, and quantitative strategies team. After coming to Passport from State Street Global Advisors in December 2007, Garry also set up the hedge fund firm's risk management and portfolio construction systems and served as head of risk. A graduate of Boston College, where he earned an MBA in finance and a bachelor's degree in philosophy and English, Garry, 37, now has the opportunity to build his own hedge fund on his own terms. With him are head trader David Tillman and head of investor relations Greg Leograndis, both of whom also previously worked at Passport.

Nick Graziano

Venetus Partners

Not many have had the opportunity to work alongside legendary buyout-king-turned-activist-investor Carl Icahn. Given Icahn's notoriously prickly and combative public profile, many would not want the job - but it was the making of Nick Graziano. The New Jersey native went to work for Icahn in 2004, having graduated from Duke University with a BA in economics a decade earlier. He helped Icahn build his activist hedge fund and while doing so got to know Icahn's lieutenant Keith Meister. Graziano then went to work for Tom Sandell at Sandell Asset Management, where he ran a $3 billion special situations group. In 2010 he was working at Omega Advisors when Meister asked him to join his new firm, Corvex Management. Graziano, 45, jumped at the chance, going on to spend over four years at Corvex before leaving in spring 2015 to co-found his own activist hedge fund firm, Venetus Partners. Venetus is now in the process of returning capital to investors, and the two partners plan to go their separate ways.

Ed Hetherington

UNC Management Co.

Ed Hetherington joined UNC Management Co. in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in the late fall of 2014. He had previously spent more than 14 years in the pension office of UPS. Hetherington, 37, joined UPS straight out of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, where he earned a BS in economics and was a member of the University of Pennsylvania crew team. After a summer internship at UPS - one of the top corporate pension plan investors in the country - Hetherington was hired as an analyst in the mergers and acquisitions group. By 2010 he rose to become director of public markets. At UNC, which manages the $2.8 billion endowment of the University of North Carolina, Hetherington is managing director of public markets investing.

Cameron Khajavi

MIK Capital

When Cameron Khajavi, 39, married his fiance, Victoria, earlier this year, John Legend performed at their wedding. Khajavi and Legend, whose given name is John Stephens, had become friends during their early days as young business professionals in New York. While Legend went on to a dazzling music career, Khajavi, who grew up in Houston, Texas, has become a star in his own right - in hedge funds. Before attending business school at Duke University, Khajavi worked as an investment banker at Lazard. Once he received his MBA, he joined Citadel as an analyst specializing in consumer and technology stocks. In 2014 he went to Blackstone and launched his own hedge fund business, MIK Capital. MIK, a long-short equity fund, is currently running a roughly $300 million separate account exclusively for Blackstone, but is looking to raise capital from outside investors as well.

Ryan Kus

New Holland Capital Management

New York-based New Holland Capital Management, the hedge fund investment arm of $470 billion Dutch pension plan ABP, is one of those best-in-class investor groups highly regarded by those in the know but which tend to fly under the radar of the less well-informed. Ryan Kus, 33, came to New York by way of hedge fund consulting firm Albourne Partners. After graduating from Michigan State University in 2002 with a double degree in finance and economics, Kus got a job with the National Futures Association. The position involved a lot of regulatory work with hedge funds, and Kus got to know the industry and the way it operates. In 2012, he relocated from Chicago, where the NFA is based, to New York and got a job in due diligence with Albourne. By fall 2015, he had landed as director of operational due diligence at New Holland Capital.

Will Maslovsky

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The $1.8 billion portfolio of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has undergone a transition since Elizabeth Hewitt joined as chief investment officer in 2015. Will Maslovsky has been a key part of designing and implementing the new portfolio. A New Jersey native, Maslovsky, 38, attended the University of Delaware, where he received a BS in finance. Now, as Alfred P. Sloan's senior investment director, Maslovsky is responsible for fund sourcing, due diligence, and ongoing monitoring of the foundation's external managers. That includes hedge funds, private credit, and hybrid strategies. Hewitt and Maslovsky worked together back in the early 2000s at Lazard Asset Management, where they were part of a small team that built the fund-of-hedge-funds business there from scratch. So when Hewitt joined Alfred P. Sloan, she reached out to Maslovsky - who had moved on from Lazard - to see if he wanted to come onboard. Maslovsky jumped at the chance.

Allan Merrill

Eton Park Capital Management

After growing up in Chilliwack, British Columbia, Allan Merrill was the first person in his family to attend college. He received his undergraduate degree from Simon Fraser University in Canada, but it was only when he got to Harvard University, where he completed a joint business and law degree, that he really learned about the world of hedge funds. After graduating, Merrill joined Stark Investments, a multistrategy hedge fund based out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He left Stark in early 2007, moved to New York, and joined Eton Park Capital Management - where he's been ever since. Merrill was made a partner on January 1, 2014, and heads up the firm's merger event-driven group. With Eton Park in the process of returning capital to investors and turning into a family office, Merrill, 41, is expected to announce new career plans shortly.

Leigh Nisonson

Consonance Capital

Call Leigh Nisonson a Renaissance woman. At Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, she started out pre-med before graduating with a major in studio art. Nisonson then switched back to her left brain, earning a law degree from the University of Virginia Law School in 2004. She practiced law for a couple of years at Sidley Austin in New York, where her role put her in frequent contact with fund managers. Nisonson decided she wanted to work directly for a hedge fund - but in marketing or investor relations. When she couldn't find a hedge fund willing to hire her in the area she wanted, Nisonson left Sidley Austin to start her own business - selling art. This gave her the experience her resume had lacked. In March 2015 she was hired by Consonance Capital - a $1 billion New York hedge fund specializing in health care investments - as its head of capital raising.

Jed Nussbaum

Nut Tree Capital Management

As hedge fund names go, Nut Tree Capital Management might not exactly trip off the tongue, but it makes far more sense in the context of Jed Nussbaum's pedigree. Nussbaum, 41, launched Nut Tree in the summer of 2015 after having spent more than 11 years at well-known distressed-and-stressed-credit hedge fund manager Redwood Capital Management. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey-based Redwood was founded in 2000 by Jonathan Kolatch, who had previously headed up the credit arbitrage group at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Nussbaum joined Redwood in 2003, part of a second wave of talent to join the firm. A graduate of Tufts University and Harvard Business School, Nussbaum made partner at Redwood in 2010. Now, with the blessing of Kolatch and the team, he is branching out on his own. His firm launched in 2015 with $100 million and a seed investment from Investcorp. Today it has more than $400 million.

Lynn O'Connell

Aksia

Lynn O'Connell grew up in the Bronx, the daughter of first-generation Irish immigrants. Her parents, a nurse and a car salesman, moved to the States shortly before O'Connell, 29, was born. She went to public school in New York and attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, where she majored in financial economics. Graduating in 2009 into one of the worst job markets in recent memory, O'Connell landed a job as an operations associate with asset manager ICON Capital in New York. In 2012, Aksia, which had launched five years previously, hired her as a junior analyst. She has been with the hedge fund investment consulting firm ever since.

Michael Orecchio

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors

Michael Orecchio likes industry. After beginning his career as an analyst and working in investment banking, Orecchio, 33, got his start in hedge funds working for KSA MidOcean, a long-short equity fund focused on global industrials and materials and headed up by industrials expert Daniel Khoshaba. Having learned from the master, Orecchio left KSA in 2013 to join new investment fund YG Partners as head of industrials and materials. This job was followed by a stint at Blue Crest Capital Management. This year Orecchio, who studied economics at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, joined Schonfeld Strategic Advisors. There he is incubating his own long-short equity fund focused on global industrials and materials.

Tyson Pratcher

New York State Common Retirement Fund

It never occurred to Tyson Pratcher that he would still be working for the New York State Common Retirement Fund ten years after joining in June 2007. The son of a schoolteacher and a truck driver, Pratcher, 41, grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, and attended Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia, before moving to New York to attend law school at Columbia University. After school he practiced law at Davis Polk & Wardwell for more than three years before leaving to work for the then-junior senator of New York State, Hillary Clinton. As deputy state director, Pratcher supervised the seven offices in the state of New York and was the in-state main political adviser. Pratcher left the senator's office in October 2006 and did some volunteer work for Clinton's first presidential campaign. In mid-2007 he got the opportunity to join the investment office of the New York State pension fund. Pratcher was asked to build an emerging-manager program aimed at increasing the representation of women- and minority-owned money mangers within the pension plan. It seemed like an interesting challenge, one that could keep Pratcher busy until Hillary Clinton was elected president and he found a job in D.C. That day never came. Instead, Pratcher has worked his way steadily up at the retirement fund, in 2015 becoming director of absolute return investing. Today he oversees the opportunistic portfolio.

Jason Rector

State of Wisconsin Investment Board

Jason Rector did not have to stray far from home to land his dream job. Wisconsin-born and -bred, he grew up in the small city of Wisconsin Dells and earned a BS in finance from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rector graduated in 2009, during the heart of the financial crisis - a hard time for job hunting - but in 2010 landed his first investment job, working in operational due diligence at Chicago-based financial services firm Mesirow Financial. He had previously interned at multistrategy hedge fund firm Stark Investments. An expertise in due diligence proved to be good training for hedge fund investing post-2008, and Rector subsequently moved on to a hedge fund investment analyst role with Mesirow. Then, in January 2015, Rector joined the State of Wisconsin Investment Board as an analyst. Among the most sophisticated large U.S. pension plans, the $99 billion SWIB is the perfect environment for him to thrive in.

Andrew Rechtschaffen

Arex Capital

The past few years have been something of a do-over for Andrew Rechtschaffen. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and spending a couple of years in investment banking, Rechtschaffen, 39, joined hedge fund firm Greenlight Capital Management in 2002. At the time, Greenlight had only about $800 million in assets, and it took him only until 2005 to make partner. That same year Rechtschaffen was recruited to join Citadel. He spent a few years there, leaving in 2008 to launch his own hedge fund, Obrem Capital Management. Starting a fund in 2008 proved a challenge; Obrem sustained losses almost immediately and shut down a few years later. Rechtschaffen returned to Greenlight and made partner again in January 2014. Last year he left to launch a new firm, Arex Capital. The new fund will have a concentrated portfolio, primarily in equity but with some opportunistic distressed debt. It is expected to launch October 1. Greenlight founder David Einhorn has said there is no third shot at Greenlight partnership.

Sarah Samuels

Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board

Peers and colleagues agree that Sarah Samuels is one of the emerging bright lights of the hedge fund industry. She was made deputy chief investment officer of the Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board in April 2015, having previously served as a senior investment officer in the public markets group and managed part of the pension plan's $65 billion in assets. Samuels received a BA in German and business from the University of New Hampshire, then got her start in asset management working at Boston-based money manger Wellington Advisors. She joined MassPRIM in 2011. As deputy CIO, Samuels works closely with the CIO and has significant oversight of the fund's external managers. Among other charitable endeavors, Samuels, 35, is on the advisory committee of Girls Who Invest, a not-for-profit that aims to increase the ranks of female investment professionals in the asset management industry.

Devinder Sangha

Albourne Partners

In the 1970s, Devinder Sangha's parents immigrated to Toronto from India. Sangha's father is a truck driver and his mother works in a glass factory. Sangha, 37, graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University in Brantford, Ontario, with a degree in business administration. His first job was in hedge fund administration for Cisco. In 2006 he joined Albourne Partners and helped the hedge fund consulting firm, which started in the U.K. in 1994, launch its Toronto office and build a presence in the Canadian market. Sangha started out on the hedge fund's due diligence team and spent some time in the San Francisco office before moving to New York. Today he leads a team of analysts responsible for operational due diligence of multistrategy and event-driven managers. Lately he has taken on more of a client-facing role.

Ruchit Shah

Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co.

It's not that Ruchit Shah didn't like being a lawyer. He just found something more interesting to do. Born in India, Shah, 33, moved to the U.S. when he was four years old. Then, from age nine to 15, he and his family lived in Saudi Arabia; Shah's father is in the oil industry. He finished high school in North Carolina before attending college at the University of Texas at Austin. He went on to get his law degree from the same institution before going into law, working for Baker Botts. He then became special council to the lieutenant governor of Texas, working on energy policy before joining the Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Co. in 2014. He oversees the alternative and private credit portfolios at the $50 billion trust fund.

Amy Sutter

Jafra Capital

When former Soros Fund Management portfolio manager Randy Yuen launched his own firm, New York-based Jafra Capital, which went live in mid-2016, he took Amy Sutter along with him. Sutter has a BS in accounting from Pepperdine University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. She started out her career in human resources with Microsoft before moving into the asset management industry with a position in equities at California bond shop PIMCO. Sutter started out her career in hedge funds at GLG as an equity analyst specializing in the tech sector, then moved to Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Capital for a year before rejoining GLG in 2010. At Soros she was a senior equity analyst specializing in tech.

Tarek Turaigi

KAUST Investment Management Co.

Growing up as one of eight children, Tarek Turaigi didn't have a lot of money for college. Though he was born in the United States, Turaigi, who has dual American and Saudi citizenship, grew up in Saudi Arabia. He studied hard for a national test, did well, and was awarded a full scholarship by Saudi Aramco to attend Virgina Tech, where he majored in accounting and information systems. After graduating, Turaigi went back to Saudi Arabia to work for Aramco. The Saudi oil and gas company also paid for him to attend business school; he received an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain. Turaigi started out at Aramco working as an internal auditor, but after returning from Barcelona, he decided he wanted to switch to investing, and he joined Armco's private markets team. In fall 2015, Turaigi, 34, was given the opportunity to do a two-year stint with KAUST Investment Management Co. Based in Arlington, Virginia, the KAUST investment office manages the endowment of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Turaigi works in the hedge fund group at KAUST.

Scott Werthamer

Fortress Investment Group

Scott Werthamer may not have the greatest timing in the world, but things usually work out for him. Take marriage. Werthamer met his wife, Emily, when they were both trying to hail a cab at a busy intersection in New York. He suggested they share a ride; she turned him down. It was the subsequent intervention of a doorman - it turns out the would-be couple lived in the same building - many months later that led to a date and, eventually, marriage. In January 2008, Werthamer joined Fortress Investment Group, where he worked in the structured products business, having proposed that FIG could raise money by launching a permanent capital vehicle. The strategy was all the rage at the time - Werthamer, a graduate of George Washington University, had been working at Morgan Stanley selling just such products to hedge funds. But the financial crash of 2008 really put pay to that business. Fortunately, FIG hadn't been able to get its vehicle off the ground. The liquid-markets team liked Werthamer, and he joined them in a capital-raising and investor relations role. By the time FIG closed that group in 2015, Werthamer had long since moved over to the credit group.

Todd Westhus

Olympic Peak Asset Management

It's one of the most anticipated launches of 2018. Todd Westhus was a star portfolio manager and managing partner at Perry Capital. A member of the credit and special situations team, he was responsible for some of the firm's most interesting, complex, and profitable investments of recent years. When Richard Perry announced last year that he was closing down his eponymous hedge fund, it was almost a given that Westhus would go on to do his own thing. Indeed, he plans to launch Olympic Peak Asset Management in early 2018. He is founding the firm with another Perry managing partner, Doreen Mochrie, who was global head of sales and investor relations. Westhus, 41, joined Perry in 2006 from Avenue Capital, where he had been a vice president focusing on distressed opportunities across the capital structure at automotive, paper and packaging, chemicals, airlines, and gaming companies. He has a BA from Duke University, where he majored in economics and biology.

Seth Wunder

Black-and-White Capital

Technology is the big disrupter. Seth Wunder plans to profit from such changes by identifying technology winners and losers across all sectors. A former portfolio manager with Contour Asset Management, a long-short equity fund focused on technology, media, and telecommunications, Wunder moved to LA and launched Black-and-White Capital in June 2016. Wunder, 39, who graduated from Cornell University with a BS in applied economics and business management, got his start as an analyst with Morgan Stanley.

Katherine Yearwood

Bessemer Trust

Having graduated from Harvard University with a BA in engineering science, Katherine Yearwood got a job in 2005 on the interest rate structuring desk at Barclays Capital in New York. In 2008 she left Barclays and joined New Holland Capital, the external hedge fund manager of Dutch pension plan ABP, where she spent more than five years as a portfolio analyst. From New Holland, Yearwood moved to the fund-of-hedge-funds firm EnTrustPermal. Then in late 2016 she joined high-net-worth advisory firm Bessemer Trust as a vice president and senior hedge fund analyst.

Mi Zhou

Citadel

Growing up in a small city in Chuxiong in China's Yunnan Province, Mi Zhou was particularly inspired by a famous quote from a Chinese scholar: Read ten thousand books. Travel ten thousand miles. She wanted to travel the world and knew education was the key to making that happen. In 2002 she received the highest national university entrance exam score in her province and was admitted to Tsinghua University in Beijing, a 40-hour train journey from home. Zhou, 33, got on the train and started her new life. She majored in finance and economics and started her career as a consultant with McKinsey & Co. She then decided to go to business school in the U.S., graduating from Harvard University in 2011 with an MBA. In 2013, she joined Citadel's investor relations team in Hong Kong, having previously worked on the equity research team at UBS. Her timing was good: China is hungry for hedge funds.
Asset management giant BlackRock announced it is taking a minority equity stake in European digital advice service Scalable Capital, the second investment the U.S. firm has made in the fast-growing robo-advisory marketplace.



Scalable, launched 16 months ago, has 250 million ($279 million) in assets from 6,000 retail investors. The start-ups platform provides multi-language and currency capabilities that can operate under different international tax codes and regulatory regimes. It gives BlackRock a bigger toe-hold in digital investment management, which corporate and other financial institutions increasingly want to offer their clients.



BlackRock plans to help the firm bring on corporate and institutional clients. Patrick Olson, chief operating officer of EMEA (Europe, the Middle East, and Africa) at BlackRock, will join Scalables board.

Scalable, which is based in London and Munich, has so far focused on clients in the U.K. and Germany, but is expanding into other areas of Europe. Scalable, as well as its product selection and asset allocation decisions, will remain independent and based in Europe. BlackRock led the 30 million funding round, alongside HV Holtzbrinck Ventures and Tengelmann Ventures, both of which have an existing investment in Scalable. The deal needs to be approved by regulators and is expected to close in the third quarter.

Robert Goldstein, chief operating officer of BlackRock and global head of BlackRock Solutions, says BlackRock chose to invest in Scalable specifically because the company wants to provide institutional-quality portfolio construction to a much larger audience than has traditionally had access to this type of rigorous advice.

BlackRock ultimately wants to allow clients to combine Scalables services with some of its more recent product offerings, including Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management; iRetire, which calculates retirement income; and iCapital, which helps simplify processing for alternative investments. Aladdin is BlackRocks central portfolio management system, and Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management provides advisors with portfolio construction, modeling and risk management technology.

Aladdin Risk for Wealth Management, iRetire and other products have grown out of BlackRocks efforts to make the analytics and portfolio-construction features of Aladdin available to retail clients through their financial advisors. Historically, only institutional investors have had access to BlackRocks analytics.

In 2015, BlackRock acquired digital advice service FutureAdvisor. It now makes the advice service available to retail investors through third parties, including RBC Wealth Management.
This content is from: Portfolio

The online used car dealer has hit a new low, making it the most profitable short of the year.
by Timothy Montales Chubb has appointed Gerard Jerry Butler as its senior vice president, Chubb Group, division president, field operations, North America Insurance.Butlers new position grants him responsibility for North Americas field organization, which is composed of 48 offices in the United States and Canada. In addition, he will be in charge of executing North American business strategies locally by presenting a full complement of capabilities and services to the companys agent and broker distribution partners and managing important long-term business relationships.Equipped with more than three decades of experience, including 26 years at Chubb, Butler recently served as chief operating officer, North America Field Operations. He also served as executive vice president and US field territory operations manager for Chubb before ACE acquired the company in January 2016. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Glassboro State College and has attended executive management programs at Wharton Business School, as presented on Chubbs news website.Jerrys strong field management expertise, industry knowledge, and extensive leadership experience make him an ideal fit for this role. I look forward to working with him as he takes on this strategically pivotal role in helping to continue meeting the multifaceted needs of our agent and broker partners, said John Lupica, Vice Chairman, Chubb Group, President, North America Major Accounts and Specialty Insurance.Butler succeeds Harold Morrison who will retire at the end of the year after 33 years. Morrison joined The Chubb Corporation in 1984, and has held a number of managerial and leadership positions for the company. He also became Chubb Corporations executive vice president, and served as chief global field officer and chief administrative officer prior to ACEs acquisition.Harolds commitment and contributions to Chubb during his tenure have been outstanding. He has been a thoughtful and collaborative partner to me and our broader team since the merger and I look forward to working with him and Jerry on a smooth transition in addition to his continued endeavors for the company. On behalf of the senior management team and all of Chubb, we thank him for his contributions and wish him all the very best during retirement, said Lupica.Jeffrey Updyke, Chief Operating Officer, North American Field Operations, will become Butlers successor. His task is to help in the daily management of North American Field Operations, particularly on distribution management, data analytics and sales. He will also oversee Chubb Insurance Solutions Agency.
Gavin Hill is now senior consultant to Willis Towers Watsons risk consulting & software (RCS) business.Joining the RCS team from the Bank of England, Hill was a senior technical specialist at the Prudential Regulatory Authority where he developed extensive expertise in the design, development, and implementation of complex actuarial solutions.Hill has more than two decades of industry experience and has worked across a wide range of specialist actuarial disciplines. His areas of expertise include capital modelling under Solvency II as well as Pillar II model validation and reserving.The London-based executive also held senior roles at Deloitte and Zurich , specialising in capital modelling, before moving to the Bank of England.The insurance landscape is evolving rapidly and I look forward to working with our clients to help them take control of their regulatory relationships and manage their risk and capital strategy in order to achieve profitable outcomes during these challenging times, commented Hill.Meanwhile, Willis Towers Watsons managing director and UK property & casualty leader Tammy Richardson said she is delighted Hill is joining the team. She believes Hills considerable experience within the regulator and in model validation will be a major asset.
by Timothy MontalesKent Livesay, lawyer, once enjoyed a good storm as it could potentially yield a profit  however, now dark clouds have gathered over his head in the form of disciplinary charges.Late last year, the Texas State Bars Commission for Lawyer Discipline reprimanded Livesay for violating the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct and ordered him to relinquish his law license for a year.On August 08, 2016, the Commission filed a disciplinary petition against Livesay in Hidalgo County and acquired a judgment of professional misconduct against him for demanding hailstorm damages from Allstate on behalf of a client he did not represent.The petition reported that on March 21, 2015, Frank approached the Pharr home of Jesus and Solia Esparza, stating that he had observed alleged hail damage on the couples roof.Frank solicited the Esparzas to retain the professional employment of R. Kent Livesay on property damage claims against Allstate . . . and directed (them) to sign documents. The Esparzas never met with (Livesay), never (spoke to him) . . . and never requested to be contacted by (him) . . . regarding legal representation, the petition mentioned in an article from the Texans for Lawsuit Reform website.Livesay was tasked with paying nearly $2,300 in attorneys fees, with circulating notice of his censure in the Texas Bar Journal, informing all clients of his suspension, and yield all files, papers, monies, and property belonging to the clients.Currently, he is facing criminal charges in Tarrant County accused of engaging in organized crime.Following a Texas Department of Insurance Fraud Unit investigation, the lawyer was indicted by a grand jury for fraud related to lawsuits he is accused of filing over a two-year period against insurance companies without the homeowners knowledge or consent, as mentioned in the article published on the SE Texas Record website.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court has ruled that Arbella Mutual Insurance Company did not engage in unfair settlement practices by demanding arbitration in a lawsuit involving an underinsured motorist claim.

In the case, Heather Chamberland vs. Arbella Mutual Insurance Company, plaintiff Heather Chamberland pursued civil action against Dylon Maiorano, the other driver involved in a July 2007 accident in which she was injured.

Maioranos vehicle was insured under a policy issued by Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and Chamberland eventually obtained a settlement in the amount of Maioranos policy limits.

Her underinsurance carrier, Arbella Mutual Insurance Company, was not a party to the civil action but did consent to the settlement. Chamberland then sought underinsured motorist coverage from Arbella, and Arbella invoked arbitration.

A Superior Court judge initially found that Arbellas request for arbitration was untimely and should be waived because it waited until the outcome of the civil case between Chamberland and Maiorano to file it.

Arbella appealed this decision, and the Appeals Court eventually reversed the decision in its latest ruling in the case.

Case Background

After Arbella was notified of the accident, it confirmed in writing that Chamberlands underinsurance coverage limits under the Arbella policy were $250,000 per person and $500,000 per accident.

Chamberland sued Maiorano and won in the second trial, with the jury concluding the accident was caused by Maioranos negligence and Chamberland was entitled to damages. Maiorano appealed.

While Maioranos appeal was pending, Chamberland, with Arbellas consent, reached a settlement with Maiorano and Liberty Mutual, in which Liberty Mutual agreed to pay her the full $100,000 in bodily injury coverage available under Maioranos policy.

In exchange, Chamberland released Maiorano and Liberty Mutual from all claims arising out of the accident and acknowledged that Maiorano did not admit liability for the accident by entering into the settlement.

The parties did not correspond again until more than three years later when Chamberlands attorney notified Arbella of the judgment against Maiorano.

Three Years Later

Chamberland then claimed the issues of liability and damages had been resolved by the judgment against Maiorano and demanded payment of the balance of the judgment pursuant to the underinsurance coverage provision in the Arbella policy.

Arbella refused, stating it was entitled to resolve issues of liability and damages through arbitration.

Chamberland initiated this case against Arbella, claiming she is entitled to the remaining underinsurance coverage limits of its policy and that Arbella had engaged in unfair settlement practices in violation of Massachusetts law.

Although Arbella filed a counterclaim, it was initially dismissed by the Superior Court motion judge. The motion judge granted a required offset of $100,000 for the bodily injury coverage that Chamberland recovered under Maioranos automobile insurance policy and declared Arbella liable to Chamberland for $131,565 in underinsurance coverage  the balance of the jurys damages award in the second trial.

Latest Ruling

However, Massachusetts automobile insurance policies are required to comply with all applicable statutory provisions and be in a form approved by the Commissioner of Insurance, according to the Appeals Court decision document.

Resolution of a claim for uninsured motorist benefits  both liability and damages  is required to be made through an agreement between the insured and the insurer, or by arbitration if they fail to agree, the document stated.

Arbella and Chamberland each had the option of demanding arbitration at any time, assuming they were unable to reach agreement on liability and/or damages, the Appeals Court document said. Absent other acts inconsistent with its arbitration right, therefore, Arbella did not waive that right merely by waiting to assert it until Chamberlands action against Maiorano came to a conclusion.

The motion judge in the Superior Court decision believed that Arbella had wasted judicial time and effort by taking a wait and see approach while Chamberlands action against Maiorano played out, only to demand arbitration when the second jury trial ended favorably for Chamberland on the issues of liability and damages, the Appeals Court document stated.

However, Arbella was not a party to the litigation between Chamberland and Maiorano. Because of this, the Appeals Court found Arbella could not fairly be charged with wasting judicial time and effort because it waited for Chamberlands action against Maiorano to conclude. As soon as Chamberland finalized her settlement with Maiorano and Liberty Mutual and made a demand for the underinsurance limits of the Arbella policy, Arbella demanded arbitration.

In short, Arbellas actions were anything but inconsistent with its arbitration right, the Appeals Court document said.

With this in mind, the Appeals Court reversed the Superior Courts previous ruling, finding that although a significant amount of time had passed before Arbellas demand for arbitration, it did not act inconsistently with its statutory and policy-based rights to arbitrate.

Here, it is undisputed that Arbella did not explicitly waive its right to arbitrate Chamberlands underinsurance claim, the Appeals Court document stated. Upon review of the undisputed facts in the record, we conclude that the motion judges determination that Arbella waived its arbitration right amounted to an abuse of discretion.

The matter was remanded to the trial court for appointment of an arbitrator and for further proceedings on Chamberlands claim that Arbella engaged in unfair settlement practices in violation of Massachusetts law.

Topics Lawsuits Massachusetts
Compre, the independent insurance and reinsurance legacy specialist, today announces it has agreed to acquire Equinox CA Europe, a captive insurer of global engineering and construction conglomerate SNC-Lavalin.

The Ireland-based captive insured the activities of SNC-Lavalins business in France from 2008 until December 2016 when the subsidiary was sold.

Terms of the deal are confidential and completion is subject to regulatory approval from the Central Bank of Ireland.

The acquisition is its first in Ireland and its first captive.

This is our 11th company acquisition, which highlights Compres technical and creative ability to meet the spectrum of legacy owner needs and to address the issues some entities now face as Solvency II pressures come to the surface, said Nick Steer, CEO of Compre, noting that the acquisition is its fourth for 2017.

Source: Compre

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Carriers California Europe
A.M. Best has upgraded the financial strength rating (FSR) to A (Excellent) from A- (Excellent) and the long-term issuer credit rating (Long-Term ICR) to a from a- of American Agricultural Insurance Co. (AAIC) in Indianapolis, Ind. The outlook for these ratings has been revised to stable from positive.

The rating action reflects AAICs strong risk-adjusted capitalization, continued improvement in underwriting and operating results as reflected by five straight years of underwriting and operating profitability.

These results are driven by aggressive risk management initiatives which included a substantial restructuring of the companys overall book of business coupled with milder weather patterns. Specifically, AAIC has reduced its previously extensive property catastrophe exposure, particularly in its niche of reinsuring carriers associated with Farm Bureau.

The company also is growing its non-catastrophe prone casualty business primarily underwritten in its broker-assumed segment, with those results having shown considerable improvement over the past five years.

Additionally, AAIC maintains a favorable expense structure due in part to its unique market position as the primary reinsurer to the Farm Bureau insurance companies.

Partially offsetting these positive rating factors is the companys ongoing susceptibility to severe tornado/hail storms, hurricanes or an earthquake along the New Madrid fault, which stems from its large property book of business, elevated underwriting leverage and above average reinsurance dependence.

Source: A.M. Best

Topics Agribusiness Indiana
Damage from a fire at a Bismarck, N.D., recreational vehicle business is expected to be in the millions of dollars.

The blaze at Capital RV happened Sunday morning. A shop and several motor homes inside were damaged, and the businesss showroom suffered smoke damage.

No one was in the building at the time and here were no reports of injuries.

There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Michigan Court of Appeals has reversed the ruling of a trial court in a case involving whether a commercial insurer or a personal insurer is responsible for paying no-fault personal injury protection benefits when a worker is injured in a commercial vehicle while performing employment duties for the business owner of that vehicle.

The focus of Farm Bureau General Insurance Co. of America v. Westfield Insurance Co. is whether that worker was an employee or independent contractor.

Mark LaPointe drove grain trucks on a part-time basis for Larry Benore & Sons, an Erie, Mich., farming business owned by Craig Benore and his mother. LaPoint was seriously injured when the semi-tractor he was driving for Benore collided with a train and he was ejected from the truck. The vehicle was owned by Benore and insured by Westfield.

At the time, LaPointes own vehicles were insured by Farm Bureau, which began paying no-fault PIP benefits to LaPointe after the accident. Farm Bureau then sought reimbursement from Westfield, arguing that because LaPointe was an employee of Larry Benore & Son and operating a truck owned by that company at the time of the accident, Westfield, as the insurer of the business vehicle, was responsible for paying the PIP benefits.

Farm Bureau also sought declaratory judgment that Westfield was the higher priority insurer under Michigan statute MCL 500.3114. Westfield filed a counterclaim seeking the opposite, asserting that LaPointe was not Benores employee but an independent contractor.

LaPointe and Craig Benore were friends and LaPointe worked for Benore & Son on an as needed/as available basis. That is, LaPointe could choose not to work if Benore asked him to and Benore could choose not to employ LaPointe. LaPointe was employed full-time at another trucking company, a fact that was known to Benore.

To determine LaPointes employment status with Benore & Son, the trial court used an economic reality test that included such factors as the employers control of the workers duties and payment of wages, and its right to hire, fire and discipline the employee, and the performance of the duties as an integral part of the employers business towards the accomplishment of a common goal.

The trial judge found that under the economic reality test, LaPointe was employee because:

LaPointe had no control over his duties  he was hired to drive the truck to a certain location and nothing else.

He kept his own hours but turned them in for pay at a rate set by Benore & Sons ($12 per hour).

Benore clearly had the right to hire and fire LaPointe at will.

The trial court determined that LaPointe was a seasonal employee because he was only hired at harvest time, but an employee nevertheless. As such, the trial court declined to take up the issue of whether LaPointe was an independent contractor, as Westfield argued.

The trial court entered a judgment in Farm Bureaus favor and ordered Westfield to repay Farm Bureau for the benefits it previously paid to LaPointe. Westfield also was directed to pay all future PIP benefits due to LaPointe.

Westfield appealed.

Using the same economic reality test utilized by the trial court, the appeals court came to a completely different conclusion. It agreed with Westfield that the trial court was wrong in determining that LaPointe was an employee of Benore & Son and in finding that Westfield is the higher priority insurer in the case.

Looking at the factors considered under the test, the appeals court found that LaPointe was not an employee because:

[T]he record shows that Benore exerted little control over LaPointes duties. The testimony indicates that Benore did little to monitor or supervise LaPointe as he transported the crops.

[T]he record shows that LaPointe did more than just drive the trucks. Although driving was his primary task, LaPointe also would perform other tasks on occasion  often on his own initiative  in order to assist with whatever jobs Benore needed accomplished.

Benore did not control the hours that LaPointe worked, or even whether LaPointe worked.

Unlike the trial court, the appeals court found the fact that Benore and LaPointe were friends  their working relationship was characterized as a friend helping a friend  revealed the extent to which Benore lacked control over control over LaPointes time and work.

The appeals court also pointed out that Benore knew LaPointe had a full-time job as a semi-truck driver for another company and that not only did Benore not provide LaPointe with either a 1099 or a W-2 tax form, the two also bartered for work at times.

In finding that LaPointe was not Benores employee, the appeals court reversed the opinion of the trial court.

Westfield is correct that under the economic reality test, LaPointe was not an employee of Westfields insured. As a result, Farm Bureau was higher in priority, the opinion states.

The appeals court remanded the case for entry of an order granting summary disposition in favor of Westfield.

Topics Legislation Auto Michigan Agribusiness Contractors
Trov is a tech start-up thats introducing the world to a new way to insure their things: on-demand for any duration, entirely from a smartphone. Weve had to reinvent the insurance value-chain  from customer engagement through claims  by leveraging tech at every point to make the experience meet the expectations of emerging generations.

Weve launched in Australia and the United Kingdom, and will shortly be in the U.S. Trov assumes no underwriting risk; instead we partner with established insurers in each territory who bolt their balance sheet onto our proposition. We collect premiums in the app, keep a portion for ourselves, and share the remainder with our underwriting partners. We think that this is one of the models that will endure the massive shake-up hitting the insurance industry as it leverages the key assets of both Trov and our partners: rapidly deployable, massively scalable, user-centric tech and design from us; balance sheet and regulatory strength from insurers.

We enjoy great relationships with our partners. Thats not to say we dont experience aggravations and frustrations (in both directions). We do. But so far weve entered into several strategic business relationships with global insurance leaders (Munich Re, Suncorp, Sompo, and Axa UK) and there are a few more in the works. Over the past couple of years weve learned a lot about the ingredients that contribute to an enduring and positive partnership. So, in no particular order, here are seven things we have learned:

Real innovation is driven top-down; be wary if you dont have C-level support. Heads of Innovation (or similar titles-du jour) are in vogue today but watch out when fundamental financials get compressed. Insurtech is growing-up amid a relatively profitable era in global insurance with few major calamities to drain coffers. When that changes (and it will) and the fear of pinched profits returns to the boardroom, innovation may be sacrificed on the altar of margin-efficiencies and viewed as a luxury of plenty. Dont do pilots; they invite abandonment and indicate a lack of partner conviction. Many think pilots are like test drives. Theyre not. Pilots are more like rental cars: meant to be driven hard for a short time and given back. If your partner wants you to do a pilot, be cautious. Short-term thinking and safety nets are the enemies of true innovation, and a pilot is usually fraught with safety valves, inadequate resourcing, and near-term horizons. We learned we had to find a new way to measure time: not in linear terms of days or months, but rather in software iterations. In other words, since were iterating our application based on learnings from, lets say, customer engagement, then we need to measure how things are going not based on some arbitrary date (a six month pilot) but instead on our ability to impact the metrics with each iteration of our software. Its a new way to think altogether. To be clear: one of your roles in the partnership is to assist the partner in making near-term failure an acceptable ingredient of long-term success. Equity is a great leveler. One of the best ways to assure everyones pulling in the same direction is to invite partners to own some of your equity. At Trov, several of our business partners also own our equity. Even though none owns more than a few percentage points, the alignment is palpable. For example, one partner  who also owns some equity  recently let go of an exclusivity business term, reasoning that they would benefit more from the potential increase in Trovs equity value if our technology were to be deployed beyond their application. Weve found that selling some equity to partners aligns both P&L and balance sheet objectives, inviting good will and patient cooperation. Anticipate that your champions will move on; pay attention to the care and feeding of relationships. Partners are people, partnerships are relationships, and relationships need attending to. We found that regular (weekly, or 2x/month) video-conference check-ins with stakeholders is good relational hygiene. Bonus: our secret to building and deepening partner bonds? Fill up the ranks of your business development team with the Irish. (You think Im kidding? Our team is nearly 100 percent Irish born and bred; theyre brilliant, hard working, equally hard playing, people-minded, and have a remarkable instinct for turning business partners into trusted friends.) Be sure someone wakes up every day thinking about your success. Someone who wakes-up every day knowing that their job and your success are intrinsically linked is a must-have. Besides managing the myriad deliverables attendant to your mutual business objectives, the person assigned to your success will be your surrogate during the serendipitous hallway encounters when a little defense of your proposition is needed. And theyll be your local weather vane, measuring the subtle directional shifts so critical to a nuanced response in times of pressure or heightened scrutiny. Repeat after me: Innovation is risky, costly and will take time. Meaningful results should be measured over quarters, possibly even years. Be sure this is not only well understood by all stakeholders but also that it becomes something like a manifesto underwriting the partners intent to innovate with you. When results are slower than anticipated, or some other inevitable hiccup is encountered, most incumbents will exercise a sort of enterprise muscle memory thats predictably reactive, protective and safe. A declaration of innovation serves as a reminder that what youre doing is anything but predictable and the right thing to do is to patiently learn, revise, adapt and keep pressing forward. Weve often had to remind our partners that what were doing is entirely new and while viability is the ultimate goal, the transformation were jointly seeking will challenge many of the practices of the past. Do a mandatory all-hands review each quarter; C-suite not optional. This regular confab is a good forcing function for any number of near-term objectives (lets have that ready for the quarterly review) and is a time for reviewing, resetting and aligning around what youre both trying to achieve. C-level participation is not optional, in fact this is the optimal time to assure those who are in the day-to-day messiness of transformative innovation that they have permission to both make and live in that mess, change takes time, and senior leadership has your back.

Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Carriers InsurTech Tech
If the future were now, American travelers would feel safer on a rocket to space than being a passenger in a self-driving or autonomous vehicle, a survey by travel and specialty insurer Allianz Global Assistance USA finds.

With experimental transport technology accelerating rapidly, the vacation vehicle of tomorrow that is closest to reality today  the self-driving car  is among the most concerning for potential travelers worried about their safety, according to the Allianz Travel Insurance Vacation Confidence Index released today.

Self-driving or autonomous vehicles rate lowest for travelers very interested and highest for safety concerns among those not interested when compared to other future travel methods surveyed, including space travel, supersonic travel, Hyperloop high-speed rail, and even flying cars.

According to Allianz, most Americans are at least somewhat interested in experiencing nearly all the new ways to explore the world, or even beyond it. But only 22 percent of travelers are very interested (and 32 percent somewhat interested) in self-driving vehicles being developed by all the major auto manufacturers and Silicon Valley companies like Google, Uber and Tesla.

Sixty-five percent of those not interested cite safety concerns.

Allianz analyzed the results from an Ipsos poll conducted May 3-5, 2017. For the survey, a nationally representative sample of 1,009 Americans aged 18 years and older was interviewed online. The company said the results are considered accurate within 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, of what they would have been had the entire population of adults in the U.S. been polled.

While transportation technology is poised to change the way Americans travel, safety has emerged as a top concern, said Daniel Durazo, director of communications at Allianz Global Assistance USA. We expect consumers to be more hesitant in adopting new technologies like the artificial intelligence steering self-driving vehicles, than they might be with existing technologies such as space and supersonic travel that have been developed but are not yet available to the masses.

While the current outlook for traveler uptake of self-driving vehicles is uncertain, the future is brighter with 64 percent of travelers confident that this travel method will develop safely enough for them to consider using, which, along with Hyperloop high-speed rail (64 percent), is well above the confidence for the safety of supersonic travel (56 percent), space travel (51 percent) or flying cars (49 percent).

In total, however, only a minority are very confident about the safety of any of these travel methods being safe enough for mainstream consumer use.

Self-driving/ Autonomous Vehicles: (Google, Uber, Tesla) Space Travel: (Orbital, Space Station, Moon, Mars) Supersonic Travel: (Flying faster than speed of sound) Flying Cars: Taxi Drones, VTOL (Vertical Take Off and Landing), etc. Hyperloop: (High-Speedmagnetic levitation train) LEVELS OF INTEREST Very Interested 22% 22% 24% 25% 27% Somewhat Interested 32% 24% 30% 26% 34% Not Interested 47% 55% 46% 48% 39% REASONS FOR LACK OF INTEREST (Among those not interested) Safety Concerns 65% 48% 47% 61% 51% Cost/Budget 20% 41% 32% 24% 22% Lack of Familiarity 21% 20% 28% 26% 34% Dont want to be first/test subject 21% 27% 23% 22% 24% Bad Publicity 10% 4% 5% 4% 5% Other 10% 12% 10% 8% 7% CONFIDENCE IN SAFETY FOR FUTURE TRAVEL METHODS Very Confident 23% 15% 19% 16% 22% Somewhat Confident 41% 36% 37% 33% 42% Not Confident 36% 49% 44% 51% 36%

Source: Allianz Global Assistance USA (AGA Service Company)

Boston Consulting Group has predicted that autonomous vehicle business will increase to $42 billion by 2025 and account for a quarter of global sales by 2035. At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Tesla Motors Inc., BMW, Ford, Volvo and Google showed off their models and shared their visions of an autonomous future; overall there were some 138 auto-tech exhibitors seeking deals in the self-driving economy.

But the car makers and tech firms appear to be ahead of consumers in their thinking.The Allianz findings on lack of public confidence in the safety of driverless cars track with the overall results from a Morning Consult survey , although in this survey younger drivers are seen as having more confidence than older drivers. Only 23 percent of Americans surveyed told Morning Consult they are willing to ride in an autonomous car, while 28 percent said they are unwilling.

[graphiq id=kykMnsTsVed title=Americans Not Convinced of Driverless Car Safety width=600 height=563 url=https://sw.graphiq.com/w/kykMnsTsVed frozen=true]

Topics Auto Allianz
Global specialty broker and risk advisor JLT Specialty USA has made several leadership appointments in its Aerospace practice in North America.

The appointments include elevating Phil Gingell, who most recently served as president of the JLTs aerospace division in North America, to the executive chairman role. Gingell started his insurance career in 1976. In 1988, he was a founding director of Nicholson Chamberlain Colls, a Lloyds broker, which was subsequently acquired by Aon. In 2002, Gingell joined Heath Lambert Aviation, which was subsequently acquired by JLT in 2003. In June 2004 he transferred to JLTs U.S. aviation division where he has served as president for 13 years.

Jason Klevens, who joined the organization in May 2016 and has served as executive vice president of JLTs aerospace unit, is being promoted to president of aerospace and will remain in the Atlanta office. Klevens joined JLT from Willis Towers Watson, where he served as senior vice president and had responsibilities that included managing the general aviation staff and Atlanta aerospace office portfolio.

JLTs aerospace unit is further widening its specialty focus and global practice with two additional appointments. Steve Lloyd has been named chief executive officer and Steve Alexandris, deputy chief executive officer.

Lloyd will relocate from London and be based in Chicago. Lloyd joined JLT in 2013 and most recently served as a partner and a member of the executive committee for JLT aerospace in London. Prior to joining JLT, Lloyd was an executive managing director for the airline practice at Marsh.

Alexandris has 20 years of aerospace and aviation industry experience, having held senior management roles and in both underwriting and broking. Most recently he was regional executive for aerospace in the Americas at AIG. Alexandris remains based in Atlanta.

Globally, JLTs Aerospace practice includes more than 250 specialists who serve all segments of the aerospace and aviation industry. JLT said it represents nearly a third of airlines worldwide.

Topics Aviation Leadership Aerospace
London-based private equity firm B.P. Marsh & Partners has invested $6 million in a startup New York-based specialty lines insurance distributor that is headed by several well-known wholesale insurance executives.

The management team at the new firm, which is named XPT, is a line-up of industry veterans including Tom Ruggieri, formerly of Marsh, Advisen and Swett & Crawford, and Mark Smith, former president and CEO of Stewart Smith, the U.S. wholesaler which was sold by Willis to AmWINS in 2005. Smith is also a former president and management director of R-T Specialtys New York operation.

Ruggieri was president of CGSC North America from 2014 to 2016, when Cooper Gay Swett & Crawford sold CGSC North America to BB&T Corp. From 2000 to 2014, he was CEO and chairman at at Advisen, which he helped found. Before launching Advisen, he was with Marsh for 15 years.

In addition to the above, the team also includes Jeff Heath, the founder of Heath Group, and Mason Power, former chief operating officer and chief marketing officer at Swett & Crawford, where he worked closely with Ruggieri. Mason Power also worked at Advisen, which was founded by Ruggieri.

B.P. Marsh is a specialist private equity investor in early stage financial services businesses. This investment represents a return to the U.S. market for the B.P. Marsh, following on from the companys recent investment in Canada, Stewart Specialty Risk Underwriting Ltd.

B.P. Marsh said it has subscribed for a 35 percent shareholding in XPT Group LLC through its wholly-owned subsidiary company, B.P. Marsh (North America) Ltd.

According to the announcement, XPT is in discussions with other parties over potential minority or majority investments into established entities in the U.S. wholesale insurance arena. XPT plans to make one or two U.S.-based acquisitions over the remaining months of this year, according to the firms.

B.P. Marsh said it strongly believes that XPT is well-positioned to take advantage of the significant consolidation opportunities in the small-to-medium-sized wholesale space in the U.S.

Topics USA Agencies
A bolt of lightning started a fire that damaged 12 apartments in Florida.

Orlando Fire Department spokeswoman Ashley Papagni told the Orlando Sentinel that lightning struck the attic of one apartment in the complex Friday afternoon.

The fire spread across the roof of the two-story apartment building.

Papagni said two apartments had fire damage, six had smoke damage and four more had water damage. Eight adults were displaced by the fire. No injuries were reported.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida
Georgias peach crop is suffering much worse than expected after an overly warm winter and a hard freeze in early spring.

Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the end of May that nearly 80 percent of the states peach crop has been wiped out because of the weather.

Black says the lack of peaches could mean a shorter season for Georgia consumers. He says farmers probably wont ship out of state.

Initially, farmers hoped to salvage about 70 percent of the crop.

The newspaper reports that the loss, combined with a blow to this years blueberry crop, could mean a $300 million hit to farmers.

The peach crop issue has been worse in neighboring South Carolina, where Black says hes told more than 85 percent of the crop was lost.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Agribusiness Georgia
State officials say many Utah residents lie about their medical conditions so they can keep driving without restrictions.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports the state relies on people to report medical conditions themselves, which creates a scenario where lying is a plausible way to stay behind the wheel.

Officials say every month they catch about 15-20 people lying about their medical conditions. Clark Caras, director of the Utah Driver License Division, addressed legislators on Tuesday about the problem.

Caras said drivers who lie about medical conditions could be criminally charged for filling out a false form, but that rarely happens. He says a more serious threat to violators is in potential civil lawsuits over any damage or injuries in a car accident.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Personal Auto
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Breaking AI Stock News: GBT's (OTCPK: GTCH) Facial and Body Recognition Patent Application Received a Notice of Allowance

San Diego, CA - November 9, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) with GBT Tokenize Corp. ("GBT/Tokenize") received a notice of allowance for its facial and body recognition non-provisional patent application.

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Breaking EV Stock News: Mullen (NASDAQ: MULN) Enters into Agreement with Newgate Motor Group, one of Ireland's most Recognized Auto Groups, to Distribute the Mullen I-GOTM in Ireland and United Kingdom

BREA, Calif. - November 9, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mullen Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ: MULN), an emerging electric vehicle manufacturer, announces today that it has entered into an agreement to appoint Newgate Motor Group, one of Ireland's most recognized dealership groups, as marketing, sales, distribution and servicing agent for the Mullen I-GO in Ireland and the United Kingdom.

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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.

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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.

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On June 13, 2017, the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of Panama jointly announced they had established formal diplomatic relations, and Panama declared it was breaking ties with Taiwan. The reaction in Taiwan was immediate; it also reflected more hurt and anger than usual over the exit of a friend and ally.





The reasons for the decisions made by the two countries and Taiwans strong response are revealing.





First, Taiwans reaction. This was the third loss of a diplomatic partner since President Tsai Ing-wen and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won a seminal election in early 2016 and assumed governing thereafter. Gambia and Sao Tome and Principe were the other two. Tsais predecessor, the Nationalist Party or Kuomintang (KMT)s Ma Ying-jeou, had lost none except for Gambia, which had made the move subsequent to Tsais election victory.





Losing Panama was more agonizing than the other two. Taiwan has had friendly relations with Panama for 107 years. Panama was geopolitically important. Its decision was ominous because other countries in the region might follow suit. Furthermore, a state visit to Panama was the highlight of Tsai Ing-wens first foreign trip as president last year.





Also, Panama gave Taipei no warning. Even more critical, it accepted the one-China principle that includes a statement that Taiwan is territory belonging to China. Many other countries when establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing only accept the one-China policy, which is that Beijing is the legal government of China.





President Tsai immediately called a press conference and asserted angrily that Beijing had suppressed Taiwan on the international stage, and reasserted the position that her country has sovereignty. Presidential Office Secretary-General Joseph Wu condemned the move in harsh language, blaming Beijing for what happened. Foreign Minister David Lee expressed Taiwans deep anger and regret. Some observers predicted a long cross-Strait war of attrition.





The timing of both Chinas action and Taiwans acerbic rejoinders hint of several broader explanations.





Leading up to establishing relations with Panama, Beijing had engaged in a relaxation of tensions with Taiwan, or at least there was a lull in the pressure it exerted to signal President Tsai that she had to accept the 1992 Consensus (an agreement whereby China and Taiwan agreed they were both part of China but could disagree on the definition of China). Cross-Strait trade had increased in the wake of China cutting tourists going to Taiwan and other means to damage Taiwans economy after the election.





Also, China had pulled its punches in engaging in punitive actions against Taiwan. Last year, President Tsai made a foreign trip that included a major stop in Panama where she met with Panamas president and other officials, and won accolades there and at home for her diplomatic skills. China did not interfere with the visit, which some said happened at Beijings pleasure.





In the eyes of Chinese leaders, Tsai did not show her gratitude or reciprocate. Instead she energetically promoted Taiwans democracy while noting that China is not a democracy. She boasted of Taiwans human rights record and advanced Taiwans progressive social agenda including its upgrading the status of LGBTs, again citing Chinas poor record in these areas.





The immediate backdrop to China deciding to establish ambassadorial relations with Panama was the Belt and Road Forum, attended by 110 nations and international organizations.





It was also reported in newspapers in Hong Kong that DPP operatives have been aiding anti-Beijing and separatist forces there. It was even heard that a fugitive from Hong Kong had fled to Taiwan and vanished, supposedly abetted by the New Power Party, a DPP ally.





Chinese leaders arguably felt betrayed by Tsai. They were angry. They sought to take revenge.





And it was an opportune time. President Tsais popularity as reflected in numerous opinion polls had fallen precipitously. According to several surveys, more people opposed her policies, and her, than supported either. Meanwhile some members of her party accepted the 1992 Consensus while others suggested the party drop the independence clauses in their party documents.





There was even talk that Tsai might face a leadership challenge from within her party. Meanwhile the KMT elected a new chairman, Wu Den-yih, who appeared to have the ability to unite the party and solve problems relating to China that Tsai could not.





The background noise is also telling: Chinas economy was growing at over 6 percent while Taiwans was expanding at just 2 percent. Moreover, it appears unlikely Chinas triple the rate of Taiwans growth situation will change anytime soon. Add to that the reality that 40 percent of Taiwans exports go to China, and Taiwan is becoming more dependent on production chains that pass through China. Also, China is fast building and/or quickly improving its cutting-edge companies that compete with Taiwans best. Taiwan has no real choice but to maintain economic ties with China.





Another part of the milieu of Chinas diplomatic initiative is the fact that Sino-US relations are much improved and are, in fact, quite cordial. President Trump and President Xi had become friends at their meeting in Mar-A-Lago, Florida. The Trump administration subsequently placed considerable confidence in Beijing helping the US deal with the North Korea threat and in resolving their trade imbalance.





Chinas leaders felt they could count on President Trump to maintain close ties with China and not tilt towards Taiwan.





The immediate backdrop to China deciding to establish ambassadorial relations with Panama was the Belt and Road Forum held just weeks earlier and attended by 110 nations and international organizations. Most wanted to be participants. Observers hailed the project as a game changer in terms of the global economy and more. This greatly enhanced Chinas global image and its influence abroad.





Finally, the relationship between China and Panama had become an increasingly important one for both. In May last year Chinas Landbridge Group purchased Margarita Island Port for USD 900 million. China is contemplating further investments in Panama including a deepwater port capable of docking large ships. COSCO Shipping Corp in China is looking at investing in land around the Panama Canal. It was natural for the two countries to establish formal diplomatic relations.





Whether one should look forward to a more serious and lasting escalation of cross-Strait acrimony is difficult to say. Right now, it looks like it.








A brother of a farmer accused of shooting another farmer, over a right of way linking their lands, has lodged a 3,000 surety to have the accused released on bail, writes David Raleigh.

Ted ODonoghue of Killmoreen, Kildimo, Co Limerick, was charged last Saturday with assault causing harm to John Hayes (aged 65) at lands at Ballycasey, Kildimo, on June 16 this year.

Mr ODonoghue initially appearing before Limerick District Court last weekend, was remanded in custody with consent to bail, to appear in court today.

However, it has emerged Ted ODonoghues brother William lodged 3,000 of a 5,000 surety with the court, to have his sibling released from custody on bail.

Ted ODonoghue is remanded to appear before Newcastle West District Court on June 27 for directions from the DPP.

At a bail hearing last Saturday, gardai alleged the shooting was part of a "feud" over a right of way which was described as a small dirt track.

The court heard allegations that John Hayess dog Lassie was shot and killed in the incident.

Newcastle West based Garda Jason Mitchell, told the hearing that the accused allegedly fired a shot from a single barrel shotgun at Mr Hayes, wounding him in the right shoulder.

He said it was part of an ongoing long running feud over a right of way.

Further more serious charges are anticipated, he added.

The court heard the right of way is situated on Ted ODonoghues land, but that neighbouring landowners, including John Hayes, accesses it to get to their farmlands.

Gardai objected to bail under Section 2 of the Bail Act, and under OCallaghan Rules, fearing Ted ODonoghue may interfere with witnesses.

William ODonoghue gave an undertaking in court to act as surety for his brother; and to monitor his movements whilst on bail, including chaperoning him to Mass services outside the locality.

He also agreed to manage the accused's farm at Ballycasey.

Gardai said they had recovered a gun as part of their investigation.

Ted ODonoghue agreed in court to abide by a number of strict bail conditions, including that he stay away from his farmland at Ballycasey; sign on daily at Newcastle West garda station; obey a curfew (10pm-8am); and be available to gardai at all times.

He also agreed not to make contact any witnesses, or any neighbouring landowners.
This week is Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) awareness week.

It is estimated that half a million Irish people are living with both diagnosed and undiagnosed COPD - a collective name for two main lung conditions.

It is the fourth most common cause of death in Ireland.

Talk to your Pharmacist about the best ways to manage #COPD, they are there to help pic.twitter.com/E5aQkSkQ03  Irish Pharmacy Union (@IrishPharmacy) June 19, 2017

The Irish Pharmacy Union and COPD Support Ireland has launched a campaign - Save Your Breath - to offer advice and support to these people.

IPU President Daragh Connolly outlined the signs and symptoms people should be aware of.

"It's a good idea if you're suffering from ongoing symptoms - that means it's hard for you to breathe or you don't feel that you're getting full value for each breath you take, that you talk to your pharmacist and say: 'Look, this is maybe the second or the third time that I've had to get something over the counter to actually counteract this'."
Otto Warmbier, an American college student who was released by North Korea in a coma last week after more than a year in captivity, died on Monday, his family said.

The 22-year-old "has completed his journey home", the family said in a statement.

"Unfortunately, the awful, torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," his parents said.

Doctors had described his condition as a state of "unresponsive wakefulness" and said he suffered a "severe neurological injury" of unknown cause.

President Donald Trump called North Korea a "brutal regime" after the death was announced.

Mr Trump said: "Lot of bad things happened but at least we got him home to be with his parents."

His father, Fred Warmbier, said last week he believed Otto had been fighting for months to stay alive to return to his family.

Their statement on Monday said he had looked uncomfortable and anguished after returning June 13, but his countenance later changed.

"He was peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that," they said.

Mr Warmbier was convicted of subversion after he tearfully confessed that he had tried to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group from China.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour in North Korea.

The University of Virginia student was held for more than 17 months.

His family said last week they were told he had been a coma since soon after his March 2016 sentencing.

Doctors said he has suffered extensive loss of brain tissue and "profound weakness and contraction" of his muscles, arms and legs.

His eyes opened and blinked, but without signs of understanding verbal commands or his surroundings.

North Korea said he went into a coma after contracting botulism and taking a sleeping pill.

Doctors in Cincinnati said they found no active sign of botulism nor evidence of beatings.

His parents said in a statement on the day of his release that they wanted "the world to know how we and our son have been brutalised and terrorised by the pariah regime" and expressed relief he had been returned to "finally be with people who love him".

Fred Warmbier praised his son's "performance" and Mr Trump's administration.

He was critical of former President Barack Obama's approach to his son's situation.

Otto Warmbier grew up in the northern Cincinnati suburb of Wyoming.

He won an award at the highly rated high school, and was on the soccer team, among other activities.

Three Americans remain held in North Korea.

The US government accuses North Korea of using such detainees as political pawns.

North Korea accuses Washington and South Korea of sending spies to overthrow its government.

At the time of Mr Warmbier's release, a White House official said Joseph Yun, the US envoy on North Korea, had met with North Korean foreign ministry representatives in Norway the previous month.

Such direct consultations between the two governments are rare because they do not have formal diplomatic relations.

At the meeting, North Korea agreed Swedish diplomats could visit all four American detainees.

Mr Yun learned about Mr Warmbier's condition in a meeting a week before the release from the North Korean ambassador at the UN in New York.

Mr Yun then was dispatched to North Korea and visited Mr Warmbier on June 12 with two doctors and demanded his release on humanitarian grounds.

AP
A US college student who was released by North Korea in a coma has died.

Otto Warmbier was 22.

His family said in a statement released by a hospital in Ohio that Mr Warmbier died on Monday afternoon.

The family thanked the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre for treating him but said: "Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."

Mr Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labour in North Korea, convicted of subversion after he tearfully confessed he had tried to steal a propaganda banner.

The University of Virginia student was held for more than 17 months and medically evacuated from North Korea last week.

Doctors said he returned with severe brain damage, but it was not clear what caused it.

AP
Aviation start-up Aer Southeast has announced it will be offering regular fights to London Luton, Manchester and Birmingham from July 24.

The new company, with registered offices at Waterford Airport, is said to be made up of executives and staff with very considerable experience in regional aviation, with financial backing from Irish and Scandinavian investors.

It is hoped that the development will provide some stability to the regional airport just outside Waterford City, which has had a chequered few years because of the withdrawal of a succession of airlines from its schedule.

The inaugural service by Aer Southeast will take place to London Luton at 7.15am on July 24, and bookings for London Luton are already open at www.flywaterford.com and www.aersoutheast.com.

The airline will fly to London Luton six times a week (return) and to Manchester and Birmingham three times a week. The service will use a Saab 340 aircraft based at Waterford Airport.

Bookings for Manchester and Birmingham on the Aer Southeast website will be available in the coming days and this will be announced through the airports website and social media accounts. Ticket prices to all destinations will start from 79 one-way.

Welcoming the announcement, Waterford Airport chief executive Desmond OFlynn said scheduled air services to the UK have proved their worth and their vital importance to the South-East over many years.

We have had detailed discussions with a number of parties since the loss of scheduled services in June last year, but we were very impressed with the aviation experience of the consortium and their commitment to this project, he said.

Aer Arann pulled out of the Waterford-UK routes in 2012 and Flybe stopped using the airport in 2014.

Belgian-owned carrier VLM stepped in the following year but only lasted a year before ceasing operations last summer.

In the medium-term, Waterford Airport hopes to secure funding for an extension to the runway which would allow airlines use larger aircraft.
Around 3,000 people per year suffer from Takotsubo syndrome in Britain alone, which can be triggered by severe emotional distress, such as the death of a loved one.

Symptoms are similar to a heart attack and the condition, which mostly affects women, is usually diagnosed in hospital.

Until now, it was thought the heart fully recovered from the syndrome, but new research suggests the muscle actually suffers long-term damage. This could explain why people with the syndrome tend to have the same life expectancy as those who suffer a heart attack.

The research, funded by the British Heart Foundation, was published in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography.

A team from the University of Aberdeen followed 52 Takotsubo patients over the course of four months.

They used ultrasound and cardiac MRI scans to look at how the patients hearts were functioning.

The results showed that the syndrome permanently affected the hearts pumping motion, delaying the twisting or wringing motion made by the heart during a heartbeat.

The hearts squeezing motion was also reduced, while parts of the heart muscle suffered scarring, which affected the elasticity of the heart and prevented it from contracting properly.

Dana Dawson, reader in cardiovascular medicine at the University of Aberdeen, who led the research, said: We used to think that people who suffered from takotsubo cardiomyopathy would fully recover, without medical intervention.

Here weve shown that this disease has much longer lasting damaging effects on the hearts of those who suffer from it.
Cabinet will also here of a report on the Eircode system and what differences it is making for both public and private services.

Leo Varadkar will hold his first full Cabinet meeting after the brief round table discussion he had with ministerial colleagues last week after being elected as Taoiseach.

Several new ministers are still getting their feet under the table while others are settling into new portfolios as part of changes made by the incoming Taoiseach.

Mr Harris though will discuss the Oireachtas committee healthcare report which was launched a number of weeks ago and has made radical recommendations.

The healthcare plan backs free GP and hospital care, cuts to the prescription charge and the cost of monthly drugs for people.

It is understood Mr Harris will tell colleagues that many of the recommendations can be implemented as they are in line with long-term government policy.

A central part of the report is a decisive shift towards primary care and enhancing integration between primary and acute care.

Proposals to develop capacity in both HSE primary care services and in contractor-provided services such as GP and community pharmacy, increased provision of diagnostics capacity, a greater role in the management of chronic conditions, and measures to support GP practice in rural and deprived urban areas all dovetail with actions in the programme for partnership and will be fundamental to supporting this shift to primary care, said government sources.

Mr Harris is also expected to point out that other proposals and recommendations such as healthy Ireland strategy, eHealth, clinical governance, enhanced community nursing, and current strategies in the areas of maternity care and mental health are being worked on.

The Dail will debate the report on June 22 where afterwards Mr Harris will again update colleagues about his plans to implement parts of the report.

Elsewhere, with Brexit talks now under way, Mr Harris will update the Taoiseach on the progress being made to lure the European Medicines Agency to move its offices here from Britain.

Meanwhile, Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy has met housing authorities in relation to a promise to end the use of emergency accommodation for the homeless by the end of June.

He said last night that the meeting was to conduct a detailed examination of the work being done to help homeless families who are being accommodated in hotels and B&Bs on an emergency basis to exit that accommodation. Minister Murphy also said he was still eager to end the use of such accommodation for homeless families.
Speaking in Belfast after his first day of talks with Northern secretary James Brokenshire and party leaders, Mr Coveney was confident the Stormont administration could be re-started in the short term.

However, he said many challenges exist and that the Government will not countenance any moves to dilute or undermine the 1998 agreement.

Ireland will not sign off on a Brexit deal unless we protect the Good Friday Agreement fully, unless we protect the peace process fully, and unless we protect the normalisation that has been created over a number of decades now on the Island of Ireland, he said.

These are core issues and they are even more important than the economic issues in many ways to protect the peace process for the next 50 years.

Mr Coveney said he was confident a deal could be done within 10 days.

Yeah, it is doable. The message is clear: All five parties want to get a deal done. They realise Nothern Ireland needs a devolved government here and they are more than conscious that everyone else is talking of Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit but there isnt a government here to speak for itself, he said.

Mr Coveney travels to Brussels today to speak to EU chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, but he said it should be the first and deputy first minister holding the meeting. There is a sense across all the parties that they want to get a deal done within the timeframe, but of course there are issues to resolve and parties do have differences so it is up to all of us to try and resolve those, he said.

The minister said it was encouraging Ireland was front and centre during the first day of talks in Brussels.

We can be sure of one thing, Ireland is being prioritised. On the first day of talks, more time was spent talking about Northern Ireland and Ireland than on any other issue, he said.

Sinn Feins Stormont leader, Michelle ONeill, said her party was up for striking a deal. I can tell you, we are here wanting to find a deal, wanting to make the institutions work, wanting to deliver good public services, wanting to afford people their rights, wanting to deal with the issue of Brexit, but it has to be done on the basis of equality, respect and integrity in government, she said.
President Higgins was forced to rush through the 180,000-a-year appointment due to the sudden and unexpected pressure placed on him by the new Taoiseach.

Mr Varadkar, in London yesterday, acknowledged the scandal has overshadowed his first week in office, saying: I would not have liked to have my first week in office to have been affected by a controversy over a judicial appointment.

It is understood that, just after 6pm on Sunday, a senior official in the Department of the Taoiseach wrote to Aras an Uachtarain on behalf of Mr Varadkar.

The letter, which is confidential and known as a warrant of appointment, insisted President Higgins ratify Ms Whelans role in the appeals court immediately.

The unpublished letter is understood to have included a specific demand that the appointment be made on Monday morning, despite the fact the timeline had until then not been the subject of any discussion.

While no formal reason was included in the letter explaining the schedule being sought, sources close to the process said they believe the timeline was put forward to ensure the position was set in stone before any Dail or Cabinet criticism today.

A spokesperson for President Higgins last night said Ms Whelans appointment, and its timing, was made at the request of the Government and in accordance with article 35.1 of the Constitution.

Mr Varadkar said he stood over the appointment, which he said was lawful and in line with proper procedure.

Maire Whelan... is somebody who is uniquely qualified for the office that she has been appointed to, said the Taoiseach.

He said he was not washing his hands of the decision, given he was at the Cabinet table when it was made.

Having looked into it, I can say what was done was lawful in accordance with the constitution and the law, said Mr Varadkar. It is precedented and it is similar to appointments in the past, and also proper procedure was followed.

The Minister for Justice had all the applications and she made a recommendation to the Cabinet and as is the normal process and procedure, one name was brought to Cabinet for approval.

The Cabinet never discuss a short list or is informed of who may have applied for a position and didnt get it. This is a good appointment, it was lawful and I stand over it.

Despite his comments, Opposition parties yesterday intensified pressure on Mr Varadkar over his decision to ram through Ms Whelans appointment, saying cronyism undermines public trust in politicians and the judiciary just when it is needed most.

While Fianna Fail justice spokesman Jim OCallaghan yesterday warned his party may be unable to live with the confidence and supply deal breach and that the Government appointment circumvented a 22-year-old law, they are not prepared to bring down the coalition.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, Education Minister Richard Bruton, and Government chief whip Joe McHugh continued to defend Ms Whelans appointment.

However, Independent ministers appeared less convinced, with Independent Alliance TD and Transport Minister Shane Ross due to put forward plans for a review of the controversy at Cabinet today.
The physics exam taken by around 7,800 students marked the beginning of the third week of Leaving Certificate 2017.

The majority were taking the higher level paper and their exam was fair and offered plenty of choice, according to Teresa Considine.

The subject spokeswoman for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) said the experiment questions in the first section of the exam were very much in line with those posed for students in previous years.

There were no surprises on the longer questions either, with the option to answer on particle physics available again this year in just half of the final questions.

After many years as the subject of a full question, many students were upset in 2016 when only half a question was devoted to it.

Ms Considine said there were probably mixed views on the inclusion of two fulls and half of another about modern physics.

She said the paper featured a nice mechanics question and she was pleased to see it included elements of the earlier part of the course, rather than being confined to simple harmonic motion.

Students who also take applied maths may have had an advantage with the mechanics element of the final question on the exam.

For ordinary level students, Ms Considine said there was good choice on their paper yesterday.

She said the exam was consistent with the standard of previous years, and so most candidates would have found nothing out of the ordinary.

Almost similar numbers were entered for Leaving Certificate accounting and Teachers Union of Ireland subject spokeswoman Jane OKeeffe said the higher level question about a sole traders departmental final accounts may have been unexpected.

However, Ms OKeeffe felt the paper presented a good mix of well-phrased and well-structured questions: If the student took time to read the questions carefully, they would have been able to select the questions that best suited their knowledge.

ASTIs subject spokesman Eamon Scully said that any student who wished to do well needed to have been well-practised at the range of different types of questions which were examined.

Any student who did not have that good experience of past and sample papers would have been caught out, particularly in the latter stages of many questions, he said.

It was the first time he recalled the departmental final account appearing as a short question on a higher level exam, although it was not a particularly difficult question.

Mr Scully thought weaker students would have been able to make a good stab at part of an interpretation question which asked why workers would be interested in financial information of the company employing them.

It was a long time since he had seen Vat entries in a tabular statement question, but there were no tricks in a very fair production budget question.

He said the ordinary level exam, similar to higher level, was ideal for any student who was well practised on sample papers.

Ms OKeeffe said ordinary level students who had covered the syllabus and revised reasonably well would have been able to manage the questions with ease.
But real life, and especially that of a political leader, isnt always like the movies as Leo Varadkar quickly realised on his first trip out of the country as head of Government.

Mr Varadkars Downing St meeting with Theresa May acted as an eyeballing before the real Brexit staring match begins.

But as he beamed on entering Number 10, it appeared that our new Taoiseach was not just blinded by the 31-degree sunshine, but by the occasion itself.

At a press conference after their meeting, a smiling Mr Varadkar turned to Ms May.

We spoke on the way in and I was reminded of that famous scene in Love Actually where Hugh Grant does his dance down the stairs but apparently it wasnt actually filmed here, so I didnt get a chance to see the stairs, he said to some laughter from the assembled press gang.

The gushing continued: Its my first time in this building so theres a little thrill in it as well.

The first rule in any negotiation is to never show your hand. But Mr Varadkar, like a rookie poker player clutching a royal flush, couldnt help hide his enthusiasm.

While good relationships with our nearest neighbour are important, this country will need to take a strong stance to avoid any hard Brexit and the implications it could have.

Mr Varadkar cannot forget that Ms May is the one trying to sever links, not just with Ireland but the European Union, and caution must be exercised.

The meeting was described by both sides as constructive. The two leaders have common ground and have come from similar positions. Both came to power without having faced the test of a general election.

While Ms May did put herself before the public earlier this month, the outcome of the British general election saw the Conservative party haemorrhage support and lose their majority in Westminster.

Instead of gaining a greater number of seats to underpin her hard Brexit stance ahead of talks in Brussels  which begin in earnest this week  Ms May now finds herself scrambling to establish a confidence and supply deal with the DUP.

The two leaders have now found themselves in a very similar situation of heading up shaky minority governments going into nation-shaping Brexit talks.

While cordiality and openness are to be welcomed, we cannot simply put all our cards on the table at once.

Mr Varadkar may need to work harder on his poker face.
The #LoveWins tool filters online content, searching web pages for homophobic or transphobic comments and replacing them with positive wording.

The tool was developed by an award-winning innovation studio, Connector, to celebrate Pride 2017.

Connectors head of digital Ivan Adriel said the company produced the #LoveWins tool because of the high levels of online abuse targeted at LGBT people.

The LGBT Ireland report published last year showed LGBT people continue to experience victimisation and harassment in their day-to-day lives.

One in five LGBT people have had hurtful things written about their sexual identity on social media, with that figure rising to one in three for transgender and intersex people, he said.

Mr Adriel pointed to statistics from US gay rights organisation GLSEN which show 42% of LGBT youth have experienced cyber bullying, 58% have experienced negative online comments because of their sexuality and over one third have received online threats.

The high levels of online bullying and harassment can have a very negative impact on the mental health of LGBT people, he said.

Our #LoveWins filter is aimed at making the internet a more loving and tolerant place this Pride season, and protecting LGBT people from the unnecessary negativity and abuse that they are often subjected to online.

The tool is designed to search web pages for LGBT slurs. When it finds them, it then moves to make them disappear by replacing them with positive adjectives celebrating what people in the LGBT community are: proud, courageous, fearless, friendly.

It also decorates the replacement words with the Pride colours.
In a new documentary, A Different Country, on RTE tomorrow, she recalls how she was proud to sign the bill into law on July 7, 1993.

But she was surprised when activists from Glen, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network, who were invited to Aras an Uachtarain to celebrate the new bill, told her they were still not fully out to family and work colleagues.

I said, Dont you want to have a photograph? They said No, no, Im not out to my grandmother. No, my people at work dont know.

Mrs Robinson said their reluctance to be photographed demonstrated to her the huge stigma surrounding homosexuality in Ireland at that time.

These were the leaders, this was Glen. These were the ones who had been out to somebody and had been brave. I had a photograph with less than half the group, who were willing to be there visibly beside the President of Ireland.

It again brought home to me the amount of stigma and fear and hurt and misunderstanding, just the trauma involved in this, and how important it was to continue to make sure we could, ultimately, end up with total equality before the law, which we now have.

We are a better country, now, for what has happened, Mrs Robinson said.

The documentary catalogues the time when openly expressing sexuality could result in job loss, ostracisation, physical attack, and estrangement from family.

Irish actor, Rory Cowan, is a household name as the gay son of Brendan OCarrolls TV mammy in the hit show, Mrs Browns Boys. He remembered a dark undercurrent to gay life in Dublin, in the 1980s, when it was still a crime to be gay.

I remember in the Parliament, (a pub), the police used to come in at half-eleven two or three times a week and take everybodys name. They would ask your name, your address, your phone number.

They werent harassing people or dragging people out, but there was an undercurrent that we are being targeted here.

If a gay person was attacked, they were ringing peoples houses and some people were terrified of their parents finding out.

But despite growing up when homosexuality was an offence, Mr Cowan said he never hid his sexuality.

The feature-length documentary chronicles the stories of people who were gay in Ireland when it was a crime to be so, prior to 1993.

It also delves into the fear and stigma around HIV and Aids in the 1980s, highlighting how some funeral directors refused the dead bodies of people who had Aids.

In the documentary, LGBT people reveal the true story of how the community first mobilised to change the laws around homosexuality.

This revolution culminated in watershed changes in law and momentous scenes at Dublin Castle, when Ireland introduced same-sex marriage.

A Different Country will be shown on RTE One tomorrow at 9.35pm
Also on the agenda was the ongoing power-sharing talks in Northern Ireland as Mr Varadkar made his first foreign trip to Downing St since becoming Taoiseach.

Mr Varadkar said he had pushed for marriage equality during his recent meeting with DUP leader Arlene Foster and would continue to raise the issue with her.

The Taoiseach revealed that during his meeting with Ms Foster in Government Buildings on Friday he had expressed his very strong view that marriage equality should be permitted in Northern Ireland and that the majority of people in Northern Ireland want that.

Mr Varadkar said: I expressed very clearly my view that the petition of concern mechanism should not be used to block marriage equality in Northern Ireland.

As you can appreciate Arlene Foster has a very different view on this matter and they made me aware of their different views on the matter, so while we shared each others views there wasnt a meeting of minds on this issue.

However, he said he would to continue to raise the matter.

I dont think there is any prospect that marriage equality will not continue in Ireland, and in Britain the only question is when, not whether, it will come about in Northern Ireland.

Mr Varadkar denied he had put the country on the brink of a general election as a result of the appointment of Maire Whelan to the Court of Appeal.

However, he admitted that it was not something that he had hoped for during his first week in power.

But equally its not something Im going to wash my hands of, he said, in support of the appointment which he described as lawful and with precedent.

Ms May and Mr Varadkar are to travel to Brussels this week for a European Council meeting focusing on Brexit.

After their meeting which lasted around 50 minutes, Ms May said they both had been clear on the fact that they have a shared objective to ensure we dont see a return to the borders of the past.

Mr Varadkar said both governments would work hard to ensure there is minimal to no disruption to trade after the UK leaves the EU.

We have acknowledged that there may be a political border between our two countries ... there should not be an economic border and that any border that does exist should be an invisible border, he said.

Mr Varadkar said he had relayed concerns around the fact the Conservative party could become too close to the DUP.

However, he said he was very assured by what the prime minister had to say that the agreement, once its reached, will be published so it will be there for everyone to see.

We spoke about the very important need for both governments to be impartial actors when it comes to Northern Ireland and also that we are co-guarantors in the Good Friday Agreement and that any agreement that may exist between the Conservative party and the DUP should not in any way impact on the Good Friday Agreement or the special role that both governments have when it comes to impartiality and when it comes to the terms of the agreement.

The formation of the government is a matter for the MPs elected to Westminster and not for our government but I am very reassured by the meeting today, he said.

This was echoed by Ms May, who said: As a UK government we remain absolutely steadfast in our commitment to the Belfast Agreement and to the successor agreements.
The Britains Got Talent, Saturday Night Takeaway, and Im A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! co-host, 41, is expected to remain in a facility for up to two months.

An ITV spokesman said: We are sending Ant our very best wishes for a speedy recovery.

McPartlins wife, make-up artist Lisa Armstrong, said she is relieved her TV star husband is getting support.

Completely overwhelmed by all your love and support it means so much, she tweeted on Sunday.

Im relieved hes receiving the help he needs, we just need him better.

Stars also sent their support, with former Im A Celebrity contestant Myleene Klass tweeting: Sending love to you both xxx.

Singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor wrote: Lots of love to you both. Youre going to help a lot of people by being honest. Important stuff. Sending strength your way. Xxx.

Actor Larry Lamb wrote: I send you lots of love mate... just another one of the millions of people who are supporting you xxx.

The Apprentice boss Alan Sugar added: Very brave Ant to go public. This is the first stage of the road to recovery. All the best Ant, it will all be sorted for sure @antanddec.

Former Olympian Kelly Holmes said: As I say at every speech I do, we are all human! Best wishes to Ant. You will come back stronger, your fans love you #itsgoodtotalk.

McPartlins friend and presenting partner Declan Donnelly thanked fans for their messages of support.

Thank you for all the kind messages and well wishes for the big fella. He will be touched, the TV host tweeted.

Your support is, as ever, much appreciated. DD xx.

McPartlin has said he feels he has let people down, but wanted to speak out about his issues to help others.

He told The Sun On Sunday: I feel like I have let a lot of people down and for that I am truly sorry.

I want to thank my wife, family, and closest friends for helping me through this really difficult time.

Ive spoken out because I think its important that people ask for help if theyre going through a rough time and get the proper treatment to help their recovery.

His problems reportedly stemmed from failed knee surgery two years ago.

With an ongoing knee complication, the presenter is said to have started taking prescription drugs to cope with the pain.
Two people, a civilian and a police officer, were known to have been killed.

The two soldiers are part of an 18-strong Irish contingent in a UN-backed EU training mission in Mali.

They were in Le Campement Hotel, a popular resort for ex-pats and tourists on the outskirts of the capital, Bamako, when four attackers struck on Sunday.

There were reports that three of the gunmen, described by a Mali government spokesman as suspected jihadists, were shot dead.

The Defence Forces said the two members had been returned to the EU Training Mission Headquarters in Bamako.

Currently, 18 members serve under EUTM Mali, 11 in the Koulikoro Training Centre and seven in mission headquarters in the capital.

In a statement, Minister for Defence, Paul Kehoe, said: Every effort is made to ensure the safety of our personnel on overseas missions, but given the inherent instability in the environments in which they operate, risk cannot be fully eliminated.

EUTM Mali trains the Malian armed forces to improve their military capacity and instructs them on international humanitarian and human rights laws.

Le Campement sits in Dougourakoro, where the Radisson Blu hotel was targeted in a terror attack in November 2015, leaving more than 20 people dead.

The Mali government is fighting Islamist militants, many linked to al-Qaeda, in the north. France has 1,600 soldiers in its former colony, assisting it in its fight against jihadist factions.
All colours and creeds came together under the roof of the UL Foundation Building to set in stone the beginning of the end of a long journey.

The 355 applicants who attended the ceremony, finally able to call themselves Irish citizens.

Since 2011, more than 100,000 nationals from 178 countries have been granted Irish citizenship, with the top three nationalities from Poland, India, and Nigeria.

Others who have been awarded the coveted certificate of citizenship, have come from Romania, Philippines, Pakistan, Latvia, Brazil, China (including Hong Kong) and the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Beauty Matombela, 37, from South Africa, who is now living in Dublin, was delighted with her newfound Irishness.

The mother of two first waited 15 years to be able to apply for her Irish passport.

Hannaa Ahmed, originally from Sudan and now living on Upper Yellow Rd, Waterford, with Adel and Rade at the ceremony.

I first came in 2002 and went home in 2004, and then returned in 2008. It was a long journey with struggles, trials, and victories, she said.

Having come to Ireland for good after a marriage separation, she added: Ive learned a lot and it made me stronger. I was away from family and friends and I met new friends and had new experiences. Some are interesting and joyful and some were not so.

Irish people in general are very nice. You Irish always say ye are mad, and ye are really interesting.

Then you meet some who are not so nice, but hey thats life; you meet them everywhere.

The worst thing about leaving her native land for the green grass of Eire?

The weather, of course, said Beauty.

Tears welled up in her eyes, being far from home, and her happy moment is twinned with sadness: Its a sort of a sad moment, because Ive been through a lot, and, Ive finally got here. Wow, its emotional.

Sondra Maher, originally from America, now living in Dundrum, Co Dublin, with her husband, Declan Maher. Picture: Oisin McHugh

I believe Ireland is a good country and gives people a chance. If you want to achieve something in Ireland, theres a 99% possibility you can be anything you want to be.

The new team of Irish citizens also included New Zealander Monique Howlett, wife of ex-Munster and All Blacks rugby star Dougie Howlett, who described it as a very proud day for all the family.

Minister for Justice Charlie Flanagan, welcomed the new citizens and told them: Ireland is open, diverse, and tolerant.

Meanwhile, more and more UK citizens are reportedly applying for Irish passports in the wake of the UKs Brexit vote.

Mr Flanagan, who had responsibility for the passport service in his previous cabinet brief in Justice, said: I have to acknowledge that we are dealing with unprecedented levels of applications for Irish passports.

There were over 500,000 applications last year, and we are running at currently at about 10,000 applications per week.

He advised applicants to allow a couple of weeks to ensure the process can be dealt with.

There are security issues and formalities, and its not something that can be done in a 24-hour period, he said.
The 78-year-old resident of the US, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, pleaded guilty at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court to two counts of sexual assault, two counts of possessing child pornography, and one count of attempted buggery of a person under the age of 17 at various locations on various dates between 2000 and 2005.

He was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in jail by Judge Rory McCabe on June 14, 2016.

The man, who is largely wheelchair dependent due to ill-health, successfully appealed his sentence yesterday on grounds that the judge did not sufficiently consider his age and the difficulties associated with his medical conditions while in prison. He was resentenced to five years imprisonment by the Court of Appeal.

Giving judgment in the three-judge court, Mr Justice Alan Mahon said the man was a US resident who regularly visited Ireland. He became friendly with the victims family and eventually sought permission to take the victim to a swimming pool where he was staying.

While the then 12-year-old victim was getting changed in the dressing room, he was subjected to a relatively minor sexual assault.

The following summer, the victim was taken to the same hotel again on the pretext of being taken to the pool. He was brought to the mans bedroom where he was paid 10 to expose himself and allow himself be photographed.

The following year, he was again taken to the same hotel and digitally anally penetrated.

The subject matter of the offences came to light in 2009 when the victim was aged 21. The man was arrested in a hotel room, released without charge but a file sent to the DPP, and he returned to America from where he was eventually extradited in 2014  having spent nine months in custody in the US.

The victim described how the impact on him had been severe and it continues to affect him in all aspects. He felt the man had given him a life sentence, the Circuit Court heard.
More than 17,000 candidates were registered with the State Examinations Commission for the woodwork paper, worth one-third of total marks after earlier completion of project work.

Patrick Curley, subject spokesman for the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI), said that a typical design question dealt with a wall-mounted unit for candles.

Every class in the country would have covered the topic of manufactured boards dealt with in another question, and the regularly-used jack plane was the subject of a hand tools question.

Only students with specialised knowledge might have done either of the optional questions on lathe work in the making of a rocking chair or a carved wooden duck.

Teachers Union of Ireland woodwork spokesman Michael Leyden said the exam was structured to reward candidates with wide exposure to the syllabus. He praised the quality of graphics as a very good aid to students.

One of the short questions asked for a sketch of a different timber conversion method to one shown on the paper, a different way to establish student knowledge.

He thought well-prepared candidates would have done well in the longer questions, although many would have been tested by the very precise answer sought in relation to the axonometric projection of a treadmill.

Mr Leyden said the ordinary-level paper was fair and covered a wide range of topics, with a layout that followed the format of previous years.

Mr Curley said the exam would have rewarded stronger students, and thought a wood-turning question about an acorn-shaped birdhouse was lovely.

A three-hour exam faced Junior Certificate students of higher-level woodwork, and Mr Leyden said one question in the first section was a good test of their spatial reasoning skills.

He said well-prepared candidates would have fared well in the second section, but the questions would have kept candidates busy right to the end of the exam.

The second question in particular would have exercised them for quite some time as they had to draw two rotations.

ASTI subject spokesman Seamus Cahalan said that anyone with a good overview of the course would be easily able to attempt 10 of the 15 opening short questions.

But for the long questions, Mr Cahalan agreed, students found it very hard to finish on time even thought the content was not too difficult.

A good few questions required a lot of repetition of activities, such as the two rotations in a question on a jewellery box, and another about a megaphone.

Mr Cahalan felt that an isometric drawing question might have been a problem for students trying to stick to a time plan.

He said the ordinary-level paper was clearly laid out and would test the upper achievers at that level, but most students would be able to show their knowledge of the course.

Mr Leyden said it was a fair exam, although some students might have been particularly challenged to complete a long question based on a drawing of an angry bird.
For decades, Asias two giants have fought a bulletless war for territory along their high-altitude border.

But China has become more assertive, so India needs a new containment strategy.

China launches one stealth incursion into India every 24 hours. Kiren Rijiju, Indias minister of state for home affairs, says the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) is intruding into vacant border space to occupy it.

A former top official with Indias intelligence bureau says India has lost 2,000 sq km to PLA encroachments over the last decade.

Chinas strategy is more remarkable than its scope. On land, like at sea, China uses civilian resources  herders, farmers, and grazers  as the tip of the spear.

Once civilians settle on contested land, army troops gain control of the disputed area, paving the way for more permanent encampments or observation posts. Similarly, in the South China Sea, Chinas naval forces follow fishermen to carve out space for the reclamation of rocks or reefs. In both theatres, China has deployed no missiles, drones, or bullets.

Chinas non-violent terrestrial aggression has garnered less opposition than its blue-water ambition, which has been challenged by the US and under international law (albeit with little effect).

Indian leaders have even downplayed Chinas actions. During a recent panel discussion in Russia, for example, Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, said that although China and India are at odds over borders, it was remarkable that, in the last 40 years, not a single bullet has been fired because of [it].

The Chinese foreign ministry responded by praising Mr Modis positive remarks.

Moreover, Mr Modis predecessor, Manmohan Singh, used to claim that, in their 5,000-year history, India and China fought only one war, in 1962. What this rose-tinted history failed to acknowledge was that China and India became neighbours only after China annexed the buffer, Tibet, in 1951.

Given Indias accommodating rhetoric, it is easy to view the country as a paper tiger. While Mr Modi has used the phrase inch toward miles as the motto of India-China co-operation, the PLA has continued its cynical territorial aggrandisement, by translating that slogan into incremental advance. After spending so many years on the defensive, India must retake the narrative.

The first order of business is to abandon the platitudes. Mr Modis calls for border peace and tranquillity might be sincere, but his tone has made India look like a meek enabler.

Chinas fast-growing trade surplus with India, which has doubled to $60bn on Mr Modis watch, has increased Chinese president Xi Jinpings territorial assertiveness.

The absence of clarity about the frontier  China reneged on a 2001 promise to exchange maps with India  serves as cover for the PLAs aggression, with China denying all incursions and claiming that its troops are operating on Chinese land.

But, by acquiescing on bilateral trade  the dumping of Chinese-made steel on the Indian market is just one of many examples  India has inadvertently footed the bill for the PLAs encirclement strategy.

Chinas financial regional leverage has grown dramatically in the past decade, as it has become almost all Asian economies largest trade and investment partner. In turn, many of the regions developing countries have moved toward China on matters of regional security and transport connectivity.

But, as Mr Modi himself has said, there remains plenty of room for India to engage in Asias economic development. A more regionally integrated Indian economy would, by default, serve as a counterweight to Chinas territorial expansion.

India should also beef up its border security forces to become a more formidable barrier to the PLA. Indias under-resourced Indo-Tibetan Border Police, under the command of the home ministry, is little more than a doorman. Training and equipping these units properly, and placing them under the command of the army, would signal to China that the days of an open door are over.

If the tables were turned, and Indian forces were attempting to chip away at Chinese territory, the PLA would surely respond with more than words. But Indian border police dont even carry weapons.

With such a docile response, China has been able to do as it pleases along Indias northern frontier. Chinas support of the Pakistani military, whose forces often fire at Indian troops along the disputed Kashmir frontier, should be viewed in this light.

The PLA began honing its salami tactics in the Himalayas in the 1950s, when it sliced off the Switzerland-size Aksai Chin plateau. Later, China inflicted a humiliating defeat on India in the 1962 border war, securing peace, as a state mouthpiece crowed in 2012, on its own terms.

Today, China pursues a cabbage approach to borders, cutting off access to an adversarys previously controlled territory and gradually surrounding it with multiple civilian and security layers.

Against this backdrop, the true sign of Himalayan peace will not be the holstering of guns but, rather, the end of border incursions.

Indias accommodating approach has failed to deter China. To halt further encroachments, India will need to bare its own teeth.

Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research and fellow at the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, is the author of nine books, including Asian Juggernaut, Water: Asias New Battleground, and Water, Peace, and War: Confronting the Global Water Crisis.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will be coming sooner than previously rumored according to the latest rumor. However, the much-awaited flagship phablet may launch without one vital feature that has long been expected of it.

Samsung was supposed to unveil the Galaxy Note 8 sometime in late August or September as previous rumors indicated. It was supposed to be launched during the 2017 Internationale Funkausstellung or IFA Berlin but a new rumor says the Galaxy Note 8 will be unveiled sooner than that.

Weibo user Ice Universe shared the rumor on Monday through the Chinese website. BGR reported that the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will now take place on the third week of August during an event in New York City.

If the launch date for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is indeed nearer than expected, then that leaves little time for the Korean tech giant to fix its reported issues with the fingerprint sensor. A previous leak showed that there is no awkwardly placed sensor on the back of the Galaxy Note 8 similar to what they did with the Galaxy S8. This led many to think that the fingerprint sensor would be integrated under the display.

However, it looks like Samsung is having some difficulty with the integrated fingerprint scanner. The likely reason is that there is uneven brightness on the display particularly on the spot where the fingerprint sensor was. Apparently, the said area appeared brighter than the rest of the display. As it stands, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 will likely ditch the fingerprint scanner completely. Forbes also mentioned that another possible alternative is to put the sensor back at the rear of the Galaxy Note 8 but not beside the camera where it will be hard to reach. Another option is to bring back the home button and integrate the fingerprint sensor into it.
In previous years, the race for the fastest mobile network was won by a rather comfortable margin. This 2017, the story is slightly different as the race is the tightest ever.

The over-all winner and this year's fastest mobile network is Verizon, according to PCMag. This is the eighth year that PCMag conducted the contest. It came up to the conclusion that Verizon is the fastest network by simply going around 30 cities across the United States in May and running speed tests in each location. The website used a number of Samsung Galaxy S8 phones to run Ookla's Speedtest.net software and measure the speed of each network in each city.

The process of coming up with what they called a Speed Score involved gathering over 124,000 data points and analyzing "balanced downloads, uploads, latency, and reliability," as PCMag reported. Despite Verizon having the best over-all Speed Score, the other mobile networks did not fare so bad. In fact, all the other networks had a chance to take home the bacon due to their improved performance from the previous year.

Verizon and T-Mobile were the two fastest mobile networks in another study done this time by SpeedSmart. The company arrived at that conclusion after gathering speedtest data crowdsourced from an app that is used to analyze speeds in different areas in the country. BGR reported that SpeedSmart studied the speedtest results of 40 cities in May this year. Out of a possible 80 speed tests, Verizon and T-Mobile combined for 52 first and second place finishes.

AT&T followed the two mobile networks while Sprint remained the slowest of the bunch. It must be noted, however, that each mobile network had its share of having a strong performance in certain cities. AT&T, for example, fared well in Indianapolis but was weak in New York City. T-Mobile performed differently as it was weak in NYC but strong in Indianapolis.
Honda, a Japanese public multinational automaker has already teased a few features and aspects of its upcoming 2018 Accord mid-size sedan. According to reports, the 2018 Honda Accord will debut on July 14 at exactly 11 a.m. EST.

Aside from availing the vehicle, the automaker will also offer a live stream on its YouTube channel, with the real, in-person debut taking place in Detroit, Michigan. Honda's 10th-generation Accord ensures all customers of a more efficient and more stylize car experience. Honda also promises that that whoever ride on the sedan, it will encounter a more fun factor compared to other sedan rivals.

According to CNET, everything we know as of now regarding the 2018 Honda Accord involves the powertrain. The automaker already overturned the V6 for 2018, opting for a couple of turbocharged I4 engines instead. The said base engine is expected to be a 1.5-liter I4 based on the Honda Civic Sport's four-banger.

In addition to that, a more powerful 2.0-liter I4 will also borrow some of its foundations from the Civic Type R vehicle. However, many car analysists and enthusiasts warned people to not expect the upcoming car to have an all 306 horsepower to show up. This is because another hybrid car should be on the way, as well.

The standalone gas engines of the 10th-generation Honda Accord will be offered with a six-speed manual, Auto Blog reported. Also, the 1.5-liter seems to come together with a CVT, as what Honda does in its Civic model. On the other hand, the 2.0-liter will come paired to a new 10-speed automatic front-wheel-drive car.

It is really a good idea for Honda to stick with a manual vehicle as more and more opponents drop three-pedal setups from their sedan cars. On July 14, Honda will not just uncover the 10th-gen Accord mode, but also promised a lot with the new model, which are all focused on giving better driving dynamics, more refinement and better fuel economy.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach in June 2015 was a big wake up call to our federal government, and, in its wake, a number of initiatives were launched to improve the government's cybersecurity posture. Despite several concrete improvements, progress has stalled in some areas, as demonstrated by a series of assessments conducted since the breach occurred.

In the fall of 2015, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) conducted its first assessment under the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act, which covers cybersecurity as well as other areas of IT. Out of 24 agencies, none received an A, two received Bs, five got Cs, 14 got Ds and three agencies  the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and NASA  received failing grades.

Over the following six months, seven agencies raised their scores, and one saw its score go down. By the time of the following assessment, in late 2016, 12 agencies improved their scores and, again, one fell. The most recent version of the scorecard, released by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 14, shows that progress had stalled. Only four agencies improved their scores, and five saw their scores fall.

Today, only one agency, US AID, scored an A. Seven agencies scored Bs, 10 got Cs, five got Ds, and one agency, the Department of Defense, fell to an F, according to a copy of the scorecard obtained by Federal News Radio. Zeroing in on the transparency and risk management scores, five agencies received failing grades.

The government had three main problem areas to address after the OPM breach: management, bureaucracy and the technology itself. While there has been some progress on the tech front, many of the bigger organizational issues remain.

The buck stops... where?

A key lesson of the OPM breach was that the problems started at the top. The long-standing failure of OPMs leadership to implement basic cyber hygiene, such as maintaining current authorities to operate and employing strong multi-factor authentication, despite years of warnings from the inspector general, represents a failure of culture and leadership, not technology, the House Oversight Committee wrote in its 241-page report about the causes and consequences of the breach.

[ Related: OPM says second breach compromised 21 million records ]

Real cybersecurity improvements start when an organization, including its top leaders, are aware of and engaged in the problem. The OPM actually improved in this area, from a B score last summer to an A in this month's FITARA scrorecoard.

Other agencies fared poorly. In fact, leadership is one of the areas that saw the least progress after the OPM breach. Last August, nine agencies received Fs for the degree of authority of their CIOs. This improved only slightly this month, to seven.

In his testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform earlier this month, Gartner research director Rick Holgate criticized the government's slow improvements in this area. "If CIOs and agency leadership are not regularly interacting with each other, CIOs and IT professionals will forever be playing catch-up, leading to excess costs, performance gaps, and security flaws," he told the committee.

The lack of accountability at the top of the organization was the number one lesson of the OPM breach, says Anthony Dagostino, global head of cyber risk at London-based Willis Towers Watson. Dagostino is an active member of the FBIs Infragard program and is also involved with various working groups at the Department of Treasury, Department of Homeland Security and the Senate Commerce Committee.

Both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump have directly addressed this issue in their cybersecurity executive orders, he says. "The executive orders really hold the executive department heads and agency heads responsible for cyber risk management and cybersecurity, instead of the IT department," he says. Trump's executive order was signed in March, and includes a number of measures designed to strengthen cybersecurity, including a mandate to use the NIST framework to manage risk.

"The NIST cybersecurity framework has really taken hold, not just in the government but across the US, and is becoming a de facto standard for looking at and assessing an organization's cybersecurity posture," says Richard Spires, chairman of the board at Resilient Network Systems and former CIO of the Department of Homeland Security.

"I think it sends the right message to agencies about how important this is," he says. "Obviously, the proof is in actually doing it and carrying it out, but I think these are very positive steps that are being taken."

Better technology

While the OPM received an A for its leadership in the latest FITARA scorecard, its overall score barely budged, from a D in October 2015 to a D+ this month. There were a number of areas in which OPM desperately needed to improve its technology. Users were able to access the systems with just passwords, for example, and the critical databases were not encrypted. Much of the infrastructure was old and out of date, and there was a lack of network security controls.

The lack of strong authentication was a particularly thorny problem because the federal government already had a two-factor system in place, the Personal Identity Verification card. OPM ignored that mandate, and none of the agency's 47 major applications required PIV authentication, according to the audit report.

Since then, two-factor authentication has been deployed for all users accessing the OPM's new National Background Investigations Bureau, launched last fall to replace the old Federal Investigative Services. In addition, government agencies  and the industry in general  are moving away from having large databases full of passwords or biometric data.

"The White House made a big push to make sure that OPM and every other agency is using strong authentication everwhere," says Jeremy Grant, managing director for technology, business and strategy at Washington, D.C.-based Venable LLP. Grant headed the national strategy for trusted identity in cyberspace for the Obama administration.

One approach is the FIDO Alliance, which is a platform that allows websites and applications to authenticate users using scanners that store the biometric information on user devices, instead of in a central database. "The upcoming guidance from NIST recognizes FIDO as the highest level of assurance for authentication," Grant says.

First, the system protects fingerprints, retina scans and other biometric information from being stolen in the first place, by storing it in a hardened, secure area on a smartphone or other device. Second, if the fingerprint image is stolen anyway, say, during the OPM breach, and someone creates a dummy finger with it, the attacker would also have to steal the user's authentication device in order to make use of it, says Grant.

"They'd have to steal my phone, and incapacitate me so that I couldn't use my Find my iPhone function and brick it," he says. "And if someone has stolen my phone and has me incapacitated, I have much bigger problems."

[ Related: The OPM breach report: A long time coming ]

Some agencies do have to keep biometric data on file, he agrees. Police departments, for example, have to collect fingerprints at crime scenes. And, of course, the federal government has to collect fingerprints when it does its security checks.

"When you have to store highly sensitive information, it should be absolutely table stakes to use multi-factor authentication," says Brett McDowell, executive director at the FIDO Alliance.

In addition, access should be limited to just those people who need it, says Gus Coldebella, attorney at Boston-based Fish & Richardson P.C. and former acting general counsel of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under George Bush. "You have to determine if an employee is entitled to see some segment of information, and should be restricted to just that," he says. "That employee might not actually be that employee. It might be a nation-state sponsored actor who successfully spear-phished the credentials."

Finally, the information itself should be stored in encrypted form. OPM finally began a big encryption push in 2016, and will completed by the end of this year, OPM CISO Cord Chase told the House Oversight Committee in February.

One of the problems uncovered after the initial breach was that many of its systems were being used without a Security Assessment and Authorization. By the end of 2016, according to an audit report, 18 major systems still had no valid authorization in place.

In addition, the audit showed a significant staffing problem, which caused the OPM to backslide in its compliance with the Federal Information Security Management Act. "There has been an extremely high employee turnover rate for the ISSO positions, and OPM has struggled to backfill these vacancies," said Michael Esser, OPM's assistant inspector general for audits, in his report. "In addition, there have been five different individuals in the role of the chief information officer in the past three years."

Finally, there's the problem of old equipment. BeyondTrust surveyed federal IT managers earlier this year and found that 47 percent of federal agencies still use Windows XP. "Windows XP is highly insecure and many of the newer anti-virus, multi-factor authentication, and even security tools just do not work on unsupported platforms anymore," says Morey Haber, VP of technology at Phoenix-based. "Commercial businesses will not make money or develop for platforms that are end of life. There is no sustainability model for it."

According to Gartner's Holgate, legacy systems in the federal government have an average age of 14 years, compared to 10 in the private sector.

In addition to ripping and replacing, one option is to move to cloud-based infrastructure. Here, too, the federal government lags behind. "Federal agencies reported in 2016 that they spend 3 percent of their total IT expenditures on cloud services," says Holgate. "That is significantly less than private sector peers, for which benchmarking shows 12 percent."

Moving to the cloud isn't necessarily more secure, says Ken Kartsen, VP of federal sales at Santa Clara, Calif.-based McAfee LLC. Kartsen has been working with federal government clients in various areas of cybersecurity for nearly 20 years. "But if you look at the underlying infrastructure, especially infrastructure as a service, you at least start with a safe and secure system," he says.

He has seen some progress in this area, he adds. "Two years ago, I didn't know of any large component of infrastructure that was outsourced to the cloud," he says. "Two years later, it's very different. The momentum is definitely there."

The FedRamp program, for example, pre-approves cloud vendors to make it easier and faster for government agencies to move to the cloud. "That shows to me that the government is moving very aggressively," he says. "I think we're going to see a lot more infrastructure outsourced over the next couple of years."

Long-term impact is yet to be felt

The OPM breach was unlike most other breaches, and creates problems that can't be fixed by reissuing credit cards and offering credit monitoring services. Nearly 22 million Social Security numbers were breached, which cannot be reissued. And that's just the start.

There are also background investigations on people applying for security clearances, as well as their spouses, which includes things like criminal and financial histories and information about their friends, family members and business acquaintances. More than a million fingerprints were also lost. "The scariest thing is the fallout we haven't yet seen, the potential corruption of data, the long-term effects of espionage on national security," says Willis Towers Watson's Dagostino. The data could be used to unmask covert agents, for example.

In addition, the sensitive background information can help a foreign power to find and recruit potential intelligence sources. "It was a great hit to the United States, and I don't believe we've seen the full impact of it," says Brian White, COO at Baltimore-based RedOwl. White has previously worked at the Department of Homeland Security. "And we are still not doing everything possible to protect our most sensitive information," he adds.
The European Commission wants to make it easier for lightweight drones to fly autonomously in European airspace -- with logistics, inspection services and agricultural businesses set to benefit.

Last Friday, the Commission unveiled a plan to improve the safety of drones flying at low altitude.

It wants to introduce a consistent set of rules across the EU for flying drones in "U-space," its name for regulated airspace under 150 meters in altitude.

Simpler regulations will be welcomed by multinational businesses such as gas giant Engie, which is developing drones for tasks such as pipeline or building inspection or for cleaning the insulators on high-voltage overhead power lines.

Other businesses, including some exhibiting at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget this week, will see common rules as a way to simplify the development of drones and related services.

As part of a plan to automate air traffic control for drones, the Commission wants to build a register of drones and their operators by 2019, and to have drones identify themselves electronically. It also wants to introduce geo-fencing, building a database of sensitive areas that drones will be required to automatically avoid.

The rules for U-space will replace today's patchwork of national regulations affecting drones weighing less than 150 kilograms, in which the same drone is subject to different rules depending on which side of a border it flies, and whether it is flown for business or pleasure.

The U-space plan was developed at the Commission's request by the Single European Sky Air traffic management Research Joint Undertaking, and takes into account new aviation safety regulations being developed by the European Parliament and EU member states.

The 150-meter ceiling for autonomous flights will suit Drones'Guard, developed by Azur Drones for video surveillance. On show at Le Bourget, it's designed to watch over factories and other large industrial sites from an altitude of 100 meters. When tethered to a power source, it can hover for up to eight hours non-stop.

French energy company Engie showed off prototypes of tethered and untethered drones at its new Drones & Robots Laboratory to the north of Paris last week. While the drone air traffic control rules won't have much effect on its tethered drone, which is intended for inspecting the interiors of large industrial buildings, they could make life simpler for another drone it is developing to clean the insulators on overhead power lines.

These stacks of glass discs, used to suspend power lines from pylons, gradually lose their ability to insulate as they accumulate dirt. This can come from a number of sources: Among the worst is metal dust from neighboring industrial sites -- aluminum smelters, for instance, need a sturdy and reliable electricity supply -- but almost as bad is moss, which can grow on the glass and retain moisture.

The usual way of cleaning off moss is to send someone up in a cherry-picker, but this is costly, time-consuming and potentially dangerous. With the drone, it's just a matter of flying close to the insulator and spraying a moss remove agent onto the glass discs. Within a few days, the moss will dry up and drop off -- or so the theory goes. Engie's prototype uses standard industrial valves and actuators to orient the nozzle and turn on the spray. A pressurized steel canister holds the cleaning fluid -- which is nothing special, according to Engie research engineer Patrick Subreville: It's the same stuff he used to remove moss from the roof of his house last summer.

To comply with local laws, Engie's moss-removal test flights must take place inside a net enclosure, one pilot guiding the drone and another directing the spray.

The EU's proposed safe space for drone flights could open up commercial opportunities for this and many other applications.
At the National Assembly's session (Source: VNA)



With 93.28 percent of approval, the revised on Technology Transfer comprises six chapters and 63 articles, stipulating technological transfer from abroad to Vietnam and vice versa, as well as within the country, rights and responsibilities of individuals and entities concerned, project appraisal and State management, among others.

Earlier, deputies heard a report on acquiring feedback on the revised Law on Technology Transfer delivered by member of the NA Standing Committee and head of the NAs Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Phan Xuan Dung.

Meanwhile, the Law on Irrigation won 93.08 percent of approval with 10 chapters and 60 articles. It covers irrigation strategy and planning; management, exploitation and operation of irrigational works and water reservoirs; rights and responsibilities of relevant individuals and entities.

According to the report on acquiring feedback on the draft Law, the NA Standing Committee agreed to add regulations on diversifying investment in managing and tapping irrigational works.

Adopted with 89.21 percent of yes votes, the amended Law on Tourism, which comprises 9 chapters and 78 articles, stipulates tourism natural resources, products and activities, rights and responsibilities of concerned individuals and entities at home and abroad.

The report on acquiring feedback on the draft revised Law on Tourism said the law covers regulations on ranking lodging facilities on voluntary basis, tourism planning and management.

In the afternoon, the legislature adopted a resolution approving a Treaty supplementing the Treaty on national border demarcation between Vietnam and Laos, and a resolution approving a Protocol on borderline and national borderline between Vietnam and Laos.

Later, the NA deputies passed a draft resolution approving the State budget balance for 2015 with 92.46 percent of yes vote.

With 82.08 percent of approval, they also adopted a resolution on splitting land reclamation, recovery, assistance, resettlement of the Long Thanh International Airport project into a component project. It comes into effect as from the day the NA approved./.
Throughout the program, volunteers are providing free medical check-ups, treatment and medicine to over 1,500 residents in remote and disadvantaged districts in Laos Salavan province; and presenting 100 gifts worth VND500,000 each to poor families in the districts.

This is the 7time young members from Da Nang city Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union have joined the voluntary program in Laos.

Salavan provinces young people welcome the delegation.

Despite heavy rain, young volunteers transport packages of medicine and presents to Nong Bu Hin village.

The delegation members prepare medicine to allocate to local residents.

Young doctors and nurses confer before medical check-ups.

A large number of local residents come to receive medical check-ups.





The doctors and nurses come from different hospitals in Da Nang city and specialize in different areas, including ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, obstetrics and paediatrics. In the picture is doctor Truong Cong Gia Thinh from the Da Nang Eye Hospital, who is conducting an eye exam for a patient.

Lao local residents happiness in receiving free medical check-ups and medicine
ISLAND MP Bob Seely visited the Department for Education in London this morning (Tuesday) to discuss the future of secondary education in Sandown.

Mr Seely met with Schools Minister Lord John Nash to press the case for continuing secondary education in Sandown.

Mr Seely said: We made a strong case that Sandown needs its own secondary school and explained the plans for an all through four to 16 school, led by The Bay CE Primary School.

The minister listened carefully to what we had to say, asked some challenging questions, and made it clear that he is keeping all options open until the results of the public consultation are known.

We left the minister and his colleagues in no doubt that ending secondary provision in Sandown would create intolerable journey times for pupils to attend other schools, would incur costs of 1 million every year in bussing the children around the Island, and would jeopardise educational outcomes across the Island with the disruption it would cause.

We will continue to make our case on behalf of the Sandown community.

The delegation also included the new Isle of Wight Council lead member for childrens services, Cllr Paul Brading, who said: We were able to assure the minister that 98 per cent of those who have responded to our consultation so far have backed the need for Sandown to have its own secondary school, and that there is widespread dissatisfaction with the way AET have been running the Sandown Bay Academy.

What we need, though, is more parents, students and members of the local community to respond to the consultation so we can demonstrate to the minister the strength of feeling on this issue.

The Isle of Wight Councils consultation survey can be found here.


A requiem for the two victims (Photo provided by their family)



On June 19th, Consular Department under the Vietnamese Embassy in the Czech Republic helped Ms. Vu Thi Mai Huong, mother of the two victims, carry out necessary procedures at the request of her family.



The local police havent provided official information on this particularly serious traffic accident.



Meanwhile, activities to raise funds to support Ms. Vu Thi Mai Huong's family have begun to spread among the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic and gained the first results.



Nguyen Huy Anh, Chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in Plzen province, said that right after hearing that the two sons of Ms. Vu Thi Mai Huong, including Tran Viet Hung, 12 years old and Vu Viet Anh, 7 years old, were killed in a traffic accident, members of the Women's Union and the Buddhist Association in Plzen province were present to help and encourage the family.



On the evening of June 18th, the Buddhist Association invited a monk to Ms. Huong's home to conduct a requiem for the two victims. The Overseas Vietnamese Association in Plzen province has also mobilized financial support for Ms. Huong's family.







According to Mr. Nguyen Sinh, Deputy Head of the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the Czech Republic, the Overseas Vietnamese Association in the country also launched a donation campaign among the community to help Ms. Vu Thi Mai Huong send the bodies of her sons to Vietnam according to her familys wishes.

After launching, the association has received support from the Vietnamese communities in the provinces of Plzen, Karlovy Vary, Southern Czech and some other localities.

Besides, Ms. Huong has also received support from Hai Duong fellow-countrymen and benefactors. Facebook accounts of Vietnamese people in Plzen in particular, and in other regions of the Czech Republic, posted calls to help Ms. Huong and received positive feedback./.
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It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
A Turkish textile company pledged Monday to reopen the former Microfibres Inc. plant in Winston-Salem, creating up to 260 jobs over three years.

HPFabrics Inc. chose not to wait to be approved for two local economic-incentive packages before committing to the project.

The Winston-Salem City Council voted 7-0 Monday night to approve the citys $125,000 economic incentive to HPFabrics Inc. Council Member Denise Adams was absent and didnt vote.

The company could potentially provide up to 390 jobs, and the city will provide them $17,000 a year over seven years as economic incentive based on the companys hiring 390 employees and paying its property taxes, said Derwick Paige, assistant city manager.

The company has been made eligible for up to $250,000 in performance-based incentives from the One North Carolina Fund, which requires matching local incentives.

The statement from Gov. Roy Coopers office has the subsidiary of Tukek Holdings A.S. pledging about one-third fewer new jobs than the up to 390 listed in the legal notices filed by the Winston-Salem City Council and Forsyth County Board of Commissioners.

Paige said Monday the city and county have received a similar 260-jobs-over-three-years commitment from HPFabrics.

Our total project is based upon a five-year forecast, so the numbers arent different, but just carried out for a longer payback period, Paige said. Our investment schedule is also over five years, and this is over two years.

Tukek told Winston-Salem economic development officials it would spend $3.85 million over five years to upgrade the former Microfibres facility at 3821 Kimwell Drive, along with buying new equipment and machinery.

The statement from Coopers office lists a $1.1 million capital investment over two years with the company expecting to create additional jobs and investment at the facility over a five-year period.

HPFabrics was formed Feb. 21, according to the N.C. Secretary of States website.

Rafet Tukek, president of HPFabrics and Tukek Holding, said in his first public comments on the project that this investment will help Tukek to strengthen its global position in the flocking industry, while bringing the lost jobs back and creating much more than what Microfibres had to offer at its best years.

This investment will also strengthen trade between Turkey and the United States of America and will be one of the first manufacturing-related direct investments made by a Turkish company into the United States economy.

The governors office said the 260 jobs would have an annual economic impact of more than $8.2 million.

Tukek told Winston-Salem economic development officials the average salary for the local jobs would be $30,310, plus benefits.

By comparison, the median individual wage for Forsyth County was $33,153 in 2014  the latest data available.

That could be the main reason why the incentive request is low compared with other recent economic projects with similar or larger job pledges such as Herbalife Ltd., Corning Optical Communications LLC and the defunct North State Aviation LLC.

Typically, companies whose average wages pledge falls below a county average are limited in what they can request in local and state incentives.

Microfibres, which was based in Pawtucket, R.I., filed for Chapter 7 voluntary bankruptcy protection Jan. 27, 2016  the same day it closed its Pawtucket, Winston-Salem and Lee County, Miss., facilities and ceased production.

Microfibres said it ended its U.S. manufacturing presence in response to domestic and global textiles challenges. The company made high-performance, stain-resistant flocked fabrics for the upholstery, furniture and specialty-products markets.

The Winston-Salem plant had 125 employees when it closed. The local workforce was at 270 as recently as 2004. The Pawtucket facility had 58 employees, and the Mississippi facility had two.

Its a pleasure to see an idle facility come to life again, opening new opportunities for North Carolinas talented workers, said Anthony Copeland, the states Commerce secretary.
Sometimes the irony is so thick, you can't cut it with a laser.

House Republicans had long planned to hold a hearing on Wednesday on an NRA bill that would make it far easier for gun owners to buy silencers. The so-called "Hearing Protection Act" (I kid you not) was all set for subcommittee scrutiny - until news broke about the Field of Screams.

Having tallied the wounded - this was the 195th mass shooting of the year - Republicans speedily canceled the gun silencer hearing, deeming it inappropriate. Given the circumstances, and all that.

But then it occurred to me: If our latest angry white guy, newly dead James Hodginkson, had been free to fit a silencer on his easily obtained killing machine, wouldn't that have slowed the reaction time of the Republican ballplayers and the cops who'd accompanied them? If he'd sprayed his bullets with a silencer attached, wouldn't there have been an enhanced risk of far more casualties? And if the next angry white guy, and the ones after that, are free to do the same, won't that ratchet up the death toll?

It's futile to even ask such questions, of course, because America is terminally locked and loaded.

Rest assured that after Republicans dry their tears about Majority Whip Steve Scalise and the other wounded souls, they'll get back to the NRA's business. The gun silencer hearing will be held. Another NRA bill, which would allow people who live in states with lax gun laws to pack their concealed-carry heat in states with strict gun laws, is waiting in the wings. And Republicans, with Trump's help, have already made it easier for some fugitives and mentally impaired people to buy guns.

Republicans did indeed shed tears on Wednesday - understandably so - for their wounded allies and colleagues. But in their grief, perhaps it would also have been appropriate to ask themselves: "How come a guy with a history of violence had a gun license and an assault weapon?"

Hodgkinson, by all accounts, was an unhinged lefty extremist who hated Republicans - just a variation of the unhinged right-wing extremists who hate lefties and Democrats. What all these people have in common is a profound sense of alienation and a propensity for violence. Their anger - not ideology - is their prime motivator. Hodginkson fit the profile perfectly.

In his home state of Illinois (prior to his recent move to Alexandria, Virginia, where he spent weeks stalking the ballfield), he racked up a string of offenses - damaging a motor vehicle, resisting police, criminally damaging property, driving under the influence, discharging a firearm (he was shooting at trees across a neighbor's property while the neighbor was outside with his grandchildren), assaulting a neighboring girl (punching her with a closed fist), threatening a neighbor with a shotgun, and assaulting his foster daughter (which led to his arrest on a domestic violence charge). In court, he screamed at the judge. But the judge dismissed the case after the daughter mixed up the court date and failed to appear.

In virtually any other western nation, Hodgkinson, with all his red flags, would've been denied a gun permit. But in America, he was good for it. He also obtained an automatic weapon, the kind that civilians typically can't get in most western nations. But in America, he was good for it. Because it's considered important to protect the "gun rights" of people like him.

In America, the marketing of mass-destruction weaponry is simply good business. Hodgkinson's weapon of choice was reportedly an M4, or similar to it. The manufacturer's selling spiel for the M4 goes like this: "The M4 can be comfortably carried, yet be instantly available to provide...firepower, dependability and accuracy. Proven in military combat operations all over the world, it is in a class by itself as a first rate combat weapon system."

But there's no way Republicans will connect these dots. Roughly 30 Americans die each day in gun homicides, but that's deemed acceptable collateral damage. Mo Brooks, one of the congressmen who escaped the ballfield assault without injury, conceded yesterday that the Second Amendment has some "adverse aspects," but said that gun rights "are fundamental to our being the greatest nation in world history." And as Senator Rand Paul declared in a tweet last year, quoting Judge Andrew Napolitano, "Why do we have a Second Amendment? It's not to shoot deer. It's to shoot at the government when it becomes tyrannical!"

Well, that's precisely what Hodgkinson thought he was doing. It's just a shame that NRA politicians make it so easy for people like him. And when Steve Scalise recovers from his wounds, rest assured that he'll continue to toe the line. After all, his NRA rating is A Plus.
JURIST Guest Columnist Roy Lee discusses the applications of principles from the Star Wars film series to contemporary issues in international relations

In the ever-popular Star Wars series, the Jedi and the Rebel Alliance are pitted against the Sith and the Galactic Empire, a dictatorship based on tyranny, xenophobic hatred of non-humans, power projection through brutal and lethal force, and above all else, constant fear, pretending to be the good guys half the time.

We intuitively recognize the Rebel Alliance as the good guys and root for them against the Galactic Empire. In the battle between good and evil, most of us would choose good any day, any time.

Sadly, in the conduct of international relations between democratic states in the the West or the Western Alliance and the not-so-democratic states in the rest of the world, the governments that purport to represent us appear to choose evil much of the time.

Our governments support and arm dictators until they cease to be convenient, then we overthrow them (e.g. Saddam Hussein ). Our governments support democracy and democratic elections until it throws up a party that stands against our short-term interests (Hamas in the Palestinian Occupied Territories ). In living memory, our governments provided lists of suspected Communists to an Indonesian dictatorship known to disappear and execute suspected communists without due process. Our governments sell arms to dodgy regimes known to intentionally or recklessly inflict civilian deaths and genocide in armed conflict or foreign occupation (currently Saudi Arabia in Yemen, most recently a reported $100B of arms sales (US); and UK arms sales during the Indonesian occupation of and genocide in East Timor). Our governments license millions of pounds worth of arms sales to Turkey in the midst of a purge of 150,000 civil servants, academics, judges, police and military personnel, most without due process and the arrest of another 50,000 people on the pretext of an attempted coup. No blinking now, even after Erdogan has engineered a referendum to make himself the new Sultan of Turkey.

Our governments support and turn a blind eye to regimes that massacre their own citizens or boil them alive because it is in our short-term military and strategic interests to do so (Uzbekistan). For decades our governments have been actively encouraging our corporations (through Bilateral Investment Agreements, trade deals, trade and investment delegations) to invest and reap profits in pseudo-democracies like Russia and China and definitely-not-democracies like Gaddafis Libya (including intelligence cooperation and handing over known dissidents ), knowing full well that their citizens face repression and oppression, arbitrary detention, torture and often extra-judicial execution. We now reap the fruits of those policies. All three countries pose strategic and military threats to the West (in the case of Russia, what may be a rebirth of the Cold War).

What is wrong with investing in countries like Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Australia and New Zealand? Strong, stable democracies that by and large respect human rights. Profits there do not yield enough to keep our shareholders, investors and pension funds sated: no easy money to be gained in those countries. Far more money to be gained in investing in the Wild, Wild East, where weak governance keeps labor and environmental standards and wages, in check, and deals can be done with the elite at the expense of the masses.

Rex Tillerson, the US Secretary of State, embodies this best, recently stating that US values are one thing, and its foreign policy another. This was apparently greeted with howls of dismay from State Department officials and many US commentators, but is really nothing new: he simply stated what is at the heart of many Western countries foreign policies. Whilst we may insist on democratic values, free and fair and elections and basic human rights for ourselves, we selectively choose which countries and which peoples are entitled to the same, depending on convenience, our perceived realpolitik and strategic needs. In 2004, Anna Politkovskaya wrote Putins Russia documenting war crimes, child rapes and murders committed with impunity by senior Russian army officers in Chechnya, and numerous other abuses committed by state agents in Russia. In 2013, nine years after the book was published, the amount of foreign direct investment into Russia had more than quadrupled, much of it originating from EU member states. Sadly, Ms. Politkovskaya was not around in 2014 to chastise Russia for intervening in the Crimea to separate the region from the Ukraine. She was assassinated in a contract killing ordered by persons unknown two years after she wrote the book. On Putins birthday.

These days, I watch with trepidation and a sinking heart moves to hold corporates responsible for human rights breaches. The same trepidation I had in my heart when more than 20 years ago, after writing a mini-book on perestroika and the numerous ills of the Soviet Union, I read all about Western corporations and Western government-led trade delegations rushing to invest in Russia and China, without insisting on any systemic or grassroots changes to establish or strengthen democracy and the rule of law. Any Western aid provided to reform democratic institutions and mechanisms must have failed dismally as in 2013, Russia and China sat at 132nd and 144th place respectively out of 167 countries worldwide in the Democracy Index.

Corporate liability for human rights breaches in the Wild, Wild East will keep an army of corporate lawyers, academics, investigators, insurance assessors and public relations advisers employed and busy for decades to come. But what makes people think they can regulate corporate actions taken in far-flung countries where the rule of law is weak, corruption endemic and institutions and witnesses easily corruptible, when countries in the West can barely regulate corporate actions taken in their own jurisdictions (e.g. banking crisis and subprime securities, 2009)?

And how would holding corporations liable for their actions (or those of their subsidiaries) improve governance in those countries where individuals are purged, imprisoned, tortured or killed by police or State agents for trying to hold their government accountable or simply having and expressing an opinion different from their governments? Heres an uncomfortable home truth: every dollar or pound of foreign direct investment into a repressive country is a dollar of investment in repression and oppression, in the torture and imprisonment of those whose only crime is to exercise their universally recognized human rights, or to be on the wrong side of power. Corporate responsibility for corporate human rights breaches is a fig leaf to lend respectability to funding torture and oppression in despotic countries. The Emperor is naked. Giving him two silk threads to drape around his waist might assuage your conscience, but it sure aint going to cover him up.

Who is the Emperor? In the good old days this was easy: He was the Soviet Union, Communism and sometimes Iran and North Korea, forming the Axis of Evil. These days, Iran and North Korea are still around, but the Soviet Empire and Communism is no more. You have to look a bit harder. But you can still figure it out. The Emperor is the one who oppresses his people, demonizes minorities, stifles dissent, rigs elections and referenda, imprisons, tortures and disappears dissidents and human rights lawyers and bombs civilians. The Emperor despises, neuters and dismantles democratic institutions such as a free and independent media, an independent judiciary, and NGOs that do not toe the party line. The Emperor sacrifices the common good (such as preventing human-induced climate change) at the altar of personal revenge or political gain.

These days there are reputable international standards, indices and reports that you can use to finger the Emperors and their Galactic Empires. If experts from governments and international NGOs advocating for democracy and human rights got together, I am sure they could come up with universal standards to determine the countries in or to which investments and arms sales should be forbidden (or at least not encouraged). Off-hand, apart from the usual suspects, Iran and North Korea, I would venture that the Galactic Empires are currently Xis China, Putins Russia, Erdogans Turkey, Sisis Egypt, the Kings Saudi Arabia, Dutertes Philippines, and lately, Trumps America, to name but a few.

How should we in the Rebel Alliance oppose these Galactic Empires? Human rights lawyers and publishers (not to mention dissidents) are disappearing, abused and tortured with impunity in China. Sanctions against China, anyone? Once we had courage, and roundly sanctioned South Africa for its apartheid regime. Now we have consumer electronics and only impose sanctions that dont interfere with the supply chain.

Will we all eventually sing One Belt, One Road (and One Whip), in a Mandarin falsetto? Certainly, I havent heard many lawyers speak up against OBOR (think of the billions that will flow into law firms from international arbitration, bilateral investment agreements, and trade agreements). Even the proud and snooty EU, champion of democracy and human rights, appears to have omitted any mention of human rights when explaining why it would not endorse Chinas OBOR. Its as if human rights dropped off a cliff entirely in the face of Chinas colossal trade surpluses and bank balance. One almost longs for the days of the Soviet Union: we were morally superior because we respected human rights and they did not. Back then we knew who was the Rebel Alliance and who the Galactic Empire; these days I can hardly tell the difference.

There is a form of willful blindness in constantly cracking down on so-called tax havens, money laundering and corporations that breach human rights abroad. These are all ways of averting our eyes from the elephant in the room. The elephant in the room is that countries in the Wild Wild East (and quite often the Wondrous, Wondrous West) need to strengthen their governance systems, enact good laws and enforce these laws properly. Yet we in the West frequently choose to turn a blind eye to appalling governance, corruption at the highest levels of government, and widespread and well-known abuses of human rights, in the Wild Wild East. When it suits us. In fact we frequently reward it by encouraging our corporations to invest billions in these countries. The more corrupt, the higher the profit margins. Put a peg on your nose and invest, is the general mantra.

Can you imagine the Rebel Alliance striking a deal with the Galactic Empire? We will sell you arms, sign a bilateral investment agreement with you, and encourage our corporations to invest in you, as long as you oppress and attack other settlements and your citizens, but not us. Sounds like the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact between Russia and Germany in the Second World War, and we all know how that went.

UK Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn (the trans-Atlantic equivalent of Bernie Sanders) is right to state that the UK has rubbish foreign policy. I concur and would go one step further. The answer is not simply to leave the Wild, Wild East to sort itself out. It is a principled foreign policy: to forbid or discourage investments, arms sales and non-essential aid to countries that do not meet universally accepted standards of democracy and human rights; to take concrete and well-resourced steps (short of armed intervention or interfering with elections) to foster strong, stable human-rights respecting democratic neighbors all over the word, to make for a safer world. Terrorism festers in and emanates from troubled unstable countries, in oppressive places ruled by naked Emperors, and in Galactic Empires (with no real outlets for democratic expression) often fueled by Western military and other aid. Ponder that fact, and review our policies on trade, investment, aid and arms sales for despotic countries.

In the language of social media: This is Luke Skywalker. Be like Luke. Dont be like Darth Vader. Or worse, Jabba the Hutt.

Roy Lee is a legislative drafter and lawyer in Guernsey, Channel Islands. He lectures and writes on upgrading Democracy based on his experience in various countries ranging from Afghanistan to New Zealand. Feedback welcome at scrivener2017@gmail.com

Suggested citation:Roy Lee, The Galactic Empire: Lessons in Geopolitics from a Galaxy Far, Far Away, JURIST  Professional Commentary, June 19, 2017, http://jurist.org/hotline/2017/06/Roy-LeeGalactic-Empire.php.

This article was prepared for publication by Sean Merritt, an Assistant Editor for JURIST Commentary. Please direct any questions or comments to him at commentary@jurist.org
A judge for the US District Court of the Northern District of Florida [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that a large cross erected in a Pensacola park is in violation of the First Amendment [text], specifically the Establishment Clause. The Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Associations Appignani Legal Center [advocacy websites] filed the suit on behalf of four individuals who felt the presence of the 75-year-old cross on city-owned property was offensive and alienating park visitors who do not subscribe to Christianity. Judge Vinson was reluctant to rule against the tenancy of the cross but stated the law is the law. He cited precedent cases that support the interpretation of the Establishment Clause that precludes government endorsement for non-secular purposes and said, The Bayview Cross clearly has a primarilyif not exclusivelyreligious purpose. He concluded, Count me among those who hope the Supreme Court will one day revisit and reconsider its Establishment Clause jurisprudence, but my duty is to enforce the law as it now stands. The ruling imposed that the cross be removed within 30 days. The city could appeal the case to the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit [official website].

The interpretation of the First Amendments Establishment Clause has been contested several times in recent years. In April the Supreme Court heard arguments [JURIST report] for Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer [SCOTUSBlog materials] on whether excluding churches from neutral aid programs violates Free Exercise and Equal Protection Clauses if the state does not provide a valid Establishment Clause concern. In March the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit [official website] upheld [JURIST report] a lower court ruling allowing a Texas school board to open their meetings with a student-led public prayer. A Michigan countys practice of offering Christian-only prayers at public board meetings was found unconstitutional [JURIST report] by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit [official website] in February. In September the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit [official website] ruled [JURIST report] that Rowan County Commissioners in North Carolina may open public meetings with prayer. In April 2016 the governor of Tennessee vetoed [JURIST, report] a bill declaring the Bible as the official state book. Also in April 2016 a California federal judge required Los Angeles County to remove [JURIST report] a Latin cross from the county seal. In November 2015 a judge for the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas [official website] ruled that a nativity scene on Baxter County Courthouse grounds violated the First Amendment [JURIST report]. In September 2015 the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit [official website] ruled that a six-foot-tall statue of Jesus may remain [JURIST report] on US Forest Service land.
The US Supreme Court [official website] agreed Monday to review Gill v. Whitford [docket; order, PDF], a partisan-gerrymandering case from Wisconsin. The state is appealing the decision of a three-judge panel for the US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin [official website], which struck down [order, PDF] a redistricting map that was created by the states Republican-controlled legislature on the grounds that it was a product of partisan gerrymandering. The Supreme Court also put the lower courts order for the state to create a new redistricting plan by the fall on hold as per the request [application, PDF] of the appellants. The opinion states that Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor would have denied the application, which could be indicative of how the court will decide the case as the justices had to consider whether the state was likely to succeed on the merits when making their decision. Arguments for the case will likely be heard in November or December.

Voting rights and how voters are grouped and counted has become and increasingly important issue over the past year. Earlier this month the Supreme Court affirmed [JURIST report] a lower court decision striking down a North Carolina state House and Senate redistricting effort as racial gerrymandering that disproportionately impacted black voters. In May the Supreme Court ruled [JURIST report] in Cooper v. Harris [SCOTUSblog materials] that North Carolinas redistricting of Districts 1 and 12 was unconstitutional because the state made no attempt to justify race-based districting there. In January the Department of Justice sued [JURIST report] Detroit suburbs over a potential Voting Rights Act violation regarding the ability of minorities to elect other minority members as council members. Earlier that week the Supreme Court blocked [JURIST report] a ruling ordering the redrawing of the congressional district map and special elections to be held in North Carolina. In September several organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging Georgias voter registration system [JURIST report]. Last April the Supreme Court unanimously upheld [JURIST report] an Arizona commissions decisions regarding the redistricting of voting districts in the state.
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Photos Credit: Emperor Cruises

A village in Bai Tu Long Bay has earned a well-deserved reputation for producing some of the worlds most exquisite pearls. In Bai Tu Long Bay, northeast of Halong Bay with similar rocky outcrops, is a pearl farming village that annually produces millions of colorful, glittering pearls. Its pearls are considered to be some of the best in the world. Despite changes throughout history, today the small farming village is known as "The Kingdom of Pearls."

Legend of the Pearl-Spitting Dragon

Before sunrise, many fishermen head back to Cai Rong Harbour in Van Don district after a night at sea. As their work ends, hundreds of others prepare for another day offshore at the villages pearl farm. The freshness of the morning air and the saltiness of the sea breeze announce the start of a new day. Sitting in the prow of our boat, Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, a pearl farming expert, gave us an overview of the area. "This is paradise for producing cultured pearls. There are few places around the world with such ideal natural conditions for producing the best quality pearls, and a local legend explains how the area was formed millions of years ago," he said.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

According to the legend, Vietnam was at war and the Gods sent the Mother Dragon and her children to help the Vietnamese people fight against their enemies. When the enemy's ships approached the shore, the dragons spat out many pearls, which turned into thousands of rocky islands, creating a solid wall to form barriers and block the attacks. After the war was over, the Mother Dragon and her children decided to stay and protect the area forever instead of going home. The Mother Dragon landed in Halong and the children in Bai Tu Long. Their tails created Long Vi, whose white sand beach stretches for more than 10 kilometers. Many of the other islands in Van Don district have names linked to the legend, such as Minh Chau Island (Bright Pearl) and Ngoc Vung Island (Glowing Pearl).

For generations, people have viewed pearls as a precious item and a gift a man takes to his fiancees house to formalize their betrothal; a symbol of his love, strength and courage. Pearls that are blue in color represent purity, while pink indicates sophistication and those that are silver show elegance. "Many years ago, pearls could be found everywhere. People gave their loved ones pearls as a present and they could also be used for healing," said Mr Cao Tuy, former Director of the Quang Ninh Department of Fisheries. "When a child had a fever, they would drink a mixture of water and pearl powder."

The ancient Van Don Trading Port was well known for the variety of goods traded, including natural pearls, which were used to make expensive jewelry for the elite. Foreign traders paid enormous sums for the pearls, which were considered rare items around the world. The technique for producing cultured pearls was developed by the Japanese, who took the process to areas that had perfect conditions for pearl farming. Bai Tu Long Bay was one of them. Combining this method with expertise gained over thousands of years, pearl farming increased rapidly in Van Don district.

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Farming Methods

After an hour sailing in the bay we reached the pearl farm, which is about 40 hectares in size and full of clearly numbered rafts, below which oysters cling. Nguyen Thi Thanh, the manager of the technical department at the Vietnam Pearls Taiheiyo Shinju Company who has 30 years experience in the field, began assigning tasks to nearly 200 workers, who were divided into groups of 10 or so to clean the pearl fields. In the 1990s, the Japanese chose Bai Tu Long Bay as a place to produce cultured pearls. Within a few years, Van Don pearls were recognized as luxurious products, perfect in shape and size with a bright translucence, and gradually conquered sophisticated markets such as Japan and the US.

There are many steps in the process to get a high quality pearl, and the workers have to be skilled and experienced as well as have perseverance and ingenuity. "Firstly, young oysters, of which there are around 70 million in each season, are selected because they are healthy and disease free," Ms Thanh explained. "The tiny oysters are put into mesh bags and then hung on rafts at a depth of 3 meters. These are ideal climatic conditions, avoiding waves and protecting the young and weak oysters. Then, every week, we pull them up for cleaning." After 18 months of constant care, in June or July around 20 million are selected to be implanted when they have reached 18-22 grams in weight. Later, the selection process is repeated with around 10 million chosen for special care.

"Oysters that are too healthy cannot be implanted because they will reject the nucleus, and those that are too weak will not be able to nurture the nucleus," she told us. "If the oyster has too many nuclei implanted, the outer coating produced will be imperfect, so the pearl will not be high quality and the color wont meet requirements." The final 10 million oysters, stored in cages holding 150 each, follow a special regime for a week that involves a constantly changing environment before being taken to the operations room to be implanted. "Compared with the rest of the process, the implantation stage is the most painstaking and requires skill and perseverance from the workers, who can implant around 300 oysters each day," said cultured pearl expert Mr Nguyen Van Cuong. "The work requires attention to detail, as the oysters may die if the nucleus is inserted in the wrong place."

Photo Credit: Emperor Cruises

The workers must determine the best place for implantation that would have the least impact on the oysters. There are two common types of beads for implantation: ones made from plastic and ones made from mollusc shells, which are superior. A small piece of tissue from another mollusc is implanted to create the donor shell, and if the oyster accepts the bead it begins producing the organic coating (nacre) covering the bead, to create the pearl.

Okumoto Masahiro, Director of Taiheiyo Shinju Vietnam Company and one of the worlds leading experts on cultured pearls, describes Bai Tu Long as a kingdom of world-class pearls, having surveyed many other locations with a view to develop pearl farming. "Quang Ninh province is proud to be a pioneer in producing and crafting cultured pearls in Vietnam, said Mr Vu Van Nam, Director of Quang Ninhs Department of Aquaculture. Thanks to high-quality Japanese manufacturing processes and breakthrough technology, Vietnamese pearls are now registered under the name Spica. This is a quality product that brings great economic benefits to the bay. Quang Ninh is striving to become one of the most famous pearl farming areas in the world, utilizing its idyllic natural conditions."
Alumni gifts launch new honors program at A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications



Tuesday, June 20, 2017

MANHATTAN  Two signature gifts of $5,000 each will provide the resources for the A.Q. Miller School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Kansas State University to launch the Journalism and Mass Communications Honor Program in fall 2018.



Bill and Debbie Leckron-Miller, Council Grove, and Charlene and Rod Lake, Dallas, Texas, have made the seed contributions to this signature program and hope their gifts will motivate others to support this initiative.



"This program exemplifies the emphasis the A.Q. Miller School puts on its students," said Jean Folkerts, interim director of the A.Q. Miller School, which is in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Our philosophy is to blend theory and practice. Combining the academic elements of this honors program and the expertise students will gain from the program's visiting professionals will give our students the critical thinking and professional skills needed to live and work in the 21st-century workplace."



The Journalism and Mass Communications Honors Program will recruit excellent students to the school, provide them with honors classes, and bring professionals to campus to mentor and equip each honors cohort. The program also will allow students to travel as a group to cities in which clusters of A.Q. Miller School alumni live and work so that students can interact with them and recognize the wide variety of career opportunities for school graduates.



Eighteen incoming freshmen will be selected annually based on written essays, grade point averages and letters of recommendation. The students will be admitted directly to the journalism and mass communications program and will participate regularly in student media or agency and client work with professionals. They also will receive automatic admission to the University Honors Program.



The Leckron-Millers are both graduates of the A.Q. Miller School and have served on the school's National Advisory Council. Charlene Lake, also a graduate of the school, is a current member of the National Advisory Council.



Philanthropic contributions to Kansas State University are coordinated by the Kansas State University Foundation. The foundation is leading Innovation and Inspiration: The Campaign for Kansas State University to raise $1.4 billion for student success, faculty development, facility enhancement and programmatic success.
Ukraine in January-April 2017 imported 4.51 billion cubic meters (bcm) of natural gas for a total of $1.079 billion.

Thus, according to the State Statistics Service, the average price of gas imported by the country in April was $209.60 per 1,000 cubic meters against $234.70 in March 2017, $252.50 in February and $244.60 in January.

Ukraine from counterparties in Switzerland received 1.772 bcm of gas for $430.694 million, from Germany 1.33 bcm for $318.232 million, France 561.79 million cubic meters worth $136.038 million, Poland 445.318 million cubic meters for $99.541 million, the UK 218.75 million cubic meters for $52.882 million, Hungary 67.729 million cubic meters for $14.753 million, Luxembourg 58.961 million cubic meters for $12.836 million, Austria 26.518 million cubic meters for $6.26 million and Slovakia 22.065 million cubic meters for $5.518 million and Czechia 7.755 million cubic meters for $1.886 million.

Gas was not imported from Russia in 2017.

As reported, with reference to the service, Ukraine in 2016 imported 10.905 billion cubic meters of natural gas for a total of $2.191 billion. All gas was imported from Europe.
Feature: Edmark Philippines

I always tell you, my dear readers, that "health is wealth" and we must take good care of our family's health as early as possible. I have a dialysis patient father who neglected his health because he just doesn't care about his lifestyle before. He's diabetic for more than fifteen years and yet still living an unhealthy lifestyle that time. Fast-forward today, he is reaping what he sow. Five years on dialysis is so hard but manageable as long as you have the resources and patience. But life must go on because dialysis is the only way to prolong his life aside from kidney transplant that in my opinion has more risk.





Anyhoo, I just want to share in this blog post the natural and alternative products that I'm currently taking. Take not that I'm not encouraging everyone to try this too because it's still important to consult your doctor before taking any kind of food supplement or alternative products especially if you're under medication.





Feature: Edmark Philippines

I've seen this brand years ago but did not give a d*mn about their products because in mind it's another MLM company sprouting like mushrooms everywhere. If my memory serves me right, EDMARK Philippines has been in the country since 1992 but during that time they are selling household products in SM Malls. So fast forward today, the company is more focused on MLM weight loss program and health products.









Feature: Edmark Philippines

photo from Edmark Philippines' Facebook Page

I'm sure you're excited to see the products that Mr. Felix Dumaboc, trusted distributor of Edmark Philippines weight loss and health products in our area sent me to try. I'm skeptical at first because if you'll read the claims on each product, you'll really question if it will really do this or that to your body. But after taking these three products for a month, I'm a total convert!





1. Edmark Red Yeast Coffee (20 sachets/box P355)





Savor and enjoy the rich taste of Red Yeast Coffee, made from imported premium coffee beans and red yeast rice. An excellent blend of coffee goodness that rejuvenates and revitalizes. This coffee aims to lower the blood cholesterol the natural way! This is my favorite coffee as of the moment. I'll share more details on my review :)





Feature: Edmark Philippines

Edmark Red Yeast Coffee





2. Edmark Splina Liquid Chlorophyll (500ml P1,015)





Chlorophyll is a pigment that gives plants its green color. It is crucial for plant's survival because it is the agent for photosynthesis. Photosynthesis occurs as plants take in sunlight and with that energy, chlorophyll changes to water and carbon dioxide obtained from the air into sugar. Why do we need chlorophyll? According to American Nutritionist Prof Ragnar Berg, it is beneficial in balancing the acid-akali level in our body. When you take Edmark Spina Liquid Chlorophyll, it will cleanse, balance, and nourish the body.





Feature: Edmark Philippines

Edmark Splina Liquid Chlorophyll





3. Edmark Spirulina (100 tablets P600)





Spirulina is edible, microscopic, blue-green algae whose cells from the shape of the spiral coil (thus, the name of spirulina which means "little spiral"). They harvest sunlight and transform it into living matter such as protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, fats and other life-giving nutrients. Spirulina is recognized safe and highly beneficial human food in over 70 countries. This food supplement has many benefits and two most known are to improve digestive system and for natural weight control.





Feature: Edmark Philippines

Edmark Spirulina





I'll make a separate review for each product that you see above. If you're already familiar with Edmark Philippines, I presume you have tried one of these. I'm not a medical expert, and my opinions here are based on my experience during the time I'm taking the products. I'll be sharing my thoughts on my next blog post.





Have you tried these products from Edmark Philippines?



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If you're planning to try one of the products above, kindly reach him through this number 0999-5377681





Good Times!~




Georgian Parliamentary Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze said that while constitutional monarchy has its serious advantages, restoring such a system of government in the country requires a broad analysis of the public opinion.

"Today we met with the patriarch [Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II] in relation to several matters, including his proposal concerning the restoration of constitutional monarchy," Kobakhidze told journalists.

He and the head of the parliamentary committee on legal affairs, Eka Beselia, visited the leader of the Georgian Orthodox Church on Monday.

The meeting focused on the content and purpose of this proposal, the speaker said. "For us, every word of the patriarch, his every exhortation has a special significance and, naturally, is a subject matter of serious discussion," Kobakhidze said.

Every system of government, including constitutional monarchy, has its advantages, he said. "And the patriarch believes that constitutional monarchy adds quiet to the system government, to the political system," Kobakhidze said.

The speaker has not ruled out a referendum on this matter.

"As for the restoration of monarchy, such a principled issue requires a broad survey of the public opinion. Only in this case can the relevant decision be made," Kobakhidze said.

The Georgian government has taken a similar stance.

"It is that issue which requires full national consent," Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Science Alexandre Jejelava said.

"Our position as government will be based on the will of the Georgian people," Jejelava said.

The idea of restoring monarchy in Georgia has its opponents too. In particular, Gigi Ugulava, one of the leaders of the opposition European Georgia party, says that, with the country facing many social and other problems, "assuming additional expenses for the upkeep of a royal family would be immoral."

"We need to solve our today's problems, and neither a tsar nor constitutional monarchy and nothing else, however you call it, will help," Ugulava told journalists commenting on the idea of restoring constitutional monarchy.

It was reported that during the Sunday prayer Ilia II recalled that a tsar had ruled Georgia, with God's grace. "In today's world, a tsar is often called a monarch, a tsar reins but does not rule. This is called constitutional monarchy and brings quiet to the country," Ilia II said.

This will not happen today and tomorrow, he said. "But we must analyze the past, the present day and the future,"," Ilia II said.

On November 3, 2013, the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta was the place of baptizing a two-year-old tsarevich Giorgi, a descendant of the ancient Bagrationi royal dynasty, which produced prominent Russian and Georgian statesmen and military figures.

At the time, businessman Levan Vasadze, one of the tsarevich's godfathers, told journalists: "Our people and our country first celebrated the restoration of statehood and then the restoration of autocephaly and now a solid foundation has been laid for the restoration of constitutional monarchy, with the blessing of our patriarch."

Tsarevich Giorgi was born in Madrid on September 27, 2011, and is the first son of representatives of the Georgian royal dynasty, Anna Bagration of Georgia and David Bagration of Mukhrani. The couple exchanged vows at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Tbilisi on February 8, 2009, the day of commemorating Tsar David Agmashenebeli.

According to Georgia's history chronicles, the Bagrationi dynasty dates back to the 6th century A. D.
The resolution of the Council of the EU dated June 19, which extends sanctions against Russia until June 23, 2018, in connection with the 'illegal annexation' of Crimea and Sevastopol, was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on Tuesday . According to the document, the resolution will take effect the day after it is published by the Official Journal of the European Union. This category of sanctions includes prohibitions on imports of products originating in Crimea or Sevastopol into the EU, investment in Crimea or Sevastopol, tourism services in Crimea or Sevastopol, and exports of certain goods and technologies to Crimean companies or for use in Crimea in the transport, telecommunications and energy sectors and related to the prospection, exploration and production of oil, gas and mineral resources.
Independent appraisers have assessed assets of public joint-stock company Platinum Bank (Kyiv) at UAH 2.33 billion, and their cost in accounting papers of the bank is UAH 8.307 billion. The payment of the guaranteed sum to depositors of the bank exceeded UAH 4.669 billion.

According to a posting on the website of the Individuals Deposit Guarantee Fund, the executive directorate of the fund approved the liquidation assets of the bank.

The fund said that credits issued to companies and individuals total 81.8% of the liquidation assets. In paper the cost of the credit portfolio is UAH 2.817 billion, while the independent appraisal showed UAH 174.06 million (94% less). It could be explained that almost 95.5% of the credit portfolio of companies are credits issued to affiliated companies. The debt on them is UAH 2.686 billion. The appraised cost of these credits is UAH 110.75 million or 4.1% of their balance sheet value.

As for the credit portfolio of individuals, as of April 1, 2017, the debt under credit agreements was UAH 3.978 billion, including 26.2% of the portfolio are credits issued to borrowers who are registered in the ATO zone and Crimea. Their appraised value is only 4.8% of their balance sheet value  UAH 984.66 million and UAH 46.93 million respectively.

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) by decision No. 95-RSh dated February 23 approved the fund's proposal to revoke the banking license and liquidate the bank.

The NBU board on January 10, 2017 declared Platinum Bank insolvent because as of January 1 the bank had not reached the positive value of capital.
KEARNEY  Kearney-based teen retailer the Buckle said Monday that its in-store payment systems had been compromised and that some customers card information may have been taken.

Buckle said some credit and debit cards used in stores between Oct. 28, 2016, and April 14, 2017, may have been compromised. The company said it does not believe data was collected from all transactions or all point-of-sale systems for each day within the time period.

We immediately launched a thorough investigation and engaged leading third-party forensic experts to review our systems and secure the affected part of our network, The Buckle said in a news release.

Through that investigation, it was found that the store payment systems were infected with malware, a form of malicious computer code, designed to record payment information  including account number, the account holders name and expiration date.

The news release said the Buckle doesnt think any Social Security numbers, email addresses or physical addresses were recorded. Theres also no evidence that buckle.com customers were affected.

All Buckle stores had chip card technology enabled during the time of the incident; however, its still possible that some credit cards were compromised.

The company said it is cooperating fully with card issuers and the investigation. Any affected individuals are likely to or already have been in contact with their issuing banks with additional instructions or replacement cards.

The company recommends that people who may have been affected monitor their card account statements closely and immediately notify their bank if they notice any unauthorized charges.

The Buckle also advised customers to protect themselves from possible identity theft by placing a fraud alert on their credit files to make it more difficult for someone to get credit in their name. The alert also may delay customers ability to obtain credit.

To do so, call one of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies: Equifax at 800-685-1111; Experian at 888-397-3742 or TransUnion at 888-909-8872.
LEXINGTON  A California man who was allegedly in a shootout with the Kansas State Patrol Monday evening was apprehended by Dawson County deputies this morning.

Dawson County Sheriff Gary Reiber said Richard Gathercole, 39, of San Jacinto, Calif., was booked into Dawson County Jail this morning on suspicion of possession of stolen property and possession of a stolen firearm.

One of Reibers deputies spotted a reportedly stolen green 2005 Ford pickup with Kansas license plates headed north on Highway 183 at about 12:40 a.m. The driver, Gathercole, then pulled into a gas station on the south side of Lexington.

Two of my officers ordered him to the ground at gunpoint and placed him under arrest, Reiber said.

Reiber said the deputies recovered two Ruger 9mm handguns and one Bersa .380 handgun from the vehicle. The allegedly stolen vehicle was taken into evidence.

Gathercoles identity was confirmed at the Dawson County Jail, Reiber said.

Reiber didnt know details about the shootout in Kansas. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation hadnt returned a phone call seeking more information this morrning.
KEARNEY  One of Kearneys longest-operating coffee shops has opened a second location.

Baristas Daily Grind opened its new shop Monday in south Kearney, according to a press release.

Were thrilled that Kearney has supported Baristas Daily Grind for so long, and not just because we make great coffee, but because we truly know what it means to be a born and raised, locally founded business in Kearney, co-owner Jasmin McGinnis said in the press release.

The owners of Baristas renovated a 1,200-square-foot space at 1502 Second Ave. for a second location. The former Exchange Bank is just west of the Buffalo County Courthouse and north of Pizza Hut.

We look forward to delighting our long-term customers with our new space ... and our consistently great customer service, while we also hope to meet many new faces who have yet to enjoy the Baristas experience, McGinnis said.

For more information about Baristas Daily Grind, visit http://baristasdailygrind.com.
Aaron Carter, the singer-rapper who began performing as a child and had hit albums starting in his teen years, was found dead at his home in Southern California. He was 34. Representatives for Carters family confirmed the singers death Saturday. They did not provide any immediate further comment. A sheriff's official says deputies responding to reports of a medical emergency found a person deceased at the home in Lancaster. Aaron Carter, the younger brother of Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys, performed as an opening act for Britney Spears as well as his brothers boy band, and appeared on the familys reality series, House of Carters.
LINCOLN  State Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha on Monday called for a grand jury probe into the Nebraska State Patrols differing versions of a fatal crash during a high-speed pursuit.

The senator also called for the firing of the patrols superintendent, Col. Brad Rice.

Chambers said it appears that some patrol officials lied about the cause of the Oct. 3 crash and that Rice supported them, despite warnings from an internal investigator and others within the patrol that the truth wasnt being told.

The veteran lawmaker, a frequent watchdog of law enforcement actions, said the matter has ruined the credibility of the State Patrol, which he called the flagship of Nebraskas law enforcement agencies.

Taylor Gage, a spokesman for Gov. Pete Ricketts, said Monday evening that Chambers comment was ridiculous. Rice was selected to lead the patrol by Ricketts.

This matter went to a grand jury, and the grand jury found the State Patrols actions were appropriate, Gage said.

The World-Herald reported Sunday on the death of Antoine LaDeaux, who died after a high-speed chase involving a state trooper. The chase began when LaDeaux ran a stop sign near Gordon, Nebraska, and then refused to pull over.

Immediately after the crash, the trooper, Tim Flick, said three times that he had performed a maneuver called a tactical vehicle intervention to bump the fleeing vehicle in an attempt to end the chase by forcing LaDeauxs vehicle to spin out.

On the troopers dashcam video, it appeared that Flicks cruiser swerved into the back corner of LaDeauxs vehicle, causing it to spin and then roll. LaDeaux, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the car and was killed immediately; three others in the vehicle, who were wearing seat belts, were treated for minor injuries.

Just a couple of hours after the crash, however, the story changed after Flick met with his commanding officer. Capt. Jamey Balthazor said Flick had told him that LaDeauxs car swerved into him, causing the fatal wreck, meaning that it was an accident, not a use of force case.

A Sheridan County grand jury was called to investigate the cause of the death, a review thats required under a law championed by Chambers to ensure an outside review when a person dies in custody or while being pursued by law enforcement.

The jury was presented conflicting stories by patrol officials: that it was an accident and that it was a use of force case involving use of the TVI.

Jurors, according to the grand jury transcript, expressed some confusion over the differing stories and how Flick initially stated that he had performed a TVI while driving 50 mph. Later, it was determined that his vehicle was traveling at about 67 mph.

But in the end, the grand jury ruled that LaDeauxs actions were the cause of the fatal accident.

Rice, in written responses to questions posed by The World-Herald, said its not unusual to have differing opinions about such incidents within an agency. In the end, he said, the system worked, and the grand jury exonerated Flick.

Rice also denied that there was any pressure on the internal investigator to declare the incident an accident rather than a TVI.

The now-retired head of the patrols internal affairs unit, Lt. Dennis Leonard, said he felt pressure from the top to create a false narrative and wrote in an email that he had lost faith in the patrols ability to investigate its own personnel.

Chambers, in an interview, said an independent review should be conducted into how and why the stories changed. He said he will request that a grand jury be convened in Lancaster County, where the patrol is headquartered.

Maybe the (presiding) judge will say no, but it will reveal how corrupt the system is from top to bottom ... and that its not accountable, the senator said.

After viewing the dashcam video of the incident on Monday, Chambers said, Now I am furious.

He did it, and he said he did it, the senator said of Flicks actions.

Chambers said several laws could have been broken, from providing false testimony to a grand jury to abuse of public records.
The last two weeks, Nebraska has received a lot of very exciting news from agriculture  our number one industry  that is helping grow our state and create new good-paying jobs.

Last week, the United States and China completed a protocol, reopening the Chinese market to American beef. This is big news for our state. Nebraska is the countrys top beef processor as well as beef exporter, and China is the second largest importer of beef in the world. Within 48 hours of the news that the market had reopened, the first shipment of beef from Nebraska to China since 2003 was being loaded. Access to the Chinese market allows Nebraska farmers and ranchers to sell our beef to 1.4 billion new customers.

We know Chinas growing middle class has an increasing appetite for quality beef. When the market closed in 2003, Chinese beef imports were $64 million, which has since grown to $2.5 billion in 2016. Overall, Nebraska exports 18 percent of the beef leaving the United States. If we captured the same market share in China, we would export $200 million to China annually. Additionally, our success right next door in Japan is another reason to push hard in China: Between 2015 and 2016, our beef exports to Japan jumped 36 percent.

Nebraska is known as the Beef State, but other commodities continue to help grow our state. This week, I helped break ground on a new chicken plant in Fremont that will provide chickens for Costco. This project will create 800 new jobs and have an estimated annual economic impact of $1.2 billion, which is about 1 percent of our states GDP. Projects like this are so important because they help provide Nebraskas ag producers with additional opportunities to grow their income. It also gives a new entry point for young Nebraskans seeking a career in agriculture.

Nebraska is seeing significant investments in agriculture biotechnology. Germany-based Evonik has announced a new $200 million investment in Blair where they plan to develop a manufacturing facility to produce omega-3 fatty acids for aquaculture. This comes right after the announcement of a $36 million expansion by Novozymes of their biofuels plant, which also is in Blair. This announcement follows a 2015 trade mission to Denmark during which I visited Novozymes headquarters to urge them to consider Nebraska for future expansions.

Other biofuels operations have experienced growth in the last year. Last week, I visited Beatrice to celebrate a $100 million investment in the Duonix biodiesel plant. In September, KAAPA Ethanol will complete a $40 million expansion of an ethanol plant they operate in Ravenna. Overall, Nebraskas 25 ethanol plants carry 2.2 billion gallons of capacity and employ 1,300 Nebraskans.

These are just a few of the big investments in Nebraskas number one industry that are helping to grow our state. While this is a lot of great news, we must continue to work together to grow agriculture. This fall, I will be leading a trade mission to Japan to promote our commodities and attract new investment to our state. Since our last trade mission in 2015, weve already seen a lot of success in the Japanese market from growing beef exports to a new $12.5 million investment from Kawasaki in Lincoln.

As we work together to grow agriculture and Nebraska, I hope to hear from you. If you have ideas to share, please consider contacting my office by emailing pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov or by calling 402-471-2244. We value your input!

Pete Ricketts is governor of Nebraska.
The introduction of the additional fee for aviation agencies for the use of the global distribution systems (GDS) by Ukraine International Airlines (UIA, Kyiv) is linked to the movement of the aviation market trends towards a low cost model, UIA President Yuriy Miroshnykov has told Interfax-Ukraine.

"Yes, we have really introduced the additional fee for the use of GDS. This is a well-known fact. I know about the letter and other publications of the Association of Air Agencies. I want to say that the aviation sector is changing quickly, trends are moving towards newest technologies, particularly to low cost transportation," he said.

He said that the market and passenger are waiting for the introduction of more low cost tariffs, and no other segment in the logistics chain of transportation by air can stay on the sidelines.

"Low cost transportation does not foresee the services of air agencies or minimize them. Why do the services of agencies cost much? They have additional elements of comfort, and one of them is the use of GDS. Comfort comes at the price. Now we have times when airlines provide for transportation from one destination to another, and the rest of the services  luggage, check in, food and booking  are additional services. One should get used to it," he said.

Miroshnykov said that UIA gives an alternative to passengers. They can buy tickets directly on the airline's website without paying the fee.

"We also give the alternative scheme to agencies. They can connect directly to the UIA's website," he said.
The speculation began within minutes of when President Trump, speaking in Waukesha and alluding to negotiations with an unspecified company, told Gov. Scott Walker he might get a very happy surprise very soon.

That surprise may well be Foxconn, a Taiwanese giant that assembles Apples iPhones and other electronics. No one will say for sure, but it has been widely reported that Foxconn is talking with Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. never comments on pending or potential opportunities  which is appropriate given how fragile and competitive such talks can be  so the potential surprise is still tightly wrapped inside a box awaiting a party that may never come.

This much is known, however. Foxconn is best known as one of Apples iPhone and iPad manufacturing partners. The company is likely to build a plant in the United States that would be used to build displays for everything from Internet of Things products to Apple devices.

As DigiTimes reported earlier this year, Foxconn would use a U.S. facility to manufacture small to medium displays for IoT applications, including automotive, medical care and mobile terminal displays. It could also be used to develop new screens for existing Apple products and televisions.

Foxconn CEO and Chairman Terry Gou said in January the company was planning to invest $7 billion in a U.S. facility, and company executive visited the White House a month or so ago.

Why would a company so large that entire cities have sprung up around its global factories have an interest in the United States and Wisconsin?

For starters, building a huge screen plant in the United States would fit well with Trumps push to create more domestic jobs. Trump has criticized foreign and domestic companies alike for not creating or keeping American manufacturing jobs, and he has threatened to increase tariffs on imports from countries that dont take heed.

The interest goes beyond politics, however. Foxconn would like to secure a larger share of American markets, particularly for products such as Sharp, a recently acquired subsidiary. Localizing screen production could help the company save on transport costs. The resulting publicity could also help sell more high-end Sharp-branded sets in the United States, the worlds second-biggest television market.

Those factors apply anywhere in the United States where Foxconn chooses to build. So, why Wisconsin?

The state has a manufacturing tradition that extends to electronic devices, equipment and components. In fact, electrical machinery of all types accounted for 9.4 percent of Wisconsin exports in the most recent year  about $2 billion in total. Power electronics and controls has been a Wisconsin specialty for a century or more.

Wisconsin is a state plugged into the Internet of Things through major companies such as GE Healthcare, Johnson Controls, Rockwell Automation and more. The Internet of Things is a term that describes using the internet to connect computing devices embedded in everyday objects, enabling them to send and receive data via WiFi, cellular connections or other networks. It includes anything from your Fitbit wristband to coffeemakers and garage openers you can control through a smartphone, to smart buildings, connected cars and much more. Wisconsin companies large and small have been increasingly good at figuring it out.

The state has the foundation to produce skilled workers through the Wisconsin Technical College System and the UW System. The Department of Computer Sciences at the UW-Madison is one of the leading academic departments in the country, usually ranking in the top 12. There are strong engineering colleges in Madison, Milwaukee, Menomonie and Platteville.

There are logical plant sites available and an infrastructure in place that would enable a company the size of Foxconn to deliver its products to market.

Other states are reportedly in the hunt, most notably Michigan, which has a similar footprint to Wisconsin. Some states may be able to dig deeper into their own pockets to provide cash incentives. That means the presidents surprise could fizzle like a candle on a birthday cake.

At the same time, there is reason to believe Wisconsin has what it takes to compete, if not for Foxconn the next major company.
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The Basmanny District Court in Moscow has extended the arrest of property of Lipetsk Factory Roshen until September 13, 2017, the corporation said on its website on Monday.

"The value of the seized property is in large excess over the amount of the allegedly caused damage, which is constantly repeated by the lawyers. Despite that fact, the judge Mrs. Lenska made no scruple to ignore the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation from June 1, 2017, No. 19. Lets see what the Moscow City Court will say to this when considering our appeal," CEO of Roshen Oleg Kazakov said.

As reported, the court in December 2016 arrested the assets of Lipetsk Factory  17 property facilities to secure the criminal case on the allegedly stolen 180 million Russian rubles from the Russian budget via the unlawful VAT refunds.
PrivatBank has signed a memorandum of cooperation in the mortgage crediting and house leasing area with the State Mortgage Institution (SMI). This would allow the bank to step up the introduction of affordable housing crediting programs, the bank has said in a press release.

Head of Consumer Crediting at PrivatBank Andriy Kovtun said that cooperation between the bank and the SMi allows introducing new modern housing programs for Ukrainians, first of all, military servicemen, thanks to advanced technologies used by the bank and opportunities of stimulating the affordable mortgage credits by the state.

The memorandum says that the bank can act as a primary mortgage creditor and issue long-term mortgage credits, as well as the authorized agent of the SMI. The SMI would help to attract financing on the internal and external capital markets via the issue of its securities, including additionally secured ones in the form of government guarantees and modern mortgage crediting and house leasing programs.

PrivatBank nationalized at the end of 2016 is the largest in the country. Its assets totaled UAH 237.252 billion as of April 1, 2017.
3K Shares Share

Dear Dr. Wible,

I lost my beautiful son Evan to suicide four weeks ago. He was a second year internal medicine resident  a very smart, loving and funny man! He left a lengthy letter and in it he stated, I do not want any attention drawn to this. I have been crying all day reading your book and blog and Ive seen the trailer of the film you all are making. I admire your work and if I can help one student, resident or doctor to seek help it will be worth ignoring his wishes.

You see Evan was always a really bright child. He was very caring and compassionate. I never saw any signs of depression. He did well in college, excelled on his MCAT and excitedly headed off to medical school. I am a nurse, and I tried to get him to choose another career! I told him how overworked and exhausted the doctors were. That they had to deal with patients, insurance, call, weekends, etc. He chose that path anyway and, of course, I was very proud.

In his letter, he wrote, I guess we all know that I chose the wrong field. I actually think it wouldve been a good fit for me a few decades ago, but I dont like what it is currently. Like every damn field in the world right now it appears that profit is the driving motive and things will continue to get worse as more profit is extracted. It is also not the career my mind was built for. Im better at deep knowledge of a narrow spectrum, not of the broad and somewhat shallow. This discontent was something I was never able to reconcile fully. I would work long hours, and in my spare time, I would fret about my situation. I felt I was too far behind to get where I needed to be. Now Im left with a job I can barely stand and a mountain of debt (which FYI should be absolved upon my death).

Our family, of course, is heartbroken, lonely, miserable and questioning what we could have done differently. He went on to mention that he first thought of suicide in med school and has thought about it almost weekly since that time. What hurts me the most is that I had NO idea that he was that miserable!!! Everyone says med school and residency is tough and we thought this was normal. Like I said at the first, he was very funny and made fun of himself. He did tell me a while back that he didnt like it. He said, I just wanted to be a scientist that helped people, and that is not at all what I do.

So my beautiful, loving son got in his truck, drove home to Texas and took his own life! In this tiny town, there were over 500 people at his memorial service! If he would have just reached out to anyone! Is there anything I can do to help? I have no idea how to fix our medical system, but this epidemic must be studied and stopped!

Evans loving mother,

Sheila Stevens

***

Sheila,

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about the suicide of your beautiful son, Evan. Such a terrible loss for us all! Please know that I am here for you 24/7 if you ever need me. Talking about your feelings and connecting with others is therapeutic for many who have been through suicide. I will connect you with a support group that I created for parents who have lost their children to suicide during medical training. Writing is healing too. Id be honored to celebrate your sons life on my blog so that we can help other medical students and doctors know that theres no shame in asking for help. You can even honor Evan on a tribute page in the forthcoming documentary film, Do No Harm (now ranked #1 of all 500 films on Kickstarter!). Ill call you in a moment. Thanks so much for your courage in reaching out and being willing (amid your grief) to help others.

Pamela Wible pioneered the community-designed ideal medical clinic and blogs at Ideal Medical Care. She is the author of Physician Suicide Letters  Answered and Pet Goats and Pap Smears. Watch her TEDx talk, How to Get Naked with Your Doctor. She hosts the physician retreat, Live Your Dream, to help her colleagues heal from grief and reclaim their lives and careers.

Image credit: Pamela Wible
Sea port authority signs contract with Belgium's Novadeal to carry out dredging works at Yuzhny port

Ukrainian Sea Port Authority has signed a contract with Novadeal Ltd, the subsidiary of DEME Group (Belgium), to implement a project on dredging works to reconstruct the maritime approach channel and inland water approaches to the deep-sea quays of Yuzhny seaport.

"We are glad to receive Belgium's Novadeal as a partner in development of Yuzhny port's infrastructure. This cooperation will be useful both for us as a company and the marine sector of Ukraine in general," Head of Ukrainian Sea Port Authority Raivis Veckagans said during the signing ceremony in the Belgian Embassy in Ukraine.

He said that the authority finishes the dredging program at the Yuzhny port for 2017 with this, third, contract.

Belgian Ambassador to Ukraine Luc Jacobs, Deputy Regional Director of DEME Group Jean-Pierre Desmanent, Head of the Yuzhny port administration Maksym Shyrokov and Deputy Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Vikor Donvan took part in the signing ceremony.

As reported, Novadeal won the tender in the ProZorro e-public procurement system offering the lowest price of UAH 96.28 million.
On Monday, June 19, the ministerial meeting of the Eastern Partnership (EaP) was held under the chairmanship of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice President Federica Mogherini, at which Ukraine was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Olena Zerkal, the press service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said.

The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the EU member states, the countries participating in the Eastern Partnership initiative and European Commissioner for Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn.

"The main topic of the meeting was preparation for the next EaP Summit in Brussels on November 24 this year, as well as goals and priorities for the functioning of the Initiative until 2020," the ministry's official Facebook page said.

The parties discussed improvement of the transport network of the EaP countries, increased investment in the energy efficiency sector, harmonization of roaming tariffs, provision of affordable loans in national currency to small and medium-sized enterprises and other issues.

Zerkal expressed gratitude to EU member states and institutions for their efforts to introduce a visa-free regime for Ukraine, which became a powerful incentive for a number of domestic reforms in Ukraine.

"The deputy minister also noted the need to implement the "more for much more" principle by introducing strengthened support tools to assist in the implementation of association agreements and the FTAs. She said that the doors of the European Union should remain open to countries seeking more integration with the EU, and this signal should be duly reflected in the declaration of the Eastern Partnership summit," the message says.

According to the report, the main priorities of Ukraine's preparation for the summit will be the deepening of trade and economic ties and simplifying lending for small and medium-sized enterprises, strengthening regional cooperation, and promoting human contacts, in particular by expanding the opportunities for supporting young people through relevant EU programs.
Mac Atkinson (right) will perform both his Senior Showcase and his solo senior recital in the Williamsburg Presbyterian. He will be accompanied by Rachel Lauren Fogle (left), pianist.

Photo courtesy Ernest Rawlins Photography
Gold prices will return to $1,200 in the second half of 2017, as markets embrace a more hawkish Fed amid an improved economic outlook, OCBC Bank said in a report. The bank also cautioned not to rule out geopolitical risks.

Optimism is likely to dominate the second half of the year, as many geopolitical threats didnt pan out or failed to have a significant impact on the market, wrote OCBCs economist Barnabas Gan.

Market-watchers have arguably realized that global economic resilience saw little fragmentation despite the Brexit vote, nor did the US see any clear signs of recessionary indicators post Donald Trumps election as president, neither did any of the missile tests by North Korea spark any immediate risk of military intervention, Gan said in the report. We look for gold to trend to $1,200/oz at year-end.

Global trade is looking to improve and the Fed is expressing readiness to tighten further, following its most recent rate hike.

Gold prices have trended lower post the recent hawkish FOMC rhetoric in its last FOMC meeting, Gan said. The central bank expects that ongoing strength... will warrant gradual increases in the federal funds rate, while planning to implement a balance sheet normalization program later this year.

The Feds dot-plot chart indicates a third rate hike later this year, which will put additional pressure on gold prices.

Given how gold prices reacted from the recent FOMC statement, the yellow metal is slated to fall further into 2H17 especially if US-centric data remains positive, thus fueling further expectations for further rate hike and balance sheet reduction later this year, Gan said in the report.

OCBC is not ruling out geopolitical tensions, noting that uncertainty is still in the air since it is unclear how a number of key events will play out.

In fact, golds 2017 rally was driven by the onset of risk aversion, led by geopolitical tensions and other growth uncertainties, explained Gan. In that light, although we remain bearish on gold prices, we admit that geopolitical tensions are still present to date, especially the ongoing North Korea missile provocations and Brexit negotiations.

As reiterated in our previous reports, these factors are highly significant to gold prices, but are also highly unquantifiable, given the many ways these scenarios may pan out, as well as the many differing severity it may take in the months ahead, Gan added.
The European Parliament's Committee on International Trade (INTA) has supported an increase in quotas for farm produce originating from Ukraine.

"The EU is set to offer further trade concession to Kyiv, according to a recent agreement with EU ministers," the EP said on its website on Tuesday.

The committee voted for an increase in quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products in general, but quotas for some groups of commodities will not grow by the amount originally proposed. In particular, the proposed increase in the quota for processed tomatoes was reduced from 5,000 to 3,000 tonnes per year, that for wheat was lowered from 100,000 to 35,000 tonnes, for corn from 650,000 to 625,000 tonnes, and for barley from 350,000 to 325,000 tonnes. The quota for urea will not increase.

This motion was supported by 29 INTA MEPs, eight voted against, one abstained.

The final decision on the issue of the quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products will be made at a July plenary session in Strasbourg.
LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Global central banks have shown less demand for Belgium's government debt this year because of elections elsewhere in the euro zone, the country's debt chief said on Tuesday.

Central banks, especially from emerging market countries, have tended to be big buyers of high-rated euro zone government debt like Belgium's which they see as a safe store of wealth. "Since last November, early this year we've seen them (central banks) less in the market because of uncertainty in the Netherlands, France etc," Anne Leclercq, the head of Belgium's debt agency said at a Euromoney conference in London.

"I got the impression, they had all held back, so it's more really a reason to do with politics rather than the level of rates."

She added that secondary market liquidity had also dropped, as an unintended consequence of the European Central Bank's 2 trillion euro ($2.23 trillion) bond buying scheme. ($1 = 0.8975 euros)

(Reporting by John Geddie and Dhara Ranasinghe; editing by Marc Jones)
* Can avoid VAT on concentrate imports if processed metal exported

* Yunnan Tin says "lots of preparation" before starting shipments

* China has not been major tin exporter for nearly a decade

By Muyu Xu and Melanie Burton

BEIJING/MELBOURNE, June 20 (Reuters) - China's Yunnan Tin Co Ltd , the world's biggest tin producer, says it has received government approval for so-called "processing trade", churning out refined metal for export using concentrate shipped in from abroad.

That could provide a further boost to Chinese tin exports that have already been climbing this year, buttressing dwindling stocks abroad and dampening global prices .

"We don't have a clear timeframe for (such) tin exports ... as there is lots of preparation work to do. We are in talks with the Ministry of Commerce and customs to go through the process," Yunnan Tin Co (YTC) official Yue Min told Reuters, without giving further details.

The agreement means that YTC will be able to skip the 17-percent value-added tax (VAT) on refined metal exports that it has produced from imported concentrate, said tin industry body ITRI.

The Chinese government did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.

The step comes after China, the world's biggest user and producer of tin, early this year scrapped 10-percent duty on all exports of refined tin, ending a policy that had crimped export volumes since it was introduced in 2008. YTC is by far the world's biggest producer of refined tin, with some 76,000 tonnes of output last year, around three times the amount of No.2 producer, Malaysia Smelting Corp, according to data from ITRI.

YTC's approval could indicate that other tin producers may also get the green light for processing trade, although that was unlikely to happen in the near term, market participants said.

"I think a lot of that concern about tightening supply outside of China has been relieved with this new potential for increased Chinese exports," said Tom Mulqueen of ITRI in London.

"We are likely to see more significant exports than we've seen so far this year and last year."

China's tin exports have more than doubled so far in 2017, though still remain at modest levels of around 200 tonnes. That compares with 735 tonnes for 2016 and more than 23,000 tonnes in 2007. Although China has its own reserves, it has imported much more concentrate from Myanmar in recent years.

London Metal Exchange tin stocks have sunk below 2,000 tonnes to the least since 1998, while benchmark LME tin prices have fallen more than 7 percent so far this year, making it the second worst performing base metal after nickel.

Traders noted that international demand for tin would need to heat up further for LME prices to attract metal out of China. Shanghai Futures Exchange tin at 144,440 yuan ($21,195) a tonne is still more expensive than LME tin at $19,640. ($1 = 6.8148 Chinese yuan renminbi)

<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ GRAPHIC: China expected to boost tin exports GRAPHIC: China tin exports, imports ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Muyu Xu and Melanie Burton; Editing by Joseph Radford)
(Corrects paragraph 9 to show 222 Chinese shares added at 0.73 percent, not 169 at 0.5 percent)

By Dion Rabouin

NEW YORK, June 20 (Reuters) - U.S. index provider MSCI said on Tuesday it will add mainland Chinese stocks to one of its key benchmarks, in a landmark decision for the global investment landscape and the Chinese government.

MSCI decided not to add Argentina to the benchmark index and will consult on adding Saudi Arabia. Nigeria will remain a frontier market, awaiting further review.

The full inclusion of domestic Chinese stocks in the widely Tracked MSCI Emerging Markets Index could pull more than $400 billion of funds from asset managers, pension funds and insurers into mainland China's equity markets over the next decade, according to analysts.

MSCI's decision to give so-called Chinese "A" share the green light - after having rejected them for three years - represents a symbolic victory for the Chinese government, which has been working steadily over the past few years to open up its capital markets.

"This decision has broad support from international institutional investors with whom MSCI consulted, primarily as a result of the positive impact on the accessibility of the China A market of both the Stock Connect program and the loosening by the local Chinese stock exchanges of pre-approval requirements that can restrict the creation of index-linked investment vehicles globally," MSCI said in a statement.

The company has been in discussions with Chinese regulators and global investors for nearly four years on whether to add yuan-denominated shares listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen to the benchmark. It had left them out because of concerns over restricted access to China's equity markets.

In March, however, MSCI moved to relax its investment criteria by cutting the number of stocks to 169 from 448 in a bid to address curbs on repatriating capital from China and concerns over the country's high number of suspended stocks.

The revised proposal helped address these issues because the 169 stocks can be easily accessed by foreigners through the "Stock Connect" link launched in 2014 and significantly expanded in December.

MSCI said it planned to add 222 stocks - which will have an initial weighting in the index of just 0.73 percent - and will begin a review of the "A" shares and include them in provisional indexes beginning in August.

"The initial impact on the composition of regional and global indices will be extremely modest," said Nick Beecroft, portfolio specialist of Asian equity at T. Rowe Price in Hong Kong. "However, over the long term, assuming further liberalization and regulatory reform of the mainland stock markets, the depth of China's A-share market could mean China gains substantial weight within those broader indices."

Argentina's delay on reclassification to the emerging markets index came as a surprise to investors. The country's shares will remain in the smaller frontier markets index, where it has been since being reclassified from the emerging index in 2009.

"While Argentina was not reclassified as an Emerging Market this year, we believe the country has made significant improvements in opening the country to foreign investments," said Jay Jacobs, director of research at Global X Funds. "Argentina has long met the threshold as an emerging market based on levels of economic development, but historically has closed itself off from global capital markets."

Saudi Arabia in April moved to a more favorable settlement cycle for institutional investors, which had been identified as the last major impediment for official watch-list inclusion.

If it were added to the emerging markets index in 2018, Acadian Asset Management estimates the country could end up with a 2 percent to 3 percent weighting or up to 5 percent if it moves forward with plans to float state oil giant Saudi Aramco. Nigeria's shares will remain in the frontier index until at least November 2017, when MSCI will again address the country's access to markets.

(Reporting by Dion Rabouin and Richard Leong in New York, Additional reporting by Michelle Price in Hong Kong; Editing by Dan Grebler)
SAO PAULO, June 20 (Reuters) - Latin American currencies and stocks dropped on Tuesday as falling prices of commodities from crude oil to iron ore curbed demand for assets from exporters of basic products.

News of increased supply by several key oil producers hammered crude futures to a seven-month low, extending a trend that has undermined attempts by OPEC and others to support prices by cutting output. Currencies of oil exporters led the declines in Latin American foreign exchange markets, with the Colombian peso slipping 2.2 percent to its weakest in a year. The Mexican peso was down 0.9 percent.

Shares of oil companies tumbled, weighing on stock markets in the region. Losses in shares of Brazilian state-controlled Petroleo Brasileiro SA subtracted the most points from Brazil's benchmark Bovespa stock index , while shares of Colombia's Ecopetrol dropped nearly 3 percent.

Brazilian miner Vale SA also fell as concerns over Chinese demand for steel and global oversupply dragged iron ore futures lower. Key Latin American stock indexes and currencies at 1535 GMT: Stock indexes daily % YTD %

change change

Latest MSCI Emerging Markets 1008.15 -0.47 17.47 MSCI LatAm 2509.16 -1.31 8.62

Brazil Bovespa 61560.23 -0.73 2.21

Mexico IPC 48991.98 -0.36 7.34

Chile IPSA 4808.32 -0.33 15.82

Chile IGPA 24080.94 -0.31 16.14

Argentina MerVal 21657.19 1.71 28.01

Colombia IGBC 10871.30 -0.3 7.34

Venezuela IBC 118237.12 -0.56 272.93

Currencies daily % YTD %

change change

Latest Brazil real 3.3122 -0.84 -1.90

Mexico peso 18.1250 -0.91 14.45

Chile peso 665.2 -0.56 0.83

Colombia peso 3041.41 -2.17 -1.31 Peru sol 3.276 -0.31 4.21

Argentina peso (interbank) 16.1350 -0.53 -1.61 Argentina peso (parallel) 16.59 -0.36 1.39 (Reporting by Bruno Federowski; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)
LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Portugal, Ireland and Italy are all looking at the possibility of following France by issuing sustainable debt, the heads of their respective debt agencies said on Tuesday.

France this year became the second sovereign after Poland to sell so-called "green bonds", where the proceeds are used to finance projects to address climate change.

Portugal's debt agency chief Cristina Casalinho told an audience at a Euromoney conference in London: "We've always been trying to diversify our investor base. We are considering green bonds, responsible bonds."

Ireland's head of funding Frank O'Connor added that green bonds could also be an option, alongside potentially issuing in U.S. dollars to broaden its investor base.

"The issue we may find in Ireland is sufficient projects that could qualify (for green investment) ... but we keep an open mind," said O'Connor.

Italy's debt chief Maria Cannata added that while she had no firm plans and was concerned about the reporting requirements of issuing sustainable debt, the Italian Treasury was "investigating all the aspects" of the new asset class.

(Reporting by John Geddie and Dhara Ranasinghe)
By Nathan Layne and Julia Edwards Ainsley | NEW YORK

Federal investigators probing the lobbying work of ousted national security adviser Michael Flynn are focused in part on the role of Bijan Kian, Flynns former business partner, according to a person interviewed by the FBI.

Investigators are also looking at whether payments from foreign clients to Flynn and his company, the now-inactive Flynn Intel Group, were lawful, according to two separate sources with knowledge of the broad inquiry into Flynn's business activities. That includes payments by three Russian companies and a Netherlands-based company, Inovo, controlled by Turkish businessman Ekim Alptekin, they said.

The FBI's interest in Kian has not been previously reported. Kian played a central role in securing and overseeing the Inovo contract, two people with knowledge of that project said.

It is not clear whether Kian is a target of the criminal investigation or whether investigators are trying to build a fuller understanding of how Flynn's company operated.

A person recently interviewed by the FBI in connection with the Flynn investigation said agents from the bureau's criminal division had asked as much about Kian and his work on the project with Alptekin as they had about Flynn.

Kian did not respond to repeated requests for comment, nor did the lawyer he recently hired, Robert Trout. The FBI declined to comment.

Flynn's lawyer, Robert Kelner, did not respond to requests for comment. Alptekin declined to comment for this story but last month told Reuters that he was satisfied with the work done by Flynn Intel Group and denied any wrongdoing.

The FBI has been investigating whether Flynn's consulting firm lobbied on behalf of Turkey - after being paid $530,000 by Inovo - without making the proper disclosure, Reuters reported earlier this month.

The federal investigation is being run by special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller has a mandate to investigate contacts between Russia and Trump's 2016 election campaign team and any related matters. Flynn was fired by the Trump administration in February after officials said he mischaracterized a series of phone calls with Russias ambassador last December.

The top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which has separately been looking into whether Flynn made false statements in applying for security clearance, said he was also scrutinizing Kian.

"I have an interest in Bijan Kian and his interactions with General Flynn based on specific documents already obtained by the Committee, Elijah Cummings told Reuters in an email.

Kelner has sought immunity for Flynn in exchange for his testimony, saying his client "certainly has a story to tell."

FAILED COUP OPENS A DOOR

In private conversations with potential clients, Kian portrayed himself as a rainmaker for Flynn, tapping into connections cultivated during a five-year tenure as a director at the U.S. Export-Import Bank, according to one person who worked with the firm.

Alptekin told Reuters in May that his firm hired Flynn Intel Group to research Gulen's activities in the United States, which he suspected were "poisoning" relations between the United States and Turkey. Like Turkey President Tayyip Erdogan, Alptekin blamed the coup on followers of Gulen.

Gulen has denied any role in the coup and dismisses Turkeys allegations that he heads a terrorist organization.

Kian oversaw key elements of the project that emerged, including a still-unfinished documentary on Gulen, according to two people involved in the project.

Inovo paid Flynn Intel Group a total of $530,000, starting in September, according to a Justice Department filing by the company in March. Flynn Intel Group paid $80,000 to Inovo in "consultancy fees," according to the filing, which does not provide more detail on why payments were made in both directions.

On Sept. 19, Kian and Flynn met in New York with Turkey's foreign minister and energy minister, who is Erdogan's son-in-law, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting.

In late October Kian invited staff of the House Homeland Security Committee to Flynn Intel Group's headquarters in Virginia. The meeting was called to show off new mobile phone security technology, but Kian also used the opportunity to try to get a congressional hearing on Gulen, according to a person at the meeting.

At that point, the Flynn Intel Group had only disclosed its work for Alptekin's Inovo in a filing with Congress. It had not mentioned Inovos ties to Turkey.

When Justice Department officials became aware months later that Kian and other Flynn Intel Group officials had met with Turkish officials they insisted on a fuller disclosure, people involved in those discussions said.

The Flynn Intel Group made the more detailed disclosure in its March filing with the Justice Department under the Foreign Agents Registration Act that said the work that Flynn and Kian did for Inovo could be construed to have principally benefited the Republic of Turkey.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Additional reporting by John Walcott, Julia Harte and Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Kevin Krolicki and Ross Colvin)
(Updates to close)

June 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended lower on Tuesday, pressured by losses in financials and real estate stocks as investors worried about their outlooks.

The S&P/ASX 200 index declined 0.8 percent, or 47.87 points to finish the session at 5,757.30.

Australia's real estate investment trusts (REITs) face a combination of severe cyclical consumer slowdown and structural pressure from e-commerce, which is affecting retail margins and reducing demand for physical space, Morgan Stanley in a note.

Financial stocks also weighed on the index with the "big four" banks ending between 0.7 and 1.9 percent lower.

Moody's Investors Service on Monday downgraded the long-term credit ratings for those lenders to Aa3 from Aa2, saying it sees elevated risks in the housing sector. Bucking the trend, consumer discretionary stocks ended higher with gaming company Tatts Group Ltd closing 3.6 percent higher.

An Australian regulator cleared Tabcorp Holdings Ltd's proposed takeover of Tatts Group Ltd for A$6.15 billion ($4.67 billion) New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.1 percent lower, snapping five sessions of gains, after hitting an intra-day record high earlier in the day.

Telecommunications and healthcare stocks led the losses in the index. Telecommunications and digital services provider Spark New Zealand Ltd fell 1.3 percent while Ryman Healthcare Ltd declined 1.4 percent.

Air New Zealand Ltd was among the top gainers on the benchmark, ending up 1.9 percent to its highest close in nearly 16 years.

The airline said its passenger numbers had grown in May and that a decline in a key revenue measure had moderated. (Reporting by Sindhu Chandrasekaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
June 20 (Reuters) - Hong Kong stocks fell on Tuesday as excitement over the city's plans for a new listing board for "new economy" companies waned, and investors shifted their attention to economic fundamentals.

The Hang Seng index fell 0.3 percent, to 25,843.04, while the China Enterprises Index lost 0.5 percent, to 10,468.48 points.

Sector performance was mixed. Raw material stocks rose but property shares were down.

Shares of Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd were little changed, as the ports-to-telecoms group brushed off talk of an imminent retirement for Chairman Li Ka-shing, saying on Tuesday that the tycoon was in "very good health". (Reporting by the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
Jun 20 (Reuters) - Below are the ratings awarded by Investment Information Credit Rating Agency Ltd. (ICRA) for local debt instruments as of June 19, 2017.

COMPANY INSTRUMENT RATING AMOUNT MOVEMENT

(RS.MLN) ------ ---------- ------ ----- --------- SHORT TERM RATINGS: ------------------- Aarey Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Non FBL ICRA A4 150 Reaffirmed Ltd Kemco Corporation ST- Non Fund based ICRA A4+ 240 upgraded

from ICRA A4 Kemco Corporation ST interchangeable ICRA A4+ upgraded

from ICRA A4 Mosaic India Pvt Ltd ST, fund based Bk ICRA A1+ 6900 Reaffirmed

Fac(Incl. Unallocated

Limits of Rs. 115 crore) Mosaic India Pvt Ltd CP ICRA A1+ 2000 Reaffirmed Myk Spinning Industries Pvt Ltd ST: Non-FB Fac ICRA A3 45 Reaffirmed Parasakti Cement Industries Ltd ST: Non-FB Fac ICRA A2+ 365 Upgradedfrom

ICRA A2 Parasakti Cement Industries Ltd ST: Non-FB Fac ICRA A2+ Upgradedfrom

(sub-limits) ICRA A2 Prasad Corporation Pvt Ltd ST- Fund based ICRA A4 40 Assigned Prasad Corporation Pvt Ltd ST- Non Fund based ICRA A4 30 Assigned Prasad Corporation Pvt Ltd ST- Interchangeble ICRA A4 Assigned Regency Ispat Pvt Ltd ST non fund based ICRA A3 Reaffirmed Unitech Cotspin Ltd Non Fund based BG ICRA A4 15 Reaffirmed LONG TERM RATINGS: ------------------- Aai Krupa Cotton Industries LT, Fund based -TL ICRA D 17 Downgraded

from ICRA B Aai Krupa Cotton Industries LT, Fund based -CC ICRA D 50 Downgraded

from ICRA B Aarey Drugs & Pharmaceuticals FBL - Cash Credit ICRA BB- 300 Reaffirmed Ltd Aasu Exim Pvt Ltd Bk loans ICRA B+/ 60 Assigned

ICRA A4 Abhishek Automotives Pvt Ltd BLR ICRA B 100 - Accord Motors BLR ICRA BB- 100 - Aditya Constructions Unallocated Limit ICRA B 100 Reaffirmed

/ICRA A4 Anandalok Hospital FBL ICRA D 121 Downgraded

from ICRA BB Anandalok Hospital Non FB limits ICRA D 4 Downgraded

from ICRA BB Aryan Construction LT FB CC ICRA BB- 40 Reaffirmed Aryan Construction LT Non-fund Based BG ICRA BB- 160 Reaffirmed Bidar City Municipal Council Issuer Rating IrBBB- Assigned Electropath Services (India) Bk Loan Rating ICRA B+ / A4 500 - Pvt Ltd Kemco Corporation LT- Fund Based ICRA BB 110 upgraded

from ICRA BB Kemco Corporation LT and ST unallocated ICRA BB/ 100 Upgraded

limits ICRA A4+ from ICRA

BB-/ ICRA A4 Ma Sarada Cold Storage Pvt Ltd FB -TL ICRA D 40.1 Reaffirmed Ma Sarada Cold Storage Pvt Ltd FB -Working Capital ICRA D 8 Reaffirmed Ma Sarada Cold Storage Pvt Ltd FB -Seasonal CC ICRA D 7.5 Reaffirmed Myk Spinning Industries Pvt Ltd LT: TL ICRA BBB- 53.8 Reaffirmed Myk Spinning Industries Pvt Ltd LT: FB Fac (CC) ICRA BBB- 80 Reaffirmed Myk Spinning Industries Pvt Ltd LT: Fund based ICRA BBB- 125.3 Reaffirmed

-Unallocated Orange Renewable Power Pvt. Rupee TL ICRA A- 75 upgraded Ltd. from ICRA

BBB+ Orange Renewable Power Pvt. CC ICRA A- 41.1 Assigned Ltd. Orange Renewable Power Pvt. Unallocated ICRA A- 58.9 upgraded Ltd. from ICRA

BBB+ Parasakti Cement Industries Ltd LT: FB Fac (CC) ICRA BBB+ 500 Upgradedfrom

ICRA BBB Parasakti Cement Industries Ltd LT: Fundbased Fac ICRA BBB+ Upgradedfrom

(sub-limits) ICRA BBB Parasakti Cement Industries Ltd LT: Fund based ICRA BBB+ 117 Upgradedfrom

-Unallocated ICRA BBB Prasad Corporation Pvt Ltd LT- Fund Based ICRA BB 80 Assigned Raichur City Municipal Council Issuer Rating IrBBB- - Assigned Regency Ispat Pvt Ltd LT FBL ICRA BBB 150 Reaffirmed Sn Nirman Infra Projects Pvt TL ICRA D 60 Withdrawn Ltd Sn Nirman Infra Projects Pvt Unallocated ICRA D 372.1 Withdrawn Ltd Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd NCD Programme ICRA BBB 250 Assigned Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd NCD Programme ICRA BBB 3960 Outstanding Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd Fund based Bk lines ICRA BBB 5000 Outstanding Sonata Finance Pvt Ltd Subordinated Debt ICRA BBB 150 Outstanding

Programme Sri Ramalingeswara Modern Rice CC ICRA BB+ 600 Reaffirmed Mill Sri Ramalingeswara Modern Rice TL ICRA BB+ 114 Reaffirmed Mill Sri Ramalingeswara Modern Rice Unallocated Limits ICRA BB+ 16 Reaffirmed Mill Sri Venkateswara Aqua Culture CC ICRA B+ 120 Reaffirmed Sri Venkateswara Fertilisers CC ICRA B 150 Reaffirmed Pvt Ltd Sri Venkateswara Fertilisers TL ICRA B 119.5 Reaffirmed Pvt Ltd Sri Venkateswara Fertilisers BG ICRA B 2 Reaffirmed Pvt Ltd Sri Venkateswara Fertilisers Unallocated Limits ICRA B/ICRA 58.5 Reaffirmed Pvt Ltd A4 Supreme Infra Products Supreme Infra ICRA B 150 Assigned

Proptionally

convertible debentureucts Tracks And Towers Infratech LT FBL ICRA A- 390 Upgraded Pvt Ltd from ICRA

BBB+ Tracks And Towers Infratech LT non-FBL ICRA A- 2080 Upgraded Pvt Ltd from ICRA

BBB+ Tracks And Towers Infratech LT unallocated limits ICRA A- 1030 Upgraded Pvt Ltd from ICRA

BBB+ Tril Amritsar Pvt Ltd NCD Provisional 1250 Assigned

ICRA A(SO) Unitech Cotspin Ltd Fund Based - CC ICRA B 60 Reaffirmed Unitech Cotspin Ltd Fund Based - TL ICRA B 243.2 Reaffirmed Veeraj Construction Bk Loan Rating ICRA B / A4 100 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- $: Rating watch with positive implication #: Rating Watch with Developing implications @: Rating Watch with Negative Implications %: Rating under Credit Watch wd -Rating Stands Withdrawn sp -Rating Suspended pp -Principal Protected pn -Principal Not Protected ICRA may apply + or - signs for ratings to reflect a comparative standing within the category. BG-Bank Guarantee; CC-Cash Credit; CCPS-Cumulative Convertible Preference Share; CD-Certificate of Deposit; CLO-Collateralized Loan Obligation; CPA-Claims Paying Ability; CP-Commercial Paper; CPS-convertible preference shares; CRPS- Cumulative Redeemable Convertible Preference shares; DDB-Deep Discount Bond; EPBI-Exchange premium bond; FBL-Fund Based Limits; FRB/FRN -Floating Rate Bond/Note; ICD -Inter Corporate Deposit; ITD-Immediate Term Debt; LOC-Letter of Credit; LT -Long Term; LTB -Long Term Borrowing; LTD -Long Term Debt; MOCD-multiple option convertible debenture; MTD -Medium term Debenture; MTN-medium term notes; NCD(SO) - Non-Convertible Debenture-(Structured Obligation); NCD-Non-convertible Debentures; NCRB-Non Convertible Redeemable Bonds; NM-Not Meaningful; OCD-optionally convertible debenture; OD-Over Draft; OFCD-Optionally Fully Convertible Debenture; PCD-Partially Convertible Debenture; PCN-partly convertible notes; PCPS-Partly Convertible Preference Share; POCD-partly optional; PP-privately placed; PSPC-Post Shipment & Packing Credit; PS-Preference Shares; PTC-Pass Through Certificates; RPS-Redeemable Preference Shares; SCPN-secured convertible preference notes; SDO-Structured Debt Obligation; SLR-Statutory Liquidity Ratio; SO-Structured Obligation; SPCD - Secured Partly Convertible Debentures; SPN-secured premium notes; STB-Short Term Bond; STD-Short Term Debentures; ST-Short Term; Sub. Bonds-Subordinate Bonds; TB-Taxable Bond; TFB-Tax Free Bond; TL-Term Loan; TOCD-triple option convertible debentures. (Mumbai Rate Reporting Unit + 91 22 6180 7222 / 3317 7222 , E-mail at rru.data@thomsonreuters.com)

Keywords: INDIA RATINGS/
* LME/ShFE arb: (Updates with official prices)

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Zinc prices gained for a fifth straight session on Tuesday, hitting the highest in over two weeks as investors bet that supplies were tightening.

A steady drumbeat of news has encouraged bulls recently, including news of a market deficit, an expected strike in major producer Peru and declining inventories.

Aluminium and nickel have also been lifted by news that could mean lower supplies of metal.

"You've got some news with a bullish tone, so that's supporting the market, but I don't know how sustainable all this will be," said Gianclaudio Torlizzi, Partner at consultancy T-Commodity in Milan.

"We have a small long, but we're not married to this position because the general outlook is still not really bullish. Monetary tightening in China is still taking place."

* ZINC: Benchmark zinc on the London Metal Exchange was bid up 0.6 percent at $2,571 a tonne, having failed to trade in official open outcry trading, after touching $2,581.50, the highest since June 1.

"The underperformance of LME zinc in 2Q'17 appears poised to reverse as nascent fundamentals finally buttress modest support," Citi analyst Nell Agate said in a note.

A planned nation-wide mining strike in Peru due to start on July 9 could halt production of about 10,000 tonnes of zinc in concentrate from the Antamina mine, Agate added. * NICKEL: LME nickel traded 0.2 percent firmer at $9,025 a tonne in official rings. About a dozen newly constructed nickel smelters in Indonesia have stopped operations due to a plunge in nickel prices, while others are operating at a loss, an industry association executive said on Monday. In the short term, nickel has the most upside potential because it has lagged the other LME metals recently, Torlizzi said.

* ALUMINIUM: LME aluminium added 0.7 percent to $1,899 a tonne in official trading on continued concern about a crackdown by the Chinese government on illegal and polluting smelters.

Data released on Tuesday, however, showed that overall aluminium output rose slightly last month both in top producer China and in the rest of the world. * TIN: LME tin rose 0.4 percent to $19,650 a tonne despite news that China's Yunnan Tin Co Ltd the world's biggest tin producer, says it has received government approval for so-called "processing trade", churning out refined metal for export using concentrate shipped in from abroad. * PRICES: LME copper fell 0.5 percent to $5,698.50 a tonne in official rings and lead added 0.5 percent to $2,140 a tonne.

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS LME/ShFE arb ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne, editing by Louise Heavens and Pritha Sarkar)
A concept of legislation on reintegration of the territories in Donbas that are currently not controlled by Kyiv is being discussed now, and the text of the document is not ready yet, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy said.

"The text doesn't exist yet. The concept as such is being discussed now. And this is the right approach - to determine the main points at the initial stage to be agreed upon on the whole," Parubiy told journalists on Monday evening.

The concept was presented by Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov, he said.

Among the points being discussed are the change of status, the recognition of the uncontrolled territories as formally occupied territories, and, "what is the most important, the determination of legal preconditions for conducting military actions and military operations, so that this legislation should give this legal right to the commander-in-chief and the National Security and Defense Council," he said.
* LME/ShFE arb: (Recasts, updates prices)

By Eric Onstad

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Zinc prices retreated on Tuesday after hitting their highest in over two weeks as investors sought to balance concerns about tightening supplies with uncertainty over Chinese demand.

A steady stream of news has encouraged the bulls recently, including news of a market deficit, an expected strike in major producer Peru and declining inventories.

But monetary tightening in China has stoked worries about the appetite for industrial metals in its biggest market.

"You've got some news with a bullish tone, so that's supporting the market, but I don't know how sustainable all this will be," said Gianclaudio Torlizzi, Partner at consultancy T-Commodity in Milan in the morning when zinc was firmer.

"We have a small long, but we're not married to this position because the general outlook is still not really bullish. Monetary tightening in China is still taking place."

* ZINC: Benchmark zinc on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.4 percent at $2,547 a tonne at 1411 GMT, retreating from an intraday peak of $2,581.50, the highest since June 1.

"Potential weakness of zinc prices in the upcoming months may stem from tepid demand for galvanized steel which should send galvanizers' utilization rates lower," Citi analyst Nell Agate said in a note.

The biggest use for zinc is for galvanizing steel.

* NICKEL: LME nickel shed 0.6 percent to $8,955 a tonne. Prices got a fillip on Monday from news that about a dozen newly constructed nickel smelters in Indonesia have stopped operations due to a plunge in prices. * ALUMINIUM: LME aluminium added 0.2 percent to $1,890 a tonne on continued concern about a crackdown by the Chinese government on illegal and polluting smelters.

Data released on Tuesday, however, showed that overall aluminium output rose slightly last month both in top producer China and in the rest of the world. * TIN: LME tin added 0.1 percent at $19,585 a tonne as the market digested news that China's Yunnan Tin Co Ltd the world's biggest tin producer, said it had received government approval for so-called "processing trade", churning out refined metal for export using concentrate shipped in from abroad. * PRICES: LME copper fell 1.1 percent to $5,660 a tonne and lead gave up 0.5 percent to $2,119 a tonne.

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click or <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Top Base and Precious Metals Analysis - GFMS LME/ShFE arb ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Additional reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne, editing by Pritha Sarkar and David Evans)
* Saudi opens higher, then gives up gains in thin trade

* Fundamentals could curb any post-MSCI rally

* Tabreed's rise slows, Dana Gas pulls back in UAE

* Qatar posts lowest close since diplomatic crisis started

* Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media plunges as it goes ex-dividend

By Andrew Torchia

DUBAI, June 20 (Reuters) - Gulf stock markets were weighed down by weak oil prices on Tuesday as Saudi Arabia pulled back despite hopes for positive news from index compiler MSCI, while Qatar closed at its lowest level since it was hit by a diplomatic crisis early this month.

MSCI was due after the close on Tuesday to announce whether it will launch a review of Saudi Arabia for possible inclusion in its emerging market index; inclusion would bring tens of billions of dollars of fresh foreign money.

The Saudi index surged 2.4 percent on Monday after Mohammed El-Kuwaiz, vice chairman of the Capital Market Authority, was quoted as saying by the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper that he expected inclusion by the end of 2018.

On Tuesday, the index rose as much as 0.6 percent early on but closed 1.3 percent lower in thin trade. The three top losers were banks which had surged in the past week because of a belief that foreign funds would flow into them in the event of a positive MSCI decision.

Saudi British Bank , for example, pulled back 4.7 percent to 24.30 riyals after jumping 14 percent in the past four days.

Petrochemical blue chip Saudi Basic Industries , which would be a key Saudi component of MSCI's emerging market index if the upgrade happens, fell 0.8 percent.

Though fund managers agree MSCI inclusion would be bullish for the Saudi market, many think fundamentals are not very attractive at present, with valuations significantly above those of the MSCI emerging market average, and Saudi Arabia's introduction of a sales tax looming next year. So the market may have little room to rally in coming months.

Dubai's index fell 0.2 percent as builder Drake & Scull , the most heavily traded stock, slid 3.0 percent after saying it had obtained regulatory approval to start a capital restructuring after heavy losses.

National Central Cooling Co (Tabreed) rose 3.8 percent to 2.20 dirhams but came far off the day's high of 2.37 dirhams. It soared its 15 percent daily limit on Monday, when France's Engie said it had agreed to buy 40 percent of Tabreed for 2.8 billion dirhams ($763 million) from Mubadala.

Abu Dhabi's index dropped 0.8 percent as Dana Gas pulled back 4.4 percent. It had gained 66 percent this month on what some brokers said was buying by a strategic investor; late on Monday Goldilocks Investment Co, part of Abu Dhabi Financial Group, said it had bought 5 percent of the firm.

Qatar's index slipped 1.5 percent to 8,934 points, its lowest finish since January 2016. It remains depressed by economic sanctions against Doha announced by Saudi Arabia and other Arab states on June 5, and has now lost 10 percent since then.

Some investors have been hoping for a diplomatic resolution but a top United Arab Emirates official said on Monday that Qatar's isolation could last for years.

Many banks dropped; Doha Bank fell 2.1 percent. Qatari banks have been weak because of concern about increases in their funding costs after other Gulf countries imposed sanctions on Qatar early this month, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Egypt's index fell 0.7 percent; Orascom Telecom Media , the most heavily traded stock, plunged 15 percent as it went ex-dividend.

HIGHLIGHTS

SAUDI ARABIA

* The index dropped 1.3 percent to 6,953 points.

DUBAI

* The index fell 0.2 percent to 3,452 points.

ABU DHABI

* The index dropped 0.8 percent to 4,456 points.

QATAR

* The index sank 1.5 percent to 8,934 points.

EGYPT

* The index fell 0.7 percent to 13,416 points.

KUWAIT

* The index fell 0.7 percent to 6,783 points.

BAHRAIN

* The index rose 0.2 percent to 1,319 points.

OMAN

* The index dropped 0.5 percent to 5,195 points.
Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Tuesday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 2 hours):

OUTPUT, SALES DATA

The statistics office is due to publish industrial output, retail sales and producer price data at 1200 GMT. BOND SUPPLY

The finance ministry is expected to publish supply details for the Thursday debt auction at 1300 GMT.

PEKAO Poland's state-run insurer PZU considers merging its two lenders - Pekao and its smaller rival Alior Bank , but is likely to preserve the two brands, Puls Biznesu daily said quoting unnamed sources.

PENSION FUNDS

Poland's Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Labour Minister Elzbieta Rafalska are conflicted over the pension fund reform, Gazeta Wyborcza daily said quoting unnamed sources.

Rafalska wants all the assets from private pension funds to be taken over by the state, while Morawiecki believes that only one fourth of them should be transferred to a state-run fund, the daily said.

TAX REVENUES

Value added tax (VAT) revenues rose 13 percent in May year-on-year to 11.65 billion zlotys, Dziennik Gazeta Prawna daily said quoting unnamed sources.

****Reuters has not verified stories reported by Polish media and does not vouch for their accuracy.****

For other related news, double click on: Polish equities E.Europe equities Polish money Polish debt Eastern Europe All emerging markets Hot stocks Stock markets Market debt news Forex news For real-time index quotes, double click on: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX (Reporting by Warsaw Bureau)
WARSAW, June 20 (Reuters) - Poland will offer to sell treasury bonds maturing in April 2019, April 2022, November 2022, January 2026 and July 2027 at a switch tender on Thursday, the finance ministry said on Tuesday. In exchange for the papers the ministry said it would buy back papers due July and October 2017 as well as January 2018. Switch tenders are non-cash operations at which the ministry changes papers nearing their maturity for those with a longer one.

(Reporting by Marcin Goettig; Editing by Marcin Goclowski)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
MOSCOW, June 20 (Reuters) - Privatisation of state shipping company Sovcomflot has been shifted to the autumn, a source close to the deal told Reuters on Tuesday.

Two financial market sources told Reuters this month that privatisation of a 25 percent stake in Sovcomflot had been scheduled for early June but was later postponed. It was put on hold as domestic markets have fallen due to weak oil prices and new sanctions risk from the United States on Russia.

(Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya, writing by Katya Golubkova, editing by Christian Lowe and Susan Thomas)
* Banks don't need dollar liquidity at present

* Deposit withdrawals have been minimal, banker says

* But government acts in case of withdrawals in coming months

* Ready to provide more dollar or riyal liquidity

* Central bank remains committed to peg - banker

By Tom Arnold and Tom Finn

DOHA, June 20 (Reuters) - Qatar's sovereign wealth fund made U.S. dollar deposits in some local banks last week as a precaution after Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states cut diplomatic and transport ties with Doha, Qatari commercial bankers said.

One Qatar-based banker, whose own institution received funds, said new deposits in the banking system by the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) at the end of last week were believed to total several billion dollars. He described the deposits as "pre-emptive".

At a recent meeting between top commercial bank executives and central bank officials, the executives said they did not need dollar liquidity at present, the banker told Reuters, declining to be named because of commercial sensitivities.

But if the diplomatic crisis lasts another three or four months, and Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates banks pull their deposits out of Qatar, local banks might need official help, the banker said.

The QIA declined to comment. Asked for comment, a central bank official told Reuters:

"QIA regularly place deposits in local banks - this is normal. Contrary to media reports, there haven't been big withdrawals from banks in Qatar, and the embargo is only having a limited effect on the banking sector here, and one that is easily manageable."

Qatar's banks became dependent on foreign funding during the last few years of strong economic growth. Their foreign liabilities increased to 451 billion riyals ($124 billion) in March from 310 billion riyals at the end of 2015.

Yousef al-Jaida, chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, said this week that institutions from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain had about $18 billion of deposits in Qatari banks that would mature in two months.

He said it was not yet clear whether those countries would decide to have their institutions pull the money out, but added that Qatar's government was prepared to step in and support local banks if needed.

The Centre has a legal, regulatory, tax and business infrastructure, and licenses foreign companies to exempt them from local ownership laws.

Both the QIA and the central bank have told the banking community that they are ready to assist local banks further with dollar or riyal funding, said the Qatar-based banker.

He said that so far, only one UAE institution, a government-linked-firm, had pulled deposits from his bank, asking to withdraw a three-month deposit of about $100 million early.

Many depositors have been asking questions, but nobody else has asked for their money back and one Asian asset manager has continued to place deposits, he added.

The central bank has about $34.5 billion of net foreign reserves and the QIA is believed to hold over $200 billion of liquid assets, so Qatar appears to be in no danger of running out of money to protect its banking system.

The QIA owns stakes in several Qatari banks including 50 percent of Qatar National Bank , the largest lender, and a 16.9 percent stake in Qatar Islamic Bank , the largest sharia-compliant lender by assets.

The Qatari riyal , which is pegged at 3.64 to the U.S. dollar, has moved slightly off the peg since the diplomatic crisis began on June 5, and is now quoted by banks offshore at around 3.67.

The Qatari banker said the central bank had not issued any specific warnings to banks about speculating against the peg, but it was committed to the peg and the only institutions speculating in the foreign exchange market were hedge funds and some other international investors.

(Writing by Andrew Torchia; editing by David Stamp)
(Repeats to attach to alert)

LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Portugal has met with Chinese authorities about a planned renminbi bond but has no firm timeline for the deal which would see it become the first euro zone state to sell debt in the currency, its debt chief said on Tuesday.

In order to take advantage of growing demand for its debt, Portugal's finance minister Mario Centeno said last month that the country was soon planning to issue short-term bonds in yuan. "As the finance minister highlighted the government is exploring the idea of Portugal to issue in renminbi and by doing so develop the onshore-renminbi market," Cristina Casalinho said on the sidelines of a Euromoney conference in London.

"The minister had a roadshow in China in late April and early May...and engaged in some talks with local authorities in order to assess...this undertaking."

Asked about whether such a bond could be issued by Portugal within the next year, Casalinho said there was no immediate timeline.

"We have to see, these kind of projects take time," she said. "For us, if this project goes through it would be a novelty. It would involve new documentation, a completely new investor base and we'd also be front runners of this trend."

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe; Editing by John Geddie)
JOHANNESBURG, June 20 (Reuters) - The Banking Association South Africa on Tuesday urged the country's parliament to "confirm the independence" of the central bank after an anti-graft watchdog recommended its mandate of maintaining currency and price stability be changed.

"We must do everything in our power not to cast doubt on a system that has served our country very well during difficult times, including the global financial crisis," the industry group said in a statement.

(Reporting by Mfuneko Toyana; Writing by Ed Stoddard; Editing by James Macharia)
LONDON, June 20 (Reuters) - Credit rating firm S&P Global warned South Africa on Tuesday that its rating could be cut deeper into junk territory if the government meddles with the "critical" independence of the country's central bank.

A row over the South African Reserve Bank has escalated this week after the head of the country's constitutionally-mandated anti-graft watchdog called for the bank to focus on growth more than maintaining currency and price stability. "We would consider it critical that the operational independence of the reserve bank remains untouched lest we would see weakening policy flexibility in monetary affairs," S&P's top sovereign analyst, Moritz Kraemer, told the Reuters Global Markets Forum chatroom.

"Depending on the severity of the changes (to the central bank's independence), a rating action could indeed be one consequence."

S&P stripped South Africa of its coveted investment grade rating back in April after the sacking of internationally respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan. It currently has a BB+ rating with a negative outlook. (Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Karin Strohecker)
HANOI, June 20 (Reuters) - Here's a snapshot of Vietnamese dong exchange rates in the official and unofficial markets, indicative SJC gold prices in Hanoi and interbank offered rates at 0420 GMT.

June 20 USD/VND mid-point 22,422 USD/VND interbank 22,725/22,727 USD/VND unofficial 22,720/22,740 SJC gold (mln dong/tael) 36.11/36.33

Interbank offered rates Overnight 2.0-2.7

1 week 2.5-2.9

1 month 3.5-3.9

3 months 3.9-4.5

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: (Reporting by My Pham)
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine reported on Saturday, June 17, about 47 dead civilians in the Donbas conflict zone from the beginning of this year.

"In 2017 [the] conflict in eastern Ukraine took 47 lives and injured 222 people. Most cases were due to shelling in populated areas," the OSCE SMM said on its Twitter page.
MADRID, June 20 (Reuters) - Spain's trade deficit rose 50.5 percent in the first four months of the year from the same period a year earlier as rising oil prices pushed up the cost of imports in the country which relies heavily on external energy supplies.

Imports rose 12.4 percent, outpacing exports up 9.8 percent from a year earlier, mostly due to rising energy costs, the economy ministry said on Tuesday.

Imports were worth 99.9 billion euros ($111.5 billion) while exports were worth 91.5 billion euros - a new record for that period - in the months January to April, the ministry said.

Oil prices have risen almost 20 percent from the end of April in 2016 to the end of April this year, weighing on the Spanish trade deficit as the country imports nearly all its energy needs.

In April, the deficit was up 88.1 percent from a year earlier as imports rose 0.5 percent to 23 billion euros and exports fell 2 percent to 21.8 billion euros, the ministry said. ($1 = 0.8963 euros)

(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Sonya Dowsett)
TAIPEI, June 20 (Reuters) - Taiwan's export orders for May, released by the Ministry of Economic Affairs on Tuesday. The data is an indication of the strength of Asian exports and of global demand for technology. MAY REUTERS APRIL POLL Export orders (y/y pct) +9.1 +6.85 +7.4 Export orders from China +14.5 +13.8 Export orders from U.S. +10.2 +6.0 Export orders from Europe +15.3 +19.0 Export orders from Japan +19.2 +7.6 * revised figure The ministry's website is /

(Reporting by Roger Tung; Writing by Faith Hung; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
(Adds postponement by SPD lawmaker)

BERLIN, June 20 (Reuters) - Germany's parliamentary budget committee will discuss paying the next tranche of aid to Greece next week, a senior lawmaker from the Social Democrat Party (SDP) said, prolonging uncertainty over whether the deal needs parliamentary approval.

Three months before an election, some lawmakers from the SPD, the junior partner in Angela Merkel's coalition, are seeking a full parliamentary debate on the 8.5 billion euro loan to Greece - which would expose sharp divisions within Merkel's conservative parliamentary group. The budget committee, which had been expected to meet on Wednesday, has to decide if the full house has to approve the disbursement of a fresh tranche that was agreed to by euro zone finance ministers last week.

"The budget committee will only address the latest decision of the Eurogroup in its next weekly sitting," the SPD's budget policy spokesman Johannes Kahrs said.

"It is clearly uncomfortable for the (conservative) fraction that the IMF is not involved ... even though (German finance minister Wolfgang) Schaeuble promised it would be."

The IMF has said it would like to see some of Greece's debts being written off in return for its participation in the bail-out deal, a move that would be unpopular in Germany.

Earlier, Merkel ally Michael Grosse-Broemer had said that no parliamentary vote would be needed, suggesting that the budget committee could nod the new deal through.

Some of Merkel's own conservatives have in the past opposed aid to Greece. Sixty-three of the 309 members of her conservative parliamentary group voted against the third bailout for Greece in August 2015. There were three abstentions.

Schaeuble has said a full debate on the credit lifeline in the lower house could lead to market uncertainty.

(Reporting by Markus Wacket, additional reporting by Thomas Escritt; Writing by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Alison Williams and Pritha Sarkar)
(Adds Bank of Spain Governor comment, background, detail)

SANTANDER, Spain, June 20 (Reuters) - Some institutional depositors took money out of Spain's Banco Popular after its credit rating was downgraded, Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday, responding to a call for an investigation into deposit flight from the bank.

Banco Popular was taken over by Spain's biggest bank Banco Santander early in June when European authorities stepped in to prevent its collapse. "The policy of institutions on where to deposit cash depends on the credit rating of the bank and that means that some institutional depositors withdrew their cash as a consequence of rating downgrades," he said.

Retail investors had also withdrawn money from the bank days before Santander agreed to buy Popular for the symbolic price of one euro, de Guindos said at a conference in the northern Spanish coastal city of Santander.

On Monday, European Central Bank supervisor Daniele Nouy was questioned in the European Parliament's economic affairs committee over a withdrawal of deposits from Popular by local and regional authorities.

"There is certainly room for the Spanish justice to investigate these movements to see whether insider information has helped certain people to try to protect themselves better," Nouy said.

Guindos said he did not know whether deposit withdrawals were due to account holders having privileged information on the bank's takeover by Santander.

Separately, Bank of Spain Governor Luis Maria Linde reiterated on Tuesday that the bank's rescue had been due to a lack of liquidity and not a solvency problem.

"The attack, the run, the flight of deposits which was seen in Popular was not due to depositors suddenly saying 'oh, there's a solvency problem, I'm leaving,'" Linde said during a hearing in parliament on the Spanish economy.

(Reporting By Jesus Aguado in Santander and Sarah White in Madrid; Writing by Paul Day. Editing by Jane Merriman)
(Adds Novartis comment, details about Lucentis, Allergan drug)

ZURICH, June 20 (Reuters) - A drug developed by Novartis to treat vision loss in people over 65 does not need to be injected as frequently as a rival medicine from Regeneron to be effective, clinical trials showed on Tuesday.

Novartis said the trials showed its RTH258 drug would reduce the injection burden for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), the leading cause of vision loss for over 65s in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.

Novartis shares climbed 1.4 percent by 1041 GMT, outperforming the Stoxx European health care sector index , with analysts saying the trial results gave RTH258 a competitive advantage over rival treatments.

Head-to-head late-stage trials showed RTH258, whose generic name is brolucizumab, worked as well as Regeneron's Eylea, with just over half the patients needing doses every 12 weeks, rather than every eight weeks for Eylea.

Cutting the frequency of injections could also give RTH258 an edge over Lucentis, another best-selling eye drug which Roche sells in the United States and Novartis sells elsewhere. Lucentis patients generally receive doses every four weeks.

"It's a positive study, we're very excited about it - it exceeds our expectations - and we're looking forward to filing in 2018" for regulatory approval, said Vas Narasimhan, Novartis's drug development chief, in an interview.

"We had hoped to see 40 percent or greater" of patients responding positively to injections every 12 weeks, he said. "Now that we see it well into the 52 to 57 percent range, we feel very good about the result."

Novartis expects RTH258 sales to eventually top $1 billion a year.

Analysts at Jefferies called the trial result "a significant differentiator and competitive advantage for RTH258".

They cited previous estimates that success in the trials could boost Novartis's earnings per share and valuation by about 2 percent in the medium term.

Zuercher Kantonalbank analyst Michael Nawrath said the data should help Novartis win back share in a highly lucrative market of 20 million to 25 million patients.

Eylea, which was developed with Bayer , has powered much of Regeneron's growth since late 2011. However, the drug's sales growth has slowed in recent quarters, mainly due to competition from Lucentis.

Lucentis topped $3.2 billion in sales in 2016 for Roche and Novartis.

Regeneron is betting on two key treatments, sarilumab for rheumatoid arthritis and Dumpiest, to reduce its reliance on Eylea, which accounts for nearly 70 percent of its revenue. Competition for nAMD patients is likely to grow even more intense, with data from trials on Abicipar, an investigational medicine being developed by Allergan and Switzerland's Molecular Partners <MOL N.S>, set for release in 2018.

Allergan is also banking on reduced injection frequency compared to Lucentis and Eylea to win over eye doctors and patients, should its drug win approval. (Reporting by Michael Shields and John Miller; editing by David Clarke)
A release from The Jewish Council:

Dont close the door on kids singing by censoring Jewish history

The Wellington Regional Jewish Council has asked Artsplash Co-ordinator Mary Prichard to (in her words) keep life simple by reinstating three songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat into its programme for the September festival, using the correct words.

An apology for changing one word without permission has been made to the librettist, Sir Tim Rice, and he has accepted the apology, so there is no reason why the performance of the song with the correct words shouldnt go ahead, Zwartz said.

As we see it, the trouble Mary Prichard refers to is an attempt to censor without explanation an event in Jewish history that took place about three-and-a-half thousand years ago.

It is wrong to indicate to primary school children that something in the Jewish Torah  also included in the Christian Old Testament, and the Koran  needs to be altered, or avoided altogether, Zwartz stated.

It also undermines a strong move in New Zealand society for better understanding of every religion, as shown by the National Statement on Religious Diversity and the work of the Human Rights Commission.

Far better to teach the children, and their parents, that each religions historical background is something to be treated respectfully, not censored or banned.

In the case of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, it is obviously something that inspired Sir Tim Rice and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to create uplifting and enjoyable words and music.

Its universal acceptability is shown by the more than 20,000 performances of the work worldwide.

As a Wellingtonian, I dont want our city to be branded as a place that refused to perform this popular adaptation of Jewish history, David Zwartz said.

The Regional Jewish Council has offered to meet Mary Prichard and others from Artsplash to discuss and explain its opposition to censoring Jewish history.
Henry Cooke writes:

Over half of major political donations come from wealthy individuals able to splash out $15,000 or more, new research shows. Fully 52 percent of the money from donations over $1500 in 2011-2016 came in chunks of $15,000 or more. Donations under $1500 arent declared, but arent thought to make up a significant percentage of party funding given the small population of New Zealand.

This is not correct in the case of National.

National has around 30,000 to 40,000 paid up members. If the average member donation is $50 (I think it is in fact higher than that) then small donations bring in over $1.5 million a year in income.

Journalist and academic Max Rashbrooke put together the numbers for a report on open government being released on Tuesday. He thinks that the donations clearly buy some kind of influence. If parties are reliant on very wealthy people for half of their donations, then they arent going to ignore them are they? I think it must lead to influence for at least a certain class of people, Rashbrooke said.

Rashbrooke falls into the trap of thinking of donors as a class, rather than a collection of individuals and businesses. Donors have very varied interests  most just want a Government that delivers a good strong economy.

Someone who donates say $15,000 to National is donating around 0.5% of their campaign funding. The good thing with having lots of big donors, is that none of them become particularly influential.

We are very sceptical of politics and politicians usually. It would be very strange if we were all of a sudden naive and assume these people are just giving money as a public service or because they really like the party.

They like the policies. They think the policies are good for the country and good for them. In my experience money follows policies, not the other way around.

While the general public often think about donations in terms of trade unions and industry lobby groups, Rashbrooke said the vast majority of funding comes from individual donors.

Unions are large and active donors on the left. Very very few business and industry groups donate to political parties. Individual businesses may not their industry groups.

National is overwhelmingly the largest recipient of donations, raising $11.7m over the six years between 2011 and 2016, almost three times Labours $3.9m. But just 22 percent of their funds come from donations of over $15,000.

Yep, and that is 22% of the donations over $1,500. Id say National probably had another $10 million from small donors in that time, so donors over $15,000 probably contribute just 10% of the partys income.

Large donations are not necessary for success and certainly do not guarantee it. The Internet Party and the Conservatives both raised more than the Greens and Labour over the period, but neither have MPs in Parliament. And New Zealand First  who raised the least by far over the period, just $319,000  are polling on level with the Greens and are widely seen as kingmakers in the next Parliament.

Money helps. Youd rather have more of it than less of it. But as the article says it doesnt have as big an influence as people think. People have to be receptive to the message for advertisements to work  no matter how often they play.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said his party delivered more with less. New Zealand First has the most professional presentation and efficient delivery of party policies, which belies the fact we dont have a substantial amount of donations.

Of course in the past New Zealand First has received substantial donations  they just didnt disclose them until the donations were outed!

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President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko has said that within the framework of his working visit to Washington he will hold a number of important meetings with the leadership of the United States.

"We will have a fantastic program. It is very important that my meeting as the Ukrainian president at the White House will take place earlier than Putin's meeting. This will be done to ensure that everyone stays tuned, so that no one has a chance of injustice," the president said while talking to the Ukrainian community in Washington.

He said that during the visit he would meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, as well as the leadership of the Defense Ministry, the Ministry of Commerce and the U.S. Department of Energy.

"There has never been such a powerful visit. It is important for us to have an opportunity to talk about our cooperation in the sphere of security, politics and economy," Poroshenko said.

According to Interfax-Ukraine, on Tuesday morning, the Ukrainian president will meet with U.S. Vice President Michael Pence, after which he will hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. In addition, on the same day, the Ukrainian president will hold talks with Defense Minister James Mattis, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

It is expected that after negotiations with Trump, Poroshenko will talk with the media representatives.
Over the past day, the militants have carried out 43 shelling of the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) area, which resulted in injuries to four Ukrainian servicemen, the press centre of the ATO headquarters has reported.

The heaviest shelling was reported in the Mariupol sector, where 19 truce breaches by the militants were recorded, the press centre said.

In the Donetsk sector, the heaviest fighting continues to be recorded on the southern outskirts of Avdiyivka, where militant forces used infantry weapons and anti-aircraft guns. Grenade launchers and small arms were fired at Ukrainian positions on the outskirts of Kamyanka, Zaitseve and Novoluhanske, the press centre said.

"As to the Luhansk sector, yesterday the situation was once again the 'hottest' near the Bakhmut motorway," the press centre said. The militants shelled Ukrainian army positions in the vicinity of Stanytsia Luhanska, Novozvanivka, Zhovte, Aidar and Novo-Oleksandrivka without using artillery weapons, it said.
NATO has finalized the deployment of four multinational battalions on its eastern flank under the program of Russia's deterrence.

"Today NATO fulfils the promise we made at our summit in Warsaw only a year ago. A promise to deploy four multinational battlegroups in Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, and right here in Latvia. To defend our alliance, to deter aggression and to preserve the peace," the alliance quoted NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as saying.

"As of today, that deployment is complete," Stoltenberg said.

The NATO secretary general attended the welcome ceremony for the Canadian military contingent, which arrived in Latvia on Monday. Canada will be in charge of the multinational battlegroup stationed in Latvia. On Tuesday, Stoltenberg will visit Lithuania, where Germany will take charge of the battlegroup.

More than 4,000 servicemen will be deployed in the four countries, Stoltenberg said. In addition to Canadian servicemen, the battlegroup stationed in Latvia will include troops from Albania, Spain, Italy, Poland and Slovenia. Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Norway have assigned their servicemen to the Germany-led battlegroup stationed in Lithuania. The UK-led battlegroup in Estonia also involvement servicemen from Denmark and France. The battlegroup stationed in Poland is supervised by the United States and includes servicemen from the UK and Romania.
KB Kookmin Card President Yoon Woong-won, left, shakes hands with Bank of Hope CEO Kevin Kim after signing a memorandum of understanding on joint business in the United States at the latter's headquarters in Los Angeles, Monday (local time). The Bank of Hope focuses on providing financial services to Korean-American communities in the country. The two firms agreed to establish a joint corporation. / Courtesy of KB Kookmin Card
By Yoon Ja-young

The permanent shutdown of the country's first nuclear reactor Kori 1 signals a transition in energy policy from nuclear and coal-powered plants to LNG and renewable energy. While President Moon Jae-in has emphasized safe and eco-friendly as keywords for his energy policy, experts say society should reach a consensus on accepting higher rates.

According to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, 11 nuclear reactors will reach the end of their initial life cycle by 2029. Among them is the Wolsong 1 reactor whose original lifespan ended in 2012.

The Nuclear Security and Safety Commission, however, decided in 2015 to extend its operation to 2022. President Moon said he would shut down Wolsong 1 as soon as possible, considering energy supply and demand.

On top of shutting down aging nuclear reactors, the new administration will also scrap construction plans for new nuclear power plants. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power is expected to scrap plans to build two plants in Uljin and two more in Yeongdeok, both on the east coast. To tackle the ultrafine dust threatening health, the administration has also vowed to stop building new coal-fired power plants while shutting down aging ones.

However, experts say the transition to clean and safe energy will not be easy.

Nuclear energy accounts for 31 percent of the country's total power generation, while 39 percent comes from coal-fired plants.












Fred Warmbier, father of Otto, a University of Virginia undergraduate student who was imprisoned in North Korea in March 2016, speaks during a news conference at Wyoming High School in Cincinnati in June 15. / AP-Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan





Otto Warmbier

A U.S. college student released from North Korea in a coma after 17 months of detention died Monday.

Family of Otto Warmbier, 22, who attended University of Virginia, blamed "torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans" as they informed of his death at 2:20 p.m.

The family said in a statement that because of how the military state had treated him, "no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today."

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that," the statement said.

U.S. President Donald Trump condemned North Korea's "brutality" as he mourned the death of Warmbier.

"Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said.

Warmbier was arrested in the North in January last year for stealing a political propaganda sign from a hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

He was released last week. North Korean officials said Warmbier fell into a coma in March last year due to botulism and a sleeping pill.

Doctors said Warmbier had severe brain damage.

"It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost -- future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person," the family said.
Asylum seekers from Ethiopia urge the Korean government to revamp its refugee policies during a protest in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday, which was World Refugee Day. /Yonhap



Refugee status is most important but hardest problem to solve

By Kim Se-jeong

Back in Egypt, Yasser worked as a photographer for a local NGO which waged anti-government campaigns.

Last year, amid a mounting crackdown on his colleagues, he and his wife fled their home country.

"Our life in Egypt was not bad, but the government began cracking down on NGOs and apprehending my colleagues, so I had to flee," Yasser  who refused to disclose his real name for the article  told News1, a local internet news site in Korea. "We were ready to go anywhere where we would be welcomed. I heard the situation in Europe wasn't so good, so I decided to come to South Korea."

Upon arrival, Yasser submitted a refugee application but their first interview was unsuccessful. They are now awaiting the second round of interviews.

"There are many Egyptians who are here to work. And I assume interviewers considered us one of them."

The couple is now staying at a shelter provided by an NGO in Seoul. Yasser is working at a factory and a restaurant to pay for his three-month-old daughter's milk. He said back in Egypt, the couple had to postpone having a baby. "We didn't feel safe enough. Only after we arrived in Korea, we were ready to have a baby."

He wants to learn Korean and continue pursuing his photography career but the priority now is getting his legal status. That can take years. "I really hope to earn refugee status," he said.

Yasser's story is one of many in Korea where the number of asylum seekers has surged.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the number of applications increased from 423 in 2010 to 7,542 last year. The biggest number of asylum seekers came from Pakistan, followed by Egypt, China and Nigeria. The number of Syrian nationals is on the rise, as well, as many have fled their country over the last two years.

But few have been accepted. Last year, the government accepted 98 applicants, or 1.54 percent, a decrease from 11 percent in 2010, when 47 were accepted.

The ministry gave no explanation about the fall, but activists for asylum seekers' rights said the image of refugees worsened recently after the terrorist attacks in Europe.

The most recent terrorist attack occurred only this week in London where a van ploughed into Muslim pedestrians outside a mosque. One was killed and 11 injured in the incident.

The Korean government is sending out mixed signals.

On a positive note, it passed the Refugee Law in 2013, becoming the first Asian country to do so. The law offers various kinds of assistance to those waiting for recognition. This move earned recognition in the international community, and the Korean government boasts about it.

However, the activists are skeptical that the government and society are really ready to accept them.

The Center for Refugee Rights in South Korea, wrote in a recent statement: "The acceptance rate is too low and that made us wonder if the Korean government has the will to take care of refugees."
President Moon Jae-in holds an interview with the U.S. broadcaster CBS' news program "This Morning" at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, Tuesday. Earlier in the day, Moon offered condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier, a U.S. student who died after being returned home in a coma following 17 months of detention in North Korea, and criticized the North's human rights abuses. / Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae



President slams North Korea over US student's death



By Kim Rahn, Rachel Lee





Otto Warmbier

President Moon Jae-in harshly criticized North Korea, Tuesday, for its human rights abuses following the death of a U.S. citizen who was returned home in a coma after 17 months of detention in the North.

His death is expected to worsen already-strained U.S.-North Korea relations and push the Donald Trump administration to adopt a harder attitude toward the reclusive state ahead of a summit with Moon next week.

Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday that the President sent a telegram of condolence to the family of Otto Warmbier, 22, a former University of Virginia student who died Monday, six days after he was released from North Korea.

His family said Warmbier died of the "torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans."

"Moon offered his condolences to the family," presidential spokesman Park Soo-hyun said. "He also deplored the fact that the North does not respect human rights, a universal value of humanity."

In an interview with foreign media the previous day, the President raised the question over whether North Korea fulfilled its humanitarian responsibility such as telling the family immediately when Warmbier's condition took a turn for the worse, and offering the best possible medical treatment for Warmbier.

Dialogue with NK is necessary'












The possible legislative amendments concerning the official language in Ukraine may infringe rights of ethnic minorities, Hungarian Ambassador to Ukraine Erno Keskeny said.

"We are concerned about the ongoing process which may limit rights of ethnic minorities in Ukraine instead of expanding them. [...] If these bills are adopted, unfortunately, they will reduce rights of ethnic minorities. We hope these bills will not be approved after all," Keskeny said at a roundtable titled 'Hungarian factor in Ukraine's domestic policy' in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Not only the Hungarians but also the Poles, Bulgarians, Romanians and Slovaks residing in Ukraine are worried about those legislative initiatives, the ambassador said. "Everyone who is being trained in the native language, as the new laws will limit their rights in these areas," he said.

Keskeny said he hoped that Ukraine would not modify its current regulations on ethnic minorities' rights.
By Jun Ji-hye



The Moon Jae-in government is facing growing concerns over its unstable foreign affairs and security lineup amid a pile of diplomatic challenges and pending thorny issues.



Various controversies involving presidential security aides are apparently making it harder for Moon to adjust diplomatic relations with the U.S. and China as well as Japan.



With Washington and Beijing, Seoul first needs to resolve the issues related to the controversial deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system here. The comfort women matter is one situation to be resolved with Japan. South Korea needs to keenly cooperate with the three countries to curb North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.



But Moon's two choices for special advisers for unification, foreign affairs and national security  Moon Chung-in and Hong Seok-hyun  have recently been embroiled in controversy over the former's controversial remarks and the latter declining to work for the President. The two were named for the positions less than a month ago.



During his visit to Washington, Friday, Moon Chung-in said the scale of the allies' joint exercises and the frequency of the dispatch of strategic U.S. assets to the Korean Peninsula could be reduced if the North stops its nuclear and missile programs.



National Security Office (NSO) chief Chung Eui-yong also faced criticism over his failure to prevent Moon Chung-in from making such remarks that could damage relations between South Korea and the United States, although the two met to discuss the issue before the latter left for the U.S.



It was belatedly known, Monday, that Hong refused to work as the special adviser to the President immediately upon being appointed. A Cheong Wa Dae official fell short of explaining the reasons for Hong's rejection, only saying it was his "personal choice."



Previously, Kim Ki-jung who was named as the second vice chief of the NSO, tendered his resignation on June 5, just 10 days after being appointed to the job.



The presidential office did not give any details on why he quit, only citing sudden health deterioration. But it was understood he was virtually removed from office due to his alleged "improper acts" while serving as a professor at Yonsei University, including sexual harassment allegations.



Cheong Wa Dae has been making efforts to remove controversies facing the presidential aides  it cautioned Moon Chung-in to refrain from making controversial remarks, Monday. Then on Tuesday, President Moon named Nam Gwan-pyo, a former ambassador to Hungary, to replace Kim.



But it remains to be seen whether Moon's foreign affairs and security lineup will operate properly with only about 10 days left until the South Korea-United States summit talks in Washington. A week after this summit, the G20 Summit will also take place in Germany, during which President Moon is expected to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as U.S. President Donald Trump.



Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, said President Moon will need to make full efforts to find the common denominator between Seoul and Washington at the earliest possible date to deal with sensitive issues including the THAAD deployment.



"We must not expect too much from the first attempt," he said. "Moon will meet Trump at the G20 again. I believe it will be important for the two leaders to secure enough time to talk."








By Jung Min-ho



A loophole in the charging systems of Korean telecom companies is allowing foreigners to get away with leaving the country without paying their phone bills here.



An American, who taught English in Korea for three years, left the country early this month without paying her last month's phone bill  just like many of her friends have done.



According to two of the three major telecom companies  LG Uplus and KT  they don't give penalties against those who leave Korea without paying their bills and many foreigners take advantage of their inaction. SK Telecom did not respond to inquiries from The Korea Times.



"There are many foreigners who have returned to their countries without paying their bills," an LG Uplus official said, refusing to reveal details. The situation isn't much different for KT.



Companies, in theory, can report such cases to police, but they rarely do so, a KT official said. One of the reasons is that legal action would cost them more than the bills themselves.



The only thing the companies do in such situations is to share data of such customers through the Korea Association for ICT Promotion (KAIT) to have them pay if they return.



"If a person did not pay his bill to one company here, he cannot use services from other companies," a KAIT official said. "But once the person takes care of the unpaid balance, he can start using his phone right away. Yes, it would be considered a contract violation, but violators do not pay extra fees or receive any form of penalty."



Many foreigners already know about this.



"Only a few people I know paid what they were supposed to pay before they left Korea," said an English teacher, declining to be named. "I think such actions are very irresponsible, which could create distrust of all foreigners, including those who are innocent."



People share "tips" about what to do with the phone bills coming after their departure via websites and online communities.



"You won't need to pay that," one foreigner responded to a question about the upcoming bill.



"If they make you pay, just pay and get it over with. Nothing much will happen anyway," said another.



Some foreigners urge people to "be responsible and pay up," but at this point, it is entirely up to their conscience.



Some Koreans believe there should be more strict regulations to hold foreigners responsible for the money they are supposed to pay off before they leave. In fact, many employers who hire foreigners here, such as English "hagwon" owners, also complain about the utility fees and other expenses left unpaid by their former non-Korean employees who have already left the country. With an increasing number of foreigners living and working here, such issues are expected to increase.




The 25th Army Division's memorial event on May 28, 2013, for U.S. veterans at the Nevada outpost in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, commemorated the ceasefire's 60th anniversary. / Korea Times file



By Lee Han-soo

U.S. soldiers who fought in the Korean War have been invited to Korea to mark the 67th anniversary of the war's outbreak.

The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) said Tuesday

81 people -- veterans and their families -- will arrive in Korea Thursday.

They will attend a commemorative ceremony and visit Panmunjom in Paju, Gyeonggi Province -- where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. They also will visit the War Memorial and Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul.

MVPA Minister Pi Woo-jin has organized an appreciation dinner for the veterans on June 26.

Public organizations have been inviting foreign Korean War veterans to Korea since 1975. The ministry took on the official role of inviting veterans in 2010.

Over 31,000 foreign veterans and their families have visited Korea with the help of the program.
By Jun Ji-hye



Two B-1B strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force took part in an exercise with two ROK F-15K fighter jets over the Korean Peninsula, Tuesday, according to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force.



"The B-1Bs plan to stay over the peninsula for about two to three hours," Lt. Col. Kim Sung-duk, a public relations officer for the ROK Air Force, said at a press briefing, confirming the sortie.



The U.S. Pacific Air Forces also confirmed the dispatch of the B-1B Lancers, based at the Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, to the vicinity of the peninsula on its Facebook account.



"These flights with the Republic of Korea demonstrate solidarity between the ROK and U.S. to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater," it said.



It is rare for the both militaries to confirm the details of operations involving U.S. strategic assets.



The rare disclosure was construed by some as the U.S. circuitously expressing its discontent over controversial remarks recently made by President Moon Jae-in's special presidential adviser for unification, security and foreign affairs, Moon Chung-in.



During a Wilson Center seminar in Washington, Friday, the adviser suggested a willingness to reduce the scale of the allies' military exercises and the frequency of the dispatch of strategic assets to the peninsula if North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile programs.



The latest dispatch of the Lancers also came after the death of Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old U.S. college student released from the North last week in a coma after 17 months in detention.



Warmbier died Monday (local time), according to his family who claimed his death was due to the "torturous mistreatment received at the hands of the North Koreans."



Regarding the reason for the dispatch, Lt. Col. Kim said, "It is part of regular drills between South Korea and the U.S."




By Choi Ha-young



A group of 23 lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties agreed Tuesday to propose a special bill aimed at confiscating the hidden wealth of Choi Soon-sil, the jailed confidant of disgraced former President Park Geun-hye.



Rep. An Min-suk of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea has drawn up the draft bill and 22 other lawmakers signed it. The bill calls for the creation of a committee to find her hidden assets and confiscate them.



Since the influence-peddling scandal came to light last year which led to Park's ouster and trial for corruption, the prosecution has investigated the financial ties between Choi and Park. The mysterious source of Choi's enormous wealth  presumably over 10 trillion won ($ 8.8 billion)  drew attention and calls mounted to confiscate the illegally accumulated assets.



An has pushed for the special bill to confiscate Choi's assets dispersed around Europe and Korea, and to find out how she accumulated them. "The assets were amassed during the former President Park Chung-hee government (1963-79), and they've been transformed into various forms such as real estate, foundations and foreign companies," An said.



The four-term lawmaker cited a Fraser Report published in 1978, as evidence of a slush fund created by Park Chung-hee, father of Park Geun-hye.



"Since Park took office in 2013, Choi peddled her influence in government organizations and ministries to pocket public money," An said. She allegedly meddled in an official development assistance project in Myanmar and Vietnam.



To draft the bill, An has held four hearings in the National Assembly. To avoid unconstitutionality regarding privately-owned property, he consulted with legal experts and tax officials.



"Considering the nature of the scandal, it requires cooperation with the National Tax Service, Financial Supervisory Service, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and National Intelligence Service," An added.



An called for bipartisan efforts saying the bill is devoted to sweep away corruption and tighten constitutional principles. The lawmakers will officially table the bill once more opposition lawmakers sign on.




He said rights things about US alliance, some liberals claim



By Yi Whan-woo



Moon Chung-in, a foreign policy adviser to President Moon Jae-in, became an instant target of criticism after expressing controversial opinions on the Seoul-Washington alliance at a seminar in Washington D.C. last week.



While he is generally being described as a "party pooper" by conservative politicians and the media ahead of the crucial summit between Moon and U.S. President Donald Trump, some came to his defense, claiming he said all the right things.



Some liberal politicians and experts said Moon just proposed a realistic approach in developing the decades-old alliance in the face of a nuclear North Korea.



The adviser claimed the allies should consider scaling down the joint military exercises and the dispatch of U.S. strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula if North Korea stops nuclear provocations.



Commenting on the Moon government's decision to suspend the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, the adviser also said it could no longer be considered an alliance if the Seoul-Washington ties are disrupted by this.



"Being blindly obedient to the U.S. is not about the alliance," minor opposition Justice Party floor leader Rep. Roh Hoe-chan said during a radio interview, Tuesday.



"Moreover, we should begin to think of possible options we can offer as carrots to North Korea when we ask Pyongyang to stop firing ballistic missiles or scrap the nuclear program.



"In that sense, Moon's proposal can be used unofficially as a card to convince North Korea," he added.



The lawmaker also pointed out that the presidential adviser underscored the offer as his own opinion during a seminar at Wilson Center in Washington D.C.



"For the U.S. side, it may direct a complaint to the South Korean government over the issues raised by Moon Chung-in. But let me be clear, those were his own thoughts, nothing else."



In a separate radio interview, Monday, Rep. Hong Ik-pyo of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea agreed with Moon by saying, "His words should be clarified as normalizing the joint military exercises, not scaling down the joint military exercises."



Hong cited that U.S. nuclear strategic assets have been deployed to South Korea only since 2010 when North Korea shelled Yeongpyeong Island and escalated the heightened tension on the peninsula.



Rep. Kim Jong-dae, also from the Justice Party, finds it regretful that the conservatives, including the press, are stirring up a controversy on a possible rift between the two allies.



"Whenever issues on North Korea were raised in Seoul, it has been numerously underscored that the government will sufficiently consult the U.S. over the issues," he said. "Considering this, Moon's comment is not a problem at all because he repeatedly said scaling down joint military exercises only should be made in consultation with the U.S. The conservatives still bombard him as if the alliance can be disrupted because of him."



Meanwhile, Moon, who is visiting the U.S. through Wednesday, held onto his rhetoric, Tuesday.



"We have our own law and our own president. The U.S. view on South Korea cannot be above our law," he said. "The key issues at the Seoul-Washington summit will be about bolstering the alliance but there can be differences over resuming dialogue with North Korea."




A lioness dozes at the Seoul Children's Grand Park on June 19. The weather authority issued heat alerts nationwide on the day. / Yonhap



By Ko Dong-hwan

Over 60 days of "deadly heat" will hit Seoul in 2100 unless global greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, according to American research.

Camilo Mora and others from the University of Hawaii at Manoa make the prediction in a paper that online journal Nature Climate Change published on June 19.

Under the scenario of "Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5" (a forecast the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) adopted based on global temperatures rising by 3.7 degrees Celsius by 2100), Seoul would experience deadly heat for one day in 2025, three days in 2030, five in 2040, seven in 2050, 20 in 2060, 35 in 2075 and 67 in 2100.

RCP 8.5 is the worst-case scenario among the IPCC's three projections of global temperature trajectories that Mora studied. The other two, RCP 2.6 and RCP 4.5, forecast global temperature peaks by 2020 and 2040, respectively, which then start to reduce.

The study also made predictions for other cities under RCP 8.5 in 2100. Among the worst were Hong Kong with 174 days of deadly heat, Shanghai 123 days, Sao Paolo 110 days, Tokyo 84 days, Chicago 68 days and Rome 59 days. Cities expected to fare comparatively well were London, with no deadly heat days, San Francisco two days and Berlin four days.

The study quantified the danger of global warming-induced extreme heat by linking it to past heat-related deaths  783 examples from 164 cities in 36 countries.

"An increasing threat to human life from excess heat now seems almost inevitable, but it will be greatly aggravated if greenhouse gases are not considerably reduced," Mora said.

She said her team identified a "global threshold, beyond which daily mean surface air temperature and relative humidity become deadly."

The study said about 30 percent of the global population is now exposed to the threshold for at least 20 days a year. By 2100, the figure is estimated to hit 48 percent if greenhouse gases are greatly reduced, but continue to 74 percent if emissions keep growing.
By Kim In-hwan





Every Saturday I fly to Jeju to take care of my businesses. One day when I walked onto my tree farm, I was quite shocked to find a thief had broken into my farmhouse and taken away all the window frames. The thief had destroyed the walls just to take the door. The house had to be demolished.

Three years later, another incident took place: a steel container weighing over two tons had disappeared. Why would anyone take it? It would cost more money to steal the container than to buy one because the thief would have to rent a crane and a big truck to carry it. It would have cost 600,000 won ($540) to rent both vehicles while the container only cost 500,000 won ($450). It seemed impractical to commit a crime only to lose money.

According to a police investigation, neither a crane nor a truck was rented during the week. However, a junk yard was identified as having collected many iron pieces from two men. They had cut the container into small pieces by using a welder. One thief was Mr. P aged 70, and the other Mr. Y 34 years old. Mr. Y who was homeless had been an orphan since he was born. However, Mr. P was in a more difficult situation. After his first son died, his daughter-in-law ran away leaving her baby behind. Being a disabled person, he couldn't walk properly. I wrote a petition to the judge to consider their difficult situations.

My letter said, " Your honor, these two men stole my container thinking that it would be of no use to me. They repented and returned the money. Now I hired both of them as my employees, and I will teach them to work as honest employees. I ask you for a favorable decision." Luckily the two criminals were free with two years of probation.

Korea, unfortunately, does not report theft annually for people to quote, but according to a report from the U.S. Department of Commerce, white collar crimes ranging from petty theft to felonies amounted to 500 million won ($454 billion).

Very recently a young man working for a youth hostel in Jeju Province took pictures of his owner burying leftover food in the ground. He knew it was illegal and blackmailed her by saying that he would report her to the police with the proof unless she paid a handsome amount of money to him. The police disclosed that he did a similar action in a previous workplace. As a result, the dishonest employee was put in jail, and the owner gave up her business after paying a penalty.

A long time ago, a duke in Spain asked several prisoners in a galley why they had to work in the dark bowels of the ship. They all said, "We've done nothing wrong. The judge made a mistake" or "The witness took a bribe." However, one prisoner said, "I stole a purse, and I deserve what I now suffer." Hearing this, the duke said, "Let this prisoner leave this ship. He may pollute the others." He was set free because he told the truth.

A deep sea can be fathomed, but who knows the hearts of men? One best way to prevent theft and fraud in advance is to choose honest people at the time of recruitment. Here are my suggestions.

1) Does the applicant look straight at the interviewer or look away?

2) Does the applicant have clear eyes or blurry eyes?

3) Does the applicant wear frugal or luxurious clothes?

4) Does the applicant decorate his faces with expensive jewels or not?

In addition, you can call the job applicants' previous employers about his honesty and responsibility. Another strategy is to have all new employees work a month or two before they are officially hired.

The success of a business depends on whether or not you hire honest people. I wish you success with honest employees.





In-hwan Kim, Ph.D. has been teaching English for over 50 years in Daegu. He taught at Daegu University and Kyungpook National University. He now manages fish and tree farms on Jeju Island. He can be reached at likebosskim@daum.net
Puerto Rico's latest vote on statehood was met with a communal shrug, with most citizens either not caring or well aware the non-binding vote meant little.



Most likely, they realized that no matter the outcome, Puerto Rican statehood remains a long way off.



There's virtually no chance a Republican Congress and president would welcome a debt-ridden, dysfunctional state into the union. To be considered for a star on the American flag, Puerto Rico must first shed its status as an economic disaster.



Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello came into office last November promising to call the question on statehood. And last weekend, 97 percent of voters on the Caribbean island cast ballots in favor.



But don't be fooled by the 97 percent. Only about 23 percent of eligible voters cast ballots, an historically low turnout, indicating the island remains divided on the issue.



In fact, the low voter turnout  and the margin of victory  stoked skepticism, even among Puerto Rican members of Congress.



"Not even Putin gets 97 percent of the vote," Luis V. Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, told the New York Times. "We're going to take that seriously?"



During the presidential campaign, then-candidate Trump said the people of Puerto Rico deserved the right of self-determination. "The will of the Puerto Rican people ... should be considered as Congress follows through on any desired change in status for Puerto Rico, including statehood."



But after the weekend's vote  the fifth referendum on whether citizens want statehood, independence or to retain the island's current status as a commonwealth  the White House was non-committal, saying "only Congress can change Puerto Rico's status."



In truth, Puerto Ricans are divided on the question, too. Some actually prefer independence from the United States. Others prefer to remain a territory. As such, they don't pay federal income tax, though they do pay Social Security and Medicare taxes. However, they don't get to vote in U.S. presidential elections, though they do get to vote in primaries and send delegates to the political conventions. They also get one nonvoting member of Congress.



"The time has come for equality for Puerto Rico, for our veterans who have served courageously, and all who live there," said the island's congresswoman, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon.



Moreso, it's time for a program to reform Puerto Rico's economy.



The island's unemployment rate is 12.4 percent. About 60 percent of its children live in poverty. It recently announced it could not pay the $123 billion in bonds and unpaid pension debts it owes. According to the New York Times, the island of 3.5 million people owes approximately $34,000 for every man, woman and child.



Spending on social programs also remains high. A majority of its residents receive Medicare or Medicaid. And the high poverty rate means many of its citizens seek welfare assistance.



The economic crisis has spurred an exodus to the United States, with about 90,000 residents a year moving to states such as Florida and Texas.



By law, Congress must make the next steps toward statehood. But who wants to marry a failing state?



The statehood question remains a distraction. Yet Gov. Rossello is not giving up.



"We won't rest until the colonial status question is solved," he said, according to the Miami Herald.



To solve the question, Puerto Rico must first get its house in order.



(Editorials are the opinion of the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board and written by one of its members or a designee. The Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Rosemary O'Hara, Andrew Abramson, Elana Simms, Gary Stein and Editor-in-Chief Howard Saltz.)





This editorial appeared in the Sun Sentinel and was distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.




Hong Joon-pyo, former presidential candidate of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), has returned to politics after a brief stay in the U.S. with his trademark outbursts.



During the election campaign, the former South Gyeongsang Province governor said that he would not seek to take leadership of the LKP should he lose the presidential race. But he went back on his word by announcing his bid for the main opposition's leadership Sunday. The LKP will choose a new leader during the July 3 party convention.



During a press conference, Hong triggered controversy by making some distasteful claims against Hong Seok-hyun, former chairman of the JoongAng Media Group which owns the cable channel JTBC and a prominent local daily, the JoongAng Ilbo. He is also the uncle of Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who has been detained on bribery charges.



The former presidential candidate mocked the media mogul, insinuating that Hong devoted his newspaper and TV station for the election of President Moon Jae-in and had his nephew arrested, but only succeeded at getting the job of a "special adviser" to the president on unification, foreign affairs and security.



The remark shows Hong's distorted view of the media and disrespect of the law. The responsible thing to do is to apologize and withdraw such a ridiculous accusation. Otherwise, the paper should take legal action against the former governor. His remark is an affront to all journalists who have been performing their jobs in an impartial manner. Hong later denied that his remark targeted the former JoongAng Media Group chairman. As a loser in the presidential race, Hong's bid for the party leadership will not be seen favorably by voters.



People want someone with an innovative strategy for rebuilding the party and restoring the people's faith in conservative politics. He does not have the qualities required for this job. The LKP's approval rating remains low at around 10 percent. A party led by an irresponsible, haughty politician like Hong will only run into more disasters in future elections.




Ukraine's road agencies plan to build about 290 road facilities by the end of 2017, Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman has said.

The prime minister announced this during the road inspection on Tuesday, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

"I will be happy when all the roads are repaired. Last year, we held large-scale repair works across the country, this year we started with pothole repairs in April, and now we are doing the reconstruction. We will not stop and in three to seven years we will bring the Ukrainian roads to a proper condition," the prime minister said.

He added that at present a plan is being drawn up for the construction and reconstruction of roads in each region, and the State Automobile Roads Agency (Ukravtodor) is preparing a large-scale plan for 2018-2022.
North Korea's 'hostage diplomacy' is unpardonable



The death of a U.S. student Monday following 17 months of captivity in North Korea has caused fury and grief across America.

U.S. President Donald Trump called the North a ''brutal regime'' and offered his ''deep condolences'' to the family of Otto Warmbier. President Moon Jae-in also offered condolences, deploring North Korea's human rights violations.

Warmbier's death is already causing a serious backlash in the United States amid spreading anti-North Korean sentiment.

Warmbier, 22, was released by North Korea in a coma last week. He was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years of hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel.

Doctors said the University of Virginia student had suffered severe neurological injuries. His family said in a statement: ''The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible.'' But medical tests offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological condition.












By Kang Seung-woo





Sony's Xperia XZ Premium

As Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S8 smartphone is becoming a dominant force in the local market, rival companies with stand-out features are trying to prevent the high-end handset competition from going lopsided.

The Galaxy S8 and its larger sibling S8 Plus are going down as the best-selling Samsung phones ever with their sales surpassing 1 million a little more than a month after their official releases on April 21.

Sony Korea came up with its brand new flagship smartphone, the Xperia XZ Premium, late last month.

LG Electronics' G6 Plus

Its headline features, among others, are the 4K high dynamic range (HDR) display and the super slow motion video, both of which are featured for the first time on a mobile phone.

Plus, the latest Xperia smartphone has adopted Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor -- also the first handset using the top-end application processor among devices available in Korea. The Galaxy S8 series are also powered by Samsung's Exynos 8895 or the Qualcomm chip, but Samsung launched the phone with its own processor in the Korean market.

"The Xperia XZ Premium is a product loaded with Sony's state-of-the-art technologies in camera, audio and display and it will enrich consumers' choices in premium smartphones," said a Sony Korea official.

According to Sony, it plans to run tryout zones and other promotion events for consumers to experience its smartphone in a bid to boost its brand awareness.

LG Electronics has also made a bold decision to double the internal storage of its flagship G6 smartphone to 128 gigabytes (GB) to appeal to those who play a lot of games or use many applications. It will also release a 32GB variant of the G6. Both models will be available next month.

The larger G6 will also have wireless charging support, a feature that is only available on the U.S. models, while providing Bang and Olufsen earphones.

Additionally, LG plans to debut new colors to its G6 variant models -- Optical Astro Black, Optical Terra Gold, and Optical Marine Blue for the G6 Plus and Mystic White, Marine Blue and Terra Gold for the 32 GB model.

"LG's G series has always been about offering innovation and technology that we believe will appeal to as many customers as possible," said Cho Ju-no, president of LG's mobile communications division.

"By expanding the G6 lineup with differentiating features and colors, consumers will have even more options to consider when shopping for a new smartphone."

In response to the "challenges," Samsung is not just sitting back and it also plans to add new colors to its S8 roster.

According to the mobile industry, Samsung will launch a blue coral Galaxy S8 and a pink gold Galaxy S8 Plus early next month.

"Color marketing will help the Galaxy S8 maintain its solid sales for a longer time," said an official of the mobile communications industry.
By Kang Seung-woo



Samsung Electronics is expected to unveil the Galaxy Note 8 in August.



The world's largest smartphone maker is planning to unpack its latest flagship jumbo phone in New York, according to the mobile communications industry Tuesday. But Samsung did not specify a date.



The unveiling is strategically ahead of the iPhone 8's projected September launch and is designed to steal the show, according to market watchers.



There were expectations the Note 8 would be unveiled at the Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA), scheduled for Sept. 1 to 6. The IFA is Europe's biggest trade show for consumer electronics.



Samsung debuted its first Note phone at the IFA in 2011 and the annual show was also a venue for the release of two other Note phones -- the Note 3 in 2013 and the Note 4 in 2014. The Note 5 and 7 were unveiled in New York in 2015 and 2016.



The Note 8 is expected to come with a 6.3-inch display and features such as the Bixby artificial intelligence (AI) assistant and an iris scanner. It also is said to feature a dual camera that enables people to take both wide and regular angle shots.



A key issue for Samsung will be whether the Note 8 recovers the premium flagship line's damaged reputation due to the ill-fated Note 7.



The tech giant scrapped the Note 7 last October -- two months after its official release -- following reports of some devices catching fire while charging.



Samsung plans to release the refurbished Note 7 next month. It is renamed the Galaxy Note FE, which stands for "fandom edition."



The refurbished phone is likely to come with a smaller battery as a safety precaution. Its price is expected to be about 700,000 won ($616). The initial price was 988,900 won.



Around 400,000 FEs are expected to hit Korean shelves.




By Yoon Sung-won





Lee Gae-ho, the chairman of the economic committee under the advisory Committee

President Moon Jae-in's plan to scrap basic monthly telecom fees has practically run aground as the State Affairs Planning Advisory Committee is seeking alternatives to cut household telecom expenses.



During his presidential campaign, Moon pledged to scrap the 11,000 won ($9.6) basic telecom fee, aiming at reducing the telecom expense of households. The committee, which has been Moon's policy advisory panel, has urged the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning to come up with a plan to realize the presidential pledge.



However, the ministry failed to set out a plan again in its fourth report to the committee during a regular briefing session, Monday. The plan has faced strong opposition not only from three major telecom companies  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  but also from smaller budget mobile service providers. The ministry also said the plan lacks legal ground to directly intervene in private businesses.



Consequently, the advisory committee said it may have to seek other solutions to replace scrapping the basic telecom fee.



"The abolition of the basic telecom fee is possible only when telecom companies cooperate. I understand a law revision alone cannot force them to," said Lee Gae-ho, the chairman of the economic committee under the advisory Committee. "If the basic telecom fee cannot be abolished, it will be the committee's duty to seek an alternative."



In Monday's regular briefing, the ministry suggested other ways to cut households telecom expenses. Though the details were not disclosed, expansion of the telecom expense discount rate from the current 20 percent to 25 percent has been known to have been mentioned. The expansion of discount rates has been considered as a feasible way to cut expenses for the ministry under current legal statutes.



The ministry has also reportedly suggested plans to provide certain data packages at cheaper prices and to offer more public Wi-Fi access points.



Telecom companies showed concern that the government may impose other regulations that will limit their businesses.



"It is good news for us that both the ministry and the committee said they will keep talking to us about policies," a telecom industry insider said. "But uncertainty remains because we don't know what rules the committee may impose in the future and how much impact they will have on our businesses."



Civic groups revealed even bigger disappointment.



"It is an obvious retreat on a presidential pledge," an official at the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy said. "The impact of household telecom expenses will be much less if the abolition of the basic fee is excluded from the government's plan."
President seeks advice from religious leaders to help nation heal wounds from Itaewon tragedy
The Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce plans to delay its decision on the transit dispute between Russian gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine's national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy, Naftogaz legal director Yaroslav Tekliuk has said.

"This case is nearing completion. All oral arguments were made at the end of last year, and now the court is preparing its verdict, which should be handed down before the end of June. However, during a telephone conference with our advisor the court said it planned to consult the registry of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce to delay the final ruling. It's difficult to say how long the delay will be, but I think several months," Tekliuk said in an interview with the Kyiv-based Yurydychna Gazeta newspaper, the text of which Naftogaz published on its website on Tuesday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko during his working visit to the United States has met in Washington, D.C., with U.S. Department of Energy Chief Rick Perry, according to Poroshenko's spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko.

"The president has met with Perry. The next meeting is in the White House," Tsegolko said on Twitter on Tuesday.

The Ukrainian president will meet with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, after which he will hold talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. In addition, on the same day, the Ukrainian president will hold talks with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim.

It is expected that after negotiations with Trump, Poroshenko will talk with reporters.
U.S. President Donald Trump has given instructions to expand cooperation with Ukraine in the defense industry, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said.

"Our cooperation in the military and technical sector was emphasized separately. We're going to discuss it in greater detail with U.S. Secretary of Defense [James] Mattis now, but the president gave clear instructions to expand our cooperation," Poroshenko said following negotiations with Trump at the White House in Washington on Tuesday
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he was contented with the results of his negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence at the White House on Tuesday.

"Grateful to our partners for the support of Ukraine. Our meetings in the WH got very wide agenda. I am delighted with the results of the negotiations with @realDonaldTrump and @VP," Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter account.

Ukrainian Ambassador to the U.S. Valeriy Chaly said the meeting between the two presidents lasted for half an hour and was very constructive.

Poroshenko also planned to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and visit the Pentagon later on Tuesday.

First Deputy Chairperson of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Iryna Gerashchenko said Poroshenko and the Ukrainian delegation were scheduled to meet on Tuesday with the U.S. secretary of state, defense secretary, the IMF and World Bank management, senators, and other influential U.S. politicians.

It was important that the conversation between Poroshenko and Trump took place before a G20 summit, as "Donbas and Crimea will be among its subjects," Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook.

"At the meeting between the presidents of Ukraine and the U.S., Poroshenko and Trump discussed bilateral relations between the countries, economic cooperation, support for Ukrainian reforms, and, surely, the security situation in Donbas and the occupation of Crimea," Gerashchenko said. "This was a full-format and productive meeting," she said.

Security in Donbas and military-technical cooperation were the key subjects of Poroshenko's meeting with Pence, she said.

"They also attached particular significance to the issue of hostages, which is a priority for Ukraine. I'd like to emphasize that President Poroshenko handed a letter from relatives of the hostages and political prisoners held in the occupied Donbas and in Russia to Vice President Pence. We are appealing to the whole world with this request: help free the guys, we believe the U.S. administration will be actively cooperating with us on this issue," Gerashchenko said.
On Thursday, June 22, at 13.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference "Semen Semenchenko's Crimes". The participants will include ex-commander of an anti-tank platoon of the Donbas special battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine, member of the Bila Tserkva City Council Volodymyr Babenko; volunteer of the Donbas special battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Kalashnyk (callsign Kalash); volunteer of Donbas special battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine Oleksandr Dub (callsign Dub); and independent investigative journalist, self-defense activist of Donetsk EuroMaidan Artem Furmaniuk (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. More information by phone: (095) 105 4266.
On Thursday, June 22, at 11.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference "Health Ministry's Dreams of Reform: Lives Threatened Right Now." The participants include President of the All-Ukrainian Council for Protection of Rights and Safety of Patients Viktor Serdiuk, Chairman of the Board of the All-Ukrainian Society of Hemophilia NGO Oleksandr Shmilo, Chair of the 'Nation's Health' Union for Patients Rights Protection Valentyna Ocheretenko (8/5a Reitarska Street). Admission requires press accreditation.
On Thursday, June 22, at 09.30, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a round table meeting entitled "Electronic Declaration: When Will the Real Result Arrive?" The participants will include head of the 'Center for Combating Corruption' NGO, lawyer Alisa Kozulina; Expert of the 'Center for Combating Corruption' NGO Ruslan Anfilov; Vice President of the NGO "Anti-Corruption Entrepreneurial Front" Mikhailo Reyzin; Board Chairman of the "Institute of Tax Reform" NGO Olena Khotenko; expert at the "Institute for Tax Reform" NGO, lawyer Yuriy Tsymbal. Representatives of the Justice Ministry of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine, the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, the state enterprise "Ukrainian Specialized Systems", experts, public figures have been alto invited to the event (8/5a Reitarska Street). Admission requires press accreditation.
A retired veteran editor at the Los Angeles Times who keeps track of these things says that Monday's print edition of the Times "matches the known all-time low" page count: 32 pages all told. That's not good. Not too many years ago, the A section alone could be that many pages on a good day. This is a sign, on top of last week's buyout offer to newsroom employees with more than 15 years at the paper, that times are still tough and perhaps getting tougher at the LA Times. Newsprint is one of the biggest annual costs at a newspaper, and in general papers try to print the fewest pages they can get away with to carry all of the ads they have sold for the day, plus a decent amount of space for the actual product: news.

Another sign: the Times' Travel section on Sunday announced an unusual hiatus. From July 2 through August 13  right through the height of the summer travel and vacation season  the Times will not publish a print Travel section. I don't recall that happening before. The announcement posted in Travel explains that the section is being redesigned and will return in print on August 20. Redesigns are usually done in parallel with continuing to produce a section. Travel content will still be posted online, the note says. This too seems to be at least partly about newsprint; there were few ads in Sunday's six-page Travel section. It's not killing trees that the editors are worried about.

Meanwhile, two former Los Angeles Times senior editors were the subjects of a Politico magazine feature story on Monday. Dean Baquet was the LAT editor-in-chief fired in 2006 rather than impose Chicago-ordered cutbacks  for several years he has been the top editor at the New York Times. Martin Baron, Baquet's counterpart now at the Washington Post, was Business editor and held other senior positions at the LA Times before he left to work at the NYT and run the Miami Herald and Boston Globe  at the Globe he oversaw the award-winning investigation into Catholic church sex scandals and was portrayed by Liev Schreiber in the movie "Spotlight."



Politico graphic

Of the two major U.S. newsroom figures who the LA Times let get away, Politico writes:

Baron and Baquet are the two most important newspaper editors in America right now, at a time when the news media are tackling the most epic and consequential story of the past 40 years. Donald Trumps presidency has revved up the competition for news organizations far and wide; big and small; print, broadcast and digital. In the process, he has sparked a resurgence of storied legacy outlets like the Times and the Post, each of which has struggled with changes in the news business while doomsayers augured its demise. As with the rest of the media, their so-called Trump bump has been a boon in terms of scoops and subscribers, even if it may seem a bit like a huge bubble thats destined to deflate one of these days.

The story talks about their friendly rivalry for scoops, and how they are good friends who sometimes go to art galleries together. Baquet is 60, Baron 62. But also, "perhaps no two editors careers have overlapped and shadowed one another so closely."

In the past, theyve each contended to be the top editor at the New York Times and to have all the power and influence that goes along with that job. After decades of ups and downs for both men, Baquet eventually got that job, but at the same time, Baron got the glory and fame that only the most herculean journalistic achievements can confer. Now, their competition defines not only their careers but, to no small degree, the fate of the Trump administration. Every morning, each goes to work knowing that part of what he needs to do that day is to be better and faster than the other, while girding for the inevitable blowback from Trumps defenders.

Baquet became editor of the Los Angeles Times when John Carroll, the editor who recruited him from the NYT in 2000, left rather than carry out the cost-cutting that Chicago's Tribune Company wanted done.

Baquet, meanwhile, was riding high in L.A., where he and Carroll had set off on a course that would reshape the Los Angeles Times masthead, expand the papers Washington team, fortify its overseas bureaus and aggressively champion high-profile investigative stories. Over the next five years, the L.A. Times would win 13 Pulitzers under the duos leadership. There was a period where it felt like we were going to take over the world, Baquet told M magazine.... In November 2006, in a scene that would become the stuff of journalism lore, Baquet stood on a desk and announced to an embattled newsroom that hed been fired after refusing to make further cuts. It was a self-consciously noble act, refusing to lay off beloved colleagues, but also one that carried a hint of grandstanding. Luckily for Baquet, his decision to go out with guns blazing didnt deter SulzbergerBaquet rejoined his former paper as Washington bureau chief just two months later.

There's a photo with the story of Baquet standing on the desk facing the LA Times staff the day he told them he was leaving.

Noted: The writer of the Politico story, Joe Pompeo, has been snatched away to be senior media correspondent at Vanity Fair's tech, media and politics website The Hive. This is one of his last stories for Politico.

And a poach: The Washington Post and New York Times always like to grab talent from the other, and this time the point goes to Baquet. Post reporter Jose A. DelReal says he has been hired by the New York Times as a national reporter in the Los Angeles bureau.
PRESS RELEASE

China, Brazil Set Up New Investment Fund To Expand Productive Capacity

June 19, 2017 (EIRNS)Despite the economic and political turbulence wracking Brazil, and the uncertainty over whether President Michel Temer will even remain in office, on May 30, in a ceremony in Sao Paulo, Brazilian and Chinese officials officially launched the Brazil-China Cooperation Fund for Expansion of Productive Capacity. Discussions on setting up the fund have been taking place for some time, Xinhua reported.

Stemming from Xi Jinpings visit to Brazil in 2015, the $20 billion fund, of which China will provide $15 billion, will consider proposals for investment projects in Brazil in the areas of infrastructure, manufacturing, agro-business and high technology, among others. During the signing ceremony, Chinese ambassador Li Jinzhang emphasized that Brazil is "a priority country for the Chinese strategy of expanding productive capacity." The China-Brazil Fund, he said, "offers a guarantee of a financial mechanism to broaden cooperation" and "will create a new model of financial cooperation. Brazil-China ties are currently in a process of transformation," he underscored.

As follow-up, on June 16 a delegation of 35 Chinese businessmen arrived in Brazil to present investment opportunities and identify priority projects for investment. Ambassador Li emphasized here that the China-Brazil Fund

"should serve as a reference point for other Latin American countries ... [and provide] a systematic and productive cooperation between the two countries."

Brazils interim Planning Minister, Esteves Colagno Junior, emphasized to Xinhua that Chinas presence in Brazil is essential for Brazil to move forward with its economic recovery.

Since the coup against former President Dilma Rousseff last year, Brazil under Temer has been a less-than-enthusiastic member of the BRICS and has said little about the Belt & Road Initiative. During a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Aloysio Nunes Ferreira in Beijing, in the context of the BRICS foreign ministers summit, Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao suggested that as both China and Brazil are developing countries, they should work to implement the consensus reached by their leaders in terms of development strategies and intensifying practical cooperation. He called on the two nations to cooperate "within the Belt & Road initiative to deepen their comprehensive strategic association." China, Li said, hopes that Brazil will play a positive role in China-Latin American cooperation."
International trends and Ukrainian corporate governance practices were at the heart of the discussion of the participants at the IV International Corporate Secretaries Forum, which took place on June 16 in Kyiv. The Forum was organized for the fourth time by the Corporate Governance Professional Association (CGPA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), with the support of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission and ICSA: The Governance Institute.

In Ukrainian companies, the post of the Corporate Secretary is already widely used. The work of the Corporate Secretary is still poorly regulated by the norms of the national legislation in Ukraine, and the requirements for it are formed of the best practices of corporate governance applied in Europe and North America, the presence of a Corporate Secretary in the company structure significantly increases the level of communications, makes the entire Corporate Governance system more effective.

This year, the Forum gathered more than 140 participants, including heads of the boards, members of the management and supervisory boards, practicing lawyers in corporate law, corporate secretaries, specialists in consulting and audit firms working in the field of corporate governance.

"Traditionally, the Corporate Secretaries Forum is one of the largest platforms for discussing normative innovations, best practices of Ukrainian and foreign colleagues in the field of corporate law and governance," said Oleksandr Okuniev, the Head of the CGPA Management Board.

Olena Voloshina, Head of IFC Operations in Ukraine , addressed the Forum participants with a welcoming speech, stressing the importance of introducing the latest international corporate governance practices in Ukraine to increase the investment attractiveness of Ukrainian companies on the international market. She noted that the popularity of the Forum is growing every year: "Now it has become fashionable to have "the right" corporate governance and a "right" corporate secretary."

The Head of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission of Ukraine Timur Khromayev, Deputy Chairman of the State Property Fund of Ukraine Yuriy Nikitin and Director of the Department of State Property Management of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine Elena Dyachenko characterized the role of the State and its structures in the system of corporate governance. By their definition, the State in corporate relations acts as a regulator, shareholder, arbiter and "director for development." Timur Khromayev stressed that first of all an appropriate infrastructure should be created, which will include the whole range of financial instruments, and only on this basis in Ukraine the capital and securities market will be able to develop at full speed and form a request for proper corporate governance. So, the work of the regulator in this sphere is more perspective-oriented. Elena Dyachenko noted that the State should not continue to own most of the enterprises. There are industries in which private property is more efficient, therefore, it was decided that with the majority of 1500 state-owned enterprises in operation, most will be privatized. Yuriy Nikitin shared his opinion that without proper corporate governance, it is difficult to prepare an enterprise for privatization.

A lively discussion was prompted by the issue of introducing and selecting independent directors to the supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises. "We are talking about giving full power to independent directors. It seems to be correct. But we do not have a model of liability insurance for directors, there is no system for their disqualification. Issues of liability of officials, such as solved through a system of "derivative lawsuit," but in practice courts consider literally 2-3 cases, none of which is brought to a logical conclusion. The main problem is the lack of an institution that would apply these mechanisms, even if they existed. This situation raises some concerns, "said Oleksandr Okuniev, the CGPA Management Board Head.

As for the procedure for selecting directors for the supervisory boards, the CGPA project "National Registry of Corporate Directors" can help in this process, said Igor Mityukov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the NDU, who moderated the second session of the Forum. This session was devoted to innovations in the field of corporate governance, in particular, the GRC (Governance-Risk-Compliance) concept, which determines the development of corporate governance in the world.

Simon Osborne, ICSA Chief Executive, noted that one dimension of the future of corporate governance is the provision of an opportunity for everyone. One regulatory and legal framework for corporate governance will never be sufficient to provide "options for all". Its most obvious drawback is that it currently only applies to listed companies. The second disadvantage is that shareholders provide its role, and they are responsible only to their own stakeholders, and not to society as a whole. In addition, Mr. Osborne noted that the Ukrainian Corporate Governance Institute has become the official examination center of the ICSA: The Governance Institute in Ukraine.

Oliana Gordiyenko, EBRD, dwelt on the question for whom the corporate secretary works, because being a member of the jury of the competition Corporate Secretary of the Year, she was confronted with the fact that the Corporate Secretaries themselves do not always correctly understand their function and main task. "The corporate secretary should work in the interests of the company, ensure the integrity and conduct a dialogue between all interested parties, and promote and monitor the implementation of jointly adopted decisions," Mrs. Gordienko said. Representatives of Ukrainian business Oleksiy Povolotsky, Head of Corporate Governance Department DTEK, and Volodymyr Igonin, Counsel of Vasil Kisil & Partners, tried to draw parallels and answer the question, if Ukrainian practice is successful in world processes. Oleksiy Povolotsky answered the question of how compliance and corporate governance functions in the company can successfully complement each other.

Alison Dillon Kibiridge, IFC and ICSA Corporate Governance Expert, focused on the gender balance and its impact on company performance; she gave practical advice to women on overcoming gender problems in their work. The question of how a corporate secretary can help a company become better, and what new areas of responsibility for the corporate secretary are actualized and required by modern corporate governance practices were widely discussed. Somebody, who has high integrity, is happy with detail, trustworthy and has the courage to speak up. I dont think you want somebody who is comfortable to be in the background, but he or she should be happy to step up if they see something going wrong. I think to make the role more valued, it needs to be more visible, - Ken Rushton, the ICSA member, shared his opinion.

In conclusion of the discussions, the results of an annual joint research of the level of Corporate Governance of Ukrainian companies, conducted by CGPA and the IBI-Rating Agency, were announced. JSC Raiffeisen Bank Aval was recognized as the winner of the best practice of Corporate Governance in the banking sector in 2016, and Ukrtelecom PJSC became the best among the real sector companies.

The culmination of the Forum was a ceremony of announcing the results and rewarding the winners of the competition "Corporate Secretary of 2016" for personal professional achievements in the field of corporate governance in Ukraine.

The winner of the Competition was Alena Ageyenko, Head of the Corporate Governance Department of JSC Shipping Company Ukrrichflot.

Laureates of the Competition were Lyudmila Mikhailova, Corporate Secretary of JSC RETAIL GROUP, and Anastasia Andreeva, Manager of the Corporate Governance Department of DTEK.

The nomination "Dedication to the Profession" was given to Irina Varetsa, Deputy Head of the Corporate Rights Department at Ukrtransgaz, and Roman Kuzyuk, Director of the Corporate Management Department at Nova Poshta LLC, received the nomination "Promotion of the Profession". The nomination "Aspiration for Self-Development" was presented to Oksana Sivashenko, Deputy Head of the Department - Head of the Corporate Relationships Department of the Property and Corporate Relations Department of Ukrtransgaz.

For the second year in a row, the CGPA awards a special prize "For a significant contribution to the development of the profession". The winner - a company with outstanding achievements, breakthroughs in corporate governance - is determined by the Head of the CGPA Management Board. This year, the prize was awarded to the Group of Companies Nova Poshta for the success in establishing a Supervisory Board in a private company in Ukraine and the introduction of independent directors. The co-founder of the company Vyacheslav Klimov received the prize.

Official Legal Partner Vasil Kisil & Partners

Official Energy Partner: DTEK

Partners: Company "EMCON" Company "DM", JSC "Kremenchug plant of road machines", "Kredmash"

Event-provider: Event Envoy

With support: NCSSMU, SPFU, NDU, UAIB, PARD, IBI-Rating

General TV partner: channel "First Business". General information partner RBC-Ukraine. General news media patner: Interfax-Ukraine. Legal Media partner: Legal newspaper. Media partner: finpost.com.ua
PRESS RELEASE

Russia Cuts Off Syria Deconfliction Line with U.S. Military

June 19, 2017 (EIRNS)The Russian Defense Ministry responded to the U.S. shoot-down of a Syrian Air Force jet yesterday, by announcing that, as of today, the deconfliction line between the U.S. headquarters in Qatar and the Russian airbase in Latakia is shut down.

"As of June 19 this year, the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation has ended its interaction with the U.S. side under a memorandum for preventing incidents and providing for safe flights during operations in Syria and demands that the U.S. command carry out a careful investigation and report about its results and the measures taken,"

the Defense Ministry statement reads, reports TASS.

"The shooting down of a Syrian Air Force jet in Syrias airspace is a cynical violation of Syrias sovereignty. The U.S.s repeated combat operations under the guise of combating terrorism against the legitimate armed forces of a UN member-state are a flagrant violation of international law, in addition to being actual military aggression against the Syrian Arab Republic,"

the ministry said.

Russia will regard any flights within the area of its air force groups operation in Syria as legitimate targets, the ministry stressed.

"Any aircraft, including planes and drones of the international coalition, detected in the operation areas west of the Euphrates River by the Russian air forces will be followed by Russian ground-based air defense and air defense aircraft as air targets,"

the report said. The reason for the shutdown, the Russians said, is that Russian aircraft were operating in the same area at the time of the shoot down, and the U.S. did not use the deconfliction line at the time.

"We consider the actions of the U.S. command as a deliberate default on their obligations under the memorandum on preventing incidents and providing for safe flights during operations in Syria signed on October 20, 2015,"

the Defense Ministry stressed.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking in Beijing, where he met with his Chinese counterpart, called on the U.S. and its allies to respect Syrian sovereignty.

"Zones of de-escalation are one of the possible options to jointly move forward" against terrorism.

"We call on everyone to avoid unilateral moves, respect Syrian sovereignty, and join our common work which is agreed with the Syrian Arab Republics government,"

Lavrov stated.

"As for the events on the ground in the Syrian Arab Republic, it is necessary to fully respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. Therefore, any actions on the ground, and there are many involved parties, including those who carry out military operations, must be coordinated with Damascus,"

Lavrov said. This is what Russia is doing with Turkey and Iran in the Astana process, he said.

The Syrian General Command denounced the shoot-down, immediately after it happened, as a "flagrant aggression" that

"undoubtedly affirms the U.S. real stance in support of terrorism which aims to affect the capability of the Syrian Arab armythe only active forcealong with its allies that practice its legitimate right in combating terrorism all over Syria."

It added that the Syrian pilot was carrying out a strike against ISIS when he was shot down by the U.S. plane.
PRESS RELEASE

Xi Jinping: BRICS Cooperation Will Usher In a New Golden Decade

June 19, 2017 (EIRNS)Addressing the opening session of the BRICS Foreign Ministers conference today, Chinese President Xi Jinping underscored that cooperation among the BRICS nations "is an innovation, which transcends the old pattern of political and military alliances and pursues partnerships rather than alliances." The BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa] mechanism surpasses "the old mindset of zero-sum game" and instead "practices a new concept of mutual benefit and win-win cooperation." He emphasized that the BRICS cooperation mechanism fits very well the needs of the five member nations.

The Chinese leader also emphasized that

"the BRICS cooperation mechanism has been in existence for ten years and BRICS members have focused on development, which not only benefits the people in the five countries, but also offers a prescription for the world to address food and security problems.... BRICS countries are a community of shared interests and future."

He urged the member nations to give "full play to the win-win spirit," and work together to contribute to the organizations development. He urged them to prioritize development, and to

"follow multilateralism and the basic norms of international relations. As long as we think and work toward the same goal, the BRICS cooperation will be more productive and usher in a new golden decade,"

he predicted.

In his remarks at the same meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China

"is ready to shoulder the important mission of opening up the second decade of BRICS cooperation. China is ready for discussion on BRICS-Plus cooperation patterns and forms."

Asked about those expressing doubts about the BRICSs future, Wang replied,

"there are some questioning voices. I think this shows the international community is paying attention to the BRICS. Whether or not the BRICS is fading or not playing an important role, China believes that the important approach is that seeing is believing."

He said that all countries should recognize that the BRICS is making a major contribution to global economic development, and that the countries economies are showing strong "momentum and vitality."
PRESS RELEASE

Intervention for Yemen in Geneva UN Human Rights Council

June 19, 2017 (EIRNS)A presentation against the Yemen war was delivered at a side event of the UN Human Rights Council 35th Session by Schiller Institute activist Ulf Sandmark, speaking as part of the Yemen Solidarity group from Sweden. The speech, "Use of Terrorism in Global Strategic Irregular Warfare as a Human Rights Violation in Yemen," was turning the tables against those who claim that the legitimate government of Yemen in Sanaa are terrorists. The culprits are those who are pushing a regime-change policy by trying to impose an illegitimate president on the nation of Yemen, using terrorists for this purpose as a method of global strategic irregular warfare. Sandmark called for the start of a new Working Group to be set up under the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to investigate those who push global strategic irregular warfare.

The use of terrorists as foot soldiers for regime-change is an HR crime against the victims. But it is also a HR crime as it impedes the development potentials for Yemen to join the New Silk Road. This war also impedes the development potentials of the world Silk Road development. The cases I used for such HR crimes started off with the support for terrorists for regime-change purposes by Sweden and further on by Norway, U.K., U.S.A., and their allies.

The seminar against the Yemen war was held June 16, 2017, as a side event of the UN Human Rights Council 35th Session in Geneva. The seminar was organized by the Yemen Solidarity Association from Sweden and the international network of Yemen activists, Yemen Solidarity, together with the hosting Iraqi Development Organization, as a non-governmental organization (NGO) side event at the Office of the High Commissioner for HR (OHCHR) in Geneva. The three speakers from Yemen Solidarity were chairman Roland Hedayat, vice chairman Walid Almufti, and Ulf Sandmark, who were joined by two speakers from the Yemen Association in Germany, journalist Ebrahim Hedyan, and Yemeni HR activist Ayesh Awad.

Roland Hedayat in his prelsentation brought up the illegitimacy of the military aggression against Yemen, which has no basis whatsoever in UN Security Council Resolution 2216. The war has to be stopped immediately so that the great humanitarian crisis can be addressed, especially to stop the explosive spread of epidemic cholera, as well as the huge famine.

Ebrahim Hedyan reported on the HR violations against the journalists of Yemen, and Ayesh Awad continued bringing up the vast destruction of Yemeni civil society, and showed a short video with a message from the Children of Yemen.

The seminar was attended by 30 people and was on a direct video link with Yemen. The event was part of a broader intervention on behalf of Yemen which included statements (1.5 minutes) to the full HR Council with the representatives of all the member nations listening. Among the five activists delivering the statements was Schiller Institute friend, retired French Col. Alain Corvez. Also, Mr. Abdulhameed Dashti, MP from Kuwait, intervened against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and caused the representative of Saudi Arabia to try to block his statement. Together with demonstrations, these interventions in total became quite a strong NGO intervention to stop the war on Yemen.
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan launched a major push Tuesday to overhaul the tax code this year  including massive cuts  but Republicans in Congress and the White House are running out of time as they continue to battle over the details.

With the years legislative days dwindling, Ryan (R-Wis.) tried to jump-start the process with a major speech about what his staff described as the crown jewel of the Republican economic agenda.

Once in a generation or so, there is an opportunity to do something absolutely transformational, something that will have a truly lasting impact long after you and I are gone, he told the National Assn. of Manufacturers. That moment is here and we are going to meet it. Ladies and gentleman, we are going to fix this nations tax code once and for all.

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We are going to get this done in 2017, he said. We cannot let this once-in-a-generation moment slip by.

Speaking before Ryan, Vice President Mike Pence made the same promise to the trade group. He downplayed the difficulty of negotiations between the Trump administration and House and Senate Republicans.

Discussions will continue. Details are being worked out, Pence told the manufacturers, who strongly support a tax overhaul. But I can assure you, with your support and the support of our leaders in Congress, we will get tax cuts done and we will get them done this year.

Thats a formidable task.

There still is no tax bill in the House or the Senate as disputes among Republicans remain unresolved, particularly whether to enact a controversial border tax. Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin already has given up on his earlier hopes to get legislation passed before Congress leaves for its August recess.

Ryan now is aiming to get legislation up for consideration this fall.

If thats the case, then passing tax reform this year is definitely doable, said Michael Steel, a former House Republican leadership aide.

Tax reform is always hard and thats why we dont do it very often, but its incredibly important and this is a tremendous opportunity, said Steel, now a managing director at Hamilton Place Strategies, a public affairs consulting firm in Washington.

But in a tacit acknowledgement of the hurdles, Ryan did not wade into the policy disputes in Tuesdays speech as he laid out broad principles that echoed those of the White House.

The Trump administration has called for slashing the corporate tax rate to 15% from 35%, and providing more favorable treatment for overseas earnings. Trump also wants to reduce the number of personal income tax brackets from seven to three, with rates of 10%, 25% and a top rate of 35%.

The House Republican blueprint that Ryan helped draft calls for a 20% corporate tax rate. He told CNBC after his speech that hed love to cut the tax to 15% if we can get the numbers to work.

To help offset the cuts, the administration and House Republicans want to eliminate most deductions, including one for the payment of state and local taxes. Californians and residents of other states with high taxes and high earners would lose the most if that deduction disappears.

Republicans also want to eliminate the alternative minimum tax and the estate tax.

But the administrations sketchy plan, contained on a single page with 19 bullet points released in April, still lacks many basic details, including income requirements for the new tax brackets and any analysis of how much it would increase the national debt.

The only detail to emerge in recent weeks is that rich Americans might fare better in the overhaul. Last week, Mnuchin publicly backed off of an earlier promise he made that the wealthy would not pay less in overall taxes because lower rates would be offset by fewer deductions.

There are a lot of similarities with the House Republican plan. But the biggest obstacle appears to be its push for a controversial border-adjustment tax, which would subject importers to higher taxes than exporters or those that produce products in the U.S. for domestic consumption.

Such a tax could raise $1 trillion in revenue over 10 years. The money would help offset a sharp reduction in the 35% corporate tax rate.

But the business community is split on the border-adjustment tax. Major exporters support it. But retailers that import a lot of goods, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., oppose it. Senate Republican leaders and Trump administration officials are cool to the tax, which opponents argue would lead to higher prices for consumers as retailers pass on the cost of the tax to them.

David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, an influential conservative advocacy group, called the tax a political loser.

Any member who campaigned on lower taxes should not even entertain the idea of a border adjustment tax, McIntosh said Tuesday. He complained the Republican-controlled Congress has made little progress towards cutting taxes.

Mnuchin dodged a question on the border tax Tuesday during an appearance on CNBC. But he downplayed the obstacles to getting a tax overhaul enacted.

We fundamentally agree on what the principles are and were working hard to get the details ironed out, Mnuchin said.

Without the revenue from a border adjustment tax, it will be difficult to draft tax legislation that does not add to the budget deficit after 10 years.

If the plan adds to the deficit, Senate Republicans will need Democratic support to overcome a 60-vote threshold.

The other alternative would be to have the changes expire at the end of 10 years, which would allow Senate Republicans to pass the bill through a process known as reconciliation that requires only a simple majority.

The 2001 Bush tax cuts used that approach. In 2012, Congress allowed some of those cuts, for the highest earners, to expire.

Ryan on Tuesday declared that he did not want to pass tax changes that would expire after 10 years.

These reforms, these tax cuts, they need to be permanent, Ryan said.

Twitter: @JimPuzzanghera

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

ALSO

Ryan launches push to pass sweeping tax overhaul this year, but Republicans are running out of time

Opinion: The GOPs tax plan would hit blue states and charities hard

California Legislature votes to strip key powers from state tax board hit by scandal

UPDATES:

12:45 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Michael Steel of Hamilton Place Strategies.

11:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from Vice President Mike Pence and additional details about the tax plans.

This article originally was published at 11 a.m.
Shouts of What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now! rang out as picketers congested the Evegreen yard in San Pedro on Monday, temporarily blocking up to 50 trucks from entering the terminal.

Around 60 truck drivers and warehouse workers serving the Los Angeles and Long Beach ports began striking terminals across the region Monday morning.

The strike was called by the Teamsters union Local 848 to protest what it alleges is illegal subcontracting, misclassification and wage theft by trucking companies.

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The workers began to picket at 6 a.m. at XPO Logistics in the City of Commerce, then expanded to Rancho Dominguez and San Diego. Strikers also followed trucks and drivers as they drove to drop-off points in Los Angeles, Long Beach and the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, the nearby Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, where shipping containers are transferred between trucks and rail cars.

The picketers spread out across six or seven terminals and caused minor traffic delays for trucks coming in and out of the gates, according to Phillip Sanfield, spokesman for the Port of Los Angeles. Sanfield said there was no noticeable impact to cargo flow.

A spokeswoman for XPO said there was no impact on the companys customers.

This is the 15th strike by the port truck drivers in the last four years. The union contends that the workers are misclassified as independent contractors rather than employees, are not paid for all the hours they work and are forced to lease their trucks under abusive terms.

The strike announcement follows a pact signed June 12 by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia to move toward the goal of zero emissions at the ports and establish goals for zero-emission trucks by 2035. The union has complained that the goals dont mention the effect on truck drivers.

We support the push for cleaner air; our families live here, said Domingo Avalos, a truck driver for XPO. But the companies pass the burden of the price onto us.

Avalos, 53, said he was striking for justice and respect more than anything else.

I work 14 hours a day sometimes with no lunch or bathroom breaks, said Avalos, whose income supports his wife, daughter and two sons. Im fighting for my own justice, but also for the truck drivers behind me.

Edgardo Villatoro, 55, said that as an independent contractor he often works up to 60-hour weeks and has no benefits or health insurance.

When he came to the company six years ago, he said, XPO had him sign a contract that allowed him to lease his truck toward ownership. But after $60,000 of payments toward the truck, he still doesnt own it, and he feels the pressure mounting with each payment.

Villatoro said a co-worker signed the same contract, but after falling ill for a week and missing work the company terminated his contract and he lost all of his investment in the truck. According to a recent story by USA Today, such leases are common.

I feel trapped, said Villatoro. Im worried about getting sick. Constantly afraid.

The XPO spokeswoman said: We know firsthand that the majority of owner-operators prefer to work as independent contractors, and we will continue to advocate for their right to do so.

The strike is expected to expand to other companies Tuesday. Barb Maynard, spokesperson for the Teamsters Justice for Port Drivers campaign, estimates that more than 100 workers will participate.

jack.flemming@latimes.com

@jflem94
Cathedral ceilings, French doors and large picture windows enhance the cozy farmhouse vibe found inside this renovated beach cottage in Santa Monica. Complementing the 1920s home, once owned by actor Leo Carillos brother, is a soaking pool, a palm-topped guest house and a garage turned play room.

The details

Location: 343 Sycamore Road, Santa Monica, 90402

Asking price: $3.395 million

Built: 1923

House size: Three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms

Lot size: 6,567 square feet

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Features: Vaulted ceilings; French doors; chefs kitchen with stainless steel appliances and breakfast bar; great room; dining room; detached guest house; garage turned playhouse; soaking pool; fire pit; lush landscaping

About the area: In the 90402 ZIP Code, based on 10 sales, the median sales price in May was $4.245 million, according to CoreLogic. That was an 8.8% increase in price compared with the same month the previous year.

Agents: Frank Langen, Deasy/Penner & Partners

To submit a candidate for Home of the Week, send high-resolution color photos via Dropbox.com, permission from the photographer to publish the images and a description of the house to homeoftheweek@latimes.com.

neal.leitereg@latimes.com

Twitter: @LATHotProperty

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There is always fallout from company mergers and acquisitions. Employees are made redundant, competitors are gobbled up, entire cottage industries wiped out.

With Amazons proposed acquisition of Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, its not hard to see how grocery delivery start-up Instacart could be an unwitting casualty of the deal. But if Instacart plays its cards right, technology and business analysts say it could actually come out stronger than before.

The 5-year-old San Francisco company, which is valued at $3.4 billion, built its business by partnering with brick-and-mortar grocers  most of which lack the technological know-how to offer customers same-day delivery  and leveraging a network of shoppers and delivery drivers to get food to peoples homes and offices in less than an hour. Whole Foods was an early partner, and currently accounts for around 10% of Instacarts business.

Amazon has its own grocery delivery service too. And if its acquisition of Whole Foods goes through, it could bring its logistics expertise and broad reach to Whole Foods 460 locations. It could also potentially deem Instacart redundant, choose to not renew Instacarts contract, replace the service with its own and lock the start-up out of Whole Foods entirely.

But Instacart has options, analysts said, many of which could bolster its business.

Highlight your differences

If a competitor comes in to take your business away, you can compete with them or you can look at areas where they cant compete with you, said Ira Kalb, a professor of USCs Marshall School of Business.

One such area where Instacart can compete, Kalb said, is in the way it handles deliveries. Instacarts service offers flexibility where Amazons Fresh service doesnt. A person who wants same-day delivery from Amazon Fresh has to place his or her order by 10 a.m. that day, whereas Instacart allows customers last-minute orders and offers within-the-hour delivery.

Instacart also has more than 160 retail partners, making it a one-stop shop for people who want to shop from multiple grocers.

And while the company has not revealed its customer numbers, it said in a blog post this year when it raised $400 million in venture capital funding that a typical customer uses the service four times a month and spends around $450. Customer trust, repeated use and loyalty are all valuable assets, Kalb said.

If you cant beat them, join them

Years ago it was unusual for competitors to cooperate, Kalb said. But today, its not out of the ordinary for companies to invest in or lean on each other for success, even if they share the same customers.

Whole Foods bought a small stake in Instacart last year, which means if the sale to Amazon is approved, Amazon will own a stake in Instacart.

If I were them, Id have an conversation with Amazon and say, look, you already have an investment in us, so lets work together to improve your investment and make it more valuable, Kalb said.

Instacart, which is available in a little more than 60 markets, could benefit from Amazons household name and reach, while Amazon could lean on Instacart for delivery.

As I tell my students, dont be afraid of competitors, Kalb said. Youre always going to have competitors. Figure out your added value. But you can also figure out a way to work with competitors so youre both better off.

An Instacart shopper looks for groceries at a Whole Foods store in Denver. (Cyrus McCrimmon / Denver Post via Getty Images) (Cyrus McCrimmon / Denver Post via Getty Images)

Double down

When Amazon announced its acquisition plans, Instacart said in a statement that it was committed to helping grocers compete online and that its job was more important than ever given Amazon just declared war on every supermarket and corner store in America.

It was this mission that led Alex Mittal, co-founder of venture capital fund FundersClub, to invest in the company in its early days, and again this year when Instacart raised its Series D funding round.

Americans have to ask ourselves, do we want a future where we buy our books and knickknacks and healthcare and food and insurance and cars from one supplier? Mittal said. The precedent thats been set by more than 50 years of consumer purchasing preference is that Americans love variety, and we love niche experiences, and we very much love our neighborhood and local stores as well.

In my view, Instacarts value has suddenly gone up 10 [times].  Alex Mittal, co-founder of FundersClub and investor in Instacart

Instacart, then, can position itself as the savior of brick-and-mortar retailers who are seeing Amazon in their rearview mirrors, but havent yet figured out the tech for themselves.

In my view, Instacarts value has suddenly gone up 10 [times], said Mittal, who described Amazons Whole Foods acquisition as a catalyzing event that is likely to light a fire under traditional retailers and send them Instacarts way. Both consumers preference for choice, and the retail experience as we know it, these underlying forces will bode well for Instacart.

And even if Instacart is eventually locked out of Whole Foods, the grocery market hasnt changed, said Brendan Witcher, an analyst from research firm Forrester.

The grocery market is much more than just Whole Foods, Witcher said. Instacart might become more attractive for other grocers knowing they have to move quicker.

Dont talk smack

The one thing that Instacart shouldnt do, said Kalb, who has 45 years of business experience under his belt, is put down a competitor, which it may have done when it said that Amazon had declared war on grocers.

When you put down your competitor, youre putting down their customers, Kalb said. Its like when Hillary Clinton was running and she called Trumps supporters deplorable. Or when Samsung put down Apple customers for standing in line for a phone that has fewer advanced features than Samsungs.

Putting someone else down doesnt give customers a reason to do business with you, Kalb said. In fact, its viewed as such a mistake that IBM used to fire salespeople on the spot if they said something negative about the competition.

And so the worst-case scenario isnt that Amazon will lock Instacart out, Kalb said. Its if they anger the bear, which is Amazon, and Amazon comes up with a competing service that kills them quickly, because Amazon can do that.

Tracey.lien@latimes.com

@traceylien

ALSO

Speculation grows that Amazon will face a rival bidder for Whole Foods

Remember when Amazon only sold books?

Will Amazon change the food business  or will the food business change Amazon?

Amazon and Whole Foods could revolutionize grocery delivery. But do shoppers want it?
Celebrating #HarryPotter20: How Harry Potter and his blockbuster films came of age on screen

The Boy Who Lived has cast his spell on the box office since Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, the first film in Warner Bros. blockbuster franchise, hit theaters in 2001.

The bestselling, seven-book series was adapted into eight record-breaking films -- and a two-part play -- as the boy wizard ventured through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the wizarding world with his pals Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, taking on the enigmatic Lord Voldemort and his magical henchmen each school year.

As J.K. Rowlings debut novel Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone -- the first of the books from which the decade-spanning films were adapted -- marks its 20th anniversary, heres a reminder of how Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviewed the Harry Potter films. (Spoiler alert: He didnt always like them.)

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone film is imaginative and faithful but shuns any risk-taking (2001)

As his 11th birthday approaches, orphan Harry Potter learns that hes a wizard and enrolls at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where his reputation as the Boy Who Lived precedes him during his magical training.

The result is a remarkably faithful copy of the book that treats the text like holy writ (hence its 2-hour-and-33-minute length), wrote The Times film critic Kenneth Turan. From the gold in Gringotts, the safe-as-houses goblin-run bank, to the centaur lurking in the forbidden forest that adjoins Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so much is presented just as written that Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone starts to resemble one of those fiendishly exact replicas of great works of art that Sunday painters can be seen working on in galleries of museums.

2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets doesnt capture the well-balanced tone of the book (2002)

In their second year at Hogwarts, Harry and his pals Ron and Hermione contend with a celebrity author professor and a well-meaning house elf named Dobby who thwart the trio in unexpected ways.

The darkness that invades Chamber of Secrets underlines how well the books managed to exactly balance good and evil, dark and light, so that within their pages you seemed to be experiencing both at the same time. Not so here, Turan wrote. Because Chamber of Secrets cant seem to get the balance right, it ends up broadly overdoing things on both ends of the spectrum. The films scary moments are too monstrous and its happy times have too much idiotic beaming, making the film feel like the illegitimate offspring of Alien and The Absent-Minded Professor.

3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban film comes close to capturing the essence of the books (2004)

The wizarding world gets markedly darker as convicted murderer Sirius Black (Gary Oldman), who is believed to have killed Harrys parents, escapes from the Azkaban prison and the soul-sucking Dementors are loosed to chase him down. Director Alfonso Cuaron takes the helm from Chris Columbus, who directed the two previous films.

"[T]he final hour of the two-hour-and-21-minute Azkaban is the closest any of the films has gotten to capturing the enormously pleasing essence of the Potter books, wrote Turan, adding, Those three leads (Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, Emma Watson as Hermione, Rupert Grint as Ron) play characters who are now 13, an age when anger and frustration are more publicly expressed. One of the benefits of Cuarons direction, his expertise with younger actors, means that the constant determination and occasional fury exhibited by the characters, especially Harry and Hermione, are completely convincing.

4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire finally gets Harry Potter right (2005)

Harrys surprising inclusion in the prestigious Triwizard Tournament, as a fourth-year student, raises concerns and brings danger to the Hogwarts castle.

Its taken them long enough, but the movies have finally gotten Harry Potter right, wrote Turan. It has fallen to the veteran [director] Mike Newell, eager, in his own words, to break out of this goody-two-shoes feel, to make the first Harry Potter film to be wire-to-wire satisfying.

Though memorable acting is neither called for nor delivered on the part of Goblets collection of juveniles, Radcliffes Harry does get one thing exactly right. Watching him face myriad challenges, were convinced that Harrys heart will lead him to do the right thing. He does good in the most natural way and, like so much of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, thats just how it should be.

5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix cant shake an episodic feeling (2007)

With the Ministry of Magic refusing to acknowledge Lord Voldemorts (Ralph Fiennes) return, fifth-year Harry is brooding at school as he contends with spooky visions and Ministry transplant Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton). His knowledge of the dark magic-fighting organization, the Order of the Phoenix, and a prophecy further complicate matters.

"[Director David] Yates and his team handle the films visuals well, including the impressive sets for the atrium of the Ministry of Magic and its Hall of Prophecy, as well as fine flying sequences involving either broomsticks or equine creatures called Thestrals, Turan wrote. The director also works well with the films juvenile leads, which is important, because these are the raging hormone years at Hogwarts School, and that is especially true where Harry is concerned. Looking so disgruntled in his gray hoodie that you fear he might start rapping, Harry comes off as more Grumpy Potter than the bright light of the wizarding world.

6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is well-crafted but sometimes hard to endure (2009)

As dark magic spills into the Muggle world, Harrys mentor, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), tasks him with bringing down Lord Voldemort. But Harrys discovery of an old textbook teaches him more than he expected about his past.

Now in its sixth episode shot over an eight-year span, with two more features still to come, this one-of-a-kind film cycle has become as comfortable and reliable as an old shoe, providing a degree of dependability thats becoming increasingly rare, Turan wrote. As directed by David Yates, who did the previous film and is on tap for the final two, Half-Blood Prince demonstrates the ways that the Potter pictures have become the modern exemplars of establishment moviemaking. We dont turn to these films for thrilling or original cinema, we look for a level of craft, consistency and, most of all, fidelity to the originals -- all of which we get.

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 1" (2010)

The penultimate film sees Harry, Hermione and Ron venturing out into the real world to locate and destroy Lord Voldemorts soul-encapsulating Horcruxes as Hogwarts and the wizarding world fall to He Who Must Not Be Named.

Much of the plot of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows involves the attempt to find and destroy a series of Horcruxes, and if you havent a clue about what they are or why theyre important, you might as well stay home, Turan wrote. There is something different, however, about this Potter movie, and that is the words Part 1' that end the title. Understandably distraught about Hallows being the last of the phenomenally popular J.K. Rowling novels, Warner Bros. has split the final effort into two films and is likely kicking itself for not having thought of that with the earlier books.

(It should be noted that the studio reboots the wizarding world with the forthcoming Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them series. The first film hit theaters in 2016.)

8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2" (2011)

Harry goes wand-to-wand with Lord Voldemort, concluding Harrys final year at the wizarding school with the epic Battle of Hogwarts.

In a classic storybook finish, however, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2' turns out to be more than the last of its kind. Almost magically, it ends up being one of the best of the series as well, Turan wrote. The Harry Potter films, like the boy wizard himself, have had their creative ups and downs, so its especially satisfying that this final film, ungainly title and all, has been worth the wait. Though no expense has been spared in its production, it succeeds because it brings us back to the combination of magic, adventure and emotion that created the books popularity in the first place.

For more of The Times Harry Potter anniversary coverage, go here.
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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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A $7.5-billion Los Angeles schools budget set for approval Tuesday includes 121 layoffs and 180 reassignments that would result in pay cuts and possible additional job losses.

Among the hardest hit in the proposal are library aides: 30 would lose their jobs, leaving 43 elementary schools without library staffing because some of the aides work at two campuses. Thats about 9% of the library aides in the nations second-largest school system.

Others who would lose their jobs include some clerks, payroll specialists, accounting technicians, teaching aides and security aides. The number of central office administrators, coordinators and managers also would shrink by about 150. Many of them have tenure as school administrators or teachers and could return to these other positions  with reduced pay. The district believes it will have enough vacancies to accommodate them.

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No teachers are targeted for layoffs. Although declining enrollment means fewer positions for instructors, the reduction is expected to come through attrition, such as teacher retirements.

The hardest direct hit would be on Los Angeles 500, the local chapter of the California School Employees Assn., whose membership would be hit by 87 layoffs and 120 reassignments, said union President Letetsia A. Fox.

Its like were being punished for asking for and receiving a raise, said Fox, who is the senior financial manager for Dorsey High School in the Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw area.

Her union members, who include library aides, clerks, accounting specialists and technicians, received a 9.96% raise over a three-year contract that ends in June. Foxs members earn as little as $13 an hour, she said, even though the district announced three years ago that all employees would earn at least $15 an hour.

In all, Los Angeles Unified employs more than 60,000 full- and part-time workers.

The library aides would be an unusual breed of budget victims. They would lose their jobs because their schools decided to spend the salaries elsewhere, said Franny Parrish, a library aide and L.A. 500s political action chairwoman.

Although the district provides money for library aides to work three hours a day, using the funds for this purpose is discretionary. As a result, several dozen schools are spending the money on other things, such as classroom teaching aides or to make up for less revenue overall.

The salary reductions would come in several forms. Some employees would get a shorter work year and less pay. Other employees would bump to lower positions based on seniority rules. Then the less-senior employee would bump downward until there was an opening or nowhere to go, resulting in another layoff.

Many factors are contributing to a short- and long-term budget crunch.

In the budget proposal, district officials cut the schools expected share of federal anti-poverty aid, called Title 1, by 20%, anticipating that the Trump administration and a Republican-controlled Congress will provide fewer dollars. That has yet to happen in Washington, D.C., but L.A. Unified officials said they dont want to take chances.

As a result, the district estimates a 1.1% decline in revenue compared with last year, and has factored that reduction into school and district budgets. Even so, overall spending is expected to rise 6.7%, compared with last year, cutting deeply into district reserves.

Another pinch for principals comes from the recent extension of health benefits to more part-time employees, said Juan Flecha, head of the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles union. Flecha said he supports measures that will help the families of valued employees, but that a side effect is that the central office told schools they must contribute $5,000 for each employee who newly qualifies for benefits.

The districts long-term budget woes include increasing pension costs, lifetime health benefits for retired employees and declining enrollment.

howard.blume@latimes.com

@howardblume

Times staff writer Anna M. Phillips contributed to this report.

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Students and Jewish community members filed a lawsuit Monday against San Francisco State University and Cal States board of trustees, alleging that the San Francisco campus of the countrys largest public university system has long cultivated a hostile environment in which Jewish students are often afraid to wear Stars of David or yarmulkes on campus, and regularly text their friends to describe potential safety issues.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California by attorneys from The Lawfare Project and the firm Winston & Strawn LLP, was prompted by a confrontation in April 2016, when the mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, was invited by SF Hillel to speak on campus.

According to the lawsuit, protesters used bullhorns to drown out the mayors speech and yelled and chanted Intifada, Get the [expletive] off our campus, and From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free, while university administrators allowed the disruption to continue and instructed campus police to stand down.

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SFSU has not merely fostered and embraced anti-Jewish hostility  it has systematically supported these departments and student groups as they have doggedly organized their efforts to target, threaten, and intimidate Jewish students on campus and deprive them of their civil rights and their ability to feel safe and secure as they pursue their education, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuits allegations were immediately countered by outside advocacy groups, who said they perpetuate the idea that opposing Israeli government policies amounts to anti-Semitism. The two should not be conflated, and the aims of the lawsuit are misleading, according to advocacy groups such as Palestine Legal and Jewish Voice for Peace.

Despite this lawsuits claims, this suit is not about protecting Jewish students from antisemitism, it is the latest in an ongoing effort to silence advocacy for Palestinian human rights on campuses, said Tallie Ben Daniel of the Jewish Voice for Peace.

The lawsuit contends that the way administrators handled the April confrontation is consistent with other incidents on campus over the years. It lists other alleged incidents including a 10-foot mural put up on the student union building in 1994 that featured yellow Stars of David intertwined with dollar signs, skulls and crossbones, and the words African Blood.

After a 2002 peace rally, the lawsuit states, a group of students shouted Hitler didnt finish the job, Get out or well kill you, and Go back to Russia to the Jewish students who stayed behind to clean up and hold a prayer service.

Daniel Ojeda, the universitys counsel, said in a statement Monday that San Francisco State was not aware of the complaint and has not had an opportunity to review or respond to it.

We have been working closely with the Jewish community, among other interest groups, to address concerns and improve the campus environment for all students, he said. Those efforts have been very productive and will continue notwithstanding this lawsuit.

University officials issued a statement the next day disputing the allegations in the lawsuit.

San Francisco State University is deeply committed to the elimination of anti-Semitism in our community and to fostering a safe and welcoming campus for our Jewish students, the statement said. SF State remains committed to furthering free speech and defeating discrimination, including anti-Semitism. Rather than litigation, we welcome the plaintiffs, and any other organizations similarly committed to these ideals, to join us in pursuing that objective.

The lawsuit comes at a time when free speech has become a highly charged issue on college campuses across the nation, with many debating the line between hate speech and academic freedom.

Reports of anti-Semitic incidents on campuses across the country have increased in recent years. Assaults, vandalism, and harassment grew by 34% in 2016 and jumped 86 percent in the first quarter of 2017, according to a recent report by the Anti-Defamation League.

rosanna.xia@latimes.com

Follow @RosannaXia for more education news

UPDATES:

June 21, 1:50 p.m.: This post has been updated with additional comments from outside advocacy groups.

June 20, 6:46 p.m.: This post has been updated with an additional statement from San Francisco State.

This post was originally published on June 19 at 6:50 p.m.
The smell of something dead lingered around an old moving truck found parked in Fresno on a recent boiling hot day, officials said.

The odor was enough to prompt a resident to notify local authorities.

When animal control officers arrived about 3 p.m. Friday, they found a horrific situation: 955 birds, rabbits, piglets, guinea pigs and other small critters in the back of the truck, according to the Fresno Humane Animal Services.

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The temperature reached 107 in the back of the truck where the animals were tightly packed with no access to water, the nonprofit rescue organization said.

The truck was loaded up from top to bottom with bird cages, said Brenda Mitchell, the organizations board president. We immediately went into action.

Workers descended on the property to quickly and carefully remove the animals from the sweltering truck. As they searched the truck, she said, they found 18 dead animals and others that clearly needed help.

The first thing was to get everybody food and water, Mitchell said.

The animals were from a few days old to several weeks old. Workers discovered the cages were filled with ducklings, quail, parakeets, bunnies, love birds, chickens, roosters and finches.

Animal control officials think the animals had been loaded into the truck and prepped for sale. She said the critters were probably going to be sold the next day at a local flea market, she said.

The public demand for the animals has driven illegal sales, she said.

This is not OK, Mitchell said. Its illegal to sell them in the county.

The organization and the Fresno County district attorney are investigating the incident, she said. No arrests have been made.

Meanwhile, workers have had to use some imagination and creativity to find places to house the animals and keep them cool at the facility. They created enclosures for the quail to keep them from flying away and filled small wading pools with water for the ducklings and bunnies.

Caring for the animals has been a delicate balancing act.

Many of the critters are newborns and require lots of attention. Mitchell said 10 animals were too frail and died shortly after arriving at the facility.

On Tuesday, volunteers spent the day caring for the brood of young animals, including chopping fruit and vegetables for them, Mitchell said.

But the facility, which usually houses dogs and cats, needs more food and donations to care for the animals.

Its a sad situation, but we hope to find them all homes, she said.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
Two men were charged with attempted murder Tuesday in the stabbing of a man who works as a bodyguard for a nationally known figure popular among the alt-right, prosecutors said.

Edgar Khodzhasaryan, 30, of Glendale, and Arsen Bekverdyan, 31, of Burbank, were charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in the stabbing following a dispute in a Santa Monica parking structure on Saturday, according to Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorneys office.

Tim Gionet, a popular alt-right Internet personality better known by his Twitter handle, @BakedAlaska, identified the victim as Antonio Foreman. Gionet did not witness the attack but said he spoke with the victim when he visited him in the hospital on Monday.

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Gionet, who said Foreman sometimes works for him as a bodyguard, told his more than 175,000 Twitter followers that the assault was politically or racially motivated. Foreman is an ardent supporter of President Trump, and had been leaving an event in support of the president when he was attacked, Gionet said.

Law enforcement officials flatly dismissed the claim.

Prosecutors did not file a hate crime enhancement with the charges, Ardalani said. Lt. Saul Rodriguez, a Santa Monica Police Department spokesman, said the attack was spurred by an argument.

Theres nothing here that would lead us to believe it was targeted or a hate crime or anything like that, Rodriguez said.

Khodzhasaryan and Bekverdyan were exiting the parking structure and attempting to call for a parking attendant to help them operate the gate around 11 p.m. on Saturday when the victim made a comment to the suspects which led to an argument, Rodriguez said.

All three men exited their vehicles and a fistfight erupted, Rodriguez said. The suspects fled a short time later, and the victim realized he had been stabbed, according to Rodriguez. The victim, whom Rodriguez would not identify, was transported to an area hospital in critical condition.

Khodzhasaryan and Bekverdyan were arrested a short time later while being treated for minor injuries at an area hospital, Rodriguez said. Khodzhasaryan is also suspected of a probation violation.

Both were being held in lieu of $1 million bail, and were scheduled to be arraigned in the Airport Courthouse on Tuesday afternoon, Ardalani said. It was not immediately clear who was representing them.

Gionet is a former BuzzFeed employee and popular right-wing Internet personality who has many fans among the alt-right movement, a loosely connected fraternity of white nationalists and other far-right groups.

Foreman is also affiliated with the Oath Keepers, according to Gionet. The Oath Keepers, a group comprised largely of former law enforcement officers and military veterans, often provides security for far-right protesters and at demonstrations in support of Trump.

The group has been described as one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the country, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks domestic extremists and hate groups.

Gionet told The Times that Foreman was stabbed nine times by two suspects who made anti-white comments either prior to, or during, the attack. Gionet said Foreman, whom he described as one of his best friends, was in stable condition at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles on Monday.

On Twitter, Gionet alleged one of the suspects yelled, Youre getting the shank White Boy, before the attack.

james.queally@latimes.com

matt.pearce@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California. Follow @mattdpearce for national news.

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Police say killing of Muslim teen in Virginia was a case of road rage, not a hate crime

UPDATES:

4:30 p.m.: This article was updated to indicate that Tim Gionet did not witness the attack but spoke to the victim in the hospital.

4:05 p.m.: This story was updated with information about the charges filed against the assailants.

11:45 a.m.: This story was updated with additional information about the suspects.

This story first published at 10:10 a.m.
A woman was found dead Tuesday morning in a homeless encampment where a brush fire erupted near the 118 Freeway in Granada Hills, fire officials said.

The blaze started at 10:34 a.m. in a homeless camp near the Balboa Boulevard exit of the 118, according to Amy Bastman, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department. The encampment was surrounded by brush.

When firefighters arrived, they found flames burning dangerously close to a gas station and its fuel pumps, said Capt. Erik Scott, another LAFD spokesman. As the fire spread, flames scorched portions of the gas stations roof.

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But 26 firefighters worked quickly and doused the fire in 11 minutes, Scott said.

The womans body was found near a wall separating the encampment and the gas station, fire officials said.

Arson investigators were combing the scene for clues and examining burn patterns to determine what sparked the fire, he said. Investigators gathered surveillance camera footage from nearby buildings and talked to witnesses, Scott said.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

UPDATES:

1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with details about the origin of the fire in a homeless encampment.

12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with fire officials reporting that they found a womans body.

This article was originally published at 11:50 a.m.
As the first heat wave of summer reached its anticipated peak Tuesday afternoon, Southern California residents employed a variety of methods to keep cool amid the swelter.

From the Pacific Coast to the Inland Empire, children and adults sought relief in air conditioned malls, libraries and movie theaters, while others lounged in pools or on the beach.

Meanwhile, those who worked outside the shelter of climate-controlled office buildings guzzled water in a desperate attempt to stay hydrated.

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The water is key, said Tawny Auer, 28, as her sons Carter, 2, and Shane, 3, played at the Palm Desert Aquatic Center.

For the next two and a half weeks this is where well be, she said as her boys splashed each other and slid beneath water fountains.

In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Beverlywood, David Johnson worked to replace fiber optic Internet cables in the bright sun. A contractor for AT&T, Johnson said his crews truck was equipped with three, 5-gallon jugs of water.

Hydration starts the day before, Johnson said. Weeks like this when it gets really hot you drink nothing but water.

Construction workers try to shade themselves from the direct sun while welding a steel awning on a building in downtown Los Angeles on Monday. The heat wave was forecast to peak Tuesday. (Richard Vogel / Associated Press)

In a Canoga Park playground, a film crew tried to soldier on as the mercury climbed to 104 degrees.

Its definitely challenging, said Devon Downs, one of the productions directors. The equipment is hot. Weve had to change our shot list.

The crew had to stop shooting some scene when the playgrounds slides got too hot for the actors to sit on.

No one is keeping cool, said first assistant director Xavier Puslowski as he sipped water. But work is work.

The scorching weather is part of a system commonly referred to as the Four Corners High, a high-pressure system that settles over the desert Southwest near the Four Corners area  where Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado meet  and spreads smothering heat from Northern California to Nevada and as far east as Central Texas.

In anticipation of the heat, Los Angeles County posted a list of cooling centers online, while operators of Californias electrical grid issued their first flex alert of the year on Tuesday.

The California Independent System Operator urged energy consumers to scale back power consumption over the next two days or risk outages.

Customers should turn off unnecessary lights and major appliances between 2 and 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, when energy usage is expected to peak at 47,000 megawatts, the system operator said.

The agency serves about 80% of the states electricity consumers.

The multi-state heat wave that brought triple-digit temperatures to Southern California was expected to peak Tuesday, although the heat will probably fall a degree or two short of all-time records, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Curt Kaplan.

Excessive heat can be deadly! Do you know the signs of heat exhaustion and stroke? #cawx #heatwave pic.twitter.com/5AlOQw52Lu  NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) June 20, 2017

Record or no record, many Southern Californians still struggled to stay cool.

Tamara and Anthony Scott tried to see Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2" at the Woodland Hills AMC theater with their 6-month-old daughter. They chose an early showing in the hopes that no one else would come, but as soon as a few people trickled in after the movie started, they left the air conditioned theater, afraid their infant might be disruptive.

Man, we gotta stay cool, Anthony Scott, 41, said, watching his daughter fidget in her cushioned cradle. Tamara Scott, 43, said they planned to return to their apartment, where they may drink smoothies with frozen fruit for lunch.

Its a little scary, Anthony said of the heat as he lifted the cradle, heading toward the parking lot. The couple dressed their infant in light clothes and recently bought a mini-fan to help cool her down during the sweltering summer months.

Dangerous heat will continue through Wed, possibly through Fri. Increased risk of heat-related illnesses during this time. #LAheat #CAwx pic.twitter.com/6QEhJyrKLU  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) June 19, 2017

Francis Resendiz, 36, was prepared for the heat when she arrived in Thermal at 5 a.m. Tuesday to sort grapes under a canopy of vines in the Coachella Valley.

She brought sunblock and a hat, a handkerchief to cover her head and neck and another one for her face. She brought a small blue duffel bag filled with electrolyte drinks and water that she had frozen beforehand so it would melt throughout her shift.

Even so, she said with a sigh, the heat on the farm was hard to handle.

At 9 a.m., nearly four hours into her day, the temperature had already reached 102 degrees nearby. It was predicted to rise to 122 degrees later in the day.

As Resendiz weighed plump purple bundles on a scale and placed them in plastic boxes, she said the heat was one thing, but under the grapevine canopies it was humid to boot.

It starts to feel like youre suffocating, she said. Thats what affects you the most.

As she worked, a forewoman shouted out a reminder to the grape workers on her team: Tomen agua she said  drink water.

A couple of workers heeded her call.

Here's a table comparing today's highs with temps expected through Wed. Slow cooling trend Thu into Fri. #CAwx #LAheat pic.twitter.com/k2ChCDxKeR  NWS Los Angeles (@NWSLosAngeles) June 19, 2017

But others were fortunate enough to be shielded from the heat.

At the Woodland Hills Academy, about 150 students taking summer school classes were chilled by the schools air conditioning.

Ted Yamane, the middle schools principal, said the Los Angeles Unified School District had issued a heat advisory and he didnt expect students to spend much time outside Tuesday  mainly because theres no physical education class during summer school.

Still, the campus officials said they were prepared for the heat. Administrators checked air conditioning in every classroom throughout the day, Yamane said.

It isnt like when I grew up, said Yamane, who brought a large hydro flask water bottle to his office. When he was a student in the district, there was no regular air conditioning  only big fans, he said. It was a different time then.

Heading to @YosemiteNPS or @SequoiaKingsNPS this week to cool off? Stay away from the #SwiftColdDangerous rivers. Don't become a statistic! pic.twitter.com/uNUlkI07R7  NWS Hanford (@NWSHanford) June 20, 2017

For many, the only sure relief was the California coast, where temperatures hovered in the 70s.

At the beach in Santa Monica, Javier Perez, 38, picnicked with his wife, children and great-niece on an electric blue towel. They were visiting from San Francisco and staying in Burbank, where they spent much of their time sitting in kiddie pools to cool down. They came to the beach for a quick escape.

Its a little cool, its a little muggy, its a lot better than the Valley, Javier Perez said.

But some families were disappointed with the cooler weather.

Salvador Sanchez, 31, sat on a beach chair next to his wife, Stacey Sanchez, 25, as their 3-year-old daughter played in the sand. The couple had the day off work and had driven to the beach from their home in Montebello.

We were expecting to have the whole afternoon, but since its a little cold, only an hour or two, Stacey said. Well go home, take a shower, and then back to the air conditioner.

ALSO

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Very unhealthy smog levels expected during heat wave, SoCal regulators warn

UPDATES:

4 p.m.: This article was updated with reporting from Canoga Park and more details about an electrical grid flex alert.

1:05 p.m.: This article was updated with reporting from Santa Monica.

10:45 a.m.: This article was updated with reporting from Woodland Hills and the Coachella Valley.

9:45 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from outdoor worker David Johnson.

This article was originally published at 8:25 a.m.
For Mike Darby, hard work for an honest days pay means servicing Death Valleys septic systems when they reach capacity.

At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, the needle on a nearby vintage thermometer was pushing 113 degrees as he wrapped up a job at a gas station that is a popular pit stop for many of the roughly 100,000 people who visit this forbidding landscape of buckled earth and scruffy mountains each month in summer.

Two more stops and Ill have a full load of 4,000 gallons, Darby, 57, said with a satisfied smile as he helped a co-worker stow hoses, valve connectors and tools in compartments beneath the massive steel tank on the back of his rig.

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Septic tank worker Mike Darby in Death Valley amid Junes brutal heat wave (Louis Sahagun / Los Angeles Times)

Darby shrugged off the notion of sweating through a historic high in the park where the temperature is expected to peak in the afternoon at 126 degrees.

You have to be cut from a certain kind of cloth to do this work, he said, thoughtfully stroking his beard that was glistening with perspiration. Its got to be done, and I was made to do it.

Around here, he added with a chuckle, it also helps to drink a more than a gallon of water a day, and keep a wet towel around your neck.

A few minutes later, he and his co-worker were rumbling down the road, headed for Pahrump, Nev., where the sewage sludge would be treated and processed into products including effluent water and compost.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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A Highland Park man is facing charges of not only trafficking drugs out of his home, but doing so while running an unlicensed day care center, federal and civil documents show.

In a federal complaint, Felipe Talamante, 48, is accused of trying to sell 20 kilograms of cocaine direct from Mexico to an undercover Drug Enforcement Administration agent on May 25, court records show.

Talamante boasted to a confidential informant that he had 20 kilograms of cocaine worth about $430,000 ready to sell, the criminal complaint shows. The informant then allegedly connected Talamante with the undercover agent.

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When the men met to make the sale on May 25, authorities noticed that several children were playing in the front yard, documents show. One 2-year-old child was picked up from the home while the drug order was being placed, and officers conducting surveillance observed children of all ages being picked up and dropped off at Felipes residence, the criminal complaint said.

A childs mattress was found in the same room as the cocaine, and children were seen playing on the patio during drug deals, authorities said.

Federal agents arrested Talamante on suspicion of being in possession of cocaine with intent to distribute. Hes scheduled to be arraigned July 16, his attorney said. Hes being held in federal custody.

Talamantes home, meanwhile, is subject to civil action.

On Monday, the Los Angeles city attorneys office announced it had filed a nuisance abatement lawsuit against Talamantes property. The lawsuit asks a judge to declare the property a public nuisance and to take it away from Talamante, who could then be banned from the property for a year.

The lawsuit also seeks to keep Talamante from operating any day care center in the city and force him to pay tens of thousands of dollars in fines and penalties. The property would then be sold at auction with the proceeds going toward rehabilitating the location.

Police had previously arrested Talamante at the same home in 2015  also for possessing 20 kilograms of cocaine, according to the city attorneys office.

The rampant drug activity we allege at this home is a dangerous blight on the community  and especially alarming because little kids are caught up in the middle of it. Imagine if your children were being cared for in the same house where cocaine was being sold, City Atty. Mike Feuer said in a statement. My office will do everything in our power to shut down what we allege is an incredibly toxic combination of illegal drugs and day care.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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Four more cadets were arrested as part of the Los Angeles Police Departments widening investigation into a group of teenagers who allegedly stole police cars  an embarrassing episode for the department that drew national headlines when it surfaced last week.

LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said at a Police Commission meeting Tuesday that the four cadets from the departments 77th Street Division were arrested in connection with taking police vehicles or joyriding in them. That brings to seven the number of cadets who have now been arrested as part of the investigation. All but one were from the 77th Street station.

Those arrested range in age from 14 to 18, police said Tuesday. Beck initially said one of the cadets arrested was 20, but police have identified that cadet as Leonel Flores, an 18-year-old L.A. resident. The names of the other cadets apprehended have not been released because they are minors.

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Reached by phone Tuesday afternoon, Flores mother declined to say much about her sons arrest, saying she was very worried about him, the cadet program and the station where he was assigned.

I am confident my son is innocent, Sonia Flores said. We hope this situation is resolved quickly.

Beck also said that investigators believe some of the cadets conducted at least one traffic stop in one of the stolen cruisers, gave the driver a warning and then let the motorist go. Investigators do not believe the cadets handcuffed, arrested or used force against the driver, he stressed, but the detention alone could bring additional criminal charges.

Sources who were not authorized to speak publicly about the case said the cadets pulled over a driver suspected of having expired tags.

The new details come as investigators continue to piece together events that unfolded a week ago, when three cadets were caught driving two of the stolen cars. The episode prompted serious questions about how a group of teenagers were allegedly able to steal police cars and items such as Tasers and police radios without anyone noticing.

A spokesman for Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday called the incident completely unacceptable.

Along with the criminal investigation, the department is in the midst of what Beck has described as a top to bottom review of the long-esteemed cadet program as well as the internal systems the LAPD uses to track its equipment.

The chief cautioned that investigators were still interviewing cadets and may uncover additional wrongdoing.

We are pressing forward with this to make sure that we find everybody involved, he said.

The thefts were discovered a week ago when three of the cadets led LAPD officers on two pursuits that ended abruptly in separate crashes, police have said. Another LAPD cruiser  this one driven by an officer  also crashed during the chase, but no officers were injured.

The three teenagers were arrested. Detectives later discovered that the cadets had stolen a third police car along with a bulletproof vest, two stun guns and two police radios, Beck said last week.

No additional equipment was recovered during the most recent arrests, Beck said Tuesday. The department is conducting a citywide check to ensure all of its gear is accounted for.

One of the stolen vehicles may have been missing since late May, Beck said. Sources told The Times that one of the missing vehicles had 1,000 additional miles on its odometer.

LAPD investigators are focusing their inquiry on the 77th Street station, where most of the accused cadets worked. Beck told police commissioners Tuesday that there was lax oversight of equipment at the division, but he did not elaborate.

Later, the chief said he was referring to the stations kit room, where officers check equipment in and out.

A police source, speaking anonymously because they were not authorized to talk about the case, said there werent enough officers at the 77th Street station to assign someone solely to the kit room.

On Tuesday, the union representing rank-and-file officers weighed in, saying that inadequate kit room security at LAPD stations was another consequence of having too few police officers working in the city.

These types of catastrophes will continue unless bold action is taken, the Los Angeles Police Protective League said in a statement.

Beck has suspended the cadet program at the 77th Street and Pacific divisions, where one of the arrested cadets was based. Captains are meeting one on one with every cadet at those divisions, Beck said, and will meet with parents as well.

The chief is planning to personally address the cadets at a graduation ceremony scheduled for Saturday. Beck said that he had told all cadets  even those who are not graduating  to attend.

Thousands of young people have participated in the LAPDs cadet program over the years, and about 2,300 are currently enrolled. The program aims to foster strong relationships between the citys youth and police and help teenagers develop life and leadership skills.

Cadets participate in an 18-week training program, after which they can be assigned to one of the citys police stations. There, cadets can volunteer for a wide array of tasks, such as working community events or passing out fliers alerting residents about crime.

Beck and the citys police commissioners emphasized their support for the program, saying the very bad decisions of a few teenagers should not detract from the other 2,300 involved.

We need to do what we can to make sure incidents like this dont happen again  but we also dont want to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, said Matt Johnson, the Police Commissions president. Its a great program.

Los Angeles Times Staff Writers James Queally and Richard Winton contributed to this report.

kate.mather@latimes.com

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Follow @katemather and @VeronicaRochaLA for more police news.

ALSO

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UPDATES:

7:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about oversight of LAPD equipment and comments from the police union. It has been edited for clarity.

3:30 p.m.: This article was updated with the identity of one of the cadets arrested as part of the investigation and a comment from that cadets mother.

1:40 p.m.: This article was updated with additional information about the investigation and comments from Beck and Police Commission President Matt Johnson.

11:20 a.m.: This article was updated with additional information about the investigation and the cadet program.

10:35 a.m.: This article was updated with comments from Police Chief Charlie Beck.

This article was originally published at 10:05 a.m.
When a grand jury released its report last week on a scandal that has plagued Orange County law enforcement for years, it made its conclusion clear in the title.

The Myth Of The Orange County Jailhouse Informant Program sharply contradicted claims that sheriffs and district attorneys officials had run a secret operation that employed jailhouse snitches to obtain confessions from criminal defendants.

But the grand jurys report is unlikely to be the final word as a slew of questions persist about the handling of jailhouse informants.

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The U.S. Department of Justice and the California attorney generals office are actively investigating the matter.

A Superior Court judge who has said evidence points to the existence of an informant program is now holding a lengthy hearing on how much sheriffs officials knew about the use of snitches in the county lockups  a hearing where Sheriff Sandra Hutchens is expected to testify later this month.

And Anaheim police launched a separate investigation, sparked by criticism from the grand jury, into the departments handling of informants in a 2011 gang investigation.

Some defense attorneys have blasted the grand jurys findings and questioned how the panel could consider its investigation complete while court hearings about the matter remain ongoing.

Just because some grand jury didnt do their job, or came to this from a particular vantage point, doesnt change the facts, said Orange County Asst. Public Defender Scott Sanders. These folks knew too little and didnt want to know too much.

The scandal grew out the murder case against Scott Dekraai, a former tugboat captain who confessed to shooting his ex-wife and seven other people at a Seal Beach salon in 2011.

Sanders, who is representing Dekraai, has claimed prosecutors and deputies conspired to house a longtime jail informant next to Dekraai in order to obtain information that could lead to a death sentence. Since the informant, a reputed Mexican Mafia shot caller, was acting as an agent of the government, Dekraais right to have his lawyer present was violated, Sanders argued.

Prosecutors have dismissed the placement of the informant as purely coincidental. During an ongoing evidentiary hearing in Dekraais case, sheriffs deputies have blamed the misuse of informants on a small number of colleagues in the jails. The grand jury report came to the same conclusion, saying any misconduct was the work of a few rogue deputies who got carried away with efforts to be crime-fighters.

But Sanders allegations have frozen sentencing proceedings against Dekraai, who pleaded guilty to the murders in 2014. A year later Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals barred Rackauckas office from prosecuting the case, ruling that authorities failed to turn over key information about the use of informants. Dekraais prosecution is now being handled by the attorney generals office.

Goethals has said he is satisfied beyond any doubt that the Sheriffs Department had a program that placed informants next to inmates with the aim of coaxing confessions out of them  a practice the law forbids. An appellate court upheld his decision to remove the district attorneys office from Dekraais case in an opinion that echoed Goethals comment, saying the Sheriffs Department was running a sophisticated informant program in the jails.

Goethals is now hearing daily testimony from county jailers on what they knew about the informants and their work in the jails and why sheriffs officials have repeatedly failed to turn over evidence.

Its a whitewash.  Paul Wilson, whose wife was killed in the Seal Beach shooting, of the grand jurys report

A relative of one of Dekraais victims assailed the grand jury report as nothing more than the work of puppets serving at Rackauckas behest.

Were sitting through this for the last two years listening to this snitch scandal and theyre calling it a myth? said Paul Wilson, whose wife was killed in the Seal Beach shootings, during a break in the evidentiary hearing in Santa Ana. Its a whitewash. Theyre supporters of Tony Rackauckas and his incompetent D.A.'s office. His office had [the Dekraai case] and blew it and turned it into a shambles, and theres no excuse for that.

Carrie Carmody, the grand jury foreperson, defended the findings, which also called on Goethals to end his inquiry and leave the investigating to state and federal authorities. She said her staff launched a thorough and objective investigation, free of influence from Rackauckas or Hutchens.

Nobody on this jury came in advocating for the sheriff and the D.A. from the start. We went where the evidence followed, she said. I dont think our report completely exonerates anybody. It simply says there wasnt a conspiracy.

A spokeswoman for the district attorneys office referred questions to a statement issued by the agency earlier this week. In those remarks, Rackauckas praised the grand jury report and dismissed the controversy as a product of Sanders attempts to spare Dekraai from a death penalty verdict and excessive, inaccurate media coverage.

A Sheriffs Department spokesman said he could not comment further due to the pending court hearing, adding only that the agency welcomes the continued investigations.

In addition to affecting Dekraais case, the scandal has led to retrials in at least three other murder cases across Orange County in recent years. In two of those, judges ruled that prosecutors had unlawfully withheld information about the use of informants, or their background as prolific snitches, from defense attorneys. In a third, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to vacate a murder conviction after it was found that some information was mistakenly withheld in discovery.

One of those defendants was convicted of a lesser charge during his retrial and the other received a lighter sentence as part of a plea deal. The third defendant, Henry Rodriguez, is awaiting retrial in connection with the 1998 killing of a pregnant woman.

Sanders and defense attorney James Crawford, who secured the retrial for Rodriguez last year, said the grand jury failed to conduct a thorough investigation. In addition to publishing their report before Hutchens could testify in the Dekraai hearings, grand jurors did not interview several defense attorneys involved in cases related to the scandal, according to Sanders and Crawford.

Sanders said he was the only one summoned to appear.

I never even got a message, not a phone call, Crawford said. How are they making decisions that theres not a system-wide program?

Carmody did not respond to calls seeking comment about the timing of the reports release during the evidentiary hearing in Goethals courtroom or criticism that defense attorneys werent interviewed.

In addition to the rulings of Goethals and the appellate court, some sheriffs officials have acknowledged the existence of an informant operation in the jails.

Orange County Sheriffs Department Lt. Martin Ramirez, a former sergeant in the jails who testified under immunity, said in court this week that a part of the jail had been used to place informants next to inmate targets with the aim of gathering information.

In its report, the grand jury said the use of informants in the jail was normally organic, with inmates volunteering information rather than being recruited by deputies. The grand jury reviewed thousands of pages of log entries by deputies tasked with handling informants in the jail. Sanders has argued that the documents are proof of a jailhouse snitch network, but the report dismissed the logs importance, criticizing deputies only for making juvenile, ethnically insensitive comments within its pages.

I dont think our report completely exonerates anybody. It simply says there wasnt a conspiracy.  Carrie Carmody, foreperson of the Orange County grand jury

The log is under seal. A sheriffs department spokesman declined to comment on its contents or on what, if any, discipline has resulted against deputies over the handling of jail informants.

Two deputies are on administrative leave as a result of the scandal, and their internal affairs cases remain on hold until the state and federal probes are resolved, according to Capt. Tom Dominguez, president of the union that represents sheriffs deputies.

The grand jury report raised concerns about the Anaheim Police Departments use of informants, saying the agency failed to tell prosecutors about the backgrounds of two informants whose testimony was used to bring charges against roughly 30 gang members in 2011. In a statement, Anaheim Police Chief Raul Quezada said he had ordered an internal review.

Earlier this year, Crawford filed a motion seeking to vacate the conviction in a 2008 Anaheim murder case.

His clients conviction was based largely on the testimony of one informant and a co-defendant, Crawford has said. One of them, he said in court records, was a known snitch housed in Orange Countys jails.

Crawfords court filing alleges that prosecutors failed to disclose the informants history of aiding police and the co-defendants discussions with an investigator about a possible lighter sentence in exchange for his testimony. A judge has yet to decide the merits of the filing.

james.queally@latimes.com

christopher.goffard@latimes.com

Follow @JamesQueallyLAT and @LATChrisGoffard for news about the Orange County informant scandal.

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A police officer shot a man while responding to a domestic violence call in Sherman Oaks late Monday night, authorities said.

Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived at the 4200 block of Matilija Avenue about 11 p.m. and found a 75-year-old man holding a steak knife, authorities said. Police tried to de-escalate the situation but werent able to do so, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said during Tuesdays Police Commission meeting. At some point, police used a Taser, and ultimately an officer shot the man once in his torso, he said.

The man was transported to a hospital in critical but stable condition, and no officers were injured, said LAPD Officer Irma Mota.

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A steak knife was recovered and officers from the LAPD Force Investigation Division were at the scene Tuesday morning, Mota said. She did not know how many officers were present at the time of the shooting, and said there were no body cameras or in-car video.

Times reporter Kate Mather contributed to this post.

Reach Sonali Kohli at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com or on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli.

UPDATES:

3:35 p.m.: This article was updated with the mans age and information from L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck.

This article originally published at 9:55 a.m.
Firefighters continued battling a wildfire Tuesday in the San Bernardino Mountains as flames spread into the rugged terrain amid a sweltering heat wave.

Mandatory evacuations were briefly issued for the area of Holcomb Valley Road and Highway 18 in Baldwin Lake, but the orders were lifted by 5:30 p.m., according to the Big Bear Fire Department.

The evacuation order was prompted by an abrupt shift in winds, and the sheriffs station in Big Bear urged residents to be prepared in case of another sudden change.

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The fire has burned 1,200 acres and was 10% contained Tuesday night, officials said. More than 1,000 firefighters were assigned to control the blaze.

The blaze, dubbed the Holcomb fire, began about 3 p.m. Monday near Holcomb Valley Road and North Shore Drive, the Big Bear Fire Department said.

Flames chewed through dry chaparral and timber as it moved closer to Highway 18, which is closed between Baldwin Lake and Mitsubishi Plant roads, said U.S. Forest Service Battalion Chief Chon Bribiescas.

In what was the hottest day of the year so far in the mountains, two firefighters suffered heat-related injuries as the blaze spread across an estimated 850 acres in its first few hours, officials said.

The #HolcombFire continues to burn near Big Bear. @Sky5Tim has been monitoring the 850 acre fire. pic.twitter.com/UZXXMC9s8Z  Nidia Becerra (@nidia_b) June 20, 2017

Temperatures reached 89 degrees in the mountain area Monday, and on Tuesday, the high was near 86 degrees, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Wind gusts reached 20 mph, officials said.

Having no cloud cover, high temperatures and those relative low humidities, its going to burn pretty good, National Weather Service meteorologist Jimmy Taeger said.

Conditions are expected to improve slightly in the coming days as the heat spell subsides, he said.

The flames generated large plumes of smoke that were visible across the region. The smoke and wind prompted the South Coast Air Quality Management District to issue a smoke advisory, warning of unhealthy air in the eastern San Bernardino Mountains.

Staff writer Veronica Rocha and Matt Hamilton contributed to this report.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

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UPDATES:

8:50 p.m.: This article was updated with details on the growth of the fire.

6:55 p.m.: This article was updated with confirmation that the evacuations have been lifted.

4 p.m.: This article was updated with mandatory evacuations issues in Baldwin Lake.

9 a.m.: This article was updated with the fires new acreage.

This article was first published at 6:45 a.m.
A man was fatally shot by South Gate police Tuesday morning following a pursuit that ended in a crash involving multiple vehicles, authorities said.

The man was struck by gunfire and pronounced dead at the scene in South Gate, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, which is assisting in the investigation. No officers were injured.

Capt. Darren Arakawa, a South Gate police spokesman, told KTLA-TV that officers were patrolling a neighborhood just after 7:45 a.m. when they received an alert about a stolen vehicle in the area.

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As the officers investigated, they got additional information indicating the vehicle may have been linked to a carjacking in Los Angeles, he said.

A squad of police cruisers began following the vehicle and tried to stop it.

But the motorist continued driving and crashed into a vehicle at the intersection of California Avenue and Santa Ana Street, Arakawa told the news station. That vehicle collided with a second vehicle.

The suspect then struck three parked vehicles, the captain said.

After the crash, the suspect left the stolen vehicle and ran into an apartment complex, where the police shooting occurred, he said.

Two people injured during the crash were taken to hospitals in the area, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA
It is a wrenching question with vast social and political significance: What role does race play when police stop and search motorists?

Stanford University researchers said Monday they have found evidence that black and Latino drivers face a double standard and that police require far less suspicion to search them than their white counterparts.

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The finding is based on analysis of more than 60 million police stops in 20 states from 2011 to 2015. The database, the largest collection of traffic-stop data ever compiled, was made public Monday by the Stanford Open Policing Project. More than 20 million Americans annually are stopped for traffic violations, according to the study.

Researchers from Stanfords Computational Journalism Lab and the School of Engineering found that black drivers are generally stopped at a higher rate than white motorists, and Latinos are stopped at a similar or lower rate than whites, after adjusting for age, gender, time and location.

After being stopped, black and Latino drivers are ticketed, searched and arrested more often than whites. For example, when pulled over for speeding, black drivers are 20% more likely than whites and Latino drivers 30% more likely than whites to be ticketed. Black and Latino drivers are about twice as likely to be searched compared with whites.

The findings come as phone and dash cam videos of black and Latino motorists being stopped in violent encounters have filled the airwaves. Images like that of Texas motorist Sandra Bland, an African American who later died in jail, being confronted violently by a state trooper have fueled the debate, according to the studys authors.

The study found that in Los Angeles County, black drivers are stopped more than whites and Latinos.

For every 100 black drivers, about 15 were pulled over, compared with 10 stops for every 100 white and Latino driver. Black drivers in the county were searched six times per 100 stops; the rate for Latinos was four searches per 100 stops and for whites, two searches per 100 stops.

But researchers noted such disparities alone do not automatically indicate racial bias, but rather could reflect differences in driving behavior and other factors.

So the Stanford group sought to refine their analysis with a test that seeks to answer the question: What level of suspicion must an officer have to search and how does this threshold of suspicion relate to the race or ethnicity of the driver?

Their answer was that blacks and Latinos are searched on the basis of far less evidence than whites.

The threshold test combines information from both the search rates of racial and ethnic groups and the rate at which those searches were successful in finding contraband.

The data show a clear double standard, said Cheryl Phillips, a professor of journalism and part of the team.

When we applied the threshold test to our traffic stop data, we find police require less suspicion to search black and Hispanic drivers than whites. This double standard is evidence of discrimination, the findings noted.

The threshold test was done with data from nine states. Phillips said some states, including California, did not indicate whether contraband was found during a search, making a correct analysis difficult.

Sharad Goel, assistant professor and leader of the Stanford Law, Order & Algorithms Project, said the researchers are seeking to develop a platform to help understand and improve policing.

Many law enforcement leaders were receptive to the idea.

Anything that we can use for eliminating bias-based policing we will use, said Gardena Police Chief Ed Medrano.

Medrano is chairman of Californias Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, established in 2016 to help eliminate profiling in law enforcement. The advisory board is an outgrowth of AB 953, which was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2015 and requires collection of data on police stops and detentions as well as citizen complaints alleging racial and identity profiling.

The Stanford data could be useful in designing training programs and making other policy changes, said Medrano, who is also president of California Police Chiefs Assn.

And Medrano said he believes AB 953 will ensure that California generates more detailed and accurate data.

In another finding from the Stanford study, researchers found that legalization of recreational use of marijuana in Colorado and Washington in 2012 reduced the total number of searches conducted by police for all racial groups and mitigated some racial disparities.

richard.winton@latimes.com

Twitter: @lacrimes

To read the article in Spanish, click here
Three-year-old Daleyza Hernandez-Avila recently visited a surgical center in Stockton for what was supposed to be a routine dental procedure.

But on the June 12 visit, her heart stopped about 30 minutes into the procedure. She was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

The Stockton girls unexpected death has devastated her parents and their community, said the family attorney, Omar Gonzalez. By all accounts, Daleyza was happy, healthy and full of life, he said.

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This family has been destroyed by the senseless loss of their beautiful daughter as a result of a routine dental procedure, Gonzalez said.

Daleyzas family is looking for answers on how their daughter died after visiting the Childrens Dental Surgery Center.

According to Gonzalez, Daleyza was referred by another dentists office to the surgical center.

At the center, she underwent general anesthesia for dental crowns, molar repairs and a possible tooth extraction, he said. At some point, something went wrong.

They wont tell me what happened. They just handed her over to me dead, the girls mother, Araceli Avila, told KTXL-TV.

She said a nurse explained that Daleyza may have had heart problems. But Avila told the news station her daughter didnt have a heart condition. Before an ambulance hauled Daleyza away, Avila said the nurse told her that her daughter was stable and that she shouldnt worry.

The Stockton Police Department and Dental Board of California are investigating Daleyzas death.

At this time, it appears nothing criminal has happened, but this is still an active investigation, said Officer Joseph Silva, the departments spokesman.

The centers attorney, John Supple, said his client is also conducting an internal investigation and will cooperate with authorities. He said the clinic is eager to find out what happened in this tragic case.

Citing patient privacy laws, Supple declined to provide details about Daleyzas death.

The center has provided procedures to more than 20,000 pediatric patients since his client assumed control 2009.

Daleyza is the centers first patient to die since his client took over, Supple said.

This was highly unusual, he said.

David Thompson, an office administrator at the nonprofit ambulatory surgery center, told KCRA-TV the clinic received death threats online and had to close its office Friday.

Daleyzas family and friends created a Go Fund Me account to collect donations to help pay for funeral expenses.

veronica.rocha@latimes.com

Twitter: VeronicaRochaLA

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For much of the afternoon, outdoor dining areas and patios along the Las Vegas Strip were empty as the hot sun pounded the streets and sidewalk relentlessly.

Near the Linq Hotel & Casino, spray misters attached to tall posts outside gamely tried to combat the heat  though the water evaporated quickly. There were warnings throughout the day from county officials urging people to drink plenty of water. Humane societies reminded people to not let pets walk on pavement to avoid scalded paws.

Throughout the casino properties, pools were filled, drinks were emptied and the city rolled on despite typing its hottest temperature in history.

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Las Vegas hit 117 degrees late Tuesday afternoon, tying a record that has happened only three other times in the citys history, the first in 1937 and the most recent four years ago.

It was a relative cool spot compared with Yuma in neighboring Arizona, however, where the mercury hit 120 degrees. Blythe, Calif., on the border with Arizona, reached 121 degrees.

Arizona, essentially the bulls-eye for the high-pressure system that was covering much of the Southwest, also saw its capital hit 118 degrees by late Tuesday. That was 2 degrees off the record high.

The weather was so severe, however, that it caused dozens of flights to be delayed or canceled out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport  the second straight sweltering day it happened.

The Salt River Project, a public power utility, on Monday delivered a record amount of energy to its Phoenix-area retail customers. From 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., the company delivered an estimated retail peak demand of 6,981 megawatts. That peak eclipsed the previous record of 6,873 megawatts set last year.

 As of 407 PM - McCarran Airport officially hit 117! This ties the ALL TIME record high for Las Vegas! #VegasWeather #LasVegas   NWS Las Vegas (@NWSVegas) June 20, 2017

American Airlines said seven flights had been delayed out of Phoenix because of the heat and 43 regional flights have been canceled Tuesday.

The airline said the Bombardier CRJ regional aircraft can operate under a maximum temperature of 118 degrees. Those are largely the American Eagle flights operated by Mesa and SkyWest, with 90 departures and 90 arrivals daily.

There were four heat-related delays out of McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas on Monday, but none had been reported for Tuesday.

Christine Crews, spokeswoman for the airport, said in higher temperatures it uses a longer east-west runway for some of the larger planes with heavier loads. The higher the temperatures get, the thinner the air gets, and more speed is needed for planes to take off.

It was enough of an issue that after Hainan Airlines launched the first two nonstop flights from Las Vegas to Beijing in late 2016, it announced in May it was changing the departure times out of McCarran in the summer from late afternoon to early morning because of the heat.

Flight delays or cancellations are ultimately decided by the airlines.

The largest carrier out of Las Vegas is Southwest, and it reported no delays or cancellations due to the heat. It also reported no cancellations out of Phoenix.

Chad Martin, who was getting ready to leave Las Vegas to go home to Oklahoma on Southwest Airlines, said he kind of hoped his flight wouldnt take off until the record had been tied or broken.

The 42-year-old said hed been playing blackjack in the outdoor pool area at the Flamingo hotel and casino before getting ready to head to the airport. He sat with his wife and child inside the cool casino, taking a break before leaving.

Playing cards in the heat had paid off, even as he sweated out the hands.

The table was hot, he said. But the seats out there were even hotter.

His wife, Amy, said the pool water was so warm that it was barely refreshing. She said she looked forward to getting back to Oklahomas more reasonable temperatures, which were hovering in the 90s.

At the Flamingo, which is famous for its flocks of birds that wander between the pool and the casino in a wildlife habitat area, officials were monitoring the animals to see how they were coping in the heat.

Caesars Entertainment, which operates the casino, said the birds arent usually brought in unless temperatures exceed 120 degrees. On Tuesday afternoon, many of the birds stood in the water and a few others clustered under misters spraying water.

Excessive heat is not uncommon from June to September, though National Weather Service meteorologist Kate Guillet said the early part of summer can be slighter hotter as the region awaits monsoon season.

Arizona, which is often one of the hottest places in the United States in the summer, can be one of the deadliest places in the summer. According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, there were about 1,300 deaths from exposure to excessive natural heat from 2005 to 2015.

Phoenix and Las Vegas are expected stay in the triple digits throughout the week, though Tuesday was supposed to be the hottest day of the week.

david.montero@latimes.com

Twitter: @davemontero

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If this isnt the worst job to have in triple-digit heat, its at least No. 2

UPDATES:

5:25 p.m: This article was updated to report the temperature hit 117 degrees in Las Vegas, tying a record.

This article was originally published at 11:50 a.m.
A shopping expedition to Arizona led to an unusual scuffle between a visiting North Korean delegation and federal officials at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to people familiar with the incident.

The Department of Homeland Security seized multiple media items and packages from the individuals, at which time the North Koreans attempted to physically retrieve the items, the Department of Homeland Security said Monday.

The North Korean delegation had been attending the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities at the United Nations. According to a U.S. official who asked not to be named, members of the group had made a trip to Arizona in an attempt to buy technology-related items that are possibly banned under sanctions law.

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Under State Department rules, U.N.-based diplomats from North Korea, as well as those from Syria and Iran, are not permitted to travel more than 25 miles away from New York without prior approval. This was a lot farther than that, said the U.S. official.

The North Korean official news service referred to the airport incident, which occurred Saturday, as a mugging.

At the airport, a group of more than 20 including those who claimed to be from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the police officers made a violent assault like gangsters to take away the diplomatic package, the KCNA news service reported on Sunday. Diplomats of a sovereign state are being robbed of a diplomatic package in the middle of New York. This clearly shows that the U.S. is a felonious and lawless gangster state.

The delegation was headed by Kim Moon Chul, an official of the Korean Federation for the Protection of the Disabled.

In the past, North Korean diplomats have been accused of using their diplomatic immunity to smuggle a variety of items, including counterfeit currency and rhinoceros horns. There was no suggestion that was the case in this instance. Homeland Security did not say what the packages contained and the members of the delegation were released.

It was unclear exactly what the packages contained. U.N. sanctions against North Korea restrict the sale of numerous products classified as luxury goods or high-technology items, including medical equipment such as X-ray machines.

Homeland Security said in its statement that the North Koreans were not accredited members of North Koreas Mission to the U.N. and had no entitlement to diplomatic immunity. The package in question had no diplomatic protection from inspection.

The individuals were released without further incident but subsequently refused to board their departing flight without the items that had been seized, the statement said.

barbara.demick@latimes.com

Twitter: @BarbaraDemick

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Gerrymandering  the practice of drawing district lines in a way that gives one political party disproportionate power in Congress or a state legislature  is a time-dishonored practice in American politics. The term dates from the early 19th century. But with the advent of sophisticated computer programs, it has become increasingly easy for a party that controls a state legislature to exaggerate its influence not only in that body but in its delegation in the U.S. House of Representatives (unless a state follows Californias lead and entrusts redistricting to a citizens commission or some other group of nonpoliticians).

In 1986, the Supreme Court said that partisan gerrymandering could be challenged as a violation of the 14th Amendments equal protection clause if it involved intentional discrimination against an identifiable political group and an actual discriminatory effect on that group. But the court in that case didnt find such a violation and has never agreed on a clear standard for invalidating partisan gerrymanders. That has left those in power  sometimes Republicans and sometimes Democrats  free to redraw lines to their own advantage.

That may be changing, and it is about time. On Monday, the justices agreed to hear a constitutional challenge to a map for the Wisconsin Assembly drawn by Republicans in 2011. A divided three-judge federal court had found that the map systematically dilutes the voting strength of Democratic voters statewide. For example, the court noted, in 2014, the Republican Party received only 52% of the two-party statewide vote share yet won 63% of the Assembly seats.

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The challenge for the Supreme Court now is to articulate a standard for determining when politics as usual is actually a constitutional violation  and which part of the Constitution is being violated.

In a 2004 case, Justice Anthony Kennedy suggested that instead of focusing on the equal protection clause in considering gerrymandering, courts should perhaps stress the 1st Amendment interest of not burdening or penalizing citizens because of their participation in the electoral process, their voting history, their association with a political party, or their expression of political views.

In its opinion striking down the Wisconsin map, the lower court invoked the 1st Amendment and the 14th Amendments equal protection formula in defining an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. It said the constitution has been violated if the new districts are intended to to place a severe impediment on the effectiveness of the votes of individual citizens on the basis of their political affiliation, has that effect and cannot be justified on other, legitimate legislative grounds.

The Supreme Court may devise a better test. But the day of reckoning for partisan gerrymandering is long past due.

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Though I have lived for 30 years in Montana, I grew up in Texas, inculcated with the story of the Alamo, where the heroes  Travis, Bowie, Crockett and Austin; 186 men, one woman, two babies  fought Santa Annas Mexican army of 10,000 for 13 days, inflicting heavy casualties and buying time for Sam Houston to muster at San Jacinto, where, less than a month later, the Texan volunteers wrested the land we now call Texas away from Mexican rule. A loss for a gain  the sacrifice play.

In Montana, on May 25, in a special election to fill the states single House seat vacated by the newly appointed secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, state Democrats shaved 14.5 percentage points off Donald Trumps showing in November, turning out for candidate Rob Quist. Despite that remarkable reversal, Republicans held the Montana seat. Quist lost to billionaire Greg Gianforte by 6 percentage points. Perhaps the most telling stat from Quists campaign was this: 95% of his contributions were for $200 or less.



For the record: This article puts the population of Georgias 6th congressional district at 92,000, about one-tenth that of Montanas single at-large House of Representatives district. The population of Georgias 6th district is close to 700,000, which is about two-thirds the size of Montanas single district, population 1.03 million.

In other words, national Democrats barely showed up for this race. They werent savvy enough, or they just didnt care enough, to recognize that even a few hundred thousand dollars more, combined with despair over Trump and the rarity of a special election, might have switched this heartland prairie seat from red to blue.

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That amount of money would have been chump change compared with what the Democratic Party has lavished on another similar special election, Tuesdays similar special election in Georgia, where Jon Ossoff is trying to flip a House seat in a traditionally Republican suburban Atlanta district. One Georgia-Montana comparison is instructive: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has invested $5 million in Ossoffs run; the DCCC kicked in about $500,000 to aid Quist.

National resources flowed to Georgia, not Montana. They flowed to the old model of urban Democrat rather than the struggling middle-lander, the rural guy.

Those figures raise this question: Which is more valuable, a seat in Congress that represents suburban elites, or a seat that represents the newly prized flyover voter, in this case gun-owning nurses and tractor-driving PhDs., city refugees and fifth-generation ranchers, the third-largest landmass in the Lower 48, a sprawling energy and agriculture state with a deep tradition of support for what Democrats once were leaders in: big-hearted, pragmatic populism suited to the rural and urban enclaves of the New West (and maybe even the New South)?

I think the appropriate answer in a democracy should be neither, but the national Democratic Party made a clear choice.

Im a Democrat. I even like to think of myself as a good Democrat, and I do not like to think of myself as one who points fingers in defeat. But I also like to think of myself as someone who learns from a mistake, and I would hope national Democrats would do the same: Fight with something like equal firepower for every seat, every time.

Hindsights 20-20, but early on especially, national Republicans in Montana supported Gianforte far beyond what the Democrats did for Quist (according to NPR, Gianforte got five times more outside money than Quist).

I found Gianfortes verbal spew more abusive than even his physical violence  he choked and punched a journalist just before the election. Day after blessed day during the campaign, I went up to my rural mailbox and opened it to find a new oversized postcard  a photo-shopped portrait of Quist, a sweet and good man, stomping his country-and-western boot heels on pictures of smiling foursquare Anglo families, or blowing up mountaintops with dynamite, or dressed in vampire garb and in cahoots with a cackling Nancy Pelosi, both grinning fiendishly as they destroyed Montana values.

Montana values, indeed. It was enough to make one sick.

Timing is everything in politics. I submit that the special election in Montana was a big thing, not just in Montana but nationally; that it was worth going all in not just because the seat was winnable but to support issues like the protection of public lands and to make a stand in flyover country for sweet reason. If you believe Trump must be countered to protect national and global security, then the Montana vote was as much a crucial referendum as the vote in Georgia. Yet, as with the Alamo, sufficient reinforcements didnt show up.

Rage is unpredictable, and damned near impossible to sustain; it tends to ultimately consume and destroy the vessels that house it. The time, then, is now. Was now. Yet the national resources flowed to Georgia, not Montana. They flowed to the old model of urban Democrat rather than the struggling middle-lander, the rural guy who can speak the language of Trump voters.

Democratic brothers and sisters: If you win in Georgia  taking just one slender House seat, instead of the two you might have had  remember Montanas sacrifice.

And Ossoff  if you become Rep. Ossoff, you will have an obligation to your district of 92,000 (approximately one-tenth the population of Montanas single at-large House district) but also the residents of Big Sky Country.

Remember, please, a battle fought with scant outside help, nearly 3,000 miles away, on almost nothing but guts and glory. Be humble, be helpful. Our loss will be your victory.

Author Rick Bass brought together 40 Montana writers in support of Rob Quists candidacy, with a website and printed anthology titled We Take Our Stand.

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We Americans love conspiracies. They are like good spy stories: entertaining, intriguing and tantalizing. But historians learn to hate conspiracy stories. The evidence is often circular, circumstantial and infuriatingly slippery. And usually, the simplest explanation  not the conspiracy theory  turns out to be the best.

In my first biography, The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American Establishment, about the influential Wall Street lawyer and perennial presidential advisor, I had to write about President Kennedys assassination. McCloy had been a member of the Warren Commission, charged with investigating the assassination. Early in the commissions deliberations, another member, Allen Dulles, passed around copies of a 10-year-old book about seven previous attempts on the lives of various presidents. The authors thesis was that would-be presidential assassins typically are misfits and loners  and not part of any conspiracy. Dulles observed, Youll find a pattern running through here that I think well find in this present case. McCloy quickly retorted, The Lincoln assassination was a plot.

I dont know what President Trump and his minions were saying to the Russians before or after the November election. But it is true that foreigners routinely try to influence American elections. Democrats in particular have painful memories of the 1968 October surprise, in which Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon passed messages to the South Vietnamese president, Nguyen Van Thieu, telling him to stall on the peace talks. Nixon always denied the allegation. But we now know from the private diary of H.R. Haldeman, Nixons chief of staff, recently discovered by the presidential historian John Farrell, that Nixon was lying.

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As a historian, I am always skeptical of conspiracies. But as McCloy blurted out in 1963, some plots do exist.

And then there was the alleged October surprise of 1980. The Reagan administration and Republicans always denied that they had any back-door negotiations with Ayatollah Khomeinis revolutionary regime during the Iran hostage crisis. Specifically, they denied that Reagans campaign manager, William J. Casey, traveled surreptitiously to Madrid in the summer of 1980 to meet with a representative of the ayatollah, and to suggest that it might be in Irans interest to stall the negotiations over the release of the American hostages. Casey allegedly intimated that a Reagan administration would resume arms sales to the Iranians.

These allegations seemed too outrageous, too outlandish to be believed. Journalists investigated. A House October Surprise Task Force delved into the story. Two good books, Gary Sicks October Surprise (1992) and Robert Parrys Trick or Treason (1993), made strong circumstantial arguments that something had happened, though neither were able to prove that Casey had flown to Madrid.

But just a few years ago, Parry discovered a damning memo in the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library. Dated Nov. 4, 1991, the memo was written by President Bushs deputy counsel, Paul Beach, and it described the State Departments efforts to collect documents in response to congressional subpoenas for material potentially relevant to the October Surprise allegations. Beach then specifically mentions a cable from the Madrid embassy indicating that Bill Casey was in town, for purposes unknown.

So we now know that Casey took time off from his campaign duties sometime in the summer of 1980 to visit Madrid. For purposes unknown. Thats all we know: There is a 1991 White House memo about a State Department cable that was presumably dated in 1980. We do not know if Casey went to Madrid with the knowledge of his candidate. Indeed, from what we know about Caseys love for intrigue and even skullduggery, this former spy and veteran of the World War II-era Office of Strategic Services may have initiated his own back-door channel to the Iranians without any authorization from Reagan.

But I think it is now reasonable to conclude that Casey did something. The Iranians dragged out the negotiations over the release of the hostages. President Carter believed these negotiations were nearly successful in late September 1980, but suddenly new demands were made that stalled the talks. Polls showed Carter within single digits of catching Reagan until about 10 days before the election. Carter lost decisively, and the hostages were inexplicably released minutes after Reagan was sworn in as president.

The story does not end there. Months later, Reagans newly installed CIA director, Casey, gave the green light to Israel to sell weapons to Iran. In retrospect, this was the beginning of the scandal that broke in 1987, when it became known that the Reagan administration had been exchanging weapons for hostages. Casey died of a brain tumor soon after the scandal broke, taking to his grave further details of this October surprise.

As a historian, I am always skeptical of conspiracies. But as McCloy blurted out in 1963, some plots do exist. Nixon did try to thwart the Vietnam peace talks. And it seems the Iranians conspired in 1980 to tilt the election toward the Republicans. Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly disliked the prospect of Hillary Clinton as president. Did someone in Trumps camp do what Casey did  and make a deal? If so, this will be very hard to unearth. But historically, Democrats have every reason to be wary.

Kai Bird, director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at CUNY Graduate Center, is a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and the author of a forthcoming biography of President Carter.

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Theres a tension so deep in how we think about free expression, it should rightly be called a paradox.

On the one hand, regardless of ideology, artists and writers almost unanimously insist that they do what they do to change minds. But the same artistes, auteurs and opiners recoil in horror when anyone suggests that they might be responsible for inspiring bad deeds.

Hollywood, the music industry, journalism, political ideologies, even the Confederate flag: Each take their turn in the dock when some madman or fool does something terrible.

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The arguments against free speech are stacked and waiting for these moments like weapons in a gladiatorial armory. Theres no philosophical consistency to when they get picked up and deployed, beyond the unimpeachable consistency of opportunism.

Liberals decry the toxic rhetoric of the right, conservatives blame the toxic rhetoric of the left.

Hollywood activists blame the toxic rhetoric of right wing talk radio or the tea party for this crime, the National Rifle Assn. blames Hollywood for that atrocity. Liberals decry the toxic rhetoric of the right, conservatives blame the toxic rhetoric of the left.

When attacked  again heedless of ideology or consistency  the gladiators instantly trade weapons. The finger-pointers of five minutes ago suddenly wax righteous in their indignation that mere expression  rather, their expression  should be blamed. Many of the same liberals who pounded soapboxes into pulp at the very thought of labeling record albums with violent lyrics warnings, instantly insisted that Sarah Palin had Rep. Gabby Giffords blood on her hands. Many of the conservatives who spewed hot fire at the suggestion that they had any culpability in an abortion clinic bombing, gleefully insisted that Sen. Bernie Sanders is partially to blame for Rep. Steve Scalises fight with death.

And this is where the paradox starts to come into view: Everyone has a point.

The blame for violent acts lies with the people who commit them, and with those who explicitly and seriously call for violence, Dan McLaughlin, my National Review colleague, wrote in this paper last week. People who just use overheated political rhetoric, or who happen to share the gunmans opinions, should be nowhere on the list.

As a matter of law, I agree with this entirely. But as a matter of culture, its more complicated.

I have always thought it absurd to claim that expression cannot lead people to do bad things, precisely because it is so obvious that expression can lead people to do good things. According to legend, Abraham Lincoln told Harriet Beecher Stowe, So youre the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war. Should we mock Lincoln for saying something ridiculous?

As Irving Kristol once put it, If you believe that no one was ever corrupted by a book, you have also to believe that no one was ever improved by a book. You have to believe, in other words, that art is morally trivial and that education is morally irrelevant.

If words dont matter, then democracy is a joke, because democracy depends entirely on making arguments  not for killing, but for voting. But only a fool would argue that words can move people to vote, but not to kill.

Ironically, free speech was born in an attempt to stop killing. It has its roots in freedom of conscience. Before the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, the common practice was that the rulers religion determined their subjects faith too. Religious dissent was not only heresy, but a kind of treason. After Westphalia, exhaustion with religion-motivated bloodshed created space for toleration. As the historian C. V. Wedgwood put it, the West had begun to understand the essential futility of putting the beliefs of the mind to the judgment of the sword.

This didnt mean that Protestants instantly stopped hating Catholics or vice versa. Nor did it mean that the more ecumenical hatred of Jews vanished. What it did mean is that it was no longer acceptable to kill people simply for what they believed  or said.

But words still mattered. Art still moved people. And the law is not the full and final measure of morality. Hence the paradox: In a free society, people have a moral responsibility for what they say, while at the same time a free society requires legal responsibility only for what they actually do.

jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com

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To the editor: A few supporters of President Trump blame liberal news organizations for feeding the deranged mind-set of radicals, to quote directly from one letter. (Are anti-Trump media to blame for the Alexandria shooting? Some readers say yes, Readers React, June 17)

What these people miss is the simple point that we liberals are not responding to media prompts such as those from Breitbart or Fox News. We are responding to the simple reality of what Trump actually does or wants to do: gutting environmental protection, repealing financial regulations and consumer protection, pushing for the privatization of public education, eroding healthcare, implementing massive tax cuts for the rich and engaging in friendly relations with autocrats.

No spin or phony conspiracies are in play here.

Jan Rainbird, Irvine

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To the editor: I have been able to vote starting with President Eisenhower. Since then, I am unable to recall any candidate utter the vindictiveness that Trump has.

When he was running for president, Trump offered to pay the legal fees of anyone who roughed up hecklers at his rallies. Have we ever seen a candidate who maligned his opponents the way Trump did? When have we ever heard a president call the media the enemy of the American people?

It is not a wonder that this president has touched a very raw nerve in the public. The fault for the total lack of civility in politics today lies not with the Republicans or the Democrats, nor with the so-called left or right. Rather, the fault belongs to the most important man on this planet.

Ed J. Mizrai, Woodland Hills

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Prior to the Sunday night airing of her interview with rabble-rousing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Megyn Kelly was criticized by people who said she and NBC should not give a platform to such a dangerous demagogue. In my view, Kellys decision to expose Jones to a broader audience provided an important service to the country.

Jones already is a big presence on the right. By some measures, his radio show and webcasts have an audience that has grown larger than that of the Los Angeles Times or the New York Times or the Washington Post. One person who follows his tirades with more than passing interest is President Trump. Jones has brought extremism to the mainstream in heartland America  and to the White House.

Jones fans are also some of Trumps most devoted supporters. Perhaps one reason they willingly believe the presidents situational, elastic version of the truth is that they have already bought into the bogus twists on reality that Jones presents on his Infowars media platforms.

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Kelly bore into Jones about his notorious, venal claim that the mass shooting of 20 schoolchildren and six school staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 was a hoax. Jones response was revealing. He would not admit he was horribly wrong. Instead, he displayed the classic mindset of a paranoid conspiracist who is unable to let go of the erroneous facts and dark speculation that harden in his mind into sick fantasy.

1 / 51 la-1491523602-y7ephyarj1-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 51 la-1491368625-0bgh58ihw8-snap-image (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los angeles Times) 6 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 51 Trump inspires millions to take to the streets -- to oppose him. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 51 Top of the Ticket cartoon (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 32 / 51 Cartoon caption contest winner at the DENT conference in Sun Valley, Idaho: Jon Duval, executive director of the Ketchum Community Development Corporation. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 33 / 51 Old radicals and big media descend on Selma (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 34 / 51 Horsey imagined the creation of the Ann Coulter phenomenon in this cartoon from 2007. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 51 This David Horsey drawing is a reconfiguration of a cartoon he first published in 2006. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 36 / 51 Donald Sterling, owner of the L.A. Clippers, should give Cliven Bundy a call. After Sterling loses his NBA franchise and the deadbeat Nevada rancher loses his cattle, the two old racists will both need a buddy. Maybe they can team up together and open an all-white rodeo. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 37 / 51 Besides sending a chill up the spine of the international community, Vladimir Putin has accomplished one other thing by seizing Crimea and threatening the rest of Ukraine: Putin has brought back the bear. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 38 / 51 The right-wing insurrection at the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., has taken another weird turn with new revelations about the family history of Cliven Bundy. (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 39 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 40 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 41 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 42 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 43 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 44 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 45 / 51 David Horsey / Los Angeles Times (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 46 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 47 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 48 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 49 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 50 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times) 51 / 51 See full story (David Horsey / Los Angeles Times)

Jones is an aggressive, loudmouthed, puffy-faced nutcase who has made himself very rich by sharing his intentional delusions with anyone who will listen. What is deeply disturbing is that he has found a receptive audience among millions of Americans who give credence to his many crackpot ideas (for example, that President Obama is the global leader of Al Qaeda; that Hillary Clinton imprisoned children as sex slaves in a Washington pizza parlor; that the Sept. 11, 2001, attack was backed by elements of the U.S. government; that the government is trying to turn American kids into homosexuals using chemicals in juice boxes). In the world Jones describes and that his followers accept as real, not only are Democrats and the news media enemies and traitors to the republic, but so are establishment conservatives and many Republican leaders.

Prior to seeing Kellys interview with Jones, I had checked out a column by veteran right-wing firebrand Pat Buchanan on an ultraconservative website. Buchanan was railing about what he called a civil war between establishment elites and the Trump White House. The readers who commented on Buchanans column apparently were not taking civil war as a metaphor. Fortified with the crazy stuff that has filtered into their brains from Jones and others like him, these folks quickly turned to remedies for the treason that they believe is being perpetrated all around them. Here are a few excerpts from their comments:

 It isnt going to be adequate enough to defeat the left. The left must be destroyed.

 Oh I agree 101% that the left needs to be crushed completely, along with their Islamofacists. This is why I fail to understand why Hillary, Rice, Lynch are still free and why Obama hasnt been called to answer for his many scandals.

 If the TREASONOUS TRIAD (Democrats, media, and academia) keep at it, the result will be blood in the streets Where will our heroic police stand? Will they defend baby killers and perverts who wanted to watch their little daughters urinate?

 The Republican Neocons are probably the worst of our enemies, not the leftists.

 This whole situation is exactly why our Founding Fathers included the 2nd Amendment in our Constitution... NOT to protect us from foreign enemies, but domestic traitors.

 It will not be just a class war but also a race war We have brought this upon ourselves due to playing equality, diversity, inclusionism and multi-culturalism.

 Barrack Hussein Obama has cultivated his personal army of thugs. He brought them across our Southern Border, he released others from prison These thugs are now in position all across our Nation to incite violence against Conservatives They are vicious, vile and disgusting. They will do anything to try to antagonize the Right. These people represent all that is evil and they must be defeated.

Judging by the reaction of Jones fans to what they describe as her hit piece, Megyn Kelly has now joined the list of people who represent all that is evil. Nevertheless, I applaud her for giving her audience a glimpse into the minds of their fellow citizens by revealing the man who has gotten into their heads. All their flamboyantly militant rage may well just be loose talk, but the war metaphor is not random. Jones employed it himself when speaking to Kelly. He told her the election of Trump was just a beachhead. The war has just begun, Jones said.

I dont for a minute think he is joking.

David.Horsey@latimes.com

Follow me at @davidhorsey on Twitter
Gov. Jerry Brown doubles down on California measure changing recall process, calling it eminently reasonable By Christine Mai-Duc State Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Compton), left, and Gov. Jerry Brown talk about funding for projects under the state transportation bill, SB1, at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson. (Christian K. Lee/ Los Angeles Times) The partisan volleys have continued this week in the effort to recall state Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) over his vote to pass an increase in the gas tax. Those seeking to recall Newman submitted more than enough signatures needed to qualify the measure for the ballot, if theyre all deemed valid. Newman supporters looking to halt the recall filed a lawsuit Thursday, claiming signature gatherers had misled voters. And Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill that makes changes to long-standing recall rules, an effort that Republicans have decried as an attempt by Democrats to rig the system to protect one of their own. Brown seemed to double down on that measure Friday at a press conference at Cal State Dominguez Hills, where he discussed the new gas tax, calling the new recall process eminently reasonable. The measure allows voters up to 30 days to remove their signature from a recall petition and creates a new process to review costs associated with a recall election. Brown said the bill provides an opportunity for people who have been hoodwinked to change their mind. Its all about truth and giving people the opportunity to make sure that their vote and their signature is knowingly given, Brown. The only people who would be against that are people who wanted to fool people and dont want to test it in court or in the light of day. .@JerryBrownGov responds to GOP criticism of budget trailer he signed that could make Newman recall harder. Calls it "eminently reasonable." pic.twitter.com/hSsmIPiHtP  Christine Mai-Duc (@cmaiduc) June 30, 2017 Browns comments came after a roundtable discussion in which he and state Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Compton) spoke about the importance of directing transportation dollars raised by the gas tax increase to businesses owned by women, minorities and people who are disabled. Brown cast it as part of a larger question of equality and opportunity in America. But the discussion took place even as Brown mused about efforts to repeal the controversial tax package, which is expected to raise $52 billion over 10 years for road repairs and other transportation projects. If people want to not fund the roads, then they can put something on the ballot and maybe change things, Brown said. But I think most people in California want to fix the roads. Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach), who is running for governor, has filed a ballot measure to repeal the gas tax. Brown dismissed a recent poll by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley, which said that a majority of registered voters oppose the gas tax increases Brown and legislators recently approved. That was a poll that said, Do you want to raise a tax? Brown said. Of course people are going to say no. Brown added that when voters are given concrete situations like education and roads, theyre more likely to support tax increases. I think Californians are always leery of taxes. Im leery of taxes, Brown said. You want to drive around on gravel roads? Ive got a gravel road out in front of my house in the country. Its not bad. But I dont think thats what people want. I think they want real, paved roads  and to have paved roads youve got to spend real money. Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report. Facebook

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San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer says he wont run for governor, dashing hopes of GOP leaders By Phil Willon San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer speaks during a news conference about the San Diego Chargers in 2015. (Gregory Bull / AP) Republican San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, who has been lobbied intensely by GOP leaders to run for California governor, on Friday rejected the idea and vowed to serve out his second term at city hall. Both House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) and state Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte had urged Faulconer to run. A fiscal conservative and social moderate who has demonstrated crossover appeal by winning over Democrats, Faulconer has been seen as the GOPs strongest potential gubernatorial candidate, and one who could help Republicans in down-ballot races if he was at the top of the ticket in 2018. But Falconer nixed the idea of a gubernatorial bid in a Facebook post Friday afternoon, saying he was deeply honored by so many encouraging him to run. Its a testament to the people of San Diego, and the progress weve made to create a fiscally responsible, prosperous city that is moving in the right direction. I made a pledge last year to serve out my second term as mayor, and thats exactly what Im going to do, Faulconer said in the post. He was facing pressure to enter the race and GOP insiders who were familiar with his thinking believed he was leaning toward running. Faulconer ultimately decided not to run because he did not see a certain path to victory, according to a top state party official who did not want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak for the San Diego mayor. The last time a GOP candidate won a statewide race was in 2006. The governors race already has attracted a handful of Republican candidates, but none with Faulconers political stature. They include conservative Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen and Rancho Santa Fe venture capitalist John Cox. Speculation is mounting that former state Assemblyman David Hadley plans to announce a run. The Democratic heavyweights in the race include Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang. A strong GOP top-of-the-ticket candidate would be expected to increase Republican turnout next fall. Faulconers decision not to run could impact some hotly contested congressional races in California, and potentially affect Republican efforts to retain control of the House of Representatives. If a Republican gubernatorial candidate fails to make the general election, creating a Democrat-on-Democrat race in November 2018, that could depress GOP turnout and affect those targeted congressional races. It leaves the Republicans without an obvious front-runner that the donors would have confidence in, said GOP strategist Rob Stutzman, who previously advised former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 2010 GOP nominee Meg Whitman. But it still depends on the nature of the race next November. Its too early to say. Update 4:21 p.m.: This story was updated with reaction about Faulconers decision and more information about the 2018 election. This story was originally published at 3:30 p.m. Facebook

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Assembly Democrats denounce threats made after single-payer healthcare bill was sidelined Facebook

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Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom blasts National Rifle Assn. recruitment video, saying it could lead to violence By Seema Mehta (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom called on the National Rifle Assn. to take down a controversial new video that he argued villanizes political rivals and could lead to violence. Come after politicians. Come after policy makers. Come after ME, Newsom wrote on his Facebook page Thursday. But do not implicitly call for demonstrations of force against your fellow Americans in a country that is already reeling. You are powerful. People are listening to you. And your message could lead to tragedy. The NRA video, which urges people to join the organization, was posted earlier this month and features conservative commentator Dana Loesch talking about political rivals who she argues use the media, schools and Hollywood for sinister purposes. The video features footage of police clashing with protesters and a bloodied Trump supporter, and flashes images such as the Hollywood sign, Disney Hall and the Los Angeles Times building as Loesch repeatedly invokes an unnamed opponent she refers to as they. Loeschs concluding remarks in the minute-long video have drawn the most ire. The only way we stop this, the only way we save our country and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with the clenched fist of truth, Loesch said. Im the National Rifle Assn. of America, and Im freedoms safest place. Newsom is a longtime foe of the NRA. He was a primary sponsor of Proposition 63, a ballot measure voters approved in November that requires background checks to purchase ammunition, bans possession of high-capacity magazines and other gun-safety efforts. On Thursday, the NRA claimed victory when a federal judge, at their attorneys request, granted a preliminary injunction blocking a related law that would have required Californians to get rid of large-capacity magazines by Saturday or face fines and potential jail time. Newsom, the states lieutenant governor, wrote that he felt a chill down my spine when he watched the video. He said while he and the NRA have long disagreed, the video crosses the line of appropriate political debate. He described it as dangerous because it tells viewers that our fellow Americans are to be feared  and even worse. How does this video advance debate? How does it bring people together for common ideals? How does it do anything but cast Americans as enemies to be defeated in a cynical ploy to sell as many weapons as possible? he wrote. Facebook

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Tired of exporting campaign cash, these politicos are putting California first By Mark Z. Barabak Air Force One leaves California after another fundraising foray. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) California feeds the world with its bounty, fuels the economy with its innovation, fires the imagination with its creativity. There is one export, though, that is far less celebrated: the unceasing torrent of outbound campaign cash. For political fundraisers, California has long been the Big Rock Candy Mountain, excavated, mined and, ultimately, shafted by candidates of both parties who use the boodle to run for president in Iowa or New Hampshire, or Congress in East Podunk. Now, Democratic efforts are underway to put California first, directing more campaign cash from whence it came by focusing on seven targeted House districts in the Central Valley and southern part of the state. Read More Facebook

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Federal judge blocks California gun law By Patrick McGreevy A handgun is displayed with 10- and 15-shot magazines. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A federal judge Thursday granted a request by attorneys for the National Rifle Assn. to block a law that requires Californians to dispose of large-capacity ammunition magazines by Saturday or face fines and possible jail time. U.S. District Judge Roger T. Benitez wrote in San Diego that the rights of voters who approved Proposition 63 in November have to be balanced against the rights of gun owners. If this injunction does not issue, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of otherwise law-abiding citizens will have an untenable choice: become an outlaw or dispossess ones self of lawfully acquired property, Benitez wrote. That is a choice they should not have to make. C.D. Michel, an attorney for the NRA and state gun owners, welcomed the decision, which allows a lawsuit to be decided on its merits before the law takes effect. My clients are pleased the Court affirmed that the Second Amendment is not a second class right, and that law abiding gun owners have a right to choose to have these magazines to help them defend themselves and their families, Michel said in a statement. Read More Facebook

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Two California Democrats join with House Republicans to vote for Kates Law By Sarah D. Wire There would be tougher penalties for people repeatedly caught crossing the border illegally, and millions of dollars less in federal funds for so-called sanctuary jurisdictions such as Los Angeles under two House immigration bills approved Thursday. Both bills would fulfill President Trumps campaign promises if they became law, but the Senate has killed similar legislation and is unlikely to be able to reach the 60-vote requirement to pass the bills. The House voted 257 to 167, with 24 Democrats crossing party lines, to pass Kates Law, which would create harsher mandatory minimum prison sentences for people who repeatedly enter the U.S. illegally. It is named after Kathryn Steinle, who allegedly was shot and killed in San Francisco in 2015 by Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, a Mexican immigrant who had repeatedly entered the country illegally and was released from jail by sheriffs officials despite a request by immigration officials to keep him behind bars. Two California Democrats, Reps. Jackie Speier of Hillsborough and Eric Swalwell of Dublin, joined Republicans in voting for the bill. Swalwell grew up with Steinle and is still in touch with her family, he said. This bill is not perfect, and its shameful that the Republicans did not allow any debate. But it does improve our ability to punish individuals who repeatedly break the law and to deter those who may do so, he Swalwell said in a statement. Read More Facebook

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Committee unexpectedly opens door to Rep. Barbara Lees push to end military force authorization By Sarah D. Wire (Paul Morigi/Getty Images) In September 2001, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) was the only member of Congress to object to an Authorization for the Use of Military Force, a resolution in response to the terrorist attacks that paved the way for the war in Afghanistan. In the 16 years since, the resolution has been used by President George W. Bush, President Obama and now President Trump as justification for more than 35 military actions in nearly 20 countries around the world -- which means those presidents have not gone back to Congress for new permission to send troops into harms way. On Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee opened the door to ending that 2001 authorization when it added Lees amendment to a Defense Department measure. Congress would have 240 days to debate a new authorization. At the end of that time the 2001 authorization would be repealed. Lee has lobbied hard just to get to this first step, which was approved by a voice vote in the Republican led committee. Ive been working on this for years and years and years. Im just really pleased that Republicans and Democrats today really understood what Ive been saying and Ive been explaining for the last 16 years, and that is, this resolution is a blank check for perpetual war, Lee said. Committee members broke into applause after the unexpected vote. Lee said Thursday she plans to personally call Speaker Paul Ryan and make the case for keeping her amendment in the bill when it gets to the House floor. The public wants to see a debate, Lee said. Our young men and women in harms way need to know their Congress is supporting them and backing them up, or not. Facebook

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Volkswagen submits revised plan for installing charging stations as part of emission-cheating settlement By Chris Megerian (Markus Schreiber / Associated Press) Volkswagen would build more electric vehicle charging stations in disadvantaged communities under an updated plan being submitted to state regulators on Thursday. The companys subsidiary, Electrify America, revised its proposal after an earlier version was rejected as inadequate by the California Air Resources Board. The proposal is the first phase of an $800-million investment in the state, one piece of a much larger settlement over Volkswagens cheating on vehicle emission rules. Although the money is expected to yield hundreds of new charging stations and boost Californias efforts to foster the market for electric cars, its also been a source of controversy. State regulators want 35% of the money to be spent in disadvantaged communities, a target endorsed by the Legislature as well. Electrify America CEO Mark McNabb said, We will strive hard to hit it. The updated plan adds Fresno to the list of metropolitan areas, which already included Los Angeles and Sacramento, where charging stations would be installed. It made sense to get out into the Central Valley, McNabb said. We thought that was an improvement we could make to the plan. Facebook

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Californias top elections officer to Trumps voting fraud panel: No By John Myers (Dylan Stewart / HS Insider) President Trumps voter fraud commission will not be getting the names and addresses of Californias registered voters. The panels request was denied on Thursday by Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who said it would only legitimize false claims of massive election cheating last fall. Padilla refused to hand over data, including the names, addresses, political party and voting history of Californias 19.4 million voters. Kris Kobach, the secretary of state of Kansas who serves as vice chairman of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, sent letters to all 50 states on Wednesday for information he said would help the group examine rules that either enhance or undermine the American peoples confidence in the integrity of federal elections processes. Padilla, though, suggested the effort is little more than a ruse. I will not provide sensitive voter information to a commission that has already inaccurately passed judgment that millions of Californians voted illegally, he said in a written statement. Californias participation would only serve to legitimize the false and already debunked claims of massive voter fraud made by the President, the Vice President, and Mr. Kobach. Last November, Trump tweeted that California was one of three states where serious voter fraud took place in the general election. No state or local elections official has found any evidence to back up the presidents assertion. Kobachs request says the panel seeks only publicly available information. Basic information about California voters is routinely shared with journalists, political campaigns and researchers after a written request and payment of a fee. The letter asks for data including information regarding any felony convictions, information regarding voter registration in another state, information regarding military status, and overseas citizen information. Padilla also criticized the selection of Kobach to help lead Trumps commission, accusing the Kansas official of past efforts at racial profiling and suppressing voter turnout. His role as vice chair is proof that the ultimate goal of the commission is to enact policies that will result in the disenfranchisement of American citizens, Padilla said. The presidential commissions first meeting is scheduled for July 19. Facebook

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Supporters of state Sen. Josh Newman sue to stop effort to recall him, alleging voters have been misled By Patrick McGreevy Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) faces a recall. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Supporters of state Sen. Josh Newman filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to stop a recall campaign against the lawmaker, alleging that signature gatherers have misled voters and the petition contains false information. The Democratic legislator from Fullerton faces a recall funded by the California Republican Party for voting with other lawmakers to increase the states gas tax and vehicle fees to raise $5.2 billion annually for road repairs. On Tuesday, the state party announced it had submitted 84,988 signatures to election officials, some 20,000 more signatures than would be needed if officials determine they are valid. The lawsuit against Secretary of State Alex Padilla was filed in Sacramento Superior Court by three residents of Newmans Senate district and paid for by the campaign against the recall. It alleges that signature gatherers misled voters to sign the petitions by saying they would repeal the car tax. The petition gathering campaign has misrepresented the nature of the petition by informing voters that it will Stop the Gas Tax when it will not, the lawsuit says. These statements are intentionally misleading statements of fact that are false beyond dispute and mislead voters The legal complaint, which also names several signature gatherers, alleges that the notice of intent to file the petition is inaccurate in saying that the tax bill provides billions of dollars for mass transit in Northern California without Newmans district benefiting from the revenue. The bill itself does not earmark where money will go, but the intent of lawmakers was that Newmans district would benefit, the lawsuit says. The lawsuit asks that the circulation of the petition be stopped and the recall effort, using the petition as drafted, be halted. This suit is about nothing less than the integrity of our election process; a recall election simply should not be certified when signatures were gathered based on lies to voters, said James Harrison, an attorney who filed the lawsuit. Former San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, an organizer of the recall, said the lawsuit is without merit. Josh Newman refuses to accept accountability for his disastrous vote to raise the car and gas tax and instead has chosen to blame others for the recall against him with lies and frivolous lawsuits, DeMaio said. Facebook

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State to pay $2.9 million to three men wrongfully convicted in Los Angeles cases By Patrick McGreevy Kash Delano Register outside a Los Angeles restaurant in November 2013 after his release from prison. (Christina House / For The Times) The state Senate has approved payment of $2.96 million to settle three claims by men who were wrongly convicted for crimes in Los Angeles and served time in prison before they were exonerated. The approval of the payments, amounting to $140 for each day served behind bars, next goes to Gov. Jerry Brown. The largest payment  $1.7 million  goes to Kash Delano Register, who said he was wrongfully convicted of a 1979 murder because of a flawed LAPD investigation. He served 34 years in prison. In 2013, the Los Angeles County Superior Court ordered that Register be released from prison after it found he had been denied due process of law and a fair trial because material exculpatory information and evidence was not disclosed. The court acted after lawyers and students from Loyola Law School cast doubt on the testimony of a key prosecution witness. The Los Angeles County district attorneys office later dismissed the charges, and Register was found by the court to be factually innocent. The Senate payment for 12,427 days served in custody is in addition to a $16.7-million settlement paid to Register by the city of Los Angeles. The Senate also voted Thursday to pay $886,760 to Luis Vargas, who spent more than 17 years in custody before a court ruled him factually innocent of a 1998 rape. In 2012, DNA evidence from one of the victims showed that a suspect known as the Teardrop Rapist, not Vargas, was the perpetrator of the rape. The third payment, $340,620, goes to Reggie Cole, who was found factually innocent after serving time in prison for the shooting death of a man outside a South Los Angeles house of prostitution in 1995. Facebook

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Public affairs strategist Fiona Hutton hosts fundraiser for Antonio Villaraigosa By Phil Willon Antonio Villaraigosa in July (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles public affairs strategist Fiona Hutton is hosting a San Fernando Valley fundraiser for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa in July. Hutton, who has worked on a number of statewide campaigns, also raised money for Villaraigosa during his successful campaign for mayor of Los Angeles in 2005. The July 25 fundraiser is being held at Huttons office in Studio City. Tickets run $1,000 apiece. To be a co-host, itll cost $10,000. Along with serving as president of her company, Fiona Hutton & Associates, Hutton sits on the board of directors of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Facebook

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California joins other states asking the Trump administration for information on how its enforcing immigration law By Patrick McGreevy Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra wants more information on federal enforcement of immigration laws. ( Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) A group of nine state attorneys general, including California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday seeking records that would clarify how the Trump administration is enforcing federal immigration law. The request seeks the number of immigration detentions, deportations and detainer requests, and the rationale for each, as well as clarifying information on whether Trump is following through on comments that he will not target young people who were brought to the country illegally by their parents. The attorneys general also want to know whether immigrants in the country illegally have been detained at schools, hospitals and places of worship, which the state officials feel should be off-limits for enforcement. Mixed messages from the Trump Administration on immigration enforcement are sowing confusion and increasing anxiety among immigrants, Becerra said in a statement. Today we ask the Administration to tell us what it is doing in this area. The data could be used in a barrage of legal challenges the states have filed against federal immigration policies. Becerra noted that immigration-related arrests have increased nearly 40% since Trump became president, and there is concern that some of the arrests have included young people who were given a deferral from deportation under the Obama administration. The Presidents Executive Orders, and the steps taken by the Department of Homeland Security to implement those orders, have generated new fears and uncertainties in immigrant communities across the country, the attorneys general wrote in the request for information. The other states represented in the request are New York, Illinois, Washington, Massachusetts, Iowa, Maryland, Oregon and Hawaii. Facebook

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This is why Californias Legislature cant fix the states housing problems By Liam Dillon An apartment complex in Hollywood (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) For 50 years, California has had a law that aims to encourage developers to build housing. But the law has failed at helping stem the statewide shortage of homes that drives Californias affordability problems. The reason? The law requires cities and counties to produce prodigious reports to plan for housing  but it doesnt hold them accountable for any resulting home building. Cities and counties resent the law. To avoid complying, theyve asked the state to let prison beds count toward their low-income housing goals, among other things. And despite knowing about the laws weaknesses for decades, state lawmakers have provided no incentive, such as a greater share of tax dollars, for cities and counties to meet their housing goals. Read More Facebook

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Californias attorney general joins the fight against President Trumps sanctuary city order By Patrick McGreevy Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra led a group of 10 states Wednesday in filing an court brief supporting San Francisco and other California communities that challenged President Trumps executive order to withhold federal funds from sanctuary jurisdictions. After the local governments won a preliminary injunction against the order, the Trump administration asked the courts to dismiss the cities lawsuit. The brief filed by Becerra argues that public safety is improved when local law enforcement agencies focus on crime prevention instead of helping federal authorities enforce immigration laws. The Trump Administration does not have the right to coerce states, counties or municipalities to do the federal governments job, Becerra said in a statement. Californias state and local law enforcement officials are in the business of public safety, not of deportation. Threatening public safety funding to compel localities to do immigration work is a dangerous game that undermines public safety. Facebook

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California Supreme Court leaves in place decision upholding cap-and-trade system By Chris Megerian Mary Nichols, chairwoman of the Air Resources Board, oversees the cap-and-trade program. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) After more than four years, a legal challenge to Californias cap-and-trade program has reached an unsuccessful conclusion. The end came on Wednesday when the California Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal from business groups who consider the program to be an unconstitutional tax. The program requires companies to buy permits to release greenhouse gases, a system intended to provide a financial incentive to reduce emissions. The law that provided the programs foundation was not passed with a two-thirds vote in the Legislature, the legal threshold for new taxes, sparking lawsuits from the California Chamber of Commerce and the Pacific Legal Foundation. A state appeals court rejected their arguments in April, but they appealed. Business groups were also concerned the decision was too broad and could open the door to additional taxes. Despite the states victory in court, there are other legal questions around cap and trade. Gov. Jerry Brown is pushing lawmakers to extend the program past 2020 with new legislation. With this Supreme Court victory, now its up to us to take action extending Californias cap-and-trade system on a more permanent basis, Brown said in a statement. This story has been updated with a statement from the governor. Facebook

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Rohrabacher on meeting with Manafort while he was a foreign agent: It was a nice little dinner By Sarah D. Wire (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) When former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort belatedly filed as a foreign agent on behalf of a pro-Russian Ukrainian political party this week, he listed a meeting with just one U.S. politician  Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach. Manaforts years-late filing with the Justice Department details $17 million in political consulting work he did between 2012 and 2014 for the Party of Regions, a Ukrainian party considered friendly with the Kremlin. Rohrabacher told the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday that the March 2013 meeting happened over dinner at the Capitol Hill Club, a popular Washington Republican social club. He said Manafort billed it as a chance to get reacquainted decades after they worked together in the 1970s on President Reagans campaign. Still, he assumed Manafort had an agenda. I assume when old friends call me up and are wanting to get reacquainted and stuff I always assume they are in some way under contract with somebody, Rohrabacher said. Rohrabacher, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, and Emerging Threats, has long been known for encouraging improved relations with Russia, something thats made him an outlier in the Republican Party. He said Russia and the Baltic states probably came up during dinner, but it wasnt the focus of their conversation. We discussed a myriad of things, a lot of personal stuff, a lot of different analysis of the politics of the day, Rohrabacher said. It was a nice little dinner. Three days later, Manafort contributed $1,000 to Rohrabachers reelection campaign. Manaforts modest donation didnt stand out, Rohrabacher said. Ongoing FBI and congressional investigations into Russian attempts to interfere in the 2016 election, and how the Trump campaign may have been involved, have heightened interest in any connections American politicians may have had with the Russian government or its proxies. Rohrabachers opponents immediately began fundraising off the revelation that Manafort met with the congressman while serving as a foreign agent. Democrat Harley Rouda, whos running for Rohrabachers seat in 2018, called it embarrassing in a solicitation email Tuesday. We need someone who cares more about Orange County and America than supporting Russia and Putin, Roudas email stated. Facebook

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Democrats block Republican legislators proposal for forensic audit of UC Office of President By Patrick McGreevy Two months after a state audit found mismanagement at the University of California, Democratic state lawmakers on Wednesday blocked a Republican legislators proposal to have auditors go back in and look deeper at spending, this time with an eye for possible criminal activity. Assemblyman Dante Acosta (R-Santa Clarita) said the follow-up examination was justified after an audit in April found the UC Office of the President had failed to disclose a $175-million budget surplus to the Board of Regents and the public, was paying excessive salaries and expenses and had inadequate financial safeguards in place to prevent abuse. The lack of controls, the audit concluded, was putting millions of dollars at risk of abuse. I am fighting to return trust in the institution of the UC Office of the President for students, parents, faculty and staff, Acosta said. Only complete transparency can accomplish that goal. However, no Democratic lawmakers on the Joint Legislative Audit Committee voted to authorize a new audit, so the motion failed. Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) said the university administration should be given time to address the recommendations of its recent audit. I believe this request is premature, he said. State Auditor Elaine Howle said Wednesday in response to a legislators question that she did not find any evidence of misuse of funds. We didnt see anything nefarious, Howle told the panel. UC President Janet Napolitano said funds were not hidden, but she has agreed to adopt policies to make the budget process more transparent. Monica Lozano, chairwoman of the UC Board of Regents, told the legislative committee Wednesday that a new audit is unnecessary and may interfere with the systems implementation of recommendations from the last audit, including the hiring of an accountant to look at UC spending. Facebook

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Single-payer healthcare advocates protest at Capitol with a message for Californias Assembly speaker: Shame on you! By Melanie Mason View Twitter post Backers of a measure to establish a single-payer healthcare system in California rallied at the Capitol on Wednesday to renounce Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount), who shelved the bill last week. Several hundred demonstrators, many affiliated with the California Nurses Assn., the legislations sponsor, convened in the Capitol rotunda, where they unfurled a banner that blared Inaction = Death, before handing off signs with written complaints to a member of Rendons staff. The rally, on the heels of a smaller demonstration at Rendons district office on Tuesday, is a sign of how single-payer backers continue to seethe after the bill, SB 562, stalled on Friday. Patty Estefes, a retired nurse from San Jose, said the campaign for single-payer heathcare, in which the government would cover all residents healthcare costs, was her passion. Rendon sabotaged SB 562 and we want to take the knife out, said Estefes, explaining her sign, which had an image of the California grizzly bear stabbed in the back with a blade labeled Rendon. The image has become popular among supporters of the bill, although other Democrats have said the violence of the image makes them uneasy. View Twitter post A depiction of violence in any form is unacceptable and inappropriate. #StandwithRendon #StrongerTogether #DeathThreatsUnacceptable pic.twitter.com/KLF8nNvxdZ  Rudy Salas Jr (@rudysalasjr) June 27, 2017 Meanwhile, another union leader, Robbie Hunter of the powerful State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, chimed in Wednesday with support for the state Assembly speaker. Working people have real fights, and they are not with a labor champion like Anthony Rendon, said Hunter, who denounced the criticism from single-payer advocates as unfair and unwarranted attacks. Facebook

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Garcetti and Schwarzenegger urge cities and states to lead fight against climate change in Trump era By Michael Finnegan Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday called on cities and states to lead the nations fight against global warming as the federal government begins to reverse its climate change policies. The Republican former film star  who signed a landmark 2006 law to reduce Californias carbon emissions  and the Democratic mayor spoke out against President Trumps denial of climate science at a forum at Creative Artists Agency in Century City. Both argued that steps taken by cities and states to promote renewable energy could largely make up for the Trump administrations withdrawal from the worldwide Paris agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Facebook

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California voters could decide in 2020 whether to remove mandatory punishment for falsifying U.S. citizenship records By Jazmine Ulloa A proposed California law would let state voters decide in November 2020 whether to remove the mandatory punishment for a person who falsifies citizenship documents. The legislation by Assemblyman Raul Bocanegra (D-Pacoima) would make the crime a wobbler, meaning prosecutors would have the discretion to charge suspects in such cases with either felony offenses or lower-level misdemeanors. That, supporters say, would bring the penalties in line with those for similar crimes committed by legal residents who falsify government records, such as drivers licenses. Assembly Bill 222 moved out of the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday with a 5-2 vote along party lines. An amendment added Tuesday places the issue on the ballot in November 2020. Bocangera said the measure was introduced as a response to President Trumps hard-line stance on immigration and would reverse part of Proposition 187, a 1994 California ballot measure to deny public services to immigrants in the country illegally. The bill would repeal provisions in the penal code that require a person to serve an automatic five-year mandatory prison sentence or pay a $75,000 fine if they are convicted on charges of manufacturing, distributing or selling false documents to conceal someone elses citizenship or residency status. It has the support of the Los Angeles County district attorneys office, which says there are far more serious crimes that carry substantially lower penalties. Today, if an underage college student uses a fake ID to purchase a six-pack of beer, he or she can be charged with a misdemeanor, Bocanegra said in a statement. However, if an immigrant is caught using that same fake ID, he or she is automatically charged with a felony and is subject to five years in prison. Facebook

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Its all good: Gov. Jerry Brown (again) signs a budget without any vetoed spending By John Myers Gov. Jerry Brown, signs bills in his Capitol office on Oct. 9, 2015. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Gov. Jerry Brown holds two unique records when it comes to state budgets. No governor has signed more of them, and none in modern times have been as hesitant to veto items they dont like. In the budget he signed on Monday, Brown made no changes. Its not the first time. This was Browns second consecutive budget in which he took no veto actions, and his third veto-free budget since 1982. Governors have line-item veto power to erase budget expenditures, decisions that arent subject to review by the Legislature. Previous chief executives have used their unilateral power far more often, a way to trim spending from a variety of state budget-related programs. State documents show former Gov. George Deukmejian holds the modern record for the most budget changes, issuing 367 line-item vetoes on July 21, 1983. In total amount of spending, the record belongs to former Gov. Pete Wilson, whose budget vetoes in 1998 added up to more than $1.9 million. Brown also has the distinction of issuing fewer vetoes of stand-alone legislation of any governor in the last half-century, suggesting its a sign of respect for the legislative branch of government. The governors signature on the latest state budget sets in place $183.2-billion in spending, covering a wide range of programs and services while setting aside more in cash reserves than ever before. Read More Facebook

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Campaign to recall freshman state senator submits more than enough signatures to qualify for the ballot By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton) at the Capitol on April 20. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The campaign against state Sen. Josh Newman has turned in more than enough signatures to force the freshman Democrat from Fullerton into a recall election. Republican Carl DeMaio, a lead organizer of the effort, said the group submitted 84,988 signatures on Tuesday. More signatures are being collected but only 63,500 registered voters in the 29th Senate District are needed to put the recall question on the ballot. It shows that there is an unbelievable grass roots movement to fire Josh Newman for his disasterous vote to support an increase in the gas tax, said DeMaio, a conservative radio talk show host from San Diego. The recall drive was complicated by recently enacted legislation that allows voters to ask that their signatures not be included in the recall petitions if they felt they were misled. Elections officials in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties must now determine whether there are sufficient valid signatures to qualify the recall. Mike Roth, a spokesman for the campaign against the recall, said special interests including Chevron have helped fuel a misleading petition drive. The recall petition is a costly power grab by out-of-district special interests that wont save taxpayers a dime and wont solve any problem voters care about, Roth said. What it will do is cost up to $3 million in tax dollars that would be better spent on our schools and public safety. Facebook

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In massive shake-up, Gov. Jerry Brown breaks up Californias scandal-plagued tax collection agency By Patrick McGreevy In a move that triggers the most dramatic shake-up of the California Board of Equalization in its 138-year history, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation Tuesday that strips the embattled state tax collection agency of most of its powers and duties as officials scramble to create an entirely new department by July 1. The board is the target of an investigation by the state Department of Justice, and its employees and members have been accused by auditors of mismanagement, including putting $350 million in sales taxes in the wrong accounts and improperly interfering with decisions to open field offices and transfer staff. The governor signed a bill that pares the state board from an agency with 4,800 workers to one of 400 employees, shifting the other staff engaged in the collection of sales and excise taxes to a new California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. The elected, five-member Board of Equalization will also give up its role hearing taxpayer appeals to a new Office of Tax Appeals, leaving the board to advocate for taxpayers and continue setting rates for gas taxes and pipeline levies, and making sure counties fairly assess property taxes. Anticipating the governors action, officials had already started work to create a new state department by July 1. Its a short period, acknowledged Marybel Batjer, secretary of the California Government Operations Agency, who is coordinating the changes. The new department will be headed by a director appointed by the governor and requiring state Senate approval. Brown will also appoint a chief deputy and chief counsel. The recruitment is underway for those positions, Batjer said, adding that the transition will continue after July 1, obviously. Not every i will be dotted and t crossed between now and July 1. We will do our mighty best to do the most important things before July 1. Learn more on the history of the state board and whats next. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown approves a $183-billion state budget, though a few details are unfinished By John Myers (Justin Sullivan/Getty) Gov. Jerry Brown on Tuesday signed into law a $183.2-billion budget, a spending plan with significant boosts for public schools and a variety of programs to help Californias most needy residents. While the blueprint depends on a series of other related bills that havent reached his desk, Browns action largely ratifies the plan approved by the Legislature and ensures the state will have a budget in place for the new fiscal year that begins Saturday. This budget provides money to repair our roads and bridges, pay down debt, invest in schools, fund the earned income tax credit and provide Medi-Cal health care for millions of Californians, Brown said in a written statement released by his office. The budget boosts total state and local spending on K-12 education and community colleges to $74.5 billion, roughly $11,000 per pupil in the coming school year. It also increases funding for the University of California and Cal State University systems, and provides additional money for preschool and child care programs. Brown and lawmakers agreed to devote a portion of new tobacco tax dollars to higher payments for doctors and dentists that treat patients in Medi-Cal, the states healthcare program for the poor. Divvying up the dollars generated by last falls Proposition 56 was among one of the most contentious issues during spring budget negotiations. The budget sets aside additional money in the states rainy-day reserve fund, growing the contingency account to $8.5 billion. Brown, who rarely uses his line-item veto power in trimming budgets, left entirely intact the plan ratified by the Legislature on June 15. While the governor signed 15 budget-related bills Tuesday, a handful of other related bills have yet to make their way to his desk. Those include a plan to make an extra $6-billion payment to the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, borrowing the money from surplus state revenues. The plan was approved by the state Senate on Monday. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown says GOP healthcare bill cuts right into the heart of what is already a divided nation By Sarah D. Wire Californias senators, Kamala Harris, left, and Dianne Feinstein. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) One in three California residents are covered by Medicaid, and California is thought to have the most to lose if Republicans gather enough votes to roll back major aspects of the Affordable Care Act. California would see the nations biggest increase in uninsured people by next year and face a $24-billion budget shortfall by 2026 because of reduced Medicaid funding, Californias Democratic senators and Gov. Jerry Brown warned during a call with reporters on Tuesday. The Californians call was just one of dozens of events House and Senate Democrats held Tuesday to try to stir up anger over the bill. Brown called the bill divisive, saying it puts tax cuts for the wealthy above healthcare for the poor. This is such a political bill, he said. This bill will be the most divisive maneuver, cutting right into the heart of what is already a divided nation. The bill would increase the number of people without health coverage by 22 million and push up medical costs for millions of other poor and sick Americans, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. After pledging to pass the bill this week, Senate Republicans abruptly delayed a vote until after the July Fourth recess. A handful of Republicans have announced they are leery of the bill, saying it either goes too far or doesnt go far enough, and the White House is lobbying them to get on board. Every major medical association has come out against the bill, which was written by a small group of senators behind closed doors. Sen. Kamala Harris said the bill is being rushed to the Senate floor without hearings, debate or much time for senators to review it. Its absolutely wrong, it is harmful and it is unconscionable. The bill would restructure our nations entire health care system, she said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said its not enough to amend the existing GOP bill, and Congress needs to start over instead. She said 10 or 12 Republican senators need to defect so the bill is not revived after a few changes, as a similar bill was in the House. I am optimistic that it is doable to kill it, Feinstein said. Its the most indefensible bill Ive actually seen in 24 years in the Senate. Facebook

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National Republicans target California water needs in new ads against House Democrats By Sarah D. Wire The National Republican Congressional Committee is going after five California Democrats for votes on a water issue. The online ads are identical except for one line tailored to target each Democrat: Reps. John Garamendi of Walnut Grove, Ami Bera of Elk Grove, Salud Carbajal of Santa Barbara, Raul Ruiz of Palm Desert and Scott Peters of San Diego. They specifically are about the Democrats voting against a bill to funnel dam permits through a single federal agency in an effort to speed up new water storage projects. Tell Congressman Garamendi to stop letting politics get in the way of our water, one ad says. Sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove), the bill passed the House last week, with a 233-180 largely partisan vote. Democrats need 24 seats to regain control of the House, and are expected to focus their attention in the midterms on tying Republicans to President Trump. Their list of seats they need to flip includes 9 of the 14 California seats held by Republicans. The ads, which will run online for the next week, could be the first glimpse of an NRCC strategy of trying to keep the focus on local issues in the 2018 election. California Democrats want to help radical environmentalists more than their drought-stricken constituents. If Democrats continue to sit on their hands and let this chance to capture much-needed water float on by, the NRCC will hold them accountable, said spokesman Jack Pandol. Facebook

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Only a few California counties may use the new state law for sending every voter a ballot in the mail By John Myers A broad effort to close thousands of California neighborhood polling places in favor of absentee ballots and multi-purpose vote centers has yet to find traction beyond a handful of counties. Data collected by Secretary of State Alex Padillas office concludes only two counties have a plan in place to implement the sweeping change in state election law enacted last year. As many as 14 counties can do so in 2018, with Los Angeles County and others able to switch to the system in 2020. Change is hard, said Jill LaVine, registrar of voters in Sacramento County, one of the counties that has already approved adoption of the system to swap polling places for a limited number of vote centers offering several different election services. Meanwhile, leaders in the county that has done the most planning to move toward changing its election system -- Orange County -- have rejected the new law for 2018. Read More Facebook

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Nurses union uses the image of a California bear stabbed in the back after single-payer bill is blocked Facebook

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Rep. Grace Napolitano to miss House votes for several weeks while husband receives cancer treatment By Sarah D. Wire Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Norwalk) will miss House votes while her husband, Frank Napolitano, undergoes chemotherapy and radiation to treat esophageal cancer, her spokesman said. The congresswoman, 80, easily beat out former Democratic state Assemblyman Roger Hernandez of West Covina in the November election. She said in April that she would seek reelection in 2018, and her husbands health does not change her plan to seek an 11th term, spokesman Jerry ODonnell said. Napolitano has missed the last two weeks of House votes, though shes working some from the district, and is expected to remain in California for several more weeks to care for her husband during the treatment, ODonnell said. He did not know for sure how long Napolitano would be gone, but it is possible she might make it back for some votes during the seven-week-long treatment, he said. Napolitano said by phone she will try to return if the House votes again on the GOP health care bill. I intend to be back at work soon, Napolitano said. The House leaves Friday for a one-week break and leaves again at the end of July for the August recess. Napolitano suffered a minor stroke in 2016 that affected her ability to write and slightly slowed her walk. For the record, 8:47 a.m.: An earlier version of this post identified the type of cancer Napolitanos husband has as lung cancer. It is esophageal cancer. 8:47 a.m., June 27: This post has been updated with a quote from Napolitano. 2:45 p.m. This post has been updated to correct how many terms the congresswoman has served. 2:26 p.m. This post has been updated with more details about when Napolitano might return. This post was originally published at 2:06 p.m. Facebook

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After a career in the majority, Jimmy Gomez prepares for life in the minority in Washington By Sarah D. Wire (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Congressman-elect Jimmy Gomez has spent his entire political career as a member of the majority party. When hes sworn in as central and northeast Los Angeles newest member of Congress in the coming weeks, hell be the most junior Democrat  194th out of 194  in Congress. Hell have to find a path forward in a Congress dominated by the opposing party. Even if Democrats win back control, hell have hundreds of more senior and just as eager colleagues ahead of him in line. Read More Facebook

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Rep. Maxine Waters focuses on GOP healthcare bill at packed town hall By Andrea Castillo (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) Rep. Maxine Waters, who spoke Saturday at a packed town hall meeting in Gardena, said she worries some Americans will be forced to do what her family did if the Republican healthcare bill passes. Senate Republicans have pledged to pass a bill before the July Fourth holiday. To illustrate why she believes everyone should have access to comprehensive healthcare, the Los Angeles Democrat said she and her 12 siblings never saw a physician or a dentist their entire childhood. I was born at home in St. Louis back in the day when it was hard for minorities to get into hospitals, she said. Read More Facebook

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This former Jeff Denham challenger wont run again, but hes launching a committee to elect Democrats By Christine Mai-Duc Two-time congressional challenger Michael Eggman says he wont try for a third campaign against Republican Rep. Jeff Denham (Turlock), but hes hoping to help Democrats running against the him. Eggman, a beekeeper and farmer, announced Monday that hes starting a political action committee to help oust Republicans in seven seats, including Denhams in the Central Valley, which Democrats have targeted for 2018. The committee, Red to Blue California, filed papers with the Federal Election Commission in March but so far hasnt reported raising any money. Andrew Feldman, a spokesman for the PAC, said the group has taken in about $50,000 and its goal is to raise at least $7 million in the 2018 cycle. Eggman will serve as chair of the committee. In a statement, Eggman said that while he lost last year, I learned a heck of a lot on the way. Now as Donald Trump threatens to upend the very fabric of what makes our country great, Im doing my part to join the resistance. In addition to Denhams seat, the committee will target Republican Reps. Steve Knight (Palmdale), David Valadao (Hanford), Ed Royce (Fullerton), Mimi Walters (Irvine), Dana Rohrabacher (Huntington Beach) and Darrell Issa (Vista). All seven were reelected in districts won by Hillary Clinton in the presidential election. The committee also plans to use some of the money to promote down-ballot candidates in each of the districts as a way of building a base of Democratic candidates. Eggman, a beekeeper and farmer who received a rare endorsement from Barack Obama in the Democrats unsuccessful quest to take back the House last year, lost to Denham by 5% in November. Spending in that race topped $14 million. Six Democrats have already filed to run in Denhams 10th Congressional District, including Josh Harder, a venture capital executive whose campaign manager worked for Eggman in 2016. Facebook

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California Politics Podcast: Theres a powerful new ally of those who support a sanctuary state By John Myers Supporters of an ambitious California effort to limit law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities begin the week with a prominent new ally. On this weeks California Politics Podcast, we take a look at the impact of Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck endorsing the sanctuary state bill thats now under consideration in Sacramento. We also discuss the decision by Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) to run for governor, and how his conservative politics could have a big effect on how Republican voters view their choices in 2018. Im joined by Times staff writer Melanie Mason and Marisa Lagos of KQED News. Facebook

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California wont be passing a single-payer healthcare system any time soon  the plan is dead for this year By Melanie Mason View Twitter post A high-profile effort to establish a single-payer healthcare system in California sputtered on Friday when Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) decided to shelve the proposal. Rendon announced late Friday afternoon that the bill, SB 562 by state Sens. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens) and Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), would not advance to a policy hearing in his house, dampening the measures prospect for swift passage this year. SB 562 was sent to the Assembly woefully incomplete, Rendon said in a statement. Even senators who voted for SB 562 noted there are potentially fatal flaws in the bill, including the fact it does not address many serious issues, such as financing, delivery of care, cost controls, or the realities of needed action by the Trump Administration and voters to make SB 562 a genuine piece of legislation. Rendon took pains to note that his action does not kill the bill entirely  because it is the first year of a two-year session, it could be revived next year. But the move is nonetheless a major setback for legislation that has electrified the Democratic partys progressive flank. The California Nurses Assn., the bills sponsors and the states most vocal advocates for single-payer, blasted Rendons decision as cowardly. Acting in secret in the interests of the profiteering insurance companies late Friday afternoon abandons all those people already threatened by Congress and the Trump administration, Deborah Burger, the unions co-president, said in a statement. Burger continued: The people of California are counting on the Legislature to protect them now, not sometime next year, and as polls have shown Californians support this proposal by a wide majority. A solution to this health care emergency could be at hand; Speaker Rendon is standing in opposition. In a joint statement, Lara and Atkins, the measures authors, said they were disappointed the robust debate about healthcare for all that started in the California Senate will not continue in the Assembly this year. This issue is not going away, they added. Gov. Jerry Brown, who had signaled wariness about the proposals costs, said in a statement that Rendon made the case that theres clearly more work to do before anyone is in a position to vote on revamping Californias healthcare system. I recognize the tremendous excitement behind the measure, but basic and fundamental questions remain unanswered, Brown said. Updated at 6:44 p.m.: This article was updated with a comment from Gov. Jerry Brown. Updated at 5:38 p.m.: This article was updated to include comments from the California Nurses Assn. and the measures authors. This article was originally published at 4:38 p.m. Times staff writer Patrick McGreevy contributed to this report. Read More Facebook

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California politicians are in Dallas despite new ban on state employees traveling to Texas By Patrick McGreevy Sen. Ricardo Lara (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) A day after California banned state employees from going to Texas on official business, a group of politicians from the Golden State was in Dallas on Friday for a major conference. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra on Thursday announced he was prohibiting state employees from traveling at state expense to Texas and three other states that he determined have approved laws that discriminate against gay and transgender people. Sen. Ricardo Lara (D-Bell Gardens), who is openly gay, is among those attending the annual gathering of the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO). A spokesman said he is using his own money, not taxpayer funds. Lara voted for the bill that enacted the travel ban. Lara felt participating in a panel discussion on immigration was important amid debate over Gov. Greg Abbotts signage of a controversial immigration law that bans sanctuary cities for immigrants in the country illegally, spokesman Michael Soller said. Texas just passed one of the nations most anti-immigrant laws with Senate Bill 4, and California went down this road with Proposition 187 more than 20 years ago, Lara said in a statement. With LGBT and immigrant rights under assault across the country, I thought it was important to join other Latino leaders and show Californias example. Like Lara, West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem John Duran made plans to attend the Dallas convention well before Becerra announced the travel ban, which does not apply to non-state employees. Duran is the national chairman of NALEO and said the conference was scheduled for Dallas three years ago. I dont know about the LGBT laws in Texas or AG Becerras call for a boycott -- I am not only LGBT but also Latino, Duran said in an email, adding he is very angry over Texas SB 4, which requires law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration officials in enforcing immigration laws. I am here supporting my elected official colleagues in Texas from Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas who are joining together to sue the state of Texas, Duran said. Being a Californian who worked against Gov. Pete Wilsons Prop 187 -- I have experiences and strategies to share with them. Facebook

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Texas responds to California LGBT travel ban, saying Golden State firms fleeing over taxation and regulation By Patrick McGreevy A day after California officials said they are banning state workers from traveling to Texas on official business, an aide to Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott returned a verbal volley claiming mistreatment of businesses. On Thursday, California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Texas and three other states were being put on a list of states that had adopted laws seen by Becerra as discriminatory to the LGBT community and therefore were off-limits for state-sponsored travel. That drew a response Friday from John Wittman, Abbotts press secretary. California may be able to stop their state employees, but they cant stop all the businesses that are fleeing over taxation and regulation and relocating to Texas, Wittman said. Becerra put Texas on the travel-ban list after the governor signed HB 3859 last week. The new law allows foster care agencies to deny adoptions and services to children and parents based on sincerely held religious beliefs. Becerra said the measure allows agencies to discriminate against children in foster care and potentially disqualify LGBT families from the states foster and adoption system. A spokesman for Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin also criticized California officials. It is fascinating that the very same West Coast liberals who rail against the Presidents executive order, that protects our nation from foreign terrorists, have now contrived their own travel ban aimed at punishing states who dont fall in lockstep with their far-left political ideology, said Woody Maglinger, Bevins press secretary. Updated at 1:35 pm to include comment from Woody Maglinger. Facebook

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Rep. Tom McClintocks bill to streamline dam permits passes House largely on party lines By Sarah D. Wire Dam permits would be funneled through a single federal agency in an effort to speed up new water storage projects under a bill that passed the House on Thursday. Sponsored by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Elk Grove), the 233-180 vote was largely along partisan lines. Reps. Jim Costa (D-Fresno), Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) and six other Democrats joined with Republicans to pass the bill. McClintock said the various local, state and federal agencies that must sign off on new projects dont have to communicate or set deadlines, and often require redundant information from permit applicants, which can make the application process drag on for years and drive up costs. Dam applications can go on endlessly, McClintock said after the vote. A lot of these projects become cost prohibitive. He pointed to a dam project proposed by the town of Foresthill in his district as an example. Conflicting demands from several federal agencies about a plan to install a spillway gate on the dam at the Sugar Pine Reservoir have driven up the cost, he said. The project application is still under review. So a $2-million project that was a heavy lift for a little community, but within reach, becomes an $11-million cost-prohibitive boondoggle, McClintock said. Under the bill, the Bureau of Reclamation would coordinate with other federal agencies on all aspects of a dam application and set deadlines for deciding whether to approve a project. Democrats who voted against the bill said the bureau would be able to set arbitrary deadlines for the at-times lengthy environmental reviews required for water projects, which could undermine reviews required by laws like the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act. Fixing the process isnt just about saving some headaches or a few hours of time. This is about making sure millions of people in California and across America have the water they need and deserve, said Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield). Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) has filed similar legislation in the Senate, and McClintock said he is cautiously optimistic it will pass. Facebook

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Gov. Jerry Brown says Senate healthcare bill has same stench as House version Facebook

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Travis Allen, a conservative and controversial Orange County lawmaker, jumps into California governors race By Phil Willon Conservative Orange County Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach) is jumping into Californias 2018 race for governor, a move that could splinter the GOP vote in what promises to be a crowded and competitive race. Travis, elected to the Legislature in 2012, said he decided to run because of the years of wasteful spending and dictatorial policies pushed by Jerry Brown and the Sacramento Democrats. I am running to be the next governor of California to take back our state for the forgotten ordinary citizens of California, who will no longer tolerate the squandering of our incredible natural abundance of people, economy, and resources by limousine liberals beholden to ravenous public sector union bosses and extremist environmentalists, Travis said in a statement announcing his campaign. Outspoken and controversial, Travis has filed a ballot measure to repeal the recently approved gas tax and sponsored legislation requiring voters to show photo ID. Allen has faced criticism for claiming that a new law that barred police from arresting people under 18 for soliciting sex or loitering with intent to commit prostitution was an effort to legalize child prostitution. The purpose of the law was to treat minors as victims of sex trafficking rather than offenders. Allen, 43, worked as a certified financial planner before he ran for the Legislature. His Assembly district includes all or portions of Seal Beach, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Garden Grove. Allen will face stiff competition from fellow Republican John Cox, a Rancho Santa Fe venture capitalist who already has put $3 million of his own money into his campaign. Former GOP Assemblyman David Hadley of Manhattan Beach also is exploring a run, and former Los Angeles Rams football player Rosey Grier announced plans to jump into the race but thus far has not established an official campaign. The race also has attracted a cadre of Democratic heavyweights, including Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang. Delaine Eastin, a former state legislator and state schools chief, is also running. In California, Democrats hold a 19-percentage point advantage over Republicans in voter registration, a strong head wind against GOP candidates running for statewide office. Because of the large field of Democrats in the race, a Republican could have a good shot of finishing in the top two in the June 2018 primary if they can put together GOP support. But Allens entry into the race could divide Republican voters, reducing the odds of a GOP candidate making it to the November general election. The first- and second-place finishers in the primary advance to the general election regardless of their party. Facebook

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Coastal panel spawned by 1930s oil scandal now a player in governors race By Michael Finnegan (Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times) When John Chiang joined the State Lands Commission, it quickly became a platform to showcase his environmental record, starting with his 2007 vote to block construction of a shipping terminal for liquefied natural gas in Ventura County. The commission has served the same purpose for Gavin Newsom, who often uses his seat on the panel to remind Californians that he opposes offshore oil drilling. Now that both Chiang and Newsom are running for governor, they are drawing rare attention to the little-known but powerful State Lands Commission, which oversees 4 million acres of land beneath California waters. Read More Facebook

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Ballot measure to expand L.A. County Board of Supervisors advances By Patrick McGreevy State Sen. Tony Mendoza, D-Artesia, wants to expand the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors from five to seven members. Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press ( Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors would be expanded from five to seven members and an elected chief executive post would be created under a measure recommended Wednesday by a state Senate panel despite opposition from the county. Two members of the countys 2015-16 civil grand jury testified that the group felt the current government is inadequate for a county of more than 10 million residents. They said that if the county was a state, it would be the eighth-largest state in the country based on population. The board is too small to adequately serve the diverse needs of county residents, grand jury member Molly Milligan told the Senate Governance and Finance Committee, before its 5-1 vote to recommend Senate Constitutional Amendment 12. The proposed statewide ballot measure was introduced by Sen. Tony Mendoza (D-Artesia). The proposal was opposed by Phyllis Marshall, the chief legislative representative for Los Angeles County, who noted that the proposal would allow voters statewide to decide the governance structure for one county. Voters in other counties do not have sufficient knowledge to vote on a constitutional amendment to change the governing structure of Los Angeles County, Marshall told the panel before the measure was sent to another policy panel on its way to a possible full Senate vote. Facebook

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Kimberly Ellis blames Democratic Party hacks for losses in Tuesdays congressional races By Phil Willon Kimberly Ellis (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) Kimberly Ellis, who has challenged the results of the California Democratic Party leadership election she lost, blamed party establishment hacks who are the worst in the biz for losses in congressional races in Georgia and South Carolina on Tuesday. Ellis, a progressive Bay Area Democrat who tapped into a wellspring of disaffected Bernie Sanders backers, on Tuesday night sent a tweet saying that it was time for a new coalition. That drew a sharp rebuke from veteran Democratic operative Bob Mulholland, who has criticized Ellis for not conceding. Ellis blamed her narrow May loss to Eric Bauman for state Democratic Party chairperson on voting irregularities. Ellis, who lost the race by 62 votes,has called on the party to conduct an independent audit of the election. Bauman rejected that request, saying the party already has a process in place to review contested elections. The partys compliance review commission, made up of six members who were appointed during former chairman John Burtons tenure, is currently reviewing the election. On Friday, Bauman announced that the party hired the law firm of Olson Hagel & Fishburn LLC to oversee, advise and counsel the commission during the inquiry. Let's thank Jon Ossoff, his staff and the thousands of volunteers for their effort. Let's ignore Trump and Kimberly Ellis attacks on Ossoff.  Bob Mulholland (@Chico_Bob) June 21, 2017 Facebook

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These legislators are trying to make sure Jimmy Gomezs replacement in the Assembly is a woman By Christine Mai-Duc As soon as Congressman-elect Jimmy Gomez announced he was running for Congress, his Assembly colleague Cristina Garcia got to work. Garcia, a legislator from Bell Gardens who became chair of the Womens Legislative Caucus in December, called Gomez, other Assembly members, and labor and environmental groups to make it clear: If Gomez won the 34th Congressional District and vacated his Assembly seat, her priority would be electing a woman in his place. With Gomez headed to Washington after his June 6 win, Garcia said its time to put her groups plan into action. Its simple, said Garcia in a recent interview. As long as we dont have parity, were going to fight at every opportunity to try to get another woman in office. Women hold 17 out of 80 seats in the state Assembly and nine of 40 of the state Senate seats. On Wednesday morning, the Democratic arm of the womens legislative caucus announced it was endorsing Wendy Carrillo, a Democrat who ran in the 34th District primary against Gomez, and who is the only woman running to replace him so far. I am impressed by her ongoing activism for environmental justice, womens rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants and social justice movements that are the bedrocks of a progressive democracy and welcome the tenacity she will bring to further promote these issues in the state Legislature with a womans perspective, Garcia said in a statement. Eight other candidates have filed to run for or have announced campaigns for Gomezs 51st Assembly District. The election date and its accompanying filing deadlines have not yet been set, mainly because Gomez has not stepped down, so another woman could still jump in. But Garcia is hoping her caucus announcement will head that off. If the 34th Congressional District race is going to teach us any lessons, its that we dont have the luxury of having multiple women split the field, Garcia said. More than a dozen women ran in the crowded primary to replace Xavier Becerra in the central Los Angeles District. None of them won more than 10% of the vote. So Garcia and her colleagues havent just been talking about their mission; theyve been trying to shape the field of candidates, too. Garcia said she reached out to former 34th District hopefuls to gauge their interest, solicited names of potential female candidates from interest groups, and had conversations with half a dozen women who were considering jumping in. Garcia said she didnt discourage any women, but was up front with them about the challenges each might face. Shes also encouraged women who expressed interest to work it out among themselves in hopes that they could unite behind one female candidate. Its a somewhat new tactic for the womens caucus, which has struggled to unite on political endorsements in the past and is hoping to flex more muscle in Sacramento. We are being more strategic now, Garcia said. It cant just be like, I like you and you have a great heart. Thats not good enough. You have to put in the work and be able to build a coalition and win. Carrillo said it was unfortunate that none of the women in the 34th District race made it past the primary. But, she added: Men dont get asked the question of whether theyre worried about splitting the vote. The outcome in the congressional primary, Carrillo said, had more to do with a lack of money flowing to many of the womens campaigns, something she hopes to remedy. Ive learned a lot ... [about] just what it takes to build coalitions and how best to move forward in terms of having a strategy to win, Carrillo said. Ultimately, the voters are going to decide based on issues, Carrillo said. I think that I bring a very unique perspective, having grown up in the district, in terms of advocating for labor and for education and for healthcare and all the issues that residents care for. ------------ FOR THE RECORD June 21, 2:53 p.m.: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Cristina Garcia became chair of the Womens Legislative Caucus in January. She took over the position in December. ------------ Facebook

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Prompted by San Bernardino shooting, House passes bill to require reports to Congress after terrorist attacks By Sarah D. Wire Evacuated workers pray on the fairway of the San Bernardino Golf Club shortly after the 2015 mass shooting at the nearby Inland Regional Center. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times) Intelligence agencies would have to make recommendations to Congress on how to stop the next domestic terrorist attack under a bill inspired by the 2015 San Bernardino shooting. The bill, which passed the House on Tuesday without opposition, requires the Homeland Security secretary to submit a report to Congress within one year of a terrorist attack in the U.S. The report, which would be unclassified, must include details of what happened and recommendations for laws or policies that can be changed to prevent a similar attack. It would also include input from the attorney general, FBI director and the head of the National Counterterrorism Center. Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Redlands), who represents San Bernardino, filed the bill about a year after the Dec. 2, 2015, shooting in which 14 people were killed and 22 were wounded by a married couple at the Inland Regional Center. Aguilar told The Times that individual members of Congress shouldnt have to press agencies for details about what happened after an attack. By nature every terrorist event is unique, and so we need something to prod the agencies to tell us why its unique and what we can do better, Aguilar said. There is no current requirement for the agencies to submit a report to Congress after a terrorist event. We think that it makes sense to do that and that it will help us learn from these events and become smarter about it. After the San Bernardino attack, the Justice Department worked with the Police Foundation, a Washington-based research group, to create a report, but it was aimed at training law enforcement on responding to an attack. We think there are more lessons to be learned, but that only happens when those agencies work with Congress on what we can change, Aguilar said. The bipartisan bill was backed by nine other Californians: Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Corona), Paul Cook (R-Yucca Valley), Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), Nanette Barragan (D-San Pedro), David Valadao (R-Hanford), Jeff Denham (R-Turlock), Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine). Aguilar said he is still working to line up a sponsor for the bill in the Senate. Facebook

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New super PAC targets seven California Republicans By Phil Willon Former Northern California Rep. Ellen Tauscher has launched a new super PAC targeting seven vulnerable Republicans in the states congressional delegation, hoping to aid the Democratic effort to win control of the House of Representatives in 2018. Each Republican represents a district that backed Hillary Clinton in the November election. On the Fight Back California PACs list are Reps. Jeff Denham of Turlock; David Valadao of Hanford; Steve Knight of Palmdale; Ed Royce of Fullerton; Mimi Walters of Irvine; Dana Rohrabacher of Huntington Beach and Darrell Issa of Vista. Of those, the former congresswoman served with Issa, Royce and Rohrabacher. This isnt personal, Tauscher said. But the fact is that Im a Californian, and they dont vote in the interest of my state. Tauscher represented Northern Californias 10th Congressional District for 14 years before becoming undersecretary of State during the Obama administration in 2009. Katie Merrill, the PACs political strategist, said the campaign will target the Republicans records on issues that directly affect voters in the district, such as the GOPs efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We intend to soften the ground. So when the Democratic nominee emerges ... they are facing a significantly weakened incumbent, Merrill said. Updated at 4:02 p.m.: This story was updated to include a comment from Tauscher. Facebook

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Overhaul of Californias state tax board plagued by confusion, members say By Patrick McGreevy Board of Equalization Chairwoman Diane Harkey says there is confusion around the reorganization of the board. (Don Kelsen / Los Angeles Times) State tax board members on Tuesday said there remain a lot of unanswered questions about how their agency will transfer many of its duties to two new offices, a reorganization approved last week by the state Legislature in response to problems with the panel. About 4,400 of the state Board of Equalizations 4,800 employees will be transferred to a new California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, which will take over collection of sales and excise taxes, and an office of administrative law judges who will take over taxpayer appeals. The change was outlined by the boards executive director, David Gau, at a meeting with the panel Tuesday. I dont think anything is easy, Board Chairwoman Diane Harkey said in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. I think its going to be expensive. There is a lot of confusion. Board member George Runner said there are questions about whether he can continue to hold educational events for taxpayers, while board member Jerome Horton said he wants to know whether he can continue to advocate for taxpayers. There are still some issues they need to work out, Horton said. Harkey said new bills will have to be approved with clarifying language on some issues. For instance, the newly approved legislation takes away the boards power to hear appeals after July 1 even though lawmakers want the board to continue handling the hearings until the new administrative law judges are operating Jan. 1. In addition, the board employs civil service workers who are trained for jobs that will no longer exist with the board, she said, adding that the new department is supposed to begin operating July 1. This is all still in flux. Its a huge step to take in a couple of weeks, Harkey said. Marybel Batjer, secretary of the California Government Operations Agency, has addressed the board employees, assuring them that they will be able to shift to jobs in the new department. She told The Times on Tuesday that planning has already begun for the new department, including the early stages of recruitment of its administrative staff. Meanwhile, board representatives, including Harkey, confirmed that investigators from the state attorney generals office have begun interviewing agency employees after Gov. Jerry Brown called for a probe into whether staff and resources were mishandled by the agency. Were just hearing that they are around, Harkey said of investigators. I think it scares everybody. Facebook

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Californias Clean Air Act waiver should be yanked, Trumps former environmental advisor says By Chris Megerian (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) The head of President Trumps Environmental Protection Agency may not be prepared to battle California over air regulations, but the man who led Trumps transition team for the department is ready. Myron Ebell, who works at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington and helped devise Trumps environmental agenda, said California should not be allowed to set its own standards for greenhouse gas emissions from vehicle tailpipes. The state has that authority under a Clean Air Act waiver granted by President Obama, one of dozens that have been issued over the years. The waiver has to go, in my view, Ebell told journalists on Monday at a training program organized by the National Press Foundation. The problem, he said, is that the California regulations are a backdoor attempt to regulate fuel economy, a power thats reserved for the federal government. California said it would push forward on greenhouse gas rules earlier this year even though the Trump administration has opened the door to rolling them back on the federal level. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt had previously suggested that the Trump administration could try to revoke Californias waiver, but during a recent Capitol Hill hearing he said it wasnt currently under review. Ebell has denied mainstream science on global warming. But apart from the waiver he wants to see revoked, he told journalists that he didnt have a problem with California trying to reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions. I believe in competitive federalism, he said. The only problem, Ebell said, is whether Gov. Jerry Brown tries to conduct his own foreign policy and sign international treaties. Facebook

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A new audit says some California agencies sidestepped competitive bidding rules on contracts By Patrick McGreevy Two California agencies in charge of high-tech projects failed to provide proper oversight for billions of dollars in contracts awarded without competitive bidding, according to a state audit released Tuesday. State law requires the Department of General Services and the California Department of Technology (CDT) to use the competitive bidding process whenever possible to ensure fair competition and eliminate favoritism, fraud, and corruption, State Auditor Elaine Howle wrote in a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown. The investigation examined a sample of those contracts and found nine noncompetitive requests valued at almost $1 billion that agencies likely could have avoided had they engaged in sufficient planning, Howle wrote. The auditors cited approval of a request by the California High-Speed Rail Authority for a $3-million noncompetitive contract amendment to provide financial consulting services. The proposal was submitted 17 days before the existing contract was set to expire. When justifying its noncompetitive request, High-Speed Rail stated that the financial consulting services were critical to its mission and that the vendors skills were specialized and not widely available. However, it did not provide a valid reason why this vendor alone could meet the states needs, as financial consulting services are not unique, the audit found. In all, auditors estimated that the state awarded at least $44 billion in noncompetitive contracts of more than $1 million each during the five fiscal years ending June 30, 2016. The two agencies have the power to enforce contract rules but they rarely employed them, allowing agencies to continue inappropriately using noncompetitive requests, the audit concluded. State workers also allegedly wrote reports in ways that misled about which projects were competitively bid. In one case, a $3-million contract was identified as competitively bid, to which an additional $31 million in noncompetitive contracts was added through nine amendments. Amy Tong, director of the California Deptartment of Technology, agreed with the auditors recommendations, saying the agency believes that the recommendations will strengthen CDTs oversight of information technology and telecommunication procurements, especially those acquired through the noncompetitive request process. Daniel C. Kim, director of the Department of General Services, also agreed to improve the process, writing to auditors that his agency will take appropriate action to address the issues presented in the report. Facebook

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Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer has a big decision to make By Phil Willon Tom Steyer at a Los Angeles high school in 2014. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press) For months, billionaire Democratic donor and environmental activist Tom Steyer has been acting like a candidate running for governor  hobnobbing with Democratic loyalists, putting out a position paper on income inequality and continuing his aggressive efforts to combat climate change. Steyer says hes still considering jumping into the race. But he may have another target on his radar. Steyer has starting mounting his own challenge to President Trump, going so far as to call for impeachment and use his nonprofit, NextGen Climate, to encourage citizens to lobby their congressional representatives for it. Read More Facebook

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Lobbying firm fined $4,000 for violating gift limit buying dinner for former state Sen. Ronald Calderon By Patrick McGreevy Ron Calderon, shown in while still in the senate in 2014, was treated to a dinner by a lobbying firm that violated a gift limit. ( (Rich Pedroncelli / AP)) Mercury Public Affairs has agreed to pay $4,000 in fines to Californias ethics watchdog agency for violating the $10 gift limit on lobbying firms when it provided dinners worth $200 to former state Sen. Ronald Calderon and his wife. In October, Calderon was sentenced to 42 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty in a public corruption case unrelated to the Mercury dinner. The fines proposed against Mercury by the enforcement staff of the state Fair Political Practices Commission stem from violating the $10 gift limit and failing to report that Calderons wife also received a dinner, according to the investigative report. Calderon and his wife attended an April 2013 dinner paid for by Mercury at Mastros in Beverly Hills. Also present was former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, a non-lobbyist partner of Mercury, and four other unidentified people. The violation of the state Political Reform Act was found by a random audit by the state Franchise Tax Board. Mercurys $200 gift to Sen. Calderon, while not extravagant, significantly exceeded the gift limit, the investigative report said. A central purpose of the act is to prevent improper influence by lobbyists and the acts strict gift limit on lobbying firms is intended to effectuate that purpose. The commission will vote on the fines on June 29. Facebook

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California bill aims to revive broadband privacy rules that were killed by Trump and Congress By Melanie Mason A woman works on her laptop in the Rose Main Reading Room of the New York Public Library. ( Mark Lennihan / Associated Press) Several months ago, President Trump signed into law a repeal of sweeping privacy regulations limiting what broadband providers can do with customer data. Now, an Assembly Democrat is trying to resuscitate those rules for Californians. Assemblyman Ed Chau (D-Monterey Park) unveiled a measure on Monday that would largely enshrine the sputtered federal regulations into California state law. The bill would require Internet service providers, such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T, to get permission from customers before using, selling or permitting access to data about their browsing history. Such restrictions were crafted by the Federal Communications Commission under the Obama administration. But the FCC under Trump sought to roll back those rules before they went into effect. Congress approved the repeal in March, and the president signed it. Congress and the administration went against the will of the vast majority of Americans when they revoked the FCC rules, Chau said at a news conference, adding that with his measure, AB 375, California is goi
Gerrymandering, the practice of drawing self-serving political boundaries, is as old as the country itself. Its impetus, one could argue, is even older and deeper-seated, grounded in the fundamentals of human nature.

In the zero-sum game of campaigns and elections, where you either win or lose, gerrymandering is a way to stack the deck and improve the odds by sorting people into districts based on how they are expected to vote  in what, up to now, has been perfectly legal fashion.

By agreeing to hear a landmark case challenging the drawing of strongly partisan boundaries in Wisconsin, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated Monday that it will consider whether, finally, enough is enough.

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If the court, which takes up the case in the fall, rules that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional  a very big if, experts say  it could drastically change the countrys politics by injecting much greater competition into races for Congress and for statehouses nationwide.

Such a decision probably would also spawn years, if not decades, of further litigation, spurring politicians in the meantime to find ever more clever ways of skewing contests for partisan advantage.

Drawing fair districts is a little like drawing a fair tax plan, said Justin Levitt, a constitutional scholar at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. A lot of people have very different ideas what those should look like at the end of the day.

Some, for instance, think its perfectly legitimate and beneficial to group communities of interest  say, Latinos or city dwellers or workers concentrated in the high-tech industry. Others desire geographical compactness or a strict adherence to county or municipal lines.

Up to now, if there has been a set of principles that guides the political line-drawing process, they are: Maximize your political advantage. Do whatever you can get away with.

Most politicians, if they have the opportunity, they want to win reelection, they want to be in the majority, said Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political scientist who has testified as an expert in lawsuits challenging political boundaries. So why would they not take advantage, given the opportunity?

Unlike in other countries, the process of drawing electoral lines in the U.S. has largely been left in the hands of those elected to represent those districts. It did not take long for inherent conflicts of interest to arise.

No less an eminence than Patrick Henry  of Give me liberty or give me death fame  worked to persuade the Virginia legislature to draw congressional boundaries aimed at politically rubbing out another of the countrys founders, his enemy James Madison. Madison won the congressional seat despite Henrys efforts and went on to become president.

As events would have it, one of two vice presidents who served under Madison was Elbridge Gerry, the former governor of Massachusetts whose creative, nakedly partisan line drawing produced a district resembling a salamander, hence his enduring contribution to the nations political lexicon: the gerrymander.

His modern disciples, including Californias legendarily powerful Rep. Phil Burton, were unapologetic in their own brazen biases. The San Francisco Democrat, who almost single-handedly engineered his partys congressional dominance in the state in the 1980s, proudly described his twisting, blatantly partisan political lines as my contribution to modern art.

All Republicans could do was stew.

Now it is Democrats who object the loudest, as the GOP has used its sizable advantage in governorships and statehouses to craft the greater portion of the nations political map, and do so in the most beneficial way possible

In the Wisconsin case before the Supreme Court, Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his allies drew a map that won the GOP 60 of 99 Assembly seats, even though in 2012 Republicans won less than half  48.6%  of the two-party legislative vote.

At the national level, Democrats won a plurality of the congressional vote in 2012 but, because of the way lines were drawn, failed to win enough seats to take control of the House.

Their effort to win the House in 2018, amid a hoped-for backlash against President Trump, may be similarly hampered by strategically drawn districts that tilt toward the GOP; at the least, any wave that sweeps Democrats into office will have to be substantially stronger than it might otherwise.

The lopsidedness arguably contributes to the nations polarization; for many lawmakers, the greatest fear is a primary challenger professing greater ideological purity  though the Senate, where lawmakers are elected statewide, is not exactly a bastion of bipartisan group hugs.

If change in the redistricting process comes, it will most likely be from the bottom up, from efforts like those in California, where voters took the line drawing away from politicians and handed the process to a commission that, at least in theory, was a neutral arbiter.

Similar attempts are underway across the country and ultimately may prove a more effective brake on gerrymandering than the Supreme Court.

Whatever the justices decide, said the University of Floridas McDonald, politicians will doubtless continue to try to manipulate the system to the greatest extent they can. Theres absolutely no incentive not to, he said.

Given how things work, lawmakers can draw new district lines after the 2020 census and probably wait years for the courts to get around to reviewing their handiwork. By then, theyll be firmly entrenched incumbents with a big head start on reelection until the next redistricting takes place.

mark.barabak@latimes.com

@markzbarabak

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As cities throughout the country prepared for Juneteenth  the annual June 19 celebration that commemorates the end of slavery 152 years ago  a noose was found in the nations capital.

Police discovered it hanging from a lamp post on Saturday outside of Washingtons National Gallery of Art. Its appearance comes three weeks after another noose was found less than a mile away on the grounds of the Hirshorn contemporary art museum. Earlier that week, another noose was found on the floor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

We are an inclusive city, and we do not tolerate signs of hate, ignorance and fear, Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, D.C., said in a statement earlier this month condemning the earlier incidents. Our diversity is what makes us stronger, and we will not relent in promoting and defending D.C. values. We do not take these incidents lightly, and we will not accept that signs of hate are signs of our time.

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The discoveries havent been isolated to the museums surrounding the National Mall, or to Washington.

According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the frequency of racially motivated crimes has surged since the 2016 presidential election. Between November and April, the center documented 1,863 bias incidents  defined as actions motivated by prejudice  292 of which were racial. Several of those involved the display of nooses.

The noose is a dark reminder of Americas torrid past when lynchings were commonplace. In Jim Crows segregated South, roughly 4,000 people  most of them African Americans  were killed by hanging between 1877 and 1950.

Here is a roundup of other recent noose incidents:

June 15, Gaithersburg, Md.: A noose was found hanging from a tree at an apartment complex.

A noose was found hanging from a tree at an apartment complex. Jun 3, southeast Washington, D.C.: Police found a noose displayed on the front door of a house under construction.

Police found a noose displayed on the front door of a house under construction. May 25, Oakland: A noose was found at the Port of Oakland  the second such incident there in two weeks  prompting a brief walkout from longshoremen.

A noose was found at the Port of Oakland  the second such incident there in two weeks  prompting a brief walkout from longshoremen. May 11, Baltimore: Two 19-year-old men were arrested for allegedly hanging a noose to a light fixture outside a middle school in Baltimore after a teacher noticed it from his classroom window.

Two 19-year-old men were arrested for allegedly hanging a noose to a light fixture outside a middle school in Baltimore after a teacher noticed it from his classroom window. April 27, College Park, Md.: A noose was left in the kitchen of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity house at the University of Maryland.

The noose incidents are part of a larger pattern of racially charged crimes.

In May, bananas were found dangling from nooses on American Universitys campus the same day that student Taylor Dumpson became the universitys first black woman student body president. Written on the bananas were Harambe bait  a reference to the gorilla who was killed last year  and AKA free, a reference to the predominantly black Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority to which Dumpson belongs.

Being first isnt easy, Dumpson wrote in a statement shortly after the incident.

The University of Maryland has also been plagued by racially charged events that escalated in late May when Richard Collins III, a black Army lieutenant and soon-to-be graduate of Bowie State University, was stabbed to death on campus.

Collins attacker, Sean Christopher Urbanski, a white student, had been affiliated with a Facebook group that posted racist hate-filled messages. He was charged with murder. The FBI and Maryland authorities are still investigating whether the killing was a hate crime.

colleen.shalby@latimes.com

Twitter: @cshalby

ALSO:

D.C.'s new African American museum is a bold challenge to traditional Washington architecture

Celebrating the day when the love of an interracial couple conquered centuries of hate

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Senate Republicans have been working behind closed doors for weeks on their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare.

But not all GOP senators like the emerging legislation  which will be unveiled Thursday  and Senate leaders cant afford to lose more than a couple when they vote, probably next week.

The most conservative senators want a quicker, more decisive end to the Affordable Care Act. Those from centrist states prefer a slower unraveling  preferring to keep Obamacares federal funding that allowed them to expand Medicaid to more residents.

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With a slim 52-seat majority and staunch Democratic opposition, GOP leaders can afford to lose just two Republican senators and still pass the bill. Even then, they would need Vice President Mike Pence for the tie-breaking vote.

Here are nine senators to watch:

The Hard-Liners

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) speaks about Obamacare repeal, flanked by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), far right, and members of the House Freedom Caucus (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Sen. Rand Paul

The libertarian-leaning Kentucky senator dismisses GOP replacement proposals as Obamacare-lite, criticizing them as failing to keep the Republican promise of fully repealing the Affordable Care Act. Paul wants to gut the Medicaid expansion and do away with federal subsidies to help lower-income Americans afford private insurance on the Obamacare marketplace. He staged an elaborate mock hunt through the Capitol in the spring for the then-secretive House GOP bill being shaped behind closed doors. Paul remains open to his colleagues ideas. But he is the conservative senator most likely to vote no.

Sen. Ted Cruz

A self-appointed go-between for Senate Republicans and conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus, the firebrand Texan has inserted himself in almost every aspect of the healthcare negotiations. He even once dashed to President Trumps Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to meet with White House staff. Cruz shares the concerns of conservatives who argue the emerging GOP approach is not a full repeal. But he also is trying to prevent failure to overhaul the Affordable Care Act from becoming, as he puts it, Republicans Waterloo. Up for reelection next year, he is likely to vote for the Republican bill as he works to refashion his image as a leader.

Sen. Mike Lee

The quiet Utahn, often seen as the conservative conscience of the Senate, shares worries that the emerging GOP approach is not sufficient in undoing the Affordable Care Act. Even though he often bucks party leadership in pursuit of a vote that fits his purist policy positions, he is more likely to join his colleagues to support the bill than be the one to tank it.

The Keep-Medicaid (for Now) Coalition

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), right, with Vice President Mike Pence at a Republican policy lunch. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Sen. Rob Portman

Ohio has 680,000 additional residents receiving insurance though Medicaid thanks to the states decision to take the federal funding offered to expand its safety net healthcare program. Preventing those Ohioans from losing their insurance is a key goal for the senator. Portman has signaled a willingness to curtail the program, just not right away. The state also is reeling from an opiate crisis, and many people addicted to heroin and other opiates rely on Medicaid for care. Still, Portman often sticks with party leadership and is likely to give his vote for the bill, especially if adjustments are made for his state.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito

Residents in rural West Virginia are also deeply reliant on Medicaid, which has expanded under Obamacare to provide care for an additional 180,000 residents, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Capito must balance her states robust support for Trump with the fallout that would likely come from cutting residents off Medicaid. She, too, prefers a slower phase-out. The opiate epidemic in West Virginia only deepens her concerns. Still, Capito is a newer senator not known for bucking leadership, and may be inclined to join her colleagues to pass the bill.

Sen. Dean Heller

Nevadas Heller is one of the most endangered senators up for reelection in 2018. His swing state also expanded its Medicaid enrollment under Obamacare  and is trying to boost it even more. Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval just vetoed legislation that would have allowed residents to buy into Medicaid if they needed coverage but dont qualify as low-income. But the debate is far from over. Heller is pushing his colleagues for a longer transition period away from Medicaid  seven or even 10 years. But that seems unlikely. The question will be whether Heller can settle for a sooner end to the program or is he willing to risk angering Trump supporters with a no vote.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski

The Alaska senator wants to ensure Medicaid funding for her far-flung residents, whose healthcare costs run high in part because of the states expanse and isolation. She also stands firmly, as one of the few Republican women in the Senate, against GOP efforts to end funding for Planned Parenthood. Murkowski has an independent streak and has been known to part ways with leadership. Republican leaders will likely need to strike a deal to earn her vote.

The Fix-Obamacare Wing

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) listens as Sen. Susan Collins, (R-Maine) speaks on Capitol Hill. (J. Scott Applewhite/Associated Press)

Sen. Bill Cassidy

A physician who has spent a career caring for poorer patients, Cassidy of Louisiana has been at the forefront of trying to fix Obamacare with his own bill that repeals key aspects of the Affordable Care Act but maintains crucial funding for states. He is conservative, but wary of rolling back the Medicaid expansion that his state began in 2016. Cassidy told reporters recently he was encouraged by negotiations with his Senate colleagues, and realizes not all his ideas would be in the final bill. Despite his early concerns, he will probably be supportive of the Senate effort.

Sen. Susan Collins

The Mainer is the most centrist Republican in the Senate, and was an early backer of Cassidys efforts to repair, rather than gut, Obamacare. Collins also shares concerns about cutting funds for Planned Parenthood. Often a political outlier in her party, she remains a team player. Once a highly sought-after vote when Democrats approved Obamacare, she ultimately joined all Republicans in opposing it. Her vote will be crucial.

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

@LisaMascaro

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Trumps latest tweet in media war is a literal show of mock pugilism By Laura King President Trump on Sunday circulated a doctored video clip on Twitter that showed him physically attacking a crudely rendered stand-in for CNN, a post that drew rebukes from critics as an incitement to violence, but prompted renewed expressions of support from backers. In doing so, Trump also ignored pleas to stop tweeting or at least take a more presidential tone -- from lawmakers in his own party -- after he took his war against news media to new heights last week with a coarse post on the appearance and intellect of cable television host Mika Brzezinski. On Saturday he also posted several anti-media messages as Americans began their Fourth of July celebration. Sundays tweet, which used an edited version of a years-old promotional video for professional wrestling, showed Trump, clad in a business suit and tie, administering a choreographed beat-down to a figure whose face was obscured by CNNs logo. #FraudNewsCNN #FNN pic.twitter.com/WYUnHjjUjg  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017 CNN, which has been a particular target of the president since the network was forced to retract a story relating to an element of the sprawling investigation into possible collusion with Russia by the Trump campaign, quickly condemned the tweet. It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters, the network said in statement. It also tweeted a recent assertion by White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders that Trump had never engaged in such incitement. "The President in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary." - @SHSanders45 6/29/17  CNN Communications (@CNNPR) July 2, 2017 As is often the case, the presidents surrogates were left scrambling to explain or justify an inflammatory Twitter outburst. Homeland security advisor Thomas Bossert, who was shown the clip while appearing on ABCs This Week, watched it stone-faced and then declared: No one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they dont. The night before, Trump had used a celebration of veterans at Washingtons Kennedy Center to again denounce the news media. The president, who had briefly broken a weekend golf getaway to appear at the rally, pounded away at the theme that he is being treated unfairly. The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, he told the raucous crowd. But Im president, and theyre not. Facebook

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Increasing number of states reject request for personal information on voters from Trump commission By Colleen Shalby (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) A growing number of states have rejected a request for personal information about voters from a presidential commission on vote fraud led by Kansas controversial Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Kobach, the vice chairman of the commission, sent letters to each state and Washington, D.C., asking for voters personal information. The request asked for names, addresses, voting history and the last four digits of voters Social Security numbers. The commission was set up to look into voter fraud after President Trump alleged that he lost the popular vote in 2016 only because millions of people voted illegally -- a claim that numerous states election officials from both parties and outside experts have dismissed as groundless. As of Friday afternoon, at least 13 states had outright rejected the request from the Presidential Advisory Committee on Election Integrity. Officials in several other states either said they would not supply all the information or needed more information before making a decision. Some officials did not mince words in their nos. They can go jump in the Gulf of Mexico, and Mississippi is a great State to launch from, Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann wrote in a statement. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said in a statement that strongly criticized Kobach that he would continue to defend the rights of all eligible voters to cast their ballots free from discrimination, intimidation or unnecessary roadblocks. Secretary Padilla's response to the Election Commission's request for personal data of CA voters: pic.twitter.com/UdUt55HSim  CA SOS Vote (@CASOSvote) June 29, 2017 As a Kansas official, Kobach has been a leading backer of immigration restrictions and of measures to put new requirements on who is allowed to vote. His opponents note that he was fined last week for misleading a federal court in a voting rights case. Democratic elected officials in several states criticized the commission, itself, not just the information request. The president created his election commission based on the false notion that voter fraud is a widespread issue  it is not, Kentucky Secretary of State Allison Grimes wrote. "I do not intend to release Kentuckians' sensitive personal data to the fed. gov't."  Sec. Grimes



Statement on Pres. Commission request: pic.twitter.com/9Js05x99eF  Alison L. Grimes (@KySecofState) June 30, 2017 In an odd contradiction, Kobach said that Kansas, like some other states, will partially reject at least one aspect of the request. In Kansas, the Social Security number is not publicly available.  Every state receives the same letter, but were not asking for it if its not publicly available, he told the Kansas City Star. The states that have fully rejected the request include California, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Dakota, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi and Minnesota. Others, including Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Connecticut, Missouri, Kansas, Utah and Texas will turn over some of the requested information. Vermont has requested an affidavit from the commission. And Wisconsin has suggested that the commission could purchase the publicly available information, just as political campaigns do. Officials in Washington state said they were reviewing the request. Facebook

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Look at possible conflicts of interest in Trump teams OneWest Bank probes, 2 Democrats urge By Jim Puzzanghera Protesters gather outside a OneWest Bank in Pasadena in 2014. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) Two House Democrats want Congress to look into possible conflicts of interest in the Trump administrations handling of investigations into Pasadenas OneWest Bank  a bank formerly headed by now-Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Al Green (D-Texas) said Friday that there was room for considerable doubt as to the impartiality and the adequacy of this administrations investigations into OneWest and a subsidiary, Financial Freedom. Mnuchin was the banks chairman from 2009 to 2015. President Trump has nominated Joseph Otting, the former chief executive of OneWest, to be comptroller of the currency, a key bank regulator who is part of the Treasury Department. And Brian Brooks, who was OneWests vice chairman, reportedly will be tapped to be deputy Treasury secretary. Read More Facebook

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Healthcare issue delivers nothing but pain for Nevadas embattled Sen. Dean Heller By David Montero Dean Heller is Stephanie Diaz-Gonzalezs problem now. Shes never met Nevadas Republican senator and hadnt had much time to familiarize herself. How could she? The 25-year-old is holding down a full-time job and ra+ising a 7-year-old son, who keeps her busy with soccer games, math homework and those too-often terrifying moments when he cant breathe. When President Trump was elected and congressional Republicans moved on their top priority to dismantle Obamacare, Diaz-Gonzalez got to know Heller a whole lot better. Given his back-and-forth on the issue, she came to distrust him. I dont know if I could vote for him or support him, the Democrat said. He seems very contradictory. Which is why Heller is also Karen Steelmons problem. Steelmon, a 48-year-old Republican who grew up in northern Nevada, isnt happy with the lawmaker, who is considered the most vulnerable GOP senator in the country when he comes up for reelection next year. Obamacare has always been an abomination to Steelmon, an ardent supporter of repeal. To her, deeply held principles are at stake. Heller has never acted in favor of what I would consider conservative, constitutional principles as a general rule, said Steelmon, who would like to see the incumbent taken out in a GOP primary. And on the very few times he has, its always come as a surprise. This is Hellers dilemma. Read More Facebook

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Trump will meet face-to-face with Putin in Germany next week By Brian Bennett (Alexei Nikolsky / Associated Press) President Trump has governed five months under a cloud of questions about his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, yet the two men will meet next week for the first time, on the sidelines of the G20 summit of world leaders in Hamburg, Germany. White House officials on Thursday confirmed plans for the private meeting but said no decisions had been made about the topics Trump will raise. So its unclear whether the men will discuss Russias election-year cyberattacks that are the focus of criminal and congressional investigations. Our relationship with Russia is not different from any other country in terms of us communicating with them, really, what our concerns are, where we see problems in the relationship but also opportunities, said Trumps national security advisor, H.R. McMaster. McMaster said he expected the two men to have a broad, wide-ranging discussion about problems in the relationship but also about where the U.S. and Russia have common interests. Theres no specific agenda, McMaster said. Its really going to be whatever the president wants to talk about, he added. The White House has refused to say whether Trump would sign legislation with new sanctions on Russia for meddling in the elections by hacking, including into some states voting systems, and by spreading false news stories. But Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin indicated the existing restrictions against Russia were sufficient. Weve got plenty of those as well, Mnuchin said. Trump will also meet with the leaders of China, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Indonesia, Singapore and other countries during the summit of 20 major world economies. Trumps director of the White House National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, said the meeting would fall short of a typical bilateral discussion between the American president and the head of another country, but would be more than whats known in diplomacy-speak as a pull aside  a quick, informal get-together on the edge of a conference. Trumps scheduled meeting with Putin in Hamburg places added significance on his stop in Poland next Wednesday. In Warsaw, McMaster said, Trump intends to bolster U.S. relationships with Poland and other central European and Baltic states that were once in Moscows orbit under the Soviet Union, but now rely on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the U.S. to counter pressure from Russia. Trumps meetings there seem designed to strengthen his hand with Putin. McMaster called Poland a front-line NATO nation with regards to the eastern flank, noting that it sent troops to fight alongside the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq and has exceeded its pledge on NATO defense spending. As a candidate and president, Trump has criticized other NATO countries that have not yet met those pledges for military spending equal to at least 2% of the size of their respective economies. Facebook

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Travel ban seen a win by at least one conservative; Breitbart focuses on upcoming votes in Congress By Kurtis Lee After it stalled for several months in federal courts, a portion of President Trumps travel ban is set to take effect Thursday evening and will bar individuals from six majority-Muslim countries. Some in conservative media are viewing it as a much-needed political victory for Trump. Here are some of Thursdays headlines: Two wins for Trump (Washington Times) Trump has seen setbacks in his fledgling administration  probes into possible collusion with Russia, infighting among his party over a healthcare overhaul, federal courts halting his travel ban. But now, the president gets a W. The Supreme Courts decision to allow portions of President Trumps travel ban to proceed is a much-needed victory for the administration, Cal Thompson writes. In doing so the unanimous court affirmed  at least temporarily, pending a full hearing on the case in the fall  a presidents constitutional authority to determine whether people seeking admittance to the U.S. pose a threat to our safety and security. Thompson also highlights the Supreme Court decision this week that churches have the same right as other charitable groups to seek state money for new playground surfaces and other non-religious needs. Thompson called the ruling in the case, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia Inc. v. Comer, a victory for religious institutions and Trump, who at times has touched on the issue of religious freedom. Breitbart prods GOP leaders to pass pro-American immigration reforms (Breitbart) For Trump, Breitbart hasnt always delivered the most approving headlines for his administration  particularly on immigration. Some right-wing bloggers and pundits dont think Trump has done enough on immigration, a key pillar of his campaign platform. This piece turns the attention to members of Congress, where two bills  focused primarily on detaining people in the country illegally  could come up for a vote . The GOP-run House is expected to vote for two modest immigration-reform bills as soon as this week, but pro-American reformers are using the two votes to build loud and energetic public pressure for major reform legislation, notes the right-wing website. Trump attacks Psycho Joe Scarborough, Crazy Mika Brzezinski in Twitter tear (Fox News) At first, they were friends; now, perhaps, enemies?

Trump used Twitter early Thursday to jab Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who the president in past has said he admires. The tweets have drawn the ire of Republicans. Heres what the president wrote: I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017 ...to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 29, 2017 And the response? pic.twitter.com/8YhzcCUwM1  Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) June 29, 2017 Facebook

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Trump plans to nominate Brendan Carr to fill final FCC seat and provide crucial vote on net neutrality rules By Jim Puzzanghera President Trump intends to nominate Brendan Carr, a former aide to Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai, to fill the final open seat at the agency and provide a crucial vote on the future of tough net neutrality rules. Carr, the FCCs general counsel, would fill a Republican slot on the commission and would be expected to support Pais push to roll back the regulations for online traffic. Carrs intended nomination was announced by the White House on Wednesday night. It comes after Trump nominated Jessica Rosenworcel, a former FCC commissioner, on June 14 to fill a Democratic seat. If the Senate confirms both nominees, as expected, the FCC would have its full complement of five commissioners and a 3-2 Republican majority. Read More Facebook

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Gorsuch is already pushing Supreme Court to the right on religion, guns and gays By David Savage Supreme Court Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) When Judge Neil M. Gorsuch went before the Senate in March as President Trumps first nominee to the Supreme Court, he sought to assure senators he would be independent and above the political fray. There is no such thing as a Republican judge or Democratic judge, he said more than once. We just have judges. But in just his first few weeks on the high court, Justice Gorsuch has shown himself to be a confident conservative activist, urging his colleagues to move the law to the right on religion, gun rights, gay rights and campaign funding. He dissented along with Justice Clarence Thomas when the court rejected a gun-rights challenge to Californias law that strictly regulates who may carry a concealed weapon. The 2nd Amendments core purpose, they said, shows the right to bear arms extends to public carry. He wrote a dissent, joined by Thomas and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., when the court struck down part of an Arkansas law that gave opposite sex-couples, but not same-sex couples, the right to have both spouses listed on a childs birth certificate. The court said it had already decided that same-sex couples deserve fully equal rights under state law. And when Trumps travel ban came before the court this week, Gorsuch dissented from the majoritys middle-ground approach, which allowed the ban to take effect except for foreign travelers who had a relationship with this country, such as a close relative or a student enrolled in a university. Read More Facebook

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When he meets South Koreas president, Trump will be asking for trade concessions and help confronting North Korea By Brian Bennett (Nicholas Kamm / AFP Photo) President Trump plans to pressure South Korean President Moon Jae-in to make trade concessions when they meet Friday, while at the same time seeking closer cooperation against North Koreas accelerating nuclear program. Both aims, outlined Wednesday by a senior administration official, could make for some difficult discussions, especially since the newly elected Moon campaigned for a softer approach to the government in Pyongyang. Moon, who arrived Wednesday in Washington, began his four-day visit by laying a wreath at a memorial at Marine Corps Base Quantico in northern Virginia to the U.S. Marines who died during the Korean War in the battle at Chosin Reservoir. Trump will host Moon and his wife, Kim Joon-suk, for dinner at the White House on Thursday before the two leaders meet one-on-one in the Oval Office on Friday morning. Having criticized the two countries trade agreement when he was running for president, Trump will argue for a more balanced trade relationship, the administration official said in a background briefing. In particular, Trump will cite the large amount of Chinese steel that is sometimes processed in South Korea before being sold cheaply in the U.S. market. The two leaders will have a friendly, frank discussion about the trade imbalance between South Korea and the United States, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Seouls trade surplus is shrinking, the official added, but there is still a large gap. The visit will mark the first time the two leaders have met since the liberal Moon took office last month after the ouster of President Park Geun-hye, a scandal-tarred conservative who had taken a hard line against North Korea. Trump and Moon share precisely the same goal, the Trump aide said -- the complete dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear program. But the approach of the two leaders is starkly different. Trump has called for maximum pressure against North Korea, seeking additional economic sanctions and demanding that China, North Koreas main ally and patron, do more to shut off assistance to Pyongyang. Moon has risen through the ranks of his countrys politics advocating for closer ties between the Koreas, which technically are still at war. Already he has taken steps to delay the deployment of the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, known as THAAD, an anti-missile system intended to counter any North Korean strikes. The anti-missile system is a divisive issue in South Korea; it prompted protests last weekend at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul. China has objected to installation of the powerful radar defense as well, but the White House believes the U.S. system will ultimately be fully operative. The delay should not be equated as a reversal of the decision to deploy THAAD, the official said, and suggested that the topic would not be central to the two presidents discussions. As important as anything [will be] building a rapport and getting to know each other, the official said. Facebook

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Senate Republicans aim for new healthcare bill by Friday, but skeptics remain By Lisa Mascaro (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) Senate Republicans reconvened behind closed doors Wednesday trying to break the impasse on their healthcare overhaul but emerged with no apparent strategy for resolving differences by an end-of-week deadline. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky vowed to try again for a vote after the Fourth of July recess, despite having abruptly delayed action this week. Senators were aiming for a revised bill by Friday, the Republican whip, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, told reporters, so it could be assessed by the Congressional Budget Office during the break. But senators remained skeptical after the lengthy lunchtime huddle that appeared to run long on ideas but short on consensus. I think its going to be very difficult, said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). McConnell surprised senators by delaying this weeks expected votes once it became clear he did not have a majority for passage  or possibly to even open the debate. As many as 10 Republican senators now publicly oppose the bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, and leaders are scrambling to win them over with an estimated $200 billion in savings from the bill that can be applied to their particular states needs. But even with that fund of resources, it is not clear McConnell will be able to satisfactorily improve the legislation, which now threatens to cut 22 million Americans off health insurance. He can only afford to lose two Republican votes in the face of Democratic opposition. Its going to be very difficult to get me to a yes... have to make us an offer we cant refuse, Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) said on a telephone town hall late Tuesday, according to journalist Jon Ralston, who monitored the call. Fresh polling Wednesday showed paltry support for the Republican approach to overhauling the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which has enjoyed a surge in popularity now that Republicans are closer than ever to repealing it. A USA Today poll put approval of the Senate GOP bill at 12%. Republicans, though, are under enormous pressure from their most conservative supporters  and big dollar donors, including the powerful Koch network  to deliver on their promised to end Obamacare. Senate Democrats, meanwhile, suggested that President Trump convene all 100 senators  much the way then-President Obama did during his first days in office for a session at Blair House  to see how they might be able to work together to improve, rather than repeal, the Affordable Care Act. Id make my friends on the Republican side and President Trump an offer: Lets turn over a new leaf. Lets start over, said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.). President Trump, I challenge you to invite us  all 100 of us, Republican and Democrat  to Blair House to discuss a new bipartisan way forward on healthcare in front of all the American people. No such invitation, however, seemed forthcoming. Trump dismissed Schumers proposal  he just doesnt seem like a serious person, the president said  and instead promised his own big surprise on healthcare. Healthcare is working along very well, Trump told reporters at the White House. We could have a big surprise, with a great healthcare package. Asked what he meant by a big surprise, Trump simply repeated: A great, great surprise. The Republican bill, like its counterpart passed by House Republicans, does not fully gut Obamacare, but rescinds the new taxes imposed on high-income individuals and healthcare companies to pay for expanding coverage through Medicaid and subsidies for private insurance on the ACA marketplace. Senators said the private talks Wednesday focused mainly on changes to the Obamacare marketplace that could bring down the cost of insurance premiums. One idea from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to allow insurers to offer policies that do not meet the Obamacare benchmarks for what insurance needs to cover met with mixed reaction, senators said. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, warned that such changes would alter the risk pool, keeping insurance costs high. You end up with policies that, for example, dont cover maternity, Cassidy said. Do you want a policy that doesnt have maternity, which would be principally appealing to young men, when obviously typically men have had a role in that pregnancy? Other senators were floating new ideas, but McConnell gave no indication whether those proposals would be included in the final revised product. Michael A. Memoli contributed to this report. Facebook

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No new laptop bans, but air travelers to the U.S. will face tighter screening all over the globe By Joseph Tanfani Homeland Security officials said Wednesday they will order stricter passenger screening and other new security measures for all flights entering the United States but will not bar laptop computers in carry-on luggage as airlines and passenger groups had feared. The new order will cover about 2,000 flights a day from 280 airports in 105 countries, a move that could make international flying even more onerous just as the busy summer travel season starts. Security officials would not detail the new measures but said passengers headed to the United States will face more intensive screening at airports, and probably more security dogs. They gave no date for when the new procedures will start. If carriers dont implement the measures effectively, Homeland Security still may ban laptops, e-readers and other electronic devices larger than cell phones from cargo holds as well as passenger cabins. The decision follows intelligence, reportedly gathered from Islamic State in Syria by Israeli spy services, suggesting a lethal new threat from bombs that could be concealed in digital devices and that could evade detection by airport screening devices. In March, U.S. and British authorities banned laptops in cabins on flights from eight Muslim-majority countries in North Africa and the Middle East, saying terrorists were seeking innovative methods to bring down commercial jetliners. Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly told a security conference in Washington on Wednesday that the new security measures will be both seen and unseen and will be phased in over time. He said they will include tougher screening, particularly of electronic devices, plus new technology and procedures to protect planes from so--called insider attacks by airline employees. It is time that we raise the global baseline of aviation security, Kelly said. We cannot play international whack-a-mole with every new threat. He said terrorists still see commercial aircraft as the crown jewel target for attacks, and that intelligence has shown renewed interest by terrorists to attack airlines. Kelly told a House committee several weeks ago that the department was considering extending the laptop ban to 71 more airports overseas. But Kelly ultimately decided to tighten screening across the board, instead of focusing on laptops or chasing after each item that might be used to bring down a jetliner, senior Homeland Security officials said Wednesday in a conference call with reporters. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to brief reporters, said Kelly worked with airlines to find ways to improve screening without unduly inconveniencing passengers. Intensive doesnt always mean slower, said one official. In some cases, airlines have been doing these things at international airports for some time. The officials said more security dogs, which sniff for explosives, may be used. And they said airlines and airports may institute pre-check programs like those approved by the Transportation Security Administration for use in U.S. airports. The officials said restrictions on the first 10 airports will be lifted once airlines in those countries satisfy the new security protocols, officials said. Airport authorities in the eight countries affected by that ban  Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates  have been told about the new security measures and will put them in place so the ban is lifted, the officials said. In recent weeks, Kelly and his aides have huddled with their counterparts overseas, as well as with representatives of major airlines, to discuss whether to expand the ban around the globe. Airlines protested that a laptop ban would inconvenience passengers and not remove the threat. Aviation experts and European security officials warned that putting laptops in cargo holds would pose other dangers because the lithium batteries could start fires. In 1988, a bomb hidden in a radio cassette player exploded aboard a Pan Am jet flying over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 passengers and crew. The plot was blamed on then-Libyan strongman Moammar Kadafi. In 2010, powerful bombs hidden in printer ink cartridges were found aboard two cargo jets headed from Yemen to Chicago. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula later claimed responsibility for the plot. Facebook

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Its crunch time for McConnell after Senate GOP is forced to delay vote on healthcare bill By Lisa Mascaro ( (Alex Brandon / Associated Press)) The abrupt decision Tuesday by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to temporarily shelve a vote on the Republican Obamacare overhaul gives him a few extra weeks to build support for a revised bill before it risks becoming hopelessly stalled by the opposition. The seasoned GOP leader will be aided by what amounts to a $200-billion piggy bank to push Republican holdouts into line. Thats the bills extra cost savings, compared with the House version, that McConnell can tap to provide perks to individual senators, from more opioid assistance to expanded tax-free health savings accounts. A similar strategy  delay and enticements  worked well in the House, where Republicans last month passed their healthcare bill on the third try. But prolonging the debate also gives Democrats and other critics time to mobilize, and ensures that senators will be exposed to an onslaught of opposition as they head home for the weeklong holiday break to defend a bill that has estimated would leave tens of millions of Americans without insurance. After the delay was announced, President Trump hosted a White House gathering of all GOP senators. But rather than rally them around the bill with the power of the presidential bully pulpit, he struck a surprisingly detached tone. This will be great if we get it done, Trump told senators in the East Room. And if we dont get it done, its just going to be something that were not going to like. And thats OK. Read More Facebook

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As vote looms, concerns over Medicaid cuts rise from some in conservative media By Kurtis Lee Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press ) The vote  for now  is delayed. As President Trump has urged Senate Republicans to pass a bill that would overhaul the Affordable Care Act, some, including Sens. Dean Heller of Nevada and Rob Portman of Ohio, have expressed concerns over cuts to Medicaid. Both represent states that, under Obamacare, expanded Medicaid coverage to low-income adults. The current Senate healthcare bill would deliver deep cuts to Medicaid, leaving millions uninsured. While Trump awaits a vote in the coming weeks  originally scheduled for this week, but pushed back until after the July 4 recess  its on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to gather enough support from within his GOP caucus to secure the bills passage. Some in the conservative media are questioning the current bill. Here is an overview of todays headlines on this and other issues: Republicans have a Medicaid problem (Weekly Standard) The Republican healthcare bill would cut Medicaid spending by $772 billion over the next decade. Chris Deaton writes that Republicans aim to offset the consequences of these Medicaid changes by offering tax credits for private insurance to people under the poverty line. In this piece, Deaton raises the question of whether low-income earners would be better off with Medicaid coverage or obtaining insurance through a GOP tax credit? He answers by noting, Its long been a contention of conservative thinkers that healthcare outcomes improve with private insurance rather than Medicaid. Paul Manafort, former Trump campaign chairman, registers as foreign agent (Associated Press) Hes among those facing scrutiny in an FBI investigation into Russian meddling in last years election. Now, Paul Manafort, who at one time served as Trumps campaign chairman, has registered with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent. In a filing with the department, Manafort notes that his consulting firm received nearly $17 million between 2012 and 2014 from a Ukrainian political party with links to Russia, according to the Associated Press. Last spring, former national security advisor Michael T. Flynn, who resigned from his position in February after misleading administration officials about contacts with Russians, also registered as a foreign agent, for consulting work he did for a Turkish businessman. A Democratic road to recovery (American Spectator) The party is attempting a reboot. After Hillary Clintons 2016 loss and defeats in several special elections this year, Democrats are in search of a new face for the party. Even so, liberals are in lock-step in their opposition to Trump. This piece offers Democrats some advice  from the right  on how to recover. Leftists: You have been lied to and taken advantage of. When you eventually come out of this haze you are in, you will realize that it was done not by the president, but by the snake oil salesmen and charlatans, who took advantage of your sickness and weakness, simply for money and power, writes Judah Friedman. Ask yourselves this: What is the Democratic Party, right now, without this rage, and hate, with which it is fueling your addictions? The answer is nothing. Facebook

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Sarah Palin sues the New York Times for tying her PAC ad to mass shooting By Associated Press Former vice presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is accusing the New York Times of defamation over an editorial that linked one of her political action committee ads to the mass shooting that severely wounded then-Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. In the lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court Tuesday, Palins lawyers say the Times violated the law and its own policies when it accused her of inciting the 2011 attack that killed six people. The lawsuit refers to a June editorial in the Times on the recent shooting of Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise. The editorial later was corrected. Palin is seeking damages to be determined by a jury. A spokeswoman for the Times, Danielle Rhoades Ha, says the company hasnt seen the lawsuit but will defend against any claim vigorously. Facebook

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Trump succeeds where Obama failed  spawning a new wave of liberal activism By Mark Z. Barabak Amanda Litman and Ross Morales Rocketto launched the Democratic activist group Run For Something, which encourages people under 35 to seek elected office. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) The night Hillary Clinton lost the White House, Amanda Litman cried so hard she threw up. In Atlanta, as the returns rolled in, Traci Feit Love faced a question from her anguished 8-year-old daughter: Now what do we do? Across the country, in the heart of Silicon Valley, Rita Bosworth wondered the same thing. The three never met, never spoke, never communicated in any fashion. But in the days and weeks that followed, they became common threads in a sprawling patchwork: the angry and politically aggrieved who  with no help from politicians, political parties or any formal campaign structure  have joined to fight President Trump and his policies. Read More Facebook

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Trump on healthcare bill: If we dont get it done ... thats OK By Associated Press (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump said that if the healthcare bill fails to pass in the Senate, he wont like it  but thats OK. Trump spoke Tuesday at a gathering of Senate Republicans after their leaders delayed a vote on their healthcare bill until at least next month. Trump said, This will be great if we get it done and if we dont get it done its going to be something that were not going to like and thats OK and I can understand that. He added, I think we have a chance to do something very, very important for the public, very, very important for the people of our country. Facebook

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Watch live: Press briefing with Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Sanders and Energy Secretary Rick Perry Facebook

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Senate GOP leaders abruptly delay vote on healthcare bill until after July 4th recess By Lisa Mascaro Facing resistance from their own party, Senate Republican leaders said Tuesday they would postpone a vote on their healthcare bill until after the July 4th recess. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants to provide more time to make changes to the bill to try to convince reluctant GOP senators to vote for the measure. Were going to press on,' McConnell said, adding he remains optimistic. Were continuing to talk. Since the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the bill would leave 22 million more Americans without insurance after 10 years, several Republicans senators had said they would not even support allowing the bill to be brought to the Senate floor for a vote. Meanwhile, President Trump invited all GOP senators to the White House for a meeting Tuesday afternoon. But Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a moderate who has expressed serious doubts about the bill, questioned whether revisions would make a difference. I have so many fundamental problems with the bill, that have been confirmed by the CBO report, that its difficult to see how any tinkering is going to satisfy my fundamental and deep concerns about the bill,' Collins said on CNN. McConnell is struggling to appease two factions in his party. Centrists like Collins want to lessen the impact of proposed cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives want to go further in repealing benefits provided under Obamacare. Senate leaders hope to continue talks this week, with an eye toward moving quickly when Congress returns after the holiday. McConnell plans to wait for the CBO to review any changes and reissue a score. He can only afford to lose two Republicans given the partys 52-seat majority in the Senate. Theres more work that needs to be done, its pretty obvious, said Republican Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho as he was leaving a Senate lunch with Vice President Mike Pence. Pence ignored reporters questions about the decision. If more work needs to be done, you shouldnt try to light the fire. But the delay in a vote will give Democrats and other opponents of the repeal bill more time to mobilize, particularly as Republicans return to their home districts during the holiday. We know the fight is not over,' said Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer of New York. Facebook

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Trump administration warns of Syrian chemical attack, but with damaged credibility By Noah Bierman The Trump administration Monday night sent the kind of dire warning -- of the Syrian regimes apparent preparation for another chemical weapons attack, and a threat of U.S. retaliation -- that requires credibility to have a receptive national and foreign audience. Yet the initial bafflement about the warning among U.S. defense officials, and the simultaneous distraction of President Trumps unrelated tweets, seemed to undercut the seriousness of the moment. More broadly, the episode is testing the damage Trump has done to his and his administrations trustworthiness by his assaults on the intelligence community as well as other perceived enemies. Trump has spent months attacking the credibility of the intelligence community, at one point comparing their tactics to Nazis and repeatedly calling its findings of Russian meddling in the election a hoax and witch hunt, even as foreign policy experts cautioned that he was diminishing the reputation of a community he would need in times of crisis to rally public support. At a moment of crisis when U.S. decisions and actions rest upon information coming from the intelligence community, [Trump] may have diminished the credibility of that information in the eyes of the public and the eyes of the international community, said Daryl G. Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Assn. Kimball called the White House statement unusual and said such messages would normally be sent through private diplomatic channels. He added that the public allegation should be followed by a formal presentation of the evidence to the United Nations Security Council, to build international support against suspected Syrian violations of the chemical weapons ban. The four-line statement on Syria from the White House Press Secretary came just after 9:44 p.m. EDT Monday. The United States has identified potential preparations for another chemical weapons attack by the Assad regime that would likely result in the mass murder of civilians, including innocent children, the statement read. The activities are similar to preparations the regime made before its April 4, 2017 chemical weapons attack. If Syrian President Bashar Assad conducts another mass murder attack using chemical weapons, he and his military will pay a heavy price, it concluded, citing a U.S. missile strike after the previous chemical attack to reinforce the new threat. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Tuesday that preparations for a chemical attack were observed at the same base in Syria from which its military launched a sarin nerve gas attack that killed 86 people, including children, in April. We have observed activities at Shayrat Air Base that suggest possible intent by the Syrian regime to use chemical weapons again, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Adrian J.T. Rankine-Galloway said in a statement. These activities are similar to what we observed prior to the regime chemical weapons attack against Khan Sheikhoun in April. But some senior U.S. defense and intelligence officials reached late Monday and early Tuesday were caught off guard by the White House statement. Some knew, some didnt, said a U.S. official who sought anonymity to discuss the intelligence matter. The official described the release of the nighttime statement as ungraceful, but said the assessment that Syria was preparing for an attack is sound. Such official statements are typically distributed widely across an administration for internal vetting before theyre publicly released. The White House said the relevant agencies were informed before the statement was published. Yet Trump lent further confusion about the urgency of the matter and his own level of concern by sending out a tweet about domestic politics only minutes later. He cited a Fox news report about the FBIs Russia investigation, writing as he often does about the probe, Witch Hunt! From @FoxNews "Bombshell: In 2016, Obama dismissed idea that anyone could rig an American election." Check out his statement - Witch Hunt!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017 Indeed, Trump continued through the next morning to demonstrate his frustration with the Russia investigation and what he calls the American medias fake news with posts on his Twitter feed. Many tweets quoted supportive conservative commentators and Fox News reports. Trump was eager to go after CNN, one of his top media targets, after it retracted a Russia-related story and three journalists involved resigned. So they caught Fake News CNN cold, but what about NBC, CBS & ABC? What about the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost? They are all Fake News!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2017 Trumps willingness to mix politics and his administrations ominous red line to Syria opened him up to criticism that he was trying to divert attention from other unfavorable news Monday. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office had found that the Republican plan to replace Obamacare would strip 22 million people of health insurance coverage over the next decade. The Syria statement also prompted a sharp backlash from the Kremlin, which is Assads military ally in his nations civil war. Russian officials denied there is evidence of an imminent chemical attack and called the White House threat unacceptable. The tensions have heightened as Trump is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next week at the G20 Summit of industrialized nations in Germany. Mondays statement may be seen as a warning not just to Syria but to Russia, which is widely seen as enabling Assads harsh tactics by bolstering his military as he has tried to retain power. Facebook

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Kremlin calls White House warning to Syria unacceptable, denies any Assad chemical attack in the works By Sabra Ayres The Kremlin is calling unacceptable a White House warning to Syrias government that it would pay a heavy price if it carries out another poison gas attack against its own people. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, also declared Tuesday that there is no indication that a chemical weapons strike is in the works. The White House said late Monday night that activity had been detected similar to that preceding a nerve gas attack on April 4 that killed dozens of civilians, including children, in rebel-held Idlib province. President Trump responded by launching nearly 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian military airfield that U.S. officials said was used for the chemical attack. It was the first U.S. attack on Syrian forces in the six-year civil war. Russia continues to deny that Assads forces carried out the April 4 gas attack and Peskov criticized the White House for saying there were signs of preparation for another such strike. Peskov said the Kremlin does not think it is possible to lay the blame on the Syrian armed forces for the April strike on the village of Khan Sheikhoun, which the U.S. and its allies said involved sarin, a banned nerve agent. Despite all the demands from the Russian side, an impartial international inquiry into a previous tragedy using chemical agents has not been carried out, the spokesman told Russian news agencies. Peskov criticized the White House warning to Assad, saying such threats to Syrias legitimate leaders are unacceptable. Read More Facebook

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Senate healthcare overhaul hits trouble as Republicans hesitant to proceed to vote By Lisa Mascaro The Senate Republican healthcare bill ran into serious trouble late Monday when key GOP senators indicated they may block the Obamacare overhaul from proceeding to a vote this week. Political turmoil has been building over the bill for days. But GOP tension burst open after the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that 22 million more Americans would lose insurance coverage under the plan and that out-of-pocket costs for many of those buying policies on the Affordable Care Act marketplace would rise. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped to start procedural votes by Wednesday, and President Trump called key senators over the weekend as support splintered. Its the same political dynamic that stalled the House Republican bill last month, as conservative and centrist factions wrestle for dominance. Conservatives want a more complete repeal of the Affordable Care Act, which they hope will lower premium costs, while centrists are trying to avoid leaving millions of Americans without health coverage. Senate bill doesnt fix ACA problems for rural Maine, tweeted Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine). I will vote no on mtp, she said, referring to the motion to proceed to the bill. Conservative Sen. Mike Lee of Utah is also working to change the bill so that he can vote yes on the procedural motion. We are not there yet, Lees spokesman said. Senators have bristled at what they viewed as McConnells secretive and rushed process, and several other senators said they wanted more time before voting. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was among those Republicans who shared concerns in weekend calls with Trump. We continue to make progress, Cruz told reporters Monday, as Democrats, who oppose the bill, planned an almost-all-night protest session. Cruz is part of the gang of four conservatives -- including Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky -- who have said they cannot vote for the bill as is. Among the changes being pursued is one provision that would allow insurers to offer cheaper policies that do not meet ACAs requirements and another to let consumers sock more money into health savings accounts We can get there and Im hopeful we will get there, Cruz said. However, he declined to say whether he would agree to Wednesdays procedural vote. Also hesitant to proceed was Nevada Sen. Dean Heller, who has strongly criticized undoing Obamacares Medicaid expansion that has enabled about 200,000 people to gain coverage in his state. Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, for example, wanted changes to help residents in her geographically far-flung state where healthcare costs are particularly high. Some senators, though, dismissed the budget analysis and said keeping the ACA would be worse. Its clear the CBO cannot predict the purchasing patterns for millions of Americans, said Georgia Sen. David Perdue, a Trump ally, in a statement. This bureaucratic analysis will do nothing to prevent Obamacare from failing. Others are weighing their votes. Republican Sen. Bob Corker, whose office is receiving thousands of daily calls, spent part of Monday on the phone with health officials in Tennessee as he assesses the fallout in his state of 22 million more people in the country without healthcare. I kind of figured it was going to be a pretty big number, said Corker, who remains undecided. Theres a lot of incoming. CBO says 22 million people lose insurance; Medicaid cuts hurt most vulnerable Americans; access to healthcare in rural areas threatened. 2/3  Sen. Susan Collins (@SenatorCollins) June 26, 2017 Facebook

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Supreme Court puts off decision in three pending cases about borders and immigration By David Savage ((Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Amid its flurry of decisions Monday about Trumps travel ban and cases involving religious liberties and guns, the Supreme Court put off final rulings on three pending cases involving immigration and the U.S. border. In Hernandez vs. Mesa, the court in an unsigned opinion told the U.S. appeals court in New Orleans to take a second look at a border shooting case. The parents of a 15-year-old Mexican boy sued a U.S. border patrol agent who shot and killed the teenager when he was standing a few feet from the border on the Mexican side. The 5th Circuit had thrown out the parents suit. The facts alleged in the complaint depict a disturbing incident resulting in a heartbreaking loss of life, the court said in sending the case back for a further hearing. The court said it would rehear in the fall a Los Angeles case involving whether immigrants awaiting deportation can be jailed indefinitely, or instead have a right to a bond hearing after six months. The courts action suggests the eight justices were evenly split in Jennings vs. Rodriguez. The court also said it will rehear the case of Sessions vs. Dimaya to decide whether non-citizens can be deported for an offense like breaking into an empty home because it may be deemed a crime of violence. Facebook

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Refugee advocates says even partial reinstatement of travel ban will cause hardship By Laura King Immigration and refugee advocates expressed disappointment Monday with the Supreme Courts partial reinstatement of President Trumps travel ban, saying even limited implementation could cause hardship to refugees and others seeking to travel to the United States from six affected Muslim-majority countries. However, organizations taking part in the months-long legal fight against the revised travel ban expressed hopes that the high court ultimately will reject the restrictions after arguments are heard in October. And they welcomed what they described as an implicit rebuke of the White Houses assertion that Trump has unfettered powers to exclude arrivals based on purported national security concerns. The initial rollout of the ban, days after Trump took office in January, caused pandemonium at airports across the United States and overseas as tens of thousands of visa-holders arriving from seven affected countries were turned away without warning or detained. After courts blocked that order, Trump issued a revised travel ban that took Iraq off the list. A replay of Januarys travel chaos was unlikely Monday because the courts action will allow visa-holders with bona fide ties to people or entities in the U.S. to enter, meaning students, employees and family members can still get in. But refugee advocates said the courts limited ruling, which the administration can move to implement on Thursday, could leave many would-be arrivals in limbo pending the finalizing of new vetting procedures. The administration had originally said a three-month travel ban was needed in part to review the checks to which would-be entrants are subjected. David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, said the partial reinstatement of the ban particularly threatens vulnerable people waiting to come to the U.S., including those with urgent medical conditions. We urge the administration to begin its long-delayed review of the vetting process and restart a program which changes lives for the better, said Miliband. The National Immigration Law Center, one of the groups that challenged the ban, said that as of this week, approximately 50,500 refugees from the six affected countries had been approved for travel and resettlement in the United States  all having already undergone intensive checks. The Middle East Studies Assn., one the groups contesting the ban in the lower courts, said many students and academics were ensnared by the original order. Even though Mondays court move should allow entry to those studying or working at American academic institutions, many from the affected countries remained wary of leaving and then attempting to re-enter the United States, the group said. Iran  along with Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Libya  is one of the affected countries, and Southern California is home to a large Iranian American community that was hit hard by the original ban. Some advocates said even with Mondays limited action, there has already been a chilling effect on movement. Todays Supreme Court decision immediately places the status of many Americans families into question again, said Shayan Modarres, legal counsel for the National Iranian American Council. The group said that visas issued to Iranian passport-holders had fallen by nearly half since the legal battle over the ban began, and that obtaining a U.S. visa was becoming so onerous that many would not even try to get one. The Trump administrations new idea is to make it so hard on Iranians and Muslims to get a visa that visa officers will have the unrestricted discretion to reject visa applications, Modarres said. He added that grounds for rejection could be social media postings critical of Trump or not being able to produce airline boarding passes that could have been issued and used more than a decade ago. Advocacy groups reiterated their position  which was argued in a number of the lower court cases that propelled the issue to the high court  that the travel restrictions run counter to core American traditions and values. Mark Hetfield, president of the refugee resettlement agency HIAS, said the group considered the courts move an affirmation that the president does not have unfettered, unchecked authority to bar refugees from the U.S. without evidence to justify such action. But he added that the executive orders partial resurrection would once again cause irreparable damage to refugees, immigrants, and Americas reputation as a welcoming country. The initial ban prompted large nationwide protests, and advocates suggested they would again seek to marshal popular opposition to the restrictions. When the first order went into effect, tens of thousands of Americans showed the world that this is not who we are and not what we want, said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, another of the groups involved in the legal challenge. We will never give up defending the rights of those who are affected by this discriminatory executive order. Facebook

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Trump says Supreme Court action on travel ban gives him important tool By Michael A. Memoli .@POTUS statement says SCOTUS action allows him to "use an important tool for protecting our Nation's homeland." Will admin press further? pic.twitter.com/gxBJO5aYYZ  Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) June 26, 2017 President Trump celebrated the Supreme Courts decision Monday to allow a curtailed version of his travel ban to take effect, calling it a clear victory for our national security. In an official White House statement, the president said he was particularly gratified that at least part of the ruling was 9-0; three conservative justices said they would have let the presidents revised executive order take effect completely. My number one responsibility as Commander in Chief is to keep the American people safe. Todays ruling allows me to use an important tool for protecting our Nations homeland, he said. The White House has long maintained that the president was acting within his authority in seeking to temporarily restrict travel to the United States. They most often point to a provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that states a president can suspend or limit entry of individuals whenever the president finds that the entry ... would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Facebook

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Rival Senate factions push competing agendas as healthcare bill hangs in balance By Laura King Heading into a week of intense jockeying and arm-twisting over the Senates polarizing healthcare plan, the rift appeared to widen Sunday between moderates who consider the measure too punitive and conservatives who want to see the sweeping bill toughened up before agreeing to back it. President Trump, who made the repeal of his predecessors signature Affordable Care Act a campaign centerpiece, expressed optimism about chances for Senate passage, but declared again that he wanted to see a plan with heart  suggesting he might undercut Republican efforts to bring recalcitrant conservatives on board. With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) seeking to push ahead with a vote this week, the bills prospects hung in the balance. Five GOP senators have said publicly they oppose the measure as written; the defection of only three Republicans would be enough to sink it. Read More Facebook

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Analysis: Atop 2017 losses, a sobering challenge for Democrats aiming at Trump next year By Cathleen Decker Republican Karen Handel, winner of last weeks special House election in Georgia. ( (Bob Andres / Atlanta Journal-Constitution)) Democrats have hoped that President Trumps deep unpopularity would propel them to gains in next years midterm election as they fight to take control of the House and improve their position in the Senate. But last years contests and this years special elections suggest a complication: Trump is so distinctive a politician that its hard to persuade voters that other Republican candidates are carbon copies of the president. Trumps outsized persona makes even those Republicans who share his views seem more moderate, an important attribute to swing voters. That presents a problem for the party out of power. Midterm elections traditionally serve as referendums on the president, but voters complicated views of Trump may give Republicans more running room than his popularity figures suggest. The votes cast by individual Republican incumbents may be more important to their survival than any linkage with the president. Read More Facebook

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Conservatives at Koch summit outline changes to Senate healthcare bill to win their support By Lisa Mascaro Tim Phillips, who heads Americans for Prosperity, the largest of the Koch networks advocacy groups, speaks to the media at the White House in Washington on March 8. (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press) Conservatives floated two amendments for toughening up the Senates Obamacare overhaul this weekend at the influential Koch networks confab of wealthy donors, as Republicans seek ways to win over detractors and tip enough GOP votes for passage. That the Koch network quickly panned the Senate bill is no surprise. The organization of deep-pocketed conservative advocacy groups similarly rejected the House GOP bill this spring until party leaders tacked on tough amendments to appease right-leaning Republicans. Weve been disappointed that movements not been more dramatic toward a full repeal or a broader rollback of this onerous law Obamacare, said Tim Phillips, who heads Americans for Prosperity, the largest of the Koch networks advocacy groups. But we are not walking away, he said. We worked to make the House bill better and it did get better. Were doing the same thing on the Senate front. One key lawmaker attending the weekend summit at the luxurious Broadmoor Hotel, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus and a chief negotiator on the House bill, outlined two key changes to the bill that he said could likely win enough conservative support for passage. One amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) would allow companies that offer insurance policies on the Obamacare marketplace to also offer plans that do not meet the ACAs strict requirements. Such a change would in essence allow insurers to offer cheaper, though skimpier, policies that may help achieve the GOPs goal of lowering premiums for consumers. Another amendment would broaden the ability of those who buy insurance on the marketplace to sock away more money in tax-free Health Savings Accounts to help them pay for their premiums. Cruz is one of four Senate conservatives who have said they would not support the bill unless changes are made, positioning them for negotiations in the days ahead. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) needs to win back some of their votes to pass the bill with his slim 52-seat Republican majority. One of the conservatives, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), was among those feted Saturday night at a reception with Charles Koch, the billionaire industrialist who funds the conservative network. Koch told those gathered for an outdoor cocktail reception on a breezy Colorado Springs evening about how far his team has come over the years at promoting what is a libertarian-leaning conservative agenda. Now when I look at where we are, at the size and effectiveness of this network, Im blown away, he told donors. Koch met Friday with Vice President Mike Pence. But the politics in the Senate remain difficult as McConnell continues to negotiate behind closed doors and rushes the bill to a vote expected this week. On Sunday, one key centrist, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, doubted a swift resolution. Its hard for me to see the bill passing this week, she said on ABCs This Week. Another crucial vote, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who had offered his own proposal, also criticized the rush. I frankly would like a few more days to consider this, Cassidy said on CBSs Face the Nation. But Republicans are anxious to resolve the healthcare debate, which has created a logjam in their legislative agenda. Meadows also told reporters if the Senate passes the bill this week, the House could quickly follow with a weekend session -- ahead of a Fourth of July bill signing by the president. Facebook

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Schiff: Obama should have acted on Russian interference, but Trump shouldnt complain By Laura King A top House Democrat says President Obama should have reacted more forcefully upon learning of Russian election-meddling, but also asserted that it was illogical for President Trump to levy such criticism against his predecessor. I think the [Obama] administration needed to call out Russia earlier, needed to act to deter and punish Russia earlier, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), said in an interview aired Sunday on CNNs State of the Union. Failure to do so, he said, had been a very serious mistake. But Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Trumps criticism of Obama made little sense in light of the current presidents own inaction in the face of decisive U.S. intelligence conclusions about Kremlin efforts to tip the 2016 race to Trump. Trump, Schiff said, is in no position to complain here in light of the fact that as a candidate, he openly urged the Russians to hack Clintons emails. To criticize Obama is now a bit like someone knowingly receiving stolen property blaming the police for not stopping the theft, said Schiff, a former prosecutor. On Saturday, Trump issued a statement on Twitter referencing a Washington Post report a day earlier detailing the previous administrations wrestling with how, when and whether to make public the degree of Russian interference. Since the Obama Administration was told way before the 2016 Election that the Russians were meddling, why no action? Focus on them, not T! the president tweeted. The Post report said Obama was worried about the appearance of improperly using mounting intelligence reports about Russian activities to aid Clintons candidacy. The subject was particularly inflammatory because at that point in the race, Trump had complained repeatedly about the rigged political process and even suggested he might not respect the election outcome. Facebook

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Trump says hes optimistic about Senate approval of GOP healthcare measure By Laura King President Trump says he believes that backers of a sweeping GOP healthcare measure are going to get there and pass the measure despite the refusal of five Republican senators to endorse the bill as written. Healthcare is a very, very tough thing to get, but I think were going to get it, Trump said on Fox and Friends in an interview aired Sunday that he had touted beforehand on Twitter. We dont have too much of a choice because the alternative is the dead carcass of Obamacare, the president said, referring to the Affordable Care Act, his predecessors signature piece of legislation. Opinion polls have indicated low public support for the version of the healthcare bill passed earlier by the House of Representatives. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), wants to bring the Senate version, unveiled days ago, to a vote this week. In addition to the five Republican senators who have publicly aired their opposition, several others have declined to explicitly endorse the bill, which would overhaul the U.S. healthcare system and set the stage for massive tax breaks that would primarily benefit the wealthiest Americans. With a 52-seat Republican advantage in the 100-member chamber, only three GOP defections would be sufficient to derail the measure, since Vice President Mike Pence could cast a tie-breaking vote. Facebook

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Pro-Trump group launches new attack ad against special counsel Robert Mueller By Lisa Mascaro A Southern California group backing President Trump is out with a new ad attacking special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, criticizing the investigation into the Trump campaigns possible cooperation with Russian interference in the 2016 election. The ad, called Witch Hunt, features conservative favorite Tomi Lahren reflecting Trumps own language to complain about the probe. The more than $400,000 ad buy is expected to start running Sunday. Only in Washington could a rigged game like this be called independent, Lahren says, using air quotes in the ad to emphasize her point. She is now a senior advisor to Great America Alliance, which backs Trump. The ads chief complaint echoes Trumps criticism that Muellers team has ties to Democrats, because some of the lawyers have given campaign contributions to the party. Trump has also complained of the relationship between fired FBI Director James B. Comey and Mueller, who was once his boss. Mueller is a registered Republican. Among the members of the legal team he is assembling for the Russia probe -- which is also looking into whether the president obstructed the federal investigation by firing Comey -- four have donated to Democrats. One who gave the maximum donation to Trump rival Hillary Clinton also donated to Republicans. Both Republicans and Democrats have praised Muellers credentials and ability to handle the Russia probe as an independent investigation. The group, which ran a similar attack against Comey ahead of his testimony earlier this month on Capitol Hill, has emerged as a key pro-Trump organization. Facebook

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Koch brothers political network says Senate GOP healthcare bill is insufficiently conservative By Associated Press ( (Andrew Harnik / Associated Press)) Chief lieutenants in the Koch brothers political network lashed out at the Senate Republican healthcare bill on Saturday, becoming a powerful outside critic as GOP leaders try to rally support for their plan among rank-and-file Republicans. This Senate bill needs to get better, said Tim Phillips, who leads Americans For Prosperity, the Koch networks political arm. It has to get better. Phillips called the Senates plans for Medicaid a slight nip and tuck over President Obamas healthcare law, a modest change he described as immoral. The comments came on the first day of a three-day private donor retreat at a luxury resort in the Rocky Mountains. Invitations were extended only to donors who promise to give at least $100,000 each year to the various groups backed by the Koch brothers Freedom Partners  a network of education, policy and political entities that aim to promote small government. No outside group has been move aggressive over the years-long push to repeal Obamas healthcare law than the Kochs, which vowed on Saturday to spend another 10 years fighting to change the healthcare system if necessary. The Koch network has often displayed a willingness to take on Republicans  including President Trump  when their policies arent deemed conservative enough. Read More Facebook

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Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions wants to get tough on crime. These people think hes got it all wrong By Jaweed Kaleem Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions has vowed to crack down on crime by sending more criminals to prison for longer periods of time. Every one of our citizens, no matter who they are or where they live, has the right to be safe in their homes and communities from the scourge of criminal gangs, rapists, carjackers and drug dealers, Sessions said in an address to law enforcement officials in Memphis, Tenn., last month. In his view, imprisoning more criminals would make families safer, and fewer people would break the law if there were more severe punishments for crimes such as drug offenses. In a recent memo to federal prosecutors, Sessions instructed them to pursue the harshest punishments legally allowed, a reversal of an Obama-era move giving federal lawyers more leeway to reserve such prosecutions for repeat offenders and people who had committed the worst of crimes. Department of Justice officials hope the changes at the federal level  where a sliver of crimes across the country is prosecuted  will trickle down to a similar approach to crime in states. Read More Facebook

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Vice President Mike Pence stops in for an unscheduled chat with billionaire Charles Koch By Lisa Mascaro Vice President Mike Pence popped in for a visit this weekend with Charles Koch, the billionaire GOP donor hosting his semi-annual confab of like-minded business leaders assessing their priorities for the White House and Congress. The meeting was not listed on Pences official schedule for the day. President Trump never much enjoyed backing from Koch s sprawling, secretive, political enterprise, which has emerged as a libertarian-leaning power center, sometimes overshadowing the traditional Republican Party apparatus with its high-dollar donors and vast operations. Kochs group did not endorse the GOP presidential nominee. But the network has always had close ties with Pence. The vice president had previously attended the exclusive gathering of donors, held this weekend at the luxurious Broadmoor hotel. And his top staff was plucked from a key Koch organization, Freedom Partners. Pence and Koch and their top aides spoke for nearly an hour late Friday, according to a Koch spokesman. They discussed tax reform, the GOPs healthcare overhaul and other heavy legislative lifts that have run into resistance in the Republican-controlled Congress. The aide described the talks as casual. Pence was in the area making other stops, including at the Air Force Academy and an evening fundraiser for GOP Sen. Cory Gardner. Even without investing in Trump, the Koch network has made impressive strides in advancing its agenda this year. Congress swiftly rolled back more than a dozen regulations, including some intended to protect the environment, that Koch-backed groups complained were too rigorous and invasive in industry operations. The Koch network groups, including Freedom Partners, a free market-oriented, chamber of commerce-type organization, is pushing the Trump administration and Congress to pass tax reform and overhaul healthcare. Both those efforts have stalled in Congress amid Republican infighting, but the Koch groups is able to put their army of resources  money, staff and volunteers in the states  to pressure lawmakers to act. Facebook

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Kris Kobach fined for misleading court and refusing to produce previously exposed Trump memo By Colleen Shalby (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach has been fined $1,000 for misleading a federal court in an effort to keep two documents private. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit last year against Kobach arguing that his states proof of citizenship law violates the National Voter Registration Act. ACLU lawyers asked Kobach to produce two documents they said pertained to the case. One of those documents was a draft of a proposed amendment to the National Voter Registration Act. The second was a document that had been photographed and widely shared in late November after Kobach met with then-President-elect Donald Trump. The power of a zoom lens exposed certain details of his proposal to Trump to deport potential terrorists. In a 24-page ruling made public Friday, U.S. Magistrate Judge James OHara wrote that Kobach did not accurately represent the contents of the documents when he argued against producing them. Defendant refused to produce these documents, asserting that they are beyond the scope of reopened discovery, do not seek relevant information, and are protected by the attorney-client, deliberative-process, and executive privileges, the judge wrote. The court took Kobach at his word, OHara wrote, but upon review of the documents  produced under a court order  found that they did relate to the voting rights case. The judge wrote that while the court could not say that Kobach flat-out lied, the defendants statements can be construed as wordplay meant to present a materially inaccurate picture of the documents. For now, the documents will remain classified, as Kobach designated them. But, OHara wrote, that status could change. Trump tapped Kobach last month to serve as vice chairman of a presidential commission that would oversee a voter fraud investigation. Facebook

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Number of refugees admitted to U.S. drops by almost half By Tracy Wilkinson (Patrick T. Fallon / For the Los Angeles Times) The number of refugees admitted to the United States was cut by nearly half in the first three months of the Trump administration compared with the final three months of the Obama presidency, reflecting the new presidents skepticism toward immigration. Government statistics released Friday showed that more than 25,000 refugees were permitted to enter and reside in the United States at the end of the Obama administration. In the initial months under President Trump, the number fell to 13,000. The statistics were released by the Department of Homeland Security, based on information supplied by the State Department. Countries of origin were largely unchanged. In both periods, two-thirds of the arrivals came from five countries: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Iraq, Somalia and Myanmar. Refugees from two of those countries  Syria and Somalia  would have been banned under Trumps executive order against entries from certain Muslim-majority nations, but federal courts have blocked the order. Trumps original order covered Iraqis as well, but he omitted Iraq from his revised order. The data suggest that the Obama administration, as it was about to turn over power to Trump, significantly stepped up the number of refugees admitted. Arrivals in its final three months reflected an 86% year-over-year increase compared to the same period the previous year. In Trumps first three months, arrivals were 12% lower than for the same period in the previous year. Trump has sought to limit the number of refugees to 50,000 this year. But adverse rulings in the courts could work against him. The United States already has one of the lowest quotas of refugee admissions among major receiving countries. Nations closer to conflict zones such as Syria have taken in millions of refugees. More people have been displaced from their home nations, because of violence and poverty, than at any time since World War II. Facebook

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Trump nominates former Dodgers co-owner Jamie McCourt as ambassador to Belgium By Lauren Rosenblatt Trump nominated Jamie McCourt, former co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, as ambassador to Belgium. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) President Trump nominated Jamie McCourt, former co-owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, to be the ambassador to Belgium on Thursday night. McCourt, who co-owned the Dodgers with her husband, Frank, until their messy 2011 divorce, has donated money to several Republican organizations, including funds for Trumps campaign and his transition to the White House. McCourt was among many business leaders who signed their support for Trump early on in his campaign, praising his plan for economic development and growth. In the months leading up to Trumps victory, McCourt gave more than $400,000 to the Trump victory fund, according to data from the Federal Election Commission. She signed a letter in October 2016 with 100 other business executives and CEOs championing Trumps plan and criticizing opponent Hillary Clinton for having thrown in the towel on strong economic growth. McCourt was listed as a 2016 State Victory Finance Chair for Trumps campaign in July, according to a report from the GOP. Robert Wood Johnson, chairman and CEO of the New York Jets and Trumps nominee for ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, was also on the list as Trump Victory vice chair. After Trump won the election, McCourt continued to financially support his transition to office. In December, she helped host a fundraiser breakfast for the incoming president where tickets sold for $5,000 a piece. Prior to her support for Trump, McCourt also donated to the campaigns of several other Republican presidential candidates, including John Kasich, Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina, although in much smaller amounts. In the past, she has also supported former President Obama, contributing to his campaign and victory funds in 2011 and donating $50,000 to the inauguration in 2009. She donated about $2,000 to Hillary Clinton for her presidential campaign in 2007, according to the FEC. McCourts ex-husband said his former wife had political aspirations of her own, with an end goal of ending up in the White House, according to a March 2010 Los Angeles Times article. Her high-profile divorce gathered a lot of public attention and ended in dispute over finances and assets. McCourt has founded and directed entrepreneurial enterprises in Los Angeles and Boston throughout her career as a entrepreneur and attorney. Her investment firm, Jamie Enterprises, invests in real estate and technology start-ups. She has degrees from Georgetown University, the University of Maryland School of Law and from MIT/ Sloan School of Management. The Senate must confirm McCourts nomination for ambassador. Facebook

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Nevada Sen. Heller -- a key swing vote -- says he opposes Senate healthcare bill By David Lauter (Andrew Harnik / AP) Nevada Sen. Dean Heller said Friday that he planned to vote against the Republican healthcare bill, a potentially key defection. Although the White House and Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky have said they plan further negotiations over the bill, its going to be very difficult to get me to a yes, Heller said at a news conference in Nevada with Gov. Brian Sandoval (R). The bill unveiled Thursday by McConnell is simply not the answer, he said. In this form, I will not support it. Given the unified Democratic opposition to the bill, McConnell can afford to lose only two Senate Republicans, so Hellers announcement is significant. A no vote by Heller would not seal the fate of the bill, however. Heller is widely viewed as the most vulnerable Republican senator up for reelection in 2018 -- the only one running in a state that Hillary Clinton carried last year -- and Republican leaders have been hoping to avoid having to count on his vote. Heller cited several reasons for opposing the bill, but the chief one was its deep reductions in federal support for Medicaid. This bill will mean a loss of coverage for millions of Americans and many Nevadans, he said. Nevada, under Sandoval, has used its authority under the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid, which has given health coverage to more than 210,000 additional state residents, Sandoval said. These are folks who are worth fighting for, he added. The cutbacks the Senate bill, which would end Medicaid expansion, would cost the state $120 million a year by 2022, with the cost rising sharply after that the governor said. Thats a cost that the state cannot sustain. Heller also cited the bills impact on treatment for opioid addiction and the likelihood that the plan would fail to reduce premiums. There isnt anything in this piece of legislation that will lower your premiums, he said, contradicting one of the main arguments that supporters of the bill have made. Hellers announcement increases the pressure on McConnell to find ways of persuading several other reluctant senators to support the bill. Four conservatives, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Mike Lee of Utah, Ted Cruz of Texas and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said Thursday they were opposed to the bill in its current form because it does not go far enough to roll back the Affordable Care Act. Several more centrist senators, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rob Portman of Ohio and Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, have voiced concerns similar to Hellers about the depth of the bills Medicaid cutbacks and its impact on opioid treatment. Collins and Portman have both said they want to review the analysis of the bill from the Congressional Budget Office before making up their minds. The budget office has said it will release that assessment early next week. Facebook

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Trump signs VA reform bill to make it easier to discipline and fire employees By Lauren Rosenblatt President Trump signed into law Friday a bill that will ease restrictions on the discipline and termination of employees from the troubled veterans affairs department. The Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act of 2017 is designed to speed up the process to discipline an employee for misconduct and put more decision-making power in the hands of Secretary of Veterans Affairs David Shulkin. The act is in response to the 2014 VA scandals involving long wait times for medical care and attempts by VA employees to cover up the delays. Trump, who promised to improve healthcare for veterans during his campaign, said the bill was one of the largest reforms to the VA in its history and is essential to making sure our veterans are treated with respect. The bill passed the House with bipartisan support June 13 and the Senate on June 6. Although the bill is widely supported by veterans advocacy groups, civil servant unions condemn the legislation as a way to get around long-standing protections for government employees and whistle-blowers. The reform, Shulkin said, will not be used as a tool for mass firings, but rather a way to raise morale throughout the department and attract new employees. Slow, steady, incremental change isnt what this organization needs, Shulkin said. Right now, I believe this is progress. Facebook

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Mexico pushes back against Trumps tweet calling it the second deadliest country in the world By Kate Linthicum Mexicos Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray speaks during a news conference in Cancun, Mexico, on June 19. (PEDRO PARDO/AFP/Getty Images) After President Trump incorrectly tweeted that Mexico is the second deadliest country in the world after Syria, the Mexican government responded quickly. No, Mexico isnt the second deadliest place on the globe, said a tersely worded statement issued by Mexicos secretary of foreign relations, pointing to a host of other Latin American countries that have higher per capita murder rates. And while homicides have been rising in Mexico in recent years, rising violence in Mexico is inextricably linked to demand for drugs in the United States, the statement said. Illicit drug trade is indeed the most important cause of violence in Mexico and drug trafficking is costing thousands of lives both in Mexico and the U.S., the foreign ministry said Thursday. However, as has been repeatedly stated by the U.S. government itself, drug trafficking is a shared problem that will end only by addressing its root causes: high demand for drugs in the U.S. and supply from Mexico and other countries. In order to be effective, we must be able to move beyond finger-pointing, the statement said. The Mexican government issued the response after Trump tweeted a reference to a controversial recent study that ranked Mexico as the worlds second most-dangerous conflict zone after Syria. Trump misrepresented the study in his tweet, saying Mexico was just ranked the second deadliest country in the world. He also neglected the considerable debate about the studys accuracy. The annual Armed Conflict Survey, released this year by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, has been called into question by the Mexican government and others who say it wrongly points to the existence of an armed conflict in Mexico. The existence of criminal groups is not sufficient criteria to speak of a non-international armed conflict, said a joint statement issued by Mexicos secretaries of governance and foreign relations in May, adding that drug-war violence is part of a bigger regional problem. Although Mexicos homicide rate has soared  the first two months of 2017 were the most violent since the government started releasing such statistics in 1997  other countries are experiencing higher homicide rates. In January, Mexico had a homicide rate of 20 deaths per 100,000 people, according to a Times analysis of Mexican crime statistics. By comparison, El Salvadors homicide rate was 81 deaths per 100,000 people in 2016, according to InSight Crime, a think tank that studies organized crime in Latin America. Venezuela had a homicide rate of 59 deaths per 100,000 people. Trump ended his tweet with a frequent campaign mantra: We will BUILD THE WALL! Mexico was just ranked the second deadliest country in the world, after only Syria. Drug trade is largely the cause. We will BUILD THE WALL!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 22, 2017 Facebook

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Supreme Court says final decisions of term will come on Monday By David Savage The Supreme Court is shown at sunset on Feb. 13, 2016. (Jon Elswick / Associated Press) (Jon Elswick / Associated Press) The Supreme Court announced it will hand down its final rulings for this term on Monday. But that does not mean the justices will actually decide the six cases that remain, which include three significant disputes involving immigration and the U.S. borders. Heres a look at the notable decisions so far. On Nov. 30, with one seat on the court still vacant, the eight justices heard arguments in a Los Angeles case on whether noncitizens who face possible deportation can be held in jail indefinitely or instead have a right to a bond hearing after six months. The case, Jennings vs. Rodriguez, has taken on added importance in the Trump era, but the long delay may signal that the justices are split 4-4. If so, the court may announce Monday that the case will be reheard in the fall, leaving it to new Justice Neil M. Gorsuch to cast the tie-breaking vote. Also still pending, since January, is a California case that will decide whether a crime such as breaking into an empty home qualifies as a crime of violence, triggering automatic deportation, even for an immigrant who is a longtime legal resident. A ruling in Sessions vs. Dimaya could affect thousands of deportations The third case, pending since February, is a closely watched border shooting. At issue in Hernandez vs. Mesa is whether a U.S. agent can be sued for fatally shooting a 15-year-old who was standing on the Mexican side of the border. On Friday, the justices gave a second chance to a Korean restaurant owner from Memphis who faces deportation for selling Ecstasy pills. Based on his lawyers advice, he pleaded guilty to the drug charge, having been assured it would not trigger his deportation. The lawyer was wrong. By a 6-2 vote in Lee vs. United States, the court said the Korean man may withdraw his guilty plea and go to trial. But for his attorneys incompetence, he would not have accepted a plea, said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.. Dissenting were Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr.. The justices, including Gorsuch, are likely to rule in a significant case on religion and funding for church schools. In Trinity Lutheran vs.Comer, the justices will decide whether states may exclude church schools from receiving public funds. Also still pending, but on a different track, is the Trump administrations appeal over his blocked foreign travel ban. The court may act on that appeal at any time. Facebook

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Trump backs L.A. Olympic bid in meeting with IOC officials By Michael A. Memoli The opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. (Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times) President Trump pledged his full support for the Los Angeles bid to host a future Summer Olympics, the White House said Friday after an Oval Office meeting with the head of the International Olympic Committee. Trump met Thursday with IOC President Thomas Bach and three U.S. members of the IOC -- Larry Probst, Anita DeFrantz and Angela Ruggiero. A White House official called it a very constructive conversation in which Trump backed a potential third Summer Games in Los Angeles. With only L.A. and Paris bidding to host the 2024 games, the IOC is moving to reward both cities, giving one hosting duties in 2024 and the other in 2028. The United States hasnt hosted a Summer Olympics since the Centennial games in Atlanta in 1996. Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said he discussed the citys Olympic bid during a post-election conversation with Trump last November and that the then-president elect pledged his backing. Facebook

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Trump says he tweeted about tapes to influence Comeys account of their private conversations By Michael A. Memoli .@POTUS on why he wanted former FBI Dir. James Comey to believe there were tapes of their conversations pic.twitter.com/pCuibM5Z6k  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) June 23, 2017 President Trump called it bothersome that the special counsel now overseeing the Russia probe was good friends with fired FBI Director James B. Comey, and said he hinted at having tapes of his private conversations  apparently falsely  to try to influence Comeys eventual testimony. The president made his remarks during an interview that aired Friday morning on Fox & Friends, but was recorded on Thursday just hours after he tweeted that he did not, in fact, have tapes. Trump said that floating the possibility they did exist might have forced Comey to tell what actually took place at the events. When he found out that, I, you know, that there may be tapes out there, whether its governmental tapes or anything else, and who knows, I think his story may have changed, Trump said. My story didnt change. My story was always a straight story. Foxs Ainsley Earhardt followed up: So it was a smart way to make sure he stayed honest in those hearings? It wasnt very stupid, I can tell you that, Trump answered. Many disagree, including Republicans. Comey testified that Trumps tweet is what prompted him to as
Handguns and other firearms cause the deaths of more children in the United States each year than the flu or asthma, according to a comprehensive new report on gun violence and kids.

Each day in the United States, an average of 3.5 people under the age of 18 are shot to death and another 15.5 are treated in a hospital emergency department for a gunshot wound. Between 2012 and 2014, an average of 1,287 children and adolescents died each year as a result of gun violence, making firearms second only to motor vehicle crashes as a cause of injury-related deaths. Another 5,790 were treated for gunshot injuries in U.S. hospitals.

Heres another way to look at it: In the United States, a gun is the cause of death in more than 1 in 10 deaths of people under the age of 18.

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The number of child fatalities related to guns is far higher in the U.S. than in any other high-income country. Another study has reckoned that the U.S. accounts for 91% of all the firearms-related deaths of children under 14 in the worlds 23 richest countries.

The new analysis, published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, represents an unusually comprehensive look at the toll that guns take on children. It draws from federal databases of injuries and deaths, hospital records, and an effort launched in 2003 to track violent deaths and the circumstances surrounding them in at least 17 states so far.

The majority of the nearly 1,300 children killed in gun-related incidents each year are boys between the ages of 13 and 17. In homicides, which represent an average of 53% of annual gun-related deaths among children, African American youths are the most likely victims.

Indeed, African American children were found to have the highest rates of death-by-firearm  4.1 per 100,000 between 2012 and 2014  of any ethnic group counted. Thats a major reason why the annual rate of homicide fatalities for African American children (3.5 per 100,000) was nearly twice as high as the rate for Native American children (2.2 per 100,000). Black childrens rate of firearm-related fatalities was four times higher than the rate for Latino children (0.8 per 100,000), and roughly 10 times higher than the rate for white children and Asian American children (each 0.4 per 100,000).

Between 2010 and 2014, the states with the highest rates of firearm-related homicide among children were largely concentrated across the South (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana. Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee). Other states near the top of the list included four in the Midwest (Illinois, Missouri, Michigan and Ohio), two in the West (California and Nevada), and three in the Northeast (Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania).

The new analysis also discerned an alarming rise in gun-related child suicides, which from 2012 to 2014 accounted for 38% of firearms deaths of children each year. Victims were most likely to be white or Native American.

Between 2010 and 2014, Montana, Idaho and Alaska had starkly higher rates of such suicides than the other 47 states and the District of Columbia.

Dr. Garen Wintemute, a gun violence researcher and emergency physician at UC Davis, noted that the hike in gun suicides by children mirrors a steady increase in suicide among adults. He called the trend particularly concerning.

On average, 6% of yearly firearms deaths involving children were unintentional, the report found. These accidents occurred most often at home, at the hands of another child.

Among children under 12, 150 are killed with guns each year and another 279 are treated in hospital emergency rooms for non-fatal injuries. Most of these younger children appear to be caught in the crossfire, either as innocent bystanders to community violence or during incidents of intimate-partner violence and family conflict, according to the report.

These are preventable injuries, said Katherine A. Fowler, an analyst in the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions Division of Violence Prevention and senior author of the new study. She cited many strategies that could lessen the toll of firearms on children, including street outreach initiatives, school-based efforts to teach deescalation and emotion management, safe gun storage practices, and suicide-prevention programs.

Ensuring that all children have safe, stable, nurturing environments remains one of our most important priorities, Fowler added.

The findings prompted Vermont pediatrician Dr. Eliot W. Nelson to write an editorial reminding colleagues that despite legal controversies and push-back from parents, it is both reasonable and wise to ask and talk about firearms as part of our injury prevention guidance to parents.

In 2012, the American Academy of Pediatrics declared that the safest home is one without firearms  a position that may put pediatricians at odds with parents who are part of a widespread and deeply rooted social gun culture in our country, especially in rural states, Nelson acknowledged.

Pediatricians would do well to point out to gun-owning parents that even kids who have been taught otherwise sometimes mishandle guns, he wrote. Physicians should discuss adolescents impulsiveness, risk-taking and unpredictability, and explain how those factors make it important to lock up guns and store them safely all the time, not just when a child is distraught.

We cannot ignore the magnitude of this ongoing public health crisis, Nelson wrote. We do need to try to engage those gun owners.

Wintemute, who was not involved in the latest research, praised the study for synthesizing data from a variety of programs that track rates and circumstances of injuries and violence in the United States.

It would be extremely unwise to prevent such data from being collected or used for their intended purpose, Wintemute said. They provide significant public health benefits.

Advocates for gun violence research worry that gains made during the Obama administration might be reversed under President Trump, who received strong backing from gun rights groups. However, Trumps 2018 budget proposal includes unabated support for the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Violent Death Reporting System, one of the databases used in the new study.

melissa.healy@latimes.com

@LATMelissaHealy

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On Nov. 29, 1942, Lt. John Pritchard and Radio-Man First Class Benjamin Bottoms were flying a Grumman J2F Duck, a single-engine amphibious biplane, to rescue the crew of an Army Air Corps C-17 that had crashed Nov. 9 on southeastern Greenland. Pritchard and Bottoms bravely volunteered for the high-risk rescue mission into an isolated area known for its severe weather. At the time, the J2F Duck was aboard the Coast Guard Ship Northland, flying missions in search of German weather stations on the Greenland ice sheet.

For the second time during a 24-hour span, Pritchard and Bottoms were flying the Duck back to the C-17 crash site, attempting to rescue more of the crew. After extracting Cpl. Loren Howarth, the Duck attempted a return to the Northland, waiting off the coast at Comanche Bay. During the flight back, however, the plane flew into a whiteout. Unable to see where he was going, Lt. Pritchard faced a Mayday situation. His last words to the Northland were M.O. - M.O. - M.O. Pritchard was calling for a magnetic orientation, a bearing from the Northland that would tell him his location. In the vicinity of Koge Bay, the J2F Duck disappeared along with Pritchard, Bottoms and Howarth. These Americans are still out there, frozen in time, waiting for someone to find them and bring them home.

Seventy-five years later, while sitting in Starbucks, I am mesmerized listening to Jim Salazar tell me the story of the missing men. I am impressed by his passion, energy and single-mindedness as he expresses his intent to find their remains and bring them home. His team has had several unsuccessful attempts searching for the J2F Duck and its crew, which he believes is buried under as much as 268 feet of ice. This December they will return to the glacier and continue to look.

Jim, what drives you to accomplish this formidable task? I ask.

He stares right through me. I want to honor the promise. I want to bring them home, he says. He then opens his iPad and points to a black MIA flag. You are not forgotten, he says. I admired his resolve. Its rare to find someone who means what they say.

Jim lives in Pasadena. Recently, we met after the La Canada Memorial Day Commemoration and we set a date to meet at Starbucks.

When we got together I learned that he and his team have searched for missing aircraft lost over Greenland during World War II.

The process is laborious, he told me. The logistics of flying in tons of scientific, geographical, geological and drilling equipment is a nightmare. Being on the Greenland icecap is magnificent and terrifying. Blizzard winds, subzero temperatures, hidden crevasses and an endless view of ice keeps the team on constant edge.

As our conversation continued, I sensed his disappointment in not finding the J2F Duck and its crew. Regardless, Jims determination remains stalwart.

Its a race against time, he said. Lt. Pritchards surviving sister, Nancy, 94, has been waiting three quarters of a century for her brothers return. While she is still alive, I want to find her brother and bring him home to her.

Until then, Jims team will dedicate a plaque and monument in Kulusuk, Greenland, to the three lost Americans, frozen in time.

JOE PUGLIA is a practicing counselor, a retired professor of education and a former officer in the Marines. Reach him at doctorjoe@ymail.com. Visit his website at doctorjoe.us.
Want more than a little wordplay on your next cruise? Consider the New York Times Crossword Crossing, a transatlantic sailing on the Queen Mary 2 that marks the 75th anniversary of the beloved puzzle.

Expect daily crossword games, tutorials on how to create puzzles, tournaments, word-laced cocktail parties and on-board lectures by pros, but first a little history.

The crossword debuted in the New York World newspaper on Dec. 21, 1913. Credit goes to the papers editor, British immigrant Arthur Wynne, whom the Guardian newspaper describes as an onion farmer turned journalist.

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The New York Times ran its first puzzle in 1942 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The idea was to offer readers a respite from the deadly attack, a news release says. It became a daily feature in 1950.

Back to those crossword experts. Deb Amien, editor of the New York Times Wordplay crossword column; the papers digital puzzles editor Joel Fagliano; and Wall Street Journal language columnist Ben Zimmer will be featured guests.

The cruise leaves New York City on Dec. 7 and arrives in Southampton, England, on Dec. 15. Prices start at $799 a night, plus $77.25 in fees and port tax.

Info: Cunards Crossword Crossing, (800) 728-6273 or contact a travel agent

You can also book a Times Journeys package that adds brunch with New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz before the cruise (he will not be on sailing). Cabins start at $2,895; call (855) 698-7979.

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U.S. News & World Report is playing summer travel agent, ranking the best destinations around the world. Rome topped the list, and Sydney, Australia, ranked second. Porto, in Portugals wine-growing region, finished third.

NYC No. 1 in the U.S.

Here in the U.S., New York is considered the best place to visit, followed by Philadelphia in second place. Hawaii also fared well, with Oahu (which includes Honolulu) finishing third and Maui fourth. San Francisco rounded out the top five.

Among historic destinations:

1. New York City

2. Philadelphia

3. San Francisco

Times Square, in the heart of New Yorks tourist area. (Kathy Willens / Associated Press) (Kathy Willens / AP)

Tetons tops in parks

Among parks, Wyomings Grand Teton National Park topped the list thanks to its diverse hiking and wildlife-viewing opportunities. Great Smoky Mountains National Park, straddling the Tennessee-North Carolina state line, took second place and Arizonas Grand Canyon National Park third. The Grand Canyon was also ranked the countrys most affordable vacation destination.

The snow-capped peaks of Grand Teton National Park are reflected in Snake River waters at Schwabacher Landing. (National Park Service)

Best small town? Sonoma

Famous for its wineries, Sonoma, Calif., is considered the nations best small-town destination. The year-round outdoor activities of Breckenridge, Colo., earned it the No. 2 spot. Asheville, N.C., a surging foodie destination right beside the Blue Ridge Parkway, finished third.

A walking path that runs through Sonoma vineyards. (Associated Press) (Unknown / AP photo)

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Amid deep uncertainty over the future relationship between Britain and the European Union, negotiators from both sides did their best to put a positive spin on the first official day of divorce talks.

There is more that unites us than divides us, Britains top negotiator, David Davis, told reporters Monday before the start of seven hours of discussions.

At one point, officials took a short break to smile and pose for photographs holding gifts. The top EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, a former foreign minister of France, gave Davis a walking stick from his home region in the Alps. Davis gave Barnier a book about hiking.

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The talks will address a number of issues, including how much money Britain will owe the political and economic union, the rights of British citizens in the EU and EU citizens in Britain, and how to minimize the effects of the split on the fragile peace between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Unless all of the leaders of all the EU countries agree to an extension, Britain is required to leave the union by March 2019. The talks are scheduled to take place for one week each month until an agreement is reached.

It was very important and useful to start off on the right foot as the clock is ticking, Barnier said Monday after the talks, held at the European Commissions headquarters in Brussels.

Its been nearly a year since British voters approved the referendum known as Brexit to leave the EU and nearly three months since Prime Minister Theresa May formally launched the separation process.

She had hoped to strengthen her governments hand in the negotiations by holding a snap election this month and solidifying the hold of her Conservative Party on the parliament. But the move backfired, as the party lost its majority and is now trying to form a governing coalition with the right-wing Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party.

May has pushed for a hard Brexit in which existing agreements over trade and free movement of people would be blown up and renegotiated. But her political weakening has prompted speculation that she will be forced to bend to opposing parties demands for a soft Brexit.

The number of options where all of this can lead has become much bigger than it was before, said Guntram Wolff, director of the Brussels-based think tank Bruegel.

There is more political fragility, but the 27 European countries certainty dont want to end up in a sort of long-term relationship that would be one of animosity with the United Kingdom, he said.

He and others have also raised the possibility that Britain could remain in the EU.

Since the British election, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel have said they would welcome Britain back if it reversed its decision to leave the union.

I cant say whether there is a chance of that happening, Gabriel said Monday at a meeting of EU foreign ministers. But we are definitely ready for it because Europe is weaker without the British but I think the British would also be weaker without us Europeans.

But Davis, the British negotiator, told reporters Monday that he flatly rejected those offers.

He also stuck to Mays position that Britain will pursue a completely new trade agreement with the union. Mays government has said it wants that accord in place when the country separates in two years. Currently, nearly half of its exports go to EU countries.

But EU leaders say that before trade talks can begin they want to work out three other issues.

First, they want a guarantee that Britain will honor its previous budget commitments to the EU, which could be as much as $100 billion. Davis has said Britain will not pay that much.

Second, they want clarity on the rights of citizens to live, travel and work within the EU and Britain. Currently, more than 3 million EU citizens live in Britain, and 1 million British citizens live in other parts of the EU. Davis said that the two sides already have similar positions.

Finally, they want to ensure that the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement between Ireland, and EU member, and Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, is not put in jeopardy. That agreement, which largely put a stop to decades of sectarian violence, dissolved any visible signs of border between the two. Both the EU and Britain said earlier this year that they want to keep it that way after Brexit. Irelands leaders have warned that any new barriers could be a setback for peace.

More broadly, Brexit talks will have to address a range of regulatory issues, including laws about worker rights, climate and agriculture.

At a news conference after Mondays talks, Davis quoted Winston Churchill: A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity. An optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. I am certainly a determined optimist.

Barnier quoted Jean Monnet, a founder of the EU: Im neither optimistic nor pessimistic. I am determined.

Stupp is a special correspondent.
Once shaded in canopies of leaves, the N-236-1 is a rural road that cuts through central Portugal, hugging hillsides pungent with eucalyptus and pine.

Now it is littered with husks of burned cars. Along the shoulder, ashen wisps of tree trunks stand sentinel like totem poles. A headline in Portugals Expresso newspaper calls it The Saddest Street in Portugal.

Its where many of the 64 victims of Portugals deadliest wildfire were burned alive last weekend, trapped in their cars.

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Even as thousands of firefighters still battle the flames, and coroners identify the charred remains of those who were unable to escape, investigators are probing the cause of the fire. Portugals prime minister says dry lightning was likely to blame.

But as its accomplice, environmentalists finger a newcomer, which has populated these hills as quickly as Portuguese have abandoned them for jobs in the city: eucalyptus trees.

Non-native eucalyptus and gum trees, with their medicinal fragrance and frosty blue-green leaves, now cover a quarter of all forested land in Portugal. First imported from Australia in the 18th century, they are among the worlds fastest-growing trees, and have become Portugals most common one  a profitable cash crop for paper and pulp. Portugal is Europes largest producer of eucalyptus pulp. Its one of the countrys biggest exports.

But eucalyptus trees can exacerbate deadly fires. Their sap is flammable, and so is their bark, which flies off when burned, igniting new fires up to 100 yards away.

California has had a similar history with eucalyptus trees, which bore at least some of the blame for the second-deadliest fire in the states history  the 1991 Oakland hills fire that claimed 25 lives.

Our climate is like California. Its normal to have fires here. But with the introduction of eucalyptus, they have lots of material to burn, said Joao Branco, with the Portuguese environmental group Quercus. Its name is Latin for oak, a native tree the group is lobbying to have planted instead of eucalyptus.

Firefighters try to extinguish a wildfire on June 19, 2017, near Pedrogao Grande, Portugal. (Pablo Blazquez Dominguez / Getty Images)

Native oaks and laurels are more resistant to fires, but eucalyptus trees burn faster and hotter, making wildfires harder to control. The Portuguese government has pledged to ban new eucalyptus plantations, but the law has not yet been finalized.

The government was negligent. This was a predictable fire, because its very well known in Portugal, the problem of eucalyptus and its connection to fires, Branco said. Everybody knew this could happen. It was a matter of time.

Tiny Portugal is one of the most heavily forested countries in Europe, and suffers more wildfires than its larger neighbors. Last summer, Portugal was home to half of the total acreage lost to wildfires across the European Union. Most of the land is privately owned, not managed by the government.

The World Wildlife Funds Portugal branch in a statement said human negligence and a lack of adequate forest management led to the deadly fire. A one-word front-page headline on Portugals Publico newspaper asked: Why?

The local paper industry is fighting any eucalyptus ban, warning that it would cost thousands of jobs and hurt Portugals trade balance. It points out that more fires erupt on abandoned land than on managed plantations.

This was a predictable fire, because its very well known in Portugal, the problem of eucalyptus and its connection to fires.  Joao Branco, with the Portuguese environmental group Quercus

Visiting the fire lines 95 miles northeast of Lisbon, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa told reporters Sunday it was not possible to do more than what has been done to prevent and respond to the blaze. Firefighters are among the dead and injured.

In the past half-century, parts of Portugals countryside, especially in the central hills where this fire broke out, have been largely abandoned, and vegetation is overgrown. There are fewer farmers plowing fields, and fewer farm animals to graze on otherwise flammable underbrush.

What drew us to our land was the history: the grapes, olives and cork oaks  the heritage trees of the area, said Nicole Hayes, 27, who moved 18 months ago to the town of Pedrogao Grande, now at the epicenter of the fire. Unfortunately, now these farming communities have broken down and the land has been sold off to eucalyptus plantation companies.

When the fire broke out Saturday, Hayes happened to be in her native Wales for her grandmothers funeral. Otherwise, she said, she, her partner and their 7-month-old baby might have been caught on route N-236-1, along with their neighbors.

Roses were placed on the burned-out remains of a car in which a woman died after it ran off the N-326-1 highway near Pedrogao Grande in central Portugal on June 19, 2017. (Armando Franca / Associated Press)

The road we usually use as our main exit was the road that the fatalities happened on. Its overwhelming, she said. Theres a very high possibility that we would have been one of those families that was taken by the fire.

Hayes has since returned to Portugal from the U.K. She cant reach her house yet, but heard from a neighbor that it is still standing. Staying with relatives 40 minutes away, she said smoke from Pedrogao Grande is visible. You can smell it. The sky is aglow. The swimming pool was filled with ash and debris. And were 40 minutes away. Thats how far its traveled.

Locals inside the fire zone recount phoning emergency services more than 20 times on Saturday night, when the flames erupted. No one came. One group of elderly residents survived by jumping into a water storage tank. Officials say telephone lines, cellphone towers and electricity pylons were felled by the fire. Police couldnt close roads quickly enough.

There are sirens, but these sirens go off so frequently that weve become complacent to them, Hayes said. It was so easy for so many people to leave it to the last minute to escape.

About 40 miles away in Mata Da Rainha, Portuguese officials held a fire prevention seminar for farmers this past spring, said Laurence Manchee, who attended after recently buying a plot of land that had burned almost completely in a forest fire five years ago.

Like Hayes, hes part of a small community of foreigners repopulating abandoned areas of central Portugal, attracted by affordable fertile land and an off-the-grid, sustainable lifestyle.

A lot of our trees are still there, but theyre like charcoal, and theyve regrown from the shoots. The issue with eucalyptus is that when you chop one down, five grow back. Its great for someone who wants to sell eucalyptus, but its not good for us, said Manchee, 35.

Although eucalyptus trees burn quickly, they also regenerate fast, from buds buried deep in their inner bark. They have adapted to dry, fire-prone climes. Fires actually help spread eucalyptus, by clearing out native trees.

Manchee is trying to thin out eucalyptus regrowth on his land, and cultivate native cork and holm oaks. But invasive eucalyptus spread fast and suck water from the soil, depriving other plants and drying out the ecosystem  making it more vulnerable to wildfires.

At least six fires are burning across Portugal, but all of the fatalities so far have been in the Pedrogao Grande area.

Its a lot of work. We need to chop down trees to create fire breaks, Manchee said. Every day, you see smoke from a different place on the horizon.

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Frayer is a special correspondent.
Despite concerns about such issues as rising food prices and tension with the West, many Russians support the direction the country is headed under President Vladimir Putin, according to a new poll.

About 87% of the respondents said they had confidence in Putins handling of foreign affairs, and 59% said their country plays a more important role in global affairs than it has in 10 years. The survey released Tuesday by the Pew Research Center polled 1,002 Russians from February to April.

Putin became prime minister in 1999 under President Boris Yeltsin and then was elected president in 2000, serving in the position until 2008, with term limits preventing a third consecutive term. Putin became prime minister again during Dmitry Medvedevs presidency before being re-elected president in 2012.

Confidence in Putins global leadership has been consistently strong over the decade-and-a-half that Pew Research Center has polled in Russia, the report said. Trust in the Russian leader has remained high since an increase in 2014, shortly after the conflict with Ukraine and subsequent annexation of Crimea.

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While Putins conduct on the world stage has received praise from many Russians, perceptions of corruption among the political elite and a pessimistic outlook on the economy remain major concerns in the country, according to the survey.

But Russias economy is expected to grow this year, according to the International Monetary Fund, after a recession brought on by lower global oil prices and Western sanctions.

The countrys economy is heavily dependent on oil and gas exports, which were adversely affected when the price of crude oil decreased in 2014. The recession sparked a Russian ruble devaluation, and many Russians were hit hard by the currency shakeup.

While the economy looks to be picking up slightly, unemployment, higher food prices and stagnant economies outside of major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg have taken their toll on many Russians.

In addition, the Kremlin has seen two waves of massive street protests this year. Tens of thousands of people participated in anti-corruption demonstrations in cities and towns across the country on March 26 and June 12. Police severely cracked down on the protests, arresting and detaining thousands in major cities and in rural areas.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny organized the protests, which attracted thousands of people to the streets after his popular YouTube channel aired a 50-minute documentary outlining an alleged corruption scheme involving Medvedev, who is prime minister. Navalny was arrested June 12 and convicted of organizing an unauthorized rally, for which he was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Economic woes and a widespread belief that corruption was a major problem in Russia could pose significant challenges for Putin and his ruling party, United Russia, ahead of next years presidential and national elections.

Across the board, Putins approval ratings on how he handled several domestic issues decreased since 2015, according to the Pew report. Fifty-five percent of respondents approved of the way Putin was handling the economy, compared with 70% in 2015.

Putins handling of corruption also took a hit: In 2015, 62% of Russians thought he was doing a good job. In the latest Pew survey, 49% approved.

Putin has not officially declared that he will run again in what would be his fourth term as president since being elected in 2000. (Presidential terms were changed from four years to six years in 2011.)

Few believe he can lose. Navalny, the opposition leader, has said he will run, but the Russian election commission says he is unable to register because of a past criminal conviction. Navalny says the cases against him are politically motivated.

sabra.ayres@latimes.com

Twitter: @sabraayres
Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria as a precaution, after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week and Russia warned the U.S.-led coalition from flying over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.

The announcement from Canberra came as a brief, two-day truce collapsed in the southern Syrian city of Dara and nearby areas where government forces have gained ground.

Australia is part of a U.S.-led coalition that has been waging war against Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

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The U.S. military shot down the Syrian warplane on Sunday, saying it had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the Islamic State extremists in their de facto capital, Raqqah. That led Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, to warn that it would target U.S.-led coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Iran  another close Assad ally  fired ballistic missiles at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Irans Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

With the skies over Syria growing increasingly crowded, a statement from the Australian Defense Department released in the capital, Canberra, said that Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

On Monday, a day after the downing of the Syrian plane, Russia threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the downing.

A spokesman for Irans Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to local sources and drone films.

Sharif told the Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Irans military power, though Iran has no intention of starting another war.

The remarks came amid questions whether the strike had been effective. It was not known what exactly was hit and Iran has provided no details. Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

In the Syrian capital, Damascus, rebels fired artillery shells from the suburbs into the city, wounding at least three people, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the eastern neighborhood of Jobar was struck on Tuesday by 12 airstrikes, adding that government forces are trying to push into the area.

Fighting and bombardment also resumed early Tuesday in the contested city of Dara and nearby areas where a 48-hour truce went into effect on Saturday. The truce was meant to have been extended but now appears to have collapsed.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The situation is back as it was in Dara city and fighting is ongoing, said Dara-based opposition activist Ahmad Masalmeh. The regime made the truce and then violated it.

The Observatory also reported that government troops had captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Dara while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Dara is where Syrias crisis first broke out in March 2011 as an uprising against Assads government. The crisis quickly became a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by the Syrian government forces in the Dara area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assads troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.
The United States flew two supersonic bombers over the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday in a show of force against North Korea, South Korean officials said.

The U.S. often sends powerful warplanes in times of heightened animosities with North Korea, and flew B-1B bombers several times this year as the North conducted a series of banned ballistic missile tests.

Tuesdays flights by the B-1Bs came shortly after the death of a U.S. college student who was recently released by North Korea in a coma following more than 17 months in captivity.

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Seouls Defense Ministry said the bombers engaged in routine exercises with South Korean fighter jets aimed at showing deterrence against North Korea.

The U.S. military said the bombers conducted two separate drills with the Japanese and South Korean air forces. It said the flights demonstrated solidarity among South Korea, Japan and the United States to defend against provocative and destabilizing actions in the Pacific theater.

The United States stations tens of thousands of troops in South Korea and Japan.

The family of American college student Otto Warmbier said the 22-year-old died Monday, days after his release from North Korea. Analysts say his death will likely cast a shadow on relations between the U.S. and North Korea and compound efforts by South Koreas new liberal president, Moon Jae-in, to improve ties with the North.

Moon said in an interview with CBS television broadcast Tuesday that Warmbiers death showed we must now have the perception that North Korea is an irrational regime, but that talks are still necessary because we were unable to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through only the sanctions and pressure.
For Muslims, Ramadan is the holiest month of the year. Families travel to mosques for nightly prayers, give charity to those in need and wake up before dawn to break fast  traditions meant to encourage self-reflection, compassion and piety. Ramadan is in short a chance to become closer to God.

Those who show righteous behavior during the holy month will be rewarded manifold in the afterlife, the Koran promises.

But in recent years, Islamic State leaders have twisted the meaning of Ramadan to encourage their followers to kill civilians. This years Ramadan, which ends June 24, has been mired in violence. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for a string of high-profile attacks that killed hundreds and injured many times that.

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Islamic State markets the killing of so-called infidels anytime as a spiritual opportunity. But in the groups warped logic, doing it during Ramadan offers even greater rewards.

That idea is a perversion of the widely held belief in Islam that God holds good deeds done during the holy month in higher regard.

Extremists like the Islamic State turn the spirituality of Ramadan upside down and deploy it as weapon of choice against real and imagined enemies, said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and author of ISIS: A History. They claim that the Islamic community face an existential threat and say that the fate of the Islamic community rests on their individual effort.

Extremists like the Islamic State turn the spirituality of Ramadan upside down and deploy it as weapon of choice against real and imagined enemies.  Fawaz Gerges, professor, author of ISIS: A History

Those susceptible to Islamic State propaganda find the groups call to arms during the holy month particularly appealing, he said. Some young men and women conflate their spirituality of Ramadan with armed and violent jihad.

It is no wonder in the past few years Ramadan has seen more spectacular attacks carried out by followers and supporters of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, he said.

The attacks this year started on May 22, four days before Ramadan, when a suicide bomber in Britain killed 22 people at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester.

Then in the early hours of May 30, a bomb exploded in Baghdad outside an ice cream shop, killing 10 people. Hours later, a second bomb went off in a different part of the city, killing 12 more.

The next day in Kabul, Afghanistan, a suicide bomber killed at least 90 people on a bustling shopping street.

On June 7, assailants went on a shooting rampage inside Irans parliament building in Tehran and attacked a shrine to the Islamic Republics founder. The death toll was 17.

In all, Islamic State has claimed responsibility for 267 attacks this Ramadan, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an independent organization that researches terrorist groups.

Its unclear how many of the attacks were ordered and directed by Islamic State and how many were carried out independently by people inspired by the groups extensive propaganda on social media.

In mid-June, Islamic State spokesman Abu Hassan Muhajir released an audio message on the encrypted messaging app Telegram calling on people to launch attacks in the U.S., Europe, Russia, Australia, Iraq, Syria, Iran and the Philippines.

And earlier that month, Islamic State encouraged its followers to carry out knife, gun and vehicle attacks in a poster written in Arabic and English that it published on Nashir News Service, which is the groups channel on Telegram.

Kill the civilians of the crusaders, run over them by vehicles, it reads. Gain benefit from Ramadan.

The word crusader in this context refers to people who do not agree with their extreme ideology.

By hijacking this annual holiday, theyve inspired fear and anxiety years in a row, said Bruce Hoffman, director of security studies at Georgetown University. Thats how it generates their power. Terrorism is as much about violence as it is about the perceived threat of continued violence.

Andreas Krieg, an assistant professor at Kings College Londons department of defense studies, said one of the first instances of Islamic State propagating its perverse view was a 2014 YouTube video in which it referenced the ancient Battle of Badr.

The battle occurred in the year 624 and was a pivotal moment in early Islamic history. Despite being heavily outnumbered by their enemies, the prophet Muhammad and his followers defeated the nonbelievers and helped spread Islam in what is now Saudi Arabia.

Jihadis today perceive the standoff with nonbelievers as the modern version of that ancient battle. Islamic State is currently fighting for its survival as it loses territory in Iraq and Syria.

Extremists believe that there are victories to be won during Ramadan and that martyrdom for the cause will be greatly rewarded in the afterlife.

Last years Ramadan was also particularly violent.

In an audio message released before its start last June, a spokesman called for more violence during the holy month. Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad, said Abu Muhammad Adnani, who has since been killed. Get prepared, be ready  to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers.

And that they did.

Omar Mateen shot and killed 49 people in a nightclub in Orlando, Fla.; attackers killed more than 40 people at Istanbuls Ataturk airport; and at least 250 people died in a bombing in Baghdad.

For the vast majority of Muslims, however, violence is antithetical to Ramadan. And a large number of those on the receiving end of such violence are Muslims, highlighting the heinous nature of Islamic State.

Muslims are suffering the greatest, Krieg said. Its tearing families and communities apart.

melissa.etehad@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter @melissaetehad

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Israeli jackhammers broke ground on a new Jewish settlement in the West Bank on Tuesday, just one day before President Trumps adviser Jared Kushner joins talks in Jerusalem and Ramallah aimed at reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Kushners arrival to participate in a round of shuttle diplomacy is seen in the region as a sign that Trump is serious about advancing an ultimate agreement between the sides, even though administration officials have yet to reveal a plan for negotiations.

In an apparent bid to calm his core pro-settler constituency ahead of the peace talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted a picture of tractors at work on a rocky slope in the West Bank. The new settlement, dubbed Amichai, marks the first time that an Israeli government has decided to build a new town in the West Bank since the mid-1990s.

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After dozens of years, I have the honor of being a prime minister who builds a new settlement in Judea and Samaria, Netanyahu wrote in the tweet, referring to the West Bank by its biblical names. In a follow-up tweet, he wrote, there has never been and there will never be a better government for settlements than this government.

A spokesman for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas denounced the Israeli prime ministers announcement as a serious escalation and an attempt to thwart the efforts of the U.S. administration and U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a statement, spokesman Nabil abu Rudaineh said the timing of the announcement indicates that Israel is not interested in U.S. efforts.

In preparation for the talks, Trumps point person, Jason Greenblatt, held a round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials on Tuesday, including Netanyahu and his longtime negotiations envoy, attorney Isaac Molcho.

He shared his experience in how to build peace, Greenblatt tweeted, referring to his meeting with Molcho.

The arrival of Kushner, who the president has tapped to oversee Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, comes one month after Trump visited Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Bethlehem for meetings with Netanyahu and Abbas.

Its sending a signal to the two parties, Get serious, we are in it for real, and were not affected by the background noises in Washington, said Nimrod Novik, a former adviser to Israeli leader Shimon Peres. You told your president that you are serious about the process, now we need concrete evidence of that to get the process rolling.

This is yet another bending of the laws that the government is doing in order to satisfy the settlers demands.  Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for Peace Now, an Israeli group that opposes the Jewish settlements

The Trump administration has been pressing both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to make goodwill gestures to build momentum for talks: Washington has pressed Israel to take steps to boost the Palestinian economy and ease up on settlement expansion; it has called on Abbas to halt government payments to Palestinians involved in attacks against Israel.

The time is coming for [Trump] and his administration to put forth their own ideas, and perhaps propose some principles to guide negotiations on final status, said Daniel Shapiro, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, in a conference call with reporters.

The president is at the point of maximum leverage right now. Its difficult for any party in the region to say no to him. Jared Kushners arrival and involvement now raises those stakes for everyone. It essentially dares each of the parties to say no. And my guess is they wont.

Israels continued building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank was a bone of contention with the U.S. under the Obama administration, and spurred repeated public criticism from Washington. The Trump administration, in contrast, has chosen not to criticize settlement activity in public.

The new settlement that Netanyahu boasted about on Tuesday was approved as a concession for a group of Israelis who were evicted from the Amona hilltop outpost because the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that it was built on Palestinian privately owned lands. Since Trumps election, the Israeli prime minister has been under pressure from settlement leaders to step up building in the West Bank.

In a report to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday, the U.N.s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Nickolay Mladenov, said the new settlement would further sever the territory contiguity of a future Palestinian State, solidifying a line of settlements dividing the northern and central West Bank.

The U.N. coordinator said in his report that there had been a substantial increase in settlement planning and building announcements by the Israeli government in the last three months. Meanwhile, the Israeli statistics bureau on Monday reported a 70% increase in housing starts in the West Bank settlements over the 12-month period that ended March 31 compared with the same period a year before.

Though the Israeli government has yet to approve a development plan to build houses for the new settlement, it took the unusual step of beginning to prepare the physical infrastructure for the building, said a spokeswoman for Peace Now, an Israeli group that opposes the settlements.

This is yet another bending of the laws that the government is doing in order to satisfy the settlers demands, wrote Hagit Ofran, a spokeswoman for Peace Now. It is unprecedented.

Mitnick is a special correspondent.

@joshmitnick
Wafa Yazeedi, a doctor and single mother who runs a hospital in this tiny Persian Gulf nation, has found herself in the middle of a sudden political crisis that has engulfed parts of the Arab world  and threatened to break up her family.

A blockade of Qatar that took full effect this weekend technically requires all three of Yazeedis children to leave the country immediately for nearby Bahrain, the country whose citizenship they hold  though Yazeedi has been divorced from her Bahraini husband since 1999, and her children grew up with her in Qatar.

How will they get an education? And will I be able to visit them? Yazeedi said between meetings at her office Monday. My children, they are all at risk now.

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Wafa Yazeedi flanked by her son and daughter. (Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)

In the wake of the blockade announced by several neighboring Arab countries this month  ostensibly to force Qatar to break its connections with Iran and extremist Muslim organizations  thousands of families with mixed citizenship are having to make similar dire decisions: Stay, or go?

Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have ordered their citizens to return home. Egypt recalled its diplomats. Qatari citizens were blocked from traveling to participating countries, and those already there were directed to return home.

Already, there is widespread alarm over just how devastating the consequences of the political standoff could be in this tight-knit cluster of desert emirates whose connections have always been deep.

More than 13,000 people are affected by the blockade, including at least 6,500 mixed-status families, according to Qatars National Human Rights Committee.

A Saudi man said he was unable to claim the body of his father who died in Qatar two days after the blockade began  but that was only one of hundreds of complaints.

This arbitrary deadline has caused widespread uncertainty and dread among thousands of people who fear they will be separated from their loved ones, James Lynch, deputy director of Amnesty Internationals global issues program, said in a statement Monday.

Crucial family decisions were being made days before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan concludes with the Eid holiday June 25, a time when families traditionally reunite.

Arabs from the blockade countries who stay in Qatar risk losing their passports, citizenship and ability to visit family again. Qataris who stay in the four countries abroad risk losing their freedom if convicted of sympathizing with Qatar, which has now become a crime in those countries.

The four countries implementing the blockade say it is aimed at halting Qatars aid and funding for terrorist organizations such as the radical Palestinian group Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. The countries severed diplomatic ties, plus land, air and sea connections.

Qatari officials have insisted the country has been working to combat terrorism through its connections and condemned the blockade as a violation of its sovereignty. The ruling emir remains popular, and a black-and-white stencil of his face has become a symbol of resistance pinned to shirt fronts and plastered across SUVs and towers in the capital.

The humanitarian impact of the blockade is real. Saudi, Emirati, and Bahraini families are being forcibly recalled by their governments today, despite being invited to stay by the government of Qatar, government spokesman Sheik Saif bin Ahmed al Thani said Monday.

The social fabric of [the region] is being torn apart for political reasons and we will not allow ourselves to be a party to this injustice, he said.

 Citizens of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have been told by their countries to leave Qatar after a blockade was imposed two weeks ago.

Qatar has strong military ties to the United States. Al Udeid Air Base in the capital, Doha, is home to 10,000 U.S. troops. Last week, naval forces from both countries conducted joint exercises, and the U.S. recently approved a $12-billion sale of fighter jets to Qatar.

Qatars foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al Thani, is scheduled to travel to Washington next week to try to end the blockade. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has met with Saudi and United Arab Emirates leaders since imposition of the blockade, launched shortly after President Trump traveled to the Saudi capital and made an appeal for a united Arab front against Iran, which is an ally and trade partner of Qatar.

The foreign minister said Trump called Qatars emir days after the blockade commenced to invite all parties to the White House.

The U.S. is helping us in pressuring the parties to solve this, the foreign minister said. Still, he said, Qatar is not yet ready to talk with the Arab states involved. They have to lift the blockade to start negotiations.

Qatars National Human Rights Committee has been receiving a hundred complaints a day since the blockade by four Arab nations started June 5. (Molly Hennessy-Fiske / Los Angeles Times)

Many of Qatars 2.6 million residents initially panicked after the blockade was declared, emptying store shelves of Saudi milk and other goods they worried would soon be in short supply. New foodstuffs were flown in to fill the gap from Algeria, Iran, Morocco, Turkey and other allies, but most of those goods went to large markets in the capital.

Smaller stores in low-income areas are beginning to have bare shelves, and migrant workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal are having to scavenge.

A man who came looking for yogurt at one such market Sunday found the refrigerator case nearly empty, as were the vegetable bins. Manager Ashraf Thazhekizhakkayil Peedikayil said business is down 30 to 40% since the blockade.

At branches of Al Meera market, a national chain selling state-subsidized goods, shelves were well stocked with what signs said were Turkish eggs flown in by air, Iranian sweet melons and Algerian potatoes. Managers posted signs identifying local goods that urged, Lets support Qatari products.

My future is pretty much gone.  Haya, a Qatari medical student

Store manager Saad Tamim said he already had been importing some fruits weekly from the U.S. Now he has added a truck for daily shipments, including berries and grapes from California.

Though the store is surviving, Tamim, 35, is suffering. His family lives in the United Arab Emirates. He used to commute to Dubai weekly, but since the blockade he has stayed in Doha. He checks the news daily hoping for an improvement, but doesnt expect to celebrate Eid with his mother.

Every day I pray for it to finish, he said.

One couple from Egypt, residents of Qatar for 11 years, said they lost their tickets to Cairo on Qatar Airways to visit relatives for Eid after the blockade closed airspace.

People from other countries dont want to leave. We love it. This is our business, this is our life, said the man, Abu Mohamed, who was using a nickname because he feared repercussions due to the blockade.

A 23-year-old Qatari medical student who asked to be identified by her first name, Haya, left classes in the United Arab Emirates shortly after the blockade was declared, before she could take her final exams and graduate after five years of study.

My exams started today and Im still here, she said this weekend.

Haya said she would not feel safe returning to Abu Dhabi now. How are you going to assure me Im going to be fine there? she said. My future is pretty much gone.

A Qatari businessman said he was faced with a requirement to send his wife, who is seven months pregnant, back to her home in Saudi Arabia  leaving their 6-year-old son behind with him.

The target is the families, Naif, 38, who declined to give his last name, said of the blockade. He said he ultimately left the decision to stay or leave up to his wife, and she decided to stay, for her job and her family.

Their second son would be born in Qatar.

Even if Arab leaders mend the diplomatic rift, Naif and others said they take the attack on their families personally. Once travel resumes, many said they wont go back to visiting, shopping or doing business with the blockade countries any time soon.

Whats broken does not come back like before, he said. We dont trust.

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

Twitter: @mollyhf

ALSO:

Arab nations cut ties to Qatar, deepening rift in Persian Gulf

Tiny Qatar refuses to bend on foreign policy despite a blockade by other Persian Gulf nations

Hamas is feeling the pain of Qatars crisis, and looking to Egypt for help
All material is subject to strictly enforced copyright terms & conditions and cannot be repurposed or reproduced.  19882022 Latin American Financial Publications Inc.
The personal stories of victims are often lost in the chaos of the deadly incidents that breed them. Moreover, it is easy to lose sight of a human being when the public is only ever shown body counts; sadly, just cold numbers and figures for many. For one Colombian family, they are resting easy and able to share the miraculous experience of one of their own.

Relatives of Pilar Molano, a 42-year-old mother badly injured from the bombing attack in Bogota, Colombia's Andino shopping center, were relieved when doctors assured them that she was alive and on track to recovering from a serious leg injury sustained during the incident. A message sent to Pilar's mother on WhatsApp revealed a grisly image of her daughter's right leg practically detached from the rest of her body.

Arriving at the nearest emergency room, Pilar's doctors worked tirelessly to remove the dust and shrapnel from the infected area. Although tissue damage was extensive and the nerves and muscles were severely compromised, Pilar's surgery had gone well and the blood had begun to circulate throughout her leg.

As the family prayed and consoled one another at the hospital, the Mayor of Bogota, Enrique Penalosa, could be heard from a nearby radio referring to the use of a homemade bomb in one of the city's busiest districts as a "cowardly terrorist bombing." The mayor's statement has drawn an intense spotlight on the only rebel movement actively planning and carrying out attacks in the country; the National Liberation Army (ELN).

1.@ELN_Paz repudia ataque en Centro Comercial Andino contra civiles. Compartimos el dolor y nos solidarizamos con las victimas. (sigue)  ELN-PAZ (@ELN_Paz) June 18, 2017

2. @ELN_Paz pide seriedad a quienes hacen acusaciones infundadas y temerarias; hay quienes pretenden asi hacer trizas los procesos de Paz  ELN-PAZ (@ELN_Paz) June 18, 2017

Firmly rejecting claims of their involvement in the attack, ELN representatives tweeted their condolences to the lives lost, while, at the same time, repudiating the act. In his zeal to catch the perpetrators and combat political extremism, President Juan Manuel Santos affirmed that the attack would not disrupt peace talks with the ELN or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Sharing words of comfort with the family, Pilar's sister, Francy, said "God has made many miracles today. Leg or no leg, we should be thankful that [Pilar] is alive and that her surgery was a success." Yet, she also expressed frustrations stemming from the absence of President Santos and Mayor Penalosa. "Why is Santos not here?" wondered Francy. "Why is Penalosa not here asking for the victims?"

Politics aside, the family is thrilled at the chance to see their Pilar again and hope to bring her home soon.
Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old college student that was released from North Korea last week, has died after returning home in a coma, family said this afternoon in a statement.

Family statement: Otto Warmbier has died pic.twitter.com/vkkpqhA3qb  Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 19, 2017

The student returned to the U.S. with extensive brain damage according to doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," a statement of the family said.

Warmbier was convicted in March 2016 for stealing political propaganda in 2015, which was considered as an hostile act against North Korea.

The University of Virginia student was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor but was held for 17 months after his release on June 13.

Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier. Full statement: https://t.co/8kmcA6YtFD pic.twitter.com/EhrP4BiJeB  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 19, 2017
Extremely high temperatures on the ground in Phoenix have lead to mass cancellations of flights out of Sky Harbor International Airport and trends like this might continue with soaring heat in the American Southwest.

Larger jets like the 757 aren't as affected by high temperatures on the ground, but smaller ones like the Bombardier CRJ aircraft are, which made American Airlines cancel 20 regional flights out of the now sweltering Southwest.

Air temperature on the ground can affect takeoff performance. Warmer air is less dense than cooler air, and planes would need longer runways to build more speed to lift themselves into the air. If it gets hot enough, airlines will attempt to mitigate the risk by cancelling flights and reimbursing or rebooking stranded travelers.

It has apparently getting hot enough for the National Weather Service to issue several weather advisories about the heat in the Southwest region being "extreme even for desert standards."

"It takes a lot for the weather service to put out excessive heat warnings for that part of the country, so you know it's going to be pretty darned hot," said Ari Sarsalari, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel.

June is normally the hottest month in the desert but this summer could be unprecendented. Pheonix has reached 118 degrees Monday and could easily break its 122 degree record into Tuesday, leading to more flight cancellations and heat advisories through out the region.

VIDEO: Man Cooks Himself Lunch With Only Arizona Heat


Two Dutch journalists have reportedly been kidnapped in Colombia by left-wing insurgent group ELN, according to military sources.

Members of the Ejercito de Liberacion Nacional or National Liberation Army captured Derk Johannes Bolt and Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender in northeast Colombia, close to the border with Venezuela. The pair were working for a Dutch television program centered on reuniting lost family members and were looking for the mother of a Colombian girl adopted in the Netherlands.

.@DefensoriaCol exige inmediata liberacion de dos holandeses retenidos hoy en El Tarra, Norte de Santander pic.twitter.com/oI2XzyC2Na  Defensoria delPueblo (@DefensoriaCol) June 19, 2017



In addition to demanding their safe return, detachments of Colombian special forces units are in the volatile area investigating the disappearances. Per the group's Twitter account, the ELN neither confirmed nor denied their involvment with the kidnappings and that they themselves would also look into the incident.

Ante retencion de periodistas holandeses en #Catatumbo, @eln_voces informa: "estamos investigando para ayudar a esclarecer el caso"  ELN-PAZ (@ELN_Paz) June 20, 2017

In May 2016 in the same region, ELN rebels kidnapped a Colombian-Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters. The reporters were handed over days later to authorities. The ELN, Colombia's second biggest rebel group, began peace talks with the government in February to put an end to one aspect of five decades of war in Colombia.

The biggest rebel movement, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, signed a peace accord late last year and is expected to complete total disarmament within the year. Over 200,000 people have lost their in an asymmetrical conflict that pit the military against FARC, ELN and right-wing paramilitary groups and drug cartels since it began in 1952.
A secret entrance behind the library of an old Argentine home led to a hidden back room, where a collection of original Nazi paraphernalia was discovered. Buenos Aires police officials believe that the 75 pieces found in the suburban house belonged to Nazi party members high in rank during World War II.

Among the artifacts found were a bust of Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, a set of swastika-labelled magnifying glasses, and a chilling medical tool used to measure head size, demonstrating whether or not a person was a member of the Aryan race.

A traves de @PFAOficial incautamos objetos historicos de origen asiatico y piezas con simbologia nazi destinadas al mercado negro. pic.twitter.com/CO6lyTTFc8  Ministerio Seguridad (@MinSeg) June 9, 2017

Although many of the artifacts were accompanied by old pictures, authorities have not revealed the identity of the person who originally owned the pieces. Some may, however, have belonged to Hitler himself.

Security Minister of Argentina Patricia Bullrich told the Associated Press "Our first investigations indicate [...] they were used by the horror, by the Fuhrer. There are photos of him with the objects."

Wondering just how the artifacts managed to arrive in Argentina in the first place, investigators are assuming that the collection was brought across the Atlantic Ocean when Nazi soldiers began fleeing prosecution for war crimes when the war ended.

Many of the discovered pieces will be prominently displayed in an exhibit at the Buenos Aires Holocaust Museum in Argentina, while the others will be returned to their countries of origin.
The legal fight over Texas' tough, anti-sanctuary cities law will enter its next phase on Monday when the first major hearing about Senate Bill 4 will take place in a San Antonio district court.

Signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott, SB 4, also known as the "show me your papers" law, cracks down on communities where undocumented immigrants are less likely to be deported from the country.

Authorities who fail to follow through on the orders of federal immigration agents face stiff penalties, including fines up to $25,000 a day, removal from office, and/or jail time.

In a consolidated legal effort, major cities across Texas are expressing their opposition to SB 4 by filing lawsuits against the state, which are set to be heard by U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia.

Some of the organizations representing cities like San Antonio, Dallas, and El Paso County are the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the Texas Civil Rights Project (TCRP), the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Critics opposed to SB 4 say the ban is unconstitutional in the way it ratchets up racial and ethnic profiling. In the "show me your papers" context, criminal defense lawyer Amber Vazquez Bode argues that the law does not hold up under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments.

Despite the strong rhetoric, several Texas police departments, including the Texas Cities Chiefs and the Texas Police Chiefs Association have expressed their disapproval of SB 4 as well as their commitment to continue serving their Latino and immigrant communities.
2018 Kia Stonic bares it all

Jun 20, 2017, 5:21am ET

The Stonic rides on the same platform as the Hyundai Kona

Leaked images published on an enthusiast forum have prematurely revealed the brand-new 2018 Kia Stonic. The South Korean company explains the Stonic name is a combination of the words "speedy" and "tonic."

Posted on Worldscoop, the leaked photos show a bolder evolution of Kia's design language characterized by thin angular headlights, sculpted bumpers, and pronounced haunches. The two-tone look is loosely inspired by the Provo concept that Kia unveiled at the 2013 edition of the Geneva Auto Show.

The cabin features a clean, tech-oriented design. The dashboard is dominated by a large color touch screen underlined by a piece of U-shaped trim. Most of the buttons typically scattered across the cockpit are grouped in a cluster at the bottom of the center console, which gives the cabin an uncluttered look.

Kia hasn't divulged what lies under the sheet metal. However, an earlier report claims the Stonic is closely related to the funky-looking Hyundai Kona, meaning it rides on a brand-new platform. Front-wheel drive and a four-cylinder engine will come standard, while all-wheel drive will be offered at an extra cost.

Stay tuned, the Kia Stonic could make its official debut online later today. When it lands, it will slot below the Niro as the company's smallest and most affordable crossover. Its main rivals will include the Nissan Juke -- which is allegedly getting axed in the United States -- and the Toyota C-HR.
Jun 20, 2017, 2:54pm ET

Dodge Demons sold above MSRP will be be last in production

Learning from the Hellcat, FCA has refined its distribution strategy to discourage price gouging.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has detailed its allocation strategy for the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon.

Learning from the limited-edition Hellcat, the company has refined its distribution plan to discourage dealers from gouging or other unsavory business tactics.

Unsurprisingly, a dealer must have sold at least one SRT Hellcat in the last 12 months to be eligible for a Demon. Beyond that, specific allocation priority will rank individual dealers based on 60 percent Hellcat and 40 percent Charger and Challenger sales performance.

The company is also explicit in warning that dealers can only order as many Demons as they are allocated. When the Hellcat arrived, FCA had to issue a warning to customers after some dealers accepted large numbers or orders without advising buyers that the orders may not be filled for many months or longer.

Finally, to increase pressure against price gouging, FCA warns that Demons sold at or below MSRP will receive priority scheduling in the production queue. Those sold above MSRP will be produced after "priority production" is completed.

"We learned a lot when we launched the wildly popular SRT Hellcats," says FCA passenger car brands head Tim Kuniskis. "We've taken that information and created an allocation plan that is clear and concise, builds on Demon's position as the Dodge//SRT halo and makes it easy for our customers to understand how they can put a Demon into their garage and, ultimately, out on the drag strip."

To improve communication for customers and dealers, FCA has launched a Demon hotline and an online order-tracking tool.

The 840-horsepower street-legal drag car starts at $84,999, with just 3,000 heading to the US for the single model year. The first deliveries are expected this fall.
Jun 19, 2017, 2:57pm ET

Mercedes-Benz A-Class sedan heading to US next year

Dealers are hoping the company will keep its entry sticker price below the $30,000 mark to help attract younger buyers from other brands.

Mercedes-Benz has reportedly confirmed plans to bring its upcoming A-Class sedan to US showrooms next year.

US dealers were informed of the commitment at a recent meeting in Miami ahead of a formal public announcement, according to Automotive News sources.

The A-Class sedan is expected to be positioned as the company's new entry-level model for the US market. Dealers apparently hope the newcomer carries a base price below the $30,000 benchmark to attract younger buyers that may be new to the brand.

The most affordable Mercedes-Benz in the current lineup, the CLA, made headlines in 2013 when it landed for $29,900. The sub-$30,000 Benz vanished the next year, however, when the stickers began to read $31,500.

Dealers claim to have been treated to a glimpse of the production car at the Miami event. The general public has already received a few hints via the Concept A sedan revealed earlier this year in Shanghai, where Daimler design chief Gorden Wagener proudly declared "the time of creases is over."

The first US-bound units are expected to be on sale by September next year.
Jun 19, 2017, 12:48pm ET

Rollin' solar: Cummins embraces electric, hybrid powertrains

The company believes it must double down on alternative fuels to maintain its strong position in the industrial and commercial markets.

Arguably best known for heavy-duty high-horsepower industrial engines, Cummins does not want to be left behind as the automotive industry shifts toward electricity.

In fact, Cummins is confident it will quickly become a leader in alternative fuels and electrification thanks to its strong position in the commercial and industrial markets.

"Over the past 100 years, our ability to innovate and adapt has fueled our success and we are confident we are on the right path to do it again at this critical juncture," says CEO Tom Linebarger.

The company's 95-liter V16 will eventually be joined by energy storage products, power electronics, traction motor systems and electronic control systems. R&D teams are also continuing to explore other alternative power sources such as bio-fuels, synthetic fuels, hydrogen and solid-oxide fuel cells.

Cummins' first electrified powertrains are expected to arrive by 2019, including pure battery-powered systems and plug-in hybrids.
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Auctioneers are getting ready to sell off a huge home Whitwick for a bargain price.

There's a significant catch though  the previous owner started doing it up but never finished it.

Pictures show there's a lot left to do but when it's finished it could be an incredible home or make a lot of money in rental income.

The potentially seven bedroom, six bathroom property in Silver Street has a guide price of just 125,000.

It's being auctioned off by SDL Graham Penny at the King Power Stadium on Friday.

They say the seller has held talks with North West Leicestershire Planning Authority about converting the property to a seven-bed house of multiple occupancy.

It's close to the Bardon 22 Industrial Park which houses some of the country's largest companies including the new Amazon Fulfilment Centre.

It has an expected rental income of 26,000 a year.

When completed the ground floor has a reception hall, sitting room, dining kitchen, three bedrooms and a shower room.

There's space for three more bedrooms and two shower rooms on the first fl;oor and another bedroom with a sitting area on the second floor.
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Like Barratt, growth at prestige car dealer Sytner Group has pushed it up our list to second place, bumping Next Plc down to third. In fact, latest unaudited figures suggest Sytner could now be the biggest locally-based company  assuming growth at Barratt doesn't outstrip it.

The success is all down to investment in its showrooms and workforce, record sales boosted by consumer confidence and the acquisition of the Car Shop chain of car supermarkets.

Just visit the BMW dealership at Meridian  the most successful in the group  and you will see the quality of service on offer.

The drive-in service centre across the road, for instance, is a million miles away from the oily garages of old.

The group, which is based at Grove Park, Enderby, has 115 dealerships across the country  as well as franchise outlets  supplying 150,000 new and used prestige motors each year.

Its Leicestershire dealerships sell models ranging from BMW, Lamborghini and Bentley to Porsche, Mini and Audi.

Chief executive Darren Edwards has forecast growing sales and wants to add more outlets to Car Shop, which is already Britain's third biggest independent car retailer, thanks to outlets in Cardiff, Swindon, Northampton, Norwich and Doncaster.

Last July, the business acquired a dozen new dealerships, adding 200 million to the turnover, while the Car Shop deal has added a further 275 million.

Car Shop specialises in three to five-year-old cars, and is currently looking at a new seven-acre site in the south and maybe one in the Midlands.

Mr Edwards said: "If you look at what we are doing in other parts of the world with (US parent company) Penske, they have been diversifying for a while to make sure we are not exposed to the ups and downs of the new car market.

"They have invested in Care Sense in the US which is an amazingly similar operation (to Car Shop)  fixed prices, no haggle and really good online presence.

"We got to know the Car Shop guys and they were great to deal with and we have a very similar ethos, which is to look after your people and look after your customers.

"A lot of these companies are far more professional than they were five or so years ago and in many ways give franchised dealers a run for their money.

"So it's a very good fit for us. Diversifying into purely used cars gives us opportunities in the value market, too, such as Vauxhall and Ford, without getting involved in more franchises.

"We can scale up that model now because there's no manufacturer saying what you can and can't do.

"We can go wherever we like. We might end up looking at opening one in Leicestershire."

Today, Sytner makes up around a third of Penske Automotive, the $20 billion US dealership business chaired by former race car driver and Nascar race team owner Roger Penske.
A Kildare South TD has called on the government to fulfill its pledge of welcoming 4,000 refugees by the end of 2017 as part of the EU response to the refugee crisis.

Deputy Fiona OLoughlin made the comments as the international community marked World Refugee Day today.

To date just 1,238 refugees have been resettled or relocated to Ireland.

Some of these have been through the orientation centre at the former Hazel Hotel in Monasterevin. However the figure is no where near the 4,000 promised by governement back by the end of this year.

Unfortunately the latest information clearly demonstrates that the Government is failing to deliver on its commitment, said Deputy OLoughlin.

To date just 1,238 refugees have been resettled or relocated to Ireland. This pace of relocation is far too slow and makes it highly unlikely that the Government will meet its own target of taking in 4,000 refugees by the end of this year. These are people who have traveled hundreds of miles, often on foot, in an attempt to flee devastating conflicts which have gripped parts of the Middle East, such as in Syria and Libya.

The Hazel Hotel in Monasterevin was first commissioned as an orientation centre back in 2015 as temporary accommodation for refugees displaced by the Syrian conflict. The maximum number the centre can accommodate is 143 people at a time.

From there, after about three to four months, they move to other parts of the country.

They receive the medical treatment they need, while children are prepared to enter the education system by attending local creches and schools.

A new group of 30 arrived in Monasterevin from the Lebanon in May.
Kildare Motorway Service Station, Junction 14 recently presented CMRF Crumlin with a cheque for 34,463.

This money is vital to help CMRF Crumlin and The National Childrens Research Centre.

The National Childrens Research Centre (NCRC) is the largest childrens research centre in Ireland and it is supported entirely by donations to CMRF Crumlin. The NCRC supports the best and most promising paediatric research, and their goal is to find new ways of diagnosing and treating sick children.

Junction 14 Mayfield have been working with CMRF Crumlin for 3 years and have run many events along with instore collections to raise money for the vital work the charity carries out.

Gavin Moran, the General Manager commented We have been working with CMRF for the past 3 years and we feel this charity is providing an essential service to the children of Ireland. Every month we have many customers who are commuting to Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin. When we talk to these customers it really drives home the amazing work the charity does and how vital the service they provide is.

We would like to thank all of our customers for their support and the generosity of our customers has really overwhelmed us. I feel this is a fantastic reflection on the amazing work CMRF Crumlin do. We hope that this funding will in some way help the lives of those who are most precious to us.

Located on the outskirts of Monasterevin, Junction 14 recently celebrated six years in business on June 16 and has just announced its new charity partner is Pieta House.
There is good news for Sallins train commuters today as funding has been made available to create an extra 40 car-parking spaces at its train station.

It is expected that works will be finished by December and the extra spaces will be available from next year.

TD Catherine Murphy welcomed the news which she said was much needed for the busy train station.

I am delighted to see the pro-active approach by Irish Rail in relation to parking facilities for commuters in Sallins and the greater surrounding areas. There is already a high demand for park and ride services in North Kildare, and in view of Sallins inclusion in the Dublin Short Hop Zone, this is a very positive move by Irish Rail.

READ MORE: There must be a better way to commute than the N7 traffic jam

It is also expected that additional trains will serve Dublin from the station from the end of the summer, as the timetable serving Pearse/Connolly/Grand Canal Dock through the Phoenix Park tunnel is expanded.
As someone who works in the fields of construction, risk management and loss prevention, it saddens me that it takes such a tragic incident to finally make this government sit up and listen to fire safety experts, who have been campaigning for years to improve fire safety of high-rise and multi-occupancy buildings.

Sadly, the Grenfell Tower fire is not a new phenomenon. There have been several similar fires in the Middle Mast, the Far East and Australia, where combustible facade cladding was found to significantly contribute to fire spread up and around buildings.

Advice given by the London Fire Brigade, for residents to stay in their apartments, was correct, in theory. The assumption being that properly-compartmented units, plus a secure and fire-protected stairwell, would allow time for the firefighters to contain the incident at source, giving them time to safely evacuate residents from the building.

I am pleased that Sal Brinton, Liberal Democrat Party President and member of the All-Party Parliamentary Fire Safety and Rescue Group is now calling for he government to urgently publish a long-awaited review of building regulations on fire safety and implement its recommendations.

As someone whose day job is to advise on such issues, I am happy to help in any way that I can. The loss of a single life is one too many.

Until we start to design and construct high-rise structures to minimise fire risks to as low as reasonably practicable, our Fire and Rescue Services will have to re-assess advice given to residents as well as their approach to tackling such fires.

* Ade Adeyemo is a councillor and parliamentary spokesperson in Solihull.
A statement from Vince Cable MP:

Today I am announcing that I will be a candidate in the forthcoming Liberal Democrat leadership election. I wanted to do so on Lib Dem Voice, the leading forum for discussion amongst our membership.

With 20 years on the national political stage I am passionate as ever about our liberal values. I am ready to commit my energy, enthusiasm and experience to the task of leading the Liberal Democrats through what will be a period of chronic uncertainty. With the prospect of another election looming large, we must be ready for the fight.

Brexit negotiations have begun. The government is split and weakened; Labour is equivocal about Europe. The Liberal Democrats alone have a consistent and principled, outward looking, and approach to the issue. We must fight for the British public to have a final say on the governments deal with a chance to stay in the EU if the deal is not good enough. To achieve this, we will need to work with like-minded people in other parties.

As Shadow Chancellor I secured a hard-won hearing for the party on the economy, warning of the 2008 financial crisis which has been a source of economic weakness, great inequality and political anger ever since. In government for five years as Secretary of State for Business I created a distinctive Lib Dem vision for the economy with a long-term industrial strategy, promotion of science and innovation, banking reform, investment in young people via apprenticeships and the promotion of socially responsible capitalism. With the economy approaching the Brexit iceberg, Liberal Democrats need more than ever to warn of the dangers ahead and the need for a new course.

As a socially progressive party we must build on our good policies in support of public services. The NHS, especially mental health, and social care and schools are now under severe financial pressure. Our campaigning on these issues, and others, like the environment, must be national and at community level, building on a long tradition which created the partys local government base. With a clear voice and a clear message on these issues, we can rebuild our vote share and representation nationally, in local government, the Scottish parliament and the Welsh and London assemblies.

There are big opportunities ahead. The Conservatives are in disarray and in retreat. The Labour Party outperformed expectations but complacently believes that one more heave will see it into office. But an economic policy based on offering lots of free things lacks economic credibility and will be found out. Investing in infrastructure, rather than borrowing for everyday running costs is credible. There is a big space in British politics which I am determined that we should occupy.

The contest will take place with the largest membership electorate in our partys history. We should be ambitious about increasing our number still further and in particular attracting young people to our cause. I welcome the more diverse party and parliamentary party we now have and will give priority to promoting diversity, an issue I championed as a minister and with some success in business leadership.

The party has survived five difficult years of Coalition government and the disadvantage of the current unreformed voting system. We are now growing again and the political winds are moving in our favour. I believe I can, as leader, offer the energy, dedication and drive, as well as experience, to help  with you  to make our party a credible contender for power.
TWO young men have admitted threatened to kill or cause serious harm to a young woman during an incident in the city centre almost three years ago.

When initially arraigned at Limerick Circuit Court last week, Jason Jake Casey, aged 24, of Toppins Field, Rathbane, and Michael Harty, aged 25, who has an address at William Street, Nenagh, County Tipperary each pleaded not guilty to five charges relating to the incident which happened at Michael Street on the morning of September 4, 2014.

One of the charges included making threats against a potential witness in a criminal investigation which was ongoing at the time.

John OSullivan BL, prosecuting, told the jury of eight men and four women it was the State case that both men were acting together and that it would be alleged during the trial that a black crowbar was used by them to damage a Toyota Avensis car on the same date.

However, ahead of the opening of the trial and following legal discussions between lawyers in the case, both men were re-arraigned and pleaded guilty to two of the charges.

The offences which they have now admitted include causing criminal damage to the Toyota Avensis car and making threats against the woman contrary to the provisions of Section 5 of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act.

Mr OSullivan told the court the guilty pleas were acceptable to the Director of Public Prosecutions and that a Nolle Prosquei was being entered in relation to the remaining three charges.

This is the legal term confirming that those charges are no longer being pursued by the State.

Judge Tom ODonnell was told the full facts of what happened will be outlined to the court during the sentencing hearing.

The matter was adjourned to October 3, next with both defendants being remanded on continuing bail.

There were minor verbal exchanges between relatives of the two defendants and the injured party as Mr Harty and Mr Casey left the courtroom.

Discharging the jurors, Judge ODonnell thanked them for attending court and for their patience during the proceedings.
MUCH vaunted plans to revitalise OConnell Street may not see cars banned from the main thoroughfare, as first mooted.

Limerick City and County Council will this Tuesday unveil its preferred design for the 9m project, after councilors were briefed.

And while there will be more space for pedestrians, the local authoritys preferred design will see one car lane remain in place, travelling from the Denmark Street junction outbound from the city to the OConnell Monument. There, it is envisaged, a public plaza will be constructed.

It will be a shared surface with cyclists.

But the blueprint has been strongly criticised by local members  who confirmed the council is plotting the lane.

Cllr Daniel Butler says what is proposed doesnt really achieve anything.

I think sometimes we tend to compromise and we dont do one or the other. We either go all out pedestrianisation or we dont. This model would undermine the pedestrianisation thinking process, as we'd have all these junctions now going up along OConnell Street, with Roches Street, Mallow Street and Glentworth Street.

"Youd have traffic crossing what should be a pedestrian area, he said.

Cllr Malachy McCreesh added: Pedestrianisation was what we all hoped for.

Both members said a traffic management plan is required if a single car lane is to be introduced.

The council will display its preferred plan this Tuesday afternoon between 4pm and 7.30pm at its offices in Merchants Quay. It is inviting submissions on the proposals up to Friday.

After this, a formal part eight planning process will take place. Its anticipated that construction work will commence on the redesign by next summer.

There has been a huge public reaction to the plans  funded locally and from Europe.

It follows alternative plans put forward by economist John Moran in last weeks Limerick Leader. There have been a large number of Tweets using the hashtag #LiveableLimerick which has trended nationally.

More information on how to have your say is available from 061-407129.
THE WIFE of Munster rugby star Dougie Howlett has spoken of her pride at becoming an Irish citizen at a ceremony at the University of Limerick.

Mother of five Monique Howlett said it was a very proud moment to finally join the ranks of her New Zealand-born husband, who was made an Irish citizen in 2014, and their five Irish-born children.

Its a great occasion, beamed Mr Howlett, who moved here with his family 10 years ago.

She was one of 355 new citizens of the State this Monday, following a citizenship ceremony in the University of Limerick, the first to be held outside of Dublin and Cork.

The newly appointed Minister for Justice & Equality, Charlie Flanagan, led the citizens in their pledge of fidelity to the Irish nation and loyalty to the Irish state.

Minister Flanagan said it was truly remarkable that in just six years over 100,000 people from every continent and more than 170 countries have become Irish citizens.

Their connection to this tiny island at the edge of Europe is a common thread that unites and binds all of us together, he said.

The presiding officer of the day, retired High Court Judge Bryan McMahon, said he hopes that Ireland, a nation of immigrants, will see its new sons and daughters one day leading their county team out on Croke Park.

Expectant mother Nusrat Belly, from Bangladesh, said she too was looking forward to following in the footsteps of her daughter Humayra and husband Mohammed, who are both Irish citizens.

This means a lot to me. I am so happy. Ireland is definitely home now, said the Killarney resident, who moved to Ireland eight years ago.

Dr Imran Sulaiman, from London and now living in Dublin, said while his motivation to become an Irish citizen is because his wife is Irish, he admitted that Brexit has pushed me a little. I could have become Irish sooner, but its a great feeling here today. I just wish my wife was here to celebrate with me.

Love also led Jason Taylor from Australia, as he met his wife-to-be Sarah in Syndey once she had finished college and took a year out to travel.

Victoria Taidan, from Moldova, was also the last in her family to receive Irish citizenship, having moved to Galway aged 12. I have felt Irish for a very long time, she enthused.

Now, she has her papers to prove it.
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LIMERICK Fine Gael TD Patrick ODonovan is to become one of two new Ministers of State at the Department of Finance and Public Expenditure.

The Newcastle West man has been appointed Minister of State at the department of finance and public expenditure, with special responsibility for public procurement.

.@podonovan confirmed as Minister of State at dept of finance and public expenditure, with special responsibility for public procurement  Limerick Leader (@Limerick_Leader) June 20, 2017

The move is being regarded as a promotion for ODonovan who has for the past year or more, been Minister of State for Tourism and Sport.

It is also seen as a boost for Limerick following the stepping down from office of former Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

The announcement has come following intense speculation as to who will be in and who will be out in the list of Ministers of State.

But for Patrick ODonovan, the call came early this Tuesday morning. And now, after a little over a year as Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, he will move to the more challenging but also more dangerous, Department of Finance and Public Expenditure.

Last week, when he announced his cabinet, the Taoiseach also announced the merging of the Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure. The new minister in charge of that department is Paschal Donohue and in order to share the load, the Taoiseach has now appointed two Ministers of State to assist him.

The appointment will inevitably mean Minister of State ODonovan will have to go out to bat on the big issues for the government from time to time, a role for which he is suited. In the course of the past year, Minister ODonovan has shown himself as combative and ready to take on critics.

He also displayed a cool head during the controversy over tickets for the Rio Olympics.

The new Minister of State has always paid tribute to former Minister Michael Noonan who acted as his mentor after he was first elected to the Dail in 2011. Patrick ODonovan has also shared political space with Taoiseach Varadkar.

The pair met during college days and both came up through the ranks of Young Fine Gael, both serving on the national executive with Patrick ODonovan as chairman. Both were also elected councillor for the first time in 2004.
AN unexpectedly high demand for water in the town of Newcastle West has left residents in Ardagh and parts of Coolcappagh without a drop.

But in a statement released this morning, Irish Water hope to have supply restored by 3pm this Tuesday afternoon.

Tankers began delivering water to the reservoir in Ardagh this morning.

Cllr Michael Collins said that some residents served by the Ballylin reservoir in Ardagh had lost their water supply on Sunday but for the majority, the water supply stopped yesterday evening.

These communities are connected to the Newcastle West mains, Cllr Collins said. Water is pumped to reservoir at Ballylin, Ardagh and then supplied to households in Ardagh and parts of Coolcappagh.

The problem is high demand in Newcastle West and there hasnt been enough pressure to deliver the water through to Ballylin.

The council, on behalf of Irish water, are taking out tankers of water to get the level of water up in Ballylin. That has started this morning, he told the Limerick Leader.

Because of the high temperatures, he continued, people have been taking extra showers, watering plants and filling paddling pools and this has added to demand on the Newcastle West supply.

I am appealing to people not to waste water, he said.
LIMERICK'S mayor-in-waiting has apologised if his comments in relation to migrants from Eastern Europe being "a major drain on the State" have caused any hurt.

At a recent council meeting, Fine Gael councillor Stephen Keary - the father-in-law of junior minister Patrick ODonovan - claimed that Ireland is known as "the home for the handouts", in what was described as a "Donald Trump-style rant".

"They see us as easy pickings," said the councillor from Croagh, County Limerick.

"People have come here from Eastern Europe for the handouts. It has become a huge problem here. The substantial rise on social housing and hospital waiting lists is a recent thing."

This week, a Fine Gael spokesperson sought to distance the party from his remarks, as his bid to become Mayor of Limerick City and County looms on Monday next.

"Councillor Keary's comments do not reflect Fine Gael policy. Fine Gael is a committed European party. We believe all citizens of the State should be treated equally," said a spokesperson for the party.

The remarks by Cllr Keary were widely condemned by a number of human rights organisation in recent days.

He has now sought to clarify his comments, saying he was referring to a "tiny proportion of people who abuse our social welfare system.

"I did not set out to discriminate," said Cllr Keary in a statement to the Limerick Leader this Tuesday afternoon.

"All citizens in this State should be treated equally and be allowed access to our services. A small minority abuse the system and some of my constituents in the Adare-Rathkeale municipal area of Limerick City and County Council have relayed their feelings to me on that. That is all I was attempting to say.

"I apologise if my comments hurt anyone. I certainly did not intend to do so. Anyone who applies for State supports and meets the qualifying criteria are entitled to it," he concluded.

Shane O'Curry, director of European Network Against Racism Ireland (ENAR Ireland), said that "these type of comments are easy to make because they resonate with the type of racist myths which sadly persist in society.

"Unfortunately Cllr Kearys comments risk contributing to a climate in which minorities are targeted for discrimination and even racist violence. These attacks have rightly been widely condemned by the people of Limerick who do not share Cllr Kearys views," said Mr O'Curry.

Leonie Kerins, director of Doras Luimni, the Limerick-based support group for all migrants living in the Mid-West, said she was "surprised and disappointed" by his comments.

"There is no evidence to support the councillor's comments. There are strict conditions to be met for anyone to access social welfare and social housing and these conditions effectively prevent the type of welfare tourism that Cllr Keary is describing.

"We would urge all those in positions of public office to avoid scape-goating migrants and instead work together toward an inclusive Limerick where diversity is celebrated," said Ms Kerins.

Labour councillor Elena Secas said the comments were unacceptable and an insult to all immigrant communities in Ireland.

She said she believes Mr Keary is unfit to become mayor of Limerick because the person who holds this office should be inclusive and representative of the entire community.

I strongly condemn these racist comments and believe that all immigrant communities in Limerick and across Ireland are owed an apology, said Ms Secas.
EMERGENCY services in Limerick swiftly responded to an incident in which a person was reportedly about to enter the River Shannon this Tuesday afternoon.

At 3.20pm this Tuesday afternoon, during a training exercise on O'Callaghan Strand, the Swiftwater rescue technicians from Limerick City Fire and Rescue noticed a man, believed to be in his early 30s, sitting on the wall of Sarsfield Bridge in the city.

The Fire Service immediately launched a fire boat, and FireSwift and ground crew firefighters spoke with the man, a source told the Limerick Leader.

Limerick Fire Service said on social media that a captain in a passing boat assisted the rescue crews during the incident.

It posted: "We'd like to commend the captain of a passing boat that assisted our Swift Water Rescue Crews in an incident on Sarsfield Bridge today."

The National Ambulance Service was immediately alerted to the incident and arrived at the scene to treat the individual, who was then taken to University Hospital Limerick. Gardai were also in attendance.

Limerick Fire Service resumed training at 3.45pm.

Contact Aware at 1800 804848, the Samaritans at 116 123 or Pieta House at 1800 247247.
(Xinhua) 21:12, June 19, 2017

BEIJING, June 19 -- China is looking to reform its sci-tech awards system, according to a plan released by the State Council.

The reform will focus on adjusting standards, improving quality and controlling the numbers of awards.

As part of the reforms, the number of awards for the three major categories of natural sciences, technological invention and sci-tech progress will be cut to under 300.

The change will be based on a reform in 1999, when the number was decreased to a maximum of 400 from 800 previously.

The objects of the awards will be changed from "citizens" to "individuals."

Each of the provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities will be allowed to set up one province-level sci-tech award, while cities with independent planning status, Dalian, Qingdao, Ningbo, Xiamen and Shenzhen, can also set up an award.

Moreover, the authorities will take a stronger hand against academic misconduct, and improve the credibility system for the awards, as the credibility records of participants and judges will be filed as a part of the system.

The transparency of the awards is also highlighted by the plan, with awarding policies, judging processes and specific number of awards to be made public.

A total of 47,183 awards for the three major categories have been awarded so far in China, while 27 scientists have been conferred the State Top Scientific and Technological Award since its establishment in 2000.
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Residents in parts of Lincolnshire have had to take grass verge cutting into their own hands over safety concerns.

One resident who lives near Horncastle told the BBC that the grass at the side of a main road is so long, they can't see oncoming traffic.

Pauline, who lives near Horncastle, has had enough.

She told the BBC: "At the end of this road there is an island where the traffic goes left or right and the grass in the middle of it is so high that you can't see over the top of it - and it's actually 60mph at the bottom of there.

"You have to just get the front of you car out there now to see what's coming. The grass is higher than my car - I can't see over the top of it.

"They cut it about twice a year but this time of year everything is really high. One or two people who work here said yesterday that they can't see to turn right. You have to try and listen and hope nothing's coming.

When asked if she thought it was dangerous, she said:

"Yes - it's busy enough trying to get out at the end if cars are coming fast when you can see. But when you can't see it's not very good."

A group near Boston, Keeping Fishtoft Safe, have taken matters into their own hands and started cutting unruly public grass verges themselves.

It comes after the county council cut it's budget for maintaining grass verges across Lincolnshire.

The council told the BBC that it funds two cuts a year where overgrown grass could cause safety issues, and in some areas the work will be taken on the the district or parish council who might do more regular mowing.
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A man died just hours after he was mysteriously injured while in the care of Bostons Pilgrim Hospital.

An inquest has been told that Michael Brooks was admitted to Pilgrim Hospital by ambulance after he fell in his home.

He was taken by ambulance to the hospital on December 1 and appeared to be malnourished and dehydrated.

But a week later, on December 7, Mr Brooks, from Skegness, was taken into intensive care, where he died the same day.

Experts said he may have received the fracture while being moved by hospital staff but there was no evidence to back this up.

An inquest into his death found he had died as a result of internal bleeding in the chest cavity after a fractured rib had pressed into the lung.

However, there was no trace of a fractured rib on an X-ray carried out when he was admitted to hospital.

A post mortem examination was carried out and a bone expert conducted investigations into the timeframe in which the fracture happened.

It concluded the fracture had occurred six hours before Mr Brooks death.

An independent radiologist was also called in for her expert opinion.

Dr Suzanne Matthews, consultant radiologist at Sheffield Hospital, giving evidence, said: I only viewed one X-ray which did not show any rib fracture. However, given the area, it can be hard to see fractures. There is a low chance of seeing fractures on X-ray in this area due to tissues around it.

This isolated fracture of the second rib is very unusual and I can only find one other similar case.

It is unusual to see this type of fracture in the upper ribs. There wasnt any fluid showing on the X-ray either, which would have been seen if there was more than 400ml of it present at the time.

Mr Brooks had 1,700 ml of blood in his chest wall when he died.

Professor Guy Rutty, an East Midlands pathologist who carried out the post mortem examination, added: There was an accumulation of blood in his chest and a fracture to the second right rib with fresh bruising.

The rib was bent inwards into the cavity, causing fresh blood in the chest.

A forensic expert was called in to investigate the fracture and it was less than six hours old.

Coroner for south Lincolnshire, Paul Cooper, said a police investigation was opened in 2012 following Mr Brooks death and had only recently closed.

He added: Fifteen witnesses were interviewed two years later and nobody seemed to be able to recall anything from this incident.

The fracture was less than six hours old, which places him in Pilgrim hospital when it happened.

Mr Coopers conclusion was narrative.
Sweet 16 group of authors educate, entertain in new volume about American postal history

Jun 19, 2017, 3 PM

In an effort to inspire the next generation of postal historians, Peter Martin, editor and publisher of La Posta, called on a distinguished group of 16 philatelic writers to contribute an original work to a new book from La Posta Publications: Aspects of

By Charles Snee

Back in the day (1999-2003, in this case), I was an associate editor for Linns Stamp News, which, among other things, meant I was a junior member of the Linns staff.

As such, I was often tasked with writing short items, called fillers, to fill up small holes that remained after scheduled news stories, columns, and features were placed in the available editorial space for that weeks issue.

It was (and still is) part of Linns mission to promote philatelic societies and other organizations.

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To that end, I often wrote fillers based on an article from a recent philatelic journal or society publication.

One such publication, La Posta: The Journal of American Postal History, invariably was filled with fascinating articles I enjoyed distilling down to a filler of three or four paragraphs.

When my collecting interests began gravitating toward postal history, I began communicating with postal history specialists, including the late Richard Bill Helbock, who founded La Posta in 1969 and served as its editor until his death in 2011.

Helbocks successor, Peter Martin, has kept the journals content engaging, lively, and scholarly.

Ive known Pete since my early days with Linns, when he was editor of Scott Stamp Monthly. So, I was intrigued when I learned earlier this year about a new book to be published under his editorial guidance.

Martins passionate advocacy for the many splendid wonders of collecting postal history spurred him to gather a select group of 16 authors whom he asked to contribute an original article focusing on a particular area of interest.

The resultant output of these respected philatelic writers, whom Martin dubbed the Sweet 16, is now gathered in a new book hot off the La Posta Publications press: Aspects of American Postal History.

All of the articles, in their current form, appear in the book for the first time. According to Martin, four of the articles are either updated from or contain part of a feature previously published in La Posta.

In a nod to the rightward shift of the age bell curve among La Posta readers, Martin acknowledges in his introduction that efforts must be made to recruit new and younger members into the speciality.

It is with that thought in mind that the idea for this book had its beginnings, he writes.

Postal historians of all abilities and interests will be grateful Martin brought his idea to fruition in this splendid compilation.

Space considerations necessarily limit the scope of this review. As such, I mention herewith a sampling of the features that I found personally compelling. Lack of mention should not be viewed as a negative opinion of a particular authors contribution.

Leading off the roster of 16 contributors is Confederate States dealer and expert Patricia Kaufmann, who examines aspects of independent state mail and the use of U.S. postage in the Confederate states.

Using a keen combination of political prints, photographs, newspaper clippings, and, of course, postal history, Kaufmann deftly traces the history of each states secession from the Union.

Crucially, she presents evidence from myriad legal and other sources to definitively establish the official secession dates of each of the 13 Confederate states and the Arizona Territory.

The results of these efforts were first brought together in 2012, with the publication of the Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History. These efforts catalyzed the correcting of erroneous secession dates that had been in the philatelic literature for decades.

Among my various postal history collections is a small gathering of covers postmarked on Leap Day, Feb. 29. Most Ive found in passing, without specific intent; others Ive created intentionally.

Collecting covers canceled on a specific date, whether for personal or historical reasons, can be great fun.

I was pleasantly reminded of this fact when I perused Christine Sanders wonderful contribution titled A Walk Through Postal History on Christmas Day, 17931899.

Today, of course, post offices in the United States are closed on Christmas. But that has not always been the case, writes Sanders.

She points out, for instance, that Congress was in session Dec. 25, 1789, the first Christmas following the signing of the Constitution.

On a canvas spanning more than a century, Sanders displays 59 covers, beginning with a folded letter mailed in 1793 and featuring a clear N[ew]. YORK. De[c]. 25 straight-line postmark.

A cover postmarked Dec. 25, 1899, in Pawtucket, R.I., and mailed to Amherst, Mass., marks the end of the 106-year span delineated in the title of Sanders article.

A particular strength of the article is the historical vignettes Sanders provides for companies and organizations depicted on the advertising covers.

Courtesy of an ornate, perforated Associated Charities label on a Christmas Day 1899 cover, I learned that this entity gave birth to the Community Chest, which morphed into the United Way of today.

Collectors of the Presidential and Liberty series will enjoy reading Albert Chip Briggs and Roland Austins features, respectively.

Both are longtime, enthusiastic postal historians who serve up a plethora of covers documenting elusive uses of these popular definitive series.

In addition, both serve as advisors to the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, providing valuing and editorial input for the Presidential and Liberty on-cover listings.

Is it possible to collect postal history associated with a single street?

Richard Hemmings fascinating discourse on Cortlandt Street in lower Manhattan in New York City answers this rhetorical question with a resounding Yes!

Why focus on a single street? you might ask. Hemmings answer is both pragmatic and wise: It would be impossible for one person to write the whole history of the planet by examining each city  using surviving paper as a guide.

Several of the covers Hemmings illustrates are delightful eye candy. My favorite is an advertising cover for Ingersolls American Watches, which was located at 67 Cortlandt St.

My preferences aside, the whole article is worth a careful read. In 2013, it received the first Richard W. Helbock prize for the best article appearing in La Posta the previous year.

All of this and more await you in this 224-page volume, which provides a tantalizing glimpse of the many avenues one might travel down in the world of postal history.

Do you know a young postal historian? This engaging tome would make a wonderful gift, because now is the time to inspire the next generation of cover collectors.

Aspects of American Postal History is available for $65 plus $5 shipping from La Posta Publications, Box 6074, Fredericksburg, VA 22403. For more information, contact Peter Martin via email.
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Otto Warmbier (file photo)

WASHINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Otto Warmbier, a U.S. college student who was released by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) less than a week ago, died on Monday, his parents said.

"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20 p.m. (1820 GMT)," his parents Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in a statement.

Warmbier's parents thanked the "wonderful professionals" at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and denounced the DPRK for mistreating their son.

In a statement, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his passing and condemned the "brutality" of the DPRK.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said.

Warmbier's parents have told U.S. media that he was medically evacuated from the DPRK in a coma.

The DPRK confirmed his release in a report by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, saying he was sent back home "on humanitarian grounds."

The 22-year-old student from the University of Virginia has been in a state of coma for more than a year after contracting botulism soon after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in a trial by the DPRK supreme court on March 16, 2016, according to U.S. local media.

Warmbier was detained by the DPRK authorities at the Pyongyang International Airport on his way back home in January 2016 after he attempted to take a political slogan from a staff-only area in a hotel where he stayed during his tour to the country.
Fan Changlong (L), vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, meets with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam, June 18, 2017.(Xinhua/Li Xiaowei)

HANOI, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Fan Changlong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of China, met with Vietnamese leaders on relations between the two countries and two militaries.

Fan met with Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, and Vietnamese Defense Minister Ngo Xuan Lich on Sunday.

Thanks to the promotion of the leaders of both countries, the China-Vietnam relations are developing with good momentum and their cooperation has yielded results in various fields, said Fan.

"China is willing to cooperate with Vietnam in aligning its Belt and Road Initiative with Vietnam's Two Corridors and One Economic Circle plan, and push forward pragmatic cooperation in all fields for mutual development," he said.

The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, is aimed at building an infrastructure and trade network that spans across the globe, linking Asia with Europe and Africa, along the ancient Silk Road trading routes.

China has attached high importance to the development of military relations with Vietnam, and is willing to join hands with the Vietnam side to further push forward the ties, Fan said.

General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee Trong said Vietnam and China are friendly socialist neighbors, and relations between the two countries and two parties have maintained good momentum with deepening cooperation and exchanges in various fields.

President Quang said closer friendly cooperation between the two militaries will help deepen the mutual trust between the two countries and two parties, and facilitate their fruitful collaboration.

Prime Minister Phuc said Vietnam is ready to make joint efforts with China to fully and effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea and reach agreement on a code of conduct in the South China Sea through consultations at an early date.

Defense Minister Lich said the ties between the two militaries have seen substantial progress in recent years, with sound cooperation in border defense, peacekeeping and search and rescue at sea.

He said the Vietnamese military is willing to join hands with its Chinese counterpart to deepen communication and cooperation, and carry forward their solidarity and friendship.

Regarding the South China Sea issue, Fan stressed that the South China Sea islands have been China's territory since ancient times.

He noted that the current situation in the South China Sea has been stabilized and is turning positive, adding that this situation is a hard-won result.

The senior Chinese military official called on both sides to abide by the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and two parties.

"The two sides should enhance their strategic communication and properly manage and control their differences so as to maintain their overall relations as well as the peace and stability in the South China Sea," he said.
LONDON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The man suspected of driving a van into a crowd of worshippers outside a mosque is 47-year-old Darren Osborne, Sky News reported on Monday.

The vehicle crashed pedestrians near Finsbury Park Mosque in north London as they left Ramadan night prayers around midnight Monday.

At least one was killed and 10 others were injured in what police have called a "major incident".
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Many of the 36 victims of the Ghost Ship fire were found in clusters  some in areas never touched by flame and others amid severely charred debris, according to an investigative report released Monday detailing the difficulties recovery teams faced after the Dec. 2 blaze in the artist collective.

Only seven of the victims were found on the second floor of the converted warehouse, in a section that did not collapse or burn but had extensive smoke damage, according to the report on Oaklands deadliest fire.

The rest of the victims were found either on the ground floor or in the rubble from the partial collapse of the second floor. All 36 victims died of smoke inhalation.

The report is the first official account of what witnesses told investigators, how fire crews fought the inferno and where the bodies of victims were located. It also provides a detailed description of the artist collective that former residents described as a jumbled labyrinth, and where everything was positioned during the blaze.

In two instances, recovery teams found victims wrapped within large rugs that had collapsed from the upper level into the first floor, including onto motor homes parked inside.

In the space between the two motorhomes a large area rug was suspended among partially collapsed debris from the second floor. Eight victims were recovered from within this rug and next to it, the report said.

Nearby, atop one of the trailers, three victims were found within another large rug that had fallen with the second floor collapse.

Authorities spent five round-the-clock days combing through rubble before calling off search-and-recovery efforts.

The details were laid out in the 50-page Origin and Cause Report by federal and local officials. The report identified the fire origin  the northwest corner of the ground floor, and explained why investigators were unable to determine how the fire began. Even after considering factors such as fire pattern, ventilation effect, fuel load and potential heat sources, the extensive damage around the fires origin made a ruling on cause impossible, the report said.

The collectives primary tenant, Derick Almena, and second-in-command, Max Harris, were arrested and charged this month with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths. Officials said the pair had created a fire trap and then packed the building with paying guests for music shows like the one held the night of the fire.

The report described the complicated, makeshift electrical system that had failed in the day or two prior to the fire. Tenants told investigators they didnt know where their power supply originated but were aware that the electrical system was faulty.

City officials had previously refrained from releasing the documents, citing the criminal investigation by the Alameda County district attorneys office.

Absent from the more than a half dozen witness interviews included in the report was any statement from Almena. Harris, however, told investigators that as the warehouses creative director and handyman, he didnt allow smoking, candles, incense or space heaters.

Harris stated the warehouse was supplied electricity from the body shop next door so if one of the fuses blew, they would have to wait for the body shop to open to restore power, the report said. Harris stated the breaker and the fuses popped a few days prior to the fire.

The interviews with firefighters, paramedics and survivors show that most were initially unaware of how many people were trapped inside, as The Chronicle previously reported. No one gathered outside seemed overly excited or distraught, the report said, and firefighters called into the building for a response from people possibly inside but got no answer.

By the time firefighters entered the warehouse the next morning, the second floor in the back of the warehouse had collapsed.

Although investigators ruled out propane and natural gas as heat sources, everything from candles and incense to cigarettes and electrical failure were possible, the report said. Even an open flame, set intentionally or carelessly, couldnt be eliminated as the potential ignition source. No one who may have witnessed the incipient stage of the fire could be located, the report said.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
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WASHINGTON  Energy Secretary Rick Perry defended President Donald Trump's proposal to slash funding for energy research programs Tuesday as necessary to reduce the government's budget deficit.

During a budget hearing with members of the House Appropriations Committee, Perry said the budgets cuts were necessary to preserve spending for modernizing the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal and other "key missions."

"This budget proposal makes some difficult choices, but it is paramount we execute our fiduciary responsibility to the American taxpayer," Perry told the Subcommittee on Energy and Water Tuesday.

RELATED: Trump's budget a mixed bag for the energy sector

The Trump administration is proposing an 18 percent cut to research programs at the Department of Energy, with renewable energy and energy efficiency facing more than 60 percent cuts. The Advanced Research Projects Administration-Energy, which funds a number of research projects at Texas A&M and other scientific institutions in Texas, would be eliminated all together.

Those cuts have drawn sharp criticism from Democrats, and many Republicans as well. In the aftermath of Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris agreement on climate change, many fear U.S. research into clean energy will fall behind competitors abroad.

The president's proposal would result in the loss of 11,000 "technical experts" across the department's national laboratories, said Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, ranking member on the Energy and Water Subcommittee of the appropriations committee.

"This is anything but an America first policy" she said.

Last month six Senate Republicans, including Sen Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., chair of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, wrote to Trump urging him to maintain current funding for energy research.

"We cannot lose the technological advantages we have gained through our country's investment in research and development," the letter read.

But the Trump administration appears to have very different priorities.

Within the energy department's proposed $28 billion spending plan, the budget for maintaining the nuclear weapons arsenal would increase 8 percent from last year to $13.9 billion. Trump budgets $120 million to resume development of a controversial nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

RELATED: With nuclear warheads aging, Perry faces major test

And multiple programs protecting the nation's energy sector against cyberattack would receive budget increases.

"Grid security is a priority," Perry said. "We don't get that right it could be devastating for our citizens."

During Tuesday's hearing, members continually pushed Perry to explain how the budget cuts would not result in a loss of U.S. innovation.

Perry spoke about his doing more with less, a practice he said he honed as governor of Texas. But Perry also suggested the Trump administration expected the budget that would ultimately come out of Congress would be very different from the one it proposed.

"This is the first step in a long process, and I was Governor long enough to know governors' budgets don't always come back to them the way they started," he said.
Californias insurance commissioner, who has required San Antonios USAA and other insurers to disclose their fossil fuel investments, is drawing the wrath of Texas attorney general and officials from 12 other states.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton this week joined 11 other Republican attorneys general and Kentuckys GOP governor in signing on to a letter demanding that California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, a Democrat, stop requiring insurance companies to report their fossil fuel investments and signing a pledge to divest from such holdings.

The threats made by the California insurance commissioner will hurt families, businesses and insurance carriers across the nation, Paxton said in a statement. These requirements are misguided, unrelated to insurance regulation, and are clearly politically driven. We will not stand by while negligent, politically motivated requirements harm the livelihood of thousands of U.S. citizens.

Jones introduced a climate change database, which discloses the amount of gas, oil, coal and utility investments held by insurance companies. All insurance companies with at least $100 million in annual premiums in California were required to report the information.

Four USAA insurance companies were included in the database with about $4.5 billion in combined coal, oil and gas investments. USAA Life Insurance Co., the largest of the four based on its $22.2 billion in assets under management, had $3.4 billion, or 15 percent of its assets, invested in fossil fuels.

USAA Casualty Insurance Co. had $705.7 million of its assets under management, or 9 percent, invested in fossil fuels. USAA General Indemnity Co. had about $274 million, or 10 percent, while Garrison Property and Casualty Insurance Co. had about $118.4 million, or 9 percent.

A questionnaire included in the database shows the USAA companies indicated they did not intend to divest their fossil fuel investments in 2016 or in the first half of 2017.

The USAA companies also refused to swear off new investments in thermal coal enterprises or corporate and municipally owned utilities.

USAA spokesman Matt Hartwig didnt immediately have a comment.

Insurance companies dont face any consequences from the California Department of Insurance for not divesting their fossil fuel investments, agency spokeswoman Nancy Kincaid said in an email Tuesday. The request was for insurers to voluntarily divest, she added.

In a statement earlier this year, the California Department of Insurance said Jones launched the Climate Risk Carbon Initiative because of the potential for investments in coal, oil, gas and utilities burning carbon to become stranded assets on the books of insurers with with little or no value as demand for carbon-based fuels drops.

I want to make sure that insurance companies are invested in assets that retain value, not decrease in value, so that insurers have sufficient assets to pay claims, Jones said. Climate change is real and it poses potentially significant financial risks to carbon investments, including those held by insurance companies.

The letter to Jones was on Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunts letterhead and signed by attorneys general from Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Utah, West Virginia and Wyoming. Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin also signed it.

Your call for divestment and attempt to publicly shame those who invest in American energy appears to be driven by politics unrelated to insurance regulation, animus to the fossil fuel industry and those that depend on it, the letter stated.

The letter threatened legal action if Jones continues with his initiative.

For those climate denying politicians of red states who threaten to sue me, I will happily defend my obligation as Californias insurance commissioner to make sure insurers are addressing climate change related risks and to protect California consumers, Jones said in a statement Tuesday.

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD

This article has been updated to add comments issued by the California Department of Insurance late Tuesday.
Steven G. de Polo / Getty Image

A 31-year-old man died after being shot over the weekend in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco during an argument that broke out on a street, officials said.

The incident occurred about 2:00 a.m. on Sunday in the 1500 block of Folsom Street, near 11th Street, police said.
River Under the Road

By Scott Spencer

Ecco. 366 pp. $27.99

---

In his 1983 book, "Class: A Guide Through the American Status System," Paul Fussell identified a new rung on the social ladder that he dubbed X. Class Xers are bohemians who are neither rich nor blue collar but not middle class, either; they eschew the trappings of social hierarchy for something more free and artsy.

Scott Spencer's rich, provocative eleventh novel, "River Under the Road," dissects the shoals of failure and privilege for such artistic types. His protagonists, Thaddeus Kaufman and Grace Cornell, fall in love in Chicago and move to New York City in search of artistic success. Spencer is interested in solving the conundrum of how you could "live a moral and creative life and still have extremely nice things." Or, as Thaddeus wonders, "Since when did wanting a bit of luxury constitute a ... crime? Wasn't that the whole purpose of the goddamned country?"

The novel is structured as a baker's dozen parties between 1976 and 1990. At almost every shindig, from graduation party to political fundraiser, too much booze leads to some deliciously-shocking event or life-altering transgression.

Thaddeus, the son of Trotskyite Jewish bookstore owners, hopes to be a novelist. Non-Jewish Grace grew up poor - supported mainly by her brother's drug-dealing - and makes painstakingly photorealistic still-lives. When Thaddeus lucks into a career as a Hollywood screenwriter, he gets them out of the "loud and dangerous, discouraged and falling apart" city and buys a lavish estate on the Hudson River. There they meet Jennings, son of the property's long-suffering caretaker and a famous local rake. Grace's art stagnates while Thaddeus' career skyrockets, calling him away on assignments. What could possibly go wrong with leaving his wife all alone in the middle of nowhere with their needy children and brooding stud Jennings?

At one point, Thaddeus is summoned to London to meet Stanley Kubrick about a potential remake of "Lady Chatterley's Lover." Sly, since of course, this novel is essentially a remake of D. H. Lawrence's story. In the backwater town of Leyden, N.Y., Thaddeus and Grace don't fit in with anyone: not the blue-collar workers who pray for a new cement factory to generate jobs, not the rich who oppose the factory's threat to their riverfront views. As a screenwriter, Thaddeus doesn't quite conform, either: He's neither auteur nor hack. As Grace becomes more and more bitter and disenchanted, Thaddeus bristles that "portraying herself as some put-upon oppressed exploited chained-to-the-sink wife was far from the truth, since she had help and hours and hours of free time and hours and hours after that of (BEGIN ITAL)more(END ITAL) free time, not to mention the countless other luxuries and, really, she ought to be ashamed of herself for whining about a life that most people would die for."

Yet he still adores her and longs for her while he's gone. Since "Endless Love" (1979), a fine novel eclipsed by not one but two bad movies, Spencer's specialty has been the ache of unrequited (or lost) love. His prose on the subject of romance is fulsome, lush, downright Lawrencian. He has a supple understanding of infidelity and marital dynamics, especially the simmering resentments of a floundering relationship. "Marriages were mysterious, each written in a secret code. A marriage was its own anthropology, similar enough to all the others to fool you into believing you understand it."

Although Thaddeus and Grace are at the center of "River Under the Road," Spencer uses an old-fashioned omniscient point-of-view that gives him access into everyone's thoughts - even characters as minor as Horse, a local corrections officer with an anger-management problem and a blind son. In truth, Spencer isn't as convincing at analyzing the locals as he is at parsing the dynamics of the more affluent and urbane, from the cutthroat shoptalk at Hollywood industry parties to egalitarian pick-up games at the Manhattan YMCA, where "a trust fund couldn't buy you a layup." His decision to describe the hairstyle, outfit and expression of virtually every party guest and cab driver, while useful to his taxonomy of social status, also unnecessarily slows the action. Readers may wonder why Spencer decides to end the novel without resolving many of the major plot points he introduces - including several burning secrets unlikely to stay buried in such a small town.

But "River Under the Road" is wry and insightful enough about the intricacies of maintaining an artists' life - and the sacrifices required to achieve it - that it will no doubt become required reading for the Hudson Valley set. They may recognize some of their neighbors, clinging to both prosperity and happiness by their fingernails.

---

Zeidner's most recent novel is "Love Bomb." She teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers University-Camden.
Film Movement

Harmonium: A Japanese drama in which a man just released from prison gets hired by an acquaintance and proceeds to interfere with the family.

Manifesto: Cate Blanchett takes on 13 roles (schoolteacher, factory worker, homeless person, widow, puppeteer, to name just a few), and reads manifestos from different time periods set in the present.
Selena Gomez has the most popular Instagram account in the world right now with the highest number of followers and one Utah 4-year-old is capitalizing on that to build her following.

Sophia* is a 4-year-old Utah girl who posts a photo of her and Selena Gomez looking alike every Tuesday. Thanks to her Instagram #TwinningTuesday posts, the young girl has grown her following to over 30,800 people.
China National Narcotic Control Committee holds a press conference in Beijing on June 19, 2017, announcing 4 more designer drugs, or new psychoactive substances, will be banned starting from July. [Photo: cnr.cn]

China has announced it'll ban 138 new psychoactive substances, or designer drugs, as of the beginning of July.

Among the drugs is U-47700, a legal alternative to fentanyl and potent derivatives, which has been listed by U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials among the most dangerous drugs.

The banned designer drugs are chemical substances obtained by changing chemical composition, and criminals make them in order to evade police control and punishment.

Deng Ming, a division director at China's Ministry of Public Security's Narcotics Control Bureau, said the substances have even stronger effects than traditional drugs.

"The efficacy of U-47700 now controlled by China is about 7.5 times stronger than morphine. Carfentanil, which began to be forbidden in our country in March, is 10,000 times as potent as morphine. The lethal dose of carfentanil for adults is about two milligrams," said Deng.

Dozens of criminals involved in the production of psychoactive substances have been arrested, with 8 illegal production sites being destroyed.

1753 kilograms of banned designer drugs, as well as nearly 10 tons of unbanned ones and raw materials, have also been seized.
Whether you stream, buy or rent, heres a look at whats new or notable in home video. Movies are available on streaming sites such as iTunes, Amazon and Vudu unless otherwise noted.

Life: Like its obvious predecessor Alien, this is a horror film in sci-fi trappings, complete with a gotcha ending. The crew of a space station orbiting Earth are proud as parents of a newborn when they revive a single-cell organism discovered on Mars. They name the little fella Calvin. Then it starts to grow and eat. Something like a speedy, translucent starfish, Calvin is no H.R. Giger monster, but he still makes a bloody mess.

Also: Wilson

Reissue

8 Million Ways to Die: The thrills are few in this crime drama, the first attempt to bring Lawrence Blocks complex ex-cop Matthew Scudder to the screen. (Liam Neeson took another crack years later in A Walk Among the Tombstones) Theres an exemplary 80s score, a really nice Malibu home and a bonkers warehouse shootout between Jeff Bridges, as Scudder, and Andy Garcia, whose ponytailed bad guy became the Hollywood template for Latino drug dealers. Focus instead on the bonus interviews, with Block and actress Rosanna Arquette, which tell the sad story of how a great director, Hal Ashby, lost control of his final film.

In theaters

Once Upon a Time in Venice: Is it John Wick as a comedy? Or Keanu with a good dog instead of a kitty? Its certainly a Bruce Willis movie, which means there will be some action and some wisecracks  unless M. Night Shyamalan directed (he didnt), in which case there will be fewer wisecracks. Here Willis is a Venice Beach, California, PI who agrees to do a favor for a drug dealer in exchange for the return of his stolen dog.
It's one of the worst kept secrets in the restaurant community: that Agricole Hospitality was opening a business in the new East Village development in the East Downtown (EaDo) neighborhood.

But the partners responsible for Revival Market, Coltivare and Eight Row Flint  all popular Heights businesses  have been mum about their expansion plans. On Tuesday, however, Agricole announced not one, not two, but three projects at 1201 St. Emanuel at Dallas.

EAST VILLAGE LAUNCHES: Chapman & Kirby lights up EaDo

The partners  chef Ryan Pera, Morgan Weber and culinary director Vincent Huynh  have taken their space at the mixed-use development from Houston-based real estate and development company Ancorian and created three distinct dining and drinking concepts. All three are expected to open before the end of the year.

Here are details about each:

Indianola: Named for the Texas town that in the mid-1800s was a port of entry for thousands of European immigrants, this 100-seat restaurant (with 30 outdoor seats) will celebrate classic American dishes born from the immigrant experience. Weber's German/Czech ancestors on his mother's side came to Texas through Indianola in the 1870s. Pera's immigrant connections are via Ellis Island, while Huynh's family came through San Francisco. Those threads of American convergence inspired the partners to think about classic melting pot staples. Pera describes the 3,000-square-foot spot as a neighborhood restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner with the same Agricole commitment to locally sourced foods. "We've learned so much about what our guests want through Revival Market and Coltivare," Pera said. "We're taking that knowledge and bringing it to EaDo." Indianola will be open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, and 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. on weekends.

Miss Carousel: Attached to Indianola via a corridor, this 5,000-square-foot bar is named for a Townes Van Zandt song that was often heard on the early playlist at Revival Market. It is intended to be both a destination bar and a bar/lounge for Indianola. With 200 indoor/outdoor seats, the bar will be furnished with living room-style couches, chairs, rugs (and even a fireplace) evoking turn-of-the-century hotels, Weber said. A list of about 25-30 cocktails will be heavy on original cocktails with about 30 percent classic cocktails. Some Indianola food will be available at Miss Carousel, which will be open 2 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

Vinny's: Named for Huynh, this fast-casual pizza joint will focus on slices and delivery. But don't expect Colitvare-style pizza. The partners expect to present a variety of pizza styles. (The team did some pizza research including traveling to New York and Chicago.) The 50-seat, counter-service pizzeria also will serve wine and beer. Look for a design that is bright, modern, and features neon. Vinny's will be open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. daily.

Weber called the three-concept launch into EaDo "the most difficult thing we've ever pulled off." But the partners, he said, are sold on the area as one of great growth and potential, particularly where dining and drinking are concerned.

"We don't want to be a trendy, fly-by-night space," he said. "We want to be a fixture in the (EaDo) neighborhood like we've become in the Heights. It's definitely an investment in the long-term future of downtown."
Imagine a dining hall in the heart of downtown anchored by five stations, each with a different food concept overseen by a chef cooking directly in front of guests.

That's the concept being forwarded by Bravery Chef Hall, a chef-driven dining hall proposed for the new Aris Market Square apartment tower under construction at 409 Travis. The owners of Prohibition Supperclub & Bar and Conservatory food hall have yet to sign a lease, but their project is solidly underway at the Hines-owned high rise overlooking historic Market Square.

Anh Mai and Lian Pham, the business partners behind Prohibition and Conservatory, have conceived of this first-in-Houston dining experience within a 9,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of Aris at the corner of Travis and Preston. Bravery Chef Hall will feature five kitchen/dining stations anchored by a chef with a unique dining concept. Each of the stations can seat between 30 and 40 diners (imagine a square format with chef and work station in the middle ringed by guests sitting at a bar with direct views into the cooking area). Guests sitting at the stations will dine with real plates and silverware. But each station will also have a walk-up area where guests can order from that particular station, take a number, and then find table seating within the hall. Their meals will be served with disposable plates and utensils. The latter option is currently what's in play at Conservatory, the city's first food hall concept in the basement of 1010 Prairie.

In addition to the five kitchen stations, there will be two separate cocktail bars. The hall also will sport a 4,000-square-foot patio and sidewalk cafe seating.

Mai said he currently is looking for chef-led businesses for each of the kitchen/dining stations, as well as operators for the two cocktail bars. The chef hall concept, he said, frees chefs to concentrate on creative cooking and interacting with guests. The chefs will only have to supervise their cooking team and serve the customers at their particular dining station. There's no waitstaff to train, no front of house to manage. As he has done with selecting food vendors for Conservatory, Mai said he is carefully curating the kinds of chef-driven concepts for Bravery.

"This is not like Conservatory, it's something brand new," he said.

Still, the food hall concept he brought to Houston when Conservatory opened last year appears to be something the Houston dining public is embracing. Last month a new food hall was announced for an early 2018 opening at The Jones on Main in the JPMorgan Chase building at 712 Main. With Conservatory, that would give downtown Houston two food halls.

The proposed Bravery, scheduled to open first quarter 2018, would be the third such concept. But Mai said he thinks of his chef hall as something more special than a traditional food hall. Because it is chef-driven the hall's success will depend on the individual chefs and their concepts. Ditto for the two bars which Mai hopes will be operated by dynamic bartender/owners.

"This is an opportunity for chefs to be truly creative," he said.

Last week the Downtown Management District approved a $140,000 grant toward the $1.8 million project, which currently is seeking investors. Mai said he hopes to sign a lease for the hall soon.

"It's the future of dining," he said. "A brave new world."

And the title of that Aldous Huxley novel is what prompted the project's name: Bravery Chef Hall.
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So what's so special about June 20? Well, it happens to Hugo Ortega Day in Houston.

And Mayor Sylvester Turner made it official when Ortega  the chef/owner of the award-winning Hugo's, Backstreet Kitchen, Caracol and Xochi  appeared at City Hall to accept the proclamation.

The honor recognized Ortega's recent win as Best Chef Southwest at the 2017 James Beard Awards, considered the country's highest culinary honor. But the proclamation also cited Ortega's inspirational story as a young man who came to Houston from Mexico and worked his way up from restaurant dishwasher to chef whose work with his wife Tracy Vaught has resulted in a collection of some of the city's most beloved and critically praised restaurants. Ortega also is the first Mexican-born chef to win a James Beard Award.

Ortega and Vaught are principals in H-Town Restaurant Group. Ortega is the author of two cookbooks, "Backstreet Kitchen: Recipes from our Neighborhood Cafe" and "Hugo Ortega's Street Food of Mexico."

"The City of Houston commends and congratulations chef Hugo Ortega on the momentous occasion and his culinary contributions to Houston and extends best wishes on his continued success," the proclamation read.

"It is my great honor to be a Houstonian and to represent Houston wherever my work takes me or whenever I am interviewed," Ortega said. "Houston is a place of opportunity, I alm living proof of that. It is where I developed my skills as a chef, worked hard to achieve things I never thought were possible, and made my home."

His Xochi restaurant celebrating the flavors of Oaxaca opened in January. The Chronicle's restaurant critic Alison Cook recently gave it four stars in a review that was published June 14.
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Ivanka Trump, you're fired.

According to plastic surgeon Dr. Franklin Rose, first lady Melania Trump has eclipsed first daughter and former fashion designer Ivanka - as a plastic surgery muse, anyway.

"I've have had many women visit my office wanting the 'Ivanka look,'" Rose said in a press release. "So it's not really surprising to see women now requesting to look more like Melania, who is simply gorgeous."

READ ALSO: Melania Trump wears $51K Dolce & Gabbana jacket in Sicily

One such request came from Cypress mom and cancer survivor Claudia Sierra.

"I want to feel like the first lady that I know I am inside," Sierra explained in the same media statement.

On June 20, she underwent eight surgeries in an effort to look more like the Slovenian-born first lady and former model. Sierra's "Melania Makeover" aired on Inside Edition on Monday.

READ ALSO: 13 facts about Melania Trump

Her procedures included a revision breast reconstruction, revision rhinoplasty, tummy tuck, liposuction, Brazilian butt lift, eyelid lift, Botox, fillers, and unspecified injectable treatments.

Check out before photos of the Texas beauty in the slideshow above.
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Morgan's Inspiration Island, San Antonio's newest water park, welcomed excited guests to the opening of over the weekend.

The park, which opened Saturday, is an addition to Morgan's Wonderland facility that is designed for special needs individuals but built for all abilities.

Families and guests took to social media to rave about the attraction describing it as, "lovely," "a city treasure" and "a pretty special place -- for everyone."

RELATED: Sports star makes surprise S.A. appearance ahead of 'unforgettable prom night' at Morgan's Wonderland

See more social media reactions and photos from Morgan's Inspiration Island in the slideshow above.

The new water park is tropical island theme and features a River Boat Adventure ride and five water play areas, all of which are wheelchair accessible.

"Morgan's Inspiration Island promises to give individuals with physical or cognitive special needs a place where they can splash and play without barriers," said Gordon Hartman, founder of Morgan's Wonderland, in a news release.

READ ALSO: Here's when Central and South Texas water parks open for the summer

For ticket pricing and hours of operation, visit Morgan's Wonderland website.

jthorpe@express-news.net

@jerilynnthorpe
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A man has been arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a teenage girl, according to Laredo police.

Nicolas Pena, 32, was served with warrants Friday charging him with sexual assault of a child and prohibited sexual conduct in the 2300 block of East Locust Street. He is behind bars at the Webb County Jail.

On March 7, a woman stated that her 16-year-old daughter had run away and had been gone for four days. She believed that her daughter was having sex with Pena.

Police later arrested the girl at United High School on a runaway charge. Her mother stated she found a love letter in her backpack and noticed the handwriting was similar to Penas. She stated that Pena would write to her during his time serving in the U.S. Army from February 2010 to July 2013, according to the arrest affidavit.

READ MORE: Roaches, fingernails highlight Laredo restaurant inspections for May 2017

The letter was sexually explicit but was not signed by the sender, states the affidavit.

Her mother later found out that her daughter was staying with Pena when she ran away from home. The girl denied any sexual relationship with Pena. Police confronted him with the love letter found in the girls backpack. He denied writing the letter and denied any sexual relationship with the girl, according to police.

On March 10, investigators found out about two previous police reports concerning a possible sexual relationship.

The first report was filed in October 2013. That month, police responded to Washington Middle School for a sexual assault report. A young boy stated the girl had told him she was having sex with Pena.

RELATED: Winners crowned at this year's Miss Laredo beauty pageant

The second case was reported in January 2014. Some students were talking in the classroom about Pena impregnating the girl. She denied the allegations. School officials took statements from students who said Pena impregnated the girl, according to court documents.

Records state the girl is the mother to a 1-year-old female infant. A paternity test determined Pena is the father of the infant, according to the affidavit.
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Texas Rep. Richard Raymond, D-Laredo, delivered letters to Laredo and Webb County officials on Monday asking them to join the lawsuit against Senate Bill 4, often called the sanctuary cities bill.

Other Texas cities such as San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and El Paso County have already taken the lead in joining this lawsuit, Raymond told LMT, and he would like to see Laredo and Webb County come out in opposition too.

I cant make them, but I hope theyll see that the right course of action is to come in and help fight this discriminatory law, Raymond said.

Senate Bill 4, which has already been signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, permits local peace officers to ask the people they detain or arrest about their immigration status, and furthermore punishes local officeholders who would stop police from asking these questions. The law will go into effect this September.

READ MORE: Roaches, fingernails highlight Laredo restaurant inspections for May 2017

El Cenizo Mayor Raul Reyes made headlines in May for joining the sheriff of Maverick County and LULAC in signing the first lawsuit against this bill.

As elected officials I think its our responsibility to safeguard the well-being of our communities and the families that reside within them, no matter who they are, where they come from or what language they speak, Reyes said at the time.

Raymond said this law would be terrible if its implemented, leading to a lot of heartache and heartbreak. Its important for Laredos leaders to take action on something that will directly affect the community and the whole state, he said.

I worry about all those people in Texas who would likely be targeted. If my elderly mother is driving and doesnt use her blinker and is pulled over, and is asked to prove she is a citizen, but doesnt have her passport, they can take her to jail. The fact is, most of us could not prove on the spot that we are U.S. Citizens, Raymond is quoted as saying in a news release.

Mayor Pete Saenz said it would be up to City Council to vote on joining the lawsuit, but he personally doesnt think its a good idea.

He told LMT he is worried about how joining this lawsuit would affect the citys chances of receiving several pending multimillion-dollar grants, such as the $96 million FAST grant.

RELATED: $21.8 million administration building approved by Laredo ISD board of trustees

Saenz also believes that the law is balanced, and although there may be room for abuse, that's always the case with legislation. He noted protections for victims reporting a crime, as well as people under the jurisdiction of peace officers working for schools, hospitals or churches.

Laredo police already ask about peoples immigration status reasonably and with discretion, Saenz said.

When I speak to our police chiefs, weve been applying SB 4 even before it got codified. ... Our practice is we ask for ID, he said.

Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina nor any county commissioners could be reached for comment.

Julia Wallace may be reached at 956-728-2543 or jwallace@lmtonline.com
Organizers are one step closer to changing what they call outdated liquor laws in East Montgomery County.

John Hatch, founding partner at Texas Petition Strategies, and EMC business and community leaders gathered at the Montgomery County Elections Office Tuesday to turn in a mound of signatures they think puts them above the 4,461-signature threshold to force a referendum in November on the issue. Hatch said they estimate having about 4,700 valid signatures.

Currently, the sale of beer and wine for off- and on-premise consumption is allowed in the Justice of the Peace Precinct 4, as well as the sale of mixed beverages inside certain restaurants. But the sale of distilled spirits for off-premise consumption, which is the distinction needed for liquor stores to legally sell hard liquor, is prohibited, held over from a Prohibition-era law.

Rick Hatcher, president of the Greater East Montgomery County Chamber, said having the liquor laws changed could help spark more economic development in the precinct.

"It's hard for us to be able to recruit major hotels and things of that nature without the ability for them to have full-service bars," Hatcher said. "Those types of businesses will not come without that. Getting it on the ballot is very important for us to get that going."

An initiative by the Signorelli Company, which developed the Valley Ranch Town Center, fell short of gathering enough signatures earlier this year. The Valley Ranch Town Center is a 240-acre retail development near New Caney started by The Woodlands-based development company.

The petition was sparked in part by a commitment from Spec's Wine, Spirits & Finer Foods to open a location at the Valley Ranch Town Center, according to an earlier report in the Courier, although company officials denied any such agreement Tuesday.

Officials with Election Centeral have 30 days to tally up the signatures. If the petition had enough signatures, the issue will go to a vote in November.
A man was arrested Monday whom Montgomery County Sheriff's deputies believe attempted to kidnap a grieving woman at a cemetery near Magnolia on Friday.

Charles Glaze, 53, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and is currently incarcerated in the Montgomery County Jail.

MCSO deputies were conducting follow up interviews regarding the attack Friday at the Klein Memorial Park Cemetery in the 32500 block of Texas 249. A woman told investigators that she had been attacked as she was visiting a loved on late Friday. The man, only known to the general public as "Bart," used a stun gun on her and pointed a gun at her head before she was bound and gagged with zip ties and a men's necktie.

She was eventually able to escape after the suspect became too tired from her fighting, detectives said. She ran to nearby Magnolia Volunteer Fire Department Station 184 on Decker Prairie Road and got help.

On Monday, deputies, during interviews with Klein Memorial Cemetery employees, noted a vehicle similar to the one involved in an incident on Mother's Day. A second would-be victim had felt uneasy during a conversation with the man as she too was visiting a late loved one at Klein Memorial Park on FM 2090 in downtown Tomball.

In both incidents, the suspect showed the same MO: he would start up a conversation and proceed to get more aggressive. The Mother's Day victim was able to shy away from the conversation before it became too dire, instead snatching a photo of the suspect's red Ford F-150 as he drove away. The photo, according to MCSO, had the license plate of the F-150, and was given to Klein Memorial Cemetery who gave it out to their staff.

MCSO Lt. Scott Spencer said that the man was not an employee of Klein Funeral Homes and Memorial Parks. Rather, Friday's victim had previously seen the suspect at the cemetery visiting a loved one.

Deputies were able to identify the owner of the F-150 and determined that he matched the description given by both victims. A photo lineup was conducted and both victims positively identified Glaze.

A warrant was issued Monday and Glaze was arrested at approximately 6 p.m. in the 9200 block of Sweetbrush Drive in Houston by MCSO.

MCSO has asked that if anyone has any information concerning this crime or similar crimes, call 936-760-5800.
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Want to go?

What: "Second Samuel"

Where: Pasadena Little Theatre, 4318 Allen-Genoa Road, Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through July 2

More Information Impact of a secret revealed What: "Second Samuel" Where: Pasadena Little Theatre, 4318 Allen-Genoa Road, Pasadena When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through July 2 Cost: $15 adults (in advance), $128 at the door; $12 students and seniors; two-for-$20 admission on Thursday, June 29 Information: 713-941-1758, www.pasadenalittletheatre.org. See More Collapse

Cost: $15 adults (in advance), $128 at the door; $12 students and seniors; two-for-$20 admission on Thursday, June 29

Information: 713-941-1758, www.pasadenalittletheatre.org.

The characters in "Second Samuel" are settled into well-worn patterns of life when suddenly, at the end of Act I, their 1940s Georgia small town is hit with a bombshell.

How each one reacts to the revelation of a long-held "secret" demonstrates the old adage that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, said Vanessa Pearson, who directed this premiere production of Pasadena Little Theatre's 63rd season as Houston's oldest community playhouse in continuous operation.

"Nobody could have imagined how the death of one sweet little old lady would turn the entire town upside down, leaving everybody in 'Second Samuel' wondering if anything would ever be normal again," added Revis Bell, who plays Doc.

"The play has a message, and you leave the theater feeling uplifted," said Pearson. "You say to yourself, "I will treat people better.' "

The secret that is revealed after the death of the local piano teacher, Miss Gertrude, sends residents of the sleepy community of Second Samuel to their respective hangouts: the men to a bar/bait shop, the women to their beauty salon. In those places, people show their true colors.

"It's such a beautiful show," Pearson said. "This is the proudest I've ever been of a show."

Pearson submitted the script by Pamela Parker for consideration at PLT, along with two other plays, as each prospective director was required to suggest three show possibilities to the theater's play-reading committee.

"It got the top rating out of all of the scripts that were submitted," said Pearson, who saw the show performed last year at College of the Mainland Community Theatre in Texas City.

"Two of my cast members were in that show," Pearson said. They include Dave Osbie Shepard of Houston as US and Max Estudillo of Texas City as Bflat.

"Bflat is a little slow. He gets super-upset about the secret. He's in tears," Pearson said.

Other cast members are: Lanier Young of Deer Park; Pasadena residents Avry DeeAnn and Corinne Persons; Greg Brown and David James Barron of Houston; Thomas Troy Nordyke of League City; and Pearland thespians Leslie Barrera and Teresa Mclmore.

Running lights and sound is Renea Runnels Richardson of Pasadena.

PLT's season will continue with "main stage" productions of "On the Verge," "the musical "The Addams Family," "A Little Christmas Spirit," "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," "Bell, Book and Candle" and "Agnes of God."

Don Maines is a freelance writer who ca be reached at donmaines@att.net
Nearly one-third of the global population suffers deadly levels of heat for at least 20 days during the year, new research suggests. And by the end of the century, thanks to climate change, this number could climb above 70 percent.

Certain parts of the world, the researchers note, will be harder hit than others. Tropical regions, where temperatures are already high for much of the year, will see many more days of deadly heat than other parts of the world. Under a business-as-usual climate scenario, they may face these conditions almost year-round by 2100.

The new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Climate Change, underscores the growing threat that rising temperatures pose to public health. The research focuses specifically on heat and humidity conditions known to increase the risk of human mortality - generally speaking, that's when temperatures climb above 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (the average human body temperature), but can also include cooler conditions with higher levels of humidity.

"We found this very unique threshold of temperature and humidity that allows us to identify why all these people die in all these cities around the world," said lead study author Camilo Mora, a geography expert at the University of Hawaii, Manoa. "It makes a lot of sense from the human physiology side of things. The way in which the body cools down is by sweating - the evaporation of that sweat cools you down. But when it's humid, that sweat doesn't evaporate, so the heat that the body generates, instead of going away, it stays in your body."

A number of deadly heat waves have made international headlines in the past few decades, the researchers point out. The Chicago heat wave of 1995, for instance, is believed to have caused more than 700 deaths in less than a week after temperatures soared above 100 degrees. A 2010 heat wave in Russia during July and August may have killed more than 10,000 people.

The researchers examined more than 900 published papers documenting cases of extreme heat and excess mortality between 1980 and 2014. Altogether, the papers identified 783 individual events in 164 cities around the world. The researchers used these studies to identify the heat and humidity thresholds that lead to increased mortality rates.

A majority of the reported cases occurred in mid-latitude cities, largely in Europe and North America. According to Elisaveta Petkova, a researcher at Columbia University's Earth Institute who was not involved with the study, most research on climate-related mortalities has tended to focus on Western nations, and the new study highlights a relative shortage of data from other parts of the globe. However, the researchers were able to find at least some information on the climate conditions that led to heat-related deaths for locations throughout much of the world.

By looking at historical climate data, the researchers determined that about 13 percent of all the world's land area - home to about 30 percent of the total human population - had faced these deadly conditions for 20 or more days during the year 2000. And this number is only expected to grow.

Using model simulations, the researchers investigated what might happen under several potential future climate scenarios. They found that even with substantial efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nearly 50 percent of the world's population will experience 20 or more days of deadly heat by the year 2100. Under a business-as-usual scenario, that percentage climbs to nearly 74 percent.

"We've run out of good choices for the future," Mora said. "Right now, when it comes to heat waves, our choices are between bad and terrible."

It's difficult to say how many more deaths will occur as a result of the extreme heat; that depends on how human societies deal with the problem. Communities could try to lessen the risks by increasing the use of air conditioning or putting better heat warning systems in place, the researchers note. According to Petkova, successful heat adaptation strategies rely strongly on the public's awareness of the danger and its access to shelter, cooling devices or other tools they can use to protect themselves.

In fact, Mora said, the literature suggests that the number deaths caused by heat waves may already be decreasing, perhaps because of better adaptation efforts. But adapting to extreme heat doesn't prevent the heat waves from occurring in the first place, meaning that more vulnerable members of society - the elderly, the frail or those who don't have access to air conditioning - still face the risk of heat-related death. And changes in the population structure will likely play an important role in future heat-related mortality, Petkova said, as rapidly aging populations in some countries may be particularly susceptible to heat waves.

So while an increase in deadly heat waves may be inevitable, the research underscores the importance of working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and minimize the future impact of climate change as much as possible, Mora said. And he added that even less vulnerable communities - those with higher incomes and greater access to air conditioning, for instance - shouldn't get too comfortable. Even in those places, severe heat waves can pose serious risks for the world and its inhabitants.

For one thing, an increase in the use of air conditioning could place a heavy strain on the electrical grid, Mora said. And extreme heat may force people to spend more and more of their time indoors.

"We will become prisoners in our homes," Mora said.
A controversial group that has held rallies against the spread of Islamic law is seeking to harness the allure of President Donald Trump's brand as it raises money for its upcoming Washington conference.

For $10,000, sponsors of the ACT for America gathering can enjoy "pre-conference cocktails" and a "private tour of the historic Trump International Hotel" alongside the group's founder, Brigitte Gabriel, among other benefits, according to promotional materials published on the group's website.

The walk through the hotel, located in the stately Old Post Office Pavilion a few blocks from the White House, is scheduled to take place before participants head to Capitol Hill to hold lawmakers' "feet to the fire" on national security issues, according to plans posted on the group's website. The organization, which critics have decried as anti-Muslim, has repeatedly claimed that Judeo-Christian culture is under "assault" in America and radical Islam is to blame.

The promotion represents a new twist in the story line of Trump's luxury hotel, which has sparked several lawsuits and criticism from ethics experts alleging that the president is improperly profiting from foreign governments and other interest groups holding events at the property. Although groups typically pay to book meeting space and food service at the Trump hotel as they would at any event venue, ACT is touting the chance to enjoy access to a signature business owned by the president of the United States.

The October event offers ACT, which has drawn headlines this month for its "March Against Sharia" rallies across the country, a chance to associate itself with a president who campaigned on banning many Muslims from entering the United States and has recently seen his efforts to restrict travel from certain majority-Muslim countries tied up in legal challenges.

Officials from the Trump Organization and ACT declined to answer questions about the event, including whether ACT was paying the hotel for the tour and, if so, how much.

Christine Da Silva, a Trump Organization spokeswoman, pointed to "guest privacy" in declining to discuss the event but said that generally, "private tours about the history of the building are organized periodically."

An ACT spokesman, David White, did not make Gabriel available for an interview, but in a statement to The Washington Post he defended the group's work.

"ACT for America embraces the practice of all religions, including Islam," White said. "We stand opposed to Sharia law, which is not a religion, but a barbaric code that executes LGBTQ people for their orientation, mutilates children, and subjugates individual rights."

The group has invoked Trump in its efforts to lure donors. Gabriel, who has shared photos of herself at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, Trump's Palm Beach club, wrote to donors after the election saying that ACT "has a direct line to Donald Trump, and has played a fundamental role in shaping his views."

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Gabriel, whose legal name is Brigitte Tudor, describes herself on ACT's website as "one of the leading terrorism experts in the world." ACT says it has more than 750,000 members. Its most recent tax filings list about 17,000 volunteers.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit organization that tracks hate organizations, has labeled ACT an extremist group characterized by "wild hate speech demonizing Muslims" and a mission to advance anti-Muslim legislation around the country. Heidi Beirich, who runs SPLC's Intelligence Project, said that Gabriel's national prominence has recently surged.

"Her visibility is higher than it's ever been," Beirich said.

Last summer ACT announced that retired Lt. Gen Michael Flynn, who was advising then-candidate Trump on national security issues, had joined its board of advisers. In August, Flynn appeared at an ACT event in Dallas and referred to Islam as a "cancer," according to a Dallas Morning News account of his speech. A person close to Flynn told The Washington Post that he is not involved with ACT and has no plans to attend the group's conferences.

Flynn was fired this year as Trump's national security adviser after reports that he misled Vice President Mike Pence on his meetings with Russian officials.

In March, Gabriel shared photos of her visit to the White House, where she was reported to have met with a staffer handling legislative affairs. On April 6, Gabriel posted a photo of a red carpet and said she was heading to dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Trump also dined at his luxury Palm Beach club that evening, around the time that U.S. forces launched a military strike in Syria.

Most of the events for ACT's 2017 "United Against Terror" conference are scheduled to be held on Capitol Hill and at a hotel in Arlington. Katrina Pierson, who was a national spokeswoman for Trump's campaign, is listed as one of the speakers.

Pierson, when reached by a Post reporter, declined to comment about the Trump hotel promotion or say if she endorses ACT's beliefs.

"As someone who was targeted in the first ISIS inspired attack in the United States, I don't feel it's necessary to comment as to why I would share my story with others when asked in a personal capacity," she told The Post, referring to her presence at a Muhammed cartoon exhibit in Texas that was attacked by gunmen in 2015.

"Political correctness and cowardness has no place in America," the group says on promotional materials for the gathering. "We will not be silenced. We will not fail. We will ensure that America remains the brightest star shining on a hill over the world."

The private tour of the Trump hotel is listed on ACT's website as part of the "Chairman's Circle" sponsorship package, which is the top tier available to donors. It also includes four conference registrations, a private lunch with Gabriel, and preferred seating for events.

The Trump International Hotel, which opened last fall, has emerged as one of Washington's new attractions since Trump won the election.

Although he owns the hotel, he leases the historic building from the federal government. A clock tower remains open to the public through the National Park Service and is available through a separate entrance - giving visitors panoramic views of the city.

A wide array of special interest groups has chosen the hotel for events in the months since Trump has taken office. Prominent bookings have included a conference on U.S. and Turkish relations, a PAC fundraiser for funeral directors featuring former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich and an event highlighting forklift safety issues.

Last week, the attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit claiming "unprecedented constitutional violations" by Trump, largely centered on allegations that he has refused to create a meaningful divide between his business and his presidency.

Activists and protesters have routinely made their presence known on the property. In May, a protester projected words in bright blue lights that read "Pay Trump Bribes Here" and pointed an arrow to the front door of the hotel. Last month, a Pennsylvania man was arrested for bring an AR-15 rifle, handgun and ammunition onto hotel grounds.

It is unclear what parts of the Trump International Hotel would be included on ACT's advertised private tour. Throughout the hotel, there are signs that restrict guest access to certain hallways.

Secret Service spokesman Joseph Casey told The Post that the Trump Organization is generally responsible for securing the property. Casey said the Secret Service has a security presence there only if one of the agency's protected people, such as Trump, Pence or their family members, visit the hotel.
China and Vietnam will foster defense cooperation, strengthen strategic communication, settle differences appropriately, and maintain peace and security in the South China Sea, a senior Chinese military official said on Monday.

The two countries are neighbors with a common goal and a shared destiny, and the relationship is developing with positive momentum, said General Fan Changlong, vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, who led a delegation to Hanoi on Sunday and Monday.

China attaches great importance to developing Sino-Vietnamese military relations and will strengthen cooperation with the Vietnamese military to push for greater development, Fan added.

As for issues regarding the South China Sea, Fan emphasized that islands in the region have been China's territory since ancient times. The situation in the region has now improved, a development that did not come easily.

China and Vietnam should strengthen strategic communication, settle differences appropriately, and maintain the two countries' overall relationship as well as peace and security in the region, Fan said.

Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, said he wishes to deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields.

Nguyen Xuan Phuc, prime minister of Vietnam, said Vietnam will work together with China to effectively implement the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, as well as reach an agreement on the code of conduct for the region as soon as possible.

Fan's visit came two weeks after Japan and Vietnam agreed to bolster their security ties through Japanese-funded projects, including 38 billion yen ($342 million) in aid to improve Vietnam's capability in coast guard vessels and patrols.

The two countries also held a joint coast guard exercise against illegal fishing on Friday in the waters off Danang in central Vietnam.

Major General Ma Gang, a professor at the People's Liberation Army National Defense University, said it is a welcome development to see Sino-Vietnamese relations improve in the past two years, but Vietnam's ambition of balancing big powers has not changed.

"China appreciates good relations with Vietnam, but also views Vietnam's recent intimacy with the US and Japan with calm and mild caution," he said. "Positive Sino-Vietnamese relations should build on mutual respect for each other's national interests."
France wants to bolster efforts to fight terrorism in West Africa through a United Nations-backed force. The U.S. doesn't want to get stuck with the bill.

France circulated a draft U.N. resolution on June 6 authorizing the deployment of a five-country African military force that would "use all necessary means" to combat terrorist organizations in the Sahel, a semiarid region stretching along the southern end of the Sahara from the Atlantic Ocean and the Red Sea that has become a haven for groups linked to al-Qaida and Islamic State.

Usually France, the U.S. and the U.K. team up to persuade Russia and China -- the other members of the veto-wielding Security Council -- to support their initiatives, but this time it's two historic allies struggling to agree. The French goal conflicts with a key Trump administration objective: scaling back U.N. deployments as part of a broader effort to rein in spending. The U.S. pays about 28 percent of the U.N.'s $7.9 billion peacekeeping budget.

"The dispute appears to be mostly about money," said Richard Atwood, the New York director of the International Crisis Group. "The U.S. is worried that a Security Council resolution might open the door to funding at a time when cutting back their U.N. funding is a priority."

President Emmanuel Macron's government wants to cement gains made by the deployment of French forces to Mali in 2013 to drive out fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups, which had seized key cities in the country's north, while eventually being able to draw down the approximately 4,000 French troops that remain.

French-U.S. tensions are nothing new in diplomacy, but Macron and President Donald Trump have found little common ground on issues such as climate change and the role of the European Union. They even appeared to engage in brinkmanship, of sorts, over a tight handshake in May.

But a public rebuff by the U.S. of the French call for the peacekeeping force would be a new low.

"A U.S. veto would be a major blow to France," said Martin Quencez, a senior program officer in the Paris office of the German Marshall Fund of the U.S. "A U.S. refusal based purely on stinginess would be very serious and means this won't be the last standoff."

The U.S. doesn't think a formal U.N. authorization is needed to create the force and believes the French proposal is too broad, according to a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations are continuing. Washington's contribution to U.N. peacekeeping is more than the combined payments by China, Japan and Germany, the next three largest contributors.

Under Ambassador Nikki Haley, the U.S. is scrutinizing each of the 16 existing U.N. peacekeeping missions as they come up for renewal by the Security Council. The world body already agreed to trim personnel and spending on the costliest mission, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, under U.S. pressure.

French officials remain optimistic.

"I believe we are in the final stage of negotiations" in the Security Council, Francois Delattre, the country's U.N. ambassador, told reporters Tuesday. "Recent events in Mali makes it urgent that we act."

France sent a military force to Mali in 2013 to drive out fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups, some of which were linked to al-Qaida, which had seized key cities in the country's north. A multinational peacekeeping force backed by the U.N. was later dispatched to protect the civilians as the French troops battled jihadist groups.

Despite France's military intervention in Mali, the country still suffers attacks, and Islamist groups are spreading in other countries of the Sahel. Four guests and one member of Mali's security forces died in a militant attack on a resort popular with foreigners on the outskirts of the capital, Bamako, on Sunday, underscoring rising insecurity in the West African nation. According to a U.N. report, Islamist groups from Mali have also attacked Niger and Burkina Faso.

In response to U.S. criticism, France has revised its draft resolution, which would authorize a force made up of troops from Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

Neither France nor the U.S. is providing financial estimates for the cost of the new force, for which the European Union said it will contribute $56 million. The Mali peacekeeping mission, with about 15,200 personnel currently deployed, has a budget of $933 million for the year ending June 2017.

Such costs are what has the U.S. wavering, even though the Trump administration describes fighting terrorism as one of its top priorities.

"France expected an easier ride, expecting the U.S. to support its resolution because of the counterterrorism element," said Atwood of the International Crisis Group. "There are questions about the mandate of the mission, particularly regarding which armed groups it will confront. It is almost certain a regional force will deploy, but it is important to clarify exactly what it is doing and how it will relate to the U.N. peacekeeping mission. "
Jay Gibson filled the roles of president and CEO of XCOR Aerospace in March 2015, but a call from the Pentagon might take the local business leader away from the Tall City.

The White House on Friday announced Gibsons nomination to be the next deputy chief management officer for the Department of Defense. On Monday, the White House sent his nomination to the Senate for confirmation.

Gibson would serve under Secretary of Defense James Mattis and the deputy secretary of defense, a position that the White House nominated Patrick Shanahan to fill. He is senior vice president of supply chain and operations at Boeing.

While the call from the Pentagon this spring might have been out of the blue for Gibson, the DoDs process for picking nominees isnt taken lightly.

Its not as if they were searching the internet and randomly called me, he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.

Gibson previously had worked for three years in public service for the DoD under President George W. Bush. He served as the assistant secretary of the Air Force for financial management/comptroller and CFO, as well as deputy undersecretary of defense for management reform, according to the White Houses initial press release.

It turns out that the people with whom he made connections back then remembered him and considered him the right fit for the job, particularly because candidates with defense experience are hard to come by.

Gibson said he never intended to get back into public service. I did my time. The opportunity to serve was about as special as it gets, but you know what it is  its temporary. You serve in those positions at the pleasure of the president. When I was finished, I was done and it was behind me.

However, you never know when the stars are going to align and someone is going to call you, he said.

While he has never served in uniform, Gibson said he was moved by his fathers military service. My father got his original flight training at Kelly Randolph in 1933. He was an aviator and did 38 missions over Europe during World War II.

Gibson was a volunteer at Dyess Air Force in 2003 when a friend suggested he pursue serving the federal government, though his way in was unconventional.

I literally started knocking on doors and saying I would like to serve, he said. Over time, I got myself in. The first job that was open, they liked me and I was able to get in. But Im not so sure thats the normal path.

Gibson said his past experience serving the federal government is valuable in preparing for the possibility of being confirmed again. You somewhat live a schizophrenic life. You cant assume confirmation; yet again, youre going through the process to be confirmed. In the off times, you try to live the other side of your life as if its going to be the path forward.

The new position will have him focused on business management for the DoD, and Gibson said his experience with XCOR, which, among other endeavors, is developing a first-of-its-kind spaceplane, will help him immensely if hes nominated.

I think my time at XCOR, in addition to the agile and nimble aspects of being a small company, the involvement in this new space industry is going to be incredibly valuable because the space environment and how it relates to defense is very significant and is only going to get more significant with time, he said. Having exposure and understanding in that will only make me more valuable in the role Im playing.

Plus, the DoD has an eye on space. Its only getting more important, he said.

Gibson said leaving Midland for Washington, D.C., will be difficult. The people of Midland have been great. The Midland Development Corp. is just a tremendous supporter of the spaceport and XCOR. One of the downsides is having to uproot and move, but thats all part of the process.

Ill miss the overall personality of the city and its warmth, he said. You feel at home. You feel like youre leaving home. Thats hard.

The MDC brought XCOR to Midland through a $12 million incentive plan in 2012, several years before Gibson joined the company. The development corporation told the Reporter-Telegram in a statement that it has enjoyed a valued and trusted relationship with Gibson.

While we regret losing such a valuable citizen and contributor to our community, we are excited to see Mr. Gibson serve the United States of America in his newly appointed position as Deputy Chief Management Officer of the Department of Defense. We appreciate Mr. Gibsons willingness to serve our country, the statement said. Additionally, we look forward to working with XCORs board of directors and its employees to further develop and expand our mutual interest in Midland, Texas.

MDC Chairman Brent Hilliard, in a personal statement, said, Gibson is a man of high integrity and has intuitive leadership capabilities that will suit his new role at the Pentagon. Jay is the perfect person to lead this position at the Pentagon.

Gibson said he thinks there is a lot of opportunity in Midland to develop the space industry and credits the MDC for its strong focus on developing the industry here. While there arent any overnight successes in the space industry, if they keep it up, this is a great opportunity, and Midland should have a place in the market.

Like Trevor on Facebook and follow him on Twitter at @HowdyHawes.
MOSCOW -- A European court on Tuesday declared a Russian law banning expressions of "gay propaganda" to be discriminatory, ordering Moscow to pay out compensation to three gay rights activists and setting the stage for further conflicts with Europe over Russia's treatment of gays and lesbians.

In a statement, the European Court of Human Rights said that Russia's adoption of the 2013 law "had reinforced stigma and prejudice and encouraged homophobia, which was incompatible with the values of a democratic society."

The law, according to the court, violated articles of the European Convention on Human Rights, of which Russia is a signatory, providing for freedom of expression and a prohibition on discrimination.

The ruling comes just weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel separately pushed Russian President Vladimir Putin on numerous reports about the abductions of as many as 100 Chechens suspected of being gay. Three were reportedly murdered, and dozens more allegedly tortured in several secret prisons in Chechnya. Many have fled the Russian region to other parts of the country or for asylum abroad.

Russian officials in May said they would review the reports. In Chechnya, Moscow has empowered strongman Ramzan Kadyrov to carry out a conservative agenda by diktat. Kadyrov has disputed the claims, saying that there are no gay people in Chechnya.

The Russian Justice Ministry on Tuesday retorted that the "anti-gay propaganda" laws "have the sole purpose of protecting morals and health of children."

The controversy over the persecution of gay people, and an increasingly conservative society under Putin that has emphasized the role of the Orthodox Church, has been an issue in Russia for years. Putin's macho image has been part of his public persona since he first became president in 2000. In a recent series of softball interviews with movie director Oliver Stone, Putin was asked whether he would take a shower on a submarine next to a gay man.

"Well, I prefer not to go to the shower with him," he said in the interview, laughing. "Why provoke him? But you know, I'm a judo master."

The three activists who brought the case to the court in Strasbourg, France, had staged protests against versions of the "anti-gay propaganda law" between 2009 and 2012, only to be arrested and then fined for those demonstrations.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993.
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Joel Jones doesnt believe there are coincidences in life.

So when the 61-year-old East Bay pastor and his wife followed an erratic freeway driver who went on to viciously attack a California Highway Patrol officer near American Canyon over the weekend, he knew he was there for a reason.

Jumping in and subduing the suspect on the shoulder of Interstate 80, Jones said, was Gods plan for him. Fortunately for him  and less so for the attacker  he was uniquely prepared for the task as a former college linebacker and retired cop.

She could have been toast, Jones said of the CHP officer. And she could have shot him, but the Lord mixed it up and said, No one is dying today.

His heroics Saturday morning not only saved the officer, but also may have spared others from a motorist engaged in an alleged crime spree. The driver, 49-year-old Gary Coslovich of San Jose, was suspected of plowing a truck into a Santa Clara County building last month because he was angry with the countys sanctuary policies for immigrants.

If the passerby hadnt stopped, the situation could have been a lot worse for the officer, said Officer Dawn Dwyer, a spokeswoman for the CHPs Solano office. They were amazing. Its nice to know that people are still willing to do that.

The injured officer, who was not named, has since been released from the hospital after being treated for moderate injuries, including cuts and bruises, officials said.

Coslovich, who was fired last month from his job as a painter for Santa Clara County, was booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of several felonies including attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and battery on a police officer.

The incident began around 8:30 a.m. on Saturday. Jones and his wife of 43 years were driving west on Interstate 80 when they noticed a white Ford F-250 barreling down the freeway at over 80 mph and tailgating other drivers.

One lady tried to get out of the way, but he rammed the rear of her car, Jones said Monday. She bounced off the rail and careened into traffic. Miraculously no one was hurt, but to my surprise, the truck just kept going.

Jones, a retired San Francisco sheriffs deputy, decided to follow the pickup driver while his wife called 911.

I thought, This is crazy. Hes got to be stopped or hes going to kill someone, Jones said.

As their vehicles neared American Canyon Road northeast of Vallejo, Jones watched the truck hit another driver. Soon, the pickup began to smoke and lose speed, the apparent toll of the collisions.

Jones drove up next to the vehicle to get a better look at the man behind the wheel.

I could see the silhouette of the driver calmly smoking a cigarette like he was on a Sunday stroll, he said. I thought, This guy must be out of his mind.

Moments later, a responding CHP officer pulled the driver over. And Jones pulled over, too, lagging about 15 yards behind the officer to see how the situation played out.

I said to my wife, We should just wait because theres going to be a conflict here, he said. This officer needed to have some kind of backup.

Sure enough, he said, the driver got out and rushed the officer.

He punched her in the face three times and then started stomping her, Jones said. At that point she was on her back. You could hear her screaming and her muffled cries.

Jones said the suspect, who was ranting incoherently, then appeared to reach down toward the officers waist, where her gun remained holstered.

Jones, a onetime linebacker at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, didnt hesitate. Lord be with me, he said to himself before launching his body at the attacker and knocking him to the ground.

While holding the mans face against the pavement, Jones said he wrenched one of his arms behind his back in a submission hold while other passersby ran over to help.

Jones wife, AnnaLisa, got out of the car to check on the officer.

My focus was on her, letting her know its going to be all right, she said. I started praying for her.

By then, several CHP units had responded to the scene and secured the suspect, later identified as Coslovich.

Public records show Santa Clara County officials filed for a restraining order last month against Coslovich stemming from the May 1 crash on county property.

Officials said he intentionally plowed his truck into the building on Berger Drive, doing $20,000 in damage, because he disagreed with the countys fight against President Trumps effort to punish sanctuary cities, said Lead Deputy County Counsel Michael Rossi.

After the wreck, Coslovich, a hunter, headed to Roseville (Placer County) to stay with his girlfriend while officials in the South Bay issued an arrest warrant. Soon, Rossi said, Roseville police picked him up for alleged drunken driving and brought him back to Santa Clara County, where he threatened to kill the Santa Clara Board of Supervisors.

Deputies placed him on a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold and confiscated his weapons and ammunition.

Jones  who had no idea who he was tangling with  grew up as one of 13 kids in a tough neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. He met AnnaLisa at age 14, and the couple has been together ever since. In the last two decades, they had a major epiphany and devoted their lives to their faith.

They describe themselves as soldiers of God and head a small non-denominational church in Crockett called Spirit of Truth Church Worldwide, where they co-host weekly radio sermons.

We were just doing our job, AnnaLisa said. God put the right person in the right place to do the right job.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter; @EvanSernoffsky
Before Ibrahim Malam Dicko became Burkina Faso's first-ever Islamist militant leader, his sermons were so popular that listeners thronged to the radio station that broadcast them to obtain the recordings.

Today, the mosque in northern Djibo province where the slight, unimposing man used to preach is closed, and the mud-brick walls of his village's school are riddled with bullet holes. Hundreds of people have fled the area as soldiers in military trucks hunt the West African nation's most wanted man, who's known simply as Malam, or teacher.

Dicko's transformation from popular preacher to an advocate of Islamist violence has dented Burkina Faso's reputation for religious tolerance and mirrors a wider trend in West Africa. While attacks were rare a decade ago, militant strikes in Ivory Coast, Mali, Chad and Niger have killed hundreds of people in the past few years. In the latest incident, gunmen opened fire at a resort that's popular with foreigners on the outskirts of the Malian capital, Bamako, on Sunday, killing four guests and a member of the security forces.

Further afield, the insurgency by the Boko Haram Islamist movement in Nigeria has claimed thousands of lives since 2009, while Senegal and Niger have started arresting Muslim preachers seen as shifting toward fundamentalist versions of Islam.

"Burkina Faso is a strong model of tolerance but cracks have started to appear," Cynthia Ohayon, an analyst for the International Crisis Group, said by phone from Dakar, Senegal. "Malam was challenging the authority of religious leaders and traditional chiefs, and he called for equality in a province that has what is essentially a caste system."

The sudden rise of his group, Ansaroul Islam, or "combat for Islam," has sparked fears Burkina Faso is following the path of neighboring Mali, a country that's been on the brink of collapse since militants overran the north in 2012. Burkina Faso and Mali are among five countries in West Africa's Sahel region planning to set up a joint military force to fight militants. The European Union this month said it will contribute 50 million euros ($56 million) to the force.

"The growing spillover of instability in Mali into its neighbors demonstrates the need for enhanced regional cooperation," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a report last week.

A Malian Islamist organization claimed responsibility for a January 2016 attack on a luxury hotel in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, that left almost 30 people dead, in a stark warning that the country was no longer shielded from the unrest across the border. When gunmen opened fire on a military post in the town of Nassoumbou a year later, killing 12 soldiers, it became clear that militants were now within its borders.

Dicko, 50, married the daughter of the head of Djibo's main mosque and used his sermons to criticize local customs that put pressure on people to pay religious leaders and organize lavish ceremonies, Issa Dicko, who's not related to the preacher, said in an interview in Djibo, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Ouagadougou. Malam was seen as a considerate man who wanted to help the community, he said.

"We used to have all-day weddings and drawn-out birth ceremonies," he said. "Malam's sermons put an end to the nighttime festivities. He managed to instill sobriety in our celebrations."

---

Bax is based in Johannesburg.
BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China has put forward plans for three ocean-based "blue economic passages" that will connect Asia with Africa, Oceania, Europe and beyond, in a bid to advance maritime cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.

The proposal was included in "Vision for Maritime Cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative," which was released Tuesday by the National Development and Reform Commission and the State Oceanic Administration.

China is willing to engage in all-dimensional and broad-scoped maritime cooperation and build open, inclusive cooperation platforms with countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, promoting mutually beneficial "blue partnerships" and forging a "blue engine" for sustainable development, according to the document.

The three blue economic passages will be priority maritime cooperation tasks.

The China-Indian Ocean-Africa-Mediterranean Sea blue economic passage, will run westward via the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, and link with the China-Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor, and connect with the China-Pakistan, and Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar economic corridors.

The China-Oceania-South Pacific passage will run southward via the South China Sea into the Pacific Ocean, while another economic passage is also envisioned linking Europe via the Arctic Ocean.

The document called on countries along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road to focus on "sharing blue space and developing the blue economy," which will target issues such as marine environment protection, marine interconnectivity, maritime security and common oceanic governance.

China will adhere to the Silk Road Spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefits, shelving differences and building consensus, said the document, which was an outcome of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in May.

The nation also promised to abide by market rules and international norms, giving play to the primary role of enterprises.

The document stressed joint development and benefits sharing among participating countries. "We will plan together, develop together and share the fruits of cooperation," it said.
The family of Marquise Jones, who was shot and killed by a San Antonio police officer in 2014, is dubious and disheartened after the city of San Antonio said it will not disclose an outside review of how evidence was handled in the internal investigation of the shooting.

When everything is said and done, when the officer has been (criminally) cleared, why wont they release it? asked Debbie Bush, Jones aunt. I dont understand why they wont release it.

I feel like it was a ploy to keep us quiet, she added. I dont think it was even conducted, if you want me to be totally honest.

The report purportedly looked at the police departments internal investigation into the death of Jones, a 23-year-old father of one who shot in the back by an off-duty San Antonio police officer as he ran from the scene of fender-bender in the drive-thru of Chachos and Chaluccis restaurant on the Northeast Side.

Officer Robert Encina said he shot Jones after Jones brandished a gun, though Encina admitted in court that Jones did not point the gun at him. A Bexar County grand jury voted not to indict Encina on criminal charges. In April, a jury in a civil wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Jones family found that Encina did not use excessive force.

In March, City Manager Sheryl Sculley and City Attorney Andy Segovia commissioned the report to ensure full transparency so that the parties involved, the City Council and the community have full confidence in the Citys handling of the investigative and litigation process.

But this month, the city announced it would not release the report, citing attorney-client privilege. It forwarded open records requests for the report from the San Antonio Express-News and a community activist to the state attorney general for a ruling.

In a statement, Segovia said that the independent review did not find any facts that indicated illegal or unethical activity. He said the report included legal analysis and recommendations that related to the general investigatory process, which are being implemented.

At Express-News.com, read more reaction to the citys decision.

eeaton@express-news.net

Twitter: @emilieeaton
WASHINGTON  A prominent liberal group blasted Texas Republican Pete Olson Tuesday for a radio interview earlier this month where he speculated that ex-President Bill Clinton threatened then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch last year by threatening he would have her killed like Clinton-era figure Vince Foster.

Olson, in a June 9 interview with Houston-based radio host Sam Malone, ventured that Clinton's controversial meeting with Lynch on an airport tarmac in Phoenix was likely to force her to back off the FBI's e-mail investigation of his wife, then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Clinton and Lynch described the meeting as a social encounter.

RELATED GALLERY: Texas Monthly's biennial list of best, worst legislators for 2017

In Olson's telling, Bill Clinton told Lynch to call off her "attack dog" and warned her that he and Hillary Clinton would "destroy" her like they "killed" Foster.

The reference to Foster echoed a conservative conspiracy theory about the death of Foster, a Clinton-era White House counsel whose death of a gunshot wound in 1993 was ruled a suicide.

The Clinton meeting with Lynch has been raised by other Republicans in recent weeks to counter Democratic criticism of President Donald Trump's firing of FBI director James Comey in the wake of the agency's Russia probe.

READ ALSO: Pete Olson bill aims at Obama protections on 'gender identity'

People for the American Way spokesman Drew Courtney called Olson's remarks "disturbing at a really deep level."

"To see a member of Congress pushing a conspiracy theory like this just isn't normal," Courtney said. "We've always had partisan conflict in Washingtonthat's fine. But for Congressman Olson to claim without any evidence that President Clinton threatened to murder the Attorney General is disturbing at a really deep level. It's completely untethered from reality and it shows the extent to which the GOP is willing to embrace utterly baseless conspiracy theories to rile up their base. This goes beyond irresponsibility: it's sickness in our democracy that we should be very worried about."

In a statement, Olson acknowledged that his remarks might have gone too far. "The personal wreckage suffered by many people during the Clinton years is well documented. Just ask Paula Jones, Jim and Susan McDougal, Kathleen Wiley and many others. However, in my discussion about Loretta Lynch and Vince Foster, I took the accusations a step too far. I regret my choice of words. The fact remains Hillary Clinton broke the law, violated national security, and was excused away by Jim Comey and the Obama Justice Department. Most Americans understand this and loathe the Clinton's for continuing to live under a different set of rules than the rest of us."

READ ALSO: ISPs will be able to sell your data. Here's how much they gave your congressman

Olson, a five-term Republican from Sugar Land, told Malone that the meeting between Clinton and Lynch while the FBI was investigating Hillary Clinton's emails was "awfully strange," adding this:

"I guarantee you, they had a conversation and he basically said, 'Mrs. Lynch, call your attack dog off. We have killed people. We killed Vince Foster, we destroyed Webb Hubbell, we will destroy you.'"

The Hubbell reference is to Webster Hubbell, Clinton's former associate attorney general and a figure in the Clinton Whitewater controversy.

Olson also called the recent Senate hearing involving Comey a "clown show," adding that there has been a double standard in the media's treatment of Trump and Hillary Clinton.

"The same sort of shenanigans happened in two fields, but one got all this national spotlight and all these little hearings and stuff, and one was just sort of swept under the rug like Vince Foster's death," Olson said.
As City Council prepares to vote on whether to join an ongoing lawsuit against the state's so-called "sanctuary cities" law, a group of Houston-area state lawmakers are urging council members to support the legal challenge.

A letter signed by 14 Democratic members of the local delegation asks council members, as stewards of the nation's most diverse big city, to back the lawsuit against Senate Bill 4, which the lawmakers term a piece of "ill-conceived" legislation that "tacitly encourages racial profiling and discrimination."

The law allows police to ask people their immigration status if detained even for a routine traffic stop, and says sheriffs and police chiefs who refuse federal requests to hold undocumented immigrants detained for other alleged crimes could face jail time and fines.

"We respectfully ask you to support our great city's immigrant and minority communities by joining other Texas cities and counties in the lawsuit against this unconscionable law that will do nothing more than sow broad mistrust of law enforcement," the letter states.

The Houston area has the third-largest population of immigrants in the country illegally, behind New York City and Los Angeles, according to Pew Research Center.

After demurring on the issue for months, Mayor Sylvester Turner tweeted earlier this month that he would ask council to vote on joining Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, and El Cenizo, the counties of El Paso and Maverick, and nonprofit advocacy groups in the suit. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Monday.

A subsequent recommendation from the Houston city attorney's office says the law authorizes unconstitutional searches, seizures and detentions, violates officials' First Amendment rights, unlawfully limits local authority and is unconstitutionally vague.

When the Chronicle polled council members earlier this month, it appeared the vote likely would result in the city joining the lawsuit.

Here's the letter:

--
- Mum, mum, look!

Marta went to her sons phone.

- Three thousand, four thousand, five thousand ... seven thousand ... ten thousand ... It wouldnt stop. The WahstApp inbox kept on receiving messages. The thirteen-year-old boy had just plugged in the mobile phone his father had taken away three days earlier, on Martes de Campo, as a punishment. The endless cataract of messages threatened to collapse the device. At last, it stopped: "Between 13,000 and 14,000 Whastapp messages in 72 hours!" His mother explains, still astonished ten days later.

"My son was surprised, but he took it rather with laughter. I reaffirmed myself in what I had already thought for a long time: that with telephones we are settled in madness and many times we do not realize. Not children, and which is worse, nor parents", she explains. And she provides a data, which can be exposed as a riddle to the reader of these lines. How many WhatsApp groups does Marta's son belong to, a thirteen-year-old teenager who had his first cell phone 16 months ago, when he turned 12? No, you will not even get close. The day before yesterday, on Sunday, the kid was integrated in 110 groups. In many cases, there are almost mathematical coincidences between the members of one and the other.

"Thus, I can explain that he received 14,000 messages in three days", Marta A. M. says, from Oviedo, a civil servant in a small town hall in Asturias. Her eldest son (she has two others, four and five years old) finishes these days the first ESO course at a high school in the west part of Oviedo. Marta and her husband were most restrictive when it came to buying a phone. For the Three Wise Men day, the boy went all in:

- I want the Three Wise Men to bring me a mobile phone. If I cant have it, then I want nothing.

His parents remained firm. There was no telephone. In February, the boy turned twelve, and they thought that it was no longer possible to extend that "agony." The pressure seemed to have become unbearable. "It was the last of his class to have a mobile phone", his mother said. "He was so embarrassed that when his friends asked him for his number to include him in a group, he would give them mine, with my consent".

That is why Marta knows firsthand the "depth" of cyber-conversations of adolescents. When she made a quick review of the 14,000 messages received in the 72 intense hours, she found that many conversations began with a "Hello!" followed by several dozen "hello" of the other members of the group. Then came the "Whats up?" or similar, with several dozens of mostly irrelevant answers. At that time the celebrations of the district of Oviedo took place in La Florida, a circumstance that perhaps contributed to exacerbate the emotions of the adolescents.

Marta A. M. wants to "raise the alarm" about a situation that "many parents consider worrying, although it seems that few dare to say it out loud". Her call for attention is rational, it is based on common sense, and it is devoid of hysteria. "My son is not problematic, he has normal relationships, he gets good marks", she emphasizes. "My husband and I try to pay attention to the type of information that is exchanged and we have never seen anything particularly disturbing", she says. However, she observes that the abuse of the mobile phone "prevents children from communicating with each other, talking to their family, playing games, reading, having fun with other things... We clearly know that the money we spent on the mobile phone is the worst investment we ever made. She also warns about a very fundamental problem: the example of the adults. "When my son started to go to the high school, he was surprised that the students were not allowed to bring their mobile phones and, however, some teachers started typing in the middle of class while the students did class activities".

Marta A. does not surrender. She points out that her son recently attended a three-day English immersion camp where the phone could only be used for ten minutes a day. "He had lots of fun playing and learning". She goes out for walks with her eldest son for the sole purpose of talking to him and now plans a short trip to Portugal with the same goal: to detoxify him. In spite of his complicated age, maybe the kid is coming to his senses: "When he turned thirteen he asked us as for a new mobile phone, he wanted an Iphone. But he understood that was too much".
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New Minister for State for the OPW Kevin Boxer Moran has given his backing to the Government's pledge to extend gas network supplies from Athlone to Ballymahon.

Mr Moran made his comments in the wake of recent remarks made by Environment Minister Denis Naughten.

The former Westmeath councillor said it makes sense to provide a temporary, short-term solution to supply the Centre Parcs operation with gas pending the completion of the extension of the gas pipeline from Athlone to Ballymahon.

The agreement in principle is in place at Government level and what is particularly pleasing to note is Minister Naughten has been informed by Gas Networks Ireland that they believe it will be economically viable to bring the gas from Athlone, said Mr Moran.

Efforts to follow through on that commitment now hinges on a commercial test applied to the proposed route under the current connection rules as set out by the Commission for Energy Regulation.

Mr Moran, however, dampened any conjecture concerning whether the assessment could scupper the plans set out.

Minister Naughten has said he has got agreement from Government to run the pipeline from Athlone to Ballymahon with the potential in the future for it to be extended to Longford town and other towns northwards such as Carrick-on-shannon, he said.

Over the last year, I have been working with Minister Naughten, Longford County Council, Centre Parcs and Gas Networks Ireland in trying to secure a connection for gas between Athlone and Ballymahon.

Both myself and Minister Naughten proposed a transmission line from Athlone that will be able to serve Centre Parcs which provides the greater potential.

Mr Moran hit out at what he termed the many doubting Thomass out there who thought the extension of gas provision to Longford would not be realised.

This was a project that I was never going to give up on until I succeeded, he remarked.

Both Minister Naughten and I firmly believe that the gas network should be developed generally in rural Ireland to provide natural gas to as many areas as possible.
By Long Island News & PR Published: June 20 2017

Chris Bodkin has dedicated his career to helping the community and many local organizations.

Sayville, NY - June 20, 2017 - The The Sayville Historical Society and all 18 Suffolk County Legislators honored Chris Bodkin for his life-long service to the residents of Suffolk County this past weekend. Chris Bodkin has dedicated his career to helping the community and many local organizations and is being recognized for his quick nature to assist in constituent services and for guiding the County in community based issues. One such issue that Chris dedicated himself to was adding the names of Vietnam and Afghan War Veterans to the Sparrow Park Memorial in Sayville , which greatly benefitted local Veterans.

Most notably, Chris Bodkin operated as Deputy Supervisor of the Town of Islip and as an Islip Town Councilman for over 15 years. During this period he acted as a member of the Islip Industrial Administrative Board, The Islip Resource Recovery Board, and the Islip Empire Zone Administrative Board. Furthermore, he served under Presiding Officer Lindsay and Presiding Officer Horsley, and currently serves as a Legislative Aide to Presiding Officer DuWayne Gregory.
Local News, Crime, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 20 2017

Act requires collection of DNA upon arrest for sexual crimes against a child.

Albany, NY - June 20, 2017 - The New York State Senate yesterday passed the Precious Child Act  a measure which would require collection of DNA upon arrest for sexual crimes against a child. The bill (S616), sponsored by Senator Phil Boyle (R-C-I, Bay Shore), has bipartisan co-sponsorship and must be passed in the Assembly prior to the end of the 2017 Legislative Session tomorrow to be considered for review by the Governor.

Senator Boyle said, Sexual crimes against children are particularly abhorrent, and we need to find more ways to protect them. Collecting DNA upon arrest is a valuable new tool for investigators to catch dangerous offenders of serious crimes. This common-sense bill will facilitate the identification of repeat offenders, help expedite investigations, save resources, and potentially reduce crime rates. I want to thank Debra Betesh for her initiative and advocacy on this very important measure.

Assemblyman Sepulveda, the bills Assembly sponsor, said, This is a simple  and necessary  step to help prevent heinous crimes against young children. It is the equivalent of fingerprinting, and is established law in 28 states, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. I can think of no argument strong enough to prevail over this much needed deterrent to prevent further horrors to other children.

Debra Betesh, an activist who helped advocate for the creation of the bill, said, I want to thank Senator Phil Boyle from the bottom of my heart for helping to create The Precious Child Act which will protect child sexual abuse victims in New York. I hope this bill will pass in the Assembly because children across the state need our help now.
Weather Alert

WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM FRIDAY TO 10 AM EST SATURDAY * WHAT...South winds 20 to 30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph expected. * WHERE...Portions of southern Connecticut and southeast New York. * WHEN...From 10 PM Friday to 10 AM EST Saturday. * IMPACTS...Gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects. Tree limbs could be blown down and a few power outages may result.
Local News, Business & Finance, National & World News

By Long Island News & PR Published: June 20 2017

Phil Andrews, Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce: "New York States largest African American Chamber of Commerce LIAACC has benefited significantly as an affiliate member of the US Black Chambers."

(L to R): Ron Busby, Sr. President & CEO of US Black Chambers, Inc., Tysha Scott, Member LIAACC, and Dawn Edwards, Member LIAACC.

Long Island, NY - June 20, 2017 - The US Black Chambers, Inc. is fueling the Growth of Local Chambers and Businesses nationwide through its School of Chamber and Business Management Annual Conference. The 2017 School of Chamber and Business Management was held on June 14, 2017 to June 16, 2017 in Washington, DC.

The USBC School of Chamber & Business Management is a 3-day business development conference convening successful business owners, chamber leaders, corporate partners, government agencies, and national policymakers for an intense series of workshops, panels, and networking sessions dedicated to growing Black-owned businesses. The 2017 conference provided three course tracks which included 1. Chamber of Commerce Executives, 2. Established Business Owners, and 3. Millennials .

The U.S. Black Chambers, Inc.s Five Pillars of Service is the cornerstone of their platform. The pillars represent issues that greatly impact the growth of Black-owned business in America and, consequently, form the foundation of the USBC agenda. The five pillars include advocacy, access to capital, contracting, Entrepreneur training, and chamber development.

The US Black Chambers, Inc.s Annual Conference is the leading conference in the nation for Chamber leaders and Business Owners to sharpen their tools to succeed in todays business world.

New York States largest African American Chamber of Commerce LIAACC has benefited significantly as an affiliate member of the US Black Chambers, Inc. USBC and its Corporate Partners such as Wells Fargo and others continue to support local communities across the nation by providing valuable resources to local chambers of commerce and communities across America. Phil Andrews, President, Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.

LIAACC has been awarded the USBC micro-grant for three consecutive years.

The USBC awarded $70,000 in micro-grants to its affiliate chambers of commerce, with the finacial support of Wells Fargo for its continuing efforts to support small business owners nationally.

About: - The Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. is a leading supporter of Small Business Owners in the area of advocacy, access to capital, education, mwbe certification and utilization, and capacity building. LIAACC serves the counties of Kings, Nassau, Queens and Suffolk. Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. - The Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. is a leading supporter of Small Business Owners in the area of advocacy, access to capital, education, mwbe certification and utilization, and capacity building. LIAACC serves the counties of Kings, Nassau, Queens and Suffolk.

The Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. has appeared on WABC Here and Now and NBCS Positively Black.

For more information on the programs, activities of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. visit us online today at: LIAACC. For Corporate Sponsorship inquiries or member inquiries log on to our website at above link or email us today at info@liaacc.org
(File photo)

The China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) announced its official accession to the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) as a new regulatory member on June 19. This is widely seen as a milestone for Chinas medical care industry, and will likely give Chinese patients earlier access to new medications produced in other countries.

ICH is most famous for its guidelines, which encompass everything needed for the registration of new medications. The guidelines cover medicine quality, efficacy, security and many other aspects. ICH sets the technical standards for medication development, production, use and evaluation, said Chen Hao, a researcher at Tongji Medical College under Huazhong Universitiy of Science and Technology.

At a press conference held on June 19, Yuan Lin, director of the Department of International Cooperation of CFDA, stressed the significance of the accession: By joining ICH, China vows to gradually switch to and implement the highest medical standards and guidelines in the world. Well actively take part in rule-making, shorten the time before new medicines enter China, and enhance the innovation and competitiveness of Chinese medical companies.
Five people were killed Sunday in an assault on a popular resort outside of Bamako, the capital of Mali, in an attack officially claimed by the Group for Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM), al Qaedas wing in West Africa.

On Sunday, JNIM militants stormed the Kangaba complex, taking hostages and shooting at civilians. The hostages were eventually rescued after French and UN forces aided local Malian security forces in clearing the complex. One French-Gabonese citizen, a Cameroonian, a Portuguese soldier with the European Union training mission in Mali, and an unidentified victim were killed in the assault. A Malian soldier wounded in the attack later died of his injuries.

JNIMs claim of responsibility noted that three militants conducted the attack. The three were identified as belonging to the Fulani ethnic group. In addition, the message stated that the resort was targeted as it is frequented by citizens of Crusader states and a den of corruption and espionage. The statement ended with JNIMs long-standing threat against Western forces in Mali.

Prior to JNIMs official claim released through its media wing az Zallaqa, the Mauritanian outlet ANI published a claim on its website. ANI has published claims from both al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and JNIM in the past. Today, ANI reported that Katibat Tariq ibn Ziyad, one of AQIMs oldest and historically strongest brigades in the region, perpetrated the assault on Kangaba. Tariq ibn Ziyad was led by Abdelhamid Abu Zaid, an Algerian, until his death in 2013.

The battalion, as part of AQIMs Sahara branch, merged into JNIM with several other AQIM battalions, Ansar Dine, its Katibat Macina (also known as the Macina Liberation Front), and Al Murabitoon. The statement released by JNIM on the Kangaba assault made no mention of any specific unit involved in the attack.

Prior to the formation of JNIM, AQIM and Murabitoon have been responsible for several terrorist attacks on hotels and resorts throughout West Africa. In March 2016, gunmen from AQIM targeted a tourist resort in the Ivory Coast, killing 16 people. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, AQIM targets beach resort in Ivory Coast.]

A few months before, Murabitoon killed 20 after assaulting the Splendid Hotel in Burkina Fasos capital of Ouagadougou with two car bombs before breaching the perimeter and entering the hotel. In addition to hitting the hotel, a nearby restaurant was also targeted. Over 30 hostages were freed before the situation was contained. [See Threat Matrix report, Al Qaeda attacks hotel in Burkina Faso.]

Before that, AQIMs Sahara Emirate and Al Murabitoon attacked Bamako in Nov. 2015. In that offensive, the jihadists stormed the Radisson Blu hotel, killing 22 civilians and taking more than 100 people hostage before being killed in a joint raid led by Malian forces. Al Murabitoon said it was responsible in conjunction with the Sahara Emirate of AQIM, according to a statement sent to Al Jazeera. This assault marked the re-integration of Murabitoon into AQIM. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, Al Qaeda group claims credit for attack on hotel in Malis capital.]

Caleb Weiss is a research analyst at FDD's Long War Journal and a senior analyst at the Bridgeway Foundation, where he focuses on the spread of the Islamic State in Central Africa.

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.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed today that the Islamic States Turki al-Binali was killed in a May 31 airstrike in Mayadin, Syria.

Mayadin, which is in the eastern Syrian province of Deir Ezzor, has become a hub for the so-called caliphates senior personnel. The US has targeted several high-profile figures in or near the city this year.

Earlier this month, multiple reports on jihadist social media and in the press indicated that al-Binali had been killed. His demise was first confirmed by the Kurdistan Region Security Council (KRSC), which helps coordinate coalition airstrikes against the Islamic State. The KRSCs official Twitter feed also posted the picture of al-Binali seen on the right.

As the Islamic States chief cleric, al-Binali played a central role in recruiting foreign terrorist fighters and provoking terrorist attacks around the world, according to CENTCOM.

CENTCOM accurately describes al-Binali as a close confidant of Baghdadis, noting that he called on jihadists to pledge allegiance to the supposed caliph.

The US Treasury Department and United Nations designated al-Binali as a terrorist in 2016. [See FDDs Long War Journal report: Treasury sanctions Islamic State oil and religious officials, facilitator in Gaza.]

According to the UN, he was chosen as the chief religious advisor for the Islamic State in Nov. 2014, just months after he relocated to Syria. He authored fatwas for the groups training camps and was tasked with settling disputes within the organization. The UN also described al-Binali as the head of the Islamic States religious compliance police and its accountability unit, which are among the authoritarian organizations control mechanisms.

Al-Binali was an early advocate on behalf of Baghdadi and his caliphate-building project.

The UN notes that he authored propaganda materials for the group, including a call for Muslims to pledge loyalty to Baghdadi as early as Apr. 2013. This was months before al Qaedas general command disowned Baghdadis organization in Feb. 2014, and more than a year prior to the Islamic States public caliphate declaration.

Al-Binalis works included a biography of Baghdadi that defended his qualifications to be the so-called caliph, and an essay setting forth the legal arguments and scriptural evidence used by [the Islamic State] to announce its establishment of the so-called caliphate,' the UN reported on its designation page.

Al-Binali also became a key player in the Islamic States rivalry with al Qaeda.

After he arrived in Raqqa, according to the UN, al-Binali attempted to persuade al Qaeda leaders to pledge allegiance to Baghdadis state.

He also threatened attacks in his native Bahrain, and led a support network that recruited Gulf nationals for the jihadists cause. According to an op-ed in the The New York Times by Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, the director of advocacy at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, another member of the Binali family, Mohamed Isa al-Binali, followed Turkis lead into the caliphates ranks. Mohammed Isa al-Binali, a former officer in Bahrains Ministry of Interior, was designated as a terrorist by the State Department just last week.

A hub for senior Islamic State personnel in Mayadin, Syria

Turki al-Binali is the latest senior Islamic State figure to be killed in or around Mayadin, Syria.

When the KRSC announced al-Binalis death earlier this month, it said that he oversaw the Islamic States external attacks  that is, terrorist plotting outside of the jihadists battlefields. He reportedly assumed this position after Abu Muhammad al Adnani, the groups spokesman and external operations chief, was killed near Al Bab, Syria last August. Al-Binali authored a glowing biography for Adnani that was published online in 2014.

Other senior jihadists killed near Mayadin also reportedly played a role in the Islamic States external operations arm.

The US military announced that Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a close associate of Baghdadi, was killed during a special forces raid on April 6. Uzbeki played a key role in the groups external terror attack plotting and was tied to the New Years attack on the Reina nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, US: Abu Bakr al Baghdadis close associate killed in special operations raid.]

Mustafa Gunes and Abu Asim al-Jazaeri were struck down near Mayadin earlier this year as well. According to CENTCOM, both were part of the Islamic States external operations when they were bombed. Gunes was killed on Apr. 27, while al-Jazaeri perished in a separate airstrike on May 11. [See FDDs Long War Journal report, CENTCOM: Three senior Islamic State foreign fighters killed.]

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Iraqi Prime Minister Hayder al Abadi arrived in Tehran today to meet with senior Iranian government officials. Among them was Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final word on all Iranian foreign policy matters. Abadis trip follows a meeting with Saudi officials in Riyadh, and he is slated to visit Kuwait. While Iranian and Iraqi officials vowed to boost ties and trade, Khamenei also emphasized that he intends to bolster Tehrans presence in the Iraqi state via proxies.

Khamenei told Abadi that he wants the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)  a conglomeration of Iraqi militias that was enshrined as an official part of the Iraqi state last year  to remain in Iraq. There has been some discussion about whether the PMF would dissolve following the Mosul campaign. Figures backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) hold key positions and are the dominant formations in the PMF.

The PMF is an important and blessed phenomenon, Khamenei stressed. The reason the Americans oppose the popular forces is because they want Iraq to lose its important factor of strength, he told Abadi.

The Iranian Supreme Leader praised the PMF as a great wealth during a meeting with national alliance leader Ammar al Hakim last year. In a meeting with Abadi in 2015, Khamenei also lauded the PMF, claiming it has great potential for the future of progress of Iraq in different arenas. By this, Khamenei likely meant that he wanted to see the PMF serve a more expansive role in the state.

The PMF formed in 2014 following Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistanis fatwa to drive the Islamic State from Iraq (though Sistani later clarified that he intended to strengthen Iraqi security forces, not legitimize paramilitary groups). IRGC commanders were influential in the formation of the PMF and still have great influence within it. IRGC operatives have been embedded in the PMF, including during the Mosul campaign.

The Iraqi prime minister is not inclined to abide by Khameneis call to reduce Americas presence in Iraq. The supreme leader called on Abadi not to trust the Americans and said he should not permit the US troop presence in Iraq. Khamenei wants to diminish or eliminate US influence in Iraq and for Abadi to move farther away from his Western ally. Earlier in the year, however, Abadi secured US assurance of continued support.

Khamenei also praised the arrival of Iraqi forces near the Syrian border, calling it a strategic and big move. IRGC-backed forces are attempting to maximize gains and link fighters in the Syrian-Iraqi border area. This route would facilitate the movement of manpower and material between Iran and the Levant after a nearly six-year break. It would also back up Irans air bridge. The effort to secure the route, however, faces significant obstacles, including US military actions and an area laden with hostile insurgents.

Khamenei, as well as President Hassan Rouhani, have voiced their support for Iraqs territorial integrity and opposition to a Kurdish referendum. Khamenei was quite explicit in this regard.

Abadi wants to keep good ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia and the US and avoid an escalation of the Iranian-Saudi proxy war into Iraq. A published readout did not include Abadis comments on the PMF. But he did thank Khamenei for Irans support during the war with the Islamic State, saying we need the Islamic Republics support during the post-DAESH [Islamic State] stage that is the stage of stability and peace and construction. This reflects Abadis goal to keep Iraq stable for reconstruction and control violence. According to Reuters, Abadi recently criticized the IRGC-controlled elements of the PMF that kidnapped Qatari royals as part of a multi-million dollar ransom scheme. But he has been unable to rein them in.

Todays meeting highlights the continued hostility of Khamenei toward the US and his goal to assert Tehrans presence in Iraq using the vehicle of the PMF. Many Guard-backed elements seek to translate their military successes into political influence as Iraq faces city council and parliamentary elections tentatively scheduled in the next year. Abadi is in the unenviable position of overseeing Iraq post-Mosul, balancing between competing powers as he faces elections and the Kurdish referendum vote.

Amir Toumaj is a independent analyst and contributor to 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.
Earlier today, the US military shot down its second unmanned areal vehicle over Syria in the past two weeks. US Central Command (CENTCOM) said that the Iranian-made drone was shot down after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces.

CENTCOM announced that a US F-15 Strike Eagle shot down the Shaheed-129 UAV in the early morning near At Tanf, where Coalition forces are training Syrian militias to battle the Islamic State.

The Coalition forces were manning an established combat outpost to the northeast of At Tanf where they are training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS, or Islamic State, according to CENTCOM.

The F-15E intercepted the armed UAV after it was observed advancing on the Coalition position. When the armed UAV continued to advance on the Coalition position without diverting its course it was shot down, CENTCOM continued.

The US shot down another Iranian UAV near At Tanf on June 8 after it dropped a bomb on US-backed militias operating in the area. Prior to that shoot down, US aircraft struck pro-Syrian regime forces as they advanced on At Tanf. The US military has also targeted pro-Syrian regime militias near At Tanf two other times since mid-May.

US support of anti-Islamic State militias such as the ones in At Tanf and the Syrian Democratic Forces has increasingly put it into direct conflict with Syria and its allies Russia, Iran, and Shiite militias. On June 18, A US Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down a Syrian SU-22 fighter-bomber after it attacked Syrian Democratic Forces south of the town of Tabqa. The incident cause Russia to suspend the de-confliction hotline established with the US to prevent the two countries from accidentally targeting each others aircraft. Russias Ministry of Defense said that it would now treat US aircraft as hostile targets.

As in past press releases which announced engagement with pro-Syrian government forces, the US military said that it does not seek to fight Syrian regime, Russian, or pro-regime forces partnered with them, but will not hesitate to defend Coalition or partner forces from any threat.

The US military said that it will continue to shoot down pro-regime aircraft if they persist to pose a threat to coalition and allied militias.

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.
Style / Fashion

Jun 20, 2017 | By Jonathan Ho

To be a mens sartorial conservative (I prefer my suits tailored to classic proportions even though I am adventurous when it comes to suit separates) and then provide commentary on Spring 2018 Menswear trends has been a bit of a mixed bag for me, particularly since I have a greater interest in Pitti Uomo, the Florence menswear trade show, sandwiched between London and Milan fashion weeks. Nevertheless, duty beckons and for Luxuos first Mens Sartorial Report, I will be reporting on Spring 2018 Menswear from the perspective of sartorially conservative brands like Tom Ford, Brunello Cucinelli and Armani.

Spring 2018 Menswear: Mens Sartorial Report

First, I am glad to report that the slew of superhero movies helmed by the likes of Henry Cavil, Chris Hemsworth and Hugh Jackman havent raised the bar on masculine physique beyond what is mortally achievable with your average salaried employee, furthermore, there seems to be a slight regression from the uber-masculine David Gandy form to the gentler, more refined musculature of slimmer proportions. Most surprisingly, Tom Ford opted for the sharp jawed man-boy instead of the square jawed man-men of Brunello Cucinelli and Giorgio Armani. Second, for these key brands, classic proportions and slim-cut profiles reigned supreme

Brunello Cucinelli Spring 2018

As a predominantly menswear oriented company, Brunello Cucinelli stands impressively in terms of market cap with 1.3 billion. Over the years, the Italian brand has expanded into ready-to-wear womens wear and accessories in key territories  Switzerland, Belgium, the United States, France, Germany, Austria, Canada, China, Japan and three years ago, Singapore.

Headquartered in a 14th century castle in the middle of Umbria, Italy, Brunello Cucinellis spring 2018 menswear collection is a reflection of that nobility and regal elegance. Its a deeply humanist company unlike most purveyours and producers of fashion today  Brunello Cucinelli donates 20% of its profits to charity, pays its employees 20% higher than industry average and most surprisingly, does not allow after-hours e-mails  all while maintaining production in Italy where other companies have turned to most cost effective European cities to improve margins.

My dream is to set up a form of modern capitalism where business profit must be sought while respecting the human beings moral and economic dignity. Hence our idea to act as guardians of the creation.

It is little wonder that their namesake founder was recently awarded the Global Economy Prize by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy. As a merchant and a humanist, Cucinelli has managed to circumnavigate his brand through tough economic waters without sacrificing its humanist values in support of its bottomline. With Cucinellis family owning a majority 57% stake in the company, spring 2018 menswear collection is fully consistent with the founder personal style  the Italian penchant for sprezzetura, that is to say, the formally informal outfit, well tailored blazer, lived in and thrown over an informal shirt, crew-neck even sometimes, all while rocking ankle length pants sans socks.

Filled with earth tones and rust hues, Brunello Cucinellis new Spring 2018 menswear collection has a definite safari-adventure vibe which becomes all the more clear when Cucinelli himself refers to Out of Africa as his inspiration. Harkening back to the classic age of fitted double-breasted blazers and safari jackets in a variety of light weight wools and linens for Spring 2018.

Giorgio Armani Spring 2018

Over 40 years on, Giorgio Armani has made a name for himself not just in native Italy where the brand is still one of the peninsulas most storied fashion house but the potency of the Armani cut and sense of style also encourages Hollywood to eschew their own costumers and wardrobe specialists for Giorgio Armani himself.

While shades of grey featured strongly for Giorgio Armani Spring 2018 menswear, the river of slate made way for light silvery, almost iridescent offerings as the collection transitioned from its more sombre offerings and made way for something almost equatorial  a welcome respite, as if a wintry gloom had lifted and as if to say, spring hath sprung!

Among the most prolific of Italian designers for spring 2018 menswear shows, Giorgio Armani commanded a runaway of consumer-friendly and fashion-savvy pieces within a massive collection of suits, knits and texture tailoring  fuschia paired with turqoise, a masterstroke for opening the palette tastebuds of a general audience in a fashion-forward manner. The Giorgio Armani spring 2018 menswear show finally closes with a slew of navy executive suiting and blue cotton worksuits.

Having designed Daniel Craigs suits for his last three James Bond films: Quantum of Solace, Skyfall, and Spectre, Tom Ford is well-known as having single handedly undone the nightmare that was skinny suits and slim lapels and revived a dormant classical male penchant for wide and peaked lapels, boys were out and men were in.

In even before he left Gucci, the later collections of Gucci menswear started to bear the aesthetic trademarks of Fords signature hyper-masculine style. As a designer, Ford was a power-house, his departure from Gucci Group necessitated the hire of four others to do the work that he was singularly managing. At Tom Ford, the aesthetic vision he heralded came to fruition, hyper-sexuality, and equal opportunity objectification, Ford built his empire on sex appeal and it worked. Ford once described the the Tom Ford customer as international, cultured, well traveled, and then for Tom Ford spring 2018 menswear, the deft, sharp cuts of suits remained but the models he chose somehow looked like they were wearing dads suits rather than their own. Was the Tom Ford customer suddenly a man-child with an allowance?

Tom Ford Spring 2018

Nevertheless, Oscar-nominated, statement-making and a creative genius equally adept on runway as on film, the master designer in signature black watch is Tom Ford Spring 2018 menswear collection ushered through Via Borgonuovu, wide shouldered suits with peak lapels and narrow waists draped on the shoulders of boys.

Fords mastery of colour combinations, even the ones that on hindsight seem sartorially adventurous actually become safe choices in the careful hands of Ford. Mustards, pinks and even leopard prints become less outlandish when carefully dressed with gold-chained loafers and retro sneakers  there is an art to trendy mens fashion and Tom Ford spring 2018 menswear collection proves that Ford really knows how to help you, the straight (or otherwise) male work it.
Qatar today demanded neighbouring states lift their "blockade" of the emirate as a pre-condition for crisis talks, even as the United Arab Emirates warned its isolation could last years. Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called measures imposed against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and others "an act of aggression". "We have to make it very clear for everyone, negotiations must be done in a civilised way and should have a solid basis and not under pressure or under blockade," he told reporters in Doha.

"Qatar under blockade -- there is no negotiation. They have to lift the blockade," said Sheikh Mohammed. "Until now we didn't see any progress about lifting the blockade, which is the pre-condition for anything to move forward." On June 5, Saudi Arabia and its allies cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar, pulling their ambassadors from the gas-rich emirate and giving its citizens a two-week deadline to leave their territory. The measures also included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and others accuse Qatar of supporting and funding "terrorism" and of working with regional rival Iran, charges Doha firmly denies. Asked if the ultimate aim of the Gulf countries was to enforce regime change, the foreign minister replied: "No one is in a position of imposing regime change in this country. "Our system here is based on a consensus between the people and its ruler."

Sheikh Mohammed's demand came as a UAE state minister warned Qatar's diplomatic isolation could "last years". "We do not want to escalate, we want to isolate," state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash told journalists in Paris. "This isolation can take years." Gargash said that while Qatar's rivals were "betting on time", a solution could not be brokered until it abandoned its support for "extremist Islamists"."They have built a sophisticated podium for jihadism and Islamic extremism," he said. PTI
The printout that started it all. Note the dust. Photo by Elisabeth Dellinger.

"Will you lose your job because of a machine?"

That's the headline on the dusty printout of an old magazine article I found on my auxiliary desk at Fisher Investments' Camas, WA office Monday morning as I settled in for a week-long stay. In all likelihood, this paper has been there for over a year and a half, judging by the date on the bottom of the printout, but it was probably buried under a stack of books-goes with the territory when you share a work area with our resident history nut and managing editor, Todd Bliman.[i] Whatever its genesis, it caught my eye this morning, because I had just finished reading tech guru Andy Kessler's latest Wall Street Journal opinion piece on the sheer illogic of calls for a universal basic income as a remedy for workers displaced by robots. Writes Kessler:

This is a false premise. All through history, automation has created more jobs than it destroyed. Washboards and wringers were replaced by increasingly inexpensive washing machines, while more women entered the workforce. Automated manufacturing and one-click buying has upended retail, yet throughout the U.S. millions of jobs go unfilled. ... The economics, which they apparently stopped teaching at Harvard, are straightforward: Lowering the cost of goods and services through automation allows capital-financial and human-to attack even harder problems. Wake me up when we run out of problems.

That's basically the story of America and Europe's economic history since the industrial revolution, when many worried the flying shuttle and spinning jenny would displace hand-weavers. The article on my desk is quite telling, too-for while Todd might have printed it out in late-2015, the actual story is from the March 1931 issue of Popular Science and written by a journalist named Michel Mok. The lead photo showed a ginormous steam shovel "doing the work of many men" in Manhattan, with hundreds of unemployed men looking on as they stood in line for work or bread (this being the depths of the 1929-1932 recession). The article leads off with the story of English textile workers rioting when cotton factories introduced the spinning jenny, then segues into A.O. Smith's[ii] opening an automobile frame factory using "monstrous machinery" in 1920, where "two hundred men [did] the work of 2,000." The snippet on my desk ends there, but thanks to Google Books, I easily tracked down the rest (click here, then scroll down to Page 20), and to my delight, here is what followed:

On the face of it, this looks like a final argument against the machine and justifies you in branding it as a man eater. But the fact is not a single man has lost his job in the Smith plant because of the new automatic machinery. On the contrary it has given work to many more men.

Eager to know if these statements given out as facts were really true I put the problem up to the A.O. Smith Company. An official of the company told me they are true and then gave me this explanation:

"The automatic frame plant was put into operation at a time when there was a large increase in the demand for frames. We, therefore, kept all of the men in the old 'hand' plant and employed new men for the automatic plant. We still operate the old plant for the 'small runs,' and use the automatic plant for the large quantity production runs."

That's part of the story. The rest, still more surprising, shows how even more men were put to work. Research by the same staff of 600 engineers that seemed bent on kicking men out of jobs led to a new electric arc welding process which, applied to couplings for joints in oil well pipes, has supplied jobs, directly and indirectly, for more than 5,000 men! In short, the Smith research gang robbed not one man of work but literally put thousands of new ones on the pay roll.

And not just at A.O. Smith! Because their manufacturing process made pipes so cheap and plentiful, America's network of gasoline pipelines mushroomed, transporting fuel easily and cheaply from Texas and Louisiana to Chicago, Denver, San Francisco and other far-flung places, driving industries and growth nationwide. The article goes on to highlight several similar stories where technology either supplemented existing workers or "displaced" a few before the overall rise in activity drove the companies to create new jobs for their former assembly line workers. Men who worked on the line at a screw factory were brought back to pack up orders. Men who packed food were displaced by a mechanical "stacker," but stayed on to finish and label the cans and crates. As goods prices plunged, demand and sales soared, requiring thousands upon thousands of men (and some women!) to work in logistics and distribution.

In highlighting all of these and more, Mok came to a conclusion: Technology wasn't responsible for the throngs of unemployed lining up every day. Global economic conditions-the Great Depression of 1929 - 1933-bore the blame, and based on his findings, technology was what would ultimately create the opportunities for these folks to go back to work. The next several years and decades would prove the thesis correct, as advancements in manufacturing, transport, aviation and later computing would create millions of jobs, many in arenas unfathomable at the time. Even more recently, hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling solved the problem of falling US oil production. When the fracking boom left America with a glut of natural gas at a time Japan and other nations faced a supply squeeze, firms solved that problem, too, by developing natural gas export infrastructure. Now gas is crossing the seas freely, and global natural gas markets aren't balkanized anymore-regional prices have mostly converged.

This all goes back to what Kessler wrote: "Lowering the cost of goods and services through automation allows capital-financial and human-to attack even harder problems. Wake me up when we run out of problems." Indeed: While Technology is starting to come for jobs in the service sector, that doesn't mean we are out of opportunities for it to create new ones. Yes, self-checkout machines have taken some work from human checkers, travel websites have stolen a ton of market share from human travel agents, and fast food joints are even starting to experiment with robot burger flippers. But think big-picture, and it becomes pretty clear there are vast new frontiers for problem-solving to create jobs. I live in a state-California-with one of the US's most well-documented water storage problems. My town is still technically in a drought, even after one of the wettest winters on record, because the reservoirs overflowed and most of the excess rainfall ended up in the ocean or San Francisco Bay. If Tech takes on California's water infrastructure, think of the opportunities it could open up for urban (and suburban) expansion and agriculture. The experimental farm in the middle of the Mojave only scratches the surface of what we could see. One day you could start a restaurant in a desert agricultural boomtown.

That's anecdotal and local, but think about the world. There are so many problems to solve! Water treatment, storage and distribution throughout Africa. Improving refrigerated transit and storage of fresh food, especially in the developing world. Storing solar energy for future use. Curing all manner of diseases. Education. Ending poverty, starvation and scarcity of basically everything. Reducing crime and terrorism. Getting rid of the infamous Garbage Island in the South Pacific. Saving the Great Barrier Reef. Even big, pie-in-the-sky things like terraforming and extra-terrestrial colonization.

I have no idea how all this stuff will eventually work out and create jobs, but history overwhelmingly shows it will. After all, when the spinning jenny and flying shuttle led to mass production of textiles, it opened avenues for women to not only sew their own fashionable clothing and make livings as dressmakers, but it created a whole cottage industry of handmade quilts. The washing machine and electric dishwasher saved housewives dozens of hours of household labor each week, enabling them to enter the workforce in droves. Just imagine what Star Trek-style food replicators would do for society!

For investors, there are two main takeaways. One, as job markets adapt to technology, it isn't a one-way street. Tech will probably render many jobs obsolete over time, just as it did for the entire 20th century, but it likely creates others in new areas and gives countless people the opportunity to start a new business. Blockbuster is all but dead, but Netflix employs thousands! A simple piece of technology-in this case, an automated espresso/latte machine-enabled a young guy in my neighborhood to open a cafe with next to no overhead in an underserved corner of town. He created a job for himself and a couple other people, and he helps people get caffeinated. If he had to buy expensive Italian machinery and train baristas to handcraft drinks, he wouldn't have been able to do it. His endeavor is capitalism in a nutshell! And second-most importantly for anyone owning stocks-problem-solving technology creates boundless potential for firms to grow, profit and deliver wonderful long-term returns to shareholders. When you get right down to it, a single invention-the Vitamix blender-is responsible for the very existence of Jamba Juice and all of the returns it has generated over time. When you own stocks, you own this technological potential.
The fourth and final round of French national elections concluded over the weekend, clearing a major milestone in the year of falling political uncertainty. President Emmanuel Macron's centrist La Republique En Marche! party and its ally, the Democratic Movement (MoDem), gained a clear majority in the National Assembly after winning 61% of the seats (350 of 577) in the second round of the French parliamentary election. (Exhibit 1)

At a surface level, this result technically reduces political gridlock in France. However, the En Marche party is itself an exercise in gridlock, as it is essentially a blend of center-left and center-right politicians. It includes lawmakers that defected from both of the traditional Socialist and Republican Parties. A centrist coalition likely pursues more moderate policies aimed at incremental change rather than broad, sweeping legislation with the potential to really shock markets. For example, the party's primary policies likely include reforming labor laws, cutting corporate taxes, reducing a bloated civil sector and promoting entrepreneurship. Yet none of the proposals unveiled thus far appear terribly radical. Labor market reforms, for example, appear to dance around third rails like France's 35-hour workweek. Plus, En Marche is also just over a year old, and over half of its National Assembly members haven't held any political office before. How well these political novices work with the old guard-and how well the center-right and center-left can agree on policy details-will be worth monitoring, but intraparty gridlock likely creates additional hurdles to legislation.

While one could argue French gridlock could dash hopes for big pro-business reforms, potentially setting up stocks for disappointment, Macron's relatively watered-down agenda is already widely known. Moreover, having less potential for radical legislation means less chance for new laws to create winners and losers, which reduces one source of risk for markets.

The next major elections scheduled on the Continent are Germany's in late September. As Europe's year of falling uncertainty continues, we expect eurozone markets to climb higher as investors get past their political concerns and warm up to Europe's better-than-appreciated reality.

Exhibit 1: Results of the French National Assembly Elections

Source: Fisher Investments Research, as of 6/19/2017.
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SPRINGFIELD -- Six years ago, Kevin Major died after suffering a heart attack on Lake Congamond in Southwick.

Within the last few weeks, a 31-year-old teacher in Southwick collapsed at school with a heart ailment -- and was revived with the use of an AED. That piece of equipment was available thanks to the KEVS Foundation, the organization formed by Major's mother, Susan Canning.

"We want everyone across the commonwealth and across the country to live in a heart-healthy community," Canning of Westfield, said Tuesday. "We need more saves."

Canning is one of four Springfield-area residents awarded the Pynchon Medal for community service Tuesday by the Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts.

She joins fellow 2017 recipients Bob Greeley of Springfield for his work with people recovering from addiction; Judy Ingis of Longmeadow for her work as the founder of Rachel's Table; and Realtor Paul Sears of Springfield for his work as a civic champion in the city.

The Advertising Club of Western Massachusetts will present the William Pynchon Awards at a banquet Thursday, Oct. 19 at The Log Cabin in Holyoke.

The Order of William Pynchon, named for Springfield's founder, has inducted 209 recipients since 1915.

Here's more about this year's winners.

Bob Greeley

President of R. J. Greeley Co., a Springfield-based commercial and industrial real estate company, Greeley was honored for his work counseling people recovering from addiction.

It's work he came to through his own struggle -- Greeley said he recently received his 29-year coin commemorating nearly three decades of sobriety.

He said the stigma around substance abuse and mental health issues has to end.

"I'm proud of myself. I'm not embarrassed to say I'm an addict and an alcoholic, and that I'm 29 years sober," Greeley said from the podium during Tuesday's ceremony. "It gives me the perspective to help these guys.'

Besides working one-on-one with those struggling with addiction, he's part of a nonprofit that builds and staffs sober houses based on the community-based Oxford House model.

Judy Ingis

The Holyoke native established Rachel's Table with the support of the Jewish Federation of Western Massachusetts 25 years ago.

Now a project both of the Federation and Channel 22, Rachel's Table donates more than 400,000 pounds of food yearly to more than 40 soup kitchens, pantries and shelters.

Rachel's Table also provides healthy snacks, fresh protein like fish, chicken and meat and has a birthday cake fund so that children in shelters get a cake on their birthday.

"Our goal is to eliminate hunger all across this wonderful country," she said. "There is plenty of food. It just isn't getting to the people who need it."

Paul Sears

A longtime real estate agent, Sears has worked to help families move into their own homes, believing that owner-occupied housing is the best way to improve neighborhoods. He'll often make a deal with a family on a handshake just to get them into a house.

His son recalled being sent to spend the night sleeping on a sidewalk, holding a space in line for a family that needed a housing subsidy that was available only on a first-come, first-serve basis the next morning.

Sears is such a Springfield history buff that the last four digits of his office phone number are 1636, the year of the city's founding. He said he and his wife, Josephine, waved hello to the statue of William Pynchon on their way to Tuesday's announcement.

Susan Canning

Canning's KEVs Foundation has helped more than 1,000 young people get free cardiac screenings. Those screenings look for hidden ailments like the one that killed her son on July 11, 2011.

Of those screened, 8 percent have been sent for further evaluation.

She's helped place 65 AEDs, or automatic defibrillators, in schools and nonprofits around the region. Earlier this year, Gov. Charlie Baker signed legislation into law requiring AEDs in every school by July 2018.

She's also lobbying cities and towns to make CPR instruction a high school graduation requirement. So far, Springfield, Westfield, Chicopee, Hampshire Regional and Granby have done so.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elchin Mehdiyev  Trend:

The visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to the South Caucasus and their appeal to the sides of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict are no different from the previous ones, Samad Seyidov, chairman of Azerbaijani Parliaments Committee for International and Inter-Parliamentary Relations, told Trend June 20.

He said that no specific opinions were voiced during the visit of the co-chairs to the region. Seyidov stressed that the co-chairs should specify and disclose the truth, not hide the reality.

The reality is that Armenia has occupied Azerbaijani lands and isnt going to leave the occupied territories, and Armenia carries out provocations against Azerbaijan every day and is far from resolving this issue peacefully and within the framework of the law, he said. If the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs voice these realities, the conflict will be resolved. They see this truth, but they arent going to accept it.

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.
SPRINGFIELD -- To be successful, the future owners of Tower Square must find ways to repurpose the building's underutilized retail space in ways that not only attract tenants but also make the downtown landmark feel vibrant and lively, said Evan Plotkin, president of the real estate firm NAI Plotkin.

Plotkin reacted to news that Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. plans to sell the office and retail complex downtown. At 1.6 million square feet, Tower Square includes its own parking and a 265-room Marriott hotel.

MassMutual has not selected a broker for the sale.

Tower Square's retail tenants now are relatively few: a CVS drugstore, Lorilil Jewelers, a newsstand, Dunkin' Donuts, Hot Table restaurant, branch offices of both Westfield Bank and Syracuse-based Community Bank, the Colony Club and a food court. Given consumer tastes and the shape of the industry, there is little hope of making Tower Square a shopping destination again.

Plotkin said the sale of Tower Square is potentially the biggest real estate deal for Springfield in some time. In 2007 he was part of an investment group that bought shares of the MassLive Building at 1350 Main St., then known as One Financial Plaza.

Empty retail space, Plotkin said, "has always been a little bit of a drag on that building (Tower Square) and on the downtown."

The tower is still heavily occupied by office tenants, with more than 1,100 workers on site each day. But Plotkin said demand in Springfield for Class A office space like this is a little soft.

"I think there are a lot of companies sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how downtown will change with the addition of MGM Springfield," he said.

MGM plans to open its $950 million resort casino in the South End in September 2018. In 2014, MGM bought 1200 Main St., Springfield's first steel skyscraper, and an adjacent office building from C&W Realty Inc. for $8.4 million.

The building at 1200 Main St., built in 1909, was MassMutual's headquarters. The company moved to its current State Street headquarters in the 1930s. The downtown properties have been cleared for make way for the casino.

MassMutual has owned Tower Square since it was built as a combination office tower, shopping mall and hotel in 1971.

In recent years some of the complex's retail space has been converted to educational use. Cambridge College moved in in 2013. The University of Massachusetts opened its 27,321-square-foot satellite office on the mall's second floor for the 2014-15 academic year.

Plotkin said the colleges might be something to build on. "Perhaps they can attract researchers who would fill the space," he said.

The two colleges help drive a lot of evening foot traffic through the building, said John DeVoie, co-owner and president of the Springfield-based restaurant chain Hot Table.

Hot Table opened its eatery on the first floor of Tower Square, its second at the time, in 2009. Hot Table now has five locations and will soon add a sixth.

DeVoie said he's been able to carve out a niche doing business at the prominent storefront location. He has a sidewalk patio as well.

"We've been very happy as a tenant there," he said. "It's great. It's managed well. We have wonderful customers there."
Fifty years ago this week, Western Mass. was in a heat wave. One resident of the Forest Park Zoo in Springfield found a way to keep cool. Snowball, the resident polar bear, made it out on page one by splashing around in his private pool.

From the June 18, 1967 edition of The Springfield Union

Later in the week, heavy-weight boxer Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) was sentenced to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine for refusing induction into the U.S. Army. Clay remained free on a $5,000 bond pending an appeal.

Ten years later, Coast Guard Ensign Susan Gayle Ingalls of Longmeadow was among the 14 women chosen to be the first ever to serve aboard an armed U.S. military vessel. Ensign Ingalls was assigned to serve on the 378-foot cutter Gallatin based at Governors Island in New York harbor.

These are some of the headlines you'll see from Page 1 of The Republican and its predecessors over the past fifty years for the week of June 18 - June 24. Each week I'll put together a slideshow of Page 1 images from selected years over the course of that week. We're starting with a look back at one, five, thirty, forty and fifty years ago, with Page 1s from each day of the week for those years.

The slideshow for June 18 - June 24 is embedded at the top of this article.

We'll also find some humor printed out on page one over the years. In 1967 'Dennis The Menace' could be found on the bottom of page one six days a week.

From the June 20, 1967 edition of The Springfield Union

Other newspaper comics from the archive can be found in the Featured Collection photo galleries on MassLive.

A year ago the Forest Park Zoo was back out on page one after Dizzy, a 12-pound guenon monkey, slipped out of his enclosure and headed to the trees in the park. He remained close by in the tree tops for a couple of days until returning to his enclosure later in the week.

And back in 1977, Kenneth Preble of Northampton was killed when his crop duster aircraft hit some trees and crashed and burned near a dormitory at UMass in Amherst. He was flying back to the Turners Falls Airport after crop dusting in Wilbraham when the accident occurred.

From the June 21, 1977 edition of The Morning Union

As you'll find with looking through the slideshow, that while many stories come and go, many of the issues and topics that affected lives in the past, continue to have an impact on our lives today.

Copies of these and other stories can be found in the online archives. The Historic Archive includes stories from 1824 to 1989, and the Newsbank Archive covers 1988 through the present day.
WEST SPRINGFIELD - The Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts will observe the conclusion of the month's fast for Ramadan with a celebratory gathering June 25 on the grounds of West Springfield High School.

"Members will celebrate Eid al-Fitr with an outdoor congregational prayer at 9 a.m.," said Dr. Mohammed Saleem Bajwa, a Holyoke physician and member, of the festival that concludes Ramadan.

He added "sharing delicious foods and sweets and exchanging of gifts" among members will follow the prayer.

West Springfield Mayor William C. Reichelt is scheduled to welcome participants and the society's Imam Wissam Abdul Baki to lead those gathered in the prayer.

Ramadan is the holiest month for Muslims who represent many different cultures and countries, and the practice of fasting to be closer to God is one of the five pillars of the faith.

Acts of charity, along with prayer and reading of the Quran, whose first revelations were believed to have been given to Mohammed, the founder of Islam, during the month of Ramadan, are encouraged during the Ramadan.

Ramadan began the evening of May 26 this year and and ends the evening of June 24. The three-day celebration of Eid al-Fitr, which means "festival of breaking the fast," concludes the observance.

Recent acts of violence with Muslims as victims have marred the end of Ramadan.

Vigils are being held in some cities this weekend for a Virginia teen whose body was found Sunday near her mosque. On Monday, a van driver in London drove his vehicle into a group of Muslims just leaving their mosque after early morning prayer.

Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain has called the act, which resulted in a number of casualties, a terrorist one targeting Muslims.

Incidents of Islamophobia have increased in Britain in the wake of deadly terrorists attacks there this month by men inspired by the Islamic State.

On Tuesday, Springfield Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski, together with Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a joint statement on the van attack saying the country's Catholic bishops "unequivocally reject such acts of violence and plead with all people to cease from committing or plotting to commit further acts."

"We would like to express our deepest condolences to the people of London who once again woke to the news of a terrorist attack. Our prayers extend especially to the community of Muslims from Finsbury Park Mosque in North London whom it appears were the intended victims of the attacker," the statement reads.

"Once again, in this now sad reality of regular acts of terror that are meant to destroy life and to crush hope, we remember that light has overcome darkness once and for all. Let us be united in hope and with one voice reject utterly all forms of terror and violence that seek to dissuade us from the pursuit of a culture of life and solidarity."

Rozanski chairs the USCCB Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, and has taken part in interfaith events at the Islamic Center.
Boston joined more than a dozen other cities to recently share climate change data from the Environmental Protection Agency that has been removed from the agency's website. The seemingly harmless educational tool on a municipal website has political implications that did not go unnoticed by environmental advocates.

The EPA data posted on Boston's new website, climatechangedata.boston.gov, is the same information that was removed from the federal agency's website soon after President Donald Trump and his administration took office.

The data is a range of findings from scientific research that explore "How" and "Why" the climate is changing as well as ways to combat global warming, namely reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The EPA website now has a link to the missing data once hosted on its webpage prior to the Trump administration taking office. A link at the very bottom of the page reads, "January 19, 2017 Web Snapshot" under a "Discover" tab.

Cities have led the charge on subjects like climate change and sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh is a strong proponent on both fronts.

The move by the city of Boston and other major cities follows the Trump administration's withdrawal from the international Paris climate accord on June 1. The move was widely condemned from leaders in Massachusetts, CEOs across the country and international allies.

"We have helped lead the world on progress on climate action. We will not let this be undone for foolish political reasons," Mayor Walsh said following the U.S. withdrawal earlier this month. "Our city depends upon it, our future depends upon it, our future generations depend upon it, our planet depends upon it."

Chicago became the first city to share the EPA data on its website in May.
If the diamond earrings from Hannoush Jewelers located at 227 Main St. in Northampton didn't catch your girlfriend's eye maybe the brand new Rolled Thai ice cream shop right next door will.

Husband and wife Jean Chen and Michael Zheng rolled into Northampton just days ago introducing Absolute Zero to the town's Main Street.

Chen said after visiting their friends in New York City they were inspired to start their own ice cream shop in Western Massachusetts.

"They're very busy over there, always seeing new customers," said Chen. "They encouraged us to start our own, so we did."

Rolled ice cream is an idea that originated in Thailand spreading to several Asian countries and now America.

"It's great. So much fun to watch and the ice cream is really good," Margaret Chappuis, an Easthampton resident said.

Northampton's Main Street has seen many changes over the past year welcoming more than just Absolute Zero to downtown.

Some residents have raised concern over the rapidly changing atmosphere while others are embracing it.

"As long as it's local and family owned I'll support it. When my daughter and I go to get coffee, she'll run over to Starbucks but I always support mom and pops," said Easthampton resident, Patty Gambarini.

Jackie Zheng, the couple's oldest son just graduated from UMass Amherst and is spending his summer helping his parents along with his younger brother, James Zheng.

The owner of Happy Valley, Nancy Cowen, sold her space for positive reasons, moving just doors down into a larger space where she says her goal is to host workshops for young local artist.

"Business owners are moving out because they're retiring, not because business is bad," said Gambarini.

Although this is Chen and Zheng's first Northampton shop, they are not first-time business owners. The couple has lived in Wilbraham since 1991 and has opened two restaurants in Springfield and West Springfield.

Chen said her friends in Northampton have done great business, even in the winter and she expects to do the same. She said they might even be adding a new menu item in the near future but well just have to wait and see.
When the remains of a deceased baby were discovered in a trash bag in Worcester late Monday, organizers at Baby Safe Haven New England in Marlborough knew they had to double their efforts.

What they'd planned to do in a year, they now would need to do in six months.

After being tipped off about a foul odor near 375 Lake Ave. in Worcester on Monday, authorities found the remains of a newborn baby left in the woods behind the property line behind 384 Lake Av. and near the railroad tracks. Two people, 36-year-old Jennifer Rheaume and 31-year-old Edwin Santiago, have been arrested and are facing charges in connection with the abandonment of the child.

But there are safe options for people to give up children. The Baby Safe Haven law passed in 2004 seeks to protect unwanted babies from being hurt or killed due to abandonment. Locations have been established where babies can be left. As long as they have not been abused, the person leaving the baby can do so without fear of arrest or prosecution.

Getting that message out to people at risk for abandoning a baby isn't easy.

The organization struggles to reach three core groups to share Baby Safe Haven's message with, including people with substance abuse issues, the very young, and recent immigrants from countries with no safe haven laws, or even students from states with virtually no safe haven law awareness programs.

In this case of the deceased baby discovered by authorities on Monday, Director of Baby Safe Haven New England Mike Morrisey said the couple facing charges fell into one of these three categories saying, "they were well known by the police."

Morrisey said the pair was making drug-induced decisions.

"The woman carrying the baby was not hiding her pregnancy and she wasn't hiding her drug use either," he said. "Going to get help would have been the last thing they would've done."

Since the discovery of the baby in Worcester, Baby Safe Haven has already begun taking multiple steps to increase awareness of the law.

Baby Safe Haven had a one-year plan to increase the number and the size of signs in Worcester and the surrounding areas, using teenagers and young adults as spokespeople in order to connect better with the younger demographic and sponsoring events young people attend.

Now, these steps have been condensed to be executed within the next six months.

Since the passage of the Baby Safe Haven law in 2004, this has been the first abandoned baby discovered in Worcester. The organization has seen a 90 percent decrease in the number of abandoned babies statewide since the law was passed.

Before the law's passage, 20 babies had been found in six and a half years. A little less than half of the cases were fatal. The organization sees about one abandonment every three years now across the state. This the second fatal case within the past 10 years.

How is the Baby Safe Haven law known in Worcester?

After interviewing 25-35 Clark University students, Baby Safe Haven studies found that the students knew about the law based solely off of signs in the area.

The organization plans on increasing signs near high schools, colleges, music festivals and concert venues- to target the younger demographic.

The baby found Monday afternoon was less than two and a half miles away from three Baby Safe Haven drop-off spots, one of which is UMass Memorial Medical Center.

"I was at almost right in front of the house within the past two weeks pulling up a map for directions. Catching this case was impossible," said Morrisey. "It's always going to happen to some degree."

Morrisey says he and the rest of the Baby Safe Haven staff are saddened by the incident but are taking steps moving forward to get young people talking about this.

"Whatever the laws are, get out there and talk to your peers because guys in suits at a podium aren't doing anything," he says.

Baby Safe Haven is using young performers who sing and dance to act as both spokespeople and activist for the organization.

Within the next six months, more than just signs will go up informing people of the laws and drop-off spots, the organization will be taking to the radio, the internet, and television to get people involved and spread the word to avoid another abandonment and potentially, another death.
SPRINGFIELD -- A 50-year-old city man has been sentenced to six years in state prison after pleading guilty to cocaine trafficking in the amount of 36 to 100 grams.

Luis Santiago also agreed to forfeit a Honda Accord and $15,025 in cash found by police when he was arrested.

Santiago, who was represented by attorney Dale E. Bass, was sentenced Monday in Hampden Superior Court.

He was charged with trafficking over 200 grams of cocaine but the charge was reduced as part of the plea agreement.

The case is still pending for co-defendant Maria Serrano, 55, who lived with Santiago in an 18th-floor Chestnut Towers apartment.

The two were arrested April 7, 2016. They were free pending trial after posting $15,000 bail each. Their cases are prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Amy D. Wilson.

Police seized more than 300 grams of cocaine from their apartment.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The EU reaffirms its strong commitment to cooperation with Eastern Partnership countries, Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy said at Eastern Partnership (EaP) ministerial meeting in Luxembourg June 19, the European Council said in a message.

The meeting brought together EU foreign ministers and their counterparts from the six Eastern Partnership countries to work on the preparations of the EaP summit to be held in November 2017 in Brussels.

"Today, we have reaffirmed the strong commitment of the EU and the Eastern Partners to our close cooperation. Our summit in November will show our unity and focus on concrete deliverables," Mogherini said.

The ministers confirmed that the upcoming summit should provide further guidance for strengthening cooperation in the four priority areas of engagement agreed at the last summit in Riga in 2015: a stronger governance; a stronger society; a stronger economy; and a stronger connectivity.

High Representative Federica Mogherini and Commissioner Johannes Hahn presented the ministers with a working document, jointly prepared by the European External Action Service and the European Commission: "Eastern Partnership - Focusing on key priorities and deliverables".

The document identifying 20 deliverables for 2020 in the four areas was first presented in December 2016 and revised this month based on contributions from EU Member States and EaP Partner countries. It lays out, in concrete terms, tangible results expected of the cooperation and should work as a common work plan, for the summit, and for 2020.

A new visual identity for the partnership, to highlight this more structured approach around the 4 priority areas and 20 deliverables, will be launched, this week on 22-23 June, at the 3rd EaP Youth Forum in Warsaw.

The Eastern Partnership initiative was launched in 2009 with the main focus on regional cooperation in the EU's eastern neighbourhood. It sets out to promote political association and economic integration with the EU among six EaP countries:, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and Armenia.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
The Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is inviting public comment about Montana State University during its seven-year regional accreditation process. MSU is currently accredited by the NWCCU.

Regional accreditation is a voluntary, selfregulatory process that helps assure a universitys quality and accountability. It also enables students to be eligible to receive federal financial aid and for many of MSUs programs to receive federal funding. The accreditation of MSU was last reaffirmed by NWCCU in 2010 on the basis of the fall 2009 comprehensive evaluation.

The commission will visit MSU Oct. 16-18 as part of its evaluation of the university.

MSU News Service

Full Story: http://www.montana.edu/news/16988/public-comment-invited-for-msu-reaccreditation
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Seba Aghayeva  Trend:

Azerbaijans Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov has commented for Trend on the results of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs Baku visit.

What can you say about the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs visit to Azerbaijan, particularly, about the call to continue substantive negotiations based on good intentions and political will of the parties, indicated in the statement issued June 19?

- During the visit of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to Azerbaijan, Azerbaijans constructive position on the conflict settlement process was again conveyed and a wide exchange of views was held on intensification of the negotiation process. They can give a positive result in case of holding negotiations based on good intentions.

Thus, we support the call of the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs to continue substantive negotiations based on good intentions and political will. The Azerbaijani side has repeatedly stated that it is ready for substantive negotiations on the conflicts settlement.

The time has come to take serious steps to resolve the conflict. The status quo based on the occupation must be changed. Therefore, Armenia must put an end to lies and various stipulations, and take part in the negotiations with good intentions and political will.
Senators #WhatsAtRisk Campaign Highlights People Who Could Lose Access to Health Care

(U.S. Senate)U.S. Senator Jon Tester http://www.tester.senate.gov/aca this week is sharing real stories from Montanans to highlight #WhatsAtRisk as 13 Senators secretly scheme to rewrite the American health care system and likely raise health insurance costs, yank coverage away from tens of thousands of Montanans and dry up access to quality care across Montana.

Tester will be rolling out firsthand accounts from Montanans who could lose access to health insurance, pay higher costs for prescription drugs, and be forced to pay more because of pre-existing conditions like diabetes and high-blood pressure.

"There are 13 Senators working behind closed doors on a secret health care bill that could kick thousands of Montanans off their health insurance, put rural hospitals at risk, and force folks in their 50s and 60s to pay more for health care," Tester said. "To ensure Montanans have their voices heard during these secret meetings, I am going to share firsthand stories from folks who will be impacted by a deadly rewrite of Americas health care system."

In December, Tester launched a webpage for Montanans to submit their personal stories about #WhatsAtRisk if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act. Tester has received over 3,600 pieces of health care correspondence from Montanans.

Tester will share these stories on his Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/senatortester/ and during a speech on the Senate floor.

Testers first story comes from Justin Anthony in Missoula:

After a minor heart incident in 2004, from which I completely recovered two months later, I was denied health insurance. They used every incident in my medical record to justify not covering a person who went to the doctor and took care of himself. I could not afford any medical intervention on several conditions that continued to worsen. In 2013 I was involved in a vehicle crash and grossly self-underinsured. I am still paying St Pats the equivalent of a new F250 every month. Nine years after my first denials I was insured through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and managed to catch up on some of my health issues. Among other things my back was too far gone and needed a double fusion. This year I had total knee replacement. I have endured years of pain and could not work. ACA has changed everything and I am returning to an active, productive life again.

The House of Representatives passed the American Health Care Act last month, and a recent nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office report reported that the bill will:

 Cause 23 million more Americans to be uninsured in the next decade.

 Force seniors, Montanans nearing retirement, and people with pre-existing conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, to pay higher premiums.

 Cut Medicaid by $834 billion.

 Force one in six Americans to live in areas with unstable insurance markets by 2020.

The secret Senate health care bill is expected to go directly to the Senate floor for a final vote next week without a public hearingdenying Montanans the ability to provide input on the future of health care.

Montanans can still share their health care story with Tester on his webpage http://www.tester.senate.gov/aca.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced that the 1st International Conference on Public Health in Africa (CPHIA), which was postponed earlier this year due to COVID-19, will now take place virtually 14-16 December 2021.

The conference offers a unique platform for African researchers, policymakers and stakeholders to share scientific findings and public health perspectives and collaborate on research, innovation and public health across the continent.

The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over in Africa. With 7 million infections and almost 175,000 lives lost across the continent, its impact has already been severe. Economic and social disruptions caused by COVID-19 have threatened even more lives and livelihoods, putting years of human development progress at risk of reversal.

Africa has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, COVID-19 has created a historic opportunity to build a new public health order that makes health for all a reality across the continent. Together, we can build health systems and manufacturing capacities to effectively respond to multiple health threats, said John Nkengasong, MSc, PhD, Director of the Africa CDC. The Africa CDCs inaugural annual conference provides a platform that capitalizes on the knowledge, experience and ambition of Africans to collectively pave the way for a healthier future for all.

Over the course of three days, scientific tracks focusing on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, health systems strengthening and learnings from the COVID-19 response will be covered through keynote and panel presentations, plenaries and participatory sessions with a special focus on skill-building for early career professionals. An Organizing Committee of more than 15 health leaders from across Africa and the globe are helping to shape the strategic direction of the conference.

CPHIA Co-Chair and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity, Professor Agnes Binagwaho, MD, M(Ped), PhD shared: By convening some of the leading figures in public health in Africa, the conference will provide a forum to review lessons learned from COVID-19 and to shape more resilient health systems that can effectively respond to future crises. We are eager to see up-and-coming future leaders take center stage in front of their peers as they work to advance public health, scientific education and research in Africa.

The past 18 months have been full of uncertainty and hardship  especially for women and girls and other marginalized groups  but one clear message has emerged: to build a healthier and more equitable future for all Africans, we need African leadership and African-led solutions, said Professor Senait Fisseha, MD, JD CPHIA Co-Chair and Director of Global Programs and the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation. I am so inspired by the immense talent and expertise we already have on our continent, and in awe of the leadership of Africa CDC. Through this unique platform, we can chart a bold path forward to improve health care for all people.

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Recent events in Iran have sparked waves of protest in more than 150 cities all over the country, young people and mostly women are protesting for their rights to be respected and fighting for equality.

Violent repression has already led to the death of 190+ civilians since the start of protests, 2 weeks ago.

According to International media, access to Instagram and WhatsApp has been suspended since the 29th of September

Commission des Femmes du MMM and Jeunesse Militante salute the brave women putting their lives on the line by standing up for their rights and fighting for equality.

We strongly condemn the use of force and violence by authorities against protestors, in blatant violation of their human rights.

We urge the Iranian government to end this brutal repression and to abide by its Universal Declaration of Human Rights commitments, particularly those made with regard to guaranteeing the freedom of expression, opinion and peaceful assembly.

We stand in solidarity with the Iranian people and show our staunch support to all peaceful protestors.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has visited the Embassy of Germany to offer condolences over the death of former Federal Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany Helmut Kohl.

The head of state signed a book of condolences.

Then President Ilham Aliyev spoke with ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany Michael Kindsgrab.

The head of state extended condolences to the people of Germany over the death of Helmut Kohl. President Ilham Aliyev hailed outstanding statesman, great and historical figure Helmut Kohls significant services to his people.

He played an indispensable role in the unification of Germany and strengthening of the European Union, said the Azerbaijani president.

The head of state said national leader Heydar Aliyev and Helmut Kohl established Azerbaijani-German relations. President Ilham Aliyev said that during his presidency Heydar Aliyev paid one of his first visits to Germany, adding that this visit and meetings held with the late Helmut Kohl laid the foundation of bilateral relations. The head of state said the national leader shared his good impressions from the meeting with Helmut Kohl with him.

President Ilham Aliyev said bilateral relations between the two countries successfully develop, adding that cooperation covers several fields and has good prospects.

Ambassador Michael Kindsgrab thanked for condolences and kind words. He highlighted the development of Azerbaijani-German relations.

They exchanged views over preparations for the 200th jubilee of Germans arrival in Azerbaijan.
Baku Higher Oil School (BHOS) received international certificate in ISO 10002:2014 standard: Quality management  Customer satisfaction  Guidelines for complaints handling in organizations. The certificate is awarded to the Higher School on the basis of an audit recently conducted by Turkish Standards Institution (TSE). Turkish Ambassador Erkan Ozoral, Head of the Education, Training and Certification Department of SOCAR Fuad Suleymanov and TSE Representative in Azerbaijan Selim Chelebi attended the award ceremony held at BHOS.

Opening the gathering, Rector of the Baku Higher Oil School Elmar Gasimov said that award of the new ISO certificate to BHOS became a vivid evidence of the effective management of the Higher School activities. Compliance with ISO standards gives our teachers and researchers more opportunities to participate in various international projects, said the rector.

TSE Representative in Azerbaijan Selim Chelebi expressed his congratulations to BHOS management and staff members on the successful certification in one more ISO standard. He said that Higher School carries out activities in full compliance with international requirements in terms of quality management and expressed his confidence that fruitful cooperation between TSE and BHOS would continue to develop.

Speaking about the Higher School activities, Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral told about BHOS effective international cooperation and partnership relations with foreign institutions. In his words, these major accomplishments can help the Baku Higher Oil School become one of the leading international universities. Head of the Education, Training and Certification Department of SOCAR Fuad Suleymanov praised the Higher School management for the achievements in training of highly qualified specialists and applying international quality standards in the teaching and learning activities.

Then the TSE Representative in Azerbaijan Selim Chelebi presented the BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov with the international certificate in ISO 10002:2014 standard. It provides guidance on the process of complaints handling related to products within an organization, including planning, design, operation, maintenance, and improvement. Earlier, BHOS became the first higher educational institution in Azerbaijan to receive ISO certification on three standards: ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems), ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Safety and Safety Management Systems).
Morgan County Veterans Day Parade slated Nov. 11 Audio Article The Morgan County Veterans Day Parade will be held on Friday, Nov. 11. The parade will form at the Commons, in McConnelsville, at 9:30 a.m. and set out at 10 a.m. The American Legion Post 24 will render honors at the monuments at the Commons, Riecker Building, the Square, at...

A concert with two purposes Audio Article Wednesday, Nov. 30, a concert with dual purposes is being held at the Twin City Opera House in McConnelsville, Ohio. Its a thank-you to healthcare workers, who can attend for free, and its a benefit for the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society. In September 2021, Rick Shriver contracted COVID-19. He collapsed...

BOE reminder of early voting hours and polling location change Audio Article Remaining early voting hours at the Morgan County Board of Elections are as follows: from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov, 2 through Friday, Nov. 4; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5; from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 6; and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m....

Lions Club announces annual Wreaths Across America Audio Article On Saturday, Dec. 17, the Chesterhill Lions Club will be joining with National Wreaths Across America in the laying of wreaths at each of the seven cemeteries located in Marion Township. The mission is to honor the local veterans who have served our nation so their families can rest assured...

Governor DeWine awards $6.7 million for domestic violence survivor programs Audio Article Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has announced that he is awarding $6.7 million to support the work of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network (ODVN) to offer mobile and health advocacy services and temporary residential services for domestic violence survivors across the state. The announcement comes during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month....

CDC committee vote wont change Ohio school vaccine requirement Audio Article Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, MBA has released the following statement: The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommendation for the COVID-19 vaccine to be added to the formulary or schedule of vaccines for children does not mandate this vaccine for school children. Ohio law determines...
The British Council in Azerbaijan in partnership with the State Vocational Agency under the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and the five-star hotels of Azerbaijan has successfully piloted an apprenticeship model for the hospitality sector. Even before the graduation of the one-year pilot programme, many of the participants have already received job offers. The programme has been successfully completed and the graduates of the programme awarded certificates.

The certificate ceremony of the programme took place on 19 June, at the Baku State Vocational Education Centre on Tourism and Social Services. The event was attended by Elizabeth White, the Country Director of the British Council in Azerbaijan, Famil Mustafayev, Director of the State Vocational Education Agency, Fikret Nabiyev, Director of Baku State Training Centre for Tourism and Social Services, General Managers of partner hotels, trainers and students.

The programme was set up within the Baku State Training Centre for Tourism and Social Services and covered three specialities - chef, hotel concierge and housekeeping attendant. Programme participants took part in a one-year intensive study programme taught by the trainers working in the hotel industry who in their turn had been trained by People 1st, a leading UK organisation specialising in hospitality development.

The Access to Hospitality and Apprenticeship Scheme was introduced in summer 2016 in a three-way partnership between the British Council, the State Vocational Education Agency and the leading five-star hotels of Baku. Within the programme, new curricula for vocational training for the three specialities was developed by the UK experts People 1st.

Apprenticeship is a vital part of the sectors ongoing development. The key players of the sector in Azerbaijan - the leading hotels supported the programme during the academic year: Absheron Hotels Group, JW Marriott, Four Seasons, Hyatt Regency, Fairmont, Hilton, Pullman, and Gilan Tourism. All the hotels were happy to accept apprentices from the one-year training course for regular ongoing workplace training, and the students named this as an extremely valuable and motivating element of the training

Azerbaijan now has a pool of trained, highly-motivated trainers, as well as a large number of trainees and apprentices in the programme now beginning to make their careers in hospitality. The programme is planned to be cascaded to other vocational centres focusing on tourism in Baku and regions of Azerbaijan as per the agreement with the State VET Agency and hotels of Azerbaijan.

The British Council in Azerbaijan thanks the State Vocational Agency and all the partner hotels of the programme.

The British Council is the UKs international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. It creates friendly knowledge and understanding between the people of the UK and other countries. Using the UKs cultural resources the British Council makes a positive contribution to the countries it works with  changing lives by creating opportunities, building connections and engendering trust.

The British Council works with over 100 countries across the world in the fields of arts and culture, English language, education and civil society. Each year it reaches over 20 million people face-to-face and more than 500 million people online, via broadcasts and publications.

Founded in 1934, the Council is a UK charity governed by Royal Charter and a UK public body. The majority of its income is raised delivering a range of projects and contracts in English teaching and examinations, education and development contracts and from partnerships with public and private organisations. Eighteen percent of the Councils funding is received from the UK government.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

Trend:

The US Embassy in Azerbaijan is pleased to open the Ganja American Corner, located at Ganjas Central Library. Ambassador Cekuta attended the opening ceremony, delivering brief remarks about the importance of the American Corner as a resource for the local community. Representatives of Ganjas Executive Committee and Ministry of Culture were also present. The Embassy presented new equipment, technology and materials to the library, and the space will be open for language learning and educational programming this summer. Ambassador Cekuta also met with alumni of U.S. government exchange programs to learn how their experience in the U.S. has helped them in their careers, and what they are doing to give back to their community in Ganja.

The American Corner Program, which includes a flagship Baku American Center at the Azerbaijan University of Languages and regional American Corners in Ganja, Kurdemir, Salyan and Xachmas, is an excellent resource for Azerbaijanis looking to improve their English, access information about the United States, learn more about educational or exchange opportunities, or participate in innovative high-tech projects at the Maker Space. The corners offer lectures, conversation clubs, and a variety of other activities, as well as free internet and computer access for everyone in the community.

For more information about the Ganja American Center, please visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/americancenterbaku/ or contact the U.S. Embassys Information Center at 488 3300, x3617.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

Dalga Khatinoglu  Trend:

Iran will construct 6,500 km long railroads in five years, Hossein Ashoori, member of board and head of international transportation at Iranian Railways, told Trend.

He added that the figure includes the underdeveloped projects as well, while construction of further 3,500 km railroads after 2022 is under study now.

He didnt mention the needed investment for the projects, but the General Director of Iranian Railways Saeed Mohammadzadeh told Trend June 19 that during the past four years, Iran invested $1 billion annually in railroad projects, and for the next five years the figure would reach $1.5 to $2 billion annually.

Currently, Iranian railroad grids length is 10,170 km.

One of the railroad projects is the Rasht-Astara segment with 175 km length, after completion of which, the North-South Transport Corridor will become fully operational.

The International North-South Transport Corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

The corridor is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo per year at the initial stage and 15-20 million tons of cargo in the future.

The only remaining section of the project in Iran is the Rasht-Astara segment, which Iran plans to complete in three years through a loan from Azerbaijan. Financial talks continue and an agreement is at the final stage, Ashoori said.

The Rasht-Astara segment would need $1.1 billion worth of investment. Iran and Azerbaijan are negotiating on a $0.5 billion loan.
Traditional therapies for chronic low back pain are often ineffective. New research shows that yoga may be a good alternative for treating this condition.

Share on Pinterest New research suggests yoga may be just as good for relieving chronic back pain as physical therapy.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), approximately 80 percent of the American adult population will have low back pain at one point or another, with men and women being equally affected.

For most of these people, the pain is acute and does not last very long. For others, however, it turns into chronic back pain  meaning that it lasts for at least 12 weeks, even when the cause of the pain has been dealt with.

Treatment options for low back pain include muscle strengthening exercises, physical therapy sessions, and analgesic medication. When these therapies fail, surgery is also an option.

Unfortunately, none of the above therapies have proven highly successful. Between 25 and 80 percent of people who were treated for chronic low back pain experience a recurrence within a year from the treatment.

For this reason, people living with chronic pain often resort to alternative therapies, such as acupuncture or yoga. The NIH report that there is enough evidence to support the short- and long-term benefits of yoga for relieving chronic low back pain.

Previous studies have indeed suggested that yoga and stretching help ease low back pain.

But chronic low back pain tends to affect racial and ethnic minorities in particular, as well as people with a lower socioeconomic background. In this population  as well as in those who have more severe pain  the benefits of yoga may not have been studied sufficiently.

So, researchers from the Boston Medical Center set out to examine the effect of yoga sessions on a group of 320 adults with chronic low back pain. The participants were of various races and ethnicities; overall, they also had an income equal to or lower than $30,000 per year.

The findings were published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine. The first author of the study is Dr. Robert B. Saper.
Australian researchers have developed a world first test to identify which influenza patients will need urgent, life-saving, medical treatment.

The High-risk Influenza Screen Test (HIST) measures 'an early warning signal' released by the patient's body into their blood to 'kick start' their immune system's fight against the infection.

he test, developed by Dr Benjamin Tang - a doctor from the Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Nepean Hospital and medical researcher at Westmead Institute for Medical Research - needs only a single drop of blood and a few hours to predict, with 91 percent accuracy, which influenza patients will develop potentially deadly secondary infections, such as pneumonia.

Previously doctors could only test for influenza infection but didn't know which patients would be at risk of rapid deterioration.

"Influenza can sometimes kill otherwise healthy people in the prime of their lives," says Dr Tang.

"By using the High-risk Influenza Screen Test we're eavesdropping on the immune system to pick up when the body first mounts a defence against a serious, life-threatening, infection. The early warning means we have a greater chance to treat the patient's infection before it overwhelms them and potentially kills them," says Dr Tang.

The research, published today by Dr Tang and colleagues in the European Respiratory Journal, deciphered the genetic codes that immune cells release to warn the body of a serious infection, such as pneumonia, caused by the influenza virus.

HIST will be particularly useful during pandemics when there is a delay in developing vaccines for strains of the influenza virus.

"We can now test people during a pandemic, or outbreak of a new flu virus, to identify those who might be at greater risk of developing serious complications. The test works with any flu infection as it looks at how the body reacts rather than the strain or type of virus."

Dr Tang says HIST could also be used to track the effectiveness of new drugs in clinical trials by accurately plotting the patient's immune response.

The patented High-risk Influenza Screen Test runs on equipment already available in most pathology laboratories.

Article: A novel immune biomarker IFI27 discriminates between influenza and bacteria in patients with suspected respiratory infection, Benjamin M. Tang et al., European Respiratory Journal, doi: 10.1183/13993003.02098-2016, published online 15 June 2017.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Azad Hasanli  Trend:

Director-General of the International Labor Organization (ILO) Guy Ryder will visit Azerbaijan in May 2018, said Azerbaijani Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Population Salim Muslumov.

The minister made the remarks at a press conference in Baku June 20.

Muslumov said that Ryder will take part in a big conference, which will be dedicated to the 95th birth anniversary of National Leader Heydar Aliyev.

Despite the fact that Azerbaijan has been a member of the International Labor Organization for 25 years, ILO head has never visited the country, noted the minister.

He recalled that Azerbaijan has recently become a member of the ILO Governing Body for the first time in its history.

This is a great success for Azerbaijan, said Muslumov. Entering into the ILO Governing Body means to take a direct part in the preparation of international labor standards, the adoption of political decisions, as well as the dissemination of the organizations initiatives on employment and social protection on the international arena, he noted.

The minister added that only those countries which achieved successes in the relevant field can become a member of the ILO Governing Body.
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If cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is initiated by a member of the public, this will in essence shorten the time between cardiac arrest and the urgently needed resuscitation measures. However, bystander resuscitation occurs in just of 30-60% of patients who have a cardiac arrest outside hospital.The EHRA First Responder App was developed to increase the rate of bystander resuscitation and reduce the time between cardiac arrest and resuscitation. Based on GPS tracking technology, the app is used by existing emergency services (reached in many countries by dialling 112) to locate trained "app rescuers" and then automatically direct them to the scene of cardiac arrest. The target is for an app rescuer to arrive three to four minutes after the cardiac arrest.In a typical scenario, after the cardiac arrest a bystander calls the emergency services. The operator dispatches an emergency crew and simultaneously locates nearby app rescuers.The nearest app rescuers are notified on their smartphones and the quickest responder is given directions, via the app, to the patient and then performs CPR. Other app rescuers can then additionally bring a nearby automated external defibrillator (AED).The app was tested in Germany, where around 600 app rescuers were recruited. In 36% of cardiac arrests an app rescuer arrived more than three minutes before the emergency services.App rescuers were recruited through a local media campaign and 70% were already medically trained. The 30% without medical training took a basic life support course and committed to retaking it every two years."Recruitment of the app rescuers was no problem at all because people want to help," said Dr Elsner. Project organisers are now asking emergency dispatch units (fire departments and hospitals) across Germany to connect to the app so that they have free access to the fleet of app rescuers."The software has a standard interface and can be easily connected to most emergency alert systems in Europe in just a few steps," said Dr Elsner. "We provide insurance for app users and we have a guarantee of data security from the German Department for Data Security in Schleswig-Holstein."Dr Elsner concluded: "Ultimately we will roll the app out across Europe. We hope to raise bystander resuscitation rates to 70-90% and for cardiac arrest patients to be resuscitated in three to four minutes on average."Source: Eurekalert
International Yoga Day - 2017

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The UN Headquarters at New York was illuminated with the word 'Yoga' on this occasion

China is organizing several yoga events all over the country including the Great Wall of China. Yoga has caught the imagination of the Chinese over the past few years.

In France practitioners of yoga gathered at the Eiffel Tower to perform yoga asanas

In Washington USA, several persons gathered in front of the National Mall to perform yoga.

Celebrations are also being held in Japan, Singapore, Cambodia, Pakistan, Hungary and Israel to name a few.

Objectives Of The World Yoga Day - Benefits Of Yoga

Creating awareness about the amazing benefits of yoga

Connecting people to nature through the practice of yoga

Familiarizing individuals to the concept of meditation through yoga

To reduce the incidence of various lifestyle diseases and cancers all over the world

Bringing communities together to spend a day for health, with some time-out from their busy schedules

Spreading the message of peace and development all through the world

Improving physical and mental wellbeing through yoga

To obtain some relief from the stress and tensions of the present day world

Making people aware of physical diseases that can be brought about by mental states and overcoming it through practicing yoga

To promote good lifestyle choices for better health and giving up unhealthy practices

Letting people know their rights to good health and healthy lifestyle and to achieve the highest standards of health through the practice of yoga

Promoting the idea of the link between good health and sustainable development

During his address to the UN General Assembly Narendra Modi stated that " Yoga is an invaluable gift of India's ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise, but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day."This year, nearly 180 countries including United Nations (UN) organizations, and international and regional organizations all over the globe including the USA, Canada, China, Japan and many parts of Europe, are celebrating International Yoga Day by organizing events in popular locations, university campuses.The various events would include yoga competitions, with prominent personalities speaking about the positive effects of yoga, in an attempt to spread the message of this ancient practice in a manner appropriate to their culture and priorities.The International Yoga Day hopes to spread its message far and wide and make the practice of yoga a global phenomenon.In an address to the nation over the radio, the"This (Yoga) is India's prescription of wellness to the world," he further added.Noted yoga guru Baba Ramdev has also suggested thatof the children and for making them into global citizens.Already several countries have kick-started celebrations with several yoga enthusiasts performingat various yoga events that being organized across the world.Some of the notable events organized on this occasion worldwide include the following:The following are some of the benefits of regular practice of yoga:In conclusion, it is never too late to begin regular yoga practice and enjoy good physical and mental health. Yoga can help rid the world of various diseases that pose a serious challenge to overall development and progress and that impose a huge burden on health costs and available resources.Source: Medindia
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

It is necessary to bring the trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Latvia to a higher level, said Huseyngulu Bagirov, Azerbaijans minister of ecology and natural resources.

Bagirov, who is also a co-chairman of Latvia-Azerbaijan intergovernmental commission on economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation, made the remarks at the commissions meeting in Baku June 20.

The minister noted that the current level of trade turnover between the two countries doesnt correspond to the high level of bilateral relations.

As of late 2016, trade turnover between Azerbaijan and Latvia totaled $8.75 million, he said.

The co-chairman noted that the import of Latvian products accounted for $7.9 million out of this amount, while the export of Azerbaijani goods accounted for $0.85 million.

This is an unsatisfactory indicator and is a signal that it needs to be increased, added Baghirov.

According to Azerbaijans State Customs Committee, the countrys trade turnover with Latvia amounted to $3.72 million in January-May 2017 that is by 11.5 percent more than in the same period of 2016.

Meanwhile, the export of Azerbaijani goods to Latvia rose by 16 percent during the year and amounted to $312,010 and the import of the Latvian products increased by 11.1 percent  up to $3.4 million.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:

Financial Monitoring Service of Azerbaijans Financial Market Supervisory Authority has added German citizen Fared Saal to the list of persons subject to international sanctions for their support of terrorism, said a report of the service posted on its website.

Saal is wanted for his terrorist activity  he is a member of the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist group, according to the report.

This is the 14th change made to the list in 2017. The list is updated in accordance with the UN Security Councils decisions and the information received from regional organizations.

According to an order of the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan, the international list is approved and updated by the Financial Monitoring Service based on the information received from the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The Financial Monitoring Service of Azerbaijan was established Feb. 23, 2009.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Anvar Mammadov  Trend:

Azerbaijan and Latvia today signed a protocol following the 7th meeting of the Latvia-Azerbaijan Intergovernmental Commission for Economic, Scientific, Technical and Cultural Cooperation.

The agreement was signed by co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Commission  Azerbaijani Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources Huseyngulu Baghirov and Latvian Minister for Transport Uldis Augulis.

The protocol envisages the development and expansion of the Azerbaijan-Latvia cooperation in trade, investment, science, education, culture, tourism, transportation, communications, agriculture, health, energy, construction, regional development, environmental protection, labor, employment and social protection of population.

The sides also discussed a draft memorandum of understanding between the justice ministries of Azerbaijan and Latvia and a number of other bilateral agreements.

The next meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission will be held in Latvia.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Qatar Petroleum has announced fuel-oil bunkering solutions for all vessels calling on Qatari ports, following the sanctions imposed on the country by its neighboring countries.

This vessel-borne fueling facility is available for all vessels lifting any Qatari seaborne imports or exports, said the message on the website of Qatar Petroleum.

Qatar Petroleum also announced that the first of several shipments carrying fuel oil (for bunkering purposes) has arrived safely at its Ras Laffan anchorage.

President and CEO of Qatar Petroleum Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi said that this is a first and important step towards self-reliance for fuel-oil bunkering solutions for all vessels.

Due to the unfortunate ongoing crisis, many of our clients were impacted by regional decisions limiting their ability to meet their commitments in a timely and cost-effective manner. We took it upon ourselves to assist our clients overcome this challenge by introducing measures to ensure the continuous and reliable energy supplies, he added.

This temporary ship-to-ship fuel bunkering facility will meet the companys clients safety and commercial expectations, and will continue until a permanent solution is implemented, according to Al-Kaabi.

The spat began after Qatars state-run news agency, QNA, released remarks attributed to ruling Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, in which he criticized other Gulf leaders and called for an easing of tensions with Iran. QNA has denied that the comments were made by the Emir, claiming that they were the result of a cyber attack. But this hasnt washed with Saudi Arabia and its allies. They argue that the comments highlight Dohas close ties with Iran and reinforce their long-held concerns over Qatars support for terrorism.

Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and Maldives have severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of fueling extremism and terrorism.

On the morning of June 6, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) closed its seaports, as well as its airspace, to all Qatari vessels and aircraft, accusing Doha of supporting extremism.

The same day, both DP World, Dubais port operator, and the Port of Fujairah, barred all ships flying Qatari flags from calling on the UAEs ports.

The ports decision to reject Qatari vessels was in line with the UAE governments move to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Russian President Vladimir Putin hopes that good relations between Moscow and Bishkek will keep their friendly relations after the change of Kyrgyz president in October, Russian news agency TASS reported.

Putin made the statement at the meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart Almazbek Atambayev in Moscow June 20.

"I hope that everything that was laid during the term of your presidency, which expires soon, will be continued, and we will be strengthening bilateral relations and relations in the whole region," Putin said.

Russian president noted that, Moscow and Bishkek are "close allies and reliable friends.

Atambayev, in turn, noted that Russian-Kyrgyz relations should develop dynamically and thanked Russia for great support rendered to Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz president is on the state visit to Russia at the invitation of Vladimir Putin.

The next presidential election in Kyrgyzstan will be held October 15, 2017. Atambayev has no right to participate in the upcoming election, since the Kyrgyz law prohibits the countrys citizens from being elected president for two consecutive terms.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

The presence of Russia's military base in Kyrgyzstan ensures security in the Central Asian region, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after negotiations with Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambaev in Moscow June 20, RIA Novosti reported.

Military-technical and military cooperation is an important component of the strategic relations between Russia and Kyrgyzstan... Today we also confirmed our common understanding that the presence of the Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan is important for ensuring stability and security in the Central Asian region, and this meets our long-term interests and the interests of all our allies in the Collective Security Treaty Organization, Putin said.

Russian president also said that he agreed with Atambayev to step up cooperation in the fight against terrorism in the framework of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

We agreed with our Kyrgyz partners to continue close cooperation in the fight against terrorism and propaganda of extremist ideology, and expressed our support for building up cooperation in this sphere within international regional organizations, including the specialized structures of the CSTO and the SCO, he said.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed a protocol to the 2012 intergovernmental agreement on writing off Kyrgyz debts to Russia, the Kremlins press service said in a message June 20.

The document was signed during the visit of Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev to Moscow.

Moreover, Atambayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a declaration on strengthening the alliance and strategic partnership between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

The two countries also signed a treaty on the development of military-technical cooperation and an intergovernmental agreement on the legal status of representative offices of the migration authorities.

Besides, bilateral agreements in health and financial education and on exchange of statistical information on mutual trade were signed during Atambayevs visit to Russia.
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CASEVILLE  Pete Falkenberg, of Caseville, will receive an associate degree in diesel service technology posthumously from Baker College.

Falkenberg died at the age of 20 in a vehicle repair accident at home in October 2016.

Pete loved getting dirty and working on cars and trucks, said Terri Falkenberg, Petes mother. The students and instructors at Baker College were like family to him. We didnt fully understand the bond until so many of them came to Petes funeral. Were grateful for their support.

As an instructor, when Petes name showed up on your class roster, you knew it would be a good class, said Baker College Diesel Instructor Neal Bixby. He brought experience and goodwill into each class, and he was on track to become an excellent technician. Pete will always be fondly remembered by his instructors and classmates.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, June 20

By Huseyn Hasanov  Trend:

Deserts occupy 80 percent of the territory of Turkmenistan, and both cultivated and uncultivated lands are subject to various degrees of desertification, the Neutral Turkmenistan newspaper reported June 20.

The National Institute of Desert, Flora and Fauna of the State Committee of Turkmenistan for Environmental Protection and Land Resources is addressing these issues in the country.

Aman Babaev, leading research fellow at the institute, said in an interview with the Neutral Turkmenistan that desertification is aggravated by natural factors  mudflows, dust storms, fluctuations of the level of the Caspian and Aral seas.

Turkmenistan was one of the first countries to ratify the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in 1996, starting a year later to implement a national action plan.

Rational use of pastures, forestry development, afforestation, and improvement of irrigated lands are among the main aspects of this action plan.

When monitoring desertification processes, special attention is paid to a region bordering the Aral Sea.
TUSCOLA COUNTY  Although some news reports say the site of the new state hospital will be built in Tuscola County, an official announcement of that has not been made.

That has been discussed and it does look good, but that decision has to officially be announced, said State Rep. Edward Canfield. The governor will have the final say on where and he hasnt said yet. An announcement on his decision is expected soon.
BAD AXE  A group of six Port Austin Township residents recently filed a civil lawsuit against the townships board for violating terms of the Open Meetings Act in an attempt to move forward with construction of a new township hall.

According to the lawsuit, filed Friday, the township board held a special meeting on May 30 with members of the public supportive of a building site for a new municipal building on Hellems Road.

However, earlier in the month, township voters denied issuing bond money to help finance the construction of a new hall at the May 2 election.

The lawsuit alleges Township Clerk Debra Hubbard, Treasurer Amanda Nienaltowski, and trustees Diane Jodin and Scott Kasper conducted the May 30 special meeting, but did not provide proper notice, which is a violation of the Open Meetings Act.

Supervisor Brandt Rousseaux was not notified of the meeting, according to court records. Rousseaux opposed relocation of the proposed building site and wasnt provided notice of the meeting, court records state.

The lawsuit is asking Huron County Circuit Court to issue a temporary restraining order preventing any further action regarding motions to build or enter any agreements for a loan with Chemical Bank. The hearing will go before Judge Gerald M. Prill at 9 a.m. this Friday.

According to unapproved minutes, filed in the lawsuit, a phone call was placed to Rousseaux, and there was no response.

However, in Rousseauxs affidavit, he said he received a text at 8:34 a.m. the morning of the meeting, but did not read it until 9:04 a.m.  which was four minutes after the meeting began. He was not in the Port Austin Township area the day of the meeting, records show.
Camp Lejeune Town Halls Aim to Help Those Exposed to Toxic Water. Heres How You Can Go.

Retired Marine Master Sgt. Jerry Ensminger made it his mission to tell the world that if they lived or served on Camp Lejeune...
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 20

By Demir Azizov  Trend:

Uzbekistans President Shavkat Mirziyoyev by his decree has approved the Uzbek-Russian intergovernmental agreements on cooperation in the field of labor migration.

In particular, agreements on the organized recruitment of Uzbek citizens for temporary work in Russia, and on the mutual establishment of representative offices of migration authorities have been approved by the Uzbek president.

The agreements were signed during the visit of the Uzbek president to Moscow April 4-5.

Once the agreements come into force, they will contribute to the security and tranquility of the Uzbek citizens working in Russia.
An armed Russian fighter jet buzzed a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft in the Baltic Sea on Monday, two U.S. officials told Fox News.

The Russian Su-27 jet had missiles under its wings and approached the U.S. Air Force RC-135 recon jet "rapidly," coming within five feet of the American aircraft, the officials said.

Once alongside, the Russian jet was "provocative" in its flight maneuvers and flying "erratically," according to another official.

Since June 2nd there have been over 35 interactions in the Baltic Sea region between U.S. and Russian jets and warships, but the incident Monday morning is notable because the U.S. military considered it "unsafe," according to one official.

The incident comes one day after the Russian Defense Ministry said it would treat any U.S. jet flying west of the Euphrates River in Syria as a potential target, following a U.S. Navy jet's shoot-down of a Syrian jet that was targeting U.S.-aligned fighters.

The Russian military has supported Syrian President Bashar Assad for decades and deployed dozens of fighter jets and helicopter gunships to shore up the Syrian regime in September 2015.

For the past few weeks, the US military has participated in a large military training exercise in the Baltic region, including the use of B-52 nuclear-capable bombers and the long-range B-1 bomber.

Dozens of U.S. and allied warships also participated in the Baltic Sea exercise amid heightened tensions with Russia. The "Baltops" exercise concluded over the weekend.

It was not immediately clear how close the US military recon jet was flying near Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between NATO allies Poland and Lithuania. This fall, Russia moved nuclear-capable ballistic missiles to Kaliningrad, putting some European capitals in strike range.

The U.S. Air Force did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Related content:
An F-15E Strike Eagle on Tuesday shot down an armed drone belonging to the Syrian regime that was advancing on coalition forces in the southern part of the country, U.S. Central Command said.

The move comes days after an F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down an Su-22 Fitter fighter-bomber over Syria, which marked the U.S. military's first air-to-air kill involving manned aircraft in nearly two decades.

"The armed pro-regime Shaheed-129 [unmanned aerial vehicle] was shot down by a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle at approximately 12:30 a.m. after it displayed hostile intent and advanced on Coalition forces," the command said in a release.

Officials said coalition forces were patrolling an established combat outpost to the northeast of At Tanf, where they're training and advising partner ground forces in the fight against ISIS.

Related content:

Similarly, an F-15E on June 8 shot down an unidentified drone deemed hostile toward coalition forces in At Tanf. During that incident, the drone dropped a single munition near U.S.-backed forces. It was also believed to be an Iranian-manufactured Shaheed drone.

Central Command on Tuesday said the drone shootdown happened in the same location. It marks the second time that forces supporting the Syrian government have attacked or tracked inside a so-called "deconfliction" zone near At Tanf, close to the Jordanian border.

"The F-15E intercepted the armed UAV after it was observed advancing on the Coalition position. When the armed UAV continued to advance on the Coalition position without diverting its course, it was shot down," the release said.

"The Coalition has made it clear to all parties publically [sic] and through the de-confliction line with Russian forces that the demonstrated hostile intent and actions of pro-regime forces toward Coalition and partner forces in Syria conducting legitimate counter-ISIS operations will not be tolerated," it said.

"We are very well prepared and positioned to defend ourselves," Operation Inherent Resolve spokesman Army Col. Ryan Dillon said earlier this month. "We've clearly showed we are able to do that. We do not want to continue this everyday [as it] distracts from our goal to defeat" the Islamic State, he said.

Contrary to reports from Russia's defense ministry, American officials on Tuesday said there is "a deconfliction mechanism in place" with Russian forces. The communications channel has been repeatedly used to avoid air mishaps and to relay messages of concern when hostile forces approach the deconfliction zones.

The deconfliction zone is an area in which U.S. and Russian forces have agreed not to operate. The zone previously applied to airspace but now includes ground territory, a defense official told Military.com.

The ministry on Monday said it suspended cooperation with the U.S. on deconfliction zones following the Su-22 shootdown. Russia has accused CentCom, the combatant command overseeing the Middle East, of violating the memorandum of understanding set up between the two countries in 2015.

The memorandum established a phone "hotline" the militaries use to alert one another of actions they're taking in Syria.

The strike against the pro-Syrian regime forces marks the fifth strike in recent weeks by the coalition.

U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has said the pro-Syrian forces are backed by Iran, and have been knowingly operating "inside an established and agreed-upon deconfliction zone."

They are believed to be a threat to coalition forces in the region, he has said.

Meanwhile, Russia said it will now track aircraft of any kind near its airspace in Syria with surface-to-air missiles given what it considers escalations by the coalition. Its defense ministry said it plans to track joint coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates River and treat them as targets, officials said Monday.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @Oriana0214.
The F-35As at Luke Air Force Base, Arizona, will be back in the air Wednesday after officials paused operations following a string of hypoxia-related incidents.

The Air Force on Tuesday said operations for the 55 Joint Strike Fighters at the base will resume, though officials have yet to find a root cause behind pilots experiencing oxygen deprivation symptoms in flight.

"No specific root cause for the physiological events was identified during recent visits from experts and engineers from the Joint Program Office, Lockheed Martin, the Air Force Research Laboratory and other organizations," said Maj. Rebecca Heyse, a Luke spokeswoman.

"However, specific concerns were eliminated as possible causes, including maintenance and aircrew flight equipment procedures," she said in a statement.

Related content:

Last week, Brig. Gen. Brook Leonard, the 56th Fighter Wing commander, echoed similar conclusions.

Without giving specifics, Leonard said, "We did eliminate a lot of areas" of possible causes on the maintenance and aircrew management side of operations.

"The solution is going to be a very multi-layered human and machine solution," he said during a phone call with reporters Friday. "We're progressing toward that."

The Air Force is taking precautions and making pilot safety a priority, he added.

Heyse said the following criteria are temporarily in place for pilots at Luke: avoid the altitudes in which all five physiological events occurred; modify ground procedures to mitigate physiological risks to pilots; expand physiological training to increase understanding between pilots and medical communities; increase minimum levels for backup oxygen systems for each flight; and offer pilots the option of wearing sensors during flight to collect human performance data.

"Our active-duty, reserve and international team has worked tirelessly to better understand the physiological events," Leonard said Tuesday. "This is a complex challenge that necessitates multidimensional solutions across a series of steps to get back to a full operating capability. We are confident that this initial step with the criteria our team developed will allow us to return to flying F-35s safely and to continue building the future of airpower."

Since May 2, five F-35A pilots have experienced "physiological incidents while flying," the service has said. In each case, the aircraft's backup oxygen system kicked in and the pilot followed the correct procedures to land safely.

Air Force officials disclosed to Military.com recently that there have been 15 reported F-35A in-flight and ground physiological events since April 2, 2011, including the most recent events at Luke.

Leonard on Friday added that within that same timeframe, 23 cases have occurred across the Joint Strike Fighter fleet -- 15 Air Force models, three Marine Corps B models, and five Navy C models. He said the other services' incidents occurred "some years back."

In the 23 cases, 13 -- across all three models -- were discovered to have a root cause, the commander said.

A defense official told Military.com on Friday those 13 were plagued by "pressure issues, contaminated oxygen and ground events."

Ground events, for example, could be attributed to "lots of jets on a ramp, of which exhaust fumes may have played a role," the official said.

The remaining 10 remain unexplained. "We may never arrive at a determination for some of these," the official said.

As for recent events, which are limited to Luke, "Some are specific to the person," the defense official said. "How they were flying, at what altitude they were flying," and other variables could play a role, the official said.

It remains unclear if pilots at other F-35 bases such as Hill Air Force Base, Utah, or Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, have reported similar incidents.

-- Oriana Pawlyk can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at@Oriana0214.
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, June 20

By Demir Azizov  Trend:

Uzbekistans Uzbekneftegaz and the Republican Council of Trade Union of Oil, Gas and Geology Workers have announced an open contest for the creation of a new logo and slogan for the company.

Companies and agencies as well as private persons can take part in the contest.

The logos and slogans will be evaluated according to such criteria as creativity and innovation, reflection of the philosophy, mission and values of the company, the depth and brevity of the idea, as well as adaptability to various carriers.

The slogan should be adapted to three languages  Uzbek, Russian and English.

The commission will select 50 best projects and will hold an open contest among the finalists. The winner will receive Chevrolet Spark car as a prize.

The projects are accepted until July 21. The results of the contest will be announced until August 25, and the winner will be awarded August 30.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

Trend:

At least 65 terrorists were killed in Iran's recent missile attack against the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) groups targets in eastern Syria, Press TV reported citing a statement by Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

The IRGC fired six medium-range ground-to-ground ballistic missiles into IS bases in Syrias Dayr al-Zawr on Sunday in retaliation for twin terrorist attacks in the Iranian capital Tehran.

Meanwhile, an IS command and operation center in the eastern Syrian city of Al-Muhasan was also targeted. In the missile strike, more than 15 terrorists were killed, including senior Saudi Daesh commander Saad al-Qosaibi, the statement said.

In a strike on an IS gathering center in the city of al-Mayadin, east of Dayr al-Zawr, 27 terrorists were killed, including three Libyans, and a number of others injured.
ANN ARBOR - Gently used books can help send kids to college.

For the 65th year, members of the American Association of University Women are taking used book donations. Members will accept books from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. starting Monday, June 19, as well as Thursday and Saturday, at the Veterans Memorial Ice Arena, 2150 Jackson Ave.

The last day to donate is Saturday, July 29. They are closed Monday, July 3.

"I was a scholarship recipient from Center for the Education of Women," said Pam Ehrhart, publicity chair of the Ann Arbor branch. "I am very, very thankful for it. This is a way for me to give back to the community that gave me a scholarship. I know how important it is."

The group partners with Eastern Michigan University, Washtenaw Community College and University of Michigan to provide scholarships to those trying to attend college. Last year, the Ann Arbor branch raised $18,000 in scholarship funds, half of which went back to these universities. The other half went to scholarships and funds at the national level.

Before that happens, Ehrhart said, the community helps out.

The group gets about 100,000 book donations a year, but can only use about 40,000 of them, she said. The other books are recycled if they are in poor shape. They do not accept VHS tapes, audio cassettes, records, magazines, maps, encyclopedias, textbooks, pamphlets or library books.

Once donated, the books are evaluated. If determined usable, the books move onto a second round of inspection where they are gently cleaned and all stickers and tags are removed. The books are then packed and wait to be sold Sept. 9-10 in the Morris Lawrence Building at Washtenaw Community College.

Those not sold are donated to other groups, libraries or hospitals in need of books.

Polly Pan, director of AAUW-AA funds, said the newer the donated book, the better chance it has being sold. The group takes anything people are willing to part with though, she said, listing graphic novels, engineering and technology related books as top sellers.

People out of town looking to donate books can do so by calling (844) 973-6287.

The American Association of University Women's Ann Arbor branch began 115 years ago. Then it was known as Ann Arbor Branch of the Association of Collegiate Alumni. Today the group is nearly 300 strong and dedicated to helping women and girls seek higher education by providing scholarships.

In the six decades since its inception, the branch has raised around $700,000 in college scholarship funds.

Those interested in applying for scholarships can go to the group's website for more information.
ANN ARBOR, MI - A lawsuit filed against the University of Michigan seeks sealed records of a noted anti-immigration activist, which are housed at the Bentley Historical Library.

The lawsuit was filed June 12 with the Michigan Court of Claims by Hassan Ahmad of the Virginia-based HMA law firm. He wants documents donated by Dr. John Tanton, which consist of materials documenting Tanton's work as a political and environmental activist from 1960 through the 1990s.

It includes a series related to his involvement with Northern Michigan Planned Parenthood, Zero Population Growth and the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), which Tanton founded in 1979, seeking to end illegal immigration and set a ceiling on legal immigration.

According to the library, the sealed documents include board meeting minutes from FAIR and correspondence with the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), whose mission is "providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States," according to its website.

Ahmad filed a Freedom of Information Act request with UM in December 2016, seeking the documents Tanton donated "located in boxes 15-25, and any others marked 'closed' at the Bentley Historical Archive."

According to the lawsuit, the documents were marked as "closed for 25 years from the date of accession, or until April 6, 2035." The Bentley Historical Library's website indicates the collection was a gift donated by Tanton in 1984.

The lawsuit states the intended use of the sealed records are "in the public interest." Ahmad said he believes the modern version of Tanton's thought is becoming White House immigration policy.

"This is essentially about transparency," Ahmad told The Ann Arbor News. "All I'm hoping to uncover is the truth. I think it's beyond dispute that the organizations Tanton created or nurtured have over the years influenced U.S. immigration policy at the highest level."

Ahmad filed the lawsuit after UM denied his FOIA request on May 8, and his subsequent appeal on May 30.

UM Spokesman Rick Fitzgerald referred to UM's letters to Ahmad denying his FOIA for the records on May 8 and 30, determining that the records are not public.

In the May 8 response, UM Chief Freedom of Information Officer Patricia Sellinger cited Michigan's FOIA language which defines a public record as "a writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function."

Since the records were closed to research until 2035, Sellinger noted they are not "utilized, possessed, or retained in the performance of any official University function."

The May 30 response from Liz Barry, special counsel to the president at UM, stated Ahmad's appeal was denied because the records are from a private source and are not available to the university community or the public "by a valid charitable gift agreement with a donor," and are not subject to disclosure under FOIA laws.

"Further, disclosure of these records in contravention of the gift agreement would not only violate the terms by which a private citizen donated his property to the University, but would constitute an unwarranted invasion of the donor's privacy, and, potentially, that of unrelated and unknowing third parties," Barry wrote.

Ahmad disagrees with UM's position that the records are not public.

"A public body cannot unilaterally insulate records that were given to it as a private agreement," Ahmad said.

An extensive profile of Tanton detailing his efforts to fight legal and illegal immigration appeared in the New York Times in 2011, which is referenced on several occasions in Ahmad's lawsuit to illustrate the impact he has had on current issues of immigration reform.

According to a Detroit News article from March 15, Tanton, 83, of Petoskey, has advanced Parkinson's disease, which hampers his ability to process information. He moved into a nursing home last year.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 19

Dalga Khatinoglu, Trend:

Two NorthSouth Transport Corridor-related projects in Iran would be inaugurated by September 2017, the General Director of Iranian Railways Saeed Mohammadzadeh told Trend June 19.

He added that Qazvin-Rasht (162 kilometers) section as well as Astara-Astara section (8 km in Azerbaijans territory and 2 km in Iran as well as an 82.5-meter railway bridge over Astara River) as part of the International North-South Transport Corridor is projected to be completed by September.

The International North-South Transport Corridor is meant to connect Northern Europe with Southeast Asia. It will serve as a link connecting the railways of Azerbaijan, Iran and Russia.

The corridor is planned to transport 6 million tons of cargo per year at the initial stage and 15-20 million tons of cargo in the future.

"The only remaining section of the project in Iran is Rasht-Astara (175 kilometers) segment, which Iran plans to complete in three years, through getting a loan from Azerbaijan. The financial talks continue and the agreement on that is at the final stage," Mohammadzadeh said.

Rasht-Astara segment would need $1.1 billion worth of investment. Iran and Azerbaijan are negotiating on a $0.5 billion loan.

Mohammadzadeh added that during the last four years, Iran invested $1 billion annually in railroad projects and for next five years, the figure would reach $1.5 to $2 billion annually.

According to him, Irans focus is now on boosting railroad transits.

There is another international railroad corridor in the east of Caspian Sea, connecting Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to Irans Bandar Abbas port in Persian Gulf, which was inaugurated two years ago.

Mohammadzadeh said that during the last year, the capacity of cargo transition from this route reached 3 million tons and the figure would reach its final capacity at 10 million tons per year, after the trains are electrified and some other work carried out.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Fatih Karimov  Trend:

Italian energy company Eni signed a memorandum of understanding with National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) on June 20 to study two Iranian oil and gas fields.

Under the MoU, the Italian firm will undertake studies for development of the Kish gas field and the third phase of the Darkhovin oil field, Mehr news agency reported June 20.

Eni will submit its master development plan (MDP) to the NIOC within six months.

The Darkhovin oil field, located in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, was discovered in 1965. The in-place oil reserves of the field have been estimated at over five billion barrels.

The first two phases of the project are now operational, and the oil field is currently producing 160,000 barrels of oil per day (bpd). The first phase became operational in 2005, and the second phase came on stream in February 2011.

Darkhovins third phase is to produce 110,000 bpd of crude and 210 million cubic meters per day of gas.

The Kish gas field is expected to yield 28 million cubic meters per day of gas, to be used domestically, and 11,300 bpd of gas condensate set for export.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



Irans Ports and Maritime Organization has loaded and unloaded 3.849 million tons of oil products at its ports across the country over the last Iranian calendar month ending May 21.



According to the latest data available on the organizations website, the figure has dropped by 17.83 percent year on year.



The available data indicate that Iran exported about 1.94 million tons and imported about 1.9 million tons of oil products through 20 ports.



The country currently produces 513,500 tons of crude oil per day of which 230,000 tons are refined.



Iranian ports saw loading and unloading a total of 11.8 million tons of various goods and commodities including food and metal products between April 21 and May 21.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Dalga Khatinoglu  Trend:

Iran sold less petrochemical products in volume during the first two months of the current fiscal year (started on March 21), but the revenues increased.

The country exported 3.431 million tons of petrochemicals, 58 tons less than March21-May 22, 2016.

However the revenues increased by $103 million to $1.673 billion, the statistics of an official document, prepared by Irans National Petrochemical Company and seen by Trend, indicate.

Coming to the domestic sales, both the volume and revenue increased by 2.3 percent and 32.7 percent in first two months of the current fiscal year, compared to the same period of last year.

Iran sold 2.742 million tons of petrochemical products (including the selling products between plants to be used as feedstock) with worth 53.5 trillion rials ($1.54 billion). The net domestic petrochemical products sale stood at 1.237 million tons with worth $713 million.

Iran produced 8.95 million tons petrochemical products, of which 1.5 million tons was used as feedstock in other plants. Then, its final amount stood at 7.45 million tons in the first two months of the current fiscal year.

Iran has planned to produce 58.95 million tons of petrochemical products in the current fiscal year, 8.35 million tons more than the last fiscal year.

The document also named 56 new petrochemical projects under development with 58.412 million tons per year of nominal capacity.

Iran plans to inaugurate seven petrochemical plants in the current year and 23 more in the next year.

Iran needs $20 billion of further investment in order to double the production capacity by 2022 and $35 billion of investment more to increase the figure to 150 mn mt/yr by 2025.

Source: NPC, Irans petrochemicals export from March 2006 to March 2017

Irans nominal petrochemical production capacity stands at 73 million tons per year.

The countrys petrochemical sector is one the countrys rapidly growing industrial sectors, which experienced a 7-percent growth in nominal capacity during the last fiscal year.

Irans actual production level during the previous year (2014/2015) also was 46.41 million tons.

The countrys net sales of petrochemical products, that is, excluding sales to domestic plants as feedstock, were 27.584 million tons, including 20.39 million tons of exports during last fiscal year.

---

Dalga Khatinoglu is the head of Trend Agencys Iran news service, follow him on Twitter: @dalgakhatinoglu
[June 19, 2017] 1.75bn Citizens in the World's Eight Richest Countries Remain Unconnected

A new study by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) reveals a staggering 1.75bn citizens in the world's eight richest countries (by GDP) remain unconnected - with 34% residing in major urban centers. The report, launched today, highlights that the digital divide remains a global problem, despite the fact, that driving universal connectivity is a common priority for all countries. The new study, undertaken by IHS (News - Alert) Markit to mark World Wi-Fi Day, explores the levels of urban and rural connectivity across eight major countries: Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA. It also uncovers the challenges faced and the initiatives being implemented by five of the world's major cities: Delhi, London, Moscow, New York and Sao Paulo. Key findings from the report reveal: Delhi and Sao Paulo have the largest number of unconnected citizens. 29% (5.331 million) of the population of Delhi are unconnected, 36% in Sao Paolo, (4.349 million) are unconnected

London is the most connected city, with just 7% of citizens unconnected (625,336)

19% of people in New York City are unconnected (1.600 million), while 17% of people in Moscow are unconnected (2.154 million)







Country Region Total unconnected individuals (Million) Total unconnected individuals as % of total population Brazil Latin America 90.638 43.25 China Asia Pacific 649.388 47.01 Germany Europe 10.683 13.00 India Asia Pacific 853.386 68.55 Japan Asia Pacific 20.241 16.04 Russia Europe 39.335 26.85 United Kingdom Europe 8.384 12.83 United States North America 78.401 24.18

Internet adoption has been faster in cities than in rural areas, however urban areas still face significant challenges to expanding internet users. These challenges include limited spending power, lack of availability of technology, lack of awareness of benefits gained from using the internet, and also, IT literacy levels. In both developing and mature markets, availability of affordable internet services is still an obstacle to connectivity. Even among those countries with higher average salaries, the existence of economic and social divides significantly shapes the issue of the digital divide. In New York, one of the greatest barriers to connectivity is the quality and affordability of internet connections

For Londoners, IT skills and an understanding of the benefits provided by being connected are, along with spending power, key challenges to internet adoption

Moscow has faced specific challenges related to infrastructure, developing an integrated approach to promoting internet adoption, and ensuring a high standard and quality of internet services. The report also highlights the many benefits and opportunities unconnected individuals miss out, from generating savings to personal development as a result of not having access to information and education services. What's more, digital inclusion is an engine for economic growth for cities, nations, and businesses of all sizes as it helps to attract investment, start new companies and stimulate innovation. "Connectivity is now an essential commodity, much in the same category as power and water. Yet many people in some of the world's major cities are still without an internet connection," said Shrikant Shenwai, CEO of the WBA. "Wi-Fi is playing an instrumental role in helping cities bring wider and more affordable connectivity to its citizens. The WBA is committed to helping cities bridge the digital divide through initiatives like World Wi-Fi Day and our Connected City Advisory Board, and see Wi-Fi as key to bringing connectivity to everyone, everywhere." "The issue of the urban unconnected is of critical importance the economies and societies around the world. We call on Governments around the world to re-double their focus on connecting the urban unconnected. It's vital that internet access becomes recognized as a human right, and that all stakeholders involved in the provision of broadband work together to make this happen," added Shenwai. World Wi-Fi Day was launched by the WBA in 2016 to help accelerate the deployment of affordable connectivity globally. The initiative encourages cities and government bodies, as well as operators, service providers, technology vendors and internet giants, to come together to deliver connectivity to everyone, everywhere. For more information on World Wi-Fi Day, please visit http://worldwifiday.com/. The full white paper, entitled 'The Urban Unconnected', is available to download here. ### About the Wireless Broadband Alliance Founded in 2003, the mission of the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is to accelerate global leadership for enabling of wireless services that are seamless, secure and interoperable. Building on our heritage of Next Generation Hotspot (NGH) and carrier Wi-Fi, WBA will continue to drive and support the adoption of Next Generation Wireless services across the entire public Wi-Fi ecosystem, including IoT, Converged Services, Smart Cities, 5G, etc. Today, membership includes major fixed operators such as BT, Comcast and Charter Communications (News - Alert); seven of the top 10 mobile operator groups (by revenue) and leading technology companies such as Cisco, Microsoft, Huawei Technologies, Google and Intel. The WBA Board includes AT&T, Boingo (News - Alert) Wireless, BT, China Telecom, Cisco Systems, Comcast, Intel, KT Corporation, Liberty Global, NTT DOCOMO, Orange and Ruckus Wireless. For a complete list of current WBA members, please click here. Follow Wireless Broadband Alliance at: www.twitter.com/wballiance http://www.facebook.com/WirelessBroadbandAlliance http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=50482 https://plus.google.com/106744820987466669966/posts Research Methodology The white paper is the result of the research conducted on the topic of the digital divide and urban unconnected across eight leading countries (Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America) with deep dive studies provided for five global cities. The research was carried out through primary and secondary research and was complemented by interviews with city authorities and experts on the issue of digital divide and connectivity. For the purpose of this report an unconnected individual is defined as an individual who does not have access to or cannot afford broadband connectivity. Sources used for this white paper include, among others, national statistical offices, city statistical offices, national telecoms regulators, city departments websites, internet usage or adoption surveys, IHS Markit proprietary data, and other sources such as the International Telecoms Union (ITU), the United Nation, and the World Bank. View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170619005681/en/

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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



The Islamic Republic has denied a recent claim by Saudi Arabia on arresting three Iranian military personnel, YJC (Iran's Young Journalists Club website) reported.



Majid Babaei, an official with Iranian interior ministry, has linked the Saudi claim on arresting military personnel to the recent incident in the Persian Gulf which left an Iranian fisherman killed.



He added that the Iranian fishermen did not carry any military equipment but Saudi coastguards still opened fire at the fishing boats.



Babaei's statement contradicts with the other side's report. The Saudi information ministry earlier on Monday issued a statement suggesting the kingdoms forces had detained three members of the Irans Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).


[June 20, 2017] SnapAV to be Acquired by Hellman & Friedman

CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SnapAV, a leading vertically-integrated supplier in the rapidly growing connected home sector, today announced that affiliates of Hellman & Friedman LLC ("H&F") have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the company from General Atlantic.

SnapAV sells proprietary-branded audio/video ("AV"), security, networking, and automation products to residential and commercial AV, security and technology integrators. These integrators in turn serve "Do-It-For-Me" consumers, selling, installing and integrating SnapAV's products as part of a custom home solution. The company wholesales approximately 2,700 SKUs across 14 proprietary brands and serves integrators across the United States with outstanding eCommerce, customer service and support capabilitiesenabling its dealer customers to operate more confidently, more efficiently and ultimately more profitably.

John Heyman, CEO of SnapAV, said: "Our broad, high-quality product lineup and ability to anticipate and support our dealers' needs has been critical to our success. We know what dealers want and how to make their job easier, and our logistics system ensures they get what they need fast and at the right price. Responding to our customers, we have expanded into the networking, surveillance and remote cloud management categories, and created a one-stop solution for technology integrators. We thank General Atlantic for their contributions to SnapAV's growth and development over the past four years and welcome Hellman & Friedman as our new partner. Hellman & Friedman's industry expertise and outstanding track record of helping companies like us grow will serve us well as we continue to execute on our strategy of providing great products and exceptional service to our dealer customers." "SnapAV's innovative eCommerce platform, compelling products and excellent service deliver tremendous value to the integrator community," said Erik Ragatz, Managing Drector of Hellman & Friedman. "With its network of loyal dealers and an outstanding base of employees, SnapAV is very well positioned to continue on its growth trajectory. We look forward to partnering with John and the rest of the management team as the company moves into its next phase of growth."





Mark Dzialga, Managing Director at General Atlantic, said, "We have been pleased to support SnapAV through a period of substantial growth and appreciate our strong partnership with the management team. As SnapAV enters its next phase of development, we are confident the company is in great hands with Hellman & Friedman and we look forward to watching its future success."



The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Additional terms were not disclosed.

UBS Investment Bank and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey acted as M&A advisors to Hellman & Friedman on the transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to Hellman & Friedman. Evercore acted as M&A advisors and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal counsel to SnapAV and General Atlantic.

About SnapAV

Established in 2005 and based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SnapAV is a manufacturer and exclusive source of more than 2,700 installation-friendly audio, video, networking, power and surveillance products for residential and commercial A/V integrators. SnapAV empowers integrators to run more efficient businesses by providing high quality products at attractive prices, supported by best-in-class online ordering and award-winning customer service. Additional information about SnapAV and its product brands can be found at www.snapav.com. About Hellman & Friedman

Hellman & Friedman is a leading private equity investment firm with offices in San Francisco, New York, and London. Since its founding in 1984, H&F has raised over $35 billion of committed capital. The firm focuses on investing in superior business franchises and serving as a value-added partner to management in select industries including business & information services, software, retail & consumer, internet & media, financial services, healthcare, and industrials and energy. For more information on Hellman & Friedman, please visit www.hf.com.

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector-specific expertise, long-term investment horizon, and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great management and build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 100 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, and Singapore. www.generalatlantic.com To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/snapav-to-be-acquired-by-hellman--friedman-300477036.html SOURCE SnapAV

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business Air India stake sale: Aviation Ministry raises concerns Aviation Ministry has raised concerns over Air India stake sale. Watch accompanying video of CNBC-TV18s Sapna Das for more details.
After Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh (UP), Punjab waives off loans. In an interview to CNBC-TV18, MR Rao, MD & CEO of Bharat Financial Inclusion spoke about the share of loans in UP, Maharashtra and Punjab.

Three states put together, we would be around 25 percent, said Rao.

"Uttar Pradesh farm loan waiver was announced first and we didn't see any impact on collection, on the contrary the collections improved marginally in UP," he added.

He does not anticipate any impact of farm loan waiver on Punjab's book.

He also expects more collections from customers that company missed during demonetisation.

According to him, the company is steadily moving towards a conclusion with regards to possible merger and should have a concrete plan to get merged, in the next three-six months.

Bharat Financial is exploring talks with others apart from IndusInd Bank, added Rao.

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.

Latha: If you could begin by telling us what is the share of your loans in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and in Punjab?

A: Three states put together, we would be around 25 percent. But the Uttar Pradesh farm loan waiver was announced first and we did not see any impact on collections. On the contrary, the collections improved marginally in Uttar Pradesh. The same thing we saw two weeks back when Maharashtra announced the farm loan waiver. Our field operations continued to be on track and we have seen marginal improvement in collections. So the farm loan waiver has not had any impact.

Punjab, as a percentage of portfolio is just 1.5 percent of our portfolio. But we do not anticipate any impact on the repayments despite this farm loan waiver because going by the experience of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra; we do not see this having any impact.

Sonia: You spoke about how the collections have improved in Uttar Pradesh, but can you give us a sense of what the other states have thrown up in terms of better collections, any improvements, etc.

A: I referred to Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra in the context of farm loan waivers, but post demonetisation and the aftermath; we have seen collections coming back to 99.9 percent in most of the states. Uttar Pradesh, there was an impact and it is coming back to normal, it is close to 99 percent now. Maharashtra, notwithstanding the farm loan waivers, we are seeing slight improvement in collections.

Latha: Collections have been improving for all microfinance institutions (MFI) because loans that were missed out, instalments that were missed out during the demonetisation days are now being returned. I guess that explains the improved collections in the current month?

A: Yes. The thing to keep in mind is that, if a woman, particularly in this segment, has not paid four instalments, she does not have the wherewithal to come and pay the four instalments in one shot. So, she will be paying the current instalments and we see more and more people coming and paying and trying to clear.

Latha: That is exactly what I was trying to distinguish. We just spoke to Satin Creditcare Networks and he was also pointing out that the instalments missed during the demonetisation period are not slowly getting regularised and people are paying back a few of their previous instalments. But as the loan waiver word gets around, isn't there a possibility that people will start defaulting on fresh loans?

A: We go back to some few years back when the central government had announced Rs 60,000 crore farm loan waiver, if you recall. At that point of time also, we did not see any impact. Essentially, the borrowers do ask, are we part of this loan waiver scheme and our loan officers are trained to respond to that, this is a loan waiver by the government and this microfinance loans have nothing to do with the farm loans that they have taken.

Sonia: So, despite the credit culture perhaps getting impacted over the longer term, you do not see any specific rise in non-performing assets (NPA), especially for a company like yours?

A: No.

Latha: What is the expected NPA number for the current year or percentage for the current quarter?

A: Current quarter I cannot disclose the numbers because we are yet to complete the quarter, but we stand by our guidance for the year that we will grow by 50 percent, both in terms of disbursals, topline and bottomline. We do not see that getting impacted any which way.

Latha: No, I am not questioning the loan growth. I am asking you asset quality; will you have any directional, any guidance?

A: I was referring to that in a roundabout fashion. We provided for certain set of loans as of March 31. Marginally, there could be a change in numbers, but we expect that by September 30 or December 31, those numbers to improve significantly as we see signs of collections. Momentarily, you might see number here or there, but seeing the repayment of borrowers as you were mentioning, they will be paying the current instalment now and clear the arrears over a period of time. We see some of those loans have been provided for coming back to us.

Latha: So, what you are saying is we might see a higher NPA in the current and next quarter, but by December 31, you see it reducing?

A: No, I am not saying we will see a higher NPA. I am saying marginally, let us say the street is expecting us to provide another Rs 180 crore, just to throw a number just to illustrate a point, we would be around Rs 180-160, but that is going to be momentarily. But over a period of the next 3-6 months, we will see most of these loans coming back to us in terms of repayment.

Latha: But why would you provide more?

A: What has happened, we follow a conservative provisioning policy of providing for loans which have not paid for 60 days while the RBI guideline is about 90 days. Since we had already provided for that in March 31, while customers continue to pay out of this bucket, they would still be in the 60 days overdue bucket because as I said, they will be able to pay only the current instalment and not be in a position to clear the arrears.

Sonia: Since 80 percent of your book comes from the rural market, how are the rural indicators looking at this point in time? The monsoon progress has not been as good as expected so far, but what is the anecdotal evidence suggesting?

A: Since bulk of our loans are for income generating purposes where people take these loans to run a kirana store or buy a buffalo or run small tea stalls, with monsoon or lack of it does not impact the business too much. On the contrary, we see some of the people who are wholly dependent on agriculture, trying to take microfinance loan to do small businesses to tide over this monsoon crisis.

Anuj: At what stage are we in terms of negotiations with IndusInd Bank with the merger?

A: The paperwork, as we gave the stock exchange notification, we are getting the consultant's opinion on what are the various options that we would look at. So that is work in progress and I can confirm that we are moving steadily towards some conclusion.

Anuj: So can we expect that in maybe next 3-6 months?

A: Yes, so it is not just IndusInd, we are exploring a lot of other options based on how things pan out. Yes, in the next 3-6 months we could come out with an announcement one way or the other.

Anuj: IndusInd and what is the other one, RBL Bank?

A: I am not going to answer that.

Latha: But is it another bank?

A: Basically, we have done a pilot with about 100-150 kirana stores. Essentially, we are trying to make the kirana stores the local ATM point in a rural village where customers can use biometrics to push and pull cash from their accounts. That is very successful and we see that having a huge potential. Our plan is to roll out two lakh such kirana stores. So given that there is a bank account that is needed, we are looking at various options. It could be a merger or it could be a bank that will enable us to open accounts and run these kirana stores to cashless in the rural belt.

Latha: So, then it will be a bank?

A: It needs to be a bank; you need to have a bank account there.

Latha: So, it makes logical sense for you to be with a bank?

A: Yes or just have a bank opening accounts for us on a standalone basis. All the options are being explored.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20



By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:



Iranian intelligence officials have arrested 40 suspected terrorists in northwestern province of West Azerbaijan amid the countrys recent crackdown on terrorism, an MP said.



MP for West Azerbaijan Province Nader Qazipour has said that the suspects were captured in the cities of Piranshahr, Sardasht, Mahabad, Boukan and Takab, ICANA news agency reported.



Nader Qazipour linked the detainees to the Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) terrorist group adding that they had planned to carry out attacks at the recent religious events in the county.



He further added that the security forces have seized a huge amount of arms and ammunitions from the terrorists, following several anti-terror operations over the past few days.



Iranian security forces have arrested dozens of suspects over the past weeks following the terror attacks on capital Tehran.



Two separate attacks rocked the capital city on June 7, leaving at least 17 dead and 54 injured.


International reinsurers will face a review in December this year with respect to the right to first refusal.

This rule, which said that the state-owned General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re) will have the first right to accept or refuse any reinsurance treaty, will come under review in the next six months.

When the guidelines to acquire licence for opening branches were introduced, several foreign reinsurers had expressed interest in setting up an India branch. However, they were disappointed by the inclusion of the right to first refusal proposal that gave more rights to GIC Re.

While several representations were sent to the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), this provision was retained and it was stated that this will be reviewed after a year. Sources said that to give Indian reinsurers more rights was a decision as directed by the government.

Currently, global reinsurers with a branch licence include Swiss Re, Munich Re, Hannover Re, SCOR Re, RGA (Reinsurance Group of America), XL Catlin and Gen Re apart from specialist insurance market Lloyds.

Executives of the global reinsurers are hopeful of getting into the first category in terms of reinsurance treaties. Most of the global reinsurers have been in business for several years," said a senior official of a global reinsurance company. "Hence, we should be at an equal position in terms of procurement of new business or renewal of existing treaties.

The aim of the insurance regulator is to have maximum business reinsured within the Indian territory with domestic capacity and only the rest being passed on to foreign reinsurers. Though the foreign reinsurers were already writing Indian business, they are now in closer proximity to the clients, thus giving them the advantage to assess and price the risks better.

Even during the April 1 renewals of reinsurance treaties where the rates were more or less flat, sources said that global reinsurers did not play a major role and they are waiting for a little more time before getting into major treaty reinsurance contracts.

Apart from GIC Re, there is another domestic reinsurance company, ITI Reinsurance, which had been granted final licence in December 2016.
Asias largest private hospital operator IHH Healthcare Berhad will be aiming for a controlling stake from Malvinder and Shivinder Mohan Singh in Fortis Healthcare Limited, Fortis Malar Hospitals Limited and SRL Diagnostics.

Livemint reports that the deal will value the two companies at close to USD 2.9 billion, two persons who are directly aware of the development spoke told the paper.

The transaction, set to take place in a few weeks, will make IHH Healthcare the second-largest hospital operator in India and help the Singh brothers trim Rs 4,064 crore debt in RHC Holding Private Limited, their holding company.

IHH will pay close to Rs 3,600 crore for a 26 percent stake in Fortis. The buyback is expected to bring up annual savings for Rs 400 crore in service fees.

The deal may face opposition from Daiichi Sankyo, as the Japanese drug maker said that the Singh brothers were looking to exit Fortis Healthcare, which would hamper recovery of damages of Rs 2,562 crore awarded by a Singapore tribunal to the drug maker.

In April, Daiichi moved Delhi High Court to block a sale in Religare Health Insurance Company Limited by the Singh brothers to investors affiliated with the equity firm True North, which caused the High Court to furnish details of all their unencumbered assets for future compensation.

A spokesperson for IHH declined to comment on specific transactions but told the paper it is always looking at various value-accretive opportunities. An RHC Holding spokesperson said: We cannot comment on speculation, according to the report.
Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister

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Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said GST rollout will not be impacted by any delay in security clearance to GST Network, the IT backbone provider for the new indirect tax system.

"It (GSTN) is already functioning," he told reporters here. Security clearance to GSTN is a "procedural matter".

"These are all procedural matters, they go on," he said. "That doesn't defer the (GST rollout)."

It won't derail "the fate of Constitution amendment", he said. The GST Constitutional (101st Amendment) Act 2016 mandates introduction of a national Goods and Services Tax in India.

The Centre and states have agreed to roll out the new indirect tax regime, which will subsume excise, service tax, VAT and other local levies, from July 1. However, the home ministry has still not given security clearance to GSTN, which is a non-government, private limited company, incorporated on March 28, 2013.

The government of India holds 24.5 per cent equity in GSTN and all states, including NCT of Delhi and Puducherry, and the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, together hold another 24.5 per cent.

The balance 51 per cent equity is with non-government financial institutions -- HDFC, HDFC Bank ICICI Bank , NSE Strategic Investment Co and LIC Housing Finance Ltd. BJP MP Subramanian Swamy has on multiple occasions raised concerns over GSTN's shareholding pattern, saying it might compromise data security.
A vendor waits for customers as he sells rice at a market in Kolkata September 23, 2010. India's food price index rose 15.46 percent in the year to September 11, government data on Thursday showed. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri (INDIA - Tags: AGRICULTURE BUSINESS) - RTXSK2L

India raised minimum purchase prices for rice, cotton and other crops by the most since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, according a government circular seen by Reuters, amid ongoing protests in the country's biggest farming states.

Prices paid to local farmers for common grade paddy rice are to be raised by 5.4 percent to 1,550 rupees ($24.03) per 100 kg for the year starting on July 1, while long staple cotton prices have been hiked by 3.8 percent to 4,320 rupees per 100 kg.

The increases for rice, cotton and other crops follow an outburst of discontent in the heartland states of Madhya Pradesh and neighbouring Maharashtra as farmers sought higher prices and debt relief.

Five protesting farmers were shot dead this month in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, which along with Maharashtra is ruled by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Farm Crisis: Why Bumper Harvests Are Becoming Painful For Indian Farmers

The unrest has posed a challenge to regional BJP leaders and Modi, who have promised to double farmers' incomes over the next five years.

India is the world's biggest rice exporter and buys the grain from local farmers to protect them from distressed sales and to build stocks for welfare programmes.

The government fixes minimum prices for more than two dozen farm commodities, although it mainly procures wheat and rice.

Growers of other crops like onions, tomatoes and potatoes are also protesting due to steep falls in the prices of their produce and the absence of the government buying.

The government has also raised soybean prices by 9.9 percent to 3,050 rupees per 100 kg, and corn by 7.1 percent to 1,425 rupees per 100 kg, effective from July 1. The increases for these two grains were also the greatest since 2012/13.
Despite criticism on farm loan waivers, a data study shows that the increase in non-performing assets (NPAs) is contributed more by the industry than the agriculture sector.

According to a study report by Anand Rathi, in terms of contribution to overall bank NPA, industry accounts for two-thirds and services nearly 20 percent. The contribution of agriculture and retail lending account for nearly 10 percent and 5 percent, respectively, of overall NPA, the report said.

Traditionally, NPA levels of the priority-sector lending (of which agro loans are major components) face a higher NPA-to-loan ratio than the non-priority sector. In recent years, the situation has reversed, said Sujan Hajra Chief, Economist of Anand Rathi in the report.

As per data from 2011 to 2016, the agriculture loan NPAs stood between 4-6 percent while the industry NPAs have consistently increased sharply from nearly 3 percent to 12 percent in 2016.

Today, banks are struggling with a total bad loans worth Rs 7.7 lakh crore, largely arising from large corporate defaults. On the other hand, the total agriculture loans across states in India stood at Rs 9.54 lakh crore as against the total bank credit of about Rs 76 lakh crore.

After the 2008 agriculture loan waiver of Rs 60,000 crore given by the then UPA government, the share of gross NPA in overall loans was lower than the ratio in 2007 at 2.5 percent. The asset quality deterioration started three years after this loan waiver was given.

However, this is largely the result of banks getting the repayment of loans from the government.

The report highlights that even in incremental terms, the gross-NPA-to-loan ratio was modest (between 1.2 percent and 3 percent) during 2008-11.

Additionally, farmers also have a disincentive for defaulting on loans as every default leads to a sharp increase in interest costs and a loss in collateral which deters them from getting future loans.

The report also suggests that the total impact of loan waivers on state finances is overestimated and that it is unlikely to be more than Rs 20,000 crore or 0.13 percent of GDP in the current year.

Citing the economics of farm loan waivers, experts see this move jeopardizing the states financial health and eventually the credit culture that could further restrict further lending to farmers.

On Monday, Punjab became the third state this year to announce farm loan waivers after Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, making the agriculture loan waivers at about Rs 90,000 crore for the three states.
Power Minister Piyush Goyal ruled out incentives like cheaper loans and other government support for adoption of Energy Conservation Building Code 2017.

The minister stressed that the economies of scale like in the case of LED bulb distribution programme, would help the nation to adopt better technologies at competitive rates without any subsidy.

"I believe that as we scale it up the cost will come down and we will get better technology in the system, and for more practical implementation we will not need any subsidies or incentives. It would be an economic benefit itself," Goyal said at the launch of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) 2017 here.

He further said, "Whenever we remove subsidies and government involvement, we found the roll out (of a programme) much faster, efficient, no question of corruption or any other misuse of government support and no barriers to the limits".

Certain section of media were expecting that the government would introduce cheaper loans and stamp duties for green buildings to boost energy conservation in various types of buildings in the country.

"I personally feel that there should be no (government) support and make it economically viable through India's sheer size and scale," the minister said.

On lower stamp duty incentive for green buildings, Goyal said if states want to give some incentives then they are free to give that.

He was of the view that people's sensitivity to energy wastage itself sufficient for greater and faster roll out of the code.

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) prescribes the energy performance standards for new commercial buildings to be constructed across India.

In order for a building to be considered ECBC-compliant, it would need to demonstrate minimum energy savings of 25 per cent. Additional improvements in energy efficiency performance would enable the new buildings to achieve higher grades like ECBC Plus or Super ECBC status leading to further energy savings of 35 and 50 per cent, respectively.

With the adoption of ECBC 2017 for new commercial building construction throughout the country, it is estimated to achieve a 50 per cent reduction in energy use by 2030.

The cut in energy use will translate into power savings of about 300 billion units by 2030 and peak demand reduction of over 15 GW in a year. This will be equivalent to expenditure savings of Rs 35,000 crore and 250 million tonnes of CO2 reduction.

On the stressed power projects, the minister said, "We just had preliminary discussion with bankers. We will have to have a very good technical assessments done so that more realistic solution is found so that we don't face hiccups as we go along, as in the case of Teesta project".

On Hydro power policy to revive stalled projects he said, "We will try to expedite so that those projects which are not found economically viable but technically feasible be a part of the hydro electric story of India".

Under the hydro policy the power ministry has planned a package of over Rs 16,000 crore to revive 11,639 MW capacity in the country.
Infosys

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Infosys' loss is Mars' gain. Sandeep Dadlani, the recent high level executive to quit Infosys, will join the maker of Snickers chocolate bars as Chief Digital Officer.

Dadlani, who quit Infosys as the head of Americas and Global Head of Retail, CPG, Logistics and Manufacturing, will be responsible for working with Mars global business segments.

Dadlani succeeds Chief Information Officer Vittorio Cretella, who will retire on September 1, 2017, Mars said in a statement.

Digital is changing the way our consumers and customers experience our products and services. New expectations, competition, distribution

channels and opportunities present themselves every day," said Mars CEO and President Grant Reid.

Dadlani will shift to Mars' New Jersey offices. He will report into Angela Mangiapane, President Mars Global Services, and Claus Aagaard, Chief Financial Officer.
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Amrapali Aadya Trading & Investments

The market started the week with a strong bullish movement and witnessed a gap up opening that remained intact throughout the entire session.

The 20-DMA is proving a strong support level for the Nifty while during Monday session relative strength index (RSI) has also generated fresh buying signals along with increasing volumes.

The market ended at a high of six days and attracting new buyers into the market. Levels of 9,550 will remain a very strong support to the downside where only a close below could bring more selling pressure.

A trend reversal can be expected thereafter but it seems that bulls are taking gradual control of the market here. The level of 9,700-9,720 will be the immediate resistance above which uptrend would confirm and the market will remain upside for over short to medium term.

Top five stocks to buy for intraday trade which can give up to 3% return:

Vedanta: BUY| Target Rs250| Stop Loss Rs237| Return 3%

The 20-DMA has proven a strong support level for the stock in the recent few sessions along with that the counter managed to close well above 50-DMA in Mondays session. The bullish candle on the daily chart and crossover in RSI and MACD are supporting more upside is highly likely for the stock.

Adani Ports: BUY| Target Rs385| Stop Loss Rs366| Return 3%

The stock has witnessed fresh upside breakout after a recent consolidation by constantly making higher highs and higher lows.

The short-to-medium term indicators along with Parabilic SAR which indicates medium-term movement are in favour of stock to move further higher.

Asian Paints: BUY| Target Rs1170| Stop Loss Rs1138| Return 1%

The chart has gained momentum during the intraday session on Monday and closed with a positive candle on the daily chart.

Prices are well supported by 20-DMA along with rising RSI and MACD which also hints bulls to remain intact and more upside can be expected from the present levels.

Tata Steel: BUY| Target Rs538| Stop Loss Rs510| Return 3%

The stock has witnessed gap up opening on Mondays trading session attracting more buyers and maintained its uptrend throughout the session.

A fresh upside breakout has seen on the daily charts which is likely to remain intact over short to medium term.

Talking about the momentum indicators, 20 DAM is providing very strong support as the counter has just reverted back in the earlier session along with that RSI and MACD both have generated fresh crossovers supporting more upside.

Power Grid: BUY| Target Rs218| Stop Loss Rs209.50| Return 2.8%

The stock has gained momentum during the intraday session and reached to its resistance level which is likely to give a breakout on the higher side as most of the momentum indicators are in favor of northwards move to remain intact.

The daily chart is making an inverted head and shoulder kind of a situation at present which is a bullish sign and a cross above neckline near Rs213.50 would confirm its formation and more upside can be expected.

: The author is Director & Research Head, Amrapali Aadya Trading & Investments. The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Several voices have been continuously debating about the battle between valuations and fundamentals in the current market.

High valuations have been a subject of debate in the current market scenario for a while now. Several voices have highlighted how it is very essential for earnings growth to fire up now to be in sync with valuations. But is there a recovery in sight?

Credit Suisse does not feel so. I dont expect earnings to improve in the next 3-4 quarters. The momentum is weak and broader economy is unlikely to pick up any steam, Neelkanth Mishra, MD & India Equity Strategist at Credit Suisse told CNBC-TV18. He added that the economy was going through structural transitions and this period could last longer.

Having said that, Mishra said that the market moves were largely driven by PE ratio. Any correction in this market would only be if a global liquidity fall is seen, he added.

So, what should one look for the market?

Mishra recommends looking at stocks which return higher than nominal GDP growth.

We look at sectors where supernormal growth is possible, he told the channel. Among such sectors, he said that electrification in India had improved significantly. Because of power, he explained, you will see better demand for consumer electronics. Technology, too, is enabling dramatic changes on how banking is conducted. All this will bring down the total cost of lending.

Meanwhile, Mishra also sees structural tailwinds for NBFCs and prefers housing finance companies.

Simultaneously, on farm loan waivers, Mishra said that the fiscal impact of this will play out over years. He highlighted that farmers were quite savvy and knew to differentiate the kind of loans that were waived.

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.

Anuj: Right now it is about liquidity trumping valuations, do you think that should continue or do you think the market is factoring in that valuations would also come at par, earnings will improve over the next three-four quarters?

A: No, I dont expect the earnings to improve over the next three-four quarters. The momentum still looks quite weak, the broader economy is unlikely to pick up steam in the next three-four quarters because we are going through some very structural transitions. I call it house under renovation, so we are breaking down a lot of vicious cycles we were stuck in and then rebuilding in what hopefully will be a much healthier and a much faster growing economy.

However, the period of transition could last a lot longer than just three-six months. Now from the perspective of markets, the first question to be asked is does Indian macro economy really matter for the markets. Fundamentally, of course you can find a lot of reasons why it should not because in most years the market moves are driven more by price to earnings ratios than EPS changes and even EPS changes in the listed space are not necessarily very strongly correlated with the gross domestic product (GDP) growth numbers.

So my sense is that given that liquidity does seem very supportive and it is not just India  if you see price to earnings ratio, they have gone lower, even the US markets hit all-time highs yesterday. So this seems to be a global phenomenon and if any correction has to happen on liquidity, it will again be driven by what is happening globally.

Till then, I think the markets will be less concerned about near-term macroeconomic uncertainty and valuations could stay high for long. What we have done in our recent notes is try to come up with frameworks where if we have to choose between very high P/E stocks, how do we do that, which are the stocks, the market is effectively pricing in a tide, the market is assuming that almost every sector in India will do well, everything is under-printed and India eventually will grow very fast. What we have found is that it is not true and it is much better to be selective.

Latha: Just to finish that argument, you said this is a house under renovation with GST, with the chase after Black Money, therefore when can there be a broad swathe of economic growth which translates into earnings growth?

A: It is very hard to say whether this correction last like four quarters or six quarters or eight quarters but it is definitely not two quarters. At this stage that is relatively safe to say. Some of the corrections that are happening are much more subtle but equally fundamental. So our cost of capital is likely to come down because for the longest time as an economy, we have had very high cost of capital partly driven by government policy, partly because of technology, partly because of small government etc, now we are seeing that food inflation so we are finely dealing with food surpluses, we are finely dealing with at least at the central government level, lower fiscal deficits and we can discuss farm loan waivers if they disrupt that the reduction of crowding out and I think that this will overtime manifest itself in much lower cost of capital, a high price to earnings ratio is cheaper cost of capital, equity capital and as rates come down, I think overtime we will see a healthier economy. It is very hard to say whether that happens in four quarters or six quarters.

Sonia: The other theme that you have been talking to us about is how you should look for businesses that are growing their revenues faster than nominal gross domestic product (GDP) growth and it is very tough to find those kind of businesses in this market. Have you been able to identify any such themes?

A: That is the most important question. Right now, 24 percent of BSE 500 companies are trading at about 30 times earnings. Five years back only 6 percent of such companies were trading above 35 times. So it is very important to instead of blindly buying anything in consumption or the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), we look at sectors where such supernormal growth is possible.

As you rightly said even in the last 15 years, even the topline growth for two-wheelers or four-wheelers has been above nominal GDP growth. Now going forward, I think we have to look for areas which are seen changes in enablers. For example, electrification, it is a theme we have been working on for several years now and in a recent report, we highlighted pictures taken by NASA, which show that night time luminosity in India has improved significantly. Particularly in areas which earlier were very weak. In Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, interiors of Andhra Pradesh. So these are areas where earlier electricity availability was very bad. Now there is electricity. So eventually this will mean better demand for consumer electronics, white goods as well as brown goods, demand for fans and mixer grinders and so on and so forth.

Similarly, I think technology is enabling dramatic changes in how banking is conducted. It is also sharply bringing down the costs of lending for example. If you do manual credit evaluation, it takes a lot of effort and therefore it is very expensive. If you do cash disbursements, cash collections, it adds a lot to your cost, if you do in account disbursements and deduct EMIs directly from account, it saves a lot of cost for the lender.

Therefore, some of the NBFCs could be growing rapidly. In particular, we like housing finance companies because if interest rates come down, the demand for mortgages picks up. So there are various themes where the enabling environment can drive growth, which is faster than nominal GDP.

Latha: It was in May 2016 that you first wrote in a report that you see farm prices falling and therefore a rapid fall in interest rates and you reiterated in September 2016 when you all went very big on finance companies, housing finance companies and NBFCs. But they have run up a lot, look at stocks like Bajaj Finance, they were running anyway and they got fresh legs to run from January onwards, wouldnt valuations be an argument in the NBFC space, especially housing finance?

A: Housing finance  on some of the NBFCs, I think what happens is that while there is a structural tailwind, therefore the medium-term outlook for growth is very strong. What also happens is the firms have to execute on it and have to execute on it with good quality. So sometimes what you see is that if you start getting very cheap funding and somehow you get into this rat race of being forced to grow fast because the market is giving you valuation because everyone else is growing fast and the sales guys targets are being set by what their competition is doing, that leads to a lot of indiscipline.

Therefore on some of the names, we have sell calls in NBFCs as well not because fundamentally their business will grow slow but because some of them are trading at 4-5 times book and we are not as comfortable as we were one year back on the quality of lending that is happening because eventually giving money is easy, getting it back is the tough part.

Latha: Let's complete the farm loan waiver argument, how does that square with your stock picks?

A: The farmers are generally quite savvy and the loan waivers are happening for what you would call the working capital loans. There are two types of agri loans; crop loans and non-crop loans. Non-crop loans are term loans used to buy tractors or cattle or whatever and farmers are generally quite savvy in terms of differentiating between what is being waved and what is not being waved and in particular database based lending and that is a power of database based lending because some of the databases that exist in India are quite dump, I have seen my credit report, it is not too much data there, so I wonder for someone who doesn't have mortgage and credit cards, how does the database help. The database helps because it becomes a deterrent because once you get a bas score there, you are ruled out of loans for a long time and the farmers know that.

So if you are in the Microfinance Institutions Network (MFIN) database and you are seen to be defaulting especially when the government has not declared a loan waiver there, so the risk there is a lot lower. There will be a risk, everyone operating in states like UP, Punjab and Maharashtra needs to be extraordinarily careful but that snowballing into a massive credit default risk for NBFCs is -- I see this manifesting itself in slower growth. So what happens is in loan waivers, while the headline is what politicians want to talk about because the bigger the number the more the political impact; the fine details get years to work out, for example the 2008 waiver, it was announced in February, it was confirmed by the cabinet in May, the first disbursement happened in December and for the next two-and-a-half years the banks kept getting their money, so it was executed over two-and-a-half years. The final tranche was actually given four years later.

So it takes a long time to even identify who the beneficiary is, even Maharashtra for example, is still trying to figure out whether land owner should get it but if that is the case and if there is a tenant farmer, should they not because the tenant farmer is taking the working capital loan; should they not benefit, should it be crop specific, should it not be crop specific. All of those details have to be worked out. It takes a long time, the data is scarce and therefore the fiscal impact of this will play out over several years. I wouldn't worry too much about fiscal deficit this year going out of whack.

Coming to the impact of this, the growth is where things suffer. So as the farmers are not sure whether their loans are getting waved, they start slowing down on their repayments and the banks then hold back, so we have seen that in Andhra Pradesh and Telagana where we have seen agri loan growth slow very sharply around the time that the states were giving their waivers and that is something that can hurt the NBFCs as well because they may be forced to slowdown lending in some of those areas.

Anuj: Let's now discuss a theme that has worked out beautifully for you. You have got the bottom here which is metals. Give us your thoughts on this? We have seen a dream run for steel in particular. Do you think we are still in the middle of the cycle or nowhere near the top of the cycle? How should investors approach this space now?

A: When we upgraded last year the expectation was that that this was a restocking cycle where we had seen three years of steady price declines and everyone including from automakers to yellow goods makers everyone had destocked because prices were steadily falling. And as soon as the prices bottom out, everyone will want to restock and the steel companies couldn't see and see very sharp production growth which is something that has played out. So by this time, when we upgraded last year, I had thought I would be downgrading by this time but the change that has happened is that there seems to be much greater focus in China for example, to curtain their excess supply. What has also happened is that Europe, which is a very large economy, is now growing faster than anyone expected after many-many years of a slowdown. The US consumption which has slowed a bit but it is actually holding up about 2-2.5 percent. So the global growth expectations are now a lot steadier than they were one year back. Therefore, I still think that this is a sector which is under owned, a lot of people always thought this was a one year trade so they stayed away from it but there is still room for the stock to do well.

Sonia: The other theme that you spoke about lately is personal credit could grow over the next two-three years and that could be a big value sector to look at. We have a couple of big companies there like Bajaj Finance, some of the smaller ones like Shriram City Union Finance. Can you briefly mention the groundwork for why you like this sector?

A: India has been stuck in a vicious cycle where there is a lot of demand at the lower end of the spectrum because 70 percent of our non-agri employment is in enterprises with less than 5 people and they cannot afford to borrow Rs 20-30 lakh, Rs 1 crore. Whereas the way our lending system was structured because if you are doing manual credit evaluation, as I said cash disbursement and cash collections, the cost of doing that was so high and it was so hard to scale up that people weren't use to giving Rs 20-30 lakh loans and what technology is now allowing you to do, as a company, is scale a business which lends at much smaller ticket sizes than what we were used to and that opens up a whole host of new opportunities and I think Shriram City Union Finance is a company that focuses specially on that ecosystem.

Sonia: We have discussed a couple of your themes, the personal credit theme, the metal space, but now let us talk a little bit in detail about the theme of the enablers of electrification and we have spoken about some of those names, Havells India, Voltas. Tell us what the growth in this space could be because some of the segments like the consumer products segment like Bajaj Electricals for example, has seen very subdued demand over the last couple of quarters.

A: This is a theme we have been highlighting for a while that even in 2011, a third of Indian households had no wires going into their houses. So there was a very low electrification in states like Bihar. Only 16 percent of the houses had wires going into their houses. And on top of that there was a poor quality of electricity available. So even if you had in many other states, wires going into their houses, the quality of electricity available was very bad.

What is now starting to happen is I think, with power availability improving and it becoming electorally important for state governments to deliver better quality power to more people, electrification has improved dramatically in states like West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, the percentage of households connected has gone up substantially. And as I mentioned, the night time pictures taken by satellites of India, very clearly show that the power availability has improved as well.

What this means is that even if there were households in many areas who could afford to buy a mixer-grinder or an air conditioner, but they could not or would not because they was no electricity can now start buying that. So the way the penetration stories in India work is that you are forced to cut prices or keep nominal price the same and real prices keep falling and that is when more households are able to afford but in the case of enablers like electrification for people selling consumer appliances things can improve because of the environment changing.

Now, I think the last several quarters, and the companies can see very different results on the same sector, lots of dynamics within the sector has well but there have been disruptions because of demonetisation, there was supply chain related disruption and GST could be coming up as well. So you will see disrupted numbers, but if you are looking out 2-3 years, this appliances and brown and white goods would actually be growing faster than nominal GDP.

Latha: There is another theme that you told us during your investor conference this year and that was IT. You said that 2016 your discovered sector was metals and then it has ran and is still running. If I remember right, you said in January, 2017, IT could be the undiscovered dark horse. You still stick with it?

A: Yes, I think it has not been a very good call so far. I think many of the fears, and I still hold on to my view, many of the fears that are affecting investor sentiment in this sector are quite a bit temporary and people are not buying because the sector is not doing well. One positive sign and the recovery in US and Europe or rather the stabilisation of recovery in US and Europe, could actually mean that there should be a cyclical effect on their order books as well. And whenever they correct, there could be a sharp rerating in terms of price to earnings multiple. So if we are selective in some of the names that we own, I still think that they can provide good returns in the rest of the year.
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The S&P BSE Sensex might have rallied over 17 percent so far in 2017 but there are plenty of stocks which gave multibagger returns of up to 700 percent in the same period.

Prominent stocks which more than doubled investors wealth include names like Indiabulls Ventures (up 711 percent), followed by Venkys India (up 242 percent), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 179 percent), Shakti Pumps (up 215 percent), Future Retail (up 190 percent), Avanti Feeds (up 177 percent).

The Nifty is trading close to its lifetime high of 9,709 and if the momentum sustains we might be able to make history in June. The index looks ripe for an up move towards 9,700 but could come under pressure at higher levels.

The stocks which have given multibagger return belong to the mid and smallcap space which has already outperformed Nifty by a wide margin in the last 5 years. Even though, the macro story for India still remains intact but analysts are slowly turning cautious.

Hence, if you are an investor who has invested in stocks which have already more than doubled so far in 2017, it warrants your attention now.

We are slightly cautious on the midcap and largecap space. The valuations there have become really expensive and on a whole also the markets have become fairly expensive, Prashasta Seth, CEO at IIFL Asset Management Ltd told Moneycontrol.

Till the point earnings start to come back, it is better to be in my mind largecaps than in midcaps or in smallcaps. Midcaps and smallcaps have outperformed largecaps by a big margin in the last 2-3 years. And there are companies trading at 40-50 times earnings in the midcap space, he said.

Technically, the Nifty is forming higher tops higher bottoms on the weekly chart, which suggests that the medium-term trend is bullish as per the Dow Theory.

However, the daily & weekly momentum indicators are showing exhaustion, which indicates that there is scope for a pause before the index stretches further on the upside, suggest experts.

From short term perspective Nifty can consolidate in the range of 9,700-9,500 before it resumes the larger up trend. Once the consolidation is over the index can head towards 10,000 & 10,300, which will be the medium term targets to watch out for, Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan told Moneycontrol.

We have collated view from experts as to what investors should do with stocks which have more than doubled investors wealth so far in the year 2017:

Analyst: Gaurav Ratnaparkhi, Senior Technical Analyst, Sharekhan

Analyst: Mazhar Mohammad, Chief Strategist  Technical Research & Trading Advisory, Chartviewindia.in

Venkys India: Hold the stock

This counter is in a strong uptrend after hitting a higher bottom of Rs 220 in February 2016 and since then it has almost vertical multiplies itself by 7 times.

On the daily charts, it appears to be in a consolidation mode and investors can continue to hold this counter with a stop below Rs 1,370 on a closing basis and they should also seriously consider locking their profits if this stop loss is violated.

If the stock manages to sustain and resumes its uptrend, then the next possible target for the stock is near Rs 1,730 level in next 2-3 months.

Indiabulls Real Estate: Ride the rally with strict stop loss

Albeit this counter is in a strong uptrend. Technically, the level which may trigger intermediate downtrend is at Rs 150 level, which is far away from current market price and also doesnt make any sense for long-term investors to maintain such a steep stop loss in a counter where there is uncertainty about upsides.

The best thing for investors can be to ride the rally with a stop below Rs 190 on a closing basis. If the rally extends this may extend its up move up to Rs 218 levels.

Avanti Feeds: Exit or book profits and re-enter after a breakout

For the last 15 days, this counter appears to be in a distribution mode and formed a rounding top formation. If correction kicks in then it may come back all the way towards Rs 1,125 level.

Hence, the best course of action for investors appears to be to exit at this level and re-enter the scrip once it registers a fresh breakout above Rs 1,460 levels on a closing basis.

Future Retail: Hold the stock

Despite its vertical up move from the lows of Rs115 in the last 7 months this counter appears to be providing fresh entry point as it corrected in last 8 trading sessions.

Investors can continue to hold this with a stop below Rs349 on closing basis where as fresh buyers should maintain a stop of Rs360 and continue for a target of Rs440 levels.

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts on moneycontrol.com are their own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
Tehran, Iran, June 20

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

The Iranian government has voiced support for a recent missile attack by the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) on Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, Daesh) positions in Syria.

The president has announced that the government supports all missile programs of the IRGC and armed forces and that there is no limit for armed forces to boost their missile capabilities, government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht told a press conference, Trends correspondent reported from the event on June 20.

The response that the IRGC gave to the IS terrorists was a sign of national power, he said, adding, This move goes beyond national security to serve regional security.

Nobakht further underlined that Irans military clout is non-negotiable and that the countrys nuclear deal of 2015 does not restrict its missile program.

On June 19 night, IRGC fired six mid-range ballistic missiles at various targets within a range of 650 to 700 kilometers, including the headquarters, ammunition and logistic depots of the IS.

Syria Star Times reported that the casualties of the attack reached 50 people. Iran said the attack was a retaliation move against June 7 terrorist attacks in Tehran for which IS had claimed responsibility.
Dr Anand Deshpande

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Indias pre-internet era technology services companies are going through challenging times. Clients are asking companies to cut costs on an ongoing basis for existing projects as new technologies allow the same work to be done for a lot less. In a free-wheeling conversation with Malini Bhupta of Moneycontrol, the founder and chairman of Persistent Systems, Anand Deshpande, talks about the challenges facing tech companies and what it has taken him to move 50 percent of his companys revenues away from effort-based billing.

Indian IT is going through a turbulent time. How do you view it?

The effort required for the same work is going down. The fundamental reason behind all the issues in the industry stems from this one factor. Earlier, where you had a bullock cart, now you have a tractor. This is happening because of continuous and significant advances in software technologies, tools and methods. The way people are writing code on the cloud, a lot of software that was written for scaffolding and keeping the systems up and running are not needed anymore. So you can get a lot done with a lot less as you are using standard components and standard technology that is available. You dont have to rewrite everything. That is the main difference.

Are these changes impacting global technology companies, too?

You need to see the world in three broad buckets. One set was born in 2008 [and continues] onward -- they are known as born-in-the-cloud companies. People also call them born digital because they have always built everything in the cloud. Then, you have companies that were born between 1994 and 2008, which are known as the internet companies like Yahoo and Google. These companies could not have existed without the internet. Then, you have companies which were born before 1994, which are the pre-internet companies like IBM, Oracle and Microsoft etc. The team sizes for building products for born-in-the-cloud companies are in an order of magnitude smaller than the internet companies, which are in an order of magnitude smaller than the pre-internet companies.

The born-in-the-cloud companies are that much more efficient than the pre-internet companies and the consequence of this is that most of the pre-internet companies are going through a major transformation right now in terms of redoing and retooling themselves. They will have to look different in the next few years to be able to survive.

How are these sweeping changes impacting Indian companies?

India business has traditionally been based on effort. If you see, the billing rate has been based on effort and not on work. Work is not coming down but effort is going down. All of us in Indian IT industry, referred to as Nasscom IT industry, are facing the same problem. All are based on effort-based business model. The customers are expecting a cost reduction and they are really expecting you to do it with a lot less people. Rather than see it as a negative, I think this is an opportunity for the industry to do the same work with half the number of people and pass on a significant portion of the savings to the customer but also retain some of it to improve profitability.

Some of the large IT companies claim that overall IT spends are not growing. Is that correct?

It is only partly correct. If you see Gartner and others they will say that IT spends are growing in single digits. The other thing is that IT has gotten broader and wider. If you look at the technology roadmap, the new stuff is growing at a rapid pace. Companies are having a hard time keeping abreast. Every business is looking to transform itself into a software business.

What are the challenges that Indian IT companies face, especially the pre-internet companies? What will happen to the existing business?

The main reason behind the problems is that the effort required for the same work goes down. Ideally, I should be able to get the job done at 30-40 percent less cost. If I were to look at a buyer of services, they would have bought hardware, then the software stack. And, on top of it, they would have bought the application stack and then they would have an application, development and maintenance team to keep running it. Of this stack, the ADM piece was 25-30 percent of IT spends. Today, the cloud infrastructure spend is higher.

The ADM piece shrinks significantly. The parts that are embedded in the cloud is also software. In the last few years, the amount of software that touches the business is getting wider and wider. In the past, an airline, for instance, had all the information on a data centre and you had to call the airline to get things done. Now, that is available on the mobile app. All the software did not exist five years ago and tentacles are getting wider. The new stuff is not tightly integrated with the old stuff. The speed at which things are built and deployed is very fast.

The implication of this on the Indian IT companies is that a significant portion of their existing business which focuses on helping their customers run their business will be consumed differently. There will be a shift from long-term and larger deals to a larger number of smaller and shorter deals. This is a challenge for the IT companies on how they sell and how they deliver profitably in this environment. However, the work/opportunity for the Indian IT industry is not going away.

Are customers spending on all these new things?

It is not that customers are not spending but the new business has new bidders and some are new. This is a new market from the customer's point of view. From an employee's point of view, new skills are required. Clayton Christensen writes extensively about this phenomena. If a market is shifting very rapidly and you are an incumbent, the people who are running the old business find it hard to respond to the new stuff. The new stuff for an existing customer is going to come at the expense of the existing business.

How has Persistent gone after the new business?

Let me give you a historical perspective. Businesses go through S curve. Rather than stretch the S curve we need to find a new S. We have seen four S curves and two downturns. And that will give you a sense of where we are. The first S curve was in 1999-2001 when we were 100 people and we were focused on software companies, which were data-centric or companies which were building databases. We did esoteric stuff for these Valley-based companies. We got our VC funding from Intel Capital in 2000. After the Y2K phase, we decided to create a category around outsourced product development. In an IT project you have well defined projects and you do a trade-off between time and money. When you do a product, people decide when you ship the product and then they finalise how much to spend. Then, you decide how to develop the best possible product in the defined time-frame. We grew rapidly in this and we were 500 people in 2003 and grew to 2,500 in 2008.

In 2008, again there was a spending freeze and I met 150 of our customers. We came forward and decided that we had to focus on cloud, analytics, collaboration and mobility. Gartner picked it up as SMAC later. The other observation we had was that CEOs are different in their thinking from other CXOs. CEOs are topline focused rather than bottom line focused. Secondly, they worry about some things, rest they delegate. Also, CEOs are strategic and not tactical. We realised we were not offering strategic input. We realised we had to do something that would get us a seat on the table with CEOs. We identified sell with customers and go with them to sell. We did an IPO in 2010 and in FY14 we were 8,000 people. Also, with a similar objective, we started the Accelerite business, which is to take over non-strategic products of our technology customers and breathe new life into them based on our product engineering expertise. This also made us more strategic to the CEOs and their priorities.

We realised that while building products you can do a lot with a lot less. A lot of our business was effort-based and if effort goes down, billing goes down. We decided to move our business in two different ways. We found that everybody wants to become a software company. We realised we could go after a larger market because whatever product development we had done was relevant to everyone else. We decided to do this without charging on the basis of effort.

Can you give an example of work you are doing with companies?

We announced a partnership around Watson IoT and we are responsible for continuous engineering of the product. We bill on percentage of sale of the product not on effort. The product sells more, we make more. There has to be continuous use of software that gets delivered on things.

Another project we have taken on is with USAA, which is a bank that serves the US armed forces. They have a good security mechanism and risk-based access controls. We convinced them that what they had could be marketed. So we are responsible for selling and distributing that in the market. They have software that can be marketed to other geographies.

We have also teamed up with Partners HealthCare, where Persistent together with Partners, will develop an open-source platform to lower the barriers for knowledge exchange across health care providers and enable a new generation of decision support apps in the clinical environment.

What are you focusing on?

We continue to use the product development cycle. We are calling it Software 4.0. We are focusing on data, digital and IoT. And, we have used these three basic themes as the big integration theme on which our future will be based. The business model we are going after is not effort-based. The proof is in the billing. The faster we can move away from effort-based [work] the better. We have defined our customer base over three verticals -- healthcare, financial services and industrial IoT. We have picked a few partners in these verticals. For healthcare, we have Salesforce and we are a platinum partner and we are selling together in that sector.

What percentage of your business is effort-based?

Now, 50 percent of our business is not effort-based. This has happened over the last two-three years. The migration is very difficult. Collecting 30 percent of the business is IP-based and it has been done frugally. It is hard to build a next generation product-based business. We decided to go after stable and less glamourous business. Now, we have half a dozen products we have built and are being seeded into the system.

How do you see the future given where you are?

We have gotten to a stage where we have brought down our effort-based revenues to 50 percent and we have some way to go before we realise stronger profits from the new restructuring. Of course, we think that we did USD 429.01 million last year. We think half the business we have stands a good chance of growing profitably. In the next 12-15 months, we will grow slowly but after that we will see tailwinds. The next plateau for us is a USD 1 billion. Over time the ambition is to make the non-effort based business to account for 70 percent of revenues.

What about margins?

If you look at product companies, they make reasonably good margins. The traditional services business will see margin compression. We want IP and new business to become a dominant part of the business. But till that happens we are investing and taking risks. I am taking a big bet on IoT and believe it will pay off in the long-term.

Read more: Persistent leads IT pack in shifting away from 'effort-based' billing
4. Hindustan Aeronautics | Return: -35.50% | Issue size: Rs 4,144 crore | Listing date: March 28, 2018 | Subscription ratio: 0.99 | Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) is engaged in the design, development, manufacture, repair, overhaul, upgrade and servicing of a wide range of products including, aircraft, helicopters, aero-engines, avionics, accessories and aerospace structures.

Anil Ambani Group company Reliance Defence Ammunition has entered a strategic partnership with Serbia's state-run defence major Yugoimport to manufacture ammunition in India and target business opportunities of Rs 20,000 crore over the next 10 years.

The company made the annuncement here today, a day after Ambani, chairman of Reliance Group, met President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic in Paris.

Defence Minister of Serbia, Zoran Dordevic, Assistant Minister of Defence Nenad Moloradovic and the CEO of Yugoimport were also present at the meeting.

"Two companies will work together in the field of ammunition amongst others, with projected minimum requirement of Rs 20,000 crore over next 10 years from Indian armed forces," Reliance Defence Ltd (RDL) said in a statement.

It said there is also an option for exporting ammunition, adding the proposal envisages transfer of technology by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and indigenous manufacturing in India.

Yugoimport, a state-owned enterprise, is a market leader in the field of ammunition production and has offered a fully compliant technical solution to meet the Make in India requirements of the Indian government, as per RDL.

RDL has proposed to set up a greenfield facility for the production of ammunition.

"Reliance Defence Ammunition will also undertake joint development of next generation ammunition to meet the future requirements of the Indian armed forces," the company said.

India currently imports nearly 50 per cent of its ammunition requirements by value term, with an annual spending of more than Rs 10,000 crore on ammunition.
What is the idea?

This weeks 1001 Startup idea is to develop a mobile and web-based application for better documentation of site inspections and reporting. This tool will facilitate the work of Site Engineers, Site Supervisors, and Contractor Supervisors.

Market Definition

According to Research and Markets, the global construction management software market is set to grow at a CAGR of 14.96% during the period 2016-2020. The main reason for the market growth can be attributed to the increase in demand for construction management software in the APAC region. The increase in growth of the construction market in India, China and Japan will contribute to the growth of the global construction management software during the forecast period.

Competitor Analysis

Considering the sheer size of the industry, there are several small and big players in the segment. There is an Ontario-based company Bridgit that has made a similar cloud-based software that lets general contractors, engineering consultants, architects, and subcontractors collaborate to manage all project work in real time. One of the players is Fieldlens, a New York based startup developing a mobile field management and communication tool for the construction industry.

Pain Point & Target Audience

The target audience for the startup would be small and medium scale companies in commercial and residential constructions.

Construction engineers and supervisors spend hours with pen-papers and sticky notes to write down their inspection pointers and then again spend the same amount of time in documenting them digitally to generate system-wide tickets for work allocation and reporting. We want to make the complete process more structured and streamlined with the tool to save some critical time from their busy schedule.

Also, the small construction companies often lack varied domain expertise to tackle all the issues in-house. The application will guide them through the issues with the knowledge bank, and for specific troubleshooting and advice, connect them with the respective industry expert.

Value Proposition

The tool will streamline the complete process of inspection and contractor management for site engineers and supervisors. Using the tool, the site supervisor will be able to take inspection photos and notes on-the-go and then generate & allocate tickets for the contractors to work on the issue found. The tool will also generate daily and weekly inspection reports with the details on the closure and ongoing tasks.

Business Model

The startup will primarily work on B2B SaaS business model with Real Estate Construction companies. As the project cycle for construction projects are longer, the startup can have annual subscription plans based on a number of users. The startup can also curate a list of independent consultants specialized in construction field, and showcase them on the platform. The users can further take services from the consultants for an additional fee.

The access to specialized consultants may prove very lucrative feature for small construction companies, which have limited specialists in their team. With the combination of these, the startup will bring ease and expertise both onto the same platform.

Way to market

The startup should first develop the seamless application of the product for both mobile and web. Once that is done, the startup should start approaching small and medium scale construction companies. Initially, the startup should mainly focus on getting smaller size construction projects, so that the tool can be tested in the controlled environment and further improved where needed. There is nothing that stops the startup to launch global, so startup should start reaching companies across the globe through their connections and network.

Milestones

The startup should complete the product development and refinement for the launch in first three months. Following which the startup should target to acquire atleast 12 construction companies, with around 20 plus projects in the first year.

This will help the startup to produce and showcase the successful validation point, and start approaching other construction companies with large scale projects.

Investment Needed For Prototype

For building and testing the prototype, pitch for raising $100k from Angel and Seed Investors. The startup can also look to join Real Estate or SaaS-based accelerators like Ycombinator, MetaProp or Inhab accelerator. Inhab Accelerator, a leading Real estate tech accelerator ( www.inhab.xyz ) helps you refine and scale up your business with some of the leading Real Estate players across Asia.

Team Capability

You would need to have back-end architecture designer and application developer in your team. You also need another co-founder from Real Estate construction or design background to guide the product development and lead the initial business development and partner onboarding.

Investors / Expert Take

For years, the construction industry was seen as a late adopter' regarding technology. But recently with the advancement and adoption of handheld devices, every professional feel the need to be updated in the real-time and Real estate is not an exception. In one of the surveys, 79% fo construction managers accepted that construction management software has helped them reduce the time it takes to complete a project. This shows that huge demand that industry will have with these strong validation points, as the tool directly impacts the cost and timeline of the project which are the most critical aspects of any project. In case you are looking at scaling or launching this venture, you can apply for our virtual acceleration program Excelrate on the Yostartups.com website; it will help you in streamlining and structuring your startup idea. We have limited scholarships and discount packs for deserving startups, depending on the strength of your application, you may qualify for a discount.
India's biggest tax reform, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime is just around the corner, which will bring in force massive changes for businesses small and large.

Besides the government appointed GST Suvidha centres, there are a clutch of IT companies and startups that are making hay while the sun shines.

Companies such as ClearTax, Tally, Zoho and Exotel, have already released software and platforms that will help improve GST compliance for businesses. Online marketplaces such as Snapdeal, Flipkart and Amazon are educating their sellers on the compliance needed from next month.

The latest to join the band of GST software enablers is GST Star, a Bangalore-based firm started by Infosys veterans Shailesh Agrawal and Balaji G S Rao.

Mentored by ex-Infosys leaders V Balakrishnan and T V Mohandas Pai, GST Star has launched a platform to provide specific solutions around invoice generation, reconciliation tracking, input tax amalgamation, among other services for large enterprises, SMEs, tax professionals, and small traders as well as retailers.

Other IT companies which have launched GST compliance software in past few months include Nagpur based Excellon Software and Pune based Deskera.

Its a major transformation stage for the country and there are bound to be some teething issues for large and small companies to be GST-ready. The concerns we have come across after our interaction with the companies are around multiple registration and input tax reconciliation. We see a huge market here, Shailesh Agarwal of GST Star said.

Although going forward, the ticket to success of such a platform will be to offer base infrastructure for automation of invoices, registration, billing, Agarwal added.

The company claims to have bagged contracts from 5 large enterprises till now, and is in talks with 12 others.

For the mid-sized and small enterprises GST Star will bank on a subscription-based model, which will cost anywhere between Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 per month. The service will be free for CAs and tax professionals initially, and will be priced at about Rs 5,000 per year, thereafter.

Coming into effect on July 1, the uniform tax regime will have four separate tax rates for different classes of goods and services. Firms will be required to file three tax returns a month, which is expected to multiply the compliance burden.

However some companies feel there will be a positive impact in the log run.

With GST you have to be legit, there is no two ways about it. With its roll-out, those who are not already on digital platform will adopt it. And we will be at the forefront, says Sampad Swain, CEO of Instamojo.

Bangalore based Instamojo has tied up with tax consultants such as Cleartax, Vakilsearch.com, Legal Raasta, and Profitbooks.com, to offer accounting services to its merchants, for the upcoming GST regimen.

The new GST Network is expected to crunch up to 5 billion invoices a month! The last released data from National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) in 2013 had recorded around 57.7 million registered small and medium traders.

Add to that at least 15 million more retailers many more other online and offline ventures that will have to digitize their sales.

GST Star is targeting to grab at least 10 percent of this market. There is enough room for more than one player here. We have created a platform that is immersive and services beyond just filing of tax. We are confident of making a breakthrough, Agarwal said.

Besides startups, major Indian IT companies such as SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft are also providing consulting and linking software that will help their clients manage the transition smoothly.

Microsoft has released a cloud-based solution called DigiGST in association with E&Y.

ClearTax recently launched Billbook, a GST software for SMEs to prepare GST compliant invoices. ClearTaxs platform has features that will allow SMEs to create sales invoice, discount recording, freight, insurance, and also package handling charges along with recording purchases and expenditure under GST regime.

GST Star has stacked its technology with three tiers with a technology aspect that will offer analytics and track the GST processes, which is topped with services feature that will allow enterprises to file tax returns, generate invoice, and so on.

The platform also has a knowledge tier that will seek to answer all queries raised by the companies on GST compliance.

The company, which has raised USD 1 million in funding from angel investors, plans to raise additional funds next year to expand its team, upgrade the user interface, and integrate emerging technologies such as machine learning, AI, and advanced analytics, Agarwal said.

durba.ghosh@nw18.com
Darwinbox, a Hyderabad-based startup which offers cloud based dashboard for handling human resources has raised USD 4 million in Series A funding from Lightspeed India Partners along with existing investors Endiya Partners, 3one4 Capital and StartupXseed.

Darwinbox's clientele includes companies such as Paytm, Swiggy, Nivea and Godrej CDPL. It plans to use this funding to continue product innovation as well as focus market expansion in Asia, said Rohit Chennamaneni, co-founder, Darwinbox.

We are glad to partner with Lightspeed India Partners in this exciting journey. The investor interest is a testament to our product vision, market traction and belief in building best in class futuristic HR Technology that maximizes employee potential in organisations, Chennamaneni added.

As an idea, Darwinbox came to be when Jayant Paleti, one of the co-founders, realized that a previous company he was working for, had three different HR software which made data capture very difficult.

That's when Jayant called me (childhood friend) and Chaitanya Peddi (colleague) to discuss if we could build a platform which can make HR intelligent and strategic. We unified aspects of HR like recruitment, payroll, employee engagement, talent management into one platform, Paleti told Moneycontrol.

Paleti and Peddi earlier worked with EY while Chennamaneni worked with McKinsey.

"Darwinbox is leading the charge in taking human capital management beyond the HR department to all employees with a highly user-friendly and configurable user experience. We are thrilled to partner with Rohit, Chaitanya, Jayant and their team, said Dev Khare, Partner at Lightspeed India Partners Advisors.

Joseph.Sebastian@nw18.com
One cannot begin to emphasise the importance of cheap taxi fare in a city where the streets are swamped with kaali-peelis or the black and yellow taxis. Every morning and evening, during peak hours, if you pause for a look, youll see several hands stretched out to hail a cab to the innumerable destinations. The taxis lend life and convenience to a city, so where their fares stay low, the lives of commuters becomes easier. Lets see some places across the world which have the highest and the lowest taxi fares, according to a study by taxi2airport.com which analysed data collated by Taxi-Calculator.com. (Image: Reuters)

A decline in fleet of Ola and Uber should be no cause of worry for the taxi hailing companies or their users, say transportation experts.

According to research and consulting firm RedSeer, the number of affiliated cars with these two companies has declined by one-fourth of its total strength in December last year. It was reported first by Livemint here.

Jaspal Singh, an auto industry analyst and co-founder of Valoriser Consultants, opined that there is no need to sound an alarm as of now. "The sector already had a high attrition, so even if there is a reduction in the number of cabs it is not going to affect much. If it affects in future, they (Ola and Uber) will increase the incentives again or come up with something else," he said.

The report, citing figures from a market consulting firm RedSeer Management Consulting Pvt. Ltd, says that due to falling incentives for drivers working under Ola and Uber, around 1,20,000 of them have opted out to explore other job options.

"As Ola and Uber claim, they have more than one million registered cabs with them combined but at one point of time only about 35 percent of the associated drivers are active on road. Particularly during summers and holidays, the drivers chose to go to interstate rides," Singh added.

Ola and Uber were left with 3,80,000 vehicles associated with them in the March quarter, from the peak of five lakhs vehicles in December quarter, a sharp drop of 24 percent, the report said.

COMMENT: Uber CEO's argument with cabbie in US reveals similar worries here

However, drivers are clearly unhappy with a fall in earnings. "With 50 percent reduction in base fares and 60 percent drop in fares per kilometre, earnings have more than halved," said Jamuna Das, a driver associated with Uber India. Drivers are unhappy with the ride aggregators as the demand is mostly seasonal with summers being a lean period. Demand for cabs rises during the festive season around Diwali.

Delhi and Bangalore have seen drivers protests this year against falling incentives from both companies. The report also stated a drop at least 5 percent in the number of rides for the drivers, further reducing their earnings.

Incentives, over and above the share in fares, were initially offered to the drivers to lure them to associate themselves with these startups. Now, as both companies are targeting for profits, they have started cutting down on such spends.

Ola and Uber have also started leasing cabs to have a greater control on the demand and supply in the market.

Read also: Not worried about Ola's claims on market share: Uber

shubham.raj@nw18.com
Commodities LIVE: Rupee at 7-week high vs. USD, where is it headed?
Mitessh Thakkar of mitesshthakkar.com told CNBC-TV18, "I am more positively biased on the index and most of these stocks. So we will be more aggressive on the long trades. Adani Ports looks like it is getting into a new zone, it has broken above all the earlier swing highs. So I would buy this with a stoploss at Rs 364 for target of Rs 395."

"Sell call is in Biocon which is seeing some breakdown on the intraday chart. So I would sell with a stoploss at Rs 339, look for a target close to about Rs 313."

"Finally NBCC has managed to close above levels of Rs 204-205. So buy with a very tight stoploss at Rs 201, look for a first target of Rs 216. I did discuss Tata Elxsi yesterday as well or even today at current levels, I would be very comfortable buying this one. It has given a very strong pricing volume and a swing breakout. So buy with a stoploss at Rs 1,585, for target of Rs 1,690."
crude_300_64552660

Achiievers Equities' commodity report on Crudeoil

Crudeoil trading range for the day is 2857-2953.

Crude oil dropped weighed down by a continuing expansion in U.S. drilling that has helped to maintain high global supplies.

Traders said the main factor driving prices lower was a steady rise in U.S. production undermining the OPEC-led effort.

Japan's customs-cleared crude oil imports fell 13.5 percent in May from the same month a year earlier, to 2.83 million bpd, the Ministry of Finance said.

SELL CRUDEOIL JUL 2017 @ 2890 SL 3030 TGT 2856-2818.MCX.

For all commodities report, click here

Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on moneycontrol.com are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Read More
business Fortis Healthcare may test Rs 235-240, says Ashwani Gujral Ashwani Gujral of ashwanigujral.com feels that Fortis Healthcare may test Rs 235-240.
Tehran, Iran, June 20

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iraqs Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi will discuss the improvement of economic ties with Iran in his trip to the neighboring country, government spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht told a press conference.

Besides economic issues, joint efforts to confront terrorism and also cooperation on religious (tourism) are on agenda during al-Abadis visit to Tehran, Nobakht added, Trends correspondent reported from the event on June 20.

The spokesman noted that Iran provides military consultation to the Iraqi government in its fight against terrorism.

Earlier, Irans Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi said the Iraqi prime minister will also visit Saudi Arabia and Kuwait as well.
In an interview to CNBC-TV18's Anuj Singhal and Surabhi Upadhyay, SP Tulsian shared his views on the fundamentals of the market and specific stocks.

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.

Anuj: I wanted to check if you have a view in J Kumar Infraprojects?

A: Positive view because if you see now, the company having changed their focus purely on the bridges and maybe flyovers kind of things and maybe in a social function abroad when the CMD of the company met me, I was just asking him. We were in Mauritius about a year back when I was asking him the kind of picture he has given me, Jagdish Kumar Gupta, the kind of picture he has given me, mainly in respect to, because sometimes what happens, management cannot speak openly on the channels and growth plans, but the coastal road that is of Rs 10,000 crore, though it has not yet taken off, that is number one.

Number two, if you see, the metro projects. Number three, if you see, maybe the other flyovers and all that, they have a very significant presence. I will not be able to give you the patches or in which they are operating on the metro also, maybe between Andheri to Dahisar I think they are operating or maybe between Santacruz to Andheri and all that, they have their full of orders in their place.

The only problem they had or a grey shade in the past that some kind of action for the poor quality which I think it was required because otherwise, sometimes, these companies and all that, they go complacent and they go out of way or go overboard in either procuring the orders or executing the projects in a faster pace. So that maybe seen behind.

If one wants to take that into consideration then he will be a bit cautious, but otherwise, I think they have a very core strength in their engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) execution. The two sons of the CMD, again they have taken charge. I am not saying that it is a family concern. It is a professionally managed company. They have a very good construction equipment. In fact the main strength of any EPC player is that they must have their own construction equipment which they are having.

So I am quite positive on the progress having made by this company in the last couple of years and the execution speed. If you take a call on the Bandra, Kalanagar flyover, I am just giving you some of the examples, they have executed in 30-35 days ahead and they have been earning the bonus on that. So that has been the theme which CMD also has said that they always try to earn the bonuses on the early completion of the projects.

So I am quite confident that they will be able to have the larger pie of these orders from the Mumbai city though they have presence out of Mumbai also. But their focus now seems to be having shifted more on the Mumbai city, maybe next couple of years the company will be having the focus on Mumbai city.

So I am keeping a positive view though we have not initiated any buy call, neither we have given any buy call to our clients nor I am holding any stock. But we are keeping a positive view on the stock going forward.

Surabhi: I want to draw your attention to this mega Tata Group rally of sorts that we have seen today whether it is some of the larger names like Tata Power for instance, 4-5 percent higher. Even the smaller names, some of the other companies like Tata Investment Corporation since the morning. So this entire Tata Group buzz, would you talk about what the trigger today could be? Is it that big F-16 deal? Is there something that you are still looking at buying?

A: Again if you want to take a call on Tata Power, firstly, you have to rely more on their core business that is power generation. Yes, I agree that they have a subsidiary in which they are holding the stake through National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and all that, but I will not be giving that much weightage to the Tata Power by virtue of their indirect control or holding on the deal with Lockheed Martin, the deal which the Tatas have entered into with US company for F-16. Lockheed Martin are definitely the global leader and that is seen to be quite positive.

But these defence orders and all that have been, in fact if you recall, when Nikhil Gandhi was the promoter of Pipavav Defence, he used to talk a lot of about these kind of contracts getting executed but nothing has fructified. I am not saying that Tatas are not capable, but giving some kind of positive bias on Tata Power just merely on this news.

I will not be taking that as a positive move because on the other hand, if you see, Tatas also having got tired with the ultra mega power projects at Mundra and they want to look to exit from the project which can be a failure on part of the company like Tata Power who has been into the power generation for the last 7-8 decades and if you see the power generation capacity of the company will fall virtually half. They may be having a capacity of 9,000-9,500 megwatt in a joint venture and all that excluding the recent acquisition of Welspun.

So if you take the capacity of 4,000 getting knocked off, that will definitely be seen positive. Yes, this Lockheed Martin joint venture which Tatas have entered into will be having some rub off effect because of the stake which they are holding on because Tata Power is, as I said. Nalco is a Tata Group company, are having good expertise in that because if you recall, Scorpene Submarine projects, six submarine projects at that time also, this Nalco came into limelight. So maybe because of that this stock may be moving up today, but I will not be taking a buy call on Tata Power largely because of the gloomy picture seen on their core business of power generation.

Anuj: You have in the past, maintained positive stance on some of these logistics stocks. Some of them have done well like Snowman Logistics, Gati. Thoughts here on how to approach this space from here on?

A: I have positive view still on the logistics sector, but not on all, not across the board because since you have mentioned the Snowman, they are more into the refrigerated kind of things and I agree that once the octroi checkpost will go away, you can expect at least 50 percent higher rotation of the fleets which are having, but that will largely be seen positive for the companies like VRL Logistics, Gati and Fedex kind of things or maybe Allcargo Logistics who have the sea presence also.

So keeping a mild positive, I will not be extremely positive, because the frenzy kind of things which we have seen, maybe six months back ahead of implementations of GST is not seen existing there. Now it will be a hard game of the earning growth or the volume growth which we can expect to see from these companies.

So I am not keeping a positive view on maybe the stocks like Snowman Logistics or for that matter even on the Gati, even on the Gateway Distriparks, the parent company of Snowman Logisitics. But have a positive view on maybe like Allcargo, VRL Logisitics or maybe Gati kind of stocks.

Surabhi: What is your call on Adani Enterprises? Is there more value after that dream run that we have already seen in the stock?

A: Again this investor has a one month view and we have already seen that dream run on the hopes of the revival of the Carmichael projects in Australia of USD 16-17 billion. So definitely I do not think that the further upside is seen, those projects have a what you call execution period of maybe 4-5 years. So whatever has to happen, has already seen having reflected into the share price.

So my advice is that better to exit because he has a one month view so he can book profit now and if he wish to buy again, maybe at a lower level by about 5-8 percent, he should be able to get that in the next couple of months. But as of now, he should book the profits.

Anuj: The stock that is surging now is Fortis Healthcare, up 4.5 percent right now. Thoughts on Fortis?

A: Again this IHH Healthcare takeover news is now seen imminent. That is going to see the change of hands. We will see the open offer, but ultimate, I do not think that a dramatic turnaround can really be seen happening in the financial performance of the company. No doubt that they are asset rich, they have a very good presence, but because of the fundamentals and if I compare it with the Apollo Hospitals which is not seen very expensive because the healthcare stocks are always ruling expensive and the kind of infrastructure which Apollo is enjoying that seems to be a better choice over Fortis Healthcare.

So I will not be taking a positive call on Fortis Healthcare beyond maybe Rs 205-210. And since the stock is already ruling at a level of Rs 195 or so, there is very little room left on the upside for the stock.

Anuj: We just saw the surge in Hindustan Zinc intraday. I know you have maintained a positive view on the stock. At Rs 253, is this still a buy?

A: It is a buy because let me give you the reason because in Q1, though the import parity price, because always the zinc and lead prices are derived for the domestic market on the import parity prices and with the rupee having hardened, we have seen the realisations falling by about maybe 3-5 percent for Q1, but that will get largely compensated and offset by the quantity increase because there is increase in the zinc production, there is going to be increase in the lead production as well as on the silver also.

So, yes and because of the change in the structuring from open cast to underground mining. Having gone by the company. That is giving them a lot of advantage because you do not have to bring the ore on the shaft and that saves a lot of handling cost. So that advantage also will be seen getting reflected to the company in this first quarter. Quantity increase and because of the change of this technology, as I said, maybe that will get largely offset and I do not see any reason for the shares to not perform because the kind of profit booking which you have see after the special dividend of that Rs 27-28 when it moved Rs 300 past, it has seen an ex-dividend element going out of about Rs 30-32.

But it has seen the huge beating at that point of time maybe because of the dividend planning having taken place. So keeping a positive view and will not be a surprise to see a price of Rs 270-275 in the next couple of weeks or so.
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Shares of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) rose between 2 and 4 percent intraday on Tuesday on the back of developments around farm loan waivers.

Satin Creditcare, Bharat Financial Inclusion, Equitas Holdings, Mahindra and Mahindra Financial Services as well as Bajaj Finance all reacted positively to the farm loan waiver cap of Rs 1 lakh in Maharashtra and Rs 2 lakh in Punjab. Management commentary by these firms indicate very little or no hit on their finances.

Bharat Financial Inclusion also rose on the back of buzz around its merger. Its management told CNBC-TV18 that an announcement on its merger is likely in the next few months.

Maharashtra revenue minister Chandrakant Patil announced a waiver of farm loans amounting to Rs 1 lakh which turned outstanding last year on June 30. The reasons for outstanding loans should fall under these three heads - drought, crop failure, and debt-ridden farmers who were unable to repay the loans.

Patil suggested that these loans will be paid into the farmers' accounts by the government and this move will cover a majority of the farmers. For farmers who were not able to repay the loans between June 2016-2017, they would be given a relief package.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Monday announced total waiver of crop loans up to Rs 2 lakh of small and marginal farmers, and a flat Rs 2 lakh relief for all marginal farmers, irrespective of the loan amount.

The announcement has thus paved way for eventual total waiver of agricultural debts, which was a major poll promise of the Congress during the Punjab Assembly polls in March this year.

Speaking at the Assembly, the chief minister noted the move would benefit 10.25 lakh farmers, including 8.75 lakh farmers up to 5 acres.
Answer: Kochi Metro

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It is no longer Delhi and Mumbai, metro projects are now making headlines in small cities and towns as well. The Urban Development Ministry is already flooded with requests from cities like Patna, Bhopal, Indore, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Varanasi, Kanpur and others. Estimates (see table) reveal close to Rs 2.24 lakh crore could be spent on metro projects that are either under construction or are at a planning stage. This still does not cover the entire list. Recently, while inaugurating the Rs 5,182-crore Kochi Metro project, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that about 50 cities are ready to implement metro projects.

Amongst markets, Mumbai is supposed to be the fastest growing market with 9-10 metro projects (under implementation or planning stage) measuring about 200 km with the total estimated close of close to Rs 80600 crore.

"While Mumbai is quite late compared to other global major cities as far as development of a metro rail network is concerned, the scale and speed of the network envisaged is astonishing. Over the next 4-5 years, construction of 125 km metro lines is being targeted in Mumbai. This is amongst the fastest rate of metro network development compared with other major cities across the globe. It is, in fact, at par with the pace witnessed in some major cities in China, reputed for tremendous execution speed," said Parvez Akhtar Qazi, Analyst, Edelweiss Securities.

Considering that civil construction is the largest part of the overall costs, construction companies like J Kumar and Simplex Infrastructures, which are dominant players in Mumbai region, are best placed to take advantage. Amongst the national players, ITD Cementation and NCC are considered to be strong contenders having relative experience and capabilities. Thankfully, today, the competition is less as most of the players in the construction space are struggling to reduce debt and lack backing of a strong balance sheet.

On Fast Lane

Besides the quantum of spending, what has changed is the ease of execution. The government is framing the metro rail policy under which projects will go straight to Finance Ministry for approval. The government has standardised the specifications or requirements for the rolling stocks and signaling systems to speed up implementation.

For instance, the recently completed 13 km Kochi Metro was executed in record 45 months as against 75 months taken for the 11 km Mumbai Metro. It took 56 months for the 9 km Jaipur Metro and close to 50 months for the Bangalore Metro project.

A typical city metro project could be in the range of about 20-50 km. Every KM of a line could cost close to Rs 200-300 crore of capex in the form of civil construction, electronics, laying of tracks and rolling stocks. While civil work accounts for a majority of the project cost, this also opens up a huge opportunity for other companies in the value chain. It takes about 12 months after the starting of civil work for the rolling stocks to get awarded. In a typical metro project, the cost of rolling stocks is estimated to be around 15-20 percent of the total cost.

Since the government has prioritised domestic procurement, it will be an equally good opportunity for companies like Titagarh Wagons and BEML.

To put the numbers in perspective, 15-20 percent or Rs 34,000-45000 crore of the estimated amount of Rs 2.24 lakh crore to be spent on metro projects, will be deployed for rolling stocks. This is a sizeable amount for the industry where companies like BEML and Titagarh have annual sales turnover in the region of Rs 1000-2000 crore.

BEML claims to have close to 60 percent share in Delhi Metro and is the largest supplier of rolling stocks in Jaipur and Bangalore metro projects.

Similarly, there is an equally large opportunity for electric, systems, safety, signaling and communication products and services where players like Siemens have an edge. Recently, Siemens India along with German counterpart Siemens AG bid for the Rs 23,000 crore 33.5 km Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Mumbai metro project for the traction systems, signaling, train control, telecommunication and other parts of the total project.
Darjeeling: Security personnel fire tear gas during a protest by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) activists in Darjeeling on Saturday. PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik

Darjeeling remains on the boil with internet access cut off even as the indefinite strike called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha district enters its ninth day. The political body, with huge mass support, has been rallying for a separate Gorkhaland for Indian Nepalis.

With locals resorting to violence and arson amid allegations of police brutality, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has appealed for peace and dialogue.

Thus far, three GJM activists have died and one India Reserve Battalion commander has been critically injured in the aftermath of the protests.

After a two-year lull, the current wave of protests was triggered by the West Bengal governments decision to make Bengali a compulsory languages for Classes 1 to 9 in all state-board schools.

Here's how things have escalated over the past month:

May 16: The government declares that Bengali would be made compulsory for all students across the state.

May 30: GJM announces a protest against the government's decision of making Bengali a compulsory subject in state-run schools.

June 5: Mamata Banerjee starts her five-day visit to North Bengal in Mirik. She is greeted by a huge group protesters led by senior GJM leader Binay Tamang.

June 7: In the next few days the Gorkhaland movement will start. The people of the hills are still with the GJM. We are unitedly fighting for Gorkhaland," Tamang says.

Accusing the Bengal government of intervening in the workings of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA), which is a semi-autonomous body for administrating Darjeeling and Kalimpong, GJM again raise their old demand for a separate state of Gorkhaland.

June 8: CM Mamata Banerjee holds a cabinet meeting at the Darjeeling Rajbhawan. Protests continue outside the premises where an effigy of the chief minister is burned.

Protesters try to make their way to the Rajbhawan and clash with the police. The police use batons and tear gas shells to disperse the crowd.

As violence continues with protesters pelting stones and torching police vehicles, the police fail to contain the situation. Army is deployed on the CM's request.

June 9: GJM holds a 12-hour strike to protest the previous days police action on their mass demonstration. Tourists are stranded in the hill-station.

June 10: With growing turmoil, GJM general secretary Roshan Giri calls for an indefinite shutdown of all government offices in the Darjeeling hills from June 12. It excludes school, colleges and hospitals from the strike.

June 11: Mamata threatens government employees with stern action if they fail to show up at work.

Police arrest five GJM members on allegations of violence in the protests during the CMs visit to the hills. Bimal Gurung tells India Today: The more force they use, the more we shall get emboldened.

Centre asks WB government to send in a detailed report of the situation.

June 12: Strike starts in Darjeeling. Angry mob torches a Public Works Department office. GJM chief Bimal Gurung asks tourists to leave for their own safety.

The heritage toy train service Darjeeling Himalayan Railwayis interrupted.

June 15: Police claim to have recovered arms from Bimal Gurungs house after a raid and Banerjee accuses GJM of having support of North-Easts insurgent groups.

Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong area see spurts of violence and arson. GJM supporters torch a railway station, a police outpost, a government health centre, and several police and public vehicles

June 16: Calcutta High Court declares GJMs call for an indefinite strike in Darjeeling illegal. GJMs opposition Jan Andolan Party (JAP) shows support to the movement by taking out a silent march in Kalimpong.

GJMs Assistant General Secretary Binay Tamangs house is raided by the police at night. GJM activist Vikram Rai, who is in charge of its media cell, is detained by police.

Centre refuses to send additional paramilitary forces as Banerjee's government has not submitted the report on Darjeeling turmoil.

June 17: Protests gets intense as GJM takes out mass rally against prohibitory orders. Protesters clash with police resulting in one civilian being killed and one IRB commander injured, as per police reports.

GJM claims three of its activists were killed, but the police and the government deny it.

Mamata Banerjee claims the police did not fire and the protests were a deep rooted conspiracy by North-East insurgent groups and foreign aides. On the other hand, authorities deny GJMs claim that three of their activists were killed in police firing.

June 18: GJM takes out a silent march in protest of three of its activists allegedly being killed in police firing.

Internet service is cut off in the hills. The notification issued by the WB government to telecom and broadband service providers states there is apprehension of grave risk and danger to human life and property if public at large continues to avail the normal broadband services.

GJM demands that security forces should be removed to bring back normalcy. It also urges the Centre to initiate talks.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh suggests resolution of the conflict though talks. Mamata Banerjee offers to hold talks if violent politics of protests are put to an end.

June 19: the Tibetan community living in Darjeeling organised a candle light march for restoration of peace in the hills.

June 20: Centre receive's the state's report on the situation and sends 125 women security personnel to Darjeeling. Normalcy is still to return.
After evading the police for more than a month, retired Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was on Tuesday arrested in Coimbatore.

"We have arrested former high court judge Karnan from south India," a senior officer of the West Bengal CID told PTI.

Karnan has been evading the police since May 9 after the Supreme Court sanctioned an arrest warrant against him, sentencing him to a six-month jail term after holding him in contempt of court following a series of defiant counter-orders he had repeatedly issued against the apex court.

Justice Karnans counsel, Mathews J Nedumpara, said Karnan had gone to Tamil Nadu two or three days ago and was arrested in Coimbatore, adding that the police will now take him to Kolkata.

Last week, Karnan became the first high court judge to retire as an absconder. His arrest comes days after the Supreme Court refused to stay its order.

Karnans lawyer had earlier a filed a writ petition seeking recall of the order awarding him six-month jail term. He argued that as a HC Judge, Karnan was not under the Supreme Court benchs jurisdiction. But the SC registry dismissed his plea and said the findings against him have attained finality.

Nedumpara claimed to have made a representation to President Pranab Mukhejee for suspension of the Supreme Courts order. The intervention was sought as, under Article 72 of the Constitution, the President has the power to suspend sentence of any convict.

The plea was not entertained by the President and finally, on June 11, the controversial HC judge retired from his position while on the run.

Since he was absconding, he missed the formal farewell which is usually given to every retiring high court judge.

More to follow...
Even as Ram Nath Kovind was declared as the ruling BJP's candidate for President of India yesterday, dissenting voices are being heard across the political spectrum. The nomination of Kovind, a Dalit, and a low-profile candidate, is being contested by opposition parties which will be sitting down on June 22 to decide their position.

Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress has already rejected the candidate. Others like Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) has expressed happiness over Kovind's nomination, but has stopped short of backing Kovind.

The sticking point for a section of the opposition seems to be Kovind's association with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Left parties are likely to demand a joint opposition candidate just as they did in 2003 when NDA nominated APJ Abdul Kalam.

So, does Kovind stand a chance. Let's see how the numbers stack up.

How Kovind's numbers stack up

BJP with a vote bank of 40 percent is in a strong position to muscle out the opposition. However, to get to the half-way mark, BJP will need the support of a few parties to put Kovind in Raisina Hill. However, what is comforting is, it won't have to look beyond its own allies.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP)'s votes amount to 3 percent. Let's not forget that Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal (BJD) (3 percent) has confirmed its support.

But it is Tamil Nadu's ruling party - the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's (AIADMK) support that can hold the key. The two warring factions of the AIADMK control 5 percent votes in the presidential election.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's office has also confirmed that his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will back Kovind. They currently hold 2 percent of the votes.

All of these parties, including BJP, amount to 53 percent votes together. Plus, other BJP allies such as the Shiromani Akali Dal, Jammu & Kashmir's Peoples Democratic Party, among others, will come in handy, furthering Kovind's cause.

WATCH: How The President Of India Is Elected

Fence-sitters

There are some fence-sitters like the Shiv Sena which holds 2 percent votes, and hasn't confirmed its support for Kovind yet.

The JD(U) also controls 2 percent votes and may or may not support the candidate.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said that their reaction to Kovind's nomination is "positive" as he is a Dalit. She is likely to support Kovind unless the opposition parties also field a Dalit candidate.

Earlier this week, Samajawadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had also assured visiting BJP ministers that his party will back NDA's candidate.

As the date of election nears, the list of approvers is growing longer. The Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Left parties are likely to field a joint-candidate. But, it looks like Ram Nath Kovind has the numbers -- for now at least.
The Shiv Sena on Tuesday said it would support Ram Nath Kovind, the ruling National Democratic Alliance's candidate for the upcoming presidential elections.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray announced his backing at a press conference. "We fully support Kovind. He has a nice personality. He has done a lot of good work," he said.

BJP President Amit Shah had on Monday declared Bihar Governor Kovind as the ruling alliance's candidate. Most of the NDA allies including the TDP and LJP had immediately given their support, but the Shiv Sena had said it would not make its stand clear immediately.

Party leader Sanjay Raut had said that the party was in favour of RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat or agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan.

Now, the Sena's support will come as a big boost for Kovind's prospects of becoming India's second Dalit President. Considering that neutral party TRS has also given the thumbs-up, it would mean that the NDA is inching closer to getting a majority for its candidate in the Electoral College that votes for the President.

The Opposition parties are meeting later this week to decide on their candidate for the election.

More to follow...
Can the Opposition come up with a move that can match the political masterstroke played by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah in naming Ram Nath Kovind as presidential candidate?

When the Congress sits down with other parties on Thursday to finalise a name, there were two priorities before its leaders  to come up with something that can ace the Dalit card played by the BJP, and to keep Opposition unity intact ahead of 2019 general elections. Already BSP chief Mayawati and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar have indicated it would be difficult for them to vote against Kovind.

There are two names doing the rounds now: former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar and former home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

Both are Dalit faces. Meira Kumar carries the Babu Jagjivan Ram legacy, and is from Bihar. It would be difficult for Nitish to ignore her; it will also be easy for Mayawati to vote for her.

Read More: http://www.news18.com/news/politics/presidential-election-meira-kumar-or-sushil-kumar-shinde-which-card-will-congress-play-1438203.html
New Delhi: File photo of Bihar Governor Ramnath Kovind who was announced as NDA's candidate for the Presidential poll on Monday. PTI Photo (PTI6_19_2017_000040B)

The NDA's presidential nominee and Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind today said he will meet leaders of major political parties and seek their support to emerge as a 'consensus candidate' for the coveted post.

He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah after he arrived here in the evening from Patna following the BJP's decision to project him as the ruling NDA candidate as Head of State.

Kovind then drove down to Shah's residence where he was greeted by senior BJP leaders. He stayed at the BJP chief's residence for nearly an hour where both are believed to have discussed the formalities related to the presidential poll.

He said he was a "small citizen" entrusted with a big responsibility.

"All those who are members of the electoral college...I will meet leaders of major political parties and seek their support...I hope that every citizen will support me," he said.

Later, Kovind briefly visited the Bihar Niwas where he declined to answer any question from the media and only said, "I thank everyone."

Non-NDA parties like BJD, TRS and YSRCP have announced their support to the Dalit leader. Kovind is likely to file his nomination on June 23.

If elected, which appears to be a certainty, the 71-year-old former lawyer would be only the second Dalit to occupy the Rashtrapati Bhavan after K R Narayanan.
A day before the launch of OnePlus 5 smartphone, Amazon India is hosting Secret Doors app contest where three lucky winners can win OnePlus 5 smartphone for free.

The contest has 23 prizes that will be given to 23 participants who will be declared as winners on Amazon website on July 15, 2017. Amazon will also contact the winners, individually.

Prizes offered includes three OnePlus 5 smartphones, 10 OnePlus backpacks and 10 OnePlus Bullet earphones.

Amazons contest is in association with OnePlus, given that OnePlus 5 will be launching exclusively on Amazon India from June 22 at 4.30 pm.

Secret Doors contest is open only for June 20, it ends tonight 23:59:59 IST.

Since the contest is valid only on Amazon India app, the participant will require to download the app and sing in with their account. Participant will have to click on the Secret Doors Contest banner on the top of the screen.

The new screen will show three doors on the page, from which the participant will have to select one and move ahead till all five stages are completed.

Once the participant reaches stage five, their entry in the contest will be complete. Customers who win any of the listed prizes will be getting an e-mail notification from Amazon with a Contest question with further instructions.

However, the chances of winning depends on the number of eligible participants. Amazon said that it will decide the winners of the Secret Door contest with OnePlus 5 by a draw among the eligible entries.

Amazon said the prize will be delivered to each winner on or before July 30, 2017.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20



By Fatih Karimov  Trend:



The US Senates resolution to impose new sanctions on Iran, violates the nuclear deal signed between Tehran and the six world powers in 2015, Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior advisor to Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said.



The Senate resolution certainly is at odds with the soul and text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Velayati said, ISNA news agency reported June 20.



Velayati, who is a member of Irans Supervising Board for Implementation of the JCPOA, said that Iran has informed the Europeans about the violations.



Irans Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, in a letter to Federica Mogherini, high Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy has clearly acknowledged her about violation of the JCPOAs 26, 27 and 28 clauses, the Iranian official said.



He further claimed that Europeans have confirmed that the US has breached the JCPOA, without unveiling more details.



The US side again showed that it could not be trusted, he said.



On June 15, the US Senate voted for a legislation to impose non-nuclear sanctions on Iran for its disputed ballistic missile programs.



Earlier Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Irans Supreme National Security Council said that the US Senate approval was carefully discussed and necessary decisions were made for reciprocal acts and moves during the latest meeting of the Supervising Board for Implementation of the JCPOA.
Bullet train

China has unveiled the worlds first rail-less train as part of its attempt to develop intelligent rail express system to ease traffic and emissions in urban centers.

Developed by CRCC Zhuzhou Institute as part of the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART), the train runs on its own rubber tyres and can travel upto a maximum speed of 70 kmph.

The company has been testing the ART technology since 2013. Operations are expected to start by 2018.

Spanning 30 meters in length, a single train body has three carriages and uses sensors to run along a white dotted line.

Credits : CGTN Youtube Channel

The USD 2.2 million worth train-bus hybrid has the potential of carrying 300 people at a time. Additional carriages can be attached taking the maximum capacity to 500 passengers.

As part of safety measures, the new train is equipped with sensors that allow it to detect the road dimensions and plan its own route accordingly. The trains twin-head system also eliminates the need for U-turns.

The electrically charged train is not only environment-friendly, but can also travel up to 40 km on single charge of ten minutes.

China plans to build a 6.5 kilometer ART track through downtown Zhuzhou for this train.

This isnt the first of Chinas innovations in the world of transportation. A Transit Elevated Bus, known as Batie or the straddling bus, was brought to the attention of the world for the first time in 2010, and then relaunched in 2016 to much criticism.

Meanwhile in the US, Tesla and SpaceX owner Elon Musk is developing the Hyperloop, which is proposed to run at at top speed of 760mph using pod-like vehicles in a tube with reduced pressure
The fee hike is set to be implemented from October 2, 2020

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take up the issue of visas for skilled workers when he meets U.S. President Donald Trump next week in Washington, a senior Indian government official said on Tuesday.

Trump has ordered a review of the U.S. visa programme for bringing high-skilled foreign workers into the United States, putting technology firms and the outsourcing companies that serve them on notice of possible changes ahead.

The review threatens Indian IT services firm such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services which advise large companies on tech issues and carry out a range of tasks for them, relying heavily on the H-1B visa programme.

"The H-1B visa issue will be one of the issues on the table during the PM's visit," Trade Secretary Rita Teaotia told reporters.

Modi will meet Trump in Washington on June 26. The first meeting between them is expected to lay the ground for a further expansion in ties, which grew rapidly under former U.S. President Barack Obama.

However, Trump's focus on building ties with China, coupled with his protectionist trade policies and his characterisation of India as an unscrupulous negotiator in the Paris climate change agreement have raised concern in New Delhi about a drift in relations.

Aside from the visa review, the Trump administration has launched an investigation of countries including India with which the United States runs a bilateral trade deficit.

Teaotia said the government would try to convince Washington that higher exports from India were a win-win for both countries as they helped American companies cut costs and create jobs.

The bilateral trade between the two countries more than doubled to about $115 billion in 2016 from $45.1 billion in 2006. However, the U.S. trade deficit with India also widened.

The trade shortfall was $30.8 billion in 2016, up from $12.7 billion in 2006.
A map of Qatar is seen in this picture illustration June 5, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White/Illustration - RTX3910P

Qatar demanded neighbouring states lift their "blockade" of the emirate as a pre-condition for crisis talks, even as the United Arab Emirates warned its isolation could last years.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani called measures imposed against Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and others "an act of aggression".

"We have to make it very clear for everyone, negotiations must be done in a civilised way and should have a solid basis and not under pressure or under blockade," he told reporters in Doha.

"Qatar under blockade -- there is no negotiation. They have to lift the blockade," said Sheikh Mohammed.

"Until now we didn't see any progress about lifting the blockade, which is the pre-condition for anything to move forward."

On June 5, Saudi Arabia and its allies cut all diplomatic ties with Qatar, pulling their ambassadors from the gas-rich emirate and giving its citizens a two-week deadline to leave their territory.

The measures also included closing Qatar's only land border, banning its planes from using their airspace and barring Qatari nationals from transiting through their airports.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Bahrain and others accuse Qatar of supporting and funding "terrorism" and of working with regional rival Iran, charges Doha firmly denies.

Asked if the ultimate aim of the Gulf countries was to enforce regime change, the foreign minister replied: "No one is in a position of imposing regime change in this country.

"Our system here is based on a consensus between the people and its ruler."

Sheikh Mohammed's demand came as a UAE state minister warned Qatar's diplomatic isolation could "last years".

"We do not want to escalate, we want to isolate," state minister for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash told journalists in Paris. "This isolation can take years."

Gargash said that while Qatar's rivals were "betting on time", a solution could not be brokered until it abandoned its support for "extremist Islamists".

"They have built a sophisticated podium for jihadism and Islamic extremism," he said.

"They support groups linked to Al-Qaeda in Syria, Libya... and in Yemen.

"This state is weaponising jihadists and Islamists, it is using this as a weapon of influence," he added.

Sheikh Mohammed said Qatar had not received any demands from the Gulf states or from countries seeking a diplomatic solution, including Kuwait, the United States, France and Britain, as the conflict dragged into its third week.
For decades, guns and bombs were the weapons of choice for terrorists. But with heavy security and a global crackdown on terror making it increasingly difficult to get and store weapons, terrorists have now devised a new strategy.

Over the past year, there have been a spate of terror attacks across Europe, several of which involved a vehicle ploughing through a crowded street and wreaking havoc.

On Monday, terror in this form struck the UK for the third time since March when a van rammed into a crowd of worshippers near a mosque in Finsbury Park in London. A man died and eight people were injured, of which two were in serious condition.

After a similar incident earlier this month, British Prime Minister Theresa May acknowledged this new pattern of attacks.

The spontaneous nature of these attacks, the large presence of civilian vehicles and low communication with any terror groups makes it extremely difficult to prevent such attacks and anti-terror forces across the world are still searching for solutions.

Terrorist groups now push out this methodology that you should use whatever the hell you have to hand to kill whoever the hell you can find, says Raffaello Pantucci, a counter-terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank, told Vox. That makes it very difficult for security services to stay ahead of that."

Many terrorism experts believe that such attacks are easily executable as they negate the need of obtaining any explosives or weapons and can be carried out by a "lone-wolf" attacker.

"This kind of attack doesn't need special preparation, it is very low-cost, within anybody's reach," said Sebastien Pietrasanta, a French Socialist lawmaker and terrorism expert told Reuters.

Also, it reduces the headache of smuggling weapons and clearing security checks. Even though such attacks are low-tech, they still make a major impact.

They are low tech and uncomplicated but attract as much attention as more sophisticated attacks  a win-win for terrorists. There's just no way to stop them if a person is not part of a known group, Will McCants, an expert on terrorism at the Brookings Institution told Vox.

No strategies are devised to prevent such attacks, yet. Experts say that such attacks will prevail in the coming years.

[Counter-terrorism] professionals have wondered for over a decade why we haven't seen more terror attacks like this. But now that they've arrived, they're not going away any time soon, McCants explained.

Here's a recap of similar attacks that have taken place in recent months:

June 3: London (UK) Eight people were killed and 48 injured after a van rammed into pedestrians on London Bridge and its passengers got out and stabbed people nearby.

April 7: Stockholm (Sweden)

Four people were killed and 15 injured when a man used a stolen car to ram through a departmental store in the Swedish capital Stockholm.

March 22: London (UK)

A car rammed into pedestrians on the southern side of Westminster Bridge in London, killing four and injuring around 46 others.

December 19, 2016: Berlin (Germany)

A truck deliberately drove through the Christian market next to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 56 others.

July 14, 2016: Nice (France)

In the worst attack of its kind, a cargo truck drove through Promenade des Anglais in Nice where people were celebrating France's National Day. The carnage that followed resulted in 86 deaths and left 434 others injured.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Khalid Kazimov  Trend:

The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) has abandoned a proposal which would allow conducting naval inspections of Iranian military vessels sailing in international waters, Mehr news agency reported June 20.

During its 98th session in London, the MSC removed the proposal from its agenda following Irans objections, the report added.

According to the report, India had earlier prepared the proposal on naval inspections of the military vessels escorting merchant ships.

Iranian sources over the past several years have repeatedly said that the countrys navy has a constant presence in international waters to provide security for merchant vessels and tankers in a bid to confront piracy.

This is while Iranian forces have repelled several attacks on both Iranian and foreign tankers during their missions in international waters since 2008.
Jarrett Coleman goes from school board to statehouse with win in 16th Senate District race
Education

Montgomery County Community College will present the spring installment of the interview/talk show program Issues and Insights April 20 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. in Science Center room 214, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The programs will be simulcast to the Colleges West Campus in South Hall room 216, 101 College Drive, Pottstown. Dr. Kolsky will offer a humorous presentation, Carrots, Sticks and Politics: A State of the Nation and the World Message. In this speech, he will provide his interpretation of domestic and international politics and then welcome questions from the audience for discussion. Issues and Insights, is free and open to the public. For information, contact Dr. Thomas Kolsky, professor of political science, at 215-641-6380 or tkolsky@mc3.edu.

Montgomery County Community Colleges STEM Scholars Program will host a STEM Jam! open house April 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Advanced Technology Center at the Colleges Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The drop-in event is designed for students interested in learning more about careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Activities will include STEM program information and career advising, STEM speakers throughout the day from industry and academia, micro-helicopter and robotics competitive obstacle courses and demonstrations and static models of STEM student and faculty work. For more information about STEM Jam! or STEM programs at MCCC, contact William Brownlowe at wbrownlowe@mc3.edu or 215-641-6644, or Robin Zuhlke at 215-619-7440 or rzuhlke@mc3.edu.

Temple Ambler, located at 580 Meetinghouse Road, presents the following events:

International Club Global Bazaar April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m. The Ambler Campus International Club invites all students, faculty, staff and the community to celebrate a multitude of diverse cultures, which will be showcased at the organizations Global Bazaar. This family friendly event will highlight cultural traditions and celebrations in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, South American, North America and Africa through music, entertainment, food and informative displays developed and presented by students at the Ambler Campus. Young visitors will be provided with passports, which they may get stamped at each country they visit. Prizes will be awarded to world travelers who talk to cultural representatives, answer questions about the countries theyve visited and take part in fun-filled activities designed to help them learn about the rich diversity of cultures found throughout the world. Refreshments will be served. The event is free. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail tuc36466@temple.edu.

EarthFest 2011 April 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 75 exhibitors, including the Philadelphia Zoo, The Franklin Institute, the Academy of Natural Sciences, the Elmwood Park Zoo and the Insectarium, will take part in EarthFest 2011. School students of all ages are invited to attend and develop displays of their own. EarthFest partner the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society also offers its Kids Grow Expo, featuring the Junior Flower Show, as part of the event. For more information, call 267-468-8108 or e-mail duffyj@temple.edu.

Annual Spring Plant Sale May 7 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The plant sale  an Ambler Campus tradition dating back to the early 1900s  will feature woody plants and perennials in portable sizes, hardy trees, shrubs, and vines, native plants that are attractive to wildlife, herbs, and hanging baskets. There will also be numerous special plants for sale to highlight Amblers special anniversary year. Garden books and garden tools will also be available for sale. Students, staff, and volunteers from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture and the Ambler Arboretum Advisory Committee will be available to answer questions. All proceeds from the Spring Plant Sale will support the Ambler Arboretum Fund and the Pi Alpha Xi National Honor Society. Information: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

June Homecoming/Louise Bush-Brown Garden Dedication June 5 from 12:30 to 2 p.m. (June Homecoming), Bright Hall Lounge; 2 p.m. (Garden Dedication), Ambler Campus Formal Perennial Gardens. Tickets  June Homecoming: Participant  $18 per person; Sustainer  $25 per person; Benefactor  $40 per person. The 2011 June Homecoming, sponsored by the School of Environmental Design Alumni Association, will include the Alumni Association annual meeting and luncheon. June Homecoming will be followed by the formal dedication of Temple University Amblers Formal Perennial Gardens as the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Gardens. During this 100th anniversary of the campus, Temple University Ambler and the Ambler Arboretum of the Temple University is honoring Louise Bush-Browns many contributions to the history of the campus by formally dedicating the gardens in her honor. During the program, campus Executive William Parshall will welcome guests, Ambler Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey will speak about the Bush-Browns and the history of the garden, and an official ribbon cutting will be held for the Louise Bush-Brown Formal Garden. Following the ribbon cutting, guests are invited to take a tour of the gardens, which will wend their way to the Campus Greenhouse for the School of Environmental Designs annual Plant Auction. Information (Garden Dedication): 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Information (June Homecoming): 215-482-0722. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

Northview Garden Tour and Fundraiser for the Ambler Arboretum June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. Call for reservations. Tickets: $15 per person or $20 at the door. In addition to the gardens of the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University, Arboretum Director Jenny Rose Carey has a garden oasis all her own right in Ambler  Northview. Visitors will have the opportunity to take self-guided tours throughout the many gardens, where garden experts will be available to answer questions about the various designs. The Ambler Keystone Chapter of the Womans National Farm and Garden Association will also provide tea and refreshments. All proceeds from the tours will support the Ambler Arboretum of Temple University. Information or to register: 267-468-8001 or judy.shatz@temple.edu. Learn more at www.ambler.temple.edu/anniversary.

The Senior Adult Activities Center of Montgomery County, 536 George Street, Norristown, will hold the following events:

SAAC Adult Day Care, an alternative to Nursing Home Care is available  for information call 610-275-1960

Volunteers are needed for Meals on Wheels Program (call the number above)

SAACs Fifth Avenue Boutique opens Monday through Friday from 10 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Exercise with Theresa will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 1 p.m.

Dance class is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Tai Chi is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Yoga is held every Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.

Line Dancing is held every Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Dancing with Joan is held every Wednesday at 10:30 a.m.

Sculpture Class is held Wednesdays from 2 to 3:30 p.m.

Why Should I Learn Spanish? will be held Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m.

Generations On-Line computer classes for seniors will be held Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.  4 p.m.  computers are available during those hours.

Health Living will be held every Tuesday at 1 p.m.

Boomer U will hold the following events. Boomer U is located at 45 Forest Avenue, Ambler. Registration & payment is required for all events: 215-619-8863.

Pilates Class is held Wednesdays and Fridays at 9:30 a.m. First class is free; please bring a mat. For information call 610-291-5376.

Blue Bell School of Dance, 921 Penllyn Blue Bell Pike, Blue Bell, hosts Argentine Tango Classes and a Milonga dance party every Friday evening. Lessons start at 8:30 p.m. followed by dancing at 9:30 p.m. Andrew Conway, master Argentine Tango dancer, instructor and performer and his partner Linda Chase will instruct. All levels welcome and no partner is needed. Refreshments will be served. Fee is $12 per person and includes lesson and dancing. Information: 215-634-1101 or www.amoretango.com.

The Montgomery Hospital Medical Center will offer the following classes:

Childbirth Education Class- all parents are invited to participate, including those who are delivering at

other hospitals. For more information on maternity services or classes, call 610-270-2020.

CPR and First Aid Courses are offered for beginners to experiences health care providers. Call 610-270-2313.

The Ambler SAAC (Senior Adult Activities Center), located at 45 Forest Ave in Ambler will hold the following events:

Tai Chi every Monday and Thursday at 11 a.m.

Yoga is every Tuesday at 1 p.m. and Friday at 10:30 a.m.

Strength and balance training every Wednesday at 10 a.m.

Armchair Aerobics is held every Monday at 10 a.m.

Gourmet Weight Wise every Thursday at 12:30.

Fitness Center and Pool Room open daily 8 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Diabetes Education Center will offer day and evening classes each month. Health insurance pays for diabetes education classes. Preregistration is required. Call 610-270-2301.

For Kids & Families

The Ambler Kiwanis Club will host its annual Easter Egg Hunt April 26 at 10 a.m. in Ambler Borough Park, located just off of the intersection of Hendricks Street and Valley Brook Road. Members of the Wissahickon Key Club will assist Kiwanians in hiding thousands of wrapped chocolate eggs in a designated area of the park. Also hidden will be plastic colored eggs, which are redeemed for prizes. Elementary school children are separated by age.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation will hold its 21st annual Storybook Egg-Stravaganza April 15 fom 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Upper Dublin Township Building. Toddlers and preschoolers love this annual event where photo opportunities with favorite friends abound! Treasures are collected from UDP&Rs assortment of lifesize cutouts of favorite cartoon characters from Disney, Sesame Street, Nickelodeon and other well-known animation. Children can have their picture taken with Bugsy OHare; bring your own camera. And dont forget a basket for goodies! $7 for UD residents; $12 for non-residents. Pre-register at 215-643-1600 ext. 3443.

Splash Week is a free week-long program that teaches children and families basic swimming skills and water safety practices. All YMCA branches will host multiple classes each day from April 11 to 15. For more information, contact the Ambler Area YMCA at 215-628-9950.

Healthy Kids Day is April 16 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The day is filled with fun, engaging and artistic activities that cultivate healthy living as part of the YMCAs larger efforts to help more kids and families become physically active. All activities are free and open to the community. For more information, contact the Ambler YMCA at 215-628-9950. No reservation is required.

The Ambler Area YMCA has added several new programs for area youngsters. Classes are held late afternoons or evenings on various weekdays. For more information, visit philaymca.org or call 215-628-9950.

Basic Beading: Ages: 10+. Wednesdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. This class will teach you the fundamentals of wiring and stringing along with how color can be used to create unique and vibrant beadwork design. You will create various jewelry including earrings, bracelets, charm pendants and much more! Supplies will be provided. Bringing your own jewelry pliers or tools would be a plus.

Messin with the Masters: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 7 to 7:45 p.m. Learn about some of the worlds greatest artists. You will be inspired to create your own Starry Night with oil pastels and tempera paints, a tissue paper painted Monet garden, a Picasso head using scraps of paper, a Georgia OKeeffe clay flower bowl and a Rousseau jungle collage.

Super Scientist: Ages: 5-7. Mondays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Well be concocting chemistry experiments such as making slime, mixing potions and having fun with magnet magic. Your budding little scientist will enhance his/her creative thinking and motor skills and to top it off will learn that science can be serious fun.

Wacky Junk Art: Ages: 8-12. Thursdays 6 to 6:45 p.m. Why throw it away! Instead join us to make household junk into aliens from outer space, wacky specs, crazy hats, body masks or a recycled train.

Globe Trotters: Ages: 4-6. Tuesdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Youre never too young to start thinking globally. Each week, we explore a new country through crafts, games, music, stories and even some taste-testing. A perfect introduction to our great big world!

Crazy about Crafts: Ages: 5-7, Thursdays 4:30 to 5:15 p.m. Let your childs creative juices flow with our fun arts and crafts projects each week. Fine motor skills and creative thinking skills will be enhanced with this crafty class.

Come out and join the Ambler Area YMCAs Teen and Junior Leaders Club. Participants are given the freedom to plan community service projects year round and truly make a difference in the lives of people in need. Those in Teen and Junior Leaders also attend leadership retreats all along the East Coast three times a year and meet other leaders who are doing the same great work in their respective areas. Dont miss out on this inspiring opportunity. Teen Leaders, ages 13-17, meet every Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Junior Leaders, ages 10-12, will begin in the spring and will meet every Monday. For more information, contact Mike Miles, Teen Director, 215- 628-9950 x 1540 or mmiles@philaymca.org.

Did you know that the new Ambler Area YMCA holds childrens birthday parties at its site for members and non members as well. The Ambler Y does all the work from start to finish and birthday parties include a personalized cake, ice cream, beverage and paper products. Parties are held on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and include two party hosts to lead activities, set-up, clean-up and assist with serving. You can have a Splash Party for children ages six to 12 in the new zero depth entry pool with water slide and spray fountains. Up to 25 children have exclusive use of the pool area with 30 minutes in the party room. Sports Parties are offered for kids ages four to 12 with age appropriate activities and games, and sports such as floor hockey, soccer, basketball or dodge ball. Children ages three to five years of age will enjoy parties in the Family Active Center with use of the Moon Bounce and organized activities, such as parachute play and songs. For information, 215-628-9950 ext. 1583.

Community Events at the Ambler Y:

-YAchievers YMCA Achievers is a developmentally based, extracurricular, educational and team mentoring program designed to help students in grades five through 12 prepare for fulfilled livelihoods in college and beyond. Participation is free and all students in this program receive a free YMCA membership. Registration for the 2009 program begins now. You do not need to be a YMCA member to utilize these special services. Call 215-628-9950 to register.

Greater Norristown Art Leagues Childrens Weeklong Summer Art Camps will be held at 800 West Germantown Pike in East Norriton, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday throughout the summer. The cost per session is $125 per student for ages 6 and up. Jo Ann Cooksey Bono teaches an introduction to basic drawing skills and techniques from 10 a.m. until the lunch break each day. In the afternoon sessions, Mary Vogel Lozinak involves the students in hands on projects such as collage, papermaking, T-shirt printing, 3D design and sculpy clay. Fridays Graduation Day includes an art show, awards ceremony and reception for parents, siblings, grandparents and friends. All supplies are included. Students provide their own lunch. A refrigerator is available and the building is air-conditioned. This is the 15th year to run this successful program. Both instructors are professional artists with State Police and Child Abuse Clearances. To register, call Jo Ann at 610-279-1008, or register on-line at www.gnal.org.

Health

Dresher Physical Therapy is hosting an interactive seminar discussing its Golf Assessment Progam April 30 from 10 a.m. to noon at Dresher Physical Therapy, 1075 Virginia Drive, Suite 200, Fort Washington. Physical therapist Chris Miller, certified through the Titleist Performance Institute, will discuss why your body may be the most important piece of golf equipment you invest in and how this can drastically improve your game. $10 in advance; $15 at the door. Call 215-619-4545 to reserve your spot.

The Chestnut Hill Center for Enrichment, Center on the Hill and Chestnut Hill Hospital will host a Senior Health and Resource Fair April 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chestnut Hill Presbyterian Church, 8855 Germantown Ave. The event is free. For more information, call 215-248-0180 or e-mail chseniors@cavtel.net.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is hosting Help Yourself to Health, a new six-week workshop for older adults with ongoing health conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, anxiety, heart disease and others. The free workshop will take place at the Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center, 45 Forest Ave. on six Thursdays, May 12 through June 16 from 9:30 a.m. to noon. Although there is no charge to participate, registration is required. To register, call 215-619-8863.

The Ambler Senior Adult Activities Center is sponsoring an eight-week program called A Matter of Balance: Managing Concerns About Falls. Presented by the Montgomery County Health Department, this workshop will be held on Tuesdays, May 3 to June 21 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Ambler Center, 45 Forest Ave. If you pre-register by April 27, the fee is only $5! Registration at the first class is $10. (Checks should be payable to SAAC and will benefit our Meals on Wheels program that serves homebound seniors.) A workbook will be provided and refreshments will be served. Call 215-619-8863 to register or for more information.

Fort Washington Wellness Center classes are ongoing. There are several offered during lunch or right after work, for your convenience: Boot Camp from noon to 1 p.m. on Monday; Zumba is MWF from 11 a.m. to noon and Friday at 4 p.m.; there are 25 cycling classes; Ashtanga and Vinyasana Yoga and Pilates; and a group Womens Strength Training class M-F from 10 to 11 a.m. Questions, call Cathy DeMarco at 215-641-1245.

Following the success of other local area programs, Impact Sports and Upper Dublin Parks and Recreation are delighted to team up again to offer a spring program for the 2011 season! Upper Dublin area children ages 3-5 years old can attend a Sports Program featuring their favorite sports games; soccer, rugby, hockey, track and field, basketball, and more. The program will start on April 27 and run through June 1. Cost for the program is $85 for the six weeks. The classes will be running 12- 1 p.m.; 1- 2 p.m.; 2- 3 p.m. For more info or to register, call Upper Dublin Township on 215 643 1600 or visit their website a http://www.upperdublin.net.

Spring Aquatic Programs  UDHS Pool:

-Summer is just around the corner  Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool can help get you into shape! Programs begin in March; preregistration is required.

 Shallow Water Aerobics  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 8-8:45 p.m., $40R/$50NR.

 Adult Swim Instructions  Two 5-week programs, Wednesday nights, 7-8 p.m., $50R/$60NR

-Open Rec Swims are fun for the whole family! Come out on Fridays from 7-9 p.m. or Saturdays from 1-4 p.m. and enjoy use of the pool and diving area. Fridays are offered through June 17; Saturdays are offered March 12-May 21.

-Join a growing group of adult lap swimmers and water walkers. Lanes are set aside evenings and weekends for use; lanes are shared. Monday  Thursday from 7:30-9:30 p.m.; Fridays from 7-9 p.m. and Saturdays (March 12-May 21) from 1-4 p.m.

-Private Swimming & Diving Lessons for ages 3-adult are offered at the UDHS Pool through a partnership with the Upper Dublin Aquatic Club (UDAC). Visit the UDAC website for more information, www.udac.us, and click the link to UDHS Private Lessons.

-Looking for local programs for US Masters Swimming (adults) or Water Polo (all ages)? UDAC and UDSD are working together to develop programs that will be offered at the UDHS Pool. Add your name to Interest Lists by emailing slohoefer@upperdublin.net. emails will be sent about clinics and program start dates.

Questions about Community Aquatic Programs at the UDHS Pool, group use of the pool or pool rental? Contact Susan Lohoefer, Facility & Community Affairs Manager at slohoefer@upperdublin.net or call 215-643-8800 x8994.

SilverSneakers Fitness Program. The Healthyways SilverSneakers Fitness Program is a result-oriented program that enables older adults to take charge of their health. The program is an innovative blend of physical activity, healthy lifestyle and socially oriented programing. Members of the program are eligible for a free YMCA membership, with use of the pool and exercise equipment, along with customized classes designed for older adults who want to improve their strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. If you are a subscriber to Independence Blue Cross (Personal Choice 65 PPO) or Keystone 65 HMO, Bravo Health, or Health Options Programs (HOP), call the Ambler Area YMCA, 215-628-9950 or Hatboro Area YMCA, 215-674-4545. You can also visit www.silversneakers.com.

Zumba Fitness offers Zumba dance/fitness classes at Academy of Dance and Music/BBAD Studio located at 1524 DeKalb Pike in Blue Bell (behind Sherwin Williams). Classes are offered three times a week: Tuesdays at 6 p.m., Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. and Saturdays at 8 a.m. For a free trial pass for your first class, email us at info@danceandmusic.biz or call 610-277-2557. For more info, visit our site at www.academyofdanceandmusic.org.

Chestnut Hill Health Systems presents the following Health Education Programs:

FITNESS CLASSES

Golden Yoga: A Breathing, Stretching and Relaxation Class. Fridays, 2:30-3:30 p.m. Lea Auditorium, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. Registration for four classes at a time required. Golden Yoga is Classical Yoga, adapted by the SKY Foundation, to accommodate those who have difficulty getting up and down from the floor. The program includes postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation techniques, all performed while sitting in a chair and standing. Registration required. Call 215-247-3029. Cost: $20 for 4 classes per month.

Tai Chi: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 8:30  9:30 a.m. Springfield Residence, 8601 Stenton Ave. Classes, for the novice or beginner/intermediate student, are designed to improve balance, power, posture, coordination, flexibility and mental focus. Slow, gentle movements are modified to most everyones abilities. For more information or to sign up for a free introductory class, call 215-882-2804. Cost: $8 per class/paid monthly.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Weight Loss Surgery Support Group: Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7-8 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. Join us for a monthly get-together where well share information for those interested in weight loss surgery, learn from guest speakers discussing current news on issues including lifestyle modification, nutrition and exercise and provide ongoing support for those who have completed surgery. Registration required. Call 215-753-2000.

Breast Cancer Networking Group: Fourth Tuesday of the month 5:30  7 p.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia. A free, confidential support group for women living with a diagnosis of breast cancer designed to provide a forum for sharing information, feelings and concerns associated with breast cancer. Facilitated by Tish Wakefield, LCSW, Oncology Social Worker. Registration required. To register or for more information, call 215-248-8047.

New Moms Support Groups Tuesdays 10:30 a.m.  12 p.m.; contact Jeanine ORourke, MSW or 2:30  4 p.m.; contact Susan Schack, Ph.D Volunteer Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. The Center for Postpartum Depression at Chestnut Hill Hospital is pleased to offer two new support groups to support new moms. Both groups will be run by experienced mental health professionals who really get it when it comes to new motherhood and juggling relationships, extended family, work/family balance and self-care. If you are experiencing new mom challenges that often heighten anxiety and involve hormonally driven depression, join us for an informative and supportive forum to connect with other moms. Infants are welcome. $30 per session (flexible based on need). Registration is required. Call Dr. Schack, 646-265-2484, or Ms. ORourke, 215-206-2931.

Man to Man Prostate Cancer Support Group Third Thursday of the month 8-9 a.m. Williams Conference Room, Chestnut Hill Hospital, 8835 Germantown Ave. A networking group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer designed to provide education, support and encouragement. Spouses and partners welcome. Harry M. Baer, MD, Chief, Urology Division, will host Ask the Doctor. Registration required. Call 215-248-8325.

Contact the Senior Center by phone 215-248-0180 or email (chseniors@cavtel.net) with your questions about these programs or any of our on-going activities and classes.

Holy Redeemer HomeCare and Hospice seeks compassionate and emotionally mature volunteers to provide support to local hospice patients and their families in Bucks, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties. Volunteers may also assist with pet therapy and administrative work within the hospice department and are requested to have daytime availability. Hospice patient care volunteers visit with patients in their homes or nursing facilities once a week for two to three hours. They provide emotional support and companionship to patients and family members, assist with errands or provide respite for caregivers. Bereavement volunteers support the families of hospice patients following the loss of a loved one, while administrative volunteers assist with typing, mailings and/or filing. Hospice care workers provide a great service to families and loved ones of hospice patients. Many volunteers also report a great deal of personal satisfaction as a result of their services. Patient care and bereavement volunteers complete an application and attend an 18-hour volunteer training program that covers the medical, psychological and spiritual aspects of hospice volunteering. Day and evening training programs are offered. To sign up for volunteer opportunities in Pennsylvania, contact Holy Redeemer Volunteer Coordinator Jean Francis at 215-698-3737 or email jfrancis@holyredeemer.com.

Librarytalk

Upper Dublin Public Library, 805 Loch Alsh Avenue, Ft. Washington, 215-628-8744

www.upperdublinlibrary.org

APRIL CHILDRENS PROGRAMS:

Storytimes: Please register in the library.

o Wee Ones: 0 to 23 months Thursdays and Fridays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m.

o Tiny Tots: age 2. Wednesdays 10:30 to 10:50 a.m. and Fridays 11 to 11:20 a.m.

o Jr. Book Lovers: ages 3 to 6. Tuesdays 10:30 to 11 a.m.

o Bedtime Storytimes: 7 to 7:30 p.m. April 20 and 27. Wear your jammies, bring your teddy & hear Miss Barbara read bedtime stories! For ages 3 to 6.

APRIL TEEN PROGRAMS:

North Hills Library Teens April 28 from 4 to 6 p.m. Movie Matinee

APRIL UDPL ADULT PROGRAMS:

NEW! ESL Conversation Group. Tuesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. Interested in practicing your English in a safe and caring environment? Come to our conversation group and improve your skills! Please register with Kay Klocko at 215-628-8744 or kklocko@mclinc.org.

One-on-One Computer Mentoring. Get personalized assistance from experienced computer volunteers! Sign-up for a one-hour session. Limit one session per month. Please register  contact info above.

Book Groups Please register with Kay Klocko 215-628-8744.

o Daytimers: April 21 at 1:30 p.m. Tired of book groups where you all read the same book? Read any fiction or non-fiction book on this months theme: Explorers. Please register.

Meetings:

Annual Meeting of the Friends of UDPL: April 14 at 1 p.m.

Board of Directors: April 20 at 7 p.m.

Blue Bell Library www.wvpl.org Upcoming Events: The Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 650 Skippack Pike (Route 73) in Blue Bell, is diagonally across from the Blue Bell Inn. Call 215-643-1320 or visit their website at www.wvpl.org.

For children and teens at Blue Bell:

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Mondays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* Fridays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Family Movies, new releases, second Saturdays of the month at 1:30 p.m.

* May 14  Despicable Me

* June 11  Alpha and Omega

* Special Events

* April  watch for date of spring/Easter events

* April 14 at 4:30 p.m.  Junior Lego Club for children ages 3 through 5. Parents and caregivers need to stay with children.

* April 14 at 7 p.m.  Jeopardy for ages 11 to 18. Test your book and library knowledge for prizes. Sign up to be a contestant. No sign up to be in the audience. Snacks provided.

* April 16 at 1 p.m.  Adult Mystery Book Group discussing The Beekeepers Apprentice by Laurie King.

* April 16 at 1:30 p.m.  Childrens event for One Book, Every Young Child celebration. Story and craft for book Whose Shoes?

* April 19 at 7 p.m. and April 26 at 1:30 p.m.- Adult book group discusses The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. Group led by Adam Button.

* April 30 through May 3  Friends book sale with about 10,000 items for sale for children, teens and adults.

* May  sign up for Science in the Summer

* June  sign up for Enrichment Programs for Elementary-Age children

* June  sign up for Summer Reading, all ages

For adults at Blue Bell:

* Daytime Book Discussion Group  fourth Tuesday, Jan  April at 1:30 p.m.

* April 26  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Night-time Book Discussion Group  third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m.

o April 19  The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester

* Art Series with Dr. Sheldon Weintraub, docent at The Barnes and speaker at local colleges

o April 27 at 2 p.m. The Art of Looking at Art-Is She Nude or Is She Naked?

*Mystery Book Discussion Group, third Saturday of the month at 1 p.m.; new mystery theme each month; www.wvpl.org/programs

* Yoga on Mondays at 1:30 p.m. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop-in class.

* Tai Chi on Mondays at 3 p.m. with Dr. Kurt Findeisen. $20 for eight classes; $5 per drop in class.

* Philadelphia Museum of Art presents class on their Marc Chagall exhibit, April 13 at 2 p.m.

* Giant Book Sale, April 29  May 3

o Starts with almost 10,000 items for children and adults!

o Held during library hours.

o Preview for members of the Friends of the Library, April 28 at 7 p.m.

o Join the Friends and attend the preview sale. Modest fee to join.

* Blooms at Blue Bell Gardening Series

o May 11 at 1 p.m.  Summer Bulbs by PA Horticultural Society

* Knitting group Mondays and Wednesdays at 10 a.m. Work on your project or observe and learn. The groups continue year-round in the community room.

* Socrates Cafe discussion group every Monday at 7 p.m. You pick the topic to discuss each week. No sign-up, nothing to read.

* Bridge every Friday at 12:30 p.m. New players welcome.

* Mah Jong every Wednesday at 1 p.m. New players welcome.

*Chess every Wednesday at 7p.m. for adults and teens 14 and older.

* Movie Matinee showing recent releases every Thursday at 2 p.m. April 14: Maos Last Dancer; April 21: Welcome to the Rileys; April 28: Conviction; May 5: Inception; May 12: Inside Job; May 19 The Kings Speech; May 26 The Fighter; June 2 Rabbit Hole; June 9 Black Swan; June 16 127 Hours

* Ongoing like-new, year-round book sale for adults & children during library hours

* Library opening at 10 a.m. Monday through Saturday!

Ambler Library, a branch of the Wissahickon Valley Public Library, 209 Race St., 215-646-1072. www.wvpl.org. All the following events occur at the Ambler Library.

* Story times with guitar music by Miss Michelle, the singing librarian.

* Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. for all ages.

* Thursdays at 4:30 p.m. for all ages.

* For adults:

* Beading Group meets the first and third Monday of every month at 1 p.m. Work on your own projects or come to watch and learn.

* Free Family History Lookup with Connie Briggs. Email Connie for an appointment at the Ambler Library. conniebriggs@comcast.net

* Special Events:

* April 14 at 1:30 p.m.  Book Group discusses Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian.

* April 19 at 7 p.m.  Travel to Paris with world traveler Harry Balin. Tea and scones at 6:30 p.m.

* April 21 at 7 p.m.  Art with Sara for children in fourth through seventh grades.

*May 2 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Lone Star with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

*May 10  Robert Capucci discusses Art into Fashion. Tea and scones served at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*May 12 at 1:30p.m.  Book Group discusses The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman.

*May 17  Tour the gardens of Devon and Southwest England with Lois McMullen. Tea and Scones at 6:30 p.m. Program at 7 p.m.

*June 13 at 6:30 p.m.  Discuss the movie Blade Runner with Temple Professor Lisa Hawkins. Watch the movie ahead of time.

Meetings and Lectures

The Unisys Blue Bell Retiree Group will meet in the Church on the Mall in the Plymouth Meeting Mall April 14 at 1:30 p.m. Kathy Sacket Young, director/trainer with the North Penn YMCA, will speak on Keeping Fit in Retirement. For more information, contact Membership Committee Chairperson Jerry Feldscher at 610-275-3538 or President Al Rollin at 215-368-4833.

The next FWBA meeting will be April 28 at the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Networking begins at 11:30 a.m.; meeting from noon to 1 p.m. Leon Singletary, Principal, First Contact HR and FWBA Executive Board, will present: Social Media: How to Use It To Get More Business. Lunch is provided courtesy of the Hilton Garden Inn Fort Washington. Members are welcome to bring a guest. An RSVP is requested by return email or 215-628-0313.

Big Brothers Big Sisters Southeastern PA is hosting a information sessions over the next few weeks on how to become a Big Brother. The information sessions will take place: April 16 at noon, April 19 at 8 a.m. and April 28 at 6 p.m. All sessions will be held at the groups Norristown Office,t 530 DeKalb St., Norristown. For more information, call 610-277-2200.

The North Penn Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) normally meets on the third Tuesday of each month from now until May. Meetings are held at the William Penn Inn on Route 202 and Sumneytown Pike, Upper Gwynedd, PA. Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., dinner is served at 6:30 p.m., and the technical program begins at 7 p.m. Cost with reservation is $28 for members. Members without reservations and guests pay $30. Students with reservations pay $15. Reservations may be made by noon on the Monday preceding the meeting by phoning 215-371-1854 or emailing the reservation to northpennima@yahoo.com northpennima@yahoo.com. Information about the North Penn Chapter is available at http://northpenn.imanet.org/.

LeTip, a professional organization of men and women who are dedicated to the highest standards of competence and service meets every Tuesday at Cedar Brook Country Club, 180 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell at 7 a.m. -meeting officially starts at 7:16 a.m. and ends at 8:31 a.m. Our purpose is the exchange of business tips, leads, and referrals. Each business category is represented by one member and conflicts of interest are disallowed. Guests are welcome to visit any of our breakfast meetings.

Every third Thursday of month, Sunrise Assisted Living of Blue Bell (795 Penllyn Pike, Blue Bell, PA 19422, 215-619-2777) serves as a satellite site to 148th Legislative district PA congressman Mike Gerber from 10 a.m. to noon. Stop by for help needed with things such as disability placards and license plates, vehicle registration, utilities issues, birth/death certificates,property tax/rent rebates, etc. Notary services arranged by appointment.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce is an action-oriented organization dedicated to promoting its members and the economic health of eastern Montgomery county. The Chamber is committed to serving as a catalyst by uniting business, community agencies, government and education to make our county a great place to live and work. For information, call 215-887-5122 or visit www.emccc.org.

Do you have a fear of public speaking? Blue Bell Toastmasters Club can help. We meet from 7 to 9 p.m., on the second and fourth Tuesday at the Marriott Courtyard, located on Route 202, directly across from the Montgomeryville Mall. Learn how to improve communication and leadership skills in a friendly and supportive environment. Guests are welcome. Admission fee: $5. For more info, visit www.bbtoast.org.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will hold the following meetings (for reservations to any of the following, email info@PennSuburban.org)

-Breakfast News Network, 7:30-8:45 a.m. at Normandy Farm Hotel (1401 Morris Road, Blue Bell, PA 19422) $15 members, includes full buffet breakfast. Join us for a networking program at Normandy Farm Hotel every Thursday morning for breakfast, business news, informative speakers, and plenty of networking. The cost includes a full breakfast buffet. Copies of the business cards will be made available to those who would like them.

The BNI, Fort Washington Chapter meets every Monday at The Hilton Garden Inn, 520 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Washington for a networking meeting. Meetings are from 11:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. Visitors are welcome. The only cost to attend is the cost of your meal. For information or a reservation to attend, please call Luanne Cram at 215-947-7784, or visit our Internet site at: http://www.BNIDVR.Com and click on the menu item Find a Chapter.

For the past seven years, people have enjoyed participating in WVWAs Adopt-a-Tree program. Individuals can support the Association in its reforestation efforts by purchasing native trees to be planted. Supporters can plant their adopted tree or have WVWA volunteers will plant it. Trees cost $30 each. If you would like to volunteer or purchase a tree(s), please contact: Bob Adams at Bob@wvwa.org or call: 215-646-8866 for more information. Check www.WVWA.org for directions and maps.

Sustainable Upper Dublin, http://sustainableupperdublin.org, meets the first Thursday of each month at 6:30 p.m., at the Upper Dublin Township Building, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington, PA 19034. Please send any questions to suec@sustainableupperdublin.org or call 610-996-6316. To learn more about Sustainable Upper Dublin, view or join the discussion at http://googlegroups.com/group/sustainableupperdublin.

Special Events

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard will hold its first nutrition class April 19 at 10 a.m. at the Community Cupboard, 150 N. Main St., Ambler. Lynne Sinclair, a nutritionist from Abington Memorial Hospital specializing in diabetic nutrition, will conduct the class. Topics will include healthy eating, beneficial foods, recipes, making meals with every day foods, and how to use unfamiliar produce. A healthy snack will be provided.The class is is open to all residents in Montgomery County.

The Historical Society of Fort Washington presents The History of Conshohocken April 19 at 8 p.m. at the Clifton House, 473 Bethlehem Pike, Fort Washington. Jack Coll will present an illustrated program on the history of the Borough of Conshohocken. Coll is a longtime resident of Conshohocken and a member of the Conshohocken Historical Society. He is co-author with his son, Brian, of the Arcadia Then and Now Series book Conshohocken. He has also done books Conshohocken and West Conshohocken Sports and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Italian Feast. He has taken many photos for the Conshohocken Record and the Norristown Times Herald. This program is free. Refreshments will be served. For additional information, call 215-646-6065.

Taste of the White House Soiree featuring former White House Chef Walter Scheib will take place April 29 at 6 p.m. at Manufacturers Golf & Country Club in Fort Washington to celebrate HealthLinks 10th anniversary and honor its founders, the Eugene Jackson Family. The evening will heat up with a Chef Meet & Greet, followed by a specially selected presidential menu. Gala tickets are $150 per person. Proceeds benefit HealthLink, a free clinic providing compassionate, quality medical and dental care to uninsured, working adults in Bucks and Montgomery counties who fall in between the health care cracks. Go to http://tasteofthewhitehouse.charityhappenings.org to make reservations online or lend support through sponsorship. For event information, call 267-699-0124 or email jmarushak@healthlinkmedical.org.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association will hold an open house at the Evans-Mumbower Mill April 17 from 1 to 4 p.m. The Mill is at the corner of Swedesford and Township Line Roads in Upper Gwynedd. The open house is free but donations are welcome. For more information, call 215-646-8866 o email info@wvwa.org.

The Eastern Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce will host Breakfast With Your County Commissioners and State Representatives April 21 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the Holiday Inn Fort Washington, 432 W. Pennasylvania Ave. Commissioners: James R. Matthews (Chairman), Joseph M. Hoeffel (Vice Chair), State Representatives: Todd Stephens (District 151) and Josh Shapiro (District 153). Register onlineat www.emccc.org. $10 for EMCCC member; $20 for non-members.

Upper Dublins Districtwide Allied Art Show will be held April 27 from 5:30 to 9 p.m. in the Upper Dublin High School Athletic Complex.

The Rev. Alfred Muli, chaplain at Fort Washington Estates, will be the featured speaker at the Kiwanis sponsored breakfast observing the National Day of Prayer May 5 at 7 a.m. at the William Penn Inn. The breakfast is open to the public ($15). Reservations can be made by calling 215-646-4356 or by emailing georgesaurman@Juno.com.

The Upper Dublin Shade Tree Commission invites people to participate in its spring bare root planting events, sponsored in part by Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Friends of Robbins Park. On April 9, zix trees will be planted at the Evelyn B. Wright Park & Community Pool, 401 Logan Ave., North Hills, at 9 a.m., followed by the planting of 10 trees at Sheeleigh Park, Loch Alsh Avenue and Douglas Street, Ambler, at 10:15 a.m. On April 29, students from Upper Dublin High School will join the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to plant 16 trees in Robbins Park, Butler Pike and Meetinghouse Road, Ambler, to help launch the societys Million Trees campaign. This event will occur in conjunction with Temple Amblers EarthFest. Experienced tree-tenders are sought to assist the students. For more information,contact Ron Ayres at 215-653-0421 or 215-483-4348.

The Friends of the Wissahickon and the Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association are teaming up once again to clean the Wissahickon Creek from top to bottom April 30 from 9 a.m. to noon. This spring marks the 41st anniversary of Wissahickon Valley Watershed Associations annual Creek Clean Up, and the second year that FOW has teamed up with WVWA. Volunteers of all ages will clean the creek, the surrounding trails and the many tributaries of the Wissahickon Creek. Armed with bags, volunteers will be assigned to sections of the creek. Following the clean up, all volunteers are invited to WVWAs Talkin Trash picnic in Fort Washington State Park, with food provided by Whole Foods Market of North Wales. The pavilion is located on Mill Road in Flourtown. To help out in Montgomery County, all volunteers must be pre-assigned a section of the Wissahickon Creek to clean. Please contact Bob Adams, WVWA director of stewardship, at 215-646-8866 ext. 14 or bob@wvwa.org. To work with the Friends of the Wissahickon in Philadelphia, meet at the pavilion along Forbidden Drive, a short distance south of the intersection of Forbidden Drive and Northwestern Avenue. Limited parking is available along Northwestern Avenue and other nearby streets. Volunteers are encouraged to bike or carpool to the event. To participate, register at www.fow.org. Contact Kevin Groves with questions at 215-247-0417 ext. 105 or groves@fow.org.

Montgomery County Community Colleges International Club invites the community to the second annual International Festival April 20 from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Central Campus, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The rain date is April 26. The International Club will transform the outside quad area into multicultural celebration with various performances by dancers, singers and musicians. Artists will share their artwork at various display tables. Activities include games, raffles, Easter egg decorating and henna tattoos. Students will have samples of international cuisine at tables representing different countries and will serve food from various local ethnic restaurants. Throughout the evening, volunteers will accept donations and will raffle gift baskets and prizes to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity. Donations of food, international clothes and prizes are needed. Volunteers, including artists and performers, are welcome. For more information or to sponsor an activity, contact Gillian Nel, International Club president, at gnel9277@students.mc3.edu or 267-974-0163.

The Arts and Humanities Division at Montgomery County Community College is partnering with the Philadelphia Writers Conference to host Memoirs Matter: How Life Stories (Including Yours) Can Transform Your Relationship to Literature April 23 from 1 to 3 p.m. in Advanced Technology Center room 101, 340 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell. The event is free and open to the public. In the first part of this two-hour seminar, professor and author Robert Waxler will explain how writing his two memoirs affected his life as well as his relationship to literature. In the second part, blogger and workshop leader Jerry Waxler will present a sequence of steps to help writers find their own story. For information, contact Dana Resente at dresente@mc3.edu.

The Maple Glen Garden Club will hold its fourth annual Plant Sale on May 7 from 8 to 11 a.m. Perennials, shrubs, vegetables and native plants grown by the club members will be sold. The club uses the plant sale proceeds to fund community projects, a college scholarship and community plantings. The sale will be held in the 500 block of Coach Road, Horsham, as part of a neighborhood garage sale. Plants will be sold at bargain prices. For more information, email MapleGlenGardenClub@gmail.com.

The Relay for Life Craft Show is looking for local crafters to participate in show, which will be May 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the Wissahickon High School track, 521 Houston Road, Ambler. There is a $10 entry fee, and 20 percent of sales are donated to the American Cancer Society. Participants will receive a 6-foot table under a tent. For information, contact Joanne at joannescoles@comcast.net or Mindy at mcamsilver@comcast.net.

Spring House Estates is hosting its annual book fair on April 18 from 4 to 7 p.m. and April 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Included will be hardback and paperback used books. Spring House Estates is located at 728 Norristown Road, Lower Gwynedd.

The PennSuburban Chamber of Commerce will present the Penn Suburban/Hatfield Joint Business Card Exchange April 20 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Univest Bank Lansdale Area Financial Service Center, 120 Forty Foot Road, Hatfield. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. Join Univest National Bank and Trust Co. for a spring-inspired Business Card Exchange at its newest office in the Hatfield Pointe Shopping Center. Come out and meet members of Univests executive management team while enjoying fine food and beverages.

13th Annual Community Reading Day Kick-off Breakfast Get Together April 26 from 8 to 9:30 a.m. at the North Wales Area Library, 233 Swartley St., North Wales. The event is free. To make reservations, visit PennSuburban.org/Events. For more information, contact the chamber office at 215-362-9200 or info@pennsuburban.org. Join presenting sponsor Verizon, chamber staff and fellow members for the Community Reading Day volunteer get together. The Community Reading Day program allows volunteers to read a designated book to second-grade students throughout 38 area public and private schools and present the book as a gift to each class. Even if you are not a volunteer, you are cordially invited to stop by to network, enjoy coffee and pastries.

Ambler Mennonite Church is hosting a Spring Craft Show and Flea Market May 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date will be May 28. The community is invited to shop the great craft booths, find some gifts and deals, as well as enjoy home baked goods and tasty lunch specials. Childrens activities are planned. All vendors are encouraged to contact the church at 215-643-4876 or AmblerMennonite@verizon.net. Advertising, signage, customer parking and a shuttle to auxiliary parking at nearby lots for vendors will be provided. 10 foot by 10 foot spaces can be rented for $5 each and tables for an additional $5 each. All proceeds from space and table rentals go toward school kits for children around the world. The church is located at the corner of East Mt. Pleasant Avenue and North Spring Garden Street, Ambler.

The Wissahickon Valley Watershed Association presents The Life & Times of Aquatic Insects in the Wissahickon Creek April 16 from 1 to 3 p.m. Join WVWA for a hands-on program. RSVP required: www.wvwa.org or 215-646-8866. WVWA member fee: $5 per person / $15 per family. Non-WVWA member fee: $10 per person / $20 per family.

The photography exhibition Natures Palette by photo-artist Judy Miller will run March 18 to May 19 at the Art in the Storefront gallery, 41 E. Butler Pike, Ambler.

JPRN  Networking For People in Transition & People Who Can Help Them  Unemployment remains high. JPRN, the Jarrettown Professional Relationship Network can help. Are you trying to network your way to a new job? Do you have expertise or contacts that can help people in transition? Is your company or organization looking for people in the area? This is a free outreach program to support those seeking work, involve people with contacts and networking know how, and involve local companies. Meetings held monthly at Jarrettown United Methodist Church, Limekiln Pike.

Pennsylvanias Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP) grant program is now open for the 2010-11 heating season. Grants are based on income, family size, type of heating fuel and region. Additional information, such as specific income limits, and applications for LIHEAP grants are available online via the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Access to Social Services (COMPASS) website at www.compass.state.pa.us. Applications are available at most public officals district offices, county assistance offices, local utility companies and community service agencies, such as Area Agencies on Aging or community action agencies.

Begin your holiday shopping at Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation! Entertainment books for 2011, Philadelphia North, are now on sale at $30 each. Regal/United Artists movie tickets are on sale for just $7.50 each, and tickets to the Adventure Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium, and the Philadelphia Zoo are also available. Discounted ski vouchers to area mountains will be arriving in December; call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information. Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

RSVP of Montgomery County and the Wissahickon Valley Public Library have partnered again to offer the public their popular free mock interview sessions. The mock interviews are conducted by RSVP volunteers who are retired professionals, some of whom were in hiring positions themselves. Packets of information which include a sample employment application and interviewing tips with mock interview questions are available at the library to pick up prior to a scheduled mock interview or will be sent via email once the interview is scheduled. To schedule your interview, please contact Janis Glusman at RSVP 610-834-1040, ext. 16. The library is also offering a free resume review service. Bring in your current resume and the professional reference staff will assist you with hints and tips on capturing your work history accurately.

Registration for Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation summer playgrounds, Camp B.I.G. and Small Folks, X-Zone, and sports camps has began. Register online at www.upperdublin.net/store, or at the UDP&R office, 801 Loch Alsh Avenue, Fort Washington. Call 215-643-1600 x3443 for more information.

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation and Danielles Espresso Cafe presents Mornings at Mondaug Bark Park April 16 and May 21 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Meet fellow dog lovers. These events include complimentary coffee, treats for people and pups and raffles/giveaways.

Upper Dublins Annual Spring Flea Market will be held June 4 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Reserve a table, or come and shop. Tables are $15 for UD residents, $20 for non-residents. This successful event occurs rain or shine. Refreshments available. Call 215-643-1600 ext. 3443 to register for a table.

Regal movie tickets available for purchase at Upper Dublin Township Parks & Recreation. Reduced rate: $7.50 per ticket. Some restrictions apply. Call 215-643-1600 x3443.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation movie tickets $7.50 Regal Cinemas, United Artist & Edwards Cinemas on sale throughout the year Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m.

Whitpain Township Parks & Recreation Camp Sign-ups for Stony Creek Day Camp  Stony Creek Tracers and Park n Tots. Register on-line at www.whitpaintownship.org OrCome to Township Building with check or Visa MasterCard Monday  Friday from 9 a.m.  4 p.m. For additional information call 610.277-2400 ext. 374

Upper Dublin Parks & Recreation offers exciting new programs for the fall:

-Returning favorites include UK Elite Petite Soccer, Tiny Dancers, Kiddie Tennis, Fun-nastics, Messy Playtime, Little Chefs, and more. Babysitters Training will be offered in November and December. Continuing Adult Fitness Classes include Cardio Circuit, Core & More, Yoga, Boxing, and Adult G.Y.M. For more information call 215-643-1600 x3443. Register for programs online at www.upperdublin.net/store.

Music and Theater

The community is invited to a Cantors Concert April 16 at 8 p.m. Congregation Beth Or, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen. Listen and hum-along to the Yiddish, pop tunes and classical music performed by Congregation Beth Ors own Cantor David Green and his special guest, Cantor Irvin Bell, from Temple Beth Israel in Deerfield Beach, Fla. The cantors will be accompanied by Mark Sobol and his Klezmer musicians. Tickets are $18 in advance and $25 at the door. RSVP with payment to Barb Murtha, 239 Welsh Road, Maple Glen, PA 19002, or call 215-646-5806 ext. 220.

Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse will host the Jameson Sisters May 14. Doors open at 7:30 pm, performance at 8:00 pm. Gwynedd Friends Coffeehouse is located at the corner of Rte. 202 & Sumneytown Pike, Gwynedd. $5 suggested donation. Light refreshment available at a modest cost. For further information, call 215-393-9576 or visit gwyneddmeeting.org/coffeehouse.html.

Celebrate patriotism through song with Gwynedd-Mercy Colleges choir, the Voices of Gwynedd, as it presents Hear America Singing April 15 at 8 p.m. The choir will perform song selections from all over the country, including Georgia on My Mind, New York State of Mind, and a medley including Philadelphia Freedom and Allentown. The performance will end with When the Saints Go Marching In to acknowledge the choirs upcoming tour in New Orleans. Hear America Singing will take place in the Julia Ball Auditorium, located in St. Bernard Hall. Parking is available in lots A, C and D. Admission is free.

The Choristers will present Anton Dvoraks Stabat Mater April 16 at 7:30 p.m. at Upper Dublin Lutheran Church in Ambler. The choir will be accompanied by a 41-piece orchestra. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for senior citizens, $10 for students and children are free. Tickets will be sold in advance or at the door. For more information, call 215-542-7871 or visit TheChoristers.org

Religious News

The Staircase Gallery at Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington will feature the work of Emily Ennuat-Lustine. The artist will be showing paintings and graphics inspired by her own personal spiritual journey and quest for meaning. Some of the works to be shown have been inspired by Biblical Psalms and writings. Her work has been shown at Abington Art Center, Cheltenham Arts Center and Old City Gallery of Jewish Art among others. The exhibition is open Friday evenings starting Feb. 18 after Shabbat services. Gallery hours are: Mondays through Thursdays 10-4:30, Fridays 10-3 and following Shabbat Services and Sundays 10-1. The synagogue is located at 190 Camp Hill Road in Fort Washington. For additional information contact the synagogue office at 215-283-0276.

Reunions

St. Matthews High School Conshohocken Class of 1961 is looking for classmates. For details, contact Greg Marincola at 215-646-2239, 215-740-1296 or gregcola@comcast.net.

Olney High School Class of 1971 is Lloking for classmates for a 40th reunion Oct. 28. For details, contact Judy at ohsclassof71@yahoo.com or 215-870-7572.

Abington High School Class of 1961 is seeking classmates for a 50-year reunion to be held Oct. 14-15, 2011.Visit the website, www.abington61.com, for details or call 215-947-1779.

Overbrook High School class of January 1956 is having a 55 year reunion on May 22, 2011 at the Bala Golf Club in Philadelphia. For information please contact overbrookreunion56@comcast.net

Germantown High School Class Of January 1961 is looking for classmates for 50th year reunion to take place in May of 2011. Please contact: 215-362-9148, 856-577-0659 or samdelcomo@comcast.net

The June 1961 class of Germantown High School is holding their 50th reunion on May 15, which will be a brunch. For further details please contact Linda Dorfman Alten at lindaalten@yahoo.com or call 215-441-8411.

Support

New Life Presbyterian Church in Dresher, will host GriefShare, a special seminar and support group which will run on Monday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m., from March 7 through June 6. At each meeting there will be a DVD about the grief process, discussion and reference to a grief workbook. Preregistration is required to secure a place in the group and to purchase a GriefShare notebook (for a one-time fee of $15). The notebook goes along with the 13-week schedule covering such topics as: living with grief, the effects of grief, and stuck in grief. For more information or to register, call: Sandy Elder at 215-884-5149.

PUPS (People Understanding Parkinsons) A self-help group for those adjusting to a new diagnosis or dealing with the early stages of Parkinsons Disease. Meets fourth Tuesday of the month from 1 to 2:30 p.m., at Abington Health Center, Schilling Campus, Willowood Building, 2510 Maryland Road, Suite 251, Willow Grove. For more information or to RSVP, contact Lorna at 215-542-2931.

The North Penn Visiting Nurse Associations Meals on Wheels program is looking for volunteers to pack or deliver meals to the elderly and infirmed. Meals are packed and delivered mornings, Monday through Friday. You can volunteer for as many days per week or month as you would like. Packaging meals requires approximately 2-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves making sandwiches, packaging food into individual serving containers and packing coolers with the meals. Delivering meals requires approximately 1-1/2 hours of your time each day and involves loading coolers into your car and delivering a route of approximately 10 to 15 stops. The Meals on Wheels program is also in need of emergency, winter-weather volunteers to pack and deliver meals in bad weather. North Penn VNA is located at 51 Medical Campus Drive in Lansdale and delivers meals in the Lansdale, North Wales and Blue Bell areas. For more information or to volunteer, please call Bridget, North Penn VNA Meals on Wheels coordinator at 215-855-8296.

Elkins Park Area CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) meets the first Tuesday of every month, 7- 8:30 p.m., at Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital in Elkins Park. For information on CHADD or ADHD, please see our website www.chadd.net/249 or call Claire Noyes at: 215-779-6656.

Center for Loss and Bereavement, 3847 Skippack Pike, Skippack (610-222-4110) www.bereavementcenter.org Offers professional counseling for individuals, couples, children and families dealing with issues of loss and bereavement. Six-week adult support groups: Newly forming young adult grief support group  every other Wednesday, 7  8:15 p.m. (free of charge); Monthly loss of child support  second Mondays, 7-8:15 p.m.; Six-week young loss of spouse/partner  Thursdays, 10-11:15 a.m.; Other groups scheduled as interest is shown for suicide loss support, adult loss of parent, motherless daughters, adult loss of sibling, coping with chronic illness and disability and mens loss of spouse. Nellos Corner Family Bereavement program offers peer grief support groups for ages 4 through teen and their caregivers  Every other Tuesday or Wednesday (free of charge) Local chapter of Parents of Murdered Children also meets at the Center. Registration required. Call for further information.

CHADD is a national organization for children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder, providing education, advocacy and support for individuals and their families with AD/HD. Einstein at Elkins Park Hospital, 60 Township Line Road, Elkins Park, PA 19027, will host children & adults with Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder on the First Tuesday of each month 7  8:30 p.m. Free, no childcare provided.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphias Kehillah of Old York Road is sponsoring a free Caregiver Support Group for individuals who care for an elderly person with cognitive and/or physical impairments. The group meets at SarahCare Adult Day Care Center, 101 Washington Lane, Suite G-6, Jenkintown, Pa., on the first Wednesday of each month. Patty Rich,
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

The Qatar crisis is the beginning of a fight for hegemony in the region, Ilyas Al Najimi, a commenter for Algerias Echorouk TV channel, told Trend.

The independent policy pursued by Qatar in the region in recent years doesnt meet the interests of Saudi Arabia, according to him.

He added that Saudi Arabias policy in the Middle East in recent years doesnt meet the interests of Arab countries, since Riyadh defends the interests of the West with its policy in the region.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE announced about breaking their diplomatic relations with Qatar June 5, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

Later, a number of other countries also announced about severing diplomatic relations with Qatar.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
June 20, 2017

Open Thread 2017-24

News & views ...

Posted by b on June 20, 2017 at 16:55 UTC | Permalink

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Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elena Kosolapova - Trend:

There is a chance that the South Stream pipeline project, which envisages Russian gas supplies to Southern and South-Eastern Europe, will be revived, Katja Yafimava, senior research fellow in Oxford Institute for Energy Studiess Natural Gas Research Programme belives.

The South Stream project could be revived (but on a much lower scale) and it (as well as any other southern route) would need resolution of various regulatory issues with the EC, Yafimava told Trend by email.

Earlier, Austrian Der Standard newspaper reported that Austrian energy group OMV and Russia's Gazprom are holding secret discussions on reviving South Stream gas pipeline project. OMV refused to comment on this issue, while Gazprom refuted these rumors.

Yafimava noted that Gazprom has long been looking to develop a southern route for its exports to Europe.

According to the analyst, there are two possibilities to realize these plans. The first option: Russian gas might arrive via the Black Sea to Turkey (the second string of Turkish Stream pipeline project) and then go further to Europe by utilizing capacity in Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) (which is under construction and might have spare capacity in the first phase and could also be expanded in the second phase) or in the Interconnector TurkeyGreeceItaly (ITGI) (which would have to be built). The second option: Russian gas might arrive to Bulgaria from where it could either go to Greece and Italy (thus repeating the southern route of South Stream) or go to Austria (via Serbia and Hungary) (thus repeating the northern route of South Stream).

It is likely that the EC might be more supportive of any route that goes via Bulgaria rather than via Turkey due to difficult relationship between the EU and Turkey, and the EU being wary of Turkey assuming a significant transit role, in addition to what it will have due to the Southern Gas Corridor, Yafimava said.

But Turkey would likely oppose it, she added.

The expert noted that none of these versions of the South Stream, even if they are built, would affect the South Gas corridor, which will deliver Azerbaijani gas to the EU.

But it is possible that before Gazprom builds any of these southern routes (if any), it might first utilize capacity in TAP should there be not enough Azeri gas to fill it, Yafimava said.

Gazprom refused from the South Stream gas pipeline in late 2014 because the European Commission did not grant an exception from the rules of the Third Energy Package, which, in particular, says that one gas provider should use no more than 50 percent of the pipeline capacity, and the remaining capacity should be put up for auction. Later this project was replaced by the Turkish Stream pipeline, which will pass through Turkey. Gazprom started construction of the offshore section of the Turkish Stream pipeline in May 2017.

Follow the author on Twitter: @E_Kosolapova
The United Nations is analyzing available information about the attack near a mosque in London and early data indicates it was a terrorist act, UN Secretary-General spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a briefing on Monday.

On Sunday night, a van rammed into pedestrians near a mosque at Finsbury Park in north London. Police reported that at least one person was killed and ten others were injured. Police have detained the van's driver, a 48-years-old man.

"We are still looking and trying to analyze the details and motivation of what happened," Dujarric stated." It seems to us like an act of terrorism."

Earlier on Monday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May characterized the event as a terrorist attack, confirming previous statements by officials.

Recently London Mayor Sadiq Khan have stated that Londoners will see more police officers on the street, particularly around mosques and places of worship.

He urged all Londoners to remain calm and vigilant and expressed confidence that the city would never be divided.
Noting that the Canadian real estate market remains fundamentally sound, Brookfield Asset Management Inc. stated that it wont be opposed to buying Home Capital Group Inc. so long as the terms were right.



Everything that is in the market we look at. If theres a transaction that made sense on a risk/reward that we could get involved in, wed be pleased to be involved, chief executive officer Bruce Flatt said during the companys annual general meeting in Toronto late last week. Whether that happens or not, well see.



This position stood at odds with that of other major Canadian investors like Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd., which has maintained some distance from the residential real estate segment over fears of a bubble.



The real estate and mortgage market in Canada are totally fine, Flatt disagreed, as quoted by Bloomberg. Housing prices have gone up quite a bit in many places, but the mortgage market is a very sound financing market. There are a small group of banks that control the mortgage market and these are very high-quality banks and it will not be a problem.



Although its currently the countrys largest alternative asset manager, Brookfield has almost no exposure to the mortgage market in Canada outside of its home building ventures and its subsidiary Royal LePage Real Estate Services. Flatt assured that this doesnt mean that they would avoid the sector, however.



We have been in the residential market for 30 years building houses, Flatt said. There are times when its not as good as it was, like in the United States when it wasnt as good for five years. But we were in it before, were still in it, and its been one of our most profitable businesses.



Home Capital will consider all options to regain stability after settling with the regulator over allegedly misleading investors, a person familiar with the companys plans has said.



The Toronto-based company is said to be in talks with Canadas six biggest banks to replace a $2 billion rescue loan from Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan. Private-equity firms Onex Corp. and Catalyst Capital Group Inc. as well as Brookfield have discussed various transactions with the company, other people familiar have said.
Over 120 migrants are missing following a shipwreck in the Mediterranean Sea, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said, Sputnik reported.

Media reports suggest that the shipwreck took place late on Thursday off the Libyan coast.

"According to testimonies gathered today in Palermo by IOM staff, a shipwreck in the Med may have caused the death of 126 migrants last w/end," Spokesperson for the IOM Flavio Di Giacomo posted on his official Twitter page.

Since 2015, Europe has been experiencing the worst migration crisis in its history, struggling to accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants fleeing hostilities in the Middle Eastern and North African countries.

According to the IOM, a total of 71,418 migrants and refugees arrived in Europe by sea as of June 4.
At least 26 people were injured on a China Eastern Airlines flight, including four in serious condition, after the plane hit strong turbulence en route from Paris to Kunming Sunday, Sputnik reported.

The injured are being treated in two hospitals in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province after the plane, light MU774, landed safely at 8:50 a.m. Sunday at Kunming Changshui International Airport.

"We felt strong turbulence twice and minor turbulence three times. The process lasted about 10 minutes," said a passenger surnamed Zhang, who suffered a minor injury and is receiving treatment at Yunnan First People's Hospital.

A number of passengers were thrown from their seats and some were hurt by falling luggage, causing bone fractures, scalp lacerations, soft tissue injuries and other light wounds, according to the passengers and hospitals.

"We applauded when the plane landed safely. We feel lucky the plane did not crash," said an injured passenger surnamed Shang.
Mount Pleasant, SC (29464)

Today

Showers and thunderstorms likely. Potential for heavy rainfall. High 76F. Winds SSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy skies with scattered thunderstorms during the evening. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 40%.
In order to help more Detroit homebuyers in purchasing homes, Comerica Bank announced last week its plan to invest up to $5 million in a local home mortgage program.

Detroit Home Mortgage  a collaboration program between local banks and non-profits aimed at helping the citys appraisal gap problem  will be the recipient of the banks investment.

Established last year and managed by Community Reinvestment Fund, USA, the program lets borrowers apply for a mortgage with one of its partner banks. Once approved, the loan will be split into two mortgages with low rates  one for 96.5% of the appraised value, the other with up to $75,000 more than a homes current appraised value.

2006 to 2010 were devastating to Detroits housing market, as the housing and credit crisis reduced home values and home sales in the city. Homes across Detroit still need to recover from the housing slump. Detroit Home Mortgage allows qualified buyers to borrow based on a homes true value instead of its current appraised value.

"It's been inspiring to watch the transformation of downtown Detroit over the past several years," said Michael T. Ritchie, president of Comerica Bank-Michigan. "Detroit Home Mortgage is helping to push that revitalization out into the neighborhoods, and we're proud to support that effort through our investment in Detroit Home Mortgage."

Huntington National Bank, Chemical Bank, Flagstar Bank, Independent Bank and Liberty Bank are the programs partner banks.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants a dozen of Wells Fargos board members to be booted from the company as punishment for the banks massive fake-accounts scandal last year.The bank has already paid $150 million in fines to regulators, agreed to pay at least $142 million to affected consumers, and ousted its CEO over the scandal. But 12 of the banks 15 board members served during the period, from 2011 to 2015, when Wells Fargo employees were opening millions of unauthorized accounts.Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, believes those 12 need to go, according to a letter she sent Monday to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. In the letter, Warren asked the Fed to invoke its authority to remove the 12 Wells Fargo board members.The fake accounts scandal cost Wells Fargo customers millions of dollars in unauthorized fees and damaged many of their credit scores, Warren wrote. The scandal also revealed severe problems with the banks risk management practices  problems that justify the Federal Reserves removal of all responsible Board members.Warren cited a report on an investigation into the banks practices by law firm Shearman & Sterling, which found that the boards failure to establish adequate risk management practices and uncover these improper retail practices demonstrated a continuing disregard for the banks soundness.By any measure, a banks risk management practices cannot be adequate if they permitted more than 5,000 employees to open more than two million sham accounts in a four-year span, Warren wrote.Warren criticized the Fed for not taking action against Wells Fargo in the wake of the scandal while other regulatory authorities  like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency  levied heavy penalties.The CFPB and the OCC have acted within their jurisdiction in response to the Wells Fargo scandal, she wrote. It is time for the Federal Reserve to act as well.
The Department of Justice under President Donald Trump may have halted the channeling of monies from an alleged slush fund but the Senate wants more answers about how mortgage settlement funds from behemoth banks were used under the Obama administration.



Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has opened an inquiry into the multibillion-dollar mortgage settlement funds that were sent to unaffiliated third parties, which the Republicans dubbed a slush fund operation, according to a HousingWire report.



The settlements in question specifically come from Bank of America, which settled with the government for almost $17 billion; Citigroup, which settled for $7 billion; and JPMorgan Chase, which settled for $13 billion. The settlements were over the banks pre-crisis business practices.



Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered an immediate halt to the practice of channeling the funds to organizations that are not in any way connected to government operations earlier this month.



Grassley is following up on the action with a senate inquiry that seeks to shed light to the beneficiaries of the funds and how they were used by these organizations.



A letter by the senator alleged that $640 million from these settlements was directed to third-party organizations instead of being deposited into the US Treasury or paid to individuals who suffered harm.



Democrats reportedly defended the practice, saying the funds went to legitimate housing organizations and other groups, but former Rep. Frank Guinta (R-N.H.) accused the former administration of supporting left-wing activist organizations with the funds.


Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Elena Kosolapova  Trend:

UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres called for support and compassion to the refugees around the globe and urged the world community to protect the rights of refugees.

He made such a statement in a video message on the occasion of the World Refugee Day on June 20. The video message was issued in eight languages.

Let us reestablish the integrity of the international refugee protection regime. And let us work to give everyone a chance to build a better future together, Guterres said.

He also noted that the countries with the least often do the most for the refugees.

According to UN, nearly 65 million people were displaced worldwide as of the end of 2016. It is 300,000 more than a year ago. Each day thousands more flee their homes.
For nearly four decades, Odilon Bretado took pride in maintaining the Crockett Elementary building. As the campus starts a new chapter, the longtime custodian will settle into retirement.

I feel very proud of the people that were here, he said in Spanish. We had seven principals, and I respected them all. We were a big family.

During his 39 years as a custodian, Bretado met generations of students attending the elementary school. He said living in the neighborhood allowed him to stay in touch long after they walked the halls.

I had a lot of pleasure, pride to live in the district and see people at the school and on the street, Bretado said.

Rosa Flores, a former student at Crockett, noticed Bretados dedication when she taught there. She said he was attentive to her classroom maintenance needs and checked the school on his days off.

As a teacher, I knew how quiet and friendly he was, Flores said. He was diligent about what he did.

Bretado worked alongside his wife until she left the campus in 2001. For years, he continued to keep the building and its grounds orderly.

His effort made a difference, according to Carolina Garza, secretary during the 2016-17 school year. She said he was eager to address any part of the campus that needed attention.

Hes an older man, Garza said. You wouldnt know. He still does everything. You ask, and hell get it done.

Bretado decided to retire after Midland ISD board members voted in the spring to close Crockett. Garza said the news resonated.

The whole school was overwhelmed, Garza said. He does so well. Hes important to everybody. Nobody works as hard as Mr. Bretado. This school is so clean because of him.

MISD board members voted to shut down the school because it was labeled improvement required for several years, according to previous Reporter-Telegram reports.

Students who attended Crockett in 2016-17 will attend DeZavala or Milam elementary schools. The former Crockett campus is set to open in the fall with mostly new teachers and staff, and it will be home to students living north of Loop 250 near Midland Country Club, according to the report.

Bretado is emotional about the closure but looks forward to spending time with family during retirement. Hes grateful for the opportunity to see campus changes throughout the years.

The community is the same, Bretado said. The building has changed. When I started, it was small.

Recently, others in Midland took notice of the custodians work. This spring, some community members called for Crockett to be named in honor of Bretado. The campus was instead named for retired Gen. Tommy Franks, a Lee High School graduate, according to a previous Reporter-Telegram report.

Also, Educate Midland in April recognized Bretado during an appreciation dinner for Crockett staff.

We heard about the care he demonstrated for the campus, said Pervis Evans, executive director of Educate Midland, in April. Its a beautifully kept campus, but also he supports students and families.

As staff transition from the school, Evans said Bretado leaves an example for others.

Its a reminder educating students is not just in the classroom, Evans said. Theres a whole network for educating a child.

Bretado appreciates Educate Midlands recognition and hopes the next custodian will attend to campus needs.

I enjoyed many things, Bretado said. I never felt tired working with people.

His enthusiasm for Crockett remained through the end of the school year, according to Garza.

I honestly know he can go 20 years more, Garza said. Hes a strong  man. If anybody works with him, they would love him  the parents, kids and teachers.
A new report singled out Texas Christian University as the state's leader in liquor- and drug-related arrests on college campuses.

Project Know, a source for alcohol addicts and their families, looked at non-profit, four-year colleges with at least 10,000 enrolled students to compare arrests by wet and dry campuses.
Most Texas voters believe local law enforcement should be required to cooperate with immigration authorities and that police should have the right to question the immigration status of the people they stop, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

Those were provisions of anti-"sanctuary cities legislation signed into law last month by Gov. Greg Abbott  a statute already being challenged in court by local governments across the state.

Requiring local cooperation with immigration officials is the more popular of the two ideas, but it divides voters on party and ethnic lines. Where 85 percent of Republicans support that requirement, only 27 percent of Democrats do. White and black voters support it, though by dramatically different margins  67 percent supportive to 26 percent opposed among whites, and 47 percent to 37 percent among blacks. Among Hispanic voters, 39 percent support required cooperation, and 48 percent oppose it. More opponents and supports felt strongly about their positions than not.

There arent too many people who remain somewhat opposed or somewhat supportive, said Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin. To most people, its not complicated. Its the mix of immigration plus law enforcement.

Overall support for the show your papers provision  ensuring that police officers have the right to question a persons immigration status during a legal detainment or arrest  is softer, but divided along similar lines.

Three-quarters of Democrats oppose that provision, while 86 percent of Republicans support it. Most Hispanic voters (59 percent) and black voters (57 percent) oppose the provision. Most white voters (64 percent) support it.

Ten years ago, you saw elected Republican officials looking to occupy that sweet spot where they could talk about these issues without fundamentally alienating Democrats, said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin and co-director of the poll. I dont think that concern was as evident in this latest [legislative] session.

Immigration is one of several issues that raised questions of whether state or local laws should prevail in Texas during the recent legislative session. Several of them will be on the plate during the special session this summer.

Property taxes will be near the top of the list. The state itself is barred from levying property taxes, but 27 percent of Texans said the state is most responsible for property taxes. Most  60 percent  point to local governments and 4 percent point to the federal government, which also doesnt levy those taxes.

UT/TT POLL

Who is most responsible for property taxes?

Lawmakers locked up over different versions of legislation that would limit the extent to which local governments can raise property taxes. While the Senate and the House couldnt quite put that together during the regular session, 77 percent of Texas voters support state limits on local governments  48 percent of them strongly. Only 14 percent oppose limits.

You can get substantial bond packages to go through, even with the opposition to property taxes, Shaw said. Theres a deep suspicion of federal and state government, but they like targeted solutions.

Democrats strongly oppose it, with 63 percent in favor. But Republicans really oppose it: 91 percent say limits are a good idea.

Reducing the states business margins tax  which most voters dont pay  has the support of 45 percent of voters, while 26 percent oppose a cut. More than a quarter of the voters didnt have an opinion about that proposal.

UT/TT POLL

Your opinion on ...

Finally, after a 10-year fight, the state has a law banning texting while driving. Voters dont appear to be as conflicted about this as their political representatives: 86 percent of Texas voters favor the ban, and only 10 percent oppose it. The numbers didnt vary much by party, race, gender or education. Texans appear to be united on that issue.

The public has come to see distracted driving as a pretty clear safety hazard, Henson said.

One more local issue caught more attention in the state Capitol than in most other parts of the state  voters in Austin chose to extend some of their taxicab regulations to ride-hailing companies. That prompted two of the biggest  Lyft and Uber  to pull up stakes. And it prompted the Legislature to pre-empt city regulations with less-stringent regulations of its own. That sits fine with Texas voters: 60 percent support statewide rules, while 21 percent oppose them.

The University of Texas/Texas Tribune internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted from June 2 to June 11 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points. Numbers in charts might not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

---

texastribune.com
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

Trend:

20th June is World Refugee Day, the day proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly to be dedicated to refugees across the world, to all persons who were forced to leave their homes by war, conflicts, persecutions and serious violation of human rights, said the article by Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Azerbaijan Furio De Angelis.

There are now more than 65 million persons in this condition: if they were a country, it would be the 22nd nation in the world by population. This country on the move has also a dramatic growth rate: 20 new persons per every minute in the world are being displaced by war and persecution, their number has increased by more than 100% in the last 10 years, and there is not sign of abating, there is no light at the end of that tunnel.

World Refugee Day is recognized around the world by governments, refugee organizations and communities as a day of reflection on the reasons that cause refugee flows and renew commitments to their protection and assistance; also as a day to restate the expectation that durable and just political solution will be found to the conflicts, which are always and persistently at the origin of refugee movements and of all the human suffering that these entail.

Therefore, more than anything else, World Refugee Day is the celebration of refugee resilience. It is the day in which we try to understand and visualize the adversity, the challenges and the misery that refugees live throughout their experience: in their homes during conflict, along the routes of displacement, increasingly in control of criminal traffickers, and too often even after arriving in countries where they should find safety and rest and find instead mixed messages: solidarity by many institutions and people, but also hostility and rejection from sectors of the same society.

Why is this happening? What could be some of the key elements of solutions to the present disorder caused by refugee movements? What citizens, institutions, international organization and governments should do to improve todays dramatic images of children drowning at sea and families scattered in desperation? Four basic areas of international action should be highlighted:

1. Political will must be exercised by all responsible governments to achieve just, durable and compromised solutions to conflicts. As humanitarian crisis are the result of political failures, there can only be political solutions to humanitarian crisis. Citizens must ask their governments, and hold them accountable, to engage transparently and sincerely in a serious quest for peace.

2. Development policies must be designed and implemented with the only objective of serving the countrys communities and in full observance of human rights standards. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the international community in September 2015, are globally accepted as the guiding principles for development, and their observance will dramatically reduce migratory and refugee movements. At the core of the SDGs there is one simple principle: Leave no one behind: refugees and displaced persons belong to the societies where they live and they too must benefit from development and progress.

3. Refugee movements must be managed pro-actively and not passively responded to. International solidarity, clear and respected commitments and adequate allocation of resources are the necessary and sufficient ingredients for a global and successful displacement policy. The 2016 New York Declaration offers the opportunity to gather critical mass for a truly global advancement in refugee and migration management. The two Global Compacts that countries will endorse in 2018, one for Migratory movements and the other for Refugee movements, should be the turning point of a new era of international relations with respect to human displacement.

4. Finally, and most importantly, one simple truth must be recognized once and for all: refugees bring with them capacity, skills and resources, the most valuable of which is their eagerness to contribute positively to the society hosting them. They can be of great benefit for the social and human development of the country, as the numerous waves of millions of migrants have contributed in the history of all regions of the world to the progress and the growth of the many societies who receive them.

The above mentioned points are very simple in their formulation, yet very complex in their practical implementation. However, they represent the narrow path the world has to walk through, if some light has to be seen at the end of the tunnel.

Azerbaijan is well positioned to be a frontrunner down that path. Azerbaijan is a welcoming and diverse society, it is home to a multicultural, multi-confessional and modern population with solid roots in the past and an ambitious plan for continuous growth and development.

Azerbaijan has also lived through the tragedy of war and displacement due to the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh; it has endured loss of lives and economic deprivation, yet it has been able to overcome these challenges and raise to become a modern and developed country. Most importantly, Azerbaijan is a country that has done and still doing a lot for the refugees and the persons internally displaced by the conflict, who represent one of the largest internally displaced population in Europe today and have been waiting for too long a durable and just solution to their displacement.

Azerbaijan is a country that can offer safety and opportunities also to refugees fleeing other conflicts in the region or elsewhere, and reach Azerbaijan to seek safety and protection. If allowed to fully integrate in the economic and social fabric of the Azerbaijani society, refugees from distant countries will enrich the country and one day will be proud citizen in their new home.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)s work in Azerbaijan is geared towards enhancing internally displaced persons and refugees opportunities through programmes of direct financial and social support, while advocating with the Government the improvement of refugee legislation, of integration options and opportunities for all refugees and displaced persons in the country.

UNHCR invites everybody to join the global Stand #WithRefugees campaign by signing the online petition available at www.withrefugees.org
We are collating signatures to petition ...
Belgian troops shot a suspected suicide bomber in Brussels Central Station on Tuesday but there were no other casualties and the situation was brought under control after people were evacuated, Reuters reported.

A Reuters correspondent at the scene an hour after the incident - in which police said the man set off a small explosion - said the area was quiet, with police manning a cordon and a few bystanders calmly watching security forces.

Amid conflicting accounts of what happened, it was still unclear if the man had died. Paul de Vries, a Dutchman working in Brussels, told Reuters he saw police taking away a prisoner.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a station employee, told public broadcaster RTBF that he saw a man shouting in a lower level of the 1930s station, which serves lines running under the city center. He then appeared to yell "Allahu Akbar" in Arabic and to detonate something on a luggage trolley. People standing within three meters of the trolley were unhurt, Herrewegen said.

Authorities were investigating whether it was a terrorist incident, a spokesman for the national Crisis Centre said. The national alert level was maintained at its second highest level.

The Belgian capital, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell launched an attack that killed 130 people in Paris in November 2015. Associates of those attackers, four months later, killed 32 people in their home city, including with bombs loaded on trolleys at Brussels Airport.

Combat troops have been a fixture at transport hubs and in the main public areas ever since the Paris attacks. A series of further attacks in neighboring France and Germany in the past year, as well as recent bloodshed in London and Manchester, have added to anxiety.

TOURISTS EVACUATED

Stationmaster Jean-Michel Michel was quoted by DH newspaper saying: "We heard the explosion. My colleague thought it was a bomb. The explosion was on the mezzanine level. The man went down to platforms 3 and 4. He said 'Allahu Akbar'...

"I would put him at about 35 years old."

The station and adjacent historic downtown area, including the baroque Grand Place city square, had been packed with tourists and locals on a hot summer evening before they were evacuated.

The police spokesman said: "There was an incident at Central Station. There was an explosion around a person. That person was neutralized by the soldiers that were on the scene.

"At the moment, the police are in numbers at the station and everything is under control."

Prime Minister Charles Michel and the interior minister were in the national crisis center monitoring developments.
One soldier was martyred and six others injured late Monday in a missile attack in eastern Turkey, according to the Turkish General Staff, Anadolu reported.

Members of the terror group used rocket launchers and long-barreled weapons to attack a military convoy from the 2nd Border Brigade Command that was on the Cukurca-Van Highway at approximately 11 p.m. local time (2000GMT), said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on talking to the media.

The troops were attacked as they were being transported from the Cukurca district in Hakkari to Van, the source added.

The injured soldiers were taken to the hospital.

The PKK - listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU -- resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015. Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of around 1,200 people, including women and children.

More than 1,200 victims, including security force personnel and civilians, have lost their lives since the PKK - listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and EU - resumed its decades-old armed campaign in July 2015.
Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey will send additional food aid of 15,000 tons to Qatar, the Turkish Ministry of Economy told Trend June 20.

It is expected that the additional cargo will be sent to Qatar in two ships, said the ministry.

As of now, Turkey has sent 90 aircraft with food to Qatar, added the ministry.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE announced about breaking their diplomatic relations with Qatar June 5, accusing Doha of supporting terrorist organizations and destabilizing the situation in the Middle East.

Later, a number of other countries also announced about severing diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu earlier met with heads and ambassadors of a number of Arab states for resolving the Qatar crisis.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
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MARSHFIELD, Vt. (AP)  Tick numbers are on the rise across New England this spring, raising the prospect of an increase in Lyme and other diseases associated with the blood suckers later this year.



The region got a respite last year as the drought took a toll on ticks, whose numbers drop as the humidity falls below 85 percent. But the drought is largely gone from the region and ticks are taking advantage.



Residents in Maine are complaining they are finding as many as 30 ticks at a time on their clothes, and public health officials in Vermont are reporting an above-average rate of emergency room visits for tick bites in the last three weeks.



All of sudden everybody you know has got them, George Africa, owner of Vermont Flower Farm. Hes found two black-legged ticks on him in the last several weeks.



Alan Eaton, a tick expert with the University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension, said the high numbers he has seen in New Hampshire are in line with what was expected, considering the high moisture levels and short dry periods.



Its a really bad year, Eaton said.



On top of that, ticks have taken advantage of a proliferation in their favorite hosts, especially mice, chipmunks and other small rodents. But it isnt so much the number of rodents this year that is critical.



Researchers from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, which for the past decade has studied ticks, found that a bevy of acorns one year can lead to a spike in Lyme-infected ticks two years later. They documented a bumper acorn crop in 2015 that resulted in an increase in small-rodent numbers a year later. As a result, they projected that 2017 would be especially bad for Lyme-disease ticks.



When those mice have a big boom in their population in the summer, that is when new baby ticks are just hatching out of their eggs, said Richard S. Ostfeld, a disease ecologist with the Cary Institute. If there are a ton of mice, many of those baby ticks feed on a mouse. They are likely to survive and come out as nymphs the next year, and those mice are the place those baby ticks get infected with Lyme disease bacteria.



With the explosion in tick numbers in the past decade, there has been a dramatic increase in tick-related diseases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of Lyme disease cases has tripled to about 30,000 cases nationwide annually. Cases of anaplasmosis, which can cause fever, headache, chills and muscle aches, have also risen steadily.



Two years ago, Vermont had the highest rate of reported Lyme disease cases nationwide.



But public health officials in New England said its too early to say what impact all these ticks will have on diseases this year.



Catherine Brown, deputy state epidemiologist for the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said it could be good news that people are seeing more of the dog tick rather than the black-legged deer tick that carries Lyme. The dog tick, the hardier of the two, carries Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia, but those diseases are rare in New England.



No matter what happens, there are a lot of ticks in New England, she said. If there is a few fewer this year or more next year, then from a public health standpoint it doesnt change the fact that there are a lot of ticks and great potential for exposure to the diseases they carry.







Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press David Sharp contributed to this report from Portland, Maine.






MERIDEN  Representatives from the office of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan visited the city Tuesday to learn more about an anti-poverty program being piloted in Meriden.



Five municipalities in the state are offering 2Gen, which is designed to foster economic stability through education, job training and other support.



Zulianelis Rosario, of Meriden, was a pregnant 18-year-old receiving prenatal care at the Community Health Center when she was referred to the 2Gen program. Her son, Gabriel, is now 5 months old and attends play dates at one of three family resource centers located in city schools. Through 2Gen Meriden, Rosario received help getting her drivers license and is enrolled in classes to get her high school diploma. She hopes to become a certified nurses aide.



I saw the flier that said they could come to my house and help with my son even before he was born, Rosario said. Afterwards, I got help with a newborn.



Cathy Battista has administered the Family Resource Center program for about 12 years. Two years ago, the state Department of Labor awarded grants to five cities to begin 2Gen programs and Battista combined the programs to serve children and parents. She also established partnerships with more than 20 community agencies.



A major part of 2Gen is being hooked up with opportunities, Battista said Tuesday. You can work on the child but it doesnt do any good if you have a parent that needs help. There are barriers for any family getting on their feet and out of poverty  child care and transportation. Were changing the mentality to being a contributing member of the community.



2Gen Meriden helped solve transportation problems through Uber, which offers a ride across town for as little as $6. It also encourages families to rely upon each other for child care services. There are 10 families enrolled in 2Gen Meriden. Battista and others would like to see more.



The idea is to get these families paying taxes and contributing, said Battista, who serves on the City Council.



The state Commission on Women, Children and Seniors selected 2Gen Meriden as a model when representatives from Maryland wanted to view a program. Maryland officials interviewed families and program partners Tuesday before viewing a presentation at Benjamin Franklin School.



During the presentation, School Superintendent Mark Benigni addressed the school systems efforts to assist the program by providing space and sharing information through its school-family liaisons.



As school districts are called upon to do more with less, community partnerships with groups can help fill in the gaps, Benigni said.



Its all about partnerships, Benigni told the Maryland group. You have to have openness. How do we open doors and work with partners that have expertise in areas we dont?



mgodin@record-journal.com 203-317-2255 Twitter: @Cconnbiz






WALLINGFORD  A local sailor was recently highlighted by the Navy while working aboard a ship in the Philippine Sea.



Aviation Boatswains Mate 3rd Class Jake Bonet, of Wallingford, was featured in a photo released by the Navy. In the photo, Bonet is relocating a CH-53E Super Stallion in the hangar bay of the USS Bonhomme Richard, an amphibious assault ship.



The USS Bonhomme Richard is the flagship of an expeditionary strike group operating in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region to enhance partnerships and be a ready-response force for any type of contingency, the Navy said.






Baku, Azerbaijan, June 20

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey continues talks with Russia to buy its S-400 air missile defense system, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said, the countrys media reported June 20.

Yildirim noted that the sides havent reached a final decision on this matter yet.

Earlier, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus also noted that Turkey and Russia hadnt yet reached a final decision regarding the agreement on the supplies of the countrys S-400 air missile defense system to Turkey.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
WASHINGTON  Exxon Mobil and other large oil companies are backing a carbon tax proposal put forward earlier this year by a group of former Republican politicians including James Baker, the former secretary of state.

The Climate Leadership Coalition, a group which includes Baker along with former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and former Secretary of State George Shultz, announced a list of "founding members" Tuesday that includes BP, Shell, Total, GM, Johnson & Johnson and Exxon.
A 40-year-old man in Santa Rosa killed his two young children then hanged himself in an apparent double-murder-suicide on Monday, police said.

Police said they found three bodies  those of the father, his 6-year-old daughter and his 18-month-old son  dead in a home on the 700 block of Slater Street in Santa Rosa around 9:53 a.m.
A visiting top UN official said on Tuesday that Turkey deserves gratitude for its generous hosting of millions of refugees, Anadolu reported.

"We thank Turkey for its generous approach in hosting 3.5 million people who left their homes to save their lives. We need to thank the Turkish state because of the good conditions [here]," said Ursula Mueller, the UNs assistant secretary-general for humanitarian aid and deputy emergency relief coordinator in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Visiting the Midyat Temporary Accommodation Center in Mardin, southeastern Turkey, which houses Syrian and Iraqi refugees, Mueller learned about the center from local official Huseyin Tekin.

Mueller also visited the centers school and handed out toys to the students together with chief presidential advisor Ayse Turkmenoglu and met with Ezidis who were forced to flee Iraq.

"We thank Turkey for providing this opportunity. They are making all efforts to meet our needs at the center. Under these conditions, we dont want to return to Iraq. We want to stay here," said one of the Ezidis.

Speaking to reporters, Mueller said: "I am very impressed with what I saw at the center. I saw people being offered good conditions and treated well.

Mueller stated that that the UN would help with the centers electricity and heating costs.

"When I return to the UN, I will speak to the secretary-general and say that this camp should be a model for how to manage a camp," she said.

- UNHCR grateful towards Turkey

The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, is grateful for Turkey's treatment of refugees, said Pascale Moreau, the UNHCR Turkey representative, at the opening ceremony of a photo exhibit in the capital Ankara marking June 20 World Refugee Day.

Moreau said that 90 percent of the more than 3 million refugees in Turkey live outside the camps in local communities.

"The UNHCR is grateful to the Turkish people and authorities for the generosity and hospitality they have shown, which cannot be measured statistically," she said.

Moreau added that Turkey hosts 300,000 refugees apart from the Syrians counted by the UNHCR.

According to UN, Turkey is the top refugee host in the world, being home to nearly 3 million Syrian refugees. This number accounts for over 50 percent of the 5.5 million Syrian refugees in the world. Turkey has so far spent $25 billion on the refugees, while receiving only $725 million from the European Union, and $550 million from the UN Refugee Agency, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in April. But Turkey will continue to help out refugees "with or without outside help," he added.
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She's been living in San Antonio for a little more than a month, but this 23-year-old is already causing a stir for her fashion statement that takes a jab at President Donald Trump's rhetoric on immigration reform.

Beatty, a new Alamo City resident from rural Illinois who asked that her last name not be used, is the woman behind a tweet that has garnered more than 70,000 reactions in the form of likes, retweets and comments.

The June 12 tweet comes with a smiling selfie, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the phrase "IMMIGRANTS MAKE AMERICA GREAT," drawing from Trump's campaign promise to "Make America Great Again."

RELATED: S.A. family searching for stranger who swapped pants with graduate so he could cross the stage

"I wore this shirt shopping today and I've never seen so many pissed white ppl," @bayyyydee's tweet reads.

She snapped the photo while running errands on the far West Side, near Loop 1604. Beatty told mySA.com she wore the shirt to Kohl's, Old Navy, Ulta and a gas station.

Beatty described the real-life reactions that fueled her tweet as "very passive aggressive type of anger."

"[...] no one spoke to me even though I could see them reading my shirt," she said. "Most reactions I saw included especially pronounced frowns and angry eyebrows. My cashier at Kohl's had a really hard time maintaining eye contact and a conversation with me."

RELATED: Meet S.A.'s new hero: The 'Nombre shut up' Spurs fan

She added that she did receive positive reactions from shoppers at Old Navy.

Beatty said she has seen "a lot of support" on Twitter and has gained 2,000 new followers since she posted the photo.

"It's actually gotten out of hand," she said of the viral attention. "Initially it was almost nothing but love and positivity, but the more popular the tweet became, the more the hate began to pour out. The most common comments include marriage proposals, cookout invitations and a whole lot of 'you're doing great sweetie!'"

Multiple people welcomed her to "la raza" and the "Latino family" and said a "Mexican cookout" was in order to honor her.

"Congratulations you've just joined our Latino family," Twitter user @AyyeeviviElvira responded.

The T-shirt is from the Los Angeles-based American Immigrants website, which offers red and white versions for $17.99. Beatty said she bought the shirt because she likes challenging people with contrasting views and she wants everyone to know her stance on issues like immigration.

"Donald Trump ran a campaign based on deporting undocumented immigrants when he could have considered streamlining the process to citizenship instead," she said. "That message places a stigma around Latino immigrants especially and affects even those who are documented and have every right to be here. There's no reason for it and it would be pretty sweet if I saw the end of it in my life time."

See the reactions in Beatty's tweet in the gallery above.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
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Twitter is giving a San Antonio teen a standing ovation for sharing a bikini photo that shows how proud she is of her figure.

The heart-eye and praise hand emojis were all around when Sabrina Ann Ramirez posted two pictures of herself wearing a swimsuit on Sunday with the hashtag "#loveyourself."

Ramirez, with her mother Anna Ramirez's permission, shared the photos with mySA.com and explained why she decided to be vulnerable in the sometimes vicious Twitter world.

"I finally felt the most beautiful in my own skin," the 17-year-old said, adding that she hopes her tweets will inspire others to feel the same even if she felt "nervous" to send out the photos.

RELATED: S.A. woman wins fans online with Trump-inspired fashion statement that has people 'pissed' off

The positive response the soon-to-be Marshall High School senior received quickly quieted whatever qualms she had. More than a thousand people have reacted with likes, retweets and comments.

"Confident women are so beautiful I swear," one user responded, followed by many more telling Ramirez how much they "love" her.

"You look good and I know you feel good," another supporter chimed in.

Others asked for the secret to her "glowing" skin.

"I thought I was gonna get some hate towards the post but there was none. Just nothing but girls boosting up my confidence," she said. "I absolutely love it."

Slay, Sabrina.

mmendoza@mysa.com

Twitter: @MaddySkye
The Liberty City Council at its June 13 meeting voted to terminate its contract with the City of Hardin for wastewater disposal. Repeated overages flowing into the City of Liberty's wastewater plant prompted the cancelation, according to Liberty City Manager Gary Broz.

"In the certified letter we sent to the City of Hardin, it states that if they fix everything in their system, there is an opportunity to come back," Broz said. "The overages the City of Hardin are sending us every time it rains are causing a strain on our system."

The contract between the two cities allows Hardin to send a daily maximum of 200,000 gallons of wastewater, which is run through an extensive sewer system that stretches from Hardin to Liberty along SH 146. The June statement from Liberty shows that Hardin exceeded the limit four times in the month of May, with the largest increase on May 5 when Hardin sent a total of 500,000 gallons of wastewater down the pipes to Liberty.

Hardin is charged $0.75 per 1,000 gallons for the first 200,000 gallons of wastewater per day. The overages alone cost the City of Hardin an additional $5,426 on the June statement.

"Every time it rains, we are seeing overages," Broz said. "The City of Liberty is permitted by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to process 2.5 million gallons of wastewater per day."

On May 5, Hardin, with its 900 residents, produced one-fifth of the total capacity of wastewater permitted by Liberty, a city of 9,000 residents.

More Information "The overages the City of Hardin are sending us every time it rains are causing a strain on our system." - Gary Broz, Liberty city manager See More Collapse

"We have to protect our sewer plant," Broz said. "That's where we are unfortunately with Hardin."

The termination will not be immediate though. The contract has a five-year termination agreement, so Hardin has time to get its sewer problems sorted.

Broz said the top priority for Hardin should be fixing its manholes, which are flooding the sewer system instead of diverting the water to drains.

In the meantime, Liberty is projecting to spend a total of $22 million over the next few years on repairs and upgrades to its sewer system.

The project will be accomplished in three phases with the first expected to cost $7 million.

The Dayton News tried to contact Hardin Mayor Stephanie Blume for comment, but phone calls to the mayor went unanswered.

In other news from the June 13 meeting, council heard a presentation from Cory Stull of the consulting firm, Freese Nichols.

Stull explained the firm's recommendations for a possible levee project that would protect the city from future floods.

On May 15, 2015, the city's current levee was threatened by flood. Emergency repairs kept the waters from breaching the levee.

According to Stull, the city can apply for two grants of approximately $2.1 million each.

The city would have to match 25 percent of each grant, but there is a possibility of folding the projects into one and reducing the costs by $1 million.

The grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency wouldf cover trash racks, culverts and paved concrete slopes on the levee.

The National Resource Conservation Service grant would fund earthwork, riprap on the new levee, extend the outfall pipes of the electric pump station to match the new levee grade extension and elevate the diesel pump outfall structure to match the new levee grade elevation.
Lone Star College graduate Kyle Breed is one step closer to realizing his dream of becoming chief of surgery for a trauma center, thanks to the Lone Star College Foundation.

"For me, the reason for picking Lone Star College was economic," Breed said. "A big part of it was the affordability and the convenience of being at home and not having to pay for meals and a place to stay."

Breed recently graduated with an Associate of Biological Science degree from the Honors College at LSC-Kingwood.

"I was really surprised when I got to Lone Star College. Going to the Honors College and being able to participate in the program, I really gained a lot of skill sets I didn't think I would get at a community college," Breed said.

The Honors College offers a wide range of opportunities for honors students - from incoming freshmen wanting to graduate with an Honors AA or Honors AS degree and high-achieving students seeking to graduate with Honors distinction, to students interested in earning individual Honors course credit.

"I've been doing interview practice and learning how to write a resume, so it really helped prepare me for a lot of things I wasn't expecting," said Breed, a recipient of the Dr. Linda Stegall Excellence in Education Endowment scholarship.

The scholarship is made possible by an anonymous donor who contributed a $1 million gift in April 2008 to the LSC Foundation in the name of Dr. Stegall, former president of LSC-Kingwood, in honor of her service and passion for higher education.

"What the Dr. Stegall scholarship gave me was the confidence to go further and apply for things I did not think I could ever get. It gave me a massive confidence boost to help me be successful," Breed said.

"The Lone Star College Foundation is proud to play such an important role in student success," said Nicole Robinson Gauthier, LSC Foundation executive director. "Many lives are changed for the better thanks to the support of the generous donors and sponsors in the Lone Star College community."
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What: "Second Samuel"

Where: Pasadena Little Theatre, 4318 Allen-Genoa Road, Pasadena

When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through July 2

Cost: $15 adults (in advance), $128 at the door; $12 students and seniors; two-for-$20 admission on Thursday, June 29

Information: 713-941-1758, www.pasadenalittletheatre.org.

The characters in "Second Samuel" are settled into well-worn patterns of life when suddenly, at the end of Act I, their 1940s Georgia small town is hit with a bombshell.

How each one reacts to the revelation of a long-held "secret" demonstrates the old adage that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, said Vanessa Pearson, who directed this premiere production of Pasadena Little Theatre's 63rd season as Houston's oldest community playhouse in continuous operation.

"Nobody could have imagined how the death of one sweet little old lady would turn the entire town upside down, leaving everybody in 'Second Samuel' wondering if anything would ever be normal again," added Revis Bell, who plays Doc.

"The play has a message, and you leave the theater feeling uplifted," said Pearson. "You say to yourself, "I will treat people better.' "

The secret that is revealed after the death of the local piano teacher, Miss Gertrude, sends residents of the sleepy community of Second Samuel to their respective hangouts: the men to a bar/bait shop, the women to their beauty salon. In those places, people show their true colors.

More Information Impact of a secret revealed What: "Second Samuel" Where: Pasadena Little Theatre, 4318 Allen-Genoa Road, Pasadena When: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sundays, through July 2 Cost: $15 adults (in advance), $128 at the door; $12 students and seniors; two-for-$20 admission on Thursday, June 29 Information: 713-941-1758, www.pasadenalittletheatre.org. See More Collapse

"It's such a beautiful show," Pearson said. "This is the proudest I've ever been of a show."

Pearson submitted the script by Pamela Parker for consideration at PLT, along with two other plays, as each prospective director was required to suggest three show possibilities to the theater's play-reading committee.

"It got the top rating out of all of the scripts that were submitted," said Pearson, who saw the show performed last year at College of the Mainland Community Theatre in Texas City.

"Two of my cast members were in that show," Pearson said. They include Dave Osbie Shepard of Houston as US and Max Estudillo of Texas City as Bflat.

"Bflat is a little slow. He gets super-upset about the secret. He's in tears," Pearson said.

Other cast members are: Lanier Young of Deer Park; Pasadena residents Avry DeeAnn and Corinne Persons; Greg Brown and David James Barron of Houston; Thomas Troy Nordyke of League City; and Pearland thespians Leslie Barrera and Teresa Mclmore.

Running lights and sound is Renea Runnels Richardson of Pasadena.

PLT's season will continue with "main stage" productions of "On the Verge," "the musical "The Addams Family," "A Little Christmas Spirit," "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike," "Bell, Book and Candle" and "Agnes of God."

Don Maines is a freelance writer who ca be reached at donmaines@att.net
With hopes of helping more people get past challenges in their lives, Melissa Rotholz is sharing her story of marital issues.

Rotholz, assistant director of Shield Bearer, assists in directing the nonprofit charitable organization that promotes individual growth and development, as well as aims to preserve and enrich marriages and strengthens and unite families, but she hopes her story of marital troubles will help others.

Shield Bearer has helped approximately 16,000 individuals and families annually through counseling services and prevention programs. Individuals, businesses, and churches support the organization with approximately $180,000 annually.

The Cy-Fair area resident has been with the organization for three years, but started as a volunteer. She handles community engagement for the group, and found passion for helping other hurting people after experiencing issues in her own marriage.

"In 2010, I went through a really hard time in my marriage and mistakes were made on both sides, things I thought could never be repaired. Probably by society standards, my marriage would have been seen as irreparable," Rotholz said. "We were in a very dark place. Luckily, I was able to make the decision to leave my full-time job and focus on rebuilding my family."

Rotholz and her husband decided to take steps to re-structure their family. The couple started to go back to church and attend counseling. Though Rotholz admits it was not easy, due to what she calls "darkness" in their relationship, step-by-step her and her husband learned skills to repair their marriage and family.

"Counseling was new to me and something that I thought I wouldn't be doing and most people probably don't. It taught me so many wonderful tools and things about myself I didn't know," Rotholz said. "Little by little, with a lot of hard work, we were able to re-build our (relationship). Now, we are in such amazing place because of taking those steps to really re-focus."

She believes Shield Bearer appeared in her life at the right time. Rotholz realized not everyone in the community is fortunate enough to be aware of helpful organizations or financially equipped for counseling and other services through dark times in their life.

"I was lucky in the fact of being able to afford counseling, but many people are not. I told myself, as I was going through this process, that if I could ever in anyway help somebody that was struggling that I would help them, and that is how I ended up at Shield Bearer volunteering," Rotholz said. "When I discovered the organization, I thought to myself that this was the place I was supposed to be and volunteer. I couldn't imagine being in a dark place, an alone place, a scared place, and not having the resources to get out of it. I wanted to make sure people always had that."

Roy Wooten, the executive director of Shield Bearer, is thankful that Rotholz was inspired to contribute to helping others after experiencing her own pain and struggles. The director of the organization believes Rotholz's community engagement helps the organization reach its mission, of promoting individual growth and development, preserving and enrich marriages, and strengthening and uniting families.

"Melissa's passion for the mission of the organization is huge. I believe it's our most broken places in our hearts and in our relationships that God can use to help other people," Wooten said. "It is out of those broken places that the passions arise for us to make a difference in the world. As the executive director of Shield Bearer, I feel blessed that Melissa feels a calling to help others and has chosen to do that with us."

Shield Bearer offers faith-based and community services. Locations for the organization include north and northwest Houston, Tomball, west Houston, and Montgomery County. Counseling services include marriages, pre-marital, couples, families, individuals, teens, adolescents and children.

Through marital struggles Rotholz admits she had to learn and practice forgiveness and gratitude. She believes light does drive out darkness, even though if it might be hard to see while in the midst of struggling through painful situations.

"I, at points, got caught up in adding to the darkness. I was making poor decisions and adding to the darkness instead of realizing that by bringing that light to situations and sharing my situation would drive out the darkness," Rotholz said. "It's the same with revenge, there is no growth with that. When you focus on yourself and bring your best self to a relationship, things [can] start to improve. My husband and I started to really focus on how we could be better as people so we could bring that into the relationship. Ultimately, the relationship is better for it."

This year Rotholz received the Women Empowering Women Express Network's (WEWEN) Woman of the Year Award. Women Empowering Women Express Network is a newly formed Vintage area women's business group and currently includes approximately 100 members.

Rotholz currently serves as the vice president of communications for the group. Going into next year, she will be president-elect, and in 2019 there are plans for Rotholz to become the president of the organization.

"She has also been very involved in the Cy-Fair Women's Network of American Business Women's Association. Easy to say, our leagues have experienced great success in large part to Melissa," Darlene Hajdukn said, WEWEN president. "She is dedicated to her family, her job, and community in a way that sets her apart from the rest. I call her the creme de la creme. Meaning, she has heart, purpose and love that permeates all that she does. I consider it an honor to be her friend, colleague, and supporter of Shield Bearer's Associate Director, and amazed as she continues to hone her skills as a community outreach leader."

The Women Empowering Women Express Network of the American Business Women's Association (ABWA) aims to bring together businesswomen of diverse occupations and to provide opportunities for them to help themselves and others grow personally and professionally through leadership, education, networking support, and national recognition.

"I was shocked at the reactions that I got after winning the Woman of the Year Award. Everybody was so supportive, and you just never know how you are touching people. I'm so happy for the WEWEN group, and I'm proud of what we have accomplished in this year," Rotholz said. "The Woman of the Year Award is really to highlight a member that has contributed during the past year and is a thank you for their contributions. I'm committed to this organization. I believe in it because it is women from all different occupations and walks of life, and it really allows them to practice new skills, learn together, network, build life-long friendships, and build the community."

This month Rotholz looks forward to joining her family, which includes her husband and teenage son and daughter, in being celebrated with other honorees by the Houston Area Council of American Business Women's Association at a luncheon reception on June 24 at the Junior League of Houston.

Even though Rotholz is receiving awards and accolades, she believes the most important part of what she does is being immersed in the community to help promote healing through Shield Bearer. Through her journey of counseling, healing, and interacting with others in the community, Rotholz realized that everyone goes through or is going through something in their life.

"There are so many people out there who are hurting or struggling. I want others to know they are not alone. If you want to help those that are struggling, there are so many great organizations and ways to do it, Shield Bearer of course being one of them," Rotholz said. "Find those who are struggling and love them because everybody needs that. Whatever you are going through in your life, you can get through it. Even if it may seem hopeless or too hard. You can come out on the other side with a new perspective and be able to help other people with that. I try to remind my kids to always be kind because you don't know what people are going through."

Shield Bearer

www.shieldbearer.org

events@shieldbearer.org or volunteer@shieldbearer.org

281-894-7222

Women Empowering Women Express Network of ABWA

www.wewen.org

Contact communications@wewen.org with questions.

Cy-Fair Express Network

www.cyfen.org
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Tomball

A portion of Business Highway 249 just north of FM 2920/Main Street in Tomball will be shutting down for a July 4th celebration and street festival with live music, the Kroger Kids Zone, eats and fireworks.

Gates open at 5 p.m.

Between 5 p.m. and dusk will be band performances and a patriotic tribute. K-STAR 99.7 FM will be on site throughout the evening.

Performing on the Quick Quack Car Wash stage will be the classic rock Beatles cover band "The Fab 5", with local favorite Valerie Hill leading the patriotic segment of the festival including and a red, white and blue salute to military veterans.

Special guests Janine and Juliette Turner of Constituting America will present winners from the organization's "We The Future" songwriting contest who will then perform their winning original tunes.

The festival from 5-8 p.m. will include water activities, games bounce houses, pony rides and face painting. Kid's games, bounce structures and water activities will fill the Kroger Kids Zone with food and beverages, festival-style treats and more provided by The Original Rib Tickler, Pecos Grill, and others available throughout the evening.

Mascot appearances with Rusty Nails, Dusty Trails and their friends are planned between 7 and 8 p.m.

Admission and parking are free. Coolers are welcome, but no alcohol or glass containers, and no "pop-up" shade structures may be brought into the event site. Don't forget the lawn chairs and sun screen.

There will be free mini American flags while supplies last compliments of Allied Siding & Windows, a presenting sponsor of the Fourth of July celebration.

The fireworks show will fill the sky above Business Highway 249 beginning around 9:30 p.m.

For information, visit tomballtx.gov, go to facebook.com/TomballTexanForFun or call 281-351-5484. The Tomball July 4th Celebration & Street Festival presented by Allied Siding & Windows is sponsored in-part by K-Star 99.7 FM, Kroger, Holiday Inn Express and Quick Quack Car Wash.

Jersey Village

Celebrate the Fourth of July with a parade in Jersey Village starting at 9 a.m.

Participants will organize at the Civic Center, 16327 Lakeview Drive, Jersey Village, and the parade will travel down Jersey Drive to Clark Henry Park, 7804 Equador.

People are invited to cheer the parade along the route and then to come to the park for popsicles.

Or, join the parade by contacting JVparade@yahoo.com. Organizers are looking for bands, floats, bicycles, walkers and wagons.

Cy-Fair

The Grace Symphony Orchestra will present "Freedom" concert, conducted by John Ricarte, on Sunday, July 2, starting at 4 p.m. at the Berry Center, 8877 Barker Cypress Road, Cypress.

Join the orchestra and more than 30 wounded warrior families at the event, which will give a musical salute to the men and women of the U.S. Armed forces.

Attendees will receive a souvenir American flag. Visit the Red, White & Blue lemonade stand before the concert and during intermission. There will be a photo booth and a military care package drive.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children. Visit http://gracesymphony.org/index.php/concerts or call 281-290-4580 for more information.

Spring

Celebrate the Fourth of July at Wet'n'Wild SplashTown, 21300 Interstate 45, Spring, with music, games, prizes and fireworks. The park is open from 10 a.m. 9 p.m. Visit https://www.wetnwildsplashtown.com/ for information.
Watches are not rocket science. Or are they? Watches are not rocket...

Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well, thats a shame, because with some watches, youll need one to understand how to tell the time. Perhaps you dont have a PhD. Well,...
When the Senate confirmed Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., in February as President Donald Trump's health and human services secretary, few in Washington thought that, come June, the president would need to urge people to vote Republican in the special election to replace Price.

But it's Election Day in Georgia, and look at this:

---

KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS. She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district.

- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 20, 2017

---

Even though he spelled the Republican's last name wrong in a third (now deleted) tweet, the fact he's tweeting at all about this race underscores that what was supposed to be a quiet, humid special election in an upper middle-class Atlanta suburb to replace Price has turned into a battle. And both sides say it's a 50/50 contest.

That alone is remarkable. The Republicans have held Georgia's 6th Congressional District since the 1970s and, really, since the political realignment of the South.

But Republicans are at risk of losing it in the era of Trump to a 30-year-old Democrat with no legislative experience, Jon Ossoff. Ossoff has a slight lead in the polls, but operatives on the ground in Georgia on both sides say this race could come down to a few votes between him and the GOP candidate, former Georgia secretary of state Karen Handel. A recount is possible.

The logical question is: Why? Why is this race suddenly so competitive?

The admittedly unsatisfying answer is: It's hard to tell.

Special elections can be particularly useful tea leaves for studying the national mood, said Stuart Rothenberg, a nonpartisan elections analyst and columnist at The Washington Post. Most voters aren't paying much attention to the candidates when they go to vote, which means they're probably thinking big picture.

"When they think about choices, they tend to think big choices: change versus status quo," Rothenberg said. "Keep the president, or send a message of dissatisfaction to the president."

Or this special election could be just that: special, without any meaning beyond Georgia. Here are a few not-mutually-exclusive theories from Democrat and Republican operatives, both about the dynamics of this particular race and the national mood. Any one of these theories could either all be right or all wrong or somewhere in between:

1. Establishment Republican voters are sick of Trump: This is a Republican district (Price won it by 24 points in November), but it's not a Trump district (Trump won it by around a percentage point). Now it's possible those same Republicans who voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton decide they want to send a message to Trump and send a Democratic candidate to check him, Rothenberg said.

Overlay that onto the fact that Democrats in special elections in GOP districts in Kansas and Montana did better than expected this spring, and you could have a trend.

2. Moderate and liberal Democrats woke up: There are more Republicans than Democrats in this district, but it's possible that Democrats are so motivated by what they see happening in Washington they are campaigning and voting and engaging in politics as if they live in a swing district. This would be the dream scenario for Democrats, who hope that the fact this race is competitive portends that many, many more seats in the 2018 midterm elections will also be competitive. There are more than 70 seats that are more competitive than this race, according to rankings by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.

"We can win everywhere," said Alejandro Chavez, senior electoral campaign manager for the progressive group Democracy for America. "We just have to compete everywhere."

3. There's been so much national attention that its competitiveness was inevitable: You can make almost any race competitive when it sets records as the most expensive House race in the nation. Ossoff raised a mind-boggling $20 million in the past three months.

And outside groups on both sides have spent millions. Thousands are knocking on doors and making phone calls for the candidates. You'd have to work harder in Georgia NOT to pay attention to this race than to pay attention.

Republicans are heartened by that. Come November 2018, Democrats (and their donors) will have to divide all this effort up by 20 or 30 districts next year. (Democrats have a list of 70 seats they hope to make competitive, and they need to net 24 seats to take back the House of Representatives.)

4. The candidates weren't great: I guarantee you this: Whoever loses will get cast by operatives in their party as a so-so candidate who lost the race for them. (Politics is a contact sport, people.) Handel in particular is vulnerable to this criticism. She failed to beat Ossoff outright in the first round of voting in April, and she failed to clear the field of the other 16+ GOP candidates who were running in April.

For now, all we know is that the special election to replace Price is surprisingly competitive.

We won't be able to truly answer why until this race is long over and we've tested these above hypotheses in the 2018 midterm elections.
MOSCOW - At a time when public anger over government corruption has led to the most widespread protests Russia has seen in years, less than half of Russians are confident in President Vladimir Putin's efforts to rein in crooked officials, according to a survey released Tuesday.

The survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Center finds Russians generally confident in their country's direction, enthusiastic about Moscow's increasing say in world affairs, and increasingly sanguine about the economy. A whopping 87 percent of those surveyed said they trust Putin to represent their country's interests on a global stage.

But approval of the job Putin is doing to eliminate corruption has fallen over the past two years, from 62 percent to 49 percent, according to the center, which conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,002 Russians between February and April.

That time span coincides with the first of two nationwide anti-corruption protests spearheaded by opposition activist Alexei Navalny, after he alleged that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev had illicitly acquired $1 billion in yachts, mansions and vineyards through bribes.

The anti-corruption rallies are part of a wave of dissatisfaction sweeping the country unseen since 2012, most of it connected with popular misgivings about official malfeasance.

"Our data indicate that although Russians have a high level of confidence in their president when it comes to global affairs, they nevertheless point to serious problems within their country that affect their daily life," said Margaret Vice, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center. "Corruption is also Russians' second-top concern, second only to rising prices, with almost nine in 10 saying corrupt political leaders pose a problem for Russia."

In recent months, Russia has seen rallies by long-distance truckers angry about road tolls collected by a company run by the son of one of Putin's oldest friends.

Moscow apartment owners who oppose the city's plan to relocate as many as 1.6 million Muscovites have held several large protests. A recent Transparency International report characterized the relocation as a gift to Russia's "construction lobby," builders and suppliers who have fallen on lean times because of a recession.

Questions and text messages about corruption popped up during Putin's annual live call-in show three days after nationwide protests June 12, puncturing his effort to convey good news about an economy finally nosing its way out of recession.

While Navalny's popularity in Russia remains minuscule, 58 percent of respondents in a poll conducted by Russia's independent Levada Center displayed a positive attitude toward anti-corruption protests.

None of this suggests that Putin's chances of being reelected to a new six-year term next March are in any danger, said Natalia Zorkaya, a researcher at the Levada Center, which posts frequent polls that show Putin's approval rating has not dipped below 80 percent since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

Confidence in Putin, she said, "is not decreasing, despite the growth of dissatisfaction with domestic problems." And "even though the protest mood in society is growing," this mood "will not affect elections and the victory of Putin," she said.

Zorkaya said that "the confirmation of the country as a great power" is a far more powerful source of Putin's popularity than the protest movement is a draw against it.

The Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan institute, and neither its survey nor its researchers were willing to draw political conclusions about the results. But several of the findings support Zorkaya's comments.

The Pew survey found that 59 percent of Russians think their country plays a more important role in world affairs than a decade ago, and 58 percent are satisfied with the direction Russia is taking, up from 20 percent in 2002.

- - -

The Washington Post's Natalya Abbakumova contributed to this report.
Otto Warmbier, the University of Virginia student who was detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a half, died Monday afternoon, his parents announced.

Warmbier had been medically evacuated and returned to Cincinnati last week in a coma.

"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," his parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, said in a written statement.

Warmbier's death was mourned by his wide circle of friends and by complete strangers, and it intensified political reaction to his detention, with outraged critics calling it 'murder.'

President Donald Trump issued a statement Monday afternoon. "Melania and I offer our deepest condolences to the family of Otto Warmbier on his untimely passing. There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends, and all who loved him.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Monday night, "Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime. In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder.

"North Korea is threatening its neighbors, destabilizing the Asia-Pacific region, and rapidly developing the technology to strike the American homeland with nuclear weapons. Now it has escalated to brutalizing Americans, including three other citizens currently imprisoned in North Korea. The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."

Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Monday evening that "Otto is dead because of Kim Jong-un's repressive, murderous regime," and that North Korea "must be held accountable for their continued barbaric behavior."

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., also said North Korea must be held accountable for the "murder."

Warmbier's death could push Congress or the Trump administration to restrict or ban Americans from traveling to North Korea.

Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Joe Wilson, R-S.C., have introduced the North Korea Travel Control Act in the House, which would require Americans who want to travel to North Korea to obtain a license. There would be no licenses for tourists.

The Senate has been more reluctant to introduce restrictions on Americans - but Warmbier's death might be the trigger that they need, analysts say.

Separately, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has raised the prospect of the administration using an executive order to ban travel to North Korea.

"We have been evaluating whether we should put some type of travel visa restriction to North Korea," Tillerson told a House committee last week. "We haven't come to a final conclusion, but we are considering it."

On Monday he issued a statement. "Today we received with deep sadness the news that Otto Warmbier has passed away.

"On behalf of the entire State Department and the United States government, I extend my condolences to the Warmbier family, and offer my prayers as they enter a time of grief no parent should ever know.

"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."

Warmbier had gone to North Korea as a tourist on his way to Hong Kong for a study abroad program, but was stopped when he tried to leave the country. After a sham trial, he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor.

Fred Warmbier said North Korea lures American tourists to the country with tour groups such as the one his son joined, Young Pioneer Tours, and then "they take them hostage."

Young Pioneer Tours said after Warmbier's death that it would no longer take American citizens to North Korea.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier had no news about their son during his detention after March of last year. He was not allowed consular visits, and it was not until this month that U.S. officials and the family were told that he had been in a coma for more than a year.

He was medically evacuated, landed in Cincinnati on Tuesday night and was rushed to the hospital.

On Thursday, doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center said that the 22-year-old Otto Warmbier had extensive loss of brain tissue, and was in a state of unresponsive wakefulness.

That morning, Fred Warmbier denounced what he called the "pariah" regime that brutalized his son.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier issued a statement Monday afternoon:

"It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20pm.

"It would be easy at a moment like this to focus on all that we lost - future time that won't be spent with a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds. But we choose to focus on the time we were given to be with this remarkable person. You can tell from the outpouring of emotion from the communities that he touched - Wyoming, Ohio and the University of Virginia to name just two - that the love for Otto went well beyond his immediate family.

"We would like to thank the wonderful professionals at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center who did everything they could for Otto. Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable - almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of h"is face changed - he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

We thank everyone around the world who has kept him and our family in their thoughts and prayers. We are at peace and at home too.

"Fred & Cindy Warmbier and Family'

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, who worked to try to free Warmbier, said in a statement Monday afternoon: "Otto Warmbier was such a promising young man. He was kind, generous and accomplished. He had all the talent you could ever ask for and a bright future ahead of him. His passing today is a loss for Ohio and for all of us. Jane and I are lifting up the Warmbier family in our prayers at this difficult time, and we are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of this remarkable young Ohioan."

Gov. John Kasich, R, said in a written statement: "All Ohioans mourn the death of Otto Warmbier, a young man of exceptional spirit. Our prayers go out to his family, who have shown great strength and courage throughout this terrible ordeal. This horrendous situation further underscores the evil, oppressive nature of the North Korean regime that has such disregard for human life."

Teresa Sullivan, president of U-Va., said by phone Monday afternoon: "It's just such a waste of a promising young life. That's very hard - that's very hard to accept.

"I feel so sorry for his classmates and his fraternity brothers. He had many friends at the university, professors who taught him, I think everyone feels, very deeply, this loss.

"I think we always somewhere, deep down, thought he would come back to us and finish his degree with us."

Warmbier was much loved. He was homecoming king and captain of his high-school soccer team, an expert in underground rap music and economics, a thrift-store shopper who wore his selections, like a purplish-striped sweater under a houndstooth blazer, with a big, confident grin.

He was a top student at U-Va., with a scholarship designed for the most "intellectually curious" students, and that inquisitiveness led him to befriend strangers, have long talks with friends about big ideas, and travel abroad to places such as Ecuador and Cuba. He took care of friends and family, offering advice to his younger brother and sister, reminding his mother they should visit a relative who was sick, surprising friends with throwback jerseys, paintings, Hawaiian shirts and other thrift-store finds.

He was unusually disciplined, certain of his major and with his path to a career in finance mapped out early on; as a junior he had already long had enough credits to graduate, a summer at the London School of Economics completed, and summer internship likely to lead to a job offer after graduation.

Last month, his classmates graduated from U-Va. without him.

Todd Siler, a teacher at Wyoming High School, said Mondaythat he saw two of Warmbier's friends from the graduating class of 2013, of which he was salutatorian, earlier Monday. They had been to the hospital to see him, and came to school to see their friend's name on the graduation walk; all the students have their name etched on a brick there. "Tough, tough moments today," he said.

The Wyoming City Schools said in a statement Monday that they were deeply saddened by the loss of Otto Warmbier. "The countless contributions he made to his school and community through his leadership, actions, and limitless enthusiasm will be felt far into the future."

Siler said, "Otto just brought out the best in people."

"In a short time he had an impact on so many people of all different walks of life. ... I think that's what makes his passing so hard - there aren't enough people like that in this world. We lost a good one. We lost a great one.

"Otto was strong, such a strong kid," Siler added. "His spirit touched everybody, and I want to believe that, despite the treatment that he experienced, that he was hanging on to come home. And he did that. He knew he was there and with family. ... I think there was a part of him still left that understood that.

"He's home. So it's OK to let go."

---

The Washington Post's Carol Morello contributed to this report.

---

VIDEOS

1) Video shot by a family friend in 2013 shows Otto Warmbier giving a speech as salutatorian at his graduation from Wyoming High School, in Wyoming, Ohio. Warmbier died on June 19, days after being released from North Korean detainment. (Courtesy of Fred and Cindy Warmbier)

http://wapo.st/2rEiqZ3

2) Undated video shows American student Otto Warmbier throwing snowballs in North Korea before his arrest for "committing hostile acts" against North Korea. (Austin Warmbier)

http://wapo.st/2sEQJ6T
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In 1957 and 1958, the global scientific community joined forces to undertake an unprecedented year of thematic research. The International Geophysical Year was devoted to exploring our natural world. Unusually, given that this was at the height of the Cold War, the Eastern bloc was also involved. Jaeger-LeCoultre signalled its support for this event transcending physical and political boundaries with a dedicated watch. The diverse range of habitats and elements to be explored, and the specific demands of the researchers, demanded a specific approach. The watch was named simply the Geophysic. Unusually for its time, the watch was resistant to magnetic fields, a problem that can affect the accuracy of mechanical watches, which was invaluable for researchers working in observation posts in Antarctica, under the pack ice in the worlds first nuclear submarine, and in geomagnetic research laboratories. The Geophysic was also an extremely precise chronometer, designed to be synchronised to the nearest second. This function, baptised the stop-seconds, was vital for researchers to be able to coordinate their work. In 2014, Jaeger-LeCoultre reissued an almost identical version of the watch in a limited series of 800, under the name Geophysic 1958. This simple tool watch with its undisputed links to a prestigious past proved so successful that the Geophysic has now been given a new life.

The historical Geophysic model, from 1958  Jaeger-LeCoultre

The Geophysic 2.0 has dropped French in favour of an English name, and its chronometer and seconds synchronisation capabilities have been taken a step further. The Geophysic True Second is equipped with a deadbeat seconds. The watch, in steel or gold, is just as readable and elegant as its predecessor. Its calibre 770 differs from the brands other automatics in that its true second system is not a side-effect of the constant force winding mechanism. Instead, it is directly connected to the gear train via a whip that activates the central hand once every second. Another innovative feature of this movement is its Gyrolab balance wheel, created for the Master Compressor Extreme Lab 1 special series in 2007. This is the first time it has been deployed in a production watch. The balance is in the shape of two ships anchors, the head forming the shape of a J and L. It offers lower air resistance, as well as being a brand statement and a stamp of exclusivity.

Geophysic True Second  Jaeger-LeCoultre

To follow these two highly functional models, Jaeger-LeCoultre turned to a different theme. Rather than focusing on the watchs status as a research tool, the company chose to highlight the concept of global exploration that was behind the original model. Thus, the Geophysic Universal Time was born. Starting with a 770 movement, the company added a universal hour module and a dial illustrated with a world map. Given that the Arctic was the nerve centre of the Geophysical Year, the maps viewpoint is from the North Pole. The Geophysic Tourbillon Universal Time has even more features, borrowing the aesthetic of the Universal Time and adding a tourbillon. But not just any tourbillon. Its an orbital flying tourbillon equipped with a Gyrolab balance wheel, a first for a rotating regulating organ. The centre of the dial and the tourbillon rotate around the central axis, where the hands originate. Some of Jaeger-LeCoultres astronomical watches already feature an orbital flying tourbillon. Here, the complications technical and aesthetic features are in keeping with those of the rest of this new collection.

Geophysic Universal Time  Jaeger-LeCoultre
The vehicle  if indeed you could call it that  was unassuming in its appearance as it rested on the parking by a storage shed at the Madison County Sheriffs Department.

A more accurate description would be unmanned aerial vehicle, and the maneuvers it would perform during the 30-minute demonstration that followed would reveal it to be a state-of-the-art industrial drone whose primary use will be for search-and-rescue missions around the county.

The six deputies who have recently trained to use it stood near the shed as the four propellers, which flare out from the main body, began humming like giant mosquitoes.

It whirred up and over the shed, veering across the parking lot. Soon it had meandered over to the First Mid-Illinois Bank & Trust building, where it hovered several hundred feet overhead. Moments later it crossed Vandalia Street and began hovering over TheBANK of Edwardsville. It stayed there for several minutes, at a height of about 400 feet, the maximum set by the FAA for such a drone.

The Sheriffs Department purchased the DJ I 567 UAV Drone in April from Rocky Mountain Unmanned Systems. The cost is just under $30,000. The frame is made of carbon fiber and the drone uses batteries that can be plugged into another vehicle and charged at the scene of a natural disaster or other search mission.

The drone can find and safely apprehend suspects, or fly over flood ravaged lowlands or other natural disasters.

If this is used to save one life, its paid for itself a hundred times over, said Deputy Darren Onwiler, one of six deputies trained to operate it.

In military use, drones are often used in situations that are considered too risky or too difficult. For years the Sheriffs Department has relied on the St. Louis County police department to loan them a helicopter in a pinch.

It just provides us the opportunity to have flight operations at half the cost, Onwiler said. Its a miniscule fraction of the cost of a helicopter.

The drone remained airborne for several minutes. Meanwhile, a deputy by the shed peered at a small screen to keep track of its whereabouts.

In the coming months and years the deputies will be keeping up with maintenance and monitoring such things as battery life and any needed repairs. Weve got a lot of the questions already answered, but just as with anything new youre doing, theres going to be other questions pop up, Onwiler said.

After it had returned to the parking lot, a deputy walked over and attached a rope near the underside, close to the camera. At the other end were several life vests. Soon the whirring began again and the drone was airborne, pulling the cargo up and, a few minutes later, depositing it into the back of a waiting pickup truck.

Onwiler said the drone should meet the departments search-and-rescue needs for the foreseeable future.
WASHINGTON - White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Tuesday that he did not know whether President Donald Trump believes Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, despite the conclusion of 16 U.S. intelligence agencies that the country did.

Spicer was asked a yes-or-no question near the end of a press briefing: Does Trump believe the Russian government interfered in the 2016 election?

"I have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing," Spicer said, resorting to the fallback answer he frequently gives in response to difficult or controversial questions - that he has not had a chance to ask the president his views.

Reminded by the questioner, Trey Yingst of One America News Network, that 16 U.S. intelligence agencies had concluded that Russia did engage in cyberattacks to influence the election, Spicer said, "I understand. I've seen the reports."

As to whether Trump shares that conclusion, Spicer said, "I have not sat down and asked him about his specific reaction to them."

Trump has been inconsistent in how he talks about Russia's interference in the election. He routinely dismisses the matter entirely as "fake news," yet in a Jan. 11 news conference, about a week before being sworn in as president, Trump admitted for the first time that Russia hacked the email accounts of Democratic officials.

"As far as hacking, I think it was Russia," Trump said. "Hacking's bad, and it shouldn't be done. But look at the things that were hacked, look at what was learned from that hacking."

Around the same time, Reince Priebus, then the incoming White House chief of staff, said on "Fox News Sunday" that Trump accepts that Russia was behind the interference.

In April, however, Trump suggested in an interview that China, as opposed to Russia, might have been behind the cyber attacks.

"If you don't catch a hacker, okay, in the act, it's very hard to say who did the hacking," Trump said on CBS's "Face the Nation." He added that the perpetrator "could have been China, could have been a lot of different groups."
The Sudanese government, still designated by the United States as a state sponsor of terrorism and implicated in genocide, has just hired a prominent Washington law and lobbying firm to help permanently repeal severe U.S. sanctions that have been in place for two decades. That's put the firm, Squire Patton Boggs, into the sights of human rights advocates.

For $40,000 a month, Squire Patton Boggs will help the Sudanese government "avoid 'snap back' of U.S. sanctions on Sudan" and "identify and implement strategies to improve Sudan's investment climate," according to disclosure forms the firm filed this month to the Department of Justice.

Squire Patton Boggs' decision to represent the Sudanese government, and by extension its president, Omar al-Bashir, left some human rights watchdogs fuming.

Bashir, who has been in power since 1989, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on three counts of genocide, two counts of war crimes, and five counts of crimes against humanity including rape, torture, and murder, all related to the country's bloody and unresolved conflict in its Darfur region. According to the U.S. government, Sudan is still a state sponsor of terror.

"It's legally possible for [Squire Patton Boggs] to do this. But the question is, is there a line somewhere on K Street you just shouldn't cross?" said John Prendergast, founder of the Enough Project, a Washington-based anti-genocide organization. "In my view this is blood money."

Squire Patton Boggs declined to comment on the specifics of its partnership with Sudan when Foreign Policy reached out. "For decades, we have represented foreign governments and foreign government institutions engaged in a productive dialogue with the United States or with which the United States government has taken steps to deepen or renew relations," a company spokesman wrote in email to FP.

Sudan hired the firm this month, just as a key deadline on U.S. sanctions loom. Former President Barack Obama eased U.S. sanctions on Sudan in his final days in office in January, citing some progress in areas of countering terrorism and other U.S. priorities, giving Sudan a six-month reprieve. The decision lifted some restrictions on Sudan's oil industry and other trade sectors.

But starting on July 12, the Trump administration can decide to permanently roll back the sanctions if it thinks Sudan has made enough progress in five areas: Ceasing hostilities in the Darfur region; ending meddling in war-torn South Sudan; improving cooperation on counterterrorism; boosting humanitarian access to war-ravaged regions of the country; and cracking down on an infamous rebel group called the Lord's Resistance Army.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will submit a recommendation on whether to fully repeal the sanctions to President Donald Trump by July 12 at the latest. A State Department official declined to comment on the progress of the review, and said the State Department "will make the final determination in July with input from a range of interagency partners."

No matter the outcome, the decision won't fully lift all sanctions; Sudan will still be subject to Darfur-inspired legislative sanctions and sanctions applied to official sponsors of state terrorism. Those, along with Sudan's desperate need of national debt relief, could be further points of leverage for Washington, said Princeton Lyman, former U.S. special envoy to Sudan and South Sudan.

While the debate plays out in Washington, Sudanese government-backed militias continue to ravage some parts of the country, human rights groups and local reports say.

"It legitimizes the [Sudanese] government to relieve these sanctions. It's disheartening and demoralizing," said Ryan Boyette, an American activist who has lived in Sudan for nearly 15 years. Boyette started a local reporting outfit, Nuba Reports, in 2011 to document the government's ongoing atrocities. "I'm on the frontlines as these people are running from bombs and their villages are being burned. It's really disheartening to see our government. . .ready to relieve sanctions."

"From a moral point of view, you cannot lift sanctions on a genocidal government," said Frank Wolf, a former congressman for Virginia who was active on human rights during his time in Congress and the first member to visit Sudan after genocide erupted in the early 2000's. "To lift sanctions on a genocidal government would be such a moral stain that I don't think anybody around the world, anybody around Africa, could ever understand it," he told FP.

Yet some former senior U.S. officials encourage a sanctions repeal. They argue that two decades of sanctions haven't influenced Bashir at all and that the sanctions regime is outdated, hurting Sudanese citizens while leaving senior government leaders flush with cash in offshore accounts unscathed. They also point to the progress Khartoum has made in recent months to adhere to the five tracks of progress, particularly in counterterrorism - a top priority for the new administration.

Lyman said relieving sanctions could encourage the regime to change after years of isolation. "It is to me a preliminary way to move forward," he said.

Another former senior U.S. official, Cameron Hudson, who worked on African affairs in the George W. Bush White House, agreed. "If you view sanctions as a tool for changing behavior, there's value in every few decades assessing whether or not the tools you've been employing are changing that behavior," said Hudson, now at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide.

But Hudson worried Sudan was far from a priority for the Trump administration, particularly with no high-level appointees in place at the State Department to keep day-to-day dialogue going with Khartoum. "There's not a lot of value if any change of policy with respect to sanctions is not supported and backed up by a really robust diplomatic effort," he said. Without that, "lifting the sanctions feels very unstrategic."

The Embassy of Sudan didn't immediately respond to request for comment on the issue.

Trump and Tillerson have made clear they prioritize national security and hard geopolitics over human rights issues. Though Sudan hosted Osama bin Laden for four years in the mid-1990s before he decamped for Afghanistan, the country is marketing itself as an ally in Trump's renewed fight against terrorism. It is fielding troops for the Saudi-led proxy war in Yemen and cooperating with U.S. intelligence agencies to track Islamic terrorists.

That emphasis seems to be working, Prendergast said. "Sudan has played it very smartly. They know exactly what we want," he said. "They're playing us like a violin."

Wolf, who spent 34 years years in Congress, is no stranger to K Street, but expressed disappointment at Squire Patton Boggs' decision to represent Khartoum.

"I know a lot of people at [Squire Patton Boggs]. They're good people," he said. "They're better than this, I think it must have been a mistake. . .that slipped in. They're better than this."
The Trump administration has quietly ramped up its involvement in trying to free two Iranian Americans being held in Iran's notorious Evin prison, including one who is in very poor health. The effort is now not only a focus of the administration's approach to Iran, but also part of an overall increase of attention to the plight of Americans held unjustly abroad.

Siamak Namazi, an Iranian American businessman, was arrested in Tehran in October 2015 and charged with espionage and collusion with an enemy country - the United States. When Secretary of State John Kerry negotiated for the release of five American hostages to coincide with the announcement of the Iran nuclear deal, Namazi was not among them. The following month the Iranians arrested his father Baquer Namazi, a former longtime United Nations official who is 81 years old and in poor health.

Both have been sentenced to 10 years in prison. Now, as the Trump administration conducts a comprehensive review of its Iran policy, the White House is considering new action to bring them home.

"The president has directed his administration to get personally involved and bring everyone home that we can," a senior administration official told me. "That's what are you are seeing with the Namazi case, and we want to extend that to all the Iranian cases and beyond."

The behind-the-scenes effort to press for the release of both Namazis is not new; State Department and National Security Council officials met with Babak Namazi, Siamak's brother and Baquer's son, in February and again in March. But now the administration is kicking the effort into high gear. Babak Namazi was invited to a meeting of several senior officials at the White House June 13, chaired by deputy national security adviser Dina Powell.

Namazi told me in an interview that he has new hope the Trump administration is giving his family's plight top level attention.

"It was a slow start, and as the months were going by I was getting frustrated by where is this going," he said. "But in the most recent meeting with Dina Powell, although she couldn't discuss the details of what they are doing, I got the clear impression that the release of my father and brother was now becoming a top priority for the Trump administration."

Two days later, Namazi met with U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley in New York, after which she tweeted about the meeting.

Two senior administration officials said that the Trump administration is now considering a range of measures to pressure the Iranians to release the Namazis and two other American citizens held by Iran. Those options are still secret, but include sticks more than carrots, the officials said.

Trump administration officials raised the case of the American prisoners on the sidelines of a meeting to review the Iran nuclear deal in Vienna in late April. There are other indirect ways the Trump administration can communicate with Tehran on the matter, the officials said, declining to specify as to not harm the delicate negotiations.

The officials did acknowledge that the target of any coercive measures could likely be the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which arrested the Namazis and is believed to be in control of their detention. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reportedly promised Kerry he could secure Siamak Namazi's release, but failed to deliver, calling into question his credibility as a negotiating partner on the matter.

The United Nations is a likely interlocutor because Baquer Namazi served as a senior officer in UNICEF for many years in various locations around the world. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement that UNICEF is actively involved in trying to secure his release.

Namazi has severe medical problems and has been denied access to the medical treatment he needs, according to his family. The prospect that he could die in Iranian custody became all the more vivid this week after Otto Warmbier, an American held by the North Korean regime for more than a year, died after returning to the United States in a coma.

In a statement Monday, President Donald Trump said that, "Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

The senior administration officials told me that was not an empty claim. The Trump administration has been ramping up its involvement in a number of cases of Americans held by governments abroad. The administration successfully negotiated with the Egyptian government to release American Aya Hijazi in April, another operation that Powell was highly involved in.

National Security Council official K.T. McFarland met with the parents of Joshua Holt, a 25-year old from Utah who has been held by the Venezuelan regime since last June. There have been other senior level interactions with the families of Americans detained abroad that the administration is keeping secret based on the desire of those families for privacy, officials said.

One senior administration official told me that the Trump administration is determined to come up with a new strategy to minimize the incentives for foreign governments to unjustly hold Americans in the first place. Top officials involved in that discussion include Tom Bossert, the White House homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, and Julia Nesheiwat, the acting special presidential envoy for hostage affairs.

"One of the things that has become clear is that we need to think broadly about the problem about Americans that are taken and unjustly detained for political reasons," the official said. "Over the years, the deterrent seems to have been eroded, and that deterrent needs to be reestablished."

According to Babak Namazi, those are all positive and encouraging signs, but for his imprisoned family members, time is of the essence.

"They are hostages that have been subject to extensive cruelty, and it really is time to let them come home before they die in custody," he said.

---

Rogin is a Washington Post columnist specializing in foreign policy and national security.
Sentencing for a former Eden Village employee who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $700,000 from the retirement center has been moved up to July.

Danielle D. Clark had been scheduled for sentencing on Tuesday, June 20, at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois in Benton.

But the hearing was postponed recently and has been rescheduled for 2:30 p.m. on July 13.

Clark, who has also used the names Danielle Markowicz and Daniell Cantrall, drove to Benton in mid-February and pleaded guilty to federal counts of embezzlement, making false bankruptcy declarations, and filing false tax returns.

Clarks scheme is alleged to have begun in 2011 and continued through May of 2016, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Donald Boyce. Glen Carbon Police investigated the case along with the FBI and the IRSs Criminal Investigations Division.

Clark faces up to 45 years in federal prison, a fine of up to $750,000, and up to three years of supervised release.

During the five-year period at Eden, she served as Eden Villages Director of Human Resources and the Accounts Payable Clerk.

Shortly after charges were filed, the nursing home issued a statement saying that Eden residents and patients financial information were not affected by Clarks fraudulent activity. Clarks frauds also had no impact on the quality of services and care Eden provided, and continues to provide for its residents and patients, according to a statement from the center.

Edens investigation found that during her employment Clark embezzled Edens funds by manipulating and falsifying credit card statements, preparing unauthorized checks to pay credit card accounts, and forging signatures of authorized signers on those checks, allocating fraudulent charges to various expense accounts, and issuing fake credit memorandums, according to the statement.

Authorities have declined to say why Clark needed the money and exactly what she spent the embezzled money on.
Egyptian police in the city of Arish, capital of North Sinai, fought off a major terrorist attack on a security checkpoint on Monday, the interior ministry said.

Militants opened fire at security personnel at a checkpoint on the International Road, meanwhile deploying a car loaded with explosives. However, the police were able to win the firefight and prevent the car from reaching its target.

"Security forces repelled the attack and destroyed the trapped vehicle before it reached the checkpoint," an interior ministry statement said.

Egypt's military spokesman also reported on anti-terrorist actions elsewhere in the Sinai Peninsula.

The Egyptian Air Force targeted a "terrorist assemblage" for leaders of Ansar Bait El-Maqdis, the Daesh offshoot, in North Sinai on Tuesday.

Reporting on another operation, the military spokesman said that security forces units have arrested several "extremely dangerous takfiri terrorists" in Central Sinai.

Egypt's army and police have been fighting an insurgency in parts of North Sinai for the past few years. Hundreds of militants and security forces personnel have been killed in the insurgency since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

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The Beaumont Police Department is investigating an early morning shooting that killed one and seriously injured a 7-year-old child.



Police responded to a shots fired call at a house on the 4500 block of Harding around 12:58 a.m. Tuesday morning, according to a news release. Upon arrival, police found Beaumont resident Alkevin Glenn Mire, 28, and a child both suffering from gunshot wounds.



Both were taken to local hospitals were Mire was pronounced dead. The child was transported to a Houston-area hospital and is listed in serious condition.



Anyone with information about this crime are asked to call the Beaumont Police Department at 409-832-1234 or Southeast Texas Crime Stoppers at 409-833-TIPS (8477).
Egypt's private-sector workers will be allowed to take Sunday and Monday as paid holiday this year on the occasion of Eid El-Fitr, Minister of Manpower Mohamed Safaan said on Tuesday.

According to state-run news agency MENA, which carried Safaan's announcement, the annual three-day holiday starts on Sunday 25 June this year.

Public sector employees in ministries, governmental authorities, and other state-owned institutions will take three days of paid holiday.

However, most private-sector workers are normally granted just two days of paid holiday.

Eid El-Fitr is a religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

However, the date of Eid al-Fitr changes each year, being calculated according to the Islamic lunar calendar.

Egyptian government officials traditionally announce the dates for Eid El-Fitr several days in advance, once they are known.



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An air-conditioning expert testified Tuesday in federal court that Texas could spend about $100,000 to lower the temperature to 85 degrees inside a state prison near Houston where a federal lawsuit claims the indoor heat amounts to "cruel and unusual punishment."

Renting air conditioning units for a three-month stretch would provide temporary respite until a permanent fix could be worked out, Ron Brown said Tuesday in a Houston courtroom.

Brown was called to testify by lawyers representing six inmates at the Wallace Pack Unit, a wheelchair-accessible facility in Navasota that houses many elderly and sick inmates. Citing 22 heat deaths at Texas prisons, the Pack inmates are asking U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison for emergency relief as the summer temperatures rise.

Ellison's ruling on relief will apply to all 1,400 inmates at the minimum-security facility, unless an appellate court overturns his previous ruling granting class-action status to the lawsuit.

Brown said rental for 15 cooling units in the dormitories would cost the prison $32,000 per month plus $15,000 for installation and then removal of the units.

Under cross-examination by the state, Brown noted that 75 degrees is usually the optimum temperature, but that his estimate was based on an 85-degree cooling point, which the parties agreed is livable.

Breaking down heat deaths in Texas prisons Twenty-two people have died in Texas prisons from hyperthermia, or elevated body temperature, from heat exposure since 1998. Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Created by Data Journalist Rachael Gleason | Houston Chronicle

"You're not looking to create some kind of country club atmosphere are you?" asked Matthew J. Greer, an attorney for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

"No, just basic human decency," Brown said.

TDCJ officials have argued that air conditioning is not economically feasible. The warden has provided ice water, cold showers and air-conditioned respite rooms, including the barbershop and an administrative hallway.

Inmates testified Monday, however, that most of them don't take advantage of the respite areas and there is not enough relief in the evening. Their testimony offered vivid accounts of the heat inside the prison, describing sleepless nights, dizziness, headaches and nausea, with iron bed posts that got so hot they felt like an oven.

Later Tuesday, a prison expert testified that a number of correctional units across the country and beyond  including the federal detention center at Guantanamo Bay  provide air conditioning for inmates, though Texas does not provide it in most prison housing areas.

Expert Eldon Vail, who spent 35 years running juvenile and adult correctional facilities in Washington, picked apart TDCJ's claim that it has made every reasonable effort to protect people in its care.

"You want folks as cool and as calm as you can get them," he testified.

He said administrators at TDCJ had not documented which dorms are the hottest or thought creatively about encouraging people to go to respite areas.

The infirmary, one of the air-conditioned respites offered, requires that inmates submit to having their rectal temperature taken. Several testified that was a deterrent to going to the infirmary.

Inmates who seek respite in the administrative hallway said they had to do so standing with their nose to the wall. Guards would not let them talk or read a book.

"I don't think Texas can get away from the fact that they need more air-conditioned beds," Vail said. "It's unreasonable to not confront this problem head on.

The hearing for an emergency injunction at the Pack Unit is expected to last into next week.
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A Live Oak woman has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of San Antonio and two former police officers who are serving prison terms for concocting a scam in 2015 and coercing women to have sex with them in exchange for money and legal favors.

Ex-officers Alejandro Chapa, 30, and Emmanuel Galindo, 31, were convicted in March of sexual assault, compelling prostitution and official oppression in a trial that featured three women who testified how they were lured into a bogus undercover sting operation and pressured into having sex with the men in exchange for money or legal favors. Chapa is serving a six-year sentence and Galindo is serving 10 years.

The federal civil rights lawsuit, filed June 6 in the U.S. District Court Western District of Texas, seeks a jury trial and monetary damages for Jane Doe, 26, and the mother of two, that include past and future medical expenses, pain and suffering and lost wages and earning capacity and attorneys fees.

According to the suit, Chapa and Galindo communicated with Doe in March 2015 about a secret police operation that needed women as participants to pretend to be friends with the officers while they were undercover.

Doe said after submitting written information and photographs, the officers met with her to further test her willingness to participate and engage in sexual conduct, according to the suit.

Concerned about the consequences of saying No to a San Antonio police officer and against her better judgment, but believing the false representations of Officer Galindo to be true, Plaintiff engaged in sexual intercourse with Officer Galindo, the suit states.

Doe also alleges that she was coerced into having sex with Galindo after completing specified tasks, and when Galindo told Doe she needed to spend the night with Chapa on another occasion and she resisted, she said Galindo threatened to end the program and her involvement, which would include any of the stated financial benefits, the suit states.

The suit alleges the men took advantage of the plaintiff, knowing that the plaintiff needed the financial support for a custody dispute, and used that knowledge as leverage against Doe.

Attorneys for the plaintiff declined to comment. A spokeswoman with the city of San Antonio stated the city does not comment on pending litigation.
Changes could be brewing for a longtime Cibolo ordinance that restricts the sale of alcohol in certain parts of the city, according to reports from the city council.

As it stands now, Chapter 6, Article II, Sec. 6-11 prevents restaurants and bars in the city from serving alcohol within 300 feet of a school or church. This distance is typically measured door-to-door with churches, and between property lines for schools.

But Mayor Allen Dunn and the rest of the city council are now mulling over a letter sent by the citys Economic Development Corporation that recommends the law be relaxed to allow for exceptions on a case-by-case basis.

Were not taking any action on this yet, but we are taking a look at this issue, Dunn said. We need to define the problem before we make an effort to solve it.

At the June 13 city council meeting, EDC Director Mark Luft put the problem in simple terms:

Weve already had one real estate broker representing a (restaurant) client decide not to build here, Luft said. I dont know what the lost revenue would have been.

The EDC letter, which states that the current alcohol ordinance is a detriment to attracting certain types of businesses  by limiting the property where they are allowed to build, goes on to recommend that the city revert back to less stringent, state-level standards that would allow for exceptions to the 300-foot barrier.

While the move has the support of several business owners, some residents remain concerned about relaxing the buffer between schools and alcohol.

Were not just talking about high school kids, were talking about middle school, elementary-aged kids, even (places) that offer day care, said local mom Monica Green, 42. Having a buffer isnt just about keeping kids away from this stuff  its also about drivers, drunk drivers, ripping through these areas where kids might be walking or loading into cars.

Information on the number of drunk driving incidents in Cibolo was not immediately available.

Still, Dunn said balancing safety concerns with the citys economic future has always been a careful point of consideration for the city council, and would continue to be throughout any potential deliberations on the ordinance.

At the June 13 meeting, city council also heard a pitch for a new residential community from the NRP group, a national development company.

The multi-family development, called Trophy Oak, would be a $39 million, 312-unit community situated on 16.3 acres along the south edge of FM 78.

While the project fits right in with the citys previously-expressed priority on development southward from FM 78, the council isnt making any promises.

This is still a preliminary process, Dunn noted. The NRP group approached us, so we are going to take some time to go over this proposal.

jgerlach@express-news.net
Word of Life Fellowship Lutheran Church in Cibolo is offering a free vacation Bible school next month.

The four-day course is open to children age 4 through sixth grade. It will be July 10-14 from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the church, 213 Coy Lane.

The name of the course is Maker Fun Factory, and children will be encouraged to be curious and creative as they discover how theyve been crafted by God.

For more information, call 210-566-2237 or email BetterLife@wordoflife4u.com.

Education

SAC launches new

Saturday program

Starting this fall, students at San Antonio College will be able to earn an associate degree entirely on Saturdays.

The Saturday @ SAC program offers associate degrees in criminal justice, business administration and computer programming.

Students will take four courses a semester; classes will meet on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. Assignments will be completed throughout the week via the online classroom CANVAS.

Enrollment is open for all Saturday @ SAC degrees. Interested students can visit the Tino & Millie Welcome Center on SACs campus at North Main and West Park Ave.

For more information, visit alamo.edu/sac/Saturday or call 210-486-0920.

San Antonio

Catholic Womens Conference set

The 16th annual Catholic Womens Conference will be July 28 and 29 at St. Marys University.

The event includes Father Michael Gaitley, author of 33 Days to Morning Glory, noted Catholic therapist Therese Cirner, and author Lisa Mladinich, who wrote True Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life.

More than 2,500 women are expected to attend the conference, which aims to foster an appreciation for the dignity of women by teaching, encouraging and inspiring them in their vocation to womanhood, according to conference literature.

Women of all faiths are invited. Admission is $65 for the two-day event, and includes Saturday breakfast and lunch.

To register, go to CWCSanAntonio.com or call 210-521-3377.

Community invited to mayor, council inauguration

The official inauguration ceremony for the 2017- 19 city of San Antonio mayor and City Council is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, at Arneson River Theatre at La Villita, 418 Villita.

The ceremony is free and open to the public, with amphitheater seating on a first-come, first-served basis.

Spanish interpretation services will be available on site. For those unable to attend, the ceremony will also be streamed live on the citys website and broadcast on TVSA for cable subscribers (Spectrum digital channel 21/99, Grande channel 20, U-verse channel 99) and KGSA channel 16.1.

Prep classes set for Silver Dancers, Team Energy

The Spurs Silver Dancers will host a final audition prep class for its July 8 auditions for the dance squad.

The class will be 6:30-9 p.m. July 3. It will cover jazz, hip-hop and pom dance styles, and will feature two routines to help prepare dancers for team auditions.

Attendees should dress in comfortable clothing and bring a pair of heels and several changes of shoes for different routine styles.

Spurs Team Energy will host its audition prep class at 2:30 p.m. July 30, before its Aug. 6 auditions. Team Energy class participants should dress comfortably to learn a hip-hop routine.

Auditions are open to those 18 and older as of Aug. 1, but 17-year-olds will be admitted to prep classes with parental consent.

Classes are not required for auditions. Registration costs $25. Preregistration is not required for prep classes or auditions but is encouraged.

For more information, go to Spurs.com/SilverDancers or Spurs.com/Team-Energy.

All prep classes will be at the AT&T Center. Enter through Gate C via Houston Street and park in Lot 3, then use the SE VIP entrance. Auditions will be at the University of the Incarnate Word Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center.

Schertz

Schertz Public Library

sets annual sale

The Schertz Public Librarys Read Before Book Store will hold its Summer Book Sale in the childrens area of the library on Aug. 4, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Aug. 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Pay $4 for a bag to fill with books. The book stores vintage and regular inventory also will be available for sale.

The Schertz Public Library is at 798 Schertz Parkway.

Compiled by Melissa Renteria
The official inauguration ceremony of the 2017-2019 mayor and city council is 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 21, at Arneson River Theatre at La Villita, 418 Villita. The ceremony is free and open to the public, with amphitheater seating available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Spanish interpretation services will be available on site. For those unable to attend in-person, the ceremony will be streamed live on the citys website and broadcast on TVSA for cable subscribers (Spectrum digital channel 21/99, Grande channel 20, U-verse channel 99) and KGSA channel 16.1.

Prep classes set for Silver Dancers and Team Energy

The Spurs Silver Dancers will host a final audition prep class for its July 8 auditions for the dance squad.

The class will be 6:30-9 p.m. July 3. It will cover jazz, hip-hop and pom dance styles, and will feature two routines to help prepare dancers for team auditions. Attendees should dress in comfortable clothing and bring a pair of heels and several changes of shoes for different routine styles.

Spurs Team Energy will host its audition prep class at 2:30 p.m. July 30, before its Aug. 6 auditions. Team Energy class participants should dress comfortably to learn a hip-hop routine.

Auditions are open to those 18 and older as of Aug. 1, but 17-year-olds will be admitted to prep classes with parental consent.

Classes are not required for auditions. Registration costs $25. Preregistration is not required for prep classes or auditions but is encouraged. For more information, go to Spurs.com/SilverDancers or Spurs.com/Team-Energy.

All prep classes will be at the AT&T Center. Enter through Gate C via Houston Street and park in Lot 3, then use the SE VIP entrance. Auditions will be at the UIW Alice P. McDermott Convocation Center.

Catholic Womens Conference set

The 16th annual Catholic Womens Conference will be held July 28 and 29 at St. Marys University.

The event includes Father Michael Gaitley, author of 33 Days to Morning Glory, noted Catholic therapist Therese Cirner, and author Lisa Mladinich, who wrote True Radiance: Finding Grace in the Second Half of Life.

More than 2,500 women are expected to attend the conference, which aims to foster an appreciation for the dignity of women by teaching, encouraging and inspiring them in their vocation to womanhood, according to conference literature.

Women of all faiths are invited. Admission costs $65 for the two-day event and includes Saturday breakfast and lunch. To register, go to CWCSanAntonio.com or call 210-521-3377.

Graduation DVDs available for purchase

Catholic Television of San Antonio is selling DVDs of local high school graduation ceremonies for $25 each.

Graduation ceremonies of San Antonio-area Catholic high schools were telecast live this month on CTSA. DVDs of the ceremonies are available for purchase at archsa.org/catholic-tv. There is a limit of 10 DVDs per purchase.

Graduation DVDs are available for Antonian, Central Catholic, Holy Cross, Incarnate Word, Our Lady of the Hills, Providence, St. Anthony, St. Gerard and St. John Paul II.

South Side

Guadalupanas host dinner

The Guadalupana Society at St. Michael Catholic Church is hosting a mole dinner and rummage sale fundraiser July 15 at the parish hall, 418 Indiana St.

The rummage sale will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Vendors outside the parish are welcome. There is a $10 charge to rent a space. To reserve a table, call Cathy Castellon at 210-834-7701.

The mole dinner will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Plates cost $8 each and include mole, rice, charro beans, salad, bread and a drink.

The community is welcome to participate.

Southeast Side

Womens Club sets Christmas in July crafts fair

Southeast Business Womens Club will hold its Christmas in July Arts, Crafts & More Fair on July 15.

The event will be 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Highland Social Club, 2929 S. W.W. White Road, just north of East Southcross. It will feature a variety of artists and crafters from the San Antonio area.

The event will be completely indoors. Proceeds will benefit scholarships and other club programs.

This is the sixth year the club has hosted the semi-annual event. Many vendors return; a variety of crafts will be sold. Table spaces are available at $25 per table. For more information, call Reba Malone at 912-1367.

Compiled by Melissa Renteria
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SAN ANTONIO  Two teenagers were arrested Tuesday after police say they stole a brand-new vehicle in Stone Oak and took it on a joy ride before being tracked down with the OnStar system.

Anaiz Zamudio, a St. Mary's University student from El Paso who owns the car, said she was returning to San Antonio for a summer job and stayed at her aunt's house Monday night in Stone Oak.

Tuesday morning, she discovered shattered glass on the street where her car was parked.

READ ALSO: Police: Mercedes was speeding down North Side road before fatal crash

Zamudio reported the theft and police tracked her car using the OnStar system as the suspects drove around the city. Police eventually tracked it to the West Side, where officers tried to pull the vehicle over, but the suspects continued to drive.

"We were driving around, we ran into it and they took off from us," said Officer Lucio of the San Antonio Police Department. "They turned a corner and then bailed. We got two out of the three."

The two captured suspects are described as 16- and 17-years-old. One of the arrested suspects was begging an officer to let him go from inside a police squad car.

"I'm just trying to get home, officer," he said. "Please, sir, will you think about it?"

The suspect was not released.

After recovering the stolen vehicle, Anaiz Zamudio realized all of the clothing she had brought with her from El Paso was missing.

READ ALSO: Man accused in Medical Center sexual assaults faces another charge

"I'm missing my purse. I don't see my wallet, my shirts, my blouses, my dresses, my formal dress," she said. "Everything's gone."

Family members said they were glad the car was returned to Anaiz with minimal damages, but now police need to find out where they dumped all of her belongings.

"Her trunk was full to the gills with her stuff. All her s--t's missing," said Niza Moreno, Zamudio's aunt. "What is she going to do? These punks probably just threw it out somewhere."

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

cdowns@mysa.com

Twitter: @calebjdowns
Mohamed El-Sewedi, the head of the Egyptian parliaments majority bloc Support Egypt, called at a press conference Tuesday on President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to ratify the controversial maritime border demarcation deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia as soon as possible.

The deal, approved by parliament on 14 June, hands the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, currently administered by Egypt, to Saudi Arabia.

"I hope that President El-Sisi will ratify this deal as soon as possible in order to settle the public dispute [over the deal]," El-Sewedi said.

El-Sewedi also criticised the government of Prime Minister Sherif Ismail over its handling of the deal.

"The performance of the government on this deal was very poor, and was by no means transparent, and as a result the debate in parliament degenerated into an exchange of insults and verbal clashes," said El-Sewedi, adding that "we as MPs faced a campaign of defamation."

El-Sewedi said the Support Egypt bloc came under heavy pressure not to vote in favour of the deal.

"We  the Support Egypt bloc  faced a lot of accusations and a campaign of disinformation on this deal," said El-Sewedi, adding "but we chose to approve it because all facts pointed to the two islands being Saudi."

"If we had rejected it, Saudi Arabia would have resorted to international arbitration, and this could have left Saudi-Egyptian relations in a bind," said El-Sewedi.

El-Sewedi accused the Muslim Brotherhood group of launching a disinformation campaign against the deal.

"You know that the strategy of this terrorist organisation has always been based on defaming Egypt's state institutions, including parliament," said El-Sewedi, adding that "what is much worse was that the government's poor performance and lack of transparency on the deal gave fuel to the defamation campaign."

El-Sewedi said a presidential decree issued in January 1990 stated that the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir are part of Saudi Arabia.

"The decree was issued after the UN approved this fact," said El-Sewedi, adding that "Egypt was about to hand the two islands to Saudi Arabia in 2011, but political developments in this period led to a delay in the matter."

El-Sewedi also criticised the Wafd Party for refusing to vote in favour of the Egyptian-Saudi deal.

"This is an opportunist position, because this party was in power in the year1950 when Saudi Arabia approved that the two islands of Tiran and Sanafir be put under the administration of Egypt," said El-Sewedi.

Last Thursday, the 25/30 opposition bloc in parliament, which voted against the deal, called on El-Sisi not to ratify the agreement given the High Administrative Court's ruling that the two islands are Egyptian.

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Egypts Ministry of Interior announced on Tuesday that police killed three militants suspected of being members of the militant group Hasm after they shot at security forces who were trying to apprehend them in Alexandria.

The location of the suspected militants was determined using information obtained by the National Security Agency, according to the statement published by the interior ministry.

The ministry stated that weapons and ammunition were found in the possession of the militants.

On Sunday, Hasm claimed responsibility for an attack on a police checkpoint, which killed one policeman and injured four others earlier that day in Maadi, Cairo.

Hasm, which is designated as a terrorist organisation, has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks against Egyptian security personnel, mostly at security checkpoints.

Egyptian security forces have arrested dozens of suspected Hasm members in the past few months.

According to interior ministry officials, the group is linked to the banned-Muslim Brotherhood organisation.

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Joining the Marine Corps for the opportunity it provided, Fernando J. Medellin Sr. made the most of his career.

Deployed in the last months of the Korean War, Medellin, who never spoke of his experience there, continued in active duty for eight more years before joining the Reserves and serving another 20 years.

Trained in intelligence at Quantico, Virginia, Medellin was sent on many assignments as a reservist, taking his family whenever possible.

He had these different rules, his daughter Herlinda M. Trevino said. He told us, Dont ask questions or where were going. Just be prepared and be open to wherever we go.

Another rule was to be ready for the unexpected; and when it comes, enjoy the moment, Trevino said. His rules very much were the way he prepared us for life.

Medellin died of complications of cancer June 8. He was 83.

The youngest of four children raised by a single parent  his mother had divorced his father before it was an accepted practice  Medellin grew up on the West and South sides of San Antonio.

Medellin joined the Marine Corps in 1953, after graduating from Harlandale High School.

He was home on leave when he met his future wife at a dance, marrying in 1957.

More Information Fernando J. Medellin Sr. Born: Dec. 28, 1933, San Antonio Died: June 8, 2017, San Antonio Preceded by: Daughter Elizabeth Medellin; parents Jose Medellin and Amalia Palomo. Survived by: Wife Olga Olivo; sons Fernando J. Medellin Jr. and daughter-in-law Theresa, Phillip G. Medellin and daughter-in-law Edna, and John M. Medellin; daughters Elva M. Zdeb and son-in-law Mark Henry, Herlinda M. Trevino and son-in-law George; 10 grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; a sister. Services: Visitation from 5 to 9 p.m., rosary at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Trevino Funeral Home, 2525 Palo Alto Road; Mass at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, 236 E. Petaluma, followed by burial at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery. Celebration of Life from 4 to 7 p.m. at Harlandale Civic Center, 115 W. Southcross Blvd., also Thursday. See More Collapse

Leaving active duty in 1961, Medellin joined the Reserves and served with the 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, while also working at Kelly AFB as a nondestructive airplane inspector.

His responsibility was to test parts of the airplane  testing the metals to make sure there werent any cracks, Trevino said.

Buying a one-bedroom home on the South Side early in his marriage, Medellin added five bedrooms over the years, mostly with materials scavenged from houses that were torn down.

I was raised with, Heres a hammer. Youre going to go pull nails out of those beams, Trevino recalled. Every weekend, my dad was lining up little projects.

After retiring from Kelly in 1991, Medellin became an independent consultant, inspecting aircraft at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma, where he and his wife lived for a year, and in Germany and Honduras.

Although he found it hard to sit still, Medellin was known to be lighthearted and fun.

He loved music, Trevino said. He constantly exposed us to  different genres. He loved to have a good time.

mheidbrink@express-news.net
Will millennials save the West?

Many commentators seem confident that the answer is yes  that young peoples left-leaning values will be a moderating influence on their insular, xenophobic, right-wing parents. But this complacency may be misplaced.

Young people  or at least a large swath of them  do appear to be growing more left-wing. On several key metrics, though, they also appear to be growing more illiberal and more radical.

In Britain, young voters showed up en masse recently to help crack the Conservative Partys comfortable majority in Parliament. Newspapers hailed the youthquake, in which they exacted revenge upon the fusty, nationalistic elders whod had chosen to bolt the European Union.

About 6 in 10 voters younger than 35 reported voting for the leftist Labour Party, which opposed Brexit last year and had more recently wooed young people with promises of free college, higher taxes on the wealthy and greater spending on health care. Just a quarter of this age bracket voted Tory.

The numbers were roughly the reverse for voters older than 65.

An election day poll found other huge gaps between older and younger voters on a range of questions signaling left-wing values and progressivism (such as attitudes toward feminism, environmentalism and the internet), as political scientist Pippa Norris noted recently.

These trends have been compared with those in the United States, where millennials are also supposed to be the last bulwark against undemocratic Trumpian values.

After all, we came of age during the Great Recession and its aftermath. This has shaped our worldview and made us more skeptical of unfettered capitalism and the establishment. Hence the Bernie bromance, which also came with promises of free college, higher taxes on the wealthy and more generous government health care.

In France, many of the already traditionally leftist young have recently drifted further leftward, too. In the first-round presidential elections in the spring, a plurality of the youngest voters chose far-left, Communist-allied Jean-Luc Melenchon.

In second, however, was the far-right candidate: Marine Le Pen, leader of the anti-immigrant, anti-Europe National Front party, who champions law and order and economic patriotism. In fact, Le Pen has stronger support among the very young than the very old. (In the subsequent runoff election, Le Pen did about as well among the young as she did among voters overall.)

In the 1990s, the voters of the National Front were first of all elderly, says Stephane Wahnich, a political science professor at Universite Paris-Est Creteil. Today, he says, the most enthusiastic National Front members are far and away those younger than 30.

French youths have been increasingly drawn to extremes, he says, because they have little economic mobility and few job opportunities. Additionally, the bogeymen of generations past  Nazism, communism  seem less alarming.

Therefore to vote for political parties that are ideologically close to these sensibilities poses fewer and fewer problems because many do not make the link, he says.

The French case has parallels with other Western democracies.

As I have written before, research by Roberto Stefan Foa and Yascha Mounk based on the World Values Survey has found that both Americans and Europeans have become more distrusting of their political institutions, more cynical about the worth of democracy and liberal democratic values, and more politically extreme.

This is especially true of millennials.

In fact, millennials are the most politically radical generation ever recorded by the World Values Survey, as measured by whether respondents place themselves as either a 1 or a 10 on a left-right scale.

In economic extremis for years, we have now gone to extremes.

Perhaps what many have been mistaking for growing progressivism among millennials in Britain and the United States is merely the lefty flavor of the populism to which they are increasingly drawn.

Arguably, the most salient characteristic of the lefty candidates whom millennials idolize is not so much their leftiness, but their anti-establishment, at times barn-burning populism. During the U.S. presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders railed against globalization nearly as much as Donald Trump did. Sanders millennial-beloved British analogue, Labours Jeremy Corbyn, espouses far nuttier and more troubling beliefs (including past praise of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez and Moammar Gadhafi).

As Mounk has suggested, the proper way we should perhaps think about political divides going forward is not so much left vs. right or liberal vs. conservative. Rather, its something more akin to belief in a closed society vs. an open one, nationalism vs. internationalism.

The jury is out on where my generations views will land, but defenders of the West might want to start working on Plan B.

Catherine Rampells email address is crampell@washpost.com.
Donald Trump, the erstwhile Democrat, independent and member of the Reform Party, finally has a fixed partisan identity.

The president may be besieged, unpopular and prone to lashing out self-destructively, but all of this cements his bond to his party rather than erodes it. Commentators who ask wishfully and plaintively, When will Republicans dump Trump and save themselves? are missing the point: Trumps weakness makes him more Republican than ever before.

It was possible to imagine Trump, with a head of steam after his upset victory in November, cowing swamp-dwelling Republicans and wooing infrastructure-loving, anti-trade Democrats into supporting a populist congressional agenda. Maybe this was always a pipe dream given the instantaneous rise of the #resistance against him. But this scenario would have required a strong, focused president marshaling his popularity and driving Congress.

Weve seen close to the opposite. And, of course, theres the so-called Russia investigation. Russia is a misnomer. The controversy is now shifting from being about supposed Trump-campaign collusion to alleged obstruction of justice and whatever else special counsel Robert Mueller dredges up in what will probably be a free-ranging, yearslong investigation.

So, whatever Trumps true ideological predilections, theres no place for him to go. Make deals with the Democrats? At this point, Democrats are more likely to cooperate with Sergey Kislyak on an infrastructure package than with Donald Trump.

Dump or triangulate away from Republicans? Well, then who would do scandal defense, besides a handful of White House aides and outside media loyalists? Imagine what the Comey or Sessions hearings would have looked like if Republicans had joined Democrats in the pile-on.

The need for support on Capitol Hill could well get more urgent if things go badly the next year and a half. If Democrats take the House, Trump will rely on Republicans for an impeachment defense and, if it comes to that, for the votes in the Senate to block removal.

In one sense, this suits Trump. He may have a questionable partisan pedigree, but he is a natural partisan  smash-mouth, heedless of process and norms, willing to make whatever argument suits him at any particular time. There have been many Republicans who have opposed Chuck Schumer before; it took Trump to call him a clown.

As for congressional Republicans, they, too, dont have much choice. Like it or not, whatever they tell reporters privately about their true feelings about Trump, his fate is their fate.

First, a presidents approval rating heavily influences midterm elections. The outcome in the campaign for the House will presumably be much different depending on whether Trump is at 35 or 45 percent. Republicans dumping Trump wouldnt make him any more popular.

Second, such a distancing is not really politically practicable. If Republicans try to skitter away from Trump, their base will roast them. Theres no reason to think that at this point the dynamic would be any different than after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, when Republicans dumping Trump were quickly forced to pick him right back up again.

Third, Republicans want to get some things done legislatively. A poisonous split with the White House wouldnt help. Trump may be a mercurial and frustrating partner, but he is a partner all the same.

Finally, most Republicans  quite legitimately  think the Russian controversy is a media-driven travesty. If there were a smoking gun, this posture would probably change (obviously, in that circumstance, it should change). But Democrats are in no position to lecture Republicans on cutting loose a president of their own party when they twisted themselves in knots to defend Bill Clinton after he lied under oath over an affair that violated every feminist principle the party professed to hold.

If Trump and Republicans had their druthers, neither would be in quite this position. But this is the reality for everyone. For now, theres no way out, only through, and through it together.

comments.lowry@nationalreview.com
Just over 13 percent of registered voters in San Antonio cast ballots in this years runoff election.

To call such low turnout anemic would be monumentally unfair to true anemic voting. Turnout of just 13 percent is firmly in pathetic territory. It was a hugely important election. Voters chose a new mayor in Ron Nirenberg. Six City Council seats were also up for grabs.

These candidates deserved the attention of voters, but more importantly, this city deserves stronger voter engagement.

We realize editorial readers likely vote, so we are largely preaching to the choir. And we realize most readers probably know voter apathy is recurring, endemic and deep here. Turnout in the 2015 runoff, when San Antonio elected Ivy Taylor as its first African-American mayor, was 14 percent. Weve had plenty of elections in single digits.

As a councilman, Nirenberg floated the idea of moving local elections from May in odd-numbered years to November in even-numbered years when turnout is higher. For example, turnout in Bexar County was 57 percent and 31 percent in 2016 and 2014, respectively.

Turnout should have been higher for those presidential and gubernatorial elections, but it still beats 13 percent. The most frequently heard concerns about making such a change are that state and national races will overshadow important local elections while potentially bringing partisanship into the citys nonpartisan races. But San Antonio voters are already tuning out these local races. What is there to overshadow? And more voters, regardless of party, is a good thing.

As long as our voting machines can handle longer ballots, the city and Bexar County should shift their elections to a time when more voters are casting ballots. It would save taxpayers money and fatigue, and it would make the most of higher turnout. Certainly, we can do better than 13 percent.
The Egyptian foreign ministry said on Tuesday that Egypt is monitoring through its embassy in Washington the case of the kidnapping and murder in Virginia of Nabra Hassanen, a teenager of Egyptian descent, on Sunday.

The Egyptian embassy is in contact with the family of the victim and is following up on the investigation, the ministry said, extending its deepest condolences to the family in its statement.

The 17-year-old Hassanen was kidnapped, beaten and killed on Sunday after she and her friends were chased near their mosque in Virginia by a man who was repeating racial slurs, according to the ministrys statement.

Virginia police have arrested Darwain Martinez Torres and charged him with the kidnapping and murder Hassanen.

Police say the murder was a road rage incident, not a hate crime.

Muslim-American activists, however, say that the murder was a hate crime that is part of increased Islamophobia in US society.

The number of anti-Muslim crimes in the US jumped 57 percent in 2016 to 2,213, up from 1,409 in 2015, the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group said in a report last month.

The group says that anti-Muslim incidents have increased after the election of US President Donald Trump in November.

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Employee satisfaction and giving back to the community helps make up the fabric of Speedway.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.  With more than 2,700 stores throughout the eastern United States, employees at Speedway know that it takes differentiation and benchmarking to be the best at what they do, whether in the products they sell or in how they give back to communities they serve.

In this weeks Convenience Matters podcast, Miracles by Speedway, cohosts Jeff Lenard of NACS and John Eichberger of the Fuels Institute talk to Glenn Plumby, senior vice president of operations at Speedway LLC, about the importance of benchmarking against other industry companies to be a strong retailer.

Plumby also talked about how deeply Speedway is committed to community involvement, and as the nations largest contributor within the convenience store industry to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.

While business strategy is focused on the head and numbers, its just as much around the heart and how you actively engage customers within your community, said Lenard.

A new Convenience Matters podcast is released every week, focusing on topics related to convenience stores. Episodes of Convenience Matters can be downloaded on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher and at convenience-matters.com. The podcast has been downloaded in more than 70 countries and total downloads per week have doubled over the past year.
Founded in 1937, Plan International is a development and humanitarian organisation that advances childrens rights and equality for girls. Plan International Nigeria is part of the global federation of Plan International registered in Nigeria in 2014. Plan International works in 70 countries across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas. Plan Internationals Global Strategic Goal is to strive for a just world that advances childrens rights and equality for girls. In the next five years, Plan International is committed to ensuring 100 million girls around the world learn, lead, decide and thrive.Plan International Nigeria obtained a grant of 3,271,028 SEK from Plan International Sweden/Sida to fund a project calledproviding life-saving emergency relief and psychosocial and support services to populations made vulnerable by Boko Haram violence in northeast Nigeria. The project implementation period was:28/09/2016 to 30/04/2017.The Organisation intends to engage an independent and external auditor for the purpose of auditing the project in accordance with our agreement with Plan International Sweden/Sida. Projects shorter than 12 months are audited once at the time of final report. Longer projects are audited annually.Better Life Options and Opportunities Model Plus(BLOOM+) ProjectTerms of reference for Consultant for a Mid-term ReviewPlan International Nigeria in partnership with Mothers Against Child Abandoment (MACA) and Africa Community Development Organisation (ACDO) is implementing BLOOM+ in Cross River State (CRS). CRS has seen recent economic growth in agriculture and service sectors (tourism and hospitality), but this growth has not led to significant reductions in unemployment in the State. In fact, unemployment of young adults aged 15-24 in Cross River State in 2012 was 35.9% compared to 23.9% in Nigeria, and the rate increased each year from 2009 to 2011 in all categories (male, female, rural and urban). The unemployment rate is said to be higher for females than males in both rural and urban areas and the Cross River State government acknowledged the challenges of school dropouts and unemployed youths. The government is currently focused on attempting to tackle these challenges with several youth-focused projects, including a microfinance enterprise fund. However, these projects could be described as a drop in the ocean of employment opportunities when compared to the number of unemployed youths in need of jobs in the State. The State Government is actively seeking new partners to help address these challenges, build youth skills, and stimulate interest in its programs.Through the BLOOM+ project Plan International Nigeria intends to help the state mitigate and reduce these identified youth challenges by targeting young people ages 14-16, in two adjoining Local Government Areas (LGAs): Odukpani and Calabar South by building critical life skills and preparing young people for work.The Better Life Options and Opportunities Model (BLOOM) is a non-formal education program developed in 1987 that has since been adapted and applied in more than fifteen countries. The model is focused on gender-transformative delivery of life skills and empowerment of adolescents, and particularly girls.The project in Nigeria was first implemented in Akwa Ibom State from 2006-2011 reaching more than 600 out of school youth (51% of beneficiaries) re-enrolled in formal or vocational education. Plan International Nigeria is working to implement BLOOM in Cross River State, where the levels of school dropped-outs and unemployed youths are high and the government has shown interest to support youth development. One of Plan's additional strategies is to reinforce curricular content and place priority emphasis on locally relevant, age appropriate, transferrable employment-relevant skills (now BLOOM+) for the target populace.The goal of the BLOOM+ project is to help 1,200 adolescent girls (80%) and boys (20%), aged 14-16, envision and attain productive future, through:1. Improving youths life skills and capacity to make healthy choices;2. Building youths capacities in transferrable employment-relevant skills;3. Fostering community and government support for personal and career development opportunities for adolescents.Plan International NigeriaPlan International is an independent child-centered international development organization committed to advancing the rights of children and fight against poverty. Plan has no religious, political and government affiliation. Plan International has supported girls and boys and their communities around the world to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to claim their rights, free themselves from poverty and live positive fulfilling lives. Plan International commenced operations in Nigeria in 2014 and in 2015 started the BLOOM+ project in Cross River State. Plan International Nigeria works with communities, civil society organizations, development partners and governments to bring hearts and minds together for children.consultancy assignment:Length of Assignment10 daysDates of AssignmentTBDReporting toBLOOM+ Project Manager and Plan International Nigeria Head of Programmes and Business DevelopmentKey Working ContactsMonitoring & Evaluation Advisor, and Project ManagerProjectBLOOM+ ProjectResponsible Persons for TORPlan International Nigeria- Monitoring & Evaluation AdvisorTo evaluate the progress and quality, of the BLOOM+ project implemented by Plan International Nigeria and its partners in Cross River State, through a mid-term review and make recommendations to improve implementation in the remaining second half of the project. It will be important for the consultant to consider the findings of a previous baseline evaluation conducted in 2016 to determine the level of progress made since the beginning of the project.The objectives of this mid-term evaluation are:Relevance  How well is the BLOOM+ Project suited to the context of the target group and how consistent are the outputs with the projects aims and objectives?The effectiveness of the programme:To what extent are the objectives of the programme as reflected in the programme log frames being achieved?Are the activities sufficient to achieve the objectives, outputs and outcomes in the current phase and were they in the previous ones?What are the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives?The progress of the projectIs the project on course in delivering on what is set out to achieve based on the overall goals and targets as in the indicators?What positive changes are observed in the lives of the target group as a result of the implementation of the programme?What are the unintended positive and negative effects of the implementation of the programme? What measures have been and can be taken to eliminate or reduce the negative impacts?The success of the programme in mainstreaming accountability and gender equality.Are there mechanisms in place for feedback from beneficiaries and target communities?What are best practices and lessons learned?Community ownership - The consultant will measure whether the community has owned the project and whether the community is ready to sustain aspects of the project after the project is completed. In assessing this, consider and identify factors that have (or could) contribute to the continual ownership and continuity of this project.Equality and Inclusion  Assess how the project was able to promote inclusion of marginalized groups (young women and girls, people living with disabilities, and other relevant individuals and groups)Methodology:The consultant will submit a draft methodology to Plan international for approval.The methodology will include but will not be limited to:Review of previous evaluation reportFocus group discussionsKey stakeholder interviewsProgramme staff interviewsLiterature reviewAnalysis of existing dataExpected roles of the consultantThis includes:Desk review of project documents including reportsHold Focus Group Discussions with beneficiaries, guardians, facilitators, TAG/PSC members ad partner/Project staffConduct key informant interviews with above persons.Hold a meeting with TAG/PSC/Staff to share feedback.Document process and submit report to Plan International Nigeria.LOE/Expected deliveries/Time frameThe consultancy will be for nine days  inclusive of reporting period. Project staff will arrange for all meetings with community members and project beneficiaries.Expected deliverablesDays allocatedDesk review of project documents and reports2 daysHold Focus Group Discussions with beneficiaries, guardians, facilitators, TAG/PSC members and partner/Project staff4 days (2 days per LGA)Conduct key informant interviews with above persons1 dayHold a meeting with TAG/PSC/Staff to share feedback1 dayDocument process and submit report to Plan International Nigeria2 daysAdvanced experience in evaluating gender equality, youth development and or youth focused projects, preferably in the field of youth life skills and development programmes. This includes previous experience conducting Focus Group Discussions and Interviews.Ability to conduct meetings with senior persons at government, Bi-lateral and NGO levelAbility to work on own initiative and to meet deadlinesAttention to produce and present high quality accurate presentations/reportsAbility and willingness to travel to very remote areasExcellent command of written and spoken EnglishDESIRABLEGood skills in documentation and reportingFamiliarity with youth unemployment issues in Cross River StateExperience/understanding of Child Rights Programming and developmentResident in Cross River StateProcedure for recruitment of consultantThe potential consultant should:Provide curriculum vitae detailing knowledge/experencice in the above areas.Provide a report showing work on similar previous assignments.An outline of how he/she intends to go about the consultancy.Propose an expected consultancy fee.Possible dates he/she will be available to commence the consultancy.Provide name of two references that can attest to the consultant capability to conduct the consultancy.A team from Plan International Nigeria will score the documentations provided by the potential consultant based on their technical know how and expected fee on the bases of 75% and 25% respectively.26th June, 2017Department: ProgrammeReports to: Infant Young Child Feeding OfficerDuration: 8.5 MonthsLocation: Maiduguri Office, Borno StatePosition:Care Group Promoters (4 Positions)Department: ProgrammeReports to: Infant Young Child Feeding OfficerDuration: 6.5 MonthsLocation: Plan International Nigeria, Mubi Office, Adamawa StateTo provide support in the implementation community IYCF project through volunteer lead mother and community membersImplement IYCF-E project at Community levelEstablish Volunteer lead mothers at community level together with IYCF-OfficerIdentify and Supervise each Volunteer lead mothers at the community level (Volunteer Lead Mother and Neighbouring Mother)Conduct home visitsWill ensure that the families of malnourished children receive appropriate counselling, education concerning the IYCF and caring practices through Volunteer Lead Mother.Counsel and Meets the Voluntary Lead Mother every 2 weeks on IYCF and on how to address nutrition needs of their babiesEnsure observance and respect the dignity of beneficiaries, care givers and members of the community at all times.Review Flipchart Lesson plans with IYCF officer on timely basis and assure they understand the information well and can teach back the information in a participatory manner.Collect VLM reports on a monthly basis, review the reports and assure the information presented is reasonable and complete then submits report to IYCF-Officer.Identify a safe space for counselling and referral to external services.SSCE, and at least one (1) year experience in IYCF especially in CG model programming.Knowledge of CMAM and IYCF will be an added advantage.Excellent report-writing skills.Knowledge of English and Hausa/ Kanuri is compulsoryPhysical Environment and Demands:Travel extensively to work in distant areaLevel of Contact with Children:High contact- the job responsibilities of this position require the post holder to have very frequent contact with children. It is expected that children shall be protected at all times.Complete applications should be submitted electronically to: Nigeria.consultant@Plan-international.org stating the job title in the subject of the email27 June, 2017
By Lambert Strether of Corrente

Im in transit today, so there will be no Water Cooler proper, which is why I promised a rant on contactless payment (thats what they call it) as I experienced it in the UK, especially when buying tickets on the London Underground (the Tube), meaning that I began every day trip with a sense of barely suppressed rage. (Its very hot in London just now, 86F at mid-afternoon, and no air-conditioning or even cold water, let alone ice water, anywhere. One can only wonder if the locals are as irritated as I am, although for reasons of their own, like the Borough Market attack, the Grenfell Tower inferno, and todays incident. Fortunately, the UKs hot summer is short.)

Contactless payment means this: When performing a transaction, you dont exchange bills and coins with a smelly prole[1]. (Eeeew. Their hands!) The term is, of course, a lie, since you in order to pay, you contact a digital sensor with a card of some sort by swiping: Your credit or debit card, or a card loaded with digital cash (the Tube, I believe, calls its card the oyster card  UK readers correct me  from the circular shape of the Underground logo.) You may also contact the screen of your own cell phone if a vendor has Apple Pay or Square, for example. Regardless, a digital transaction in real, or near-real, time is set in motion by the contact, and you, as a customer (and the customer behind you (and behind them (and so on))) must wait for that transaction to complete, because in all cases, the time for contactless payment is equal to or greater than the time it would take a human to do the job. (I mentioned this to the lady before me in line when I failed to complete a transaction at the Post Office out of exasperation; she agreed. Artificial intelligence, she said.)

So here is how contactless payment works at Paddington Station Tube stop, after I descend the steps from the hellishly hot Praed Street to the cacophony of the Tube. Here are the ticket machines. There are five (I think), in different flavors. Some are only for topping up (ones Oyster card). Others are for paper tickets. Of these two kinds, some take bills and coin, and some do not. Of those that take cash, some will not accept bills. Some give change, and some do not. In fact, the whole situation is so confusing that the famous British queues devolve into a scrum. Adding to the fun is that the scrum will be full of newly arrived tourists  Paddington has a direct train from Heathrow  who are, if not utterly confused, slow. Some of the tourists notice there is a button to press to call for assistance, and do so. A person in uniform appears, with whom they have a conversation, further slowing things down. Some of us have places to go, an obnoxious American mutters loudly enough for the person to hear. Why did they not just staff a ticket area with persons in the first place, since apparently only they are able to straighten things out?

Rejoicing, I am at a ticket machine that takes cash; it cant have taken more than five minutes. (Then minutes is my limit, my absolute limit; after that I take a cab (not a bus (the busses no longer take cash; one must go downstairs again and buy an Oyster card to take a bus)).

Now comes the best part. After fighting my way through the ticket machines touchpad  OU, no, delete, delete, looks like the touch screen is out of kilter, PI, [yes!], PICCADILLY,[2] tap confirmation, single ticket, choice of cash, Oyster Card, or debit/credit card, tap cash  Why cant the machine just let me put cash in and then do the right thing? Why must I tell it anything?  4.90 (Yikes, thats more than six bucks! It costs real money to ride the Tube!), tap confirm, dig out the heavy pound coins that I counted out beforehand to find out I had enough in case the machine wouldnt take bills, and then I said there would be a best part, and this is it: The machine announces it doesnt make change, [_] Accept or [_] Cancel. Vibrating with rage, I press Accept, since Im certainly not going to the end of the queue and starting over, and the Tube raises my fare by 5  4.90 = 10p. Like thats a bad thing, right? Insert, insert, insert, insert, insert. Please take your ticket.

Contrast walking up to a ticket counter and saying: Piccadilly please, whereupon the human says 4.90, and I hand them the money.

Anyhow, writing this up  and Im sure theres stupidity Ive missed[3]  has made me so irritated I have to stop. Suffice to say that I wouldnt be surprised if the real purpose of the Tubes insane ticketing system  and contactless payment generally  is to make cash so hard to use that people will be willing to abolish it, thereby letting digital middlemen into every transaction so they can screw us as hard as they possibly can, because thats what digital middlemen do. Swipe does have a dual meaning, after all. And those 10p add up. So it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

Tomorrow, Ill write up my notes on the London Meetup (which was terrific, thank you all) and some incidental conversations with cab drivers and cashiers.

NOTES

[1] Uber makes the same pitch. See, the driver is really equal to you, since they are an independent contractor, even if they do sleep in the trunk of their car. And you use an app, so its not like you have to speak with some rough dispatcher or, heaven forfend, step out on the smelly sidewalk and lift your arm.

[2] There is, of course, no map on the wall next to the ticket machines. You already have to know where youre going. Thats a nice touch.

[3] Ive used electronic ticket machines in recent memory in New York, Washington DC, and Bangkok. Im not sure why the Tubes is so much worse, but it really, really is.

* * *

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 (via):

A Black Velvet petunia.

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Readers, Water Cooler is a standalone entity, not supported by the Naked Capitalism fundraisers. 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.
Yves here. Politicos daily European e-mail said: Katrina Williams (U.K.) and Sabine Weyand (EU) will take charge of Irish border plans, which British Brexit Secretary David Davis said took up more time than any other issue on the first day of the talks. Even though its good that Whitehall is no longer neglecting this issue, the time it took is not a good sign for making progress overall.

By Filippo Biondi, a Research Assistant in the area of innovation and competition policy who was previously a Research Assistant at the Centre for Applied Research on International Markets, Banking, Finance and Regulation of Bocconi University, and Consultant in the Research Division of the European Central Bank. Originally published at Bruegel

The future of the Irish land border has been thrown into uncertainty by Brexit. The UKs confirmation that it will leave the EUs single market and customs union implies that customs checks will be needed. However, there is little desire for hard controls from any of the parties involved. This is especially true for Theresa Mays potential partner, the DUP. Creative solutions are needed to reach a solution.

As Brexit negotiations get underway, we still do not know the outcome of the talks between the Conservative Party and Northern Irelands Democratic Unionist party (DUP), which are being held with the aim to prop up Theresa Mays government after the Conservatives lost their majority at Westminster.

In a previous Bruegel blog about Brexit we concluded that Northern Ireland represents a small region in the UK (less than 3 per cent in population terms), [so] it may struggle to exert pressure and wield influence in the upcoming negotiations. But with the Conservatives dependent on the DUP, it now seems likely that Northern Irish issues will attract more attention during the upcoming Brexit negotiations. Indeed, Northern Ireland always deserved this attention, given the significant political, social and economic implications of Brexit for the region.

It is thus worth understanding how this shift may affect the Brexit outcome. The key issue at stake is the Irish land border, so we present the complex (and still unsolved) trade-offs around the future of this border.

The DUP position on Brexit: get the best possible Brexit deal for Northern Ireland

In their political manifesto, the Democratic Unionists listed many objectives for the future relationship with the EU:

Ease of trade with the Republic of Ireland and throughout the European Union;

Maintenance of the Common Travel Area;

Strengthened relationships across the four component parts of the United Kingdom with no internal borders;

Full consideration of the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland, with a land border with the EU;

Progress on new free trade deals with the rest of the world;

A frictionless border with the Republic of Ireland assisting those working or travelling in the other jurisdiction;

assisting those working or travelling in the other jurisdiction; A comprehensive free trade and customs agreement with the European Union;

Customs arrangements which facilitate trade with new and existing markets;

Arrangements to facilitate ease of movement of people, goods and services;

Jurisdiction of European Court of Justice ended and greater control over laws.

They conclude that the stronger and more positive the agreements reached, especially on trade and customs relationships, then the better for the particular circumstances of Northern Ireland.

However, this wish list is not internally consistent, in particular regarding the impact on cross-border movement of goods and people.

As noted by Prof Winters, from the UK Trade Policy observatory of the University of Sussex, the current debate is full of weasel words which mean whatever the speaker wants them to mean at the time. Customs agreement is one of those. It typically entails procedures to minimise the waiting times and paperwork associated with crossing the border. Frictionless border is another deceptive concept. As noted by academics at Durham, Birmingham and Newcastle Universities, while it is highly unlikely that a wall will be built on the border, some (and perhaps especially those living close to the border) might consider other types of border checks to be hard. There might be, for example: spot checks on people travelling across the border; restrictions upon the goods that can be taken across the border; duties to declare goods going across the border; the need for work permits; electronic monitoring of border crossings; the presence of some physical checkpoints.

The shared land border: a thorny dossier in the divorce proceedings

It is estimated that that there are up to 300 major and minor crossings along the contorted 499km border, which meanders through towns, villages, local communities, farms and occasionally houses.

A recent Irish government survey noted that there are now around 200 border crossing points and an estimated 177 000 lorries, 208 000 vans and 1.85 million cars crossing the border every month. Around 30 000 people cross the border each day.

Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, which ended more than 30 years of violence, the border has disappeared for all practical purposes. As recognised by the Irish government, the disappearance of physical border crossings and checkpoints is both a symbol of and a dividend from the success of the peace process. Now Brexit threatens to bring the physical border back, with its echoes of division and conflict.

No major impediments to the maintenance of the Common Travel Area

No matter the result of the Brexit negotiations, Irish people should continue to have the right to travel, live and work freely in the UK. UK citizens should retain the same rights in Ireland. This is the result of the Common Travel Area (CTA), a bilateral arrangement which long predates Irish and UK membership of the EU.

There is consensus between the UK and Irish Governments that the Common Travel Area arrangements should be retained, and this has been recognised also within the EU Commissions negotiating directives. Analysis by the Irish authorities has not identified any obvious legal barrier to the CTA being maintained bilaterally in a manner consistent with Irelands EU obligations. In particular, Irelands non-participation in Schengen would facilitate the continuation of the CTA, because it means that all entrants to the CTA are checked by UK or Irish authorities, even those arriving from EU countries.

These CTA-based freedoms to travel, live and work will apply to British and Irish citizens only. The implications of Brexit for the free movement of EU citizens across the border are another question. But, so long as the UK and EU reach an agreement which at least continues to allow visa-free travel, as is very likely, then EU citizens will be free to visit the UK for a short period for holidays or to conduct business. Thus, looking purely at the movement of people, there should be no need to close the Irish land border to travellers and instigate universal document checks.

As pointed out by Raoul Ruparel, co-director of Open Europe, border checks from a purely security perspective are already in place since the UK and Ireland are not in Schengen and it seems likely the UK could continue to trust Ireland to enforce the border of the Common Travel Area. Once people have entered the UK, the enforcement of ensuring people do not over-stay cannot be at the border but via other mechanisms such as regulating access to social security and the job market.

All the parties want minimum disruption, but is wanting it enough?

So far, the Irish and UK governments as well as EU representatives have stated that they do not wish a return to a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This is because of the considerable negative economic, social, political, security and psychological impacts on people of the border communities.

However, the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, David Davis, bluntly described the complex reality of things:

How on earth do you resolve the issue of the border with Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, unless you know what our general borders policy is, what the customs agreement is, what the free trade agreement is, whether you need to charge tariffs at the border or not? [] You cant decide one without the other.

As a matter of fact, if we presume the stable continuation of the CTA, the future of the border in terms of the movement of both goods and people intrinsically depends on the scope of any post-Brexit trade arrangement.

Custom checks will be unavoidable in case of withdrawal from the Customs Union

While negotiations are underway, there will be no immediate establishment of customs posts along the border. However, after the official withdrawal of UK will effectively make the Republic of Ireland-Northern Ireland border an external EU border.

If the UK also withdraws from the Customs Union, it will be inevitable to re-establish some sort of customs control. This is because goods from outside the Customs Union must pass through full customs clearance processes. This is not least to address risks around the origin of goods and the application of the common external tariffs.

As noted by de Mars, Murray, ODonoghue and Warwick, there are light-touch models of customs enforcement (with limited spot checks and electronic filing of customs documentation) practiced on EU borders with EEA countries. One example is the border between Sweden and Norway, which is not a member of the customs union but is part of the EEA. However, even in such a scenario Ireland will still have to comply with the requirements of the Union Customs Code. And a more onerous arrangement is likely if the border is not an EU-EEA border, but a fully external border. For example, some sanitary and phytosanitary checks would be introduced for agri-food products, especially if regulatory divergence emerges. This has been recognised by the European Union Committee of the House of Lords in its report on the UK-Irish relations: the experience at other EU borders shows that, where a customs border exists, while the burden and visibility of customs checks can be minimised, they cannot be eliminated entirely. Nor, while electronic solutions and cross-border cooperation are helpful as far as they go, is the technology currently available to maintain an accurate record of cross-border movement of goods without physical checks at the border.

Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, reaffirmed yesterdaythat UK will leave Europes single market and customs union. It therefore seems unavoidable that there will be some form of customs checks on the Northern Ireland-Republic of Ireland border.

Looking ahead to future arrangements, we must therefore presume that the final destination of Brexit will be a new UK-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that would allow UK to exercise an independent trade policy and conclude its own trade agreements with states outside the EU. KPMGhas reviewed the two main existing models: the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada; and EEA membership with exclusion from the Custom Union like Norway. In both these cases goods cross a customs border, which means customs clearance would be unavoidable, inevitably resulting in some form of physical manifestation of the Irish border.

A peculiarity of the Norwegian option is that this process is streamlined, with much of the bureaucracy completed in advance. This makes the Norway model more attractive for UK. However, Norway is an EEA member and, according to the KPMG analysts, there is no guarantee that the EU would offer the same streamlined procedures to a country outside the Single Market. EU customs law is currently directly applicable to the UK. Without it being so, the EU is simply less likely to accept that goods coming from the UK are of British origin, without evidence in advance.

Could a special status for Northern Ireland offer a flexible and imaginative solution?

In the EU Commission negotiating directives, formally endorsed by the European Council on 22 May 2017, it is recognised that the unique circumstances and challenges on the island of Ireland will require flexible and imaginative solutions. Negotiations should in particular aim to avoid the creation of a hard border on the island of Ireland, while respecting the integrity of the Union legal order.

One way to avoid a hard land border for goods would entail moving custom checks so that they fall between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain  between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. Many analysts believe that this approach would be less disruptive and easier to implement than applying controls at the Irish land border. As noted by James Anderson, of the Centre for International Borders Research at Queens University Belfast, this solution would limit Brexits damage to two substantially integrated economies. Ports and airports connecting the island of Ireland and Great Britain already have physical infrastructures for controlling freight separate from people. Not so the land border where controls would mean costly delays and clog up border roads for the thousands who regularly criss-cross to work, study, shop and socialise, living their lives on both sides.

This option would be strictly dependent on the recognition, under some hybrid EU arrangement, of a special status for Northern Ireland such that free trade continues between the Northern and Southern parts of Ireland. But even if this were possible, it would be in stark contrast with the DUPs rejection of any internal border within the UK.

With Brexit negotiations finally getting underway, the conundrum of the Irish border will hopefully call the British political class to reality. The complexities of the question mean some compromises have to be found, otherwise the call for soft Border will remain merely a slogan.
Dear patient readers,

In a further proof of Americas descent into third world status, my internet service was down multiple times last evening, thanks to a merely normal thunderstorm. I havent had this sort of thing since I lived in Sydney in 2002 and Telstra had just rolled out its broadband service.

Cat domestication: From farms to sofas Nature

The Epic Shared Journey of Bison and Grizzly Bears Counterpunch (Darius)

Nasa just discovered 10 new planets like Earth Independent (J-LS)

Thin ice: Vanishing ice only exacerbates a bad, climate change-fueled situation ars technica. Chuck L: A primer on the impact of diminishing ice.

A third of the world now faces deadly heatwaves as result of climate change Guardian

a href=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/19/montreal-mobile-supervised-injection-clinic-north-america rel=nofollow>Montreal opens first mobile supervised injection clinic in North America Guardian

M&S says labelling avocados with lasers is more sustainable BBC

Cable lobby tries to stop state investigations into slow broadband speeds ars technica (Chuck L)

North Korea

One Nation morons power ahead in polls MacroBusiness

Mandatory Aadhaar and Bank Accounts: How Much of This Is Legal? The Wire (J-LS)

Brexit

Grenfell Tower

UK Election Aftermath

Barclays

Barclays, Four Former Executives Charged Over Qatar Fundraising Bloomberg. This is a big deal. The former CEO John Varley is one of the four charged. The story up as of now does not go into the details, but as I recall the 50,000 foot version, Barclays gave Qatar a loan and then Qatar made what was presented as an equity investment to regulators. Qatar got a fee for going along with the ruse and Barclays avoided a bailout. All are charged with fraud; Varley and another exec are also charged with provision of unlawful financial assistance.

Weyts: De EU brengt onze frietcultuur in gevaar HLN. Translation: Belgians may lose their frites, at least as currently formulated.

Syraqistan

Imperial Collapse Watch

Trade Traitors

Trump Transition

Why So Many Critics Hate the New Obama Biography Politico

Sanders to GOP on healthcare bill: What are you afraid of? The Hill

Supreme Court Further Curbs Plaintiffs Venue Shopping With Bristol-Myers Ruling Wall Street Journal

Its My Party: The Democrats struggle to rise from the ashes Andrew Cockburn, Harpers (Jennie)

Heres the Real Lesson of Georgias $51 Million Special Election Mother Jones (resilc)

Black Injustice Tipping Point

Seattle woman killed by police while children were home after reporting theft Guardian

Guns kill 1,300 US children every year, study finds BBC (resilc)

Illinois at Risk of Being First State Cut to Junk Bloomberg

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos may be single-handedly killing inflation CNBC

Man Stabs Customer After Getting Wrong Drink At Starbucks CBS Chicago (resilc)

At Alibaba Gateway 17 in Detroit, Chinas e-commerce giant is building its brand with US small businesses Quartz (resilc)

Wells Fargo Is Accused of Making Improper Changes to Mortgages Gretchen Morgenson, New York Times. From last week. Important.

Parents Time Spent on Paid Work and Unpaid Housework and Child Care Combined Angry Bear

Class Warfare

Transit Riders Unions vs. Climate Change, White Supremacy and Disaster Capitalism Counterpunch (Darius)

I Spent 14 Months in Jail Because I Couldnt Pay My Way Out Truthout

Conglomerates Didnt Die. They Look Like Amazon. New York Times. Only when they start threatening the upper middle class do people like Andrew Ross Sorkin take notice.

Antidote du jour. Ann M: Penny and Emmett getting their hair all over the clean laundry:

See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here.
Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday it would view as targets any flying objects over Syria in the areas of the country where its air forces operate, Russian news agencies reported.

The statement followed after a U.S. warplane shot down a Syrian army jet on Sunday in the southern Raqqa countryside, with Washington saying the jet had dropped bombs near U.S.-backed forces and Damascus saying the plane was downed while flying a mission against Islamic State militants.

The Defence Ministry also said that it was suspending its interaction with the United States on preventing air incidents over Syria from June 19, the agencies reported.

The U.S. did not use its communication channel with Russia ahead of the downing of the Syrian government warplane, the ministry was quoted as saying.

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I normally dont like criticizing a financial analyst who has worked hard to unearth some important data, but Keith Jurow has made the mistake of suggesting that a high level of mortgage delinquencies in the New York City means that the housing market may similarly not be as healthy as it appears to be in the rest of the US.

The problem is that Jurow has failed to consider two distinctive features of the foreclosure process in New York. The first is that it is a judicial foreclosure state. A house cannot be taken from an owner without court approval. Second is that during the robosiging crisis, New York courts implemented a requirement to make sure that lawyers representing banks and mortgage servicers were submitting valid documents to the court. The effect of that procedural change was to slow the initiation and processing of foreclosures to a near halt. This confirmed what critics, including your humble blogger, had been saying for some time. In the years running up to the crisis, mortgage originators and packagers stopped adhering to the very strict procedures stipulated for conveying mortgages to securitization trust. For American lawyers, this would seem to be no biggie, since contractual screw ups happen all the time. You write a waiver, or negotiate some sort of fix with the other side (which might entail paying money if one party screwed up particularly badly) and life goes on.

But for a whole host of reasons, mortgage securitization contracts, which govern how the mortgage securitizations are formed and then managed, are rigid, or in the words of Adam Levitin, immutable. If you didnt get the mortgage into the securitization trust by a time certain, you couldnt get it in later. That meant among other things that the servicer representing the trust would not have the right to foreclose because the trust didnt have the mortgage. And exposing that trillions of dollars of mortgage securitizations might be empty bags, or had never been formed due to contract formation failure was something no one in any position of authority wanted exposed, since the consequences for banks and investors would be cataclysmic.

So the first fix was mass scale document fabrication and forgeries, to make it appear that the mortgages had all gotten to the trusts on a timely basis. That blew up in 2010 in the so-called robosigning scandal. It turned out that the media focus on the symptom, the creation of fake affidavits, rather than the cause, a widespread breakdown in mortgage securitization procedures, turned out to be a key win for the banks.

New York courts imposed the stringent new procedures for documents presented in foreclosures in October 2010. By 2011, the business press was whinging about how long it was taking to foreclose. As we wrote then:

An article at the New York Times, Backlog of Cases Gives a Reprieve on Foreclosures, is more than a little frustrating in that it takes some high level factoids about the mortgage mess and fails to draw the right inferences from them: In New York State, it would take lenders 62 years at their current pace, the longest time frame in the nation, to repossess the 213,000 houses now in severe default or foreclosure, according to calculations by LPS Applied Analytics, a prominent real estate data firm. The convention in writing is to list the most important cause first. Thus by giving the foreclosure system is bogged down by the volume of cases pride of place implies that the foreclosure system being overloaded is the biggest cause. But this level of abstraction is misleading. There is no foreclosure system; that turn of phase implies a single overarching set of procedures. As the mere mention of judicial versus non-judicial states indicates, each state has its own laws and case history as to what is proper practice. Referring to a system when there is none is also likely to lead many readers to think in term of the system that is involved in the foreclosure process, the judicial system, and to incorrectly infer that courts being overloaded is a major culprit. The vagueness of the expression, in other words, has the effect of directing attention away from the fact that it is the banks own machinery that is the most gunked up But after the robosigning scandal broke, banks halted or very much slowed foreclosures to get their procedures in order. Remember, a basic requirement of evidence is that affidavits are used to stand in the place of testimony, and the person providing the testimony has to have personal knowledge of the matter. Thus dispatching with robosigners, who didnt even read what they were signing, much the less have any direct knowledge, meant at a bare minimum rebuilding substantial sections of what had been a highly streamlined process. That takes time and also means longer ongoing throughput time. But even that charitable assumes that the banks depiction of the robosigning mess was to be taken at face value, that it was a mere paperwork problem. Adam Levitin reminded us last week that the real implications of the scandal were ignored by the media: Weve already seen pretty shocking evidence of documentation fraud in foreclosures. Remember that the robosigning scandal was the by-product of depositions that aimed to show backdating of assignments to trusts. The shame of the robosigning press coverage was that it focused on some shmucks signing 10,000 assignments in a monthwhich didnt necessarily produce any harm itself, just carpal tunnel syndromeand overlooked the really quite serious criminal problem of the backdating of assignments. The depositions showed pretty clearly that there was backdatingthe notarizations were by notaries who didnt have their commissions until a couple of years subsequent or were done on Christmas Day, etc. What are the implications? Well, foreclosures that depended on fraudulent procedures are far less likely to be put forward in judicial foreclosure states (ones where the proceeding takes place through the court system), particularly ones where at least some of the judges are paying attention. Thus what the article depicts as backlog (remember, LPS is including severe defaults, meaning deliquencies that have not yet resulted in foreclosure) is far more likely to be the result of foreclosures that either will not be initiated or have been abandoned. In other words, the samples all include a mix of foreclosures that are moving forward to resolution which should be parsed out and analyzed separately to see what the real time to foreclosure is, versus ones that the banks have dropped and/or are not initiating (and I dont mean dropped by virtue of being contested, I mean left in limbo by the bank) And it is not accident that the apparent longest time to foreclose is in New York. Judges here have become particularly bloody minded about adhering to the law; the notorious curmudgeon Judge Schack now has plenty of company, with other judges issuing rulings that have gotten attention nationally (I particularly enjoyed the MERS smackdown that basically said, I dont really care if you have 62 million mortgages, rules are rules). The article points out some of the procedures New York has implemented: And many foreclosure lawyers seem unable to meet a requirement, made last October by the New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, to affirm the accuracy of their documentation. The affirmation has had a pretty chilling effect, said Ann Pfau, New Yorks chief administrative judge. The attorneys for the banks tell us they cant get through to the right people at their clients who can verify the information. This is a stunning admission. Note that the New York procedure did not impose a new legal standard per se; lawyers are supposed to verify the accuracy of filings that as a matter of course. But it increased the consequence of casual violations.

Yves here. If you read the post below, Jurow talks about pre-foreclosure notices being sent repeatedly. Thats consistent with the picture above. Moreover, his post points out that a notice of default is valid for only three years; it then has to be refiled. So properties that have had to have notices of default filed more than once might not have multiple pre-foreclosure notices counted properly. Jurow says the authorities have the number of repeat pre-foreclosure notices on the same property as 40%. I would bet its higher by counting repeats on the same notice of default.

Now why would servicers behave this way and keep quiet about the problem? In an securitization, there were requirements for geographic diversification, so mortgages from New York would not account for much of the original value of any deal. But most of these zombie mortgages are likely in trusts sold before the crisis. In those, youll have only a very small portion of the original deal left, due to mortgage exiting the trust via normal sale processes (moving, death, divorce, trading up), refinances, and foreclosure sales where state law and post-crisis decisions were bank-friendly.

So the tail-ends in these trusts will be the small number of mortgages that are still in them and paying on time, the occasional home sale or refi leading to a mortgage payoff, and then the zombie mortgages. On those, the servicer charges late fees which have priority in payment, so it gets to bleed what little is left in the trust by not foreclosing.

Put more simply: New Yorks crackdown on foreclosure abuses led it years ago to be the most difficult state in the US for cutting corners. And that quickly led to a big backlog of delinquent mortgages not going to foreclosure. That means you cant generalize from New York to what is happening in any other state.

By Keith Jurow, a real estate analyst and former author of Minyanvilles Housing Market Report. His new report  Capital Preservation Real Estate Report  launched in 2013. Originally published at KCS Blog

With the Mortgage Bankers Associations (MBA) monthly report continuing to show a decline in the delinquency rate, pundits are more convinced than ever that the mortgage crisis is over.

Since I have written extensively about the growing delinquency problem in the New York City metro for more than six years, let me explain my skepticism and how the truth has been hidden from the public.

In 2009, the New York State legislature passed a statute compelling all mortgage servicers to send out a pre-foreclosure notice to all delinquent owner-occupants in the state. The notice warned them that they were in danger of foreclosure and explained how they could get help. Servicers were required to regularly send statistics back to the states Department of Financial Services for all notices sent out. The department published two reports in 2010 with a compilation of these numbers. That was the last time these statistics were officially reported. I strongly suspect that the numbers were a little too scary.

Undeterred, I was able to obtain the unpublished figures from the person in charge of compiling the pre-foreclosure notice filing statistics at the department. For six years, I have received quarterly updates from him and have published several articles using them. The actual numbers are mind-boggling and hard to believe. I speak to my contact regularly about them and I am convinced that they are complete and extremely accurate.

The latest update shows cumulative figures through the first quarter of 2017. It covers only the five counties of New York City as well as Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island. Totals for the entire state are also included. Here is a brief summary of what the data reveals.

Since February 2010, mortgage servicers have sent out a cumulative total of 1,034,876 pre-foreclosure notices to delinquent owner-occupants in New York City and Long Island. Thats right  more than one million. This does not include delinquent investor-owners because that was not required under the 2009 law. Approximately 85% of these notices were for delinquent first liens and the remainder were for second liens.

Numerous phone conversations with my contact have made it clear that roughly 40% were second or third notices sent to the same property. These are not duplicate notices. The servicers have been sending repeat notices to owners who have not taken action to cure their delinquency for more than a year and have not yet been foreclosed.

This is confirmed by related figures published monthly in the Long Island Real Estate Report. For the last 18 months, nearly half of the formal notices of default filed in Suffolk County have been repeat notices. Why? In New York State, a default notice (known as a lis pendens) is only good for three years after which it expires. Hence lenders have had to file a new default notice for borrowers who have been delinquent for more than three years.

The Suffolk County statistics reveal how terrible the serious delinquency situation has become in the New York metro area. Although 297,000 cumulative pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to deadbeat borrowers in Suffolk County, less than 1,000 formal default notices have been filed each month on these properties since late 2009.

How is that possible? The answer is simple. Mortgage servicers have been compelled by statute to send out pre-foreclosure notices to all delinquent owner-occupants, but it is entirely up to the discretion of the mortgage servicer whether or not they file a formal default notice on the delinquent property to begin foreclosure proceedings. For almost seven years, the servicers have chosen not to foreclose.

Some of you may argue that these shocking pre-foreclosure notice numbers dont reveal very much because many of these delinquencies must have been either (1) brought current by the borrower or (2) foreclosed by the servicing bank. That is a reasonable objection. But you would be wrong.

As for foreclosures, I have reliable figures from Property Shark that an average of only 1,548 properties were foreclosed annually in New York City between 2012 and 2016. From its 2015 State of New York Citys Housing and Neighborhoods Report, we learn from the well-respected Furman Center for Real Estate at New York University that an average of only 300 properties were foreclosed and re-possessed each year by the lenders annually from 2011 to 2014. This was in a city where more than 531,000 pre-foreclosure notices have been sent to deadbeats since early 2010. The Furman Center report also showed that an annual average of only 12,800 formal default notices were filed on delinquent NYC properties between 2011 and 2015.

What about the idea that many of these delinquent property owners have probably brought their loans current after receiving a pre-foreclosure notice? Remember what I explained earlier  roughly 40% of these pre-foreclosure notices are second or third notices sent to borrowers because they have not paid the arrears owed.

Furthermore, I published an article last November with figures from Fitch Ratings showing that 53% of all delinquent non-agency securitized loans in the entire state of New York had not made a payment for more than five years as of August 2016. New York City alone had roughly 225,000 of these non-agency loans outstanding. As of February 2016, 37% of them were seriously delinquent. That is the worst delinquency rate for any major metro in the nation. This percentage has climbed steadily for the last five years. The notion that many delinquent owners in the NYC metro have cured their delinquency just will not hold up.

Conclusion: Even if my analysis is rock solid, a legitimate question remains. Does it have implications for the delinquency situation of any other major metros? This is important.

No other metro in the nation has delinquency statistics as comprehensive and reliable as those for NYC. I would go so far as to assert that we are really in the dark when it comes to any of the other two dozen metros where the housing collapse was focused.

I would like to suggest two premises for you to think carefully about. One is that the delinquency statistics you read from the MBAs monthly delinquency report are inaccurate, incomplete and quite useless. To rely on them in order to assess the state of mortgage markets is not a good idea.

My other premise is that the delinquency rate for most of the other major metros which had major housing collapses is much higher than you think. All data firms that claim to have solid delinquency figures are totally dependent on the numbers they obtain from mortgage servicers who are their clients. I have learned from seven years of digging deep for reliable data that numbers from the servicers are notoriously inaccurate, incomplete and often just made up.

If you dismiss these premises out of hand, you risk having your real estate portfolios decimated when the housing crash resumes.
Redesigning cells

(Nanowerk News) It had been seven years since Fahim Farzadfard had last seen his family back home in Iran. Even after obtaining his green card in the middle of 2016, he had waited to finish his PhD before making the trip. Finally, last December, Farzadfard made a long-awaited visit to his hometown of Mashhad, Iran.

Farzadfard had missed his family, and would have loved to stay longer to enjoy Persian cuisine, Irans raw beauty, and the courteous culture he grew up with. He kept his visit short, however, partly out of concerns over a possible travel ban under the new federal administration, but also because of the ongoing research at MIT that he was devoted to. Even while in Iran, he had been working on it to the best of his ability, but he soon felt pulled to return to campus.

We engineer new functions into cells. We try to give them new abilities, PhD student Fahim Farzadfard says. Basically, were making molecular tools. We try to understand cells inner-workings and engineer them using these tools. (Photo: M. Scott Brauer)

Farzadfard came to MIT almost seven years ago, after completing his undergraduate and masters degrees in biotechnology from a prestigious program at the University of Tehran. It was in this program that Farzadfard would fall twice in love  with biological engineering and with a fellow student, Nava Gharaei, whom he would later marry.

While at the University of Tehran, Fahim was committed to his research but understood that the academic labs in Iran had limited resources. That meant research projects would take much longer and be more difficult to accomplish. Something that would take a month to complete in the United States, Fahim says, might take a year in Iran.

I wanted to do cutting edge research, he says. The opportunity wasnt there.

Fahim decided that if he wanted to excel further in the emerging field of synthetic biology, he would need to seek opportunities outside of his home country. Weeks after he and Gharaei defended their masters theses, they got married and landed in Boston to start a new journey as PhD students  she at Harvard University and he in the Synthetic Biology Group in MITs Research Laboratory of Electronics.

Master tinkerers

Synthetic biology is a relatively new field that marries engineering with molecular and cellular biology. As Farzardfard explains it, scientists tinker with existing biological parts and systems to redesign a cells functionality. We engineer new functions into cells. We try to give them new abilities, he says. Basically, were making molecular tools. We try to understand cells inner-workings and engineer them using these tools.

Farzadfard has been taking synthetic biology to the next level by engineering an analog memory storage system using the cells DNA. Living cells are constantly sensing their environment, sampling molecules and computing a response based on their genetic programs and the environmental cues that they recieve. For example, when pancreatic cells sense a high concentration of glucose (input), this starts a chain reaction of regulatory and signaling molecules (cell processing), that eventually leads to the production and release of insulin (output).

In synthetic biology, genes can be designed and engineered to respond to signaling molecules and to regulate the expression of other genes in such a way that they could perform logic functions. Analogous to computer circuits, these interconnected networks of genes are called gene circuits and can be used to engineer and program cellular functions. Someday, engineered cells with these circuits could find a number of uses, such as sensors for environmental or medical monitoring.

In 2014, Farzadfard and Timothy Lu, MIT associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of biological engineering, published their findings in Science. Previous studies had demonstrated that memory can be encoded in DNA, but the encodings were digital  that is, they recorded only whether a particular event occurred. Farzadfards platform overcomes this limitation by making analog recordings, which capture information about an events intensity, for example, or its duration.

You can have infinite states. The capacity to record analog information means you can record the magnitude of inputs, not just absence or presence, Farzadfard says, You can record how much input and how long it has been there.

Farzadfard has also been working to develop a sort of DNA barcode memory system in bacteria that are communicating with one another. In this research, two different bacteria, A and B, were given their own DNA barcodes. Farzadfard developed a system where if bacteria A and B communicate via conjugation (a transfer of DNA), then a new barcode, AB, would be encoded in their DNA. The logic seems simple and straightforward, but it has the potential for mapping cellular interactions at single-cell resolution. For example, this technique might someday be used to map all the connections of a network of neurons, Farzardfard says.

Caught between two countries

After the 2016 presidential election, Farzadfard remembers being concerned about potential policy changes from the new administration that could affect people living in the U.S., based on their nationalities. Those concerns increased when President Trump first signed an executive order preventing individuals from Iran and certain other countries from entering the United States, and the status of green-card holders was unclear. Farzadfard was thankful to have had the foresight to visit Iran last December, but he acknowledges that many others are worried about being able to travel to their home countries.

Personally, I didnt experience that much hardship after the election, he says. Im lucky. Some of my friends couldnt come those few days after [the presidents executive order]. I could have easily been one of those people, and had that stress of the uncertainty of not knowing what is going to happen next.

At that time, he wondered when he would next be able to visit his three sisters, his parents, or once again enjoy delicious Persian food which, he jokingly says, caused him to gain a few pounds that he hasnt lost yet. Now that judges from federal district courts have blocked the revised version of President Trumps executive order, Farzadfard feels more confident about traveling to Iran and having the freedom to return to America.
Why the world needs to get smarter about water consumption

(Nanowerk News) In 1900, just 15% of the worlds population lived in cities. Now that proportion is over 50%, which is a lot of people. In fact, it means around 4 billion human beings rely on urban infrastructure to keep them warm, mobile and clean.

Technology helps with this of course. Digital sensors, smart phones and smart home appliances allow for a new kind of understanding between citizens and city officials. In this so-called smart city, information and communication technologies (ICT) and the Internet-of-Things (IoT) are used to enhance city living.

Smart cities are a major part of achieving the goal set by the United Nations of making urban environments inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

Smartening up.

Water infrastructure is often overlooked when smart cities are considered or discussed. This seems strange when water services are so crucial for human health and well-being. But water is often seen as an invisible utility which is taken for granted. The industry has also been slow to harness the power of new technology.

One thing is certain though  water should be a key element of the smart city concept. And there are two major ways in which smart water technologies will be coming soon to a city near you.

Smart water meters

Smart meters are already widely used to manage demand in domestic energy. But there is also solid evidence that the same kind of meters could dramatically curb domestic water use (Procedia Engineering, "Using Smart Meters for Household Water Consumption Feedback: Knowns and Unknowns"). The uptake of domestic metering by the water industry lags behind the energy sector, but this is changing. Water companies in the UK are facing restrictions in availability and increases in demand.

Thames Water for example, Britains biggest water company, would face a supply shortfall of 133m litres per day by 2020 (enough water to supply the city of Liverpool for 24 hours) or even 414m litres per day by 2040 (enough for Newcastle, Sheffield and Liverpool together), if the trend for increased demand continues.

As a result they have embarked on a smart metering installation programme that will see 414,000 smart water meters installed in London by 2020. By 2025 they will be dealing with 35 billion hourly meter reads every year.

Extracting useful information on water consumption from such vast amounts of data is not easy. One system, iWIDGET aims to analyse usage patterns of individual households. It then presents results, comparisons and feedback, providing households with information about their water consumption. It offers highly customised suggestions on how to reduce use and get better value for money.

Sewer flooding warnings

Nobody likes to be caught in a flood  especially not a flood from a sewer. Reliable information about the likelihood, the extent and the location of such flooding in a city, is very valuable, but current detection methods can be slow and expensive.

Our research demonstrated the use of an alternative approach, RAPIDS (Radar Pluvial flooding Identification for Drainage System), which instead of detecting, actually predicts flooding in sewer systems. It uses computer models to assess very large networks in real-time, and raise alarm of sewer flooding. Results of that work, which was applied to three areas of the UK, shows much higher accuracy in predicting flooding.

A wet future

Smart sensors, artificial intelligence, big data analytics and cloud computing are finally becoming involved in managing water systems in cities. This is partly due to the emergence of new water industry leaders trained in hydroinformatics  mixing big data with smart technologies to deliver more sustainable water solutions. A new discipline, one of its goals is to empower citizens to engage with water service provision on an individual level.
Find the newest releases to watch from National Geographic on Disney+, including favourite documentary series and films Free Solo, The Rescue, Shark Beach with Chris Hemsworth and The World According to Jeff Goldblum.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg watched two of NATOs battlegroups train in Lithuania on Tuesday (20 June 2017). Mr. Stoltenberg observed a river crossing by Allied forces and then met troops taking part in Exercise Iron Wolf. Germany leads the NATO battlegroup in Lithuania, and for the first time it trained with the US-led battlegroup based in Poland. On Monday (19 June 2017) the Secretary General welcomed the Canadian forces which are leading the battlegroup stationed in Latvia. The United Kingdom commands a similar NATO force in Estonia.

Alongside the Lithuanian President, Dalia Grybauskaite, Mr. Stoltenberg thanked Lithuania for holding the exercise and for hosting NATO forces. He said the four multinational battlegroups now deployed in the eastern part of the Alliance were a sign of NATO unity and the continuing strength of the transatlantic bond, with soldiers from North America and Europe standing together, ready to defend each other.

In Lithuania, Germany leads forces from Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway. The battlegroup will serve alongside Lithuanian troops to defend the Alliance and deter any possible aggression. Together with the three other battlegroups in Estonia, Latvia and Poland, these forces form part of the biggest reinforcement to NATOs collective deterrence and defence in a generation.
The Kepler Space Telescope of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has once again detected new Earth-like planets that were within the so-called habitable zone, the region around their star that have suitable condition, neither too hot nor too cold, for liquid water to exists on the planet's surface.

In the latest catalog of Kepler's four-year primary mission, NASA added 10 new Earth-like planets. With this latest addition, the number of Earth-sized worlds detected by the space telescope had reached 50. Astronomers have already confirmed the existence of over 30 of those planets.

"With this catalog we're able to extend [our analysis of planets' demographics] out to the longest periods, those periods that are most similar to our Earth," said Susan Thompson, a Kepler research scientist for the SETI Institute in California and lead author of the new catalog, in a press release. "As a result, this survey catalog will be the foundation for directly answering one of astronomy's most compelling questions: How many planets like our Earth are actually in the galaxy?"

To detect new potential planet candidates, the Kepler space telescope uses the so-called "transit method". Astronomers observe stars over a long period of time. When these stars dimmed briefly, it suggests a potential planet is in between the star and the telescope, blocking the telescopes view of the star.

Aside from the 10 new Earth-like planets, the latest catalog from the Kepler mission also includes 209 planet candidates. The addition of the new catalog now puts the number of planet candidates detected by the Kepler space telescope to 4,034. Out of those planet candidates, 2,335 have already been verified as an exoplanet.

In addition to detecting potential planet, data from the Kepler space telescope made two distinct size groupings of small planets. The first group was composed of Earth-like planets, while the second group was composed of mini-Neptunes.
The old East span of the Bay Bridge may now live only in memory  but some 450 tons of its steel beams will carry on  as public art.

Over the last week, artists representing 14 art projects turned out at a Caltrans yard in Oakland  which sits in view of where the old span was replaced by a sleek new one  to claim their allotment of the bridges salvaged steel.

Artist Katy Boynton anxiously rocked on her heels, tipping back her hard hat to watch a crane lower large rust-colored beams onto a truck. Boynton was one of the artists awarded the steel through an application program administered through the Oakland Museum of California.

I really take a lot of heartfelt pride in knowing that this metal has such historic value, Boynton said above the din of the crane, that so many people drove across.

The program required artists receiving steel to build public projects  and provide their own trucks to haul it away. Boynton plans to build a metal wind chime for San Franciscos Pier 3 that will pay tribute to the statue of Pacifica that stood at the Treasure Island Worlds Fair.

Boynton has visited the stored steel numerous visits during the last year  anxiously awaiting the day when she would finally get to haul it home and start work.

Every time i would come for a visit to look at the steel and make some decisions, Boynton said, I always felt like I was going to the adoption agency but couldnt bring my babies home. So today is adoption day.

The adoptions were occurring at a rampant pace on Friday. As one truck hauled off a load of steel, another took its place. Leslie Pritchett of the Oakland Museum of California barked into a radio summoning more trucks and directing workers to the segregated piles of materials.

I assure you to the awardees this does not look like junk, Pritchett said gesturing toward a pile of rusty beams. It looks like gold.

Pritchett said the beams getting distributed ranged in weight from a thousand pounds to twelve tons. Artist Tom Loughlin went for the top of the scale in picking out four twelve-ton pieces for the sound sculpture he plans to build for Treasure Island  which has allotted $50 million for public art. Each beam required its own big rig to haul it away.

The way Im wired I wanted the biggest, heaviest, most unwieldy pieces, Loughlin said. And I wanted to shape them into something Id imagined.

In addition to the large steel beams, the salvage included recognizable pieces such as the lights that sat atop the bridges towers. Pritchett said the various pieces would go to projects across the Bay Area and as far away as Truckee and Joshua Tree.

The idea is just to carry the legacy of the bridge forward in new and really exciting and interesting ways, Pritchett said.

Boynton hopped up and down and high-fived a friend as the last beam was loaded onto her truck and began its slow rumble toward her studio in the American Steel Building in West Oakland.

Its all packed up, Boynton shouted. Now the fun stuff begins.
Iran on Monday denied three members of its elite Revolutionary Guard had been arrested aboard an explosives-laden boat as claimed by Saudi Arabian authorities.

Majid Aghababaie, head of border affairs at Iran's interior ministry, said the three people detained were fishermen from the southern Iranian port of Bushehr.

"The identity of those three individuals is known. They are from Bushehr and were fishing when they were arrested by the Saudi coastguard," said Aghababaie.

"There is no proof that they are military personnel," he said, in remarks carried by the ILNA news agency.

Saudi Arabia on Monday said the three suspects it captured were Guard members aboard a boat heading to an oil platform in the Gulf, which separates the two rival nations.

They "are now being questioned by Saudi authorities," the information and culture ministry said in a statement, at a time of already-heightened tensions with Iran.

"It is clear this was intended to be a terrorist act in Saudi territorial waters designed to cause severe damage to people and property," the ministry said.

On Saturday, Iran accused the Saudi coastguard of killing one of its fishermen after two fishing boats may have strayed into Saudi waters.

Aghababie said on Monday that a Saudi claim the boats entered the kingdom's waters had not been proven.

"But the day of the incident (Saturday) one of the two boats had a mechanical failure and the Saudi forces opened fire killing a fisherman," he said.

Earlier Monday Saudi Arabia said it had seized weapons from a boat captured after the navy fired warning shots at three vessels approaching a Gulf oil platform.

It said the incident took place on Friday night.

One boat was captured, while the other two escaped, a Saudi government statement said.

Tensions between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran are chronic.

Saudi Arabia regularly accuses Iran of interfering in the affairs of its neighbours, claims rejected by Tehran

Earlier this month Saudi Arabia and several of its allies cut ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting extremist groups, including some backed by Iran.

Search Keywords:

Short link:


A four-alarm brush fire threatened structures in Moraga Monday afternoon.

The blaze burned on a hill behind Campolindo High School on Moraga Road.

Officials reported the fire burned at least 16 acres and was contained in the evening.

Residents on nearby Hansen Court were told to shelter-in-place while crews battled the fire.

No other information was immediately available.

[[429509483, C]]
A plan to build a mega Google complex on 250 acres near the Diridon Station in San Jose is drawing sharp criticism from many community organizations.

On Tuesday, the San Jose City Council will decide whether to enter into an exclusive negotiating agreement to develop at least 10 city-owned properties near the SAP Center.

A training facility for San Jose firefighters is one of the several properties the city is considering selling to Google.

City officials said the tech giant is interested in developing up to 8 million square feet of office space on 250 acres near Diridon Station. The project is expected to create 20,000 new jobs in downtown.

Several community groups on Monday said they fear Google will squeeze out low-income workers and drive rental prices up. The groups fear the project will do more harm than good and want to have a say before the city gets too cozy with Google.

"We are concerned this project will mean less affordable housing, fewer good quality jobs and the displacement of many who have affordable housing now," said Ben Field, executive officer of the South Bay Labor Council.

San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said regardless of any deal with Google, affordable housing is a big problem the city is already working on.

"If you consider this development would get built over a decade, there is no question the city plans to build more housing and build a lot of it at all income levels," Liccardo said.

Community members from Silicon Rising and several other groups took a letter outlining their concerns directly to the mayor's office. The groups said they hope the city council will work to make sure the new development benefits the entire community and not just tech companies.

The groups also asked the city use local labor to build the new project.
A brain surgeon charged with sexually abusing children sought to impregnate women to create more victims and had been suspected of molesting youngsters for two decades, Northern California prosecutors said Monday.

Prosecutors made the allegations in court as they unsuccessfully sought to deny Dr. James Kohut bail while he awaits trial on 11 charges related to child sex abuse.

Several women who had relationships with Kohut said he wanted to have children with them to create "taboo families where the parents raise their children sexually," Assistant District Attorney Steven Moore said in court documents.

Moore said women identified in the documents only by their initials said Kohut "has a specific desire to have sex with a mother and a daughter." Moore also wrote that Kohut pressured the women to find children for him to abuse.

There's no suggestion in the court papers filed last week that Kohut sexually abused his children or that he actually did impregnate women to create more possible victims.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel first reported on the filings.

A judge ruled Monday that Kohut was entitled to bail and ordered a report about his finances to help determine an amount. Kohut was ordered back to court June 28 to set a bail figure.

Kohut has said he will voluntary surrender his California medical license if granted bail. His California medical license remains active, though the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported May 24 that state officials asked a court to temporarily suspend Kohut's license until the California medical board can take up his case.

Board spokeswoman Cassandra Hockenson did not respond to phone and email inquiries.

Moore also said that the FBI, Australian federal police, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's department and Seaside Police Department had previously investigated Kohut since 1997, but he has never been charged.

Moore declined to discuss the allegations in more detail on Monday. FBI spokeswoman Katherine Zackel said the FBI is assisting Watsonville police investigation and declined to discuss the agency's previous involvement with Kohut.

Officials with the sheriff's department and Seaside police did not immediately respond to phone messages left Monday seeking more details on their investigations of Kohut.

The case began last month when Rashel Brandon's husband gave a video to Watsonville police allegedly showing his wife and another nurse, Emily Johnson, sexually abusing children.

Kohut and Brandon worked together at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. Police arrested Brandon first and seized a cellphone with video allegedly showing abuse as well as three allegedly incriminating photos, according to court paperwork filed Thursday by Kohut's attorney Jay Rorty.

Rorty argued that Kohut does not pose a flight risk, does not represent a danger to the public and does not appear in video recordings or photos seized by police. In one recording, Rorty said, one of the alleged victims refers to a person named "James."

A man's voice can be heard off camera and police have said it was Kohut's voice.

Court documents also stated Kohut said nothing incriminating during a brief phone conversation with Brandon made at the request of police, who were recording them.

Johnson was arrested in Arizona, where she remains jailed pending transfer to California to face charges.

Rorty's court filings did not address the claim that Kohut wanted to impregnate women so he would have more victims. Rorty in a telephone interview declined to comment on the allegation.

Moore said in court documents that Kohut "has a sexual compulsion, and has solicited victims for decades."

Kohut previously pleaded not guilty to 10 felony charges. The district attorney's office added another felony charge last week after another alleged victim came forward.

Kohut was arrested shortly after he took a new job with a Fort Smith, Arkansas, hospital, which has since fired him. His medical license in Arkansas has been suspended.
Thousands of PG&E customers in the Bay Area were plunged into darkness early Tuesday morning, but crews were making significant progress on repairs by Tuesday evening.

By 5:30 p.m., 2,500 PG&E customers were still without power, with a majority of the outages reported in the East Bay. That total was down from roughly 10,000 just 30 minutes earlier, according to PG&E.

The outages come as PG&E customers across California have been asked to conserve electricity through Wednesday because of the heat wave.

The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the operation of the state's bulk electric system, transmission lines and electricity market, on Monday issued a statewide Flex Alert, asking people to voluntarily conserve electricity.

The goal is to save 500 megawatts to avoid widespread blackouts, the agency said. And that means everyone must pitch in. Electric customers are urged to conserve electricity from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

"We find that 500 megawatts shaved off is enough to get us over the critical time," said Anne Gonzales, a CAISO spokeswoman. "If consumers can respond, that will take a lot of the stress off of the grid."



Conservation is especially recommended during the late afternoon, when air conditioners are typically at peak use, officials said.

According to CAISO officials, electric customers can help avoid power outages by turning off all unnecessary lights, using major appliances before 2 p.m. or after 9 p.m., and setting air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher.

Chaitali, who owns a South Bay Airbnb home, said shes making adjustments to save power and still keep her house cool during the temporary flex alert.

"I've informed the guest a couple of times to make sure their lights are off when they leave the house," she said.

Chaitali also is making sure the blinds are closed and is managing the air conditioning via an app on her phone.

During times of higher temperatures, demand on the power grid can be strained as air conditioner use increases. Peak usage for Tuesday and Wednesday is expected to exceed 47,000 megawatts each day in the CAISO service territory, which serves roughly 80 percent of the state's electricity customers, officials said.

NBC Bay Area's Rick Boone contributed to this report.
Fire danger is high across the Bay Area with soaring temperatures expected all week.

The scorching heat combined with dried-up vegetation ready to ignite has fire crews throughout the region on alert.

Firefighters responded early Monday to a mulch fire at a compost facility in Cordelia, right on the outskirts of Benicia. The blaze caused plumes of smoke and traffic delays during the morning commute along Interstate 680.

Crews extinguished the blaze and no injuries were reported.

The Solano County Sheriff says the fire was reported about 3:40 a.m. on Goodyear Road about five miles (8 kilometers) northeast of the Valero refinery.

A four-alarm fire ignited Monday afternoon on a hill behind Campolindo High School in Moraga. The blaze charred at least eight acres and threatened structures, fire officials said.

The California Highway Patrol temporarily shut down an off-ramp on eastbound Interstate 580 to northbound Vasco Road in Livermore due to a small grass fire.

Firefighters were battling gusty winds, high temperatures and extremely dry conditions as they fought the fire.

Several heat-related weather alerts are in effect across the Bay Area. View them on the NBC Bay Area weather page.
A Bay Area bike share program rolled out an expansion this month, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

Brooklyn-based Motivate runs the program and is operating under a 10-year contract with the Bay Area Metropolitan Transportation Commission, according to the Chronicle.

The bike share program is currently available in San Francisco and San Jose.

Motions to expand have already begun, with the company moving into three more cities with a total of 7,000 bikes. The new areas in the expansion include Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville.

With the increase of bikes and cities, here are some new paths to check out in each destination:

Emeryville

If looking for a scenic bike path, head to the Emeryville City Marina. This cove will give riders an opportunity to peddle a portion of the 500-mile San Francisco Bay Trail. The dock will provide paved roads and make for a great outing for the whole family.

Being in a marina, visitors will be able to take in the fresh Bay water as well as admire the boats inhabiting the harbor. Bikers can also pull over after their trip to shop or grab something to eat on Bay Street in Emeryville.

Oakland

While the marina will provide views of the ocean, Butters Canyon will lead your through untouched greenery. As reported by the East Bay Express, this bike route will temporarily alleviate city stress and replace it with natures serenity. To begin, cycle over to the Oakland Hills and enter from Mountain Boulevard.

Berkeley

Another route praised by the East Bay Express is the Layfayette-Moraga Regional Trail. Another ride great for families, this path takes cyclists for a tour of Bay Area neighborhoods. There are side paths as well, allowing riders to spice up the route with intermediate hills. East Bay Express warns enthusiast to head there early to beat the heat.
An armed Russian jet came within a few feet of an American reconnaissance aircraft flying in international airspace Monday, three defense officials told NBC News.

The officials characterized the intercept over the Baltic Sea as unsafe and unprofessional, with one saying the Russian pilot had "poor control" of the speeding aircraft.

Also on Tuesday, a U.S. fighter jet shot down a second drone belonging to the Syrian regime in a month.

The Shahed 129 drone was "showing hostile intent" to U.S. coalition forces on the ground, according to a U.S. defense official.
The Trump administration is considering banning travel by U.S. citizens to North Korea, officials said Tuesday, as outrage grew over the death of American student Otto Warmbier and President Donald Trump declared it a "total disgrace."

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who has the authority to cut off travel to North Korea with the stroke of the pen, has been weighing such a move since late April, when American teacher Tony Kim was detained in Pyongyang, a senior State Department official said. No ban is imminent, but deliberations gained new urgency after Warmbier's death, said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss internal diplomatic discussions.

Even as Warmbier's family prepared to mourn him at a public funeral service Thursday in Ohio, the circumstances behind his death remained unclear. The coroner's office in Hamilton County, Ohio, said it had accepted Warmbier's case but had only performed an external examination on his body because the family had objected to an autopsy.

Warmbier, 22, was released last week by North Korea in a coma, but died days later, his family said. The former University of Virginia student had been visiting North Korea on a tour group when he was detained, sentenced to 15 years hard labor for subversion, and held for more than 17 months.

"It's a total disgrace what happened to Otto. That should never ever be allowed to happen," Trump said in the Oval Office.

Suggesting former President Barack Obama bears some blame, Trump said "the result would have been a lot different" had Warmbier been brought home sooner. Obama's office had no reaction, but his former aides have said he worked tirelessly to try to get Warmbier and other Americans released from North Korea.

From the White House to Capitol Hill, pressure mounted for a tough U.S. response, even as U.S. diplomats sought to protect others Americans from facing a similar fate. Three other U.S. citizens, including Kim, are still being held in North Korea.

Barring Americans from stepping foot in North Korea would mark the latest U.S. step to isolate the furtive, nuclear-armed nation, and protect U.S. citizens who may be allured by the prospect of traveling there. Nearly all Americans who have gone to North Korea have left without incident. But some have been seized and given draconian sentences for seemingly minor offenses.

The U.S. government strongly warns Americans against traveling to North Korea, but doesn't prohibit it, despite other sanctions targeting the country. It's unclear exactly how many Americans go to North Korea every year. Those who typically do travel from China, where tour groups market trips to adventure-seekers.

Some of those companies  including China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which took Warmbier to Pyongyang  have now stopped taking Americans. Other travel companies say they're considering a similar restriction.

The U.S. and North Korea have no diplomatic relations. The U.S. has been pressing Pyongyang to halt its nuclear weapons development and urging China and other countries to starve the North of funding for the program. But on Tuesday, Trump suggested that strategy had failed.

"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out," Trump wrote on Twitter. "At least I know China tried!"

In Congress, Democrats and Republicans found rare bipartisan consensus in denouncing the North. Several senators said they were considering a travel ban. In the House, lawmakers lined up behind legislation from Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democrat, and Rep. Joe Wilson, a Republican.

Under their proposal, the Treasury Department would be ordered to prohibit all financial transactions related to travel to North Korea by Americans, unless specifically authorized by a U.S. license. No licenses would be issued for tourism.

The Trump administration doesn't need an act of Congress to bar Americans from traveling to North Korea.

Under existing law, all it would take is a designation by Tillerson  called a "geographic travel restriction"  to make all American passports invalid for travel to North Korea. To back up the designation, Tillerson could assert that Americans face "imminent danger" to their health or safety if they travel there, an easily defendable assertion in the wake of Warmbier's death.

The U.S. doesn't currently prohibit its passports from being used to travel to any countries, even though financial restrictions limit U.S. travel to Cuba and elsewhere. If a passport ban were placed on North Korea, an American who violated it could face a fine and up to 10 years in prison for a first offense.

Schiff said a new law was important to show Congress' unity on North Korea, arguing that financial measures through the Treasury Department might be more effective than a passport ban because it would deter travel companies ferrying Americans.

"This has the merits of protecting Americans from going to a place of increasing danger, but also drying up one source of our currency for North Korea," Schiff said in an interview.

Short of a total ban, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., proposed that prospective American travelers complete a form declaring they won't hold the U.S. government responsible for what happens. He said the form would require Americans to affirm they're aware of what's transpired to other U.S. citizens, such as Warmbier, whom the senator said was "murdered" by the North.

"If people are that stupid that they still want to go to that country, then at least they assume the responsibility for their welfare," McCain said.
Dozens of Great Danes found living in squalor inside a New Hampshire mansion are being held as evidence in an extensive animal cruelty case.

If you looked at the outside of this home youd have no idea what was happening behind closed doors, said Lindsay Hamrick, the New Hampshire State Director of the Humane Society of the United States.

Inside the 15,000 square-foot Wolfeboro mansion, authorities found 75 Great Danes, from puppies to adults, living in deplorable conditions. They found nine more puppies at a nearby property.

When we walked in, the smell of ammonia was so overwhelming and there was waste and feces all over the house, on the walls, it was just really heartbreaking, Hamrick said.

Because of the number and especially the size of these animals, the Humane Society of the United States was called in to assist local authorities in Fridays 14 hour rescue.

Some of these dogs were looking me in the eye, these are enormous dogs, Hamrick explained. We actually had to call in two additional horse trailers, on top of two tractor trailers, and a horse trailer we had brought, just to ensure their transport was humane as possible.

Wolfeboro Police charged Christina Fay, 60, with two counts of misdemeanor animal neglect. Officials said she was selling the Great Danes online for $2,500.

By all accounts on her website these animals were well cared for and thats not what was happening in reality, Hamrick said.

The dogs are now being taken care of at an emergency shelter and will eventually be available for adoption once the case is closed.

They were incredible, sweet dogs who were just overwhelmed by what was happening, Hamrick said. Its just such a wonderful feeling to know theyre safe now.

The investigation is ongoing and authorities said Fay will likely face additional charges.
The names of the two officers involved in a fatal police-involved shooting at a New Hampshire State Liquor Store in Hampton last week have been released.

According to state Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald and New Hampshire State Police, the state troopers who discharged their weapons on June 13 were Sergeant Keith Walker and Trooper Erik Willett.

Walker has been part of the New Hampshire State Police for 19 years while Willett has been a member for five years. Both troopers are assigned to Troop A State Police Barracks in Epping and are on paid administrative leave pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation.

The troopers had responded to the liquor store on Interstate 95 southbound after Portsmouth police had issued a "be on the lookout" for Barry Jones, 36, of Portsmouth.

Police said Jones was intoxicated and took his neighbors silver Ford Ranger pick-up truck. Authorities also said Jones was armed with a handgun and had pointed a weapon at an individual and allegedly wanted that person to drive with him to Lawrence, Massachusetts, to get some drugs.

After Jones crashed the truck, he continued onto I-95 and ended up at the liquor store, where he was spotted by the troopers. It was there that there was some kind of encounter between him and the troopers and a discharge of weapons occurred.

Jones was shot and taken to Portsmouth Regional Hospital, where he later died.

The exact circumstances surrounding the incident remains under investigation.
Australia on Tuesday suspended its airstrikes against Islamic State group targets in Syria as a precaution, after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane earlier this week and Russia warned the U.S.-led coalition from flying over Syrian army positions west of the Euphrates River.

The announcement from Canberra came as a brief, two-day truce collapsed in the southern Syrian city of Daraa and nearby areas where government forces have gained ground.

Australia is part of a U.S.-led coalition that has been waging war against Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

The U.S. military shot down the Syrian warplane on Sunday, saying it had targeted an American-allied, Kurdish-led force that is battling the IS group in their de facto capital, Raqqa. That led Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, to warn that it would target U.S.-led coalition planes flying west of the Euphrates River.

In another first, Iran  another close Assad ally  fired ballistic missiles at IS group targets in eastern Syria, in the province of Deir el-Zour, later on Sunday. Iran's Revolutionary Guard described the strike as revenge for Islamic State attacks on Tehran earlier this month that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50.

With the skies over Syria growing increasingly crowded, a statement from the Australian Defense Department released in the capital, Canberra, said that "Australian Defense Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats."

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

On Monday, a day after the downing of the Syrian plane, Russia threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the downing.

A spokesman for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, Gen. Ramazan Sharif, said all six ballistic missiles it launched on Syria hit their targets, according to "local sources and drone films."

Sharif told The Associated Press that the missile launch reflected Iran's "military power," though Iran has no intention of starting another war.

The remarks came amid questions whether the strike had been effective. It was not known what exactly was hit and Iran has provided no details. Israeli security officials said Monday they were studying the missile strike to see what they could learn about its accuracy and capabilities.

In the Syrian capital, Damascus, rebels fired artillery shells from the suburbs into the city, wounding at least three people, according to the state news agency SANA.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the eastern neighborhood of Jobar was struck on Tuesday by 12 airstrikes, adding that government forces are trying to push into the area.

Fighting and bombardment also resumed early Tuesday in the contested city of Daraa and nearby areas where a 48-hour truce went into effect on Saturday.

The truce was meant to be extended but now appears to have collapsed.

A Syrian military official in Damascus said the truce was not extended. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

"The situation is back as it was in Daraa city and fighting is ongoing," said Daraa-based opposition activist Ahmad al-Masalmeh. "The regime made the truce and then violated it."

The Observatory also reported that government troops had captured a hill west of the city and a former army base that was held by rebels. It said government helicopters dropped 55 barrel bombs on Daraa while warplanes carried out about 20 airstrikes.

Daraa is where Syria's crisis first broke out in March 2011 as an uprising against Assad's government. The crisis quickly became a civil war, which has since left at least 400,000 people dead.

The push by the Syrian government forces in the Daraa area appears headed for the Jordanian border, two weeks after Assad's troops reached the border with Iraq for the first time in years.

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A Massachusetts man was hospitalized Monday after being struck by a stray bullet at a home in New Bedford.

Police said the shooting occurred at 50 Tallman St. at 2:52 p.m.

The 60-year-old victim who was shot was taken to Rhode Island Hospital, where he is listed in serious condition.

Police said that minutes before the man was struck, it appeared that there was an exchange of gunfire between two groups.

No further information is available but authorities are asking anyone with information to contact New Bedford police at 508-992-7463 or by email at tip@newbedfordpd.com.
U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez endorsed JB Pritzker for Illinois governor on Monday, citing the billionaire businessmans opposition to President Donald Trump as a major factor in his support.

It seems to me that we need to find defenders and protectors of our children and our families, the Democratic congressman from Chicago said at an announcement event. JB was very, very clear in the beginning that the policies of Donald Trump are discriminatory, are biased, are prejudiced and racist policies, he continued. He stood up with our community and he called it for what it is, and those are the kinds of men and women that we need in elected office.

Pritzker, a Democrat, called for the beginning of impeachment proceedings against Trump in May after reports surfaced that Trump revealed highly classified information to Russian officials, saying he believed impeachment is necessary to protect our countrys national security and preserve our democracy.

Gutierrez has long been an outspoken critic of Trump, particularly when it comes to immigration policy, and on Monday called incumbent Illinois governor Bruce Rauner a sidekick of the president.

JB has spent his life lifting up our most vulnerable communities and fighting for Illinois families, Gutierrez said in a statement. But our current governor has failed our families and refuses to stand up to Donald Trumps attacks. Unlike Rauner, I know that JB will be a partner and a friend to our immigrant communities in Illinois and he will never be afraid to stand up to Donald Trump.

As governor, I will work with Congressman Gutierrez to pass the TRUST act, ensure DREAMers can graduate and contribute to the economy, invest in quality education for all Illinoisans, and support small businesses and access to capital in the communities that need it most, Pritzker said in a statement, adding that he was honored to receive his support.

Most importantly, I will partner with Congressman Gutierrez to stand up to Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner's fear-mongering and attacks on Illinois families. Rauner refuses to stand up to Donald Trumps hate and has decimated funding for immigrant services in Illinois. The nearly 1.8 million immigrants in Illinois deserve a governor who will fight for them and I look forward to standing with Congressman Gutierrez to be that governor.

While congressional leaders often wait on the sidelines until the primary is over, Mondays announcement  as well as Rep. Bobby Rushs endorsement of Chris Kennedy for the Democratic nomination  came nine months before the primary election day in a race thats shaping up to be the most expensive in state history.

Pritzker, a venture capitalist and heir to the Hyatt fortune, donated $7 million to his own campaign in April, four months after Rauner gave his re-election fund $50 million.
U.S. Rep Bobby Rush endorsed Chris Kennedy for Illinois governor Monday, praising the Democratic candidates agenda for radical change.

I stand with Chris Kennedy because I believe in Chris Kennedy and I know Chris Kennedy, Rush, a Democrat representing Illinois 1st District in Chicago, said in a statement. He is the best candidate to restore the promise of the American Dream for millions of Illinois residents.

Chris will bring a radical approach to state government and give us a state government that works for every family in every neighborhood, he added.

Rush went on to slam incumbent Governor Bruce Rauner, a Republican, saying his days are numbered.

He has been more cruel and coldhearted than any governor in our history, Rush said. He has slashed the social safety net, ignored gun violence and cut funding for Chicago Public Schools. We need change.

The endorsement came the same day Rep. Luis Gutierrez threw his support behind billionaire businessman JB Pritzker  who some Kennedy supporters say is benefitting from the help of party leadership, even as eight candidates are still in the running for the Democratic nomination.

"The Democratic establishment here in Illinois wants to package up with ribbons and deliver the nomination to the candidate of their choice, Rush said in a statement, adding, You cant gift wrap the gubernatorial nomination, because its not yours to give.

I think theres a difference between an endorsement and a command. I think theres a difference between holding somebody up and forcing them down, Kennedy said, saying he was humbled to have Rushs support. And I think what you see today is one of the great leaders of the civil rights movement speaking to the people he represents.

My message is more important than their millions, Kennedy added, in reference to the wealth of Pritzker and Rauner  both former venture capitalists who have donated millions to their own campaigns. My beliefs are more important than their billions and in the end its going to be up to the individual voter.

While congressional leaders often wait on the sidelines until the primary is over, both Rushs and Gutierrezs announcements came nine months from the primary election day in a race thats shaping up to be the most expensive in state history.
A northwest Indiana water park has reportedly been shut down after reports two children were chemically burned.

The Northwest Indiana Times reports the Porter County Health Department shut down Seven Peaks Waterpark Duneland for not having proper permits and inspections.

The health department told the publication the park opened last week without necessary permits, proper inspections and water samples, adding that it had opened without a chlorine feeder in operation.

The Porter Fire Department said it was contacted Friday for reports of a possible issue with high levels of chemicals at the water park that may have caused injuries.

To check for any immediate danger to the public a spot check was conducted, the fire department wrote in Facebook post.

The department said it referred the matter to the Porter County Health Department.

We know there were at least two children [in need of medical attention] and there could have been more, the health departments administrator, Keith Letta, told the NWI Times.

Letta said the park was closed until it can pass an inspection and get equipment up and running.

Seven Peaks Resort, which also has three parks in Utah, could not immediately be reached for comment on the matter.

A message at Seven Peaks Waterpark Duneland, however, notes the park is temporarily closed for maintenance.
A Waterford police officer was punched in the face on Monday night after confronting a driver with a suspended license.

Officers were initially dispatched for car fire that actually ended up being a disabled car that had apparently run out of gas near a highway.

As normal procedure, the officer obtained the drivers name and ran it through the DMV. The officer could smell the odor of marijuana coming from the car, found out the driver, 28-year-old Irving Gerome Hudson, of Groton, had a suspended license and requested another unit respond to the scene, Lt. Tim Silva, of the Waterford Police Department, said.

Police said Hudson became uncooperative when they searched his car and a fight broke out when officers tried to take him into custody.

Hudson is accused of punching one of the officers twice in the face and police said there was a short struggle on the ground before the driver ran off.

One officer had blood coming from his mouth and face and the other had his pants torn up from rolling around with the suspect on the street, according to Silva.

He had a couple of marks, he was bleeding from around his gum line and under his neck when I got on scene, Silva said.

Silva expects the injured officers will be fine.

Waterford officers were assisted by K-9 units, in addition to other departments, including state police, to help search for Hudson.

Every time we tightened the perimeter up he would run a different way he ended up crossing the highway two separate times, Silva said. Ultimately, he ended in the City of New London, where he ran into an apartment complex where we set up a perimeter.

Hudson was located and Waterford police arrested at an apartment building on Michael Road in New London.

New London police arrested a woman, identified as 26-year-old Kassi Lee Elston, in the apartment and she was charged with not listening to officer commands and interfering.

She was definitely trying to hide him but we dont know what the reasons were, Silva said.

There was heavy police presence at the apartment complex in New London following the incident. Police from East Lyme, Groton, New London and Waterford had sealed off the perimeter of an apartment building.

Silva said while Hudson ran from police, he lost his shoe and still proceeded to run across the highway and woods, causing a lot of damage to his foot. He was transported to the hospital.

Hudson was charged with two counts of assault on a public safety officer, interfering with an officer, operating a motor vehicle with a suspended license, disorderly conduct, intentional injury to a K-9, reckless endangerment, and criminal mischief. He was held on a $250,000 bond.

Elston was charged with hindering prosecution and interfering with police. She was held on a $5,000 bond.
Police in London said they have a man in custody following an apparent terror attack at a mosque.

Officers said the suspect plowed a van into a group of Muslims as they left evening prayers. At least nine people were hurt. British authorities said it was a clearly an attack on Muslims.

Prayer at mosques in Connecticut goes on, despite worry and fear surrounding events that unfolded overseas.

Hate seems to be winning out almost everywhere," said Dr. Reza Monsoor, president of Islamic Association of Greater Hartford, located in Berlin.

What's unnerving is when you have something destructive like this happening in London, the whole community gets unnerved," Monsoor said.

June is the holy month of Ramadan, a time when there is simply more people in mosques worldwide. Monsoor said there is also some more anxiety about the dangers that could be lurking outside of the mosque's walls.

Somebody who wants to do something destructive can and that's the biggest concern," Monsoor said. "It spreads this fear in the whole community.

Monsoor said this is the first Ramadan where there are uniformed security teams working inside this mosque on the Berlin Turnpike. There are also more surveillance cameras around the property. It is all in relation to recent events where Muslims have become targets in the U.S. and around the world.

Unfortunately, it's a sad time when you have to fear your neighbor as opposed to love your neighbor," Monsoor said.

As the holy month goes on, worshippers in Connecticut wonder if more violence is around the corner.

Muslims are trying to be the best examples in this country, but out voices are getting drowned out by the hate," Monsoor said.
The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection (DCP) is warning residents to be on the lookout for the latest email scam, which tries to trick potential victims into sending bank account information under the guise of offering money from government settlement.

In the email, scammers claim to be Maureen Ohlhausen, the acting chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The email states that if the recipient sends their bank account information they will receive funds from the government settlement with Western Union.

Officials warn that while the FTC is involved in a multi-million dollar settlement with Western Union, the refund process has not begun yet and these emails are a scam.

Consumers are warned that this is a scam and to never send information or click links in an unfamiliar email. If you are unsure if an email is legitimate, call the organization that the email claims to have been sent from to confirm.

DCP offered the following things consumer should look out for in possible email scams.

Quick writing with grammatical errors

Strange looking links, especially those that dont start with https://, or dont end in a familiar way like .com, .org, or .gov

With government email scams  an email not from a .gov email address

Logos that look similar to a government logo or seal, but a little distorted

The use of strong pressure tactics urging you to act now, or face consequences

A topic youre not expecting. Remember, if you dont think you are owed money  or you dont think you owe money to someone, you are probably correct.

If you believe youve received a scam email, you can forward the email to the FTC at spam@uce.gov, and report it to DCP by emailing dcp.frauds@ct.gov.
West Haven police arrested two men accused of stealing car batteries from Wal-Mart.

Peter Burwell, Jr., 46, and Peter Burwell III, 25, both face charges of larceny, criminal mischief, criminal trespass, possession of burglary tools, and motor vehicle charges.

West Haven police said they have been working with police in Milford and Rocky Hill investigating the thefts of numerous car batteries from Wal-Mart locations. As part of the investigation, a battery at a Rocky Hill location was outfitted with a tracking device.

According to police, Monday around 11 p.m. the tracked battery was stolen from Rocky Hill and brought to the Wal-Mart in West Haven. Police located the battery, along with many others, inside a U-haul van on Center Street and Union Avenue. Both suspects were in the van when it was located.

Police said in total they recovered 125 car batteries, which were stolen from a container outside the stores where customers can exchange old batteries for new ones.

An auto shop worker told NBC Connecticut that used car batteries still have monetary value and cans sell between $10 to $15 apiece.

The Burwells were both arrested and held on bond.
Cuba's foreign minister has rejected President Donald Trump's new policy toward the island, saying "we will never negotiate under pressure or under threat" and refusing to return U.S. fugitives who have received asylum in Cuba.

In a hard-edged response to the policy announced Friday, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said from Vienna Monday that Trump's restrictions on transactions with the Cuban military would not achieve their objective of weakening the government. He said they would instead create unity behind the communist leadership.

He described fugitives such as Joanne Chesimard, a black militant convicted of the murder of a New Jersey state trooper, as political refugees who had received asylum from the Cuban government and would not be returned because the U.S. has no "legal or moral basis" to demand their return.

Trump declared Friday he was restoring some travel and economic restrictions on Cuba that were lifted as part of the Obama administration's historic easing. He challenged the communist government of Raul Castro to negotiate a better deal for Cubans and Cuban-Americans.

Announcing the rollback of President Barack Obama's diplomatic opening during a speech in Miami, Trump said Cuba had secured far too many concessions from the U.S. in the "one-sided" deal but "now those days are over." He said penalties on Cuba would remain in place until its government releases political prisoners, stops abusing dissidents and respects freedom of expression.

"America has rejected the Cuban people's oppressors," Trump said in a crowded, sweltering auditorium. "They are rejected officially today  rejected."

Though Trump's announcement stops short of a full reversal of the Cuba rapprochement, it targets the travel and economic engagement between the countries that has blossomed in the short time since relations were restored. The goal is to halt the flow of U.S. cash to the country's military and security services in a bid to increase pressure on Cuba's government.

Embassies in Havana and Washington will remain open. U.S. airlines and cruise ships will still be allowed to serve the island 90 miles south of Florida. The "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which once let most Cuban migrants stay if they made it to U.S. soil but was terminated under Obama, will remain terminated. Remittances to Cuba won't be cut off.

But individual "people-to-people" trips by Americans to Cuba, allowed by Obama for the first time in decades, will again be prohibited. And the U.S. government will police other such trips to ensure there's a tour group representative along making sure travelers are pursuing a "full-time schedule of educational exchange activities."

Trump described his move as an effort to ramp up pressure to create a "free Cuba" after more than half a century of communism.
Judy Rhoads scanned her surroundings. She paused to look at her daughter, Cindy Dolder, who drenched her sun hat and striped shirt in a spray of water, and summed up the scene around her in one word.



"It's freedom," said Rhoads, 70. "I mean, look at her!"



The San Antonio Express-News reports Dolder, 40, grinned and shook her head as cool water trickled down her face, before she moved her wheelchair to another spigot in the water park.



The mother and daughter had tried going to water and amusement parks before, but often the lists of restrictions are so long that Dolder, who has cerebral palsy and uses the wheelchair, can't participate.



"It's just impossible to get a wheelchair person on a ride," Rhoads said Sunday. "This is like a dream come true."



Morgan's Wonderland, the only large amusement park in the world designed for people with and without special needs, opened in San Antonio on April 10, 2010. Over the weekend, the park's founder, Gordon Hartman, opened a $17 million water park called Inspiration Island. In addition to tweaking its attractions for people with special needs, it provides specially designed wheelchairs -- including a cutting-edge type that's air-powered and waterproof.



More than 600 people attended Saturday's opening of Inspiration Island. Morgan's Wonderland, a nonprofit, has had more than 1 million visitors from at least 66 countries and all 50 states since its opening.



In many ways, the water park is like any other. Between its five sections, spigots of water burst from large sea horses and islands of tired-looking starfish. Two large buckets overhead slowly fill and then spill heaps of water. An eight-minute boat ride takes people through a jungle with fake snakes that hiss and cougars that roar.



There are some key differences. The grass is artificial in some areas so clippings don't get caught in the water filtration systems. The drainage is important because all the water is filtered and recirculated. There are no deep pools of water, only ones at surface level for splashing.



Before the buckets dump the water, a ding rings out across the park, notifying those who can't see that it is about to occur. Soon, Hartman said, a whirling signal will be up for those who can see but can't hear. There's also a pool with 92-degree water for people with muscular conditions who require warmth.



And everywhere, people of all abilities splash and play together. With the barriers that most people with special needs typically experience removed, suddenly everyone is the same -- or at least, similar in their difference.



"We're not a special needs park, we're a park of inclusion," Hartman said. "Every child, everybody in San Antonio ought to come to these parks. There's something that's different here, and it's a positive difference."



Hartman named the $35 million amusement park after his daughter, Morgan, who was born with disabilities. After he retired from his job as a land developer in 2005, he started the Gordon Hartman Family Foundation.



To accommodate people who use battery-powered wheelchairs, his organization collaborated with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh to design a substitute called the PneuChair that is still powered on its own -- without needing to be pushed around manually -- and can go in water.



The four wheelchairs run on compressed air and weigh about 80 pounds, compared with the typical 400 pounds for battery-operated chairs. These also come with bags and apparatuses to protect oxygen tanks, trachea tubes and ventilators, if needed. The four prototypes are the only ones of their kind, and Hartman said they expect to develop six more with further upgrades.



Hartman also is updating the amusement park's wristband technology, which already includes a chip that allows visitors to track each other. Come July, he hopes to have an iPhone application so attendees can keep track of each other on their phones instead of going to designated stations.



The growth doesn't stop there. By 2020, Hartman said, he plans to have two new facilities: A 30,000-square-foot building to replace the current temporary housing of The Academy, which provides life skills and job training on site and is at capacity, and a 70,000-square-foot building called the Socialization and Assistance Center, for those over 21 -- the age when state and federal funding for people with disabilities ceases.



Shaileen Rodriguez, 18, of Freer said Sunday that she wished that there were more places like these for her brother, Roman, who uses a wheelchair.



"There's not just people like my brother here, there's people like this everywhere," she said. "And there's a lot of kids that feel like they're segregated from everyone else because of who they are and what they were born with."



Tara Wilbanks agreed. Her family was in a car accident about a year ago, and her son Carter, 12, experienced severe body and brain injuries.



Wilbanks said she wished more people understood what it is like to be a person with special needs.



"When you have a healthy kid, you're removed from that world," she said. "But when you're going through it, it's just, so much."



Carter's recovery has been dramatic. Just a year ago, he was 66 pounds, nonverbal and dependent on a feeding tube. Now, he's in a wheelchair and is engaged in life, laughing and still hanging out with his best friend, Sisto Gonzalez, 11.



When Wilbanks asked her son if he would be getting better, Carter gave a thumbs-up. And then, slowly and deliberately, he struggled to say what he is working on: "Walking and talking."



From the sidelines, Hartman grinned. This is what he lives for. Even in building Morgan's Wonderland and Inspiration Island, he took great care in the design and symbolism in its construction.



There's the lone palm tree that he found on the land before the first park was built. In a symbolic show of inclusion, he took painstaking efforts to preserve it and build Morgan's Wonderland around it. The palm tree now sits near the entrance, a testament, to him, to inclusion.



There's also the recurring image of butterflies painted on the buildings -- and at the entrance to the park, there's a large sculpture of two hands reaching out, a butterfly just touching the tip of a finger.



"Many of our special needs guests are doing things they thought they couldn't do here," Hartman said. "They fly. They soar. Like a butterfly."
For Qatar, the Iranian option is suicide, the Turkish one ruinous, Abdel-Khalek Abdallah, professor of political science at the United Arab Emirates University, tells Ahmed Eleiba

Some believe ongoing regional and international diplomatic mediation could bear fruit soon, while others believe the crisis will escalate further.

Based on current facts, Im leaning towards the second scenario. Despite sincere efforts, diplomatic moves and mediation by many Gulf parties, such as Kuwait, and international parties, such as the US, and possibly an attempt by Russia, I believe the crisis will continue. There will not be conciliation for the time being because of Qatars arrogance and obstinacy. When tensions erupted in 2014, there were quick moves to contain them but Qatar only complied for eight months, until King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz died. Today, the crisis is compounded and the demands on Qatar are 10 times more than in the past.

Qatar pivoted towards Iran after air, land and sea sanctions by Gulf countries. Qatar is sending gas to Iran and Iran is sending food to Qatar. Allowing Iran to win over Qatar and fulfil its goal of having a Sunni country in its camp would deflect claims its plan for the region is Shia domination.

The Gulf dispute can only be resolved among Gulf countries. We have overcome many obstacles before, and the crisis today demonstrates that Gulf differences should not escalate beyond Gulf borders. Second, despite the crisis, Gulf countries still insist on a [Qatari] state, especially along the Saudi-Emirati axis with Bahrain and Kuwait. The Gulf remains strong. We are talking about one country, and it cannot distance itself from its Gulf brethren. Gulf countries will not accept Qatar moving away and Qatar will not accept distancing itself from Gulf countries.

Qatar continues to look towards Iran and Turkey, but Gulf countries insist they want to prevent outside infiltration of the Gulf region.

The Iranian option is suicide for Qatar and the Turkish option is ruinous. Iran attempted to meddle in Yemen and the Gulf response was resolute to show there is a red line in Yemen, and Qatar is even more critical. Iran will not be allowed to meddle in the Gulf. Gulf countries went to Yemen to block Iranian intervention and expansionism; Iran will never be allowed to infiltrate one inch into the Gulf via Qatar.

Qatar is likely to pay a high price, perhaps a palace coup or shut down of influential forces in Qatars foreign policy. This goes beyond the Gulf region and includes countries such as Egypt who demand that Qatar stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar also supports terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and Islamic State in Libya.

UAE State Minister for Foreign Affairs Anwar Qarqash told the media that we are in loggerheads over policies not governments. Egypt holds the same view; it wants a change in policies not government. However, if policies are convictions and changing policies means changing convictions, then we must change governments. Full stop.

Who benefits from this crisis? Especially since Gulf citizens are also affected by restrictions on Qatar.

In every crisis, there is the biggest loser and biggest winner. It is natural that some will exaggerate gains and others will minimise losses. Primarily, there is Iran and Erdogan; then the Muslim Brotherhood and Russia using the issue to assert its international presence. Extending the crisis serves the interests of those who benefit from it, and want to weaken the Gulfs soft and hard powers. Currently, there are signs of escalation and progression. The Gulf region knows who is targeting it and wants its decline, because of its influence. There are so many of them.

Some believe that Arab wisdom is absent and the Arab structure is changing, which impacts resolving Arab crises. For example, the late Sheikh Zayed mediated in similar situations.

No. Arab wisdom is present, and sages still exist. Currently, King Salman represents wisdom, and we are counting on his acumen and statesmanship to manage the crisis and handle it until its conclusion.

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Dallas leaders spoke about unity Monday at the City Council Inauguration ceremony after bitter election campaigns that defeated several allies of Mayor Mike Rawlings.

The Mayor was not up for election this year and he faces a term limit that will end his time in office two years from now after 8 years at City Hall.

Rawlings denied aspiration for another political office himself but sounded like a candidate in an inauguration speech that promoted city issues and attacked state and federal politics.

At times our representatives value their primary electorate above all else and so they cater to the extremes of their gerrymandered districts, Rawlings said. We must signal to those who elected us that we reject the politics of division, fear, rage and personal attacks.

He received standing ovations from the Dallas audience at the Meyerson Symphony Center.

I think he might have his eye on another seat, newly elected Councilman Kevin Felder said.

After 4 previous unsuccessful tries, Felder beat an incumbent who was supported by a political action committee run by Rawlings former political consultant. Felder said he and the Mayor have put that aside.

Im here to do the peoples business and if I cant put aside campaign issues, then I dont need to be here. And Ive already done that. And the Mayor and I have had breakfast and thats not an Issue, Felder said.

The PAC opposed four winners in this years City Council elections including incumbent Philip Kingston, a frequent Rawlings opponent on Dallas issues. Kingston said he was impressed with Rawlings speech.

I loved the things that he said, Kingston said. He sounded so conciliatory and I think well have great opportunities to work together.

After the inauguration ceremony, Kingston posed for photos with 3 other members of a coalition that has often sided with him against Rawlings; incumbents Scott Griggs, Adam Medrano and Mark Clayton. Joining that group as a 5th member for the photo is new Councilman Omar Narvaez who was also opposed by the PAC and supported by Kingston in defeating incumbent Monica Alonzo.

Narvaez also denied hard feelings.

Im known as a consensus builder and Im excited to get the job going. The people elected this council and Im excited to work with everybody on this council, Narvaez said.

Mayor Rawlings said he is interested in getting things done, not fighting for power.

Democracy spoke and citizens want this council to come together, Rawlings said.

The new City Council includes only two women, incumbents Sandy Greyson and Jennifer Gates. Two former Council Members returned to office. Dwaine Caraway and Tennell Atkins who were term limited two years ago, both defeated the incumbents who replaced them.

The first votes by the new City Council were unanimous. Adam Medrano was appointed Deputy Mayor Pro-Tem and Dwaine Caraway was named Mayor Pro-Tem. Caraway held the post in the past and became interim Mayor when former Mayor Tom Leppert resigned for an unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign.

Caraway praised Rawlings speech.

It showed true parts of where we have to go, Caraway said.

The first test comes Wednesday when members discuss a proposed November bond referendum for street repair and other needs.

The new Dallas City Council also faces a shrinking police force and rising violent crime. The futures of Dallas Fair Park and a proposed Trinity River Park are topics of heated debate. Affordable housing plans and a new city budget are key issues as well.
Dallas police are investigating a deadly officer-involved shooting in the 10700 block of Eastham Drive in Pleasant Grove.[[429521563,R]]

Police said they were called to an active shooter call just before 5 p.m.



Officers approached the home, where the front door was standing open. Officers could hear a loud disturbance inside the home between a man and a woman. They could also hear an infant crying.

The officers commanded the man to come to the door. When he did, officers say he was holding a handgun. Investigators say that left the officer no choice but to open fire, striking the 28-year-old white male. He was taken to the hospital where he later died.

The woman inside the home was also taken to the hospital for treatment of what police described as "significant lacerations" but is expected to be OK. The infant was not hurt, police said.

Investigators say it appears the man may have assaulted the woman and threatened to kill her and the infant.

Identities of the people involved have not been released.
Investigators say a 15-year-old San Antonio-area boy has been charged in the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old male during a disturbance.

New Braunfels police on Monday announced a juvenile from Marion has been arrested on a murder charge in the weekend death of Conrad Kuntz of New Braunfels.

Officers on Saturday night responded to reports of shots fired and a disturbance in a neighborhood. Police found Kuntz wounded. Emergency medical personnel were unable to save him.

Police on Sunday arrested the 15-year-old suspect, who remains in juvenile custody.

New Braunfels police didn't immediately release a possible motive for the shooting or further details on the investigation. No information was immediately released on an attorney for the juvenile suspect.
Bullets often carve a fatal path: About 36,000 Americans were killed by a firearm in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but nearly 85,000 gunshot victims treated in emergency rooms survived.

NBC News spoke to six people about how surviving a gunshot wound has changed their lives. Sara Cusimano was shot when she was kidnapped and raped at 13. Today, she continues to struggle with PTSD: "That millisecond decision that he made destroyed the entire rest of my life."



A police officer and Army sniper opened up about their experiences being wounded in the line of duty.

NBC News also spoke to a woman who survived an attack by her husband and a man who was shot by a robber, as well as a man who was accidentally shot by his friend as a boy.
The region's intense heat wave continues Wednesday as a strong ridge of high pressure remains parked over the southwest, once again making for triple-digit temperatures and poor air quality across the county.

Forecasters warned of the added risk of a fire weather watch for Thursday morning through Thursday evening. Recently, winds have been relatively light, so onshore winds are expected to increase later in the week. The flow, combined with high heat, low humidity and dry vegetation, could create a risk of extreme fire behavior.

An excessive heat warning will remain in force until 9 p.m. Wednesday in the San Gabriels, where temperatures of between 100 and 105 are expected, and in the Antelope Valley, where highs are expected to range between 106 and 110 through Friday.

[[429387563, C]]

A less serious heat advisory will be in force until 9 p.m. Wednesday in the Santa Monica Mountains Recreational Area and the Santa Clarita, San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys. The advisory, issued Wednesday, was allowed to expire in Los Angeles proper and beach cities.

Adding to the concern is the poor air quality. County health officials warned that air quality will be unhealthy for sensitive people in the San Gabriel and Santa Clarita valleys throughout the day. Health officials urged people with heart disease, asthma or other respiratory conditions to minimize outdoor activity. Schools were also urged to limit outdoor activity for children with sensitive health conditions.

The hot weather will increase the risk of heat-related illness and anyone working or spending time outdoors would be more susceptible, as will the elderly, children and those unaccustomed to the heat. Forecasters advised residents to reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening, drink plenty of water, wear lightweight and loose fitting clothing and be aware of the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

[la gallery] Fire in the Mountains: Holcomb Fire Burns Near Big Bear

Authorities also warned against leaving children, seniors or pets in parked cars, which can heat up to lethal levels in just minutes, even with a window partially open.

The California Independent System Operator, which manages the statewide power grid, again issued a Flex Alert for Wednesday. It will will take effect at 2 p.m. and remain in force until 9 p.m., just like on Tuesday.

A Flex Alert is issued when the electrical grid is "under stress,'' generally from increased power usage due to hot weather. As part of the alert, residents were urged to make an extra effort to conserve during late afternoon hours, when air conditioners tend to be used most.

According to Cal-ISO's website, electrical demand late Tuesday afternoon topped 44,000 megawatts. The highest demand ever recorded by the system was 50,270 megawatts, which occurred on July 24, 2006.

Temperatures will remain high over the next several days, with small dips expected later in the week.
The California Independent System Operation Corporation issued a statewide Flex Alert on Monday, asking California residents to voluntarily conserve electricity through Wednesday evening.

Cal ISO, the state's power grid operator, urged people to conserve electricity between 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday to help avoid potential power outages caused by increased air conditioner use.

The week's hot temperatures are expected to drive up people's use of air conditioners, which can strain the power grid. "Consumers are urged to voluntarily conserve electricity to help avoid more serious steps to protect the power grid, including local rotating outages," the agency said in a statement.

"Consumers can help avoid power outages by turning off all unnecessary lights, using major appliances before 2 p.m. and after 9 p.m., and setting air conditioners to 78 degrees or higher," the agency said.

Conservation Tips

 Set thermostat at 78 or higher and turn off, if away

 Cool with fans and draw drapes

 Turn off unnecessary lights and appliances

 Use major appliances in morning or late evening
Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico and began churning heavy rain bands toward the northern Gulf Coast, where Louisiana shuttered flood gates and parts of three other states also braced for a risk of flash flooding.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency because of the threat of torrential rains and other severe weather, including dangerous high tides and rip currents. Double red flags snapped in the wind on the public beach at Gulf Shores in her state, warning visitors to stay out of the pounding surf.

The third tropical storm of 2017, Cindy was expected to reach the northern Gulf Coast late Wednesday and then rumble inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday. Forecasters warned that rainfall totaling 6 to 9 inches and up to 12 inches in isolated spots was the biggest threat in southern parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Already some flooding from outlying rain bands was reported on Alabama's Dauphin Island and flood control locks and gates were being closed along Louisiana's bayou-marbled coast as Cindy hovered nearly stationary _ still well offshore. Officials in various coastal Louisiana and Mississippi communities handed out sandbags as rain threatened low-lying areas along rivers and bayous.

Still no #TSCindy, but #PTC3 showing better organized circulation but still lacking a well defined center. @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/rLVBRXVMqd  Angie Lassman (@AngieNBC6) June 20, 2017

The National Weather Service in Miami said Cindy was located early Tuesday afternoon about 265 miles south of Morgan City, Louisiana - or about 355 miles southeast of Galveston, Texas. The cyclone had top sustained winds of 45 mph and was nearly stationary for hours, but was expected to resume a crawl toward the northwest in coming hours.

A tropical storm warning was in effect from High Island, Texas, to the Pearl River's mouth along the Louisiana-Mississippi line. A tropical storm watch covered a large swath of the upper Texas coast from west of High Island to San Luis Pass.

Rain and tides, rather than wind, were considered the main danger from the system.

"Cindy" forms in the Gulf of Mexico as the third named storm of the 2017 season. Winds at 45mph, stationary. @nbc6 pic.twitter.com/47y9VlU0B6  Ryan Phillips - NBC6 (@RyanNBC6) June 20, 2017

In New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged vigilance as bands of rain from the system swept over the city. Forecasts said the system could dump a few inches to more than 10 inches, depending on its development and path. At worst, the storm could flood neighborhoods outside the city's levee system and cause flash flooding even in protected areas.

"This is going to be a very serious event," Landrieu said at a news conference.

In coastal Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish, Kim Chauvin said the shrimp processing businesses she and her husband run helped put out the word Monday that shrimpers should return to port and unload their catch before flood control structures closed.

"We call them, we text them, we Facebook them, we Twitter, them. Any way we can get to them," she said.

Earl Eues, an emergency official in Terrebonne, said the closing of locks and flood gates began Monday and would be completed Tuesday evening,

Parishes along the coast made sandbags - or sand and bags - available to people who wanted to protect homes and businesses.

At the Escatawpa Hollow Campground in Mississippi, on the Alabama state line, owner Larry Godfrey was prepared for flooding that would just add to the woes of a rainy spring.

"We've had so much rain, we haven't done any business in about eight weeks because of the rain," said Godfrey, whose campground typically hosts swimmers and boaters. He said the Escatawpa River, at 15 feet Tuesday, would typically be lower than 3 feet at this time of year.

While the northern Gulf Coast braced for Cindy, the southern Caribbean region was dealing with Tropical Storm Bret, which unleashed heavy flooding, knocked out power and ripped off several roofs in some areas of Trinidad &Tobago before it degenerated into a tropical wave.

All airports in Trinidad & Tobago reopened later Tuesday, though public schools and many businesses remain closed.

As cleanup efforts began, people posted pictures of furniture floating inside their homes and of dozens of uprooted trees blocking roads across Trinidad. Venezeula's government discontinued a tropical storm warning for Isla Margarita. A tropical storm watch remained in effect for the Dutch Caribbean islands of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba.
Turkey's main opposition leader accused President Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday of meddling in the judiciary and called him a "dictator", as he extended his cross-country protest march against the jailing of a parliamentary ally into a sixth day.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu, 68, head of the secularist Republican People's Party (CHP), set out last week from the capital Ankara on a 425-km (265-mile) march to Istanbul after fellow party member Enis Berberoglu was jailed for 25 years on spying charges.

Berberoglu was the first CHP lawmaker to be imprisoned in a government crackdown that followed the abortive military coup in July 2016. More than 50,000 people have been jailed and more than 150,000 sacked or suspended from their jobs.

"I will always be on the side of justice. If someone tells me my rights are a favour, I will speak of his dictatorship. I say you (Erdogan) are a dictator," Kilicdaroglu said in a speech after stopping at a national park near Camlidere, a rural area about 100 km outside of Ankara.

His comments were an apparent response to criticism from Erdogan over the weekend in which the president said justice should be sought in parliament and the CHP was only being allowed to march as a favour from the government.

Erdogan has likened the protesters who came out in support of Kilicdaroglu in Ankara and Istanbul to those who carried out the attempted coup, and said, "You should not be surprised if you receive an invitation from the judiciary."

Kilicdaroglu responded on Tuesday by accusing the president of attempting to influence the judiciary. "If I prove that your government sends notices to the courts and gives them orders, will you resign your post like an honourable man?" he said.

Rights groups and government critics, including members of Kilicdaroglu's CHP, say Turkey has been sliding toward authoritarianism since the coup bid. The government says its crackdown is necessary given vast security threats it is facing.

"I have been participating in the march since the beginning," said one woman, 59, who declined to give her name. "We want justice for our children. This is the only reason we are marching."

The slight, bespectacled Kilicdaroglu has so far clocked up a little more than 100 km, trudging along a highway westwards from Ankara and at times carrying a sign that says "Justice".

CHP officials said he was eating only soup in the morning and over the course of the day the same food given to the roughly 1,000 other supporters marching with him.

He alternates between two pairs of trainers and at night massages his feet with salt to soothe the swelling. He sleeps overnight in a caravan specially prepared for him.

Kilicdaroglu, who aims to march to the jail where Berberoglu is being held, on Tuesday condemned the government's purges, naming academics he said had been stripped of their posts for no reason and asking why journalists were being jailed.

Some 160 journalists are imprisoned in Turkey, according to the journalists union, and authorities have shut down 130 media outlets since the failed coup.

"Shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism," and "justice, justice" chanted the crowd of around 1,000 on a hillside who listened to his speech. Some carried a banner that said: "You'll never walk alone".

The march is expected to last around 25 days, with participants walking some 16-20 km daily.

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What to Know Sean Spicer is seeking to take on a more strategic role that would give him a limited presence in the daily press briefings

Deadly heat waves are bigger killers than previously thought and they are going to grow more frequent, according to a new study

Carrie Fisher's autopsy report shows the actress had cocaine in her system when she fell ill on a plane last year

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletter here.

Spicer Expected to Take Less Public Role, Sources Say

White House press secretary Sean Spicer is seeking to take on a more strategic role that would give him a limited presence in the daily press briefings that have made him a prominent face of the Trump administration. A senior administration official and three people familiar with the potential changes said Spicer has discussed taking a more senior communications role at the White House. The three people said he has reached out to possible successors at the podium and as communications director. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations before a final decision is made. The people warned that no decision has been made and, as with all things involving President Trump, the situation could change. Major staffing shake-ups have been a constant subject of conversation at the White House, but have failed to materialize in recent weeks, aside from the departure of communications director Mike Dubke in early June.

4 Family Members Detained After Champs-Elysees Attack, Officials Say

Four family members of a man killed after ramming his car into a police convoy on Paris' Champs-Elysees are in custody. The Paris prosecutor's office said the four were detained overnight in the anti-terrorism investigation into Monday's attack. Police officials said the man was on police radar for ties to radicalism, and the prime minister confirmed that the man had a gun permit. Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on BFM television that the permit was initially issued before the attacker was flagged to authorities. The man set off a fiery blast when he drove his car packed with arms and explosives into police. No one else was hurt in the incident on one of Paris' busiest shopping districts. The Champs-Elysees reopened overnight.

Democrats' Motions, Speeches Knock GOP Health Bill for Secrecy

They threatened to slow the Senate's work with procedural motions. They forced the chamber's top Republican to swat aside reasonable sounding requests, like holding committee hearings. And they delivered speech after speech after speech. Democrats used all those tools to try drawing attention to the Senate GOP's secretive effort to craft a bill scuttling President Obama's health care law and push it through the chamber by next week's end. Their largely symbolic effort was likely to have little or no impact on how Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell handles the measure. Yet Democrats were hoping it would have at least two effects  scare off Republicans wavering over whether to back the measure, and show liberal activists that Democrats are aggressively trying to thwart the legislation, even though they lack the votes to derail it.

Too Hot to Handle: Earth's Killer Heat Worsens, Study Shows

Killer heat is getting worse, a new study shows. Deadly heat waves like the one now broiling the American West are bigger killers than previously thought and they are going to grow more frequent, according to a new comprehensive study of fatal heat conditions. Still, those stretches may be less lethal in the future, as people become accustomed to them. A team of researchers examined 1,949 deadly heat waves from around the world since 1980 to look for trends, define when heat is so severe it kills and forecast the future. They found that nearly one in three people now experience 20 days a year when the heat reaches deadly levels. But the study predicts that up to three in four people worldwide will endure that kind of heat by the end of the century, if global warming continues unabated. The study comes as much of the U.S. swelters through extended triple-digit heat.

Cocaine Among Drugs Found in Carrie Fisher's System, Coroner Says

Carrie Fisher's autopsy report shows the actress had cocaine in her system when she fell ill on a plane last year, but investigators could not determine what impact the cocaine and other drugs found in her system had on her death. The report released states Fisher may have taken cocaine three days before the Dec. 23 flight on which she became ill. She died four days later. It also found traces of heroin and MDMA, which is also known as ecstasy, but that they could not determine when Fisher had taken those drugs. The findings were based on toxicology screenings done on samples taken when the "Star Wars" actress arrived at a Los Angeles hospital. Coroner's officials ruled Fisher died from sleep apnea and a combination of other factors. A news release mentioned drugs were found in Fisher's system, but it did not provide details.

Patriots Star Rob Gronkowski Racks Up $102K Bar Tab

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski reportedly racked up a $102,000 bar tab while partying at a Flo Rida concert at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut over the weekend. TMZ published a photo of what it said was Gronkowski's receipt, showing that he and his 20-person posse went through: 160 bottles of champagne, 16 bottles of Grey Goose, 45 orders of Maker's Mark, 24 shots of Jim Beam Fire and three bottles of Don Julio 1942 at the Shrine nightclub. It is unclear who footed the bill, but its authenticity was confirmed, Shrine representatives told TMZ. Gronkowski is reportedly a friend of Flo Rida, who was performing at the club. He can be seen in a Facebook video posted by Shrine Foxwoods dancing around shirtless, posing with Flo Rida.
Police have beefed up security near mosques around New York City following a London attack where a driver plowed into worshippers.

Police spokesman Peter Donald says the move is out of an abundance of caution and not due to any specific threat information.

Police there say the London crash is being investigated as terrorism.

The NYPD is stepping up patrols at city mosques in the wake of the attack in London. Tracie Strahan reports.

The chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque has said the crash is a "cowardly attack" and urged Muslims going to mosques to be vigilant.
What to Know The rain is gone but the tri-state is still cleaning up from the severe weather that hit the area Monday afternoon

The severe thunderstorms rolled in and brought strong winds and torrential rains

The storm flooded streets, toppled trees and led to power outages and significant fight delays; no injuries were reported

The rain might be gone, but tri-state residents are still dealing with damage from Monday's storm.

Cleanup was underway Monday night into Tuesday after the round of severe weather toppled trees, flooded streets and cut power in communities from New Jersey to parts of the Hudson Valley and western Long Island.

A sudden downpour during some severe weather had some roads in the tri-state looking more like rivers. Ida Siegal reports.

In Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey, a tree fell onto a house. Nobody was injured.

"We just heard this huge crack and a thud," Justine Moran, who lives in the Ho-Ho-Kus home, said. "I ran up to my room and all the way down the side wall theres a huge crack."

In Pictures: Severe Thunderstorms Hammer Tri-State

After a hot and humid day, the powerful storms moved in on the heels of a cold front and hammered the city and surrounding areas. Multiple time-lapse videos showed dark clouds descending east towards Manhattan as buildings disappeared behind a wall of rain. Lightning flashed over Greenwich Village in one video.

Mondays severe thunderstorms felled trees in Ridgewood and other parts of New Jersey. Marc Santia reports.

The tempest toppled trees from the Hudson Valley to New Jersey  heavy tree damage was reported on Manhattan's Upper West Side. One tree fell onto a car at West 78th Street and another split in half, blocking a street at West 167th Street. In New Jersey, multiple trees crashed onto cars in Bergen County and a downed tree fell onto part of the Palisades Parkway.

In Hawthorne, New Jersey, a tree crashed into the bedroom of Tom Bushnauskas as he slept. He was not injured, but had to tell his dad that a tree was in their home.

"He was like, 'What do you mean the tree fell down?'" Bushnauskas told NBC 4 New York. "I'm like, 'Well, it's in my room.'"

A number of trees were reported down in New Jersey as severe weather moved through the tri-state Monday. In Hawthorne, a tree crashed into a house. Gus Rosendale reports.

Felled trees brought down powerlines across the tri-state, cutting power to nearly 2,000 people in New Jersey and more than 2,000 people on Long Island, according to PSE&G. The majority of lights are back on, but PSE&G is still reporting minimal outages Tuesday morning.

Kelvin Smith, of Greenburgh, lost power when a small tree fell onto powerlines.

"I opened up all the windows," Smith said. "All the windows and the shades just to let some light in."

Flood waters poured into the streets of Red Hook and Williamsburg, in Brooklyn, and washed over a parking lot in Elizabeth and over roads in Weehawken, New Jersey. Part of the busy Bronx River Parkway was flooded, and cars moved through swamped streets in Rosyln Heights, on Long Island.

Rain seeped into the Dekalb Avenue station in Brooklyn, covering a platform in water. And motorists on an FDR Drive underpass had to contend with rain falling from an overpass above.

A timelapse video shows menacing black clouds rolling in over New York City, obscuring the Top of the Rock camera.

Area airports -- Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark -- instituted a traffic management program ahead of the severe weather. During the height of the storm, wind gusts neared 60 mph at Newark Airport, where flights were delayed more than 5 hours late Monday night. At Kennedy, they were delayed 4 1/2 hours. Only LaGuardia had returned to normal by 10 p.m.



Tuesday and Wednesday will be nice, with highs in the low 80s and an abundance of sunshine, Storm Team 4 said.
Candidates in the tight, hard-fought race to replace Tom Price in Georgia's 6th Congressional District have one more day to sway voters.

The race between Republican Karen Handel and Democrat Jon Ossoff is seen as a significant political test for the new Trump Administration and spending could top $50 million, making it the most expensive House race in U.S. history. The district traditionally goes Republican, but most consider the race too close to call as voters head to the polls on Tuesday.

Ossoff, a 30-year-old former congressional staffer and documentary filmmaker, is seeking support from moderate voters with ads focused on the economy and national spending, while Handel, 55, is focusing on her experience as Georgia secretary of state and the leader of the state's largest county commission.

Both candidates tried to avoid talk on Monday about the contest's national implications for Democrats and Republicans in the Trump era, but their supporters aren't treading as carefully. That includes the president, who tweeted about the race several times on Monday.

Trump wrote that Ossoff "can't even vote ... because he doesn't even live there!"

Ossoff lives in Atlanta, south of the suburban district. Ossoff has said the address is close to Emory University, where his fiance attends medical school.

The president initially misspelled Handel's name, but deleted that tweet.

Bill Johns, a Handel supporter from East Cobb, said he considers a vote for the GOP candidate a show of support for Trump. After shaking Handel's hand at a wood-paneled barbecue restaurant on Monday, Johns, 71, said he's amazed at the level of attention on the race.

"It's kind of a referendum," he said over a platter of pulled pork. "I still like Trump, but he can be a bit of a loose cannon. I think getting her elected helps his position and also gives us a stronger Republican Congress."

Handel maintained some distance from Trump in the primary but has fully embraced his support and agenda since, including a joint fundraiser. She and outside groups supporting her campaign have instead tried to link Ossoff to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

"The strategy for this campaign has always been about who is best and the right fit for people of this district," Handel said on Monday. "The people of this district are not from a views and a values standpoint aligned with Nancy Pelosi."

Ossoff, who once described his bid to take the GOP-controlled district as an opportunity to "make Trump furious," has since dialed back. He repeatedly downplayed Trump's role in the race while rallying supporters at a campaign office in Chamblee on Monday but acknowledged that it's a motivating force for many supporters.

"There are many in this community, myself among them, who have deep concerns about the direction of things in Washington, about the integrity and competence of this administration," he said. "I think that those concerns have only grown over time. And with a commitment to working across the aisle to get things done, to holding people in Washington accountable regardless of their political party, some fresh leaders can hopefully break through some of this nonsense."

Ossoff supporter Karen Langford said she had never volunteered for a political campaign until this year. The 70-year-old retiree said she has knocked on potential voters' doors every week since March for Ossoff's campaign, motivated by her fears about Trump's election and his approach to health care, immigration and education.

"We let that happen," she said. "I needed to do something to change it. I used to live in D.C. and I know what it's like to have zero representation in Congress. I don't want my district to have negative representation."

The homestretch scramble was marked by a last-minute ad from a little-known political action committee trying to tie Ossoff's campaign to the "violent left" and the recent shooting of Republican House Whip Steve Scalise by a man who identified as a liberal.

Handel told reporters Monday that she hadn't seen the ad. After a reporter described it, Handel called it "disgusting."

"And, yeah, it should come down," she said. "Absolutely."

Principled PAC, the organization that produced the ad, had not disclosed its donors before this weekend, when the group unveiled the spot.

Republican leaders in Washington have urged members and campaigns not to politicize the shooting. Ossoff criticized the ad for politicizing "a tragedy that has united the country."

"We all need to be focused on bringing more civility and unity to our political conversation, even though we have intense differences of opinion," he said.

The ad, which contains imagery some may find disturbing, can be viewed in full below.
A tornado formed in southeastern Pennsylvania Monday and an EFO tornado may have grazed Delaware, according to the National Weather Service.

The NWS said Tuesday the severe storms that walloped muched of the Northeast spawned a tornado near Shartlesville in Berks County, Pennsylvania. A survey of the southern slope of Blue Mountain conducted after the storm found damage consistent with "tornadic damage," the NWS said.

"The most concentrated damage consisted of several large hardwood trees that were uprooted and snapped at a private residence off of nearby Mountain Road," the agency said. "The direction of the fallen trees exhibited a rotational pattern consistent with tornadic damage."

Several videos posted online showed what appeared to be funnel clouds near Shartlesville, about 75 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The NWS said the videos provided additional evidence of the tornado.

Meanwhile, an initial assessment of damage near Greeenwood, Delaware, appears to signal an EFO tornado. The NWS says the tornadic damage embedded in the larger straight line wind damage near Greenwood, Delaware. The initial assessment is that the tornado was an EF0.

Surveillance video from outside a warehouse under construction in Greenwood, Delaware, showed a sudden burst of wind and rain around 6:30 p.m. Debris from the site, located along Sussex Highway and owned by the Delaware Electric Co-Op, could be seen tossed around. The warehouse's roof and several trees were damaged.



Jeremy Tucker, spokesman for the electric company, said had the storm hit an hour earlier, construction workers could have been injured by the flying debris.



Several videos also surfaced showing what appeared to be a funnel cloud near Shartlesville, Berks County. Its unclear from the videos however whether or not it touched down.

During the storms, tornado warnings were issued in the area immediately west of Berks County, Pennsylvania, and Sussex County and the lower edge of Kent County in Delaware.
The California Independent System Operation Corporation (ISO) issued a statewide Flex Alert on Monday, asking California residents to voluntarily conserve electricity through Wednesday evening as a heat wave sweeps through the state.

Cal ISO, the state's power grid operator, is asking residents to voluntarily conserve electricity between 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The week's hot temperatures are expected to drive up people's use of air conditioners, which can strain the power grid.



San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) said it does not anticipate having issues meeting the energy demand over the course of the week, but the company is still encouraging customers to conserve energy.

With temperatures nearing triple digits in some parts of San Diego County, residents looking to escape the heat can head to cool zones across the region. You can find the full list here.

SDG&E is also offering the following tips to help San Diegans conserve energy...

Set thermostat at 78 degrees when home

Use fans instead of A/C

Unplug TV, cable, DVD, or gaming devices when idle or use smart power strip

Turn off unnecessary lights

Hold off on doing laundry and using dishwater until after 9 p.m.

Use compact fluorescent lamps or LEDs

Close blinds, shades, or drapes during hottest part of the day

Check weather-stripping around doors and caulking around windows

If you have a pool, check pool pump
Actress and U.N. refugee agency special envoy Angelina Jolie says the way people treat refugees, the majority of them women and children, is a measure of humanity.

Jolie spoke Tuesday in Kenya to mark World Refugee Day. She spent time with more than a dozen girls who are refugees from conflicts in Burundi, South Sudan, Somalia and Congo.

Kenya is home to nearly 491,000 refugees from conflicts in neighboring countries.

A Kenyan court recently stopped the government from closing what had been the world's largest refugee camp, Dadaab, and sending more than 200,000 people back to Somalia. The court said the government had not proved Somalia is safe for refugees to return.
A dramatically higher number of people reported being the victims of hate crimes in Washington, D.C. in 2016 than in 2015 -- and data for 2017 thus far suggests a continued increase.

The Metropolitan Police Department provided News4 with the police reports for every hate crime reported in the city in 2016. The data does not include any incidents that occurred on federal land or at universities.

Source: Metropolitan Police Department

The interactive map above shows each of these reported crimes. Click on each dot to read what happened, when and how police categorized the incident.

The numbers of hate crimes reported in the District were up in every category in 2016. The majority of the 106 crimes were committed on the basis of the victim's perceived sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. Fifty-six crimes in these categories were reported in 2016, marking a 51 percent increase from 2015.

The director of the D.C. Office of Human Rights, Monica Palacio, said she believes the real number of hate crimes is even higher.

"We don't always hear about what's happening," she said.

The police reports tell the troubling stories of dozens of victims.

Two men were walking along Georgia Avenue near the Petworth Metro station one evening in May 2016 when a group of 10 males started shouting anti-gay slurs at them and throwing balled-up Metro pamphlets. The men kept walking but found themselves faced by another hostile group.

"Hey, they gay! Let' f--- them up!" one of four females said, the victims told police.

As the men tried to get into a car, the females threw rocks at them, spit in one of the men's faces and kicked out the driver's side mirror.

In October, near Logan Circle, a couple found the n-word gouged into their car. They're an interracial couple that has lived in the neighborhood for 19 years.

In November, in Georgetown, a woman was walking about 1 a.m. when three people approached her. She moved off the sidewalk, but they pushed her down and yelled at her to take off her headscarf. Then, they laughed and walked away.

Reported crimes in Northwest D.C. made up the majority of the reports, at 69 percent. Palacio posited that residents of that quadrant of the city may feel more comfortable calling the police than residents elsewhere.

D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham declined to answer questions about the trends. In March, he said the crimes run contrary to D.C. values.

"We will not accept this as the new norm," he said at a news conference.

In March, he attributed the increase to a rise in reporting, an increase in awareness about hate crimes and national issues.

"It could be because people have become more emboldened because of some of the things that we've seen nationally," the police chief said, without elaborating.

The designation of a reported crime as a hate crime can change at any time, and prosecutors can choose whether or not to prosecute as a hate crime. If someone is convicted of a hate crime, a judge can impose a sentence of up to 1.5 times the maximum term of imprisonment or fine, a police spokeswoman said.

Overall crime in D.C. has decreased in the past two years.

Police say they have made arrests in 34 of the hate crime cases reported in 2016, with a 32 percent closure rate. In 2017, they say they have made arrests in 16 of the 51 cases, also with a 32 percent closure rate.

If trends for 2017 continue, the hate crime totals for the year will climb even higher than they were last year.

Palacio, the Office of Human Rights director, encouraged anyone who thinks they were the victim of a crime to report it. She urged residents to not "normalize toxic language."

"We want to live in a city where people feel safe communicating who they are without necessarily trying to annihilate people who are different than them," she said.

Sarah Dean, Alexandra Kruse and Kyle Rempfer contributed reporting.
3:55 p.m. Wednesday

Forecasters say heavy rains are now lashing parts of the northern Gulf coast as Tropical Storm Cindy gets closer to expected landfall in coming hours.

The National Hurricane Center says it expects little change in strength before Cindy reaches the coast late Wednesday, somewhere along the Texas-Louisiana line.

By Wednesday afternoon, the center of the storm was about 125 miles (200 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas, and roughly the same distance south of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Top wind speeds have remained at about 50 mph (85 kph) in recent hours as the storm churns toward land at about 9 mph (kph).

Forecasters say heavy rains from Cindy could cause life-threatening flash floods. The forecast generally calls for 6-9 inches (150-230 millimeters) of rain with up to 15 inches (380 millimeters) in some isolated spots. The Miami-based center also warns a few tornadoes are possible overnight from the Florida Panhandle into south Louisiana.

1:10 p.m. Wednesday

A sheriff's captain says a 10-year-old Missouri boy has died on the Alabama coast after being fatally struck by a log washed in by storm surge from Tropical Storm Cindy.

Baldwin County Sheriff's Capt. Stephen Arthur says the boy was hit by the debris Wednesday morning in the Fort Morgan area. Stephen said witnesses reported the boy was standing outside his family's condominium when he was struck by the log washed in by a large wave.

Arthur said the child was vacationing with his family. He says relatives and emergency workers were unable to resuscitate the boy.

The boy's name wasn't immediately released.

1 p.m. Wednesday

The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Cindy is heading toward the northern Gulf coast, where it is expected to make landfall in the coming hours.

The center said in an update at 1 p.m. CDT Wednesday that the storm was centered about 170 miles (270 kilometers) southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana -- or roughly the same distance southeast of Galveston, Texas. Its sustained winds continue to top out at 50 mph (85 kph) and it's moving closer to the coast at a rate of 9 mph (14 kph).

Forecasters say the storm is nearing the coast along a stretch between southeast Texas and southwestern Louisiana. They add that little change in strength is expected before landfall but that it will weekend once it moves inland on Thursday.

Heavy rains associated with the storm are raising the possibility of life-threatening flash floods over a wide area of the coast.

10:40 a.m. Wednesday

Heavy rains from Tropical Storm Cindy are causing flooding in low-lying areas along the Alabama coast.



Some roads are covered with water in the seafood village of Bayou La Batre, and police say streets are flooded on the barrier island of Dauphin Island. Officials there have closed the beaches because of dangerously rough surf.



Double red flags are flying in Gulf Shores to warn people to stay out of the waves. But live video feeds Wednesday showed a few people still on the beach despite rain showers and high winds.



Becca Caldemeyer says business is slow at her bait shop in Bayou La Batre because it's too windy to fish. She says sea water is washing into marshes, but she can still get to and from work since the roads aren't completely covered with water.

10 a.m. Wednesday

Rain has slackened along Mississippi's Gulf Coast after an overnight drenching, but not before a waterspout came ashore in Biloxi, causing minor damage.



Harrison County Emergency Management Director Rupert Lacy says the waterspout made landfall around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, causing damage to fences, trees and power lines. No one was hurt. One large live oak branch was downed on the grounds of Beauvoir, the historic home that once belonged to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.



The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport has reported more than 7 inches (180 mms) of rain since Tuesday morning.

Mississippi officials reported standing water on hundreds of roads after heavy rains, but Lacy says some flash flooding is receding for now, and no buildings have yet been reported as flooding. Coastal rivers are expected to leap their banks, though, as water runs off.



8:45 a.m. Wednesday

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency ahead of Tropical Storm Cindy's landfall.



The governor's spokesman Richard Carbo said Edwards signed the statewide declaration Wednesday morning.



The storm is moving closer to the Gulf Coast, where it threatens to bring a storm surge of up to 3 feet (0.91 meters).



Wednesday morning, the storm was centered about 165 miles (265 kilometers) south-southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and is moving northwest near 8 mph (13 kph).



The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Cindy is expected to approach the coast of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas late Wednesday or Wednesday night and move inland Thursday.

7 a.m. Wednesday

Tropical Storm Cindy is moving closer to the Gulf Coast, where it threatens to bring a storm surge of up to 3 feet (0.91 meters).

As of 7 a.m. CDT Wednesday, the storm was centered about 165 miles (265 kilometers) south-southwest of Morgan City, Louisiana, and is moving northwest near 8 mph (13 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Cindy is expected to approach the coast of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas late Wednesday or Wednesday night and move inland Thursday.



The storm's maximum sustained winds are near 60 mph (96 kph).

The National Weather Service said early Wednesday that flash flood watches covered parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.



Forecasters in Louisiana say Tropical Storm Cindy will bring the potential for a storm surge of up to 3 feet (0.91 meters) along the Gulf Coast.



The National Weather Service said early Wednesday that flash flood watches covered parts of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia as the storm trudged closer to the U.S. mainland.



The weather service has warned that the storm brings the threat of "life-threatening flash flooding."



Rain bands began pushing ashore Tuesday even before the system reached tropical storm strength. It was stationary much of the day Tuesday but was on a lumbering track that would take its center toward southwestern Louisiana and eastern Texas by Wednesday morning.



But the heavy rains were on its east side, meaning the major rain threat stretched from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle.

4:20 a.m. Wednesday



Residents and officials along a stretch of the Gulf Coast from the Florida panhandle to eastern Texas are keeping an eye on Tropical Storm Cindy.



The storm formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico. It's expected to move slowly toward the Louisiana-Texas line. But the heaviest rain bands were to the east. And the National Weather Service says it poses a threat of dangerous flash flooding.



Forecasters say some areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida could see a foot of rain.



Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency Tuesday because of the threat of torrential dangerous high tides and rip currents. Other state and local officials along the coast were mulling similar declarations.

10 p.m. Tuesday



The National Weather Service has extended the tropical storm warning on the Gulf Coast eastward to the Alabama-Florida border.

Forecasters Tuesday night increased the warning ahead of Tropical Storm Cindy to include Lake Pontchartrain and the New Orleans metro area.

The storm was about 230 miles (370 kilometers) south of Morgan City, Louisiana, with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph (97 kph). It was moving northwest at 7 mph (11 kph) and forecast to continue along that track before turning to the north Wednesday night.

Not much change in strength is expected Wednesday, with slight weakening beginning Thursday.

8:45 p.m. Tuesday

The National Weather Service says Tropical Storm Cindy is centered about 350 miles (563.24 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas. Maximum sustained winds were clocked Tuesday evening at 45 mph (75 kph) and the storm has been nearly stationary in recent hours. A tropical storm warning has been issued for the Gulf Coast from San Luis Pass, at the western end of Galveston Island, to the mouth of the Pearl River, where the Louisiana-Mississippi border meets the Gulf of Mexico.

Forecasts say the storm could produce overall rainfall of 6-9 inches (15-23 cms) with isolated amounts of up to 12 inches (30 cms) in spots in southeastern Louisiana and southern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday.

A tropical storm warning was expanded to a wider area Tuesday afternoon, now extending from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the mouth of the Pearl River on the Mississippi-Louisiana line.

8:30 p.m. Tuesday

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the State Operations Center to raise its readiness level as Tropical Storm Cindy approached the Gulf Coast.

The center's readiness would be raised from level four/normal conditions to level three/increased readiness as of noon Wednesday. Also, Abbott has activated four Texas Task Force 1 boat squads and two Texas Military Department vehicles squads of five vehicles each to respond to any weather-related emergencies.

Abbott also put on standby the Emergency Medical Task Force of the Department of State health Services, as well as Texas Military Forces aircraft and shelter and feeding teams.

A voluntary evacuation notice has been issued for those with medical and other special needs on the Bolivar Peninsula, between Galveston and High Island, Texas. The National Weather Service advises that services may be limited for those on the peninsula around high tide from Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.

4:30 p.m. Tuesday

Tropical Storm Cindy is meandering over the central Gulf of Mexico, and forecasters warn that it's dumping heavy rains that could trigger life-threatening flash floods.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Cindy was located at 4 p.m. CDT Tuesday about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of Morgan City, Louisiana -- or about 360 miles (575 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas.

Maximum sustained winds were clocked at 45 mph (75 kph) and the storm has been nearly stationary in recent hours.

Forecasts say the storm could produce overall rainfall of 6-9 inches (15-23 cms) with isolated amounts of up to 12 inches (30 cms) in spots in southeastern Louisiana and southern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday.

A tropical storm warning was expanded to a wider area Tuesday afternoon, now extending from San Luis Pass, Texas to the mouth of the Pearl River on the Mississippi-Louisiana line.

3 p.m. Tuesday

Louisiana's emergency preparedness office said it is coordinating with local officials and readying resources in advance of Tropical Storm Cindy's threat of heavy rain and flash flooding.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the advance notice of the storm gives officials time to put emergency plans in place.

Louisiana was slammed with major flooding last summer from an unnamed storm that heavily damaged the Baton Rouge and Lafayette regions.

Cindy formed Tuesday from a system that had been developing in the Gulf.

The Louisiana National Guard has moved high water vehicles and helicopters into areas that could flood. The state said FEMA is moving 125,000 meals and 200,000 liters of water into Louisiana.

Edwards is encouraging Louisiana residents to monitor local media and check GetAGamePlan.org to ready for the storm.

1:30 p.m. Tuesday

Some Gulf Coast residents are bracing for heavy rain and possible flooding from Tropical Storm Cindy.

Larry Godfrey, who owns the Escatawpa Hollow Campground in Alabama, near the state line with Mississippi, said the Escatawpa River is already high from rainfall, and he expects his campground will flood.

National Weather Service forecasters are warning of the possibility of more than 10 inches of rain for an area between Biloxi, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama, by Friday morning.

City and county governments on Mississippi's coast are handing out sandbags. Jackson County Emergency Management Coordinator Donald Langham said rainfall-induced flooding appears to be the main danger from Cindy.

Godfrey and his wife live in a house on stilts, but he says water could get under his house. He says he will shut off power to campsites and tie up picnic tables.

12:35 p.m. Tuesday

Tropical Storm Cindy has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and is threatening to spread heavy rain across a wide area of the central Gulf coast.

The National Weather Service in Miami said the storm is centered about 265 miles (430 kilometers) south of Morgan City, Louisiana -- or about 355 miles (565 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas.

Tropical storm warnings now in effect for part of the Texas coast. #dfwwx @nbcdfw pic.twitter.com/ONVr1oiOog  Samantha Davies (@SDaviesNBC5) June 20, 2017

Cindy has top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph) and the storm is presently stationary in the Gulf. It says Cindy acquired a well-defined center on Tuesday afternoon, becoming the third tropical storm of 2017.

The center said Cindy is expected to reach the Louisiana coast sometime late Wednesday and then move inland over western Louisiana and eastern Texas on Thursday.

Forecasters say rain totaling 6 to 9 inches in areas and up to 12 inches in some spots pose a threat to southern portions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Thursday.

10:15 a.m. Tuesday

Coastal residents are feeling the effects of a severe storm system that's churning in the Gulf of Mexico.

Police say flooding already is being reported on Dauphin Island south of Mobile, Alabama. The main road leading to the island's narrow western end is partially covered with water, and the city is moving vehicles and equipment to higher ground.

Red flags are flying on the main public beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, as a warning for people to stay out of the water. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency Tuesday morning because of the flooding threat.

Bands of heavy rain are coming through as far east as the Florida Panhandle.

Coastal Louisiana and Texas are under a tropical storm warning, and forecasters say the Alabama and Mississippi coasts could get as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain by Thursday night.

10 a.m. Tuesday

Forecasters say a tropical storm warning is in effect from High Island on the upper Texas coast all the way to the mouth of the Pearl River at the state line of Louisiana and Mississippi. A tropical storm watch is in effect elsewhere on the Texas coast from west of High Island to San Luis Pass.

Forecasters say a tropical storm warning has been extended further westward for a disturbance in the central Gulf and it now covers an area from High Island, Texas, to the mouth of the Pearl River between Louisiana and Mississippi.

High Island is located along the Bolivar Peninsula between Galveston and Port Arthur.

The National Weather Service said the biggest threat from the disturbance is the likely heavy rainfall over wide areas of the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

At 10 a.m., the center said disturbance No. 3 was centered about 265 miles (430 kilometer) south of Morgan City, Louisiana -- or about 355 miles (565 kilometers southeast of Galveston, Texas. It's maximum sustained winds are at 40 mph (65 kph) and the storm is moving toward the northwest at 10 mph (17 kph).

The tropical storm warning means tropical storm conditions are expected somewhere in the warning area in the next 24 to 36 hours.

A tropical storm watch is also in effect on the upper Texas coast from west of High Island to San Luis Pass.

8:25 a.m. Tuesday

Forecasters said earlier in the morning Tuesday the Alabama and Mississippi coasts could be inundated with as much as 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain from the tropical storm.

The heaviest rains are expected in an area that includes the port city of Mobile, Alabama, and the cities of Pascagoula and Biloxi in Mississippi. The forecast shows an even wider area from southeastern Louisiana into the western Florida Panhandle could receive as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain over three days.

The National Weather Service issued an expanded flash flood watch for the area Tuesday, and forecasters say the flooding threat will continue through Thursday night.

Coastal Louisiana is under a tropical storm warning. The National Hurricane Center says the storm is expected to move inshore early Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas line before weakening and moving northeastward in a sweeping arc.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bret is moving along South America's northern coast. Its maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph (64 kph) with weakening expected to begin later in the day.
The U.S. military has confirmed it killed a top IS group cleric in an airstrike.

Central Command said Tuesday that Turki al-Binali was killed on May 31. Activists and IS supporters reported his death at the time, but the military is only confirming it now.

The Bahraini cleric wrote religious justifications for the enslavement of thousands of women from Iraq's Yazidi minority and helped establish the IS branch in Libya. He rose to be one of the extremist group's leading ideologues.

The military said Binali was killed in Mayadeen, an IS-held Syrian town near the Iraqi border.

Several senior Islamic State figures have been killed in recent years as the group has been driven from large parts of Syria and Iraq. U.S.-backed forces recently pushed into Raqqa, the northern Syrian city that served as the group's de facto capital.

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Russia on Monday threatened aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition in Syrian-controlled airspace and suspended a hotline intended to avoid collisions in retaliation for the U.S. military shooting down a Syrian warplane.

The U.S. said it had downed the Syrian jet a day earlier after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group, adding that was something it would not tolerate.

The downing of the warplane  the first time in the six-year conflict that the U.S. has shot down a Syrian jet  came amid another first: Iran fired several ballistic missiles Sunday night at IS positions in eastern Syria in what it said was a message to archrival Saudi Arabia and the United States.

The developments added to already-soaring regional tensions and reflect the intensifying rivalry among the major players in Syria's civil war that could spiral out of control just as the fight against the Islamic State group in its stronghold of Raqqa is gaining ground.

Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, called on the U.S. military to provide a full accounting as to why it decided to shoot down the Syrian Su-22 bomber.

The U.S. military confirmed that one of its F-18 Super Hornets shot down a Syrian jet that had dropped bombs near the U.S. partner forces SDF. Those forces, which are aligned with the U.S. in the campaign against the Islamic State group, warned Syrian government troops to stop their attacks or face retaliation.

The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that as of Monday, all coalition jets and drones flying west of the Euphrates River will be tracked as potential targets.

Areas of northern Syria west of the Euphrates were controlled by IS before Syrian government forces captured most of them in recent months. The Russians, who have been providing air cover for Assad's forces since 2015, appear to want to avoid further U.S. targeting of Syrian warplanes or ground troops that have come under U.S. attack in eastern Syria recently.

It was the second time Russia suspended a hotline intended to minimize incidents with the U.S. in Syrian airspace. In April, Russia briefly suspended cooperation after the U.S. military fired 59 missiles at a Syrian air base following a chemical weapons attack that Washington blamed on the Assad government.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington is working to re-establish communications aimed at avoiding mishaps involving U.S. and Russian air operations in Syria.

Speaking in Washington, the top U.S. military officer said the two sides discussed the matter as recently as Monday morning but that further talks are needed.

Viktor Ozerov, chairman of the defense and security committee at the upper chamber of Russian parliament, described his Defense Ministry's statement as a warning.

"I'm sure that because of this, neither the U.S. nor anyone else will take any actions to threaten our aircraft," he told the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency. "That's why there's no threat of direct confrontation between Russia and American aircraft."

Ozerov insisted that Russia will be tracking the coalition's jets, not shooting them down, but he added that "a threat for those jets may appear only if they take action that pose a threat to Russian aircraft."

Iran said the missile strike by its powerful Revolutionary Guard hit Syria's eastern city of Deir el-Zour on Sunday night and was in retaliation for two attacks in Tehran earlier this month that killed 17 people and were claimed by the Islamic State group.

It appeared to be Iran's first missile attack abroad in over 15 years and its first in the Syrian conflict, in which it has provided crucial support to Assad. The muscle-flexing comes amid the worsening of a long-running feud between Shiite powerhouse Iran and Saudi Arabia, with supports Syrian rebels and has led recent efforts to isolate the Gulf nation of Qatar.

"The Saudis and Americans are especially receivers of this message," Gen. Ramazan Sharif of the Revolutionary Guard told Iranian state TV in an interview.

It also raised questions about how U.S. President Donald Trump's administration, which had previously put Iran "on notice" for its ballistic missile tests, will respond. Israel also is concerned about Iran's missiles and has deployed a multilayered missile-defense system.

The missile attack came amid recent confrontations in Syria between U.S.-backed forces and Iranian-backed pro-government factions. The U.S. recently deployed a truck-mounted missile system in Syria as Iranian-backed forces cut off the advance of the U.S.-supported rebels along the Iraqi border.

Iranian officials threatened more strikes. Former Guard chief Gen. Mohsen Rezai wrote on Twitter: "The bigger slap is yet to come."

U.S.-backed opposition fighters said Assad's forces have been attacking them in the northern province of Raqqa and warned that if such attacks continue, the fighters will take action.

Clashes between Syrian troops and the SDF would escalate tensions and open a new front line in the many complex battlefields of the civil war, now in its seventh year. Clashes between the Kurdish-led SDF and Syrian forces have been rare and some rebel groups have even accused them of coordinating on the battlefield.

Both sides are battling the Islamic State group, with SDF fighters focusing on their march into the northern city of Raqqa, which the extremist group has declared to be its capital.

Syrian government forces have also been attacking IS in northern, central and southern parts of the country, seizing 9,600 square miles and reaching the Iraqi border for the first time in years.

SDF spokesman Talal Sillo said the government wants to thwart the SDF offensive to capture Raqqa. He said government forces began attacking the SDF on Saturday, using warplanes, artillery and tanks in areas that SDF had liberated from ISIS.

Sillo also warned that if "the regime continues in its offensive against our positions in Raqqa province, this will force us to retaliate with force."

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syria's war, said government forces expanded their presence in Raqqa province by capturing from ISIS the town of Rasafa.

Vasilyeva reported from Moscow. Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran and Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed.
Russia's defense ministry says it will treat U.S.-led coalition planes in Syria, west of the Euphrates River, as targets after the U.S. military shot down a Syrian Air Force jet on Sunday.

Moscow has condemned the U.S. downing of the Syrian government fighter jet after it dropped bombs nears U.S. partner forces. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that, starting Monday, it will track all jets and drones of the U.S.-led coalition west of the Euphrates and treat them as targets.

The ministry also called on the U.S. military to provide a full account of why it decided to shoot down the Syrian SU-22.

The U.S. military has said it acted in "collective self defense" of its partner forces after pro-Syrian regime forces attacked the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces-held town of Ja'Din, south of Tabqah in northern Syria, and that the U.S. did not seek a fight with the Syrian government or its Russian supporters.

Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad, has been providing an air cover to the government's offensive on the Islamic State group since 2015.

Russia's defense ministry also said Monday it is suspending coordination with the United States in Syria over so-called "de-confliction zones" after the incident.

The United States and Russia have a standing agreement that should prevent in-the-air incidents involving U.S. and Russia jets engaged in operations in Syria, but the Russian defense ministry is suspending the deal.



The ministry said it views the incident as Washington's "deliberate failure to make good on its commitments" under the de-confliction deal.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Russian news agencies on Monday that the downing was akin to "helping the terrorists that the U.S. is fighting against."

Ryabkov asked: "What is this, if not an act of aggression?"
A fall of poppies cascades from the pulpit in St Andrews Methodist Church in Sheringham, and anyone is welcome to come and see them.

A fall of poppies cascades from the pulpit in St Andrews Methodist Church in Sheringham, and anyone is welcome to come and see them.

Bishop Graham's prayers for COP27 climate conference Bishop Graham is publishing daily prayers on social media for the current COP27 climate conference, and is asking all to join. Read more

Discovering the Orange in your life The vibrant colours of autumn have been inspiring regular contributor Jane Walters to focus on the positive. Read more

YMCA annual celebration set to inspire YMCA Norfolk is set to hold its much anticipated 2022 annual celebration and awards ceremony on November 17, after almost 3 years since the last event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

Hub manager vacancy at community shop Earlham Community Shop Community Interest Company is looking to appoint a manager for this new venture being developed in the heart of NR5 Norwich. Read more

Abbey Days brings Christmas Magic to Wymondham Visitors to Wymondham Abbeys Christmas fair will be able to treat their children to a magic show and fun baking workshop while they browse more than 60 stalls. Read more

Salvation Armys new Christmas Appeal in Norfolk The Salvation Army has launched their new Christmas appeal across Norfolk which, this year, has evolved from the much-loved Toys and Tins appeal. Read more

Are we storing up treasures on earth? Rising prices affect us all, and Anna Heydon urges us to spare a thought for those who will be struggling with the cost of living this winter. Read more

Latest Norfolk Christian community events Events of interest to the Norwich and Norfolk Christian community happening over the next few weeks are listed. Read more

Covid leaf memorial at Norwich church St Peter Mancroft Church Norwich Presents The Leaves of the Trees an installation by sculptor Peter Walker which provides a memorial for those who died of Covid-19 Read more

Community Chaplaincy Norfolk begins a new chapter Community Chaplaincy Norfolk (CCN) celebrated the beginning of a new chapter this week, as the new chair of trustees Chris Tomlinson led his first annual meeting. Read more

Lowestoft Christians launch on-line bible helps app The Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth branch of Good News for Everyone (GNFE), formerly the Gideons, have introduced a new mobile phone app called On-line Bible Helps. Read more

Addicts' rehabilitation centre plan for Drayton Hall Christian addiction charity Teen Challenge London is planning to turn Drayton Hall near Norwich into its headquarters and a rehabilitation centre for men, after it was gifted the freehold of the hall by its owner, the Lind Trust. Read more

The power of positive protest Philip Young encourages us to take a stand for what we believe, and has just written to Therese Coffey regarding climate change and the forthcoming COP 27. He explains why we should be prepared to protest. Read more

Norwich church celebrates with cribs and trees Rosebery Road Methodist Church in Norwich will be holding its annual Cribs and Trees Festival in December. Read more

Transforming Norwich lunch offers ministry tips Ex-Brighton vicar, Rev Phil Moon, will offer tips on how to keep going in ministry to the Transforming Norwich leaders lunch on Wednesday November 16. Read more

Quiet Waters in Bungay offers healing retreat Quiet Waters Christian Retreat in Bungay is holding a gentle day retreat exploring healing in the Kingdom of God. Read more

Norfolk ministry coaching duo are guest speakers Former church leaders and now freelance ministry coaches, Jonathan and Paige Squirrell, are the guest speakers at the next dinner of Norwich FGB on Monday, November 21. Read more
Data lakes, storage repositories that hold extremely large amounts of raw data in its native format until the data is needed by users, are becoming increasingly popular within enterprises.

Helping to fuel interest in data lakes are the digital transformation efforts underway at many enterprises, spurred by the emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT). The connected objects in the IoT will generate huge volumes of data.

As more products, assets, vehicles and other things are instrumented and data ingested, its important that IoT data sets be aggregated in a single place, where they can be easily analyzed and correlated with other relevant data sets using big data processing capabilities. Doing so is critical to generating the most leverage and insight from IoT data.

Growing market

Research firm Markets and Markets forecasts the data lakes market will grow from $2.53 billion in 2016 to $8.81 billion by 2021. Major forces driving the market are the need for increased business agility and accessibility, increasing adoption of IoT, potential for in-depth insights to drive competitive advantage, and growing volume and variety of business data.

Enterprises are deploying solutions such as Hadoop-based big data platforms and stream processing to build and maintain data lakes. These solutions make it possible for more organizations, even those with limited IT resources, to establish their own data lakes.

Among the advantages of data lakes is that they enable enterprises to retain all their data, instead of choosing what data to retain based on todays needs. This is especially useful in the IoT, where the total volume of sensor data generated within an enterprise might be much higher than what is required for the identifiable early use-cases.

Higher fidelity sampling of IoT sensors can help ensure that an enterprise leverages the opportunity for future analytic insights that could lead to tangible benefits such as higher revenue and enhanced customer service. But simply pouring massive amounts of sensor data into a data lake doesnt ensure that such insights can easily emerge.

Business intelligence vs. operational intelligence

When combined with well-governed data lakes, IoT data shines. The combination provides the ability to model complex systems, simulate scenarios and predict operational outcomes.

Many complex scenarios can be simulated if sufficient data is available and its context is well understood. In an IoT-enabled enterprise, the data lake isnt simply a repository that supports more efficient traditional business intelligence (BI). Its also the heart of a digitally-transformed enterprises ability to increase operational intelligence (OI), where near real-time optimizations may provide significant competitive advantages.

IoT-enabled enterprises will employ their data lakes in conjunction with machine learning and artificial intelligence to create innovative predictive models. These models will inform decision making from the factory floor to the executive suite, based on real-time sensor data and visibility into relevant large data sets.

Challenges ahead

Building and maintaining data lakes that deliver on the promises of IoT comes with challenges enterprises need to first address.

Some of these involve actually creating the data lake. For example, enterprises need to gather data from disparate parts of the organization into one place. Before doing so, they must cleanse the data so its reliable and usable. Sufficient metadata needs to be included to help provide context for users. Companies also should ensure the security, privacy and governance of data in the data lake.

Tools can simplify some of these tasks, but enterprises must choose the right solutions to address their particular challenges. Some of these products are quite costly.

Other challenges relate to structural and organizational issues. Companies have traditionally operated silos, where various teams maintain their own siloed data repositories. Theyve done this for good reasons. Each department is trying to answer different questions and finds it useful to impose sufficient structure on their data to make obtaining those answers more efficient.

The possibility of asking and answering more complex questions that might involve dipping into IoT sensor data generated in distant parts of an organization is enticing. But putting all sensor data into one place doesnt magically break down existing silos in a manner that ensures these data sets can be understood and used to generate meaningful insight.

Enabling all users to get the most value from data lakes requires careful forethought and preparation. Without sufficient retained context, data may limit the insight that can emerge.

Decisions about how much metadata to store with sensor readings require careful consideration. Although some of these relationships can be reconstructed after the fact through correlation with other data sets, theres a cost in doing so. The effort required may discourage other teams from using this data to their maximum advantage.

Maximum value

Without addressing these challenges through the proper technology solutions and organizational changes, enterprises wont derive maximum value from their IoT initiatives or data lake. Theyre likely to end up with expensive and under-used resources. But such an outcome can be avoided via a few simple steps:

Include input from representatives throughout the company when building a data lake. Because users from different departments will be impacted, having this input early will help ensure the data lake meets expectations of all key stakeholders.

Give the lines of business a prominent seat at the table, ensuring that data admitted into the data lake is conditioned to provide maximum long-term value.

Make sure IT and information security functions are well represented and take on a leadership role to provide guidance for technology selection and data governance.

Carefully select self-service analytics and data science tools to make sure different departments can easily obtain customized insight from the data they need, without incurring costly data validation, cleansing or visualization development effort.

With the right solutions and operational/cultural changes in place to build and maintain a data lake, IoT-enabled enterprises can provide business users with unprecedented insight and value from the huge volumes of information they are gathering.

With a well-designed and deployed data lake in place, enterprises will be well on their way to successful digital transformations.
Somalia's prime minister is condemning the suicide car bomb blast in Mogadishu that left at least 15 dead, saying the attack targeted civilians preparing for Eid celebrations.

The al-Shabab extremist group has claimed responsibility.

Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire says the attack demonstrated the extremists' "evil-mindedness" and says it will not derail the Horn of Africa country's efforts toward peace and stability.

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Lib Dem candidate Judith Bunting's message to Richard Benyon

THE Liberal Democrats say they remain the leading progressive party in West Berkshire after their candidate Judith Bunting finished second behind Conservative rival Richard Benyon in the General Election.

Mrs Bunting received 13,019 votes, which represented a 21.4 per cent share and an increase on the 15 per cent share she received in 2015.

In her speech, Mrs Bunting warned Mr Benyon to stick by his words.

I want to say to Richard: please do stand up for our area.

Please do live up to what you said and try and stop this stinking hard Brexit that we are heading for at the moment.

We know where your heart lies. We want you to stand up for what your constituency believes in.

Speaking to the she said: Its a real testament to our fabulous volunteers and the positive campaign that they ran that our vote share increased to 21 per cent when the Conservatives stayed rock steady.

It looks like the UKIP vote was split more or less evenly between the Conservatives and Labour.

We are still a very strong second party and we have reacted strongly on the result of 2015 and I look forward to the next election.

Mrs Bunting said that the Conservatives losing their majority was a testament to people not being happy with the brutal, hard Brexit that Theresa May had set out.

Nationally, the Lib Dems finished the night on 12 seats  up from the nine they ended on in 2015.

However, it was a mixed night with former party leader, Nick Clegg, losing his Sheffield Hallam seat.

The party also lost control of Richmond, which they won in a by-election last year, by just 45 votes.

In better news for the Lib Dems, Sir Vince Cable was re-elected to Twickenham.

Mrs Bunting said that the partys national expectations had been modest and that she was disappointed that Mr Clegg had lost his seat.

After the Conservatives entered negotiations with the DUP in order to form a minority government, Mrs Bunting said the decision to call an election had been embarrassing for the PM.

The election result was an utter humiliation for Theresa May, it is time for her to stop trying to cling to power and to admit that enough is enough, Mrs Bunting said.

This is the biggest embarrassment that a Prime Minister can face. She cannot announce her agenda because she has no idea what she can actually get through Parliament.

The Tories are hanging on to office, desperate for a deal from the DUP, turning them into the May DUP government. This May DUP coalition has fallen at the first hurdle.

Mrs Bunting said that the uncertainty caused by the election, and the possibility of another on the way, was bad for the country, especially with Brexit negotiations looming.

The Lib Dems are calling for a cross-party joint cabinet committee to negotiate Brexit to negotiate a final deal, which could then be put out to the British people.

Things will only get worse unless Theresa May abandons her plans for an extreme, UKIP-style Brexit, outside the single market and customs union, Mrs Bunting said.

There is now a new mood in Parliament and amongst some ministers to look for a compromise that will protect our economy and living standards.

Mrs Bunting said it was time for the UK to adopt proportional representation given the hung Parliament result.

In the recent election PR would have delivered 48 seats to the Liberal Democrats and 11 parliamentary seats to the Greens. A much more representative division of opinion than as things stand.
Party achieves highest vote share in Newbury since 1974

LABOUR received its highest vote share in Newbury since 1974, with Alex Skirvin getting 8,596 votes.

However, the 14.1 per cent share, wasnt enough to beat the Liberal Democrats into second place.

Speaking after the result was announced in the early hours of Friday, Mr Skirvin said he was proud to have stood for the party and thanked all who had taken part.

He said: Consider the campaign we have fought.

We knocked on more doors and delivered more leaflets and we painted the town red.

Though we did not win, in seats like this, it is the small victories that matter.

Im proud to have stood not just as one of the UKs youngest candidates, but as the Labour Partys youngest LGBT candidate in the UK.

Tonight, across the country, we have seen yet another example of what happens when politicians fail to listen. Theresa May bet the house on a Brexit election and Britain called her bluff.

And for all those here tonight, let me offer you one final assurance; Newbury Labour has arrived.

The party saw a 5.7 per cent increase on the vote share from 2015. Party agent Alan Childs told the it was Labours best result in terms of vote share in the constituency since 1974; when it received 16.7 per cent of the vote.

Mr Childs said: Theres an appetite in Newbury for Labour policies when theyre presented with them and the party has grown five-fold over the last few years.

It shows that the people of Newbury constituency, who previously were unable to vote for a party that wasnt cutting through on the doorstep, is now able to compete for votes everywhere in the Newbury area.

As the dust settled and Mrs May entered a confidence and supply deal with the Irish DUP, Mr Skirivn told the on

Tuesday that the Prime Minister was on borrowed time.

We are now seeing what a true coalition of chaos looks like, he said. Had Theresa May sought to govern in the national interest rather than party interests, she would have sought an agreement with parties that would not put at risk our arrangement with Northern Ireland and the rights of minorities in the UK.

Our placeholder PM has demonstrated once again where her priorities lie, clinging on to her position at all costs.

We need a negotiating position for Brexit that will put jobs and the economy first.

I agree with most of her backbenchers, who know she is on borrowed time. She should resign. Theresa May called this election and framed it as a referendum on herself and she lost. She cant command the confidence of her own party or our country; she must go.

I wonder if Richard Benyon is proud to see his party enter a formal arrangement with the DUP, known for bigotry and

divisiveness.

Mr Skirvin added that the PM was playing with fire over the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

He said another election was looking likely and that Labour was ready to fight it; saying that his party was the only one that could offer a progressive alternative.

He added that people had identified with Labours manifesto, which had a genuine resonance with people and their lives. Whereas the Conservatives was, even by their own admission, a disaster with nothing positive to offer for the future of our country.
The alternative Arabic rock band Malaaz is set to perform at El Sawy Culturewheel in Zamalek on 6 July.



The Egyptian band Malaaz (Refuge) was formed in 2014 by guitarist, composer and lyricist Mohamed Abdelrazik, and lead guitarist Amr Beshr, who both shared a passion for rock and metal music.



The pair met in 2012, when Abdelrazik introduced Beshr to another band with a similar background.

The two were eventually joined by vocalist Maged Amer and they began to rehearse on a regular basis, along with their former drummer.



In 2014, bassist Moataz El Nashar joined the band, and in early 2015, drummer AJ El-Gohary came to complete the current lineup.



The band aims to create alternative rock music that is accessible to the public, regardless of their musical background and taste.



Program:

Thursday, 6 July

7:30pm

River Hall, El Sawy Culturewheel, 26 July St., Zamalek, Cairo



For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture

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By PTI

NEW DELHI: India and Russia will explore further ramping up of bilateral defence and security cooperation during Defence Minister Arun Jaitley's three-day visit to Moscow beginning tomorrow.

Jaitley's visit to Moscow comes nearly three weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to "upgrade and intensify" defence ties through joint manufacture and co-production of key military hardware, during their annual summit talks at St Petersburg.

On June 23, Jaitley will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation with his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu.

"The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

Jaitley, who is leading a high-level delegation, leaves for Moscow today.

Tomorrow, he will co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin. This is a newly established committee to discuss cooperation in high technologies.

The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. The Defence Minister will also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of that country.

Russia has been one of India's key major suppliers of arms and ammunition. However, it has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time affecting maintenance of military systems procured from that country.

In March, Jaitley had argued Russia should adopt a liberal approach in sharing technology for components of major defence platforms as it was critical to keep them in operational readiness as most of India's weapon systems are of Russian-origin.

A vision document, issued after the talks between Modi and Putin in St Petersburg, said both the countries decided to work towards a "qualitatively higher level of military-tomilitary cooperation".

NEW DELHI: India and Russia will explore further ramping up of bilateral defence and security cooperation during Defence Minister Arun Jaitley's three-day visit to Moscow beginning tomorrow. Jaitley's visit to Moscow comes nearly three weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided to "upgrade and intensify" defence ties through joint manufacture and co-production of key military hardware, during their annual summit talks at St Petersburg. On June 23, Jaitley will co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter Governmental Commission on Military Technical Cooperation with his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu. "The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the Defence Ministry said in a statement. Jaitley, who is leading a high-level delegation, leaves for Moscow today. Tomorrow, he will co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology with the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin. This is a newly established committee to discuss cooperation in high technologies. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk. The Defence Minister will also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, which is a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of that country. Russia has been one of India's key major suppliers of arms and ammunition. However, it has been a long-standing grievance of armed forces that supply of critical spares and equipment from Russia takes a long time affecting maintenance of military systems procured from that country. In March, Jaitley had argued Russia should adopt a liberal approach in sharing technology for components of major defence platforms as it was critical to keep them in operational readiness as most of India's weapon systems are of Russian-origin. A vision document, issued after the talks between Modi and Putin in St Petersburg, said both the countries decided to work towards a "qualitatively higher level of military-tomilitary cooperation".
By PTI

NEW DELHI: Dealers of General Motors in India have decided to meet later this week to decide on the future course of action, including taking the legal route, against the American automaker over measly compensation.

A majority of 96 dealers, which operate around 140 showrooms across India, are unhappy with the company's offer of just around 12 per cent of total investments they have made as compensation.

"Some of the major dealer partners of the company will meet on June 24 in Delhi to decide on the future course of action against the company. They are totally dissatisfied with the way the company is dealing with them," a source told PTI on the condition of anonymity.

Around 20-25 major dealers of the company, with many of them running multiple dealerships across the country, will take part in the meeting.

"These dealers are totally unsatisfied with the terms of settlement that the company has offered to them. Each one of these dealers are feeling cheated and misled," the source said.

As per the conditions set by the company, a dealer who does not accept its offer by July 15, would only get 50 per cent of the compensation amount being offered.

"In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he won't get any of the compensation at all. Some of the dealers who have financial challenges may accept the deal being offered by the company. But there are many who are exploring ways to challenge the company," the source said.

A dealer, who did not wish to be identified, said that the company totally misled them in terms of its future plans in the country.

"In May they (GM India) were telling us that there will new product launches and more investment will be done in the country and suddenly in June they announce the closure of domestic operations. They have completely misled us," the dealer, who runs two dealerships in central India, said.

The dealers, among other things, would also decide whether to file a case in India or go for a class action suit in the US.

In 2015, the company had announced to invest USD 1 billion in India to enhance manufacturing operations and roll out 10 locally produced models in the country over the next five years.

In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for the country as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country.

On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark.

The company will now focus on exporting vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra after it stopped production at its first plant at Halol in Gujarat last month.

NEW DELHI: Dealers of General Motors in India have decided to meet later this week to decide on the future course of action, including taking the legal route, against the American automaker over measly compensation. A majority of 96 dealers, which operate around 140 showrooms across India, are unhappy with the company's offer of just around 12 per cent of total investments they have made as compensation. "Some of the major dealer partners of the company will meet on June 24 in Delhi to decide on the future course of action against the company. They are totally dissatisfied with the way the company is dealing with them," a source told PTI on the condition of anonymity. Around 20-25 major dealers of the company, with many of them running multiple dealerships across the country, will take part in the meeting. "These dealers are totally unsatisfied with the terms of settlement that the company has offered to them. Each one of these dealers are feeling cheated and misled," the source said. As per the conditions set by the company, a dealer who does not accept its offer by July 15, would only get 50 per cent of the compensation amount being offered. "In case a dealer does not accept the offer by September 15, he won't get any of the compensation at all. Some of the dealers who have financial challenges may accept the deal being offered by the company. But there are many who are exploring ways to challenge the company," the source said. A dealer, who did not wish to be identified, said that the company totally misled them in terms of its future plans in the country. "In May they (GM India) were telling us that there will new product launches and more investment will be done in the country and suddenly in June they announce the closure of domestic operations. They have completely misled us," the dealer, who runs two dealerships in central India, said. The dealers, among other things, would also decide whether to file a case in India or go for a class action suit in the US. In 2015, the company had announced to invest USD 1 billion in India to enhance manufacturing operations and roll out 10 locally produced models in the country over the next five years. In January this year, the American firm put on hold its investments on new models for the country as it undertook a full review of its future product portfolio in the country. On May 18, General Motors suddenly decided to stop selling its vehicles in India as there was no turnaround in its fortunes here after struggling for over two decades to make a mark. The company will now focus on exporting vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra after it stopped production at its first plant at Halol in Gujarat last month.
By Express News Service

BENGALURU: With many firms handing over pink slips to their employees, a sense of panic has prevailed in the IT sector. The state government has stepped in with an offer to provide legal assistance to IT professionals who lost their jobs, while also reaching out to firms with concerns raised by employees.



Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge informed the Legislative Council on Monday that the government was aware of layoffs in the IT sector.



IT employee forums have alleged that the appraisal system in the IT sector is not transparent. We are aware of their problems and are trying to help them with legal aid. We are also talking to corporate companies regarding the problems raised by the forums. The companies are yet to respond, he said, replying to BJP MLC Taras questions on layoffs in the IT sector.



A few days back, Forum for IT Employees (FITE) members met Kharge where they demanded that IT companies be included under Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act. According to a FITE member, Employees facing arbitrary terminations, unreasonable working hours and sexual harassment do not have adequate support from the law and the government.

Kharge said one of the main reasons for layoffs is the visa restriction imposed by the US, Singapore and Australia where the governments are emphasising on local talent. This has caused damage to IT industry, he said. He said that change in technology is another reason. There is a need to train employees who are already working in the field. But this cant be done overnight. It will be done gradually. Even the IT forum members agreed that they need reskilling, he said.

He pointed out that studies have shown that only 7 per cent of total number of graduates are employable. This is because there is a gap between academic and industry needs. To reduce this gap, the government has come up with many centres of excellence to train as per needs of employer, he said. Manisha (name changed) recently lost her job. I joined in January after my maternity leave and was asked to go in April, she said. She said women with more years of experience and many who come back from maternity leave are more vulnerable to lay-offs. IT-BT companies were exempted from the general provisions of labour laws for more than 10 years. If an employer wants to lay off an employee, he/she can be laid off with immediate effect unlike other industries where a notice period is necessary.

Deepak, another professional, who lost his job, said, There is a hierarchy system like in any government office, but its invisible in the IT sector. Appraisals can be crushed and it is at the managers mercy, he said.Rajesh N, spokesperson of FITE, said in the last six months, more than 5,000 employees have been laid off from IT majors, including Cognizant, HP, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and IBM. Most of these employees are mid-level to higher level employees. On the other hand, these companies are recruiting freshers.

However, industry experts feel taking the legal course may have a negative impact on professionals. Mohandas Pai, an IT industry expert, said if employees who lost their jobs take up a legal fight against firms, their chances of getting another job are reduced to nil. After all why should any employer hire a person who was fired from another company and who is fighting a case? he asked.



At present, the attrition rate in IT industry is 12 per cent a year. If someone loses his/her job, within two months he or she will find a new job. One should not ruin their future just because they lost their job, he added.

BENGALURU: With many firms handing over pink slips to their employees, a sense of panic has prevailed in the IT sector. The state government has stepped in with an offer to provide legal assistance to IT professionals who lost their jobs, while also reaching out to firms with concerns raised by employees. Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge informed the Legislative Council on Monday that the government was aware of layoffs in the IT sector. IT employee forums have alleged that the appraisal system in the IT sector is not transparent. We are aware of their problems and are trying to help them with legal aid. We are also talking to corporate companies regarding the problems raised by the forums. The companies are yet to respond, he said, replying to BJP MLC Taras questions on layoffs in the IT sector. A few days back, Forum for IT Employees (FITE) members met Kharge where they demanded that IT companies be included under Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act. According to a FITE member, Employees facing arbitrary terminations, unreasonable working hours and sexual harassment do not have adequate support from the law and the government. Kharge said one of the main reasons for layoffs is the visa restriction imposed by the US, Singapore and Australia where the governments are emphasising on local talent. This has caused damage to IT industry, he said. He said that change in technology is another reason. There is a need to train employees who are already working in the field. But this cant be done overnight. It will be done gradually. Even the IT forum members agreed that they need reskilling, he said. He pointed out that studies have shown that only 7 per cent of total number of graduates are employable. This is because there is a gap between academic and industry needs. To reduce this gap, the government has come up with many centres of excellence to train as per needs of employer, he said. Manisha (name changed) recently lost her job. I joined in January after my maternity leave and was asked to go in April, she said. She said women with more years of experience and many who come back from maternity leave are more vulnerable to lay-offs. IT-BT companies were exempted from the general provisions of labour laws for more than 10 years. If an employer wants to lay off an employee, he/she can be laid off with immediate effect unlike other industries where a notice period is necessary. Deepak, another professional, who lost his job, said, There is a hierarchy system like in any government office, but its invisible in the IT sector. Appraisals can be crushed and it is at the managers mercy, he said.Rajesh N, spokesperson of FITE, said in the last six months, more than 5,000 employees have been laid off from IT majors, including Cognizant, HP, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and IBM. Most of these employees are mid-level to higher level employees. On the other hand, these companies are recruiting freshers. However, industry experts feel taking the legal course may have a negative impact on professionals. Mohandas Pai, an IT industry expert, said if employees who lost their jobs take up a legal fight against firms, their chances of getting another job are reduced to nil. After all why should any employer hire a person who was fired from another company and who is fighting a case? he asked. At present, the attrition rate in IT industry is 12 per cent a year. If someone loses his/her job, within two months he or she will find a new job. One should not ruin their future just because they lost their job, he added.
By ANI

NEW DELHI: A meeting of the 70-member Board of Trade (BoT) will take place here today, with Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the chair.

It is expected that the participants will focus their attention on ways to boost exports as part of the overall review of the foreign trade policy (FTP) for the period 2015-20. The policy is expected to be released by the end of this month.

The objective of the BoT is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry representatives and then advise the government on policy measures related to FTP.

The BOT last met in April 2016.

NEW DELHI: A meeting of the 70-member Board of Trade (BoT) will take place here today, with Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the chair. It is expected that the participants will focus their attention on ways to boost exports as part of the overall review of the foreign trade policy (FTP) for the period 2015-20. The policy is expected to be released by the end of this month. The objective of the BoT is to have continuous discussion and consultation with trade and industry representatives and then advise the government on policy measures related to FTP. The BOT last met in April 2016.
Rajitha S By

Express News Service

HYDERABAD: The photo of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Turkish boy whose body had washed ashore on a beach in Bordum during the peak of Syrian refugee crisis, had made global headlines two years ago in 2015. The world was left aghast. Back home, three years before this incident i.e. in 2012, Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar had started migrating to Hyderabad. Neither did it make to the headline, nor has much been done for them by the state government.



Spread across at least five pockets in the city, the highest number of Rohingya refugees (600 families), have made Balapur, 30 km from the citys centre, their home. As per a survey conducted by NGO Save the Children, population as per March 2017 in Balapur is 3,800 and more live across 16 settlements. Their living conditions, however, remain the same. Dirt, muck, garbage and muddy water lead to their tarpaulin-covered, one-roomed homes. Lack of any means of livelihood has left them with no scope to grow.



While the men here struggle to make it to the labour adda, the women engage in scrap collection and segregation, which is stored right in front of their doors.

IN PICTURES: Life of Rohingya refugees at Telangana's Balapur

We have to travel far and then fight to get work. They pay us less than `200, that too if we are able to get work, which happens once in three to four days, rues Ziabul Haq, a 30-year-old.



Though India grants asylum and direct assistance to at least 2,00,000 refugees from its neighbouring countries, it is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol.



Therefore, it does not have a national refugee protection framework. As a result, the local governments do not recognise the Rohingya Muslims as citizens. Wherever we go, they want us to show Aadhar Cards, which we dont have. This has limited our options. There is too much competition at the labour adda and by now the employers have their favourites, said Mohammad Salaam, said a 22-year-old.



Refugee cards only proof

Refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are the only proof of their identity. The renewal and maintenance of these cards is being done by the NGO Confederation of Voluntary Associations. While for most families days go by without food, on several occasions, a lot of them rely on charity.



The month of Ramzan is a bonus where local Muslims donate food, clothes and sometimes, money too.

However, women like Zainab Begum and a few others are exceptions. With the help of Self Help Groups initiated by Save the Children, women have recently started coming together to save up money for emergencies. I borrowed `4,500 on loan and purchased a sewing machine through which I earn around `50 or `100, but not regularly. I have already cleared `1,500 of the loan amount, she said. Some others have taken up cooking and other activities on which they earn profits.

HYDERABAD: The photo of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Turkish boy whose body had washed ashore on a beach in Bordum during the peak of Syrian refugee crisis, had made global headlines two years ago in 2015. The world was left aghast. Back home, three years before this incident i.e. in 2012, Rohingya Muslim refugees from Myanmar had started migrating to Hyderabad. Neither did it make to the headline, nor has much been done for them by the state government. Spread across at least five pockets in the city, the highest number of Rohingya refugees (600 families), have made Balapur, 30 km from the citys centre, their home. As per a survey conducted by NGO Save the Children, population as per March 2017 in Balapur is 3,800 and more live across 16 settlements. Their living conditions, however, remain the same. Dirt, muck, garbage and muddy water lead to their tarpaulin-covered, one-roomed homes. Lack of any means of livelihood has left them with no scope to grow. While the men here struggle to make it to the labour adda, the women engage in scrap collection and segregation, which is stored right in front of their doors. IN PICTURES: Life of Rohingya refugees at Telangana's Balapur We have to travel far and then fight to get work. They pay us less than `200, that too if we are able to get work, which happens once in three to four days, rues Ziabul Haq, a 30-year-old. Though India grants asylum and direct assistance to at least 2,00,000 refugees from its neighbouring countries, it is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 protocol. Therefore, it does not have a national refugee protection framework. As a result, the local governments do not recognise the Rohingya Muslims as citizens. Wherever we go, they want us to show Aadhar Cards, which we dont have. This has limited our options. There is too much competition at the labour adda and by now the employers have their favourites, said Mohammad Salaam, said a 22-year-old.Refugee cards only proof Refugee cards issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are the only proof of their identity. The renewal and maintenance of these cards is being done by the NGO Confederation of Voluntary Associations. While for most families days go by without food, on several occasions, a lot of them rely on charity. The month of Ramzan is a bonus where local Muslims donate food, clothes and sometimes, money too. However, women like Zainab Begum and a few others are exceptions. With the help of Self Help Groups initiated by Save the Children, women have recently started coming together to save up money for emergencies. I borrowed `4,500 on loan and purchased a sewing machine through which I earn around `50 or `100, but not regularly. I have already cleared `1,500 of the loan amount, she said. Some others have taken up cooking and other activities on which they earn profits.
Moetaz Salama, director of the Gulf Studies Unit at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, reflects on Egypt's position towards Qatar following the recent Arab Gulf crisis

With the Gulf crisis hanging between escalation and mediation, Cairos position towards Qatar is governed by two factors. The first is Qatars record of antagonistic behaviour towards Egypt, the second the close strategic relationship Egypt enjoys with influential Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.

Moetaz Salama, director of the Gulf Studies Unit at Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, argues that Cairo is lending important support to its chief allies on the GCC while simultaneously pursuing its own interests with regard to Qatars divisive foreign policy.

Egypts current escalation against Qatar comes in the framework of Egyptian policy and interests. If influential parties in the region such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain have come to the conclusions Egypt reached years ago  that Qatar is a supporter of terrorism, something now generally accepted in the international area  then this is a major strategic gain for Egypt, says Salama.

He argues that Egypt is taking the wisest course by building on its interests in the Gulf which surpass in importance any interests Egypt has with other parties or regional blocs.

That Gulf countries have moved towards supporting Cairos viewpoint in the end is the result of immense Egyptian efforts which succeeded in driving home to the world that Qatar is a supporter of terrorism.

Salama adds that the importance of the mutual support between Egypt and the three GCC states in the course of this move should not be underestimated.

Gulf mediators, led by Kuwait, have stepped forward to help resolve the crisis. Mediation efforts have failed so far but this has not prevented a plethora of initiatives being proposed from all quarters of the international community. Is it not in Egypts interest to support such efforts, since the alternative could be to drive Qatar into the embrace of Iran and Turkey, thus driving the crisis to the brink?

I believe that it is in Egypts interests for the crisis to be resolved in a manner that satisfies the demands our Gulf brothers have made of Qatar. If Doha agrees to the conditions proposed then it is in Egypts interests, and in the interests of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, to reconcile, says Salama.



"It is not in Egypts interests to involve itself in a way that reduces the chances of a settlement or triggers sensitivities. If Egypt is asked to contribute to efforts to reach a settlement between Qatar and its neighbours it would not hesitate.

We need to remember Qatar is the one that meddled in Egyptian affairs, stresses Salama.

Some commentators argue a settlement is impossible under the current Qatari regime. They point to the events of 2014 when Riyadh asked Qatar to halt propaganda incitement against Cairo and support for extremist groups in Egypt. Qatar promised to do so only to renege following the death of king Abdullah. It is a history, they say, that shows tinkering with Qatari policies will not solve the problem with Cairo.

Salama is less pessimistic.



Qatar hasnt blocked the pathway to a return to its fellow GCC members. The crisis is still being managed in Doha without Al-Jazeera attacking Riyadh though it has attacked the UAE. But if any internal changes in Qatar result in the same type of policies, and the same political outlook, the three GGC countries and Egypt will find it difficult to accept," he said.



"We are aware of how patient our Gulf brothers have been with Qatar, how many times they warned it and the efforts they exerted to reach a settlement before the current crisis erupted.



"Riyadh and Abu Dhabi are contending with many complicated calculations. They will not settle for anything less than a radical overhaul of Qatari strategy. Doha has to abandon its regional policies and its support for the Muslim Brotherhoods project. If it does not it is difficult to see how it can continue within the status quo of Gulf reality.

Washingtons involvement in the crisis  the US has relations with all parties  will be important in determining how it unfolds.

The position adopted by the US will be significant. Judging from President [Donald] Trumps position expressed in statements last Saturday in which he accused Qatar of supporting terrorism and underscored the countrys history in doing so, it is clear that the American stance is critical.

And it is hard to imagine Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain stopping mid-course after the steps they have already taken. I think that when they decided to act against Qatar they had already factored in a variety of responses and scenarios, one being Dohas refusal to retreat from its current policies.



"In other words they see the current crisis as a time to settle, once and for all, their differences with Qatar. This is a turning point, one in which Qatar will have to shift its position because it is hard to imagine the three GCC countries backing down and allowing the crisis to end with everything the same as it was.

*This article was first published in Al-Ahram Weekly

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Ritu Sharma By

NEW DELHI: The new alignment in Indias engagement with the world will get an evident twist in September as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while giving the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Summit a miss, will be cementing New Delhis ties with Southeast Asian countries as he heads to the second country in the region in a week.

After making a pit stop at Vietnam en route to the G-20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Modi will be embarking on a visit to Lao PDR on Thursday where he will attend the 14th Asean-India Summit and 11th East Asia Summit.

This will be the third Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit to be attended by Prime Minister Modi. Asean is central to Indias Act East policy, said Preeti Saran, secretary (east) in the Minstry of External Affairs, elaborating on the event.

The renewed diplomatic focus on the Mekong sub-region (comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) stems from the fact that it links the Bay of Bengal with the South China Sea through land.

The South China Sea is pivotal to Indian interests as 50 per cent of its trade passes through its sea lanes. The Mekong sub-region, thus, has become an area of geopolitical rivalry between India and China.

The Prime Minister will also attend the East Asia Summit, where connectivity and trade will be high on the agenda. India is one of its co-founders.

The Laos visit will mean that the Prime Minister has travelled to all the countries in the Mekong sub-region, barring Cambodia. The region has taken centre-stage in Indias foreign policy as is evident by Modis whirlwind tours to the countries  he reached Hanoi on Friday night and left for Hangzhou on Saturday evening. He returned to India on Monday evening and shall be reaching Laos on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The new alignment in Indias engagement with the world will get an evident twist in September as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while giving the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) Summit a miss, will be cementing New Delhis ties with Southeast Asian countries as he heads to the second country in the region in a week.After making a pit stop at Vietnam en route to the G-20 summit in the Chinese city of Hangzhou, Modi will be embarking on a visit to Lao PDR on Thursday where he will attend the 14th Asean-India Summit and 11th East Asia Summit.This will be the third Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Summit to be attended by Prime Minister Modi. Asean is central to Indias Act East policy, said Preeti Saran, secretary (east) in the Minstry of External Affairs, elaborating on the event.The renewed diplomatic focus on the Mekong sub-region (comprising Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) stems from the fact that it links the Bay of Bengal with the South China Sea through land.The South China Sea is pivotal to Indian interests as 50 per cent of its trade passes through its sea lanes. The Mekong sub-region, thus, has become an area of geopolitical rivalry between India and China.The Prime Minister will also attend the East Asia Summit, where connectivity and trade will be high on the agenda. India is one of its co-founders.The Laos visit will mean that the Prime Minister has travelled to all the countries in the Mekong sub-region, barring Cambodia. The region has taken centre-stage in Indias foreign policy as is evident by Modis whirlwind tours to the countries  he reached Hanoi on Friday night and left for Hangzhou on Saturday evening. He returned to India on Monday evening and shall be reaching Laos on Thursday.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: A group of activists including farmers demanded Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan On Monday to reject the proposal for allowing commercial production of the Genetically Modified (GM) Mustard crop.

We write to you to urge you to take up meaningful and serious consultation processes on the matter, by having widespread consultations with the public in general and not just a set of handpicked stakeholders. This is also to communicate that we would like to be part of such meaningful consultations, said Sridhar Radhakrishnan, who is the co-convenor of Coalition for a GM-Free India in a letter to Vardhan.

Coalition for a GM-Free India is an informal network of experts and hundreds of farmers, consumers, environmental and womens organisations campaigning for a GM-free India.

The group also asked the environment minister to, get state government views and independent experts analyses of full biosafety data before taking a final decision.

The controversy is about GM mustard which crop which has been developed by Delhi Universitys Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants. On 11th May, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the environment ministry recommended approval for commercial production of GM mustard and now it awaits final decision of the environment ministry.

Indias first GM food crop if approved

Right now only GM cotton is allowed in India but if Dr Harsh Vardhan clears the proposal for GM mustards production it would become Indias first GM food crop. Previously, in 2010 protests had erupted against GM Brinjal across the country.

NEW DELHI: A group of activists including farmers demanded Union environment minister Harsh Vardhan On Monday to reject the proposal for allowing commercial production of the Genetically Modified (GM) Mustard crop. We write to you to urge you to take up meaningful and serious consultation processes on the matter, by having widespread consultations with the public in general and not just a set of handpicked stakeholders. This is also to communicate that we would like to be part of such meaningful consultations, said Sridhar Radhakrishnan, who is the co-convenor of Coalition for a GM-Free India in a letter to Vardhan. Coalition for a GM-Free India is an informal network of experts and hundreds of farmers, consumers, environmental and womens organisations campaigning for a GM-free India. The group also asked the environment minister to, get state government views and independent experts analyses of full biosafety data before taking a final decision. The controversy is about GM mustard which crop which has been developed by Delhi Universitys Centre for Genetic Manipulation of Crop Plants. On 11th May, the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) of the environment ministry recommended approval for commercial production of GM mustard and now it awaits final decision of the environment ministry. Indias first GM food crop if approved Right now only GM cotton is allowed in India but if Dr Harsh Vardhan clears the proposal for GM mustards production it would become Indias first GM food crop. Previously, in 2010 protests had erupted against GM Brinjal across the country.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Facing accusations that the total number of grossly polluting industries is much more than officially claimed, the Centre has now decided to carry out a massive study along the whole length of River Ganga to revise the list of grossly polluting industries affecting the river.

The Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharati, who was addressing a conference on achievement of her ministry on three years of NDA government, stated that she recently undertook an inspection of the river Ganga from West Bengal to Uttarakhand.

It is absolutely right that there are many unlisted sources that could be polluting Ganga. Thus we are roping in around 200 engineering students who will carry out a survey of the entire length of Ganga River, she said.

According to an official statement, the engineering students who are being enrolled for the extensive bio technical study of river Ganga from Gangotri (origin of river in Uttarakhand) to Ganga Sagar (in West Bengal) are from colleges along the river Ganga.

Each group of two students accompanied by volunteers from Nehru Yuva Kendra and Ganga Vichar Manch will extensively study a stretch of about 25 km each. These reports are likely to be available by September- October 2017. These students will also interact with the local residents to study the social impact of river Ganga on their life, Bharati added.

As per the official data of the union ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, there a total of 1109 grossly polluting industries which are affecting Ganga. But activists have often claimed that the number of such grossly polluting industries is much more.

On the issue of pollution in River Ganga, Bharati also said that a team of senior officials from her ministry and the Uttar Pradesh government will meet sometime next week to discuss issue of shifting of Kanpur tanneries.

On the draft Ganga Act, the union water minister said that her ministry is in discussion with various stake holders before a final view is taken and the exercise will be over very soon after which a bill will be introduced in the Parliament.



NEW DELHI: Facing accusations that the total number of grossly polluting industries is much more than officially claimed, the Centre has now decided to carry out a massive study along the whole length of River Ganga to revise the list of grossly polluting industries affecting the river. The Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Uma Bharati, who was addressing a conference on achievement of her ministry on three years of NDA government, stated that she recently undertook an inspection of the river Ganga from West Bengal to Uttarakhand. It is absolutely right that there are many unlisted sources that could be polluting Ganga. Thus we are roping in around 200 engineering students who will carry out a survey of the entire length of Ganga River, she said. According to an official statement, the engineering students who are being enrolled for the extensive bio technical study of river Ganga from Gangotri (origin of river in Uttarakhand) to Ganga Sagar (in West Bengal) are from colleges along the river Ganga. Each group of two students accompanied by volunteers from Nehru Yuva Kendra and Ganga Vichar Manch will extensively study a stretch of about 25 km each. These reports are likely to be available by September- October 2017. These students will also interact with the local residents to study the social impact of river Ganga on their life, Bharati added. As per the official data of the union ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, there a total of 1109 grossly polluting industries which are affecting Ganga. But activists have often claimed that the number of such grossly polluting industries is much more. On the issue of pollution in River Ganga, Bharati also said that a team of senior officials from her ministry and the Uttar Pradesh government will meet sometime next week to discuss issue of shifting of Kanpur tanneries. On the draft Ganga Act, the union water minister said that her ministry is in discussion with various stake holders before a final view is taken and the exercise will be over very soon after which a bill will be introduced in the Parliament.
By IANS

NEW DELHI/PATNA: Top leaders of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United will meet in Patna on Wednesday to decide the party's stance on the President's election in which the NDA has decided to field Ram Nath Kovind.

"Top leaders of the party will decide on the Presidential candidature," JD-U spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan told IANS over phone from Patna.

Meanwhile, party's bihar unit chief Bashistha Narain Singh: "The top leadership of the party, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will decide on it (on the presidential candidate). Nitishji has also spoken to (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi and (Congress leader) Ghulam Nabi Azad over the issue."

Remaining tightlipped on supporting Kovind, Singh indicated that there are several other things that will be discussed in the meeting.

"As he (Kovind) was Governor of Bihar, there are many other things... and if Bihar's governor becomes President, then it shall be a matter of pride for the state," he said.

Describing Kovind as an unbaised Governor, Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha member said: "Kovindji has done a good job as Governor of Bihar. He never interfared in the government's works and always respected the Constitution."

"He remained unbaised," he said.

The JD-U leader said that Kovind used to take part in the social work which brought him more close to people of the state.

He also said that Kovind was unaware of the BJP's decision to make him a Presidential candidate.

"Just two days ago, me and Kovindji both of us were there in a programme in Patna where 151 couples were getting married and there we spoke but he was unaware of his party's decision," Singh said.

NEW DELHI/PATNA: Top leaders of Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United will meet in Patna on Wednesday to decide the party's stance on the President's election in which the NDA has decided to field Ram Nath Kovind. "Top leaders of the party will decide on the Presidential candidature," JD-U spokesperson Rajeev Ranjan told IANS over phone from Patna. Meanwhile, party's bihar unit chief Bashistha Narain Singh: "The top leadership of the party, including Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, will decide on it (on the presidential candidate). Nitishji has also spoken to (Congress chief) Sonia Gandhi and (Congress leader) Ghulam Nabi Azad over the issue." Remaining tightlipped on supporting Kovind, Singh indicated that there are several other things that will be discussed in the meeting. "As he (Kovind) was Governor of Bihar, there are many other things... and if Bihar's governor becomes President, then it shall be a matter of pride for the state," he said. Describing Kovind as an unbaised Governor, Singh, who is also a Rajya Sabha member said: "Kovindji has done a good job as Governor of Bihar. He never interfared in the government's works and always respected the Constitution." "He remained unbaised," he said. The JD-U leader said that Kovind used to take part in the social work which brought him more close to people of the state. He also said that Kovind was unaware of the BJP's decision to make him a Presidential candidate. "Just two days ago, me and Kovindji both of us were there in a programme in Patna where 151 couples were getting married and there we spoke but he was unaware of his party's decision," Singh said.
By PTI

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government will enact a new Lokpal legislation with the powers to initiate action on complaints against the chief minister, the ministers and the bureaucracy at all levels, Amarinder Singh told Assembly today. Chief Minister Amarinder, who was speaking during the ongoing budget session here, said the government has also decided to "review and revamp" the Right to Service Commission Act to bring in greater accountability into the system. "Revamp of the Unified Delivery Centres/Service Centres is also on the cards.

While the government is also examining a proposal to establish Nayaya Panchayats to ensure easy, quick and affordable justice at grassroots. The government has also initiated the process to establish special courts to settle matters concerning NRIs, serving soldiers, drug peddlers, for speedier justice," he said The Chief Minister also reiterated his commitment to preserving the freedom of press, saying his government stands committed against censorship, monopoly and cartelization in various forms of media.

He assured of transparency and a level playing field to all interested parties in news channels and cable networks.

Alleging that governance had been a "major casualty" in the previous government, Amarinder said his government was phasing out the "pseudo reforms" unleashed by the previous government by re-engineering the processes to achieve genuine reforms focused on the welfare of the people, as well as ease and freedom of doing business in Punjab. "Revamp of the Unified Delivery Centers/Service Centres with on-line apps will ensure quick and effective delivery of services to the citizens," he said, adding that 70 per cent of the centres established by the previous government were "non-functional with unproductive liability of Rs 20 crore per month". "The previous government had spent over Rs 400 crore for building these centres, wherein limited service has yet been delivered," Amarinder said, while promising delivery of services at the "door-steps of each and every household".

The Chief Minister said the Right to Service Commission constituted by the previous government with 11 members had decided only 45 review petitions with an expenditure of Rs 11.82 cr during the last five years. "The existing Right to Service Act will be reviewed and replaced by a new Act, ensuring that the commission is manned by permanent and regular staff with full accountability," he said.

Referring to the "widespread corruption" in the state as a result of the "mis-governance" of the previous government, the Chief Minister said his government was re-engineering the processes and empowering the state official machinery to check corruption and ensure greater transparency in governance. "The government has also established a Governance Ethics and Reforms Commission for comprehensive systematic reforms in the state to scrutinise all transactions of above Rs 50 cr," he said.

Recalling the steps taken by his government to abolish the VVIP culture in the state, the Chief Minister clarified that there was no move to introduce VIP number plates for government officials and said they would only be adding G on the number plate of all government vehicles.

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab government will enact a new Lokpal legislation with the powers to initiate action on complaints against the chief minister, the ministers and the bureaucracy at all levels, Amarinder Singh told Assembly today. Chief Minister Amarinder, who was speaking during the ongoing budget session here, said the government has also decided to "review and revamp" the Right to Service Commission Act to bring in greater accountability into the system. "Revamp of the Unified Delivery Centres/Service Centres is also on the cards. While the government is also examining a proposal to establish Nayaya Panchayats to ensure easy, quick and affordable justice at grassroots. The government has also initiated the process to establish special courts to settle matters concerning NRIs, serving soldiers, drug peddlers, for speedier justice," he said The Chief Minister also reiterated his commitment to preserving the freedom of press, saying his government stands committed against censorship, monopoly and cartelization in various forms of media. He assured of transparency and a level playing field to all interested parties in news channels and cable networks. Alleging that governance had been a "major casualty" in the previous government, Amarinder said his government was phasing out the "pseudo reforms" unleashed by the previous government by re-engineering the processes to achieve genuine reforms focused on the welfare of the people, as well as ease and freedom of doing business in Punjab. "Revamp of the Unified Delivery Centers/Service Centres with on-line apps will ensure quick and effective delivery of services to the citizens," he said, adding that 70 per cent of the centres established by the previous government were "non-functional with unproductive liability of Rs 20 crore per month". "The previous government had spent over Rs 400 crore for building these centres, wherein limited service has yet been delivered," Amarinder said, while promising delivery of services at the "door-steps of each and every household". The Chief Minister said the Right to Service Commission constituted by the previous government with 11 members had decided only 45 review petitions with an expenditure of Rs 11.82 cr during the last five years. "The existing Right to Service Act will be reviewed and replaced by a new Act, ensuring that the commission is manned by permanent and regular staff with full accountability," he said. Referring to the "widespread corruption" in the state as a result of the "mis-governance" of the previous government, the Chief Minister said his government was re-engineering the processes and empowering the state official machinery to check corruption and ensure greater transparency in governance. "The government has also established a Governance Ethics and Reforms Commission for comprehensive systematic reforms in the state to scrutinise all transactions of above Rs 50 cr," he said. Recalling the steps taken by his government to abolish the VVIP culture in the state, the Chief Minister clarified that there was no move to introduce VIP number plates for government officials and said they would only be adding G on the number plate of all government vehicles.
By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: Unique collection of documents consisting of direct correspondence from Lisbon to Goa and which is an important primary source for the study of the Portuguese expansion in Asia and their trade rivalries with the Arabs have become part of National Archives of India. This has become possible as National Archives of Portugal has handed over to its Indian counterpart digital copies of 62 volumes of the collection known as Moncoes do Reino (Monsoon correspondence).

Officials said that a protocol of cooperation was signed between the National Archives of India and the Minister of Culture of the Portuguese Republic in the field of archives on 17th May, 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal. As a first step under this agreement, the Torre do Tombo (National Archives of Portugal) handed over to the National Archives of India digital copies of 62 volumes of the collection known as Moncoes do Reino (Monsoon correspondence).

These volumes were originally part of over 456 volumes that cover the period from 1568 to 1914 and form the largest of all record collections in the Goa State Archives. The collection consists of direct correspondence from Lisbon to Goa and is important primary source for the study of the Portuguese expansion in Asia, their trade rivalries with the Arabs and European powers and their relations with neighbouring Kings in South Asia and East Asia, said a senior official of the Ministry of Culture.

In 1777, these 62 volumes, consisting of over 12,000 documents, pertaining to the period from 1605 to 1651 were shifted from Goa to Lisbon where these were subsequently printed in under the title Documentos Remetidos da India(Documents sent from India) by the Academy of Science at Lisbon. The original volumes had remained in Lisbon ever since.

After 240 years, this gap in the record series in the collection of the Goa State Archives was filled when on 17 May 2017, Raghvendra Singh, Director General of Archives got the collection. Singh expressed his desire to work in close cooperation with the archival fraternity in Portugal and in India to make the centuries-old relations between the two countries, more vibrant and meaningful.

NEW DELHI: Unique collection of documents consisting of direct correspondence from Lisbon to Goa and which is an important primary source for the study of the Portuguese expansion in Asia and their trade rivalries with the Arabs have become part of National Archives of India. This has become possible as National Archives of Portugal has handed over to its Indian counterpart digital copies of 62 volumes of the collection known as Moncoes do Reino (Monsoon correspondence). Officials said that a protocol of cooperation was signed between the National Archives of India and the Minister of Culture of the Portuguese Republic in the field of archives on 17th May, 2017 in Lisbon, Portugal. As a first step under this agreement, the Torre do Tombo (National Archives of Portugal) handed over to the National Archives of India digital copies of 62 volumes of the collection known as Moncoes do Reino (Monsoon correspondence). These volumes were originally part of over 456 volumes that cover the period from 1568 to 1914 and form the largest of all record collections in the Goa State Archives. The collection consists of direct correspondence from Lisbon to Goa and is important primary source for the study of the Portuguese expansion in Asia, their trade rivalries with the Arabs and European powers and their relations with neighbouring Kings in South Asia and East Asia, said a senior official of the Ministry of Culture. In 1777, these 62 volumes, consisting of over 12,000 documents, pertaining to the period from 1605 to 1651 were shifted from Goa to Lisbon where these were subsequently printed in under the title Documentos Remetidos da India(Documents sent from India) by the Academy of Science at Lisbon. The original volumes had remained in Lisbon ever since. After 240 years, this gap in the record series in the collection of the Goa State Archives was filled when on 17 May 2017, Raghvendra Singh, Director General of Archives got the collection. Singh expressed his desire to work in close cooperation with the archival fraternity in Portugal and in India to make the centuries-old relations between the two countries, more vibrant and meaningful.
By PTI

ALLAHABAD: A probe is underway into alleged graft in granting bail to former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati by a Lucknow court around two months ago.

The order granting bail to the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader was stayed by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court shortly afterwards.

According to sources, the "confidential inquiry" was directed by an administrative order of the High Court and it was being conducted by a sitting judge.

The sources said the inquiry was ordered following intelligence reports that "a lot of money" had changed hands to ensure bail for the former minister, who is in jail in connection with a rape case.

Based on these intelligence inputs, the Chief Justice of the High Court is learnt to have sent a confidential report to the Supreme Court collegium, which then reportedly "recalled"

its recommendation to elevate the then District Judge of Lucknow as a High Court judge.

"Further action may be taken upon the completion of the probe, depending upon its findings," the sources added.

The intelligence inputs reportedly pointed fingers at the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court judge, who had granted bail to Prajapati, besides the then District Judge of Lucknow and two other senior lawyers there.

Questions have also reportedly been raised about the appointment of the Additional District Judge (ADJ) in question to the POCSO court, barely three weeks ahead of his retirement, replacing an incumbent whose track record was said to be good.

Prajapati was granted bail by a POCSO court in Lucknow on April 25, which was challenged by the Uttar Pradesh government before the High Court.

On April 28, sitting on the Lucknow Bench, Chief Justice D B Bhosle stayed the bail granted to the ex-minister.

On the very same day, the CJ also passed the order of suspension of the POCSO judge who was scheduled to retire on April 30.

ALLAHABAD: A probe is underway into alleged graft in granting bail to former Uttar Pradesh minister Gayatri Prajapati by a Lucknow court around two months ago. The order granting bail to the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader was stayed by the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court shortly afterwards. According to sources, the "confidential inquiry" was directed by an administrative order of the High Court and it was being conducted by a sitting judge. The sources said the inquiry was ordered following intelligence reports that "a lot of money" had changed hands to ensure bail for the former minister, who is in jail in connection with a rape case. Based on these intelligence inputs, the Chief Justice of the High Court is learnt to have sent a confidential report to the Supreme Court collegium, which then reportedly "recalled" its recommendation to elevate the then District Judge of Lucknow as a High Court judge. "Further action may be taken upon the completion of the probe, depending upon its findings," the sources added. The intelligence inputs reportedly pointed fingers at the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) court judge, who had granted bail to Prajapati, besides the then District Judge of Lucknow and two other senior lawyers there. Questions have also reportedly been raised about the appointment of the Additional District Judge (ADJ) in question to the POCSO court, barely three weeks ahead of his retirement, replacing an incumbent whose track record was said to be good. Prajapati was granted bail by a POCSO court in Lucknow on April 25, which was challenged by the Uttar Pradesh government before the High Court. On April 28, sitting on the Lucknow Bench, Chief Justice D B Bhosle stayed the bail granted to the ex-minister. On the very same day, the CJ also passed the order of suspension of the POCSO judge who was scheduled to retire on April 30.
By Express News Service

GANGTOK: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's agitation in Darjeeling district of West Bengal has come as a boon to the neighbouring state of Sikkim as tourists, who had planned to visit the Darjeeling Hills, are now turning to Sikkim.

"The tension in Darjeeling has led to a sudden boom in tourism here," Sikkim tourism secretary C Zangpo said.

He said domestic and foreign tourists were cancelling their Darjeeling plans and were instead making travel arrangements for Sikkim.

"Tourist establishments in Gangtok are currently packed with customers. Hotels are fully booked for the coming days," Zangpo added.

Travel operators, however, are concerned about having to handle so many tourists at once.

"We have asked travel operators and hotels to try and accommodate as many tourists as they can without compromising on the service standards. Any mismanagement at this time could give a bad name to the state's tourism industry," Zangpo said.

Many hotels are fully booked until mid-July. Many are currently not entertaining new booking enquiries, a travel operator said.

Santanu Bose, a tourist from Kolkata, said, "We had been in Darjeeling on a holiday when all this happened. Our travel agent immediately contacted the operators in Sikkim and we were lucky to get reservations there."

However, many tourists cut short their visit and returned, Bose told PTI.

Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses are plying the roads connecting the two states every day. Sikkim government sources said they had requested their West Bengal counterparts on Sunday to provide security to vehicles passing through the National Highway 31A.

The 92 km long NH 31A connects Sevoke in the Darjeeling district to Gangtok, the Sikkim capital. Around 30 km of the highway passes through the West Bengal.

The West Bengal government has assured that security would be provided to the Sikkim-bound vehicles and the police would carry out extensive patrolling of the highway.

Since June 8, Darjeeling has witnessed clashes between the GJM activists and police over demands for a separate Gorkhaland state.

GANGTOK: The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha's agitation in Darjeeling district of West Bengal has come as a boon to the neighbouring state of Sikkim as tourists, who had planned to visit the Darjeeling Hills, are now turning to Sikkim. "The tension in Darjeeling has led to a sudden boom in tourism here," Sikkim tourism secretary C Zangpo said. He said domestic and foreign tourists were cancelling their Darjeeling plans and were instead making travel arrangements for Sikkim. "Tourist establishments in Gangtok are currently packed with customers. Hotels are fully booked for the coming days," Zangpo added. Travel operators, however, are concerned about having to handle so many tourists at once. "We have asked travel operators and hotels to try and accommodate as many tourists as they can without compromising on the service standards. Any mismanagement at this time could give a bad name to the state's tourism industry," Zangpo said. Many hotels are fully booked until mid-July. Many are currently not entertaining new booking enquiries, a travel operator said. Santanu Bose, a tourist from Kolkata, said, "We had been in Darjeeling on a holiday when all this happened. Our travel agent immediately contacted the operators in Sikkim and we were lucky to get reservations there." However, many tourists cut short their visit and returned, Bose told PTI. Sikkim Nationalised Transport buses are plying the roads connecting the two states every day. Sikkim government sources said they had requested their West Bengal counterparts on Sunday to provide security to vehicles passing through the National Highway 31A. The 92 km long NH 31A connects Sevoke in the Darjeeling district to Gangtok, the Sikkim capital. Around 30 km of the highway passes through the West Bengal. The West Bengal government has assured that security would be provided to the Sikkim-bound vehicles and the police would carry out extensive patrolling of the highway. Since June 8, Darjeeling has witnessed clashes between the GJM activists and police over demands for a separate Gorkhaland state.
Prasanta Mazumdar By

Express News Service

GUWAHATI: An Adivasi (tea tribe) woman in Assam will file a defamation suit against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and BJPs Tezpur MP RP Sharma after a 10-year-old photo, showing her stripped naked and running across a street, surfaced from a Facebook account bearing the UP CMs name.

The defamation case against the duo will be filed in the district court of Biswanath Chariali on Tuesday.

The post claimed that a Hindu woman was stripped by Congress workers for allegedly raising slogans in support of BJP | Source: Facebook

Sharma had supported the post and also shared it on social media. The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam had on Sunday filed a case with the police demanding action against the miscreant who posted the photograph. Assams director general of police, Mukesh Sahay, told The New Indian Express that an investigation into the case was on. The Quint reported that a Yogi Adityanath page on Facebook, which has over 95,000 followers, shared a photo of a woman running across a street, stripped naked.

The post claims that the Hindu woman was stripped by the Congress workers for allegedly raising slogans in support of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The post also calls for people to share the post and expose the true face of Congress to the world, the Quint report said. According to the Facebook post, the incident took place in Bengal but there was no mention about the time.

A November 26, 2007, report of The Telegraph read, A young Adivasi woman ran down a Guwahati street naked, stripped by ethnic rioters, while leering city youths clicked away with their cellphone cameras. After the incident, the police had arrested three tormentors of the victim, the report said.

The three had pounced on her like a pack of dogs and started stripping her. All her pleas fell on deaf ears till they had stripped her naked. Only then did they let her go, The Telegraph had reported quoting a police officer. The incident occurred after a protest march, taken out by Adivasis demanding scheduled tribe (ST) status for the community, had turned violent. Laxmi Orang, the victim, was among the tribals. She got married in due course and is now a mother of a two-year-old son. She told The New Indian Express on Monday that she would not rest till she got justice.

I have already discussed the matter with my lawyer and I will file a defamation case against Yogi Adityanath and RP Sharma tomorrow (Tuesday). The UP CM should have been careful while posting the photograph. Would he have done so if the victim was a member of his family? I wont tolerate if a politician tries to score some brownie points by taking advantage of my nude photo, Orang said.

I have been suffering the ignominy for 10 years. Where was the Tezpur MP all these years? It was not appropriate on his part to come out in support of the post, she said. Insisting that she should get justice, Orang said she would demand the arrest of Adityanath and Sharma. She said she would hit the streets along with her kid if the duo was not arrested.

GUWAHATI: An Adivasi (tea tribe) woman in Assam will file a defamation suit against Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath and BJPs Tezpur MP RP Sharma after a 10-year-old photo, showing her stripped naked and running across a street, surfaced from a Facebook account bearing the UP CMs name. The defamation case against the duo will be filed in the district court of Biswanath Chariali on Tuesday. The post claimed that a Hindu woman was stripped by Congress workers for allegedly raising slogans in support of BJP | Source: Facebook Sharma had supported the post and also shared it on social media. The All Adivasi Students Association of Assam had on Sunday filed a case with the police demanding action against the miscreant who posted the photograph. Assams director general of police, Mukesh Sahay, told The New Indian Express that an investigation into the case was on. The Quint reported that a Yogi Adityanath page on Facebook, which has over 95,000 followers, shared a photo of a woman running across a street, stripped naked. The post claims that the Hindu woman was stripped by the Congress workers for allegedly raising slogans in support of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The post also calls for people to share the post and expose the true face of Congress to the world, the Quint report said. According to the Facebook post, the incident took place in Bengal but there was no mention about the time. A November 26, 2007, report of The Telegraph read, A young Adivasi woman ran down a Guwahati street naked, stripped by ethnic rioters, while leering city youths clicked away with their cellphone cameras. After the incident, the police had arrested three tormentors of the victim, the report said. The three had pounced on her like a pack of dogs and started stripping her. All her pleas fell on deaf ears till they had stripped her naked. Only then did they let her go, The Telegraph had reported quoting a police officer. The incident occurred after a protest march, taken out by Adivasis demanding scheduled tribe (ST) status for the community, had turned violent. Laxmi Orang, the victim, was among the tribals. She got married in due course and is now a mother of a two-year-old son. She told The New Indian Express on Monday that she would not rest till she got justice. I have already discussed the matter with my lawyer and I will file a defamation case against Yogi Adityanath and RP Sharma tomorrow (Tuesday). The UP CM should have been careful while posting the photograph. Would he have done so if the victim was a member of his family? I wont tolerate if a politician tries to score some brownie points by taking advantage of my nude photo, Orang said. I have been suffering the ignominy for 10 years. Where was the Tezpur MP all these years? It was not appropriate on his part to come out in support of the post, she said. Insisting that she should get justice, Orang said she would demand the arrest of Adityanath and Sharma. She said she would hit the streets along with her kid if the duo was not arrested.
By Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rob Edison, the 36-year-old Ghana national who was arrested a day back with fake British pounds worth `3 crore told cops on Monday his boss Philip in Bengaluru had asked him to give the notes to him upon reaching Kovalam. However, the cops are convinced Edison is hiding facts.



Prima facie, it appears Edison was simply a carrier. Efforts are on to check his antecedents. Despite his claim he was travelling to Kovalam beach to hand over the money to the same persons who gave him the notes, we feel he is trying to hide facts, the cops said.

Still, we received a vital piece of information regarding the identity of the boss. A probe is on to trace him. We will also check for involvement of more persons in the racket, said Parassala SI S B Praveen. The cops also suspect Edison is a member of an international fake lottery racket.

Excise officers had intercepted Edison with the fake notes at the Amaravila check-post from a Thiruvananthapuram-bound private Volvo bus from Bengluru during a routine inspection. He was taken into custody and handed over to the Parassala Police. He had tried to destroy evidence, including his SIM card and was also not cooperating with the police initially.

He was produced before the magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody. The police will seek permission to take him into the custody for further interrogation.



Inspections at the checkpost were intensified recently following a spurt in smuggling of goods and narcotics through private and public transport buses.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Rob Edison, the 36-year-old Ghana national who was arrested a day back with fake British pounds worth `3 crore told cops on Monday his boss Philip in Bengaluru had asked him to give the notes to him upon reaching Kovalam. However, the cops are convinced Edison is hiding facts. Prima facie, it appears Edison was simply a carrier. Efforts are on to check his antecedents. Despite his claim he was travelling to Kovalam beach to hand over the money to the same persons who gave him the notes, we feel he is trying to hide facts, the cops said. Still, we received a vital piece of information regarding the identity of the boss. A probe is on to trace him. We will also check for involvement of more persons in the racket, said Parassala SI S B Praveen. The cops also suspect Edison is a member of an international fake lottery racket. Excise officers had intercepted Edison with the fake notes at the Amaravila check-post from a Thiruvananthapuram-bound private Volvo bus from Bengluru during a routine inspection. He was taken into custody and handed over to the Parassala Police. He had tried to destroy evidence, including his SIM card and was also not cooperating with the police initially. He was produced before the magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody. The police will seek permission to take him into the custody for further interrogation. Inspections at the checkpost were intensified recently following a spurt in smuggling of goods and narcotics through private and public transport buses.
A Satish By

Express News Service

PALAKKAD: Twenty-six tonnes. Thats the amount of ration rice seized from areas lying cheek by jowl with Pollachi and Coimbatore over the past month. A clear indication of smuggling picking up intensity after a brief lull. That nefarious elements delve into the free ration for BPL cardholders in Tamil Nadu makes the act all the more unscrupulous.



The Kozhinjampara Police, along with the Civil Supplies Department, made the seizure.

On June 12, we seized at least 20 tonnes of ration rice stored in two shops at the Walayar dam site, Palakkad District Supplies Officer V K Shashidharan told Express.



The rice supplied by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in recent times is of a very good quality. It is collected by agents at a very low price from the rural folk in villages and transported in trains and other modes. It is stored in shops or godowns on the border and then sold in bulk to rice merchants or mills in Kerala.



The shop owners, he said, were abusive this time and threatened to slip into violence.

We had to call in the Walayar Police for protection to transport the 20 tonnes into the godowns of the Civil Supplies Corporation. In February, too, we had seized around 30 tonnes from three shops at Walayar and cases were registered against them. We brought the seized ration rice in six tempos to Palakkad town, Shashidharan said.

Chittur Taluk Supplies Officer R Manoj pointed to three other major hauls, amounting to 5,330 kg. While 1,240 kg was seized on May 30 from the shed of a certain Rajan of Kozhinjampara by the police, another 1,930 kg was seized from the house of another person, Raja, on the Velanthavalam-Ozhalapathy road. On June 11, 2,160 kg was seized from a Tata Sumo during a vehicle inspection by the police. The consignments have been handed over to us and we have registered cases, he said.

The ration rice is transported in small vehicles, including bullock carts from across the border and stored in houses in the state, said Kozhinjampara SI Saji Kumar. There are also godowns in the area to store smuggled rice. It is later polished and marketed at a fancy price under various brands to consumers in Kerala. In the past two months, we have seized at least 10 tonnes from vehicles.



The big question being raised is whether the rice was being sold by wholesalers in TN to unscrupulous traders or the beneficiaries themselves were indulging in these activities.

In either case, it is the common people of both states who are being cheated. While the target groups were being denied free food in TN, people in the consumer state of Kerala will be paying through their nose for ration rice in the garb of a branded product.

PALAKKAD: Twenty-six tonnes. Thats the amount of ration rice seized from areas lying cheek by jowl with Pollachi and Coimbatore over the past month. A clear indication of smuggling picking up intensity after a brief lull. That nefarious elements delve into the free ration for BPL cardholders in Tamil Nadu makes the act all the more unscrupulous. The Kozhinjampara Police, along with the Civil Supplies Department, made the seizure. On June 12, we seized at least 20 tonnes of ration rice stored in two shops at the Walayar dam site, Palakkad District Supplies Officer V K Shashidharan told Express. The rice supplied by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) in recent times is of a very good quality. It is collected by agents at a very low price from the rural folk in villages and transported in trains and other modes. It is stored in shops or godowns on the border and then sold in bulk to rice merchants or mills in Kerala. The shop owners, he said, were abusive this time and threatened to slip into violence. We had to call in the Walayar Police for protection to transport the 20 tonnes into the godowns of the Civil Supplies Corporation. In February, too, we had seized around 30 tonnes from three shops at Walayar and cases were registered against them. We brought the seized ration rice in six tempos to Palakkad town, Shashidharan said. Chittur Taluk Supplies Officer R Manoj pointed to three other major hauls, amounting to 5,330 kg. While 1,240 kg was seized on May 30 from the shed of a certain Rajan of Kozhinjampara by the police, another 1,930 kg was seized from the house of another person, Raja, on the Velanthavalam-Ozhalapathy road. On June 11, 2,160 kg was seized from a Tata Sumo during a vehicle inspection by the police. The consignments have been handed over to us and we have registered cases, he said. The ration rice is transported in small vehicles, including bullock carts from across the border and stored in houses in the state, said Kozhinjampara SI Saji Kumar. There are also godowns in the area to store smuggled rice. It is later polished and marketed at a fancy price under various brands to consumers in Kerala. In the past two months, we have seized at least 10 tonnes from vehicles. The big question being raised is whether the rice was being sold by wholesalers in TN to unscrupulous traders or the beneficiaries themselves were indulging in these activities. In either case, it is the common people of both states who are being cheated. While the target groups were being denied free food in TN, people in the consumer state of Kerala will be paying through their nose for ration rice in the garb of a branded product.
By Express News Service

KOCHI: Ayyappadas, of Thrikkannamangal, Kottarakkara, who claims to be the lover of the woman allegedly involved in the bobbitisation case, on Monday approached the Kerala High Court seeking a directive to the Thiruvananthapuram police to produce her before the court.



He alleged the girl was illegally detained by Sangh Parivar activists. Ayyappadas stated he was looking after a hotel owned by Ganeshananda Theerthapada Swami, an accused in the case, at Kolencherry. The victim gashed Ganeshanandas genitals with a knife when he attempted to rape her, he submitted.



The Petta police had registered a case against the accused for the offence under Section 376 (rape) of IPC and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).



In the habeas corpus petition, he said even as the investigation is progressing, a criminal conspiracy is being hatched by some activists of Sangh Parivar with the assistance of a criminal lawyer who appeared for Ganeshananda in the case. As a result, the victim was forcibly taken from their house and illegally confined at Nattarachira, Nedumangad. She was also forced to write a letter to Ganeshanandas counsel denying her earlier version against the accused.



Though a complaint was filed before the police seeking to redeem her from illegal detention, no action has been taken. The petitioner alleged there was a move to make him a scapegoat so as to protect Ganeshananda from prosecution.

KOCHI: Ayyappadas, of Thrikkannamangal, Kottarakkara, who claims to be the lover of the woman allegedly involved in the bobbitisation case, on Monday approached the Kerala High Court seeking a directive to the Thiruvananthapuram police to produce her before the court. He alleged the girl was illegally detained by Sangh Parivar activists. Ayyappadas stated he was looking after a hotel owned by Ganeshananda Theerthapada Swami, an accused in the case, at Kolencherry. The victim gashed Ganeshanandas genitals with a knife when he attempted to rape her, he submitted. The Petta police had registered a case against the accused for the offence under Section 376 (rape) of IPC and sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). In the habeas corpus petition, he said even as the investigation is progressing, a criminal conspiracy is being hatched by some activists of Sangh Parivar with the assistance of a criminal lawyer who appeared for Ganeshananda in the case. As a result, the victim was forcibly taken from their house and illegally confined at Nattarachira, Nedumangad. She was also forced to write a letter to Ganeshanandas counsel denying her earlier version against the accused. Though a complaint was filed before the police seeking to redeem her from illegal detention, no action has been taken. The petitioner alleged there was a move to make him a scapegoat so as to protect Ganeshananda from prosecution.
By AFP

SYDNEY: Australia's military on Tuesday said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces.

The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets", and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident.

"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement.

No reason for the suspension was given, but The Australian newspaper said it was implemented as a precaution after the jet's downing.

"ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," the spokeswoman added.

"ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition."

The United States has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation after the jet was downed on Sunday evening when regime forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS.

A top US general said the country would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline established in 2015, after Russia said Washington had failed to use the line -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before targeting the plane near Raqa.

Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in late 2015 extended air operations into Syria, with a total of 780 defence personnel based in the Middle East.

The staunch US ally in September said it would widen the scope of targets in the air war against IS by allowing its pilots to strike jihadist support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria.

Australia's Air Task Group consists of 300 personnel, six F/A-18 Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker and Transport plane.

SYDNEY: Australia's military on Tuesday said it was temporarily halting air missions over Syria, following the shooting down of a Syrian jet by US forces. The decision came amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, which warned it would track coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets", and halted a military hotline with Washington over the incident. "As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," a defence spokeswoman said in a statement. No reason for the suspension was given, but The Australian newspaper said it was implemented as a precaution after the jet's downing. "ADF personnel are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," the spokeswoman added. "ADF operations in Iraq will continue as part of the coalition." The United States has moved quickly to contain an escalation of the situation after the jet was downed on Sunday evening when regime forces targeted the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS. A top US general said the country would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline established in 2015, after Russia said Washington had failed to use the line -- a vital incident-prevention tool -- before targeting the plane near Raqa. Australia is part of the coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Iraq and in late 2015 extended air operations into Syria, with a total of 780 defence personnel based in the Middle East. The staunch US ally in September said it would widen the scope of targets in the air war against IS by allowing its pilots to strike jihadist support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria. Australia's Air Task Group consists of 300 personnel, six F/A-18 Hornets, an E-7A Wedgetail Airborne Early Warning and Control aircraft, and a KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker and Transport plane.
By AFP

UNITED NATIONS: More than 600 troops from Congo Republic serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic will be returning home following allegations of sex abuse and other misconduct, UN officials said Monday.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will announce the withdrawal Tuesday during a news conference at the United Nations, officials told AFP.

The decision follows a report by the UN commander of the MINUSCA force who warned that Brazzaville should either take steps to rein in the troops or be forced to repatriate them.

Lieutenant General Balla Keita of Senegal told UN headquarters that he had sent six letters of blame to the battalion commander already this year over alleged sexual abuse, fuel trafficking and lack of discipline.

The 629 peacekeepers deployed in Berberati, the country's third-largest city, are Brazzaville's only contribution to UN peacekeeping.

Last year, 120 troops from the same contingent were sent back following allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) involving at least 7 victims, six of whom were children.

But following a MINUSCA assessment of the Berberati base in March, Keita said there had been "no improvements in the behavior of the Congolese battalion."

"The battalion is notorious for SEA misconducts, fuel trafficking and poor discipline," Keita wrote in a memo sent last month.

"The situation has deteriorated to the point that the battalion is no longer trustable because of poor leadership, lack of discipline, and operational deficiencies," he added.

The memo and a 66-page UN assessment of the Congolese troops were released by the Code Blue Campaign of non-governmental organizations seeking to expose cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers.

Tougher response

The 12,000-strong MINUSCA force has been plagued by a wave of sexual abuse allegations since the mission began in 2014 to help restore stability to the country.

One of Africa's poorest countries, the Central African Republic descended into bloody sectarian fighting after the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize.

Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon in 2015 took the rare step of firing the then-head of the peacekeeping force over his handling of dozens of misconduct cases, including the rape of minors.

With sex abuse cases continuing to surface, Guterres vowed to toughen up the response to the damaging allegations when he took the UN helm in January.

UN critics in the United States -- many of whom are in the US Congress -- have pointed to the mounting cases of misconduct by UN peacekeepers in their campaign to cut funding to UN blue helmets.

In the report to UN headquarters, the force commander said the Congolese contingent showed a "poor display of leadership and military discipline" and failed to maintain basic logistics.

He noted that the unit had only 18 vehicles that were serviceable and that 44 others were awaiting maintenance.

The assessment described the shoddy state of the Berberati camp, with no proper water supply, field toilets and little fencing to restrict access to the site by civilians.

UNITED NATIONS: More than 600 troops from Congo Republic serving as UN peacekeepers in the Central African Republic will be returning home following allegations of sex abuse and other misconduct, UN officials said Monday. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will announce the withdrawal Tuesday during a news conference at the United Nations, officials told AFP. The decision follows a report by the UN commander of the MINUSCA force who warned that Brazzaville should either take steps to rein in the troops or be forced to repatriate them. Lieutenant General Balla Keita of Senegal told UN headquarters that he had sent six letters of blame to the battalion commander already this year over alleged sexual abuse, fuel trafficking and lack of discipline. The 629 peacekeepers deployed in Berberati, the country's third-largest city, are Brazzaville's only contribution to UN peacekeeping. Last year, 120 troops from the same contingent were sent back following allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) involving at least 7 victims, six of whom were children. But following a MINUSCA assessment of the Berberati base in March, Keita said there had been "no improvements in the behavior of the Congolese battalion." "The battalion is notorious for SEA misconducts, fuel trafficking and poor discipline," Keita wrote in a memo sent last month. "The situation has deteriorated to the point that the battalion is no longer trustable because of poor leadership, lack of discipline, and operational deficiencies," he added. The memo and a 66-page UN assessment of the Congolese troops were released by the Code Blue Campaign of non-governmental organizations seeking to expose cases of sexual abuse and exploitation by UN peacekeepers. Tougher response The 12,000-strong MINUSCA force has been plagued by a wave of sexual abuse allegations since the mission began in 2014 to help restore stability to the country. One of Africa's poorest countries, the Central African Republic descended into bloody sectarian fighting after the 2013 overthrow of longtime leader Francois Bozize. Former UN chief Ban Ki-moon in 2015 took the rare step of firing the then-head of the peacekeeping force over his handling of dozens of misconduct cases, including the rape of minors. With sex abuse cases continuing to surface, Guterres vowed to toughen up the response to the damaging allegations when he took the UN helm in January. UN critics in the United States -- many of whom are in the US Congress -- have pointed to the mounting cases of misconduct by UN peacekeepers in their campaign to cut funding to UN blue helmets. In the report to UN headquarters, the force commander said the Congolese contingent showed a "poor display of leadership and military discipline" and failed to maintain basic logistics. He noted that the unit had only 18 vehicles that were serviceable and that 44 others were awaiting maintenance. The assessment described the shoddy state of the Berberati camp, with no proper water supply, field toilets and little fencing to restrict access to the site by civilians.
By AFP

PARIS: A French journalist has been killed in Mosul after a mine exploded in the war-torn city, public broadcaster France Televisions said on Tuesday.

Stephan Villeneuve and two other French journalists were injured in the explosion on Monday in Iraq's second city that killed Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad, according to France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Villeneuve later succumbed to his injuries, the broadcaster added.

"The management and staff at France Televisions sympathise with the pain of his partner Sophie, his four children, his family and all those he was close to. They offer their most sincere condolences," the head of the news department said in a statement.

A video journalist who had covered a number of conflicts across the world, Villeneuve was filming a piece together with Veronique Robert on the battle of Mosul for French news programme Envoye Special, aired on public television channel France 2.

They were both taken to a hospital on a US military base following the explosion.

Reporter Samuel Forey, who worked for a number of French media organisations including French daily Le Figaro, also suffered light injuries.

"I am very sad for Bakhtiyar and my colleagues, I ask you to not contact me for a couple of days," he wrote on Twitter.

The journalists were accompanying Iraqi special forces during the battle to reconquer Mosul from the Islamic State (EI) group, where some 100,000 civilians are being used as "human shields" by jihadists, according to the UN.

PARIS: A French journalist has been killed in Mosul after a mine exploded in the war-torn city, public broadcaster France Televisions said on Tuesday. Stephan Villeneuve and two other French journalists were injured in the explosion on Monday in Iraq's second city that killed Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad, according to France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. Villeneuve later succumbed to his injuries, the broadcaster added. "The management and staff at France Televisions sympathise with the pain of his partner Sophie, his four children, his family and all those he was close to. They offer their most sincere condolences," the head of the news department said in a statement. A video journalist who had covered a number of conflicts across the world, Villeneuve was filming a piece together with Veronique Robert on the battle of Mosul for French news programme Envoye Special, aired on public television channel France 2. They were both taken to a hospital on a US military base following the explosion. Reporter Samuel Forey, who worked for a number of French media organisations including French daily Le Figaro, also suffered light injuries. "I am very sad for Bakhtiyar and my colleagues, I ask you to not contact me for a couple of days," he wrote on Twitter. The journalists were accompanying Iraqi special forces during the battle to reconquer Mosul from the Islamic State (EI) group, where some 100,000 civilians are being used as "human shields" by jihadists, according to the UN.
By AFP

MOSUL: Iraqi forces pushed deeper into Mosul's Old City on Monday after launching a final assault on the Islamic State group, warning civilians to stay inside and telling jihadists to "surrender or die".

Iraqi forces launched the operation on Sunday to retake the district, the last part of Iraq's second city still held by IS after a months-long offensive.

Commanders say the jihadists are putting up fierce resistance and there are fears for more than 100,000 civilians believed to be trapped in the maze of narrow streets.

Staff Major General Maan al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP that heavy fighting had resumed at dawn on Monday.

"We pushed deeper into the Old City and took control of new areas in the Faruq neighbourhood," he said.

The various Iraqi forces pushing into the Old City made modest gains, as IS fighters rained mortar fire on their positions and offered stiff resistance.

"Penetrating was very difficult. Today the fighting is face to face," Saadi said.

The push into Mosul's historic heart on the west bank of the Tigris River marks the culmination of a campaign launched in October by Iraqi forces to retake IS's last major urban stronghold in the country.

The US-led coalition battling IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria has backed the offensive, including with months of air strikes.

The loss of Mosul would mark the effective end of the Iraqi portion of the cross-border "caliphate" that IS declared in summer 2014 after seizing swathes of Iraq and Syria.

- IEDs on toy cars -

Sheltering from relentless fire and explosions near a sniper position on the edge of the Old City, CTS captain Ahmed Jassem described a bitter fight.

"We can't bring our vehicles into these narrow streets. It means they can't use as many car bombs either, but they use motorcycle bombs and even IEDs mounted on remote-controlled toy cars," he said.

Iraqi forces stationed Humvees by the Grand Mosque on the retaken east side of Mosul, facing the Old City and mounted with speakers.

The loudspeakers blared messages to IS fighters, telling them: "You have only this choice: surrender or die".

Late on Sunday, Iraqi forces dropped nearly 500,000 leaflets over the city, warning that they had "started attacking from all directions".

The leaflets urge civilians to "stay away from open places and... exploit any opportunity that arises during the fighting" to escape.

The United Nations has said IS may be holding more than 100,000 civilians as human shields in the Old City.

On Monday, the French national broadcaster France Televisions and Reporters Without Borders said three French journalists were wounded in a landmine blast in Mosul and their Iraqi fixer Bakhtiyar Addad killed.

On Tuesday, the broadcaster announced that one of the reporters, Stephan Villeneuve, had died from his injuries.

He had been preparing a documentary on the battle for Mosul for public channel France 2.

Only a few hundred yards (metres) from the heaviest fighting, small groups of civilians gathered.

"We moved to a camp in Hammam al-Alil when the neighbourhood was liberated, but homes were being looted so we came back to protect our property," said Nabil Hamed Khattab, a 56-year old who did not flinch when a mortar round came crashing down a few blocks away.

Commanders have said the fighting is expected to be very difficult and could last weeks.

Surrounded by Iraqi forces on three sides and blocked on the other by the Tigris that runs through Mosul, the jihadists are cornered.

Iraqi forces launched a vast operation to retake Mosul eight months ago, seizing the city's eastern side in January and starting an assault on its western part the following month.

Aid groups have raised concerns that already-traumatised civilians risk getting caught up in fierce street fighting.

It is not clear how many civilians have been killed in the operation, but aid workers are warning that casualties will be high.

"We're seeing dozens of new patients a day, including children and the elderly. For a heartbreakingly high number, it was simply too late; they died soon after reaching us," said Julia Schuerch, an ICRC emergency room specialist deployed in west Mosul.

"Why didn't they come sooner?" she said. "Residents are being forced to make impossible life and death choices as they seek to flee the violence."

Since the start of the battle to retake Mosul, an estimated 862,000 people have been displaced. Around 195,000 have since returned, mainly to the city's east.

It was from the Old City's emblematic Al-Nuri mosque in July 2014 that IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance.

He urged Muslims worldwide to move to the group's "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria.

The jihadists have since lost most of the territory they once controlled in the face of US-backed offensives in Iraq and in Syria, where a Kurdish-Arab alliance is advancing on the group's last Syrian stronghold Raqa.

MOSUL: Iraqi forces pushed deeper into Mosul's Old City on Monday after launching a final assault on the Islamic State group, warning civilians to stay inside and telling jihadists to "surrender or die". Iraqi forces launched the operation on Sunday to retake the district, the last part of Iraq's second city still held by IS after a months-long offensive. Commanders say the jihadists are putting up fierce resistance and there are fears for more than 100,000 civilians believed to be trapped in the maze of narrow streets. Staff Major General Maan al-Saadi, a top commander in Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS), told AFP that heavy fighting had resumed at dawn on Monday. "We pushed deeper into the Old City and took control of new areas in the Faruq neighbourhood," he said. The various Iraqi forces pushing into the Old City made modest gains, as IS fighters rained mortar fire on their positions and offered stiff resistance. "Penetrating was very difficult. Today the fighting is face to face," Saadi said. The push into Mosul's historic heart on the west bank of the Tigris River marks the culmination of a campaign launched in October by Iraqi forces to retake IS's last major urban stronghold in the country. The US-led coalition battling IS in Iraq and neighbouring Syria has backed the offensive, including with months of air strikes. The loss of Mosul would mark the effective end of the Iraqi portion of the cross-border "caliphate" that IS declared in summer 2014 after seizing swathes of Iraq and Syria. - IEDs on toy cars - Sheltering from relentless fire and explosions near a sniper position on the edge of the Old City, CTS captain Ahmed Jassem described a bitter fight. "We can't bring our vehicles into these narrow streets. It means they can't use as many car bombs either, but they use motorcycle bombs and even IEDs mounted on remote-controlled toy cars," he said. Iraqi forces stationed Humvees by the Grand Mosque on the retaken east side of Mosul, facing the Old City and mounted with speakers. The loudspeakers blared messages to IS fighters, telling them: "You have only this choice: surrender or die". Late on Sunday, Iraqi forces dropped nearly 500,000 leaflets over the city, warning that they had "started attacking from all directions". The leaflets urge civilians to "stay away from open places and... exploit any opportunity that arises during the fighting" to escape. The United Nations has said IS may be holding more than 100,000 civilians as human shields in the Old City. On Monday, the French national broadcaster France Televisions and Reporters Without Borders said three French journalists were wounded in a landmine blast in Mosul and their Iraqi fixer Bakhtiyar Addad killed. On Tuesday, the broadcaster announced that one of the reporters, Stephan Villeneuve, had died from his injuries. He had been preparing a documentary on the battle for Mosul for public channel France 2. Only a few hundred yards (metres) from the heaviest fighting, small groups of civilians gathered. "We moved to a camp in Hammam al-Alil when the neighbourhood was liberated, but homes were being looted so we came back to protect our property," said Nabil Hamed Khattab, a 56-year old who did not flinch when a mortar round came crashing down a few blocks away. Commanders have said the fighting is expected to be very difficult and could last weeks. Surrounded by Iraqi forces on three sides and blocked on the other by the Tigris that runs through Mosul, the jihadists are cornered. Iraqi forces launched a vast operation to retake Mosul eight months ago, seizing the city's eastern side in January and starting an assault on its western part the following month. Aid groups have raised concerns that already-traumatised civilians risk getting caught up in fierce street fighting. It is not clear how many civilians have been killed in the operation, but aid workers are warning that casualties will be high. "We're seeing dozens of new patients a day, including children and the elderly. For a heartbreakingly high number, it was simply too late; they died soon after reaching us," said Julia Schuerch, an ICRC emergency room specialist deployed in west Mosul. "Why didn't they come sooner?" she said. "Residents are being forced to make impossible life and death choices as they seek to flee the violence." Since the start of the battle to retake Mosul, an estimated 862,000 people have been displaced. Around 195,000 have since returned, mainly to the city's east. It was from the Old City's emblematic Al-Nuri mosque in July 2014 that IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made his only public appearance. He urged Muslims worldwide to move to the group's "caliphate" straddling Iraq and Syria. The jihadists have since lost most of the territory they once controlled in the face of US-backed offensives in Iraq and in Syria, where a Kurdish-Arab alliance is advancing on the group's last Syrian stronghold Raqa.
By Reuters

LONDON: Chief Executive Officer of Russia's VTB bank Andrei Kostin told reporters on Tuesday he was not aware about any connections between U.S. President Donald Trump and Deutsche Bank.

"It's the first time that I hear there is a connection between them," he said.

Several Democrats on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee sent a letter last month to Deutsche Bank CEO seeking details that might show if Trump's loans for his real estate business were backed by the Russian government.

LONDON: Chief Executive Officer of Russia's VTB bank Andrei Kostin told reporters on Tuesday he was not aware about any connections between U.S. President Donald Trump and Deutsche Bank. "It's the first time that I hear there is a connection between them," he said. Several Democrats on the U.S. House Financial Services Committee sent a letter last month to Deutsche Bank CEO seeking details that might show if Trump's loans for his real estate business were backed by the Russian government.
By PTI

LONDON: Darren Osborne, a 47-year-old man under arrest on terror charges for running over worshippers outside a mosque in London, has been described by his mother as someone with problems but "not a terrorist".

British police named Osborne, a father of four living in the Welsh city of Cardiff, as the man who ploughed a van into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London, yesterday.

He was detained by members of the public at the scene and then take to hospital and later arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

An elderly man, who was receiving first aid at the time of the attack for a presumed heart attack, died on the scene, but it is unclear if his death was a result of the attack or from a previous condition.

Nine others were taken to three London hospitals and two were treated for minor injuries at the scene, outside Muslim Welfare House, near Finsbury Park Mosque.

In a statement on behalf of the family, Osborne's 26year-old nephew Ellis Osborne said, "We are massively shocked; it's unbelievable, it still hasn't really sunk in. We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured."

According to witnesses, Osborne shouted, "I want to kill all Muslims" as he drove a van into a crowd largely made up of worshippers out for Ramzan prayers.

Osborne's mother, 72-year-old Christine, said her son was "not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims".

"I'm at my wits end. I saw him on TV and recognised him straight away. I just screamed. My son is no terrorist -- he's just a man with problems and I don't know how to cope with all this," she told The Sun.

Osborne's sister Nicola denied that her brother is political.

"He wouldn't even know who the Prime Minister is. I've never heard him say anything about Muslims or anything racist," she said.

Osborne was born in Singapore but raised by his parents, John and Christine, in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, where he attended Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College.

He left Weston-Super-Mare several years ago and moved to a terraced house in Pentwyn, Cardiff, with his partner, children and two dogs.

The couple have four children, aged between 16 and five, and Osborne is described as a "family man".

Some neighbours believe he and his partner had separated in recent months and that he was often seen shouting at her in the street.

Osborne, who was not known to the police or security services, is believed to have driven 15 miles from his home in Cardiff to Pontyclun Van Hire on Sunday, hiring an 80-pounda-night van.

According to some of his drinking mates, he may have become radicalised following the recent terror attacks in London Bridge and Manchester.

He allegedly hurled insults at his Asian neighbour's 12year-old son and was allegedly thrown out of his local pub the night before the attack for "cursing Muslims".

Meanwhile, Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick joined hundreds at a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque, where people from across the community had gathered in solidarity and to lay flowers.

The Finsbury Park attack is the fourth in the UK in four months, after incidents in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack was "every bit as sickening" as the others.

LONDON: Darren Osborne, a 47-year-old man under arrest on terror charges for running over worshippers outside a mosque in London, has been described by his mother as someone with problems but "not a terrorist". British police named Osborne, a father of four living in the Welsh city of Cardiff, as the man who ploughed a van into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London, yesterday. He was detained by members of the public at the scene and then take to hospital and later arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder. An elderly man, who was receiving first aid at the time of the attack for a presumed heart attack, died on the scene, but it is unclear if his death was a result of the attack or from a previous condition. Nine others were taken to three London hospitals and two were treated for minor injuries at the scene, outside Muslim Welfare House, near Finsbury Park Mosque. In a statement on behalf of the family, Osborne's 26year-old nephew Ellis Osborne said, "We are massively shocked; it's unbelievable, it still hasn't really sunk in. We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured." According to witnesses, Osborne shouted, "I want to kill all Muslims" as he drove a van into a crowd largely made up of worshippers out for Ramzan prayers. Osborne's mother, 72-year-old Christine, said her son was "not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims". "I'm at my wits end. I saw him on TV and recognised him straight away. I just screamed. My son is no terrorist -- he's just a man with problems and I don't know how to cope with all this," she told The Sun. Osborne's sister Nicola denied that her brother is political. "He wouldn't even know who the Prime Minister is. I've never heard him say anything about Muslims or anything racist," she said. Osborne was born in Singapore but raised by his parents, John and Christine, in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, where he attended Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College. He left Weston-Super-Mare several years ago and moved to a terraced house in Pentwyn, Cardiff, with his partner, children and two dogs. The couple have four children, aged between 16 and five, and Osborne is described as a "family man". Some neighbours believe he and his partner had separated in recent months and that he was often seen shouting at her in the street. Osborne, who was not known to the police or security services, is believed to have driven 15 miles from his home in Cardiff to Pontyclun Van Hire on Sunday, hiring an 80-pounda-night van. According to some of his drinking mates, he may have become radicalised following the recent terror attacks in London Bridge and Manchester. He allegedly hurled insults at his Asian neighbour's 12year-old son and was allegedly thrown out of his local pub the night before the attack for "cursing Muslims". Meanwhile, Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick joined hundreds at a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque, where people from across the community had gathered in solidarity and to lay flowers. The Finsbury Park attack is the fourth in the UK in four months, after incidents in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge. British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack was "every bit as sickening" as the others.
Spare Change: Middletown's past attitude cost them on Tuesday

Did anything fully feel right about regionalization? Did you ever get the idea that either community was pumped for this?
A new report has shown that nearly 1,300 children in the United States die due to firearm injuries annually and 5,790 children survive gunshot injuries occurring from rifles and shotguns as well as hand-held guns.

Image Credit: Prath / Shutterstock

The study published in the Journal Pediatrics this week has said that deaths and injuries to gun shots has now become the third leading cause of death for children between ages 1 and 17 years. The study was conducted by researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC.

The researchers looked at data on injuries and deaths that resulted from gunfire among children aged between 1 and 17 years. They gathered this data from three national databases which closely follow details of the nonfatal firearm injuries as reported by the emergency rooms from the hospitals. A special statistical tool joinpoint regression analyses was used to assess trends between 2002 and 2014.

Gun related death data were collected from National Vital Statistics System

Gun related non-fatal injuries were assessed from National Electronic Injury Surveillance System

Incident details and circumstances of gun related violence or accidents were looked into from the National Violent Death Reporting System

In addition they looked at databases of death certificates, coroner and medical examiner records, law enforcement reports, reports of homicides, suicides and assaults as well as unintentional gunshot injuries. Other details of those affected by gunshots were also recorded including gender, age, race or ethnicity along with year of death.

Study author Katherine Fowler, a behavioural scientist at the CDC, says that everyday around 19 children either die or are injured due to gunshot wounds. She went on to detail the numbers that 53% of the deaths due to gunshot wounds among children were homicides. There were 38% suicides too and only 6% were unintentional deaths. Males are more at risk she said accounting for 82% of the children population dying of gunshot injuries and 84% of all children injured due to gunshot violence.

These boys dying or being injured with guns are between 13 and 17 years of age and commonly African-American when it comes to gunshot homicides. When it comes to suicides linked to guns, the ethnicity is predominantly non-Hispanic white and American Indian/Alaska Native she explained. African-American kids in addition have around ten times risk of deaths due to guns compared to non-Hispanic white and Asian-American children, says the report.

The gun related homicide rates among children are higher in Southern states and parts of the Midwest compared to other regions. Gun related suicide rates are higher in Western states. Firearm homicides of younger children are usually not isolated, the study found. These deaths occur in groups. Pretend play with guns in unintentional firearm deaths occur both in younger and older children.

According to Fowler, this was the first and most comprehensive report surpassing earlier smaller reports. This report looks closer at the patterns and trends of the problem and may help strategize remedies.

Since 2007 there has been an alarming rise in suicides using a firearm the report finds with the rise up to 60%. One third of these are linked to depressive illness and one fourth of these linked to a clinically diagnosed mental health ailment. A quarter of these deaths were expressed as a wish by the victims before the attempt, the report finds. In the rural areas, suicides are commonly involving handguns or long guns. According to Dr. Eliot W. Nelson of the University of Vermont Children's Hospital, in Burlington, in his accompanying editorial in Pediatrics entitled Confronting the Firearm Injury Plague, these suicides are preventable and a result of short term crises in impulsive teenagers with an access to firearms. He says that guns result in 10% of all deaths among children aged between 1 and 17 years in 2014 and 2015 and gun-related death rates for children that had declined is again on the rise last two years.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that doctors are proactive and approach parents about presence of guns and gun safety protocols at home. The message, reminds Nelson, is not to criticize gun owners who keep them for self-defence or hunting, but an attempt to improve on safe gun storage in homes with kids. According to Fowler, these firearm injury numbers are reducible and preventable.
A new study suggests that most people with acute conjunctivitis, or pink eye, are getting the wrong treatment. About 60 percent of patients are prescribed antibiotic eyedrops, even though antibiotics are rarely necessary to treat this common eye infection. About 20 percent receive an antibiotic-steroid eyedrop that can prolong or worsen the infection. The study is now online in Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. This is the first study to assess antibiotic use for pink eye in a large, diverse segment of the United States. The findings are consistent with a nationwide trend of antibiotic misuse for common viral or mild bacterial conditions. It's a trend that increases costs to patients and the health care system and may promote antibiotic resistance.

Researchers at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center looked at data from a large managed care network in the United States. They identified the number of patients who filled antibiotic eyedrop prescriptions for acute conjunctivitis. Then they evaluated the characteristics of patients who filled a prescription compared with those who did not. Of approximately 300,000 patients diagnosed with acute conjunctivitis over a 14-year period, 58 percent filled a prescription for antibiotic eye drops. Among them, 20 percent filled a prescription for an antibiotic-steroid combination. Antibiotic-steroid drops are inappropriate for most patients with acute conjunctivitis because it may prolong or exacerbate certain types of viral infection.

Even more troubling, the authors found that the odds of filling a prescription depended more on a patient's socioeconomic status than the patient's risk for developing a more serious eye infection. For example, patients who wear contact lenses and those diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Pink eye affects 6 million people in the United States each year. There are three types: viral, bacterial, and allergic conjunctivitis. Antibiotics are rarely necessary to treat acute conjunctivitis. Most cases are caused by viral infections or allergies and do not respond to antibiotics. Antibiotics are often unnecessary for bacterial conjunctivitis because most cases are mild and would resolve on their own within 7 to 14 days without treatment.

The study also found:

Primary care providers (family physicians, pediatricians, internal medicine physicians, and urgent care providers) diagnose a majority (83%) of patients. Only a minority were diagnosed by eye care providers such as ophthalmologists or optometrists.

Patients diagnosed by a primary care or urgent care provider were two to three times more likely to fill prescriptions for antibiotic eye drops than patients diagnosed by an ophthalmologist.

Patients who filled antibiotic prescriptions were significantly more likely to be white, younger, better educated, and more affluent than patients who did not fill prescriptions.

"This study opens the lid on overprescribing of antibiotics for a common eye infection," said lead author Nakul S. Shekhawat, M.D., M.P.H. "It shows that current treatment decisions for pink eye are not based on evidence, but are often driven more by the type of health care practitioner making the diagnosis and the patient's socioeconomic status than by medical reasons. The potential negative consequences are difficult to justify as we move toward focusing on value in health care."

The authors say there are several reasons why antibiotics are over prescribed. It is a challenge to differentiate bacterial conjunctivitis from the viral and allergic forms. All three types may have overlapping features, such as a red eye, thin discharge, irritation, and sensitivity to light. Health care providers may tend to "err on the side of caution" and prescribe antibiotics "just in case." Patients are often unaware of the harmful effects of antibiotics and may falsely believe that antibiotics are necessary for the infection to resolve.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology has issued guidance to the medical community on treatment for pink eye. The Academy tells health care providers to avoid prescribing antibiotics for viral conditions and to delay immediate treatment when the cause of conjunctivitis is unknown.
Deploying a suspension of cells generated from a ReCell medical device onto a skin donor site can speed up healing by 30.7% and deliver a superior final outcome, according to the results of a randomized controlled trial involving 106 patients who received skin grafts, Avita Medical, said today.

Avita, a regenerative medicine company focused on the treatment of wounds and skin defects, said the findings reported in the British Journal of Surgery (BJS) further supported its growing data package around its ReCell autologous cell harvesting device. This is the 3rd randomized controlled trial announced in recent weeks: last month, the Company presented data from two trials conducted at leading burns centers across the US, including successful results from its pivotal trial needed for PMA approval with the Food and Drug Administration.

"We are excited about these results, as together, the data show that ReCell can be deployed both to reduce patient trauma, and to help patients heal faster," said Avita's CEO Mike Perry. "Our pivotal trial in the US, announced last month, showed how ReCell allowed doctors to successfully treat burns using about 30% less donor skin. Now, in China, surgeons have shown that the donor site itself can heal some 30% faster when treated with Regenerative Epithelial Suspension made using the ReCell device. Demonstration of clinical benefit for treatment of burn injuries and treatment of donor sites further substantiates the key, versatile role for ReCell in burn care."

The BJS paper  Randomized clinical trial of autologous skin cell suspension for accelerating re-epithelialization of split-thickness donor sites  was based on work by a team of burns and plastic surgeons at the Sun Yat Sen University Hospital, in Guangzhou, China, led by Prof. J. Zhu. The Chinese investigators wished to explore whether donor sites for skin grafts healed faster and better if ReCell was deployed alongside the main standard of care, which was a hydrocolloid dressing. Over a period of some 18 months, a total of 106 patients were recruited, with 53 in either the Control or ReCell-treated groups, amongst patients who presented at the hospital requiring split-thickness skin grafts.

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The researchers evaluated how long it took for the epithelial layer of skin to restore on donor sites, with and without ReCell, a device that allows surgeons to deliver a suspension of skin cells to aid tissue repair and skin regeneration. They reported that the median time to complete re-epithelialization was 9.0 days in the ReCell-treated group, compared with 13.0 days in the control group, a 30.7% difference that was a statistically significant (p < 0.001).

The authors said both patients and independent observers evaluated that the donor sites treated with autologous skin cell suspension displayed better physical attributes and patients were more satisfied with healing quality. Early and rapid re-epithelialization is thought to enhance wound healing, improve long-term aesthetic appearance, and deliver 'appropriate pigmentation,' they said.

"The autologous skin cell suspension is produced quickly and is available immediately for wound application," the investigators said. "This study suggests that its use [on] skin graft donor [sites] should promote healing and improve long-term aesthetic results."

Avita said the positive data reflected the growing interest about ReCell amongst burns surgeons in China. In an earlier trial, Zhu's team in Guangzhou showed successful healing of chronic wounds with the ReCell device.
Pfizer Inc. today announced that it has started a Phase 1 trial in healthy volunteers of PF-06760805, an investigational vaccine designed to help protect against Group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection. In newborns, GBS manifests as sepsis, pneumonia, and meningitis, with potentially fatal outcomes for some, and long-lasting neurological damage in 46 to 50 percent of those infected.

"Because their immune systems are still immature, GBS can have potentially devastating effects on newborns," said Carol J. Baker, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics-Infectious Disease at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. "The global health community would welcome a vaccine that could help reduce the impact of GBS everywhere, particularly in areas where the routine administration of antibiotics is not common practice."

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Women who are carriers of the GBS bacteria may pass it on to their newborns during labor and birth. The U.S. and certain developed countries have established recommendations for women to be screened for GBS during their third trimester of pregnancy, and administered prophylactic antibiotics during labor to prevent transmission to their newborns at delivery. However, this requires a robust health delivery infrastructure that is not widely available globally.

"Pfizer is proud to take this important first step to support our efforts to ultimately develop a GBS vaccine with the potential to immunize a mother to help protect her infant against a devastating disease," said Kathrin Jansen, Ph.D., senior vice president and head of Vaccine Research and Development for Pfizer Inc.

The risk of developing GBS is highest in the first three months of a newborn's life. While there is variation in the incidence of GBS infant disease among regions of the world, the disease is potentially devastating. A successfully developed, efficacious vaccine could be an important strategy for global disease prevention.

Clinical Development Program

The trial is designed as a Phase 1/2 randomized, placebo-controlled, observer-blinded study in healthy adults 18 to 49 years of age with no history of a GBS infection, and will be conducted in the United States.

Because of the urgent need to help protect newborns in low- and middle-income countries from this devastating condition, and the intent to make a successfully developed vaccine available globally as quickly as possible, Pfizer is pursuing a clinical development strategy in high-, middle- and low-income countries.

In 2016, Pfizer received a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct a Phase 1/2 clinical trial of Pfizer's vaccine candidate against GBS infection in South Africa, which has one of the highest invasive GBS disease incidences of 2.38 cases per 1,000 live births.
Researchers compared the caffeine and chlorogenic acid components of coffee beans at different roasting levels and tested the protective antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the different coffee extracts in human cell models. The results, linking increasing degree of roasting to reduced antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, are published in Journal of Medicinal Food, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Medicinal Food website until July 19, 2017.

The article entitled "Cellular Antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory Effects of Coffee Extracts with Different Roasting Levels," is coauthored by Soohan Jung, Korea University, Seoul, Min Hyung Kim, Jae Hee Park, and Kwang Suk Ko, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, and Yoonhwa Jeong, Dankook University, Cheonan, Korea. The researchers measured the levels of caffeine and chlorogenic acid and evaluated the effects of Coffea arabica green coffee extracts roasted at levels corresponding to Light, Medium, City, and French roast. Whereas the caffeine levels did not differ greatly between the various roasting levels, the levels of chlorogenic acid did vary and correlated with the differences shown in antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.

"When people think of coffee, they often associate the beverage with caffeine. However, coffee beans have many other chemicals that could help fight chronic inflammatory diseases," says Journal of Medicinal Food Editor-in-Chief Sampath Parthasarathy, MBA, PhD, Florida Hospital Chair in Cardiovascular Sciences and Interim Associate Dean, College of Medicine, University of Central Florida. "Coffee drinkers are passionate about different roasts-light, medium and dark. This study suggests that some of the potentially beneficial compounds could be affected by the roasting process. This article would certainly change my coffee roast preference!"
The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- formerly known as "food stamps" -- that helps low-income individuals and families purchase food is less likely to be used by farmworkers eligible for the benefit who are immigrants, Hispanic, male, childless or residing in California, new research from UC Davis health economists shows.

Published in the "Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health," the study undercuts the common assumption that immigrant crop workers, especially Hispanic crop workers, utilize SNAP more than others. It also highlights the need to address nonparticipation among those who are legally eligible and could benefit from the program, which reduces hunger and stimulates spending.

"The worldwide financial crisis in the last decade definitely increased SNAP use among agricultural workers, which wasn't surprising since SNAP participation historically fluctuates in tandem with poverty levels," said lead author Paul Leigh, a professor with the Department of Public Health Sciences and Center for Healthcare Policy and Research at UC Davis.

"We did not see a disproportionate increase in SNAP use among immigrants -- documented or undocumented -- who are often the hardest hit by economic downturns," Leigh said. "The greatest percentage point increase was among citizens."

A program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, SNAP offers funding for food or plants and seeds to grow food based on eligibility criteria such as income and family size. Undocumented immigrants may qualify if they have U.S. born children, and documented immigrants may qualify after residing in the U.S. for five years.

An evaluation of comprehensive data on farmworker households

Leigh, together with co-author Alvaro Medel-Herrero of the UC Davis Center for Health and the Environment, wanted to develop a clear picture of SNAP participation among U.S. farmworkers, focusing on the recession years following the financial crisis of 2007-2008.

They analyzed data from 2003 through 2012 on adult respondents in about 18,000 households included in the National Agricultural Workers Survey of the U.S. Department of Labor, which contains demographic, employment, immigration and health information on crop workers, including their SNAP use or nonuse. The dataset is rare, according to Leigh, because it contains information on undocumented immigrants.

Respondents were divided for comparisons into three groups: citizens, documented immigrants and undocumented immigrants. Immigrants in the study were nearly all Hispanic, however citizens were also grouped by ethnicity: non-Hispanic white, Hispanic and other.

More people participated in SNAP, mostly citizens

The results showed that SNAP participation among U.S. farmworkers increased from 4.9 percent in 2008 to 18.7 percent in 2012 (13.8 percentage points), reversing a downward participation trend during the previous six years as the economy expanded. The number of farmworker households under the poverty line also increased, from 15 percent in 2008 to 24 percent (9 percentage points) in 2012.

In terms of farmworkers' citizenship status, the greatest increase in SNAP participation was among citizens -- from 9.5 percent to 26.9 percent (17.4 percentage points). The second highest increase was among undocumented immigrants, which went from 3.9 percent to 16.4 percent (12.5 percentage points). SNAP participation among documented immigrants rose from 6.3 percent to 7.2 percent (0.9 percentage points).?

Immigrants were less likely to use SNAP

From 2003 through 2012, documented and undocumented farmworker immigrants were 40 percent and 43 percent less likely to participate in SNAP than households headed by non-Hispanic white citizens with the same need, as determined by poverty level and number of children.

Hispanic citizens were less likely to use SNAP

Also for 2003 through 2012, the researchers found that farmworkers who were Hispanic citizens were 30 percent less likely to participate in SNAP than non-Hispanic white citizens with the same poverty status and number of children.

SNAP utilization was higher for the poorest, parents and women

The researchers found that, regardless of race or ethnicity, household poverty level and the number and ages of children in the household were among the most powerful predictors of farmworker participation in SNAP. Female heads-of-household also were 43 percent more likely to participate in the program than male heads-of-household.

California lags in SNAP enrollment

Finally, holding constant household poverty status and numbers of children, farmworkers who were residents of California were least likely to participate in SNAP, while residents of the Northwest were most likely to participate when compared with the East, Southeast, Midwest and Southwest. California has traditionally had lower SNAP enrollment than the rest of the nation, based on enrollment potential, possibly due to burdens associated with the application process, fear of deportation or lack of familiarity with the program.

The researchers hope their study helps secure the future of SNAP, which was expanded following the economic crisis but is currently being considered for sharp cuts. They also hope additional research identifies ways to address barriers to utilizing SNAP among eligible nonusers.

"Farmworkers and their families advance our agricultural economy and put food on all of our tables, and they have a right to eat as well," said Medel-Herrero. "Assuring that SNAP is both available and accessible to them benefits all of us."

Source: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/12073
Physical therapy has been recommended as part of treatment for low back pain for a very long time. Low back pain affects millions worldwide and may be short lasting or chronic or longer in duration for some individuals. Long term or intermittently occurring low back pain is referred as chronic low back pain.

Aerial yoga - Image Credit: Pressmaster / Shutterstock

Yoga is a form of physical therapy that involves practicing several physical poses, meditation and controlled breathing. There have been studies that have shown that yoga can actually help individuals with chronic low back pain. In 2013, Cramer and colleagues came up with an analysis of 10 different studies that looked at 967 patients in total who suffered from low back pain. Their study was published in Clinical Journal of Pain. The analysis showed that there was a strong indication that yoga benefitted these patients in the short term. There was moderately strong evidence of benefits for long-term effectiveness of yoga in chronic low back pain. The study then said that yoga could be part of the recommendations for additional physical therapy in chronic low back pain patients.

Coming to the latest study, researchers from Boston Medical Center, looked at the question if yoga could be comparable to physical therapy in treatment of chronic low back pain. For this study 320 adults with chronic low back pain were looked at. These participants were included from a university hospital and 7 community health centers. These centres typically cared for low-income group of patients and those from a varied racial background.

The 320 participants were divided randomly into three groups;

One group had yoga classes every week for 3 months

Another group had 15 visits with a physical therapist over 3 months

The third group received educational booklets regarding back pain self-help and also relevant newsletters

At the end of three months, the group with yoga attended more yoga sessions or practiced at home for another 9 months. Similarly the physical therapy group met with the physical therapist every 2 months or did the taught exercises at home for 9 months more. The participants were given questionnaires that asked them about the levels of back pain and activity limitations they faced at the beginning of the study and at end of three months. Other parameters noted were use of pain medications that suggested lowered efficacy of the physical therapy, satisfaction expressed by participants to the treatment and quality of life after treatment.

Results showed that there were almost similar improvements in terms of pain and activity limitation over time with both yoga and physical therapy. At end of one year too, the improvements in these two groups remained. Pain medication usage was lower in both physical therapy group and yoga group at three months compared to the self-education group. Side effects of both yoga and physical therapy groups were mild joint and back pain.

Researchers concluded from the study that yoga could be a good alternative to physical therapy in treatment of chronic low back pain. These latest findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. The study was funded by National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health of the National Institutes of Health.
The loss of a loved one, a dispute with your neighbor, infections or a fall - mental and physical stress can be triggers of a broken heart (broken heart syndrome). What is more, physical stress seems to be more dangerous than emotional stress, a study of the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) shows.

A disease that causes similar conditions to, but is not, a heart attack lies behind a broken heart. Unlike in a heart attack, the coronary vessels are not occluded. Nevertheless, a part of the heart beats poorly, patients become breathless and experience chest pains. Why and exactly how this disease, also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, occurs has not yet been explained. It is known, however, that it most commonly occurs in women in their post-menopause years and can be triggered by both emotionally demanding events and acute physical stress. Even good news and happy incidents cause heartbreak.

Physical stresses worsen prognosis

As a result of the DZHK study, the trigger "physical stress" is gaining focus. The study was able to confirm that infections, accidents or similar, i.e., everything that puts the body under stress, are often the triggers of a Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in men. By contrast, in women, it is emotional stress. Now, new findings show that physical stress as a trigger considerably worsens the prognosis in both women and men.

For this purpose, DZHK researchers analyzed the data of 84 patients who were monitored for over four years and examined how the different triggers affected the long-term progress of the disease. "For a long time, it was thought that the disease was harmless, since the heart function usually recovered again after three months at the latest", explains Dr. Ibrahim El-Battrawy, who works at the University Medical Centre Mannheim and is the principle investigator of the study and a DZHK young scientist at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of the University of Heidelberg. "Yet serious secondary diseases can indeed still occur months later and up to four percent of patients even die following a Takotsubo cardiomyopathy."

More heart attacks and life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias

During admission to hospital, all patients were asked whether they were suffering from high emotional or acute physical stress in the last one to two weeks. "We also determined that the group with emotional stress complained more about chest pains, whereas the group with acute diseases predominantly suffered from dyspnoea," reports El-Battrawy. The crucial finding, however, was what was revealed over the long term: serious complications such as life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, repeat heart failure, stroke, heart attack and recurrent Takotsubo cardiomyopathy occurred more frequently if physical stress was the trigger of the broken heart syndrome. Moreover, this patient group had a higher risk of death.

Monitor patients closely

"Our study shows that physical stress is a risk factor for a poor disease progress and it contributes to further limiting the high-risk patient group", concludes El-Battrawy. "The study also emphasizes how important it is to monitor patients over the short and long term. No matter what the trigger, patients should be monitored just as closely as heart attack patients and should have regular check-ups following discharge from the hospital."

In other studies, the scientist already demonstrated that the cardiac disease progressed better in patients with diabetes than in patients who do not suffer from this metabolic disease; whereas cancer worsened the prognosis. According to El-Battrawy, a systematic review using a questionnaire on the triggers of a broken heart and existing primary diseases would thus be useful to better assess the progress of the disease and adjust the treatment to the patient.
The Forum for Injection Technique (FIT) UK, which provides evidence-based best practice recommendations on diabetes injection technique, has published the latest edition of its UK Injection and Infusion Technique Recommendations, including for the first time a new set of six Golden Rules.

The UK Injection and Infusion Technique Recommendations 4th Edition covers key aspects of injection technique such as the importance of using short pen needles, recommended injection sites, and how to avoid lipohypertrophy (a thickened, rubbery lesion associated with factors such as incorrect rotation of sites and needle reuse), as well as guidance on the psychological challenges of injections, therapeutic education, and injection safety.

Included in the document are a new set of key Golden Rules on:

Psychological issues around insulin therapy and administration Injection technique in adults Injection technique in children and young people Treating and preventing lipohypertrophy Insulin infusion technique Needlestick injuries and sharps disposal

These Golden Rules have also been published as a separate booklet and are designed as an easy to read reminder of best practice injection technique to help clinicians care for people with diabetes that use injectable therapies throughout the UK.

Debbie Hicks, FIT UK Board Chair, comments:

For those people with diabetes using injectable therapies, best practice injection technique is a crucial element of condition management as it is essential for therapies to achieve their optimal effect. Poor technique can lead to injectable therapies being absorbed in an unpredictable manner, and immediate problems such as hypoglycaemia and hyperglycaemia may result. In the longer term, poor glycaemic control can increase the risk of complications including kidney failure, blindness and limb amputation. Best practice injection technique has the ability to reduce hypoglycaemic episodes and encourage glycaemic stability, and FITs overarching mission is to support people with diabetes using injectable therapies to achieve the best possible health outcomes that are influenced by correct injection technique. These recommendations are designed to help ensure that the correct prescribed dose of medication is delivered to the correct injection site, using the correct technique, thus helping to avoid diabetes related complications.

FIT UKs Recommendations were updated following the Forum for Injection Technique & Therapy Recommendations (FITTER) congress, held in Rome in October 2015. At the event, international FITTER Recommendations were created by a group of 183 diabetes experts from 54 countries, based on findings of the largest ever injection technique survey, which took place from February to June 2015, and involved over 13,200 participants from 42 countries.

Diabetes UK estimates that more than one in sixteen people in the UK have diabetes (diagnosed or undiagnosed) and that there are four million people living with diabetes in the UK, a figure which is projected to rise to five million people by 2025.
Honda Cars, the Japanese automaker has revealed a simply stunning concept sketch of its all-new tenth-generation Accord, which is set to be properly unveiled in all its full glory in Detroit on July 14.The all-new tenth-generation 2018 Accord is being billed by Honda as, "the most fun-to-drive, premium and dramatically styled Accord ever." And although we'll have to take the manufacturer's word about the fun-to-drive and premium parts of that statement for the moment, the illustration it's just released is understating the "dramatically styled" bit if the car looks like that when it's finally unveiled.The sketch looks more like something dreamed up by an enthusiasts' publication or website, or a one-off model we might see on a stand at the SEMA custom show in Las Vegas in November.Although the Accord has been dropped by Honda completely in some markets such as the UK due to disappointing sales results, it's still an incredibly important model to the brand and its ongoing success. In fact, in Honda's biggest market, the US, the Accord is currently the best-selling retail midsize sedan, and has been now for some four straight years. To the end of May this year, based on retail sales to individual buyers, the current Accord is still America's top-selling midsize sedan and the second best-selling passenger car of any type. And being second best overall is no problem for Honda as the Accord is only being beaten into second place by the latest Civic. To give an idea of how America sees the Accord, this car is also an unprecedented 31-time winner of Car and Driver magazine's coveted 10Best award.We've already been told there will be three powerful and fuel-efficient powertrains, including a pair of new direct-injected and turbocharged engines with a range of ten-speed automatic, CVT or a six-speed manual transmissions depending upon engine. If the new model closely resembles this image, it's easy to see buyers demanding that it goes on sale again in those markets where the Accord has been discontinued.
When Honda showcased the Navi at the 2016 Delhi Auto Expo, they had all the eyes to themselves thanks to the different approach in styling and availability of the product at an aggressive price tag. The company seems to be revisiting that formula once more with the Cliq which has been launched at a price tag of Rs 42,499 (ex-showroom, Delhi).While many anticipated it to be Navi's younger sibling, the scooter actually takes the Navi's approach to make it more versatile and practical. That's not it, it also gets several accessory options as well.The key attractions of the Cliq include an under seat USB charging port, electric start and knobby tubeless tyres on offer which promises better durability and longevity. Honda has also fitted it with Combi-brake System (CBS) which applies brakes to both wheels at the same time in a definitive ratio, which should make it comparatively safer for the rider during extreme braking scenarios.Powering the scooter is 110cc HET engine that delivers 8 horsepower and 9 Nm of torque and comes with automatic transmission. While the power may not sound industry-leading, the 102-kilo kerb weight should make for a peppy riding experience.The Cliq will be available in four colour options - red with white, blue with white, grey and black.Stay tuned for our first ride review coming soon.(The author is on an invite for the ride of the Honda Cliq in Jaipur by Honda Two Wheelers India.)
Mercedes-Benz India has announced the launch of the new GLA in the country on 5th July, 2017. The GLA was first launched in India in 2014, and created a benchmark in the compact luxury SUV segment.Mercedes-Benz has been active in bringing the global portfolio to India and they have already launched 3 products in the last 1 month alone, including the E220d, the AMG G 63 Edition 463 and the Mercedes-AMG GLS 63. The GLA facelift will be the 4th product to join the list.Mercedes-Benz introduced the facelifted GLA to the world during the Detroit Motor Show this year. The facelifted GLA gets a lot of physical changes from the revised grille, to the LED headlamps and new alloy wheels. Inside the cabin, only a new 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system has been added.The new 2017 Mercedes-Benz GLA will continue to be powered by a 2.2-litre diesel engine and a 2.0-litre petrol engine. The diesel engine produces a maximum power of 134 bhp along with a torque of 300 Nm. The petrol engine, on the other hand, is capable of 181 bhp and a maximum torque of 300 Nm. The transmission duties are done by a 7-speed automatic transmission gearbox.The facelifted version of the Mercedes GLA is expected to be priced in line with the current price and will be locally assembled at the companys plant in Chakan, Maharashtra.
Around 20,000 litres of petrol were wasted when a fuel tanker overturned at the mouth of the Moolchand Underpass on Delhis Ring Road on Tuesday morning.Two people were injured in the accident, ANI reported. Police cordoned off the area and fire services personnel were on standby.Vehicular movement on both sides of the arterial road was affected as traffic police rerouted motorists for the clean-up. Massive snarls were reported from Lajpat Nagar all the way till Defence Colony. Police said it is best to avoid the route as it can be a hazard to motorists.(Photo: Nasib Singh/Network18)The tanker was lifted after cranes were deployed to move it back onto its wheels.(Photo: Nasib Singh/Network18)(Photo: Nasib Singh/Network18)(Photo: Nasib Singh/Network18)
Bengaluru: Rising in strong defence of the new Bill to rein in private medical establishments, the Karnataka Health Minister, Ramesh Kumar, on Tuesday pressed for the need to bring in the changes that restrict over-pricing as well as neglect by doctors and private hospitals.



The minister said the controversial amendments to the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments Act would go forward despite opposition from the India Medical Association and the medical fraternity in the state. However, he conceded that the more stringent provisions, including the six-month jail term, may be reconsidered.



Launching a scathing attack on those who called the bill draconian, the minister said the Bill protects the interests of patients and common man. As a public representative, it is the interests of the people that I represent. If not, what is the use of the Assembly or the government, the minister remarked.



His speech in the Legislature came after protests by over a thousand doctors last week against the proposed new law.



Under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017, tabled in the Legislative Assembly last Tuesday, the government will fix rates for procedures in private hospitals, set up grievance redressal cells, prohibit any additional charges and any advance payment in case of an emergency.



Critics of the Bill say that if passed, the new rules will enable the government to regulate functioning of private hospitals in all aspects. Another bone of contention is that government hospitals have been kept out of the purview of the Bill.



Narrating the many malpractices in the medical profession, the Health Minister said hospitals charge exorbitant rates without the knowledge of the patient. He gave the example of generic medicines, which he said are supplied by the state government at a much cheaper rate than branded drugs.



The difference is sometimes more than 80%. But if I speak up about it, they say he is interfering, said Kumar.



Overpricing is a common phenomenon. For a stent which costs Rs. 50,000, private hospitals charge Rs 2 lakh. And most of the time, the patients are unaware of it. The situation is so grave that even the insurance companies have blacklisted 337 hospitals for inflating bills, the minister told the Assembly.



Highlighting the case of the Indian Cancer Hospital which had raised bills from the government for dead patients for many government schemes, Ramesh Kumar wondered why the Indian Medical Association has not taken any action against them.



A visibly upset Kumar went on to narrate many anecdotes from his tours and inspections wherein apathy on the part of doctors and private hospitals resulted in immense pain to common man.



Kumar said the doctors opposing the bill are being misled by medical establishments. The bill is not against individual doctors but intends to hold establishments accountable, he said.



We will go ahead with the bill despite opposition. There is a suggestion from the Chief Minister to remove the six month jail term. And few other suggestions are taken into. But the bill will be passed he informed.



The bill has not yet been passed. It has been referred to a joint house committee to come up with recommendations within four to five weeks.




Alwar: The setting is the usual for such situations: A tent pitched near the gram panchayat office with a podium and a mike to address the farmers who have gathered around on a hot June day to listen to the speakers.In Malakheda village of Rajasthan's Alwar district, the villagers nod in agreement as the speakers talk about farmers not getting remunerative prices, selling their crops in distress and the government not procuring their products.However, the surprising part is when one of the speakers says that farmers do not want loan waivers. The assembled farmers nod in agreement. Ajit Singh Gurjar, an office bearer of the Kisan Mahapanchayat, a farmers' organisation operating in Rajasthan, continues, "More than loan waivers, we want the right value for our farm products."The assembled farmers nod their heads in agreement.Farm loan waivers are the flavour of the agricultural season. Uttar Pradesh announced a debt waiver package of Rs 36,000 crore for farmers after Yogi Adityanath took over as Chief Minister. Maharashtra announced a Rs 30,000 crore plan, though the fine print is not yet in. Punjab has become latest state to announce a loan waiver up to Rs 2 lakh for small and marginal farmers.Farmers from different villages were assembled in Malakheda village in Rajasthan's Alwar district. (The total quantum of farm loan waivers has touched Rs 1 lakh crore and there seems to be pressure building in other states like Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to announce similar moves to deal with an unprecedented collapse of agricultural commodity prices that has added to farmer distress.But at farmers' meetings in Rajasthan, there seems to be a recognition among some leaders and farmers that perhaps loan waivers are a temporary and expedient fix to farm distress."Loan waivers are handy as a political tool and may temporarily fix the farmers woes, but the problem lies in unremunerative prices," Ram Pal Jat, President of the Kisan Mahapanchayat told News18. "The cost of production for farmers is more than what they get from selling their produce. A farmer makes loss on most crops and has to borrow money to meet his expenses. Until the government makes farming remunerative, farm distress will be there," he explained.Farmers' meetings are springing up all over Rajasthan. News18 attended two such meetings in Alwar district to gauge the mood among farmers. These meetings were ostensibly held to commemorate the death of farmers in Madhya Pradeshs Mandsaur in police firing. However, issues pertaining to the farm crisis in Rajasthan, and Alwar in particular, were also discussed.The main crops in Alwar district are Mustard, onions, wheat, bajra and jowar. However, all these commodities are selling below cost of production.Take mustard. It costs a farmer Rs 4,200 to grow a quintal of the oilseed. However the market price currently prevailing is Rs 3,200. It's a straight loss of a thousand rupees on a cash crop.The story of onions is even more tragic. It takes a farmer 6 months and Rs 50,000 to produce 60 quintals of onions (roughly the produce of 1 bigha). The current market price is Rs 300 per quintal, which translates to a price of just Rs 3 per kg! The loss per kg on onions is Rs 5.One farmer in Malakheda said what he got from selling onions didn't even cover the cost of transporting them from his farm to the Mandi.It is this unremunerative farm economy that is at the root of agricultural distress, the farmers said. The reason why farmers take loans from banks and money lenders is to meet their living expenses, which farming in general and this season in particular is not able to cover.The government giving loan waivers is just a temporary solution, but as long as farmers don't get a fair price for their product, the cycle of taking loans and the call for forgiving them will continue."Do you think we enjoy taking loans and then asking for waivers? asked Mussadilal Yadav, an Alwar-based farmer. "It is a loss for the banks and we also lose because they are hesitant to lend to us."The farmers in Rajasthan are demanding implementation of the minimum support price by the state government. (Farm loan waivers also do nothing for farmers who have borrowed outside the formal banking system.Instead, what the farmers are demanding is a strict implementation of the minimum support price, including implementation of the Swaminathan Committee report.In 2004, the UPA appointed a National Commission on Farmers headed by the prominent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan. One of the recommendations was that farmers should be paid the cost of production and 50 percent above that.This recommendation has not yet been implemented. Ramavtar Choudhury, a farmer cum lawyer from Harsauli in Alwar said that over the years, the cost of agricultural inputs (seeds, machinery, pesticides) has risen while the price that farmers get for their crops has remained more or less the same or declined.On his 12 bighas of farmland, Choudhury grows wheat, mustard, jowar and bajra. None of them is fetching a remunerative price.Farmers told News18 that the government announces MSP, but fails to purchase their crops. They are thus forced to sell to private middlemen who purchase at below the cost of production.
In 1930s, the Maharaja of Mysuru Krishna Rajendra Wodeyar was told that there was a yoga guru in his region who would help cure his illness. Legend has it that the King sent for the guru, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who helped him cure his ailments.Grateful, the King gave the guru a wing of the Jagmohan Palace to start a yoga-shala, and thus, began Mysurus long tryst with yoga.This Wednesday, as Mysuru gears up to create a world record on the third International Yoga Day, it will try to revive its historical links with yoga. It was this city of palaces that gave the country greats such as Tirumalai Krishnacharya, Pattabhi Jois and BKS Iyengar. It was this quaint city that realized the importance of this ancient practice in maintaining a healthy mind and body through nothing but asanas and breathing exercises.Taking its rich legacy forward, early on Monday morning, 8,381 students from across Mysuru came together at the palace to create the longest chain of yogasanas. Four asanas were performed for 15 minutes  in the heart of the city. The previous record is held by about 3,000 yoga practioners doing three asanas.The bigger show will be on Yoga Day on June 21. With a likely turnout of more than 40,000 people (and the ambitious bid to host this in a venue that holds 60,000 people), Mysuru wants to script yet another page in history. A pre-fixed set of 20 to 25 asanas will be done over 35 minutes at the Mysuru Race Course to attempt setting a world record.Before Mysuru was known for tourism, it was known for yoga. Yoga is fairly popular, but we want to give it a push now  and with it, spur tourism also, says D Randeep, Mysurus Deputy Commissioner.This is not the first time that Mysuru has tried to make its name on a global platform. The first time it did so, it succeeded like no other city. It was Mysuru and its yogis who took yoga to the world. Krishnamacharyas shishyas went to the United States of America and other western countries, spreading yoga and its health benefits in camps and workshops, when they barely had $500 in their pockets.My destiny took me to yoga, BKS Iyengar had said in an interview five years ago. Thirty years ago, it was Iyengar and Jois who took their respective styles to the West when yogas popularity waned in India. With different styles, the Iyengar School used props to help people adapt to yoga easily, while Jois insisted on traditional methods with the Ashtanga Yoga.The current race to come up with a record and the hype around it will only be useful if more people take up Yoga as a part of their daily life, says Sharmila Mahesh, the granddaughter of Pattabhi Jois. Just as you brush your teeth and bathe to keep your body clean every day, you need to practice yoga to cleanse your mind every day, says Sharmila.The Jois family, including Sharmila's 75-year-old mother Saraswathi (Jois daughter), continue to teach yoga.The fact that all the three yoga greats led healthy lives up to their 90s (Krishnamacharya lived to be a 100) is testimony to the familys belief in yoga as a healer and a life-giver.There are always many photo ops and events, but what my grandfather said was that yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory. The asanas are the key to body and mind to attain a balance, she says.Krishnamacharya, too, had said, Nowadays, the practice of yoga stops with just asanas. Very few even attempt dharana and dhyana (deeper meditation) with seriousness. There is a need to search once more and reestablish the practice and value of yoga in modern times.Will yoga go beyond the training of the last two weeks and look beyond the records that are being attempted? Only time will tell. Till then, breathe easy and breathe healthy.
A special midnight session of Parliament is likely to mark the rollout of the historic Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime on July 1.The government has proposed to hold the special session of both Houses from 11pm on June 30 till 00:10am on July 1 where President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will address the lawmakers.The government will use the Central Hall, perhaps for the first time, to launch the new taxation system that is set to dramatically re-shape the over $2 trillion economy, PTI reported. A gong will be sounded at midnight to signify that GST has arrived.The GST Bill was originally piloted by Mukherjee when he was the Finance Minister in the previous UPA regime. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh would also occupy the high table along with another former PM, HD Deve Gowda, in the Central Hall during the event.Chief Ministers of all states will be invited for the event as GST represented an unprecedented exercise in fiscal federalism, sources told PTI, adding GST Council members will be the guests.The GST Council, that brings together the central and state governments, has met 17 times to thrash out how the tax will work.Originally, the launch of GST, which has been in works for over a decade, was to be done from Vigyan Bhawan  the largest convention centre in the national capital that has hosted majority of the meetings of the GST Council.But the historic Central Hall was thought to be a better choice considering the importance of the new tax code that unifies more than a dozen separate levies to create a single market with a population greater than the US, Europe, Brazil, Mexico and Japan put together.GST will simplify a web of taxes, regulations and border levies by subsuming an array of central and state levies including excise duty, service tax and VAT.It will gradually re-shape India's business landscape, making the world's fastest-growing major economy an easier place to do business.GST has been dubbed as the most significant economic reform since BJP government came to power in 2014 and is expected to add as much as 2 percentage points to the GDP growth rate besides raising government revenues by widening the tax net.A four-rate structure that exempts or imposes a low rate of tax of 5 per cent on essential items and top rate of 28 per cent on cars and consumer durables has been finalised. The other slabs of tax are 12 and 18 per cent.(With PTI inputs)
Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to Lucknow, as a result of which, the city has been transformed into a fortress. The security in the city has been beefed up and divided into seven stages, according to sources, with separate security arrangements at the Amausi airport, traffic routes, including the program site.



Twenty-six SP, 56 Additional SP, 143 CO, 229 Inspector, 1042 Sub-Inspectors, 168 Lady Sub Inspectors, 416 Head Constables, 3989 Constables have been deployed. Apart from these, 35 companies 1 Company PAC, Central Para Military Force, including 680 lady constables, 15 traffic inspectors, 217 Traffic Sub-Inspectors have been deployed.



In each security arrangement, an IPS officer has been made in charge. ADG Lucknow Zone Abhay Kumar Prasad has been made the nodal officer of the PMs tour to Lucknow. The security has been beefed up for the first program of CDRI on June 20. In CDRI, 5 SP, 7 additional SP, 23 CO, 49 inspectors will be deployed. Apart from this, 4 companies of PAC, with 118 Sub-Inspectors, 30 Lady Sub-Inspectors and 387 constables, will be deployed.



Road safety will be taken care of separately. Two SP, 10 additional SP, 25 CO, 15 inspectors will protect the entire route. With them, 66 companies, five women, 885 soldiers and 5 company of PAC will be deployed. There will be 15 Ti, 217 traffic head constable and 755 traffic soldiers in the traffic.



After reaching CDRI, PM Modi will visit the Laboratory, along with the exhibition and plantation. PM Modi is expected to spend 40 minutes at CDRI before leaving for the second program at Abdul Kalam Technical University (AKTU).



At AKTU PM Modi will inaugurate the new wing of AKTU and then a 400KV DC Transmission Line. PM Modi will, then, leave for 5KD, the official residence of UP CM Yogi Adityanath. Nearly 275 people are expected to turn up for the Dinner hosted in honour of PM Modi. Former Chief Ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati have also been invited to the dinner.



Former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav has confirmed that he will be attending today's Lucknow dinner, to be hosted by UP CM in honour of PM Modi.
If all goes the BJPs way, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind could be the 14th President of India next month  weeks after he was denied entry at a presidential estate in the leafy Mashobra hills area of Shimla.Kovind, 71, and his family had visited Shimla on May 28 and visited several places. His family travelled in hired taxis, PTI reported.However, when he reached the Retreat in a high security zone he could not enter the complex as he did not have the required prior permission.The Retreat was made a part of the presidential estate after the Viceregal Lodge, which was turned into Rashtrapati Bhavan after Independence, was handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS).The president visits the Retreat at least once a year and the core office shifts during his stay.Shashi Kant, advisor to Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat, said, "The Bihar governor visited the Kalyani helipad, constructed especially for the president, and I suggested he should visit forests of Shimla water supply catchment area, known as one of the best maintained forests in the world. He was fascinated by the greenery and scenic beauty."Kovind maintained a low-profile. Though he and his wife used an official vehicle, other family members went sightseeing in hired taxis.The governor went to Mall Road and the Ridge. He expressed concern over increasing traffic congestion in the hill town and said steps should be taken to decongest the roads for the convenience of tourists.It took him five-and-a-half hours to reach Shimla from Chandigarh by road against the normal two-and-a-half hours.A close friend of the Himachal Pradesh governor, Kovind gifted a box of mangoes and an idol of Lord Buddha to him. The presidential election, if required, will be held on July 17.
: Retired Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnan, who has been at loggerheads with the Supreme Court judges, was on Tuesday arrested in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore. He was arrested by the West Bengal police and is likely to be brought to Kolkata on Wednesday.Earlier, Supreme Court had issued an arrest order against him for his defamatory remarks against the top court's collegium system.On June 12, Justice Karnan became the first sitting High Court judge to retire in absentia after he eluded the Supreme Court arrest order, also sentencing him to six months in jail for contempt.The order was passed by no less than seven senior-most judges in the top court and Director General of Police, West Bengal, had been ordered to ensure the HC judge is made to serve the sentence.Also read: What Can Save Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan From Jail Now? When Karnan was being held guilty under the Contempt of Courts Act, Chief Justice of India J S Khehar, who was heading the seven-judge bench, said that he wanted to send out a message loud and clear that judiciary will not hesitate to act against even one of its own.A seven-judge special bench of the Supreme Court had also ordered the Director General of Police, West Bengal, to medically examine Justice Karnan. Justice Karnan had termed this order as ridiculous and unusual.Also read: Justice CS Karnan Refuses to Undergo Medical Test, Calls SC Test 'Illegal' But on May 4, Karnan declined to undergo a mental health checkup as ordered, telling a team of doctors that he was absolutely normal.In the wake of the controversial issue, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said that Justice Karnan episode calls for a greater scrutiny of the judiciary.Justice Karnan appeared before the Supreme Court on March 31 in connection with the contempt proceeding, becoming the first high court judge to do so in the history of Indian judiciary.Also read: Has Justice CS Karnan Left India? No Clear Answers Yet
Ahmedabad: The officials of city crime branch on Tuesday arrested Sadhvi Jayshree Giri, an accused in a cheating case who was on a run since last one week, from the outskirts of Udaipur in Rajasthan.



She had escaped from the police custody on June 14 from a mall in the city.



"We have arrested Sadhvi Jayshree Giri from a toll booth near Udaipur city in Rajasthan on Tuesday. We are now bringing her back," said a senior crime branch official.



Sadhvi, who once served as the head of Mukteshwar Mahadev Math in Banaskantha district, was arrested by the district police in January this year in a cheating case and later sent to the Sabarmati Central jail here by the court.



On June 4, she was granted 10-days parole under police escort by the Gujarat High Court on health ground.



On June 14, when she was supposed to surrender, she escaped from a mall, where she came with a woman constable.



Later, police arrested the woman constable and five others on the charge of helping Sadhvi escape and launched a hunt to nab her.
Lucknow: It is often said that fear is the best deterrent to corruption. And what better deterrent can there be than time spent behind bars.



The District Magistrate of Farrukhabad is following the same approach to deter government officials from graft. Take a tour of jail, get a glimpse of what life is like behind bars and decide for yourself if you want to indulge in corruption.



District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar hit upon the idea and sent 576 government employees to the central jail in Farrukhabad to interact with inmates, including government officials who are living in confines of the prison.



Recently, I suspended six government officials as they were allegedly involved in corruption. In the entire process of taking action, a probe officer is appointed and again the possibility of corruption rises. The best way to curb corruption is to instil a sense of responsibility among the officials so that they themselves deter from corrupt practices," Kumar said.



About his concept of sending government officials on jail tourism, Kumar said there were 88 government employees from across the state lodged in the central jail, Farrukhabad.



Jail tourism should act as a new mantra to deter corrupt officials," he said.



"I sent 576 government officials to visit jail on Monday so that they share the experience of inmates, including government servants. The objective is that they should know the experience of those behind bars and ultimately deter them not to indulge in corrupt practice which might invite similar fate for them, the district magistrate said.



Among those who visited the jail included Lekhpals (revenue officers) dealing in land-related matters, ration shop owners, who deal with supply of food items, and panchayat officers, who deal with various schemes implemented at village level.



Head of some departments also went inside the jail to feel the life there, he said, adding that following the state government's zero tolerance for corruption, his aim was to check the menace.



Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed displeasure over rising corruption and kept it on its priority to rid the state from corruption.



He had also raised question mark on functioning of the anti-corruption organisation (ACO) in the state while saying that it was time to restructure the body to make it more effective and result-oriented.



The ACO deals with complaints of corruption related to the police force and non-gazetted ranks of other state government departments.



There has been a number of arrests of government officials, including an ARTO (Assistant Road Transport Officer) in Chandauli, and a number of policemen have been caught taking bribe.



The CM has also recommended probe into a number of schemes launched in previous Samajwadi Party regime during which corruption allegedly prevailed.



The alleged scams in Shia and Sunni waqf boards and Gomti river front project are already under the scanner, while sale of sugar mills without following norms is also being probed by the Yogi Adityanath government.
What is the one thing that is common at all international red carpet events? Well, apart from the glitz and glamour, the enormous scale on which they are organised and the fact that everybody is dressed in designer garments, the one thing that is common among the women is that they all sport towering heels.Most red carpet events have strict fashion rules, especially for women. The Cannes International Film Festival mandates that women wear heels for screenings, although there is no mention about the height of the heels.In 2015, there were reports that some women who turned up for the screening of Carol at Cannes were turned away for not wearing heels. Later, a festival spokesperson clarified that the security had made a mistake. Women who do not adhere to the given dress code, including the mandatory 'footwear rule', ultimately have to bear the consequences.But, some women make their own rules. They are the fashion rebels. For them, comfort comes before style. And we have seen glimpses of a few women who have refused to give in and have even dared to walk the red carpet barefoot to register their protest.In 2016, actress Julia Roberts walked the Cannes red carpet completely barefoot for the premiere of Money Monster, directed by Jodie Foster. By doing so, the actress registered her protest against the 2015 'Heelgate' controversy.(Photo: Reuters/Julia Roberts at Cannes International Film Festival 2016)Recently, actress Kristen Stewart too voiced her opinion on the mandatory high heels for women attending red-carpet screenings. Stewart told Hollywood Reporter in an interview, "if you're not asking guys to wear heels and a dress, you cannot ask me either."Recently, Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot and supermodel Gigi Hadid flaunted their flats at two different red carpet events. While Gadot turned up in flats for the premiere of her hit film Wonder Woman, Hadid rocked a pair of sparkling Stuart Weitzman loafers at the CFDA awards.(Photo: Reuters/ Gal Gadot at the premiere of Wonder Woman in Los Angeles, California U.S)(Photo: Reuters/ Gigi Hadid at the CFDA Fashion Awards 2017)And while all of them looked amazing showing off their comfortable yet stylish footwear, it was the missing heels that had caused several fashion critics to raise their eyebrows.So, we got on board with us Neha Kumthekar, Co-Founder Oceedee, an accessible luxury footwear brand for women in India that allows its clients to customise their shoes through its online design studio, to know about the importance of footwear in the overall look of a person and to decode why heels are a compulsion for women at red carpet events."Shoes are an integral part of the fashion ensemble. You can tell a lot about a person from the kind of shoes they are wearing. Women more than men, have a special affair with their shoes. Shoes are like small islands of emotions for them. They are everything she is or wants to be," said Neha Kumthekar in an exclusive interview to News18.com when asked about the importance of footwear in the overall look of an individual.On being asked why is there a compulsory stilettos rule for women at red carpet events, Kumthekar said that it's probably because heels complement formal dress code. "Most of the red carpet events have a formal setting. Heels complement formal dress code, especially gowns beautifully, and hence are often the go-to styles for such events. Furthermore, high heels accentuate legs and body posture adding a sensual glamour to the ensemble."When asked if flats would replace heels at international events in the near future given that it is gradually becoming a trend to break the stereotype and sport flats, Kumthekar mentioned that she does not see that happening. She said that flats will never replace heels and added that for celebrities it was more about creating a unique identity for themselves and not just about following the trend.She, however, added: "The organisers will have to be less stringent on these rules.""The requirement is of a 'smart footwear' which can be interpreted very differently by people. A lot of flats as well give a formal look to your outfit. As long as the shoes do not go against the dress code of the event, for example walking in wearing beach wear or flip flops, the invitees should be allowed by the organisers."Oceedee has had successful designer collaborations for Lakme Fashion Week, India Couture Week, and has dropped a pin on the global map with its collaboration with Indian designer, Rahul Mishra at the Paris Fashion Week for his S/S'17 and A/W'17 collection. The brand's innovation in design was also recognised at the International Fashion Showcase 2017, London where the company designed shoes in collaboration with designer label, Kaleekal.




Mumbai: Actor Saqib Saleem, whose short film Aamad released on Monday, says it was the simple plot of Neeraj Udhwani's directorial that made him sign up for the project.



The short film released on Terribly Tiny Talkies, a channel on YouTube.



Aamad is a short film based on an emotional yet strained relationship between a father and his son, in which the son is embarrassed by his father being a Kathak dancer.



"It's a story that when I read it I knew I wanted to do. It was only later I realised Kathak wouldn't be easy but we put in a week to try and do it to the best of our abilities. The simplicity of the story is what made me take on this short film", said Saleem in a statement.



Aamad also features Arif Zakaria, Charu Rohatgi and Abeer Pandit.



Saqib was last seen in Dobaara: See Your Evil, which was his first project with his sister and actress Huma Qureshi.



The Prawaal Raman directorial, which released on June 2, is an official adaptation of the 2013 American horror film Oculus.




New Delhi: The Congress on Monday condemned the alleged "false depiction" in Madhur Bhandarkar's film Indu Sarkar based on the Emergency and said the film is "fully sponsored".



"This film is fully sponsored. The organisation and the individual who is behind the film is known to us. We totally condemn the false depictions in the film," said Congress spokesperson Jyotiraditya Scindia.



Bhandarkar on Friday said he made Indu Sarkar as it was important to tell about the Emergency to today's generation.



Some initial sneak peeks into the movie showcased how Neil and Kirti's looks resemble that of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her son and party leader Sanjay Gandhi.



Indu Sarkar will release on July 28.
When #GodOfActing #RobertDeNiro invites you for lunch on #FathersDay to his house, you can't eat, because your heart is in your mouth. pic.twitter.com/C0oTbSYGCU  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) June 19, 2017

And when #GodOfActing #RobertDeNiro takes a pic where he is doing the same gesture that you are doing, it is time to faint. What an HONOUR. pic.twitter.com/GZzFbhQMUp  Anupam Kher (@AnupamPkher) June 19, 2017

New York: Veteran actor Anupam Kher met Hollywood star Robert De Niro, with whom he starred in Silver Linings Playbook, over lunch here.Anupam on Monday took to Twitter to share a string of photographs from De Niro's home. The 62-year-old actor is seen wearing a white shirt and beige pants, while the Hollywood star donned a mint green t-shirt and pants."When god of acting Robert De Niro invites you for lunch on Fathers Day to his house, you can't eat, because your heart is in your mouth," Anupam captioned the image.Anupam also said he was feeling honoured."And when god of acting Robert De Niro takes a picture where he is doing the same gesture that you are doing, it is time to faint. What an honour," he wrote.Silver Linings Playbook, a romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by David O Russell, released in 2012. The film also had Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker and Julia Stiles in supporting roles.
Kolkata: West Bengal chief minister has landed herself in yet another controversy after she appointed her close aide and Bengal Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim as the chairman of the newly formed Tarakeshwar Development Board (TDB) in Hooghly district. The opposition has accused the CM of playing appeasement politics by appointing a Muslim leader as the head of the board that will also take care of the Tarakeshwar temple, which is a famous 288-year-old Shiva temple.



Senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has warned the CM of severe legal ramifications if she didnt reverse her decision in 48 hours.



I have already set up my legal eagle team for Bengal to challenge Mamata's horrible temple appointment. A writ petition will be filed, Swamy said.



Reacting to Firhads appointment, BJP National General Secretary, Kailash Vijayvargiya, tweeted, Firhad Hakim is the same leader who once said (to Pakistani Journalist Maleeha Hamid Sidiqqui of Dawn) that a portion of port area in Kolkata is like a mini Pakistan. Now Mamata Banerjee has appointed the same person as the chairman of Tarakeshwar Temple Board.



She (Mamata) has committed the same mistake which Akhilesh Yadav did in Uttar Pradesh. Akhilesh had appointed Azam Khan as the prabhari of Kumbh and now the election results are there in front of everyone, his tweet reads.



The state units secretary Sayantan Basu also questioned the move, asking if a non-Muslim would be allowed to monitor daily activities of a mosque.



More than communal, these are sentimental issues and the ruling party should think twice before taking such stand, he said.



Debashish Chowdhury, the Sah-prachar Pramukh of RSS (South Bengal), said the appointment process should be transparent and must be done after taking the sentiments and religious feelings of Hindus.



He said, The government is trying to take administrative control over the Tarakeshwar temple. The appointment of non-Hindu as chairperson is poor judgement, bad administration. If there were a development board - for example for Furfura Sharif shrine  and it had a Hindu chairperson would the Muslims agree to it?



On June 1, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her administrative meeting in Hooghly, which is nearly 61 kilometers from Kolkata, announced the formation of a police commissionerate along with a university, a medical college and a development board for Tarakeshwar.



She also granted Rs 5 crore for Tarakeshwar Temple. The board will look after the development of the town temple and its adjoining areas.



Firhad Hakim, state Urban Development minister, was appointed as the chairman of the board and Becharam Manna (TMCs face during Singur agaitation) as the vice-chairman.



Firhad  also known as Bobby - is facing a CBI inquiry in Narada sting scam. On April 17, CBI has filed charge sheet against 12 TMC leaders including Firhad.



We have filed charge sheet against these people under section 120 B of IPC (criminal conspiracy), Section 13 (2), 13 (1D) and Section of 7 of Prevention of Corruption Act. We will soon summon them questioning, CBI had said.
Kolkata: As Darjeeling continues to be in the grip of violence, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) convened an all-party meeting on Tuesday, in which it decided to meet Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju in Gangtok to press their demand of a separate Gorkhaland.



Rijiju was scheduled to reach Sikkim at 4 pm to attend a yoga session on Wednesday, International Yoga Day.



Since Kiren Rijiju ji is in Sikkim, we have decided to meet him to discuss the issue. We will seek his advice on how to deal with the current political situation in the Hills, a GJM leader said.



The GJM had called for the all-party meeting to discuss the next course of action against the state governments alleged imposition of Bangla language in schools and to press for a separate state of Gorkhaland.



Trinamool Congress leaders skipped the meeting, while pro-Gorkhaland parties, including the GNLF, Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League and Harka Bahadur Chettris Jan Andolan Party attended it.



At the meeting, JAP and Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League leaders stressed on the need for an immediate withdrawal of the bandh, saying it was affecting the economy.



GNLF party leaders call for a united fight for a separate state and asked our councilors and GTA (Gorkhaland Territorial Administration) members to resign. We have not yet decided on this issue, GJM sources said.



GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said, We are not responsible for the current crisis in the Hills. We are ready to talk, but it should be on the formation of separate Gorkhaland.

Meanwhile, more than 300 animals, including endangered Red Panda at Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park (PNHZP), are facing the heat of the ongoing shutdown which has affected food supply.



Speaking to News18, Zoo director Piar Chand said, Stocks are drying up and immediate steps should be taken to save these animals. We need around 350 kg of food, including meat, every day, but there is no supply.




The Congress is likely to pick either Sushil Kumar Shinde or Meira Kumar to counter the Dalit card played by the BJP in the nomination of Ram Nath Kovind for upcoming presidential elections.Sources in the Congress told CNN-News18 that Shinde and Kumar prominent Dalit faces of the party are two names likely to be discussed at a meeting of opposition parties on June 22.While former Union minister Shinde, a leader from Maharashtra, may help the Congress get the Shiv Sena on board, former Lok Sabha speaker Kumar may come in handy to rope in the JD(U) in Bihar.But Shinde dismissed reports that his name is being considered. I dont see any scope in this. This is impossible no question of this, he said.Kovinds nomination by the BJP has already divided the opposition parties with the JD(U) and the BSP appearing to support him.The BSP cannot be negative towards a Dalit nominee for the post of President. Our stand will be positive, BSP chief Mayawati had said in Lucknow.I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate. Kovind has discharged his duties in an unbiased manner as the Bihar governor. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the governor's post. His was an ideal relation with the state government," Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar had said.Both Mayawati and Kumar had, however, said the matter would be discussed further at the June 22 meeting.Reacting to the rumours, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy said that with Shinde and Kumar in the fray, it promises to be a nice contest. But the opposition pick should have been chosen from some other party than Congress, he said.Speaking to CNN-News18, BJP MP Udit Raj said, There was no pressure on the party to select Mr Kovind. Dont look at it from point of view of interest, he said.Pawan Verma of JD(U) said all parties are still reacting to BJP's announcement of its nominee. Some parties have taken an independent position. Any speculation at this time is not fair, he said.Differences in the NDA also remain on Kovinds candidature with key constituent Shiv Sena yet to endorse his candidature. The party had supported UPA candidates Pratibha Patil and Pranab Mukherjee in 2007 and 2012, respectively, over NDA picks, Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and PA Sangma.Hours after Kovind was announced as the BJP nominee, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had said his party didnt want to indulge in casteist politics. "If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner Dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone. We shall decide on whether or not to support the candidature of Kovind tomorrow (Tuesday)."
Patna: The Income Tax Department has released a list of 12 seized plots, owned by the family members of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav.



These properties are located in Patna and Delhi. A farmhouse in Vijwasan and a bungalow in New Friends Colony have also been attached. According to the I-T department, all the attached plots are Benami properties, the real beneficiaries of which are Lalus relatives.



A plush farm house in Vijwasan, Delhi, is registered in the name of Mishail Packers and Printers Pvt. Limited, but the real beneficiaries are said to be Lalu Yadavs daughter Misa Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar.



Beneficiaries of a Bungalow, registered in the name of AB Exports Pvt. Ltd, are mentioned as Tejaswi Yadav and his sisters Chanda Yadav and Ragini Yadav.



Just after the list was made public, Tejaswi Yadav denied any such action by the Tax Department. This is a political conspiracy to malign my family. I have not received any I-T notice nor am I aware of any seizure by the I-T Department. We have replied each and every question posed to us and we will continue to stand by the rule of law in future," he said.



The market value of the total attached property is worth Rs. 175 crore, whereas the book value of the attached property is Rs. 9.32 crore.



The I-T Department had issued notices to Misha Bharti and her husband Shailesh Kumar to appear before it, but both failed to do so.



The notice was served a few days after Chartered Accountant Sanjay Agrawal, who also worked for Misa Bharti, was arrested in a money laundering case.
New Delhi: Breaking his silence on the ongoing protest in Darjeeling, MP and Union Minister SS Ahluwalia has accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of violating human rights by banning internet in the troubled region to suppress the voice of the people.



Ahluwalia won from Darjeeling on a BJP ticket in 2014 with support from the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM). He has been constant touch with the Union Home Ministry on the ongoing crisis.



The Union minister has also indicated that the Centre may intervene in the current crisis since the state government is alleging "outside agencies" are fomenting trouble.



Speaking to CNN-News18 Ahluwalia accused the West Bengal CM of playing with fire. "She would do well to remember the debt of gratitude the nation owes to Gorkhas for their role in defending our nation, he said.



The Darjeeling Hills have been simmering over the past two week after state government announced three language policy making Bangla compulsory at primary and secondary level. The GJM had taken exception to Banerjee's statement, launching a protest which later turned violent.



The protests once again ignited the long standing demand of GJM for a separate state, Gorkhaland. BJP had, in its 2014 manifesto, said that it will "sympathetically examine and appropriately consider the long pending demands of the Gorkhas, the Adivasis, and other people of Darjeeling and the Dooars region".



When asked about the BJP's stand on the matter, Ahluwalia said, We remain committed to this promise. There is a procedure that needs to be followed. It is a 110-year-old demand, and a solution cannot be delivered overnight.


The Shiv Sena has refrained from spelling out its stand on Ram Nath Kovind, the BJPs pick for the upcoming presidential election.The party, which had backed the Congress-led UPAs choices in the 2007 and 2012 polls, will take a "final decision" on Kovind at a meeting scheduled on Tuesday.Addressing the 51st Foundation Day function of Sena in suburban Matunga on Monday evening, Thackeray said his party will not back Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.Thackeray had reportedly told visiting BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday that the Sena would take a call on supporting the NDA nominee for the top constitutional post only after BJP reveals its choice. Shah had called on Thackeray at his residence.On Monday, the BJP named Kovind, a Dalit leader who has been associated with the party and the RSS, as the NDA nominee for the presidential poll."If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner Dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone. We shall decide on whether or not to support the candidature of Kovind tomorrow (Tuesday)," Thackeray said.Sena had earlier rooted for the candidature of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Hindutva line and later proposed the name of veteran agriculturist MS Swaminathan for the top post.Bhagwat, however, didn't show any interest whereas Swaminathan chose not to react.Sena, known for its unpredictability, backed the UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee in the 2012 presidential polls against the NDA's PA Sangma. In 2007, Sena backed Pratibha Patil instead of NDA candidate Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Thackeray said Sena had proposed Bhagwat's name while keeping in mind the concept of 'Hindurashtra' (Hindu nation)."Considering that there may be objections to Bhagwat's name, we mooted the name of Dr M S Swaminathan taking note of his service to the cause of farmers," he told the gathering of Shiv Sainiks.Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut had said Shah called up Thackeray after the NDA's presidential choice was decided by the BJP's parliamentary board meeting, and sought the party's support for Kovind."Uddhavji told him that he will convene a meeting of the party leaders to arrive at a decision and convey our answer to him in one or two days," he said.In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP has 122 MLAs and claims to have support of some more MLAs. Sena has 63 MLAs.There are 67 members from Maharashtra in Parliament  48 in the Lok Sabha and 19 in the Rajya Sabha. The BJP-led NDA (including Sena) has total of 52 MPs. Sena has 21 MPs  18 in Lok Sabha and 3 in Rajya Sabha, while the BJP has 23 members in Lok Sabha and five members in Rajya Sabha from the state, that corresponds to a total value of 19,824 votes.The Congress-led UPA has 15 MPs from the state in both the houses of Parliament. The total value of MP votes of the UPA is 10,620.(With PTI inputs)
Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh's capital might be going under a makeover for PM Narendra Modis visit on 21st June for International Yoga Day with giant LED screens and beefed up security, but there might be few protests too.



The Bhartiya Kisan Union has announced that hundreds of farmers will be performing Sheershasana in protest on all the national highways that are connecting to Lucknow.



Our party workers along with farmers will be performing Yoga on the streets of Lucknow, Unnao, Sitapur, Lakhikmpur and Hardoi along with National Highways to protest against the anti-farmer attitude of the government, said BKU spokesperson Rakesh Tikait. General Secretary of BKU, Dharmendra Malik said, Already invitations are sent to thousands of farmers and we are doing this to extend our support to the farmers.



The main Yoga Day programme will commence at Ramabai Stal at 6:30 am, while participants will be allowed entry from 2.00 am to 5:30 am. Invitations have also been sent to ex CM Akhilesh Yadav and BSP Chief Mayawati along with other ex CMs of the state.



Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, has announced cycle yatras across the state to spread the message of environment conservation. Briefing about the programme, Spokesperson of Samajwadi Party, Rajendra Chowdhary said, Our national president and ex CM of UP, Akhiesh Yadav has asked all the party workers of Samajwadi Party to be a part of cycle yatras across state in order to spread the message of health and environmental awareness. Our leaders will be doing Yoga at district headquarters while workers will be taking out Cycle Yatras.



Also, almost 90,000 jail inmates will also be participating in International Yoga Day celebrations along with PM Modi, by doing Yoga from within the premises. More than 90,000 inmates will be a part of the Yoga Day celebrations from within the premises with an aim to be mentally and physically fit. At many places our own personnel will be guiding them, while at other places private yoga teachers are hired, said IG (prisons), PK Mishra.



Security



PM Narendra Modi will reach Ramabai Sthal at 6:30 am and will be there till 7:50 am before taking off for Delhi at 8 am on June 21st 2017 after taking part in the third International Yoga Day celebrations. Waterproof tents and apparaels have also been arranged in case of rains. The entire venue will be a no flying zone.



The ADG Zone Lucknow Abhay Kumar Prasad will be in charge of the security of PM Modi. The force which will take care of PMs security will comprise of 26 SSP, 51 ASP. 137 CO, 224 Inspectors, 992 Sub-Inspectors, 163 Lady Sub-Inspectors, 295 Head Constables, 3700 Constables, 480 Lady Constables, 12 traffic inspectors, 157 Traffic Sub Inspectors, 123 Traffic Head Constables, 10 Central Armed Police Force, 25 Companies of PAC and 2 teams of ATS. Also, 400 CCTV cameras along with Drone Cameras will be used for monitoring Ramabai Sthal.
Thackeray's offer of support forecloses at least one option for the Congress-led opposition, which was thinking of fielding Sushil Kumar Shinde in a bid to win over Sena votes. That was the ploy used by the Congress in 2007 when it got the Sena to vote along with it for Pratibha Patil.

#FLASH Shiv Sena to support Ram Nath Kovind for Presidential Election: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray pic.twitter.com/UbAaWF6mxx  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray has announced his party will support BJP's presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, thus preventing a split in the votes of the ruling alliance."We fully support Kovind. He has a nice personality. He has done a lot of good work," Thackeray said at a press conference on Tuesday.The announcement comes a day after BJP announced Kovind as its candidate in an apparent bid to play the Dalit card ahead of the 2019 general elections. Thackeray had earlier indicated his party may not support Kovind if his candidature is aimed at garnering Dalit votes.Thackeray's offer of support forecloses at least one option for the Congress-led opposition, which was thinking of fielding Sushil Kumar Shinde in a bid to win over Sena votes. That was the ploy used by the Congress in 2007 when it got the Sena to vote along with it for Pratibha Patil.Thackeray had said at the Sena's Foundation Day function on Monday: "If the name of Kovind is being put forward with a view to garner Dalit votes then the Sena is not interested. Sena has never indulged in the politics of hiding behind someone. We shall decide on whether or not to support the candidature of Kovind tomorrow (Tuesday)."After the BJP announced Kovind's name as its presidential candidate, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a tweet, said that Kovind will make for an "exceptional President".Thackeray had reportedly told visiting BJP chief Amit Shah on Sunday that the Sena would take a call on supporting the NDA nominee for the top constitutional post only after BJP reveals its choice. Shah had called on Thackeray at his residence.Prior to his candidature, Kovind was serving as the Governor of Bihar. He was a Central Government Advocate in the Delhi High Court from 1977 to 1979 and a Central Government Standing Counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993. Kovind became a Rajya Sabha MP in April 1994 from Uttar Pradesh and served for two consecutive terms for 12 years till March 2006. He has served as a member in many important Parliamentary committees, including those on welfare of scheduled castes/tribes, home affairs, petroleum and natural gas, social justice and empowerment and law and justice. He was also chairman of Rajya Sabha House Committee.
The flagship OnePlus 5 smartphone is all set to launch globally today at 9:30PM IST. The company will stream the launch event on its official website and YouTube channel. News18Tech will also run a live blog. You can catch all the updates live on this page as well.The company is hosting the global launch event in New York along with pop-up events in Copenhagen, Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris on June 21. The OnePlus 5 smartphone has already garnered over 5 lakh registrations in China since June 14.In India, the OnePlus 5 will launch on June 22 at a media event in Mumbai. Similar pop-up events will be held in New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Chennai after the main launch event. At pop-up events, OnePlus fans will have the chance to use the device and even buy the OnePlus 5. E-commerce partner OnePlus has also introduced an app-only 'Secret Doors' contest to give OnePlus fans to win the new OnePlus 5.The OnePlus smartphone has been leaked in all glory before its launch . The device will come in 6GB of RAM along with 64GB of storage and 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage for an expected price of Rs 32,999 and Rs 37,999 respectively.As per speculations, the Snapdragon 835 processor-based OnePlus 5 will come with a 5.5-inch AMOLED display that will come with 1080P Full HD resolution and will be covered with 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. The smartphone will run on the latest Android 7.1.1 Nougat and will be powered by a 3,300 mAh battery that will also support OnePlus exclusive Dash-charging.OnePlus 5 gained much hype due to its dual-camera setup which OnePlus has already revealed on multiple occasions. As for the specifications of these cameras which have been revealed till date, the primary cameras of OnePlus 5 include a 16-megapixel main sensor that will come coupled with a 20-megapixel telephoto sensor. Meanwhile, the front camera will sport a 16-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture.The smartphone will also include features like Dual-SIM support, Bluetooth 5.0 and LTE class connectivity.
Chinese smartphone brand OnePlus has launched its 2017 flagship OnePlus 5 smartphone. In India, the OnePlus 5 will launch on June 22 at a media event in Mumbai. The company will host pop-up events in the country as well in New Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Chennai.

At pop-up events, OnePlus fans will have the chance to use the device and even buy the OnePlus 5. E-commerce partner OnePlus has also introduced an app-only Secret Doors contest to give OnePlus fans to win the new OnePlus 5.

WATCH VIDEO: OnePlus 5 Launch Live

The OnePlus smartphone was already been leaked in all glory before its launch. It is the first smartphone from the company to feature a dual-lens rear camera. It is also powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC. The device will come in 6GB of RAM along with 64GB of storage and 8GB of RAM and 128GB storage for an expected price of Rs 32,999 and Rs 37,999 respectively.

The OnePlus 5 looks exactly similar to the OnePlus 3T (or OnePlus 3) from the front but is thinner and lighter. OnePlus 5 comes with the same 5.5-inch Full HD display. The rear of the device has close resemblance to the iPhone 7 Plus, however, OnePlus has managed to shift the antenna bands to the top portion of the rear panel.

Updates from the launch event..

Read all the Latest News , Breaking News , watch Top Videos and Live TV here.
Thailand aims to buy software to strengthen the military government's ability to track online networks and monitor online activity while planning a cyber law that will expand powers to pry into private communications.The beefing up of powers over the online world come as authorities are increasingly targeting social media for violations of a law that makes it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent.The Digital Economy Ministry aims to spend 128.56 million baht ($3.8 million) on software including a "social network data analysis system" to monitor and map individuals and relationships between more than one million online users, according to a ministry document seen by Reuters."The software will sweep and store all data available on social media to be analyzed and monitored," Teerawut Thongpak, director of the ministry's Digital Service Infrastructure Department, told Reuters.He said the government would post a tender for the software and then consider offers.Governments around the world buy social media monitoring products to chart relationships and networks, as well as to monitor dissidents and identify their leaders.New York University researchers have also found various U.S. jurisdictions had spent more than $5.82 million on social media monitoring software.Since a May 2014 coup in Thailand, the military government has arrested numerous people on suspicion of posting material on Facebook and other platforms deemed to violate the royal-insult law.The legal watchdog group iLaw says 59 people have been found guilty over online posts since the coup. This month, in the toughest sentence yet, a man was jailed for 35 years under the law for posts online.The government has asked Facebook to block some 300 posts from users in Thailand this year, a sharp increase from 80 restrictions during the period from mid-2014 to the end of 2016, according to Facebook reports.The junta is also pushing for a cyber security bill, which is expected to be put before parliament this year, despite the concern of civil society and business groups that it will give the government powers for mass surveillance.NATIONAL SECURITYThe bill is a more intrusive measure than a recently amended Computer Crime Act, say experts, which allows authorities to censor online content but not to pry into private data."The bill is aimed at increasing national security, allowing the state to access data of anyone it suspects," said Bhume Bhumiratana, a cyber security expert at Thai company G-Able, which provides services to businesses.A draft of the bill, seen by Reuters, proposes a National Cyber Security Committee, with junta leader Prayuth Chan-ocha at the helm, with the broad power to command both public agencies and private businesses to help with cyber security investigations.Other provisions give authorities power to order anyone to report for questioning or hand over information, as well as to tap all communication devices including phones and computers in "emergency cases", without court approval.The digital ministry said Thailand had to protect itself against crime and denied the procurement of the software and the legislation were aimed at surveillance."This isn't about violating privacy but protecting the network," Somsak Khaosuwan, the ministry's deputy permanent secretary, told Reuters.However, Rittee Intarawut, chief of the army's cyber center, which monitors the web for content critical of the monarchy, said the bill would help the government prosecute royal-insult offences, but law-abiding citizens need not be alarmed."There's nothing to fear if you have done nothing wrong," he said.
Washington: President Donald Trump has ordered stepped-up military operations against Islamic State and delegated more authority to his generals, but without a comprehensive Syria strategy, his approach risks a further confrontation with Syria, Iran and even Russia, according to US officials and analysts.



While the US military's shoot-down of a Syrian jet on Sunday was a rarity in modern warfare, the first in 18 years, it was not an isolated incident.



The United States has taken a series of actions over the past three months demonstrating its willingness to carry out strikes, mostly in self-defence, against Syrian government forces and their backers, including Iran.



In April, Trump ordered cruise missile strikes against a Syrian airfield from which Washington said a deadly chemical weapons attack was launched. Since then, the United States has repeatedly struck Iranian-backed militia and last week even shot down a drone threatening U.S.-led coalition forces.



These incidents, however, are tactical, not part of any U.S. strategy in Syria, analysts said.



Both the administration of former President Barack Obama and Trump's have focused exclusively on defeating Islamic State, but with the militants' self-proclaimed caliphate shrinking, U.S.-backed and Syrian-backed forces appear to be competing for territory.



"There isn't the overarching US strategy driving this," said Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute.



"This is just the result of tactical decisions by a commander on the ground whose only focus is a specific theatre in Syria. He is acting to protect his assets ... This is purely a series of tactical decisions that are creating a series of very serious strategic consequences."



Russia and Iran both support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war.



The larger problem, the officials and analysts said, is that Trump and his national security team have not advanced a long-term political strategy for Syria's future.



Like Obama, Trump has focused on Islamic State, leaving for later the question of Assad's fate and the region's mangled alliances.



"We have never had a coherent Syrian strategy," said one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We oppose Assad, but our main enemy is ISIS, which also opposes Assad. Our most capable allies are the (Kurdish) peshmerga, but Turkey, who is a NATO ally and host to an airbase that is central to our efforts, considers the Kurds enemies."



Jennifer Cafarella, of the Institute for the Study of War, said the U.S. strikes are unlikely to deter Assad and his backers.



"The absence of a civilian-led U.S. strategy in Syria and the narrow U.S. military focus on ISIS will continue to provide an open invite for the pro-Assad regime coalition to extend and escalate," Cafarella said.



A White House spokesman did not respond to calls and an email seeking comment. A senior White House official said: "The strategy for Syria is to defeat ISIS and first and foremost achievement of a de-escalation of the conflict so we can work toward a political resolution. Were not close to that, but that's the strategy."



TRUMP AIDES SPLIT OVER IRAN



Russia reacted angrily to the US the shootdown of the Syrian jet, which the Pentagon said was dropping bombs near the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a mixed Kurdish-Arab militia fighting Islamic State.



Moscow said it would treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft flying west of the River Euphrates in Syria as potential targets and track them with missile systems and military aircraft. It stopped short of saying it would shoot them down.



The White House said on Monday that coalition forces fighting Islamic State militants in Syria would retain the right to self-defence, and said the United States would work to keep lines of communication open with Russia.



In another complication, Iran on Sunday launched ballistic missile strikes at Islamic State targets in eastern Syria, the first time it has carried out such an action.



US intelligence analysts quickly concluded that Iran fired the missiles mostly in retaliation for a pair of Islamic State attacks earlier this month on Iran's parliament building and the tomb of the Islamic Republic's founder.



The second US official said the use of ballistic missiles may also have been intended as a signal that Iran remains committed to supporting Assad and a reminder that U.S. forces and bases in the region are within reach of Iranian missiles and ground forces.



As it tries to craft a Syria strategy, the Trump administration is divided between those who consider Islamic State the primary enemy and some officials who think the war in Syria is part of an existential struggle between the United States and its Gulf allies on the one hand and Iran on the other, said a third U.S. official, who has participated in government deliberations on Syria.



Some Trump appointees saw Iran's missile strike as an illustration of Tehrans regional ambitions, which they have argued make it an existential enemy, according to the three US officials.



These Iran hawks, they said, are pushing for a Syria strategy that calls for concentrating first on defeating Islamic State, then turning on Iran and its allies, including Assad, Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iraq's Shi'ite militias, and Houthi rebels in Yemen.
: Taliban gunmen in Afghanistan opened fire on a vehicle taking Afghan guards to work at a US military base killing six of them, the US military said on Tuesday.Two guards were wounded in the late Monday attack while the men were on their way to the Bagram military base, north of Kabul, the US military said. Afghan officials said eight guards were killed and two wounded."In the past, there were attacks on Bagram air bases Afghan employees individually, but this is the first time that armed forces target them in a group," said Bagram district governor Abdul Shukor Qodosi.Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the group had carried out the attack, which occurred about an hour before midnight on Monday in a village near the base.In November last year, an Afghan working at the Bagram base detonated a suicide bomb on the base, killing four Americans and wounding at least 17 people.Before that attack, there were more than 3,000 Afghans working at Bagram, a number that has since dropped by half to about 1,500, according to Qodosi.About 8,400 American troops are in Afghanistan, alongside more than 6,500 troops from allied countries, mostly to provide training and assistance to Afghan forces.Bagram also hosts a number of US Air Force attack and cargo aircraft that provide air support for international and Afghan troops.Afghans form the outer security of most bases used by foreign forces in Afghanistan, and they often bear the brunt of insurgent attacks."I offer our deepest condolences to the families, and friends of these brave Afghan citizens," Brigadier General Patrick Donahoe, US commander of Bagram Airfield, said in a statement."We will always remember the sacrifice of these determined men and are forever grateful for their service."
An American university student who had been held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months died at a Cincinnati hospital on Monday, just days after he was released from captivity in a coma, his parent said.Otto Warmbier, 22, who was arrested in North Korea while visiting as a tourist, had been described by doctors caring for him last week as having extensive brain damage that left him in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness.""Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the NorthKoreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement after Warmbier's death at 2:20 p.m. EDT (23:50 IST).His family has said that Warmbier lapsed into a coma in March 2016, shortly after he was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in North Korea.Physicians at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where he died, said last Thursday that Warmbier showed no sign of understanding language or awareness of his surroundings, and had made no "purposeful movements or behaviours," though he was breathing on his own.There was no immediate word from Warmbier's family on the cause of his death.The circumstances of his detention in North Korea and what medical treatment he may have received there remained a mystery, but relatives have said his condition suggested that he had been physically abused by his captors.The University of Virginia student and Ohio native was arrested, according to North Korean media, for trying to steal an item bearing a propaganda slogan.North Korea released Warmbier last week and said he was being freed "on humanitarian grounds."The North Korean mission to the United Nations was not available for comment on Monday.U.S. President Donald Trump issued a statement offering condolences to the Warmbier family and denouncing "the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."The president drew criticism in May when he said he would be "honoured" to meet with NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Un."If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honoured to do it," Trump said in the interview. "If it's under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that."The student's father, Fred Warmbier, said last week that his son had been "brutalized and terrorized by the Pyongyang government and that the family disbelieved North Korea's story that his son had fallen into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.Doctors who examined Otto Warmbier after his release said there was no sign of botulism in his system.Warmbier was freed after the U.S. State Department's special envoy on North Korea, Joseph Yun, travelled to Pyongyang and demanded the student's release on humanitarian grounds, capping a flurry of secret diplomatic contacts, a U.S. official said last week.Tensions between the United States and North Korea have been heightened by dozens of NorthKorean missile launches and two nuclear bomb tests since the beginning of last year. Pyongyang has also vowed to develop a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the United States holds North Korea accountable for Warmbier's "unjust imprisonment" and demanded the release of three other U.S. citizens still held by Pyongyang - Korean-Americans Tony Kim, Kim Dong Chul and Kim Hak Song.Jonathan Bae, whose father, Korean-American missionary Kenneth Bae spent two years in NorthKorean captivity before his release in 2014, expressed sadness at Warmbier's death."My heart goes out to the family. I will pray for them and hope they find peace," Jonathan Bae said.Young Pioneer Tours, the group with which Warmbier travelled to North Korea, will no longer be organising tours for U.S. citizens to the isolated country, Troy Collings, a company director, said in a statement.
Moscow: Newborn elephant Filimon and his mother Pipita walk in the pavilion at the Moscow zoo in Moscow, Russia, on Tuesday, June, 20, 2017. Filimon, a baby elephant recently born at the Moscow zoo, has been presented to the public for the first time. (Image: AP)
BEDFORD  One year after the Bedford County Parks & Recreation Department started a new line dancing class in one of its classrooms on Falling Creek Road, the group has had to move a half mile down the road into the departments gymnasium  its gotten that popular.

The group, which began in June last year, has about 25 active members who meet every Tuesday for an hour at 10 a.m.

Many of the members who signed up for the class had no prior experience in line dancing but wanted to stay active and healthy.

We are here to have fun, instructor Carol Fike said Tuesday. But while were here, were exercising our bodies, exercising our minds and trying to remember the steps and so forth. Its just a fun thing.

Fike, who is a volunteer and doesnt work for Parks & Recreation, said she got involved when she learned last year the department was offering a line dancing class but needed an instructor. Fike has been line dancing for about a decade and got started in Florida, where she vacations for about three months every winter.

Though the class appeals to senior citizens in the county, Fike said line dancing is becoming increasingly popular for all generations.

It started as a country thing, but I think its catching on, she said. A lot of it is done at weddings, and I think people who dont even take line dancing or know it will get up at weddings and take part.

Bonnie Ellefson helped instruct the class this past winter when Fike was on vacation. Fike calls Ellefson her right hand because she organizes all of the name tags and makes phone calls to members if there is a cancellation or time change for the class.

I always walk out of here with a good feeling that Ive done something good for my body, for my mind and for my over all being, Ellefson said.

Fike said she is thankful the parks & recreation department offers classes to senior citizens so they arent just sitting at home.

It gives them an incentive to make friends and get out doing something new, she said.

Fike brings a large book of instruction sheets and music as well as her laptop and speakers that she sets up on a table in the gym where the group meets.

The group line dances to songs like Boot Scootin Boogie, New York, New York, and the Cowboy Charleston.

They even have been invited to perform at the Moose Lodge, Elderfest and at the Sedalia Center.

The class is free and open to anyone. It consists mostly of women, but two men join the class most weeks.

KC Jones, a regular who has attended since it began last year, said she had never done line dancing before but invites adventure in her life.

I love dancing, and I love music, and I love people, she said. We dont care if we mess up; its fun.

Fike said many of the moves can be modified if participants have a hard time keeping up.

It doesnt matter if they dont know how to do it, she said. I go over the steps every week, and if you dont do it correctly the first time, dont worry about it. Were not professionals here.

Jones said she enjoys the class because its casual and relaxed.

We dont take ourselves seriously, and we just enjoy the moment, she said.

Denise Thomas participated in her second class Tuesday after Jones invited her.

Were still friends after this, Jones joked.

Thomas, a native of France who has lived in the United States since 1972, said she was a little confused with the moves during her first class but is hoping to improve.

This is local American dancing, Thomas said. I love being with ladies and gents who are willing to continue being active and using their bodies to inspire people with grace and charm.
UPDATE: Virginia State Police identified the drivers involved in a fatal crash on Timberlake Road in Campbell County late Saturday night.

Juan M. Reyes, 49, of Rustburg, died at the scene of the crash and was not wearing a seat belt, according to a Tuesday news release from state police spokeswoman Corinne Geller. Reyes was driving a 1994 Chevrolet S10 pickup truck west in the eastbound lane of Timberlake Road near Mary Ann Drive when his car struck a 2007 Jeep Cherokee traveling east head-on at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday.

Dakota L. Hall, 24, of Forest, was driving the Jeep and received treatment for minor injuries at the scene, according to Geller. He was wearing a seat belt at the time. Both vehicles spun in the roadway after the crash, Geller stated.

Traffic on Timberlake Road was shut down in both directions until about 3:15 a.m. Sunday, according to Trooper T.M. Wertz, who was investigating the crash.

The crash still is under investigation, Geller stated.

Update: A head-on collision involving two vehicles on Timberlake Road late Saturday killed a man and shut down both sections of the road for several hours, Virginia State Police said Sunday.

The crash happened at 11:30 p.m. in the eastbound lane of Timberlake Road in Campbell County about 500 feet from Mary Ann Drive, said Trooper T.M. Wertz.

A white Chevrolet pickup truck heading westbound struck an oncoming Jeep Cherokee driving eastbound, Wertz said.

Wertz said it was a wrong way driver case in which the driver of the Chevrolet, who was extracted from the vehicle and killed in the incident, crossed over into the other lane and struck the Cherokee head on.

The crash is under investigation, Wertz said. He said he could not say why the deceased driver was in the wrong lane and his identify wasnt immediately released Sunday pending notification of the family.

No passengers were in either vehicle, Wertz said. The driver of the Cherokee, who was wearing a seatbelt, had minor injuries and was not transported to the hospital, Wertz said.

The deceased driver was not wearing a seatbelt, Wertz said. Both sides of Timberlake in that section were shut down and reopened at about 3:15 a.m., he said.

The Brookeville-Timberlake Volunteer Fire Department, Evington Volunteer Fire Department and Lyn-Dan Volunteer Fire Department responded.

Wertz said it was the luck of the draw that emergency responders who were previously at a house fire on nearby Timberlake Drive Saturday were able to get to the crash scene quickly.

Earlier: Both sides of Timberlake Road in Campbell County were shut down after a two-vehicle wreck late Saturday.

The wreck occurred just before midnight west of Waterlick Road, near Grove Avenue, according to Evington Volunteer Fire Department officials.

Flares and emergency responders lined the road, preventing vehicles from entering the area.

The Virginia State Police, Brookville-Timberlake Volunteer Fire Department, Campbell County Sheriff's Department, Evington Volunteer Fire Department, Lyn-Dan Volunteer Fire Department and the Virginia Department of Transportation responded.
Update: BEDFORD  A Bedford County judge agreed Tuesday to appoint an ex-Roanoke police officer as an investigator to aid in the capital murder defense of a suspect in the killing of Lynchburg teen Raymond Wood.

Lawyers for Jose Coreas-Ventura also will be authorized to hire a mental health expert as well as a mitigation specialist, who can prepare a social history report on the defendant.

After issuing those orders, Circuit Judge James Updike Jr. also agreed to relocate Coreas-Ventura to Roanoke City Jail. His attorneys want him moved out of the Amherst Adult Detention Center and closer to their offices in Salem and Roanoke due to his need to consult with them frequently.

Coreas-Ventura, 20, stands accused of capital murder along with Lisandro Posada-Vazquez, 24, in the killing of Wood.

A motorist found the body of Wood, 17, on Roaring Run Road in the Goode area March 27. After a brief investigation, the two defendants were captured and charged in the murder, as was suspect Victor Arnoldo Rodas, 19, who faces a first-degree murder charge.

All three of the men, who are undocumented immigrants and allegedly associated with the international MS-13 gang, also are charged with several other crimes in connection with the incident.

Coreas-Venturas defense lawyers, Christopher Kowalczuk, of Roanoke, and Jeffrey Dorsey, of Salem, said the expert investigator for the defense team would cost $70 per hour and asked the judge for an initial authorization of $3,500.

They said the mental health expert would cost $350 per hour, in line with standard doctors expenses, and the mitigation specialist would cost $100 per hour. The lawyers cited a 2003 Supreme Court decision they said mandated the appointment of such a specialist in Virginia capital cases, to ensure the defendants Sixth Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel.

Bedford County Commonwealths Attorney Wes Nance did not object to the appointment of any of the three experts.

Nance did raise potential cost concerns about moving Coreas-Ventura to Roanoke and said if necessary, the inmate can be transported to the Bedford jail for attorney consultations.

Updike said he wants to make sure cost issues do not get in the way of a fair trial, and high costs come with capital cases. Seeking the death penalty is an expensive proposition, he said.

Court-appointed lawyers for the other capital-murder defendant, Posada-Vasquez, had not filed similar motions for defense experts and relocation, based on court records as of Tuesday.

Nance said the co-defendants other than Coreas-Ventura are being held in the Lynchburg branch of Blue Ridge Regional Jail.

Earlier: A Bedford County judge agreed Tuesday to appoint an ex-Roanoke police officer to aid in the capital murder defense of a suspect in the killing of Raymond Wood of Lynchburg.

Court-appointed lawyers for Jose Coreas-Ventura will also be authorized to hire a mental health expert as well as a mitigation specialist, who can prepare a social history report on the defendant.

While issuing those orders, Circuit Judge James Updike Jr. held off on a decision on where to relocate Coreas-Ventura. His attorneys want him moved out of the Amherst Adult Detention Center and closer to their offices in Salem and Roanoke due to the need to frequently consult with them.
Fix St Michaels or shut it down

Staff told Newsday the current procedure, practice and conditions are turning misunderstood children into criminals, rather than rehabilitating them.

The call came after Newsday reported that 11 of the inmates at the home had escaped last Tuesday. Staff members said there is a need for the homes perimeter to be fixed, for security cameras to be installed and for staff to be trained in the methods to deal with the unruly children at the home.

Are they going to de-commission the home, or put better staff there? questioned one staff member, There are no bad children. These children, like all others, need love and attention.

But the people in control of the school are not doing what they are supposed to do and the children are suffering because of it. Staff members said that they alone should not shoulder the blame for the escape of the 11 boys, but the blame should go all the way to the Prime Minister.

The staff alone is not to blame, the fault should go from the magistrate who puts the children in the institution, to the Childrens Authority who handles the legal aspects of the home, to Prime Minister Rowley who is the minister for the area, said a staff member.

The boys are running away because the fencing has not been fixed. So children escape and return to the home with drugs. What are they doing to fix the home? The home takes in children with serious charges, like murder, drug and gun possession and robbery.

How do you treat with them? Two of the 11 escapees were recaptured last Thursday afternoon in Santa Cruz. The mother of one of the children who remain at large, contacted Newsday, saying her son has complained of ill treatment at the home. When I go to the home they give me the best report but when I talk to my son, he says they are treating him real bad in there. I tried talking to the Childrens Authority about the abuse last year, but nothing has been done. They need to get rid of all the bad apples and the bad security and make a change in that home, she said.

Officials at the home reported the 11 teens missing at about 4 pm last week Tuesday, after checks were made at the rehabilitation wing of the school, where the escapees were said to be placed.

The boys were said to have been placed at the home after they were convicted of several crimes. One was arrested for his involvement in the robbery and murder of former soldier Calvert Dexter James during this years JOuvert celebrations.
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When Sonia Vallabh watched her mother die a horrible death in 2010, caught in limbo between sleep and wakefulness that led to severe dementia, she and her husband, Eric Minikel, wanted answers. The autopsy revealed a harrowing diagnosis: a prion disease called fatal familial insomnia, or FFI, reports the Boston Globe. Not long thereafter, Vallabh, then in her 20s, learned that she carried the genetic mutation as well. The tiny error in her mother's DNAan A where there should have been a G that resulted in a clumping of proteins that killed brain cells and prevented her from falling asleeplives in Vallabh, reports NPR. The disease usually rears its head around age 50, though it has surfaced as early as 12; Vallabh's mother died at 51. And it moves fast: "You're healthy and then you're falling off a cliff," says Vallabh. To avoid another early death, they decided to find a cure themselves.

The two had finished grad school in unrelated fields, but enrolled in night classes for biology and neuroscience. Today, they're both doctoral students at a Harvard and MIT lab, trying to find a way to prevent those proteins from misfolding, or from accumulating in the first place, and to have Vallabh, whose brain is producing what her husband calls a "mutant protein," be a part of the early experiments. Their lab professor tells the Harvard Gazette they bring "otherworldly intellect" and a "heavy dose of urgency" to their work, and they've already been able to stop the disease in their family. Vallabh is due with their first child in July, a girl who does not carry the genetic mutation because they chose IVF and screened embryos. Vallabh says it's "tragic" her daughter and mother won't meet, but her mother's death helped give her daughter a life without the disease. (This doctor is also studying his own disease.)
An Uber driver is outraged after she received a ticket at Miami International Airport. Her crime: not speaking English. An airport security officer spoke in English to Spanish-speaking Uber driver Carmen Hechevarria as she dropped off passengers Sunday, but received no response, reports the Miami Herald. "She looked at me like she did not understand me," says the officer, who then asked a colleague to translate. "The more he spoke to her, the more he realized she could not speak or understand English." A cellphone video obtained by Telemundo 51 shows an officer issuing a $250 ticket for violation of a Miami-Dade County rule, approved in May 2016, requiring for-hire drivers to "be able to communicate in the English language."

Drivers should know some English in order to "understand basic directions" or in case of an emergency, a rep for the Miami-Dade Department of Transportation tells NBC Miami, though 73% of county residents speak a language other the English at least part of the time. The rep adds some 40 drivers have been ticketed under the rule. But "I felt discriminated against," Hechevarria says in Spanish, claiming she understood some of the officer's remarks. An Uber rep stresses that the county rule requires drivers "to communicate in English. It doesn't say they have to speak English." The rule won't be long in effect. As of July 1, a Florida law prohibiting local governments from regulating ride-hailing companies will be in force. (Read more Uber stories.)
The heat wave in the Southwest has made it too hot for some planes to fly out of Phoenix. With temperatures expected to hit a near-record 120 degrees Tuesday, American Airlines has had to cancel more than 50 regional flights on Bombardier CRJ aircraft, which have a maximum operating temperature of 118 degrees, reports the Arizona Republic. "Hot air is less dense" than cold air, which makes it harder for planes to get off the ground, explains author and airline pilot Patrick Smith, per Business Insider. "This affects the output of the engines as well as aerodynamic capabilities, increasing the required runway distance and reducing climb performance."

American Airlines says 45 flights out of Phoenix Tuesday have been canceled. Another seven flights between Phoenix and Tucson were canceled Monday, 12 News reports. Larger Airbus and Boeing jets have maximum operating temperatures of 126 or 127 degrees, and so won't be affected unless temperatures in Phoenix go off the charts, the airline says. On Monday, the city recorded a temperature of 118 degrees, tying the record for the day set last year, the Washington Post reports. The all-time Phoenix record of 122 degrees was set on June 22, 1990, when the extreme heat caused many aircraft to be grounded. (Read more Phoenix stories.)
Otto Warmbier is dead less than a week after returning to the US from North Korea, and lawmakers including Sen. John McCain say Pyongyang must be held accountable. The 22-year-old American, who spent 17 months in detention in North Korea, "was murdered by the Kim Jong Un regime," McCain said in a statement Monday. "In the final year of his life, he lived the nightmare in which the North Korean people have been trapped for 70 years: forced labor, mass starvation, systematic cruelty, torture, and murder." The US, McCain said, "cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers." The latest:

The death could cause lawmakers to ban American tourists from visiting North Korea, the Washington Post reports. The bipartisan North Korea Travel Control Act in the House would require Americans who want to visit the country to obtain a license, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested an executive order might ban travel to North Korea.

"There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life," President Trump said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers are with Ottos family and friends, and all who loved him." Trump said the death deepens his administration's "determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

Doctors in Cincinnati say Warmbier apparently suffered a "severe neurological injury" soon after he was convicted of trying to steal a propaganda poster last year, but they have been unable to determine what caused the injury, the New York Times reports.

The China-based Young Pioneer Tours company, which brought Warmbier to China in early 2016, says it will no longer accept American tourists. "The way his detention was handled was appalling, and a tragedy like this must never be repeated," the company said in an email to USA Today.

Young Pioneer Tours advertises "budget travel to destinations your mother would rather you stayed away from." Former customers tell Consumer Affairs that Gareth Johnson, its British founder, drank heavily and could be seen bribing border guards when he led tours to North Korea.

In Warmbier's hometown of Wyoming, a Cincinnati suburb, the blue-and-white ribbons put up to welcome him home are now there in remembrance, the Cincinnati Enquirer reports. "We salute the entire Warmbier family, who has faced this unbelievable ordeal with the utmost grace and dignity," Councilwoman Jenni McCauley said.

The AP reports that former US Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson, who spent more than a year trying to arrange Warmbier's release, says he is saddened and angered by the death, which he says could be a "crime against humanity."

The Guardian looks at the cases of the three American citizens still detained in North Korean prisons.

(Read more Otto Warmbier stories.)
Otto Warmbier, the American college student who was detained in North Korea for nearly a year and a-half, has died, his family announced Monday afternoon.

Warmbier was returned to the United States last week in a coma. Doctors in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio said the 22-year-old had suffered severe brain damage while in North Korea, but that it was not clear what caused it.

North Korea said Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced in March of last year for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel. The regime claimed the young man fell into a coma after contracting botulism and being given a sleeping pill.

But the Warmbier family heatedly disputed that claim, saying the pariah regime had "brutalized" Otto. "Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," the family said in a statement following Warmbier's death at 2:20 p.m. ET at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center.


An expected bankruptcy filing by Japanese airbag maker Takata will leave little money for dozens of people who sued the company over deaths and injuries caused by its exploding airbag inflators, according to outside legal experts and lawyers suing the company. Takata Corp. and its US operations are likely to seek bankruptcy protection by the end of June in a deal that would sell its assets to competitor Key Safety Systems Inc., a person briefed on the talks tells the AP. The price Key will pay is unknown, but much of it likely will go toward paying a $1 billion US criminal settlement. Most of the settlement money will go to automakers as restitution for recall costs.

Key is expected to buy Takata's assets "free and clear" of past liabilities. So far, the faulty inflators have killed 11 people in the US and 16 worldwide. Over 180 people have been injured. The problem touched off the biggest recall in US automotive history, involving 19 automakers and 42 million vehicles. Lawyers say some victims have serious facial injuries from metal shrapnel and would win large verdicts if Takata were financially strong. "Takata intends to try to use our bankruptcy laws to escape responsibility for the injured and the families of the dead," said Bradford Child, a Los Angeles lawyer who represents the family of a woman killed by a ruptured inflator. (Read more Takata stories.)
The man accused of driving a van into worshippers near a London mosque early Monday has been named as 47-year-old Darren Osbornea man described as "aggressive," "strange," "cuckoo," and "a bloody psycho" by neighbors in Cardiff, Wales. Witnesses say Osborne shouted "I want to kill all Muslims" after the attack, which left one person dead and 11 injured, the Guardian reports. Neighbors say he was always troublesome but his behavior had deteriorated in recent weeks and he had been thrown out of a local pub over the weekend for "cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage." He also allegedly abused a 10-year-old Muslim neighbor, telling him he was "inbred."

Osborne's sister tells the Evening Standard that he was "troubled," but was so unpolitical she doubts he knows who the country's prime minister is. Neighbors say Osborne had split up with the mother of his four children in recent weeks and had been living in a tent he put up in woodland or sometimes in the backyard of the home they used to share. Police believe he rented the van used in the attack on Sunday and drove the 150 miles to London, the Telegraph reports. After the Finsbury Park attack, he was restrained by bystanders, with an imam convincing people to stop hitting him. Police say Osborne is being held on suspicion of terrorist offenses and attempted murder. (Read more London stories.)
Statistics show it's incredibly rare for black bears to kill humans in Alaskajust six such deaths had been recorded since 1880which makes the news that two fatal black-bear maulings happened over two days there strikingly unusual. The death of 16-year-old Patrick Cooper on Sunday during a trail race was followed on Monday by the killing of a Pogo Mine contractor. The Pogo underground gold mine sits about 300 miles northeast of Anchorage; the Daily News-Miner reports that contract workers were collecting geological samples some distance from camp when the attack occurred. A second worker suffered non-life-threatening injuries and the bear was reportedly shot dead. "Right now we have more questions than answers," says the mine's general manager.

Questions persist around Patrick's death during the Bird Ridge mountain race, too. The Alaska Dispatch News reports the events that led to it are unclear beyond a text message he sent to his family saying he was being chased. Alaska Fish and Game rep Ken Marsh tells the AP the hunt is on for the bear, who was shot in the face and is believed to have attacked in a rare predatory move, rather than as a defensive action. Marsh describes the likelihood of the mauling as "sort of like someone being struck by lightning." The Dispatch News provides more context around the rarity, saying only 10% of bear attacks in the state occur at the hands of black bears. A 64-year-old Fairbanks man mauled in 2013 represents the prior most recent black-bear fatality. Read more about the attack on Patrick here. (Read more black bear stories.)
The House race that has become much more than a House race will be decided Tuesday in Georgia, and President Trump shot off some early tweets to support the GOP candidate. Republican Karen Handel, he wrote, "will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare," and "strong security," while opponent Jon Ossoff "wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district," he tweeted. On the last point, the 30-year-old has explained that he's currently living with his med-student girlfriend but will move back into the district in suburban Atlanta when she's done at Emory University, reports Politico.

With polls showing a statistical dead heat, political analysts have essentially morphed the race into a referendum on Trump. That explains why advocates on both sides have pumped more than $50 million into the contest, making it the most expensive House race in history. The seat has long been held by Republicans, with Tom Price vacating it upon Trump's win to become his Health and Human Services secretary. Both candidates have sought to downplay the national implications, notes the Hill, but it's widely seen as a barometer for the president's agenda and for control of the House in 2018. (Read more Jon Ossoff stories.)
Not so fast, Amazon. The tech giant's $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods made headlines last week, but the Los Angeles Times reports it may not be as done a deal as previously believed. Amazon agreed to pay $42 per share for the grocery chain, but those shares closed at more than $43 Monday. That means investors expect a higher bid to come in, with one expert calling it "highly likely." Potential bidders include Kroger, Albertsons, and Walmart. And while it's unlikely anyone could outbid Amazon, its competitors have an obvious interest in making Amazon's takeover of Whole Foods as financially painful for it as possible. Here's what else you need to know:

Vox reports an Amazon-operated Whole Foods could be a nightmare for other grocery chains. That's because while grocery stores have tiny profit margins, Amazon intentionally has essentially no profit margins at all: Money that comes in is reinvested in new endeavors. Amazon could immediately cut prices at the notoriously expensive Whole Foods, undercutting competitors without worry for its own bottom line.

Whole Foods CEO John Mackey says the Amazon takeover started with a "blind date" six weeks ago. We just fell in love, the Wall Street Journal quotes Mackey as saying. It was truly love at first sight."

One economist expects Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods to start "a supermarket war of historic proportions," and CNBC reports that would lead to plummeting prices that could kill the expected rise in inflation the Fed was hoping for.

Bloomberg argues it's not grocery stores that should be most worried, but the companies that make the packaged goods that line their shelves. Amazon is already making its own diapers and batteries and could decimate the profit margins of consumer-goods companies by expanding that program through Whole Foods.

Amazon could hurt packaged food companies like Kellogg and Campbell Soup in another way, CNBC reports. Customers were already turning toward fresher food options, and the acquisition of Whole Foods could accelerate that process.

Finally, the acquisition of Whole Foods would increase the net worth of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos by approximately $1.8 billion, according to UPI. That would increase his wealth to $84.6 billion, bringing him within $5 billion of Bill Gates, the world's richest man.

(Read more Amazon stories.)
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The European Union has extended sanctions against Russia for a year over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.

EU foreign ministers said in a statement Monday that the 28-nation bloc "remains committed to fully implement its non-recognition policy" of Russia's seizure of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

The sanctions are now set to run until June 23, 2018, and apply to EU citizens and companies. They ban the import of products from Crimea and Sevastopol, halt any European investment or real estate purchases and stop cruise ships from stopping there.


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Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. Low near 10F. Winds light and variable..

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Considerable clouds this evening. Some decrease in clouds late. Low near 10F. Winds light and variable.
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The Daily News-Miner encourages residents to make themselves heard through the Opinion pages. Readers' letters and columns also appear online at newsminer.com. Contact the editor with questions at letters@newsminer.com or call 459-7574.
The young population has fallen from 14.4 million in 1980 to just 8.5 million this year. It is expected to dwindle even further to 6.4 million in 2040 and 4.8 million in 2060, according to Statistics Korea. That means the proportion of people under 24 in the total population has dropped from a buoyant 39.1 percent in 1970 to less than one-sixth or 16.4 percent.

Korea's young population between the ages of nine and 24 has almost halved since 1980, auguring serious trouble ahead.

According to the Education Ministry, 113 elementary schools, 10 middle schools and seven high schools across the country welcomed no new students this year. One percent out of 2,360 high schools, 11.6 percent out of 3,237 junior high schools and 13.8 percent out of 6,177 elementary schools in the country welcomed fewer than 10 new students.

The decline became serious around 2001, when Korea hit the ultra-low birthrate of less than 1.3 children per woman. Analysis of data from 17 metropolitan and provincial governments shows that the number of first graders in high school stood at 524,500 this year, 57,000 fewer than sophomores.

The biggest decline was in the major cities, with the number of high-school freshmen in Gyeonggi Province down 14,100, in Seoul down 11,100, in Busan down 3,628, and in Daegu down 3,198. Next year, their number is expected to drop by 63,000, with Seoul and Gyeonggi Province expected to a decline of 12,000 each, which means teachers have to be let go and schools will close.

The decline will also have an impact on the number of conscripted soldiers Korea depends upon for its defense.

In 2020, the number of high school graduates will stand at 520,000, a similar level to the 510,000 students enrolled in universities and vocational colleges. By 2024, the number of high school graduates will plummet to 420,000. Therefore the number of 20-year-old men who are then available to start their mandatory military service will fall from 350,000 at present to 250,000.
New Delhi:

The Aam Aadmi Party government on Tuesday has decided to use Nirbhaya Fund to install CCTV cameras in over six thousand buses in the national capital.

The approval for the same has been given by the Delhi Cabinet.

In a bid to fulfill their elections promise, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's cabinet decided to install CCTV cameras in buses.

According to State Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, CCTV cameras will be installed in 6350 buses of the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS).

There will be three cameras in each bus which will be installed from the Nirbhaya Fund, Gahlot said adding that tender will be issued soon for this.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the 2013 budget speech announced Nirbhaya Fund, with Government contribution of Rs. 1000 crores for empowerment, safety and security of women and girl children.

ALSO READ: Indian Railways to install CCTV cameras at over 900 stations
New Delhi:

Shah Rukh Khan's daughter Suhana Singh who has been recently seen hitting headlines for a bunch of her smoking hot pictures, is under spotlight yet another time.

The 17 year-old on Monday was seen enetering her mother Gauri Khan's latest creation Mumbai's high-style lounge bar, Arth hand in hand with handsome father Shah Rukh Khan. The diva was looking just like a B-town professional in her orange bandage dress from Herve Leger and reminds us of one of Katrina Kaif appearences.

The proud father SRK was also posing by her side looking all attractive with his magical dimple smile.

Apart from this much loved father-daughter jodi a bunch of Bollywood biggies were also seen appearing to make the opening grand and special for Gauri with both Shah Rukh and Suhana present to welcome them.

The duo have been seen receiving Anil Kapoor, director Farah Khan, Arjun Kapoor, rumoured couple Alia Bhatt and Siddharth Malhotra, actress Sonam kapoor and Jachqeline Fernandez, MS Dhoni fame Sushant Singh Rajput and many others with a warm welcome and it is needless to say that it was literally a star-studded night.

While it was a night full of shinning stars, Suhana snatched the limelight with her breath-taking beauty and King Khan was probably enjoying the most beautiful Father's day gift of his life.

Apart from Suhana, SRK has two boy kids Aryan and AbRam and with them too he is too frequent to share pictures and creating buzzes across the social networking sites.

Also Read: Shah Rukh aka Harry to meet real life Sejals, may hit your city soon

On the work front, while Suhana is going to appear in big screens soon, Shah Rukh will be next seen in his upcoming flick 'Jab Harry Met Sejal'.

Also starring Anushka Sharma in the lead and helmed by award winning filmmaker Imtiaz Ali the movie is scheduled to release on 4th of August 2017.







For all the Latest Entertainment News, Bollywood News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
New Delhi:

NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind has risen from a modest background just like the first dalit president K R Narayanan, but the two dalit leaders took different paths to reach the zenith of their public life.

The election of Kovind, 71, as India's 14th President is a virtual certainty with several non-NDA parties too lending their support to BJP's surprise candidature of the little-known dalit activist and a former lawyer.

While it is the right-leaning Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which chose Kovind, Narayanan, a diplomat-turned politician, became vice president in 1992 and the president in 1997 courtesy active support from the Left, which had proposed his name first. Kovind's candidature was announced on Monday.

If Narayanan entered politics from the top-a noted diplomat he was asked by Indira Gandhi to join the Congress and contested his first Lok Sabha election at the age of 64 in 1984- Kovind has risen through the BJP's ranks and held various organisational posts.

The Dalit leader from Kerala won three back-to-back elections and was union minister in the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Read more: NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind resigns as Bihar Governor

Kovind lost two elections- one Lok Sabha and one assembly- but the BJP ensured his political rise by sending him to the Rajya Sabha in 1994 and then in 2000.

It is said the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao did not make Narayanan a minister because he was seen as too "Left-leaning" but the Left parties ensured that he became the vice president as a trade-off for their support to Shankar Dayal Sharma's presidential bid in 1992.

As the vice president, he was the natural choice for the president's post in 1997 and all major parties, from the Congress to the BJP, supported him.

Shiv Sena, which has now voiced its reservations to Kovind's candidature, had projected T N Seshan as its candidate who lost in an one-sided contest.

Educated in London School of Economics and an IFS officer, Narayanan's qualifications may be more impressive but Kovind too was a diligent student and had reportedly cracked the prestigious UPSC examination but opted out as he did not get the service of his choice.

He chose to practise law and was the central government's standing counsel in the Supreme Court from 1980 to 1993.

Coming from Uttar Pradesh, a hotbed of caste politics and a state with maximum cases of atrocities against dalits, Kovind has also been a champion of SC/ST rights and had taken up their issues at various fora.

As a Rajya Sabha MP, he is said to have lobbied hard for the passage of three amendments in the first NDA government to get some "anti-SC/ST" orders passed by the previous government annulled. Dalit rights bodies had said those orders adversely affected their interests.

There is also a stark difference in political environments under which both leaders rose to the top post.

The period between 1997-2002 was a time of seismic political churn as the BJP, then the main opposition, was arising force while the so called secular front of the Congress and the Janata parivar was on a decline.

Read more: Opposition divided on Ram Nath Kovind as President candidate

Kovind will take to office when the BJP is firmly entrenched in power and there is little instability of the kind which often confronted Narayanan, who had dissolved the Lok Sabha twice.

The leader from Kerala, who died in 2005 at the age of 85, distinguished himself by returning twice union cabinet's recommendations to dismiss elected state governments, sending a firm message that he was no 'rubber stamp President.'

First he did so when I K Gujral was the prime minister and the union cabinet sent him a proposal to dismiss the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.

He did so again a year later in 1998, this time sending back the Vajpayee cabinet's recommendation to dismiss the Rabri Devi government. Both times he went by the book and won praise.

Kovind comes to the highest office after earning praise from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, a political rival to the BJP, for his work as a governor.

Kovind brings to the table not just a marginalised caste background but also a clean image, solid if not spectacular compared at least to Narayanan's educational accomplishments, proven experience, as a governor and MP, in handling constitutional matters, and a disciplined political career devoid of the usual excesses.

But Narayanan, son of an "ayurvedic" practioner always declined to draw special attention to caste as a factor in his election.

"Please do not overemphasize my caste background", Narayanan asked reporters during the run up to the 1992 vice-presidential elections. "A creature of circumstances", was how Narayanan called himself.

As a lower caste member of Kerala society, he overcame poverty and public humiliation to become the top student in his masters degree examination in English literature in 1943.

He tried journalism in New Delhi before securing a scholarship to the London School of Economics. On his return to India in 1948 he was inducted into the foreign service and sent to Burma (now Myanmar) as a diplomat.

He was ambassador to Thailand, China and the United States before the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi asked him to enter politics. He was also vice chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

Read more: BJD backs NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind in Prez polls

It was during Narayanan's time in Beijing that political, economic and trade normalisation was established between India and China.

Narayanan, named minister of science and technology in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet in 1985, had also earned an image of being a "clean politician."

For all the Latest India News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Motihari:

A three-day yoga-cum-meditation camp was inaugurated by Yoga guru Baba Ramdev as a part of Champaran Satyagrah centenary celebrations.

Baba Ramdev said that apart from giving people various tips and techniques of 'yoga', he would also consider the possibility of setting up industries and academic institutions in Bihar.

The three-day yoga camp is being organised by Baba Ramdev's Patanjali where people would be given tips, technique and art of doing 'Yoga' exercise free of cost.

On the first day itself, Ramdev gave different tips ofdoing various forms of 'yoga' to thousands of people including elders, youths, women and children at Gandhi Maidan.

Union Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh, on whose invitation Ramdev organised the camp,also learnt the lessons of yoga from him.

While giving yoga tips to the people, he emphasised the importance of yoga exercise in one's life and asked people to adopt 'yoga' to be mentally and physically strong.

It helps in fighting disease like obesity, cancer, gas,constipation, he added. There is a glaze on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's face despite putting in 18 hours a day, Ramdev said adding that it is because of 'yoga' which the PM has been doing sincehis childhood. Not only this, even BJP president Amit Shah has alsoshed 20 kg due to yoga, he added.

On the demand made by local people to set up sugarmill and litchi processing unit in the district, the yoga guru said that he would consider the possibility of setting upindustries and academic institutions in Bihar. "I have a deep attachment with Bihar and I becomeBihari when I visit Bihar.

There are a plenty of opportunities and talents in the state. There will be 'Yoga and Udyog' inBihar," Ramdev said. Ramdev will be visiting places related to Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran satyagraha and other places in the districtduring his three-day yoga programme.

Ramdev had also praised the decision of totalprohibition by the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar. "It is a good step," Ramdev had said while emphasisingpopularisation of yoga will help people shun the habit of alcohol consumption.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Agriculture minister said that it was Baba Ramdev who popularised 'Yoga'but it did not have recognition in 193 member UN body but due to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts, International Yoga day is being observed across the world on June 21.

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Raipur:

A former sarpanch was killed, allegedly by Maoists in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada district after they suspected him to be a police informer, police said on Tuesday.



Chhannuram Mandavi (55), the ex-Sarpanch of his native Cholnar village, was attacked with sharp-edged weapons at his house under Kirandul police station limits late last night, Dantewada Superintendent of Police Kamlochan Kashyap told PTI.



As per preliminary information, some armed Naxals stormed into the victims house in Cholnar, around 450 kms from here, and slit his throat while he was asleep, killing him on the spot, the SP said.



Soon after getting information, a police team was rushed to the spot and his body was brought for postmortem, he said.

Read | Chhattisgarh: Three Naxalites, including a woman, killed in encounter



Some Maoists pamphlets were recovered from the spot in which Mandavi was branded as a police informer, the SP said adding that a search has been launched in the forests to nab the assailants.



The SP also said that Mandavi was earlier arrested and jailed in connection with the Naxal attack on the house of Congress leader Avdhesh Gautam in Nakulnar village of Dantewada in 2010.



Gautams family member and one of his employees were killed in the incident. However, Mandavi was later released, he added.

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New Delhi:

The West Bengal CID on Tuesday informed that former Calcutta high court judge CS Karnan arrested from an undisclosed location of Coimbatore in connection with Supreme Court contempt case. The information was confirmed by Karnan's lawyer Peter Ramesh.

Karnan was evading arrest since May 9 after failing to get relief from the Supreme Court, which had refused to hear his plea seeking a stay on its order awarding him a six-month jail term for contempt of court.

Justice Karnans counsel had mentioned the matter before a vacation bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and Deepak Gupta, which had refused to interfere with the order directing the West Bengal police to take him into custody.

Advocate Mathews J Nedumpara, representing Justice Karnan, had told the bench that the high court judge was entitled to know why he was convicted for contempt of court by a seven-judge bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar.

Justice (Retd.) Karnan arrested by Police in Coimbatore (Tamil Nadu), confirms his lawyer Peter Ramesh pic.twitter.com/HLkXNgHszx  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

I am seeking only a stay. I had made a request to the CJI to take up the matter. Justice Karnan, like other litigants, is entitled to get at least an order from the court, he had said.

The detailed verdict of the May 9 order had not been made available till date, he had submitted.

Also Read: Controversial Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan retires

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New Delhi:

Credit card providers, banks, and insurers have started alerting their customers to pay higher tax post implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) fromJuly 1. Customers currently pay 15 per cent service tax for such services.

Starting from July 1, 2017 the GST will replace all indirect taxes like service tax and VAT.

Financial services and telecom have been put in the 18per cent GST slab. SBI Card has sent SMS to its customers alerting about the higher incidence of tax.

"Important: The Government of India proposes to implement the GST which is likely to be effective from July 1, 2017.Consequently, the existing service tax rate of 15 per cent shall be replaced by a GST rate of 18 per cent," the SMS sent by SBI Card read.

Banks like Standard Chartered and HDFC are also sending messages related to GST to their customers. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, in email messages to its customers, said premium payable on term policy and fund management charges on a Unit Linked Insurance Policy will attract 18 per cent GST post implementation of the new indirect tax regime.

Also Read | GST rollout by July 1, nobody had any business not to be ready, all states barring J&K and Kerala have approved SGST: FM Jaitley

These products currently attract 15 per cent service tax. GST will be levied at the rate of 2.25 per cent on premium payment for the endowment policy.

Currently, customers pay1.88 per cent service tax on endowment policies. Parliament's historic Central Hall will host a midnight function on June 30 to launch the nation's biggest tax reformGST. President Pranab Mukherjee, who had piloted the firstConstitutional Amendment Bill to bring in GST in 2011 when he was finance minister in the previous UPA regime, will share the dais with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the occasion.

Also Read: Amitabh Bachchan becomes brand ambassador for GST

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New Delhi:

The protesting faction Gorkha Janmukti Morcha called for an all party meet on Tuesday to find a peaceful resolution of the simmering tension in Darjeeling and adjoining areas of West Bengal over demands of a separate state of Gorkhaland.A

#Darjeeling: Indefinite strike called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha enters into ninth day #Gorkhaland pic.twitter.com/2MoTfiStdH a ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017



On Monday, the situation in the hill station remained grim as the security forces patrolled the streets and Internet services remained suspended for the second day. The GJM supporters held a march and burnt effigies of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for rejecting their demand for a separate state.



In Kolkata, the chief minister urged all parties concerned and stakeholders to attend an all-party meeting convened by the state government in Siliguri on June 22 on the prevailing situation in Darjeeling.



aViolence cannot be a solution to any problem and only talks can solve it,a she told reporters before leaving for the Netherlands.



Banerjee had said on Saturday, aI am ready to sacrifice my life, but I will not allow Bengal to be divided.a



The GJM ruled out any discussion with the government, but said it would be acomfortablea holding talks with the BJP-led government at the Centre.The BJP is an ally of the GJM and party MP SS Ahluwalia had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Darjeeling with its support.



aWe are not ready for talks with the West Bengal government. Mamata Banerjee has insulted us, she has called us terrorists,a GJM leader Binay Tamang said.



The GJM agitators also blocked NH-31A at some places in Darjeeling district to protest the death of three their activists on Saturday.



The 92-km-long NH 31A connects Sevoke in Darjeeling district to Gangtok and is considered the lifeline of Sikkim. Around 30 km of the highway passes through West Bengal.



A state police official said, aRaids will continue. In fact, there will be raids tonight itself which will be on the basis of our intelligence inputs.aAnybody disturbing the law and order situation in the hills would face atough handlinga by the police, he said.



Meanwhile, the West Bengal government has sent a report on the ongoing violence in Darjeeling to the Union Home Ministry, which has dispatched a contingent of 125 women security personnel to help restore peace in the hills.



The state governmentas report is under examination of the ministry, official sources said in New Delhi.



Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has also spoken to the stateas chief secretary, who had demanded that two companies -- 250 personnelaof women paramilitary personnel be sent there, they said.



Carrying black flags, protesters, especially the youth, marched on the streets of Chowkbazar area of Darjeeling, shouting slogans against the state government and the chief minister.



They also burnt effigies of Banerjee and vowed to continue their fight for a separate Gorkhaland.



aThree of our activists were killed. We are ready to give our lives, but will not stop protesting till we get Gorkhaland,a Sirish Pradhan, a GJM worker, said.Several small processions were taken out by the GJM activists in various parts of Darjeeling.



Internet services remained suspended for the second day today to stop the GJM activists from using the social media to spread aprovocative postsa, police sources said.



Security forces patrolled the streets as the situation remained tense on the fifth day of the GJM-sponsored indefinite shutdown.



aThe situation is still very tense. Since morning, there has been no incident of violence. But we are on high alert and are prepared for any eventuality,a said a senior police officer.



Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had appealed to the protesters on Sunday not to resort to violence and instead, hold a dialogue to resolve any issue.



But the GJM expressed its adispleasurea with the Centre and questioned the absence of BJP MP from Darjeeling Ahluwalia at the time of the crisis.



aThe role of alliance partner BJP is very unfortunate and very disappointing. We had expected something positive on the part of the central government. We feel we are being used as pawns by the Centre and the state,a Darjeeling MLA and senior GJM leader Amar Singh Rai said.



The GJM activists had taken out a protest march here yesterday carrying the bodies of two party supporters who, they alleged, were killed in police firing on Saturday.



Police pickets and barricades were placed in front of the government and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) offices and various entry exit points of the hills while Rapid Action Force (RAF) and a sizable number of women police personnel were also deployed.



Except medicine shops, all others shops, hotels were closed in the hills.

A

(With Inputs from PTI)

(Photos Credit: PTI Photos)

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New Delhi:

Problems being faced by domestic IT industry on the H1B visa front are one of the issues on the table between India and America, a top government official on Tuesday asserted ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to the US.

Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on that list.

Asked whether India would raise the H1B issue during Modis visit to the US, she said: I cannot say what would be the issues that would come up in the discussion. This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. But in the event the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up.

Modi is slated to visit the US on June 25 and 26.

India has time and again raised the issue of H1B with the US authorities and asked them to liberalise their visa regime as Indian companies contribute significantly to the American economy.

The H1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields. The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year.

On the trade policy review being carried out by the US, she said India and the US have a robust mechanism under the trade policy forum (TPF) to discuss matters like stents and others.

Also Read | 7 Indian companies received fewer H1B visas in 2016 as compared to 2015: Report

She said other issues like market access for products and those relating to investments are all being dealt with regularly at the TPF meetings.

The US has commenced a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on the list of those countries. So certainly, we would figure, but we are confident that our exports to the US are a win-win for both countries in the sense that we are able to provide cheaper products, Teaotia added.

The secretary further said a cross-section of Indian companies supports American industry in becoming much more competitive.

Therefore, this is a partnership that has many benefits across sectors and I think this would be the trend of our communication with the US, she added.

Also Read | H1B visa woes: Cognizant to significantly ramp up headcount in the US to woo Trump administration

The bilateral trade between the two increased to USD 64.67 billion in 2016-17, from USD 62.11 billion in the previous fiscal. The trade balance is in favour of India.

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New Delhi:

In a shocking incident, woman was allegedly gang-raped in a moving car in Sohna. The victim was later thrown out of the vehicle near Greater Noida by the accused.

Police said that the 35-year-old woman abducted from Gurugram wasA allegedly gangraped for hours by 3 men.

According to the reports, the incident took place on Monday late evening. The woman, a resident of Bharatpur in Rajasthan, had come to meet a relative in Sohna last week.

She has been sent for medical examination. One of our teams have been rushed to the spot in Haryana's Sohna, said Gautam Budh Nagar SSP Love Kumar.

According to the primary information, the woman belongs to Gurugram and was in the Sohna area at around 8-8:30 p.m. yesterday, when some people, driving a Swift car, dragged her inside and raped her.

An investigation has been launched by the Haryana police. However, no FIR has been lodged yet.

Greater Noida: Visuals from the spot- Woman from Haryana's Sohna allegedly gangraped in a moving car, thrown out in Greater Noida pic.twitter.com/mmqXlKJWQW a ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 20, 2017

Earlier, A 22-year-old girl from Sikkim was allegedly raped by three men in a moving car and thrown out on a road in Delhi. The woman was attacked at around 2 AM when she was returning from Delhi to her residence in Sector-17 in Gurgaon.

As she reached near her house, she was dragged by three men into their Swift car. They then took turns to rape her in the moving vehicle while heading to Najafgarh in the national capital, 20 kms from here, a senior police officer told PTI quoting the victimas statement.

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President Moon Jae-in on Monday pledged to halt the construction of new nuclear power plants and no longer extend the life of aging reactors, which had been among his stump promises.

Speaking at an event marking the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Busan, he said, "The shutdown is the beginning of a nuclear-free energy country, a paradigm shift for a safer Korea."

The plan is to boost renewable energy and liquefied natural gas. The government aims to reduce dependence on nuclear power from the current 30 percent to 18 percent by 2030, while increasing the proportion of LNG from 18 to 37 percent and of renewable energy from four to 20 percent.


Beijing:

India on Monday asked the BRICS nations to shed the ambiguity on good and bad terrorists, an apparent reference to Pakistan and back its efforts for the adoption of a comprehensive convention on terrorism at the UN.

Indias assertion came as the foreign ministers of the five-nation bloc met here and forged consensus on evolving a common strategy to combat the growing menace of terrorism.

Pressing Brazil, Russia, China, South Africa at its first Foreign Ministers meeting ahead of this years Summit in the Chinese city of Xiamen, Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd) V K Singh said that there was no good or bad terrorists as all of them should be treated as criminals threatening global peace.

Everyone agrees that terrorism is a common enemy of mankind. Everybody is fully concerned about threat of terrorism in various manifestations, Singh said, addressing a joint press conference with the foreign ministers from the BRICS countries in their first stand-alone meeting to work out the agenda for the Xiamen summit.

We also ask for expediting the adoption of the comprehensive convention on international terrorism in the UN which has been pending for some time. We have the support of all members of BRICS nations, he said.

Also read: MoS External Affairs V K Singh to attend two-day BRICS Foreign Ministers Meet

Responding to questions over concerns on cross border terrorism from Pakistan, Singh said, on behalf of India I pointed out that terrorism remains one of the most potent global menace.

We did bring out that it threatens global peace and terrorists cannot be differentiated by calling them good or bad, he said, without directly referring to China blocking the efforts by India, the US and other countries to bring about a UN ban on Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) leader Masood Azhar for his involvement in the Pathankot terror attack.

They are terrorists and they are criminals and we need to have a concerted action both in the regional and internationally to curb their activities, Singh said.

A media note of the meeting said the ministers deplored the continued terrorist attacks, including in some BRICS countries.

They condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations wherever committed and by whomsoever. They reaffirm solidarity and resolve in the fight against terrorism, call upon the international community to establish a genuinely broad international counter-terrorism coalition and support the United Nations central coordinating role in the international counter-terrorism cooperation, the statement said.

The leaders recalled the responsibility of all states to prevent financing of terrorist networks and terrorist actions from their territories and called upon an expedited adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism in the UN General Assembly, it said.

Earlier, speaking at the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting, Singh said BRICS countries have reached significant understanding on security and counter terrorism issues as the five-member bloc of emerging economies expanded steadily in the international arena.

Besides cooperating on financial issues, the BRICS agenda has witnessed steady expansion, he said.

The BRICS joint working group mechanism has concluded in May 2017, Singh said, adding that the National Security Advisors (NSAs) of the BRICS countries are due to meet next month ahead of this years summit.

In Delhi meeting last year, they (NSAs) had reached significant understanding on matters of security and counter terrorism, Singh said.

Also read: Chinese news agency Xinhua to set up USD 1 mn fund for BRICS media cooperation

Backing Singh, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China was opposed to terrorism in all forms and it is also a victim of terrorism.

So China is actively taking part in international cooperation against terrorism and in our own way. China is making its contribution and playing its constrictive role. On this point with all colleagues present today including Indian colleagues, China shares the same position, he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said BRICS countries are united and their understanding of the fight against terrorism. He said there are working groups formed in the BRICS to deal with counter terrorism issues.

It has started working already and held two sessions and its potential is quite considerable. We need take it inter-agency format. We have a common opinion. In this regard, we need to involve foreign agencies other relevant agencies involved in cantering terrorism, he said.

It is clear that we cannot solve this problem by ourselves need a broad anti-terror front, he said.

Russia will actively support UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres recent suggestion to the UN General Assembly to create a new UN office in New York to coordinate the fight against terrorism, Lavrov said.

The ministers reaffirmed their commitment to safeguarding the purposes and principles of the UN charter as well as a fair and just international order, the media note of the meeting said.

The ministers also welcomed the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change on November 4, 2016, and urged all countries to implement the accord under the principles of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change including the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

The discussion of the Paris deal at the meeting assumes significance as it comes after President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the landmark pact.

On climate change, the foreign ministers called upon developed countries to fulfil their commitment to provide necessary financing, technology transfer and capacity building support to developing countries.

The ministers reiterated that the only lasting solution to the Syria crisis is an inclusive Syrian-led, Syrian-owned political process which safeguard the state sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Syria, in pursuance of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254.

The ministers strongly supported the Geneva peace talks and the Astana process, and welcomed the creation of the de-escalation areas in Syria. They opposed the use of chemical weapons by anyone, for any purpose and under any circumstance.

They reaffirmed their support to the process of Afghan-led and Afghan-owned national reconciliation, the ongoing international efforts in support of achieving practical results in that regard, combating terrorism and drug-threat, and support the national reconstruction efforts.

The ministers supported the efforts of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces in fighting against terror organisations.

The ministers are concerned by the threats and challenges posed by the use of ICTs for criminal and terrorist purposes and the weaponisation of outer space and arms race there, it said.

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New Delhi:

Samajwadi Party mentor Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday attended the dinner which was hosted by Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Mulayam has already hinted his bonhomie with NDA while putting his weight behind Ram Nath Kovind, NDA's presidential poll candidate.

It is said that Mulayam Singh Yadav has made it clear to son and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav who was not apparently on board to extend his support to the NDAs candidate.

Also Read: Mulayam Singh remains silent on Lalu Yadav's proposed August rally

Sources said that Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati are also likely to attend the dinner.

Also Read: Backbiting, sycophancy mounted Samajwadi Party woes, says Shivpal

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New Delhi:

The Opposition looks to be divided after NDAs announcement to make Ram Nath Kovind as candidate for Presidential poll. Ahead of the Opposition meet scheduled on 22nd June, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and BSP supremo Mayawati have given positive signals for Ram Naths candidature.

However, Congress, Left parties and TMC can mull introducing their own candidate against Ram Nath Kovind.

After NDAs declaration to make Ram Nath as President candidate, Nitish Kumar met him. After meeting Ram Nath, Nitish said that he is happy because a governor from Bihar has been nominated as President candidate. But, he refused to comment about his support to Ram Nath for President post.

Nitish said that it would be too early to comment on support to Ram Nath because discussion among Opposition leaders is yet to be held. He said that he has already informed about his feelings to RJD supremo Lalu Yadav and Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

On the other hand, Mayawati said in Lucknow that BSP cannot be negative about a Dalit candidate for President post. Mayawati said that if Opposition does not field any Dalit candidate then she will be supporting Ram Nath Kovind.

It is being considered that Opposition may also field Dalit candidate against Ram Nath Kovind. After the NDAs announcement to make Ram Nath as President candidate, Congress said that it will take time to decide on it as BJP had not made any consensus before announcing Presidents candidate.

Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said that it is true that government had informed Sonia Gandhi but they had already decided name by then and we were not expecting it.

"After independence, biggest law made was for Dalits. We made a Dalit president 15 years ago, this is not first time" said Ghulam Nabi Azad.

Congress has yet not revealed its stand on Ram Naths candidature. It is being considered that they will decide over it in the meeting that is scheduled to happen on Thursday.

General Secretary of CPM Sitaram Yechury told a newspaper that except for Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, elections have always been held for President post. He added that they were not against APJ Abdul Kalam but they made Capt Laxmi Sehgal as President candidate. He said that as this is a political election, Opposition should field their own candidate. Yachury said that Opposition meet is scheduled on 22nd and we will put forward name of our candidate.

General Secretary of CPI D Raja is also in favour of fielding Oppositions candidate.

Also read: Presidential poll: Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik backs NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind

Also read: President poll: 10 interesting facts about Ram Nath Kovind's life and political journey





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New Delhi:

NDAs presidential candidate and former Bihar governor Ram Nath Kovind believes that if the president of the country can be criticised, there is no reason why members of the judiciary cannot be pulled up. He had claimed in a debate in Parliament that if the appointing authority of judges, that is the president, could be censured, so could the judiciary.

If any citizen of this country can criticise the President of India for his wrong-doing, I dont think it could be valid if the judiciary is exempted, Kovind said as a Rajya Sabha member in the debate on March 3, 2006, on the contempt of courts (Amendment) Bill, 2006, moved by then Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj.

He, however, added, the judiciary had been exempted to maintain its independence. Kovind, who was a Rajya Sabha member from Uttar Pradesh and a former lawyer, spoke at length on the Bill that sought to reform contempt laws.

ALSO READ: Who is Ram Nath Kovind, NDAs candidate for President

Every citizen has got a fundamental right to speak the truth. If he wants to say anything on the matter of inefficiency or corruption, he is most welcome, he said.

He also mentioned that the then Chief Justice of India had referred to corruption in the judiciary. It is not only the citizen. We know that once even the Chief Justice of India had saidhe did admit - that some percentage of the judiciary was corrupt. Of course, he cant be hauled up for contempt of court because he happens to be from the same community (of the judiciary), Kovind said.

Emphasising that ordinary citizens must have the right to react, he said the persons response could be for wrong-doing or his reaction could be for rectifying them, whatsoever it may be.

READ: Presidential poll: TDP extends full support to Kovind's candidature

The NDAs nominee, who is likely to be elected president next month, had also congratulated the law minister of the then Congress-led UPA government for the amendment on contempt of court.

Kovind cited a few examples in his speech to argue that courts had wide discretionary powers and that there was an element of non-accountability in the judiciary. This is rather adversely affecting our judicial system and the deliverance of administration by the system, he said.

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New Delhi:

Twitter is buzzing with news alerts from India and rest of the world. Here are the latest updates from the micro-blogging site in one scroll:

Also Read: CEE KEAM Result 2017 announced at cee.kerala.gov.in for admissions into Engineering and Pharmacy colleges; checkmerit list here

#9:50 PM

J&K: Terrorists hurled two grenades and fired on CRPF's 180 battalion camp in Pulwama's Tral

#8:29 PM

Hockey World League 2017: Netherlands beat India 3-1 in the last game of Pool B in London-ANI

#7:31 PM

Shiv Sena to support Ram Nath Kovind for Presidential Election

#7:17 PM

Delhi cabinet approves installation of CCTV cameras in 6350 DTC & cluster buses from Nirbhaya fund at an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore-ANI

#7:15 PM

Assam: Army & Police in a joint operation seized 200 Plastic explosive sticks and 200 electric detonators at Patacharkuchi; 1 arrested-ANI

#5:50 PM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates the new campus of Central Drugs Research Institute in Lucknow

#4:43 PM

BJP has given a good candidate. I have very old relations with him: Former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav on #RamNathKovind-ANI

#3:58 PM

Former UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav confirms to ANI that he is attending today's Lucknow dinner, to be hosted by UP CM in honour of PM Modi-ANI

#3:51 PM

I-T dept slaps charges under BenamiTransactionsAct on #LaluPrasad's wife RabriDevi, daughter MisaBharti, Bihar Deputy CM TejashwiYadav-ANI

#2:51 PM

Weapons stash found at Champs-Elysees attacker's home: probe source-AFP

#2:42 PM

The President has accepted the resignation of Ram Nath Kovind, as Governor of Bihar.-ANI

#2:41 PM

Anil Kumble didn't accompany Indian team to West Indies today, will join the team after attending ICC meeting in London: BCCI Sources-ANI

#2:37 PM

Matter with SC & High Court; govt will take decision once verdict comes: TN CM E Palaniswami on cattle trade notification in TN Assembly-ANI

#2:31 PM

Chhattisgarh: CRPF recovered IED weighing 20 kg from Dornapal-Jagargunda bridge-ANI

#2:27 PM

TTV Dinakaran is on his way to meet AIADMK General Secretary #Sasikala in Bangalore jail. LS Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai will meet her too.-ANI

#2:16 PM

MP: 15 arrested in Burhanpur for raising Pro-Pak slogans & bursting crackers after Pakistan's win in final match against India on 18th June.-ANI

#1:58 PM

Ayurveda physician 'Vaidya' #RajeshKotecha appointed as special secretary in #AyushMinistry.-ANI

#1:45 PM

All former UP CMs including Mulayam S Yadav, Mayawati,Akhilesh Yadav invited for dinner to be hosted by UP CM in honor of PM Modi in Lucknow-ANI

#1:35 PM

West Bengal: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha held an all-party meeting in Darjeeling #DarjeelingUnrest pic.twitter.com/NArDpkTd7Y  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#1:20 PM

FIR lodged against 8 engineers of #UttarPradesh Irrigation dept for alleged financial anomalies in #GomtiRiverFrontProject: Police.-PTI

#1:17 PM

250-300 landslide sensitive zones in the state, administration prepared to deal with any situation: Amit Negi, Secy, Disaster Management-ANI

#1:16 PM

Rahul Dravid will have to leave IPL contract: BCCI Sources -ANI

#1:13 PM

CAC don't have problem with Rahul Dravid being given 2-yr extension as India A,U-19 coach.BCCI have to decide financial aspect: BCCI Sources-ANI

#1:09 PM

Deployed heavy machinery on Char Dham Yatra routes & landslide prone zones: Amit Negi, Secretary, Disaster Management, Uttarakhand-ANI

#12:59 PM

Indian Army rescued 200 people stranded due to a landslide near Bhalukpong in Arunachal Pradesh pic.twitter.com/YvX8WzZNSM  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#12:58 PM

I'm now focusing on Australia open,will plan for world championships after I go back to India: Kidambi Srikanth after winning Indonesia Open-ANI

#12:56 PM

CBI served notice to TMC MLA &Dy Mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Iqbal Ahmed to appear on 22nd June, in connection with Narada sting-ANI

#12:49 PM

J&K: Wazira Firdous, nurse from Srinagar,received 'National Florence Nightingale Award' from Pres Pranab Mukherjee on Nurse's Day last month pic.twitter.com/zdOyHvTXLQ  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#12:45 PM

Internet services suspended in #Darjeeling since last 3 days on order of administration, state govt says internet suspension due to unrest.-ANI

#12:23 PM

Accused has been arrested; girl has been admitted to a govt hospital in Delhi and her condition is stable: Arjun, SHO Udyog Vihar Police Stn-ANI

#12:22 PM

#GST will be launched from mid-night of June 30-July 1: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.-ANI

#12:21 PM

Haryana: 7-year-old girl raped by a tempo driver in Gurugram's Dundahera; accused arrested-ANI

#12:05 PM

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar calls a meeting of senior JDU leaders on 21 June to discuss extension of support for NDA's presidential candidate-ANI

#11:50 AM

Chennai: DMK stages walk out from the Tamil Nadu Assembly over Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami's reply on cattle trade notification

#11:40 AM

TN CM hasn't responded, while other state CMs &some BJP leaders have condemned it:MK Stalin, DMK in TN assembly on cattle trade notification

11:38 AM

We have received very comprehensive & extensive feedback from many stakeholders, going through all of them: Jayant Sinha,MoS Civil Aviation

#11:29 AM

We are having another meeting soon where we will be providing further details and making sure all systems are good for the roll out: J Sinha

#11:27 AM

Madhya Pradesh: A debt-ridden farmer Babulal Verma who had allegedly set himself on fire in Hoshangabad, succumbs to his injuries in Bhopal.

#11:27 AM

Aviation sector fully prepared for roll out on July 1, many issues were clarified in previous meeting: Jayant Sinha,MoS Civil Aviation #GST

#11:14 AM

#Delhi Sharpshooter of Deepak Pandit Gang wanted in a case of murder has been arrested by police, Country made pistol recovered from him-ANI

#11:02 AM

SP's youth wing Pres Digvijay Singh Dev & VP Monu Singh taken into custody on suspicion of showing black flags on PM Modi's visit to Lucknow-ANI

#10:59 AM

All-party meet convened by #GJM will chalk out "next course of action" as indefinite shutdown continues to cripple normal life in Darjeeling-PTI

#10:57 AM

Major crimes in #Assam fall by 3%, 12,229 cases in 2016-17: Assam Police.-PTI

#10:51 AM

Gujarat: 275 ppl perform 108 Surya Namaskar together in Vadodara, ahead of the International Yoga Day, in an attempt to make a world record. pic.twitter.com/P3qpMQPzer  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#10:50 AM

India re-nominates Justice #DalveerBhandari as its candidate for another term as judge at International Court of Justice (#ICJ).-PTI

#10:40 AM

After independence, biggest law made was for Dalits. We made a Dalit president 15 years ago, this is not first time: GN Azad Ram Nath Kovind-ANI

#10:23 AM

#Uttarakhand MeT Department issues heavy rain alert for next 48 hours in Haridwar, Dehradun, Chamoli, Nainital, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh-ANI

#9:52 AM

#WATCH: Madhya Pradesh Congress leader Ajay Singh aka Rahul Bhaiyya slaps party worker during a protest in Sagar for pelting stone at police pic.twitter.com/Y686ghXRlF  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#9:28 AM

#WATCH: (CCTV footage) Unidentified armed man, wearing helmet, opens fire inside a showroom in Rajasthan's Jodhpur. (June 19) pic.twitter.com/9xwHQ7wZKl  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#9:11 AM

Woman killed as a speeding truck ran over her in Chhattisgarh's Jagdalpur; driver on the run. Agitated locals set the vehicle on fire. pic.twitter.com/tpyTkvK8kw  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#7:55 AM

#Delhi 20,000 litres of petrol gets spilled on road as tanker overturned at Moolchand Underpass,2 injured. Traffic movement affected pic.twitter.com/H27UVQEJvM  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

#7:37 AM

Haryana: Woman allegedly gang-raped in Sohna, thrown out of the car in Greater Noida by the accused. Police investigation underway.-ANI

#7:29 AM

10 Afghan security guards from Bagram military base attacked in Shah Kah village last night. 8 killed, 2 wounded, reports ToLo news-ANI

#7:23 AM

Gujarat: Baba Ramdev holds Yoga camp in Ahmedabad ahead of World Yoga Day-ANI

#7:21 AM

WestBengal: All party meeting called by Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, scheduled to take place today Gorkhaland Darjeeling Unrest - ANI

#7:17 AM

TADA court to continue to hear the arguments on the quantum of punishment for convicts in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case, today-ANI

#7:12 AM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the building of APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University in UP's Lucknow, today- ANI

#6:36 AM

French journalist Stephan Villeneuve killed in Mosul: French media-ANI

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Ayodhya:

Exuding confidence that there will be no hurdles in building a Ram temple in Ayodhya as there is a BJP government in Uttar Pradesh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has begun stockpiling stones for its construction.



Notwithstanding whatever decision the Supreme Court takes on the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title suit, the VHP has declared that construction work will begin within a year.



Two truckloads of stones to be used for the construction of the Ram temple arrived here from Bharatpur in Rajasthan on Monday. We need more than 100 truckloads of stones to give final shape to the proposed Ram temple, senior VHP leader Triloki Nath Pandey said.



The trucks were unloaded at the VHP headquarters Karsewak Puram here. The rest of the supplies would come in a couple of days.



Now there is a BJP government in the state. So there will not be any hurdles in the way of the construction of the Ram temple, Pandey asserted.



In 2015, a similar effort to collect stones from all over the country for the construction failed. The then Samajwadi Party government banned further import after two truckloads of stones were brought in by denying form 39 of the commercial tax department.



A month ago, we contacted the officer concerned of the commercial tax department and he immediately issued the form 39 that the department had been holding for over a year, Pandey said.

ALSO READ | Narrow-mindedness of Modi govt behind delay in construction of Ram Temple: Hindu Convention



Reacting to the development, Khaliq Ahmad Khan, a litigant in the case being heard by the Supreme Court, said the stones were brought in to convey a message to the people that saffron forces were serious about building the Ram temple.



It, however, will not affect the ongoing case. We have full faith in the Constitution and the Supreme Court, Khan said.



Roop Rekha Varma, a former vice chancellor of the Lucknow University, said, As the matter is subjudice, such activities are illegal and anti-national. It may give rise to communal tension and disturb the peace and law and order.

ALSO READ | Will build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya within ambit of Constitution: UP min



(With inputs from PTI)

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Shimla :

Bihar Governor and the BJPs presidential pick Ram Nath Kovind wanted to visit the Retreat Building, part of the presidential estate, during a trip to Shimla with his family late last month but was denied entry.

A few weeks from now, the low-profile Kovind, whose family roamed around in hired taxis in Shimla, could well be the custodian of the sprawling presidential summer retreat, about 15 km from the state capital of Himachal Pradesh.

Kovind, 71, who arrived here on May 28, visited several places in and around Shimla. However, when he reached the Retreat in a high security zone in the leafy Mashobra hills, he could not enter the complex as he did not have the required prior permission.

The Retreat was made a part of the presidential estate after the Viceregal Lodge, which was turned into Rashtrapati Bhavan after Independence, was handed over to the Indian Institute of Advanced Study (IIAS).

The president visits the Retreat at least once a year and the core office shifts during his stay.

Shashi Kant, advisor to Himachal Pradesh Governor Acharya Devvrat, said, The Bihar governor visited the Kalyani helipad, constructed especially for the president, and I suggested he should visit forests of Shimla water supply catchment area, known as one of the best maintained forests in the world. He was fascinated by the greenery and scenic beauty.

Also Read: NDAs presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind resigns as Bihar Governor; WB Guv given additional charge

Kovind maintained a low-profile. Though he and his wife used an official vehicle, other family members went sightseeing in hired taxis.

The governor went to Mall Road and the Ridge. He expressed concern over increasing traffic congestion in the hill town and said steps should be taken to decongest the roads for the convenience of tourists.

It took him five-and-a-half hours to reach Shimla from Chandigarh by road against the normal two-and-a-half hours.

A close friend of the Himachal Pradesh governor, Kovind gifted a box of mangoes and an idol of Lord Buddha to him.

Also Read | President poll: 10 interesting facts about Ram Nath Kovind's life and political journey

The presidential election, if required, will be held on July 17.

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New Delhi:

Sashastra Seema Bal on Tuesday with forest mobile post apprehended one wildlife smuggler with six Tokay geckos in Kamakhyaguri, West Bengal.



The tokay gecko is a nocturnal arboreal gecko in the genus Gekko. It is native to Asia and some Pacific Islands. This species occurs in northeast India, Bhutan, Nepal, and Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Indonesia, and to western New Guinea in Melanesia.

Its native habitat is rainforest, where it lives on trees and cliffs, and it also frequently adapts to rural human habitations, roaming walls and ceilings at night in search of insect prey. It is an invasive species in the Florida Keys. Increasing urbanisation is reducing its range.

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Patna:

Yoga should not be made the issue of political debate or fetching votes, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said on Monday.



"Making publicity of yoga is not bad. It should rather be practised and should not be made the issue of political debate. Otherwise people will think that they are not interested in it and are trying fetch votes through yoga," Kumar told reporters on the sidelines of 'Lok Samvad' programme here.



While replying to a question on 'Yoga' diwas which will be observed on June 21, Kumar said "Yoga is not something which can be done on a particular day, rather it should be practised every day. I too practice yoga every day. But I don't believe in publicity."



People of the state don't need to go outside the state to learn the art of Yoga, instead they can learn it from one of the biggest Yoga centres at Munger, he said while adding that Vipasyana Centre at Budha Smriti Park, Patna is being developed where 10 days (Vipasyana) course will be offered soon.

ALSO READ | International Yoga Day: Government launches app for people to share their experiences



In response to a query on UP CM Yogi Adityanath's challenge to air his views on "triple talaq", Kumar said that "first you (media persons) should ask him (Adityanth) on imlementing prohibition (in UP)...Which religion allows liquor consumption or addiction....The hearing on issue of triple talaq is completed in the Supreme Court. We should wait for its decision."



On BJP's statement of UP CM to adopt Bihar, Kumar said that "Is Bihar an orphan that anyone will adopt it. Bihar is not an orphan that anyone will adopt it. Bihar is a lively state."



In a question on Patna's metro project, Bihar CM said that the state government, which has already sent its DPR along with survey report around one and half years ago, pursues it on a regular basis but no final decision has come from the Centre in this regard.



"Patna is not only a state capital but also a historical place.... It is good if the Centre takes a liberal policy in comparison to its earlier policy but if takes a decision which gives less help to the state, then it will be an injustice and partiality (with the state)," he said.



In reply to a query on Centre's mega power project at Banka, the CM said that "what to talk of a particular project, I do not see any seriousness of the Central government in any of its projects."



On the issue of less wage being paid under MNREGA, the CM said that MNREGA is a central scheme whose wage is decided by the Centre. "It has been our (state government's) stand for quite long time that the rate of wage under MNREGA should be at par with the minimum wage decided by the state government. We have been raising the issue with every union rural development minister," he said.

ALSO READ | International Yoga Day: Worlds second biggest celebrations to be held in China after India

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Beijing :

China on Tuesday hinted at blocking a UN ban on Pakistan-based JeM leader Masood Azhar once again, saying that disagreements continue to prevail in the UN Committee related to terrorism issues in this particular case.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuangs comments came in response to a question on the Azhar issue ahead of its review by the 1267 Committee of the UN next month.

China says that solid evidence is required to implicate the JeM leader. India has been asserting that it produced solid evidence for securing a ban on Azhar and actions of Pakistan-based terrorist is well documented.

We have talked about our position many times. We believe that the principles of objectivity and professionalism and justice shall be upheld, Geng told media briefing here.

Geng was responding to a question whether there can be a forward movement over Chinas repeated technical holds to block Indias move to get a UN ban on Azhar.

At present, some members have disagreement over the listing matter. And China stands ready to remain in coordination and communication with the relevant parties on this issue, he said.

Beijing put a technical hold to a move in the UN by the US and other countries to declare Azhar a terrorist for his role in the Pathankot terror attack.

Last year China had put technical holds on Indias application to designate Azhar as a terrorist.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, who held strategic dialogue with Chinese officials in February here, said, in the case of Azhar, Jaish itself is proscribed under 1267. So the proof is in 1267 committee action. In this case what he has done, extent of his actions are well documented.

It is not that the burden of proof is on India to convince. The sponsors (US and other countries) seem to be very well convinced otherwise they would not have taken the initiative to move the proposal, he had said, referring to the US, the UK and France pressing for action on Azhar.

The 1267 Committee is consist of members of the UN Security Council.

Gengs response to the Azhar issue followed a two-day meeting of the BRICS Foreign Ministers who took a strong stand on countering terrorism and working out international mechanisms to curb terrorism.

Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh, who took part in the meeting, said BRICS should back a comprehensive convention on terrorism in the UN shedding ambiguity about good and bad terrorists.

We have a consensus among the BRICS countries that all (kinds of) terrorism must be condemned and various measures must be taken to cooperate so that terrorism does not spread and harm any one of our countries, Singh told a joint press conference with BRICS Foreign Ministers here yesterday.

Geng said today that BRICS countries had a working group on counter terrorism. China shares common position on the need for a comprehensive convention on international terrorism.

As for convention on counter terrorism, I believe China and other BRICS counties have a similar position...We hope UN General Assembly can pass a compressive convention on terrorism..., he added.

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Korean Air has opened the country's biggest privately owned marina in Incheon on 98,000 sq.m of reclaimed land capable of mooring 300 yachts.

The marina is a joint project between Korean Air and the Incheon city government to develop the area into a venue for water sports.

Korean Air spent W155 billion on the project, which neighbors a popular beach (US$1=W1,134).
Washington:

US President Donald Trumps administration has plans to harden its approach towards Pakistan to crackdown on it with possible drone strikes on terrorist safe havens that has led to attacks on Afghanistan, news agency Reuters has reported.



Top US top officials have confirmed the US government plans to crackdown on terrorists in Pakistan. US officials have told the news agency on condition of anonymity that the Trump administration is discussing potential responses including expansion of US drone strikes, cutting some aid to Pakistan and downgrading Pakistans status as a major non-NATO ally.



However, some US officials are doubtful of the prospects for success and have argued that years of earlier efforts of the US to curb Pakistans support for militant groups have failed.



US officials say they are looking for greater cooperation with Pakistan and dont want to rupture the US-Pak ties.

However, Pentagon and White House have refused to comment on the review before it is completed. Pakistans embassy in Washington has also did not responded on the same so far.



"The United States and Pakistan continue to partner on a range of national security issues," Pentagon spokesman Adam Stump was quoted as saying by Reuters.



"We've never really fully articulated what our strategy towards Pakistan is. The strategy will more clearly say what we want from Pakistan specifically," the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

ALSO READ | Village in India to be named after Trump; Govt says no such proposal



"I believe there will be a much harder US line on Pakistan going forward than there has been in the past," Hamdullah Mohib, the Afghan ambassador to the United States, told Reuters, without citing specific measures under review.

ALSO READ | Donald Trump grants Pentagon authority to set troop levels in Afghanistan

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Kabul:

According to an Afghan official eight Afghan security guards lost their life after gunmen opened fire on them in northern Parwan province.

The spokeswoman for the provincial governor in Parwan said on Tuesday that two other guards were wounded in the attack that happened late on Monday in Bagram district.

Wahida Shahkar said the guards were attacked on their way to work at Bagram airfield, the main US military base in Afghanistan.

Also Read: Afghanistan: Terrorists attack police headquarters in Paktia province

No one immediately claimed responsibility. The Taliban have increased their attacks against Afghan security forces, and Islamic State group affiliates have been trying to expand their presence by attacking in different parts of the country. Shahkar said the shooting is being investigated further.

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Beirut:

Russia on Monday warned it would track US-led coalition aircraft in Syria as potential "targets" and halted an incident-prevention hotline with Washington after US forces downed a Syrian jet.

The United States moved quickly to contain an escalation,with a top general saying Washington would work to relaunch the "deconfliction" hotline with Russia that was established in 2015.

The downing of the jet and Russia's response came as the US-led coalition and allied fighters battle to oust the Islamic State jihadist group from its Syrian bastion Raqa.

Analysts say neither Washington nor President Bashar al-Assad's regime appear to be seeking further confrontation, although the risks remain high in Syria's increasingly crowded battle fields and airspace. Russia's foreign ministry accused Washington of failing to use the hotline before downing the plane near Raqa, and called for a "careful investigation by the US command" into the incident.

"Any flying objects, including planes and drones of the international coalition, discovered west of the Euphrates River will be tracked as aerial targets by Russia's air defences on and above ground," it warned. "We will work diplomatically and militarily in the coming hours to re-establish deconfliction," said US General JoeDunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, referring to the hotline.

Dunford noted that the hotline, which has been vital inprotecting both US and Russian forces operating in Syria, remained in use "over the last few hours". The Syrian jet was shot down yesterday evening afterregime forces engaged the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), an alliance of Arab and Kurdish fighters battling IS, near Raqa.

An American F/A-18E Super Hornet shot down the SyrianSU-22 as it "dropped bombs near SDF fighters" south of the town of Tabqa, the coalition said in a statement. Russia's defence minister said the pilot ejected "above IS-controlled territories" and that his fate is unknown.

Earlier yesterday, Syrian troops attacked the SDF near Tabqa, wounding several and chasing them out of town, the coalition said.

It said the warplane was shot down in line with the"rules of engagement". But Damascus and regime ally Moscow condemned the"aggression".

The Syrian army said the plane was hit while "conductinga mission against the terrorist Islamic State group" and warned of "the grave consequences of this flagrant aggression".

Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said itwas a "continuation of America's line to disregard the norms of international law".

"What is this if not an act of aggression?" It was the latest skirmish between the coalition andregime forces in the increasingly tense and crowded space in Syria's north and east.

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United Nations:

19-year-old Syrian refugee and education activist Muzoon Almellehan has been appointed youngest goodwill ambassador by the UN childrens agency.

UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth said that Muzoon is the first goodwill envoy with official refugee status.

UNICEF said she received support from the agency while she was living in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. She follows in the footsteps the late actress and goodwill ambassador Audrey Hepburn who was also supported by UNICEF as a child.

Muzoon said when she fled Syria she only took her school books with her.

As a refugee, I saw what happens when children are forced into early marriage or manual labor, she said.

Working with UNICEF, she said, will help to give these children a voice and to get them into school.

Also read: UNICEF: 100,000 children living in extremely dangerous conditions in Mosul

Also read: WATCH! UNICEF Goodwill ambassador Priyanka Chopra visits Zimbabwe, shares heartwarming pictures



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South Korea voted for a UN human rights resolution against North Korea for the first time in 2006, but abstained in 2007, when the second inter-Korean summit was held. Seoul started voting for the annual resolutions again in 2008.

"I used to work in the field of human rights, and I know what expectations the international community has of Seoul," Kang told reporters after she was sworn in at the Foreign Ministry in downtown Seoul.

New Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha on Monday said the government must uphold UN human rights resolutions against North Korea.

Kang also touched on a possible renegotiation of an agreement with Tokyo about victims of wartime sexual slavery.

"First of all there needs to be discussion and analysis," she said. "The big issue of former sex slavery victims should be handled separately from other matters between Korea and Japan that should be developed in a future-oriented way."

Kang said she has already looked at the checklist for President Moon Jae-in's summit with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump on June 29-30. She said she is trying to find time for a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "I'll fly to Washington ahead of the summit if it's possible," she added.

In her inaugural address, she said, "We should be a main player in dealing with the North Korean nuclear and missile issue."

"We need to respond firmly to provocations, but use all options, be they sanctions or dialogue, to induce the North to denuclearize."

She added the process must be firmly grounded in the Seoul-Washington alliance, the "backbone of our diplomacy and security."
Lujiazui Forum to discuss reforms

From:Shanghai Daily | 2017-06-19 10:17

THE two-day Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai opening tomorrow will gather central bank governors, financial regulators and experts from home and abroad to discuss regulatory reforms and financial support for the economy, forum organizers said.



Chinas central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan and Shanghai Mayor Ying Yong will co-chair the forum, whose theme is Financial Reform and Steady Development from a Global Perspective this year.

Central bank governors from other BRICS countries will also participate as the forum coincides with the conclusion of a conference of the blocs central bank chiefs in Shanghai, said Sun Hui, deputy director of the Shanghai headquarters of the Peoples Bank of China.

BRICS groups the five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

The governors will be among the more than 400 guests at the forum, of whom 47 will deliver speeches. Their topics will range from financial reforms, the Belt and Road initiative, Shanghais endeavors in supporting technology and innovation and cross-segment financial regulation.

Zheng Yang, director of the Shanghai Financial Service Office, said high-level guests include officials from Chinas banking, insurance, securities and foreign exchange regulators, as well as monetary authorities. Experts from South Africa, Singapore and India, as well as executives from domestic and foreign financial institutions will be also among the participants.

The forum will cover local Shanghai issues such as private banks and Internet finance, Zheng said.

He said authorities will continue to support the establishment of private banks. The government this month released rules to support innovative companies by encouraging private capital to set up banks.

The Shanghai Financial Service Office is talking with the Shanghai Banking Regulatory Bureau to set up a Zhangjiang bank this year.
Premier Li Keqiang stressed that the government should focus on deepening administrative reform to simplify approval procedures at a teleconference held on June 13 on streamlining administration, combining power delegation with enhanced supervision and optimizing services.

To achieve these results, he said China should change the traditional government management system based on administrative approvals and eliminate room for rent-seeking and illegal profit-making while reforming related functions.

Premier Li said then the government at all levels will be able to minimize approval procedures, enhance regulation and services, create a fair market, and promote modern governance, which is a self-imposed revolution.

The first point of administrative reform is to eradicate the governments excessive authority and cut administrative approval items which come from the former system of centralized planned economy. Some government departments still continue to put emphasis on approval procedures and less on supervision and service.

The logic of streamlining administration, delegating power to lower-levels and optimizing services, in line with the policy of reform and opening-up adopted since 1978, transforms governments function from micro-and-direct management to macro-and-supervisory management.

The second point on reform is to cut improper interests derived from government power. Some government organs have so much administrative approval power that it is no surprise to see power rent-seeking and corruption.

Such excessive power and the difficulty in getting administrative approval also results in different kinds of intermediary services, which might create improper or unlawful interests.

Thus, streamlining administration, delegating power to lower-levels and optimizing services is an ultimate solution, as it directly cuts off unnecessary power.

The power reduction will inevitably touch cakes of some government organs. To relieve the market and stimulate creativity, the pain must be endured.

The third point about reform is to change the stereotype of government practices, in which government officials sit in an office waiting for people to submit documents for administrative approval.

As the Premier has mentioned many times, the National Development and Reform Commission sets a good example of such changes. Instead of focusing on administrative approvals it concentrated on post-approval supervision, which is in fact more effective.
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BRIDGEPORT  Christina Robinson stood before the group gathered on Stratford Avenue on Monday and noted that on that same day in 1865, slaves celebrated their emancipation on what became known as Juneteenth.

At their groundbreaking event that evening, East End residents were celebrating the near-end of a different kind of struggle, the 12-year-old said. Today, on June 19, 2017, we will be free from the stigma of being considered a food desert, Robinson said, prompting a round of applause and cheers.

Soon, work will begin on a 1,000-square-foot pop-up market and cafe in the ground floor of the apartment building at 1851 Stratford Ave. The location was donated by Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust.

For the last 35 years, there has been no grocery store or fresh food options in the East End. This, according to city leaders, is one of the main reasons why obesity rates are so high in the neighborhood and many struggle with health problems.

The market wouldnt have been possible without the hard work of those who live in the neighborhood, said Kristin duBay Horton, Bridgeports former health director.

After failed attempts by outsiders, and waiting years for planned developments that included grocery stores to be realized, members of the East End Neighborhood Revitalization Group took it upon themselves to make the market a reality.

With assistance from duBay Horton and Deborah Caviness, another former Bridgeport city employee, the NRZ visited a former food desert in Boston that had instituted a number of creative solutions to its lack of a supermarket, including a cafe, market and business incubator for small companies that offered healthy food options.

They came back with a plan to incorporate all three ideas.

Through a newly formed Bridgeport Coalition United to Reach Equity group, they recently received a $10,000 grant as one of 50 finalists in the Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge, a national partnership between the Aetna Foundation, the American Public Health Association and the National Association of Counties.

Deb Sims, chairwoman for the coalition and a member of the NRZ, said when they met with the Aetna Foundation, they were asked how they planned to get the market and cafe up and running with their limited funds. I said, We dont need money, we have community.

The group has received donations of shelves, building supplies and even a cash register. Members of trade unions have agreed to give their time for some of the work, turning a $100,000 project into a much lower-cost venture, Sims said.

Elizabeth Torres, president of BNT, said she anticipates the group will get its building permit at any time and that the East End NRZ Pop-Up Market & Cafe could be running by years end.

When it opens, the market will offer fresh and healthy items through anticipated donations from major retailers and products from local small businesses.

State Rep. Andre Baker, who represents the district, said it was important to the residents that the market offer nutritional information and health screenings because it became clear after a farmers market in the neighborhood failed after three years that residents arent always aware of the benefits of eating healthy.

Caviness, who is head of Greater Bridgeport OIC, a nonprofit job-training organization, will offer her organizations services at the market, as well.

The group is also working with local businessman Mark Lazarus, whose company URHere has developed a device that can be programmed to deliver notifications to any devices within 350 feet with a Bluetooth on. Sims said they plan to use the technology to deliver news about the market, recipes and other information to area residents.

This is a social justice issue, said duBay Horton. Where you live should not decide how long youre going to live or how healthy you get to be.

ktorres@hearstmediact.com; 203-330-6227
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DANBURY Authorities are trying to determined what happened to an avid mountain bicyclist whose body was found Tuesday morning in a heavily wooded area on the edge of Farrington Woods near the New York border.

The body of the man, who has not been identified, was found Tuesday after a search that began after he was reported missing Monday evening.

Officials found the body about 11:30 a.m. in the woods more than three-quarters of a mile from the parks main entrance. The man was known to have ridden in the park frequently in the past, they said.

The cause of his death appears to be accidental, authorities said. Detectives and technicians with the state medical examiners office are still investigating.

Authorities said the bicycle was not damaged and there were no obvious signs of injury. They have not ruled out the possibility that the man suffered a medical emergency.

Investigators said they are not sure when the man entered the 192-acre park, which straddles the New York border. But they said he have been in the park around 5 p.m. Monday, when torrential rains and thunderstorms hit the area.

Once the investigation is complete, we will begin the process of removing the body from the woods, said one official.

Police began the search about 10:30 p.m. Monday, but called it off at about 4:30 a.m. because of rain. Crews resumed searching again at daylight.

The park includes a variety of trails that traverse a ridgeline, wooded hills and wetlands as well as Sanderson Pond and the Still River.

Danbury fire officials spearheaded the search effort, involving than a dozen people using all-terrain vehicles, mountain bikes and police K-9s. Several emergency departments, including the Putnam County Sheriffs Office and the Croton Fire Department from New York, as well as the Bethel Fire Department, assisted in the search.

The city purchased the land for the park in April 2010 for about $1.6 million.

dperrefort@newstimes.com
Patrick D. Higgins, a Bethel resident, will become the principal of Immaculate High School on July 1.

Higgins replaces Joe Carmen, who resigned from the position last summer to become the Director of Leadership Development at Quinnipiac University. School President Mary R. Maloney had served as interim principal this past year.

I am excited and honored to have been selected as the new Principal of Immaculate High School, and look forward to getting to know the students, parents, faculty and staff that comprise the wonderful IHS family, Higgins said in a press release.

Higgins is a professionally certified Connecticut public educator with endorsements in social studies and school administration for pre-K through 12th grade. He taught social studies at Ridgefield High School from 1991 to 2011. He then served as the dean of students and director of student activities at Joel Barlow High School until 2013. His most recent position was principal of Saint Jude School in Monroe.

He earned a bachelors degree in justice and law administration, a masters degree in history and international relations, as well as a doctorate in instructional leadership and education psychology from Western Connecticut State University. He also has a professional teacher certification from Sacred Heart University, according to a news release.

One of Dr. Higgins academic goals is to continue building stronger partnerships with area Catholic elementary schools - especially in relation to the subjects of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, according to an Immaculate release.

Immaculate High School has a proud legacy of academic excellence, spiritual and moral development and recognition of the necessity of service to others in our communities, Higgins said in the release. These strong tenets have served Immaculate High School students and their families well for the past 55 years, and will continue to do so now and in the future.

Higgins and his wife Tammy, a cardiac nurse practitioner at Danbury Hospital, have resided in Bethel for 26 years and are parishioners of St. Mary Church. They have two grown children, Patrick and Katlyn.
Cathy Zuraw / Hearst Connecticut Media

The Connecticut Citizens Defense League has filed a brief opposing a lawsuit that would hold manufacturers and sellers of the gun used in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting liable for the crime.

The suit filed by the families of 10 victims argues that makers and distributors of the AR-15-style rifle used in the shooting recklessly marketed it to civilians, ignoring the risks that it would be misused. The suit was thrown out by a lower court, and the families have appealed to have it reinstated.
DANBURY  Researchers at Western Connecticut State University have reported the highest numbers of deer ticks  a common carrier of Lyme disease  since they started field monitoring in 2011.

The Tick-Borne Disease Prevention Laboratory has monitored deer tick populations on a weekly basis at sites in Danbury, Ridgefield and Newtown annually from May through August.

During the last week of May, researchers collected an average of 359 deer ticks per hour, a 303 percent increase from the same week last year, 57 percent more than in a comparable week in 2015 and 1,022 percent more than in 2014.

There are many factors that can affect the number of ticks we see each year, said Dr. Neeta Connally, director of the lab and associate professor of biological and environmental studies at WCSU. These include the abundance of tick hosts such as deer and white-footed mice, as well as climatic factors like the amount of rainfall in the spring.

Tick numbers are on the rise across New England this spring, researchers say. The region got a respite last year, when a drought took a toll on ticks, whose numbers drop as the humidity falls below 85 percent. But the drought is largely over in the region and ticks are taking advantage.

Among the infections commonly spread to humans by tick bites are Lyme disease, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, Powassan encephalitis and borreliosis.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95 percent of the confirmed Lyme disease cases in 2015 were reported from 14 states, including all six New England states.

In 2016, there were 1,241 confirmed cases of Lyme in Connecticut and 511 more probable cases, according to data from the state Department of Public Health.

Last year, Connally received a $1.6 million grant from the CDC to conduct a four-year tick management project, which aims to combine findings from tick-control research with the study of human behaviors to find more effective strategies to combat the spread of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses.

The study is a collaboration between WCSU, the CDC and co-principal investigator Dr. Thomas Mather, professor and director of the TickEncounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island. Field research has involved the collection of tick samples from the yards of homes in western Connecticut, as well as in southern Rhode Island.

While we are seeing an especially high number of ticks this season, its important to remember that in our region, every year is a risky year for Lyme disease and other tick-associated infections, Connally said. Residents should always be vigilant in protecting themselves from tick bites.

According to the CDC, typical Lyme symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue and a characteristic skin rash called erythema migrans. If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart and the nervous system.

Connally said some ways to prevent tick bites are to wear long pants and light-colored clothing, check all exposed skin thoroughly after spending time outdoors where ticks are present, bathe shortly after outdoor activity and dry clothes on high heat after outdoor wear.

She added that applying insect repellent or wearing clothing treated with permethrin also can help. She recommended that pet owners discuss effective tick prevention measures with their veterinarians.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.
We already knew that Senate Republicans were going to try to ram through their health care bill by resorting to a scandalously secretive, absurdly compressed process. But now we have the details: According to the Wall Street Journal, the text of the bill will be released Thursday; the Congressional Budget Office will release a score of the bill next Monday or Tuesday; and the Senate will vote on it next Thursday.

Unfortunately, there are signs this morning that the Republican strategy is already working precisely as intended.

First, let's note that the secrecy adopted by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is explicitly designed to shield the Senate GOP health bill from as much debate and public scrutiny as possible. The text of the bill will be available for all of one week before it is voted upon, after having been drafted in such secrecy that even Republican Senators complained that they were being kept in the dark. There have not been, and apparently will not be, any hearings before the vote.

Rich Pedroncelli/Associated Press

What's more, lawmakers and the public will have only two or three days to absorb the details and significance of the CBO's conclusions. Given that this will be the most rich and detailed empirical analysis available of the bill's likely impact on tens of millions of people and one-sixth of the U.S. economy, you'd think this document is deserving of extensive consideration in all its complexity.

But this rolling scandal doesn't end there. This compressed schedule is not only designed to limit debate on the bill. As the Journal reports, the vote is being rushed for the express purpose of getting it done before the July 4 recess, because the failure to do so "could open Republican lawmakers up to pressure from constituents," some of whom might be "concerned about losing their health coverage." Thus, the schedule is also explicitly designed to shield lawmakers from public exposure and questioning about the immense human toll the measure they are considering could have - before they vote on it.

A new CBS poll finds that the public broadly wants a more open process. Americans say by 73-25 that Senate Republicans should discuss their plans publicly, rather than privately. More than three quarters of independents agree.

But here's the really key finding from CBS: Americans are in the dark about the measure. The poll finds that Americans say by 76-23 that they haven't heard enough yet about the GOP plan to have a good understanding of it. Independents say this by 76-22.

The juxtaposition of these findings neatly underscores the profound cynicism at the core of the GOP approach. As Brian Beutler has argued, GOP leaders are not merely lying about what is in the bill. They are also lying about the process itself, because copping to what they are actually doing would implicitly admit that their bill - which is very likely to be almost as cruel in its broad strokes as the House bill - cannot survive genuine public debate. This new polling illuminates the point: Republican leaders are willing to endure the public's disapproval of their efforts to hide the bill from the public (to the degree that they care about that disapproval at all), precisely because those efforts are keeping the public ignorant about what they actually intend to do to our health care system.

But the cynicism and bad faith run even deeper than this. Multiple rank and file Republican Senators also know this secrecy is indefensible - after all, they have lodged lots of public complaints about it. But they are not taking any steps they to give those complaints any real force with GOP leaders. Why? The most convincing explanation is that they, too, know they are better off as long as voters - despite their disapproval of the process - don't have a full understanding of what they will soon be voting on, and possibly, passing.

It is possible, of course, that public disapproval of the secrecy of the process and of the bill itself - once we see it - could combine to dissuade a few moderate GOP Senators from voting for the bill, perhaps dooming it. But nonetheless, right now, the Republicans' blanket of secrecy is working. By keeping the public in the dark about their true designs, it is having precisely its desired effect.
VANCOUVER, June 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Several hotels in downtown Vancouver and Victoria are in bargaining with Unifor this summer as hospitality workers seek to share in the economic success of the hotel industry.

"Unifor defends workers' rights in the hospitality sector," said Jerry Dias, Unifor National President. "We look forward to bargaining fair wages and healthy working conditions in Vancouver and Victoria hotels."

Workers at the Hotel Vancouver, the Coast Coal Harbour, the Residence Inn, and the Hotel Grand Pacific are looking to make gains during a time of strong sales and profits. They will join Unifor members at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, who made substantial gains in 2016 bargaining. Across North America, unionized hotel workers enjoy a substantial financial benefit over the non-unionized sector.

Unifor will deal with core workplace issues such as reducing housekeeping workloads and increasing gratuities, but the union is also eager to enshrine social justice language in the new contracts, including a program dealing with domestic abuse and funding a women's advocate.

"We have ambitious goals in this round of bargaining to ensure that our members share in the gains made by their hotels," said Mario Santos, Unifor National Representative. "A unionized workplace is a safe workplace where workers are treated with respect and paid fairly for their labour."

Unifor represents more than 18,000 workers in the hospitality sector and is Canada's largest union in the private sector. It was formed Labour Day weekend 2013 when the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers unions merged.

SOURCE Unifor

For further information: please contact Unifor Communications Representative Ian Boyko at [email protected] or 778-903-6549 (cell).
MISSISSAUGA, ON, June 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Cargojet and Canada Post together with ace Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman marked Canada's 150th birthday celebration by launching 10 unforgettable moments in Canada's last 50 years on a Cargojet Boeing 767-300AF. The event took place in Hamilton at the Cargojet Hangar facility. These stamps celebrate this very special year in our country's history. They are stories of courage, compassion, innovation and diversity, the very values our nation was built on that make us who we are today.

"To celebrate Canada 150, Canada Post has showcased 10 unforgettable moments from the past 50 years through our iconic national stamp program," said Deepak Chopra, President & CEO, Canada Post. "We're excited to team up with Cargojet to share these stamps, and the incredible stories behind them, with as many Canadians as possible."

"Playing and living in Canada has allowed me to experience what a great nation Canada is. I am honoured to be part of Canada's 150th celebrations with two great Canadian companies Cargojet and Canada Post," said ace pitcher Marcus Stroman.

"Cargojet is very excited to partner with Canada Post on celebrating Canada's 150th milestone. We are thrilled to be honouring our nation's birthday and will be proudly displaying these stamp images on our aircraft," says Dr. Ajay K. Virmani, President & CEO. "These images are representative of Canada's diverse culture and history and we are proud to participate in this celebration," he added.

Cargojet is Canada's leading provider of time sensitive overnight air cargo services and carries over 1,300,000 pounds of cargo each business night. Cargojet operates its network across North America each business night, utilizing a fleet of all-cargo aircraft.

SOURCE Cargojet Inc.

For further information: Pauline Dhillon, Executive Vice President Marketing, Public & Government Relations, Tel: (905) 501 7373, [email protected]
Historical retrospective features audio lectures by renowned university professors

TORONTO, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - Ryerson University's G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is proud to offer a free series of recordings on the themes of migration and multiculturalism as a historical retrospective to mark Canada's 150th anniversary. The recordings, entitled Migration and Multiculturalism: Global Challenge, Canadian Experience, consist of excerpts from audio lectures by renowned university professors from across the country exploring some of the identity-defining migrations that have become a central feature of Canadian history.

"The Chang School is thrilled to offer these recordings to commemorate Canada 150," said Dr. Marie Bountrogianni, Dean, The Chang School. "Societies benefit when they consult their history to help inform their future. As Canadians, we should be proud of the diversity of our nation, but it is also critically important that we learn from our history. Providing open access to these recordings to our learners and the larger community allows Canadians the opportunity to enjoy the artifacts that helped shape our nation's heritage."

The course materials are available as an open educational resource (OER) through Ryerson University Library's Archives and Special Collections. The lectures were originally recorded as part of print/audio courses offered through the now-defunct CJRT-FM and Open College. The station began at the university in 1948 as a training facility for students in its journalism program. As part of its mandate, the CJRT undertook the production and broadcast of academic programmingnamed Open Collegefor distance education learners. Through Open College, thousands of students were able to take degree credit-level courses to further their education.

These courses were mostly prepared by university-affiliated professors, some of whom were outstanding scholars in their respective fields. In the late 1990s, Open College was transferred to The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education. In time, much of the academic programming was transferred online in the Ryerson Archive for use by new distance learners and academic researchers. The Chang School plans to release further OERs to ensure greater access to education for a wide range of learners.

Ryerson University's G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education (ryerson.ca/ce) is Canada's foremost provider of university-based adult education, facilitating access to the University's renowned, professionally relevant courses and programs. Since 1975, we have been delivering leading-edge workplace knowledge that empowers our learners to reach their personal and professional goals. We have approximately 70,000 annual enrollments (in 1,500 courses, seminars, and workshops) in Arts; Business; Communication and Design; Community Services; Engineering, Architecture, and Science; Gateway for International Professionals; Programs for 50+; and Spanning the Gaps  Access to Post-Secondary Education. We are also affiliated with DiverseCity onBoard, an internationally-recognized program of governance training and board-matching to strengthen diversity on the boards of Canadian not-for-profit and public sector organizations. The Chang School offers 78 career-related certificate programs and numerous course series, with 26 certificate programs that can be completed entirely at a distance. The expertise of our Digital Education Strategies unit  an innovative leader in online learning  has been recognized by the National University Telecommunications Network, the Canadian Association of University Continuing Education, and the Canadian Network for Innovation in Education, Pearson Canada, and the Online Learning Consortium. Our flexible, accessible programming is available on campus, via distance education, and off-site for employee groups at leading organizations.

Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education and a university clearly on the move. With a mission to serve societal need, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community, Ryerson offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university is home to more than 44,500 students, including 2,400 master's and PhD students, 3,200 faculty and staff, and nearly 170,000 alumni worldwide. Research at Ryerson is on a trajectory of success and growth: externally funded research has doubled in the past five years. The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada's leading provider of university-based adult education. For more information, visit www.ryerson.ca.

SOURCE Ryerson University

For further information: MEDIA CONTACT: Lauren Clegg, Media Relations, Ryerson University, [email protected], 416-979-5000 x7161

Related Links

http://www.ryerson.ca/news


LAVAL, QC, June 20, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - The City of Laval is delighted to announce the establishment of a Canadian subsidiary of F/LIST, an Austrian manufacturer of high-end interiors for business and private jets. The company expects to begin operations in Laval in the fall of 2017. It will initially employ 15 specialists and as many as 100 people by 2020. The Laval subsidiary of F/LIST should be investing up to $8,6M for its first production plant outside of Austria, which will include offices, a showroom and the company's Competence Centre for flame retardant wood veneers.

"F/LIST's establishment in Laval is a testament to our dynamic economic development and to our role as a significant player in the aerospace sector, which is a fast-growing industry worldwide. Furthermore, F/LIST's willingness to set up in Laval and create high-quality jobs confirms the level of trust afforded to our city for its specialized work force and business-friendly environment. In this way, Laval demonstrates an ability to hold its own in a highly competitive environment," stated the Mayor of Laval, Marc Demers.

F/LIST installs interiors in Bombardier jets, in business jets made by Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer and in aircraft for Swiss company Pilatus. By setting up in Laval, the company wishes to develop its business with Bombardier and Embraer, as well as with other aerospace manufacturers that are present in North America, namely Gulfstream, Cessna and Dassault.

"The decision for Laval as our strategic location in North America came due to the excellent infrastructure, enterprise-friendly administration and availability of highly qualified and experienced aviation professionals. Quebec provides the perfect environment for F/LIST CANADA to thrive, ideally support its customers and expand its activities across all of Canada and the USA," says Michael Groiss, CEO for F/LIST.

"As a major global aerospace centre, the greater Montreal is an ideal location for F/LIST to expand its operations to serve its North American customers," says Hubert Bolduc, President and CEO of Montreal International, noting that major North American aerospace OEMs and Tier 1 integrators are already working with the company. "F/LIST is positioning itself as a technological leader in its sector and Montreal International is very proud that a few years of mutual exchanges led to this decision to select our city for growing its business."

About F. LIST GMBH

F. LIST GMBH, from Thomasberg, Lower Austria, is a global manufacturer of high-class interiors for business and private jets and luxury residences with more than 700 employees. Passion, reliability and visionary spirit determine every step of this Austrian family business. Its services range from planning and development to engineering and manufacturing of the exclusive interiors. For more information please visit www.f-list.at.

About the City of Laval Economic Development Department

The City of Laval Economic Development Department promotes and ensures Laval's economic development by seeking out new investments, by welcoming and supporting businesses and entrepreneurs in order to stimulate job growth and business expansion to ensure sustainable benefits for Laval citizens. For further details, please visit lavaleconomique.com (in French).

SOURCE Ville de Laval

For further information: Annie Henderson, Marketing and Promotion Advisor, Economic Development - City of Laval, 450-978-6888, ext. 6994, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.laval.ca/


Rouge National Urban Park on track to be completed in Canada's 150th Year



OTTAWA, June 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Our Government has fulfilled our promise to enhance Canada's first national urban park including legislative changes to protect this special place with the passage of Bill C-18 which received Royal Assent today.

Rouge National Urban Park is the first of its kind in Canada, protecting nature, culture, and agriculture in an integrated way and will be a lasting legacy of Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation. Within one hour's drive of seven million people and accessible by public transit, the Rouge provides unprecedented opportunities to experience nature and connect with our rich cultural and agricultural heritage.

Today's milestone would not have been possible without considerable collaboration between the federal and provincial governments, and the many stakeholders with their own perspectives and strong commitment to making Rouge National Urban Park a success. With the support of many organizations and individuals, including Indigenous Peoples, park farmers, and conservation groups, we have followed through on our promise to protect the Rouge's important ecosystems and heritage for future generations. I am proud that today we have not only strengthened Rouge National Urban Park's ecological protections, but have also provided long-term certainty for farmers in the park, so they can continue to provide food for Canadians as they have been doing for the past two centuries.

We thank the Ontario Government for its leadership in working to ensure that Rouge National Urban Park receives the same level of protection as every other national park in Canada and for reaffirming its commitment to transfer the provincial lands to complete Rouge National Urban Park. It is important to note that municipalities that surround the park have also been vital to today's achievement. We look forward to working with the Ontario Government to facilitate the land transfer in the coming months. Once complete, Rouge will become one of the largest parks in the world found within an urban setting. It will be 19 times larger than Vancouver's Stanley Park, and 23 times bigger than New York's Central Park.

As we continue the celebration of Canada's 150th Anniversary, admission to national parks, national historic sites, and national marine conservation areas are free this year. It's our government's gift to Canadians  to encourage them to explore the infinite wonder of our country's natural and historic places. To learn more about Rouge National Urban Park  and national parks and national historic sites across our country  I encourage everyone to download our new Parks Canada mobile app and plan their summer adventures.

Catherine McKenna

Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Minister responsible for Parks Canada

SOURCE Parks Canada

For further information: Marie-Pascale Des Rosiers, Office of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, 613-462-5473, [email protected]; Media Relations, Parks Canada Agency, 855-862-1812, [email protected]; http://www.twitter.com/parkscanada

Related Links

http://www.pc.gc.ca/


OTTAWA, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada, is pleased to announce the State visit to Canada of His Excellency Sergio Mattarella, President of the Italian Republic, on June 26 to July 1, 2017.

"Sharon and I look forward to welcoming President Mattarella to Canada," said the Governor General. "This year marks the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Italy. I look forward to discussions with President Mattarella about our long-lasting friendship, as well as how we can continue to strengthen our relationship and the people to people ties between our two countries."

The detailed schedule of the events will be issued at a later date.

Follow GGDavidJohnston and RideauHall on Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Governor General of Canada

For further information: Media information: Marie-Eve Letourneau, Rideau Hall Press Office, 613-998-0287, 613-302-0912 (cell), [email protected]
MONTREAL, June 20, 2017 /CNW Telbec/ - From June 21  October 9, 2017, the Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal (MAC) is proudly presenting the exhibition In Search of Expo 67, a contemporary artistic exploration of a great moment in our history. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Montreal World's Fair and In Search of Expo 67 brings a brand-new and original perspective to the big issues it addressed. The exhibition consists of 19 works by contemporary Quebec and Canadian artists, including 16 new works. Architecture, sound art, visual art, film and music are the poles around which this creative endeavour turns. Driven by committed artistic and archival research, the artworks highlight the exceptional creative liberty given to the artists, architects, filmmakers and designers who took part in the original exhibition, their experimentation with state-of-the-art technology and the diverse nature of their creations. The exhibition is part of the official program celebrating the 375th anniversary of Montreal and Expo 67  50 Years Later.

A selection of original and inventive works

The works by these artists were commissioned specifically for the exhibition, creating a rare opportunity for them to explore the archives and history of Expo 67, reinventing the past from a 21st century perspective.

One of the media used to present the results of their research is film: images taken by Marie-Claire Blais and Pascal Grandmaison in the Expo 67 islands reveal traces of remains and erasures; Emmanuelle Leonard, drawing inspiration from the film The Eighth Day produced by Charles Gagnon for the Christian pavilion, has assembled a montage of online images of the many conflicts since 1967; David K. Ross uses a drone to retrace the path of the celebrated mini-rail, flying some 12 metres above it through the landscape of Jean-Drapeau Park.

Other artists, focusing on specific pavilions, have created multimedia installations: JeanPierre Aube echoes the Kaleidoscope pavilion in a time-lapse video full of psychedelic effects and showing the process of chemical crystallization; Geronimo Inutiq references Katimavik, the inverted pyramid of the Canada pavilion, creating a multimedia installation with photographs, archival video sequences and sound compositions; Charles Stankievech interacts with the impressive architecture of the United States pavilionBuckminster Fuller's geodesic domeand explores the contradictory ideologies that lie behind it.

Digging into the Expo 67 archives provides an opportunity to showcase lesser known aspects of the Fair. The installation by artists' collective Leisure (Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley) draws attention to landscape architect Cornelia Hahn-Oberlander, who challenged conventional concepts of children's play by designing a unique playground. Althea Thauberger revisits the People Tree of the Canada pavilion, which used documentary photos to put forward a certain view of the Canadian identity. Two artists focused on the Indians of Canada pavilion: Duane Linklater questions the institutionalization and historicization of aboriginal bodies and art with a huge site specific mural inspired by that of Norval Morrisseau on the pavilion facade; Krista Belle Stewart creates a site specific installation made of archival images.

Simon Boudvin offers a photographic inventory of the traces of Expo 67 found in the streets of Montreal, which he combines with quotes from official 1967 documents. Stephane Gilot explores the architectural vocabulary of Expo 67 using Minecraft, a world-building video game that visitors are invited to play with as well.

We are also taken back into the sound environment of Expo 67. Chris Salter's light and sound composition draws on the revolutionary Polytopes by composer Iannis Xenakis, first presented at the France pavilion; in their sound installation, Kathleen Ritter and David Ritter examine the auditory spaces of Expo 67, especially sampling and repetition, which they consider precursors to the DJ culture and remixes; from the interactive and multimedia archival films screened during Expo 67, Caroline Martel creates a montage that is as dynamic and varied as the event itself, which will be projected on a mosaic of screens in the open area of the Espace culturel Georges-Emile-Lapalme at Place des Arts; Cheryl Sim, in a three-channel video projection, offers a personal version of the Expo 67 theme song, Un jour un jour by Stephane Venne, and pays tribute to the hostesses who welcomed the world.

The exhibition includes existing works related to Expo 67: a film by Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, silver prints on paper by Mark Ruwedel, and the short documentary film by Philip Hoffman and Eva Kolcze. Lastly, there is spectacular recreation of Polar Life, the film produced by Graeme Ferguson and projected onto 11 screens in the Man the Explorer pavilion; other original films will also be screened throughout the exhibition "in order to show the ingenious ways cinema was presented and experienced during Expo 67," say Lesley Johnstone and Monika Kin Gagnon, co-curators of the exhibition.

An event to be experienced and relived

As the heart and soul of Canada's Centennial celebrations, "Expo 67 was the most glorious World' Fair ever," says John Zeppetelli, Director and Chief Curator of the MAC. Even though the Quebec and Canadian artists selected to bring Expo 67 into the present were not even born when the original event occurred, visitors who did experience it will be delighted to find the same excitement they recall, a fever that young people of today will surely relate to. The current exhibition has a similar inventiveness and drive to innovate in every area of life; it also reflects on the social, political and cultural legacy of Expo 67 and, occasionally, offers a critique of some of its assumptions. The exhibition thus has three components: new works, recreations of original works with today's technology, and activation of archival materials.

List of the artists

Jean-Pierre Aube Caroline Martel Marie-Claire Blais and Pascal Grandmaison Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen Simon Boudvin David Ritter and Kathleen Ritter Stephane Gilot David K. Ross Philip Hoffman and Eva Kolcze Mark Ruwedel Geronimo Inutiq Chris Salter Leisure (Meredith Carruthers and Susannah Wesley) Cheryl Sim Emmanuelle Leonard Charles Stankievech Duane Linklater Krista Belle Stewart

Althea Thauberger

Look for: the website, podcast and tours with the artists

A website has been prepared to provide more information about the artists and exhibition: http://cinemaexpo67.ca/fr/expo/

Monika Kin Gagnon , professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal , co-director of CINEMAexpo67 and co-curator of the exhibition, hosts a series of podcast interviews with the artists of In Search of Expo 67 . www.concordia.ca/tol/

, professor in the Department of Communication Studies at , co-director of CINEMAexpo67 and co-curator of the exhibition, hosts a series of podcast interviews with the artists of . www.concordia.ca/tol/ The MAC has organized a number of events with artists to give them an opportunity to explain their approaches to the exhibition:

Conversation with Janine Marchessault and Graeme Ferguson , Wednesday, June 21 , 4 p.m. , in the BWR Hall at the Musee (in English).

and , (in English).

Guided tour with the artists Althea Thauberger , Krista Belle Stewart and Kathleen Ritter , Wednesday, June 21 , 6 p.m. , at the Musee (in English).

, and , (in English).

The complete list of tours with the artists is on our website: http://www.macm.org/en/activites/meet-the-artists-in-search-of-expo-67/

Curators

The exhibition In Search of Expo 67 is the result of the collaboration between co-curators Lesley Johnstone, Head of Exhibitions and Education at the MAC, and Monika Kin Gagnon, professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Concordia University in Montreal, and co-director of CINEMAexpo67.

Lesley Johnstone was also co-curator of La Biennale de Montreal 2014, L'avenir (looking forward), and La Triennale quebecoise 2011. As well, she has curated solo exhibitions of artists, including Valerie Blass, Luanne Martineau, Patrick Bernatchez, Lynne Marsh, Francine Savard, Eve Sussman, Tino Sehgal and Liz Magor.

Monika Kin Gagnon has had her research into cultural policies and the visual and media arts published since 1980. Her areas of expertise (cultural memory, creative archiving and the experimental media arts) greatly contributed to the genesis of In Search of Expo 67.

Support

The exhibition has been organized with the support of CINEMAexpo67, Concordia University, the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology, Hexagram, Cinematheque quebecoise, Place des Arts, Archives de la Ville de Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, National Gallery of Canada, Library and Archives Canada and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Catalogue

A bilingual catalogue will be published in Spring 2018, co-produced by the MAC and McGill-Queen's University Press. It will contain all the texts by the researchers, an essay by the co-curators, the related visual documentation, statements by the artists about their creative process and archival materials.

Also at the MAC: Olafur Eliasson

Also from June 21  October 9, the MAC is presenting Multiple shadow house, an exhibition of work by Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson. The show is curated by Mark Lanctot and it is the artist's first solo exhibition in Canada. Applying scientific principles to the exploration of our relationship to time and space, Eliasson builds devices that engage our mechanisms of perception. His cross-disciplinary creations provide an immersive experience for exploring the body, movement, self-perception and the environment. Both ambitious and spare, the works envelop us in a fundamental and rarefied universe composed primarily of space, light and movement.

Acknowledgments

The Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal (MAC) is a provincially owned corporation funded by the Ministere de la Culture et des Communications du Quebec. It receives additional funding from the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canada Council for the Arts. The MAC gratefully acknowledges their support.

The MAC also thanks its partners, Loto-Quebec and Ubisoft Montreal, and its media partners, La Presse and Publicite Sauvage.

SOURCE Musee d'art contemporain de Montreal

For further information: Source: MAC: Anne Dongois, publicist, 514 826-2050, [email protected]; Source: 375e de Montreal: Isabelle Pelletier, Press Relations, 514-238-4178, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.macm.org


The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall join Canadians to celebrate Canada 150

OTTAWA, June 19, 2017 /CNW/ - Today, the Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, released the full itinerary for the 2017 Royal Tour to Canada. Their Royal Highnesses will visit Iqaluit, Nunavut, on June 29; Canadian Forces Base Trenton and the village of Wellington in Prince Edward County, Ontario, on June 30; and Ottawa and Gatineau in Canada's Capital Region on July 1.

Engaging with Indigenous people to learn more about their traditions, opening the spectacular new Canadian History Hall, and witnessing first-hand the technological innovation for which Canada is known around the world: the three-day 2017 Royal Tour to Canada of The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will celebrate who we are, what we have accomplished and the bright future we are building together.

The Royal Couple begin in Nunavut, where they will engage with organizations working to preserve and promote Inuit language and culture. His Royal Highness will hear more about the impacts of climate change in the region, and Her Royal Highness will take part in discussions on women's health and well-being. Finally, the public is invited to join in a community feast at the beautiful Sylvia Grinnell Territorial Park.

On June 30, The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will visit Canadian Forces Base Trenton, where they will meet members of the Canadian Armed Forces, participate in a search and rescue demonstration, and honour Canadians who fell in Afghanistan. Their Royal Highnesses will then proceed to the Wellington Farmers' Market and the Norman Hardie Winery in Prince Edward County, where they will discuss how farm-to-table agriculture and the "shop local" movement can increase tourism and economic development in a community.

Finally, on July 1, Their Royal Highnesses will start the day by opening the Canadian History Hall at the Canadian Museum of History, then head to Parliament Hill for a spectacular celebration of all things Canadian. The tour continues at the National Arts Centre, where His Royal Highness will open the newly renovated National Arts Centre, highlighting our only national, bilingual, multidisciplinary performing arts centre. This is followed by a visit to Shopify, the Ottawa-based international e-commerce success story. To close out the tour, Their Royal Highnesses will participate in the unveiling of The Queen's Entrance at Rideau Hall. These new front entrance doors were designed to symbolize 150 years of Canada's history and are artistically linked to The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Balustrade, unveiled in 2012, that graces the front entrance of Rideau Hall.

Quotes

"It is an exciting time to be Canadian, and we are pleased to be able to celebrate Canada 150 with The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall. Their Royal Highnesses will meet Canadians who are researching climate change, preserving and promoting Indigenous cultures, empowering youth, and working to ensure that people of all backgrounds can participate in our society."

The Honourable Melanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage

Quick Facts

The Royal Couple will visit three provinces/territories and five communities in the three-day tour.

This will be the first visit to Prince Edward County in Ontario for both The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall.

Royal Family members have attended Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in the past: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011; Her Majesty The Queen in 2010 and 1997; and Edward VII, then the Prince of Wales, and his brother Prince George in 1927.

Associated Links

2017 Royal Tour of Canada by Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1490105439791 Past Royal Tours http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1445001961355 Monarchy and The Crown http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1447172072670/1447172115365 Canada 150 http://canada.pch.gc.ca/eng/1468262573081

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

For further information: (media only): Pierre-Olivier Herbert, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, 819-997-7788; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected]

Related Links

http://www.pch.gc.ca


LAC DES MILLE LACS FIRST NATION, ON, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - The governments of the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, Canada and Ontario are taking a major step along the path of reconciliation today by announcing and celebrating the final settlement of a longstanding flooding claim.

Achieved through negotiation and in a spirit of partnership, this historic claim settlement resolves a specific flooding dispute between the parties that has been outstanding for more than 145 years. The negotiated settlement provides the First Nation with approximately $77 million in financial compensation to resolve the claim and provides for a flooding easement.

It is through these kinds of negotiated settlements and agreements that we can renew relationships and foster reconciliation. The goal of these agreements is to provide fair compensation to address past wrongs and honour longstanding obligations. The settlement will assist the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation in building a brighter future for its members and community as a whole.

Quotes

"Chi miigwetch to all of our members who exercised their right to vote on this historical settlement offer, which will have far reaching and positive effects now and into the future. We truly appreciate the tireless work of our Negotiation Team and the involvement of our members for the time they have taken to remain involved in this process. This settlement is not only about bringing closure and healing for our community, it is also about new beginnings and opportunities to mutually work together with Canada and Ontario as respected partners."

Chief Whitecloud

Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation

"This settlement is an important step to renew our nation-to-nation relationship with the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation. This historic agreement helps right a past wrong and also creates new opportunities for a brighter future as we continue to move forward together in the spirit of respect and partnership."

The Honourable Carolyn Bennett, M.D., P.C., M.P.

Minister of Indigenous and Northern Affairs

"I congratulate the parties on reaching a successful settlement of the Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation flooding claim. This settlement demonstrates how negotiations can address longstanding issues and facilitate reconciliation by helping create a sustainable future for the community. Now Lac des Mille Lacs community members can return to live on their historic reserve lands, creating new opportunities for residents."

The Honourable David Zimmer,

Ontario Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation

"I know how long this process has taken and how hard the community has worked to get this historic flood claim negotiated. I am thrilled that this means community members will be able to return to their traditional territory, and I want to congratulate everyone involved on coming to an agreement that is satisfying for all parties involved."

The Honourable Kathryn McGarry

Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry

Quick Facts

Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation is a signatory to Treaty #3.

The flooding claim relates to historical events dating back to 1873, when a dam was constructed at the outlet of Lac des Mille Lacs . This resulted in the flooding of the First Nation's Reserve 22A1 lands without their consent and without compensation.

First Nation members voted overwhelmingly to approve the negotiated settlement in a Referendum Vote which concluded on April 5, 2017 . The First Nation's Chief and Council signed the settlement on April 7, 2017 .

Ontario signed the settlement on May 10, 2017 .

Canada signed the settlement agreement on May 19, 2017 .

Associated Links

Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation

Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation

Stay Connected

Follow us on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and Flickr.

You can subscribe to receive our news releases and speeches via RSS feeds. For more information or to subscribe, visit www.aandc.gc.ca/subscriptions.

SOURCE Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada

For further information: media may contact: Sabrina Williams, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett, 613-697-8316; INAC Media Relations, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, 819-953-1160; Ryan Kasraee, Office of the Honourable David Zimmer, 416 314-2617; Flavia Mussio, Communications, Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, 416-314-9455; Celeste Pedri-Spade, PhD., Communications, Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, 807-709-0871
The Dream Catchers  A Musical That Dares You To Dream

CHARLOTTETOWN, June 20, 2017 /CNW/ - The dreams of Canada's youth will be centre stage this summer as The Dream Catchers tour the country to celebrate the ambitions, hopes and dreams of Canada's next generation.

Earlier this year, Confederation Centre of the Arts sent a creative team across Canada as part of a special Canada 150 project. The team worked with dozens of young people in each province and territory, exploring their dreams for the future, with a focus toward the environment, inclusion, and reconciliation. The youth worked with playwright and arts educator Mary Francis Moore and indigenous artists Nick Huard and Watio Splicer to learn about the significance of the traditional dreamcatcher and other dream traditions across the country. Hundreds of other Canadian youth submitted their dreams online, and those collective wishes inspired the creation of this unique performance.

Mary Francis Moore, Associate Artistic Director of The 2017 Charlottetown Festival, transformed these dreams into a high-energy, one-hour musical that will tour the country from coast to coast this summer. The Dream Catchers musical features the TD Confederation Centre Young Company, interpreting through music and dance the ambitions, hopes and dreams of Canada's next generation. The 26 performers in the TD Confederation Centre Young Company were selected from each province and territory; one troupe will perform the free show Monday to Saturday at Confederation Centre, and the other 13 performers will tour the show across the country.

The Dream Catchers show combines hip hop, spoken word and folk, and blends it with contemporary and Indigenous dance to create a vibrant music and dance-filled spectacle that acknowledges Canada's sesquicentennial anniversary.

The Dream Catchers includes original music, dance and story from a variety of Canadian artists such as City Natives, Emm Gryner, Kinnie Starr, Paper Lions, Khodi Dill, Fred Penner, Nikki Payne, Carmen Braden, Tiny Emperor, Daniel Mate, Riley Simpson-Fowler, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Caroline Savoie and Twin Flames.

The Dream Catchers is a Canada 150 Signature project, funded by the Government of Canada, sponsored by TD, produced by Confederation Centre of the Arts and features The TD Confederation Centre Young Company. The show is written by Mary Francis Moore, directed by ahdri zhina mandiela, choreographed by Barbara Diabo, and musical direction is provided by Scott Christian.

The Dream Catchers will perform more than 35 free shows over the next three months in cities and towns coast to coast. To see the Canadian tour schedule visit: http://www.dreamingcanada.ca/en/the-performance

About Confederation Centre of the Arts

Confederation Centre of the Arts is Canada's national memorial to the Fathers of Confederation, located in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Home to The Charlottetown Festival and the long-running Anne of Green Gables-The Musical, and a major Canadian art gallery, this living memorial welcomes more than 250,000 visitors each year. First opened by HRM Queen Elizabeth II in 1964, Confederation Centre continues to present the finest in Canadian visual and performing arts, heritage, and arts education to visitors from across Canada and around the world.

SOURCE Confederation Centre of the Arts

For further information: Media contact: Spencer Callaghan, Thornley Fallis Communications, [email protected], 613-355-5195
FRANKFORT, N.Y. -- Taleek Spence gave a Syracuse.com reporter a tour of a barn in Herkimer County where police were seen removing dozens of roosters allegedly used for a cock-fighting ring that was busted this weekend.

The state Attorney General's Office said they recovered more than 230 roosters from two barns on the property, and they found a training facility, razors that strapped to the animals' legs and other "bird-fighting paraphernalia."

Forty-one people were charged, accused of traveling from all over New York and even West Virginia to participate.

Spence's stepfather, Patrick Samson, 65, is accused of hosting the gatherings and is charged with participating in the illegal activity. Spence said his father is innocent.

Spence was not accused of a crime. He said there were some parts of the property he was not allowed onto.
The domestic violence campaign that we are embarking on with some partners from United Kingdom. Well be setting up a domestic violence center where well have a call center to link up cases of emergencies with hospitals and police stations to give quick response and aids to victims of domestic violence. The issue of domestic violence cuts across men and women but most times the attention and focus is always on women, so this initiative seeks to investigate and examine all cases of domestic violence because well be working with the police and relevant authorities.

Your relationship with Tonto Dikeh has been marred with accusations of domestic violence, how do you intend to deal with that and your new campaign?

The truth is, what you read in the news is different from reality. My partner fights dirty and thats what shes put out there. Tonto will say anything to sound believable and gain public sympathy and thats what she puts out there. Its not real, Ive never laid my hands on her ever. Im not a violent person and Im not temperamental, as a matter of fact I don;t take offence on anything at all, thats how God made me, people who are close to me knows this, when Im upset about something I simply avoid the offender and come to terms with the fact that I dont need such vibes around me.

So how do you defend allegations that you beat her, made her lose a 4-month pregnancy and always cheat on her.

They are all fabricated, because my partner believes shes a celebrity and she can make people believe whatever she wants them to believe and using her celebrity status to manipulate people to believe what she wants and shes in the business of make-belief but Im a businessman, a man of very few words too. I am a private person, but she prides herself on the fact that she has the platform and fan base to bring anyone down and she also feels by the time she deals with me, Ill come back begging.

I met Tonto like 6-months before she took in, so where did the initial 4 months pregnancy come from or did it come after she gave birth to my son? Because she traveled during her pregnancy and came back when King was 4-month old and we had only stayed together for about 6-months after that before all the issues started, she was still breast feeding. And if indeed she had and lost a 4-month pregnancy, that will require for her to do an evacuation, which hospital did it for her and evidence does she have? It was all done to bring down my image and o destroy my reputation.

Have you actually attempted to beg and make peace?

Yes I have. The main thing that started this fight was between she and my mum and it was very dirty. I bought a house for my mum in Lekki and she came over from overseas so we can do a house warming party to launch it and just 24-hours before the house warming party, my partner got angry over a very flimsy issue and she just started breaking stuffs and scattering the house and in the process while my mum was trying to calm her down, she pushed my mum down as well. I had never seen that in my life, I had to prostrate for my mum to apologize and that was how the house warning party was cancelled because it was just 24-hours to the party and Tonto had destroyed the house, breaking and damaging things.

This happened on December 20th and the following day I packed a few of my things and traveled to Ghana. So I felt she was scared or confused on how to handle it, so she went online and started the stunts by removing Churchill from her name. And dont forget, I said this issue happened on December 20th , on the 22nd, she had one of her charity events where she kicked off a road construction work at The Karamajiji Colony Abuja of people living with disabilities on Friday, December 23, 2016 courtesy of the Big Church Foundation pledge at the walk for love event. She looked all good without any signs of beating or domestic violence which shows it was a false allegation that i laid my hands on her.

In fairness to her, while I was in Ghana, she sent a lot of text messages to apologize but I guess I took too long because I was away for over two weeks and then she just switched on me. Truth is I was actually In shock. She did that just one day to my mums event, we had already called people, invited pastors to bless the house and all only to cancel it at the last minute because my partner destroyed the house.

So she played a fast one when I saw the story on Stellas blog with the rumors had it stunt in January this year which began this whole process. Truth is, I only traveled to Ghana for a charity event with my staffs from the Abuja office just before my birthday,

What do you think is making her this bitter to fight you this much despite the love that once existed between you two?

Some people simply dont like to loose a battle and because shes a celebrity, what happened was too heavy for her to bear. She felt if the news got out, itll be bad for her so she switched it and once she started to play the victim card, she had to continue it but it got to a point when she left my house with my son and nanny before I came back to Nigeria and she went on to grant an interview where she accused me of domestic violence and its all lies, theres nothing like a four month pregnancy or any of the other lies. I was not even in the country when she claimed she ran away from the house because of domestic violence. So it was all planned and she took her time to pack everything because the estate still has the CCTV footage of her moving out with a Sienna and a truck.

From that interview with Azuka, she showed images of an alleged domestic violence, but she also put on a pendant (with the diamond crown customized with my sons name which I handed over to her on December 1, 2016. And in the same picture, she alleged loosing 4-months pregnancy wearing the same cloth and the same pendant. It just doesnt make sense bearing in mind that the fracas happened at my mums home on December 20th so the timelines just dont match. she keeps complicating herself. Even the pictire she showed during the interview was shown from her phone, it wasnt clear.

Then you also granted your own interview as well?

Yea, I wouldnt have granted that interview, but the allegations were too much and because of my brand. She called me a murderer, wife beater, claimed I gave her STDs and even said my foundation is a scam and everyone knows we don;t collect money from any one for the foundation, we only use the 10% profit from Big Church Group to run it, just like paying tithe.

So I had to grant the interview when the Azuka lady from MediaRooom Hub came to me to debunk those allegations but unfortunately all the evidences I gave to Azuka was never used. I heard Azuka also went to Ghana to make findings from the embassy and police but she refused to publish all the truth she found out because she has mutual friends with Tonto Dikeh. God knows I wouldnt have granted her the interview, but they were the ones who interviewed my partner so I felt it was right I also speak through the same medium with facts.

Do you think theres still room to make it work out between you guys?

Oh, Ive tried, but its just like seeing danger and you going for it. I tried to get the relationship back so I could help her condition and because of my kid but she doesnt want peace.

While you guys were together, you produced a movie Kada River, why didnt she act in it?

For me, my work life is different from my family life, I try to separate it. When we started work on the movie, we werent really in god terms even though I told her about the project. The truth is, instead of her wasting this much energy in trying to bring her husband down, I think she can put that energy to good use by going back to work and be productive. If you dont want the marriage again, you dont need to be dramatic about it by telling the world because they really dont care about you. I think she should go back to movies, reconcile with people shes offended in the industry and be humble.

Whats the relationship with your son and your reaction to the fact that she dressed as you to attend his fathers day event in school?

Thats the main reason why I was trying to make it work, because she does somethings that are not normal at all. And only someone close to her can save her because she needs help. Its been 7-months now and all shes been doing is to give me a bad name.

She makes it look like I dont care about my son. I help other kids, so why will i ignore my son. Since my son got back to country when he was 4-months, I opened a Zenith bank account for him and his mum is he sole signatory to that account. I put money in that account regularly. I send money to her own account as well and she wont even acknowledge the money when she gets it but she goes on saying I dont take care of my son.

Ive invited her family over to try and make peace but shes been deceiving everyone and goes back online to pull her stunts and the truth is Kings passport has been with me since he got back from the states.

She recently said shes taken King to alot of countries in the last one year?

King has never stepped out of Africa since he got back at 4-month old. I have been with his international passport, the only place he could have gone is Ghana with hos Ecowas passport in her possession.

A few days back, your first wife also came online to speak against your mum?

The true story about that is this My first wife and marriage was a mistake, I was rushed into it. We had only dated for 6-weeks before we did something in her church. there was no registry, court. We didnt even go through the normal process of counselling and all that, like I said we had only dated for 6-weeks. I only got to know later that the church thing we did was fast tracked. We had separated for 2-years and 7-months before I met Tonto. The priest form the church said the marriage was wrong and should be annulled but she insisted on getting paper works when Tonto started with her Mr X saga. and I dont like wasting my life or my time so I had to move on because she told me she has moved on too and we didnt have any child together. So in all honesty, we had gone our separate ways before Tonto Dikeh came into the picture and Tonto knew about it all and the process of getting the paperwork sorted from my first marriage since she insisted and that is why I and Tonto didnt didnt do any official yet till we got it sorted out.

So we only went to meet the chiefs in Tontos place because she was pregnant. Weve not even done the proper traditional marriage. So I kind of find the connection between my first wife and Tonto Dikeh very strange because the last I know, they werent on talking terms and they never met but then I also know Tonto can do anything to bring me down even as the father of her child.

Both of them seem to have an attack against your mum in common as well?

What they are doing is planned. I see theyve been liking each others posts on Instagram and the way Tonto operates is this. If she wants to bring you down, shell be friends with your enemy, she fights so hard.

But the truth is, they both had issues with my mum, and I dont understand why my wife will not respect my mum. I cant just get married to you in one year and you are insulting my mum and calling her names, pushing her down. They know I love my mum so much and will do anything for her. Its not like you are lacking or suffering as a wife but anytime I do something for my mum, it becomes a problem. I know what that woman has been through, she goes on many days dry fasting for my sake so you dont expect me to allow her to be disrespected.

In conclusion, whats the plan you have for your son?

For my son, I dont want him to grow up in that kind of environment and I also didnt want to do anything to hurt Tonto because shes the mother of my child. In real life, Im easy going, Im not a trouble maker but the way she paints me as a trouble maker, I should have gone to her house and forcefully take my son or take her to court and start dragging a case, but Ive not done none of that, Im letting her take her time because hes my son and no one can take that away.

Tonto is the kind of person that I can go to her house to see my son and just knocking at her door, shell scream domestic violence again, she knows how to manipulate things, so you have to be very careful with that kind of person.

Reflecting over everything now, do you think you relationship with her was a mistake?

Yes it was and I knew it when I was going into it. I knew I was going into danger, but I was ready to go into it to save her, but right now I do not care anymore, Im done, I can deal with it anymore. I dont want the relationship anymore. She says I borrowed money from her and Im like how? where is the evidence? At least I gave her 10 million naira last Christmas and I have proof of payment, so if she borrowed me money, she should prove it.

All these kind of negativity comes from someone who said she fasted 21 days before she met me, someone who said I brought her closer to God, so where is God in this situation and the way she wants my downfall?

Now that you are single again, would you consider going into any relationship again?

NO. I dont have any plans for that. Now its just business because Im still in shock.

Following the weekend release of text messages, Nollywood actress and his estranged wife, Tonto Dikeh reportedly sent his mum and his ex-wife intrusion into the marital crisis , threatening to expose him, Olakunle Churchill who was met by LIB correspondents at a conference where he spoke about unveiling a new Anti-Domestic Violence programme, bared it all in the interview.In the tell-all interview, Churchill also called out Azuka of Media Room Hub, who he accused of refusing to publish the evidence he gave to her because she has mutual friends with Tonto Dikeh. He also went to say hes done fighting to save the relationship.Here are excerpt from the interview;
Up to about twenty-five containers meant for terminal rehabilitation have been found out to be rotting away at Lagos airport.



Containers abandoned at MMIA

It has been revealed that no fewer than 25 iron beam containers have been abandoned at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos since 2015, while an additional 70 containers imported from China have gone missing.

According to SaharaReporters, it was revealed that the 25 containers of iron beams were ordered by former Minister of Aviation, Stella Oduah in 2014 for the reconstruction of the hajj and cargo terminals before she was removed from office over her illegal purchase of two bulletproof BMWs.

Containers abandoned at MMIA

The containers arrived in 2015 and have been abandoned ever since.

The containers containing the beams were imported into Nigeria for the construction of hajj and cargo terminals, as Oduah then focused much attention on rehabilitating the airport terminals, a source close to the Ministry of Aviation told our correspondent.

The hajj and cargo terminals were part of the exercise, but before the equipment could arrive at the shores of Nigeria, Oduah had already been removed by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

The source added that Mrs. Oduahs successors - Sam Ortom, Osita Chidoka, and Hadi Sirika - could be responsible for their abandonment.

He further revealed that the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Saleh Dunoma, was the Director of Projects during Mrs. Oduahs tenure and was therefore responsible for the clearance of equipment used for airport remodeling projects.

Containers abandoned at MMIA

SaharaReporters reports that the terminal reconstruction project was handed over to President Muhammadu Buhari by former President Goodluck Jonathan, but the new administration opted to abandon the project.

As it stands now, the plan to remodel the hajj and cargo terminals has been forgotten because new buildings are coming up at the hajj and cargo areas. Presently, the office of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), another two-story building allegedly owed by a director in FAAN, is also under construction at the same cargo area, the source said.

Regarding the 70 missing containers, our correspondent learned that the materials could no longer be traced after it they entered demurrage due to their non-clearance by the FAAN.
Happy New Month Nigeria! Welcome to the month of June. As the world searches for a respite from all its troubles since 2020 began, one can ...
In May 2017, Somalias youngest minister was shot dead in an incident close to the presidential palace in the capital Mogadishu.The 31-year-old Abbas Abdullahi Sheik Siraji was appointed Minister of Public Works and Reconstruction by Prime Minister, Hassan Ali Kheyre March. Now, a military court in Somalia has sentenced a soldier to death by firing squad over the fatal shooting of the late minister...The BBC however reports that the soldier, whose lawyers said the shooting was an accident, can appeal the ruling. The officer reportedly mistook the minister for an Islamic militant before shooting him inside his car.
The United States has responded forcefully to Russias threat to treat U.S.-led coalition planes in the skies over Syria as targets, as tensions escalate in the 6-year Syrian conflict.Were going to do what we can to protect our interests, White House spokesman Sean Spicer told reporters Monday, defending the decision to shoot down a Syrian SU-22 jet that had bombed coalition partnered forces near the Syrian town of Tabqah.The Syrian regime  needs to understand that we will keep the right of self-defense of coalition forces aligned against ISIS, he said. The spokesman made clear, however, that the United States would continue to work with partners to counter the threat of the Islamic State in Syria.Russias Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called the shoot down an act of aggression. A ministry statement issued in Moscow warned that coalition planes would be viewed as targets, and said a hotline for preventing accidental military engagement would be shut off.Spicer said Monday that Washington would work to keep lines of communication open to, in his words, de-conflict potential issues.Earlier, General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said officials are trying to re-establish the communications link to prevent potentially deadly accidents, and that the de-confliction efforts have worked well in the past.The Russian Federation has indicated that their purpose in Syria, like ours, is to defeat ISIS," Dunford told reporters. "And well see if thats true here in the coming hours, because all of our operations in and around Raqqa and southern Syria are designed specifically to get after ISIS.We have agreed in the past, that is we and the Russian Federation Pro-Regime Forces, that operations that the coalition were conducting in Syria were effectively degrading ISIS capability, and will work to restore that de-confliction chain in the next few hours, Dunford said.The Russian military alleged that in Sundays incident, "the command of the coalition forces did not use the established communication channel for preventing incidents in Syrian airspace."Frants Klintsevich, deputy head of the defense committee in Russias upper house of parliament, said the defense ministry statement does not mean there will be war with the U.S. in Syria, but rather that Moscow will not accept attacks on its Syrian allies.Earlier, Syrian forces attacked coalition fighters in Ja'Din, wounding a number of fighters and driving them from the town. Coalition aircraft stopped the pro-regime forces from advancing on Ja'Din.The coalition said it contacted Russian commanders to set up a "de-confliction line" to prevent the fighting from worsening.The dispute over the Syrian attack on the U.S.-backed fighters and the American response came as Iran launched ballistic missiles at Islamic State strongholds in eastern Syria in retaliation for a pair of attacks by extremists in Tehran earlier this month that killed 17 people.
The Democratic Peoples Congress has urged the National Assembly to pass Bills on amendments to the electoral process in the country before the 2019 general elections.The party also kicked against calls for Nigerians in the Diaspora to vote.It said in a statement in Abuja on Tuesday that the amendments to the 1999 Constitution and Electoral Act would enable Independent National Electoral Commission to prepare adequately for the elections.In the statement by its National Chairman, Mr Olusegun Peters, the party said that it was time to sanitise the nations political process and build a strong, virile, progressive and prosperous democratic nation.It expressed opposition to the provision for independent candidacy in the amendment, adding that the nations democratic structure could not sustain it.It said that it was disturbing that INEC was yet to conclude some 2015 Federal and State Legislative elections in Rivers and Anambra two years and three months after the polls were conducted.The party said that if independent candidates were included in elections, there could be over 1, 000 candidates on a ballot paper, explaining that such would confuse most voters and make a mockery of the frail democracy.It also said that the party did not support the call for Nigerians in the Diaspora to vote.This is because of poor logistics in conveying the materials to polling booths, malfunctioning of electoral equipment and violence.Nigerians live in over 140 countries around the world; it is impossible to get accurate population of our compatriots in the Diaspora, not to mention registering them for elections, it said.The DPC called on stakeholders to focus on free, fair, credible, peaceful and successful elections with 60 per cent turnout of voters from the current 15 percent to 20 percent.It commended INEC for the registration of five new political parties, adding that it was a step in the right direction.This shows that the Commission did proper screening of the 87 political associations that applied to be registered as political parties and registered the best-qualified ones.It called on Nigerians to take advantage of ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) to register and obtain their voter cards to enable them to participate in the polls.Those eligible to register are Nigerian citizens who have attained the voting age of 18 years and those who did not register in previous exercise, it said.The party urged the people to desist from double registration as it was criminal to do so.Your vote is your power to elect credible candidates that will provide good governance and social justice that will usher better life to our long suffering compatriots.The era of electoral malpractices, rigging and brigandage is gone with the electoral and constitutional amendments that endorse the use of electronic voting system in future elections, it stressed.
The Federal Government has expressed its commitment to establish dry ports or Inland Container Depots in the country to create jobs for unemployed youths and diversify the economy.The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, said this on Tuesday during the final inspection of the Kaduna Inland Dry Port.We are doing everything possible to create jobs. Whatever we need to do to get the port running, we will do it.The rail will soon start running before the end of the year, which will be used to deliver goods at the port.Everything is set for commissioning because we have the land, warehouse and all but we want to wait for the completion of the roads.We want to wait for more activities in the dry port before we get the president to commission it.I have visited Jos and they are doing a good job and they promised to be ready by June. I have visited Kaduna and what I have seen is commendable, he said.Amaechi commended the Kaduna State Government, saying the job it is doing is very good.He said the contributions from the government were high, adding the support was appreciated.The Gov. Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State said that the initiative was from the previous administration.He said that the state government would provide the necessary infrastructure needed to implement the initiative.He said that the government would fix the roads leading to the port and create more exits to avoid the congestion being experienced at the Apapa port.We inherited this project from the previous administration and we thought it was a project worthy of our support and we did everything we could to make sure it works.We tried to do whatever we could to ensure that the infrastructure that is required to make the project a reality is done.The road will be reconstructed with concrete pavement and we realised that we do not want to replicate the problem of Apapa port because it only has one exit and one entry, El-Rufai said.The governor, however, urged the company to employ the indigenes and talented youths of the state to reduce the challenge of unemployment.We want to support this work because 85 percent of the population of Kaduna State consists of young people below the age of 35 and our biggest challenge; and our economic policy focus on creation of jobs.So, I appeal to you to make the best use of the facility.The Kaduna State Government will be a partner and we will direct all the companies that we are attracting to Kaduna to use this facility.He appealed that the local people should be used for them to benefit from the project rather than importing import people from other states.Kaduna State has talents. We have young people here and we expect you to give preference to them, he added.Speaking earlier, the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Shippers Council, Mr Hassan Bello, appreciated the state government and the Federal Government for their support for the project.He said that among all states where inland dry port was located, Kaduna gave the highest support in ensuring that the project was completed.Bello, however, appealed to the state government to construct accessible roads and provide proper infrastructure for the importation and exportation of cargoes.He said that the Kaduna Inland dry port could be used for imports and exports to and from all over the world.
Alleged notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onwuamadike (popularly known as Evans), collected an extra $200,000 from one of his victims aft...

Alleged notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onwuamadike (popularly known as Evans), collected an extra $200,000 from one of his victims after claiming part of the $1 million ransom was old money.

The victim, who requested not to be named because he did not want publicity, said he paid a total of $1.2 million to Evans and not $1 million as being reported.

He collected 1.2 (million dollars) from me, not 1 million hes writing, the victim, who was among the several people kidnapped by Evans in the FESTAC area, told premium times in an exclusive interview.

Because when he released me, there was an agreement between me and him, the day he was releasing me, he said the money my wife gave him, that like 200,000 was old money, that they did not collect it from her, and that the money must be complete. I told him let him release me let me to go and look for the money, he agreed.

After one month, he started calling me, he now told me about my son and where my daughter is working and that if I dont give him the money hell come after me. Rather than go through that trauma again, I sent that money to him at Queens Suite ( a hotel in Awka, Anambra State).

Evans, 36, was arrested on June 10 at his posh Magodo home in Lagos, marking an end to a manhunt by law enforcement agencies that lasted about five years.

The police said the suspect, who hails from Nnewi in Anambra State, was the leader of a highly organised kidnap-for-ransom syndicate who terrorised Nigerians in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.

He was first declared wanted in August 2013, after he allegedly masterminded the attempted kidnap of Vincent Obianodo, the owner of Young Shall Grow Motors, in Festac Town. One police officer and three kidnappers died in the failed attempt.

The police linked Evans to the kidnap of at least 12 people in Lagos over the past four years, collecting ransoms running into billions of naira.

Last weekend, the suspects wife, Uchenna Onwuamadike, pleaded with Nigerian authorities to spare her husbands life.

The victim, said he paid the extra $200,000 to Evans through his wife, who travelled to Anambra State to make the payment.

He told my wife to lodge at Queens Suites, Awka. Even while going there people will tell you. if you ask Where is the road to Queens Suites? They will tell you Ah! Youre going to kidnappers hotel. I wonder why Anambra State government has not brought that hotel down because almost all the people he kidnapped from Festac, one way or the other, he will tell him to go to Queens Suites. He doesnt come to Queen Suite, they dont pay the money in Queen Suite but he will make sure you sleep in Queen Suite as a must.

In the night he will now call you inside the bush, within Ihembosi and Ozubulu, and collect the money. After collecting the money, he will tell you you must go back to Queen Suite, if you dont go back there, he will shoot you.

He forces people to go back there and sleep. What is his connection with Queen Suite? I also asked him that question yesterday because we met him, all the people he kidnapped. Abba Kyari arranged a meeting, brought him out and we asked him questions at State Command, GRA.

I gave him 200,000 when I came out. Yesterday when I told him he could not deny it, because I told him how it happened, as I narrated to you.

When contacted, the management of Queens Suites, Awka, said they were not aware of Evans activities.

Definitely, I never knew of Evans anyway, said Emeka Nwachukwu, the hotel manager.

Secondly, I never know if he has any ransom that they normally come to pay here. If there is anybody that is coming here to lodge, its just for the persons safety, I am here for the safety of anybody.

Whoever that came to my hotel to lodge only came for the safety, I never knew of Evans the kidnapper.

On Sunday, Evans led the police to some of the houses where he kept his victims pending when he collects their ransom  at Jakande Estate, Ejigbo; and New Igando. The team were unable to visit the third location, reportedly at Gowon Estate, Egbeda.

From what I saw (in the news) yesterday, of the detention camp, it does seem that it was Jakande Estate they kept me, the kidnap victim told premium times.
A mortgage firm has returned to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the N500 million said to be part of the Paris Club r...

A mortgage firm has returned to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) the N500 million said to be part of the Paris Club refund kept with it by a governor.The EFCC is probing the London-Paris Club refund following allegations that some governors are misapplying the cash.The Federal Government agreed to the refund to enable the governors pay workers salaries and pensions.Besides, the EFCC has gone to a Federal High Court in Abuja to seek the forfeiture of $3million said to be held for another governor by three persons and two companies.The agency has placed a no debit order on the three accounts traced to the five suspects, including a member of the House of Representatives, who has gone underground to avoid arrest.Investigation by our correspondent revealed that officials of the mortgage firm also made a statement confirming that the governor owns the N500million.A top source, who spoke in confidence with our correspondent, said: When EFCC detectives traced the governors loot of N500million from the London-Paris Club refund to the account of the mortgage company, the firm wasted no time in disclosing the source.The mortgage firm has surrendered the cash to us; we have it in our custody. And on Monday (yesterday), we filed an application before the court for an interim forfeiture of the N500million in order to legalise its custody.The purported owner of the cash has a two-week deadline to come forward to claim it or have it forfeited permanently to the Federal Government.Responding to a question, the source said all those connected with the cash, including some consultancy firms had been named in court.The identities of the governor, the companies involved and his proxies, the source added, would be unveiled when the matter comes up in court.The governor, he said, has long standing mortgage collaboration with the firm where the N500million was wired.On the $3million linked to another governor, the EFCC provided the list of those involved including the names of the two companies, three persons, and the three accounts used.Two of the three persons are siblings, including a member of the House of Representatives whose whereabouts was unknown at press time last night.The lawmaker was, in the EFCC profile, described as a former commissioner.Another source added: Again, we have asked the court to grant our prayer for the Interim Forfeiture of the $3million. We also attached the list of three banks, three accounts, two companies and three other suspects.As I am talking to you, the EFCC has placed a No Debit Order on the three accounts associated with the $3million which was diverted from the London-Paris Club to build a 100-room hotel for another serving governor. One of the accounts is in a bank noted for domiciliary account business. The two others have been named in some suspicious transactions during the immediate past administration.Detectives, the source said, suspected that the $3million was part-payment for the construction of the hotel.On the extent of investigation of the cash, he said: One of those questioned over the $3million has actually refunded $500,000.The EFCC team really did a wonderful job in tracking the cash. In fact, a notable project firm, which has had partnership with the governor in the past, was implicated in the $3million deal.We have sought for the seizure of the $3million and the N500million in line with Sections 28 and 34 of the EFCC (Establishment Act) 2004 and Section 13(1) of the Federal High Court Act, 2004.The Presidency has so far released about N1. 266.44trillion to the 36 states in the past one year including N713.70billion special intervention funds to states.Following protest by states against over deductions for external debt service between 1995 and 2002, President Muhammadu Buhari approved the release of N516.38billion (first tranche) to the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as refunds pending reconciliation of records.Each state was entitled to a cap of N14.5 billion being 25% of the amounts claimed.Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun said the payment of the claims would enable states to offset outstanding salaries and pension which had been causing considerable hardship.The governors sought for the loan refunds to states and local governments at a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on May 24, last year.But the alleged deduction of about N19billion and $86million, meant for payment of consultants and legal advisers, by some governors is under investigation by EFCC.Following controversy over the refunds in some states, the Federal Ministry of Finance, through its Director of Information, Salisu Dambatta, had penultimate Friday released the details of the N516.38billion to Nigerians.The top earners are Rivers, N34.92b; Delta, N27.6b; Akwa Ibom, N25.98b; Bayelsa, N24.89b; Kano, N21.7b; Lagos, N16.74b; Katsina, N16.4b; Kaduna, N15.44b; Borno, N14.68b; Jigawa, N14.2b; Imo, N14.01b; Niger, N14.42b; Bauchi, N13.75b; Sokoto, N12.88b and Osun, N12.62b.Others are Cross River N12.15b; Anambra, N12.24b; Edo, N12.18b; Kebbi, N11.95b; Kogi, N11.05b; Abia, N11.43b; Ogun, N11.47b; Plateau, N11.28b; Yobe, N10.82b; Zamfara, N10.88b; Ebonyi, N9.01b; Ekiti, N9.54b; Enugu, N10.7b; Gombe, N8.95b; Nasarawa, N9.1b; Oyo, N13.31b; Kwara, N10.24b; Adamawa, N10.25b; Benue, N13.7b; , Ondo, N14.01b; Taraba, N9.32b; and FCT, N1.36b.
Spanish prosecutors said on Tuesday they had filed a claim against the Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho on two counts of tax fraud in 2011 and 2012, when he managed Real Madrid.Mourinho, who is Portuguese, owes the Spanish tax authorities 3.3 million euros (2.9m), a Madrid prosecutor said in a statement, adding it had presented a claim to a local court.Meanwhile, it has been confirmed Cristiano Ronaldo will testify in a case in which he is accused of hiding income from the tax authorities on 31 July, the Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial reported on Tuesday.The Spanish prosecutor claims the Real Madrid forward had knowingly used a business structure to allegedly hide his image rights income in Spain between 2011 and 2014.
ATLANTIC CITY -- Three New York City men were arrested after being caught with $1 million in fentanyl-laced heroin in an Atlantic City parking lot, authorities said.

Edwin Gomez, 31 and Steven Torres, 24, both of Brooklyn, and Steven Rodriguez, 22, of Queens, were planning to deliver 7.7 pounds of heroin to a location on the beach block of St. James Place when they were taken into custody about 1 p.m. on Thursday, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday.

From left: Steven Rodriguez, Edwin Gomez and Steven Torres.

Authorities learned that drug traffickers were shipping heroin from Mexico City to New York City, some of which was then delivered to Atlantic City, officials said.

The heroin was seized from the trunk of a car, officials said. It's valued at $300,000 if sold in bulk or about $1 million if cut, packaged and sold on the street, according to the attorney general's office.

All three men face charges of first-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute, second-degree conspiracy to distribute heroin and second-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute within 500 feet of the Atlantic City Boardwalk. They face decades in prison if convicted of all charges.

The investigation was led by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations with help from Atlantic City Task Force.

The Atlantic City Task force is led by a State Police sergeant and a Little Egg Harbor detective.

Jeff Goldman may be reached at jeff_goldman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JeffSGoldman. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
MAYS LANDING -- An Atlantic City man has been sentenced to 35 years in state prison in the 2012 fatal shooting of a 59-year-old man who became caught in the gunfire of multiple shooters outside a city apartment complex.

Rodney Smiley, who was sentenced on Friday, had been convicted by a jury on charges stemming from the fatal shooting of Jose Ortiz, an Atlantic City man, Atlantic County Prosecutor Cary Shill announced in a statement on Monday. Ortiz was caught in the gunfire while riding his bicycle outside of his home at the Stanley Holmes Village, authorities have said.

The jury had convicted Smiley on charges of second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, second-degree possession of a handgun by a convicted person and first-degree witness tampering, the prosecutor's office said.

He must serve at least 17-and-a-half years in prison before being eligible for parole, the statement said.

At a trial in September, a jury acquitted Smiley on charges that the death was a knowing and purposeful murder, the statement said. The jury also could not reach a verdict on the "lesser-included homicide counts, as well as conspiracy to commit murder."

A first-degree aggravated manslaughter charge against Smiley is still pending, according to the prosecutor's office.

Three individuals got out of a vehicle at the corner of C. Morris Cain Place and Kentucky Avenue, in Atlantic City -- firing as many as 30 shots across the playground at City Place outside the apartment complex, the prosecutor's office said.

The shooters returned to the vehicle, which was later found by authorities outside of a home. A search warrant of the vehicle ultimately led to the discovery of a handgun on which Smiley's DNA was found, the statement said.

The state had said during the trial that Smiley made admissions to a girlfriend that he was involved in the shooting, which the state said was "motivated by ongoing tensions between rival gang affiliations in the city."

Smiley, according to the prosecutor's office, then "threatened and assaulted the woman in an attempt to secure her silence."

Spencer Kent may be reached at skent@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @SpencerMKent. Find the Find NJ.com on Facebook.
UPDATE: 'Greedy' doc who took $200K in lab referral bribes gets 3 years in prison

NEWARK -- A federal judge on Tuesday is expected to decide whether a Bergen County physician gets prison or probation for taking approximately $200,000 in kickbacks from a now-defunct blood-testing lab.

Bernard Greenspan, 79, of Saddle Brook, is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge William H. Walls on 10 felony counts that include wire fraud and violations of federal anti-kickback laws.

He was convicted of taking bribes to refer patients to Bioadiagnostic Laboratory Services, which netted approximately $3 million in payments from Medicare and private insurers.

Greenspan, who was found guilty at trial in March, is one of 32 physicians convicted in what the U.S. Attorney's Office has said is the largest number of medical professionals ever prosecuted in a bribery case.

Since investigators uncovered the scheme in 2013, the Parsippany-based lab has pleaded guilty and was ordered to forfeit its remaining assets.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has said the wire fraud charges Greenspan was convicted of carry a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison, while the other offenses carry maximum potential sentences of five years.

Greenspan's defense attorney Alan Ellis wrote in a June 16 sentencing memorandum that federal prosecutors have asked Walls for a sentence of 78 to 97 months in prison, a period of incarceration he said would exceed the doctor's life expectancy by several years.

Instead, the defense has asked the Judge to impose a sentence of five years of probation, conditioned on one year in a halfway house followed by home confinement, with weekends spent in a local jail.

Sentencing memorandums are not typically added to the public court docket in the District of New Jersey, but the 251-page filing by the defense includes more than three dozen letters from Greenspan's patients, friends and colleagues attesting to his character.

It also includes a report from the Bureau of Prisons on aging, which Ellis indicated casts "significant doubt on the BOP's ability to provide even minimally appropriate care" for the Greenspan, who is dealing with multiple medical issues while serving as a caregiver for his wife and the family of one of his children.

While acknowledging physician's crimes, Ellis argued that "the seriousness of his offense conduct and his culpability hardly warrant a lengthy custodial sentence, let alone the highest sentence to be imposed to date on defendants in the instant conspiracy."

Greenspan's sentencing is scheduled for 10 a.m. at the Martin Luther King Building and U.S. Courthouse in Newark.

Thomas Moriarty may be reached at tmoriarty@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ThomasDMoriarty. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
MOUNT HOLLY TWP. -- A 20-year-old who was in a serious car crash in January 2015 received $1.2 million in a settlement earlier this month, according to the New Jersey Law Journal.

The journal reported that Dan Kelly was driving on New Road in Southampton when a driver pulled out of a driveway in front of him. Kelly's attorney told the journal Kelly swerved to avoid the vehicle, went off the road and hit a tree.

He suffered fractures to his pelvis, right femur, sternum and ribs, as well as a concussion. His attorney, John Borbi of Marlton, told the journal that his client needed six months of physical therapy and remains limited by his injuries.

The driver of the other vehicle, Michael Lembeck, identified by a witness who got his license plate number, maintains that he did not see Kelly and was totally unaware that Kelly crashed, the journal reported.

His attorney, J. Brooks DiDonato, argued that Kelly was fully healed and was seeking too much money in damages, Borbi told the publication.

The settlement has Lembeck paying the $1.2 million from Amica auto and umbrella insurance policies, according to the journal.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The top court had on May 18 ordered the release of Perarivalan, who had served over 30 years in jail.
CAMDEN -- A California man has pleaded guilty to stealing thousands of credit and debit cards from customers at 80 Michaels' stores across the country, including locations in New Jersey.

Angel Angulo, 27, of Riverside, Calif., pleaded guilty in Camden federal court Tuesday to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, Acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick announced in a release.

Authorities say in 2011, Angulo, California woman Crystal Banuelos, and others carried out a nationwide scheme, installing skimming devices on 88 electronic cash registers at 80 Michaels' stores in 19 states. The devices allowed the group to steal bank account information and Personal Identification Numbers, which they then used to get counterfeit bank cards and withdraw money from hundreds of compromised bank accounts, authorities said.

All together, officials say the group stole about 94,000 debit and credit card account numbers. By May 14, 2011, Angulo and Banuelos had 179 counterfeit cards from New Jersey, officials said.

Angulo faces up to 32 years in prison and $1 million fines when he is sentenced on Sept. 25. Banuelos previously pleaded guilty to the scheme, but has yet to be sentenced.

Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Twice winner of the Peace Prize

When the Nobel Committee rewarded the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) with the Nobel Prize a second time in 1981, the worlds refugee problem was still greater than ever before. Having been chiefly a European concern early in the 1950s, the issue had now become important to the third world, particularly Africa. That was where about half of the ten million refugees were for whom the UNHCR had a responsibility at the time.

Once again, the Nobel Committee adhered to the tradition going back to Fridtjof Nansen by which aid to refugees was defined as fundamental work for peace. The 1981 Prize recognized the UNHCRs great efforts to repatriate refugees in Asia, Africa and Latin America in the 1970s. At the same time, it was an expression of support for the United Nations and for the principles laid down in the international Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention). Its provisions gained special currency in the early 1980s owing to the harsh fate suffered by thousands of Vietnamese refugees in the South China Sea.

The UNHCR resolved to place the prize money in a fund for the benefit of functionally disabled refugees.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP)  Survivors of Hurricane Ian face a long emotional road to recover from one of the most damaging storms to hit the U.S. mainland. For those who lost everything to disaster, the anguish can be crushing to return home to find so much gone. Grief can run the gamut from frequent tears to utter despair. The Lee County medical examiner says two men in their 70s even took their own lives a day apart after viewing their losses. Experts say suicides climb after disasters and more funding for mental health should be provided as climate change makes storms and fires more frequent and devastating.
Once elected, members of the Public Service Commission typically have an easy time hanging onto their jobs. Voters dont know much about them or their work, and the only real money in the campaigns has traditionally come from utilities and others 
Welcome to nonleaguedaily.coms news provision, your go-to source for all non league updates, rumours, interviews, and much more besides.

Founded by a team with a genuine passion for the world of non league football, nonleaguedaily.com understands exactly what supporters of the so-called lower leagues are looking for. You want the high-quality reporting, in-depth analysis, and match reporting that matches that is more commonly found in the journalism for the top flights, but with the focus firmly fixed on the national leagues.

We understand that your passion, interest, and dedication is constant, and we believe you need a news service that matches that commitment with its own dedication and thoroughness  so thats what you can expect from our site.

The latest non league news, as and when it happens

Conventionally, non league news has always travelled fairly slowly, especially when compared to the instantaneous, constant breaking news cycles found in the upper leagues. Tales are told on terraces, rumours passed between pub patrons and circled between supporters at the latest game, often forced to remain somewhat local initially before word eventually spreads to other locales.

For us, this slow spread may be fairly organic in nature, but it simply isnt compatible with the modern football environment. Its also not conducive to the current fast-paced, always-available media landscape, nor the way that people tend to consume news nowadays. Thats why we have put together a non league news source that fans can turn to for the latest updates, as and when they happen, and as and when you want to read them. Non-league news now is the only acceptable speed at Betting.co.uk.

We update our non-league football news coverage constantly, bringing you all the latest developments and seeking to spread the word as quickly and accurately as possible. So if youre wondering whats happening both with your local team and with the lower leagues as a whole, you can visit us for non league news now, and be confident the stories you find are completely up to date.

News reported by passionate fans

Our efforts to bring you the very best non league football news are undeniably a professional concern, and one that we take seriously. We are  if youll excuse the uncharacteristic tooting of our own horns  good at what we do, and we know that the efforts we make in this regard are one of the reasons our site has enjoyed such success thus far.

However, everyone who writes for us also shares our readers enthusiasm for non league football. Were not just churning out content in the hopes of cashing in on a professional dream; were here because we want to be, and will always be dedicated and committed to non league football as an entity and thriving in the experience of being able to talk about our favourite subject whenever we can. We create non-league news now that is written by genuine fans and enthusiasts, for fans. We know what you want to know and what matters most to an ardent non league supporter, and we always ensure that focusing on these elements is our guiding principle as we seek to solidify our status as an online non league paper fans can always rely on.

When compiling non league news, we think with the mind of a fan first and foremost. We cover the angles and stories that we find compelling and that we know our fellow non league enthusiasts also care about. News doesnt have to be dry and formulaic, in our opinion. When its written by people who are genuinely as fascinated by the stories they are reporting on as their readership will be, we believe news can be interesting, compelling, and even have a sense of personality and humour.

News content written with passion and expertise

We believe that thanks to our dedication, insightfulness, and commitment to our subject matter of non league today, we are offering the best of both worlds to those searching for an online non league paper. We give you the professional approach we feel is appropriate for news about one of the most intriguing aspects of UK football; an aspect that we genuinely feel does not receive the interest and plaudits that it should be generating. Nevertheless, we dont let that professionalism take over everything we do: we remain committed fans, nurturing our own personal interest in non league football and ensuring every word we compose is infused with a sense of passion and dedication that enhances the posts we create.

Its therefore obvious that our non-league content today isnt ever going to be dry, basic, or put together by a tired staff writer who has never heard of any team below the Championship before they rush off to the pub for the evening. Our writers are genuine experts: were covering non league football because we want to, because we believe in it, and because its where our strengths lie. The result is informed content that capitalises on our deep knowledge of the history, as well as the present-day realities, of non league football in the UK.

Beyond news: the nonleaguedaily.com interview series

One of our goals with nonleaguedaily.com is to not just dryly report the news from an outsiders perspective, effectively regurgitating press releases that are devoid of genuinely illuminating information. We also go right to the source of the stories: the managers and club insiders who have direct experience, and often influence, on the sport and how it is managed.

We regularly conduct interviews as part of our news provision, asking the questions that are on everyones lips and providing the best possible view into the non league world. We have reporters pitchside at matches, microphone to hand and plentiful questions ready to be asked. The end result for you, the reader, is the kind of information and close-up looks into the non league world that just cant be found anywhere else.

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WASHINGTON  Many across Nebraska and Iowa are watching anxiously to see what Congress does on health care.

Those facing rising premiums in the individual marketplace  or the prospect of no options at all  are demanding action. Those who rely on the Affordable Care Act for coverage are worried what those changes might look like.

Susan Williams of Omaha, for example, says shes scared of what may come. Two of her three children have developmental disabilities. One son in particular has required a variety of services that would be at risk if Medicaid is cut.

Its so important to my sons continued growth, to his health and to our whole family, she said.

The legislation approved by the House includes Medicaid caps and a rollback of the Affordable Care Acts Medicaid expansion.

That would mean hundreds of billions less spent on Medicaid than under current law, reductions that help offset tax cuts that would particularly benefit wealthier Americans.

The legislation would result in 23 million more uninsured Americans by 2026, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

That bill was approved with the support of all five Republican House members from Nebraska and western Iowa. Supporters say the legislation is necessary to restore what is in some states a collapsing individual market. They also say that providing additional flexibility to states should produce lower premiums for many.

Its unclear whether the Senate will go along with the bill, particularly its cuts to Medicaid.

Senate Republicans have a standard response when asked about the merits of the House legislation.

Were looking at our own bill, Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., said repeatedly when asked about it recently.

But whats actually in that Senate legislation is anybodys guess at this point  despite reports that GOP leaders would like to vote on it before the upcoming July Fourth recess.

Senate Republicans have struggled to find consensus, and they can afford to lose only two of their own and still pass the bill.

Various news reports indicate the Senate version would reduce Medicaid spending more slowly than the House bill. Others have suggested it will feature a different approach to the tax credits that help individuals purchase insurance.

But good luck finding any of that on paper  even if youre a member of the Senate.

I dont have language, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, told reporters last week, even though shes been discussing the issue as part of an informal working group.

Even the parameters of that working group are unclear. There have been reports that the working group was all-male. But Ernst took issue with the way the group has been portrayed publicly, saying that all Senate Republicans have been welcome to stop by the groups meetings and offer input.

She was among 13 Republican senators  a quarter of the total GOP conference  who headed to the White House on Tuesday to meet with President Donald Trump for a health care discussion.

That meeting featured a productive discussion, she said, in which she shared with the president Iowas challenges with insurers fleeing the market.

Fischer and Ernst, like many of their Republican colleagues, both noted the importance of protecting people with pre-existing conditions and improving the affordability of health insurance, but neither offered any specifics on just how they might accomplish that.

Its a work in progress, Fischer said when asked for details.

Republicans have long criticized the process Democrats used for the Affordable Care Act and mocked then-Speaker Nancy Pelosis comment that lawmakers had to pass that bill to know what was in it.

But the ACA was the subject of numerous hearings and many months of intense public scrutiny before President Barack Obama actually signed it into law in March 2010. Democrats are now howling that Republicans are poised to bring a bill directly to the Senate floor, bypassing the committee process and passing it before the public has enough time to examine it.

Fischer said she has suggested to Republican leaders that they hold a hearing this week, but she doesnt believe it will happen.

Pressed on whether the process represents the kind of transparency Republicans have promised, she noted that Democrats made last-minute changes to whats become known as Obamacare.

She also said the current situation is unsustainable, with one insurer after another pulling out of the individual marketplace.

I think the public wants to see something happen, Fischer said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, was the top Republican on the Finance Committee in 2009 and acknowledged that the committee worked on ACA with bipartisan input that summer.

But he echoed Fischer when he noted that Democrats made some changes to the legislation right before it reached the Senate floor.

And he, too, cited the current situation as a reason for lawmakers to move as swiftly as possible, even if that means working behind closed doors.

Theres an urgency for Congress to act because the system is collapsing, he said.

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., made repealing and replacing the ACA the cornerstone of his campaign for office, casting himself as an expert who could lead the health care debate and make the case for GOP proposals.

But Sasse has kept a low profile this year, opting not to introduce any comprehensive repeal-and-replace legislation of his own or deliver major floor speeches on the subject. He was not among the senators who visited the White House last week.

Sasse spokesman James Wegmann provided a statement that offered no critique of the ongoing closed-door process and said the senator is involved in multiple health care groups and conversations with the administration and within the Senate.

Sen. Sasse is still focusing on the need for health insurance portability across job and geographic change, Wegmann said.

The big looming question is whether lawmakers will be able to get any legislation over the finish line and to President Trumps desk.

Asked whether theyll be able to do so, Grassley nodded to Republicans long-standing promise to repeal and replace the ACA.

I think, from a political standpoint, that we better deliver on our promises of the last seven years, he said, or just admit we failed.
The following editorial was published by the Des Moines Register on June 15:

Iowans are trying to understand the deaths of two teenage girls adopted from foster care. This state may certainly need statutory, policy and funding changes to improve the long-term safety of adopted children. Sorting through that falls primarily to a handful of child welfare experts and lawmakers.

The harder work of providing good homes for abused and neglected children falls to the rest of us. It is up to the people of this state to step up and commit to being foster and adoptive parents. That is our job.

Iowas child welfare system can only be as good as the families willing to open their homes to children. And Iowa does not have enough of these families.

There are now 750 children whose parents rights were terminated by courts and have not been adopted. Though many live with relatives, many seek to be adopted by forever families.

These include 9-year-old Cassie, who is looking for a home with a dog or cat. They include 12-year-old Ryan, who loves Boy Scouts but needs parents who can provide support with academics and behaviors. They include 16-year-old Zion, who says she wants a fun, affectionate family who will be active in her therapy and hold her accountable without yelling.

In a state of 3 million people, there should not be a single child waiting for an adult to offer a permanent home. And in a state with many retirees, empty nesters, active churches and generous people, it also should not be so difficult for social workers to find good families to temporarily care for children removed from unsafe environments.

But these families can be hard to find, even among the more than 2,200 licensed foster homes in this state.

Its really tough to get families, and its really easy to get the wrong families, said Sen. Matt McCoy, D-Des Moines.

Many foster parents may welcome an infant or toddler, but not a teenager. Families must be willing and able to transport kids to visits with biological parents, doctors appointments, therapists and court hearings. Ideally, homes would be located near a childs current school so that aspect of his or her life isnt also disrupted.

We need foster families willing to take sibling groups, older teens, kids with special needs and mental health issues, said Kelli Malone, a child welfare staffer with Four Oaks, an organization contracted with the state to recruit and train foster families. Many of the families she has worked with said they felt a calling to volunteer.

Foster care is a calling. Though families receive a monthly stipend, taking on the responsibility of a child you have never met is a public service. It requires a willingness to be part of the solution in a sometimes ugly world. It means upending your daily routine for kids who may arrive with few possessions and many bad experiences. It means having your heart broken when a child returns home, but remembering the primary goal is to reunify biological families.

And even as the publics attention is captivated by recent tragedies in a few adoptive families, thousands of other families are success stories. They helped children make emotional, physical and academic gains. They provided stability and safety. They worked with birth parents so families could be reunited. They adopted the children no one else wanted.

Lisa Clapp and her husband were living in Des Moines and already had two young children when they decided to become foster parents. She said it was just something they always wanted to do. They filled out the application and went through the licensing process, which includes fingerprinting, background checks, interviews, a home study and 10 weeks of training. Iowa requires more hours of training than many other states, and Clapp said it prepared them well.

The classes opened my eyes to how to deal with children who have been through traumatic issues, she said.

Months later, she was pregnant with their third child when a social worker called needing a foster home for an infant. The couple said yes. Then more and more calls came, including one from a worker seeking a home for a sibling group of nine. In the end, the Clapps adopted two children from foster care who are now 8 and 10 years old.

But where did the nine brothers and sisters end up? And where does a social worker turn when trying to keep children together? The worker needs as many options as possible to find the most appropriate home for each child.

That means Iowa needs as many good foster families as possible. This state can have them if more of us are willing to open our hearts and homes.

Foster parents provide care for a child while social workers work with the childs birth family to ensure the child can return to a safe environment.

Placement is frequently temporary. The goal is always and rightly to reunify families. In some cases, thats not possible and a judge terminates the biological parents legal rights to a child. Then he or she is legally free to be adopted.

Foster and adoptive families can be single, married, homeowners or renters. They come from all racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds and sexual orientations.

Iowans seeking a license to be foster parents are fingerprinted and subject to background checks (criminal, child abuse, sex offender charges, convictions or deferred judgments). If cleared to proceed, they attend 30 hours of training over 10 weeks and undergo a home study. They complete continuing education to maintain their license.
LAPORTE  Police in LaPorte are seeking to arrest a man and woman who are accused of running nude on some downtown rooftops.

It was a hair-raising experience for Gary Hyatte, who had just opened his barber shop June 15 when he heard noises above him.

Hyatte said he went outside and saw a naked man chasing a woman in a nightgown on his roof and the roofs of two adjacent buildings about two feet apart from each other.

"That was really bizarre," said Hyatte, the owner of Daniel's Barber Shop at Monroe Street and Jefferson Avenue.

Police said Monday that warrants are being sought to charge the pair with public nudity, a misdemeanor.

Hyatte said he heard the man tell the woman to "come back," and one of them was holding what appeared to be a liquor bottle.

According to the police report, the woman was naked and standing on the roof with the man when responding officers arrived.

They both took off again, jumping across a shingled roof before crawling through the window of a second-floor apartment, police said.

Police said officers knocked on the doors of each dwelling, but nobody answered.

Later, investigators found through a tenant that the man and woman had stayed the night in one of the apartments occupied by a friend.

Hyatte said he reported the incident to avoid damage to his roof from any future activities.

It will be up to prosecutors to determine whether to press charges, police said.
GARY  Two children were in their homes Monday night when they were seriously wounded in separate shootings on the city's West Side, police said.

A 9-year-old girl was eating dinner with her family inside their home when she was shot just after 5 p.m. in the 2100 block of Chase Street, Police Chief Larry McKinley said.

About four-and-a-half hours later, a 9-year-old boy was standing in the doorway to his home when he was wounded in a shooting in the 4300 block of West 19th Avenue in the Tarrytown area.

Both children were taken to a local hospital and later transferred to an Illinois hospital for further treatment. Both were in stable condition Tuesday, McKinley said.

Police said at a news conference Tuesday it's possible their records are inaccurate and the girl is 8 years old.

It was unknown whether the shootings, separated by just more than a mile, were related, McKinley said.

Witnesses reported seeing a silver or white Pontiac leaving the scene on Chase Street, Detective Sgt. Jon Basaldua said. A white Pontiac was seen leaving the scene on West 19th Avenue, he said.

The two vehicles could be the same, but "at this point we have no reason to believe that it is," Basaldua said.

The circumstances of each shooting remained under investigation, but police declined to describe either as a drive-by. A car was seen leaving each location, but it was unknown if they were involved in the shootings, officers said.

Evidence was recovered at both scenes, McKinley said.

The Police Department is outraged over the "senseless violence" against "innocent children" and will work to bring those responsible to justice, he said.

"We will actively seek them out," McKinley said.

The department is continuing to work with local, state and federal partners and is pressing forward with its Gary For Life initiative, he said.

Gary City Council President Ron Brewer said he contacted the Sheriff's Department and Indiana State Police to see if they can help with manpower. McKinley said criminal activity typically picks up in the summer and any extra patrols would help his department.

Lake County Councilman Jamal Washington said he has started working on how to fund extra patrols by the Sheriff's Department.

"One bad apple don't make everyone bad. We just got some bad apples that we got to address," Washington said. "At the end of the day, we're going to do everything we can to find the people that did this."

In a city news release, Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson said she planned to meet the children and their families at the hospital Tuesday.

I was saddened to hear about these senseless shootings in our community that have wounded and affected the lives of innocent children and their families," Freeman-Wilson said in the release. "...I am praying for a healthy recovery.

Chief McKinley said we will work with all available resources to apprehend the person or those responsible for these shootings. The shooting incidents are under investigation. Police urge anyone with information about these incidents to call the Police Department. Citizens may also call anonymously at 1-866-CRIME-GP; 1-866-274-6347.

In the meantime, Gary police plan to immediately step up patrols in the area.

Anyone with information about Monday's shootings is asked to call Gary Detective Sgt. William Fazekas or Detective Sgt. Jon Basaldua at 219-881-1210. To remain anonymous, call 866-CRIME-GP.
CHICAGO  The 21st annual Cinco de Mayo Senior Health and Resource Fair took place May 5, hosted by incoming Southeast Lions President Israel Hernandez, who is also chairman of the South Chicago Senior Coalition.

Hernandez, along with the Southeast Lions and other South Chicago Senior Coalition members, organized and hosted the fair at the Victory Center, 9233 S. Burley Ave. in the South Chicago neighborhood.

More than 180 participants received free information and services by 45 vendors and service providers.

Some of the providers included Advocate Trinity Hospital, South Shore Hospital, Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, Roseland Community Hospital and the Lions of Illinois Foundation hearing van. A total of 50 participants received free hearing tests, 16 had hearing loss, 34 did not.

Attendees had access to health tests and social and financial support services. Free lunches, gifts and raffles were part of the event.
CROWN POINT  A Lake Station tow truck owner may plead guilty in the federal bribery case against Lake County Sheriff John Buncich.

A U.S. District Court record of a pre-trial hearing Tuesday states an attorney for William Szarmach told a federal judge he anticipates the likelihood of a plea agreement.

The court record doesn't provide any details of what a potential deal between Szarmach and the U.S. Attorney would look like. Defense attorney Daniel M. Purdom, of Lisle, Illinois, who represents Szarmach, declined to comment on the matter.

Six months earlier, Timothy Downs, the sheriff's former second-in-command, pleaded guilty to collecting Buncich's bribes on public time under an agreement to cooperate with federal prosecutors in return for a lenient sentence.

Szarmach currently is pleading not guilty to bribery and wire fraud counts alleging he paid the sheriff thousands of dollars for more lucrative towing business. He currently faces a lengthy prison term.

The U.S. Attorney's office alleges Szarmach owns and operates CSA Towing, on the 2500 block of Lake Station's DeKalb Street, which was one of several firms the sheriff approved to tow vehicles from public streets and highways for county police.

A federal grand jury indicted Buncich, Szarmach and Downs on Nov. 18, 2016.

Senior U.S. District Court Judge James T. Moody held a hearing Tuesday for Buncich's and Szarmach's attorneys in preparation for a jury trial now scheduled to begin Aug. 7.

The court record indicates Buncich's attorneys stated they will go forward with the trial and present five to seven days of evidence in the sheriff's defense.

Buncich is pleading not guilty to allegations he solicited and received campaign contributions from towing firms seeking county business.

The court record indicates federal prosecutors estimate they will present five to seven days of evidence against the sheriff.
EAST CHICAGO  The city is ready to move on to another project at its marina as it puts the finishing touches on its dock replacement program.

The city has all but wrapped up the $4.7 million project that involved the installation of 150 new slips, which are already hosting boaters. There had been 285 slips at the marina previously, but city officials said only about 175 of those were actually being used the last few years.

The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority two years ago approved a $12.9 million grant for the second phase of the $35 million East Chicago Gateway project. About $4.5 million of that money went for the demolition, construction and installation of the slips that were put in last month. City funds paid for soft costs, such as design and engineering on the project.

Next Monday, Mayor Anthony Copeland and the East Chicago Port Authority will host a groundbreaking at 3301 Aldis Ave. for another project at the marina.

The Harborwalk project to be completed in two phases will use $3.5 million in RDA funding, according to city spokesman Steve Segura.

"We have been working hard to beautify our lakefront and this year we have stayed on course with construction," Copeland said in a prepared statement. "It is one thing to see the blueprints on paper, but it is truly humbling to see them in reality, and, within a few months, we will all experience a beautiful new Harborwalk to enjoy for generations to come."

Segura said the anticipated completion date of the Harborwalk project is around Labor Day.

The project will include removing and disposing of the existing concrete pavement, landscape and lighting. Workers will install new concrete footings, pavement and lighting, including a lighted handrail. There will also be a floating fountain, benches, structures to provide shade, furniture and landscaping.
CROWN POINT  On Monday, Lake County Criminal Court Judge Clarence Murray sentenced Anthony James Hood to a 40-year prison term for the fatal shooting of a 25-year-old mentally ill man in December 2012.

A jury on May 19 convicted the 22-year-old Portage man of voluntary manslaughter, which is punishable by 20 to 50 years in prison. Hood originally was charged with murder and murder in the perpetration of a robbery.

Richard Taylor, 25, was found dead on Dec. 17, 2012, in an alley near the 900 block of Aetna Street in Gary after being chased, beaten and shot by Hood and a co-defendant, according to court records. The victim had been standing outside a gas station when the pair randomly targeted him to rob, said Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Christopher Bruno.

Five of Taylors relatives including his mother, Patricia Gee, gave impassioned victim impact statements during the sentencing hearing.

Every day I have to pass that street where I found my son dead, Gee said. I have tried to find forgiveness (for Hood), but its hard. I feel like Im suffocating.

Myrtle Curry, the victims maternal grandmother, said, Richard was soft-spoken. He was my special-needs grandson  There is a hole in my heart because I will never dance again with Richard.

Defense attorney Adam Tavitas told the court that Hood is fortunate to have strong family support in his cousin, mother and grandparents. Hes working on his GED.

Tavitas asked Murray to sentence his client to 20 years in prison and 10 years of probation.

In asking for a 48-year sentence with the Indiana Department of Correction, Bruno said Hood showed disregard for the law.  He shoots (Taylor) and leaves him to die in the street. Thats a terrible way to die.

Addressing the court, Hood apologized to the judge and said he sends condolences to the family.  This has been a dramatic eye-opening experience.

Before passing a sentence, Murray said, This is one of the most senseless crimes I can recall.  This young man who was killed was someone very special. This destroys both families  the family of the victim and the defendants family.

Noting that the jury convicted Hood of manslaughter, the judge said, This was a slaughter.  I dont think Mr. Taylor had a chance once that gun was stuck in his face. He was pursued like an animal.

Murray suspended five years of the 40-year prison sentence so that Hood could be returned to society. Hood also receives 1,520 days of credit for the time he spent in Lake County Jail.

Hood said he will file an appeal.
PORTER  The Porter County Health Department shut down the Seven Peaks Waterpark Duneland in Porter for not having the proper permits and inspections, following a report of chemical burns suffered by at least two children.

Porter County Health Department administrator Keith Letta, reached at home by telephone Monday night, said the park opened last Thursday without the requisite permits, proper inspections and water sample, all of which are required.

According to its website, the water park is owned by Seven Peaks in Provo, Utah. Officials who answered the telephone said they were not authorized to make comment but to send an email. However, no one immediately responded to an email from The Times late Monday night.

Seven Peaks Duneland is the former Splash Down Dunes water park.

Letta said inspectors went to the water park and found several violations. He said the business opened without a chlorine feeder in operation.

"So apparently, they were chlorinating manually," he said. "Two kids have needed medical attention because of chemical burns. I got a call yesterday from the town of Porter's fire chief and he let me know about it. We also had calls from individuals today. I think those were the people whose children were injured. We know there were at least two children and there could have been more."

Letta said health department officials went over the requirements with the water park operators, and they had nothing on file before opening.

"They have been closed until further notice," he said. "They will be closed until they can pass the inspection and get their equipment up and running. Whenever you try to chlorinate manually, there's no way to know if you get the balance right. You either have too much chlorine or not enough. I do not know how serious the burns were that these children suffered."

Michelle George, of Union Township, who took her 10-year-old daughter to the water park on opening day, along with another couple who had their two children, said there was a "pretty pungent" odor around the kiddie area.

"It hurt your nose and burned the back of your throat," she said by telephone Monday night.

"There was nothing roped off and there were no signs up. It's hard not to get frustrated about this. We were in the wave pool but we decided to just rinse off and leave," she said.
* GARY  The Indiana State Police have arrested an attorney and charged her with felony theft.

State police say attorney Ruth Batey cashed a check for $80,000 that was intended for her client, but she kept the proceeds.

The investigation by Detective Gary Runde began in January, when the Gary Police Department asked Indiana State Police to investigate this case involving an alleged theft of money by Batey from two Gary police employees.

According to the probable cause affidavit, Batey represented Shane and Robin Bolde, both Gary police officers. Shane Bolde was in a traffic accident while on duty on March 23, 2014. They signed a power of attorney for Batey to represent them in the case, the affidavit states.

In July 2015, they discovered that Farm Bureau Insurance had sent a settlement check to them in the amount of $80,000 made payable to Shane and Robin Bolde, and to Ruth Batey as their attorney. The check to the couple was dated July 9, 2014. The check had been signed by Batey and was deposited into her Interest on Lawyer Trust Account (IOLTA), the affidavit states.

A second check issued by Farm Bureau General Insurance of Michigan in the amount of $8,750 was cashed and deposited into Batey's business account, the affidavit states. The affidavit said none of the money Batey received on behalf of the couple had been dispersed to the couple.

Batey, 46, of Gary, who practices law in Chicago, was taken to Lake County Jail in Crown Point and charged with Level 5 felony theft.

In a news release, Indiana State Police said it also was discovered Batey had a civil warrant. Batey was booked on a $20,000 bond plus an additional $500 bond on the civil warrant.

* The story and headline have been changed.
A Northwest Indiana man will attempt to run four hours straight on a treadmill to raise money for the Alzheimer's Association.

Paul Stofko, a fitness specialist at Wittenberg Village in Crown Point, will try the feat from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Friday at the retirement community's fitness center, 1200 Luther Drive.

He noted that after 99 minutes the treadmill automatically shuts down to cool off, giving him time for a bathroom break. Otherwise, he'll be running continuously.

"I'm an ultrarunner. I do long-distance runs. I'm preparing for a 100-miler in August," he said. "For me, it's in my head that I'll be getting a good training run in on Friday."

Stofko did a similar run for the American Heart Association in 2009. He is the founder of the Crazy Legs Race Series, which hosts unique races around the Region that often raise money for charity.

During Friday's run, he will be collecting donations for the Alzheimer's Association. People also can donate at alz.org/donate. June is Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.

"We work with a lot of dementia patients," Stofko said. "Hopefully this event brings a lot of new faces to the fitness center."

For more information, call 219-661-3364.
Police say a sexual encounter between three people led to a deadly stabbing in Park Slope.

Investigators say they found 20-year-old Manos Ikonomidis with a stab wound to his chest at an apartment building on 16th Street just after 4 a.m. Monday.

He was rushed to Methodist Hospital, where he died.

Police say the victim was involved in a sexual act with a woman and her boyfriend when a dispute broke out.

Sources tell NY1 the woman was upset and later contacted three people who killed the man.

Police are questioning the other man involved.

No arrests have been made.
Downtown travelers will have an extra reason to stop for a bite in Auburn this week.

The first Auburn Downtown Restaurant Week, designed to highlight fine and casual dining establishments throughout the area, began Sunday and runs through Saturday.

The weeklong event will feature specials and pre-set menus for lunch or dinner at nine eateries throughout downtown: Acre, Amsterdam Cafe, Ariccia Trattoria, Gigis Cupcakes, Hamiltons, Little Italy, Moes BBQ, Taco Mama, Taco Rita as well as Tiger Dining establishments.

Each eatery will offer specials exclusive to Restaurant Week, said Auburns Downtown Coordinator Jessica Kohn. Taco Rita will offer a honeydew melon margarita and Little Italy is featuring a cheeseburger pizza, for example. Fine dining restaurants are offering $30 three-course meals.

Those used to Moes BBQs famous no-sauce smoked wings will have a chance to try their honey barbecue wings, and Arricia will offer an arugula salad, grilled prawn scampi and zeppole dessert.

This is a great chance for people to try something new or even try a new restaurant, Kohn said, adding that the cost of the three-course meals could attract people who may not normally eat at the restaurants because it will be more affordable.

Though similar events have been held in larger metro areas, the event is the first of its kind in Auburn.

After she began as downtown coordinator in the spring, Kohn said she started brainstorming for new ways to draw people downtown. Though they had held a boutique crawl in the past, Kohn said Auburns culinary scene had never been highlighted in this way.

And rather than waiting for students to return in the fall, Kohn said they instead decided to use the slower summer months to target people who dont usually come downtown.

We thought this is the time of the year where theres not a ton of issues with parkingand we feel like these are the people who are going to say, Okay, well give it a shot, Kohn said.

Kohn encouraged those already downtown for other events, like Fathers Day, Spicers Musics Make Music Day and Bee Auburn, to join in celebrating Restaurant Week as well.

For more information about the event and details about specials, contact Kohn at auburnmerchants@gmail.com or visit the Downtown Merchants Facebook at www.facebook.com/DowntownAuburnAL.
Winkelmann Group, a German-based manufacturer serving the aerospace industry and others, soon will begin production at its first United States production facility in the Auburn Industrial Park.

The company plans to invest $12 million to establish the metal-forming plant and expects to create approximately 50 jobs over the next five years, according to a city of Auburn release.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and Winkelmann Group CEO Heinrich Winkelmann announced the new location, called Winkelmann Flowform Technology LP, in France at the Paris Air Show on Monday.

As we declare to the world that Alabama is open for business, we welcome Winkelmann to our family of aerospace and defense-related companies in Alabama, Ivey said in the release.

Equipment installation has begun at 229 Teague Court, the former site of Cumberland Plastic Systems, in Auburn. Production is expected to begin in about two to three months, according to Arndt Siepmann, industrial development director for Auburns Economic Development Department.

Winkelmann Group is a fourth-generation German company that has three divisions: automotive, building and industry, and flowforming, which is a metal-forming technique. The company has more than 45 years of experience in the space flight and aviation business.

The Auburn site will use the companys flowform technology that primarily builds high-precision, high-strength, thin wall roto-symmetrical parts from various metals, according to the release.

With the North America operation, my team will be able to better serve the aerospace and defense industry, as well as the commercial automotive and oil and gas industry in the U.S., CEO Heinrich Winkelmann said in the release. Our flow-forming engineering and manufacturing knowhow combined with the one-of-a-kind machinery equipment installed at our Auburn facility creates solutions for our customers who demand and deserve only the highest quality.

Aerospace, defense and petroleum materials created at the plant likely will be delivered throughout the U.S. from the plant while automotive materials could remain in the Southeast, Siepmann said.

The company is truly technology-based and will bring high-paying jobs for well-trained people to the area, supporting the local economy, Siepmann said. The companys advanced technology also positions it for sustainable, long-term growth in Auburn, said Alabama Department of Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield on Monday.

Since Winkelmann is a recognized leader in innovation and manufacturing, its choice of Auburn represents a powerful endorsement of the citys advantages for business, Canfield said.

One of these advantages is Auburn Universitys engineering school, which provides a talent pipeline for companies like Winkelmann along with advantages for students, Canfield said.

The Auburn plant will add to Winkelmann Groups more than 4,000 employees and 26 independent business units worldwide.

"The announcement today is great news for Auburn, Mayor Bill Ham said in the release. I am extremely grateful for the support weve received from the state of Alabama, and Im proud to welcome Winkelmann to the Auburn family."
Olga Fleming

Olga Fleming, executive vice president of Cohn & Wolfe Group subsidiary Y&R PR, has been promoted to the role of chief executive officer.

Fleming has held the executive VP title since Y&Rs inception in 2013. She was previously executive VP and managing director of Cohn & Wolfes New York healthcare practice. Prior to that, she was a senior counselor at Chandler Chiccos Biosector 2 unit and a senior VP at Fleishman-Hillards CPR Worldwide, where she managed NY and London teams. Earlier in her career, she was a VP at Weber Shandwick.

Fleming will be based in New York and will continue reporting to C&W CEO Donna Imperato.
New York-based travel and lifestyle agency Quinn has planted its flag on the west coast with the addition of a new office in Los Angeles.

The agencys new downtown LA digs, which is located in the WeWork Fine Arts Building, officially opened in May.

Sandra Hurtado

The LA outpost will be led by senior VP Sandra Hurtado, who joined Quinns New York office in 2012 after repping real estate, architecture and design clients at Miami-based shop Zakarin Martinez Public Relations.

Quinn president Florence Quinn told ODwyers that the agencys success in Miami, which broke ground less than five years ago with one person and now staffs a dozen, gave the firm the confidence to try its hand in the Los Angeles market.

From an economic standpoint it helped that we already have clients in LA and California as well as Hawaii. When Sandra said she would move from Quinn NYC to open Quinn LA it was a go, Quinn said. There is tremendous growth in LA in the hotel and real estate sectors, two of our sweet spots, and a general need for PR firms with multiple offices as the world continues to shrink.

Quinn told ODwyers that the agencys LAs portfolio already includes architect Ma Yansong and private jet company XOJET, as well as several Hawaii-based hotel and restaurant brands.

Quinn, which maintains additional offices in New York and Miami, is one of the top 50 firms in the U.S. with $8.4 million in net fees last year, revealing 15.8 percent growth from the year prior.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has recruited Mer Security and Communications Systems for counsel on US policy and political concerns regarding African security issues.

Under the one-year contract, Israel-based Mer will work with a special envoy from the DRC related to engagement in bilateral diplomacy with the US.

Mer's team is responsible for generating interest and the participation of senior level Administration officials and policymakers in key Congressional committees, according to its engagement letter with the DRC.

The firm describes its overall goal in the DRC as promoting peace, stability and prosperity for the Congolese people.

Mer is a unit of the Mer Group, which has interests in telecommunications, security and cleantech businesses.

Omer Laviv is chairman.
Cassidy & Assocs. has recruited Chad Sydnor, a senior defense policy aide to Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), to bolster its defense and infrastructure businesses.

Chad Sydnor

The Army veteran, who rose to the rank of Captain, served as battalion intelligence officer and company commander. He continues to serve in the Reserve as an Apache helicopter aviation officer.

Sydnor, who was an assistant DA in Raleigh before joining the military, moved to Capitol Hill in 2011.

Prior to working as Burr's military legislative assistant, Sydnor was a staffer for Sen. John Boozman (R-AR) and Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC).

Cassidy CEO Kai Anderson said Sydnor's legal background, defense policy expertise and Army/National Guard experience will help develop effective strategies and deliver results for clients.

Barry Rhoads, Cassidy chairman, former Army officer who served as war crimes prosecutor during the first Gulf War and deputy general counsel for the Dept. of Defense Base Realignment & Closure Commission, is responsible for the Interpublic unit's defense business.
Agricultural News

R-CALF USA and Cattle Producers of Washington File Suit Against USDA to Require COOL Labeling

The Ranchers-Cattlemen Legal Action Fund, United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) and Cattle Producers of Washington (CPoW) have filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Washington Monday against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The suit alleges that USDA regulations that allow beef and pork to be classified as "domestic products," even when those meat products are imported from other countries, confuse consumers and harm American farmers.







Public Justice and the Terrell Marshall Law Group filed the complaint, arguing that the USDA regulations violate the text of the Meat Inspection Act. The Act requires that the more than 800 million pounds of beef born, raised and slaughtered annually in other countries and then imported to the United States should include labeling indicating the meat's country of origin.







Under current USDA rules, however, multinational companies can sell meat raised and slaughtered abroad with a "Product of USA" label alongside truly domestic products raised by U.S. ranchers. Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL), when properly implemented, helps cut through this labeling confusion and allows customers to select domestic goods, if they prefer, which in turn rewards producers who work within domestic laws and regulations.







In addition to the regulatory changes this suit demands, COOL is also expected to be an issue in the NAFTA re-negotiations President Trump has told Congress he plans to undertake. NAFTA currently restricts labeling on imported live cattle and hogs from Canada and Mexico, even though more than 90 percent of consumers say they want to know whether the meat they eat was born, raised, or slaughtered abroad.







"Consumers understandably want to know where their food comes from, and proper labeling would not only allow consumers to make informed choices at the market, but would also be a boon for American farmers," said David Muraskin, a Food Safety and Health Attorney at Public Justice. "With this suit, we're fighting policies that put multinational corporations ahead of domestic producers and shroud the origins of our food supply in secrecy."







"The current Administration has talked a lot about supporting U.S. workers and creating U.S. jobs. Its policy on meat labeling, however, gives multinational companies an unfair advantage over ranchers whose products are raised and slaughtered here at home," said Beth Terrell of Terrell Marshall Law Group. "The USDA should return to common sense labeling that gives consumers truthful information and U.S. ranchers a fair shake in the marketplace. Farmers and families should both be able to expect the U.S. government will be on their side."







The USDA previously required Country-of-Origin Labeling, even acknowledging that the policy corrected the conflict between its rules and the requirements of the Meat Inspection Act. However, in 2016, it reverted to its previous regulations, allowing imported meat to be passed off as domestic products. When COOL is not properly applied to imported meat and livestock, domestic ranchers and farmers tend to receive lower prices for their meat because multinational companies can import meat and misleadingly present it as homegrown, rather than paying domestic producers for their products.







"Transnational beef packers are supplanting U.S. beef production with imported beef, including from countries with questionable food safety practices," said Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA. "Unfortunately, our U.S. Department of Agriculture is helping them by making sure consumers cannot distinguish imported beef from USA beef. This is harming America's farmers and ranchers and is not what Congress intended. We hope our lawsuit helps U.S. consumers choose to buy American beef."







Scott Nielson, president of CPoW, echoed that sentiment: "Cattle Producers of Washington proudly raise a safe wholesome product under the rules and regulations required by our lawmakers. We should not be forced to compete with beef from other countries that do not have the same health and safety standards without the ability to allow the American consumer to make an informed decision about what they are feeding their families."







Source - R-CALF USA













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OK Wheat Commission Hosts Chilean Trade Team - Ron Hays Talks to Tour Leader Casey Chumrau

The Oklahoma Wheat Commission hosted a trade delegation from Chile this week, touring a total of four millers and wheat buyers from the South American nation around several Oklahoma grain companies, speaking with producers and industry leaders along the way. The people in this group represent some of the largest milling companies in Chile, and make up approximately 65% of the total import business into that country. During their visit, Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays sat down with Casey Chumrau of the US Wheat Associates Santiago, Chile office, who is accompanying the group on this tour. To listen to their full conversation, you can click or tap the LISTEN BAR located at the bottom of this story.





Chumrau began her career with US Wheat six years ago in the Washington, DC office. In 2015, she moved to Santiago to serve as marketing manager for South America, covering six countries there, including Chile, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil and Columbia. When it comes to Chile, though, Chumrau says their buying needs are tremendous.





"They are an enormous bread consumer," she said. "They are the third largest bread consumer per capita in the world."





While the country is only home to about 17 million people, they still consume on average 95 kilos of bread per person. According to Chumrau, most of Chile's flour purchases are used to make bread, but she says they have robust pasta production as well. Additionally, the cracker and cookie segment is picking up pace as well.





"Principally, they are an all-purpose bread flour wheat consumer," she said. "So, that would be a HRW from the United States, but they also, of course, do blend. They're a very sophisticated, very mature market."





The US Wheat Associates hosts trade group tours each year, rotating from country to country in each region, each year. Chumrau says this practice is vital to maintaining the US wheat industry's relationship with foreign buyers.





"Not only is it educating them on our system," Chumrau remarked, "it gives them confidence in our system - they see along the way how standardized it is. But, I think it also gives them a bit of extra sentimental value where they can connect with the farmer and our industry, so hopefully they have sort of a good, warm feeling when they go to buy their wheat."





Learn more about Chile and its wheat consumption habits, by listening to Hays and Chumrau speak more in-depth about this week's visit from Chile's trade delegation - click or tap the LISTEN BAR below.





















Listen to Hays and Chumrau discuss how the US Wheat Associates is working to meet Chile's needs

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Earlier this month, former First Lady Laura Bush spoke at the dedication of the $7 million National Willa Cather Center in Red Cloud, Nebraska.

Late in March, this community of 1,000 broke ground on a 7,200 square-foot, multi-million-dollar early childhood development center.

In between these two events, two young couples opened On the Brix, a cool wine-tasting, art gallery, performing arts-kind-of-place, located on historic Webster Street. Its slogan, When you support small business, youre supporting a dream, could be changed up a bit for this series: When you support small towns, you support big dreams.

Of course, big dreams dont materialize out of thin air. Community success is highly reliant on patience, trust, and usually, a good deal of charitable investment.

The new vitality we see in Red Cloud has been incubating for more than 20 years. It is the result of determined visionary leaders and hard-working followers. People who were willing to face the music and dance when confronted with great opportunity.

One such opportunity presented itself in the spring of 2001. The Red Cloud Community Foundation Fund had been working on community improvement for just over five years when two former residents, Frank and Shirley (Whitaker) Sibert presented their hometown with a challenge. If Red Cloud could raise $100,000 for its unrestricted endowment within four years, they would match that amount dollar for dollar. Frank Sibert was on the board of Nebraska Community Foundation at the time, and he fully understood the importance and the power of a permanent community endowment.

The community foundation can do so much for Red Cloud in the way of making it possible to invest in the future, Frank Sibert said at the time.

Within a year, the community had surpassed its goal, thanks to a major estate gift from another former resident, Lyndall Harris, and contributions from dozens of individuals, families and businesses.

Sibert was right about investing in the future. By the time the Red Cloud Community Foundation Fund was celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2010, it had provided matching grants to nearly every imaginable charitable cause in town. Importantly, it was also leading an economic development effort to nurture leadership development, youth engagement, entrepreneurship and philanthropy.

Facilitated by Nebraska Community Foundation, volunteer task forces adopted NCFs asset-based approach to community development, which builds on community strengths rather than focusing on needs.

NCFs theory lays out the premise that we cant stem population loss and economic decline by focusing on what we lack. When a diverse group of Red Cloud community leaders, young and old, internalized this attitude of optimism, positive change sped up.

A road trip proved to be an inspiration. A group of Red Cloud Fund advisors visited Imperial, Nebraska (pop. 1,982 at the time), where another NCF affiliated fund community was experiencing an increasing number of younger adults moving back.

They took special note of the child care center recently added to the nursing home and assisted living unit. They visited with a high school entrepreneur who planned to expand his hydroponic tomato business and hand it over to his family before going off to college. They also heard from a young man who returned to Imperial to take over the family auto dealership.

The message they took away was this: it requires a whole community working together to make growth possible, but first, you must have a vision people can relate to, and a plan they will agree to.

In 2012, the people of Red Cloud came together for an important community-wide gathering. Assisted by Nebraska Community Foundation, the citizens articulated their vision for the future:

Red Cloud is a growing community where people respect and preserve our heritage and have access to opportunities for life-long learning and diverse recreational and cultural activities; where public services support our quality of life and people take pride in and have a positive attitude about our hometown.

It was a tall order. The people who had boldly expressed their dreams knew they would need partners from within and outside their community. With the help of Nebraska Community Foundation, the Red Cloud Community Foundation Fund advisors and a group of other committed citizens drew up an action plan, and settled on two key priorities: heritage tourism and quality child care.

Red Cloud possesses a world-class cultural asset: the childhood home of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Willa Cather and the nations largest collection of historic sites that are dedicated to a single American author. About 10,000 tourists visit the attractions each year. What if 10 percent of these visitors spent a weekend instead of a day?

The potential had always been there, but it required time, trust and charitable investment to put a plan and the people in place to capitalize on it. Fortunately, Red Cloud had an unrestricted endowment to provide financial support to explore this opportunity.

The Fund financed a study that pointed to heritage tourism as a significant economic development strategy. The study found that tourism could have a $3.5 million economic impact if steps were taken to greatly expand visitor attraction and services.

The first step called for the hiring of a heritage tourism development director. That would require a collaborative and guaranteed funding resource, and that is where the value of the Funds affiliation with NCF became especially apparent.

Three family members were in the process of selling their shares in the Peoples Webster County Bank of Red Cloud. NCF showed them the tax advantages of establishing donor-advised funds, rather than first selling the bank shares and then donating part of the profits to various community organizations.

The donor-advised funds contributed a combined $500,000 to the Red Cloud Community Foundation Fund for heritage tourism. The Fund, the Chamber of Commerce, the Willa Cather Foundation, and the City of Red Cloud now have a collaborative agreement to fund a heritage tourism director and support staff several years going forward.

In 2015 the Willa Cather Foundation hired native son, Jarrod McCartney, who returned to his hometown as Red Clouds heritage tourism development director. One of Jarrods first moves was to join Red Clouds Fund Advisory Committee.

By developing more diverse opportunities for tourism, Red Cloud has the potential to generate millions of dollars in economic impact each year and dozens of new jobs. But in a town with extremely limited child care options, would employers be able to fill those jobs?

When Red Cloud first identified child care as a development priority, many people may not have envisioned a program as sophisticated as The Valley Child Development Center, scheduled to open later this year.

Nebraska Community Foundation encourages volunteer leaders to think beyond bricks and mortar. Communities know how to raise money to build buildings, but it takes real leadership to commit significant resources to high-quality programming. The $3.5 million investment in the center includes a $1.5 million endowment.

Dennis Hansen, Red Cloud Community Foundation chair explains, We can build a beautiful building, but if we dont have a quality program operating inside, were missing the target. Thanks to generous donors, were getting the help we need to ensure high quality in our operations. And of course, a robust endowment will help guarantee that funding will be in place to keep that quality affordable.

Due to the quality we are striving to attain, the Center will create approximately 10 to 12 good paying jobs, said Ashley Armstrong, secretary of the Red Cloud Community Foundation Fund.

Well use the Child Care Subsidy Program to enable families of all income levels to benefit from its services. Due to regular child assessments, referrals to appropriate interventions can be made at an earlier time, before the child even enters our school district's preschool program. With reliable and affordable child care, employees will miss fewer days of work, making employers more satisfied. I think Red Cloud will be an even more attractive small town to newcomers with high-quality childcare in place. It has the potential to strengthen our school district and stabilize our town's population, Armstrong said.

Red Cloud is successfully addressing its two key development priorities. Now, like their peers in Imperial, whom they visited a few years ago, leaders in Red Cloud are called upon to share their experience and the lessons theyve learned with other hometowns seeking pathways to positive change.

Today, the Fund has more than $1 million in assets with more than $362,000 in endowment, which will grow into perpetuity. Over $2.65 million has now been reinvested in Red Cloud, its facilities, programs and people since 1999. About half of those investments have occurred in just the past year.

Small-town success stories dont just happen, and they are constantly being rewritten. The Red Cloud Community Foundation Fund is focused on building its unrestricted endowment so that future leaders will have the resources and the flexibility to invest in opportunities we cannot even imagine today.

On June 8 and 9, Nebraska Community Foundations board of directors met for its quarterly meeting in Red Cloud to witness the progress. Joining NCF board members were Frank and Shirley Sibert, the couple who issued a challenge grant to their hometown years ago, and who have followed with significant gifts through the years, including a major gift for extensive renovation of the public library.

Sibert spoke at the library and heaped praise on its board members and volunteers who worked tirelessly to raise the funds for the reconstruction project. Shirley and I grew up in Red Cloud. This is where we learned lessons and gained values that have stayed with us all our lives, Sibert said.

Were so proud to be able to give back to our hometown, and to be standing here in this beautiful library where my mother was librarian for many years. Were just happy that so many people have pulled together to make a truly promising future for our hometown.
GRAND ISLAND, Neb.  The Conestoga Mall has been sold by J. Herzog & Sons of Colorado to Namdar Realty Group of New York.

Both companies are privately owned real estate investment and management firms.

The New York company also owns Mall of the Bluffs in Council Bluffs, which it bought in 2013 for $8.5 million.

Conestoga Mall is a 611,719-square-foot enclosed retail center anchored by Dillards, Sears, J.C. Penney and Younkers. It was built in 1974 by Ericson Development of Edina, Minnesota, which sold it to J. Herzog & Sons in 2003.

Under its ownership and management, J. Herzog & Sons renovated the mall, which reported a 91 percent occupancy rate in recent years. J. Herzog & Sons also added a number of new national retailers, including Best Buy and Joann fabric and craft store, along with expanding the movie theater, now owned by AMC.

Namdar Realty Group is a privately held investment and management firm owned by Igal Namdar. Since 2000, the company has invested in more than 2 million square feet in commercial real estate in the United States.

World-Herald staff writer Paige Yowell contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The White House plans to privately negotiate a massive overhaul of the tax system with Republican leaders in Congress, possibly giving rank-and-file members little if any say over the finished product, a top aide to President Donald Trump said Tuesday.

Gary Cohn, Trumps top economic aide, said the administration doesnt want to engage in prolonged negotiations after the package is made public this fall.

Cohn said the goal is to release the overhaul in the first two weeks of September.

We dont want to be negotiating the tax bill on the floor, Cohn said at a meeting of technology executives.

This type of top-down approach has a sketchy record on Capitol Hill, especially on issues as difficult to maneuver as the first remake of the nations tax code in 31 years.

Such an approach would come as Senate Republicans have been widely criticized for crafting a health care bill behind closed doors, with even some in the GOP complaining about the secretive process.

Even if the White House were to forge an agreement among congressional leaders, the resulting package would still need to get buy-in from rank-and-file members, said Rohit Kumar, a former tax counsel to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Lets not talk about why we cant do something. Lets talk about how fantastic things will be if we get this done, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told the National Association of Manufacturers on Tuesday. Lets not talk about this little tax break or that little tax break. Lets talk about the big picture.

In April, the administration unveiled a one-page proposal that called for massive tax cuts for businesses and a bigger standard tax deduction for middle-income families, lower investment taxes for the wealthy and an end to the federal estate tax for the super-rich.

The plan also calls for eliminating the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a proposal opposed by Democrats and some Republicans in states such as New York, New Jersey and California.

Ryan said he is confident that Congress can pass a tax package by the end of the year, despite political divisions among Republicans and a crowded legislative agenda in Congress.

He acknowledged that it wont be easy. But he preached against settling for something less than a complete overhaul of the tax system.

A growing number of Republicans say they would rather just cut taxes than take on the difficult task of simplifying the tax code, which would include eliminating many tax breaks to finance lower overall tax rates.

We will not wait for a path free of obstacles because it does not exist, Ryan said. And we will not cast about for quick fixes and half-measures. Transformational tax reform can be done, and we are moving forward. Full speed ahead.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosis office released a statement calling Ryans remarks minor platitudes for hardworking Americans, short on specifics.

It has been about a year since Ryan and other House Republicans released a blueprint for how they would overhaul the tax code.

Tuesday, Ryan didnt provide any additional information about his tax plan or the state of negotiations among White House officials and Republican leaders in Congress.

One area of disagreement is Ryans support for a new tax on imports to help finance a lower overall tax rate for corporations and to encourage U.S. companies to stay in the United States.

The tax, however, has no support in the Senate and is vigorously opposed by retailers that worry it will increase the cost of consumer goods.

Congressional Republicans are planning to pass a tax package under a procedure in which they need only a simple majority in the Senate  preventing Democrats from blocking it. Under the procedure, the tax package cannot add to long-term budget deficits.

That means for every tax cut, there has to be a spending cut or tax increase, at least over the long term.

Vice President Mike Pence, who addressed the manufacturers before Ryan, promised the largest tax cut since the days of Ronald Reagan.

Well cut taxes across the board for working families, small businesses and family farms. Well simplify the tax code by cutting seven brackets down to three, Pence said.

Well eliminate the alternative minimum tax, end almost every deduction, and under President Donald Trump well repeal the death tax once and for all.
A 39-year-old Omaha man was arrested Tuesday morning in the Ponca Hills area in connection with possible mail thefts and an attempted vehicle theft.

Douglas County sheriffs deputies were dispatched about 6:45 a.m. to the area near U.S. Highway 75 and Ponca Road, just north of Interstate 680.

Callers had spotted a man, who was driving a white sedan, rummaging through mailboxes, the Sheriffs Office said.

Deputies determined that the man had crashed his vehicle in a nearby ditch and attempted to steal an occupied vehicle.

The victim in the attempted robbery reported that the man entered the passenger door of his pickup truck and tried to push him out of the vehicle. The man then jumped onto the drivers lap and attempted to step on the accelerator of the vehicle to elude deputies, the Sheriffs Office said. The man then ran from the vehicle and he was captured after a short chase.

During a struggle with deputies, the man was shocked with a Taser and taken into custody, the Sheriffs Office said. A rescue squad was dispatched to the scene, but the man was not taken to a hospital, Douglas County 911 dispatchers said.

The mans white sedan contained mail belonging to residents of northern Douglas County and Omaha, deputies said.

The man was booked on suspicion of attempted robbery, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest, the Sheriffs Office said.

During the past two months, the Sheriffs Office said it has received similar reports of possible mail thefts, with the vehicle involved matching the description of the mans white sedan.
A University of Nebraska-Lincoln music faculty member received pretrial diversion this week in a case allegedly involving possession of steroids.

Jeffrey McCray, 43, faced multiple counts in the matter.

It is not dismissed, Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said Tuesday. Its pending while in diversion.

Kelly said pretrial diversion typically entails community service and mental health therapy or addiction counseling, but he wasnt certain exactly what McCrays requirements would be. Diversion can last a year or considerably longer, Kelly said.

Law enforcement officers allegedly found syringes, paperwork and other items during inspections of McCrays trash last year.

McCray later allegedly turned over many vials of suspected steroids and many syringes for the injection of steroids.

Teresa Paulsen, a UNL spokeswoman, said in an email that McCray continues to be employed by UNL. He has no direct contact with students and is only on campus occasionally, in a limited and supervised capacity, Paulsen said.
A 44-year-old man died Monday night after he and another man were shot during a disturbance near 18th and Washington Streets in South Omaha.

Jason M. Davis was taken to the Nebraska Medical Center in critical condition with CPR in progress. He later died at the hospital. Justin M. Huskey, 30, was taken to the hospital in critical condition. A hospital spokesman said Tuesday that he could not provide an update on Huskey's condition.

Officers were called to 6114 S. 18th St. about 9:30 p.m. to investigate a disturbance. While en route, they were informed that Huskey had arrived at a fire station at 25th and L Streets.

Officers arriving at 18th and Washington Streets located Davis with a gunshot injury.

Police are searching for two men in their late teens or early 20s. Witnesses told police the pair left the scene in a newer white Cadillac sedan with shiny wheels.

Anyone with information about the shooting is urged to call the Omaha Police Department Homicide Unit at 402-444-5656 or Omaha Crime Stoppers at 402-444-STOP. Tips also can be sent to www.omahacrimestoppers.org,

People who provide information that leads to an arrest in a homicide are eligible for a cash reward of $25,000.

Stay with Omaha.com for more on this developing story.
Tuition will rise this fall at many Nebraska and Iowa private colleges, but some schools have devised unusual ways to compete for students.

The College of St. Mary, for instance, has dropped its sticker price by $10,000  a 33 percent decline  while Drake University will raise tuition for incoming freshmen by 11 percent but will lock the price in for those students for the next few years.

College and university officials describe this as an ultra-competitive period in higher education. The number of high school graduates has leveled off nationwide, and many colleges are competing for the same students.

Status quos no longer good enough, said Sarah Kottich, vice president of finance and administrative services at the College of St. Mary. Students also can compare prices more easily on the Internet, Kottich said.

David Drozd, research coordinator of the University of Nebraska at Omahas Center for Public Affairs Research, said the states projected population of 18-year-olds will go up somewhat over the next few years.

However, almost all of the growth will be among minority population groups, who enroll in college at lower rates than whites, Drozd said.

A look at 15 private colleges in Nebraska shows tuition rates rising anywhere from 2 percent at Nebraska Christian College in Papillion to 9 percent at Concordia University in Seward, Nebraska.

The exception in the bunch is the College of St. Mary in Omaha, which decided to drop the sticker price for a years tuition this coming school year from $29,954 to $19,950.

The college reasoned that a sticker price of $30,000 or more would scare off some potential students. Further, most students at private schools receive huge discounts, scholarships and other aid, and the sticker price gives an inaccurate picture of what students will actually pay at the College of St. Mary and other private schools.

Kottich said students at her college also are paying a lower actual price than they did before.

Kottich said the drastic sticker-price reduction appears to be working. Applications and deposits at the College of St. Mary are up by 15 percent over any of the past three years, she said.

Drake University in Des Moines took a completely different approach.

Drake raised tuition for incoming freshmen by 11 percent for 2017-18 and by 3 percent for returning students. But the freshmen will have their rate locked in for the next four or five years.

Drake President Marty Martin said prospective students didnt like the uncertainty of ever-rising tuition rates.

They were saying, That is very difficult to plan for. Is there a way to avoid that?  He said freezing tuition at one rate for incoming freshmen was the cleanest, clearest way to help them plan. And, Martin said, it will save those students several thousand dollars over the long run compared to coming in at a lower rate but facing annual tuition hikes of about 4.5 percent.

Concordia University had another reason for raising tuition. The school in Seward increased tuition 9 percent to $30,400 for 2017-18 in part because the institution believed its previous sticker price didnt reflect Concordias excellence, said Scott Seevers, the universitys vice president for enrollment and marketing.

Further, Concordia will give more financial aid after the boost in tuition, and the assistance will be commensurate with that of similar institutions, such as Hastings College, Doane University and Midland University, he said. That, too, keeps Concordia competitive.

Paul Hassen of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities said fairly flat numbers of prospective students mean colleges are battling harder to boost enrollments.

Some of the same forces are also working on public colleges and universities, Hassen said.

The University of Nebraska system this month set its tuition increase for resident undergrads at 5.4 percent, and the Nebraska State College System (representing Wayne, Peru and Chadron State Colleges) raised resident undergraduate tuition last week by 7.5 percent.

Unlike public colleges, private schools generally charge the same amount for in-state students as they do for those from out of state.

Public colleges usually have much lower sticker prices than private colleges because of the public money they receive. The University of Nebraska-Lincolns sticker price for tuition for a full-time student in the 2017-18 school year is about $7,125. At private Doane University, for example, the sticker rate will be $31,450.

Marcus Manley of Louisville, Nebraska, who will be a senior at Doane in August, said theres a misconception that private colleges are so expensive that only rich white kids can afford to attend. With the amount of financial aid he receives at Doane and the jobs he works, he doesnt expect to have any more student debt than he would have had if he had gone to a public university. But Manley, who is double majoring in Spanish and international studies, isnt sure what that amount will be.

Regardless, he said, The education Im getting is well worth it.

Grace University in Omaha cut salaries across the board by 10 percent last year. The university was able to keep its tuition increase at 4.9 percent for next school year.

Changes are coming for Grace.

I think we have to get creative, said Bill Bauhard, CEO of Grace.

The school is moving from Omaha to the former Dana College campus in Blair in 2018.
Tracy Casady said Monday that shes excited and ready to take her seat on the Omaha school board.

Board members voted 7-1 to appoint Casady to the seat vacated by the election of Vinny Palermo to the Omaha City Council.

Im going to bring a positive attitude and a willingness to dive right in and get to work on critical issues, Casady said.

The board interviewed Casady and three other applicants in public session Monday, quizzing them on their views on charter schools, the role of the board and other issues. The lone dissenting vote on Casadys nomination was Amanda Ryan.

Casady is human resources manager at SL Jensen Construction, a small construction company.

She described herself as a proud graduate of Omaha South High School.

She is married and has three daughters, ages 11, 8 and 3. The older two attend OPS schools.

She is a member of the parent-teacher organization at Gomez Heritage Elementary in South Omaha.

Gomez Principal John Campin wrote a letter of support for Casady, saying she will not only bring positivity to the school board but a wealth of knowledge and experience to collaborate with all board members.

Board member Yolanda Williams said Casadys communication background will be an asset.

According to Casadys application, she has a bachelors degree in journalism/public relations from Creighton University and a masters degree in communication from the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Williams said the board is working on building its relationship with the community.

Its all about communications, how are we communicating with our community, she said.

Board member Shavonna Holman said she liked that Casady recognized the boards role in the oversight and evaluation of the superintendent.

That is a major responsibility of what we do, she said.

She also liked that Casady mentioned concern about rising class sizes as one the districts major issues, particularly in District 9. The district includes downtown Omaha and South Omaha.

Other challenges noted by Casady were budget  theres just never enough funding  and behavior problems. She said theres a lack of funding for teachers to adequately address student misbehavior.

She said she was opposed to charter schools, vouchers and tax credit scholarships.

Asked about the districts strengths, she noted its diversity, its varied programs and services, and its teachers, counselors and administrators.

Officials said she would most likely be sworn in officially at the July 10 meeting.

The term runs through Dec. 31, 2020.

Palermo was elected to the Omaha City Council in May and resigned from the OPS board this month.
Thunderstorm chances are expected to return to the Omaha area by Wednesday night, forecasters said, and the odds for precipitation will stick around through Saturday night.

There is no mention of precipitation in the forecast for today and Wednesday, the first full day of summer  just mostly sunny skies and high temperatures in the low to mid-90s.

The National Weather Service office in Valley said Wednesday night should begin four straight nights and three straight days of rain chances.

There is a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms Wednesday night, a 20 percent chance Thursday, a 60 percent chance Thursday night and slight chances Friday through Saturday night, the weather service said.

Wednesday, the Omaha area and locations north and west will be under a slight risk for severe weather.

Thursday, all of eastern Nebraska and southwest Iowa will be under a slight risk for severe weather, which can include high winds, heavy rain and hail.

Highs will be in the upper 80s on Thursday and the upper to mid- 70s on Friday through the weekend.

Overnight lows are forecast to be in the mid-60s on Thursday night to the mid-50s by the weekend, forecasters said.

Meanwhile, the Omaha Public Power District's website reported Tuesday morning that 3,400 customers remained without power following Friday night's severe storms, including 300 in Douglas, 2,000 in Sarpy and 950 in Cass Counties.
By 6 p.m. Friday, three short-lived tornadoes had already touched down. Before the storms left Nebraska at about 11 p.m., three more tornadoes touched down  one in Lincoln, one in Bellevue and one near Offutt Air Force Base. The Bellevue tornado, an EF-2 that traveled more than 9 miles across the southern parts of the city, brought 135 mph winds.
Mayor Jean Stothert is proposing the city take in fewer than 1,000 new residents, a smaller annexation package than those of previous years.

Stothert announced her 2017 annexation proposal in a press release Tuesday. She is looking to annex three sanitary and improvement districts  Lake Cunningham Hills, West Dodge Place and Pacific Springs Village  that have a total of 863 residents.

The package will go to the Planning Board on July 5. The City Council is scheduled to vote on it Aug. 15. If approved, it would take effect Aug. 30.

The city will hold an open house about the plan from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. June 28 at Saddlebrook Community Center.

The Mayors Office said the valuation of the property is $119.5 million. It estimates the city will take in $6 million in property taxes plus $3 million in sales taxes over the next decade.

Property tax rates in the annexed areas would go down, according to the Mayors Office.

Councilman Pete Festersen, the chairman of the councils planning committee, says he supports the proposal.

I think its appropriate to take a more measured approach as we seek to address street maintenance needs and increase the number of police officers within the city limits, Festersen said.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Less than one-third of Americans support President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord, a new poll indicated.

And just 18 percent of respondents agree with his claim that pulling out of the international agreement to reduce carbon emissions will help the U.S. economy.

The survey conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research earlier this month found that a slim majority  52 percent  worry that withdrawing will actually hurt the economy. Twenty-seven percent think it wont have an impact either way.

But digging deeper into the numbers shows a sharp partisan divide on global warming, with Republicans more likely to align themselves with the presidents views.

Seventy-eight percent of Democrats think withdrawing from the Paris agreement will hurt the national economy. Among Republicans, just 24 percent think it will hurt, 40 percent think it will have no impact and 34 percent think it will help.

Donald Nolan is a New Jersey businessman who has spent years living and traveling overseas. He worries that Trump is undermining U.S. credibility abroad. An independent voter, Nolan said he strongly opposes pulling out of the Paris accord.

Where I live, were 36 feet above sea level. It the polar ice caps melt, there wont be any dry land here, said Nolan, 60. If you are pulling out of something that pretty much every other country in the world is a part of, then that is not seen as being a leader. When I lived overseas, America was always looked at as being first. But I see our position to be deteriorating.

Overall, 44 percent of Americans are very concerned and 26 percent are moderately concerned that withdrawing from the agreement will hurt the countrys standing in the world, with that concern also dividing along party lines.

By a 46 percent to 29 percent margin, more oppose than favor the U.S. withdrawing from the agreement. Democrats are far more likely to oppose than support withdrawing from the agreement, 69 percent to 16 percent. Republicans are more likely to support Trumps withdrawal, 51 percent to 20 percent.

Independents are mixed in their views. Twenty-five percent support the withdrawal, 36 percent are opposed and 37 percent dont feel strongly one way or the other.

Similarly, 43 percent say theyre very or extremely concerned that the U.S. withdrawing from the agreement will hurt global efforts to fight climate change, while 25 percent are moderately concerned. Seventy-two percent of Democrats, but just 13 percent of Republicans, are very concerned about the withdrawal hurting global efforts to fight climate change.

Sixty-four percent of Americans disapprove and just 34 percent approve of how Trump is handling the issue of climate change, the poll shows. Thats similar to his overall approval rating, but there are other areas where Trump performs a bit better. For example, 43 percent approve of how hes handling the economy and 47 percent approve of how hes handling the threat of terrorism.

The poll shows about two-thirds of Americans think that climate change is happening, while only about 1 in 10 think its not. The remaining quarter arent sure one way or another.

Seven in 10 Americans  including some of those who arent sure whether climate change is actually happening  think its a problem that the U.S. government should be working to address. Among those who do think its a problem the government should address, more oppose than support withdrawing from the Paris agreement by a 60 percent to 21 percent margin.

More than half of Americans 53 percent  say climate change is a very or extremely important issue to them. Women are more likely than men to call climate change an important issue, 59 percent to 47 percent.

Bonnie Sumner, an independent voter who has lived in Colorado the last nine years, is among those who said doing something to combat climate change is important. She said her community in the Rocky Mountains is still dealing with the after effects of a devastating wildfire.

Its definitely gotten hotter than it used to be, said Sumner, 72. I try to keep up with science, not people who have money to be made by not wanting things to change.

The poll shows that 35 percent of Americans have a great deal of confidence in the scientific community, 51 percent have some confidence, and 11 percent have hardly any confidence. But, again, theres a big political divide: 53 percent of Democrats, but just 22 percent of Republicans and 19 percent of independents, say they have a great deal of confidence in scientists.

Sumner said Trump is too quick to dismiss the evidence of global warming compiled by climate scientists.

His position, as it is with too many other things, is, I know whats best, I know better than everybody else, and this is a hoax, and this is fake news, she said. Im frightened for us, my children and my grandchildren. We only have one earth, we have to work together.

The AP-NORC poll of 1,068 adults was conducted June 8-11 using a sample drawn from NORCs probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.1 percentage points.

Respondents were first selected randomly using address-based sampling methods, and later interviewed online or by phone.

Copyright 2017, the Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
TECUMSEH, Neb.  A recent change in lethal injection procedure intended to enable Nebraska to carry out executions has been challenged by an inmate facing a potential death sentence.

Concerns over the new drug protocol are among the 11 arguments in a motion filed this week by attorneys for Patrick Schroeder, who seeks to have Nebraskas death penalty law declared unconstitutional.

Schroeder, who is already serving a life sentence for murder, now faces the death penalty for allegedly choking to death his cellmate, Terry Berry Jr., on April 15 inside a special management unit cell at the Tecumseh State Prison.

He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Johnson County District Court and enter a plea.

Instead, District Judge Vicky Johnson scheduled a July 28 hearing on Schroeders motion to overturn the death penalty.

Our society can no longer kill to show that killing is wrong, stated the motion to quash, filed by defense attorneys Todd Lancaster and Sarah Newell with the Nebraska Commission on Public Advocacy.

Johnson County Attorney Rick Smith, who is prosecuting the case with the Nebraska Attorney Generals Office, declined to comment.

We will argue it at the hearing, he said.

Among issues raised by Schroeder in the 32-page motion:

 The death penalty in Nebraska is racially discriminatory, considering that only one of the nine men sent to death row since the law was amended in 2002 is white. Five are Hispanic and three are black.

 The death penalty is applied unevenly based upon geography. Since 2002, all death penalty cases have originated in four of Nebraskas 93 counties: Douglas, Madison, Scotts Bluff and Hall.

 Nebraskas death penalty procedure requires juries to decide the aggravating factors necessary to impose death, but it requires a three-judge panel to weigh the mitigating factors in a defendants favor. Such a two-step process that limits the jurys role is similar to one used in Florida that was found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2016.

 Evolving standards of decency in a mature society have made the carrying out of executions increasingly rare in the U.S. Just 10 states are responsible for 83 percent of the 1,442 executions since 1976, the motion stated. Last year, the 20 total executions carried out were in five of the 31 states with capital punishment. Nebraska has not executed an inmate since 1997, when the method was the electric chair.

The highest courts in the states and the nation have previously banned the execution of juveniles, the mentally ill and the developmentally disabled. They also have prohibited methods once commonly used as cruel and unusual punishment.

The rejection of the nooses, bullets, gas and electricity signaled not only the discomfort with the method of execution, but with the death penalty itself, the motion stated.

Though Schroeder has not been convicted of the prison homicide, let alone sentenced, the motion was filed at this early stage to properly preserve the issues for appeal.

The death penalty challenge comes several months after voters reinstated capital punishment. More than 60 percent of those who cast ballots in November voted to reverse the Legislatures repeal of the death penalty in 2015.

In an effort to create a viable death penalty procedure in the wake of that vote, the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services changed the lethal injection protocol earlier this year. That change is under attack by Schroeder.

Under the former protocol, inmates were to be put to death with injections of three substances in a specific order. But obtaining some of the drugs specified in the protocol became increasingly difficult for prison officials.

The new protocol gives the prisons director wide latitude in deciding the types and quantities of drugs to be used. He also may opt to use a single drug, as long as it first causes the inmate to lose consciousness.

Schroeders motion argues that the Legislature has unlawfully delegated its lawmaking authority to the prisons director to decide what drugs to use.

The motion also challenges the death penalty statutes for giving too little guidance as to when the penalty should be sought and applied. As a result, individual county attorneys decide who will be put to death in a manner that is arbitrary and capricious in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The decision to file aggravating circumstances can be affected by the legal experience of the prosecutor, the size and resources of the particular county, any prejudice or bias of the prosecutor, the political ambition of the prosecutor or other political circumstances, the motion stated.
Ive lived in Nebraska my whole life. As Ive traveled the country, people often have asked, Why do you live in Nebraska? Whats good about it?

I always tell people, Its such a wonderful place to live, with clean air, clean water and great schools.

Im beginning to wonder if many of our legislators care about the third item in my list of Nebraskas best selling points.

When did public schools, a hallmark of our great state, become a burden rather than a priority?

In my opinion, the Millard Public Schools offers the best education value in the state of Nebraska. They provide amazing education and opportunities for students while being the third-lowest spending district per pupil in the state.

It saddens and infuriates me that some legislators in Lincoln want to strip away funds year after year from a district that has been an excellent steward of tax dollars, being both wise and frugal in its spending.

We all must work together to keep public education strong so we dont head down the same dangerous education path as the two states directly to our south.

Stacy Jolley, Omaha
Abu Bakar, 1993 Mumbai blasts accused, held in UAE; likely to be extradited to India soon

Abu Salem won't be put behind bars for more than 25 yrs as per extradition treaty with Portugal, rules SC

1993 Mumbai serial blasts: Hearing on quantum of sentence continues today

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

A special TADA court will continue to hear arguments on the sentencing of those convicted in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case. The TADA court which had convicted extradited gangster, Abu Salem and others in the case began hearing on the quantum of sentence on Monday.

Last week the court had convicted extradited gangster, Abu Salem for conspiracy in the Mumbai 1993 blasts case. The court has also held Mustaffa Dossa and three others guilty of conspiracy charges in the blasts case. The court however acquitted Abdul Qayyum of all charges.

The court held Salem guilty of conspiracy and terrorism. The court said that no mercy should be shown to terrorists. The quantum of sentence would be decided on another date. The court fixed June 19 as the date to hear arguments on the quantum of sentence.

Justice (retd) P C Khode delivered the verdict in the in the second leg of the trial in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case involving seven accused, including extradited gangster Abu Salem. The court also convicted Firoz Khan, Karimullah Shaikh, Riaz Siddiqui and Tahir Merchant for conspiracy and murder charges.

The blasts left 257 people dead, 713 seriously injured and destroyed properties worth Rs 27 crore. In the first leg of the trial that concluded in 2007, the TADA court convicted 100 accused, while 23 people were acquitted.

The trial of the seven accused -- Abu Salem, Mustafa Dossa, Karimullah Khan, Firoz Abdul Rashid Khan, Riyaz Siddiqui, Tahir Merchant and Abdul Quayyum -- were separated from the main case as they were arrested at the time of conclusion of the main trial.

Salem was accused of transporting weapons from Gujarat to Mumbai.

He also handed over to actor Sanjay Dutt, who was an accused in the case for illegally possessing weapons, AK 56 rifles, 250 bullets and some hand grenades at his residence on January 16, 1993. Two days later on January 18, 1993, Salem and two others went to Dutt's house and got back two rifles and some rounds.

OneIndia News
Crucial Modi-Jaitley meet

With the unrest among the central government employees growing, it was decided that the government does not want to keep the issue pending. Both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister are going out of the country this week. While Modi will be away in the US, Jaitley is on a visit to Russia from June 20 onwards. Both Modi and Jaitley were unable to discuss the 7th Pay Commission recommendations earlier as they were busy with the Presidential candidate. However it was decided that the two leaders would hold a quick meeting to clear pending issues.

What next?

Now that the meeting has been held, there is confirmation that revised allowances would be rolled out from next month.The issue of revised allowances and higher HRA, the matter would be placed before the Union Cabinet. The Cabinet is meeting on Wednesday, but is unlikely to take up the matter as Jaitley would not be present. It is the Finance Minister who has to place the matter before the Cabinet. Sources say that the matter will be taken up in the next Cabinet to be held on June 28.

Agenda to be fixed

The matter which should have been cleared two weeks ago remains pending. On both occasions the agenda was not fixed as a result of which it was not taken up. Government sources said that certain issues were being finalised and hence there was a delay. Moreover many in the BJP government were busy with the Presidential elections and hence there was a delay on higher allowances and HRA.

HRA to be fixed at 27 per cent

While there is confirmed news that revised allowances would be rolled out from July 2017 onwards, sources now say that the Finance Ministry is in favour of giving HRA at 27 per cent, 18 per cent and 9 per cent for X, Y and Z cities respectively under the 7th Pay Commission. The general secretary of National Joint Council of Action or NJCA is holding talks with the government on behalf of the employees. He recently met the Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha and urged him not to delay the matter further.

IB warns of unrest

Meanwhile various intelligence agencies say that if the matter is delayed further there could be a nation wide unrest. There is already lot of tension and frustration among the employees. The IB has said that if the matter gets delayed any further it could go out of hand. For now the employees are indulging in peaceful protests such as forming human chains. However if the matter gets delayed further, it could go out of control. The government has taken this report seriously and will work on the issue and try resolving by June end.
Amit Shah sets the same target for Karnataka and Gujarat, 150 seats each

India

oi-Anusha

With mission Gujarat in mind, Amit Shah has set a target for party cadres to achieve in the upcoming assembly elections. Speaking to BJP workers in Junagadh, the party's National President has asked them to settle for nothing less than 150 seats. The target is the same as the one set for Karnataka as well.

"BJP has not lost in Gujarat since 1990. Do not settle for anything less than 150 seats," Amit Shah told cadres reminding them that the state has been BJP's bastion for more than two decades. The target coupled with anti-incumbency factor is a true challenge for the party in the 182-seat assembly. 150 is also the target set for Karnataka where the assembly strength stands at 225.

Same target for 225-seat Karnataka and 182-seat Gujarat

In Gujarat, the BJP and its allies currently have 121 of the 182 seats. In Karnataka, the BJP has 44 out of 225 seats. In 2002, BJP won 127 seats, the highest number of seats ever in Gujarat under the leadership of Narendra Modi. Amit Shah wants the party cadres to break all previous records that the party has to its credit.

The biggest challenge that the BJP faces in Gujarat today is anti-incumbency especially from the Patidar community from which Hardik Patel has emerged as a prominent face. Knowing fully well that the Congress is doing all it can to wean away the strong Patidar votes, the BJP is busy building a coalition of various social groups to take on the opposition.

While the Congress, banking on the Patel community's displeasure with the government, has planned to field at least one-third of its candidates from the community, the BJP is working its way around it. Acknowledging that Other Backward Classes constitutes about 40 percent of the state's population, the BJP is working with at least 150 castes under this category at constituency level.

In Karnataka, the BJP is working hard to shun its anti-Dalit image. While the anti-minority image is not something the party is working on currently, its state president B S Yeddyurappa is leading a campaign to connect with the people across the state. He is making it a point to stop at Dalit colonies and share food with families from SC/ST communities. More than making it a point to visit Dalit families, he is making it a point to ensure that his visits are in the public eye.

OneIndia News
Jaitley statue at Kotla: Angry Bedi asks DDCA to remove his name from stands, quits membership

Reforms in India being done by conviction, not compulsion: PM Narendra Modi

BJP leaders pay tribute to former minister Arun Jaitley on his third death anniversary

Arun Jaitley's Russia visit to further military cooperation

India

ians-IANS

By Ians English

New Delhi, June 20: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley left on a three-day visit to Russia on Tuesday to further the bilateral military ties between the two countries.

During his visit, Jaitley would co-chair two meetings: one with his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu and the other with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The Defence Minister's visit comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed St Petersburg Declaration for enhanced ties between the two nations.

Under the agreement, both India and Russia decided to upgrade and intensify military cooperation through joint manufacture, co-production and co-development of military hardware and military spares.

They also committed to increase reliance on the adoption and sharing of future technologies under the existing agreements on military-technical cooperation.

In line with the agreement, Jaitley would on Wednesday co-chair, along with Rogozin, the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology, a government statement said.

The newly-formed committee would discuss cooperation in high technologies during the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk, it added.

Jaitley would also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On Friday, he would co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with Shoigu.

"The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the statement said.

IANS
Bengaluru cop puts an ambulance before the President of India, wins hearts

India

oi-Anusha

Netizens in Bengaluru are all praises for a Police Sub Inspector who made way for an ambulance even as President of India's convoy was expected to pass by a busy junction. Not just the citizenry but Bengaluru police has also announced a reward for the PSI Nijlingappa for doing the right thing.

Act of Shri Nijlingappa is truly admirable and deserves Kudos. Serves as example for many. @BlrCityPolice @cpblr @blrcitytraffic https://t.co/fLxOKpdNaj  IPS Association (@IPS_Association) June 20, 2017

PSI Nijlingappa who was posted at the Trinity Circle was manning the traffic at the heavy junction. While traffic was blocked to make way for President Pranab Mukherjee's convoy, Nijalingappa spotted an ambulance with its siren on indicating that it was an emergency. Without second thoughts, despite the fact that a VVIP's convoy was to pass by any moment, the sub-inspector decided to allow the ambulance on a priority basis.

The incident took place on Saturday when President Pranab Mukherjee was in Bengaluru to inaugurate the Namma metro's Green Line stretch. In times when VIPs block traffic for their smooth travel and police receive backlash for blocking ambulance to let a VIP pass, Nijalingappa did what was right. He chose to save a life before allowing a VIP to pass by.

Twitter and Facebook including pages of Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) are filled with congratulatory and appreciation messages for the policeman. IPS Association too has appreciated the policeman for prioritising an ambulance before a VIP.

OneIndia News
Bikers team travels across India to invite VIPs for famous Ambubachi fair in Kamakhya, Assam

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Guwahati, June 20: This time the world-famous Ambubachi mela, hosted annually in the Kamakhya temple, Guwahati, Assam, is going to witness a VIP rush. Reason: they have been specially invited by the Assam Tourism Department to grace the four-day-long religious festival, starting from June 22.

What is noteworthy about the VIPs visiting the temple is that they have been invited personally by a group of bikers, who are currently on an all-India tour. This is for the first time that invitation cards have been printed to invite some of the well-known politicians from across the country to attend the fair.

Generally, tantriks, sadhus, tourists to foreign scientists visit the temple in the Nilachal hill during the festival days on their own will. This time, a special 37-day-long bikers' tour has been arranged by the department so that biggies could be handed over invitation cards by the representatives from the state.

Some of the popular politicians who have been invited for the fair include BJP chief Amit Shah, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Union ministers and all MLAs of Uttar Pradesh, to name a few. Others in the guest list include devotees from Vrindaban and Hindu religious heads, to name a few.

The bikers, who began their journey last month, have already visited states like West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat, inviting prominent persons, religious heads, mediapersons and devotees.

"They have personally visited them and handed over the invitation letters. All have expressed their willingness to visit the Kamakhya temple during Ambubachi mela," an official in the tourism department was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.

Ambubachi mela, celebrated to mark the annual menstrual cycle of Goddess Kamakhya, witnesses around 10 lakhs devotees and tourists, every year. One of India's biggest religious congregations, the fair is a favourite event among tantriks, and researchers from various parts of the country and nations like the UK, the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Nepal and Bangladesh, to name a few.

"This is for the first time devotees have been invited by the tourism department. Since ancient times, the devotees and tourists have come to the temple on their own. This time the department is inviting prominent people probably to promote tourism," Bhupesh Kumar Sarma, general secretary of Bordeuri Samaj, the society of the priests, told The Telegraph.

OneIndia New

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 6:49 [IST]
Can BJP appoint the next President of India without Shiv Sena: Here are the numbers

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Can the BJP appoint the next President of India without the Shiv Sena? The BJP's alliance partner in Maharashtra has given very little out on whether it would back Ram Nath Kovind, the BJP's choice for Rashtrapati Bhavan.

With a total vote pool of 25,893 in the electoral college, the Shiv Sena is a major player. It is expected that the Shiv Sena would take a decision on who it would back on July 17.

The opposition is contemplating naming Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar. The Shiv Sena is likely to lean towards this candidate considering he is both Dalit and also from Maharashtra. It may be recalled that the Shiv Sena had ditched the NDA and voted for Prathibha Patil.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

After the BJP announced the name of Kovind, the Sena chief Udhav Thackerey said that if this name has been put forward to garner Dalit votes, then the party is not interested. We shall decide on the issue today. It is however unclear if the Sena will take a call today or wait till Thursday when the opposition announces its candidate.

The Sena's numbers in the electoral college:

For the NDA to elect a candidate of its choice the votes of the Shiv Sena are crucial. The total vote pool of the Shiv Sena is at 25,893.

The NDA given the current status and strength of the electoral college may fall short by 20,000 votes in the Presidential polls. The BJP will depend on the votes from Tamil Nadu and Odisha. The AIADMK and the BJD have indicated support to the NDA. Nitish Kumar too has said he would support the NDA. However a lot would depend on who the opposition will field.

If the Shiv Sena does not support the BJP, then the party would fall short by 20,000 votes. In the 288 member Maharashtra assembly the BJP has 122 MLAs apart from the support of 12 others.

The SS has 63 MLAs. The value of a vote of an MLA in Maharashtra is 175. This means the value of votes of the BJP with the support of the Shiv Sena is at 34,475. The vote value of the Congress and its allies is at 15,575. If the SS decides to support the Congress then the vote value would be at 26,000.

From Maharashtra there are 67 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 19 in the Rajya Sabha. The vote value of each MP is at 708. The BJP and SS together have 52 MPs and the total vote share is at 36,816. The Congress and allies from Maharashtra have a total value vote of 10,620. If the SS decides to go with the Congress then the vote value would be at 25,488.

OneIndia News
Fact Check: Before swearing in ceremony did Ram Nath Kovind and Draupadi Murmu perform verdict rituals

Cracks likely between Lalu Yadav, Nitish over BJP's Prez choice

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

BJP's pick of Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as a presidential candidate may have been welcomed by Nitish Kumar, but RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is mum on the issue.

Reports suggest that Lalu may disagree with BJP's choice, as he has been critical of every decision BJP takes.

Kovind is a Dalit which makes it hard for the opposition parties to oppose his candidature.

Even BSP supremo Mayawati, who is stauch critic of BJP, had to mince her words and say that she was okay with Kovind's candidature.

"As he is a Dalit we are positive on his name, but only if opposition doesn't announce a popular dalit name," she had said.

Nitish Kumar is a key member of the united oppisition, so his acceptance of Kovind makes it hard for other leaders to oppose BJP's choice.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said that if someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them.

Nitish Kumar has, however, called a meeting of senior Janata Dal (United) leaders on 21 June to discuss their support for NDA's presidential candidate.

Opposition parties are meeting on Thursday in Delhi to decide whether to back Ran Nath Kovind or enforce an election, as suggested by the Left's Sitaram Yechury.

OneIndia News
Darjeeling: Gorkha Janmukti Morcha to withdraw from Gorkhaland territorial administration

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia

Darjeeling, June 20, 2017: An all party meeting of pro-Gorkhaland forces in Darjeeling on Tuesday resolved to continue with the one point demand of Gorkhaland and that the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha will unilaterally withdraw from the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration - an autonomous administrative body that is functional in the Hills of Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts of North Bengal. The ongoing agitation including the indefinite bandh will continue.

14 political and apolitical parties were present in Tuesday's meeting. Later talking to media persons, P Arjun, member of Gorkhaland Study Forum, the think tank of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha stated "The movement for Gorkhaland will continue till its logical end. The meeting unanimously resolved that the GJM will unilaterally withdraw from the GTA as early as possible."

Copies of the resolution will be sent to the State and Centre. Incidentally the GJM had launched a neo-agitation for Gorkhaland in 2007. The agitation culminated with the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement between the Centre, State and GJM on July 18, 2011 paving way for the formation of GTA in 2012. In the GTA elections that followed all the 45 elected GJM members took charge of this autonomous administrative body in August 2012.

An All India Coordination Committee for Gorkhaland will be constituted to spearhead the Gorkhaland movement comprising of representatives of the constituent parties. "The committee will formulate policies and will also be meeting the President of India, Prime Minister and Union Home Minister in Delhi with the Gorkhaland demand. The movement will be pan Indian. We will be approaching the Gorkha organizations throughout the country for support" added Arjun.

The all party meeting resolved that no political of apolitical outfits from the Hills will attend the all party meeting called by the State Government on the ongoing Hill crisis in Siliguri on June 22. Regarding the ongoing indefinite bandh called by the GJM since July 15, Prasad stated "This is a people's movement.

People want the agitation and the bandh to continue. However the onus lies with the State Government who have transformed Darjeeling into a war zone. If the Government wants peace to return and the bandh to be withdrawn, all repressive forces have to be withdrawn. Police atrocities need to stop immediately including random arrests. The Government has to stop human rights violation including restoring internet in the Hills. They have to reconsider rigid stand on Bengali language policy. We will meet again on June 24 to chalk out our future course of action."

The day saw supporters of different political outfits gathering at the Gymkhana club, the venue of the all party meeting. They displayed posters with messages "We want Gorkhaland;" "Please give back the internet;" "No GTA only Gorkhaland." They even shouted slogans demanding that the parties should not backtrack on the ongoing movement and go ahead with Gorkhaland.

Meanwhile Kiran Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Government of India arrived in Sikkim on Monday to attend the World Yoga Day programme on Wednesday. A GJM team is camping in Gangtok trying to meet Rijiju. Incidentally the GJM has been demanding immediate intervention by the Centre on the ongoing Darjeeling impasse.

The Left Front has decided not to attend the State called all party meeting in Siliguri. "The Chief Minister is out of the country. Only a few Ministers and bureaucrats will be attending. It is meaningless" stated Vivek Sarkar, Left Front Convenor, Darjeeling.

The State Government on Tuesday sent a report on Darjeeling and iterated its demand for 6 companies of Central Forces. In Darjeeling a vehicle of the Cultural and Information Department was vandalised on Tuesday.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 20:38 [IST]
Darjeeling unrest: Protest spreads to Bengaluru

India

oi-Anusha

As unrest in Darjeeling continues with Gorkha Janmukti Morcha protesting against the Mamata Banerjee government, protests are also spreading to other parts of the country. Members of Northeast People's Voice came together in Bengaluru on Tuesday to support agitators in Darjeeling.

Dozens gathered at Bengaluru's Town Hall to protests against the 'discriminatory' actions of West Bengal government and forceful imposition of Bengali language on the people of the hill. "We are protesting the discriminatory and forceful imposition of Bengal government on the people of the hill. They are dividing our culture, unity and imposing the Bengali language," said a protestor.

Holding the national flag of India, protestors paid respects to those who lost their lives in the stir. The protesters said that they had come together to fight for 'Unity and Dignity of Gorkha community. "We condemn the statement given by Mamta Banerjee calling Gorkha People terrorists. We condemn the atrocities of Bengal government against the people of Darjeeling," said another protestor.

Citizens demanded that the Centre government intervene and take note of the violation of human rights committed by the state against the people of Darjeeling.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 18:38 [IST]
DigiLocker users can now store Ayushman Bharat health records: Here's how to do it

Thick layer of smog with 'very poor' air continues to choke Delhi

Delhi: 20,000 litres of petrol spill on road as tanker overturned at Moolchand Underpass, 2 injured

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

New Delhi, June 20: Around 20,000 litres of petrol were wasted as a fuel tanker overturned at the mouth of the Moolchand Underpass on Delhi's Ring Road on Tuesday. According to the prevailing prices, the wasted petrol would approximately cost Rs 13 lakh.

Police cordoned off the area and fire services personnel were at the location. The Driver and the helper of the truck were injured in this incident, ANI reported.

The tanker was lifted after cranes were deployed to move it back onto its wheels. Traffic was affected on the Ring Road after the accident.

#Delhi 20,000 litres of petrol gets spilled on road as tanker overturned at Moolchand Underpass,2 injured. Traffic movement affected pic.twitter.com/H27UVQEJvM  ANI (@ANI_news) June 20, 2017

Vehicular movement on both sides of the arterial road was affected as traffic police rerouted motorists for the clean-up. The police advised people to avoid the route as it can be a hazard to motorists.

OneIndia News
GJM delegation meets Rijiju, submits two-point memorandum

India

pti-PTI

Gangtok, Jun 20: A delegation of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha met Union minister Kiren Rijiju and submitted a two-point memorandum demanding a separate state of Gorkhaland.

The union minister of State for home affairs is here for the International Day of Yoga celebrations to be held at Paljor Stadium tomorrow.

A member of the delegation, RB Bhujel, said that the delegation met Rijiju with a two-point agenda. The first was the demand of the people of Darjeeling for a separate state of Gorkhaland and the second was that the Union minister immediately start the process at the central level for fulfilling the demand, once he is back in New Delhi.

He said that the delegation had told the Union minister that the protests in Darjeeling Hills would continue and the situation would not be normal if these demands were not met by the Centre immediately.

He also said the delegation apprised Rijiju about the current situation in Darjeeling Hills and stressed that the Centre urgently start the process of granting a separate state status to Gorkhaland.

PTI
High alert declared as IB warns of big terror strikes in major Indian cities

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The Delhi police has issued an advisory to its counterparts across the country to step up security in the wake of an Intelligence Bureau warning on terror attacks. The IB warning states that terrorist groups could look to strike at crowded places. The intelligence is however not specific to any place.

The Delhi Police Special cell has issued an advisory to all security agencies across the country to step up the security measures at interstate bus terminals, railway stations, five star hotels, malls and markets, religious places, embassies of western countries, metro stations, airports, stadiums, and tourist places or other sites visited by foreign nationals.

The security agencies have also been directed to keep a tab on suspicious articles if found in vehicles and to conduct proper checking on interstate borders.

This is the second such alert being issued in the past month. Earlier this month the Central IB had warned about the presence of militants in the National Capital. The alert graded A+ stated that the terrorists were planning a series of attacks.

This time around the alert is not specific only to Delhi, but to all major cities in the country. The IB says that some militants from Kashmir are looking to strike at other major cities in the country.

The advisory by the Delhi police states that militants are planning a series of terror attacks at various places in India. While further details are yet to emerge, initial indications point towards possibility of crowded public places, market and locations frequented by foreign nationals being among the possible targets. The advisory also states that the details on the likely timing or the location are not immediately available.

The IB issued the alert on the basis of an intercept and further details on this is being worked on.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 6:17 [IST]
Inside details of how Kovind was chosen as candidate for the next President of India

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Narendra Modi does not fail to surprise. On Monday the BJP announced on Monday that their candidate for the next President of India will be Ram Nath Kovind, the Governor of Bihar.

While Modi had already made up his mind, there were various names that came up for consideration during the BJP's parliamentary board meeting on Monday. During the deliberations, the names of Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and even T C Ghelot were proposed by members of the party.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

However Modi made it clear that he wanted his cabinet to remain strong. Sparing any of these leaders in the race to Rashtrapati Bhavan would only weaken his cabinet. He even cited the departure of Manohar Parrikar who quit the post of Defence Minister to become the Chief Minister of Goa. Modi also cited the passing away of Anil Madhav Dave and said that it was a huge loss.

The other names that cropped up were that of Sumitra Mahajan, Murli Manohar Joshi and also L K Advani. However there was not enough traction following which the names were dropped.

The other names that figured in the discussions were that of Jharkhand Governor, Draupadi Murmu and deputy speaker of the Lok Sabha, Karia Munda. BJP chief even proposed the name of Uttar Pradesh Governor, Ram Naik. However the final decision to select Kovind got the most traction at the meet as all felt that it could be a good strategy to woo the Dalit community.

OneIndia News
National Selfie day: Why it is celebrated and everything you need to know

In UP, police to punish youth bitten by selfie bug

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Lucknow, June 20: Narcissism has a new name. It's called selfie mania.

Go anywhere, you will find people busy clicking selfies in their smartphones to be posted on various social media platforms. The latest fad, especially prevalent among the youth, has its downside too.

In fact, India recorded highest numbers of selfie-related deaths in the world. That's the findings from a new study by scholars from Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Delhi.

The analysis--provocatively titled "Me, Myself and My Killfie: Characterising and Preventing Selfie Deaths"-- found that of 127 reported selfie deaths from March 2014 to September 2016, a whopping 76 deaths occurred in India alone.

In order to rein in the selfie-clicking youth, the Uttar Pradesh police decided to crack the whip on them. The latest decision has been taken by the Moradabad police as selfie mania is proving "dangerous" to all.

"These days, there is a selfie mania among youth. But at times this becomes dangerous for their and others' lives as well," superintendent of police, Moradabad, Ashish Srivastav, was quoted as saying by ANI.

"We have decided to take action against those taking selfies and threatening people's lives. We will penalise them," he added.

In March, after the Yogi Adityanath government took the reins of the state, the police started taking action against young men found harassing women in public spaces under its anti-Romeo campaign.

The anti-Romeo squads of the police elicited significant amount of criticism for targeting young men and women talking and enjoying good times in each other's company.

Now, we have to see if the Moradabad model of punishing selfie crazy youth would be emulated in other parts of the state and the country. Till then, don't go overboard to take selfies and stay safe.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 9:35 [IST]
Two ships with 39 Indians on board not yet allowed to unload cargo by China: India

More than 20 dead as launch capsizes after collision with cargo vessel in Bangladesh

India-Afghanistan's maiden air freight corridor lands in Delhi

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The first cargo flight of the Afghanistan-India air freight corridor carrying Afghan goods to India landed in New Delhi on Monday night and was received by External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj.

The flight which carried 60 tonnes of cargo from Afghanistan, was flagged off in Kabul by President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani in the presence of several Afghan Cabinet Ministers and India's Ambassador to Afghanistan Manpreet Vohra.

ANI reported that the connectivity established through the Air Freight Corridor will provide Afghanistan, a landlocked country, greater access to markets in India, and will allow Afghan businessmen to leverage India's economic growth and trade networks for its benefit. It would enable Afghan farmers quick and direct access to the Indian markets for their perishable produce," said Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary, (PAI-Pakistan, Afghanistan, India) in the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi.

"This flight has added another chapter to the connectivity that has existed since times immemorial. We hope to extend air cargo flights to other cities between India and Afghanistan," said Gopal Bagley, spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs.

The decision to establish an Air Freight Corridor between Afghanistan and India was taken in the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ashraf Ghani in September 2016 during the President Ghani's visit to India.

"During his visit to India in September 2016, President Ghani had urged Indian and Afghan businessmen to achieve a target of USD 10 billion in trade over the next five years," said Dr. Mittal.

Earlier, in January 2015, India had announced its decision to allow Afghan Trucks to enter the Indian Territory through Atari land check post for offloading and loading goods from and to Afghanistan. India is also cooperating with Afghanistan and Iran for development of the Chabahar Port.

Later on in May 2016, a trilateral transport and transit agreement based on sea access through Chabahar was signed in the presence of the leaders of the three countries in Tehran.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 5:59 [IST]
Explained: Why has this province in Pakistan decided to impose emergency

Explained: Why has a public health emergency been declared in Puducherry's Karaikal

Is Indu Sarkar, a film on Emergency, sponsored by vested interest groups? Congress thinks so

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, June 20: Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar is known for making realistic films, which include award-winning movies like Chandni Bar and Page 3.

However, his latest project, Indu Sarkar, a film on Emergency, depicting the "reign of terror" under then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, has come under attack.

The Congress on Monday condemned the alleged "false depiction" in Bhandarkar's film and said the film is "fully sponsored".

However, the Congress did not reveal who has sponsored the film. The filmmaker is known to share close-ties with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

"This film is fully sponsored. The organisation and the individual who are behind the film are known to us. We totally condemn the false depictions in the film," said Congress spokesperson Jyotiraditya Scindia.

The filmmaker is yet to react to the allegations. Bhandarkar on Friday said he made Indu Sarkar as it was important to tell about the Emergency to today's generation.

The trailer of the yet-to-be-released film was unveiled recently. The film revolves around a woman's journey during the Emergency that lasted for 21 months from 1975 to 1977.

The film features Kirti Kulhari in the titular role of a poetess with a speech impediment. Actor Neil Nitin Mukesh is essaying the character of late politician Sanjay Gandhi. Indu Sarkar will release on July 28.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 12:45 [IST]
Islam, Christianity alien to nation, Ram Nath Kovind had said in 2010

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

On Monday, the BJP selected Ram Nath Kovind as its candidate for the next President of India. While the decision took many by surprise, there are many interesting facts about Kovind who is currently the Governor of Bihar.

In 2009, the Ranganath Mishra commission had recommended 10 per cent reservation for Muslims and 5 per cent for other minorities in government jobs. The commission also favoured Schedule Caste status for Dalits in all religions.

It was Kovind who had then called for the scrapping of the commission. He said Islam and Christianity were alien to the nation.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

While addressing a press conference in March 2010, he had said, "Islam and Christianity are alien" to India and, therefore, the Bharatiya Janata Party feels people from the minority groups, even if their socio-economic condition is low, should not be given the privilege of quota in jobs, legislative bodies and education.

Ramnath Kovind called for scrapping of the Ranganath Misra commission report that recommended 15 per cent quota in government jobs for socially and economically backward sections among religious and linguistic minorities in India.

The National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, headed by Justice Ranganath Misra, former chief justice of India, has in its report also recommended inclusion of Muslim and Christian converts as Scheduled Castes and given a quota to that category.

"No, that is not possible," said Kovind. "Including Muslims and Christians in the Scheduled Castes category will be unconstitutional." When he was asked how Sikh Dalits were enjoying the quota privilege in the same category, Kovind said, "Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation."

He said that "it is very well known" that convert Dalit Christians and Muslims get better education in convent schools.

"The educational level of Scheduled Caste children remains much lower than that of convert Dalits and Muslims. The children of converts will grab major share of reservation in government jobs. They would become eligible to contest elections on seats reserved for Scheduled Castes. This would encourage conversion and fatally destroy the fabric of Indian society," he said. "The Misra commission report should be scrapped because (its recommendations) will jeopardise the interests of Scheduled Castes," he said.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 8:00 [IST]
Mubin did it in Coimbatore: Why do Islamist terrorists shave their body before a suicide mission

Retired Calcutta High Court Judge C S Karnan arrested in Coimbatore

India

oi-Anusha

More than a month after he went into hiding following a Supreme Court order to jail him, Justice (retired) C S Karnan was arrested from Coimbatore on Tuesday. Close aide and advocate of the retired Calcutta High Court judge confirmed the arrest to OneIndia.

"We arrested former high court judge Karnan at around 6.45 pm from a private resort at Malumichampatti in Coimbatore," a senior officer of the CID said.

Sixty-two-year-old Karnan, who retired from service on June 12, had been "hiding" in the resort for the last few days and tried to resist the team of CID officers from West Bengal when it went there to arrest him. "He (Karnan) resisted our officers and there was an argument also. Despite that, we arrested him," he said, adding that the former judge will be produced in a court in Chennai tomorrow before being taken to Kolkata.

Three police teams from Kolkata were camping in Coimbatore, around 550 km from Chennai, for the past three days and traced Karnan on the basis of his mobile phone calls. The police in Tamil Nadu gave the technical support to trace his whereabouts, officials in Coimbatore said.

Retired judge C S Karnan is expected to be brought to Chennai on Wednesday after which he will be taken to Kolkata. The Supreme Court had asked West Bengal police to arrest him after he was sentenced to six months imprisonment in a contempt case.

Justice (retired) C S Karnan had been on the run since May after a special bench of the Supreme Court sentenced him to prison. Teams of West Bengal police and Tamil Nadu police have been looking for the former judge who retired while on the run. While he was sentenced on May 9, he retired while in hiding on June 12.

Who is Justice Karnan

Way back in November 2011 Justice Karnan moved the National Commission for SCs and STs alleging harassment by fellow judges.

Trouble began when Justice Karnan who was appointed to Madras High Court in 2009 was transferred to Calcutta High Court in 2016 by the Supreme Court. After his attempts to stall the transfer turned futile, Justice Karnan accused the Judiciary of corruption. In January this year, he alleged that 20 sitting and retired Supreme Court and High Court judges are corrupt.

Justice Karnan was held in contempt of court in May this year and was sentenced to six months in prison. This order came after Justice Karnan passed a series of orders against Supreme Court judges including the Chief Justice of India.

Justice Karnan who arrived in Chennai hours before the Supreme Court sentenced him to imprisonment, held a press conference soon after the judgement. Moments later he is said to have vacated the guest house that he was lodged at. By the time the West Bengal Police reached Chennai, Justice C S Karnan had left the city. A team went to Srikalahasti on his trail but to no avail.

A team of West Bengal police camped in Tamil Nadu to arrest the retired judge while his aides claimed that he was out of the country. Multiple petitions filed by Justice Karnan seeking reprieve from the sentence yielded no positive results and arrest became imminent.

OneIndia News
NCP's Majeed Memon

NCP leader Majeed Memon said that Mayawati cannot openly oppose Kovind as she has to take care of vote bank. He said the BSP supremo is opposing becasue Kovind is associated with RSS ideology.

""Since Mayawati has to take care of her Dalit vote bank, she cannot openly oppose a Dalit candidate... So, she is opposing because this candidate happens to be a RSS man," he told news agency ANI.

Uddhav Thackeray

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said that if someone is trying to make a Dalit a President with the purpose of gaining a vote bank then we are not with them.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly, the BJP has 122 MLAs and claims to have support of some more legislators. There are 67 members from Maharashtra in Parliament - 48 in the Lok Sabha and 19 in the Rajya Sabha.

Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that there are other Dalit leaders in the country who are fir for this role.

"I am not saying that the Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind is unfit to be the President. There are other big Dalit leaders in the country. Just because he was the leader of Dalit Morcha of BJP they have made him the candidate," Mamata said.

Mayawati

Bahujan Samajwadi Party leader Mayawati gave lukewarm response to the choice Dalit leader.

"As he is a Dalit we are positive on his name, but only if the opposition doesn't announce a popular Dalit name," she said.

Speaking to the media, Mayawati seemed not impressed by BJP' candidate. She said 'We are also of the opinion that it would have been better if NDA had named some non-political Dalit person as President nominee.'

Sitaram Yechury

CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said his party would take a call after a meeting of Opposition parties on Thursday.
Lockheed Martin, Tata sign pact to make F-16 Fighter Jets in India

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

Lockheed Martin, the US-based aerospace and defense manufacturing firm announced that it would partner with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) to manufacture and export the F-16 Block 70 aircraft from India.

"Lockheed Martin and Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) signed a landmark agreement affirming the companies' intent to join hands to produce the F-16 Block 70 in India. The F-16 Block 70 is ideally suited to meet the Indian Air Force's single-engine fighter needs and this unmatched U.S.-Indian industry partnership directly supports India's initiative to develop private aerospace and defense manufacturing capacity in India," a press release from Lockheed Martin read.

The development comes just days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to the United States of America. It is being seen as a part of the PM's "Make in India," push.

The release further read, "This unprecedented F-16 production partnership between the world's largest defense contractor and India's premier industrial house provides India the opportunity to produce, operate and export F-16 Block 70 aircraft, the newest and most advanced version of the world's most successful, combat-proven multi-role fighter. F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the U.S., creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the center of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world.

India's air force needs hundreds of aircraft to replace its Soviet-era fleet, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has said foreign suppliers would have to make the planes in India with a local partner to help build a domestic industrial base and cut outright imports.

N Chandrashekharan, Tata Sons Chairman, said in a statement, "This agreement builds on the already established joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Tata and underscores the relationship and commitment between the two companies."

A joint statements by the firms read, "F-16 production in India supports thousands of Lockheed Martin and F-16 supplier jobs in the U.S., creates new manufacturing jobs in India, and positions Indian industry at the center of the most extensive fighter aircraft supply ecosystem in the world."

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 7:19 [IST]
Modi may discuss H1B visa issue with Donald Trump

India

pti-PTI

New Delhi, Jun 20: Problems being faced by the domestic IT industry on the H-1B visa front are expected to figure during the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump next week in Washington.

Modi is slated to visit the US during June 25-26. Asked whether India would raise the H-1B issue during Modi's visit, Commerce Secretary Rita Teaotia said: "I cannot say what would be the issues that would come up in the discussion. This is one of the issues on the table. (But) it is not the only issue. But in the event the issue comes up, it would certainly be taken up." Teaotia also said the US has started a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on that list.

India has time and again raised the issue of H-1B with the US authorities and asked them to liberalise their visa regime as Indian companies contribute significantly to the American economy. The H-1B is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to employ foreign workers in speciality occupations that require theoretical or technical expertise in specialised fields.

The technology companies depend on it to hire tens of thousands of employees each year. On the trade policy review being carried out by the US, she said India and the US have a robust mechanism under the trade policy forum (TPF) to discuss matters like stents and others. She said other issues like market access for products and those relating to investments are all being dealt with regularly at the TPF meetings. "The US has commenced a trade policy review of those countries with which it has adverse trade balance and India is ninth on the list of those countries.

So certainly, we would figure, but we are confident that our exports to the US are a win-win for both countries in the sense that we are able to provide cheaper products," Teaotia added. The secretary further said a cross-section of Indian companies supports American industry in becoming much more competitive. "Therefore, this is a partnership that has many benefits across sectors and I think this would be the trend of our communication with the US," she added.

The bilateral trade between the two increased to USD 64.67 billion in 2016-17, from USD 62.11 billion in the previous fiscal. The trade balance is in favour of India. The US, under a new executive order, proposes to replace the current lottery system for issuing H-1B work visas with a merit-based approach.

The country is reviewing its visa programme for foreign workers to curb purported abuse and frauds related to visas. Indian IT companies use temporary work visas to send employees to work on client sites. With visa programmes in countries like the US becoming more rigorous, domestic technology firms will face challenges in movement of skilled professionals and spike in their operational costs.

PTI
Next President of India: Shiv Sena to back NDA candidate Ram Nath Kovind

India

oi-Anusha

After keeping everyone guessing Shiv Sena has finally decided to back NDA's pick for President, Ram Nath Kovind. Party Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday confirmed the party's decision to back Kovind as the next President of India.

With Shiv Sena's assured support, the BJP can now breath easy. The BJP has finally managed to bring its ally Shiv Sena that had been playing hardball on board as far as the Presidential elections are concerned. The Shiv Sena had on Monday created flutter after its chief Uddhav Thackeray said that the party would not support Kovind if NDA had chosen him to merely tap into the Dalit vote bank.

"We will support Ram Nath Kovind but we do not want any kind of politics on it. The opposition is playing caste politics over this," said Uddhav Thackeray as he confirmed the Shiv Sena's support to Kovind's election as the President of India. With a total vote pool of 25,893 in the electoral college, the Shiv Sena is a major player. The party's decision to back the NDA candidate comes as great relief to the BJP. Especially at a time when the opposition has said that it would also field a candidate.

From Mohan Bhagwat to MS Swaminathan, the Shiv Sena had been endorsing candidates for the post, however, BJP's announcement of Kovind as their candidate came as a shock to many. On Monday, Thackeray had said that the party had endorsed Swaminathan for the benefit of farmers.

OneIndia News
Draupadi Murmu is India's first tribal and youngest President ever

Draupadi Murmu becomes 15th President of India with 64% votes against Yashwant Sinhas 36%

Next President of India: BJP chose a good candidate, says Mulayam

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Former Uttar Pradesh Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday said the BJP has chosen a good candidate for President.

Mulayam said 'BJP has given a good candidate. I have very old relations with him [Ram Nath Kovind].'

BJP has majority, if 1% or say 5% is required then BJP can manage it. Can't say what will opposition decide: Mulayam Singh #RamNathKovind pic.twitter.com/7LVLFxajIf  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) June 20, 2017

The SP supremo broke his silence over presidential candidate ahead of dinner meet organised by UP CM Yogi Adityanath in honour of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

He further said the BJP has the majority, if 1% or say 5% is required then BJP can manage it. But could not say what would opposition paties on the matter. But, his son Akhilesh Yadav yet to make his opinion on the selection of Presidential candidate.

PM Modi is in Lucknow to perform yoga along with 51,000 participants in Lucknow during the third edition of International Yoga Day on Wednesday.

OneIndia News
Next President of India: Will the opposition now pick Dr Ambedkar's grandson?

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The ruling BJP on Monday said that Ram Nath Kovind will be their candidate for the next President of India. The opposition has clearly said that he will not be a consensus candidate. This would mean an election would be held on July 17 as the opposition gets ready to field its own candidate.

Many in the opposition are in a fix as the BJP announced a Dalit candidate. The opposition is now considering the names of Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar and former speaker Meira Kumar.

After Kovind's name was announced, both Nitish Kumar and Naveen Patnaik said that they would support his candidature. If both the BJD and the JD(U) vote in favour of Kovind, then it would be impossible for the opposition to put up a fight.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

Many in the opposition feel that they should go ahead with the candidature of Prakash Ambedkar instead of Meira Kumar.

The opposition hopes that if they announce the name of Prakash, then the likes of Nitish Kumar and Patnaik would vote in their favour. Moreover it could also leave the Shiv Sena in a fix which has a tradition of voting for Presidential candidates from Maharashtra. When Prathibha Patil was chosen as the UPA's candidate, the Sena dumped the BJP and voted for her.

The chief of the Shiv Sena, Udhav Thackerey has not given away too much after the BJP chose Kovind. He said that the candidate should not be chosen for the sake of a vote bank. It would be interesting to see what the Shiv Sena would do if the opposition does go ahead with the candidature of Prakash who hails from Maharashtra.

If the name of Prakash goes through, then the opposition could also expect the BSP to vote in favour of him. Mayawati had said that she extended support to the candidature of Kovind. She however added that she would only vote against him if the opposition announced a popular Dalit candidate.

Who is Prakash Ambedkar:

Born on May 10 1954, Prakash is the grandson of Dr. B R Ambedkar. He is the leader of a local political party called the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh. He was a member of the 13th Lok Sabha.

He has represented the Lok Sabha twice from the Akola constituency in Maharashtra. He has also served in the Rajya Sabha. His younger brother Anandraj Ambedkar is also a politician.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 6:43 [IST]
DU admissions: Cutoff likely to drop by 3% in second list

Karnataka elections: how to check name in voter list

UCEED 2018 first allotment list released, how to exercise freeze and float option

No-fly list to be released by first week of July: Sinha

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Asserting that feedback from all the stakeholders would be taken to prepare a no-fly list, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on Tuesday said such a list would be ready by first week of July.

On June 6, it was reported that Centre was likely to release rules on a no-fly list for unruly passengers by June 20.

"National no fly list rules are currently being prepared, we will be issuing it in first week of July," Sinha told reporters.

"We are having another meeting soon where we will be providing further details and making sure all systems are good for the roll out," he added.

The ministry of civil aviation had last month issued its draft rules for a national no-fly list and invited stakeholders' comments within the next 30 days. It had mooted a ban on flying from three months upto an indefinite period for unruly passengers.

Sinha had earlier said that the ministry is currently evaluating the suggestions and taking the advice of the DGCA on the matter.

The need for a no-fly list gained momentum after several incidents of Members of Parliament misbehaving with the airline staff made headlines.

In April, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad assaulted an Air India staff after which he was barred from flying by several airlines including Air India.

Earlier this month, TDP MP misbehaved with an Indigo airlines staff after he arrived late for boarding.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 12:51 [IST]
Opposition will field a candidate for the next President of India

India

oi-Vicky

By Vicky

The opposition has confirmed that it would field a candidate for the presidential elections. The CPI (M)'s D Raja confirmed that a candidate would be fielded for the elections to be held on July 17. The counting of votes will take place on July 20.

The opposition is meeting on Thursday to finalise its candidate. Various names are in circulation which include that of Prakash Ambedkar, Sushil Kumar Shinde and Meira Kumar.

Electoral College: Here is how the next President of India will be elected

The BJP on Monday announced the name of Ram Nath Kovind as its candidate. Many in the opposition said that he would not be the consensus candidate and they would field someone against him. However the likes of Nitish Kumar and Biju Patnaik said that they would back the candidature of Kovind.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 17:56 [IST]
DigiLocker users can now store Ayushman Bharat health records: Here's how to do it

Sukma attack: Killings by Naxals not human rights violation of jawans, says CRPF

India

oi-Staff

By Staff

New Delhi, June 20: The killing of 25 personnel by Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Sukma on April 24 this year apparently does not qualify as a "human rights violation" for the CRPF.Human rights activist Venkatesh Nayak had sought the report, saying the massacre violated the human rights of those killed.

The force is exempted from making disclosures under the RTI Act unless the information sought pertains to allegations of human rights violation and corruption which may or may not be committed by the CRPF personnel.

Citing the exemption clause, the CRPF in its response said, "In the instant matter, there appears to be no violations of Human Rights as well as facts of the case do not attract allegations of corruption. Moreover, your application does not make any reference to such allegations. Hence this department is not liable to provide any information in this regard to your under RTI Act-2005."

Giving additional arguments to withhold information, the CRPF also said the report contains operational details hence cannot be shared.

Nayak said that the murderous attack in April by Left Wing Extremist groups amounts to violation of their human rights by "non-State actors" and by denying this "reality", the CRPF may be doing injustice to its own personnel.

"Every time such an attack occurs, self-appointed conscience-keepers of the 'nation' and advocates of a belligerent brand of 'nationalism' ... Accuse human right advocates of not raising their voice against the violation of the rights of security personnel," Nayak said.

He added that the government's attitude towards such incidents has to be questioned.

"Why does the government and in this case, the CRPF, fight shy of treating these attacks as 'human rights violations' of their personnel? Surely, there must be a reason for it," he said.

Nayak said if such attacks causing the deaths of security personnel are not treated as "human rights violations" committed by non-State actors, why should right activists be portrayed as "villains", even though they always condemn such incidents in unequivocal terms.

The Central Reserve Police Force is the premier central police force for internal security.

CRPF played a pivotal role in curbing militancy in Punjab during 1980s and insurgency in Tripura during 1990s. Today, more than one third of the force is deployed in left-wing extremist affected areas to control extremism.

PTI
UP: Magistrate sends officials on Jail Tour to deter corruption

India

pti-PTI

Lucknow, June 20: It is often said that fear is the best deterrent to corruption. And what better deterrent can there be than time spent behind bars. The District Magistrate of Farrukhabad is following the same approach to deter government officials from graft.

Take a tour of jail, get a glimpse of the life behind the bars and decide for yourself if you want to indulge in corruption. This is the message the Farrukhabad District Magistrate has for government officials to deter them from graft.

District Magistrate Ravindra Kumar hit upon the novel idea and sent 576 government employees to the central jail in Farrukhabad to interact with inmates, including government officials who are living in confines of the prison.

"Recently I suspended six government officials as they were allegedly involved in corruption. In the entire process of taking action, a probe officer is appointed and again the possibility of corruption rises. The best way to curb corruption is to instill a sense of responsibility among the officials so that they themselves deter from corrupt practices," Kumar told PTI over the phone.

About his concept of sending government officials on jail tourism, Kumar said there were 88 government employees from across the state lodged in the central jail, Farrukhabad.

"'Jail tourism' should act as a new mantra to deter corrupt officials.Isent 576 government officials to visit jail yesterday so that they share the experience of inmates, including government servants. The objective is that they should know the experience of those behind bars and ultimately deter them not to indulge in corrupt practice which might invite similar fate for them," the district magistrate said.

Among those who visited the jail included Lekhpals dealing in land-related matters, ration shop owners, who deal with supply of food items, and panchyat officers, who deal with various schemes implemented at village level.

Head of some departments also went inside the jail to feel the life there, he said, adding that following the state government's 'zero tolerance for corruption' his aim was to check the menace.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has expressed displeasure over rising corruption and kept it on its priority to rid the state from corruption.

He had also raised question mark on functioning of the anti-corruption organisation in the state while saying that it was time to restructure the body to make it more effective and result-oriented.

The ACO deals with complaints of corruption related to the police force and non-gazetted ranks of other state government departments.

There has been a number of arrests of government officials, including an Assistant Road Transport Officer in Chandauli, and a number of policemen have been caught taking bribe.

The CM has also recommended probe into a number of schemes launched in previous Samajwadi Party regime during which corruption allegedly prevailed.

The alleged scams in Shia and Sunni waqf boards and Gomti river front project are already under the scanner, while sale of sugar mills without following norms is also being probed by the Yogi Adityanath government.

PTI

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 14:49 [IST]
'If I have nominated even one person using authority, I'll resign': Kerala governor on VC row

Viral fever grips Kerala, 103 deaths so far

India

pti-PTI

Thiruvananthapuram, June 20: With over 100 deaths being reported since January in Kerala due to various types of fevers, government on Monday appealed to the people to join the government's mass sanitation drive on a war footing.

According to Health Department sources, as many as 103 people, including women and children, have succumbed to various types of fevers including H1N1, leptospirosis and dengue from January till date.

Of the total 103 deaths, 53 people have died of H1N1 and 13 due to dengue, the sources said.

Breeding of mosquitoes due to piling of waste was considered to be prime reason for the spread of fever and other communicable diseases, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, adding social hygiene was essential to keep diseases at bay.

"Political party activists, representatives of local self government institutions and members of socio-cultural outfits and clubs should take part in the sanitation drive on war footing," he said in a statement.

Stating that the government had already stepped up its sanitation drive with the support of local people, Vijayan said fever cases have reduced in those places where waste management and mosquito control measures have been implemented effectively. He said the government had ensured enough stock of essential medicines and the service of doctors in all government hospitals.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that 117 people had died due to fever in the state since January.

At least an average of 20,000 persons are arriving at state hospitals seeking treatment for fever. "Youngsters and children are succumbing to viral fever" and there was emergency situation, he said.

Chennithala also said the health department had failed miserably in containing the fever and blamed state Health Minister K K Shylaja for not rising to the occasion.

Refuting the charges, the Health Minister said the opposition was trying to take political mileage over the situation. A united effort is needed to overcome the situation, she said in Kochi.

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 8:49 [IST]
Will GJM ends its indefinite bandh as parties set to discuss Gorkhaland stir in Darjeeling?

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Kolkata, June 20: As the indefinite bandh called by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in Darjeeling and parts of neighbouring places in North Bengal entered the ninth day on Tuesday, an all-party meet to discuss on the ongoing agitation demanding separate Gorkhaland is scheduled later in the day. The meeting has been called by the GJM.

It is still not clear if the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal will send its representatives to take part in the discussion. The meeting will take place in the absence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who has left for the Netherland on Monday to attend an UN conference.

Earlier, CM Banerjee asked all parties and stakeholders to attend an all-party meeting convened by the state government in Siliguri on June 22 on the prevailing situation in Darjeeling.

"Violence cannot be a solution to any problem and only talks can solve it," she told reporters. Banerjee had said on Saturday, "I am ready to sacrifice my life, but I will not allow Bengal to be divided."

Security forces patrolled the streets in Darjeeling and internet remained snapped for the second day on Monday as GJM supporters marched at several areas and burnt effigies of CM Banerjee for rejecting their demand for a separate state.

The internet was snapped in order to stop GJM activists from using social media to spread "provocative posts", police sources said.

The GJM ruled out any discussion with the government, but said it would be "comfortable" holding talks with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Centre. The BJP is an ally of the GJM and party MP SS Ahluwalia had won the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Darjeeling with its support.

"We are not ready for talks with the West Bengal government. Mamata Banerjee has insulted us, she has called us terrorists," GJM leader Binay Tamang said.

The GJM protesters on Monday blocked National Highway-31A at some places in Darjeeling to protest the death of three of their activists on Saturday. The 92-kilometres-long NH-31A connects Sevoke in Darjeeling to Gangtok and is considered the lifeline of Sikkim.

Some 30 kilometres of the highway passes through West Bengal. A state police official said, "Raids will continue. In fact, there will be raids tonight itself which will be on the basis of our intelligence inputs."

Anybody disturbing the law and order situation in the hills would face "tough handling" by the police, he said.

The West Bengal government has sent a report on the ongoing violence in Darjeeling to the Union Home Ministry, which has dispatched a contingent of 125 women security personnel to help restore peace in the hills.

The state government's report is under review by the ministry, official sources in New Delhi said. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi has also spoken to the West Bengal chief secretary, who demanded that two companies comprising 250 personnel of women paramilitary personnel be sent to Darjeeling, the sources said.

Carrying black flags, protesters marched on the streets at Chowkbazar in Darjeeling, shouting slogans against the state government and CM Banerjee. "Three of our activists were killed. We are ready to give our lives, but will not stop protesting till we get Gorkhaland," Sirish Pradhan, a GJM worker, said.

Other small processions were taken out by GJM activists in various parts of Darjeeling. Security forces patrolled the streets as the situation remained tense on the fifth day of the GJM-organised indefinite shutdown. "The situation is still very tense. Since morning, there has been no incident of violence. But we are on high alert and are prepared for any eventuality," a senior police officer said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had appealed to the protesters on Sunday not to resort to violence and instead, hold dialogue to resolve any issue. But the GJM expressed its "displeasure" with the Centre and questioned the absence of BJP MP from Darjeeling Ahluwalia at the time of the crisis.

"The role of alliance partner BJP is very unfortunate and very disappointing. We had expected something positive on the part of the central government. We feel we are being used as pawns by the Centre and the state," Darjeeling MLA and GJM leader Amar Singh Rai said.

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 8:25 [IST]
"With me as CM and Modi as PM, Cauvery issue will be resolved," says Yeddyurappa

India

oi-Anusha

The state president of Karnataka BJP has assured to solve the Cauvery river water sharing crisis if he becomes Chief Minister. Speaking to reporters in Delhi on Tuesday, the BJP's chief ministerial candidate for Karnataka said that his government, if voted to power would soon resolve the decades-old crisis.

"If I become the Chief Minister of Karnataka and with Narendra Modi at the Centre, we will resolve the never-ending Cauvery water issue soon," Yeddyurappa told reporters. Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads for decades over the Cauvery river water sharing issue. While drought, farmer protests have kept the issue alive, it makes a comeback during elections as a poll agenda for all parties in both states.

Over incidents of rebellion within the Karnataka BJP, senior leadership announced B S Yeddyurappa as their Chief Ministerial candidate. Following the announcement by Amit Shah, Yeddyurappa has been touring the state to consolidate voters. Dalit appeasement has been a priority for Yeddyurappa during the statewide tour. BJP leaders led by B S Yeddyurappa made it a point to visit Dalit colonies and eat in houses of Dalits.

The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to publicise Yeddyurappa's visits to Dalit colonies in a bid to rid the party of its anti-Dalit image. Ahead of the 2018 elections, the BJP is working towards appeasing communities who are not their traditional vote bank. Yeddyurappa's statement on Tuesday came as another agenda that the party hopes to use in election campaigning considering the anger within the farming community across the country.

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Story first published: Tuesday, June 20, 2017, 14:19 [IST]
Yoga Day event: Misuse of funds, time, resources, says Mayawati

India

pti-PTI

Lucknow, Jun 20: Ahead of International Yoga Day function in the state, BSP president Mayawati on Tuesday alleged that its totally misuse of funds, resources and time over it.

"Instead of fulfilling its prime constitutional duty by using its power, resources and time towards providing jobs to crores of jobless poor, farmers, labourers to help them get two square meals, the Modi government is using government funds and machinery on the well-off people," Maywati said in a press note here, condemning the alleged misuse.

Joining issues with farmers' organisations who have opposed the Yoga Day functions, Mayawati said their protest against the "anti-poor and anti-farmers" function and policy was fully justified. Lashing out at the "wrong policies and working" of the BJP-led government which, she claimed have further compounded the problems of the jobless and farmers and has also forced them to commit suicide, Mayawati said farmers will now hold peaceful dharna at the Niti Ayog and Jantar Mantar in Delhi from next month to draw government's attention over it.

Alleging dwindling job opportunities and employment crunch in the IT sector also, Mayawati said under such trying times, the BJP governments at the Centre and state have "adopted lax attitude and using government funds, machinery and time on programmes like yoga."

"RSS should have been made responsible for such functions rather than BJP governments...why must the various government facilities and exemptions that RSS is getting be only allowed to sow seeds of hatred?", she asked.

PTI
Gunmen kill 8 Afghan security guards at Bagram military base

International

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

At least eight Afghan security guards from Bagram military base were killed and two others injured in an attack by suspected militants on Monday night in Shah Kah village in Parwan province.

Afghan media ToLo news tweeted about the incident.

#Bagram - 10 Afghan security guards from Bagram military base attacked in Shah Kah village last night. 8 killed, 2 wounded.  TOLOnews (@TOLOnews) 20 June 2017

Spokeswoman for the provincial governor, Wahida Shahkar, said the guards were attacked on their way to work at Bagram airfield, reports ABC news.

No outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack. Further details are yet to emerge.

In April, 100 soldiers had died in a deadly attack by Taliban in Mazar-e Sharif. However, the Afghan defence ministry did not release exact figures for the attack.

The Taliban in a statement said it had carried out the attack, one of the deadliest on a military site in a country that has seen numerous insurgent attacks.

Last week, a, Afghan soldier from 209 Shaheen Corps Headquarters in Balkh province opened fire at US soldiers injuring seven. But, the attacker was killed by his colleagues following the shooting.

OneIndia News
He is not a terrorist but someone with problems, says UK attack suspect's mother

International

pti-PTI

Jun 20: Darren Osborne, a 47-year-old man under arrest on terror charges for running over worshippers outside a mosque in London, has been described by his mother as someone with problems but "not a terrorist".

British police named Osborne, a father of four living in the Welsh city of Cardiff, as the man who ploughed a van into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London.

He was detained by members of the public at the scene and then take to hospital and later arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

An elderly man, who was receiving first aid at the time of the attack for a presumed heart attack, died on the scene, but it is unclear if his death was a result of the attack or from a previous condition.

Nine others were taken to three London hospitals and two were treated for minor injuries at the scene, outside Muslim Welfare House, near Finsbury Park Mosque. In a statement on behalf of the family, Osborne's 26- year-old nephew Ellis Osborne said, "We are massively shocked; it's unbelievable, it still hasn't really sunk in. We are devastated for the families, our hearts go out to the people who have been injured."

According to witnesses, Osborne shouted, "I want to kill all Muslims" as he drove a van into a crowd largely made up of worshippers out for Ramzan prayers. Osborne's mother, 72-year-old Christine, said her son was "not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims". "I'm at my wits end. I saw him on TV and recognised him straight away. I just screamed. My son is no terrorist -- he's just a man with problems and I don't know how to cope with all this," she told The Sun. Osborne's sister Nicola denied that her brother is political. "He wouldn't even know who the Prime Minister is. I've never heard him say anything about Muslims or anything racist," she said.

Osborne was born in Singapore but raised by his parents, John and Christine, in Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset, England, where he attended Broadoak Mathematics and Computing College. He left Weston-Super-Mare several years ago and moved to a terraced house in Pentwyn, Cardiff, with his partner, children and two dogs.

The couple have four children, aged between 16 and five, and Osborne is described as a "family man". Some neighbours believe he and his partner had separated in recent months and that he was often seen shouting at her in the street.

Osborne, who was not known to the police or security services, is believed to have driven 15 miles from his home in Cardiff to Pontyclun Van Hire on Sunday, hiring an 80-pound- a-night van.

According to some of his drinking mates, he may have become radicalised following the recent terror attacks in London Bridge and Manchester. He allegedly hurled insults at his Asian neighbour's 12- year-old son and was allegedly thrown out of his local pub the night before the attack for "cursing Muslims". Meanwhile, Scotland Yard chief Cressida Dick joined hundreds at a vigil outside Finsbury Park Mosque, where people from across the community had gathered in solidarity and to lay flowers. The Finsbury Park attack is the fourth in the UK in four months, after incidents in Westminster, Manchester and on London Bridge. British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack was "every bit as sickening" as the others.

PTI
In Iran, men and women are 'equal' only in torture

Iran increases export of food Qatar amid blockade

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Tehran, June 20: Qatar is importing over 1,000 tonnes of food a day from southern ports of Iran amid the blockade imposed on it blockade by several of its neighbours.

The head of ports of the southern province of Bushehr, Mahdi Benchari, told the official IRNA news agency that 750 tonnes of food was shipped daily from the port of Boljeir, with 350 tonnes from Dayer to Qatar.

The ports of this province are strategically located since they are only 274 km from Qatar, giving them an opportunity to increase exports, Efe news reported.

The shipment of food, especially fruits and vegetables, to Qatar is also being carried out by air from Iran.

On June 11, Iran Air said that its planes were loading and transporting about 100 tonnes of food a day to Qatar.

After being accused of financing terror groups Qatar is facing blocked by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. Hence, Iran has increased exports of food to support Qatar.

IANS
PM Ardern: New Zealand couple held in Iran allowed to leave

In Iran, men and women are 'equal' only in torture

Iranian spy drone shot down by Pakistan Air Force in Balochistan

International

oi-Madhuri

An Iranian spy drone was on Tuesday shot down by Pakistan Air Force over Balochistan's Panjgur, 45 km inside Pakistan territory.

According to sources, Pakistan Air Force PAF JF17 shot down the drone over Panjgur in Balochistan.

The incident is first of its kind in the history of two nations, which share a 900 km border.

On Sunday, Iranian border security forces launched several mortar shells near Prom, an area of Panjgur. No causality has been reported.

In the last few years, Pakistan has accused Iranian forces of violating its territorial integrity and has lodged protests with Iran several times.

OneIndia News
Lebanese launch campaign to ban Zakir Naik's entry

International

oi-PTI

Cairo, Jun 19: Activists in Lebanon have launched a campaign to ban Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik's entry after a local cleric invited him to deliver a lecture. Zakir Naik is wanted in India on terror charges.

Calling Naik's views "extremist" and "inflammatory", the Lebanese activists say his presence is not conducive to the "harmony of a multicultural country like Lebanon", according to The New Arab. "Zakir Naik is an extremist preacher known to spread hate speech that attacks non-Muslims and moderate Muslims alike, and he has been banned from entering many countries," Khaled Merheb, a lawyer and human rights activist, was quoted as saying by the news portal. Sheikh Hassan Katerji, head of Lebanon's little known Salafi group Islamic Federation Society, posted on Facebook from Saudi Arabia that Naik's visit would take place "soon", once adequate preparations were made.

"Good news! Praise be to Allah, the preacher Zakir Naik has agreed to come to Lebanon when I visited him this morning," he posted on his Facebook on June 11. "Tomorrow I will, God willing, begin contacts with the authorities to guarantee his safe entry and residence," Katerji later posted on Facebook. A petition was launched soon thereafter via the Avaaz platform, appealing for people to support a ban on Naik's entry to the Mediterranean country. Activists behind the campaign are also threatening legal action. "Naik's visit is dangerous on many levels," said Merheb, the Lebanese lawyer.

"It encourages extremism, creates tension between different religious communities in Lebanon and may inspire jihadis." His views may be in violation of Lebanese laws regarding sectarian incitement, the lawyer added. The controversial preacher is accused of spreading hatred by his provocative speeches, funding terrorists and laundering several crores of rupees over the years.

Naik had fled from India on July 1, 2016 after terrorists in neighbouring Bangladesh claimed that they were inspired by his speeches on waging jehad. He is being probed in India for terror and money laundering charges. He had fled from India immediately after an investigation against him was initiated. Naik denies all the charges.

India has already banned his NGO - Islamic Research Foundation - and taken his TV channel Peace TV off air. Though his present place of stay is unknown and it is believed that he has been shuttling between the UAE, Saudi Arabia, African and Southeast Asian countries.

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Rumble 09 Nov 2022

Two Chinese men's behavior of dressing up as World War II Japanese soldiers and parading around in front of a train..
The suspected child kidnapper

A lady allegedly attempting to abduct a little child in Kano state has been apprehended.

She was caught by residents of Dala while she was attempting to kidnap the child at Koki mosque.

According to salemgists, the lady who is yet-to-be named was paraded through the streets by residents of the area.

Targeting little children have become a daily thing in Kano.

Not too long ago, Abdulmalik Muhammed Tanko, allegedly kidnapped a 5-year-old girl identified as Hanifa Abubakar in Kano.

It was alleged that the suspect kept her captive for 46 days before taking her life.

It was gathered that Tanko took the little girls life despite collecting part of six million naira ransom he demanded.

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Presidency condemns Financial Times article on Nigeria.

The Presidency has criticised the wrong perceptions in David Pilings article on Nigeria published by the Financial Times on Jan. 31.

One of the Presidents spokesmen, Malam Garba Shehu, condemned the article in a statement on Sunday, in Abuja, while expressing reservations over the position of the writer, describing the Nigerian government as a government sleepwalking into disaster.

The statement read in part: We wish to correct the wrong perceptions contained in the article What is Nigerias Government For, by David Piling, Financial Times (UK), January 31, 2022.

The caricature of a government sleepwalking into disaster (What is Nigerias government for? January 31, 2022 ) was predictable from a correspondent, who jets briefly in and out of Nigeria on the same British Airways flight he so criticises.

He highlights rising banditry in my country as proof of such slumber.

What he leaves out are the security gains made over two Presidential terms. The terror organisation Boko Haram used to administer an area the size of Belgium at inauguration; now, they control no territory.

The first comprehensive plan to deal with decades-old clashes between nomadic herders and sedentary farmers  experienced across the width of the Sahel  has been introduced: pilot ranches are reducing the competition for water and land that drove past tensions.

Banditry grew out of such clashes. Criminal gangs took advantage of the instability, flush with guns that flooded the region following the Western-triggered implosion of Libya.

The situation is grave. Yet as with other challenges, it is one that the government would face down.
Currently: Long Looking to: Sell @ $52.25



As of 3/19/21 close: $50.20



LAST WEEK: We suggested buying at $49.70 with stops on a close below $48.25 and with a target of $52.25.



UPDATE: The European ETF (IEV) had a tough day Thursday along with US stocks. However, it finished higher for the week and remains in bullish technical position right now. We still are looking for a continued move up to $52.25.



Try new long positions at $49.27. Honor stops on a close below $48.25 and look to take profits up at $52.25.
Flow Meters Market to See Incredible Growth During 2016 - 2024

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The flow meter is a device used to measure the volume of fluid that is passing through a point on a given period of time. A flow meter consist various components such as tube, scale, stop, and indicator. Its performance depends on parameters that include pressure, viscosity, density and temperature of the fluid. Flow meter is measured by repeatability, accuracy, range ability of instrument and linearity.To access full report @The global flow meter market can be segmented by application, by product and by geography. The product type is further segmented into Magnetic, Coriolis, positive displacement, turbine, vortex and others. Magnetic flow meter lead the global market in terms of value in 2012. Magnetic flow meters are majorly used in wastewater and water industry. Main applications of Coriolis flow meter include petrochemical and refining, chemicals, oil and gas and other industries. Geography segment covers North America, Europe, Asia pacific and RoW.A sample of this report is available upon request @This market is expected to show the single digit growth in CARG by 2019. Rapid industrialization and growing population in Asia Pacific act as drivers for this market. Growing population requires wastewater and water infrastructure in that region. Africa and Middle East also have huge potential for flow meters market.Asia pacific continues to remain the largest market for flow meters, followed by North America and Europe. Asia Pacific market is expected to grow owing to huge investment by increasing demand for flow meters from different types of industries.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @The main key players for this industry include ABB Ltd., Yokogawa Electric Co., Hitachi ltd., Honeywell International ltd., Emerson Electric Co., Endress+Hauser AG and Siemens AG among others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Geotextiles Market to Perceive Substantial Growth During 2015 - 2025

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http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/samples/11050

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/toc/11050

http://www.persistencemarketresearch.com

Geotextiles are been used for agriculture and civil applications for thousands of years. In past, materials such as natural fibres and vegetation mix were used to produce geotextiles. Now a days, synthetic and natural fibres/polymers are used to produce geotextiles. The synthetic polymers that are used in the production of geotextiles are polyamides, polyethylenes, polypropylene and polyester. Geotextile fabrics are used to produce grids, mats, nets and webs. Vegetation or plant based geotextiles have less shelf life as compared to synthetic fibres/polymer. Synthetic fibres do not get affected by the biological or chemical reactions/processes. The geotextiles have evolved and currently geotextiles are largely used in the civil engineering applications, due to their properties such as flexibility and texture suitable. Synthetic geotextiles materials are petrochemical based products, due to which, they are not environment friendly as they are responsible for carbon emission. Synthetic geotextiles are non-renewable as well.To access full report @Separation, filtration, reinforcement and drainage are four functions of geotextiles. Geotextile is also used with soil, and rock to increase the stability and lessen the wind and water erosion. As per the type of applications, the fabric composition varies. Geotextiles can non-woven, woven or knitted. The non-woven geotextiles are used in applications such as roads, payment overlays and aggregate drains. For application where high strength geotextile is required, the woven geotextile is used. Though, geotextiles are largely used in filtration of rocks, geotextiles are not apt for filtration of liquid barriers.Geotextiles Market: Drivers and ChallengesGeotextiles are inexpensive and thus preferred for various functions such as separation, filtration, reinforcement, protection and drainage in civil engineering applications, due to which the global geotextile market is expected to grow during the forecast period. Global geotextile market is forecast to propel during the forecast period due to expected growth in the construction and agriculture industries. Properties such as flexibility and permeability of geotextiles are expected to fuel the growth of the global geotextiles market during the forecast period. Durability and cost effectiveness is also expected to fuel the growth of the global geotextile market during the forecast period. Geotextiles industry players are constantly innovating the geotextiles, due to government push and to increase their market share in the global market, which is expected drive the global geotextile during the forecast period.A sample of this report is available upon request @Though, the importance of the geotextiles is on the rise globally, as synthetic geotextiles are petrochemical based products, they cause carbon emissions, due to stringent government regulations to reduce the carbon footprint, the growth in the global geotextile market is inhibited.Geotextiles Market: OverviewThe global geotextiles market by value is expected to expand at a CAGR of around 79% during the forecast period (2015-2025), due to increasing demand from industries such as construction and agriculture.Geotextiles Market: SegmentationThe global geotextiles market can be segmented by type, by material type, by end-use application and by regions.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Based on end-use application, the global geotextiles market is segmented as:DrainageRoad ConstructionErosion ControlOthersBased on type, the global geotextiles market is segmented as:WovenNon?WovenKnittedBased on material type, the global geotextiles market is segmented as:PolyesterPolyethylenePolypropyleneOthersGeotextiles Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global geotextiles market is expected to register a single-digit CAGR for the forecast period. Depending on geographic regions, global geotextiles market is segmented into seven key regions: North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan, Japan, and Middle East & Africa (MEA). In terms of market revenue, Asia Pacific Excluding Japan geotextiles market is projected to register a significant CAGR during the forecast period. Growing construction industry is fuelling the growth of geotextiles market in APEJ. Growth in population and economic improvement in APEJ are also responsible for growth in geotextiles.Geotextiles Market: Key PlayersSome of the key market participants in global geotextiles market are Royal Ten Cate (TenCate), Geosynthetic Lining Systems (GSE) Environmental, NAUE Gmbh & Co. KG, Propex Global, Fibertex Nonwovers, Fiberweb PLC and Global Synthetics.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments by geographies and by end-use application, by materials and by type.The report covers exhaustive analysis on:Market SegmentsMarket DynamicsMarket SizeSupply & DemandCurrent Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedValue ChainRegional analysis includesNorth America (U.S., Canada)Latin America (Mexico. Brazil)Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific Excluding Japan (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand)JapanMiddle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, N. Africa)The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Report Highlights:Detailed overview of parent marketChanging market dynamics in the industryIn-depth market segmentationHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and valueRecent industry trends and developmentsCompetitive landscapeStrategies of key players and products offeredPotential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growthA neutral perspective on market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprint.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Market Report 2017

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Market Report 2017 to its huge collection of research reports.The dynamics of global market for Smart Sprinkler Controlleris shaped by a variety of factors, a comprehensive analysis of which is covered in the report ###. The analysis offers in-depth insights into the major product classifications, key manufacturing processes, market share and size of various segments and sub-segments, detailed profile of major market players, and competitive landscape. Key elements of market dynamics covered in the report include industry chain overview, upstream and downstream clients survey, and pricing strategies of key offerings. An evaluation of the regulatory landscape prevailing in major regions, along with the recent changes in government regulations, is covered in the report. This will enable various stakeholders to effectively formulate their investment strategies. The study takes a closer look at emerging business models and assesses the scope of the current ones.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Perusing through the observations and findings in the report, market participants can identify which trends will dominate and the ones that will fall by the wayside over the forecast period (2017 2022). The demand for technology advances in the end-use industries is anticipated to nudge several players to increase spending on research and development activities. The analysis keep a close tab on recent product innovations and highlights key developmental initiatives by major players. Employing methods such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis, the report assesses the competitive rivalry among players. This will help companies in the Smart Sprinkler Controllermarket to identify the likely strategic overhaul expected to take place in the coming years. The role of recent changes in government policies in emerging and developed regions is evaluated along with the impact they may have on the revenue of key players.Table of ContentGlobal Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Market Report 20171 Smart Sprinkler Controller Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Smart Sprinkler Controller1.2 Classification of Smart Sprinkler Controller by Product Category1.2.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Non-WiFi controllers watering according to setup procedure1.2.4 WiFi controllers connected to App1.3 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Professional people (Property managerLandscape professionals...)1.3.3 Public Sector1.3.4 Residential1.3.5 Others1.4 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Market by Region1.4.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Smart Sprinkler Controller Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Smart Sprinkler Controller Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Smart Sprinkler Controller Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Smart Sprinkler Controller (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)To Browse a Complete Report with TOC Visit @2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.3 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.3.2 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4 Global Smart Sprinkler Controller (Volume) by Application3 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.3 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)3.2 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Players3.3 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Type3.4 United States Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Application4 China Smart Sprinkler Controller (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Value (2012-2017)4.1.1 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.2 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)4.1.3 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)4.2 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Players4.3 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Type4.4 China Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Application5 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Value (2012-2017)5.1.1 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.2 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)5.1.3 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Price Trend (2012-2017)5.2 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Players5.3 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by Type5.4 Europe Smart Sprinkler Controller Sales Volume and Market Share by ApplicationQYResearchReports.com is an unimpeachable source of market research data for clients that comprise acclaimed SMEs, Chinese companies, private equity firms, and MNCs. 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United States POS Receipt Printers Market Report 2016

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This report studies sales (consumption) of POS Receipt Printers in United States market, focuses on the top players, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player, coveringCitizen SystemsEpsonHPStar MicronicsBixolonBOCA SystemsCognitive TPGNCRPOSXPertech IndustriesWoosim SystemsFill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Table of ContentsUnited States POS Receipt Printers Market Report 20161 POS Receipt Printers Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of POS Receipt Printers1.2 Classification of POS Receipt Printers1.2.1 Type I1.2.2 Type II1.2.3 Type III1.3 Application of POS Receipt Printers1.3.1 Application 11.3.2 Application 21.3.3 Application 31.4 United States Market Size Sales (Value) and Revenue (Volume) of POS Receipt Printers (2011-2021)1.4.1 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales and Growth Rate (2011-2021)1.4.2 United States POS Receipt Printers Revenue and Growth Rate (2011-2021)2 United States POS Receipt Printers Competition by Manufacturers2.1 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales and Market Share of Key Manufacturers (2015 and 2016)2.2 United States POS Receipt Printers Revenue and Share by Manufactures (2015 and 2016)2.3 United States POS Receipt Printers Average Price by Manufactures (2015 and 2016)2.4 POS Receipt Printers Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.4.1 POS Receipt Printers Market Concentration Rate2.4.2 POS Receipt Printers Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.4.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionObtain Report Details @3 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales (Volume) and Revenue (Value) by Type (2011-2016)3.1 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)3.2 United States POS Receipt Printers Revenue and Market Share by Type (2011-2016)3.3 United States POS Receipt Printers Price by Type (2011-2016)3.4 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales Growth Rate by Type (2011-2016)4 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales (Volume) by Application (2011-2016)4.1 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales and Market Share by Application (2011-2016)4.2 United States POS Receipt Printers Sales Growth Rate by Application (2011-2016)4.3 Market Drivers and Opportunities5 United States POS Receipt Printers Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis5.1 Citizen Systems5.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors5.1.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.1.2.1 Type I5.1.2.2 Type II5.1.3 Citizen Systems POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.2 Epson5.2.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.2.2.1 Type I5.2.2.2 Type II5.2.3 Epson POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.3 HP5.3.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.3.2.1 Type I5.3.2.2 Type II5.3.3 HP POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.4 Star Micronics5.4.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.4.2.1 Type I5.4.2.2 Type II5.4.3 Star Micronics POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.5 Bixolon5.5.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.5.2.1 Type I5.5.2.2 Type II5.5.3 Bixolon POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.6 BOCA Systems5.6.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.6.2.1 Type I5.6.2.2 Type II5.6.3 BOCA Systems POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.7 Cognitive TPG5.7.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.7.2.1 Type I5.7.2.2 Type II5.7.3 Cognitive TPG POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.8 NCR5.8.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.8.2.1 Type I5.8.2.2 Type II5.8.3 NCR POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.9 POSX5.9.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.9.2.1 Type I5.9.2.2 Type II5.9.3 POSX POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.10 Pertech Industries5.10.2 POS Receipt Printers Product Type, Application and Specification5.10.2.1 Type I5.10.2.2 Type II5.10.3 Pertech Industries POS Receipt Printers Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)5.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview5.11 Woosim SystemsAbout 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
Tallow Amine Product Market Forecast 2017 : Solvay Fine Chemical, Venus Ethoxyethers, Stepan Company

Tallow Amine Product market

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Tallow Amine Product Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Tallow Amine Product Market  examines the performance of the Tallow Amine Product market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Tallow Amine Product market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Tallow Amine Product market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Tallow Amine Product Market 2016-2017 report includes Tallow Amine Product market Revenue, market Share, Tallow Amine Product industry volume, market Trends, Tallow Amine Product Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Tallow Amine Product Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Tallow Amine Product Market 2017:1. Solvay Fine Chemical Co., Ltd.2. Venus Ethoxyethers3. Stepan Company4. Schaerer & Schlaepfer.5. Volant Chem Corporation6. Lonwin Industry Group Limited7. Chemos GmbH8. Hangzhou Dayangchem Co. Ltd.9. Akzo Nobel Chemicals S.A.10. Haihang Industry Co., Ltd.Firstly, the report covers the top Tallow Amine Product manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Tallow Amine Product report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Tallow Amine Product industry, Tallow Amine Product industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Tallow Amine Product Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Tallow Amine Product research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Tallow Amine Product market revenue worldwide.Finally, Tallow Amine Product market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Inhaled Nitric Oxide Market Forecast 2017 : Inomax, Praxair, Sigma-Aldrich, Boli, Air Liquide

Inhaled Nitric Oxide market

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Inhaled Nitric Oxide Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Inhaled Nitric Oxide Market  examines the performance of the Inhaled Nitric Oxide market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Inhaled Nitric Oxide market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Inhaled Nitric Oxide market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Inhaled Nitric Oxide Market 2016-2017 report includes Inhaled Nitric Oxide market Revenue, market Share, Inhaled Nitric Oxide industry volume, market Trends, Inhaled Nitric Oxide Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Inhaled Nitric Oxide Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Inhaled Nitric Oxide Market 2017:1. Inomax2. Praxair3. Sigma-Aldrich4. Boli.5. Air Liquide6. Muscle Gauge Nutrition7. Matheson8. GenoSys9. Specgas Inc.10. Scott Specialty GasesFirstly, the report covers the top Inhaled Nitric Oxide manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Inhaled Nitric Oxide report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Inhaled Nitric Oxide industry, Inhaled Nitric Oxide industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Inhaled Nitric Oxide Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Inhaled Nitric Oxide research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Inhaled Nitric Oxide market revenue worldwide.Finally, Inhaled Nitric Oxide market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Market Forecast 2017 : Optec USA, SAFTE Italia, Thuasne, Seven Seas, Nippon Sigmax

Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales

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Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Market  examines the performance of the Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales market Revenue, market Share, Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales industry volume, market Trends, Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Market 2017:1. Optec USA2. SAFTE Italia3. Thuasne4. Seven Seas5. Nippon Sigmax6. Arden Medikal7. Conwell Medical8. Bountex Knitting9. DonJoy10. Huntex Corporation11. JuzoFirstly, the report covers the top Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales industry, Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Lumbo-Sacral Support Belts Sales market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Market Forecast 2017 : SOMSO, 3M ESPE, GPI Anatomicals, Altay Scientific, Rudiger  Anatomie

Mandible Anatomical Models Sales

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Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Market  examines the performance of the Mandible Anatomical Models Sales market 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Mandible Anatomical Models Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Mandible Anatomical Models Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Mandible Anatomical Models Sales market Revenue, market Share, Mandible Anatomical Models Sales industry volume, market Trends, Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Market 2017:1. SOMSO2. 3M ESPE3. Erler-Zimmer Anatomiemodelle4. GPI Anatomicals5. Altay Scientific6. Rudiger  Anatomie7. 3B ScientificFirstly, the report covers the top Mandible Anatomical Models Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Mandible Anatomical Models Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Mandible Anatomical Models Sales industry, Mandible Anatomical Models Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Mandible Anatomical Models Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Mandible Anatomical Models Sales research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Mandible Anatomical Models Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Mandible Anatomical Models Sales market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Rocker Switches Sales Market Research 2017 : LEGRAND S.A., LEVITON MANUFACTURING CO., INC., LUTRON ELECTRONICS CO., INC.

Rocker Switches Sales market

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Rocker Switches Sales Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Rocker Switches Sales Market  examines the performance of the Rocker Switches Sales market Research 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Rocker Switches Sales market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Rocker Switches Sales market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Rocker Switches Sales Market 2016-2017 report includes Rocker Switches Sales market Revenue, market Share, Rocker Switches Sales industry volume, market Trends, Rocker Switches Sales Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Rocker Switches Sales Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Rocker Switches Sales Market 2017:1. LEGRAND S.A.2. LEVITON MANUFACTURING CO., INC.3. LUTRON ELECTRONICS CO., INC.4. HUBBELL LIGHTING, INC.5. COOPER INDUSTRIES, INC.6. OSRAM GMBH7. KONINKLIJKE PHILIPS N.V.8. ACUITY BRANDS LIGHTING, INC.9. HONEYWELL INTERNATIONAL INC.10. SCHNEIDER ELECTRIC SE11. DAINTREE NETWORKS, INC.12. CW Industries13. LUMEX INC.14. Tyco Electronics15. GREATECS16. Cherry Semiconductor Corporation17. C&K Components18. JFW Industries, Inc.19. Omron Electronics LLCRocker Switches Sales Market : By Type SPST SPDT DPDT DPST XPYTRocker Switches Sales Market : By Application On/off Control User Input OthersFirstly, the report covers the top Rocker Switches Sales manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Rocker Switches Sales report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Rocker Switches Sales industry, Rocker Switches Sales industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Rocker Switches Sales Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Rocker Switches Sales research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Rocker Switches Sales market revenue worldwide.Finally, Rocker Switches Sales market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Electrically Fired Igniter Market Research 2017 : Shaanxi Qinghua Vechicle Safety Systems Co,.Ltd

Electrically Fired Igniter market

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Electrically Fired Igniter Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Electrically Fired Igniter Market  examines the performance of the Electrically Fired Igniter market Research 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Electrically Fired Igniter market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Electrically Fired Igniter market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Electrically Fired Igniter Market 2016-2017 report includes Electrically Fired Igniter market Revenue, market Share, Electrically Fired Igniter industry volume, market Trends, Electrically Fired Igniter Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Electrically Fired Igniter Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Electrically Fired Igniter Market 2017:1. Shaanxi Qinghua Vechicle Safety Systems Co,.Ltd2. Wenchi Electric Ignition Instruments Limited CorporationFirstly, the report covers the top Electrically Fired Igniter manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Electrically Fired Igniter report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Electrically Fired Igniter industry, Electrically Fired Igniter industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Electrically Fired Igniter Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Electrically Fired Igniter research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Electrically Fired Igniter market revenue worldwide.Finally, Electrically Fired Igniter market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Market Research 2017 : Fujian Longking, Tsinghua Tongfang

Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator

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Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Market  examines the performance of the Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator market Research 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Market 2016-2017 report includes Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator market Revenue, market Share, Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator industry volume, market Trends, Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Market 2017:1. Fujian Longking2. Nanjing Guodian Environmental Protection Technology, Co., Ltd3. Xian Thermal Power Research Institute Co., Ltd4. Tsinghua Tongfang (Anshan) Environgmental Protection Equiment Co., Ltd5. Tsinghua TongfangFirstly, the report covers the top Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator industry, Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator market revenue worldwide.Finally, Electrostatic Fabric Integrated Precipitator market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Air Jet Loom Market Research 2017 : Toyota, Tsudakoma, WUXI SPR, Weifang Jinshuai, Itema

Air Jet Loom market

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Air Jet Loom Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Air Jet Loom Market  examines the performance of the Air Jet Loom market Research 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Air Jet Loom market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Air Jet Loom market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Air Jet Loom Market 2016-2017 report includes Air Jet Loom market Revenue, market Share, Air Jet Loom industry volume, market Trends, Air Jet Loom Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Air Jet Loom Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Air Jet Loom Market 2017:1. Toyota2. Tsudakoma3. Jingwei Textile Machinery4. WUXI SPR5. Weifang Jinshuai6. ItemaFirstly, the report covers the top Air Jet Loom manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Air Jet Loom report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Air Jet Loom industry, Air Jet Loom industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Air Jet Loom Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Air Jet Loom research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Air Jet Loom market revenue worldwide.Finally, Air Jet Loom market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Apparel Plotter Market Research 2017 : Gerber Technology, Richpeace Group

Apparel Plotter market

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Apparel Plotter Market 2016-2017A market study  Global Apparel Plotter Market  examines the performance of the Apparel Plotter market Research 2017. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Apparel Plotter market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Apparel Plotter market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Apparel Plotter Market 2016-2017 report includes Apparel Plotter market Revenue, market Share, Apparel Plotter industry volume, market Trends, Apparel Plotter Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report.It shows manufacturing capacity, Apparel Plotter Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Apparel Plotter Market 2017:1. Gerber Technology2. Richpeace GroupFirstly, the report covers the top Apparel Plotter manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Further, the Apparel Plotter report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Apparel Plotter industry, Apparel Plotter industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Apparel Plotter Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Apparel Plotter research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Apparel Plotter market revenue worldwide.Finally, Apparel Plotter market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.About Us:"Spire Market Research" is a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of technology industry. We are as a firm expertise in making extensive reports that cover all the necessary details about the market assessments such as major technological improvement in the industry.Contact Us5001 Spring Valley Road,Suite 400 East,Dallas, TX 75244, USAWebsite:
Veterinary Imaging Market | Brand Analysis and Forecast upto 2023

Veterinary Imaging Market

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Veterinary imaging is used to obtain medical images of animal bodies to diagnose chronic diseases. It a non-invasive method which evolved with the help of diagnostic imaging instruments from human medicine. The market is expected to grow during the forecast period due to the emerging health awareness for pet animals.The veterinary imaging market is being driven due to the increasing demand for diagnostic instruments for the proper care of small pets such as cats and dogs. These imaging instruments help in the detection of nasal/sinus diseases by differentiating the neoplasia from rhinitis and hence guiding the biopsy test results. Furthermore, the instruments also have increased sensitivity for detecting skull fractures and brain hemorrhage. In addition, the medical imaging instruments allow the visualization for most types of brain tumors. The use of veterinary imaging instruments also eliminates the use of film, darkroom, film jackets and photo processing supplies which reduces the cost of diagnosis. Moreover, the growing concept of pet animal insurance services in the developed regions such as Europe and North America is driving the market for veterinary imaging instruments.However, the imaging instruments not as sensitive compared to MRI in the case of detecting tumors, inflammation and vascular condition. Furthermore, the uses of veterinary imaging instruments involve high initial cost which is restraining the market from growth. In addition, these instruments can only be operated by skilled computer users and also require a computer support personnel for software and hardware related problems.View Report The ongoing technological innovation in the veterinary imaging is expected to spur growth in the market in future. The MRI technology is expected to be applied with veterinary imaging in order to provide more accurate diagnosis for the small pets. Furthermore, technologies such as laparoscopy and micro-fracture detection techniques are being tested in order to be applied to veterinary imaging market in future.The market has been segmented by products types and application. By products, the veterinary imaging market has been categorized in to digital radiography systems, ultrasound imaging systems, nuclear imaging scanners, CT scans, video endoscopy systems and MRI systems among others. The veterinary imaging can be applied in several application areas. By application, the market can be segregated into neurology, oncology, cardiology and orthopedics among others.By geography, the veterinary imaging market can be divided into four regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the world. North America and Europe are developed regions and expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to the rising disposable income in these regions which is creating awareness for better pet care. Furthermore, the rising concerns for cancer and tumors in small pets is also aiding to growth of the veterinary imaging market in this region. However, Asia Pacific is untapped market and is expected to become a major market during the future due to the presence of developing countries such as India and China where the concept of having small pets are becoming increasingly popular.Some of the major players in this market are Mindray Medical International Ltd., GE Healthcare, Idexx Laboratories, Inc. Diagnostic Imaging Systems, Inc., Esaote Spa, AGFA- Gavaert N.V., Toshiba Corporation, Hallmarq Veterinary Imaging Ltd., VCA Antech, Inc. and Minxray Inc among others.Request a brochure of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Veterinary Imaging Market during 2016- 2023About 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:
Cerebral Oximeters Market | Key Trends and Forecast Research Report 2024

Cerebral Oximeters Market

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The fundamental aim of the anesthetic process is maintenance of sufficient amount of oxygen to organs and tissues, especially the brain. Though the dangers to the brain of reduced oxygen delivery and prolonged hypoxia are well documented, the brain is still the least monitored organ in the course of anesthesia. Cerebral oximeters are used to obtain cerebral oxygenation values using continuous, noninvasive near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) technology or near-infrared spectroscopy technology.The cerebral oximeter setup includes an oximeter probe which is attached to a cable that is then connected to the cerebral oximeter monitor. Most cerebral oximeters are able to support 2 to 4 oximeter probes with their respective monitor cables. Probes are attached to the scalp of a patient using adhesive pads, where the frontal lobe is the chosen part of the scalp. Probes are composed of fiber optic light source along with light detectors. Light is released by the source in the infrared range either by light-emitting diodes (LED) or through stimulated emission of the radiation. The emitted light which is in the infrared range is able to reach the underlying cerebral tissue by easily penetrating through the skull. The light which is emitted is either redirected, absorbed, reflected, or scattered. A change is observed in the light spectrum when infrared light comes in contact with hemoglobin. The change depends upon the hemoglobin molecules oxygenation status. The light detectors present in the oximeter probes detect the reflected light once it returns toward the surface.The growth of the global cerebral oximeters market is due to factors such as growth in the older population, increase in prevalence and incidence of neurological disorders, and gradual rise in the awareness levels about neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, the market growth is driven by increase in prevalence of traumatic brain injuries and sustained efforts by manufacturers to bring in technological advancements in the equipment. The demand for these devices can grow as there is a huge untreated population with neurological conditions as well as rise in demand for minimally invasive and non-invasive devices.Greater focus of the manufacturers on digitalized devices, their extended therapeutic applications, and increase in use of these devices in clinical trials are some of the opportunities that could drive the growth of the market. However, the market growth could be impeded due to high cost of the equipment. As the devices are complex, the costs associated with them are very high. Furthermore, factors such as shortage of highly trained professionals, concerns about the accuracy of the diagnostic devices, and unfavorable reimbursement policies may hinder the growth of the market during the forecast period.View Report The global cerebral oximeters market is segmented based on product type, therapeutic application, end-user, and geography. The market in terms of product type is divided into portable oximeters and finger oximeters. Based on therapeutic application, the market is classified into traumatic brain injuries, stroke, and other therapeutic applications. In terms of end-user, the market is divided into hospitals, clinics, diagnostic centers, and others.Geographically, the global cerebral oximeters market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America is expected to have the prime share of the market. Factors such as rise in prevalence of various neurodegenerative disorders, government initiatives and support for technological advancements, well-established sales & distribution network of major neurodiagnostic companies, and ease of reimbursement for brain monitoring techniques. North America is followed by Europe in terms of market size. The market is expected to grow in Asia Pacific due to improvement in health care infrastructure, rise in disposable incomes, and increase in incidence of neurodegenerative disorders as well as health care reforms initiated by governments.The prominent players operating in the global cerebral oximeters market are GE Healthcare, Medtronic, Masimo, Natus Medical Incorporated, Omron Healthcare, Nonin Medical, Boston Scientific, Edwards Lifesciences, and Spacelabs Healthcare.Request a brochure of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Cerebral Oximeters Market during 2016- 2024About 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:
U.S. Population Health Management Solutions Market | Analysis and Forecast up to 2023

U.S. Population Health Management Solutions Market

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This report on the U.S. population health management (PHM) solutions market studies the current as well as future prospects of the market. The stakeholders of this report include technology vendors, software companies and other intermediaries engaged in population health management solutions as well as new entrants that are planning to enter the U.S. PHM solutions market. This report comprises an elaborate executive summary with a market snapshot providing overall information of various segments and sub-segments considered in the study scope.The section also provides with overall information and data analysis of the PHM solutions market in U.S. with respect to the leading market segments based on source type, mode of operation, and type of end-users. Based on source types, the U.S. population health management solutions market has been categorized into two major segments: software and services. The market for these two segments has been extensively analyzed based on of their application as a population health management solution and their respective role in terms of efficiency, cost-effectiveness, sales, and presence in the U.S. healthcare system. The market revenue in terms of USD billion for the period between 2013 and 2023 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2015 to 2023 are provided for both the segments under source type, considering 2014 as the base year.By mode of operation, the U.S. market has been segmented into premise-based operations; cloud-based operations, web-based operations. Market revenue in terms of USD billion for the period between 2013 and 2023 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2015 to 2023 are provided for all the segments categorized under mode of operation, considering 2014 as the base year. In terms of end-users, the market has been categorized into health care providers, government insurance providers, private insurance providers, pharmaceuticals companies, medical device organizations, others (employers, diagnostic and imaging centers and research institutions etc.). Market revenue in terms of USD billion for the period between 2013 and 2023 along with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) from 2015 to 2023 are provided for all the segments classified under the end users, considering 2014 as the base year.This exhaustive report includes a 360 view of the U.S. Population Health Management Solutions Market. Browse through this 93-page report to know what factors will shape the market during the period 2015-2023Each of the segments has been analyzed in detail for market trends, recent developments, outlook, and opportunities. The market overview section of the report explores market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that currently have strong impact on the U.S. population health management solutions market and could influence the market in the future as well. Market attractiveness analysis has been provided in the market overview section in order to explain the intensity of competition between leading market players in the U.S. market. Porters five forces analysis is also explained in this section to understand the market in U.S. considering different parameters that have an impact on the sustainability of the companies operating in the market.The competitive scenario among different market players is evaluated through market share analysis in the competitive landscape section of the report. All these factors would help market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their respective market shares in the U.S. The recommendations section included in the report would assist existing market players in targeting the end users of population health management solutions and also to those aiming to seek an entry. The report also profiles major players in the population health management solutions market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies, product portfolio, and recent developments.Major players operating in the U.S. PHM solution market includes Caradigm, Conifer Health Solutions, Health Catalyst, Healthagen, LLC, International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation, Lumeris, NextGen Healthcare Information Systems, LLC, Optum Health, Inc., Persivia, Premier, Inc., The Advisory Board Company, Verisk Health, Wellcentive, Inc., and ZeOmega, Inc. Many of these players continuously innovate by developing new softwares and services besides improvising existing ones to keep pace with technological advances in order to maintain their position in the market.Request a sample of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving U.S. Population Health Management Solutions Market during 2015- 2023About 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 Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017

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SummaryThe Global Biomedical Metal Materials Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Biomedical Metal Materials industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Biomedical Metal Materials market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Biomedical Metal Materials industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Ask a sample or any question, please email to:hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comThe players list(Partly, Players you are interested can also be added):Carpenter TechnologyDentsply SironaWright Medical GroupZimmer BiometArthrexDePuy SynthesHeraeus HoldingMaterionSupra AlloysInvibioDSM BiomedicalKey Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Biomedical Metal Materials by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Biomedical Metal Materials by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Biomedical Metal Materials by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Biomedical Metal MaterialsChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Biomedical Metal Materials Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017India Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017China Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Biomedical Metal Materials Industry Market Research Report 2017If you need a report or have any question, please feel free to contact meHebe | Sr. Manager  Global SalesProfessional Market Research Report PublisherQYResearch Co.LtdQYResearch focus on Market Survey and ResearchPhone: +86 20 2209 3278Email: hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comWeb:About QYResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and seminar services. the company owned a large basic database (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business. Through the companys years of effort and a lot of customer support, QYResearch consulting group creative design method of many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch brand has become the consulting industry with quality assurance consulting brand. The company has 2500 global well-known customers, covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc Global all regions,and also built research or marketing center in China USA UK France Hongkong etc regions. currently, QYResearch has become the first choice and worth trusted consulting brand in Global and China business consulting services.Media ContactCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDContact Person: HebeEmail: hebe@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: +86-20 2209 3278Address: Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe DistrictCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite:(US) |(EU)
QYReserach adds " Global Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017 "

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SummaryThe Global Commercial Granita Machines Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Commercial Granita Machines industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Commercial Granita Machines market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Commercial Granita Machines industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Ask a sample or any question, please email to:hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comThe players list(Partly, Players you are interested can also be added):BUNNCarpigianiAustralian Slush MachinesGrindmaster-CecilwareThe Vollrath CompanyBRAS INTERNAZIONALEOmega Products InternationalCofrimellELMECOHermelin HandelsTaylor CompanyWilbur CurtisSPM Drink SystemsKey Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Commercial Granita Machines by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Commercial Granita Machines by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Commercial Granita Machines by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Commercial Granita MachinesChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Commercial Granita Machines Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017India Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017China Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Commercial Granita Machines Industry Market Research Report 2017If you need a report or have any question, please feel free to contact meHebe | Sr. Manager  Global SalesProfessional Market Research Report PublisherQYResearch Co.LtdQYResearch focus on Market Survey and ResearchPhone: +86 20 2209 3278Email: hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comWeb:About QYResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and seminar services. the company owned a large basic database (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business. Through the companys years of effort and a lot of customer support, QYResearch consulting group creative design method of many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch brand has become the consulting industry with quality assurance consulting brand. The company has 2500 global well-known customers, covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc Global all regions,and also built research or marketing center in China USA UK France Hongkong etc regions. currently, QYResearch has become the first choice and worth trusted consulting brand in Global and China business consulting services.Media ContactCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDContact Person: HebeEmail: hebe@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: +86-20 2209 3278Address: Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe DistrictCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite:(US) |(EU)
Global Water Soluble Antioxidant Market 2017- BASF, Chemtura, SONGWON, SI (Albemarle)

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The Water Soluble Antioxidant Market 2017 examines the performance of the Water Soluble Antioxidant market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Water Soluble Antioxidant market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Water Soluble Antioxidant market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Water Soluble Antioxidant Market 2017 report includes Water Soluble Antioxidant industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Water Soluble Antioxidant Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Water Soluble Antioxidant Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Water Soluble Antioxidant Market 2017:1 BASF2 Chemtura3 SONGWON4 SI (Albemarle)5 Double Bond Chemical6 CYTEC (SOLVAY)7 Akzonobel8 Clariant9 Lanxess10 Dow11 Sumitomo Chemical12 Adeka13 Innospec14 Kumho Petrochemical15 Lubrizol16 EVONIK17 Addivant18 Akrochem19 EastmanWater Soluble Antioxidant Market Segment Split by Product TypeAscorbic AcidTea PolyphenolsOthersWater Soluble Antioxidant Market Segment Split by ApplicationFood AdditivesPlastic AdditivesRubber Processing IndustryFuel AdditivesOthersRelated ReportsAt the beginning, the report covers the top Water Soluble Antioxidant manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Water Soluble Antioxidant report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Water Soluble Antioxidant industry, Water Soluble Antioxidant industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Water Soluble Antioxidant Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Water Soluble Antioxidant research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Water Soluble Antioxidant market revenue worldwide.Finally, Water Soluble Antioxidant market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.QY Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profit making venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.QY Market Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profitmaking venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.Read more-S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Telephone Numbers:+1(857)2390696+91 9130855334Email ID: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest Market News-
Global Waterproof Connectors Market 2017- Molex, Amphenol LTW, JST Belgium NV, HTP ASIA TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD

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The Waterproof Connectors Market 2017 examines the performance of the Waterproof Connectors market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Waterproof Connectors market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Waterproof Connectors market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Waterproof Connectors Market 2017 report includes Waterproof Connectors industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Waterproof Connectors Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Waterproof Connectors Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Waterproof Connectors Market 2017:1 Molex2 Amphenol LTW3 JST Belgium NV4 HTP ASIA TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD5 Hirose Electric Co Ltd6 Mouser Electronics7 Switchcraft8 Chogori USA9 NarvaWaterproof Connectors Market Segment Split by Product TypePanel SealedTotally SealedWaterproof Connectors Market Segment Split by ApplicationWireless Telecom AntennasRadio EquipmentTactical RadiosOutdoor SensorsOthersAt the beginning, the report covers the top Waterproof Connectors manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Waterproof Connectors report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Waterproof Connectors industry, Waterproof Connectors industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Waterproof Connectors Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Waterproof Connectors research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Waterproof Connectors market revenue worldwide.Finally, Waterproof Connectors market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.QY Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profit making venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.QY Market Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profitmaking venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.Read more-S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Telephone Numbers:+1(857)2390696+91 9130855334Email ID: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest Market News-
Global Wall Calendar Market 2017- American Calendar, Calendar Company, Goslen Printing Company, SIMLA Calendars

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The Wall Calendar Market 2017 examines the performance of the Wall Calendar market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Wall Calendar market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Wall Calendar market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Wall Calendar Market 2017 report includes Wall Calendar industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Wall Calendar Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Wall Calendar Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Wall Calendar Market 2017:1 American Calendar2 Calendar Company3 Goslen Printing Company4 SIMLA Calendars5 CMS Enterprises6 Calendars from India7 Surya Offset Printers8 Kalai Calendars9 Cangnan County, Zhejiang10Guangzhou Bailing Color Printing11Ningbo Baiyun printing12Shenzhen JinHaoYi Color Printing13Zhengzhou Bowenyatu Paper Products14Hangzhou Mygood Packing15Hongju Printing Industry & Trade16Shenzhen Yiming Calendar17Rose Calendars18Imaging19New York Calendar Company20Whitehall Printing21TriA22Artful Dragon Press23The Orient Litho Press24Queens Print25TellurianWall Calendar Market Segment Split by Product TypeFull-Size Wall CalendarsVertical Wall CalendarsMini Wall CalendarsOrganizational Wall CalendarsWall Calendar Market Segment Split by ApplicationPersonal & Home UseCommercial PromotionCollectionAt the beginning, the report covers the top Wall Calendar manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Wall Calendar report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Wall Calendar industry, Wall Calendar industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Wall Calendar Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Wall Calendar research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Wall Calendar market revenue worldwide.Finally, Wall Calendar market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.QY Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profit making venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.QY Market Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profitmaking venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.Read more-S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Telephone Numbers:+1(857)2390696+91 9130855334Email ID: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest Market News-
Global Vrla Battery Market 2017- Exide Technologies, GS Battery, Panasonic, Yuasa, Vision Battery

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The Vrla Battery Market 2017 examines the performance of the Vrla Battery market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Vrla Battery market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Vrla Battery market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Vrla Battery Market 2017 report includes Vrla Battery industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Vrla Battery Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Vrla Battery Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Vrla Battery Market 2017:1 Exide Technologies2 GS Battery3 Panasonic4 Yuasa5 Vision Battery6 SBS Battery7 Fiamm8 MCA9 Power-Sonic Europe10 IBT Battery11 Southern BatteryVrla Battery Market Segment Split by Product TypeWet CellAbsorbed Glass Mat (AGM)Gel CellVrla Battery Market Segment Split by ApplicationMotorcycles and ATVsAutomotiveRobotOthersAt the beginning, the report covers the top Vrla Battery manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Vrla Battery report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Vrla Battery industry, Vrla Battery industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Vrla Battery Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Vrla Battery research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Vrla Battery market revenue worldwide.Finally, Vrla Battery market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.QY Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profit making venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.QY Market Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profitmaking venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.Read more-S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Telephone Numbers:+1(857)2390696+91 9130855334Email ID: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest Market News-
Global Voltage Supervisor Ics Market 2017- Analog Devices (Linear Technology), Texas Instruments, STMicroelectronics, ON Semiconductor

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The Voltage Supervisor Ics Market 2017 examines the performance of the Voltage Supervisor Ics market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Voltage Supervisor Ics market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Voltage Supervisor Ics market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Voltage Supervisor Ics Market 2017 report includes Voltage Supervisor Ics industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Voltage Supervisor Ics Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Voltage Supervisor Ics Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Voltage Supervisor Ics Market 2017:1 Analog Devices (Linear Technology)2 Texas Instruments3 STMicroelectronics4 ON Semiconductor5 Microchip6 Renesas7 Microsemiconductor8 Silicon Labs9 Cypress10 Lattice Semiconductor11 Diodes Incorporated12 Fairchild Semiconductor13 ROHM14 Taiwan Semiconductor15 Richtek Technology16 IntersilVoltage Supervisor Ics Market Segment Split by Product TypeSurface Mount Voltage Supervisor ICsThrough Hole Voltage Supervisor ICsVoltage Supervisor Ics Market Segment Split by ApplicationPower IndustryCommunicationOtherAt the beginning, the report covers the top Voltage Supervisor Ics manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Voltage Supervisor Ics report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Voltage Supervisor Ics industry, Voltage Supervisor Ics industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Voltage Supervisor Ics Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Voltage Supervisor Ics research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Voltage Supervisor Ics market revenue worldwide.Finally, Voltage Supervisor Ics market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.QY Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profit making venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.QY Market Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profitmaking venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.Read more-S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Telephone Numbers:+1(857)2390696+91 9130855334Email ID: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest Market News-
Global Virtual Power Plant Market 2017- DONG Energy, Duke Energy, RWE, Alstom Grid, Bosch

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The Virtual Power Plant Market 2017 examines the performance of the Virtual Power Plant market, enclosing an in-depth judgment of the Virtual Power Plant market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Virtual Power Plant market in the present as well as the future prospects from various angles in detail.The Global Virtual Power Plant Market 2017 report includes Virtual Power Plant industry volume, market Share, market Trends, Virtual Power Plant Growth aspects, a wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis, manufacturing capacity, Virtual Power Plant Price during the Forecast period from 2017 to 2022.To Get Sample Report Click Here:Manufacturers Analysis and Top Sellers of Global Virtual Power Plant Market 2017:1 DONG Energy2 Duke Energy3 RWE4 Alstom Grid5 Bosch6 GE Digital Energy7 IBM8 Schneider Electric9 Siemens10 ENBALA Power Networks11 Joule Assets12 Power Analytics13 Power Assure14 Spirae15 Ventyx/ABB16 Viridity Energy17 Comverge18 Consert19 Cooper Power Systems/Eaton20 Customized Energy Solutions21 EnerNOCVirtual Power Plant Market Segment Split by Product TypeCentralized Controlled VPPDecentralized Controlled VPPVirtual Power Plant Market Segment Split by ApplicationCommercial & IndustrialResidentialAt the beginning, the report covers the top Virtual Power Plant manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on topographical regions.Further, the Virtual Power Plant report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Virtual Power Plant industry, Virtual Power Plant industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Virtual Power Plant Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.To Buy Complete Report Click Here:The Virtual Power Plant research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Virtual Power Plant market revenue worldwide.Finally, Virtual Power Plant market report gives you details about the market research findings and conclusion which helps you to develop profitable market strategies to gain competitive advantage.QY Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profit making venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.QY Market Research is the terminal where all industrial, commercial and profitmaking venture will get the best research reports of the market in all sectors like automotive, electronics, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, food and beverages etc. We provide you the important and necessary information to identify and analyze the need of market and the market size.Read more-S no. 51/14 First Floor, Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade, Near Navale Lawns, Pune, Maharashtra, India 411041Telephone Numbers:+1(857)2390696+91 9130855334Email ID: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest Market News-
Global Galacto-oligosaccharide Market 2017- Kraton, Sinopec, LCY, TSRC, Versalis, Jusage

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The worldwide Galacto-oligosaccharide Market report launched by Market.biz focuses on a complete and accurate study of Galacto-oligosaccharide industry. Global Galacto-oligosaccharide Market 2017 report is fundamentally concentrated on current scenario of Galacto-oligosaccharide market. This comprehensive research document will improve the efficiency of the Galacto-oligosaccharide market during the forecast period from 2017 to 2022.The Galacto-oligosaccharide industry report covers different aspects of market such as Galacto-oligosaccharide Market Segment, Galacto-oligosaccharide categories of the product, market revenue and product cost. The report also shows the Galacto-oligosaccharide market volume for every category during the forecast period.Do Inquiry Before Purchasing the Report Here:Competitive Research of Global Galacto-oligosaccharide Market 2017 Based on Key Vendors:1 Kraton2 Sinopec3 LCY4 TSRC5 Versalis6 Jusage7 Zeon8 Jinhai ChenguangGlobal Galacto-oligosaccharide Market 2017: Product Type Segment AnalysisSyrupPowderOthersGlobal Galacto-oligosaccharide Market 2017: Applications Segment AnalysisFood & Beverage IndustryHealth ProductsPharmaceutical IndustryOthersInitially, the Galacto-oligosaccharide Market report throws light on the market strategies, Galacto-oligosaccharide growth trends, production capacity and cost structures. The report segregates the global Galacto-oligosaccharide industry on the basis of key vendors, the range of applications and geographical regions like United States, Japan, China, and EU. The report also provides information regarding current as well as past information of Galacto-oligosaccharide market.Further, Galacto-oligosaccharide report reveals the company details of leading players such as profile information, revenue segmentation, business strategies and their contribution to the Global Galacto-oligosaccharide market share. This report also states information regarding import/export, supply and consumption, price and gross margin of Galacto-oligosaccharide market by regions. Other additional regions could also be added in Galacto-oligosaccharide Market area.For more information about this report visit at:Finally, the Galacto-oligosaccharide report flashes a complete picture of overall Galacto-oligosaccharide market conditions and drive the players towards profitable market strategies which will help companies involved in operating Galacto-oligosaccharide market to make knowledgeable business decisions. At the last, Global Galacto-oligosaccharide Market 2017 report evaluates the emerging geographical sectors in Galacto-oligosaccharide market.About Us:Market.Biz is designed to provide the best and most penetrating research required to all commercial, industrial and profit-making ventures in any sector of online business. We take pride in our ability to satisfy the market research needs of both domestic and international businesses.Contact Us:James JohnsonS no. 51/14 First Floor,Office Number 4, Vishwa Arcade,Near Navale Lawns, PuneMaharashtra, India 411041Tel: +1(857)2390696Web:Email: inquiry@market.bizBrowse Latest News-
Asia Pacific Automotive Telematics Market Expected to Reach US$ 15,248 Million by 2020

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Future Market Insights (FMI) with sharp focus on emerging regions delivers key insights about the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market in its recent report titled, Asia Pacific Automotive Telematics Market Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2014 - 2020. According to this report, the global telematics market is expected to expand at a single-digit CAGR during forecast period 20142020. On the other hand, APAC will demonstrate the fastest growth in the global automotive telematics market at a double-digit CAGR during the forecast period. During this period, the contribution of the telematics market in the Asia Pacific region to the overall market is projected to increase from 26% to 30%, reflecting an increase of 400 BPS.This growth is attributed to high penetration of technologies and steadily increasing GDP. Moreover, Asia Pacific benefits from the presence of established vendors in the commercial vehicle telematics market, which includes PeopleNet, FleetMatics, Trimble, Telogis and Omnitracs. Furthermore, over 42% of the worlds Internet users in Asia (2013), combined with hundreds of millions of 4G users, will fuel growth of the APAC automotive telematics market during the forecast period.Request For Sample@FMI lead consultant, Nikhil Kaitwade, sheds light on why Asia Pacific will emerge the fastest growing market in the near future. Telematics in the automotive industry has become increasingly relevant with a palpable emphasis on safety and security globally. New business models combined with increased technology adoption and remote vehicle diagnostics is fuelling growth of the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market, he said.The three key technologies that will drive the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market are:Embedded Technology  Currently, this segment dominates the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market. Greater ease of assembly, ease of troubleshooting, reliability of components and fall in cost of electronic parts are factors driving demand for automotive embedded systems in this region. Increasing use of cloud-based telematics will also influence the APAC automotive telematics embedded technology market segment. FMI projects that this segment will display a double-digit CAGR during the forecast period.Tethered Technology  The tethered technology segment in the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market will demonstrate the lowest growth at a single-digit CAGR during forecast period 20142020.Send An Enquiry@Smartphone Technology  Price advantages and growing smartphone penetration will fuel growth of the smartphone technology segment in the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market. FMI anticipates that evolving smartphone technology will witness the highest CAGR in double digits during the forecast period.Currently, North America dominates the global automotive telematics market, followed by Europe. High penetration of the aforesaid technologies in Asia Pacific combined with saturation of European and North American markets will continue to fuel growth of the APAC automotive telematics market.Elaborating on this trend, Kaitwade further stated, In order to differentiate their product offerings, automotive OEMs are integrating telematics technologies into vehicles they manufacture.In addition, the expanding safety and security end-user segment and increasing prominence of social media in Asia Pacific will drive the automotive telematics market in the region. The safety and security end-user segment is anticipated to dominate the Asia Pacific automotive telematics market between 2014 and 2020 due to increasing consumer focus on safety and security aspects. Growing prominence of social media in the Asia Pacific region will also contribute to the growth of infotainment segment during the forecast period.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT: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:
MENA POU Water Purifiers Market to Reach a CAGR of 7.6% by 2020

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Future Market Insights (FMI) announced the release of a latest report titled, POU Water Purifiers Market: MENA Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020. FMI estimates that the Point of Use (POU) water purifier market in Middle East and North Africa is expected to reach US$ 471 Mn at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2014 to 2020.Residential water purification system includes point of use water purifiers (POU), point of entry (POE) water purifiers, portable water purifiers. Moreover, the demand for POU water purifiers is high among consumers in MENA region as compared to POE and portable water purifiers.Request For Sample@In the POU water purifiers market, products with high purification capabilities such as combination of reverse osmosis (RO) and Ultraviolet (UV) technologies are more preferred. It has also been observed that a majority of the demand is coming from urban centres in GCC when compared to the entire MENA region.Market SegmentsThe POU water purifiers market is segmented on the basis of technology which includes RO, UV and media-based. RO technology based water purifiers segment is estimated to account for slightly over 40% of the total POU water purifiers market in MENA region in 2014. Media-based water purification, which is a conventional water purification technology has also witnessed technological advancements, and is estimated to display a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period, in terms of volume. The third technology, UV based water purifiers, is estimated to exhibit a sluggish growth rate during the forecast period due to its limitation in removing only organic contaminants from water. Additionally, UV-based water purifiers are also priced higher in comparison to media-based water purifiers and hence the product preference for UV based water purifiers is comparatively low.Region-wise, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Algeria are the promising markets for POU water purifiers. In addition, a cumulative scenario has been highlighted for rest of MENA (includes smaller countries like Kuwait, Jordan etc.). Among the aforementioned regions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is estimated to be the prominent market for POU water purifiers, followed by Turkey, due to its growing population and rapid urbanization, and increasing awareness for safe drinking water forecast period.Send An Enquiry@In addition, penetration of bottled water is a challenge for the POU water purifiers market in Anatolia. As a result, Anatolia is estimated to demonstrate a sluggish growth rate in the near future. Furthermore, POU water purifiers market in UAE is anticipated to reach 149.2 thousand units by 2020, exhibiting a CAGR of 10% between 2014 and 2020.Drivers and RestraintsDeteriorating water quality, rising cost of bottled water, increasing population coupled with increasing per capita income are some of the prominent factors which will catalyse the point of use water purifiers in the region. Though the MENA market is attractive in terms of absolute dollar opportunity, low awareness about safe drinking water and product unavailability are major challenges for the MENA POU water purifier market.Competitive LandscapeKey players operating in the MENA water purifier market are LG, Eureka Forbes, Strauss Water, Panasonic, WaterLife and Coolplex. The report sheds light on their key growth strategies and recent developments. In addition, the report also discusses the value chain followed by multinational companies in MENA for POU water purifiers.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT: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:
Mobile Payment Transaction Market will increase at a CAGR of 39.1% through 2020

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Mobile payment transaction volume will grow by a massive 42% to reach 26,923.7 Mn in 2016, up from 18,969.8 Mn in 2015. In terms of value, this will represent nearly US$ 768.78 Bn, up from US$ 549.91 Bn in 2015.Mobile payments will continue to be strong in APEJ and Africa, as unlike US and Europe, a majority of consumers dont own a credit card, and are making a direct shift from cash to mobile payments. Growth will be particularly robust in China, where the entry of Apple and Samsung earlier this year has led to a renewed interest, sprucing up the already fiercely-competitive landscape.Request For Sample@While strong adoption in China will continue to boost the mobile payment market in Asia Pacific, making it the leading market globally in terms of volume, Africa will maintain its numero uno position in terms of value. The tremendous success of M-Pesa in Kenya has influenced consumers and businesses in other African countries to adopt mobile money, leading to a rapid increase in the Africa mobile payment market. Africa currently accounts for nearly 32% revenue share of the global mobile money market, with a subscriber base of over 100 million. Outside of Asia Pacific and Africa, the U.S. and Western Europe remain the other lucrative regions for mobile payment transaction market globally.While mobile payment transactions will continue to grow, existing challenges, such as slow adoption of smartphone compatible POS systems by retailers will continue to impede growth. While a 42% volume growth looks staggering, theres more to what meets the eye. Apart from a few countries, consumers havent fully embraced mobile payments, in spite of its relatively better security features. However, given the enormous advantages mobile money offers over traditional payment options, it wont be long before mobile payments become as ubiquitous as credit cards, FMI said in its report.By technology, SMS and WAP/WEB will continue to account for most of the transactions conducted worldwide. Mobile payments conducted through SMS will witness a year-on-year growth rate of over 28% and total US$ 385 Bn in revenues. Payments made through NFC, widely touted as the technology of the future, will witness the highest y-o-y growth rate, increasing at over 59% in 2016.Send An Enquiry@Money transfer and merchandise purchases account for over 90% revenue share of the global mobile payment transaction market on the basis of end-use purpose. Mobile payments made for merchandise purchases will be worth US$ 323.73 Bn in 2016, up from US$ 228.32 Bn in 2015. Money transfer, the largest end-use purpose in the mobile payment transaction market, will grow by over 38% to surpass US$ 381 Bn in revenues.Leading players operating in the global mobile payment transaction market are PayPal, Visa, MasterCard, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Alipay.Long-term Forecast: FMI forecasts the global mobile payment transaction market to increase at a CAGR of 39.1% through 2020 and reach US$ 2.89 trillion in revenues.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT: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:
BRIC Organic Baby Food Market Anticipated to Reach US$ 3.5 Bn by 2020

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Future Market Insights (FMI) has released a new report titled, Organic Baby Food Market - BRIC Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2015-2020. According to the report, the global organic baby food market is expected to account for US$ 5.6 Bn by 2020, registering a CAGR of 10.5% during the forecast period. On the other hand, the BRIC organic baby food market is projected to reach US$ 3,528.7 Mn at a CAGR of 19.5% over the forecast period.Rapid urbanisation, rising parental concern to feed their child with healthy and chemical free products, health awareness programmes by regional governments, emphasis on natural nourishment, and aggressive product branding will contribute to drive the growth of the global organic baby food market over the forecast period.Request For Sample@The BRIC organic baby food market is driven by factors, such as rising number of working mothers, increased organic components, harvesting, and government support in the form of subsidies and other benefits. Moreover, consumer demand for specialised and healthy products is expected to fuel the market growth of organic baby food in BRIC region.The BRIC organic baby food market report mainly covers three segments: product type, distribution channel, and countries in BRIC region. On the basis of product, the market is further sub-segmented into milk formula organic baby food, ready to feed organic baby food, dried organic baby food, prepared organic baby food, and others. Milk formula organic baby food is expected to be the highest contributor to the market of BRICS organic baby food in terms of revenue, followed by prepared organic baby food. Milk formula organic baby food is anticipated to witness a CAGR of 20.3% through 2020 and reach a valuation of US$1,109.6 Mn.On the basis of distribution channel, the sub-segmentation comprises speciality outlet, supermarkets, internet or online selling, chemist/pharmacies/drugstores, and others. Among all the aforementioned distribution channels, the supermarket sub-segment is expected to dominate the market, accounting for US$ 1,414.6 Mn revenue by registering a CAGR of 21.2% in the forecasted period. The ease and convenience of buying products through internet will provide an impetus to the internet or online selling distribution channel and make it a favourable distribution channel for organic baby food, thereby accounting for 19.7% CAGR growth by 2020.Key countries for BRIC organic baby food market include India, China, Brazil and Russia. China represents the most lucrative market, followed by India. China is expected to contribute US$ 2,119.0 Mn revenue in the forecasted period. Growth of the market in China is supported by food safety issues. For example, thethe melamine scandal in baby food prompted consumers to turn towards healthy and hygienic food.Send An Enquiry@Assessing the various factors driving this market, FMI Lead Analyst said, Increasing consumer awareness regarding benefits of greener products, rising parental concern, and doctors recommendation for organic baby food are expected to fuel the demand for organic baby food in BRIC.Key players profiled in this report include Nestle S.A, H.J. Heinz Company, Groupe Danone, British Biologicals, Abbott Laboratories, Bellamys Australia Limited, Campbell Soup Company, Otsuka Holdings Co., Ltd and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT: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:
Global TConcentrating Solar Power Market set to increase significantly by 2024

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Zion Market Research, the market research group announced the analysis report titled Concentrating Solar Power Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecasts 20162024Global Concentrating Solar Power Market: OverviewConcentrating Solar power is the technology through which electricity is produced by concentrating sunlight on receivers by using reflecting mediums. It is a solar power generation technology which transforms mechanical energy into electrical energy with the help of turbines or Stirling engines. Through concentrated solar power technology, better efficiency, low-cost investments, and thermal storage capacity benefits are obtained. These benefits have resulted in an increasing demand for the concentrated solar power market globally.Request Free Sample Report @Global Concentrating Solar Power Market: SegmentationThe global concentrated solar power market is segmented into its technology, end-user, component, and geography. On the basis of technology, the market is divided into the solar tower, parabolic trough, dish/engine systems, and linear fresnel. Based on end-user, the market is segregated into commercial, residential and industrial. On the basis of the component, the market is classified into power block, solar field and thermal energy storage system. Diversification on the basis of the region is seen into North America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.Global Concentrating Solar Power Market: Growth FactorsThe concentrating solar power market is a growing market owing to factors such as increased focus on the inclusion of renewable sources in the energy mix, rapid developments made in the developing economies, supportive government policies, fiscal support from governments, technology development, demand for more sustainable and newer energy resources and the availability of more efficient product designs. The demand is expected to rise further in the market due to the increasing need for finding environment-neutral, sustainable and reliable power production resources, increasing need to provide continuous and universal access to electricity in the remote areas, constant rise in electricity consumption and stringent regulations on the emissions. However, the requirement of large areas for the commercial-scale production acts as a hindrance in the adoption of the concentrated solar power technology which consequently affects the market growth.Request Report TOC (Table of Contents) @Global Concentrating Solar Power Market: Regional AnalysisThe largest share of the concentrating solar power market is held by Europe. This can be attributed to factors such as availability of vast subsidies from public and private bodies to encourage the shift to renewable from conventional power resources. Some of the major countries showing significant growth are the U.K., Germany, and France. Following the growth of Europe is North America. There is a favorable growth environment in this region owing to the technological advancements and availability of vast grants from the energy departments, especially in the U.S. and Canada. Other regions such as Asia-Pacific and Latin America are showing growth in the market purely on the basis of consistently rising market-led energy demand. Also, a fair share is provided by the markets in the Middle East and Africa.Global Concentrating Solar Power Market: Competitive PlayersSome of the major companies in the concentrating solar power market include LLC., Abengoa Solar S.A. NextEra Energy Resources, TSK Flagsol, Areva Solar, GDF SUEZ, SCHOTT Solar AG, Ibereolica Group, Acciona S.A., Solar Millennium AG, SkyFuel Inc., BrightSource Energy Inc., eSolar Inc.Browse detail report @About Us: Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristically, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, a company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with Vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from Cardinal Industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the clients needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.Contact Us:Zion Market Research4283, Express Lane,Suite 634-143,Sarasota, Florida 34249, United StatesTel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll-Free No.1-855-465-4651Email: sales@zionmarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Our Blog:
Global Home Projectors Industry 2017 Market Size, Share, Global Trends, Price, Research Report, Segmentation and Forecast 2017-2022

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Global Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017SummaryThe Global Home Projectors Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Home Projectors industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Home Projectors market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Home Projectors industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Ask a sample or any question, please email to:hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comThe players list(Partly, Players you are interested can also be added):PanasonicEpsonSonyBenQSonyOptomaNECPanasonicAcerSharpVivitekViewSonicPhilipsLGKey Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Home ProjectorsChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Home Projectors by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Home Projectors by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Home Projectors by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Home ProjectorsChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Home Projectors Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017India Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017China Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Home Projectors Industry Market Research Report 2017If you need a report or have any question, please feel free to contact meHebe | Sr. Manager  Global SalesProfessional Market Research Report PublisherQYResearch Co.LtdQYResearch focus on Market Survey and ResearchPhone: +86 20 2209 3278Email: hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comWeb:About QYResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and seminar services. the company owned a large basic database (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business. Through the companys years of effort and a lot of customer support, QYResearch consulting group creative design method of many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch brand has become the consulting industry with quality assurance consulting brand. The company has 2500 global well-known customers, covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc Global all regions,and also built research or marketing center in China USA UK France Hongkong etc regions. currently, QYResearch has become the first choice and worth trusted consulting brand in Global and China business consulting services.Media ContactCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDContact Person: HebeEmail: hebe@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: +86-20 2209 3278Address: Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe DistrictCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite:(US) |(EU)
Global Feed Amino Acids Market Analysis, Demand, Share, and Forecast 2021 Segmented by Region

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The Global Feed Amino Acids Market was worth USD 15.1 billion in 2016 and estimated to be growing at a CAGR of 6.07%, to reach USD 20.4 billion by 2021. The Feed Amino Acids Market size continues to grow with the increase in demand of animal derived products. The breeders have been taking more interest in the market and their will to increase their profitability has led the market to showcase significant growth in coming years.Feed amino acids are generally used as feed additives for various types of livestock. They are being used to increase the productivity of the livestock, to meet the rising demand of animal products. The nutritional value of Amino Acids help in avoiding health problems like allergies, autism, fatigue, dermatitis etc.Browse a Report@The rise in the demand for meat and dairy products and increasing feed costs have fuelled the Feed Amino Acids market growth. Other driving factors for Amino Acids include Industrialization of livestock industry, expansion of animal meat market, changing demographics in Asia Pacific and South America and livestock disease outbreaks. Besides drivers, the Feed Amino Acids market faces some challenges and restraints as well, some of these are availability of alternative protein sources, competition for raw materials with other industries, price volatility of Agri-commodities and Regulatory framework. These few factors have been holding back the market from reaching its potential.The Global Feed Amino Acids Market is segmented on the basis of livestock and amino acids. Based on livestock the segmentation is done into swine, cattle, poultry, aquaculture and other livestock. Based on type of Amino Acids the segmentation is done under Tryptophan, lysine, Methionine, Threonine, and others. Lysine holds the largest market share in the amino acids segmentation and is expected to stay the same in the coming years. Under livestock segmentation, poultry accounts for the highest share in the Feed Amino Acids Market, mainly due to the adoption of intensive farming system more than in any other segment. On the basis of geographical analysis, the global Feed Amino Acids Market is segmented under various regions namely North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. The Feed Amino Acids market was dominated by Asia-Pacific, with the overall market share of over 35% globally. The APAC market was followed by Europe and North America accounting for almost half of the market share.Request a sample copy of Report @Some of the major leaders of the Feed Amino Acids Market include Archer Daniels Midland Company, Cargill Inc, Royal Dsm N.V., Novus International Inc, Adisseo France Sas, Cheil Jedang, Ajinomoto Co. Inc., PHW Group, Evonik Industries Ag, Kemin Europa.Major Points from Table of Contents1.Introduction2. Research Methodology3. Overview4. Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, and Challenges Analysis (DROC)5. Market Segmentation6. Geographical Analysis7.Strategic Analysis8.Market Leaders' Analysis9.Competitive Landscape10.Market Outlook and Investment OpportunitiesAbout Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Contact Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas  75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com
Aluminium Calcium Silicate Market Driven by Increased Inclination of Consumers towards Convenience & Functional Food

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Global Aluminium Calcium Silicate Market: OverviewThere is an increased inclination of consumers towards convenience and functional food options. Processed food predominantly hold major share of convenience food. With increasing preference of processed food, market growth of food additive is spurring on a large scale. Food additives forms a prominently growing segment of the food industry with continuous product innovations and development efforts being made by food manufacturers towards this segment. Food additives accounts for peculiar characteristics such as they help to enhance the flavour of the food, improves the texture, adds appeal to the food preparations and also prolongs the shelf life of the food products. Aluminium calcium silicate is one such food additive, which is formed through combinations of various natural minerals through reaction between a calcium, silicon and aluminium compound. There are predominantly being used as anti-caking agent particularly in dry products such as milk.Obtain Report Details @Global Aluminium Calcium Silicate Market: Drivers and RestraintsRising demand for processed food among consumers is driving the overall food additive market. Thereby, accelerating the growth prospects of aluminium calcium silicate market. Aluminium calcium silicate is particularly used as anti-caking agent, which further prevents the sticking of the food particles together as they helps to absorbs the moisture and act as sealant. Thereby, finds extensive used in dry products such as milk powder, salt among others as it helps in prevention of lumps. Hence, propelling the demand for aluminium calcium silicate market among food manufacturers. Apart from food application, aluminium calcium silicate also finds potential use in non-food items such as rock salt, fertilisers, and synthetic detergents among others. Thereby, providing opportunistic growth platform for aluminium calcium market.However, excessive consumption of aluminium calcium silicate is associate with serious health hazards. Primarily aluminium calcium silicate is linked with Alzheimers disease and might also cause bone diseases, kidney damage and neurotoxicity. Moreover, it also contains a crystalline silica that is determined to cause cancer and birth defects. Hence, looking into the health hazards spectrum, adoption of aluminium calcium silicate compound as food additives among food manufacturers id deferred. Thereby, hampering the aluminium calcium silicate market.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @Global Aluminium Calcium Silicate Market: SegmentationOn the basis of application, aluminium calcium silicate market is segmented into:-FoodRoad SaltFertilizersCosmeticsSynthetic detergentsothersOn the basis of form, aluminium calcium silicate market is segmented into:-PowderCrystalsGlobal Aluminium Calcium Silicate Market: Region wise OutlookThe global aluminium calcium silicate market is categorised into seven regions, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, Latin America and, North America. Currently, North America holds the major share in the global aluminium calcium silicate market. Increasing consumption of processed food among consumers is contributing to the growth of aluminium calcium silicate market with increased use to food additive among food manufacturers. The aluminium calcium silicate market in Western Europe is expected to expand at substantial growth rate. However, the health effects associated with aluminium calcium silicate market may restrain the growth of the market with stringent food regulations in Europe. The APEJ aluminium calcium silicate market is capitalizing on the opportunity of extensive research and development carried out in food industry due to easy trade flows and investments opportunities. Owing to increased demand for versatility in food products and widespread application of aluminium calcium silicate in other industries is expected to propel the market growth of aluminium calcium silicate in Japan region.Global Aluminium Calcium Silicate Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players identified in the aluminium calcium silicate market includes: The IQE Group, Oracle Chemicals Pvt. Ltd., Zibo Dexin Lianbang Chemical Industry Co,. Ltd., Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC.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:
Aerosol Can Market is Expected to Grow at a CAGR of 4% by 2022

Aerosol Can Market

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Market Research Future published a half cooked research report on Global Aerosol Can market. The Aerosol Can market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 4% during the period 2014 to 2022.Market Highlights:Aerosol can provides high performance while storage, transportation and high convenience to consumers due to its effective packaging solution. The major drivers of the aerosol can are rise of the modern retail formats, light weight, unbreakable and easy to hold properties and rising disposable income of the individual.U.S. and Canada accounts for comparatively large market due to high demand of aerosol can. There is an increase in the number of options for the end-product consumers because of the presence of a large number of key container fillers and end products manufacturers.In 2014, Europe had the highest market share of aerosol can while APAC region is the fastest growing market during this period. To take the advantage of anticipated growth in the aerosol can market, Latin America market witnessed collaboration between companies in terms of joint ventures, mergers, acquisition. In European region, deodorants, sprays and hair mousse are the leading end markets of metal aerosol cans. The global aerosol market is expected to grow at CAGR of approximately 4%.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Aerosol Can Market: Crown Holdings Inc. CPMC Holdings Ltd. Unilever PLC Henkel AG Reckitt Benckiser Group plc Kian Joo Can Factory Exal Corporation Presspart GmbH & Co. KG TUBEX GmbHMarket Research Analysis:The market is highly application based. Segments containing paints & varnishes, pharmaceutical, and food & beverage are expected to experience increasing growth over next five years which will further lead to increasing demand for medical & paints aerosol can in healthcare industry. The increasing demand for paints is expected to drive the automotive industry. Also the increasing demand for sterilized aerosol can drive the pharmaceutical industry. However the lack of transparency and product & propellant interaction is expected to hinder the market growth.Furthermore there are other factors contributing to the growth of the aerosol can market which are rise in the modern retail formats, upward trends in modern retail, portable nature of aerosol cans, and the rising disposal income of individual. Also there is an increased awareness among the consumers regarding environmental issues. This leads to increased popularity of such recyclable cans and thus fuels the demand for the same. However there are various government norms which can hinder the growth of the aerosol can.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global Aerosol Can market, tracking four market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC) and Rest of the World (ROW). The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global aerosol cans market by its Type, Material, Application and Region.By Types Straight wall Necked-in ShapedBy MaterialAluminium Steel Glass PlasticBy Application Personal Care Healthcare Automotive IndustryBy Region North America Europe Asia Pacific Rest of the WorldBrief TOC:1 Market Introduction1.1 Introduction1.2 Scope Of Study1.2.1 Research Objective1.2.2 Assumptions1.2.3 Limitations1.3 Market Structure:1.3.1 Global Aerosol Cans Market: By Type1.3.2 Global Aerosol Cans Market: By Material1.3.3 Global Aerosol Cans Market: By Application1.3.4 Global Aerosol Cans Market: By Region2 Research Methodology2.1 Research Type2.2 Primary Researchpt2.3 Secondary Research2.4 Forecast Model2.4.1 Market Data Collection, Analysis & Forecast2.4.2 Market Size Estimation2.4.3 Market Crackdown & Data Triangulation3 Market Dynamics3.1 Introduction3.2 Market Drivers3.3 Market Challenges3.4 Market Opportunities4 Executive Summary5. Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Analysis5.2 Supply Chain AnalysisContinueAccess Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureMarket Research FutureOffice No. 524/528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Gene Editing Market set to increase significantly by 2025

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Global Gene Editing Market: SnapshotGene editing or genome editing is the targeted insertion or modification of cells in living organism or cells and the method has come to occupy a crucial part of biomedical researches, constantly transforming various disciplines of life sciences. Over the past few years, continuous advancements in gene-editing technologies have led to the advent of several versatile methods, which have enabled investigators to introduce a number of sequence-specific changes into the genomes of a variety of cell types. This has facilitated the discovery of promising human gene therapies proving useful for treating various diseases. The use of targeted nucleases or engineered nucleases in laboratories has provided researchers potential tools to economically and rapidly manipulate almost any genomic sequence for a broad range of cell types.In recent years, gene editing techniques have been witnessed a paradigmatic shift with the advent of methods such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9), zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs), and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs). Using these technologies, investigators have been successful in generating a wide spectrum of outcomes, which are likely to prove useful in diverse areas as synthetic biology, disease modeling, neurosciences, and drug discovery. For instance, targeted nuclease have enabled the insertion of targeted DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). This has led to the activation of DNA repair pathways in various cells. In vivo applications of various gene editing tools, however, suffer from noticeable constraints. For instance, nuclease delivery or expression can be enabled only in diseased cells, thereby limiting potential of the market to an extent. Nevertheless, constant engineering advances are being made which will expectedly lay robust groundwork for expanding the current array of genome-modifying tools.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Gene Editing Market: OverviewGene editing involves the insertion, deletion, or replacement of DNA at specific sites in the genome of a cell or an organism. It is usually achieved in a laboratory environment using molecular scissors.Regulations for the security of life, well-being of plants and animals, human health, and environmental compliance will influence market players for increased focus on import, export, and commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMOs).The report is an all-important tool to comprehend the various factors and growth trends that will influence the growth of the gene editing market between 2017 and 2025. The market study is a collective of facts and factoids that are associated with the global gene editing market in a chronological order. The analysis of past data and current market trends enable research analysts to present a satisfactory conclusion regarding the markets future. Thus, the analysis presented in the report can be used to devise successful business strategies for the future. Using standard analytical tools such as Porters Five Forces and SWOT analysis, the report presents the indices of strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats of the global gene editing market until the end of the forecast period in 2025.Request TOC of the Report @Global Gene Editing Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe increasing expenditures on research and development, growth of the biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and rising demand for synthetic genes are the major factors driving the global gene editing market.The increasing prevalence of infectious diseases, cancer, and other genetic disorders is steering the growth of the gene editing industry. Moreover, the increasing demand for personalized medicine and advancement of medical science is propelling the industrys demand.However, strict government regulations to receive approval for mutation undertakings and lack of public awareness will challenge the growth of the gene editing market. Government regulations for assessing the medical benefits as well as the potential hazards of gene editing procedure will benefit the growth of this market.Global Gene Editing Market: Market SegmentationThe global gene editing market can be analyzed on the basis of technology, end user, application, and region. In terms of technology, the market can be segmented into CRISPR, ZFN, TALEN and others. On the basis of application, the global gene editing market can be divided into cell line engineering, plant genetic engineering, animal genetic engineering, and others. By end user, the market can be segmented into biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and academic and government institutes.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Gene Editing Market: Regional OutlookThe global gene editing market can be divided into the regional segments of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The U.S. gene editing market is expected to display robust growth due to growth trend manifested by biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and adoption of advanced technologies such as CRISPR for treating chronic hereditary diseases.In Europe, the U.K. is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of the gene editing market in this region. This is mainly due to the rising geriatric population and increasing incidence of chronic diseases. The Asia Pacific gene editing market is expected to display fast growth rate in the coming years. The rising geriatric population, modernization of healthcare practices, technological advancements, and government initiatives for controlling diseases are fuelling the growth of the Asia Pacific gene editing market.South Africa is expected to contribute significantly to the revenue of its regional market. The rising prevalence of sickle cell anemia, HIV, hemophilia and several forms of cancer will drive the industrys growth.Major Companies Mentioned in ReportThe report mentions and profiles some of the top companies in the global gene editing market, namely Agilent Technologies, AstraZeneca, Cellectis, Editas Medicine, Dharmacon, Qiagen, Sigma-Aldrich, Allele Biotech, Bio Rad, CRISPR Therapeutics, GE Healthcare, Lonza, Recombinetics, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Global Chemicals Packaging Market Research Report 2017 - Bemis, Dow Chemical Company, DuPont, Mondi, Ardagh Group, Airlite Plastics, Georgia-Pacific

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Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Chemicals Packaging in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Chemicals Packaging market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingAmcorBemisThe Dow Chemical CompanyDuPontMondiArdagh GroupAirlite PlasticsChampion PlasticsEmerald PackagingFabri-KalGeorgia-PacificGerresheimerGraham PackagingHuhtamakiInnovia FilmsNampakOwens-IllinoisPlastic IngenuityPolyOne CorporationSonocoSmurfit-Stone ContainerGet a Free Sample Copy of this Research Report with TOC @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoSacksDrumsFIBOtherOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Chemicals Packaging for each application, includingChemical PlantLaboratoryPharmaceutical FactoryOtherTable of Contents1 Chemicals Packaging Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Chemicals Packaging1.2 Chemicals Packaging Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Chemicals Packaging Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Chemicals Packaging Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Sacks1.2.4 Drums1.2.5 FIB1.2.6 Other1.3 Global Chemicals Packaging Segment by Application1.3.1 Chemicals Packaging Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Chemical Plant1.3.3 Laboratory1.3.4 Pharmaceutical Factory1.3.5 Other1.4 Global Chemicals Packaging Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Chemicals Packaging Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Chemicals Packaging (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Chemicals Packaging Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Chemicals Packaging Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)2 Global Chemicals Packaging Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Chemicals Packaging Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.1 Global Chemicals Packaging Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.1.2 Global Chemicals Packaging Production and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.2 Global Chemicals Packaging Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.3 Global Chemicals Packaging Average Price by Manufacturers (2012-2017)2.4 Manufacturers Chemicals Packaging Manufacturing Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type2.5 Chemicals Packaging Market Competitive Situation and Trends2.5.1 Chemicals Packaging Market Concentration Rate2.5.2 Chemicals Packaging Market Share of Top 3 and Top 5 Manufacturers2.5.3 Mergers & Acquisitions, ExpansionQYresearchreports.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.QYResearchReports1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-618-1030Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Hydraulic Cylinder Market to observe high growth by 2017 - 2025

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Global Hydraulic Cylinder Market: SnapshotHydraulic cylinders play a crucial role in motion control in a wide range of industrial applications such as in aerospace, wind turbines, industrial robotics, and military. They are used in making mobile industrial concrete pumps which have varied applications in the construction industry. The unidirectional force generated in the hydraulic fluids drives the power in piston rods, which helps in lifting, pushing, and pulling of machinery and earthmoving equipment. Over the past few years, constant improvements have been made in the metals used in hydraulic pumps. This has led to equipment being more tear- and corrosion-resistant resulting in better performance and efficiency in harsh environments. Ergonomic and design innovations in various parts used in hydraulic pumps make them more flexible and standardized, allowing for easy replaceability of parts irrespective of vendors or suppliers in the market. The use of carbon fiber composite materials reduces the weight of hydraulic cylinders considerably, thereby enhancing their performance.The maintenance of frictional properties of rod seals and wipers used in hydraulic cylinders is critical for their higher service life and their efficiency in more demanding environments. Hence it is imperative that adequate coatings on piston rod seals are done to minimize tear and wear that may be caused by static and dynamic friction. In recent years, the impact of alternative coatings has been tested to be instrumental in enhancing the life-cycle of hydraulic equipment. Furthermore, the use of radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology used in hydraulic cylinders is a recent innovation underpinning the adoption of automation in Industry 4.0. RFID tags help in the identification and traceability of cylinders that need repair or replacement, even in difficult operating environments where the markings may be covered by hard-to-remove industrial dirt.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Hydraulic Cylinder Market: OverviewA hydraulic cylinder refers to a mechanical actuator that is utilized to provide unidirectional force through a unidirectional stroke. Powered by pressurized hydraulic fluid, hydraulic cylinders have extensive applications in construction, manufacturing, heavy industries, and agriculture.The research report presents a detailed assessment of market drivers, market challenges, growth trends that will impact the growth of the global hydraulic cylinder market during the forecast period. The report provides detailed insights into the vendor landscape of this market throwing light on the growth opportunities that leading players can leverage.Global Hydraulic Cylinder Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe top factor driving the global hydraulic cylinder market is rapid industrialization combined with economic growth in developing countries. The robust demand for modern agriculture equipment for improved productivity and conservation of energy is expected to augment the growth of the global hydraulic cylinders market. Furthermore, the evolution of food processing industries combined with the modernization of agricultural practices will fuel the demand for hydraulic cylinders in the coming years.Request TOC of the Report @Furthermore, the rising demand for material handling equipment for minimizing the risk of downtime will fuel the growth of the global hydraulic cylinder market in the near future. Material handling equipment such as electronic overhead traveling cranes and level luffing cranes are utilized across a large range of industries such as food and beverage, oil and gas, power, and retail.In developed countries such as the U.S., large-scale initiatives for the exploration of shale gas is expected to benefit the markets growth. In industrial units, factors such as the expansion of production capacity and capacity utilization will also augment the growth of the hydraulic cylinder market.Global Hydraulic Cylinder Market: Regional OutlookThe global hydraulic cylinder market can be divided into the regional segments of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. China is expected to contribute significantly to the growth of the Asia Pacific hydraulic cylinder market. This is mainly due to huge investments announced by the Chinese government in the infrastructure sector. The modernization of agricultural practices combined with increasing investment in infrastructure will lead India to contribute significantly to the Asia Pacific hydraulic cylinder market during the forecast period.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@In North America, the U.S. hydraulic cylinder market is expected to grow by leaps and bound. The increasing investment on defense and material handling and aerospace will further boost the industrys growth.Russia is anticipated to display significant gains in the hydraulic cylinder market. The increasing demand for modern agriculture and construction equipment will bolster the demand for hydraulic cylinders in the country. In Latin America, Brazil is expected to display significant demand for hydraulic cylinders. The increasing investment in transport infrastructure and government initiatives for the development of the transportation sector will boost the hydraulic cylinder market in this region.Major Companies Mentioned in ReportSome of the leading companies in the global hydraulic cylinder market are Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, Best Metal Products, Eaton Corporation PLC, Lignon Industries LLC, Hydrapac Italia, Chapel Hydraulic, Bailey International LLC, Enerpac Corp., Parker-Hannifin Corporation, Texas Inc., Hydrosila, Weber-Hydraulik Group, Bosch Rexroth AG, Aggresssive Inc., Hannon LLC, Perfection Prince Manufacturing Corporation, Burnside Autocyl (Tullow) Ltd, United Hydraulics, Caterpillar Inc., Hyco International Inc., Precision group Inc., Norrhydro OY, and Pacoma GmbH.Each of the companies is profiled for their business attributes of competitive position, technological developments, financial standing, and SWOTs.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
EMEA (Europe, Middle East And Africa) Blood Bank Information Systems Market Production, Sales, Volume, Revenue, Market Share, Growth And Forecast 2017

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/sample/sample/1168326

http://www.marketresearchreports.biz/analysis/1168326

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"The Report EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Blood Bank Information Systems Market Report 2017 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Blood Bank Information Systems MarketIn this report, the EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems 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 split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Blood Bank Information Systems for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.Get Sample Copy of this report @EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Blood Bank Information Systems sales volume (Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingRoper IndustriesHaemoneticsCerner CorporationMcKessonMak-SystemIntegrated Medical SystemsMediwareCompugroupSCC Soft ComputerZhongde GaoyeBlood Bank Computer SystemsJinfeng YitongFengdeIT SynergisticsPsyche SystemsOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBlood Donor Management ModuleBlood Bank Transfusion Service ModuleOtherView Report @On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume (Units), market share and growth rate of Blood Bank Information Systems for each application, includingBlood StationHospitalIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Blood Bank Information Systems Market Report 20171 Blood Bank Information Systems Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Blood Bank Information Systems1.2 Classification of Blood Bank Information Systems1.2.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Blood Donor Management Module1.2.4 Blood Bank Transfusion Service Module1.2.5 Other1.3 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-20221.3.2 Blood Station1.3.3 Hospital1.4 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Market by Region1.4.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Middle East Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Africa Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 EMEA Market Size (Value and Volume) of Blood Bank Information Systems (2012-2022)1.5.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sales Volume and Market Share of Major Players (2012-2017)2.1.2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Revenue and Share by Players (2012-2017)2.1.3 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sale Price by Players (2012-2017)2.2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems (Volume and Value) by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.3 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sale Price by Type (2012-2017)2.3 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems (Volume and Value) by Region2.4.1 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4.2 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4.3 EMEA Blood Bank Information Systems Sales Price by Region (2012-2017)3 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.2 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Market Share by Type3.3 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Market Share by Application3.4 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Sales Volume by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.2 Europe Blood Bank Information Systems Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.3 Germany Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.4 France Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.5 UK Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.6 Russia Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.7 Italy Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.8 Benelux Blood Bank Information Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor Market 2017 - PILLER, Howden, Tuthill, Turbovap and ITO

Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor

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https://goo.gl/DpHQ51

A market study based on the " Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor " across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor Market 2017'. The Research report by QY Research Group is a market-oriented, technical, and commercial research analysis of the Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market. The analysis is completed using a wide range of secondary sources, databases and directories in order to identify and assemble market data. Primary sources included for the analysis include preferred suppliers, industry experts from core and associated industries, manufacturers, service providers, distributors, and organizations allied to the entire segments of the industry supply chain.CLICK HERE to Request Sample Report @Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This Research Report:1. PILLER2. Howden3. Tuthill4. Turbovap5. Atlas Copco6. GEA Wiegand7. Jiangsu Jintongling8. ITO9. Gardner Denver10. SANY11. Fuxi MachineryAnalyses of the global Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market trends along with the projections of CAGRs (compound annual growth rates) are provided in the research report. To estimate the overall market size of Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor, its application, and regionsin terms of value and volumethe bottom-up approach is followed. On the other hand, to corroborate the overall Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market sizeagain in terms of value and volumethe top-down approach is followed. Following the method of data triangulation and data validation via primaries, the precise values of the parent market and individual market in terms of size are calculated and established in the report.This market research report provides the client with comprehensive market analysis of the Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market over the forecast period. In addition, it also furnishes a general idea of the challenges, drivers, and restraints that have direct or indirect impact on the industry. It further highlights the market, the industry, and latest technology trends currently existing in the Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market. All this precise, accurate and comprehensive data will help the clients to make appropriate and practical decisions so as to gain maximum profit in the global market.The research report analyzes, tracks, and presents the global market size of the major players in every region around the world. Furthermore, the report provides data of the leading market players in the Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market.Inquiry For Buying @:Overall, the report is a one-stop destination and a valuation report to grab all the necessary information regarding the global Centrifugal Type MVR Compressor market.About Us:QYResearch Group is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. QYResearch Group also carries the capability to assist you with your customized market research requirements including in-depth market surveys, primary interviews, competitive landscaping, and company profiles. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics. QYResearch Group is the comprehensive collection of market intelligence products and services available on air.Contact US:Joel John3422 SW 15 Street, Suit #8138,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442,United StatesTel: +1-386-310-3803GMT Tel: +49-322 210 92714USA/Canada Toll Free No. 1-855-465-4651
Global Gummy Vitamin Market 2017 - Albanese, Softigel, Bayer, Natures Way, Gimbals

https://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/22770/request-sample

www.fiormarkets.com

www.dailydemocratnews.com

The report studies Gummy Vitamin in Global market Professional Survey 2017 : Size, Share, Trends, Industry Growth, Opportunity, Application, Production, Segmentation, Cost Structure, Company Profile, Product Picture and Specifications during the Forecast period by 2022The report begins with a broad introduction of the Gummy Vitamin market and then drills deeper into specific segments such as application, regional markets, end-users, policy analysis, value chain structure, and emerging trends. The Gummy Vitamin market report makes a case for investments in particular regions based on a realistic view of their regulatory environment, manufacturing dynamics and availability of skills and resources. Also, recommendations are made based on regions and market segments that are not poised for appreciable growth in the near future.The Gummy Vitamin market and its dynamics are evaluated using industry leading tools and techniques. A qualitative analysis forms a sizeable portion of the research efforts as well. With emerging changes on the horizon, the Gummy Vitamin market is poised for certain important change. It is imperative that market players gear up for these changes. The report helps companiesboth new and establishedto identify white spaces and opportunities for growth in the Gummy Vitamin market.The leading companies in the Gummy Vitamin market are profiled to offer a complete overview of their growth strategies, financial standing, product and services pipeline, as well as recent collaborations and developments.The reports analysis is based on technical data and industry figures sourced from the most reputable databases. Other aspects that will prove especially beneficial to readers of the report are: investment feasibility analysis, recommendations for growth, investment return analysis, trends analysis, opportunity analysis, and SWOT analyses of competing companies. With the help of inputs and insights from technical and marketing experts, the report presents an objective assessment of the Gummy Vitamin market.Download Free Sample Report @A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Gummy Vitamin market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report. The competitive landscape of the market presented in the study profiles the most prominent players in the 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.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Halogenated Butyl Rubber Market 2017 - ExxonMobil, Japan Butyl, Lanxess, Zhejiang Cenway

https://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/18387/request-sample

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The report studies Halogenated Butyl Rubber in Global market Professional Survey 2017 : Size, Share, Trends, Industry Growth, Opportunity, Application, Production, Segmentation, Cost Structure, Company Profile, Product Picture and Specifications during the Forecast period by 2022Global Halogenated Butyl Rubber Industry 2017 is a comprehensive, professional report delivering market research data that is relevant for new market entrants or established players. Key strategies of the companies operating in the market and their impact analysis have been included in the report. Furthermore, a business overview, revenue share, and SWOT analysis of the leading players in the Halogenated Butyl Rubber market is available in the report.Combining the data integration and analysis capabilities with the relevant findings, the report has predicted strong future growth of the Halogenated Butyl Rubber market in all its geographical and product segments. In addition to this, several significant variables that will shape the Halogenated Butyl Rubber industry and regression models to determine the future direction of the market have been employed to create the report.The report begins with a market overview and moves on to cover the growth prospects of the Halogenated Butyl Rubber market. The current environment of the global Halogenated Butyl Rubber industry and the key trends shaping the market are presented in the report. Insightful predictions for the Halogenated Butyl Rubber market for the coming few years have also been included in the report. These predictions feature important inputs from leading industry experts and take into account every statistical detail regarding the Halogenated Butyl Rubber market.Download Free Sample Report @Statistical forecasts in the research study are available for the total Halogenated Butyl Rubber market along with its key segments. The key segments, their growth prospects, and the new opportunities they present to market players have been mentioned in the report. Moreover, the impact analysis of the latest mergers and acquisition and joint ventures has been included in the report. The report also provides valuable proposals for new project development that can help companies optimize their operations and revenue structure.A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Halogenated Butyl Rubber market has been provided in the report. Detailed information about the key segments of the market and their growth prospects are available in the report. The detailed analysis of their sub-segments is also available in the report. The revenue forecasts and volume shares along with market estimates are available in the report.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.Contact UsMark StoneSales Manager2566, Lincoln StreetPrinceton,New Jersey 08540USAPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Sawmill Market  Share, Size, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017-2025

http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/us-sawmill-woodworking-and-paper-machinery-market-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

http://www.indexbox.co.uk/store/us-sawmill-woodworking-and-paper-machinery-market-analysis-and-forecast-to-2020/

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IndexBox has just published a new report "U.S. Sawmill, Woodworking, And Paper Machinery Market. Analysis And Forecast to 2025". (The report provides an in-depth analysis of the U.S. sawmill and paper machinery market. It presents the latest data of the market size and volume, domestic production, exports and imports, price dynamics and turnover in the industry. In addition, the report contains insightful information about the industry, including industry life cycle, business locations, productivity, employment and many other crucial aspects. The Company Profiles section contains relevant data on the major players in the industry.Countries coverage: the U.S.Product coverage:Woodworking machinery, including parts, attachments, and accessories, excluding for home workshops, garages, and service shops (excluding chainsaws and other power-driven handtools); Woodworking machinery for home workshops, garages, and service shops (excluding chainsaws and other power-driven handtools); Paper industry machinery; Parts and attachments for paper industry machinery (sold separately); Sawmill, woodworking, and paper machinery manufacturing, nsk, totalCompanies mentioned:Andritz (usa) , Valmet, Alliance Machine Systems International , Kadant Inc., Paper Converting Machine Company, Simonds International , Curt G. Joa, Maxcess International Corp, Westervelt Company, Barry-Wehmiller Papersystems, Paper Machinery Corporation, Wood-Mizer Holdings, Andritz, C.G. Bretting Manufacturing Co., The Ward Machinery Company, Tecnau, GL&v USA , ASC Machine Tools, G L & V USA , Globe Machine Manufacturing Company, Kirk-Rudy, Metso Usa, Selway Corporation, Voith Paper Inc., Marquip , Voith Paper Fabric and Rolls Systems, Glv US Holding , Maxcess International Holding Corp., Will-Pemco, W + D Machinery Co.Data coverage:- Sawmill and paper machinery market size;- Sawmill and paper machinery production, value of shipments;- Key market players and their profiles;- Exports, imports and trade balance;- Import and export prices;- Forecast of the market dynamics in the medium term;- Key industry statistics;- Life cycle of the sawmill and paper machinery industry;- Number of establishments and their locations;- Employment data;- Sawmill and paper machinery industry productivity.Reasons to buy this report:- Take advantage of the latest data;- Find deeper insights into current market developments;- Discover vital success factors affecting the market.TABLE OF CONTENTS1. INTRODUCTION1.1 REPORT DESCRIPTION1.2 REPORT STRUCTURE1.3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY2. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY2.1 KEY FINDINGS2.2 MARKET TRENDS3. MARKET OVERVIEW3.1 MARKET VALUE3.2 TRADE BALANCE3.3 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES3.4 MARKET FORECAST TO 20254. DOMESTIC PRODUCTION4.1 PRODUCTION IN 2008-20154.2 PRODUCTION BY STATE4.3 PRODUCER PRICES5. IMPORTS5.1 IMPORTS IN 2007-20155.2 IMPORTS BY TYPE5.3 IMPORTS BY COUNTRY5.4 IMPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY6. EXPORTS6.1 EXPORTS IN 2007-20156.2 EXPORTS BY TYPE6.3 EXPORTS BY COUNTRY6.4 EXPORT PRICES BY COUNTRY7. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE7.1 INDUSTRY SNAPSHOTS7.2 INDUSTRY LIFE CYCLE7.3 BUSINESS LOCATIONS7.4 EMPLOYMENT7.5 ANNUAL PAYROLL7.6 INDUSTRY PRODUCTIVITY7.7 ESTABLISHMENT SIZE AND LEGAL FORM8. COMPANY PROFILESDownload a free sample of the report now!Browse Related Reports:World: Air Conditioning Machines - Market Report. Analysis and Forecast to 2025EU: Air Conditioning Machines - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025Germany: Air Conditioning Machines - Market Report. Analysis And Forecast To 2025IndexBox is a leading market research publisher in the world.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.With IndexBox, simply take the data from our Box and think outside it.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 Plaster Saws Sales Market 2017 Major Players - Rimec, Stryker, Oscimed, Hanshin Medical, Erbrich Instrumente

https://www.fiormarkets.com/report-detail/61978/request-sample

https://goo.gl/exQ3ov

www.fiormarkets.com

www.albaniantimes.com

The reports analysis is based on technical data and industry figures sourced from the most reputable databases. Other aspects that will prove especially beneficial to readers of the report are: investment feasibility analysis, recommendations for growth, investment return analysis, trends analysis, opportunity analysis, and SWOT analyses of competing companies. With the help of inputs and insights from technical and marketing experts, the report presents an objective assessment of the Plaster Saws Sales market.Download Free Sample Report @To begin with, the report defines the Plaster Saws Sales market and segments it based on the most important dynamics, such as applications, geographical/regional markets, and competitive scenario. Macroeconomic and microeconomic factors environments that currently prevail and also those that are projected to emerge are covered in this report.The report determines the leading players in the global market. The company profiles of the major participants operating in the global Plaster Saws Sales market have been reviewed in this study.This report also presents product specification, manufacturing process, and product cost structure etc. Production is separated by regions, technology and applications. Analysis also covers upstream raw materials, equipment, Downstream client survey, Marketing channels, Industry development trend and proposals. In the end, the report includes Plaster Saws Sales new project SWOT analysis, Investment feasibility analysis, Investment return analysis, and Development trend analysis. In conclusion, it is a deep research report on Global Plaster Saws Sales industry. Here, we express our thanks for the support and assistance from Plaster Saws Sales industry chain related technical experts and marketing engineers during Research Teams survey and interviews.Access Full Report @Other important aspects that have been meticulously studied in the Plaster Saws Sales market report are: Demand and supply dynamics, import and export scenario, industry processes and cost structures, and major R&D initiatives. The new opportunities they present to market players have been mentioned in the report. A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Plaster Saws Sales market has been provided in the report.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.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerOffice-108, Sanskriti AspirationsBaner Road, Pune,MH 411045IndiaPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Desktop Virtualization Market, Research Report Forecast upto 2022

https://www.knowledge-sourcing.com/products/desktop-virtualization-market-forecasts-from-2017-to-2022

Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence announces publication of a new report: Desktop Virtualization Market- Forecasts from 2017 to 2022.This research report segments the Desktop Virtualization Market By Approach (Remote Hosted Desktop, Remote Virtual Applications, Remote Hosted Dedicated Virtual Desktops, Local Virtual Applications, Local Virtual OS), Technology (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, Hosted Virtual Desktop, Desktop Virtualization Servers), Industry Vertical (Communication and Technology, Healthcare, Government, BFSI, Education, Others) , Geography (North America, South America, Europe Middle East and Africa, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific). The report provides in-depth and most accurately anticipated forecasts in a quantitative manner.Some of the major Desktop Virtualization companies covered in the report are Citrix Systems, VMware, NComputing, and Moka5 among others.Sample request or complete report can be purchased through the link below:This 90 pages report contains a wide range of figures and data tables for the forecasted period based on the segmentations listed above.Brief TOC is as below: Market Dynamics Segmentationo By Approach Remote Hosted Desktop Remote Virtual Applications Remote Hosted Dedicated Virtual Desktops Local Virtual Applications Local Virtual OSo By Technology Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Hosted Virtual Desktop Desktop Virtualization Serverso By Industry Verticals Communication and technology Healthcare Government BFSI Education OthersO By Geography Americas North America South America Europe middle East and Africa Europe Middle East and Africa Asia Pacific Competitive Intelligence Profiles of key companiesKnowledge Sourcing Intelligence is a market research and consulting firm based out of India. Driven by industry experts, the company provides syndicated reports, custom research, and consulting services. Our proprietary data analytics model blended with quality primary and secondary research data assists in generating quality reports providing crucial insights to managers and decision makers. The services offered by us help companies to gain required competitive edge. Our expertise across 10 industries such as ICT, Chemicals, Semiconductors, Healthcare among others caters to diverse client needsKnowledge Sourcing IntelligenceAscent Business CenterH-38, Sector 63NOIDA, IndiaContact: +1-866-714-4587
Healthcare IT Integration Market Dynamics and Growth Rate 2017-2022

http://www.researchtrades.com/request-sample/1117800

http://www.researchtrades.com/checkout/1117800

http://www.researchtrades.com/report/global-healthcare-it-integration-market-size-status-and-forecast-2022/1117800

http://www.researchtrades.com

This report studies the global Healthcare IT Integration market, analyzes and researches the Healthcare IT Integration development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeAccentureAllscriptsAVI-SPLCapgeminiCapsuleCerner CorporationCorepoint HealthEnovacomIBM CorpInforInterfacewareInterSystemsOracleOrion HealthAsk for sample copy @Market segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Application, Healthcare IT Integration can be split intoMedical IndustryIt IndustryMarket segment by Type, Healthcare IT Integration can be split intoTreatment TypeService TypePurchase a copy of this report for single user price $ 3300 @Table of Contents:1 Industry Overview of Healthcare IT Integration1.1 Healthcare IT Integration Market Overview1.1.1 Healthcare IT Integration Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global Healthcare IT Integration 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 Healthcare IT Integration Market by Type1.3.1 Treatment Type1.3.2 Service Type1.4 Healthcare IT Integration Market by End Users/Application1.4.1 Medical Industry1.4.2 It Industry1.4.3 Other2 Global Healthcare IT Integration Competition Analysis by Players2.1 Healthcare IT Integration Market Size (Value) by Players (2016 and 2017)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 FutureView this report @Who we are:Research Trades has team of experts who works on providing exhaustive analysis pertaining to market research on a global basis. This comprehensive analysis is obtained by a thorough research and study of the ongoing trends and provides predictive data regarding the future estimations, which can be utilized by various organizations for growth purposes.We distribute customized reports that focus on meeting the clients specific requirement. Our database consists of a large collection of high-quality reports obtained using a customer-centric approach, thus providing valuable research insights.Reach at us:Address: Flat No.10, Wing C, S. No. 245/4/2+245/5/1, Baner, Pune-411045Email: sales@researchtrades.comCall us: +91 7507349866Skype ID: researchtradesconWeb:
SUSE CaaS (Container as a Service) Platform Makes Applications Easy to Run, Customers More Agile

www.suse.com

Dubai, United Arab Emirates  June 20, 2017  SUSE has launched SUSE CaaS (Container as a Service) Platform, a development and hosting platform for container-based applications and services. The solution is a valuable new piece of SUSEs growing software-defined infrastructure portfolio, which integrates open source technology to drive next-generation innovations that matter to customers. SUSE CaaS Platform lets IT operations and developers provision, manage and scale container-based applications and services to meet business goals faster.Organizations looking to improve business agility are adopting a software-defined infrastructure approach to support containerization of their applications. Most are either containerizing existing applications directly or using a modern microservices architecture approach. SUSE CaaS Platform supports both tactics, helping customers be more agile and reduce operating costs.Container innovation is improving how applications are developed and run, but companies dont want to have to set up and maintain a complex and secure container infrastructure by themselves, said Thomas Di Giacomo, SUSE CTO. They want to focus on creating applications that bring value to their business. So SUSE is providing an easy-to-use container infrastructure solution that helps them deploy next-generation, cloud native container-based applications and progressively migrate traditional and existing apps.SUSE CaaS Platform consists of three key components  orchestration using Kubernetes, a purpose-built operating system (SUSE MicroOS) for microservices and containers, and configuration capabilities  that provide the following benefits to customers and partners: Reduced time to market using out-of-the-box platform capabilities that enable customers to implement orchestration using production grade Kubernetes, deploy resilient container services, maximize portability, and develop in a trusted computing environment. Increased operational efficiency with automation of deployment management tasks and full application lifecycle support of containers using the built-in container toolset. It provides capabilities to manage on-premise registry, build container images, securely patch container images, collaborate securely and use trusted images from the SUSE Registry. Enablement of DevOps for improved application lifecycle management. It bridges developers and operations using a single, unified container platform that helps save development and operations time. It also makes it easy to deploy microservices and enables coexistence of configuration and code.SUSE envisions several key use cases for its CaaS platform, including the enablement of DevOps and microservices implementations for faster and more automated application releases across different infrastructure, said Jay Lyman, principal analyst, Cloud Management and Containers, for 451 Research. Organizations interested in enterprise-grade security, reliability and scalability with containers are the ones most likely to be interested in the SUSE CaaS Platform.SUSE, a pioneer in open source software, provides reliable, interoperable Linux, cloud infrastructure and storage solutions that give enterprises greater control and flexibility. More than 20 years of engineering excellence, exceptional service and an unrivaled partner ecosystem power the products and support that help our customers manage complexity, reduce cost, and confidently deliver mission-critical services. The lasting relationships we build allow us to adapt and deliver the smarter innovation they need to succeed  today and tomorrow. For more information, visitVernon SaldanhaProcre8D02-12, Rahat, MudonDubai, UAEPO BOX 78835
Widespread Application Base & Easy Availability is Driving the Growth of Ammonium Hydroxide Market

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Global Ammonium Hydroxide Market: OverviewAmmonia is one of the most widespread used industrial chemical compound. Ammonia is used in combination of various other chemicals resulting into explorative compounds. Ammonium hydroxide is one such compound which is formed by the reaction between ammonia and water molecule. Ammonium hydroxide is also known as aqua ammonia, ammonia water, aqueous ammonia, ammoniacal liquor. Ammonium hydroxide is colourless solution and is characterised by a peculiar odour. Ammonium hydroxide is alkaline in nature and thereby, can be used as acid neutraliser. Ammonium hydroxide is naturally found in form of air, soil and water. It plays a significant role in protein synthesis process in the body. Ammonium hydroxide finds application across different industries such as chemical, food & beverage, personal care, pharmaceutical among others.Browse Market Research Report @Global Ammonium Hydroxide Market: Drivers and RestraintsWidespread application base and easy availability is driving the growth of ammonium hydroxide market. Being alkaline in nature, ammonium hydroxide is used as acid neutraliser, which finds extensive use in pharmaceutical industries. Ammonium hydroxide is widely used for the sanitation purpose as it is effective in masking microbial agents. Its alkaline property makes it corrosive to certain metals such as aluminium, copper and galvanised surfaces which further is used in the manufacturing process of circuit boards. Thus promoting the growth of ammonium hydroxide across different industries. In food & beverage industry ammonium hydroxide is used as leavening agent whereas in tobacco industry it is used as flavour enhancer. Moreover, ammonium hydroxide is also used in the manufacturing of fertilizer, rubber and plastics. Ammonium hydroxide forms an important constituent in manufacturing of fertilizers, as nitrogen used in fertiliser is derived from ammonium hydroxide. Furthermore, ammonium hydroxide is also used in other industrial applications such as it is used in synthesis of certain chemicals, helps to stain wood containing tannic acid among others. Therefore, versatile nature of ammonium hydroxide is significantly contributing to the growth of ammonium hydroxide market.For more information on this report, fill the form @Apart from extensive industrial application, ammonium hydroxide is also associated with certain health. Ammonium hydroxide has high pH level, hence, if its direct contact may cause severe skin, eye and respiratory tract irritation which can also tissue burns. Inhalation of ammonium hydroxide mists may result in burning sensation in nose and can also lead to pulmonary edema. Hence, precautions must be taken when handling ammonium hydroxide. Therefore, severe attributable side effects may restrain the ammonium hydroxide market. Moreover, according to Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Clean Water Act Amendments of 1977 and 1978, ammonium hydroxide is considered to be hazardous substance for environmental sustainability with grave effect on aquatic life. Thereby, affecting the growth prospects of ammonium hydroxide market due to increase focus upon environmental sustainability.Global Ammonium Hydroxide Market: SegmentationOn the basis of end use industry, global ammonium hydroxide market is segmented into:-PharmaceuticalFood & BeveragePersonal CareChemicalAgricultureOthersOn the basis of application, global ammonium hydroxide market is segmented into:-Leaving agentAcid NeutraliserFlavour enhancerOthersOn the basis of source, global ammonium hydroxide market is segmented into:-NaturalChemicalGlobal Ammonium Hydroxide Market: Region wise OutlookThe global ammonium hydroxide is categorised into seven regions, namely, Western Europe, Eastern Europe Middle East and Africa (MEA), Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan Latin America and, North America. North America accounts for significant share of ammonium hydroxide market. Widespread industrial applications along with major key component in the manufacturer of nitrogen which further is used across different industries attributes to accelerating growth in North America. The market for ammonium hydroxide is uncertain in Europe despite of its extensive applicability. As ammonium hydroxide is responsible for hazardous effects on human health and aquatic life, growth of ammonium hydroxide may get restrained due to stringent regulatory norms in Europe. Asia Pacific region represents opportunistic market for the growth of ammonium hydroxide. Extensive use of ammonium hydroxide in fertiliser manufacturing along with acid neutraliser property provides an explorative platform for various industrial manufacturers to capitalise upon their product offerings involving ammonium hydroxide.Global Ammonium Hydroxide Market: Key PlayersSome of the prominent players identified in the global ammonium hydroxide market includes: Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC., KMG Chemicals, Inc., Tanner Industries, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Yara International ASA, MGC Pure Chemicals America, Inc., Pride-Chem Industries Pte Ltd., Tritech Catalyst and Intermediate Pvt. Ltd., GFS Chemicals, Inc.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:
Hand Tools Market to Grow at a CAGR of 3.9% by 2027

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Competitive advantage of adopting power tools has lowered the adoption of hand tools. Multiple industrial operations are being equipped with power tools to benefit from their cost-effectiveness, lesser labour-induced work and higher efficiency. Furthermore, advancements in existing power tools are swiftly outpacing the upgrades done on conventional hand tools. In the long run, there is a possibility that hand tools might lose their applicability to power tools. Future Market Insights projects that during the forecast period 2017-2027, the global market for hand tools will showcase a moderate growth, registering a CAGR of 3.9%.Future Market Insights recently published report, titled Hand Tools Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment, 2017-2027, estimates the global hand tools market to reach US$ 15.6 Bn value by end of 2017. In the ten-year forecast period, the global demand for hand tools is likely to witness a downtrend, bringing in just over US$ 22.3 Bn in revenues towards the end of 2027. Factors impacting the growth of global hand tools market are compiled in the report, which include:There has been a rise in the number of major manufacturing plants and industries in the world, wherein hand tools are widely used for maintenance purposesAutomotive repair & maintenance sector is presently a lucrative industrial vertical for application of hand toolsAlthough, the global demand for hand tools is predicted to decline due to rising prices of raw materials such as iron ore and aluminiumRequest For Sample@Increasing prevalence of DIY activities and rising employment opportunities for technical jobs are observed as key trends of the global hand tools market. The report further reveals that a majority of hand tools sold in the world will be used for industrial purposes. In 2017, industrial application of hand tools is expected to net global revenues worth over US$ 9.3 Bn. Key findings in the report also indicate that metal cutting tools will be observed as top-selling products, registering a steady revenue growth at 4.9% CAGR. Also, throughout the forecast period, over 40% of global hand tool sales will be accounted by retail distribution channels. Online distribution of hand tools is also expected to gain traction towards the latter half of forecast period.North America is estimated to remain as the most-lucrative region for growth of hand tools market. Consistently procuring one-third share on global revenues, North America will remain the dominant region in the global hand tools market through 2027. On the other hand, the hand tools market in Asia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region will register fastest revenue growth, exhibiting 6% CAGR over the forecast period. Companies such as Channellock, Inc., Akar Tools, Ltd., Apex Tools Group, Wera Tools, Snap-On, Stanley Back Decker, Kennametal Inc., Klein Tools, and JK Files (India) Limited are profiled in the report as key manufacturers of hand tools in the world.Send An Enquiry@ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
EMEA (Europe, Middle East And Africa) Graphics Display Controllers Market Analysis by Regions, by Applications Key players, Types, 2017 Forecast Report

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"The Report EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Graphics Display Controllers Market Report 2017 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Graphics Display Controllers MarketIn this report, the EMEA Graphics Display Controllers 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 split EMEA into Europe, the Middle East and Africa, With sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Graphics Display Controllers for these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast)Europe: Germany, France, UK, Russia, Italy and Benelux;Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Israel, UAE and Iran;Africa: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria.Get Sample Copy of this report @EMEA Graphics Display Controllers market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Graphics Display Controllers sales volume (K Units), price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingSocionext (Formed from Fujistu and Panasonic)BarcoIntersilToshibaSamsung SemiconductorADL Embedded SolutionsAnalog DevicesMicrochip TechnologySTMicroelectronicsSolomon SystechShenzhen Hengstar TechnologyOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume (K Units), revenue (Million USD), product price (USD/Unit), market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLCD Graphics Display ControllerLED Graphics Display ControllerOLED Graphics Display ControllerView Report @On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume (K Units), market share and growth rate of Graphics Display Controllers for each application, includingMedical DevicesAutomotive ApplicationsAvionics DevicesIndustrial DevicesHome AppliancesOthersIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Table of ContentsEMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) Graphics Display Controllers Market Report 20171 Graphics Display Controllers Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Graphics Display Controllers1.2 Classification of Graphics Display Controllers1.2.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 LCD Graphics Display Controller1.2.4 LED Graphics Display Controller1.2.5 OLED Graphics Display Controller1.3 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-20221.3.2 Medical Devices1.3.3 Automotive Applications1.3.4 Avionics Devices1.3.5 Industrial Devices1.3.6 Home Appliances1.3.7 Others1.4 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Market by Region1.4.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Middle East Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Africa Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 EMEA Market Size (Value and Volume) of Graphics Display Controllers (2012-2022)1.5.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Competition by Manufacturers/Players/Suppliers, Region, Type and Application2.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Market Competition by Players/Manufacturers2.1.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sales Volume and Market Share of Major Players (2012-2017)2.1.2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Revenue and Share by Players (2012-2017)2.1.3 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sale Price by Players (2012-2017)2.2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers (Volume and Value) by Type/Product Category2.2.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Revenue and Market Share by Type (2012-2017)2.2.3 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sale Price by Type (2012-2017)2.3 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers (Volume) by Application2.4 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers (Volume and Value) by Region2.4.1 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4.2 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Revenue and Market Share by Region (2012-2017)2.4.3 EMEA Graphics Display Controllers Sales Price by Region (2012-2017)3 Europe Graphics Display Controllers (Volume, Value and Sales Price), by Players, Countries, Type and Application3.1 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Value (2012-2017)3.1.1 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Sales Volume and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.1.2 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.2 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Market Share by Type3.3 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Market Share by Application3.4 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Sales Volume and Value (Revenue) by Countries3.4.1 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Sales Volume by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.2 Europe Graphics Display Controllers Revenue by Countries (2012-2017)3.4.3 Germany Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.4 France Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.5 UK Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.6 Russia Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.7 Italy Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)3.4.8 Benelux Graphics Display Controllers Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2017)MarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.Mr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074USA: Canada Toll Free: 866-997-4948Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
United States Butyl Rubber Market by Manufacturers, States, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

Butyl Rubber Market

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Butyl rubber is a synthetic rubber, a copolymer of isobutylene with isoprene. The abbreviation IIR stands for Isobutylene Isoprene Rubber. The primary properties of butyl rubber are excellent air-barrier performance, good flex fatigue and vibration damping. From inner tubes to curing bladders, butyl properties are valued across a`range of rubber products.Request for Sample Copy Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Butyl Rubber in United States market, to split the market based on manufacturers, states, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: ExxonMobil Lanxess PJSC NizhneKamskneftekhim JSR Sibur Sinopec Beijing Yanshan Zhejiang Cenway Synthetic New Material Panjin Heyun Group Formosa Synthetic Rubber (Ningbo)Market Segment by States, covering: California Texas New York Florida IllinoisBrowse Full Report @Market Segment by Type, covers: Regular Butyl Rubber Chlorinated Butyl Rubber Brominated Butyl RubberMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into: Tire Medical Materials OthersThere are 17 Chapters to deeply display the United States Butyl Rubber Market.Chapter 1, to describe Butyl Rubber Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by States, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Butyl Rubber, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the United States market by States, covering California, New York, Texas, Illinois and Florida, with sales, price, revenue and market share of Butyl Rubber, for each state, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, to analyze the key States by Type and Application, covering California, New York, Texas, Illinois and Florida, with sales, revenue and market share by types and applications;Chapter 12, Butyl Rubber market forecast, by States, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and growth rate forecast, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process etc.Chapter 14, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 15, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers etc.Chapter 16 and 17, to describe Butyl Rubber Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source.Check for Discount @Some points from TOC:-1 Market Overview1.1 Butyl Rubber Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Regular Butyl Rubber1.2.2 Chlorinated Butyl Rubber1.2.3 Brominated Butyl Rubber1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Tire1.3.2 Medical Materials1.3.3 Others1.4 Market Analysis by States1.4.1 California Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Texas Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 New York Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Florida Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Illinois Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 ExxonMobil2.1.1 Profile2.1.2 Butyl Rubber Type and Applications..ContinuedEnquiry before Buying @About Global Info Reports:GIR Market Research is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. GIR Market Research is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the worlds most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:+1-888-376-9998 (US)Email- sales@globalinforeports.comWeb-Blogs-
Global and Chinese 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) Industry, Market Outlook & Forecast Analysis till 2022

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Interestingly, 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) chemical substance is used in various applications including chemical synthesis and heterocyclic building blocks. These applications have boosted its industry growth and it is further anticipated for impressive market advancement. To detail the precise industry outlook, Market Research Hub (MRH) has lately added a report titled as Global and Chinese 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) Industry, 2017 Market Research Report to its vast report database. The report provides a detailed analysis on the market status of the 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride manufacturers and also serves as a treasured source of guidance and direction for investors interested in the industry. Moreover, the readers can learn about the future prospects of the concerned market during 2017-2022, covering development trends outlook of 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride.Request Free Sample Report:Firstly, the research initiates with a brief analysis which provides the introduction of 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) industry; introduction, development, and active status. Further, the report discusses the manufacturing technology of 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) which details the development, analysis, and trends of the technology. Moving further information related to key manufacturers are listed along with the company name, profile, product information, 2012-2017 production information and the contact data.Secondly, the 2012-2017 global and Chinese 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride market is evaluated for capacity, production, cost/profit, supply/consumption, and import/export. The study has also discussed the market status of the 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride industry with competition by the company, country (USA, EU, Japan, Chinese etc.) along with a brief market analysis of 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride consumption by application/type.Make An Enquiry:Thirdly, the detailed study has forecast the 2017-2022 market of global and Chinese 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) industry for various market factors. The related industry chain analysis is also discussed for the industry chain structure, upstream raw material, and the downstream industry. Moving on, the economic impact of the global and Chinese market on the 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride (CAS 6959-48-4) industry has also been evaluated for the benefit of the investors.Finally, the research study concludes with the market dynamics that detail the various industry news, industry development challenges, and the industry development opportunities. The detailed analysis has been concluded by the new projects market entry strategies, countermeasures of economic impact, marketing channels and the feasibility study of new projects investment, thus suspending the detailed overview.Overall, the report provides an in-depth insight of 2012-2022 global and Chinese 3-(Chloromethyl) pyridine hydrochloride industry covering all important parameters, thus providing resourceful data to the concerned decision makers.Browse Full Report With TOC: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 Us90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (US-Canada)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Email: press@marketresearchhub.comWebsite:Read Industry News At:
Plastic Blood Bags Market Size will Grow at 9.1% CAGR by 2020

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North America has the largest market for the global disposable plastic blood bags market. This is due to increased prevalence of blood disorders in the region. North American market for disposable plastic blood bags is estimated at USD 83,670.7 thousand in 2014 and is expected to reach USD 1,42,983.2 thousand in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 9.3%. Asia is the fastest growing region; this is due to large population base in the region. In terms of type of blood bags, single blood bags are the fastest growing segment. In terms of end users, blood banks are the fastest growing.Browse Complete Report @According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Disposable Plastic Blood Bags: Single Blood Bags to Witness Highest Growth by 2020 the global Disposable Plastic Blood Bags market was valued at USD 2,44,286.8 thousand in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.1% from 2014 to 2020, to reach an estimated value of USD 4,13,084.8 thousand in 2020.A disposable blood bag refers to a bio-medical device that is used for collection, storage, processing, transfusion, separation and transportation of human blood and blood components. There are different types of disposable plastic blood bags based on the need of blood infusion; single blood bag, double blood bag, triple blood bag, quadruple blood bag and transfer blood bag.A sample of this report is available upon request @Globally, the disposable plastic blood bags market is witnessing significant growth due to increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, rising aging population and advanced features of disposable plastic blood bags. In addition, increasing initiatives undertaken by various government associations spreading awareness about importance of blood donations are driving the disposable plastic blood bags market. However, factors such as risks associated with blood transfusion and lack of awareness and poor blood collection and storage infrastructure in various parts of the world restrain the global market for disposable plastic blood bags market. In addition, lack of primary healthcare infrastructure in developing countries negatively impacts the growth of the disposable plastic blood bags market. The global disposable plastic blood bags market is estimated at USD 2,44,286.8 thousand in 2014 and expected to reach USD 4,13,084.8 thousand in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 9.1%.Request to view table of content @Some of the latest trends that have been observed in the global disposable plastic blood bags market include increasing use of RFID technology in blood bags and increasing number of mergers and acquisitions by companies.Terumo Corporation is a leading player in the global market for disposable plastic blood bags market. Some of the other major players in disposable plastic blood bags market are Grifols, S.A., Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, Haemonetics Corporation and MacoPharma SA.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Washable Shoes and Clogs Market Progresses for Huge Profits During 2017 -2025

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Washable shoes & clogs Market OverviewA clog is a type of footwear that is either partially or completely made of wood. While they are used as traditional wear in countries as far apart as the Netherlands, Sweden and Japan, they are seen quite frequently in the medical sphere nowadays as they are ideal for busy healthcare professionals. Both doctors and nurses need to attend to patients that require them to be on their feet round the clock. Their jobs involve either walking around incessantly or standing for hours at a time in an extremely hygiene focused environment.Get access to full summary @:They need shoes which are comfortable, easy to clean, and practical. To cater to their demands, the washable shoes & clogs market has grown exponentially over the past few years. These shoes can be used by both men and women, and provide protection and comfort in an equal measure. They are indispensable for millions of doctors, nurses and medical support staff worldwide.Washable shoes & clogs, as the name suggests, can be easily washed to disinfect them and they are available in a wide variety of sizes and colours to suit every need and want. Nursing can be an immensely demanding job. It is imperative that nurses should be as comfortable as possible to ensure that they are able to perform their duties effectively and efficiently. A quality pair of Washable shoes or clogs will guarantee comfort, which is why it is recommended for every nurse. A large number of them complain of feet or back pain every year. Most of these cases can be squarely blamed on wearing uncomfortable or inappropriate shoes.A sample of this report is available upon request @Washable shoes & clogs Market driversAn ageing population in developed countries is anticipated to be the primary washable shoes & clogs market driver. According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM), at least 116 million American adults, i.e. more than a third of the entire population, suffer from chronic pain. They outnumber those afflicted by diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. There is a very strong likelihood that they will visit hospitals or other medical institutions to get some kind of pain relief administered. They may even wish to be treated from the comfort and privacy of their own homes. Thus, there will be a large requirement for doctors and nurses, who will indirectly demand washable shoes & clogs.These shoes are far more lightweight than running or walking shoes, making it easier to serve patients for almost the entire day. They also make a massive difference in how medical staff feel at the end of the day. In addition to this, they are protected from water or any other liquid spill due to the material they are made from. They have grips that allow the foot to remain stable even when walking across slippery hospital tiles. Their sole is made to decrease the stress around the spinal cord and knees since many nurses complain of these medical ailments. Most of these shoes do not have laces and are simply meant to be slipped on, saving a great deal of time in any emergency.Washable shoes & clogs Market Key Market PlayersSome of the Washable shoes & clogs Market Key Market Players are Dansko, Skechers, Alegria, Crocs, Klogs, Timberland, Nurse Mates, KEEN, Merrell, Calzuro, and Birki.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, types and applications.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Winter Care Creams Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2025

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When the temperature drops down, cold and windy weather takes the toll on skin and the most affected part of a body is the face. The only saviour when the face skin becomes dry and dull due to cold weather is winter care creams. The skin cream which is generally enriched with vitamin E, natural oils such as jojoba and olive oil, rose petals and various fruit extracts particularly grape seed, protect the face skin from getting dry and provide a glow, softness and fairness. It, therefore, becomes necessary for the consumers to keep a face cream in winter cosmetic kitty. Winter care creams are suitable for the three types of face skins, i.e. normal, oily and dry. Many winter care face creams are designed to reduce the signs of peeling and repair fragile face skin due to winter dryness. The strong moisturising formula in face cream also fulfils the therapeutic purpose of consumers during winters.Get access to full summary @:Winter Care Creams Market: Advantages and disadvantagesAppropriate use of winter care creams boost hydration in skin and creates the protective layer of moisturiser which prevents the face skin from flaking. Every region has different winter pattern. In some areas, winters meant for chilled nights and sunny days. In such condition, winter care creams not only moisturise the face skin but also work as a sunscreen which protects the face skin from UV radiation. Many winter care creams have medicinal qualities and apart from only moisturising the face skin, they have the ability to reduce a pimple and have antiseptic/ anti-fungal qualities. The winter care cream, however, has disadvantages too and the heavy hand with it lead to breakouts, clogged pores and dull skin. Facial skin is very sensitive and delicate and therefore excessive use of winter care creams suffocates the skin instead of giving a glow on the face in winters.Winter Care Creams Market: Drivers and restraintsHuge promotion of winter care creams is one of the important factors which is fuelling the growth of the winter care creams market across the globe. Whether it is Television, newspaper, magazine or social media websites, the worldwide luxurious brands are competing with each other by hammering their products into the minds of consumers. Increasing per capita income and lavish lifestyle are also creating the lucrative market for winter care creams across the globe. Earlier, the cosmetic products were mainly meant only for women, however, now-a-day men are equally interested in using various cosmetic products which are creating robust development in the global winter care cream market.A sample of this report is available upon request @However, there are some hindrances which are adversely affecting on the growth of the winter care cream market. For example, none of the winter care cream is entirely herbal. There are certain chemicals elements included in the winter care cream which gives temporary glow but affects adversely on the skin. Many countries such as India and Israel and the European Union have banned the sale of any cosmetics that have been tested on animals. This banned will certainly hamper the growth of the winter care lotion market in few regions of the world. All these factors are acting as restraints for winter care creams market.Winter Care Creams Market: Region and forecastWestern and Eastern Europe are likely to dominate the winter care creams market in the forecasted period. North America is a close competitor of Eastern and Western Europe in the case of leading the winter care creams market. Young population, the especially huge population of teens is likely to be a reason for fuelling the growth of winter care creams market in these regions. The countries in Asia-Pacific region are also likely to be the fastest growing economies during the projected period.Winter Care Cream Market: Global brandsNivea, Shiseido, LOreal, Lancome, Clarins, Ponds and Aesop are some of the worldwide winter care cream brands.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to market segments such as geographies, types and applications.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Study On Global Cold, Cough and Sore Throat Remedies Market: Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2016  2026

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Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently added a new report to the ever-expanding online collection of market intelligence on the global industry verticals regarding the Global Market Study on Cold, Cough and Sore Throat Remedies. This report is titled as Cold, Cough and Sore Throat Remedies Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024. Oral syrups segment is expected to expand at 2.9% CAGR over the estimated period and be valued more than US$ 10 Bn by the end of 2026. The segment is expected to create absolute $ opportunity of a little more than US$ 300 Mn in 2017 over 2016. The segment is the most acceptable dosage form for cough, cold, and sore throat medicines due to ease of administration and pleasant taste. The oral syrups segment dominated the global cold, cough and sore throat remedies market in terms of revenue in 2016 and the trend is projected to continue throughout the forecast period. Oral syrups segment is the most attractive segment, with attractiveness index of 1.5 over the forecast period.Request For a Sample Report:Pleasant taste and easy intake of oral syrups are the key factors boosting segmental growth during the forecast periodThe majority of paediatric and geriatric patients prefer liquid as a delivery method over solid dosage forms, which is attributed to high proportion of oral syrups in the global cold, cough and sore throat remedies market. There is large scale adoption of oral syrups by pharmacy chains, especially in European countries, which is expected to fuel the sales of oral syrups in the global market. Most of the oral syrups are OTC (Over-the-Counter) drugs which do not need a doctors prescription. Consumers are conditioned to treat cold, cough and sore throat with OTC drugs than to seek healthcare professionals and this propels the growth of the oral syrups segment across the globe. Continuous launch of new and improved drug types and increasing investment in research and development by manufacturers in oral syrups would lead to the growth of the oral syrups segment in the global cold, cough and sore throat remedies market. An intake of oral syrups is suitable for all patients irrespective of their age. Particularly, oral syrups are prescribed mostly for children and elderly patients and this factor is creating a positive impact on the oral syrups segment.Emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China represent the larger market for OTCs and generics. Pharmaceuticals industry in these countries is dominated by the private sector, where pharma companies can reap larger revenue from the strong sales of oral syrups.The oral syrups segment is projected to grow in North America during 2016-2026Oral syrups segment dominated the North America cold, cough and sore throat remedies market by doses type segment in terms of revenue in 2016, and the trend is projected to grow throughout the forecast period. Oral syrups segment is the most attractive segment in the North America cold, cough and sore throat remedies market, with attractiveness index of 1.5 over the forecast period. Revenue from the oral syrups segment is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 1.9% over 20162026, to reach more than US$ 3,000 Mn by 2026. OTC cough syrups for children are receiving exceptional attention in the U.S. by regulators, physicians and parents due to safety concerns. In the last 3 years, FDA has withdrawn more than 200 cough syrups containing hydrocodone from the market.Browse Full Report With TOC:In Latin America, revenue from the oral syrups segment is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 3.6% over 20162026, to reach more than US$ 500 Mn by 2026. The segment is expected to record attractiveness index of 1.7 over the forecast period in Western Europe. Revenue from the oral syrups segment is anticipated to increase at a CAGR of 4.1% over 20162026, to reach a market value of a little more than US$ 5,000 Mn by 2026 in the APEJ cold, cough and sore throat remedies market.Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Global Building Asphalt Market 2017 - British Petroleum, CEMEX, ExxonMobil, Imperial Oil, Shell Bitumen, Neustar, Nynas

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The Report describe Building Asphalt Introduction, product scope, market overview, opportunities, risk, driving force also to analyze the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue, and price, market type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2017 to 2022Building Asphalt studies the Building Asphalt markets performance, covering an in-depth analysis of the present state of the market as well as the competitive landscape, in worldwide. The report evaluates the market statistics of the Building Asphalt market at present and the upcoming prognosis of the numerous segments of the market in detail. It provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging analysis of the Building Asphalt market and its grouping in terms of projecting segments established in the global market.For the topics exploration, data gained from extensive interviews as well as discussions with industry experts has been deployed, which has been supplemented by thorough secondary research. The report presents market size in terms of US$ for each section during the forecasting horizon from 2017 to 2022. Hence, the report is an effective combination of both secondary and primary research. Primary research inculcates facts compiled from exchange via interviews. Secondary research inculcates an evaluation of annual reports, press releases, stock analysis presentations, and various international and national databases.An exhaustive qualitative review of the factors accelerating and restraining the growth of the Building Asphalt market and approaching opportunities has been deployed. The Building Asphalt market has been analyzed based on applications, geographic distribution, and the substantial factors accountable for the rising demand of the Building Asphalt market globally have been detailed in this report. The report covers the global Building Asphalt market right from its definition to the numerous categorizations of the market as well as its key end-use applications.Enquiry about Sample Report:The elementary weaknesses and strengths of the leading vendors coupled with the rate of growth for each of the segments of the Building Asphalt worldwide market have been conferred after a complete analysis of past and prospective trends, regulatory needs, and technological innovations.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.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Turbomolecular Pump Market 2017 - Osaka Vacuum, Shimadzu, EBARA Technologies, ULVAC

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The Report describe Turbomolecular Pump Introduction, product scope, market overview, opportunities, risk, driving force also to analyze the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue, and price, market type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2017 to 2022Turbomolecular Pump studies the Turbomolecular Pump markets performance, covering an in-depth analysis of the present state of the market as well as the competitive landscape, in worldwide. The report evaluates the market statistics of the Turbomolecular Pump market at present and the upcoming prognosis of the numerous segments of the market in detail. It provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging analysis of the Turbomolecular Pump market and its grouping in terms of projecting segments established in the global market.For the topics exploration, data gained from extensive interviews as well as discussions with industry experts has been deployed, which has been supplemented by thorough secondary research. The report presents market size in terms of US$ for each section during the forecasting horizon from 2017 to 2022. Hence, the report is an effective combination of both secondary and primary research. Primary research inculcates facts compiled from exchange via interviews. Secondary research inculcates an evaluation of annual reports, press releases, stock analysis presentations, and various international and national databases.An exhaustive qualitative review of the factors accelerating and restraining the growth of the Turbomolecular Pump market and approaching opportunities has been deployed. The Turbomolecular Pump market has been analyzed based on applications, geographic distribution, and the substantial factors accountable for the rising demand of the Turbomolecular Pump market globally have been detailed in this report. The report covers the global Turbomolecular Pump market right from its definition to the numerous categorizations of the market as well as its key end-use applications.Enquiry about Sample Report:The elementary weaknesses and strengths of the leading vendors coupled with the rate of growth for each of the segments of the Turbomolecular Pump worldwide market have been conferred after a complete analysis of past and prospective trends, regulatory needs, and technological innovations.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.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Digital Cell-Sorting System Market to See Incredible Growth During 2016-2024

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Digital cell-sorting is the system used to sort or isolate the intended cells or particles from fluid samples. Flow cytometers aids these systems in separating varied types of cells based on their properties. This system uses Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting (FACS) and cell imaging microscopes methods for characterizing the various particles or cells. Digital cell-sorting system helps in rare cells precise isolation from sample of heterogeneous cells there by enable downstream study of cells for varied applications.Get access to full summary @:Digital cell-sorting system has got several applications from malignancy genomics, basic research, clinical trials to forensic and noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. These cell sorting systems can able to analyze thousands of particles every second and isolate cells actively which have specialized properties. Digital cell-sorting system market dynamics has been affected by new wave of innovation in size and performance of the systems thanks to recent advances in electronics, microfluidics and software in the digital cell sorting systems.Digital cell-sorting system market is continue to witness significant growth owing to increased demand for newer technologies for cell isolation in cancer research and growing usage in biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical companies. Apart from this rising chronic disease burden, technological advancement, increased prevalence of cancer will help grow digital cell sorting system market significantly.Apart from the above mentioned factors, governments investment in research and development, recent launches of several newer digital cell sorting systems by various companies in the market, rising use in research institutes will help to bolster digital cell-sorting system market over the forecast period. However lack of skilled professionals to calibrate these systems and cost and size of the instruments may hamper the growth of digital cell-sorting system market over the forecast period.A Sample of this Report is Available Upon Request @Digital cell-sorting system market has been segmented on the basis of product type, application, method, end user and region.Global digital cell-sorting system market is experiencing significant growth owing to increased demand for advanced cell sorting systems in various academic institutes, research centers and biopharmaceutical companies. Increased usage of digital cell sorting system in place of microscopy and instruments high throughput may positively impact the digital cell sorting system market dynamics over a given period of forecast.Apart from above mentioned factors varied range of applications of cell sorting systems such as diagnostic and research will impact digital cell sorting system market significantly over period of forecast. However recent development of benchtop systems, ongoing research in Lab on Chip (LOC) systems in life science domain for cell sorting and analysis, moreover presence of international players in the market may help grow digital cell sorting system market significantly over forecast periodGeographically digital cell-sorting system market is classified into regions viz. North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa. North America and Europe will remain key markets for digital cell-sorting system market due to extensive research and development activities and presence of key players in the market. Asia Pacific is anticipated to register positive growth in the digital cell sorting system market owing to rising governments investment in life science sector and expanding biopharmaceutical industry in the region.Request to View Tables of Content @Some of the key players in the global digital cell-sorting system market are Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Beckman Coulter, Inc., Sony Biotechnology Inc., BD Biosciences, Silicon Biosystems, Union Biometrica, Inc., Menarini-Silicon Biosystems to name a few.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Gamma Knife Market Size will Grow at 3.6% CAGR by 2020

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Elekta AB, Varian Medical Systems, Inc., and Hokai are some of the leading players in the Gamma Knife market. Other major players in the Gamma Knife market include Huiheng Medical, Inc., Cyber Medical Corporation Limited, Masep Infini Global, Inc., Nordion, Inc., ET Medical Group, and American Shared Hospital Services.According to a new market report published by Persistence Market Research Global Market Study on Gamma Knife: Asia to Witness Highest Growth by 2020, the global Gamma Knife market is valued at USD 526,733.2 thousand in 2014 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2014 to 2020 to reach an estimated value of USD 651,241.9 thousand in 2020.Browse Complete Report @Radiation therapy is a procedure entailing the precise delivery of high doses of radiation to tumors and other relevant anatomical targets. Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a major form of radiation therapy. It is mainly used to treat brain tumors, arteriovenous malformations, trigeminal neuralgia, acoustic neuroma, and pituitary tumors. Globally, the Gamma Knife market is witnessing significant growth due to increasing prevalence of cancer and obesity and growing aging population. In addition, rising number of initiatives undertaken by various government associations and the advanced features of Gamma Knife systems are also driving the growth of the market. However, stringent regulatory requirements and prolonged approval time for Gamma Knife systems and a high cost of implementation and shortage of skilled manpower inhibit the growth of the market. The global Gamma Knife market is anticipated to grow from an estimated USD 526,733.2 thousand in 2014 to USD 651,241.9 thousand by 2020 at a CAGR of 3.6% during the forecast period.In North America, the Gamma Knife market is growing due to the rising incidence of cancer in the region. In addition, increased awareness about Gamma Knife technology for cancer treatment is also boosting the growth of the market in the region. According to WHO, approximately 2.8 million people had cancer, including brain cancer, in the U.S. in 2000. Moreover, according to the Hindawi Publishing Corporation, an international journal of surgical oncology, approximately 98,000 to 170,000 new brain metastases cases occur every year in North AmericaA sample of this report is available upon request @In Europe, increasing prevalence of cancer is boosting the growth of the Gamma Knife market in the region. According to WHO, Europe accounts for only one-eighth of the worlds population. However, the region records around a quarter of global cancer cases. Several government associations, such as the Women Against Lung Cancer in Europe (WALCE) and European Head and Neck society (EHNS), are trying to increase awareness about breast cancer, lung cancer, and head and neck cancer and their brain metastases effects in Europe.Request to view table of content @However, Asia represents the fastest growing region in the Gamma Knife market due to the rise in cancer patients in various countries such as India, China, and Japan. According to WHO, the occurrence of cancer in India and China is set to climb at a rate of 78% from 2013 to 2030. In addition, growing aging population is also supporting the growth of the Gamma Knife market in the region.In Latin America, construction of manufacturing and research facilities by many companies is driving the Gamma Knife market in Latin America. Furthermore, the governments of Latin American countries have recognized the growing epidemic of cancer and are actively devising several patient awareness programs to raise awareness of signs and symptoms of cancer, including brain cancers.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Automotive Ambient Lighting Market 2017 - Hella, Koito, GE Lighting, Magneti Marelli, Valeo

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The Report describe Automotive Ambient Lighting Introduction, product scope, market overview, opportunities, risk, driving force also to analyze the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue, and price, market type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2017 to 2022Automotive Ambient Lighting studies the Automotive Ambient Lighting markets performance, covering an in-depth analysis of the present state of the market as well as the competitive landscape, in worldwide. The report evaluates the market statistics of the Automotive Ambient Lighting market at present and the upcoming prognosis of the numerous segments of the market in detail. It provides a comprehensive and wide-ranging analysis of the Automotive Ambient Lighting market and its grouping in terms of projecting segments established in the global market.For the topics exploration, data gained from extensive interviews as well as discussions with industry experts has been deployed, which has been supplemented by thorough secondary research. The report presents market size in terms of US$ for each section during the forecasting horizon from 2017 to 2022. Hence, the report is an effective combination of both secondary and primary research. Primary research inculcates facts compiled from exchange via interviews. Secondary research inculcates an evaluation of annual reports, press releases, stock analysis presentations, and various international and national databases.An exhaustive qualitative review of the factors accelerating and restraining the growth of the Automotive Ambient Lighting market and approaching opportunities has been deployed. The Automotive Ambient Lighting market has been analyzed based on applications, geographic distribution, and the substantial factors accountable for the rising demand of the Automotive Ambient Lighting market globally have been detailed in this report. The report covers the global Automotive Ambient Lighting market right from its definition to the numerous categorizations of the market as well as its key end-use applications.Enquiry about Sample Report:The elementary weaknesses and strengths of the leading vendors coupled with the rate of growth for each of the segments of the Automotive Ambient Lighting worldwide market have been conferred after a complete analysis of past and prospective trends, regulatory needs, and technological innovations.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.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Bituminous Paints Market - Global Industry Analysis and Research By 2024

Bituminous Paints Market

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The robust growth of the construction industry in several parts of the world is helping the global bituminous paints market in gaining traction. There is a high demand for bituminous paints across the industry owing to its corrosion and weather proof properties. They are easy to use and can be applied to the desired surface using conventional painting techniques such as spraying and paint brushes. The demand for these paints is also increasing in the marine and aviation sectors.Applications of bituminous paints include waterproofing, protective coating, corrosive, concrete, and steel. They are primarily used for waterproofing and are thus, used in painting pipes, machinery, and water tanks. Continuous research and development activities are expected to widen the scope of applications of bituminous paints, thereby augmenting the growth of the market in the near future.The research report on the global bituminous paints market provides an immaculate understanding of all the vital aspects of the market. It serves as a professional study offering insights into regional segmentation and vendor landscape. It includes statistics pertaining to the market at both global and regional levels. It performs a detailed analysis of the global bituminous paints market for the forecast period between 2016 and 2024.Browse Market Research Report @Global Bituminous Paints Market: Drivers and RestraintsBituminous paints are gaining popularity worldwide due to their easy applicability. They are manufactured in ready to use form and generally do not require the addition of any external agent before use. Since the demand for these paints is extensively dependent on industrial activities in any region, the improving economic conditions and rapid industrialization in developing countries are providing a fillip to the global bituminous paints market.On the flip side, the protean prices of crude oil, which serves as a primary raw material, are hampering the growth of the market. Moreover, bituminous paints have adverse effects on the human health and the environment. This has compelled governments worldwide to impose stringent regulations on their production and sales, thereby limiting the market from realizing its utmost potential. Nevertheless, the rising research and development activities for the introduction of bio-based bituminous paints are unfolding tremendous growth opportunities for the market.For more information on this report, fill the form @Global Bituminous Paints Market: Regional OutlookThe report segments the global bituminous paints market on the basis of geography into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America will account for a substantial share in the global arena, with the U.S. at the forefront of growth. The booming marine and aviation industries are contributing to the growth of the region. Europe is anticipated to exhibit moderate growth during the forecast period due to the stringent regulatory framework.Asia Pacific is expected to register significant growth during the same period. The flourishing growth of the construction sector in emerging countries such as India and China is one of the key factors stoking the growth of the market in the region. Increasing industrialization is also propelling the growth of the region.Global Bituminous Paints Market: Competitive LandscapeThe global market for bituminous paints is moderately fragmented in nature. The majority of companies operating in the market are focusing towards offering products that comply with government regulations and also enhance their visibility. Thus, players are paying high attention to research and development and product innovation. Some of the prominent participants in the global bituminous paints market are Hebei Tuohua Metal Products Co. Ltd., Juno Bitumix Pvt. Ltd., and Tianjin Haiyunda Metal Material Co. Ltd.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global market intelligence company providing business information reports and services. The companys exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trend analysis provides forward-looking insights for decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, TMR employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us:-Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog:
Global IoT Sensors Market Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "IoT Sensors Market (By Type - Accelerometers, Gyroscopes, Magnetometers, Pressure Sensors, Temperature Sensors, Light Sensors, Others, By Application - Consumer Electronics, Healthcare, Automotive, Industrial, Building Automation, Retail and Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.Internet of Things (IoT) is a network that is embedded with sensors, electronics, network connectivity, and software enabling physical objects to gather and exchange data. As IoT rises into dominance, sensors are playing a pivotal role for measuring the physical quality of objects and enumerating it into a value, which can be read by another device or user. IoT devices are equipped with sensors which are capable of registering changes in pressure, temperature, motion, light, and sound. In the physical world, more and more objects can now communicate with each other through embedded IoT sensors, actuators, and tags. The global IoT sensors market has been segmented on the basis of types, application and geography. In addition, an exhaustive cross sectional analysis of the global IoT sensors market across four broad regions has been covered under the scope of the study.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @A surge in demand for IoT sensors in the automotive industry and the booming Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) market are strongly driving the growth of the IoT sensors market. Furthermore, increase in demand for consumer electronics and growing demand for smart devices is boosting the market growth. Smart devices account for a considerable portion of consumer electronics. Thus, increasing global sales of consumer electronics is fueling growth of the IoT sensors market. While smartphones and related products are already used to a large extent, smart electricity, gas and water meters are expected to witness rising demand over the next few years. The conjoint effect of all these trends and drivers is thus set to bolster the growth of the global IoT sensors market during the forecast period.Stringent government regulations and policies across the globe are encouraging the development of smart cities and this is offering a potential growth opportunity to the global IoT sensors market. IoT sensors would be used in smart cities in smart meters, smart grids, intelligent traffic management systems, and smart parking among others. Further, technological advancements in the medical industry are set to offer a substantial opportunity for the growth of the IoT sensors market. The deployment of healthcare devices using IoT sensors could transform the healthcare industry by focusing on better patient care, lowering costs, and increasing efficiency. The IoT sensors market has huge opportunity and scope in the emerging markets of Asia Pacific and Rest of the world (RoW). Emergence of new players in the developing markets such as China, Japan, India, Australia, Russia, and Brazil coupled with the adoption of better and advanced technologies has led to the increase in competitiveness in the market.The competitive profiling of the key players in the global IoT sensors market across four broad geographic regions is included in the study. These include different business strategies adopted by the leading players and their recent developments as in the field of IoT sensors. The market attractive analysis of the major application areas has been provided in the report, in order to offer a deep insight of global IoT sensors market.A comprehensive analysis of the market dynamics that is inclusive of market drivers, restraints and opportunities is included in the purview of the report. Market dynamics are the distinctive factors which impact the market growth, thereby helping to understand the ongoing trends of the global market. Therefore, the report provides the forecast of the global market for the period from 2015 to 2023, along with offering an inclusive study of the IoT sensors market.Some of the major players in the IoT sensors market are: Infineon Technologies (Germany), STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), IBM (U.S.), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Honeywell International Inc. (U.S.), Ericsson (Sweden), InvenSense Inc. (U.S.), Libelium (Spain), ARM Holdings Plc. (U.K.) and Digi International Inc. (U.S.) among others.The global IoT Sensors market has been segmented into:Global Sensors Market, by Types- Accelerometers- Gyroscopes- Magnetometers- Pressure Sensors- Temperature Sensors- Light Sensors- OthersGlobal IoT Sensors Market, by End-Use Industry:- Consumer Electronics- Healthcare- Automotive- Industrial- Building Automation- Retail- OthersGlobal IoT Sensors Market, by Geography: The market is broadly segmented on the basis of geography into:- North America- U.S.- Canada- Mexico- Europe- U.K.- Germany- France- Italy- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- China- India- Japan- Rest of APAC- Rest of the World- Latin America- Middle East- AfricaMake 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 @
Commercial Electric Meat Saws Market 2017- Hobart, Kolbe, Marel

https://goo.gl/iyS1xj

http://marketreports.biz/report/global-commercial-electric-meat-saws-market-professional-survey-market

http://marketreports.biz/

Marketreports.biz, recently published a detailed market research study focused on the "Commercial Electric Meat Saws Market" across the global, regional and country level. The report provides 360 analysis of "Commercial Electric Meat Saws Market" from view of manufacturers, regions, product types and end industries. The research report analyses and provides the historical data along with current performance of the global Commercial Electric Meat Saws industry, and estimates the future trend of Commercial Electric Meat Saws market on the basis of this detailed study. The study shares "Commercial Electric Meat Saws Market" performance both in terms of volume and revenue.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here:Top Manufacturers Analysis of This ReportBIRO ManufacturingButcher Boy Machines InternationalHobartKolbeMarelBizerbaKitchenWare StationSkyfood EquipmentBrice AustraliaMinerva Omega GroupTorreyWedderburnWestonProCutSammicThe market research report explores the Commercial Electric Meat Saws market across the globe along with major regions and countries. The research report provides a detailed study on each and every aspect of "Commercial Electric Meat Saws Market". The research report studies the entire value chain from raw material to end user industries. The report also shares import/export statistics along with production and consumption for all major regions and countries. Moreover, the research study classifies the Commercial Electric Meat Saws market based on major product types, application and end users industries of Commercial Electric Meat Saws. Besides, the report also covers geographical segmentation for Commercial Electric Meat Saws market. The report further provides production, capacity, price per region, gross margin, production cost, for all major regions and countries listed in report.The competitive landscape of the global market for Commercial Electric Meat Saws is determined by assessing the major industry participants, production capacity, production capacity utilization rate, Commercial Electric Meat Saws market's production chain, pricing by each manufacturer and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Commercial Electric Meat Saws market globally.Read full report with TOC @The worldwide Commercial Electric Meat Saws market 2017 is further analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Commercial Electric Meat Saws production volume, data pertaining to demand and Commercial Electric Meat Saws supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. The report provides upstream and downstream analysis covering major raw material used in manufacturing of Commercial Electric Meat Saws along with detailed manufacturing sources. The report also shares list of major raw material manufacturers along with their manufacturing locations. Detailed raw material price trend analysis along with manufacturing cost analysis is also incorporated into the report. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, SWOT analysis and market attractiveness analysis has been implemented in the research study to present a comprehensive, detailed study of the industry for Commercial Electric Meat Saws across the world.About UsMarketReports.biz offers elevating market research worldwide. We have collection of various syndicated reports of different fields. Customers can buys different reports across various categories such as Chemical and Material, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Food and beverages, Automobile and various sectors. Our Website offers safe and secure online ordering experience, convenient payment options.Contact UsFrank Valadez155 North Wacker Drive, Suite 4250Chicago, IL 60606Toll Free: +1-855-918-5551 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +17739042683Web:Email: sales@marketreports.biz
Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Market to Reach US$4.39 Bn in Revenue by 2023

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) Market (By Component - Software, Services; By End-User - Automotive and Transportation, Aerospace and Defense, BFSI, Energy and Utilities, Retail, Healthcare, IT and Telecom, Others) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.This report on the global ALM market provides analysis for the period from 2013 to 2023, wherein 2014 is the base year and the years from 2015 to 2023 are the forecast period. Data for 2013 has been included as historical information. The report covers all the prevalent trends and technologies playing a major role in the growth of the ALM market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the markets growth during this period. The study provides a holistic perspective on market growth throughout the above forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn) across different geographies, which include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America (LATAM).To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The emerging IT applications are changing the way business is done today. The integration of ALM is necessary in order to remove inefficiencies and blocks in the software development lifecycle process. ALM helps a company to develop the best virtual methods for every phase of the software application process, including research, requirements planning, prototyping, engineering, design, time to market, programming, testing, risk management, defect tracking, and measurement. Benefits such as business agility, enhanced organizational agility, and improved resource utilization provided by ALM have significantly increased the demand for this technology worldwide. North America dominates the overall market for ALM globally owing to surging technological advancements and automation in this region.This research report provides in-depth analysis of the global ALM market on the basis of component and end-users. The ALM market based on component includes software and services. The software component is sub-segmented into on-premise and cloud-based ALM solutions, which are further sub-divided into agile-centric ALM and process-centric ALM. The ALM services is segmented into consulting, professional, operation, and maintenance. The ALM end-user segment comprises automotive and transportation, aerospace and defense, BFSI, energy and utilities, retail, healthcare, IT and telecom, and others.In terms of geographical regions, the report segments the global ALM market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA), and Latin America; the regions are analyzed in terms of revenue generation. The report provides cross-sectional analysis of the global ALM market in terms of market estimates and forecasts for all segments across different geographic regions.The report also includes competitive profiling of major players engaged in the development of ALM. The major business strategies adopted by these players, their market positioning, and their recent developments have also been identified in the research report. This report also provides market positioning analysis of major players in the ALM market based on their 2014 revenues. Some of the major players profiled in the report include Atlassian Corporation Plc, CollabNet, Inc., IBM Corporation, Inflectra Corporation, Micro Focus International plc, HP Development Company, L.P., VersionOne, Inc., Microsoft Corporation, Parasoft Corporation, and Polarion Software GmbHThe global ALM market is segmented as below:ALM Market:By ComponentSoftware- On-Premise- Agile Centric ALM- Process Centric- Cloud-Based- Agile Centric ALM- Process CentricServices- Consulting- Professional- Operation and MaintenanceBy End-UserAutomotive and TransportationAerospace and DefenseBFSIEnergy and UtilitiesRetailHealthcareIT and TelecomOthersBy RegionNorth America- The U.S.- Rest of North AmericaEurope- EU7- CIS- Rest of EuropeAsia Pacific- Japan- China- South Asia- Australasia- Rest of APACMiddle East & Africa- GCC- South Africa- Rest of Middle East & AfricaLatin AmericaBrazil- Rest of Latin AmericaMake 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 @
Global Switch Gear Market Report - Manufacturers Business Overview from 2017 to 2022

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http://www.reportsweb.com/global-switch-gear-sales-market-report-2017

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This report studies sales (consumption) of Switch Gear in Global market, especially in United States, China, Europe and Japan, focuses on top players in these regions/countries, with sales, price, revenue and market share for each player in these regions, coveringABBSiemens AGAlstom SABharat Heavy ElectricalsCrompton GreavesEatonGEHyosungMitsubishi ElectricOJSC Power MachinesXian XD Switch Gear ElectricRequest a Sample atMarket Segment by Regions, this report splits Global into several key Regions, with sales (consumption) , revenue, market share and growth rate of Switch Gear in these regions, from 2011 to 2021 (forecast) , likeUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanKoreaTaiwanBrowse Complete Report atSplit by product Types, with sales, revenue, price and gross margin, market share and growth rate of each type, can be divided intoLow voltage (less than 1 kV AC)Medium voltage (1 kV AC through to approximately 75 kV AC)High voltage (75 kV to about 230 kV AC)Ultra high voltage (more than 230 kV)Split by applications, this report focuses on sales, market share and growth rate of Switch Gear in each application, can be divided intoPetroleum chemical industryAerospace&DefenseIndustrialOtherGet discount on report purchase atKey Point from Table of Contents:1 Switch Gear Overview2 Global Switch Gear Competition by Manufacturers, Type and Application3 United States Switch Gear (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4 China Switch Gear (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5 Europe Switch Gear (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6 Japan Switch Gear (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7 Southeast Asia Switch Gear (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8 India Switch Gear (Volume, Value and Sales Price)9 Global Switch Gear Manufacturers Analysis9.1 ABB9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Switch Gear Product Type, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Low voltage (less than 1 kV AC)9.1.2.2 Medium voltage (1 kV AC through to approximately 75 kV AC)9.1.3 ABB Switch Gear Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Siemens AG9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Switch Gear Product Type, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Low voltage (less than 1 kV AC)9.2.2.2 Medium voltage (1 kV AC through to approximately 75 kV AC)9.2.3 Siemens AG Switch Gear Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 Alstom SA9.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.3.2 Switch Gear Product Type, Application and Specification9.3.2.1 Low voltage (less than 1 kV AC)9.3.2.2 Medium voltage (1 kV AC through to approximately 75 kV AC)9.3.3 Alstom SA Switch Gear Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2011-2016)9.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview10 Switch Gear Maufacturing Cost Analysis11 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers12 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders13 Market Effect Factors Analysis14 Global Switch Gear Market Forecast (2016-2021)15 Research Findings and ConclusionPurchase Complete Report atContact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comOrganization: ReportsWebPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. The market research industry has changed in last decade. As corporate focus has shifted to niche markets and emerging countries, a number of publishers have stepped in to fulfil these information needs. We have experienced and trained staff that helps you navigate different options and lets you choose best research solution at most effective cost.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market to Expand at an Impressive CAGR of 11.4% during the Period of 2016  2024

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The global solar photovoltaic (PV) materials market has gained noteworthy momentum over the last few years. The increasing concerns regarding various environmental problems, especially greenhouse gas emission and rising carbon footprint have become the primary factors behind the rising demand for solar PV and consequently, solar PV materials across the globe. Considering this, Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) has recently announced the addition of a new market report to its massive online collection with a title Global Solar Photovoltaic Material Market - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016  2024. The report is an in-depth and professional analysis of the current market state as well as the future prospects of the global solar photovoltaic material market.Request for Sample Report:The global solar photovoltaic material market is expected to rise at an impressive CAGR of 11.4% between 2016 and 2024. At this pace, the market will attain a value of US$19.60 billion by the end of 2024 from US$7.55 billion in 2015. The report also provides key market indicators influencing the growth of the market during the forecast period. It analyzes opportunities in the solar photovoltaic material market at the regional and global level. Market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, risks and opportunities included in the report are justified through qualitative and quantitative analysis. Furthermore, these factors are verified through primary and secondary research. The report analyzes substitutes of solar photovoltaic material, along with global average price trend.The study provides exhaustive view of the solar photovoltaic material market by segregating it based on material type, end-user and geography. On the basis of material type, the solar photovoltaic material market is divided into cadmium telluride, crystalline, polycrystalline, copper indium diselenide and others. End-user segments which include commercial, residential and industrial are analyzed based on historic, current, and future trends. Regional segmentation includes the present and forecast demand for solar photovoltaic material in Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa.The report includes a detailed competitive outlook that covers market share and profiles of major companies operating in the global solar photovoltaic material market. Major companies profiled in the report include, Mitsubishi Material Corporation, Hemlock Semiconductor Corporation LLC, BASF SE, LDK Solar Co. Ltd., Wacker Chemie AG , Shin-Etsu Chemicals Co., Okmetic Ltd., Atecom Technology Co., Ltd., Topsil GlobalWafers A/S, Silicor Materials, Inc., Applied Materials, Inc, Targray Technology International, Inc. Company profiles also over attributes such as brand overview, company overview, business strategies, number of employees, key competitors, business overview, recent developments, acquisitions and financial overview.Browse Full Report with TOC:About UsMarket Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.ContactState Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY  12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comFollow Us on LinkedIn-Follow Us On Twitter-
Global Biobased Solvents Market Analysis & Forecasted Outlook until 2022

Market Research Hub

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/enquiry.php?type=S&repid=1128441

http://www.marketresearchhub.com/report/global-biobased-solvents-market-research-report-2017-report.html

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The use of biobased solvents has increased in the past few years due to their environmental-friendly aspect. To study the market for these solvents clearly, a new report has been added to the database of Market Research Hub (MRH). The report is titled Global Biobased Solvents Market Research Report 2017, which includes factors such as production market share by region and type. Also, this research study focuses on offering the market scope and future forecast for the period until 2022. It is anticipated that the sector for biobased solvents would grow during the period between 2016 and 2022.Request Free Sample Report @Biobased products are those which are derived from plant or animal feedstock. Biobased solvents are known for reduced toxicity, low volatile organic compounds (VOC) and biodegradability. These solvents contain derivatives including ethyl lactate, methyl soyate and D-Limonene (citrus rind oil). Apart from these, bio-alcohols, bio-glycols & diols are also product variations available in the market. Currently, the active market regions for biobased solvents include North America, China, Europe, Japan, India and Southeast Asia. Manufacturers like Archer Daniels Midland Company, Bioamber, BASF, DuPont, Huntsman Corporation and The DOW Chemical Company, are enjoying a major share in the concerned solvents market.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Biobased Solvents in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGlobal Biobased Solvents market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingArcher Daniels Midland CompanyBASFBioamberHuntsman CorporationDuPontThe DOW Chemical CompanyVertec BiosolventsFlorida Chemicals CompanyCargillGalacticLyondellBasellGevoPinova HoldingsMyriantSolvayOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBio-AlcoholsBio-Glycols & DiolsLactate EstersD-LimoneneMethyl SoyateOthersBrowse Full Report with TOC @On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Biobased Solvents for each application, includingIndustrial & Domestic CleanersPaints & CoatingsAdhesivesPharmaceuticalsCosmeticsOthersTable of Content:Global Biobased Solvents Market Research Report 20171 Biobased Solvents Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Biobased Solvents1.2 Biobased Solvents Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Biobased Solvents Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category) (2012-2022)1.2.2 Global Biobased Solvents Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Bio-Alcohols1.2.4 Bio-Glycols & Diols1.2.5 Lactate Esters1.2.6 D-Limonene1.2.7 Methyl Soyate1.2.8 Others1.3 Global Biobased Solvents Segment by Application1.3.1 Biobased Solvents Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Industrial & Domestic Cleaners1.3.3 Paints & Coatings1.3.4 Adhesives1.3.5 Pharmaceuticals1.3.6 Cosmetics1.3.7 Others1.4 Global Biobased Solvents Market by Region (2012-2022)1.4.1 Global Biobased Solvents Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Biobased Solvents (2012-2022)1.5.1 Global Biobased Solvents Revenue Status and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5.2 Global Biobased Solvents Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2012-2022)Make an Enquiry @About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of Research Reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of chemicals 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.comRead More Industry News @
Antimicrobial Packaging Market: Industry Analysis, Future Growth, Business Prospects and Global Forecast to 2022

Antimicrobial Packaging Market

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/antimicrobial-packaging-market-2167

Market Highlights:Antimicrobial packaging materials are used to prevent the food from spoilage. Most of the food is wasted due to spoilage. Packaging materials such as antimicrobial packaging materials are highly flexible, transparent, and prevent the passage of gases, liquids, and radiation. Materials are used in the form of thin films and sheets for food packaging. They increase the shelf life of packaged foods by preventing the passage of atmospheric air. Moreover, growing consumer awareness about health-related issues, rising consumption of products with shorter shelf life such as fresh meat products and increasing demand by various end-user industries such as food & beverage, healthcare, personal care, consumer goods, and agricultural products are the major factors driving the market of antimicrobial packaging.Request a Sample Copy @Key Players of Antimicrobial Packaging Market: BASF SE The Dow Chemical Company Mondi Plc PolyOne Corporation Biocote Limited Dunmore Corporation Linpac Senior Holdings Microban International Oplon Pure Sciences Ltd. Takex Labo Co. Ltd.Market Research Analysis:Asia pacific region holds the largest share in the global market. The major industries having a healthy demand for antimicrobial packaging are food & beverages, healthcare, personal care, consumer goods, and agricultural products. Moreover, awareness among consumers about importance of antimicrobial packaging and preference for convenience are driving the market of Antimicrobial packaging.The Asia-Pacific region leads the market due to its large population and its proven identity as a major manufacturing hub that offers production opportunities at affordable costs to companies. Moreover, Availability of advanced antimicrobial packaging materials and technology are expected to support the growth in demand for packaging in antimicrobial industry. Additionally, rapid lifestyle changes and economic growth, coupled with rising population in Asia Pacific countries such as China and India has spiked the growth rate of Antimicrobial packaging in the region.Scope of the Report:This study provides an overview of the global antimicrobial packaging industry, tracking two market segments across four geographic regions. The report studies key players, providing a five-year annual trend analysis that highlights market size, volume and share for North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global Antimicrobial Packaging market as material, Type and Application. On the basis of material it is segmented as Plastic, Paper & Paperboard and others. On the basis of type it includes Bags, Pouches, carton packages and others .On the basis of application it is segmented as Food & beverages, Healthcare, Personal care and others.Brief TOC:1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology2.1 Scope of the study2.1.1 Definition2.1.2 Research Objective2.1.3 Assumptions2.1.4 Limitations2.2 Research Process2.2.1 Primary Research2.2.2 Secondary Research2.3 Market size Estimation2.4 Forecast Model3 Market Dynamics3.1 Market Drivers3.2 Market Inhibitors3.3 Supply/Value Chain Analysis or Market Ecosystem3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis4 Market, By Material4.1 Introduction4.2 Plastic4.3 Paper & Paperboard4.4 Others5 Market, By Packaging type5.1 Introduction5.2 Bags5.3 Pouches5.4 Carton packages5.5 OthersContinueAccess Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.ContactAkash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
India Air Treatment Products Market Analysis, Segments, Growth and Value Chain 2014-2020

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The air treatment equipment includes those products which modify or change the technological characteristics and properties of air. This modification may include the treatment of harmful gases present in the air, increasing or decreasing the air temperature, compressing the air, removal of harmful microorganism from the air, increasing or decreasing the air pressure, removal of extreme odours and others. The air treatment equipment includes air compressor, air dryers, air washers, air filters, injectors and others.?On the basis of application the air treatment products are available for both industrial and domestic use. It is also used for roadways vehicles, waterways vehicles such as for ships, marines, and also for airways such as in aeroplane, spaceship, fighter plane and others. For domestic use air treatment equipment are offered to the consumers in the modified form and available in the consumer durable products for their convenient use. The air treatment consumer durable product includes hot air blowers, air conditioners, automatic washing machine, microwave, oven, automatic washer dryers, hair dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers and others.Request For Report Sample@On the basis of domestic use the air treatment products is sub-segmented into air conditioner, air purifier, humidifiers and dehumidifiers and others. Among all these sub-segments air purifiers are further sub-segmented into air filters purifiers, ionizing purifiers, ozone generators, adsorbents and others. Whereas air conditioners is sub-segmented into room air conditioners, split air conditioners, window air conditioners and others.Globally Asia-pacific is considered to be the highest market for the air treatment products followed by North America and Europe. In Asia Pacific China, India and Japan represent ample opportunities for players in this market. This growth in these countries is supported by increasing number of health conscious consumers and rising disposable income of the consumers.Among all these countries, India accounted for low growth for air treatment products in 2011 due to economic slowdown. Moreover, the demand of air conditioner segment also registered less growth as monsoon arrived early in the country. However, the market growth for air treatment product showed a positive growth in 2013 due to rise in country economic condition and urge of the consumer for better and healthier life. It is expected that India will show a potential growth for air treatment products in the forecasted period. This growth will be supported by rise demand for air conditioners in states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and others due to rise in heat and temperature. It is expected that air conditioner will occupy the largest position of the pie as the consumers in India are making their switch from ceiling fans or table fans to air conditioner. Among all the sub-segments of air conditioner, split air conditioner is expected to show the highest growth. Furthermore, it has been found that awareness among the consumers for purified air will also fuel the market growth for air treatment products in India. States such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat is expected to support the growth of air purifiers as these states possess large number of industries.In India, high entrant of manufacturing industries, outsourcing companies and rise in commercialization are some of the major drivers supporting the market growth. In addition, increase in number of health consciousness among the consumers coupled with rising disposable income is also expected to fuel the market growth for air treatment products in India.However, the market of air treatment products in India possess some restraining factors. This includes lack of awareness among the consumers regarding the product such as humidifiers, dehumidifiers and others. Additionally, the consumers perceives these products as quite expensive and also it is considered as a luxury product and not an absolute necessity.Visit For TOC@The key players for air treatment products in India includes Bajaj Electricals Ltd, Godrej & Boyce Mfg Co Ltd., Usha International Ltd., Panasonic Corp, Atlas Copco AB, Eureka Forbes, OSIM International, SANYO Electric Co ., Ltd and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Electric Power Distribution Automation Market Projected to Gain Significant Value by 2024

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Distribution Automation System refers to a set of intelligent processors, communication technologies and sensors the enables to coordinate and monitor the distribution assets of electric power. Electric power distribution automation system is important part of smart grid systems. Distribution automation system provides benefits of efficient and reliable operations within the grid.To view complete report @The Electric power distribution automation market across the globe is expected to show a substantial growth with a double digit increase in CAGR by the year 2019. Some of the key factors driving the market are need for automation and intelligent systems in electric power distribution. Some of the factors inhibiting the market growth are less technologies availability in electric power system and implementation of the system. The market is having opportunities in residential market and in geographies such as Asia Pacific including India, Australia and many more.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global Electric Power Distribution Automation market is segmented on the basis of end users, technology and geography. By end users the market can be segmented into manufacturers, commercial, information technology, telecom and many others. On the basis of technology the market is segmented into communication, sensors, monitoring devices, advanced power electronic technologies and many more. By geography the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of world.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Some of the key players in the market are ABB Ltd., Schneider Electric, Siemens AG, GE Corp., S&C Electric Co., Atlantic City Electric Co., including many others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Medical Tourism Market Dynamics, Forecast, Analysis and Supply Demand 2014-2020

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Medical tourism is one of the most dynamically growing industries today. Considered to be the direct impact of globalisation of healthcare, medical tourism certainly exhibits strong growth potential globally. However, based on FMIs research, the market of medical tourism is expected to concentrate within most of the emerging economies of the world.As developing nations are increasingly heading toward technological advancement and quality services in the medical and healthcare sector, the global medical tourism market is anticipated to witness robust growth over 2014-2020, predominantly in Asian countries.The top treatments people travel abroad for, include cancer therapy, cardiovascular surgeries, orthopaedic treatments, dentistry, cosmetic surgeries, reproductive treatments, weight loss therapies, health screenings, and medical tests and scans. In severe cases, a sizeable patient population also seeks second opinion from specialist doctors out of their countries.Request For Report Sample@Key DriversHigh treatment costs and lengthy waiting times for medical procedures, being the two major factors in driving medical tourism, are also supported by easier and cheaper international travel. While the U.K.s population prefers to travel abroad for bypassing long waits, patients from the U.S. travel outside for availing of treatments at cheaper costs.Medical excellence along with international accreditation are the key factors fuelling a majority of international patient flow, eventually boosting international medical tourism. Currently, over 600 medical departments and hospitals all over the globe are accredited by the U.S. Joint Commission International (JCI). The number of accredited facilities is projected to increase almost by 20% each year. This is another important driver associated with the market growth.Developing countries, with ever-evolving innovation and demonstrable achievements in medical research are estimated to accelerate the approaching medical tourist flow over the forecast period. Growing healthcare investments by various government and private sectors are also anticipated to further bolster the market growth.Key RestraintsHowever, medical tourists are highly prone to a wide variety of health risks after they return. The conditions may include TB, paratyphoid, amoebic dysentery, deep vein thrombosis, and more; usually caused due to poor post-operative care and inadequate rest. This could affect the market to some extent.Stringent documentation processes, issues related to visa approval, and limited insurance coverage are reportedly some of the most deterring factors for the global market.Global Medical Tourism Market: SegmentationFMIs research on the global medical tourism market offers a six-year forecast, segmenting the market on the basis of type of medical treatment and geography.On the basis of the type of treatment, the market is segmented into cosmetic treatment, cardiovascular treatment, fertility treatment, dental treatment, orthopaedic treatment, and other general treatments.On the basis of geography, the market is segmented into Asia pacific, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, North America, and South America.Regional OutlookSome of the prominent medical tourism centres across the globe include Thailand, India, South Korea, Taiwan, Costa Rica, Israel, Brazil, Turkey, the Philippines, Dubai, Singapore, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, Canada, and the U.S. According to Patients Beyond Borders, the global medical tourism market is currently growing at an impressive rate between 15% and 25%, and the flow of patients seeking cross-border treatment options will be the highest in Mexico. South and Southeast Asia are expected to dominate the global market in the near future.Based on MTAs recently released Medical Tourism Index, there are 41 countries participating in the global medical tourism market. While India broadly secures #1, Israel ranks #1 in the quality of services and facilities.India is renowned for specialist cardiac surgeries, while Singapore is a popular medical tourism destination owing to the expertise in complicated surgical procedures. Thailand has been a popular destination for medical tourism and millions of patients have travelled to Thailand since 2006. It is also the top cosmetic surgery centre globally.Malaysia offers state-of-the-art medical infrastructure and treatments by highly skilled medical professionals, making it another sought after centre among medical tourists. With economically affordable treatment options and favourable government initiatives, Malaysia is anticipated to acquire one of the top market positions in the global medical tourism market, during the forecast period.Key Players: Global Medical Tourism MarketSome of the top key players in the medical tourism industry include Asian Heart Institute (India), Apollo Hospitals (India), Prince Court Medical Centre (Malaysia), Gleneagles Hospital (Singapore), Min-Sheng General Hospital (Taiwan), Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital (Bangkok), Raffles Medical Group (Singapore), Clemenceau Medical Centre (Lebanon), Bangkok Hospital (Thailand), Bumrungrad International Hospital (Thailand), Fortis Healthcare Ltd. (India), Wooridul Spine Hospital (Korea), KPJ Healthcare Berhad (Malaysia), Anadolu Medical Centre (Turkey), and Asklepios Klinik Barmbek (Germany).Visit For TOC@While these players rank amongst they compete on the basis of exceptional service quality, optimum patient comfort, and relatively reasonable costs for various treatments. Several facilities are also undergoing mergers, acquisitions, affiliations, and joint ventures for delivering enhanced medical care, thereby strengthening their market positions. A few prominent examples of highly productive collaborations include the collaboration between Bumrungrad International Hospital (Bangkok) and IBM Watson for better cancer care, and the collaboration of Anadolu Medical Centre (Turkey) with Johns Hopkins Medicine (U.S.).ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
United States Caustic Soda Prills 99% Market by Manufacturers, States, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022

Caustic Soda Prills 99% Market

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This report studies the Caustic Soda Prills 99% market. Caustic Soda prills are solid small fused white pearls, color- and odorless and very hygroscopic. It is very soluble in water and dissolves very rapidly to caustic soda solution liberating a lot of heat; in methanol and ethanol it is well soluble. Caustic Soda prills and caustic soda solutions thereof are very corrosive to many materials and have to be handled with great care.Request for Sample Copy Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Caustic Soda Prills 99% in United States market, to split the market based on manufacturers, states, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:SolvayBefar GroupTianjin Yuanlong ChemicalAkzoNobelFormosa Plastics CorporationTosohIneos ChlorAsahi GlassTokuyama CorpTianjin Chengyuan ChemicalArabian Alkali Company SODAJSC KaustikGaclMarket Segment by States, covering:CaliforniaTexasNew YorkFloridaIllinoisBrowse Full Report @Market Segment by Type, covers:Caustic Soda MicroprillsCaustic Soda PearlMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into:Pulp & PaperAluminum MetalChemical and Petroleum ProductsSoaps and DetergentsOthersThere are 17 Chapters to deeply display the United States Caustic Soda Prills 99% Market.Chapter 1, to describe Caustic Soda Prills 99% Introduction, product type and application, market overview, market analysis by States, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the manufacturers of Caustic Soda Prills 99%, with profile, main business, news, sales, price, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the United States market by States, covering California, New York, Texas, Illinois and Florida, with sales, price, revenue and market share of Caustic Soda Prills 99%, for each state, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5 and 6, to show the market by type and application, with sales, price, revenue, market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11, to analyze the key States by Type and Application, covering California, New York, Texas, Illinois and Florida, with sales, revenue and market share by types and applications;Chapter 12, Caustic Soda Prills 99% market forecast, by States, type and application, with sales, price, revenue and growth rate forecast, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, to analyze the manufacturing cost, key raw materials and manufacturing process etc.Chapter 14, to analyze the industrial chain, sourcing strategy and downstream end users (buyers);Chapter 15, to describe sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers etc.Chapter 16 and 17, to describe Caustic Soda Prills 99% Research Findings and Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source.Check for Discount @Some points from TOC:-1 Market Overview1.1 Caustic Soda Prills 99% Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Caustic Soda Microprills1.2.2 Caustic Soda Pearl1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Pulp & Paper1.3.2 Aluminum Metal1.3.3 Chemical and Petroleum Products1.3.4 Soaps and Detergents1.3.5 Others1.4 Market Analysis by States1.4.1 California Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.2 Texas Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 New York Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 Florida Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 Illinois Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Solvay2.1.1 Profile2.1.2 Caustic Soda Prills 99% Type and Applications..ContinuedEnquiry before Buying @About Global Info Reports:GIR Market Research is a company that simplifies how analysts and decision makers get industry data for their business. Our unique colossal technology has been developed to offer refined search capabilities designed to exploit the long tail of free market research whilst eliminating irrelevant results. GIR Market Research is the collection of market intelligence products and services on the Web. We offer reports and update our collection daily to provide you with instant online access to the worlds most complete and current database of expert insights on global industries, companies, products, and trends.Contact us:+1-888-376-9998 (US)Email- sales@globalinforeports.comWeb-Blogs-
Flooring and Carpets Market Value Share, Analysis and Segments 2015-2025

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This research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market, contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, statistically-supported, industry-validated market data, carpets and floorings are a vital part of any household or commercial structure. In addition, carpets and flooring are increasingly gaining importance in other applications such as automobiles, aerospace and aviation. Carpets can be made from various materials such as wool, polymer staple fibers and bulk continuous fibers. In addition, rugs may also sometimes be classified under carpets. Resilient flooring, wood flooring, laminate flooring, rubber flooring and ceramic floor tiles are different types of flooring available in the global market.Recovery of the construction industry in developed regions such as North America and Europe is expected to be one of the main drivers for the growth of the market over the next few years. In addition, increasing construction activities in emerging economies such as China, Brazil and India is expected to fuel the demand for floorings in this region. Moreover, increased consumer expenditure on interiors of houses, hotels and offices is expected contribute significantly to the growth of the market. More and more automobile manufacturers are strategically using carpets and floorings in automobiles to enhance the vehicles appearance. However, price volatility of raw materials such as polymers, rubbers and ceramic are expected to hamper the growth of the market. Development of innovative designed light weight carpets and floorings is expected to open opportunities for the growth of the market in the near future.Request For Report Sample@Market for ceramic tiles was significantly large in Asia Pacific and South America while the market for carpets was substantial in North America and Europe. Rapid industrialization and favorable economic conditions in Asia Pacific is expected to drive the construction market, which in turn is expected to bolster the demand for flooring and carpets over the forecast period. Demand for flooring and carpets are expected to be significant in the Americas over the same time period.Visit For TOC@Some of the key participants of the market include Armstrong World Industries, Autoneum Holding, Beaulieu Group, Dixie Group, FRITZ EGGER, Hangzhou Nabel Group, Interface Incorporated, Mohawk Industries, Oriental Weavers, RPM International and Suminoe Textile among others. The market is highly fragmented in nature owing to the presence of several small, medium and large-scale manufacturers.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Bioadhesive Market(Plant-based and Animal-based) - Global Industry Trends and Growth By 2024

Bioadhesive Market

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The global market for bioadhesive has been gaining significantly over the recent past. Thanks to the increasing implementation of stringent rules and regulations, compelling industries to limit the application of petroleum-based products, the focus on eco-friendly, bio-based adhesives has increased, which is reflecting greatly on this market. The technological advancements in research and development activities and the resultant advancements in adhesives is also supporting the adoption of a variety of bioadhesives across the world. Going forward, the increasing entry of new vendors in this market is likely to back up its growth over the next few years.As per Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global market for bioadhesive, which stood at US$251.6 mn in 2015, is anticipated to rise at a healthy CAGR of 12.90% during the period from 2016 to 2024a and is projected to increase to US$736.0 mn by the end of 2024.Browse Market Research Report @Demand for Animal-based Bioadhesives to Remain HighThe global market for bioadhesives is broadly analyzed on the basis of the source and the end user. Based on the source, the market has been classified into plant-based bioadhesives and animal-based bioadhesives. Among the two, the animal-based bioadhesive segment led the global market in 2015 with a share of nearly 80%. Researchers expect it to continue like this over the forecast period as well on the ground of the rising utilization of these adhesives in the medical and healthcare industry for specialty applications, such as open surgeries and wound closures.By the application, the market has been categorized into the paper and packaging, medical, personal care, wood works and furniture, and the construction industries. With a share of more than 30%, the paper and packaging industry surfaced as the leading consumer of a varied range of bioadhesives in 2015. Over the coming years, the industry is expected to continue as the key end user of bioadhesives, thanks to the steady rise in the global packaging industry.Fill the form to gain deeper insights on this market @Europe to Retain its Top PositionGeographically, the worldwide market for bioadhesives is led by Europe. In 2015, the European market accounted for more than 35% of the overall market, thanks to the increase in the construction activities. Over the forthcoming years, the regional market is likely to remain dominant on the grounds of the high demand for bioadhesives in several industries, such as construction, packaging, and wood works and furniture in this region. Germany is anticipated to emerge as the leading consumers of bioadhesives in Europe in the near future.Apart from Europe, North America is also expected to display lucrative growth opportunities for the market for bioadhesives. The rising implementation of stringent norms and policies concerning the usage of petroleum-derived products in this region is likely to boost the North America market for bioadhesives in the years to come. The development of novel products with efficient adhesive properties is also projected to provide momentum to the North American market over the next few years.Adhesives Research Inc., 3M Co., SCION, Adhbio, Bioadhesive Alliance Inc., Meredian Holdings Group Inc., Ecosynthetix Inc., Ashland, Cryolife Inc., and Henkel Corp. are some of the key players operating in the global bioadhesive 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 insights for decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, TMR employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact Us:-Transparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog:
Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market: Improved Therapeutic Output Encourages Healthcare Industry to Adopt Thin Film Drugs | Researchmoz

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, & Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market: OverviewThis report on thin film drug manufacturing market studies the current as well as future prospects of the market globally. The stakeholders of this report include companies and intermediaries engaged in the manufacture, commercialization, providing services of thin film drug manufacturing products such as oral thin film, transdermal thin film and others as well as new entrants planning to enter this market. This report comprises an elaborate executive summary along with a market snapshot providing overall information of various segments and sub-segments considered in the scope of the study. This section also provides the overall information and data analysis of the global thin film drug manufacturing market with respect to the leading market segments based on major disease indication segment, products segment, distribution channels, and geographies.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market: SegmentationBased on the product type, the thin film drug manufacturing market has been segmented into: oral thin film, transdermal thin film and others. Each of the market segments have been extensively analyzed based on the market related factors such as increasing demand of thin film drug manufacturing products worldwide, and technological advancement. Moreover, historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ million for each segment has been provided for the period from 2014 to 2024. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2016 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year.Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market: Drivers and TrendsThe market overview section of the report explores the market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that currently have a strong impact on the thin film drug manufacturing market and could influence the market in the near future. Market attractiveness analysis has been provided in the market overview section in order to explain the intensity of competition in the market across different geographies. The competitive scenario among different market players is evaluated through market share analysis in the competitive landscape section of the report. All these factors would help market players to take strategic decisions in order to strengthen their positions and expand their shares in the global thin film drug manufacturing market.Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, thin film drug manufacturing market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa. The market size and forecast for each of these regions has been provided for the period from 2014 to 2024, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2016 to 2024, considering 2015 as the base year. The report also provides with market size and forecast for major countries in the respective regions. A detailed qualitative analysis of factors responsible for driving and restraining the market growth and future opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. This section of the report also provides with market attractiveness analysis, Porters five forces analysis, and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global thin film drug manufacturing market.Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:The key findings section included in the report would assist existing market players in expanding their market shares, and new companies in establishing their presence in the global thin film drug manufacturing market. The report also profiles key players operating in the thin film drug manufacturing market which are Pfizer, Inc., Novartis AG, Allergan plc, Wolters Kluwer, Solvay, IntelGenx Corp., Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co., Ltd., Indivior plc and ZIM Laboratories LimitedThe global thin film drug manufacturing market is segmented as follows:Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market, by Product Type- Oral Thin Film- Sublingual Film- Fully Dissolving Dental/Buccal Film- Transdermal Thin Film- Others (ocular thin film, etc.)Global Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market, by Disease Indication- Schizophrenia- Migraine- Opioid Dependence- Nausea & Vomiting- OthersGlobal Thin Film Drug Manufacturing Market, by Geography- North America- U.S.- Canada- Europe- Germany- U.K.- France- Italy- Spain- Russia- Rest of the Europe- Asia Pacific- China- Japan- India- Rest of Asia Pacific- Latin America (LATAM)- Brazil- Mexico- Rest of LATAM- Middle East & Africa- South Africa- Saudi Arebia- UAE- Rest of MEAMake 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 @
New Release | Global Military Exoskeleton Market: Changing Face of Combat Augments Demand for Better Protection Devices

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Military Exoskeleton Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Military Exoskeleton Market: OverviewMilitary exoskeleton is robotic-like suit which provides powered assist and increase the strength of the soldiers during combat. There are several factors driving the demand for these exoskeletons globally. The increasing concern for security and safety from growing criminal activities and cross border terrorism has resulted into the need for soldier safety during warfare. A military exoskeleton suite empowers the soldier to lift heavy weights, run at faster speeds and defend themselves from enemy attacks. Moreover, the changing concept of warfare has led to the development of biological weapons which are more harmful to the body. These can also prevent direct contact of the soldier from harmful gases. These factors are aiding to the demand for exoskeleton suits globally. Furthermore, the need for quick coordination during warfare has led to the need for advanced communication systems which cannot be tracked by the enemy. Hence, the soldier suits need to be integrated with these electronics which include range finders, optronics, radios and navigation systems to name a few.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Military Exoskeleton Market: Drivers and TrendsHowever, the integration of these electronics increases the overall weight of the suits and makes it difficult for the soldiers to move swiftly. The development of lightweight exoskeletons will reduce the weight considerable and give added advantages to the soldiers by enhancing their mobility. These factors are expected to drive the demand for military exoskeletons considerably during the forecast period. However, a primary reason restraining the growth of the market is the price involved in procuring the exoskeletons. One exoskeleton suit can cost up to USD 150,000. Furthermore, the defense agencies need to place order in large quantities which can further increase the cost of procurement.Global Military Exoskeleton Market: SegmentationThe global military exoskeleton market has been segmented by types, power and geography. By types, the market has been segregated into full body exoskeleton and partial body exoskeleton systems. The partial body exoskeletons are expected to dominate the military exoskeleton market globally. Furthermore, the market has been bifurcated by power into active exoskeletons and passive exoskeletons. Currently, the active exoskeleton systems are witnessing higher demand in the market due to need for providing the soldiers increased strength and stamina in the battlefield. By geography, the global market has been segmented into five important regions consisting of North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Latin America. North America and Europe has been analyzed to lead the global military exoskeleton market during the forecast period.The global report of military exoskeleton systems also includes the key trends expected to affect the demand and supply of the exoskeletons in future. Moreover, the market attractiveness of the various types of exoskeletons have been included in order understand the future opportunities of these segments. The global market of military exoskeletons has been tracked in terms of revenue from 2017 to 2025 where in 2016 has been considered as the base year of the study.Key Players Mentioned in the Report are:The global market of military exoskeleton is witnessing intense competition from the leading players operating in the market. These players also undergo mergers and acquisition in order to sustain in the competitive environment. Furthermore, some of the players also follow a strategy of working in collaboration with others in order to create innovative products. The report also includes a detailed company profile of the major players which includes the company overview, product segments, and financial performance over the last three years, SWOT analysis and the business strategies adopted by them. The key players profiled in this report include Lockheed Martin Corporation (U.S.), BAE Systems (U.K.), Raytheon Company (U.S.), General Dynamics Corporation (U.S.), Boeing (U.S.), Honeywell Aerospace (U.S.), Ekso Bionics Holdings (U.S.), Bionic Power (Canada), Safran S.A. (France) and SpringActive, Inc. (U.S.).The Global Military Exoskeleton market can be segmented as follows;-Global Military Exoskeleton Market, By Types- Full Body Exoskeleton- Partial Body ExoskeletonGlobal Military Exoskeleton Market, By Power- Active Exoskeleton- Passive ExoskeletonGlobal Military Exoskeleton Market, By Geography- North America- U.S.- Canada- Mexico- Europe- U.K.- Germany- France- Italy- Rest of Europe- Asia-Pacific- China- Japan- India- South Korea- Rest of Asia Pacific- Middle East and Africa- United Arab Emirates- Saudi Arabia- South Africa- Latin America- Brazil- Rest of Latin AmericaMake 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 @
Tissue and Hygiene Products Market Shares, Strategies and Forecast Worldwide, 2015 to 2025

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The personal care products market comprises hair care, skin care, toiletries, fragrances convenience products and others. Among all these segments toiletries and skin care comprises the major segments for the market, constituting with high market value with favorable perspective in the near future. Tissue and hygiene is the sub-segment of toiletries segment. Tissue and hygiene products help consumers to maintain healthy and hygienic lifestyle in day to day schedule. Tissue and hygiene products are further categorized as disposable razor or blades, sanitary pads, nappies, cleansers, sprays, cotton wool and others.Tissue and hygiene Market SegmentationTissue and hygiene market can be segmented on the basis of distribution channel which includes health and beauty stores, chemist/pharmacies/drugstores, supermarkets, convenient stores, e-retailing and others. Among all these distribution channel segments, sell out of tissue and hygiene products through supermarkets account for the highest market share in 2014 followed by convenience stores. Growing retail industry is fuelling the demand for sell out of tissue and hygiene products through supermarkets across the globe. Moreover, chemist/pharmacies/drugstores segment is also expected to show a potential growth in terms of sales of tissue and hygiene products during the forecast period. In addition, sell out through internet is expected to show a sustainable growth in the forecasted period. The growth of online purchasing is supported by the increasing penetration of internet and rising concern for convenience among the consumers across the globe.Request For Report Sample@The tissue and hygiene market can also be segmented on the basis of product type. The segmentation includes cotton wool/buds/, incontinence products, nappies/diapers, sanitary protection, wipes and others. Among all these segments sanitary protection and nappies/diapers are collectively expected to account for the highest growth in terms of revenue followed by wipes. Increasing concern of women for healthy and hygienic lifestyle is expected to support the growth of sanitary protection product market across the globe. Moreover, wipes are also expected to show a tremendous growth in the forecast period due to continuous and aggressive promotion of the product.On the basis of geography, North America contributes to the largest in terms of revenue in tissue and hygiene market followed by Europe. In North America United States is the major contributor in tissue and hygiene market followed by Canada. In Europe, countries such as Germany and France accounts for the largest market share followed by United Kingdom. Whereas, Asia pacific is concerned it is expected to register a double digit CAGR growth by 2020. In Asia pacific region China is expected to be the most dominant market for tissue and hygiene followed by Japan. Rising awareness through various corporate advertisements and government educational campaigns coupled with increasing concern of women to be hygienic in their day to day life has fueled the growth of tissue and hygiene market in China. Moreover, women in China prefer for premium feminine hygiene product categories, which is expected to bolster the growth of feminine hygiene products in terms of revenue. In addition, India is also expected to witness a robust growth in tissue and hygiene market. Increasing number of working women in urban areas, rising awareness among the consumer for healthy and hygienic lifestyle has supported the growth of tissue and hygiene market in India. Furthermore, government educating and awareness campaigns in rural areas and in schools is expected to support the growth of tissue and hygiene market particularly in India.Tissue and hygiene Market DriversRising disposable income coupled with increasing consumer expenditure for health care products is driving the growth of tissue and hygiene market across the globe. In addition, consumer awareness through aggressive corporate advertisement and various government campaign programs in rural and urban areas especially in school and colleges is also fueling the tissue and hygiene market growth of tissue and hygiene market in the forecast period. In addition continuous launching of new product variant is expected to fuel the growth of tissue and hygiene market in the near future.Visit For TOC@Tissue and hygiene Market: Key PlayersThe major international players operating in tissue and hygiene market includes Sterling Hygiene Tissue Procter & Gamble, Gulf Manufacturing EST, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Johnson & Johnson Limited, Unilever and Hengan International Group Company Limited. among others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Roust Vodkas among Bestselling Spirits Brands Worldwide

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19th of June 2017Six Roust vodka brands have been ranked among bestselling spirits brands worldwide by Drinks International, a leading source for alcohol beverage industry statistics.The list of 157 brands with sales of over 1 mn 9l. cases in 2016 includes Rousts Zubrowka (#27), Russian Standard (#64), Soplica (#67), Green Mark (#88), Zytniowka (#103) and Talka (#111). The brands are also listed in TOP 30 Largest Vodka Brands worldwide.Three brands  Zubrowka, Soplica and Zytniowka  have been recognized among the Fastest Growing Global Brands enjoying double-digit growth: Zubrowka grew +15% vs 2015 to 7.1 mn 9l. cases, Soplica +23% to 3.1 mn 9l. cases and Zytniowka +13% to 1.8 mn 9l. cases.Polands #1 vodka, Zubrowka has solidified its position as 4th largest vodka brand in the world and has become the 6th fastest growing vodka brand worldwide.Russian Standard remains unrivalled as worlds #1 Russian premium vodka and occupies the 15th place among the best-selling vodka brands worldwide. In 2016, Russian Standard showed a 3-percent global sales growth against 2015 and went up 6 places in the overall ranking.Polands #1 flavoured vodka, Soplica shows unprecedented growth for the second consecutive year and ranks the 4th fastest growing vodka brand worldwide and the 16th best-selling vodka brand.Green Mark and Talka, the 4th and 6th largest vodkas in Russian mainstream segment, rank 24th and 30th among best-selling vodka brands worldwide.Zytniowka is worlds 7th fastest growing vodka brand, driven by Polish market, and 27th best-selling vodka brand worldwide.Monzer Elabrashy, Rousts Global CEO, comments on the successful ranking of Roust brands: We are delighted with the 4th consecutive record year for our Polish mega brands - Zubrowka, Soplica and Zytniowka, which are continually climbing the Drinks International Millionaires list and are included among the fastest growing vodka brands in the world. We are very optimistic regarding our second home market  Russia, where sales have started to recover significantly in Q4 2016 and Q1 2017 and we are aiming to gradually regrow our market share and volumes.Roust has been included in the list of top 10 global producers based on the number of brands in the ranking.The international success of Roust vodka brands has been mentioned by such industry experts as Drinks International, IWSR and IMPACT for a number of years.For further information contact:Olga Soburpr@roust.comPhone +7 (495) 777 1 777About RoustRoust is the largest integrated spirits producer and distributor in Central and Eastern Europe and the second-largest vodka producer by volume in the world, with over 27 mln 9l cases sold annually in more than 80 markets. Roust owns production facilities and distribution centres across Poland, Hungary, Russia and Italy. Rousts extensive portfolio includes flagship vodka brands Russian Standard, Green Mark, Parliament and Zhuravli, as well as the iconic Polish vodka Zubrowka. Roust Group includes Gancia, the legendary Italian company that created the first Italian sparkling wine.Olga Soburpr@roust.comPhone +7 (495) 777 1 7775 Novoorlovskaya Street, Moscow 119633, Russia
Light Fidelity (Li-Fi)/Visible Light Communication Market - Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2014 - 2022

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Light Fidelity (Li-Fi)/Visible Light Communication Market report, published by Allied Market Research, forecasts that the global market is expected to garner $115 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 116.8% during the forecast period 2016 - 2022. In 2015, North America contributed major share in the market and will continue to lead throughout the forecast period.Early buyers will receive 20% customization on this report.Light Fidelity (Li-Fi) is a very high speed, two-way wireless communication method which uses visible light from LEDs as the medium for transmitting the data by turning them on and off at very high frequency which human eyes cannot sense. This technology is an apt replacement for currently prevailing Wi-Fi technology as Li-Fi is considerably faster, has almost 10,000 times broader bandwidth because it uses visible light, and it is safe to operate in electromagnetic sensitive areas.Read More @Li-Fi incorporates three major components, which are LED, photodetector, and microcontroller. Among the three components, in the year 2015, LED dominated the market by contributing over 40% share of the overall component segment revenue. Also, this segment is anticipated to grow with the highest CAGR 118.1% during the forecast period owing to its low cost, increased adoption in different applications such as households, offices, vehicles, airplanes and retail stores among others. Furthermore, LEDs are preferred over all other lighting systems as they can easily be turned off and on with the use of a microcontroller.Under the industry vertical segment, retail industry contributed over 30% of the overall Li-Fi market, in 2015. Li-Fi enables the storekeepers to monitor the positioning of customers by tracing their location to improve shopping experience and provide notifications on their cellphones. However, healthcare sector would be the fastest growing industry and is expected to register highest CAGR 125.3% during the forecast period. This is because Li-Fi does not cause any electromagnetic interference and can safely be used with other medical apparatus such as CT scanner, MRI machine, X-ray machine, and ultrasound machine among others.Get PDF of this Report @North America dominated the market in 2015 by accounting for around 40% of the total market revenue and it is expected to maintain its dominance throughout the forecast period. This is accredited to the presence of various research and development facilities in the region and investment for implementation of this technology by the major companies in the region.Asia-Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing region among others with CAGR of 121.7% during the forecast period. This is attributed due to the large electronic market in China and Japan as well as presence of several developing regions where governments promote the use of LED lights. In Asia-Pacific, China holds about 50% of the market at present and is expected to maintain its leading position throughout the forecast period.Light Fidelity (Li-Fi)/Visible Light Communication Market Key findings: In 2015, LED component led the overall Li-Fi market revenue, and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 118.1% during the forecast period. Retail industry vertical segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 112.8% during the analysis period. Asia-Pacific is anticipated to be the fastest growing region growing at a CAGR of 121.7% during the forecast period.The key players in the Li-Fi market are focused on intensive research and development such as undergoing researches in Edinburgh University and the research facility of pureLiFi in United Kingdom, to improve their product quality and partnerships to reach untapped regions. Key players in the market have adopted product launch as their key strategy to grow in the market. For instance, launch of enhanced lighting named Atlanta for precise indoor positioning by acquity brands and the Li-Fi enabled router, LiFi-x by pureLiFi The key players profiled in the report include General Electric, Oledcomm S.A.S, Renesas Electronics Corporation, pureLiFi, LVX SYSTEM, Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc., Qualcomm technologies Inc., IBSENtelecom Ltd., Koninklijke Philips N.V., and Panasonic Corporation.About UsAllied Market Research (AMR) is a full-service market research and business-consulting wing of Allied Analytics LLP based in Portland, Oregon. Allied Market Research provides global enterprises as well as medium and small businesses with unmatched quality of "Market Research Reports" and "Business Intelligence Solutions". AMR has a targeted view to provide business insights and consulting to assist its clients to make strategic business decisions and achieve sustainable growth in their respective market domain.We are in professional corporate relations with various companies and this helps us in digging out market data that helps us generate accurate research data tables and confirms utmost accuracy in our market forecasting. Each and every data presented in the reports published by us is extracted through primary interviews with top officials from leading companies of domain concerned. Our secondary data procurement methodology includes deep online and offline research and discussion with knowledgeable professionals and analysts in the industry.Contact UsPankaj Kumar5933 NE Win Sivers Drive#205, Portland, OR 97220United StatesDirect: +1-503-894-6022Toll Free: +1 (800) 792-5285 (U.S. & Canada)Fax: +1 (855) 550-5975E-mail: sales@alliedmarketresearch.com
Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) Market to hit $2.7bn by 2023

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Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) Market size is driven by increasing incidence rate for cancer disease especially colorectal cancer is one of the important factor contributing to the growth. Global Carcinoembryonic Antigen Market is set to register profitable growth in the near future and surpass USD 2.8 billion by 2023.This growth is attributed to factors including consistent technology advancements, development of novel biomarkers and growing prevalence of cancer. Global Market Insights, Inc. announces the addition of a new research report on Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) market to their offering.Request for a sample of this research report -The report gives you a basic overview of the CEA market with market definition, applications, segmentation, and value chain analysis. The report covers competitive landscape with the leading company profiles and recent events in the industry. Equipped with all vital information including current scenario, forecasts, and future predictions, it offers insights to foresee challenges and opportunities that will aid in making informed decisions.Growing demand for minimally invasive diagnostics procedures is projected to contribute a significant part in shaping market growth. Increasing geriatric population is another key factor to intensify the Carcinoembryonic Antigen market growth. The development of novel combination biomarkers and initiatives by the government concerning improved diagnostic rates are likely to open growth avenues for CEA market. The advent of various tumor markers, which can be used along with CEA to monitor or diagnose colorectal cancer is predicted to influence the market growth positively.To access sample pages or view this report titled, Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA) Market Size By Application (Colorectal, Pancreatic, Ovarian, Breast, Thyroid Cancer], Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, France, Spain, Japan, China, India, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa), Application Potential, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2023 in detail along with the table of contents, please click on the link below:North America, hinged on the U.S. Carcinoembryonic Antigen market size, is predicted to lead the segment with estimations of USD 800 million in 2016. Growing awareness about detecting cancer at an early stage and improved health care services for cancer therapeutics are anticipated to propel growth. Asia-Pacific region driven by India and China is targeted to foresee growing prevalence of cancer owing to changes in lifestyle and aging population in the area. The growth is mainly attributed to improved treatment facilities and high disposable income. The Asia-Pacific market share can surpass USD 380 million in the near future.Colorectal cancer tops the application segment and is expected to foresee growth over the forecast period. Breast cancer segment is likely to be the most lucrative with estimations of over USD 460 million at over 7% CAGR during the projected time frame.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The key players in global carcinoembryonic antigen market include Quest Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics, GenWay Biotech, Inc. and Abbott DiagnosticsFocus on early detection methods and product innovation owing to rising demand for minimally invasive procedures is a key strategy adopted by the key participants in the market.Browse Related Reports:Bioreactor Market Size By Cell (Mammalian Cells, Bacterial Cells, Yeast Cells, Others), By Molecule (Monoclonal Antibodies, Vaccines, Recombinant Proteins, Stem Cells, Gene Therapy, Others), By Technology (Wave-Induced Motion SUB, Stirred SUB, Single Use Bubble Column, Other SUB), By End-Use ( R&D organizations, Biopharma Manufacturers, CMOs) Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, Spain, Italy, France, Netherland, Denmark, China, Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Brazil, Mexico, UAE, South Africa), Application Development, Price Trend, Competitive Landscape & Forecast, 2017  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:
Research report covers the Soy Protein Ingredient Market share and Growth, 2015-2025

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Soybean is processed primarily into three forms which includes soy protein isolates comprise ~90% protein, soy protein concentrates with ~70% protein, and soy flour with ~50% protein. Soy protein ingredient is considered to be the best substitute for animal protein. Soy protein ingredient comprises amino acids and are also rich in fiber, calcium, iron, potassium, polyunsaturated fats and lecithin, magnesium and vitamin B. Thus it contains high health-related benefits and functional properties. Due to its characteristics it primarily used as emulsifier, gel, tenderizer, binder, stabilizer, and thickener by food and beverages processing industry. Soy protein ingredients are also environmental friendly as they require less amount of water while processing.Soy Protein Ingredient Market SegmentationOn the basis of type soy protein ingredient can be segmented as soy protein isolates, soy protein concentrates and soy flour. Among all these product type soy protein isolates is expected to account for the potential market share followed by soy protein concentrates. Due to high percentage of protein content in soy protein isolates is supporting the demand for the same during the forecast period. Soy flour is also expected to show a substantial growth in the near future. However due to less protein content in the soy flour is expected to restrain its growth in the near future.Request For Report Sample@Furthermore the soy protein ingredient market is segmented on the basis of application which includes bakery and confectionary, processed meat products, functional foods, dairy replacers, infant foods and others. Among all these segment functional food is expected to be the major contributor in supporting the growth soy protein ingredient followed by processed meat products. Rising awareness among the consumer for health beneficiary products is supporting the demand for soy protein ingredient market during the forecast period. Moreover, infant food is also expected to support the demand of soy protein ingredient market. This is due to the increasing parental concern for providing the nutritious and healthy food to their child.Geographically Europe and North America is expected to account for the major market share in the forecast period. However these region is expected to record moderate growth. In North America, U.S. is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue followed by Canada. Moreover Asia pacific is expected to show the double digit CAGR growth during the forecast period followed by Latin America. In Asia pacific region China and India is expected to account for the substantial growth due to increased demand for nutritional food among the consumers. Moreover in Latin America, Brazil is expected to be the major contributor in terms of revenue followed by Mexico.Soy Protein Ingredient Market DriversHigh functional properties of the soy protein ingredient coupled with ecofriendly and natural health benefits is driving the demand of soy protein during the forecast period. Moreover it is cost effective than the animal protein and reflects the same protein content. This is expected to enhance adoption of soy protein across various end-use industries resulting in increasing the shelf life of the processed food, so it is also considered as the most sustainable protein ingredients which is favoring its growth in alternate way.Soy Protein Ingredient Restraining FactorsHowever, its anti-nutrients and allergic nature of soy protein ingredients is restraining its growth during the forecast period. Moreover, negative impact of genetically modified (GM) soy coupled with the availability of various alternatives such as milk proteins, pea proteins and other animal proteins are also effecting the growth of soy protein ingredient in the forecast period.Visit For TOC@Soy Protein Ingredient Market: Key PlayersKey international players operating in the soy protein ingredient market are, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company, Dean Foods Company, Armor Proteins, Gelita Group, Bunge Alimentos SA, Kerry Ingredients Inc., Burcon NutraScience, Cargill Health & Food Technologies, E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Kellogg Company, Doves Farm Foods, Kraft Foods Group Inc., Manildra Group, MGP Ingredients, Omega Protein Corporation, George Weston Foods and others.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global 3D Dental Printing Market: Increasing Focus on Aesthetics Ups Demand for 3D Printing in Dental Healthcare

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Dental 3D Printing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Global Dental 3D Printing Market: OverviewThe report on the dental 3D printing market analyzes the current and future scenario of the global market. Increase in prevalence of dental caries and tooth loss, advent of new technology for development of low cost dental 3D printers, and increase in preference for digital dentistry over traditional method by dental technicians and physicians, are the major drivers of the global dental 3D printing market.The dental 3D printing market report comprises an elaborate executive summary, which includes a market snapshot that provides information about various segments of the market. It also provides information and data analysis of the global dental 3D printing market with respect to the segments based on technology, material, application and geography. A detailed qualitative analysis of drivers and restraints of the market and opportunities has been provided in the market overview section. In addition, the section comprises porters five forces analysis to understand the competitive landscape in the market. This section of the report also provides market attractiveness analysis, by geography and market share analysis by key players, thus presenting a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in the global dental 3D printing market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Dental 3D Printing Market: SegmentationBased on technology, the dental 3D printing market is segmented as vat photopolymerization, fused deposition modeling (FDM), polyJet technology, selective laser sintering (SLS), and others. The vat photopolymerization is further segmented into stereolithography (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP).The technology market segments have been analyzed based on available approved technology and products, cost-effectiveness, and preference for technology by dental physicians. The market size and forecast for each of these segments have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Based on material, dental 3D printing market is segmented into metal, photopolymer, ceramic and others. Based on application, dental 3D printing market is segmented into dental implants, dentures, crowns & bridges, and others. The market segments have been extensively analyzed based on demand for dental care, available treatment, and geographical coverage. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ Mn for each segment have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Global Dental 3D Printing Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global dental 3D printing market has been categorized into five major regions and the key countries in the respective region: North America (the U.S., Canada), Europe (the U.K., Germany, Russia, France, Spain, Italy, and Rest of Europe), Asia Pacific (Japan, India, China, Australia & New Zealand and Rest of Asia Pacific), Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, and Rest of Latin America) and Middle East & Africa (South Africa, GCC countries and Rest of Middle East & Africa). The market size and forecast for each of these regions and the mentioned countries have been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025, along with their respective CAGRs for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year. The research study also covers the competitive scenario in these regions.Key Players Mentioned in this Report are:The report also profiles major players in the global dental 3D printing market based on various attributes such as company overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies, and recent developments. Major players profiled in this report include Asiga, Concept Laser GmbH, 3D Systems, Inc., EnvisionTEC, Inc., Formlabs, Inc., Renishaw plc., DWS System, Prodways Group, Stratasys Ltd., SLM Solutions and othersThe Global Dental 3D Printing Market is segmented as given below:Global Dental 3D Printing Market, by Technology- Vat Photopolymerization- Stereolithography (SLA)- Digital Light Processing (DLP)- Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)- PolyJet technology- Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)- OthersGlobal Dental 3D Printing Market, by Material- Metal- Photopolymer- Ceramic- OthersGlobal Dental 3D Printing Market, by Application- Dental Implants- Dentures- Crowns & Bridges- OthersGlobal Dental 3D Printing Market, by Geography- North America- US- Canada- Europe- Germany- U.K.- Russia- Italy- France- Spain- Rest of Europe- Asia Pacific- Japan- India- China- Australia & New Zealand- Rest of Asia Pacific- Latin America- Brazil- Mexico- Rest of Latin America- Middle East & Africa- GCC countries- South Africa- Rest of Middle East & AfricaMake 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 @
Global Offshore Support Vessel Market to Discern Steadfast Expansion During 2016 - 2026

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Offshore Support Vessel Market: OverviewOffshore Support Vessels are the ships that are designed to transport liquid cargo, stores, materials and equipment and personnel to offshore oil platform that functions deep in the oceans. These vessels include services such as drilling rigs, offshore pipe laying, and oil production platforms utilized in exploration and production activities. These vessels undertake variety of tasks in the supply chain.Offshore Support Vessels are fundamental components for oil & gas industry. There are many types of offshore support vessel that have different properties and functions as per the type of operation. The Asia-Pacific regions such as China, Australia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia require more volume of offshore support vessels. As a result, it provides a great opportunity to the manufacturers of offshore support vesselsTo view complete report @Global Offshore Support Vessel Market: SegmentationGlobal Offshore Support Vessel market is segmented into type and region. The global Offshore Support Vessel market can be segmented on the basis of types such as Anchor Handling Towing and Supply (AHTS) vessels, Platform Supply Vessels (PSV), Diving Support Vessels, Remote Operating Vessels (ROV) Support, Multi-Purpose Service Vessel (MPSV), Cable & Pipe Laying Vessels, Standby and Rescue Vessel, Seismic Survey Vessels, Well Stimulation Vessel, Fast Supply Intervention Vessels (FSIV). Region wise, global Offshore Support Vessel market is segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Japan, Asia-Pacific (APEJ), and Middle East and Africa (MEA).A sample of this report is available upon request @Global Offshore Support Vessel Market: Region-wise OutlookThe global offshore support vessel market is projected to witness a significant growth in terms of CAGR from 2015 to 2025. North America region is expected to witness significant growth during the forecasted period. Middle East is expected to be one of the leading market for offshore support vessels for the coming years. According to FMI forecasts, the market in Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow at highest CAGR over the forecast period.Global Offshore Support Vessel Market: DriversOffshore Support Vessel Market is being driven by rising offshore exploration and production activities. Moreover, increasing capital expenditure on offshore oil exploration will also lead to offshore developments. Offshore Support Vessel Market is expected to grow at a higher rate for the forecast period supported by increasing demand of oil & gas.The drivers for this market are increased demand for offshore rig, marine logistics, & others. All these factors together drive the Offshore Support Vessel market during the forecast period.Global Offshore Support Vessel Market: RestraintsCertain restraints that are hampering the growth of global offshore support vessel market to some extent include high maintenance and replacement cost, regulations and environmental effects.Global Offshore Support Vessel Market: Competitive LandscapeKey players in the global offshore support vessel market focus on Developments, investments, expansion, mergers & acquisition, agreements and contracts, new technologies developments, in order to expand their reach and penetrate into the market.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global Offshore Support Vessel Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players identified in the global Offshore Support Vessel market are Edison Chouest Offshore, Abdon Callais Offshore, Havila Shipping ASA, Farstad Shipping ASA, Gulfmark Offshore Inc., Bourbon Offshore Marine services, Island Offshore Management AS, & others.About UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA - Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
United States Food Service Packaging Market Status & Insights Analyzed until 2022

Market Research Hub

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Market Research Hub (MRH) has added a new report titled United States Food Service Packaging Market Research Report 2017. This study is a compilation of data offering details about sales value and output of Food Service Packaging in different geographical regions. Also, the report targets the prime Producers from this sector which are dominating the market.Request Free Sample Report @Geographically, this report splits the United States market into seven regions:The WestSouthwestThe Middle AtlanticNew EnglandThe SouthThe Midwestwith sales (volume), revenue (value), market share and growth rate of Food Service Packaging in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast).United States Food Service Packaging market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Food Service Packaging sales volume, price, revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingGenpakAmcor LimitedBerry Plastic CorporationThe Dow Chemical CompanyBemis Company,IncWestRock CompanySealed Air CorporationInternational Paper CompanyReynolds Group Holding LimitedDS Smith PlcBall CorporationGenpak,LLCDart Product Europe LimitedAnchor Packaging Inc.VegwareSabert CorporationUnion packagingFabri-KalExcellent Packaging & SupplyBSI Biodegradable SolutionISAP Packaging SPALandon Bio PackagingHefei Hengxin Environmental Science & Technology Co., LtdKing Yuan Fu PackagingOn the basis of product, this report displays the sales volume, revenue, product price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPlasticMetalWoodenPaperOtherBrowse Full Report with TOC @On the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate of Food Service Packaging for each application, includingFruits and VegetablesYogurt and Fruit JuicesAlcoholic BeveragesBread and SweetsOthersTable of Content:nited States Food Service Packaging Market Report 20171 Food Service Packaging Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Food Service Packaging1.2 Classification of Food Service Packaging by Product Category1.2.1 United States Food Service Packaging Market Size (Sales Volume) Comparison by Type (2012-2022)1.2.2 United States Food Service Packaging Market Size (Sales Volume) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20161.2.3 Plastic1.2.4 Metal1.2.5 Wooden1.2.6 Paper1.2.7 Other1.3 United States Food Service Packaging Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 United States Food Service Packaging Market Size (Consumption) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2012-2022)1.3.2 Fruits and Vegetables1.3.3 Yogurt and Fruit Juices1.3.4 Alcoholic Beverages1.3.5 Bread and Sweets1.3.6 Others1.4 United States Food Service Packaging Market by Region1.4.1 United States Food Service Packaging Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2012-2022)1.4.2 The West Food Service Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.3 Southwest Food Service Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.4 The Middle Atlantic Food Service Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.5 New England Food Service Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.6 The South Food Service Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.4.7 The Midwest Food Service Packaging Status and Prospect (2012-2022)1.5 United States Market Size (Value and Volume) of Food Service Packaging (2012-2022)1.5.1 United States Food Service Packaging Sales and Growth Rate (2012-2022)1.5.2 United States Food Service Packaging Revenue and Growth Rate (2012-2022)Make an Enquiry @About Market Research Hub:Market Research Hub (MRH) is a next-generation reseller of Research Reports and analysis. MRHs expansive collection of machinery 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.comRead More Industry News @
Hemostats For Wound Closure Market Revenue and Value Chain 2015-2025

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-827

http://www.futuremarketinsights.com/toc/rep-gb-827

www.futuremarketinsights.com

Historically wound types remain the same over the ages with only a slight exception being the emergence of femoral punctures associated with catheterization procedures. But with the advent of newer technologies the practice of closing those wounds are changed.These new products are commonly available on hospitals & trauma centers and have wide range of usage area. Among them Hemostat has become a very popular tool to be used as wound closure material with its excellent properties. When applied to a wound, quickly absorbs blood and other body fluids, transforms into a gel to seal the wound with a protective transparent layer, actively aids in stopping bleeding, and creates an environment for wound healing.Request For Report Sample@Treatment of damaged cardiac tissue in patients with high bleeding tendency can be very challenging. In this category of surgery Hemostat proved to be a very effective with the combination of collagen sponge for the management of a myocardial woundTopical hemostatic agents and tissue adhesives are used as an adjunct or alternative to standard suturing techniques to control bleeding or for wound closure.Hemostats for Wound Closure: Drivers and RestraintsWound closure has become a very frequent clinical practice which is growing very rapidly. The sophisticated procedures ensure rapid cessation of blood loss, prompt closure, strong adhesion of wound edges, tight sealing, reduced scarring, reduced risk of infection and more rapid healing. There is a pool of patients throughout the world which makes the market of this product is very lucrative. As the price is also very reasonable so acceptance of this product is gradually progressing.On the other hand some reports come which could restrict the growth. Surgical staples are emerging as the most useful tool on this wound closure segment. Also the market of suture which is there traditionally remains constant if not growing to some parts of the world. Few reports also suggested that patients may suffer with irritation, heat inflammation or redness on skin when hemostat are applied, though its not clear the exact reason for these.As the market is growing and price is low, so tough competitions will prevail in this segment too.Hemostats for Wound Closure: SegmentationGlobal market for wound closure products consist of hemostat are mainly driven the use of Fibrin which is the combination of thrombin & fibrinogen. Also collagen finds it use as hemostat though it still needs the approval of USFDA.Thrombin based HemostatsCombination HemostatsOxidized Regenerated Cellulose HemostatsGelatin HemostatsCollagen based HemostatsHemostats for Wound Closure: OverviewWith the rapid technological advancement in healthcare industry the Hemostats is expected to grow at a healthy CAGR in the forecasted period (2015-2025).Hemostats for Wound Closure: Region-wise OutlookGeographically, the wound closure products market has been segmented into seven major geographical regions which include North America, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Asia Pacific exclude Japan, Japan & Latin America, Middle east & Africa. North America contribute the most in this market followed by Europe. With the new product approvals, change in regulatory policies encourages, patient acceptance helps the market to grow. Asia Pacific & Japan pose good growth potential too for wound closure products specially Hemostat.Visit For TOC@Hemostats for Wound Closure: Key PlayersWound closure product market is highly fragmented with presence of big & small companies. The market leaders in this area are Johnson & Johnson, Covidien, B. Braun, and 3M.ABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Europe Reverse Flame Steam Boiler Market: Power Generation Industry to Create Promising Growth Opportunities

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Reverse Flame Steam Boiler Market - Europe Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2017 - 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.Europe Reverse Flame Steam Boiler Market: OverviewThis research study analyzes the market for European reverse flame steam boilers in terms of revenue (US$ Mn). The European reverse flame steam boilers market has been segmented on the basis of capacity, end-use, and country. The report features a detailed segmentation with market growth forecasts from 2017 to 2025. 2016 has been considered the base year and 2016 the estimated year, while all forecasts have been given for the period from 2016 to 2024. Market data for all the segments has been provided at the submarkets and country-specific levels from 2016 to 2024. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the production and distribution of reverse flame steam boilers, globally. The report also includes key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the market. These are analyzed in detail and illustrated in the report with supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive analysis of the market with the help of the Porters Five Forces Analysis model, which helps in understanding the factors that affect the structure and profitability of the market. These are the bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, and degree of competition.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Europe Reverse Flame Steam Boiler Market: Scope of the ReportThe report includes Porters Five Forces Model to determine the degree of competition in the Europe reverse flame steam boilers market. The report comprises a qualitative write-up on market attractiveness analysis, wherein capacity, end-use and countries have been analyzed based on attractiveness for each region. Growth rate, market size, component availability, profit margin, impact strength, technology, competition, and other factors (such as environmental and legal) have been evaluated in order to derive the general attractiveness of the market.The report provides detailed insights into the reverse flame steam boilers business in Europe. Currently, numerous factors drive the market. The most prominent drivers include growing energy demand, government support, better efficiency, growing food & beverage industry etc. In-depth interviews and discussions with wide range of key opinion leaders and industry participants were conducted to compile this research report. Primary research represents the bulk of research efforts, supplemented by extensive secondary research. Key players product literature, annual reports, press releases, and relevant documents were reviewed for competitive analysis and market understanding. This helped in validating and strengthening secondary research findings. Primary research further helped in developing the analysis teams expertise and market understanding.Secondary research sources that were typically referred to include, but were not limited to company websites, financial reports, annual reports, investor presentations, broker reports, and SEC filings. Other sources such as internal and external proprietary databases, statistical databases and market reports, news articles, national government documents, and webcasts specific to companies operating in the market have also been referred for the report.Europe Reverse Flame Steam Boiler Market: SegmentationThe study provides a comprehensive view of the Europe reverse flame steam boilers market by dividing it into capacity, end-use, and country. In terms of capacity, the reverse flame steam boilers market has been segmented into: up to 100 KW, 101 KW  1,000 KW, and 1,001 KW & above. In terms of end-use, the reverse flame steam boilers market has been classified into: food, chemical, refineries, primary metals, power plants, and others. These segments have been analyzed based on historic, present, and future trends, and the market has been estimated in terms of revenue (US$ Mn) between 2017 and 2025.Country segmentation includes the current and forecast demand for reverse flame steam boilers in Europe. Additionally, the report comprises country-level analysis in terms of revenue for capacity and end-use segments. Key European countries such as the U.K., Germany, France, Spain, Italy, and Rest of Europe have been included in the study. Market segmentation includes demand for individual capacity type and end-use in all the countries/sub-regions.Companies Mentioned in ReportSome of key manufacturers operating in the European reverse flame boiler market are Atlantic Boilers, ATTSU, BoilerTech Pty Ltd, Bosch Industriekessel GmbH, Byworth Boilers, ICI Caldaie S.p.A., and others. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, number of employees, brand overview, key competitors, business overview, business strategies, recent/key developments, acquisitions, and financial overview (wherever applicable). The Europe reverse flame steam boilers market has been segmented as follows:Europe Reverse Flame Steam Boilers Market  Capacity Analysis- Up to 100 KW- 101 KW  1,000 KW- 1,001 KW & AboveEurope Reverse Flame Steam Boilers Market  End-Use Analysis- Food- Chemical- Refineries- Primary Metal- Power Plants- OthersEurope Reverse Flame Steam Boilers Market  Country Analysis- U.K.- Germany- France- Spain- Italy- Rest of EuropeMake 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 @
New Study Reveals 5G Wireless Ecosystem Market Technologies, Applications, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts 2016 - 2030

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "The 5G Wireless Ecosystem: 2016 - 2030 - Technologies, Applications, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts" to its huge collection of research reports.While LTE and LTE-Advanced deployments are still underway, mobile operators and vendors have already embarked on R&D initiatives to develop so-called 5G technology, with a vision of commercialization by 2020. 5G is essentially a revolutionary paradigm shift in wireless networking to support the throughput, latency and scalability requirements of future use cases such as extreme bandwidth augmented reality applications and connectivity management for Billions of M2M (Machine to Machine) devices.Although 5G is yet to be standardized, vendors are aggressively investing in 5G development efforts with a principal focus on new air interface transmission schemes, higher frequency bands and advanced antenna technologies such as Massive MIMO and beamforming. With large scale commercial deployments expected to begin in 2020, we estimate that 5G networks will generate nearly $250 Billion in annual service revenue by 2025.The 5G Wireless Ecosystem: 2016  2030  Technologies, Applications, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts report presents an in-depth assessment of the emerging 5G ecosystem including key market drivers, challenges, enabling technologies, use cases, vertical market applications, spectrum assessment, mobile operator deployment commitments, case studies, standardization, research initiatives and vendor strategies. The report also presents forecasts for 5G investments and operator services.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report.Key Findings:The report has the following key findings:- Although 5G is yet to be standardized, vendors are aggressively investing in 5G development efforts with a principal focus on new air interface transmission schemes, higher frequency bands and advanced antenna technologies such as Massive MIMO and beamforming.- Driven by regional, national government, mobile operator and vendor initiatives, we expect that over $6 Billion will be spent on 5G R&D and trial investments between 2015 and 2020.- With large scale commercial deployments expected to begin in 2020, we estimate that 5G networks will generate nearly $250 Billion in annual service revenue by 2025.- 5G networks are expected to utilize a variety of spectrum bands for diverse applications, ranging from established sub-6 GHz cellular bands to millimeter wave frequencies.The report covers the following topics:- 5G requirements, use cases and vertical market applications- 5G market drivers and barriers- Air interface and antenna technologies: new waveforms, millimeter wave radio access, MIMO, phased array antennas and beamforming- Spectrum technologies: cognitive radio, spectrum sensing, aggregation and LSA (Licensed Shared Access)- D2D (Device to Device) communications and self-backhauling networks- Complimentary technologies for 5G: NFV (Network Functions Virtualization), SDN (Software Defined Networking), HetNet (Heterogeneous Networking), C-RAN (Centralized RAN), Cloud RAN, MEC (Mobile Edge Computing), drones and satellites- Mobile operator commitments, case studies and 5G spectrum assessment- 5G Standardization and research initiatives- Competitive assessment of vendor strategies- R&D, commercial infrastructure and operator service forecasts till 2030Forecast Segmentation:Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets and their subcategories:5G R&D Investments- New Waveforms & Millimeter Wave Radio Access- MIMO, Beamforming & Antenna Technologies- Interference & Spectrum Management- C-RAN, Virtualization & Other Technologies5G Commercial Infrastructure Investments- Distributed Macrocell Base Stations- Small Cells- RRHs (Remote Radio Heads)- C-RAN BBUs (Baseband Units)- Mobile Core- Fronthaul & Backhaul Networking5G Operator Services- Subscriptions- Service RevenueRegional Segmentation- Asia Pacific- Eastern Europe- Latin & Central America- Middle East & Africa- North America- Western EuropeKey Questions Answered:The report provides answers to the following key questions:- How much will vendors and operators invest in 5G R&D commitments?- What will be the number of 5G subscriptions in 2020 and at what rate will it grow?- What will be the key applications of 5G networks?- What trends, challenges and barriers will influence the development and adoption of 5G?- Which regions and countries will be the first to adopt 5G?- Will 5G networks utilize new spectrum bands?- Who are the key 5G vendors and what are their strategies?- Will 5G networks rely on C-RAN architecture?- What are the prospects of millimeter wave technology for 5G radio access networking?- What will be the impact of 5G on the M2M and IoT ecosystem?- Will drone and satellite based communication platforms play a wider role in 5G networks?List of Companies Mentioned:The following companies and organizations have been reviewed, discussed or mentioned in the report:- 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project)- 5G Americas- 5G Forum, South Korea- 5G Lab (TU Dresden)- 5G PPP (5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership)- 5GIC (5G Innovation Center, University of Surrey)- 5GMF (Fifth Generation Mobile Communications Promotion Forum, Japan)- 5GRUS- Alcatel-Lucent- Alpental Technologies- America Movil- ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses)- Ascenta- AT&T Mobility- Athena Wireless Communications- ATIS (Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions)- AVC Networks Company- CableLabs- China Mobile- Cisco Systems- Cohere Technologies- DT (Deutsche Telekom)- du (Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company)- Ericsson- Etisalat- ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research)- ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute)- Facebook- Fraunhofer FOKUS- Fraunhofer HHI- Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft- Fujitsu- Future Forum, China- Google- GSMA- Hiroshima University- Huawei- IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)- IMDEA Networks Institute- IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group, China- Intel Corporation- InterDigital- ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute)- ITU (International Telecommunication Union)- KDDI- Keysight Technologies- KT Corporation- Kumu Networks- LG Uplus- MegaFon- Mitsubishi Electric- MOEA (Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan)- Moogsoft- MOST (Ministry of Science & Technology, China)- MOST (Ministry of Science & Technology, Taiwan)- MSIP (Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, South Korea)- MTS (Mobile TeleSystems)- NEC Corporation- New Mexico Spaceport Authority- NGMN (Next Generation Mobile Networks) Alliance- NI (National Instruments)- Nokia- NTT DoCoMo- NYU WIRELESS (New York University)- Ofcom- Optus- Orange- Panasonic- Qualcomm- RF DSP- Rohde & Schwarz- Samsung- SES- SiBEAM- SingTel- SK Telecom- Small Cell Forum- SoftBank- Swisscom- TAICS (Taiwan Association of Information and Communication Standards)- Telecom Italia- Telefonica- TeliaSonera- Telstra- TIA (Telecommunications Industry Association)- Titan Aerospace- T-Mobile USA- Tokyo Institute of Technology- U.S. Department of Commerce- U.S. FCC (Federal Communications Commission)- U.S. NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)- U.S. NSF (National Science Foundation)- UN (United Nations)- University of Kaiserslautern- University of Oulu- Verizon Wireless- Viterbi School of Engineering (University of Southern California)- Vodafone Australia- Vodafone Group- VTT Technical Research Center- WWRF (World Wireless Research Forum)- Xilinx- ZTEMake 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 @
North America Facial Injectables Market By Products Analyzers 2016 - 2024

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The North America facial injectables market is quite monopolistic in nature with one player dominating the overall market dynamics. As of 2016, Allergan Plc., held a share 62.0% in the regional market. The company dominance is a result of the strong brand value of its drugs like Botox & Juvederm. Presently, Botox is leading the market and is expected to retain its stance all throughout 2024.According to the research report, the North America facial injectables market is expected to reach a valuation of US$5.8 bn by the end of 2024 as compared to US$2.1 bn by the end of 2015. Between the forecast years of 2016 and 2024, the global market is expected to rise at a CAGR of 12.0%.Obtain Report Details @U.S. to be Frontrunner in Regional Market with Changing Lifestyles of ConsumersThe overall market has been segmented into the U.S. and Canada on the basis of geography. Out of the two countries, the U.S. is expected to assume the lead in the overall market due to a high demand for botulinum toxins and dermal fillers. Improving lifestyles and growing preference for minimally invasive surgeries are expected to drive the demand for facial injectables across the U.S.In terms of products, the market is segmented into botulinum toxin, hyaluronic acid, collagen, and particle and polymer fillers. Of these, the botulinum toxin segment held a leading share in the global market in 2015 as it is predominantly being used for correcting lines, creases, and wrinkles. Thus, between 2016 and 2024, the botulinum toxin segment is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 12.7%.Synthetic Facial Injectables with Long-lasting Effects Propel DemandDevelopment of synthetic products with polymers and particles has upped the demand for facial injectables across North America. The new products have a longer shelf-life, which prolongs the need to re-treatment. Thus, the widening availability of facial injectables that tend to have permanent effects is driving the demand for products in the overall market. Furthermore, as the frequency of treatment is reduced it has also brought down the cost of facial injectables treatment, thus making it affordable.The market for facial injectables across North America has also been flourishing against the backdrop of growing preference for minimally invasive surgeries. Thus, the growing inclination toward minimally invasive procedures in dermatological applications is expected to drive the overall market. The growing focus on aesthetics and physical attractiveness are proving to be the persuasive factors in the propelling demand for facial injectables in North America. Changing lifestyles, rising disposable incomes, and altering understanding of beauty and attractiveness is encouraging several users to opt for facial injectables that can reverse the signs of aging to restore the youthful glow.Side Effects of Facial Injectables Challenge Market GrowthThe strength of aforementioned market drivers is likely to be challenged by a few restraints in the North America facial injectables market. The possibility of allergic reactions due to the involvement of living organisms and related chemicals and enzymes is anticipated to hamper the growth of the overall market. Furthermore, side-effects such as edema, bleeding, and bruising are also expected to restrain the growth of the regional market. The poor reimbursement policies associated with facial injectables are expected to curb the spending on these expenditures in the near future.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. 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.ContactTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Browse market research blog:
Global Two Way Radio Market 2017 : Motorola, Entel, JVCKENWOOD, Icom, Tait, Sepura, Yaesu

Two Way Radio market

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Global Two Way Radio Market 2016-2017A market study based on the " Two Way Radio Market " across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Two Way Radio Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Two Way Radio industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Two Way Radio market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of Two Way Radio Market -1. Motorola2. Entel3. JVCKENWOOD4. Icom5. Tait6. Sepura7. Yaesu8. Uniden9. Midland10. Cobra11. Barrett12. Danphone13. Hanjin14. Invelco15. Nautel16. Rohde & Schwarz17. Sunair18. Thales19. KENWOOD20. ALINCO21. Vertex StandardThe report studies the industry for Two Way Radio across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Two Way Radio market & dynamics of demand and supply of Two Way Radio into consideration. The ' Two Way Radio ' research study covers each and every aspect of the Two Way Radio market globally, which starts from the definition of the Two Way Radio industry and develops towards Two Way Radio market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Two Way Radio market is classified and analysed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Two Way Radio market. The geographical segmentation of the Two Way Radio industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Two Way Radio is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Two Way Radio market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Two Way Radio market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Two Way Radio market 2017 is also analysed on the basis of product pricing, Two Way Radio production volume, data regarding demand and Two Way Radio supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Two Way Radio across the globe.About Us :Market and Research are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Market and Research, we believe in building long term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals and Materials, Automotive and Aerospace.Contact Us :Market and ResearchUnited States
Global Liquid Level Sensors Market Research 2017 - First Sensor, Deeter Group, Phoenix Sensors, Honeywell, Carlo Gavazzi

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The Report describe Global Liquid Level Sensors Market Introduction, product scope, market overview, opportunities, risk, driving force also to analyze the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue, and price, market type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2017 to 2022.Download Sample Report @SCOPE OF THE REPORT:Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Liquid Level Sensors in these regions, from 2012 to 2022 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesEUChinaJapanSouth KoreaIndiaGlobal Liquid Level Sensors market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingGems Sensors & ControlsFirst SensorDeeter GroupInnovative ComponentsPhoenix SensorsHoneywellCarlo GavazziDwyer InstrumentsEdwards SignalingFlowlineIFM EfectorNCCOmron AutomationOptek (TT Electronics)PanasonicPepperl + FuchsPMT Pressure SensorsRittalSICKSquare DTURCKGet Full Report With TOC @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoContact Liquid Level SensorsNon-contact Liquid Level SensorsOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, consumption (sales), market share and growth rate of Liquid Level Sensors for each application, includingIndustrial ManufacturingMachinery & EquipmentEnvironmentOtherIf you have any special requirements, please let us know and we will offer you the report as you want.Read more post:ABOUT USFior 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 ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:Blog:
Global Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017

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SummaryThe Global Automotive Filters Industry 2017 Market Research Report is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the Automotive Filters industry.Firstly, the report provides a basic overview of the industry including definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain structure. The Automotive Filters market analysis is provided for the international market including development history, competitive landscape analysis, and major regions development status.Secondly, development policies and plans are discussed as well as manufacturing processes and cost structures. This report also states import/export, supply and consumption figures as well as cost, price, revenue and gross margin by regions (United States, EU, China and Japan), and other regions can be added.Then, the report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specification, capacity, production, price, cost, revenue and contact information. Upstream raw materials, equipment and downstream consumers analysis is also carried out. Whats more, the Automotive Filters industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Finally, the feasibility of new investment projects is assessed, and overall research conclusions are offered.In a word, the report provides major statistics on the state of the industry and is a valuable source of guidance and direction for companies and individuals interested in the market.Ask a sample or any question, please email to:hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comThe players list(Partly, Players you are interested can also be added):Sogefi SpAMahle GmbHMann+Hummel GmbHA.L. FilterRobert Bosch GmbHDonaldsonNorth American Filter CorporationFildex Filters Canada CorporationK&N EngineeringFiltrak BrandT GmbHLuman Automotive SystemsALCO FiltersSiam Filter ProductsToyota BoshokuYBM GroupPhoenixBaowangUniverse FilterFreudenbergKey Topics Covered:Chapter One Industry Overview of Automotive FiltersChapter Two Manufacturing Cost Structure Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Three Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Four Capacity, Production and Revenue Analysis of Automotive Filters by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Five Price, Cost, Gross and Gross Margin Analysis of Automotive Filters by Regions, Types and ManufacturersChapter Six Consumption Volume, Consumption Value and Sale Price Analysis of Automotive Filters by Regions, Types and ApplicationsChapter Seven Supply, Import, Export and Consumption Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Eight Major Manufacturers Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Nine Marketing Trader or Distributor Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Ten Industry Chain Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Eleven Development Trend of Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Twelve New Project Investment Feasibility Analysis of Automotive FiltersChapter Thirteen Conclusion of the Global Automotive Filters Industry 2017 Market Research ReportRelated Reports:US Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017Europe Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017India Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017China Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017Korea Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017Japan Automotive Filters Industry Market Research Report 2017If you need a report or have any question, please feel free to contact meHebe | Sr. Manager  Global SalesProfessional Market Research Report PublisherQYResearch Co.LtdQYResearch focus on Market Survey and ResearchPhone: +86 20 2209 3278Email: hebe@qyresearchglobal.com or hebe@qyresearch.comWeb:About QYResearchQYResearch established in 2007, focus on custom research, management consulting, IPO consulting, industry chain research, database and seminar services. the company owned a large basic database (such as National Bureau of statistics database, Customs import and export database, Industry Association Database etc), experts resources (included energy automotive chemical medical ICT consumer goods etc industries experts who own more than 10 years experiences on marketing or R&D), professional survey team (the team member with more than 3 years market survey experience and more than 2 years depth expert interview experience),Excellent data analysis team (SPSS statistics and PPT graphics process team); QYResearch has always pursuit product quality, adhere to the quality is the soul of business. Through the companys years of effort and a lot of customer support, QYResearch consulting group creative design method of many high-quality markets investigation and research team with rich experience. Today, QYResearch brand has become the consulting industry with quality assurance consulting brand. The company has 2500 global well-known customers, covering energy automobile pharmaceutical chemical agriculture more than 30 industries, services from the data analysis and recommendations-Consulting landing one-stop solution, and research regions cover China,US,EU,Asia,Middle East and Africa,South America,Australia,etc Global all regions,and also built research or marketing center in China USA UK France Hongkong etc regions. currently, QYResearch has become the first choice and worth trusted consulting brand in Global and China business consulting services.Media ContactCompany Name: QYResearch CO.,LIMITEDContact Person: HebeEmail: hebe@qyresearchglobal.comPhone: +86-20 2209 3278Address: Room 2311 VILI International Building No.167 Linhe West Road Tianhe DistrictCity: GuangzhouCountry: ChinaWebsite:(US) |(EU)
#NZ murder suspect Court OKs extradition of 'suitcase' murder suspect to New Zealand A Seoul court on Friday approved the extradition of a woman believed to be the mother of two children whose bodies were found in suitcases in New Zealand in August. The Seoul H...

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Global Soya Fatty Acid Sales Market 2017 Major Players - Arizona Chemicals, BASF, Nissin Chemical, Croda, Behn-Meyer, Oleon

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The reports analysis is based on technical data and industry figures sourced from the most reputable databases. Other aspects that will prove especially beneficial to readers of the report are: investment feasibility analysis, recommendations for growth, investment return analysis, trends analysis, opportunity analysis, and SWOT analyses of competing companies. With the help of inputs and insights from technical and marketing experts, the report presents an objective assessment of the Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales market.Download Free Sample Report @To begin with, the report defines the Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales market and segments it based on the most important dynamics, such as applications, geographical/regional markets, and competitive scenario. Macroeconomic and microeconomic factors environments that currently prevail and also those that are projected to emerge are covered in this report.The report determines the leading players in the global market. The company profiles of the major participants operating in the global Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales market have been reviewed in this study.This report also presents product specification, manufacturing process, and product cost structure etc. Production is separated by regions, technology and applications. Analysis also covers upstream raw materials, equipment, Downstream client survey, Marketing channels, Industry development trend and proposals. In the end, the report includes Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales new project SWOT analysis, Investment feasibility analysis, Investment return analysis, and Development trend analysis. In conclusion, it is a deep research report on Global Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales industry. Here, we express our thanks for the support and assistance from Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales industry chain related technical experts and marketing engineers during Research Teams survey and interviews.Access Full Report @Other important aspects that have been meticulously studied in the Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales market report are: Demand and supply dynamics, import and export scenario, industry processes and cost structures, and major R&D initiatives. The new opportunities they present to market players have been mentioned in the report. A detailed segmentation evaluation of the Solution Polymerized Styrene-Butadiene Rubber (SSBR) Sales market has been provided in the report.Get more reports :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.Contact UsMark StoneSales ManagerOffice-108, Sanskriti AspirationsBaner Road, Pune,MH 411045IndiaPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
2017-2021: Cement Additives Market and Global Industry Expected to Grow with a Strong CAGR

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Global Cement Additives Market Research Report provides information on Products, Services, Trends, Top Companies, Verticals, Countries, Material, Application, and Geography globally. This report will help the viewer in Better Decision Making ,offers by OrbisResearch.comCement Additives Report by Material, Application, and Geography  Global Forecast to 2021 is a professional and in-depth research report on the world's major regional market conditions, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific) and the main countries (United States, Germany, united Kingdom, Japan, South Korea and China).The report firstly introduced the Cement Additives basics: definitions, classifications, applications and market overview; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures, raw materials and so on. Then it analyzed the world's main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, supply, demand and market growth rate and forecast etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.Request a sample of Global Cement Additives Market Research Report @The report includes six parts, dealing with: Basic information The Asia Cement Additives Market The North American Cement Additives Market The European Cement Additives Market Market entry and investment feasibility The report conclusionBrowse the full Global Cement Additives Industry Research Report @Some of the points from table of content:Part I Cement Additives Industry OverviewChapter One Cement Additives Industry Overview1.1 Cement Additives Definition1.2 Cement Additives Classification Analysis1.2.1 Cement Additives Main Classification Analysis1.2.2 Cement Additives Main Classification Share Analysis1.3 Cement Additives Application Analysis1.3.1 Cement Additives Main Application Analysis1.3.2 Cement Additives Main Application Share Analysis1.4 Cement Additives Industry Chain Structure Analysis1.5 Cement Additives Industry Development Overview1.5.1 Cement Additives Product History Development Overview1.5.1 Cement Additives Product Market Development Overview1.6 Cement Additives Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.1 Cement Additives Global Import Market Analysis1.6.2 Cement Additives Global Export Market Analysis1.6.3 Cement Additives Global Main Region Market Analysis1.6.4 Cement Additives Global Market Comparison Analysis1.6.5 Cement Additives Global Market Development Trend AnalysisChapter Two Cement Additives Up and Down Stream Industry Analysis2.1 Upstream Raw Materials Analysis2.1.1 Upstream Raw Materials Price Analysis2.1.2 Upstream Raw Materials Market Analysis2.1.3 Upstream Raw Materials Market Trend2.2 Down Stream Market Analysis2.1.1 Down Stream Market Analysis2.2.2 Down Stream Demand Analysis2.2.3 Down Stream Market Trend AnalysisPart II Asia Cement Additives Industry (The Report Company Including the Below Listed But Not All)Chapter Three Asia Cement Additives Market Analysis3.1 Asia Cement Additives Product Development History3.2 Asia Cement Additives Competitive Landscape Analysis3.3 Asia Cement Additives Market Development TrendChapter Four 2012-2017 Asia Cement Additives Productions Supply Sales Demand Market Status and Forecast4.1 2012-2017 Cement Additives Capacity Production Overview4.2 2012-2017 Cement Additives Production Market Share Analysis4.3 2012-2017 Cement Additives Demand Overview4.4 2012-2017 Cement Additives Supply Demand and Shortage4.5 2012-2017 Cement Additives Import Export Consumption4.6 2012-2017 Cement Additives Cost Price Production Value Gross MarginThe Report Contains: 167 Pages.Make an enquire of this report @About Us:Orbis Research (orbisresearch.com) is a single point aid for all your market research requirements. We have vast database of reports from the leading publishers and authors across the globe. We specialize in delivering customized reports as per the requirements of our clients. We have complete information about our publishers and hence are sure about the accuracy of the industries and verticals of their specialization. This helps our clients to map their needs and we produce the perfect required market research study for our clients.Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas - 75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +912064101019
Global Three-Phase Transformers Market 2017 : Siemens, ABB, Eaton, Powertronix, SNC Manufacturing

Three-Phase Transformers market

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Global Three-Phase Transformers Market 2016-2017A market study based on the " Three-Phase Transformers Market " across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Three-Phase Transformers Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Three-Phase Transformers industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Three-Phase Transformers market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of Three-Phase Transformers Market -1. Siemens2. ABB3. Eaton4. Powertronix5. SNC Manufacturing6. Mitsubishi Electric7. Delta Transformers8. Hitachi9. Areva10. Moloney Electric11. Estel Company12. Shanghai Xishun Electric13. Guangdong NRE Technology14. Houston Transformer15. Tsuruta ElectricThe report studies the industry for Three-Phase Transformers across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Three-Phase Transformers market & dynamics of demand and supply of Three-Phase Transformers into consideration. The ' Three-Phase Transformers ' research study covers each and every aspect of the Three-Phase Transformers market globally, which starts from the definition of the Three-Phase Transformers industry and develops towards Three-Phase Transformers market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Three-Phase Transformers market is classified and analysed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Three-Phase Transformers market. The geographical segmentation of the Three-Phase Transformers industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Three-Phase Transformers is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Three-Phase Transformers market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Three-Phase Transformers market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Three-Phase Transformers market 2017 is also analysed on the basis of product pricing, Three-Phase Transformers production volume, data regarding demand and Three-Phase Transformers supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Three-Phase Transformers across the globe.About Us :Market and Research are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Market and Research, we believe in building long term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries including Energy, Chemicals and Materials, Automotive and Aerospace.Contact Us :Market and ResearchUnited States
Exhaust Sensors Market led to increased health & environmental concerns

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One of the most critical issues for governments around the world is Automobile Pollution. Nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide are the major gasses that are causing the air pollution. This has led to increased health and environmental concerns. Significant technological research and development is being done for reducing emissions of nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide. This has led to the use of exhaust sensors to control and monitor emissions from vehicles. Almost all types of automobiles from HCVs to passenger cars use exhaust sensors. O2 sensors are most widely used automobile sensors. Global market for exhaust sensors is highly fragmented due to established manufacturers and a number of medium and small enterprises. Many existing vendors are inclined towards merger and acquisition in the exhaust sensors market to expand. For example, Antaya Technologies acquired by Delphi Automotive in 2014 for increasing business operations in markets.Increasing use of diesel engine vehicles is the key driver for the growth of exhaust sensors market as diesel engines release more particulate matter than gasoline engines. This has a negative impact on health of people and environment leading to increasing demand for exhaust sensors, diesel particulate filters, and exhaust gas recirculation. Low cost and efficiency of diesel are the factors which are increasing sales of diesel automobiles across the world. Another major driver for the exhaust sensors market is the government regulations on emission. Growing auto sales due to increased automobile sales is another factor leading to growth of exhaust sensors market. Rise in electronic content in automobiles is also driving the growth of exhaust sensors market.Make an Enquiry @Increasing trend of IC miniaturization is one of the factors augmenting the growth of exhaust sensors market. Deployment of safety systems like ADAS (advanced driver assistance systems) and AEB (auto emergency braking) will lead to the growth of the exhaust sensors market. Increasing use of microelectromechanical system (MEMS) is also leading to increase in exhaust sensors in market. Increasing demand for commercial vehicles will boost the exhaust sensor market. However rise in use of electric vehicles will limit the market growth.Exhaust sensors market can be segmented based on type (O2 sensors, NOX sensors, particulate matter sensors, differential pressure sensors), vehicle type (passenger and commercial), and by geography. An oxygen sensor measures amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas, a good indication of combustion efficiency of engine and perfect ratio of fuel and air (also called stoichiometric ratio). Too much of oxygen in exhaust gas (indicating lean mixture) produces more nitrogen oxide leading to poor performance, misfire, and engine damage. Too little of oxygen (indicating rich mixture) wastes fuel and hence reduces economy. The oxygen sensors are located before catalytic converters in the exhaust manifolds. Previously only one oxygen sensor was fitted to monitor air and fuel mixture but now four or more oxygen sensors are integrated to check the converters efficiency.APAC is the largest market for exhaust sensors. Economic growth in countries like India and China is increasing demand for passenger cars which is further attracting automobile manufacturers to invest in technology hence increasing the demand for exhaust sensors. Emission regulations are more stringent in Europe and America than China and India but due to increasing concerns for environment pollution strict emission exhaust sensors market will be augmented. Second largest exhaust sensors market is North America. Europe and North America markets have already matured for exhaust sensors. UK, Germany, and France are the main contributors in Europe market.Browse The Report :Key vendors in the market include Continental, Delphi Automotive, Denso, Hitachi Automotive Systems, Robert Bosch, and Sensata Technologies. Other important vendors include Broadcom, ABB, Emerson Process Management, Analog devices, NGK Spark Plug, Faurecia, and Tenneco.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.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global School Bus Market 2017 - Trans Tech, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, Alexander Dennis, Scania, Iveco, Ford

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The report focuses on global major leading industry players with information such as company profiles, product picture and specifications, sales, market share and contact information. Whats more, the School Bus industry development trends and marketing channels are analyzed.Request For Sample Report @The report, titled School Bus is an in-depth analysis of the School Bus market across the world. A brief historic overview of the School Bus market has been mentioned in the report, followed by the present scenario of the market. The report analyses the size of the market and forecasts the valuation and the growth rate of the market in the span of next couple of years. Key drivers and restraints of the overall market has been pointed out. The report cites the various opportunities to favor the growth of the School Bus market during the forecast period. It also indicates the key market trends shaping up the market.The School Bus market has certain distinct aspects. The report throws light on each of these aspects and studies the various segments of the market in detail. The growth of each of the market segments during the forecast horizon has been analyzed in the report. The present state of the Chinese economy has lowered the demand from every market. The report discusses the impact of the various initiatives taken by the government in China to revive the economy and how this would impact the demand from School Bus market in the nation. The report also takes note of the various micro- and macro-economic factors governing the overall market in rest of the world.Access Full Report With TOC @Discussing about the key players operating in the School Bus market, the report provides crucial information about them. The School Bus market has become very competitive worldwide. The report profiles the key players and analyzes their growth in the next couple of years. The report serves as a useful tool for enterprises looking out to invest in projects in the School Bus market.Various analytical tools are applied in the analysis on the School Bus market to achieve an accurate understanding of the market players into the potential development of this market. These tools include feasibility analysis, investment return analyses, as well as SWOT analysis of the major market players.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 ManagerPhone: (201) 465-4211Email: sales@fiormarkets.comWeb:Blog:
Global Intelligent Robot Mowers Market - Bosch, Deere & Compan, Honda Motor Europe, iRobot & The Toro Company

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The Market Research Store report offers majority of the latest and newest industry data that covers the overall market situation along with future prospects for Intelligent Robot Mowers market around the globe. The research study includes significant data and also forecasts of the global market which makes the research report a helpful resource for marketing people, analysts, industry executives, consultants, sales and product managers, and other people who are in need of major industry data in a ready-to-access format along with clear presentation of graphs and tables.The report comprises the current size of the Intelligent Robot Mowers market. It also provides with different types of product segments of the global market. Furthermore, the Intelligent Robot Mowers market research report gives an in-depth information about the overall market and various product segments and their growth trends. The future market forecasts about the global Intelligent Robot Mowers market are also covered in the research report. In addition, the overall market potential is further described in the report along with different countries around the globe.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The latest and the newest trends of the Intelligent Robot Mowers industry are also included in this report. Moreover, overall global market size, the market size by product segment, growth rates of the global market along with and different product segments of the market, and various product segments with their value and volumes evaluation are also included in the research report.The Market Research Store report offers the global market potential rates of the Intelligent Robot Mowers market along with various product segments. The research report provides an overview of the current market situation, historic development, and future outlook of the Intelligent Robot Mowers market. It also tracks the industry developments trends and identifies the global market opportunities. The report helps to plan and develop precise marketing, market expansion, market-entry, and other business strategies through identifying the major market prospects and opportunities.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The data in the report is clearly presented which can be easily integrated into presentations and internal reports.MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
Gas Hydrates Market Size, Analysis, and Forecast Report 2016-2026

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Gas hydrates are also known as methane hydrates and are cage-structured lattices of water molecules which contains methane, the foremost component of natural gas. Gas hydrates are crystalline, naturally occurring, ice-like substances which is poised of gas particles bonded in a cage-like arrangement. Gas hydrates are a rigorous arrangement of natural gas but are less concerted as compared to liquefied natural gas. Gas hydrates occur in beneath of the sediment outer continental margins in foremost regions of Siberia and Alaska. Gas hydrates occur in a modes of occurrence and varied range of geologic settings. These regions include host lithology, gas hydrate in abundance, and distribution inside the burial depth, sediment matrix, water depth, and several others. The key regulatory factor on where gas hydrate forms is availability of methane and lithology.Gas Hydrates Market: Drivers & RestraintsThe major factors driving the growth of gas hydrates market are growing demand of oil and gas across the world, gas hydrates end-user adaptability. Moreover, the market is seen as an opportunity in gas sector as most of the major gas & oil players across the world are doing an advanced research to drive methods for extraction of gas hydrates from ocean. Although, recently India and Japan, are launching aspiring projects to examine the feasibility of gas hydrates. These initiative projects from major countries will help to answer significant questions on the properties of the design of the production system, the host reservoir, and, the economics and costs of hydrate recovery. The geological survey performed by U.S. has a dynamic research program to certificate the geographic factors to measure the volume of gas stored gas hydrate accumulations in U.S and that regulate the occurrence of gas hydrates. The factor restraining the growth of gas hydrates market is climate warming, as enormous volumes of methane are stowed across the globe in the sea floor in the form of solid methane hydrates. Gas hydrates signify an abundant energy reserve for the world. But on other hand it cause climate warming, however, could cause the hydrates to unsettle. The gas hydrates is a greenhouse gas, which can emit without any usage into the atmosphere and also can quicken the climate change.Request Report Sample@Gas Hydrates Market: Market SegmentationThe gas hydrates market is segmented into four parts based on the product type, application type, distribution channels, and geography.Based on the type the gas hydrates market is segmented into:Onshore gas hydratesOffshore/ Marine gas hydratesBased on the application type the gas hydrates market is segmented into:VehicleCommercialIndustrialOthersGas hydrates Market: Regional OutlookRegarding geography, gas hydrates market has been categorized into five key regions including North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, APEJ, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa. Gas hydrates market is expected to register healthy CAGR during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific represents the significantly high market share and grow with comparatively high CAGR in forecast period. North America is experiencing the rapid increase in the production capacity of gas hydrates as demand for oil and gas in the region is rising at faster pace. The gas hydrates market is projected to register healthy growth in coming five years due rising consumption of gas hydrates across globe in future. Gas hydrates market for Asia Pacific is also expected to witness rapid growth during the forecast period primarily attributed to the growth of oil and gas industry, especially in China and India.Request For TOC@Gas Hydrates Market: Key PlayersSome of the key players in the upcoming prominent gas hydrates market are:-Global Oil & Gas AGPetroChinaRoyal Dutch ShellSinopecTotal SAValero EnergyOthersABOUT US:Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver syndicated research reports, custom research reports and consulting services, which are personalized in nature. FMI delivers a complete packaged solution, which combines current market intelligence, statistical anecdotes, technology inputs, valuable growth insights, an aerial view of the competitive framework, and future market trends.CONTACT:Future Market Insights616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comPress: press@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Shower Enclosures Market 2017 : Jaquar, Fleurco, Ritec, Holcam, Roda, Korraware

Shower Enclosures

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A market study based on the "Shower Enclosures Market" across the globe, recently added to the repository of Market Research, is titled Global Shower Enclosures Market 2017. The research report analyses the historical as well as present performance of the worldwide Shower Enclosures industry, and makes predictions on the future status of Shower Enclosures market on the basis of this analysis.Get Free Sample Copy of Report Here :Top Manufacturers Analysis Of This Research ReportJaquarKohlerPorcelanosaAmerican Shower Door CorporationLakes BathroomsFleurcoRitecHolcamRodaKorrawareCardinal Shower EnclosuresThe report studies the industry for Shower Enclosures across the globe taking the existing industry chain, the import and export statistics in Shower Enclosures market & dynamics of demand and supply of Shower Enclosures into consideration. The 'Shower Enclosures' research study covers each and every aspect of the Shower Enclosures market globally, which starts from the definition of the Shower Enclosures industry and develops towards Shower Enclosures market segmentations. Further, every segment of the Shower Enclosures market is classified and analyzed on the basis of product types, application, and the end-use industries of the Shower Enclosures market. The geographical segmentation of the Shower Enclosures industry has also been covered at length in this report.The competitive landscape of the worldwide market for Shower Enclosures is determined by evaluating the various industry participants, production capacity, Shower Enclosures market's production chain, and the revenue generated by each manufacturer in the Shower Enclosures market worldwide.Enquire Here :The global Shower Enclosures market 2017 is also analyzed on the basis of product pricing, Shower Enclosures production volume, data regarding demand and Shower Enclosures supply, and the revenue garnered by the product. Various methodical tools such as investment returns, feasibility, and market attractiveness analysis has been used in the research to present a comprehensive study of the industry for Shower Enclosures across the globe.About Us :Worldwide Business are a trusted brand in the research industry with capability of commissioning complex projects within a short span of time with high level of accuracy. At Worldwide Business, we believe in building long term relations with our clients. Our services cover a broad spectrum of industries such as Automotive and Aerospace, Medical Devices, Technology, Machinery & Manufacturing.Contact Us :Worldwide BusinessUnited States
Need for Advanced Battlefield Surveillance Radar Systems and Technology Market 2017-2021

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"The Report Global Radar Systems and Technology Market 2017-2021 provides information on pricing, market analysis, shares, forecast, and company profiles for key industry participants. - MarketResearchReports.biz"About Radar Systems and TechnologyRadars form a vital component of the overall C4ISR architecture. They are used to detect distant objects and track targets through the transmission of radio waves in the direction of the target. These waves get reflected and are analyzed by the receiver to determine the properties of the object. The information includes the range and position of the object. In general, they assist in determining the target range, angles, size, speed, and features. They can be used to detect aircraft, ships, missiles, military land vehicles, or any such desired target. Military radars are primarily used for security and surveillance applications (airborne, maritime, and land-based applications) to monitor a wide range of targets.Technavios analysts forecast the global radar systems and technology market to grow at a CAGR of 4.05% during the period 2017-2021.Get Sample Copy Of this Report @Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global radar systems and technology market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the include/exclude new installations/shipments/sales/volume/value and retrofit/replacement/spares/aftermarket/services market.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEATechnavio's report, Global Radar Systems and Technology 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 vendorsBAE SystemsLockheed MartinNorthrop GrummanRaytheonThales GroupView Report @Other prominent vendorsGeneral DynamicsLeonardoReutech Radar SystemsSaabMarket driverNeed for advanced battlefield surveillance radarFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeHigh cost of space-based radarsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendAdvent of advanced airborne radarFor 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?You can request one free hour of our analysts time when you purchase this market report. Details are provided within the report.About usMarketResearchReports.biz is the most comprehensive collection of market research reports. MarketResearchReports.Biz services are specially designed to save time and money for our clients. We are a one stop solution for all your research needs, our main offerings are syndicated research reports, custom research, subscription access and consulting services. We serve all sizes and types of companies spanning across various industries.ContactMr. NachiketState Tower90 Sate Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074Website:E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Global Cooling Fabrics Market- Formosa Taffeta Co., Ltd. (FTC), Tex-Ray Industrial Co., Ltd., Nan Ya Plastics & Coolcore LLC

Cooling Fabrics

http://www.marketresearchstore.com/report/global-cooling-fabrics-market-professional-survey-report-2017-136001

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The Market Research Store report offers majority of the latest and newest industry data that covers the overall market situation along with future prospects for Cooling Fabrics market around the globe. The research study includes significant data and also forecasts of the global market which makes the research report a helpful resource for marketing people, analysts, industry executives, consultants, sales and product managers, and other people who are in need of major industry data in a ready-to-access format along with clear presentation of graphs and tables.The report comprises the current size of the Cooling Fabrics market. It also provides with different types of product segments of the global market. Furthermore, the Cooling Fabrics market research report gives an in-depth information about the overall market and various product segments and their growth trends. The future market forecasts about the global Cooling Fabrics market are also covered in the research report. In addition, the overall market potential is further described in the report along with different countries around the globe.Browse Complete Report with TOC @The latest and the newest trends of the Cooling Fabrics industry are also included in this report. Moreover, overall global market size, the market size by product segment, growth rates of the global market along with and different product segments of the market, and various product segments with their value and volumes evaluation are also included in the research report.The Market Research Store report offers the global market potential rates of the Cooling Fabrics market along with various product segments. The research report provides an overview of the current market situation, historic development, and future outlook of the Cooling Fabrics market. It also tracks the industry developments trends and identifies the global market opportunities. The report helps to plan and develop precise marketing, market expansion, market-entry, and other business strategies through identifying the major market prospects and opportunities.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The data in the report is clearly presented which can be easily integrated into presentations and internal reports.MarketResearchStore.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We feature large repository of latest industry reports, leading and niche company profiles, and market statistics released by reputed private publishers and public organizations.Joel JohnSuite #8138, 3422 SW 15 Street,Deerfield Beach, Florida 33442United StatesToll Free: +1-855-465-4651 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-386-310-3803
Corrugated Boxes Market Growth Analysis 2017 Rengo, SCA, Oji

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This report studies the Corrugated Boxes market, Corrugated box is the use of hollow structure of the corrugated cardboard, through the molding process made of packaging containers.Sample Copy of Report @Market Segment by Manufacturers:-International PaperWestRock (RockTenn)Smurfit Kappa GroupRengoSCAGeorgia-PacificMondi GroupInland PaperOjiCascadesAlliabox International (Alliance)DS SmithPackaging Corporation of AmericaBingxin PaperSAICAShanying PaperRossmannBBP (Alliance)YFYCheng Loong CorpStora EnsoTHIMMHexing PackingEuropac GroupLong Chen PaperKapStoneSalfo GroupCome Sure GroupJingxing PaperPMPGCJingxing PaperShengda GroupNine Dragons PaperJinlong PaperBrowse Report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Corrugated Boxes in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversSingle CorrugatedDouble CorrugatedTriple CorrugatedMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoFood & BeverageElectronics & Home ApplianceConsumer GoodPharmaceutical IndustryOtherThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Corrugated Boxes market.Chapter 1, to describe Corrugated Boxes Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Corrugated Boxes, with sales, revenue, and price of Corrugated Boxes, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Corrugated Boxes, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Corrugated Boxes market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Corrugated Boxes sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceAbout Us:1MarkerResearch is a top provider and consulting services and leading marketIntelligence Company that sells reports of top publishers in the technologyindustry.Contact Us:1MarketResearch304, S. Jones Blvd, #3299,Las Vegas, NV - 89107USA : +1 702-425-8599Email : Sales@1MarketResearch.comWeb :
Rubber Anti-Tack Agents Market Will Generate New Growth Opportunities by 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/rubber-anti-tack-agents-market

Rubber Anti-Tack Agents Market:OverviewThe global rubber anti-tack agents market share is moderately consolidated. Players in the market are experiencing intense competition in the recent past on account of the extensive presence of major fatty acids production facilities. This is especially true for North America and Asia Pacific where many key production facilities for fatty acid esters are present. Players in the market have entered into partnerships and collaborations with suppliers of raw materials present in Asia Pacific, with an aim to procure the raw materials at low cost. This strategy is adopted by many producers. In addition to this, players have also invested in production facilities in various regions so as to cater to the demands of the end user industries in Asia Pacific. Another strategy which is adopted by industry players operating in the global rubber anti-tack agents market is the development of new products by taking advantage of technological advancements. This is helping players to increase their profitability.The robust growth in the automotive industry and increasing modifications in rubber processing are two major drivers, which will boost the growth of the global rubber anti-tack agents market in the period from 2017 to 2025. The rubber anti-tack agents market in Asia Pacific is expected to lead in the coming years. The region, more specifically Indonesia, China, India, and Malaysia is expected to account for over half of the total volume. The flourishing automotive industry, fueled by the increasing disposable income and growing population is the main factor boosting the Asia Pacific rubber anti-tack agents market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Global Rubber Anti-Tack Agents Market: Brief DescriptionThe self-adhesive characteristic of rubber hinders several purposes that it is used for, and therefore the need for anti-tack agents that can be applied on products in a form of thin layer and achieve the desired durable product. As rubber remains as an essential material for several sectors such as packaging and automobile, the demand in the global rubber anti-tack agents market is expected to remain constantly progressive with a healthy CAGR during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.This report on the global market for rubber anti-tack agents is a comprehensive analysis of all the crucial factors that are expected to influence the market over the course of next few years. Some of the key trends of the market have also been highlighted and explored in order to adjudge their near and far implications. Another key feature of the report is the company profile section, wherein several prominent vendors have been analyzed for their market share, geographical outreach, product portfolio, and latest strategic developments. The global rubber anti-tack agents market can be segmented on the basis of product, into fatty acid esters, fatty acid amides, stearates, soaps, silicone polymers, and others. Geographically, the report studies the opportunities available in the regional markets of Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, and Rest of the World.Request TOC of the Report @Global Rubber Anti-Tack Agents Market: Influential FactorsWith growing population across the globe, and increasing disposable income among the urban community, the demand for automobile is at an all-time peak and consequently, the demand for rubber anti-tack agents is escalating, which is used in tire manufacturing. Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) is now increasingly used in the tire industry for its property to offer abrasion resistance. Additionally, the modifications in rubber processing has helped the players improve efficiency of the production to meet the incremented demand. In the medical and industrial sector, anti-tack agents are also used to remove the cohesive property of rubber products. Nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) is now increasingly used to manufacture gloves that prevent transmission of viruses. Moreover, stearic acid is an important feedstock stearate production, which is commonly present in vegetable and animal oils and fats. Certain stearates such as lead and zinc, which are primarily used in PVC processing, are put under severe environmental regulations and hence the demand is decreasing. This factor is expected to hinder the growth rate during the forecast period.Global Rubber Anti-Tack Agents Market: Regional OutlookNorth America serves the maximum demand for anti-tack agents, primarily driven by the country-wide market of the U.S, owing to factors such as growing awareness pertaining to hygiene by restricting bacteria and virus transmission in the healthcare sector. Growing aging population in the country is also extending the demand for nitrile gloves. Asia Pacific, which resides vast populations, is anticipated to extend the demand at the most robust rate among all regions, gaining from countries such as India, China, and Malaysia wherein automotive industry is thriving. Malaysia is the most prominent rubber manufacturers globally.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Companies mentioned in this research reportBaerlocher, Schill + Seilacher, Evonik, H.L. Blachford, and the Hallstar Company are some of the key companies who hold significant share of the market while Croda International, Lion Specialty Chemicals, King Industries, Peter Greven GmbH, FACI SPA, SASCO Chemical Group, Stephenson Alkon Solutions, and McLube are some of the other notable players. The nature of competition is moderately concentrated and several partnerships and collaborations are underway, or expected during the forecast period, which will somewhat change the market scenario.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Stationary Catalytic Systems Market - Dynamics, Segments and Supply Demand 2017 - 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/stationary-catalytic-systems-market

Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: SnapshotThe players operating in the global stationary catalytic systems market are anticipated to leverage on the heightened demand for steel. Moreover, players will also bank on the increased purchasing power of the construction and automotive industries. In the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, metal, petrochemicals, and chemical applications are predicted to gain great focus. This is especially true for emerging economies as these countries are witnessing a surge in the construction and infrastructure activities over the past few years, and shall continue to do so. The growing demand for oxidation catalysts for annihilating carbon emissions, volatile organic compounds, and formaldehyde from gas turbine power generators is expected to push the growth of the global stationary catalytic systems market during the forecast period.The rise in industrialization is another major reason behind the growth of this market. In addition to this, the high requirement for power and the rapid increase in population will also drive the growth prospects of the global stationary catalytic systems market in the years to come. Power is in high demand from the commercial, residential, as well as the industrial sector and is expected to accelerate the growth of the stationary catalytic systems market.Request Sample Copy of the Report @Stationary catalytic systems find applications in manufacturing, refining, cement, and food sectors, among others. The growth in the food, cement, or manufacturing industry is therefore, directly aiding the global stationary catalytic systems market. Growing infrastructure developments in emerging economies will propel the petrochemicals and chemicals sector in the coming years.Global Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: Inclusive InsightsStationary catalytic systems help in reducing the harmful emissions such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides from power-plants as well as petro-chemical and other manufacturing industries. Besides destroying carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons with oxidation catalysts, these stationary catalytic systems can also capture fine particulate matter and are are built to withstand high operating temperatures or thermal shock. With the growing environmental concerns across the world, global stationary systems market is projected for a healthy growth rate during the forecast period of 2017 to 2025.Request TOC of the Report @This report on global market for stationary systems market is a comprehensive analysis of all the factors that are expected to impact the growth rate over the course of next few years, and presents estimations of the future scenario. Considering stringent guidelines set by several governments as a primary factor of this market, the report highlights some of the important regulations in place in various countries. One of the key feature of this report is the section on company profiles wherein some of the key players in this market have been analyzed for their market share, regional outreach, product portfolio, and recent strategic developments. The global stationary catalytic systems market can be segmented on the basis of technology into selective catalytic reduction and catalytic oxidation, and on the basis of application into power plants, chemical and petrochemicals, cement, and metal.Global Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: Drivers, Restraints, and OpportunitiesRegulations pertaining to GHG emission, which are getting stricter every passing year due to growing environmental concerns, is the primary driver for the market. For instance, in the U.S., regulations such as National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) is in place for industries to follow in order to reduce industrial pollutant emissions. Coal fired boiler replacement program in China is another recent development that will positively reflect on global stationary catalytic systems market. China, a country with vast population and landscapes, retrofitted 400,000 MW of existing coal-fired boilers with selective catalytic reduction in 2012. With an average life of 3 to 5 years, the country-wide market of china is expected to generate fresh demand for stationary catalytic systems during the forecast period. Some of the other factors complementing the growth rate are expanding adoption of oxidation catalysts to control pollutant emission from gas turbine power generators, varied application of catalytic incineration process at refining, chemical, metal, and food and beverage industry in Asia Pacific, escalating demand for electricity with growing population, and rapid industrialization.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@The report detects that selective catalytic reduction segment has the maximum demand in terms of product segment while application-wise, power plant stationary catalytic systems dominate owing to electricity demand from the commercial, industrial, and residential sector.Global Stationary Catalytic Systems Market: Regional OverviewCountry-wide markets of China and India make Asia Pacific the most lucrative region, and with growing number of power plants, the region is anticipated to remain highly profitable through-out the forecast period. Government of India has set aside a budget of US$44 bn for the development of 35,000 km road across the country, which will augment the demand for stationary catalytic systems. France generates maximum demand from Europe market while Canada dominates North America market. Canadian government has pledged an investment of US$11.9 bn for the improvements of social infrastructure that is in sync with environment.Companies mentioned in the reportDCL International Inc., Johnson Matthey, BASF, CORMETECH, Amec Foster Wheeler, Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, MECA, APC technologies, Ducon Technologies, Air Clean LLC, and Hamon Corporation are some of the prominent names in global stationary catalytic systems market.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Telecom Cloud Market : Volume, Price, Demand & Supply, Market Share, Analysis & Forecast to 2025

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https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=T&rep_id=722

https://www.tmrresearch.com/telecom-cloud-market

Telecom Cloud Market:SnapshotThe global telecom cloud market is likely to make steady progress in the coming years due primarily to the rapid expansion of the telecom sector in developing regions such as Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Rapid urbanization in dynamic economies has led to a mounting need for communication protocol that can keep up with the ever-changing environment, lending the telecom cloud market a major boost. The massive consumer demographic in these developing regions is a major driver for the global telecom cloud market, as exponential growth of the telecom sector is likely in highly populous and economically progressive countries such as India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, and Mexico.The increasingly congested telecom sector in developing countries is a promising field for the cloud sector, as the use of advanced technologies such as telecom cloud is likely to remain an important factor in the race for a competitive edge in the telecom market. In populous countries such as India and China, in particular, the ability of a telecom operator to cleverly utilize cloud technology to maximize their benefits could play a vital role.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The rising smartphone ownership in leading Asia Pacific economies is a key factor the telecom cloud market. In countries such as India, China, and most other Southeast Asian countries, access to the Internet isnt remarkable in rural areas and has primarily been boosted by the rising availability of smartphones at affordable prices. The relatively recent entry of digital services in government services in these countries has opened up a significant need for technology that can support immense volumes of data, leading to strong growth prospects the telecom cloud market in Asia Pacific, which is likely to remain the leading regional segment of the global telecom cloud market in the coming years.Global Telecom Cloud Market: OverviewMobility, a continuously rising network of high-speed internet, and cloud computing have emerged as the three crucial cornerstones of a typical networked or connected business ecosystem. As the entire world moves towards a connected future, telecom companies are coming to terms with the opportunity to exploit the growth opportunities offered by cloud services, as both - the providers as well as the adopters of the cloud technology.Request TOC of the Report @This report on the global telecom cloud market presents a detailed overview of the present growth dynamics of the market and its segments. Vast forward-looking statements regarding the growth prospects of the market over the period between 2017 and 2025 are also included with the help of a thorough analytical analysis of markets present growth dynamics, inputs from industry experts, and industry-best analytical tools.The report also includes a detailed overview of the competitive landscape of the market, wherein vast data pertaining to aspects such as recent developments in manufacturing technologies, updation of product portfolios, involvement in activities such as mergers and acquisitions, market share, and finances related to some of the key vendors in the market is included. The report also presents a detailed SWOT analysis of all the market vendors profiled in the report, presenting an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of these companies as well as opportunities and threats affecting their future growth prospects.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Telecom Cloud Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe global telecom cloud market is expected to exhibit growth at a remarkable pace over the reports forecast period. The key factors expected to drive this market include the highly competitive nature of the telecom industry, the need to cut down administration and operational costs to survive amid intense cost pressures, the need to provide excellent services to the highly aware consumer, and the increasing awareness about the vast benefits of cloud computing among telecom companies.Although the market has excellent growth prospects, some factors such as the concerns regarding data security in cloud storage and the rising numbers of highly sophisticated data thefts in the past few years are expected to present challenges to the growth of the telecom cloud market.Nevertheless, the market will observe significant traction owing to high demand from small- and medium-sized enterprises, especially in developing economies. Having realized the vast cost and speed benefits of cloud computing, the demand for cloud solutions across this sector will considerably rise in the near future. Solutions especially made for the specific needs of small and medium-sized enterprises will emerge as one of the top revenue generators for the global telecom cloud market in the near future.Global Telecom Cloud Market: Geographical OutlookOf the key regional markets for telecom cloud, Asia Pacific is expected to emerge as the one with the most promising growth opportunities over the reports forecast period. The vast rise in population and the increasing consumer base of broadband data services and smartphones will compel telecom operators in the region to adopt flexible and cost-effective cloud computing models for providing effective services. North America is expected to be the leading contributor of revenue to the market owing to the presence of some of the most technologically advanced telecom companies in countries such as the U.S. and Canada and the rising investment on the development of data centers across these countries.Companies mentioned in the reportSome of the key vendors operating in the global telecom cloud market are AT&T, Inc., Deutsche Telekom, Level 3 Communications, Inc., Verizon Communication, Inc., and BT Group PLC.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth research of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact:Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Sjogren's Syndrome Market: Upcoming Demands and Growth Analysis 2025

Sjogren's Syndrome Market

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sjogrens-syndrome-market.html

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=B&rep_id=25931

http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/

Sjogrens syndrome is an inflammatory disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltrates in exocrine organs, primarily in lacrimal and salivary glands, resulting in classic sicca symptoms of dry mouth (xerostomia) and dry eyes (xerophthalmia). Etiology of the disorder is unknown though finding suggests interaction between innate immunity and acquired immunity may lead to develop Sjogrens syndrome. Worldwide, it affects one to two million people. In the U.S. Sjogrens syndrome is the second most common rheumatic disorder. This disorder can affect individuals of any age, but it is most common in elderly people (prevalence of about 3% above the age of 50 years). It affects primarily women as compared to men. The disorder segmented into primary and secondary. The disorder that occurs in the absence of other autoimmune disease, such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or scleroderma is known as primary Sjogren's syndrome. The one that occurs due to presence of other autoimmune diseases is known as secondary Sjogren's syndrome.The Sjogren's syndrome market is growing as no single therapy is approved for both primary and secondary Sjogren's syndrome. Most of the treatment for Sjogren's syndrome is aimed at relieving symptoms such as dry mouth (saliva stimulants), gastric reflux (proton pump inhibitors or H2 blockers), infection (antifungals), and dry eyes (artificial tears). Corticosteroids and immunosuppressive agents are also used for the treatment of this disorder. Researchers such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Biogen Inc. are now evaluating biological therapies for the treatment of Sjogren's syndrome. In addition, therapeutics such as abatacept and belimumab are under clinical development. As of March 2017, clinical pipeline of Sjogrens syndrome consists of 42 drug molecules, out of which 38% are biologics, 35% are small molecules, 10% are fusion protein, and 16% are others (protein, peptide, recombinant protein, and devices).This report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Sjogren's Syndrome Market:The global Sjogren's syndrome market has been segmented by indication, product type, application, and geography. In terms of indication, the market has been categorized into primary Sjogrens syndrome and secondary Sjogrens syndrome. The secondary Sjogrens syndrome segment market dominated over the primary Sjogrens syndrome segment due to increased incidence and prevalence rate of other autoimmune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma). Based on product type, the market has been segmented into small molecules, biologics, and others. The biologics segment expected to grow as compared to other therapeutic segments because owing to the limitation in current treatment options In addition, majority of pipeline molecules for the treatment of Sjogrens syndrome are biologics, which has shown more promising results in clinical development. Based on application, the market has been segmented on the basis of symptomatic treatment such as dry eyes, dental care, vaginal dryness, musculoskeletal, and others.Geographically, the global Sjogrens syndrome market is classified into five regions namely; North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. The Europe and North America markets are expected to grow as compared to the Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa markets due to higher prevalence rate, increase in the number of other autoimmune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, or scleroderma), rise in demand for advance treatment, and increase in geriatric population. Asia Pacific is an emerging market due to developing health care infrastructure and rising government expenditure in the health care industry. In addition, increased incidences of Sjogrens syndrome and rise in diagnosis rates are key factors driving the growth of the Asia Pacific market. However, affordability, lack of proper treatment, and poor patient education restraining the growth of the Sjogrens syndrome market in developing and undeveloped regions such as Middle East & Africa and Latin America.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Sjogren's Syndrome Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market:Major key players with strong product portfolio for the treatment of Sjogrens syndrome include, Kissei Pharmaceutical, Novartis AG, Aldeyra Therapeutics, Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, GlaxoSmithKline plc., Amgen Inc., and Biogen, Inc.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.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:
Agrochemicals Market Overview and Manufacturing Cost Structure: Industry Forecast Report

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Market Research Future published a Half Cooked Research Report (HCRR) on Global Agrochemicals MarketSynopsis of the Global Agrochemicals MarketMarket ScenarioGlobally, the market for Agrochemicals has been increasing due to growing population and soil degradation. The key drivers for the market are increase in awareness in use of pesticides and fertilizers, Growth of floriculture and horticulture industry is expected to boost the agrochemicals market over the forecast period.The market for Global Agrochemicals Market is segmented on the basis of type, and by Form; by type the Global Agrochemicals Market is segmented as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides & plant growth regulators. On the basis of form the Global Agrochemicals Market is segmented as liquid, Powder, Granular, and On the basis of application the Global Agrochemicals Market is segmented as grains, oilseeds , fruits & vegetables and others.Sample Copy of Report @Key PlayersThe key players profiled in Global Agrochemicals Market report include- Dow Agrosciences, Bayer AG, Syngenta, Monsanto, DuPont, Sumitomo Chemical and BASF.Access the market data and market information presented through more than 25 market data tables and 25 figures spread over 115 numbers of pages of the project report Agrochemicals Market - Forecast to 2027Study Objectives of Global Agrochemicals Market: To provide in depth analysis of the Global Agrochemicals Market and market opportunities To understand the impact of major factors driving the market growth To analyze the Global Agrochemicals Market based on various factors- price analysis, supply chain analysis, porters five force analysis etc. To provide region level market analysis and future outlook for North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) and their countries To forecast sub-segment including by type, form, application and region indicating market attractiveness in that particular segment To provide competitive landscaping for the market indicating product and company positioning in the market To evaluate company strategies including joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, and R&DAccess Report Details @About Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.ContactAkash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Teleradiology Market is expected to display double-digit CAGR of 11.3% between 2015 and 2023

Teleradiology Market

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The highly fragmented market for teleradiology features the presence of a large number of regional players, with the exception of some large companies with international presence, such as vRad, Inc., Radiology Reporting Online, and USA Rad. North America and Europe, the regions with some of the largest vendors in the global teleradiology market, will be the key enablers of teleradiology practices across the world and play a central role in the overall development of the global market, notes a recent report by Transparency Market Research (TMR).Acquisitions of small, regional players, and long-term contracts with remotely located community hospitals and other healthcare service providers, especially across emerging markets such as Asia Pacific and Latin America, will allow teleradiology companies to expand their global footprint. Although less in number than in the European market, teleradiology companies in North America will contribute the largest share in the overall revenues of the global teleradiology market from 2015 through 2023, thanks to their global presence.This 86 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Teleradiology Market. Browse through 8 data tables and 16 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market:The vast improvement in telecommunication networks, enhanced data transfer speeds, and improved digital infrastructure of remote parts of the world has revolutionized the global teleradiology market in the past few years. In the next few years as well, developments across the data transmission field will be prove to be a major driver of the global teleradiology market, allowing its evolution from an ancillary radiology discipline to a mainstream practice.Radiology is a cost-intensive diagnostic modality owing to the high prices of the technologically advanced medical imaging machines central to the field. This factor, in combination with the factor of unavailability of broadband networks in urban dwellings has remained one of the toughest challenges for the teleradiology market in the past years. However, substantial rise in healthcare expenditures and widened broadband networks in the past few years have enabled the widespread expansion of teleradiology practices on a global front. These factors have especially allowed the teleradiology market in extending its reach to emerging economies such as Latin America and Asia Pacific, considered to be the regional markets with the most lucrative growth opportunities.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Teleradiology Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market:North America is currently the leading regional market for teleradiology and is expected to provide considerable growth opportunities over the next few years as well. The market in the region will be driven by the digitally advanced healthcare infrastructures, integration of teleradiology services in the workflow of a vast number of medical imaging service providers, and high healthcare awareness among the population. The rising prevalence of a number of cancers in the region has also led to an increased need for effective teleradiology services in the region.Nevertheless, Asia Pacific will provide the most lucrative growth opportunities for the global teleradiology market in the coming years. Factors fueling demand for teleradiology services in the region will be the rising expenditure on health and wellbeing, improving healthcare infrastructure, and widening network of high-speed broadband services.The global teleradiology market is expected to expand at a favorable 11.3% CAGR over the period between 2015 and 2023, and rise from a valuation of US$1,354.6 mn in 2014 to US$3,632.6 mn in 2023.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.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:
Skin Glossing Pencil Packaging Market Growth Opportunities, Analysis and Forecasts Report 2017-2024

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Cosmetics have become an integral part of urban population and particularly among working women. Skin glossing pencil packaging market has emerged as a niche market segment in the global cosmetics packaging market. Skin glossing pencils are used by women to make their skin look more shiny and younger. The global skin glossing pencil packaging market can account for major portion of the cosmetic packaging market owing to growing cosmetics consumption across the world. The skin glossing pencil packaging not only helps in differentiating the product from its substitutes but also helps in creating a brand image of the product in the minds of consumers by communicating information about the brand.Browse Market Research Report @The skin glossing pencil packaging improves the durability of the product by increasing its shelf life. Skin glossing pencil packaging is essential to attract the customers through the product appearance in order to improve the turnover ratio and profit margin. Skin glossing pencil packaging allows manufacturers to manufacture skin glossing pencils of various sizes while increasing its portability. Due to abundance in availability and low procurement cost, plastics such as acrylic and polypropylene (PP) are common material used in skin glossing pencil packaging.Skin Glossing Pencil Packaging Market: Market DynamicsThe skin glossing pencil packaging market is related with cosmetic packaging market. The cosmetic packaging market is estimated to be around US$ 30 billion, which is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% over the forecast period. Skin glossing pencil, which is a luxury product, is expected to witness rise in demand with increase in disposable income of consumers, influencing the growth of skin glossing pencil packaging market. Nowadays people are getting more conscious about their image so with the use of skin glossing pencil they can reduce their skin complexion which is an important factor contributing to the increased consumption of the skin glossing pencil while boosting the growth for the skin glossing pencil packaging market.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @In the backdrop of rapid urbanization along with increasing influence of western culture especially in the Asian countries like India and China, the demand for the skin glossing pencil packaging is expected to move upward over the forecast period. However, the use of chemical composition of skin glossing pencil may hamper the growth of skin glossing packaging market. The globalization has made the world smaller as a skin glossing pencil of American brand can be easily found in the stores of Asian countries.Skin Glossing Pencil Packaging Market: Market SegmentationThe skin glossing pencil packaging market can be segmented by the type of material used, type of product, by application, by formulation.Based on the type of material used, skin glossing pencil packaging market can be segmented into:PlasticMetalBased on the type of product, skin glossing pencil packaging market can be segmented into:Gel polymerWet glossBased on the application, skin glossing pencil packaging market can be segmented into:FaceLipsEye LidsBased on the formulation, skin glossing pencil packaging market can be segmented into:Bis behenylIsostearylPhytosteryl dimer dilinoleyl dimer dilinoleate,Isocetyl stearateSynthetic beeswaxSkin Glossing Pencil Packaging Market: Regional OutlookRegionally global skin glossing pencil packaging market is segmented intoNorth AmericaLatin AmericaEastern EuropeWestern EuropeAsia-Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)Middle East and Africa (MEA)JapanNorth America and Eastern and Western Europe is expected lead the global skin glossing pencil packaging market owing to high consumption of cosmetics products. Skin glossing packaging market in Latin America and APEJ region is expected to register the highest growth over the forecast period attributing to the influence of the western culture over the growing urban population. While the growth for skin glossing pencil packaging market in MEA is expected to be sluggish over the forecast period.Skin Glossing Pencil Packaging Market: Key PlayersSome key players of skin glossing pencil packaging market are Amcor Limited, HCP Packaging, Cosmopak, International Cosmetic Suppliers Ltd, 3C Inc, Alpha Packaging, Color Carton Corporation, ChingFon Industrial Co., LTD, Anomatic, Arcade Beauty, APC Packaging, EPOPACK Co., Ltd, AptarGroup, Libo Cosmetics Co., Ltd and Quadpack Group, etc.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:
Dust Proof Material Market to Partake Significant Development During 2016  2026

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Introduction:A dust proof material is a microfiber unwoven fabric which has excellent efficiency of dust prevention. A dust proof material is produced from woven (knitted) fabrics consisting of synthetic filament or unwoven fabric which are bounded by chemical, mechanical or solvent treatment. In order to prevent the generation of unwanted dust particle in most of the industries and laboratories, dust free material are used. Dust proof materials make use of antistatic treatment to prevent the adhesion of the dust particle on the surface of the material. Globally, the demand for dust proof material is expected to increase steadily due to the upsurge in research and development activities by manufactures of dust proof materials. Dust proof material is mostly preferred where clean environment is required like in the biological lab, clinical room, food processing area, industrial research laboratory, etc.To access full report @Global Dust Proof Material Market DynamicsOwing to its unique characteristic and properties such as resistance to dust, resilience, liquid repellence, absorbency, softness and strength, dust proof materials are gaining traction since the past few years. Industrial operations where special care is taken regarding environment along with the growth in medical and hygiene industry, the demand for the dust proof material is anticipated to increase over the forecast period. Moreover, with increasing awareness among the consumer regarding hygiene, cleanliness and safety is further expected to boost the demand for global dust proof materials throughout the forecast period. Growth of pharmaceutical, food packaging, textile industries, coupled along with rising awareness about hygiene amongst consumers, is expected to drive the demand of global dust proof material market. Beside this, high cost of manufacturing dust proof material is one of the major restrain hindering the growth of the global dust proof material market.Global Dust Proof Material Market SegmentationA sample of this report is available upon request @On the basis of end  use industry, the global dust proof material market is segmented intoPharmaceutical & health care industryResearch and Development laboratoryFood IndustryPacking IndustryTextile IndustryOthers (Warehouses, Upholstery etc.)On the basis of raw materials, the global dust proof material is segmented intoPolyester fabricPolypropylene (PP)Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)AramidPolyphenylene sulfide (PPS)Global Dust Proofs Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global dust proofs material market are divided into seven major regions which include North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific excluding Japan, Japan, Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Middle East &Africa. North America followed by Western Europe are the major region for dust proof material and is anticipated to account for significant share of the global dust proof material market. The global dust proofs material market is expected to register a stable CAGR during the forecast period. In Asia Pacific region, emerging countries such as China and India are expected to represent significant opportunity in terms of revenue for dust proof materials and is further expected to exhibit healthy growth rate over the forecast period. The demand for dust proof material Asia Pacific region is increasing due to the rapidly growing manufacturing sector.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global Dust Proofs Market PlayersSome of the key player in global dust proof material markets are Tex-Cel Shanghai Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Nanqixing Nonwoven Co. Ltd., Freudenberg Performance Materials, John Cotton Ltd, IMS Nonwoven, Toray Industries, MOLNLYCKE HEALTH CARE AB Co.Ltd, Mogul Co.Ltd, First Quality, Pantex International Co. Ltd, Fibertex Nonwovens Co.Ltd, CHA Technologies Group, Texbond S.P.A., DNT SA and Kimberly-Clark.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types and end use industries.The report covers exhaustive analysis on:Market SegmentsMarket DynamicsMarket SizeSupply & DemandCurrent Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedValue ChainRegional analysis includes:North AmericaLatin AmericaAsia PacificJapanWestern EuropeEastern EuropeMiddle East & AfricaThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts, and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides an in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macroeconomic indicators and governing factors, along with market attractiveness within the segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and various geographies.Report highlights:Detailed overview of parent marketChanging market dynamics in the industryIn-depth market segmentationHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and valueRecent industry trends and developmentsCompetitive landscapeStrategies of key players and products offeredPotential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growthA neutral perspective on market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Silanes Market to Observe Strong Development by 2026

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Global Silanes Market: OverviewSilanes are homologues of saturated carbon-hydrogen compounds i.e. of alkanes. All silanes share a general formula: SinH2n+2. Silanes made of silicon and hydrogen only are called unsubstituted silanes and are very unstable thus can only be produced in the absence of oxygen. There are various types of silanes namely methylsilanes, silanols, chlorosilanes etc. Silanes consist of one or more silicon atoms linked to each other or one or more atoms of other chemical elements as the tetrahedral centers of multiple single bonds. Commercially available silanes are synthetically derived. In the silanes family, each silicon atom has four bonds and each hydrogen atom is attached with a silicon atom. A series of linked silicon atoms is called silicon backbone or silicon skeleton. The simplest possible silane is the parent molecule known as silane with the chemical formula SiH4. Any number of silicon atoms can be linked together while the only limitation being that the molecule is acyclic, a hydrosilicon and is saturated. Silanes have a moderate biological activity and are highly reactive. Silanes can be arranged in various ways if arranged with more than three silicon atoms thus forms structural isomers. Silanes are non-conductors of electricity. The basic raw materials used in the production of silanes are silicone metal and methanol. Some of the major applications of silanes are rubber and plastics, fiber treatment, adhesives and sealants, paint and coatings and others.To access full report @Global Silanes Market: SegmentationThe global silanes market can be segmented on the basis of type, application and geography. On the basis of types, the global silanes market can be bifurcated into organo-functional silanes and mono-chloro silanes. On account og application, the global silanes market can be segmented into rubber and plastics, fiber treatment, adhesives and sealants, paint and coatings and others (personal care, photovoltaics, pharmaceuticals, chemical processing equipments etc. On the basis of geography, the global silanes market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific excluding Japan and Japan.Global Silanes Market: Drivers and RestraintsIncreasing number of pharmaceutical industries is a key factor account for the growth of the major silanes market. Moreover, innovations in technology and governmental regulations on deployment of conventional sources of energy like photovoltaics is a key element driving the growth of the global silanes market. Furthermore, rising demands of high-wuality personal care products and growing paints and coatings industry are some major elements fuelling the growth of the global silanes market. Unstable behavior of silanes is a key challenge in the growth of the global silanes market. Inability to withstand static pressure also makes it a key restraint in the growth of the global silanes market especially in paints and coatings industry.A sample of this report is available upon request @Global Silanes Market: Key PlayersSome of the major players involved in the production of silanes are Silicones Europe, Onichem, Dynasylan, Dow Corning, Haohua Industry, OCI Materials, USI Chemical, Yingde Gases, Air Products, Fujian Norcy New Material, Momentive Performance Materials and others.The research report presents a comprehensive assessment of the market and contains thoughtful insights, facts, historical data, and statistically supported and industry-validated market data. It also contains projections using a suitable set of assumptions and methodologies. The research report provides analysis and information according to categories such as market segments, geographies, types, technology and applications.The report covers exhaustive analysis on:Market SegmentsMarket DynamicsMarket SizeSupply & DemandCurrent Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involvedRegional analysis includesNorth America (U.S., Canada)Latin America (Mexico. Brazil)Western Europe (Germany, Italy, France, U.K, Spain, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland, Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, ASEAN, Australia & New Zealand)JapanMiddle East and Africa (GCC, S. Africa, N. Africa)To view TOC of this report is available upon request @The report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Report Highlights:Detailed overview of parent marketChanging market dynamics in the industryIn-depth market segmentationHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and valueRecent industry trends and developmentsCompetitive landscapeStrategies of key players and products offeredPotential and niche segments, geographical regions exhibiting promising growthA neutral perspective on market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Frozen and Freeze-Dried Pet Food Market trends research and projections for 2017-2024

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Frozen And Freeze-Dried Pet Food Market size is estimated to grow at a significant pace in the forecast timeframe. As the trend of humanization of pets is gaining importance, the product market is likely to flourish in the coming years. The niche market segment is expected to expand at a considerable rate.The product has longer shelf life without the loss of essential nutrients. Advertisements and increasing endorsements has fueled the growth of the market. Pet health awareness has significantly increased over the past few years.Request for an in-depth table of contents for this report @Increasing per capita income of the people will propel the product market. People have become conscious about the composition of their pets food. To provide healthy and nutritious food to the pets, the pet food industry will experience a noticeable change. The health concerns related to animals have also geared up the market for freeze-dried and frozen pet food. Pet food manufacturers have come up with innovative ideas to captivate the product market. The increasing nuclear families have also driven the demand of the product. The freeze-dried pet food is relatively costlier than its counterparts which can impede the growth of the market.In freeze drying process, the meat is frozen and cut into pieces. Then it is tempered to allow it to be shaped or diced to the desired form and put into the blast freezer for deep freezing. It is then rolled into freeze drying chambers for about 12 hours. The trays are then rolled out and packed. This process has proved to be lucrative for many pet food manufacturers and the high sales have been recorded which will impel the manufacturers to adopt the technology. Freeze drying included single meats for processing, but the trend of blend of meats has emerged in the past few years. The blend of meats is processed into freeze-dried cubes that are added to dry kibble.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Freeze-dried and frozen pet food has also been popularized by the online stores which will propel the market to grow over the anticipated timespan. The trend of freeze-dried pet food is steadily increasing within the natural pet food. Although, the market for freeze-dried food is relatively less diverse, it is likely to grow at a decent pace.The product market can be segmented on the basis of animal content, pet type, distribution channel and region. Based on animal content, the market can be segmented into chicken, duck, fish, cattle, pig and others such as turkey. Based on pet type, the product market can be bifurcated into dog and cat. Dog food dominates the product market and is expected to grow at a significant rate. Based on distribution channel, the product market can be divided into supermarkets, specialized pet shops, online stores and retail stores. To meet the increasing demand of the product, supermarkets and online stores have been popularized, Specialized pet shops have gained preference by high profile customers due to the availability of several brands.Based on region, the market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific and Middle East & Africa. U.S. held the major chunk of the product market owing to the increased ownership of pets. Europe is the next in queue and has captured the product market due to increased adoption of pets.Some of the major companies involved in manufacturing of freeze-dried and frozen pet food are Primal Pet Foods, Steves Real Food, Stella & Chewy's, LLC, Bravo, LLC, Vital Essentials, Champion Petfoods, Fresh Is Best, Stewart Brand Dog Food, Carnivora, K9 Natural, Canature Processing Ltd., Wisconsin Freeze Dried, etc.Browse related reportsWeight Management Pet Food Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, UAE, South Africa), Application Development Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017  2024Organic Pet Food Market Size, Industry Analysis Report, Regional Outlook (U.S., Canada, Mexico, UK, Germany, France, Italy, China, Australia, India, Japan, Indonesia, Argentina, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, South Africa), Application Development Potential, Price Trends, Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017  2024About Global Market InsightsGlobal 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:
High Temperature Coatings Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2017-25

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High Temperature coatings or HTCs are used to protect the systems which subjected to high temperature conditions on a regular basis. They are designed to withstand temperatures from 150OC to 800OC. The use of HTCs helps in reducing heat losses, keep corrosion under insulation (CUI) in check, reduce thermal fatigue and maintain efficiency. CUI is the petrochemical industrys worst complication. It occurs when moisture seeps into the insulation and the high temperature condition is optimal for corrosion. The application of HTCs helps keep the effect of moisture to a minimum and subsequently translates into energy and cost savings.Low consumer awareness in medium and small scale industries about high temperature corrosion risks is a major challenge for market players. Moreover, raw material availability is dependent upon the oil industry.Request Sample of High Temperature Coatings Market:High Temperature Coatings Market TaxonomyOn basis of Coating TechnologyLiquid CoatingSolvent borneWater bornePowder CoatingOthers (Laser, Radiation-cured etc.)On basis of Resin typeEpoxy-BasedAcrylic-BasedSilicone-BasedPolyethersulfone (PES)Polyester-BasedAlkyd-BasedOthersPefluoroalkoxy Alkanes (PFA)PEEKPolyphenylenesulfide (PPS)UrethaneHybridsVinyl-EsterOthersOn basis of End UserEnergy & PowerOil and GasSolarWindOthersPetrochemical & Chemical IndustryMetal Processing IndustryCookware, Bake ware, and Small AppliancesMarineAutomotiveCoil CoatingsWoodstoves, Gas Stoves, and Barbecue GrillsAerospace & DefenseBuilding & ConstructionOthersLiquid Coatings, either hand applied or sprayed is losing its market, though, it is preferred over powder coatings when specialized paint colors and tolerances are required. Powder coatings offer better durability, toughness and have the environmental advantage of not having any solvents or VOCs.Epoxy phenolic coatings have high heat and chemical resistance are widely used as coatings in refineries, power generation and secondary containment. Silicone coatings can withstand high temperatures over 550OC. Polyesters tapes are used for masking applications in high temperature equipment. Acrylic coatings offer decorative properties such as color retention and gloss. They hold the largest market share in the HTC market.Request To View The Table of content:The largest end users are the energy and petrochemical industries due to use of heater-treater, separators, furnaces and transport of heated material. HTCs help decrease energy losses and reduce non-productive time. Automotive is also a major end user, coatings are applied on engine components and decreases effect of heat fatigue.High Temperature Coatings Market OutlookAsia Pacific is the fastest growing and the largest market for high temperature coatings. The petrochemical industry has a marked shift from North America to India and China, due to low cost of labor and close proximity to major oil producing Middle East nations. Furthermore, energy, cookware and automobile markets have also grown due to population boom. This has driven demand for HTCs.North America has augmented HTC market growth, due to growing energy, automobile, electronics and construction sector. Increased shale gas production has driven growth the petrochemical industry as well. High thermal efficiency in chemical processing can help the manufacturers in this region to compete with low-cost products made in Asia. Europe is expected to lose its market share during forecast period due to decline of end-user industries.In Latin America, the growth of HTC market can be attributed to the energy and automotive industry. Brazil is expected to strongly drive growth in both E&P and refining. Political uncertainties and regulatory complications are hindering growth in other countries of the region.Middle East and North Africa are consolidated regions for oil and gas and petrochemicals. A return to political stability of Iraq, Syria, and Iran are having crucial advantage in the growth of the HTC market.The companies are adopting various organic and inorganic growth strategies in order to sustain their market position. Tnemec Co. launched Endura-Heat line of products that offer CUI protection at 650OC with custom color matching available. The key players in this market include Jotun A/S, Aremco, AkzoNobel N.V., Hempel, Belzona International Ltd., The Sherwin-Williams Company, PPG Industries Inc., The Valspar Corporation, Whit ford, Weilburger Coatings GmbH, Axalta Coating Systems, Carboline, Chemco International Ltd.Check The Trending Report of High Temperature Coatings Market:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Non Magnetic Metals And Alloys Market to Witness Exponential Growth by 2026

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Introduction:The Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys are those metals and alloys that are generally non-ferrous type or have only insignificant amount of metal used as an alloy. Major non-magnetic metals include aluminum, copper, lead, and zinc. Other non-ferrous metals include brass, titanium, beryllium and nickel. They are generally more expensive than ferrous metals in terms of mining and extraction. These non-magnetic metals & alloys are generally light in weight, have higher conductivity, has non-magnetic property and is resistance to corrosion and rust. The global non-magnetic metals & alloys market are 1,500 kilo tons in 2015 approximately in volume. Overall, the market is expanding at a decent CAGR of during the forecast period from 2016 to 2026.To access full report @Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market DynamicsThe market of global non-magnetic metals & alloys is anticipated to be driven by the use of non-magnetic metals in different industries and their respective purposes. Due to growth of aviation industry and other transportation and structural materials, the global market of non-magnetic metals & alloys are growing in demand. In addition, the favorable Government initiatives such as The National Space policy of United States on June, 2010 and many others programmes help in the consumption of more non-magnetic metals & alloys over the years due to increased number to aircrafts and spaceships. Some of the non-magnetic metals & alloys are also used in building materials and also as a component of various metal alloys. Due to growth of the construction equipment, lead acid batteries, bullets and radiation protectors, the non-magnetic metals & alloys such as lead is highly used in demand of late. The demand for corrosion chemically inert and corrosion resistant products in chemical processing industry is expected to drive the market growth over the predictable period. Also the non-magnetic metals & alloys are highly recyclable in nature which further encourages the growth of non-magnetic metals and alloys. The global non-magnetic metals & alloys market is characterized by continuous mergers, acquisitions and product innovations to gain market share and competitive edge which drives the demand for the product worldwide. The jewelry industry involving precious metals other than gold, is expected to drive the Non-Magnetic Metals market to some extent. The industry is expected to get advantage from the rising magnesium mining and growing extraction of other metals such as titanium, which are used as raw materials for the production of alloys.A sample of this report is available upon request @However, the global non-magnetic metals & alloys being costly as compared to magnetic metals and alloys does have a hindering effect on its market growth as well. On the mining operations front, the non-magnetic metals and alloys mining are currently experiencing a sluggish production rate.Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market SegmentationThe global non-magnetic metals & alloys market is segmented on the basis of product types such as non-ferrous metals, precious metals and exotic or rare metals. Ferrous metals further includes aluminum, lead, tin, zinc, copper, nickel, titanium and others. Precious metals constitutes gold, silver and platinum. Exotic or rare metals are cobalt, mercury, tungsten, beryllium, bismuth and cerium. On the basis of application, the global non-magnetic metals & alloys are divided into aerospace industry, industrial gas & turbine, industrial automotive, electrical &electronics, chemical industry, kitchen appliances, food & beverages industry and others.Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the Global non-magnetic metals & alloys industry can be divided by major regions which include North America, Latin America, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Middle East and Africa. North America holds the largest share in the global non-magnetic metals & alloys market. It is expected to witness a substantial growth at a CAGR of over 3.5% in the forecasted period of 2016-2026. Europe holds the second largest market in terms of global non-magnetic metals & alloys, followed by Japan, Asia-pacific, Middle-East Africa and then rest of the world. Asia Pacific is expected to witness above average growth rates over the next six to eight years owing to the growing aviation industry combined with increasing demand for high durability metals in gas turbines and electrical & electronics.To view TOC of this report is available upon request @Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market PlayersThe major players identified across the value chain of global non-magnetic metals & alloys market includes Saru Smelting Pvt Ltd., Lee Kee Group, James Coppell Lee, North Ferrous Cast Alloys Inc., Gravita India Ltd.,Australian Metals Pty Ltd., Nimax, Arcotech Ltd., AMPCO Metal Sa, Plansee Group and others. The companies are investing in their research & development sector to use more and more non-magnetic metals & alloys in aerospace industry. The companies are also focusing on different strategies in order to maintain the market share in the global non-magnetic metals & alloys market.The Report covers exhaustive analysis on:Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market SegmentsNon-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market DynamicsHistorical Actual Market Size, 2013  2015 for Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys MarketNon-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market Size & Forecast 2016 to 2026Supply & Demand Value ChainNon-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market Current Trends/Issues/ChallengesCompetition & Companies involved in Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys MarketTechnologyValue ChainGlobal Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market Drivers and RestraintsRegional analysis for Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys Market includesNorth AmericaUS & CanadaLatin AmericaBrazil, Argentina & OthersWestern EuropeGermanyItalyFranceU.K.SpainNordicsBeneluxEastern EuropeRussiaPolandAsia PacificAustralia and New Zealand (ANZ)Greater ChinaIndiaASEANRest of Asia PacificJapanMiddle East and AfricaGCC CountriesOther Middle EastNorth AfricaSouth AfricaOther AfricaThe report is a compilation of first-hand information, qualitative and quantitative assessment by industry analysts, inputs from industry experts and industry participants across the value chain. The report provides in-depth analysis of parent market trends, macro-economic indicators and governing factors along with market attractiveness as per segments. The report also maps the qualitative impact of various market factors on market segments and geographies.Report Highlights:Detailed overview of parent marketChanging market dynamics of the Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryIn-depth market segmentation of Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryHistorical, current and projected market size in terms of volume and value of Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryRecent industry trends and developments of Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryCompetitive landscape of Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryStrategies of key players and product offerings in the Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryPotential and niche segments/regions exhibiting promising growth in Global Non-Magnetic Metals & Alloys industryA neutral perspective towards market performanceMust-have information for market players to sustain and enhance their market footprintAbout UsPersistence Market Research (PMR) is a third-platform research firm. Our research model is a unique collaboration of data analytics and market research methodology to help businesses achieve optimal performance.To support companies in overcoming complex business challenges, we follow a multi-disciplinary approach. At PMR, we unite various data streams from multi-dimensional sources. By deploying real-time data collection, big data, and customer experience analytics, we deliver business intelligence for organizations of all sizes.Contact UsPersistence Market Research305 Broadway7th Floor, New York City,NY 10007, United States,USA  Canada Toll Free: 800-961-0353Email: sales@persistencemarketresearch.comWeb:
Worldwide Fiber Optic Connector - Market Overview by Major Countries, Growth and Forecast To 2021

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Publisher's Fiber Optic Connector market research report provides the newest industry data and industry future trends, allowing you to identify the products and end users driving Revenue growth and profitability.The industry report lists the leading competitors and provides the insights strategic industry Analysis of the key factors influencing the market.The report includes the forecasts, Analysis and discussion of important industry trends, market size, market share estimates and profiles of the leading industry Players.The Players mentioned in our reportAmphenolTE ConnectivityMolexCorningJonhonHuber+SuhnerFCIDelphiSenkoSumitomo ElectricFujikuraWutongUS ConecFor More Information About This Report:Global Fiber Optic Connector Market: Regional Segment AnalysisUSAEuropeJapanChinaIndiaSouth East AsiaGlobal Fiber Optic Connector Market: Product Segment AnalysisST ConnectorSC ConnectorFC ConnectorLC ConnectorFDDI - ESCON ConnectorRequest Sample Copy At:Table of ContentChapter 1 About the Fiber Optic Connector IndustryChapter 2 World Market Competition LandscapeChapter 3 World Fiber Optic Connector Market shareChapter 4 Supply Chain AnalysisChapter 5 Company ProfilesChapter 6 Globalization & TradeChapter 7 Distributors and CustomersChapter 8 Import, Export, Consumption and Consumption Value by Major CountriesChapter 9 World Fiber Optic Connector Market Forecast through 2021Chapter 10 Key success factors and Market OverviewInquire For This Report At:Contact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
UV Adhesives Market - Global Industry Insights, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 2017-25

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Ultra Violet (UV) adhesives are adhesives which cure (i.e. toughen or harden by crosslinking) on exposure to UV light. It is a photochemical reaction that eliminates the need for heat or solvents for curing. This method offers various advantages over conventional curing methods such as rapid cure speed and easy application. Enhanced physical properties such as high bond strength, abrasion resistance, and chemical resistance offer better product performance than alternatives. In addition, reduction in cure-in labor and waste further decreases costs.Request Sample of UV Adhesives Market:The major drivers for UV curing are the demand for cost effective, adaptable and easy application of adhesives. Moreover, the absence of solvent in curing will eliminate any VOC related concerns. The challenges are technical, with oxygen inhibition causing incomplete curing of the adhesive resulting in the formation of a sticky layer on top of the surface.UV Adhesives Market TaxonomyOn basis of resin type,AcrylicEpoxyCyanoacrylateSiliconePolyurethaneOthersOn basis of Application,MedicalElectronicsPackagingGlass BondingIndustrialPower GenerationChemical ProcessingOil and GasOthersTransportationOthersAcrylic UV adhesives have improved mechanical properties such as impact resistance, surface insensitivity and protection from moisture. They hold the largest market share in the UV Adhesive market. Epoxy UV adhesives can be customized according to product needs. On mixing with carbon, silver and gold in varied amounts, they exhibit various properties such as increased or decreased thermal and electrical insulation, chemical resistance and moisture resistance.Request To View The Table of content:The largest end user industries are medical and electronics. Manufacture of various components of medical equipment is done by using UV-cured adhesives. Moreover, many electronics devices are assembled by using UV-cured adhesives. Glass bonding is an emerging application segment, which is expected to gain major traction in the near future. Adhesive application on special purpose products across all end user industries can be done by UV-curing due to its versatility.UV Adhesives Market OutlookAsia Pacific is the fastest growing market due to brisk growth in the medical and electronics industries. This is driven by emergence of this region as a manufacturing hub due to cheap raw material and low labor costs. Increased consumption within the region has also added to the already impressive growth figures.North America and Europe are the major markets for UV adhesives, given the stringent regulations in place related to VOC content. This has resulted in shift from solvent and heat cure to UV-cured process. Moreover, high industrial efficiency standards have resulted in companies utilizing highly efficient products.Various countries in Latin America also largely restrict use of VOC adhesives and hence, dependency on UV adhesives is projected to increase. Booming construction and electronics manufacturing is expected to drive UV Adhesive market.A mixed combination of highly developed and turmoil affected countries are present in this region. Demand for medical equipment and aid due to lifestyle diseases in rich countries such as UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia has increased. Moreover, supply of medical aid to war torn nations of Iraq, Syria and Yemen has boosted medical industry in other regions which act as source.Development of underwater UV Curing will eliminate need for dry docking of vessels in marine industry and work-over operation in subsea equipment in the oil and gas industry. UV-Curing will provide a cost effective alternative to current methods resulting in cost saving of gargantuan proportions. Major players in the UV Adhesives market include Henkel, Permabond, Dymax Corporation, ITW Devcon, MasterBond, and 3M.Check The Trending Report UV Adhesives Market:About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact UsMr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
Industrial gas turbine market to yield high revenue via oil & gas applications, mounting energy requirement to spur industry growth over 2016-2024.

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Growing efforts to curb the hazardous impact of carbon emissions on the environment will enhance Industrial Gas Turbine Market expansion. Strict government norms to maintain the ecological balance has resulted in the setting up of new gas fired power stations, which is likely to positively influence the industry demand.Rising global requirements for clean energy with growing population and industrialization will sketch a luminous growth chart for the business. In a bid to promote the usage of clean and reliable energy, in November 2015, the UK government, took a decision to replace all its coal fired power stations with gas fired power stations. Global Market Insights, Inc., reports, Industrial Gas Turbine Industry, which collected a revenue of USD 10 billion in 2015, is forecast to surpass USD 18 billion by 2024.Request for Sample of this report @Gas turbines find major applications across the oil & gas, power generation, and manufacturing sectors. Industrial gas turbine industry in oil & gas application segment is likely to grow at an annual rate of 8% over 2016-2024, driven by the high spending on offshore exploration & production activities. Technological innovations are expected to further impel the market potential across the oil & gas sector.Manufacturing applications are forecast to hit USD 5 billion by 2024, subject to rapid industrialization across emerging economies such as Brazil and India. Power generation sector, which accounted for over 55% of industrial gas turbine industry share in 2015, is projected to witness a notable surge over the coming years. Growing demand for steam fired power systems over conventional coal fired power plants is expected to spur the industry development.Browse complete summary of this report @Below are the regional trends impacting industrial gas turbine industry over 2016-2024: France industrial gas turbine market revenue, evaluated at USD 120 million in 2015, is forecast to grow considerably within the next few years. Strict government norms such as Energy Transition for Green Growth Act to reduce the fossil fuel consumption by 30% by 2030 will contribute substantially towards the revenue. Rise in the offshore as well as onshore exploration & drilling activities will favorably influence UAE industrial gas turbine market development. Large-scale expenditure for developing high capacity power generating plants is expected to accelerate the business landscape in China. U.S. industrial gas turbine industry, which amassed a revenue of USD 1 billion in 2015, is anticipated to experience protruding growth during the period of 2016 to 2024. Beneficial regulations favoring the installation of natural gas fired power plants will benefit the industry.Press Release @Key participants in industrial gas turbine market include Solar Turbines Incorporated, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Harbin Electric Company Limited, Siemens AG, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, and MAN Diesel & Turbo SE.About Global Market InsightsGlobal 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.29L Atlantic Avenue, Suite L 105Ocean View Delaware 19970 United StatesEmail: sales@gminsights.com
Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria Therapeutic Pipeline Analysis, 2017 Clinical Research and Developments

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Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare life-threatening disease characterized by destruction of red blood cells, blood clots, and compromised bone marrow function. Some of the symptoms of the disease include abdominal and back pain, dark urine, easy bruising or bleeding, fatigue or weakness, headache and shortness of breath. The risk factors for PNH include age, obesity and hormone therapy. According to the Johns Hopkins Medicine, approximately, one to one and a half persons per million of the population are affected by PNH globally with a predominance in young adults. PNH is also associated with aplastic anemia and up to 30% of newly diagnosed cases of PNH progress from aplastic anemia. Treatment of PNH includes bone marrow transplantation and the only medicine approved by the USFDA for its treatment is eculizumab (Soliris), manufactured by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Export Report at:The main growth drivers of the pipeline for PNH include increasing awareness and research funding from various non-profit organizations for the discovery and development of drugs for PNH, rising prevalence of aplastic anemia, innovations in genetic engineering and introduction of novel gene therapies, increasing knowledge of pathophysiology of thrombosis and discoveries of novel anticoagulants, price skimming and niche market opportunity.Request for Table of Content at:In September 2016, Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. started a Phase III, randomized, open-label, active-controlled study of ALXN1210 versus eculizumab in complement inhibitor-naive adult patients with PNH. ALXN1210 is a longer-acting anti-C5 antibody and is being evaluated for the treatment of patients with PNH. This study is expected to be completed in December 2017. In January 2015, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., began a Phase I/II study of subcutaneously administered ALN-CC5 in healthy adult volunteers and patients with PNH. ALN-CC5 is an RNAi therapeutic which targets the C5 component of the complement pathway. The study was expected to complete by December 2016, however, it is still ongoing. In February 2016, Akari Therapeutics plc initiated a Phase II trial evaluating Coversin in PNH in patients with resistance to eculizumab due to complement C5 polymorphisms. Coversin is a second-generation complement inhibitor which prevents release of C5a and formation of C5b9. The trial is expected to complete in December 2018.Browse Other Related Report at:Some of the companies involved in the development of drug candidates for PNH include Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc., Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc., Akari Therapeutics plc, CMIC Co, Ltd. Japan, Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Ra 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:KundanManager  Client Partner347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Global Carbon Nanotubes Market Projected to Reach US$6.81 bn by 2023 - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015-2023

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ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " Carbon Nanotubes (Single-wall Carbon Nanotubes and Multi-wall Carbon Nanotubes) Market for Polymers, Energy, Electrical & Electronics, and Other Applications - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2015 - 2023 " to it's Large Report database.The report analyzes and forecasts the carbon nanotubes market on the global and regional level. The study provides historical data of 2014 along with forecast from 2015 to 2023 based on volume (tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). The study includes drivers and restraints for the carbon nanotubes market along with their impact on demand during the forecast period. The report also analyzes opportunities in the carbon nanotubes market on the global and regional level. Drivers, restraints, and opportunities mentioned in the report are justified through quantitative and qualitative data. These have been verified through primary and secondary resources.We have included a detailed analysis of the value chain to provide a comprehensive view of the carbon nanotubes market. Value chain analysis provides details such as integration in the market, distribution channels, product segments, and end-users. Analysis of Porters Five Forces model has also been included to help understand the competitive landscape of the carbon nanotubes market. The study encompasses market attractiveness analysis, wherein application segments of the market are benchmarked based on market size, compound annual growth rate (CAGR), general attractiveness, and company market share. We have also incorporated company market share analysis to provide detailed analysis of the market.Request for Sample PDF of Premium Research Report with TOC:The study provides a decisive view of the carbon nanotubes market by segmenting it on the basis of products and applications. Product and application segments have been analyzed based on current and future trends, and the market has been estimated from 2015 to 2023 in terms of volume (kilo tons) and revenue (US$ Mn). Regional segmentation includes current and forecast demand in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. It also includes demand for individual products and applications in major countries in the respective regions.The report provides detailed competitive outlook that includes profiles of key players operating in the global carbon nanotubes market. Key players profiled in the report include Arkema SA, CNano Technology Limited, Carbon Solutions, Inc., Hanwha Nanotech Corporation, Showa Denko K.K., Future Carbon GmbH, CNT Co., Ltd., Continental Carbon Nanotechnologies, Inc., Klean Commodities, Raymor Industries Inc., Hyperion Catalysis International Inc., Nanothinx S.A., Korea Kumho Petrochemical Company Ltd., Nano-C Inc., Nanocyl S.A., Nanoshel LLC, Southwest Nanotechnologies Inc., and Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd. Company profiles include attributes such as company overview, brand/product portfolio, financial overview, business strategy, and key/recent developments related to the market.Read All Chemicals Market Research Reports @Table of ContentChapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Description1.2 Report Scope1.3 Assumptions1.4 Market Segmentation1.5 Research methodologyChapter 2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Carbon Nanotubes Market, 20142023 (Tons) (US$ Mn)2.2 Global Carbon Nanotubes Market: SnapshotChapter 3 Carbon Nanotubes Market - Industry Analysis3.1 Introduction3.2 Value Chain Analysis3.3 Market Dynamics3.3.1 Market Driver - Positive Market Dynamics and Rising Demand from End-User Industries3.3.2 Restraints - Processing Difficulties Involved in Producing High Purity CNTs Leading to High Product Cost3.3.3 Opportunity - Intensive R&D, Need for Advancement in Existing Applications, and Expanding Applications3.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis3.5 Global Carbon Nanotubes Market Attractiveness, by Application, 20143.6 Global Carbon Nanotubes Market Attractiveness, by Country, 20143.7 Global Carbon Nanotubes Market Share by Company, 2014Chapter 4 Manufacturing Process and Price Trend Analysis4.1 Manufacturing Processes for CNT4.2 Carbon Nanotubes Price Trend AnalysisAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the world's 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. ResearchMoz's 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.Contact Us:Mr. Nachiket Ghumare90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 / Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:Follow me on Blogger at:
Global Smart Cards Market Expected to Reach US$14.17 bn by 2023 - Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016-2023

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ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " Smart Cards Market (Contact, Contactless, Dual-interface and Hybrid - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 - 2023 " to it's Large Report database.Smart cards are IC-based cards that accumulate and retrieve information using various computer systems. Smart cards consist of central processing units and memory units. Smart cards primarily act as a cost-effective way to store, manage, and maintain credentials for their users. This makes these products highly convenient for different applications. In addition, the portability of smart cards enables their extensive adoption across different applications. Currently, smart cards are widely used across sectors such as telecommunications, BFSI, and government. Due to the numerous advantages they offer, smart cards are increasingly used in the healthcare, government IDs (e-passports), and retail sectors. Thus, strong ongoing adoption of smart cards across different sectors is estimated to substantially spur the markets growth in the coming years.The research study titled Smart Cards Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2016 - 2023 provides in-depth analysis of the market and related sub-segments. The report strategically focuses on market segments including different types of smart cards and components.Request for Sample PDF of Premium Research Report with TOC:In addition, this report provides market insights and forecasts of the size and growth of each segment across each of the geographic regions. The report includes detailed analysis of prevalent market trends and profiles of key players. In order to provide better understanding of competition in the market, the report offers ecosystem analysis and competitive landscape. The study on the global smart cards market has been conducted with the objective of providing thorough coverage of the underlying technological and socio-economic factors driving the market.The smart cards market is expected to see consistent growth in the coming years due to the increasing demand for secure and reliable payment transactions across the retail and BFSI sectors. Moreover, cost-saving schemes for merchants from payments brands such as Visa, MasterCard, and Europay is driving the smart card technology innovations. The decreasing prices of subscriber identification module (SIM) cards and tariff rates are increasing the number of mobile subscribers, and thus further contributing to the growth of the smart cards market.Read All Technology Market Research Reports @Table of ContentChapter 1 Preface1.1 Report Description1.2 Market Segmentation: Smart Cards Market1.3 Research Methodology1.3.1 Sources1.3.1.1 Secondary Research1.3.1.2 Primary ResearchChapter 2 Executive Summary2.1 Market Snapshot: Global Smart Cards Market, 2014 & 20232.2 Global Smart Cards Market Revenue, 2013  2023 (US$ Mn) and Y-o-Y Growth (%)2.3 Global Smart Cards Market Volume, 2013  2023 (Mn Units) and Y-o-Y Growth (%)2.3.1 Global Smart Cards Market, by Type, 20142.3.2 Global Smart Cards Market, by Components, 20142.3.3 Global Smart Cards Market, by Geography, 2014Chapter 3 Global Smart Cards Market Analysis, 2013  2023 (US$ Mn & Mn Units)3.1 Overview3.2 Key Trends Analysis3.3 Impact Analysis3.3.1 Impact Analysis of NFC Technology3.3.1.1 Global NFC Enabled Smart Phone Shipment Market Volume and Forecast, 2014  2018 (Mn Units)3.3.2 Impact Analysis of M2M Communication on the Smart Card Market3.3.2.1 Global utilities market (Electricity, Water & Gas) M2M, Volume and Forecast, 2011  2016 (Mn Units)About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the world's 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. ResearchMoz's 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.Contact Us:Mr. Nachiket Ghumare90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 / Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:Follow me on Blogger at:
Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market to Reach US$8,178.1 Million by 2025: Rising Applications of Cord Blood Cells in Treatment of Chronic Diseases Driving Adoption

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ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, & Forecast 2017 - 2025 " to it's Large Report database.Global Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market: OverviewThis report on umbilical cord blood banking market studies the current as well as future prospects of the market globally. The stakeholders of this report include companies and intermediaries engaged in the manufacture, commercialization, providing storage services of umbilical cord blood storage such as public cord blood banks and private cord blood banks as well as new entrants planning to enter this market. This report comprises an elaborate executive summary along with a market snapshot providing overall information of various segments and sub-segments considered in the scope of the study. This section also provides the overall information and data analysis of the global umbilical cord blood banking market with respect to the leading market segments based on type of storage, major application segment, end-user, and geographies.Request for Sample PDF of Premium Research Report with TOC:Global Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market: SegmentationBased on type of storage, the umbilical cord blood banking market has been majorly segmented into: public cord blood banks and private cord blood banks. In terms of application, the umbilical cord blood banking market divided into cancers, blood disorders, metabolic disorders, immune disorders, osteopetrosis, and others. In terms of end-users, the umbilical cord blood banking market has been broadly classified into hospitals (Medical Applications), pharmaceutical research (Drug Discovery), and research institutes (Scientific Research).Each of the market segments have been extensively analyzed based on the market related factors such as increasing adoption rate of umbilical cord blood banking and stem cell therapy, technological advancement, and growing number of use of stem cells therapy in various applications. Moreover, historical year-on-year growth have been taken into consideration while estimating the market size. The market size and forecast in terms of US$ million for each segment has been provided for the period from 2015 to 2025. The report also provides the compound annual growth rate (CAGR %) for each market segment for the forecast period from 2017 to 2025, considering 2016 as the base year.Read All Biotechnology Market Research Reports @Table of Content1. Preface1.1. Report Scope and Market Segmentation1.2. Research Highlights2. Assumptions and Research Methodology2.1. Assumptions2.2. Acronyms Used2.3. Research Methodology3. Executive Summary3.1. Global Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market Snapshot4. Market Overview4.1. Product Overview4.2. Key Industry Events4.3. Global Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market Size (US$ Mn) Forecast, 2015-20254.4. Market Opportunity Map4.5. Global Umbilical Cord Blood Banking Market Outlook4.6. Porter's Five Forces5. Market Dynamics5.1. Drivers and Restraints Snapshot Analysis5.2. Drivers5.2.1. Rise in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation rates drives the demand for umbilical cord blood banking5.2.2. Advancement in cord blood processing and storage Type of Storage5.2.3. Rise in awareness about stem cell therapy along with adoption of cord blood banking5.2.4. Increase in applications of cord blood cells in treatment of various disease therapies5.2.5. Favorable reimbursement policies and rise in funding for stem cell researchAbout ResearchMozResearchMoz is the world's 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. ResearchMoz's 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.Contact Us:Mr. Nachiket Ghumare90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 / Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:Follow me on Blogger at:
Satellite Broadband Communication in Public Safety Globally Expand at a CAGR of 9.03% to 2020 Due to Rise in Broadband Industry

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Albany, New York, June 20, 2017 : Satellite broadband plays an important role in meeting public safety needs. Satellite communication in the public safety domain involves the adoption of next-generation satellite communication technology in mission-critical field applications, equipping people with real-time data, video, voice, or other forms of tactical communication, and rich media services. Satellite communication, can help ambulance crews to send the location of an injured person with updated conditions to doctors at a hospital for an early accommodation arrangement and diagnosis and immediate treatment. Police officers responding to an incident can access video and information about the scene they are about to walk into. Fire personnel can obtain information on a real-time basis about the environment they are working on. They can also view maps, images of the buildings, and other information to enable them to handle crisis situations more efficiently.Technavios analysts forecast the global satellite broadband communication in public safety market to grow at a CAGR of 9.03% during the period 2016-2020.Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global satellite broadband communication in public safety market for 2016-2020. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from the C-band, Ku-band, and Ka-band devices, networks, services and satellite communication services.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:AmericasAPACEMEAGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Technavio's report, Global Satellite Broadband Communication in Public Safety Market 2016-2020, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendorsGilat Satellite NetworksHarris CapRock CommunicationsHughes Network SystemsInmarsatIridium CommunicationsVT iDirectOther prominent vendorsCambium NetworksEchoStarLigado NetworksThrane and ThraneGlobalstarIntelsat GeneralSingtelTelstraThurayaViaSatMarket driverInitiatives for effective communication servicesFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challengeConverging satellite and terrestrial mobile technologyFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trendDemand for M2M communicationsFor a full, detailed list, view our reportMake an Enquiry of this report @Key questions answered in this reportWhat will the market size be in 2020 and what will the growth rate be?What are the key market trends?What is driving this market?What are the challenges to market growth?Who are the key vendors in this market space?What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the 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.ResearchMoz90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States
U.S. Industrial Boiler market outlook: Chemical applications to generate significant revenue over 2016-2024

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Diminishing fossil fuel resources and the increasing demand for energy across the region will boost U.S. industrial boiler market. Growing concerns regarding the hazardous effects of increasing carbon content in the atmosphere will favor the industry growth over the next few years. According to Global Market Insights, Inc., U.S. Industrial Boiler Market will surpass a revenue of USD 600 million by 2024.Industrial boilers find applications in prominent sectors such as metal, chemical, food, refining, and paper. U.S. industrial boiler market in paper industry is predicted to record a CAGR of more than 3% over the coming years of 2016 to 2024, primarily driven by the rising demands for packaging and labeling purposes. Refining application will generate a revenue of over USD 95 million by 2024, owing to the increase in the number of refinery industries across the U.S. to fulfill the surging need of products such as LPG, diesel, lubricants, and asphalt.Request for Sample of this report @Chemical is another lucrative application segment of U.S. industrial boiler industry, which will generate a revenue of more than USD 150 million by 2024.Taking into consideration the capacity, U.S. industrial boiler market is segmented into >250 MMBtu/hr, 100-250 MMBtu/hr, 50-100 MMBtu/hr, 10-50 MMBtu/hr, and < 10 MMBtu/hr.U.S. industrial boiler industry with a product capacity of < 10 MMBtu/hr collected a revenue of USD 100 million in 2015, and is anticipated to exhibit noticeable growth rate over the coming seven years, owing to escalating product usage across the chemical and metal manufacturing industries. U.S. industrial boiler market with a product capacity of 10-50 MMBtu/hr will register an annual growth rate of more than 3% over the period of 2016 to 2024.Browse complete summary of this Report @The regional highlights of this industry are provided below: U.S. industrial boiler market across the North Carolina region will surpass a revenue of USD 25 million by 2024, owing to the growing industrialization. Alabama region will collect a revenue of more than USD 10 million by 2024, primarily driven by growing trends toward the paper industry. U.S. industrial boiler market across the North-East region, led by New Jersey, accounted for more than 13% of overall regional revenue in 2015. The expanding food processing sector will favor Iowa industrial boiler industry size over the coming years.Press Release @The key participants in U.S. industrial boiler market are Hurst Boiler & Welding Co Inc., Sioux Corporation, Columbia Boiler Co., Calderas Powermaster, Easco Corporation, Le Groupe Simoneau, Inc., Bryan Steam LLC., Fulton Inc., Superior Boiler Works, Inc., Unilux Advanced Manufacturing LLC, Vapor Power International, LLC., York-Shipley, Clayton Industries, Lattner Boiler Manufacturing Co., Cleaver-Brooks, Inc., Parker Boiler Co., Williams & Davis Boilers Inc., and Acme Engineering Prod. Ltd.About Global Market InsightsGlobal 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.29L Atlantic Avenue, Suite L 105Ocean View Delaware 19970 United StatesEmail: sales@gminsights.com
Intelligent Platform Management Interface Market 2017 Trend, Analysis and Forecast to 2021

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The Intelligent Platform Management Interface was designed primarily for out-of-band management server systems. IPMI's main functionalities include inventory management, system monitoring, logging, recovery operations, and the power management of the host computer's firmware (BIOS) , operating system, and CPU.Publisher's analysts forecast the global intelligent platform management interface market to grow at a CAGR of 15.60% during the period 2017-2021.For more information about this report:Covered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global intelligent platform management interface market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated through the sales of software and components.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:-Americas-APAC-EMEAPublisher's report, Global Intelligent Platform Management Interface 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 vendors-ARM-Cisco-Dell Technologies-HPE-Intel Corporation-NEC CorporationRequest Sample Copy atOther prominent vendors-Emerson-Microsoft-SoftLayer Technologies-Super Micro ComputerMarket driver-Increased demand for cloud-based storage-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge-Increase in data center power density-For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend-Implementation of software-defined data center (SDDC)-For a full, detailed list, view our reportInquire for Report atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
LTE For Critical Communications Technology Advances, Market Analysis and Forecast 2016 - 2030, Expected to Surpass $2 Billion by the end of 2020

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ResearchMoz added Latest Research Report titled " LTE for Critical Communications: 2016 - 2030 - Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts " to it's Large Report database.For years, the critical communications industry has relied on narrowband LMR (Land Mobile Radio) networks for mission-critical voice and basic data services. Due to the bandwidth limitations of these LMR networks, public safety agencies and other users within the critical communications industry are keen to leverage commercial cellular network technologies to support growing demands for mobile broadband services such as video transmission and bandwidth-intensive field applications.Considering its thriving ecosystem, spectrum flexibility and performance metrics, LTE has emerged as the leading candidate for critical communications broadband networks. In addition, with the recent approval of the MCPTT (Mission Critical Push to Talk) voice standard as part of 3GPP Release 13, LTE has also become an attractive substitute for providing LMR-like voice services.As a result, a growing number of critical communications organizations are deploying either private LTE networks or contracting commercial LTE mobile operator services via MVNO arrangements to complement their existing LMR systems with broadband capabilities.Request for Sample PDF of Premium Research Report with TOC:Driven by early investments in the Middle East and Asia Pacific regions, the market for critical communications LTE networks is already worth $600 Million in annual infrastructure spending. Fueled by large-scale rollouts in the public safety, energy and other sectors, the market is further expected to surpass $2 Billion by the end of 2020. This includes spending on base stations (eNBs), mobile core and transport networking gear.Spanning over 1,200 pages, the LTE for Critical Communications: 2016  2030  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts report package encompasses three comprehensive reports covering both commercial and dedicated LTE networks for critical communications.The LTE, LTE-Advanced & 5G Ecosystem: 2016  2030  Infrastructure, Devices, Operator Services, Verticals, Strategies & ForecastsThe Private LTE Network Ecosystem: 2016  2030  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies, Industry Verticals & ForecastsThe Public Safety LTE & Mobile Broadband Market: 2016  2030  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & ForecastsRead All LTE Market Research Reports @Table of ContentsReport 1 The LTE, LTE-Advanced & 5G Ecosystem: 2016  2030  Infrastructure, Devices, Operator Services, Verticals, Strategies & Forecasts1.1 Chapter 1.1: Introduction 1.241.2 Chapter 1.2: LTE & LTE-Advanced Ecosystem 1.361.3 Chapter 1.3: LTE & LTE-Advanced Deployment Strategies 1.551.4 Chapter 1.4: Operator Service Models  Monetizing LTE 1.651.5 Chapter 1.5: Unlicensed LTE Networks 1.711.6 Chapter 1.6: Evolving 5G Ecosystem 1.791.7 Chapter 1.7: Enabling Technologies for 5G 1.891.8 Chapter 1.8: Vertical Markets for LTE & 5G Networks 1.1091.9 Chapter 1.9: Industry Roadmap & Value Chain 1.1361.10 Chapter 1.10: Vendor & Operator Landscape 1.1451.11 Chapter 1.11: Market Analysis & Forecasts 1.2621.12 Chapter 1.12: Infrastructure, Devices, Operator Services & Verticals Summary 1.389Report 2 The Private LTE Network Ecosystem: 2016  2030  Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies, Industry Verticals & Forecasts2.1 Chapter 2.1: Introduction 2.182.2 Chapter 2.2: An Overview of Private LTE Networks 2.302.3 Chapter 2.3: Key Vertical Markets & Case Studies 2.602.4 Chapter 2.4: Spectrum Allocation, Standardization & Regulatory Initiatives 2.912.5 Chapter 2.5: Industry Roadmap & Value Chain 2.1052.6 Chapter 2.6: Key Market Players 2.1122.7 Chapter 2.7: Market Analysis & Forecasts 2.3112.8 Chapter 2.8: Conclusion & Strategic Recommendations 2.351About ResearchMozResearchMoz is the world's 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. ResearchMoz's 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.Contact Us:Mr. Nachiket Ghumare90 State Street, Albany NY, United States - 12207Tel: +1-518-621-2074 / Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.usFollow us on LinkedIn at:Follow me on Blogger at:
Body Lotion Market  Evolving Countries, Type, Application and Major Manufacturers Unilever PLC, L'Oreal S.A., Procter & Gamble Co 2022

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HTF Market Intelligence released a new research report of 115 pages on title 'Global Body Lotion Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022' with detailed analysis, forecast and strategies. The study covers key regions that includes United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia and important players such as Unilever PLC, L'Oreal S.A., Procter & Gamble Co...................Summary""Many Lotion products have Moisturizer functions, combined together, one common skin care product, Decontamination and water supplement.This report studies the Lotion & Moisturizer market, by type(Dry Skin, Oily Skin and Normal Skin, others), by applications(Men Using Women Using and Baby Using).""Request a sample report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Body Lotion in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversUnilever PLCL'Oreal S.A.Procter & Gamble Co.Johnson & JohnsonShiseido CompanyBeiersdorf AGAvon Products Inc.ClarinsKao CorporationAmore Pacific GroupThe Estee Lauder Companies Inc.CavinkareCetaphilHain Celestial GroupMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversDry Skin Body LotionOily Skin Body LotionNormal Skin Body LotionOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoMen UsingWomen UsingBaby UsingBuy this report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Body Lotion market.Chapter 1, to describe Body Lotion Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Body Lotion, with sales, revenue, and price of Body Lotion, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Body Lotion, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Body Lotion market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Body Lotion sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceGet Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Body Lotion Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Dry Skin Body Lotion1.2.2 Oily Skin Body Lotion1.2.3 Normal Skin Body Lotion1.2.4 Others1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Men Using1.3.2 Women Using1.3.3 Baby Using1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force....ContinuedView Detailed Table of Content @Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketre)port.com+1 (206) 317 1218 (US)
Study on LED Lighting Solutions: Indoor Market Applications Projected to be the Most Attractive Segment During 20172025

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Due to the several advantages of LED lighting, the global market for LED lighting is expanding at a rapid pace and LED lighting has the potential to revolutionize the lighting sector. Observing the commercial feasibility of LED lighting technology, it is going to be one of the most promising technologies by the year 2020. A new research report titled as LED Lighting Market: Global Industry Analysis and Forecast, 2017-2025 has been recently added to the huge portfolio of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) online research offerings. This market report is a professional and in-depth study of the current state as well as future potential of the global LED lighting market. The report predicts that the global LED lighting market will register a CAGR of 16.6% between 2017 and 2025. At this pace, the market is expected to reach a valuation of US$ 126,000 million by the year 2025 from nearly US$ 37,000 million in 2017.Request For Sample Report:This latest report on global LED lighting market consists of four main parts. The first part is devoted to market definitions, market segregations and acronyms used in the study. In the second part of the report, the key factors enabling and influencing the growth of the global LED lighting market are briefly elaborated. This section covers growth drivers and the effect of these drivers on the global market. Major challenges faced the global LED lighting market and the influence of these challenges on the market are also included in the report. Furthermore, trends, opportunities and major recent developments in the global LED lighting market have been studied. The third part of the report includes the analysis and insights into the global LED lighting industry and comprise the bulk of this report. This part provides information about the market size and CAGR for historic period and forecast period. Year-on-year growth rate comparison of different segments and sub segments of the global LED lighting market are also offered in this section of the report. The report further studies prominent geographic regions, which include Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, Europe and Middle East and Africa.In the fourth and final part of the report, a competitive landscape analysis is provided based on relative positioning of the market participants in the global LED lighting market. Besides this, the company profiles covers information such as company overview, financial strategies, SWOT analysis, recent developments and a brief business strategy of the key players in the global LED lighting market. Some of the key players operating in the global market are GE Lighting, LLC, Cree, Inc., Sharp Corporation, Eaton Corporation (Cooper Industries PLC), Daktronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Philips Lumileds Lighting, Toshiba Lighting and Technology Corporation, Acuity Brands Lighting, Inc., Hubbell Lighting, Inc. and others.Browse Full Global LED Lighting Market Market Report with TOC :Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE) is an industry-leading database of market intelligence reports. MRRSE is driven by a stellar team of research experts and advisors trained to offer objective advice. Our sophisticated search algorithm returns results based on the report title, geographical region, publisher, or other keywords.MRRSE partners exclusively with leading global publishers to provide clients single-point access to top-of-the-line market research. MRRSEs repository is updated every day to keep its clients ahead of the next new trend in market research, be it competitive intelligence, product or service trends or strategic consulting.State Tower90, State StreetSuite 700Albany, NY - 12207United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
North America's Blood Collection Tubes Market From 2015 To 2023: By Tube Type - Serum Separating Tubes, Plasma Separating Tubes, EDTA Tubes, Heparin Tubes, Rapid Serum Tubes and Others

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ResearchMoz presents this most up-to-date research on "North America's Blood Collection Tubes Market From 2015 To 2023: By Tube Type - Serum Separating Tubes, Plasma Separating Tubes, EDTA Tubes, Heparin Tubes, Rapid Serum Tubes and Others".Growing concerns about spread of infectious diseases through donated blood has surged the demand for blood and blood products. Blood collection tube is a disinfected glass or plastic tube with a closure that is evacuated to create a vacuum inside the tube enabling the draw of a predetermined volume of liquid. The tubes are most commonly used to collect blood samples, but can also be used as urine collection tubes and as serum separator tubes. The research report on the blood collection tubes market provides detailed analysis of the North American market and helps in understanding the driving forces responsible for the growth of these tubes. With the increase in aging population and prevalence of diseases, there is an increase in the blood testing in the developed regions such as North America. Moreover, increasing government initiatives and rise in the number of surgical procedures in North America are the factors driving the demand for blood collection tubes.Demand for blood is continuously rising with patients undergoing advanced surgeries that require blood transfusions. In order to support patients, countries are expanding their healthcare coverage so that maximum number of people can avail of required treatment. While there are opportunities in the market for developing cell therapies, the cost of blood handling equipment is a major disadvantage.The North America blood collection tubes market is segmented by tube type and by geography. The market by tube type includes serum separating tubes, plasma separating tubes, EDTA tubes, heparin tubes, rapid serum tubes and other tubes. The serum separating tubes account for considerable share of the market followed by EDTA tubes and others. Geographically, the market has been studied and estimated for North America region including the U.S. and Canada. The serum separating tubes segment dominated the market due to higher number of serum samples collected and used for various diagnostic applications. However, the rapid serum tubes market is expected to grow at a higher rate due to advanced technology and increase in work efficiency offered by the product.The market overview section of the report demonstrates major market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities that influence the current and future status of the industry. The market overview section includes market attractiveness analysis, by geography, to provide a thorough analysis of the overall competitive scenario in North America blood collection tubes market. This section of the report also includes the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the competitive landscape. The market has a bright outlook for implementing new blood collection techniques, screening tests and implementation of automation in the process of collection of blood. These factors are expected to create a significant demand for blood collection tubes across the globe. However, stringent regulatory guidelines and healthcare policies also influence the growth of the market.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Manufacturers are coming up with new, improved and safe technologies for blood collection. Moreover, developed markets such as North America are expected to grow due to increased level of awareness, government support and advancements in blood collection technologies.Market share analysis is also provided in the market overview section of the report for 2014 in terms of value (%). The report also provides important recommendations for market players and new entrants. These recommendations would enable existing market players to expand their market shares and help new companies to establish their presence in the blood collection tubes market across North America. The report concludes with the company profiles section, which includes key information about major players in the market such as financial overview, business strategies, and recent developments.Major players in this market are Becton, Dickinson & Company (U.S.), Greiner Group AG (Austria), Sarstedt AG & Co. (Germany), QIAGEN N.V. (Germany), Terumo Corporation (Japan) and FL Medical srl (Italy).The North America Blood Collection Tubes market has been segmented as follows:North America Blood Collection Tubes Market, by Tube TypePlasma Separation TubeHeparin TubesSerum Separating TubesEDTA TubesRapid Serum TubesOthersNorth America Blood Collection Tubes Market, by GeographyU.S.CanadaMake 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 @
Bank Kiosk Market: Evolving Technology, Trends and industry Analysis 2025

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Global Bank Kiosk Market: SnapshotRapid technological advancements are likely to shape the future of the global bank kiosk market. The emergence of near field communication (NFC) technology and its incorporation with contactless payment options in the banking sector in Asia Pacific is opening new avenues for players in the market. On the basis of type, the global bank kiosk market can be divided into single-function kiosk, multi-function kiosk, and virtual video teller machine. Among these, the demand for multi-functional kiosk is expected to remain strong throughout the forecast period. Combining various functionalities in one machine can help organizations in cutting down capital expenditure on application development, machine purchases, installation, and maintenance.Based on components, the market can be categorized into software, hardware, and services. While hardware include card readers, printers, keyboards, touchscreens, card dispensing machines, and barcode readers and scanners, software used can be multivendor software, application development platform, content management software, and remote device management. Hardware is anticipated to account for a large share in the bank kiosk market during the forecast period. On the other hand, the spiraling need for independent software purchases to develop technologically advanced interactive kiosk is estimated to allow the software segment to gain significant traction during the same period.Request Sample Copy of the Report @In terms of distribution, the global bank kiosk market can be fragmented into urban, semi-urban, and rural. The higher knowledge among the urban population to use bank kiosk and burgeoning demand for self-service machines is contributing to the growth of the urban segment.Global Bank Kiosk Market: OverviewThe growth in the global bank kiosk market is projected to increase substantially across the forecast period. With a high level of competition and development of innovative features and products, the market is likely to register a healthy growth rate in the next few years. The remarkable efforts being taken by prominent players to offer improved and efficient customer service is expected to supplement the growth of the global bank kiosk market throughout the forecast period.The research study provides a detailed analysis of the global bank kiosk market and throws light on the vital dynamics that are predicted to impact the development throughout the forecast period. The product segmentation, technological developments, latest trends, applications, and the key geographical segments have been included in the research report. Additionally, the competitive landscape of the global bank kiosk market has been highlighted to guide the new entrants in the market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Bank Kiosk Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe growing demand for self-service in a large number of security-related applications in the financial sector is one of the major factors expected to boost the demand for bank kiosks throughout the forecast period. In addition, a substantial reduction in the operational costs and the improved customer services provided by interactive bank kiosks are some of the other factors likely to encourage the growth of the global market in the coming years.On the other hand, the requirement of high initial cost for installation and the tremendously rising use of mobile devices resulting in significant reduction in the use of bank kiosks are anticipated to restrict the growth of the global bank kiosks market throughout the forecast period. Moreover, the rising demand for improved technology and controlling cyber security threats are predicted to curtail the markets growth in the near future. Nevertheless, the increasing number of investments by leading players to supplement the growth of the overall market in the near future.Global Bank Kiosk Market: Region-wise OutlookTo offer a strong understanding of the global bank kiosk market, the research study has divided the overall market on the basis of geography. Among the key segments, Asia Pacific is projected to witness robust growth in the next few years. The rising demand for bank kiosks and the increasing number of government initiatives to encourage the adoption of bank kiosks to offer convenience to consumer are anticipated to fuel the growth of the bank kiosk market in Asia Pacific in the near future.Furthermore, the increasing focus of leading players on enhancing their market penetration, especially in developing nations around the world is expected to contribute significantly towards the growth of the market. The market share, size, and growth rate of each regional segment have been provided in the scope of the research study.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Key Players Mentioned in the Research Report are:A large number of players operating in the global bank kiosk market and the rising demand for bank kiosks across the globe are the vital factors fuelling the growth of the market. As per the research study, this market is anticipated to witness intense competition throughout the forecast period. The company profiles of prominent players, along with their latest trends, financial status, product portfolio, business tactics, mergers and acquisitions, and SWOT analysis have been discussed in the scope of the research report.Some of the prominent players operating in the bank kiosk market across the globe are Cisco Systems, Inc., Inspur Technologies Co., Ltd., OKI Electric Industry Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Yi of Computer Co., Ltd, GRG Banking, Hitachi-Omron Terminal Solutions, Corp., NCR Corporation, Diebold, Inc., Glory Limited, Auriga SPA, Korala Associates Limited (Kal Atm Software), and Nautilus Hyosung.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Increasing Consumption Of Large-scale LNG Terminals In Global Market Due To Environmental Benefits Over The Period 2015 - 2023

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Increasing Consumption Of Large-scale LNG Terminals In Global Market Due To Environmental Benefits Over The Period 2015 - 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.This research study analyzes the market for large-scale LNG terminals in terms of throughput (MMTPA). The large-scale LNG terminals market has been segmented on the basis of technology and geography. The regional segment has been further divided into 12 sub-segments that comprise seven countries which are major players in the global large-scale LNG terminals market. For the research, 2014 has been taken as the base year while all forecasts have been given for the 20152023 period. Market data for all the segments has been provided at the regional as well as country-specific level for the 20142023 period. The report provides a broad competitive analysis of companies engaged in the large-scale LNG terminals business. The report also includes the key market dynamics such as drivers, restraints, and opportunities affecting the global large-scale LNG terminals market.These market dynamics were analyzed in detail and are illustrated in the report with the help of supporting graphs and tables. The report also provides a comprehensive industry analysis of the global large-scale LNG terminals market with the help of Porters Five Forces model. This analysis helps in understanding the five major forces that affect the structure and profitability of the global large-scale LNG terminals 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 high-level analysis in the report provides detailed insights into the large-scale LNG terminals business globally. There are currently numerous drivers for the large-scale LNG terminals market. One of the most prominent drivers is preference of LNG as an alternative fuel source by large long haul vehicle fleet owners. Apart from this, increasing consumption of LNG due to environmental benefits over other fuels is expected to increase the demand for large-scale LNG terminals in the near future. Market attractiveness analysis was carried out for the large-scale LNG terminals market on the basis of geography. Market attractiveness was estimated on the basis of common parameters that directly impact the market in different regions.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The large-scale LNG terminals market was further segmented on the basis of technology into liquefaction and regasification. Both the technology segments were further sub-divided on the basis of site into onshore and offshore. The large-scale LNG terminals market was analyzed across five geographies: North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, South America, and Middle East & Africa. Regional data has been provided for each sub-segment of the large-scale LNG terminals market. Key market participants in the large-scale LNG terminals market include Linde AG, Royal Dutch Shell plc, Exxon Mobil Corporation, Santos Limited, Chevron Corporation, Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS), Statoil ASA, ConocoPhillips Company, Gasum Oy, Rosneft, and Nippon Gas Co.Ltd. The report provides an overview of these companies, followed by their financial details, business strategies, and recent developments.Large-scale LNG Terminals Market: By TechnologyLiquefactionOnshoreOffshoreRegasificationOnshoreOffshoreLarge-scale LNG Terminals Market: By RegionNorth AmericaU.S.Rest of North AmericaAsia PacificIndonesiaRest of Asia PacificEuropeRussiaSpainRest of EuropeSouth AmericaPeruRest of South AmericaMiddle East & AfricaQatarNigeriaRest of Middle East & AfricaMake 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 @
Philippines Solar PV Power Market Trend, Growth, Size, Share, Analysis and Forecast till 2030

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Philippines Solar PV Power - Market Analysis and Forecast till 2030" to its huge collection of research reports.The Future of the Philippines Solar PV Market Economy, Power Outlook, Capacity, Consumption, Levelized Cost of Energy, Investment Opportunities, Regulations and Company Profiles and Forecasts to 2030 published by Techsila.SynopsisThe report provides detailed analysis on the Philippines bv Solar PV sector. The report examines the overall economy of the country, estimates the power consumption, and analyzes the different power technologies and also forecasts their growth for next fifteen years.This report offers detailed analysis of Philippines Solar PV market with capacity forecasts covering the next fifteen years. This report will also analyze factors that influence demand for the industry, key market trends, and challenges faced by industry participants. In particular, it provides an in-depth analysis of the following Philippines Solar PV market size and drivers: detailed analysis of the Philippines Solar PV market during 2014-2030, including highlights of the demand drivers and growth stimulators for the market. It also provides a snapshot of the countrys economy and power outlook.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @The report highlights installed capacity trends from 2001 to 2030 in Philippines solar PV market. The research provides data related to investments and levelized cost of energy (LCOE) for solar PV in Philippines during 20132030.The research also provides company snapshots of some of the major market participants. The report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, secondary research and in-house analysis by team of industry experts.The report analyzes the power market scenario in Philippines (includes thermal, hydro and renewable energy sources) and provides future outlook with forecasts up to 2030.The research provide details economy and renewable power market outlook in the country (includes wind, small hydro, biopower and solar PV) and provides forecasts up to 2030.Reasons To BuyUnderstand the industry dynamics, growth trends and key challenges to assist in decision makingIdentify business opportunity across the value-chain with information on product prices, and opportunity analysisBenchmark various industry participants present and identify performers, laggards and emerging playersUse the data and analysis to develop business plan, formulate strategies, analyze companies and benchmark countries for investmentLeverage the data and insights to save time on your research project while doing so economically. This will help you in spending time in adding additional valuesMake 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 @
Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market Analytical Overview, Growth Factors, Demand and Trends Forecast Report till 2025

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Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: SnapshotEpoxidized soybean oil or ESBO refers to a collection of different organic compounds that are extracted from the epoxidation of the oil of soybean. It is employed as a stabilizer and plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride plastics. Epoxidized soybean oil is a yellowish viscid liquid. During the manufacturing process of vegetable oils are broadly employed as precursors to the epoxidized oil products as they have sizeable number of carbon-carbon double bonds that are accessible for epoxidation.Epoxidized soybean oil is used in the PVC gaskets that applied in the glass jars that are used to store food products. It acts as a scavenger and plasticizer for the hydrochloric acid which is released when the degradation of the PVC occurs thermally at the time when the food product goes through sterilization. The most lucrative opportunities for epoxidized soybean oil is likely to arise from the food and beverages, plastic, rubber industries. The global epoxidized soybean oil market is likely to be positive impacted by the growing adoption of organic stabilizers in PVC stabilization procedure and as an emerging substitute for oil-based lubricant in the short and medium run. In the long run the easy availability of ESBO in low price is anticipated to be a core driving factor.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The challenges that this market is expected to face in the years ahead are the health hazards that are likely to occur in the industry of food and beverages to the excess use of ESBO and low product competitiveness that it creates.Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: OverviewThe global market for epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) is forecast to exhibit strong growth between 2017 and 2025. It will significantly gain from the increasing demand from the plastic additives industries, especially in North America. Besides this, research and development activities by the leading players, coupled with the recent merger and acquisition strategies they adopted will help this market rake high revenue over the forecast period. Additionally, the rising use of epoxidized soybean oil across diverse eco-friendly applications will aid the markets growth.This report presents a detailed assessment of the recent market developments besides strategically identifying the most lucrative segments. It covers the growth drivers and key restraints to help readers gain a better perspective of the global epoxidized soybean oil market. The report also profiles the leading market players and identifies their core competencies. The effect of Porters five forces on the overall market operations is evaluated as well.Request TOC of the Report @Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: Trends and OpportunitiesAmong the key end-use segments, the market is gaining maximum from the rising use of epoxidized soybean oil in food and beverages packaging. As the retail sector gears for spike in the demand for processed food, the significance of phthalate-free plasticizers food packaging will scale higher. This will create significant opportunities for the market in the beverage can coating segment as well. Epoxidized soybean oil is available at a lower cost and offers high flexibility and thermal stability. It is also an eco-friendly bio-plasticizer hence, considered to be a food-grade product. It is due to the same reason that epoxidized soybean oil is extensively used in the food and beverages industry for packaging of products.By application, plasticizers will emerge as one of the key market segments. The segment includes PVA, PVC, and chlorinated rubber applications. The demand for epoxidized soyabean oil is thus considerably high in North America, wherein stringent environmental laws have compelled industries to lower dependence on phthalate plasticizers.Also, soybean oil is most likely to remain the leading segment among raw materials due to its extensive use in the production of epoxidized soybean oil. This vegetable oil is derived from the seeds of soybean and is known to have many inedible applications besides its use in food products. Out of the many inedible applications, soybean oil acts as an excellent additive and stabilizer in plasticizers. Plasticizers become more reactive when epoxidized soybean oil is added. Soybean oil is widely available and is an eco-friendly alternative due to which it is also preferred by oleo chemical producers. Spurred by these factors, the global epoxidized soybean oil market will exhibit robust growth in the forecast period.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: Regional OutlookRegionally, the European markets will prove to be the most lucrative and faster growing. This trend is likely to continue through the course of the reports forecast period. In addition, the increasing demand from France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Turkey, and the U.K., will seal Europes position as the dominant market for epoxidized soybean oil in the forthcoming years. The high demand for epoxidized soybean oil in Europe is ascribable to stringent environmental regulations in place in the European Union, which curbs the use of non-phthalate plasticizers in food and beverages packaging. Currently, Germany is one of the leading consumers of epoxidized soybean oil in the region and will continue to remain so through the forecast period.Global Epoxidized Soybean Oil Market: Vendor LandscapeAmong the companies who were able to establish strong foothold in the global epoxidized soybean oil market, Ferro Corporation (U.S.), Arkema SA (France), Galata Chemicals (U.S.), Hairma Chemicals (Gz) Ltd. (China), and The Chemical Company (U.S.), are a few of the prominent brands. The report analyzes their strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis, which also gives insights into the opportunities and threats they may face over the forecast period.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Sensors Market - Detailed Study Analysis and Forecast by 2025

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Global Sensors Market: SnapshotThe global sensors market is prophesied to record a healthy CAGR during the forecast period 20172025 on account of the growing application of intelligent management and monitoring in the smart systems industry. Distributed sensor networks are heavily engaged for transmitting control instructions and valuable measurement information after interconnecting the devices in networked embedded systems. In todays era of smart technologies, vendors could take advantage of key applications such as assembling infrastructure systems, intelligent transportation, smart water networks, smart homes, and smart grids with the use of sensors.The global sensors market is envisioned to witness the advent of more efficient products with superior sensing quality. For instance, in late 2016, the HC1100 single-chip offering was launched in the global sensors market via a joint effort by HMicro and STMicroelectronics. HC1100 is considered to be applicable for disposable, clinical-grade biosensors and smart patches. Electrocardiogram, vital sign monitoring, and other wired wearable devices could be especially benefited with such biosensors and smart patches. As a result, the rising requirement of such devices is projected to propel the growth of the global sensors market throughout the forecast period.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The coveted application of sensors in smartphones for improving user interface experience is foreseen to rake in a telling demand in the global sensors market. More number of leading smartphone manufacturers are anticipated to demand sensors at a significant rate. Google claims to boast of the best-ever smartphone camera in history after it launched Pixel in 2016, featuring the Sony IMX378 sensor.Global Sensors Market: OverviewIn recent times, the increasing trend of automation is providing a thrust to the global sensors market. Sensors form the backbone of automated systems. The market has witnessed a tremendous transformational leap with the rapid advancements in the sensor technology. With advancements, there has been a considerable expansion in the scope of applications of sensors. They are used across numerous industrial verticals including automotive, consumer electronics, oil and gas, healthcare, utility, and manufacturing and for a myriad of parameters such as temperature, level, position, pressure, image, light, motion, and magnetic field.The report serves as a repository of analysis and data regarding several critical parameters of the global sensors market including value chain analysis, its dynamics, geographical segmentation, and competitive landscape. It takes into account the historical statistics and the current scenario to estimate the future trends of the market. It profiles prominent players in the market along with their business strategies, market shares, contact information, revenue generation, and latest developments. It performs SWOT analysis on key players to derive the growth trajectory each player will experience.Request TOC of the Report @Global Sensors Market: Drivers and RestraintsThe proliferation of consumer electronics is providing a fillip to the global sensors market. The manufacturing of consumer electronics demands a large number of sensors such as pressure sensors, motion sensors, and image sensors. In addition, the rising implementation of fingerprint sensors in smartphones and wearable devices is augmenting the market. Moreover, the emergence of wireless technology is working in favor of the growth of the market. Sensors play a critical part in the proper functioning of wireless platforms. Furthermore, the growing need for real-time analysis is triggering their demand. On the other hand, the declining prices of sensors are adversely affecting the overall revenue generation of the market. However, the booming trend of miniaturization is creating ample growth opportunities for the market.Global Sensors Market: Region-wise OutlookThe key regional markets covered in the report are Asia Pacific, Europe, North America, and Rest of the World. Asia Pacific will be a prominent market throughout the forecast period. The presence of a large number of manufacturing facilities and the flourishing growth of various end-user industries are providing a fillip to the growth of the region. The cheap cost of labor and less stringent government regulations are attracting several multinational companies to set up their manufacturing plants in the region. North America will also account for a large share in the market, thanks to the rapid advancements in the field of sensor technology in the region.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report@Global Sensors Market: Competitive LandscapeKey players in the global sensors market are paying high attention of technological advancements to stay relevant. They are pouring large funds into the research and development of novel and innovative sensors to differentiate their offerings and gain a competitive edge over their peers. Mergers and acquisitions are commonly adopted strategies by them to expand their business across different geographies.The immense potential of the market along with low entry barriers are attracting a large number of new players to invest in the market. The influx of new manufacturers is expected to intensify the competition in the market in the near future. Some of the prominent players in the global sensors market are Texas Instruments Inc., TE Connectivity Ltd., Infineon Technologies AG, Honeywell International Inc., Robert Bosch GmbH, ABB Ltd., Siemens AG, Emerson Electric Company, Omron Corporation, NXP Semiconductor N.V., and ARM Holdings Plc.About TMR ResearchTMR Research is a premier provider of customized market research and consulting services to business entities keen on succeeding in todays supercharged economic climate. Armed with an experienced, dedicated, and dynamic team of analysts, we are redefining the way our clients conduct business by providing them with authoritative and trusted research studies in tune with the latest methodologies and market trends.Our savvy custom-built reports span a gamut of industries such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals and metals, food and beverages, and technology and media, among others. With actionable insights uncovered through in-depth researh of the market, we try to bring about game-changing success for our clients.Contact :Rohit BhiseyHead - Internet MarketingTel: +1-415-520-1050Email: sales@tmrresearch.com
Pipeline Security Market Analysis - Size, Share, overview, scope, Revenue, Gross Margin, Segment and Forecast 2021

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SummaryReportBazzar has released its latest research-based report entitled Pipeline Security market. This report provides a holistic approach to the market growth with a detailed and precise analysis of the overall competitive scenario of the Pipeline Security market. The report also provides a detailed analysis of key trends playing a prominent role in the Pipeline Security market growth. The overall market provides detailed dynamic and statistical insights pertaining to the market at both regional and global level.Information & Communication Technology industryThe information and communication technology market nowadays is growing in double digit. We deliver both syndicated and consulting reports for ICT market according to client needs and industry needs. We mainly focus on different new technologies, smart markets, mobile applications, telecommunications, software, middleware, audio-visual systems and storage.A holistic report covers exhaustive information obtained from reliable industrial sources and through proven research methodologies. The report goes through both secondary and primary survey. The base year taken for the report is 2015, and a forecast is done from 2016 to 2021.The data thus obtained is then combined with relevant tables and graphs to support the information revealed.Get Free Sample Copy of this Report @The following points are covered in the report: Market segmentation Penetration & Growth Mapping Market Trends Market Driver Analysis Market Restraint Analysis Growth opportunities Porters Analysis SWOT AnalysisApplication Insights:Various competent analytical tools have been used to offer a comprehensive assessment of the market. The report comprises of each aspect of the global market for Pipeline Security. It starts with the basic information and then advances to the market segmentation based on different criteria such as technology, industry areas and regions in general. A detailed analysis is given on the areas of industries it is used and basically how the technology is helping the particular industry or driving the market growth of that particular industry.Regional Insights:Major regions, countries, and sub-segments have been analyzed for providing the better understanding of the market scope worldwide. The regions taken into consideration are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Central & South America. The regional markets for the Pipeline Security market are analyzed by evaluating the demand, and supply, the assembly of the products, how it is getting connected with the human interface as well as the historical performance of the market in the given region.Competitive Insights:The report also provides insights on the competitive landscape of the global Pipeline Security industry with the leading players profiled in the report. Company profiles are purely tentative in nature and we can profile companies according to your interest at free cost. The company overview, trends, tactics, merger & acquisitions, business strategies, financial metrics of the major participants operating in the global Pipeline Security market have been reviewed in this study.Browse full report with Table of Content @Some Points Of Table Of Content:1. Introduction2. Research Methodology3. Executive Summary4. Market Dynamics4.1. Market Overview and Segmentations4.2. Drivers4.3. Restraints4.4. Opportunities4.5. Supplier Outlook4.6. Industry Outlook4.7. Porters 5 Forces Analysis4.8. Industry Value Chain Analysis5. Pipeline Security Market Forecast by Solutions (US$ billion)5.1. Surveillance Solutions5.2. Secure Communication Systems5.3. Tracking Solutions5.4. Identity and Access Control Solutions5.5. Intrusion Detection Solutions5.6. Others6. Pipeline Security Market Forecast by Product Type (US$ billion)6.1. Chemical6.2. Natural gas6.3. Crude Oil6.4. Refined products6.5. Drinking Water6.6. Others7. Pipeline Security Market Forecast by Geography (US$ billion)7.1. Americas7.1.1. North America7.1.2. South America7.2. Europe Middle East and Africa7.2.1. Europe7.2.2. Middle East and Africa7.3. Asia Pacific8. Competitive Intelligence8.1. Investment Analysis8.2. Recent Deals8.3. Strategies of Key Players9. Company Profiles9.1. ABB9.2. Honeywell9.3. Schneider Electric9.4. Senstar Inc9.5. Thales Group9.6. Huawei9.7. Skywave9.8. BAE Systems9.9. Alstom9.10. SiemensAsk for Discount @About Us:Reportbazzar.com is your trusted source for the most inclusive and informative assortment of market research reports designed to empower you with the latest in industry information that translates to time and cost savings for your business. We not only help you give wing to your latent business ideas but also facilitate you in taking the best informed and strategic decisions that guarantee success in your most promising business endeavors. Our intelligence database comprises of vast arrays of strategically analyzed and high-level market research reports that encompass all major industries worldwide. All the specialized research reports available at Reportbazzar.com are tailor-made to suit your every business need, no matter how diverse or demanding it is.Contact for more details:Report BazzarUnited States30 Wall Street, 8th floor,New York, NY 10005.US: +1 (212) 389-6363Email: sales@reportbazzar.comWeb -
Data Center Construction Industry 2025: Europe Market Insights, Size, Demand, Growth Prospects and Opportunities

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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 data center construction market in Europe by the design type is fragmented into electrical, mechanical, and general construction. Designing a new data center as well as redesigning an existing data center requires a scalable and feasible plan which covers important areas such as electrical design, mechanical design as well as general construction. The electrical data center construction design type comprises of components such as UPS, generators, PDUs and transfer switches. Whereas, the mechanical design comprises of HVAC and other cooling equipment.The increasing demand for big data analytics and cloud-based services, such as online contents including movies, apps, videos, and social media, are fueling the growth of data traffic across the region; further influencing the deployment of data centers in Europe.Request for a sample of this research report atThe share of data center traffic generated by cloud was around 1.2 zettabytes of data, according to Cisco Systems, and this comprised of 46% of the total data traffic. Furthermore, the company estimates that in the year 2017, this data center traffic will increase to 69% or 5.3 zettabytes of all data traffic, further leading to increased adoption of data centers in the region during the forecast period. Some of the leading data center construction market players in European region are ISG plc, Arup Group, John Sisk & Son, Jones Engineering Group, Jacobs, Mace Group and others.The report aims to provide an overview of European data center construction market with detailed market segmentation. Also, it analyzes the current data center construction market scenario and forecasts the market till 2025. The report covers market dynamics effecting the market during the forecast period. Furthermore, the report analyzes the competitive scenario, geographic trends, and opportunities in the markets with respect to all geographic regions. The report also includes the detailed company profiles of the key players in the market along with their market strategies. The report also provide PEST analysis for the European region, and SWOT analysis for all companies profiled within the scope of this report.Complete research report is available atRising digitization in the business world as well as demand for highly resilient data management services have resulted into increased demand for data center services across Europe. Mercury Engineering, LZ technologies, SISK Groups, Kedington and Jones Engineering Group are among the major players operating in this market. Europe, being a technologically advanced region along with high number of small and large enterprises, is anticipated to witness significantly high adoption of data centers by various organizations. Data center construction market is expected to grow from US$ 9,558 Million in 2016 to US$ 22,829.1 Million by 2025 at a CAGR of 10.3% between 2017 and 2025.The report focuses on in-depth segmentation of this market segmented by design type, across the European region. The geographic segmentation of the report covers seven major countries including; Germany, France, Ireland, Denmark, Netherlands, England, and Belgium. By design type, Electrical desin accounted for the largest share of the data center construction market in 2016.UK is one of the prominent countries in European data center construction market which will contribute highest revenue, due to technological developments and considerable implementation of data centers by numerous organizations. Amongst all major European countries, Ireland is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Moreover, presence of big tech-giants in Ireland, is one of the major reason behind the availability of highly educated, and flexible workforce for data center construction market.Purchase a copy of this research report atReason to Buy:- Save and reduce time carrying out entry-level research by identifying the growth, size, leading players and segments in the data center construction Europe market- Highlights key business priorities in order to assist companies to realign their business strategies- The key findings and recommendations highlight crucial progressive industry trends in the data center construction Europe market, thereby allowing players across the value chain to develop effective long term strategies- Develop/modify business expansion plans by using substantial growth offering developed and emerging markets- Scrutinize in-depth global market trends and outlook coupled with the factors driving the market, as well as those hindering it- Enhance the decision-making process by understanding the strategies that underpin commercial interest with respect to client products, segmentation, pricing and distributionInquire for discount copy atAbout UsThe Insight Partners is a one-stop industry research provider of actionable solutions. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We are specialist in industries such as Technology, Media, and Telecommunication.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
High-throughput End-user Requirements to Boost Instruments Segment in Global Sample Preparation Market

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Ubiquity of Sample Preparation Becomes High-impact DriverAmong all analytical procedures, sample preparation has often been shown to consume over 70% of the analyst or researchers time. Moreover, the effectiveness of analysis is dependent on the accuracy of the sample prepared. Thus, products that incorporate advanced technology to deliver a high degree of accuracy and time and cost reduction for preparing the sample are witnessing a steady growth in the market.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Sample Preparation Market:However, companies in the sample preparation market have to often contend with a dearth of expertise in designing technologically advanced products. Consumers not being well-informed about the benefits of different techniques and products also acts as restraints on the market. TMR says that the global sample preparation market is expected to witness strong growth in the next few years due to an increase in R&D spending in life science and rising concerns regarding environmental degradation and food safety along with stringent regulations for the same. Moreover, a growing emphasis on forensic testing and biodefense research in both traditional and emerging market is likely to fuel the demand for sample preparation.North America Asserts Lead in Sample Preparation AdvancesIn 2015, North America held the largest share of the global sample preparation market due to the high adoption of superior technologies across all end-user segments. Additionally, investments in cutting-edge genomics, proteomics, and epigenetics research, a growing stress on remedies for environmental hazards, and the concentration of some of the worlds major pharmaceutical and biotechnology organizations and academic institutes are driving the North America market.The sample preparation market in Europe is witnessing rapid growth, attributed to the increasing innovative product offerings such as ISOLUTE SLE+ Supported Liquid Extraction plates and columns by Biotage AB, a company which operates in niche segments. These plates are designed to provide hassle free extraction of analytes from biological fluids, with high analyte recoveries, and clean, protein and phospholipid free extracts.Developing countries in Asia Pacific such as China, Japan, and India are poised to be the most promising markets for sample preparation in the near future. Factors attributed to positive outlook of these countries are the rapidly expanding pharmaceutical industry, extensive growth of research and development into biotechnology, and upsurge of molecular diagnostics.Instruments Tower Over Sample Preparation Products LandscapeNearly every bio-analytical procedure calls for the use of sample preparation products across fields such as research, drug discovery and development, environmental assessment, food analysis, and diagnostics. Sample preparation products for solid phase extraction (SPE) have become indispensable tools in laboratories across the globe. As a result, the demand for various types of sample preparation products is expanding at a much faster rate than ever.TMRs findings show that in 2015, the sample preparation instruments segment accounted for the lions share in the overall market in terms of revenue. The key reason for this is the due high cost of various sample preparation instruments when compared against accessories, kits, and consumables.Request a sample of this report:Key companies profiled in the report include Agilent Technologies, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Biotage AB, Danaher Corporation, F. Hoffman La Roche, Illumina, Inc., Merck KGaA, PerkinElmer, Inc., QIAGEN N.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., and Waters Corporation.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Ultra-pure Sulfuric Acid Market - Global Industry Insight, Trends, Size, Share, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis 2017-2025

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Ultra-pure sulfuric acid (UPSA) is a microelectronic chemical reagent that is used for removing particles, inorganic content, and carbon deposited in the water. Ultra-pure sulfuric acid finds wide application in the electronic devices and semiconductors industries and thus, is also called electronic grade sulfuric acid. Parts per billion (ppb) and parts per trillion (ppt) are the two grade of UPSA. Ppt is the purest grade of UPSA acid. Ppb grade UPSA is mainly used for small units, whereas, Ppt grade USPA is widely used in cleaning and printing application in semiconductors industry. The raw materials for the manufacturing of UPSA acid are sulfur, water, air, and sulfur dioxide. The semiconductors end-use segment is expected to gain rapid traction in the near future. This is mainly attributed to increasing demand for advanced electronic devices and gadgets.A sample of this report is available upon request:Ultra-Pure Sulfuric Acid Market TaxonomyOn the basis of grade, Ultra-pure sulfuric acid market is classified into:Parts per billion (ppb)Parts per trillion (ppt)On the basis of End User, Ultra-pure sulfuric acid market is classified into:SemiconductorsPharmaceuticalsUpsurge in growth of semiconductors industry augmenting market growthPerformance of the ultra-pure sulfuric acid market is directly proportional to demand for semiconductor in the electronics industry. Ultra-pure sulfuric acids are high purity chemicals that are mainly used mostly in the electronics industry for cleaning and etching applications of semiconductors and printed circuit boards. The large use of ultra-pure sulfuric acid to clean silicon wafers in order to meet high quality demand of semiconductor industry is the main driving force for the growth of ultra-pure sulfuric acid market and is expected to sustain growth of the market over the following years. Astronomical rise of the electronics sector in emerging economies of India and China, further creates a highly conducive environment for growth of the ultra-pure sulfuric acid market.Ultra-Pure Sulfuric Acid Outlook - Asia-Pacific is the largest and fastest growing region, globallyAsia-Pacific is expected to be the largest region in the global ultra-pure sulfuric acid market due to increasing technological advancements and growing semiconductor industry in the region. This region is expected to dominate the market through 2025. This is due to the growing consumption of electronic devices due to increasing population in the region. Furthermore, the region has emerged as a major manufacturing hub for electronic chemicals and materials due to economies of scale on offer in the region. North America and Europe are losing their market share due to the saturation of market. Increasing industrialization and urbanization in Middle East countries will promote the demand for ultra-pure sulfuric acid over the following years.Rampant growth in demand for electronic devices creating favorable growth environment for the marketThe growing electronic devices industry, and increase in adoption of various organic and inorganic growth strategies by the major and local players are the major drivers for the growth of the ultra-pure sulfuric acid market. However, the fluctuations in the currency exchange rates of Japan is considered as the major restraining factor, as the country is a dominant market for ultra-pure sulfuric acid.Browse Global Strategic Business Report :There are various inorganic and organic growth strategies being adopted by major players in the market to ensure sustainable growth in this highly competitive market. For instance, BASF, based in Germany, has planned to build an Ultra-pure sulfuric acid plant at Zhapu in Zhejiang Province, China, in partnership with Jiahua Energy Chemical, which would be commissioned by 2018. The major players in ultra-pure sulfuric acid market include Tampa Electric, Chemtrade Refinery, The Mosaic, Lucite International, Climax Molybdenum, Valero Energy, Solvay, DuPont, Akzonobel N.V, BASF,US Petrochemical, Shell, Avantor Performance Materials, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., Ineos Enterprises, PVS Chemicals Inc., Moses Lake Industries, Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC, KMG Chemicals Inc., Kanto Chemical Co. Inc. Linde Group, Reagent Chemicals, and Ineos Enterprises.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunity.Contact Us:Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702Email: sales@coherentmarketinsights.comVisit Coherent Market Insights Blog @Connect with us on LinkedIn @
Cardiovascular Monitoring and Diagnostic Devices Market Analysis Report and Industry Forecast to 2024

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Being the leading cause of death and witnessing a high rise in prevalence, the class of ailments that come under the purview of cardiovascular diseases is witnessing increased focus from healthcare, research, and government bodies alike. A large number of companies are venturing into the market with an innovative range of products for diagnosing and treating a variety of cardiovascular diseases. Research and development activities are being granted increasingly more funds and governments bodies are implementing various health schemes aimed at reducing the prevalence and improving awareness about cardiovascular diseases.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Cardiovascular Monitoring and Diagnostic Devices Market:Transparency Market Research states that the global cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices market held an opportunity of US$1.8 bn in 2015. The market is expected to expand at a 6.4% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024, and rise to a valuation of US$3.1 bn by 2024.Electrocardiogram (ECG) Systems Lead on Account of Cost Effectiveness and High EfficiencyThe product segment of ECG systems presently holds the largest share in the global cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices market. The widespread presence and high preference for ECG systems in developed and developing regions alike are key to the segments leading market position. ECG systems are expected to remain the key contributor to the markets overall revenues over 206 and 2024 as well, expanding at a 6.3% CAGR in the global market.However, the segment of implantable loop recorders is expected to witness the fastest expansion, a 7.1% CAGR from 2016 to 2024. The segment is projected to benefit from the rising awareness about the use of these devices in diagnosing syncope. As several cases of the disease remain undiagnosed when other conventional diagnostic methods are used, implantable loop recorders are gaining an increased level of adoption across medical diagnostic centers globally. The valuation of the segment is expected to reach US$152.7 mn by 2024.The segment of Holter monitors also holds immense growth promise owing to the rising prevalence of conditions such as arrhythmia and conduction block. The segment was valued at US$416.1 mn in 2015 and is expected to expand at a high single-digit CAGR from 2016 to 2024.North America to Continue Taking Largest Share of Pie but Emerging Economies Hold More PromiseNorth America accounted for the largest share of the overall revenues of the global cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices market in 2015. The region is expected to remain the largest market over the period between 2016 and 2024 as well. Factors such as favorable reimbursement policies, high awareness about available diagnosis and treatment methods among patients and physicians, favorable reimbursement policies, and efficient healthcare infrastructure are factors that will help North America remain at the forefront of the global market. Europe, the second largest contributor to the global cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices market in 2015, will also remain a lucrative owing to large scale healthcare infrastructure development activities and rising prevalence of cardiovascular disease.However, developing regions such as Latin America and Asia Pacific will present the most promising growth opportunities for the global cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices market over the period between 2016 and 2024. The presence of vast untapped growth prospects, rising healthcare expenditure, and increasing awareness about the efficiency of available techniques and devices in effectively curing several cardiovascular conditions will remain key to the overall growth of the market.Several research studies also state that the risk of cardiovascular diseases is substantially high in mid- and low-income economies. This substantiates the fact that a large variety of cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices will be consumed in Asia Pacific and Latin America in the next few years. The market for these devices will expand at a 7.5% in Asia Pacific and a 7.3% CAGR in Latin America over the period between 2016 and 2024.Request a sample of this report:In the highly dynamic global market for cardiovascular monitoring and diagnostic devices market, the top two vendors, GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare accounted for a more than 55% of the global market in 2015. Other key vendors in the market are Spacelabs Healthcare, St. Jude Medical, Inc., and Siemens Healthcare.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Computer Aided Detection Market Growth and Regional Forecast Upto 2024

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Computer Aided Detection Market: SnapshotThe global computer aided detection (CAD) market is in its early stages of growth and is increasingly reliant on the market dynamics of corresponding imaging modalities for market penetration. The growing usage of CAD software solutions for a number of diagnostic applications such as cardiovascular, oncology, musculoskeletal, and neurological has made the market highly specific, dynamic, and competitive with significant growth potential. The revenue generated by the global CAD market was pegged at US$437 mn in 2015 and is anticipated to cross US$1 bn by 2024. The market is expected to expand at a strong CAGR of 9.8% from 2016 to 2024.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Computer Aided Detection Market:Computer Aided Detection Most Widely Used in Breast Cancer ScreeningComputer aided detection technology finds application mainly in oncology and cardiovascular and neurological indications. Breast cancer was the leading application segment of the market in 2015 and is projected to sustain its position during the forecast period. Its dominance can be attributed to the increasing number of breast cancer detection applications and a lower risk of observational errors by using CAD solutions in combination with mammography. Favorable reimbursement scenario for breast cancer CAD solutions in developed nations and its well-established identity as a supplement tool in the diagnosis of breast cancer also contribute to the growth of the segment. The prostate cancer application segment is projected to expand at the fastest growth rate from 2016 to 2024. This can be attributed to the increasing number of regulatory approvals for various prostate cancer detection CAD solutions and the rising incidence of the disease.Growing Incidence and Prevalence of Breast Cancer in U.S. Driving North America MarketGeographically, the computer aided detection market has been segmented into five major regions: North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. North America held the leading share in the global computer aided detection market in terms of revenue in 2015, followed by Europe. The dominance of these two regions is owing to the rising incidence and prevalence of breast cancer, the growing awareness level about early screening of breast cancer, an increase in the geriatric population, and rapid advancement in various healthcare technologies. The U.S. forms the most significant market for computer aided detection in North America as well as globally as it is an important innovation hub and leading companies in the segment have been conducting thorough research and development. Moreover, the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) statistics show that North America reported the highest number of new breast cancer cases in 2012, with around 226,125 in the U.S. alone. This also acts as a growth driver for the computer aided detection market in the region.Asia Pacific is also a prominent market for computer aided detection. The region accounts for over 60% of the worlds population, which translates to a significant patient pool and large number of imaging procedures. According to the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention (2010), there were over 3 million new cancer cases and over 2 million cancer deaths in Asia. Projections suggest the number of new cancer cases in Asia will increase to 7.1 million by 2020 if existing prevention and management strategies remain unchanged. However, most of the countries in the region are positioning themselves as medical tourism destinations for developed nations. This will encourage healthcare providers to adopt advanced computer aided detection in imaging technologies.Request a sample of this report:Key players in the computer aided detection market include Agfa-Gevaert N.V., Fujifilm Medical Systems USA, Inc., GE Healthcare, Hitachi Medical Corporation, Hologic, Inc., Samsung Medison Co. Ltd, and Philips Healthcare.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Vascular Access Devices Market Analysis By Application And Segment Forecasts To 2024

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Global Vascular Access Devices Market: SnapshotThe demand in the global market for vascular access devices, which are medical devices made of hollow and flexible tubes of latex or silicone that enable an access to the bloodstream, has been consistently incrementing owing to growing number of surgeries performed each year across the world. Vascular access devices are used to perform diagnostic tests, reading central venous pressure, blood sampling, blood transfusion, and fluid infusion.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Vascular Access Devices Market:The global vascular access devices market was worth US$5.10 bn in 2015, and incrementing at an impressive CAGR of 5.4% during the forecast period of 2016 to 2024, the valuation is estimated to reach US$8.60 bn by the end of 2024. Rising geriatric population and prevalence of cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, and other lifestyle-inflicted diseases are some of the other factors augmenting the demand in the global vascular access devices market. In addition, technological advancements in these devices has also significantly favored the future of this market. New products such as drug-coated catheters and anti-microbial-coated catheters have considerably reduced the incidences of catheter-related infections. Latest techniques, for example ultrasound-guided catheter tip have helped in increase the efficiency of these devices.Cost-effectiveness Driving Demand for Peripheral CathetersBased on product, the global vascular access devices market is segmented into peripheral catheters, which includes peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVC) and midline catheters and central catheters, which includes central venous catheters (CVC), peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC), implantable ports, and hemodialysis catheters. Among these, peripheral catheters segment is currently most profitable, gaining traction from its ease of administration, reduced duration of usage, low frequency of catheter-related complications, and cost effectiveness. The segment of central catheters is also projected for a healthy growth during the forecast period.Application-wise, the global vascular access devices market has been categorized into administration of fluids and nutritional compounds, medication administration, diagnostic testing, and transfusion of blood products. Based on the route of insertion, the market has been bifurcated into subcutaneous and intravenous. End-users of vascular access devices are hospitals, clinics, diagnostic laboratories, and ambulatory surgery centers.Asia Pacific Opening Vast OpportunitiesGeographically, the report studies the opportunities available in the global vascular access devices market in the regions of North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East and Africa. Currently, North America is the most lucrative region, owing to rising prevalence of lifestyle inflicted diseases, growing cancer and diabetes cases, robust healthcare infrastructure in countries such the U.S. and Canada, and high adoptability rate of new technology. Asia Pacific, on other hand, is also projected to expand the demand consistently throughout the forecast period as emerging economies such as India, Japan, South Korea, China, and Malaysia are improving their healthcare facilities. This region resides nearly the half of worlds population and leading players of the market are investing in these countries to expand their product reach.Request a sample of this report:In a largely consolidated scenario, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Teleflex, Inc., C.R. Bard, Fresenius Medical Care, and Becton, Dickinson and Company are the leading companies in the global vascular access devices market. Competition in this market is more among these players than from an outside entrant.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Light Therapy Market  Global Industry Insights, Size, Share, Trends, Outlook, and Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Light Therapy Market Overview:Light therapy, also known as phototherapy, is a type of therapy that involves exposure to light that is brighter than indoor light though not as bright as direct sunlight. This therapy may help treat depression, jet lag, and sleep disorders. Light therapy can be helpful to reset your "biological clock" (circadian rhythms), which controls sleeping and waking. People use this therapy to treat seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Most people with SAD feel better after they use light therapy. This may be as light therapy exchanges the lost sunlight exposure and resets the body's internal clock. In this therapy, a specific wavelength that uses LED, fluorescent lamps, polychromatic polarized or full-spectrum administered for a certain amount of time during a specific time of the day.According to world Health Organization (WHO), depression is a common mental disorder. Globally, over 300 million people of all age groups suffer from depression and are a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. Global light therapy market is largely driven by high prevalence of skin disease and growing adoption of therapy to treat cancer, psoriasis, acne, seasonal affective disorder, and neonatal jaundice. According to WHO, Psoriasis affects around 2% of the world population with nearly two thirds of people having mild form while others having extensive involvement of skin.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Market TaxonomyOn the basis of product type, the global market is classified into:Light BoxFloor and Desk LampsLight VisorDawn SimulatorLight Therapy BulbsHandheld Devices for skin treatmentOn the basis of light type, the global market is classified into:White LightBlue LightRed LightOthers (green light, yellow light)On the basis of end users, the global market is classified into:Dermatology ClinicsHomecare SettingsOthers (workplace, salons)Increased adoption of boxes to treat SAD accelerated light therapy market growth. Light therapy is the primary treatment method to treat neonatal jaundice, eczema and psoriasis. Photo-oxidation is believed to provide these beneficial effects. Narrow band ultraviolet (UVB) and broad band UVB phototherapy issued to treat several skin disorders. Increased applications, favorable reimbursement policies, and insurance for such treatments will boost demand for the light therapy. Treatment of acne by using LED light is gaining popularity, owing to various benefits such as cellular rejuvenation and improved blood circulation. LEDs emit blue and red light, which offers added advantage over conventional light therapy, which is driving growth of the light therapy market globally.Markets in developed countries are witnessing increasing demand for light therapy products due to the geographic location and high prevalence rate of SAD. Adoption of light therapy devices is projected to increase at very high rate over the forecast period. The trend is expected to boost the overall demand for light therapy products such as light boxes, dawn simulators, and handheld devices for skin treatment during the forecast period. The global light therapy industry is expected to witness significant growth however; shortage of funding for light therapy research and post treatment side effects is expected to impede the growth to a certain extent.The U.S. was the largest contributor to the North America light therapy market, and is projected to witness further traction in the near future, owing to growing prevalence of psoriasis and other dermatological diseases. According to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD), psoriasis is a common skin disorder that affected around 7.5 million people in 2013 in the U.S. Asia Pacific light therapy market is expected to grow rapidly during the forecast period due to steady economic development in the region and as per International Federation of Psoriasis Associations (IFPA) over 43 million people suffered from psoriasis in Asia Pacific region in 2014. China is expected to hold majority regional share due to high geriatric population and rise in prevalence of dermatological diseases.Request to view table of content @Key players operating in the global light therapy market are Koninklijke Philips N.V., Aura Daylight, Sphere Gadget Technologies, Northern Light Technology, Beurer, PhotoMedex, Inc., Nature Bright, Verilux, Inc., Klarstein, Zepter International, Luminette, and Lumie.About Coherent Market Insights:Coherent Market Insights is a prominent market research and consulting firm offering action-ready syndicated research reports, custom market analysis, consulting services, and competitive analysis through various recommendations related to emerging market trends, technologies, and potential absolute dollar opportunityContact Us:Mr.ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +12067016702E-mail:sales@coherentmarketinsights.comWebsite:
Glaucoma Therapeutics Market Future Trends And Industry Analysis To 2024

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Global Glaucoma Therapeutics Market: SnapshotHealthcare providers, across the globe are making notable efforts to offer improved eye care products and services in order to preserve the vision of patients. This has resulted in a significant growth of the glaucoma therapeutics market worldwide. The key players in the global market are focusing on strengthening their drug pipeline of combination drugs is predicted to encourage the growth of the global glaucoma therapeutics market throughout the forecast period. Moreover, the increasing spending capacity of patients and the availability of advanced healthcare infrastructure are projected to supplement the growth of the market in the near future.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Glaucoma Therapeutics Market:According to the research study, in 2015, the global market for glaucoma therapeutics was worth US$5.7 bn. The market is anticipated to reach a value of US$7.6 bn by the end of 2024, registering a healthy 3.40% CAGR between 2016 and 2024.Rising Demand for Combination Glaucoma Drugs to Encourage GrowthThe increasing number of cases of glaucoma and the rising demand for combination glaucoma drugs are some of the vital factors that are likely to encourage the growth of the global market in the next few years. The easy availability of medical insurance coverage for treatment and diagnosis is estimated to create lucrative opportunities for the prominent players operating in the global glaucoma therapeutics market in the coming years. Furthermore, the increasing geriatric population and the rising healthcare expenditure are predicted to fuel the growth of the market. On the contrary, stringent government regulations concerning marketing and approvals and the side effects of glaucoma medications are predicted to restrict the growth of the market in the near future.On the basis of end use, the hospital segment is estimated to lead the global glaucoma therapeutics market and account for a key share of the overall market in the near future. The rising preference of patients for visiting hospitals as the cost of therapies is comparatively lower is one of the major factors expected to bolster hospital segment in the coming years. The ambulatory surgical center segment is projected to hold a small share of the global glaucoma therapeutics market throughout the forecast period.Advent of Favorable Reimbursement Policies to Bolster North America MarketFrom a geographical perspective, in 2015, Europe and North America collectively accounted for a share of 75% of the global glaucoma therapeutics market. According to the research report, the North America is expected to witness a strong growth in the next few years, owing to the rising geriatric population and the availability of several treatment options. In addition, the rising awareness among patients regarding glaucoma and the introduction of favorable reimbursement policies are some of the major factors anticipated to fuel the growth of the North America glaucoma therapeutics market in the next few years.Furthermore, Europe is anticipated to exhibit a healthy growth rate throughout the forecast period. The substantial growth of this region can be attributed to the growing demand for topical eye drops and the expected launch of the combined medication products. With booming medical tourism, Asia Pacific is projected to grow significantly in the coming few years. On the other hand, the Middle East and Africa and Latin America are estimated to witness sluggish growth in the next few years.Request a sample of this report:Some of the prominent players operating in the glaucoma therapeutics market across the globe are Allergan Inc., Aristo Pharmaceuticals, Merck & Co., Fera Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer Inc., Santen Pharmaceuticals, Valeant Pharmaceuticals, Aerie Pharmaceuticals, and Novartis AG. The presence of a strong drugs pipeline for glaucoma therapeutics is anticipated to encourage the growth of the global market in the next few years.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Electrosurgical Devices Market Focus On Top Leading Companies and Manufacturers Regions

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Global Electrosurgical Devices Market: SnapshotWith the changing face of medical field since the last decade, triggered by an immense rise in technological advancements and rising healthcare expenditure across the globe, a large number of surgical procedures are making the shift from traditional ways to minimally invasive techniques. This is considered to be one of the key factors to have boosted the global adoption of electrosurgical devices of late. Electrosurgical products such as radiofrequency electrosurgery devices, eletrocautery devices are currently being extensively used for purposes such as cutting, desiccation, ablation, vaporization, and charring of target tissue.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Electrosurgical Devices Market:Transparency Market Research estimates that the adoption of these products will continue to rise at a promising pace owing to the rising geriatric population, increasing prevalence of chronic diseases, and the resultant rise in demand for effective surgical procedures. The global market for electrosurgical devices is expected to exhibit a healthy 6.7% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. Owing to this, the market will rise from a valuation of US$4,480.8 mn in 2015 to US$7,963.2 mn by 2024.Electrosurgical Accessories to Continue to Account for Lions Share in Market RevenueIn terms of product, the electrosurgical devices market has been segmented into radiofrequency electrosurgery devices, electrocautery devices, and electrosurgical accessories in the report. The segments of radiofrequency electrosurgery devices and electrocautery devices are further divided in to monopolar devices and bipolar devices.The segment of radiofrequency electrosurgery devices, which had a valuation of US$923.6 mn in 2015, accounting for a relatively smaller share in the market as compared to the segments of electrocautery devices and electrosurgical accessories in 2015, will exhibit growth at the most promising pace from 2016 through 2024. Transparency Market Research estimates that the segment will expand at a favorable 7% CAGR over the said period, chiefly owing to their rising usage for the treatment of dermatological lesions, both benign and malignant.On a whole, the segment of electrosurgical accessories is expected to emerge as the most attractive product segment in the electrosurgical devices market in terms of value and revenue contribution, exhibiting the attractiveness index of 1.6 and a 6.9% CAGR from 2016 to 2024. The segment held a dominant share of 53% in the global electrosurgical devices market in 2015 and is expected to maintain its leading stance over the forecast period as well. Technical innovations, new product launch in this field and increasing use of disposable accessories will drive the growth of electrosurgical accessories segment during the forecast period of 2016-2024.Asia Pacific to Emerge Most Promising Market in Terms of Growth RateIn terms of geography, North America is presently the most attractive regional market for electrosurgical devices. Several encouraging factors such as the rising number of surgical procedures, rising numbers of mergers and acquisitions, and easy availability of new and innovative product varieties are acting in favor of the electrosurgical devices market in North America. A large base of geriatric and obese population facing cardiac, orthopedic, and many other chronic problems and the rising incidence of cancer are also anticipated to drive the market in this region in the next few years.The North America market will continue to exercise control over the global market over the forecast period as well, thanks to the high concentration of medical device manufacturers and rising investment aimed at research and development. Nevertheless, North America will lose prominence to Asia Pacific in terms of growth pace from 2016 through 2024.The market for electrosurgical devices in Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a 7.7% CAGR over the said period. Improved healthcare infrastructure and rising healthcare spending by government are expected to increase adoption of electrosurgical devices in this region. Asia Pacific holds immense potential in the electrosurgical devices market also due to rising population, high unmet medical needs, and rise in health care-related customer expectations due to improved economic conditions.Request a sample of this report:Key players in this market are as follows Bovie Medical Corporation, Medtronic, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Erbe Elektromedizin GmbH, Boston Scientific Corporation, Olympus, Johnson & Johnson, Symmetry Surgical Inc., CONMED, KLS Martin and BOWA-electronic GmbH & Co. KG.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare Market Growth and Industrial Forecast Upto 2024

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Global Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare: SnapshotThe healthcare industry has witnessed a huge transformation from principally paper-based and manually-operated procedures to digitally-enabled connected processes and operations in the past few years. Factors such as growing government interventions to encourage technology-driven affordable healthcare services and improving healthcare infrastructure across developing countries have led to a vast rise in the money spent on making core administration in the healthcare sector technologically-rich and more effective. Moreover, rising patient-base across the globe and increasing healthcare spending will drive the need to outsource IT solutions for optimal healthcare management and a greater focus on core administrative operations.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Technology Spending on Core Administration in Healthcare Market:Transparency Market Research states that in terms of value, the global technology spending on core administration in healthcare will increase at a CAGR of over 5.7% during the period between 2016 and 2024.Healthcare Payers Take Lions Share in Global Spending on Technology on Core AdministrationOn the basis of end users, the global technology spending on core administration in healthcare market is segmented into payers and providers. The payer segment is further divided into insurance companies, and government whereas the provider segment is further segmented into hospitals and other providers.The payers segment accounted for the larger chunk of spending on core administration in healthcare, holding a nearly 88% of the overall market in 2015. The segment is also expected to remain the most lucrative end-user segment over the forecast period, with the segment expected to exhibit a 5.9% CAGR over the period between 2016 and 2024. The usage of a variety of data management and processing solutions for core administrative services such as fraud detection, claim management, and research and development has significantly increased across private and public insurance companies and government agencies in the past years.The trend is expected to remain strong over the forecast period as well, with the payer end-use segment accounting for over 89% of the total spending on technology for core administration across the healthcare sector over the forecast period. Spending on technology for core administration across healthcare providers such as hospitals is expected to expand at a 4.4% CAGR from 2016 through 2024.North America to Continue to Remain Leading SpenderGeographically, North America is the leading spender on technology for core administration in healthcare. Of the total funds devoted for making core administration technology-rich in the healthcare industry, over 50% were spent in North America. The region is expected to remain ahead of other regional markets in terms of technology spending the core administration in the healthcare sector over the forecast period as well. Factors such as rising scarcity of resources for undertaking patient-centric processes and the lack of technologically skilled healthcare staff for managing administrative processes will play a key role in highlighting the need for technological optimization of healthcare processes in the region.North America is a steadily growing market, but will continue to account for a bigger stake compared to other regional markets, expanding at a 5.7% CAGR from 2016 through 2024. Asia Pacific will emerge as the most promising investment destination for technology in core administration for the healthcare industry over the said period. Technology spending in this area will swell at a promising 6.7% CAGR from 2016 to 2024 in Asia Pacific.The region has emerged as the IT outsourcing destination due to growing publicprivate funding structures and low in-house expertise for healthcare IT. The robust and active medical tourism industry, rising spending power of the consumer on technologically advanced services, and rising international investments in the healthcare industry will continue to drive spending on technology in the Asia Pacific healthcare sector.Request a sample of this report:Some of the players in the global core administration system in healthcare are Plexis Healthcare Systems, DST Systems, Inc., HealthEdge Software, Inc., ikaSystems Corporation, TriZetto Corporation, Health Solutions Plus, Inc., Aldera Holdings, Inc., Wonderbox Technologies, UPP Technology, Inc., and HealthAxis Group, LLC.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Autologous Cell Therapy Market Growth and Regional Forecast Upto 2024

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Global Autologous Cell Therapy Market: OverviewAutologous cell therapy refers to infusion or transfer of human tissue or cells back to the same person for treating a diseased part. For the same purpose, stem cells are removed from the patient, harvested, cultured, and once again transplanted to the same person. The purpose of this method is to reduce the chances of rejection to the treatment by the body. Furthermore, autologous cell therapy does not even require immunosuppression. The growing number of cancer patients have triggered a significant demand for autologous cell therapy. According to the research report, the global market projected to reach a valuation of US$23.7 bn by the end of 2024 as compared to US$3.8 bn in 2015. During the forecast period of 2016 and 2024, the global market is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 21.9%.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Autologous Cell Therapy Market:Unmet Medical Needs and Cost-effectiveness of Autologous Cell Therapy Drives DemandThe global market is expected to grow due to the huge pool of unmet medical needs for cell based therapy, growing government support for cell-based research, and rising number of technological innovations in cell based therapies. Currently, cell therapy is considered a promising technique for several conditions such as neurological, orthopedic, oncology, and a wide range of autoimmune diseases. The ability of stem cells to transform into a cartilage, tendon, bone (osteoblast), and muscle has given this market a fresh lease of life. The biggest advantages of autologous cells is the fact that it is relatively cost-effective, allows quick access to blood as it is derived from the patient, ensures easy method of production, and comes with the lowest threat of disease transfusion. All of these factors have been consistently boosting the demand for autologous cell therapy in recent years.Supportive Government Policies across North America Favor Regional MarketGeographically, the market has been divided into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America holds a dominant position in the global market and is expected to maintain its stance in the coming years as well. The strengthening health care infrastructure and supportive government policies are expected ensure high adoption of autologous cell therapy in North America in the near future. The analysts estimate that Asia Pacific will also register a robust CAGR in the coming years. The growth of this market in Asia pacific will be driven by the proliferating medical tourism industry, increasing contract research activities, and economic growth of certain developing countries such as India and China.Hospitals to Retain Dominance in Global Market over Forecast PeriodThe end users of autologous cell therapy are hospitals, research centers, and ambulatory centers. Of these, the hospitals dominated the global market in 2015 and are expected to continue its dominance till the end of 2024 as the surgical procedures continue to be on the rise across hospitals. The research report indicates that the ambulatory surgical centers segment will also expand at a significant rate in the coming years as it is known to reduce waiting time period before surgery, growing outpatient surgical procedures, high confidentiality and privacy of the data, and cost-effective procedure.Request a sample of this report:Some of the leading players operating in the global market are Major players operating in this Market are Vericel Corporation, BioTime, Inc., Pharmicell Co., BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics, Opexa Therapeutics, Inc, Pharmicell Co., Inc.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Automotive Piston Market (2017-2024)- Research Nester

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An automotive piston is a cylindrical piece of metal that moves up and down inside the cylinder of an engine. It generates mechanical energy that provides necessary force to drive the shaft and run the wheels of the vehicles. Piston system comprises of piston, piston rings, piston pins, hence this system transfers the generated power to the crankshaft through connecting rod.Market size and forecastAutomotive piston market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.1% over the forecast period i.e. 2017-2024. Moreover, the automotive piston market is anticipated to reach around USD 15,910 Million by 2024. As a piston is a main part of an internal combustion engine, the demand for pistons is directly coupled with the automobile production. Owing to the continuous developments, the automobile segment is observing increased demand for lightweight pistons, which is expected to drive the growth for the global automotive piston market.Asia-Pacific is estimated to be the largest automotive piston market due to the fact that it is the dominating region in automotive industry as piston is an integral part of automotive industry. China and India are the major contributors in Asia-Pacific region. China grabbed the largest revenue share in automotive piston market in the region, marked a market share of around 35% in the Asia-Pacific automotive piston market 2016. With the rise in manufacturing costs, existing piston manufactures in the US and Europe is shifting their operation to Asia-Pacific region due to low labor costs and easily accessibility of raw materials.For Sample Pages please go through link below:Europe is the second largest market for the automotive piston in 2016. Europe is expected to perceive a moderate growth in the near future owing to high market saturation. France, UK and Germany are expected to lead the overall demand for this regional automotive piston market. North America is also a major market for automotive piston owing to the increase in sales for light commercial vehicles.Market SegmentationOur in-depth analysis segmented the market in the following segments:By Material Steel AluminumBy Type Trunk Piston Crosshead Piston Slipper Piston Deflector PistonBy Coating Thermal barrier Coating Piston Dry Film Lubricating Coating Piston Oil Shedding Coating PistonBy Vehicle Two Wheeler Three Wheeler Four WheelerGrowth Drivers and ChallengesIncreasing urbanization coupled with changing lifestyle of population are the factors for escalation in the demand for automobiles, especially two wheeler segments in emerging economies such as India which is anticipated to impel the demand for piston over the forecast period. Advancement in technology such as installation of cooling channels in piston is likely to be the dynamic factor behind the rapid growth of automotive piston market. In addition, rise in demand for light weight piston developed from composite carbon, silicon and magnesium is expected to unfold various opportunities in this market in the coming few years.However, the growth of this market is likely to be hindered by increasing penetration of electric vehicles, which do not use pistons. Further, the automotive industries are downsizing their engine for better fuel economy, as fuel rates are increasing globally. Using technologies such as turbochargers, the automotive industry have been able to downsize their engines by reducing cylinders are believed to dampen the growth of global automotive piston market over the forecast period.Key PlayersThe key players of automotive piston market are as follows: Mahle Gmbh Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd. KSPG AG Hitachi Automotive Systems Federal-Mogul Indian Piston Limited Arias Piston Capricorn Automotive Ross Racing PistonTo know more about this research, kindly visit:Research Nester is a global market research and consulting firm helping organizations, private entities, governments undertaking, non-legislative associations and non-profit organizations. With our decades of experience in the market research, we help our clients to gain a competitive edge over other players. Thus, helping them making strategic yet dynamic decisions for the future investments.Ajay DanielEmail: ajay.daniel@researchnester.comU.S. +1 646 586 9123U.K. +44 203 608 59191820 Avenue M, Suite# 1113,Brooklyn, New York 11230web :
Smart Medical Devices Market 2024 Analysis & Trends by Types and Application

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Global Smart Medical Devices: SnapshotSmart medical devices have gained traction in the recent past due to the multitude of benefits they provide to the patient and the caregiver. These devices have radically changed the way a disease is managed, by storing copious amounts of data in a logical format to draw insightful inferences. From understanding patterns of diseases or health issues, smart medical devices have largely helped users to keep an efficient tract of their health and fitness regime. Owing to these reasons, the global smart medical devices market is expected to soar at a CAGR of 7.8% to reach US$66.1 bn by 2024 as compared to US$33.7 bn in 2015Read a Comprehensive Overview of Smart Medical Devices Market:Convenience of Tracking Health Issues through Smart Medical Devices Bodes Well for Global MarketSmart medical devices are being used as important tools by physicians to detect various disease by monitoring vital signs. Chronic disease such as hypertension and diabetes have thus received a fresh perspective from both the medical industry as well as the patients. From a broader perspective, these devices have drastically reduced the workload for healthcare providers by closely monitoring patient health and taking quick action in case of any major change in the readings. The report predicts that the demand for smart medical devices will be attributable to the growing pool of geriatrics, who are prone to a wide range of illnesses. Furthermore, the rapid technological advancements in the fitness devices have also lured in a large base of consumers who are interested in monitoring their heart rate, calorie intake, and the number of calories burned. The user-friendliness of these devices is also expected to fuel the uptake of smart medical devices in the coming few years.Diagnostic and Monitoring Devices to Remain Popular as Inclination toward Fitness IncreasesThe various products available in the smart medical devices market are On the basis of product, the global market is segmented into therapeutic devices, diagnostic and monitoring devices, and injury prevention and rehabilitation devices. Of these, the diagnostic and monitoring devices segment is expected to dominate the global market. Growing awareness toward fitness is expected to drive the uptake of these devices. The quick and easy accessibility to fitness prompts, near-accurate monitoring of health condition such as diabetes and blood pressure, and wide availability of devices in varying price range is expected to work in favor of this segment.Improving Medical and Healthcare Services in North America Drive Regional MarketIn terms of geography, the global smart medical devices market is segmented into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America is expected to exhibit excellent growth rate in the coming years. The adoption of technology in the region and its acceptability amongst the overall population is estimated to benefit the regional market. The ongoing upgradation of medical and healthcare services in the region have also played a crucial role in swift sales of smart medical devices all across North America.Request a sample of this report:Some of the leading players operating in the global smart medical devices are Abbott Laboratories, Apple Inc., Dexcom, Inc., Fitbit, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic plc, NeuroMetrix, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, and Sonova. F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. These players are expected to retain the lead in the coming years due to their penetration in emerging economies and product innovation. The growing investments in the development of sophisticated products are also anticipated to drive the soaring revenues of these players in the coming few years.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate Analyzers Market: Diagnostic laboratories and hospitals are expected to be the leading segments

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Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) can be defined as the rate at which red blood cells or erythrocytes sediment in a period of one hour. ESR is usually measured in millimeter per hour (mm/hr) and a value above 100 mm/hr indicates a disease condition, such as a disease that causes inflammation, active infection, cancer, heart disease, kidney disease, blood disease, diabetes, and collagen vascular disease. However, ESR is a non-specific test for inflammation and is used in conjunction with other tests such as C-reactive protein. Normal ESR result does not rule out the possibility of inflammation. Similarly, an elevated ESR without any symptoms of the disease does not aid in making any medical decision. ESR analyzers are devices employed to measure the sedimentation rate of erythrocytes for an accurate reading. Automated ESR analyzers need to comply with the 2011-published Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines for measuring ESR. The analyzer works on the basic principle of Westergrens method followed to determine ESR.Obtain Report Details:The ESR analyzers market can be segmented based on modality, end-user, and region. In terms of modality, the market can be segmented into automatic analyzers, semi-automatic analyzers, and manual analyzers. Based on end-user, the ESR analyzers market can be segmented into hospitals, diagnostic laboratories, and academic institutions. In terms of region, the ESR analyzers market can be segmented into North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa.ESR is one of the basic hematology tests performed to identify various disease conditions, which would contribute to the growth of the ESR analyzers market. Technological upgrades leading to the development of automated ESR analyzers from manual ESR analyzers would also contribute to the growth of the market. In addition, the increasing number of infections leading to various health hazards would contribute to the rising number of ESR tests, which in turn would drive the ESR analyzers market in the near future. However, the non-specificity of the tests and the necessity for other tests to be performed to confirm the diseased condition could have a negative impact on the ESR analyzers market, as demand for specific tests increases. Furthermore, false negative results of ESR due to the effect of drugs such as oral contraceptives, dextran, methyldopa, penicillamine procainamide, theophylline, vitamin A, aspirin, cortisone, and quinine also make ESR less desirable, thereby impacting the growth of the ESR analyzers market.Automatic analyzers are expected to dominate the ESR analyzers market during the forecast period, owing to their abilities to enhance the workflow and turnaround time. Diagnostic laboratories and hospitals are expected to be the leading segments of the ESR analyzers market. Geographically, North America is expected to be the major market for ESR analyzers. Growth of the market in the region can be attributed to the well-developed health care infrastructure in the region. Asia Pacific is expected to witness the highest growth rate during the forecast period, owing to increasing infections, evolution of new diseases, and poor sanitation conditions which lead to increased infections among the population. In addition, government focus on enhancing the health care infrastructure and providing better health care facilities to the population contribute to the growth of the ESR analyzers market in Asia Pacific.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Leading players in the ESR analyzers market include Sysmex, R&R Mechatronics International B.V., TRANSASIA Bio Medicals Ltd., Diesse Diagnostica Senese Spa, Vital Diagnostics, Caretium Medical Instruments Co, Limited, Grifols, S.A., Beckman Coulter, Inc., ALCOR Scientific, Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific, Perlong Medical, BPC Biosed Srl, and SFRI.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.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Fertility Testing Devices Market driven by rising number of women suffering from lifestyle disorder

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Fertility testing is done by both men and women for the assessment of their fertility and various conditions associated with it. A reasonable period of unprotected intercourse without conceiving is a condition referred to as infertility. Couples carry out fertility testing to detect the root causes responsible for their infertility. Men and women both experience the fertility problems at equal rates, but women are considered to be more concerned about fertility testing. The gynecologist or general physician first review the fertility test results to diagnose the exact issue and recommends the corrective measures or treatment accordingly. The rising awareness about fertility testing devices is driving the patient adoption rate effectively for such devices instead of opting for laboratory based tests. Fertility testing is performed at home and is time saving and economical, helps maintain privacy, and is comfortable for females.Obtain Report Details:Increase in infertility cases due to changing lifestyles in women, growth in awareness about the fertility testing in women, rise in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) cases, continuous decline in fertility rate in both men and women globally are factors which are expected to drive the growth of the global fertility testing devices market by 2024. The restraints which impact the growth of the global fertility testing devices market are high cost of fertility and ovulating monitors, increase in utilization of mobile applications & websites for ovulation tracking, and easy availability of generic diagnostic tools such as saliva testing and blood testing. Some of the trends in the global fertility testing devices market are monitoring sperm quality by keeping track of heart rate, body temperature, air quality & environmental function, and emergence of technological advances such as trak system. Introduction of various techniques such as hysterosalpingogram, sonohysterogram (ultrasound scan), laparoscopy, and hysteroscopy are projected to boost the growth of the global fertility testing devices market.The global fertility testing devices market can be segmented by product and end-user. The product segment involves ovulation predictor kits and fertility monitoring devices. The ovulation predictor kits are further segmented into urine based kits, saliva based kits, and others. In 2015, the ovulation predictor kits segment captured a significantly large share in the global fertility testing devices market, which is attributed to lesser cost and user-friendly technique. However, the fertility monitoring devices segment is expected to grow at a higher rate during the forecast period, which is driven by continuous rise in the technological advancements in the fertility monitoring techniques and investments. Based on the end-user segmentation, the global fertility testing devices market is classified into hospitals, specialty clinics, and homecare settings.Geographically, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and Middle East & Africa. North America held a significant share of the fertility testing devices market in 2015, which is attributed to the rise in awareness about technological innovations and their benefits in the fertility testing market and increase in prevalence of PCOS. The awareness about the fertility testing is high in the region. Therefore, the use of ovulation predictor kits and fertility monitoring devices is increasing in the North America fertility testing devices market. The anti-mullerian hormone (AMH) test is likely to be adding more value to the existing Europe fertility testing market leading to its further growth in region. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at a higher rate during the forecast period owing to increasing investments in the fertility testing devices market, declining fertility rate, and rising number of women suffering from lifestyle disorder in the region.Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report:Major players operating in the global fertility testing devices market include Hilin Life Products, Church & Dwight Co., Inc., Fairhaven Health LLC, SPD Swiss Precision Diagnostics GmbH, Geratherm Medical AG, AccuQuik, Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc., Quidel Corporation, and Alere Inc.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.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a U.S.-based provider of syndicated research, customized research, and consulting services. TMRs global and regional market intelligence coverage includes industries such as pharmaceutical, chemicals and materials, technology and media, food and beverages, and consumer goods, among others. Each TMR research report provides clients with a 360-degree view of the market with statistical forecasts, competitive landscape, detailed segmentation, key trends, and strategic recommendations.Contact us:Transparency Market Research90 State Street,Suite 700,AlbanyNY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
North America Aesthetic Services Market Trends, Business Strategies and Opportunities 2024

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North America Aesthetic Services Market: SnapshotThe North America market for aesthetic services has been experiencing a tremendous increase in its size and valuation. The increasing aesthetic consciousness and the growing interest of people towards self-grooming in this region are the key factors behind the growth of this market. Apart from this, the alarming rise in the obese population and, consequently, increased demand for liposuction procedure are also boosting this market substantially.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Aesthetic Services Market in North America:Going forward, the growing awareness pertaining to skin rejuvenation, increasing per capita income, and the rising preference for minimally invasive surgical procedures are likely to drive this market substantially over the forthcoming years. However, the lack of an appropriate reimbursement scenario may obstruct the growth trajectory of this market in the near future.In 2015, the North America aesthetic services market presented an opportunity worth US$14.4 bn. Swelling at a CAGR of 7.70% between 2016 and 2024, the market is likely to attain a value of US$28.1 bn by the end of 2024.north america aesthetic services marketDermatology Clinics and Cosmetic Centers to Remain Key End Users of Aesthetic Services in North AmericaHospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and dermatology clinics and cosmetic centers have surfaced as the main end users of aesthetic services in North America. Among these, the demand for these services from dermatology clinics and cosmetic centers is greater than other end users. Expanding at a CAGR of 8.60% during the period from 2016 to 2024, the demand from this end-use segment is expected to continue to lead over the next few years.On a similar note, the demand from ambulatory surgery centers is also projected to increase significantly in the near future, thanks to the growing popularity of ambulatory surgery centers as a favorable setting for facial and scar treatments.U.S. to Continue its Leading StreakOn the basis of geography, the North America market for aesthetic services is categorized into the U.S. and Canada. With a share of 95%, the U.S. led the overall market in 2015. Analysts project the U.S. market for aesthetic services to continue its leading streak over the forthcoming years. The increasing awareness among consumers in the U.S. pertaining to aesthetic services, coupled with the improvement in the medical and healthcare infrastructure and the growing prevalence of skin diseases, is likely to boost this domestic market in the years to come.Apart from this, the increasing demand for aesthetic treatments from the male population and the easy availability of user-friendly aesthetic devices are also expected to fuel the growth of this market in the U.S in the near future.Request a sample of this report:At the forefront of the North America aesthetic services market are Advanced Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery, Dermatology solutions group, Riverchase Dermatology and Cosmetic Surgery, The Plastic Surgery Clinic, The MedSpa Southwest Plastic Surgery, Cosmetic & Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Clinic, Toronto, Riverside Plastic Surgery, DCDermDocs, Marina Plastic Surgery, and Quatela Center for Plastic Surgery.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Laser Cutting Machines Market  Evolving Countries, Type, Application and Major Manufacturers Trumpf, Han'S Laser, Bystronic 2022

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HTF Market Intelligence released a new research report of 122 pages on title 'Global Laser Cutting Machines Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2022' with detailed analysis, forecast and strategies. The study covers key regions that includes United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia and important players such as Trumpf, Han'S Laser, Bystronic ..................SummaryThis report studies the Laser Cutting Machines market, Laser cutting machine is a machine which uses laser beam to cut materials such as acrylic, plastic, wood, fabric, and many other non-metallic materials. The laser cutting machines initially casts laser beam on the surface of work piece, melts it and finally evaporates the particular area of work piece using the energy released by laser.Request a sample report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Laser Cutting Machines in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversTrumpfHan'S LaserBystronicMazakAmadaCoherentPrima PowerMitsubishi ElectricHG LaserKoikeDMG MORILVDCincinnatiUniversal Laser SystemsPenta-ChutianIPG PhotonicsLead LaserEpilog LaserTrotecGFSpartanicsMicrolutionBoye LaserKaitian LaserGolden LaserMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversCO2 Laser Cutting MachineFiber Laser Cutting MachineYAG Cutting MachineMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoMetal Materials CuttingNon-metal Materials CuttingBuy this report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Laser Cutting Machines market.Chapter 1, to describe Laser Cutting Machines Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Laser Cutting Machines, with sales, revenue, and price of Laser Cutting Machines, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Laser Cutting Machines, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Laser Cutting Machines market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Laser Cutting Machines sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceGet Customization in the Report, Enquire Now @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Laser Cutting Machines Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 CO2 Laser Cutting Machine1.2.2 Fiber Laser Cutting Machine1.2.3 YAG Cutting Machine1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Metal Materials Cutting1.3.2 Non-metal Materials Cutting1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force....ContinuedView Detailed Table of Content @Thanks for reading this article, you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like North America, Europe or Asia.HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketre)port.com+1 (206) 317 1218 (US)
Global Lithographic Chemicals Size, Industry Analysis Report Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2016  2024

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Global Lithographic Chemicals Market size is anticipated to expand at moderate growth rate during the forecast period. The market is mainly driven by wide use of lithographic chemicals in electronics industry.Lithographic chemicals are primarily used in electronics industry for microelectronic and semiconductors devices manufacturing. These devices are used in television sets and smart phones. Semiconductors are used in most of the electronic gadgets. Increase in global population and rising disposable income of youth have resulted in developed electronics industry, boosting lithographic chemicals market.Purchase This Report by calling Global Market Insights, Inc. at 1-888-689-0688 (Toll Free) or 1-302-846-7766.Lithography is used for artistic illustration and expressions. Advancement in plate making, photography and press design had enhanced lithography as a popular and viable printing media. In todays era, photography is at its peak and printing industry is experiencing a significant growth. Thus, lithographic chemicals market is anticipated to have a modest growth rate owing to thriving printing and photography industry over the forecast period.Lithographic chemicals are extensively used in silicon wafers and electronic circuits for circuit boards packaging. These circuit boards are used in the manufacturing of computers and laptops. Demand for computers are boosting due to the upsurge in information technology industry and need for laptops in corporate offices. Thus, advancement in technology had flourished electronics industry that complements lithographic chemicals market.Request for table of contents of this research report @Lithographic chemicals are majorly used in the manufacturing of optoelectronic devices, that are integrated in flat panel display products. Many companies are focusing on intense advertisements and marketing of their products, increasing the demand for these kind of flat panel displays. Moreover, these displays are attractive and seek attention of customers providing a competitive edge to the advertiser. Hence, rise in product and service based companies globally had led to significant growth of lithographic chemicals market.These chemicals have applications in consumer and industrial sectors in different machineries and consumer durable goods. Business-friendly government policies have grown up industrial sector and rise in spending capacity of people had boosted the consumer durable goods market. Global lithographic chemicals market is anticipated to exhibit a promising growth owing to these favorable market conditions.Reasons to Buy This Report:1. Global Lithographic Chemicals size & share forecast by product & application 2016-20242. Growth drivers, pitfalls & industry challenges3. Global Lithographic Chemicals growth opportunities & emerging business models4. Competitive benchmarking with market share analysis company profilesManufacturers need to comply with stringent government rules and regulations for producing lithographic chemicals. These regional norms can act as a barrier for entry of new entrants in lithographic chemicals market. Moreover, some human health hazards were reported during the handling of lithographic chemicals that can slow down its market in coming years.On the basis of products, the market is bifurcated as removers, strippers, developers, deposition precursors, etchants, dopants, resists and others. The major applications for lithographic chemicals are microelectronic, semiconductor devices, optoelectronic devices, electronic circuits, and silicon wafers. Based on end-user industries, lithographic chemicals market can be classified as electronics industry, photography industry, and printing industry.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Asia Pacific is anticipated to be a major contributor in the global lithographic chemicals market during the forecast period. Demand for electronic products and other consumer durable goods in developing countries such as, India, South East Asia is making this region a significant contributor in the market.North America is expected to grow at a decent growth rate in the lithographic chemicals market owing to the advanced technology and established electronics market in the region. Europe is following Asia Pacific and North America in the growth trend of lithographic chemicals market.Semiconductor usage is increasing in the region owing to well-established and flourishing automobile industry. Increasing semiconductors requirement has boosted lithographic chemicals consumption in Europe. Middle East & Africa region is at a nascent stage in both automobiles and electronics industry, but is estimated to exhibit a positive outlook in the forecast period.Major manufacturers in lithographic chemicals market are RD chemicals, Mitsubishi materials Corp, Honeywell electronic material, Dow corning co, Taiyo Nippon sansoWako, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., Dow chemical co, Du-Pont, General chemical corp, Nikko materials, Eternal chemical co., ltd, Huntsman, Applied materials InAbout 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:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market 2024 Forecast & Future Industry Trends

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Global Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market: SnapshotRapid identification of microorganisms in medical microbiology can be of great value for selection of ideal treatments for patients for infections caused by bacteria, viruses, fungus, mycobacterium, and parasites. It enables actual reduction from conventional broad spectrum antimicrobial agents to specific targeted antimicrobial therapy. The various advantages associated with medical microbiology testing technologies over conventional manual systems, such as automated microscopy and serological testing have been the primary growth drivers for the global medical microbiology testing technologies market. According to the research report, the global medical microbiology testing technologies market was valued at US$2.1 bn in 2015 and is expected to reach US$3.4 bn by the end of 2024. The global market is expected to expand at a CAGR of 5.4% between the forecast years of 2016 and 2024.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Medical Microbiology Testing Technologies Market:Need for Testing among Geriatrics to Drive Global MarketThe various advantages of medical microbiology testing technologies are the introduction of automation in clinical microbiology. Prior to these technologies, the sector entirely depended on highly skilled manpower to receive, process, and interpret the outcomes from a wide variety of clinical specimens with limited aid from automation, which was subject to the risk of human error. Increasing outbreak of various diseases, rising incidence of infectious diseases, public-private investments in the field of life science research and increasing funding and research grants are the major factors driving growth of the market for medical microbiology testing technologies. Testing volumes on the whole are expected to increase by 10 to 15% every year for the next 20 years as number of geriatrics in need of health care continue to rise.Depending on the type of technology used in the medical microbiology testing technologies market, medical microbiology testing technologies are segmented into microscope, serological tests, and cell culture. Although the industry is witnessing increasing use of automated medical microbiology testing technologies by many end users for clinical specimen testing, hospitals and diagnostic centers are still considered as the key revenue-generating segments. These are thus likely to continue the lead in the coming years. This is attributed to the changing perception of people as well as healthcare practitioners.Asia Pacific to Follow Europes Lead during Forecast PeriodIn terms of geography, Europe claimed the largest regional share for medical microbiology testing technologies in terms of revenue. However, during the forecast period, the market in Asia Pacific for medical microbiology testing technologies will exhibit the highest market growth at a CAGR of 7.3%. High conversion rate from traditional testing methods to new advanced testing technologies is the key factors projected to trigger the market growth in APAC. The Asia Pacific region is also expected to lead product development and adoption of newer technologies. Improving economic conditions leading to increased purchasing power, increasing awareness regarding the benefit of testing technologies, and the presence of a large pool of patients suffering from various chronic diseases, the market is expected to grow at a double digit rate.Request a sample of this report:The key players operating in the global medical microbiology testing technologies market are Agilent Technologies Inc., Becton, Dickinson & Company, Beckman Coulter Inc. (A Danaher Company) Biomerieux SA, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc., and Roche Holding AG.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Coffee Market Size (Volume), Growth, Forecast, Trends And Opportunities (2016-2020)

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The report titled Global Coffee Market: Trends & Opportunities (2016-2020) provides an in-depth analysis of the global coffee market with detailed analysis of market sizing and growth, market share and economic impact of the industry. The report also provides the production and consumption analysis of the market. The report provides detailed market analysis of the global retail coffee market by value and volume along with the segments of the market.The report provides detailed regional analysis of Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Latin America Middle East & Africa and Australasia for the coffee market. Regional analysis includes market sizing by value along with the production and consumption analysis. It also provides the retail sales value of each region.The report also includes the country analysis of Brazil, Vietnam, Indonesia, Ethiopia and India. It provides the production and consumption analysis along with the export-import trends in each of the above mentioned countries.Get The Sample Copy Of This Report @Furthermore, the report assesses the key opportunities in the market and outlines the factors that are and will be driving the growth of the industry. Growth of the global retail coffee market has also been forecasted for the period 2016-2020, taking into consideration the previous growth patterns, the growth drivers and the current and future trends. The competition in global coffee market is stiff and dominated by the big players like Nestle. Further, key players of the coffee market The J.M. Smucker Company, Mondelez International Inc. and Strauss Group Ltd. are also profiled with their financial information and respective business strategies.Regional CoverageWestern EuropeEastern EuropeNorth AmericaAsia PacificLatin AmericaMiddle East and AfricaAustralasiaCountry CoverageBrazilVietnamIndonesiaEthiopiaIndiaCompany CoverageThe J.M. Smucker CompanyMondelez International Inc.Strauss Group Ltd.Executive SummaryGlobal coffee market increased at a significant CAGR during the span of 5 years i.e. 2011-2015 and projections are made that the market would rise in the next five years i.e. 2016-2020 tremendously. The market can be segmented on the basis of end-users as retail coffee market and food services market, of which global retail coffee market displayed an increase, driving the global coffee market. The increasing consumption of coffee led by the westernization trend in India, China and Latin America drive the market in the positive direction.The growth drivers for the global coffee market are: rise in disposable income, rapid urbanization and increase in the population along with the emergence of caf culture and new consumer base. Despite the market is governed by various growth drivers, there are certain challenges faced by the market such as: aging of coffee trees, lack of government support, negative impact of climate change, price volatility and increase in production cost.MarketResearchReports.biz supports your business intelligence needs with over 100,000 market research reports, company profiles, data books, and regional market data sheets in its repository. Our document database is updated by the hour, which means that you always have access to fresh data spanning over 300 industries and their sub-segments.State Tower90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948(USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074E: sales@marketresearchreports.biz
Agrochemicals Market Size, Industry Analysis Report Competitive Market Share & Forecast, 2017  2024

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Agrochemicals Market size is projected to witness dynamic growth owning to rise in demand for food grains. This is due to increase in global population coupled with reduced per capita farm land which is a result of surging industrialization and urbanization.Moreover, growth of floriculture and horticulture, increasing literacy rate of farmers coupled with rising awareness towards fertilizers and pesticides usage in major crop producing countries is further driving the global agrochemicals market size.Purchase This Report by calling Global Market Insights, Inc. at 1-888-689-0688 (Toll Free) or 1-302-846-7766.Agrochemicals are specialty chemical products which include fertilizers, pesticides, soil conditioners, liming & acidifying agents and hormones, used in agriculture, floriculture and horticulture to enhance crop productivity. The product is used for increasing crop growth & yield, killing pests & weeds and controls parasites and infectious diseases in animals. Additionally, hormones are routinely administered in animals to upsurge their growth and productivity, for instance, bovine growth hormone is given to cows for enhancing milk production.The major restraints for the agrochemicals market are development of organic pesticides and bio farming, increasing acceptance of genetically modified seeds by farmers and government initiatives towards integrated pest management. Further, various health and environmental hazards linked with the product is impeding agrochemicals market growth.Request for table of contents of this research report @Prolonged use of these chemicals adversely affects environment and health of consumers. Alzheimer, cancer, diabetes, autism and asthma are some diseases linked to the continued use of product. Additionally, the product gets accumulated on land surface which contaminates ground water with nitrate, rendering it unfit for human consumption. Excess nitrate can cause eutrophication in water bodies, causing extensive fish mortality.Agrochemicals exists in three forms named, liquid, powder and granular. The product can be categorized into pesticides and fertilizers. Fertilizers are divided into bio and synthetic fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers are further categorized into nitrogenous, potassic and phosphatic fertilizers. Based on pesticides, they are divided into insecticides, herbicides and fungicides, which include bio based and synthetic.Reasons to Buy This Report:1. Agrochemicals Market size & share forecast by product & application 2017-20242. Growth drivers, pitfalls & industry challenges3. Agrochemicals Market growth opportunities & emerging business models4. Competitive benchmarking with market share analysis company profilesThe product is used on different crops which include cereals & grains, oilseeds & pulses, fruits & vegetable, plantation crops and hydroponics. Cereals & grains is expected to hold the largest market segment due to rising world population and food industries.Asia Pacific, led by China, Japan and India is anticipated to show significant growth owning to high demand for the product. With the growing population, there is a need for increased food production which will boost the product market growth.North America holds the largest share for agrochemicals market due to the most industrialization and commercialization region globally. In the U.S., all pesticides sold or distributed should be registered by EPA under the Federal insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to protect human health and environment. Training of workers is required in pesticide treated areas and certification for using pesticide.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @The agrochemicals market is consolidated with presence of many manufacturing companies worldwide. Some of the key players for agrochemicals market include, BASF SE, Yara International, Dow Agro Sciences, Gharda Chemicals, Haifa Group, Zuari Agro Chemicals, Crop Science, Bayer, Syngenta, Monsanto and Dupont.Companies operating in agrochemicals market have adopted different business strategies to capture this market which includes agreements, product launches, expansions, collaborations and partnerships. In November 2017, BASF SE opened a new production plant of worth USD 22 Million in Spain. The new facility will help the company to increase fungicide production by 25% with 60 different formulations manufactured in same plant and exported to different countries.About 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:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Ophthalmic Lasers Market Research Report 2024 Key Players Strategies And Competitive Landscape

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Global Ophthalmic Lasers Market: SnapshotIn the recent times, the global market for ophthalmic lasers has witnessed a tremendous increase in its size and valuation. The significant rise in the number of elderly people, who are more prone to vision defects and ophthalmic disorders, is acting as the key factor behind the growth of this market. Apart from this, the increasing awareness among people regarding eye care, together with the technological advancements enhancing the level of accuracy of laser treatments, is also propelling this market substantially.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Ophthalmic Lasers Market:With a CAGR of 4.60%, the global ophthalmic lasers market is moving towards a thriving future during the period from 2016 to 2024. Analysts expect the opportunity in this market to increase from US$0.97 bn in 2015 to US$1.44 bn by the end of 2024.Ophthalmic Clinics to Remain Key End Users of Ophthalmic Laser SurgeriesHospitals, ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), and ophthalmic clinics have surfaced as the key end users of ophthalmic laser surgeries. With a remarkable expansion rate, ophthalmic clinics have been reported as the leading contributors to the overall revenue generated in this market.Analysts predict the demand for ophthalmic lasers from this segment will remain increasing at a greater pace than others over the years to come, owing to the increasing preference for specialists among patients for laser procedures. Hospitals and ASCs are also expected to witness a steady increase in the demand for ophthalmic lasers in the forthcoming years.Demand for Ophthalmic Lasers to Remain Higher in North AmericaOn the basis of geography, the worldwide market for ophthalmic lasers is classified into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Thanks to the presence of key players in a large number, North America occupied the leading position in this market with a share of more than 40% in 2016.Over the forthcoming years, the strong focus of these players on research and development and the availability of a state-of-art healthcare infrastructure and a well-established regulatory structure for timely approval of the products are likely to support this regional market to retain its position. However, it is the ophthalmic lasers market in Asia Pacific, which is anticipated to register the growth at a higher than other pace in the next few years. Due to its large base of the population, China is expected to emerge as the most attractive domestic market for ophthalmic lasers in Asia Pacific.The Middle East and Africa and Latin America are also projected to witness a considerable rise in their respective markets for ophthalmic lasers in the near future, thanks to the thriving medical tourism and the low cost of laser eye surgeries in these regions. Mexico and Columbia are likely to drive the Latin America ophthalmic lasers market while the Middle East and Africa market is anticipated to be heavily supported by Turkey in the years to come.Request a sample of this report:Some of the key players in the global market for ophthalmic lasers are Lumenis Ltd., Ellex Medical Lasers Ltd., IRIDEX Corp., Novartis AG, Abbott Laboratories Inc., Topcon Corp., Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems AG, Quantel Group, NIDEK Co. Ltd., Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., SCHWIND eye-tech-solutions GmbH & Co. KG, and Carl Zeiss Meditec AG.About TMRTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Life Science Microscopy Devices Market Professional Survey Report 2024 Emerging Opportunities

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Global Life Science Microscopy Devices Market: SnapshotTechnological advancements aimed at innovating the latest models of microscopes have been very common in the recent past. These efforts are appreciated and encouraged as researchers are in constant need of novel technologies to investigate various types of cells, substances, and materials as minutely as possible. Application of microscopy devices is thus highly relevant in nanotechnology, material science, semiconductor, biotechnology, and life science industries. Among these, the demand for microscopy devices is quite high in the field of life science, as these instruments assist in the study of cellular interactions at biological levels and various other functions.Read a Comprehensive Overview of Life Science Microscopy Devices Market:Microscopes are available in different types depending upon their operational capabilities and features. For instance optical microscopes such as stereo microscopes, phase contrasts, and the fluorescence microscopes work on the light reflections, while electron microscopes uses electron beam to produce images and magnify. Overall, the demand for microscopy devices in the field of life science has steadily risen in the last few years and is projected to continue treading along a positive curve in the coming years.According to Transparency Market Research (TMR), the global life science microscopy devices market is expected to reach US$2.0 bn by the end of 2024, from its valuation of US$1.1 bn in 2015. If these figures hold true, the global life science microscopy devices market will exhibit a positive CAGR of 6.5% between 2016 and 2024.Prevalence of Fierce Competition to Negatively Impact Demand for Optical MicroscopesBased on device type, the global life science microscopy devices market was dominated by optical microscopes in 2015. The high demand for these microscopes across research laboratories in emerging nations and their increasing applications in clinical/pathology and pharmacology & toxicology, besides their low cost are key reasons behind them constituting the key device category. In 2015, the optical microscopes segment held the dominant share of 51.9% in the overall market. However, due to the prevalence of fierce competition and the entry of new players, growth witnessed in this segment is likely to get restrained in the coming years.Electron microscopes emerged as the second-leading segment based on device type in 2015. However, in terms of volume the scanning probe microscopes segment accounted for the second-largest market share in the same year.Rising Research Funding to Seal North Americas Dominance as Leading RegionRegionally, North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East & Africa are the key market segments. Among these regions, North America held the dominant share of 47.3% in the global life science microscopy market in 2015. Their rising funding towards research and development activities in life science and biomedical research will aid the markets expansion in North America in the coming years. Europe, in the same year emerged as the second-leading regional market for life science microscopy devices. However, TMR forecasts the Asia Pacific market to exhibit the highest CAGR during course of the forecast period.Request a sample of this report:Some of the leading companies operating in the global life science microscopy devices market are Olympus Corporation, Nikon Corporation, Bruker Corporation, JOEL Ltd., FEI Company, Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Leica Microsystems, Carl Zeiss Microscopy GmBH, Cameca SAS, and NT-MDT, among others.Transparency Market Research (TMR) is a global 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 data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Pediatric Ultrasound Market Analysis, Tech, Organ Measurements, Board Review, Industry Forecast 2025

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Report Overview @The pediatric ultrasound market for cardiology has flourished due to a large number of technological advancements in the industry, increase in the prevalence and incidents rate of congenital and acquired heart diseases (such as cardiomyopathy, rheumatic fever, Kawasaki disease, and infective endocarditis) and increase in the number of ultrasound diagnostic imaging procedures particularly in pediatrics.The market has become mature in developed regions. However, the growth in these regions is primarily due to the technological innovations in the ultrasound industry to develop more portable ultrasound devices for point-of-care settings. However, the pediatric ultrasound market for cardiology is growing rapidly in emerging markets such as Asia-Pacific and LAMEA.By Age Group Newborns (aged 04 weeks) Infants (aged 4 weeks to 1 year) Toddlers (aged 13 years) Preschoolers (aged 46 years) School-aged Children (aged 613 years) Adolescents (aged 1319 years)For further inquiries, about Global Pediatric Ultrasound Market enquire here >>>>Key benefits In-depth analysis done based on market estimations of the key segments from 2014 to 2022. (pediatric spine ultrasound industry) Comprehensive analysis of factors that drive and restrict the growth of the world pediatric ultrasound market for cardiology provided. The report provides a quantitative analysis from 2014 to 2022, which is expected to enable the stakeholders to capitalize on prevailing market opportunities.Key Point from Table of contentCHAPTER 6 COMPANY PROFILES6.1 Analogic Corporation (child ultrasound market)6.1.1 Company Overview6.1.2 Company Snapshot6.1.3 Operating Business Segments6.1.4 Business Performance6.1.5 Key Strategic Moves and Developments6.1.6 SWOT Analysis6.2 Esaote SpA6.2.1 Company Overview6.2.2 Operating Business Segments6.2.3 Key Strategic Moves and Developments6.2.4 SWOT Analysis (Pediatric Ultrasound industry)Fill the form for an exclusive sample of this report @:By Region North Americao U.S.o Canadao Mexico Europeo Germanyo UKo Franceo OthersAbout us:Progressive Markets is the answer to every possible business query. It is a market research and business consulting firm, headquartered in India with an aim to deliver up-to-date executive support to foster overall growth of an organization in its domain.Contact us:Antviews Global,Serve No. 721/1 Flat No 404,Sudhanshu co. op Housing Society,Shastri Road, Near Kalavati Devi Mandir,Fatak Baug, Pune 411 030.help@progressivemarkets.com
Citric Acid Market 2024 Source, Product, Application, Regional Estimates &Trend Analysis Research Report

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Citric Acid Market size will witness a substantial growth, with increasing demand of the product as a vital intergradient in food, beverages, detergents, pharmaceuticals, personal care products and other industrial applications. Rising demand for carbonated soft drinks will add to citric acid market growth in forecast time frame. Food manufacturers are shifting focus on consumer preference for ready to eat foods. Preventing microbial activity, enhancing flavors, imparting tartness and sourness are the major driving factors for citric acid market growth.Rising demand of the product as a cleaning agent following ban of phosphate in many region will propel the growth of citric acid market in forecast time frame. Product application as flavoring substance, emulsifiers, and buffering agent in food industry are anticipated to increase substantially which will add to citric acid market growth.Purchase This Report by calling Global Market Insights, Inc. at 1-888-689-0688 (Toll Free) or 1-302-846-7766.Non-toxic, antioxidant, non-corrosive, and biodegradable characteristics make citric acid even more popular, and demand in detergents and cleaners segment continue to witness significant gains in forecast period. Upsurge in preference for concentrated liquid detergents in laundry segment will lead to citric acid market growth.The citric acid market is vulnerable to fluctuating costs, however the problem will be diminished in forecast period due to rising worldwide capacities and penetration of Chinese products in global arena. Multiple benefits of this product in wide range of applications and consumer health will drive the citric acid market growth.Request for table of contents of this research report @Asia Pacific is anticipated to witness significant demand of the product in forecast period owing to growing population and surge in demand of the preservatives in food industry. Growing demand of carbonated drinks in the region will further support the product penetration. China is one of the largest consumer and exporter of the product. The region is native to major producers which will supplement the rising product demand. Increasing concern over food safety, acceptance for ready to drinks and processed foods in the region will further add to citric acid market growth. Further, rising demand of cosmetics and personal care products will propel the product demand in forecast period.North America, led by the U.S. is projected to provide various growth opportunities for the product owing to surge in product application in food and beverage industry over forecast period. The region accounts for more than 20% of the global product consumption. Health awareness and deficiencies among consumers will lead to surge in consumption of fruits rich in nutritional content.Reasons to Buy This Report:1. Citric Acid Market size & share forecast by product & application 2017-20242. Growth drivers, pitfalls & industry challenges3. Citric Acid Market growth opportunities & emerging business models4. Competitive benchmarking with market share analysis company profilesEurope will continue to witness substantial growth due to upsurge in utilization of the product in various industries will propel citric acid penetration. The region will dominate the global consumption in forecast period due to rising application of product in cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.Middle East led by Saudi Arabia will provide business opportunities for the product owing to huge demand potential for the product as an additive in food and beverages industries. Setting up of new food and beverages industries in the region will boost the product penetration in forecast period. Currently the demand for the product in the region is met through import mainly from China and Europe.Make an inquiry for purchasing this report @Some of the key industry participants operating in the citric acid market are Pfizer, Tate & Lyle plc, Archer Daniels, and Gadot Biochemical Industries. The companies are competing to gain a major market share and increase their customer base. Manufacturers are investing heavily to develop innovative products to meet the rising demand and deliver products to various industries worldwide.Modern technologies encourage the growth of advanced products that contribute in reducing the prices. Emerging countries like India and China offer great business opportunities for manufacturers, owing to availability of low cost feedstock.About 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:Connect with us: Google+ | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook
Phosphate Fertilizers Market  Evolving Countries, Type, Application and Major Manufacturers Eurochem, Yara International ASA, CF Industries holdings 2022

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HTF Market Intelligence released a new research report of 121 pages on title 'Global (North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa) Phosphate Fertilizers Market 2017 Forecast to 2022' with detailed analysis, forecast and strategies. The study covers key region that includes United States, EU, Japan, China, India, Southeast Asia and important players such as Eurochem, Yara International ASA, CF Industries holdings..................SummaryPhosphorus is an essential nutrient required for plant growth. It helps in root development, plant maturation, and seed development. Together with nitrogen and potassium, phosphorus is one of the most important elements for plant life. These features make phosphorus essential to maximize the production of grains and forage. Modern farming is dependent on the use of inorganic fertilizers that contain phosphorus.Request a sample report @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Phosphate Fertilizers in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversEurochemYara International ASACF Industries holdingsMosaicPhosagroICL and AgriumCoromandel InternationalPotash Corp. of SaskatchewanOCPMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (USA, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversDiammonium PhosphateMonoammonium PhosphateTriple SuperphosphateSingle SuperphosphateSuperphosphateCalcium PhosphateMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoCereals & GrainsOil SeedsFruits & VegetablesBuy this report @There are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Phosphate Fertilizers market.Chapter 1, to describe Phosphate Fertilizers Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Phosphate Fertilizers, with sales, revenue, and price of Phosphate Fertilizers, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4, to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Phosphate Fertilizers, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9, to analyze the market by countries, by type, by application and by manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11, to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 12, Phosphate Fertilizers market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15, to describe Phosphate Fertilizers sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data sourceMake an enquiry before buying this Report @Table of Contents1 Market Overview1.1 Phosphate Fertilizers Introduction1.2 Market Analysis by Type1.2.1 Diammonium Phosphate1.2.2 Monoammonium Phosphate1.2.3 Triple Superphosphate1.2.4 Single Superphosphate1.2.5 Superphosphate1.2.6 Calcium Phosphate1.3 Market Analysis by Applications1.3.1 Cereals & Grains1.3.2 Oil Seeds1.3.3 Fruits & Vegetables1.4 Market Analysis by Regions1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico)1.4.1.1 USA Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.2 Canada Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.1.3 Mexico Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)1.4.2.1 Germany Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.2 France Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.3 UK Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.4 Russia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.2.5 Italy Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)1.4.3.1 China Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.2 Japan Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.3 Korea Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.4 India Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.3.5 Southeast Asia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4 South America, Middle East and Africa1.4.4.1 Brazil Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.2 Egypt Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.3 Saudi Arabia Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.4 South Africa Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.4.4.5 Nigeria Market States and Outlook (2012-2022)1.5 Market Dynamics1.5.1 Market Opportunities1.5.2 Market Risk1.5.3 Market Driving Force......CONTINUEDView Detailed Table of Content @HTF Market Report is a wholly owned brand of HTF market Intelligence Consulting Private Limited. HTF Market Report global research and market intelligence consulting organization is uniquely positioned to not only identify growth opportunities but to also empower and inspire you to create visionary growth strategies for futures, enabled by our extraordinary depth and breadth of thought leadership, research, tools, events and experience that assist you for making goals into a reality. Our understanding of the interplay between industry convergence, Mega Trends, technologies and market trends provides our clients with new business models and expansion opportunities. We are focused on identifying the Accurate Forecast in every industry we cover so our clients can reap the benefits of being early market entrants and can accomplish their Goals & Objectives.Contact Us:HTF Market Intelligence Consulting Private LimitedUnit No. 429, Parsonage Road Edison, NJNew Jersey USA  08837sales@htfmarketre)port.com+1 (206) 317 1218 (US)
2.5D IC Packaging Market development, Overview and Forecast upto 2023

2.5D IC Packaging Market

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In the manufacturing process of electronics, integrated circuit (IC) packaging is one of the major stages of semiconductor device fabrication in which the small blocks of semiconducting material is encapsulated in a supporting case that prevents physical corrosion and damage. The market is segmented into by application which includes LED, sensors and MEMS, logic, optoelectronics and imaging, memory, among others. The market, by region is segmented into Asia Pacific, North America, Europe, Middle East and Africa and South America.Lower cost, low power consumption, high speed signal processing and small form factors are some of the prime reasons behind the growing application of 2.5D packaging in smartphone and memory chips. Additionally, high thermal performance is another major feature which is fueling the market for 2.5D integrated circuit packaging globally. In order to increase the efficiency and to cut down the power consumption up to 50%, the usage of 2.5D IC packaging technique is increasing in different processing units which include central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU). Moreover, application of 2.5D IC packaging technique also reduces latency of different networking equipment. Furthermore, it also helps in interconnection with low power consumption and higher bandwidth. Increasing proliferation of minimization of devices, heterogeneous integration and high I/O density are some the prime factors influencing the growth of 2.5D IC packaging market globally. It is cost effective technique and flexible to integrate in any semiconductor and networking devices. High end communication devices, RF wireless modules, LED packages, portable computers, power amplifiers, and other wearable gadgets among others are some of the key application areas of 2.5D IC packaging market.Obtain Report Details @With the rising research and development activities of 2.5D packaging technologies has enabled different ways of producing advanced packages for the advanced devices. Increasing technological advancement in the field of semiconductor fabrication is one of the fueling factors for the market for 2.5D IC packaging. 2.5D IC packaging enable integration of multiple different chips into a system at lower cost. Furthermore, 2.5D IC packaging refers to stacking chips side by side horizontally on the silicon interposer. Design complexity, tool readiness, heat dissipation and potential yield loss may be considered as some of the restraining factor which may inhibit the growth of the 2.5D IC packaging market. However, increasing application of 2.5D IC packaging in high end research laboratory equipment, satellite communication devices and advanced medical devices are some of the opportunities for the market.In 2016, North America accounted for the largest market share in terms of revenue for the 2.5D IC (integrated circuit) packaging market, followed by Asia Pacific and Europe. The U.S. is leading the market for 2.5D IC packaging across North America. In Asia Pacific, China held the largest market share in terms of revenue across Asia Pacific, followed by Japan, South Korea. Germany, Italy, the U.K. and France among others are influencing the positive growth in the 2.5D IC packaging market. Brazil and Argentina are anticipated to contribute positive development over the forecast period from 2017 to 2025. In Middle East and Africa, there has been considerable advancement, miniaturization and development in the sector of electronics and other industries is stimulating the demand for 2.5D IC packaging market.Get More Information about Market:Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Limited (Taiwan), Palomar Technologies (The U.S.), Amkor Technology, Inc. (The U.S.), Texas Instruments Inc. (The U.S.), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (South Korea), Teledyne Technologies Incorporated (The U.S.), Micron Technology, Inc. (The U.S.), Maxim Integrated (The U.S.), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. (Taiwan), API Technologies Corporation (The U.S.), Tektronix, Inc. (The U.S.), Toshiba Corporation (Japan) and Intel Corporation (The U.S.) are some of the key players operating in the 2.5D IC packaging market globally. Merger and acquisition and long term and short business alliances with raw material suppliers and component distributers are some of the major strategies abide by the companies in the 2.5D IC (Integrated Circuit) packaging market globally.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:
Embedded Display Market: Trends, outlook and Opportunity Analysis 2025

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An embedded system is basically a computer system having a dedicated function within an electrical or mechanical system after considering the real time computing constraints. This embedded or computer system is part of a device that includes hardware and mechanical parts. It is a combination of both hardware and software designed for a specified function within a larger system and can be both fixed and flexible on the basis of programmability.These systems may or may not have any interfaces. Embedded display is an application of embedded systems that allows implementation of color display interface. Embedded display is normally analyzed on the basis of pixels per inch that provides high-resolution images and can be further used at low power consumption providing better coverage along with improving chip integration for enabling light weight designs. Embedded display ports also helps in providing a standardized display panel interface especially useful for internal connections. The global market for embedded display has been segmented on the basis of type, end use industry and geography. Based on type the global market has been segmented into LCD, LED, TFT and OLED among others. Automotive, industrial automation, fitness equipment, consumer electronics and wearables among others form the major application areas on the basis of which the global market has been segmented.Global embedded display 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 low power consumption associated with the implementation of this technology forms a major driver for this market globally. In addition to this, it is the reduction of signal wires for high data rate along with compatibility with submicron chips further acts as a major driver for this market globally. The added flexibility, reduced interference with the specified wireless services along with the ability for adoption of new features also acts as some major reasons that has positively impacted this market and pushed its overall growth. With all these factors that drivers the market growth there are certain factors as well that restricts the market growth and poses challenges for the market. One such factor being the costs associated with advanced embedded display systems that has been a major restraint for this market. Moreover, it is also seen that compressing of images along with continuous monitoring of backlight control in specific regions has been some other major restraints for this market. With all these drivers and restraints it is the advancement in system on chip or System on Chip (SoC) and GPU that is expected to provide huge growth opportunities for this market in the coming years.Geographically, North America formed one of the major region that is contributing to the growth of this market followed by Europe. Growing application of this technology across different industry verticals such as medical, automotive and wearables has been a major driver for this market in these regions. Presence of large number of manufacturers in this region further boosts the market growth in this region. Asia Pacific forms another major region contributing to the growth also being one of the fastest growing market globally. China, India and Japan are some major countries in APAC that is boosting the market growth. Rise in government grants to boost the medical sector where embedded display has numerous applications forms a major reason that has positively impacted the market growth of embedded display in this region.Get More Information about Market:Some of the key players that are operating in the global embedded display market include Intel Corporation (The U.S.), ENEA AB (Sweden), Microsoft Corporation (The U.S.), Avnet Inc. (The U.S.), Multitouch Ltd. (Finland), AndersDX (The UK), Esterel Technologies SA (France), Green Hills Software (The U.S.) and Planar Systems Inc. (The U.S.) among others.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:
Microwave Transmission Equipment Market: Industry Analysis, Opportunity Assessment and Forecast upto 2025

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Microwaves are electromagnetic waves having wavelengths between the range of one millimeter (mm) to 1000 mm and frequency between the ranges of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). The frequencies are generally classified based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) radar band designations, namely S band, C band, X band and K band among others. Microwaves have relatively smaller wavelength, when compared to regular radio waves. Microwave communication is similar to radio communication and consists of data transmission wirelessly. Transmissions of microwaves are done with the aid of various types of equipment such as antennas, multiplexers, modulators, transmitters and receivers among others. Microwave transmissions are mostly done for point-to-point communication links.The higher range of microwaves often gets absorbed by the atmospheric gases and hence leads to relatively low communication distances. Additionally, microwaves dont diffract around obstructions or reflect from the earths atmosphere. Hence these microwave transmission equipment are designed for various different types of communications modes. Microwaves are also utilized in the healthcare industry, where the microwave transmission equipment are different in nature. Modern microwave transmission equipment offers several new features such as better channel capacity, owing to higher packet compression, higher number of topology support, and scalable multichannel microwave links among others.Obtain Report Details @Microwave transmission equipment market is primarily being driven by their growing application for communications, in telecommunications and aerospace sectors. Microwave can be utilized for point-to-point communication links, radar, satellite communication, and remote sensing among others. Such applications have been promoting the growth of the microwave transmission equipment market. Additionally, the higher penetration of internet and growing demand for high speed internet has also been instrumental in the demand growth for microwave transmission equipment. Currently, the huge growth in demand for 4G internet has been instrumental in the growing demand for these equipment in emerging economies. Furthermore, the growing demand for industrial and home automation has also been strongly supporting the growth of the microwave transmission equipment market.However, the huge growth in demand for internet and internet of things (IOT) connected devices is not efficiently supported by the traditional microwave-based networks. While modern microwave transmission equipment can efficiently support such demand, compatibility issues with the legacy systems has been the major restraining factor for higher adoption of these equipment. This in turn has been restraining the growth of the microwave transmission equipment market to some extent. Considering the penetration of advanced microwave transmission equipment, and higher adoption of such equipment, the market can be expected to grow at a very fast pace, during the forecast period, from 2017  2025.Get More Information about Market:On the basis of components, the microwave transmission equipment market has been segmented into antennas, indoor units, outdoor units, aggregation units, cable & accessories and others. By mounting type, the global market for microwave transmission equipment have been segmented into full indoor mounting, full outdoor mounting and split mount. Based on application of microwave transmission equipment, the market has been segmented into cellular communication, satellite communication, radio communication, radar, satellite communication and others. The global market for microwave transmission equipment, by region, has been segmented into five major regions. They are North America, Europe, Asia Pacific (APAC), South America and Middle-East & Africa (MEA). Asia Pacific had the largest market share in 2016, owing to factors such as high penetration of internet, huge growth of telecommunications industry and strong growth of telecommunication infrastructure among others.The major companies of the microwave transmission equipment market globally are Nokia Corporation (Finland), Ericsson AB (Sweden), Anritsu Electric Corporation (Japan), Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (China), NEC Corporation (Japan), Dragonwave, Inc. (Canada), Giga-tronics Incorporated (The U.S.) and Ogier Electronics (The U.K.) among various other companies.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:
Grow Light Global Market is depended on upon to make at approx. USD 5.80 billion by 2023, at 13% of CAGR

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Grow light is an electric light rather an artificial source of light which is designed to stimulate plant growth by emitting an electromagnetic spectrum for photosynthesis. Grow light is widely used in applications where natural light is not available or where supplemental light required. It is basically a type of electronic lamp designed to accelerate plant growth by electronic magnetic spectrum.The global grow light market is expected to reach USD 5.80 billion by the end of 2022 with ~13% CAGR during forecast period 2017-2022Get a Sample Copy @Access the market data and market information presented through more than in 100 numbers of pages of the project report Grow Light MarketThe key drivers contributing to the growth of the grow light market are growth in the indoor farming, government initiatives to adopt technologies such as LED, growing demand for energy efficiency, long lasting grow technology and environmentally safe products. Also, the demand for these products is increasing in countries such as Netherlands where supplemental lighting is required throughout the year.However, low awareness among consumers, high cost of capital are the factors hindering the growth of the overall growth of the market. Whereas, high reliability, low power consumption, high commercial greenhouse practices are also propelling the growth of the grow light market.Geographically, Europe accounted for the largest market share in the global grow light market, whereas Asia-Pacific is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period.Key Players Osram LichtAG (Germany), General Electric Company (U.S.), Iwasaki Electric Co., Ltd. (Japan), LumiGrow, Inc. (U.S.), Gavita Holland B.V. (Netherlands), Hortilux Schreder B.V. (Netherlands), Sunlight Supply, Inc. (U.S.), Heliospectra AB (Sweden), Royal Philips (Netherlands), Platinum LED Lights LLC (U.S.) and others.Study Objectives of Global Grow Light Market: To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the global grow light market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the global grow light market based porters five force analysis etc. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies and their countries- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW). To provide country level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective. To provide country level analysis of the market for segment by technology, installation, application and region. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Grow LightBrowse Full Report Details @SegmentsFor the purpose of this study, Market Research Future has segmented the market of grow light into technology, installation, application and region.By Technology- LED High Intensity Discharge Fluorescent Lighting OthersBy Installation- New Installation RetrofitBy Application- Indoor Framing Commercial Greenhouse Vertical Framing Landscaping OthersBy Region- North-America Europe Asia-Pacific RoWRegional Analysis:Regionally, Europe accounted for the largest market share, because Netherlands is a leading exporter of horticultural produce which increases the usage of commercial greenhouse. Also, the concept of vertical farming is gaining popularity in this region.Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow significantly over the forecast period, majorly due to increasing awareness about the benefits of this technology.Intended Audience Manufacturers Distributors Research firms Consultancy firms Software Developers Vendors Semiconductor Manufacturers Stakeholders End-user sectors Technology InvestorsContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Grow Light Market Research Report- Forecast 2022 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.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.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Automotive gear market was valued at USD 28.40 Billion in 2015 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% By 2023

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The high demand for automotive gears is due to the growth in the automotive industry. An automotive gear helps give an automobile, a smooth start to and allows the outer wheel to rotate faster than the inner wheel for safer turns. Smooth gear shifting enhances the driving experience as well as the growing demand for low-carbon-footprint technologies fuels the growth of the global automotive gears market. Moreover, rising disposable incomes and vehicle-ownership boosts the market growth. Lightweight and highly durable aluminum and composite gears are estimated to gain higher popularity during the forecast period. Focus towards high-quality products & the changing lifestyle of consumers and increasing spending power, enhance the growth of the gear market for automotive sector.However, the high cost of advanced gear system than the conventional gear system acts as a barrier for the growth of automotive gear market.Global Automotive gear market was valued at USD 28.40 Billion in 2015 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.4% during the forecast period.Get a Sample Copy @Access the market data and market information presented through more than 110 numbers of pages of the project report Automotive Gear MarketKey Players: Eaton, Linamar Corporation, NSK Ltd, Bharat Gears Ltd, Neapco Inc, Mitsubishi Group, Dana Holding Corporation, Robert Bosch GmbH, ZF TRW and GKN plc.Study Objectives of Automotive Gear markets Market. To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the automotive gear market. To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth. To analyze the automotive gear markets market based on tools such as Porters Five Forces Analysis. To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to four main geographies, North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) and their countries. 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 material, product type, vehicle type and sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market. To track and analyze competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the automotive gear market.Browse Report Details @Regional Analysis:Asia-Pacific market is dominating the market of automotive gear market due to growth in automotive sector. Development of automotive manufacturing industries in developing economies such as China and India are driving the market for automotive gears. The market in the developing countries is largely driven by economic growth and ongoing industrialization, which helps in production of motor vehicles and other manufacturing output.North America is referred to as the second-largest automotive gears market due to factors such as large customer base and high disposable income of end-users have fueled the demand for vehicles in the country.Target Audience: Organizations Manufacturer Research Institute / Education Institute Potential InvestorsProduct Analysis: Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information Regulatory Landscape Pricing Analysis Macroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis: Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information: Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesThe report for Global Automotive Gear Market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.ContinueWe are thankful for the support and assistance from Global Automotive Gear Market Research Report - Forecast to 2023 chain related technical experts and marketing experts during Research Team survey and interviews.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.Media Contact:Akash Anand,Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
DC Drives Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share 2024 | Research Report

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DC drive is an electric device used to control speed, direction, torque, and horsepower of a DC motor. It is a variable frequency drive that consists of separate armature and field circuits. The speed in DC motors is proportional to the armature voltage and inversely proportional to the motor flux; therefore, an increase or decrease in the applied voltage varies the speed of the motor. The field current can be decreased if speed larger than the base speed is desired. The motor flux can be decreased by lowering the current.Browse Market Research Report @Decreasing the electric field current also reduces the armature counter electromotive force. A larger armature current flows if there are smaller counter electromotive forces. The armature current increases the motor speed through the rise in the motor torque. DC drives are suitable for variable-speed machines and are generally simpler to use as compared to AC drives. DC drives are also less complicated due to single power conversion and less expensive for comparable horsepower ratings. The DC drive technology is efficient, dependable, and comparatively easy to use and implement. Hence, it is used to lower operational costs and increase the shelf life of electric equipment.DC drives are used in various industrial drive systems for precise control of machinery. The oil & gas sector is the leading end-user of DC drives. These drives are employed to control the speed of pumps and compressors in the oil & gas sector. Common applications of DC drives include cranes and trolleys, belts and conveyers, and compressors and pumps.DC drives are also employed in applications needing synchronization of multiple machines for continuous production. This includes pulp & paper and tire industries. These drives are largely used in locomotive applications, as they include thyristors with high power rating. DC drives are also employed in industrial blowers, machine tools, and fans.Increase in demand for energy and electricity is driving the global DC drives market. Decrease in energy consumption due to the high efficiency of DC drives provides lucrative opportunities for retrofit applications in the manufacturing industry. The DC drives market can be segmented based on the strength of voltage (medium and low voltage) and power rating (low, medium, and high power). Demand for DC drives is high in the oil & gas industry. Other major end-users of DC drives are power generation, water & wastewater, and mining industries. The global DC drives market is highly competitive and fragmented with the presence of large automation companies and high number of smaller companies in the unorganized sector. China is the leading market for DC drives due to the rapid industrialization in the country.Other developing countries such as Brazil and India are also witnessing high demand for DC belt drives. Industrially developed countries are relatively mature markets. Thus, the DC drive market in such countries is expected to expand at a sluggish pace in the near future. Growth of the DC drive market in the Middle East is also anticipated to be moderate in the next few years due to the decline in demand owing to the slowdown in the oil & gas industry.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the DC Drives Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market @Key players operating in the belt drive market are Emerson Electric Co., Siemens AG, Rockwell Automation, ABB Ltd., Schneider Electric SE, Crompton Greaves Limited, Toshiba International Corporation Ltd., Danfoss Group, Parker Hannifin Co., American Electric Technologies Inc., GE Power Conversion, and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Microwave Radio Market Size by Communication and Power Utilities Applications 2022

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Global Microwave Radio Market 2017 report spread across 119 pages gives Market Segment Analysis by Key Manufacturers, Countries, Types and Applications. Microwave radios work on the underlying principle of microwave transmission. They transmit or exchange information between two devices using electromagnetic waves, having a wavelength ranging from 30 cm to 0.1 cm with radio spectrum of 1 GHz to 300 GHz.Complete report is available atScope of the Report:This report focuses on the Global Microwave Radio market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers: Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, NEC, Alcatal-Lucent, ZTE, Aviat Networks, DragonWaveMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis covers: North America (USA, Canada and Mexico); Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy); Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia); South America (Brazil, Argentina, Columbia etc.); Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, covers: Hybrid Microwave Radio, Packet Microwave Radio, TDM Microwave RadioMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided into: Communication, Power Utilities, OthersRequest for discount atThere are 15 Chapters to deeply display the global Microwave Radio market.Chapter 1 to describe Microwave Radio Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2 to analyze the top manufacturers of Microwave Radio, with sales, revenue, and price of Microwave Radio, in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 3 to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2017;Chapter 4 to show the global market by regions, with sales, revenue and market share of Microwave Radio, for each region, from 2012 to 2017;Chapter 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9 to analyze the key regions, with sales, revenue and market share by key countries in these regions;Chapter 10 and 11 to show the market by type and application, with sales market share and growth rate by type, application, from 2012 to 2017;Order copy of report atChapter 12 Microwave Radio market forecast, by regions, type and application, with sales and revenue, from 2017 to 2022;Chapter 13, 14 and 15 to describe Microwave Radio sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.ReportsnReports.com is your single source for all market research needs. Our database includes 500,000+ market research reports from over 95 leading global publishers & in-depth market research studies of over 5000 micro markets.Ritesh Tiwari,+ 1 888 391 5441sales@reportsandreports.com
Wearable Fitness Technology Market: Key Growth Factors and Forecast 2025

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Wearable fitness technology concerns any kind of electronic product that have been designed to be worn by the person so that it can keep a track of its footsteps, heartbeat so that one can keep himself fit and fine and also give a real time information about the health of the overall body. The global Wearable Fitness Technology market is anticipated to witness a robust growth rate during the forecast period from 2017 to 2025 owing to the rise in disposable income in the developing economies that have led to the awareness about fitness among the common peopleThe global Wearable Fitness Technology market is expected to witness a progressive growth in the coming years due to the increasing consumer preferences regarding Wearable Fitness Technology. This wearable fitness help the consumer to track their footsteps and also display the notification of smartphone. In addition the growing awareness of chronic diseases and obesity have led to the adoption of such wearable devices so that it can give real time information about the overall health of the body. These wearables can provide information like, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, calorie intake and also other information that is required by the body for day to day activities.Obtain Report Details @However, the high initial cost and the limited battery life of the wearable devices is predicted to inhibit its adoption rate to some extent in the coming eight years. In spite of this challenges the increasing demand for connected devices have accelerated the growth of this market.For the purpose of providing detailed research report, the global Wearable Fitness Technology market is segmented on the basis of product type, component, technology, end use and geography. On the basis of product type the market is segmented into wrist wear, body wear, neck wear, eye wear and others. Among the different product types of wearable technology available in the market, the wrist wear is expected to grow at a higher rate owing to its facilities to track the footsteps, heartbeats and manage smartphone notification as compared to the other product types. On the other hand, based on component, the market has been classified into display, processor, memory chip, power management components, sensors and others. The display holds the largest market share compared to the other components due to the fact that day by day display technology is evolving like haptic touch/tactile, active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED), organic light emitting diode(OLED). Thus it is one of the most expensive part of wearable device On the basis of technology the market has been classified into display technology, computing technology, positioning technology, sensor technologies and others.Get More Information about Market:Wearable fitness technology also finds its application across various end user segments including healthcare, consumer electronics, defense, fitness and wellness and others. Among various end user segment, fitness and wellness is expected to witness the growth rate at a highest CAGR during the forecast period. Attributes such growing concern of obesity and other chronic diseases have led to the adoption of Wearable Fitness Technology in the fitness and wellnessGeographically, the global Wearable Fitness Technology market has been further divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Latin America. North America is expected to hold the largest share of the wearable fitness technology market among the different regions in 2016. The Wearable Fitness Technology market of North America is majorly driven by the U.S owing to increasing awareness about fitness. On the flip side, the Asia Pacific Wearable Fitness Technology market is expected to witness a high growth rate during the forecast period owing to the rise in disposable incomes in the developing countries.Some of the key vendors operating in the global Wearable Fitness Technology market includes Adidas (Germany), Apple, Inc. (The U.S.), Fitbit, Inc. (U.S.), Google, Inc. (The U.S.), LG Electronics Inc. (South Korea), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd (South Korea), Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd (China) and many more.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:
Ceramic Ball Valve Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share 2026 | Research Report

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Ceramic ball valve is primarily used to regulate or cut-off the fluid movement. It consists of a perforated pivoting ball to control the flow. The flow is accessed by pivoting the valve such that the hole is aligned in direction of the flow. Manufacture of ceramic ball valve entails the use of advanced ceramics along with various metals such as alumina. The performance of ceramic ball valve is better than that of metal ball valve. Ceramic ball valves are designed to offer long life and resistance against corrosion & wear. They can be used in high temperature and high pressure conditions and have wide range of applications. For instance, ceramic ball valves can be used in handling various acidic & alkaline media.Browse Market Research Report @Based on type, the ceramic ball valve market can be segmented into electric operated ceramic ball valve, manual operated ceramic ball valve, and pneumatic operated ceramic ball valve. In terms of application, the market for ceramic ball valve can be divided into flue gas desulfurization unit, water treatment unit, and pneumatic refuse conveying system. Based on end-user, the market for ceramic ball valve can be segregated into iron & steel plants, chemical industry, power plants, petroleum industry, paper industry, and other industries.Ceramic Ball Valve Market: TrendsThe ceramic ball valve market is gaining momentum; it is anticipated to expand significantly during the forecast period considering the unique characteristics and performance of ceramic ball valves over other types of ball valves. Electric operated ceramic ball valve is projected to be one of the highly lucrative types of valve segments of the ceramic ball valve market in the near future. Rapid growth in technology and efficiency of electric operated valves in terms of time saving are the factors driving the segment.In terms of end-use, the ceramic ball valve market is anticipated to expand at a significant rate due to the rise in usage of these valves in industries such as wastewater, oil & gas, and chemical. Governments across the globe are investing significantly in the development of pipeline infrastructure in developing countries such as India, China, and Brazil. Fluctuation in prices of raw materials over the last few years is one of the major factors hampering the ceramic ball valve market. Additionally, contraction in the oil & gas industry can also adversely affect the ceramic ball valve market.Ceramic Ball Valve Market: Regional AnalysisEurope and North America dominate the ceramic ball valve market due to the implementation of stringent government policies regarding wastewater treatment in these regions. The need to upgrade existing power plants as per the established standards is also estimated to boost market growth. The ceramic ball valve market on Latin America is projected to expand owing to the development of the power plants and chemicals industryThe market for ceramic ball valve in Middle East & Africa is expanding at a significant pace due to the expansion of the manufacturing industry, ascending demand for energy, and growth of the oil & gas industry. Rise in demand for energy, industrial development in major countries such as India and China, and development of oil & gas pipeline infrastructure are anticipated to fuel the demand for ceramic ball valves in Asia Pacific during the forecast period.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Ceramic Ball Valve Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market @Ceramic Ball Valve Market: Competitive LandscapeKey players operating in the ceramic ball valve market include Nil-Cor LLC, SamsoN Group Of Companies, YFL Industrial Supply Corp. Ltd., FUVALVE (Xiamen) Co. Ltd., and Samuel Industries.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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Automobile Ignition System MarketResearch Report with regional analysis and forecast 2025

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The automobile ignition switch in a car is connected between the car battery and ignition coil and transforms the low voltage into high voltage. The high voltage generates heat and ignites the air-fuel mixture in compression chamber. This helps the vehicle to move.Rising automobile demand across the world is anticipated to boost the demand for ignition system. The number of people purchasing automobile per 1,000 population is very low in emerging and developing economies. Rising automobile penetration is anticipated to increase demand for ignition system. Rising average life of vehicles means increased vehicle maintenance cost and subsequently increase in demand for ignition system. Rising population of middle income group in emerging and developed economies is anticipated to increase automobile demand and subsequently increase in demand of ignition system. Low fuel prices are anticipated to increase demand for automobiles and subsequently demand for ignition system will rise. Rising attention by emerging countries in automobile manufacturing is anticipated to increase demand for automobiles and subsequently demand for ignition system will rise. A major restraint faced by automobile ignition system market is stringent emission norms by governments around the world. A major opportunity in automobile ignition system market is increasing acceptance of electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid vehicles (HV) across the world. Major automotive manufacturers such as Volvo and BMW plans to launch 1 million electric vehicles by 2025 and 2017 respectively.Obtain Report Details @By ignition type the market is segmented into contact ignition, transistor ignition and electronic ignition. By engine type the market has been categorized into petro, diesel and others. By vehicle type the market is segmented into light commercial vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles and off-road vehicles. The contact ignition system is the most common ignition system. In this system the current flowing in the ignition coil is cut off in the distributor to generate high voltage and ignition spark. In transistor ignition type the current is cut by transistor and it provides more stable current than contact ignition so better generation of spark plug. Electronic ignition is the latest ignition system where a microcontroller controls the total system.By geography the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Middle East & Africa (MEA) and Latin America. The U.S. is a prominent market in North America. Rising automobile production in Mexico is anticipated to increase demand for automobiles and subsequently demand for automobile ignition system will rise. Europe is a significant automobile ignition systems market. Rising demand for automobiles in Germany and the U.K among others is expected to increase demand for automobile ignition system. Automobile sales are expected to slow in Portugal, Italy, Spain, Greece and France and is expected to lower the demand for automobile ignition systems market. Asia Pacific is the dominant automobile ignition system market. China had a significant vehicle sales growth y-o-y in 2016.India and Japan are major automobile ignition systems market in Asia Pacific. India followed China in vehicle sales growth y-o-y in 2016. India is the fifth largest automobile market in the world and is expected to be the third largest market by 2020 and automobile ignition system market is expected to grow. In Japan there was a decrease in vehicle sales growth y-o-y in 2016 and this is anticipated to contract the automobile ignition system market. In Brazil the decreasing vehicle sales is expected to lower the demand for automobile ignition system in the Latin American region. Automobile sales growth in Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt and Iran is anticipated to increase demand for automobile ignition system in the MEA region.Get More Information about Market:Major firms operating in automobile ignition system market are Denso Corporation (Japan), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (Japan), NGK Spark Plug Co. (Japan), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Continental AG (Germany), Delphi Automotive PLC (the U.K), BorgWarner Inc. (the U.S), Federal-Mogul Corporation (the U.S), Hitachi Automobile Systems Americas, Inc. (the U.S), Valeo Service (France).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:
Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share 2026 | Research Report

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Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Market: OverviewCarbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery is a technique via which carbon dioxide is injected into already developed oil fields. Once added, it mixes with the oil and frees it so that it can move into the production well. The carbon dioxide present along with the oil is separated above the ground with the help of various devices and injected once again into the oil field, by which way it can be recycled and reused after being utilized once.Browse Market Research Report @The carbon dioxide required for this procedure used to initially be obtained through natural reserves of the gas present below the ground surface. Due to a limited supply of natural carbon dioxide, it is currently obtained from industrial facilities, power plants such as steel and cement plants, and fertilizer & ethanol production units. It is stored and occupied for the purpose of oil recovery which in turn helps curb pollution caused by excess amounts of carbon dioxide otherwise generated into the atmosphere through these power plants or manufacturing units.Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Market: Market TrendsIn recent times, there has been a surge in the usage of carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery due to various reasons. Through carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery, carbon dioxide can be effectively used to increase the capacity of oil produced in ageing oil fields. The traditional method involving crude oil yields about 20 to 40%, whereas carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery yields around 30 to 60%.Gases commonly used for the process of enhanced oil recovery include natural gas, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. The advantages posed by carbon dioxide over other gases include its high miscibility in crude oil and comparatively low cost making it generally preferable.Carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery offers a wide scope for development and has also been adopted on a large scale in leading economies for its benefits over other traditional methods. The fact that it utilizes carbon dioxide which would otherwise be released into the atmosphere and cause harmful effects to the environment plays an important role too.Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Market: Region-wise OutlookCarbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery has been widely adopted in North America for a long period of time as a method of obtaining oil from mature reserves. Hence, the market for carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery in this region is expected to witness rapid development in the next few years. Middle East & Africa offers excellent potential for this market due to the multitude of oil reserves present in the region as well as the various mature oil wells that are yet to be explored. The market for carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery in Asia Pacific is in its developmental stages and this technique is yet to be adopted on a full-fledged basis by a majority of the countries here.Europe is home to a reasonable number of oil reserves which is predicted to lead to the expansion of the carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery market here in the future. However, the market in Latin America is likely to advance at a comparatively sluggish pace due to the limited oil reserves and thereby, scope of application in the region.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market @Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery Market: Key PlayersKey players operating in the market of Carbon Dioxide Enhanced Oil Recovery include Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), Occidental Chemical Corporation (OxyChem), Royal Dutch Shell, and Summit Power Group.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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.ContactTransparency Market ResearchState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Smart Grid Security Market: Stick Point Analysis For Changing Competitive Dynamics

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Smart Grids are an integration of traditional grid with IT systems. They offer the grid operators greater control of the utilities for improving the dependability with improved monitoring and efficiency, through information exchange.The cloud-based smart grid applications provide organizations with several features to reduce the operational costs and also to centralize their resources. The cloud-based applications are exposed to cyber-attacks, consequential in several security firms offering security solutions to guard cloud-based applications from cyber-attacks. The target audience for smart grid security market are, national/state governments, utility companies, IT solutions provider, smart grid security companies, cloud service providers, system integrators, information security consulting firms, IT security agencies, and municipal authorities.Cyber threats and their impacts are rapidly increasing across Europe. Currently, EU is working on some of the fronts to guarantee cyber security in Europe, by providing the delivery of enhanced internet for children, and implementing the international cooperation on cyber security and cybercrime.Obtain Report Details @The primary factors driving the smart grid security market are the global development of smart grids and augmented complexity of cyber-attacks. The smart grid security market is growing rapidly due to the increasing security needs of Internet of Things (IoT) and digitalization in the energy sector and increased utilization of the web & cloud-based business application.However, one of the greatest challenges in the smart grid security market is the long investment cycles in the energy sector that make technology assessment difficult and led to a time lag between implemented and up-to-date solutions.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Smart Grid Security Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@Professional services segment is anticipated to have the largest market size in 2016. The energy and utility companies lack security experts and are outsourcing these services to security vendors. Further, the demand for professional services is high due to the need to address emerging cyber threats.The need to secure the data, network infrastructure, and connected devices are anticipated to surge the demand for smart grid security market during the forecast period. The encryption solution is anticipated to grow at the highest grow rate during the forecast period.North America is anticipated to account for the largest market share in 2016 owing to the technological advancements and early adoption of cyber security and region. APEJ is expected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period owing to the factors such as growth in the technological adoption and huge opportunities across emerging power industries in APEJ region.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:
Bio-based Isoprene Market SWOT Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecasts To 2024

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Global Bio-based Isoprene Market: OutlineIsoprene with formula C5H8 is a colorless volatile liquid produced by various plants. Many trees and plants such as poplars, oaks, legumes and eucalyptus emit isoprene into the atmosphere. Isoprene is also known as 2-methyl-1, 3-butadiene which is used as a chemical raw material. It is used as a starting material for a host of synthetic polymers, especially synthetic rubbers. A very small proportion of bio-based isoprene is used in the production of fragrance intermediates and flavors. Isoprene along with other unsaturated compounds is used to manufacture polymeric materials.Isoprene is produced naturally from plants through methyl-erythritol 4-phosphate pathway i.e. MEP pathway in the chloroplasts of trees and plants. One among the two end products of this pathway such as dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMADP) forms isoprene by the catalytic reaction by isoprene synthase. Through industrial process, isoprene was isolated from natural rubber by thermal decomposition. Industrially, it is readily available as a byproduct of thermal cracking of oil or naphtha as a side product in the ethylene production. Major fraction of isoprene produced worldwide is converted into polyisoprene. It is produced mainly from the petroleum derived feedstocks leading to inherent risk of volatility in prices and demand of oil. Moreover, it is expensive and environment unfriendly. These factors led to the use of bio-based products to manufacture isoprene.View Report @Global Bio-based Isoprene Market: Trends and OpportunitiesRising interest is seen in the production of isoprene from the genetically engineered micro-organisms. This new technology increases the fermentative capabilities of micro-organisms through a process of genetically engineering DNA. This process improves enzyme activity leading to increased yield of isoprene. This technology has huge potential in the market for manufacturing bio-based isoprene. Bio-based isoprene has applications in various end-user industries. It is used in the production of footwear, medical appliances, mechanical instruments and sporting goods. The major application of bio-based isoprene is in manufacturing rubber tires. It is also used in manufacturing various adhesives and elastomers. Surgical gloves such as nitrile, vinyl and latex gloves are also manufactured using bio-based isoprene. Transportation jets and jet fuels also make use of bio-based isoprene for its production.The growing rubber industry and demand for rubber products is the major driving factor of global bio-based isoprene market. The rising awareness for environmental friendly products is also expected to boost demand for bio-based isoprene for a host of applications.Global Bio-based Isoprene Market: Regional OutlookNorth America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW) are the key segments for global bio-based isoprene market. Asia Pacific, especially China and Latin America is the expected to fuel demand for bio-based isoprene due to large number of rubber industries in the region. North America and Europe are also expected to boost demand for bio-based isoprene for various applications such as adhesives and elastomers among others.Global Bio-based Isoprene Market: Key Players Mentioned in the ReportThe major companies profiled for global bio-based isoprene include: DuPont, Amyris, Good year Tire and Rubber Company, Genencor, Michelin, BioXcell, Ajinomoto Co. Inc, Bridgestone Corporation, PolymerOhio Inc, GlycosBio and Danisco among others. Companies into manufacture of bio-based isoprene have altered various enzymes in the biosynthetic pathway to enhance both the yield of isoprene and the rate of production. Technological advancements along with changes in the enzymatic pathways have improved the quantity and efficiency of isoprene and have reduced the production of by-products DuPont developed an innovative fermentation process for producing bio-based isoprene monomers from biomass using metabolically engineered E. coli strains.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.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Bio-based Isoprene Market Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.Highlights of the report:A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent marketImportant changes in market dynamicsMarket segmentation up to the second or third levelHistorical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volumeReporting and evaluation of recent industry developmentsMarket shares and strategies of key playersEmerging niche segments and regional marketsAn objective assessment of the trajectory of the marketRecommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the marketAbout 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:
Transdermal Skin Patches Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, And Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Transdermal Skin Patches Market: SnapshotTraditional drug delivery methods like capsules, pills, liquids, intravenous needles and powders are often ineffective and may result in undesirable side effects. Transdermal delivery constitutes an important and effective route for new drug delivery. The patches can be placed anywhere on the body and can be worn for as little as 7 hours to as long as one week, depending on its therapeutic indication.The medicated adhesive patches are designed in such a way that they attach comfortably to the surface of the skin, which helps the patient use the patches for prolonged periods. In light of these reasons, the Saudi Arabia transdermal skin patches market, which was valued at US$44.96 mn in 2016 is expected to be worth US$67.41 mn by the end of 2025. The market is slated to register a CAGR of 4.7% between 2017 and 2025.View Report @Transdermal patches offer several advantages as compared to conventional drug delivery methods like reduced side effects caused due use of oral tablets or pills. They increase the bioavailability of the drug as substance need not be digested first. This helps in keeping the substance chemically unchanged which enable direct access of the drug to the region of the body where it can take effect via the bloodstream. This helps in avoiding first-pass effect or the initial metabolism and filtration by the liver. Another advantage of transdermal patches is that they release the drug constantly and continuously for long durations, which means that the patient need not worry about taking pills several times a day.The products available in the Saudi Arabia transdermal skin patches are drug in adhesive, matrix, reservoir, and vapor matrix. Of these, the matrix segment held a dominant share in the overall market and is expected to account for a share of 35.1% in terms of revenue by the end of 2025. This rise will be attributable to the shifting preference for matrix systems to make patches for volatile molecules under controlled release settings. The phenomenal growth of this segment will be attributable to the non-toxic and non-antagonistic characteristics of polymer matrix options, which are known to diffuse drug with controlled precision.Transdermal Skin Patches Most Commonly Used for Pain ReliefBy way of application, the Saudi Arabia transdermal skin patches market has been divided into pain relief, hormone replacement therapy, nicotine cessation, motion sickness, cardiovascular disorders, neurological disorders, and others. Accounting for the dominant share by the end of the forecast period, the pain relief segment will generate the highest revenue by 2025. This can be attributed to growing usage of local pain relief patches. Such patches provide safe and controlled drug release to affected area, rendering them the preferred choice among comorbid and cancer patients. The cardiovascular disorders segment will also hold a major share in the transdermal skin patches market in Saudi Arabia owing to the rising number of patients with cardiovascular disorders in the region. Hormone replacement therapy is observed to be a highly lucrative segment, analysts find.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Transdermal Skin Patches Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Transdermal skin patches are mostly sold through distribution channels such as retail pharmacies, hospital pharmacies, and online pharmacies. In Saudi Arabia, hospital pharmacies take the lead as the most prominent distribution channel in terms of revenue thanks to rising government initiatives to improve the healthcare landscape in the region and rapidly increasing number of healthcare facilities. Retail pharmacies also hold a valuable share in the transdermal skin patches market, attributed to growing investments by pharmaceutical companies to set up more pharmacies in Saudi Arabia. The online pharmacies segment is gaining much traction despite being in a nascent stage.The competition in the Saudi Arabia transdermal skin patches market is poised to intensify as companies operating in the market are make large investments in research and development of better and advanced products. Some of the key players shaping the trajectory of the overall market are Johnson & Johnson, Novartis, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Mylan, Luye Pharma, Purdue Pharma, Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical, and Mundipharma.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:
Microbiome Drugs Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, And Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Microbiome drugs are used for metabolism and immunity. In a human body, microbes are used as a factory to produce drug, a modulator for dug action, a vehicle for drug delivery, and sometimes itself is consider as a drug. Microbiomes are used for the treatment of different diseases such as autoimmune diseases and inflammatory bowel diseases. The chemicals produced by microbiota are nonfood derivatives chemical molecules and vitamin B12. The microbiome of an average adult can weigh at least 3 pounds.The gastrointestinal (GI) microbiome is the most important microbiome in the human body. When the GI microbiome shifts away from a healthy state, it is known as dysbiosis or pathobiosis. The high effectiveness and less adverse effects have motivated researchers and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to shift toward microbiome drugs. Several companies are focusing on partnership and collaboration for research activities. In 2014, Pfizer partnered with Second Genome, a biotechnology firm in South San Francisco, California, to study the microbiomes of about 900 people. The boom in partnerships and investments for new microbiome-derived drugs and therapies is projected to create a competitive market place for other therapeutic products.View Report @Drivers such as increasing research and development activities, large number of pipeline drugs, growing acceptance among people, and rising prevalence of autoimmune diseases, cancer, and gastrointestinal diseases are expected to propel the growth of the global microbiome drugs market. In 2016, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S., about 1 to 1.3 million people suffered from inflammatory bowel diseases. In addition, factors such as technological advancement, government initiatives, and increasing collaboration between pharmaceutical companies for new drug development are likely to drive the market growth. In 2016, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy collaborated with Federal agencies and private-sector stakeholders for National Microbiome Initiative (NMI) to advance the understanding of microbiomes for the development of useful applications in health care, food production, and environmental restoration. However, lack of awareness about the use of microbiome drugs may hinder the global microbiome market growth.The global microbiome drugs market has been segmented by product type, application, distribution channel, and geography. In terms of product type, the market is classified into probiotics, prebiotics, small molecules, and biological drugs. In terms of application, the market is classified into autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases, cancer, and others. In terms of distribution channel, the market is segmented into hospital pharmacies, retail pharmacies, and online pharmacies.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Microbiome Drugs Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Geographically, the global market is distributed over North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America dominates the global market for microbiome drugs due to technological advancement, availability of advanced facilities for microbiome product manufacture, awareness among the people, and high health care expenditure. Europe is the second leading market due to increasing number of research and development activities and presence of a large number of biotechnology companies. Asia Pacific is expected to expand at a high growth rate due to presence of high target patient pool, rising disposable income, growing prevalence of diabetes, increasing government initiatives, and growing awareness among people. According to Asian Diabetes Prevention Initiatives, 60% of global diabetes population live in Asia. Emerging regions such as Latin America and Middle East & Africa are projected to create a large opportunity for the global microbiome drug market due to rise in awareness, increase in public and private health care insurance coverage, government initiatives, and growth in healthcare investment.Key players operating in this market include Seres Therapeutics; MaaT Pharma; Enterome Bioscience; MicroBiome Therapeutics LLC; Ritter Pharmaceuticals; Rebiotix, Inc.; Second Genome; and OpenBiome.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:
Auto-Dimming Mirrors Market: Key Trends and Forecast Research Report 2025

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Auto dimming mirrors helps in eliminating the glare from the headlights of a vehicle that enable the driver to stay focused and drive safely. These mirrors are equipped with sensors that can detect low light from the headlights and act accordingly. The mirrors turn dark automatically in proportion to the brightness emitted by the headlights and then clear out once the brightness fades out. For the dimming mirrors, the OEMs are using electrochromism technology where electricity is passed through a low voltage supply in order to tint the glass. Further, the electricity is passed through electrochromic gel which is placed in between two pieces of glass..Generally the interior rear - view mirrors are the auto-dimming mirrors that may come with a compass and a temperature display system and few advanced interior rear view mirror come with headlight controlling sensors.The intensity of light are detected with the help of sensors placed either at front or rear view mirror of the vehicle that makes the auto-dimming mirrors more efficient. The dimming of both the interior and exterior mirrors are controlled by the sensors present in the interior mirrors, which becomes active when the brightness of light gets low.Poor lighting makes the sensors search for a brighter source of light which will harm the vision of the person facing the light. The sensors detect the change in light intensity andgenerate an electrical charge that hits the glass through a low voltage power supply. The electricity then travels through the electrochromic gel which is present in between the two electrically conductive coated pieces of glass which make up the auto-dimming mirror.Obtain Report Details @Auto-dimming mirrors play a significant role in low vision problem thus providing a safe driving comfort. The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and Kids Transportation Safety Act (KTSA) mandates the use of auto-dimming mirrors in vehicles to prevent the incidence of road accidents at night. These mirrors are easy to access and are available in wide range of features. . Many Indian car manufacturers have started to use auto-dimming mirrors taking into consideration the safety of drivers. Therefore, growing need for safer and broader visibility, easy and low installation cost are some of the factor which drives the auto-dimming mirrors market.High replacement cost is expected to cause restraining effects in the market.The auto-dimming mirrorsmarket has been segmented based on type of dimming glass, type of sensors, type of auto-dimming mirrors and geography. By dimming glass type, the market has been segmented into six broad categories, namely, smart glass, SPD glass, photochromatic glass, liquid chrystal, thermotropics, and electrochromic.A smart glass works by allowing the entry of light of particular wavelengths thereby changing from translucent to transparent.Suspended Particles Devices (SPDs) are thin film laminates which blocks light by absorbing it. Further, photochromatic glasses turn dark on facing sunlight and liquid chrystal, thermotropics, and electrochromic are mirrors which use an electric gel in between the glasses. By auto-dimming mirrors the market has been segmented into panoramic RVM, garage door opener, audio driver interface, and headlight control sensors, and others.By type of sensors the market has been segmented into ambient sensors, glare sensors, and control unit.Get More Information about Market:The geographical segmentation includes, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (MEA), and Latin America. Asia Pacific is expected to hold the largest market share throughout the forecast period owing to rising concern toward safe and comfortable driving.Some of the leading manufacturing companies operating in this market are, Gentex Corporation (U.S.), Magna International, Inc. (U.S), Honda Lock Manufacturing Co., Ltd. (U.S.), FLABEG Holding GmbH (England), Metagal Industria E Comercio Ltda. (U.S.), Tokai Rika Co., Ltd. (U.S.), Ficosa International (Japan), Murakami Kaimeido (Germany), and Samvardhana Motherson Group (U.S.),among others.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:
Radiation Dose Management Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, And Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Radiation can be defined as the emission of electromagnetic waves, especially the high-energy particles which cause ionization. Radiation therapy is one of the major modes of treatment employed for various forms of cancer. However, the radiation therapy is associated with various side-effects. Management and monitoring of the radiation dose is of prime importance to minimize the side-effects. The amount of radiation energy absorbed by a human body is known as radiation dose, which is measured in various forms such as effective dose, equivalent dose, and absorbed dose.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Radiation Dose Management Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.The primary growth drivers of the radiation dose management market include the increasing demand for improved health care services, growing awareness about patient safety related to the recommended radiation dosage to be administered, and rising risk of chronic diseases. In addition, factors such as increasing government initiatives to drive the implementation of health information exchanges (HIEs), rising adoption of electronic health records (EHRs), and growing number of diagnostic screening tests propel the market growth. However, lack of skilled technicians and physicians and their ignorance about the risks associated with high exposure to radiation due to lack of training and in-house education, inadequate funding, and absence of standard protocols for radiation doses might hamper the market growth during the forecast period.The global radiation dose management market can be segmented on the basis of product and service, modality, end-user, and geography. On the basis of products and services, the market can be segmented into integrated solutions, standalone solutions, and consulting services. The standalone solutions and integrated solutions segments accounted for significant market shares in 2016. The growth of these segments can be attributed to the increasing awareness about patient dose information and focus on patient safety. The radiation dose management solutions aid in achieving the compliance by integration of radiation dose monitoring, tracking, and analytics software with other systems to monitor and track patient safety and patient dose information. On the basis of modality, the market can be segmented into computed tomography, radiography, fluoroscopy and interventional imaging, mammography, and others. The computed tomography segment is anticipated to be a major revenue generating segment owing to the rising number of CT examinations and changing regulations related to the CT dose management. In terms of end-user, the market can be segmented into hospitals, ambulatory care settings, research organizations, and others. The hospitals segment is estimated to dominate the market during the forecast period.View Report @Geographically, the global radiation dose management market can be distributed over five regions, including North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Middle East & Africa. North America was a major revenue generating market in 2016. This growth is attributed to the well-developed health care infrastructure, increase in number of health care reforms, favorable regulatory compliance, and growth in adoption of radiation dose management solutions. It is closely trailed by Europe. Asia Pacific is anticipated to expand at a high CAGR during the forecast period. India and China are expected to be the key countries driving the growth of the Asia Pacific market. The major driving factors for this growth include growing patient pool in these countries, rising investments to enhance the adoption of health care IT technologies, increasing health care expenditure, and growing awareness among the population. In addition, growing medical tourism is likely to contribute to the growth of the market.The leading players operating in the market include Bayer AG, Mckesson Corporation, GE Healthcare, Fujifilm Holdings Corporation, Philips Healthcare, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation, AGFA Healthcare, PACSHealth, LLC, QAELUM N.V., Bracco Imaging S.p.A., Novarad Corporation, Siemens Healthineers, Sectra AB, and Medsquare.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:
Graphene Solar Cell Market: Trends, outlook and Opportunity Analysis 2025

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Graphene is a two dimensional form of carbon in which the atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern of hexagon. It is almost transparent and an excellent conductor of electricity and heat. The energy from the sun is one of the cleanest source of thermal and most renewable source of energy. Thus combining both, graphene solar cell is made so that it can generate power when it rains. The Graphene Solar Cell Market is expected to witness a robust growth in future.One of the driving factor of Graphene Solar Cell market is that the graphene layer allows solar cell to generate power when it rains. Raindrops contain salts that dissociate in negative and positive ions. This positive ions include calcium, sodium and ammonium ions that can bind to the graphene surface. When graphene and raindrop come in contact, graphene becomes rich in delocalized electrons and the water become enriched in positive ions. This difference in potential helps in sufficient production of voltage and current. In addition graphene solar cell is an eco friendly and sustainable way of energy production which is much safer for use. It also helps to reduce global warming and coal pollution. Graphene is made of carbon which is inexpensive material and available in abundant. This is also one of the reason to trigger the market of graphene solar cell.Obtain Report Details @However, the market is still in a premature stage and constant research is being conducted to understand the reliability of Graphene Solar Cell market. The growth of graphene solar cell market is impeded by certain restraining factors. The initial cost of installing and purchasing solar panels is high despite of tax initiative and government subsidy programs. In addition, graphene solar cell is critical and the location of it plays an important role in the generation of electricity and power. Thus the areas where it is foggy or cloudy for long periods can hamper in the production of electricity and power. In spite of the hindrances, the global Graphene Solar Cell market is aided by attractive opportunities, especially the increasing demand for energy consumption and the exploration of new energy harvesting processes.The graphene solar cell market is in the initial stage and can be segmented on the basis of application and geography. On the basis of applications, the global Graphene Solar Cell market is segmented into agriculture and horticulture among others. In addition, agriculture and horticulture also uses graphene solar cell for the operation of crop drying machine and water pumps. It is also used in various industrial applications like offshore navigation system, powering remote location for space and satellite systems among others. However, the market is still at a premature stage and constant research is being conducted to understand the reliability of graphene solar cell. Hence, the application of graphene solar cell is expected to take time. Moreover, there are no suppliers or manufacturers of graphene solar cell for its commercial usage.Get More Information about Market:The global Graphene Solar Cell market is further categorized based on geography into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. Since the graphene solar cell is under research and development stage, it is expected to witness robust growth in North America and Europe due the demand for new technology in these regions. Moreover, this region hosts a number of developed countries like the U.S., U.K and Germany which are technologically well equipped for adapting the new technology. However Asia Pacific region is impeded to grow fast at a later stage. It is expected that emerging economies like Japan, Indonesia, China and India to experience significant growth in the market due to the supportive government programs and policies.Thus the market for graphene solar cell is expected to witness strong growth globally.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:
Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market  Global Industry Insights, Trends, And Opportunity Analysis, 20172025

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Market OverviewEndoscopy innovation has changed the way of distinguishing infections and performing surgeries, with less intrusive strategies that are picking up consideration over the globe. Next generation endoscopy visualization systems is a top quality (HD) video framework utilized as a part of all sort of endoscopic surgeries.These frameworks have enhanced the nature of images and videos while seeing an extensive variety of open and insignificantly obtrusive surgical procedures and diagnostic procedures. The new generation visualization systems incorporate built-in embedded wireless video, proprietary color calibration, ergonomically sleek and lightweight designs, easy-clean sealed front panels, and medical-grade quality and durability.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.Various components of next generation visualization systems include the inbuilt advanced camera (support the most advanced surgical monitor technology requirements  HD 1080p imaging color reproduction), monitor, light source, insufflators, printers, wireless displays and others. For. E.g. ELUXEO endoscopy visualization system (Fujifilm) is fueled by novel 4-LED multi-light innovation that joins distinctive wavelengths coupled with intensified light spectra made by an incorporated light source. This enables professionals or surgeons to effectively switch between three imaging modes: blue light imaging (BLI), white light (WL), and linked color imaging (LCI). Each and every light source uses a specific light range to enhance the representation of particular structures in the gastrointestinal tract. It is a quick moving field, and new procedures are ceaselessly developing. In late decades, endoscopy has advanced and fanned out from asymptomatic methodology to improved video and computer helping imaging technology with amazing interventional capacities. The cutting-edge endoscopy has seen progress in sorts of endoscopes accessibility. To date, there are significantly more advancements that are being trialed such as, manufacturers are more focused on making the advanced 4K UHD imaging compatibility coupled with digital automated imaging systems.Drivers & RestraintsAdvanced endoscopy imaging system makers are significantly centered on propelling novel endoscopy designs keeping in mind the end goal to achieve advancement in the worldwide endoscopy visualization systems market during the forecast period. Organizations are likewise more mindful on a coordinated effort by procuring local and worldwide players to grow their item portfolios and support their appropriation diverts in developing markets. For e.g. manufacturers like Fujifilm, Pentax Medical, Olympus and other top players are more focused on expanding the use of such devices in healthcare facilities with high-end technologies. New endoscopy visualization systems are supported to inspect a few sort of illness signs, for e.g. cancer, gastrointestinal disorder, gynecological disorder, lung disorder, nephrology and urological disorder and others with its broader utilization of such systems in hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers. The elderly population is at a higher risk of such diseases coupled with growth in the number of such cases, the demand for next generation endoscopy systems is expected to generate a higher revenue in the market consistently. Growing demand for the next generation endoscopy visualization systems market is relied upon to increment at a noteworthy development rate. With mechanical headway, low-cost endoscopic procedures and diagnosis, expanded request of insignificantly minimally invasive surgeries, quick recuperation, access to technicians and healthcare professionals for e.g. 3D frameworks with HD innovation, developing access to prepared clinicians and rising healthcare consumption in developing markets, this market is foreseen to grow at a healthier CAGR during the forecast period (2017-2025). Industry specialists plan these embellishments using the high review standard material with a top of the line innovation. Manufacturers are mainly focused for the most part centered on the most elevated conceivable patient security and usability. Broad R&D interests in the healthcare services industry by top market players, rising interest for cutting edge bleeding edge innovations, and extension of private healing facilities and recovery focuses in remote territories are the central point driving the development of the next generation endoscopy visualization systems. The high cost of innovatively propelled endoscopy system is one of the real difficulties in the worldwide market, particularly in developing nations. Additionally, an absence of access to essential surgical areas is similarly low. New materials may unite biocompatibility and hardware issues. Also, factors like regulatory approval process and cut in healthcare spending withstand the key restraints for the endoscopy visualization system market during the forecast period.Global Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market: SegmentationThe Global Ventilators Market market can be segmented as follows:Global Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market: By ProductHigh End Visualization SystemMiddle End Visualization SystemLow End Visualization SystemGlobal Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market, by End UserHospitalsAmbulatory Surgery CentresSpecialty ClinicsDiagnostic Imaging CentresGlobal Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market: Regional OutlookGeographically, the global next generation endoscopy visualization systems market is segmented into five regions, namely North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific & the Middle East and Africa (MEA). North America (U.S) and European region have dominated the overall next generation endoscopy visualization systems market, largely owing to the continuously rising number of gastrointestinal diseases, cancer, and others. Favorable medical reimbursement scenario, which makes expensive surgical procedures affordable.View Report @Growing trend of oligopoly purchasing of equipment, i.e., buying more products from fewer manufacturers, the appropriation of design and technology inside the endoscopy space coupled with solid brand awareness has turned into a need in the modern time to increase the market share. Currently, Asia-Pacific region has also enhanced the growth rate during the forecast period. The rate of efficiency is mainly attributed due to rising technological advancement, increase in disposable income and the consequent rise in diseases, growing awareness, and surging health care expenditure by the government in the healthcare industry may have an additional positive impact on next generation endoscopy visualization systems market.Global Next Generation Endoscopy Visualization Systems Market: Key PlayersThe key players in the next generation endoscopy visualization systems market are:Olympus CorporationHoya CorporationFujifilm Holding CorporationNDS Surgical Imaging, LLC.Olive Medical CorporationKARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KGCONMED CorporationRichard Wolf GmbHAbout 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:
Electronic Warfare Market SWOT Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecasts To 2024

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Electronic warfare involves the use of electromagnetic spectrum or direct energy weapons. These are used to control the spectrum or an enemy attack. Electronic warfare ensures uninterrupted access to the electromagnetic spectrum. The market is expected to grow steadily during the forecast period.The global electronic warfare market is being driven by several factors such as ongoing development in electromagnetic spectrum and increasing transnational disputes. Furthermore, the increasing adoption of visual and infrared technology in defense is also aiding to the growth of electronic warfare globally. Furthermore the rising concern of transnational disputes and cross border terrorism has resulted into the need for constant surveillance of the territories. In addition, the need for real time information is required to safeguard the national borders round the clock. Implementation of electronic warfare is helping with catering to the demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. In addition, electronic warfare also helps in providing situational awareness to the defense forces during transnational disputes. Furthermore, the constant up gradation of the defense capabilities by developing nations like India and China is expected to surge the demand for electronic warfare during the forecast period.View Report @However, there are certain factors limiting the growth of the market. Due to economic crisis in developed regions like North America and Europe, there is decrease in the defense budget which is pulling the demand for electronic warfare by defense agencies. In addition, the current electronic warfare systems are not equipped to tackle multiple threats. Hence, in times of major unrest, the system will not be effective. This is another factor limiting the demand for electronic warfare presently. Furthermore, the cost of implementing the system is high which is acting as a restrain for the market currently. Nevertheless, ongoing technological innovation in electromagnetic spectrum is expected to reduce the cost of these systems in future.Further going into the study, the electronic warfare market will also include the porters five factors to get a better understanding of the macro factors affecting the global market. In addition, the key trends will also be looked into in order to understand the market behavior in future. The global market is witnessing intense competition from its major players. Moreover, the market share of the leading players will also be provided in the study. In addition, the leading players will be profiled in terms of their business segments, company overview, financial overview, SWOT analysis, recent developments and their global business strategy.The global electronic warfare market can be segmented by platform, product type, technology, systems and geography. In terms of platform, the market can be bifurcated into ground, naval, airborne and unmanned platforms. By product, the market can be further sub-segmented into jammers, direct energy, decoy, antennas, directional infrared counter measures and integrated suits among others. By technology, the market can be segregated into gallium nitride (GAN), silicon and gallium arsenide (GAAS). In terms of systems, the market can be categorized into RCIED jammers, direction finders, radio frequency jammers and vehicle self protection systems among others.By geography, the global electronic market has been divided into five strategic regions: North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Latin America. North America and Europe are expected to dominate the global market as they are the early adapters of new technology and they constantly upgrade their defense capabilities. However, Asia Pacific region is expected to witness robust growth during the forecast period. The growth is attributed to developing economies like India and China which are investing substantially on strengthening their defense sector.By leading players of the global electronic warfare include BAE Systems, Plc, SAAB AB, Alliant Techsystems, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corporation, Thales Group, Israel Aerospace Industries Ltd., The Raytheon Company and Northrop Grumman Corporation among others.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.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Electronic Warfare Market Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain.A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period.About UsTransparency Market Research (TMR) is a market intelligence company, providing global business information reports and services. Our exclusive blend of quantitative forecasting and trends analysis provides forward-looking insight for thousands of decision makers. TMRs experienced team of analysts, researchers, and consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather, and analyze information. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.Each TMR syndicated research report covers a different sector  such as pharmaceuticals, chemicals, energy, food & beverages, semiconductors, med-devices, consumer goods and technology. These reports provide in-depth analysis and deep segmentation to possible micro levels. With wider scope and stratified research methodology, TMRs syndicated reports strive to provide clients to serve their overall research requirement.US Office Contact90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA  Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:
Global Motion Control Market Growth, Trends and Future scope Foresight to 2022

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Motion Control Market, By Technology (Pneumatic, Hydraulic), By Components (Controller, Drives, Motors, Software), By Application (Inspection, Material handling, Packaging), By Industry (Manufacturing, Healthcare, Automotive) - Forecast 2016-2022Market Synopsis of Motion Control Market:Market Scenario:Motion control is a modern procedure which is likewise characterized as servo control or mechanical technology, utilized as a part of the development of particular load starting with one place then onto the next in the controlled mold. This procedure is furnished with different equipment hardware's, for example, engines, sensors, drives, control units and a product. Developing industrialization and high selection of computerization in the modern procedure is driving the market of movement control though the high arrangement cost and absence of accessibility of experts are a portion of the significant limitations of the market. The worldwide market of Motion control is relied upon to develop at CAGR of ~6% amid the estimate year and anticipated that would reach at market size of US ~$22 billion before the finish of conjecture period.Get Sample Report @Key Players of Motion Control MarketThe key players in the market of motion control are- ABB Group (Switzerland), Rockwell Automation, Inc., (U.S.), Parker Hannifin Corporation (U.S.), Siemens AG (Germany), STMicroelectronics N.V. (Switzerland), Motion Control Corporation (U.S.), Schneider Electric (France), Trio Motion (U.S.), Emerson Electric (U.S.), AMETEK, Inc. (U.S.), Aerotech Inc. (U.S.) among others.Study Objectives of Motion Control Market: To give point by point investigation of the market structure alongside gauge of the different portions and sub-fragments of the Global Motion Control To give experiences about components influencing the market development. To examine the Motion Control showcase based watchman's five constrain examination and so forth. To give verifiable and estimate income of the market fragments and sub-portions regarding four fundamental geologies and their nations North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) To give nation level investigation of the market as for the present market size and future planned To give nation level examination of the market for fragment by innovation, segments, application, industry and sub-portions To give key profiling of key players in the market, completely examining their center skills, and drawing a focused scene for the market To track and dissect aggressive improvements, for example, joint endeavors, vital organizations together, mergers and acquisitions, new item advancements, and research and advancements in the Global Motion Control MarketBrowse Full Report Details atSegments of Motion Control Market:The Global Motion Control Market has been segmented on the basis of technology, components, application and industry. By Technology, market includes- Pneumatic, Hydraulic, and Electromechanical Actuation. By Components, the market has been derived as- Controller, Drives, Motors, and Software among others. Application of motion control includes- Inspection, Material handling, Packaging among others whereas the industry includes- Manufacturing, Healthcare, Automotive, Aerospace & Defense, Oil & Gas, and Robotics among others.Intended Audience of Motion Control Market OEMs Automation Service Providers Motion Control Distributors Technology Provides Sensor Manufacturers Connectivity ProvidersRegional Analysis of Motion Control MarketAsia-Pacific is dominating the market of Motion Control due to the strong presence of manufacturing companies in China, Japan and South Korea. Growing economy of Asian countries are also playing major role in the development of motion control market. Europe stands as second biggest followed by North America. North America motion control market is majorly driven by the factors such as high consumption of electronic equipment and rich presence of healthcare industry.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 Anand,Market Research Future+1 646 845 9312Email: akash.anand@marketresearchfuture.com
Bentonite Market Size, Share | Industry Trends Analysis Report, 2024

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The global market for bentonite is characterized by a moderate level of consolidation and is expected to experience a healthy competition over the next few years, states a new research report by Transparency Market Research. In 2015, the leading players operating in the global bentonite market, namely Imerys SA, Minerals Technologies Inc., Clariant AG, and Ashapura Group held a share of more than 75% of the global market. With the growing need to maintain a dominant position in the market, these players areemphasizing on the expansion of the production capacities so as to cater the increasing demand across the globe. In addition to this, the rising number of strategic collaborations and the enhancement of the application base are predicted to encourage the growth of the overall market in the near future.According to the research study by Transparency Market Research, in 2015, the global bentonite market was worth US$1.42 bn and is expected to reach a value of US$1.85 bn by the end of 2024. The market is projected to exhibit a 3.0% CAGR between 2016 and 2024.This 123 page report gives readers a comprehensive overview of the Bentonite market. Browse through 28 data tables and 39 figures to unlock the hidden opportunities in this market@Developing Construction Industry to Propel Asia Pacific Bentonite MarketIn the last few years, Asia Pacific led the global bentonite market and is likely to remain in the dominant position throughout the forecast period. The development of the construction industry is one of the essential factors estimated to encourage the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the near future. Furthermore, the increasing demand for bentonite from the metal industry is expected to accelerate the growth of this region in the coming years. A significant contribution from China is estimated to supplement the growth of the Asia Pacific market in the forecast period. Furthermore, North America and Europe are estimated to experience a moderate level of growth over the next few years.On the basis of product type, the global bentonite market has been classified into calcium bentonite and sodium bentonite. Among these, the sodium bentonite segment held a large share of the global market in the last few years and this segment is projected to maintain its position in the near future. The high growth of this segment can be attributed to the rising preference of consumers for green sand casting procedure in the foundry. The calcium bentonite segment is estimated to witness a substantial growth over the forecast period.Increasing Use of Bentonite in Automotive Sector to Encourage GrowthThe rapid development of the construction industry, particularly in developing economies is one of the important factors expected to fuel the development of the global bentonite market over the next few years. In addition, the rising demand for bentonite for the procedure of iron casting from the heavy equipment manufacturing and automotive industries are estimated to accelerate the growth of the overall market throughout the forecast period.On the other hand, the global bentonite market is projected to witness several growth barriers and limitations, owing to which the market is likely to experience a downward trend in the near future. A significant reduction in the demand for IOP grade bentonite, especially in China is projected to curb the growth of the market in the near future. Moreover, the sluggish growth of the oil and gas sector across the globe is likely to restrict the development of the bentonite market in the coming years. Nonetheless, the high growth of the cosmetics and personal care industries worldwide are considered to generate lucrative opportunities for the bentonite manufacturers in the next few years.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Bentonite market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@This information is based on the findings of a research report published by Transparency Market Research (TMR), titled Bentonite Market (Product - Sodium Bentonite and Calcium Bentonite; Application - Drilling Mud, Iron Ore Pelletizing, Foundry Sands, Pet Products, Construction, Paper, Cosmetics, and Pharmaceuticals) - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024.The global bentonite market has been segmented as below:Global Bentonite Market, by Product TypeSodium BentoniteCalcium BentoniteOthersGlobal Bentonite Market, by ApplicationDrilling MudIron Ore PelletizingFoundry SandsPet ProductsConstrictionOthers (paper, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals etc.)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.TMRs data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With extensive research and analysis capabilities, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques to develop distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit Blog :
UV Coatings Market Size, Share | Industry Trends Analysis Report, 2024

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global UV Coatings Market. The study, titled UV Coatings Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Global UV Coatings Market: OverviewUV coatings are type of coatings that are cured with ultraviolet radiation. It can be deployed on various substrates such as inks, paper, glass, plastics and wood products. UV coatings market can be segmented based on composition as PU dispersions, monomers, photo initiators and oligomers. Based on type of coatings, the market can be segmented as paper coatings, over print varnish, display coatings, plastic coatings, conformal coatings and others. End-use industries of UV coatings are graphics, electronics, packaging and various other industries that use industrial coatings.Browse Market Research Report @Currently UV coatings market is dominated by wood coatings product type. This trend is expected to remain same in the next few years due to increasing demand for wood coatings from its applications such as furniture, door skins, parquet, decorative panel and others. Wood coatings offer excellent strength and durability, hence is demand is expected to remain high. Among the end-use industries type, industrial coatings occupies the largest share in the total UV coatings market. The growth rate of industrial coatings is expected to be the fastest as compared to other types.Global UV Coatings Market: Drivers and RestraintsGrowing electronics industry globally is expected to drive the UV coatings market. Display coatings are the major type coatings used in the electronics across the globe. Rising disposable income and changing lifestyle in the developing countries is driving electronics industry across the globe. Additionally, internet of things is the new trend in the market that includes various electronic devices. These electronic devices use display coatings that are cured with ultraviolet. Furthermore, rising environmental awareness among consumer groups is expected to boost the UV coatings market. Chemical curing method emits volatile organic compounds that are harmful to environment and human health. UV curing of the coatings is photomechanical method of curing, hence does not involve any organic compounds in the curing process.However, availability of substitutes in the curing process is expected to hamper the UV coatings market. Chemical curing is among the strong competitor of UV curing process. Development of new products and applications is anticipated to provide immense opportunities for the players in the market. Additionally, development of bio-based UV coatings would open up an opportunity in the next few years.Global UV Coatings Market: Geographical DynamicsAsia Pacific dominated the UV coatings market in terms of production and consumption. Burgeoning electronics industry due to high demand for high performance electronics in the region is driving the UV coatings market. China is contributing highest to the demand of UV coatings in the region. Europe followed Asia Pacific in terms of consumption. Demand in the region is mainly for wood coatings, plastic coatings and paper coatings from industrial coatings industry. North America emerged as the third-largest market for UV coatings in terms of consumption. The demand in the region is primarily driven by rising use of UV coatings in printing varnishes. Rest of the World is expected to exhibit strong growth in the UV coatings marketing due to rising demand from electronics industry.Global UV Coatings Market: Competitive LandscapeGlobal UV coatings market is moderately fragmented with major players having presence across the value chain. Players in the market adopt backward integration and strategic alliances as key strategies to sustain their market position in the UV coatings market.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the UV Coatings market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@Key players in UV coatings market include The Dow Chemical Company, BASF SE, Akzonobel N.V., DIC Corporation, PPG Industries Inc., Dymax Corporation, Royal DSM N.V., Centexbel, Actega Coatings & Sealants, Eternal Chemical Co. Ltd., Axalta Coatings Systems, The Valspar Corporation, Ashland Inc., Croda, Brilliant Coatings Solutions and Soltech Ltd.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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)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. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit :
Webbing Market: Global Industry Analysis,Trends and Forecast 2024

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A new research report by Transparency Market Research offers a comprehensive evaluation of the global Webbing Market. The study, titled Webbing Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast 2016 - 2024, is available for sale on the firms website.Webbing Market: OverviewWebbing is a strong woven fabric made from cotton, flax, polypropylene, nylon, and polyester tubes or strips of various sizes. It is used widely in furniture, sporting goods, automotive and racing safety equipment, apparel, military, transportation, hardware, pet collars, and leashes. Webbing is also employed in towing, climbing, parachuting, load securing, and slacklining. Of late, polymers with exceptionally high tensile strength such as ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE), Kevlar, Dyneema, aramid synthetic fibers, and Vectran (high performance multifilament yarn) are being used in the manufacture of webbing. Polyester is primarily used in the manufacture of webbing owing to better results as compared to the currently available alternatives.Browse Market Research Report @Owing to U.V resistance, polyester made webbing can be applied for outdoor purposes as well. Properties of webbing can be controlled depending upon the type of substance used for manufacturing. Webbing can be classified into two types: flat webbing and tubular webbing. Flat webbing is a solid weave used in straps of backpacks, rucksacks, and seat belts. Tubular webbing is a flattened tube used in industrial and climbing applications. Webbing products are employed in industrial purposes for applications such as welding, cutting, etching, rivets, prototyping, lifting webbing, tie-down webbing, and printing.Webbing Market: Trends and OpportunitiesWebbing applications can be classified into sporting goods, automotive and transport, furniture, military, bags and canvas, footwear, and industrial. automotive, transport, and military applications are anticipated to dominate the webbing market till 2023. Bags and canvas is expected to experience decent growth during the forecast period due to expansion in shipping and storage industries. Rising usage of webbing for seatbelts is projected to drive the automotive market during the forecast period. The usage of seat belts is rising due to increasing safety concerns. This is likely to act as an opportunity for the webbing market in the next eight years. However, implementation of strict environmental regulations regarding the usage of non-biodegradable substances in the manufacture of webbing is a challenge. This is projected to act as restraint during the forecast period. Extensive research and development is being conducted to find out better raw materials with enhanced properties. This will help in increasing the number of applications. The webbing market is expected to experience decent growth due to increase in industrial activities.Webbing Market: Geographical and Competitive DynamicsAsia Pacific was the largest market for webbing, accounting for almost 65% share of the global revenue in 2014. Expansion in end-user industries such as automobile and sporting goods is driving the webbing market in Asia Pacific. Growth in industrial applications and rising safety concerns in the military sector are estimated to propel the webbing market in North America, Latin America, and Africa. The webbing market in Brazil, Mexico, China, and India is expected to register growth owing to increase in industrial activities. The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) has resulted in the installation of seat belts and other safety straps in automobiles. This is driving the webbing market. Increase in manufacturing activities and growth in the automobile industry in Germany and Italy are other factors augmenting the webbing market in Europe.Get accurate market forecast and analysis on the Webbing market. Request a sample to stay abreast on the key trends impacting this market@Key manufacturers of webbing include E. Oppermann GmbH, Narrowtex Australia Pty Ltd, BioThane, Jiangsu Daxin Webbing Co., Ltd, Universal Webbing Products Co., Ltd, National Webbing Products Co, Tennessee Webbing Products, Ohio Plastics Belting Co., and Southern Weaving Company. The webbing market is characterized by intense competition among companies striving to gain maximum market share by launching innovative products with superior properties.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.The study is a source of reliable data on:Market segments and sub-segmentsMarket trends and dynamicsSupply and demandMarket sizeCurrent trends/opportunities/challengesCompetitive landscapeTechnological breakthroughsValue chain and stakeholder analysisThe regional analysis covers:North America (U.S. and Canada)Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others)Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg)Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia)Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand)Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa)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. TMR's experienced team of Analysts, Researchers, and Consultants, use proprietary data sources and various tools and techniques to gather and analyze information.Our data repository is continuously updated and revised by a team of research experts, so that it always reflects the latest trends and information. With a broad research and analysis capability, Transparency Market Research employs rigorous primary and secondary research techniques in developing distinctive data sets and research material for business reports.Contact UsTransparency Market Research90 State Street, Suite 700Albany, NY 12207Tel: +1-518-618-1030USA - Canada Toll Free: 866-552-3453Email: sales@transparencymarketresearch.comWebsite:Visit :
Global Phenolic Resins Market Outlook and 2027 Forecast

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MarketResearchFuture.com add new report of Global Phenolic Resins Market - Forecast to 2027 it contains Company information, geographical data and Market AnalysisGlobal: Phenolic Resins Market Information by types (novolacs and resoles) & by applications (automobiles, construction, wood adhesives, laminates, molding and others) - Forecast To 2027The global phenolic resins market has experienced a notable growth and it has been projected that the global market will see stable growth during the forecast period. The high mechanical strengths, low toxicity, heat resistance, low smoke and other several properties has made the phenolic resins to make their use in the applications such as in laminations, wood adhesives, molding compound, construction, automobile and others. Growing demand of these applications has increased the production of phenolic resins to meet the current market demand. Also, phenolic resins is used in flame retardant which is very crucial for automobiles and aircrafts. Owing to these factors, the global phenolic resins market is expecting a potential demand.Get a sample report atStudy Objectives of Phenolic Resins Market To provide detailed analysis of the market structure along with forecast for the next 10 years of the various segments and sub-segments of the Global Phenolic Resins Market To provide insights about factors affecting the market growth To Analyse the Global Phenolic Resins 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- North America, Europe, Asia, and Rest of the World (ROW) To provide country-level analysis of the market with respect to the current market size and future prospective To provide country-level analysis of the market for segment by raw materials and applications To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analysing their core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market To track and analyse competitive developments such as joint ventures, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, new product developments, and research and developments in the Global Phenolic Resins MarketAs per MRFR analysis, the global phenolic resins market has been segmented into types and applications. On the basis of types, the global phenolic resins Market is segmented into novolacs and resoles where on the basis of applications the global phenolic resins market is segmented into automobiles, construction, wood adhesives, laminates, molding and others.Browse complete report atKey Players Hitachi Chemical Kolon Industries BASF Mitsui Chemicals DIC Corporation SI Group Georgia Pacific Chemicals Sumitomo BakeliteThe reports also covers brief analysis of Geographical Region includes:America North America US Canada Latin America Brazil OthersEurope Germany France Italy Spain U.K Rest of EuropeAsia  Pacific China India Japan Australia/New Zealand Rest of Asia-PacificMiddle East & AfricaRequest for Table of Content atThe market report for Phenolic Resins of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value and volume, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.MRFR team have supreme objective to provide the optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies by products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments, enable our clients to see more, know more, and do more, which help to answer all their most important questions.In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industry, MRFR often plans & conducts meet with the industry experts and industrial visits for its research analyst members.Akash AnandP: +1 646 845 9312W:
Fuel Injection System Global Market, By Product & Data Validation, Analysis and Forecast 2022

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According to Publisher, the Global Fuel Injection system Market is accounted for $55.72 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.36% to reach $85.8 billion by 2022. Global fuel injection systems market has an enormous growth in recent years owing to ecological concerns and regulations pertaining to carbon emissions. Factors such as reduction in oil dependency, stringent fuel economy and emission norms, and increase in living standards are key contributors for market growth. As well as, the fuel injection system has shifted the usage to alternate fuel which has further driven the market for Global Fuel Injection System. Advancements in fuel injection systems provide opportunity for the market to grow. Fluctuating prices of the raw materials, high maintenance costs, service complexity and increased emission of un-burnt hydrocarbons are hampering the market.For more information about this report:Highest growth rate is seen in Passenger car segment due to increase in per capita income. Global inclination is towards gasoline technology because of fuel efficiency and environmental issues. North American region is growing as there is a high demand for commercial vehicle which has increased market for fuel injection system. However, Asia-Pacific is projected to grow further as it has become largest market for fuel injection system because of stringent emission norms. European countries such as Germany, Italy, UK and Spain have shown high growth in fuel injection systems market due to presence of multinational automotive OEM's. There is a significant demand for gasoline direct fuel injection systems in this region.Some of the key players in global Fuel Injection market are Robert Bosch GmBH, Denso Corporation, Delphi Automotive Plc., Continental AG, Hitachi Ltd, Edelbrock LLC, Woodward, Inc., Keihin Corporation, Magneti Marelli S.P.A., NGK Spark Plug Co, Ltd. ,Ti Automotive Inc. ,UCI International Inc. (UCI Fram Group) ,Woodward Inc, Westport Innovations Inc.Components Covered:Request Sample Copy atWhat our report offers:- Market share assessments for the regional and country level segments- Market share analysis of the top industry players- Strategic recommendations for the new entrants- Market forecasts for a minimum of 7 years of all the mentioned segments, sub segments and the regional markets- Market Trends (Drivers, Constraints, Opportunities, Threats, Challenges, Investment Opportunities, and recommendations)- Strategic recommendations in key business segments based on the market estimations- Competitive landscaping mapping the key common trends- Company profiling with detailed strategies, financials, and recent developments- Supply chain trends mapping the latest technological advancements15 Company Profiling15.1 Delphi Automotive PLC15.2 Continental AG15.3 Denso Corporation15.4 Robert Bosch15.5 Infineon Technologies AG15.6 Carter Fuel Systems15.7 Edelbrock LLC15.8 Hitachi Ltd.15.9 Keihin Corporation.15.10 Magneti Marelli S.P.A.15.11 NGK Spark Plug Co., Ltd.15.12 Ti Automotive Inc.15.13 UCI International Inc. (UCI Fram Group)15.14 Woodward Inc.15.15 Westport Innovations Inc.Inquire before Buying atContact Us:Call: +1-646-491-9876Email: sales@reportsweb.comReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.505, 6th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Defibrillators Market Research Report | Analysis & Trends 2020

Defibrillators Market

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A defibrillator device depolarizes a critical part of a heart muscle thereby helping in restoration of normal heart rhythm. If SCA victims receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation within 5 to 12 minutes of cardiac arrest, many lives can be saved. Growing incidences of cardiovascular disease and increasing healthcare infrastructure in the Middle East and Africa are the major factors expected to boost the growth in demand for defibrillators in the region. However, despite an excellent market opportunity in the Middle East and Africa, lack of awareness pertaining to operating of a defibrillator during emergency and unfavorable government intervention to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in public places are the key restraints for the growth of market in the Middle East and Africa. The Middle East and Africa defibrillators market was valued at USD 209.6 million in 2013 and is expected to reach an estimated value of USD 347.8 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 7.6%.The Middle East and Africa defibrillators market has been segmented on the basis of product type, by end-users and by geography. On the basis of defibrillator type, the market is categorized into automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and advanced life support (ALS) defibrillators. Advanced life support defibrillators are used by medical and paramedical professionals, and emergency medical team. These defibrillators are also called as monitor/defibrillators since they possess an ability to monitor different kinds of bodily functions such as blood oxygen levels, pulse and heart rhythm. In 2013, the ALS defibrillators market accounted for the largest share by revenue in the market. The Middle East and Africa defibrillators market has also been segmented by end-user into hospitals, public access, emergency medical services and business workplaces.The defibrillators market in the region was dominated by hospitals as an end-user category accounting for more than 80% of the total market. Such high demand for defibrillators from hospitals is due to the continuous demand for ALS defibrillators as well as installation of AEDs at large hospitals.This exhaustive report includes 7 data tables and 26 figures to give readers a 360 view of the Defibrillators Market. Browse through this 80-page report to know what factors will shape the market during the period 2014-2020The Middle East and Africa defibrillators market is also segmented by major countries in the region, namely, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Qatar, Algeria, Egypt, and South Africa. In 2013, Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. dominated the Middle East defibrillators market while South Africa led the Africa defibrillators market. The overall rise in the health care infrastructure in these countries along with the increasing awareness about the utility of defibrillators in cardiac arrest has driven growth in the demand for defibrillators. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are the fastest growing markets in the Middle East and Africa defibrillators market. The increasing awareness about utility of defibrillators in the Middle-East, especially in U.A.E and the support from government is contributing to growth of the market in this region.The Middle East and Africa market is consolidated with 3-4 leading players in the market. Almost every leading company is situated outside the region and operates in the region, mostly through distribution arrangements. Most of the companies in the global defibrillators market are eager to leverage on the untapped market opportunity in the Middle East and Africa through forging distribution agreements in the region, setting up own distribution network or by establishing a local subsidiary in the region.Some of the major players in the global defibrillators market include Philips Healthcare, Physio-Control, Inc., Zoll Medical Corporation, HeartSine Technologies, Inc., Nihon Kohden Corporation, Schiller AG, and Welch Allyn, Inc.Request a sample of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Defibrillators Market during 2014- 2020About 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:
Healthcare IT (Provider and Payer) Market Research Report | Latest Trends and Forecast Analysis up to 2023

Healthcare IT (Provider and Payer) Market

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Healthcare IT is a combined term used for solutions offered by information technology in the healthcare industry. These solutions provide better data management and safe exchange of health information among consumers, governments, and insurers. There is a massive demand of general applications such as electronic health and medical record system and computerized physician order entry system along with specialized solutions such as data mining system, clinical trials management system, and clinical decision support system. In addition, software solutions such as ambulatory care management systems, hospital information systems, e-prescribing systems, EMR,EHR and patient management systems are being extensively adopted by clinics and hospitals to deliver better patient care. The benefits of adopting IT solutions in healthcare are decline in medical errors, reduction in healthcare cost, increased successful procedure outcomes, and rise in health care productivity. For instance, the U.S. government has passed several regulatory acts focusing on the adoption of e-healthcare by both public and private sector units, to decrease the massive healthcare costs.In addition, the introduction of cloud computing in the healthcare industry has further alleviated real-time communication and exchange of data. Healthcare IT market has been segmented on the basis of its delivery modes, applications, and components. On the basis of application, the world healthcare IT has been further segmented into provider (clinical information technology and non-clinical information technology) and payer, whereas the market by delivery mode has been further classified as web-premises, on-premises, and cloud-premises. The healthcare information technology by component comprises software, hardware, and services.North America dominates the world healthcare IT market owing to growing demand of integrated healthcare IT system to achieve high return on investment, strong government support in terms of investment and incentives, enhanced patient consumerism for quality care and safety, and increase in aging population. However, Asia-Pacific is the fastest growing market and is expected to grow at the highest CAGR as healthcare organizations in the region are vigorously moving towards digitization to ensure patient care and safety, and to streamline workflow systems in large healthcare organization.View Report-Globally, the factors driving the growth of healthcare IT (provider and payer) market are increase in pressure to decrease healthcare cost, high amount of return on investment while using healthcare systems, growing demand to incorporate healthcare systems, rise in CPOE(Computerized Physician Order Entry)adoption in order to reduce medication errors, reimbursement from the U.S. government, increase in medical tourism in the Asian region, increase in aging population, and rise in incidences of chronic disorders. However, a few factors hampering the growth of the healthcare IT market are the fragmented nature of the HCIT market, rising cost of healthcare IT solutions and high maintenance of the healthcare IT systems. Furthermore, uneven regulatory environment in developed countries such as Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and developing countries such as India, China, and Brazil are major barriers to the growth of the world healthcare IT market.World Healthcare IT market is highly competitive and mature due to the participation and presence of many established as well as new players in this market. Some of the key global participants present in the world healthcare IT market include GE Healthcare, Epic Systems, Philips, McKesson Corporation, NextGen Healthcare Information System LLC, Siemens Healthcare, Cerner Corporation, Allscripts, Carestream Health, Inc., Hewlett-Packard, Athenahealth Inc., and Medical Information Technology, Inc.This research report analyzes this market on the basis of its market segments, major geographies, and current market trends. Geographies analyzed under this research report includeNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeMiddle East and AfricaLatin AmericaRequest a brochure of this report to know what opportunities will emerge in the rapidly evolving Healthcare IT (Provider and Payer) Market during 2015- 2023About 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:
A 28-year-old man turned himself in to the Washington County Jail on Sunday after allegedly attacking his girlfriend earlier this month and later stabbing her friend.

Olan Ladd fled after hitting his 21-year-old girlfriend in the face with her cellphone several times during an argument June 4 at her Aloha apartment, said Washington County Deputy Jeff Talbot.

On June 16, Ladd forced his way into his girlfriend's apartment, shoved her and attacked her 18-year-old male friend, Talbot said. Ladd is accused of stabbing the teen in the hand, choking him and biting him in the face, Talbot said.

Ladd fled again before police arrived, Talbot said. The 18-year-old friend was taken to a hospital and needed surgery to repair his wound, he said.

Ladd was booked into jail on suspicion of first- and fourth-degree assault, first-degree burglary, second-degree criminal mischief, unlawful use of a weapon, menacing, stalking, strangulation and harassment.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
An unlicensed live-in caretaker accused of killing an elderly Beaverton woman after setting her on fire last year is mentally unfit to contribute to her defense, a judge ruled.

Celia Schwab, 63, was ordered by Washington County Judge Beth Roberts in May to go to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem for treatment and to be evaluated again within 60 days.

The judge found Schwab's neighbor Maria Meisner, 55, also charged in the case, able to assist in her defense on June 7, court records show.

The two women have both pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated murder, murder, first-degree arson and first-degree assault in the Dec. 23 death of 74-year-old Kathryn Breen. Schwab is also accused of first-degree criminal mistreatment.

Schwab told Beaverton detectives that she had lived with Breen since June 2012, slept on a bed in the living room and didn't pay rent, court records show. Meisner lived across the street and told investigators she visited the two nearly every day.

Meisner has a previous arson conviction and Schwab had been banned by a judge in 2009 from providing elder care in Oregon, court records show.

Breen died in a hospital in January, a month after she was consumed by a fire in her bedroom.

An Oregon State Hospital psychologist wrote in an evaluation filed with the court that Schwab appeared unable to understand the nature of her case. Defense attorney Charles Wiseman told the psychologist that Schwab "looked like she was in a daze" when he saw her in court.

Schwab's ex-husband and adult children reported that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in her 30s or 40s but didn't take medication or receive treatment, the evaluation said. Schwab wouldn't consent to be interviewed for the Oregon State Hospital evaluation, the psychologist noted.

Schwab didn't initially show signs of mental illness at the Washington County Jail, but later had bouts of unresponsiveness and confusion and sometimes refused to dress herself or eat, the evaluation said.

Schwab likely has a mental illness, the report said, but some aspects of her behavior "may be exaggerated or feigned." Further evaluation would be needed to determine any legitimate symptoms she has, the psychologist said.

Another psychologist interviewed Meisner and described her as having an intellectual disability disorder and an unspecified mood disorder, but said she was "psychiatrically stable" because she takes medication.

Meisner has a history of diagnoses and treatment for mood and psychotic symptoms, the evaluation said, but noted they were either caused by or heighten by drug or alcohol use. She reported being born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

While in jail, Meisner reported "being born a witch" and "having premonitions," but "did not offer any delusional beliefs unless directly asked," the report said.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
A teen forced to work as a prostitute at a Beaverton strip club when she was 13 will receive $1.25 million in what is the largest individual civil rights settlement brokered by Oregon's top labor regulator, the agency announced Tuesday.

The settlement follows a 2015 complaint filed by the Bureau of Labor and Industries against the owners of the strip club chain Stars Cabaret. Two girls illegally worked at the club's Beaverton location when they were 13 and 15, and were subjected to sexual harassment, abuse and discrimination, the complaint said. The younger girl also was forced to perform sex acts for customers.

"Today's settlement follows an aggressive effort spanning thousands of hours of investigation and prosecution to ensure justice for this aggrieved person," said Brad Avakian, the state's labor commissioner. "It also sends a strong message that the most vulnerable among us will still receive the same protections and access to justice as everyone else."

A second case, involving the then-15-year-old, who was hired as a dancer at the club, is still ongoing. Avakian said the agency expects an administrative law judge to issue a ruling on the club's liability around Labor Day.

Despite the settlement with the younger victim, the agreement said the club's operators, Frehoo Inc., still "expressly deny any liability" to the teen and agreed to the payment to "avoid the time and expense of continuing litigation."

In a statement, the teen's attorneys, Joel Shapiro and Janis Puracal, said the settlement will allow her to move forward with her life, and they're hopeful it will prevent others from being exploited.

"Nothing will ever undo the trauma and harm that she has suffered," the statement said. "It was a long and often difficult process to get to this point."

"It was disappointing that the owners of Stars repeatedly tried to deny and minimize what was done to [our client] at Stars. We are proud of her bravery and perseverance that propelled the case to this resolution."

Courtney Angeli, who represents Frehoo, said Stars Cabaret owners didn't know about what happened to the teen in the club because those activities were hidden by a former manager, whose actions weren't condoned by the company.

She said several former Stars Cabaret employees testified during the administrative law hearings that they didn't know anything illegal was happening, either.

The settlement resulted from the company working with its insurers, the girl and her attorneys to reach a voluntary agreement, Angeli said.

"Litigating this matter has been an incredibly costly proposition, and those involved need to bring some closure to it, but that in no way is an admission that Commissioner Avakian's claims are truthful or grounded in fact," Angeli said.

The monetary settlement is the largest in BOLI's Civil Rights Division since a $2.4 million award announced in January 2015 split among six former Daimler Trucks employees who said they were subjected to racial discrimination and sexual harassment.

The teens, both now 18, also sued Stars Cabaret's operators for $4 million each in Washington County civil court, saying managers knew they were underage but exploited them anyway, leading to repeated sexual abuse and emotional damage.

As part of the settlement announced Tuesday, the civil lawsuit involving the then-13-year-old will be dropped, BOLI said.

Facing workplace harassment?

Any worker who believes that they are being harassed or retaliated at work can start the civil rights complaint process by contact the Civil Rights Division at crdemail@boli.state.or.us or by calling 971-673-0764. BOLI's live entertainment hotline at 1-844-304-2654 also can provide workers information about retaliation, sex discrimination, harassment, unlawful wage practices and a host of other workplace protections. Callers to the toll-free hotline can be confidential.

The girl danced nude on stage for customers and was ordered to performed sex acts in a back room from September through December 2012, the BOLI complaint said. The other girl was hired as a dancer and danced nude five times in August 2014 and September 2014, and was groped by customers.

Former Stars Cabaret manager Steven Toth and two other men -- Victor Moreno-Hernandez and Yahir Muniz -- were all convicted for sexually abusing the 13-year-old. Moreno-Hernandez and Muniz did not work for Stars Cabaret.

The girl was staying with Muniz when she met Moreno-Hernandez. Soon after, Moreno-Hernandez and Toth arranged to use her for prostitution in a back room for Stars' customers and share the profits, court records show.

Toth was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Moreno-Hernandez was sentenced to 30 years, and 10 months and Muniz was sentenced to six years and three months in prison all in 2014.

Another man, Anthony Curry, was sentenced to life in prison in 2015 for putting the 15-year-old to work as a strip club dancer.

According to a Washington County prosecutor, Curry met the teen after she ran away from a drug treatment center and brought her home to stay with him. Curry soon began sexual abusing her, got her a fake ID and helped her get jobs dancing at Jags Clubhouse in Portland, The Dolphin II and Stars Cabaret in Beaverton, and Sunset Strip in Cedar Hills.

Stars Cabaret had locations in Beaverton, Bend, Salem and Tualatin but announced plans to sell the Beaverton club earlier this year to Spearmint Rhino. The City of Beaverton announced earlier this year that it hopes to instead convert the property into affordable housing. Court documents show the Beaverton strip club closed in July 2016; the other three locations are still open.

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey
A driver died after crashing head-on into another car Monday afternoon in Canby, police said.

The driver, a 35-year-old man, died from what appear to be unrelated causes while being rushed to a hospital, Canby police said in a news release. Authorities don't know specifically what caused his death, police said.

One of the six people in the car he hit was flown to a hospital for treatment of apparent non-life-threatening injuries, according to police. Four others were taken to hospitals by ambulance, police said, and all of them are expected to survive.

The crash happened around 1:10 p.m. on Oregon 99E in the area of South Pine Street, police said. People reported seeing the 35-year-old man heading north and driving erratically before leaving his lane and hitting a southbound car head-on, police said. The man who died was traveling alone, police said, and adults and minors were in the second car.

KATU-TV reports the man was driving erratically because of a medical condition. His cause of death is under investigation, according to police.

The crash remains under investigation.

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive
TriMet and a neighborhood group plan to "refresh" the impromptu memorial at Hollywood Transit Center on Friday, agency officials said, replacing old flowers while removing dead flowers and debris.

The agency said community members had performed some spontaneous clean-up over the weekend at the Northeast Portland transit center, the scene of a stabbing attack that killed two men and injured another last month.

The memorial, a collection of chalked messages, flowers, candles and other items, came together overnight in honor of the victims, whom police say intervened when a man began yelling slurs at teenage girls, one black and one Muslim.

The transit center was also the site of a candlelight vigil in the wake of the stabbing.

It again became a crime scene earlier this month when a man reported a suspicious abandoned bag, and bomb-sniffing dogs were seen sweeping the memorial as police investigated. Police later said the man left the bag as a hoax, and suspect Wilfredo Reyes told The Oregonian/OregonLive he did it for attention.

TriMet said it didn't initiate the weekend clean-up, or know who had organized it, but that members of its maintenance staff had removed the collected debris on Monday.

At 3 p.m. Friday, the Hollywood Boosters Business Association and the transit agency will consolidate the makeshift memorial and add fresh flowers.

Non-perishable mementos that are still in good condition will remain, TriMet spokeswoman Tia York said in an email, as will "appropriately sensitive" messages.

Meanwhile, the agency and the Portland city government will form an advisory committee to conceptualize a more permanent memorial and commission an artist to create it.

The timeline for that effort is still uncertain, the agency said.

"We hope to work in close consultation with the families of the deceased, the wounded and the young women who were initially targeted," York said in an email, "but it is our intention to be respectful and to allow the time and space needed to grieve and to heal in the wake of this horrific event."

The May 26 attack killed Ricky John Best, 53, of Happy Valley and Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche, 23, of Southeast Portland, and seriously injured Micah David-Cole Fletcher, 21, of Southeast Portland.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus
When Wim Wiewel announced his retirement last summer after nine years as president at Portland State University, he expected his days of leading a college were behind him.

The 67-year-old had planned to take a position at PSU's Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning on the Park Blocks after a sabbatical traveling with his wife, Alice. It was time to wind down.

"I had zero intention about doing anything else," Wiewel said Tuesday. He was ready to take a step back from a position he described at the time as "exhausting."

The plan changed.

Wiewel will take the helm of Lewis & Clark College, the Southwest Portland liberal arts school announced Tuesday morning. Wiewel will start his new post on Sept. 30, replacing Barry Glassner, who resigned in January. David Ellis, the college's vice president and general counsel, has been the interim president since Glassner's abrupt resignation.

Wiewel spent the better part of the past four decades teaching, leading or researching at large public universities in Chicago, Baltimore and Portland.

"Change is good," Wiewel said. "I like being on the steep part of a learning curve, but also the fact that it's so different from Portland State is just in and of itself very exciting."

Wiewel said Lewis & Clark is "an advocate and a champion for the liberal arts in a time when those are under attack."

PSU is one of the state's largest schools, with an undergraduate enrollment of more than 28,000. Lewis & Clark College has just 2,100 undergraduates, with another 600 law school students and 550 graduate students at the education and counseling program.

The school cited Wiewel's strong relationship in the city and region and his "commitment to the power of the liberal arts" as the chief factors in his hiring.

"We couldn't be happier to have found the right leader close to home in Wim," Trustee Jay Waldron, a Portland attorney and co-chair of the school's presidential search committee, said in a statement. "In an era of increased competition for students, faculty, and donors, there is great opportunity for liberal arts colleges, law schools, and graduate schools like ours to benefit from strong and proven leadership. We're confident his blend of experience, energy, and vision will lead Lewis & Clark to even greater levels of success."

In an interview Tuesday, Wiewel said Lewis & Clark's board reached out to him after Glassner's resignation and asked if he was interested in the job.

The more he thought about it, the more Wiewel and family agreed he would go stir crazy without a busy job. He had no interest in pursuing a leadership role at another public school, but the opportunity to lead a classic liberal arts college was alluring.

Lewis & Clark is a "wonderful enclave" that is set apart from the city in some respects, he said. Wiewel said he wants to strengthen the college's ties to the city while still maintaining its independence.

Wiewel will remain as PSU's president until mid-August, when new hire Rahmat Shoureshi arrives.

He said he signed a three-year contract with the college. School officials declined to confirm that information or disclose Wiewel's salary.

-- Andrew Theen
Oregon is no stranger to nudity. Our state is home to amenities galore for nude recreation, including two nude beaches, clothing-optional hot springs, the world's largest naked bike ride and four nude resorts.

The oldest of those resorts, Squaw Mountain Ranch, first opened in 1933 as "The Hesperian Society" a nudist colony in the woods near Estacada. Two years later, enterprising Oregonian reporter Edward M. Miller and photographer Frank Sterrett paid a visit, "prompted by an active case of Acute Curiosity."

Their visit, and the early days of Oregon's nude recreation, were captured in Miller's colorful narration, printed in the Sunday Oregonian on Aug. 11, 1935. (The story is reprinted here, edited for length and with some words omitted due to illegibility from scanning the original copy of the newspaper.)

OREGON'S NUDISTS STATE THEIR CASE

by Edward M. Miller

Staff Writer, The Oregonian

Two years ago there played at a Portland theater a motion pictured (sic) titled "Elysia." The picture, essentially, was a sympathetic portrayal of the practices and aims of the nudist movement. A good many thousand patrons saw the picture. Most of the patrons, it may be assumed, took "Elysia" in stride and deemed it a matter of slight consequence.

Among the many thousands of "Elysia" viewers were various members of two Portland families. The nudist thesis appealed to them, they obtained copies of a magazine devoted to the furtherance of nudism and before long had determined to initiate a colony in the Portland area.

Those interested formed a corporation on a non-profit basis. Their group became known as the Hesperian society, a name derived from the mythical Hesperia, which to the Greeks and Romans was "the western land." The Portlanders affiliated with the International nudist conference, an organization comprised of numerous nudist groups in the United States and abroad.

Finding a Site

To find a location for the venture became an immediate problem. A classified advertisement in The Oregonian asking for a location suitable for a nudist colony brought some 84 replies. Most of the places offered were unsatisfactory, either because they lacked isolation or failed to offer proper facilities for outdoor recreation.

The sifting process, completed on a rainy day 18 months ago, culminated in the midst of a dense forest 40 miles southeast of Portland and 12 miles southeast of Estacada. The site appeared satisfactory for their purpose, so representatives of the society visited the sheriff and district attorney of Clackamas county to discover what official attitude might be expected. They received this verdict: "You stay on your own property and mind your own business and you will not be molested."

With this assurance the five directors purchased the land.

Abandoned Homestead

The site was an abandoned homestead surrounded by land of the Mount Hood national forest. For some 30 years the homestead had lain idle, the frame house was weather-beaten and sagging and the three or four acres of once cleared land had become a dense bramble studded by five and six-inch trees. On all sides of this young jungle was a fern-floored forest typical of western Oregon.

Included on the property was one small mountain stream with ample water for the needs of drinking, cooking and sanitation. A second larger creek, coursing through a beautiful ravine a quarter mile distant from the homestead clearing, gave promise of a magnificent outdoor swimming pool.

Last summer saw the falling of the brambles before the axes of men, saw the reclamation of the old house by industrious women. There were just a few of them, they worked hard, and sometimes they didn't wear clothes, and sometimes they did wear clothes.

Theirs was a humble project, but nudism with its sun tans had arrived in Oregon.

It was just about a year ago that an acquaintance who held a directorship in the organization was approached with a proposal to visit the colony and to publish an account of the venture.

Gate Bars Path

This final half mile, running through scattered firs, ended with two gates, spaced 100 yards apart blocking the road. Through these the road jogged to permit view of a small office neatly constructed from dressed slabwood. Beyond the tiny office was an extremely dense fir jungle. A stout gate, leading to a footpath, provided the only break in a wire fence surrounding the jungle.

Here the cars were discarded. The host rang a loud bell by the gate. While waiting for an answer there was time to examine the gate signs, which proclaimed the existence of a private club and denied admittance save by permission.

The jungle was thick, but it was not thick enough to bar the sound of men's and women's laughing voices. The sound of these voices was instantly responsible for an abrupt dousing of Acute Curiosity. A subsequent check of reactions revealed that both visitors, upon hearing those tree-shrouded voices, earnestly wished they hadn't embarked on this venture; for two cents they would retreat.

Was this a sudden welling of the training of centuries? An innate reaction of two normal - or abnormal - human beings? A response dating only from the taboos of childhood and through the subsequent years?

A Perplexing Reaction

You and the Freudians explain those Cold Feet. This is only a chronicle.

So those two or three minutes following the ringing of the bell were minutes of forced small talk. The situation was eased with the arrival of the group's secretary, a middle-aged woman clad in a blue sun suit. She pleasantly acknowledged introductions, unlocked the office and explained that it was used to discuss the aims of the society with prospective members. It is here that unannounced visitors either gain or lose the privilege of admittance.

There really wasn't much else to see in the office, so the host held open the gate, and it was heads up, hesitant ahead for the plunge.

One hundred yards of winding, sunless trail was followed.

Then the trail abruptly gave way to a clearing two or three acres in extent. Immediately ahead was an outdoor volleyball court. On this court were about six men and three women. From these laughing folk had come the tree-penetrating shouts. The men were completely devoid of garments. The women were wearing sun suits in deference to the chilliness of the morning.

Improvements Inspected

First sight of a nudity in a mixed crowd brought a bit of shock (perhaps a few more centuries going overboard), but this same shock served to dissipate the hesitancy of the previous minutes. Although no women had as yet presented themselves to the complete mercy of the elements, the visit from that time was carried on with only a few psychological disturbances.

Immediately there began an inspection of the improvements that have been accomplished to date. The three-acre one-time clearing has been again freed from brambles, although a number of younger trees have been saved as concessions to landscaping. Several of the larger trees have been newly hewn to bring in the sun. The clearing as a whole roughly comprises an amphitheater sloping to the south, with the buildings placed along its northern rim. Surrounding this amphitheater on all sides are the tips of the tall firs.

The homestead is once again shipshape and at present houses a resident cook and cook's family. Meals and limited lodging may be obtained here.

Wardrobe Diminishes

Having inspected the buildings, it was time to get ahead with the business of the pictures. The visitors adjourned to the car to collect a camera, returned to see nudism in full force. About 25 men, women and children were there with a [illegible] wardrobe of approximately four shoes and two pairs of socks.

So many people have asked the question that a direct answer may as well be given. The nudists do not wear clothes at all during sun hours. Nothing whatsoever. If stickers] hurt their feet, they wear shoes. If the sun hurts their eyes, they wear hats. If they are cold, they don light garments. Clothes are required at meals.

From then on the nudists continued their lazy routine. Some read in the deck chairs, the volleyball court was the major [illegible] of activity with the men, the women and the older children playing together with what was apparently complete lack of self-consciousness.

Variety of Incidents

The next two hours provided a succession of incidents such as one would find at any mountain gathering of several families. A sleeping 4-year-old fell out of the hammock, cried valiantly, was replaced, went back to sleep; a man and his wife drowsily read a Sunday newspaper; a young man tested the probable temperature of next year's swimming pool; two women assisted a babe in its efforts to walk; a wife [illegible] why the new cabin chimney [illegible] so badly; another wife asked her husband to stop playing volleyball and get the steak from the car and the husband went on playing volleyball; a young girl said she didn't want to swing so high; an [illegible]-year-old boy cried when he stumbled over a stump and scratched his stomach; a seven-months-old child did its best to [illegible]; a young man took a mountain water shower while a woman and a man laughed at his shivers; two young women engaged in a brief and spontaneous footrace.

And all this, as the sun grew warmer, in [illegible].

As time went on the visitors found themselves accepting this ordinarily bizarre situation. There were momentary exceptions. Walking along a path, when returning from an inspection of the prospective swimming pool, the visitors suddenly met a young woman clad only in a faint smile of greeting. This visitor's muddled head suddenly found itself engaged in a futile attempt to analyze, segregate and pigeonhole these radical departures from accepted patterns of human conduct.

Situation Accepted

But such moments were few, and one concludes in retrospect that the adaptability of the human animal to any given situation is very remarkable indeed.

Those to whom pointed questions were pressed were pleasantly frank in their answers. Indeed, the universal lack of embarrassment under questioning and under scrutiny bespoke definite mental and emotional tranquility concerning their behavior and the reasons for so behaving.

"Why don't you wear shorts?"



The answer given to this question comprises the entire theme of the nudist movement. It is an answer received with skeptical smiles or scoffs by the unbelievers, or received with approbation by those who concur in the sincere nudist's method in seeking better health.

Health. Better health. There's the stated goal, the quintessence of nudism. They seek bodies that are healthy and clean, minds that are healthy and clean. Here you have both requisite and goal affirm the nudists, for if you would attain a healthy body in the beneficent rays of the sun you must bring a clean mind to the scene of your quest.

But why not wear shorts?

Their answer is a trifle medical. Suffice to say they offer the word of certain physicians, both in Portland and elsewhere, to prove that the ultra-violet rays are most effective when administered to the entire body.

Aims Published

A leaflet published by the Hesperian society explains their fundamental viewpoint. It says in part:

Clothing is a convention. If we, at chosen times and in chosen places, choose to discard convention in favor of natural freedom, we challenge the health of any mind that impugns our motives and out character. Nudism makes for a clean mind, and recovers for men and women their simplicity and their faith in each other long since lost through the doctrine that the body was something to be ashamed of and, hence, to be hidden.

Sun, light and air are vital conditions of human well being. We believe these elements are insufficiently used in present day life to the detriment of physical and moral health ... We aim to make the fullest possible use of sun, light and air by a program of exercise and life in the open in such a way as will result in the maximum physical and mental benefit.

In other words, relegate sex to its proper function and you have instantly banished the need for shorts.

Reflections Puzzling

A larger membership is solicited, but the applicant will do well to inclose credentials and must be prepared to discard clothing.

The visitor who passes within their gates and passes out again will, in all likelihood, find himself puzzled by conflicting reflections.

Does a quest for health justify shelving the barriers of convention that have long been considered desirable by most civilized people? Or does this phase of so-called civilization really represent an unfortunate retrogression from an earlier and healthier state of nature?

Some will say, with considerable force of argument, that the body of the average human being is far handsomer when given benefit of raiment, and others will say, "What of it? This is a matter of health, no esthetics."

Perhaps the majority, if they choose to pass judgement, will conclude that it's the nudists' own business to do as they deem best.

For the rest, it's hang your clothes on the firs of Estacada - or not - according to the dictates of your instincts, your training, your conscience, your wife, your health, your parents, your inhibitions, your indifference or whoever or whatever guides your choice in such matters.

--Jamie Hale | jhale@oregonian.com | @HaleJamesB
The YWCA Great Lakes Bay Region recently received a grant from the Midland Area Community Foundation to provide young girls ages 9-12 with an empowerment summer camp to positively shape their personal strength, self-esteem, character and interpersonal skills.

The YWCA GLBR will host these empowerment summer camps at Greater Midland Community Center. Sessions will run July 24-28 and Aug. 28-Sept. 1 and will give young girls the opportunity to learn their personal strengths and the importance of decision making, goal-setting, health, nutrition, self-defense, positive peer influence and community awareness.

They will be provided a nurturing environment to learn more about who they are, how to deal with the challenges that they may be facing at home, at school and in their communities, and create the foundation and values to withstand the many temptations that they face as teenage girls.

The camp includes peer discussions about important topics and issues they face, guest speakers, interactive activities and relevant field trips.

Guest speakers from community leaders are a key aspect of the camp. The speakers are accomplished women in the private, government and nonprofit sectors. They will be able to be role models to these young girls on what they can achieve, the organizations stated.

It is important for the girls in our community to understand that it is their internal drive that will determine how far they will go in life. Do not to let internal limitations or past situations determine your future, said Misty Janks, YWCA executive director. Our guest speakers are leaders in the Great Lakes Bay Region and serve as real examples of the importance of hard work and determination for a successful future and our curriculum is built around empowering young girls to be our future leaders.

To register a young girl for this camp, visit the Greater Midland Community Center or call 989-835-7937. The activity numbers are 48057-A and 48057-B.
This is a year of celebration for Peel n Pare. In February, the store that carries everything kitchen, observed its 40th anniversary. Now just four short months later, the store has announced a new owner, Sarah Fisher, who previously owned Mercato di O&V. Plans are to combine merchandise from the two stores into one at the Peel n Pare location, 121 E. Main St.

We have everything you might want or need for your kitchen plus the expertise to help you find it and help you use it, Fisher said of her new venture.

Previous Peel n Pare owner, Steve Bush, approached Fisher in December regarding the possibility of owning Peel n Pare.

Steve came into Mercato one day and asked if I would be interested in buying Peel n Pare, Fisher said. The logical side of my brain said, No, I cant do that. Im still learning. I just bought this store. But, the gut feeling instantaneously was Wow! Awesome store, great fit for bringing the Mercato merchandise over.

That enthusiasm brings with it ideas for the future.

I would love for this to be a gathering place. I want to facilitate a feeling of community for people who enjoy cooking and food, whether they see themselves as novices or more experienced cooks, she said.

Research is showing that millennials are trending toward a greater desire to spend more time cooking at home rather than eating out, which fits just perfectly with another of Fishers vision for Peel n Pare.

Wed like to be a resource for millennials who maybe dont do a lot of cooking or havent done a lot of cooking or maybe cant afford the top of the line pots and pans, she said. Also, we would like to equip people so they can do more cooking at home, even if they feel they dont know how to get started.

Time magazine reported that a survey by The NPD Group stated millennials, those between 25 and 34 years old, are averaging 50 fewer restaurant visits per person over the past few years. During the last year, visits to drive-thru restaurants from this group have decreased by 6 percent and visits to eat-in restaurants fell by 1 percent.

Another high priority for Peel n Pare will be the restoration of cooking classes.

People really want classes, Fisher said. Were going to have to make some physical changes to make it happen. But, people want classes and that totally fits with my goal to create community, so well do our best to make it happen.

The business will also provide a better location for Katies Kitchen, a business that Fisher operates with her daughter, Katie. The venture delivers breakfast treats to events and workplaces including unique muffins like Key Lime Coconut and White Chocolate Chai along with traditional favorites like Blueberry and Chocolate.

Here there is more potential exposure than at Mercato, Sarah said. We will have samples out on a regular basis.

The choice to purchase Peel n Pare has allowed Fisher to step into a store with a long standing tradition on Main Street and an outstanding reputation.

It is such a great store with great employees and great products, Fisher said. Even the major Main Street renovation project cant deter Fishers enthusiasm for her new opportunity.

Im excited about the streetscape. The sidewalks are in terrible shape. For someone using a wheelchair or Amigo, its not safe. I love that we have a Main Street presence in Midland, she said. We have a back door and parking lot, so this summer when the streets are torn up, people can use the back door. In honor of the 2017 streetscape project we will have 17 percent off products on our back door display all summer long. Junes display includes barbeque and beer products, great for dads or cottage goers.

To contact Peel n Pare, call 989-832-2162.

For more information about Katies Kitchen, call 989-430-5579.
DECATUR  As U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis prepares to work on the next Farm Bill, farmers in his district stressed the importance of crop insurance to their livelihood.

The crop insurance is fundamentally important for risk management, said Jered Hooker, District 10 director at the Illinois Soybean Association. The prices right now, were basically underwater prices-wise. So we buy crop insurance, at least for our yields, and the government helps us with part of the premiums being subsidized.

And thats very important for us; we all want to survive.

Hooker was among about a dozen people who spent early Monday morning at the University of Illinois Extension office at Richland Community College in Decatur to talk with Davis about the federal government's role in agriculture.

The stop was just one that the Taylorville Republican is making across the 14 counties in the 13th Congressional District, which also includes much of McLean County, as lawmakers discuss ways to improve on the current Farm Bill.

That bill, which became law in 2014, provided nearly $500 billion of federal funding overall and reformed various programs, from crop insurance funding to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the latter of which makes up the majority of the bills spending.

A new Farm Bill is generally passed every five years, with the current one set to expire at the end of 2018.

Davis said he and others on the House Agriculture Committee will spend the rest of this year talking with constituents about the current plan and suggested changes. The hope is to have a bill ready by next year.

The Farm Bill ... is a vehicle for us to to put these policies that help our agricultural community, Davis said.

Those in the audience at Richland expressed support for several of the current protections provided by the Farm Bill, specifically for agricultural research and for the federal subsidies for crop insurance premiums that Davis called the backbone of the legislation.

The insurance protects farms from the loss of crops due to natural disasters, such as hail, drought and floods, or the loss of revenue due to declines in the prices of agricultural commodities.

Davis downplayed one attendee's concerns about the recent budget proposal from President Donald Trump, which called for $46.54 billion in cuts to federal funding for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years and limiting the federal subsidies for crop insurance premiums.

Congress needs to exert its privilege in approving a budget, said Davis, who added he would vote against Trumps budget as proposed.

One thing that Rick Harris hopes to see in any future Farm Bill is a way for the federal government to make it easier for prospective farmers to enter the field.

Harris, who owns 20 acres of farmland in Macon County, said there has to be a way to retain young farmers who might be stifled by the often staggering costs to maintain an operation.

I dont know who the next generation is that is going to be able to afford to farm, Harris said.
BLOOMINGTON  A Bloomington man pleaded guilty Monday to stealing more than $600,000 from two investors in a plea agreement that could send him to prison for 15 years.

Derek Gordon, 44, accepted a prosecution plea offer as a bench trial on 20 felony counts was set to begin in McLean County Circuit Court.

He pleaded guilty to theft by deception, money laundering, forgery and wire fraud. The state amended the most serious charge, lowering the amount of money taken to $499,999 to allow Gordon to be eligible for probation when he is sentenced Aug. 21.

Gordon also agreed to pay $524,859 to Ron Briscoe and $100,000 to Richard Jackson, two investors who lost their money after turning money over to Gordon to invest in a hedge fund.

Losses of a third investor, Frank Lunn, who allegedly lost $200,000 in the sunken fund, were not part of the restitution listed in the plea agreement, but may be considered during sentencing, said First Assistant State's Attorney Adam Ghrist.

Defense lawyer Chris Gramm said his client was initially in favor of a bench trial "because the whole story would be told. It would come out that he did not steal the investors' money in the true sense of the word."

The defense claims the losses were the result of highly volatile stock market conditions between 2012 and 2013. Gordon admitted to engaging in illegal activity to hide the losses, including the creation of false financial reports.

"The cover-up was much worse than the underlying crime from our perspective. When you're faced with these large losses, it's hard to face people. That was Derek's undoing," said Gramm, who estimated that Gordon illegally pocketed less than $10,000.

In his statement to support the plea, Ghrist detailed a three-year scheme by Gordon that started with the investment from Lunn that dwindled to a $6,000 value within two months in late 2012. In January 2013, Briscoe cashed out his retirement and handed over between $100,000 and $500,000 to Gordon's Cornerstone Genesis Fund, said Ghrist.

Gordon told the new investor that his contribution "was the smallest in the fund" that was actually worth less than $6,000 at the time, said the prosecutor.

In September 2014, Gordon told Jackson of "multimillions he was trading within this hedge fund" that had one other investor.

The state alleged that investors were not told of the 18 percent to 27 percent brokerage fees charged their accounts by a firm that did not involve Gordon.

When questions surfaced from investors in 2014, Gordon began to shift money within the accounts and produce false statements and emails in an effort to show the fund was making money. Briscoe was told in December 2014 that his investments were worth almost $1 million when in fact the fund had a value of about $5,500, according to evidence from the state.

The risks associated with the hedge fund were spelled out in documents signed by the victims, who all work in the financial sector, said Gramm.

State's Attorney Jason Chambers credited the Illinois Securities Department with providing the expertise to help put the complex case together, adding that the "devastating financial impact" such cases can have on individuals and businesses justifies the effort.

"We hope that by doing so, it will send the message the it is not worthwhile or risk-free to commit a crime like this and it will hopefully encourage victims to come forward on future cases as well," said Chambers.
BLOOMINGTON  Bloomington City Council members appear to favor creating a civilian oversight board for public safety services, but whether felons could serve appears to be a sticking point.

The council, which is expected to vote next month on the creation of the Public Safety and Community Relations Board, discussed the issue in a nonvoting work session Monday night that drew an audience of about 100 people, most of whom favor the concept.

While none of the council members openly opposed creating the board, several expressed concerns about the makeup of what is expected to be a seven-member commission.

I am more conflicted than I have been on any other decision I have made on this council, said Ward 5 Alderman Joni Painter, addressing the audience.

At the beginning, I was all for it," Painter said. "I realize there is a national problem with people trusting the police, and there have been horrible things that have happened, and I think its really good that we tackle those things on a local level.

"I was with you up until the deal where you want people who have been convicted criminals to serve on this board, and you are so adamant about it, and that makes no sense to me at all.

Bloomington resident Sonny Garcia, who addressed the council prior to the discussion, said felony convictions should have no bearing on the makeup of the board.

I am concerned that we are leaving many people out, people like me, behind, due to the pervasive narrative that cuts out people with past felony convictions, he said. We can be a part of positive growth in our community.

As part of a compromise, Ward 9 Alderman Kim Bray suggested putting in restrictions defining how felonies would affect someone's eligibility to serve.

I think an option might include a time frame such as no felony convictions in the past seven years so that indiscretions of youth arent held against someone forever, she said.

After taking a nonbinding straw poll, Mayor Tari Renner interpreted the results as showing six of the nine aldermen favoring some form of compromise on the issue of members with felony records.

I dont want to see a convicted killer on the board, but only for the grace of God do I probably not have something on my record from earlier days, and I just didnt happen to be at the right place at the wrong time, said Ward 8 Alderman Diana Hauman.

Leaders of several local organizations have expressed support for creating the board. They include: the ACLU of Central Illinois; Black Lives Matter Bloomington-Normal; Bloomington-Normal Branch of the NAACP; Not in Our Town Bloomington-Normal; YWCA McLean County; Central Illinois Pride Health Center; Prairie Pride Coalition; Illinois People's Action; and the McLean County League of Women voters.

The board could do more than just evaluate public complaints about the police department, said Ward 7 Alderman Scott Black.

This will create an avenue to address concerns and turn positive things into reality, he said. I think its a solution that is the best fit and can be a positive influence on the community.

I see it as taking about six months to identify the people for the board, get it up and running and then let them do a year of actual work before we come back and re-evaluate how its working, Hauman said.
100 years ago

June 20, 1917: Tuesday was the anniversary of the Great Fire of 1900, which destroyed several blocks downtown. The ruins were replaced with bigger, better structures, so Bloomington benefited from the tragedy. There were no official observances of the anniversary.

75 years ago

June 20, 1942: The Navy cited James Robert of 903 E. Walnut St. for his rescue work at the sinking Battleship Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack. The Roberts are a fighting family: his father is a Navy vet, one brother is a Navy man, and another is in the Merchant Marine.

50 years ago

June 20, 1967: The Kresge Foundation (the K in K-Mart) has approved a $25,000 grant to Mennonite Hospitals development program. Mennonite is raising $1 million for new facilities at the Main Street hospital. (It closed years later, becoming the Menn in BroMenn.)

25 years ago

June 20, 1992: Police arrested two ISU freshmen  brothers from near St. Louis  in the Watterson Tower fire that sent 20 people to the hospital in May. A detective called the incident a drunken prank. The brothers are suspended from ISU, and police are seeking a third suspect.
WASHINGTON (AP)  Sen. John McCain said Tuesday that Americans who are "stupid" enough to still want to travel to North Korea should be required to sign a waiver absolving the U.S. government of any blame should they be harmed while there.

McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said North Korea "murdered" Otto Warmbier, the 22-year-old American college student who died just days after North Korea released him from detention in a coma. He had arrived in Ohio on June 13 after being held for more than 17 months.

"They just murdered him," McCain said.

The University of Virginia student was accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting with a tour group and was convicted of subversion. He was sentenced in March 2016 to 15 years in prison with hard labor.

"There should at least be a form for them to fill out that says, 'If I go to North Korea, I understand I am taking great risk and I do not hold the American government responsible. Now I hope the American government will help, etc., etc. But I realize what has happened to previous American citizens, including their deaths,'" McCain, R-Ariz., said in a brief interview.

"I would have that first because if people are that stupid that they still want to go to that country then at least they assume the responsibility for their welfare," McCain said.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the U.S. should think about banning U.S. citizens from visiting North Korea.

"I think we should strongly consider it," Corker said. "It puts us in a really precarious situation when Americans are detained there."

The United States, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of using foreign detainees has hostages to secure diplomatic concessions. Three Americans remain in custody in the North.

"It's unsafe," Corker said, adding that the "trumped up charges" like those Warmbier was accused of "can continue to happen."
Carla Fendi, one of the five sisters who turned their parents' humble Italian leather workshop into an international luxury fashion brand, died last night at the age of 79, according to her family.

Fendi was the fourth of the five sisters and died of natural causes. She was also the face of the company, and focused on promoting the brand that over nearly a century has become synonymous with luxury.

The five sisters transformed the small leather workshop their mother, Adele Casagrande, opened in 1918 off Rome's Piazza Venezia. Casagrande married Eduardo Fendi in 1925, and the two opened a small boutique next door to the workshop to sell their leather goods, according to Business of Fashion.

The five sisters took over the family business after their father died, and opened their first Fendi store in Rome in 1964. Shortly after, they brought on a young Karl Lagerfeld to helm the company's creative direction.

Together, the sisters and Lagerfeld transformed the once humble store into a powerhouse luxury brand known for its colorful designs, famed baguette shaped handbags, and fine furs. LVMH luxury group acquired a controlling stake of Fendi in a 1999 deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

"For her nothing was impossible," her niece, Silvia Venturini Fendi told RAI state television. "The challenges that she always confronted, also as a pioneer in her field. She always had a love of beauty."

Fendi was also a philanthropist, known for her support of the arts and Italian culture, including the Spoleto Festival in Umbria.

Italian Culture Minister Dario Franchescini said Fendi was "a cultivated and sensible woman who was a major patron of the arts."

[h/t Business of Fashion]

Image via Getty
An up-close and intimate new book will take you all the way back to San Francisco in the '70s, when the future LGBT mecca was just being born.

Publisher Reel Art Press will release LGBT: San Francisco, a captivating tome of photographs by Daniel Nicoletta, who, through his lens, documented the burgeoning LGBT community of San Francisco. The collection of work spans four decades (a first for Nicoletta) and captures the LGBT Civil Rights movement in a way no other photographer has.



As an employee of Harvey Milk's camera store in the Castro district, Nicoletta had incomparable access to an LGBT political icon, one who was forever immortalized in these photos and in an eponymous film, released in 2008. Stills and behind-the-scenes shots from the latter are juxtaposed throughout, providing a side-by-side comparison of the actors and the real-life people they portray.



Milk was famously murdered outside City Hall in 1978, one year after becoming the first openly gay male elected to public office in California. Through his lens, Nicoletta captures the pride, the celebrations, the tensions, and more of a defining time for the LGBT community, in the epicenter of it all.

In the foreword, director Gus Van Sant says, "Danny's photos are a treasured artistic record of the people who initiated a movement from within their own neighborhood and this work links that exuberant time to the larger history of LGBT people. This book is a very welcome addition to our enduring collective memory."

Order your copy of LGBT: San Francisco here.
Join us at PAPER in June and July as we celebrate Pride online with a series of digital-only covers, features, and galleries celebrating and supporting the diversity, beauty, resiliency, and humor of the LGBTQ community. For this feature we collaborated with Posture magazine to create a photo series embracing and illustrating the wide, diverse scope of the gender spectrum.

Posture is a Brooklyn based, queer-run magazine that is dedicated to the creative exploration of identity. We at Posture exist to give a platform to the voices of queer and emerging artists, and to reclaim the histories of our community. For Pride 2017, we produced a visual and narrative feature for PAPER that highlights individuals from across the gender spectrum. Photographed by artist Ryan Burke, and styled with the work of queer and POC designers, our vision of a queer-utopic future claims space for queer bodies and mindscelebrating Pride with the recognition of the evolutionary, boundary-pushing energy that exists within our community.

Check out the video below for a peek behind the scenes at the shoot.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTRHW0KZbq4&feature=youtu.be expand=1]

Posture also collaborated with Samsung, having each participant shoot their own 360 video. Stay tuned and catch a new video everyday at PAPER's Facebook page.







Producer and Posture Editor in Chief = Winter Mendelson / @winter.e.m

Interviewer/Writer and Arts Editor = Maya Harder Montoya @mayaceleste

Photographer = Ryan Burke / @ryburk of Kreative Kommune / @kreativekommune

Senior Photo Director = Asher Torres / @ashertorresphotography

Photo Director = Ryan Bevans / @ryanbevans

Set Designer = Mo Pepin / @mostafapep

Stylist and Fashion Director = Phil Gomez / @styledbyphil

Assistant Stylist = Paris Roman / @guncleparis

Hair = Liz Wright @thelizwright and Natalie Lopez de Quintana @duchessnatalia

Makeup = Katie Robinson @misskatiepage and Raisa Thomas @raisaflowers

Editorial Assistants = Christoph Farrukh @christofuhr and Jeremiah Corley @jeremiahtcorley

Location = Be Electric Studio / @beelectricstudio

360 video equipment sponsored by Samsung / @samsungusa

Special thanks to our in-kind sponsors = AP Cafe @ap_creative, Foster Sundry @foster sundry, and City Fresh Market

Videography = Alyza Enriquez @mxalyzaenriquez and Shaina Yang @moon.mansion

Video Editor = Joshua Durham @breadth_durham
This service applies to you if your subscription has not yet expired on our old site. You will have continued access until your subscription expires; then you will need to purchase an ongoing subscription through our new system. Please contact the Parsons Sun office at (620) 421-2000 if you have any questions
More than 1.25 billion people who live in India have variety of social, cultural, ecological, political and economic problems. As a consequence of these problems, a large population suffers from different physical, mental and spiritual problems in their day-to-day life. To say, increasing number of people is falling prey to many preventable and terminal diseases and consequently thousands of people are dying too.

There is also no denying the fact that the cost of modern medical treatment of even minor ailments is increasing day by day, making it unaffordable for people belonging to lower income group. Undoubtedly, this is equally true for all the people living in this world, may be in varying degree.

It is heartening, as far as India is concerned, to find that the new NHP (National Health Policy) aims at providing health security to all citizens of the country with a distinctive shift in focus from SICK-CARE to WELLNESS, and now the thrust is on PREVENTION and HEALTH PROMOTION.

Undeniably, its an excellent initiative of the Central Government, which must be implemented by all the state governments in letter and spirit to make India healthier and stronger in true sense. Sustained initiative at the level of individual, society and community also needs to be taken at right earnest. As such, the starting point would be to make every Indian aware and empowered as far as basic requirements of life are concerned.



The next step would be to act pro-actively for keeping our people truly healthy. And for that to materialize before long, it is necessary to make them adequately aware about the immense benefits of practicing Yoga - a costless activity, regularly and faithfully. Motivating the people consistently for this purpose is also very important. Undertaking Health Motivation and Awareness drive regularly in educational institutions, industrial units, offices etc. in this respect is highly desirable.

To say the least, Yoga is an age-old system  a perfect science to keep our body and mind both strong and agile. Yes, besides protecting us largely from many normal as well as minor ailments, the stress related major diseases can very well be prevented through practice of Yoga as well. This becomes possible due to sustained improvement in our 1) Blood circulation 2) Digestion 3) Immune system 4) Physical flexibility 5) Detoxification process 6) Memory power 7) Level of concentration 8) Awareness and Consciousness 9) Intuitive ability 10) Self- confidence 11) Energy level and 12) Peace of mind. The list is only indicative.

To put it plain and simple, practice of Yoga is bound to have perceptible positive impact on our day-to-day activity from home to work place to finally ensure quantum improvement in our overall state of health and happiness.

And finally, let us enjoy the golden words of B.K.S. Iyengar: Yoga has a threefold impact on health. It keeps healthy people healthy, it inhibits the development of diseases, and it aids recovery from ill health.

Milan Sinha has worked in senior positions in financial sector for three decades following three years of active writing in various newspapers and magazines. He is a post graduate in Chemistry from Patna University and also a graduate with Economics.

Presently, besides being a freelance writer / a regular contributor to newspapers & magazines, also engaged as a Stress Management, Lifestyle Management & Wellness consultant, Motivational Speaker and Awareness campaigner.

Moblie: +919608708344, Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
News and commentary on organized crime, street crime, white collar crime, cyber crime, sex crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, espionage and terrorism.
Reacting to the Tehran Attacks in Europe and the US

6/20/17

by Eldar Mamedov (source: LobeLog)

The European Parliament started its plenary session last week with a minute of silence to honor the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in London and Tehran. In this way, the EP has joined a number of other institutions, as well as leaders of the EU and its member states, in offering sympathy to the Iranian people.

For a country like Iran, which cannot boast of an abundance of international support and empathy, such a gesture from a leading Western institution was extremely valuable. The news and pictures of the minute of silence spread through the Iranian media immediately and boosted the good will towards the EU among the officials and general public.

There is a deep democratic significance for a parliament to offer its solidarity to a fellow parliament that was a target of a terrorist attack. In this particular case it also conveys a symbolic recognition by the European Parliament of the legitimacy of the Iranian parliament as a relatively democratic pillar of the Iranian political system.

This matters, given the background of intense efforts over the years to de-legitimize the Iranian institutions, including the elected ones, with the aim of building support for regime change. The well financed exile dissident group Mojaheddeen-e Khalk (MEK), in particular, has developed a strong lobby in the European Parliament promoting this cause.

The times, however, are changing. The images of Iranians voting in the last presidential elections, in a region where few other populations go to the polls, and re-electing their moderate president in a landslide, have certainly made an impact. They have also debunked, once again, the MEK's claims that the Iranian elections are void of any meaning. In fact, such efforts are provoking a growing backlash among the Euro MPs.

In this context, the fact that the European Parliament perceived the minute of silence dedicated to Iran as completely "normal" and appropriate is itself a testimony of the changing climate in EU-Iran relations.

Contrast this with the attitude in the United States. Although the State Department did issue a proper statement, the majority in the Senate rejected the proposal of Senators Bernie Sanders and Diane Feinstein to postpone the consideration of new anti-Iran sanctions. Instead, the Senate overwhelmingly approved the measures the week after the attacks in Tehran-despite a warning from former Secretary of State John Kerry that it could jeopardize the nuclear agreement with Iran.

Such an attitude reflects Washington's dominant view of Iran as a country unworthy of minimal sympathy even in such tragic circumstances. Hence, Trump's infamous words about states becoming targets of the "evil they promote." The sheer ignorance and insensitivity of these remarks is highlighted by the fact that the "evil" that hit Iran was also responsible for the terrorist attacks in America on 9/11 and in subsequent years in Paris, Brussels, London, Madrid, Manchester, and so on. Such attacks are not inspired by anything that has to do with Iran, but rather an extreme version of Wahhabism, the official creed of Saudi Arabia, whose vision for the Middle East Trump seems to have eagerly embraced.

In an irresponsible escalation shortly after the attacks, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has endorsed the idea of a regime change in Iran. He issued his comment, ironically, on the same day that his State Department released documents pertaining to the role the US played in overthrowing the popular government of Mohammad Mossadeq in 1953, an event to which today's poisoned state of the US-Iran relations could arguably be traced.





Related Articles:

Iran 1953 Covert History Quietly Released

Secretary of State Tillerson: U.S. Will Work To Bring Peaceful Transition In Iran



EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, by contrast, has reaffirmed once again the EU's strong commitment not only to the nuclear agreement, but also to a deeper engagement with Iran in diverse areas, from economy and energy to conflict resolution in the Middle East.

Recent history, particularly the process leading up to the conclusion of the nuclear deal, suggests that when Iran is shown a modicum of respect and recognition, it is more likely to respond positively to the concerns of its international counterparts than when bullied and insulted. The EU way of showing such respect puts it in a much better position to persuade Iran to abandon some of its more objectionable ways than threats coming from Washington.

The US could have built on the channel established by Tillerson's predecessor John Kerry with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in trying to solve outstanding issues, in particular regarding regional conflicts. Instead, the current administration is making sure not only to destroy that channel but also, with its callous and insulting response to the anti-Iranian terrorism, to create damage to US-Iranian relations that may well outlast Trump. This will not advance any of America's core interests in the Middle East. However, there is nothing to suggest that this administration realizes that.





This article reflects the personal views of the author and not necessarily the opinions of the European Parliament.



About the Author



Eldar Mamedov has degrees from the University of Latvia and the Diplomatic School in Madrid, Spain. He has worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia and as a diplomat in Latvian embassies in Washington D.C. and Madrid. Since 2007, Mamedov has served as a political adviser for the social-democrats in the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (EP) and is in charge of the delegation for inter-parliamentary relations between the EP and Iran.
Iran's UN envoy: Remarks by US secretary of State against UN Charter

6/20/17

Source: Press TV

Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations says US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent anti-Tehran remarks are in violation of international laws and norms and against the Charter of the United Nations. Gholam-Ali Khoshrou made the remarks on Sunday in a letter of condemnation to United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.





Gholam Ali Khoshroo, Iran's ambassador and permanent representative to UN



Tillerson told the House Foreign Relations Committee on June 14 that the Iranian government "continues activities and interventions that destabilize the Middle East." He added that Washington's policy towards Iran was based on supporting internal forces who could bring about peaceful change.



"Our policy towards Iran is to push back on this hegemony, contain their ability to develop obviously nuclear weapons, and to work toward support of those elements inside of Iran that would lead to a peaceful transition of that government. Those elements are there, certainly as we know," he said.





Related Articles:

Iran 1953 Covert History Quietly Released

Secretary of State Tillerson: U.S. Will Work To Bring Peaceful Transition In Iran



In his letter, Khoshrou stressed that Tillerson's remarks were a flagrant violation of the international legislation that directly apposed the UN's Charter, which mandates countries from interfering in each other's internal affairs.



"Tehran expects all governments to condemn such absurd and inappropriate policies, and to call on the US to act responsibly in accordance with the UN's charter and international law," Khoshrou said.



US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson testifies during a State, Foreign Operations and Related Programs Subcommittee hearing on the State Department's FY2018 Budget on Capitol Hill on June 13, 2017 in Washington. (Photo by AFP)

Earlier in the day, Iran summoned the Swiss charge d'affaires in Tehran to protest the "meddlesome" remarks by Tillerson.



Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi stressed that Tillerson's remarks were against the principles of international law and the international commitments of the US administration, including the United Nations Charter.





Related Article:

Iranian FM Zarif to Secretary Tillerson: U.S. Better Save Own Regime



On Sunday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said that all efforts made by the US to change the Iranian government have ended up in failure over the past decades.
No matter how good you may be with Google search, theres always something new to learn given Googles constant tweaks. This perpetual state of change is most noticeable in Chrome, where Google can integrate search capabilities with its own browser. To advance your search game, or just discover hidden tips, check out these master tips.

View the cached version of a page

IDG Hop into Googles time machine to see how a site looks when Google last captured it.

Googles all-knowing powers reach back to the previous versions of a website. If you click the arrow below the search result on a specific link, you can view the cached version of the page. This will take you to a static view of the last time Googles robot snapped a picture of that site.

Its useful for getting a quick peek, because youll only need to load a screen grab from Googles servers instead of the usual advertisements. Ive also used this if the site is having network problems.

You probably noticed an option for similar. Well tell you what thats about next.

Find related results

IDG Google can offer a little help at finding similar sites.

If you type related:searchterm into the search bar, Google will look for similar websites. The results could flesh out your research or give you a broader view on a topic. If nothing else, its way better for killing time than checking Twitter.

Look up that image

IDG Who needs words? Google can find other instances of an image with its search powers.

Theres a neat tool available when you right-click an image in Chrome. From the popup menu, select Search Google for this image and Google will pull up what it thinks is the same image found elsewhere online.

It can be hit-and-miss: In our example above, Google mistook an Acer Chromebook for a MacBook Pro. However, when youre searching for a needle in the Internets vast haystack, every little bit could help.

Search by voice

IDG Its not a Google Home, but you can still get plenty of information through a voice search on the desktop.

To chat with Google search on the desktop, open a new tab, click the microphone, and speak your query. Its as simple as that.

You dont yet get the artificial intelligence powers of Google Assistant or the smart home integrations that come with Google Home, but it will save you the extra keystrokes.

Search for results nearby

IDG Adding the word, nearby can put local suggestions front and center.

Sometimes just one word can make all the difference. For example, adding the word nearby to your search will tell Google youre more interested in finding a local coffee shop than learning the history of the worlds most popular bean. Try it when searching for restaurants or other neighborhood venues, and you may greatly improve the results of your search.

Find your Google Docs faster

IDG Find that file youre working on right from Google search.

Instead of firing up Drive, you can search it directly. To make this happen, go to Settings > Search > Manage search engines and type

https://drive.google.com/drive/search?q=%s

into the list of other search engines. Take a few moments to see which other integrations are present, as some will get added to your browser over time based on the sites you visit.

Find more on Google

IDG Find some content you might want to read about your favorite sports league.

Googles Knowledge Graph is one of the tools the search giant uses to give you information related to a desktop search. In this example from the NBA, youll see several posts of recent articles beneath the main search result.

Whats that word, again?

IDG Looking up a word on Google is the fastest way to get the meaning and other tidbits about it.

As good as Merriam-Webster and other major dictionary sites are, the fastest way to get a word is often right through Google. Type define: and then the word you want to know about.

Click the arrow for some word geekery. Youll see a line graph of the words popularity over time, and you can translate it into a different language. Its just one more way that Google can be your all-knowing research companion.

Find by file type

IDG If youre after a PDF, tell Google so it knows what to look for.

Teachers, students, or others conducting research may be after a PDF, Word document, or another file thats easy for sharing. If theres a particular type you want, add in filetype: and then add in pdf, docx, or another format after the search term.

Have a little fun

IDG A session of Breakout may break up the monotony of the work day.

Take a break from research drudgery by firing up the old-school Atari Breakout game. Type Breakout Google into the search bar, then click the result labelled, atari breakout  Google Search  G.co. The screen will morph into a mosaic of tiles to be broken apart during your Breakout session.

Another fun choice Google Pac-Man, which always is a nice way to kill a few minutes.
Its not just the folks at AMD who hope that that the companys Epyc server processor, officially launched Tuesday, will break Intels stranglehold on the data-center chip market.

Enterprise users, web hosting companies and hyperscale cloud providers all want competition and choice in server chips to curb costs and fuel innovation.

OEMs have been looking for an alternative to Intel for a long time, and with Intel having 98 percent market share I can say that theres absolutely a need, from the OEM point of view and the channel point of view, said Patrick Moorhead, principal at Moor Insights & Strategy.

Judging from specs, performance benchmarks and memory features as well as the supporting voices from software and hardware makers in the data center ecosystem, Epyc has the best shot of any chip to hit the market in years at putting a crack in Intels dominance.

For AMD to penetrate the market, win hearts and minds, to create value that customers are willing to pay for, we have to be disruptive, said Dan Bounds, senior director of data center products and enterprise solutions at AMD. To come in and have a product that looks and smells like the competition really isnt useful.

Though AMD has been teasing Epycs features for some time, and leaks of spec sheets have been circulating this past week, Tuesdays launch is the first official public unveiling of details for the whole product stack.

The bottom rung features the Epyc 7251, which offers eight cores supporting 16 simultaneous threads, and a base frequency of 2.1GHz that tops out at 2.9GHz at maximum boost. The top of the line Epyc 7601 has a whopping 32 cores, 64 threads and a base frequency of 2.2GHz, with maximum boost at 3.2GHz. Intels Xeon chips, meanwhile, have up to 24 cores.

AMD AMDs Epyc processor family ranges from eight cores to 32 cores.

As more and more data moves to the cloud, data center servers are put increasingly under stress. Adding cores to processors will help servers react quickly, for example, to search requests as well as recognize images and process video faster.

But the Epyc story doesnt stop at the number of cores the processor offers. All the processors, up and down the product range, offer eight memory channels supporting up to 2666MHz DDR4 DRAM, 2TB of memory and 128 PCIe lanes. TDP (thermal design power), the maximum amount of heat expected to be generated by a chip, ranges from 120W at the low end of the range up to 180W for the monster 32-core model.

To top it off, all of this is offered in a single-socket chip, which can be paired with another Epyc chip in a two-socket system.

At the high end, in approximately the $4,000 range, AMD internal benchmarks show the Epyc 7601 single-socket package offering 75 percent higher floating point performance (for spreadsheets, graphics and games, for instance) and 47 percent higher integer processing performance (for whole-number and text processing, for example) than Intels E5-2699A v4. Interestingly, AMD benchmarks show 70 percent higher integer performance over Intel in the mid-range, $800 price point level, with the Epyc 7301 facing off against the Intel E5-7630.

At the Tuesday unveiling, AMD has a variety of partners doing demos to back all of this up. Pricing is important, but its the entirety of the SoC (system on a chip) that gives AMD a foothold in the data center.

What makes it so attractive is that its not just AMD selling something for less, said Moorhead. Its that a single socket server with all of the bandwidth and cores that are available will allow people to make smaller servers so you can have a higher density, and density is key particularly with the hyperscalers or even people in hosting.

Essentially, Epyc allows data centers to fit more servers into a smaller space, saving power, space, and operating costs. The greater the scale, the greater the savings.

AMD AMDs Epyc processor is available in one-socket and two-socket models.

AMD says its the balance of performance and scalable memory that is its big differentiator. The floating point performance we believe gets us a seat at the table and allows us then to unpack our memory bandwidth story and our memory performance, said AMDs Bounds.

Having the same memory capability and the same I/O footprint across the product range, from the 8-core version to the 32-core version, is key, Bounds said. Its a massive, massive differentiator and disruptor over Broadwell and will continue to be so over Skylake, he said, referring to Intels current and next-generation Xeon architecture, expected to be officially launched in July.

While Skylake will offer a performance hike over Broadwell, the expected 15 percent boost will not be enough to make up the gap with Epyc, especially in the single-socket package, while the memory scalability will also help AMDs new chip to stay competive, Moorhead agreed.

Epyc will be socket-compatible with the next generation of the product family, and it also has a dedicated security subsystem, where AMD is burning cryptographic functions into the silicon of the memory controllers, effectively encrypting memory, Moorhead noted.

This is AMDs third big try in the server market; it has had enough success and failure to say it knows what it takes to be successful.

When it came out with the Opteron Dual Core processor in 2005, offering a twofold single-socket performance advantage over Xeon, it grabbed 20 percent of the market within two years. But a few years later, bugs and postponements in the launch of its Barcelona chip architecture allowed Intel to recapture lost ground.

Then, AMD moved away from X86 architecture and embraced ARM, but Intel made technical advancements such as increasing power efficiency, reducing advantages that ARM offered. Several makers of ARM-based chips have gone out of business and by the time AMD released ARM-based servers, there was little interest.

At the March summit for the Facebook-founded Open Compute Project (OCP), Microsoft said it was working with Cavium and Qualcomm to embrace ARM as part of its Project Olympus next-generation modular system architecture for cloud computing, but that alone is likely not enough to bring about actual deployments of ARM server chips anytime soon.

Meanwhile, also at the summit, AMD announced that it too was working with Microsoft to incorporate Epyc into Project Olympus. Unlike ARM chips, Epyc, which incorporates the X86-based Zen architecture of its recently launched Ryzen Threadripper processors for PCs, does not require software makers to rewrite code already tuned to x86.

A big part of AMDs Epyc rollout involves highlighting support its getting from the industry, including declarations from HPE, Lenovo, Dell-EMC, Asus and Gigabyte. On the software side, Microsoft, Red Hat, VMWare, Xen, Suse and Citrix have certified or are in the process of certifying applications and databases for Epyc.

Ultimately, though, the proof that Epyc can make a dent in the market will come when the hardware makers come out with Epyc-based systems, and users deploy them. Some Epyc servers are expected out in the next few quarters, with ramp-up of production extending into 2018. Likely, cloud providers and hosters will be among the first users.
The Customs and Excise Department of Malaysia on Thursday intercepted a shipment of pangolin scales from Ghana worth 5 million ringgit ($1.2 million) at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Thursday.



The Director of the Customs and Excise Department of Malaysia, Datuk Hamzah Sundang said the scales, packed in 16 large boxes, were seized at the Air Cargo Free Trade Zone of the airport.



The consignment arrived via Turkish Airlines from Ghana. "The scales weighing 400kg are believed to be worth more than RM5mil. "Such merchandise needs an import permit and therefore is illegal," he told reporters at his office.



What is a pangolin?



Pangolins, often called scaly anteaters, are covered in tough, overlapping scales. These burrowing mammals eat ants and termites using an extraordinarily long, sticky tongue, and are able to quickly roll themselves up into a tight ball when threatened.



Eight different pangolin species can be found across Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.



Poaching for illegal wildlife trade and habitat loss have made these incredible creatures one of the most endangered groups of mammals in the world.

Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

Featured Video
The Cape Coast Court District One presided over by Rita Amoanyiwaa Edusah, yesterday, discharged the seven suspected killers of the late Major Maxwell Adam Mahama.



The Magistrate earlier questioned why some of the accused persons were brought to court without having shoes on and expressed concern also about the injuries on their body. She was informed that they were arrested barefooted.



She ordered the prosecutor to allow the accused persons communicate with their counsel.



When the case was called, the prosecutor, ASP Hilarious Avonyo stated that they were not going to continue the case against the suspects who were arrested for the alleged murder of Major Mahama because the Criminal Investigation Department in Accra had taken over the case hence prayed the court to discharge the accused persons.



He said the request was to allow the police in Accra to continue with the case.



The seven suspects are residents of Denkyira Obuasi in the Upper Denkyira West in the Central Region where the late Major Mahama was lynched.



They were charged provisionally with murder by the Cape Coast District Court One which remanded them in police custody for further investigation.



The counsel for the accused persons, George Bernard Shaw did not oppose the prosecutors request when the court granted it.



The accused persons who were released are Yaw Anor 32 years, Kofi Badu, 29 years, William Baah 36 years, Bismark Donkor 36 years, Kofi Nyame 29 years and Anthony Amoah 23 years.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A policeman only identified as Lance Corporal Kwaku Mensah stationed at Anwiankwanta in the Bekwai Municipality of the Ashanti Region has been shot by suspected robbers.



The incident occurred at Adansi Akwansrem, a community in the Adansi North District of the Central Region after a Sprinter Benz bus with registration number GN 229-13 heading to Kumasi from New Edubiasi was attacked by the robbers on Tuesday dawn.



According to one of the victims, the robbers after robbing their victims of who were occupants of the vehicle spotted the cop in uniform trying to conceal himself but this was said to have provoked one of the bandits who shot him at close range on the chest.



They claimed police have recently waged war against them and have been killing them indiscriminately



The cop said to be in critical condition, has since been rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi while police in the area have promised to track down the robbers.



The incident comes barely a week after Constable Michael Kporyi was also shot to death by unknown assailants while on patrol duties at Michel Camp in Accra.



It is not known the intent of his attackers but they were reported to have fled immediately he was gunned down from his patrol motorbike with registration number GP4350.



Nothing was taken away from him as one fully loaded AK47 rifle, one pepper spray, a pair of handcuffs and a torch light was found on him when his colleagues arrived at the scene.

Source: mynewsgh.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Supreme Court has placed an embargo on the shares owned by the businessman, Mr Alfred Agbesi Woyome, in 11 companies, following his GH51.2 million indebtedness to the state.



Shares of the businessman affected include those in Anator Holding Company Limited, AAW Management Consulting Services Limited, Green Township Security Services Company Limited, Anator Construction Company Limited, Woyome Brothers International Limited and Stewise Anator Company Limited.



The rest are Stewise Shopping Company Limited, Green Townships and Industrial Parks Development Company Limited, Anator Power Company Limited, Green Townships (GH) Company Limited and Special Economic Zone International Trading Company Limited.



Per the order, Mr Woyome must appear before the court on June 29, 2017 to explain why the embargo should not be made permanent.



A copy of the order should be served on the said judgement/debtor to appear before this court on Thursday, 29th June, 2017 to show cause why the charging order should not be made absolute, the order stated.



The Supreme Court order, granted by Mr Justice A.A. Benin, sitting as a sole judge, was in relation to a motion filed by the Attorney-General (A-G) on May 17, 2017 praying the court to impose a charging order on all the shares owned by the businessman in the 11 companies.



Oral examination



Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ordered Mr Woyome to appear before it on June 29, 2017 to be orally examined by the A-G with regard to the GH51.2 million debt.



The order followed a motion filed by the A-G on June 2, 2017, praying the court to be given the opportunity to orally examine the businessman



The oral examination, the court ordered, would border on whether Mr Woyome owed the state any debt and whether he had any property for satisfying the judgement of this court, dated July 29, 2014.



Also, the oral examination, according to the court, would be premised on whether the businessman has any means of satisfying the judgement of this court, dated July 29, 2014 and the manner in which he used the money paid to him by the Republic of Ghana.



Mr Amidus legal warfares



In the said July 29, 2014 judgement, the Supreme Court had ordered the businessman to refund the GH51.2 million judgement debt which was paid to him between 2009 and 2010.



According to the court, Mr Woyome had no valid contract with the state and, therefore, did not deserve the money paid him.



The legal action which gave rise to the judgement was initiated by a former A-G, Mr Martin Amidu.



Since the judgement, Mr Amidu, known as Citizen vigilante, had mounted a number of legal warfares to ensure that Mr Woyome refunded the money to the state.



In 2016, he filed an action at the Supreme Court to be given the opportunity to orally examine Mr Woyome over how he (Woyome) intended to repay the money.



The move was after the then A-G had discontinued the request to orally examine the businessman after the two parties had agreed on a payment module in which Mr Woyome paid GH4 million.



Although the Supreme Court granted his prayer, Mr Amidu abandoned the oral examination when the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the 2016 elections.



According to him, the NPP had promised to retrieve the money as a matter of urgency and, therefore, there was the need for him to give the government the space to do so.

Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Volta Regional Minister, Dr. Archiebald Yaw Letsa, has expressed dissatisfaction with the unnecessary sale of government lands to individuals and groups in the region, particularly in Ho and other district capitals.



He therefore directed the Volta Regional Office of the Lands Commission to, as a matter of urgency, halt the sale of government lands until further notice.



Dr Letsa noted that the sale of lands had security implications for the region, which would eventually affect its development.



The Volta Regional Lands Commission has for some time been implementing a programme called Infilling in the region, which allows it to allocate government lands to people.



The project, according to the Commission, was approved by the previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government.



Under the programme, the commission surveys, creates plots and grants leases for land near the Volta Regional Ministers Residency. The leases are granted for as long as 99 years.



After assuming office, Dr Letsa bemoaned the negative effects of the concept whereby allocations had been made too close to the Residency, bungalows of government institutions and public officials to the total neglect of the attendant security implications.



He therefore called for an immediate halt to the exercise, but for some unknown reasons, the Volta Regional Lands Commission flouted that order and continued to lease the lands.



DAILY GUIDE has gathered that about three acres of land behind the Residency had been leased for the construction of a hotel.



I am shocked that the Commission is not protecting the lands for future state use nor moved by the basic knowledge that trees and green environment are necessaries in the effectual synergy of plant, animal and human life, which provoked the sages to say that when the last tree dies, the last man dies with it.



In order to halt the exercise, the Minister has sent a letter to the Minister for Lands and Natural Resources and the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission to review or possibly halt the entire exercise.



He therefore assured all who might have paid for lands allocated them under the programme that should there be a review or outright cancellation, their monies would be refunded to them by the commission after proof of payment.



Dr. Letsa, who disclosed this during a press conference over the weekend, used the opportunity to advise public officials to serve the national interest.

Source: Daily Guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Attorney Generals office has initiated steps to orally examine businessman, Alfred Woyome, in the controversial GHc 51 million judgment debt saga. Documents sighted by Citi News indicate that, on June 2, 2017, an ex-parte motion to examine Mr. Woyome was filed.



The document noted that, Mr Woyome will be examined on issues pertaining to whether he owed any debts, whether he has property to satisfy the debt, and the manner in which he used the judgment debt money paid him, among others.



Thus, Mr. Woyome will be expected to appear before the court on June, 29, 2017 for the examination. A separate document also noted that, a charge has been placed on the property of Mr. Woyome, as sought by the Attorney Generals office.



The companies affected by the charge included Anator Holding Company Limited, AAW Management Consulting Services, Anator Construction Company Limited, Green Township Security Services Company Limited, Woyome Brothers International Limited, Stewise Anator Company limited and Stewise Shipping Compan Limited.



Background to Judgment Debt saga Mr. Woyome was paid GHc 51 million after claiming he helped Ghana raise funds to construct stadia for the hosting of the 2008 African Cup of Nations.



However, an Auditor Generals report released in 2010, held that the amount was paid illegally to him. Subsequently, the Supreme Court in 2014 ordered Mr. Woyome to pay back the money, after a former Attorney General, Martin Amidu, single-handedly challenged the legality of the payments.



Following delays in retrieving the money, Supreme Court judges unanimously granted the Attorney-General clearance to execute the courts judgment, ordering Mr. Woyome to refund the cash to the state.



Mr. Amidu himself, in 2016, filed an application at the Supreme Court seeking to examine Alfred Woyome, on how he was going to pay back the money, after the Attorney Generals office under the Mahama Administration, led by the former Minister for Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, discontinued a similar application.



In February 21017 however, Mr. Amdu withdrew his suit seeking an oral examination, explaining that the change of government and the assurance by the new Attorney General to retrieve all judgement debts wrongfully paid to individuals, had given him renewed confidence in the system.

Source: citifmonline









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Police prosecutors in Cape Coast have discontinued the case against the first batch of seven suspects said to have taken part in the lynching of Major Maxwell Mahama Adam.



The move was to allow for the transfer of the case to Accra for prosecution.



The seven, including the assembly man for Denkyira Obuasi, William Baah who is alleged to have incited others to kill Major Mahama were being held for the provisional charge of murder.



The others are Philip Badu, 30 a prison assistant, Yaw Annor, 32, mason, Kofi Badu, 29, farmer, Kofi Nyame, 29, farmer and Anthony Amoah, 23 a motor bike operator.



Prosecutors Prayer



Police Prosecutors had prayed the court to discharge the accused persons since the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at the Police headquarters in Accra has taken over case.



The suspects first appeared before the Court on June 1, 2017 but the case was adjourned to Monday June 19 after the prosecutor, ASP Hilarious Avonyo, prayed the court to remand them for further investigations.



A Cape Coast District Court presided over by Rita Amoaninwah Edusah discontinuing the case, asked the police to allow those who had injuries access to medical care and to counsel.



The counsel for the accused persons, Mr George Bernard Shaw, agreed with the decision, saying he was hopeful the accused would be given adequate access to their counsel.



Major Mahama was brutally killed last month by some residents of Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region as he went jogging.



All suspects, 52 in number are now in Accra.

Source: Daily Graphic









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Ada community has been charged to maintain their clean sheet status as one of the most peaceful communities to exist in Ghana even as the people gear up to celebrate the 80th Anniversary of its grand Festival, Asafotufiami.



This year's edition is a special 80th edition meant to remind the people of Ada of the rich cultural heritage, the heroism of their forefathers and its potential investor relations as well as tourism prospects.



TV Africa, a member of Groupe Ideal, is the official media partner for this years ASAFOTUFIAMI.



The 80th milestone also coincides with the 40th anniversary of the enstoolment of Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III -Paramount Chief of Ada Traditional Area.



This years event will be attended by highly ranked dignitaries including diplomats and representatives of foreign missions in Ghana.

According to the Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area, Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III, maintaining peace in his region was key as part of the transformational journey.



The Chief was particularly excited about the growing euphoria from across the country as well as fruitful co-operation from the diaspora community on the festivity.



Nene Abram Kabu Akuaku III, was speaking at the official launch of the 80th Anniversary of the Ada Asafotufiami Festival held on Tuesday at the Labadi Beach Resort in Accra.



"For us the People of ADA, this event bring people from far and near to rejuvenate once again under one tradition. We therefore decided to make the 80th anniversary special to appeal to the larger audience and tourist as well," he said.



He further called on all Ghanaians to be part of the celebration with lined up of events from August 2017.



Director of Communications at Groupe Ideal, Ekow Blankson in his address expressed excitement acknowledging that supporting this year's Asafotufiami, was a wonderful ocassion and a great privilege to Ideal.



"Festivals portray our rich cultural heritage and as such an avenue to call in investor relations which can boost the economy if done right. Investors through this festival will have an experience of our various business sectors of the economy," Mr. Blankson said.

He also pledged Groupe Ideal's continuous support for the festival and development of the Ada community at large.



"We are making no small plans this year and our support for tourism through such festivities will continue. I am of the conviction that before we move from this room all corporate bodies will see the need to be a part of this years festivity due to the highly potential benefits to our mother Ghana."



What is the Asafotufiami festival all about?



The Ada Asafotufiami is a rich cultural heritage celebrated annually around the first week of August. It is celebrated mainly, in remembrance of the invaluable achievements of the Founding Fathers and Ancestors, especially in the many wars of the survival and development of Ada.



Brief background of the celebration



The expression Asafotufiami simply means company or Divisional Firing of Musketry. It is therefore a War Festival that commemorates the heroic achievements of their ancestors.



On that day all Adas start arriving in their respective homes. At early dawn on Friday the two main Asafo war dances of Akofode and Asorkor parade through town yelling and singing the war songs. In the morning of Friday, all the divisional clans move in orderly procession on the principal streets amidst musketry firing, drumming, war songs and dancing.



Significance of the festival



The mission is to inspire and empower one another using effective and innovative means to increase the living standard of people through common cultural practices and salt mining. To improve the living standards of people through education



The vision of Ada is a seven year development agenda which is focused on four areas which are Economic Growth, Infrastructural Development, Health Care and Education. By 2020 it will become the centre of economic activities of Tourism and Trade in Agriculture.

There are also the tourism prospects, and the pursuit to bring people from far and near and again showcasing ADA as well as Ghana as a country with rich culture heritage.



Projects from the festival



Songor Ramsar and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve is one of the protected wetlands situated along the eastern portion of Ghanas 550km sandy coast. Songor Ramsar and UNESCO Biosphere reserve is the only natural entry point where the largest man-made lake the Volta River enters the Atlantic Ocean. The substratum of one of the biggest lagoon in Ghana Sangor provides excellent feeding and roosting grounds for wintering birds during their migratory journey.



The Asafotufiami Festival of the people of Ada Traditional area in the Dangme East District is a rich cultural heritage celebrated annually in the first week of August.



The festival is a remembrance of the achievements in the wars for settlement fought by our ancestors, hence the name ASAFOTUFIAMI. ASAFOTU, as the name implies, is company firing of musketry.

The celebration is mainly in remembrance of the invaluable achievements of the Founding Fathers and Ancestors, especially in the many wars of survival and development of Ada.



It is one of the biggest events in the region and draws over three (3) million people to Ada. The festival has become a homecoming event for the people of Ada in the diaspora as well as from all the 10 regions of Ghana. The colourful display of the rich culture of the Ada tradition attracts people from all walks of life to this festival.



2017 Asafotufiami Festival Event



The main event will be held at Ada August 3 to 10, 2017, with a line-up of interesting and heritage-centered activities.

Key Highlights of the Festival

 Floats from Tema to Ada.

 Food Bazaar - Cooking Competition

 Drumming and Dancing

 Royal Walk and Regatta

 Beach Games

 Party for the Aged

 Grand Durbar



PROJECTS

Proceeds from fundraising activities at this years event will be used for the following:



1. Build a modern & befitting Palace for the Paramount Chief of the Ada Traditional Area.



2. Build a Community Health Post (CHPS Compound) for Ada Community.

SPONSORS



 Groupe Ideal is the main sponsor of this years Asafotufiami Festival.



 TV Africa is the Media Partner for this years edition of the festival

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Ghanaians are feeling insecure in the country under the first six months of President Akufo-Addos administration says Former Ghana's High Commissioner to India, Sam Pee Yalley.



He was speaking to the pockets of violence erupting in the country with the latest one being the lynching of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama and the shooting of Constable Michael Kporyi of the Ghana Police Service by unknown assailants while on patrol duties at Michel Camp in Accra.



Sam Pee Yalley does not understand why the President should be outside the country while these attacks are taking place.



According to him, President Akufo-Addo needs to stop travelling around and put measures in place in the country to make Ghanaians safe.



Ghanaians need your leadership more in this crisis. You have travelled enough come home we need you to come and sit at the flagstaff house and work, he said.



Sam Pee Yalley who was contributing to a panel discussion on Radio Golds 'Alhaji and Alhaji' added There is a sinister ploy in this country being perpetrated by a group of people under the NPP; they could be subordinate criminals parading as NPP people but it takes a commander in chief, a man who has sworn an oath to defend this country and the constitution to be in office giving instructions and directives. You dont go to town hall meetings and be issuing instructions. You dont do that. There is so much wrong going on in this country and we need a leader. Mr President where are you? Mr President where are you? People are being killed, policemen are being shot, cocaine is turning to this, gold is turning to this; Mr President where are you. You cannot put this country on autopilot. We need your leadership in this country. For the first six months things have not gone well . . . Mr. President we are sinking and we need your leadership.

Source: Rebecca Addo Tetteh/Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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States of Jersey Police have issued a statement about the sudden death of 18-year-old British teenager, Kyle Pringle of St Helier in the Channel Islands, UK, on Saturday morning, after ingesting Ikea-branded ecstasy tablets.

Three arrests in association with the event have been made, and a quantity of the tablets seized.

Police have issued a public health warning regarding the batch of yellow and blue pills, stamped with the Ikea logo, adding that users have described the pills as stronger than expected and some have even sought medical treatment following consumption.

States of Jersey Police wrote:

We strongly advise members of the public not to take these tablets in the interests of their health. Anyone who does take the tablets and becomes unwell are urged to seek medication attention through their GP or in an emergency, attend at the Accident & Emergency Department.

Photo: States of Jersey Police

Source: BBC
Ahhhhhh, Dark Mofo.

It has become this countrys most popular annual event, and its no mystery why.

Every year it transforms the humble Tasmanian city of Hobart into the closest thing well ever have to Berlin.

The trendiest city slickers descent on the triangular island for a culture fix, with art installations, solstice swims in the River Derwent and gourmet food some of the festivals biggest draw cards. Oh, and the whole Museum of Old and New Art stuff is kinda a big deal, too.

And as is the case with any large gathering of humans beings, there are bound to be a few run-ins with the po po.

One of them involved a bloke called Matt Haubrick who has been charged with annoying behaviour, refusing to give the cops his name and address and unlawfully possessing a dangerous article in a public place over his protest of Hermann Nitschs controversial 150.Action performance at the festivals Dark Park on Friday night.

The performance he wanted shut down was a 3-hour long bull slaughter performance art piece, during which performers dressed in all-white rip apart a bull carcass. It involves wooden crosses, fruit, vegetables, and no less than 500 litres of animal blood. Yep, its fuckin hectic is what it is.

Haubrick dressed himself in a hessian bag and began whipping himself in an effort to tenderise his body in protest Nitschs acclaimed bull slaughter performance.

I offered myself as a human sacrifice to festival organisers as an alternative to killing the bull, he told the ABC. It is impossible for an animal to consent to being murdered, he said.

Haubrick went on to explain that Dark Mofo organisers permitted his protest as long as he stopped asking punters to joint in whipping him. Despite this, he was arrested by police.

Haubrick was later released on bail, on the condition he did not go within 50 metres of Dark Mofo performances. Hes due to appear in the Magistrates Court in Hobart next month.

Its not the first time this dude has undertaken an out-there public stunt. Back in 2011, he was tackled by security guards after lunging at then-PM Julia Gillard on a visit to a Darwin university. He later explained he was protesting the proposed nuclear waste storage facility in the NT.

Source: ABC.

Photo: Mona/Remi Chauvin.

Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly claimed the performance art piece involved an actual bull sacrifice and thousands of litres of animal blood. This has since been edited.
John Wallace Edwards has been arrested today at his new girlfriends home in Redcliffe, Brisbane, for the murder of his estranged wife, missing primary school teacher Sharon Edwards.

Police are also currently searching the home in Lawrence, northern NSW where the couple of 33 years raised their children.

John Wallace is expected to appear at Brisbane Magistrates Court tomorrow, where detectives will seek his extradition to NSW.

It is alleged that Sharon and John Wallace had an argument before she died.

Coffs Clarence Local Area Command Detective Inspector Darren Jameson said: We are satisfied that an altercation has taken place that has led to the death of Mrs Edwards. And that is the reason why that arrest warrant has been issued.

Fifty-five-year-old Sharon disappeared from her home, which she once shared with John Wallace, 61, in Grafton in northern NSW after a night out with mates at the Good Intent Hotel on March 14, 2015.

Concerns were raised about her whereabouts when she did not turn up for work at Coutts Crossing Public School on March 16, 2015. Her son Eli Edwards has said that he became worried when Sharon did not respond to photographs he sent to her showing her granddaughters first steps.

Police found her car and clothing from the night out, but could not locate her phone or handbag. Her phone data was traced on March 15 to the Lawrence area.

In April 2015, Sharon and John Wallaces sons, Zac, Josh and Eli, and John Wallace himself, fronted the media, asking for information from the public about Sharons disappearance, as the police shifted the focus of their investigation from missing person to homicide.

John Wallace was first identified as a suspect back in 2015, but denied any involvement, describing Sharon as a lovely person, and saying at the media conference: Someone out there must know something Ive been just sitting at home wracking my brains out, going crazy.

The next day, John Wallace confessed that he had been hiding firearms around Grafton, handing over to police a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun, before helping them to find other weapons in bushland and near waterways. Police divers also uncovered a school-issued laptop while searching.

John Wallace was sentenced in September 2015 to a years jail, with a non-parole period of three months, for unregistered firearm and ammunition possession.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Photo: Supplied
Thirty-two-year-old Townsville woman, Susan Donna Daniells, was released from custody yesterday after being found guilty of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

Daniells was sentenced yesterday by Judge Greg Lynham in the District Court of Townsville to 12 months in prison, but was released on a $500 reconnaissance, and under the conditions that she be of good behaviour and complete 18 months probation.

She had already spent 134 days in custody.

Between December 9, 2016, and Australia Day this year, Daniells made 154 calls to triple-0.

In court, Lynham said:

Your offending and using the triple-0 service in the way you have is inexcusable. Id like to think Ms Daniells in times of you being lucid you would well understand the triple-0 service is a very important service.

The last thing the police need is for people like you repeatedly ringing the triple-0 number and abusing the operators who are just doing their jobs.

Its unacceptable. There is no excuse for it and the fact you have a long history of engaging in this sort of conduct is very concerning for me.

Daniells barrister, Harvey Walters, described his clients calls as a cry for help, drawing attention to her mental heath issues, which include depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, and borderline personality disorder.

In 2014, Daniells was sentenced to 162 days imprisonment, declared as time served, for making hundreds of calls to emergency services, some from public phone boxes, where she would swear at operators, then hang up.

Photo: Fox

Source: Townsville Bulletin
Johnny Depps former business manager, Joel Mandel, warned the Pirates of the Carribean actor against overspending back in December 2009, a newly leaked email exchange reveals.

In the emails, published by The Hollywood Reporter, Mandel asks Depp to spend less over Christmas, and to set a limit for himself at an auction of the (actually, there are three that it could be, and this is only one of those) wooden pistol American gangster John Dillinger used to escape from an Indiana jail in 1934. Depp of course played Dillinger in Public Enemies. The pistol later sold for $US19,120.

Mandel also suggests working with Depp to create a financial plan:

I need to be able to sit with you so that we can talk about where we are financially, what we have borrowed in order to sustain ourselves, what we have had to do to obtain those borrowings, what is now necessary to pay those borrowings back and, finally, to look realistically at income and expenses and work together to make sure these are back in balance.

The emails indicate that Depp had in fact known that he was on a sinking ship (hurr hurr hurr), money-wise.

Depp replied that he would forgo the auction spend, but said there was only so much I can do about holiday spending as he intended to give his family as good a Christmas as possible. He then outlined his earnings for his next few projects: 20 million for the unmemorable The Tourist, released in 2010; 35 million for the franchise that will not end Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Times (2011); and 20 million for the underwhelming Dark Shadows (2012).

Depp writes:

i hope that by the amount that will be coming in from work in the coming year and also from back end proceeds, etc., will put everything straight.

what else can i do??? you want me to sell some art??? you want me to sell something else??? sure  what??? boat is going to be charted at new years other than that, i got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings, and some semblance of a soul left. Where would you like me to start???

Depp is suing his former managers, The Management Group, and its owners Mandel and his brother Robert, for more than $US28 million, which they were paid as his management over 16 years. The lawsuit alleges that the company actively concealed the true state of Mr Depps finances while driving him deeper and deeper into financial distress.

His former managers lawyer, Michael J Kump, says Depp himself was at fault for his own financial mismanagement, and called the lawsuit a fabrication: The Management Group did everything possible to protect Depp from his irresponsible and profligate spending. The Mandels have filed a countersuit, and are attempting to subpoena Depps agent, Tracey Jacobs, and lawyer, Jake Bloom, for communications regarding the actors finances.

But the question remains, exactly what garbage film choice robbed Johnny Depp of the rest of his soul? A: probably The Lone Ranger.

Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin / Getty

Source: News.com.au
Lets address the very large elephant in the room immediately: Pamela Anderson and Julian Assange are dating.

Its not confirmed, in the sense that neither of them have explicitly said yes we are dating, but Anderson has been snapped making frequent trips to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where Assange is currently holed up like a rat in a wall cavity avoiding a fire poker. She has been photographed bringing in books, food, clothes, and all sorts of other related paraphernalia. She enters the building, stays a considerable amount of time, and leaves. They are bonking, they are absolutely, unquestionably rooting in there.

Now then, onto the rest of this incredible yarn.

Not only is Anderson gleefully leaking Assanges nerdish dick from his secured pants, shes also apparently hatching a plan to spring him from his luxurious self-imposed prison.

Anderson, who lives in her adopted home of France these days, is opening up a vegan restaurant in the south of the country called La Table du Marche, alongside chef Christophe Leroy. The catch is its only going to be open for a grand total of 50 days, but it is offering something Anderson describes as a dream come true, and festive, glamorous, and vegan.

Thats not the surprising bit; Pams been a life-long animal rights activist and supporter of vegan organisations the world over.

Where things do get strange is in a subsequent posting on her website where she muses that the restaurant itself may hold the key to finally releasing him after five years of confinement in the Embassy.

Anderson, after referring to Assanges political espionage and struggles against various powerful Governments sexy, made an appeal to new French President Emmanuel Macron in a blog posting on her website, hinting that vegan food and her restaurant in the south of the country could provide the diplomatic location necessary to negotiate asylum in France.

I am reaching out to Emmanuel Macron, and to his wife Brigitte Trogneux. As a resident of France, my adopted home, I would like to meet with you and discuss Julians situation. I am opening a new vegan restaurant in France in July, and I would like to extend my invitation to the new President and his First Lady. Join me on the day I open the doors, and we will sit and eat good food and discuss what can be done for Julian. France could display its strength, and so could you, if you give Julian asylum.

She also appealed to Jeremy Corbyn, the absolute boy, President Donald Trump, and China to assist in the immediate release of Assange. But it was the French proposal that she leaned hardest into.

Whether or not international diplomacy can be swayed by tofu and mock meat is  quite obviously  yet to be determined.

For what its worth, Anderson concludes the blog posting with a reprinting of William Ernest Henleys famous poem Invictus, before she signs off with I love you.

They are absolutely boning so much.

Source: Pamela Anderson Foundation.

Photo: Tony Barson/Getty.
Hell, dont just call Mum. Call Dad. Call your whole fam. Call your mates. Call *everyone*.

Paul McCartney, he of the Beatles members still alive, has confirmed hell be touring Australia and New Zealand for the first time in 24 years this coming December.

McCartneys currently on-going One on One world tour will visit familiar shores this coming December, with dates to be revealed in a planned Facebook Live chat and Q&A with Tim Minchin acting as host, which is scheduled to be broadcast tomorrow night at 7:30pm AEST.

McCartneys last full Australian tour was way back in 1993. In 2002 Sir Paul was scheduled to perform two shows in Melbourne, but he abruptly cancelled them citing the then-recent Bali Bombings as the reason. At the time, McCartney stated that it was not the appropriate time for a rock show.

The One on One tour began snaking its way around the globe in April of last year, and travelled through the United States and Canada, as well as Argentina, a run through mainland Europe, a second visit to the US and Canada all in 2016, before picking up again in April this year with a short run through Japan.

Other planned tour dates between now and December includes yet another visit to the US and Canada, and a run of four shows in Brazil. Curiously, the United Kingdom is yet to feature on the tour schedule.

Theres no specific dates or venues just yet, but Melbournes AAMI Park is strongly believed to be the venue of choice in the Victorian capital.

All will be revealed tomorrow when McCartney goes live on his Facebook page.

Ticket and tour info can be found via Frontier Touring.

Source: Paul McCartney/Facebook.

Photo: Kevin Mazur/Getty.
Ahh no. Video has emerged of US rapper YG asking female fans at his Brisbane concert to flash him, unaware that they were underage.

Footage posted by club promoter Trippa MC shows the rapper telling the Eatons Hill Hotel crowd: I see some ladies sitting on some shoulders. Dont sit on those shoulders if you dont show them titties.



He then starts chanting, SHOW THEM TITTIES until a number of girls  both upstairs in the mezzannine and downstairs on the main dance floor  flash him. He then tells one girl, Baby, you look like youve got mosquito bites, put your ass down, to groans from the audience.

The video then shows someone running onstage, presumably to tell YG that his audience is 13+.





Oh shit, yall are underage, I cant fuck with yall, he says, before making them promise him theyll go to school on Monday.

A spokesperson for Eatons Hill Hotel confirmed to PEDESTRIAN.TV that the main dance floor was 18+, while the mezzanine level was 13+.

Facebook commenters appear to imply that similar banter occurred at his 13+ gig at Sydneys Big Top on June 12, but weve been unable to verify this.

That being said, the Compton rapper  whose first lot of Aussie shows sold out in 24 hours  has been criticised online for his Sydney and Melbourne gigs after reportedly only appearing on stage half an hour of the three-and-a-half hour set.

via Ticketmaster.

P.TV has reached out to MTV Presents  who brought YG out on tour  for comment.

Photo: Prince Williams / Getty.
A company that specializes in working with seniors and families who are facing life transitions has opened for business in Lancaster County.

Mary Ellen Mahoney has launched Caring Transitions of Lancaster County PA earlier this month. Caring Transitions offers a variety of services including organizing, packing, moving, resettling, in-person and online estate sales, liquidations, and preparing homes for market. Services are customizable, and clients only pay for the services they need.

Mahoney can also help people sort and preserve photos, and is building partnerships with local companies who can help families preserve family photos and videos through digitization.

Caring Transitions' services are perfect for seniors moving in with family or into a safer living situation as well as busy families and people clearing out the home of a loved one who has passed, according to a company press release said.

Prior to opening Caring Transitions of Lancaster PA, Mahoney worked in education, specifically in elementary school teaching and one-on-one tutoring. She is also fluent in Spanish, and is a certified relocation and transition specialist.

Caring Transitions of Lancaster County PA is based in Martic Township, Lancaster County and serves all of Lancaster County.

Caring Transitions was founded in 2006, and has more than 200 locations throughout the United States. According to the company's website, in addition to the new location in Lancaster County there are nine other locations in Pennsylvania including Caring Transitions of Mechanicsburg which launched in 2015.

--Business Buzz
UPS is now the owner of a 595,000-square-foot distribution center in the Carlisle area.

The center at 1 Ames Drive in South Middleton Township was purchased by the United Parcel Service, CBRE, the real estate company that represented the seller announced in a press release. UPS acquired the warehouse from Dermody Properties. UPS has been leasing the building since Aug. 1.

Dermody purchased The LogistiCenter at Carlisle in 2013 which included the land at 1 Ames Drive and the building at 2 Ames Drive. The building at 1 Ames Drive was built in 2015. The building at 2 Ames Drive in Dickinson Township which is home to a 700,000-square-foot Amazon Fulfillment Center was sold in 2015 to American Realty Advisors.

Michael Hines, Brian Fiumara, Brad Ruppel and Lauren Dawicki of CBRE Capital Markets' Institutional Properties team and CBRE National Partners, negotiated on behalf of the seller, Dermody Properties. Patrick Lafferty of CBRE's Harrisburg group assisted with the sale. UPS bought the facility from Dermody Properties for $55 million, according to a Central Penn Business Journal report.

Dermody has several facilities in Pennsylvania. Last month five buildings and additional space in Lower Swatara Township known as the Capital Logistics Center were purchased by an affiliated entity of Nevada-based Dermody Properties. The buildings were sold in three separate transactions for a total of 76.1 million, according to Dauphin County property records. The buildings are located on Hunter Lane, Capital Lane and Industrial Lane.

On Tuesday, UPS made a major announcement. The company said it will add an additional charge during selected weeks in November and December for U.S. residential, large packages and packages over maximum limits.

--Business Buzz
Harrisburg will celebrate the Fourth of July with, not one, but two fireworks displays.

Mayor Eric Papenfuse provided details of the Taste of Independence July 4th Food Truck Festival June 20 at the MLK City Government Center in Harrisburg. He was joined by representatives from the Hershey Harrisburg Regional Visitor's Bureau and the Pennsylvania Housing and Finance Agency.

The Fourth of July event will be held from to 3 to 9 p.m. July 4, at Riverfront Park. It will have close to 40 food trucks, including Pretzel Spot Cafe and Big Chipper's BBQ.

Some of dishes you might expect to see at the festival include "artisanal grilled cheese sandwiches, slow roasted beef on brioche rolls, crab cake sandwiches fish tacos, stuffed pretzels, wraps and Reuben sandwiches," according to the news release. There will also be festival staples, such as kettle corn, cotton candy and funnel cakes.

Fans of Pennsylvania Farm Show milkshakes can also expect to get the treat at the festival.

Musical acts, such as Shawan and The Wonton and Rivers, will perform at Riverfront Park; and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra will play patriotic songs 7:45 p.m. at the bandshell in Reservoir Park. The event will also feature free children's attractions and activities, such as face painting, a caricature artist, a balloon artist and a bounce house.

The event will end with two firework displays. The Harrisburg Senators will have one at the end of their 6 p.m. game against the Akron RubberDucks; and the city will have their own at about 9:15 p.m.

Bixler Pyrotechnics will produce this year's display. They'll launch over a thousand shells from City Island.

There will be free street parking that day throughout the city except for City Island, which will cost $4; and the Market Square Garage, which will cost $10.
SUGARLOAF, Pa. (AP) -- An 84-year-old Pennsylvania logger has been killed after part of a 30-inch diameter tree he was cutting fell onto him.

The Luzerne County coroner says William Burger died of trauma injuries about 2 p.m. Monday.

Sugarloaf Township Fire Chief Duane Hildebrand says Burger was an experienced logger who was working with his son when the tree split and part of it fell on him.

The Citizens Voice reported that emergency workers had to hike to Burger and his son were after driving as far as they could on a mud-clogged logging road thanks to Monday's storms.

Sugarloaf is about 40 miles southwest of Scranton.
The United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced Monday that a former Mohegan Sun manager has been sentenced to 32 months in prison for money laundering.

Robert Pellegrini, 51, the casino's former vice president of player development, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to the indictment, Pellegrini allegedly collaborated with Rochelle Poszeluznyj, 39, a cocktail waitress, to steal the names and PINs of player 'club cards' while she served beverages.

Pellegrini used the stolen information to create duplicate player club cards and then loaded the duplicate cards with "free play" credits. He provided those cards to Mark Heltzel, 52, to gamble with.

According to prosecutors, the trio's scheme ran from May 2014 to April 2015, netting the defendants approximately $422,147.

Sentencing dates for Heltzel and Poszeluznyj are pending.

In addition to his prison sentence, handed down on Friday by Judge Richard Caputo, Pellegrini was ordered to pay $420,000 in restitution and is required to be supervised by a probation officer for a year after his release.

The charges stem from an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service Investigations and the Pennsylvania State Police. Assistant United States Attorney Michelle Olshefski prosecuted the case.
HARRISBURG--Harrisburg school board members Monday night rejected $65,000 in budget transfers because the administration didn't provide details about where the money was coming from.

The situation kicked off a prolonged debate about the ability of some board members to get detailed financial information from the administration before being asked to approve expenditures. The testy exchanges have become common during monthly board meetings.

"I think we're trying to cover something up here," said Board Member Jim Thompson Monday night.

Board President Danielle Robinson rejected that allegation.

"Why would we try to cover something up if these are our accounts?" she said.

Thompson said board members deserved more information and that his confidence in the administration was low.

"We should be able to look at this and see, are we trying to draw down the fund balance?" Thompson said, "and that's how low the confidence is."

Thompson later said his comments became pointed Monday night because was tired of asking the same questions and not getting information he needed to make educated decisions.

The administration provided account numbers but not written translations for what each account represented Monday night when asking board members to approve seven different transfers totaling $65,565.51.

The transfers were intended to pay for a Sci Tech field trip to Dorney Park ($7,100) and a series of transfers ranging from $2,000 to $25,000 to pay for special education services.

Board members Thompson, Matthew Krupp, Judd Pittman, Ryan Sanders and Melvin Wilson voted against the budget transfers when no one at the table could provide explanations of where the money was coming from, beyond the long account numbers.

Board members Robinson, Ausha Green, Lionel Gonzalez, and Ellis Roy voted to approve the budget transfers.

After the 5-4 vote rejecting the transfers, Robinson seemed frustrated by the delay and said the district now wasn't going to be able to pay its bills.

"This is becoming ridiculous," Robinson said, "because these are things that should have been done in the BFF (budget, finance and facilities) meeting."

Matthew Krupp, chair of the budget committee, said that they had asked for the additional information at last week's committee meeting but still didn't get it.

Kenn Medina, the administration's business manager, said he could provide a list of 9,900 budget accounts if board members wanted the "long list."

Thompson responded that he didn't want a long list, he wanted a "plain English" translation only of the specific accounts where money was being withdrawn.

Bill Gretton, the district's interim chief financial officer, said the first budget transfer represented a principal's decision to pull $7,100 from a library account to pay for a field trip.

"Well, why can't you just say that?" Thompson said of the kind of information he wanted to see on the reports instead of a "laundry list of numbers."

Robinson asked Medina to include written summaries of accounts in the future so board members could know more about the accounts being tapped for transfers.

"Are you going to commit to do that or not," Thompson asked Medina, pressing the issue."

"I'm not really sure, Mr. Thompson, what you're asking for," Medina said. "But I will say this. I will give a long version in English for every account..."

Thompson interrupted him as he continued to talk.

"I think you're giving me the runaround," Thompson said. "I'm sorry if you think that way, but if you won't give me that in plain English for (budget transfers) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, then how can I trust you to make budget transfers?"

Robinson had to use her gavel several times to try to reestablish decorum during the discussion. She told Medina the board wanted written summaries of accounts in the future.

Thompson asked for the additional information to be provided before a special meeting set for next Monday, June 26, before the board recesses for the summer break. He said the budget transfers could be approved at that point, allowing the district to pay its bills.

Superintendent Sybil Knight-Burney did not attend Monday's board meeting, which lasted more than three hours to cover a 38-page agenda.
In a ruling that could have a wide ripple effect, Pennsylvania's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered state police to hand over not only the video, but also the audio portion of recordings made by dash cams in the cruisers of two troopers who responded to a traffic accident.

That decision, issued in a majority opinion by Justice Kevin M. Dougherty, expands on

that required the police to supply only the video part of the recordings to Michelle Grove.

Grove had sought the recordings of the aftermath of a March 2014 crash on Route 144 in Centre County under the state's Right to Know Law.

The state Office of Open Records was on her side throughout the legal fight that lasted for years.

For state police,

the Commonwealth Court ruling to the Supreme Court turned out to be a bad gamble.

Although the lower court ordered police to provide Grove with the recordings, it gave police the authority to edit out the audio portions that record a trooper interviewing witnesses to the accident so as not to violate the state Wiretap Act.

Dougherty found that the Wiretap Act prohibition involving audio recordings doesn't apply in the Grove case, however. Although the act does require that both parties subject to recording be aware and consent to being taped, that cannot apply in a public situation - such as by the roadside at a crash scene - where people cannot expect privacy, the justice concluded.

The high court also rejected a claim by state police that the dash cam recordings were barred from release under the Right to Know Law because they are criminal investigation records. The crash scene videos don't fall into that category, Dougherty found.
An arrest warrant has been issued for a man investigators say robbed a convenience store in Lemoyne on Sunday, according to the West Shore Regional Police Department.

Police said they are searching for William Thomas Sharp, 34, who has a last known address in Palmyra.

Sharp is believed to be the man who grabbed cash out of the register at the Turkey Hill the 400 block of South Third Street just after 10:30 p.m., police said.

Anyone with information about Sharp is asked to contact police at 717-238-9676.
Pennsylvania's legislature and governor can't divert money from the state's Oil and Gas Lease Fund for purposes that don't involve conservation of the environment, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

That decision overturns

which dismissed a challenge to the non-environmental use of that money being pressed by the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation.

In a majority decision by Justice Christine Donohue, the high court sent the dispute, including the issue regarding the parameters for legislative use of the lease fund money which comes from renting state lands to oil drillers, back to Commonwealth Court for further consideration.

The foundation launched the legal fight five years ago to contest the siphoning of hundreds of millions of dollars in lease fund money to the state's general fund. The group, which also challenged the expansion of the leasing of public lands for Marcellus Shale drilling, argues that such transfers violate the law, especially the Environmental Rights Amendment to the state constitution.

That amendment, passed by the voters in 1971, states that "The people have the right to clean air, pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment." It also requires the government to "conserve and maintain (those resources) for the benefit of all the people."

The foundation claims the government has breached that duty in its use of lease fund money for non-environmental expenses and has opened more land to drilling leases simply to meet budgetary pressures. Donohue noted that $180 million from that fund was shifted to the general fund n 2010. A $95 million transfer was approved in 2014.

Donohue rejected claims by state leaders that the Environmental Rights Amendment is "silent" on how the proceeds of the sale of natural resources must be used and that the law does not require that money to be channeled only to environmental preservation projects.

"This is plainly inaccurate," she wrote. Donohue also wrote that she is "wholly unconvinced" by the state's contention that it is empowered to use the lease fund money for any purpose - environmental or not - so long as that purpose benefits the public as a whole.

The Environmental Rights Amendment "does not confer upon the commonwealth a right to spend (the lease fund) proceeds on general budgetary items," she found.

Yet Donohue said her court is "without sufficient advocacy" to rule on the defense foundation's contention that all money channeled to the lease fund must stay in that fund to finance environmental work. That is one if the issues the parties can resume arguing about when the case returns to Commonwealth Court, she found.

Chief Justice Thomas G. Saylor and Justice Max Baer sharply dissented from the high court majority's conclusion regarding restrictions on the use of the lease fund money.

Baer wrote that the majority ruling threatens to "override the delicate process required of the legislative and executive branches to achieve a constitutionally-mandated balanced and fair budget."

"Hundreds of millions of dollars generated by the recent Marcellus Shale exploration on state land as well as proceeds from oil, gas, coal, timber, game and other natural resources will be cordoned off from critical areas of the commonwealth's budget, including education, infrastructure and other public works without consideration of whether such funding is necessary to protect Pennsylvania's public resources," Baer warned.

He argued that, as long as state officials ensure there is adequate funding for environmental protection, the government "is not required to take the illogical step of leaving substantial monies unused in a fund for the environment while being unable to meet other pressing needs of the people."

"In deciding otherwise, the majority is redrafting the constitution to its own liking," Baer wrote.
Daniel Schwartz, Chief Executive Officer of Restaurant Brands International in an interview with The Canadian Press in Oakville, Ontario on Monday June 5, 2017. The parent company of Tim Hortons says the brand's president is moving to a new position and Restaurant Brands International Schwartz will take over his responsibilities. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
Which Michigan bands are leading the airwaves this fall?

Five albums made a splash on the latest Local Spins Hot Top 5 Chart, representing the local and regional releases that received the most radio airplay at Grand Rapids WYCE.
Eni big winner in Mexico's shallow-water oil auction



The number of areas awarded in the Round 2 of mexico's oil auctions, out of 15 offered, exceeded the 35 percent to 40 percent of the blocks Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said last week he hoped would be sold.

MEXICO CITY

Petroleumworld 06 20 2017

Eni SpA was the biggest winner in Mexico's latest auction of shallow-water oil prospects.

The Italian oil giant took three of the 10 areas awarded on Monday, the national hydrocarbons commission said during an event in Mexico City on Monday. The tender, Mexico's fifth since it ended a state monopoly in 2014, garnered winning bids from Royal Dutch Shell Plc , France's Total SA , Spain's Repsol SA and Petroleos Mexicanos .

Mexico has sought to lure investment into its oil and fuels industry as aging fields and refineries have seen production decline year after year. Pemex, as the state-run giant is known, has been plagued by mounting debt, limiting its ability to invest in production growth.

The number of areas awarded, out of 15 offered, exceeded the 35 percent to 40 percent of the blocks Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell said last week he hoped would be sold. The results were splendid given the low oil price environment, he said after the auction. He expects output from those areas could reach the equivalent of 170,000 barrels of oil a day.

These are the fruits of the energy reform, said Juan Manuel Rojas, new venture manager for Colombia's state producer Ecopetrol SA, which won two areas. Rojas said Mexico is a strategic opportunity for the company, which is seeking to replace its dwindling reserves in mainland Colombia.

Ecopetrol partnered with Pemex for one area and with Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd for another.

Eni won two of its blocks in partnership with Citla Energy, an independent Mexico explorer, and one with Capricorn Energy, a unit of U.K. explorer Cairn Energy. Hamburg-based DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG won a block with Pemex, while Spain's Repsol picked up a block with Sierra Oil & Gas, Mexico's biggest auction winner from previous rounds. Russia's Lukoil PJSC also won an area, while Shell and Total partnered for another.

The shallow-water exploration and production blocks are in the region of Tampico-Misantla in the state of Veracruz and the southeast basins of the Gulf known as Cuencas del Sureste. Mexico will have three more auctions this year, including two for onshore oil next month and one for deep-water and shale prospects planned for December.

If the 10 areas are commercially successful and produce crude, Mexico could see as much as $8.2 billion in investment throughout the life of the 10 contracts, according to Mexico Oil Commissioner Juan Carlos Zepeda.






This piece, titled, The New Plague, depicts life in Philadelphia in the age of COVID. Artist and educator Raphael Tiberino began painting at the age of four and has been in the spotlight as a professional creative for over 25 years.
Good morning, friends. I spent 20 minutes trying to write a "trust the process" joke about the Senate healthcare bill for this newsletter, and I'm not sure I can ever show my face at a Sixers game again.

You're getting this because you signed up for a newsletter about President Trump and his administration's affect on Philadelphia. Complaints/questions/enraged screeds/expressions of undying admiration can be sent here. If you were forwarded this email, you can subscribe (for free!) here.

 Aubrey Whelan

Today, lets talk about spin.

Whats at stake

The future of American political discourse, the immutability of observable facts, the tenuous bonds of civility that hold this weird old country together. (We always start this section out on such a sunny note, don't we?) But the horrendous shooting that wounded Republican Rep. Steve Scalise and three others last week  and the way we talked about it  is a case study in the political polarization that's been building here for decades.

The backstory

This is Twitter and this is 2017, so within minutes after news of the shooting broke, the framing was pretty much set: The right blamed heightened rhetoric on the left  that Kathy Griffin photo, and the Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar with a Caesar resembling President Trump. The left blamed lax gun laws (and pointed out that Trump is no stranger to heightened rhetoric himself  remember "Second Amendment people?")

Partisan interpretations of a major breaking news event aren't exactly new. But within those interpretations, basic facts are increasingly up for debate. And people such as Norristown's Jack Posobiec are at the center of that debate.

Whats ahead

I wrote this week about Posobiec and the way he helped shape the narrative of the Scalise shooting spun out on the far right. A Twitter personality with more than 100,000 followers, he rose to prominence during the campaign, and his interpretations of the aforementioned basic facts  quotes, even  tend to go pretty far afield, to the point where he's been called out by both the Daily Caller, not exactly a bastion of liberalism, and the New York Times.

To Posobiec, these are just his takes on the news of the day. To observers of right-wing media, they're brazen falsehoods fueling intense polarization. And while there's some debate over whether the Internet caused this, researchers have found that hatred for the other side has skyrocketed over the last five decades - even as most Americans' politics remain pretty centrist. Political affiliations, in other words, are becoming central parts of our identities  and the kind of news we consume, the narratives we settle on, reflects that.

"I think a lot of what we're seeing is just tribalism  doing whatever you can to make your team look better and make the other team look worse. There's a process called motivated reasoning, where people reject information that contradicts their prior attitudes or beliefs or identities," Yphtach Lelkes, a political science professor at UPenn, told me last week. "You can't get on the same page, because you reject the information."

What theyre saying

"I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt" "The president is not under investigation by the special counsel."  Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, on CNN,  Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, on CNN, about the president's tweet "Fewer tweets wouldn't hurt."  Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.), on the president's loquacious Twitter account.   President Trump, tweeting about a Washington Post report that the investigation into Russian meddling in the election was also investigating

In other news 

Sen. Toomey, who's one of a group of Senate Republicans helping write the GOP's health plan, talked to the Allentown Morning Call about where he thinks the bill's heading. He said the bill will keep Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, which got 700,000 Pennsylvanians health insurance. But he thinks the feds should eventually pay half of what they're currently paying for the expansion, with the state picking up the rest of the tab, and critics say that means some people will lose their coverage. Meanwhile, the Senate plans to vote on the bill next week, the Guardian reports  and the public still hasn't seen the thing.

Contrary to a campaign promise, President Trump will keep an Obama-era policy that shields DREAMers  undocumented immigrants who arrived here as children  from deportation. My colleagues Jeff Gammage and Jason Nark talked to area DREAMers about the decision  though they noted that no final decision has been made on whether to keep the program in place.

Trump's nominee to replace his fired FBI director is Chris Christie's Bridgegate attorney  and, after billing New Jersey taxpayers $2.1 million, he's still working.

The League of Women Voters filed a lawsuit to throw out Pennsylvania's congressional map, saying its districts are so gerrymandered that they're " basically unresponsive to the will of the people." Meanwhile, a gerrymandering case that could upend the practice for the first time in the country's history is moving to the Supreme Court.

What Im reading

The Daily News' Will Bunch takes a breakneck drive across the country and thinks about America.

The New York Times explains what Attorney General Jeff Sessions was talking about when he sort-of-but-not-quite invoked executive privilege and declined to answer certain questions during his Senate testimony last week.

The New Yorker defends Caesar-as-Trump: "Shakespeare's play does not celebrate the manner of Caesar's death but rather warns against it."

Slate breaks down the runoff for a House seat in Georgia, the most expensive Congressional race in history, which is being viewed as a bellwether for Democrats' chances in 2018.

A non-political palate cleanser

This is my favorite lede in the paper today: "On any weekday evening after school has let out for the summer, you might find an 8-year-old girl in the back room of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, slicing the eyes off a dead fish."
Jimmy Iovine, one of the owners of Molly Malloy's, in front of the restaurant in 2012. Read more

The owners of a produce market and bar in the Reading Terminal Market have agreed to pay $660,117 in back wages and damages to 140 current and former employees, the U.S. Department of Labor said Tuesday.

Instead of paying workers overtime after 40 hours, the owners of Iovine Brothers Produce and Molly Malloy's paid workers straight time in cash  following the same practice for tipped and hourly workers. The owners of the businesses, James and Vincent Iovine, also had to pay a civil penalty of $62,007 "due to the willful nature of the violations," the department said. Their company, Iovine Bros Inc., did not keep proper payroll records, the Labor Department said.

The department's investigation ran from August 2013 through August 2016.

Iovine Brothers Inc. operates the produce business as well as Iovine Brothers Bar and Grill Inc., which does business as Molly Malloy's. On the Iovine produce website, the two brothers, who both profess a love for broccoli, said they began operating their produce business in the 1990s.

The department said the company agreed to change its practices to comply with the law.

"For workers in the restaurant and service sectors, money earned through overtime can make a big difference to their livelihood," James Cain, director of the division's Philadelphia District Office, said in a statement. "For employers in this competitive industry, maintaining a level playing field is critical."

The Iovine brothers did not return calls for comment.
Muqtedar Khan, professor of political science at the University of Delaware. Read more

Given the hostility toward them in some quarters (hello, President Trump), do Muslim immigrants face the bigotry that blocked the path of another religious minority, Jewish immigrants?

No, say the Muslim academics I asked. In fact, Muslims may be the "new Jews" in the sense of the socioeconomic success they have achieved in America.

Jews arrived in great numbers roughly from the 1880s to the 1920s, and like the Irish before them were routinely restricted from some occupations, from housing, from a wide range of social and professional clubs, from many universities.

Later-arriving Muslims suffered hardly at all, in the opinion of Muslims I asked.

In universities, "there was a Jewish quota and they were less politically correct about it than today," says Muqtedar Khan, professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware. "Now the poisonous nature of the discrimination doesn't exist." Khan immigrated to the U.S. from India in 1992.

"America once was very hostile against Jews," Khan says. "Muslims have not faced that."

Other immigrants, such as those from Germany, Italy, and Asia, often got the cold shoulder, too, but it was not as severe. The U.S. always has been a little bipolar on immigration  elated at the idea of a Land of Immigrants, but some of us not so keen when the new arrivals don't look like us.

Muslims are the latest to arrive in numbers, and they carry the additional burden of being associated with terrorism. "Bad luck," as with Japanese immigrants in California at the outbreak of World War II, observes Jacob Bender, executive director of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. For Muslims, 9/11 created "a level of suspicion that was heretofore unknown to their community." Bender happens to be Jewish.



Jews are America's largest religious minority, which sounds like a lot but is misleading. Jews are a tiny 1.8 percent of the population, followed by Buddhists at 1.2 percent and then Muslims at 0.9 percent. All these figures are for 2010 and reported by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

It is estimated that Jews in the U.S. will decline to 1.4 percent by 2050, surrendering second place to Muslims, who will be 2.1 percent of the population, due mostly to higher birthrates and immigration.

Barriers isolating Jews and other minorities were dismantled by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, says Mehnaz M. Afridi, a Pakistani Muslim who is a religious studies professor at Manhattan College in New York City.

"The difference between Jewish and Muslim immigrants in the 20th century was, Jews were escaping intolerable conditions in Europe, while the first wave of Muslim immigrants were professionals seeking economic opportunity, while a later wave was escaping war in their home countries," says Afridi, who heads the Catholic college's Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center.

"The height of immigration can be mapped through war and economic depression," she says.

Afridi says Muslims "absolutely" have achieved economic and social success.

More than just "success," I'm told by Anouar Majid, vice president for global affairs and communication at the University of New England in Portland, Maine.

"The reality is in the United States, Muslims are very prosperous for the most part  their average income exceeds that of most Americans," says Majid, a Muslim born in Morocco.

"They have freedom that is not available to them in the Muslim world, or in Europe, where discrimination against Muslims is real," he says.

"The American Muslim is the most successful, best educated  in the world," Majid says, adding that is especially true for American Muslim women, "who are the most successful and most liberated  in the world."

The least liberated American Muslims were the ones who arrived here first, as slaves, notes Afridi. They had no choice, and through centuries of enslavement lost contact with their religion.

A distinction among Muslim immigrants is drawn by CAIR's Bender: "The South Asian population came to some extent much better educated" and has prospered, he says.

"The Middle East is a different experience," he says. "Many came to escape the turmoil of wars."

Safety, opportunity, freedom  those are the magnets that have attracted immigrants to the United States for more than 200 years. Muslims arriving now are not so different from the immigrants who preceded them.
The longest contract stalemate in Philadelphia School District history appears to be over, with teachers overwhelmingly approving a new contract worth $395 million Monday night after four bitter years.

The three-year deal will mean raises for the more than 11,000 members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, the city's largest union, though it will not make educators whole for five years of frozen wages.

"We are really, really pleased about the agreement," Jerry Jordan, PFT president, said after a general membership meeting at the Liacouras Center of Temple University.

But even as union leadership celebrated the vote  95 percent of members who voted endorsed the contract  politicians made clear there is no plan in place to pay for it.

And some officials in Harrisburg sounded ominous notes about their willingness to help foot the bill, which is $245 million more than the district has budgeted. A source close to the negotiations has said that the deal could mean teacher layoffs down the road.

Republicans who control both legislative chambers in Harrisburg threw cold water on any expectation that the state would send Philadelphia more money to help it pay for the contract.

"It makes it very difficult to take any request from Philadelphia seriously when they do nothing that appears to help themselves  and then they negotiate a contract which they admit is based on fantasy," said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Republicans.

Drew Crompton, the top lawyer for Senate Republicans, said he was flabbergasted by the move to approve a contract for which the district does not have the money.

"I can't fathom the school board signing a deal that they fundamentally know that they can't pay for," he said. "It's perplexing."

City Council President Darrell L. Clarke said that the contract brings needed stability, and that Mayor Kenney and Council would be looking at potential revenue in the next several months. It was clear to all parties that any multiyear contract would mean a gap in funding, Clarke said, as the district projects a deficit beginning next year.

"We will be at the state's door, knocking on the door, asking them to meet us, help us meet this obligation," Clarke said. "I don't know how that will play out, but we're hoping."

Kenney issued a statement thanking the union members for their endorsement of the deal.

"I know full well that throughout this long and difficult process, you have remained dedicated to the single most important matter: educating our city's children. While I know this new contract does not make you entirely whole, I am confident that teachers, administrators and families will make greater strides in improving how our children learn and thrive in Philadelphia's public schools," he said.

Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. welcomed the vote.

"I am pleased the PFT has ratified our tentative agreement and that this tentative agreement will now go before the School Reform Commission for approval tomorrow," he said in a statement. "This is a contract which benefits our teachers, our students, and provides stability for the entire School District of Philadelphia."

The contract does not give straight across-the-board raises, but does resume "steps," or pay for years of experience, and compensation based on advanced degrees. It gives teachers a combination of one-time payments, percentage bumps in salary, and movement in the step system to help recoup some of the years of pay raises they missed while the contract was frozen.

Educators will also begin paying for their health insurance: 1.25 percent of their base salary in September, 1.5 percent in 2019.

Under the current contract, brand-new teachers with no advanced degrees are paid $45,360. By the end of the new contract, they would make $46,267. Teachers at the top of the pay scale now max out at $90,051; that would rise to $91,852.

There will also be some changes in work rules. In one concession, the PFT accepted universal "site selection," which allows principals to hire the teachers they want without considering seniority. Seniority will still guide layoffs and recalls.

Outside the Liacouras Center, many PFT members said that they thought the contract was not perfect, but that it was the best they were going to get.

"It's a good compromise," said Ninoska Wong Shing, a counselor at Farrell Elementary in the Northeast.

"In an ideal world, I would get credit for all my years of experience and I would be getting all my retroactive pay," said Chrisostomos Argerakis, a music teacher at South Philadelphia's Andrew Jackson Elementary School. But, he said, this felt like a realistic deal, though he will lose out on tens of thousands of dollars.

Argerakis has nine years of experience teaching, but has been paid as a fifth-year teacher. He works a second job on top of dedicating hundreds of unpaid hours to Home, a rock band made up of Jackson students.

The Caucus of Working Educators, a group that has challenged Jordan's leadership, did not take a yes or no position on the contract, but said in fliers its members handed out as teachers walked into the Liacouras Center, "We don't believe the contract addresses most of the core issues that educators care about, and won't help create the schools that students and educators deserve."

The caucus said it wanted to see movement on smaller classes, building issues, the arts, teacher-led training, and other issues.

George Bezanis, a caucus member who went so far as to crowd-fund campaigns for a billboard on I-95 and a banner plane to call out city and district leaders on the contract stalemate, said he voted yes, although reluctantly.

"There are some things that gave me pause," said Bezanis. "In the end, because we've pushed so hard for this, I did vote yes, but I wish there was a 'yes, but I don't like that, and I don't like that.'"

Staff writers Angela Couloumbis, Julia Terruso and Claudia Vargas contributed to this article.
"The carpet man and the Coke man was just here, and now the pest control guy is here," says Steve Steiner. "We're in the real thick of it right now."

Steiner is the producing artistic director ("the guy who does whatever anybody else doesn't want to do") of the Surflight Theatre in Beach Haven, N.J., on Long Beach Island. He, wife and coproducer Paula Steiner, and crew are busily, or maybe frenetically, getting it ready for its grand reopening on Friday.

The Surflight is back from the dead. Shuttered by Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February 2015, it reopens with Footloose!, which runs through July 9. That kicks off a full theatrical summer, with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (July 11-23), Newsies (July 23-Aug. 13), Hairspray (Aug. 15-27), and Million Dollar Quartet (Aug. 29-Sept. 10). There will also be children's theater.

It's a boost for summer theater offerings at the Shore, which have been spotty. Atlantic City isn't doing much theater these days. Nearby in Hammonton, the Eagle Theatre has a full September-June schedule, and it's hosting the New Jersey Fringe Festival again this year, Aug. 4-6. Various venues have tried cabaret or dinner/mystery theater. And Shakespeare has often trod the beach: At the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities at the Emlen Physick Estate in Cape May, the REV Theatre Company is doing Hamlet July 19-23 and 25-29.

There's community summer theater in Ocean City at the Greater Ocean City Theatre Company (Fiddler on the Roof, July 11-14, and other offerings). But for a full summer slate, it's a ride of 75 miles and change from Long Beach Island down to Cape May, and the Cape May Stage and East Lynne Theater.

(But there are signs of new life: The Gateway Playhouse in Somers Point, dark for 11 years, is being gussied up for an August resurrection.)

The Surflight, "Broadway on the Beach," has been in Beach Haven since 1950; the present structure went up in 1987. With a staff of locals, actors who get paid, and a summer-stock feel, it's part of a complex that includes the ShowPlace Ice Cream Parlour, which reopens at 6 p.m. Friday with a gala that will feature Miss New Jersey and Miss Ocean County. Footloose! starts at 8 p.m.

Steiner moved to Beach Haven from New York to be producing artistic director of Surflight from 1998 to 2010. But differences of artistic vision led to his departure. The theater had a rocky next five years and went dark.

Even before it did, Steiner was trying to resuscitate it. "We actually had most of this season planned in 2015," he says. But banks wanted a big-time investor to partner up.

Enter Al Parinello, real estate executive, concert/theatrical producer, and former WJSE-FM (106.3) owner. He and Steiner were old friends and had coproduced shows at Trump venues in Atlantic City in the early 2000s. After what Parinello called "a lot of pulling teeth and  literally waving dollar bills," he closed a deal with TD Bank.

Steve and Paula Steiner now face the dual goal of, as Steve puts it, "doing really good and watching the pennies and dollars to ensure we get to season two." They know how to do that, he says: "For the last five, six years, Paula and I have kept producing. We've had venues ask us to do shows in other locations. So our first three shows can use the same set, just redressed. We can save on costumes for Hairspray by using costumes from a production of it we did at the Laguna Playhouse. And for Footloose!, we can use scenic design and costumes from when we did it in Laguna and at the Eldorado Reno."

A full summer, a few events in the fall, and then? "Our goal," Steiner says, "is to build back to what we used to do: Have events in each of the 12 months of the year."

Footloose! June 23-July 9 at the Surflight Theatre, 201 Engleside Ave., Beach Haven, N.J. Tickets: $29-$39. Information: 609-492-9477, www.surflight.org.
Efforts to keep chronically ill patients from going to the hospital as often seem to be making a difference in the Philadelphia area and throughout Pennsylvania, according to a new state report on hospital "super-utilizers."

The number of these patients, defined as those admitted to a hospital at least five times in a year, has declined since 2012, dramatically so in Philadelphia. But they still ring up a big tab, according to the report by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

These super-users consist of just 3 percent of all hospital patients in the state, but they account for 15 percent of hospital days and 10 percent of payments to hospitals  or $1.25 billion in 2016, the agency's report said.

Philadelphia remained tops in the state in its rate of residents who were admitted to a hospital at least five times in a year, with 33.4 frequent users per 10,000 residents in 2016.

But the city also marked one of the state's biggest county-level declines, down 15.9 percent from 2012, according to the report.

Statewide, the number of people admitted to a hospital at least five times during the year declined 8.6 percent, from 24,045 frequent users in 2012 to 21,968 in 2016, the agency found.

The decline comes amid increasing pressure from insurers such as Medicare, which imposes financial penalties on hospitals with high rates of readmission  defined as the percentage of patients who end up back in a hospital within 30 days of discharge. Medicare's readmission penalties were created under the Affordable Care Act in an effort to improve the quality of care. They have been controversial, however, as some hospitals have argued that they have only limited control over which patients must come back to the hospital.

Hospitals have explored a variety of programs to keep patients healthier, such as tasking nurses and pharmacists with checking on patients by phone and visiting them at home, said Robert Shipp III, vice president of population health strategies for the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania.

For patients with heart failure, a leading cause of hospital admission in the elderly, caregivers encourage patients to reduce sodium intake and weigh themselves daily to guard against retaining too much fluid, Shipp said. Frequent hospital users also are encouraged to visit their primary care provider, he said.

"If somebody's coming to the emergency department 10 times a month, it probably tells you there's something going on with the patient," Shipp said. "Maybe you can get them into the doctor's office a little more often."

The state report focused primarily on inpatient hospital stays, not emergency-room visits, but sometimes those can lead to admission, said Joe Martin, executive director of the state agency that did the analysis.

Among super-users covered by Medicare fee-for-service plans, 70 percent visited the emergency room at least once in 2016, according to the report. Nearly half had five or more emergency-room visits during the year.

Statewide, the agency counted 21.7 hospital super-users per 10,000 residents. The rate among low-income residents was measured at 38.3 super-users per 10,000.
Headquarters for Energy Coordinating Agency, a Kensington-based nonprofit that's dealing with internal upheaval after Liz Robinson, the agency's executive director, resigned. Read more

For more than three decades, Liz Robinson was one of the most prominent faces in Philadelphia's green energy community.

She almost single-handedly built the Kensington-based Energy Coordinating Agency (ECA) into a nonprofit with dozens of employees, a $10 million budget, and a noble mission  weatherizing homes for low-income residents  that earned praise and support from the city's political class.

So it came as a small surprise when ECA announced this month that Robinson, 67, had tendered her resignation as executive director, with the intention of stepping down in August and transitioning into a role as a consultant.

But was there more to Robinson's resignation than met the eye?

In late January, a group of whistle-blowers, comprised of current and former ECA staffers, reached out to ECA's board of directors with uneasy news: Tens of thousands of dollars had been stolen from the nonprofit through a series of fake invoices and unauthorized credit card purchases. The group argued in a letter to the board that Robinson had been slow to respond to the allegations and reluctant to delve too deeply into the matter, according to a copy obtained by the Inquirer and Daily News.

Part of the group's concern stemmed from the fact that ECA is not some small, mom-and-pop nonprofit; it's been awarded more than $37 million in federal grants and contracts since 2008, and $19 million combined with the Philadelphia

Housing Development Corp. and the Division of Housing and Community Development since 2009.

The city has witnessed separate scandals already this year with two nonprofits, the Mayor's Fund for Philadelphia and Community Behavioral Health, which oversees local mental-health facilities.

Earlier this year, ECA's board asked the law firm Drinker Biddle & Reath to get to the bottom of the thefts. One of the whistle-blowers, Crystal Spraggins  ECA's former human resources specialist  claims Drinker Biddle partner Ronald Sarachan told her and her peers during a meeting in March that the board would seek Robinson's resignation. But board members said Robinson's exit was unrelated and had been in the works for years.

During a brief interview this month, Robinson downplayed the thefts, which she reported to Philadelphia police in January, before the whistle-blowers went to the board.

"The amount of funding involved is really very small, and the perpetrators were fired immediately," she said. "There are no repercussions from it, so it's not an issue of concern."

Robinson said the amount stolen was less than $15,000. But hardware store receipts and copies of fake invoices reviewed by the Inquirer and Daily News show the attempted embezzlement scheme added up to more than $50,000.

When pressed, Robinson told a reporter: "There really is no issue, so I don't think there's any point on carrying on this conversation." The phone line went dead.

Its her baby

Robinson founded ECA in 1984 and almost immediately became a fixture in any discussions about energy in the region. She was a fierce advocate for low-income residents, pushing ECA to set up more than a dozen centers across the city that provide a range of services, from offering information about the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to negotiating with utility companies on a homeowner's behalf and teaching basic do-it-yourself home-repair skills.

On its website, the nonprofit claims it has saved local families more than $250 million over the years, weatherizing 45,000 homes, repairing or replacing 50,000 heating systems, and preventing over 75,000 tons of carbon emissions.

Politicians were drawn to ECA's feel-good mission, which meant plenty of attention and praise for Robinson. In 2008, then-Mayor Michael A. Nutter appointed Robinson to his Sustainability Advisory Board. A 2015 profile in Grid Magazine, a free monthly publication focused on sustainability issues, described Robinson as the city's "grand dame of energy efficiency"; Mayor Kenney appointed her to a nonpaid position on his transition team that fall. All of which is to say that Robinson was good at what she did  and not accustomed to being challenged, according to current and former employees.

Last year, there was a succession of thefts from materials and tools belonging to ECA's training unit, starting with a pallet of insulation, according to one former ECA employee who spoke on the condition of not being named. Robinson initially declined to alert police or ECA's insurance company to file a claim, but the nonprofit later recovered $12,000 from its insurer over the insulation theft, said the ex-employee, who left the nonprofit for another job.

In the fall, ECA's bookkeepers began to get suspicious about invoices for a company called Construction Education Alliance, which had been paid $18,500 between September and November, and then submitted a bill for $6,338 in December.

The invoices were allegedly submitted by an employee named David Dennis, and payments were allegedly approved by Scott Coleman, who ran ECA's training center, according to the letter the whistle-blowers sent to the board. The company turned out to be fraudulent.

An ECA credit card was used to make more than $18,000 worth of purchases in January at a Home Depot for items that had nothing to do with ECA's weatherization work, like tubs and countertops, some of which were shipped to a property affiliated with Dennis.

Robinson had nothing to do with the thefts, but current and former employees suggest she regarded attention to the incidents as a potential threat to ECA's reputation. "It's her baby," the ex-employee said. "If you have a child that has a drug habit, you're not going to go tell everyone about it because you're embarrassed, and you want to say you have a happy family."

There was no real fault

Dennis and Coleman were fired in late January. Neither could be reached by phone for comment. Dennis has had a string of legal problems since then: He was arrested on drug possession charges on April 4, and theft and burglary charges on May 22.

No charges have been filed in connection with the extensive thefts from ECA. Detective Daphne Smith of East Detectives said Tuesday that the case remains open because Robinson has not provided investigators with copies of receipts and invoices that documented the thefts.

Andrew Huemmler, the president of ECA's board, said the total amount that was stolen from the nonprofit was "a little bit over $50,000." The money was recovered through insurance, he said, and no losses were charged to any agency that funds ECA.

"Drinker Biddle  made some recommendations as to how internal management practices could be strengthened and improved, but that was pretty much the conclusion," he said.

Spraggins, the former HR specialist, contends that Drinker Biddle's Sarachan told the whistle-blowers that "they were recommending that she resign." Sarachan declined to comment.

Both Huemmler and Robert Graff, the vice chair of ECA's board, said the thefts and ensuing investigation had nothing to do with Robinson's decision to move on. "There was no real fault," Graff said.

The men praised her commitment to ECA, which included at one point lending the nonprofit what Huemmler said was a "very significant" amount when it struggled to meet payroll obligations due to funding shortfalls.

ECA is trying to pivot from one era to the next. Steve Luxton, the nonprofit's director of conservation, has been appointed interim executive director while a search is conducted for a full-time replacement. ECA is also in the market for a chief financial officer; John Pallies, the last person to hold the position, also resigned this month. "He found another job he liked better," Graff said.
HARRISBURG  A state fund dedicated to protecting dogs from abuse and neglect is fast running out of money, setting off a scramble to shore it up with more funding.

The Dog Law Restricted Account, created under Gov. Ed Rendell in 2008, pays for programs that inspect breeder's kennels, rescue stray dogs, and deal with dog-bite cases in the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Dog Law Enforcement.

The account was a part of the state's efforts to combat its "puppy mill capital of the East" reputation, with a law enacted to crack down on poor living conditions for dogs in cramped, stacked cages with wire flooring.

But it never had enough money in it to pay for the dog bureau's expanding workload.

Sen. Judith Schwank (D., Berks) and Rep. Eddie Pashinski (D., Luzerne) are pushing two bills that would replenish the fund by increasing dog-licensing fees.

The bureau has one dog warden in each county. They are responsible for inspecting kennels, responding to dangerous dog bites, and protecting stray dogs, among other oversight measures  which could come to an end without more funding.

The situation is "extremely critical," according to Pashinski. "Without either my bill or Sen. Schwank's bill, the state will not have the resources to continue this work, threatening to undo the progress made over the past nine years and putting dogs and puppies at greater risk of mistreatment."

That's why Schwank and Pashinski are making cross-chamber efforts to increase the license fees, modernize license registration, and reinstate a grant program to local animal shelters.

"The goal is long-term solvency in the Dog Law fund," Pashinski said. "We expect that the increases will keep the fund solvent."

According to Schwank, the legislation would allow the secretary of agriculture to increase license fees in the future to keep up with the need. The alternative, she said, is overpopulation of strays and more abuse.

"Without more funding, we're going to have bigger problems in the future, especially in urban areas," Schwank said. "This situation is going to be very difficult going forward."

The Dog Law Restricted Account receives around 85 percent of its finances through dog license fees. In 2016, the bureau received $6.3 million in dog licensing fees, according to a Department of Agriculture report.

To license a dog, it costs $8.50 for a year or $51.50 for a lifetime license. If the animal is spayed or neutered, the annual fee is $6.50 and the lifetime fee is $31.50.

If the bills pass, the license fee for one dog would be $11 and the lifetime license fee would be $74. If sprayed or neutered, the license fee would be $8 and the lifetime license fee would be $44.

The changes would raise an additional $1.25 million a year for the dog bureau.

The proposed fees are on par with many other states in the country, though others charge significantly more. In Ohio, for instance, a one-year fee is $14 and a lifetime fee is $180  nearly three times more than the Pennsylvania lawmakers are proposing.

"The Humane Society of the United States was instrumental in the crafting of tougher penalties for violators of dog law and supports the funding necessary to do the work," said Kristen Tullo, Pennsylvania state director. "We thank Sen. Judy Schwank and Rep. Pashinski for introducing legislation to help."

The bills are in committee. On a related front, "Libre's Law," which aims to ramp up penalties for those convicted of animal abuse, passed the Senate unanimously Tuesday and is on its way to Gov. Wolf's desk. He said he will sign it.

Logan Hullinger is an intern with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents' Association.
Philadelphia police have been investigating three fatal shootings that occurred in different parts of the city Tuesday.

Police on Wednesday identified one of the victims as Marvin Bunson, 32, of the 2000 block of Bellevue Street in Tioga. Bunson was shot several times Tuesday morning inside a burgundy Buick in the city's Brewerytown neighborhood.

Police said Wednesday that a gunman ran up to the passenger side of the Buick, which was double parked on the 2800 block of Cecil B. Moore Avenue, and began shooting at the vehicle. Bunson then drove off, crashing into another vehicle near Cecil B. Moore Avenue and 29th Street, police said.

Responding officers found Bunson in the driver's seat of the vehicle, suffering from gunshot wounds to his chest and arms, at about 10:30 a.m.

He was rushed by police to Hahnemann University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:49 a.m.

Later Tuesday, police responded to Einstein Medical Center for a report of another shooting victim and learned that another 32-year-old man, who was shot once in his chest, was pronounced dead at 1:41 p.m.

Police said the victim had walked up to a home on the 4700 block of North 12th Street in the city's Logan section and reported that he was shot. That victim, whose name has not been released, was then taken to Einstein in a private vehicle.

Earlier Tuesday, a 24-year-old man was shot in the head on the 200 block of East Indiana Avenue in Kensington, police have said. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 4:32 a.m. That man's name has not been released.

These slayings followed two fatal shootings that occurred Monday, one in Frankford, the other in West Philadelphia.

No arrests have been reported in any of those shooting deaths.
District Attorney Seth Williams leaves the Federal Courthouse in Philadelphia after the first day of his corruption trial Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Read more

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams had a lot on his plate on Feb. 22, 2012.

A day earlier, a team of his prosecutors had begun jury selection in the Common Pleas Court trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn, a top aide to Cardinal Justin F. Rigali who had been charged with child endangerment for his investigation and supervision of Catholic priests implicated in the clergy child sex-abuse scandal.

And that day, Williams was calling on another arm of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, getting his 80-year-old mother, Imelda, into the St. Francis Country House nursing home in Darby Borough.

As of Tuesday, those issues were still on Williams' plate. Since Lynn's 2012 conviction was overturned, Williams' office and attorneys for Lynn have been back in Superior Court arguing over a judge's ruling involving Lynn's retrial on the charge. Imelda Williams, ailing with Parkinson's disease, is at St. Francis, now known as the St. Francis Center for Rehabilitation and Healthcare. And her son's alleged mishandling of money earmarked for her care was the topic of the first day of testimony in Williams' federal corruption trial.

Kathleen DeFriece, director of accounts receivable for St. Francis and five other archdiocesan geriatric facilities, testified about what she described as a frustrating, 10-month campaign to get Seth Williams to respond to the nursing home's need to have his mother's monthly benefits from two pensions and Social Security deposited directly with the nursing home to cover her care, room, and board.

DeFriece told the newly impaneled U.S. District Court jury of 10 women and two men that she called, faxed, and wrote to Williams and sent him monthly statements showing the burgeoning balance in his mother's account, until she worried she might be charged with harassment: "He was not cooperating. Basically, he looked down on me more like I was chasing for money."

DeFriece testified that Williams had said "he was too busy running the city" and on another occasion had told her to come to his office to get the papers.

"We have 260 residents," DeFriece said in response to questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert A. Zauzmer. "I didn't have to go, nor did I [go]. Why should I have to? Everybody gets treated the same in our nursing homes."

DeFriece said she was especially concerned when she obtained one of Imelda Williams' bank statements that showed debits to Old Navy and Lord & Taylor as well as to the lender Fannie Mae. She said she warned Seth Williams that the money by law had to be turned over to St. Francis for his mother's care and that he could face penalties. She said Williams laughed and blamed his mother for the charges, saying she liked to buy presents for his daughters.

DeFriece said that before St. Francis obtained the records it needed, it lost more than $13,000 caring for Imelda Williams. She said the facility decided not to pursue Seth Williams and wrote it off as a bad debt.

DeFriece is to return to the witness stand Wednesday to be questioned by defense attorney Thomas F. Burke, who has blamed the nursing home for failing to explain completely all the steps Williams needed to take involving his mother's finances and misplaced some of her paperwork for months.

DeFriece, the prosecution's first witness, followed a morning of opening statements from prosecution and defense lawyers giving the jury starkly different interpretations of the projected next four weeks of evidence against the city's top law enforcement official.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Vineet Gauri portrayed Williams, 50, almost as an addict  a man so driven by a lifestyle exceeding his paycheck that he willingly solicited and accepted bribes and defrauded his election committee, the federal and city governments, and his mother to maintain it.

In his 60-minute opening statement before a packed courtroom, Gauri accused the two-term district attorney of "using public office for private gain."

"Whenever Seth Williams had the chance to put his hand in someone else's pocket and take money, he took it," Gauri told the jury.

Burke conceded the factual underpinnings of the government's case  the gifts and trips, use of political action committee money, the use of his mother's nursing-home payments, and private use of government vehicles  but maintained that none of it was illegal.

The gifts worth thousands of dollars from two wealthy businessmen were just that, Burke said, because no official action took place in exchange.

"There was no quid pro quo, no this for that," Burke said, pointing to the three federal prosecutors. "They found the 'this' but not the 'that.' "

The alleged theft of his mother's nursing-home funds was because of a "screwup" by nursing-home administrators in filling out the necessary contracts and paperwork, Burke said.

As for Williams' personal use of vehicles funded by the city or through a federal drug-fighting program, Burke said the city policies were written to cover employees, not elected officials.

As district attorney, Burke added, Williams was entitled to round-the-clock protection and a government vehicle and driver.

Each of the criminal acts alleged by federal prosecutors was so weak, Burke told the jury, that the government combined them in one indictment to get it past the federal grand jury.

"The district attorney of Philadelphia made bad mistakes, he exercised poor judgment, and he made bad decisions," Burke said. "He can't keep his finances straight and he has a messy personal life.  But they will not be able to prove he committed any crimes."

Williams sat listening to his lawyer's opening, chin cradled in one hand, and nodding frequently in apparent agreement with Burke's arguments. When Burke returned to the defense table, Williams shook his hand and clapped him on the shoulder.
The New Jersey Supreme Court decided unanimously Tuesday that the public is entitled to view electronic data kept by local government agencies.

It reversed an appellate panel's finding that Galloway Township was not required to honor a request to provide a log of emails that were sent by the township police chief and clerk in 2013 because such a record would have to be electronically created. The state Open Public Records Act (OPRA) only requires the release of records, not information or data, the panel had said.

Open-records activist John Paff said he had asked for a log of the emails that were sent during a two-week period in June 2013 just to see how the town would respond. Paff requested an itemized list of the following categories of information in each email: "sender," "recipient," "date," and "subject."

For the last two decades, Paff, chairman of the New Jersey Libertarian Party's Open Government Advocacy Project, has filed numerous requests for public records in an effort to see how transparent local governments are. When he is denied, he often sues to get a ruling.

In its 27-page opinion, the high court said: "The Legislature declared in OPRA that 'government records shall be readily accessible for  the citizens of this state, with certain exceptions, for the protection of the public interest, and any limitations on the right of access  shall be construed in favor of the public's right of access.'  OPRA broadly defines a 'government record,' making clear that government records consist of not only hard-copy books and paper documents housed in file cabinets or on shelves, but also 'information stored or maintained electronically' in a database on a municipality's server."

When the case went to trial, the town's IT specialist testified that retrieving the data would take about "two to three minutes," depending on the volume of emails that the search turned up. The data would include the sender, recipient, date, and subject.

After the Supreme Court ruling was released, Paff praised the decision and called the ramifications "huge."

"If the court would have affirmed the appellate panel's finding, it would have kept the public from accessing documents created in a digital world.  Sometimes it takes a while for government to catch up with technology," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey and the Electronic Frontier Foundation supported Paff in the litigation, while the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police and the New Jersey State League of Municipalities filed briefs backing Galloway.

Galloway Mayor Don Purdy and Solicitor Michael J. Fitzgerald did not return texts and emails seeking comment.
People line up outside the Presbyterian Church on Pennsylvania and Pacific Avenues, where Sister Jeans Kitchen operates. Read more

ATLANTIC CITY  Sister Jean's Kitchen, the soup kitchen across from the old Trump Taj Mahal that has been frequented by the poor, homeless, addicted, and, sometimes mistakenly, casino patrons off the bus from New York's Chinatown, will be moving to a new home outside the city's tourism district.

Its home in the brownish red-stone Presbyterian Church at Pennsylvania and Pacific Avenues is badly in need of repair, and its location in the city's tourism district is not ideal, said Robert Mulcahy, head of the New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.

The CRDA approved up to $1 million to fund renovations and improvements associated with the relocation, which will move the organization several blocks north to the former St. Monica's Catholic Church at Pennsylvania and Arctic Avenue. The Diocese of Camden closed the church in a consolidation two years ago.

Mayor Don Guardian, a CRDA board member, said the move would place the mission closer to where the majority of its clients live.

"It has been providing a necessary service in Atlantic City for a very long time," Guardian said. "The majority of people are residents of Atlantic City that are housed but are poor. The location two blocks away will be closer to where people actually live."

The current building has a tarp over part of the roof, noted board members.

"It's held together by Band-Aids," said Mulcahy. "All of this fits into making Atlantic City better."

The Rev. John Scotland, head of the Friends of Jean Webster, said the organization would put the renovations to St. Monica's out for competitive bidding.

Sister Jean Webster, a fixture in Atlantic City for decades, died in 2011 at the age of 76. A former cook at the Trump Taj Mahal, she began feeding the poor after seeing a man searching for food out of her trash can.

The kitchen will occupy the former sanctuary.
A second girl who was pulled from choppy surf in Belmar, N.J., on Thursday has died.

Emily Gonzalez-Perez, 12, had been on life support at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune since she and her cousin Mitzi Hernandez-Nicholas, 13, were pulled out to sea. The younger girl died Monday afternoon, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Hernandez-Nicholas, 13, died Thursday. The two went missing in the area of Ninth and Tenth Avenues about 6 p.m. Police were able to pull Gonzalez-Perez from the surf and perform CPR before she was rushed to the hospital. Lifeguards were not scheduled to be on the beach.

The second death raised the number of drownings at the Shore this month to three, with one swimmer still missing.

The other two swimmers were also pulled out to sea on Thursday, about 7 p.m. in Atlantic City. The body of Kaliyah Hand, 16, was recovered in Margate on Monday. Ramon Quinn, 15, of Pleasantville, N.J., is missing.

Gonzalez-Perez and Hernandez-Nicholas were students at Belmar Elementary School, the Press reported. A GoFundMe account that had been set up to defray expenses has more than doubled the $20,000 goal.

"I have received requests from people who want to help those families, and it really speaks volumes about the character and compassion of people who have been touched by the death of this child and the condition of the other child," Mayor Matt Doherty said earlier. "In Belmar, we do take care of our own."
President Trump tweeted that he is under investigation, only to have his attorney later deny it. Read more

Jay Sekulow, an attorney on President Donald Trump's legal team, made the rounds of the Sunday shows to talk about the Russia investigation. But he glossed over relevant facts in defense of his client:

Sekulow repeatedly said Trump fired FBI Director James Comey after "a deliberative process" and based on the advice of his top Justice Department officials. But Trump has said "regardless of recommendation, I was going to fire Comey."

Several times Sekulow said that he wanted to be "very clear" that "the president is not under investigation." But Sekulow acknowledged to Fox News' Chris Wallace that he does not know that for a fact. "I can't read the minds of the special prosecutor," he said.

Sekulow claimed Trump "has not said anything about Robert Mueller," the special counsel investigating Russia's attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election. In fact, Trump criticized Mueller's hand-picked legal team as "very bad and conflicted people."

Recommendations to Fire Comey

The president's lawyer appeared on CNN's "State of the Union," CBS' "Face the Nation," NBC's "Meet the Press" and "Fox News Sunday." On each show, Sekulow returned to the earlier White House position that Trump acted to fire the FBI director on May 9 based on recommendations of Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Sekulow said the firing was the result of a "very thorough process."

Sekulow, on CNN: Sekulow, on NBC:  In this particular case, you had a scenario where the president, receiving advice from a variety of his government officials, was told by his  his attorney general, vice deputy attorney general, that James Comey should not be leading the FBI. Its ironic that based on the action that they recommended that he took, in consultation with others, that hes now being investigated by the agency that told him to take that very action  removing the FBI director.

But the president has said he was going to fire Comey regardless of any recommendation. Trump also said he was thinking of "this Russia thing" when he decided to fire Comey.

"[Rosenstein] made a recommendation, but regardless of recommendation I was going to fire Comey, knowing there was no good time to do it," Trump said in a May 11 interview with NBC's Lester Holt. "And, in fact, when I decided to just do it, I said to myself, I said, 'You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story. It's an excuse by the Democrats for having lost an election that they should have won.'"

Rosenstein has said he wrote his memo after he was told that Trump planned to fire Comey.

In closed sessions last month with members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, Rosenstein said he was told May 8 that Trump wanted to fire Comey. He said he agreed with the decision and then set out to write a memo outlining his concerns about Comey's leadership, according to a statement released by the Department of Justice.

Rosenstein, May 19: On May 8, I learned that President Trump intended to remove Director Comey and sought my advice and input. Notwithstanding my personal affection for Director Comey, I thought it was appropriate to seek a new leader. I wrote a brief memorandum to the Attorney General summarizing my longstanding concerns about Director Comey's public statements concerning the Secretary Clinton email investigation. 

The deputy attorney general also told the members of Congress that the memo was not intended to be made public and it was "not a statement of reasons to justify a for-cause termination."

"It is a candid internal memorandum about the FBI Director's public statements concerning a high-profile criminal investigation," Rosenstein said.

Sekulow described the steps leading up to Comey's firing as a "very thorough process." That's a subjective statement. But here's what we know about the events leading up to the firing that may shed some light on the process:

Shortly before the Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump called Comey, according to the former FBI director, and, among other things, reassured him for a second time that he could stay on as FBI director. "[D]uring that call, he asked me again, 'Hope you're going to stay, you're doing a great job,'" Comey told the Senate intelligence committee at a June 8 hearing.

On Jan. 22, Trump singled out Comey during a White House reception for law enforcement and gave the FBI director a hug. "When  you've seen the picture of me walking across the Blue Room. And what the president whispered in my ear was, 'I really look forward to working with you,'" Comey said at the June 8 Senate hearing.

On Jan. 27, Trump and Comey had dinner at the White House. "The President began by asking me whether I wanted to stay on as FBI Director, which I found strange because he had already told me twice in earlier conversations that he hoped I would stay, and I had assured him that I intended to," Comey said in written testimony for his June hearing.

Comey has said that Trump asked for his loyalty at that dinner  a claim that the president has denied. During his June 8 testimony, Comey said he believes that the president sought to extract a promise of loyalty in exchange for keeping his job as FBI director.

"I could always be wrong. But my common sense told me that what was going on is either he had concluded, or someone had told him, that you didn't  you've already asked Comey to stay, and you didn't get anything for it, and that the dinner was an effort to build a relationship  in fact, he asked specifically  of loyalty in the context of asking me to stay," Comey testified. "And, as I said, what was odd about that is we'd already talked twice about it by that point."

Sessions took office Feb. 9. Prior to his confirmation, Sessions and Rosenstein had already discussed replacing Comey. "Among the concerns that I recall were to restore the credibility of the FBI, respect the established authority of the Department of Justice, limit public statements and eliminate leaks," Rosenstein said.

Despite those concerns, Sessions testified on June 13 that he never talked to Comey about his job performance or morale at the FBI prior to firing him.

Comey testified that on Feb. 14 Trump asked him to drop the FBI investigation of former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn  another claim that has been denied by the president.

On March 30 and April 11, Trump called Comey and asked him to help "lift the cloud" of the Russia investigation by publicly stating that the FBI was not investigating the president personally, according to Comey's testimony. Comey did not make any such public statement, and, in fact, the FBI director declined to answer at a Senate judiciary committee hearing on May 3 if Trump was under investigation. Comey said the agency will "follow the evidence wherever it takes us."

Five days later, Trump informed Rosenstein that he would fire Comey. The FBI director was fired on May 9, without any advance notice, while he was speaking to agents at an FBI field office in Florida.

Trump Under Investigation?

Sekulow was pressed on each show to explain a June 16 tweet in which the president seemingly acknowledged that he was under investigation for obstruction of justice.

On all four shows, Sekulow denied the president is under investigation. He said the tweet was only a reference to a June 14 Washington Post story that said Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel heading the Russia investigation, has widened his inquiry to include "an examination of whether President Trump attempted to obstruct justice." Sekulow described the Post report as a "fake report."

Sekulow told CNN: "So there can be no confusion. No confusion. The president is not under investigation." He told NBC: "But let me be very clear here, as it has been since the beginning, the president is not and has not been under investigation for obstruction." And he told CBS: "And I want to be very clear about this, the president is not and has not been under investigation."

On NBC, Sekulow even cited Comey as a source. "But the president, as James Comey said in his testimony and we know as of today, the president has not been and is not under investigation." (Comey did on three occasions tell the president that he wasn't under investigation, although that was before Comey was fired.)

But on "Fox News Sunday," under questioning from host Chris Wallace, Sekulow admitted what he did not on the other three shows: He doesn't really know for a fact if the president is under investigation for obstruction of justice or not.

Wallace, June 18: Well, you don't know that he's not under investigation again, sir. I mean you might  Sekulow: You know, I can't read the mind  you're right, Chris, I can't read the minds of the special prosecutor. Wallace: Well, then, good, OK, so we're in agreement, you don't know whether he's under  you don't know whether he's under investigation. Sekulow: But I have not been notified. No one has been notified that he is. 

We don't know if Trump is under investigation or not. But, as of June 18, neither did Sekulow, despite repeatedly saying otherwise.

Trump on Mueller

In recent days, Trump supporters have criticized Mueller, suggesting that the special counsel cannot be impartial for a host of reasons. Wallace asked Sekulow on "Fox News Sunday" about Trump's thoughts regarding Mueller.

Wallace, June 18: Does he think that Robert Mueller has done anything wrong? Sekulow: First of all, he has not said anything about Robert Mueller. 

That's not entirely accurate. Trump has criticized the Russia investigation as a "witch hunt" and accused some of those involved as "very bad and conflicted people." Of course, Mueller as special counsel hired those people to work on the investigation.

As we have written, it is true that three of the 13 lawyers hired by Mueller to help with the Russia investigation have donated to Democratic candidates and causes  including one lawyer, Jeannie Rhee, who donated to losing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Rhee, who worked with Mueller at the law firm WilmerHale, also represented the Clinton Foundation in 2015 in a lawsuit against the Clinton Foundation. The lawsuit was dismissed.

(Coincidentally, Rhee worked on the Clinton Foundation case with another WilmerHale attorney, Jamie Gorelick, who now represents Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.)

Trump has every right to express his opinion about the investigation and people leading it. But, in doing so, he is criticizing Mueller, despite what Sekulow says.
92.1 WTPA-FMs Bruce Bond has resigned after his boss told him he couldnt criticize President Trump on the air. Read more

Central Pennsylvania radio host Bruce Bond is out at 92.1 WTPA-FM after being asked by management to stop criticizing President Trump.

Bond, a well-known figure on midstate radio since the 1980s, said he made the decision to resign as host of The Bruce Bond Late Afternoon Show after refusing to comply with a directive by the station's general manager, Tim Michaels, to not "talk disrespectfully" about the president.

"It wasn't my agenda to talk politics, but it's impossible to avoid the topic of Trump [while] doing a three-hour talk show," Bond said. "That fact that my bosses would censor me and not allow me to talk about this stuff is ridiculous."

"I have received backlash in the form of emails, phone calls and such," Michaels wrote in a email that Bond shared on Facebook. "I have asked previously to cease political discussion. If this cannot be achieved we will have no choice but to discontinue the show."

Bond said that management didn't seem to care when he spoke about President Obama on the air, but claims their attitude about politics changed last year when it became clear Trump would be become the Republican presidential nominee.

"They've warned me a couple times about speaking against Trump, which I just ignored," Bond said. "But this last time, I decided to take a stand and walk away. I didn't want to have to walk on eggshells every time Trump comes up."

Pat Garrett, the owner of WTPA who is best known for his billboards along I-78 promoting his sheepskin business, is an unabashed Trump supporter who made his political preferences well-known in a song he released during the campaign.

"I thought I'd make it so there wouldn't be any mistake about it," Garrett told ABC 27 last year. "My feeling is, that Trump is for America, and that's what I'm for. So that's why I wrote the song."

Michaels said the station accepted Bond's resignation, but did not elaborate further.

Bond has hosted his show on WTPA since 2003 after serving about two years in prison for his involvement in a $4.3 million forged-check scheme. He started his radio career in the 1980s as a host for WNNK-FM, where he became well known for making prank phone calls.
The first hints of an uncertain future for the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS came last year, when Donald Trump's presidential campaign refused to meet with advocates for people living with HIV, said Scott Schoettes, a member of the council since 2014.

That unease was magnified on Inauguration Day in January, when an official White House website for the Office of National AIDS Policy vanished, Schoettes said.

"I started to think, was it going to be useful or wise or would it be possible to work with this administration?" Schoettes told The Washington Post. "Still, I made a decision to stick it out and see what we could do."

Less than six months later, Schoettes said those initial reservations had given way to full-blown frustration over a lack of dialogue with or caring from Trump administration officials about issues relating to HIV or AIDS.

Last week, he and five others announced they were quitting the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, also known as PACHA. According to Schoettes, the last straw  or "more like a two-by-four than a straw"  had come in May, after the Republican-dominated House passed the American Health Care Act, which he said would have "devastating" effects on those living with HIV.

"The Trump Administration has no strategy to address the on-going HIV/AIDS epidemic, seeks zero input from experts to formulate HIV policy, and  most concerning  pushes legislation that will harm people living with HIV and halt or reverse important gains made in the fight against this disease," Schoettes wrote in a blistering guest column for Newsweek announcing the resignations.

The column also pointed out that Trump has still not appointed anyone to head the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, something President Barack Obama had done 36 days after his inauguration.

"Within 18 months, that new director and his staff crafted the first comprehensive U.S. HIV/AIDS strategy. By contrast, President Trump appears to have no plan at all," Schoettes wrote. "Public health is not a partisan issue. . . . If the President is not going to engage on the subject of HIV/AIDS, he should at least continue policies that support people living with and at higher risk for HIV and have begun to curtail the epidemic."

The column was co-signed by the five other members of the council who had resigned, including Lucy Bradley-Springer, Gina Brown, Ulysses W. Burley III, Grissel Granados and Michelle Ogle. As of Monday morning, some of their bios remained on PACHA's government website.

At Monday's White House press briefing, press secretary Sean Spicer said he did not know if the council members who had resigned would be replaced but defended Trump against accusations that he didn't care about HIV or AIDS.

"Well, I mean, respectfully, the president cares tremendously about that and the impact it has," Spicer told reporters at the briefing. "Obviously, the individuals that he's appointed here in the White House have been in communication with various stakeholders in that community to help develop policies and formulas going forward, but we're going to continue to do what we can from a government standpoint."

A representative for the Department of Health and Human Services deferred to the White House for comment Monday. A White House representative told The Post in an email that staff members from the president's Domestic Policy Council had met with HIV/AIDS representatives several times already.

The White House representative also pointed out that Trump had hired Katy Talento, an HIV/AIDS and infectious disease expert, to be his health policy adviser on the Domestic Policy Council, and said Talento is in frequent contact with the head of PEPFAR, the U.S. global AIDS program.

"I challenge them to identify those times and the people that they met with those times, because I'm unaware of those meetings, certainly at a high level," Schoettes told The Post. He also criticized Talento for making inaccurate claims about birth control in the past. "This administration has shown themselves to be anti-science in multiple areas. I don't know how we can argue policy positions if they don't use facts."

PACHA was founded in 1995 under the HHS to advise the White House on policy matters concerning the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Members are appointed by the secretary of health and human services for four-year terms; they are not paid and are based throughout the country. Over the past two decades, its members have included physicians, public-health specialists, lawyers, health-care executives and community organizers.

Though there can be up to 25 members on the council, a handful of vacancies meant there were only 21 on the board before the new resignations. Now only 15 remain.

Schoettes said that council's last in-person meeting was in March. It continued drafting policy recommendations, knowing that a repeal of Obamacare was among Trump's top priorities.

"We knew that health-care reform was pending or was likely, and we wanted to make sure that our voices and the voices of people with HIV were heard," he said.

Shortly after that meeting, the council sent a letter to Tom Price, the Trump-appointed secretary of health and human services, and received what Schoettes described as a "perfunctory" response.

The House's passage of the American Health Care Act in May, despite its pleas and research, was what finally made Schoettes realize the council could be rendered inconsequential under Trump. He explained in his resignation column in Newsweek the consequences that a repeal of the Affordable Care Act could have for people living with HIV:

"People living with HIV know how broken the pre-ACA system was. Those without employer-based insurance were priced out of the market because of pre-existing condition exclusions. And "high risk pools" simply segregated people living with HIV and other health conditions into expensive plans with inferior coverage and underfunded subsidies  subsidies advocates had to fight for tooth-and-nail in every budgetary session.

"Because more than 40 percent of people with HIV receive care through Medicaid, proposed cuts to that program would be extremely harmful. Before Medicaid expansion under ACA, a person had to be both very low income and disabled to be eligible for Medicaid.

"For people living with HIV, that usually meant an AIDS diagnosis  making the disease more difficult and expensive to bring under control  before becoming eligible."

Shortly after the bill's passage in the House, Schoettes sent an email to several of his council colleagues. He planned to resign, he announced, because the council was "not going to be able to be effective anymore." Five of his colleagues agreed.

"As advocates for people living with HIV, we have dedicated our lives to combating this disease and no longer feel we can do so effectively within the confines of an advisory body to a president who simply does not care," Schoettes wrote. ". . . We hope the members of Congress who have the power to affect healthcare reform will engage with us and other advocates in a way that the Trump Administration apparently will not."

Karen DeYoung contributed to this report.
Harold G. Schaeffer reached the pinnacle of his profession, working his way up to becoming chairman of the company that developed and managed the King of Prussia Mall and other regional shopping centers. But his greatest joy, relatives said, came from spending time with family and exploring the wonders of life.

"Toward the end of his life he would talk to me about family," said James, one of Mr. Schaeffer's three sons. "He said the thing that gave him the most joy was family. Despite all of his accomplishments, the family made him most proud."

"He could have lived a thousand years and would have woken up with new passions," said another son, Anthony. "He had an endless appreciation of beauty and the gift of life, and he was a guy with a million hobbies. He was brilliant, and to his last day was excited about new horizons, about learning, sailing, photography. He was a lifelong learner."

Mr. Schaeffer, 89, of Rittenhouse Square, died of heart failure Saturday morning, June 17, at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in University City.

Mr. Schaeffer was born Sept. 16, 1927, in Philadelphia to Herman and Rose Schaeffer and was raised in Mount Airy. His father owned a furniture store on Market Street. He graduated from Central High School in 1945 and earned a business degree from Temple University in 1950.

He served in the Navy Reserve and then in the Army during the Korean War. He married Adele Kaplan in 1954.

Mr. Schaeffer went to work for Philadelphia's M.A. Kravitz Co. in 1957, selecting sites and attracting anchor stores for its shopping centers. He took over leadership of the company in the 1960s with his partner, Arthur L. Powell, renamed it Kravco, moved its headquarters to King of Prussia, and guided it to become one of the nation's leading shopping mall development and management companies.

In addition to developing and managing the King of Prussia Mall, Mr. Schaeffer's company built and managed the Oxford Valley Mall in Middletown Township, Bucks County, Montgomery Mall near North Wales, Quaker Bridge Mall near Princeton, Lehigh Valley Mall in the Allentown area, and malls in other states including Texas and Maine, his sons said.

Success in the business world allowed Mr. Schaeffer to contribute his time and money to charitable causes as a consultant, including to the Ford Foundation and the Opportunities Industrialization Center founded by the Rev. Leon Sullivan. He and his wife were longtime philanthropists of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn Medicine, the Wistar Institute, the Academy of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and scholarship programs at many schools, including Temple and Gwynedd Mercy University.

Mr. Schaeffer was an avid outdoorsman who loved to hunt, sail, and fly-fish. He was known for a sense of humor that brought joy to family and friends, his sons said.

"He lived a very full, long, and generally wonderful life," Anthony Schaeffer said.

In addition to his wife of 63 years and his sons, Mr. Schaeffer is survived by son Robert; a brother; and five grandchildren.

Services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday, June 20, at Joseph Levine & Sons, 4737 Street Road, Trevose. Burial will follow at Roosevelt Memorial Park.

Contributions may be made to the Wistar Institute at www.wistar.org.
Community, civic, business and government leaders gather for On the Table Philly. Read more

In today's noisy media environment and fractious political climate, genuine conversation and careful listening has become elusive, but it has never been more essential.

That's why the Philadelphia Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation piloted On the Table Philly on May 23. We believe informed and engaged communities  communities with the ability to listen to each other and learn together  are essential to a healthy democracy.

The initiative showed that it is indeed still possible for people to talk civilly, openly, and thoughtfully about a wide range of important topics such as their neighborhoods, education, race relations, mental health, immigration, the opioid epidemic, food insecurity, prisoner re-entry, and support for the arts.

Neighbors, colleagues, and strangers valued the ability to speak respectfully and rationally together about how the subjects that receive great  or no  attention on a national basis play out in their day-to-day lives.

The day featured more than 300 conversations over meals organized by 162 hosts in Southeastern Pennsylvania and South Jersey. The talks occurred in schools, libraries, YMCAs, community centers, homes, universities, offices, and at the State Correctional Institution in Chester.

We look forward to sharing feedback from these community conversations when survey results from all participants are compiled. In the meantime, social media shares from the day can be found via #LetsTalkPhilly.

What's already clear is:

People of all backgrounds in all parts of the region want to engage each other face-to-face, beyond the noise, to talk about improving their communities.

Hosts and participants want to keep the conversations  and the momentum  going.

There are opportunities to expand personal and institutional networks and partnerships in order to do good.

Some specific efforts have already been catalyzed. For example, one hospital has decided to collaborate with multiple branches of the Free Library to host monthly health-awareness workshops.

Talking with people who see a different side of an issue, or see it through a different lens, makes our understanding clearer and our actions better.

Stepping outside of our own comfortable echo chambers gives us the opportunity to generate resident-driven solutions to community needs in richer, more unpredictable, more creative ways. We often underestimate the power of the voices of individuals when they join with those of their neighbors.

At the end of the day, we live in the community we make. We often look to government for leadership, when leadership resides next door.

Let's keep talking Philly!

Pedro Ramos is president and CEO of The Philadelphia Foundation. president@philafound.org

Patrick Morgan is the Philadelphia program director of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. morgan@knightfoundation.org
It is encouraging to see that plans to extend the cover over Interstate 95 across Columbus Boulevard to the Delaware River may soon be realized, but the present configuration came about only after a long and difficult battle was waged by Philadelphia citizens.

PennDOT originally planned this section of I-95 to be on a 14-foot-high embankment with tunnels at Dock and Spruce Streets going under it for access to the nascent Penn's Landing. Only a massive citizen effort  one that started in 1964  changed those plans to what one sees today.

The Committee to Preserve Philadelphia's Historic Gateway, of which my late husband Stanhope Browne was the chairman, gathered support from many individuals and hundreds of local and national organizations. The committee worked closely with the Old Philadelphia Development Corp. and the Architect's Committee, which developed the counter proposal of a depressed section with a six-block cover. It took until 1972 to get approval, but for only the present 3 blocks. Here is my husband's more detailed account of the story:

"After years of planning, in 1964 the 'done deal' final design of the Center City section of I-95 was unveiled to the public by the display of a model showing the highway on a high embankment as it passed between the historic waterfront (future home of Penn's Landing) and Independence National Historical Park, birthplace of our country. All pedestrian and vehicular access to the river between Spring and Bainbridge Streets was cut off except for one-block tunnels at Dock and Spruce Streets. The plan was approved by the Philadelphia Streets Department, the Pennsylvania. Department of Highways (now PennDOT) and the federal Bureau of Public Roads (now U.S. Dept. of Transportation), as well as the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, headed by the powerful Edmund Bacon, world-famous city planner. These agencies with final say were backed by the powerful trucking, automobile, highway construction, and cement lobbies."

Next, my husband described the opposition. Many people, especially those familiar with "America's most historic square mile," were horrified at the design. New groups joined forces with an established one to fight back. Stanhope wrote:

The Philadelphia Architects Committee was formed primarily by a group of younger, less-established architects. It developed a counter proposal calling for depression of the highway and a six-block cover from Arch to Pine Streets. The committee built a model to show its plan.

The Committee to Preserve Philadelphia's Historic Gateway (the last three words later became "America's Birthplace") was formed to serve as the out-in-front political and public relations voice of the fight. Its members were primarily young professionals living in Center City.

Old Philadelphia Development Corp. (OPDC, now Center City Development Corp.), a private entity charged initially with guiding the implementation of the plan for the restoration of Society Hill, already existed, with a board of directors that included some of the most prestigious names from the business and professional communities. It acted as a behind-the-scenes liaison between the two new committees and governmental power.

The opposition's process was methodical and designed to both grow and increase the pressure on decision-makers in all three levels of government. Stanhope continued:

It very carefully articulated what was wrong with the official plan and published an elaborate document that presented the alternative plan, complete with an engineer's feasibility study.

It formed a team of a few qualified people to tell the opposition story and frame the debate.

It courted the news media. One OPDC director enlisted the then-publisher of the Inquirer to support the opposition. That invaluable support lasted through the entire fight.

It courted city, state, and federal elected officials, calling and meeting with them individually.

It created a large constituency by successfully requesting that numerous organizations simply "endorse" the effort; not give money or take political action. This step gained 90 local names, starting with the obvious historical societies, preservation groups, and nearby civic associations and expanding to include civic associations throughout the region, business and professional groups, labor unions, governmental advisory groups, and others. The effort went national in order to increase pressure on the federal government. This impressive organizational and individual constituency was the strongest weapon, apart from the rightness of the cause. It quickly gave respectability, and as it grew, political muscle.

Finally, Stanhope described the road to success which, much like other noted achievements in and around Independence Hall, required compromise, in this case the number of blocks in the cover:

"The final victory was agreement by the city, state and federal governments to depress and cover the highway for 3 blocks. It was achieved by the relentless pressure of the three opposition organizations, by the slowly increasing number of elected-official supporters and by the news media. This result finally came in early 1972, seven years after the fight started."

After an additional 11 years of construction, the road opened in 1983 and the project was finally completed in 1991 with the addition of the Walnut Street footbridge. The new plan to extend the cover is the next step in this long process, and I hope that someday the plan for a full six-block cover will be realized.

Elizabeth S. Browne lives, writes, and teachers in Philadelphia. adlibby2011@comcast.net
Congratulations are due the School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers for finally ending a four-year stalemate and agreeing on a new contract.

But don't spend too much time celebrating the deal approved Tuesday by the School Reform Commission because the document won't be worth the paper it's written on if there's no money to pay for the $202.6 million pact, effective until August 2020.

And right now, there isn't.

"We will be at the state's door, knocking on the door, asking them to meet us, help us meet this obligation," City Council President Darrell L. Clarke said Monday. "I don't know how that will play out, but we're hoping."

Hope springs eternal is an old saying, but whoever said it never had any dealings with the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania legislature, which has already signaled it has a closed mind when it comes to giving any more money to Philadelphia schools.

"It makes it very difficult to take any request from Philadelphia seriously when they do nothing that appears to help themselves  and then they negotiate a contract which they admit is based on fantasy," said Steve Miskin, spokesman for House Republicans.

That ridiculous statement ignores the additional $70 million the city began giving the School District two years ago, the $100 million in reduced interest costs the district achieved by refinancing its debt, the closure of 24 schools, and the decimation of the central office staff and other layoffs that were made to make ends meet.

The last thing state legislators ought to do is talk about someone else shirking their responsibility to properly fund schools. Pennsylvania ranks 45th in the nation in funding public education. That may be OK for affluent districts that can afford to fill the gap, but it's not good for most districts, especially Philadelphia's.

That said, the city must be realistic about the likelihood of the Republicans running Harrisburg agreeing to help pay for the new PFT contract. It's not impossible, but it's unlikely. And Democrat Gov. Wolf's track record suggests he won't be able to get the Republicans to move very far, if at all.

So, instead of hoping that somehow Harrisburg will come through with more cash, all those city officials hailing the new PFT contract need to start figuring out how they will fund the deal if that doesn't happen.

Mayor Kenney didn't include a dime more for schools in this year's city budget, instead successfully lobbying for a soda tax to fund pre-kindergarten expansion and pay for needed infrastructure improvements.

Kenney and Clarke are going to have to put their heads together and figure out what more the city can do. And that doesn't have to mean another tax. The city's children are worth taking another look at budgeted spending that might be redirected.

Philadelphia can't wait on myopic state legislators to act responsibly. City officials can't just point out what they have already done. The School District was facing a structural deficit before the PFT contract was negotiated. But that deal has turned up the heat to find a solution.
William Bell reportedly killed himself after shooting two Coffee County Sheriff's deputies and escaping custody. (Photo: Coffee County Sheriff)

Two deputies were wounded and the alleged gunman has died in a shooting at the Coffee County (TN) Justice Center on Monday afternoon.

According to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Coffee County Deputy Wade Bassett went into the holding cell at the justice center to take inmate Michael Bell back to jail.

Bell, 37, had been in court on Monday for charges including kidnapping and domestic assault, reports WSMV.

The TBI said Bell overpowered Bassett and was able to get his gun. He then shot Bassett before running down the stairs.

When Bell got to the first floor, investigators said he shot Deputy Wendell Bowen on his way out the door.

He was later found dead in the yard of a nearby home after shooting himself in the head.

Bowen, 56, was shot in the abdomen area. He underwent surgery Monday evening.

Bassett, 71, suffered significant injuries to his hand and arm. A bullet also struck him in the abdomen area but hit his body armor. He is listed in stable condition.
Pastor Joel Jones and his wife AnnaLisa came to the aid of a California trooper who was under attack this weekend. Joel, a former linebacker and law enforcement officer subdued the suspect. AnnaLisa checked on the injured troper. (Photo: AnnaLisa Jones)

Joel Jones doesnt believe there are coincidences in life.

So when the 61-year-old East Bay pastor and his wife followed an erratic freeway driver who went on to viciously attack a California Highway Patrol officer near American Canyon over the weekend, he knew he was there for a reason.

Jumping in and subduing the suspect on the shoulder of Interstate 80, Jones said, was Gods plan for him. Fortunately for him  and less so for the attacker  he was uniquely prepared for the task as a former college linebacker and retired San Francisco County Sheriffs deputy, SFGate.com reports.

She could have been toast, Jones said of the CHP officer. And she could have shot him, but the Lord mixed it up and said, No one is dying today.

The suspect reportedly punched the trooper and was stomping her and attempting to take her when Jones arrived and tackled him.
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As Democrats continue to hold the floor in the US Senate as part of their effort to stall the Republican health care bill, Senate Democratic Leader, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) got Republican Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) to admit that Obamacare wasnt negotiated in secret, but had 25 days of hearings.

Video of Schumer:

.@SenSchumer gets @joniernst to admit O-care got 25 consecutive days of hearings, 169 hours of consideration Trumpcare: 0 days of hearings pic.twitter.com/odHYpgDYUx  CAP Action (@CAPAction) June 19, 2017

Schumer got Joni Ernst to admit that the Affordable Care Act got 25 days of hearings and 169 hours of consideration. Trumpcare has had zero hearings and zero hours of consideration. One of the talking points that Republicans are using to defend their actions is that they are using the same process that Democrats used when doing the ACA. As Schumer got Ernst to acknowledge in the video above, this claim is a flat out lie.

What Republicans are currently doing with their health care bill has not been done in the Senate since before World War I. Republicans are breaking over a century of Senate behavior and precedent to try to pass an unpopular health care bill so that the wealthiest Americans can have bigger tax cuts.

Republicans have been clinging to the lie that they arent doing anything different or unusual with the Senate version of Trumpcare, but this is the opposite of true. Mitch McConnell and his Senate majority are committing a crime against transparent governance, popular representation, and the legislative process.

Democrats are demolishing the lies and delivering facts as a first step in derailing the secret Republican health care bill.
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Just a day before voters in Georgias sixth congressional district will choose between underdog Democrat Jon Ossoff and Trump-supported Republican Karen Handel, former President Barack Obama jumped into the race to slam GOP efforts to suppress the vote.

Responding to an ad being run in Georgia by pro-Trump group Great America Alliance, which fraudulently uses Obamas voice from the audio version of his book Dreams From My Father, a spokesman for the 44th president said the radio spot is a shameful, indefensible tactic that should never be heard on the public airwaves.

The full statement:

Full Obama spokesman comment: pic.twitter.com/a5OG1t6RrY  Nathan McDermott (@natemcdermott) June 19, 2017

The response from Obamas spokesman comes a day after it was reported that the former presidents voice was being used out of context to keep Democrats from voting.

The radio ad:

Despite the misleading commercial, the audio of Obama was actually the former president quoting somebody else  they werent his own words, despite the ad presenting them as such.

Voter suppression from Republicans is nothing new, of course. Without such tactics, whether its discouraging Democrats from turning out or simply forbidding them from doing so via state laws, Donald Trump probably wouldnt be in the White House today.

The latest example in Georgia, in a district that Trump carried and that Republicans have controlled for decades, shows that the GOP is deeply concerned about losing what should be a guaranteed win for them.

But trying to use the popular former president to keep Democrats at home probably isnt the best strategy for Republicans. Instead of discouraging progressive voters, its likely to motivate them even more.

In a race as close as the contest in Georgia, that could give Ossoff a last-minute boost in a neck-and-neck election.
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A new Gallup poll found that former President Obama is maintaining his popularity surge thanks to Donald Trump.

Chart of Obamas popularity surge via Gallup:

Gallup reported, Obamas current 63% favorable rating is similar to what Gallup measured during the lame-duck period of his presidency, from mid-November 2016 through January 2017. Those ratings represented an improvement from what Gallup found for most of his two terms, including a 54% favorable rating last August, the last measurement before Americans chose his successor in the 2016 election.

Meanwhile, Trump is sitting at 40% approval in the latest Gallup poll with no hope of a popular bump in sight. Given that Trump is under federal criminal investigation while his predecessors popularly continues to explode it isnt surprising that Trump is trying to convince himself that he is more popular than Obama.

No matter what Trump tweets, he will never be as popular as Obama. Former President Obamas popularity continues to climb for a reason. After five months of Trumps incompetence, potential crimes, and never-ending drama, the American people have gained a new appreciation for the former president who was competent, forward-looking, intelligent, and scandal free.

After getting a dose of Trump, many Americans seem to be yearning for the days of No Drama Obama. Trump doesnt measure up to Barack Obama.
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Democratic Senators Brian Schatz of Hawaii, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Chris Murphy of Connecticut are marching to the Congressional Budget Office in search of the secret Senate Republican health care bill.

Here are the Senators filming their departure:

Booker, Murphy and Schatz begin recording their march to CBO to find healthcare bill that doesn't exist pic.twitter.com/TmP8AumlOP  Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 20, 2017

The Senators are vowing to leave no door unknocked in search of the legislation:

Sens. Schatz, Booker and Murphy prepping to cab over to CBO and search for the GOP health care bill. Will "leave no door unknocked"  Ali Rogin (@AliABCNews) June 20, 2017

Sen. Schatz tweeted:

@CoryBooker and @ChrisMurphyCT and I took a taxi to CBO to see the bill. They couldn't show us. 1/6th of economy trashed, in secret.  Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) June 20, 2017

The bill hasnt been handed over the CBO yet because reports are that it is still being written, but consider the contrast. When the Affordable Care Act was going through the legislative process in the Senators, there were more than 160 hours of debate. The Senate spent 25 consecutive days in session on health care reform. The Senate Finance Committee held 50 bipartisan hearings on the ACA. The Senate HELP Committee held 47 bipartisan hearings on the ACA. The bill was publicly available from both the Finance and HELP committees six days before the markup.

Mitch McConnells plan is to make the Senate Republican health care bill available for less than two. Senate floor debate will be limited to ten hours, and there will be no hearings or amendments offered to the bill.

Senators shouldnt have to go on a scavenger hunt for a piece of legislation that will impact one-sixth of the US economy. The Democratic Senators wont find the bill, but they will reveal how vile and undemocratic Mitch McConnells process has been.
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Jim Galloway of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution is warning that the heavy rain in the Sixth District could depress turnout for Republican Karen Handel in the House special election.

Video:

Galloway said on MTP Daily, I dont want to be a weatherman, but its pouring here. Were in the middle of a deluge, two to four inches, flooding advisory until 10 PM, and that could affect your Karen Handel voter.

Galloway added, Ossoffs built his campaign around early voting. I think he pulled forty-eight percent in that April vote, but he pulled sixty-two, sixty-three percent of early voters, so Handels voters are the ones who show up on the day of voting.

In an election where the margin could be razor thin, the last thing that Republicans needed was bad weather that might keep their voters at home. That is not to say that Handels voters will stay home, but in a series of special elections where Democrats have come close, but have not been getting any breaks, the weather may be playing in their favor in the race to decide who will replace Trump HHS Secretary Tom Price in the House.
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Rachel Maddows excellent reporting on developments in the Russia investigation continued with the news that a Federal Grand Jury in the Eastern District of Virginia issued subpoenas related to Paul Manafort.

This is the same district that is investigating Michael Flynn, which Maddow suggests is indicative of efforts to consolidate the investigation based on two main points. First, the Eastern District of Virginia is right outside of DC. Second, the Eastern District handles national security cases with an intelligence component. Maddow said that while the practice may make sense on paper, its weird.

Watch here:

Maddows analysis is based on a Washington Post story that revealed Konstantin Kiliminiks name appeared on a previously undisclosed subpoena sought by Federal prosecutors looking for information concerning contracts for work . Communication or other records of correspondence related to two dozen people associated with Manafort or his wife. The inclusion of Manaforts wife is a new development.

The fact about Kiliminik that most stands out is the reporting that he was trained as a Russian spy. In fact, thats where he learned how to speak English well enough to head the U.S. based International Republican Institute for 10 years before he was forced out because of suspicions of his ties to Russia.

Kiliminik figures prominently as the person who, for 10 years, ran the Ukraine Office of Manaforts political consulting business. He and Manafort also met twice during the brief period that Manafort was Trumps campaign chair.

Rachel Maddow also reported that Kiliminik went back to Russia and bragged about his ability to influence the mysterious change in the Republican Partys platform on Ukraine to make it more Russia friendly.

The subpoena that names Kiliminik doesnt specify if it was related to the FBIs investigation of Russias interference in the 2016 election or if its limited to an investigation of Manaforts business activities. However, we do know that investigators in the Eastern District of Virginia are assisting in the Russia investigation. Its worth noting this subpoena was issued before Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed.

Maddow points to another set of coincidences involving the DOJ. Trump fired all but two U.S. attorneys. One of them is Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney-General. The second person is Dana Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Boente heads the national security division at the DOJ.

We do know there is at least one grand jury empaneled in East Virginia to investigate Russias interference in our elections. That is Boentes district and Boente runs the DOJs national security division.

Above all else, Trump can tweet all he wants. This isnt going away.
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President Trump took credit for pushing the auto companies around to force them to keep jobs in the U.S., which certainly would have been something to celebrate if only it had been true. He really likes to incorrectly take credit for Ford decisions.

Trump thanked Ford for keeping jobs in the US, but it turns out that the automaker is moving jobs to China, as Ford announced Tuesday:

Exciting new Ford Focus on the way for North American customers beginning in 2019 with more technology, more space and a number of new Focus models. Next-generation Focus for North America will be globally sourced primarily from China  rather than Hermosillo, Mexico  with production starting in the second half of 2019. Current model production ends in mid-2018.

The New York Times observed, The company was building a $1.6 billion assembly plant for the next Focus model in Mexico, but it ran into stiff opposition from President Trump and then canceled the project.

Reuters reported in November that Ford was going ahead with their plan to move production of the Focus to Mexico even after Trumps criticism:

President-elect Donald Trump has criticized Ford for the decision to shift production of Focus small cars to Mexico in 2018 and said he would consider levying tariffs on Mexican-made Fords. Trump has also said he wants to scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement, which also includes Canada, and to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border to stop undocumented immigrants. Were going forward with our plan to move production of the Ford Focus to Mexico, and importantly thats to make room for two very important products well be putting back into Michigan plants, Fields said in an interview on the sidelines of the Los Angeles Auto Show. There will be no job impact whatsoever with this move.

Trump taking credit for Ford decisions:

Just got a call from my friend Bill Ford, Chairman of Ford, who advised me that he will be keeping the Lincoln plant in Kentucky  no Mexico  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016

I worked hard with Bill Ford to keep the Lincoln plant in Kentucky. I owed it to the great State of Kentucky for their confidence in me!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 18, 2016

The New York Times rebutted Trumps assertions, Ford, however, said it neither planned to close the Louisville, Ky., plant nor reduce jobs there. The company said it had considered moving Lincoln production to Mexico to increase production of the Ford Escape in Louisville.

Trump criticized Ford during the campaign for its decision to move small-car production from Michigan to Mexico. Trump suggested he might impose tariffs on Ford cars assembled in Mexico.

Heres Trump taking credit in 2017 as President for a Ford decision made in 2015, most of which was actually based on United Auto Workers Union negotiation, which is particularly galling given Trumps treatment of workers and the Republican Partys constant demonizing of unions (note for the Kellyannes in the house: Trump was not president in 2015):

Big announcement by Ford today. Major investment to be made in three Michigan plants. Car companies coming back to U.S. JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2017

Heres Kellyanne Conway promoting the same propaganda:

Two weeks after @POTUS met with auto execsFord plans significant investments in 3 plants https://t.co/HRjFkZx0ft via @detroitnews #jobs  Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls) March 28, 2017

Its easy to win when you take credit for things that you had nothing to do with and you dont have a problem with just making things up.

This might seem like just more Trump lies, but figuring out how to keep jobs here in America is of vital importance and we cant do that when our President pretends that he waved his magic wand and made it happen.

The UAW working with Ford made it happen, but they cant work alone. They need support from Congress and the President to make American jobs competitive and well-paid.

This is with Mitt Romney taking credit for the results auto industry bailout when he was against it on steroids.
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While meeting with tech CEOs, Trump again criticized the secret Republican health care bill, but the one thing that he hasnt done is refuse to sign it if it passes through Congress.

CNBC reported, The source said the president told the CEOs on Monday that the Senates health-care bill needs more heart. That would be a second known instance of the president criticizing the GOP bill in private meetings.

There have now been multiple reports of the President criticizing his own partys health care bill, but the one thing that he hasnt done publicly or privately is threaten to veto it. Trump doesnt want to take the heat for the unpopular legislation, but he is not going to do anything that would prevent him from getting the legislative win that he is openly lusting after.

Donald Trump may hate the Republican health care bill, but that isnt going to stop him from signing it into law. Trumps words are nothing more than empty bluster. The Presidents actions are the true indicator of what he is going to do about healthcare.

Trump is going to grumble and moan privately about a piece of legislation that he doesnt understand, and when it is all said and done, it will be Donald Trumps signature on the piece of legislation that will take health care away from tens of millions of Americans.
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By Andy Sullivan

ROSWELL, Ga. (Reuters)  The most expensive congressional race in U.S. history headed to a tight finish on Tuesday as voters in suburban Atlanta cast ballots in an election that was seen by many as a referendum on President Donald Trump.

With voting due to conclude at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT), polls showed a narrow lead for Democrat Jon Ossoff, a political newcomer who is hoping to win a district that has been held by Republicans since the 1970s.

The outcome will not be pivotal to the balance of power in Washington, where Republicans control both chambers of Congress, but an Ossoff victory could help Democrats raise money and recruit candidates as they try to win back the House of Representatives in 2018. It also could encourage Republican lawmakers to distance themselves from Trump, making it harder to deliver on promised health and tax overhauls.

Republican Karen Handel, a former secretary of state, has enlisted many of the states top elected officials to keep Georgias Sixth District in Republican hands. She avoids talk of Trump, instead focusing on her track record.

The people of the Sixth District are going to be looking for someone whos been part of this community for nearly 25 years, she told reporters after casting her ballot on Tuesday morning, as several dozen nearby Ossoff supporters chanted Flip the Sixth.

That has not stopped Trump from weighing in on Twitter, calling Ossoff weak on crime and security and telling voters that Handel is a hard worker who will never give up!

Republican officials and voters say Trump is a divisive figure in this educated, affluent and increasingly diverse district.

Do I agree 100 percent with what he does? God, no. But I believe he has the countrys best interests at heart, said Jessica Podalsky, who voted for Handel on Tuesday morning.

Ossoff initially campaigned on a promise to make Trump furious, but more recently has avoided taking on the president as he tries to win over centrist voters. He has emphasized local concerns and enlisted few prominent Democrats to campaign on his behalf.

Theres a lot of national interest, but its about voters in the Sixth District who want to see representation that can grow our local economy, improve access to health care and bring accountability to Washington, he told reporters on Monday.

Trump narrowly won the district by 1 percentage point in last years presidential election, giving Democrats a new sense of hope.

There are more of us than we thought, said Tricia Gephardt, an Ossoff volunteer.

The seat has been vacant since Trump tapped Republican Tom Price to serve as his health secretary.

Democrats are under pressure to win after steadily losing seats in Congress and at the state level in recent years. They fell short in other special congressional elections earlier this year in Kansas and Montana, and are expected to lose another race on Tuesday in South Carolina.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Caren Bohan)
25  2021 - 200     

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Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

A few showers this morning, becoming a steady light rain during the afternoon hours. High 76F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 64F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph.
DAVENPORT, Iowa  The sale of the Dispatch-Argus daily newspaper in Moline, Ill., will have the effect of bringing new jobs to Rochester.

Small Newspaper Group, which owns the Post Bulletin, announced it will move its DIG! Digital Impact Guides business from Moline to Rochester. Approximately 10 jobs will be moved to the Post Bulletin as a consequence of the sale, announced Monday.

"The sale of the Dispatch-Argus will allow the Small Newspaper Group to direct its resources and investments in the properties in Kankakee and Ottawa, Ill., and here in Rochester," said Christy Blade, general manager of the Post Bulletin.

The sale, announced Monday by Lee Enterprises, includes QCOnline.com and related publications serving Moline, Rock Island and other western Illinois communities. Small Newspaper Group has owned the Post Bulletin since 1977.

Lee President and CEO Kevin Mowbray says the Dispatch-Argus "is a perfect strategic fit for Lee," given the newspaper is near Lee newspapers across the river in Davenport and Muscatine.

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Davenport, Iowa-based Lee owns daily newspapers, other publications and digital products in 21 states. The Dispatch publishes seven mornings per week, with a combined average daily circulation of more than 25,000. It is owned by the Small Newspaper Group based in Kankakee, Ill.

Len R. Small, president and CEO of Small Newspaper Group, said the owners need to have a smaller and more manageable footprint in the Midwest. The Small Newspaper Group owns three other daily newspapers and several magazines and digital services in Illinois and Minnesota, including the Post Bulletin.

"The choice of selling this property after a half-century was a difficult but necessary move," Small said.

"We will miss our associates and the opportunity to work with them for this community," he said. "We wish them and the new owners well."
Rochester Catholic Schools is set for change.

The 1,500 -student private school system has recently re-branded itself and updated its strategic plan as many of its leaders are heading into retirement and its director is leaving.

The four-school system hopes the ambitious plan will bring about big changes, including growing the student body by one-fourth, enhancing academics and creating less of a reliance on tuition.

The school system is attempting to respond to many of the outside changes that have taken place since leaders last evaluated RCS's goals, including changes in the public schools and the rise of technology.

"It's been tweaked and updated as the world has changed, as life has changed, as approaches to education have changed," said outgoing Director Michael Brennan, noting that 2011 was the last time the school system's strategic plan and mission were reviewed. "Technology has found a very different place in our schools in the course of six years."

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The updates are also in response to public school initiatives such as all-day, every-day kindergarten, which rolled out in 2014, and recent proposals to fund early childhood education. Those changes press private school leaders to keep up.

"You need a plan to be able to respond to that," Brennan said.

Expanding academics and enrollment

School leaders are hoping changes to academics will, among other things, bump the average ACT score at RCS to 27.5. The current average is 26.3, according to the school system's website .

Under the plan, the learning style is to become more personalized, support will be provided for special education students and enrichment programs will be provided for high-ability learners. Students should graduate "college ready" and not need to take any remedial courses upon enrolling in college.

RCS also plans to double its elective and exploratory courses, including more options for students to earn college credit while in high school, plus more internships and workplace experience. But the school system also plans to magnify its Catholic identity, making students' religious experience more meaningful by providing spiritual retreats and service opportunities.

With the expansion of academics, school leaders are also considering how to expand the student body.

In the last decade, graduating classes have typically been between 110 and 120 students, but leaders say all of the buildings have more space, including the recently built Lourdes High School. About 430 kids attend the school, far from its capacity of 625.

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Part of the reason for that push is that RCS wants to ease its reliance on student tuition, and cover about 30 percent of its budget with philanthropic gifts and money made from early childhood and summer programming.

"We need to begin to look at designing or developing more creative ways to develop revenue sources, to take pressure off of tuition  so that we don't have to pass those onto parents," Brennan said.

Brennan and the system's leaders recognize that private-school tuition  $8,700 for high school students and $6,300 for kindergarten through eighth grade  can be out of reach for some in the community.

"We need to do some work to look at ways to increase the accessibility of Catholic education by means of making it more affordable," he said.

At Rochester Public Schools, 37 percent of students come from low-income families , according to the Minnesota Department of Education. While that likely doesn't match the Catholic schools, it does provide a picture of the community from which the Catholic schools are looking to recruit.

Brennan said about one-third of RCS's students receive some sort of financial aid. Others receive subsidies from their parish, or employee benefit discounts.

"Unfortunately, the real need of families is always going to be more than we have dollars to be able to support," he said.

A 'fresh image'

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With all of the updates, the schools are also getting a new logo and they'll all use the same mascot.

"We want a fresh image, and sort of a new image," Brennan said. "It's an opportunity to reinvent ourselves, but it also unifies us."

The most visible change so far: all of the schools will adopt Lourdes' logo, the eagle, and the school's distinctive purple and gold.

Previously, the system's schools  Lourdes High School, St. Francis of Assisi School, Holy Spirit Catholic School and St. John the Evangelist/St. Pius X School  had distinct identities, school colors and mascots. St. Francis students were known a the "ravens" and sported green and white, while Holy Spirit students were represented by a jaguar. The approach was a bit "disjointed," Brennan said.

The school system was incorporated in 1991. Before that, each school was separate, even though they all fell under the the umbrella of the Diocese of Winona.

"That's hard to let go of," Brennan said regarding the traditions and memories attached to individual mascots. "But moving forward, in order to accomplish those goals that we have for this school system, we truly need to be one body made up of parts."

That's the reason, despite a few major leadership changes, the school system doesn't anticipate too much disruption with the turnover.

Brennan, who's been involved in the updates, will head to Victoria, Minn., for a job at another Catholic school in the fall. The move, to be closer to family, was prompted by the birth of a second set of twins. Both of sets of twins in Brennan's family are under 2 years old.

Longtime activities director Marv Peters is retiring, as is Lynette Lenoch, the principal at Holy Spirit.

"When you can leave with a plan in place, that's a good situation," Brennan said. "So we've just got some changes that are happening, and that can certainly pose a challenge, but we've been doing a lot of work to ensure that the momentum that's been established continues."
Minnesota college students can expect their tuition rates will likely be going up this fall.

Leaders at both the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State are expected to vote on proposed tuition hikes this week. Students say they are dismayed to see officials considering tuition increases.

Minda Nelson, president of the Minnesota State College Student Association , said many students are already struggling to pay for college. She said the group will be urging Minnesota State's leaders to reject the proposed tuition increases.

"We're really hoping that they don't raise tuition. They have historically risen it every single time they have the opportunity to, so we're not expecting amazing results from this week," Nelson said.

Minnesota State's Board of Trustees is expected to vote Wednesday on a proposed 3.9 percent tuition increase for four-year universities and a 1 percent increase for two-year colleges for the 2017-2018 academic year. The Legislature set a 1 percent cap on tuition increases at the two-year schools. Lawmakers also required that Minnesota State's four-year and two-year schools freeze tuition for 2018-2019.

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The University of Minnesota Board of Regents is slated to vote today on a proposed 3 percent increase at its Twin Cities campus and 1 percent increase at greater Minnesota campuses  including Rochester  for 2017-2018. The Legislature can request  but not require  the university to limit tuition increases.

School official say the tuition hikes are needed to make up for less state funding than requested and rising costs. Lawmakers approved an additional $106 million in funding for Minnesota State colleges and universities, but that is $72 million less than the amount requested.

Rochester Community and Technical College is facing a projected $523,146 budget shortfall in the next two-year budget cycle  even with the proposed 1 percent tuition hike. Nate Stoltman, the college's director of communications and college relations, said RCTC was able to avoid laying off employees. However, the college expects to offer fewer sections, suspend programs with low student demand and hold off on investing in classroom technology upgrades and building repairs.

There's one big caveat when it comes to RCTC's projected budget  enrollment. The college has been dealing with declining enrollment since 2013 as the economy has improved. If fewer students enroll this fall than expected, that will mean less revenue for the college and the need for more cost cutting, Stoltman said.

Given Rochester's low unemployment rate and need for skilled workers, Stoltman said it is critical for the local economy that RCTC have the funding necessary to educate the workforce of tomorrow.

"We are a huge supplier of talent to this workforce. If we can't continue to have the opportunities for these students to learn and learn on equipment and have these professional experiences that are really necessary so these employers can have skilled labor ready to go, that's going to hurt the workforce," he said.

Lawmakers approved an additional $55 million for the University of Minnesota system  roughly one-third the amount requested.

"With this monetary award from the Legislature, what we're going to have to do is have a combination of tuition increases and programmatic cuts across the university to fund the university," said Matt Kramer, vice president of university relations.

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However, there are no plans to cut programs at the University of Minnesota Rochester, according to John Hachtel, UMR's director of marketing and communications. He added that this year's budget isn't expected to have an impact on UMR's long-term growth plans.

Rep. Gene Pelowski, DFL-Winona, said the Republican-led Legislature failed to prioritize higher education. He said the higher education budget passed last month deserves a C- grade  especially considering the state has a projected $1.65 billion surplus. Pelowski is particularly concerned about plans to raise tuition, which will lead to more student debt and potentially discourage prospective students from enrolling.

"The idea that you can continually increase the cost and there is no downside is clearly wrong. The downside is increased debt and, ultimately, an impact to your enrollment," Pelowski said.

But Sen. Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, argues higher education fared well at the Capitol. He notes lawmakers boosted higher education spending overall by $210 million. Lawmakers also increased the state grant program by $36 million to help low- and middle-income students with the cost of college. He notes lawmakers did what they could to restrict tuition increases.

"Not only did we prioritize higher education, but we prioritized students," Miller said. "We tried to make higher education more affordable."
AUSTIN  Leaders from throughout Minnesota are celebrating a huge anniversary for The Hormel Institute.

For the last 75 years, The Hormel Institute undertook a mission to further cancer research. Monday night's celebration welcomed scientists to the fifth annual Hormel Institute International Cancer Research Conference held at the Ray Live Learning Center with 150 guests in attendance.

This two-day cancer conference brought together scientists from the institute, and invited speakers to continue cancer research, to coincide with the 75th anniversary. With annual support from The Hormel Foundation, 100 percent of every donation directly funds cancer research.

"The Hormel Foundation is proud of the support we have been part of the last 75 years," said Gary J. Ray, chairman of The Hormel Foundation. "The Hormel Institute is recognized as one of the leading research facilities in the world. Jay Hormel's insight is still going forward after 75 years."

The history

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In 1942, Jay C. Hormel founded the institute. Research began in converted horse stables on the family estate. In 1968, the Hormel Institute moved to its present location in a one-story brick building with 10 labs.

By 2008, the facilities tripled in size, adding 20 state-of-the-art labs and renovating the 1960 building, according to officials.

Last year, The Hormel Institute doubled in size again with the addition of the Ray Live Learning Center and another 20 labs. The $31.5 million expansion also included the $4.5 million auditorium that featured a multipurpose conference room with distance learning and presentation technologies, allowing researchers to communicate around the world.

A 42-unit apartment complex across the street from the institute also was built by a private developer to accommodate the scientists, faculty and staff who were hired as part of the expansion.

Overall, the project was funded by The Hormel Foundation ($1.5 million) and individual and corporate gifts ($988,000), with an additional $512,000 raised through grants and gifts.

The center had its grand opening on June 1, 2016.

What's to come

These expansions doubled the number of faculty and staff at The Hormel Institute and the 2016 expansion made room for an additional 130 positions to be added during the next few years. The number of research sections increased to 15, and the institute is poised to add more with two section leaders within the coming weeks.

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One of the biggest investments include the adding of the Titan Krios cryo-electron microscope as well as worldwide telecommunications technology for the Ray Live Learning Center. Clinical trials start for the first time in the institute's history later this year with the 2016 expansion's new doctor/patient labs and translational research section opening.

"We are deeply thankful and honored to have the generous support of The Hormel Foundation, our leaders and our community who join us in accelerating answers to cancer," said Dr. Zigang Dong, executive director of The Hormel Institute.

"The legacy of The Hormel Institute was started by Jay C Hormel but truly belongs to all who have worked here and all who have supported research for 75 years. This is a milestone we can all celebrate," he said. "As we look to the future, we know through The Hormel Institute's research and its discoveries, continued progress will improve human health worldwide."
Stewartville resident Alan Miller wasn't pleased when he saw an extra monthly fee appear on his utility bill two years ago.

Miller's utility provider, People's Energy Cooperative, charged a net metering fee of $5 per month to him and other customers generating their own energy. Many cooperative utilities devised the fees to make up for lost revenue.

Miller  who powers his property via wind turbine  said he chose to file a complaint to the Public Utilities Commission in an attempt to eliminate the fee. People's Energy Cooperative ultimately rescinded the fees before the PUC's review progressed.

Utility co-ops such as People's Energy Cooperative continue to impose net metering fees on customers generating their own power today  with some reaching as high as $83 per month. Now, customers might no longer be able to have fees they deem unjust resolved by the PUC.

A policy passed by the Minnesota Legislature last month removed the PUC's authority to help resolve fee disputes between customers and utility providers. Renewable advocates and developers say the policies will negatively impact industry growth, while utility company representatives maintain the net metering fees are necessary to uphold financial stability and customer fairness.

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Customers dissatisfied with the additional net metering fees previously could consult the Public Utilities Commission to help resolve the dispute with their provider. But under the new policy, co-op customers are required to address any fee complaints with the co-ops' boards or a third-party mediator.

Through net metering, customers producing their own energy from solar panels or wind turbines can export excess electricity production to the power grid  receiving credits in return that help reduce future electricity bills.

"(Cooperative utilities have) been very hostile to the policy mechanism of net metering that allows folks to do that," said Allen Gleckner, director of energy markets for Fresh Energy. "(The fee) is essentially designed to make putting a system up uneconomic for that customer."

The inability to dispute the fees to a regulating body such as the PUC will hurt customers and installers alike, Gleckner said.

Curt Shellum, owner of Solar Connection, a Rochester solar installation company, said prospective customers have been turned off by the additional monthly fees.

"They look at the extra charge and add it up, and it kind of reduces some of the economic incentive behind [solar]," Shellum said.

Net metering fees are unwarranted considering how few customers generate their own energy, he said.

About 70 of People's Energy Cooperative's 24,000 customers partake in net metering  less than 1 percent.

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Still, Elaine Garry, president and CEO of People's Energy Cooperative, said the fees help to sustain finances and customer fairness.

"Seventy customers alone isn't a big deal, but renewable energy generation is becoming a big deal and  it's going to keep growing," she said.

People's Energy Cooperative customers can install up to 3.5 kilowatts of wind or solar for free under the organization's net metering policy. Each kilowatt of generation after that costs $3.03 per month, with the maximum monthly fee for a system reaching $27 per month.

The net metering fee helps compensate for fixed service costs that renewable-generating customers pay less of, Garry said.

"Their bill gets lower because they're producing their own energy, but that means that they're not covering the fixed costs that  the cooperative is incurring," she said.

Plus, the lost revenue from renewable-generating customers causes extra costs to be passed on to other customers, Garry said.

"Many times the people it ends up hurting are those people that are already struggling to pay their energy bill," she said.

But not all co-ops have opted to implement net metering fees.

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Kelly Hovel, general manager of Goodhue County Cooperative Electric Association, said his co-op considered implementing a monthly fee of up to $45, which customers weren't deterred by.

The co-op's board chose to await completion of the PUC's current evaluation into the validity of utility net metering fee calculation before taking action, Hovel said.

The recently passed legislative policy gives the PUC until the end of the year to finish evaluating how state utilities calculate their net metering fees. If the PUC finds the fee methodologies baseless, utilities will have to create new formulas to calculate the fees.

After the review, the PUC no longer will have jurisdiction over cooperative regulations and fee structures.

Gleckner said the decreased oversight of cooperative utilities could spur disparities between rural and city renewable industries.

"It's  creating a divide in some ways of two Minnesotas," he said. "I will say on the rural side  it's really going to hurt the industry."

Despite disincentives, Shellum said the solar industry will continue to thrive.

"Will customers cease to go solar? Doubtful," he said. "It will just slow it down some."
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in RoundUp, the most widely used herbicide in the world. Glyphosate is a non-selective herbicide, meaning it will kill just about any plant. Since it would kill the crop as well as the weeds, for quite a few years it couldnt be used over the top of an emerging crop. Instead, its use was restricted to lower-value burndown situations, where weeds in a field would be killed prior to planting, or, e.g., to keep down weeds on railroad rights of way.

The first commercially successful genetic modification, carried out by Monsanto, which owned the patents on glyphosate, was to make plants tolerant of glyphosate. A GMO variety, commonly referred to as RoundUp Ready, would survive a glyphosate application while the weeds in the field would die. The development of glyphosate tolerant crops (soybeans, corn, cotton, eventually others) was a marvel: farmers could apply RoundUp over the top of crops, killing weeds while the crop was unaffected. The result was cheaper food and clothing.

As a bonus, glyphosate was remarkably benign from an environmental standpoint. In general, insecticides are toxic to humans because humans are quite a bit like bugs. Herbicides, on the other hand, are generally not very toxic to humans, because we arent a lot like plants. But even in this context, glyphosate stood out as a harmless chemical. It targets an enzyme that is found in plants, but not in humans or animals. Moreover, glyphosate breaks down easily and does not persist in the environment. It is pretty much the perfect herbicide (until resistance starts to develop, but thats another story).

This sounds like a win-win situationcheaper food, better health, longer lifespansbut some people irrationally hate genetically modified crops, even though the modificationin this case, making the corn or soybean plant tolerant of glyphosatehas nothing to do with its nutritional value. After decades of world-wide experience with glyphosate, it was accepted that the product was safe. So it was a bombshell when the International Agency for Research on Cancer declared, in March 2015, that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic, based on tests on rodents.

Hundreds of cancer patients promptly sued Monsanto, claiming the company had concealed the danger of carcinogenicity, notwithstanding the fact that it would be hard to find a farmer who hadnt been exposed to glyphosate. The European Union said it would consider IARCs finding when deciding whether to continue to allow glyphosate to be used in Europe. Environmentalists had scored a major coup.

But the whole thing turned out to be a fraud. Reuters has investigated, aided by access to deposition testimony in one or more of the lawsuits against Monsanto, which evidently was not subject to a protective order. Briefly put, the author of the IARCs carcinogenicity study, Aaron Blair, an epidemiologist from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, covered up his own research showing that exposure to glyphosate did not lead to a higher incidence of cancer in humans. The story, as reported by Reuters, is astonishing:

Previously unreported court documents reviewed by Reuters from an ongoing U.S. legal case against Monsanto show that Blair knew the unpublished research found no evidence of a link between glyphosate and cancer. In a sworn deposition given in March this year in connection with the case, Blair also said the data would have altered IARCs analysis.

But the data were not considered by IARC because including them would have made the report too long. Or something. You can read the Reuters story, or even this surprisingly sane Mother Jones article, for the details.

It seems obvious that this is another case where left-wing scientists concealed data that would have refuted their theoryhere, that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic.* Remarkably, despite exposure of the scandal, IARC stands by its findings. Politics above all.

Given the many scandals that have emerged in recent years, it is reasonable to ask: can liberals be trusted to do science? Unless and until they commit themselves to fundamental reform, something that is not in prospect, my answer is No.

*A footnote: roughly half of all of the substances on Earth are carcinogenic. The proportion is the same in natural and man-made substances. The overwhelming majority of carcinogens that humans ingest come from beer, wine, mushrooms and peanuts. This is not because of additives, etc., but rather because those foods are inherently carcinogenic. Any carcinogens that we ingest via additives, preservatives, etc., are at most a footnote. Does that mean that I have stopped drinking beer and wine? Um.no. But I take it easy on the mushrooms.
Peter Beinart, a smart center-left writer once affiliated with The New Republic before it went crazy, nowadays is at The Atlantic, and he has a barn-burner of an essay out today on the subject, How the Democrats Lost Their Way on Immigration. It is a long article, but very much worth reading the whole thing.

The point is, Beinart honestly confronts the craven partisan political calculation behind the liberal line on immigration, and he goes through the serious substantive economic and social reasons why liberals should be in favor of managing immigration in the interests of American workersas they did not that long ago.

Some excerpts:

In 2005, a left-leaning blogger wrote, Illegal immigration wreaks havoc economically, socially, and culturally; makes a mockery of the rule of law; and is disgraceful just on basic fairness grounds alone. In 2006, a liberal columnist wrote that immigration reduces the wages of domestic workers who compete with immigrants and that the fiscal burden of low-wage immigrants is also pretty clear. His conclusion: Well need to reduce the inflow of low-skill immigrants. That same year, a Democratic senator wrote, When I see Mexican flags waved at proimmigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. When Im forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration. The blogger was Glenn Greenwald. The columnist was Paul Krugman. The senator was Barack Obama.

I had no ideas these leading liberals were such xenophobic racists. Worth quoting back to your liberal friends.

Why did liberals change their mind? It doesnt take Captain Obvious to know, but Beinart risks his liberal street cred anyway:

A larger explanation is political. Between 2008 and 2016, Democrats became more and more confident that the countrys growing Latino population gave the party an electoral edge. To win the presidency, Democrats convinced themselves, they didnt need to reassure white people skeptical of immigration so long as they turned out their Latino base. The fastest-growing sector of the American electorate stampeded toward the Democrats this November, Salon declared after Obamas 2008 win. If that pattern continues, the GOP is doomed to 40 years of wandering in a desert. As the Democrats grew more reliant on Latino votes, they were more influenced by pro-immigrant activism. While Obama was running for reelection, immigrants-rights advocates launched protests against the administrations deportation practices; these protests culminated, in June 2012, in a sit-in at an Obama campaign office in Denver. Ten days later, the administration announced that it would defer the deportation of undocumented immigrants who had arrived in the U.S. before the age of 16 and met various other criteria. Obama, The New York Times noted, was facing growing pressure from Latino leaders and Democrats who warned that because of his harsh immigration enforcement, his support was lagging among Latinos who could be crucial voters in his race for re-election.

From here Beinart recalls how Bernie Sanders was forced to backtrack on his immigration skepticism in 2015 (Sanders called open borders a Koch brothers ideaheh), and goes through some of the serious scholarshipmuch of it from prominent liberals like Harvards Robert Putnamthat assesses the economic and social costs of uncontrolled immigration. For entertaining these taboo subjects, Beinart is sure to get hammered. Especially about his conclusion:

In 2014, the University of California listed melting pot as a term it considered a microaggression. What if Hillary Clinton had traveled to one of its campuses and called that absurd? What if she had challenged elite universities to celebrate not merely multiculturalism and globalization but Americanness? What if she had said more boldly that the slowing rate of English-language acquisition was a problem she was determined to solve? What if she had acknowledged the challenges that mass immigration brings, and then insisted that Americans could overcome those challenges by focusing not on what makes them different but on what makes them the same? Some on the left would have howled. But I suspect that Clinton would be president today.

Pass the popcorn.
Over the weekend, a U.S. fighter jet downed a Syrian warplane after Bashir al-Assads troops attacked positions of U.S. backed forces fighting against ISIS. The confrontation took place near the one-time ISIS stronghold of Tabqa, not too far from Raqqa.

Like the recent U.S. attack on a pro-Assad convoy in Southeastern Iraq, the downing of the Syrian jet should not be viewed as intervention intended to topple Assad, Rather, it should be seen as protecting assets in the fight against ISIS and, I hope, as promoting our interests in a post-ISIS Syria.

As I discussed here, the attack on the convoy occurred in a region of great strategic importance. Its an area over which Iran hopes to establish strategic control, thereby creating a corridor from Lebanon and Syria through Baghdad to Tehran.

The area where we downed the Syrian fighter jet is also strategically important. At stake, says the Washington Post, is Syrias oil producing area to the south of Raqqa.

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters  a coalition dominated by Kurdish forces but also including Arab troops  are a major player in this area. They are making their way through the outskirts of Raqqa, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes. Thus, they are important now and figure to be at least as important after Raqqa finally falls.

We did absolutely the right thing when we shot down the Syrian plane that threatened our allies.

The significance of our action is underscored by the Russian reaction. Yesterday, Russia condemned the downing of the Syrian jet as a flagrant violation of international law. It threatened to treat U.S.-led coalition aircraft and drones as targets if they operate in Syrian airspace west of the Euphrates River.

The Russians arent just trying to save face. As the Washington Post suggests, Putin intends to help Assad and Iran dominate post-ISIS Syria. That means intimidating the U.S. into inaction while they crush opposition forces.

The recipe worked when the U.S. president was Obama and the stakes were keeping Assad in power. Apparently, Russia thinks it will work now that the U.S. president is Trump and the stakes are controlling every strategically important part of Syria.

President Trump should not let himself be intimidated. He should not let Vladimir Putin tell him where the U.S. can and cannot fly. He should not let Putin, on behalf of his friends in Iran, shut the U.S. out of the end-game against ISIS and the post-ISIS jockeying for control.

Trump may decide he doesnt want to commit U.S. ground forces to that struggle. However, he certainly should be willing to protect through air power the ground forces friendly to our interests.

The decision on ground troops can be deferred. The plans for how to retaliate if Russia shoots at our aircraft cannot be.
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, on Monday said it intercepted over N8 billion worth of substandard electric cables.

The Director-General of SON, Osita Aboloma, who made this known said the cables are cloned versions of 20 popular Nigerian brands.

According to the organisation, the cables were shipped into Nigeria from China and were discovered by the enforcement team of SON around two residential buildings in the Ajangbadi area of Lagos State.

SON said the cables were imported by a certain Estobest Electrical Limited, which targeted and cloned Nigerian cables already certified by the agency in fraudulent packages.

Mr. Aboloma, who was represented by the agencys Director, Inspectorate and Compliance, Bede Obayi , said that the agency had made some progress in the area of sanitising the nations cable market.

He, however, explained that dubious importers were trying to exploit that achievement by going overseas to clone Nigerian cables adjudged to be best in the world.

All these cloned cables were made in China, but packaged as made- in  Nigeria products, he said.

You know we are proud of made-in-Nigeria cables, because they are about the best cables in the world . This illegal act will not be accepted; we are going to go after the importer and prosecute him.

He noted that the importer decided to locate the warehouse in a residential area to avoid the regulatory agencies, adding that the SON enforcement team would continue to its clamp down on dubious importers who resort to bringing in substandard products.

Nobody can imagine someone coming down here to fully stock two buildings with substandard cables, he said.

These are purported to be Nigerian brands but made in China. Some Nigerian companies are laying off staff because of low sales.

(But) Because the government has now focused on promoting quality products made in Nigeria, these people now go abroad to fake Nigerian products already certified by the SON.

The SON boss vowed that those behind it will be made to face the full wrath of the law, adding that it is a clear case of fraudulent business transaction.

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I attended a meeting recently at the headquarters of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board in Bwari, Abuja: the post-2017 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination review meeting chaired by the JAMB registrar, Professor Ish-aq Oloyede. Participants included Professor Oloyede and his technical team, field officers and other staff, all the Chief External Examiners who supervised the 2017 UTME, across Nigeria, mostly Vice-Chancellors of universities, and provosts/rectors of polytechnics and colleges of education, in addition to major stakeholders from civil society.

The JAMB Registrar presented a detailed report on the conduct of the 2017 UTME, matters arising were identified and the meeting took certain decisions about the way forward, the details of which have since been published. The 2017 UTME was conducted throughout Nigeria between Saturday 13th and Saturday 20th May 2017, at 140 examination centres, 642 Computer-Based Test Centres, with 7,000 invigilators and monitors and 1, 722, 236 candidates.

It was the first examination to be conducted under Professor Oloyedes watch as JAMB Registrar. He was full of appreciation for the efforts and contributions of everyone, including the civil society and security agencies who helped to ensure the success of the examination. The meeting noted that Oloyede and his team had also done an excellent job in organizing a commendable Computer-Based Examination across the country. In recent years, JAMB has insisted on computerizing its examinations, and under Oloyede, there has been not only an emphasis on this but also on the integrity and credibility of the examination. The Report presented by the JAMB Registrar was comprehensive, confident and informative.

In 2017, JAMB examined the highest number of candidates in its forty years of existence: 1.7million, with the highest number of participating external officials and monitors. The first point the meeting noted however, was that the figure of 1.7 m does not actually reflect the true number of candidates who sat for the examination. More than 300, 000 of the candidates engaged in double or triple registration, and where it could be established that any candidate sat for the examination more than once, such a candidate was automatically disqualified. A total of 666 cases were reported in this regard.

For planning purposes, the figure of 1.7 m was misleading, a fact that was worsened by the fact that more than 50% of the candidates do not even have the pre-requisite qualifications, and in reality, more than 70% of all candidates applied for courses in the Arts and Social Sciences, whereas for national manpower development purposes, the expectation is that the Sciences should produce up to 70%.

The message here is clear: higher education admission processes ought to reflect the countrys manpower needs, and there is no doubting the fact that at the moment, there is a mismatch between our countrys manpower production processes and the job market, and this is perhaps in a way responsible for the countrys unemployment crisis. As it were, Nigerias higher education system produces graduates that do not fit into the demands of the job market.

Oloyede was more agitated about matters of integrity, credibility, accountability and transparency. He asked the meeting to take a close look at cases of examination irregularities and malpractice and take a decision. We were informed that a total of 1, 386 candidates all properly identified and documented were guilty of the following offences: impersonation, possession of prepared answer scripts, smuggling of foreign materials into the examination venue, possession of electronic gadgets including telephone, copying and spying from foreign materials, unruly behaviour, violent conduct, collusion, multiple registration and examinations. We were all shocked when Oloyede asked his staff to present to the meeting, concrete evidence of examination malpractice. We were shown shirts, with presumed answers written out in the inner lining, slippers, belts, handkerchiefs, and all kinds of strange devices that candidates across the country smuggled into examination centres.

It turned out that a criminal gang had developed around the UTME, involving persons who deceived candidates into believing that they had access to examination questions. Such questions with prepared answers were sold to candidates ahead of the examination. But according to JAMB, this was meaningless, because the examination questions were sent electronically to the centres only on the day of the examination, and JAMB did not use the same set of questions, at any time, either in the morning or the afternoon.

The bigger problem came from the operators of the Computer-Based Test Centres, who colluded with candidates and parents to compromise the examination. Many of these CBT centres collected gate fees, ranging from N2, 000 to N20, 000 and higher, they recruited thugs, they deliberately created technical problems to assist candidates to cheat (in some cases, the CCTVs installed by JAMB were either switched off or covered up); some centres also ran parallel communication cables to secret rooms where ghost candidates who had done what is called 8 x 2 fingerprinting, involving a candidate and a substitute, ghost-wrote the examination. Oloyede reported that JAMB did its best to track down all the fraudulent centres, across the country, 25 centres were involved in centre-induced malpractice, with 57, 646 candidates. Some other centres had technical issues, and in total, JAMB proposed that 72 centres in 18 states of the Federation should either be delisted or suspended.

We considered the report on every affected centre on a case-by-case basis, with each Chief Examiner responding to further enquiries, and at the end, the meeting resolved that 48 centres involved in extortion and malpratices should be delisted, while 24 centres should be suspended for a year. The statistics on 2017 UTME malpractice is noteworthy. Most of the affected states are from the South East and South South as follows: Abia (381 cases), Imo (193), Anambra (152), Enugu (114), Cross River (78), Ebonyi (48), Akwa Ibom (44) while the states with the lowest number of cases are from the North viz: Kebbi (1), Kaduna (16), Kano (29), Katsina (2), Kogi (7) Sokoto (25), Taraba (4), Zamfara (1). Yobe and Jigawa states had no reported case of examination malpractice, only 2 cases of multiple registration from the latter. Could it be then that students and CBT operators in the North are more honest than their Southern counterparts, or perhaps less computer savvy? Does the 2017 UTME say anything about national character?

Our deliberations did not cover this particular detail, but the meeting became more exciting when the involvement of parents, particularly mothers, was reported. In one centre, a mother was said to have approached the Chief Examiner to ask him to assist her daughter to pass the examination. The Chief Examiner reportedly told her to leave the examination venue, but she insisted that if the Chief Examiner was ready to help, as requested, she was prepared to pay in kind. The alarmed Professor and Examiner told her it was not part of his function to do what she wanted. The UTME, he said is a merit-based examination.

The woman, not giving up, asked for the hotel where the Professor was staying. She offered to join him in the hotel later in the day! In another state, an invigilator lured a young lady to the control room with the promise that if she would co-operate with him, he would help her to pass the UTME. Other invigilators caught the two of them and promptly reported the matter. When the young ladys mother was informed about what had happened, her response was most unusual. She was not willing to press charges, or talk about the scandal. She was in fact not bothered at all. She would rather talk about something else. What did she want? She wanted JAMB to compensate her daughter with additional 10 marks or more, to make up for the sexual harassment. We were all alarmed. Strange things really happen.

Someone then remarked that JAMB should take a decision and ban mothers from following their children to examination centres and all husbands should be advised to keep an eye on wives who will go to any length to mislead their children. Again, the meeting did not concentrate on this delicate subject. But someone made a point: You see this thing called corruption. It starts from the home. Many parents are setting very bad examples for their children. There is too much desperation in our country. The anti-corruption campaign should start with parents.

Nonetheless, the meeting resolved that JAMB should introduce the use of electronic jammers at examination centres as part of measures to discourage centre-induced malpractice, the results of 1,386 candidates found guilty of examination malpractice should be cancelled, 57,646 centre-induced malpractice results should also be cancelled, while a supplementary examination should be held on July 1, for candidates who lost time due to the malfunctioning of servers, technical and log out issues, Biometric Verification related issues, late registration due to no fault of theirs, incomplete results and candidates of centres with mass malpractice but who are deemed innocent.

The JAMB Registrar further informed us that the examination body was ready to go to court where necessary to prosecute persons involved in examination malpractice, and that should any manager of a CBT centre find it necessary to challenge JAMB in court, he and his team would be glad to meet such persons in court. I like Oloyedes spirit and the enthusiasm of his freshly energized team. The larger question is why examination, something considered a serious routine in other countries, is such a nightmare in Nigeria. Students cheat, parents collude with agents to help their children to cheat, examination consultants are worse, the kind of reports we receive daily about examinations in Nigeria sound fictional but they are worrisome because they are real. It is tragic that our public examinations are no better than Nigerian elections!

Just before the meeting ended, the representative from Akwa Ibom stood up and said he had a letter for the JAMB Registrar  one of the JAMB officials who served as a Proctor in Akwa Ibom State would need to assist the police with investigations into a case of examination malpractice and give evidence in court.

I heard about that case. I have directed that the lady should leave for Akwa Ibom and stay there until you are through with the investigations. Who is her direct supervisor?, Oloyede asked.

One of the directors raised his hand.

Ha. Doctor. That lady is excused from work until further notice. She should relocate to Akwa Ibom and assist with investigations. We will pay her DTA and provide whatever support she needs. Wherever there is any reported case, we must follow it up to prove that we will not tolerate any form of corruption or malpractice where our examinations are involved. The examiner from Akwa Ibom, you can keep her for as long as you want until you get to the root of the matter. Mee-ting! Approved?

App-ro-ved!, we all chorused.

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Australia on Tuesday said it had halted its airstrikes in Syria following a warning from Russia that it would target U.S. coalition aircraft after a fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane.

A spokesman for Australias Defence Department said strike operations in Syria have temporarily ceased, but that it will continue airstrikes in Iraq.

Australia is a member of the U.S.-led coalition and has among the highest number of airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

Australian Defence Force protection is regularly reviewed in response to a range of potential threats, a spokesman told local media.

On Monday, Moscow warned that it would treat all U.S. coalition aircraft west of the Euphrates river in Syria as airborne targets. after a U.S. fighter jet shot down a Syrian warplane.

The Russian defence ministry also said it was ending cooperation on a U.S.-Russian agreement that had been designed to prevent a direct conflict between the two powers in Syria.

(dpa/NAN)

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Tinubu, Kwakwaso Atiku, Sowore, obi, A time will come when it will be unthinkable that a person who wants to...
Alleged notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudi Onwuamadike (popularly known as Evans), collected an extra $200,000 from one of his victims after claiming part of the $1 million ransom was old money, PREMIUM TIMES can report.

The victim, who requested not to be named because he did not want publicity, said he paid a total of $1.2 million to Evans and not $1 million as being reported.

He collected 1.2 (million dollars) from me, not 1 million hes writing, the victim, who was among the several people kidnapped by Evans in the FESTAC area, told PREMIUM TIMES in an exclusive interview.

Because when he released me, there was an agreement between me and him, the day he was releasing me, he said the money my wife gave him, that like 200,000 was old money, that they did not collect it from her, and that the money must be complete. I told him let him release me let me to go and look for the money, he agreed.

After one month, he started calling me, he now told me about my son and where my daughter is working and that if I dont give him the money hell come after me. Rather than go through that trauma again, I sent that money to him at Queens Suite ( a hotel in Awka, Anambra State).

Evans, 36, was arrested on June 10 at his posh Magodo home in Lagos, marking an end to a manhunt by law enforcement agencies that lasted about five years.

The police said the suspect, who hails from Nnewi in Anambra State, was the leader of a highly organised kidnap-for-ransom syndicate who terrorised Nigerians in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.

He was first declared wanted in August 2013, after he allegedly masterminded the attempted kidnap of Vincent Obianodo, the owner of Young Shall Grow Motors, in Festac Town.

One police officer and three kidnappers died in the failed attempt.

The police linked Evans to the kidnap of at least 12 people in Lagos over the past four years, collecting ransoms running into billions of naira.

Last weekend, the suspects wife, Uchenna Onwuamadike, pleaded with Nigerian authorities to spare her husbands life.

The victim who spoke to PREMIUM TIMES, said he paid the extra $200,000 to Evans through his wife, who travelled to Anambra State to make the payment.

He told my wife to lodge at Queens Suites, Awka. Even while going there people will tell you. if you ask Where is the road to Queens Suites? They will tell you Ah! Youre going to kidnappers hotel. I wonder why Anambra State government has not brought that hotel down because almost all the people he kidnapped from Festac, one way or the other, he will tell him to go to Queens Suites. He doesnt come to Queen Suite, they dont pay the money in Queen Suite but he will make sure you sleep in Queen Suite as a must.

In the night he will now call you inside the bush, within Ihembosi and Ozubulu, and collect the money. After collecting the money, he will tell you you must go back to Queen Suite, if you dont go back there, he will shoot you.

He forces people to go back there and sleep. What is his connection with Queen Suite? I also asked him that question yesterday because we met him, all the people he kidnapped. Abba Kyari arranged a meeting, brought him out and we asked him questions at State Command, GRA.

I gave him 200,000 when I came out. Yesterday when I told him he could not deny it, because I told him how it happened, as I narrated to you.

We are not aware

When contacted by PREMIUM TIMES, the management of Queens Suites, Awka, said they were not aware of Evans activities.

Definitely, I never knew of Evans anyway, said Emeka Nwachukwu, the hotel manager.

Secondly, I never know if he has any ransom that they normally come to pay here. If there is anybody that is coming here to lodge, its just for the persons safety, I am here for the safety of anybody.

Whoever that came to my hotel to lodge only came for the safety, I never knew of Evans the kidnapper.

On Sunday, Evans led the police to some of the houses where he kept his victims pending when he collects their ransom  at Jakande Estate, Ejigbo; and New Igando. The team were unable to visit the third location, reportedly at Gowon Estate, Egbeda.

From what I saw (in the news) yesterday, of the detention camp, it does seem that it was Jakande Estate they kept me, the kidnap victim told PREMIUM TIMES.

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The State Security Service, SSS, has released Ifeanyi Ubah, Chairman of Capital Oil and Gas Limited, after keeping him in custody for almost six weeks.

According to Channels Television, Mr. Ubah was released from detention on Monday night.

The businessman was arrested by the SSS on May 5, over alleged diversion of petrol kept in his tank farm in Lagos by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

He was accused of economic sabotage by the NNPC which reported him to security agencies.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported the illegal sale of the petrol stored in Capital Oil tank farm by NNPC Retail, a subsidiary of the state oil firm.

The NNPC said the petrol kept in Mr. Ubahs farm was valued at N11 billion, saying it was an attempt by the defendant to cause scarcity of the products in the country.

Conflicting ruling by two high courts in Nigeria stalled Mr. Ubahs initial bail application.

While a High Court in Lagos ordered his release, an Abuja High Court approved his continous detention.

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The Nigerian government has reacted to controversy over alleged removal of key religious subjects from the countrys education curriculum.

In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES Monday, the acting Executive Secretary of Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), Kate Nwufo, denied claims that Christian Religious Studies and Islamic Studies had been removed from the curriculum, or were now studied as a single subject.

We have developed a curriculum on Religion and National Values to expose pupils to see relationship between moral values  which entails religion, social values  and civic values, Mrs. Nwufo said.

She said the NERDC developed the curriculum in partnership with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission.

The Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, the countrys largest Christian body, had told PREMIUM TIMES that CRS, specifically, had been dropped from the latest curriculum, leaving only Islamic studies.

If you look at the curriculum, you will see that the religious subjects were removed for unknown reasons, President of CAN, Samson Ayokunle, told PREMIUM TIMES by phone Monday.

The cleric said CRK was merged with civic studies, saying that was not good for the country.

He linked growing criminal activities in the country to a lack of early religious education for children.

Criminal activities are growing at an alarming rate all over the country, he said. Just last week, we saw somebodys son that was arrested in Lagos for his notorious kidnapping offences, Mr. Ayokunle said in reference to the arrest of the notorious kidnapper, Chukwudi Onwuamadike, a.k.a., Evans.

He said the latest curriculum had been in the making for more than two decades before education authorities began tampering with religious studies.

Especially in Ilorin, there is no CRS in the time table of the concluded examination, he said.

But Mrs. Nwufo strongly denied the allegations and said the Christian leaders were dissipating their energy on unfounded claims.

People especially leaders should be careful of the information peddle around and take their time to make findings, Mrs. Nwufo said.

We live in a sensitive society therefore we should come together and not destabilise the country as it will affect everybody, we should avoid escalating issues.

New curriculum

Copies of the curriculum she gave to PREMIUM TIMES showed that Christian Religious Studies remains part of the curriculum along with Islamic Studies.

The curriculum was designed for Basic Education; Primary 1-3, 4-6 and JSS 1-3 and merely created an omnibus subject head called Religion and National Values. Under it are the following subjects:

1. Civic Education

2. Social Studies

3. Christian Religious Knowledge

4. Islamic Studies, and

5. Security Education.

The latest curriculum was adopted in 2012 under the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan and is not due for review until 2019, the acting executive secretary said.

Mrs. Nwufo said teachers across the country have been adequately trained on how to use the curriculum.

A teachers guide was also handed to them. she added

She further stated that even then, religious subjects were never directed to be taught together, they are to be taught by different teachers and at different times.

She said CAN was part of the committee that designed the latest curriculum alongside other Islamic leaders.

We wrote to CAN and they presented two candidates to us in persons of Ray Chukwura of ECWA Goodnews and Dominick Oleagbe from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, she claimed.

But CAN denied being part of the committee, saying the education authority had already started designing the curriculum before it raised alarm.

It was when we raised alarm and went to see the minister of education at the time that we were told that two Christians have been nominated as part of the committee with NERDC, Timothy Opoola, chairman of CAN in Kwara State said.

Mr. Opoola, a professor of mathematics at the University of Ilorin, told PREMIUM TIMES he was a member of the delegation that met with the minister.

We told them to allow CAN present delegates but CAN never presented candidates because they did not allow it, he said.

The cleric also said questions set for Basic Education Certificate Examination slated for next month in Kwara State included separate Islamic-related subjects, while Christian course is absent.

But education authorities in the state rejected the claims.

I can tell you categorically that we dont have any separate Islamic studies in our schools, Musa Yeketi, Kwara State Commissioner of Education, told PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday. We use the national curriculum.

But he said there are exceptions in the composition of school curricular in the state.

All the students take the same course, except those from dedicated Islamic schools.

We have College of Arabic and Islamic Studies in the state, about five across the state.

Only students from the school will take the Junior Islamic Studies in religious knowledge and Arabic language and Arabic Islamic History.

The Christian Religious Studies, CRS, and Islamic Religious Studies, IRS, are to be taken by Christian and Muslim students, respectively, alongside the national values subject, the commissioner said.

Mr. Yeketi said Religion and National Values were not the only subjects merged.

Basic Science and Technology, for instance, is a composition of information technology, physical and health education, and general science, he said.

Some junior secondary students told PREMIUM TIMES Tuesday that CRS, IRS and national values questions were together in junior secondary school exams, and that they attended the religious studies questions based on their respective religions.

But the national values questions are mandatory for all students.

Musa Musibau, a teacher at Gateway Secondary School, Abeokuta, Ogun State, said Religion and National Values comprised CRS, IRS, social studies, security education and civic studies.

Christianity and Islam are still taught in schools across the state, Mr. Musibau, an IRS teacher, said.

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The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on Tuesday withdrew the detention order against a member of the House of Representatives, Aliyu Pategi, who stood surety for a former Minister of State, Ministry of Federal Capital Territory, Jumoke Akinjide, after she turned herself in at EFCCs Ikoyi office in Lagos.

Mr. Aliyu, who represents Edu/Moro/Patigi Federal Constituency of Kwara State, was on Friday remanded in EFCC custody by a Lagos State Magistrate Court, Igbosere, for failing to produce the suspect when needed by investigators and by the court.

Mrs. Jumoke, who the EFCC said had been evading arraignment in the Federal High Court Ibadan, presided by Justice Ayo Emmanuel, is facing a 24-count charge of money laundering in Suit No.FHC/1B/26C/2017.

The court had threatened to dismiss the matter if the prosecution could not produce her in court at the next adjourned date, June 22.

This prompted the prosecution to drag the surety before the Lagos State Magistrate Court to show cause why the N650 million bond will not be forfeited to the Federal Government of Nigeria.

Mr. Aliyu regained his freedom as information reached the court through his counsel that Ms. Akinjide had presented herself to the EFCC. This was confirmed by EFCC lawyer, Rotimi Oyedepo.

I have just confirmed from operatives of the EFCC that Oloye Jumoke Akinjide has turned herself in at the Ikoyi Office. Since it was inability of the 2nd respondent to produce her that triggered our application, we would therefore in the interest of justice, apply that the suit be struck out in view of success of 2nd respondent to secure the appearance of 1st respondent, Mr. Oyedepo said.

Upon submissions of both parties, presiding Chief Magistrate Afolashade Botoku struck out the EFCC application.

Mrs. Akinjide, alongside Oyo State PDP chairman, Yinka Taiwo, are being accused by EFCC of fraudulently receiving N650 million from former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke out of the $115 million doled out by the former minister, allegedly to influence the outcome of the 2015 presidential election.

The said sum was alleged to be gratification received by Mrs. Alison-Madueke from various oil marketers such as Northern Belt Oil and Gas Company, Actus Integrated Investment Limited, Midwestern Oil and Gas Company Limited and Adesanya Leno Olaitab.

Based on evidence of her alleged involvement in the crime, Ms. Akinjide was invited to the EFCC office in Lagos on 9 August, 2016 and wrote a statement after which Mr. Pategi entered a bail bond of N650million to be forfeited should Ms. Akinjide jumps administrative bail.

The suspect who however presented herself to the Commission today after months of hide and seek, is currently cooling her heels in EFCC custody pursuant to arraignment on June 22.

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Following the ongoing process by a consortium of banks, led by Access Bank, to take over Etisalat Nigeria over failed debt repayment talks, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, on Tuesday assured subscribers of continued service integrity from the network.

A statement by NCC Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, followed the announcement by Etisalat Group, the parent company of Etisalat Nigeria, that efforts by Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited, EMTS, the remaining shareholder in the telecom firm, to negotiate the loan owed the banks collapsed without an agreement.

EMTS, promoted by a former chairman of the United Bank for Africa, UBA, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, was controlling 30 per cent stake in the company.

The announcement about the takeover by the consortium of banks was contained in a filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate, by Etisalat Group, which until last Thursday held about 70 per cent of the shares of the company through its affiliates: Mubadala Development Company and Etisalat UAE mobile.

But, following irreconcilable differences as a result of the alleged poor handling of the debt issue, Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi government-owned investment and development company, served notice of its decision to pull out of the investment and quit Nigeria.

Following the announcement, notice was served EMTS Holding BV, the holdings company of EMTS, established in the Netherlands, to transfer 100 per cent of its shares in Etisalat Nigeria to the United Capital Trustees Limited to take custody on behalf of the banks.

The NCC has now reassured the over 21 million telephone subscribers on the Etisalat Nigeria network that it is committed to exercising its full regulatory powers to guarantee stable and quality services by the operator.

The Commission has taken proactive steps to cushion the impact of the takeover, Mr. Ojobo said. This is without prejudice to the ongoing effort between Etisalat and the banks toward negotiated settlement.

In view of the recent development, NCC wishes to reassure all stakeholders in the telecommunications sector in particular the subscribers on the Etisalat Network that the Commission will ensure that the integrity of Etisalat Network is not compromised.

Mr. Ojobo drew the attention of the consortium of banks involved in the planned takeover of the terms and conditions that guided the award of an operational license to Etisalat Nigeria.

The terms and conditions contained in the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 Section 38 states as follows:

Sub section 1  The grant of a license shall be personal to the licensee, and the license shall not be operated by, assigned, sub-licensed or transferred to another party unless the prior written approval of the Commission has been granted;

Sub section 2  A licensee shall at all times comply by the terms and conditions of the license and the provision of this Act and its subsidiary legislation.

A source close to the embattled mobile telecoms firm told PREMIUM TIMES that the banks were already exploring prospects of securing the services of a technically competent investor in Europe with the requisite technical know-how to take over the management of the company.

With the NCC clarification, however, such move has to have the express permission of the regulator.

Etisalat Nigeria, Nigerias fourth largest telecom operator, ran into trouble with the consortium of banks, led by Access Bank PLC, following its failure to meet its obligations in respect of a $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) loan facility it obtained in 2015.

The loan, which involved a foreign-backed guarantee bond, was for the mobile telephone operator to finance a major network rehabilitation and expansion of its operational base in Nigeria.

After the repayment of the loan failed in 2016, the consortium, prodded by their foreign partners, threatened to take over the company and its asset across Nigeria.

The intervention of the NCC and the CBN persuaded the banks to give Etisalat a chance to renegotiate the loan repayment schedule.

But, the company also reneged on the pledge to pay up by May 31, resulting in a final default note and enforcement notice issued on June 9, 2017.

EMTS has already announced the commencement of the process to unveil a new shareholding structure and new trading name for the company during the transition phase.

While assuring its subscribers that the latest development would not affect its normal operations and the continued delivery of quality services, Etisalat Nigeria Vice President, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs, Ibrahim Dikko, said the company would mobilise its workforce to build a stronger business.

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Tell Communications Ltd. has honoured the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Danbatta, with the Tell CEO Of The Year 2016 award for regulatory consistency.

Speaking with newsmen in Lagos, the President of Tell, Nosa Igiebor, said Mr. Danbatta, a professor, was honoured for raising the bar from where he met the commission when he assumed office two years ago.

He said every EVC of NCC seemed to have been well chosen and each of them including the incumbent EVC had built on the legacy of the predecessor.

That is why unlike the other public institutions; where a new executive comes in and tries to dismantle what he met on ground, every EVC of NCC that comes in and raises the bar from where he met it.

And that is what Professor Danbatta has done with the Eight Point Agenda.

In less than two years, Danbattas administration grew the countrys broadband penetration from 10 per cent to 21 per cent, as currently reported by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Under his administration, Quality of Service (QoS) is receiving a major attention, he said.

Mr. Igiebor said the commission represented a public institution that worked and had been professionally run since inception.

He said the staff of NCC were very professional, hence the commission became a reference point for telecommunications regulation not only in Africa but globally.

According to him, many African countries are trying to do what Nigeria achieved in the telecommunications revolution always come to NCC for its templates.

In the last two years, there has been exponential expansion of Nigerians access to broadband and internet penetration.

NCC has not rested on its oars but has continued to expand the telecommunications space in Nigeria.

And as we all know, the telecommunications sector is the most significant industry that contributes a lot to our economy today, and that is why we are very proud to identify with NCC and honour the EVC, he said.

Mr. Danbatta, who dedicated the award to members of staff of NCC, said the honour was a positive testimony and verdict to what the commission was doing for Nigerians and the society.

He said the award was a call for the commission to work more.

It is an encouragement, a massive pat on the back for NCC under my stewardship, to even do more to transform the sector, so that it can impact positively on the socio-economy of the nation.

The quality of service has always been a challenge, and there are factors that affect good quality of service.

There are technical factors, which the commission can do something about.

There are non-technical factors, which the commission has to engage government at the three levels, in order to contain these multitude of problems that are affecting quality of service.

The situation at the moment is that we have noticed some improvement in the quality of service, the EVC said.

He, however, said that the improvement was still far below the stipulated standard of the Key Performance Indicators (KPI) that had been deliberately put in place to ensure that quality of service improved.

So we have tried to ensure that despite the improvement we have seen recently, we are putting in measures to ensure more improvements, Danbatta said.

The Deputy Director, Consumer Affairs, NCC, Ephraim Nwokennaya said the honour was well deserved for the EVC, staff of NCC and the industry in general.

Mr. Nwokennaya said it was a call for more service to the consumers.

The Head of Internal Audit, NCC, Felicia Onwuegbuchulam, said it was one thing to achieve success and a different thing to sustain it.

Ms. Onwuegbuchulam said the members of staff were committed to taking the success to another level.

(NAN)

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The National Information Technology Development Agency, NITDA, on Monday commended some government agencies for their effective use of Information and Communication Technology, ICT, for service delivery.

A statement signed by Isa Patanmi, NITDA Director General, said the commendation was necessary because the agencies met the expectations and requirements of the Executive Order signed recently by the Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo.

The executive order was on the promotion of transparency and efficiency in the business environment, designed to facilitate the ease of doing business in Nigeria through the use of ICT.

According to the statement, the agencies are the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, and Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC.

Following NITDAs earlier press statement on the Federal Ministries websites business friendly assessment, further evaluation of the websites of some agencies has confirmed that FIRS, JAMB and CAC are taking the lead at complying with the Presidential directives on the use of ICT to improve public service delivery in an efficient and transparent manner, the statement read in part.

The evaluation revealed that FIRS has fully digitized all its services ranging from registration to tax filing, payment, receipt, stamp duty and issuance of tax clearance certificates.

It does not only publish on its websites all requirements and conditions for service provisioning and procurement activities but also has necessary feedback mechanisms to guarantee excellent service delivery.

This includes a 24-hour help desk, SERVICOM (the Office of the National Taxpayer Advocacy), which enables taxpayers voice heard directly by the Executive Chairman; functional email addresses and state coordinators contact information.

JAMB, the statement added, has been able to demonstrate that efficiency and transparency can be achieved in public service delivery through complete adoption of ICT in the last Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, UTME.

JAMB conducted a seamless and near 100% Computer Based Test (CBT) UTME. This has not only reduced the incidences of examination malpractice witnessed in the past but has also put the country in line with global best practices.

JAMB has fully digitized its operations to guarantee excellent service delivery.

It has provided an integrated portal through which all the necessary information and resources needed to facilitate writing UTME to getting admission into a tertiary institution are provided.

In addition, the NITDA boss said, JAMB ensures requirements and conditions for these services are published and available on its website and/or portal.

The board also has functional feedback mechanisms which include a 24-hour help desk as well as reachable contact information of national headquarters, headquarters annexes, zonal offices and the offices in the six geopolitical zones, it added.

The Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, according to the statement, completely automated the registration of business and company names and incorporated trustees through its web portal  the Companies Registration Portal (CRP).

Not only has it achieved that, but it also published on its websites all requirements or conditions for obtaining services including all fees and timelines required for the processing of applications.

In addition, CAC has feedback forms, reachable phone numbers and email addresses to ease the burden of business registration in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, the NITDA implored other agencies of government to also adopt the use of ICT for prompt service delivery, adding that the need for effective application of ICT in building a business friendly, transparent and efficient government in the country cannot be over emphasised.

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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has urged four special rapporteurs of the United Nations, UN, to intervene in the crisis rocking Queens College, Lagos.

SERAP, in a statement on Tuesday, said it petitioned the U.N rapporteurs, urging them to use their good offices and mandates to urgently request the Nigerian government and the authorities at Queens College, Lagos, to end continuing suffering of students, and ensure justice and effective remedies for the unnecessary loss of lives of three pupils of the school.

According to SERAPs Deputy Director, Timothy Adewale, the U.N rapporteurs petitioned include Koumbou Barry, Special Rapporteur on the right to education; Leo Heller, Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation; Hilal Elver, Special Rapporteur on the right to food; and Philip Alston, Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

The petition noted that between February and March 2017, three students of the school (Vivian Osuinyi, Bithia Itulua and Praise Sodipo) died due to systemic corruption and the failure of the authorities to exercise due diligence. Many students also fell ill afterwards, it added.

Reports said that the school management allegedly ignored parents and old students early warnings on contaminated water and foods, it noted, adding that this led to the death of the students.

According to the petition dated June 19, the organisation expressed serious concern over alleged corruption by the leadership of the school, which ruined the lives of several pupils.

SERAP said, These girls have depended on the integrity of the authorities both at the Federal Ministry of Education and the school levels but have been badly let down by those entrusted with the power to provide them with access to quality education in a safe environment.

The apparent failure to exercise due diligence and to fulfil the obligations to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the right of these girls to quality education is buttressed by the fact that the school management repeatedly ignored early warnings and complaints from students and parents, the failure to improve facilities and conditions in the school, and the alleged demand of illegal fees and bribes from parents by the school authorities, it added.

The petition, copied to Zeid Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also expressed concern about the failure of the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Education to exercise its regulatory functions over the school and other unity schools across the country, adding that corruption seems a commonplace across different levels at the school.

The absence of accountability mechanisms within the Federal Ministry of Education is further illustrated by the failure to sanction the leadership of Queens College for apparently failing to prevent unnecessary loss of lives and to protect the girls right to education in a safe and protected environment, SERAP added.

The petition noted that many of the girls suffered devastating consequences of corruption, neglect and incompetence, yet those suspected to be responsible for these serious human rights violations have continued to escape justice.

The organisation, therefore, urged the Special Rapporteurs to put pressure on the government and the authorities at Queens College to urgently end the apparently deteriorating situation and living conditions of girls in the school; ask the government to establish Code of Conduct for the school and other unity schools across the country, including on the proper professional conduct required of the schools authorities and their relationship with Parents Teachers Association and other bodies; (and) ask the government to audit Queens College and other unity schools across the country.

Similarly, SERAP urged the UN to ask the Nigerian government to promptly, thoroughly, impartially and transparently investigate the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the three girls, and to bring anyone that is found to be responsible to justice as well as provide adequate compensation to the victims and their families, and publicly guarantee non-repetition.

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The Nigeria Police Force have dismissed two traffic wardens, three weeks after they were found to have extorted N15,000 from a motorist in Abuja.

Shuaibu Suleman and Musa Muktari were dismissed on Tuesday, according to a statement issued by the Inspector General of Police, IGP, Ibrahim Idris.

The IGP warned that the police would not condone corrupt practice among serving officials.

Two traffic wardens, Musa Muktari, Force Number; 394120 GDI and Shuaibu Suleman, Force Number; 10627 GDII, attached to Wuse Police Division, FCT Abuja Command have been dismissed from service with immediate effect for corrupt practice. Mr. Idris said.

The dismissal of the two wardens came after a motorist (name withheld) filed a complaint to the Public Complaint Rapid Response Unit, PCRRU, Force Headquarters Abuja on May 30.

The complainant stated that while driving his vehicle on May 29, at about 12:30pm along Wuse Market road, he was accosted by the two Traffic Wardens who accused him of beating traffic light despite the fact that he did not.

That the wardens started demanding for bribe before they will allow him go and they led him to an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) not far from the scene where he was forced to make a withdrawal of Fifteen Thousand Naira (N15,000) from his account which he gave to the traffic wardens.

He also stated that that one of the wardens forgot his mobile phone in his car.

According to police, the PCRRU immediately launched an investigation upon receiving the complaint (Tracking Number PCRRU475669), and both traffic wardens were identified and apprehended.

The police added that the sum of N15,000 they extorted from the complainant was recovered from the wardens (N7,500 each, as the money was already shared).

The statement said both wardens were subsequently referred to the Force Provost Marshal at the Force Headquarters, Abuja for Orderly Room trial, during which witnesses were called, exhibits presented and defaulters (both wardens) heard.

The probe by the orderly room panel, according to the statement, found the two wardens guilty of abuse of office, soliciting and receiving a bribe contrary to Paragraph C sub (IV), (VI) and (II) of the 1st Schedule of the Police Act and Regulation CAP 370 of 1990.

The statement added that the adjudicating officer found both defaulters guilty as charged and recommended punishment of dismissal from service.

The orderly room proceeding has been reviewed by the appropriate NPF authority and the punishment approved with immediate effect.

Traffic warden Uniforms, ID cards and all police accoutrements issued to the men have been retrieved and all other dismissal procedure completed, the police said.

The statement added that the extorted sum of N15,000 had been handed back to the complainant with an apology from the PCRRU.

The visibly delighted man while collecting his money said I never thought this could happen in this country; the officers punished and my money returned to me. God bless the IG, I will go out and spread the news about PCRRU to everyone.

However, the IGP, Mr. Idris, has commended the complainant for exposing the unprofessional and unacceptable conduct of the traffic wardens.

We will not allow corrupt practices to continue.

IGP equally enjoins members of the public to make use of the PCRRU platform which is available 24/7.

PCRRU says No to Impunity. As promised, our quick response will put a smile on your face, the statement added.

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The U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria, Stuart Symington, has said that his country will continue to work towards the promotion of Nigerias unity.

Mr. Symington, who said this in Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday, noted that in Nigerias unity lies the strength of the worlds most populous black nation.

The envoy, who led top officials of the embassy on a working visit to the office of the Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, in Ibadan, said that the U.S. recognised the strategic importance of Nigeria in Africa.

A statement by Yomi Layinka, Mr. Ajimobis media aide, quoted the envoy as saying that the visit was in the furtherance of his countrys vision and mission to explore new frontiers of partnership for development with African countries, which, he said, informed his decision to tour every part of the country.

Mr. Symington called on the state government to work with the U.S. towards setting a new pace in socio-economic development, adding that Nigeria was loved all over the world, especially in the U.S. because of its unity.

This visit is not just a courtesy call; it is in continuation of Americas vision and mission. We are looking forward to working with your state to set up a new pace in development, the envoy said.

We are happy to be here and Im telling you that Nigeria as a country is loved by all Americans and even in the world for the sake of the unity the country upholds.

The U.S. recognises the strategic importance of Nigeria in Africa. We will continue to work towards the promotion of the unity of Nigeria, because that is where the strength of the country lies. The U.S. loves Nigeria because of its unity.

Mr. Ajimobi had earlier sought the assistance of the U.S. government in his administrations efforts at promoting human capital development and technical education in the state.

The governor also identified technical education as the missing link in the Nigerias curriculum, which, he said, was necessary for the countrys accelerated development.

The governor said that the state had potential that if put to good use, and with needed support from a developed economy like that of the U.S., could revamp the states economy.

We want more foreign partners to support our industrialisation drive as we have established an industrial park as well as free trade zone, which would be the hub of commerce and source of employment generation for our teeming youth, the governor said.

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Following the takeover of Etisalat Nigeria by a consortium of banks, led by Access Bank Plc and other Nigerian and foreign banks, Emerging Markets Telecommunication Services Limited, EMTS, the telecom firms major owner now, said it would soon unfold a new shareholding structure Etisalat Nigeria.

After almost a week of negotiations with the consortium, Etisalat Group, the parent company of Etisalat Nigeria, announced on Tuesday that efforts by EMTS, promoted by one-time Chairman, United Bank for Africa, UBA, Hakeem Bello-Osagie, to negotiate a payment restructuring plan for the $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) debt failed to yield an agreement with the banks.

In its filing to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirate, Chief Financial Officer, Etisalat Group, Serkan Okandan, said the takeover of the company followed a default and security Enforcement Notice received on June 9.

The notice directed EMTS Holding BV, the holdings company of EMTS, established in the Netherlands, to transfer 100 per cent of its shares in Etisalat Nigeria to the United Capital Trustees Limited on behalf of the banks on or before last Thursday, June 15, 2017.

Although the EMTS was granted an extended deadline till next Friday, June 23 2017, to complete the share transfer process, the Vice President, Regulatory & Corporate Affairs, Etisalat Nigeria, Ibrahim Dikko, said the company had commenced the restructuring process with changes to its shareholding.

Etisalat Nigeria can now confirm the first stage of this has begun with a change in shareholding which was announced to the Abu Dhabi Stock Exchange this morning (Tuesday), Mr. Dikko said in a statement.

As part of the restructuring, he said discussions were on-going regarding other issues, including the new trading name for the company during the transition phase.

Mr. Dikko assured its over 21 million subscribers that the latest development would not affect its normal operations and the continued delivery of quality services.

We will tap into the rich, creative and innovative resources within our workforce to build a stronger business upon the stable foundation we have laid in our nine years of operations, he said.

Last Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES reportedly exclusively that Etisalat Nigeria Limited, Nigerias fourth largest telecommunication firm, was swimming deeper in troubled business waters, as its largest shareholder, Mubadala Development Company of United Arab Emirates, had concluded plans to pull out its investment and head out of Nigeria.

Trouble started for Etisalat Nigeria in 2016, following its failure to meet its obligation in respect of a $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) loan facility it obtained from a consortium of banks in 2015.

The loan, which involved a foreign-backed guaranty bond, was for the mobile telephone operator to finance a major network rehabilitation and expansion of its operational base in Nigeria.

Failure to meet the debt servicing obligations agreed to since 2016 result in the consortium, prodded by their foreign partners, issuing a threat to take over the company and its assets across Nigeria.

The intervention of the NCC merely helped in postponing the evil day. The invitation of the CBN to be involved in the negotiations succeeded in persuading the banks to give Etisalat a chance to renegotiate the loans repayment schedule.

But, Etisalat Nigeria also faltered on the May 31 repayment deadline it gave the banks, resulting in a final defaulting note and enforcement notice issued on June 9, 2017 empowering the banks to swoop on the company and takeover. .

The inability of the management of Etisalat Nigeria to make any meaningful progress in its negotiations angered Mubadala, providing it with the reason to make up its mind to walk away from the business.

With the takeover of Etisalat Nigeria by the consortium of banks, it was not clear on Tuesday whether UAE investor would have any new role to play.

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Suspected gunmen have kidnapped a 27-year-old businessman, Abubakar Kakirko, in his Kakirko Village, Wurno Local Government Area of Sokoto State, the News Agency of Nigeria has reported.

Babangida Abdullahi, the State Commandant, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), made this known on Tuesday at a news briefing in Sokoto.

Mr. Abdullahi said the businessman was abducted in the early hours of last Friday, in the presence of his wife and three children.

The businessman was abducted and we are suspecting that he is being held at the Gundumi Forest along Sokoto-Isa Road, he said.

Mr. Abdullahi said the kidnappers had demanded for a N500, 000 ransom, while the victim was said to be alive, hale and hearty.

The command, in synergy with other security agencies, will try all their best to secure the release of the kidnapped businessman.

We will not relent in our efforts until he regains his freedom and get him reunited with his family, Mr. Abdullahi said.

On the general security of the state, he said that the command had deployed no fewer than 1005 officers and men to all parts of the state.

We have put all the officers and men on red alert and commenced a 24-hour patrol and surveillance of the state.

We are also cashing in on inter-agency cooperation and intelligence sharing.

We are appealing to all residents in the state to promptly report all suspected movements and persons.

This is to enable the various security agencies to nip all crimes in the bud and sustain the peace which the state is known for.

We are also appealing to the people of the state to use the ongoing Ramadan fast to pray fervently for sustainable peace and unity of the state and Nigeria as a whole, Mr. Abdullahi said. (NAN)

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A furious Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has warned Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers to desist from denigrating his family, as a lingering political face-off between the duo grows even more vicious and personal.

At the inspection of a dry inland port in Kaduna Tuesday, the minister said he had had enough of his successors diatribe. He said if the provocation does not cease, he may open up about Eberechi Wike.

If Wike does not close his mouth and talk about my wife anymore, I will bring out his wife, theVanguard quoted Mr. Amaechi, immediate-past governor of the state, as saying.

The paper said the minister was responding to an earlier assault which Mr. Wike directed at his wife, Judith.

Mr. Wike allegedly accused the former First Lady of receiving a monthly financial gratification from commissioners and local government administrators while her husband held sway in Rivers.

The governor reportedly put the figure at N3 million for commissioners and N2 million for local government chairmen.

But Mr. Amaechi, who described Mr. Wikes governorship as an accident inflicted on the state by former President Goodluck Jonathan, rejected claims that his wife ever ran such a racket.

My wife and family, including my younger brothers and sisters, no one had access to government when I was governor, he said.

Even as minister, nobody will have such because it is not a family business. It is government business.

Mr. Amaechi said he had hitherto refrained from dragging Mr. Wikes family into their political rancour, admonishing the governor not to provoke him.

You see, Ive been very matured not to talk about his wife.

The Rivers State Commissioner of Information, Austin Tam-George, held back offensive language against Mr. Amaechis family when PREMIUM TIMES sought his take on the latest spat Tuesday afternoon.

Our analysis of him has always been in his capacity as a public administrator, and theres a lot to hold him to account in that official sphere, Mr. Tam-George told PREMIUM TIMES in a statement.

The commissioner said the Wike administration will continue to target Mr. Amaechi as an individual, but not his entire family, which he described as highly respected.

As a leader, we invite him to account for what he did with the N4 billion agriculture grant he took from the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2014, Mr. Tam-George said. There is no single surviving beneficiary in Rivers State.

Still, the commissioner said it would be of legitimate public interest, if there are specific claims of financial impropriety arising from Mrs. Amaechis role while she was the First Lady.

The latest confrontation came barely a month after Mr. Wike penciled Mr. Amaechi down for the states top award for service, a honour the minister subsequently dismissed as a poisoned chalice.
A former Federal Commissioner for Works and Housing, Femi Okunnu, on Tuesday expressed sadness over the current status of the Federal Secretariat in Lagos and other abandoned asset of the federal government in the state, urging that the asset be returned to the state government for effective and proper usage.

Mr. Okunnu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, spoke at Lagos House in Ikeja while presenting the report of a Special Committee which he chaired, set up by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode on federal government asset in the state.

He said the whole of Ikoyi, Banana Island, Osborne Foreshore, Festac Town, Satellite Town, Trade Fair, among others belonged to Lagos State Government, and title of the lands were vested in the Lagos State governor, urging the federal government to hand over the asset to the state government.

Mr. Okunnu said the issue of Federal Secretariat in Ikoyi was particularly saddening to him for the fact that it was during his tenure as Federal Commissioner for Works that the structure was constructed.

Federal Secretariat gives me sadness because I built it when I was the Federal Commissioner for Works, he said.

The land upon which the secretariat is situated is part of the Crown land now State land. The title is vested in Lagos State but when he was Governor of Lagos State, Brigadier General Omobola Johnson (Rtd) agreed to release that land to federal government when they wanted to build Federal Secretariat.

Today, I dont like to pass through that side because it gives me sadness anytime I see it in the current state.

It is not only the quarters but the land on which many of these buildings in the areas are situate. In our committee, we have tried to argue that the whole of Ikoyi with the boundary at Lagos Canal standing between Ikoyi Island and Lagos Island, title to the whole of the Island is vested in the government of Lagos State when Lagos became Crown Colony. The whole of Ikoyi including Osborn Foreshore, Banana Island, and others belong to the State Government, Okunnu said.

Mr. Okunnu said the title to the whole of Festac Town was vested in the Government of Lagos State and that the Federal Housing Authority, FHA, remained the tenant of the state government, same as Trade Fair.

Lagos State Government acquired the land of the Trade Fair site but federal government took over the land and gave a promise to pay the state compensation which was to be paid to the original owners of the land, but that compensation was not paid. Today, the Trade Fair has been turned into market far from the original purpose intended, he said.

Satellite Town too is vested in Lagos State. It is the federal government which should prove title to any land which it claims to own in Lagos State, but I will like to urge the federal government to return the lands to the state government, Mr. Okunnu said.

He said during the course of the committees findings, several government agencies were contacted including Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing, as well as Ministry of Defence, among others, expressing optimism that the state government and the federal government would find a lasting solution to the issue.

We hope that discussions between Lagos State government and federal government over federal government lands and state lands within Lagos, as well as over disuse or surplus lands which federal government especially Defence and Prisons are still occupying in Lagos, and are now surplus to requirement, will be held to settle this palaver once and for all, Mr. Okunnu said.

Responding after receiving the report, Governor Ambode commended members of the committee which included another Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana; Partner of SimmonsCooper, Victoria Alonge, among others, for the efforts put into the report, saying that their passion in ensuring that the state government recovers its lands, buildings as well as disputed quarters were very much appreciated.

He said the report came at a time the state government was in dire need of space for developmental projects that would improve the socio-economic wellbeing of its residents in line with the realities of present times, adding that such projects, when embarked upon, would help to reflate the economy and improve the GDP of the state.

It is our hope that this initiative will put an end to the long-standing dispute between federal and Lagos State governments over the federal government disused lands and buildings and disputed quarters in various parts of the state which are no longer in use for the purposes for which they were originally released to the federal government, Mr. Ambode said.

We are hopeful that this report will get favorable response from the federal government especially given the fact that the Honourable Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola (SAN) was a passionate advocate of this issue during his tenure as the Governor of Lagos State and is also now a representative of Lagos State in the federal cabinet.

Besides, Governor Ambode directed members of the committee to move further by mediating between the state and the federal government on how the asset would be released to Lagos State.

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The Oba of Lagos, Rilwan Akiolu, has insisted before an Ikeja High Court, on Tuesday that he remains the rightfully elected monarch of Lagos.

This he disclosed at the resumed hearing of a suit challenging his right to the throne as Oba of Lagos.

On May 22, 2017, the last adjournment day which was a day to the 14-year anniversary of his coronation on May 23, 2003 , Oba Akiolu, citing historical sources, had told the court that he is the bona fide monarch of the state.

Oba Akiolus title is being challenged by Prince Adedoyin Adebiyi and Prince Rasheed Modile who are both of the Akinsemoyin Ruling House of Lagos.

Messrs Adebiyi and Modile were candidates chosen by the Akinsemoyin Ruling House to contest the Obaship title in 2003 after the demise of Oba Adeyinka Oyekan, the then Oba of Lagos in 2003.

They lost the race to Akiolu who they alleged had no rightful claim to the throne.

Joined in the suit as respondents are the state governor and the Attorney-General of Lagos State, Awobade Pearse.

Others are the representative of the Ologun Kutere Ruling House and J.J Junaid-Eko and head of the traditional white cap chiefs of Lagos.

Other respondents include Prince Kola Balogun and Musibau Kelani, who are of the Eshilokun Royal Family.

While being cross examined by Babatunde Fashanu (SAN), Oba Akiolu reasserted that the age-long traditional customs and traditions were followed in his selection as an oba.

Responding to claims that he was elected less than 90 days after the demise of Oba Oyekan which is contrary to customs, Mr. Akiolu said that such a rule was non existent.

There have been 21 Obas of Lagos before the late Oba Oyekan, in the Lagos State selection of Obas, there is no 90-day rule.

By the grace of God, I am a lawyer, I am duty bound to speak the truth, I have a duty to assist the court.

The 90-day rule does not exist in the selection of Obas,he said.

Oba Akiolu disputed the claims of Adebiyi and Modile that he was not a descendant of Oba Ologun Kutere, a former Oba of Lagos who reigned from the late 1700s to the early 1800s.

Oba Ologun Kutere had five children, one of which was Akiolu, Akintoye was the last child and Akiolu and Olusi were the older children.

Akintoye was three months old when Oba Ologun Kutere died, I dont know how old Akiolu was when his father died.

By the grace of God, I am a direct descendant of Akiolu Ologun Kutere.

When asked by Mr. Fashanu to state in order of seniority, the children of Oba Ologun Kutere, Akiolu retorted I dont know, I dont work at the births and deaths registry.

What is important is that Akiolu is the child of Ologun Kutere.

There have been three members of the Akiolu family who ran for the Oba of Lagos including an Akiolu family member known as Baba Ita-Ado, I cant remember when he ran and I cannot tell lies.

All Lagos princes who have no curse placed on them are entitled to run for the kingship, it is however the prerogative of the king makers to choose who will be king.

Many are called, few are chosen, he said.

Mr. Akiolu noted that his being capped as Oba during his coronation ceremony by a representative of the Eleboro family was not illegal despite the fact that it was not presided over by Chief Eleboro, who personally caps Obas of Lagos.

Contrary to claims that in the history of Lagos, no Oba has been capped by any person other than Chief Eleboro, Oba Adeniji Adele was capped by Chief Gafir.

The Eleboro family capped me,he said.

Mr. Akiolu denied holding grudges against individuals who he allegedly disliked by preventing them from succeeding him as the monarch in future.

The claimants had wanted to meet with me somewhere to sign a document regarding the succession but I refused.

It is not an individual position; it belongs to the past, present and future.

All human beings should not hate each other, we are equal in the eyes of God but not equal in our love for God, Mr. Akiolu said.

Justice Adebowale Candide-Johnson adjourned the case until July 5, 6 and 11 for continuation of trial.

(NAN)

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At a plenary meeting of the Council for Social Dialogue (RDS) held in the Presidential Palace on Monday, President Andrzej Duda pledged he would take the Council-proposed amendments to the RDS law to parliament for endorsement. RDS is a trilateral consultative body that comprises representatives of employers, trade unions and the government. The Monday meeting focused on the future of social dialogue in Poland and draft amendments to the RDS law. President Duda thanked RDS members for their time devoted to presidential bills. "I would like to thank you for debating them. I would like to thank you for the time you devoted to them", the president said.

Referring to the proposed changes to the RDS law, the president said that they needed a debate but declared that he would file with Poland's parliament the proposed changes to the RDS law that the Council developed by way of a presidential legislative initiative. (PAP)
Five Chinese artists who traveled to three African countries earlier this year didn't see the savannas and animals they expected - but they were deeply touched by the people.

These Africans are rendered on these Chinese painters' canvases.

The show Walking Paintbrush, which recently ended in Beijing and will head to the Qingdao Art Museum in Shandong province on July 19, displays over 50 ink, oil and watercolor paintings by the artists, who traveled to Malawi, Tanzania and Mauritius in January.

It was their first time on the continent, which they'd known only through books and TV.

Chen Cheng says she was fascinated by people living in original landscapes - passionate dancers, children riding bikes and market shoppers.

"I expected to see lots of animals running in the wild," she says.

"But the people intrigued me most."

Chen plans to visit another three African countries in October.

The artists were captivated by the natural areas in Malawi, a landlocked country and agricultural economy, she says.

"I could feel their happiness through their eyes, smiles and dances. Many of them have no idea about China," she says.

But they saw Chinese doing business in Tanzania and people from around the world in Mauritius.

"We know Africa isn't homogenous," Chen says.

"It has various cultures and different economies."

That's why she has decided to return to explore more.

Ink artist Fu Xuming sensed Africa was different from other places he'd visited - a feeling he got when he smelled the fresh air and heard a plethora of languages upon landing.

"I'm a landscape artist," he says.

"But all I painted this time were people."

He was fascinated by locals' clothes and dances, and their attitudes toward life and people.

"Africa's art is awesome," he says.

"I only came to understand how it inspires many Western artists only after experiencing it in person."

The trip was part of a project to enhance cultural cooperation and people-to-people exchanges initiated by China's Culture Ministry.

In 2015, President Xi Jinping and African leaders signed the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Johannesburg Action Plan (2015-18). It included a project inviting officials, scholars and artists from China and Africa to undertake cultural exchanges.

African artists had been invited to Jiangsu province's capital, Nanjing, in 2011. They stayed for two months to experience Chinese culture.

The ministry will support more Chinese artists' trips to African countries, says Han Zhihong, an official in charge of African affairs from the Culture Ministry.

"We'll strengthen cooperation between China and Africa in art and cultural exchanges," Han says.

"It's a good way to know each other from the artistic side."

dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn

An oil painting by Chen Cheng, who joined a China-Africa exchange project by the Culture Ministry.Provided To China Daily

(China Daily 06/20/2017 page20)
EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP  Before he was a mayor, a freeholder, a state Assemblyman and a school superintendent, Fred Nickles was a volunteer fireman.

Nickles, 69, who died Saturday at home, will get a firefighters send off Saturday at the Farmington Volunteer Fire Company, taking his last ride in a fire truck to the cemetery.

The community will have several chances to pay their respects to the longtime educator and politician.

Viewings will be held 2 to 4 p.m. and again 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Farmington Volunteer Fire Company, 301 Maple Ave., Egg Harbor Township.

Another viewing will be held 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the same location, with a funeral service immediately following. Burial will be at Palestine Cemetery next to the Scullville Bible Church, of which he was a longtime member.

According to his obituary, Nickles is survived by his wife, Jennifer (Casey) Nickles, his daughters Jessica Wardencki, Jenna Wardencki, Erin Nickles, Amy Boyer (Jeff); grandchildren Kaitlyn and Ryan; sister-in-law Vi Nickles and nephew Don (Becky) Nickles Jr. He is predeceased by his mother, Ruth (Thorn) Nickles, father Wesley Nickles brother Don Nickles.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in his memory to the Scullville Volunteer Fire Company, 1708 Somers Point-Mays Landing Road, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey 08234 or Farmington Volunteer Fire Company, 301 Maple Avenue, Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey 08234. Arrangements entrusted to and condolences may be left for his family at adams-perfect.com.
MAYS LANDING  A Superior Court judge ordered Dr. James Kauffman held in jail until his trial on weapons charges stemming from the physician's arrest last week after he showed a gun when investigators arrived to search his medical offices.

Superior Court Judge Bernard DeLury's decision followed more than an hour of arguments from prosecutors and Kauffman's defense attorney, and included the playing of a dramatic video of last Tuesday's standoff captured by a police officer's body camera.

Pull quote I am not going to jail for this. I will kill myself, Kauffman, 68, says as officers, their weapons drawn, attempt to talk him into putting his gun down.

On the video, the officers can be heard repeatedly instructing Kauffman to drop the gun, even as they assure him they were there to execute a search warrant for his offices, not arrest him.

Authorities said the search was not related to their ongoing investigation into the unsolved death of Kauffman's wife, April Kauffman, 47. Details on the purpose of the search have not been provided.

April Kauffman was found shot several times in the couple's Linwood home May 10, 2012. Last month, prosecutors sought an order to obtain a DNA sample of Dr. Kauffman. Judge DeLury's ruling on that request was sealed. Dr. Kauffman has never been named a suspect in his wife's death.

During Monday's hearing, defense attorney Edwin Jacobs took issue with description of his client brandishing the gun, a 9mm Ruger handgun during the standoff.

Kauffman did not point the weapon at police, he pointed the weapon to himself, Jacobs said.

First Assistant County County Prosecutor Seth Levy, however, argued the doctor is a flight risk, adding he owns four homes, two in New Jersey, one in Pennsylvania and one in Arizona. Kauffman also has the means to flee and has an active passport, Levy said.

During the hearing, Levy revealed authorities found a loaded gun in Kauffmans vehicle that was parked in the office lot along with approximately $100,000 in cash that was in the office.

Levy told DeLury he will attempt to have Kauffman's medical license suspended but did not elaborate.

Jacobs said a psychiatric evaluation that followed Kauffman's arrest found his client to be depressed but not harmful; the report suggested he could be released.

The defense attorney also said Kauffman remained within the "curtilage" of his medical office and therefore he did not break the law by having a gun. Curtilage is described as the area of land attached to a house or an office.

DeLury did not take long to make his decision after hearing arguments. He ordered Kauffman to be held until trial. A date has not yet been set.

Immediately after the proceedings, Jacobs told reporters outside the courtroom he will appeal the decision within the next day or so and that he hopes the case will be heard quickly.

April Kauffman's homicide continues to haunt Linwood LINWOOD  Who killed April Kauffman? If authorities have a lead, they havent said so in five years. The mystery has haunted her family and fr

When questioned by reporters about the search executed last week, Jacobs shed some light on what law enforcement might have been lookhing for, saying there were a total of five search warrants. He said the warrants indicated authorities are looking at something regarding health care fraud and a homicide. When pressed for more information about the homicide, the defense attorney said there was nothing specific regarding that.

At the other end of the hallway, Atlantic County Prosecutor Damon G. Tyner told reporters he believed the ruling and the system were protecting citizens from someone who has the means to be at risk to flee.

Dr. James Kauffman Carol Weintraub, Kauffmans wife, sits in the courtroom. Law officers went to Kauffmans medical offices Tuesday to execute a search warrant w

Tyner also said that while the psychological assessment Jacobs referred to was a valid tool, it does not take into account other factors, such as the means to flee, but rather looks only at whether a defendant has any prior offenses. Tyner said he believes it is important to have a more blended view of defendants.

While DeLury said he understood Dr. Kauffman's strong ties to the community, he also weighed the charges stemming from the armed police standoff, the personal observation of law enforcement, the statement of the defendant on the video, the video itself and the physical evidence seized.
ATLANTIC CITY  Radio host, columnist and cheerleader for Atlantic City Seymour Pinky Kravitz was honored Monday with a bronze plaque to be displayed on his hometown Boardwalk.

The unveiling ceremony was held on the stage of Kennedy Plaza, a project Kravitz proposed to city officials to bring live performances on the Boardwalk.(tncms-asset)394d3e54-5549-11e7-808e-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)

Tom Lamaine, former Philadelphia TV meteorologist, radio personality and Kravitzs longtime friend, hosted the event and talked about Kravitzs tireless work for improvements in Atlantic City.

There have been so many things done because of Pinky, you really dont need his name on them, but today, were gonna do that anyway, Lamaine said.

Friends and frequent guests of his radio show, including Mayor Don Guardian and Gary Hill, were among the speakers who paid tribute to the man whose second nickname was Mr. Atlantic City.

The plaque was revealed from underneath a pink sheet by Kravtizs son, Greg, and granddaughter, Bekah.

This stage was important to him, Greg Kravitz said, but if you look down the Boardwalk, my dad has a connection to every place in Atlantic City.

Kravitzs radio show, Pinkys Corner began on WOND in 1958, a part-time project for the Atlantic City High School teacher. The two-hour talk show was broadcast for a record 57 years, until Kravitz took his first-ever sick day in May 2015. After undergoing heart surgery and a lengthy recovery, Kravitz died Oct. 31 of that year, at age 88.(tncms-asset)61992328-5549-11e7-add3-00163ec2aa77(/tncms-asset)

Along with one of the longest-running radio programs, Kravitz also hosted a weekly talk show on WMGM-TV 40 and was a columnist for The Press of Atlantic City.

Radio station 1400 AM WOND played clips of Kravitz to the audience on the Boardwalk and rebroadcast the final Pinkys Corner, from May 14, 2015, during his 4 to 6 p.m. time slot.
South Jersey stores involved in the vaping business have concerns about a bill, which prohibits the sale or distribution of flavored electronic smoking devices.

The bill is before committees in state Assembly and Senate.

When the bill was introduced, proponents said the existence of these products increases the incidence of tobacco use among children, according to public health experts.

If the bill passes both chambers of the Legislature and is signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie, the bills opponents said it will put vape stores out of business.

E-cigarettes heat liquid and turn it into vapor, which a user inhales, and then exhales in a large, puffy cloud, which led to the term vaping.

Vape stores sell the different flavored liquids to be heated.

Kim Betesh, the manager of Hollywood Smokin in Northfield, said that from the anecdotal experience that she has had with her customers it is quicker and easier to give up smoking cigarettes by vaping instead.

Seventy percent of the people who use electronic or e-cigarettes do not want tobacco, menthol or clove to be the only flavor of their e-cigarettes.

The legislation calls for e-cigarettes to be sold in only those three flavors.

If that is the case, Betesh believes people will either switch from vaping back to cigarettes or never give up cigarettes in the first place.

Nobody wants something in the hands of children, Betesh said. We shouldnt market anything for a child. Parents shouldnt be able to buy it (e-cigarettes) for children. Im a mom first before Im a businessperson.

Current law is the sale or distribution of an electronic smoking device to a person under age 19 is prohibited, exactly like cigarettes.

The bill, which is currently in the Senates Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Assemblys Appropriations Committee, would restrict what e-cigarettes adults could purchase.

Adam Rubin who runs the Gorilla Vapes franchise store in Egg Harbor Township, said he would be out of business if the State Legislature bills became the law in this state.

We dont sell to people under age 19, said Rubin, who added vaping is less harmful to a person than cigarettes. You will have 300 stores out of business.  I would be shocked if the governor would put 300 stores out of business and 1,000 workers.

Rubins Gorilla Vapes store sells more than 200 single-flavor e-liquids and another 150 that are a mixture of flavors, Rubin said.

The most popular flavors in Rubins store are strawberry and cream, blueberry and melons and brewed awakenings, which is a coffee flavor, he said.

Nobody buys just menthol. Nobody buys just tobacco, Rubin said.

Besides the closing of businesses, Rubin said that if the ban on e-cigarette flavors becomes law, people with either order their e-juice from outside of the state or make it themselves in their garages.

If vaping continues the way it is, in five years, no one will buy cigarettes, Rubin said. The only thing that you are doing (with the anti-flavored e-cigarette bill) is stopping law-abiding citizens.
Authorities dealt a major blow to an international drug pipeline when three men allegedly connected to a Mexican ring were arrested with nearly $1 million worth of heroin in Atlantic City, state Attorney General Christopher Porrino said Tuesday.

Steven Rodriguez, 22, Edwin Gomez, 31, and Steven Torres, 24, all of New York City, face several drug charges following an investigation by the Atlantic City Task Force, in cooperation with federal agents, that revealed they were delivering 7.7 pounds of heroin last week to a location on the beach block of St. James Place, authorities said.

The three were connected to a drug-trafficking ring that ran out of Mexico, Porrino said in a statement.

The heroin, laced with fentanyl, was brought from Mexico to New York City. It was delivered to Atlantic City by Rodriguez, Gomez and Torres, according to the statement.

The heroin seized in this case has a value of nearly $300,000 if sold in bulk, and could have been cut, packaged and sold on the street for upwards of $1 million, Porrino said. By putting these alleged heroin traffickers in prison, the Atlantic City Task Force and HSI (U.S. Customs Homeland Security Investigations) cut off a major supply line of heroin into Atlantic City and rescued lives that might have been lost to this poison.

Rodriguez, Gomez and Torres were arrested at 1 p.m. Thursday immediately after pulling into a parking lot on St. James Place.

They are each charged with first-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute, second-degree conspiracy to distribute heroin, second-degree possession of heroin with intent to distribute within 500 feet of the Atlantic City Boardwalk, and third-degree heroin possession.

The seizure of such a large quantity of heroin from an international trafficking network substantially cripples a major pipeline into Atlantic City and surrounding areas, said Col. Rick Fuentes, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. We will continue to work with our local and federal partners to target drug dealers and put them behind bars.

The suspects were taken to Atlantic County jail. If convicted, they face 10 to 20 years in prison for the first-degree charge and five to 10 years in prison for the second-degree charges. They could also receive fines totaling $500,000.

The Atlantic City Task Force includes the Division of Criminal Justice, New Jersey State Police, State Parole Board, Atlantic County Prosecutors Office, Atlantic County Sheriffs Office, Atlantic City Police Department, Ocean County Prosecutors Office, and Little Egg Harbor Township, Brigantine and Pleasantville police. The task force also partners with HSI Cherry Hill, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
In 1989, Yang Jiecang was one of the three artists representing China at Paris' Pompidou's contemporary art show, Magician of the Earth. He presented his One Hundred Layers of Ink Series, which was different from what people traditionally understood about Chinese ink.

Now, the artist is showing his early works from between 1985 and 1999 at Beijing's Ink Studio.

Entitled Earth Root, Yang's solo show features 37 pieces.

Unlike traditional Chinese art focusing on landscapes, figures, flowers and birds, Yang's early works apply layer after layer of ink on rice paper and gauze, all in deep black.

"Each of them is a piece of memory and a diary of my life," says Yang.

The 61-year-old jokes that poverty was the reason he put layer after layer on paper.

"Two pieces of rice paper cost about 6 yuan then,which accounted for one-third of my monthly salary," says Yang.He even used soy sauce to paint.

In fact, repetition is a technique in traditional Chinese figurative painting, called sanfan jiuran, which literally means three layers of alum and nine layers of color.

Yang used the technique in his works like an experiment, calling his work "contemporary Chinese ink".

The artist went to Paris to attend the Pompidou art show empty-handed. His works prepared for the show were detained by customs in Shenzhen. So, for one month, he worked to finish the series One Hundred Layers of Ink for the Paris show by practicing repetition.

Britta Erickson, curator of Yang's solo show at Ink Studio, says One Hundred Layers of Ink is possibly Yang's most important series as well as the least understood.

"We can think of the paintings as a diary of his moods, what concerns him and what he is thinking about," she says.

Yang says he learned how to use a brush at age 3, when he learned how to use chopsticks. At 14, he began practicing calligraphy with a famous teacher. He worked at an art factory before studying Chinese painting at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts.

After graduation, he went to a temple to learn Buddhism and later spent another two years in a Taoist temple to learn Taoism.

In 1989, he arrived in Paris and settled in Europe.

Yang says the same gesture must be repeated to achieve something profound and different.

For example, the ink is no longer black after being used 100 times. Life is comparable. Good results eventually emerge if one persists, the artist says.

dengzhangyu@chinadaily.com.cn

A visitor in front of the One Hundred Layers of Ink Series at Yang Jiecang's ongoing solo exhibition.Deng Zhangyu / China Daily

(China Daily 06/20/2017 page18)
LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Acquisition transfers intellectual property and commercialisation rights to promising cancer immunotherapy

Further development will take place at the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult UK manufacturing centre

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) today announced the sale of its subsidiary, Catapult Therapy TCR Ltd, to Cell Medica. The CGT Catapult, through Catapult Therapy TCR Ltd, has been developing and conducting phase I/II clinical trials of a gene-modified T cell therapy that actively targets several blood cancers and multiple solid tumours. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Catapult Therapy TCR Ltd is a joint venture company set up by the CGT Catapult, UCL Business (UCLB) and Imperial Innovations (a Touchstone Innovations company) which focused on the development of a gene-modified WT1 TCR T cell therapy for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) that are known to overexpress the antigen WT1. It represents a promising novel treatment approach in a therapeutic area where prognosis is often poor and therapeutic options limited. Early development work on this therapy conducted at UCL and Imperial was funded by the UK charity Bloodwise. The WT1 antigen is also present on a large variety of solid tumours, giving this treatment very broad therapeutic potential.

The acquisition of Catapult Therapy TCR Ltd by Cell Medica will enable and accelerate the further development and commercialisation of this innovative treatment in one of the most promising areas of cancer immunotherapy. The optimisation and development of next-generation T cells will be conducted by Cell Medica and CGT Catapult and manufacturing will take place at CGT Catapult's large-scale cell and gene therapy manufacturing centre located at the Stevenage BioScience Catalyst in Hertfordshire, following a grant awarded earlier this year by Innovate UK.

"We are pleased that Cell Medica has acquired the WT1 T-cell immunotherapy," said Keith Thompson, Chief Executive Officer, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult. "With their complementary technologies, they will take over the development of this exciting new therapy. The next generation product developed in our manufacturing centre underlines our ability to support the localisation of cell manufacturing processes in the UK. It reflects the CGT Catapult's mission to work with academia and industry in bringing forward important new technologies that can be industrialised and turned into the advanced medicines of the future, building new industries."

"Immuno-oncology is an expanding discipline representing the next generation of cancer treatments, and WT1 has shown excellent results so far. We are delighted to have created this opportunity with our academic partners UCLB and Imperial Innovations."

Gregg Sando, Chief Executive Officer, Cell Medica, said: "The acquisition of the WT1-TCR cell therapy leverages the investment we made in 2016 for exclusive rights to the Dominant TCR technology. Our objective is to show how we can enhance any existing TCR cell therapy with the Dominant TCR technology to create a more effective treatment for patients with solid tumours who otherwise have a very poor prognosis. We are also looking forward to an important collaboration with CGT Catapult to initiate manufacturing at the Stevenage GMP facility where we will work together on scale-up strategies for commercial production."

Catapult Therapy TCR Ltd academic partners highlighted the relevance of T-cell immunotherapy to future cancer therapy options.

"Gene-modified T cell targeting WT1 has enormous potential to transform the lives of cancer patients, and the expertise of UCL Professors Hans Stauss and Emma Morris have enabled this innovative treatment to evolve," said Cengiz Tarhan, Managing Director, UCL Business. "Cell Medica is excellently placed to further develop this novel treatment approach."

Tony Hickson, Managing Director, Imperial Innovations Limited, said: "This project provides a case study of two leading UK universities working together alongside a Catapult to translate their high quality research outputs into clinical stage advanced therapeutics."

About the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult was established as an independent centre of excellence to advance the growth of the UK cell and gene therapy industry, by bridging the gap between scientific research and full-scale commercialisation. With more than 120 employees focusing on cell and gene therapy technologies, it works with partners in academia and industry to ensure these life-changing therapies can be developed for use in health services throughout the world. It offers leading-edge capability, technology and innovation to enable companies to take products into clinical trials and provide clinical, process development, manufacturing, regulatory, health economics and market access expertise. Its aim is to make the UK the most compelling and logical choice for UK and international partners to develop and commercialise these advanced therapies. The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult works with Innovate UK. For more information please visit ct.catapult.org.uk or visit http://www.gov.uk/innovate-uk.

About Cell Medica

Cell Medica is committed to transforming patients' lives through developing the significant therapeutic potential of cellular immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer. In collaboration with our strategic partners, Cell Medica is developing a range of products using three proprietary technology platforms including activated T cells, chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and engineered T cell receptors (TCRs). Our lead product is CMD-003 is being tested in an international Phase II trial for the treatment of cancers associated with the oncogenic Epstein Barr virus. We are working with the Baylor College of Medicine to develop next generation CAR-modified NKT cells including an off-the-shelf product. In the field of engineered TCRs, we are collaborating with University College to develop the Dominant TCR technology platform. Cell Medica is headquartered in London with subsidiaries in Zurich and Houston.

For further information please contact:

FTI Consulting for the CGT Catapult

Con Franklin +44-(0)-203-319-5560 / con.franklin@fticonsulting.com

Michael Trace +44-(0)-203-319-5674 / michael.trace@fticonsulting.com

SOURCE Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult
JAKARTA, Indonesia, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Indonesian National Agency of Search and Relief (NASR, formerly BASARNAS), announced today that its emergency number, 115, is already operational for immediate search and rescue assistance for a 24/7 service. The emergency assistance is open both for Indonesian citizens and foreigners in Indonesia.

"This is one of our efforts to help society access the search and rescue aid around the clock and throughout Indonesia," said Chief of NASR, Marshal Muhammad Syaugi, S.Sos, MM.

Indonesia is undeniably the largest archipelagic country in the world, consisting of approximately 17,000 islands. Stretching from Sabang to Merauke, the country is hugely wealthy in natural resources. No wonder so many works of literature describe Indonesia as the Emerald of the Equator, referring to its rich, lush and colorful tropical rainforest - just like emeralds - and its strategic position right along the equator.

As one of the most emerging countries in Asia, Indonesia widely opens its doors for international partnerships and visits. Tens of millions of international tourists come to this country every year. As a matter of fact, the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo sets an ambitious target of 15 million international tourists for 2017, or an increase of 25 percent. In 2016, Indonesia's tourism sector successfully contributed 11 percent of the country's GDP only from the tourists spending or as much as Rp. 172 trillion.

Given the tourism sector is one of the most contributing sectors for Indonesia's economy, the government of Indonesia always strives to ensure the safety and security both for the citizens and the foreigners.

Fully responsible for the safety and security of the citizens from the harm of natural disasters, the Government of the Republic of Indonesia deploys and relies on NASR. The Agency plays a critical role during times of disaster. With a vision of conducting successful SAR operations efficiently, credibly, and safely, anytime and anywhere, NASR is always committed to being at the forefront in the ongoing, devastating state of the natural disasters to save lives and prevent losing more.

Due to its high rate of successful operations, NASR is widely recognized by the world. Not only is it backed up by the highly sophisticated SAR-related equipment, NASR is also composed with highly trained, three-tiered SAR personnel able to cover water, jungle, and para motor rescue.

Syaugi continued, "In conducting operations, we always stick to our motto: work quickly and correctly!"

The motto refers to the capability of NASR in dealing with a quick response time in conducting SAR operations in accordance with the operational procedure, so that they can minimize more casualties.

"We don't compromise on the professionalism when it comes to conducting SAR operations. Solid team work and sufficient equipment are the key to the successful operations," concluded Syauqi.

SOURCE National Agency of Search and Relief of Republic of Indonesia
10th of every month, 10-10:30 a.m. Continues through Dec. 11

FREE! Registration Required. Register online or by phone.

Bulletin Board, Lectures & Meetings

Join us on the 10th of every month to learn and recognize the common signs of Alzheimer's disease and memory loss in yourself or others, and the next steps to take, including how to talk to your doctor. This event is approximately 30 minutes. We encourage you to ask questions and learn more about the Alzheimer's Association's free resources. To register, click the provided link or call our 24/7 toll-free Helpline at 1.800.272.3900. Offered through the Springfield regional office in partnership with the Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. Please call our Helpline at 1.800.272.3900 for memory loss resources 1.800.272.3900
TEL AVIV, Israel and MELBOURNE, Australia, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Agreement Paves Way for Significant Israel-Australia Medical Cannabis Collaboration

iCAN: Israel-Cannabis (iCAN), a leading Israeli developer of medical cannabis formulations, clinical trials and cannabis testing, has formed a joint venture with LeafCann Research and Advisory, a leader in the development of cannabis medications, clinical research and education, based in Melbourne, Australia. The new venture, iCAN: Australia, will collaborate on a range of initiatives including medicinal cannabis research, education, acceleration, and innovation.

This joint venture is a significant step in the collaborative efforts between Israel and Australia in this field, combining Israel's role as the world's medical cannabis R&D powerhouse with Australia's newly eased access regulations for patients in need.

"We are thrilled to partner with LeafCann to form iCAN: Australia. Our collaboration will bring world-class cannabis products to the Australian market as well as accelerate our collaborative research and development of new products for a range of indications," said Saul Kaye, CEO of iCAN: Israel-Cannabis.

The burgeoning global medical cannabis industry is estimated to reach $50 billion by 2025.

"This agreement paves the way for significant investment in clinical research to support the development of evidence based cannabis medicines for patients most in need. In addition iCAN: Australia will develop global clinical education initiatives to bridge the gap between public demand and practitioner education. We are also excited to be part of iCAN's global acceleration program to develop a professional, ethical and sustainable medicinal cannabis sector worldwide," said LeafCann Group CEO, Dr Jaroslav Boublik B.Sc.(Hons) Ph.D. (Med), MRACI, C.Chem. AACNEM, MICRS.

LeafCann's practitioner education program will be incorporated into iCAN's product offerings and distributed via iCAN's global reach. In addition, iCAN:Australia will take a significant interest in CannaTech Australia, the country's first major Medical Cannabis Summit modeled after the highly successful CannaTech Israel Summits. The first CannaTech Australia conference will take place in Sydney in 2018.

About iCAN: Israel-Cannabis

iCAN: Israel-Cannabis is a leading Israeli developer of cannabis based formulations, clinical trials and cannabis testing. iCAN is committed to accelerate Israel's CannaTechnology industry, capitalizing on Israeli innovation and a leading cannabis regulatory environment to bring premier products to market. iCAN is powered by CannaTech, the premier international cannabis summit held annually in Tel Aviv and for the first time outside of Israel on October 25th and 26th in London, England.

About LeafCann

LeafCann Research and Advisory is a wholly owned subsidiary of LeafCann Group Pty Ltd. LeafCann Research and Advisory is a leading Australian developer of clinical research, product development, education and Industry advice to a range of Australian and international partners. LeafCann Group has positioned itself as Australia's preeminent Medicinal Cannabis think tank. With strong strategic partnerships, a diverse team and significant investment in medicinal cannabis production in Australia, LeafCann Group is well positioned as a global leader.

Contact:

Kam Global Strategies,

laura@kamgs.com ,

+972-54-806-8613



SOURCE iCAN: Israel-Cannabis and LeafCann Research and Advisory
OXFORD, England, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd. (PsiOxus), the cancer therapeutics company, today announced expansion of operations into a 21,000 sq ft state-of-the-art facility on the Abingdon Science Park in Oxfordshire, UK. Additionally, PsiOxus announced the opening of a new US facility in Plymouth Meeting near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This dual expansion will allow PsiOxus to accelerate the research and development of novel immune-oncology products in both the UK and the US.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525274/PsiOxus_Therapeutics_Logo.jpg )



The Abingdon facility will be added to the current laboratory facility at Milton Park to provide a significant increase in both laboratory and office space. The Philadelphia facility represents the opening of the first PsiOxus office outside of the UK and it will initially focus upon business development, clinical development and regulatory activities. The recruitment of new staff is already well underway for both new sites.

"We are delighted to be moving into our new state-of-the-art facilities on the Abingdon Science Park, UK," stated Priya Mande, Chief Operating Officer, PsiOxus. "This seven-fold increase in capacity allows us to bring on board new capabilities, expertise and people facilitating the continued growth of PsiOxus as a world leading immuno-oncology company and advancement of potential treatment options for cancer patients."

Charles Morris, Chief Development Officer, PsiOxus and Head of the US facility stated, "Our office here just outside of Philadelphia will provide us with a US base to manage clinical trials and business development in close collaboration with our UK colleagues."

John Beadle, CEO of PsiOxus added, "These two new facilities allow us to continue our ground breaking internal research and development activities on both sides of the Atlantic whilst also enhancing our ability to work with our globally located collaborators and partners, all with the common objective of developing new treatments for patients with cancer."

About PsiOxus Therapeutics

PsiOxus Therapeutics aims to be the world's leading immuno-oncolytic virus company, delivering medicines of value to patients with cancer. Our work is product and platform based with a focus on discovering and developing innovative immunotherapies for the treatment of solid tumors. Our products utilize enadenotucirev, our proprietary first generation oncolytic virus and our proprietary platform technology for next generation oncolytic viruses, Tumor-Specific Immuno-Gene Therapy (T-SIGn). The T-SIGn therapy platform is based on the company's oncolytic virus, enadenotucirev, which has properties that allow it to be delivered systemically via intravenous administration and to replicate only in tumor cells. The anti-cancer capability can be further enhanced through "arming" - a process that involves the addition of new genes into the virus. The armed T-SIGn platform makes possible creation of a broad range of systemically delivered oncolytic immune therapeutics including oncolytic viruses that express one or more antibodies, cytokines, immunomodulatory proteins, or nucleotide (RNA) based payloads. The T-SIGn platform is in preclinical stage, while phase I/II clinical trials are ongoing with enadenotucirev in different tumor types and with different combinations including checkpoint inhibitors and conventional chemotherapeutics. http://www.psioxus.com



SOURCE PsiOxus Therapeutics
(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524701/Constellation_Octane_Original_1.jpg )



(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524703/Constellation_Octane_Original_2.jpg )



Speaking from the new corporate offices of Vertu AK France in Paris, Hakan commented, "We are delighted to have signed this agreement with TCL Communication. It is the first of many, considerable investments we are making into the business. TCL Communication is a valued partner of Vertu and we hope that this will be the start of a prosperous new chapter in our relationship."

Today's announcement is seen as a first step in helping Vertu enable its full potential as a powerful global brand. Under new patronage and the leadership of Hakan, Vertu is going through a substantial restructuring and modernisation of all its business units, whilst preserving the heritage and craftsmanship it is renowned for around the world.

"Customers will have access to limited, special edition Constellation X products as soon as mid-July, with full ramp up by early September. The new generation of Vertu Concierge Services will start being introduced in mid-July in limited markets, with a new wide ranging portfolio of Vertu Life Style Products becoming available in Vertu Boutiques in early September," Hakan added.

"As a leading smartphone innovator, TCL Communication is very pleased to extend our successful relationship with Vertu," said Alain Lejeune, Senior Vice President of TCL Communication. "Combining our advanced smart phone technology with Vertu's superb craftsmanship and commitment to superior design and performance, it will help create an outstanding experience for its discerning customers."

Vertu AK France, the parent company, is aiming to launch new services and products in September, alongside announcing several exclusive luxury partnerships with leading global brands. The new products will be sold in the key luxury markets of France, UK, China, Asia, Russia, Western Europe and the Middle East.

While the company has moved its corporate offices to Paris, all Vertu products are designed and manufactured in the UK, with around 90 per cent destined for export markets. The company has operated from its Hampshire base since 2000, shipping its first phone in 2002. To date, Vertu has sold more than 500,000 devices worldwide. The new Vertu phones have an entry selling price of 7,500 and the company has more than 225,000 registered users.

Notes to editors:

About Vertu

Vertu aims to deliver the world's best luxury mobile phone experience for its customers by combining expert craftsmanship and peerless materials with innovative technology and unique services. Today, Vertu leads the market that it pioneered over a decade ago.

The Vertu range of mobile phones is made up of four distinct models - Signature S, Signature Touch, Aster, and soon to be launched, Constellation X. The Vertu Audio Collection comprises V Headphones (HP-1V) and V Speaker (SP-1V). Vertu mobile phones are handmade in England using the world's finest materials.

Vertu is renowned for its curated services: a suite of carefully selected exclusive offers, content and assistance especially selected to enhance the Vertu customer's lifestyle. At the heart of these services is Vertu CONCIERGE, offering luxury lifestyle assistance and enrichment. The new Generation of Vertu Concierge Services will usher in a new area of services to discerning clients and exclusive to Vertu users.

Vertu is available from around 300 stores, including 56 Vertu Boutiques, in 62 countries.

About TCL Communication

TCL Communication Technology Holdings Limited (TCL Communication) designs, manufactures and markets an expanding portfolio of mobile and internet products and services worldwide under three key brands - TCL, Alcatel and BlackBerry. The company's portfolio of products is currently sold in over 160 countries throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, with TCL Communication ranked as a top-10 global smartphone manufacturer by IDC. Headquartered in Hong Kong, TCL Communication operates nine R&D centers worldwide, employing more than 12,000 people across the globe. For more information, please visit http://www.tclcom.com.

TCL is a registered trademark of TCL Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

For further information please contact:

Danielle Silvester - Vertu AK

Director Brand & Communications

Email: danielle.silvester@vertu.com

Dominic McCarthy - Neville McCarthy Associates

Email: Dominic@nevillemccarthy.com

Phone: +44(0) 207-940-2900

Kate Ng - TCL Communication

Email: globalpr@tcl.com



SOURCE Vertu


(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524738/Serendipity_Challenge_2017_Finalists.jpg )



"This year's lineup is the strongest and broadest to date. Every company has either good potential or are well on their way to revolutionize their industry. Several of them have already received international traction which says something about the spirit of innovation in the Nordics," says Omid Ekhlasi, founder and head of Serendipity Challenge.

The competition targets startup and growth companies based on unique innovations or business concepts with the potential to establish themselves on a global market. The companies have been evaluated by an expert jury, which has focused on scalability and well-defined growth opportunities.

The 2017 edition of Serendipity Challenge is the first time the competition is open to companies from all Nordic countries, resulting in nearly 400 entries in total.

"The finals will showcase unique and ground-breaking products and services that create consumer behaviours as well as societal and economic value. What's striking this year is the large number of companies with intelligent and connected products, which through, gathering , processing and analysing extensive data, will change our everyday lives for the better," says Omid Ekhlasi.

The Finals in Almedalen/Visby

Out of the 50 companies that have qualified for the finals, 24 will be pitching in front of the jury in Almedalen. The 7 best get the chance to pitch their business idea from the big public stage and compete for the "Startup Company of the Year" and "Growth Company of the Year" awards. The winners in each category receive a growth package worth SEK 200,000 and a seat on the winner delegation trip to Silicon Valley.

Tech arena and exhibition

All 50 companies are represented on site in Almedalen and will also be part of a tech exhibition, where visitors have the possibility to vote for the company they want to award with the "Prize of the Audience." In connection to this, seminars will be held on the theme "From Startup to Unicorn".

Link to the competing companies:

theserendipitychallenge.se/bolagen-2017

The 24 companies competing for the titles "Startup Company of the Year" and "Growth Company of the Year" are marked with a trophy.

Images for media: http://bit.ly/2sxksif

Photographer: Tommy Fondelius

About the competition

Serendipity Challenge is an entrepreneurship competition for startup and growth companies. It is a joint venture, organized by Serendipity and Industrin tar Matchen (ITM). A jury chooses 50 companies among the hundreds of applications received, which proceeds to the finals in Almedalen, Visby 3-5 July. The jury is chaired by Saeid Esmaeilzadeh, founder and chairman of Serendipity Group and the jury members are renowned investors, entrepreneurs and innovation experts. Serendipity Challenge is open to all Nordic companies regardless business sectors. The final takes place at "Industriomradet" address: Sankt Hansgatan/Trappgrand, Visby on Tuesday, July 4th. www.serendipitychallenge.se

About Industrin tar matchen

Industrin tar matchen is a joint initiative by thirteen Swedish industry organizations; its mission is to clearly communicate the importance of business and industry for Sweden's prosperity. www.industrintarmatchen.se

About Serendipity

Serendipity is "House of Technologies - Home of Entrepreneurs." It was founded in 2004 with focus on building innovative companies based on scientific discoveries. It's portfolio contains listed and privately held firms that operate within advanced material, animal health, bio technology, clean technology, and medical technology. www.serendipity.se



For more information, please contact:

Camilla Wallin

Press & Communication

+46-(0)-709-58-11-08

[email protected]

Omid Ekhlasi

Founder

Serendipity Challenge

+46-(0)-735-25-25-09

[email protected]





SOURCE Serendipity Challenge
OSS was led by Maj. Gen. William Donovan, a World War I Medal of Honor recipient who is considered the founding father of the US intelligence and special operations communities. The ceremony was held on Navy Hill in Washington, D.C., which was the site of the OSS and first CIA headquarters. This site was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. Several OSS veterans attended the ceremony.

Representatives of three agencies that trace their lineage to the OSS spoke at the ceremony: The Hon. Mike Pompeo, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Amb. Daniel Smith, Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research; and Lt. Gen. Thomas Trask, USAF, Vice Commander of the US Special Operations Command.

Director Pompeo said that "in drawing up plans for a central intelligence agency, [Donovan] envisioned a service that would help prevent another world war, and that would contribute directly to the security of our citizens. At CIA, we are all under General Donovan's watch. We seek to do justice to his vision every day. We will always endeavor to live up to the magnificent example he set, and to be worthy successors to the men and women of OSS that he so ably led."

Amb. Daniel Smith saluted "the sacrifices and contributions made by our predecessors in the OSS in defense of our nation. This history and tradition continues to inspire and motivate us to provide the best possible policy support to our decision makers."

Gen. Trask said that "we at SOCOM feel a sense of pride in having carried on the traditions and the mantle of responsibility that our forebears in the OSS so gallantly bore."

Charles Pinck, The OSS Society's president, said the OSS' most lasting legacy was best expressed by General Donovan in his 1945 farewell address to OSS personnel: "Only by decisions of national policy based upon accurate information do we have a chance of a peace that will endure."

SOURCE The OSS Society, Inc.
OYSTER BAY, N.Y., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ABI Research predicts the number of businesses adopting artificial intelligence (AI) technologies worldwide will grow considerably, up from 7,000 this year to nearly 900,000 in 2022, a CAGR of 162%. AI is no longer limited to science fiction and movies, with significant strides being made in cloud processing, storage capacity, and machine learning algorithms to enable computer systems to surpass humans in winning strategy games and television shows. Increasingly, businesses are applying these technological advancements to deliver automation and innovation that equal or exceed human capabilities.

"Even though nearly one million businesses will adopt AI by 2022, it will not be a great fit for every company," says Jeff Orr, Research Director at ABI Research. "Many businesses will have to adapt their corporate governance policies to deal with the lack of a guaranteed outcome when implementing machine learning. While most enterprises start using machine learning to analyze their existing business for insights, the technologies have far-reaching application in specific industries, ranging from reduction of false positives in fraud detection to powering conversational interfaces for chatbots and virtual assistants."

While some of the world's largest and innovative enterprises, such as Amazon, American Express, Citrix, Coca Cola, Facebook, Google, Netflix, PayPal, and Uber, already deploy projects powered by machine learning, ABI Research finds that not all will benefit. Organizations that are comfortable with uncertainty in outcomes and measuring changes in key performance indicators (KPIs) will find the most to gain from enacting machine learning projects. On the other hand, companies that focus only on ROI timetables will find emerging technologies, including machine learning, cybersecurity, and IoT, to be frustrating to implement and difficult to measure.

Several SaaS solutions are available for machine learning and businesses looking to experiment will have many vendors to choose from. Best practices include starting off with a pilot project and requesting case studies about enterprises that have already gone through their first operational deployment. "It is the companies that choose to ignore AI entirely that will quickly find themselves at a competitive disadvantage," concludes Orr.

These findings are from ABI Research's AI in the Enterprise: Machine Learning (https://www.abiresearch.com/market-research/product/1027221-ai-in-the-enterprise-machine-learning/) report.

About ABI Research

ABI Research stands at the forefront of technology market intelligence, providing business leaders with comprehensive research and consulting services to help them implement informed, transformative technology decisions. Founded more than 25 years ago, the company's global team of senior and long-tenured analysts delivers deep market data forecasts, analyses, and teardown services. ABI Research is an industry pioneer, proactively uncovering ground-breaking business cycles and publishing research 18 to 36 months in advance of other organizations. For more information, visit www.abiresearch.com.

Contact Info:

SOURCE ABI Research

Related Links

http://www.abiresearch.com


LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- It was only a few years ago Aussie actor Adam Horner made his way to Hollywood. Originally born in Essex, England, he lived most of his life in Western Sydney. Horner was a graduate of the Newtown High School of Performing Arts and quickly began his acting career in Hollywood straight out of high school.

Adam Horner on the Red Carpet in Hollywood

Horner commented, "I first went to Hollywood at a pretty young age. I was 19. As a 19-year-old it was all super exciting. I had a lot of support from some of the big guys in casting in the U.S. They helped me get my agent and manager at the time so when I got here, I really hit the ground running."

Horner is yet another young Aussie star taking Hollywood by storm. He first appeared on American TV on the "Glee" spin-off show "The Glee Project" but had his big film break soon after, acting alongside Oscar-nominated actor and film veteran Eric Roberts and "Pretty Little Liars" star, Sydney Penny. Since then he has worked on a slew of films, both in Australia, in the U.S. and even a TV pilot that was shot partly in Romania starring fellow Aussie actor Louis Mandylor from blockbusters such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 & 2.

"It's been a crazy few years. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. You get to some of these sets and look who is around. I mean, I grew up watching a lot of these people," said Horner.

Horner recently has starred in the Aussie movie "Rough Stuff"alongside Australian icon Ernie Dingo. "Rough Stuff" is currently in theaters and recently screened at the Cannes Film Festival. He also starred in Australian film " Ravenswood," a horror movie shot in Sydney that is now available worldwide. "Ravenswood" has won an abundance of awards including best horror film at the renowned Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards and best film at the Southern Sykos Horror Film Festival. More recently Horner shot a film called "The Hard Way" with Helen Slater from "Supergirl," a viral web film called " Two on the Run" which was executive produced by Eli Roth and boasts over a million online views. Eli Roth produced "Cabin Fever" and recently co-produced the new "Baywatch" movie starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron. He also stars in another movie called "Coven," starring alongside Terri Ivens from the 9-time Emmy award-winning Amazon series "The Bay." "Coven" will be released in late 2017.

"This year is and has been just as busy, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. I'll be shooting another two feature films later this year that I have been attached to. And then I'll be heading to Europe again soon after to shoot another film. It's going to be a big exciting year," said Horner.

Check out " Ravenswood," now available for purchase on iTunes and "Rough Stuff" currently in cinemas. Keep up to date with Adam on Social Media:

Twitter: @AdamHorner_

Instagram: @AdamHorner_

Facebook: @ImAdamHorner

Publicist: Niki White

Nikstar PR

[email protected]

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.png

image3.jpg

image4.jpg

Related Links

Adam Horner IMDb

SOURCE Nikstar PR
DUBLIN, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Police officers and first responders in multiple states, including Ohio, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, have overdosed due to accidental exposure to highly potent, synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl and carfentanil, by inhaling or touching these powdery substances. In response to the growing presence of these potentially lethal synthetic opioids, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) recently released a briefing guide for first responders and a video (multimedia: DEA Fentanyl Roll Call Video) that outlines the threat law enforcement personnel face when coming in contact with fentanyl and its analogs. The guidance details how to respond in these situations, including the directive to immediately administer naloxone in the case of suspected overdose.

"These new synthetic opioids are more potent than commonly used opioids like morphine, oxycodone or heroin and may remain in an individual's system for longer periods of time. Opioid overdoses associated with illicit fentanyl substances have been shown to respond to naloxone when administered quickly and at a large enough dose as supported by data from the Swedish STRIDA project," said Daniel Ventricelli, PharmD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy, Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, University of the Sciences.

According to the DEA guidance for first responders, recommendations include:

Appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to be utilized when encountering these substances;

Naloxone should be readily available for administration;

Should exposure and overdose occur, continue to administer a dose of naloxone every 23 minutes until the individual is breathing on his/her own for at least 15 minutes, or until EMS arrives.

Naloxone is available in various formulations. NARCAN (naloxone HCI) Nasal Spray 4 mg is the only FDA-approved nasal naloxone currently available and indicated for the emergency treatment of known or suspected overdose.

Adapt Pharma continues to offer law enforcement, first responders and other qualified purchasers a discount to purchase NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg. For more information, please visit narcan.com or contact Adapt Pharma's Customer Service Team at 844-4-NARCAN (844-462-7226) email [email protected]

NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg is not a substitute for emergency medical care, and repeat applications may be necessary. Seek emergency medical assistance immediately after initial use, keeping the patient under continued surveillance. Please see Indications and Important Safety Information below.



ABOUT NARCAN (naloxone HCl) NASAL SPRAY 4 mg

NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg is indicated for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose, as manifested by respiratory and/or central nervous system depression. NARCAN Nasal Spray 4mg is intended for immediate administration as emergency therapy in settings where opioids may be present.

NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg is not a substitute for emergency medical care.

Always seek emergency medical assistance in the event of a suspected, potentially life-threatening opioid emergency after administration of the first dose of NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg.

If the desired response is not obtained after 2 or 3 minutes, administer an additional dose of NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg in an alternate nostril using a new NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg. If the patient responds to NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg and relapses back into respiratory depression before emergency assistance arrives, administer an additional dose and continue surveillance of the patient. If there is still no response and additional doses are available, administer additional doses of NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg every 2 to 3 minutes using a new NARCAN Nasal Spray 4 mg in alternate nostrils with each dose until emergency medical assistance arrives. Additional supportive and/or resuscitative measures may be helpful while awaiting emergency medical assistance.

NARCAN Nasal Spray 4mg was launched in February of 2016 and is widely available.

NARCAN NASAL SPRAY 4 mg INDICATIONS AND IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Indications

NARCAN (naloxone hydrochloride) Nasal Spray is an opioid antagonist indicated for the emergency treatment of known or suspected opioid overdose, as manifested by respiratory and/or central nervous system depression. NARCAN Nasal Spray is intended for immediate administration as emergency therapy in settings where opioids may be present.

NARCAN Nasal Spray is not a substitute for emergency medical care.

Important Safety Information

NARCAN Nasal Spray is contraindicated in patients known to be hypersensitive to naloxone hydrochloride.

Seek emergency medical assistance immediately after initial use, keeping the patient under continued surveillance.

Risk of Recurrent Respiratory and CNS Depression: Due to the duration of action of naloxone relative to the opioid, keep the patient under continued surveillance and administer repeat doses of naloxone using a new nasal spray with each dose, as necessary, while awaiting emergency medical assistance.

Risk of Limited Efficacy with Partial Agonists or Mixed Agonists/Antagonists: Reversal of respiratory depression caused by partial agonists or mixed agonists/antagonists, such as buprenorphine and pentazocine, may be incomplete. Larger or repeat doses may be required.

Precipitation of Severe Opioid Withdrawal: Use in patients who are opioid dependent may precipitate opioid withdrawal characterized by body aches, fever, sweating, runny nose, sneezing, goose bumps (piloerection), yawning, weakness, shivering or trembling, nervousness, restlessness or irritability, diarrhea, nausea or vomiting, abdominal cramps, increased blood pressure and increased heart rate (tachycardia). In some patients, there may be aggressive behavior upon abrupt reversal of an opioid overdose. In neonates, opioid withdrawal may be life-threatening if not recognized and properly treated and may be characterized by convulsions, excessive crying, and hyperactive reflexes. Monitor for the development of opioid withdrawal.

Risk of Cardiovascular (CV) Effects: Abrupt postoperative reversal of opioid depression may result in adverse CV effects. These events have primarily occurred in patients who had pre-existing CV disorders or received other drugs that may have similar adverse CV effects. Monitor these patients closely in an appropriate healthcare setting after use of naloxone hydrochloride.

The following adverse reactions were observed in a NARCAN Nasal Spray clinical study: increased blood pressure, constipation, toothache, muscle spasms, musculoskeletal pain, headache, nasal dryness, nasal edema, nasal congestion, nasal inflammation, rhinalgia, and xeroderma.

See full Prescribing Information, Patient Information, and Instructions for Use of this product, available here: http://www.narcan.com/pdf/NARCAN-Prescribing-Information.pdf.

To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Adapt Pharma, Inc. at 1-844-4NARCAN (1-844-462-7226) or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch.

ABOUT ADAPT PHARMA

Adapt Pharma is a privately-held pharmaceutical company committed to positively impacting the lives of patients. Adapt Pharma's strategy is to identify, evaluate, selectively acquire and enhance the value of late stage development, and FDA approved, pharmaceutical products. Adapt Pharma's company headquarters is in Dublin, Ireland and its U.S. headquarters is in Radnor, Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit www.adaptpharma.com.

 When administering NARCAN Nasal Spray, always be sure to call 911 right away, even if the person wakes up. Keep the patient under surveillance or close watch. If breathing does not return to normal or if breathing difficulty resumes, after 2-3 minutes, give an additional dose of NARCAN Nasal Spray using a new device in the alternate nostril.

SOURCE Adapt Pharma

Related Links

http://www.adaptpharma.com


COLUMBUS, Ga., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Aflac, the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite in the United States, announced today that CEO Daniel P. Amos will serve as a featured panelist on Tuesday, June 20, for a panel on business transformation sponsored by North Highland Worldwide Consultants. The evening is to be hosted by Robert Reiss, author, Forbes.com columnist and host of the CEO Forum radio program.

The one-hour event will take place at 6 p.m. EDT at the Terminus 330 banquet facility at 330 Marietta St. NW, Atlanta, GA 30313. Other panelists include:

Kate Gutmann : Chief Sales and Solutions Officer, UPS.

: Chief Sales and Solutions Officer, UPS. Barry McCarthy : Executive Vice President, First Data.

: Executive Vice President, First Data. Steve Smith : Chief Financial Officer, Veritiv.

: Chief Financial Officer, Veritiv. Greg Bradley : Global Head of Transformation, North Highland.

A roundup of the conversation will be featured in a Forbes.com article written by Reiss scheduled for July 17 that is tentatively entitled "How to transform business in America."

About Aflac

When a policyholder gets sick or hurt, Aflac pays cash benefits fast. For six decades, Aflac insurance policies have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In the United States, Aflac is the leader in voluntary insurance sales at the worksite. Through its trailblazing One Day PaySM initiative, Aflac U.S. can receive, process, approve and disburse payment for eligible claims in one business day. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance and insures 1 in 4 households. Aflac insurance products help provide protection to more than 50 million people worldwide. For 11 consecutive years, Aflac has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the World's Most Ethical Companies. In 2017, Fortune magazine recognized Aflac as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For in America for the 19th consecutive year and included Aflac on its list of Most Admired Companies for the 16th time. In 2015, Aflac's contact centers were recognized by J.D. Power by providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" for the Live Phone Channel. Aflac Incorporated is a Fortune 500 company listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol AFL. To find out more about Aflac and One Day PaySM, visit aflac.com or espanol.aflac.com.

Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company of Columbus and American Family Life Assurance Company of New York.

Media contact  Jon Sullivan, 706.763.4813 or [email protected]

Analyst and investor contact  David A. Young, 706.596.3264 or 800.235.2667, FAX 706.324.6330, or [email protected]

SOURCE Aflac

Related Links

http://www.aflac.com


"Your efforts were instrumental in the passage of this legislation and the benefits it has created for Alaska," the Governor wrote. "As a result, Alaska has been a leader in the realm of self-settled trusts, opt-in community property trusts, a tiered scheduled for life insurance premium tax, and trust decanting legislation."

The Alaska Governor's letter pays homage to Mr. Blattmachr's career devotion to the trusts and estates industry, where Mr. Blattmachr has become a nationwide household name for his achievements as a niche expert. The same dedication and expertise is found in the language contained in the automated documents used by subscribers to InterActive Legal, the company that Mr. Blattmachr co-founded with Texas estate planning attorney, Michael L. Graham.

InterActive Legal, headquartered in Melbourne, FL is a leading provider of software solutions and practice development initiatives to the estate planning, elder law, and special needs planning legal community nationwide. InterActive Legal's automated document drafting suites helps legal practitioners in this arena make quantum gains in efficiencies and accuracy, thus enabling them to better represent the needs of their clients.

SOURCE InterActive Legal
HOUSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- alliantgroup Executive Vice President Sonny Grover and alliantgroup Director Wilbur Suggs will be hosting a free webinar tomorrow entitled "Government Incentives for IT Companies" at 12:00 pm CDT. During this webinar, Grover and Suggs will discuss why IT solution providers, IT resellers and other technology firms can qualify for valuable tax incentive opportunities.

Our government offers powerful tax incentives to help businesses create and retain technical jobs here in the United States, and due to the technical nature of their work, IT service companies are among the best candidates for these programs. Due to regulatory changes, these incentives have also been expanded over the years, allowing more companies to take advantage of these cost-saving opportunities.

For IT companies that perform business services for the government, or the defense, education, healthcare, and finance industries, it is highly likely that they qualify for these government-sponsored initiatives.

"This is a must attend webinar for presidents, partners, CEOs and other business leaders within the IT services industry," said Dhaval Jadav, alliantgroup CEO. "I would encourage all executives within the industry to sign up for this event to ensure they are claiming full value from these widely under-claimed government incentives."

Click here to register for the event.

alliantgroup exists to help U.S. businesses and their CPA advisors properly claim and take full advantage of all available federal and state tax incentives. Headquartered in Houston, Texas and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Orange County, Sacramento, Orlando, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., alliantgroup has helped over 20,000 American companies claim more than $5 billion in tax incentives. For more information find alliantgroup on Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contact

David Rosen

alliantgroup

713-350-3167

[email protected]

SOURCE alliantgroup
RICHMOND, Va., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Allianz Global Assistance USA, a leading provider of travel insurance and travel assistance*, has been named Best Travel Insurance Company in the 2017 Travel Age West WAVE Awards. This is the company's first win as favorite travel insurance provider in the prestigious WAVE Awards.

More than 5,000 travel agent professionals throughout the 15 Western states and readers of TravelAge West voted on the best-of-the-best from a list of Editor's Pick award recipients that were chosen after careful review by TravelAge West Editor-in-Chief Kenneth Shapiro and the editorial team of TravelAge West. Review methods included product analysis, on-site visits, a survey of a select group of travel agents and online research.

"Travelers in the West have a unique perspective and they are very travel savvy," said Shapiro, "so Western travel agents need to work with the best companies in the industry in order to please their customers. As the number-one travel trade magazine in this dynamic region, we are proud to acknowledge the hotels, cruise companies, tour operators, destinations and others that go above and beyond."



"We're thrilled to be named best travel insurance provider by Travel Age West," said Richard Aquino, Vice President of Sales at Allianz Global Assistance USA. "The fact that more than 5,000 travel agents, including many of our partners, have recognized us for this honor makes the win even more gratifying."

"These awards are a vital part of the travel industry and recognize the 'best of the best,'" said Bruce Shulman, Publisher of TravelAge West. "Travel professionals who read and rely on TravelAge West can be confident that the winners of a WAVE Award represent those suppliers and destinations committed to bringing the best products and services to their clients."



More than 150 companies, individuals and destinations were celebrated by the readers of TravelAge West as part of the TravelAge West WAVE (Western Agents' Votes of Excellence) Awards held June 15 in Marina del Rey, Calif., at The Ritz-Carlton, Marina del Rey. Honorees were recognized in 68 categories that spanned the cruise, tour operator, airline, hotel and resort, rail vacation, travel insurance, destination and education travel fields. The annual awards gave travel agents in the Western U.S. the opportunity to recognize the outstanding qualities and services of their travel supplier partners. For a full list of winners, visit http://www.travelagewest.com/uploadedFiles/2017%20WAVE%20Winners.pdf

Allianz Global Assistance USA (AGA Service Company) is a leading consumer specialty insurance and assistance company. We provide insurance to 25 million customers annually and are best known for our Allianz Travel Insurance plans. In addition to travel insurance, Allianz Global Assistance USA offers tuition insurance, event ticket protection, registration protection for endurance events and unique travel assistance services such as international medical assistance and concierge services. The company also serves as an outsource provider for in-bound call center services and claims administration for property and casualty insurers and credit card companies. For more information about Allianz Travel Insurance plans, please visit allianztravelinsurance.com or Like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/AllianzTravelInsuranceUS.

* Terms, conditions, and exclusions apply to all plans. Plans are available only to U.S. residents. Not all plans are available in all jurisdictions. For a complete description of the coverage and benefit limits offered under your plan, carefully review your plan's Letter of Confirmation/Declarations and Certificate of Insurance/Policy. Insurance coverage is underwritten by BCS Insurance Company (OH, Administrative Office: Oakbrook Terrace, IL), rated "A-" (Excellent) by A.M. Best Co., under BCS Form No. 52.201 series or 52.401 series, or Jefferson Insurance Company (NY, Administrative Office: Richmond, VA), rated "A+" (Superior) by A.M. Best Co., under Jefferson Form No. 101-C series or 101-P series, depending on state of residence. Allianz Global Assistance and Allianz Travel Insurance are brands of AGA Service Company. AGA Service Company is the licensed producer and administrator of these plans and an affiliate of Jefferson Insurance Company. The insured shall not receive any special benefit or advantage due to the affiliation between AGA Service Company and Jefferson Insurance Company. Non-insurance benefits/products are provided and serviced by AGA Service Company.

SOURCE Allianz Global Assistance USA

Related Links

http://www.allianztravelinsurance.com


Highlighting the strong performance of the middle market were data around revenues and net earnings. Fifty-five percent of executives surveyed stated they anticipate a better quarterly revenue performance over the previous quarter, the highest recorded since the inception of the MMBI in 2015, while only 16 percent expected revenue to decline. Net earnings followed a similar trajectory with 53 percent of executives stating they expected net earnings to be better than the previous quarter.

MMBI data also showed an extremely tight labor market, with an abundance of data indicating businesses will need to pay more for skilled labor in the coming months as hiring dynamics continue favoring workers. An astounding 56 percent of executives cited they anticipated employee compensation to increase in the next six months, with only three percent anticipating a decrease in overall compensation. Even with anticipated wage increases, 48 percent of executives plan to hire in the second half of 2017, this represents the second highest level since 2015.

"The middle market continued to outperform large companies, with data showing an overwhelming majority of respondents had expectations for increased gross revenue and improved net earnings in the coming quarters," said RSM US LLP Chief Economist Joe Brusuelas. "This cohort is also experiencing the effects of record-low unemployment, as evidenced by expectations for higher compensation levels. The confluence of these dynamics this late in the business cycle makes decisions around business investment and hiring all that more critical in the coming months."

Worth noting, according to Brusuelas, "Since the election, businesses have priced in substantial tax reform this year and significant infrastructure spending during the next several years. Given the political turmoil in Washington, expectations on tax reform and infrastructure spending may need to be reset going forward, which would likely be accompanied by a reduction in the outlook for gross revenues."

"Continued growth and optimism among middle market companies will help push our economy forward," said U.S. Chamber of Commerce Middle Market Business Council Executive Director Tom Sullivan. "It's encouraging to see the MMBI hit another record-high because stronger, faster economic growth is good for every American business and every worker. The U.S. Chamber will continue to advocate for policies  like tax and regulatory reform  that will encourage business expansion and further lift middle market companies."

The survey data that informs the index reading was gathered between April 6 and May 2, 2017.

To learn more about the middle market and the MMBI, visit the RSM website.

About the RSM US Middle Market Business Index

RSM US LLP and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have partnered to present the RSM US Middle Market Business Index (MMBI). It is based on research of middle market firms conducted by Harris Poll, which began in the first quarter of 2015. The survey is conducted four times a year, in the first month of each quarter: January, April, July and October. The survey panel consists of 700 middle market executives and is designed to accurately reflect conditions in the middle market.

Built in collaboration with Moody's Analytics, the MMBI is borne out of the subset of questions in the survey that ask respondents to report the change in a variety of indicators. Respondents are asked a total of 20 questions patterned after those in other qualitative business surveys, such as those from the Institute of Supply Management and National Federation of Independent Businesses.

The 20 questions relate to changes in various measures of their business, such as revenues, profits, capital expenditures, hiring, employee compensation, prices paid, prices received and inventories. There are also questions that pertain to the economy and outlook, as well as to credit availability and borrowing. For 10 of the questions, respondents are asked to report the change from the previous quarter; for the other 10 they are asked to state the likely direction of these same indicators six months ahead.

The responses to each question are reported as diffusion indexes. The MMBI is a composite index computed as an equal weighted sum of the diffusion indexes for 10 survey questions plus 100 to keep the MMBI from becoming negative. A reading above 100 for the MMBI indicates that the middle market is generally expanding; below 100 indicates that it is generally contracting. The distance from 100 is indicative of the strength of the expansion or contraction.

About The U.S. Chamber of Commerce

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations. For more information, visit uschamber.com and FreeEnterprise.com, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

ABOUT RSM US LLP

RSM US LLP is the leading provider of audit, tax and consulting services focused on the middle market, with 9,000 people in 90 offices nationwide. It is a licensed CPA firm and the U.S. member of RSM International, a global network of independent audit, tax and consulting firms with more than 41,000 people in over 120 countries. RSM uses its deep understanding of the needs and aspirations of clients to help them succeed. For more information, visit rsmus.com, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and/or connect with us on LinkedIn.

SOURCE RSM US LLP

Related Links

http://www.rsmus.com


ARLINGTON, Va., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) appreciates recent actions taken by Congress and President Trump to address opioid misuse, including last week's meeting of the President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis. ASTHO and its members stand ready to work with the commission, chaired by Gov. Chris Christie, as it prepares to make recommendations to the president later this year for improving our nation's response to the opioid epidemic.

"Collectively, states and territories recognize the opioid crisis as a public health emergency and now, as with any emergency, we must respond with the resources necessary to sustain a full continuum of care and ensure that proven prevention, treatment, and recovery services are used consistently," says ASTHO President Jay Butler. "To do that, we need to work with other government agencies, healthcare providers, law enforcement, and local, state, and national organizations to counteract stigma and view addiction as a chronic health condition that affects the brain. Just like asthma or diabetes, if we apply appropriate, evidence-based strategies, addiction is both preventable and treatable."

State and territorial health officials play an important role in promoting multipronged, government-wide solutions to prevent and intervene in this public health crisis that affects virtually every community in America. On June 16, ASTHO sent a letter to Gov. Christie outlining five recommendations for the commission's consideration, emphasizing the vital work of state and territorial health agencies, including:

Expanding and strengthening primary prevention and education strategies. Reducing and controlling access to prescription and illicit opioids. Improving monitoring and surveillance of drug addiction and opioid misuse and overdose. Promoting multi-program, government-wide approaches to combatting opioid misuse. Improving access to and use of effective treatment and recovery support.

These recommendations are integral to the 2017 ASTHO President's Challenge, a national effort to unite public health leaders and foster public and private commitment to prevent substance misuse, addictions, and the related consequences. In addition, ASTHO is identifying strategies for state and territorial health officials to address the opioid crisis across jurisdictions using a comprehensive approach, building on other initiatives and tools, such as the CDC's prescribing guidelines, the Surgeon General's report on addiction, and National Governors Association's Road Map for States.

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in state-based public health practice.

SOURCE Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Related Links

http://www.astho.org


BERLIN, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A.T. Kearney, a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries, today announced the formation of a "Connected Enterprise" global alliance with Microsoft. The announcement was made at A.T. Kearney's Digital Business Forum (DBF) in Berlin, an event bringing together executives and digital leaders at the world's most iconic corporations as well as tech pioneers, entrepreneurs, and innovators. The DBF's assembled experts discuss digital transformation experiences as well as the ways in which they turned their digital aspirations into practical, sustainable, and transformational business solutions.

The alliance is focused on creating value through building nimble, data-driven companies. A.T. Kearney's strategy and operations insights, including foresight into new business and operating models, combined with the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, will offer a fully-integrated vision and plan for companies to create competitive advantage.

The Connected Enterprise will gather data (for example, via Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables); generate insights (via artificial intelligence and cloud data); take actions (through augmented reality and robotics) and deliver outcomes (using predictive analytics).

Commenting on the alliance, Arjun Sethi, partner, and Global and Americas lead for the Digital Transformation Practice, said: "We have teamed with Microsoft largely due to their roots as a premier multinational technology company when it comes to helping people and organizations realize their full potential. With our heritage as one of the oldest global consulting firms, we both share exceptional expertise and a desire to assist clients in their growth."

Victor Morales, vice president, Enterprise Partners, Microsoft Corp., said: "A.T. Kearney's experience in digital transformation, combined with Microsoft Azure's broad portfolio of services and market-leading products, will help our mutual customers drive improved insights and outcomes as they digitally transform their enterprises."

The Connected Enterprise aims to help clients optimize top-line growth and improve the cost and efficiencies of operations, spanning the value chain. Specifically, we will help companies:

Innovate product and service offerings

Enhance sales effectiveness and customer engagement

Optimize operations  inclusive of supply chain, manufacturing and back office

Improve employee productivity

The Global Enterprise is focused on partnering with clients to help them grow their business. The institutional knowledge of A.T. Kearney and Microsoft, along with digital capabilities and global experience, will enable both firms to move large organizations swiftly into the future.

For media inquiries, contact:

Bill Smith, Makovsky PR

[email protected]

212-508-9627

SOURCE A.T. Kearney

Related Links

http://www.atkearney.com


LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE: AVP) today announced the appointment of Jonathan Myers as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, effective September 1. This completes the series of planned executive leadership changes that have been taking place in recent months, as Avon ensures it has the leadership team in place to accelerate the next chapter of the transformation journey to sustainable profitable growth. Jonathan will be responsible for ensuring Avon's Representatives have a seamless and competitive experience, with consumer relevant products, tools that make it easy to do business, and outstanding service. He will assume leadership of Avon's Brand Marketing and Product Research & Development, Digital, Information Technology and Global Supply Chain. Jonathan will report directly to Avon's Chief Executive Officer, Sheri McCoy, and he will be based at Avon's headquarters in London.

Jonathan brings to Avon significant operational and management experience in global markets, including emerging markets. He has expertise in executing growth strategies, integrating teams and managing a complex and diverse range of customers and channels. At both Kellogg and Procter & Gamble, he led major brand and product programs to drive innovation, while pioneering ecommerce capabilities in China and the UK to increase awareness and trial of new products and categories. He also oversaw the rapid expansion of manufacturing capacity to support business growth in China, alongside implementing new supply and demand forecasting across different businesses and markets globally.

Most recently, Jonathan served as Kellogg's Vice President, Western European Markets, and Managing Director, UK and Ireland, where he successfully built the business and strengthened the organization, including delivering accelerated sales growth on the acquired Pringles business. Prior to Kellogg, Jonathan had a successful 20-year career at Procter & Gamble, serving in various leadership roles, including General Manager, Oral Care and Feminine Care, China, where he significantly grew market share. Earlier in his career at P&G, Jonathan had extensive experience working on a range of Beauty Care businesses. Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Arts and Masters in History at St. John's College, Cambridge University.

Building out the leadership team to execute Avon's three year strategic growth plan represents the achievement of an important part of the transformation journey. During 2016, Avon created the platform for the future growth of the business. It entered into a strategic partnership with affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. that involved a $435 million investment in Avon and separation of Avon's North America business into a privately-held company, majority-owned and managed by Cerberus. It also reduced balance sheet leverage, extended the maturity of the debt portfolio, and achieved $180 million of annualized savings. In 2017, the Company moved the corporate headquarters to the UK, and the growth plans have been refined and the key enablers to drive change are being put in place.

The company has been making broad-based changes to its leadership team and last week announced the appointment of Miguel Fernandez as Global President responsible for Commercial Business Operations, who will join from Herbalife where he was Executive Vice President and Managing Director for the Americas and Worldwide Member Operations. In addition, the company recently announced the appointment of James Thompson who will join as Avon's General Counsel and Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer, having previously served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary to Chiquita Brands International, Inc. In January, Jamie Wilson joined as Chief Financial Officer, having previously held the position of Chief Finance Officer of SABMiller.

Chan Galbato, Chairman of Avon, commented, "Our Board and management team, under Sheri McCoy's leadership, are committed to the turnaround of Avon's business and are continuing to ensure the business executes on its strategic plan to create consistent, sustainable and profitable growth. This latest appointment completes the executive team required to take Avon onto the next stage of the journey."

Sheri McCoy, Chief Executive Officer of Avon said, "Jonathan's appointment and the other executive leadership appointments we have recently announced ensure we have the strong, seasoned leadership team in place to drive and accelerate the pace of change in the next chapter of our journey to profitable growth. During 2016, we established the basis for our transformation, separating the North American business, strengthening our balance sheet and driving out cost. In 2017, we've refined our growth roadmap and put in place the enablers to drive the necessary changes to achieve our stated long-term financial goals."

Jonathan Myers commented, "I am delighted to be joining Avon at such a critical time in the Company's transformation. With a 130-year history, the largest global representative network and leadership positions across a number of key markets and categories, Avon is positioned as one of the world's premier beauty brands. I look forward to working alongside Sheri and the new Avon leadership team to deliver sustainable growth by expanding our network, digitizing our operations and leveraging our dynamic portfolio of market-leading products."

Fernando J. Acosta, Avon's Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Social Selling Officer, has decided not to relocate to the UK and will therefore be leaving the Company, November 1st 2017. Fernando joined Avon in 2011 as Senior Vice President and President Latin America, responsible for driving sales and profit in the region. Throughout his tenure, Fernando has made significant contributions to the business, including the development and launch of the new Beauty for a Purpose positioning that has helped increase word of mouth, offline and online; enhancing Avon's innovation program; and developing the Company's approach to digital social selling to connect Representatives with consumers.

James S. Scully, Avon's current Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, will be leaving the Company October 1st 2017, following his previously announced decision not to relocate to London. Since joining in 2015, Jim has been instrumental in navigating the Company through a series of transactions, in refinancing its debt, extending its debt maturity profile and strengthening its balance sheet, while helping define Avon's Transformation Plan.

McCoy added, "I know I speak for the entire Avon management team and the Board in expressing our sincere appreciation to both Jim and Fernando for their dedication and service to Avon. We are extremely grateful for their leadership and contributions to the Company's strategic vision and transformation initiatives, and wish them both all the best."

Contact:

MEDIA:

Brunswick Group

Mathilde Milch

(212) 297-3004

About Avon Products, Inc.

Avon is the Company that for 130 years has proudly stood for beauty, innovation, optimism and, above all, women. Avon products include well-recognized and beloved brands such as ANEW, Avon Color, Avon Care, Skin-So-Soft, and Advance Techniques sold through nearly 6 million active independent Avon Sales Representatives.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including turnaround of the Company's business, achieving its stated long-term financial goals, the execution of its strategic plan to create consistent, sustainable and profitable growth, and its planned executive changes. Because forward-looking statements inherently involve risks and uncertainties, actual future results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the possibility of business disruption, competitive uncertainties, and general economic and business conditions in Avon's markets as well as the other risks detailed in Avon's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Avon undertakes no obligation to update any statements in this press release for changes that happen after the date of this release.

SOURCE Avon Products, Inc.
NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a leading national securities law firm, is investigating potential securities fraud at Axiom Holdings, Inc. ("Axiom" or the "Company") (Other OTC: AIOM).

The investigation focuses on whether the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws. On June 19, 2017, in response to a Securities and Exchange Commission subpoena, the Company disclosed that it had discovered inconsistencies in its prior announcements regarding the validity of its Share Exchange Agreement (the "SEA") with CJC Holdings Ltd. ("CJC").

Then, on June 20, 2017, Axiom announced that it will be rescinding shares related to CJC reverse merger as it has started an internal investigation into the December 2016 transaction. The Company revealed that CJC's Chief Executive Officer ("CEO") Nankamalu, who signed the SEA on behalf of CJC, had in fact already resigned as CEO a month prior to the signing and the merger was not completed. Axiom has claimed that it will seek a court injunction to restrain such shares from being transferred until the investigation is completed.

On this news, Axiom's share price declined during intraday trading, causing harm to investors.

If you invested in Axiom stock or options and would like to discuss your legal rights, click here : www.faruqilaw.com/AIOM. There is no cost or obligation to you.

You can also contact us by calling Richard Gonnello toll free at 877-247-4292 or at 212-983-9330 or by sending an e-mail to [email protected].

CONTACT:

FARUQI & FARUQI, LLP

685 Third Avenue, 26th Floor

New York, NY 10017

Attn: Richard Gonnello, Esq.

[email protected]

Telephone: (877) 247-4292 or (212) 983-9330

Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner.

SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP

Related Links

http://www.faruqilaw.com


SAN RAFAEL, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BaseVenture announced today that it won the 2017 Red Herring Top 100 North America award, in recognition of North America's most exciting and innovative private technology companies. BaseVenture earned this award for the second consecutive year, which has only happened a handful of times over the past few years.

BaseVenture was selected by Red Herring for the Top 100 North America Award based on the company's innovative cloud-based technology platform that is transforming the way that private funds (hedge, private equity, venture capital, real estate, etc.) are administered and managed.

BaseVenture's award-winning "FundManager.io" platform provides a modern solution for dynamic investor reporting, document management, communication and key process automation. Fund administrators that use FundManager.io benefit by winning new clients while improving the quality of service to their current clients and investors, increasing their efficiency and margins and better tackling compliance and regulatory challenges. Fund Managers that use FundManager.io benefit by improving the relationships with their investors and reducing their administrative burden.

John Pizzi, CEO of BaseVenture, said, "We are proud to again be named a winner of the Red Herring Top 100 North America award. We join an exclusive group of companies that have been honored by receiving this award in consecutive years. I want to thank our clients and partners for their support and our incredible employees for their hard work and dedication. Winning the Red Herring Top 100 North America Award in both 2016 and 2017 showcases the immense impact our company is having in transforming the technology landscape of the Alternative Investment industry."

Red Herring's editors have been evaluating the world's startups and tech companies for over two decades. It gives them the ability to see through the industry's hype to pick firms that will continue on a trajectory to success. Brands such as Alibaba, Google, Kakao, Skype, Spotify, Twitter and YouTube have all been singled out in Red Herring's storied history.

2017 winners ran the gamut of verticals, from FinTech and marketing to security, IoT and many more. Companies were judged by industry experts, insiders and journalists on a wide variety of criteria including financial performance, innovation, business strategy and market penetration.

"2017's crop of Top 100 winners has been among our most intriguing yet," said Alex Vieux, Chairman of Red Herring. "North America has led the way in tech for so many years, and to see such unique, pioneering entrepreneurs and companies here in California, which is in many ways the heartland of the industry, has been a thrilling experience."

"What has excited me most is to see so many people forging niches in high-tech and cutting edge sectors," added Vieux. "Some of the technical wizardry and first-rate business models showcased here at the conference has been fantastic to learn about. We believe BaseVenture embodies the drive, skill and passion on which tech thrives. BaseVenture should be proud of its achievement - the competition was incredibly strong."

About BaseVenture

BaseVenture is a SaaS platform that simplifies and automates the management and administration for the more than 40,000 private funds (private equity, real estate, hedge funds and venture capital) in North America. Fund Administrators, Private Banks, and Fund Managers that use our "FundManager.io" platform stop worrying about their operations and have more time to focus on driving growth for their investors. Learn more at www.baseventure.com.

SOURCE BaseVenture

Related Links

https://www.baseventure.com


GREENSBORO, N.C., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Bell Partners Inc., one of the nation's leading apartment investment and management companies, announced today that it has completed its second and final close of Bell Apartment Fund VI, LLC. The Fund was materially oversubscribed and closed at its fund size limit with $600 million of total equity commitments. With debt leverage, the Fund has the capacity to acquire over $1.7 billion in apartment investments.

Bell Apartment Fund VI is a fully discretionary, value-add fund that invests in high-quality, well-located multifamily properties across the United States and leverages Bell's extensive operating platform to enhance cash flow through value-add activities. The Fund's investor base is comprised of institutional investors from across the globe and accredited high-net-worth individuals. CBRE Capital Advisors acted as placement agent for select U.S. investor capital commitments.

Jon Bell, CEO of Bell Partners Inc., said: "We are grateful to our investors for their commitment to our most recent value-add fund and are very pleased with the reception that Fund VI received from both domestic and international investors. The extremely positive investor response demonstrates a high level of confidence in Bell's strategy, management team, and vertically integrated operating platform, as well as the recognition of our strong track record. We are confident that this investment opportunity will generate attractive current income and provide strong total returns for our investors."

With the recent opening of Bell's San Francisco office, Bell continues the expansion of its investing capabilities and is well positioned to acquire apartment investments within its national footprint. Fund VI seeks to invest in multifamily properties in targeted major metropolitan areas across the U.S. with healthy fundamentals. Through renovation, enhanced operations and investing in transitioning locations, Fund VI seeks to add value and produce superior risk adjusted returns. In addition to Bell's series of value-add apartment funds, Bell also invests in stabilized, core apartments through a $1 billion separate account with a German real estate special fund managed by HANSAINVEST. The venture is focused on acquiring stabilized core multifamily properties located across its major markets in the U.S.

During 2016, Bell completed nearly $1.3 billion in total apartment transactions. Since 2002, Bell has completed over $12 billion of apartment transactions on behalf of its investors. Bell Partners was recently ranked by Preqin Global Real Estate Report for the third year in a row as one of the top performing, most consistent real estate fund managers.

About Bell Partners Inc.

Established in 1976, Bell Partners Inc. ("Bell Partners" or the "Company") is a privately held, vertically integrated apartment investment and management company focused on high-quality multifamily communities throughout the United States. With approximately 60,000 units under management, Bell Partners is the 15th largest apartment operator in the United States (according to The National Multi-Housing Council, 2017) and one of the largest renovators in the country. The Company has more than 1,500 associates and 7 offices (including its headquarters in Greensboro, N.C.) and offers an extensive and full service platform containing expertise in acquisitions and dispositions, financing, property operations, accounting, risk management and all other related support functions. Bell Partners is led by a senior management team with an average of over 20 years of experience that has invested throughout all phases of the real estate cycle and has helped the Company complete over $12 billion of apartment transactions since 2002, including nearly $1.3 billion in 2016 transactions. For more information, visit our website at www.bellpartnersinc.com.

SOURCE Bell Partners Inc.

Related Links

http://www.bellpartnersinc.com


LE BOURGET, France, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE:BA] and Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) today announced a commitment for four 787-8 Dreamliners at the 2017 Paris Air Show. The announcement, valued at $918 million at list prices, will be posted to the Boeing Orders and Deliveries website once finalized.

"The decision to order additional 787 Dreamliners represents significant growth opportunities for Azerbaijan Airlines," said Jahangir Askerov, president of AZAL. "As one of the leading CIS carriers, we look forward to expanding our network with proven performance capabilities that the 787 provides."

"Today's commitment opens a new chapter in our partnership with Azerbaijan Airlines," said Marty Bentrott, vice president of Sales, Middle East, Turkey, Russia and Central Asia, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "We are confident that the market-leading efficiency and comfort of their new 787 Dreamliners will contribute to Azerbaijan's fleet modernization plans and build onto their long-term success for many years to come."

Azerbaijan Airlines is a major air carrier and one of the leaders of the aviation community of the CIS countries. Total route network of the airline is 40 destinations in 25 countries. In 2016, Azerbaijan Airlines carried over two million passengers. Azerbajjan Airlines currently operates two Boeing 787 Dreamliners as well as a fleet of Boeing 757 and 767 airplanes.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a family of super-efficient airplanes with new passenger-pleasing features that bring the economics of large jet transports to the middle of the market. Since entering service in 2011, the 787 family has flown more than 167 million people on more than 610 unique routes around the world, saving an estimated 15.6 billion pounds of fuel. Operators have opened more than 140 new routes worldwide with the 787 Dreamliner.

Contact:

Elena Alexandrova

Russia & CIS Communications

Boeing Commercial Airplanes

+7 495 797 3415

[email protected]

SOURCE Boeing

Related Links

http://www.boeing.com


LE BOURGET, France, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Boeing [NYSE:BA] and Okay Airways announced today an order for 15 737 MAX airplanes, valued at $1.8 billion at current list prices.

The order consists of eight 737 MAX 10s and seven 737 MAX 8s. Okay Airways becomes one of the launch customers of the 737 MAX 10, the newest member of the MAX family.

The airline also signed a memorandum of understanding for five 787-9 Dreamliners as part of its long-term fleet strategy and expansion.

"We are committed to investing in our aircraft fleet in order to keep growing ahead of the market and enhancing our customers' flying experience," said Wang Shusheng, chairman of Okay Airways. "These new airplanes are expected to deliver extraordinary efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in their segment market, making them very compelling for us in our fleet growth and network expansion."

"We are very pleased to welcome Okay as a launch customer of the 737 MAX 10 and a new customer of the 787-9 Dreamliner," said Ray Conner, Vice Chairman of The Boeing Company. "We also appreciate Okay's reaffirmation of additional 737 MAX 8s, which represents the heart of the single-aisle market. We value our longstanding partnership and look forward to delivering these airplanes to support their ambitious growth plans."

This order will be posted to the Boeing Orders & Deliveries website once all contingencies are cleared.

Okay Airways is headquartered in Beijing with its main hub at Tianjin Binhai International Airport. Its all-Boeing jetliner fleet includes 17 Boeing 737-800s, four Boeing 737-900ERs and one Boeing 737-300 Freighter, which serves more than 50 domestic and regional destinations.

The 737 MAX 10 will be the most profitable single-aisle airplane, offering the lowest seat costs ever. The entire 737 MAX family has been designed to offer customers exceptional performance, flexibility and efficiency, with lower per-seat costs and an extended range that will open up new destinations in the single-aisle market. The MAX 8 and 9 will be followed in 2019 by the introduction of a smaller, long-range MAX 7 and a 200-seat 737 MAX 8. The MAX 10 will be introduced in the 2020 time frame.

Like Boeing's other 737 MAX models, the MAX 10 incorporates the latest technology CFM International LEAP-1B engines, Advanced Technology winglets, Boeing Sky Interior, large flight deck displays, and other improvements to deliver the highest efficiency, reliability and passenger comfort in the single-aisle market.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is a family of super-efficient airplanes with new passenger-pleasing features that bring the economics of large jet transports to the middle of the market. Since entering service in 2011, the 787 family has flown more than 167.6 million people on more than 610 unique routes around the world, saving an estimated 15.6 billion pounds of fuel.

Contact:

Yukui Wang

Boeing China Communications

+86 10 5925 5505

[email protected]

Kevin Yoo

International Communications

Boeing Commercial Airplanes

+1 206-249-6372

[email protected]

SOURCE Boeing
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Brammer Bio ("Brammer") announces Mr. Christopher Murphy has joined the company as its Chief Manufacturing Officer. Chris brings a wealth of commercial biologics manufacturing, viral vector development, and clinical manufacturing experience to Brammer as the company launches its commercial gene therapy manufacturing operation in Cambridge, MA, and expands its clinical capacity in Alachua, FL.

Chris has more than 25 years of operational and leadership experience in biopharmaceuticals, with expertise in manufacturing, process development, facility design, and quality systems. Chris joins Brammer after 16 years at Sanofi-Genzyme, where he most recently held the position of General Manager of the Allston Landing commercial biologics facility in Boston, MA. Prior to that, Chris developed manufacturing processes and analytical methods for Adenovirus and Adeno-associated virus gene therapy vectors in Framingham, MA, and established Sanofi-Genzyme's clinical gene therapy facility in San Diego, CA, before moving to Boston in 2009.

"We are thrilled to have Chris join Brammer at this key time of our growth. Chris brings a unique blend of commercial and clinical manufacturing experience with deep gene therapy knowledge and an outstanding leadership ethos that will strengthen Brammer's presence as the best in class gene therapy CDMO," said Mark Bamforth, Brammer's President and CEO.

Chris started his career at American Cyanamid (now Pfizer) in Pearl River, NY, where he held positions in quality control, viral vaccine development, and bulk manufacturing. He later joined BioReliance in Rockville, MD, with responsibility for US contract manufacturing operations, focused primarily on viral vector manufacturing and cell banking in support of gene therapy pre-clinical and clinical studies.

Regarding joining Brammer, Chris shared, "I am passionate about the gene therapy industry and excited to be joining the leading gene therapy CDMO. Gene therapy will improve lives and transform healthcare in the coming years. Brammer is uniquely positioned with exceptional scientific know-how and top class manufacturing and quality operations. I am delighted to join a team that has honed its expertise through the delivery of over 150 clinical batches and is now preparing to supply phase III and commercial gene therapy products for clients."

"Chris's experience manufacturing viral vectors and his understanding of their quality attributes together with his commercial manufacturing track record is unique. He is a great addition to our team," noted Richard Snyder, Ph.D., Brammer's CSO.

Chris holds a Bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from Rutgers University  Cook College and a Master's degree in Biochemistry from New York Medical College. Chris is active in the community including serving as Vice Chairman, Board of Directors for Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation and on the Board of Directors for the West End House Boys and Girls Club of Boston.

About Brammer

Brammer Bio is a leading CDMO providing clinical and commercial supply of vectors for in vivo gene therapy and ex vivo modified-cell based therapy, along with process and analytical development, and regulatory support, enabling large pharma and biotech clients to accelerate the delivery of novel medicines to improve patients' health. Brammer is owned by Ampersand Capital Partners, the only institutional investor in the company, and its founders. For more information, please visit www.brammerbio.com

Media Contacts

For Brammer Bio media inquiries contact: Lynn Costa E-mail: [email protected] Media: +1 781 924 6551 Brammer Bio website and contact info: www.brammerbio.com E-mail: [email protected] Sales Enquiries: +1 866 GENE CMO



SOURCE Brammer Bio

Related Links

http://www.brammerbio.com


"In recent years, BSRO has developed and executed a singular focus on driving operational excellence and delivering a consistent, world-class customer experience across our retail store network," said TJ Higgins, president, North America integrated consumer tire group, Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations. "Joe's diverse retail and operational background will help us build upon our progress in those critical areas."

Venezia brings more than 20 years of consumer goods and retail experience to Bridgestone. He most recently served as executive vice president of global store operations at Toys"R"Us, Inc. In that role, Venezia was responsible for delivering an exceptional shopping experience across a retail network of more than 850 Toys"R"Us and Babies"R"Us stores in the United States; he also provided strategic direction and support for store operations worldwide, including sharing operational best practices. Venezia joined Toys"R"Us in 2014 as senior vice president, store operations.

Prior to Toys"R"Us, Venezia was senior vice president of operations and head of stores for The Pantry, a leading independently operated convenience store chain in the southeastern U.S. He also has held leadership positions with Walmart and Wells Fargo Merchant Services, and began his career as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble.

Venezia earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He served as an Airborne Ranger Officer in the U.S. Army Infantry for nine years.

In addition to its company-owned tire and automotive service stores, Bridgestone's distribution network includes nearly 3,000 points of sale within the Bridgestone Affiliated Retailer Nationwide Network. To learn more about Bridgestone, visit www.bridgestoneamericas.com.

About Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC:

Bridgestone Retail Operations, LLC (BSRO) is headquartered in Bloomingdale, Ill., and operates the largest network of company-owned automotive service providers in the world  more than 2,200 tire and vehicle service centers across the United States  including Firestone Complete Auto Care, Tires Plus, Hibdon Tires Plus, Michel Tires Plus and Wheel Works store locations. Credit First National Association and Firestone Complete Fleet Care operations are also part of BSRO. BSRO is a member of the Bridgestone Americas family of companies.

About Bridgestone Americas, Inc.:

Nashville, Tennessee-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc. (BSAM) is the U.S. subsidiary of Bridgestone Corporation, the world's largest tire and rubber company. BSAM and its subsidiaries develop, manufacture and market a wide range of Bridgestone, Firestone and associate brand tires to address the needs of a broad range of customers, including consumers, automotive and commercial vehicle original equipment manufacturers, and those in the agricultural, forestry and mining industries. The companies are also engaged in retreading operations throughout the Western Hemisphere and produce air springs, roofing materials and industrial fibers and textiles. The BSAM family of companies also operates the world's largest chain of automotive tire and service centers. Guided by its One Team, One Planet message, the company is dedicated to achieving a positive environmental impact in all of the communities it calls home.

SOURCE Bridgestone Americas
LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: BR) today announced the launch of its trade reporting solution for the European Securities and Markets Authority's (ESMA) forthcoming Securities Financing Transaction Regulation (SFTR). Broadridge's new offering will enable market participants of all types to achieve a seamless implementation and meet the projected regulatory deadlines in 2018.

SFTR requires EU counterparts engaging in securities finance transactions to report trade data to a registered Trade Repository. To support the new rules, Broadridge will deliver a transaction reporting solution that spans the entire reporting lifecycle.

This new offering includes system-level data extracts from its securities finance and collateral management solution, through to unique trade identifier (UTI) generation, matching and direct reporting to trade repositories. Customers will be able to take advantage of Broadridge's unified solution for all of their SFTR requirements. Clients will also have the option of a modular solution that can be combined with other third party reporting platforms as required.

"The SFTR rules present a major challenge for all market participants due to their complex nature, dual-sided reporting and proximity to MiFID-II compliance deadlines," said Tom Carey, President of Global Technology and Operations, International for Broadridge. "Broadridge's in-depth expertise in both securities finance and trade reporting regimes, combined with this new solution, will enable clients to adapt to SFTR smoothly while minimising operational disruption and reducing the resource impact of complying with multiple concurrent reporting mandates."

This new solution leverages Broadridge's deep expertise in multi-jurisdictional transaction reporting across multiple reporting regimes including US (CFTC), Europe (EMIR, MiFID I and II), Canada, Singapore, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, and Switzerland, as well as its latest innovations in leading technologies to deliver efficient and timely client implementations.

About Broadridge



Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR) a global fintech leader, provides investor communications and technology-driven solutions for broker-dealers, banks, mutual funds and corporate issuers globally. Broadridge's investor communications, securities processing and managed services solutions help clients reduce their capital investments in operations infrastructure, allowing them to increase their focus on core business activities. With over 50 years of experience, Broadridge's infrastructure underpins proxy voting services for over 90 percent of public companies and mutual funds in North America, and processes more than $5 trillion in fixed income and equity trades per day. Broadridge employs approximately 10,000 full-time associates in 16 countries.

For more information about Broadridge, please visit www.broadridge.com.

Contact Information:

Media:

EMEA

Paul Bowhay

+44 207-426-9417

[email protected]

APAC .

Peggy Wu

Ryan Communication

Tel: +65 6875 5785

[email protected]

Brett Philbin

Edelman

+1 212-704-8263

[email protected]

Gregg Rosenberg

Head of Corporate Communications

+1 212-918-6966

[email protected]

Investors:

W. Edings Thibault

Head of Investor Relations

+1 516-472-5129

[email protected]

SOURCE Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.broadridge.com


NEW YORK, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlights

The global burn care market is expected to reach USD 2.98 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc.

The global burn care market is expected to reach USD 2.98 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing incidence of burn injuries is anticipated to fuel the demand for cost-effective treatment over the forecast period.

Increasing incidence of burn injuries is anticipated to fuel the demand for cost-effective treatment over the forecast period. The introduction of advanced treatment options such as reconstructive surgery and skin graft or bio membrane are expected to upsurge the demand for these products over the coming years.

The introduction of advanced treatment options such as reconstructive surgery and skin graft or bio membrane are expected to upsurge the demand for these products over the coming years. Favorable government initiatives such as reimbursement policies that cover almost 70% to 100% of the treatment cost, upsurge the adoption of advanced wound care products during the forecast period.



The global burn care market is expected to reach USD 2.98 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. Increasing incidence of burn injuries is anticipated to fuel the demand for cost-effective treatment over the forecast period. The introduction of advanced treatment options such as reconstructive surgery and skin graft or bio membrane are expected to upsurge the demand for these products over the coming years.





Favorable government initiatives such as reimbursement policies that cover almost 70% to 100% of the treatment cost, upsurge the adoption of advanced wound care products during the forecast period. In addition, government organizations including the World Health Organization (WHO) and nonprofit organizations like the American Burn Association (ABA) are contributing toward raising awareness amongst consumers, which is anticipated to contribute to the growth of the market.



For instance, the WHO entered into a collaborative agreement with the International Society for Burn Injuries to develop the strategies for improving care & prevention of incidence at a global level. Furthermore, various nonprofit organizations undertake initiatives such as the British Burn Association offers knowledge on best cure and rehabilitation available and the Canadian Association of Burn Nurses provides assistance for the remedy of patients.





Further key findings from the study suggest:

 The advanced dressing segment dominates the overall product segment as of 2016 due to higher adoption by consumers

 Biologics treatment option is expected to exhibit higher growth during the forecast period due to the benefits offered with its usage such as accelerated wound healing

 Partial-thickness wound segment is anticipated to showcase the highest growth owing to the rising number of injury cases because of fire, which damage more than 15% of their body

 The outpatient care unit segment is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR in coming years as the minor and partial-thickness wounds do not require any hospital admissions

 The Asia Pacific market is projected to witness fastest growth due to rising incidence of burn cases coupled with growing awareness pertaining to the available cure

 The industry is facing strong competition as the major players are focusing on the development of technologically efficient treatment options

 Companies are focusing toward strategies such as the distribution channel enhancement and product portfolio expansion to gain competitive advantage over the forecast period







About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

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BERKELEY, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Are you buying antimicrobial or antibacterial soaps? According to over 200 scientists and health professionals, you may want to save your money. A consensus statement published today in the peer-reviewed scientific journal Environmental Health Perspectives concludes that common antimicrobial products do not provide benefits and cause health and environmental harm.

Last fall, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that 19 antimicrobial chemicals, including infamous triclosan and triclocarban, were not effective and should not be marketed for use in over-the-counter consumer wash products. Now, 200 scientists say the FDA's decision does not go far enough to protect consumers and the environment.

In consumer soaps and washes, brands are using different additives. "I was happy that the FDA finally acted to remove these chemicals from soaps. But I was dismayed to discover at my local drugstore that most products now contain substitutes that may be worse," said Arlene Blum, PhD, Executive Director of Green Science Policy Institute. Antimicrobials are also commonplace in products where you wouldn't expect them, including paints, exercise mats, flooring, apparel, food storage containers, home textiles, electronics, kitchenware, school supplies, and countertops.

"Customers may think added antimicrobials are a way to reduce infections, but in most products there is no evidence that they do," said Ted Schettler, MD, MPH, Science Director of the Science and Environmental Health Network. In 2016, Dr. Schettler authored a report on antimicrobials in hospital furnishings for the nonprofit Health Care Without Harm.

"Added antimicrobials are marketed as beneficial in building products from countertops to doorknobs and light switches," said Bill Walsh, President of Healthy Building Network, which recently produced a white paper on antimicrobial building products. "Antimicrobial preservatives are useful in certain products like paints, but we found claims about health benefits to be largely invalid." Nevertheless, sales of "antimicrobial" performance products are projected to grow.

Scientists and health professionals agree that non-medical uses of antimicrobials should be reduced. "Environmental and human exposures to triclosan and triclocarban are widespread, affecting pregnant women, developing fetuses, and breast-feeding babies," said Rolf Halden, PhD, PE, professor of engineering at Arizona State University. "We must develop better alternatives and prevent unneeded exposures to antimicrobial chemicals."

For more information: visit GreenSciencePolicy.org/antimicrobials

Source: Green Science Policy Institute

SOURCE Green Science Policy Institute

Related Links

http://GreenSciencePolicy.org


WASHINGTON, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on Muslim communities nationwide to step up security measures for end-of-Ramadan activities following a terror attack on Muslims outside a mosque in London, the murder of a Muslim teen near a Virginia mosque and the murder of two men who defended a Muslim being harassed in Oregon.

"Because of the recent spike in hate incidents  particularly those targeting American Muslim women and girls - and because Islamic religious institutions have been targeted recently in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, we urge local communities to implement increased security measures during end-of-Ramadan activities and through the Eid ul-Fitr holiday that follows," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

Awad added: "We urge community leaders to immediately request extra police patrols in the area of Ramadan-related activities and to hire security officers authorized to carry firearms to protect events with large numbers of participants, like taraweeh prayers and Eid ul-Fitr celebrations."

[NOTE: Many police departments allow the hiring of off-duty officers for such events. Taraweeh prayers are held each evening in mosques during Ramadan. The Eid ul-Fitr (EED-al-FITTER), or "feast of fast breaking," holiday is celebrated with communal prayers, multicultural bazaars and other family activities.]

He also suggested that local communities offer self-defense training for Muslim women and girls.

Video: CAIR-GA Self Defense Workshop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbr0qAqPegY

Members of the Muslim community members are being asked to report any bias incidents to police and to CAIR's Civil Rights Department at 202-742-6420 or by filing a report at: http://www.cair.com/report

Early this morning, a van plowed into worshippers outside the Finsbury Park Mosque in north London injuring at least 10 people in what Prime Minister Theresa May called a terrorist attack on Muslims. Witnesses say the suspect shouted: "I want to kill all Muslims."

Earlier today, CAIR offered condolences on the death of 17-year-old Nabra Hassanen of Reston, Va., who was murdered after leaving the All Dulles Area Muslim Society mosque in northern Virginia on Sunday. CAIR also called for a thorough investigation of a possible bias motive in the case.

SEE: CAIR Offers Condolences on Murder of Virginia Muslim Teen, Urges Probe of Possible Bias Motive

http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/14416-cair-offers-condolences-on-murder-of-virginia-muslim-teen-urges-probe-of-possible-bias-motive.html

Earlier this month, Islamophobic, neo-Nazi, anti-government, and white supremacist groups held anti-Islam rallies nationwide.

Video: CAIR Rep Corey Saylor Joins Members of Congress to Denounce Anti-Muslim Marches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seavvRXQjeE

CAIR Calls Nationwide Anti-Islam Rallies a 'Bust,' Says Counter-Protests Far Overshadowed Hate Marches

http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/14406-cair-calls-nationwide-anti-islam-rallies-a-bust-says-counter-protests-far-overshadowed-hate-marches.html

In May, two men who were stabbed to death as they sought to defend a Muslim train passenger from an attacker shouting Islamophobic and racist slurs.

SEE: CAIR Calls on Trump to Denounce Growing Bigotry After Two People Stabbed to Death in Oregon

http://www.cair.com/press-center/press-releases/14358-cair-calls-on-trump-to-denounce-growing-bigotry-after-two-people-stabbed-to-death-in-oregon-while-defending-muslim-train-passengers.html

Because many mosques hold special prayers and other activities during the final days of Ramadan - which ends this weekend - and during the Eid ul-Fitr holiday that is celebrated after the end of Ramadan, CAIR is urging American Muslims and Islamic institutions to take extra security precautions in the next week.

To assist in that effort, CAIR is offering Muslim community leaders free copies of its booklet, "Best Practices for Mosque and Community Safety."

A hard copy of the booklet may be requested through CAIR's website at: http://www.cair.com/mosque-safety-guide.html

It may also be viewed at: http://www.cair.com/images/publications/CAIR_Mosque_Safety_Guide.pdf

CAIR has noted an unprecedented spike in hate incidents targeting Muslims and other minority groups since the November 8 election.

Video: Sen. Durbin Visits CAIR-Chicago to Meet Muslim Girls Harassed at Restaurant, Denounce Bigotry

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HO3mftbW6o

Death Threat on Muslim-American Lawyer's Voicemail Includes Caller's Phone Number: Prosecutors

https://patch.com/illinois/chicago/death-threat-muslim-american-lawyers-voicemail-includes-callers-phone-number

Since the beginning of the year, CAIR has called for investigations of possible bias motives for dozens of other incidents targeting mosques in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Kentucky, Georgia, Arizona, Virginia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Texas, and a number of other states. By comparison, in the January-March period in 2016, CAIR recorded 19 such incidents.

Video: CAIR Seeks Stepped-Up Protection for Colorado Mosques Following Hate Calls, Threat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99Gtrf6Ux2s

The Washington-based civil rights group recently released a report showing a 57 percent increase in anti-Muslim incidents in 2016 over the previous year. This spike in anti-Muslim incidents was accompanied by a 44 percent increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes during the same period.

SEE: New CAIR Report Shows More than 50 Percent Spike in Anti-Muslim Incidents

https://www.cair.com/press-center/14322-new-cair-report-shows-more-than-50-percent-spike-in-anti-muslim-incidents.html

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

La mision de CAIR es mejorar la comprension del Islam, fomentar el dialogo, proteger las libertades civiles, capacitar a los musulmanes estadounidenses, y construir coaliciones que promuevan la justicia y la comprension mutua.

Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook

http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational

Subscribe to CAIR's Email List

http://tinyurl.com/cairsubscribe

Subscribe to CAIR's Twitter Feed

http://twitter.com/cairnational

Subscribe to CAIR's YouTube Channel

http://www.youtube.com/cairtv

CONTACT: CAIR Department to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected]

SOURCE Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Related Links

http://www.cair.com


AMSTERDAM, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Nominations for excellence in research in chemistry, mathematics and physics accepted until September 15, 2017

Nominations opened today for the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, a high-profile award which honors the scientific and career achievements of women from developing countries in five regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab region, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and East and South-East Asia and the Pacific. The theme for 2018 will be physical sciences, including chemistry, mathematics and physics. Nominations will be accepted until September 15, 2017.

The awards are a collaboration between the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The Elsevier Foundation. The competition will be judged by a distinguished panel of international scientists. One winner from each region will be announced in February 2018 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Austin, Texas. The five winners will each receive a cash prize of US$5,000 and all-expenses paid attendance at the AAAS meeting.

The awards rotate annually between disciplines (biological sciences, engineering sciences and physical sciences) to ensure optimal exposure and networking synergies.

Previous winners say the awards have had a powerful impact, enhancing the visibility of their research and creating new research and career opportunities. "I am happy and proud to have received the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation award. It strengthens my commitment to engage in the scientific development of my country and of the Andean region," said Dr. Rivera Velasquez, who received the 2017 award in engineering and innovation.



"I was overwhelmed by the commitment and determination of the five winners in 2017. Their ambition to succeed, even under the most adverse conditions, is an inspiration to women scientists world-wide. They are true role models and we applaud their achievements," said Jennifer Thomson, President of OWSD. "The value of these awards is far more than a mere prize. The exposure that the winners receive, not only at the award ceremony and during the AAAS conference, but long after due to the contacts they are able to make, is life-changing."

Nominations for the 2018 awards will be accepted for early-career women working in the physical sciences who have received their PhDs within the past 10 years and live in one of the 66 scientifically lagging countries as defined by TWAS. All nominations will be reviewed by a committee of eminent researchers who represent the five regions, including members of TWAS and OWSD, and chaired by OWSD President Jennifer Thomson.

"Visibility and role models are critical for early career women scientists, and even more so in developing countries where women often face compounding societal pressures. This year, we have awarded our 7th group of winners and I can vouch for the impact this has on their careers: opening doors to new research assignments, greater mobility and enhanced international collaboration opportunities," remarked Ylann Schemm, Director of the Elsevier Foundation. "Partnering with OWSD to support a new generation of emerging women leaders in science and technology continues to be a real honor."

Read more on Elsevier Connect.

Nomination applications can be downloaded from the OWSD website and submitted through September 15, 2017 to [email protected].

About OWSD

The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) provides research training, career development and networking opportunities for women scientists throughout the developing world. Headed by eminent women scientists from the South, OWSD has more than 6,000 members and runs various programmes, including a PhD fellowship programme with 200 successful graduates from Least Developed Countries and Sub-Saharan Africa. OWSD is the first international forum to unite eminent women scientists from the developing and developed worlds with the objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leadership. OWSD is affiliated with The World Academy of Science (TWAS) and based in Trieste, Italy, with national chapters throughout the developing world. www.owsd.net

About The Elsevier Foundation

The Elsevier Foundation provides grants to knowledge centered institutions around the world, with a sustainability focus on innovations in health information, diversity in STM, research in developing countries and technology for development. Since 2006, the Foundation has awarded more than 100 grants worth millions of dollars to non-profit organizations working in these fields. Through gift-matching, the Foundation also supports the efforts of Elsevier employees to play a positive role in their local and global communities. The Elsevier Foundation is a corporate not-for-profit 501(c)(3), funded by Elsevier, a global provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. www.elsevierfoundation.org

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics company that helps institutions and professionals progress science, advance healthcare and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support, and professional education; including ScienceDirect, Scopus, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, more than 35,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contacts

Tonya Blowers

Program Coordinator, OWSD

+39-040-2240-682

[email protected]



Elisa Nelissen

Communications Officer

+31-20-4852492

[email protected]



SOURCE Elsevier
CHICAGO and ATLANTA, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CareerBuilder's evolution into an end-to-end human capital solutions company began with operating leading job boards around the world  something it has done for more than two decades. Today, CareerBuilder is excited to announce a powerful collaboration that will bring even more visibility to its clients' job listings and help job seekers find those opportunities faster.

CareerBuilder is joining forces with Google to help power a new feature in Search that aggregates millions of jobs from job boards, career sites, social networks and other sources. CareerBuilder is fully integrated with Google to feed content to them, and will include all of its jobs from its job sites and talent networks in this new feature.

"CareerBuilder has been working closely with Google on this from the very beginning when Google was first reaching out to content providers," said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder. "We saw a big opportunity to increase exposure for our clients' jobs and today we stand as one of Google's biggest suppliers of jobs content. Google has enormous reach and excellent search capabilities, so why not leverage these strengths for the benefit of our clients?"

Over the last 20-plus years, CareerBuilder's model has always been to serve up jobs wherever job seekers are on the Internet, and today CareerBuilder's job search engine is on more than 1,000 sites. CareerBuilder is embracing this new feature as another distribution channel for its clients that will capture even more potential candidates.

CareerBuilder has been working with Google on different initiatives and is exploring ways in which the two companies can further collaborate.

"CareerBuilder has always had an open ecosystem because it speeds innovation and produces better outcomes," Ferguson said. "Our product portfolio has expanded so significantly  now covering everything from recruiting and employment screening to managing current employees. We think there is a great opportunity to work with Google as we grow our business."

Google has been a traffic source for CareerBuilder for several years. Six months ago, CareerBuilder announced plans to use the Google Cloud Jobs API to power searches on its job site. CareerBuilder is pairing its deep knowledge in recruitment with Google's expertise in machine learning to provide faster, more relevant results for workers looking for jobs on CareerBuilder.com. See the announcement here.

About CareerBuilder

CareerBuilder is a global, end-to-end human capital solutions company focused on helping employers find, hire and manage great talent. Combining advertising, software and services, CareerBuilder leads the industry in recruiting solutions, employment screening and human capital management. It also operates top job sites around the world. CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.

Media Contact

Jennifer Grasz

773-527-1164

[email protected]

http://www.twitter.com/CareerBuilderPR

SOURCE CareerBuilder

Related Links

http://www.careerbuilder.com


Dolan most recently served as CFO of Lending Club, which she helped grow into the world's largest online credit marketplace connecting borrowers and investors. Over her six-year tenure, annual revenue increased more than 7,000% and in 2014, she managed the company's IPO, one of the top 10 U.S.-based Internet public offerings of all time. Prior to Lending Club, Dolan spent 10 years at Charles Schwab & Co, where she was Senior Vice President and Treasurer, as well as CFO, Schwab Bank, which she helped launch in 2003.

"Over her storied career, Carrie has been an exemplary financial steward of leading brands, earning the respect of her colleagues and peers along the way," said Dan Preston, CEO at Metromile. "We're thrilled to have an executive of Carrie's caliber join our team. We're eager to bring to bear her deep knowledge of financial services, capital markets and scaling fast-growing organizations as we accelerate the growth of Metromile."

In addition to her professional successes, Dolan has received several industry accolades. She's been named one of the Most Powerful Woman in Finance by American Banker, featured in The San Francisco Business Times Forever Influential List, and recognized as the Financial Woman of the Year by The Financial Women of San Francisco for her commitment to her profession, service to community and support for the advancement of women.

"Metromile's pay-per-mile insurance model is a disruptive breakthrough in the insurance industry," said Carrie Dolan, CFO, Metromile. "I've seen firsthand how technology and data can translate into better rates for borrowers, and similarly, Metromile is leveraging technology and data to more efficiently underwrite risk and process claims, providing lower-mileage drivers more affordable premiums and better service. This is a fantastic team and I am very excited about the opportunity to work together in revolutionizing the insurance industry and leading Metromile's next phase of growth."

Early in her career, Dolan held various financial positions at Chevron where she launched the Chevron Credit Bank, which offered proprietary credit cards. She holds both a bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

In addition to Dolan's appointment, Metromile also announced four recent promotions that further support the company's growth initiatives: James Moorhead to Chief Operating Officer, Sean Griswold to Chief Customer Officer, Katy Allen to VP of Business Development and Jason Foucher to VP of Insurance Product.

Metromile's pay-per-mile car insurance saves low mileage drivers $500 on average each year. In addition, Metromile's smart driving app and in-car telematics device give customers visibility into their car's general health and usage, as well as pinpoint their car's exact location via the vehicle locator, and help customers avoid parking tickets via the app's street sweeping alerts (in select cities). Metromile's pay-per-mile insurance is currently available in seven states, including Calif., Ill., N.J., Ore., Pa., Va., and Wash., and the company is focused on offering pay-per-mile insurance nationwide.

For more information about Metromile, visit metromile.com or follow Metromile on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

About Metromile

Metromile is revolutionizing car insurance through technology with its pay-per-mile insurance model. By offering affordable car insurance, transparent pricing based on the miles you actually drive, data to optimize how you use your car, and instant access to detailed vehicle diagnostics via the driving app, Metromile is transforming car insurance  and car ownership  to be more intelligent, seamless, and accessible than ever before. Metromile is expanding across the US, and currently empowering drivers Calif., Ill., N.J., Ore., Pa., Va., and Wash.

SOURCE Metromile

Related Links

http://metromile.com


BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Consulting Group (PCG) is pleased to announce its certification as a Quality Improvement Organization-like (QIO-like) entity by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Already a champion of improvement to the nation's healthcare system, this new certification will further enable PCG to work to enhance the quality and cost efficiency of care for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.

The certification will render PCG's clients eligible for enhanced federal matching funds of up to 75 percent for contracts consistent with the QIO legislation including, but not limited to, medical necessity reviews, quality of care reviews, Medicaid independent assessments for eligibility and level of care determinations, and quality improvement initiatives. This type of matching, along with our team of numerous clinicians, healthcare consultants, data analysts, and quality assurance professionals, enables PCG to better help our partners in state government reduce costs and improve care. In addition, QIO-like certification opens up new opportunities in the health and human services sectors on a national level for PCG.

"We are thrilled that our work and leadership in the health services sector has been recognized by the CMS," said Kevin Hutchinson, a manager in PCG's Health division overseeing Program Integrity and Provider Management solutions. "We can't wait to put this new certification to work for our clients."

The QIO program, one of the largest federal programs dedicated to improving health quality for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, works by promoting greater connectivity and care coordination across all health care settings to improve health care delivery for beneficiaries. It contributes to the CMS three-part aim of better care for individuals, better health for populations, and lowered costs.

About Public Consulting Group

Public Consulting Group, Inc. (PCG) is leading public sector management consulting and operations improvement firm that partners with health, education, and human services agencies to improve lives. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, PCG has nearly 2,000 professionals in more than 50 offices around the US, in Canada and in Europe. PCG's Health practice offers in-depth programmatic knowledge and regulatory expertise to help state and municipal health agencies respond to regulatory change, improve access to health care, maximize program revenue, improve business processes, and achieve regulatory compliance. Using industry best practices, PCG's Health team helps organizations deliver quality services with constrained resources to promote improved client outcomes. To learn more, visit http://www.publicconsultinggroup.com/health/.

Media Contact

Stephen Skinner, Public Consulting Group

(617) 717-1150

[email protected]

SOURCE Public Consulting Group
SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 21st Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation hosts #RFGoNaked Day  the fast-growing viral charitable campaign that invites people to shed their foundation and post makeup-free selfies on social media for a cause.

For every selfie posted using #RFGoNaked, Rodan + Fields will donate $1* to the company's non-profit Prescription for Change Foundation to serve youth with life-changing empowerment programs where they live. The 24-hour viral event empowers people to support a good cause while encouraging self-esteem and confidence.

Now in its fourth year, #RFGoNaked Day has more than doubled in participation each year. The campaign has grown exponentially with 15,000 participants in 2014 and 92,000 in 2015. Last year, more than 261,000 makeup-free selfies as well as additional donations helped raise $360,356 for youth nationwide. The results have provided funding for an international school and three new buildOn U.S. program locations in Chicago, Boston and New York, which empower urban youth to transform their neighborhoods through intensive community service. Each location includes two dedicated buildOn staff members and a designated space serving 150 students a week.

Amnon Rodan, Chairman of Rodan + Fields and Prescription for Change Foundation, says, "We are passionate about helping people create life-changing opportunities through our business and our giving. #RFGoNaked Day leverages the power of social media and showcases the individual and collective impact we can have. It is inspiring to see Rodan + Fields Consultants, employees, family and friends rise to the challenge to unlock our gift or contribute their own donation to provide young people with empowerment programs."

For the first time, as a part of #RFGoNaked Day, Rodan + Fields will partner with an in-person event, Solstice in Times Square in New York City, to bring more awareness to the #RFGoNaked Day cause and introduce and encourage more people to join the event and donate. Summer Solstice attendees can visit the Rodan + Fields booth at the event to take their #RFGoNaked Day makeup-free selfie.

To learn more about #RFGoNaked Day or Rodan + Fields, visit RodanandFields.com.

About Rodan + Fields

Founded by Dr. Katie Rodan and Dr. Kathy Fields, Rodan + Fields' dermatology-inspired skincare products and proprietary, technology-driven social enterprise platform are changing the way people engage in the skincare category, shop for products and care for their skin. In 2007, the Company made the unprecedented move out of department stores and into the world of community commerce in order to realize the doctors' vision for providing the closest cosmetic alternative to a professional skincare experience outside of a medical office and, in the process, empowering entrepreneurial opportunity. Products are available through Rodan + Fields Independent Consultants and at www.rodanandfields.com.

About Rodan + Fields Prescription for Change Foundation

The PFC Foundation is a non-profit organization funded through Rodan + Fields and voluntary contributions by Rodan + Fields Independent Consultants and public donations. The PFC Foundation mission is to serve youth with life-changing empowerment programs where they live.

PFC Foundation believes that empowered youth can change their lives and the world we live in. That's why we partner with organizations across the globe that provide programs for youth, including buildOn (US), WE Charity (CA) and The Smith Family (AUS). These organizations enable our Consultants and employees to have a local impact on young lives.

About buildOn

At home or abroad, buildOn's goal is to break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations through service and education. Across the U.S., buildOn empowers urban youth to transform their neighborhoods through intensive community service and to change the world by building schools in some of the economically poorest countries in the world. Since 1991, buildOn has constructed over 1,100 schools worldwide, with more than 142,000 children, parents, and grandparents attending these schools every day. For more information, visit www.buildon.org. buildOn has a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator.

SOURCE Rodan + Fields

Related Links

http://www.rodanandfields.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- "Chasing Diana - Perception Vs. Reality" by American Eyewitnesses Jack & Robin Firestone, has been reissued for release today. Visit www.ChasingDiana.com

In 1997, while on family holiday in Paris, the Firestones were in the Alma Tunnel when Princess Diana was killed, and provided eyewitness testimony. They went on record numerous times, and in the immediate aftermath of the event, gave a deposition to a seemingly disinterested French police department who requested they sign their deposition, written entirely in French, without providing them with an English translation. Why?

Scotland Yard reopened the French Investigation with a British Inquest in 2004. Both teams claimed to have called back every single witness. But the Firestones were never called back. Why?

Britain opened the Second Inquest in 2007. The Firestones provided live testimony, December 3, 2007 in London at the Royal Courts of Justice. Both Jack and Robin were called as witnesses but strangely, after Jack's forty-five minute testimony, the Royal Coroner didn't want to hear testimony from Robin. Why?

The inappropriate behaviors of paparazzi and French police at the crash site have always been unsettling to the Firestones, but also key among many disturbing mysteries, was the question of black cars with darkened windows at the scene. Who was in those cars?

The Firestones have updated their novel of historical fiction using perspective that only time and distance can provide. With a vantage point twenty years after Princess Diana's horrific death on August 31, 1997, many truths were subsequently revealed. Taking into account what they learned, they incorporated real facts, with dramatic license, to imagine what might have actually occurred, and they present their perception that there were, indeed, dark conspiratorial forces at play.

The Firestones did numerous interviews with the media following Diana's death (YouTube links below). Last week, Jack and Robin appeared on KTLA Morning News in Los Angeles, to discuss their views on what happened on that nightmarish day that has strongly impacted their lives:

KTLA Morning News  Wed., June 14

http://ktla.com/2017/06/14/eyewitnesses-of-princess-diana-1997-car-crash-co-authors-chasing-diana-jack-and-robin-firestone/

Where were you? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ4DgK7q2Oo

The Crash of '97 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7RtYF1CM0

Author's website: www.ChasingDiana.com links to Amazon and Barnes & Noble

* Book images available for download: www.ChasingDiana.com/covers

Contact Firestone Media Ent. Inc.

[email protected]

516-410-5559

SOURCE Firestone Media Ent. Inc.
DURHAM, N.C., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading Christian higher education resource, Christian Universities Online (http://www.christianuniversitiesonline.org/), has published a ranking of the Top Ten Law Degree Programs 2017. This ranking gave consideration to schools that are members or member eligible of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), with a specific focus on schools that were included in CCCU's more comprehensive 50 Best Colleges and Universities 2017 ranking, published earlier this year. This new ranking shines a spotlight on schools that offer degree programs specifically in the field of law or related fields.

Placing first in this ranking is Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, while Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, took the second spot on the list. Regent University of Virginia Beach, Virginia, rounds out the ranking in third place. The ranking can be viewed at http://www.christianuniversitiesonline.org/best-law-programs-christian-schools/.

Other schools in the ranking are listed below in alphabetical order:

Azusa Pacific University - Azusa, California

Calvin College - Grand Rapids, Michigan

Cedarville University - Cedarville, Ohio

Eastern University - Saint Davids, Pennsylvania

Messiah College - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

Mississippi College - Clinton, Mississippi

Wheaton College - Wheaton, Illinois

Anna-Rebekah Orr, site editor at Christian Universities Online, states that the goal of this ranking is to highlight schools that provide the best and widest variety of law degree programs. In compiling this listing, Christian Universities Online (CUO) reviewed schools with a variety of programs ranging from attorney and paralegal programs to politics, government, and criminal justice. Orr adds, "It is important to remember that the legal field is broad. Criminal justice, elder law, family law, corporate general practice and liability are only a few of the options that a law degree candidate will choose from, while other potential career paths within this field might include that of paralegal or other support staff. Students who are interested in a career in politics or criminal justice will also be propelled forward by a law degree. Christian schools that offer degrees in law are playing an important role in our society by bringing a Christian perspective to bear within this field--oftentimes training people to play an important role as advocate for what is ethical and fair in many kinds of situations. Christian law schools offer a distinctive and important lens through which to study law and CUO is therefore pleased to offer this resource to prospective students who are seeking to study law within a Christian context. Our ranking of Top Ten Law Degree Programs 2017 will serve as a useful guide."

Christian Universities Online (http://www.christianuniversitiesonline.org/) is an independent online resource for students and families researching Christian higher education. The site publishes rankings and reviews of the best Christian colleges and universities, information about Christian scholarships and financial aid, and many other resources for finding, getting into, and paying for a quality Christian education.

Contact:

Michael Templeton, site editor

Christian Universities Online

(919) 858-6153

[email protected]

SOURCE Christian Universities Online

Related Links

http://www.christianuniversitiesonline.org


SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Last week's Riverside visit concluded CIOMA's regional meetings which have been hugely successful in educating attendees in a variety of legislative and regulatory issues, membership development, and promoting the yearly Pacific Oil Conference.

Within the last two months, CIOMA staff have ventured from Northern to Southern California to meet with attendees from over 50 companies that operate within the state. These regional meetings were held in Pleasanton, Fresno, and Riverside, California.

CIOMA Executive Director, Ryan Hanretty, shared and discussed insights and issues relevant to the convenience and fuel industry retailers and suppliers. Some of the highlights of Hanretty's presentation were AB 1645 (Muratsuchi), which would ban the use of hydrogen fluoride and hydrofluoric acid by refineries. Proposing such a ban would leave refineries without the integral components to produce California grade gasoline. Another issue, SB 300 (Monning), would mandate health-warning labels to be placed on many sugar-sweetened beverages, and exposing beverage manufacturers and food retailers to lawsuits and fines. Lastly, the Bay Area tobacco bans were a hot topic of discussion as Contra Costa, San Francisco, Oakland and San Leandro c-stores are currently in jeopardy of losing their right to sell tobacco products to customers.

Attendees were encouraged to assist CIOMA in these battles, and to reach out to their local legislators to make their opposition heard. These issues directly affect the oil-industry and will severely hurt businesses if action is not taken to fight them.

CIOMA would like to thank everyone who attended the regional meetings and for their willingness to continue being a part of this important organization.

CIOMA is the industry's statewide trade association representing the needs of independent wholesale and retail marketers of gasoline, diesel, lubricating oils and other petroleum products; transporters of those products; and retail convenience store operators.

SOURCE California Independent Oil Marketers Association (CIOMA)

Related Links

http://www.cioma.com


Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware purchased another six figure, state-wide TV advertisement buy immediately following the hearing as well as continued its mail, phone and email campaign to alert Delaware voters of the committee's inaction on SB53. While Senator Richardson declared the merits of the bill to be important enough for the full Senate to weigh in on the matter, Senator Poore and Senator McBride publicly declared that they would make the decision for the state's business-friendly reputation on their own. "This is too important to Delaware voters and for Delaware's economy. We are not going away," said Chris Coffey, Campaign Manager of Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware. "Already, thousands of citizens have contacted their legislators, but we plan on doing even more to help voters reach their representatives in the Senate."

To view the video, click here: https://vimeo.com/222351886

Delaware voters have been calling, emailing and signing a petition that expresses their concern for the message being sent to potential businesses that may be interested in incorporating in Delaware. Other states, including Wyoming and Nevada, have publicly discussed their interest in the TransPerfect case, for which the bill was inspired. CPBD, along with thousands of Delaware supporters, believe competing states' interest in the case validates the harm the TransPerfect case has caused Delaware's business-friendly reputation. "This issue deserves a full vote in the Senate and if that doesn't happen, we will spend the summer holding lawmakers accountable and letting voters statewide know that their efforts to urge their Senators to pass SB53 out of committee were ignored," said Chris Coffey.

Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware is a group made up of more than 2,200 members including employees of the global translation services company TransPerfect as well as concerned Delaware residents, business executives and others. It formed in April of 2016 to focus on raising awareness with Delaware residents, elected officials, and other stakeholders about these issues.

For more information on Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware visit DelawareForBusiness.org.

Contact: Mary Urban, [email protected]

Julijana Englander, [email protected]

SOURCE Citizens for a Pro-Business Delaware

Related Links

http://www.delawareforbusiness.org


CLIFTON, N.J., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comodo, a global innovator and developer of cybersecurity solutions and the worldwide leader in digital certificates, and Servertastic Limited, a leading provider of SSL/TLS certificates and server software, today announced a new strategic partnership. The agreement combines Servertastic's easy-to-use online purchasing platform with Comodo's market leading TLS/SSL certificate portfolio and Comodo cWatch Web, a fully managed security solution for websites and applications.

Servertastic, a privately held company based in the United Kingdom, has been providing web security and server solutions since 2004. "Servertastic is truly an innovator in SSL/TLS security and we are thrilled to partner with them to deliver our market leading security solutions in the simple, cost effective method that Servertastic provides its clients," said Michael Fowler, president, Comodo CA.

This partnership announcement marks the first time Servertastic will diversify its product portfolio with SSL/TLS solutions coming from a Certificate Authority other than Symantec. "By adding Comodo to our product portfolio, we will be able to offer customers more choices to better meet their unique needs," said Andy Gambles, owner of Servertastic. "Our mission has always been to give customers a choice of the best security options regardless of their size or requirements, and provide them with an easy way to purchase and manage their solution."

Comodo security solutions will be available through Servertastic in early July 2017.

To learn more visit https://www.servertastic.com/comodo.

About Comodo

The Comodo organization is a global innovator of cybersecurity solutions, protecting critical information across the digital landscape. Building on its unique position as the world's largest certificate authority, Comodo authenticates, validates and secures networks and infrastructures from individuals to mid-sized companies to the world's largest enterprises. Comodo provides complete end-to-end security solutions across the boundary, internal network and endpoint with innovative technologies solving the most advanced malware threats, both known and unknown. With global headquarters in Clifton, New Jersey and branch offices in Silicon Valley, Comodo has international offices in China, India, the Philippines, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit comodo.com.

Comodo and the Comodo brand are trademarks of the Comodo Group Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. The current list of Comodo trademarks and patents is available at comodo.com/repository.

Keep up to date with the latest Comodo News from the Comodo blog at https://blog.comodo.com/ and on Twitter @ComodoNews.

Connect with Comodo on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/comodo.

For more information, media and analysts may contact:

Deb Montner

Montner Tech PR

[email protected]

203-226-9290

SOURCE Comodo

Related Links

http://comodo.com


KARLSKRONA, Sweden, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Compuverde has won the Emerging Market: Software Defined Storage (SDS) Vendor of the Year award from Storage Magazine's 14th annual Storage Awards. "The Storries" were announced at a gala awards ceremony at The Grand Connaught Rooms in London on June 15th. Compuverde was also nominated in the One to Watch  Company category.

Click to Tweet: [email protected] Named Software Defined Storage Vendor of the Year by 2017 @STMagAndAwards: https://tinyurl.com/y8w3za2m #SDS

Compuverde's software-defined storage solution delivers extreme resilience, performance and cost savings for scale-out virtual environments. Differentiators include:

All-in-one approach: The solution provides a single storage platform for ease of use, high performance and cost effectiveness.

The solution provides a single storage platform for ease of use, high performance and cost effectiveness. All the flavors of storage: The combination of file system, block and object store in one offers a variety of options based on need, as well as flexibility and agility.

The combination of file system, block and object store in one offers a variety of options based on need, as well as flexibility and agility. Scale-out star: Rapid, linear scaling using nodes/x86 building blocks  without the need for special-purpose hardware.

Rapid, linear scaling using nodes/x86 building blocks  without the need for special-purpose hardware. Reduced complexity: Because there is no single point of failure, there are no expensive bottlenecks to address. This allows businesses to lower total cost of ownership and focus on core business value and new innovation projects rather than IT maintenance.

Now in its 14th year, the Storries are highly regarded in the storage industry and attract major vendors. The awards honored companies across 32 categories, including:

Seagate  The Storage Hall of Fame

Oracle  Storage Company of the Year

Barracuda Networks  Channel Partner Program of the Year

Stefan Bernbo, CEO and founder, Compuverde, said: "Most of the world's data centers are still using vertical scaling solutions for storage, but the modern data deluge is overwhelming this legacy architecture. Our software-defined storage solution enables enterprises to scale quickly and cost-efficiently in order to remain competitive. We are honored by the recognition this award provides."

David Tyler, editor of Storage Magazine, said: "Software-defined storage has undoubtedly become one of the 'hot categories' at the Storage Awards in the last couple of years, and this year it was tightly contested, with more votes cast than ever before. We were delighted to have CEO Stefan Bernbo and other members of the Compuverde team with us on the night to collect their well-deserved trophy."

About Compuverde

Compuverde is an established provider of software-defined storage solutions, based in Sweden. Founded in 2008 by a team of storage and software experts with decades of experience in the scale-out storage field, Compuverde delivers a solution dedicated to both large consumer brands and industrial B2B-players, currently used by telecom, banking, media and insurance companies across the world. Compuverde's revolutionary and energy-efficient unified storage solution has made possible a hardware-agnostic storage platform that easily scales to hundreds of nodes, exabytes of data and trillions of files. With top-class products that address market segments like vNAS, hyperconverged virtualization and hybrid cloud, Compuverde is delivering better control over investments and business expansion. Find out more at www.compuverde.com.

Editorial Contact:

Peggy Galvin

Nadel Phelan, Inc.

(831) 440-2405

[email protected]

SOURCE Compuverde

Related Links

http://www.compuverde.com


BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Comtrade Software, a leading provider of monitoring and data protection solutions for hyperconverged infrastructures, today announced it has signed a distribution agreement with Promark, a premier, U.S.-focused value added distributor (VAD) and wholly-owned subsidiary of Ingram Micro Inc., the world's largest technology distributor and global leader in IT supply-chain and mobile device lifecycle services.

Under the new agreement, Promark becomes the distributor of Comtrade Software's portfolio of application-centric monitoring and data protection solutions for Nutanix that natively integrates into the Microsoft management platform  SCOM and OMS IT monitoring. This includes the recently announced HYCU  the only purpose-built data protection solution for Nutanix's enterprise cloud architecture  which is now available to the provider's growing base of channel partners in the U.S.

For mutual channel partners looking for easy-to-use solutions that leverage the latest cloud and hyperconverged infrastructure technologies for their datacenter modernization initiatives, Comtrade Software and Promark offer proven, tested and reliable solutions. As a company that is 100 percent focused on distributing its leading solutions through its partners, Comtrade Software offers Promark and its channel partners exclusive access to special technical resources that include online and live technical trainings, marketing materials and access to senior product technicians who can help mutual partners remain one step ahead of their competitors.

"Comtrade Software trades IT silos and management complexity for much-needed data center simplicity," said Simon Taylor, President, Comtrade Software. "Promark's proven expertise in datacenter technologies combined with its sales and services team will help position Comtrade Software to better meet the business needs of our channel partners and expand our reach, sales and technical enablement resources."

"Comtrade Software complements Promark Technology's emerging and advanced technology solutions portfolio," said Dale Foster, Executive Director and General Manager of Promark Technology. "Part of our business value is bringing to market emerging and easy-to-use solutions that will enable our channel partners and their customers to move beyond legacy data protection solutions and embrace the cloud and HCI as part of their data center modernization efforts. We're excited to earn Comtrade Software's business and serve as its exclusive provider for Nutanix solutions."

More information about Comtrade Software is available at www.comtradesoftware.com, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ComtradeSoftw and on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/comtrade-software.

About Promark Technology

Promark Technology, an Ingram Micro company, is one of the premier value added distributors (VAD) in the United States. Promark's core technology focus is distributing data storage and virtualization products and solutions through a two-tier distribution channel to value added resellers (VARs) and system integrators. Promark leverages its direct relationships with world class technology partners to provide solutions that meet the most demanding needs of its customers. Promark also offers a Public Sector Business Program that helps resellers navigate the government selling process and expand the reach of their Business. The program provides authorized resellers the ability to leverage Promark's GSA Schedule to market and sell products and solutions into both federal government and state and local organizations. Promark offers professional services in application integration, backup and recovery, network optimization, storage implementation and disaster recovery. To learn more about Promark Technology call 800.634.0255 or visit www.promarktech.com.

About Ingram Micro

Ingram Micro helps businesses Realize the Promise of Technology. It delivers a full spectrum of global technology and supply chain services to businesses around the world. Deep expertise in technology solutions, mobility, cloud, and supply chain solutions enables its business partners to operate efficiently and successfully in the markets they serve. Unrivaled agility, deep market insights and the trust and dependability that come from decades of proven relationships, set Ingram Micro apart and ahead. More at www.ingrammicro.com.

About Comtrade Software

Hyperconverged is all about keeping IT simple. Monitoring and data protection should be too. Comtrade Software empowers IT to take back the data center without breaking a sweat. Our application-focused solutions give visibility, to see beyond VMs into business-critical applications. We break through barriers so IT can quickly eliminate problems, fully and reliably recover applications and data, and deploy our products before coffee goes cold. There's no waiting, no learning and no hassle. With 25 years of expertise and insights from millions of users, we make it easy to thrive in a hyper-simple hyperconverged world. Follow us @ComtradeSoftw and LinkedIn, and visit comtradesoftware.com.

SOURCE Comtrade Software
OTTAWA, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Copernic, a division of N. Harris Computer Corporation (the "Company"), a leading software development company in the technology sector, specializing in search products, today introduced the first version of its Search Server (http://www.copernic.com/en/products/search-server/). The new solution allows you and your team to search through a centralized & powerful index saved on a server.

The technology behind Search Server, the Company's award-winning Search technology, was completely overhauled to target small businesses that need an enterprise search engine without spending a lot of money for a big enterprise search architecture. By doing so, users can now benefit from features that have been developed and integrated inside Copernic Desktop Search Enterprise that connects directly to the index created by the new Copernic Search Server. This new product is available in 9 languages such as English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Italian and Chinese (simplified).

"This initial version brings the award-winning user interface from Copernic Desktop Search to a server environment," said Vincent Douville, Marketing Director. Mr. Douville also stated, "The licensing for Copernic Search Server is now on a yearly basis to show the commitment that Copernic has towards the continuous innovation of its products."

The bundle for Copernic Desktop Search Enterprise and Search Server is immediately available from the Company's website at http://www.copernic.com where more information on new features and improvements can also be found.

About Copernic, a division of N. Harris Computer Corporation

Copernic specializes in providing its customers cost-effective search technology that enables better decision-making and increased productivity. With unique and powerful product features, Copernic is the name that consumers and professionals trust to deliver the highest quality search products. With its award-winning Copernic Search technology, the Company brings the power of a sophisticated, yet easy-to-use search engine to the business world.

More information at http://www.copernic.com

SOURCE Copernic

Related Links

http://www.copernic.com


SKOKIE, Ill., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CPG International, a leader in premium, low maintenance, exterior building products, announced today the appointment of former Valspar exec Gary Hendrickson, who guided the company to the acquisition by Sherwin-Williams for $11.3 billion, as Chairman of the Board.

Hendrickson is the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Valspar Corporation. His years of experience and impactful results on businesses achieving great growth in the industry will guide CPG International's growth and development in the coming years.

"We are thrilled to have Gary lead our board as he brings a depth of experience from his work with Valspar and through his involvement with other external boards," said Jesse Singh, CEO of CPG International. "We look forward to achieving our next level of success with his guidance."

Hendrickson joined Valspar's packaging coatings business in 1994 and has held a variety of senior leadership roles in the company. He joined the Board of Directors in 2008 and became chairman in 2012. Prior to joining Valspar, Hendrickson served for 11 years in the U.S. Navy as Lieutenant Commander.

"I am honored to be named chairman of the board of a leader in the building products space with substantial room for growth," said Hendrickson. "I am excited to contribute to the future direction and growth of CPG International and to serve alongside such accomplished board leadership."

"Gary did a remarkable job of creating significant value in the building products space and we look forward to adding his leadership to an already strong board," said Dan Lukas, a Director of CPG and Partner in the Private Equity Group of Ares Management, L.P., and Russ Hammond, a Director of CPG and Director of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, in a joint statement.

About CPG International

CPG International LLC is an industry leader of premium building products that replace traditional materials and provide value through lower maintenance, refined aesthetics and reduced total cost. Our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and research and design is at the core of who we are. CPG International is headquartered in Skokie, IL, in the greater Chicago area and also operates highly automated manufacturing facilities in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Wilmington, Ohio. The company's products are marketed under several brands including AZEK and TimberTech for residential building materials, Scranton Products for commercial building materials, and Vycom for industrial building materials. For additional information, visit www.cpgint.com.

SOURCE CPG International LLC

Related Links

http://www.cpgint.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- CurlKit is excited to announce a collaboration with Uncle Jimmy Products as part of the reveal of its new line of products for men; these products will be featured in the CurlStar Men's Box debuting this month. Developed by natural hair entrepreneur and innovator Taliah Waajid, the new men's line will cater to the needs of discerning gentlemen everywhere. More information is available at www.UncleJimmyProducts.com.

CurlKit Box Uncle Jimmy Products

Taliah Waajid has built a widely respected brand over the last two decades, and much of that respect is thanks to her commitment to chemical-free solutions. The brand's mission is "to provide high-quality products that enhance and positively contribute to healthy hair, skin and body." Uncle Jimmy Products is no exceptions. The new line of products combines effective and soothing natural essential oils and ingredients like argan oil, black seed and honey.

The CurlStar Men's Box includes five full-size products from Uncle Jimmy Products' new men's line. As a leading subscription service for natural hair products, CurlKit has seen its business grow exponentially since launch. A firm commitment to innovation and service has been instrumental in this success story.

"Ten years ago, I struggled through the trials and tribulations inherent in the transition from processed to natural hair," says Heather Cummings, founder of CurlKit. "I knew there had to be a better way  that's what motivated me to create a company to help others in my position. CurlKit is the result of lots of research and determination, and I'm proud of what we've accomplished so far."

In March 2012, CurlKit launched its subscription service for curly, coily, kinky, locs and textured hair. In just five years, the company has grown to be one of the most sought-after subscription companies on the market. Each month, subscribers receive a professionally packaged CurlKit box, along with the latest edition of CurlLife Magazine. CurlKit boxes contain from four to eight hand-selected products from both well-known brands and emerging beauty lines. Products range from pomades and conditioners to styling tools. Meanwhile, http://www.curlkitshop.com includes how-to guides, product descriptions and an easy subscription sign-up form.

About CurlKit

CurlKit is a complete solution for women with naturally curly hair of various textures. They provide exclusive services, products, tutorials, videos, how-to manuals and information to help lifelong naturals, as well as, women who are choosing a newly natural hair style. CurlKit had their premier launch in March 2012, opening Curlkit.com to customers in United States, Canada, Hawaii and the US Virgin Islands. In September 2012, they expanded their market share to over 150 countries worldwide accomplishing one of their first-year goals ahead of schedule.

Contact:

Heather Cummings, Founder

609-791-9449

[email protected]

SOURCE CurlKit

Related Links

http://www.curlkitshop.com


CLEVELAND, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- DATATRAK International, Inc. (OCT Markets: DTRK) will unveil their newest eClinical solution at this week's DIA Annual Meeting in Chicago, Illinois. Medical Imaging Capture will now be offered as an extension of their already comprehensive Electronic Data Capture (EDC) product. This offering will allow for automated capture of remote image files, de-identification, and integration of DICOM data directly into study eCRFs.

Once within the DATATRAK ONE's platform, the configurable dependency checks can trigger automated QA notifications and workflow actions across an unlimited number of user roles with customer specified configurable permissions. The power of the DATATRAK Enterprise Cloud Platform includes proprietary functions to capture and track data changes across time and to manage version-controlled files across patients, sites and studies.

"Medical Imaging and device data analytics play a pivotal role for our clients," says DATATRAK President and CEO, Jim Bob Ward. "Our role is to focus on the development of new and exciting innovations that advance the clinical trials process and enhance information for client product development."

"We saw a clear opportunity to leverage our platform and remote ECG experience to begin adding value to image device capture," says Tim Lyons, Vice President of Product Development for DATATRAK. "Given our advanced core technology, it was relatively simple to support this functionality with our platform. The information gathered from the user will naturally feed through our EDC, allowing alerts, dependency checks and reports to be run from the data. Our version controlled File Repository allows study team members to easily ensure they're accessing and working with the most recent image information. Most importantly, imaging files uploaded into DATATRAK ONE can be easily bundled with study subject eSubmission PDFs into a single study artifact package, which is downloaded in real-time from our platform."

"While we will officially unveil the offering at this year's DIA Annual Meeting, we have already been demonstrating the functionality to interested companies," says Scott DeMell, Vice President of Sales for DATATRAK. "We are very confident that we are creating something that is in-line with what the industry is seeking after hearing early feedback. We are excited to put this in front of even more potential users at DIA."

DATATRAK will be demonstrating their new Medical Imaging Capture ability at the DIA Annual Meeting in Chicago  booth 712. They are encouraging anyone interested to come to the booth for further details.

DATATRAK International is a worldwide technology and services company delivering unified eClinical solutions, via the DATATRAK Enterprise Cloud. DATATRAK built its multi-component, SaaS solution on a single, unified platform, designed to accelerate the reporting of clinical research, with greater efficiency compared to other similar technologies. The DATATRAK ONE software solution, deployed worldwide through an ASP or Enterprise Transfer offering, supports Preclinical and Phase I - Phase IV drug and device studies in multiple languages throughout the world. For more information, please visit DATATRAK.com.

SOURCE DATATRAK International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.datatrak.net


HOPKINTON, Mass. and FRANKFURT, Germany, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- ISC17

News Summary:

New Dell EMC Strategic Agreement with NVIDIA to drive best-in-class, time-to-market GPU-accelerated solutions

Dell EMC HPC delivered systems recognized on TOP500 and Green500 supercomputing lists

Leading research institutions worldwide continue to leverage Dell EMC solutions to optimize HPC performance, driving cutting-edge research and innovation

Full Story

At ISC17, Dell EMC is announcing an agreement to further democratize and advance HPC, as well as additions to its Ready Solutions portfolio that will help customers further optimize their HPC projects. Working with leading researchers and innovators worldwide, Dell EMC HPC solutions empower customers to make critical advances in industries such as research, life sciences and manufacturing.

New Strategic Agreement and Industry Recognition Underscore HPC Leadership

Dell EMC and NVIDIA have expanded their collaboration by signing a new strategic agreement to include joint product development of new products and solutions that address the burgeoning workload and datacenter requirements, with GPU-accelerated solutions for HPC, data analytics, and artificial intelligence. Additionally, Dell EMC will work with NVIDIA to support the new Volta architecture and intends to launch Volta-based solutions by the end of the year.

Dell EMC delivered systems also continue to earn recognition as industry leaders, with an increasing number of systems in the TOP500 and Green500 lists. Published twice annually, the TOP500 list shows the 500 most powerful commercially available computer systems in the world. The Green500 list provides a ranking of the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world. Multiple Dell EMC delivered systems appear on these lists, including:

The Cambridge Research Computing Service at the University of Cambridge is implementing a new $12M system aimed at addressing large scale High I/O data-intensive science cases. Wilkes-2, which appears at #100 on the TOP500 list and #5 on the Green500 list is the largest GPU system in the UK and the highest-ranked Dell EMC delivered system on the Green500 list. Peta4-KNL, #405 on the list, is the largest KNL system in the UK, and brings true petascale research computing within reach of all UK research groups and industries that wish to buy time on the system.

The recently-upgraded Stampede 2 system at Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) is now at #12 on the TOP500 list and #32 on the Green500 list. It is the highest-ranked Dell EMC delivered system on the TOP500 list. The upgraded system includes the phased deployment of a ~18 petaflop system based on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers including Intel Xeon Phi processors. Additionally, Stampede 2 is expected to double the peak performance, memory, storage capacity and bandwidth of Stampede 1. The last phase of the system will include integration of the upcoming 3D XPoint non volatile memory technology.

The Dell EMC HPC Innovation Lab, which appeared in the TOP500 list in November 2016 with 544 nodes with a mix of Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi processors, now sits at #374 in the new TOP500 list and at #150 on the Green500 list. The lab also includes a 32-node Intel Xeon Scalable processor cluster with Intel Omni-path networking for testing and evaluation, as well as Dell C4130 servers with NVIDIA GPUs and Mellanox IB.

Dell EMC is also collaborating with CoolIT Systems to provide a factory-installed, direct contact CPU liquid cooling solution that will address power and cooling challenges for a wide range of customers. The cold plate solution, designed and manufactured by CoolIT Systems, will be available in a select Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th generation servers. It uses warm water to cool the CPUs, eliminating the need for chilled water and reducing cooling energy costs by up to 56 percent for data center infrastructure (cooling PUE). The solution also features increased rack density, enabling customers to deploy up to 23 percent more IT equipment.1

Top Researchers Continue to Choose Dell EMC HPC Solutions

The Julich Supercomputing Center is working with Dell EMC and Intel to deploy a supercomputer combo that is expected to be the first Cluster-Booster platform based on technology developed in the European Union (EU)'s DEEP and DEEP-ER research projects. This Cluster-Booster marks a step toward the implementation of modular supercomputing, a new paradigm directly reflecting the diversity of execution characteristics, found in modern simulation codes, in the architecture of the supercomputer. Instead of a homogenous design, the modular supercomputing paradigm enables optimal resource assignment to enable more scientists and engineers to solve their highly complex problems by simulations. The Booster module will be a 5PF cluster based on Dell EMC PowerEdge C6320p servers, connected with Dell EMC Networking H-series fabric based on Intel Omni-Path technology.

The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at Goddard Space Flight Center needed a system that combines HPC and virtualization technologies in a private cloud designed for large-scale data analytics. To meet this need and alleviate some of the strain on Discover, their continually evolving HPC system, the NCCS launched its Advanced Data Analytics Platform (ADAPT) onsite private cloud. A green initiative, ADAPT was built largely from decommissioned HPC components, including hundreds of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers that came out of the Discover supercomputer as that system evolved to bring in new technologies. Scientists interact with the ADAPT team to provision resources and launch ephemeral VMs for "as needed" processing. The data-centric, virtual system approach significantly lowers the barriers and risks to organizations that require on-demand access to HPC solutions.

Supporting Quotes

Ian Buck, vice president and general manager - Accelerated Computing Group, NVIDIA

"Increasingly, deep learning is a strategic imperative for every major technology company, permeating every aspect of work. Specifically, artificial intelligence is being driven by leaps in GPU computing power that defy the slowdown in Moore's law. The work we are doing to advance GPU computing alongside Dell EMC will empower AI developers as they race to build new frameworks to tackle some of the greatest challenges of our time."

Garrison R. Vaughn, NCCS systems engineer, ADAPT Team  NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

"Our leadership challenges us to do new, innovative things, which is where ADAPT came from. ADAPT enables researchers to uncover valuable information, which is why it is critical that the system performs well. The Dell servers, working as compute nodes inside ADAPT, have been real workhorses and have been reliable. That's impressive, especially with the heat we run through the system."

Paul Teich, principal analyst, TIRIAS Research

"Dell EMC is moving beyond its vertical HPC segment focus and strengthening its commitment to key HPC platform technologies. A new strategic agreement with NVIDIA for joint innovation in HPC, big data, and machine learning and collaborating with CoolIT Systems for factory-installed warm water cooling systems will accelerate Dell EMC's mission to democratize HPC."

Armughan Ahmad, senior vice president & general manager  Ready Solutions and Alliances, Dell EMC

"Dell EMC is proud of our work to help the research community and its customers capitalize on HPC, expanding it from a niche market to a broader audience, from departmental clusters to leadership-class systems. Our commitment to continuing to partner with strong leaders and push the envelope around HPC innovation is solid and growing, as evidenced by our market leadership, industry-leading products, and world-class customers and deployments."

Additional Resources

About Dell EMC

Dell EMC, a part of Dell Technologies, enables organizations to modernize, automate and transform their data center using industry-leading converged infrastructure, servers, storage and data protection technologies. This provides a trusted foundation for businesses to transform IT, through the creation of a hybrid cloud, and transform their business through the creation of cloud-native applications and big data solutions. Dell EMC services customers across 180 countries  including 98% of the Fortune 500  with the industry's most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from edge to core to cloud.

Copyright  2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell EMC, Dell Inc. and the Dell EMC logo are trademarks of Dell Technologies in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies..

1Based on Dell EMC internal analysis, April 2017, comparing a hypothetical air-cooled data center with a cooling PUE of 0.6 to a hybrid data center with a cooling PUE of 0.26. A PUE of 0.22 was assigned to all overhead not attributed to cooling. Individual operating costs and other factors will cause results to vary. RS Means industry standards cost basis was used to measure typical cooling infrastructure costs and determine projected savings.

SOURCE Dell EMC
AUSTIN, Texas, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Epiphany Dermatology (www.epiphanydermatology.com) announced today it has expanded its presence in the state of Oklahoma through its acquisition of Dermatology Associates of Oklahoma, LLC ("DAO"). Epiphany Dermatology is comprised of leading dermatologists committed to improving access to great dermatologic care and now operates four locations in Oklahoma, in addition to 18 locations in New Mexico and Texas.

DAO has a solid track record of providing quality dermatology services to patients at its three centers located in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Muskogee. Through this acquisition, DAO's dedicated providers and support staff have joined Epiphany in a partnership grounded in exceptional patient care.

Dr. Raymond Cornelison, a board-certified dermatologist who served as past President of the American Academy of Dermatology as well as Chair of the Department of Dermatology at the University of Oklahoma, commented, "My staff and I are excited to form a partnership with Epiphany, which has proven itself to be a high-quality company comprised of dedicated professionals who are easy to work with. Epiphany shares our values and goal of providing high-quality and compassionate care across the entire spectrum of dermatologic needs. Through our partnership with Epiphany, we will expand our ability to effectively and expeditiously treat the thousands of skin cancers we are faced with annually. Epiphany has the infrastructure to help us manage the growing administrative burdens so we can focus on what matters mosttaking care of our patients and serving our community."

Gheorghe Pusta, Chief Executive Officer of Epiphany, said, "We are pleased and honored to form this partnership with Dr. Cornelison and the caring staff at DAO. Dr. Cornelison is a national leader in the dermatology specialty, having distinguished himself in both academia and private practice. He and his colleagues are committed to clinical excellence, just the same as Epiphany. As such, this is an exciting opportunity to expand our provider network and improve access to great dermatologic care across the state of Oklahoma."

Through this partnership, DAO's providers and staff gain additional resources to help with operations, managed care, marketing, human resources, compliance, recruiting, and areas of additional support services.

About Epiphany Dermatology

Epiphany Dermatology is a rapidly expanding dermatology company, driven by a passion to improve access to high quality dermatologic care in a values-based manner. Through its partnership with leading dermatologists at 22 locations in Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, Epiphany provides general dermatology, skin cancer care, Mohs surgery, cosmetic services, and additional dermatologic services. Epiphany raises the standard of dermatology care by making clinical excellence accessible to all patients, promptly and in a warm and inviting environment. Epiphany Dermatology is headquartered in Austin, Texas. For more details, please visit www.epiphanydermatology.com or call (512) 628-0465.

Ted Emmert

Chief Development Officer

Epiphany Dermatology

(512) 628-0465

[email protected]

Gheorghe Pusta

Chief Executive Officer

Epiphany Dermatology

(512) 628-0465

[email protected]

SOURCE Epiphany Dermatology

Related Links

http://www.epiphanydermatology.com


BEER SHEVA, Israel, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

DiACardio, makers of next generation imaging analysis technology, today announced it is changing its name to DiA Imaging Analysis ("DiA"). DiA has expanded its strategic mission to include a broader set of medical imaging analysis solutions, in addition to its original focus on echocardiography.

The name change and new brand reflects the dynamic growth of DiA to date and secures its leadership position as it continues on its mission to deliver innovative imaging analysis solutions to improve patient care.

This past year the company has received FDA and CE clearances for two additional unique cardio imaging analysis solutions and was announced by The Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHAlliance) as the winner of its 11th annual Venture+Forum pitch competition at the 2017 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition.

"By acquiring FDA and CE clearance for our initial cardiac - auto toolbox, we have proved the concept," said Hila Goldman Aslan, the company's CEO and Co-founder. "We have recognized that our core technology can be used to offer quick and accurate solutions to the imaging world beyond cardiology. We are now both accelerating our cardio toolbox development and expanding into additional segments."

About DIA Imaging Analysis

DiA Imaging Analysis Ltd. is a medical imaging analysis software company, providing fully automated, easily implemented supporting tools that enable quick, objective and accurate image interpretations with initial focus on ultrasound of the heart (Echocardiography).

DiA's cognitive image processing technology is based on advanced pattern recognition and machine learning algorithms that automatically imitate the way the human eye identifies borders and motion, and produce data and scoring, physicians are looking for.

Headquartered in Beer-Sheva, Israel and present in the US, DiA is led by medical industry veterans, experienced entrepreneurs and supported by key opinion leaders from top medical facilities in the USA and Israel.

Media Contacts

Tlalit Bussi Tel Tzure

VP Marketing

DIA Imaging Analysis Ltd

+972-54-565-0737

[email protected]

http://www.dia-analysis.com



SOURCE DIA Imaging Analysis Ltd.
SAN DIEGO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Dthera Sciences (OTC: DTHR), a San Diego-based digital therapeutics company working to improve quality of life (QoL) and reduce anxiety in patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia, announced today that its chief executive officer, Edward Cox, will present at the Digital Health Summer Summit in San Diego.

The Digital Health Summer Summit takes place June 19-20 and offers programming around cutting-edge health and medical technologies, featuring speakers who are innovators, thought leaders and disrupters in digital health. The summit is co-located at the San Diego Convention Center with the 2017 BIO International Convention (BIO), the world's largest biotechnology convention, which is held June 17-22.

Mr. Cox will present as one of three companies on "Who's Dominating Digital Therapeutics?" which will take place on Tuesday, June 20th at 2:25 p.m. in Room 6EF.

"We are honored and excited to be presenting alongside such important innovators as Click Therapeutics and Neurotrack. They have long been market leaders in the digital therapeutics space, and we are excited to be part of the growing community raising awareness and importance for digital therapeutics," commented Mr. Cox. "It is particularly gratifying to be part of the program the year the event is being held here in San Diego, where our company is headquartered."

"The Digital Health Summer Summit is a destination for healthcare professionals who want to be on the cutting-edge of the innovation taking place in the medical and pharmaceutical industry," said Jill Gilbert, Producer, Digital Health Summer Summit. "We are thrilled to welcome Edward and Dthera Sciences to our stage to share the incredible strides they are making toward improving Quality of Life for Alzheimer's and Dementia patients by utilizing groundbreaking digital therapeutic technologies."

About Dthera Sciences:

Dthera Sciences (OTC:DTHR) is a publicly-traded digital therapeutics company based in San Diego, California focused on improving the quality of life of patients and their families. The Company's lead product, ReminX, is an artificial-intelligence-powered digital therapeutic designed to improve the quality of life (QoL) and reduce anxiety in patients with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. For more information please visit www.dthera.com

About Digital Therapeutics:

Digital Therapeutics is a new subsection of digital health that strives to directly deliver a therapy via use or interaction with software technology. The goal of Digital Therapeutics is to mirror an effective treatment and use technology to scale it to a larger patient population, thereby amplifying doctors' and nurses' care, changing patient behavior, and most importantly, reducing cost of care.

About Reminiscence Therapy:

Reminiscence Therapy involves discussing and reviewing recognizable memories, typically by looking at photos, and hearing or discussing the familiar stories related to them. It has been shown to be very effective at reducing anxiety and increasing the overall Quality of Life (QoL) in Alzheimer's and Dementia patients in numerous clinical trials and has been in use for nearly 30 years.

Dthera Sciences Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, regarding the research, development and commercialization of medical products. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and involve inherent risks and uncertainties, including factors that could delay, divert or change any of them, and could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from current expectations. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Readers are urged to read the risk factors set forth in the Company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, subsequent quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q, and other filings made with the SEC. Copies of these reports are available from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or without charge from the Company.

For more information: Bret Shapiro, 561-479-8566, [email protected]

SOURCE Dthera Sciences

Related Links

http://www.dthera.com


PALO ALTO, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Medallia, Inc. (www.medallia.com) has partnered with Driven Brands, the leading automotive repair and services business, to capture customer feedback and provide cohesive insights tailored to each brand and franchise location. Driven Brands, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, owns a portfolio of top automotive retail brands, including Maaco, Meineke, Take 5 Oil Change, CARSTAR and 1 800 Radiator, and operates more than 2,500 locations. Medallia and Driven Brands partnered with LRWCX, Lieberman Research Worldwide's Customer Experience division, to integrate with CRM and operational data across the organization in order to understand feedback from millions of customers.

Medallia Experience Cloud will easily connect varied information about each customer interaction from all brands and channels, allowing Driven Brands to have a cohesive view into customer experience in a single place. For example, post-visit survey data will be combined with marketing, loyalty and point-of-sale data so that the feedback is relevant, contextual and actionable for marketing and operations.

"We chose Medallia for its ability to combine what we already know about the customer with what we can learn about the customer from surveys, online reviews and a few other sources," said Artemio Garza, Chief Brand Officer, Driven Brands. "We intend to use these insights as part of our core marketing strategy to provide value to our customers while also empowering our franchisees at the front lines to make customer-centric improvements and grow their business."

Medallia will also provide access to important customer insights specific to each brand location that will enable the company to add value to its franchisees. This implementation empowers Driven Brands and its franchisee partners to continue to provide an exceptionally high quality repair and service experience for its customers.

"Driven Brands is focused on understanding and acting on the changing needs of customers in a world where the most customer-obsessed companies win," said Borge Hald, Co-Founder and CEO, Medallia. "By relying on Medallia Experience Cloud, Driven Brands can continue providing an excellent customer experience across its many brands and franchise locations. We're honored to have been selected as a trusted partner."

Driven Brands will also leverage Medallia for DrivenFleet, which provides comprehensive automotive repair and maintenance services for national, regional and local fleet operators. By removing the feedback silos between brands, Medallia will equip Driven Brands to better serve its DrivenFleet customers by identifying experience improvements across many touchpoints.

About Medallia

Medallia's mission is simple: to create a world where companies are loved by customers and employees alike. Hundreds of the world's best-loved brands trust Medallia's Software-as-a-Service application to help them capture customer feedback everywhere the customer is (on the phone, in store, online, mobile), understand it in real-time, and deliver insights and action everywherefrom the C-suite to the frontlineto improve their performance. Founded in 2001, Medallia has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Paris, Sydney, Buenos Aires, and Tel Aviv. Learn more at www.medallia.com.

About Driven Brands

Driven Brands, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, is the parent company of North America's leading automotive aftermarket brands across four distinct verticals: Repair & Maintenance, housing Meineke Car Care Centers; Paint & Collision, housing Maaco and CARSTAR North America; Distribution, housing 1-800-Radiator & A/C; and Quick Lube, housing Take 5 Oil Change. Driven Brands has more than 2,500 centers across North America, and combined, all businesses generate more than $2.3 billion in system sales. For more information, visit www.DrivenBrands.com.

 2017 Medallia, Inc. All rights reserved. Medallia, the Medallia logo, and the names and marks associated with Medallia's products are trademarks of Medallia. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Medallia, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.medallia.com


SANTA CLARA, California, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

E8 Storage today launched a global channel partner program to support sales growth and customer demand worldwide. The company has already inked agreements with leading resellers in Western Europe and the U.S - including Proact and World Wide Technology (WWT) - which will market, sell and support E8 Storage's high-availability shared NVMe flash storage appliance. E8 Storage has also expanded its sales force, adding two Europe-based employees in addition to its teams in the United States and Israel.

"Demand for E8 Storage solutions is accelerating across the world's major economic regions, and we're responding aggressively by establishing a strong channel to support sales growth and provide in-country expertise," said Andrew Flesch, Vice President of Sales, E8 Storage. "We welcome additional strategic partners as we continue to expand our customer base and deliver the best possible service and support locally."

As Europe's leading independent storage integrator, Proact is well-positioned to accelerate adoption of E8 Storage's shared NVMe appliance in Western Europe. The region is important strategically for E8 Storage because of its robust financial services and retail markets. Proact is already engaged with multiple companies at various stages of the buying cycle for an E8 Storage solution.

Leading IT solutions provider WWT is working with E8 Storage to fulfill demand from strategic Wall Street customers. WWT is well-known for its expertise integrating best-of-breed flash storage technologies across diverse business environments. The company is a natural fit for E8 Storage's unique shared NVMe appliance, which is ideally suited for enterprises looking for a high-performance, low-latency solution to replace local SSDs.

About E8 Storage

E8 Storage provides the first-ever centralized NVMe enterprise storage solution, delivering 10 times the performance for half the cost of existing storage products. The company's rack scale all-flash array eliminates storage need projections, is easily upgradeable and expandable, enables converged Ethernet networking, and increases SSD utilization to over 90%. E8 Storage's flagship product, the award-winning E8-D24, is ideally suited for real-time analytics, hyperscale data centers, high-performance computing, and SQL and NoSQL databases. Privately held E8 Storage is based in Santa Clara with R&D in Tel-Aviv. For more information, please visit http://www.e8storage.com; follow us on Twitter @E8Storage and LinkedIn.

Press Contacts:

Maya Lustig, E8 Storage

[email protected]

+972-54-6778100

Michelle Allard McMahon/Candice Perodeau

[email protected]

+1-508-475-0025



SOURCE E8 Storage
Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine winners, including an employee survey to measure the employee experience. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process, analyzed the data, and determined the final rankings.

CFO Nathan Leaphart commented, "We've got a phenomenal staff, we are tremendously proud of them and grateful to them for this award. We work hard to ensure a 'Pay It Forward' company culture where everyone is respected, acknowledged, and promoted whenever possible. Our employees in turn pay that forward to our customers, providing the best customer and technical service in the industry. We owe this award to them, and thank them."

Electric Guard Dog has received a host of accolades in the past year, including Dealer of the Year for the security industry, 2 American Business Awards including a Gold Maverick of the Year for CEO Jack DeMao and a Bronze Company of the Year in Business Services. The company was also recently awarded an 'Open Company' designation by Glassdoor for their efforts to reach out to employees and recruits alike.

The ranked companies will be recognized at a reception and dinner, presented by Colonial Life, on August 3, 2017, and the rankings will be published in the August 2017 issue of SCBIZ magazine.

About Electric Guard Dog

Headquartered in Columbia, South Carolina, Electric Guard Dog, the #1 Theft Deterrent Service in the U.S., is the market leader in electric security fences and perimeter security in the country. As a security partner for over 3,600 commercial and industrial locations across the U.S., the Company protects businesses from theft and provides a safer work environment for employees while reducing total security costs. For additional information, please visit www.electricguarddog.com.

For more information on the Best Places to Work in South Carolina program, visit www.BestPlacesToWorkSC.com.

For more information on this release, contact Electric Guard Dog publicist Kathleen Hannon 704-425-8106 or [email protected].

SOURCE Electric Guard Dog

Related Links

http://www.electricguarddog.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Highlights

The global electronic contract manufacturing and design services market is expected to reach USD 639.9 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc.

by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The competitive nature of the electronics industry, increasing complexity of electronic products, increased pressure on original equipment manufacturers for reducing costs, and decreased product lifecycles have increased the demand for better manufacturing capabilities and their related services. To achieve the same, OEMs are seeking support from contract manufacturers.

OEMs subcontract EMS companies and benefit from their expertise in design, manufacturing, and supply chain management.

Outsourced manufacturing model enables OEMs to leverage resources, reduce costs, access the leading manufacturing technologies, reduce investments in fixed capital, and adapt to the market demand.

The global electronic contract manufacturing and design services market is expected to reach USD 639.9 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The competitive nature of the electronics industry, increasing complexity of electronic products, increased pressure on original equipment manufacturers for reducing costs, and decreased product lifecycles have increased the demand for better manufacturing capabilities and their related services. To achieve the same, OEMs are seeking support from contract manufacturers.



OEMs subcontract EMS companies and benefit from their expertise in design, manufacturing, and supply chain management. Outsourced manufacturing model enables OEMs to leverage resources, reduce costs, access the leading manufacturing technologies, reduce investments in fixed capital, and adapt to the market demand. Additionally, it also aids in retaining the overall control responsibilities and in-house activities such as customer service, integration of network solutions, product cost management, customer interactions, quality assurance, order management, and new product introduction. All the above mentioned factors are expected to drive the electronic contract manufacturing services market over the forecast period.



Electronic contract manufacturing services market is projected to witness high growth across non-technical segments, such as medical, aerospace & defense, and automotive, over the forecast period, owing to low penetration rates and high growth opportunities (over the next few years) in these sectors. The surging need for optimizing resources is the primary reason that is expected to drive the growth of the electronic contract manufacturing services market over the next nine years.



Further key findings from the report suggest:



The global electronic contract manufacturing services and design market is expected to witness a CAGR exceeding 7% from 2017 to 2025, owing to the rising need for resource optimization

Electronics manufacturing services accounted for the highest market share in 2016; however, electronics design & engineering services are projected to witness high growth over the forecast period

Electronic contract manufacturing services in the IT & telecom segment held the highest revenue in 2016. However, non-technical segments, such as healthcare, automotive, and aerospace & defense, are expected to witness noteworthy growth over the forecast period, owing to the rising outsourcing trends in these industries

The Asia Pacific region accounted over 40% of the overall revenue share in 2016 and is expected to dominate the market over the forecast period

region accounted over 40% of the overall revenue share in 2016 and is expected to dominate the market over the forecast period Foxconn, FLEX, Jabil Circuit., Sanmina-SCI, Venture Corporation, Benchmark, among others were a few key players that captured a significant market share in 2016

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04946454/Electronic-Contract-Manufacturing-and-Design-Services-Market-Analysis-By-Service-Designing-Assembly-Manufacturing-By-End-use-Healthcare-Automotive-Aerospace-Telecom-By-Region-And-Segment-Forecasts.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

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ANDOVER, Mass., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Weather Company, an IBM Business (NYSE: IBM), announced today that it will be expanding its relationship with Elite Airways, a U.S. Part 121 Air Carrier providing charter and scheduled service throughout North and South America. Elite Airways is expanding upon its current use of The Weather Company's WSI Fusion global tracking and dispatch services by adding a suite of aviation products that are designed to provide the airline with the critical flight planning information it needs to make the most informed decisions for its crew and passengers.

The Weather Company solutions can provide Elite Airways with weather data and decision support tools and analytical insights to help dispatchers and pilots navigate around hazardous weather. In addition to using WSI Fusion, the global tracking and dispatch service, the suite of products powering Elite Airways' critical-decision making will now include:

Fusion Flight Planning , powered by PPS: the industry's most advanced, proactive flight monitoring application, fusing public and proprietary weather information with real-time flight and airspace data into one common situational view

the industry's most advanced, proactive flight monitoring application, fusing public and proprietary weather information with real-time flight and airspace data into one common situational view Enroute Hazards : precise and actionable advisories, and guidance, and can enable you to optimize routing, reduce fuel contingencies and improve safety

precise and actionable advisories, and guidance, and can enable you to optimize routing, reduce fuel contingencies and improve safety Pilotbrief Optima : high quality, actionable and industry-standard aviation weather graphics and briefings.

high quality, actionable and industry-standard aviation weather graphics and briefings. Digital Flight Release: paperless weather, briefings and notifications (like NOTAMs, METARs, TAFs, PIREPs) designed to help streamline the process of distributing flight information.

"As our fleet continues to grow, The Weather Company will continue to be an essential partner in our flight operations planning," said John Pearsall, president & director of operations for Elite Airways. "Building upon the foundation set by the WSI Fusion global track and dispatch services, we will now be able to better serve our Pilots and Dispatchers with additional robust and reliable flight planning tools that will help increase confidence and operational efficiency."

"Decisions made in the pre-flight planning process, along with those executed in the heat of contingencies, often determine an airline's ability to remain competitive and economically viable. The implementation of these solutions into Elite Airways' fleet will help play a vital role in inspiring customer confidence as dispatchers and crews are able to make informed, effective decisions in the face of weather," said Mark D. Miller, business unit executive for aviation at The Weather Company.

For more information on The Weather Company's aviation solutions, visit: https://business.weather.com/industry-solutions/aviation.

The Weather Company, an IBM Business

The Weather Company, an IBM Business, helps people make informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. The company offers the most accurate, personalized, and actionable weather data and insights to millions of consumers, as well as thousands of marketers and businesses via Weather's API, its business solutions division, and its own digital products from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com).

The company delivers tens of billions of forecasts daily. Its products include a top weather app on all major mobile platforms globally, a network of 250,000 personal weather stations, a top-20 U.S. website, one of the world's largest IoT data platforms, and industry-leading business solutions.

Weather Means Business. The world's biggest brands in aviation, energy, insurance, media, and government rely on The Weather Company for data, technology platforms and services to help improve decision-making and respond to weather's impact on business. For more, visit theweathercompany.com.

About Elite Airways

Elite Airways LLC was founded in 2006 by airline veterans with the goal to provide passengers a better travel experience with nonstop flights, competitive prices and exceptional service. Elite Airways is a U.S. Part 121 Air Carrier and provides charter and scheduled service throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Caribbean, and South America. The airline's routes connect underserved communities with popular destinations including New York City/Newark, Long Island NY, Portland and Bar Harbor ME, Orlando-Melbourne, Sarasota-Bradenton, Vero Beach and Halifax Nova Scotia, Myrtle Beach SC, Bimini Bahamas, and Fort Collins CO. Headquartered in Portland Maine, Elite Airways' maintenance operations center is located in Melbourne on Florida's Space Coast. All scheduled flights are sold and operated by Elite Airways LLC, and available for purchase at www.eliteairways.com or by calling 877-393-2510.

SOURCE The Weather Company, an IBM Business

Related Links

http://www.theweathercompany.com


PARIS, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Embraer announces, at the 52nd Paris International Air Show, firm orders and commitments from undisclosed customers for the E2 family. The firm order consists of ten E195-E2s, with an additional ten purchase rights for the E190-E2. The firm order has a value of USD 666 million, based on Embraer's current list prices and will be included in Embraer's 2017 second-quarter backlog.

Embraer also signed a commitment with an undisclosed customer to purchase 20 E190-E2s. The agreement is subject to final documentation by the customer. The value of this order is USD 1.182 billion based on Embraers current list prices.

With these announcements, the E2s have accrued 285 firm orders, in addition to 445 options, purchase rights, and letters-of-intent, totaling 730 commitments from airline customers and leasing companies.

Follow us on Twitter: @Embraer

CONTACTS:



Headquarters (Brazil)

Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Cell: +55 12 98152 4845

Tel.: +55 11 3841 6085



North America

Alyssa Ten Eyck

[email protected]

Cell: +1 954 383 0460

Tel.: +1 954 359 3847



Europe, Middle East and Africa

Guy Douglas

[email protected]

Cell: +31 (0)657120121

Tell: +31 (0)202158109



China

Mirage Zhong

[email protected]

Cell: +86 185 1378 5180

Tel.: +86 10 6598 9988



Asia Pacific

Nilma Missir-Boissac

[email protected]

Cell: +65 9012 8428

Tel.: +65 6305 9955

SOURCE Embraer S.A.

Related Links

http://www.embraer.com


PARIS, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest Market Outlook, Embraer projects a steady market demand for 6,400 new jets in the 70-130+ seat capacity category (2,280 units in the 70-90 seat segment and 4,120 units in the 90-130+ seat segment), worth USD 300 billion, by 2036.

The 70-130+ seat jet world fleet-in-service will increase from 2,700 aircraft in 2016 to 6,710 by 2036, the fastest growing segment among all aircraft seat capacities. Market growth will drive 63% of total demand and the remaining 37% will be delivered to replace ageing aircraft.

70-130+ Seat Jet Deliveries by Region

Region Deliveries Share North America 2,020 32% Asia Pacific 1,710 27% Europe 1,150 18% Latin America 690 11% CIS 390 6% Africa 220 3% Middle East 220 3% World (2017-2036) 6,400



Whilst region-specific outlooks vary considerably, the underlying drivers to sustain the projected market demand for jets in the 70-130+ seat capacity category remain intact, from feeding complex bank structures at major hubs to pioneering new markets and complement narrow-body aircraft operation.

Fleet optimization is critical in the vicissitudes of business cycles, and a rationalized fleet does not necessarily signify an optimized one. Right-sized aircraft call for a new smarter approach. Greater control in matching aircraft capacity to market demand prevents the erosion of unit revenues and provides competitive cost structure.

The E195-E2, for example, will provide an attractive proposition with much lower trip costs and comparable seat-mile costs to than its large narrow-body counterparts, while combining growth and higher returns with the opportunity to increase unit revenue with a right-sized aircraft.

"The airline industry is notoriously known for its boom and bust cycles. Better seat inventory control allows a continuous search for higher profits and efficiency. The ability to shift back towards revenue unit growth, instead of aggressive capacity expansion, is crucial", said John Slattery, President & CEO, Embraer Commercial Aviation.

Jets in the 70-130+ seat capacity category are one of the main pillars of business sustainability. As the most efficient single-aisle family of aircraft, the E-Jets E2 is perfectly positioned to keep Embraer as the market leader in the segment and maximize profitability for both airlines and leasing companies.

CONTACTS:



Headquarters (Brazil)

Corporate Communications

[email protected]

Cell: +55 12 98152 4845

Tel.: +55 11 3841 6085



North America

Alyssa Ten Eyck

[email protected]

Cell: +1 954 383 0460

Tel.: +1 954 359 3847



Europe, Middle East and Africa

Guy Douglas

[email protected]

Cell: +31 (0)657120121

Tell: +31 (0)202158109



China

Mirage Zhong

[email protected]

Cell: +86 185 1378 5180

Tel.: +86 10 6598 9988



Asia Pacific

Nilma Missir-Boissac

[email protected]

Cell: +65 9012 8428

Tel.: +65 6305 9955

SOURCE Embraer S.A.

Related Links

http://www.embraer.com


HOUSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Holly Hall Retirement Community (Holly Hall), opened in 1949 as Houston's first retirement community, has entered a long-term agreement with Houston-based Texas Microgrid LLC (TMG) providing Enchanted Rock's ("ERock") On Demand Electric Reliability service for Holly Hall's Houston location. Located just miles from the Gulf Coast, the Houston area is susceptible to significant weather events such as hurricanes, tropical storms, high winds and flooding and Holly Hall is taking measures to ensure that residents remain comfortable and safe when utility service goes down.

Prolonged power outages caused by hurricanes and floods could require an evacuation of the Holly Hall community, causing significant stress to the community both mentally and financially. Holly Hall experienced a 4-hour power outage earlier this year that spurred their Board of Directors to search for a backup power solution. They needed a flexible backup system that could meet future growth and regulatory changes while providing reliable backup power. Through ERock's proprietary natural gas microgrid design, TMG will provide full electrical reliability for Holly Hall's main campus, ensuring critical service is available to residents during all weather-related emergencies.

"We are very excited to partner with Enchanted Rock to provide back-up generation to our entire campus," said Amy Ward, Senior Director of Operations for Holly Hall. "Their reliability will ensure that we can provide seamless service to our residents during any outages, most especially due to inclement weather, and will also allow us to comply with the new CMS Phase I regulations. Hands down, Enchanted Rock is the perfect resiliency microgrid solution for Holly Hall."

ERock's On Demand Electric Reliability service allows customers to pay a small fraction of the installation cost of a standard reliability system. TMG owns and ERock operates the system for the life of the agreement, allowing the customer to focus their time and capital on their core business.

James Vasquez, Senior Sales Executive at Enchanted Rock, said "We are very happy to partner with Holly Hall in their efforts to better serve their residents by providing reliability that will power their campus in the event of an outage. Our microgrid provides Holly Hall with a backup solution that is clean, quiet, quick responding, affordable, and flexible to meet additional future demand."

About Enchanted Rock

Founded in 2006, Enchanted Rock, Ltd. builds and operates cost effective reliability microgrids that help companies manage physical and financial risk associated with electricity. In 2010 we became the first in Texas to provide utility grade backup power as a service. The company is responsible for the design, project management, installation, and commissioning of 237 MW of distributed generation, including 160 MW of Distributed Power Generation projects and 77 MW of customer reliability systems. The company currently has 118 MWs of customer reliability microgrids under construction. For more information on ERock's unique reliability service offering, please contact James Vasquez at [email protected].

About Holly Hall

Holly Hall Retirement Community is a unique, non-denominational Christian retirement community for persons 65 years of age or older founded in 1949. As Houston's first retirement community, Holly Hall has stayed true to its mission of "adding years to life and life to years" and is committed to sustaining independence and providing a rich quality of life for senior Houstonians. Since opening in 1952, Holly Hall has been home to over 1,200 residents. Holly Hall is a 501 (c)(3) organization and is dependent on support from churches, foundations and individuals to continue its commitment to keep the founders' vision alive. For more information visit www.hollyhall.org.

SOURCE Enchanted Rock, Ltd.
LOS ANGELES, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Energy Providers of Southern California are urging customers to conserve electricity and natural gas during this week's heat wave. The California Independent System Operator issued a statewide Flex Alert, calling for voluntary electricity conservation from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 20, and Wednesday, June 21. A Flex Alert is a call for consumers to conserve electricity during heat waves when power use outstrips electricity supply.

About 60 percent of the electricity generated in California comes from power plants that run on natural gas. With the limited availability of natural gas from the Aliso Canyon storage facility, there is less natural gas locally to produce electricity, particularly during high-usage periods, which could lead to power outages.

The Energy Providers of Southern California are urging customers to:

Set your AC to 78 degrees, and turn off if away. Reduce the temperature on your water heater. Turn lights off when you leave the room. Use a power strip and turn it off when the connected equipment isn't in use. Air dry dishes instead of using your dishwasher's drying cycle. Take short showers instead of baths, and use low-flow shower heads. Only run full loads of clothes and dishes. Wash clothes in cold water. Keep windows and doors closed when heating or cooling your home. Clean or change air filters regularly.

The Energy Providers of Southern California is a joint coalition of Southern California natural gas and electric utilities, in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission, California Independent System Operator, and local city governments. Over the past two summers, the Energy Providers of Southern California have supported conservation efforts through Conserve Energy SoCalan initiative to bring Southern California residents together to conserve energy, save money and reduce the risk of natural gas and electricity shortages during the summer months.

The Energy Providers are offering the following spokespeople for interviews on energy conservation this summer:

Anaheim Public Utilities, Mike Lyster, Chief Communications Officer: (714) 765-4497

Azusa Light & Water, George F Morrow, Director of Utilities: [email protected], (626) 812-5219

CAISO Media Hotline: (888) 516-NEWS, [email protected]

Glendale Water & Power, Atineh Haroutunian, Marketing Manager: [email protected], (818) 548-3381

SoCalGas, Melissa Bailey, Office of Media and Public Information: (213) 244-2442 or (213) 453-6537

About The Energy Providers of Southern California

The Energy Providers of Southern California is a coalition of the Greater Los Angeles region's natural gas and electric utilities, in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Independent System Operator, and local city governments. With 2017 expected to present challenges in natural gas availability, the Energy Providers of Southern California have united in a concerted effort to help the people of Southern California conserve energy and avoid shortages through educational programming.

Members include: Azusa Light & Water (ALW), Burbank Water & Power (BWP), California Independent System Operator (CAISO), City of Colton Electric Utility (CCEL), Glendale Water & Power (GWP), Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (LADWP), Pasadena Water & Power (PWP), Riverside Public Utilities (RPU), San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Southern California Public Power Authority (SCPPA), and the Southern California Regional Energy Network (SoCalREN).

SOURCE Energy Providers of Southern California

Related Links

http://www.conserveenergysocal.com


LONG BEACH, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MEDIA ALERT:

Who: Epson will be partnering with Lone Peak Labeling Systems, an Epson Premier ColorWorks Partner, to demonstrate its lineup of ColorWorks on-demand inkjet label printers at next week's Summer Fancy Food Show in booth #1883.



What: During the Summer Fancy Food Show, Lone Peak Labeling Systems will be providing a full demo of its "Labeler" solution on Epson's ColorWorks C7500G and C3500 on-demand inkjet label printers. Designed with a user-friendly integrated touchscreen system, the "Labeler" is a database management software that makes it easy for users to upload, manage and print the label of their choice when needed. In addition, an item can be weighed on the provided scale for printing labels with individualized weight and price. Booth visitors will have a chance to experience both of the printers in action, and learn the benefits of Epson's on-demand color label printing solutions in the food and grocery industry  from meeting the needs of high-volume environments to producing customized high-quality on-demand labels. The following printers will be on display: ColorWorks C7500G  Designed for demanding, high-volume environments that require high-print-quality prime labels, the C7500G offers advanced on-demand, durable, full-color glossy, and customized label printing with spot color matching in a quick turnaround time.

1, the C3500 inkjet label printer can produce up to 2,000 high-quality full color labels per day at a lower entry price point. ColorWorks C3500  Featuring speeds of up to four inches per second, the C3500 inkjet label printer can produce up to 2,000 high-quality full color labels per day at a lower entry price point.



When: The conference runs Sunday, June 25 through Tuesday, June 27 and the exhibit hall is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday and Monday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday.



Where: Javits Center, New York; Epson/Lone Peak Labeling Systems booth #1883.



Why: Developed by one of the largest label printer manufacturers in the labeling and packaging industry, Epson's ColorWorks labeling solutions deliver proven results for a wide range of on-demand, full-color labeling applications. Epson ColorWorks label printer solutions are ideal for those in the food and beverage industry looking for dependable, commercial inkjet printing with fast-drying, durable color inks. Epson works closely with industry-leading color label partners to ensure customers receive the ideal solution for their needs. Epson's partners can help their customers transition to an on-demand color labeling solution, enabling a reduction in total labeling costs by up to 50 percent by eliminating inventory of traditional black and white or pre-printed color labels and waste. For additional information, visit www.epson.com/colorworks.

About Lone Peak Labeling Systems

For over 27 years, Lone Peak Labeling has been providing the most cost-effective, dependable and user-friendly labeling solutions available. This has been a constant evolution in this rapidly changing world of technology.

Lone Peak Labeling is focused on helping to manage and organize product data and network the data throughout your organization. With the introduction of the Epson Color label printers, Lone Peak now offers their technology in color.

Lone Peak Labeling's software has been developed to meet all USDA requirements for food and product labeling and has an easy to use database for quick look-up and editing of product information. The PC based, user-friendly interface provides user control over all the variable data such as Product Name, Bar Codes, QR Codes, Pricing, Date/Lot Codes, Weights, Nutri-fact Panels and Cooking Instructions etc.

To learn more about Lone Peak Labeling, please call us at 801-975-1818 or visit www.lonepeaklabeling.com.

About Epson

Epson is a global technology leader dedicated to connecting people, things and information with its original efficient, compact and precision technologies. With a lineup that ranges from inkjet printers and digital printing systems to 3LCD projectors, smart glasses, sensing systems and industrial robots, the company is focused on driving innovations and exceeding customer expectations in inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics.

Led by the Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, the Epson Group comprises more than 72,000 employees in 88 companies around the world, and is proud of its contributions to the communities in which it operates and its ongoing efforts to reduce environmental impacts.

Epson America, Inc., based in Long Beach, Calif., is Epson's regional headquarters for the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. To learn more about Epson, please visit: epson.com. You may also connect with Epson America on Facebook (facebook.com/Epson), Twitter (twitter.com/EpsonAmerica), YouTube (youtube.com/EpsonAmerica), and Instagram (instagram.com/EpsonAmerica).

1 When printing 2.2-inches (56mm) width bidirectional mode, with banding reduction disabled in 360x360 dpi resolution.

Note: EPSON and ColorWorks are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other product brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks.

SOURCE Epson America, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.epson.com


HOUSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- While more than half of adults (51%) would be happy if their child chose a career in oil and gas, only 26% of Generation Z and 45% of millennials without a set career path find industry jobs appealing, according to EY's US Oil and Gas Perception poll. A majority from the younger generation also perceive oil and gas jobs as blue-collar, dangerous and physically demanding.

"Oil and gas companies need smart, capable employees now and for as long as the industry exists," said Deborah Byers, US Energy Leader, Ernst & Young LLP. "But younger generations' perceptions of oil and gas are leading them elsewhere. There are a couple of contributing factors to these views: a disconnect between what oil and gas executives think young people want from a career and what they actually want, a lack of awareness about the industry and the careers that power it, and a substantial gender gap. Young women's views on jobs in oil and gas are particularly concerning."

In fact, the industry's lack of job appeal among young people is largely driven by the degree to which young women find oil and gas jobs unappealing. According to the US Oil and Gas Perception survey, only 24% of women between 16 and 35 find industry jobs appealing while 54% of men in the same age range find them appealing.

Disconnect between executives and younger generations

Interestingly, younger generations actually hold fairly traditional career priorities. When asked which three considerations are the most important in selecting a future career, both Millennials and Generation Z, as whole, prioritized salary (56%), good work-life balance (49%), job stability (37%) and on-the-job happiness (37%).

In contrast, oil and gas executives expected the leading careers drivers for young people to be salary (72%), technology (43%), good work-life balance (38%), and the opportunity to try new roles (28%). They overestimated the allure of technology for young people while undervaluing work-life balance and stability.

Further, executives do not seem convinced of the industry's ability to deliver on some of the leading factors that attract young people to a career. While 92% of executives agreed salary is a strength of the industry, 37% said good work-life balance is an industry weakness and 61% said job stability is an industry weakness.

"There are a number of changes companies can make to improve their ability to recruit and retain quality employees, but overcoming this perception challenge will require much more substantial transformation," said Rachel Everaard, US Oil & Gas People Advisory Services Principal, Ernst & Young LLP. "Companies need to embrace the workforce of the future and evolve to better serve current and prospective employees."

Using technology to address workforce issues

Technology will play a crucial role in revolutionizing the industry's workforce  impacting both the number and type of employees needed.

For example, companies can implement digital automation to do a range of repetitive tasks that currently require staff time. In turn, they can quickly and inexpensively adjust to a smaller hiring pool by focusing their recruiting efforts on qualified individuals for key roles.

Oil and gas executives are already adapting to this mindset. Eighty-one percent of executives surveyed said the industry will need to develop an educated, highly skilled workforce over the next ten years, in contrast to a mass pool of employees.

"Each company's workforce and their strategy to efficiently deploy that workforce is a differentiator," Byers said. "At a time when energy abundance threatens a permanent oversupply and low prices, the oil and gas industry has a call to action to solve this perception problem for the sake of their future workforce and their success."

About the survey

To better understand the differences between reality and perception around oil and gas, EY conducted a nationwide poll of more than 1,200 consumers and 100 industry executives in the US in the first quarter of 2017. A total of 1,204 American consumers aged 16 and older were interviewed online nationwide, including: 1,004 Americans aged 19 and older and 200 Americans aged 16 to 18. A total of 109 oil and gas executives based in North America were interviewed online.

In the survey, net responses were calculated by subtracting the percentage of negative responses from the percentage of positive responses.

Study findings and illustrations can be found at ey.com/oilandgas/perceptions/talent. Additional analysis is forthcoming on the topics of climate change, regulation and tax reform.

About EY

EY is a global leader in assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services. The insights and quality services we deliver help build trust and confidence in the capital markets and in economies the world over. We develop outstanding leaders who team to deliver on our promises to all of our stakeholders. In so doing, we play a critical role in building a better working world for our people, for our clients and for our communities.

EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. For more information about our organization, please visit ey.com.

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member firm of EY serving clients in the US.

About EY's Global Oil & Gas Sector

The oil and gas sector is constantly changing. Increasingly uncertain energy policies, geopolitical complexities, cost management and climate change all present significant challenges. EY's Global Oil & Gas Sector supports a global network of more than 10,000 oil and gas professionals with extensive experience in providing assurance, tax, transaction and advisory services across the upstream, midstream, downstream and oil field subsectors. The Sector team works to anticipate market trends, execute the mobility of our global resources and articulate points of view on relevant sector issues. With our deep sector focus, we can help your organization drive down costs and compete more effectively.

For more information, please visit ey.com/oilandgas.

SOURCE EY

Related Links

http://www.ey.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FAIR Health, Inc. announced today that it has elected James Roosevelt, Jr. to its Board of Directors. Currently Counsel at Verrill Dana LLP in Boston, Mr. Roosevelt brings to FAIR Health decades of experience as a distinguished business and civic leader with expertise in many aspects of the national healthcare system.

"We welcome Mr. Roosevelt to the FAIR Health Board," said Stephen A. Warnke, Chairman of FAIR Health's Board of Directors. "At a time of unprecedented strain on our healthcare system, Jim's understanding of the issues that affect health plan members, professional and institutional providers, insurers, policy makers, researchers and others adds a uniquely broad-based perspective to inform FAIR Health's core mission of helping all of these stakeholders navigate the challenges of the healthcare sector."

"Mr. Roosevelt's career accomplishments demonstrate his continuing commitment to maintaining a broadly effective healthcare system and aiding individual consumers in navigating that systemissues critical to FAIR Health's mission," stated Robin Gelburd, President of FAIR Health. "As the needs of the populations we serve continue to evolve, and we seek to keep pace with innovative ways to package and share our claims data assets, his experience in both healthcare policy and administration will make him a valuable addition to our Board."

Mr. Roosevelt served for more than 10 years as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Tufts Health Plan. Former chair of America's Health Insurance Plans, he currently chairs the organization's Policy and Regulatory Committee. Previously, Mr. Roosevelt chaired the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans; he also served on the Board of the American Hospital Association and is a past president of the American Health Lawyers Association. In 2016, Mr. Roosevelt was a distinguished Visiting Fellow at Harvard's Institute of Politics at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 2008, President-Elect Barack Obama appointed Mr. Roosevelt to his transition team to co-chair a review of the Social Security Administration.

"I am excited to join FAIR Health's Board," said Mr. Roosevelt. "Healthcare today is at a crossroads. With its comprehensive, independent data repository revealing the way care is being delivered, and at what cost, FAIR Health is in a unique position to add clarity to the national conversation on health policy. It is a privilege to join the FAIR Health Board and to help guide this organization in its service to all healthcare system participants."

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health is a national, independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health oversees the nation's largest collection of healthcare claims data, which includes a repository of over 23 billion billed medical and dental procedures that reflect the claims experience of over 150 million privately insured individuals, and separate data representing the experience of more than 55 million individuals enrolled in Medicare. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a Qualified Entity, FAIR Health receives all of Medicare Parts A, B and D claims data for use in nationwide transparency efforts. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data productsincluding benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics, episodes of care analytics and market indicesto commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. FAIR Health has earned HITRUST CSF and Service Organization Controls (SOC 2) certifications by meeting the rigorous data security standards of those organizations. As a testament to FAIR Health's data security and validation protocols, its data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish and as an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Elisabeth Rosenthal's new book, An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth

Contact:

Dean Sicoli

Executive Director of Communications and Public Relations

FAIR Health

646-664-1645

[email protected]

SOURCE FAIR Health

Related Links

http://fairhealth.org


BEIJING, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fang Holdings Limited (NYSE: SFUN) ("Fang" or "we"), the leading real estate Internet portal in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2017.

First Quarter 2017 Highlights

Total revenues were $109.8 million , a decrease of 46.3% from the corresponding period in 2016.

were , a decrease of 46.3% from the corresponding period in 2016. Operating loss was $6.1 million . Non-GAAP operating loss was $4.6 million . A description of the adjustments from GAAP to non-GAAP operating income is detailed in the Reconciliation Statement following this press release.

was . was . A description of the adjustments from GAAP to non-GAAP operating income is detailed in the Reconciliation Statement following this press release. Net loss attributable to Fang's shareholders was $12.0 million . Fully diluted loss per ADS was $0.03 .

was . Fully diluted loss per ADS was . Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Fang's shareholders was $10.5 million . Non-GAAP fully diluted loss per ADS was $0.02 . A description of the adjustments from GAAP to non-GAAP net loss attributable to Fang's shareholders and fully diluted loss per ADS is detailed in the Reconciliation Statement following this press release.

was . Non-GAAP fully diluted loss per ADS was . A description of the adjustments from GAAP to non-GAAP net loss attributable to Fang's shareholders and fully diluted loss per ADS is detailed in the Reconciliation Statement following this press release. Net cash used in operating activities was $11.0 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared to cash flow used in operating activities of $67.2 million in the same period of 2016.

First Quarter 2017 Results

Revenues

Fang reported total revenues of $109.8 million in the first quarter of 2017, a 46.3% decrease from $204.6 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily due to the decline in e-commerce services revenue.



Revenue from e-commerce services was $39.9 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 69.5% from $130.9 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily due to the decreased transaction volume generated by a downsized self-owned and operated brokerage team.



Revenue from marketing services was $27.3 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 10.2% from $30.4 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily due to the continued impact of the tightened government policies affecting the real estate market in China.



Revenue from listing services was $34.0 million in the first quarter of 2017, an increase of 41.3% from $24.1 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily driven by the increased number of paying members.



Revenue from Internet financial services was $2.2 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 78.9% from $10.6 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily due to the impact of the tightened government policies affecting, in particular, the new home financial services and the decreased secondary transaction volumes of Fang's own brokerage services.



Revenue from other value-added services was $6.3 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 25.9% from $8.5 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily due to the re-classification accounting treatment of BaoAn's revenue. In the first quarter of 2016, revenue from other value-added services net BanAn's revenue was $6.3 million.

Cost of Revenue

Cost of revenue was $60.7 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 71.0% from $209.6 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily driven by the downsizing of the secondary brokerage team.



Operating Expense

Operating expenses were $55.2 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 47.4% from $105.0 million in the corresponding period of 2016.



Selling expenses were $23.4 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 62.0% from $61.6 million for the corresponding period of 2016, primarily driven by the decrease of advertising and promotion fee, as well as the sales commission fee.



General and administrative expenses were $31.4 million in the first quarter of 2017, a decrease of 27.7% from $43.4 million for the corresponding period of 2016, primarily due to the effective cost control measures.



Operating Loss/Income



Operating loss was $6.1 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared to operating loss of $110.0 million in the corresponding period of 2016, primarily attributable to the downsized e-commerce services and effective cost control.



Income Tax Expenses



Income tax expenses were $4.8 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared to income tax expenses of $5.2 million in the corresponding period of 2016.



Net Loss and EPS



Net loss attributable to Fang's shareholders was $12.0 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared to net loss of $113.7 million in the corresponding period of 2016. Loss per fully-diluted ordinary share and ADS were $0.14 and $0.03 in the first quarter of 2017, compared to loss of $1.20 and $0.24, respectively, in the corresponding period of 2016.



Cash



As of March 31, 2017, Fang had cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments of $542.6 million, compared to $590.5 million as of December 31, 2016. Net cash used in operating activities was $11.0 million in the first quarter of 2017, compared to cash flow used in operating activities of $67.2 million in the same period of 2016. The decrease in cash flows used operating activities was primarily due to a $101.7 million decrease of net loss as compared to the first quarter of 2016.



Business Outlook

The Company is undergoing adjustments to its transformations and is returning to open-platform strategy. Before these changes are finalized, the company will see a decrease in its top line revenue.



Changes of Board Members



Fang has appointed Mr. Jingbo Wang, partner of IDG, as a director to its board of directors (the "Board"), and Mr. Mingqiang Bi, managing director of China International Capital Corporation (CICC), as an independent director and a member of the audit committee of the Board. Mr. Shan Li, Mr. Quan Zhou and Mr. Sol Trujillo have recently resigned from the Board due to personal reasons. Fang thanks these former directors for their efforts and contributions to the company.



Conference Call Information



Fang's management team will host a conference call on the same day at 8:00 AM U.S. EST (8:00 PM Beijing/Hong Kong time). The dial-in details for the live conference call are:



International Toll: +65 67135090 Local Toll:

United States +1 845-675-0437 / +1 866-519-4004 Hong Kong +852 3018-6771 / +852 800-906-601 Mainland China +86 400-620-8038 / +86 800-819-0121 Passcode: SFUN

A telephone replay of the call will be available after the conclusion of the conference call from 11:00 ET on June 20, 2017 through 9:59 ET June 28, 2017. The dial-in details for the telephone replay are:

International Toll: +61 2-8199-0299 Toll-Free:

United States +1 855-452-5696 / +1 646-254-3697 Hong Kong +852 800-963-117 / +852 3051-2780 Mainland China +86 400-602-2065 / +86 800-870-0205 Conference ID: 38022810

A live and archived webcast of the conference call will be available on Fang's website at http://ir.fang.com.

About Fang



Fang operates the leading real estate Internet portal in China in terms of the number of page views and visitors to its websites. Through our websites, we provide e-commerce, marketing, listing, financial and other value-added services for China's fast-growing real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors. Our user-friendly websites support active online communities and networks of users seeking information on, and other value-added services for, the real estate and home furnishing and improvement sectors in China. Fang currently maintains about 100 offices to focus on local market needs and its website and database contains real estate related content covering more than 651 cities in China. For more information about Fang, please visit http://ir.fang.com.



About Non-GAAP Financial Measures



To supplement Fang's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), Fang uses the following measures defined as non-GAAP financial measures by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: non-GAAP operating income/(loss), non-GAAP net income/(loss), non-GAAP basic and diluted earnings/(loss) per ordinary share and per ADS, and adjusted EBITDA. The presentation of the non-GAAP financial information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, see the table captioned "Reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this press release.



Fang believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information to investors regarding its operating performance by excluding share-based compensation expenses and the related tax effects, realized gain on available-for-sale security, interest income and expenses, income tax expenses, and depreciation expense for the relevant period, which may not be indicative of Fang's recurring core business operating results or are not expected to result in future cash payments. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to Fang's historical performance and assist its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP financial measures is that share-based compensation, interest income and expenses, income tax expenses, and depreciation expenses have been and will continue to be a significant recurring expense that will continue to exist in Fang's business for the foreseeable future. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The table captioned "Reconciliation of GAAP and non-GAAP Results" has more details on the reconciliation between non-GAAP financial measures and their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.



Safe Harbor 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. Such forward-looking statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "is expected to," "anticipates," "aim," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "are likely to," "estimates," "may," "should" and similar expressions, and include, without limitation, statements regarding Fang's future financial performance, revenue guidance, growth and growth rates, market position and continued business transformation. Such statements are based upon management's current expectations and current market and operating conditions, and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond Fang's control, which may cause its actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the impact of Fang's transformation for its online brokerage business to a franchise model and the impact of current and future government policies affecting China's real estate market. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in Fang's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Fang does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law.



For investor and media inquiries, please contact:



Dr. Hua Lei

CFO

Phone: +86-10-5631-8661

Email: [email protected]

Ms. Joyce Tang

Senior Investor Relations Manager

Phone: +86-10-5631 8659

Email: [email protected]

Ms. Dana Cheng

Investor Relations Manager

Phone: +86-10-5631 8174

Email: [email protected]

Fang Holdings Limited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (in thousands of U.S. dollars, except share data and per share data)

ASSETS March 31, December 31,



2017 2016 Current assets: (Unaudited) (Audited)

Cash and cash equivalents 248,632 336,528

Restricted cash, current 211,201 211,084

Short-term investments 82,724 42,929

Accounts receivable, net 80,098 93,672

Funds receivable 29,139 20,483

Prepayment and other current assets 41,289 39,824

Commitment deposits 6,082 6,527

Loan receivable, current 37,087 41,966

Amount due from related parties 190 197 Total current assets 736,442 793,210 Non-current assets:





Property and equipment, net 542,822 319,897

Loan receivable, non-current 13,629 16,808

Deferred tax assets, non-current 5,172 4,915

Deposit for non-current assets 48,987 240,712

Long-term investments 232,411 231,880

Other non-current assets 4,282 7,391 Total non-current assets 847,303 821,603 Total assets 1,583,745 1,614,813







LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY



Current liabilities:





Short-term loans 200,994 212,734

Deferred revenue 136,420 129,765

Accrued expenses and other liabilities 291,859 318,540

Customers' refundable fees 26,725 28,630

Income tax payable 6,692 6,022 Total current liabilities 662,690 695,691 Non-current liabilities:





Long-term loans 75,144 65,190

Convertible senior notes 295,691 295,268

Deferred tax liabilities, non-current 70,081 70,424

Other non-current liabilities 417 415 Total non-current liabilities 441,333 431,297 Total Liabilities 1,104,023 1,126,988







Equity:





Class A ordinary shares, par value Hong Kong Dollar

("HK$") 1 per share, 600,000,000 shares authorized

for Class A and Class B in aggregate, issued shares

as of December 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017:

71,077,816 and 71,132,306, outstanding shares as

of December 31, 2016 and March 31, 2017:

64,012,758 and 64,027,989 9,161 9,157

Class B ordinary shares, par value HK$1 per share,

600,000,000 shares authorized for Class A and

Class B in aggregate, and 24,336,650 shares and

24,336,650 shares issued and outstanding as at

March 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016 respectively 3,124 3,124

Treasure stock (136,615) (136,615)

Additional paid-in capital 489,241 488,943

Accumulated other comprehensive income (77,717) (81,349)

Retained earnings 191,853 203,870 Total Fang Holdings Limited shareholders' equity 479,047 487,130

Non-controlling interests 675 695 Total equity 479,722 487,825 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 1,583,745 1,614,813









Fang Holdings Limited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (in thousands of U.S. dollars, except share data and per share data)









Three months ended



March 31,

March 31,



2017

2016



(Unaudited)

(Unaudited) Revenues:







E-commerce services 39,890

130,904

Marketing services 27,335

30,432

Listing services 34,043

24,086

Financial services 2,247

10,625

Other value-added services

and other services 6,288

8,576 Total revenues 109,803

204,623









Cost of Revenues:







Cost of services (60,726)

(209,643) Total Cost of Revenues (60,726)

(209,643)









Gross Profit 49,077

(5,020)









Operating expenses and income:





Selling expenses (23,411)

(61,597)

General and administrative

expenses (31,383)

(43,377)

Other income (403)

- Operating Income (loss) (6,120)

(109,994)

Foreign exchange gain (loss) 213

(35)

Other-than-temporary

impairment on available-for-sale

securities (951)

-

Interest income 2,724

3,513

Interest expense (3,841)

(4,610)

Government grants 767

2,600 Income (loss) before income taxes and noncontrolling

interests (7,208)

(108,526) Income tax expenses







Income tax expenses (4,809)

(5,174) Net income (loss) (12,017)

(113,700)

Net income attributable to

noncontrolling interests -

(2) Net income (loss) attributable to Fang Holdings Limited

shareholders (12,017)

(113,698) Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax





Foreign currency Translation 3,119

(1,153)

Amounts reclassified from

accumulated other

comprehensive income -

-

Unrealized gain on available-

for-sale security 513

(4,783) Total other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax 3,632

(5,936) Comprehensive income (loss) (8,385)

(119,634) Earnings per share for Class A and Class B ordinary shares

Basic (0.14)

(1.20)

Diluted (0.14)

(1.20) Earnings per ADS







Basic (0.03)

(0.24)

Diluted (0.03)

(0.24) Weighted average number of Class A and Class B ordinary shares outstanding:

Basic 88,364,639

95,075,704

Diluted 88,364,639

95,075,704 Weighted average number of ADSs outstanding:





Basic 441,823,194

475,378,522

Diluted 441,823,194

475,378,522











Fang Holdings Limited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results ( in thousands of U.S. dollars, except share data and per share data)



Three months ended



March 31,

March 31,



2017

2016

GAAP income from operations (6,120)

(109,994)

Share-based compensation

expense 1,539

2,075

Non-GAAP income from

operations (4,581)

(107,919)











GAAP net income (12,017)

(113,700)

Share-based compensation

expense 1,539

2,075

Non-GAAP net income (10,478)

(111,625)











Net Income attributable to

Fang shareholders (12,017)

(113,698)

Share-based compensation

expense 1,539

2,075

Non-GAAP net Income

attributable to Fang Holdings

Limited shareholders (10,478)

(111,623)











GAAP earnings per share for

Class A and Class B ordinary

shares:







Basic (0.14)

(1.20)

Diluted (0.14)

(1.20)

GAAP earnings per ADS:







Basic (0.03)

(0.24)

Diluted (0.03)

(0.24)

Non-GAAP earnings per share for

Class A and Class B ordinary

shares:







Basic (0.12)

(1.17)

Diluted (0.12)

(1.17) Non-GAAP earnings per ADS:







Basic (0.02)

(0.23)

Diluted (0.02)

(0.23)

Weighted average number of

Class A and Class B ordinary

shares outstanding:







Basic 88,364,639

95,075,704

Diluted 88,364,639

95,075,704 Weighted average number of ADSs outstanding:





Basic 441,823,194

475,378,522

Diluted 441,823,194

475,378,522











Non-GAAP Net income (10,478)

(111,625) Add back:







Interest expense 3,841

4,610

Income tax expenses 4,809

5,174

Depreciation expenses 5,557

5,045 Subtract:







Interest income (2,724)

(3,513)

Adjusted EBITDA 1,005

(100,309)











SOURCE Fang Holdings Limited
NEW YORK, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Highlights

 The global fast curing nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) market is expected to reach approximately USD 581.2 million by 2025, according to a new report conducted by Grand View Research, Inc.

 Favorable outlook for the automotive manufacturing sector in emerging economies such as China, India, and Mexico, as a result of increasing domestic consumption of four-wheeler vehicles, is expected to promote the market growth.

 Oil & gas is projected to foresee volume growth at a predicted CAGR of 3.7% from 2017 to 2025.

 The upscaling requirements of consumables and products for sensitive conditions concerning temperature and pressure fluctuations are expected to play a crucial role in increasing the activity about high-temperature molding.

 This trend is projected to promote the usage of fast curing NBR products in the form of hoses, seals, and O-rings in the petroleum industry.

The global fast curing nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) market is expected to reach approximately USD 581.2 million by 2025, according to a new report conducted by Grand View Research, Inc. Favorable outlook for the automotive manufacturing sector in emerging economies such as China, India, and Mexico, as a result of increasing domestic consumption of four-wheeler vehicles, is expected to promote the market growth. Furthermore, the rising demand for lightweight automotive materials with excellent mechanical strength on account of shifting preference from metal to polymers amid the growing importance of driver comfort and aesthetics characteristics is expected to keep high penetration of the application over the next eight years.





Oil & gas is projected to foresee volume growth at a predicted CAGR of 3.7% from 2017 to 2025. The upscaling requirements of consumables and products for sensitive conditions concerning temperature and pressure fluctuations are expected to play a crucial role in increasing the activity about high-temperature molding. This trend is projected to promote the usage of fast curing NBR products in the form of hoses, seals, and O-rings in the petroleum industry.





Further key findings from the report suggest:

 Global fast curing NBR demand was 132.4 kilo tons in 2016 and is expected to reach 181.6 kilo tons by the end of 2025, expanding at a CAGR of 3.6% from 2017 to 2025.

 Rising concerns over mold fouling during polymer processing in automotive, and oil & gas industry is expected to force the buyers to procure products with fast curing rates. However, increasing market size of silicone elastomers with good conductive properties and excellent mechanical characteristics is expected to pose a credible threat to fast cured polymers over the projected period.

 Disposable gloves are expected to foresee volume growth at a CAGR of 3.8% from 2017 to 2025. The introduction of disposable gloves in developed economies including Germany and the UK which are used on a single patient became very popular owing to the low risk of contamination. These products are based on polymers including latex, rubber, nitrile rubber, neoprene and vinyl which are capable of protecting patients and physicians from cross-contamination during medical examinations.

 Asia Pacific is expected to witness fastest revenue growth at a CAGR of 4.4% from a period of 2017 to 2025. The government of China announced funding of USD 1.1 trillion for infrastructure improvement in March 2015. This announcement is expected to increase the demand for fast curing NBR based sealants.

 Key industry participants include Lanxess, JSR, Kumho Petrochemicals and Zeon Chemicals. Product innovation and the establishment of a strategic partnership with buyers are expected to remain critical success factors for the industry participants.

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04946447/Fast-Curing-Nitrile-Butadiene-Rubber-NBR-Market-Analysis-By-Product-Hoses-Cables-Belts-Seals-O-rings-Rubber-Compounds-Adhesives-Sealants-Gloves-Foamed-Products-By-Application-And-Segment-Forecasts.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

http://www.reportlinker.com


LEXINGTON, Ky., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Fazoli's, America's largest fast casual Italian chain, announced today it will send one lucky guest on a free trip to Italy, as part of its "Naturally Italian" sweepstakes to celebrate the new, artificial ingredient-free menu. As of June 19th, Fazoli's food is completely clean and free of all artificial sweeteners, flavors, preservatives and colors from its entire food menu. In addition to the grand prize trip to Italy, which is valued at over $4,000, four runner-ups will receive free Fazoli's Spaghetti for a year.

Participants can register for the sweepstakes by visiting www.fazolis.com/naturallyitalian. Once registered, they will be provided with a link to share on social media. When others sign up using this link, participants will be automatically provided an additional entry into the sweepstakes.

As part of its "Naturally Italian" initiative to introduce a new clean food menu, Fazoli's worked closely with nearly 50 suppliers to guarantee that a total of 81 artificial ingredients, colors and preservatives were eliminated from its food. A few of the additives that were removed from menu items include Calcium Propionate, Nitrates and Sodium Benzoate from its proteins, salad dressings and signature breadsticks, as well as artificial flavors, colors and high-fructose corn syrup from all desserts. Several of Fazoli's menu items were already clean including all unfilled pastas, its signature marinara sauce and fresh salads. Fresh brewed tea will be clean, as well, and made with pure cane sugar.

With nearly 220 restaurants in 25 states, Fazoli's has refined its menu offerings to bring more flavor and customizable menu options to meet ever-changing consumer tastes and preferences. The brand has introduced a modernized menu using premium ingredients and offerings such as tableside grated parmesan, upgraded plateware, as well as new dishes such as "Create Your Own Lasagna," "Spicy Sausage Rigatoni," and "Brownie Gelato Sundae."

Fazoli's is proud to offer fast, fresh Italian to guests across the country. Connect with Fazoli's online at www.fazolis.com, "follow" @Fazolis on Twitter, "like" us on Facebook, and sign up to become a Fazoli's eFamily member by visiting fazolis.com/efamily.

About Fazoli's

With nearly 220 restaurants, Fazoli's is America's largest Italian fast-casual brand serving freshly prepared entrees, Submarinos sandwiches, salads and pizza. One of the New York Post's five breakout fast-casual restaurants and a Fast Casual.com Brand of the Year, Fazoli's franchisees are experiencing record sales growth.

Contact:

Julia Block

Fish Consulting

954-893-9150

[email protected]

SOURCE Fazoli's

Related Links

http://www.fazolis.com


HUMMELSTOWN, Pa., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Fine Wine & Good Spirits Premium Collection store at Hershey Square Shopping Center, 1158 Mae St., Hummelstown, will host a special tasting featuring four premium tequilas poured and discussed by Mike Betman, luxury product specialist for Beam Suntory, 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Thursday, June 22.

As a luxury product specialist in southeastern Pennsylvania, Betman works with some of the most distinguished names in Philadelphia, including casinos and top fine-dining establishments. A 10-year veteran of the spirits industry, Betman has experience in the retail and on-premises sectors of the business.

Betman will offer samples of the following premium tequilas to those 21 years of age and older:

Hornitos Plata Tequila (750 mL), Code 8496  $22.99 (save $3 )

Hornitos Reposado Tequila (750 mL), Code 6224  $25.99

Hornitos Black Barrel Tequila (750 mL), Code 7554  $29.99

Tres Generaciones Anejo (750 mL), Code 1993  $39.99

He will also sign pre-purchased bottles, answer customers' questions, and share stories, history, and interesting facts about his bourbons.

The PLCB regulates the distribution of beverage alcohol in Pennsylvania, operates more than 600 wine and spirits stores statewide, and licenses 20,000 alcohol producers, retailers, and handlers. The PLCB also works to reduce and prevent dangerous and underage drinking through partnerships with schools, community groups, and licensees. Taxes and store profits  totaling $15.1 billion since the agency's inception  are returned to Pennsylvania's General Fund, which finances Pennsylvania's schools, health and human services programs, law enforcement, and public safety initiatives, among other important public services. The PLCB also provides financial support for the Pennsylvania State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, other state agencies, and local municipalities across the state. For more information about the PLCB, visit www.lcb.pa.gov.

MEDIA CONTACT: Shawn M. Kelly, 717.303.8522

SOURCE Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board

Related Links

http://www.lcb.pa.gov/


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vancouver-based Fenix Energy Solutions Ltd. has taken another step towards its vision of creating the greenest cities across North America - one building at a time, by launching an Operations and Maintenance solution focused on harnessing the thermal energy of buildings.

Fenix Energy Launches Operations and Maintenance Solution, Turning Buildings into Sustainable Assets

Working with BC-based developers and utilities Fenix has been awarded three long term contracts to implement predictive Operations and Maintenance (O&M) solutions for high-rise Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. In effect, turning run of the mill HVAC systems into sustainable assets capable of harvesting, storing and trading energy.

"We've always believed that a building's HVAC system is so much more than 'just' mechanical infrastructure. It is the solution to a healthy bottom line and even healthier environment," commented Edward Smith, Managing Director, Fenix Energy. "Since 2010, we've been developing a Design  Build  Own  Operate service offering based on that belief. With demand growing for our O&M services, we know we're on the right track."

When asked about Vancouver as a launch site for the clean technology solution, Adrian Ryan, Director, Fenix Energy commented, "Vancouver is known for its ambitious Greenest City Action Plan, so it was an obvious choice to prove the solution. Fenix O&M services include preventative maintenance, emergency call-out and system optimization to ensure asset reliability, in addition to managing system expansion and upgrades. We're looking forward to helping more developers, municipalities and utilities leverage O&M to balance demand for smart cities, green buildings and a healthy bottom-line."

About Fenix Energy www.fenixenergy.com

Founded in 2010 with a vision to create the greenest cities across North America one building at a time, Fenix Energy is growing a reputation among developers and municipalities for leading the delivery of thermal energy solutions. The Vancouver-based clean technology company specialises in turnkey Design - Build - Own  Operate services. By upgrading the Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning systems of buildings (new or old), Fenix turns developments into Thermal Energy Assets that harvest, store and trade energy. Completely scalable, our assets work for a single building, multiple buildings within a development, or across a city. Fenix Energy's solutions create a win for the environment and the bottom line; making the business case for investing in renewables an undeniable one.

Media Enquiries

Linda Ryan, Operations Manager

E [email protected]

T +1 604.684.7241

Release: http://fenixenergy.com/fenix-energy-launches-operations-and-maintenance-solution-turning-buildings-into-sustainable-assets/

Kit: http://fenixenergy.com/news/media-kit/

SOURCE Fenix Energy

Related Links

http://www.fenixenergy.com


"Ai-jen is an extraordinary leader and a strong voice for large communities of people  domestic workers, caregivers and the elderly  whose rights are often challenged and under-protected in this country," said Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation. "We are thrilled that she will bring her intelligence, dynamism, and deep expertise fighting for social justice to our Board of Trustees."

Poo began her career in the mid-1990's as an activist in New York City, first as a volunteer at the New York Asian Women's Center supporting survivors of domestic violence in the Asian community, and later as organizer at the Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV). In 2000, building upon her work with Filipina domestic workers at CAAAV, she helped create Domestic Workers United (DWU), an organization promoting the rights and dignity of all domestic workers in New York. In 2010, Poo and DWU played an instrumental role in New York State passing the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, the first law in the country to guarantee domestic workers basic labor protections such as overtime pay, paid leave, and legal protections from harassment and discrimination.

Joining together with 50 other organizers and domestic workers, Poo co-founded the National Domestic Workers Alliance in 2007 as a national voice for the growing workforce of cleaners, child care, and elder care workers in homes across America. She then went on to co-found Caring Across Generations in 2011 to address the growing need for elder care solutions as the nation ages, while strengthening the growing care workforce.

Poo serves on a number of boards and has received numerous recognitions throughout her career. She is on the board of directors of MomsRising Education Fund, National Jobs with Justice, and Working America Education Fund. Poo has also been recognized by Newsweek's 150 Fearless Women, Fortune's 50 World's Greatest Leaders, and Time's 100 Most Influential People in the World lists.

She has received numerous awards, including a 2014 MacArthur "Genius" Award, the Open Society Institute NYC Community Fellowship, the Union Square Award, the Leadership for a Changing World Award, the Ernest de Maio Award from the Labor Research Association, the Woman of Vision Award from Ms. Foundation for Women, the Alston Bannerman Fellowship for Organizers of Color, and the Twink Frey Visiting Scholar Fellowship at University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women.

"It's a true honor to join forces with the Ford Foundation, a great partner with a continued commitment to quality work and rights for all people," she said. "I'm inspired to serve on its board and carry on their mission of advancing dignity for everyone."

Poo has a degree from Columbia University. She has honorary degrees from a number of institutions including The New School and City University of New York. She currently lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Ford Foundation trustees are elected by the full board and serve six-year terms. Trustees set broad policy relating to grantmaking, geographic focus, investments, governance and professional standards, and they oversee internal and independent audits. The foundation's trustees hail from four continents and have extensive experience in the worlds of higher education, business and finance, technology, law, government and the nonprofit sector.

SOURCE Ford Foundation

Related Links

http://www.fordfoundation.org


MELBOURNE, Australia, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- What does three-times Tour de France winner, an animation agency and a medical device all have in common? Five awards and screening at the '17th Annual Bicycle Film Festival' in New York, it seems.

Having recently emerged from receiving the Honouree Award at The Webby Awards - dubbed by New York Times as 'the highest honour of the internet', the animation 'Y3llow' will light up the screens at this year's 'Bicycle Film Festival' on 20-25th June 2017. Y3llow is an animated collaboration between Rhinomed, Turbine, Jumbla and three-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome.

The Festival screening will mark the sixth accolade the animation has earned, also previously winning honours at the Webby Awards, AEAF Awards, the W3 Awards, the Muse Awards, and the Horizon Awards.

The animation combines live-action footage of Chris Froome with motion graphics and includes a voiceover track recorded while the cyclist was testing Turbine during a training visit to Melbourne. When the spellbinding clip was released on Froome and Turbine's social media channels, the animation clocked up over 45,000 views within a few days!

Turbine, the breathing device used by Froome, is developed by Melbourne technology company Rhinomed Ltd. While it has been adopted by leading athletes for their training, racing and recovery; everyday exercisers are now finding that the benefits extend in ways they hadn't recognised.



"For me, I find the biggest benefit of the Turbine in the time trial stages and that whole build up to the warm-ups... Just for me to really focus on my breathing - get the maximum amount of airflow possible... and really just to calm my nerves," relates Froome.

During exercise, people tend to breathe through their mouths, pushing the cold, dry air directly to the lungs, meaning that the air is moistened to only 60-70% relative humidity. Nose-breathing, helps to maximise the intake of warm, filtered and humidified air - taking it to about 80 to 90% humidity[1].

Part of the research and development behind Turbine shows its ability to support and improve nasal breathing. Clinically proven to increase airflow through the nose by an average of 38%[2], Turbine is individually adjustable, making it available for people to use with deviated septums or obstructed nasal

passages.

As Froome relates in the video: "The Yellow Jersey represents pain and sacrifice in the present, for a legacy that lasts forever. You earn the shine of the Yellow Jersey in the darkest hours of training."

Media enquiries:

Mike Danielson

+1 612-386-0506

Follow us on Twitter @theturbinecom

www.theturbine.com

www.rhinomed.global

Images available.

View the animation: https://goo.gl/ZnFJzk

Animation credits:

Animation Studio: Jumbla

Client: RhinoMed

Product: Turbine

Creative Director: Oz Smith

Producer: Natalie Studdert

Animation & Design: Oz Smith & Kane Rowlingson.

Check out details of 'Y3llow's' awards here:

* AEAF Awards - Bronze in Web Viral

* W3 Awards - Gold in Online Video - Animation

* The Muse Awards - Platinum Winner for Animation

* The Webby Awards - Honoree for Animation

[1] Web mD - http://www.webmd.com/asthma/features/athletes-guide-exercise-induced-asthma

[2] Royal Victorian Ear and Eye Hospital (2003) Phase 1 'Proof of Principle' randomised cross-over study of the effect of a new therapeutic device and a marketed device on nasal airflow rates in normal, healthy adults. Protocol number: ASAP 1-03, August 2003.



SOURCE Rhinomed Limited
FAIRFAX, Va., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of General Dynamics (NYSE: GD), was awarded the Joint Effects Model (JEM) program contract by the U.S. Army Contract Command. JEM is the U.S. Department of Defense's primary web-based software system for modeling the effects of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) weapon strikes and Toxic Industrial Chemical and Material incidents. The single-award indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract has a ceiling value of $45 million with an ordering period of five years.

General Dynamics will provide support on JEM software development and technical documentation, field system upgrades and modifications, operations, program and systems engineering management, and maintenance and sustainment activities. Additionally, the company will serve as the integrator of JEM software. Work on the contract will be conducted in Middletown, R.I., and San Diego.

"General Dynamics has a highly experienced team who understand both the parameters and requirements of successful software-modeling development and implementation," said Dan Busby, vice president and general manager of General Dynamics Information Technology's IT Services and Solutions sector. "We will continue to provide the Department of Defense with enhanced modeling capabilities to measure the effects of CBRN weapon strikes and release incidents, giving them the situational awareness necessary to support rapid decision-making and risk mitigation."

For more than 40 years, General Dynamics has been a trusted partner for the Department of Defense, providing global support in helping U.S. Armed Forces achieve their goals, minimize risk and ensure readiness. Since 2013, General Dynamics has provided the Department of Defense with the ability to accurately model and predict the impact of CBRN and Toxic Industrial Chemical and Material incidents.

For more information about General Dynamics Information Technology, please visit www.gdit.com.

SOURCE General Dynamics Information Technology

Related Links

https://gdit.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- It also includes a detailed study of market drivers, trends, and restraints. The report also profiles the leading four vendors in the market.





Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04908899/Global-Cutlery-Market-Strategic-Assessment-and-Forecast.html





Scope of the report



The research report provides the analysis of key segments of the cutlery market by raw materials, price range, geography, country, and vendors.



It offers a comprehensive analysis of the revenue from the following segments:

By Raw Materials

 Metal Based

 Non-metal Based



By Price Range

 Low-end

 Moderate-range

 High-end



By Geography

 APAC

 Eastern Europe

 Latin America

 MEA

 North America

 Western Europe



The report provides the market size and forecast by product type for each region.



Cutlery Market- Market Size and Dynamics

The cutlery market can be categorized into utility products and designer products. These products enhance the aesthetics of kitchens and dining. The market is categorized into different price sections depending upon the demand and the perception.



This report considers three different categories based on pricing, which includes low-end, moderate-range, and high-end. The global cutlery market is expected to increase on account of several factors such as increasing number of household, growing property market, and rising disposable income. Analysts at Beige Market Intelligence expect that the global cutlery market to grow at a CAGR close to 6.7% during the period 20162022.



The metal based segment dominated the market in 2016 and is likely to dominate till 2022. While the demand for metal cutlery is high in developed economies such as the US and the UK, it is also gaining popularity in the other emerging economies. Similarly, the low-end segment is the fastest growing market in terms of price range and dominates the cutlery market with maximum market share.



Cutlery Market - Trends, Drivers, and Restraints

The research report provides a detailed discussion on various factors that are driving the market. It also a comprehensive analysis of several emerging trends and upcoming challenges of the market. In addition, it includes the Porter's Five Forces analysis and its impact on the global cutlery market.



With the increased number of cooking programmes on TVs, food festivals, and food magazines, there is an increasing interest in preparing different cuisines and special gourmet dishes at home. The group of culinary lovers is increasing and it is no longer limited to restaurants. Also, the professional cooking at home is increasingly getting popular among consumers as it opens venues for employment.



A master chef inspired cooks at home require some tools for food preparation such as kitchen knives sets. Hence, the increased popularity of professional cooking at home is one of the major factors that is going to increase the market growth during the forecast period. Furthermore, growing popularity of casual dining, increasing number of households, and rising consumer preference for social and fine dining are among the other factors driving the market growth.



Earlier, the market was limited to the use of stainless steel and plastics. However, there are number of advanced materials which are gaining popularity in the market such as titanium alloys, carbon fibers, new polyethylene, synthetic fibers, composites, and ceramic. The growing demand for advanced materials in cutlery is for the latest trends that are going to drive the market growth. Further, in order to stop the usage of plastic cutlery and increase the demand for sustainable solutions have resulted into the invention of edible cutlery, which is among the latest trends in the global market.



However, the growing environment concerns such as disposal of plastics and volatile prices of raw materials are among the major challenges the market is going to witness during the forecast period.



Cutlery Market  Geographical Analysis

The report includes the market analysis of different regions such as APAC, Europe, Latin America, MEA, and North America. It outlines major market shareholders and analyzes the market size of all the leading regions.



The cutlery market changes according to the geography. While the Western European countries such as Germany, Italy, and France are considered as the saturated market, Eastern European countries are still under the growing stage. The cutlery market in Western Europe is the highest revenue contributor to the global cutlery market. In the APAC region, which include China, is one of the dominating regions in the global cutlery market. China accounts for a majority of the market share in the region. The North American region is the third largest contributor and the demand is mainly coming from the US.



Cutlery Market  Key Vendors and Market Share

The report profiles major companies in the global cutlery market and provides the competitive landscape of the leading players. It covers the entire market outlook regarding the value chain operating in the market.



Major vendors profiled in the report are as following:

 BergHoff

 John Boos

 Picnic time

 Melange Home



Other prominent vendors are Picnic at Ascot, Chicago Cutlery, Big Tree Furniture, Ginsu, French Home, Henckels, Hampton Forge, KitchenAid, Safavieh, and Kyocera.



Why should you buy the report?

The report provides answers to the following questions related to the global cutlery market.

1. What are the current changes witnessed by the market and how are they likely to impact the market landscape in the coming years?

2. Which factors are expected to affect the market over the next few years?

3. What are the major emerging trends and challenges for the market over the next five years?

4. What is the market size and market forecast for each product segment and end-user type?

5. Which region is likely to witness the largest market share and what are the factors driving the market growth in that region?

6. Which are the key vendors in the market?

7. What are the main strategies implemented by the leading vendors to increase growth opportunities?



Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04908899/Global-Cutlery-Market-Strategic-Assessment-and-Forecast.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com





__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

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NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Healthcare Automation Market: Scope



This report offers calculated analysis of the global healthcare automation market, and the market growth forecast for 2017 to 2025. Competitive analysis of numerous market splits based on the application and end use of the market across different regional segments are covered in the scope of the report.





Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04950287/Healthcare-Automation-Market-Global-Industry-Analysis-Size-Share-Growth-Trends-and-Forecast.html







Increasing demand for Internet of Things is an important trend in the global healthcare automation market. With the help of this technology, gathering medical data of patients easily accessible. Moreover, it helps in improving the health by increasing its quality and availability of care and also decreases the costs. Additionally, this technology helps in remote monitoring and clinical care. Demand for wearable technology is increasing rapidly and is an important trend in the global market. Wearable technology is employed for collecting real-time data, continuous monitoring, empowering patients, and predicting and alerting patients about their health. Furthermore, wearable technology helps in tracking surgical recovery that is likely to present more detailed information to doctors and better understand patients' recovery time.



Global Healthcare Automation Market: Trends and Opportunities



Implementation of automation is anticipated to reduce the amount of labor intensive tasks such as lab tests and clinical diagnostics, thereby helping hospitals or clinics to save costs pertaining to the processes. Automation allows medical individuals to carry out other important tasks since it helps in performing repetitive tasks. This is estimated to help in carrying out the tasks efficiently. These technologies are employed to carry out different critical tasks that need accuracy and can be accomplished through automated machines, which again indicates reduction of overhead counts.



Moreover, automation decreases wastage of time as compared to manual labor. This factor is likely to have a medium impact during the short-term period. Increasing government investment is an important factor propelling the global market during the forecast period. Usage of smart technology in the market is propelling the demand for healthcare automation. Currently, the government is supporting implementation of automation in healthcare by providing funds and investments in the healthcare industries.



For instance, in Europe, government bodies, such as Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, are endorsing automated system for pharmacies. Government authorities are investing funds in research and development assisting innovation in the healthcare automation sector. Rising health issues is a major concern, globally, so to overcome such issues newer types of automation technologies have to be implemented in the healthcare automation section. Rising advancement in technology is another driving factor in this market. Technological advancement helps in developing energy efficient technologies that are likely to help in real-time data collection, continuous monitoring, predicting and alerting the increasing risk of possibly serious health issue, and alert the healthcare providers that an interference is required.



Global Healthcare Automation Market: Segmentation



The global healthcare automation market is bifurcated on the basis of application into therapeutic automation, lab and pharmacy automation, logistics and training automation and diagnostics and monitoring automation. In 2016, therapeutic automation market accounted for the highest market revenue share. Need for accuracy and rising cost of labor are some of the major factors bolstering the demand of this segment globally during the forecast period. Moreover, on the basis of end use the market is bifurcated into pharmacies, research institutes and labs, home care and others. Research institutes and labs held the highest market revenue globally during the forecast period. The geographical split of the global market encompasses North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America. North America holds the highest market share followed by Europe and Asia Pacific in 2016.



Key Players Mentioned in the Report are:



Some of the principal players in the global healthcare automation market are Siemens AG (Germany), General Electric Company (U.S.), Swisslog Holding AG (Switzerland), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (the Netherlands), Medtronic PLC (Ireland), Intuitive Surgical, Inc. (U.S.), Stryker Corporation (U.S.), Danaher Corporation (U.S.), Accuray Inc. (U.S.) and Tecan Group Ltd. (Switzerland) among others.



The market has been segmented as follows:



Healthcare Automation Market, by Application:



Therapeutic Automation

Lab and Pharmacy Automation

Logistics and Training Automation

Diagnostics and Monitoring Automation?



Healthcare Automation Market, by End Use:



Pharmacies

Research institutes and labs

Home Care

Others



Healthcare Automation Market, by Geography:



North America

U.S.

Canada

Rest of North America

Europe

U.K.

Germany

France

Italy

Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

India

China

Japan

Rest of Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

South Africa

U.A.E.

Rest of Middle East and Africa

Latin America

Brazil

Read the full report: http://www.reportlinker.com/p04950287/Healthcare-Automation-Market-Global-Industry-Analysis-Size-Share-Growth-Trends-and-Forecast.html



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



http://www.reportlinker.com



__________________________

Contact Clare: [email protected]

US: (339)-368-6001

Intl: +1 339-368-6001

SOURCE Reportlinker

Related Links

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The first phase of the Hicks For Life community outreach program contest entailed awarding a new roof to any veteran who submitted their story through the hicksforlife.com website by Memorial Day. Subsequent contests are Independence Day, and Veterans Day. The Hicks for Life community outreach program also actively supports the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

"We are honored and so appreciative for John's service to our country and are excited to present him with this contest award. It is our hope that we can continue to show our gratitude through doing what we do best," said Jason M. Webb, Vice Chairman, Hicks Roofing.

www.hicksroofing.net

770-432-1169

About Hicks Roofing

Hicks Roofing is a family owned and operated business. Since 1980, their long history of customer satisfaction and traditional values has been coupled with modern techniques and business acumen making them the top commercial and residential roofer in both the Atlanta metro area as well as Middle Georgia. Customer satisfaction is truly engrained in their everyday business behavior. Hicks Roofing puts their customers at the center of their business which allows them to give their customers an experience that is uniquely positive and satisfying. Their expertise is unrivaled in commercial roofing and residential roofing applications.

CONTACT: Jay Garrity

678-389-6443

[email protected]

SOURCE Hicks Roofing, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.hicksroofing.net


BOULDER, Colo., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Colorado's own Hippo Health today announced the launch of its on-demand medical care service, available across the Centennial State.

Hippo Health on Mobile

Drawing its name from the Hippocratic Oath, Hippo Health is a secure, affordable and easy-to-use telemedicine service that connects Coloradans with local, board-certified emergency physicians. Hippo Health subscribers have unlimited access to physicians from 8am until midnight. The service costs $19 per month for individuals and $37 per month for families of up to seven. Additional family members can be added for $5 per month. Health insurance is not required to use Hippo Health and users can pay with a flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA).

The company was co-founded by Drs. Kevin McGarvey, Dave Wiebe and Ken Rooks, who are Hippo Health owner-practitioners.

"Hippo Health is 100 percent focused on improving the patient / provider experience and connecting people with their trusted local doctor; nothing is outsourced," said Hippo Health CEO, Kevin McGarvey MD, MBA, FACEP. "For the past two years we've been running a pilot program serving more than 200,000 people in Colorado. And what we found time and again is that what people really want is to connect with a local, established expert physician when they need to. They want to know and trust who's at the other end of the line. We built Hippo Health specifically to meet that need here in Colorado."

Through the Hippo Health iOS or desktop apps, users can communicate with a local physician with live in-app chat, photos, video, or a phone call to receive diagnoses, medical advice and prescriptions in minutes.

The average cost of an emergency room visit is more than $1,000, and, according to a recent report, approximately 1.8 million Coloradans visit emergency rooms every year.

"Many of us at Hippo Health have young and growing families ourselves, and we understand that it can be a real challenge to know what to do and when to do it. Unfortunately, we also know that people are having to make suboptimal health decisions, like not visiting a doctor or emergency room when they probably should, strictly because of the cost," added McGarvey. "Hippo Health offers another option. We're there when you need us, right on your phone."

About Hippo Health:

Founded in 2016 by a group of Colorado physicians, Hippo Health is on a mission to improve the patient / provider experience and offer Coloradans high-tech healthcare with a hometown touch. Hippo Health's telemedicine service is easy to use, affordable and offers access to local, trusted board-certified emergency physicians who have been practicing in Colorado for years. Learn more about Hippo Health and sign up for a free trial at: http://hippohealth.com.

Contact:

Matt Bennett

[email protected]

303-909-0530

SOURCE Hippo Health

Related Links

http://hippohealth.com


CAMBRIDGE, Mass. , June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) Security today announced the results of a global study exploring the implications and effects of data breaches on today's businesses. Sponsored by IBM Security and conducted by Ponemon Institute, the study found that the average cost of a data breach is $3.62 million globally1, a 10 percent decline from 2016 results. This is the first time since the global study was created that there has been an overall decrease in the cost. According to the study, these data breaches cost companies $141 per lost or stolen record on average.

Analyzing the 11 countries and two regions surveyed in the report, IBM Security identified a close correlation between the response to regulatory requirements in Europe and the overall cost of a data breach. European countries saw 26 percent decrease in the total cost of a data breach over last year's study. Businesses in Europe operate in a more centralized regulatory environment, while businesses in the United States (U.S.) have unique requirements, with 48 of 50 states having their own data breach laws. Responding to a multitude of regulatory requirements and reporting to potentially millions of consumers can be an extremely costly and resource intensive task.

According to the 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study: Global Overview, "compliance failures" and "rushing to notify" were among the top five reasons the cost of a breach rose in the U.S. A comparison of these factors suggests that regulatory activities in the U.S. could cost businesses more per record when compared to Europe. For example, compliance failures cost U.S. businesses 48 percent more than European companies, while rushing to notify cost U.S. businesses 50 percent more than European companies. Additionally, U.S. companies reported paying over $690,000 on average for notification costs related to a breach - which is more than double the amount of any other country surveyed in the report.

"New regulatory requirements like GDPR in Europe pose a challenge and an opportunity for businesses seeking to better manage their response to data breaches," said Wendi Whitmore, Global Lead, IBM X-Force Incident Response & Intelligence Services (IRIS). "Quickly identifying what has happened, what the attacker has access to, and how to contain and remove their access is more important than ever. With that in mind, having a comprehensive incident response plan in place is critical, so when an organization experiences an incident, they can respond quickly and effectively."

The Cost of a Data Breach Not Down Everywhere

In the 2017 global study, the overall cost of a data breach decreased to $3.62 million  down 10 percent from $4 million last year. However, many regions experienced an increased cost of a data breach  for example, the cost of a data breach in the U.S. was $7.35 million, a five percent increase compared to last year. However, the U.S. wasn't the only country to experience increased costs in 2017.

Non-European Countries Experienced Increased Costs: Organizations in the Middle East , Japan , South Africa , and India all experienced increased costs in 2017 compared to the four-year average costs.

European Countries Experienced Most Significant Decrease in Costs: Germany , France , Italy and the U.K. experienced significant decreases compared to the four-year average costs. Australia , Canada and Brazil also experienced decreased costs compared to the four-year average cost of a data breach.

When compared to other regions, U.S. organizations experienced the most expensive data breaches in the 2017 report.

In the Middle East , organizations saw the second highest average cost of a data breach at $4.94 million  more than 10 percent increase over the previous year

Canada was the third most expensive country for data breaches, costing organizations an average of $4.31 million .

In Brazil data breaches were the least expensive overall, costing companies only $1.52 million .

Time Is Money: Containing Data Breaches

For the third year in a row, the study found that having an Incident Response (IR) team in place significantly reduced the cost of a data breach, saving more than $19 per lost or stolen record. The speed at which a breach can be identified and contained is in large part due to the use of an IR team and having a formal Incident Response plan. IR teams can assist organizations to navigate the complicated aspects of containing a data breach to mitigate further losses.

According to the study, how quickly an organization can contain data breach incidents have a direct impact on financial consequences. The cost of a data breach was nearly $1 million lower on average for organizations that were able to contain a data breach in less than thirty days compared to those that took longer than 30 days. Speed of response will be increasingly critical as GDPR is implemented in May 2018, which will require organizations doing business in Europe to report data breaches within 72 hours or risk facing fines of up to four percent of their global annual turnover.

With such significant cost savings in mind, the study revealed there's room for improvement with organizations when it comes to the time to identify and respond to a breach. On average, organizations took more than six months to identify a breach, and more than 66 additional days to contain a breach once discovered.

Additional Key Findings from 2017 Cost of a Data Breach Report

By Industry, Healthcare Breaches Most Costly: For the seventh year in a row, healthcare has topped the list as the most expensive industry for data breaches. Healthcare data breaches cost organizations $380 per record, more than 2.5 times the global average across industries ( $141 per record.)

Top Factors Increasing Cost of a Breach: The involvement of third-parties in a data breach was the top contributing factor that led to an increase in the cost of a data breach, increasing the cost $17 per record. Organizations need to evaluate the security posture of their third-party providers  from payroll to cloud providers to CRM  to ensure the security of employee and customer data.

Top Factors Reducing Cost of a Breach: Incident response, encryption and education were the factors shown to have the most impact on reducing the cost of a data breach. Having an incident response team in place resulted in $19 reduction in cost per lost or stolen record, followed by extensive use of encryption ( $16 reduction per record) and employee training ( $12.50 reduction per record).

Positive Impact of Resiliency Orchestration: Business continuity programs are significantly reducing the cost of a data breach. The overall average data breach cost per day is estimated at $5,064 in this year's study. Companies that have a manually operated Disaster Recovery process experienced an estimated average cost of $6,101 per day. In contrast, companies deploying an automated Disaster Recovery process that provides resiliency orchestration experienced a much lower average cost per day of $4,041 . This represents a net difference of 39 percent (or a cost savings of $1,969 per day).

Uncovering the Cost of a Data Breach

The annual Cost of Data Breach study examines both direct and indirect costs to companies in dealing with a single data breach incident. Through in-depth interviews with more than 410 companies in 13 countries or regions, the study factors in costs associated with breach response activities, as well as reputational damage and the cost of lost business.

"Data breaches and the implications associated continue to be an unfortunate reality for today's businesses," said Dr. Larry Ponemon. "Year-over-year we see the tremendous cost burden that organizations face following a data breach. Details from the report illustrate factors that impact the cost of a data breach, and as part of an organization's overall security strategy, they should consider these factors as they determine overall security strategy and ongoing investments in technology and services."

Download Full Reports & Register for the Webinar

To download the 2017 Cost of a Data Breach Study: Global Overview, visit https://www.ibm.com/security/data-breach/

Country-specific reports are also available for: the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, France, Brazil, Japan, Italy, India, the Arabian region (United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia), Canada, South Africa, and, for the first time, the Southeast Asian region (Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia).

To explore and interact with findings from the 2017 report, please visit the IBM Security Data Breach Calculator, an interactive tool that allows you to manipulate report data and visualize the cost of a data breach across locations and industries, and understand how different factors affect breach costs.

To register to attend the IBM Security and Ponemon Institute webinar "Understanding Today's Security Breaches: Ponemon Institute's 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study" that will be held on June 26, 2017 at 11:00 AM EDT go to https://ibm.co/2ssR8qz.

About IBM Security

IBM Security offers one of the most advanced and integrated portfolios of enterprise security products and services. The portfolio, supported by world-renowned IBM X-Force research, enables organizations to effectively manage risk and defend against emerging threats. IBM operates one of the world's broadest security research, development and delivery organizations, monitors 35 billion security events per day in more than 130 countries, and has been granted more than 3,000 security patents worldwide. For more information, please check www.ibm.com/security, follow @ibmsecurity on Twitter or visit the IBM Security Intelligence blog.

Media Contact

Kelly Kane

IBM Security Media Relations

+1-413-297-2668

[email protected]

1 Local currencies were converted to USD for the Global study.

SOURCE IBM

Related Links

http://www.ibm.com


BOISE, Idaho, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Members of the Idaho Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA) will visit Washington, D.C. this week to press the Idaho Congressional Delegation to act on key real estate issues, including housing finance reform, that directly impact the state's economy.

"I am confident in our ability to educate our representatives that housing reform is what's best for Idahoans," said Alison Gillespie, President of IMLA. "We elected our members on the condition that they would look out for us, and I am confident they will keep their promises. Idaho was hit hard by the 2008 financial crisis and housing finance reform presents a great opportunity finally to move forward."

Each year, the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) holds a National Advocacy Conference in Washington, D.C. This year's MBA conference will begin on Tuesday, June 20th and will include updates on best practices from industry leaders, engaging networking events, and an opportunity for attendees to speak with their Congressional representatives.

Idaho Mortgage Lenders Association members will advocate for, among other issues, housing finance reform. They will educate members on the importance of a strong housing finance system and ask them to consider MBA's recently released proposal, recommending a revitalized system that promotes competition, protects taxpayers, and ensures ample credit for all of Idaho's housing needs.

"We believe this bipartisan solution should be given the full attention it deserves," said Ryan Froehlich, Vice President of IMLA and Legislative Liaison. "As an association, we are steadfast in our belief that this is the right approach, and we will work as hard as we can to ensure that our time in Washington can help bring housing finance reform to the forefront."

To arrange an interview with Alison or Ryan, please visit our website at www.idahomortgagelenders.org

Contact: Emily Baker, (208) 806-1220

SOURCE Mortgage Bankers Association
WICHITA, Kan., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- JCB Laboratories (JCB) and Fagron Sterile Services (FSS), companies of Fagron North America, announce they have been awarded a contract with Premier Inc., a leading healthcare improvement company which operates one of the nation's largest Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO). Premier unites approximately 3,750 hospitals and more than 130,000 other provider organizations that represent over $50 billion in annual purchasing power. The agreement offers a robust and trusted line of ophthalmic preparations, including combination pre-operative dilation drops, antibiotics, mitomycin, retrobulbar blocks, and intracameral mydriatics to Premier members. Fagron has supplied millions of high-quality preparations for ophthalmic procedures since 2004.

"We are extremely pleased to partner with Premier to provide high-quality ophthalmic preparations to their membership," stated Rita Hoke, President of Fagron North America. "This partnership represents an important step forward in Fagron's strategic growth."

JCB and FSS provide sterile preparations that are produced with industry leading automation and quality control systems. Every batch is held in quarantine and undergoes rigorous quality control testing prior to release to customers. JCB and FSS are FDA registered and State Board of Pharmacy licensed.

About Fagron Sterile Services

JCB Laboratories (JCB) and Fagron Sterile Services (FSS), companies of Fagron, are FDA-registered 503B Human Drug Compounding Outsourcing Facilities located in Wichita, KS. As part of the only vertically integrated compounding pharmaceutical organization in the country, JCB and FSS are uniquely positioned to use the highest quality active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), produce and test preparations with confidence, and deliver cGMP compliant finished preparations with 24/7 pharmacist support. JCB and FSS specialize in ophthalmology, corticosteroids, operating room (OR) syringes, urology and dialysis preparations. Contact us today at www.fagronsterile.com.

About Fagron North America

Fagron North America is a group of innovative, scientific pharmaceutical companies that focus on optimizing and innovating pharmaceutical compounding. As the world's leading pharmaceutical compounding company, operating in 32 countries, we act locally and think globally. Fagron North America is fully integrated with facilities that specialize in 503A Compounding, 503B Human Drug Outsourcing, and providing pharmacists with high quality APIs, supplies, education and technical support. Fagron North America is headquartered in St. Paul, Minnesota. Experience more with Fagron. For more information, visit www.fagron.us/more.

SOURCE Fagron
TORONTO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jibestream, the premier indoor mapping platform provider, announced today support for GeoJSON open standard format maps, thereby extending clients the option to share Jibestream's high-fidelity indoor maps globally via Google Maps and Apple Maps.

Jibestream merges the location dimension into enterprise business applications by creating hyper accurate multi-dimensional maps. With Jibestream map conversion tools, clients now have control over which aspects of their spaces can be made available to the public via Google Maps and Apple Maps. This puts clients in full control of their maps, while also enabling them to leverage the Jibestream platform to act as a single source of truth for their publicly facing maps.

By defining map layers in Jibestream, converted maps can represent an unlimited array of interior components, including but not limited to elevators, stairs, washrooms, stores, rooms and even parking lots. The availability of these details allows Google Maps and Apple Maps users to seamlessly navigate between outdoor and indoor spaces with precision and ease.

"We have always recognized that a person's experience does not start at the front-door of a venue. In order to create a seamless journey, it's critical that there is a frictionless hand-off between outdoor maps and indoor maps," said Chris Wiegand, CEO and co-founder of Jibestream. "Providing venues the ability to share their up-to-date maps with Google and Apple offers the best experience for visitors while also giving venue operators the ability to manage ongoing changes in real-time and be in total control of what data is shared to third parties."

The Jibestream indoor mapping platform powers multiple use cases including experiential wayfinding, asset tracking, business intelligence, facilities management and more. More information on Jibestream is available at www.jibestream.com.

About Jibestream

Jibestream is an award-winning software company that specializes in merging the location dimension into enterprise solutions for real-time visual intelligence. The company's premier indoor mapping platform gives developers the tools to create tailored map-enabled web and mobile applications while having centralized management of all associated data. For more information, please visit www.jibestream.com.

Contact: Jody Shaffer, 416-502-9455, [email protected]

SOURCE Jibestream

Related Links

http://www.jibestream.com


COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nationwide's latest forward-looking barometer of the U.S. housing market health continues its positive outlook despite unsustainably strong house price gains weighing on affordability. The primary reason: housing demand. Household formation growth picked up sharply over the last quarter to move above the long-term average, and job gains remain solid.

"Household formation growth over the past year had a notable uptick this quarter over last, playing a big factor in driving up demand for housing and maintaining a strong market," said David Berson, Nationwide senior vice president and chief economist. "We are, however, keeping a close eye on affordability and especially house price appreciation as it is well above the long-term average."

According to Nationwide's Health of Housing Markets Report (HoHM Report), household growth is expected to remain above average during the next few years, increasing demand on an already limited supply of homes. In fact, while the National Association of Realtors just reported that national home inventory-sales ratio is around four months at the current sales pace, several markets are experiencing a month's supply of inventory turnover in half  and even a quarter  of that amount of time.

MSAs with the lowest housing inventory-sales ratios in 2017 Q1 are, in order: Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Wash.; Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, Colo.; Tacoma-Lakewood, Wash.; Boulder, Colo.; Fort Collins, Colo.; Portland-Vancouver-Hillsboro, Ore.-Wash.; Mankato-North Mankato, Minn.; Olympia-Tumwater, Wash.; San Francisco-Redwood City, Calif.; Sacramento-Roseville, Calif.; Fort Worth-Arlington, Texas; Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas; San Diego-Carlsbad, Calif.; Columbus, Ohio; and Oakland-Hayward-Berkeley, Calif.

The report, measuring data as of 2017 Q1, also found that:

Regionally, the rankings show positive and healthy housing trends in more than 75 percent of MSAs, suggesting sustainable expansion during the next year.

While markets with strong ties to the energy sector (including North Dakota , Texas , Louisiana , and Alaska ) continue to dominate the bottom 10 rated MSAs, the outlook for housing in these areas is slowly improving as energy production and employment recover.

The top two metro areas are in Pennsylvania, followed by two in Oklahoma. The 10 top metro areas in the index are, in order: Lancaster, Pa.; Scranton-Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; Fort Smith, Ark.-Okla.; Lawton, Okla.; Durham-Chapel Hill, N.C.; Pittsfield, Mass.; Toledo, Ohio; Springfield, Mass.; Philadelphia; and Vineland-Bridgeton, N.J.

Victoria, Texas, ended a run of four straight quarters for Bismarck, N.D., as the bottom performing MSA. Half of the bottom 10 MSAs reside in Texas. In order, the bottom 10 are: Victoria, Texas; Bismarck, N.D.; Texarkana, Texas-Ark.; Longview, Texas; Dallas-Plano-Irving, Texas; Houma-Thibodaux, La.; Anchorage, Alaska; Sherman-Denison, Texas; Lafayette, La.; and Asheville, N.C. The Dallas metroplex and Asheville are on this list primarily because of rapid house price appreciation and a resulting drop in affordability.

More information about the HoHM Report, including the methodology used, can be found at blog.nationwide.com/housing. The HoHM Report is released on a quarterly basis online and in print.

About Nationwide

Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's. The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto, commercial, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; banking and mortgages; excess & surplus, specialty and surety; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

Nationwide, Nationwide is on your side and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company.

NFM-16608AO

Contact:

Ryan Ankrom

(614) 249-5145

[email protected]

Jordan Fisher

(312) 240-2951

[email protected]

SOURCE Nationwide

Related Links

http://www.nationwide.com


CLEARWATER, Fla., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Vootu, The Energy Saving Group corporately located in Clearwater Florida, has recently announced their approval in being an authorized franchise. The green industry is growing, and now is the time to take advantage of this exciting and unique business opportunity. Energy management is a complex science, but Vootu has developed a proven methodology by creating cutting-edge technology that simplifies the process for businesses to become energy efficient.

Dave Watson, Vootu's CEO, has stated, "From the beginning, my passion for the environment and energy conservation has been the fuel behind Vootu. We have helped hundreds of businesses become energy efficient and we are thrilled to expand our services nationwide. Our clients include: Subway, Anytime Fitness, Harley Davidson, City of Inverness, Tampa General Hospital, APEC and many more. Our goal is to help as many businesses as possible become energy efficient by reducing their carbon footprint and energy costs. Expanding with franchisees makes this goal a reality."

The need for energy efficiency, clean energy is eminent right now. Everyone has heard about global warming, climate change, going green, etc., but many business owners believe there is no attainable and easy solution for their company to reduce energy costs. Vootu has a risk-free, guaranteed process that allows business owners to access the benefits of becoming energy efficient without a financial burden. It is vital for individuals to realize we all have the power to help our planet, and to take action to better our environment as opposed to waiting for a higher power to make a change.

Vootu is prepared to expand their brand by partnering with motivated individuals who are passionate about joining this fastest-growing industry. Everything regarding what Vootu does is trainable, so experience in the field of energy conservation is not a necessity. The key trait interested candidates must have is the interpersonal skill of being able to operate their own business by following a proven method for success. All Vootu franchisees receive extensive training along with continued support to ensure they are fully prepared to handle any task that occurs.

Since the beginning, Vootu has been leading the way in energy efficient technology. With years of experience, in-house engineers and a dedicated support staff, Vootu's growth is limitless. This exciting franchise opportunity is different compared to anything else on the market. If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, check out www.vootuworldfranchise.com or call 727.314.8656.

Contact:

Alyssa Martin

727.314.8656

[email protected]

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

image3.jpg

SOURCE Vootu, The Energy Saving Group
WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- KaBOOM!  the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids the childhood they deserve through great, safe places to play  today announced several new board members and board leadership succession plans.

In July, three talented leaders will join the KaBOOM! board, adding to the already diverse set of skills and expertise. Michael Araten, President and CEO of K'NEX Brands, brings play insights from the corporate toy sector, with valuable understanding of the connection between play and STEM learning opportunities. Colin O'Donnell, Chief Innovation Officer of Intersection (a Google/Alphabet company), and Eric Rothman, President of HR&A Advisors, are leaders and innovators on the role of cities in enhancing quality of life in an equitable way and will be instrumental in guiding KaBOOM! as it continues to advance public-private partnerships with cities across the US.

"We are incredibly fortunate to have the broad range of knowledge and insights represented on the KaBOOM! board. Michael, Colin and Eric will help us deepen and extend our impact. They also share our current board members' unwavering commitment to putting the needs of kids and families first, including the need for great, safe places to play," said James Siegal, CEO of KaBOOM!.

In addition to the new board appointments, two KaBOOM! board members will move into leadership positions in November. Stephanie Galliard White, VP of Human Resources for Westrock, will serve as Board Chair. Stephanie's commitment to and deep understanding of how KaBOOM! mobilizes communities and engages volunteers from all walks of life are invaluable. Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop, will serve as Vice Chair. Sharon brings extraordinary corporate leadership experience with premier kid-focused brands.

KaBOOM! Board Chair Ron Lumbra, Regional Leader, Americas for Heidrick & Struggles, whose final term as chair expires in November, will remain on the Board. Lumbra said, "I couldn't be more pleased with the way the KaBOOM! Board is growing and evolving. And as demonstrated by our successful CEO transition two years ago, we place a high value on thoughtful succession planning. I'm thrilled Stephanie and Sharon will lead the KaBOOM! board and staff into our next phase of impact."

"Serving on the KaBOOM! board is one of the best volunteer leadership experiences I've ever had. I'm honored to continue to provide the strategic guidance and thoughtful counsel James and the staff rely on from the board. I'm excited for the future of KaBOOM!, and I'm ready to help lead the team to even greater heights," said White.

Since its founding in 1996, KaBOOM! has pioneered innovative public-private partnerships that have engaged over one million corporate and community volunteers in building, improving, and opening safe, engaging, and innovative playspaces across the country, providing kids in need with the opportunity to play, no matter their zip codes.

About KaBOOM!

KaBOOM! is the national non-profit dedicated to giving all kids  particularly those growing up in poverty in America  the childhood they deserve filled with balanced and active play, so they can thrive. Since 1996, KaBOOM! has collaborated with partners to build, open, or improve more than 16,700 playgrounds, engaged more than one million volunteers, and served 8.5 million kids. KaBOOM! creates great places to play, inspires communities to promote and support play, and works to drive the national discussion about the importance of play in fostering healthy and productive lives. To learn why #playmatters and why cities are embracing #playability: visit kaboom.org or join the conversation at twitter.com/kaboom or facebook.com/kaboom.

Contact: Tamara Grider, [email protected], 202-464-6196

SOURCE KaBOOM!

Related Links

http://kaboom.org


While pursuing his undergraduate degree, Johnson was never satisfied with the experience and had always felt he was attending school more so to please others rather than himself. Even after he graduated from Virginia State in 2003, Johnson was aware of the limitations of only having a bachelor's degree and knew that one day he would like to further his education.

Ashford's helpful staff and resources made the university appealing to Johnson. "Ashford definitely wanted to set you up in the best possible scenario to be successful, and my enrollment advisor was excellent in helping me to achieve my goal," said Johnson. "We spoke via email and phone once a week to discuss my career goals and objectives. She also helped me with my resume as well as my job interview skills."

When Johnson received his degree from Ashford, he felt a sense of personal accomplishment and increased confidence. Johnson not only landed a new job with his MBA degree, but also increased knowledge from his Ashford experience.

"It was so emotional for me when I received my MBA from Ashford because at that moment, I knew that I had done something for me," said Johnson. "I worked extremely hard to get this degree, and it finally paid off."

To read more on Kelvin Johnson's Ashford student success story, visit https://www.ashford.edu/online-learning-experience/student-success-stories/kelvin-johnson.

About Ashford University

Where heritage meets innovation  that's Ashford University. At Ashford, students discover relevant degree programs, innovative technology, and cherished tradition. Ashford offers associates, bachelor's, and master's degree programs online, allowing students to balance life by providing the flexibility to do school work anywhere, anytime. For more information, please visit www.ashford.edu, www.facebook.com/ashforduniversity, www.twitter.com/AshfordU, or call Marianne Perez, Media Relations Manager, at 858.513.9240 x11636.

SOURCE Ashford University

Related Links

http://www.ashford.edu


The company's official entry into the insurance sector comes after extensive field tests and insurance specific improvements designed together with customers and industry leaders such as Hancock Claims Consultants, AMAT Roofing, CRU Adjusters and Superstorm Restoration.

"The easy-to-use and fully-integrated Kespry Drone Platform enables major industrial companies to collect more accurate information, more frequently, efficiently and safely. This drives greater cost savings and business value," said George Mathew, CEO and chairman of Kespry. "Now, insurers can dramatically improve the policyholder experience through shortened claim cycles while also reducing loss adjustment expenses and minimizing liabilities and risks for field staff."

The move into the insurance industry comes as the company makes significant strides in improving its cloud platform. In addition to significant upgrades in scalability, security and reliability, the platform also provides the mapping, rendering, data analysis and analytics required in comprehensive aerial intelligence applications.

The company also announced it is opening its architecture to third-party software providers to further extend its insurance capabilities and allow for easy integration with existing enterprise applications. To build and grow its ecosystem, Kespry has established a foundation for providing APIs for integration with third parties. This will also provide for bi-directional data sharing between Kespry and other enterprise systems.

Kespry's field-to-finish experience is the only fully automated aerial intelligence solution designed to improve the property and casualty roof claim cycle. It provides claims adjusters and other insurance professionals with instant access to accurate data that is automatically processed and securely stored for immediate use. Data captured by the Kespry Drone delivers high-resolution imagery with 1 mm per pixel resolution, which is capable of detecting granule loss and physical damage. Field and desk adjusters have access to comprehensive roof dimensions and automated damage detection, with onsite availability of rooftop imagery made possible in less than 10 minutes.

One of the most powerful aspects of the new Kespry Cloud is the sophisticated machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence designed to automatically identify hail damage. Customized wireframes are quickly produced for the entire roof and automated dimension reports are instantly available for high accuracy measurements. Insurers can then seamlessly move data into common estimate generation software and claims management systems to complete the claims process.

Kespry is the market's only provider of a fully-integrated drone platform designed from the ground up for use in demanding industrial environments. The company has a proven track record for its work with more than 200 customers in the aggregates, mining, architecture, engineering and construction (A/E/C) industries around the world.

About Kespry

Based in Menlo Park, Calif., Kespry is the leading aerial intelligence platform provider that is transforming how organizations capture, analyze and share business insights. Kespry develops drone hardware, software and cloud services that deliver a seamless, accurate and highly efficient solution from field to finish. Founded in 2013, Kespry serves customers across North America, Europe and Australia such as Fluor, Lehigh Hanson/Heidelberg, Sully-Miller/Colas USA, Terus Construction, Webcor, Whitaker Contracting and Woolpert.

Media Contact:

Steve Smith

[email protected]

+1.206.686.6426

SOURCE Kespry

Related Links

http://kespry.com


DALLAS, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) today announced that Jeffrey Melucci has been elected by the company's Board of Directors as senior vice president and general counsel, effective September 1, 2017. Reporting to Chairman and CEO Thomas J. Falk, Melucci will be responsible for all legal and governmental affairs for the company and will serve on the company's Executive Leadership Team.

Melucci succeeds Tom Mielke who will retire from the same role after 29 years with the company and 10 years leading the legal function.

"We are fortunate to have someone of Jeff's experience and talent to lead our legal function. He is a proven change-oriented leader who has demonstrated abilities across our businesses," said Falk.

Melucci, who joined the company in 2013, has led Kimberly-Clark's global legal operations, served as the company's Corporate Secretary, and been responsible for leading the international legal team. Prior to joining Kimberly-Clark, Melucci held a series of general counsel and operational roles for General Electric. He has more than 15 years of global leadership experience in driving winning business strategies, including leading extensive departmental transformations to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of global legal functions, leading complex M&A transactions and regulatory matters, directing governmental affairs, and providing support to the board on a host of governance and other complex matters facing the company.

Melucci earned a bachelor's degree with honors from The Ohio State University, and earned a J.D. from the University of Cincinnati where he was managing editor of the law review. He also completed Harvard Business School's Program for Leadership Development.

Mielke, who joined Kimberly-Clark in 1988, will retire in early 2018 following a transition period.

"Tom has been an outstanding legal professional and leader throughout his career at K-C," added Falk. "I am grateful for his commitment to developing an excellent legal team and advocating for team member diversity, inclusion and empowerment."

During his 29-year career with Kimberly-Clark, Mielke held a range of legal leadership positions, including chief patent counsel and chief counsel for the company's North Atlantic consumer business prior to being named general counsel in 2007. As the leader of the company's legal organization, he not only served as a strategic advisor with a focus on driving value for the business but also championed the company's diversity initiatives.

About Kimberly-Clark

Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's population trust K-C's brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in 80 countries. To keep up with the latest K-C news and to learn more about the Company's 145-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

[KMB-C]

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110928/DA76879LOGO

SOURCE Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Related Links

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WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Larry Klayman, the founder of both Judicial Watch and now Freedom Watch, and a former federal prosecutor, announced that he and his client whistleblower Dennis Montgomery have moved for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in their lawsuit against former FBI Director James Comey, the FBI itself, and the NSA and CIA, among other defendants. The underlying lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by Freedom Watch is styled Montgomery and Klayman v. Comey et. al, Civil Action Number 1:17-cv-01074 (RJL).

The case involves allegations that James Comey, in concert with the other defendants, buried an FBI investigation, caused by whistleblower Dennis Montgomery, a former NSA/CIA contractor, into mass illegal surveillance on not just President Trump, but the chief justice of the Supreme Court, other justices, 156 judges, and even Klayman. Montgomery came forward to Comey years ago with 47 hard drives containing classified information, under grant of immunity, and even was interviewed under oath by FBI agents Walter Giardina and William Barnett. Despite this, the complaint and the motion alleges that Comey buried the investigation and thus obstructed justice, since as recently alleged and revealed by Circa News and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, the FBI was engaged in this illegal and unconstitutional surveillance under Comey, allegedly along with the intelligence agencies.

The motion for TRO and preliminary injunction filed late last night asks the court to order a temporary halt to this continuing illegal surveillance, as well as preserve the evidence which Montgomery provided to Comey and the FBI. The complaint and the motion can be found at www.freedomwatchusa.org.

Klayman had this to say: "Having asked the intelligence and judiciary committees in Congress to investigate the alleged obstruction of justice, and their having not taken action to date, Mr. Montgomery and I, on behalf of ourselves had to take matters into our own legal hands. This mass surveillance, which threatens the privacy of all innocent Americans, must be ordered to cease forthwith, as it endangers our democracy and our republic."

For further information, contact Freedom Watch at [email protected] or (424) 274 2579.

Contact: Adrienne Mazzone 561-750-9800 x2270 [email protected]

SOURCE Freedom Watch

Related Links

http://www.freedomwatchusa.org


WHITTIER, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Kwan family (Dr. Stephen Kwan and Mrs. Alice Kwan) donated $500,000 to Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU,) demonstrating a strong commitment to SCU's mission of redefining healthcare and healthcare education. The donation will fund The Kwan Care and Love Scholarship, which will provide assistance to exceptional students entering the university's College of Eastern Medicine.

The Kwan Care and Love Scholarship has two significant outcomes:

Creates a Path for Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner Education  the transformative scholarship will provide a minimum of 50 percent tuition assistance to deserving students entering SCU's College of Eastern Medicine. The groundbreaking scholarship provides access to those who might not otherwise have had the opportunity to pursue careers as Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners due to federal loan limits and the burden of student debt. Allows Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners to Learn at an Optimal Level  scholarship recipients will be granted a paid trip to Shandong , Chinawhere they will participate in an externship, learning directly from master Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners in a healthcare model that embraces their contribution to patient health.

The Kwan family first became interested in contributing to SCU after learning of the university's aim to promote Traditional Chinese Medicine education in the United States. While Dr. Stephen Kwan, a respected cardiologist, does not practice Traditional Chinese Medicine, he has a strong interest in its philosophy of whole person health. Mrs. Kwan, a successful real estate professional, has a growing interest in Traditional Chinese Medicine. They both strongly believe in giving back and awarding academic excellence.

Before visiting SCU, the Kwan Family was under the impression that SCU only offered Traditional Chinese Medicine educational opportunities. After touring the campus, and meeting with students, faculty, and staffDr. and Mrs. Kwan were surprised to learn of SCU's unique integrative healthcare educational model that bridges Eastern and Western medicine. Dr. Kwan described the university's vision for redefining healthcare and healthcare education as "impressive and unique." Inspired by SCU's work, the Kwan family made a commitment to partner with the university in carrying out its vision for the College of Eastern Medicine. Dr. and Mrs. Kwan stated, "Changing healthcare means changing how students entering health professions are educated. We are honored that we can help lead this change with SCU. "

Dr. John Scaringe added, "We are extremely grateful for the generous support of the Kwan family. By creating a direct pathway for students to become Traditional Chinese Medicine practitionersthe Kwan family is taking an active leadership role in transforming healthcare. "

About Southern California University of Health Sciences:

Founded in 1911, Southern California University of Health Sciences is located in Whittier, California. SCU, one of the nation's leading universities for integrative health, is comprised of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic (LACC), College of Eastern Medicine, and College of Science and Integrative Health. A pioneer in interprofessional, integrative health education, SCU offers full-time programs leading students to successful and significant careers in patient care. For over a century, SCU faculty has drawn upon their experience and their passion for teaching to educate practitioners who are transforming the face of healthcare around the world. For information on SCU, please visit http://www.scuhs.edu.

SOURCE Southern California University of Health Sciences

Related Links

http://www.scuhs.edu


SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

The global lecithin market is expected to reach USD 1.49 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. The growing awareness about natural emulsifiers and its rising demand in the manufacturing of food products is expected to drive the market growth.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160524/371361LOGO )

The emulsification and lubricant properties exhibited by lecithin coupled with eco-friendly nature have increased its importance. The product has numerous applications in the pharmaceutical, food & beverage, animal feed, paints, and industrial sectors. The growing demand for the product in chocolate & confectionery, margarine & spreads, bakery products, and beverages is anticipated to propel the market growth.

The demand in Europe is increasing rapidly owing to the presence of a large number of sunflower lecithin manufacturing facilities in the region. The market in Asia Pacific is anticipated to grow rapidly on account of growing number of oilseed crushing facilities coupled with the prospects of exporting lecithin to Europe. The availability of non-GMO soybean in the region is expected to have a positive impact on the market growth.

Browse full research report with TOC on "Lecithin Market Analysis By Source (Soybean, Rapeseed, Sunflower), By Application (Convenience Foods, Bakery, Confectionary, Pharmaceuticals, Animal Feed, Industrial), By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2014 - 2025" at: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/lecithin-market

Further key findings from the report suggest:

Sunflower lecithin is the fastest growing product segment and expected to register a CAGR of 7.6% from 2017 to 2025 owing to decrease in soybean lecithin demand

Bakery application segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.6% from 2017 to 2025 on account of the growing demand for sugar-free bakery products

Industrial application segment is projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.0% from 2017 to 2025 owing to the growing demand for products derived from natural sources

North America accounted for 28.5% of the global market share in 2016 owing to the presence of a large number of soybean fields in the U.S. and Canada

accounted for 28.5% of the global market share in 2016 owing to the presence of a large number of soybean fields in the U.S. and The market value of lecithin in the Central & South America region is expected to grow to USD 0.16 billion in 2025 backed by the growing consumption in Brazil and Argentina

region is expected to grow to in 2025 backed by the growing consumption in and The market is highly fragmented in nature with the presence of a large number of small and large manufacturers

Manufacturers have focused their research efforts on extracting lecithin from sources such as rice and maize to keep up with the growing demand

Browse related reports by Grand View Research:

Vitamin D Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/vitamin-d-market



European Zwieback Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/european-zwieback-market



Fortified Foods Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/fortified-foods-market



Spices Market - http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/spices-market

Grand View Research has segmented the global lecithin market on the basis of source, application, and region:

Source Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Soy Sunflower Rapeseed Others

Application Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) Convenience Foods Bakery Confectionary Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care Animal Feed Industrial Others

Regional Outlook (Volume, Kilo Tons; Revenue, USD Million; 2014 - 2025) North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany France Asia Pacific China India Central & South America Brazil Argentina Middle East & Africa



Read Our Blog: http://www.grandviewresearch.com/blogs/food-and-beverages

About Grand View Research

Grand View Research, Inc. is a U.S. based market research and consulting company, registered in the State of California and headquartered in San Francisco. The company provides syndicated research reports, customized research reports, and consulting services. To help clients make informed business decisions, we offer market intelligence studies ensuring relevant and fact-based research across a range of industries, from technology to chemicals, materials and healthcare.

Contact:

Sherry James

Corporate Sales Specialist, USA

Grand View Research, Inc

Phone: 1-415-349-0058

Toll Free: 1-888-202-9519

Email: [email protected]



Web: http://www.grandviewresearch.com

SOURCE Grand View Research, Inc.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lithium Technologies today announced a series of significant enhancements to Lithium Social Media Management that include: integrations with ad automation tools Brand Networks, Nanigans, and Smartly to give marketers the ability to manage paid and organic content together; integration with social listening platforms Netbase and Synthesio that empower marketers to make intelligent decisions; all-new competitive benchmarking; and sophisticated mobile publishing capabilities for Android and iOS.

Recognized as a Leader in "The Forrester Wave: Social Media Management Solutions, Q2 2017," Lithium is expanding its next-generation product to help brands centralize and scale their social marketing and engagement efforts.

"Marketers know they must provide better digital customer experiences, but it's becoming more and more challenging with the multitude of digital channels, the fragmentation of tools to manage those channels, and increased noise from competitors," said Rob Tarkoff, president and CEO at Lithium. "With this next generation of our social media management product we want to make things simple for brands to manage digital at scale within one unified, integrated platform."

The specifics:

Ads integrations  with paid ad automation tools Brand Networks, Nanigans, and Smartly, Lithium now supports the most ads integrations on the market, giving marketers more choice in their preferred ads partner and enabling them to schedule and analyze paid ads alongside organic content.

Listening integrations  with social intelligence platforms Netbase and Synthesio, Lithium allows marketers to sharpen their campaign strategies, act upon trends and intelligence, and better manage brand health.

Social Impact Ranking  new competitive benchmarking capabilities allow marketers to measure how they stack up against competitors in areas like influence, sentiment, audience and more.

Comprehensive mobile publishing  available on Android and iOS, Lithium's mobile app offers sophisticated capabilities, such as easy live-tweeting and the industry's only way to auto-schedule posts for the optimal time of day.

Partner quotes:

"Our customers have longed for a partnership that replaces the siloed approach to data gathering with a holistic social media strategy," said Todd Taplin, CEO of Brand Networks. "Interoperability like this is key to achieving next-level efficiency and performance. Our best-in-class social advertising platform, paired with Lithium's engagement platform, will streamline how marketers drive real business results through social."

"Top brands and agencies deliver superior customer experiences by listening to their customersacross channels globallyand acting on it in real time," said Peter Caswell, CEO of Netbase. "Our strategic partnership with Lithium marries leading intelligence capabilities with in-the-moment, strategic action, that drives immediate impact to the business."

Additional Information:

For more information on how brands are delivering awesome digital customer experiences with Lithium Social Media Management, visit: https://www.lithium.com/products/social-media-management/

To get a full copy of "The Forrester Wave: Social Media Management Solutions, Q2 2017," visit: https://www.lithium.com/forrester-wave-smm

About Lithium:

Lithium delivers awesome digital customer experiences at scale for the world's biggest brands including Airbnb, AT&T and Sephora.

Comprising Social Media Management and Communities, the Lithium engagement platform enables brands to manage multiple digital touchpoints, facilitate millions of conversations, and drive smarter decisions through data  connecting customers, content and conversations at the right digital moment.

Lithium has a massive digital footprint with approximately 480 million new digital interactions analyzed daily, 100 million monthly visitors across its Online Communities, and 850 million online profiles scored through Klout.

Learn more at www.lithium.com, join our community at community.lithium.com, or follow us on Twitter @LithiumTech. Lithium is a privately held company based in San Francisco.

The Lithium logo is a registered Service Mark of Lithium Technologies. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Lithium Technology Corp.

Related Links

http://www.lithium.com


BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Imagine filming a no-budget film that requires a Delorean, a clock tower, a skateboarding teenager, and a mad scientist. With 40+ directors, producers, actors, and editors each directing their own scene. Sounds insane, but that is exactly what Crowdsourced Boston, a collaborative community arts project, will do this summer when it takes on recreating Back to the Future as a crowdsourcing project.

BIG staff and interns starred in a cute video to promote this endeavor.

Crowdsourced Boston is an offshoot of Crowdsourced Cinema, a public art project created by Northampton Community Television (NCTV), a sister organization to local Brookline Interactive Group (BIG), a community media arts center in Brookline, in 2015. Each year, Crowdsourced Cinema recruits filmmaking teams in their community to collaboratively remake a famous film. Their inaugural remake was of the classic "Raiders of the Lost Ark," followed by "The Princess Bride," in 2016. BIG proudly participated in both of these projects by recreating scenes for each film. With Northampton's encouragement, this year BIG, with help from Somerville's community media center, SCATV, is enlisting local public access media centers and teams from the greater Boston area to create a separate, full-length crowdsourced film by each creating their own one-to-four minute scene of Back to the Future. This project is called "Crowdsourced Boston." Crowdsourced Boston is open to teams of all abilities and ages in the greater Boston area.

Each team who signs up for this project is assigned a scene from the film to interpret creatively in their own manner - last year teams used live action, animation, remix, puppetry, silent film, and other visual styles. The only rules are that teams must follow the same action, dialogue, and total running time of a short scene without using copyrighted images or audio. Musicians are also invited to participate in creating an original score to a randomly-assigned section of the movie. A team could be made up of a family, co-workers, actors, friends, classmates, or any group who wants to create a one-to-four minute scene of this year's project, the cult classic, Back to the Future. The final film is then stitched together by BIG and will premiere at the Northampton Film Festival in late September, have multiple screenings throughout the Boston area, and be distributed on the web.

Teams can sign up to participate any time before July 10th, and will receive their scene assignment on July 11th. The re-created scenes must contain the same dialogue and action and be the same length as the original. Completed scenes are due on September 5th.

Participating organizations so far include Brookline Interactive Group (BIG), Somerville Community Access Television (SCATV), Belmont Media Center, LexMedia of Lexington, and PACTV which serves Pembroke, Duxbury, Plymouth, and Kingston, with several more preparing to join the effort. Each center is actively recruiting filmmaking teams in their communities to participate, and will even submit their own scenes produced by staff, interns and volunteers.

"The project is multi-layered in its approach. It has broad appeal and recognizes that we are all artists, though many people find themselves hesitant to identify as such," said NCTV Director Al Williams. "It values the link between storytelling and community. It brings people together, to celebrate as they create, on a piece that is accessible and engaging. People need more successes around exercising their voices together. That is how community is built, by being encouraged to create own our narratives. Through play. Alongside the story of the film as a piece of art are the stories of the hundreds of participants."

"It's so inspiring to see filmmakers, actors, seniors, youth, and families create together, and try new things, including folks who had never made a short film before," said Kathy Bisbee, BIG's executive director. "It's a fun way to engage our entire community in Brookline, but this year we wanted to harness the power of the hyperlocal by collaborating with community media centers and public access television stations throughout the metro Boston area. There's so much talent and energy. I can't wait to see what people do creatively with Back to the Future."

Crowdsourced Boston invites the Boston regional community to form teams and to recreate a scene from this classic film by signing up at: www.crowdsourcedboston.com

Contact: Erin Kinney

Brookline Interactive Group

617-731-8566

[email protected]

Related Images

image1.jpg

image2.jpg

image3.jpg

image4.jpg

Related Links

Crowdsourced Boston

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L23wn8_avm0

SOURCE Brookline Interactive Group, Somerville Community Access Television
BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Raj Aggarwal, co-founder and current CEO of leading mobile engagement platform Localytics, today announced that Jude McColgan will become CEO to lead the company's next phase of growth. The announcement was made as Localytics achieves the major milestone of being cash flow positive.

"Since our founding eight years ago, Localytics has become the leading mobile engagement platform for enterprises," said Aggarwal. "As we continued to grow rapidly and achieved cash flow break-even, I felt the time was right to bring aboard an experienced leader of Jude's caliber to amplify our efforts and take Localytics to the next stage of growth."

McColgan brings nearly 20 years of experience in the enterprise software space and a strong focus on the mobile industry based on his leadership roles at Oracle, TomTom, Nuance Communications and Avast Software. McColgan has worked with some of the largest global handset, Internet content and mobile network operators in the industry. He comes to Localytics from Avast Software, where he served as the President of Mobile. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Manager at Nuance Communications, where he led the Mobile Division, as well as Group Vice President for Mobile at TomTom. Prior to that, he spent nearly 10 years at Oracle focused on enterprise software.

"I am excited and honored to take on this role and build on Raj and the team's work over the years," said McColgan. "Localytics has carved out a strong leadership position with a great technology platform to help customers solve their biggest challenges -- engaging with their mobile customers. I know, I was a customer. I look forward to helping the company further innovate its mobile engagement platform and continue supporting customers' mobile marketing strategies."

Today, Localytics is used by the world's leading apps to drive mobile engagement. The company continues to grow existing relationships with brands such as CVS, Weather Channel, Comcast, Avis and Hulu, while recently adding new customers including Staples, HSN, TJX, Lifetime Fitness and Telenor. Localytics drives mobile engagement for more than 37,000 apps covering over 2.7 billion devices.

Continually innovating, the company recently unveiled a number of new products and capabilities, including a major update to its True Impact campaign reporting tool, the launch of Direct Access and new features to give marketers easier access to cross-channel customer data. Localytics also recently acquired Tapglue, a Berlin-based API service to drive mobile engagement through social features.

"Localytics exists because we believe that integrated data and engagement are key to delivering differentiated and impactful digital experiences," Aggarwal said. "I look forward to remaining actively involved in the company and working alongside Jude and the team to drive growth and market leadership while fulfilling our mission."



About Localytics

Localytics is the leading mobile engagement platform. We give companies the insights and tools they need to improve their mobile app acquisition, engagement and retention efforts. Our secret sauce is in the data. We use all the data surrounding users to deliver highly targeted and personalized engagement campaigns, including push and in-app messages. We then use performance data to measure and optimize those efforts toward the metrics that drive businesses forward. Our platform is used in more than 37,000 apps on more than 2.7 billion devices by companies such as ESPN, Fox and The New York Times. We are headquartered in Boston, MA with offices in San Francisco, London and Berlin. Investors include Sapphire Ventures, Foundation Capital and Polaris Partners. Learn more at Localytics.com.

SOURCE Localytics

Related Links

http://Localytics.com


"The C-130J's inherent versatility is capable of supporting missions across a broad spectrum of military operations, and this is amplified once again with the C-130J-SOF," said Orlando Carvalho, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "As our global partners face increasing and evolving threats that transcend borders, they want a proven solution. The C-130J-SOF, is in fact, the solution that will ensure security is preserved around the world."

The C-130J-SOF provides the capability to execute Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) and psychological operations, airdrop resupply, personnel recovery, humanitarian relief, as well as infiltration, exfiltration and re-supply of SOF personnel.

With added special mission equipment options, the C-130J-SOF may also be configured for armed overwatch that includes a 30mm gun and Hellfire missiles, helicopter/fighter/vertical lift aerial refueling, and Forward Area Refueling Point (FARP) operations.

"Our global partners said they need to support their SOF teams with a solution that is reliable, affordable, effective and integrated. They must support their teams in the sky, on the sea and on the ground," said George Shultz, vice president and general manager, Air Mobility and Maritime Missions at Lockheed Martin. "International operators want a special missions Super Hercules that's proven and a true force multiplier. Today, we offer that solution to the world in the form of the C-130J-SOF."

The C-130J Super Hercules is the airlifter of choice for 17 nations, offering superior performance and capabilities, with the range and versatility for every theater of operations. To date, the global Super Hercules fleet has surpassed more than 1.5 million flight hours.

To learn more about the C-130J, visit www.lockheedmartin.com/c130

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 Aeronautics Company

Related Links

http://www.lockheedmartin.com


ORLANDO, Fla., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) received an Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (ID/IQ) Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contract from the U.S. Air Force to provide sustainment support for Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP) and LANTIRN Navigation Pods.

Under the ID/IQ contract, FMS customers will place orders for repairs and returns, on-call technical support, depot activities and other sustainment efforts. Work on the five-year contract, which has a $200 million ceiling, will be conducted in Warner Robins, Georgia; Orlando and Ocala, Florida; and Santa Barbara, California.

"Enabling Sniper ATP and LANTIRN FMS customers to quickly and easily acquire sustainment support is critical," said Paul Lemmo, vice president of Fire Control/Special Operations Forces Contractor Logistics Support Services at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "With the ID/IQ contract, our customers can address their unique sustainment needs based on the mission at hand."

Lockheed Martin previously established a $485 million Sniper ATP ID/IQ contract with FMS customers to procure pods and spares. To date, 14 customers have placed orders under that contract.

Sniper ATP is a precision targeting system chosen by the U.S. Air Force and more than 20 international air forces. LANTIRN navigation pods provide low-level navigation with terrain-following radar on international F-15 and F-16 aircraft.

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


IRVINE, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mavenlink, provider of the leading cloud-based software for the modern services organization and a Gartner Cool Vendor*, announced today that it was named a 2017 SIIA CODiE Awards finalist in three categories including Best Project Management Solution, Best Collaboration Solution, and Best Cloud Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Solution.

Mavenlink's award-winning technology solution unifies all essential business functions of a services organization. With Mavenlink, client-based businesses can plan and deliver project work, manage financials, effectively allocate resources, and collaborate with distributed teams and clients  all on a single platform. In addition to improved collaboration and project execution, Mavenlink customers report immediate returns by increasing margins, improving utilization rates, and improving forecast precision around revenue and resource needs. The company's customer base includes Genpact, Salesforce.com, Cornerstone OnDemand, and Buzzfeed, as well as thousands of other consulting firms, IT services organizations, creative agencies, and professional services teams around the globe.

"It is an honor that Mavenlink has been nominated by industry leaders and peers as one of the best solutions in business technology software," said Ray Grainger, CEO and founder of Mavenlink. "Resource management, project management, and distributed collaboration around client services work are incredibly complex challenges for the $3 trillion services industry today. We set out to solve these key operational problems so services businesses can execute and perform better than ever in today's networked economy. This award serves as additional fuel for us as we pursue our ambitious vision and goals."

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the premier awards for the software and information industries, and have been recognizing product excellence for over 30 years. Business technology leaders including senior executives, analysts, media, consultants and investors evaluate assigned products during the first-round review which determines the finalists. Mavenlink's Resource Management was honored as a finalist in three of the 59 business technology categories. Winners will be announced during the CODiE Award Business Technology Winner Announcement & Celebration, July 25 in San Francisco. Details about the finalists are listed at http://www.siia.net/codie/Finalists

"I am impressed by the level of innovation and creativity of the products that have been selected as this year's CODiE Award finalists. We are happy to recognize these products and the power they have to transform the future of how we do business." said Ken Wasch, President of SIIA.

Mavenlink has recently received several prestigious distinctions. In the first few months of 2017, the company has been awarded the winner of the Gold Stevie Award in the Project Management Category, named a finalist in the 2017 BIG Innovation awards, and been named a Project Management Category Leader by GetApp. Other recent distinctions include Glassdoor's Best Place to Work in 2017, and Red Herring's Top 100 Global Companies 2016. Visit www.mavenlink.com/awards for more information on the company's recent news and awards.

About the SIIA CODiE Awards

The SIIA CODiE Awards is the only peer-reviewed program to showcase business and education technology's finest products and services. Since 1986, thousands of products, services and solutions have been recognized for achieving excellence. For more information, visit siia.net/CODiE.

About Mavenlink

Mavenlink delivers enterprise-class Software as a Service (SaaS) that transforms how services organizations work with distributed teams, contractors and clients around the globe. Mavenlink's innovative technology platform enables teams of any size to successfully manage and scale their people, projects, and profits. Consulting firms, IT services organizations, creative agencies, and professional services organizations in more than 100 countries are running their businesses more effectively and predictably with Mavenlink. Mavenlink was recently named a winner of the Project Management Gold Stevie Award, Red Herring Global 100 business, a Glassdoor Best Place to Work, and a Cool Vendor by Gartner, the world's leading technology research and advisory firm. Learn more at www.mavenlink.com.

* Gartner, Cool Vendors in Program and Portfolio Management, 2015, Robert A. Handler, Matt Light, Donna Fitzgerald, Teresa Jones, 24 April 2015.

SOURCE Mavenlink

Related Links

http://www.mavenlink.com


McCann New York's "Fearless Girl" statue was placed in New York City's Financial District on the day before International Women's Day on March 7, 2017, to celebrate the power of women in leadership and to drive awareness around State Street Global Advisors' innovative SHE ETF that invests in companies with a higher percentage of women on corporate boards.

"There's nothing more rewarding than creating a piece of work like Fearless Girl that lands with such force in culture, and then sparks a global dialogue," said McCann's North American Chief Creative Officer Eric Silver. "To see the creative community responding with so much enthusiasm for the work is truly gratifying and makes me proud to be part of an agency that's making meaningful work."

McCann's wins at Cannes follow a strong run of recent accolades including its New York agency being named the most effective agency by the 2017 North American Effie Awards, rising 12 spots from 2016; Agency of the Year at the One Show; Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year at the ADC Annual Awards; and Agency of the Year at the International ANDY Awards.

About McCann Worldgroup

McCann Worldgroup, part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), is a leading global marketing services company with 24,000 employees in more than 100 countries, comprising McCann (advertising), MRM//McCann (digital marketing/relationship management), Momentum Worldwide (total brand experience), McCann Health (professional/dtc communications), CRAFT (global adaptation and production), UM (media management), Weber Shandwick (public relations), FutureBrand (consulting/design), ChaseDesign (shopper marketing) and PMK-BNC.

SOURCE McCann
KALAMAZOO, Mich., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Medizone International, Inc. (OTCQB: MZEI) announces the Company has registered to attend the Military Health System's Vendor Day on September 27, 2017 at the Defense Medical Logistics Center on Fort Detrick in Frederick, MD. Vendor Day presents a unique opportunity to interact directly with a large number of government agencies and to demonstrate the utility of AsepticSure.

The Military Health System Vendor Day is a cooperative venture by the military service medical logistics agencies, located on Fort Detrick in Frederick, MD. The agencies involved are: Defense Health Agency Medical Logistics Division (DHA MEDLOG), U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC), U.S. Army Medical Materiel Agency (USAMMA), Naval Medical Logistics Command (NMLC), Air Force Medical Operations Agency (AFMOA), U.S. Marine Corp Systems Command (MARCORSYSCOM). The focus of the event is to assist the services' medical logistics agencies with strategic market analysis of products and technologies that may be applicable to the austere medical environments.

"Given the broad range of applications for AsepticSure to the military, including hospital disinfection, bioterrorism countermeasures, and food handling facility disinfection, we are excited about engaging with the many agencies represented at the Military Health System's Vendor Day," commented David A. Esposito, Chairman and interim CEO of Medizone International. "This event builds on the work already underway to gain acceptance of AsepticSure in multiple government agencies."

Medizone International plans to attend the event with a full display of the AsepticSure system and with several members from the sales and engineering teams to address any potential inquiries from attendees. The Company is planning an invitation outreach to prospects in advance of the meeting to ensure maximum attendance and engagement at the exhibit booth.

About Medizone International, Inc.

Founded initially in 1986 to develop treatments for lipid-enveloped viruses, Medizone International, Inc. shifted focus in 2007 to develop a superior disinfectant technology. The company developed the AsepticSure system to combine oxidative compounds (O3 and H202) to produce a unique mixture of free radicals (H2O3 known as trioxidane) with much higher oxidative potential than ozone or hydrogen peroxide alone. After securing broad IP protection for the use of trioxidane for both healthcare facility disinfecting systems and bioterrorism applications, the company released its AsepticSure system for use in Canada, and several other global markets.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act. Our actual results could differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the risk that government and international agencies and organizations may not adopt our system, global economic conditions generally, government regulation, manufacturing and marketing risks, adverse publicity risks, risks associated with our entry into the U.S. and other markets, expansion and operations. The contents of this release should be considered in conjunction with the risk factors, warnings, and cautionary statements that are contained in our most recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

For press information on Medizone International, please contact:

John Pentony, Investor and Media Relations

Medizone International, Inc.

T: 01 269-202-5020

E: [email protected]

For more information, visit:

http://www.medizoneint.com

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Medizone International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.medizoneint.com


BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- M.Gemi, the leading direct to consumer accessories brand, announced today that it has received a $16M Series C investment led by BurdaPrincipal Investments, the growth capital arm of Hubert Burda Media, one of Germany's largest tech and media companies with continued participation from Accel, General Catalyst Partners, and Forerunner Ventures. This most recent round brings M.Gemi's total funding to $47.2M.

Founded in 2015 by CEO Ben Fischman, President Cheryl Kaplan and Chief Merchant Maria Gangemi, M.Gemi is redefining the luxury supply chain and setting a new standard for direct to consumer brands. Combining old world craftsmanship with new world technology and accessibility, M.Gemi releases new styles each week at uncommon prices.

Achieving the highest standards of quality and craftsmanship, while delivering newness each week requires an ongoing commitment to best in class data science and technology. This round of funding will fuel ongoing investment in advanced technology to enhance predictive analytics, and the brand's unique supply chain in Italy.

"After two years in the U.S. market, we know our consumer values uncompromised quality, weekly releases, and unbelievable prices. We are redefining what it means to be a luxury brand in this economy and we sought an investor with additional expertise who understands what M.Gemi is bringing to the market and the potential for us on a global stage," said CEO Ben Fischman. "We believe the future of retail is in the convergence of content, digital and physical commerce and Burda's unique experience across both consumer media and ecommerce gives us tremendous value as we grow domestically and globally."

BurdaPrincipal Investments has significant experience investing globally in premium apparel and lifestyle brands. The company provides long term growth equity for fast growing digital technology and media companies. It has been partners for visionary entrepreneurs, leveraging Burda's capital, brands and sector expertise, particularly in the areas of business expansion, internationalization and localization. Current and past investments of BurdaPrincipal Investments include BaubleBar, Etsy, NotOntheHighStreet, Vinted and Showroom.

"M.Gemi is truly disrupting the luxury marketplace through its utilization of data science and uniquely competitive production network in Italy," said Christian Teichmann, Managing Director of BurdaPrincipal Investments. "We are impressed by the brand's combination of art and science and the expertise of the team at the helm. With such compelling early success online and offline, M.Gemi has a tremendous opportunity to lead a monumental shift in the way brands think about the consumer and the global marketplace."

ABOUT M.GEMI

Founded in March 2015 by CEO Ben Fischman, President Cheryl Kaplan and Chief Merchant Maria Gangemi, M.Gemi is a Boston based accessories startup with offices in New York and Florence, in addition to storefronts in New York City's Soho neighborhood and Boston's Prudential Center. A unique luxury brand unbound by traditional models, M.Gemi delivers handcrafted products for men and women at uncommon prices. Each piece is handmade in Italy by craftspeople at the most renowned family-owned workshops, with new styles released each Monday. M.Gemi's uncompromised commitment to quality, brought to market at an unconventional speed, positions M.Gemi at the forefront of the new luxury market and sets a new standard for direct to consumer brands. For additional information on M.Gemi and to shop the collection, visit www.mgemi.com.

ABOUT HUBERT BURDA MEDIA

Hubert Burda Media, headquartered in Munich, is an international technology and media company with over 540 brands and products that are oriented to the needs of consumers. Burda has 175 million users and approximately 60 million paying consumers. Its commercial success is driven by over 10,000 employees around the world: Burda is active in 20 markets, above all in Germany  where it is one of the countries' largest media groups  in Europe, the United States and Asia. Innovation is the driving force behind the organisation, which builds on its original roots and values as a family-owned company.

Burda has been a pioneer in adopting digital technology and is a trusted partner for the long-term success of digital business. With DLD (Digital, Life, Design) Hubert Burda Media has established a global network on innovation, digitization, science and culture with conferences around the world. BurdaPrincipal Investments is the company's unit to provide growth capital to digital ventures in the Unites States, Europe, and Asia.

PRESS CONTACT:

JBC

Melissa Duren Conner, Partner & Managing Director

[email protected] | 646.896.1397

Hubert Burda Media

Dorothee Stommel, Senior PR Manager

[email protected] | +49 (0)89 9250 2065

SOURCE M.Gemi

Related Links

http://www.mgemi.com


PITTSBURGH, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael Baker International, a global leader in engineering, planning and consulting services, today announced the promotion of Timothy Quillman, P.E., to Office Executive in the firm's Phoenix office and the addition of Brad Shelton, AICP, as Director of Planning in Richmond, Va. These changes reaffirm the company's commitment to strategic growth and development in these offices and regions to better meet the needs of its growing client base.

Timothy Quillman  Office Executive (Phoenix)

Timothy Quillman was promoted to Office Executive, overseeing three Michael Baker offices and more than 100 team members, including teams in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada. In this role, he is responsible for working with department managers to support and grow the firm's Arizona and Nevada operations, with the corresponding markets and practice groups. Prior to this promotion, Mr. Quillman served as Operations Manager for the Infrastructure group in the firm's Phoenix office.

"Tim's promotion builds on our solid foundation for growth in the firm's Arizona and Nevada markets," said Anna Lantin, Regional Director of Michael Baker's West Region. "Tim's leadership, technical excellence and project management experience will serve the needs of our growing and diverse client base as 'We Make a Difference' in the west."

Mr. Quillman has more than 19 years of experience working on multi-discipline federal contracts as well as local municipal projects. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), American Public Works Association (APWA) and the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME). Mr. Quillman has a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Arizona and a Master's Certificate in Project Management from the University of Houston  Clear Lake.

Brad Shelton, AICP  Director of Planning (Richmond, Va.)

Brad Shelton joins the firm's Richmond, Va., office as Director of Planning. In this role, Mr. Shelton will manage planning projects and contracts under the office's public agency task order contracts. He also will oversee personnel on the Richmond planning team and help to develop business relationships within the area. Prior to joining Michael Baker, Mr. Shelton spent 10 years in progressive roles at the Virginia Department of Transportation's Transportation and Mobility Planning Division and Office of Land Use. He also has experience in the public sector with local governments and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs).

"As we expand the footprint of our Planning practice in this geography, Brad's experience and connections make him a valuable addition to the team," said Craig Eddy, Office Executive for Michael Baker's Richmond, Va., office. "Based on the work Brad performed during his tenure at VDOT, he will be instrumental in helping to grow the firm's presence and showcasing how 'We Make a Difference' for our clients and the community in Virginia."

Mr. Shelton is an active member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Urban Studies and a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.

About Michael Baker International

Michael Baker International is a leading global provider of engineering and consulting services, which include planning, architectural, environmental, construction, program management, and full life-cycle support services as well as information technology and communications services and solutions. The company provides its comprehensive range of services and solutions in support of U.S. federal, state, and municipal governments, foreign allied governments, and a wide range of commercial clients. Michael Baker International has more than 6,000 employees in more than 90 locations across the U.S. and internationally. To learn more visit www.mbakerintl.com.

Contact: Justin Falce

[email protected]

(866) 293-4609

SOURCE Michael Baker International

Related Links

http://www.mbakercorp.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mizuho Americas today announced that on June 28 it will host its first Global REIT / Real Estate Conference at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York City. The conference will bring together international companies and the investment community to debate the implications of the changing global REIT and real estate environment, as well as provide an exclusive opportunity to interact with C-suite leaders from the US, Japan and Asia.

The event will be highlighted by a keynote lunch featuring renowned real estate investor Sam Zell, Founder & Chairman of Equity Group Investments; and Jonathan Litt, Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Land and Buildings Investment Management LLC and noted REIT activist investor.

In addition, Mizuho global REITs analysts Rich Anderson and Haendel St. Juste (USA), Yosuke Ohata (Japan) and Alan Jin (Hong Kong / Singapore) will provide attendees with a comprehensive view of the sector across multiple geographies.

"Our global reach and wealth of expertise across geographies and sectors are major differentiators of our research platform," stated Matt DeSalvo, Head of Equities, Mizuho Americas. "We are proud to showcase the depth of our international research efforts across REITs and real estate with a forum that delivers unique insights and in-depth exchange of ideas."

The more than thirty participating companies includes such notable names as Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Boston Properties, Federal Realty Investment Trust, Kenedix Retail REIT Corporation, Link Asset Management Limited, Mitsui Fudosan Logistics REIT and Spring REIT.

The Global REIT / Real Estate Conference is the latest in a series of global events and conferences Mizuho Americas has created in order to provide exclusive insight to both clients and investors across a variety of industries.

The second annual Global Mizuho Investor Conference (MIC) NY, is scheduled for December 4-5, 2017. The MIC offers Mizuho's clients a global forum to explore issues impacting the global economic landscape with prominent decision-makers and executives in a one-on-one setting across a multitude of sectors, including energy, financials, healthcare, industrials, REITs, TMT, utilities, consumer and protein.

For more information, please contact Mizuho Americas Corporate Access at [email protected].



About Mizuho Americas

Mizuho Americas is a leading financial institution comprising several legal entities, which together offer clients corporate and investment banking, financing, securities, treasury services, asset management, research and more. With professionals in offices throughout the US, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Chile, Mizuho's operations in the Americas connect a broad client base of major corporations, financial institutions and public sector groups to local markets and a vast global network. Learn more at mizuhoamericas.com

Mizuho Americas is an integral part of the Japan-based Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: MFG). Mizuho Financial Group is one of the largest financial institutions in the world, offering comprehensive financial and strategic services including private banking and venture capital through its subsidiaries. The group has over 900 offices and 56,000 employees worldwide in nearly 40 countries throughout the Americas, EMEA, and Asia. At the end of 2016, its total assets were $1.8 trillion. Learn more about Mizuho Financial Group at mizuho-fg.co.jp/english.

SOURCE Mizuho Americas

Related Links

https://mizuhoamericas.com


BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association (MMBA) will visit Capitol Hill this week in Washington, D.C., as part of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) National Advocacy Conference, to inform the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation of the most pressing issues facing the housing finance industry.

"Few things are more powerful than constituents coming to Washington, D.C. to discuss the issues they are most passionate about," said Debbie Sousa, Executive Director of the MMBA. "Housing finance reform is generating a lot of buzz on Capitol Hill already, and we plan to make our voices heard by educating key lawmakers about our proposal," Sousa said, noting that MA Sen. Elizabeth Warren has a leadership position on the Senate Banking Committee.

MBA's National Advocacy Conference, which runs from Tuesday, June 20th through Wednesday, June 21st, is an opportunity for MMBA's members to meet with the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation to discuss a variety of key issues, including the growing need for housing finance reform. Attendees will urge members to consider the MBA's housing finance reform proposal, GSE Reform: Creating a Sustainable, More Vibrant Secondary Mortgage Market.

"For far too long, the housing finance system has been hanging in limbo," Sousa said. "Through our meetings, we hope that our representatives, especially Senator Warren, will recognize the importance of a robust housing finance system and will be motivated to move forward on bipartisan legislation."

To arrange an interview with Debbie Sousa, please contact Molly Horan at [email protected].

Contact: Molly Horan, [email protected]

SOURCE Mortgage Bankers Association
COTONOU, Benin, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile network operator MTN Benin and Youtap have launched MoMoPay, a contactless mobile payment service for MTN Benin Mobile Money users.

MoMoPay enables MTN Benin Mobile Money customers to 'tap and pay' for goods and services instantly and securely with their mobile devices. The service relies on near-field communication (NFC) technology developed by Youtap, a global provider of contactless mobile payments and financial services software.

Youtap's portable new X8 device enables mobile money merchant payments instantly. MTN Benin CEO Stephen Blewett and a Zemidjin motorcycle taxi driver display the MoMoPay tag and Youtap's X8 payment terminal at the MoMoPay launch event in Cotonou, Benin

An innovative feature of MoMoPay is the ability for users to make payments and receive small change (rendu monnaie) from merchants directly into their MTN Mobile Money accounts, solving the problem of giving small change back to customers that many merchants face today.

MoMoPay is being rolled out to supermarkets, pharmacies, bookstores, restaurants and petrol stations in Cotonou and to Zemidjan motorcycle taxis, which are the main form of transport in the country. The service will be expanded to all parts of Benin.

At the launch event, Mr. Stephen Blewett, CEO of MTN Benin, said, "MoMoPay is going to make life easier for millions of Beninese. I'm very proud to be part of MTN Benin and playing a part in growing cashless payments."

Mr. Virgile Toffodji, managing director of MTN Mobile Money, said, "MoMoPay is a very easy and very secure solution that will revolutionize the world of payment in pharmacies, petrol stations, resorts and travel companies. We have a terminal  the X8  that will revolutionize the world of transport. Now Zemidjan motorcycle taxis, urban taxis that the government wants to launch, and long-distance buses will also be able to use this solution."

Shaun Morgan, VP Sales  Africa for Youtap, said, "We are excited about launching our payment solution in another MTN market and working with MTN Benin in the launch of MoMoPay. Youtap is committed to supporting MTN Benin's mission to transform the market by offering this innovative service to its customers."

About the MTN Group (www.mtn.bj)

Launched in 1994, the MTN Group is a leading emerging market operator, connecting subscribers in 22 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The MTN Group is listed on the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa under the share code: "MTN." As of 30 September 2016, MTN recorded 234.2 million subscribers across its operations in Afghanistan, Benin, Botswana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Cyprus, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Republic, Iran, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, South Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Uganda, Yemen and Zambia.

About Youtap

Youtap enables in-store and contactless "tap and pay" payments for mobile network operator (MNO) mobile money wallets at any point of sale with any payment device. Youtap is the proven technology leader to MNOs, enabling digital mobile money wallets to transact for a range of microfinance and public services, including transport. Youtap supports MNOs and retailers by incorporating loyalty programs and other responsive functionalities that benefit both consumer and merchant.

Youtap was the first company in the world to pioneer the use of NFC stickers, wearables and cards integrated into a mobile money wallet. Youtap's terminals and associated payment gateway products conform to the latest standards for open- and closed-loop payment acceptance.

On the web: www.youtap.com

Twitter: @youtap2pay

Contact:

Karen Knott

Head of Communications

Youtap

[email protected]

+64 9 360 9719

SOURCE Youtap

Related Links

http://www.youtap.com


LAS VEGAS, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- MVP American Securities announced today that the company has promoted Brandon Welch to managing director, Capital Markets.

In his new position, Welch will oversee the firm's sales and national accounts teams. He joined MVP in 2012 and most recently served as executive vice president of sales for the western United States.

"Brandon is a dedicated professional who has demonstrated impressive leadership and a successful track record throughout his time with MVP," said Mike Shustek, manager of MVP American Securities. "He is adept in parking investments and real estate securities and his proficiency will prove valuable to our firm, partners and investors alike."

Welch earned his bachelor's degree and an MBA from San Diego State University. He holds FINRA Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.

About MVP American Securities

MVP American Securities is a licensed broker-dealer. For more information about the MVP companies, please visit TheParkingREIT.com.

Contact: Julie Leber

Spotlight Marketing Communications

(949) 427-5172 ext. 703

[email protected]

SOURCE MVP American Securities

Related Links

http://TheParkingREIT.com


KETTERING, Ohio, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Naked Lime Marketing has received an award in the Social Media category in the 2017 Dealers' Choice Awards from Auto Dealer Today. The Dealers' Choice Awards are determined based on input from dealership personnel through a voting process. In other words, the vendor's customers choose the winners.

This marks the third year in a row that Naked Lime has received an award in the Social Media category.

"Once again, our team has been selected as a leader in social media for dealerships, and it's an honor to receive that recognition," said Chris Walsh, vice president of Naked Lime. "Receiving a Dealers' Choice Award is another proof point that our social media services are delivering results by helping dealers effectively engage their audience, build stronger customer relationships, and increase sales."

"The fact this award is determined by the dealers we partner with is particularly gratifying to our team members who strive every day to deliver the best possible social media services for dealerships," said Walsh.

Naked Lime Marketing offers a full suite of marketing, advertising, and web services for automotive retailers. Naked Lime's social media service for dealers increases their visibility on the social networks their audiences use and trust most, enabling dealers to engage with shoppers online and attract them to the dealership.

For more information about all of Naked Lime's services, visit: nakedlime.com/.

About Naked Lime Marketing

Naked Lime's Naked Truth: Deliver fresh and innovative marketing, advertising, and web services that help automotive dealers turn the heads of consumers and inspire consumer loyalty at every point in the retail process. Connect with Naked Lime Marketing on the Web: http://nakedlime.com, Facebook: http://facebook.com/nkdlime, or Twitter: @NkdLime.

SOURCE Naked Lime Marketing

Related Links

http://nakedlime.com


SAN MATEO, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nav, a platform that bridges the gap between small businesses and financial institutions, today announced the Company's Board of Directors selected Janet Zablock, Head of Global Small Business at Visa, Inc. as an independent member. The appointment comes on the heels of a Series B funding increase to $38 million led by Goldman Sachs Principal Strategic Investment Group. More than 250,000 small business owners now use Nav's platform to manage their business's financial health and find the right funding for their needs.

"We are excited to welcome Janet Zablock to Nav's Board of Directors. Zablock's addition is an endorsement of how Nav is working to guide small business owners through the complex world of business credit and financing," said Levi King, co-founder and CEO of Nav. "With her decades of small business lending experience at Visa, Zablock's appointment comes at a perfect time as we scale to make life easier for millions of business owners."

Zablock has more than 20 years experience managing commercial payment products for Visa, Inc. She directed the development and implementation of a strategic vision for Visa Business products targeted at small businesses. She led a team that coordinated all small business credit and debit product efforts and she helped develop the Visa-branded SmartPay commercial card program for the U.S. federal government.

"Small businesses have traditionally struggled to navigate an increasingly complex lending process," said Janet Zablock. "I'm thrilled to lend my expertise to a company that's empowering small businesses by making it easier to get the credit and financing they need to grow."

Nav is the only place small business owners can access their business and personal credit reports, and cash flow data on a single platform. Nav uses this data to provide business owners with key insights and guidance into their business's financial health. This lets business owners qualify for more funding and lower their costs. It's lender-neutral marketplace also uses this data to make financing recommendations, so business owners can quickly connect to the right financing for their situation.

"I faced cash flow challenges that inhibited my ability to make business decisions," said Chad Brueske, President of Fidelity Funding International, Inc. "With Nav, I have a better appreciation and understanding of my business credit. I have a partner who's helping me take care of my business's financial health, and making things easier whenever I need financing."

About Nav

Nav.com helps business owners get more funding, lower their costs and save time so they can create the business of their dreams. Its app gives free access to credit reports and scores specifically for small business owners, including both business and personal credit reports, cash flow analysis, tools to help build business credit and a marketplace with more than 100 financing products, including credit cards. Its marketplace uses a lender-neutral algorithm to help business owners find the best financing options for their needs before they apply. The company has offices in Silicon Valley and Salt Lake City. For more information visit: nav.com.

Contact:

Victor Miltiades

(781) 684 6573

[email protected]

SOURCE Nav

Related Links

http://nav.com


BERLIN, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Neutrino Energy Group CEO, Holger Thorsten Schubart, discusses the changes taking place in today's world in regards to technology and energy.

Today the world is experiencing radical change. Old behavioral patterns, old values and old ways of thinking are being challenged mercilessly. Many people are able to perceive this phenomenon, but fewer are in a position to understand the ramifications of the changes taking place around them.

CEO NEUTRINO ENERGY GROUP

Looking back, we typically divide our history into eras. We don't do this merely in order to systematize the past; no, by doing so we also mark the points in time where especially significant phases of development began. Each of our culture's historical phases is determined and upheld by society's respective level of productivity. Economic and social globalization, the Internet, climate change, fake news, electro mobility, and Neutrino Energy are all concepts that indicate specific developmental processes, and they are by no means isolated from one another. Instead, they intersect and influence each other from within the society where they originated. Such moments of interaction are exceedingly valuable, as they present us with the possibility of new combinations and the birth of entirely new forces. On the other hand, these moments are also fraught with friction and intense struggle, followed by change.

The automobile industry in Germany and in the rest of the world is presently in the process of writing an exciting film script. At times it appears to be a horror movie, at other times a love story; no one is really sure how it's going to end, but everyone wants to be a contributor. This is, of course, a metaphor, but by extending it we can gain an insight into both the problem faced by the automobile industry as well as the solution: In recent years the technical methods employed in filmmaking have changed dramatically, but many are still using to the script lines of past years quite effectively. Essentially, old materials and techniques are being successfully supplemented with new approaches. For example, celluloid is no longer the only medium with which to capture motion. Nevertheless, none of the changes in way films are made has led to the canceling of the Oscar Awards. Movies are still around, not to mention the actors. From a consumer perspective, the actual changes behind the scenes are secondary as long as the final product delivers a satisfying experience. Here, the old and the new are obviously able to coexist without detriment to the end result, and only by following this example will automobile manufacturers be able to meet the challenges of the future. It requires competence and vision to openly address the drawbacks of old ways of thinking and to encourage new perspectives, and only by doing so will there be a chance for a "happy ending".

There are indications in all branches of science and technology that old successes are the forerunners of future innovation. Nothing remains as it is. Imagining, designing, discarding, attempting, failures and new starts all serve the process of progress. No one knows which form of energy will replace the internal combustion engine or conventional heating methods reliant upon fossil fuels: Availability, feasibility, user acceptance, the ability to maintain mobility in the 21st century, cost considerations, and the ever-present worries about the impact on the climate will all play a role in shaping what's to come.

Right now extensive research is being done in the field of electro mobility. Viable alternatives are also being sought, and the first results are promising. Each of the possibilities needs to be investigated, even though it appears that there will not ultimately be one single solution that supersedes all others, as was the case in the 20th century. Research laboratories of countless firms are proceeding meticulously true to the motto: "The automobile is dead. Long live the automobile."

Those willing to invest in alternative technology are becoming more and more numerous. The financial breeding ground for change has reached immense proportions, and this trend has led to an overall acceleration in the speed with which new technology must reach production. Progress starts in the mind. The stock market is then in a position to lend its assistance. There is not only talk of super batteries for electric automobiles. Much research is also being done in the related fields of energy supply, charging technology, the optimization of energy use and even self-driving vehicles. Many of the companies taking part in this research are working alone. The numerous challenges that must be met in order to make electro mobility a reality are not of a regional, but rather a global nature, and they will bring about a host of further changes.

On the other hand, there is very little discernable innovation to be seen in the area of energy production. Here it seems that the world is still obsessed with the idea of producing electricity centrally in huge quantities using environmentally harmful methods and then distributing it to each individual end customer at a tremendous cost. Energy is one of the major concerns of our society, and it should be produced and provided at the location where it is needed. Moreover, the method of production needs to have as little impact on the environment as possible. Nothing else makes sense from an economic or an ecological standpoint, and yet existing power grids are still being expanded and new ones built. The main concern here seems to be not the best method of distributing electric power, but rather of upholding the status quo and supplying the energy cartel with new contracts.

At some point the winds of change will make a new course necessary, and the stock market will be a major factor in this development. Solutions to the present problem are already available, and their realization is merely a question of backing capital and manpower.

Change will come, and it will affect society as a whole. It will affect our thinking, our methods of production, our culture and each of us as an individual, as well as the approaches we use to solve the problem of satisfying our energy needs. Only by reinventing ourselves will we be able to meet the challenges of the future. Energy will continue to be a concern, but alternative sources such as neutrino energy will open up entirely new possibilities in the methods of use and production. Let's start thinking about the world of the future today; a world in which unlimited electrical energy is affordable and available to everyone. This could eliminate many of the major causes of past and present conflicts. It may take a few decades to reach this goal, but the future can't be stopped. And it should be obvious to everyone that the international team of researchers presently working on tapping the energy of the future and helping our society to take the next step in the electric age has two very strong allies: time and the sun.

To learn more please visit, http://www.neutrino-energy.com.

Press contact:

Heiko Schulze

Haus der Bundespressekonferenz 0413 Schiffbauer Damm 40

10117 Berlin

GERMANY

Tel. +49 30 726262700

FAX +49 30 726262701

E-Mail: [email protected]

SOURCE Neutrino Energy Group

Related Links

http://www.neutrino-energy.com


These suites provide cGMP-compliant biomanufacturing solutions by integrating cleanrooms and biocontainment zones in a 53' foot (16 meter) trailer. Previously, there were limited options for quickly addressing small-scale bioprocessing challenges. The Adaptive Suites deliver new options for fast, flexible and cost-effective production space that would be impractical in a brick and mortar building. Germfree's advanced platforms are engineered to operate as stand-alone facilities and can be easily repurposed and relocated globally.

In recent years, the number of new biotechnology startups has skyrocketed. However, many small-scale pharmaceutical projects lack the viable infrastructure to meet their demands. Concurrently, there has been an industry-wide shift toward more flexible manufacturing environments. "The biotech industry is under intense pressure to adapt to production processes and facilities that keep up with the rapid pace of innovation," said Jeff Serle, Senior VP, Germfree. "We've engineered the Mobile Adaptive Bioproduction Suite to provide the next level of flexibility that is key in the early stages of drug development. Germfree rapidly deploys turnkey facilities anywhere they are needed, for the duration of the project. Startups are able to begin R&D or early small-batch production without committing to traditional building construction or renovations which significantly reduces initial capital expenditures."

The Adaptive Mobile Suites are adaptable for emerging processes and all core equipment is interchangeable. The units accommodate a wide range of scientific instrumentation, bioproduction equipment and any engineering controls for primary and secondary biocontainment. Recent innovations in high-performance, compact biotech components further promote the adaptability of the Germfree trailer. "Our mobile unit fits seamlessly at the intersection of emerging biotherapeutics, applications that require flexible space and new small-footprint bioprocessing equipment." says Carol Houts, Director of Quality, Germfree.

Germfree's Adaptive Bioproduction Suites are optimal for a wide range of biotechnology research, development and production applications. These include: monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, gene therapy, viral vector, cell therapy and live virus vaccines. "Our platform will help solve small-scale processing challenges especially for precision medicine," continues Carol Houts. "The Adaptive Suite is easily configured to the ISO cleanroom grade or biosafety demands of each application. The capabilities of the mobile suite will also help facilitate the rapid development and clinical trial biomanufacturing processes that are critical to product pipeline success."

About GERMFREE

Germfree manufactures advanced cGMP-compliant mobile and modular bioproduction and biocontainment platforms. The company was established in 1962 to provide aseptic control and biosafety for institutions ranging from hospital pharmacies to high containment laboratories. Today, Germfree's BSL-3 labs are deployed globally to meet the rigorous demands of military and public health agencies. This extensive experience has positioned Germfree to build cleanroom platforms, which exceed the engineering standards of traditional facilities. Our leading-edge fabrication technology, engineering teams and subject-matter experts are located at our 140,000 square-foot (13,000 square-meter) US manufacturing plant. For more information, please visit: germfree.com

For further information about BIO please visit: convention.bio.org

SOURCE Germfree
A new survey released by BrightEdge, the leader in enterprise SEO and content performance marketing, reveals that marketers believe in a future ruled by the likes of Alexa, Artificial Intelligence (AI), voice search and the Internet of Things (IoT). Yet, most in-house marketers and agency practitioners have done little to introduce these powerful components into their content marketing strategy.

BrightEdge surveyed 252 digital marketers at Fortune 500 brands that represent a split of B2B and B2C companies over a one-month period in April and May of 2017. The survey sought to understand how marketers are preparing for the accelerating consumer adoption of AI, voice search, and local search over the next year. The survey discovered that marketers recognize the AI, voice and hyperlocal revolution is here, yet, the majority of marketers are not planning to adapt their marketing strategies. This leaves brands at risk of failing to meet consumers rising expectations.

Although marketers are behind the curve of implementing specific strategies rooted in AI, voice and local, the survey did reveal many Fortune 500 in-house and agency content marketing teams are taking the lead to develop and implement holistic strategies that integrate SEO, SEM, social media and content marketing, with the goal of delivering better results and a better customer experience.

"It's a winner-takes-all in the post mobile world and marketing departments are adapting to changing consumer behavior," said Jim Yu, CEO of BrightEdge.

"To thrive in a world where 'search is everywhere,' marketers must understand customer intent and use it to drive content strategy. That's exactly why marketing departments are integrating SEO and Content Marketing into a single function - it will drive better interactions, and thus better results."

The 'future of content marketing' survey offers a bevy of insights to the current state of how brands are using content to interact with consumers. Significant shifts are taking place at the hands of the consumer. The marketing funnel itself is turned on its head; consumer-lead strategy is the wave of the future, and their expectations are higher than ever.

Below are four key findings that illustrate the new content marketing landscape.

Voice, AI, and mobile are dominating search

Marketers are not preparing for the post-mobile world, where mobile search, voice search, local search and the increasingly heavy reliance on intelligent agents to find what you need are dramatically changing consumers interactions with brands.

Marketers are still highly focused on just meeting the bar in the transition from desktop to mobile. In fact, 27 percent of marketers still believe mobile is "the next big thing."

Roughly 66 percent of marketers have no plans to begin preparing for voice search. Yet, 31 percent of marketers believe it is the "next big thing." What's more is that voice search accounts for more than 20 percent of all mobile searches.

Similarly, 32 percent of respondents believe artificial intelligence (AI) is the "next big thing," but 57 percent are "not likely" they will implement any element of artificial intelligence (AI) this year.

Only three percent of respondents said they anticipate 5G mobile speeds being the next big thing  but according to recent reports, this is projected to be a reality by 2020.

Preparing to adopt new technologies is critical for marketers; however, as daunting as it may initially appear, marketers can begin to take actionable steps in their content development, according to Michel Kant, SEO Manager of Staples Europe.

"Marketers looking to prepare to merge into an AIfirst world are going to need to begin by making sure they have the same consistent message across devices, at the very least," Kant said. "If you don't have that in the near future, it will be like not having a mobile optimized website or good content marketing strategy now. It will be very costly to step up that pace."

Marketers are struggling to create effective content at a lower volume

More content than ever before is being created, but it's vastly under-utilized by consumers. In this survey, respondents recognized the need to create content that's effective for local and mobile audiences, but again, are falling short of implementing the impactful strategy.

Of the respondents, 71 percent reported that less than half of their content is consumed.

Fewer than 9 percent of those surveyed experience three-quarters or more of the content they produce engaged with.

B2C saw better odds of content consumption than B2B.

The top three types of content created most often are blog content, social media content, and videos.

Content optimization should be priority number one

The idea of mobile optimization has entered a new realm. Now, brands have to deliver customer results every time, catering to location, device and speed to deliver relevant and intelligent content that drives conversions.

51 percent of marketers labeled creating and optimizing content for local markets "very important" or "a priority" in 2017.

Nearly half of the respondents are using data to drive content strategy. This could explain the recognition of AI, voice, and local search impact, but point to the disconnect in the application and execution in content.

A majority of the respondents labeled small custom content elements highly optimized for specific consumer searches and questions as micro-content.

For the respondents, creating micro-content has now surpassed long-form, time investment-heavy initiatives like webinars, research reports and case studies in priority.

Content marketers are finding a key partner in Search Engine Optimization

Often a less glamourous but vital marketing function, search helps marketers discover consumer intent, providing useful insights to drive content marketing strategies. And SEO is critical for creating optimized content that is easily discoverable by consumers. The combination of SEO and content marketing create a new category focused on content performance and intelligent content creation.

Organic was the number one marketing initiative priority for the survey respondents. BrightEdge proprietary research shows organic search drives 51 percent of all website traffic.

An overwhelming majority of marketers  97 percent of those surveyed  agree SEO and content marketing are converging, or have already converged. In line with these findings, content and organic clocked in as the most important initiatives for marketers this year.

Conversions, followed by engagement, and then traffic accounted for the top three answers respondents listed as the most important metrics of success for content performance. The marriage of content marketing and SEO offers one solution to reach those goals.

52 percent of the respondents recognized that fluency in SEO is critical to long-term content marketing success.

Daniel Mooney, Director of Digital Analytics at Wiley, agreed marketers are migrating toward an SEO-forward content strategy.

"The availability of data out there and the ease of use of analytical tools has changed both our strategy and execution of it," Mooney said. "The biggest thing we're doing now is thinking about the application of the research up front, not SEO as a strategy after launch."

This change in consumer behavior and the related shift to mobile present new challenges and opportunities to marketers. Marketers are neglecting to adopt technologies that have already surpassed the market introduction phase. What's clear is that intelligent content optimized for increasingly sophisticated consumer outlets requires a new approach by a multitude of marketing disciplines.

Visual representations of survey outcomes (static and animated):

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6wew27yde6eff80/AAC2q2JF2JY-mu31DnT_Juf2a?dl=0

About BrightEdge:

BrightEdge, the global leader in enterprise organic search and content performance, empowers marketers to transform online content into business results such as traffic, conversions and revenue. The BrightEdge S3 platform is powered by a sophisticated deep learning engine and is the only company capable of web-wide, real-time measurement of content engagement across all digital channels, including search, social and mobile. BrightEdge's 1,500+ customers include global brands such as 3M, Microsoft and Nike, as well as 57 of the Fortune 100. The company has eight offices worldwide and is headquartered in Foster City, California.

Visit our website: www.brightedge.com

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brightedge

Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/brightedge

Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/seoplatform

SOURCE BrightEdge
TUALATIN, Ore., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- EasyPower now offers a full-featured software package to analyze grounding, lightning, and electromagnetic interference problems using the powerful yet affordable XGSLab software. EasyPower is partnering with SINT Ingegneriaan expert company that leads the industry in grounding and EMI analysis. As part of this partnership, EasyPower is the sole distributor of the XGSLab software in the North America.

Full Feature Set at a Fraction of the Cost

XGSLab is a full-featured grounding solution, with features that are missing from many other grounding solutions on the market, such as multilayer and multizone soil models, capacitive and inductive coupling, below and above ground systems, as well as frequency and time domain calculations. All this comes at a fraction of the base price and cost-of-ownership of other full-featured packages.

About EasyPower

Since 1990, EasyPower, LLC has set the standard to which all other power system programs are compared for accuracy, speed, automation and ease-of-use. The EasyPower software is a full line of intelligent tools that our customers use to design, analyze, and monitor their electrical power systems. We continue to develop unprecedented technologies to make their jobs simpler, smarter, and saferdelivering powerful software that is inherently easy to use.

For more information, visit www.easypower.com.

About SINT Ingegneria

SINT Ingegneria Srl is an engineering and consulting company that has been operating in the field of electrical and mechanical engineering since 1980. SINT Ingegneria has successfully designed and commissioned systems for industrial and commercial sites as well as for infrastructure, and is also a major consulting company in Italy on power system analysis and planning. Other services include technical software development, training, and seminars in power system analysis.

For more information, visit www.xgslab.com/index.php/en.

Contact Info:

Ted Balderree

EasyPower LLC

Tualatin, OR

Tel. 503-655-5059 x22

[email protected]

SOURCE EasyPower LLC
EMERYVILLE, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Newfi Lending, a technology-enabled residential mortgage lender and portfolio company of Warburg Pincus, today announced the expansion of Newfi Wholesale into Utah. Newfi Wholesale is the third-party origination division of Newfi Lending.

Newfi Wholesale also announced the hiring of Shayne Nielson as Regional Account Manager to drive the expansion into Utah. Nielson has spent many years in both wholesale and retail mortgage lending at Headlands Mortgage and GreenPoint Mortgage, working in Utah and Florida.

"We are pleased to continue our strong growth momentum with our expansion into Utah and we welcome Shayne to the team," said Debbie Ingle, Newfi Lending's Senior Vice President of Wholesale Lending. "We're excited to partner with mortgage brokers in Utah, and to show them the same exceptional level of service that we provide to all our customers."

This move brings the total number of states serviced by Newfi Wholesale to nine, covering over one-third of the U.S. population. In addition to Utah, Newfi Wholesale currently provides wholesale lending services in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Washington.

About Newfi Lending

Founded in 2015 by industry veterans, Newfi Lending is a national mortgage lender reshaping the borrowing experience through a combination of proprietary technology and product innovation. Newfi delivers a more efficient and transparent process resulting in lower costs and higher levels of customer satisfaction and trust. For more information, visit www.newfilending.com.

About Warburg Pincus

Warburg Pincus LLC is a leading global private equity firm focused on growth investing. The firm has more than $44 billion in private equity assets under management. The firm's active portfolio of more than 140 companies is highly diversified by stage, sector and geography. Warburg Pincus is an experienced partner to management teams seeking to build durable companies with sustainable value. Founded in 1966, Warburg Pincus has raised 16 private equity funds, which have invested more than $60 billion in over 780 companies in more than 40 countries. For more information please visit www.warburgpincus.com.

Media Contact

For Newfi Lending:

Daniel Silver

510-907-3463

SOURCE Newfi Lending

Related Links

http://www.newfilending.com


ATLANTA, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A majority of Americans and Canadians have made it clear: we are not paying enough attention to affordable housing needs and solutions, according to Habitat for Humanity's Affordable Housing Survey. With critical housing shortages across both countries, cost remains a top barrier preventing families from accessing decent homes with an affordable mortgage.

"In many ways, housing is an invisible crisis. There are still too many families without access to safe, secure and affordable housing," said Jonathan Reckford, CEO of Habitat for Humanity International. "This survey highlights the value all of us place on a decent place to call home and underscores the critical need to increase access to affordable housing. At Habitat, we are committed to continue partnering with communities, governments and the private sector to create affordable housing solutions and empower families working toward a path to homeownership."

On behalf of Habitat for Humanity, PSB surveyed 1,000 people in the United States and Canada, examining the perceptions, challenges to and benefits of affordable housing in both countries. The survey was conducted ahead of Habitat for Humanity's 34th Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project, which will build 150 homes in Canada this summer.

Affordable housing issues and aspirations

Homeownership remains a top achievement for most people, from renters to current homeowners. Nine out of ten of Americans (92 percent) say owning a home is one of their greatest achievements in life. Among renters, a majority of Americans (68 percent) cite owning a home as one of their top goals.

While homeownership is an aspiration for a majority, it remains out of reach for too many individuals and families. Nine out of ten Americans and Canadians recognize this, saying they believe it is important to find solutions to the lack of affordable housing. Moreover, compared with issues like safety (16 percent) and quality (11 percent) affordability is a top U.S. housing issue (59 percent), with 75 percent saying not enough attention is paid to the issue.

Barriers to homeownership

Compared with other challenges, high cost remains the top barrier to homeownership (84 percent in the U.S.), closely followed by the ability to obtain a mortgage (75 percent). Most do not expect the situation to get much better: A majority of U.S. (72 percent) and Canadian (84 percent) respondents say housing costs will go up in the next five years.

Most have struggled with housing costs at some point in their lifetime. One quarter of U.S. homeowners currently struggle to pay housing costs, while 65 percent say they have struggled with housing costs at some point in their lives:

Difficulty paying

housing costs United States Canada in my 20s 27 percent 33 percent in my 30s 22 percent 22 percent in my 40s 11 percent 13 percent in my 50s 9 percent 10 percent

Benefits of homeownership

Homeownership fosters many positive personal benefits. Nine out of ten Americans (91 percent) report owning a home has made them more responsible, with four in ten reporting that it has also helped them build a nest egg (44 percent) and given them stability (41 percent).

Affordable housing is also the foundation for reducing poverty and achieving economic growth, with the potential to positively impact a wider range of larger societal issues. At least eight out of ten Americans and Canadians agree that having affordable, stable housing contributes to public health, community safety, economic growth and education.

Everyone deserve affordable housing

Habitat for Humanity partners with families and individuals to build or improve a place they can call home, working alongside volunteers paying an affordable mortgage. Through this model, Habitat homeowners achieve the strength, stability and independence they need to build a better life for themselves and their families.

There are several ways to support affordable housing: volunteer with a local Habitat for Humanity, advocate for better housing policies or donate to help more families build and improve a decent place to call home. Visit habitat.org for more information.

About Habitat for Humanity

Driven by the vision that everyone needs a decent place to live, Habitat for Humanity began in 1976 as a grassroots effort on a community farm in southern Georgia. The Christian housing organization has since grown to become a leading global nonprofit working in more than 1,300 communities throughout the U.S. and in more than 70 countries. Families and individuals in need of a hand up partner with Habitat for Humanity to build or improve a place they can call home. Habitat homeowners help build their own homes alongside volunteers and pay an affordable mortgage. Through financial support, volunteering or adding a voice to support affordable housing, everyone can help families achieve the strength, stability and self-reliance they need to build better lives for themselves. Through shelter, we empower. To learn more, visit habitat.org.

About Habitat for Humanity Canada

Founded in 1985, Habitat for Humanity Canada is a national, nonprofit organization working toward a world where everyone has a decent and affordable place to call home. Habitat for Humanity brings communities together to help families build strength, stability and independence through affordable homeownership. With the help of volunteers, Habitat homeowners and 56 local Habitats working in every province and territory, we provide a solid foundation for better, healthier lives in Canada and around the world. For more information, please visit www.habitat.ca.

SOURCE Habitat for Humanity International

Related Links

http://www.habitat.org


WATERTOWN, N.Y., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- It's no secret that ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have been given the go ahead to expand into upstate New York as early as this summer. A marketing campaign is already underway to build up a supply of drivers in the region. That's why a transportation mobility company just launched NNYBlitzTaxi.com, a taxi-hailing mobile application dedicated to helping small-business taxi companies compete in Northern New York.

"NNYBlitzTaxi.com came about as an effort to connect small-business taxi companies and level the playing field with the use of the NNY Blitz app. Our taxi-hailing app provides passengers with the ability to request a ride, rate drivers, and allow passengers to view the current location of their driver just as you would other ride-hailing apps. There is no doubt that when equipped with our app, small-business taxi companies are empowered to rival and succeed with technology that is comparable to large companies like Uber and Lyft. It goes without saying -- getting teched out -- will improve services for passengers and could spell competition for ride-hailing drivers in Northern New York," said Harry Palomino, Founder of the taxi-hailing app.

NNYBlitzTaxi.com went live this month, just as Uber is set to arrive in upstate New York. Inquiring is easy  taxi owners simply go to the website, apply, and expect a call back to discuss membership and fulfillment of business needs. Aside from taxi-mobile technology support, NNYBlitzTaxi.com will provide small-business taxi owners with a wide array of digital and social media marketing solutions to showcase their capabilities. One taxi company owner, Marvin Mazariego, who owns and operates -- Fort Drum EZ Cab -- is already equipped with the NNY Blitz app to meet the demands of his share of the market. "It's an experience that is much needed for soldiers, families, and members of the 10th Mountain community," said Mazariego.

The earliest possible date for arrival of ride-hailing companies in upstate New York is July 8. Passengers will be charged a 4 percent state "assessment fee" on each trip, as well as a 2.5 percent surcharge to cover worker's compensation costs for drivers. Nevertheless, ride-hailing companies have avowed to further a corporate and business strategy that will analyze the demand for ride-hailing requests and a supply of drivers to determine how they will emerge through cities in upstate.

"Essentially, small-business taxi owners have an opportunity -- right now, rather than to beat 'em, join 'em by adapting to their use of mobile technology through our taxi-hailing app," said Harry Palomino. "And it works! -- This weekend, taxi drivers were receiving ride requests through the NNY Blitz app available on Android and iOS. Our app features ride requests, street pick up, and carpooling options to serve a passengers travel needs."

In addition to the taxi-hailing app, NNY Blitz, has scheduled to launch a delivery app (www.NNYBlitzEATS.com) as early as this July 4 weekend. It will begin operating in Jefferson County and seek to gain other counties in the North Country region. A few items listed at checkout include, wine, dry cleaning, food, or prescription drug pickup and delivery; Providers will be available to run errands; additionally, they may be able to fulfill special requests.

About NNYBlitzTaxi.com

Founded in 2017 by Harry Palomino, NNYBlitzTaxi.com is committed to improving the Northern New York taxi-limo landscape by equipping and facilitating small-business taxi companies with technology that improves the service experience of their passengers. Notably, through its exclusive taxi-hailing app that optimizes small-business taxi services in any region of Northern New York.

Contact:

Lori Stokely, Director of Marketing

[email protected]

http://www.NNYBlitz.com

http://www.NNYBlitzTaxi.com

http://NNYBlitzEATS.com

http://www.facebook.com/NNYBlitz

Tel: 315-804-8526

SOURCE NNY Blitz, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.NNYBlitz.com


"The Moss Mine Gold/Silver Project Scheduled for Production in Q4, 2017"

VANCOUVER, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ - Northern Vertex Mining Corp. (TSX.V:NEE) (the "Company" or "Northern Vertex") is pleased to provide the following update on construction activities at its 100% owned Moss Mine project located near Bullhead City, Arizona.

Kenneth Berry, President and CEO, stated: "Under the guidance of Dr. David Stone (Project Manager), Joseph Bardswich, P.Eng (President, Golden Vertex), M3 Engineering, Golder and Associates and N.A. Degerstorm, we continue to achieve considerable progress at the Moss Gold/Silver Mine and significantly de-risk the project both technically and financially. Additional, key contracts recently awarded demonstrate the ongoing progress toward our goal of pouring gold in Q4, 2017."

Key Contracts Recently Executed

Concrete contract was awarded to Great Basin Industrial of Kaysville, UT

Heap leach civil works was awarded to N.A. Degerstrom of Spokane, WA

of Heap leach and pond liner installations awarded to American Environmental Group of Richfield, OH

Heap leach and pond liners have been purchased from Agru America of Fernley, NV

Diesel generators have been purchased from Empire Cat of Mesa, AZ

Overland conveyor, grasshopper conveyors and radial stacker purchased Superior Industries of Prescott, AZ

Advancing the Moss Mine  Construction Progress

Site Civil Works Complete

The project site has seen a significant transformation in the past few months with the completion of the site civil works for the crusher pad, ROM pad, laydown yard, Merrill Crowe facility, and ancillary roads. This work was performed by N.A. Degerstrom of Spokane, WA.

Concrete Work

The concrete contractor is expected to mobilize within the next 2 weeks. The concrete works encompass the Merrill Crowe and Refinery facilities, the crusher foundations, and the diesel power station.

Heap Leach Civil Works

The heap leach earthworks commenced in early June and clearing and grubbing operations in the leach pad are well underway. Excavation and fill for grading in the West Event pond is essentially complete and this area is ready to receive liners. The focus at present is site grading in the western portion of the leach pad to be ready to receive liner in mid-July.

Liners Installation

Lining of the West Event pond is expected to commence in early July when the first liner shipments are received. Portions of the heap leach pad will be ready for lining by mid-July. The current schedule shows completion of the leach pad and pond liners by early September.

Crushing Plant Fabrication and Delivery Confirmed

The Company is also pleased to report that Goodfellow Crushers and their partners KPI/JCI are making excellent progress on the fabrication of the Moss crushing plant. The initial plant components are scheduled for delivery in mid-July, with the final components on site by mid-August.

Powerline & Access Road ROW Progress

Two Right of Way (ROW) permit applications were submitted to the BLM for construction of a power-line partially on Federal Lands, and for eliminating vertical and horizontal curves and blind spots on the Moss Mine Access Road by widening onto adjacent Federal lands. Both permit applications were deemed complete by the Kingman office of the BLM and an inter-disciplinary team meeting has been scheduled for early July. The applications will be reviewed by the BLM team and items of environmental concern will be identified and then assessed for potential impacts. The major factors driving the applications are the elimination of diesel emissions to the atmosphere from on-site generators, and the increase in traffic safety for persons using the public County Access Road.

The applications were supported by a preliminary power-line design by Amec Foster Wheeler, Phoenix, AZ office and completed road reconstruction plans by Civil Works Engineering LLC of Kingman, Az. Mohave County Engineering Dept has approved the road re-construction plans and both City and County Engineering have approved in principle the powerline design concept.

Sale of Waste Rock

The sale of mine waste rock for use as concrete aggregates has commenced in partnership with Tri-R Construction of Mohave Valley, Arizona. At present Tri-R is hauling 500 tons per day to a local concrete supplier, and the demand is growing for use as riprap and other commercial uses.

Qualified Person:

The foregoing technical information contained in this news release has also been reviewed and verified by Mr. Joseph Bardswich, P.Eng., General Manager - Moss Project, and a Qualified Person ("QP") for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101 (Disclosure Standards for Mineral Projects).

About Northern Vertex

Northern Vertex Mining Corp. is an exploration and mining company focused on the reactivation of its 100% owned Moss Mine Gold/Silver Project located in NW Arizona, USA. The Company's management comprises an experienced management team with a strong background in all aspects of acquisition, exploration, development, operations and financing of mining projects worldwide. The Company is focused on working effectively and respectfully with our stakeholders in the vicinity of the historical Moss Mine and enhancing the capacity of the local communities in the area.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF NORTHERN VERTEX

"Kenneth Berry "

President & 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.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains statements about our future business and planned activities. These are "forward-looking" because we have used what we know and expect today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking statements including but are not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work and analyses. Forward-looking statements usually include words such as may, intend, plan, expect, anticipate, believe or other similar words. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of factors and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Company as of the date of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Many factors, known and unknown, could cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. We believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, actual events and results could be substantially different because of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business or events that happen after the date of this news release. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made.. As a general policy, we do not update forward-looking statements except as required by securities laws and regulations. US investors should be aware that mining terminology used for Canadian mineral project reporting purposes differs significantly from US terminology.

SOURCE Northern Vertex Mining Corp.

Related Links

www.northernvertex.com


OXFORD, England, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

A New European Equity Investment Event to Support Early-Stage Companies in Life Sciences

OBN (UK) and Eurasante (FR) are delighted to announce the launch of BioSeed, a joint venture event devised to provide a unique platform for early-stage Life Sciences companies, Technology Transfer Offices (TTO) and Universities throughout Europe seeking equity investment from Angels, High-Net-Worth individuals, specialist Crowd-Funders, and PE / VC funders genuinely interested in Seed and Stage 1 funding of early-stage companies and organisations.

BioSeed will run as a one-day event in London on 14 November 2017 and will feature presentations and pitches by early-stage organisations and a series of pre-scheduled one-to-one meetings with potential investors.

BioSeed is the result of a shared vision between OBN and Eurasante; with both parties observing a lack of industry events that solely support the interaction of early-stage companies with appropriate investors at a European level.

Etienne Vervaecke, General Manager of Eurasante, said: "To succeed, entrepreneurs must broaden their network of early-stage investors in order to see their financing rounds accelerate and increase in size. With BioSeed, we aim to help and guide Life Sciences start-ups in the access and the research funding process."

John Harris, CEO of OBN, commented: "Focusing on our strengths and leveraging our networks, together with Eurasante we intend to make BioSeed THE European marketplace for early-stage investments in the field of Life Sciences. This joint venture will be key to supporting our members' efforts to raise awareness of their financing needs to a European investor audience and deepen their understanding of the investment landscape. We are proud to be launching this event with our French partners, and look forward to supporting and enabling positive outcomes, whether that be funding, M&A, partnering or collaborations."

OBN and Eurasante both have extensive experience in creating events aimed at supporting innovation in the Life Sciences sector; OBN are the organisers of BioTrinity, Europe's leading Biopartnering and Investment conference, and Eurasante organise BioFIT, the European business convention for technology transfer, academia-industry collaborations and early-stage innovations in Life Sciences.

BioSeed will be an annual event alternating between the U.K. and France with the second edition due to take place alongside BioFIT in Lille, France in December 2018, before returning to the U.K. in October 2019.

To find out more and to register your interest in attending please visit www.bioseed.eu.

About OBN

OBN is the leading Membership organisation supporting and bringing together the UK's innovative life sciences companies, corporate partners and investors. Our 400-plus Member companies are located across the Golden Triangle and beyond to Manchester, Nottingham, the Midlands, South Coast and Scotland, benefiting from our networking, partnering, purchasing, training, advising and advocacy activities. OBN organises and delivers BioTrinity, Europe's leading life sciences Investment and Biopartnering conference.

For more information, please visit www.obn.org.uk or www.biotrinity.com

About Eurasante

Eurasante is both an incubator, a technology transfer tool, as well as a cluster manager in the fields of biotech, nutrition and healthcare in Northern France. It assists French and foreign companies, entrepreneurs, scientists and clinicians in their innovation and development projects.

Please visit www.eurasante.com or www.biofit-event.com for more information

Contacts

OBN

John G. Harris, CEO, OBN

Tel: +44-(0)-1235-420-870

Email: [email protected]

Eurasante

Etienne Vervaecke, General Manager, Eurasante

Tel: +33-(3)-28559060

Email: [email protected]

For media enquiries:

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

Sylvie Berrebi

Tel: +44-(0)-20-7638-9571

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE OBN
COLUMBUS, Ohio, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Members of the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association (OMBA) will storm Capitol Hill this week to educate Members of Congress on the most important issues facing the real estate financing industry as part of a nationwide fly-in organized by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

"The best way to educate the Ohio Congressional Delegation on the issues facing our industry is to put them in front of the mortgage bankers they represent," said Marianne Collins, executive director and chief operating officer of the Ohio Mortgage Bankers Association. "Our members know firsthand how the current housing finance system and its regulations are impacting Ohio's businesses, consumers, and homeowners."

Members of the national MBA will arrive in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, June 20th for the annual National Advocacy Conference, the organization's largest advocacy event of the year. In addition to hearing from influential speakers, including Ohio's own Rep. Steve Stivers, OMBA members will have the opportunity on Wednesday, June 21st to meet with their federal representatives.

Members will advocate for, among other things, housing finance reform, which is the last piece of unfinished business from the 2008 financial crisis. The MBA recently released a proposal, GSE Reform: Creating a Sustainable, More Vibrant Secondary Mortgage Market, with a recommended approach to reforming the current system. Participants will urge Congress to use the MBA approach as a guideline.

"There is strong bipartisan support for housing finance reform throughout Congress, so our goal is to generate some momentum among the Ohio Delegation for legislative action," said Collins. "Our members are excited about their trip to Washington and the real opportunity we have for true housing finance reform."

To arrange an interview with Collins, please contact Amanda Wurst at [email protected].

Contact: Amanda Wurst

614-832-7512/[email protected]

SOURCE Mortgage Bankers Association
ATTLEBORO, Mass., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Old Colony Habitat for Humanity today announced the dedication of its 8th home. The house, located on Holman Street in Attleboro, was dedicated yesterday and will soon become home to single mom Sandra Hovagimian and her sons Khris and Kevin, ages 13 and 12, respectively.

Congressman Joe Kennedy III presided at the event and was joined by State Senator Richard Ross, along with Manny Cunard, recently retired executive director of Old Colony Habitat for Humanity, and the current executive director of the chapter, Ken Owens.

The Holman Street home was made a reality through generous donations of cash, materials and time. With the support of corporate and community funding, more than 500 individuals alongside the homeowner contributed their "sweat equity" to build this home.

Rep. Kennedy said, "There's a lot of arguing going on in Washington right now, so it's so heart-warming to come home and see how our local communities are coming together to solve problems." Kennedy was visibly moved by the beautiful home and the deserving family.

"This dedication is especially gratifying for me," said Cunard. "It's unbelievable to see our dream become a reality. It's a gorgeous, healthy and 'green' dwelling and I'm so happy for Sandra and her kids to finally have such a home as their own. They have worked tirelessly, alongside our team, and it has truly paid off." Old Colony Habitat would especially like to thank Mansfield Bank for their generous support.

The Holman Street home was the brainchild of Cunard, who spear-headed the project along with the family selection. Cunard led the project and drove the green and energy efficient features, making it perhaps the greenest Habitat home in the country. The project was completed under the direction of the current Executive Director Ken Owens and Build Committee Chairman Carl Adler.

Dennis Michaud, creator of Homebuilt and co-founder and former head of engineering and design of Blu Homes, an elite modular home builder, was a special advisor on this project. Michaud guided Cunard and his team to ensure the home was efficient and green.

"When Manny looked me up, I was happy to be a part of this amazing project," said Michaud. "I have been working to improve green and energy efficient home building for more than 10 years and I can't tell you how personally satisfying it is for me to see it all come to together for the Hovagimians." Michaud is an MIT-trained architect and built the first robotically manufactured full-sized home ever made. The home was exhibited at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 2008, when he was a post-graduate researcher at MIT.

Most Green and Energy Efficient Home So Far

The home is a three-bedroom, 1400-square-foot center-entrance colonial. It's Energy Star rated and equipped with Energy Star appliances and the most energy efficient insulation available, spray foam. The exterior and interior framing was pre-cut off-site keeping the home protected from the elements, especially mold. Finally, abundant energy-efficient windows bring the outdoors in and offer ventilation and protection, as needed.

About Old Colony Habitat for Humanity

Old Colony Habitat for Humanity was founded in 1989 in Attleboro and is a locally run affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. Old Colony operates in 14 communities in Bristol and Norfolk county in Massachusetts, including Attleboro, Bellingham, Foxborough, Franklin, Mansfield, Norfolk, North Attleboro, Norton, Plainville, Rehoboth, Seekonk, Swansea, Taunton, and Wrentham. Please visit our site at www.oldcolonyhabitat.org to donate or volunteer. In 2016, the chapter opened its ReStore, which features great prices on everything from full kitchens to furniture, tools and even wrapping paper. All merchandise is donated and donations are always appreciated. The store is open Tuesdays - Sat 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Please visit oldcolonyrestore.org to request pick-up of donated goods, sign up to volunteer or sign up for our newsletter. Habitat reintroduces the most basic building block of any community  the homeowner. The chapter provides resources, guidance, and hope to aspiring families. With Habitat's "A Hand Up, Not a Hand Out," homeowners contribute a substantial amount of "sweat equity" during construction of the home and the chapter sells homes to homeowners at a sharp discount they can afford. Check us out and like us on Facebook.

2017 Old Colony Habitat for Humanity. All rights reserved. All other entities mentioned herein, including Blu Homes, HomeBuilt, Mansfield Bank and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are unaffiliated.

Contact:

Michele Reynolds Perry

617-595-5606

[email protected]

SOURCE Old Colony Habitat for Humanity

Related Links

http://www.oldcolonyhabitat.org


The United Nations reports that refugee displacements are at its highest levels on record. A staggering one-in-every 113 people on the planet is now forcibly displaced, and 34,000 more join their ranks every day. 1 Millions have fled from war-torn Syria, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Iraq, among other countries . While some governments have welcomed refugees, other governments, including the United States, are pulling back from refugee aid. OpenInvest launched the #WithRefugees Impact Investment Screen to empower corporate America and individual investors to help tackle this unprecedented disaster through shareholder activism.

"We launched the #WithRefugees Impact Investment Screen because the private sector must step up to help combat this unprecedented humanitarian disaster. Corporations are beholden to their shareholders. As public investors, we are incredibly empowered to send a message that human rights is good business, we support moral leadership, and other global giants should follow their example," said Joshua Levin, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer, OpenInvest. "On a personal level, this provides an easy tool for individual investors who feel they can benefit from tilting towards companies with the vision, foresight and values to help attract new sources of talent and forge a better world."

Supporting refugees can also be good business. Companies have found skilled talent and helped reduce turnover through their hiring commitments. For example, Starbucks has committed to hire 10,000 refugees over the next five years. Chipotle pro-actively recruits refugees through the IRC (International Rescue Committee), who are more than 7x more likely to be qualified and hired than typical applicants. Additionally, companies such as H&M, Goldman Sachs, Google, and TripAdvisor, have pledged millions of dollars towards refugee aid.

To use the tool, users simply click on the #WithRefugees Screen and select companies they'd like to invest in from a curated list. The new screen marks OpenInvest's 10th screen on the platform. Other screens include: climate change, fossil fuels, weapons manufacturers, gender equality, LGBTQ workplace treatment, deforestation, tobacco, companies funding the Dakota Access Pipeline, and companies supporting President Trump.

Data for the #WithRefugees Impact Investment screen was collected from the Obama White House's 2016 "Call to Action" commitments, company and NGO websites, public filings, media, and discussions with leading refugee relief organizations.

For more information about the #WithRefugees Impact Investment Screen, visit https://www.openinvest.co/openinvest-launches-withrefugees-impact-investment-screen/

About OpenInvest

OpenInvest is the future of investing  one that is honest, personalized, and empowering. The company was founded by a unique a combination of finance and nonprofit leaders who want to make the world a better place. They realized that when it comes to investing, most people are disempowered  forced to finance corporate practices which they may detest (e.g. climate change denial, weapons production, discrimination, and deforestation, to name a few), while actually overpaying in fees! OpenInvest changes all this. We're a Public Benefit Corporation, committed to total transparency, incubated in Y Combinator, and backed by Andreessen Horowitz. We use proprietary technology to empower your values, and let you take action, while your investments always stay diversified and broadly tracking the performance of the market. To get started, visit openinvest.co and sign up for a new account. Follow OpenInvest on Facebook and Twitter.

Media Contacts:

Melissa Barto/ Jill Fox

JCUTLER media group

[email protected] / [email protected]



OpenInvest is an investment adviser registered with the SEC. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Please see our website at openinvest.co for more information about the merits and risks of investing with OpenInvest. Disclaimers and Terms of Use.

1 http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/figures-at-a-glance.html

SOURCE OpenInvest

Related Links

https://www.openinvest.co


In order to be ranked by OCBJ, a company had to be privately owned, headquartered in Orange County, and have a minimum annual revenue of $100 million for the 12-month period ending December of 2016. "It's rewarding to make OCBJ's list of Top Private Companies for four consecutive years. This recognition is a testament to the outstanding dedication and commitment of our hard-working team on a daily basis," said COO Christy Bunce. "We're constantly searching for new ways to stretch ourselves and to outperform yesterday's achievements."

2016 Milestones

New American Funding is privately owned by husband-and-wife duo, Rick and Patty Arvielo, who have expanded the company into one of the fastest-growing mortgage lenders in America. Even though the company is headquartered in Orange County, it has more than 130 nationwide branches in 20 states. In 2016, the mortgage company hit record-breaking growth, which included:

Hiring 1200+ people

Adding 36 retail locations

Funding $11.7 billion in loans

Recent Accolades

Due to its rapid business growth over the past year, New American Funding has received several notable accolades, which include:

Inc. 5000  Fastest-Growing Companies in America

Scotsman Guide  Top Mortgage Lenders in America

Stevie American Business Award  Fastest-Growing Company

OCBJ's Private Companies list will also appear in the 2018 Book of Lists.

About New American Funding

New American Funding is a national mortgage banker licensed in 48 states with 130+ branch locations that offer a variety of home loan options including: Conventional, FHA, Cash Out, Fixed Rate and Adjustable Rate Mortgages, VA, HARP 2.0, Jumbo, and Reverse Mortgages. The company is a Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae Direct Seller/Servicer, FHA Direct Endorsement, and VA Automatic mortgage lender.

SOURCE New American Funding

Related Links

http://www.newamericanfunding.com


Orthodontists providing case studies for the gallery include several provided by international lecturers and represent a wide array of malocclusions, treatment approaches and mechanics. This comprehensive gallery was created as a helpful resource for orthodontists who are interested in familiarizing themselves with SoftPulse Technology as well as those considering how to integrate AcceleDent into their practices. With the ability to easily identify cases in the gallery that have a similar set of diagnostic conditions to those that a current patient presents with, orthodontists will be able to use these cases as a guide when determining optimal treatment protocols.

"We know that there are many orthodontists who want to study real-world patient cases from peers in evaluating emerging technology such as AcceleDent," said Kathy Farley, OrthoAccel's vice president of clinical education. "The case gallery, coupled with OrthoAccel's clinical library of 15 peer-reviewed articles, including two randomized controlled trials, demonstrates AcceleDent's effectiveness in clinical applications."

Each case in the gallery provides treatment class diagnosis, estimated length of treatment without AcceleDent, orthodontic appliance used (braces or aligners) and actual length of treatment with AcceleDent. Pre-and post-treatment photographic records accompany the case information.

"Having heard from many orthodontists, we recognize how important it is that the cases show as much information as possible," added Farley. "We appreciate all of the orthodontists who shared their cases and support documentation with OrthoAccel and encourage more orthodontists to submit cases via the online submission portal."

To view the OrthoAccel case gallery visit acceledent.com/orthodontists/case-studies/. Orthodontists interested in submitting cases via the online portal can click here.

Orthodontists interested in learning more about AcceleDent can visit the OrthoAccel sales representative locator to find a company representative near them or call (866) 866-4919, Option 1.

About OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc.

OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc. is a privately owned medical device company engaged in the creation, manufacturing, marketing and sales of innovative solutions that enhance dental care and orthodontic treatment. Among the company's innovations is AcceleDent, an FDA-cleared, Class II medical device that employs patented SoftPulse Technology that is demonstrated to speed up bone remodeling. These safe and gentle vibrations accelerate tooth movement by as much as 50 percent and reduce discomfort associated with treatment. Leading orthodontists from around the world report increased mechanical efficiency with orthodontic appliances and improved predictability of clinical outcomes with AcceleDent. OrthoAccel, the Leader in Accelerated Orthodontics, is ranked on Deloitte's 2016 Technology Fast 500 as one of the fastest growing companies in North America. OrthoAccel is based in Houston, Texas and maintains a global presence through its EMEA office in Essen, Germany. To learn more about OrthoAccel's focus on improving the journey to healthy, beautiful smiles, visit AcceleDent.com.

SOURCE OrthoAccel Technologies, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.acceledent.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Ocean Yield ASA (Oslo Bors: OCY; OTCQX: OYIEF), a ship owning company with investments within shipping and oil-service, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Ocean Yield upgraded to OTCQX from the Pink market.

Ocean Yield begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "OYIEF." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

"We are thrilled to welcome Ocean Yield to our family of established, investor-focused U.S. and global companies," said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "Trading on OTCQX will allow Ocean Yield to expand its shareholder base and visibility in the U.S. market without incurring the high cost and duplicative regulatory requirements of a U.S. stock exchange listing."

Ocean Yield ASA's Chief Executive Officer Lars Solbakken said in a comment: "The establishment of a quotation on OTCQX will offer investors in the United States transparency and efficient trading of Ocean Yield's foreign ordinary shares."

Ocean Yield is a ship owning company with investments within shipping and oil-service. The company focuses on modern assets with long-term charters to solid counterparties. The company has a significant contract backlog that offers visibility with respect to future earnings and dividend capacity.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market, and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com

OTC Link ATS is operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC and SEC regulated ATS.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Payoneer, a leading cross-border payments company transforming the way businesses send and receive funds globally, officially unveiled a new office today in London. The company has seen an increased demand for UK businesses looking to expand beyond the EU, as well as digital marketplaces and platforms opening their doors to foreign sellers, publishers and talent. Payoneer is aiming to connect the fast-growing digital economy in the UK to the rest of the world.

"London is a huge tech and innovation hub, yet UK businesses have historically focused on a domestic-first approach," notes Daniel Mayhew, Country Manager for Payoneer in the UK. "Our mission is to help these businesses take advantage of the incredibly lucrative markets that exist internationally. We felt it was crucial to open up a physical office in the UK at this junction to offer more support to the local business community."

UK sellers excel in the international market - In March of 2017, HM Revenue and Customs reported that total UK trade exports reached 31.4 billion that month, a 27% increase from the same period last year. UK merchants are increasingly selling on international marketplaces such as Amazon, Wish and Tophatter in the US, Cdiscount in France and Lazada in SE Asia . Payoneer has seen that UK sellers can expect their sales to grow by an average of 66% by listing their products on additional international marketplaces.



- In March of 2017, HM Revenue and Customs reported that total UK trade exports reached 31.4 billion that month, a 27% increase from the same period last year. UK merchants are increasingly selling on international marketplaces such as Amazon, Wish and Tophatter in the US, Cdiscount in and Lazada in . Payoneer has seen that UK sellers can expect their sales to grow by an average of 66% by listing their products on additional international marketplaces. Global trends towards growth  Cross-border commerce is on track to reach an all-time high, with new leaders in global trade arising each year. Numbers indicate that the UK is in the early stages of a globalization boom; in 2016, Payoneer saw triple digit growth in the number of new users from the UK compared with the previous year. With a team on the ground offering increased support to the local business community, Payoneer can help accelerate global growth for UK businesses.



 Cross-border commerce is on track to reach an all-time high, with new leaders in global trade arising each year. Numbers indicate that the UK is in the early stages of a globalization boom; in 2016, Payoneer saw triple digit growth in the number of new users from the UK compared with the previous year. With a team on the ground offering increased support to the local business community, Payoneer can help accelerate global growth for UK businesses. Launch of new payment solutions  The new Japanese Yen and Chinese Yuan Payment Services, together with existing American dollar and Euro offerings, provide UK-based Payoneer customers with local receiving accounts in key trading markets to accept payments in those countries and currencies. This empowers them to sell to clients or on marketplaces in those countries and collect their earnings with the same ease as domestic businesses, making it simple to expand into these huge and rapidly growing markets. Plus, the Payoneer account allows UK sellers to hold multiple currencies, and make payments to foreign suppliers using these funds for free, avoiding a double conversion.

"As Brexit looms, there's an increased interest among many UK businesses to look to new markets for growth, like the US, Asia and Latin America," states Scott Galit, CEO of Payoneer. "At Payoneer, we are experts helping businesses expand into international markets and capitalize on growth opportunities in the new global digital economy. We've continued to increase investment in key markets to support global trade, most recently opening new offices in Japan, India, the Philippines, China and now, the UK. After twelve years in the industry, we understand the needs of the business community in the rapidly changing digital economy, and plan to become the top partner in the UK helping businesses grow internationally."

About Payoneer

Payoneer empowers global commerce by connecting businesses, professionals, countries and currencies with its innovative cross-border payments platform. In today's borderless digital world, Payoneer enables millions of businesses and professionals from more than 200 countries to reach new audiences by facilitating seamless, cross-border payments. Additionally, thousands of leading corporations including Airbnb, Amazon, Getty Images, Google and UpWork rely on Payoneer's mass payout services. B2B marketplaces are also using Payoneer to power secure escrow transactions between their buyers and sellers around the world.

With Payoneer's fast, flexible, secure and low-cost solutions, businesses and professionals in both developed and emerging markets can now pay and get paid globally as easily as they do locally. Founded in 2005 and based in New York, Payoneer is venture-backed, profitable, ranked in the top 100 of Inc. 5000's Financial Services companies, and was awarded a spot on the 2017 CNBC Disruptor 50 list.

SOURCE Payoneer

Related Links

http://www.payoneer.com


CHICAGO, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In the war on tick-borne diseases, overconfidence is putting humans at a disadvantage, according to osteopathic physicians, who stress the need to prevent bites to avoid life-threatening illnesses.

A recent online survey of over 2,000 U.S. adults, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Osteopathic Association, found that while 84 percent of Americans understand the threats posed by Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses, 71 percent think it is unlikely they will contract any of those illnesses in their lifetime.

More concerning, only 43 percent of Americans report thorough and regular application of DEET-based products or other repellants when outdoors in areas where ticks may be present, despite increases in potentially fatal illnesses including Powassan virus and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, which caused the recent death of an Indiana toddler. Experts warn that the early symptoms of tick-borne illnesses make them difficult to diagnose and delaying treatment can be fatal in rare cases.

"Part of the challenge for parents is the non-specific nature of the symptoms, particularly in children. A child with a fever could have any number of relatively benign conditions, but a child with a fever who's been playing in the woods might have Powassan or Rocky Mountain spotted fever, which if not diagnosed and treated early, can be fatal, said Rob Danoff, DO, a family medicine physician and program director of the Family Medicine/Emergency Medicine residency programs at Aria Jefferson Health in Philadelphia.

"Ticks can be as small as poppy seeds, the bites don't hurt and the symptoms are often initially vague and may be thought to be from other causes, so we need to send a strong message about the importance of prevention," Dr. Danoff noted.

Understanding the Biggest Threat

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is a tick-borne disease caused by the bacterium Rickettsia rickettsii. Blacklegged ticks and the rarer western blacklegged ticks, which carry the Lyme bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, are now found in half of all U.S. counties, though transmission remains highest in the Northeast and Upper Midwest states. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that the annual number of new cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. currently exceeds 300,000.

When outdoors, you should be wary of ticks and their highly infectious bites, which can cause Lyme diseasethe most common tick-borne illness in the U.S., according to the CDC.

While not all ticks carry disease, some may spread multiple infections in a single bite. Other tick-borne diseases include babesiosis, anaplasmosis, bartonella and the rare but serious Powassan, which health experts say is on the upswing this spring.

Tips to Prevent Bites

While the type of tick-borne disease varies by region, protective practices are standard and should be implemented regularly.

Watch your step: Avoid wooded, bushy areas with long grass where deer ticks tend to live.

Avoid wooded, bushy areas with long grass where deer ticks tend to live. Cover yourself: When walking in the woods, wear long pants and long sleeves, a hat and gloves. Tuck your pants into your socks.

When walking in the woods, wear long pants and long sleeves, a hat and gloves. Tuck your pants into your socks. Wear tick repellant on your skin: Effective tick repellant products contain 20-30% DEET, Picaridin or IR3535, all of which are applied onto the skin.

Effective tick repellant products contain 20-30% DEET, Picaridin or IR3535, all of which are applied onto the skin. Treat your clothing: Spray permethrin on your shoes, clothes and hats is . This ingredient targets the insect's nervous system and has low toxicity to mammals. Spray it on your clothes, shoes or hats but avoid contact with skin. You can also buy pre-treated clothing. Note: Permethrin is toxic to cats, so keep it away from them.

Spray on your shoes, clothes and hats is Tick-proof your yard: Clear leaves and brush from your yard to avoid making a home for ticks.

Check your clothes and skin: After a walk in the woods or in tall grass, conduct a thorough check of skin and hair. Remember that ticks like moist, warm areas such as the groin, armpits and scalp and they can be tiny, so make sure to search carefully.

areas such as the groin, armpits and scalp Hit the showers: Ticks often stay on your skin for hours before attaching themselves, so a prompt shower may be enough to remove any unattached ones.

About the American Osteopathic Association

The American Osteopathic Association (AOA) represents more than 129,000 osteopathic physicians (DOs) and osteopathic medical students; promotes public health; encourages scientific research; serves as the primary certifying body for DOs; and is the accrediting agency for osteopathic medical schools. Visit DoctorsThatDO.org to learn more.

Survey Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll on behalf of American Osteopathic Association from May 31- June 2, 2017 among 2,110 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. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Jeff Brennan.

SOURCE American Osteopathic Association

Related Links

http://doctorsthatdo.org/


"On behalf of the Board of Directors, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Frazier as our next President and CEO," said Dr. Keith Berkeley, Chairman. "We look forward to her leadership as we continue to grow our company."

Ms. Frazier brings 26 years of banking experience to PTBS, having most recently served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cardinal Financial Corporation (CFNL) in McLean, Virginia. Prior to joining CFNL in 2009, she was SVP/Area Executive in Loudoun County, Virginia for BB&T. Ms. Frazier began her banking career at Middleburg Financial Corporation (MBRG) in 1991 serving as Chief Financial Officer and culminating into Chief Operating Officer. She spent four years in public accounting with both a national and regional firm. Ms. Frazier is a graduate of Radford University and Stonier Graduate School of Banking.

Ms. Frazier currently serves as Chair of the Virginia Association of Community Banks and has held various leadership roles within the Independent Community Bankers Association.

Ms. Frazier said, "It is an honor to serve as Potomac Bancshares, Inc. and BCT's President and Chief Executive Officer. The company is rich with 146 years of history, solid financial performance and a team of vibrant, talented employees, who are committed to the clients, the communities we serve and the mission of the company. I look forward to working with the Board of Directors and the BCT team as we position the company for the future."

Bank of Charles Town, a wholly owned subsidiary of Potomac Bancshares, Inc., is a locally owned community bank with seven offices serving the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, Washington County, Maryland and Middleburg, Virginia. For more information, visit us online at www.mybct.com or speak to our staff by calling 304-725-8431.

SOURCE Potomac Bancshares, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mybct.com


LADY LAKE, Fla., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Prostate Evaluation Center announced today that founder Dr. James Young is the first urologist in the U.S. to treat 300 patients with the Rezum System, an innovative and effective minimally invasive treatment option for men suffering from benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), or an enlarged prostate. Dedicated to bringing new minimally invasive therapies to his patients, Dr. Young, a board-certified urologist, offers Rezum as an in-office BPH treatment option at Prostate Evaluation Center in Lake County, Florida. Dr. Young has been practicing urology for 35 years and attended medical school at University of Arkansas. He founded Prostate Evaluation Center in 1982. According to leading online physician and hospital resource Healthgrades.com, Dr. Young ranks in the top 100th percentile of all urologists in the U.S., based upon hundreds of patient surveys and reviews.

BPH, or an enlarged prostate gland, is one of the top 10 most common and costly diseases affecting 12 million men aged 50 or more years old in the U.S. with nearly 800,000 newly diagnosed each year. BPH causes significant quality of life issues including lack of sleep, anxiety, challenges with sexual function and limits to daily activities.

"After more than 30 years of treating BPH, in my opinion the Rezum System is the most dramatic advance in technology for treating men with enlarged prostates that I expect to see in my lifetime," said Dr. Young. "After performing 300 treatments, it's clear that Rezum is an effective first-line therapy for men suffering from BPH, providing my patients with a minimally invasive alternative to surgery or taking daily BPH medications for the rest of their lives, both of which have side effects many of my patients would prefer to avoid or end."

Developed by NxThera, Rezum is performed in a clinic or out-patient setting using the natural thermal energy stored in water vapor, or steam, to treat the extra prostate tissue that is causing symptoms such as frequency, urgency, irregular flow, weak stream, straining and getting up at night to urinate. The water vapor is delivered into the targeted prostate tissue and when the vapor contacts the tissue it turns back into water, releasing all the stored thermal energy, causing the obstructive prostate tissue cells to die. Over the next few weeks, the body's natural healing response removes the dead cells, shrinking the prostate. With the extra tissue removed, the urethra opens, reducing BPH symptoms and improving patients' quality of life. Studies have shown that the Rezum treatment allows men to retain sexual function unlike many other existing BPH treatments. More than 10,000 patients to-date have been effectively treated with the Rezum System across the U.S. and Europe.

"It's not often that you get a chance to thank your doctor for making your life more functional and pleasant," said patient Dr. Joseph B. Dent, Jr., of Lady Lake, Florida. "Dr. Young said that by having the Rezum procedure and following his recommendations my life would be much improved. He was right, and I thank him and his entire staff for their help and support."

"Our goal is to transform the lives of BPH patients across the country with the Rezum System," said Bob Paulson, president and CEO of NxThera. "With Dr. Young's expertise and advanced training with Rezum, patients suffering from BPH in the Lady Lake area now have a minimally invasive, lasting and cost-effective alternative for treatment so they can get back to enjoying a better quality of life."

Highlights of the Rezum therapy include:

Performed in-office and patients can return home immediately

Does not require general anesthesia

Relieves symptoms safely and effectively

Is an alternative to BPH medications, eliminating the need for long-term BPH medication use

Provides noticeable symptom improvement within two weeks

Preserves erectile and urinary functions

Allows patients to return to regular activities within a few days

Patients interested in a consultation with Dr. Young should call 352-751-0040 or email [email protected] to schedule an appointment.

For more information about Prostate Evaluation Center, visit www.prostateevaluation.com. For more information about the Rezum System, visit www.Rezum.com or call 888-319-9691.

About Prostate Evaluation Center

Dr. James Young founded Prostate Evaluation Center (previously Urology Associates of Lake County) in 1982 to address the general urology needs of the area. Since then, Dr. Young has chosen to focus on men's health problems including prostate and erectile dysfunction issues. Diagnostic services available within the office include PSA and transrectal ultrasound to diagnose prostate cancer as well as urodynamics and cystoscopy to evaluate bladder problems. In-office treatments include therapies for enlarged prostates (BPH).

About NxThera and the Rezum System

NxThera pioneered its convective radiofrequency thermal therapy platform technology to treat a variety of endourological conditions, beginning with BPH. The company is furthering the application of the technology platform through advanced research and development targeting the treatment of prostate cancer and kidney cancer. NxThera's FDA-cleared Rezum System is a next-generation transurethral needle ablation system indicated to treat symptoms of BPH using radiofrequency energy that is convectively delivered to obstructive prostate tissue in targeted, precise thermal energy treatments, with minimal discomfort. Rezum treatments provide improvements in BPH symptoms, urine flow and quality of life. Founded in 2008, NxThera is located in Maple Grove, Minn. For more information, visit www.Rezum.com.

SOURCE Prostate Evaluation Center

Related Links

http://www.prostateevaluation.com


SUGAR LAND, Texas, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- It has been widely reported in the national press, including US Today, Modern Healthcare, and the New York Times, that there is a nation-wide shortage of pharmaceutical quality sodium bicarbonate available to hospitals. A shortage of the antacid is prompting healthcare providers to carefully prioritize procedures, delay some operations or choose alternative treatments. This shortage is expected to persist to some degree for a number of months.

QuVa Pharma, Inc. is pleased to advise that it has supplies of Sodium Bicarbonate PF 8.4% (1mEq/ml) 50ml in a syringe (50mEq per syringe) available. QuVa is currently supplying this product to existing customers and welcomes new enquiries.

With deep aseptic pharmaceutical manufacturing experience, QuVa specializes in critical drug shortage products. The sodium bicarbonate compounded by QuVa is sourced from a USA made and FDA approved manufacturer, and joins a range of critical shortage products including Calcium Chloride, Potassium Phosphate, and Rocuronium all compounded from FDA approved starting material. All product sold is accompanied by a Certificate of Analysis verifying sterility, and product specifications.

"It is important in times of drug shortage that we are able to offer high quality solutions for our customers and provide reliable, pertinent, and cost-effective product for them to continue quality care to their patients," said Stuart Hinchen, QuVa Pharma's co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "We are able to maintain the industry leading quality standards of our products by only sourcing product from FDA approved suppliers of the starting material. This lifts the burden off the hospitals to find their own solutions without the same level of supplier knowledge and product development controls that we have. Patients need solutions in drug shortage situations, and we aim to be there for them."

QuVa is the market leader in quality compliance with both existing Texas facilities in excellent standing with the FDA, having received the Inspection Close out report in March 2017 for the main Sugar Land, Texas campus. QuVa is opening the first phase of its 160,000 sq ft New Jersey facility in July 2017, with further expansion at that site on schedule for commissioning in Q4 2017.

For product ordering enquiries please contact QuVa Customer Service at 888.339.0874 or via email [email protected].

About QuVa Pharma, Inc.

QuVa Pharma is a nationally recognized company emerging as the leading industry 503B platform and partner of choice for compliance-oriented healthcare facilities looking to ensure a quality, safe and consistent supply of medications. The Company offers a broad portfolio of products across Pain Management, Anti-effective, OR Syringes, Labor and Delivery therapeutic areas amongst others, all of which are released only once sterility and potency testing is successfully complete, and with validation supporting appropriate BUD. The company is committed to having a patient-first orientation, as well as a robust product portfolio, leading safety standards, and collaborative, partnership-oriented customer service. For more information, visit www.quvapharma.com.

SOURCE QuVa Pharma, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.quvapharma.com


The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory Operations Contract continues the innovative technical and engineering support Raytheon has provided since 2003 including extending the lifecycle of the massive underwater mockups of the ISS.

"Building a safe and challenging environment for astronauts to train for the rigors of human spaceflight is a mission that Raytheon is uniquely positioned to support," said Todd Probert, vice president of Mission Support and Modernization at Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "Our engineering expertise and dedication to exceeding safety standards are how we will continue to support NASA's pioneering mission at the NBL."

Raytheon also helps NASA lower the overall operating costs of the facility by bringing in external customers who take advantage of the unique, fully-instrumented underwater facility. Among other uses, customers use the facility to train for operating unmanned vehicles offshore and undersea, conduct experiments in a microgravity environment and test underwater equipment.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2016 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 95 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5I products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter.

www.raytheon.com

Media Contact

Raytheon

Rachael Duffy

571-250-1517

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Company

Related Links

http://www.raytheon.com


SPRINGFIELD, Mass., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hampton Farms is expanding its voluntary recall on Ava's Brand Organic Roasted Unsalted Cashews to include Ava's Brand Organic Roasted Unsalted Almonds distributed only in New Jersey. This is the result of a recall expansion from Hampton Farms' supplier, Hudson Valley Foods, Inc. of Highland, NY advising Hampton Farms that ingredients sold to the company have the potential to be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. No confirmed illnesses have been reported to public health authorities to date. Although test results of ingredients on hand at Hampton Farms were negative for Listeria, Hampton Farms is recalling this item out of an abundance of caution.

All affected distributors and retail customers are being notified and the affected products are being removed from store shelves. Combined, fewer than 650 units of Ava's Brand Organic Roasted Unsalted Cashews and Ava's Brand Organic Roasted Unsalted Almonds products were offered for retail sale in New Jersey.

Listeria monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women.

This announcement applies only to the Ava's Brand Organic Roasted Unsalted Cashews and Organic Roasted Unsalted Almonds product listed below and does not include any other items or the same item outside of this lot code:

Ava's 8 oz Organic Roasted Unsalted Cashews

UPC 8-10111-01036-8

Lot# 11817 Exp 4/28/18

Lot# 12617 Exp 5/1/18

Lot#15917 Exp 6/5/18

Ava's 8 oz Organic Roasted Unsalted Almonds

UPC 8-10111-01032-0

Lot#10217 Exp 4/10/18

No other Ava's branded products or any other products produced by Hampton Farms are included within this recall. This recall expansion is being undertaken with the knowledge of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"We deeply regret this situation and have employed our established recall plan to immediately remove the product from distribution. Nothing is more important than providing safe and wholesome, quality products," said Dallas Barnes, President of Hampton Farms.

Consumers should not consume these products. Affected product may be returned to the place of purchase for a full refund. Consumers with questions may contact Hampton Farms Monday through Friday from 8am to 4pm (EDT) at 413-732-4193, press 0.

SOURCE Hampton Farms
The North Las Vegas Campus is the first of four new hospitals planned for the Las Vegas Valley this year through a joint venture partnership of Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican (DHSRD) and Emerus Holdings Inc., which specializes in the design, build and management of value-based micro-hospitals that offer a broad range of evolving coordinated care options, in conjunction with its partners.

The ribbon-cutting celebration took place at the new 60,000-square-foot hospital on the corner of Craig Road and Camino Al Norte.

"We are so pleased to offer the Las Vegas community much-needed, and improved, access to the very best inpatient care, primary care and wellness programs available," said Laura Hennum, Market CEO for DHSRD Neighborhood Hospitals. "We thank the entire Dignity Health team and our Las Vegas community leaders for providing such strong support for this project," she told the standing-room-only gathering. "This beautiful new hospital is here to serve you."

North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee said, "With all of the projects our community is currently working on, I can tell you none is more important to our community. Dignity Health is bringing some of the smartest minds, the most caring staff and the best specialists to the North Las Vegas community. This is a special day."

The other hospitals planned under the partnership, on Flamingo Road and the 215 Beltway; Blue Diamond Road and Decatur Boulevard; and Sahara Avenue and Decatur Boulevard, are set to open July 24, Aug. 16 and in early November, respectively. All told, the hospitals are expected to bring 250 to 280 jobs to the Valley and fast emergency care in neighborhoods where residents need and deserve better access to health care.

Per capita, Nevada ranks 48th in the nation in physicians and 50th in primary care physicians, according to a study released last year by the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Nevada falls well below the national rates of medical doctors per 100,000 members of the population, and doctors in patient care per 100,000 population, according to the report. The study also says the number of MDs per capita in 16 of 39 medical specialties hasn't kept up with the past 20 years of population growth.

"We're focusing on unserved and underserved communities," said Sister Katie McGrail, Vice President of Mission Integration, Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican's Siena Campus. "That was a top priority."

Jason Lisovicz, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Emerus, said those numbers reflect on why Emerus chose Las Vegas as the site of its new hospitals. "Foundationally, our organization works toward filling critical gaps in health care in communities and neighborhoods where patients live, work and play. In health care, seconds mean everything  quick access to care can be the difference between life and death."

Each new hospital will be staffed by board-certified physicians, experienced nurses and other clinical specialists dedicated to providing the same level of compassionate, patient-focused care found at DHSRD's existing hospital locations.

"We've proven in the past that North Las Vegas is an innovator, and we're doing great things here," Mayor Lee said. "We're always looking for great business partners, and Dignity Health is a perfect partner for everything we want to accomplish. Plus, we're very excited about the jobs that are being created.

"This is not just a building," he said. "This is a monument to North Las Vegas. When people say the name Dignity Health, they'll know exactly where this is. They'll remember this beautiful building. We're thrilled to have Dignity in our community."

ABOUT DIGNITY HEALTH-ST. ROSE DOMINICAN

As the community's only not-for-profit, faith-based health system, Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican has been guided by the vision and core values of the Adrian Dominican Sisters for more than 65 years. As the Henderson and Las Vegas communities grow, the three St. Rose Dominican hospitals (the Rose de Lima, Siena and San Martin Campuses) and more than 3,400 employees will continue the Sisters' mission of serving people in need. St. Rose Dominican is a member of the 21-state Dignity Health network of nearly 11,000 physicians, 56,000 employees, and more than 300 care centers, including hospitals, urgent and occupational care, imaging centers, home health, and primary care clinics. For more information, visit our website at strosehospitals.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or our Blog. St. Rose is hiring! To apply for an open position, visit our careers website.

ABOUT EMERUS

Emerus, the nation's first and largest operator of micro-hospitals, partners with health systems to bring high-quality, patient-centric acute episodic and ambulatory clinical services to communities across a given market, helping patients by positioning best-in-class provider services in the communities where they work, live and play. Emerus' proprietary, analytical-based market strategies offer health systems the opportunity to fill access gaps in their markets in a capital-efficient manner. By identifying, developing and managing improved-access and operationally efficient medical facilities throughout the United States, Emerus offers scalable-growth opportunities while maintaining patient satisfaction scores that rank above the 90th percentile, nationally. More information is available at www.emerus.com.

CONTACTS:

Richard Bonnin | Emerus, Director of Communications

713-637-1261

[email protected]

Katie Ryan | Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican, Director of Communications and Public Policy

702-353-9122

[email protected]

SOURCE Emerus

Related Links

http://www.emerus.com


"Bob brings an unsurpassed wealth of international tax experience to Deloitte," said Steve Kimble, chairman and CEO of Deloitte Tax LLP. "His experience in the global tax policy arena, along with his tax technical talent, dedication to serving clients, and devotion to growing the next generation of talent, will contribute greatly to the value we provide organizations and our people."

At the Treasury Department, Stack worked directly with the assistant secretary of tax policy and the international tax counsel in developing and implementing all aspects of U.S international tax policy, including treaties, regulations and legislative proposals. He also was the official representative of the Obama administration for international tax policy and represented the U.S. government at the OECD where he was involved in all aspects of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative.

"I look forward to working with our clients to analyze and respond to the complicated tax, risk and compliance issues they face," said Stack. "Tax has become a significant strategic business issue, with initiatives like the OECD's BEPS project fundamentally changing the global tax landscape."

Stack previously held roles as the head of the international tax group at Ivins, Phillips & Barker and as co-chair of the tax group at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1984, where he was editor-in-chief of the Georgetown Law Journal. Upon graduation, he clerked for Judge Thomas A. Flannery of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and Justice Potter Stewart (Ret.) of the United States Supreme Court.

Stack also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from State University of New York at Albany; a Master of Arts in French language and literature from New York University; and a Master of Science in foreign service and a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University.

About Deloitte Tax LLP

Deloitte Tax helps clients lead the transformation of the tax function into a strategic partner that supports growth and sustained profitability within an organization. With deep experience across a broad range of services and industries, Deloitte Tax has more than 10,000 trusted advisors who combine their knowledge of tax technical resources and technology to uncover insights and smarter solutions for clients in today's complex global and regulatory environment. For more information visit http://www.deloitte.com/us/tax. Join us on twitter @DeloitteTax.

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Tax LLP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of our legal structure. Certain services may not be available to attest clients under the rules and regulations of public accounting.



Contact

Melissa Curtis

Public Relations

Deloitte

+1 617 437 2156

[email protected]

SOURCE Deloitte

Related Links

http://www.deloitte.com/us


"Our Russo's New York Pizzeria and Russo's Coal-Fired Italian Kitchen offer a tremendous value to franchise investors with our proven business model and innovative, authentic menu items," said Chef Anthony Russo, CEO and founder of Russo's Restaurants." This ranking, along with others like Top 20 Emerging Brand by Restaurant News in 2016, show our ability to compete in the highly competitive food-based franchise marketplace."

Russo's is known for its New York-style pizza and pasta dishes using the family recipes that are more than 100 years old. The family motto "If it's not fresh, don't serve it," is seen in the fresh ingredients used daily to make the pizza dough, sauces, pasta dishes and dressings from scratch.

The investment range for a Russo's franchise ranges from $395,000 to $950,000 with some of the lowest food costs in the industry. Details about the investment opportunity, labor and food costs are on RussosFranchise.com.

Russo's Restaurants has 48 locations from Hawaii to Dubai and is growing its franchise base across the U.S. and internationally with more than 35 stores currently in development.

The company just unveiled its newest store concept  a fast-casual Italian model with open pizza and pasta kitchen with counter service ranging in size from 1,200 to 4,000 plus square feet  with its first successful store opening in Houston. Two more stores are slated to open this summer in Austin, Texas.

"What separates us from other fast-casual franchise options is the quality of our food and unique menu, and full offering of authentic Italian foods. These help drive sales," Russo said. "We also have four revenue streams  dine-in, takeout, delivery and catering."

SOURCE Russo's Restaurants

Related Links

http://www.russorestaurants.com


ANDOVER, Mass., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management and automation, today announced its participation in the Climate Leadership Council as a founding member, to support a new market-based climate solution that is both pro-growth and pro-environment.

Launched in February 2017, the Climate Leadership Council is an international policy institutefounded in collaboration with business, opinion and environmental leadersspecifically to promote a carbon dividends framework as an effective, equitable and politically viable climate solution. Schneider Electric joins a broad coalition of top companies and NGOs, including 11 of the largest companies in the world, as well as former U.S. Secretaries of State, Treasury and Energy, to advance a consensus climate solution that bridges partisan divides, strengthens our economy and protects the world's shared environment.

"There are no borders to carbon. We joined the Climate Leadership Council because it is our corporate duty to fight climate change triggered by carbon emissions," said Jean-Pascal Tricoire, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Schneider Electric. "We believe this means embarking on aggressive initiatives, cutting our emissions in half by 2050 by being more energy efficient, and driving digitization to help us achieve this goal."

The carbon dividends plan is based on four interdependent pillars that are mutually reinforcing:

A gradually rising and revenue-neutral carbon tax;

Monthly carbon dividend payments to all Americans, funded by 100 percent of the revenue;

The rollback of carbon regulations that are no longer necessary; and

Border carbon adjustments to level the playing field and promote American competitiveness.

The carbon tax provides a market-based mechanism to drive emission reductions and encourage innovation and promote competitiveness. At the same time, the dividend ensures the plan is beneficial for working Americans. In fact, according to the Department of Treasury, the bottom 70 percent of households, which represent 223 million Americans, would benefit financially under this plan, receiving more in dividends than the increased energy costs they face. If approved, the Council expects the plan would help America meet its commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement.

"These measures, coupled with innovation through connected devices, big data, analytics, and digital services are driving real change. As companies push toward digital transformation, they can realize quantifiable energy savings and cut carbon emissions while increasing operational productivity," closed Tricoire. "If businesses, countries and cities adopt these smart and connected technologies, we can achieve the needed efficiency gains to win our climate change fight. We must act now for a better future."

Other Corporate and NGO Founding Members of the Council include: BP, ExxonMobil, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble, Royal Dutch Shell, Santander Bank, Total, Unilever, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy. The Founding Members will work closely with the Council to develop and promote the carbon dividends plan to usher in a winning combination of increased economic growth, competitiveness, sustainability and security.

For more information, please visit the Climate Leadership Council's website at www.clcouncil.org.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is the global specialist in energy management and automation. With revenues of $26 billion US dollars (25 billion euros) in FY2016, our 144,000+ employees serve customers in over 100 countries, helping them to manage their energy and process in ways that are safe, reliable, efficient and sustainable. From the simplest of switches to complex operational systems, our technology, software and services improve the way our customers manage and automate their operations. Our connected technologies reshape industries, transform cities and enrich lives. At Schneider Electric, we call this Life Is On.

www.schneider-electric.us

Discover Life Is On

Follow us on:

https://twitter.com/SchneiderNA

https://www.facebook.com/schneiderelectricus

https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/2329/

https://plus.google.com/+schneiderelectric/posts

https://www.youtube.com/user/SchneiderCorporate

http://tv.schneider-electric.com/site/schneidertv/index.cfm

http://blog.schneider-electric.com/

Hashtags: #LifeIsOn #CarbonDividendsPlan #Sustainability #InnovationAtEveryLevel

SOURCE Schneider Electric

Related Links

http://www.schneider-electric.us


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Scott+Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP ("Scott+Scott"), a national shareholder and consumer rights litigation firm, announces the commencement of an investigation into Citizens, Inc. ("Citizens" or the "Company") (NYSE: CIA) to determine whether Citizen's officers and directors breached their fiduciary duties owed to the Company and its shareholders. If you are a current Citizens shareholder, you are encouraged to contact Scott+Scott for additional information.

Citizens, Inc. is an insurance holding company that offers insurance products and services, including life, health, property, and casualty insurance.

On March 8, 2017, Seeking Alpha published an article stating that Citizens sells insurance policies to foreign retail investors and retirees with promises that they are backed by U.S. Treasury bonds even though such policies actually funnel millions of dollars into open market purchases of Citizens' shares and inflate the value of such shares.

What You Can Do

If you are a Citizens shareholder, you may have legal claims against Citizens's officers and directors. If you wish to discuss this investigation, or have questions about this notice or your legal rights, please contact attorney Joe Pettigrew at (844) 818-6982, or at [email protected].

About Scott+Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP

Scott+Scott has significant experience in prosecuting major securities, antitrust, and employee retirement plan actions throughout the United States. The firm represents pension funds, foundations, individuals, and other entities worldwide with offices in New York, London, Connecticut, California, and Ohio.

CONTACT:

Joe Pettigrew

Scott+Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP

(844) 818-6982

[email protected]

SOURCE Scott+Scott, Attorneys at Law, LLP

Related Links

http://scott-scott.com


LOS ANGELES and MANCHESTER, England, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A wireless handheld scanner detected bedsores developing under the skin earlier than visual inspection of the surface of the skin. This gives clinicians an "alert" that enables them to intervene early and reverse damage before the sores break through the skin and turn potentially deadly, researchers have found.

The pivotal study involved 182 patients at risk for bedsores at 12 hospitals, nursing home and long-term rehabilitation centers in the United States and the United Kingdom -- the first large-scale study of the scanner to be conducted simultaneously in both countries, according to Bruin Biometrics ("BBI, LLC"), which developed the device, known as the SEM Scanner.

BBI included the study findings in a filing to the U.S. Food And Drug Administration for approval to market the device in the U.S. SEM Scanner is currently available in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada.

Bedsores (or "pressure ulcers") can lead to pain, disfigurement, infection and deadly complications that kill more people annually than any form of cancer except lung cancer at a total annual cost of $11B to the U.S. economy. The sores result from pressure involving shear and/or friction causing localized damage to the skin and underlying tissue, usually around areas of bony prominence -- such as the vertebra, tailbone, heels, and hips.

In the new study, investigators conducting daily visual skin assessments and scans for up to twenty days found that the SEM Scanner detects pressure damage to skin earlier than visual skin evaluation by nurses. Investigators are presenting topline results today at the scientific session of Wound Care: From Innovations to Clinical Trials 2017, a medical conference in Manchester, U.K.

"Having a lead on pressure-induced tissue damage over visual skin assessment gives nurses valuable advance notice to institute additional preventive treatment tailored to the patient's unique needs," said Dr. Ruth Bryant, a study investigator, certified wound ostomy continence nurse and scholar-in-residence at Providence Health Care and Washington State University. "The advance notice ultimately translates into fewer pressure ulcers, decreased costs, increased quality of patient care, increased patient satisfaction, and decreased risk for adverse events such as in-hospital mortality, prolonged length of stay, discharge to an extended care facility rather than to the home, and infection."

Henry Okonkwo, a study investigator providing skilled wound care to nursing homes and acute care facilities, said: "The study results indicate that the SEM Scanner can detect changes before they are visible. Objective, scientific data from the scanner would give me confidence to take action in my clinical practice."

BBI's vice president of product, Rachael Lester, said: "With these new findings, we expect that early detection technology will move to the forefront of bedsore prevention. The holy grail in prevention has been the search for a biophysical indicator that could reliably signal the presence of a condition at an early enough stage to meaningfully alter the progression of the disease. Our SEM Scanner technology uses sub-epidermal moisture, or SEM, to monitor changes occurring at the cellular level where there is pressure damage."

The new research builds on earlier evidence from 1,200 patients participating in a BBI-sponsored program incorporating SEM Scanner into existing hospital bedsore prevention protocols. Seven hospitals in the U.K. and Canada eliminated bedsores and two achieved reductions of nearly 90 percent as a result of the program.

Findings from the program, presented last November at the Wounds UK annual conference, include research from Virgin Care and from St. Mary's Hospital on Isle of Wight that represent real-world evidence of SEM Scanner's effectiveness and upend the prevailing view that pressure ulcers cannot be diagnosed and treated until there is visible and irreversible damage at the skin's surface.

"We hope that today is a turning point in the war on pressure ulcers," BBI CEO Martin Burns declared. "We aim to massively decrease unnecessary patient injury and cost through a simple bedside scan that can detect developing wounds when they are at a preventable stage."

About Bedsores

Bedsores (or "pressure ulcers") can lead to pain, disfigurement, infection and deadly complications that kill more people annually than any form of cancer except lung cancer at a total annual cost of $11B to the U.S. economy. The sores result from pressure involving shear and/or friction causing localized damage to the skin and underlying tissue, usually around areas of bony prominence -- such as the vertebra, tailbone, heels, and hips.

Across the United States and Europe, an estimated 18%-25% of patients in both acute care and long-term care settings suffer from pressure ulcers, which disproportionately impact the elderly and patients with limited mobility. In the U.S., some 2.5 million Americans develop pressure ulcers annually in acute care facilities, and 60,000 Americans die annually from pressure ulcer complications such as cancer, sepsis, cellulitis, and MRSA. There are some 2.5 million pressure ulcer cases annually in the European Union, and nearly 500,000 in the United Kingdom, which spends 2.1bn, or 4% of the NHS budget, on the condition.

About BBI



Bruin Biometrics ("BBI LLC"), a pioneer in biometric-sensor based medical devices, develops point-of-care diagnostic solutions for early detection and monitoring of chronic, preventable conditions. The company's first product is the SEM Scanner, a hand-held non-invasive device that assesses sub-epidermal moisture, a biomarker for pressure ulceration. Pressure ulcers affect approximately 25 percent of acute care hospital and long-term care patients  typically the elderly and immobile. SEM Scanner is CE Mark approved. It is currently in full commercial launch in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. SEM Scanner is pending approval from FDA, and is not available for sale in the United States.

BBI is also developing OrthoSonos, a non-invasive device for real-time orthopedic joint monitoring and assessment of prosthetic implant failure; and P02M, the first device for monitoring tissue oxygenation at a specific location in real time. P02M is initially being tested for continual monitoring of tissue and vascular viability in the feet of diabetics. Diabetes can cause peripheral artery disease and peripheral neuropathy, putting patients at risk for foot ulcers.

BBI is based in Los Angeles and maintains a European office in Manchester, UK.

For additional information, visit www.bruinbiometrics.com. Follow BBI on Twitter at https://twitter.com/bruinbiometrics.

SOURCE Bruin Biometrics, LLC

Related Links

http://www.bruinbiometrics.com


SANTA BARBARA, Calif., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SerImmune Inc. today announced an $8 million round of financing, led by Illumina Ventures, with participation from Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, through a subsidiary, and additional undisclosed investors. With the proceeds, SerImmune will expand its immune mapping technology platform and antibody repertoire database while building strategic partnerships.

"We are thrilled to be joined by Illumina Ventures and Merck whose participation reflects the strength and breadth of our differentiated technology and its applications in both the diagnostics and biopharmaceutical industries. By uncovering the many diverse antigenic targets of human antibody repertoires, we can develop highly multiplexed serological diagnostics and empower the identification of therapeutic and vaccine candidates," said Patrick Daugherty, CEO of SerImmune. "Our growing human antibody repertoire database provides a new capability to map antigens to a range of diseases and clinical phenotypes."

"SerImmune's unique technology leverages the power of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to decode the functioning of our highly complex immune system," said Nick Naclerio, Founding Partner of Illumina Ventures. "We believe that the platform will provide new insights into the antigens and environmental factors involved in human disease, enabling more sensitive and precise diagnostic tests, new vaccines, and more targeted biopharmaceuticals. This fits our strategy of investing in great teams that are pioneering new applications of NGS alongside other strong syndicate partners."

About SerImmune Inc.

SerImmune reveals the compositions of functional immune repertoires, creating new opportunities for therapeutic and diagnostic development. SerImmune maps the distinct antibodies within a repertoire to antigens associated with infections, allergens, microbiome organisms, autoimmune diseases, and cancers.

About Illumina Ventures

Illumina Ventures is an independently managed venture fund in a strategic partnership with Illumina. We invest primarily in early stage companies, in areas where our expertise and special relationship with Illumina can add value. We typically syndicate with other leading institutional and strategic investors. Focus areas include applications of genomics in life science research, healthcare, and personal wellness.

SOURCE SerImmune Inc.

Related Links

http://www.serimmune.com


NEW YORK, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of CenturyLink, Inc.("CenturyLink" or the "Company") (NYSE: CTL). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at [email protected] or 888-476-6529, ext. 9980.

The investigation concerns whether CenturyLink and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.

[Click here to join a class action]

On June 16, 2017, Bloomberg published an article entitled "CenturyLink Is Accused of Running a Wells Fargo-Like Scheme", reporting that a "former CenturyLink Inc. employee claims she was fired for blowing the whistle on the telecommunications company's high-pressure sales culture that left customers paying millions of dollars for accounts they didn't request." The article states that "she was fired days after notifying Chief Executive Officer Glen Post of the alleged scheme during a companywide question-and-answer session held on an internal message board."

On this news, CenturyLink's share price fell $1.23, or more than 4.5%, to close at $25.72 on June 16, 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.

SOURCE Pomerantz LLP

Related Links

http://www.pomerantzlaw.com


The MADE-2-FIT technology allows for individually personalized products that are ideally suited to a changing demographic landscape. Each bareMinerals  MADE-2-FIT Fresh Faced Foundation is tailored to the skin tone of the person who performed the six simple scans with the app to create it. With the new iPhone  app, available on the App Store, bareMinerals  offers a groundbreaking innovation in skin-matching technology that allows the company to meet evolving consumer expectations, addressing shifts in demand for a broad range of foundation shades in real time.

Using a complex algorithm, the bareMinerals MADE-2-FIT app guides each user through a series of simple steps to analyze each skin tone and derive a precise color match; a customized bareMinerals Fresh Faced Foundation is then individually blended and delivered directly to the customer. This development marks a sea change in makeup selection, purchase and consumption.

"Since its founding in 1976, bareMinerals has always put customization for its consumers first, investigating and advocating for new technologies to serve them," says Jill Scalamandre, President of the Global Shiseido Make-up Center of Excellence. "Known for creating innovative formulas with pure, nourishing ingredients, the company has been connecting with its customers in meaningful, forward-thinking ways for over 40 years. For that reason, bareMinerals is an ideal partner for MATCHCo: Together, they're looking to fundamentally change the way consumers shop and experience cosmetics."

MATCHCo was founded in 2013 by Andy Howell and Dave Gross, two veterans of marketing, consumer behavior and customization technology design who are based in Santa Monica and Palo Alto, California. The company was sold to Shiseido Americas in January 2017. This new venture with Shiseido and bareMinerals brings the team's diverse wealth of experience in technology and personalization to a new global stage.

"We're excited to leverage our startup's unique platform technology and digital-insight tools across Shiseido's portfolio," says Andy Howell, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of MATCHCo. "It not only lets us capture a major consumer trend  cosmetics customization  but also offers huge potential for opening up 'A.I. for beauty'."

The bareMinerals MADE-2-FIT app will be available for download on the App Store starting Monday June 20th, 2017; each bespoke bareMinerals MADE-2-FIT Fresh Faced Foundation Customized by MATCHCo will retail for $49 for a 30ml bottle. For more information, please visit www.bareminerals.com or your nearest bareMinerals store. @bareMinerals #bareMade2fit

bareMinerals is a registered trademark of Bare Escentuals Beauty, Inc.

Apple and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. App Store is a service mark of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries.

About Shiseido Americas Corporation

Shiseido Americas Corporation is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Shiseido Company, Limited (TSE:4911), a leading global beauty company. Led by President and CEO Marc Rey, Shiseido Americas' portfolio of prestige beauty brands includes Shiseido, NARS, Cle de Peau Beaute, bareMinerals, and several prestige fragrance brands including Issey Miyake, Narciso Rodriguez, and Dolce & Gabbana. Shiseido Americas is headquartered in New York City and employs more than 5,000 individuals in the United States, Canada, and throughout Latin America. In 2016, Shiseido Americas acquired Laura Mercier Cosmetics and ReVive Skincare brands, further strengthening the company's position as a leading player in the beauty industry. In early 2017, Shiseido Americas acquired MatchCo, a technology company and JWALK, a creative agency.

For more information, please contact Joanne Sulit at [email protected]/212-805-1815

SOURCE bareMinerals
SNC, which previously qualified as a prime contractor candidate for the U.S. Air Force's JSTARS Recap program, will perform modifications to Bombardier's Global 6000 aircraft, and will help obtain the necessary airworthiness certifications from the FAA and U.S. Air Force. This strategic partnership further enhances this powerful industry team to provide a system that will drive cost-savings, schedule and performance efficiencies for the U.S. Air Force.

"We are extremely pleased to combine forces with the Lockheed Martin-led team," said Ralph Pollitt, senior vice president of SNC's Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) business area. "We look forward to contributing to the team's success by applying decades of experience in modifying and certifying commercial and military aircraft for a wide-variety of users around the globe."

Lockheed Martin is the lead systems integrator for the program, while Raytheon brings its experience with ground surveillance, ISR systems, and JSTARS communications. Bombardier will provide its ultra-long-range Global 6000 business jet platform, which is less expensive to operate than modern airliners and is uniquely suited to the JSTARS Recap mission.

"SNC shares our team's vision and commitment to our warfighters," said Andrew Adams, vice president of Advanced Systems, Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. "Together we will deliver a system that offers the optimum solution  quickly and affordably."

For more information about our JSTARS Recap offering and industry team, visit: http://lockheedmartin.com/us/products/jstars.html.

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.

About Sierra Nevada Corporation

Recognized as one of "The World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Space," Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) provides customer-focused advanced technology solutions in the areas of space, aviation, electronics and systems integration. SNC's diverse technologies are used in applications including space exploration and satellites, aircraft integrations, navigation and guidance systems, threat detection and security, scientific research and infrastructure protection. Founded in 1963 and headquartered in Sparks, Nevada, SNC operates under the leadership of owners, CEO Fatih Ozmen and President Eren Ozmen, with a workforce of more than 3,000 personnel in 34 locations in 19 U.S. states, England, Germany and Turkey providing global support to customers.

SOURCE Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company

Related Links

http://www.lockheedmartin.com


DALLAS, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- TopVerdict.com has recognized Dallas trial law firm Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, P.C. for securing the largest jury verdict in Arizona, and the largest asbestos case verdict in California, in 2016.

In Arizona, a federal jury awarded $17 million to the family of a retired civilian employee of the U.S. Navy who died from mesothelioma after working for years in the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia. The case was Coulbourn v. Crane in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

Attorneys David C. Greenstone, Jordan Blumenfield-James and Samuel Iola represented George Coulbourn's family. Mr. Coulbourn, a shipyard machinist, repaired and maintained equipment including the removal of asbestos-containing gaskets and packing from valves. He died at age 73, less than a year after being diagnosed. After a three-week trial, jurors found Crane Co. and William Powell Co. liable for Mr. Coulbourn's death and assessed punitive damages against both defendants.

In California, a Los Angeles jury awarded $18 million, a record verdict in a mesothelioma case tied to cosmetic talc. The case involved Philip Depoian, a prominent political figure and longtime aide to Mayor Tom Bradley, who was diagnosed with mesothelioma in May 2015.

Evidence showed Depoian was exposed to asbestos in talc products at a barber shop and through personal use of products such as Old Spice, Clubman, Kings Men and Mennen Shave Talc. Jurors found talc supplier Whittaker Clark & Daniels liable for supplying asbestos-containing talc to the manufacturers. Attorneys Jay Stuemke and Stuart Purdy represented Mr. Depoian in the case, Depoian v. American International Industries, Inc., in Los Angeles Superior Court.

"We are pleased that our verdicts have been recognized as landmarks in jurisdictions across the country. But more than that, we are very proud of the work we are doing to help all of our clients, wherever their cases may be," said Mr. Greenstone, co-founder and shareholder of Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, P.C.

Co-founder and shareholder Jeffrey Simon said, "We work hard to make sure that those who have been injured by dangerous products or workplaces get the justice they deserve."

TopVerdict.com recognizes law firms and attorneys who have obtained the highest jury verdicts in individual states and nationwide in specific practice areas.

Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, P.C. is a nationally-recognized trial law firm with a reputation for creative and aggressive representation of clients in a wide variety of catastrophic personal injury matters nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.sgpblaw.com.

For more information, contact Sophia Reza at 800-559-4534 or [email protected].

SOURCE Simon Greenstone Panatier Bartlett, PC

Related Links

http://www.sgpblaw.com


SHANGHAI, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sino Fortune Holding Corporation (OTCQB: SFHD) ("Sino Fortune" or the "Company"), a leading online financial credit facility solution provider servicing SME and individual borrowers in China, today announced that Benefactum Alliance Business Consultant (Beijing) Co., Ltd., the variable interest entity of the Company, has signed a framework agreement (the "Framework Agreement") to acquire a minority equity interest in Shenzhen TouZhiJia Financial Information Service Co., Ltd. ("TouZhiJia"), an operator of a P2P online lending and vertical search platform, www.touzhijia.com.

Pursuant to the Framework Agreement executed by and between the Company and the three selling shareholders of TouZhiJia, consisting of Huiping Huang, Wei Deng, and Tianyi Zhang (collectively, the "Selling Shareholders"), the Company has agreed to acquire a 4.45% equity interest in TouZhiJia from the Selling Shareholders for an aggregate purchase price of RMB19.10 million (approximately US$2.8 million). The purchase price is subject to adjustment based on the Company's due diligence investigation of TouZhiJia and may be payable by the Company in cash or by issuing Company equity or debt securities (or a combination of the foregoing).

"TouZhiJia has been an important partner for Sino Fortune as we rely on its vertical search engine to generate leads and to promote our brands," said Bodang Liu, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sino Fortune. "Both economically and strategically, TouZhiJia represents a unique opportunity for us to advance our ambition of becoming a leading online financial credit facility solution provider."

About Shenzhen TouZhiJia Financial Information Service Co., Ltd.

Shenzhen TouZhiJia Financial Information Service Co., Ltd. ("TouZhiJia") operates a P2P online lending and vertical search platform, www.touzhijia.com, which caters to investors by providing professional and P2P services designed to make investment and financing safer and more efficient. TouZhiJia's main businesses include vertical P2P search engine, private wealth management, and secondary loan exchange services. Since its inception in September 2014, the TouZhiJia platform has accumulated 2.74 million registered users and facilitated 1.98 million transactions with aggregate transaction value of more than RMB 15.63 billion (approximately US$2.30 billion). TouZhiJia is an affiliate of Yingcan Group.

About Sino Fortune Holding Corporation

Founded in 2013, Sino Fortune Holding Corporation ("Sino Fortune") is a leading online financial credit facility solution provider servicing under-served SME and individual borrowers in China. Through operating an electronic online financial platform, www.hyjf.com, the Company matches investors with SME and individual borrowers in China. The Company also sets aside risk reserve funds with the aim of limiting losses to investors from borrower defaults. In addition, the company provides investors with access to a liquid secondary market, giving them an opportunity to exit their investments before the underlying loans become due. For more information, please visit: ir.hyjf.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or our future financial performance. All statements other than present and historical facts and conditions contained in this release, including any statements regarding our future results of operations and financial positions, business strategy, plans and our objectives for future operations, are forward-looking statements (within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended). These statements are only predictions and reflect our current beliefs and expectations with respect to future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risk and uncertainties and subject to change at any time. We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. Actual events or results may differ materially from those contained in the projections or forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

For investors and media inquiries please contact:

At the Company:

Ede Yang

Email: [email protected]

Investor Relations:

Tony Tian, CFA

Weitian Group LLC

Email: [email protected]

Phone: +1-732-910-9692

SOURCE Sino Fortune Holding Corporation
NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- New research out today reveals a huge gulf between the information provided by drug companies and what journalists actually need to create their content.

The survey, conducted by digital communications platform ISEBOX, reveals that 85 per cent of health journalists view healthcare communications as either "out of shape" or "on life support".

ISEBOX 2017 Annual Survey Pharma and Media / PR Comms

Half (50 per cent) admit they never visit the newsrooms of drug companies, with almost a quarter (22 per cent) calling them "unsatisfactory" and two thirds (64 per cent) saying there is "room for improvement" when it comes to the information provided.

The survey questioned more than 166 health journalists across the UK and US to assess what information provided by pharmaceutical and healthcare companies is of most value to them and their audiences.

It reveals that when it comes to providing relevant content for journalists, pharmaceutical and healthcare companies are off the mark.

In fact, just 15 per cent of journalists rated healthcare communications as "healthy and fit" with almost three quarters of those questioned (71 per cent) declaring the relationship "out of shape" and 14 per cent feeling that it is "on life support".

Part of the problem is about trust - with the survey revealing that only 2 per cent of journalists find the information and press releases provided by pharmaceutical and healthcare companies "trustworthy".

While 16 per cent say they do not trust this information at all, almost half (48 per cent) only somewhat trust it.

However, 36 per cent of journalists said that the FDA/EMA restrictions on communicating industry news are in the best interests of the consumer, with almost half (44 per cent) saying they are sometimes in their best interests.

Health journalist and media communications consultant Jo Willey, director of Jo Willey Media, said: "This research shows that there is still a long way to go when it comes to breathing new life into healthcare communications.

"Regulations are welcome and necessary. However, care must be taken that these regulations - or the fear of breaching them - do not prevent pharmaceutical companies from effectively communicating accurate, creative content.

"Journalists still need newsworthy, simple, clear content relevant to their outlet, whether that is traditional print media, web, radio, TV or social media. Over-complication or irrelevant content opens up the possibility of miscommunication, something which could be far more damaging."

The survey also found that when it comes to the most useful video content, journalists overwhelmingly want independent medical expert testimonial (48 per cent) as well as patient testimonials (14 per cent) and B-roll (11 per cent).

Only 22 per cent of those questioned said pharma and healthcare news and launches provide enough relevant visual content.

Marc de Leuw, chief executive officer of ISEBOX, said: "Healthcare communications is clearly a balancing act between the governance placed on drug companies and a press eager for transparency and meaningful content. It's in the interest of both parties to enter a more open dialogue to raise the bar on effective information exchange.''

Content:

For video, infographic and content for this story visit:

http://news.isebox.net/2017-journalist-survey

Supporting webinar June 29th 2017:

Join Jo Willey, Director of Jo Willey Media and Barbara Grogan, Senior Health Communications Consultant in discussing these important findings

https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/7667804259927041281

Contact: For further details contact:

UK: Marc de Leuw, [email protected] +44 7774 234950

US: Shannon Kramer, [email protected] +1 (888) 473-7275 x.21

About ISEBOX: ISEBOX is a Cloud digital Media Center solution supporting Health marketing and communications professionals. The company, founded in 2012, is based in London with offices in New York and Philadelphia.



Visit: www.ISEBOX.com/pharma

SOURCE ISEBOX LTD
AUSTIN, Texas, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SkinnyPop Popcorn, a better-for-you snacking favorite, is introducing its first ready-to-eat popcorn flavors made with delicious real cheese: Aged White Cheddar and Pepper Jack.

The two new varieties are SkinnyPop's most flavorful and cheesiest popcorn yet! New Aged White Cheddar uses real white cheddar cheese that's aged to perfection, offering consumers a rich and creamy taste. The Pepper Jack variety has a unique twist and hint of spice that brings extra cheesinessthe good kind.

SkinnyPop Real Cheese Aged White Cheddar SkinnyPop Real Cheese Pepper Jack

"SkinnyPop has the best brand fans around and they're always asking for more ways to enjoy our popcorn," said SkinnyPop Brand Manager Kyle Banahan. "There's large demand for cheesy popcorn and we saw an opportunity to bring everything our fans love about SkinnyPop to this large and growing segment, this time with a bigger burst of flavor."

Both new flavors bring on the cheese and also uphold the brand promise of 100-percent SkinnyPop Popcorn, are non-GMO, gluten-free, kosher and contain no artificial ingredients or flavors. At only 47-calories per cup, cheesy popcorn lovers can feel good about satisfying their craving for an indulgent-tasting popcorn.

"We're excited to launch our most-seasoned popcorn flavors yet that are made with real cheese and carry our brand promise of simple ingredients," said Banahan. "SkinnyPop is proud to be a go-to source for the allergen-free community and we will continue to offer our non-dairy cheese flavors for our dairy-free fans."

SkinnyPop's Aged White Cheddar and Pepper Jack flavors are available at major retailers nationwide and at SkinnyPop.com.

About SkinnyPop Popcorn

SkinnyPop Popcorn is a ready-to-eat popcorn brand under the Amplify Snack Brands portfolio. Pure Popped Perfection says it all. SkinnyPop Popcorn believes in snacking without compromise. To us that means using the fewest, cleanest and simplest ingredients possible to bring fans the best-tasting popcornthat's the Skinny! SkinnyPop Popcorn begins with just three simple ingredients: popcorn, sunflower oil and (just the right amount of) salt. Our products contain no artificial ingredients, colors, flavors or preservatives and are free of major allergens including peanuts, tree nuts and soy. SkinnyPop also offers dairy-free options across all product lines. We're proud to be Non-GMO, Gluten Free, Kosher, Vegan and Whole Grain certified.

To learn more about SkinnyPop Popcorn, visit www.skinnypop.com or follow the brand on social media: Facebook (SkinnyPop Popcorn), Twitter (@theskinnypop) and Instagram (@theskinnypop).

About Amplify Snack Brands, Inc.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Amplify Snack Brands, Inc. (NYSE: BETR) is a high growth snack food company focused on developing and marketing products that appeal to consumers' growing preference for Better-For-You (BFY) snacks. Our brands SkinnyPop, Tyrrells, Paqui, Oatmega, Lisa's Chips, The Wholesome Food CompanyTM, and Thomas ChipmanTM embody our BFY mission of "snacking without compromise" and have amassed a loyal customer base across a wide range of food distribution channels in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Europe and Australia. For additional information, please visit: http://amplifysnackbrands.com.

SOURCE Amplify Snack Brands, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.amplifysnackbrands.com


Yet since Happiest Baby and BabyCenter conducted their first new-parent survey in 2012, a telling new finding has emerged: Despite having sleep issues, new parents feel mostly positive about parenthood.

"Parents are sharing baby care more equally now than ever before," says Linda Murray, BabyCenter's global editor in chief. "While it doesn't completely make up for a sleep shortage, that kind of partnership means parents are less angry with each other about being tired than they were five years ago."

Parents: The New Walking Dead

On average, parents get 5.7 hours of sleep at night, and more than three-fourths haven't slept a full 8 hours in months. As a result, 78 percent report feeling tired or exhausted during the past week. "The data shows that both partners are equally tired  a clear sign that partners are participating more equally in newborn care," says Murray.

Still, sleep deprivation provokes new-parent anxiety (54 percent) and frustration (44 percent). The most-tired parents reported feeling more distance from their spouse (47 percent) and had more arguments with their partner over time, as their baby grew.

"In the first few months, partners are focused on the baby rather than on each other," says Murray. "Then life stressors start to intrude  parents return to work, have to find childcare, and so on. Most eventually reconnect, but adjustments need to be made along the way, and communication is key."

"Exhaustion is a serious problem," says Karp. "It leads to the same mental impairment as being drunk! In some families it can trigger marital stress, postpartum depression, breastfeeding failure, obesity, and even infant deaths from falling asleep with the baby in an unsafe location."

Co-Sleeping Continues

In BabyCenter's 2012 parent survey, 25 percent of parents reported that their baby slept in bed with them for most of the week. In the latest survey, that number dropped to 20 percent of parents reporting the baby slept in their bed. "That change gives me hope, because almost 70 percent of infant sleep deaths occur in an adult bed," says Karp. "We want to see babies sleeping next to their parents' bed, not in it."

Sleep Relief

In the new survey, parents indicate that their babies wake an average of twice a night, with no improvement between ages 3 and 6 months. "Parents assume that good sleep just happens, and they're unpleasantly surprised  and frustrated  when their little one continues to pop awake at night," says Karp. "Baby sleep isn't rocket science, but safe swaddling, the right kind of white noise, and extra motion are the keys to boosting sleep and reducing the need for sleep training.

"One way for new parents to lessen the stress is to seek help," adds Karp. "Don't be shy about asking friends and family to make a casserole, wash dishes, or do a load of laundry."

Deliriously in Love  With the Baby

Despite feeling wiped out, by four months postpartum 90 percent of new parents are having sex again. And they say that since having children, the positive emotions far exceed the negatives. They feel more love (86 percent), joy (71 percent), and awe (70 percent). "That rush of love once a newborn is in the house is nature's way of tempering the effect of sleep deprivation," says Murray.

About BabyCenter LLC

BabyCenter is the world's partner in parenting. The #1 pregnancy and parenting digital destination, BabyCenter reaches more than 50 million moms and dads in every corner of the globe through its 11 owned and operated properties in nine different languages. In the United States, 8 in 10 new and expectant moms online use BabyCenter each month.

About Dr. Harvey Karp & Happiest Baby

Dr. Karp's Happiest Baby company and his books The Happiest Baby on the Block and The Happiest Toddler on the Block have helped millions of families. Thousands of educators teach Dr. Karp's landmark 5 S's method for soothing babies to parents in 20-plus nations. Dr. Karp's newest invention  SNOO  is a smart sleeper that responds to an infant's upset with the natural sound and motion babies enjoy in the womb. SNOO quickly soothes crying, boosts sleep, and keeps babies safely on their back, all night long.

Contact:

Rebecca Michals

BabyCenter

415-237-9978

[email protected]

SOURCE BabyCenter

Related Links

http://www.babycenter.com


CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- SnapAV, a leading vertically-integrated supplier in the rapidly growing connected home sector, today announced that affiliates of Hellman & Friedman LLC ("H&F") have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the company from General Atlantic.



SnapAV sells proprietary-branded audio/video ("AV"), security, networking, and automation products to residential and commercial AV, security and technology integrators. These integrators in turn serve "Do-It-For-Me" consumers, selling, installing and integrating SnapAV's products as part of a custom home solution. The company wholesales approximately 2,700 SKUs across 14 proprietary brands and serves integrators across the United States with outstanding eCommerce, customer service and support capabilitiesenabling its dealer customers to operate more confidently, more efficiently and ultimately more profitably.



John Heyman, CEO of SnapAV, said: "Our broad, high-quality product lineup and ability to anticipate and support our dealers' needs has been critical to our success. We know what dealers want and how to make their job easier, and our logistics system ensures they get what they need fast and at the right price. Responding to our customers, we have expanded into the networking, surveillance and remote cloud management categories, and created a one-stop solution for technology integrators. We thank General Atlantic for their contributions to SnapAV's growth and development over the past four years and welcome Hellman & Friedman as our new partner. Hellman & Friedman's industry expertise and outstanding track record of helping companies like us grow will serve us well as we continue to execute on our strategy of providing great products and exceptional service to our dealer customers."

"SnapAV's innovative eCommerce platform, compelling products and excellent service deliver tremendous value to the integrator community," said Erik Ragatz, Managing Director of Hellman & Friedman. "With its network of loyal dealers and an outstanding base of employees, SnapAV is very well positioned to continue on its growth trajectory. We look forward to partnering with John and the rest of the management team as the company moves into its next phase of growth."



Mark Dzialga, Managing Director at General Atlantic, said, "We have been pleased to support SnapAV through a period of substantial growth and appreciate our strong partnership with the management team. As SnapAV enters its next phase of development, we are confident the company is in great hands with Hellman & Friedman and we look forward to watching its future success."



The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2017. Additional terms were not disclosed.



UBS Investment Bank and SunTrust Robinson Humphrey acted as M&A advisors to Hellman & Friedman on the transaction. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP acted as legal counsel to Hellman & Friedman. Evercore acted as M&A advisors and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP acted as legal counsel to SnapAV and General Atlantic.



About SnapAV

Established in 2005 and based in Charlotte, North Carolina, SnapAV is a manufacturer and exclusive source of more than 2,700 installation-friendly audio, video, networking, power and surveillance products for residential and commercial A/V integrators. SnapAV empowers integrators to run more efficient businesses by providing high quality products at attractive prices, supported by best-in-class online ordering and award-winning customer service. Additional information about SnapAV and its product brands can be found at www.snapav.com.

About Hellman & Friedman

Hellman & Friedman is a leading private equity investment firm with offices in San Francisco, New York, and London. Since its founding in 1984, H&F has raised over $35 billion of committed capital. The firm focuses on investing in superior business franchises and serving as a value-added partner to management in select industries including business & information services, software, retail & consumer, internet & media, financial services, healthcare, and industrials and energy. For more information on Hellman & Friedman, please visit www.hf.com.



About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm providing capital and strategic support for growth companies. Established in 1980, General Atlantic combines a collaborative global approach, sector-specific expertise, long-term investment horizon, and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great management and build exceptional businesses worldwide. General Atlantic has more than 100 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Greenwich, Hong Kong, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, Sao Paulo, and Singapore. www.generalatlantic.com

SOURCE SnapAV
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Southeastern Grocers ("the Company") today announced that Anthony Hucker, the Company's Chief Operating Officer, will assume the responsibilities of President and Chief Executive Officer on an interim basis following the resignation of Ian McLeod to take up another opportunity. Mr. Hucker will assume his interim responsibilities effective July 1, 2017, and Mr. McLeod will remain in his current role through June 30, 2017 to assist with the transition.

"We are pleased that Anthony Hucker will be stepping in as President and CEO on an interim basis," the Company said. "As COO, Anthony has a strong familiarity with our business, our stakeholders, our challenges and opportunities, and the strategic direction of the Company. He brings extensive knowledge of the retail grocery sector, with more than 18 years of experience in leadership roles across our industry in the US. Prior to joining Southeastern Grocers as COO, he was President and COO of Schnucks, President of Giant Food and Head of Walmart's Strategy and Business Development division, and spent 10 years as part of the original start up team with Aldi UK. We expect a seamless transition under Anthony's leadership."

"We are also grateful for Ian's stewardship of the business during his tenure," the Company continued. "Under Ian's direction, Southeastern Grocers has made substantial progress on our transformation plan and established great momentum. We wish Ian and his family the best as they embark on a new adventure."

Mr. Hucker said, "It has been a privilege to work with Ian and I wish him all the best. I am humbled and honored that the Company has selected me as the interim President and CEO of Southeastern Grocers. I look forward to working with the rest of the leadership team and representing our outstanding associates as we continue to focus on our strategic transformation and positioning the business for long-term success."

"It has been a difficult decision to leave my role as President and CEO of Southeastern Grocers, but I believe the new position will be a positive opportunity for me and in the best interests my family," said Mr. McLeod. "I want to thank our thousands of loyal and dedicated associates  it's your hard work and dedication that has helped set this company on a path to an even brighter future. I have tremendous confidence in Anthony and the rest of the leadership team and I know that I'm leaving Southeastern Grocers in good hands."

The Company has initiated a search for Mr. McLeod's successor.

About Southeastern Grocers

Southeastern Grocers, LLC, parent company and home of BI-LO, Fresco y Mas, Harveys and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, is the fifth largest conventional supermarket in the U.S. The company employs nearly 60,000 associates who serve customers in grocery stores, liquor stores and in-store pharmacies throughout the seven southeastern states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. BI-LO, Fresco y Mas, Harveys and Winn-Dixie are well-known and well-respected regional brands with deep heritages, strong neighborhood ties, proud histories of giving back, talented and loyal associates, and strong commitments to providing the best possible quality and value to customers. For more information, visit www.bi-lo.com, www.frescoymas.com, www.harveyssupermarkets.com and www.winndixie.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about future events, which involve risks and uncertainties. Generally, the words "believe," "expect," "intend," "estimate," "anticipate," "project," "will," "could," "may," "plan," "potential," "likely," "goal," "target," "objective," "outlook," "seek" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements, which statements are not historical in nature. Forward-looking statements reflect our current expectations, based on currently available information and are not guarantees of future events or performance. Our expectations could prove inaccurate as such statements involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our ability to control or predict, including risks with respect to the occurrence and timing of the resignations and successions described in this press release. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties, or other risks or uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial, materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, estimated or projected. For these reasons, we caution you against relying on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Except as may be required by applicable law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which they are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Media Contact

Joe Caldwell

Manager of Corporate Communications

904-318-7197

[email protected]

SOURCE Southeastern Grocers, LLC
NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Spiribam announces its debut in the American spirits market with a distinguished portfolio of fine boutique rums. Formerly Clement USA, the company's new name, Spiribam, reflects a new extensive focus on unique rums with different origins.

Spiribam's collection of spirits includes Rhum Clement and Rhum J.M. from Martinique, Rhum Damoiseau of Guadeloupe, and the newest addition, Chairman's Reserve from St. Lucia.

"As the great-nephew of Homere Clement, the founder of Rhum Clement, the passion for rum is in my blood, literally," says Benjamin Jones, Spiribam's Managing Director. "From the very early days, it was important to understand all types of rum when we introduced Rhum Clement and rhum agricole to the American market. Along the way, we discovered that there are several wonderful rums in the world that are misunderstood and hidden from the public eye."

Spiribam's mission to bring the taste for rhum agricole to American shores dates back to 2006 when Clement USA introduced their namesake Martinican rhum brand to the United States. The initial ambition was to organize a direct route-to-market for Rhum Clement in the United States, but the role of the company quickly evolved into an educational one focused on the advancement of rhum agricole as a category, and attracting more attention to all styles of notable premium rums of different origins, including Rhum J.M, Rhum Damoiseau and now most recently Chairman's Reserve.

After nearly a decade of exclusively housing rhum agricole from the French West Indies, Spiribam in 2017 proudly welcomes St. Lucia Distillers rums to its portfolio. Beginning with the re-launch of Chairman's Reserve in the USA, to be followed by Bounty Rum and Admiral Rodney rum. These are diverse and versatile English-style rums. Crafted from distinctive blends of unique pot-still and column-still rums, each of the brands has tremendous individual character and personality, and each proudly carries an undeniable St. Lucian identity in regards to their style.

Today, Spiribam is to its trade partners the ultimate cabinet of rum, and is one of the primary forces behind today's rapidly developing ultra-premium rum category in the United States.

Spiribam's spirits have won several recent accolades and awards including these from the 2017 Ultimate Spirits Challenge:

97 points, Chairman's Trophy, for Clement V.S.O.P

95 points, Finalist Trophy for Chairman's Forgotten Cask

92 points for Shrubb J.M, a rhum agricole based orange liqueur

ABOUT SPIRIBAM

Spiribam is the North American subsidiary of Martinique's Rhum Clement and Rhum J.M, St. Lucia's Chairman's Reserve Rum, Bounty Rum, Admiral Rodney Rum, and the importer of Guadeloupe's Rhum Damoiseau. With this distinguished portfolio of world-class rums, centered on heritage, legacy, innovation, and creativity, Spiribam takes great pride and value to be America's fine rum specialists. For additional information please visit www.spiribam.com.

Contact:

Benjamin Jones

North American Regional Director, SPIRIBAM

[email protected]

SOURCE www.spiribam.com

Related Links

http://www.spiribam.com


DALLAS, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association (PVCPA), which represents U.S. and Canadian manufacturers of PVC pipe, announced the completion of the first comprehensive environmental and performance review of water and sewer pipes in North America. The study used life cycle assessment methodology to evaluate the cradle-to-grave sustainability of commonly used drinking water and sewer pipe materials, including polyvinylchloride (PVC), concrete, ductile iron, and high density polyethylene pipes over a 100-year service period.

Sustainable Solutions Corporation (SSC), a sustainability consulting firm, was hired by PVCPA to conduct the study. SSC's engineers used the ISO 14040 series life cycle assessment (LCA) standards from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to evaluate PVC pipe's environmental footprint. The peer-reviewed report also examines other pipe products based on durability, performance and environmental data and statistics when available.

"The PVC pipe industry is the only pipe material that has transparently reported their sustainability and environmental impacts," said SSC President Tad Radzinski. "This is welcome information for both policy makers and utility professionals to make fully informed decisions in their efforts to improve underground infrastructure with sustainable products."

The report contains a robust set of data utility officials and engineers can use for their asset management plans and life cycle cost assessments for water and sewer piping. The 100-year LCA methodology also helps utilities assess and minimize water quality risks, as well as reduce operations, maintenance and repair costs. More than 200 sources and studies were examined to provide the most up-to-date and thorough industry review of the health, safety, performance characteristics, and sustainability attributes of the different pipe materials available.

"This study provides critical information for federal, state and local policy makers as they look to modern piping materials to help rebuild the nation's crumbling underground infrastructure. Clean water was identified as a high priority by President Trump and this report confirms that safer, more cost-effective and more durable PVC pipe is key to upgrading America's drinking water and wastewater systems," said PVCPA Executive Director Bruce Hollands.

Some of the key findings from the study include:

When evaluating the sustainability of piping products for life cycle design, it is important to understand and review the life cycle impacts of all materials used in the piping system, including replacements, support materials, corrosion mitigation, maintenance efforts and water quality treatments required during the service life of pipes.



Based on more than 60 years of field experience, dig ups, laboratory testing, and given its immunity to corrosion and low break rate, a service life in excess of 100 years was confirmed for PVC pipe.



PVC does not serve as nutrient for bacterial growth and pathogens.



Keeping pipes in use past their useful service lives results in higher operating and maintenance costs. Internal pipe wall degradation may begin almost immediately after ductile iron and concrete pipes are installed.



Traditional definitions of pipe service life should be re-evaluated. For much of the time that iron and concrete pipes are considered "in service," they in fact are not, since they often do not perform as designed. For a good portion of the time they are in use, iron and concrete pipes are prone to breaks, water loss and water quality issues, as well as higher maintenance and operating costs due to corrosion, which significantly affects pumping efficiency.



PVC pipe is a low initial cost option and provides long-term savings because of its superior pumping efficiency, corrosion resistance and longevity.



Metallic and concrete pipes require chemical additives (phosphates) in the drinking water to help reduce pipe wall corrosion. Phosphates increase the chances of bio-growth (such as algae blooms) in drinking water sources, lakes and rivers.



Ductile iron pipe produces up to nine times more carbon emissions during raw materials processing, manufacturing, transportation and installation than equivalent PVC pipe.



66% of water supply pipes in the U.S. are 8-inches or smaller. Nationally, using PVC instead of ductile iron pipe in this size range could save $21 billion in pumping costs over 100 years. If PVC were used instead of HDPE pipe, $37 billion could be saved.



Water and wastewater utilities often represent as much as 40% of a municipality's total energy consumption. The energy required to pump water through a pressurized pipe system over the life of the pipe is a significant source of potential environmental impacts.



The energy required to pump water through PVC pipe over a 100-year design life remains constant because its smooth walls do not roughen over time. This generates overall life cycle cost savings compared to ductile iron and concrete pipes that require more pumping energy over time due to corrosion, leaks and internal degradation.



Corrosive soils affect 75% of water utilities. The durability and corrosion resistance of a pipe greatly affects life cycle impacts. Ductile iron pipe may last as little as 11-14 years in moderately corrosive soils, requiring numerous replacements over 100 years.



For equivalent 8-inch pipes, it takes up to 54% more energy to pump water through ductile iron (DI) pipes than through PVC pipes, and 100% more energy to pump water through polyethylene (HDPE) pipes than PVC pipes.



Of the competing pipe materials, including iron, concrete, and HDPE pipes, PVC pipe is the most favorable alternative when considering the products' energy consumption and carbon footprint from cradle-to-grave in a public water system.



Recycled material is only a single attribute of a pipe's life cycle environmental impacts. For example, more energy is required to process the recycled metals to manufacture ductile iron pipe than in PVC pipe production. As well, producing iron pipe with recycled scrap iron emits more toxins than pipe made from virgin iron ore.

To view the report, including the full set of key findings and its methodology, click here.

"The federal government is committed to spending $1 trillion to upgrade the nation's infrastructure, yet it's estimated that $2 trillion is needed for new water and sewer pipes alone," said Hollands. "Since PVC pipe can be up to 70 % less expensive than iron pipe, lasts longer with greater pumping efficiency, it's the best choice to replace America's drinking water systems."

The Life Cycle Assessment of PVC Water and Sewer Pipe and Comparative Sustainability Analysis of Pipe Materials report also makes reference to the 2015 Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for PVC Pipe, which complies with ISO 14025 standards and was independently certified by global health organization NSF International.

"This study shows that PVC pipe is the safest pipe material available. Water utilities aren't sacrificing safety, longevity, or system performance when they choose PVC pipein fact, they are getting the biggest bang for their buck when they do," said Hollands.

Based on the results of this study, PVC pipe provides a competitive environmental and economic advantage for its use in a variety of water and sewer infrastructure projects, including life cycle cost advantages and the opportunity to substantially reduce GHGs compared to other materials. PVC pipe addresses affordability concerns and enables communities to work towards meeting their sustainable infrastructure goals because of its durability, low break rate, corrosion resistance and long-lasting performance.

The Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association (www.uni-bell.org) is a non-profit organization that serves the engineering, regulatory, public health and standardization communities. The PVC pipe represented in the study is manufactured in the U.S. and Canada for drinking water, sanitary sewer, and storm sewer piping covering the 4" to 60" rigid PVC pipe market, uses a tin-based stabilizer, and does not contain phthalates, lead, or cadmium. PVC pipe producers contribute in excess of $14 billion to the U.S. economy and support over 25,000 jobs.

CONTACT: Justin Finnegan 646-756-3711 or [email protected]

SOURCE The Uni-Bell PVC Pipe Association

Related Links

http://www.uni-bell.org


"We welcome the opportunity to introduce our churrasco to Lexington residents and visitors, and are proud to be one of the first restaurants to open in this exceptional new development," says Salim Asrawi, Chief Operating Officer, Texas de Brazil. "We look forward to becoming a supportive and engaged member of this community and fashionable center," he adds.

The new 7500 square-foot restaurant accommodates over 200 guests and features a bright and energetic interior with an open-view grill, impressive salad area, wine wall, intimate lounge and a private dining space for up to 26 guests.

Texas de Brazil treats guests to an upscale dining experience and a service style that is alive and unique. Inside the colorfully-decorated restaurant, guests begin their meal with a visit to the enticing 50-item salad area featuring Brazilian specialties, fresh salads, imported cheeses, charcuterie, roasted vegetables, smoked salmon and creamy lobster bisque.

Renowned for its genuine rodizio-style dining, patrons are also treated to freshly-grilled meats carved tableside from skewers by costumed "gauchos" who deliver succulent picanha (sirloin), lamb chops, leg of lamb, filet mignon, chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, Brazilian sausages and more. Every Texas de Brazil restaurant uses the time-honored method of grilling meat over charcoal, resulting in savory aroma and exceptional flavor. Patrons pace their dining experience with a simple flip of the green or red disk that indicates when they are ready for additional servings and when they need a break.

Tempting desserts are served a la carte for those seeking sweets and an impressive wine wall houses private label wines bottled exclusively for Texas de Brazil by Santa Rita Vineyards in Chile, and an award-winning collection of vintages from the world's top wineries. Beijos Bar and Lounge offers signature cocktails including the Brazilian favorite, the Caipirinha, plus an array of premium spirits and specialty cocktails.

"We are thrilled that Texas de Brazil chose The Summit at Fritz Farm for its flagship Kentucky location and are excited for the Lexington community to explore their flavor-filled menu," said Lindsay Bayer, creative director for Bayer Properties. "The concept will provide a unique experience for our guests who are eager to discover a Brazilian steakhouse," says Bayer.

Texas de Brazil is located at 151 Larue, Ste 150 in The Summit at Fritz Farm (intersection of Nicholasville Road and Man O' War Boulevard) in South Lexington. Open for dinner Monday-Thursday 5 p.m.  9:30 p.m.; Friday 5 p.m.  10 p.m.; Saturday 4 p.m.  10 p.m. and Sunday 4 p.m.  9 p.m.

Adult dinner costs: $44.99/Salad area only: $24.99; Children 6-12: 50% discount from dinner pricing; children 3-5: $5; 2 and under dine free. Prices do not include alcohol, featured items, desserts, beverages or applicable taxes. Happy Hour featured Monday  Friday in Beijos Bar & Lounge is offered from 4:30 p.m.  7 p.m. and features a special bar menu plus drink specials including $3 domestic beer, $5 house wine and house cocktails, and $7 martinis.

For reservations, call 859-559-4000 or visit www.texasdebrazil.com.

About Texas de Brazil

Texas de Brazil is an authentic churrascaria featuring a continuous dining experience that blends the unique culture of Brazil, with the generous hospitality of Texas. The menu features a vast selection of grilled meats, a 50-item salad area, an award-winning wine list and a la carte dessert selections. Founded as a family-owned business in 1998, Texas de Brazil now has 53 domestic and international locations. For more information, visit http://www.texasdebrazil.com.

SOURCE Texas de Brazil

Related Links

http://www.texasdebrazil.com


ROCKVILLE, Md., June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The LOOK Hotel, a new boutique hotel property in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, is among the latest independent hotel properties to join the Ascend Hotel Collection by Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH), one of the world's leading hotel companies. Known for inspiring individuality, the Ascend Hotel Collection is the first and largest global soft brand, featuring best in class unique, boutique and historic hotels and resorts with more than 230 properties open or under development worldwide.

The sleekly designed 81-room boutique hotel is situated by the Brooklyn waterfront. The property features newly renovated, modern guest rooms that showcase residential inspired finishes and details, including oversized work desks, comfy task chairs and triple-sheet bedding. The hotel also offers tech amenities, such as a 40" flat-screen HDTV with free-to-guest programming, complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi, and abundant USB ports for easy connectivity. There are several food and beverage offerings on-site, including a bar & lounge, cafe and outdoor patio which serve craft artisanal products sourced from the best local vendors.

Adapted from its previous structure, this transformed hotel features a design which showcases the neighborhood's old industrial past mixed with its vibrant future. It is conveniently located near Brooklyn Bridge Park, Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, with Manhattan just minutes away.

This hotel participates in the award-winning Choice Privileges loyalty rewards program, rated no. 1 in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards list. Membership is free, offers fast rewards, instant perks, and exclusive member rates when booking directly at www.choicehotels.com. Members can redeem points towards free nights, airline miles and more while staying at any of Choice's 11 global brand hotels, including the Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria Hotels, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality Inn, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, and Rodeway Inn.

Ascend Hotel Collection: let the destination reach you.

The Ascend Hotel Collection is a global portfolio of unique, boutique and historic independent hotels and resorts and is part of Choice Hotels International, one of the world's leading hotel companies. Recognized as the hotel industry's first "soft brand" concept, the Ascend brand has more than 170 properties open and operating worldwide, including in France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Turkey, Australia, Canada, and the Caribbean region. Membership with the Ascend Hotel Collection enables distinctive, independent properties to gain a global presence while maintaining their local charm. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com/Ascend.

About Choice Hotels

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the world's largest hotel companies. With approximately 6,500 hotels franchised in more than 40 countries and territories, Choice Hotels International represents more than 500,000 rooms around the globe. As of March 31, 2017, 795 hotels were in our development pipeline. Our company's Ascend Hotel Collection, Cambria, Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Sleep Inn, Quality, Clarion, MainStay Suites, Suburban Extended Stay Hotel, Econo Lodge, Rodeway Inn, and Vacation Rentals by Choice Hotels brands provide a spectrum of lodging choices to meet guests' needs. With more than 30 million members and counting, our Choice Privileges rewards program enhances every trip a guest takes, with benefits ranging from instant, every day rewards to exceptional experiences, starting right when they join. All hotels and vacation rentals are independently owned and operated. Visit us at www.choicehotels.com for more information.

 2017 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All rights reserved.

SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.choicehotels.com


NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --The Adventures of Memento Mori (A Cynic's Guide for Learning to Live by Remembering to Die), a podcast exploring death, is now available on iTunes, Stitcher and all major podcatchers. Satirical and philosophical, the show follows host, D.S. Moss, as he attempts to reconcile his own impermanence. Developed for men and women ages 35 to 55, The Adventures of Memento Mori podcast aims to change how people think about mortality. Moss challenges listeners to welcome death as part of life's cycle, thereby compelling them to live more meaningful lives (himself included).

D.S. Moss - Host of The Adventures of Memento Mori

Producer and host D.S. Moss says, "Accepting death is difficult. Yet, if faced, we are more inclined to break rules, seek enlightenment and love more."

The Adventures of Memento Mori (A Cynic's Guide for Learning to Live by Remembering to Die) is a podcast that serves those interested in mortality and coming to terms with death. Informative and entertaining, the podcast challenges listeners to accept that they will die. By doing so, the aim is to inspire people to live the best lives possible. In each 30-minute episode, host, D.S. Moss, goes on an adventure of embracing his own mortality.

The inaugural episode, Plan on Dying, finds 40-year-old Moss making death preparations. Who keeps the dog, when to pull the plug and what will happen to his body? In episode two, Communicating with the Dead, Moss invites a psychic into his home to get answers from the other side. In other episodes, he visits his past lives, interviews a war correspondent that faced certain death after being abducted in Iraq and finds meaning in the final words of people in hospice care. Digital Afterlife explores the new realm of what happens to social media and digital properties when you die and Mass Extinction uncovers just how vulnerable the human race actually is. Finally, the two-part season finale, Psychedelic Ego Death, finds D.S. Moss in the jungles of Peru where he attempts to kill his ego through a series of seven ayahuasca ceremonies. Each of the 14 episodes in season one builds upon the last to create a semi-serial radio experience that comes to an unexpected and climatic end.

About D.S. Moss

D.S. Moss is a cultural producer unwavering in his pursuit to relate unconventional stories. A natural explorer, he uses satire to examine the absurdity of the human condition. Moss maintains an interdisciplinary practice of conflating storytelling techniques. He has directed independent films, documentaries, music videos, and commercials (Nike and General Motors). His writing includes the existential play, Shoeless, or: The Advantages of Never Knowing Exactly Where You Are and Proper Ollie, the pioneering web series on British etiquette. He currently hosts a podcast that investigates death and morality entitled The Adventures of Memento Mori, or, (A Practical Guide for Remembering to Die), available now.

Media Contact

Sarah DeTroit

Promotions Manager

The Jones Story Company

(512) 426-0250

[email protected]

www.remembertodie.com

SOURCE The Jones Story Company

Related Links

http://www.remembertodie.com


LONDON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

If you thought you missed the boat on lucrative wireless investment - think again. The seeds of wireless communications that have minted billionaires in the U.S. are now budding in the explosively fertile land of Latin America.

We're still only at the start of this game, with a mere 25 percent of the world enjoying access to global communications networks. And every segment of this is exploding in Latin America-from wireless communications service providers and cable TV companies, to the most lucrative niche of independent cell tower landlords.

Across segments, rapid wireless subscriber growth and heavy investments in LTE rollout make Latin America a phenomenally fertile investment opportunity. America Movil, S.A.B. de C.V. (NYSE:AMX), Regal Beloit Corporation (NYSE:RBC), Telefonica Brasil S.A. (NYSE:VIV), TIM Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:TSU), Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri A.S. (NYSE:TKC)

Just watch what the giant American telecoms are doing-and where they're looking for their next big win. AT&T is hungrily pouncing on Latin America-particularly Mexico-for growth because the U.S. market is already mature.

Wireless subscribers in Mexico have increased 37 percent year on year, and wireless revenues are up 9.5 percent over the same period.

We are right at the heart of a big data market evolution in the Latin American telecommunications industry, and this is the prime time to get a foothold. Led by Brazil and Mexico, Latin American telcos are expected to invest nearly $1.79 billion by 2022 in big data services.

The growth in the number of cellular phones has increased by more than 17 percent in the last year, according to Teleco. Brazil has several telecom companies which are publicly traded, most of which trade on the New York Stock Exchange. According to the free list of Brazil stocks at WallStreetNewsNetwork.com, there are almost half a dozen Brazilian telecom companies that pay yields in excess of 1.5 percent.

Across Latin America, there is a fierce struggle for market share going on-and this is where the early-in opportunities come into play.

The next Mark Warner or Steve Case-he'll come from this sector, and this playing field.

Here are our Top 5 Picks in the Latin American telecommunications explosion:

#1 America Movil (NYSE:AMX)

This is the baby of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim. America Movil's wireless division, Telcel, dominates mobile number porting across Latin America. And in this game, it trounces even AT&T.

The catalysts for this company keep rolling in. By the end of this year, Slim expects to roll out a 4.5G network in parts of Mexico, and 5G by 2020. This is where the real growth in this industry is, and America Movil's got it in droves.

America Movil has so far invested around $52 billion in Mexico's telecom sector alone.

Mexican internet use increased 5 percent just between 2015 and 2016, and some 85 percent of users are getting internet access through mobile phone devices.

Slim isn't worth over $63 billion for no reason. He's the 5th richest person in the world , and we recommend following his lead on this one.

#2 Tower One Wireless (CNX:TO; TOWTF)

If you want to get in on the purest profit in this industry-in the fastest way possible-this company represents a niche segment that is off the radar even though it's about to explode.

This is the independent cell tower niche. It's the backbone of the wireless revolution, and there's NO competition.

Tower One Wireless (CNX:TO; TOWTF) is one of only 4 publicly traded companies cashing in on the cell phone tower niche in the entire world.

The first three rose to a combined market cap of over $100 billion in the first phase of this evolution. Tower One is set to be the next to cash in.

So far, South America has only 100,000 towers, and it needs 520,000 towers in the next three years to accommodate demand and growth by the telco giants.

This is a brilliant segment niche, because these cell tower-owners simply build towers and then rent them out to wireless providers. A single tower can serve up to 4 telcos, and then the tower-owners just sit back and enjoy pure profit and continuous cash flow. And the other big three in this niche have no advantage over Tower One because they are all starting from scratch, so the real 'in' her is the cheapest avenue for the investor. This is a level playing field, unlike the wireless providers where competition is fierce.

Tower One is the only small-cap entry point into this industry. It was established in 2015 and has a market cap of only $15.40 million.

#3 Regal Beloit Corp (NYSE:RBC)

Since we're already thinking outside the box in the wireless space; this is another lesser-known part of the equation that makes the wireless revolution possible-direct current (DC) power systems.

And they are experiencing massive growth thanks to the exploding hunger for mobile and fixed broadband networks around the world. The next big way in the telecoms industry is 5G networks, and DC power systems make them happen.

This market generated $3.92 billion in 2016, according to Frost & Sullivan, and is projected to reach $4.41 billion by 2021. That's a compound annual growth rate of 2.4 percent.

RBC has added 2.2 percent since in the month since its last earnings report, and it continues to outperform the market.

#4 Telefonica Brasil SA (NYSE:VIV)

This is our counterintuitive pick on this list. For the last three months, the price performance here has been depressed and we've seen the stock lose over 2.5 percent even though this industry is gaining. This giant subsidiary of Spanish telecom major Telefonica SA (TEF) is a key ruler of the wireless market in Brazil, and one of the biggest catalysts is its Vivo commercial brand.

We like the drive here to roll out new tech and major investments and upgrades that have gone into new technology. But it's a highly competitive playing field that has had some investors cast doubts on this stock. If you've got it already, it's probably a good idea to hold onto it. This company has demonstrated a great ability to sustain its competitive edge and both move and move WITH the market.

The total mobile subscriber base, as of Q1 2017, is nearly 74 million users, and the trend for this company is a continued increase in subscribers, as recent months have shown.

Carlos Slim's AMX will give it a run for its money in Brazil-and AT&T might also.

#5 TIM Participacoes S.A. (NYSE:TSU)

This stock has been a huge mover lately. TSU (or TIM Brasil) covers Brazil with cellular service, with help from two subsidiaries. It's the biggest system operating in the country and has over 51 million subscribers. It's also the Brazil subsidiary of Telecom Italia.

TIM Brasil closed the first quarter 2017 with over 61.9 million mobile lines. It also gets to boast being the first mobile operator deployed in every single state in Brazil, giving it a clear growth advantage. It's now THE Number 1 provider of 4G coverage in the country and it's 4G and fiber networks cover nearly 71,000 square kilometers.

This is one of the fastest movers in Brazil.



Honorable Mentions in the Wireless Space

- Turkcell (NYSE:TKC): TKC is the leader in Turkish mobile, and while Turkey is in a state of upheaval, this is one of the prime times to get in if you have the stomach for it. Why? Because this is one of Turkey's best-ever blue chip companies.

- BCE Inc.: This Canadian telco giant has three massive segments, including Bell Wireless, Bell Wireline and Bell Media. It's paying a quarterly dividend of $0.7175 per share right now. It's had some great results, even if net income has declined a bit in the most recent quarter. It's still blowing other telcos out of the water.

- Quebecor Inc.: There's a huge catalyst with this one, if it's not too late already. The company's subsidiary, Quebecor Media Inc. just sold seven spectrum licenses to major Shaw Communications in a CAD$430-millio deal.

By. Charles Kennedy



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SOURCE OilPrice.com
BERWYN, Pa., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of The NCHERM Group's growing practice in the western part of the United States, the Group is excited to announce the opening of its California office. President & CEO Brett A. Sokolow, Esq. has announced his relocation to Los Angeles as of July 1, 2017, to head this office. Sokolow stated, "While we have covered the western states well for many years, our practice is more than busy enough to sustain a West Coast outpost now, and establishing an office in Los Angeles will allow us to better serve our clients all across the western states. With five consultants already based in California, and a regular client base of more than 35 colleges, it is time to better serve the West Coast with a dedicated Partner heading the LA office."

The NCHERM Group strategy has been to spread partners and consultants geographically so that the Group is never far from clients when needed. Los Angeles now joins NCHERM Group offices in:

Berwyn, PA

Manchester, NH

Columbus, OH

and Denver, CO

The NCHERM Group and its affiliated associations, the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA) and National Behavioral Team Association (NaBITA) remain headquartered in Berwyn, PA, outside of Philadelphia. Managing Partner, Daniel C. Swinton, J.D., Ed.D. will continue to oversee day-to-day operations, with the support of an able executive team and talented staff of sixteen.

Sokolow looks forward to working more closely with West Coast-based and western clients at schools and colleges in the years to come. The NCHERM Group will continue to expand its services and consultants on the West Coast as demand requires, and Group consultants continue to travel wherever their services are needed, including recent trips to Germany, England, and Beirut, Lebanon.

In recognition of the need to expand to serve our clients well, The NCHERM Group has added three new consultants this month, expanding our total to 31. Catherine Spear, Esq. (link forthcoming) is based in Virginia, where she serves as Associate Vice President in the Office for Equal Opportunity and Civil Rights (EOCR) at the University of Virginia, and previously directed the Cleveland office of the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. Joe Allen, Ed.D., joins our California team, and is based in San Diego. Joe worked in student affairs at Ashford University and specializes in risk management and best practices for online student populations, with particular emphasis on student conduct and sexual misconduct. Daniel Kast, M.S. is located in Colorado, where he is the Director of Civil Rights and Investigations for the Colorado Community College System. Dan's primary professional interests are in the areas of investigations and policy development.

Geographically, NCHERM Group consultants are well-spread within California, giving easy access to the Pacific Northwest, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona and New Mexico, with two consultants in San Diego, two in Los Angeles, and one each in Santa Clara and San Jose.

Learn more about The NCHERM Group's consulting services.

Media contact:

Michelle Issadore

[email protected]

610-993-0229

SOURCE The NCHERM Group

Related Links

http://www.ncherm.org


OAK BROOK, Ill., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Lions Clubs International  already the world's largest service club organization  announced today that it has surpassed its previous global membership record of 1,425,310 set in 1996 by surpassing 1,445,591 members. This milestone was achieved 100 years after the founding of Lions in June 1917. To achieve the mark, Lions added 214,417 new members over the past 12 months.

Lions International serves on average 96 million people per year. Statistics indicate that for every new member who joins, the organization can serve an addition 70 people  or an additional 15 million this year alone based on membership growth. At a time when many service organizations are experiencing lower membership numbers, the growth of Lions International is unprecedented.

Lions International is a community based organizations with over 47,000 clubs located in 200 countries or geographic areas around the world  in both rural and urban areas  making it a natural fit for people who want to volunteer their time in service to others.

Lions are known for their work with the blind and visually impaired, hunger relief, youth services, and projects to improve the environment. And because there are clubs throughout the world, Lions are often first on the scene when natural disasters strike.

When asked what he attributes to the record growth, Lions International President, Chancellor Bob Corlew of Milton, Tennessee said, "People want to make an impact, and they can do that through Lions clubs." He added, "We have seen record growth this year in South Asia  particularly in India and Nepal, as well as continued growth in China, Japan, and Korea. And globally we saw a surge in the number of women joining our organization. Our historic growth means we can bring even more service to more people around the world."

Lions International will celebrate its 100th year of humanitarian service this year at its annual international convention to be held at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, the city where Lions began. Over 30,000 Lions from 110 countries will gather in Chicago from June 28 to July 4th, making the convention its largest ever held in North America.

SOURCE Lions Clubs International

Related Links

http://www.lionsclubs.org


WASHINGTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The ZAC Foundation and the American Red Cross, both leaders in water safety education and drowning prevention, today announced a national partnership aimed at reducing drowning in communities where drowning rates are high.

that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1-4 and the second leading cause for children 5-14, according to the

Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention

. However, drowning can be prevented if the proper precautions are taken, including partaking in water safety classes.

That is why The ZAC Foundation is providing a series of grants to the Red Cross Centennial Campaign for its Learn-to-Swim program, as well as CPR and lifeguard training. The 2017 partnership will focus on the Boys & Girls Clubs in these three cities  Chicago, San Antonio, Texas, and Bay County, Fla.  all of which have higher-than-average drowning rates.

These locations will also benefit from a swimming safety program by The ZAC Foundation, called ZAC Camps, which brings weeklong lessons about water safety and drowning prevention to Boys & Girls Clubs around the country. Children who complete ZAC Camp will be provided unlimited Red Cross Learn-to-Swim lessons through the partnership until they earn their swimming certification.

"Our partnership with the American Red Cross will provide invaluable classes and lifeguard training to reach our mutual goal of helping to end drownings," said Karen Cohn, co-founder of The ZAC Foundation. "Learning to swim is an essential life skill, and through classes and education, we can empower children and their families to be as safe as possible around water."

In addition to the Learn-to-Swim program, the partnership will extend to families, in the selected communities, the opportunity to learn Pediatric CPR and AED skills as well as how to prevent, recognize and respond to aquatic emergencies, all at little or no cost. Further, the campaign is also helping to train junior lifeguards and swim instructors from these communities to instill water safety education and local capacity for training for years to come.

"We know that many families understand the importance of swim lessons, but we also want to remind parents that everyone needs to know how to enjoy the water safely and how to respond to a water emergency, including how to perform CPR," said Connie Harvey, director of the Red Cross Aquatics Centennial Campaign. "The funding from The ZAC Foundation for critical programs that teach the littlest of swimmers to parents and future water safety leaders will help save countless lives."

The partnership between The ZAC Foundation and the Red Cross first began as a pilot program in Chicago in 2016 and has since provided:

more than 1,000 sets of Learn-to-Swim lessons

training for 15 water safety instructors, 25 lifeguards and 52 junior lifeguards

Water Safety classes for 90 parents and caregivers; and

Pediatric CPR/AED courses for 17 parents and caregivers

For more information on how to be safe this summer swimming season, visit TheZACFoundation.com. Red Cross training and certification lessons can be found here: redcross.org/takeaclass.

Red Cross Aquatic Providers across the country who are part of the Centennial Campaign, and who are providing low-cost and scholarship programs, can be found here: redross.org/centennialswim.

About The ZAC Foundation

The ZAC Foundation was established in 2008 by Brian and Karen Cohn after the loss of their 6-year-old son Zachary Archer Cohn in a pool drain entrapment in their backyard swimming pool. Through education and advocacy, the Foundation is dedicated to preparing children and their families for a lifetime of swimming safety. To learn more about The ZAC Foundation, connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and thezacfoundation.com.

About the American Red Cross

The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org or cruzrojaamericana.org, or visit us on Twitter at @RedCross.

SOURCE American Red Cross

Related Links

http://www.redcross.org


ATLANTA, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- While employee retention is not necessarily a new concern for employers, the race to keep top workers in-house has escalated significantly in just the past year alone. In fact, new findings from the 2017 Emerging Workforce Study (EWS) commissioned by Spherion Staffing indicate that employees are more willing than ever to test their options, to the degree that companies may have to replace one-fourth of their staff by the end of the summer.

According to the EWS, one in four workers (25 percent) plan to look for a new job sometime in the next three months, with more than one-third (35 percent) planning to do so sometime in the next year. The annual Study was conducted online by global market research organization Research Now among 733 human resource managers and 2,062 employed U.S. adults ages 18 and older.

"In the 20-year history of the Emerging Workforce Study, we've never seen employees have this much leverage to improve their situation and fulfill their demands for better salaries and working conditions," said Sandy Mazur, Spherion Division President. "This year's Study reinforces the need for employers to reevaluate their retention strategies and take a closer look at the factors  both financial and non-financial  that influence their workers' professional decisions. While not all businesses will have the flexibility to raise wages right away, our data indicates that there are a range of alternative measures that may prevent an employee exodus."

With an improved economy and overall job market, namely within the specialized industrial and technology fields, workers believe they have more options available  and therefore, the ability to demand a higher salary either from their current employer or a competitor. Twenty percent cited compensation as the primary reason they plan to explore their professional options, more than any other employment factor. Likewise, 35 percent of workers believe that although they accepted a lower salary when they started their current role, they should be paid more today.

Despite employees' outspoken desires for higher compensation, and the escalating crunch for talent, employers remain indifferent about how to proceed. The Study found that businesses value retaining high-performing and productive workers, but also are mindful of overall fiscal responsibility. Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of surveyed companies say they recognize a need to pay higher wages to remain competitive, but simply cannot afford to do so at this time. With a significant segment (74 percent) also noting that their competitors are raising wages to attract top talent, employers' reluctance to raise pay ultimately may force employees' hands.

Although salary remains a primary motivator, the EWS uncovered that many additional factors are influencing the retention and recruitment race, and shaping the overall workplace in turn.

Equal Pay for Equal Work

Beyond their own salaries, workers are paying greater attention to comparable wages, and thus far are not thrilled at what they see. The EWS notes that perceived pay scale inequality is more prevalent in today's workplace, and risks furthering the divide between employers and employees.

While more than three-fourths (82 percent) of employers believe they offer equal pay for work regardless of gender, a far lower number (54 percent) of employees feel the same way. Additionally, the EWS found that males are far more likely to perceive pay equality in a given company than females, among both the employer and employee audiences. Although wage equality is both a hot button issue and potentially sensitive subject in today's workplace, the EWS indicates that it's a topic employers must be prepared to address to maintain favorable employee morale and longevity.

Work Where I'm Wanted

Some workers believe their employers do not appreciate their contributions, making them more likely to consider moving to a company that will. "Feeling undervalued" topped the list of non-financial reasons workers gave for their interest in exploring alternate job opportunities. Likewise, 23 percent of workers feel their employers put in less effort to retain them this year than last.

This perceived lack of trying stems from disconnects around critical retention drivers. Employers believe that employees are more concerned with intangibles such as their supervisor relationship and overall work environment, while employees cite financial compensation, benefits, and growth and earnings potential among the top factors influencing their decision to remain at their current company. Not coincidentally, one-fifth (20 percent) of workers say their employer has reduced their benefits package in the last year.

A Widening Skills Gap

Employees also may be considering new professional opportunities to find a better environment to showcase and develop their skills. As reinforced by the EWS, employers and employees not only failed to close the long-looming skills gap this past year, but actually have allowed it to grow even wider.

More than one-third (38 percent) of workers worry about falling behind in acquiring new skills needed for the future, while a similar segment (37 percent) feels they cannot achieve a promotion with their current skills alone. The EWS also notes that a lack of ample training and development may be shaping employees' fears. Only 18 percent of workers would give their companies' training and development programs an "A" grade, while nearly half (46 percent) would instead offer a grade of "C" or lower. In particular, employees are concerned that the training programs their company offers are not relevant to their skill sets, and thus nothing more than a distraction from their job duties.

Now in its 20th year, the Emerging Workforce Study has tracked the shifting opinions and attitudes of workers and their employers in the context of ongoing social and economic events. The 2017 Study also explores employers' and employees' opinions on key workplace themes and topics including workplace collaboration, staff diversity, the transformation of the modern "office" and work/life balance.

To learn more about the Emerging Workforce Study, and review data and messages from previous Studies, visit spherion.com/ews.

Methodology

The 2017 Emerging Workforce Study was conducted online within the United States between February-March 2017 by Research Now Group, Inc., on behalf of Spherion among 733 human resource managers. Results were weighted as needed to reflect the composition of U.S. companies, based on company revenue. An online survey of 2,062 employed adults also was conducted by Research Now on behalf of Spherion during the same time period. Results were weighted as needed for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income to represent the target population. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. A full methodology is available.

About Spherion Staffing Services

Spherion (spherion.com) is a leading recruiting and staffing provider, specializing in temporary and direct hire placement of administrative, clerical, customer service, light industrial and professional job candidates. To help clients attract, engage and retain a high-performance workforce, Spherion offers in-depth market knowledge, outstanding customer service, a strong network of talent and unique insights from its groundbreaking Emerging Workforce Study, now in its 20th year. As an industry pioneer, Spherion has, for more than 70 years, matched candidates to clients in virtually every industry across the U.S. Today, each Spherion office is independently owned and operated by a team of local specialists, dedicated to delivering great experiences, powered by technology but always with a personal touch. To learn more about one of the nation's fastest-growing industries, visit spherion.com/franchise and explore how Spherion is actively expanding into new territories, with more than 75 franchise markets available.

SOURCE Spherion Staffing
"We're excited and honored to receive this award", said Todd Midura Vice President of Marketing for Tic Tac. "The Tic Tac brand has been a leader in the mint category for over 50 years, and we wanted to give our loyal fans a new way to enjoy what they already love about Tic Tac mints. Tic Tac Gum has the same iconic shape and size of a Tic Tac mint with the unmistakable sensation of the crunchy shell on the outside and delicious, refreshing flavor on the inside, now in a gum format."

Tic Tac Gum will be available in stores beginning January 2018 in 56-piece count format and three count multipacks in Freshmint, Spearmint and Cool Watermelon flavors. To learn more about Tic Tac Gum or other products from the Tic Tac brand, "Like" Tic Tac USA on Facebook (www.Facebook.com/TicTacUSA) and follow Tic Tac USA on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/TicTacUSA).



ABOUT THE TIC TAC BRAND AND FERRERO

The Tic Tac brand was launched in the U.S. in 1969 by the Italian confectionery manufacturer Ferrero and has been a leading mint brand for over 40 years. Ferrero was established in 1946 in Alba, Italy. The Company's first product was made with hazelnuts and cocoa, resulting in the base ingredients for the world's #1 selling sweet spread on the market today  Nutella hazelnut spread. Since then, the company has grown to become one of the world's largest confectionery companies with a vast global portfolio that includes other high-quality products such as Ferrero Rocher chocolates, Raffaello confections, Kinder chocolates and Tic Tac mints. Corporate Social Responsibility is integral to the Company's business as demonstrated with programs such as Kinder + Sport, the Michele Ferrero Entrepreneurial Project and the Ferrero Foundation. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/tictacusa or www.tictacusa.com.

SOURCE Tic Tac

Related Links

http://www.tictacusa.com


"We are in a race against the clock to finally find a process for early-stage detection of this insidious disease. With the five-year survival rate at 27% for women diagnosed with advanced-stage ovarian cancer, there is an urgent need for more medical and scientific research in this area," said Ms. Drescher, an Emmy award-winning actress, New York Times best-selling author and a 17-year uterine cancer survivor.

Ms. Drescher, who is the founder of the Cancer Schmancer Movement, also moderated the evening's panel on ovarian cancer awareness, which included Dr. Leslie Boyd, NYU Langone Medical Center, Dr. Kara Long-Roche, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and ovarian cancer survivor Claudia Garza. A major discussion point during the session was how we begin shifting the nation's focus from searching for cures to targeting prevention and early detection of cancer in order to save lives. "It's your body  don't give anyone Power of Attorney over it," Ms. Drescher told the crowd.

The event's success was also driven by The Mary Haas Foundation generously offering a challenge grant of up to $50,000 based on funds raised from the evening. This financial commitment and Ms. Drescher's participation helped send another vital message to the public about the importance of finding a means of early detection for ovarian cancer, which in 80% of affected women is diagnosed at an advanced stage. There is an urgent need for more medical and scientific research in this area.

Additional details can be found at tinaswish.org/lcreception17recap

Contact: Beverly Wolfer

Executive Director

Tina's Wish

212.880.5757

[email protected]

SOURCE Tina's Wish

Related Links

http://tinaswish.org


The boltless wheels employ a lock ring design, substantially lowering maintenance time and cost, in addition to reduced parts count, when compared to traditional bolted aircraft wheels. In addition, the new brakes, which feature UTC Aerospace Systems proprietary DURACARB carbon heat sink material, allow for a three to four times longer life than the F-15's current brakes, further reducing the aircraft's total lifecycle cost.

"UTC Aerospace Systems is pleased to receive Boeing's installation approval, which we feel is a testament to the high degree of confidence they have in the increased performance and capability of our advanced wheels and brakes for the F-15 Eagle," said Jeff Atkinson, Director of Military Programs for the company's Landing Systems business unit. "Our DURACARB brakes are capable of handling higher energy than the aircraft's existing system, which will increase the safety margin when stopping heavily-loaded F-15s. In addition, our brakes achieve more landings before wear-out than the current system, while requiring significantly less maintenance, and our wheels have a higher fatigue life than the current equipment, significantly increasing the time on-wing before replacement is needed."

The equipment is offered in two versionsone for use on the F-15C/D aircraft and the other for use on the heavier F-15E aircraft. Both wheel and brake variants are similar designs, and share a high degree of parts commonality. The new wheels and brakes are manufactured at UTC Aerospace Systems Landing Systems facilities in Troy, Ohio, and Santa Fe Springs, California.

About UTC Aerospace Systems

UTC Aerospace Systems is one of the world's largest suppliers of technologically advanced aerospace and defense products. UTC Aerospace Systems designs, manufactures and services integrated systems and components for the aerospace and defense industries, supporting a global customer base with significant worldwide manufacturing and customer service facilities. For more information about the company, visit our website at www.utcaerospacesystems.com or follow us on Twitter: @utcaerosystems

About United Technologies Corporation

United Technologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut, provides high-technology systems and services to the building and aerospace industries. By combining a passion for science with precision engineering, the company is creating smart, sustainable solutions the world needs. For more information about the company, visit our website at www.utc.com or follow us on Twitter: @UTC

SOURCE UTC Aerospace Systems

Related Links

http://www.utcaerospacesystems.com


BOSTON, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Kyros Law Offices is alerting investors of Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX) that it is investigating legal claims against the company for possible securities fraud violations committed by Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX).

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX) investors that have invested over $100,000 before March 2016 are urged to contact our law firm immediately to protect their rights. Visit our VRX Lawsuit website or call 1-800-934-2921 to speak to someone about your case.

The investigation concerns possible violations of securities law committed by Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX) management that has led to significant losses to investors. Recent lawsuits filed against the company allege that Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX) may have improperly used a pharmacy network to artificially increase sales for their drugs.

In February 2016, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX) announced it would restate its financial results, citing issues with revenue recognition stemming from sales from a specific pharmacy network. That same month, the company came under SEC investigation. During this time, the stock price of VRX dropped significantly, with the share prices dropping more than 90%.

Kyros Law Offices urges Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl (NYSE: VRX) investors that invested more than $100,000 prior to March 2016 to contact our law firm immediately to protect their rights. Visit our VRX Lawsuit website or call 1-800-934-2921 to find out if you have a case.

Kyros Law specializes in a wide range of complex litigation, mass torts, and corporate governance matters, including the representation of whistleblowers, shareholders and consumers in securities fraud, false claims act and class actions. Our lawyers have been responsible for recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients throughout the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe. Visit our website to learn more about our firm.

SOURCE Kyros Law

Related Links

https://www.kyroslaw.com


MUMBAI, India, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Web Werks is pleased to announce that its 30000 square feet carrier neutral colocation data center space at Mumbai India has received prestigious DC OIX-2 certification from the Open-IX Association (OIX).

Web Werks Mumbai DC 2

OIX-2 is a best-in-class global certification for datacenters looking to serve as carrier-neutral points of network interconnection. The Web Werks Mumbai facility is one of the few Indian & South Asian datacenters to meet the rigorous datacenter requirements of this global standard. The OIX-2 certification highlights Web Werks Datacenter as a location offering colocation for core IP networks, content & cloud platforms, as well non-discriminatory access to all network providers. The certification also expresses Web Werks's position to advance OIX's task to improve the global landscape of internet peering and interconnection, applying uniform, cost-efficient standards of performance.

Defining Standards for the Open-IX Association

The Open-IX Association is a 501(c)(6) non-profit industry association formed to promote better standards for data center interconnection and Internet exchanges. With the help of broad participation of interconnect and data center professionals, the association has successfully developed Internet exchange and data center consensus-based community standards and certified 25 data centers and 10 exchanges since its establishment in 2013. Final certification was received on "1st June 2017".

David Temkin, Co-Founder of the Open-IX Association, remarks, "The Open-IX Association is pleased to grant OIX-2 certification to Web Werks data center facility in Mumbai. We are excited to see better standards for data center interconnection and Internet exchanges continuously being adopted within key markets across the globe.

Web Werks is a proud supporter of Open-IX and supports interconnections and open peering. The OIX-2 data center certification defines standards for data centers like Web Werks mission-critical designed white space, inclusive of an open Internet exchange and interconnection platform.

Web Werks CEO Mr. Nikhil Rathi said, "Improving network efficiencies by supporting interconnections; open peering and services to our customers has always been our priority; thus to our mission in building the next generation data centers in India".

Web Werks Data Center

Web Werks Uptime Certified Tier III datacenter is 30000 sqf facility located in the City of Mumbai India. The datacenter as achieved global certifications such as ISO 9001, 27001, 20000-1, 20000-9, 22301 (Business Continuity), 27017, 27018, PCI-DSS, HIPAA , SOC 1 and 2. Web Werks Mumbai Datacenter Hosts Mumbai iX which is India's Largest Internet Exchange Hub, which was created with the vision of Making Internet in India Most affordable and accessible. Web Werks Datacenters also improves the stability of the Internet in India by hosting of Internet Mirror Root Servers of D, E, J, K and L making it a major carrier, content & cloud hub, ideally located for access to international sub-sea cable networks spanning India & Asia.

For more information about the Open-IX Association or OPEN-IX data center certification, please visit www.open-ix.org.

For more information about Web Werks Data Centers, please visit www.webwerks.in

About Open-IX Association

The Open-IX Association (OIX) is an Internet community effort to improve the landscape of Internet peering and massive-scale interconnection. OIX encourages the development of neutral and distributed Internet exchanges while promoting uniform standards of performance for interconnections backed by the Internet community.

About Web Werks India

Web Werks is an India-based tier III & tier IV data center service provider with 5 carrier neutral data centers in India and USA. Started in 1996, Web Werks has served several Fortune 500 companies with successful projects in the areas of web hosting, VPS hosting, colocation services, dedicated servers, cloud platform, business continuity and disaster recovery services.

Media contact:

Priti S

[email protected]

+918828335555

SOURCE Web Werks India Pvt Ltd

Related Links

http://www.webwerks.in


BENTON HARBOR, Mich. , June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Jeff M. Fettig, Whirlpool Corporation's Chairman and CEO since 2004, will step down as CEO and continue in his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors. The Whirlpool Corporation Board of Directors has elected Marc Bitzer, the company's current President and Chief Operating Officer, to succeed Fettig as CEO. These changes will become effective October 1.

Marc Bitzer, COO and Jeff Fettig, CEO of Whirlpool Corporation

"On behalf of the Whirlpool Board of Directors, we are very pleased to appoint Marc as our next CEO, the 8th CEO in our 106-year history," said Jeff M. Fettig. "Marc has a deep understanding of our business throughout the world and has personally led our operations and delivered strong results during his 18-year tenure at Whirlpool. As we prepare for the future, I am very confident that Marc is uniquely qualified to lead our company in continued success."

Fettig (age 60) will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. "My primary role is to support Whirlpool, Marc and our leadership team in this planned CEO transition. I am effectively stepping away from our day-to-day management after 36 years of service and the last 13 as CEO," said Fettig. "As a company, we have achieved significant milestones during this time through the great work of Whirlpool people throughout the world. Going forward, I believe we have more opportunities than ever before in our 106-year history. I know Marc, and our Whirlpool leadership team, will continue to achieve great things for our company in the years ahead.

"For me, the opportunity to lead Whirlpool during the past two decades has been both an honor and a privilege. I am very proud of the great people here and in their dedication to our company, which has led to the success that we have all achieved."

Bitzer (age 52) was named President and Chief Operating Officer and elected to the Whirlpool Corporation Board of Directors in October 2015. Prior to this assignment, he served as Vice Chairman, which included overall leadership of Whirlpool North America and Whirlpool Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Bitzer joined Whirlpool Europe in 1999 as Vice President, Bauknecht brand group. He became Senior Vice President of Marketing Sales and Services for Whirlpool Europe in 2000 and was named President of Whirlpool Europe in January 2006. Between 2009 and 2013, he went on to serve as President of Whirlpool North America and President of the company's U.S. operations. Before joining Whirlpool Europe, Bitzer worked for eight years at the Boston Consulting Group in Munich and Toronto and was named Vice President of that organization in 1999.

Bitzer earned both his MBA and doctorate degrees from the St. Gallen Graduate School of Business, Economics and law in Switzerland.

"I want to thank the Whirlpool Board of Directors and especially Jeff Fettig for their confidence in appointing me to this position," said Bitzer. "The foundation of success built by Jeff and so many within this company affords us an exciting future to exceed the needs and aspirations of our customers, expand shareholder value and create a unique and fast-paced workplace that people continually are proud to call Whirlpool Corporation."

Fettig is credited with the successful growth of the company both organically and through strategic acquisitions that increased sales by 75 percent -- from $12 billion in 2003 to $21 billion in 2016. The company's acquisition of Maytag Corporation in 2006 and of Indesit Co. SpA in 2014 added the prestigious brands of Jenn-Air, Maytag, Amana and Indesit creating an industry-leading portfolio that targets more than 90% of global consumers with seven brands garnering more than $1 billion in annual sales. Whirlpool's market value during Fettig's tenure increased from $5 billion to more than $14 billion, and the company's annual dividend increased from $1.36 per share to $4.40 per share.

Fettig joined Whirlpool in 1981 as an Operations Associate. He held a number of managerial positions in operations, sales, planning and product development before being promoted to Vice President of Marketing for the KitchenAid appliance group in July 1989. In October 1990, he was named Vice President of Marketing for the Phillips Whirlpool Appliance Group of Whirlpool Europe BV, the company's European subsidiary. He was named Vice President of Group Marketing and Sales for the company's North America Appliance group in October 1992. In 1994, he was named an Executive Vice President of Whirlpool Corporation and President of Whirlpool Europe and Asia.

Fettig served as President and Chief Operating Officer and was first elected to the Whirlpool Board of Directors in June 1999. He became Whirlpool Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer in July 2004.

A native of Tipton, Indiana, Fettig holds a Bachelor's degree in finance and an MBA from Indiana University.

Fettig serves as the lead director of the Dow Chemical Board of Directors and is a member of the Board of Directors for the Kohler Company. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Indiana University Foundation and on the Board of Governors for Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He also is a member of the Business Leaders for Michigan and the Business Roundtable.

Jeff Fettig bio: http://whirlpoolcorp.com/project/jeff-m-fettig/

Marc Bitzer bio: http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com/project/marc-bitzer/

About Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR) is the number one major appliance manufacturer in the world, with approximately $21 billion in annual sales, 93,000 employees and 70 manufacturing and technology research centers in 2016. The company markets Whirlpool, KitchenAid, Maytag, Consul, Brastemp, Amana, Bauknecht, Jenn-Air, Indesit and other major brand names in nearly every country throughout the world. Additional information about the company can be found at WhirlpoolCorp.com, or find us on Twitter at @WhirlpoolCorp.

Whirlpool Corp. Additional Information

This release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. All statements that address developments that we or our management believes will or may occur in the future, including statements regarding financial performance, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based upon certain assumptions and assessments made by our management and are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results, developments and business decisions may differ from those envisaged by such forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements included in this release are also subject to a number of material risks and uncertainties, including strategic, operational, financial, and legal and compliance risks. We identify the principal risks and uncertainties that affect our performance in our Form 10-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Whirlpool Corporation

Related Links

http://www.whirlpoolcorp.com


As the brand, Safi Kilima Tanzanite is aiming to spread #SafiKilimaLove; continuing the year round celebration of 50 years since tanzanite's discovery they are building the global standard for tanzanite selection and spreading awareness on the rarity of this precious stone.

Originally founded in 1967, tanzanite "According to TanzaniteOne, this stone was marketed as "thousand times rarer than diamonds" with a little over a decade of supply remaining".

#SafiKilimaTanzanite is raising awareness of this precious gemstone by educating cruisers in Alaska, Caribbean and Mexico. This one of a kind gemstone is said to have a limited supply left available for purchase on the primary market.

"#SafiKilimaTanzanite offers everyone a chance to acquire a piece of history. We are calling this #TheYearofSafi as we continue to raise awareness and help commemorate this special 50th anniversary #SKT50, says Danielle Riesel, Safi Kilima Tanzanite's Director of Marketing. "This gemstone is absolutely remarkable and is the perfect gift to hand down from generation to generation. Celebrities of all calibers are gifting tanzanite. This is said to be one of the hottest gems of the year".

Safi Kilima Tanzanite's Spring/Summer 2017 jewelry collections embody this rarity aspect and is focused on paying homage to its classic roots with clean, timeless designs. The overall style of this season is strong silhouettes.

The "WOW" Collection offers a sleek, timeless design combined with modern day sophistication. When the owner of Diamonds International, Morris Gad thought about what every woman wants and needs in her jewelry collection, the result was a line that confidently stands out with simplistic design, classic beauty; our WOW Collection. When the WOW Collection is worn, it's hard to avoid feeling luxurious.

About Diamonds International

With over 125 stores, Diamonds International is the largest and most prominent privately held jewelry retailer in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Alaska. Established in 1986 and headquartered in New York, Diamonds International is the world's largest tax-free, duty-free retailer providing tourists with an extensive portfolio of fine jewelry and elegant timepieces. Sourcing from the world's largest and most important mines, while supporting ethical mine-to-market practices, the patented 90 faceted Crown of Light diamond cut and acclaimed Safi Kilima tanzanite collection are both exclusive to the U.S. based fine jeweler. www.diamondsinternational.com

Media Contact:

Diamonds International

Alison Finkler

[email protected], 646.378.6807

SOURCE Diamonds International

Related Links

http://www.diamondsinternational.com


AARHUS, Denmark, June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

Wi-Fi NOW (HETTING ApS) - the global Wi-Fi industry's leading media, event, and advisory organisation - has been contracted by the European Commission to conduct a Wi-Fi network pricing study in support of EU's free Wi-Fi grant program WiFi4EU.

(Logo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/524257/WI_FI_NOW_Logo.jpg )



The study - which starts immediately and will be completed in this summer - will compile, analyze, and document Wi-Fi network capital expenditure and implementation costs as related to the grant amounts laid out by European Commission's guidelines for WiFi4EU networks.

"We're honored and delighted that the European Commission has entrusted us with this important task. The study will provide insights for the Commission's decision-making process on critically important parameters of the WiFi4U program," said Claus Hetting, CEO of Wi-Fi NOW.

On Tuesday May 30 the EU Parliament, the Council, and the Commission agreed to spend 120 million EUR on the WiFi4EU free Wi-Fi project. The European Commission released this statement on the decision.

Up to 8,000 new Wi-Fi networks across the EU are to be funded by the WiFi4EU grant program. The networks will serve millions of EU citizens with free, high-quality Wi-Fi connectivity. The Commission cites a goal of 40-50 million connections per day once all the Wi-Fi networks have been built.

"We believe that WiFi4EU is the most important publicly funded broadband program in Europe in recent history. It will impact millions of EU citizens and is also a great leap forward for the Wi-Fi industry. We invite the European Wi-Fi ecosystem to join us making WiFi4EU a popular success," Claus Hetting said.

Wi-Fi NOW expects to continue to work closely with the European Commission on the WiFi4EU project leading up to the Wi-Fi NOW World Congress scheduled for The Hague on October 31 - November 2, 2017.

About Wi-Fi NOW:

Wi-Fi NOW is the world's leading media, event, and advisory organisation for the Wi-Fi industry. Wi-Fi NOW's goal is Wi-Fi everywhere, for everyone. For more about Wi-Fi NOW go to www.wifinowevents.com

Wi-Fi NOW Media Contact:

Katrine Buhl

[email protected]

SOURCE Wi-Fi NOW
MADISON, Wis., June 20, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Several members of the Wisconsin Mortgage Bankers Association (WMBA) will travel to Washington, D.C. this week for a housing industry advocacy conference where they will meet with Wisconsin's Congressional Delegation to discuss housing finance reform, among other issues.

"We are proud and excited to go to Washington, D.C. to represent Wisconsin's real estate finance industry," said Nicholas DelTorto of Inlanta Mortgage. "It is important for our Members of Congress to hear directly from us. We hope to leave Washington having educated them about how a sustainable housing finance system would promote economic growth in Wisconsin and throughout the country."

As part of the Mortgage Bankers Association's (MBA) annual National Advocacy Conference, five of Wisconsin's mortgage lenders will be in the nation's capital on June 20th and 21st. The WMBA will take part in several educational seminars and roundtables, and speak with key Members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

During discussions with their federal representatives, local Wisconsin mortgage bankers will place a heavy focus on housing finance reform. The national MBA released a proposal at the beginning of the year recommending a newly structured secondary mortgage market. The WMBA will seek to educate the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation of this proposal and its benefits for the state and the country.

"The patchwork placed on the housing finance system was a direct result of the 2008 financial crisis, and it should have been addressed years ago," said DelTorto. "There has been a flurry of conversations surrounding reform among congressional committees, so hopefully our appearance in Washington will solidify the urgent need for a stronger and more vibrant housing finance system."

To arrange an interview please contact Mark Graul at 920-217-3524.

Contact: Mark Graul, [email protected]

SOURCE Mortgage Bankers Association
WASHINGTON, June 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Nine minor children and their parents, represented by Zuckerman Spaeder attorneys Carl Kravitz, Caroline Mehta and William Meyer, won an appeal to reverse the exclusion of evidence in a case alleging the systematic cover-up of child sexual abuse by the Mormon Church. The decision is a complete reversal of a lower court decision and puts the case back on track for a trial in which a jury will review the full scope of evidence against the Church.

The decision by the West Virginia Supreme Court is a complete reversal of a lower court decision and puts the case back on track to a trial in which a jury will review the full scope of evidence against the Church. The plaintiffs allege years of sexual abuse by Michael Jensen, the son and grandson of prominent Church leaders, and the Church's cover-up of that abuse.

Plaintiffs further allege that Church leaders knew of Jensen's past sexual abuse of children and yet sought to place him in homes with children and babysitting jobs where he committed further sexual abuse of children as young as four years old.

"We are extremely pleased that the Supreme Court vindicated the rights of the sexually abused children," said Carl Kravitz. "The Court has made it clear that the children can present their claims to a West Virginia jury with all of their evidence and all of their legal theories."

In 2015, the Church obtained partial summary judgment eliminating a large portion of the plaintiffs' evidence. The West Virginia Supreme Court reverses that earlier ruling. In the opinion, West Virginia Supreme Court Chief Justice Loughry wrote, "Skirting its duty to allow a jury to address the multitude of disputed factual issues present in this case, the circuit court wrongly invaded the jury's province by resolving these factual disputes and making credibility determinations."

In particular, the Supreme Court held that evidence of Jensen's 2005 conviction in Utah juvenile court for sexual offenseswhere Jensen's Church bishop was in the courtroom and aware of the chargeswas relevant to the Church's knowledge of Jensen's proclivity to abuse again.

"These children have endured sexual abuse by someone the Church knew to be an abuser. Then they and their parents persevered against the Church's attempts to silence them," said Zuckerman Spaeder partner Caroline Mehta. "Now they will finally have a chance to tell their full story to a jury."

The full opinion can be read here: http://www.courtswv.gov/supreme-court/docs/spring2017/16-0008.pdf.

SOURCE Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
Now, it is up to the voting public to narrow the field to three. Voting in the video competition opened yesterday (June 19) through 11:59 p.m. July 2. Anyone can vote, and vote more than once  but only one time per day for as many days as they like through the end of the video portion of the competition.

7-Eleven invited qualified women to enter the contest and consider becoming an independent business owner with the No. 1 franchise business, as named in Entrepreneur magazine's 2017 Franchise 500. One deserving woman will be awarded a 7-Eleven fee-free franchise, a value of up to $190,000. The winner can choose from any of the company's 7-Eleven convenience store franchises available in the continental U.S. at the contest's culmination.

Semi-finalists were selected from hundreds of applications received by 7-Eleven this spring.

The seven are:

Alisa DavernAliso Viejo, CA

Alyson LawsonDeSoto, TX

Avalon YoungSedalia, CO

Bridgette PattersonWoodbridge, VA

Thi "Grace" NguyenMcKinney, TX

Evelyn ScottChesapeake, VA

Latanya BennetKing of Prussia, PA

"In their videos, the semi-finalists have submitted some compelling personal stories and reasons they want to become a 7-Eleven franchisee," said Larry Hughes, vice president of franchise systems for 7-Eleven. "We invite people to visit our website and choose not just the one they like the best, but also the one who makes the best case for getting this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to start her own business."

7-Eleven believes in giving back to communities where it does business and will make a donation to the winner's charity of choice that aligns with its Project A-Game program. Project A-Game grants help provide youth a foundation for success by funding programs focused on education, fitness, safety and hunger relief. The donation will be determined by the total number of votes the winner's video receives throughout the voting period.

After July 2, the top three contenders will be determined by the number of votes their video receives. These three finalists will then have one-on-one interviews with 7-Eleven, and the winner announced in July.

The competition is similar to 7-Eleven's successful Operation: Take Command franchise giveaway for U.S. military veterans. Like Operation: Take Command, this multi-phase competition includes meeting company franchising qualifications, preliminary interviews, video contest and a final one-on-one interview with 7-Eleven senior leadership for the top finalists.

Less than one-third of franchised businesses in the U.S. are owned by women. In an effort to increase its own number of female franchisees, 7-Eleven targeted this franchise give-away contest exclusively to women entrepreneurs.

"Some of our most successful franchisees across the country are women," said Hughes. "7-Eleven serves a diverse customer base, and the number of women shopping our stores continues to grow. More and more are choosing to become independent business owners, and 7-Eleven offers a proven system and one of the best entrepreneurial opportunities around."

To qualify, an entrant had to be age 21 or older, a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, have excellent credit and at least three years of leadership, retail or restaurant experience. Contestants go through the same qualification process as all 7-Eleven franchise applicants including credit evaluation, a leadership test, business plan development, budget, and store location preferences.

This year marks the 53rd year of franchising for the world's largest convenience store. Today, franchisees operate almost 90 percent of the 7-Eleven stores in the U.S. An interactive map at www.franchise.7-eleven.com indicates stores available for franchising.

The Fine Print: The contest is not open to eligible women who are legal residents of Hawaii, North Dakota, South Dakota and where prohibited. All participants must read and agree to the official rules at WomensFranchiseGiveaway.com. This is not an offer to sell a franchise, which will be made by us only in a state if 7-Eleven, Inc. is first registered, filed, exempted or otherwise qualified to offer franchises in that state, and only if 7-Eleven provides an appropriate Franchise Disclosure Document. A credit of up to $190,000 toward the initial franchise fee will be awarded. The winner will be required to pay any portion of the initial franchise fee over $190,000 for the store they select, along with other initial fees, including but not limited to a $29,000 down payment on inventory, cost of all licenses and permits, expenses to attend training and other fees described in our Franchise Disclosure Document.

About 7-Eleven, Inc.

7-Eleven, Inc. is the premier name and largest chain in the convenience-retailing industry. Based in Irving, Texas, 7-Eleven operates, franchises or licenses more than 62,000 stores in 17 countries, including 10,900 in North America. Known for its iconic brands such as Slurpee, Big Bite and Big Gulp, 7-Eleven has expanded into high-quality salads, side dishes, cut fruit and protein boxes, as well as pizza, chicken wings, cheeseburgers and hot chicken sandwiches. 7-Eleven offers customers industry-leading private brand products under the 7-Select brand including healthy options, decadent treats and everyday favorites, at an outstanding value. Customers also count on 7-Eleven for payment services, self-service lockers and other convenient services. Find out more online at www.7-Eleven.com, via the 7Rewards customer loyalty platform on the 7-Eleven mobile app, or on social media at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

SOURCE 7-Eleven, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.7-eleven.com


(Photo: http://mma.prnewswire.com/media/525433/Robert_Lucas_Zedra.jpg )

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20161003/414270LOGO )



ZEDRA has experienced rapid expansion in current months, its recent senior hires over the past few months has not only strengthened the firm as a whole, but also elevated the level of product and service solutions it provides.

In his previous experience before joining ZEDRA, Robert served as the Head of Fund and Corporate Services for a Jersey based provider for five years, and prior to that, for six years Robert served as a Director of a Global Fund Administrator and custodian heading up their Real Estate and Infrastructure Fund Administration Business. Robert has also served as a Private Equity Fund accountant in the Cayman Islands, and spent two years as a Trust Officer in his earlier career in Jersey. He trained to be a Chartered Accountant in England qualifying in 2001.

"We are excited about adding Rob to our Jersey team as Head of Funds," says Ivo Hemelraad, ZEDRA Group Director Corporate Funds & Legal. "His extensive industry experience in the Funds industry and his wealth of knowledge is the perfect fit as we continue to grow and develop ZEDRA as a global specialist in Trust, Corporate and Funds specialist."

In his new role, Robert commented that, "ZEDRA's fresh 'clean slate' approach to Fund administration is exactly what the industry needs, and that he aims to harness the entrepreneurial spirit within the family office and staff owned ZEDRA Group, the extremely experienced and motivated administration team, along with the 'best of breed' technology, to provide the highest level of service to both existing clients and new."

Robert will report directly to Ivo Hemelraad.

Robert specialises in establishing funds and is highly experienced in a variety of fund operations, including compliance, investor administration, asset administration and valuations. He also specialises in fund management, including directorships, governance and company secretarial services.

Robert is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales who has more than 15 years' of wide ranging offshore fund and trust experience in both Jersey and the Cayman Islands.

For further information, please visit www.zedra.com

About ZEDRA

ZEDRA is an independent, global specialist in trust, corporate and fund services. The company was acquired from Barclays in January 2016 by an independent investor group, with an ambitious plan to grow the company, expanding and strengthening the services it offers to clients around the world. It currently has global 14 offices including, Jersey, Guernsey, Luxembourg, the Isle of Man, the Cayman Islands, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Netherlands, Singapore, the UK and Switzerland.

ZEDRA's 500 strong team of industry experts is dedicated to creating and delivering bespoke solutions for clients. The business is focused on the strong commitment of an experienced team, fostering an entrepreneurial approach to delivering exceptional client services.

ZEDRA has diverse client base including high-net-worth individuals and their families, international corporations, institutional investors and entrepreneurs. Under the ownership of a private independent investor group, ZEDRA have the flexibility, boldness and expertise to respond to complex needs whilst maintaining the highest standards of corporate governance in an ever-evolving regulatory environment.

www.zedra.com

SOURCE ZEDRA
Bengaluru, June 15 : In a major embarrassment for the ruling Congress in Karnataka, its no-confidence motion against Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankara Murthy of the BJP was defeated by one vote on Thursday.

Thirty-six lawmakers voted in support while 37 opposed the motion, which was moved by Congress member V.S. Ugrappa.

Council Deputy Chairman Marithibbe Gowda of the Janata Dal-Secular put the motion to vote in the 75-member council, where the Congress has 33 members, BJP 23, JD-S 13, and the Independents are five. The BJP members include the Council Chairman.

At present one seat is vacant in the upper house of the state legislature.

"The Congress leaders did not take JD-S leaders into confidence before deciding to move the no-confidence motion against Murthy. So, we decided to vote against it," JD-S Karnataka unit President H.D. Kumaraswamy told reporters here.

Congress's Karnataka unit chief G. Parameshwara had met JD-S supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Tuesday evening to seek his party's support for the motion but the former Prime Minister advised the Congress leader to discuss it with Kumaraswamy.

"No Congress leader consulted me till today (Thursday) morning. Congress leaders offered through the media the Chairman's post to the JD-S in lieu of support but did not convey it to me," Kumaraswamy said.

He accused the Congress of attempting to divide the JD-S by creating confusion on the issue.

"It has become a habit for national political parties, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, to use JD-S for their vested interests," Kumaraswamy, son of JD-S supremo Deve Gowda, said.
Washington, June 16 : Finding signs of life on the earth-sized planets of the TRAPPIST-1 system and on Saturn's moon Enceladus are among the science targets that NASA's James Webb space telescope has following its launch and commissioning, mission officials have announced.

These specific observations are part of a programme of Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO), which provides dedicated time to the scientists that helped design and build the telescope's four instruments.

"From the very first galaxies after the Big Bang, to searching for chemical fingerprints of life on Enceladus, Europa, and exoplanets like TRAPPIST-1e, Webb will be looking at some incredible things in our universe," said Eric Smith, James Webb Space Telescope Director at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"With over 2,100 initial observations planned, there is no limit to what we might discover with this incredible telescope," Smith said.

NASA recently announced the discovery of the first known system of seven Earth-sized exoplanets around a single star. All of these seven planets around the TRAPPIST-1 star could have liquid water -- key to life as we know it -- under the right atmospheric conditions.

Launching in 2018, the James Webb space telescope is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built.

The broad spectrum of initial GTO observations will address all of the science areas Webb is designed to explore, from first light and the assembly of galaxies to the birth of stars and planets. Targets will range from the solar system's outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune) and icy Kuiper Belt to exoplanets to distant galaxies in the young universe.

"These observations by the teams of people who designed and built the Webb instruments will yield not only amazing science, but will be crucial in putting the observatory through its paces and understanding its many capabilities," Ken Sembach, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which will lead science and mission operations for Webb, said.

Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).
Shimla, June 17 : Counting of votes for the 34 seats of the Shimla Municipal Corporation began on Saturday, election officials said here.

The fate of 126 candidates, including 50 women, will be decided during the day.

Nearly 58 per cent of over 91,000 electors exercised their franchise in the voting held on Friday.

Tibetans in exile also exercised their franchise in the elections to the oldest municipal corporation in the country after Chennai and Kolkata.

The main contest is between the ruling Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is trying to get at the helm for the first time.

However, the candidates did not contest on party symbols.

The BJP has supported 34 candidates, the Congress 27 and the CPI-M 22 candidates. The Communists are supporting six independents.

The Shimla civic body had been ruled by the Congress for 26 years in a row till the last elections.

In 2012, the CPI-M won the Mayor and Deputy Mayor posts as also election for one councillor's seat. It thus ruled the Shimla Municipal Corporation with only three members in the 25-seat house -- the majority of the councillors were from the Congress.
New Delhi, June 17 : Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday offered condolences to the families of six policemen killed by militants near Achabal in south Kashmir on Friday, terming the attack as a "cowardice act".

"Killing of six policemen by terrorists in #Achabal is a cowardice act. My condolences to the bereaved families. Salute to martyrs," Jaitley posted on his Twitter handle.

Within hours of the killing of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander Junaid Mattoo by security forces in Kulgam district on Friday, a group of 10-15 heavily armed LeT militants ambushed a vehicle carrying six policemen, including station house officer (SHO) of Achabal Police Station in Anantnag district.

Reports said the LeT militants came in two vehicles and surrounded the jeep carrying SHO Feroz Ahmad Dar, the driver of the police jeep and four guards.

The militants hurled grenades inside the police jeep and opened heavy automatic fire killing the five, including the officer on the spot. The militants also disfigured their bodies.
Havana, June 17 : The Cuban government has rejected the newly-announced US policy towards the country and said that any attempt to change the political system on the island would be "destined to fail".

The Cuban media called Trump's new foreign policy on Cuba "regrettable" and "archaic". The Cuban News Agency said Trump took "a step backward" in ties with Cuba, by adopting a "unilateral" and "interventionist" stance.

Trump on Friday laid out his new Cuba policy that tightens rules on Americans travelling to Cuba and bars US individuals and companies from doing commerce with Cuban businesses owned by the Cuban military, Efe news reported.

Cuban President Raul Castro, responding to Trump's announcement, said: "Any strategy aimed at changing the political, economic and social system in Cuba, whether it seeks to achieve it through pressures and impositions, or by employing subtle methods, will be doomed to failure."

While Castro acknowledged that changes in Cuba were necessary, pointing to the ongoing process of modernising and developing the island's economic and socialist model, he insisted that Cuba would decide its own fate independent of foreign influence.

"We will assume any risk and remain firm and secure in building a sovereign, independent, socialist, democratic, prosperous and sustainable nation," Castro said in a statement.

The statement added that Trump had been "poorly advised" to favour the political interests of an "extremist minority" of Cuban-Americans living in Florida, who, because of "petty motivations, will not give up on their ambition of punishing Cuba."

Trump's announcement on Friday in Miami reverses the advances made in the past two years since 2014 when Castro and Obama revealed their decision to restore diplomatic relations and begin the process of normalising bilateral ties.

Trump said: "I am cancelling the last administration's completely one-sided deal with Cuba". He vowed to seek a "much better deal for the Cuban people and for the US."

At the same time, he said that the US embassy in Havana would remain open.

The Cuban statement said that Trump "justified that policy with alleged concerns over the human rights situation in Cuba and the need to rigorously apply" the trade embargo and blockade against the island, which Obama had relaxed."

It further said that "once again the US government is resorting to the coercive measures of the past."

Castro also said that "the US is not in a position to give us lessons". However, the government also made it clear that it is willing to continue "respectful dialogue" and cooperation with Washington on issues of mutual interest.
New Delhi, June 18 : Hailing the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council's decision to give initial two months' relaxation in filing of returns, industry said that the move will give ample time for businesses to prepare their IT systems and comply with the new indirect tax regime.

"It will give more time to traders to prepare themselves to comply with GST law," Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said welcoming the announcement by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley after the Council's meeting here on Sunday.

"With the objective of ensuring smooth rollout of GST and taking into account the concerns expressed by the trade and industry regarding filing of the returns in GST regime, it has been decided that, for the first two months of GST implementation, the tax would be payable based on a simple return containing summary of outward and inward supplies which will be submitted before 20th of the succeeding month," Finance Ministry said.

Aiming to provide a sense of comfort to the taxpayers and give them an elbow room to attune themselves with the requirements of the changed system, no late fees and penalty would be levied for the interim period, it said.

"Much needs to be done at the level of empowerment of small businesses with technology as about 60 per cent of the traders still have not adopted computerisation. It is a major challenge and government should devise a way through which traders can make digital compliance as required under GST," CAIT National President B.C.Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

Pratik Jain, Partner and Leader Indirect Tax said: "Relaxation of time for filing initial invoice wise returns is a welcome move which, to some extent, allays fears of readiness both from Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) and industry's point of view."

The GST council has offered relaxation in the timelines for filing the invoice-wise details in GSTR1 for July and August. Such details can be filed up to September 5 for July and September 20 for August. A summary statement of self-declared tax liability is required to be filed in Form 3B by August 20 for July and September 20 for August.

Ansh Bhargava, Senior Consultant, Taxmann.com said: "It is a welcome decision by the GST Council on the filing as it would allow taxpayers to get accustomed and adapt to the new system of taxation."

Archit Gupta, Founder and CEO ClearTax, said: "The Council's decision to allow flexibility in return filing has come as a welcome boon for many. Businesses now have time till September to purchase and familiarise themselves with GST-compliant software. Using the 2-month transition period wisely will help businesses avoid unnecessary delays once all rules and regulations are fully enforced in September."

Rajeev Dimri, Leader, Indirect Tax, BMR and Associates LLP said: "This measure should significantly help in assuaging the concerns of inadequate readiness of GSTN being faced by the industry and confirms that preparedness of GSTN will not be a roadblock for the implementation of GST as was being anticipated by the industry.

"The Council approved draft rules relating to advance rulings, appeals and revision, assessment, anti-profiteering and fund settlement. With removal of major road blocks on the pathway to implementation of GST, the deadline of July 1 appears to be an absolute reality."

Jaitley expressed confidence that GST laws from all pending states shall be in place by the end of next week. He further announced that the official launch of GST shall take place at midnight on June 30.

The Finance Minister mentioned that further deliberations are required to reach consensus on e-waybill rules. Till then, an alternate rule authorising states to continue using existing systems for road permits shall be put in place.
Moscow, June 19 : The US administration's new policy toward Cuba indicates a return to the Cold War, and Washington needs to listen to the international community's voice on this issue, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

"The new policy on Cuba announced by US President Donald Trump brings us back to the already forgotten rhetoric in the style of the 'Cold War'. Such an approach has characterized the US attitude to Cuba for decades," the ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

Noting that the past five decades has shown the futility of "the arrogant style of doing business with Cuba", the ministry warned the US government that the anti-Cuban discourse, still in high demand though, would only cause regret, Xinhua reported.

Trump announced on Friday new restrictions on Americans' travel to Cuba and US business with the Cuban military, a step to tighten the US policy toward the neighbouring country.

The move is seen as an attempt to roll back parts of Obama's policy of normalizing US-Cuba diplomatic ties, which was introduced in December 2014.

It urged the Trump administration to pay attention to the anti-blockade resolutions repeatedly adopted by the UN General Assembly, which represent the almost unanimous voice of the international community on Cuba.

The ministry also reiterated Russia's "unshakable solidarity" with Cuba, adding that Moscow is for dialogue and cooperation, instead of blockades, sanctions or outside interference in internal affairs of sovereign states.

The US severed its ties with Cuba in 1961, shortly after Fidel Castro launched a revolution that toppled a US-friendly government, and the two countries had been at loggerheads ever since.
Lucknow, June 19 : Ahead of Wednesday's International Yoga Day celebrations here in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lead a crowd of over 55,000, Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited the venue.

A full-dress rehearsal of the mega event was held at the Ramabai Ambedkar Ground.

Naik and Adityanath took stock of the preparations for the event. They gave directions to the district officials and the department heads involved in the event.

Adityanath visited the dais and inspected the preparations. He then went around the ground to see if everything was in place.

Heavy security arrangements, including traffic regulations, were put in place for the dress rehearsal. A three-km stretch around the venue was sealed off.

Modi would be arriving here on Tuesday evening. His day's engagements will conclude with a dinner hosted by the Chief Minister at his official 5, Kalidas Marg residence.

Early on Wednesday, Modi would lead a crowd of over 55,000 people, including students, teachers, yoga practitioners, officials, divyaangs (differently abled), policemen, politicians, ministers and other dignitaries.

The yoga events would also be held at ten other major parks in the state capital.
New Delhi, June 19 : Accusing the BJP of unilateralism, the Congress on Monday said opposition parties will meet on Thursday and decide their strategy regarding the Presidential polls.

The Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad, refused to go into the merits and demerits of the NDA candidate, Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind, announced by BJP President Amit Shah earlier in the day.

Azad also did not say whether or not the opposition will field a candidate for the July 17 contest.

"So far as the NDA nominee is concerned, the Congress has nothing to say on the merits or demerits. All the opposition parties had collectively decided on evolving a consensus on the Presidential candidate when leaders of 18 parties met recently," Azad said.

He said the opposition did not expect this "unilateral" decision by the BJP to name Kovind.

"When (Home Minister) Rajnath Singh and (Information and Broadcasting Minister M.) Venkaiah Naidu met (Congress President) Sonia Gandhi, we had expected some names from them for discussion. But they gave no names. We had full hope that before announcing they would discuss some names.

"Yes, they did inform us but only after they had decided on the name."

He said the meetings with opposition parties was a formality.

"The only thing I would like to say is that we expected that before taking the final decision on a candidate, they will come back to us and other opposition parties.

"The opposition parties were given to understand that they will be taken into confidence. It is the BJP's sweet will and we cannot help that."

Azad said all leaders in the opposition had agreed to attend the June 22 meeting to be chaired by Sonia Gandhi to take a final decision on the President's election.
Sehore, June 19 : Upset due to debt burden and mounting pressure from moneylenders, a 54-year-old farmer committed suicide on Monday in a village in Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's home district Sehore.

Bansi Lal, 54, committed suicide by hanging himself at his home in Jamunia Khurd village, falling under the jurisdiction of Doraha police station, police said.

"Bansi Lal had nine acres of land. He owed Rs 9 lakh to the banks as well as moneylenders, and that is why he committed suicide," said his relatives.

"The exact reason is not known yet. It will be clear only after the investigation whether he (Bansi Lal) committed suicide due to debt burden," Munna Lal Chowdhary, the officer in-charge of Doraha police station, told IANS.

This is the 12th farmer suicide in the state in the last eight days and the fourth in Chouhan's home district Sehore.

A few days ago, Dulichandra, a farmer who was in debt of Rs 5 lakh, committed suicide in Jajna village in Sehore district.

Khaaju Khan, 75, of Bapcha Kala village and Mukesh Yadav, 23, the owner of one and a half acre land in Lachaur village in Sehore's Narsullaganj committed suicide earlier.

The farmers in Madhya Pradesh staged a protest from June 1 to 10 demanding loan waiver and remunerative prices for their produce.

Five farmers were killed in police firing during the protest in Mandsaur district on June 6 while another succumbed to his injuries later.
New Delhi, June 19 : A man of humble origin and a low-profile leader, Ram Nath Kovind emerged the dark horse in the presidential race and, if elected, will be the second Dalit President of India.

Born in Paraunkh village in Kanpur rural of Uttar Pradesh two years before Independence, Kovind, who will turn 72 in October, hails from the Koli (weaver) community.

Always unassuming, Kovind worked through the ranks to become a national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and headed the party's Scheduled Castes Morcha for three years from 1999.

A story doing the rounds after his name was announced as presidential nominee of the ruling NDA was that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had wondered who Kovind was when he was appointed Governor of the state in 2015.

A lawyer by profession, Kovind had practised in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court for 16 years. He was also a central government counsel for some time.

Kovind served two terms in the Rajya Sabha member (1994-2006) and was member of a number of parliamentary committees, including home, welfare of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes and Hindi Shiksha Samiti.

He also served as member on the Board of Governors of Indian Institute of Management - Kolkata and that of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar University, Lucknow.

He has represented India at the United Nations and addressed the United Nations General Assembly in October 2002.

Kovind has worked for the rights of weaker sections, particularly the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and women. He joined the movement of SC/ST employees against the central government over 1997 orders, which adversely affected their interests. The orders were subsequently nullified by amendments adopted during the first National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

Kovind also worked for providing free legal aid to the poor and weaker sections of the society as an advocate.

During his terms as a member of Parliament, Kovind helped in construction of school buildings in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS).

Kovind was general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Koli Samaj.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed Kovind's choice as the National Democratic Alliance's (NDA) presidential candidate, saying he would make an "exceptional" President and continue to be a strong voice for the poor and the marginalised communities.

Modi also said that Kovind's knowledge and understanding of the Constitution would benefit the nation.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lauded Kovind's term as the state's Governor and said he served "exceedingly well".

"The ideal relationship that should be with the state government...he acted accordingly," Kumar said.
Patna, June 19 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday showered praise on Governor Ram Nath Kovind, whom the ruling NDA earlier in the day named as its candidate for the July 17 presidential election, saying he is "personally glad" over his candidature.

However, Nitish Kumar was non-committal on whether his Janata Dal-United (JD-U) will support Kovind.

"Kovind has discharged his duties in an unbiased manner as the Bihar Governor. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the Governor's post. His was an ideal relation with the state government," Nitish Kumar said after meeting Kovind at Raj Bhavan here.

He said he congratulated Kovind, a Dalit leader from the Bharatiya Janata Party, on his nomination as the National Democratic Alliance candidate, and added that "I am personally glad he is the presidential candidate".

As to whether the JD-U will support his candidature, Nitish Kumar said: "It is difficult to say at this point of time. I had talks with Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Congress President Sonia Gandhi on this issue. We will discuss the issue later and decide."

Kovind is likely to leave Patna for Delhi on Monday evening to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday.
New Delhi, June 19 : Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti on Monday said a law to protect Ganga river will be brought in only after thorough consideration and refused to comment on the penal provisions in the draft statute.

"We are minutely studying the draft law. It is a wonderful legislation drafted by Justice (Girdhar) Malviya. But it will be brought in the public domain only after thorough examination of all its aspects," Bharti told reporters here.

"It will be premature to comment on the provisions of the proposed law," she said.

The government had formed a committee led by Justice Girdhar Malviya (retd) in July last year to prepare the draft Ganga Act. The committee submitted its report to the Ministry for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation on April 12.

Bharti said the law was necessary to protect the holy Ganga.

"The Ganga is among the 10 most polluted rivers in the world. A law is needed to preserve it and ensure its uninterrupted flow," she said.

She said the river's most polluted stretch was in Kanpur, and her Ministry had been discussing with the Uttar Pradesh government to shift Kanpur's industry -- majorly tannery -- out of the city.

"There is a meeting (scheduled) in this connection with Uttar Pradesh officials in the next few days. Industry and livelihoods associated with it are important, but the river cannot be allowed to die like this (due to effluents)," the Minister said.

Bharti ruled out shutting the crematoria along the Ganga, as also barring the practice of 'asthi visarjan' (immersing ashes of the dead) into the Ganga.

"The practice of 'asthi visarjan' will not be stopped. This is not just a tradition but also necessary for the fish," the Minister said, adding, "we are not going to shut crematoria along the river bank. But we are going to repair and rejig the old ones."

She said 200 engineering students from colleges along the river have been enrolled for extensive bio-technical study of the Ganga from Gangotri to Ganga Sagar.

Each group of two students, accompanied by volunteers from Nehru Yuva Kendra and Ganga Vichar Manch, will extensively study a stretch of about 25 km each. These students will also interact with the local residents to study the social impact of the Ganga on their lives.

"These reports are likely to be available by September-October. Then we will know every inch of the Ganga firsthand. These students will compile their observations. We could have employed other methods, but I think this will be the closest to reality," Bharti said.

She said it will take at least 10 years for the Ganga to regain its old glory.

On the Yamuna's revival in Delhi, Bharti said at present "not a drop" from Haryana's share of water can be taken away to release into the Yamuna, but her Ministry has given Delhi Jal Board around Rs 1,500 crore for various sewage treatment projects.
Moscow, June 19 : Warplanes from the US-led coalition operating over Syrian airspace west of the Euphrates River will be treated as potential targets, Russia's Defence Ministry said on Monday, a day after the US military shot down a Syrian air force jet.

Russia, Syria's main ally, also said it is suspending a cooperative pact with the US aimed at maintaining airspace safety in Syria, BBC reported.

The latest spat came a day after an American F18E Super Hornet fighter jet downed on Sunday a Syrian SU-22 which was targeting areas held by a US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-Arab coalition militia fighting the Islamic State in the city of Raqqa.

Syria condemned America's "flagrant attack", saying it would have "dangerous repercussions".

"Any aircraft, including planes and drones belonging to the international coalition operating west of the Euphrates river, will be tracked by Russian anti-aircraft forces in the sky and on the ground and treated as targets," the ministry said.

The memorandum had been in place to avoid incidents occurring between the US and Russian air forces, both of which conduct parallel aerial operations over Syria as they offer support to distinct native forces on the ground.

Russia decried the downing as "cynical" and accused the international coalition of failing to use the appropriate communications channels that would have resolved the situation, Efe news reported.

The ministry insisted that the SU-22 jet had been on a mission in Syrian government airspace.

The Pentagon said, however, that the bombing against the SDF in Taqba, to the west of Raqqa, occurred in spite of US warnings.

The Pentagon said that it did not seek to fight the Syrian regime, Russia or pro-regime forces, but was merely acting in defence of its coalition partners in Syria.

A host of international parties are embroiled in the Syrian civil war to varying degrees, with Russia and Iran aiding Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who receives further ground support from Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah.

Meanwhile, Turkey backs members of the Free Syrian Army in the provinces backing onto the Turkish border.

The US uses airstrikes to clear the way for the SDF in Syria amid a huge onslaught to re-capture the IS's self-proclaimed regional capital Raqqa.
Moscow, June 19 : Russia suspended cooperation with the US in Syrian airspace on Monday a day after the US-led coalition shot down a Syrian jet.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that it "terminates cooperation with the US side within the framework of the Memorandum on Incident Prevention and Aviation Safety in operations in Syria from June 19, and demands a thorough investigation by the US command (into the downing)", Xinhua reported.

According to the statement, a US F/A-18 fighter jet on Sunday shot down a Syrian Su-22 bomber, which was carrying out a combat mission in support of government troops conducting an offensive against the Islamic State in the vicinity of Raqqa, the group's stronghold.

The US Central Command said, however, that the Syrian plane bombed US-backed forces and the action against it was "in accordance with rules of engagement and in collective self-defence of Coalition partnered forces."

In Monday's statement, the Russian Defence Ministry said it considered the downing of the Syrian warplane "a cynical violation of the sovereignty" of Syria, and "a gross violation of international law and, in fact, a military aggression against Syria."

It added that Russian warplanes were also operating in Syria's airspace at the moment of the attack, but the US-led coalition didn't use the existing communication channels to warn the Russian military.

From now on, all aircraft and drones of the coalition detected west of the Euphrates River will be tracked by Russian air- and ground-based air defence systems as targets, the ministry warned.
New Delhi, June 19 : After the BJP on Monday named Bihar Governor Ram Nath Kovind as the NDA's presidential candidate, the opposition -- taken by surprise -- hesitated to question his credentials but said it will hold a meeting on June 22 to chalk out its strategy.

Opposition leaders have agreed to attend the June 22 meeting, to be chaired by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to take a final decision on the July 17 presidential election, senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said here.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed surprise over the name and said that "in order to support someone, we must know the person".

"Candidate should be someone who will be beneficial for the country. The opposition will meet on June 22 -- only then we can announce our decision," she said.

Sulking BJP ally Shiv Sena too indicated its unhappiness, saying it was not consulted on the candidate.

The nomination of Kovind, a Dalit leader, by the Bharatiya Janata Party appeared to have put the opposition in a quandary as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) said it cannot oppose the NDA candidate unless the opposition puts up a popular Dalit candidate.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar hailed Kovind's role as state Governor but remained non-committal on supporting him.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said Kovind "was chief of the RSS's Dalit branch" and "somewhere it was a political fight or contest".

Azad also accused the BJP of "unilateralism" but did not say whether or not the opposition will field a candidate for the July 17 contest.

"So far as the National Democratic Alliance nominee is concerned, the Congress has nothing to say on the merits or demerits. All the opposition parties had collectively decided on evolving a consensus on the Presidential candidate when leaders of 18 parties met," Azad said.

"We had full hope that before announcing they will discuss some names. They did inform us but only after they had decided on the name," he said and termed the outreach by the BJP as a "formality".

Mayawati, in her remarks to the media, said: "We are not against Kovind's nomination... As he is a Dalit, we can't oppose his name, but only if the united opposition doesn't announce a popular Dalit name."

Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut told media persons in Mumbai that BJP President Amit Shah called up Sena President Uddhav Thackeray after announcing Kovind's name and sought his support.

Thackeray said he will call a Sena meeting before taking a final call. Thackeray told Shah on Sunday that the Sena will take a decision after the BJP announces the candidate.

Banerjee said senior BJP leaders L.K. Advani or Sushma Swaraj could have been made candidates.

"The President's is a key post. Someone of the stature of Pranab Mukherjee, or even Sushma Swaraj or Advani-ji, may have been made the candidate," she said.

Nitish Kumar called on Kovind in Patna and said he is "personally glad" over his candidature, but was non-commital on Janata Dal-United's support to his candidature.

"Kovind has discharged his duties as Bihar Governor in an unbiased manner. He has worked as per the Constitution and upheld the dignity of the Governor's post. His was an ideal relationship with the state government," Nitish Kumar said.

As to whether the JD-U will support his candidature, Nitish Kumar said they will discuss the issue later and decide.

Sonia Gandhi had taken the initiative to forge a consensus on the opposition's candidate for the presidential poll.

The opposition parties had formed a sub-committee to select a candidate but decided not to come up with a name till there was clarity about the choice of the ruling alliance.
Washington, June 20 : The US will work to restore the deconfliction channel with Russia in Syria that Moscow suspended after Washington's forces downed a Syrian warplane, an official said here.

At a luncheon in Washington, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joseph Dunford said that the US would work both by diplomatic and military channels to re-establish the line of communications to avoid confrontations and reduce tensions, adding that there are still ways to avoid clashes although US and coalition forces can fully defend themselves, Efe news reported.

"I'm confident that we are still communicating between the coalition operations centre and the Russian operations center," he said, adding that "I think the worst thing any of us could do would be to address this with hyperbole."

The chairman noted that Washington's main objective in Syria is to destroy the Islamic State, something that Russia has also said is central to its own strategy in Syria, where it is defending the interests of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

On the weekend, a US Navy F-18 shot down a Syrian SU-22 fighter bomber that had bombarded rebel Syrian Democratic Forces, who are US allies and who are participating in the allied offensive to liberate Raqqa from the IS.

Russia said that the shootdown incident was a "cynical violation of Syria's sovereignty".

Dunford said that if Russia is serious about eliminating the IS, it should understand that it is necessary to work to reduce tensions in Syria, where the US has increased its presence by deploying elite ground forces.
New York, June 20 : Former One Direction star Zayn Malik says he can't go anywhere without being recognised and feels he is living in a weird world.

The 24-year-old, who is dating American model Gigi Hadid, feels he has lost his personal space, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"It's a really weird world. I don't think there's anywhere I could be anonymous now," Malik told Evening Standard newspaper.

"In New York (where Gigi is based), you can sometimes get out in the early hours of the morning for a walk.

"But there's no underground parking here, no escape routes. So they're going to get pictures, they're going to find you. In Los Angeles, it's more catered to these things -- you've got back entrances and that," he added.
United Nations, June 20 : The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced the appointment of Syrian refugee Muzoon Almellehan as its newest and youngest Goodwill Ambassador.

The appointment, which came on the eve of World Refugee Day, makes 19-year-old female education activist Muzoon the first person with official refugee status to become an Ambassador for Unicef, Xinhua news agency reported.

Muzoon, who received support from Unicef while living in Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan, follows in the footsteps of the late Audrey Hepburn, a Goodwill Ambassador who was also supported by Unicef as a child.

"Even as a child, I knew that education was the key to my future, so when I fled Syria, the only belongings I took with me were my school books," said Muzoon. "As a refugee, I saw what happens when children are forced into early marriage or manual labour -- they lose out on education and they lose out on possibilities for the future."

On World Refugee Day, observed every year on June 20, the international community commemorates the strength, courage and perseverance of millions of refugees. This year, World Refugee Day also marks a key moment for the public to show support for families forced to flee.

Muzoon fled the conflict in Syria along with her family in 2013, living as refugee for three years in Jordan before being resettled in Britain. It was during her 18 months in the Za'atari camp that she began advocating for children's access to education, particularly for girls.

Muzoon recently travelled with Unicef to Chad, a country where nearly three times as many girls as boys of primary school age in conflict areas are missing out on education, the UN agency said in a press release.

Since her return, Muzoon has been working to promote understanding of the challenges children affected and uprooted by conflict face in accessing education.

An estimated 25 million children of primary and secondary school are out of school in conflict zones.

Education in emergencies is severely underfunded. Since 2010, less than two per cent of humanitarian funding has been spent on education. About $8.5 billion are needed annually to close this gap, Unicef said.
New Delhi, June 20 : Rains bring along with it a barrage of skin, fungal infection and health issues. Avoid getting drenched and use umbrellas, say experts.

Dermatologist Amit Bhasin, managing director at Prive Skin and Wellness Clinic and Jatin Mittal, Homoeo-aesthetic Physician, have listed few pointers:

During the monsoon season, the humidity level escalates causing a host of beauty related woes. It triggers excessive oil secretion in the body and leads to itching which may further facilitate skin and hair related issues including disorders as well as fungal and bacterial infections. Women do not care to visit a dermatologist when it comes to common skin issues. Rather they visit salon to find a solution.

However, it is essential to visit a dermatologist even in case of minor skin issues as they would be able to give a core and medical solution to the problem.

People are more susceptible to infections during this season due to excessive sweating, dehydration, photo-toxic effects of the sun and, of course, humidity. People must avoid getting drenched and should always carry an umbrella.

Even when they are drenched, they must immediately follow preventive measures because if left untreated, it can leave permanent scars on the skin.
Manama, June 20 : The Bahrain government has announced a two-month ban on outdoor work during the hot weather starting from July 1.

All outdoor work is prohibited from midday to 4 p.m. between July 1 and August 31, to protect workers from heatstroke and other conditions, Labour and Social Development Minister Jameel Humaidan said on Monday.

The minister also said inspections will be conducted to ensure the enforcement of the ban, reports Xinhua news agency.

"All private companies are urged to comply with the ban which aims at protecting workers and ensuring their safety to prevent fatal accidents," he added.

He pointed out that violators could be jailed for up to three months, or fined from 500 to 2,000 Bahraini dinars.

The outdoor ban was first introduced in 2007 to enhance productivity and protect the health of labourers at construction sites.

The latest figures by Bahrain's Labour Market Regulatory Authority indicate that foreign workers in the island state increased to 630,071 by the end of 2016, compared to 566,785 a year ago.
New Delhi : Book: East or West; Author: Vinati Sukhdev; Publisher: Westland; Price: Rs 250; Pages: 135 The many aspects of everyday Indian life -- history, culture, language, family relationships and marriage -- that we in India tend to take for granted are often major issues of contention for NRIs living overseas - an estimated 30 million of them spread across over 150 countries.

Even as they go on with their lives in different countries across the globe, there is always an underlying desire to inculcate these "Desi" aspects into the lives and habits of their children.

A recent book by a former journalist, who faced difficulty in selling "India" to her children, serves to be an apt manual on the upbringing of Indian diaspora children overseas.

Titled "East or West," the book has been written by Vinati Sukhdev. The author opens with an elaborate explanation on the concept of what goes into making us Indian, which she finds hard to define specifically.

Nonetheless, meaningful family relationships, hard work leading to material success, being tolerant of others and being spiritual are some visible examples that Sukhdev identifies as hallmarks of Indian ethos. She states that "being Indian" means counting on all such positive values and ensuring that children growing up in a foreign eco-system are exposed to them.

But it is not going to be an easy journey for parents because most children growing up outside India are likely to rebel at what they may consider "foreign and strange requests" from their parents. The peer pressure that kids are subjected to may further strengthen this resentment.

The author seeks to impress upon NRI parents to recognise the fact that their children will never be as Indian as they are. So she asks the parents to appreciate "every baby step that they take towards discovering India" and thus enjoy the journey.

The author maintains that "old-fashioned immigrants," who foist an Indian identity on their children, are wrong in being strict and inflexible. Parents who go to the other extreme and keep their children completely aloof from India and its culture, according to the author, are wrong too as they are depriving their children of "an authentic and spontaneous experience of their mother country" and thus leave a gaping hole in their identity kit.

The solution is somewhere in between -- by being judicious and balanced -- and in the process, allowing the children to discover rather than forcing their Indian identity unto them.

Finally, Sukhdev reminds the many prospective readers of this insightful offering that NRI children often grow up without much knowledge of India's art, history and culture. "This is a shame, because this is India's strength and we should take pride in it," she advises the parents living overseas.

From cultural immersions with the help of like-minded Indian parents and Indian language and music classes to casual dining table conversations and car pooling with other Indian families, the book opens an entire panorama of suggestions that those facing difficulties in the upbringing of their children abroad may find helpful.

(Saket Suman can be contacted at saket.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 20 : Indian publishing houses are fast becoming the preferred choice of writers from the neighbouring countries, with an increasing number of manuscripts from Pakistan and Sri Lanka doing well in India.

Yet, it is a tale of many contrasts. Many of the manuscripts were originally rejected in their home countries while they attracted curious attention from Indian publishers. The editors at these publishing houses say that being more open to experimentation with content, the journey of authors from countries like Pakistan and Sri Lanka becomes much easier.

"I found Indian editors much more understanding and supportive of the kind of narrative I wanted to write than those in the West. I think the fact that both Indians and Pakistanis live in nuanced societies struggling with modernity helps in debunking the exotic east or terrorist-Muslim kind of stereotypes that seem to form the expectations of Western publishers," Sabyn Javeri told IANS in an email conversation from Pakistan.

Javeri has just published her first book "Nobody Killed Her" in India by HarperCollins. It's a thriller based on political assassination of a leader, underlying the violent history in the subcontinent.

She says Indian publishers stick to their commitment and seldom flip flop on a decision regarding a manuscript. Her book, she claimed, was first acquired by a major international publisher but was later dropped. She expressed her happiness over the fact that "editors in India did not stop backing it" till it took its final shape -- a full-fledged book.

She said in a booming industry, Indian publishers are at a juncture where they can afford to experiment with content, genre and writers, even as book sales were on the decline in the rest of the world.

Javeri's book received critical acclaim in India. But she is just one of the many authors from Pakistan whose manuscripts have found a home in india. Haroon Khalid, whose first book "A White Trail: A Journey Into the Heart of Pakistan's Religious Minorities" (Westland) too first found acceptance in India, has published two more books in this country.

"If I was publishing in Pakistan, there certainly would be some parts publishers would not publish. Publishers here (in Pakistan) can be a little more particular about what can be written and what not," said Khalid in email answers.

"They (the publishing houses in Pakistan) are choosy and tend to avoid controversial stuff. There are certain topics that writers and publishers now know they can never talk about, given the events in the past few years," Khalid responded to a question.

His second book "In Search of Shiva: A Study of Folk Religious Practices" (Rupa) was released in 2015 and his latest book "Walking with Nanak" has again been published by Westland.

The small number of publishers in Pakistan, Khalid noted, is a strong reason behind Indian publishing houses attracting more and more Pakistani authors.

Javeri also said that the publishing houses in Pakistan often ask authors to sign a legal undertaking that there is nothing defamatory or blasphemous or anti-national before being allowed to publish.

"I think the whole idea of censoring is restrictive to art," Javeri maintained.

But what is the real driving force behind this immense interest in authors from the subcontinent to Indian publishers?

One possible reason is the similar culture and traditions make it easier for a Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Sri Lankan author to connect with his or her readers in India.

"The reviews and feedback I have got from India suggest that there is not much difference between what an Indian and a Sri Lankan audience likes. The lives, culture, class divides and respect for elders are all similar. They have had no issue in connecting," says Sri Lanka-based author Chhimi Tenduf-La.

Chhimi's first book "The Amazing Racist" was published by Hachette India in 2015. His latest book "Loyal Stalkers", published by Pan MacMillan, was released this year. "I felt that an Indian audience may understand my stories, set in Sri Lanka, without me having to hold their hands," Chhimi said. He said he didn't submit or contact any publisher based in Sri Lanka as he "preferred to get rejected by publishers not from his country."

There are other reasons for seeking publishing abroad. "We don't offer advances to authors as we can't afford them. Our books are mostly found in local bookshops as well as in countries like Australia, Singapore and the UK," said Sam Perera, Precedent Partner, of a Sri Lanka based publishing house 'Perera-Hussein'.

The Indian book market is also much larger than any of those in the neighbouring countries. A shared history often helps to attract the interest of readers. "There is a similar cultural sensibility and a mutual understanding of the cultural subtext that runs through our two countries," Javeri said.

That's true for other countries in the region too.

(Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in)
New Delhi, June 20 : Is drinking single malts or conjuring up great cocktails a male thing? It shouldn't be, says industry veteran Donald Colville, the global malts ambassador for Diageo.

The spirits industry, he says, should be the most gender neutral.

Colville was in the capital to judge the Diageo bartending competition in India, where he said he was happy to know that it had attracted a large number of female entrants. Diageo is a London-based British multinational, which was the world's largest distiller till two months ago when it was overtaken by Chinese company Kweichow Moutai. Diageo's best known brand is Johnny Walker.

"Two of the female participants were very close to making it to the top 12. The standards are there and more and more female participants are applying, which is great to see because the spirits industry should be the most gender neutral industry in the world," he told IANS during a malt-tasting session organised by Diageo. A bartender with JW Marriott, Pune, won the competition among mixologists.

Colville said that as long as one is good at creating flavours, "it doesn't matter what gender you are."

Asked about the bartending profession in India, Colville pointed out that considering the huge population in India, there were "merely" 330 entrants in the competition.

"The interesting thing for me is the standard I saw was phenomenal. There has been a leap in development that has happened in four years and there is a change in standards. There are not only one or two people who are good, there are so many incredible skilled bartenders," he said.

Colville was of the opinion that many people in India "genuinely understand the flavours, the literal meaning of the classics, what the cocktails are, and also know how to utilise lots of different techniques. I am very impressed."

Colville says the main focus of the annual competition which had its ninth edition this year, is mostly about raising the standards and putting bartending at the same level as those of chefs -- in terms of how people perceive quality and skills of a chef in delivering exceptional flavours.

"These guys (bartenders) are akin to a Michelin star chef... There's an understanding of flavour and there's willingness to try and experiment with different things," Colville said, hoping that people understand how bartenders can lead to better service, more sales and better economy.

Talking about single malts industry in India, Colville says the opportunity here is huge.

"The love for whiskey, in particular scotch, in India is obvious to see -- there is so much passion for it. I think the interesting thing is single malts always in terms of growth come in behind the blends because blends always tend to leak their way into the market. Johnny Walker pioneered in many countries. The brand is the stepping stone for many people to try and move into the world of single malts," he said.

"Just last year I have seen such a shift... In India, people are writing about malts, talking about it in blogs, different pieces. There is much more attraction and noise coming from India in terms of malts," Colville added.

Obviously, single malts have made a major inroad into India. The other well known single malt brand, Glenfiddich, is not far behind. Scotland-based distiller, William Grant & Sons, the makers of Glenfiddich, is also holding a "World's most experimental bartender" competition in India in July with winners being invited to Scotland. It's a great summer for mixologists in India.

(Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians.in)
Chennai, June 20 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami on Tuesday said his government will act according to people's wish after the courts decide on a central government order banning the sale of cattle for slaughter.

This is the first time Palaniswami has come out with the state government's position on the issue.

Responding to DMK members in the state assembly, Palaniswami said even the central government was considering changes in the rules.

He said there were cases in the Supreme Court and the Madras High Court against the Centre's order.

The Chief Minister said his government would take appropriate steps once the courts delivered their ruling.

Palaniswami also said the government would act taking into account the wishes of the majority of the people. The opposition members were not satisfied with his reply.

When Speaker P. Dhanapal denied them permission to raise the issue again, DMK and Congress MLAs walked out.

Three legislators supporting the ruling AIADMK also trooped out expressing dissatisfaction with Palaniswami's response.

The three include actor-cum-politician Karunas, Thamimum Ansari and U. Thaniarasu.
New Delhi, June 20 : "Islam and Christianity are alien" to India, NDAs Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind said seven years ago when he was just appointed a BJP spokesperson.

Kovind, then a little known BJP leader, addressed a press conference at the BJP headquarters here on March 26, 2010, sought that the Justice Ranganath Misra Commission, which had recommended inclusion of Muslim and Christian converts among the Scheduled Castes, be "scrapped" and called the move "unconstitutional".

Asked then by an IANS correspondent as to how Sikh Dalits could enjoy the quota privilege in the same category, he responded: "Islam and Christianity are alien to the nation."

A Supreme Court ruling on March 25 that year had upheld the Andhra Pradesh government's decision to allow four per cent job quota for backward Muslims.

The proposed reservation for backward Muslims was a burning issue then as the National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, headed by Justice Misra, former Chief Justice of India, had in a report recommended that backward Muslim and Christian converts should be accorded Scheduled Castes status and given a quota.

Kovind, an RSS loyalist who worked for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, said the Misra Committee recommendations were not possible to implement.

"Including Muslims and Christians in the Scheduled Castes category will be unconstitutinal," the lawyer-turned-politician said.

Dalit quota privilege in the country is presently only for Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhists. And the then Congress-led government had flirted with the idea of extending the reservation to Dalit Christians and Muslims under the Scheduled Castes category. But this triggered a vociferous opposition from the BJP.

Kovind also did not agree that convert Dalit Christians and Muslims were educationally backward and said it was a "very well known" fact that they get better education in convent schools.

"The educational level of Scheduled Castes children remains much lower than that of convert Muslims. The children of converts will grab a major share of reservation in government jobs. They would become eligible to contest elections on seats reserved for Scheduled Castes. This would encourage conversion and fatally destroy the fabric of the Indian society," he said.

"Their special interest is not in getting reservations in government jobs, they want Scheduled Castes category reservation to contest elections from village panchayats to the Lok Sabha. As they know, they cannot be eligible to contest elections on reserved seats under backward class reservation," he said.

The BJP government has already made its mind obvious about the Misra panel report with Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Thawar Chand Gehlot saying if its recommmendations were implemented, it would "weaken the Hindu religion".

"Granting Scheduled Castes status to those belonging to minority communities will encourage conversion and weaken the Hindu religion. There is also no such provision in the Constitution," Gehlot said.

Kovind, a two-term member of the Rajya Sabha, was on Monday named by BJP President Amit Shah as the NDA candidate to become the 14th President of India. He served as the chief of the BJP's Scheduled Castes Morcha from 1998 to 2002.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at sarwar.k@ians.in)
Canberra, June 20 : Australia on Tuesday temporarily suspended its air combat missions over Syria after Russia threatened that it would treat any plane from the US-led coalition flying west of the Euphrates river as a potential target.

"As a precautionary measure, Australian Defence Force (ADF) strike operations into Syria have temporarily ceased," the Department of Defence said here in a statement.

Russia's warning came after US planes shot down a Syrian Air Force jet on Sunday. The US justified the strike saying its planes had acted to defend US-backed forces seeking to capture Raqqa, the Islamic State stronghold in northeast Syria, 9news.com reported.

Australia has six fighter jets based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that strike targets in Syria and Iraq.

A defence spokesman told the ABC Online that the situation would be monitored and sorties over Iraq would continue."

"ADF are closely monitoring the air situation in Syria and a decision on the resumption of ADF air operations in Syria will be made in due course," the spokesman said.

Moscow's warning on Monday to US-allied warplanes escalated the threat of a direct Russian-American confrontation in Syria, following the first US downing of a fighter jet belonging to Russia since the start of the civil war six years ago.

Russia also said it was halting communications with the US aimed at preventing such incidents.
Kolkata, June 20 : The kingpin of an oil cutting racket was arrested from the Kolkata railway station for allegedly stealing oil from Indian Oil Corporation (OIC) pipelines, a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) official said on Tuesday.

"Ganesh Jaiswal, one of the racket leaders, was arrested on Saturday night. His gang was involved in stealing oil from various IOC pipelines across the state," the official said.

The CID also seized a 10-wheeler oil tanker from Howrah district's Sankrail industrial area after interrogating Jaiswal.

"The gang used to mix the stolen oil in various by-products and then sell it to vendors," the official claimed.

"We had earlier arrested another person of this gang."

However, the official refused to comment on Jaiswal's alleged political connections with the state's Bharatiya Janata Party leadership.

"We do not have any information about his political affiliation or proximity with political leaders yet," he added.
New Delhi, June 20 : Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday began a three-day visit to Russia where he would co-chair two meetings with his counterpart and others.

Along with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, Jaitley on Wednesday would co-chair the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology, a government statement said.

The newly-formed committee would discuss cooperation in high technologies during the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk, it added.

Jaitley would also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On Friday, he would co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Sergei Shoigu.

"The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the statement said.
Lucknow, June 20 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached here on Tuesday evening on a two-day visit to the state, during which he will also lead the Yoga Day celebrations on Wednesday.

As he arrived at the Chowdhary Charan Singh airport on a special IAF plane, he was received by Governor Ram Naik, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and senior BJP leaders.

Chief Secretary Rahul Bhatnagar, Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh and other senior officials were also present.

Soon after Prime Minister left on a special IAF chopper to the new Central Drug Research Institute building, which he will dedicate to the country. He will later attend a dinner hosted by Adityanath at the official 5, Kalidas Marg residence in which many leaders have been invited.

Prominent invitees include Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son and former Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Bahujan Samaj party chief Mayawati and former Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari. There is however no confirmation on whether these leaders will attand.

Modi will lead a gathering of over 50,000 people in the third edition of the International Yoga Day at the Rama Bai Ambedkar Sthal here on Wednesday.
Beijing, June 20 : About 150 yoga enthusiasts practiced various poses of India's ancient physical discipline at China's iconic Great Wall on the eve of International Yoga Day.

It made for a spectacular sight when young yoga lovers, mostly Chinese and wearing red T-shirts which bore the words "Incredible India", performed advanced 'asanas' (postures) at the never-ending Great Wall.

This was a first such yoga event on the Great Wall. It was organised by the Indian Embassy in Beijing which with other consulates has been promoting the discipline.

In 2014, the UN declared June 21 as International Yoga Day.

India's Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh, who attended the BRICS Foreign Ministers' meet which concluded on Monday, also participated in the event.

"Yoga makes me happy," a smiling 30-year-old Wang Ken told IANS. She said she quit her job to be a yoga teacher. Her dream is to visit India, the land of yoga.

The Indian embassy in Beijing was assisted by the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) and Yogi Yoga, a popular yoga school.

"Chinese are increasingly becoming prosperous but mental stress is also on the rise. And that's the reason they are taking up yoga," Mohan Singh Bhandari, founder of Yogi Yoga, told IANS.

Bhandari has been teaching yoga in China since 2003.

The event is a cultural milestone, marking the first time yoga has been performed atop the Great Wall by a joint Indian and Chinese group of yogis, the Embassy said in a statement.

The Indian government had sent 20 advanced yoga practitioners as Yoga Ambassadors for the event.

Over the years, yoga is gaining popularity in China where the ancient Indian discipline was introduced in 1989.

Yoga institutes are on the rise. Beijing has over 1,000 such institutes.
Tehran, June 20 : Iran exports over 1,000 tonnes of food a day from its southern ports to Qatar, which is suffering from a sea, air and land blockade by several of its neighbours, a media report said.

The head of ports of the southern province of Bushehr, Mahdi Benchari, told the official IRNA news agency that 750 tonnes of food was shipped daily from the port of Boljeir, with 350 tonnes from Dayer to Qatar.

The ports of this province are strategically located since they are only 274 km from Qatar, giving them an opportunity to increase exports, Efe news reported.

The shipment of food, especially fruits and vegetables, to Qatar is also being carried out by air from Iran.

On June 11, Iran Air said that its planes were loading and transporting about 100 tonnes of food a day to Qatar.

The increase in exports comes amid the blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which along with other countries broke diplomatic relations with the emirate earlier this month, accusing Doha of financing terror groups.
Mumbai, June 20 : Ad guru Piyush Pandey and musician Louiz Banks, who earlier came together to promote national integration and unity in diversity with the song "Mile sur mera tumhara", have teamed up again to compose an anthem dedicated to water conservation.

The anthem will lend support to IdeaHive Media Pvt. Ltd's "Paani Ka Teeka" project. It will feature musicians like Shankar Mahadevan, Vishal Dadlani, Kunal Ganjawala and Pankaj Udhas, among others.

While Pandey will be penning the lyrics, Banks will curate the music and bring together the music industry to join hands and send a message to the people of India to start saving water.

The anthem will parallelly see a release of a TV capsule on the "Making of The Anthem", followed by the "Paani Ka Teeka" fund raising concert, which will bring support to shortlisted projects across villages in India.

"I am happy to be part of this mega project. It's about time that as a nation, we unite and multiply this precious resource for mankind. It gives me utmost pleasure to come together along with my music industry friends and it's a great moment for me to work with Piyush yet again," Banks said in a statement.

Pandey said: "Water is critical for life and I'm very happy to collaborate with 'Paani Ka Teeka' and Louiz Banks to make a small contribution and spread awareness in India about the necessity of saving water. I am honoured to be part of this journey."
Chennai, June 20 : India's first indigenous-built floating dock for the Indian Navy was launched at shipyard here on Tuesday, signalling a a milestone in Indias quest for self-reliance in shipbuilding, a defence statement said.

As per traditions, Yard 55000, was launched by Anjali Deshpande, the wife of Indian Navy's Controller Warship Production & Acquisition, Vice Admiral D.M. Deshpande at a ceremony at Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T) Shipyard at Kattupalli, a Defence Ministry statement said.

She applied 'kumkum' on the floating dock, wishing it good luck and launched the vessel.

Vice Admiral Deshpande said the indigenous-built dock was testimony to the capabilities available in India for realising the 'Make in India' vision.

The Ministry said the floating dock built by the L&T Shipyard was an indigenously-designed and built platform "with state of the art machinery and control systems" capable of docking warships of up to 8,000 tons displacement.

"It has high-capacity Ballast Pumps, along with advanced automated Ballast Control System. The dock covers provided with the dock facilitate repair and refit activities in inclement weather conditions," it said.

According to L&T, the floating dock would be put through a series of harbour trials before delivery to the Navy.

Once operationalised, it would enhance the technical repair infrastructure of the Navy for ships based at the Andaman & Nicobar Islands as well as for visiting Naval ships.

The floating dock, which is the first Naval shipbuilding project for L&T, is 185m long and 40m wide, and is designed for docking Indian Naval ships and submarines of up to 8,000 ton displacement with draughts of up to seven metres, during both day and night.

Simultaneous docking of multiple ships, and off-centre docking options are also feasible, the company said in a statement.

"While winning our first mandate from the Indian Navy was satisfying, I am particularly delighted that we have also been able to execute and deliver the FDN-2 well within schedule," S.N. Subrahmanyan, Managing Director (Designate) and President, L&T was quoted as saying in the statement.

L&T was mandated by the Ministry of Defence in May 2015 to design and build the floating dock for an order value of Rs 468 crore. The floating dock will be delivered at Port Blair well within contracted schedule.
Kochi, June 20 : Chaos prevailed at two Kochi metro stations on Tuesday evening as hundreds of Congress workers virtually took over the premises to enable former Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to travel on the metro that opened for the public a day earlier.

The Congress activists flocked to the stations to lodge their protest against the lack of invitation to Chandy on Saturday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Kerala's first metro.

In the process, commuters at the Aluva station where Chandy boarded the train and at the Palarivatom station where he alighted were put into great trouble, officials and witnesses said.

A Kochi Metro official told IANS on the condition of anonymity that the metro should be kept out of political protests.

"The two stations were overflowing with Congress activists who came with Chandy. Our colleagues did their best to keep the ordinary people who had come to board the train in the waiting area till the Congress workers left. Two trains left packed with Congress workers," the official said.

Each train can accommodate up to 970 passengers. A train departs Aluva station every nine minutes to Palarivatom, located 13 km away. The commuting time is 20 minutes.

Such was the rush at Aluva that Chandy himself could board only the second train after entering the metro station. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala managed to get into the first train.

The Congress protest turned out to be a nightmare for ordinary people.

At Palarivatom station, the crowd which came to receive Chandy was so massive that Congress legislators found it difficult to bring him out to his jeep.
Rome, June 20 : Italian Police on Tuesday arrested a 25-year-old Nigerian accused of belonging to a gang that trafficked migrants from Libya to Italy and of their torture, rape and murder.

Police arrested John Ogais at the sprawling Cara 'Santa'Anna' shelter in the coastal town of Isola Capo Rizzuto in Calabria after he was identified by migrants who recently arrived on Italy's southern Lampedusa island.

Several migrants told police they were told at the camp where they were held in Libya that Ogais who called himself 'Rambo' had beaten two Nigeran migrants to death.

One of the migrants, a minor, was killed in front of his brother, who was forced to watch the murder while Ogais threatened him with a loaded pistol, according to witnesses.

"I know that my cousin and others tried to escape and that they were caught and subsequently died from the torture meted out to them," one of the migrants on Lampedusa was quoted as telling police.

Ogais and other traffickers tortured migrants in "countless" ways including with electric shocks and beatings on various parts of their bodies with rubber tubes, one of dozens of gang's alleged victims was cited as telling police.

The gang members also raped women migrants and imprisoned both sexes in squalid containers in the Libyan desert for many months, forcing them to pay thousands of euros to continue their journeys to Europe.
Chennai, June 20 : Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice C.S. Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, officials said.

Karnan's counsel Peter Ramesh Kumar also confirmed the arrest. The former judge was being brought to Chennai.
Kathmandu, June 20 : Nepal and China on Tuesday reiterated their traditional good neighbourly ties and pledged to further deepen bilateral cooperation in all fields.

The two neighbours, at the 11th meeting here of the Diplomatic Consultation Mechanism, recalled the time-tested friendship they have fostered.

"Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1955, China and Nepal have set a good example in forging ties between the countries of different sizes and different social systems," Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Beijing appreciates the Nepali government's adherence to the one-China policy, said Kong, adding that China will always support Nepal's efforts to safeguard its national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Kong said China will continue to uphold the principle of non-interference in its internal affairs and is willing to provide assistance within its ability for Nepal's socio-economic development.

Regarding Nepal as an important partner in building the Belt and Road, Kong said that China is willing to align development strategies between the two sides and further deepen cooperation to create more opportunities for the development of the two sides.

Nepal's Foreign Secretary Shanker Das Bairagi said his country treats China as a great neighbour and a great friend, and the two countries have forged solid ties based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

Bairagi said Nepal supports the Belt and Road Initiative and will take an active part in building the China-proposed initiative.

The two sides also explored the potential in cooperation in the fields, including high-level exchanges, trade and investment, communication and connectivity, energy and post-disaster reconstruction.
New Delhi, June 20 : Defence Minister Arun Jaitley left on a three-day visit to Russia on Tuesday to further the bilateral military ties between the two countries.

During his visit, Jaitley would co-chair two meetings: one with his Russian counterpart General Sergei Shoigu and the other with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin.

The Defence Minister's visit comes weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed St Petersburg Declaration for enhanced ties between the two nations.

Under the agreement, both India and Russia decided to upgrade and intensify military cooperation through joint manufacture, co-production and co-development of military hardware and military spares.

They also committed to increase reliance on the adoption and sharing of future technologies under the existing agreements on military-technical cooperation.

In line with the agreement, Jaitley would on Wednesday co-chair, along with Rogozin, the first meeting of the India-Russia High Level Committee on Science and Technology, a government statement said.

The newly-formed committee would discuss cooperation in high technologies during the meeting to be held on the sidelines of the Technoprom Exhibition in the city of Novosibirsk, it added.

Jaitley would also address the main plenary session of the Technoprom, a major annual science, technology and innovation exhibition of Russia.

On Friday, he would co-chair the 17th meeting of the India-Russia Inter-Governmental Commission on Military-Technical Cooperation in Moscow with Shoigu.

"The meeting will review the entire range of military and military-technical cooperation issues between India and Russia within the framework of the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between the two countries," the statement said.
Kabul, June 20 : At least eight Afghan security guards at Bagram Air Base, the United States' largest military base in Afghanistan, were killed in an ambush by the Taliban while on their way to work, an official said on Tuesday.

The attack, in which two other guards were wounded, occurred on Monday night in Shahkoh village, in the Parwan province, while they were on their way to the base, said the provincial governor's spokesperson Wahida Shahkar.

"In this armed attack, eight people were killed and two others were injured," Shahkar told Efe news.

Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement, in which he accused the victims of spying for the US.

In November 2016, a suicide bombing inside the base killed four Americans and injured 17 people. Violence in Afghanistan has intensified since the end of NATO's combat mission in 2015.

The current NATO mission in Afghanistan deploys around 13,000 troops for providing assistance to Afghan troops. The US maintains some 8,400 troops as part of the mission and other anti-terrorism activities.
New Delhi, June 20 : The NDA on Tuesday got a major boost when its sulking constituent Shiv Sena supported its Presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind, who looks set to be the next President, even as a truncated opposition is bracing for an "ideological" contest.

"We are supporting Ram Nathji's candidature and our best wishes are with him," Sena President Uddhav Thackeray said after a 90-minute meeting with his party leaders at his Bandra home in Mumbai.

The Sena, which shares power at the Centre and in Maharashtra, has been in a love-hate relationship with the BJP. On Monday, Thackeray was critical of Kovind's choice, describing it as caste appeasement. The Sena didn't vote with the NDA in the last two Presidential polls.

The NDA, including Sena and the PDP of Jammu and Kashmir, which also extended support to Kovind on Tuesday, commands the support of 48.93 per cent in the electoral college made up of MPs and MLAs.

With the backing of parties outside the alliance like TRS (2 per cent), AIADMK (5.39 per cent), YSR Congress (1.53 per cent) and BJD (2.99 per cent), the NDA's support would cross the half way mark comfortably to reach nearly 61 per cent in the July 17 battle.

It remains to be seen how the JD-U, BSP and Samajwadi Party, with a total vote value of over 5 per cent, vote. Also on Tuesday, Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav described Kovind as "a wonderful choice".

The names doing the rounds as possible opposition candidates include former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, both of the Congress and both Dalits.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday flew to Patna to consult Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD-U, which reportedly is said to be not averse to backing Kovind. Azad's meeting comes ahead of a JD-U meeting on Wednesday on the Presidential election.

Kovind was till Monday the Bihar Governor and shared a warm relationship with Nitish Kumar. The Bihar Chief Minister is known to take a line different from other political parties as was reflected on the demonetisation decision.

Azad would also meet RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, who leans towards the Congress.

The names of Meira Kumar and Shinde have been floated to counter the NDA so that parties like the BSP would have no problem going against the NDA Dalit candidate.

Congress sources feel Shinde could be a better candidate due to his record in public life.

The Left parties are keen on the opposition putting up a candidate because they see the Presidential election as an "ideological battle" and the NDA candidate as an RSS-backed man.

"For the Left, the President's election has became a battle of ideologies and a battle for safeguarding the Constitution and secular democracy. This is how we look at it," CPI National Secretary D. Raja said.

A final call on the anti-Kovind candidate will be taken at a meeting of the opposition front on June 22, Raja said.

The Left parties, which were earlier garnering support for former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, are slated to meet on the morning of June 22. Among the candidates the Left is looking at is Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the iconic B.R. Ambedkar.

But with the TRS, AIADMK and BJD swinging Kovind's way and the BSP speaking in two voices, the opposition's strength certainly looks depleted.
Chennai, June 20 : Calcutta High Court's former judge Justice C.S. Karnan, who was sentenced to six months imprisonment by the Supreme Court for contempt but was untraceable, was arrested in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, said a senior police official.

"He was arrested somewhere in Coimbatore about an hour ago," senior West Benga Police official Raj Kanojia told IANS.

Coimbatore is around 500 km from here.

However the official declined to answer queries as to other persons who were staying with Karnan.

According to reports reaching here, the former judge will be brought here and then taken to Kolkatta.

Karnan, who was eluding arrest for more than a month, retired from service, a few days back. According to police sources, he was picked up on a tip-off about his location.
Amaravati, June 20 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday sacked former Chief Secretary I. Y. R. Krishna Rao as the chairman of Brahmin Welfare Corporation for his Facebook p1osts critical of the government.

Naidu cracked the whip after ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP) took serious note of Rao's action. and party leaders urged the Chief Minister to take the action as the former bureaucrat had crossed the limits.

Naidu felt that the retired IAS officer's activities were bringing bad name to the party and the government.

It all started when Krishna Rao made certain comments criticising the government's move to provide tax relief for the film "Gautamiputra Satakarni" but allowing distributors of "Baahubali 2" to increase the ticket price.

"Gautamiputra Satakarni" starred Chandrababu Naidu's brother-in-law and TDP legislator N. Balakrishna in the lead role.

Rao, who shared several Facebook posts criticizing the government's action with respect to the two movies, also found fault with the TDP government for arresting social media activist Inturi Ravi Kiran, who allegedly posted satirical cartoons against the Chief Minister and his son Nara Lokesh.

Addressing a news conference in Hyderabad, Rao defended his comments or sharing of some postings on social media.

Contending that he has the freedom to express his views, he said that they have nothing to do with his functioning as the chairman of Brahmin Corporation.

He dismissed the allegations that he benefitted some people from opposition YSR Congress party in granting loans from the corporation. He claimed that he went by the merits of the applicants and not by their political affiliations.

"If the Chief Minister thought I should have behaved like a TDP nominee, I am sorry, I would never become one," he said.

Krishna Rao was the first Chief Secretary of Andhra Pradesh after the bifurcation of the state in 2014. After his retirement last year, he was appointed as the Brahmin Corporation constituted by the government for the welfare of Brahmins.

He alleged that Naidu had not given him an appointment for six months. A few hours after his news conference, Naidu's media advisor Prakala Prabhakar told reporters in Hyderabad that Rao was never denied an appointment.

Prabhakar said as a person holding a position in the government, it was not proper for Rao to criticise the government publicly.
New Delhi, June 20 : The Delhi government on Tuesday approved installation of CCTV cameras in 6,350 DTC and cluster buses from Nirbhaya Fund at an estimated expenditure of Rs 140 crore.

The decision was taken in a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

"The cabinet approved the Transport Department's proposal to authorise the DTC to call tenders and sign the agreement for installation of CCTV cameras in 6,350 DTC and cluster buses, utilising the Nirbhaya Fund, to be provided by the central government," an official statement said.

Nirbhaya Fund is a central government fund which is aimed to be spent in the schemes meant for women's safety across the country.

Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot said that it was an important decision towards safe and secure environment for the public especially women in Delhi.

"This measure will impart a feeling of security to women using public transport," he said.

The Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) will appoint the Bid Process Manager through open tender enquiry.

Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recommended detailed specifications for CCTV cameras under the project "National Level Vehicle Security and Tracking System". The specification of the proposed CCTV cameras would be either equivalent or higher to the prescribed specifications, the statement added.

The issue of women safety in the national capital has been a major concern following the horrific gangrape and murder of a young girl on the night of December 16, 2012 in a moving bus.

Delhi Finance Minister Manish Sisodia in his first budget speech in the financial year 2015-16 had proposed installation of CCTV cameras in all DTC and cluster buses and the government had installed CCTV cameras, on a pilot basis, in 200 buses of Sarojini Nagar and Rajghat bus depots.
New Delhi, June 20 : The Indian government has signed an agreement with the Asian Development Bank whereby the lender will provide a $275 million loan to upgrade piped water supply and municipal services in 64 small towns in Madhya Pradesh.

"The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $275 million loan on June 19, 2017, for improving urban services in 64 small towns in the State of Madhya Pradesh," a Finance Ministry release here said on Tuesday.

The state government will provide $124 million as counterpart support for the project, which is estimated to be completed by June 2022, it said.

"The project will develop sustainable, inclusive, and climate-resilient water supply in 64 small and medium-sized towns, and integrated storm water and sewerage infrastructure in two heritage towns of Khajuraho and Rajnagar," it added.

While the loan agreement was signed by Finance Ministry's Joint Secretary Raj Kumar and ADB Deputy Country Director L.B. Sondjaja, the project agreement was inked by Madhya Pradesh Urban Development Secretary Vivek Aggarwal.

"Madhya Pradesh needs substantial investments to keep pace with its rapid urbanisation. Sustainable piped water supply will foster inclusiveness by giving more of the state's' population easier access to basic services, especially for women and girls," Raj Kumar said in the statement.

"A key element of the project is the use of design-build-operate contracts including 10-years operation and maintenance to ensure better sustainability of the water service operation and financial viability," Sondjaja said.

Urban population in the sprawling central Indian state is expected to increase from 28 per cent in 2016 to 35 per cent by 2026, ADB said in a release.
New Delhi, June 20 : With sulking ally Shiv Sena coming out in support of Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA's strength in the Presidential electoral college got a major boost on Monday carrying its support to nearly 61 per cent of the vote value.

Shiv Sena, which has not voted with the NDA in the last two presidential elections and has a love-hate relationship with BJP, had created doubts recently about which way it would vote in the July 17 election.

On Monday, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray had reacted to BJP's announcement of Kovind as the NDA candidate saying it was aimed at caste appeasement. However, Thackeray on Tuesday endorsed Kovind's candidature.

The NDA, including Shiv Sena and another ally Peoples Democratic Party of Jammu and Kashmir, which also extended support to Kovind on Tuesday, commands the support of 48.93 per cent in the electoral college.

With the backing of parties outside the alliance like TRS (2 per cent), AIADMK (5.39 per cent), YSR Congress (1.53 per cent) BJD (2.99 per cent), the NDA's support would cross the half way mark comfortably to reach nearly 61 per cent.

The total value of votes of 4,896 electors in the current election is 10,98,903. Of this, the NDA originally commanded a vote share of 48.9 per cent at 5,37,683. With the backing of parties outside the NDA formation, the share has now shot up to nearly 61 per cent--that is over 6,70,330.
New Delhi, June 20 : The Delhi government on Tuesday recommended the rejection of a mercy petition filed before the President of India by Uphaar cinema tragedy convict Gopal Ansal.

"Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain rejected the mercy petition of Gopal Ansal after he received a representation from the families of the Uphaar victims," the Chief Minister's Media adviser Nagendar Sharma tweeted.

The bereaved families on Monday met Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and urged him not to consider Gopal Ansal's plea, which was forwarded to the Lt. Governor and the Delhi government by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for recommendation.

Association of Victims of Uphaar Tragedy (AVUT) President Neelam Krishnamoorthy praised the Delhi government and tweeted -- quoting Sharma's tweet -- "(It) shows Delhi government cares for public safety".

The Supreme Court on February 9 sentenced Uphaar cinema owner Gopal Ansal to one-year jail for the 1997 Uphaar fire tragedy that killed 59 during the screening of Hindi movie "Border".

His brother and co-accused Sushil Ansal was, however, let off with the sentence he had already served because of his old age and ailments.

Following the order, Gopal Ansal had filed a mercy petition before the President, which was forwarded to the MHA.
New Delhi, June 20 : Pushed by the Left parties, the Congress-led opposition looks all set to field a candidate against NDA nominee Ram Nath Kovind in what is called an "ideological battle".

The names doing the rounds as possible opposition candidates include former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, both of the Congress and both Dalits.

The Left parties are keen on the opposition putting up a candidate because they see the Presidential election as an "ideological battle" and the NDA candidate as an RSS-backed man.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Tuesday flew to Patna to consult Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD-U, which reportedly is said to be not averse to backing Kovind. Azad's meeting comes ahead of a JD-U meeting on Wednesday on the Presidential election.

Kovind was till Monday the Bihar Governor and shared a warm relationship with Nitish Kumar. The Bihar Chief Minister is known to take a line different from other political parties as was reflected on the demonetisation decision.

Azad would also meet RJD Chief Lalu Prasad, who leans towards the Congress.

The names of Meira Kumar and Shinde have been floated to counter the NDA so that parties like the BSP would have no problem going against the NDA Dalit candidate.

Congress sources feel Shinde could be a better candidate due to his record in public life.

Echoing the Left position, CPI National Secretary D. Raja said there should be a fight in the presidential election.

"For the Left, the President's election has became a battle of ideologies and a battle for safeguarding the Constitution and secular democracy. This is how we look at it," he said.

A final call on the anti-Kovind candidate will be taken at a meeting of the opposition front on June 22, Raja said.

The Left parties, which were earlier garnering support for former West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, are slated to meet on the morning of June 22. Among the candidates the Left is looking at is Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the iconic B.R. Ambedkar.

But with the TRS, AIADMK and BJD swinging Kovind's way and the BSP speaking in two voices, the opposition's strength certainly looks depleted.
Chandigarh, June 20 : To contain activities of gangsters, drug smugglers, absconders and organised criminals in the northern states, eight states in the region decided on Tuesday in principle for effective coordination, mutual sharing of information and creation of common database about such offenders.

The inter-state coordination meeting of the eight states was held at the Punjab Police Headquarters.

Chaired by Punjab's Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Rohit Choudhary, thje meeting had participation of officials from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh.

"The meeting was fruitful in which participating officers discussed and deliberated on the various crimes and concerted efforts to nab the criminals. It was concluded to form a joint group by the respective states and hold inter-state coordination meeting quarterly," Chaudhary said.

Punjab Director General of Police Suresh Arora, while addressing the meeting, said the objective of the meeting was to ensure peace, law and order with the mutual coordination of police forces of different states and agencies.

"Sharing information and exchange of dossiers would also help in solving various cases and find effective measures to prevent the crimes besides containing the activities of interstate gangs, absconding lawbreakers, wanted criminals," he said.

Choudhary said that to tackle the increasing inter-state crime regular sharing of information and improving the response on information shared were also discussed in the meeting.

He added that it was a first of its kind of meeting wherein information about crime and its control and more importantly sharing of information in real time was discussed.
New Delhi, June 20 : Union Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, along with secretaries of 30 central ministries, on Tuesday took stock of readiness for the launch of the GST regime from July 1, an official said.

According to a Finance Ministry release here, besides secretaries connected with the Goods and Services Tax (GST), representatives of 167 public sector undertakings (PSUs) joined the meeting through video conferencing.

"The focus of the review was on the progress made by PSUs in getting GST-ready and preparation in their IT system as well," it said.

"The Cabinet Secretary expressed his satisfaction over the preparedness of different ministries and PSUs but asked them to leave no stone unturned for its effective and smooth implementation by educating and involving all stakeholders concerned," it said.

Sinha asked "all involved to take full responsibility of their stakeholders and for the successful implementation of the GST," it added.

Other aspects discussed included the arrangements made by the departments for opening the GST facilitation cell and a call centre to guide client groups and vendors.

The Cabinet Secretary also asked the secretaries to organise outreach meetings and publicity campaigns through their departments and PSUs for explaining the provisions of new law and rules to their stakeholders.

The GST Council on Sunday unanimously agreed on a July 1 rollout of the new pan-India indirect tax regime despite some pending issues, while relaxing the return filing deadline for the first two months.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told reporters here after the meeting that the Council has allowed businesses a relaxation of time for the first two months (July-August) for filing their returns. These would also need to submit only a simple declaration initially, and would have time to furnish the exact "invoice-by-invoice data" later.
Mumbai, June 20 : Union Minister Jayant Sinha on Tuesday said rules for a national no-fly list "are being finalised" and will be issued next month.

According to the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, the norms on the list will be issued in the first week of July.

The minister revealed on the sidelines of an event here that the ministry has received "very comprehensive and exhaustive feedback" from stakeholders.

The development comes days after all the seven major domestic airlines barred TDP MP J.C. Diwakar Reddy from their flights over alleged misbehaved with IndiGo officials.

It has been alleged that after being denied a boarding pass, the Telugu Desam Party lawmaker from Anantapur damaged a printer and misbehaved with IndiGo airline staff at Visakhapatnam airport on June 15.

In a similar incident in March, Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad was accused of assaulting an Air India staff, following which several airlines banned him from flying on their planes till he apologised.

Gaikwad later submitted a letter to the Aviation Minister to express 'regret', after which AI revoked the ban, followed by the Federation of Indian Airlines and other private airlines also lifting the ban.

Following the Gaikwad incident, the Civil Aviation Ministry last month released the draft rules for a national 'no-fly list' that would ban unruly passengers from domestic air travel.

Under the proposed rules, airlines can impose a travel ban on an unruly passenger in the time range of three months to two years or beyond depending upon the level of misbehaviour.

Current rules only allow airlines to refuse boarding or off-loading of a passenger whose behaviour is deemed as unruly or disruptive to the safety of flight operations.
Mumbai, June 20 : After keeping ally BJP in suspense for 24 hours, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said NDA presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind was a "good choice" and extended full support to his candidature for the July 17 election.

The Sena, however, reiterated that Sena's "first choice" for next President was Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat, followed by agro-scientist M.S. Swaminathan.

With its decision on support, the Sena thus joins the National Democratic Alliance ranks for the first time in 15 years in a presidential election, after acting tough for a couple of months in the run-up to the election to the top elected post in the country.

"The (support) decision was taken unanimously by party leaders. We fully support Ram Nathji's candidature and our best wishes are with him," Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray told the media after a 90-minute party meeting at his Bandra home this evening.

He said the Sena was not opposed to the candidacy of Kovind whom he dubbed a "good choice". The Sena leader said he hoped Kovind will do well for the country's people as the next President.

The BJP's oldest ally had last voted with the NDA in 2002 when it extended support to the candidature of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who was elected the President.

Subsequently, in 2007, the Sena supported Congress's Pratibha Patil, and Pranab Mukherjee in 2012, with both entering the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Thackeray said it was wrong to suggest that the Sena had always adopted a confrontationist stance towards the Bharatiya Janata Party on all issues.

"That is not our style. But wherever we don't agree with the BJP, we will oppose them," the Sena leader said.

As for senior Congress leaders Meira Kumar and Sushilkumar Shinde, who both hail from the Dalit community, as presidential candidates, Thackeray said since their names are being discussed only, it would be pointless to comment.

"Bhagwat is nowhere in the reckoning now. (BJP President) Amit Shah informed me on Sunday that in view of Swaminathan's advanced age (he will turn 92 in August) and frail health, it was not possible to propose his name," Thackeray said.

There was no official reaction from the BJP on the promised Sena support till late night.
Kolkata, June 20 : Terming West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's claims of arms being brought to Darjeeling from northeastern states and foreign countries a "serious issue", Darjeeling MP S.S. Ahluwalia on Tuesday demanded a probe to check for any internal security lapses.

"If the arms are coming to Darjeeling from the northeastern states then it is not just a state issue. It is a serious matter. What was the state government doing all this while? Were they sleeping?

"I have urged the Home Ministry to call an internal security meeting to check if there is really any case of internal security breach or not. Mamata Banerjee would also be called in the meeting," said the BJP lawmaker.

Referring to Banerjee's allegations of involvement of foreign countries in fueling the Darjeeling unrest, he claimed that the state took no initiatives to stop such infiltration or notify the Central government about it.

"She also claimed that the arms are coming through the international border. If there were infiltration, what initiatives did the state government take to stop it or notify the Centre about the same," he said.

Ahluwalia also accused Banerjee of shunning the possibility of a dialog between the central and state government representatives and the Gorkha leaders on the rising tension in the hills.

"The representatives of the central government, West Bengal government and agitating Gorkha leaders could sit together and discuss a possible solution in the hills. But Mamata Banerjee clearly declined to come to the meeting or send any representatives," he alleged.
New Delhi, June 20 : Congress on Tuesday asked the NDA government why it was running away from its responsibility of waiving off loans of the farmers across the country, and urged it not to treat farmers as "mere vote banks".

Congress also asked why Punjab's model of debt waiver could not be replicated across the country.

"Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh met (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi and urged him to waive off the loans of the farmers but he didn't take any action. But, Punjab Chief Minister yesterday took a decision to waive off the laons of in the state," said Congress' Punjab chief Sunil Jakhar.

"Why is the BJP government at the centre running away from their responsibility of waiving off loans? We don't an astute and clever government, we want a resposible government," he added.

Jakhar further said despite the financial stress faced by Punjab, Amarinder Singh showed "real leadership" and Prime Minister Modi should follow suit.

"They (the NDA) should not look at the farmers' as mere vote bank," he said.

"International crude prices have crashed as per the Prime Minister. They have claimed that there is a windfall gain of Rs 3 lakh crore per annum because of the fall in the crude prices. We urge them to use this amount for loan waiver."

About Punjab government's farm loan waiver, Jakhar said:"There are about 18,50,000 farming families in Punjab out of which two-third are small and marginal farmers. Out of these, about 70 per cent have taken loans."

"Roughly it translates into something like 13 lakh farmers, who are under debt. Out of those, 10,25000 families will get direct benefit," he added.

Latest updates on Howdy Modi Houston
New Delhi, June 20 : Legal experts are divided whether celebrating Pakistan's victory over India in Champions Trophy final on Sunday attract sedition charges or not, with some holding that it is not crime while others term it an "anti-national" act.

The issue came into focus after at least 15 members of a community were arrested on sedition charges in Madhya Pradesh's Burhanpur district for celebrating Pakistan's victory against India.

Noted lawyer and human right activist Vrinda Grover said that the 15 people have not committed any crime under the Indian laws and described the police act as an abuse of power.

"This is clear case of the abuse of the power by the Madhya Pradesh Police. The accused did not commit any criminal offence," she said.

She said that there was no law and order problem over the celebration.

"The people were celebrating victory of another country. Police can only look into a crime and police are not inquired what people are doing or not," she said But senior advocate Aman Lekhi referred the invocation of sedition charges as appropriate and necessary.

"The people were passionately and shamelessly celebrating victory of the hostile country. If the sedition will not slapped on the people like them, then it is worthless section," he said, holding police has taken right steps by arresting the people.

He said that act this sedition was added in the law to keep people disciplined and to show their commitment and loyalty towards the country.

As per Section 124 A of Indian Penal Code (IPC) whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or otherwise, brings or attempts to bring into hatred or contempt, or excites or attempts to excite disaffection towards the government established by law will fall under sedition charges.

Whoever convicted under sedition charges shall be punished with imprisonment for life, fine or with imprisonment which may extend to three years.

Advocate Shailendra Babbar, who has appeared as public prosecutor in various cases in Delhi, termed the act of celebrating Pakistan's victory as "anti-national."

"The celebration with pro-Pakistan slogans has affected the society at large. the slogans was against the government establishment," he said.

However noted criminal lawyer M.S. Khan asked whether anyone celebrating the victory of England and Australia over India, will be booked under the same charges or not.

He said the expression related to celebrating victory of another country does not include the gradients of sedition charges -- "disaffection" and disloyalty".

The act also did not show hate towards the government established by law.

"Moreover it was a celebration," he said, adding that the act does not incite any violence in that locality.
New Delhi, June 20 : Calling the surge of non-communicable diseases as biggest medical curse for India's people, Apollo Group of Hospitals Chairman Prathap. C Reddy on Tuesday said that the Niti Ayog will soon look into their ongoing programme of NCD screening to understand its actual burden in the country.

The prominent cardio surgeon said that they already held a meeting with the Niti Ayog on their ongoing screening of 170 hamlets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which has projected that majority of them are pre-diabetic.

"Apollo's health care in collaboration with NGOs is screening 170 hamlets in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for NCDs. It will be one of the biggest challenge in healthcare as majority of them are pre-diabetic. This will be a huge economic burden for the country if not realised soon," said Reddy during his interaction with reporters here.

Asked if Apollo Healthcare will support the government on similar projects recently, he said: "We have given a presentation to the Niti Ayog and they have said that they want to look into our model."

Apollo Healthcare is expanding its market across the country with a total of 10,000 beds in all its hospitals, Reddy told IANS.

"To boost healthcare in the country the Apollo is also managing 200 Urban Primary Health care Centres in the country. All of them in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana," he added.

Reddy, who started the Apollo Healthcare three decades ago, said that another reason why Indian healthcare was lagging behind was due to the disparity in training of nurses and doctors.

He said that taking the initiative for better training of health workers, Apollo is currently training 12,000 workers while in the coming years, this will rise to 50,000.

Asked about his opinion on the recent price cuts on stents and the future possibilities on syringes and canulas among others, Reddy agreed that the stents were being sold at a very high prices earlier, but said that if the government goes for reduction in other devices as well, then that will harm the quality of health care.

"If the price cut happens for every devices than we will become government controlled organisation. There should not be a cut on quality healthcare," he said.
Moscow, June 21 : A 483-MW gas-steam combined heat and power (CHP) plant built by a China-Russia joint venture has been officially brought online, China's Huadian Corporation announced here.

The CHP is the tangible result of the Huadian-Teninskaya joint project, which was launched by China Huadian Hong Kong Co. Ltd. and Russia's second regional power company TGC-2 in 2011, with a total investment of $571 million, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday.

As China's largest electricity project in Russia, the project was designed to generate 3.02 billion KWH of electric energy and 814,000 Giga of heating supply annually.

"The completion of the Huadian-Teninskaya project is of great significance to the Yaroslavl Province. It will improve the living quality of local citizens," acting governor of the Yaroslavl Province Dmitry Mironov said during the operating ceremony held on the project site.

Listed as a priority project in 2014 by Yaroslavl authorities, the new CHP plant is expected to tackle the province's chronic problem of power shortages. According to TGC staff, the project will bring down Yaroslavl's power deficit from 40-50 per cent to 5-15 per cent and fully cover its total power demand in warmer months.

The project is widely seen as a symbol of further deepening of cooperation between China and Russia in the field of electric power.

According to General manager of the China Huadian Corporation Wen Shugang, China Huadian Corporation will devote more efforts in exploring global energy markets in the future, including Russia.

Russian Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said on the ceremony that the Russian government welcomes the entrance of Chinese companies including Huadian into its local markets.
HealthSource of Crabapple's Grand Opening Spending the last 30 years in the largest franchise system, I know what it takes to be successful and I found all the structure, systems and routines in place at HealthSource. -Sharlene Smith

Two women who became incredibly successful moving up the ranks in the corporate world of McDonalds have decided to venture into the Health and Wellness Industry by licensing six HealthSource Chiropractic franchises.

Sharlene Smith and Charice Nash-Smith, who recently opened HealthSource of Crabapple, Georgia, plan to open five more HealthSource clinics in the greater Atlanta area. With a combined 50 years of experience in franchising operations with McDonalds, they wanted to go into business for themselves and agreed that HealthSource was the perfect fit.

I love that at HealthSource we are family and are rooted in values that drive what we do! said Sharlene Smith. Its a smaller brand that has all the resources and support to be a big brand. The training and support is exceptional and I dont have to worry about figuring things out or reinventing the wheel.

Smith raves about her experience with McDonalds, and said she was looking for a new franchise opportunity that shared the fast food behemoth's commitment to getting its owners started on the right path from day one.

Spending the last 30 years in the largest franchise system, I know what it takes to be successful and I found all the structure, systems and routines in place at HealthSource.

The new owners will be bringing on a doctor and a full team to run the clinic and provide care. Dr. John Thomas, who spent more than 20 years practicing independently, said hes excited for what joining the biggest brand in chiropractic can mean for his practice.

I joined because of the integrity of the brand, the solidity and compliance of the processes and systems and the incredible network of doctors, team members, corporate partners, and HS corporate team members, he said. I practiced alone for 20 years with a fraction of the support and did okay. But now we are going to rock this amazing opportunity to new exponential heights because we have all the tools we need to make it happen thanks to the brilliance of HS.

About HealthSource

At HealthSource, our clinics have gentle, caring chiropractors that work side-by-side with licensed massage therapists and progressive rehab specialists to get patients feeling better again, quickly. Chiropractic care is about whole body wellness. We not only focus on back pain, neck pain, headaches, sciatica, fibromyalgia and other common concerns, but also on prevention, wellness and nutrition. Spinal Decompression, a leading edge non-surgical and non-invasive technology, is available in many HealthSource clinics for patients with severe conditions.

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The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader In Adult Autism Award The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award furthers our mission to inspire individuals diagnosed with autism, their families, and the community at large to not be limited in their aspirations for autistic adults.

John D'Eri, CEO of Rising Tide Car Wash, will accept the 2017 Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award during the Autism Society of America's 49th annual conference to be held this year in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 12-15.

The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation (DJFF) was founded in 2002 as the nation's first autism organization focused exclusively on adults. Foundation President Linda Walder established the organization's namesake award in 2016, together with Scott Badesch, President/CEO of the Autism Society of America (ASA), to recognize an inspirational person, service provider, or employer in the field of adult autism to encourage all autistic adults and their families to dream big and roll up their sleeves to create options for employment, housing and leisure activities that open doors to full and productive lives.

From her Charleston, South Carolina, office Walder said: The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award presented annually at the Autism Society of Americas national conference furthers our mission to inspire individuals diagnosed with autism, their families, and the community at large to not be limited in their aspirations for adults diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award is a meaningful collaboration between the Foundation and the Autism Society of America, as both organizations share an abiding respect for the lifelong rights of all individuals diagnosed with ASD. The Autism Societys national conference is world-renowned as the premier autism event for individuals, professionals, and families. The Autism Society of America, founded in 1965, is a leading national autism advocacy, resource, and family support organization whose mission is to increase public awareness about the day-to-day issues faced by people diagnosed with ASD.

According to Scott Badesch, President/CEO of the Autism Society of America, We are so grateful for our partnership with The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, including their sponsorship of the Foundations Leader in Adult Autism Award, which recognizes the best in adult services for individuals on the autism spectrum.

John D'Eri and his family started Rising Tide Car Wash in 2013. It has been recognized as a pioneering social enterprise with the primary mission to employ adults living with autism. In fact, eighty percent of the company's employees are on the autism spectrum. Located in Parkland, Florida, Rising Tide handles more than 500 car washes per day, and a second branch in Margate, Florida, is set to open in Fall 2017. The D'Eris were inspired to build the business by John's son Andrew, who is 24 and on the spectrum.

According to John DEri, "The Rising Tide Car Wash family is deeply honored to be the 2017 recipient of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award. The work we do everyday highlighting autism as a key competitive advantage in the workplace certainly has inspired us even more than we could have anticipated. The fact that our efforts are also giving hope to others around the world is so gratifying. And to be recognized as 'leaders in adult autism' by the leading adult autism organization, The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, is very humbling.

Autism Entrepreneurship

In addition to the presentation of the award on July 13th during the opening Keynote Session featuring self-advocates and moderated by a long-time friend and colleague of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, Dr. Barry Prizant, DJFF also will sponsor a breakout session entitled "Awakening the Autism Entrepreneur," featuring The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award-honoree, John D'Eri of Rising Tide Car Wash, and Dr. Michael Alessandri, Executive Director of the University of Miami Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (UM-CARD) home of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Transition and Adult Programs.

The purpose of the break-out session is to motivate conference attendees to start their own entrepreneurial businesses that employ autistic adults because we see this as a key avenue for individuals of all capabilities to work at jobs that benefit society, says Walder. Dr. Alessandri adds, "We are excited to share the tools we have created that are blueprints for starting a business that respects the strengths and talents of autistic adults and provides them with meaningful employment.

About The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation

Founded in 2002 by Linda Walder, a pioneer in the adult autism arena, The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation (DJFF) has blazed trails to develop, fund, and advocate for programs and public policy and services related to all aspects of adult life such as job training, residential living, the arts, recreation, health and wellness, and social/life skill independence. DJFF is named in honor and memory of Linda's son Danny who was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and passed away at age nine.

Since 2014, DJFF has established endowment funds, known as The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Endowment Funds, that focus solely on adult autism at Yale University, the University of Miami, Rutgers University, and Brown University, in a first-of-its-kind initiative that in perpetuity will assure that the most innovative research, program development, support systems, and services will continue to serve the diverse population of autistic adults.

Says Walder: "Our aim is to ensure that for generations to come there will be an impactful focus on adult autism. Today, there are millions of Americans diagnosed with ASD, and multiply that by family members which means that the autism community is expansive. As a nation, it is our obligation to understand the various medical and sociological impacts of adult autism and create avenues for the diverse adult autistic population to live, work, and recreate, and to live the fullest lives possible. We also need to develop the infrastructure to support individuals and families throughout the lifespan by providing resources and service supports. The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Endowment Funds are poised to lead the way on all fronts for this generation and generations to come.

For more information or to share a story about an inspiring person, organization, employer, or service provider in the field of adult autism in your community, click here.

For more information on the 2017 Autism Society of America Conference, click here.

(Interviews concerning The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation Leader in Adult Autism Award are available with Linda Walder of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation and with Scott Badesch of the Autism Society of America.)
The Massachusetts court systems e-filing initiative, which allows attorneys, state agencies, and self-represented litigants to file court cases and legal documents through a web portal, has completed a successful pilot phase and is now expanding. Boston-based Relational Semantics, Inc. (RSI), a provider of IT solutions and services for state courts and agencies, played a key role in the pilots success and is actively supporting the current program expansion.

The e-filing program, called eFileMA, was officially launched in 2015 with the aim of providing litigants a convenient way to file cases and documents while also reducing the courts time and costs associated with managing paper documentation. The pilot program rolled out in six courts, with three at the Appellate Court level  including the Supreme Judicial Court  and three at the Trial Court level. By early 2017 an internal review of the pilot program had concluded that the program was successfully meeting its objectives, and in March the Massachusetts court system proposed updated rules and procedures that would make the e-filing program permanent and expand its scope.

eFileMAs expansion is well underway and has the program covering more case types, more document types, and more court locations. For example, at the Appellate Court level e-filing is now supported for criminal cases as well as civil cases, and for filing of motions as well as briefs. In the Trial Courts, e-filing is now available for 21 District Court locations and 7 Probate and Family Court counties.

As the maker of the Forecourt electronic case management system (CMS) that has long been used by the Appellate Courts to automate their daily business processes, RSI has been integral to the e-filing initiative from the outset. RSI provided technical and operational expertise in helping the Appellate Courts design the initial e-filing pilot program; developed the Forecourt ECF Adapter to integrate the Courts CMS with the third party e-filing web portal; and provided ongoing support for systems integration and business process optimization in connection with the e-filing pilot.

The e-filing pilot program entailed a range of technical issues, particularly around integration of systems from multiple vendors, noted RSI President Bob Gorman. Throughout the pilot we monitored the Courts core IT systems and identified, diagnosed, and resolved issues promptly to help keep the e-filing service running smoothly 24/7.

Along with contributing to the success of the e-filing pilot, RSI provided the systems integration work to facilitate the recent expansions of the Appellate Courts e-filing service to include additional case types and document types. Looking ahead to the remainder of 2017, RSI expects to support further extensions of the program, such as to include e-filing for Single Justice cases (currently e-filing is available only for panel cases), and e-filing for impounded cases and documents. As RSI continues to help the Appellate Courts extend the scope of the e-filing program, the Courts can build on the progress they have made in reducing reliance on costly and cumbersome paper-driven business processes while at the same time improving services for users of the court system.

About RSI

Relational Semantics, Inc. (RSI) has been building, deploying, and supporting IT solutions for state governments for three decades. Based in Boston, RSI serves the New England region exclusively. Our Forecourt systems for the judicial branch, and Paragon systems for the executive branch, help state government meet core operational requirements like case management, application processing, data integration, mobile productivity, and public access. For more information, visit http://www.rsi.com.
We feel strongly that our Power Center/Service Center concept is the best way to fully support our OEM partners, dealers and end-user customers across the Midwest.

Dominick A. Nick Vermet is the new general manager of the DEUTZ Power Center Midwest in North Kansas City, MO. Vermet will be tasked with managing the Midwest operation, with additional responsibility for both the DEUTZ Service Center St. Louis and the soon-to-open DEUTZ Service Center Chicago locations.

Prior to accepting his new position, Vermet was a regional business manager for DEUTZ in the South Central region, working primarily with distributor Stewart & Stevenson in Houston, TX. Before joining DEUTZ, Vermet enjoyed a rich history of working with key players in the industry such as Penske Corporation, Toyota, DaimlerChrysler and Hino Trucks. Vermet holds a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Were pleased to have someone with Nicks experience move into this very important managerial role, said Robert Mann, DEUTZ Corporation president and CEO. We feel strongly that our Power Center/Service Center concept is the best way to fully support our OEM partners, dealers and end-user customers across the Midwest. Nicks background demonstrates his proven ability to effectively manage people and processes, and we look forward to additional positive momentum at DEUTZ Power Center Midwest and its two Service Centers under his leadership.

DEUTZ Power Centers and Service Centers provide regularly scheduled maintenance and emergency service of DEUTZ engines at their location or at a customers site via traveling service technicians and service trucks. They sell genuine DEUTZ parts and fluids to customers, dealers and qualified OEM dealers with DEUTZ-powered equipment. DEUTZ Power Centers also provide an extensive range of value-added products and services to better match customer needs and exceed expectations. They design, engineer and manufacture DEUTZ-branded power packages and sell new DEUTZ diesel or natural gas engines and DEUTZ Xchange remanufactured engines to customers within their designated sales area.

To learn more about DEUTZ Power Centers or Service Centers, as well as the complete line of DEUTZ diesel and natural gas engines, please visit http://www.deutzsupport.com.
Trantolo & Trantolo, LLC officially opened its newest Law Office in Bridgeport, CT on Friday, June 9th, 2017. Known as "Connecticut's Personal Injury Law Firm," they also operate offices in Hartford, Torrington and Waterbury, CT. The festive occasion at 944 Fairfield Avenue in Bridgeport began with a luncheon reception on the front lawn, followed by formal remarks from the firms three active family members.

Established in 1938 in Hartford, CT, the law firm today is under the leadership of its third generation of family members: Managing Partner Atty. Keith Trantolo and Chief Operating Officer Scott Trantolo.

A pin could be heard dropping among the crowd of invited guests, as Vincent Trantolo shared the family values that his father, firm founder Joseph Trantolo, had passed on to him.

Family is everything, make a difference, stand up for something, give back to the community and be able to look yourself in the mirror every day, Vincent said.

If you live by these rules, youll have a life of fulfillment. As a successful family law firm, these values are practiced rigorously by everyone one of us from the top down. Its our culture and the way we conduct our business. We do stand up for our clients and their families and are compassionate with those who seek our help and relentless against those who would seek to do them harmthats why we say, let our family help your family.

When asked why the firm chose Bridgeport for its newest office location, Atty. Keith Trantolo spoke of both diversity and location.

Bridgeport has so many diverse neighborhoods, each with its own culture, unique characteristics and mix of ethnic backgrounds. However, family values are again a common denominator across the city, that we can identify with when it comes to building mutual understanding and trusted relationships with people in need of personal injury legal services. Furthermore, Bridgeport makes sense as a regional office location as we continue to grow in The Park City and beyond into other Fairfield County locations.

CEO Scott Trantolo, added, The new office location helps us to better serve our growing number of existing clients in Bridgeport that were being handled by other offices, such as Waterbury. People want convenience for the services they need and dont want to rely on arms-length geographic relationships.

In the new Bridgeport office, there will be two attorneys: Tony Nunes and John Kanca, working on a day-to-day basis. The firms other nine lawyers will work selectively out of the Fairfield location as well.

After remarks by Trantolo family members, the firm also announced a new community safety program called Heads Up for Safety, in partnership with the Bridgeport Police Department. Police officers within the city will be issuing vouchers to children they see around the city riding bicycles without helmets. The children can then bring the voucher to the firms offices to receive a free helmet.

Bridgeport is the gateway to Southern Connecticut. This new Trantolo & Trantolo location is the law firms gateway to a new chapter of providing excellence in legal and client service to those who have been injured within this Greater Bridgeport area.
Specialty Technical Consultants

Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) and Specialty Technical Consultants (STC) announce the availability of the newly updated International Audit Protocol Consortium (IAPC) EHS audit protocol for New South Wales, Australia. Leading companies around the world use IAPC EHS audit protocols to understand the scope of their EHS regulatory obligations and rapidly collect, share, archive, and export audit findings in a cost effective manner. IAPC EHS audit protocols are now prepared by STC in partnership with STP and continue to focus on those national (plus, in some cases, regional or provincial) EHS requirements that have site-specific application for manufacturing operations. As a leading EHS management consulting firm with a global network of experienced EHS teaming partners, STC has indepth knowledge and technical expertise of local/regional EHS requirements.

STP and STC maintain leading-edge EHS audit protocols for more than 30 jurisdictions. The protocol documents are written in English and are available in MS Word, Adobe Acrobat and Excel formats, as well as through STPs web-based portal or can be integrated into an existing company platform. Using the protocols custom templates and advanced functionality features, auditors can easily track audit findings and manage data over time to improve compliance, risk management and safety performance. In addition, STPs formatting is compatible with leading risk management and sustainability platform providers.

Highlights of selected legislation covered in the newly updated protocol include:



The federal Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Regulations 1995 establish prohibitions on manufacturing or importing equipment charged with a CFC refrigerant or an HCFC refrigerant, but also provide exemptions from this prohibition for certain types of equipment. The regulations were amended to remove the exemptions that have expired, which are the following: the exemption for chillers charged with HCFC-123 expired on 31 December 2015 and the exemption for components for existing high static ducted split system air conditioners expired on 30 June 2016.

Amendments were made to the Protection of the Environment Operations (Waste) Regulation 2014 to make a minor revision to the requirements for the transportation of waste by motor vehicles or trailers. In addition, the reporting deadlines for scheduled waste facilities that are required to pay contributions to EPA for each tonne of waste received at the facility were revised. Information must now be reported 26 days after the end of each month, rather than 256 days after the end of each month.

Beginning 1 January 2017 the requirements of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) are being fully implemented in NSW, with a few exceptions. Hazardous chemicals manufactured or imported and labeled prior to 1 January 2017 were exempt from GHS labeling requirements and existing hazardous chemicals already in the end users workplace will not be required to be relabeled with GHS labels (under both of these exceptions, chemicals must be properly labeled in accordance with requirements of the National Occupational, Health and Safety Commission or Australian Dangerous Goods Code). In addition, Agricultural and Veterinary (AgVet) chemicals that are labeled in accordance with Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) requirements will not need to comply with GHS labeling until 1 January 2018.

Changes to the requirements for water resources were issued under the Hunter Water Regulation 2015. This Regulation took effect 1 September 2015 and replaced, with some amendments, the Hunter Water Regulation 2010. The amendments include the requirement for a permit to do plumbing or drainage work and the submittal of certificates of compliance by persons who have completed plumbing or drainage work.

Beginning 1 September 2015 the Electricity (Consumer Safety) Regulation 2015 replaced the Electricity (Consumer Safety) Regulation 2006. The primary objective of the regulation is to: provide a mechanism to approve safe electrical articles; set out the requirements for electrical installation work and testing; and prescribe the forms, fees and penalty notice offences. This regulation provides clarification about who must give and receive notification of the results of safety and compliance tests.

For more information on all International EHS audit protocols offered by STP and STC, click here.

About Specialty Technical Publishers

Specialty Technical Publishers (STP) produces technical resource guides covering environmental, health & safety, transportation, accounting, business practices, standards and law, offering comprehensive guidance on key compliance and regulatory issues. STP is a division of Glacier Media Inc., a Canadian information communications company that provides primary and essential information in print, electronic and online media. Glaciers Business and Professional Information Group publishes directories, technical manuals, research and development materials, medical education, electronic databases, investment information and specialty websites.

About Specialty Technical Consultants

Specialty Technical Consultants, Inc. (STC) is a specialized management consulting firm working to enhance environmental health and safety (EHS) performance. Through its consulting services, STC partners with clients to strengthen management systems' design and implementation, and identifies needs and implements solutions to meet business objectives. Services provided include: EHS compliance support; risk assessment; EHS auditing; corporate responsibility and sustainability; EHS management systems development and implementation; EHS regulatory information tools; and EHS training.

STC is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE) by the Womens Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC) and the Supplier Clearinghouse for the California Public Utilities Commission, and as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) Program.
DX-2002 DiagnostX Unit (Monitors & Measures All Radios - in Real Time, All the Time) Chris Pandolfi, communications specialist for the city of Tallahassee, Florida, agreed. The unit saved us 250 man hours in the very first week, Pandolfi said.

Each and every day, first responders put their lives on the line to protect the public, no matter if it is a routine traffic stop or an emergency situation. It is vital their radio equipment is working properly providing clear and reliable communication when they need it.

Approximately 15 to 20 percent of radios can drift out of alignment each year, causing them to fail at anytime. Many public safety agencies have anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 radios or more, on their land mobile radio (LMR) networks. Technicians dont know which radios are fine and which need to be aligned - without bringing them all in for testing, which can cost an agency hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

LocusUSAs patented DiagnostX technology can eliminate those added expenses. DiagnostX is a long range Over-the-Air (OTA) radio waveform analyzer. It measures the alignment and field performance of portable and mobile radios as theyre deployed in the field through a 24/7, real-time network. The unit indicates when a radio needs to be brought in for service. This unique technology is non-intrusive to a radio system and can be networked to provide system wide coverage.

Several large metropolitan areas in the United States are already using DiagnostX. They range from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and from San Diego to Orlando with statewide systems in development as well.

Chris Pandolfi, communications specialist for the city of Tallahassee, Florida, agreed. The unit saved us 250 man hours in the very first week, Pandolfi said.

Cost-cutting isn't the only benefit derived from DiagnostX. The ability to determine whether communication problems are specifically due to a faulty radio or a problem on the network means fewer issues between users and dispatch. This is a huge advantage for agencies that are located in rural or mountainous areas, where coverage can be spotty.

The system has made quite an impression on the city of Colorado Springs, Colorado, since it was installed to monitor the Pikes Peak Regional Communications Network.

Servicing all the radios in the system is immensely time-consuming. I estimate that it would take two people three months of every year to go out into the field and check every radio. It also inconveniences the radio user, said Randy Bell, former communications manager for the citys Department of Information Technology Communications, which oversees maintenance of the 5,500-plus radios in the network. DiagnostX is another tool that helped us do more with less.

DiagnostX has proven to be a powerful tool, ensuring that police, fire and EMS workers can feel confident their radios will work whenever and wherever they are needed.

For more information about DiagnostX by LocusUSA, visit http://www.locususa.com or call 321-727-3077.

About LocusUSA

LocusUSA is an engineering and software development company located in Melbourne on the Space Coast of Florida since 2001. It is a world leader in the area of RF capture for location and analysis. The ability to capture and analyze the characteristics of the radio waveform led to the development of DiagnostX, a patented system that can ascertain the alignment and other key metrics of a radio, Over-the-Air (OTA) in real time, all the time.

LocusUSA supports government customers across the United States and Canada on the local, state and federal levels with this first-of-its-kind, proactive tool, ensuring the optimal performance of a radio system.

To learn more, visit http://www.locususa.com or connect with LocusUSA on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

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For companies looking for an affordable, easy to deploy and operate, yet feature rich system, Accuplus is the perfect solution, explained Bobby Kaemmer, Cadres Vice President of Supply Chain Services and Support.

Cadre Technologies today announced the 3.0 version of Accuplus WMS. The release includes many functional enhancements, new features and platform improvements. The release positions Accuplus for continued market growth in the small to midrange 3rd party logistics marketplace.

The system enables all warehouse functions including receiving, inventory management, picking and shipping either in a manual mode or via radio frequency. It also supports kitting and hazardous material handling.

A short list of updated functionality includes:



Expanded CAS Codes for Hazardous Material Storage

Enhanced Efficiency through Pallet Building via RF Handhelds

PDF Emailing of Invoices for Storage & Handling

Reporting of Shipped Orders by CSR

Expanded Sales Revenue Tracking by Product/Dept

For companies looking for an affordable, easy to deploy and operate, yet feature rich system, Accuplus is the perfect solution, explained Bobby Kaemmer, Cadres Vice President of Supply Chain Services and Support. The release makes Accuplus an even more powerful and complete system to run third party operations.

Accuplus has provided a stable, feature rich, cost-effective, warehouse software solution for more than three decades. It is one of the most used systems in North America by both large and smaller logistics service providers.

About Cadre Technologies

Cadre Technologies is a leading innovator of software for fulfillment and logistics operations including warehouse management, transportation management and online collaboration. Products include Accuplus 3rd Party Logistics WMS; LogiView, SaaS based supply chain control tower; and Cadence Warehouse Management System. The company is based in Denver, Colorado with offices in Lenexa, Kansas and Baltimore, Maryland. Cadre is a FOG Software Group company, part of Constellation Software Inc. (TSX:CSU). For more information, visit http://www.cadretech.com.
Melanie MacTavish and Kyle Forrest Burns Nye Ranch When we first moved here from Chico, the old-timers said 'you'll be growing peas and potatoes, right? They couldn't imagine that we intended to grow more than 70 varieties of vegetables and 150 varieties of flowers on less than two acres of land

Local farmers Melanie MacTavish and Kyle Forrest Burns of Nye Ranch are pleased to announce that they've been certified organic by Mendocino Renegade, which supports and promotes local organic and biodynamic farms and businesses. The certification program is a project of Mendocino Organic Network, which is structured to stay small, local, informal, independent, non-governmental, and non-bureaucratic. Founded by regional organic apple farmer and activist Tim Bates whose Apple Farm in Philo, CA. is also certified biodynamic, Mendo Renegade is an inexpensive, credible program of labeling local, biologically produced food for local farmers who use organic processes.

Nye Ranch is a beautiful little farm just a short five minute drive north on Highway 1 from the center of Fort Bragg, CA. Melanie MacTavish coined the phrase "farming in harmony with soil and sea" when she and her fiance Kyle Forrest Burns moved to Fort Bragg in 2015 with a desire to strengthen the coastal community through small scale, organic agriculture.

"When we first moved here from Chico, the old-timers said 'you'll be growing peas and potatoes, right?'" says Burns. "They couldn't imagine that we intended to grow more than 70 varieties of vegetables and 150 varieties of flowers on less than two acres of land."

By respecting and nurturing the soil, including using kelp from local provider Rising Tide Sea Vegetables and oyster shells, they are able to work with the ecology of the local landscape in a biologically intensive process for maximum productivity. They lease the land from Burns' parents, who purchased the six acre parcel on the ocean side of Highway 1 in 2003. Nye Ranch was originally a two hundred acre dairy farm that extended all the way to MacKerricher State Park.

Their first year of farming they started more than ten thousand vegetable and flower seeds for early spring planting and created forty-seven permanent hundred-foot long raised beds. MacTavish indulges her passion for flowers by drawing inspiration from the rugged ocean and coastline for her unique cut flower creations, which are in high demand at local farmer's markets, and for weddings and special occasions.

The couple has big plans for Burns' favorite plant, garlic. Starting out with 1500 garlic plants the first year, they've worked up to 9,000 garlic plants this year, and plan to host an annual Garlic Festival beginning this fall, with booths selling locally made products, and mini workshops about all of the properties and medicinal uses of garlic. They plan to use a dry farming technique for their garlic, utilizing a thick straw mulch that retains moisture and prevents weed pressure.

"Since it takes nine months to grow, Kyle calls garlic his baby," says MacTavish, "We're hoping the Garlic Festival attracts visitors to the area and helps bring attention to small organic farms like ours on the Mendocino Coast."

Nye Ranch will also occasionally host the Farmer's Guild this year, an organization founded by farmers who want to share skills and knowledge and be a collective voice for sustainable agriculture. The Farmer's Guild supports healthy food production by helping farms become economically viable with social networks designed to attract, cultivate, and sustain a new generation of young farmers ready to work the land. In 2017 they merged with Community Alliance with Family Farmers, CAFF.

The couple is also excited about having the first Perone Beehive in Mendocino County. Although well-known in Mexico, and Central and South America, the Perone Hive was developed by 40-year beekeeper Oscar Perone with the intention of providing a natural environment for bees that is non-invasive and better for the bees. Honey is harvested just once each Spring. The Perone Hive and PermApiculture system hopefully will be instrumental in reversing the trend of colony collapse disorder by facilitating the natural behaviors of a colony.

Nye Ranch received grant funding from the NRCS (Natural Resources Conservation Service) to plant a Pollinator Hedgerow around the entire farm. The hedgerow incorporates native plants and provides flower forage for all the beneficial insects and small creatures that live on the farm. The goal is to always have some plants in bloom, therefore providing a constant supply of food for the bees, butterflies, moths, and hummingbirds. The pollinator hedgerow acts as a windbreak and provides shelter from intense coastal winds. Since Fort Bragg was designated the first "Bee City USA" member in California, projects like the Nye Ranch Pollinator Hedgerow will ensure ample habitat for the endangered pollinators of the North Coast.

Nye Ranch now has a single employee, Magnolia Barrett, who worked with Noyo Food Forest, a local organization that offers experiential training to engage and inspire young people in the community to learn how to grow fruit and vegetable crops served in Fort Bragg school cafeterias and sold at local farmers markets.

"Maggie has a sunny personality, which the plants appreciate as much as we do," says MacTavish. "She's made it possible for us to expand the amount of food we produce by giving more attention to each crop. We're proud to be a part of this vibrant coastal community, providing accessible, nourishing organic food and a biologically diverse habitat using sustainable farming techniques."

Photo: BlakeFloydGardner.com

Video: Burnshimself.com
Education technology company, Learning.com and game-based learning platform, CodeMonkey, today announced their comprehensive coding solution, Coding Foundations bundle, is a finalist in the 2017 Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Awards in the Best Coding and Computational Thinking Solution category. This prestigious annual awards program highlights achievement across the industry and honors the best education technology, business software and digital content.

We collaborated with CodeMonkey to develop a coding solution that is both comprehensive and fun for students to use for learning to code and building computational thinking skills, said Learning.com CEO, Keith Oelrich. We are honored that the CODiEs educator judges have given us this prestigious recognition.

Since 1986, the SIIA CODiE Awards have recognized thousands of software, information and education technology companies for achieving excellence. The CODiE Awards are the only peer-recognized program in the content, information, education and software technology industries, honoring a products innovation, vision and overall industry impact.

CodeMonkey relies on local education companies to scale its impact globally, says CodeMonkey CEO, Jonathan Schor. This recognition is more proof that Learning.com is the ideal partner for us in the United States.

The Coding Foundations bundle is comprised of EasyCode, which includes CodeMonkey, a fun and educational game environment designed to help students learn to code in CoffeeScript, a simple yet powerful coding language that is inspired by Python and JavaScript. EasyCode offers elementary and middle school educators a fun, game-based and turnkey instructional solution that features coding challenges, game lessons, a game builder and progress monitoring so teachers can quickly and efficiently introduce coding skills to their students.

The 2017 CODiE Award winners will be announced on July 26 at the Education Impact Symposium in San Francisco.

About Learning.com

Founded in 1999, Learning.com currently partners with one in six school districts and serves five million students nationwide. Learning.com provides K-12 solutions to help students, teachers, and schools excel in a digital world. Districts equip their students with the technology and 21st century skills needed for success on online assessments, college, and the workforce using Learning.coms digital literacy solutions. Learning.coms digital content tools help districts build and share custom digital curriculum helping them meet their instructional goals, facilitate personalized learning, and address budget challenges. Through implementation services and professional development, Learning.com serves educators as they integrate technology and digital content into instruction.

About CodeMonkey

CodeMonkey, a leading game-based-learning platform, teaches students eight years and older the fundamental principles of computer programming. Founded in 2014, CodeMonkey products are designed to maximize engagement and user experience to introduce students to foundational computer programming skills. Using real programming languages and scalability for all learning environments, CodeMonkey provides a turnkey solution for educators by offering basic training, management and reporting tools, automatic grading and detailed tutorials for teachers and real-time feedback for students. CodeMonkey has introduced computer science skills through play to millions of students worldwide. For more information visit: http://www.playcodemonkey.com
DuPage County Attorney Gerry Cassioppi DuPage County Attorney Gerald A. Cassioppi joins a long list of past DCBA presidents, dating back more than 100 years.

The law firm of Momkus McCluskey Roberts LLC congratulates attorney Gerald A. Cassioppi on his installation as the president of the DuPage County Bar Associations Board of Directors. Cassioppi officially took on the leadership role during the DCBAs Presidents Ball and Installation Dinner June 9 at the Drake in Oak Brook. Momkus McCluskey Roberts LLC attorney Stacey A. McCullough was also installed as the DCBAs second vice president during the event.

DuPage County Attorney Gerald A. Cassioppi joins a long list of past DCBA presidents, dating back more than 100 years. The president heads the DCBAs Board of Directors, which leads the DCBA in its mission to provide education and networking opportunities for attorneys in DuPage County. Cassioppi was elected as the DCBAs third vice president in 2014. He has been on a track of ascending leadership on the board, culminating with his one-year term as president for 2017-18.

Cassioppi provides businesses with legal counsel on various topics, such as commercial contracts, executive compensation, employee contracts and real estate. He has worked with businesses ranging in size from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies. Cassioppi is currently the chairman of the DuPage County Ethics Commission and has served as general counsel to the DCBA and as a member of the Naperville District 203 School Board and Naperville Transportation Advisory Board. The DCBA named him its 2012 Lawyer of the Year. Cassioppi received his juris doctorate from the University of Illinois College of Law and is a certified public accountant.

About Momkus McCluskey Roberts LLC:

Momkus McCluskey Roberts LLC is a full-service law firm with clients across the country. Our attorneys provide legal representation in several practice areas, including commercial and civil litigation, appellate practice, business law, real estate, criminal defense, family law, and estate planning. To schedule an appointment with one of our attorneys, call 630-434-0400 or complete our online contact form.
L to R, top row: Elenita (Neth) Dano, Maria Ivanova, Ronald Jumeau. Middle row: David Keith, Alessandra Orofino, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal. Bottom row: Jairam Ramesh, Steve Rayner, Youba Sokona. CREDIT: Ter

On June 20 2017, Janos Pasztor, the executive director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative (C2G2) announced the setting up of an Advisory Group of leading international experts to guide and support its work in catalyzing the establishment of effective governance for climate geoengineering.

"Our work to catalyze the establishment of effective governance for climate geoengineering is a huge and complex challenge involving many diverse actors. The range and depth of expertise reflected in our newly established Advisory Group will considerably strengthen the C2G2 initiative's ability to navigate these challenges and deliver its mission" said Pasztor. "I am delighted to welcome such a diverse and knowledgeable group of experts to the group and very much look forward to working together on this important and timely task."

The Advisory Group is constituted from a diverse group of leading international experts covering a wide range of sectors and countries, selected to ensure deep insight into key issues relevant to achievement of the C2G2 mission. At this time, the group includes:

Ms. Elenita (Neth) Dano, Asia Director, Action Group on Erosion, Technology and Concentration (ETC Group) (Philippines);

Ms. Maria Ivanova, Associate Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts, Boston (USA, Bulgaria);

Mr. Ronald Jumeau, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Seychelles to the United Nations and Ambassador for Climate Change, Republic of Seychelles (Tanzania, Seychelles);

Mr. David Keith, Professor of Applied Physics and Professor of Public Policy, Harvard University, USA (Canada, USA, UK);

Ms. Alessandra Orofino, Executive Director and Co-founder of Meu Rio, Brazil (Brazil);

Mr. Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Global Lead, Climate and Energy, WWF International and former Minister of State for Environment in Peru (Peru);

Mr. Jairam Ramesh, Member of Parliament, Former Minister for the Environment, Republic of India (India);

Mr. Steve Rayner, James Martin Professor of Science & Civilization, University of Oxford, UK (UK);

Mr. Youba Sokona, Coordinator, African Climate Policy Centre; Vice Chair, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (Mali).

For short biographies of the C2G2 Advisory Group, click here: https://www.carnegiecouncil.org/programs/ccgg/advisory-group

Two more Advisory Group members will be added during the remainder of this year.

Advisory Group members provide advice on the substantive issues behind the work of C2G2. They will provide independent strategic guidance and support to help ensure the initiative's work is well informed, effective and high impact. As the Advisory Group is not a decision-making body, the members have no direct and accountable influence over the work of the initiative.

For further information contact the C2G2 Team at: contact(at)c2g2.net.

When asked why they consider the work of the initiative to be important, Advisory Group members commented:

"Governance is the design and execution of policy. Effective governance for climate geoengineering will require imagination and knowledge supported by systematic research, discussions, and deliberations." - Maria Ivanova

"Because there is no Planet B, all deliberations and any decision on experiments or deployment of technologies that pose grave and unpredictable consequences to the planet and the people must involve civil society, social movements and potentially affected communities. The rights to Know and to say 'No' must be protected and respected at all times." - Neth Dano

"Isolated and vulnerable in the vastness of the oceans and seas that surround us and which we call home, Islanders need to know that somewhere out of sight, someone is not interfering with the climate in ways further detrimental to our survival." - Ronny Jumeau

"Solar geoengineering has the best chance of enabling social and environmental benefits if development of the technology and assessment of its risks and benefits proceeds hand-in-hand with the development of international governance" - David Keith

"Barring a global economic catastrophe, it does not seem credible that the world will meet its current target of limiting atmospheric warming by 2C, let alone 1.5C, through conventional mitigation alone. The feasibility and wisdom of deliberate interventions in the climate system to meet present goals raise fundamental issues about humanity's relationship with climate, the goals that we set for ourselves, and the means by which we pursue them." - Steve Rayner

"Exploring the unknown territory in the context of common good certainly prevents taking uninformed harmful decisions." - Youba Sokona

ABOUT CARNEGIE COUNCIL

Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1914, Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs is an educational, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that produces lectures, publications, and multimedia materials on the ethical challenges of living in a globalized world. Go to http://www.carnegiecouncil.org.
"Our goal now is to turn this challenge into an opportunity to better serve our customers and increase Reed's contributions to the local art communities," said Bob Reed

Reed Art & Imaging, one of Denvers oldest fine art printmakers, has purchased a new home in Lakewoods 40 West Arts District. The company will move later this summer into an historic former movie theater at 8000 West Colfax, which currently houses a Harley-Davidson dealership. The move will provide Reed with more space and the ability to better showcase the work of its extensive client base.

Reed has operated out of its current location at 888 Federal Blvd. since 1979, but changes caused by the City of Denvers Federal Boulevard Improvement Project, prompted the move. The project, which will add a third northbound lane between 5th Avenue and 14th Avenue on Federal and widen both the northbound and southbound lanes in that corridor, will eliminate Reeds front parking lot, leaving it with insufficient parking for its customers and more than 30 employees.

Staying was simply not an option. Our customers often need to pick up extremely valuable large format prints, so without on-site parking and with little street parking available, there was no way we could accommodate them safely and conveniently, said Reed Owner Bob Reed, who founded the company in 1976 with his wife and business partner, Betty Reed. Our goal now is to turn this challenge into an opportunity to better serve our customers and increase Reed's contributions to the local art communities.

At over 20,000-square feet, Reeds new home has room for a gallery to display client artwork, some of which include such renowned artists and photographers as Karmel Timmons, John Fielder and Jeff Mitchum. Reed also plans to use its new parking lot along Colfax Avenue for pop-up galleries or art markets, where artists can set up booths to sell their work. Using the new building to host fundraising events for arts and cultural-focused non-profits is also a possibility.

We are thrilled to have Reed join one of the states fastest growing arts district and help us continue our mission of revitalizing West Colfax, said Bill Marino, Board Chairman and Executive Director of the Lakewood West Colfax Business Improvement District.

Reed plans to stay open throughout the transition to its new home, which is less than five miles from its current location. The company will be making minor renovations to the new site and is currently working with the City of Lakewood to keep the buildings historic signage intact.

Many of Reeds employees are artists and are passionate about pursuing their craft, so moving to an area that is focused on advancing artists and creative entrepreneurs feels like coming home, added Bob Reed.

About Reed Art & Imaging

Family-owned and operated Reed Art & Imaging is a nationally recognized fine art printmaker based in Lakewood, Colorado. Established in 1976 to create elite-level photographic and fine art prints, the company is dedicated to helping professional artists grow successful careers by providing the finest quality art editions and reproductions. To better realize this goal, Reed has developed the TrueArt Process, a methodology focused on maximizing the creative equity that artists of all skill levels invest in their work. Reed also provides mounting and lamination services, large format pigment, metal and photographic prints, graphic design services and installation.

For more information http://www.reedphoto.com/moving
We need to replace the cumbersome and manual mortgage processes with a flawless digital experience.

Floify, the leading provider of mortgage automation software for loan originators, announces the addition of Credit Plus Incs Trended Credit Data solution to its Floify App Store. This app enables Floifys lenders to collect a borrowers credit report automatically during the 1003 Apply Now or on demand directly from their Floify account. The automated Trended Credit Data app streamlines this piece of the mortgage process for both borrowers and lenders and provides a next-level layer of security to combat mortgage fraud.

Credit Plus Incs Trended Credit Data solution eliminates the hassle of collecting credit reports for loans by empowering borrowers to digitally submit their consent directly to lenders in just a few clicks. TransUnion and Equifax are requiring the delivery of trended credit reports for all mortgage transactions, and Experian is expected to follow suite soon.

The need to go digital has been driven by borrowers, who have the expectation of digital offerings for normal daily tasks, like banking, shopping, and travel planning. They innately expect an intuitive and secure experience, said Dave Sims, Floifys CEO. We need to replace the cumbersome and manual mortgage processes with a flawless digital experience.

Floify launched its App Store in April of 2017 and allows solution providers to build applications that push relevant, opt-in data to Floifys subscribers, which include loan officers, real estate agents, and borrowers. Potential application partners include platforms that verify borrower information, provide property-related insurance and title data, CRMs, loan origination systems, or lead generation providers.

Loan officers and their teams can get more information and a demo of the Floify App Store here.

About Floify

Floify (floify.com) is a mortgage solutions SaaS platform that streamlines the mortgage process by providing a secure communication and document portal between lenders, borrowers, referral partners, and other mortgage stakeholders. Loan Originators use the platform to collect and verify borrower documentation, track loan progress, communicate with borrowers and real estate agents, and close loans faster. The company is based in Boulder, Colorado and is privately held.

Credit Plus, Inc. provides intelligent insight to mortgage professionals so they can make smart lending decisions. Headquartered in Salisbury, Md., the company is a third-party verifications specialist offering more than 160 products and services for mortgage professionals, including credit reports, scoring tools, Deposit and Asset Verifications, Employment Verifications, Tax Return Verifications, fraud prevention tools, Undisclosed Debt Verifications, flood reports, appraisals, and more. Its expertise in the mortgage industry enables it to quickly assess current and future needs, and provide new solutions for a rapidly changing environment. Credit Plus moves mortgage professionals forward.
Licensed Polaroid "My Selfie" t-shirt from Uware Brands

Uware Brands has entered into a licensing agreement with Polaroid for a line of Polaroid branded apparel in the United States and Canada.

"The addition of Polaroid to our growing portfolio of licensors is a great way to recognize Polaroids 80th anniversary, said David Harkins, VP, Marketing for Uware. We are excited about working with Polaroid, and feel that Uware offers a unique approach to the brand that will resonate with our fans and followers.

The first Polaroid licensed products from Uware Brands include unique graphic tees like the Be Original shirt, the My Selfie shirt, and the Picture Yourself shirt. The tees in the line feature bold and clever designs that incorporate the iconic Polaroid Classic Border Logo and legacy Polaroid cameras.

Polaroid branded t-shirts are now available online Uware Brands consumer store http://www.uwaretees.com as well as at select retail locations.

About Uware Brands

Uware Brands is a leading provider of licensed and private label apparel. The company has a long history of developing and marketing successful printed apparel merchandising programs for the wholesale and retail markets. Uware Brands works with many of America's leading brands, offering innovative designs in partnership with iconic brands such as NRA, RUGER, CHRIS KYLE FROG FOUNDATION, SOUTHERN LIVING, and others. The companys licensed and private label products can be found online, in major sporting goods retailers, department stores, in local retail stores and online at uwaretees.com. For more information about Uware Brands and its products, please visit uwarebrands.com.

About Polaroid

Polaroid is one of the worlds most trusted, respected and recognizable brands, with a rich 80-year history built primarily on Polaroid instant cameras and film. The companys complete range of products was designed to deliver the fun, instant gratification and creative freedom for which the brand has long stood. Today, the Polaroid Classic Border Logo, rooted in the instant photo sharing that Polaroid pioneered, is the mark of genuine Polaroid branded products. For more information, visit Polaroid.com.

Polaroid, Polaroid & Pixel, Polaroid Color Spectrum, and Polaroid Classic Border Logo are trademarks of PLR IP Holdings, LLC, used under license.

###

Media Contact for Polaroid

Tracey Benjamini

tbenjamini(at)randjsc.com

908.722.5757
The PeaceJam Foundation is happy to announce the winner of the 1st Annual PeaceJam Special Jury Prize. This prestigious prize will be awarded to the film Lontago Dagli Occhi (Out Of Sight) by Rai Radiotelevisione Italiana at the Monte Carlo Television Festival today, June 20th, 2017. The purpose of the prize is to recognize outstanding Television Films that embody the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize, and the prize is to be awarded alongside the famous Golden Nymph Awards. Nobel Peace Prize winner and former President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, will present this prestigious award. The Peacejam Special Jury Prize adds a unique new humanitarian component to the Television Festival.

Through dramatic images, testimonies and symbolic stories, Lontago Dagli Occhi, tells the story of a generous island in the Strait of Sicily that welcomes refugees after their difficult journeys. The film was chosen by an international assembly of 11 distinguished personalities headed by PeaceJam founders, Ivan Suvanjieff and Dawn Engle, nominees for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

The mission of the PeaceJam Foundation is to create a new generation of young leaders dedicated to transforming themselves, their communities, and the world. Fourteen Nobel Peace Prize winners lead the PeaceJam Foundation -- Nobels mentoring youth, to change the world.

In addition to the Special Jury Prize, PeaceJam is also presenting The PeaceJam Leadership Award which recognizes someone in the Monaco Community who has done exceptional work in their field, who has promoted the work of PeaceJam, and who has embodied the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize and Billion Acts Campaign.

This year Celina Lafuente de Lavotha, founder of Monaco Reporter will receive this prestigious award on 20 June from H.E. Oscar Arias Former President of Costa Rica and Nobel Peace Prize Winner. Ms. Lafuente de Lavotha was chosen for her tireless work of educating the public about PeaceJam, and covering on a regular basis, events in Monaco and disseminating it throughout the world thus creating bridges of educational and cultural understanding.
Unicon, Inc., a leading IT consulting, services, and support provider specializing in open source for the education technology market, today announced that Benito Gonzalez, Senior Software Developer at Unicon, has been selected as a 2017 Apereo Fellow. Apereo Fellows are recognized for their major contributions to the Apereo community of open source projects. Benito first joined the JASIG and Sakai communities in 2005. He joined Unicon in 2015 to better serve the Apereo Community (merged from JASIG and Sakai). Benito regularly contributes to the uPortal project and related Apereo portlets. He also presents at Open Apereo conferences, updating the community on the latest uPortal developments. Benito has sat on the Open Apereo Conference Planning Committee, and is currently a member of the uPortal Steering Committee and Incubation Work Group.

"I am truly delighted in joining the esteemed group of Apereo Fellows, said Benito Gonzalez, Senior Software Developer, Unicon. It is a great honor to be recognized by the community for my support of the Apereo Foundation, and I hope to continue contributing for the foreseeable future.

The 2017 Apereo Fellows were announced at the Open Apereo conference in Philadelphia, PA, June 4-8, 2017. The purpose of the Apereo Foundation Fellows Program is to acknowledge, celebrate, and reward the contributions of these important Apereo volunteer contributors. The Apereo Fellows program seeks to foster community leadership and contribution through recognizing and supporting active contributors. Read about all the 2017 Apereo Fellows at https://www.apereo.org/groups/2017-apereo-fellows.

About Apereo

The Apereo Foundation is a non-profit organization supported by voluntary partner contributions. Apereo provides a rational and improved organizational umbrella for a range of projects and software communities serving higher education. Apereo is dedicated to coordinating activities that foster software development and community health to ensure the long-term viability of the projects they support. The core mission of the Foundation is to "assist and facilitate educational organizations which collaborate to foster, develop, and sustain open technologies and innovation to support learning, teaching, and research. Learn more at http://www.apereo.org.

About Unicon

Unicon, Inc. is a leading provider of IT consulting, services, and support for education technology and works with institutions and organizations to find solutions to meet business challenges. Unicon specializes in using open source technologies to deliver flexible and cost-effective systems in the areas of identity and access management; student success; learning analytics; learning management systems; portals; mobile computing; and online video. Unicon is a Commercial Affiliate of the Apereo Foundation; a Trust and Identity Solution Provider in the Internet2 Industry Program and an Industry Member of Internet2; an InCommon Participant; a Contributing Member of IMS Global Learning Consortium; an Advanced Consulting Partner in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Partner Network; an Instructure Certified Partner; and a Desire2Learn (D2L) Technology Partner. For more information, visit: http://www.unicon.net.

# # #

Unicon is a Registered Trademark of Unicon, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners.
Scriptel Corporation With Scriptel signature pads, we found a solution compatible with our current system and ready (to handle) future upgrades to our IT infrastructure

Incoming! It used to be that the University of Charleston mailroom processed 20 to 30 packages daily.

Today parcels in need of special handlingparticularly those larger than a standard P.O. Boxhave begun to arrive at an ever-quickening pace, as trends in online shopping push the number of incoming packages higher. Some are addressed to students. Others are addressed to staff. Still others are addressed to faculty members.

The UC mailroom staff currently processes an average of 150 parcels per day.

"Our legacy mail system was woefully outdated," explains Brian Baum, senior analyst and developer at the University of Charleston, whose task it was to research and implement an effective digital workflow and electronic signature solution.

Scriptel Corporation's ScripTouch signature pad series immediately intrigued him.

"We were concerned that our current pressure to modernize would force us to make an ill-informed decision. With Scriptel signature pads, however, we found a solution compatible with our current system and ready (to handle) future upgrades to our IT infrastructure."

After reviewing Baum's concerns, the Scriptel sales team recommended a ScripTouch ProScript interface-equipped Magstripe LCD Signature Pad (ST1525). During the 30-day demo period alone, Baum noted, the extent of the interface's flexibility made for easy integration into UC's existing system and minimized the need for development.

Scriptel has led the electronic signature pad and digitizer component industries since 1982. The trusted provider of capacitive pen, touch screen and Citrix Ready signature capture device technology offers solutions with a range of professional applications. While Scriptel has partnered with other universities, this was UC's first foray into eSign technology for the mailroom.

"The University of Charleston's reach extends around the world," says Scriptel President and CEO Stephan Herron, "as does our own."

"We know that an increased presence in the global marketplace brings with it increased responsibility, so we were thrilled to help UC use paperless technology to quickly and securely: manage its incoming parcels, establish a reliable chain-of-custody from receipt through pickup and address its information security needs at every point in between."

"I also think it's a hoot that we found a way to make the UC's Golden Eagle mascot dance across the capture pad whenever its digital signature display launches into screensaver mode. Go, Golden Eagles!"

UC's previous mailroom system was designed in the early 2000s, when online shopping was still in its early-adopter phase. Today? Online shopping is the norm. As The Wall Street Journal reported, 2016 was the year in which consumers finally tipped the scales and began making "more of their purchases on the web than in stores."

Scriptel's custom digitizing solution satisfies three distinct needs for UC, by being:



Scalable  keeping pace with evolving trends

Efficient  simplifying handling and accountability

Secure  enabling student, staff and faculty ID authentication and encryption to make parcel tracking, pickup scheduling and receipt more seamless and reliable

If UPS's "Pulse of the Online Shopper" report for 2016 is any indication, all three areas are of critical concern. Third-parties like Scriptel have begun playing a large role in the e-commerce experience of those living, learning and working both on- and off-campus.

Indeed, after their initial experience with Scriptel, UC went on to order additional units. Go, Golden Eagles, go! Details can be found at Scriptel.com/case-studies. A 30-day, risk-free trial is available on ScriptTouch products by calling Sales at (877) 848-6824 or filling out this webform.

Scriptel is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The company offers Top Tier service and software integration support by phone, via email, in person (by appointment) and through social mediamost recently via @ScriptelSupport on Twitter.

###

About Scriptel

Scriptel Corp. (est. 1982)  An innovator in the e-sign and digitizer component industries, Scriptel debuted its first peripheral in the late 1980s. It has since become a trusted leader in capacitive pen and Citrix Ready electronic signature pad technology with POS, healthcare and other professional applications. Software solutions include EasyScript 3.0, ScripTouch Remote and now mSign  turning any mobile device into a wireless signature pad.

Copyright  2017, Scriptel Corporation. Scriptel, ScripTouch, Assist, EasyScript, mSign, OmniScript, ProScript, StaticCap, and Sign and Save, along with their associated logos, are the property of Scriptel Corporation.
TOKYO  June 20, 2017  Kudan, Inc., a leading computer vision company providing core technologies behind Augmented Reality (AR) applications, is partnering with LINE Corporation to develop advanced AR filters for LINEs selfie camera app B612.

Launched in August 2014, B612 has grown in popularity around the world, surpassing 300 million downloads (as of Jan. 29, 2017). B612 enables users to create pictures and movies using a variety of filters and other effects, including AR filters that integrate fun and fantastical elements with real-world objects and landscapes when viewed through the camera screen.

Kudans proprietary computer vision technology features markerless AR and Visual Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), which is capable of 3D mapping and tracking feature points in 2D images to recognize space and objects. Kudans versatile technology is fully cross-platform; iOS, Android and working flexibly without dependency on specific hardware.

As AR-based features are becoming more important in camera apps, B612 is looking to use Kudans leading-edge technologies to enhance its AR capabilities and take its mobile applications to the next level.

About Kudan

Founded in Bristol, UK, Kudan is a leading computer vision technology company, providing proprietary software such as AR SDK and 2D/3D image recognition algorithms, along with versatile and robust visual SLAM for both monocular and multiple cameras, which is applicable for AR/VR, IoT, AI and Robotics solutions. Kudans hardware-agnostic technology is ready to be embedded on all image-related devices and platforms in years to come.

About LINE

Based in Japan, LINE Corporation (NYSE:LN/TSE:3938) is dedicated to the mission of Closing the Distance, bringing together people, information, and society. The LINE messaging app was launched in June 2011 and has since grown into a diversified global platform, operating a range of services and contents.

For inquiries and further information

Kudan, Inc

Email: hello(at)kudan(dot)eu

Phone: +813-6273-9760

LINE Corporation

Email: dl_gpr(at)linecorp(dot)com
Construct-A-Lead is an online construction lead service that helps contractors, service providers, manufacturers and suppliers gain information on all large scale construction projects. The service features apartment construction, hotel construction, retail construction, medical construction, school renovations & more, including those hard-to-find private project leads, to help bid on construction, from planning stage- completion.

Construct-A-Lead, the industrys most comprehensive construction lead service, announces the following Texas projects will go forward. Construct-A-Leads newly implemented advanced search feature allows the user to find their leads or key contacts by project type, location, bid stage, dollar value, company, or keyword.

Users are able to track projects status, save searches, put personalized notes on projects, email a project to a colleague or customer, reach out directly to the decision maker and download construction leads with a one-touch feature.

Interested parties are invited to visit Construct-A-Lead.com and sign up for a no obligation test drive, where they will be able to experience these newly integrated features. Users will be able to receive regular alerts on new and updated construction projects, in accordance with the individuals preference.

An example of the Texas projects available within the database is listed below. Reference the Project ID to utilize the new site features and to obtain direct contact information for each construction lead:

Dallas, TX  Xerox redevelopment- Plans call for the redevelopment of the former Xerox property into a 1,400,000 SF mixed use development, to include a residential tower, luxury hotel, shopping and restaurants plus two office towers. Construction start: Q1, Q2, 2019 $1,500,000,000. Project ID: 1393622

Katy, TX  VibraLife  Plans call for building a new post-acute and residential care community at 58,000 square feet and provide a total of 104 beds, including a 70-bed transitional care rehabilitation center, an 18-bed assisted living center and a 16-bed secured memory care unit. Construction start: 6/22/2017, $25,000,000 Project ID: 1393321

Austin, TX  Arrive hotel  Plans call for a new boutique hotel. 83 rooms. 5 story. The 58,600-square feet. Construction start: Q4, 2017. $17,400,000 Project ID: 1393621

San Antonio, TX  Southside ISD New Elementary School - Plans call for building a new elementary school totaling approximately 65,000 square feet. Construction start: Q3, 2017. $30,000,000 Project ID: 1393271

San Marcos, TX  Cabana Beach  Plans call for the renovation and upgrade of the newly acquired 744-bed community serving the students at Texas State University. Construction start: OQ3, Q4, 2017, $10,000,000. Project ID: 1393439

McAllen, TX  Premier Plaza Retail Center  Plans call for the new construction of a 46,000-square-foot shopping center with Class A medical space on the second floor. Construction start: July, 2017. $5,000,000. Project ID: 1393491

Construct-A-Lead is an online database that connects users to large-scale commercial construction projects, including those hidden, private project leads.

The service features hotel construction, office buildings, retail construction, medical facilities, school renovations and much more, to help bid on construction including those hard-to-find private project leads, from planning stage through completion. Construct-A-Leads daily updates of commercial construction project leads are an ideal solution for those who want to put their product or service into commercial, government and religious structures.

For more information, visit Construct-A-Lead.com online or call 855-874-1491.
2016 was a year of tremendous growth at HMT allowing us to enter Top Workplaces for the first time. Being named a Top Workplace is an incredible honor, because it comes directly from our employees.

HMT Associates, a shopper-focused brand activation agency, was officially named a 2017 Top Workplace in Northeast Ohio. The Plain Dealer released this years results on June 18.

HMT specializes in creating marketing strategies that transform all ways consumers engage with brands, in-store, online and experientially for clients such as Kraft Heinz and Mondelez International. One of 29 newcomers to the list, HMT leadership works hard at being a best-in-class workplace for their team. 2016 was a year of tremendous growth at HMT allowing us to enter Top Workplaces for the first time. Being named a Top Workplace is an incredible honor, because it comes directly from our employees, says Patti Conti, founder and CEO of HMT. At HMT, we are about people first. We are dedicated to fostering a collaborative team environment with an entrepreneurial spirit  and this award is a testament to our success.

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. Doug Claffey, CEO of WorkplaceDynamics, says the award reflects employee sentiment. The Top Workplaces award is not a popularity contest. And oftentimes, people assume its all about fancy perks and benefits, he says. 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 day  the 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 adds, Without this sense of connection, an organization doesnt have a shot at being named a Top Workplace.

###

About HMT

Headquartered in Cleveland, OH and founded in 2002, HMT is a shopper-focused brand activation agency dedicated to transforming all ways consumers experience brands in-store, online and experientially. HMT works with some of the worlds most iconic brands including Oreo, Ritz Crackers, Kraft, Oscar Mayer, Swedish Fish and Sour Patch. Connect with @HMTassociates on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. http://www.hmtassociates.com

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 over 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.
My philosophy when it comes to treating prostate cancer is that the care must be individualized and with new genetic testing diagnostic tools, I can gather much more information about a patients case each step of the way

A recent survey of men who were eligible for testing of their knowledge of cancer risk and genetics (KCRG) found that the understanding of their personal genetic test results are either lacking or being misinterpreted by some men who had taken the multigene testing for inherited prostate cancer.

A very exciting and emerging field is genetic counseling for prostate cancer. But one potential problem with it is limited insights that take into consideration the needs of men who decide they want to look into genetic testing (GT), said Dr. David Samadi. We know men with a strong family history of prostate cancer would be one reason why some men may want to undergo genetic testing. But when we offer an important and valuable service such as this, we need to make sure that men completely understand their own personal genetic test results when the results come back.

The study conducted at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, included 109 men who completed surveys before and after they underwent GT. The pre-GT survey included 15 items assessing the mens KCRG and 6 other items assessing health literacy and numeracy. The post-GT survey included 9 items assessing each mans understanding GT results. In addition, the researchers categorized personal and family history into 3 hereditary cancer syndromes (HCS) linked to prostate cancer.

Concerning however to the researchers was the fact that of 101 men who responded definitively regarding understanding of their own personal GT results, 13 responded incorrectly on mutation status indicating significant disagreement with the actual results. Twelve men of these 13 men had 1 or more variants of uncertain significance but no mutations. The results from this small study is concerning given the fact that some of the men did not completely understand the results of the genetic testing, exclaimed Dr. Samadi. This particular study was the first one surveying mens knowledge and understanding of genetics and their risk for prostate cancer.

Understanding genetics can be a complicated topic for many people. We want to be careful that if and when a man does decide to be tested for the possibility of carrying a gene for prostate cancer, that we are not only providing accurate information to them but to not forget to assess their knowledge and understanding of it. We dont want men to pass along misinformation to other healthcare providers or to their families. For instance, if a man believes incorrectly that he has a mutation when he really doesnt this could lead to unnecessary screening and risk reduction interventions that could have been avoided if he thoroughly understood his own unique results.

Dr. Samadi further explained by saying, My philosophy when it comes to treating prostate cancer is that the care must be individualized and with new genetic testing diagnostic tools, I can gather much more information about a patients case each step of the way. When I have the most accurate tests available, this enhances my ability to better distinguish candidates for prostate cancer surgery versus watchful waiting or if the disease is more likely to recur. Genetic testing is really the wave of the future of how doctors will practice medicine and as long as men understand it, Im looking forward to utilizing it more and more.

Patients newly diagnosed with prostate cancer can contact world renowned prostate cancer surgeon and urologic oncologist, Dr. David Samadi, for a free phone consultation and to learn more about prostate cancer risk, call 212-365-5000.
Ashley W.

During the months of February to April 2017, Resource One Credit Union offered a Drive Free Auto Loan Promotion. Anyone that booked a qualifying auto loan during the promotional period received 90 days no pay and had the option to choose between 0.50% rate discount or $250 cash back.

In addition, members who qualified for this promotion were automatically entered to win prizes such as free car washes for a year (valued up to $150), gas gift cards (valued up to $500), and the grand prize of loan payments paid for one year (valued up to $6,000). Resource One Credit Union would like to congratulate the prize winners below.

Free Car Washes for a Year (valued up to $150)

Alian A., Leslie M., Alisenia J., Esmon S., Joel R., Gregory D., Karen D., Larhonda S., Kascie S., Shayla W.

Gas Gift Card (valued up to $500)

Diana M. Leo G., Jeffrey B., Michael B., Daniel T.

Drive Free Grand Prize Winner  Loan Payments Made for 1 Year (valued up to $6,000)

Ashley W.

About Resource One Credit Union

Resource One Credit Union was originally chartered as Sears Dallas Employees Federal Credit Union in 1936. Over time, the increased demand for more locations and additional products and services prompted the expansion of our product lines and field of membership. Today Resource One proudly serves as a not-for-profit financial institution for the communities of Dallas and Harris counties. Resource One has 11 convenient locations to serve our over 55,000 members. Visit Resource One Credit Unions homepage at http://www.r1cu.org.

For more information contact:

Dustie Donihoo, Marketing Coordinator

Resource One Credit Union

214-540-1658

marketing(at)r1cu.org
Urjanet and eCredable jointly announce partnership. "We are excited to help eCredable unleash the power of this data..." -Sanjoy Malik, CEO, Urjanet

eCredable, The Consumers Credit Bureau, and Urjanet, the world-wide leader for utility data, today announced a strategic partnership to provide extensive access to utility and telecom payment data that can be used in a variety of industries - most notably financial services. eCredable can provide this data to Consumer and Business Credit Bureaus, Lenders, and Credit Card Issuers desiring FCRA compliant data.

Utility and telecom payments fit into the category of so-called alternative credit data which has become top-of-mind with the financial services industry. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has indicated a strong desire to see companies leverage alternative credit data to create solutions to help consumers and small business owners who are credit invisible gain access to affordable financial services. Most utility and telecom companies do not report to the major credit bureaus, creating the need to acquire this valuable information with the assistance of the empowered consumer.

Since 2009, eCredable has been helping consumers leverage everyday payments for bills like rent, utilities and telecom to build a credit score lenders can use in underwriting credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, and home loans, said Steve Ely, CEO of eCredable. Acquiring utility and telecom payment data efficiently and affordably is essential to solving the problem of helping consumers and small business owners demonstrate their creditworthiness, even when no traditional credit history is present. Urjanet helps us address this challenge.

Urjanet has built an expansive network of connections to more than 4,000 utility and telecom companies around the world, said Sanjoy Malik, CEO of Urjanet. The financial services sector operates under a myriad of complex regulations that must be adhered to, especially when handling consumer data. We are excited to help eCredable unleash the power of this data by working directly with consumers and small business owners who can benefit from sharing their payment histories with a wide variety of businesses that value this information very highly.

eCredable leverages Urjanet technology to access how consumers and small business owners pay bills like gas, water, power, mobile phone, land line, internet, cable and satellite TV. This data has been demonstrated to be very valuable in understanding the creditworthiness of consumers with little or no credit history. There are an estimated 45 million adults in the U.S. who are not scoreable using traditional scoring methods that can benefit from including this information in their eCredable AMP Credit Score. This will empower these consumers to access affordable financial products from mainstream financial service providers and avoid expensive loans from alternative providers.

There are 25 million small businesses that have less than 19 employees, of which 10 million have less than 5 employees. Small business owners typically rely on their consumer credit to apply for business lines of credit. When no credit history is available, they are also unable to apply for credit. Many small businesses (especially micro businesses with less than 5 employees) rarely have a business credit score. Having a business credit score would allow them to create some separation between their consumer credit history and their business credit history, avoiding penalizing the small business owners personal credit score.

Beyond powering the AMP Credit Score, eCredable intends to become The Consumers Data Furnisher and provide FCRA-compliant tradelines, reports, and scores to other Consumer and Business Credit Bureaus, Lenders, Credit Card Issuers, and Landlords. This patent pending process will allow these organizations to acquire additional information to further assess credit risk for all consumers and small business owners across the entire credit spectrum, from those consumers who have no traditional credit history up to, and including, consumers with a robust credit history.

eCredable is currently available to all consumers in the United States. For more information, refer to http://www.eCredable.com

About Urjanet

Urjanet is the global leader in utility data aggregation. Our technology collects, processes, and delivers data from over 4,000 electric, natural gas, water, waste, telecom, and cable utilities worldwide. The data we provide can be configured and integrated into any application to support your exact utility data needs. For more information, visit http://www.urjanet.com.

About eCredable

eCredable, The Consumers Credit Bureau, is a consumer-friendly credit bureau focused on the 45 million adults considered to be credit invisible, and the 25 million small businesses that lack payment history in their business credit files. eCredable connects consumers to lenders based on our AMP Credit Score derived from payments for rent, utilities and telecom. eCredable empowers small business owners to include this information in their business credit files which produce business credit scores lenders use when assessing creditworthiness. AMP Connect Plus allows users to automatically download their monthly bill payment history to their eCredable Profile and create a verified AMP Credit Report that meets all financial industry standards. The consumer can then share their AMP Credit Report and AMP Credit Score with any potential creditor, service provider or employer. eCredable also provides substantial financial education to assist consumers and small business owners in understanding the complexities of the financial services marketplace. AMP stands for All My Payments. The company was founded in 2009, and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia. For more information visit http://www.eCredable.com
We are thrilled to have the chance to give this year's attendees the first taste of our newest sausages...and to showcase the rest of our growing product line that offers more innovation and variety for consumers than ever before

Les Trois Petits Cochons, creator of authentic artisanal pates and charcuterie, will showcase a selection of its newest offerings at this years Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center in New York on June 25-27 (Booth #636). This years attendees will get a first look at the brands two new summer-ready sausage flavors, Chicken Provencale and Chicken Merguez, alongside the innovative Organic and Pre-Sliced collections and other fresh additions to the product line.

Since 1975, Les Trois Petits Cochons has been a leader in artisanal pates and charcuterie and continues to innovate within the category while still adhering to the brands standard of excellence and authenticity. In addition to the new summer-ready sausages, the brand will be launching a retail duck fat product at the show. The product is gluten and pork-free, and this years show attendees will get the first look. These new additions join Les Trois Petits Cochons recently released line of organic pate, mousse, and the brand new Organic Whole Wheat Petits Toasts for retail, now available at specialty food markets nationwide. The company also released a line of convenient pre-sliced charcuterie last summer, perfect for quick and easy entertaining and summer picnicking. Attendees at this years show will have the opportunity to taste these offerings, in addition to the all-new Jambon de Bayonne, an incredibly special product Les Trois Petits Cochons is importing in partnership with Maison Mayte.

The Summer Fancy Food Show is always a great opportunity to observe what innovations are happening within the specialty food industry, said David Kemp, CEO of Les Trois Petits Cochons. We are thrilled to have the chance to give this years attendees the first taste of our newest sausages, just in time for summer grilling season, and to showcase the rest of our growing product line that offers more innovation and variety for consumers than ever before.

Les Trois Petits Cochons will sample the following products at the Summer Fancy Food Show:

 Chicken Provencale: Inspired by a warm, sunny day in the Provence region of France, the brands Chicken Provencale Sausage is bursting with flavor. Shallots, sundried tomatoes, peas, carrots and other veggies are seasoned with a custom herb blend, combined with Chablis wine and chicken, packed in lamb casing and then fully cooked.

 Chicken Merguez: Packed in lamb casing and hand-cut, Les Trois Petits Cochons Chicken Merguez Sausage is made with chicken, harissa and chili pepper paste. Traditional Merguez Sausage originated in North Africa and is popular in the Middle East and Northern Europe  particularly in France. It is characteristically piquant.

 Chicken Sausage with Spinach and Gruyere Cheese: Packed in lamb casing and hand-cut, the sausage is made with chicken, spinach, gruyere cheese and additional spices.

 Organic Mousse aux Cepes (Organic Chicken Liver, Pork & Wild Mushroom Mousse): A melange of organic chicken liver, organic cepes, and organic white wine, the new Organic Mousse aux Cepes is smooth in texture and rich in flavor.

 Organic Pate de Campagne (Organic Pate de Campagne): The traditional French pate, Les Trois Petits Cochons Organic Pate de Campagne is made with coarsely ground organic pork meat, organic pork liver and seasoned with organic onions, organic garlic and other organic spices.

 Organic Pate aux Pommes et Cidre (Organic Chicken Pate with Apples and Cider): The pork-free Organic Pate aux Pommes et Cidre is a coarse and savory blend of organic chicken, organic chicken liver, organic apples and organic apple cider.

 Pre-sliced Saucisson Sec: A savory blend of pork, sea salt and several other spices, this time-honored recipe from the Pyrenees Mountains of France is hearty in texture and rich in flavor. Handmade in the USA.

 Pre-sliced Saucisson Sec aux Herbes de Provence: A savory blend of pork, salt, and a bouquet of carefully selected French herbs, including Thyme, Rosemary, and Lavender, this time-honored recipe from the Pyrenees Mountains of France is hearty in texture and rich in flavor. Handmade in the USA.

 Maison Mayte Jambon de Bayonne: Ham that has been hand-rubbed with Salies-de-Bearn and then dried in the open air for 10-12 months, the Jambon de Bayonne has a balanced and nutty flavor that pairs best with a light-bodied white wine.

 Organic Whole Wheat Petits Toasts: Organic whole wheat mini toasts with a crusty texture and mild taste, an ideal pairing for pates or cheeses.

To learn more about Les Trois Petits Cochons new sausages and the rest of its product offerings, stop by Booth #636 at the Summer Fancy Food Show or visit its new, redesigned website at http://www.3pigs.com.

###

About Les Trois Petits Cochons:

Les Trois Petits Cochons combines high quality ingredients with time-honored French recipes to create award-winning pates, charcuterie, and other authentic French offerings. Known for the superior taste and quality of its products, the brand, whose name means The Three Little Pigs, was founded in New York Citys Greenwich Village by chefs Alain Sinturel and Jean Pierre Pradie in 1975. Today, with an emphasis on handcrafted, artisanal excellence, Les Trois Petits Cochons provides an unparalleled taste experience that can be found in five-star restaurants and specialty food retailers across the country as well as in its online store. Customers can order and learn more about Les Trois Petits Cochons at http://www.3pigs.com.
The Libman "Embrace Life's Messes" tour will visit 20 U.S. cities this summer

The Libman Company, a leading U.S. manufacturer of household and commercial cleaning products, is taking to the highway for a second straight year with its Embrace Lifes Messes Tour that will travel to 171 retail locations in over 20 U.S. cities this summer. Over the course of 10 weeks, the company will give away products and special prizes during the retail store visits to encourage consumers to embrace lifes messes by letting Libman help do the work.

The Libman Embrace Lifes Messes tour will kick off in South Haven, Mich. on June 21 and end in San Diego on August 27. At the helm of the tour is a team of two, Yen and Derek, serving as Libman brand ambassadors, who will drive the Libman-branded Ford Transit van to store openings, retail locations, local events, and national historic landmarks. At the retail stops, shoppers will have the opportunity to see in-store product demos and as well as participate in games to win Libman prizes.

The tour will be documented throughout the 10 weeks with blog posts, photos and videos of the duos adventures on social media sites and on http://www.embracelifesmesses.com. Additionally, Libman will concurrently run the Spin to Win Sweepstakes where over the course of 10 weeks, consumers can spin the online animated wheel for chances to win a Libman Wonder Mop. The sweepstakes runs from June 21 through August 27.

The ten-week Embrace Lifes Messes tour is an extension of Libmans television and print ad campaign that reminds consumers to Remember the Moment and Forget the Mess. Whether its making cupcakes together, playing with the family pet, or letting the kids dabble in arts and crafts projects, the message Libman wants to send is that Libman has consumers covered so they can enjoy the moment rather than fret about the mess.

The Libman Company was founded in 1896 with one mission: to make the finest, most durable wire-wound corn brooms. The family left Lithuania for the United States in the 1890s, landed in Chicago, and started life in the New World by peddling sundries from a pushcart, selling everything from brooms to clothes-pins. The old-fashioned corn broom was a top seller.

Today, Libman has a 1.4 million square foot facility located in Central Illinois. With the fourth generation of Libmans who have come on board, they are as committed as their predecessors to providing high-quality, American-made cleaning products including mops, brushes, cleaning tools, and brooms.

About The Libman Company

The Libman Company is a family-owned company that has been making quality cleaning tools since 1896. The company manufactures products from brooms and mops to more specialized tools for kitchen and bathroom cleaning and industrial uses. Libman proudly manufactures most of their products in the United States, including the companys well-known Wonder Mop. For more information about the Libman Company, please visit http://www.libman.com.
"GTI is honored to be partnering with Yangquan, a Global Fortune 500 company, to mature this innovative gasification system," says Eddie Johnston, Senior Vice President, GTI Research and Technology Development. "This breakthrough technology provides significant economic and environmental benefits for Yangquan's coal-to chemical processes."

The R-GAS technology has been successfully operated at pilot-scale (18 tons per day) on sub-bituminous coal, bituminous coal, high ash fusion temperature anthracite coal, and petroleum coke-all with excellent test results. This testing has been conducted at GTI's pilot-scale facility located on an 18-acre campus right outside of Chicago, IL with more than 1,300 hours of hot fire testing achieved since commission of the pilot plant in December 2009.

The most recent long-duration testing was completed in December 2016 with a very high ash fusion temperature anthracite coal, which is predominant in China. This series of tests validated the robustness of the R-GAS process, demonstrating the capability to achieve >99% carbon conversion even with this low rank coal.

"Yangquan is one of the largest coal producers in China. This technology offers a step-change improvement in efficiency and cost over current gasification technology and is uniquely capable of gasifying China's low-rank coal," notes Mr. Zhai Hong, Chairman of Yangquan Group. "Coal is a leading energy choice in China, and finding the most cost effective and environmentally-friendly ways of using it will help to maintain its role as a vital contributor to our economy."

The demonstration plant will validate long-duration reliability, operability, and capital costs. Commercial versions of the new gasifier will be about one-tenth the size of competing entrained flow technologies, and the compact size and advanced design features drive higher efficiency and lower cost. Capital expenditures are estimated to be 15-25% lower than the most economical entrained flow technology.

The design enables rapid start-up and shut-down, feedstock flexibility-able to operate with all ranks of coal-and process optimization capability. R-GAS also consumes up to 30% less water and the higher efficiency results in lower overall emissions. Cost for electricity generation, chemicals, and liquid fuels production are estimated to be 15% to 25% lower compared with existing technologies.

About GTI: GTI is a leading research, development and training organization that has been addressing the nation's energy and environmental challenges by developing technology-based solutions for consumers, industry, and government for more than 75 years. http://www.gastechnology.org

About Yangquan Coal Industry Group: Yangquan Coal Industry Group is the 3rd largest coal/chemical company in China. In 2016, Yangquan Group's coal production capacity exceeded 76 million tons and produced coal-derived products in over 80 categories including chemicals and fertilizers. The Group generated US$28B in revenue in 2016 and ranked 374th among the Fortune Global 500 companies in 2016.
"It is humbling that the employees of Blvd Suites feel passionately enough about the workplace environment we have created to nominate the company for this award."

Blvd Suites Corporate Housing has been ranked the #2 small business to work for in metro Denver by the Denver Business Journal as part of the publications 2017 Best Places to Work survey.

The Best Places to Work recognizes outstanding culture and workplace environments by anonymously surveying employees. Responses are measured using 10 key engagement categories focusing on items including team effectiveness, trust in team leaders, feeling valued, leadership effectiveness, and compensation and benefits.

We have won a few awards over the years, but this is the one I am most proud of. It is humbling that the employees of Blvd Suites feel passionately enough about the workplace environment we have created to nominate the company for this award, says Founding Partner Zac Cihak.

Blvd Suites earned the #2 ranking for its pro-employee culture and passion toward customers. The Denver Business Journal specifically highlighted how team members are empowered to make decisions, and the companys manifesto of core philosophies that promote blue skies thinking, creating unsurpassed guest experiences, and providing people a healthy work/life balance. In addition, the company was celebrated for its tradition of giving cards and gift cards in recognition of team member birthdays and those of their significant others and children, and also for work anniversaries and wedding anniversaries.

One of the most significant team member benefits cited however was how upon reaching 10 years of service, team members receive $1,000 and a paid 30-day sabbatical over and above their regular vacation time.

This is super exciting and I am from the bottom of my heart both proud of and humbled by our team, says Founding Partner Jeff Hurley. This recognition is really all about our team though. Theyre the ones who are making us great.

About Blvd Suites Corporate Housing

Blvd Suites is an award-winning global provider of fully furnished temporary housing. The company supports its customers with regional locations across the United States, and services global placements from its London service center in the United Kingdom.

The company was named Company Member of the Year by the Corporate Housing Providers Association in 2009, and has been a finalist for the award in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2015. Blvd Suites received the associations award for Most Creative Marketing in 2015. In 2016 and 2017, the company was named a finalist for the Expatriate Management & Mobility Award (EMMA) in the category of Corporate Housing Provider of the Year, presented by the Forum for Expatriate Management. Blvd Suites was selected as Runner-Up in the category in 2016, and second runner-up in 2017. The company was named Most Trusted Corporate Housing Specialist  USA in Acquisition International magazines 2017 Global Mobility Immigration & International HR Awards. And in 2017, Blvd Suites was named the #2 Best Place to Work among small businesses in the Denver area by the Denver Business Journal.

Blvd Suites can be found online at http://www.BlvdSuites.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @BlvdSuites, receive news and updates at Facebook.com/BlvdSuites. Find out What Makes Us Suite and experience our serviced apartments virtually on YouTube at http://www.bit.ly/BlvdSuites_YouTube.
"IntelliVision's AI and video analytics software is in use in millions of cameras around the world in many of the leading industry brands, and is helping to power the rise of the Smart Home, Smart Enterprise and Smart City," said Vaidhi Nathan, CEO.

IntelliVision, a pioneer and leader in AI/Deep Learning video analytics software for Smart Cameras, today announced it has been selected as a 2017 Red Herring Top 100 North America winner, one of the technology industry's most prestigious awards.

Red Herring announced the winners last week at an event held in Los Angeles. The winning companies, selected from thousands of prospective startups and tech firms, represent the cutting edge of North Americas world-class technology industry and are reviewed in a rigorous 3-step process that looks at all aspects of the company including disruptiveness of the solution, company growth, technological advantage and management team quality.

IntelliVision is honored to be recognized as a technology company on the leading edge, said Vaidhi Nathan, CEO. Our AI and video analytics software is in use in millions of cameras around the world in many of the leading industry brands, and is helping to power the rise of the Smart Home, Smart Enterprise and Smart City.

This is one of the most innovative and exciting groups of companies weve ever hosted at a Top 100 awards show, said Alex Vieux, chairman of Red Herring. Its always a pleasure to come to California and see the cream of North Americas tech crop. 2017 has proven to be another fine year for tech, which is now simply the economy rather than a small part of it.

IntelliVisions portfolio of patents in AI and Deep Learning technology is redefining the video analytics segment, said Nathan. Our analytical intelligence evolves as the applications run, picking up more and more nuances and details, and giving us the highest accuracy rating in the industry.

About IntelliVision

IntelliVision is a market leader in AI and Deep Learning video analytics software for Smart Cameras, providing video analytics solutions for several markets including Smart Home/IoT, Security, Smart Retail, Smart Business, big data analytics and video search. IntelliVision technology has been recognized as the Brains Behind the Eyes for many applications deploying and using cameras to analyze video content, extract metadata, send out real-time alerts and provide intelligence to other home, business and security systems. IntelliVision provides the largest suite of video analytic products in the market today. Its products are used by Fortune 500 companies, the US Government and many leading brands. IntelliVision is headquartered in San Jose, California with offices in Asia and Europe.

For more information, visit: http://www.intelli-vision.com

Email: info(at)intelli-vision.com

Phone: 408-754-1690

###
Pictured (front) is P. Binkowski, AVP/Branch Manager at Kearny Banks Ursula Plaza branch, along with branch employees C. Brewington, C. Otey, A. LaMagna, and grand prize winner Guy P.Evans.

Oceanport resident Guy P. Evans was recently selected as the grand prize winner of Kearny Banks Customer Appreciation Sweepstakes contest, and will enjoy a week-long, expenses-paid beach house rental at Long Beach Island on the Jersey Shore. Evans is a customer of Kearny Banks Ursula Plaza/Long Branch location.

Kearny Banks 2017 Customer Appreciation Week ran from April 17 to April 22 and included branded giveaways to customers. In addition to the sweepstakes grand prize, first prize was a personal chef, to prepare a home-cooked meal for one winning customer and 7 guests, and second prize was a beach kit containing beach-themed items.

Its important that we demonstrate to our customers how much we appreciate their loyalty to us, said Eric Kesselman, First Vice President and Director of Marketing for Kearny Bank. Kearny Bank has deep roots throughout New Jersey, and always strives to maintain a sense of community at all our branch locations.

About Kearny Bank

Kearny Financial Corp. is the parent company of Kearny Bank, which operates from its administrative headquarters building in Fairfield, NJ. Kearny Bank has supported the communities it serves since 1884. The bank has assets of $4.8 billion and operates 42 full-service banking offices in northern and central New Jersey, and in Brooklyn and Staten Island, New York.
Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc., a nonprofit educational organization honoring the achievements of outstanding individuals and encouraging youth to pursue their dreams through higher education, today announced that 10 students working towards a degree in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) will receive award scholarships of $10,000. The scholarships, sponsored by Honeywell, are being awarded to high school seniors who have overcome adversity and are committed to continuing their education and serving their communities.

Since the establishment of its scholarship program in 1984, Horatio Alger Association has awarded more than $125 million in undergraduate, graduate and specialized scholarships to students from across the United States (including all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico) and Canada. Horatio Alger Association Members  business, civic and philanthropic leaders who have demonstrated determination and a strong work ethic in their pursuit of personal and professional success  fully fund the organizations scholarship programs. Dave Cote, Executive Chairman of Honeywell, was inducted into the Association as a lifetime Member in 2014 and established the Honeywell Scholarship that same year.

Honeywell wholly funds the scholarship program through Honeywell Hometown Solutions, its corporate citizenship initiative. In partnership with Horatio Alger Association, the Honeywell Scholarship program is available to college freshmen enrolled at Honeywell Partner schools or Horatio Alger Collegiate Partner schools. To qualify for the Honeywell Scholarship, applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0, exhibit strong character and academic promise and display perseverance in overcoming significant personal adversity. The 2017 Horatio Alger Honeywell Scholars have maintained an average GPA of 3.53 while coming from households with an average annual income of $13,593.

It is an honor  for the fourth year in a row  to work alongside the Association to award scholarships to these remarkable and deserving students who are determined to achieve their dreams, said Cote. I am certain that they will positively contribute to the STEM fields and help the U.S. continue to be a technological leader throughout the world. I look forward to witnessing all that they will accomplish.

In addition to the 10 recipients of the Honeywell Scholarship, Horatio Alger Association also announced that four students have been chosen for Honeywells summer internship program. The program enables select Horatio Alger Scholars who are entering their senior year of study to participate in an internship at various Honeywell locations across the country. Internship assignments range from cross-business projects and individual research assignments to design and innovation development. Honeywells goal is to convert successful interns into full-time employees.

On behalf of the Association, we are deeply grateful to Dave Cote for his constant support of this organization and our deserving Scholars, said Tony Novelly, chairman, Horatio Alger Association. He has pioneered a unique scholarship and internship program to offer greater opportunities for deserving students and through the generosity of Honeywell, we are able to assist young people as they pursue STEM higher education and enter the workforce.

For a complete list of the 2017 Honeywell Scholars, please click here.

For more information about Horatio Alger Association, please visit http://www.horatioalger.org. To engage on social media, follow the organization on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

###

About Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans:

Founded in 1947, the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, Inc. is dedicated to the simple but powerful belief that hard work, honesty and determination can conquer all obstacles. The Association honors the achievements of outstanding leaders who have accomplished remarkable successes in spite of adversity by bestowing upon them the Horatio Alger Award and inducting them as lifetime Members. Horatio Alger Members support promising young people with the resources and confidence needed to overcome adversity in pursuit of their dreams through higher education. Through the generosity of its Members and friends, the Association awards more than $18 million annually in undergraduate and graduate need-based scholarships across the United States and Canada and provides college support and mentoring services to its Scholars. Since 1984, the Association has awarded more than $125 million in college scholarships to more than 25,000 deserving young people. For more information, please visit http://www.horatioalger.org.
Online Trust Alliance The OTA Trust Audit & Honor Roll underscores the urgency to embrace responsible security and privacy practices. Failure risks a long-term impact to the Internet.

The Online Trust Alliance (OTA), an Internet Society initiative with the mission to promote best practices for online trust, announced today the results of its 2017 Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll - the de facto standard for recognizing excellence in online consumer protection, data security and responsible privacy practices.

Data is the oil of the Internet economy. It is fueling innovation, growth and revenue. At the same time, if abused there is a risk of data spills, negatively impacting user expectations and ultimately the Internet at-large, said OTA Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Craig Spiezle. The OTA Trust Audit & Honor Roll underscores the urgency to embrace responsible security and privacy practices. Failure risks a long-term impact to the Internet.

OTAs ninth annual Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll analyzed more than 1,000 consumer-facing websites for their website and email security and privacy practices. The Audit revealed that 52 percent of analyzed websites qualified for the Honor Roll, a five percent improvement over 2016. However, OTA also observed the emergence of an alarming three-year trend: sites either qualify for the Honor Roll or fail the Audit. In other words, sites increasingly either take privacy and security seriously and do well in the Audit, or lag the industry significantly in one or more critical areas. The complete 2017 Online Trust Audit & Honor Roll report is at https://otalliance.org/TrustAudit.

The consumer services category scored the highest with 76 percent earning an Honor Roll designation. OTA considers consumer services any website that requires consumers to create an online account such as social media, file sharing or dating. The FDIC 100 banking category scored lowest with 27 percent making the Honor Roll.

Despite ratcheting up the criteria needed to qualify for the 2017 Honor Roll, it was encouraging to see the highest percentage of recipients since OTA began the Trust Audit nine years ago, said Spiezle. While OTA congratulates all Honor Roll recipients, many others have a long way to go to ensuring and embracing acceptable security and privacy practices.

Industry Highlights

From best to worst performing industries:



Consumer Services: This industry was again the best performing with 76 percent making the Honor Roll this year. This segment accounted for 26 of the top 50 consumer-facing sites (52 percent).

Internet Retailers: Fifty-one percent of the top 500 Internet retailers made the Honor Roll, a significant improvement over last years score of 44 percent. This segment accounted for 10 of the top 50 consumer-facing sites (20 percent).

News & Media: Forty-eight percent of news and media sites made the Honor Roll this year, the most significant improvement over the previous year across all industries. In 2016, media and news sites were the worst performing sector with only 23 percent making the Honor Roll. This segment accounted for three of the top consumer-facing 50 sites (6 percent).

ISPs, Carriers, Hosters & Email Providers: Forty-six percent of companies in this new 2017 category made the Honor Roll. This segment accounted for seven of the top 50 consumer-facing sites (14 percent).

Government: Thirty-nine percent of audited U.S. federal government sites made the Honor Roll. This was a significant decrease from 46 percent in 2016. 60 percent received failing grades.

FDIC 100 Banks: The percent of FDIC 100 banks making the Honor Roll saw the biggest drop in 2017, going from 55 percent in 2016 to 27 percent. This sector had shown consistent, significant improvement in their Honor Roll score up to 2016 before plummeting this year predominantly due to increased breaches, low privacy scores and low levels of email authentication. 65 percent received failing grades.

"OTA's Audit continues to drive awareness and recognition about the importance of responsible data security and ethical privacy practices," said Internet Society Chief Internet Technology Officer, Olaf Kolkman. "The increase in sites embracing end-to-end encryption shows it is becoming the norm for site traffic."

Top 50 Scoring Websites

Given the increase in overall Honor Roll recipients, OTA has expanded its list of top performers from 10 to 50 sites. The 50 highest-scoring consumer-facing sites cover a wide range of industries from social media to online services to government to retail. The top 50 list is here and statements from some of the Honor Roll recipients are here.

Consumer-facing website owners have an important responsibility because their customers entrust them with valuable data, said Roxane Divol, Symantec Executive Vice President and General Manager, Website Security. The OTA Audit recognizes those who go beyond compliance and demonstrate stewardship of their customers online security and privacy.

Methodology

To qualify for Honor Roll status, a website must receive a composite score of 80 percent or better and a score of at least 60 percent in three categories: 1) domain, brand and consumer protection, 2) site security and resiliency and 3) data protection, privacy and transparency. Failing any one category automatically caused a site to fail overall. OTA expanded the 2017 methodology with additional criteria, telemetry and data fidelity addressing todays security threat and privacy landscape. OTA analyzed websites between mid-April and the end of May 2017. It estimates that it analyzed more than 500 million email headers and approximately 100,000 web pages.

The 2017 report was funded in part by grants from Symantec and Verisign. Data providers included Agari, DigiCert, Disconnect, Distil Networks, Ensighten, High-Tech Bridge, Infoblox, Malwarebytes, Microsoft, Risk Based Security, SecurityScorecard, SiteLock, Qualys SSL Labs, Symantec, ValiMail and Verisign.

Event Details

A Congressional Briefing about the results of the 2017 Audit & Honor Roll will be held on June 27 from 8:30 to 10:30 am EDT in room 2360 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C. OTA will share key findings from the report, host a panel with Honor Roll recipients. At that briefing, OTA will also present the 2017 Cybersecurity, Privacy & Innovation Public Service Award to members of Congress for their contributions to help spur innovation and online trust. OTA will also host an online briefing about the Audit on June 29 at 8 am PDT/11 AM EDT. To register, go here.

About OTA

OTA is an initiative within the Internet Society (ISOC), a 501c3 charitable non-profit with the mission to promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world. OTAs mission is to enhance online trust, user empowerment and innovation through convening multi-stakeholder initiatives, developing and promoting best practices, responsible privacy practices and data stewardship. To learn more about OTA visit https://otalliance.org and Internet Society visit https://www.internetsociety.org/
The Predator3D automatic repair feature reduces downtime and cost by reducing the need for human intervention.

Coherix, Inc., a global leader in Three-Dimensional (3D) Machine Vision, today announced a new capability for its Predator3D bead inspection solution. This new feature enables Predator3D to automatically repair an incorrectly dispensed bead. If Predator3D detects that a section of the bead is defective and repairable during the dispensing process, it instructs the robot to perform a repair pass following the same path as a normal dispense but allows Predator3D to control the bead dispenser. Predator3D will then turn the dispenser on at specific locations in order to repair the bead. It will also inspect during the repair pass to verify that the repair was successful.

The Predator3D automatic repair feature reduces downtime and cost by reducing the need for human intervention. If a bead defect is repairable by the robot, then the robot will do the repair immediately. No longer is it necessary for a worker to manually inspect and repair every bead defect. said Dwight Carlson, CEO of Coherix.

Predator3D automatic repair feature is easy to set up, and can be done on any robot or PLC protocol. Predator3D automatic repair feature will be part of the Predator3D standard package and this feature is retroactively compatible with field systems.

Coherix Predator3D bead inspection is by far the most advanced structural adhesive and sealant bead inspection solution in the market. The company also provides a series of inline Robust3D error proofing solutions, such as engine piston assembly verification, rolling finger follower assembly inspection, valve assembly verification, and flexible end-of-line inspection, as well as combustion chamber volume measurement.

For more information about Coherix Predator3D automatic repair function, please call Coherix at (734) 922-4070 or email coherixinfo(at)coherix.com.

About Coherix, Inc.

Coherix, Inc. develops and manufactures high-speed, high-definition 3D machine vision products that enable our customers to manage high-volume precision manufacturing processes. Coherix products are designed for inspection and error-proofing in the automotive, semiconductor, and electronics industries. Coherix is committed to producing the highest performing 3D machine vision products at the lowest Total Cost of Ownership. Coherix customers and partners include global end users, system integrators, and distributors, who demand 100 percent reliability that Coherix products provide. Headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the company has offices in the United States, China, Germany, Singapore, and Japan.
In his newly appointed role as President of Wisdom Natural Brands, makers of SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener, Michael P. May, Ph.D., recently accepted the distinguished Sun Corridor Export Award for his companys global exporting achievements. The Sun Corridor Export Recognition Program selected Wisdom Natural Brands (WNB), and 16 other businesses from Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa counties in Arizona, and honored the companies at an event held on May 19, 2017.

Formerly the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of WNB, Dr. Mays new position as President is effective immediately. Dr. May brings his rich knowledge and tremendous experience to his new role, leading the company toward continued national and international growth.

As President, Dr. May continues to inspire and lead WNB, a world-wide corporation with a presence in more than 30 countries and throughout the United States. His role encompasses a unique combination of overseeing the formulation and implementation of strategy, as well as management of operations for WNB, SweetLeaf, and Wisdom of the Ancients functional beverages. Dr. May directs an executive team of trained, experienced, and skilled professionals with direct responsibility for increasing the companys footprint in the United States and across the globe.

We are constantly driven by the desire to help people live healthier lives through the products that we offer. This desire has no borders. We will grow intelligently, yet aggressively, at home and abroad so that we can deliver on our mission to make the world a sweeter place, says Dr. May.

At the forefront of innovation, WNB and SweetLeaf continue to be leaders in the industry. SweetLeaf is the No. 1 sugar alternative sweetener in natural and health food stores and No. 2 in mainstream grocery stores. Dr. May continues the companys legacy by directing the development of better-for-you products worldwide.

For more information about SweetLeaf, visit SweetLeaf.com.

###

About WISDOM NATURAL BRANDS

Gilbert, Arizona-based Wisdom Natural Brands is the parent company of two highly respected and award-winning consumer brands: SweetLeaf Stevia Sweetener and Wisdom of the Ancients herbal teas. For 35 years now, Wisdom has been the leading stevia expert and industry pioneer. SweetLeaf is the stevia sweetener with zero calories, zero carbohydrates, a non-glycemic response, no sugars, and no artificial ingredients. The only stevia brand to be named a Top Wellness Company and to receive 29 global awards for taste and innovation, SweetLeaf is sold in boxes containing 35 or 70 packets, shaker jars for easy home use, and SweetLeaf SteviaTabs, dissolvable tablets, for on-the-go use. Offering consumers additional high-quality choices, SweetLeaf Organics are sold in 35- and 70-count packet boxes and a shaker jar. SweetLeaf SugarLeaf bonds SweetLeaf Stevia and cane sugar for a low-calorie sugar alternative that is perfect for baking and cooking with 2/3 fewer calories than sugar. SweetLeaf 2-oz Liquid Stevia Sweet Drops add flavor, without calories, carbohydrates, or artificial ingredients, to foods and beverages. SweetLeaf Water Drops add delicious flavor to still or sparkling water.

Additionally, Wisdom of the Ancients herbal teas, from energizing Yerba Mate Royale to calming Sympacho, are available in tea bags and loose tea and come in a variety of beneficial flavors. SweetLeaf and Wisdom of the Ancients products can be purchased online at ShopSweetLeaf.com or in grocery and health food stores throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Nate Berkus for The Shade Store

Dwell on Design, the Largest Modern Design Event on the west coast, opens its doors in just five days in Downtown Los Angeles. The 2017 event is loaded with exciting activities for the design loving community and the architecture and design professional network. Attendees will be immersed into everything modern with three days of inspiring speakers and education, a cash and carry shopping experience from artisans and craftsmen, design and building resources for the home, two days of exclusive Los Angeles Home Tours, and a host of unique experiences to meet iconic influencers in design. This event is built to transport you into the world of modern design. Dwell on Design will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, June 23  25.

BUZZWORTHY NEWS FROM DWELL ON DESIGN

THE SHADE STORE LAUNCHES NATE BERKUS COLLECTION

The Nate Berkus for The Shade Store Roller Shade Collection will debut at Dwell on Design. The Shade Store will host Nate Berkus in celebration of the product launch in space no: 2618, on Friday, June 23, from 4-6 pm.

KNOLL RETROSPECTIVE FURNITURE DISPLAY

Dwell on Design, in partnership with Dwell and Knoll, is celebrating Florence Knolls 100th birthday. In honor of her incredible influence on modern design, a retrospective gallery of Knoll furniture will be on display in space no: 2102. Read her story.

HARP DESIGN CO. + RAYDOOR COLLABORATION

Clint Harp, well known for his unique hand-crafted furniture designs on HGTVs Fixer Upper, will have a display of his works on the floor, space no: 1646, at Dwell on Design 2017. Clints vision for his company, Harp Design Co., is a hope that each handmade furniture piece brings people together in a home.

Raydoor, space no: 1746, believes in the transformational power of art, and the fluid potential it has to define a space and inspire the people inside. Their sliding doors permit light to travel through a space, while still providing an operational solution that transforms a room into a more functional and flexible space.

In a collaboration, Harp Design Co. has designed and constructed the furniture and Raydoor has designed and constructed the walls for the VIP I Media Lounge.

KIM LEWIS LAUNCHING HER NEWEST TINY HOME THE JOSHUA TREE

Kim Lewis, The Little Lady with Big Ideas, is best known as the Lead Designer behind ABCs Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and founder of Kim Lewis Designs in Austin, TX. Her work has been featured on television networks ABC, HGTV, TLC, National Geographic, Spike TV, Animal Planet, and FYIs Tiny House Nation. Kim Lewis will present her newest home The Joshua Tree, inspired by the famous desert oasis feature.

FLIP THROUGH THE DWELL ON DESIGN 2017 DIGITAL EVENT MAGAZINE

Just released, the #DODLA17 Digital Event Magazine. Flip through the digital event magazine to discover just some of the brands exhibiting at this year's event.

ADDITIONAL FINDS AT DWELL ON DESIGN

Come prepared to find unique things at every turn at this years Dwell on Design. Below are just a few of the unique products at Dwell on Design. With over 2,000 products, it is hard to choose just a few.

Zimarty is an experimental design studio founded in Los Angeles. They design miniature scale architecture and create unique and accessible wearable art.

Hastens has Swedish excellence and a devotion for making the best beds in the world. Their beds are handcrafted by a team of artisans whose traditional techniques have been handed down through generations.

Barter is a design company that aims to inspire communities to reconnect to their natural materials and local craftspeople. Barter celebrates nature in its design above all else.

Magisso is the most awarded lifestyle brand from the Nordics in recent years with over 20 international design awards including many Red Dot, GIA and GOOD DESIGN awards. Magisso is joining Dwell on Design in the Finland Pavilion in celebration of Finlands Centennial 100th Anniversary.

Dwell on Design will take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Friday, June 23 from 10 am to 6 pm; Saturday, June 24 from 10 am to 5 pm; and Sunday, June 25 from 10 am to 4 pm. Architects and design professionals, along with the design enthusiast public, may purchase tickets online at dwellondesign.com/register.

###

About Dwell on Design

June 23-25, 2017 / Los Angeles Convention Center

With three days of dynamic exhibitions, unparalleled educational opportunities, new home technologies, onstage panels, 40+ speakers, and more than 2,000 innovative modern furnishings and products, Dwell on Design is the largest design event on the west coast. Learn more by visiting dwellondesign.com.

About Dwell

Dwell is a media and technology brand focused on design and architecture. Through an award-winning magazine that has been published since 2000, and a sharing platform launched in 2016, Dwell promotes an architecture that is optimistic and innovative. In December 2016 Dwell launched a collection of products with Target called Modern by Dwell Magazine. Dwell, Dwell Homes, Dwell Prefab, and Dwell on Design are registered trademarks of Dwell Media, LLC. Dwell Media, LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary company of Dwell Life, Inc.

About Informa, Global Exhibitions

Dwell on Design is part of Informas Global Exhibitions Division. With over 200 trade and consumer exhibitions annually, Informa Exhibitions is a global market leader in such end markets as Beauty, Construction & Real Estate, Design, Life Sciences, Maritime, Health & Nutrition, Natural Products, Agriculture and Pop Culture. Through face to face and digital channels, our transaction-oriented exhibitions and trade shows enable communities to engage, experience and do business. In doing so, we bring together people who want to buy and sell, network, do business and gain inspiration. Our industry insight, coupled with our innovative and entrepreneurial approach, provides them with the opportunity to create business advantage and access markets.

Informa Exhibitions is a division of Informa PLC, a leading business intelligence, academic publishing, knowledge and events business, creating unique content and connectivity for customers all over the world. Informa PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 100.
New Context, a Lean Security company that automates the orchestration, governance, and protection of critical infrastructure, today announced a strategic partnership with Pinn Technologies, a software company dedicated to solving the hardest problems governments, financial institutions, and internet companies face in attributing identity. This alliance will combine the strengths of both firms to address the industrial internets attribution needs where identity, authentication, authorization, confidentiality, and integrity are compromised continuously through cyber attacks.

Pinn is excited to work with with the engineering and product development talent that New Context brings to bear, said Will Summerlin, CEO, Pinn. Together, we will increase the adoption of secure, attributed networks across critical infrastructure to protect mission critical applications running on the public internet.

I declared that 2017 would be the year of attribution, stated Daniel Riedel, CEO, New Context. Our partnership with Pinn will allow us to build true, lasting attributed internet and is key to protecting critical infrastructure.

The partnership between New Context and Pinn comes at a critical time for identity and security. The internet has become an anonymous global network that runs secure critical infrastructure and is no longer a platform that can provide the trust, transparency, and reliability it is being used for -- especially with the adoption of the public internet as the networking platform of choice for the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and consumer Internet of Things (IoT).

An environment that allows anonymous actors to risk the stability of our economy, borders, and society is not an easy problem to solve. Most solutions currently only address confidentiality and security at the device level and can not identify the actual machine, sensor, or human that is using the application, platform or device.

In order to fully secure critical infrastructures, Pinn, New Context, and their partners are focused on building an attributed internet and designing solutions that address the limitations of current security measures, including authentication, authorization, Privacy by Design, behavioral biometrics, endpoint security, and identity access management.

The strategic integration of technologies such as Pinn into networks, code writing, and operations, will ensure that any action taken within the network will be attributable to the human that initiated the action. This collaborative effort between New Context and Pinn will allow networks to identify all actors operating within their environment, bolstering their strength in response to the continued onslaught of adversaries and significantly reducing the risk of future cyber-threat disruptions.

About Pinn Technologies

Pinn Technologies is dedicated to solving the hardest problems governments, financial institutions, and internet companies face in attributing identity. Our behavioral biometrics platform closes the security gap between humans and machines - enabling continuous authentication and providing trust in secure transactions. Pinn Technologies is headquartered in Redwood City, CA.

To learn more about Pinn, please email: info(at)pinn.ai.

About New Context

New Context delivers Lean Security through hands-on technical and management consulting. We are a team of experts with extensive backgrounds in information security and scalable, secure application development. Our tools and processes streamline development frameworks to ensure transparent and secure IT software development within DevOps processes. New Context is headquartered in San Francisco.

Web | http://www.newcontext.com/

Twitter | @newcontext

LinkedIn | New Context
Summer Solstice Symphony Concert Thanks to our sponsors and community partners like Symphonia Caritas, the funds raised from our Summer Solstice Symphony Concert will go to supporting San Franciscos most vulnerable veterans.

Swords to Plowshares is proud to host our first Summer Solstice Symphony Concert taking place on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 inside the newly renovated Diane B. Wilsey Center for Opera in the San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center.

Summer Solstice Symphony Concert

Wednesday, June 21, 2017; 6:00-9:00 PM

6:00 PM - Cocktail Reception

7:15 PM  Performance

San Francisco War Memorial & Performing Arts Center

401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102

The concert will feature a beer and wine reception followed by a performance from Symphonia Caritas, a nonprofit symphony led by conductor Paul Schrage and backed by a chamber orchestra of professional musicians. Special featured guest and noted violin soloist Ian Swensen will join the symphony for their performances of Beethovens 8th Symphony and Mendelssohns Violin Concerto in E minor.

The services that we offer empower veterans to live meaningful and productive lives. Thanks to our sponsors and community partners like Symphonia Caritas, the funds raised from our Summer Solstice Symphony Concert will go to supporting San Franciscos most vulnerable veterans. Without the support of the community, our work would not be possible, said Michael Blecker, Swords to Plowshares Executive Director.

All proceeds from the event will go to support Swords to Plowshares critical services to nearly 3,000 San Francisco Bay Area veterans.

Sponsors of the Inaugural Summer Solstice Symphony Concert include: BevMo, Wells Fargo, Diane B. Wilsey, San Francisco Giants, Ernst & Young, LinkedIn, Kaiser Permanente, Farella Braun + Martell LLP, Thomas & Rebecca May, John Beem, ABC7 News, Hafner Vineyard, Thirty-Seven Wines, and 21st Amendment Brewery.

About Swords to Plowshares:

Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides case management, mental health assessment and referral, rapid re-housing and eviction prevention services, employment and training, supportive housing, and legal benefits assistance for low-income, homeless and at-risk veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Swords to Plowshares promotes and protects the rights of veterans through advocacy, public education, and partnerships with local, state and national entities. Learn more about the work of Swords to Plowshares, and ways in which you can help, by visiting our website at http://www.stp-sf.org.

About Symphonia Caritas:

Symphonia Caritas was born in early 2015 with a benefit concert for the Lima Center, a daytime homeless shelter in San Francisco. The idea was simple: hire great musicians, put on a great concert, and raise more money than it cost to produce the concert. Since that first concert Symphonia Caritas has continued to raise money in benefit concerts, as well as expanded its mission to include free concerts directly for the underserved. To learn more visit https://symphoniacaritas.org/home.
Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue searched for online software to improve their employee scheduling process, however the Fire Chief couldnt find a system designed for fire departments. In addition they required the software be FIPPA compliant. Their Executive Assistant Jocelyne Monette explains, I spoke with a number of companies - but none of them were geared to fire departments. Luckily, I found information about Aladtec being promoted on a U.S. Firehouse tradeshow website. Their system is specifically for public safety agencies and its FIPPA compliant  meaning they have servers in Canada  and so subscribing to their system was a win-win for us!

Many public safety agencies use manual methods for employee scheduling - imagine scheduling 50 people on a paper calendar, white board, spreadsheet, or an installed software on just one office computer. This department used a number of manual processes before implementing Aladtec.

Before, it was impossible to keep track of historical data and to ensure accuracy. With several hands inputting data - our sick, vacation, and several other unique time banks were a mess. Now, administrators can access the data anytime from anywhere. Theres a timestamp so we always know who put what in the system and at what time. Since Aladtec is live in the Cloud, the data is always up-to-date, adds Monette.

Detailed reports are easily created from any information input to the Aladtec system. One employee in the payroll department at this fire department told an Aladtec Support Specialist that running payroll is boring now because everything runs so smoothly there are never any surprises! Monette says, The reports are my all time favorite Aladtec feature. It has sure made payroll a lot easier. We also use the online Forms feature quite a bit; for instance we now have our timecard exceptions, training, and driver logs in our system. Personally, Im saving two hours a day after switching from our old manual scheduling method - thats the equivalent of saving an entire week worth of time every month!

About Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue: This fire department operates out of three halls with a combination of full time career members and 46 Paid On Call volunteers, and has proudly served their community since 1960. Salt Spring Island is in the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia in Canada with approximately 15,000 residents.

About Aladtec: They proudly provide online employee scheduling and workforce management software to over 1,900 organizations, primarily within the Public Safety Sector. These customers count on Aladtec every day to help them save time and improve efficiency. For information about their affordable industry specific options, or to try a free demo, please visit http://www.aladtec.com.

###

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue

105 Lower Ganges

Salt Spring Island, BC V8K2T1

250-537-2531

Fire Chief Arjuna George

ageorge(at)saltspringfire(dot)com

Aladtec, Inc.

387 Arrow Court

River Falls, WI 54022

(888) 749-5550 Toll-Free

(715) 690-2300 Phone

(801) 406-5550 Fax

mellissa(at)aladtec(dot)com

info(at)aladtec(dot)com http://www.aladtec.com
People in the U.S. are more likely to use Dot Fertility & Period Tracker for pregnancy prevention if they are on an iOS device. The difference between Android and iOS was surprising to us, and we are interested in exploring it further.

Cycle Technologies, a developer of reproductive health solutions, has found a significant difference in how Android versus iOS device owners use mobile fertility apps. Analytics from over 50,000 active users of Dot, Cycle Technologies latest fertility app, show that Android users in the U.S. are more likely to use the app to plan pregnancy. Conversely, iOS users are more likely to use Dot to prevent pregnancy. Equal percentages of Android and iOS users rely on Dot to track their cycles.

Previous studies have shed light on the demographic, behavioral, and philosophical differences between Android and iOS users. Cycle Technologies research is the first to explore the correlation between mobile operating systems and peoples reasons for using a fertility app.

Dot is well-suited for the research because people can use the app to plan a pregnancy, prevent unintended pregnancy, or track menstrual cycles. Users enter their period start dates, and Dots patent-pending technology, called Dynamic Optimal Timing (DOT), then predicts their day-by-day chance of pregnancy. Cycle Technologies developed the science and algorithm behind Dot in collaboration with global health experts from Georgetown University, Duke University, and The Ohio State University.

In the U.S., 22 percent of people use Dot to plan a pregnancy, 32 percent use it to prevent pregnancy, and 46 percent rely on it to track their cycles. However, the difference between Android and iOS users is striking. 35 percent of the Dot iOS cohort uses the app to prevent pregnancy compared to 29 percent of Dot Android group. Conversely, 25 percent of Dot Android users plan pregnancy with Dot compared to just 19 percent of iOS users.

Additional data can shed light on the mobile fertility divide. A 2015 study by Chitika, an online advertising network, finds that iPhone use correlates positively with higher levels of education. Moreover, the Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS) reports that women with a bachelors degree or higher first marry at 25.9 years old on average, significantly later than women with some college (23.2), a high school diploma (22.3), or no diploma (20.9). Thus, women who use iOS may be more likely to want fertility tools that can help prevent pregnancy before marriage or before finishing their education.

The difference between Android and iOS was surprising to us, and we are interested in exploring it further, says Leslie Heyer, founder of Cycle Technologies. Demographic disparities or variations in how we market to each mobile operating system could lead people to use the apps differently.

Another possible explanation for the iOS-Android divide is trust in fertility apps. iOS users may place greater trust in Dots algorithm, which researchers predict is 96 to 98 percent effective at preventing pregnancy. To see if that estimate holds true in real life, a team at Georgetown University is recruiting Dot Android users to participate in an efficacy study. People who use Dot Android to prevent pregnancy may be eligible and can apply through the app until the end of June.

Dot could create many additional research opportunities according to Dr. Summer Starling, a health scientist and reproductive health expert. Dr. Starling runs a research consulting firm, Starling Consulting Group, offering research and communications insights for maximizing health and social impact. Her firm is headquartered in Durham, NC.

Consumers increasingly want products to help them navigate health decisions that are based in evidence, said Dr. Starling. Dot is particularly exciting because it's merging reported behaviors and health metrics with big data analytics to improve its predictive quality, with a very consumer-centered, data-informed approach. An approach like this has promise as a scalable reproductive health solution. Reproductive health decision-making is not a fixed process, but happens on a continuum for many people. A next logical step would be to investigate how consumers are using Dot to make reproductive decisions throughout the lifecycle of using the app as their reproductive intentions shift over time.

About Cycle Technologies

Cycle Technologies is a social impact company focused on womens health. The companys mission is to prevent unplanned pregnancies and help people have the families that they want when they are ready. Founded in 2002, Cycle technologies products are available in over 60 countries and apps are available to anyone in the world with a smartphone. Learn more at http://www.CycleTechnologies.com
Ethos We focus on reducing energy usage and already the improvements identified on one system will reduce its energy costs by 10%

A scheme by consultants Star Technical Solutions, part of the Star Refrigeration group of companies has delivered proven savings of thousands of pounds to customers by making their cooling systems more efficient. The performance optimisation and energy management system called Ethos uses a data-led approach to monitor performance and identify solutions to keep energy consumption at a minimum.

Cooling and heating costs are often hidden within an electricity bill, but remote monitoring techniques from Stars Technical team can help owners of industrial plants understand consumption. The energy management service has already saved one of the UKs largest retailers 100,000 annually at one site, and a Brewery in Glasgow has also managed to slash its electricity bill by 50,000 a year.

Malcolm Dufton, Property and Energy Manager at The Ice Co & Logistics said, Energy consumption is a large operating expense for us. Add on charges increasingly diminish the control we have on our electricity costs. Therefore we focus on reducing energy usage and already the improvements identified on one system will reduce its energy cost by 10%, encouraging us to roll out the service to our other systems and sites.

A key feature for us is the online monitoring dashboard, it gives our managers and engineers clear real-time visibility of all our connected systems health and performance and allows them to drive energy savings and preventative maintenance.

Remote monitoring is the key to the STS approach. The refrigeration experts install a number of sensors and an Ethos panel to the customers system. These remotely send information to a web portal via the built in 4G mobile connection. Live data can be accessed by both STS refrigeration consultants and customers via an online dashboard which gives details about performance and facilitates communication between the parties.

By monitoring performance and energy consumption, owners of refrigeration plants can then take corrective action to make operations more efficient. The data relayed by the system is examined first with complex software and then by the refrigeration experts, who decode and interpret the information to provide the customer with insight and practical advice through the online interface. The information is laid out in a simple way with suggested actions for improvement or to advise on targeted maintenance. The reports also include estimates of potential savings if corrective action is taken which helps to justify investment decisions as well as raising the visibility of the cost to the business of not correcting inefficient operation.

John Clark  Refrigeration Consultant Engineer of Star Technical Solutions said, Ethos remotely monitors and analyses data as well as identifying corrective actions which will save electricity  typical savings are between 10 and 30% -. It also provides data on available plant behaviour and capacity which facilitates future investment planning such as equipment replacement or upgrade.

The reports can also help companies benchmark their success before and after implementing changes, such as after maintenance or replacing a piece of equipment. Reports on a frequent basis from our industry experts will give companies peace of mind that they are doing everything they can to be efficient and keep costs down.

John Clark added, If a large portion of your power consumption and energy costs are accounted for by your refrigeration plant, it then makes sense that your sources of energy waste are controlled by refrigeration experts. The majority of businesses which require cooling can often spend over 50% of their electricity bill on cooling, with figures in the cold store sector shooting up to 90%, so it is an area where efficiency is vitally important.

Receiving advice on cooling capacity, energy consumption, cooling efficiency and recommended actions on a frequent basis and without the jargon, ensures customers have the information they need to quickly make informed decisions. This allows them to maximise energy savings, justify capital expenditure and have the evidence they require for future investments.

Star Refrigeration can also support customers with the implementation of Frequency Response (FR). FR is where an annual payment is available and is given when refrigeration equipment is kept offline during periods of peak load on the national grid. Star Refrigeration has experience of working with demand management companies and the end user to minimise risk, and potential unplanned downtime.

To find out more about Star Technical Solutions and its Energy Management Service, visit the website at http://www.star-ts.co.uk
Ascolano, a single-variety olive oil, earned five gold medals this year, including best of show in Tokyo. "We are committed to offering folks premium quality extra virgin olive oils that are delicious and the best expression of what a particular olive variety can be. - Liz Tagami, Lucero GM

Lucero Olive Oil, LLC, announced a record-breaking year on the competition circuit with 52 awards from New York, California, Tokyo, Calabria, and Jerusalem, including 30 gold medals, two best of show, and two best of class distinctions.

More than 40 awards came through four prestigious international competitions distinguished by high standards and discerning juries:

Olive Japan International Olive Oil Competition, New York International Olive Oil Competition, Domina International Olive Oil Competition, and TerraOlivo Mediterranean International Olive Oil Competition.

Judges for each of these competitions are trained professionals in the industry and held to the highest standard. Lucero only participates in competitions where such standards exist.

Among the top awards, Lucero Olive Oils single variety Ascolano EVOO received Best of Show Premier Gold in the Olive Japan Competition, and a Best of Class Grand Prestige Gold in the TerraOlivo Competition for the Persian Lime Agrumato Olive Oil. However, the most acknowledged EVOO this year goes to the single variety Barnea, taking home a Gold award in every competition entered this year.

Olive oil producers face the monumental task of verifying authenticity and quality every year. For Lucero Olive Oil, this quality assurance process begins in January with an annual audit of its latest harvest oils by the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Once verified, Lucero selects its best micro-lots for the Lucero brand and sends them around the world for the industrys marquee competitions between March and early June.

Lucero General Manager, Liz Tagami explains Our customers rely on us to provide them with high quality, authentic oil, which we validate each year with the state. We are committed to offering folks premium quality extra virgin olive oils that are delicious and the best expression of what a particular olive variety can be.

We are extremely pleased with the results this year, and we are humbled by our hard work being recognized around the world, says Master Miller, Larry Treat. We have excellent crew coordination between hand harvesting and machine harvesting operations and our milling team  these awards are certainly a team effort.

Kristin Cook, Director of Marketing

kristin(at)LuceroOliveOil(dot)com

877-330-2190

Liz Tagami, General Manager

liz(at)LuceroOliveOil(dot)com

About Lucero Olive Oil

Lucero Olive Oil is a wholly owned brand of Crane Mills, LLC, a small family business farming olives in Corning, California since 1947 and milling award-winning extra virgin olive oil since 2009. Lucero Olive Oils are verified by the California Department of Food and Agriculture, Certified kosher by Kof-K, and carry the Extra Virgin Alliance Seal of Quality. 17 different olive varieties are under cultivation in six orchards within 8 miles of the Lucero Olive Mill and Tasting Room. Both are open to the public daily for tours and olive oil tastings. Find out more at http://www.LuceroOliveOil.com.
"With over one million SFR properties coming into the fold every year, theres no better time to be the owner of one and discover the benefits of SFR investing," Renters Warehouse CEO Kevin Ortner

Renters Warehouse, one of Americas largest property management companies and leaders in SFR investing, announced today that it is a primary sponsor of the first of its kind, Iceberg Report. Released on June 13th, 2017, the Iceberg Report is the first in-depth report of the single-family real estate investor created in partnership with 2020 REI.

Currently, there are 67 million people living in single-family rentals in the United States with over one million more properties added each year. As a result of these numbers and such significant growth, single-family rentals have not only become a new form of wealth creation for Americans, theyve also become the New American Dream and road to retirement. Its a concept Renters Warehouse has done an incredible job of educating people of all ages on with its trademarked term Rent Estate or real estate for the rest of us, and most recently, with its first book, Rent Estate Revolution.

Too often people think of real estate investments as out of reach and only for the wealthy, shared Renters Warehouse CEO, Kevin Ortner. Its simply not true and with over one million SFR properties coming into the fold every year, theres no better time to be the owner of one and discover the benefits of SFR investing. Theres no other investment out there like it.

The Iceberg Report was created to help investors become further recognized as key players and contributors to the American economic well-being, while helping those same investors understand where they fit in the industry. While the vast size of the SFR market has been well documented in the past, the Iceberg Report explores areas of the industry, not yet uncovered. It removes stigmas and dated views on SFR investors as slumlords, tenants as victims, and bad rentals destroying good neighborhoods, that couldnt be further from the truth. Its shedding light on the new, wise, and educated SFR investor whose number one priority is happy tenants and well-maintained, appreciating properties that align with good business practices and positive neighborhood growth and community.

While the SFR industry has existed for decades, its recent growth has garnered the attention of many investors, lenders and service providers, which has brought many new modern day technologies and service solutions to the space, shared Renters Warehouses Chief Investment Officer & President of Portfolio Services, Anthony Cazazian. Renters Warehouse has contributed to this change by creating a national platform with corporate owned offices, centralized back-office operations, and local teams in every market it operates. This unique platform provides investors with standardized services and institutional level reporting in an industry that remains extremely fragmented and has historically had a lack of consistent service levels.

Created in collaboration with Real Trends, NEXZUS Publishing Group, the Harris Poll, and 2020 REI, the Iceberg Report was designed to show the true nature of the single-family REI industry as it exists today. It examines behavior amongst various investor segments and analyzes fiscal impact and influence on the US economy. With the help of the Harris Poll, the Iceberg Report dives deep into the psyche of single-family investors nationwide, to understand why and what they invest in. It explores how and where they buy, and looks at the decision making processes involved.

To download your free copy of the Iceberg Report Executive summary, visit http://icebergreport.com/.

Renters Warehouse exists to help homeowners and investors create wealth and financial freedom through Rent Estate. To learn more about Rent Estate, visit http://www.rentestaterevolution.com and order your copy of Rent Estate Revolution, Renters Warehouses cornerstone book for the masses authored by Kevin Ortner and with foreword Dr. Arthur B. Laffer, Phd., Economic Policy Advisor to President Ronald Reagan.

About Renters Warehouse

Renters Warehouse is one of the fastest growing and highest reviewed residential property management companies in America. Backed by growth equity investor and majority stakeholder Northern Pacific Group, and under the leadership of President and CEO Kevin Ortner, Renters Warehouse now manages more than $3 billion in residential real estate, servicing 13,000+ investors across 19,000+ residential homes over 42 markets and 25 states. NPG Managing Partner Scott Honour, who in 1999 was a founder of YapStone, a leading online rental property payment service provider, serves as Chairman.

Renters Warehouse expertly serves everyday single-property homeowners as well as real estate investors. In 2015, the company officially trademarked the term Rent Estate to redefine the entire SFR (Single Family Rental) industry as more traditional real estate gives way to this new lucrative asset. Through their dedicated Portfolio Services Division led by Chief Investment Officer Anthony Cazazian, the company also brings professional, scalable and efficient single property management solutions to investment portfolios with both centralized services and local market expertise and staff. Not only has Renters Warehouse received the prestigious honor of being included on the Inc. 500 | 5000 list of fastest-growing privately held companies in America seven consecutive years in a row, it was also named one of the Best Places to Work in Minnesota (where they are headquartered) by the Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. The company was also honored as a best place to work in Arizona (a centralized corporate services center) by the Phoenix Business Journal in 2013 and 2014, and achieved a spot on the prestigious 2016 Top Companies to Work for in AZ list. Nationwide, Renters Warehouse has been honored as one of America's "Best Places to Work" in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016 by Outside Magazine. Recognized as pioneers in real estate, business management and innovation, Renters Warehouse has been awarded 22 Business Stevie Awards both internationally and stateside.

In 2017, Renters Warehouse received an A rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB) after meeting the BBBs eight Standards of Trust and earning BBB Accreditation. In 2016, Morningstar Credit Ratings, LLC, a nationally recognized statistical rating organization (NRSRO) offering a wide array of services including operational risk assessments, assigned its MOR RV2 residential-vendor ranking to Renters Warehouse as a residential property manager, indicating that the company demonstrates proficiency in managing key areas of operational risk.

In 2017, Renters Warehouse published its first book - Rent Estate Revolution. Authored by CEO Kevin Ortner, the book shares the Renters Warehouse philosophy and business expertise around single-family rentals and the power of Rent Estate to drive long-term wealth creation, retirement security and financial freedom for the everyday person. Sign up for updates now at: http://www.rentestaterevolution.com.

Interviews / Press Inquiries:

Crystal Richard

Public Relations for Renters Warehouse

crystal(at)renterswarehouse.com
Wayne Homes has introduced a new and improved Alexandria model at their Sunbury, Ohio location.

Wayne Homes celebrated the grand re-opening of the Alexandria Legacy model at the companys Delaware Model Home Center in Sunbury, Ohio last weekend.

The home was redesigned and redecorated by Mandil, Inc. from Denver, Colorado to feature current popular design trends that are on trend for todays new home buyer.

We had over 50 families walk through our beautiful, new Alexandria, Jennifer Collinsworth, Vice President of Sales, said.

The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath, single-level Alexandria floor plan shows an open concept design, making it family friendly for all types of families.

The kitchen features the latest in Aristokraft cabinetry, a tile backsplash in a herringbone pattern, quartz countertops, and a Kohler farmhouse-style sink. Aristokraft Brellin Purestyle stone gray cabinets in the main bath and laundry room show off the latest in cabinet color selections Wayne Homes has to offer.

The Purestyle cabinets look just like a painted cabinet, but is a maintenance free product that will last much longer, Maurie Jones, Vice President of Marketing said.

The home also shows off the latest in flooring trends with luxury vinyl tile throughout the main living area.

The flooring, trim work, tile shower, and sky light are highlights of the renovation and items our guests were delighted with, Collinsworth said. This popular ranch model has always been admired by our customers and with the updates, it will be sure to be our most popular.

At the event, guests also had the opportunity to win a 55 television, courtesy of Big Sandy Superstore. Big Sandy also gave out $100 gift cards to several visitors throughout the weekend.

For more information about Wayne Homes and the Alexandria model at the Delaware Model Center, please visit WayneHomes.com.

About Wayne Homes

Wayne Homes is a custom home builder in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Michigan, and West Virginia (see all Model Home Centers). We offer 40 fully customizable floor plans and a team dedicated to providing the best experience in the home building industry. For more information, Ask Julie by Live Chat or call us at (866) 253-6807.
PowerSchool is a leader in the K-12 software industry and we are so pleased that they have joined us as an ISTE 2017 Gold Conference Sponsor.

PowerSchool, the leading provider of K-12 education technology solutions, and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) today announced that PowerSchool will be a gold-level sponsor of the ISTE 2017 conference in San Antonio, TX, from June 25-28. This annual edtech event draws more than 15,000 educators and education leaders from around the world to connect with their peers, gain industry knowledge, and see the latest edtech innovations that are empowering educators and driving student growth.

"PowerSchool is a leader in the K-12 software industry and we are so pleased that they have joined us as an ISTE 2017 Gold Conference Sponsor. Their support plays a vital role in helping ISTE to achieve our mission. Attendees at this years conference will surely benefit from their presence," said Rebecca Caldwell, ISTE Chief Corporate and Foundation Officer.

During this years ISTE event, PowerSchool will be creating a new interactive experience that combines cutting-edge technology with modern pedagogy. In this Classroom of the Future, attendees can take part in a day-in-the-life of a 3rd grade classroom. At the center of this is PowerSchools Unified Classroom, a single comprehensive technology platform for learning, instruction, grading, assessment, and management of student data. The solution gives teachers real-time insights into each students performance enabling teachers to make data-informed decisions for personalized learning.

In addition, visitors will interact with other new technologies such as 3-D printing, virtual field trips, robotics, 360-degree analytics, and smart speakers to see how all of this comes together to improve student success. PowerSchool's Classroom of the Future connects the dots between exciting new technologies that exist today and its ability to improve learning.

As technology continues to transform teaching and learning, its important that solutions are developed with a student-centric personalized approach to truly engage a students mind, said Hardeep Gulati, PowerSchool CEO. The Classroom of the Future integrates a seamless, connected experience with PowerSchools Unified Classroom, fostering an environment that engages parents and students, and gives teachers time back into their day.

Educators and education leaders attending ISTE 2017 have a unique opportunity to interact, engage, and create in an environment that promotes learning, communication, and collaboration. Attendees can experience PowerSchools Classroom of the Future in room 207A and stop by PowerSchools booth at #2918 to learn more about the innovative solutions PowerSchool provides for K-12 schools and districts.

About PowerSchool Group LLC

PowerSchool is the leading K-12 education technology provider of solutions that improve the education experience for 100 million students, teachers, and parents in over 70 countries around the world. We provide the industrys first Unified Classroom experience, empowering teachers with best-in-class, secure, and compliant online solutions, including student information systems, learning management and classroom collaboration, assessment, analytics, behavior, and special education case management. We streamline school office and administration operations with online solutions for student registration, school choice, and finance/HR/ERP. We drive student growth through digital classroom capabilities and engage families through real-time communications across any device. Visit https://www.powerschool.com/ to learn more.

About ISTE

The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) is the premier membership organization serving educators and education leaders committed to empowering connected learners in a connected world. ISTE serves more than 100,000 education stakeholders throughout the world.

Innovative offerings include the widely adopted ISTE Standards for learning, teaching and leading in the digital age - as well as the ISTE Conference & Expo -the world's most comprehensive edtech event. The organization's robust suite of professional learning resources feature online courses, consulting services for schools and districts, books, and peer-reviewed journals and publications. For more information, visit iste.org. Subscribe to ISTE's YouTube channel and connect with ISTE on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
AssetLink has found a great partner in CES. The AP3s have been rolling off the line for months, and thousands of CES-produced units are now installed on assets around the world. - David Goldstein, President & CEO

AssetLink Global (http://assetlinkglobal.com/) announced today that it has entered into a mass hardware manufacturing agreement with Creative Electronic Solutions (CES) (http://www.cesinfo.com/index.html) of South Elgin, IL, to mass produce the Everywhere, Forever AssetPack-3 (AP3) satellite GPS tracker and sensor interface at CESs factory in suburban Chicago.

The AP3 is a solar-recharging, battery-powered, GPS equipment tracker and sensor hub. The AP3 is fully sealed and designed to last 7+ years in the field without a battery change, operating solely from its solar panel. AssetLinks technical heritage in small satellite design and space-based communications systems made it possible to build the first ultra-long-lasting, battery-powered tracking device, and wired sensor hub (IoT sensors, meters, gauges, etc.) that works the same, out of the box, everywhere on the planet. The AP3 carries a C1/D2 rating for hazardous locations and will receive ATEX and IECEx Zone-2 certifications this year. The AP3 operates over the 100% global Iridium satellite network.

The AP3 was released in 2015 and has been deployed with enterprise clients around the world. David Goldstein, President & CEO of AssetLink, said, AssetLink has found a great partner in CES. The AP3s have been rolling off the line for months, and thousands of CES-produced units are now installed on assets around the world. We could not be more pleased with CES partnership and the quality of production.

Matt Williams, EVP of Sales at CES, noted that, This partnership has been extraordinarily successful for both companies. During the prototype phase and while we rapidly scaled up to production volume, the team was able work side by side to adjust in real time. The end result is a very high-quality product that also happens to be cost competitive relative to Asian manufacturing options, but built in the United Sates without the supply chain delays. Added Goldstein, AssetLinks design team is distributed throughout the US, so CES locations in Chicago and Las Vegas make it easy to both dial in manufacturing line improvements as we ramp into first runs, and also allows CES to accommodate AssetLinks product design flexibility in the manufacturing line.

The AP3 is available today to Value Added Resellers and End Customers, and for licensed use throughout most of the planet. Please contact AssetLink Global.

About AssetLink:

AssetLink Global produces the AP3, a solar-battery powered Iridium-satellite based GPS asset tracking and sensor interface & IoT gateway device. With thousands of fielded satellite units, robust cloud software, and direct interfaces with commercial and Government back office systems, AssetLink has been offering modular end-to-end wholesale Satellite, Wireless and TCP/IP IoT/M2M solution sets to partners in multiple industry verticals since 2009. Our team works with partners to deliver business information, proving out the basic GPS and/or sensor-driven application and value model. The modularity of the AP3 allows quick IoT/M2M prototyping, putting functional hardware in the hands of our partner-customers in less time than it takes to write a proposal.

About CES:

Creative Electronics and Software (CES) was founded in 1989 to provide high quality manufacturing services for electronics, mechanical assemblies and cable harnesses at a fair price. With over 70 active customers, CES is rapidly growing in the gaming, medical, military, industrial, and IOT markets. The growth is fueled by our ability to help customers solve real engineering challenges, e.g. redesign a product because a component is obsolete, wirelessly enable products, or a ground-up design to bring a product to market quickly and be able to scale production flawlessly. The cornerstone of CES success is based on our desire to be long term partners. 90% of our revenue comes from customers that have been with CES for 12 years or more. This type of loyalty does not happen if quality, price, and service are not world class.
Dickinson Wright PLLC is pleased to announce that Attorney K. Scott Hamilton has been selected as the 2017 Detroit Bar Legal Scholar by the Detroit Bar Association.

The Detroit Bar Association established the Detroit Bar Legal Scholar Program to recognize each year original legal work product that advances the field of law and offers the application of new ideas that address the social, educational, economic and/or human advancement of the State of Michigan. Mr. Hamiltons paper titled Urban Homesteading as a Method of Redeveloping Detroits Neighborhoods will be published by the Detroit Bar Association and he will be honored at the Detroit Bar Associations Annual Meeting on June 21, 2017 at the Detroit Club.

Mr. Hamilton is a Member in the firms Detroit office. Throughout his career, he has first chaired more than 30 federal and state bench and jury trials and argued over 40 cases in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Sixth and Tenth Circuits, the Michigan Supreme Court and the Michigan Court of Appeals. He is Co-Chairman of the Federal Bar Association for the Eastern District of Michigans Appellate Committee and served as an Adjunct Professor of Law (Appellate Practice) at Michigan State Universitys College of Law.

Mr. Hamilton is a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar Foundation and is a Life Member of the Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference. He is also recognized as a leader in his field by Best Lawyers in America, Michigan Super Lawyers, Bests Directory of Recommended Insurance Lawyers, and DBusiness Top Lawyers. Mr. Hamilton received his B.S. from Central Michigan University and his J.D. from Wayne State University Law School.

About Dickinson Wright PLLC

Dickinson Wright PLLC is a general practice business law firm with more than 450 attorneys among more than 40 practice areas and 16 industry groups. Headquartered in Detroit and founded in 1878, the firm has seventeen offices, including six in Michigan (Detroit, Troy, Ann Arbor, Lansing, Grand Rapids, and Saginaw) and ten other domestic offices in Austin, Texas; Columbus, Ohio; Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Lexington, Ky.; Nashville and Music Row, Tenn.; Las Vegas and Reno, Nev.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Washington, D.C. The firms Canadian office is located in Toronto.

Dickinson Wright offers our clients a distinctive combination of superb client service, exceptional quality, value for fees, industry expertise and business acumen. As one of the few law firms with ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certification, Dickinson Wright has built state-of-the-art, independently-verified risk management controls and security processes for our commercial transactions. Dickinson Wright lawyers are known for delivering commercially-oriented advice on sophisticated transactions and have a remarkable record of wins in high-stakes litigation. Dickinson Wright lawyers are regularly cited for their expertise and experience by Chambers, Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and other leading independent law firm evaluating organizations.
Vector Marketing has promoted Vector/Cutco Hall of Fame member Trey Harris to Division Coordinator of the Florida Atlantic Division I want to help challenge and grow our managers to lead their lives in an honorable way, exuding class and taking advantage of all of the career opportunities Vector has to offer.

Vector Marketing, the sales and marketing arm of Cutco Cutlery, has promoted Trey Harris to Division Coordinator of the Florida Atlantic Division. Harris is a member of the Vector Marketing/Cutco Hall of Fame and will responsible for running the divisions pilot office. Located in Orlando, this pilot office sets the standard for other offices in the division. Harris is also charged with increasing the number of Vector Marketing sales offices in Eastern Florida.

Harris has more than $18 million in career sales and in 2016 ran Vectors number-one district office in the nation. For that achievement, he won one of the companys top honors: the 2016 Silver Cup. Harris also ran a top-3 district office (out of more than 300 worldwide) for four years between 2012 and 2015. As a manager, he has qualified for the companys yearly incentive trips every year since 2005, visiting places from Prague to Panama, from Budapest to the Bahamas.

Trey Harris is the perfect fit to take on the role of Division Coordinator of the Florida Atlantic Division. He has one of the strongest track records of developing people of any manager in our company. Last year, his office finished number one in total sales out of all district managers nationwide, said region manager Scott Dennis. I am excited to have him as a part of our management lineup, and I couldnt be more thrilled for Trey to have an opportunity like this. He has earned it!

Harris has a bachelors degree in business marketing and management from East Carolina University and is originally from Raleigh, North Carolina. He started as a field manager with Vector in May 1999, where he personally sold more than $185,000 worth of Cutco. He has since worked as a branch manager, sales manager and award-winning district executive. He has personally managed and helped develop the careers of more than 5,000 Vector student sales representatives. Each year, Vector Marketing provides work opportunities for tens of thousands of students across the nation and helps these inexperienced student sales representatives gain valuable career experience.

Harris said he plans to set high standards in his new position. My main objective going forward is to help my district managers create serious wealth: to create millionaires, to be specific, said Harris. I want to help challenge and grow our managers to lead their lives in an honorable way, exuding class and taking advantage of all of the career opportunities Vector has to offer.

About Vector Marketing:

Vector Marketing is the marketing and sales arm of Cutco Cutlery, a 65-year-old company with headquarters and manufacturing facilities in Olean, New York. Vector sells Cutco products through a national team of sales representatives primarily consisting of motivated college students who are trained to do in-home and virtual demonstrations on a pre-set basis. Vector Marketing has over 200 locations nationwide and works with students of all majors with any levels of professional experience.
Dr. Wendy Ann Pardee - The Children's Institute of Pittsburgh We strongly believe Wendy is the right person to build on the tremendous accomplishments David achieved during his 14-year tenure as CEO and to lead the organization forward.

The Childrens Institute of Pittsburgh, an independent, nonprofit leader in pediatric rehabilitative services, education, and human services, is pleased to share the selection of Dr. Wendy Ann Pardee as President and CEO of the organization, effective August 7, 2017.

Pardee will succeed long-time President and CEO David Miles, who has served The Childrens Institute for 40 years in various roles, including as a teacher in the organizations Day School, in management positions for inpatient and outpatient services including Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, among others. Miles assumed the role of CEO in 2003.

Under Davids leadership, The Childrens Institute achieved many operational and financial improvements, doubled the number of children and families served, and completed two comprehensive fundraising Campaigns totaling $42 million, said John Thornburgh, Chair of The Childrens Institutes Board of Directors. We strongly believe Wendy is the right person to build on the tremendous accomplishments David achieved during his 14-year tenure as CEO and to lead the organization forward.

Pardee comes to the organization with more than two decades of management experience in the healthcare, human services, and financial sectors. Most recently, she served as the CEO and President of Hattie Larlham, an Ohio-based nonprofit organization that provides medical, residential, recreational and work training services to 1,800 children and adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Previously, Pardee served for three years as the President and CEO of Skills of Central Pennsylvania, which serves individuals with intellectual disabilities. Pardee holds an MBA and a PhD from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Her undergraduate degrees from the same university are in accounting and management of information systems.

The Childrens Institutes Board of Directors unanimously selected Pardee after a robust search conducted in partnership with Nonprofit Talent, an executive search firm.

We were delighted to have 82 high-quality applicants for the position, said Pamela Golden, Member of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Boards Executive Search Committee. Ultimately, Wendy rose to the top as the right person to lead our organization forward for the future. There is strong alignment between her skills and experience and the Boards criteria, such as her proven expertise in forging relationships internally and externally, managing strategic planning processes, creating organizational visions, enhancing financial and IT management and productivity, and more.

Pardee will join the organization on August 7 and will work with Miles to ensure a smooth transition of leadership.

I am thrilled to join The Childrens Institute of Pittsburgh later this summer, said Pardee. From the moment I heard a young man say, "I will be amazing" on my television, I was captivated by the organizations story. I recognized their commitment to excellence and deep connection to their community, and I quietly followed their successes over many years. To become a part of The Children's Institute's legacy is the highest honor. I look forward to leading the organization by maintaining a high bar for excellence in providing services to children and families, developing innovative programs, and meeting community needs."

About The Childrens Institute of Pittsburgh

Established in 1902, The Childrens Institute is an independent, nonprofit, licensed organization, dedicated to improving the quality of life for children, young people, and their families by providing a specialized continuum of services that enables them to reach their potential. Its pediatric rehabilitation programs are nationally-recognized. The Childrens Institute is the only CARF-accredited freestanding pediatric specialty rehabilitation hospital in the region, and one of only five in the nation. The Day School is an approved private school serving nearly 200 students from 67 school districts. Through Project STAR, The Childrens Institute offers a wide array of permanency planning services, as well as family visitation services including adoption and foster care. Visit http://www.amazingkids.org or call 412.420.2400 to learn more.

# # #
Aptech Computer Systems, a leading provider of hospitality enterprise accounting, budgeting, forecasting, and business intelligence systems, announced today that TPG Hotels & Resorts has deployed Execuvue Enterprise Business Intelligence System. TPG Hotels & Resorts is a top-ranked hospitality management company and fully accredited operator of the industrys most respected brands including Marriott (Starwood), Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and others.

With a national portfolio of more than 50 hotels operating multiple brands coast to coast, it is essential that we have reliable tools for gathering real time hotel data in a seamless single-source manner, said Michael Brown, vice president of business intelligence for TPG Hotel & Resorts. Execuvue automatically gathers the hotel data from all our properties and enables us to easily create customized daily roll up analysis for our entire portfolio which streamlines the entire reporting process. Through Execuvues powerful automation, the time needed to compile data should be greatly reduced and provide more time for thorough analysis and timely decision making.

Aptech Computer Systems is an IBM Premier Business Partner that offers Execuvue web-enabled Business Intelligence, Targetvue Budgeting and Forecasting, and PVNG Enterprise Back Office systems that are 100% hospitality specific. Aptech is the only company that provides a complete suite of financial management and analysis solutions for the hotel industry.

About TPG Hotels & Resorts

Pre-approved by all the leading global hotel brands, TPG Hotels & Resorts is an operator of hospitality assets across all chain scales with an historical operating platform of over 150+ branded, independent and boutique hotels comprising more than 25,000 guestrooms in 30 states. Today, TPG Hotels & Resorts is the 7th largest hotel management company in U.S. generating over $840 Million in annual revenue (ranked by guestrooms - Hotel Management Magazine 2016). TPG is a fully integrated hospitality management company actively engaged in hotel operations, renovations, development and acquisition/asset repositioning across the country. For more information please visit: http://www.tpghotelsandresorts.com.

About Aptech Computer Systems, Inc.

Aptech Computer Systems, Inc., based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only provider of a fully integrated enterprise accounting, business intelligence and planning ecosystem to the hospitality industry. All of its clients are companies like yours, which own or manage hotels. Its solutions help customers at both the corporate and property levels understand their financial and operational data for faster goal achievement.

The company is renowned for introducing business intelligence into the hotel industry, and offers a solid resource of hospitality professionals. Aptech is an IBM Software Value Plus Partner and Premier Solution Provider, as well as Prophix Premier Business Partner.

Incorporated in 1970, Aptechs state-of-the-art back office, true business intelligence and enterprise planning solutions are 100% hotel specific. Solutions include PVNG, Execuvue, and Targetvue. Clients comprise over 3,500 properties - including large chains, multiple-property management companies and single-site hotels. Execuvue is registered to Aptech Computer Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are owned by their respective holders. For more information please visit http://www.aptech-inc.com.
dormakaba, one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions, will launch its Quantum Pixel electronic door lock at HITEC 2017 in booth 1901. Quantum Pixel also collects a wealth of lock activity information to support productivity analytics. dormakaba will also debut its Virtual Design Center VR experience at HITEC. This virtual reality encounter takes attendees to the Italian Alps to introduce dormakabas solution panorama and history. dormakaba manufactures the Saflok and Ilco electronic door locks and provides installation and service for these locking systems. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba.

We invite HITEC attendees to test the most advanced mobile access solutions and mobile systems. Our newest addition to the Quantum series portfolio by dormakaba, the Quantum Pixel, provides a minimalistic appearance while providing all hardware features and technology todays global hospitality market, designers and architects are seeking, said Mike Lopes, dormakaba senior product manager, Lodging Systems. We have taken a less is more on the door approach, leveraging space inside the door to contain electronics, while capable of delivering online wireless integration and mobile access solutions. Great things do come in small packages.

dormakaba is moving beyond locks and hardware manufacturing with global software and analytics that help hoteliers do a better job with actionable information. Its online locks capture and record a great deal of data that makes maintenance predictive, and continuously monitors room door status to keep hotels secure. dormakaba systems also monitor frequency of door use to help properties balance room usage, and enable hotels to schedule staff more efficiently.

The more intelligence that is built in a lock system, the more operators can learn about their hotel, the guest experience, and the locks performance, said Joey Yanire, dormakaba assistant vice president mobile access, Lodging Systems. The usage profile of each lock provides data that supports better decision making. It can also help reduce operator maintenance costs and improve customer satisfaction.

Visit dormakaba in Booth #1901 at HITEC in Toronto, June 26-29 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

About dormakaba

dormakaba is one of the top three companies in the global market for access and security solutions. With strong brands such as Dorma and Kaba in our portfolio, we are a single source for products, solutions, and services related to doors and secure access to buildings and rooms. With around 16,000 employees and numerous cooperation partners, we are active in over 130 countries. dormakaba is headquartered in Rumlang (Zurich/Switzerland) and generates an annual turnover of over CHF 2 billion. Click here for information on electronic door locks from dormakaba.

SIX Swiss Exchange: DOKA (formerly: KABN / KABNE) Further information at http://www.dormakaba.com
Wayne Morgan, CFO "I am extremely honored to join the leadership team of such a forward-thinking company."

Entrust Energy announced today the appointment of Wayne Morgan as its Chief Financial Officer, effective May 8. Morgan  a seasoned professional in the retail energy industry  joins Entrust Energy with extensive background in the areas of finance, accounting, supply, risk management, and operations.

We are thrilled Wayne has agreed to join our team, said Layne Loessin, President & CEO at Entrust Energy. Hes a strong leader with an entrepreneurial spirit that is highly valued at our company. Wayne understands retail and appreciates what it takes to be effective from a financial and risk management standpoint as well as what it takes to grow strategically and successfully.

In his new role, Morgan will oversee and be accountable for finance and accounting reporting and analysis, treasury, and energy supply management as well as the financial support of strategic development initiatives.

Ive admired Entrust Energy from afar and am extremely honored to join the leadership team of such a forward-thinking company, said Morgan. I look forward to the opportunity to help Entrust Energy continue its upward trajectory in terms of superior customer service and growth in both services and customers.

Prior to joining Entrust Energy, Morgan served as Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis and Retail Risk at Champion Energy. Throughout his 10+ year career, Morgan has demonstrated success in formulating financial plans and models, as well as budget strategies to facilitate growth.

Morgan earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.
Takeshi Eto, VP Business Development at Everleap said Our Private MongoDB service delivers a cost-effective fully managed dedicated NoSQL database service that is compatible with .NET applications.

Everleap, a cloud hosting provider, announces the enhancement of its database hosting services with Private MongoDB server solutions. This new database hosting solution offers customers private servers with their own installation of MongoDB, a popular open-source NoSQL database.

The premium MongoDB solution is designed to address the needs of businesses that require databases with evolving schema, businesses that have large datasets with a need for fast and flexible access to data, and businesses that require custom MongoDB server configurations.

The Private MongoDB server plans come with a set CPU core configuration and the server resources can be expanded. Some of the Private MongoDB Hosting plan details include:



Two base plans with 2 CPU cores or 4 CPU cores

200 GB storage which can be expanded

Customers can select the amount of RAM

MMAPv1 or WiredTiger storage engines

Includes server maintenance and security patching

Includes consultation and technical support

We offer Private Microsoft SQL and Private MySQL hosting solutions and we are excited to add Private MongoDB database servers to our portfolio, said Takeshi Eto, VP Business Development at Everleap. Our Private MongoDB service delivers a cost-effective fully managed dedicated NoSQL database service that is compatible with .NET applications.

About Everleap

Everleap is a modern hosting solution built by the team at DiscountASP.NET. Everleap brings together the reliability and scalability of big cloud providers with the predictable pricing, bundled services, technical support, and ease and familiarity of traditional website hosting. For more information, visit http://www.Everleap.com

All trademarks are the property of their legal owners.
New Life Hiking Spa

A pioneer in wellness tourism, New Life Hiking Spa has been hosting healthful retreats in the Green Mountains of Vermont for four decades. Wellness travel might seem like a hot new trend, but this authentic destination spa has been sharing its trailblazing approach to health and well-being since 1978.

To celebrate the 40th summer in Vermont, New Life Hiking Spa is offering a special 21 day wellness retreat, at a savings of $400. The regular price for a stay this long for a solo traveler would be $5,000. However, the package is being offered at $4,600 and includes:



21 night accommodations in a private room with a private bath

21 expert guided hikes (three levels offered each day)

63 freshly prepared meals (calorie controlled)

All fitness classes (hiking is in the morning, fitness classes in the afternoon)

7 massages

Outdoor games

Nutrition Lectures

Nightly Activities

The nightly price for a solo traveler for this package is $219 per night. For double occupancy, the price is $199 per person/per night ($4,180 per person for 21 nights). Participants for double occupancy must bring their own roommate. Price does not include Vermont tax and amenity charge.

New Life Hiking Spa also offers specials on shorter stays for bookings that are confirmed for the 2017 season by July 1, as follows:



2-4 Night Mini-Vacation ($259 per night single occupancy or $231 per person/per night double occupancy) is an outdoor fun, stress-reducing getaway.

5-10 Night Jump Start Getaway ($249 per night single occupancy or $221 per person/per night double occupancy) allows guests to lose weight, de-stress, and get stronger while learning about a healthy lifestyle.

11+ Night Weight Loss Retreat ($233 per night single occupancy or $206 per person/per night double occupancy) is an empowering retreat to make realistic solid changes in eating habits and lifestyle.

About New Life Hiking Spa:

New Life Hiking Spa uses the mountains instead of a treadmill and has been providing farm to table cuisine since before it was popular. Often referred to as spa camp for grown-ups, its all about reconnecting with nature and finding balance in one of Americas most beautiful regions for hiking and outdoor activities.

New Life Hiking Spa was the winner of Best Destination Spa in the U.S. for Travel + Leisure Magazine Worlds Best Awards in 2016. This down-to-earth retreat has also been named one of the four best weight loss spas by Health Magazine and a hikers paradise by SELF. In addition, it has won a record number of awards from SpaFinder Wellness 365 in everything from outdoor adventure to affordability to Best Spa for Men and Best Spa for Going Solo.

Hiking is the focus at New Life Hiking Spa. Guided hikes are for all levels; including beginner, intermediate, and advanced. New Life encourages hikers in a low-key and comforting environment. There are 21 treks offered each week and three levels are offered each day to accommodate everyones fitness level.

Open each year seasonally from mid-May through fall foliage, the current season will run until October 2, 2017. Additional information and reservations can be found online at http://www.newlifehikingspa.com or by calling 802-353-2954.
Sagitec Solutions Azure Services Sagitec Solutions is shortlisted to the list of 20 Most Promising Azure Solution Providers - 2017 by CIOReview magazine" - Jeevan George, Managing Editor of CIOReview

Sagitec Solutions, a Microsoft Managed Gold Partner and Azure Managed Government Services provider, is honored to be recognized among the 20 most promising Azure Solution Providers of 2017 by CIOReview.

This recognition is based on the evaluation of Sagitecs steadfast commitment to helping the public pension and unemployment insurance industries adopt Microsoft Cloud-based solutions. The annual list of companies is selected by a panel of experts and members of CIOReviews editorial board to recognize and promote technology entrepreneurship.

Sagitec Solutions is shortlisted to the list of 20 Most Promising Azure Solution Providers - 2017 by CIOReview magazine based on its innovative, tailor-made solutions for pension, provident fund, unemployment insurance, and healthcare and life sciences clients of all sizes, said Jeevan George, Managing Editor of CIOReview.

Sagitec helps clients modernize their IT applications and utilizes Microsoft Azure Government to move their clients to a more secure and hosted environment. This method of infrastructure hosting provides their clients immense flexibility to respond to fluctuating demands for service  especially important for the unemployment insurance industry that has to deal with the ebbs and flows of the job market. Furthermore, by hosting their line of business solutions on Microsoft Azure, Sagitec allows their clients to quickly update their solutions in response to law and policy changes.

By building on the Microsoft Cloud for Government platform, our clients gain a reliable, stable solution that is backed by the companys ongoing commitment to serve the government community, said David Minkkinen, Senior Partner, Sagitec Solutions. We are happy to be recognized by CIOReview for our Azure-related services.

In addition to using Microsofts Azure Government Platform for hosting, Sagitec also uses Microsofts .NET technology stack to build their pension and unemployment insurance line of business solutions.

With Microsoft, we are deploying solutions in an Infrastructure-as-a-Service approach, said Ranjith Kotcherlakota, Senior Partner, Sagitec Solutions. Microsoft offers a dependable, easy-to-use, and continuously evolving technology platform that our customers can invest in and use to grow their critical line-of-business applications.

Sagitec currently has four public sector clients for whom they provide Azure services and solutions. An article with interviews from Minkkinen and Kotcherlakota has been published in the CIOReview Azure 2017 edition and can be found here http://azure.cioreview.com/vendor/2017/sagitec_solutions

About CIOReview

Published from Fremont, California, CIOReview is a print magazine that explores and understands the plethora of ways adopted by firms to execute the smooth functioning of their businesses. A distinguished panel comprising of CEOs, CIOs, IT-VPs including CIOReview editorial board finalized the 20 Most Promising Azure Solution Providers - 2017 and shortlisted the best vendors and consultants. For more info, visit: http://www.cioreview.com

About Sagitec Solutions

Sagitec Solutions, LLC designs and delivers tailor-made pension, provident fund, unemployment insurance, and healthcare and life sciences software solutions to clients of all sizes. Understanding that a dynamic world requires dynamic technology, Sagitec offers solutions that are highly configurable and extensible by nature. With deep industry experience in software implementation and systems integration, project management, consulting, hosting and software support, Sagitec is a partner clients can trust to deliver mission-critical IT projects. For more information, visit http://www.sagitec.com
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The bonuses, to be paid by Nyonkopa Cocoa Buying Limited, a local company and subsidiary of Barry Callebaut Group, a leading manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa products, forms part of the companys sustainability programme.

READ ALSO: COCOBOD rules out price hike and bonus for cocoa farmers

The Country Sustainable Manager of Barry Callebaut Group, Mr Robert Asugre, made this known at the national launch of the premium at a farmers rally during which the Managing Director of Nyonkopa, Mr Joshy Varkey, and a Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr William Agyapong Quaittoo, jointly presented the cheque to the Oda District Cocoa Farmer, Mr Alex Kwame Bempong.

He said the sustainability programmes were aimed not only to driving sustainable livelihood resilience and improved rural economy in cocoa growing communities of the companys operational area, but also increasing the countrys foreign exchange earnings.

In his address, Mr Quaittoo said the New Patriotic Partys (NPP) government was adopting effective measures to revamp the cocoa industry in order to achieve its target of producing one million tonnes of cocoa in four years.

In that regard, he said, the government would provide free insecticides for specially trained gangs to spray cocoa farms.

Mr Quaittoo stated that the government had also reduced the price of a bag of fertiliser from GH140 to GH80 to make it affordable for cocoa farmers.

According to him, the government has decided to provide dugouts and solar panels in cocoa farms for irrigation to enhance the production of all- year-round cocoa.
The Gulf-based carrier was presented with the honor at Tuesday's World Airline Awards at the 2017 Paris Air Show.

It was Qatar Airways' fourth win for best airline in the past 10 years after it secured the top spot in 2011, 2012, and 2015. The airline reclaimed its crown after finishing second last year to its Dubai, UAE-based rival Emirates.

The other carriers to make the Skytrax top 10 were (in no particular order) Singapore, Hainan, ANA, Cathay Pacific, Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, Garuda Indonesia, and EVA Air.

The prestigious award ceremony is often referred to as the "Oscars of the aviation industry," and the victory was a much-needed bright spot during a time in which Qatar Airways has been caught in the middle of a diplomatic crisis between Qatar and its Middle Eastern neighbors.

The dispute has resulted in Qatar Airways' expulsion from major markets in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. These countries have also either severely restricted Qatar Airways' access to or outright banned the airline from their airspace.

In addition, the Doha-based airline has been dealing with the financial fallout from restrictions on travel and large electronics issued by the US and UK governments earlier this year.

But the political turmoil has not had an effect on Qatar Airways' performance at the World Airline Awards, where it also won for best business class in the world and best airline in the Middle East.

The Skytrax awards are decided based on independent surveys completed by 19.87 million passengers from 105 countries.
The report surveyed the number of older workers in 34 OECD countries, taking into account employment, earnings and training for over 55s. Analysts predict that,

The UK's employment rate for 50-64 year olds is currently 70%, with England faring best at 70.6% and Northern Ireland worst at 63.6%. Regional differences are attributed to economic performance, educational attainment and gender divides. The gender pay gap has also been shown to grow dramatically as age increases, a significant barrier to older women staying in work.

Turkey came in last at 34th place, having plummeted 12 percentage points since 2003, followed by Luxembourg, Slovenia and then Greece.

Here are the top 19 countries:

19. UK - This country has one of the world's highest GDPs, according to the IMF. "The UK could boost its GDP by around 4.2% (around 80 billion at todays values) if the employment rate of workers aged over 55 could match that of Sweden, the highest performing EU country," says PwC.

18. Mexico - This country's GDP is 15th in the world, according to the IMF. But it has seen the biggest fall in the rankings this year.

17. Portugal - This country has risen two places in PwC's list, and has shown a marked decrease in the number of 65-69 year olds in employment since 2003.

16. Canada - This country has a relatively high GDP and number of older workers, but it could still increase GDP by about 3.3% if it boosted employment rates for those over 55 to Swedish levels.

15. Germany - This country has risen ten places since 2003, and has seen the biggest improvement in its score out of the G7 countries surveyed. This has been achieved through a combination of policies, including special training measures and publicity campaigns.

14. Finland - This country has the smallest gender gap between workers between the ages of 55-64, out of all those surveyed.

13. Denmark - Although this country has quite a large number of older workers, it is one of the few countries that has seen a fall in the average age of exiting the workforce.

12. Australia - This country has been one of the biggest risers, jumping eight places since 2003. This was achieved in part by reforming the pension system to make it more flexible and by better incentivising people over 70 to remain in the workforce.

11. Switzerland - This country has one of the highest employment rates for 55-64 year olds, and the highest rate of part-time work for the same age group.

10. Chile - This country has one of the highest average ages of people leaving the workforce. Chile is one of the few countries to outperform the Index relative to its (lower) income level.

9. United States - This country is now the second highest G7 country in the list, after Japan. It also has the second highest rate of training for 55-64 year olds relative to 25-54 year olds, out of all the surveyed countries.

8. Japan - This country has made a strong improvement, rising two places since 2014, and is now the highest G7 country on the list. It has the third highest rate of employment for 65-69 year olds, and the highest life expectancy. Those countries in which older workers play larger roles in the economy also tend to have higher life expectancies.

7. Korea - This country's strong position means that it stands to gain the second least in GDP from raising its over 55s employment rate to be in line with Sweden's. It is second for employment rates among 65-69 year olds, but still almost 10 percentage points below Iceland.

6. Norway - This country has done consistently well, helped by a reformed pension system that discourages early retirement and increases the flexibility of partial pensions. Shared parental leave has also been the norm since the 1970s, which has helped support women in returning to work.

5. Estonia - This country has the second lowest gender gap for employees between 55-64. It also has one of the lowest rates of part-time work for the same age group. Like Chile and Mexico, it outperforms most other countries relative to its income.

4. Sweden - This country has been used as a benchmark to determine how much other countries' GDP could increase if they increased their older worker population to be in line with its own. Compared to the OECD average, it has higher employment rates for 25-54 year olds, for 55-64 year olds and for women between 55-64 in full time employment.

3. Israel - This country has risen ten places since 2003, and the retirement age has gradually increased since 2004. Israel has proposed introducing training programmes for older women in particular, and has helped raise the average income of older citizens.

2. New Zealand - This country has risen seven places since 2003, and has been consistently in the top three since 2007. This has been achieved in part through reducing barriers to work for older workers and ensuring employers allow older workers to be flexible with their working hours.
They are part of a seven-member delegation drawn from various scientific fields on the continent by the African Academy of Sciences.

They are Dr. Collins Obuah, a lecturer in catalysis and bioinorganic chemistry at the University of Ghana and Dr. Marian Asantewah Nkansah, a senior lecturer in environmental chemistry at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

The Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting is an annual gathering of the worlds leading scientists and young scientists for a series of lectures and discussions on some of the biggest issues of our time. This year's meeting, the 67th edition, is dedicated to Chemistry.

Some of the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry who would be present at the meeting are Jean-Pierre Sauvage (2016 awardee), Johann Deisenhofer (1998 awardee) and Ada Yonath (2009 awardee).

In an interview with Pulse.com.gh, Dr. Obuah said it was a "once in a life time opportunity to interact with over 30 distinguished scientist at one venue...In the field of science exchange of knowledge is key to a successful career. Therefore Lindau will afford me the opportunity to establish collaboration with great scientists across the world. It is a dream come true [for me].

Selection for the Lindau Nobel Meetings are extremely competitive and very few of the many hundreds of applicants worldwide get in every year.

I was nominated by Professor James Darkwa, a fellow of The African Academy of Sciences. Among the many applications, my nomination was successful. The ASS then nominated me to the Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings council for another application process. I was lucky to be part of the 400 young scientists selected across the world, he added.

Some of Dr Obuahs research interests have been to investigate the use of metal complexes as catalysis to convert natural gases such as ethylene to polymer materials or commodity chemicals and also biomass to bio-fuels. He has also done some research in anti-cancer and anti-HIV agents.

Dr Obuah was awarded a Ph.D in Inorganic Chemistry by the University of Johannesburg in 2015. He has a Master of Science degree from the same university and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Ghana.

The other young African scientists selected for the meeting are from Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

READ ALSO: Why emceeing is now a big business

This years meeting would see 400 young scientists from 76 countries and 30 Nobel Laureates, descend on the small German town of Lindau from 25 to 30 June 2017.
Dr. Bawumia did not hide his optimism and governments desire to leverage the opportunities offered by the EPA when he met Ambassadors of European Union Member States and members of the European business community in Ghana during a cocktail reception held recently to mark the second anniversary of the European Business Organisation in Ghana (EBO-Ghana).

EBO-Ghana started operating in May, 2015 after receiving endorsement of all National European Embassies and the Delegation of the European Union in Ghana. It was established among other things, to facilitate dialogue between EU private sector and authorities of the host country.

The cocktail reception was organized by EBO-Ghana and the Delegation of the European Union to Ghana, to interact with Business related Ministers and newly appointed CEOs of business and trade related public institutions. Private sector organizations such as the Association of Ghana Industries, the Federation of Associations of Ghanaian Exporters, the Private Enterprise Federation and the Ghana Chamber of Commerce were also part of the event.

READ MORE: Government to take a second look at controversial tow tax

Opportunities offered by EPA

Last year, Ghana ratified the interim Economic Partnership Agreement which subsequently entered into force on 15 December following its ratification by the European Parliament.

This represented an important milestone in the partnership between Ghana and the European Union as it provided the needed legal backing. With the avowed commitment from both parties, what remains is how to implement the EPA for mutual benefit.

What then are the opportunities offered by this agreement? The EPA is about protecting Ghana's exports and jobs. It is also about creating new jobs through new investments and new opportunities for business and trade. The EPA provides duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market for an unlimited period for imports originating from Ghana. For example, a textile product can enter the EU duty-free if at least one stage in its production, such as weaving or knitting took place in Ghana. In return, Ghana will partially and gradually liberalize imports from the EU over a period of 20 years. In designing this arrangement, due cognizance was given to the different level of socio-economic development in Ghana.

More importantly, Ghana has the right to protect sensitive sectors of its economy from any adverse effects of the EPA as well as to preserve fiscal revenues. In this regard, imports from the EU that will be allowed into Ghana under this agreement consist mainly of goods which are not produced locally. Notably inputs used by local producers such as agricultural inputs - fertilizers and seeds as well as equipment and machinery needed for manufacturing. Agricultural and non-agricultural products, such as chicken, goat and swine meat, tomatoes, fresh and prepared, sugar, palm oil, cocoa powder, flour, frozen fish and beer have been excluded from liberalization in order to protect these sectors.

Additionally, potential investors, whether local or foreign get the long-term stability they yearn for. This is attributable to the fact that under the EPA, they will have a reliable market for their products.

Ghana will thus be seen as being serious about attracting businesses and giving them good prospects to expand their businesses. Ghana is already outperforming most African countries in attracting foreign investors, and this trend will be reinforced thanks to the EPA (FDI in Africa -3% but FDI in Ghana +9% in 2015).

With the Aid for Trade package that comes with the EPA, Ghanas customs procedures will be reviewed to make it less of a hassle for exporters and importers. This has the potential to tackle the perceived corruption in this area. Significantly, EPA comes with EU development aid. This will help Ghana make the most out of the agreement.

In summary, the objectives of the EPA are simple; increase investments and job creation in Ghana and intensify and facilitate trade between Ghana and the EU towards a sustainable economic partnership.

Safeguards against unforeseen circumstances

The EPA also has separate chapters on trade defence instruments which provide for safeguard measures in case of disruption or risk of disruption of an economic sector, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures to help Ghanaian exporters to comply with international standards, trade facilitation and a dispute settlement mechanism. Further negotiations are also possible on services, investment and other trade related issues.

Justification for Dr. Bawumias optimism

Clearly, there is something good in the EPA that is worth pursuing, hence Dr. Bawumias upbeat attitude towards this agreement. Speaking as a guest speaker at the reception, he said with the coming into force of the interim Economic Partnerships Agreement (EPA), Ghana expects to have access to EU markets with a more diversified portfolio of products. According to him, government wants to move beyond just agricultural products and oil to products from the light manufacturing industries, non-traditional exports, and human talents in the shape of outsourced Business Process Services.

When this is done, government expects that Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows from the European Union into Ghana which amounted to US$2.7 Billion between 2010 and 2016 will increase significantly. It is also expected that exports of Ghana to the EU will diversify from commodities into transformed products.

This is already happening in the agri-business where more and more transformation takes place in Ghana (e.g. canned tuna, processed cocoa, etc.). But it should also extend to industrial and consumer goods (cosmetics, textiles, etc.) thanks to the EPA which give a competitive advantage to Ghana vs. other countries currently supplying the EU market.

These will be achieved through what Dr. Bawumia describes as the three big ideas that will drive Ghanas future relationship with the EU.

First, the private sector will be provided the needed support to lead in creating jobs. Secondly, the government intends to build a Ghana Beyond Aid. In this regard, the government willengage more in trade and investments that will help create wealth, keep citizens gainfully employed in meaningful jobs that enable them live dignified lives. The objective is to add value to the natural resources and human talents, to engage the rest of the world in exchange for premium returns. Thirdly, as a centre-right, pro-business government that believes that Ghana is Open ForBusiness the private sector will be treated as a powerful ally in creating economic value and jobs for the people of Ghana.

The governments desire to create more sustainable jobs is understandable. All one needs to do to appreciate this need is take a cursory look at the streets of Accra and other regional capitals. Very able-bodied men selling items that are all imported is a common sight. These are people whose energies could be channeled into productive farming ventures, the produce from which could be exported to Europe under the terms of the EPA.
He explained that a deal-driven generation capacity procurement has resulted in the high average tariff for power, making the countrys power the most expensive in the West African sub region.Speaking at the 2017 Energy Ghana Summit in Accra, Mr. Agyarko said about 30 power purchasing agreements have been reviewed by his government to ensure value for money.

READ ALSO: ECG bidders conference might have hidden agenda- Dr.ManteawCommenting on the status of the Millennium Challenge Power Compact II, he expressed governments commitment to ensure the full implementation of the Compact II, even as it strives to remove the misconceptions raised by Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) workers and civil society groups.He was hopeful that government will complete the processes outlined in the compact which will enable the country to access a grant of close to US$500 million to be invested in to the power sector.Our position is, yes there is the compact; let us take on board all the issues that have been raised by ECG workers, Civil Society and others and let us see if we can find common grounds to reduce the tensions, remove some of the misconception so the project can move forward.
He was appointed on June 1, 2017 for a five-year term.

A statement signed by Head of Public Relations Directorate of the University, Reverend Tetteh Djangmah said Prof. Puplampu takes over from Professor Kwesi Yankah, who resigned early this year to take up an appointment as a Minister of State in Charge of Tertiary Education.

READ MORE: Ghana National College takes first slot in

A statement from the University said a Search Committee constituted by the University Council and chaired by Justice Sophia Akuffo, recommended Professor Puplampu as the most suitable candidate to lead the University into the future adding that Professor Puplampu eminently distinguished himself throughout the search process.

READ ALSO: Prempeh College qualifies to quarter finals

Prof. Puplampu, until this appointment was the Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs. He had earlier served as Dean of the Central Business School from 2010 to September 2015, and also as Acting Vice President and Vice President for Academic Affairs between December 2014 and December 2015.

Prior to joining Central University, he was the Head of Department of Organisation and Human Resource Management (HRM) at the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) and Chair of the UGBS EMBA programme.

The new Vice-Chancellor is an academic and a practising Chartered Psychologist (British Psychological Society and International Association of Applied Psychology) with over 20 years of experience in business education, organisational consulting, university teaching and research. His research interests are in the areas of Employee Motivation, Leadership, Work Values, Organisational Culture and CSR.

A product of the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School (PRESEC, Legon), Prof Puplampu holds a PhD in Organisational Behaviour from the University of East London (1993); MSc Occupational and Organisational Psychology from the Polytechnic of East London (1990) and Bachelors degree in Psychology from the University of Ghana.

He is also a graduate of the DAAD Deans Course for Africa programme on Higher Education Management.
The beauty queen made this revelation on GHOne TV. Rebecca, who is also Miss Ghana 2015 runner-up, she said her contract with the organizers of Miss Africa Continent stops her from dating.

This, she revealed, is to get her focused on her responsibilities as a queen. Dating, she said, may distract her, hence that decision.

I have got a year contract with Africa and in my contract, I cant date It (being a queen) comes with a lot of responsibilities and they make you understand if you are dating and dont have someone who will understand, it will be a big problem. So, as a result, one year, no relationship.

She was on the show to talk about her representing Ghana at the upcoming 2017 Miss United Nations world pageant.

She will be representing Ghana on that stage as the first Ghanaian queen to share Miss United Nations stage. She is hopeful of hoisting her countrys flag high out there by bringing home the crown. The pageant will take place in Kingston, Jamaica, from July 1 to July 9, with the main event on July 8.

Over 80 contestants will be taking part in the pageantry, and it will be the first time Ghana is presenting a representative.

If Rebecca gets crowned, it will, indeed, be a remarkable feat for her and Ghana as a whole. Rebecca is expected to leave Ghana late June 2017 to take part in activities ahead of the grand finale on July 8. She is hoping the public will support her win via votes at http://www.munp.org/contestants/miss-ghana-2017/

READ ALSO: Paris Show Off Moesha Boduong enjoys her shisha on vacation

She told Nana Aba, I have to win and come and show the crown to you.
The Winnipeg Humane Society (WHS) who helped to arrange the reunification posted the incredible story on their Facebook page. They said George the cat spent one decade away from his family. Today they were reunited.

READ ALSO: Armed robber arrested for allegedly killing a Ghanaian footballer

George went missing 12 years ago and his family thought he was gone. This week a Good Samaritan found George and arranged to bring him to the shelter.

They added that, WHS Intake staff did a bit of investigating because George's tattoo was faded. They got in touch with George's family yesterday and they were here first thing in the morning to reunite with George!

Freda Watson, who owned the cat, was highly emotional in the lead up to their reunion.

"I couldn't sleep the night before. I was crying that night and I was crying in the morning," she said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

"As I went to the kennel and pet him, he sniffed me and all of a sudden he was just rubbing up on me like he remembered me. I carried him in my arms and he put both his paws around my neck as if he was hugging me," she added.
Ministry of Health acting spokesperson Wezi Kaonga said TB patients on the Copperbelt province should not worry because there was no shortage of the drug.

The country, he said, had adequate drugs both at provincial level and at the Medical Stores, a government agency responsible for the purchase and storage of drugs.

We would like to refute media reports that there is a shortage of TB drugs on the Copperbelt because the province has been accessing medicine from Medical Stores and is distributing to all facilities, he said.
The president pointed out in his statement that President Nkrumah established a system unitary state that did not tolerate varying ideologies.

He built a whole prison just 22 miles of Accra for detention of political opponents he said. He observed: Democracy as we are espousing was virtually killed, and was quick to add that

By 1966 the country had had too much and it was labouring under poverty it had never known before he said.

Mr. Kufuor, who served as president between 2001 and 2009, said the country was labouring under intolerance and people were not allowed to express themselves [under President Nkrumah] The Ex-President remarked that the country tasted true democracy only after 1992 when we were ushered into the 4 republic and hoped that we have had a gradual improvement.

READ ALSO: This could have been my second term in office - Nana AddoThe International Democratic Union is a centre and centre right movement made up of 80 Conservative, Christian Democrat and like-minded political parties of which New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a member one.

It was through Mr Kufuor when he was the president of the Republic of Ghana, that the NPP joined the IDU
Mr Dzamesi said on Tuesday that On the 15th of July, we are doing what I term as a pilot project. We are going with about 100 people. I will lead that group of people. Well go to Israel and then once we are there, well be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Religious Affairs in Israel and our Ministry so that there will be proper understanding.

"And then we can also involve the Ghana Embassy in Israel so that things can be very smooth for our citizens who want to go to Israel for pilgrimage, so it is very much in the interest of the Israeli government.

There are concerns from some Ghanaians that the governments decision to sponsor Christian pilgrims is a misplaced priority.

The Chairman of the Church of Pentecost, Apostle Dr Kwadwo Nimfour Opoku Onyinah had indicated that the funds for such sponsorship should be channelled into something profitable for the country.

Mr Dzamesi has, however, reiterated that the government of Ghana is merely facilitating the trip for the pilgrims.
The Attorney Generals office has begun steps to orally examine businessman, Alfred Woyome, in the controversial GHc 51 million judgment debt saga.According to documents sighted by Accra-based Citi FM, an ex-parte motion to examine Mr. Woyome was filed on June 2, 2017.Mr Woyome will, therefore, be required to appear before the court on June 29, 2017 for the examination.A separate document also indicated that, a charge has been placed on the property of Mr. Woyome, as sought by the Attorney Generals office.The companies affected by the charge included Anator Holding Company Limited,AAW Management Consulting Services, Anator Construction Company Limited, Green Township Security Services Company Limited, Woyome Brothers International Limited, Stewise Anator Company limited and Stewise Shipping Compan Limited.The Supreme Court ordered Mr Woyome to refund GHS51.2 million to the state.The court stated that Mr Woyome got the money out of an invalid contract between the state and Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008.But the outgone National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was not able to retrieve the money from the businessman before leaving office.Woyome has, however, refunded GH4 million to state coffers, representing part payment of the GH51.2 million he owes the state.He is to pay Gh5million every four months in instalment until the final payment is made on April 1, 2019.However, Mr Woyome, who is dissatisfied with the ruling by the Supreme Court, has resorted to two international bodies, the ICC and African Court of Justice, to determine the matter.
The media should stop insulting me. Some of them even address me as that devil of a lawyer and use all sort of abusive words on my personality. I am on the brink of withdrawal the lawyer, George Bernard Shaw told the Ghana News Agency.

According to him, he does not support mob justice but was only in the case to ensure that the rights of the accused persons were not abused.

He made this known after the seven accused persons who were initially arrested following the mob attack last May, were discharged by the Cape Coast Magistrate Court on Monday and the case transferred to Accra for continuation.

READ ALSO: Seven alleged killers of Major Mahama discharged

The assemblyman of Denkyira-Obuasi, William Baah, who is alleged to have led the mob action that resulted in the death of Major Mahama is part of the seven persons facing prosecution.

The rest are: Bismark Donkor, Philip Badu, Kofi Nyame, Anthony Amoah, Kofi Badu, and Yaw Annor.

Major Mahama was lynched by some residents of Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region on Monday, May 29, 2017.

A postmortem report of the Ghana Police service indicated that the suspects involved in the murder of Major Maxwell Mahama shot him severally before setting his body on fire.
The President was speaking when Jon Benjamin paid a farewell courtesy call on him at the Flagstaff House on Tuesday [June 20, 2017].

President Akufo-Addo said the controversial diplomats interest in the countrys politics and social life has earned him a special place in the heart of Ghanaians. He added that he is welcome to the country anytime he so desires.

Nana Addo urged Jon Benjamin to continue having Ghanas interest at heart as he ends his duty in the country.

The President added that the relationship between Ghana and the United Kingdom has greatly deepened during his period of stay in Ghana and was hopeful that whoever takes his place will further enrich the good relations between the two countries.

In a response, Jon Benjamin said he was very sad he was leaving since his stay in Ghana has been extremely special.

READ ALSO: This Jon Benjamin tweet about Africa World Airline will make your day

He was hopeful that his successor will deepen the relationship between Ghana and the UK than what has existed during his time.

My extensive travel in Ghana has made me experience firsthand the culture and social values of the People of Ghana, he added.
This follows his GH51.2 million indebtedness to the state.

Shares of the businessman affected include those in Anator Holding Company Limited, AAW Management Consulting Services Limited, Green Township Security Services Company Limited, Anator Construction Company Limited, Woyome Brothers International Limited and Stewise Anator Company Limited.

The rest are Stewise Shopping Company Limited, Green Townships and Industrial Parks Development Company Limited, Anator Power Company Limited, Green Townships (GH) Company Limited and Special Economic Zone International Trading Company Limited.

READ ALSO: AG to orally examine Woyome on June 29

The Supreme Court order, granted by Mr Justice A.A. Benin, was in relation to a motion filed by the Attorney-General (A-G) on May 17, 2017 praying the court to impose a charging order on all the shares owned by the businessman in the 11 companies.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has ordered Alfred Woyome to appear before it on June 29, 2017 to be orally examined by the Attorney General with regard to the GH51.2 million debt.

An ex-parte motion to examine Mr. Woyome was filed on June 2, 2017.

The oral examination would border on whether Mr Woyome owed the state any debt and whether he had any property for satisfying the judgement of this court, dated July 29, 2014.

The oral examination would also be based on whether the businessman has any means of satisfying the judgement of this court, dated July 29, 2014 and the manner in which he used the money paid to him by the Republic of Ghana.

Background

The Supreme Court ordered Mr Woyome to refund GHS51.2 million to the state.

The court stated that Mr Woyome got the money out of an invalid contract between the state and Waterville Holdings Limited in 2006 for the construction of stadia for CAN 2008.

But the outgone National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was not able to retrieve the money from the businessman before leaving office.

Woyome has, however, refunded GH4 million to state coffers, representing part payment of the GH51.2 million he owes the state.

He is to pay Gh5million every four months in instalment until the final payment is made on April 1, 2019.
This was however overturned by 5 of the nine justices who sat on the issue back in 2013 causing disappointment and anger amongst NPP members.

The President made the remark during the swearing in off the new Chief Justice; Justice Sophia Akuffo on Monday in a room full of some of Ghanas dignified men and women.

"Thus far, the Judiciary can be said, generally, to have discharged, in the Fourth Republic, its duties creditably and responsibly, even though I was on the wrong end of the decision in the famous election petition of 2013."

"A favourable decision on the day could have meant, perhaps, that this was my second term in office, rather than the commencement of my mandate."

"The attachment of the Ghanaian people to the rule of law made it possible for us, in the New Patriotic Party, to entrust our fate to the highest court in the land in the aftermath of the disputed elections of 2012.

"It also enabled the country to move on, in unity and stability, after the court handed down its verdict." He intimated.

According to the President, the decision by the then Chief Justice, Justice Georgina Theodora Woods who is now a member of the Council of State to broadcast the proceedings on television went a long way to strengthen Ghanas democratic credentials.
The Director General of DMO, Dr Abraham Nwankwo stated in a statement released on Monday, June 19, 2017, that the diaspora bond received huge acceptance from Nigerians living abroad as total subscription was 130% of the issued value.

It would be recalled that the Federal Government had taken a move to source funds from Nigerians living in Diaspora as part of their contributions to the development of the country.

The government issued a $300 million bond at a coupon rate of 5.625% for a tenure of five years, and was mainly targeted at the retail investors as against the traditional institution investors.

Dr Nwankwo also stated that the bond was structured as retail instruments to appeal to a wide range of investors, through their private banks and wealth managers.

He continued that the instrument received a considerable interest from the investors all over the world with initial orders of about 190% of issued amount, but a final subscription is around 130% of the issue.

The diaspora bond has opened a new source of financing for the Federal Government of Nigeria for funding projects for the development of the country.

This new window further enhances funding liquidity and flexibility of the Nigerian economy, which are necessary characteristics as the country gathers momentum towards the attainment of advanced economy status, he said.

Nigerias Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun also expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the issue stating that the U.S Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) approval greatly impacts the outcome of the issuing.

To have received the approval of the U.S. SEC was indicative that the highest level of transparency and accountability in the economic process has been attained.

The Diaspora Bond is the first bond issued by an African sovereign registered with both the U.S. SEC and the United Kingdom Listing Authority (UKLA) and targeted at retail investors, she stressed.

With this issue, Nigeria is the first African country to issue a sovereign bond targeted at retail investors in the United States.
Former chief executive John Varley was among the four individuals charged.

The other three people charged are:

All four executives will appear at Westminster Magistrates court on July 3.

The SFO had been investigating "certain commercial arrangements between Barclays Bank and Qatar Holdings" since 2012.

"The charges relate to Barclays Plcs capital raising arrangements with Qatar Holding LLC and Challenger Universal Ltd, which took place in June and October 2008," the SFO said. "And a US$3 billion loan facility made available to the State of Qatar acting through the Ministry of Economy and Finance in November 2008."

Barclays said: "Barclays is considering its position in relation to these developments. The Charges arise in the context of Barclays' capital raisings in June and November 2008. Barclays awaits further details of the Charges from the SFO. The SFO has informed Barclays that it has not made a decision as to whether it will also bring charges against Barclays Bank PLC in respect of the Loan."

In 2013, the Financial Conduct Authority alleged that Barclays paid around 322 million to Qatari investors in return for a 4.6 billion capital injection at the height of the 2008 financial meltdown.
The Brexit secretary had previously insisted that talks over the timetable would be the "row of the summer".

Barnier says UK must face "consequences" of leaving the EU.

UK concession comes after just one day of talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

LONDON  The UK government has been forced in to a major climbdown on the first day of Brexit negotiations after being forced to accept the EU's timetable for talks.

The EU had demanded early agreement on the rights of EU nationals living in the UK, the Brexit divorce bill and the Northern Irish border, before any discussions could begin on a trade deal.

The Brexit secretary David Davis had previously rejected this and predicted that it would be the "row of the summer" once negotiations began.

He told ITV last month that it would be "wholly illogical" not to negotiate Britain's future trading relationship with the EU at the same time as negotiating divorce procedures.

However, in a press conference following the first day of Brexit talks, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said that he was "

Michel Barnier: UK has agreed to our timetable

The UK has now agreed to enter talks on divorce proceedings, including Britain's exit bill and the border with Northern Ireland, before any talks on future trading relations can begin.

When asked why he had capitulated to EU demands, Davis replied that: "It's not when it starts. It's how it's concluded that matters."

"The position we have agreed today is completely consistent with our long-term position."
He didn't give a reason for leaving the profession, but his spokeswoman, Leslee Dart, confirmed the rumor in a statement:

"Daniel Day-Lewis will no longer be working as an actor. He is immensely grateful to all of his collaborators and audiences over the many years. This is a private decision and neither he nor his representatives will make any further comment on this subject."

The 60-year-old , who holds both English and Irish citizenship, is known for being picky in selecting roles and taking long breaks in between projects.

When he does act, he acts hard.

The three-time Oscar winner and five-time nominee hasn't made an appearance in a movie since 2012's "Lincoln," for which he won his third Oscar for best actor.

He won his second Oscar for "There Will Be Blood" in 2008 and his first for "My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown" in 1990.

Day-Lewis will appear in Paul Thomas Anderson's " target="_blank"Phantom Thread" later this year and will participate in promoting it, but it will be his last film.
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Warmbier was detained as he was leaving Pyongyang in January 2016 and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor on the grounds that he attempted to steal a banner with political slogans.

On June 13, Warmbier was medically evacuated from North Korea, reportedly in a coma, and flown to Cincinnati.

Doctors caring for Warmbier said the 22-year-old was experiencing unresponsive wakefulness, a term that has come to replace the persistent vegetative state.

He was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands, Warmbiers parents wrote in a statement announcing his death.

That statement, however, did not mention a specific cause of death beyond the awful tortuous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans. That has left many wondering what the final factor was that led to the young man's death.

Doctors at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, where Warmbier was being treated, analyzed two MRI scans sent by the North Koreans, according to The New York Times. From those, they saw that Warmbier had sustained a severe neurological injury.

Warmbiers parents said they were told their son went into a coma soon after his sentencing, and the doctors analysis suggested that was the case. They estimated the catastrophic brain injury most likely came before April 2016.

The doctors said Warmbier's loss of brain tissue was most likely caused by an extended period of oxygen deprivation.

"This pattern of brain injury is usually seen as result of cardiopulmonary arrest where the blood supply to brain is inadequate for a period of time resulting in the death of brain tissue," Dr. Daniel Kanter, director of the Neurocritical Care Program at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, said in a press conference, according to CNN.

Warmbier's brain, in other words, was cut off from oxygen at some point, likely because his heart stopped, which halted the regular supply of blood.

But that does not fully explain how he died. Patients have been known to remain in a state of unresponsive wakefulness  in which they can open their eyes and have functioning reflexes, but are unresponsive to commands and other tests of consciousness  for long periods.

Medical experts have publicly speculated about an array of potential causes of death related to Warmbier's condition, including pneumonia, infection, and blood clot. But were unlikely to ever know the truth about what happened, since so much time passed between his initial injury and death.

The North Koreans have claimed that Warmbier's condition was due to a case of botulism that he contracted after his trial, combined with the effects of a sleeping pill. Fred Warmbier, Ottos father, has refuted that account, and doctors said they did not find any current signs of botulism.

Doctors also found no evidence of broken bones or other injuries that would suggest Warmbier was physically abused  though cuts and bruises would have had plenty of time to heal. An Ohio coroner is investigating Warmbiers death, but will not perform an autopsy, according to the family's wishes. An autopsy likely wouldn't have revealed any useful information anyway, the Washington Post suggests, since it would have been hard to tell when damage to bones or organs occurred (if such evidence were found).

The name for the condition Warmbier was in before his death  unresponsive wakefulness  emerged around 2010 because many doctors saw the term "vegetative" as pejorative, since it suggested that a patient was somehow similar to a vegetable. The notion of a vegetative state dates to the 1800s, when anatomist and pathologist Marie Francois Xavier Bichat divided the human nervous system into animalic and vegetative functions.

Vegetative, according to this early definition, included many involuntary, automatic functions, like the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The animalic processes were the ones that helped a person perceive and understand their environment  intellect, locution, senses, and so forth.

The modern conception of a vegetative state was first put forth in a 1972 paper as a way to describe medical patients whose sleep cycles and automatic functions continued somewhat normally, but who didnt exhibit any awareness of their own self or external environment. But in recent years, the term "unresponsive wakefulness syndrome" has increasingly been used instead of vegetative state to avoid negative associations.
Africas two biggest economies, with a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of nearly $800 billion are both in recession at the same time, for the first time ever in the modern history of the continent.

The time of arrival at this recessive destination may be different for both Nigeria and South Africa, but the navigation patterns bear a striking resemblance. The combined forces of corruption, public finance profligacy and in the case of South Africa, political instability, have stripped both countries of veneer of economic growth over the last one decade.

For the average Nigerian and South African, currently bearing the brunt of the reckless economic decisions and financial mismanagement of those entrusted with power, endless debates and analysis offer little or no reprieve.

Nigeria slipped into recession in Q2 2016, a year after the historic election that produced Muhammadu Buhari, a former military leader and staunch anti-corruption advocate, as president. Buharis predecessor, a former governor from the oil-producing Niger Delta, presided over what observers say is one of the most corrupt regimes in the history of the country.

Corruption has proved to be a recalcitrant encumbrance to the development of Africas most populous nation. A recent report by Chatham House, an independent policy institute based in London, puts the amount stolen from Nigerias treasury between 1960 and 2014 by corrupt public officials at $400 billion.

South Africa is not without its own corruption challenges, even if the amounts involved are not as staggering as the ones in Nigeria. Diversion of public funds by politicians and public officials away from service delivery into private pockets is rife. President Jacob Zuma for example is alleged to have diverted R246 million of public funds to upgrade his private home.

Since 2009, South Africa has dropped 17 places on Transparency International's Global Corruption Perception Index, 34 places since 2001. Between R25 billion and R30 billion is lost to loopholes and imbalances in government procurement processes each budget year according to a 2011 report by Willie Hofmeyer, former head of the Special Investigation Unit.

Economic analysts did not foresee Africas most industrialized economy going into a recession this year, but they should have. South Africas GDP contracted 0.3 percent in the last quarter of 2016, and its government needed to initiate short-term reforms to stem the tide. Instead, President Jacob Zuma fired the countrys finance minister, further compounding the political turmoil with economic uncertainty already prevalent in the country.

The ill-guided and mistimed ousting of Pravin Gordhan, who was in London meeting with investors and South Africas economic partners, sent the Rand tumbling against the US dollar. The erstwhile economic minister is credited with stabilizing South Africas economy since his appointment in December 2015 after President Zuma had sacked two other finance ministers within a month.

Gordhan is a vocal critic of corruption in state-owned companies and is thought to have clashed with Zuma over the operations of enterprises owned by the South African government. Most of South African SOEs have been operating at a loss over the years, and the bailouts required to keep them insolvent have been a massive strain on the economy. In 2015 alone the South African government spent nearly 10 percent of its total annual budget in servicing debts and paying money to help these companies.

State-owned national career, South African Airways, reported a R1.5 billion loss for the 2015/2016 financial year, after losing R5.6 billion the year before. The airline is being kept in the skies with R20 billion by the South African government. Money that should be put to good use elsewhere.

It is a similar story with state-owned regional airline, South African Express, and low-cost carrier, Mango. Both companies reported huge losses in the 2015/2016 financial year, and the year before that. Indeed, over the past 10 years these three airlines, South African Airways, South African Express and Mango, have made a combined R35 billion in operational losses and state bailouts.

The unhealthy obsession of the South African government with SOEs transcends airlines. Broadbrand Infraco needed a R500 million from the government to sustain its operations in 2015 and has consistently made losses since 2010. Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa ran into a R600 million loss in 2015, and R1.2 billion in the year before that. South African Post Office posted a loss of R1.4 billion in 2015. PetroSA however takes the cake for the biggest ever loss incurred by a state company in the history of South Africa with R14.5 billion.

As Africas largest oil producer, Nigeria has little infrastructure to show for the hundreds of billions earned from crude oil sales over the years. Humongous sums have been lost to questionable subsidy regimes that should never have existed but for gross incompetence and corruption. The nations petroleum minister recently revealed that $65 billion was spent on petrol and kerosene subsidies between 2011 and 2015. That amount is higher than the GDP of Kenya, and much of it ended up lining private pockets while the masses still bought fuel at higher prices.

To get out of recession and return to the path of economic growth, both Nigeria and South Africa will have to implement key reforms in departure from the archaic and unprofitable way of running government. Nigerias Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, had to publicly reject the offer of a new official residence at the cost of N7 billion. While that is commendable, the offer should never have been on the table to start with.

Malusi Gigaba, South Africa's fourth finance minister in less than 18 months, and his Nigerian counterpart, Kemi Adeosun, are faced with the task of convincing their respective governments that recession provides an opportunity to turn a new leaf in public expenditure.

Nigeria has made some progress in improving the ease of doing business and creating an enabling environment for investors and business owners. More needs to be done. The 2017 budget, expected to be financed largely through loans, contains too many frivolous items gulping funds that should be ploughed into developmental projects.

The appetite of the South African government for controlling enterprises that are best operated by private ventures will have to be curbed. The cost of running government remains high at the detriment of the economy. Investors confidence, eroded in no small measure by the abrupt removal of the former finance minister, has to be regained.

Size matters, a combined GDP and population of nearly $800 billion and about 230 million people, matter to the rest of Africa. But if size is not put to good use, it becomes a burden. The highest unemployment rate in the history of South Africa, and nearly 10 million out-of-school children in Nigeria are handwritings on the wall for this fact.
The graduate shared a photo from the event on her Insta story. Recall that Meraiah left Chrisland College, Lagos for the U.S.

Popularly known as the "fashionista" of the Ekeinde clan, Meraiah is currently in the United States of America. She also bagged an endorsement deal with her mother last year and describes herself as an aspiring model and fashion designer.
The arrest of Evans by the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) in conjunction with the Lagos State Police Command at one of his palatial mansions in the Magodo Phase II GRA suddenly shot him to a star with everyone wanting to have a share of the notorious man.

When he was paraded at the premises of the Lagos Police Command, even top police officers jostled to take selfies with him while the media went on a frenzy, digging up stories about him, some concocted, in fact.

For the duration the frenzy lasted, Evans became more popular than the President of the nation with his story being on the lips of everybody.

Many people conveniently forgot his criminal past and only feasted on his exploits as if he was one star or the other. No day has passed without a mention of Evans in the media and newspapers or the social media is never complete with the story of Evans, his crimes, his family, his latest confessions, and his words complete with videos.

As much as the Evans circus has played out, the most devastating were the creation of a hashtag titled #FreeEvans by some people who believed he is being victimized.

The reasons they gave for the hashtag was not only silly, brainless and asinine. to say the least. The reasons they gave was that if Nigerian politicians who have been indicted in corruption cases would be freed by the law courts, they saw no reason why Evans should not be set free.

They also reason, albeit brainlessly, that Evans committed the kind of crimes the politicians committed, saying that since the politicians had looted the nation, therefore Evans had every reason to kidnap and rob innocent people, even killing some of his victims.

Some even went to the idiotic conclusion that Evans is being humiliated because he is an Igbo man and does not belong to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). Such a warped reasoning.

The way and manner Evans has been singing like Canary leaves much to the imagination and tells of a man who believes the end has come for him and nothing can be done to remedy his situation.

Every other day, there is a new version of the Evans story with new twists and turns and even with the self-incriminating revelations, some people still believe that he should be set free.

But then, is it surprising that the call for Evans freedom is a metaphor of the real Nigerian who idolizes people with money, celebrate ill-gotten wealth without questioning where such affluence came from?

Those calling for Evans to be freed are the same people who would celebrate him, worshiped the ground he walked on, sang his praises to high heavens, adore him and wished to be like him.

If Evans went to church, he would have been made the chairman of the building committee, ordained an elder, inducted into the board of trustees, given a special seat beside the Daddy and used as a preaching point on how to sow seeds and give to the expansion of the work of God.

If Evans was into politics, some politicians would have adopted him as their godfather and financier and when the get elected or rigged into power as the case maybe, Evans would have been on their payroll, given juicy contracts as compensation and consulted before any decision is taken.

That is the kind of society we live in where no one cares how you make your money as long as you make it.

Evans parents too, like most parents in Nigeria, must have indirectly pushed him into the crime world with the pressure they mount on their children to make money like their mates, not minding how the mates made their money.
He was testifying in a divorce petition filed by his wife, Gift Erima.

A neighbour told me that whenever I leave home, my wife brings her man friend into our house."

I did not want to believe that, because it is not always wise to act based on hear-say in issues of this nature."

I just disregarded it, and termed it gossip, he said.

He said that he would have confronted the man, but for the fact that the man was wealthier than him.

The man has a lot of money, cars, in fact he is very rich, he said.

Egwu also told the court that when he found out, he sent his wife to go to the village and stay.

I later heard that my wife took that same man to her parent and introduced him as the man she wants to marry.

He told the court to grant his wifes request and dissolve the marriage, as he was already fed up.

Egwu begged the court not to grant his wife the custody of their children, adding

 I dont want another man to raise my children.

Erima who was present in court, denied all the allegations.

He is lying, he is the one that is married, and ever since he married, he has not been taking care of me and the children, she said.

Erima begged the court not to grant her husband custody of the children of the marriage.
In Lagos, Nigeria, the art graffiti has been embraced by corporate brands and the state government to beautify the city. This is part of the efforts to transform Lagos into a mega city.

While graffiti has aesthetic functions in Lagos, it is used for awareness on social issues in Kenya. Graffiti is not new to Kenya. Many urban art pieces adorn Matatus (buses) mainly for artistic expression. Also it used to be a male dominated scene but now the women are stepping in.

A workshop known as Graffiti Girls is made up of Kenyan women who use the urban art form to tackle issues such as domestic violence and mental health.

"Many people feel like theres no one to listen to them. They dont have a shoulder to lean on, so they only find solutions via graffiti" says Cynthia Aluoch, a member of the Graffiti Girls, in a video.
PM Express reports that Obiaguim who owns a house on 10, Victor Enuka Street, Bucknor Estate in Ejigbo, a suburb of Lagos, burgled Godwin's house when she fell sick and traveled to her hometown for treatment.

According to neighbours, Obiaguim reportedly broke into the tenant's apartment in her absence, removed her properties and converted them to her own use believing that Godwin will die from the ailment and not come back to the house.

It was gathered that the tenant had paid Obiaguim one year rent in January 2017 before she traveled home with the rent due to elapse by December 2017.

However, the landlady removed Godwin's property from her apartment and kept them for her own use while she rented out the apartment to another person.

The police noted that the properties Obiaguim stole from her tenant included a mattress, generator, fan, rug, kitchen utensils, among others.

It was learned that when the tenant survived the ailment and came back, she saw that her apartment had been rented to another person while her properties had also been removed and on inquiries, she found out that it was her landlady who had burgled her room.

Godwin reported the matter at the Ejigbo Police Division leading to the arrest of Obiaguim and her subsequent arraignment at the Isolo Magistrates Court for the alleged offense.

When the charges were read to her, the accused pleaded not guilty and the presiding Magistrate, Mr. A.O. Ogbe granted her bail in the sum of N100,000 with two sureties in like sum.
This is following the ultimatum issued to Igbos to leave the North by a group known as the Coalition of Northern Youths (CNY).

According to Okorcha, everyone should do their best to protect and ensure the unity of the country.

He said I believe everyone must respect each others religion no matter what and we should learn to love one another.

Nigeria is ours and ours alone and we must protect the unity and integrity of the nation, theres no point asking people to go back to their home, which home?

Nigeria is our home, therefore I have reassured the Muslims here that they will enjoy peaceful stay in this state and let none of them think about going back home because this is home, and thats how it should be nationwide.

So I ask Igbos to stay wherever they are and do their business legitimately and respect the law of the land. The problem we have in Nigeria is lack of interaction  We dont interact enough, allow people to mix up.
The residents made the appeal following two days of heavy rainfall which resulted in flooding in parts of the state.

Farmlands and houses were submerged following the downpour on June 5 and June 6.

The most affected areas included Kpansia, Amarata, Ekeki, and some parts of Ovom community.

Mr Ezekiel Ogbianko, a resident, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday that there was a need for the government to be more vigorous in its sensitisation campaign to avert flood disasters.

Ogbianko, who is the Chairman, Bayelsa Chapter of Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria, suggested that campaigns should be continuous and more intense, especially in the coastal communities.

This is because the rural communities will be the most affected when flooding occurs."

This is the area inhabited by poor farmers; so, government should extend the sensitisation campaign to these places, Ogbianko said.

Mr Kelvin Peregba, a farmer, who resides in Ovom, Yenagoa Local Government Area, also urged the government to open the drains and link the water channels to rivers.

The Federal and state governments should intensify efforts in educating the public; let agencies like the go down to the rural communities where the larger population live."

The effect of the 2012 flood would have been minimal if citizens had been adequately sensitised."

Campaigns should not focus mainly in the capital city. It should be taken to the markets, schools, churches, public places in the rural communities."

The people need to know the accurate steps to take to avert the danger before it will come, Peregba said.

Reacting, Dr Zebekiah Isu, the Chairman of SEMA, said the government would soon hold a stakeholders sensitisation programme on flooding.
The group said this is part of its efforts to make sure that the nation's highest political seat does not fall to anyone from the southern region of the country.

The list was released by the group's leader, Comrade Elliot Afiyo, and it includes Senate President Bukola Saraki;former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar; Kaduna state Governor, Nasir El-rufai; Sokoto Governor, Aminu Tambuwal; Borno state Governor, Ibrahim Shettima, and Gombe state Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.

Others on the list are: Abdulaziz Abubakar Yari (Governor of Zamfara state), Alhaji Sule Lamido (Former governor of Jigawa), Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso (former governor of Kano), Senator Ali Modu Sheriff (Former governor of Borno), Alhaji Tanimu Turaki, and Senator Bala Muhammed.

Relating the group's intentions, Afiyo said, "We want to reiterate and clearly warn that the North will not, and will never allow presidency to move to the South in 2019.

"As much as we can tolerate or pay any sacrifice for the unity of this country, we remain committed to a northern president in 2019."

He also said the group has sent the names of the short listed politicians to the group's leadership of the 42 organisations affiliated to the group.

The group will endorse two of the 12 short listed candidates to contest the 2019 presidential election in the event that President Buhari might be too weak to contest.

There have been concerns about the president's state of health ever since he started campaigning for the position.

The concerns have grown since the president was last seen when he embarked on a medical leave to London since May 7.
In a recent statement by Wilson Uwujaren, Obaigbena and other owners of Newspapers in Nigeria have been accused of deploying their platform to pursue personal interests.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission made this known on Monday, June 19, 2017 while reacting to an advert which NPAN placed in THISDAY and Leadership Newspapers Monday, condemning the June 12 presence of anti-graft operatives at The Sun office.

The anti-graft agency said the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, wrongly accused it of attempting to stifle free press in raiding the head office of The Sun Newspapers last week.

The manner of the invasion tends to suggest that the EFCC was out on a self-help mission, a voyage to intimidate journalists, criminalise journalism and cower free speech, Uwujaren quoted the advertorial as stating.

ALSO READ: EFCC denies molesting Sun Newspapers' staff

Uwujaren took the president of NPAN boss, Nduka Obaigbena up on the motive of the association saying that he was trying to seize the situation as a way of getting back at the agencys acting chairman, Ibrahim Magu.

If the EFCC has committed any sin against Obaigbena and some members of NPAN, it was in carrying out its statutory mandate of fighting corruption and ensuring that impunity was checked. It is no secret that some NPAN members are yet to forgive the Commission for the money recovered from them in the course of the ONSA investigation.

"Nigeria is bigger than any individual and NPAN must be mindful not to allow members to hijack its platform to pursue personal interests, Uwujaren said.

In 2016, Obaigbena was briefly detained by the EFCC over allegations that he benefited from the $2.1 billion arms purchase scandal that rocked the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
El-Rufai said this while speaking with members of the Igbo Delegate Assembly and Northern Igbo Chiefs at government house, Kaduna, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017.

The Governor also said that his government will not tolerate inciting comments that can cause troble in the state.

The Coalition of Northern Youths(CNY) had earlier given Igbos in the North a 90-days ultimatum to relocate.

Speaking further, El-Rufai said We are going to arrest the Arewa Youth and bring them to justice no matter how long it takes. Since the press conference was done in Kaduna.

ALSO READ: Northern group declares war on Igbos

If they had done it in any other place, we would have just condemned them but since its in Kaduna, we are going to arrest them.
The EFCC had earlier blocked Fayoses account following allegations that money meant for the purchase of arms was transferred to him.

However, on December 13, 2016, Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti ordered the anti-graft agency to unfreeze it.

Justice Taiwo said that the EFCC did not follow the laid down procedure to freeze the Ekiti Governors account.

In the ruling today, Justice Fatima Omoro Akinbami said the EFCC did not attach Justice Taiwos judgement.

The court also said EFCC did not come with clean hands on the application for injunction it filed because it suppressed material facts, for example that a similar application the EFCC filed was earlier refused by Justice Taiwo Taiwo of the Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti.

The Appeal court also chided the EFCC for not attaching the intelligent report showing that Senator Musiliu Obanikoro transferred money to Fayose.

ALSO READ: Fayose blames Buhari for hate speech by Northern youths

The Governors lawyer, Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) had earlier told the court that Fayose, being a sitting governor covered with immunity under Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution as admitted by EFCC counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo, has been shown to have been tried nor found guilty by any court of law such as to tagged his bank accounts as proceeds of crime.

Speaking on the ruling, Ozekhome said the EFCC should learn to carry out its operations in-line with the laws of the land.
Oye made the call in an interview with News agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Awka.

All these threats, all these ethnic jingoism, all these grandstanding and shenanigan does not worth the blood of any Nigerian."

We have had enough of crisis and we cannot afford another one, he said.

Oye said there was need for Nigerian to come to the round table, examine the situation and find out what is causing tension in the country.

He said the recommendations of the 2014 national conference should be implemented in the interest of the country.

The party chairman commended Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for his tact in managing the challenges so far, but added that he could not do it alone.

We need a committee that shows the true representative of the people to sit down and study the 2014 conference solutions as it concerns the situation now."

Nigeria could not have spent so much money, time and brain on such document only for it to be locked up in a drawer."

We have to genuinely discuss as a people; only that can give us the peace we crave."

America is larger than Nigeria, more populated than Nigeria and even more diverse than Nigeria but yet they are more united and stronger because they agreed, respect each other and adhere to a constitution that is a product of its people."

The quit order issued to some people in other parts of the country is irresponsible and ill thought out, the issuers should be arrested and tried for treason because they want to create crisis in Nigeria."

The Acting President has done well so far but it is not enough, it would have been better if was around to handle the problem of this country."

That is why I continue to pray for his quick recovery and return to his seat, he said.

Speaking on the crisis in the party, Oye described those seeking to take over the national leadership of the party through the backdoor as faceless impostors.

He said the court judgement which gave the Police and INEC Order of Mandamus to recognise Chief Martin Agbaso as national chairman of the party could not stand the test of time.

Those who are scheming to takeover APGA through the backdoor are faceless impostors, most of them were expelled members of APGA and Agbaso is a PDP man."

The Police and INEC that are to execute that order are in court because they were not served writ of summon prior to the judgment just as I was not served."

As matter of fact, the Judge who gave that judgement has excused himself from the matter, how can I suffer precarious liability for what I know nothing about?"

All these are just part of the grand design to stop from contesting and winning second term, but it will not work, he said.

Oye said APGA remained party to beat in the Nov.18 governorship election in Anambra.
Mrs Shinute Bello, the Executive Secretary, Delta State Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency, said this while receiving the schemes team on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the programme in Delta.

The M&E team was led by Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President on Job Creation.

The scribe said Delta N-Power is a success story; over 30,000 applied and more than 8,000 were shortlisted out of which more than 7,000 were deployed.

No fewer than 6,000 volunteers received their stipends as Federal Government paid about N1.4 billion to volunteers in Delta since December 2016.

We have got messages from Delta people on how the N30,000 stipend changed their lives, she said.

According to her, the scheme has made graduates to understand and embrace online technology.

They have opened bank accounts, which means financial inclusion, while the ripple effect of the programme is far-reaching, she said.

Bello said that the scheme had particularly helped to shift the focus of youths at the Burutu area of the state from various social vices to more creative and worthwhile ventures.

She said Delta would merge its youth agriculture programme with that of Federal Government to achieve sustainability, domestication and adaptation.

At the Federal Medical Centre (FMC) Asaba, the acting Managing Director and Chief Executive, Dr Osiatuma Azubuike, acknowledged that the volunteers in the centre had closed the manpower gap in the hospital.

He said we commend the Federal Government for this programme, which has boosted the workforce of the FMC.

We look forward to sustenance of the scheme, he said.

At Umuagu Health Centre, Asaba, the two volunteers, Mrs Celestina Adubor (Microbiologist) and Miss Joan Ozimhede (Zoologist), prayed that their job became permanent.

At the Delta State Agricultural Development Programme (DT-ADP), the M&E team learnt that there were 1,206 N-Power agro volunteers and the number had bridged the extension worker/farmer ratio from former 1:2,500 to 1:141.

The data is better than the minimum standard of 1:800 recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).

N-Agro volunteers, Peter Ushedo, Ebubechukwu Blessing and Oghenedvo Ibi, said they had acquired more experience in agriculture and had developed both private farms and contacts for self-sustenance at the end of the two-year scheme.

Imoukhuede, who addressed the volunteers at all the centres visited, urged them to take full advantage of the scheme to develop new skills for self-employment.

He advised them to develop partnerships among themselves to benefit from opportunities created for cooperative societies in future.
Malam Yakubu Mohammed, the Communication Officer, FADAMA III AF Programme in Gombe State, made this known to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Gombe on Monday.

News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the farm inputs will be given to the beneficiaries under the World Banks Food Security and Livelihood Emergency Support Project in North East.

We distributed sheep, goats and chickens as well as food items like beans, rice, groundnut oil and seasoning products to the beneficiaries under the trial phase of the project.

For the project proper, we will give farm inputs and implements like fertilisers, seeds, herbicides and water pumps to the beneficiaries within the next two weeks.

The aim is to boost agriculture in the country, in line with the policy of President Muhammadu Buharis administration on agriculture, he said.

Mohammed said that some of the IDPs, however, asked for non-agriculture products like sewing and knitting machines.He also said that the programme would feed the IDPs for two months to enable to them gain strength to farm.
Ibrahim spoke with newsmen on Monday in Lagos shortly after he met with the state Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that six Senior Secondary School students of the college  all male  were kidnapped by gunmen on May 25.

Four students and two members of staff of the school were abducted in October 2016.

In fact very soon, you will hear good news on the issue. We are working seriously on it."

At this stage, I will not want to disclose much information because these are security issues, but all I want to say is that very soon, people will hear good news, he said.

Ibrahim said that Lagos and Ogun Police Commands were working hard to make the zone unsafe for criminals.

He promised that the police would build on the success they recorded with the recent arrest of a suspected notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (a.k.a. Evans), by arresting other criminals.

Security measures are not discussed publicly; what I will tell you is that we are taking all necessary measures to ensure that Lagos is free of crime and criminals."

We will rid the zone of all criminal elements."

You are aware Evans has been arrested; he is the most wanted criminal, who was into kidnapping."

Others too, if they do not leave this zone, will also be arrested, Ibrahim told journalists.
The governor gave the commendation while swearing in two new members of the LASIEC board  Prof. Gabriel Babawale and Dr Noah Jinadu  and some other appointees in Ikeja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that other appointees were for the Public Procurement Agency, Audit Service Commission as well as the States Safety Commission

Ambode said the appointees were chosen based on their track record, integrity and credibility, urging them to also add value to corporate governance in the state.

Your appointment is a call to public service and I am very confident that you will justify the trust the government has reposed in your ability and capacity to add value to the corporate governance, growth and development of the state."

Let me also add that your appointment is an invitation and a privilege to be part of history as we lay a solid foundation for the future of Lagos; a Lagos that our children and their children will enjoy for many years to come, he said.

The governor said the appointment of Babawale and Jinadu to the Board of LASIEC was necessitated by the exit of two members who had completed their tenure.

He said that the provision of the law setting up the Commission required that the Board comprise the Chairman and six members.

With this appointment therefore, LASIEC is properly constituted to conduct the forthcoming Local Government elections in the State, Ambode said.

On the other agencies with new appointees, the governor noted that the Public Procurement Agency and Audit Service Commission were very important.

He said the two key agencies were established mainly to ensure transparency and accountability in the procurement process as well as the management and application of public resources.

The governor urged the new appointees to bring their professionalism to bear to further strengthen their operations.

I charge you to ensure strict application of relevant rules and never to hesitate in applying appropriate sanctions when necessary, Ambode said.

He also charged the new Director-General of the State Safety Commission, Mr Hakeem Dickson, to show leadership and deliver on the mandate of the commission.

Ambode said it had a mandate to prepare and adequately handle emergency situations through continuous public education and enlightenment as well as enforcement of safety precautions and rules.

Prof. Gabriel Babawale, who responded on behalf of other appointees, thanked the governor for their appointments assuring him that he and his colleagues would key into his vision to make Lagos a Smart City.
Onnoghen made the remark on Monday in Abuja when he declared open the 2017 National Energy Workshop for Judges.

He said that the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) would engender timely disposition of cases and encouraged the judges to adopt it.

The CJN noted that the theme of the workshop: Law and the Changing Face of Petroleum and Power Sectors in Nigeria, was relevant in the light of the developments in the international energy market.

He said that the workshop would enlighten the judges on global best practices in confronting the challenges that might arise in the power and petroleum sectors.

Some of the notable challenges faced are in the areas of taxes, rebates, royalties, demand for corporate social responsibility and environmental disputes which require the courts to adjudicate.

Onnoghen, however, noted that conflicting judgments were a necessary part of the judiciary as they helped to strengthen the system.

Conflicting decisions, unfortunately, are necessary because when you approach a court in Lagos, your facts are stated and the facts of that case are also different in a court in Port Harcourt.

So, the judge takes a decision based on the facts before him and the law and that is why we have the Court of Appeal who will look at the law and decide, the CJN said.

He expressed confidence that the workshop would aid the justices and judges in the adjudication and resolution of lingering disputes

In a keynote address, the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, called for measures to speed the crawling judicial process in the country.

Osinbajo, who was represented by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mr Ibe Kachikwu, described the slow judicial process in the country as nightmare for investors.

We need to evolve measures that will speed up the judicial decisions. We also need these decisions not to be too complicated for investors to easily understand, he said.

The acting president expressed the need to align the decisions of various courts with some level of credibility to avoid complicated decisions from unnecessary forum shopping.

We need to ensure sanctity of international arbitration and judges should be trained in petroleum and energy sectors so that they will be fully equipped to handle the emerging trends in the sector.

According to him, petroleum and the power sectors provide 80 per cent of Nigerias revenue and over 80 per cent of foreign direct investment.

He added that as critical as the sectors were, if the country was not positioned to supply the necessary power essential for driving the economy, the country would not make much progress.

In a goodwill message, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, noted that the role of the judiciary in the post-privatisation period was to encourage the sector to grow.

He said that the judiciary is to also hold parties to their contracts and ensure that the regulator does not exceed its mandate and that citizens fulfil their civic obligations.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised by the International Institute for Petroleum Energy Law and Policy in collaboration with the National Judicial Institute.
The acting president, who was represented by Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of State, Budget and National Planning, made this known at a ceremony to commemorate the 2017 World Refugees Day on Tuesday in Abuja.

Osinbajo said that the framework would integrate appropriate interventions through effective utilisation of data, research and planning for the return, resettlement, rehabilitation and reintegration of all persons of concern.

He said that the new approach would be a shift from relief dependent measures to real and measurable durable solution strategies.

He explained that the framework of intervention is a demonstration of commitments of the Nigerian government towards a more responsive, radical and creative approach to providing durable solutions for displaced persons.

Our responsibility is to provide a more coordinated and harmonised approach to the Nigerian humanitarian environment that guarantees that future which they hope for because no one becomes a refugee or an IDP by choice.

Working with all key humanitarian stakeholders, the National Commission for Refugees Migrants and IDPs shall unveil a National Integrated Strategic Framework for Intervention for Refugees, Migrants and IDPs within the next three months.

I wish to express my gratitude to the government of Cameroon, Chad and Niger who hosted and are still hosting Nigerian refugees at the time the insurgents were ravaging.

This show of solidarity is what we need to survive and confront whatever challenges that we encounter both as a region and as individual nations, Osinbajo said.

He said that Nigeria was committed to the smooth implementation of the tripartite agreement with Cameroon and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the voluntary repatriation of Nigerian Refugees in Cameroon.

He appreciated UNHCR, other UN agencies, international and Civil Society Organisations for their support and the Military for a successful operation which contributed to the willingness of displaced persons to return home.

The Federal Commissioner, NCFRMI, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq, said that the World Refugee Day was set aside to reflect on the challenges faced by refugees and how to help to positively shape their future.

NCFRMI is the acronym for the National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally displaced persons.

She said that a survey by the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent revealed that global migration had reached unprecedented dimensions with 60 million people currently displaced globally.

She said that as a result of the Boko Haram insurgency, about 180,000 Nigerians were living as refugees in Cameroon, Niger and Chad, while 1,409 refugees from other countries with 614 asylum seekers are currently taking shelter in Nigeria.

Farouq said that the new framework contained approach that will effectively and efficiently cater for refugees who seek safety, solace and care in Nigeria.

She stressed the need for better coordination between the Federal and State Governments in interventions and the inclusion of organised private sector to amplify and enhance the humanitarian response as it pertained to refugees.

Also, Mr Jose-Canhandula, UNHCR Country Representative to Nigeria, noted that Nigeria at a point had the third largest humanitarian crises globally.

He said that as protection agency, UNHCR had availed itself to joining the government and concerned partners to foster the protection of the people in the condition of refugees and IDPs.

Speaking on behalf of the refugees, Mr Germaine Ukumu, said the day was important to them as it celebrates the resilience of millions of people who had been forced to flee their countries for safety.

He appreciated the Nigerian government for its hospitality and support to alleviating the sufferings of refugees.

Ukumu said refugees were still faced with the challenges of inadequate food, education, security and human dignity, noting that they deserved better.
According to the Acting Presidents spokesman, Laolu Akande, the meeting will hold at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

According to reports the meeting is part of Osinbajos consultation across different regions to ensure peaceful co-existence.

The Acting President had earlier met with stakeholders from the North and South-East region, following the quit notice given to Igbos living in the North.

Akande also said the meeting will conclude his (Osinbajos) consultative sessions over certain ethnic agitations and exchanges between some groups in the South-East and the North, Daily Post reports.
In his opening remarks at the meeting held at the old Banquet Hall, Presidential Villa, Abuja, Osinbajo said the meeting had become imperative in view of a spate of divisive statements in recent weeks, pitching the South-East against the North.

He maintained that the divisive rhetoric and agitations were unjustifiable, unacceptable and often times illegal.

You are, by virtue of your vast knowledge, wisdom and experience, both a vital link with our past, and an important guarantee for the success of our future. This is why your role in national affairs is critical.

The reason for these series of meetings is well known to all of us; it became necessary in the wake of a spate of divisive statements, in recent months and weeks, pitching the South-East against the North.

We are all aware of the so-called ultimatum issued by a group of Northern youths, asking that all Igbos living in the North vacate the region.

Before then, there was the clamour, and its still on-going, by some south-eastern youths, operating as IPOB and affiliated groups, demanding secession from Nigeria at all costs and by any means.

In all our previous engagements with Northern and South-Eastern leaders, we all came to the consensus that Nigeria is stronger and better together, and that these hate-filled and divisive rhetoric and agitations are unjustifiable, unacceptable and often times illegal. And I would like to reiterate that today. he said.The acting president said that the traditional rulers had a great role to play in checking the divisive tendencies in the country.

He stressed that Nigeria had already seen enough violence and bloodshed during its history.According to him, the price of Nigerias unity has already been paid with the blood and lives of hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians lost.Recalling President Muhammadu Buharis commitment to one Nigeria from his experience in the military, Osinbajo said that Buhari fought side by side with Nigerians of every tribe and faith.The acting president said: We must protect each other, put our lives on the line for each other; we were brothers even in the face of death. This is the type of nation we must maintain.As royal fathers and leaders, I think you will agree with me that we all have a role to play in countering the voices of divisiveness, and the elements who seek to take us down a bloody path.Let us continue to counsel the misguided elements among our youth, who think that ethnic confrontation is a game and that words can be thrown around carelessly without repercussion.Osinbajo assured the traditional rulers that the government is not deaf to the legitimate concerns and frustrations in parts of the country.Every part of Nigeria has its own grievances. But these have to be expressed graciously and managed with mutuality rather than with scorn and disdain.I would like to assure you all that we are here to listen and to answer, and, very importantly, to reassure everyone that we are committed to the unity of Nigeria, and that upon the foundation of that unity we can together build a prosperous and great country.He urged all Nigerians never take the nations diversity for granted, saying the fullness of the nations strength actually lies in that diversity.

And we must wield that diversity, not as divisive tool, but instead as a binding agent.

As we round up these consultations tomorrow with a meeting with governors, it is clear to me that we are all resolved to by words, conduct and action, promote the unity of our dear nation. he said

He, however, assured that the government would ensure that the entire apparatus of government is deployed to ensure that no one threatens Nigerias territorial integrity and that no one threatens the lives or livelihoods of any Nigerian living anywhere in the country.

While thanking the traditional rulers for their unyielding cooperation and support, Osinbajo prayed that almighty God would continue to give them the wisdom and the strength to preside over their Kingdoms and the good health to reign long and reign well.

Among those who attended the meeting included the Sultan of Sokoto, SultanMuhammadu Saad Abubakar III; Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi and the Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Yahaya Abubakar.

Others were, Alhaji Muhammed Isah Muhammed, the Emir of Jamaa in Kaduna State; Justice Lawal Hassan, the Emir of Gummi; the Coordinator of the Northern traditional rulers council, Sakaruyi of Karo Dr. Emmanuel Kyauta, and the representative of the Emir of Katsina, Prof. Sani Lugga ,the Waziri Katsina.

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Gambari;Alhaji Mustapha Agwai II, Emir of Lafia in Nasarawa State; Alhaji Kyari Umar El-Kanemi, Shehu of Bama representing Shehu of Borno and the Gbong Gwon Jos, Jacob Buba Jang, also attended the meeting.

Also at the meeting were Alhaji Abubakar Shehu Abubakar, Emir of Gombe; Ndakwo Ameh Oboni II, Attah Igala,Kogi State; Alhaji Muhammadu Ibn Abali, the Emir of Fika inYobe;, Alhaji Attahiru Ahmed Muhammed Emir of Anka in Zamfara and Prof. James Ayatse, the Tor Tiv.

Alhaji Adamu Baba Yinusa, the Emir of Abaji, FCT; the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari; Minister of Science and Technology, Ogbonaya Onu; Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Danbazzau; National Security Adviser, Babagana Munguno, and Speaker of the House of Representatives,Yakubu Dogara also attended the meeting.

The Acting president on Sunday met with traditional rulers from the South- East in continuation of his on-going consultative meetings with leaders of thought across the country.
The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Sen. Udoma Udo Udoma, disclosed this at the public presentation of the 2017 Appropriation Act on  Budget of Recovery and Growth on Monday in Abuja.

Udoma said one of the focuses of the administration was to ensure good roads across the country.

He said the amount was earmarked for the rehabilitation of Lagos/Ibadan road, N13.1 billion for Kano/Maiduguri road and N10.63 billion for Enugu/Port- Harcourt road.

We have N7 billion for the second Niger Bridge which connects the East with the rest of the country on that sides because it connects not just from Delta but all the way to Lagos.

N7.12 billion for Abuja/Abaji/Lokoja road, N9.25 billion for the Obajana junction to Benin road, N7.5 billion for the Onitsha/Enugu dual carriage way and N7 billion for the construction of the Bodo/Boni road.

Let me say something about the Bodo/Boni road, it is again one of the things that this government is doing, we are tapping private sector partnership for infrastructure.

This is a partnership between the Federal Government and the LNG company and we want to make sure that the road can be completed quickly, said the minister.

Udoma said that N3.3 billion was earmarked for the rehabilitation of the Ilorin/Jaba road, N3.5 billion for the dualisation of Odukpaleitu and N1.5 billion for the dualisation of the Kano/Katsina road.

He said that N2.24 billion was allotted for the dualisation of Suleja/Minna road, N2.3 billion for Gombe/Numan/Yola road and N2.7 billion for Kano/Western by-pass, among others.

The minister said that the government was committed to give special attention to road development to ensure effective movement in the country.

He said: Nigerians must be able to move around, goods and services must be able to move around, you cannot talk about industrialisation unless you can move goods and services around.

So, that is important and that is why we have voted so much to roads and transportation.

Udoma said funds had been allotted for the construction of the terminal building at Enugu Airport, rehabilitation of Abuja Airport and the inland ports and supply of cargo hanging equipment at Baro.

On healthcare, the minister said: We have voted N4.8 billion for the global fund and GAVI counterpart funding, while N4.8 billion for polio eradication initiative.

And I did say that water is life, so we have over a hundred billion naira for water supply, rehabilitation of dams and irrigation projects nationwide.

We have N6.5 billion for rural roads and water sanitation and N4.13 billion for guaranteed minimum price payment.

 Rural roads are important because our farmers are in rural areas and a lot of their produce is wasted because of the difficulty of evacuation, access roads will be provided to the farmers.

We have earmarked about N20 billion for the promotion and development of value chain across the different commodities and we are doing them item by item.

We look at each of them and sit down with the farmers, with the financiers, with the marketers and with the processers.

On the various challenges in the agricultural sector, Udoma said the government was making effort to resolve them by acting on the challenges.

He said on rice, for instance, the government was developing an implementation tax force on rice, which involved the governance because the land was actually in the state.

Udoma said the government had set aside N2.1 billion for concessioning of Ajaokuta Steel Company, and N450 million for the establishment of mega regulatory agency for the mining sector.

He said N6.55 billion had been allotted for the dualisation of East-West road and the government would also ensure that there was peace in the Niger/Delta.
In the state the country is in, the military could just as well have said, "Oops, spilt milk. Sorry. LOL", and itd still get away with murder, like it has.

Since Boko Haram started its mindless insurgency in the north eastern region of the country, the population of people that have been rendered homeless has soared to well over two million.

That's over two million Nigerians who are absolutely at the mercy of the Nigerian state to be largely responsible for them; for the safety of their lives and for basic sustenance.

That's over two million Nigerians who have to live with the heartache of the frustration and disappointment that naive optimism causes them every day.

Fed up with their poor living conditions, IDPs in Maiduguri staged a protest against camp officials in August 2016, mounting barricades of stones, sticks and tires along the Kano-Maiduguri highway.

Speaking at the protest, Maimuna Bukar, a mother of four, said,"We are not fighting with government; all we want is food to feed our family. If they can't give us food, let them let us go back to our villages instead of being left to be killed by hunger here."

Allegations of fraudulent stealing of essential relief materials meant to sustain IDPs have been commonplace for a while now; but with the way Nigeria works, this is not nearly shocking enough. It's just something to fill the news cycle for a couple of days before everyone moves on to the next distraction.

The rate at which irresponsible and/or criminal conduct by public office holders has become tolerable and nearly accepted as the norm in Nigeria is, for lack of a better word, disturbing.

This is why any time there's a public outrage at whatever is the new subject, the outrage is tinged with the realization that itll most likely never yield to anything meaningful.

This is to the detriment of the IDP population in the country who have been deprived of the basic human rights the constitution of the country affords them.

Not only are they being denied of sufficient basic supplies, they have also been subjected to widespread inhumane sexual abuse, especially of women and children, in the cruel hands of some security officers and government officials.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report in July 2016 documenting many cases of women and underage girls being sexually assaulted in seven different camps in Maiduguri.

One of the victims, a 17-year-old girl, was raped by a policeman, and according to her, he threatened to kill her when she told him she was pregnant.

Another 16-year-old girl from Baga that spoke to HRW said she was drugged and raped by a vigilante group member after she rejected his sexual advances. Months later when she gave birth to his baby, he ran away from the camp.

Their stories almost match with that of several other women who were taken advantage of by authority figures and abandoned to their fates afterwards, even worse off than when they ran to the camps for sanctuary.

Most of the victims were exploited with promises of food or other basic necessities in exchange for sex.

These men used the undue influence of their positions to prey on vulnerable women and children who were placed in their care, and theres no reason to believe this practice has stopped.

Another 32-year-old woman speaking about life in one of the camps said, "Life is terrible here in this camp. For the past three days we have not eaten because there is no firewood to cook the food.

"To make it worse, they will not even allow us to go out to fend for ourselves. Most times you have to beg the camp officials to intervene with the guards before they will give you the pass to go out.

"Why will you refuse if any of those people ask you for marriage? You have to survive."

After a visit to IDP camps in August last year, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani, was deeply concerned about the government's "tendency to downplay the problem of sexual violence and abuse" of refugees.

In his words, "Food is scarce and many survive on one basic meal per day, while medical care is insufficient.

"Civilians also require urgent protection, psychosocial support and counselling. Camps should offer protection.

"Yet I am alarmed to learn that many are in fact exploiting and abusing the most vulnerable.

"Reports indicate that women and girls face demands for sex to access food or to leave the camps.

"Early pregnancy and marriage are commonplace while many do not report abuse due to stigmatisation, cultural factors and the knowledge that perpetrators can abuse with impunity."

Much like anything that happens in the country, the distasteful allegations of the sexual misconducts in IDP camps have deadlocked at the "We will surely investigate this matter"phase.

Environmental hygiene is a myth in IDP camps as many of them are overcrowded and alarmingly short on amenities, especially water. This endangers their health in unimaginable ways especially since they dont have proper access to health care.

At some point, the Borno State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) instructed hospitals to take care of IDPs that possessed the proper permits, but because the hospitals were never duly compensated, this never really happened, depriving refugees of adequate health care that they so desperately need.

Despite the billions that have been funnelled into taking care of the IDPs, by the government, national and international donors, the most significant outcome has been high resolution pictures of their poor living conditions and photo-staged interventions for the most part.

An even more underrepresented demographic of IDPs in the country is those displaced by natural disasters or by communal clashes.

They make up an estimated 15% of Nigerias IDP population, and they get even less attention if they are not sharing the same camp with Boko Haram IDPs.

Ive been to one of these camps before with my colleagues as members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in 2015.

The refugees had fled their homes to escape one of the numerous ethnic clashes that happen quite often in Taraba state and had been living in the town for a while.

The makeshift camp in Donga was a government-owned primary school whose students had been temporarily moved to another location for the duration of the refugees' indefinite stay.

When we visited the camp, they welcomed us with tales of woes about how they had been left on their own since they were moved to the camp.

Resources had run dry for months and no authority was taking control of the situation to make their lives any bearable.

Ironically, despite that they were housed in an education facility, the children had not been in a classroom to get any proper formal education in the time theyd been there.

This is why it was no surprise half of the children population couldn't answer the question, "What is the name of your country?" when they were asked.

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While trying to help get the attention of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to the plight of the camp, the intervention was tangled up when a desk officer of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) turned up with inflated figures that stalled the process until the refugees were soon back in their communities by Christmas.

Last week, the Federal Government had to apologise to the Saudi Arabian government because some of the 200 tons of dates that the kingdom had sent to Nigeria especially for the IDPs in celebration of the Ramadan period had been seen being sold in some markets in Abuja.

It is yet another deplorable exploitation of the situation of people who are already down on their luck and need all the help they can get.

While decent people see IDPs as vulnerable people to be protected and cared for, other people with dubious intents see cash cows that they can milk dry to maintain their own privileged lives.

They see millions that's only best spent in their pockets; they see food that's only best commercialised and used as ransom to have sex with disadvantaged women and children.

You have to wonder what goes through the head of people like this who think of making extra illicit profits at the expense of people whose lives have been stalled by crises they are merely unfortunate to be caught up in.

How does it not make your insides crawl with disgust digging holes for people who are already down?

The government does not help the situation with its muted attitude towards seriously investigating and taking serious actions against these animals.

This is either because the government is incapable of doing this, or it is too unwilling to go to the trouble.

In any case, this only leaves room for one suitable theory: IDPs are criminals unworthy of basic human rights.
It was the worst kept secret in the land.

To make the switch, Obanikoro had to dump the PDP--a party on whose platform he's tried unsuccessfully to realise his Lagos governorship ambition.

Obanikoro has been flirting with the APC and showing the governing party plenty of skirt since the turn of the year--he attended the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Colloquium in March and he's been photographed hobnobbing with the 'Jagaban' and other APC stalwarts in the Southwest, in the last couple of weeks.

His defection was therefore a matter of when, not if.

Koro's (as the former minister is fondly called) defection therefore isn't a surprise.

His fall out with PDP Lagos' godfather, Bode George, only seemed to hasten his exit from the umbrella party.

When he initiated peace moves with former Lagos Governor Tinubu, we were only counting down the days to his eventual defection.

ALSO READ: Obanikoro visits Bola Tinubu

However, Koro's defection should be called what it is--political prostitution--a common phenomenon around here. This move is as much pragmatic as it is escapist--an escape from a dying PDP to an APC that now controls the resources of state and levers of power.

Politicians in the opposition quickly trade places because they've since compromised their bottle for the battle.

Like most politicians in Nigeria, Koro's politics is rooted in zero ideology and plenty of ambition; an ambition to become Governor of Lagos, Nigeria's commercial capital and most populous city.

He's been consumed by that ambition since 2007 when he lost the race to Babatunde Raji Fashola.

In 2015, Koro was again kicked aside, but this time from within. ChiefBode George made sure Jimi Agbaje was the PDP flag bearer instead.

Koro licked his wounds before being hounded by the anti-graft agencies for allegedly looting N4.75B of funds earmarked for the procurement of arms during the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

Some of Koro's property were also seized.

Obanikoro spent a couple of nights in EFCC custody. It was a spectacular fall from grace for the former junior defense minister.

In November of 2016, Obanikoro bought his freedom by returning N100M to the federal government under a plea bargain arrangement.

Since then, he's been weighing his options which weren't a lot, to be honest.

He had only two choices: join the APC and get the anti-graft agencies off his back or remain with the PDP and be hounded for allegedly looting the treasury in the past.

Obanikoro chose the former. He's a smart one.

To rehash the point, this move further underscores the ideology deficit in Nigerian politics. Politicians swap parties in search of where their bread will be buttered. There are neither values nor principles to our politics. No policy moves propel party swaps. Zilch.

What becomes of Obanikoro's Lagos governorship ambition now that he's an APC member? Not much. That ship has since sailed. If he's lucky, he'll get to help choose who governs Lagos from this point and be handed the patronage that comes with joining the governing party at State and federal levels.

Obanikoro's defection won't move the needle in any direction in the politics of Lagos or the Southwest.
The late student was a 300-Level student of the Faculty of Pharmacy, died after he was rushed to the University Teaching Hospital on Sunday 18th of June.

It was learnt on Monday that the deceased went to the swimming pool with two of his colleagues when the incident happened.

Confirming the death of Emmanuel, the President of the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria Students, OAU branch, Adeyemi Yusuf, said his death was a painful loss.

This is how it happened.

Adeyemi Yusuf told Punch:

We learnt that three of our students that were friends went to a hotel to swim. They were done already, but the deceased entered again to swim alone and drowned.

The other students called for help, but the people around could not also swim. When the lifeguard came, he tried to rescue him, but it was late already.

The doctor said he was brought to the hospital exactly 05.10pm as a lifeless body. After leaving the hospital, we went to the mortuary to confirm that he is dead.

He noted that the parents of the deceased have been notified, adding that three people were currently detained for interrogation.

And of course, people were held for questioning.

He added:

The police are aware already. The parents are also around from Akure to identify his body. Police have arrested two of our students and the lifeguard for interrogation. 

We are in touch with police to ensure that our students are not wrongly accused or maltreated. The police want the doctor to do postmortem, after which the students will be released.
The filing reads thus: Further to our announcement dated 12 February, 2017, Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC, Etisalat Group would like to inform you that Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited EMTS (the company), established in Nigeria and an associate of Etisalat Group with effective ownership of 45% and 25% ordinary and preference shares respectively, defaulted on a facility agreement with a syndicate of Nigerian banks (EMTS Lenders).

Subsequently, discussions between EMTS and the EMTS Lenders did not produce an agreement on a debt restructuring plan.

Accordingly, the Company received a default and security Enforcement Notice on 9 June 2017 requesting EMTS Holding BV (EMTS BV) established in the Netherlands, and through which Etisalat Group holds its interest in the company) requiring EMTS BV to transfer 100% of its shares in the company to the United Capital Trustees Limited (the Security Trustee) of the EMTS Lenders by 15 June 2017.

Subsequently the EMTS Lenders extended the deadline for the share transfer to 5.00 pm Lagos time on 23 June 2017.

Basically, Etisalats parent company in the UAE, through Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited (EMTS) Holdings BV [the holding company through which it holds controlling shares in Etisalat Nigeria] has been asked to turn over 100% of Etisalat Nigerias shares to United Capital Trustees Limited, the company representing the consortium of banks.

EMTS Holdings BV (which is incorporated in the Netherlands) has until June 23, 2017 to turn over all of Etisalat Nigerias shares to United Capital Trustees Limited, the holding company for the consortium of banks.

Etisalat Nigeria has been under pressure over the $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) loan since 2016. A few months ago, Pulse Tech reported that the consortium of banks had made a takeover attempt on Etisalat Nigeria.

That takeover attempt had not been successful thanks to the intervention of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which urged the banks to rethink their position and allow the company renegotiate the terms of the loans.

However, it would seem like those efforts have not yielded the desired results as the shares of the ailing telco have been ordered to be transferred to the consortium of banks through the two holding companies on both sides of the loan facility.
The guards were ambushed near Bagram base north of Kabul as they were driving home in a convoy late Monday, said district governor Abdul Shakoor Quddusi.

"They were all local residents serving as guards at Bagram," he said, adding that two other guards were wounded.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which came as the insurgents intensify their nationwide spring offensive against Western and government targets.

Washington is soon expected to announce an increase in the US military deployment to bolster Afghan forces, who are struggling to contain the insurgency. American military commanders in Afghanistan have requested thousands of extra boots on the ground.

US troops in Afghanistan now number about 8,400, and there are another 5,000 from NATO allies, a far cry from the US presence of more than 100,000 six years ago. They mainly serve as trainers and advisers.

Bagram, around 50 kilometres (31 miles) north of Kabul, houses the largest contingent of US soldiers in the country.

The assault comes after seven American soldiers were wounded Saturday when an Afghan soldier opened fire at them inside a northern military base, the second "insider" attack in a week.

Analysts say such attacks are expected to increase this year as US troops engage with the Afghan military to double the size of its special forces, considered to be effective in the fight against insurgents.
Guterres, in his message for marking the International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict, reaffirmed our global commitment to eliminate this scourge.

Rape and sexual violence in conflict are tactics of terrorism and war, used strategically to humiliate, degrade and destroy, and often to pursue a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

They should never be downplayed as wars inevitable by-product.

Sexual violence is a threat to every individuals right to a life of dignity, and to humanitys collective peace and security, the Secretary-General said.

Guterres underscored that the UN is making every effort to address the root causes of conflict-related sexual violence by using preventive diplomacy, fostering peace building and development, encouraging national action, and ending gender discrimination.

The Secretary-General stressed: We will continue to monitor, report, provide care for survivors and spare no effort in pressing for perpetrators to be held accountable.

The United Nations is constantly striving to enhance the capacity of our peacekeeping personnel to protect vulnerable civilians and to pursue justice in the case of all abuses.

Each and every one of us has a responsibility to help put a stop to these crimes, he said.

Guterres urged everyone to use this Day to rededicate ourselves, on behalf of every survivor, to ending sexual violence in conflict and providing peace and justice for all.

A panel discussion to commemorate the second annual International Day for the Elimination of Sexual Violence in Conflict will be held at UN Headquarters in New York tomorrow.

In June 2015, the UN General Assembly proclaimed June 19, as the International Day to highlight the need to end conflict-related sexual violence, to honour the victims and survivors of sexual violence around the world.
It is being built for the roughly 40 families evicted from the wildcat outpost of Amona earlier this year after Israel's high court ruled their homes had been built illegally on private Palestinian land.

"Today, the work on the ground has begun, as I promised, to establish a new settlement for the Amona settlers," Netanyahu tweeted over a picture of a small bulldozer and a digger working.

"After dozens of years, I have the privilege to be the prime minister building a new settlement in Judaea and Samaria," Netanyahu tweeted, using the Hebrew biblical term for the West Bank.

On the site in the mid afternoon, a single Caterpillar bulldozer was clearing rocks and rubble to create a path near a vineyard, while four others stood idle.

The bulldozer's driver, a kippah-wearing Israeli who said he was from a settlement in the southern West Bank, said they were laying the foundations for two new roads that would lead to the new settlement.

The land is surrounded by a number of other small settlements and is a few kilometres from the Palestinian village of Duma, where a Palestinian family were burned alive by radical settlers in 2015.

While Israel has not launched new settlements in recent decades, extensive construction has focused on expanding existing settlements.

'Thwarting Trump'

Netanyahu's announcement comes a day after Trump's special representative Jason Greenblatt arrived for talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials on relaunching peace talks that collapsed in 2014.

Greenblatt is to be joined by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner on Wednesday.

Together they will "spearhead the peace effort" the US administration believes is possible, a White House official said.

Jewish settlements in the West Bank, including Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, are illegal under international law and are considered one of the main obstacles to peace.

The international community considers all Jewish settlements in the West Bank illegal but Israel draws a distinction between those it sanctions and those it does not -- so-called outposts.

Trump has asked Netanyahu to hold back on settlement building as he seeks to build momentum for a new peace push.

But the Israeli leader faces political pressure from the settler movement, which wields strong influence in his right-wing governing coalition.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, called the new building work a "serious escalation," in a statement published by official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The project, he said, was "an attempt to thwart the efforts of the American administration, to thwart the efforts of US President Donald Trump."

Ahead of the arrival of the two envoys, the White House urged both Israel and the Palestinians to "create an environment conducive to peacemaking".

"Those who want to make it harder rather than easier to make peace, whether by their statements or their actions, must be prevented from subverting the chances for peace," the official said.

Tuesday's ground-clearing work was in preparation for the installation of dozens of mobile homes for the families evicted from Amona, a spokesman for the main settler organisation, the Yesha Council, said.
The Treasury Department said Tuesday the strengthened sanctions targeted individuals and organizations connected to the continuing conflict in eastern Ukraine and would remain in place until Russia met obligations under peace accords of 2014 and 2015.

"These designations will maintain pressure on Russia to work toward a diplomatic solution," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 38 individuals and organizations, including two Russian government officials and 11 others who operate in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea.

The move freezes any US-based assets of the individuals and entities, and effectively blocks them from using much of the global banking system.

Among the individuals sanctioned was Petr Jarosh, head of the Russian Federal Migration Service in Crimea and Alexander Babakov, a Russian official liaising with Russian expatriates.
She announced Monday that she and French chef Christophe Leroy had teamed up to open "La Table du Marche" (The Market Table), a pop-up restaurant that will serve diners in the glitzy resort of Saint-Tropez for 50 days from July 4.

A statement posted on Anderson's website, featuring photographs of her posing with a large golden retriever dog, promised the restaurant would be "sexy" as well as "100 percent vegan".

In a blog post on Saturday the 49-year-old actress had invited Macron and his wife Brigitte to the restaurant, hoping to convince them to offer asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for five years trying to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faced allegations of rape.

Sweden dropped its investigation into Assange last month, but he remains subject to British arrest for skipping bail if he steps out of the embassy.

Anderson is a staunch supporter of Assange and his whistleblowing website, describing him as "a man risking so much with such little gratitude".

"As a resident of France, my adopted home, I would like to meet with you and discuss Julian's situation," she wrote in a message to Macron.

"I am opening a new vegan restaurant in France in July, and I would like to extend my invitation to the new president and his First Lady.

"We will sit and eat good food and discuss what can be done for Julian. France could display its strength, and so could you, if you give Julian asylum."
"They point the finger at others trying to escape punishment. I warn the criminals that they will not go unpunished," Temer said in a video broadcast on social networks before he left Brasilia for Moscow and Norway.

In the message, Temer did not explicitly mention Joesley Batista, main shareholder in meatpacking company JBS, but his announcement came days after the businessman made an outspoken attack on the president.

As Temer left on a trip aimed at attracting investment, his lawyers filed the lawsuits. One concerns crimes of "slander, defamation and insult" and another is a civil suit, seeking recompense for "moral damages".

"The money will go to a charity," a source in the presidency told AFP.

Batista caused an uproar last month when he handed to authorities, in connection with a wide-reaching corruption scandal, an audio recording in which Temer appeared to condone payment of hush money to a former lawmaker now in prison.

"It's the country's largest and most dangerous criminal organization. And the president is its leader," Batista said in an in-depth interview with the Epoca weekly published Saturday.

"Those who aren't in prison today are in the Planalto presidential palace. They are very dangerous people. I didn't have the courage to confront them."

Batista's remarks were made in his first interview since he clinched a plea bargain deal with authorities as the nationwide anti-graft operation codenamed "Car Wash" began targeting his business dealings.

Batista agreed to cooperate in exchange for avoiding a conviction.

The tycoon's explosive revelations came after the Supreme Court set in motion corruption and graft probes targeting the president, increasing calls for him to step down.

Among the claims, Batista says tens of millions of dollars were paid to various political parties, including Temer's center-right Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB).

Temer, 76, denies the allegations and has insisted he will remain in office.

"As soon as I met Temer, he started asking me for money to finance his campaigns. He isn't very modest when it comes to talking about money," Batista said.

Following the interview, Temer's office called the allegations a "bunch of lies", saying the president would launch a lawsuit.
"This morning, reporter Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie Follender, 58, both Dutch nationals, were stopped" in El Tarra, a region in the Norte de Santander district near the Venezuela border, by presumed ELN rebels, Colombian police said in a statement.

In May 2016 in the same El Tarra region ELN rebels kidnapped a Colombian-Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters. The reporters were handed over to intermediaries a few days later.

The government ombudsman's office demanded on Twitter the "immediate liberation of the two Dutch nationals being held," and said it would try to help solve the situation.

Police specialists in kidnapping and extortion headed to the region to try to secure the release of the two men.

In the Netherlands, a Dutch foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed that "two employees of the Spoorloos program are being held against their will in Colombia. The ministry is giving this case the highest priority."

Spoorloos is a program on the Kro-Ncrv channel regularly presented by Derk Bolt, which seeks to help Dutch people trace their biological relatives around the world.

It says on its website that since being launched in 1990 it has received more than 1,000 requests every year for help.

But the Dutch foreign ministry said that "communicating about our efforts is not in the interests of those involved. Therefore we cannot for the moment say anything further about it."

President Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN started a peace dialogue in Quito in February, seeking to end more than five decades of fighting.
Two handguns and a Kalashnikov-style assault rifle were found in the car, while a weapons stash was discovered at the home of the attacker.

A source close to the inquiry said a letter had been found in which Djaziri claimed allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Djaziri's father, who has since been detained, told AFP his son practised shooting as a sport, and a source close to the probe said he had nine registered weapons including pistols and an assault rifle.

'Double game'

In the letter, Djaziri boasted that he was playing a "double game" by amassing weapons for an attack by posing as a shooting enthusiast, the source said.

The head of the French Shooting Federation said police officers had visited Djaziri's shooting club to enquire about him -- implying that his keen interest in guns had raised suspicions.

The attempted attack comes as France remains under a state of emergency after a wave of jihadist assaults that have left more than 230 people dead since 2015.

As the month-old government of President Emmanuel Macron prepares to unveil a tougher new anti-terrorism law, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe expressed dismay that Djaziri was able to have a gun permit.

"What I know at this stage is that the first weapons permit was given before this individual was flagged up," he said in an interview with BFM television and RMC radio, but he added that "no one can be satisfied -- and certainly not me" that Djaziri was able to possess dangerous weapons after being put on a watchlist.

French Shooting Federation chief Philippe Crochard said Djaziri had been licensed for six years, and a source close to the probe said the attacker had requested a renewal of his permit in February.

"Two policemen came in October 2016 and asked questions about this person. It isn't normal procedure, so I assume they had their reasons," Crochard told AFP.

Relatives detained

Djaziri's ex-wife, brother and sister-in-law were detained late on Monday after police questioned them at the family home in Plessis-Pate, south of Paris. Djaziri's father was also taken into custody, a judicial source said.

Raised in a strictly Salafist Muslim family, Djaziri had no criminal record but caught the attention of authorities after making several trips to Turkey -- a route used by many European fighters heading to Syria -- which he said were for work.

Burn marks were found on Djaziri's body but it was not yet clear how he died. There were no other casualties from the attempted attack.

Since the large-scale Paris attacks in November 2015 and last year's Nice truck attack, France has suffered a string of smaller assaults targeting security forces.

Djaziri died just a short distance from the spot on the Champs-Elysees where a jihadist shot dead a police officer two months ago.

Earlier this month an Algerian man attacked a policeman with a hammer outside Notre Dame cathedral, another key tourist draw, while troops shot dead a man at the capital's Orly airport in March after he attacked a soldier on patrol.

In February, a man armed with two machetes assaulted four soldiers patrolling outside the Louvre museum.

Interior Minister Gerard Collomb said Monday that the Champs-Elysees incident "shows once again that the threat level remains extremely high in France".

Few details have emerged of the new anti-terrorism law due to be unveiled Wednesday.

But a draft leaked to the daily Le Monde has sparked concern among civil liberties campaigners who worry it could make some emergency measures permanent, such as the ability to conduct searches at any time of day or night and to restrict suspects to a certain geographic area.

The bill may also empower officials to shut down places of worship on the grounds of seeking to prevent a possible future attack.
But hope for action is slim even within the OAS, a 34-nation policy-coordinating body whose members will have to bridge their deep distrust and ideological divisions to address the standoff.

Even if they do, the group -- which Venezuela is in the process of quitting -- has little in the way of hard power.

Venezuela has descended into running street battles between anti-government protesters and Maduro's security forces and supporters since April 1, when the authorities moved to strip the powers of the opposition-majority legislature.

Those scenes played out again Monday, as riot police and soldiers used tear gas and water cannon to block demonstrators from marching on central Caracas.

A 17-year-old boy was shot in the chest and killed in Altamira on the capital's east side, while six others were wounded by bullets, officials said.

The crisis has the rest of Latin America increasingly worried.

In the Mexican resort city of Cancun, OAS foreign ministers tried but failed to reconcile two opposing proposals on Venezuela at the group's annual OAS meeting this week.

On the side closer to Caracas' policies were Venezuela's leftist allies in the region and Caribbean countries that for years received discounted crude exports from the oil giant. They backed a domestic resolution to the crisis.

On the opposite side were the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Panama, which hoped to create a "contact group" on Venezuela -- comprising countries that would seek to make Maduro's government respect the OAS democratic norms.

Pummeled by the plunge in oil prices since mid-2014, Venezuela is in the grip of an economic and political crisis that is causing desperate shortages of food, medicine and other basic essentials.

Maduro's opponents accuse him of clinging to power by repressing opponents, eradicating checks and balances, and seeking to write a new constitution.

The leftist president says the crisis is a US-backed conspiracy.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez angrily withdrew from the OAS meeting as the two sides sought to forge a third proposal that she said was sure to fail.

"Venezuela recognizes nothing produced by this organization," she said.

Under the compromise proposal, the OAS would have called on Maduro to halt the constitution-drafting assembly he has convened, guarantee human rights and hold talks with the opposition, mediated by a group of countries.

"It's sad," said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Michael Fitzpatrick in Cancun.

"We are looking forward to continuing the dialogue as an organization and as a member state," he said. "We continue to extend our hand to the people of Venezuela and indeed to the government of Venezuela looking for a pacific and democratic solution."

No end in sight

Near-daily anti-government protests erupted in Venezuela on April 1, in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling stripping the powers of the opposition-majority legislature.

Since then, at least 74 people have been killed in clashes.

More than 1,000 people have been injured so far, prosecutors say, and more than 3,000 arrested, according to rights group Forum Penal.

The OAS crisis talks are the latest in a series of foreign ministers' meetings that caused Maduro to announce Venezuela's withdrawal from the regional group in April -- a process that will take two years.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, a vocal Maduro critic, warned there would be no immediate solution.
"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible," the family said in a statement announcing Warmbier's death.

The young man was on a tourist trip when he was arrested and sentenced in March last year to 15 years hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, a punishment the United States decried as far out of proportion to his alleged crime.

Trump lashed out at Pyongyang following news of his death.

"It's a brutal regime," he said during a White House event. "Bad things happened but at least we got him home to his parents."

In a separate written statement, Trump said, "Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency."

"The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim."

Added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbier's unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained."

'At peace'

Doctors last week revealed that Warmbier had suffered severe neurological injuries, and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking, but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

His family said Monday that he first appeared anguished when he first arrived home, but died "at peace."

Kim Jong-Un's regime claimed Warmbier fell into a coma soon after he was sentenced last year, saying the college student had contracted botulism and been given a sleeping pill.

Medical tests carried out last week in the United States offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries, and no evidence of a prior botulism infection. Warmbier's doctors said he had suffered extensive tissue loss in all regions of his brain, but showed no signs of physical trauma.

They said that given his young age, Warmbier's severe brain injury was most likely caused by cardiopulmonary arrest cutting the blood supply to the brain.

'No excuse'

Warmbier's release came amid mounting tensions with Washington following a series of missile tests by Pyongyang, focusing attention on an arms buildup that Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has dubbed "a clear and present danger to all."

The young man's death also brought attention to North Korea's human rights record. A Washington-based rights group tied Warmbier's fate to many others "starved, tortured, brutalized and killed in North Korea's political prison camps."

"Millions of unknown North Koreans are subjected to the brutality of the Kim regime," the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea said in a statement.

Warmbier's father, Fred, lashed out at North Korea last week, telling a news conference, "there is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long."

In their statement Monday, Warmbier's family said they believed the young man had found a peace of sorts after being flown home.

"When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13th he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable -- almost anguished," they said.

"Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed -- he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that," they added.

Three more US citizens are currently being held by North Korea. Two were teachers at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups, and the third a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for the South.

Following Warmbier's death, the tour group that arranged his trip to North Korea said it would no longer take Americans into the isolated country.

"The devastating loss of Otto Warmbier's life has led us to reconsider our position on accepting American tourists. There had not been any previous detainment in North Korea that has ended with such tragic finality and we have been struggling to process the result," China-based Young Pioneer Tours said in a statement.
Kilicdaroglu's trek to Istanbul from Ankara is expected to take almost a month and represents by far his biggest challenge to Erdogan since he took over the CHP in 2010.

Every week the party leaders address their lawmakers in parliament in Ankara, but on Tuesday, Kilicdaroglu spoke to hundreds in the town of Camlidere, on the outskirts of Ankara.

He challenged Erdogan to resign if it were proven that the government influenced the judiciary.

"If I prove you and your government gave instructions to the courts, will you resign from your role as an honest and honourable person?" he said.

"I give my word as well. I will leave politics if I do not prove (these claims). Because I am an honest and honourable person."

Kilicdaroglu said he was "walking for everyone who seeks justice" and then rallied the crowd, vowing: "We are a party who will defend democracy until the end."

The opposition accuses Erdogan of drifting towards authoritarianism, especially since last year's failed coup which was followed by a widescale crackdown and a referendum in April in which voters approved expanding the president's powers.

Kilicdaroglu has claimed that Erdogan is the "July 20 coup plotter", referring to the date when the president declared a state of emergency.

About 50,000 people have been arrested and another 100,000 have lost their jobs in the biggest purge in modern Turkey's history under the emergency.

The 68-year-old CHP leader has made the word "justice" the slogan of his march, with both the sign he hold while walking and the white hat he wears emblazoned with the word.

At the weekend, Erdogan appeared to warn Kilicdaroglu he could face legal troubles over the march, and on Monday he told the CHP leader he "must respect the judiciary's decisions".

But Kilicdaroglu, who has already walked 100 kilometres (60 miles), hit back at the remarks.
"We've had some very, very good discussions," Trump said as the pair sat side-by-side in the Oval Office.

"I think a lot of progress has been made," Trump added, saying it was a "great honor" to host Poroshenko.

Trump did not touch on the thorny details of the relationship.

For three years, ties between Washington and Kiev have been dominated by efforts to contain a destabilizing Russian-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine.

The crisis has left 10,000 dead and heightened tensions between the West and the Kremlin, which considers Ukraine inside its "sphere of influence."

Ukrainian officials have long been frustrated by Washington's refusal to provide lethal weapons and its insistence on linking financial help to deep economic reforms.

But that concern has intensified since the election of Trump, who has often appeared reluctant to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to solve the crisis.

Last week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised eyebrows by suggesting that the United States should not be "handcuffed" by an international plan to end the crisis.

Trump did not speak publicly about either of those two substantive issues, but described Ukraine as "a place that we've all been very much involved in and we've been seeing it and everybody has been reading about it."

Despite the lack of substance, Poroshenko will likely see the meeting as a victory.

The sit-down was not announced in advance by the White House -- as is customary -- and when it was described, it was billed as something less than a full bilateral.

In the world of diplomacy, where symbolic actions can have real consequences on the ground, no meeting at all would have been seen as a snub.

"We're really fighting for freedom and democracy," Poroshenko told Trump, describing the United States as a "partner."

"It's a great honor, a great pleasure to be together with you, Mr President."

Shortly before the meeting, the US Treasury announced a fresh round of economic sanctions on Russia and Ukrainian separatists.

The 38 individuals and organizations named included two Russian government officials and 11 others who operate in the annexed Ukrainian region of Crimea.

Among the individuals sanctioned was Petr Jarosh, head of the Russian Federal Migration Service in Crimea and Alexander Babakov, a Russian official liaising with Russian expatriates.
CHICAGO  Jim Watkins lives with pain so intense it can snatch his breath away. He has osteogenesis imperfecta, also known as brittle bone disease, and the best way he has found to control the anguish is with daily doses of tramadol, an opioid medication.

He has been on the drug for nearly two decades, and for almost all of that time, his doctors gave it to him without any problems. But over the last few years, he said, that has changed.

Watkins, a 59-year-old Chicagoan, is required to come in monthly to receive his prescription  he used to go as long as three months between visits  and each time, he said, he undergoes questioning about his opioid use that he regards as just short of harassment.

(Chronic pain patients) are being singled out on a daily basis for something that other people have abused, he said. Those of us who have legitimate conditions, why are we being treated differently?

Americans use of opioid painkillers has exploded since the mid-1990s, driven by changing philosophies on pain treatment, drug company marketing campaigns and unscrupulous pill mill operators. The result, many experts say, has been a surge in addiction, overdoses and death.

Now, a reversal is underway. Opioid prescriptions have dropped sharply since 2012 as doctors have grown more conservative and the federal government has cracked down on what it deems problematic prescribing. But some chronic pain patients say the turnabout has gone too far.

They describe unwarranted dosage cuts from doctors and unprovoked suspicion from neighborhood pharmacists. And even those who have good relationships with their health care providers say they feel more and more that society views them as junkies, not patients.

I dont advertise the fact that I take these medications just because of the way people look on it, like Im a drug addict, said a 59-year-old Lincolnwood woman who takes oxymorphone for back pain. You mention it to someone, and its like, Oh, youre going to die; my cousins neighbors son died. They start connecting it with heroin abuse.

But some believe the correction is long overdue. Dr. Andrew Kolodny, of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, said the drugs have ill-served many people they were meant to help, condemning them to addiction while leaving their pain undiminished  or, in some cases, even worse.

Theyre stuck on these medicines they feel they cant live without, and many of them may be right, he said. The trick is not to get more people stuck on opioids.

PRIZED MEDICINE

Opioids inhibit pain signals traveling to the brain, and that trait has made them a prized medicine for thousands of years. But their addictive properties made many doctors hesitant to prescribe them for chronic conditions, said Theodore Cicero, a professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis.

You were given aspirin, he said. The attitude was that you just have to put up with (pain).

That changed in the 1990s after some medical organizations concluded that doctors were not adequately treating their patients pain. They created new standards that portrayed pain as the fifth vital sign, encouraging doctors to use more powerful medications in the name of compassionate care.

Another game-changer was the 1996 introduction of OxyContin, a powerful, time-release opioid aimed at patients with long-lasting pain. Drug company Purdue Pharma mounted a huge marketing campaign portraying the drug as less prone to misuse than other opioids.

That claim was false, as the company later admitted in a fraud settlement with the federal government. Drug abusers simply crushed the pills to unleash their full potency, and OxyContin swiftly became a leading product offered by shady medical clinics proliferating around the country.

There were more than 1,000 pain clinics operating just in Florida around 2011, said John Temple, a West Virginia University journalism professor whose book, American Pain, chronicles the rise and fall of a crooked clinic. They were all churning out these prescriptions every day. I would say the vast majority were not for legitimate patients but for people who just walked in off the street.

OxyContin wasnt the only painkiller to soak into American culture: Overall opioid prescriptions more than doubled over 20 years, from 112 million in 1992 to 282 million in 2012, while per-capita consumption more than quintupled.

As the pills flooded into medicine cabinets, overdose deaths soared, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While many fatalities were because of abuse, Kolodny said some studies suggest the majority came from valid prescriptions.

The grim statistics caused many to rethink pain treatment. The CDC released guidelines advising doctors to be more cautious when prescribing opioids. The Drug Enforcement Administration tightened the rules for hydrocodone, one of Americas most frequently prescribed medications.

Meanwhile, the American College of Physicians declared that doctors should consider opioids a last option for the treatment of lower back pain, while the U.S. Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense recommended against prescribing the drugs for chronic pain.

If those messages werent loud enough, physicians could also consider the high-profile arrests of colleagues accused of indiscriminate opioid distribution.

Youre not dealing with normal drug dealers in this situation  youre dealing with doctors who have something to lose, Temple said. If they see another doctor being led away in handcuffs, that has a big impact.
DAVENPORT  An 18-year-old man is facing charges in relation to May incidents of armed robbery, burglary and arson.

John Kevin Gilmartin, of Davenport, is charged with first-degree robbery, conspiracy to commit forcible felony, second-degree arson, third-degree burglary and fifth-degree theft, according to Scott County court records and Davenport Police reports.

The robbery and conspiracy charges are related to a May 29 incident in the 700 block of East 9th Street, according to police reports. Mr. Gilmartin is accused of working with others to take a cellular telephone at gunpoint. They also are accused of unsuccessfully attempting to steal a vehicle. Information on the other participants in the robbery was not available Monday.

The arson and burglary charges are related to a May 20 incident in which a Jeep Grand Cherokee was set on fire in the 3600 block of West Kimberly Road, according to court records. Mr. Gilmartin was allegedly recorded on security cameras entered a garage and setting fire to the vehicle.

He also is accused of stealing ice cream bars and a sandwich on May 20 from a Davenport Wal-Mart. Again, he allegedly was recorded by a security system during the incident.

Mr. Gilmartin remained in custody Monday on a $35,000 bond, according to the Scott County Jail website. His next court date is scheduled for July 13.
DAVENPORT  Police have arrested one man following a shooting at 12:36 a.m. Tuesday in Davenport.

Keyshawn Reed, 29, of Davenport, currently is in custody in the Rock Island County Jail with several charges pending from the Davenport incident.

At about 12:36 a.m., Davenport Police were dispatched to the 1100 block of West 8th Street for a report of shots fired. Witnesses on the scene provided descriptions of the suspect and suspect vehicle which fled the scene as officers were arriving.

Officers quickly located the suspect vehicle and confirmed shots had been fired. Casings were located on scene.

Officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the vehicle failed to stop, according to Davenport Police. Officers pursued the vehicle into Illinois over the Interstate 280 bridge where Illinois State Police deployed spike-sticks and disabled the vehicle.

According to Davenport Police, Mr. Reed fled his vehicle on foot but was apprehended after a short foot chase.

There were no report of injures related to the incident. Additional information was not available Tuesday.

Anyone with information about the incidents is asked to and call Davenport Police at 563-326-6125 or submit an anonymous tip via the mobile app entitled CityConnect Davenport, IA or CrimeReports by Motorola.
HAMPTON  Village trustees on June 12 approved the hiring of a deputy clerk.

This will be a part-time position; a job description is being developed, and the opening will be posted via the next water bill mailing, the village's website and by newspaper classified advertisement.

It is anticipated that applications will be taken until July 21.

The board also tabled action on a bid from Phoenix Corporation of the Quad Cities for excavation of a sink hole located on 9th Street.

The sink hole is located at the Villas of Safe Harbor Homeowners Association and has been the subject of a dispute between the residents of that area and the village over who is responsible for water lines and/or sewer lines.

The homeowners association is represented by Attorney Jerry Pepping. The village is researching documents to clear up the issue and is seeking an amicable compromise with the residents.

The board also approved new payments methods for payment of liquor deliveries to the Heritage Center, which will streamline payments either by net 30-day billing statements or via escrow accounts and eliminate the need for the clerk to have large cash reserves on-hand when deliveries are made.

In other business the board:

 Approved the hiring of two part-time police officers to replace retiring officers.

 Approved the purchase of portable scene lighting for the fire department.

 Approved a bid from American Tree Service to remove a tree located at 624 3rd Ave. for $800.

 Approved renewal of a subscription to Lexipol Inc. in the amount of $2,243. Lexipol provides law enforcement policy manual updates and 24/7 access to Knowledge Management System for updates and editing and includes 365 Unique Scenario Daily Training Bulletins and Testing Data Base.

 Approved survey work from Missman Inc. for maintenance, police and water tower land at a cost of $2,750.

 Approved replacing LED emergency lighting on a 2014 Ford vehicle. Racom will perform the work for $375 plus not more than $150 for labor.

 Approved Village Clerk Michelle Bergeson attending a seminar presented by the Central Illinois Municipal Clerks Organization in Champaign on June 22 and 23.
ROCK ISLAND  Both improving the downtown library and converting the Tri-City Jewish Center into the main library could cost the city between $10 million and $20 million.

This would not include the cost of the building, according to Russ Hodge, principal of The Hodge Group based out of Dublin, Ohio. He presented a slideshow featuring benefits of purchasing the Tri-City Jewish Center, 2715 30th St., and renovating the downtown location to the city council during a study session Wednesday night. The price of the building has not yet been disclosed, Mr. Hodge said.

The Hodge Group, a philanthropic consultant group, was secured by the Rock Island Public Library (RIPL) Foundation to conduct a feasibility study.

"You, the city, have been putting $300,000 a year into the downtown library," Mr. Hodge said. "You could put $3 million into it right now and you would not see any difference in its current configuration."

Renovations of the downtown library would include the creation of Maker Space, income generating space on the top floor. On the main floor would be 18,000 square feet of library space.

Council members were torn on the subject, where concerns of how to pay for the project long term versus the need for an expanded library were discussed.

Ald. Joshua Schipp, 6th Ward, questioned if it was feasible to spend money on the library with the number of projects already going on in the city.

"My point is that there's over $2 million of work in my ward right now that needs to be done, critical street work that has been long neglected," Ald. Schipp said. "We've got seven other aldermen that I guarantee they have at least $2 (million) to $3 million in their wards of work that needs to be done, now, that people are already paying property taxes into and wondering why there isn't enough cash you know to get my streets fixed. That's the reality."

Ald. Stephen Tollenaer, 4th Ward, countered, saying that the library is a long-term plan and an investment into the children of the city.

"I think the community will support it," Ald. Tollenaer said. "I do."

Ald. Dylan Parker, 5th Ward, said he was concerned the situation would mimic another one the city faced not too long ago.

"The concern is we are going to have a situation like Audobon Elementary School," Ald. Parker said. "Oh no, we are going to keep it, and then, 20 years down the road money is tight, we have to cut it,"

The proposal calls for the elimination of the 30/31 branch at 3059 30th St. Renovation of the Tri-City Jewish Center would cost $5.8 million, and rejuvenation of the downtown library would run $3.9 million. The Southwest Branch, 9010 Ridgewood Road, would be left untouched. Contingencies built into the plan to cover unexpected costs would run $6 million.

Mr. Hodge said the RIPL does not plan to approach the council for inclusion into their agenda until the 2019 budget year at the earliest. He said the RIPL would donate $2 million toward the project and will be holding more fundraisers to help increase that number.

During the council meeting, Vince Thomas, of Rock Island, told the council that making the main library above the hill could eventually end the downtown library, similar to what happened to the one in downtown Moline.

"For those of us interested in developing the downtown, this is just another reason why I wouldn't have to go downtown, because I have one up here," Mr. Thomas said. "Are we developing a class situation where that's one of the reasons some people say they are not going and using the downtown library. It's downtown."
NEW ORLEANS (AP)  Tropical Storm Cindy formed Tuesday in the Gulf of Mexico, hovering south of Louisiana as it churned tides and spun bands of heavy, potentially flooding rain onto the central and eastern Gulf Coast.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey issued a state of emergency because of the threat of torrential rains and other severe weather, including dangerous high tides and rip currents. Double red flags snapped in the wind on the public beach at Gulf Shores in her state, warning visitors to stay out of the pounding surf.

Workers on Grand Isle, a barrier island community south of New Orleans, worked to reinforce a rock levee protecting the island's vulnerable west side. Officials there decided against calling an evacuation but said in a statement that anyone who wanted to head for the mainland should do so as early as possible because water might eventually cover low-lying parts of the only route off the island.

The Louisiana National Guard dispatched high water vehicles and helicopters into flood-prone areas. The state said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was moving 125,000 meals and 200,000 liters of water into Louisiana.

Gov. John Bel Edwards said the advance notice of the storm gave officials time to put emergency plans in place. Louisiana was slammed with major flooding last summer from an unnamed storm that heavily damaged the Baton Rouge and Lafayette regions.

The third tropical storm of 2017, Cindy was stationary Tuesday afternoon but to resume moving and reach the northern Gulf Coast late Wednesday and rumble inland Thursday over western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Forecasters warned 6 to 9 inches (15-22 cms) of rain and up to 12 inches (30 cms) in spots was the biggest threat in parts of Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle.

Already some flooding was reported on Alabama's Dauphin Island and flood control locks and gates were being closed along Louisiana's bayou-marbled coast. Authorities in various coastal Louisiana and Mississippi communities handed out sandbags for areas along rivers and bayous.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Cindy was, on Tuesday afternoon, about 280 miles (450 kilometers) south of Morgan City, Louisiana  or about 360 miles (575 kilometers) southeast of Galveston, Texas. It had top sustained winds of 45 mph (75 kph).

A tropical storm warning was in effect from San Luis Pass, Texas, to the Pearl River's mouth along the Louisiana-Mississippi line.

Rain and tides, rather than wind, were considered the main danger from the system.

At a news conference in New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu urged vigilance as bands of rain from the system swept over the city. Forecasts said the system could dump from a few inches to more than 12 inches (a few centimeters to more than 25 cm), depending on Cindy's development and path. At worst, the storm could flood neighborhoods outside the city's levee system and cause flash flooding even in protected areas.

"This is going to be a very serious event," Landrieu said.

In coastal Louisiana's Terrebonne Parish, Kim Chauvin said the shrimp processing businesses she and her husband run helped put out the word Monday that shrimpers should return to port and unload their catch before flood control structures closed.

"We call them, we text them, we Facebook them, we Twitter, them. Any way we can get to them," she said.

Earl Eues, an emergency official in Terrebonne, said the closing of locks and flood gates began Monday and would be completed Tuesday evening,

Parishes along the coast made sandbags  or sand and bags  available to people who wanted to protect homes and businesses.

At the Escatawpa Hollow Campground in Alabama, near the Mississippi State line, owner Larry Godfrey was prepared for flooding that would add to the woes of a rainy spring.

"We've had so much rain, we haven't done any business in about eight weeks because of the rain," said Godfrey, whose campground typically hosts swimmers and boaters. He said the Escatawpa River, at 15 feet (4.5 meters), would typically be lower than 3 feet (1 meter) at this time of year.

While the northern Gulf Coast braced for Cindy, the southern Caribbean region was dealing with the aftermath of Tropical Storm Bret, which unleashed heavy flooding, knocked out power and ripped off several roofs in some areas of Trinidad &Tobago. Bret had degenerated into a tropical wave by Tuesday afternoon..

All airports in Trinidad & Tobago reopened later Tuesday, though public schools and many businesses remain closed.
Id like to address the elephant in the room. That elephant being the Republican Party and their refusal to represent the majority of their constituents. Lets begin with stricter gun control (something that would help lessen the fears parents have when sending their children off to school), 53% of Americans favor this (Pew Research) yet the elephant in the room refuses to consider any such thing. Over 70% of Americans want stricter background checks yet again; the elephant in the room refuses to represent them. 61% of Americans say abortion should be legal. Again, the elephant in the room pushes laws that do the opposite. 74% of Americans do not want social security reduced in any way. But the elephant in the room pushes to do just the opposite, cut social security. 63% of Americans now prefer Medicare for all, but the elephant in the room fights it with all its might. 67% of Americans feel more needs to be done to reduce climate change, but not the elephant in the room. The elephant sides with the fossil fuel industry claiming its not a big concern. Given these few statistics (there are more like them) its obvious that the Republican Party is the party of minority rule, quite the opposite of what our founding fathers envisioned. The Republican Party has become a power cult, not a party that represents the majority of Americans. Remember this while you mark your ballot in this midterm election. Save Democracy! Vote Democratic!
WASHINGTON -- President Trump now finds himself exactly where he doesn't want to be: under investigation by a dogged, highly respected prosecutor who owes him no personal or political loyalty. And the president has only himself to blame.

Trump let off some steam Thursday morning by issuing a couple of angry statements on Twitter: "They made up a phony collusion with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice." And then: "You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history -- led by some very bad and conflicted people!"

Someone please take away his phone.

Not for the first time, Trump gives a false impression of what's really going on. He pretends there has already been a finding that there was no collusion between anyone involved in his presidential campaign and the Russian attempt to meddle in our election. No such conclusion has been reached.

To the contrary: Thanks to The Washington Post, we now know that collusion is only one of three subject areas that the FBI investigation, now led by special counsel Robert Mueller, is exploring.

Another is, indeed, the possibility that Trump may have obstructed justice in his repeated efforts to quash the investigation. How could any prosecutor fail to pursue this line of inquiry? Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, sent out spokespeople and surrogates with a far-fetched cover story to explain the dismissal, and then told NBC's Lester Holt that the real reason for the firing was Comey's pursuit of the Russia investigation. Trump also bragged to visiting Russian diplomats that getting rid of Comey relieved him of "great pressure because of Russia."

Those very public actions and statements alone cry out for investigation. But Comey has testified under oath that in a private meeting, Trump raised the investigation of fired national security adviser Michael Flynn -- part of the larger Russia probe -- and said, "I hope you can see your way clear to letting this go, to letting Flynn go." Comey said he took this "hope," coming from the president of the United States, as a direction.

Trump also reportedly asked Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and CIA Director Mike Pompeo to intercede with Comey on the Flynn case, then later asked Coats and National Security Agency chief Mike Rogers to state publicly that Trump was not personally under investigation. Apparently, none of the officials complied with these requests.

In sworn testimony on Capitol Hill, Coats and Rogers declined to speak about their conversations with the president -- though it is doubtful they had any legal right to keep mum. According to the Post, Mueller plans to interview both officials soon, and also plans to question Richard Ledgett, who until recently held the No. 2 job at the NSA.

To me, this looks, walks and quacks like a pattern. Perhaps it does to Mueller as well.

Finally, we know that Mueller's investigators are also looking for "any evidence of possible financial crimes among Trump associates," as the Post phrased it. It goes without saying that discovering any money flows between Trump campaign officials or advisers and Russian government-linked individuals or institutions would be explosive. That is why investigators want to know more about a meeting between Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and executives of Vnesheconombank, a Russian state-owned development bank now under U.S. sanctions.

Those are the prongs of the investigation -- that we know of. Attention is focused on the question of obstruction simply because so much of Trump's campaign to deep-six the investigation has been conducted openly, at full volume. I don't know whether the FBI and Mueller's crack team of prosecutors have any solid evidence of collusion or shady financial deals. If they find none, I'm certain Mueller will forthrightly report that fact -- but only after completing a proper investigation, which takes time.

Other presidents have managed to compartmentalize investigations and go about the business of governing, but Trump seems consumed by the Mueller probe. His tweet about a "WITCH HUNT" conducted by "bad" people is just a Trumpian version of what appears to be the official White House line -- that this is somehow a partisan attempt to delegitimize the Trump presidency.

But it is not. As Trump still struggles to acknowledge, the U.S. intelligence community is fully convinced that Russia carried out an attack on our democracy. We need to know what happened so that we can ensure it never happens again. Why would the president object to a thorough investigation -- unless he had something to hide?
Celebrating Our Service Members

Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day, when we honor and show gratitude to all members of our Armed Forces  those currently serving, those who...

Transit Equity Starts With QueensLink

For decades Queens has seen a disinvestment in the necessary transit infrastructure the borough needs to promote equity and sustainability. Most of the time, transformative...
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!
In a statement, Transport Minister Mr Hisham Arafat said delivery of an initial batch of 25 of the 2.39MW locomotives will take place next year. The deal also includes a 15-year parts and technical support package for both the new locomotives and GE motive power ENRs current fleet.

GE will provide training for 275 ENR employees as part of the contract.

On June 19 ENR signed a 290m loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which will be used to finance the order. The EBRD will also provide ENR with technical support to develop and implement a freight reform programme, which aims to increase rail freight volumes to 25 million tonnes a year by 2022.
The 750V dc third rail EMUs will enter service from mid-2019 and the entire fleet will be in service by December 2020. The 160km/h trains will increase peak capacity on suburban routes into London Waterloo by 46%, with the uniform fleet replacing class 455 EMUs dating from the 1980s and the fleet of 30 class 707 Desiro City EMUs currently being delivered by Siemens.

The fleet will comprise 60 10-car and 30 five-car trains and assembly will be carried out at Bombardiers Derby plant. The fleet will be maintained at the franchise's Wimbledon depot.

Funding for the order has been led by Rock Rail in partnership with Standard Life subsidiary SL Capital and GLIL Infrastructur. Senior debt is being provided by a consortium of British, European and North American institutional investors.

A technical description of the Aventra platform can be viewed here.

For detailed data on rolling stock orders around the globe, subscribe to IRJ Pro.
NORTHUMBERLAND, Pa.  Among the hundreds of operators that make the first-and-last mile business of short line railroading an ongoing success, the North Shore Railroad stands out.

Staking its claim to carload freight in an area once criss-crossed by trains of anthracite coal, the North Shore Railroad has made this east-central Pennsylvania town an industry cynosure as the trifecta winner of three industry awards, including Railway Ages 2017 Short Line of the Year.

As commemorative GP38-2 2017 (in North Shores Erie Lackawanna-inspired paint) was rolled out for the occasion, Railway Age was in Northumberland to present the award at a luncheon hosted by the North Shore on June 2 for employees, customers, railroad executives, elected representatives, industry guests, media and other dignitaries at Northumberlands union station-turned-restaurant. (While now serving meals, the station once served both the Delaware, Lackawanna & Westerns Bloomsberg Branch and Pennsylvania Railroads Shamokin Valley Branch to Philadelphia. Interchange partner Norfolk Southern now operates the PRR line.)

The operator  one of six short lines under the same corporate umbrella  was also celebrating its 30th anniversary as the operator of the former lines sold off by Conrail in the 1980s.

Railway Age honored the North Shore for its recent move into dimensional traffic, a new service that created a unique, year-long parade of high-and-wide shipments supplying construction of two power plants in the area. For its resourceful, out-of-the-crate thinking, the carrier also garnered awards from the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association and Norfolk Southern Corp., which sent representatives to the event.

With customers in four counties, the North Shore operates on track owned by the SEDA-COG Joint Rail Authority, and is in negotiations to renew its operating concession. So, the event was an opportunity to highlight its vital importance to its customers and as a local employer as well.

For the day, the North Shore had some help blowing its own horn.

North Shore Railroad employees and guests pose in front of commemorative GP38-2 2017, featuring the Railway Age

Short Line of the Year logo, June 2, 2017. (Photo by Michelle Miller)
Analysts and intelligence officials periodically get together to anticipate what tomorrow's terrorists might do.

Will terrorists threaten mass destruction with nuclear weapons or global pandemics with designer pathogens? Will cities be contaminated with dirty bombs? Will tech-savvy terrorists remotely sabotage power grids or other vital infrastructure via the internet?

Are terrorists capable of triggering electromagnetic pulses that fry electronics, reducing modern technology-dependent society to a Mad Max movie? Will they shoot down airliners with hand-held missiles or bring them down with miniaturized bombs concealed in laptops or perhaps surgically implanted? Will they attack crowds in stadiums with drones carrying hand grenades or anthrax or merely white powder to provoke deadly panics?

Or might there be a mass uprising of individual fanatics ramming trucks into pedestrians, attacking diners with machetes, and carrying out other primitive, but nearly-impossible-to-prevent attacks?

The scenarios are endless and unnerving. All of the ones above have been discussed publicly. And if analysts can think about them, one presumes, so can terrorists who fill the internet with their ambitious fantasies.

Some of these are pretensions of omnipotence that make their authors feel good; some support the terrorists' campaign to promote fear.

Few can be entirely disregarded. Had the 9/11 hijackers been arrested one week before their attack, their plan might have been dismissed as a far-fetched scheme, which it was.

Had the hijackers been arrested one week before 9/11, their plan might have been dismissed as far-fetched, which it was.

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly recently warned that if Americans knew what he knows about terrorism, they'd never leave the housea dismaying message coming from a Marine four-star general.

There are several ways analysts try to gaze into the future. One is to look at trends in terrorism itself and see where these might take us.

Extrapolation doesn't always work. According to data from the Global Terrorism Database, from 1970 to 2001, fatalities in the worst terrorist attacks increased by an order of magnitude every 10 to 15 years, culminating in the 9/11 attacks, in which thousands died.

It was widely presumed immediately after 9/11 that terrorists would continue to escalate by orders of magnitude, pushing the analysis toward scenarios involving tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of fatalities. Death on this scale could be achieved only with the use of biological or nuclear weapons, which became a presumption.

A second way to look at the future is to try to forecast the state of world affairs and examine how this might affect the trajectory of terrorism.

Analysts correctly anticipated that the U.S. invasion of Iraq would mobilize new cohorts of jihadist extremists, but many mistakenly thought that the rise of anarchist elements in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis might reinvigorate the violent edge of the leftit did not. It is expected that the conflicts in Syria and adjacent areas will remain sources of future terrorist violence.

A third approach is to look at how terrorists might exploit new technologies coming on line.

Years ago, we worried about surface-to-air missiles, which terrorists have rarely used, but we missed the internet. Then in its infancy, the internet was to have a profound impact on terrorist communications, recruiting and strategy, underscoring that terrorism is mainly about manipulating perceptions. Analysts currently are looking at terrorists using drones and exploiting the Internet of Things.

A fourth approach is to try to think as terrorists and conjure up scenarios of future attacks.

This is a way to prevent failures of imagination, but possibilities are often misread as forecasts. In the early 1980s, I opined that terrorists might fly hijacked airliners into large buildings. This involved no prescience on my partin 1972, hijackers had threatened to fly a hijacked plane into the nuclear facilities at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I repeated the idea over the years only as a possibility.

Any review of what we might have forecast about the future trajectory of terrorism in the past should be humbling. Fifty years ago, who knew that the following decades would see the dramatic rise of terrorism in its contemporary form? One of the major events was the 1967 Six-Day War, which would lead to Israel's occupation of the West Bank, contributing to the rise of the Palestinian terrorism.

Who in 1977 forecast the emergence of Islamist extremism in the form of the Iranian Revolution, the rise of Iranian-supported Shia extremism in Lebanon, and an escalation of terrorist violence with massive vehicle bombs and suicide attacks becoming routine?

The Middle East would remain a major theater of concern for the United States during this decade, and Washington would increasingly resort to military force to retaliate for attacks on U.S. Marines in Lebanon, apprehend terrorist hijackers escaping from Egypt, and deter further Libyan support for terrorist attacks that had cost American lives.

Hardly any analysts in 1987 foresaw the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989, which would fundamentally change the world's political environment and significantly affect the course of terrorism.

By 1997, al Qaeda had already declared war on the United States, but 1998 would see a dramatic escalation of that campaign, culminating in the 9/11 attacks that would lead to the Global War on Terrora massive worldwide effort that continues to this day.

And in 2007, who foresaw the uprisings that would sweep across the Arab world in 2011, distracting governments, creating new opportunities for jihadists, and leading to Syria's civil war and the rise of ISIS?

So what can we say in 2017?

Terrorism has become a mode of armed conflictit will persist. But the worldwide growth in the volume of terrorism is misleading. It reflects the invention of the category of terrorism, better reporting worldwide, and the now routine employment of terrorist tactics in irregular conflicts.

Terrorism is a global phenomenon. But outside of conflict zones, attacks occur only occasionally.

Although terrorism is a global phenomenon, outside of conflict zones, where terrorist campaigns comprise merely one aspect of ongoing wars, terrorist attacks occur only occasionally. In 2015, more than 55 percent of all attacks took place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nigeria, and 74 percent of all fatalities occurred in five countries Iraq, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Syria, and Pakistan.

Terrorism remains concentrated in the Middle East and bordering areas of North Africa and western Asia. Current conflicts in these areas are likely to persist and will remain the major source of the terrorist threat. For the United States, terrorism and Middle East policy have become inextricably intertwined.

Events external to terrorism can have enormous effects on the course of terrorism: the Six-Day War and Vietnam War as catalysts for protest and ultimately violence; the Iranian revolution; the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the rise of Islamic extremism; the fall of the Soviet Union; the Arab Spring.

Our worst fears have not been realized. Terrorists have seldom used chemical or biological weapons and then not very effectively. There has been one incident of radiological terrorism, carried out as a publicity stunt, and no nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, the lure of doom continues, with many arguing that it is not if, but when terrorists will employ such weapons.

The terrorists' arsenal has changed very little. Bombs still comprise three-quarters of terrorist attacks. Some bombs are becoming more sophisticated. Terrorist attacks still involve automatic or semi-automatic weapons not different from a half-century ago.

Tactical innovations include suicide bombings, multiple suicide bombings, increasingly random attacks on soft targets, the use of vehicles in ramming attacks. This reflects the enlistment of remote recruits with limited capabilities, which is itself a consequence of social media.

Terrorism appears to have escalated horizontally rather than vertically. Instead of weapons of mass destruction, there has been a proliferation of low-level attacksfrustrating, but certainly preferable. The trick will be to use what is known about terrorism now to predict and prevent new attacks.

Brian Michael Jenkins is a senior adviser to the president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and an author of numerous books, reports and articles on terrorism-related topics.

This commentary originally appeared on Newsweek on June 19, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
In a recent interview with reporters in Beijing, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Susan Thornton noted that the Chinese were finally exerting greater pressure on North Korea. China's shift in emphasis, in her words, entails stepped-up inspections and policing at the border as well as a number of other things on companies, which the Wall Street Journal later revealed entails added pressure on Beijing to sanction 10 Chinese companies and individuals that trade with North Korea. Thornton also highlighted that Washington and Beijing were discussing how to react more rapidly via the United Nations to impose sanctions on Pyongyang the next time it conducts a provocative missile or nuclear test.

As I have previously argued, China might be willing to make changes on the margins of its relationship with North Korea, but fundamental changes to its strategy are highly unlikely because this would threaten the stability of Kim Jong-un's regime and potentially eliminate the North as a buffer state. That strategic calculus should temper our expectations of Trump administration policy. Indeed, China's perpetual security concern has manifested itself in recent months with Beijing's proposal that the United States and South Korea freeze routine joint exercises in exchange for Pyongyang suspending its missile and nuclear programs. The last thing Beijing wants is a conflict that would end Kim's regime and unleash new power dynamics at its doorstep.

Nevertheless, let us assume for a moment that Beijing is now actually serious about reining in Kim's provocative behavior, whether because of pressure from the Trump administration, a recognition that the situation is becoming more dire, or both. What are some of the key pressure points China might have at its disposal? There are at least several levers worthy of consideration.

Lack of oil resources would decrease North Korean military leaders' confidence in their ability to effectively mobilize their equipment for a conflict.

Beijing could decide to cut off oil supplies as part of its economic assistance to Pyongyang. Such an action by China would not be unprecedented. Following a North Korean missile test in 2003, Beijing cut off supplies via a pipeline for three days, citing technical reasons. China provides perhaps as much as 500,000 tons of crude oil and 200,000 tons of refined oil products per year. Although North Korea's energy needs are primarily filled by plentiful supplies of domestic coal, transportation and agriculture would likely suffer. Lack of oil resources would also decrease North Korean military leaders' confidence in their ability to effectively mobilize their equipment for a conflict. To be sure, Pyongyang may be anticipating Chinese oil restrictions after Global Times, an unofficial mouthpiece for the People's Liberation Army, ran an editorial threatening such a move. The timing of a recent run on gas prices in North Korea strongly suggests the regime is bracing for a hit, but if Beijing were to execute one, three days would certainly not be long enough. Months would likely be required to realize the full effect.

Given that China represents 90 percent of North Korea's foreign trade, any decision by Beijing to significantly scale back or suspend its import and export activities with the regime would be painful. China has already turned away North Korean coal shipments, which likely concerns Pyongyang, since coal is its primary export. Beijing has been reluctant, however, to ban other important North Korean exports  specifically textiles and seafood  because it worries about harming the North Korean people. It is also reasonable, though, to believe that embargoing these products would reduce funding for the regime. At least one garment factory, for example, was subordinate to the General Bureau of Atomic Energy, and South Korea has argued that fishing money is funneled to the North Korean military. Regardless, China-North Korea bilateral trade is reportedly up 37.1 percent in the first quarter of 2017 compared to 2016, suggesting that trade sanctions are not under serious consideration at the moment.

As a third option, Beijing could crack down on illicit finance networks as many of the banks laundering money on behalf of the regime are located in China. According to a recent analysis in Foreign Affairs, Washington could encourage this by unilaterally sanctioning more than just the 43 currently sanctioned North Korean organizations and individuals (Iran has over 800 sanctioned entities) and isolating Chinese banks from the U.S. dollar system, as it did successfully during the Banco Delta Asia case. Beijing, however, continues to allow money laundering and UN-sanctioned companies to conduct business with the regime. Importantly, Thornton's statements suggest that Washington is making progress with Beijing on these activities.

Beyond the economic domain, Beijing could stop diplomatically shielding Pyongyang at the United Nations by watering down or opposing new sanctions. Otherwise, the regime does not seem to care much about maintaining bilateral diplomatic relations, with no senior Chinese officials having traveled to North Korea since at least 2015, and with Chinese President Xi Jinping never having met with Kim since ascending to power in 2013. Withdrawing China's ambassador would probably only decrease the amount of intelligence Beijing receives on North Korea. And of course, as North Korea's chief ally, the military option is off the table unless it became clear that the regime is on the verge of collapse.

In the unlikely event that Beijing adopts one or some of these measures, achieving denuclearization in North Korea is still far from guaranteed  even if sanctions were to be sustained for months. What these could do, though, is put enough pressure on Pyongyang to at least get it back to the negotiating table. This is precisely China's objective, and if Beijing can be convinced that it would work without destabilizing the regime entirely, prospects for success would rise.

Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at RAND Corporation. He formerly served at the Defense Intelligence Agency as the daily intelligence briefer to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Pentagon. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Defense Department, or U.S. government.

This commentary originally appeared on The Cipher Brief on June 20, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Armies of fanatics are easily sacrificed. The presumed fervency of their foot soldiers relieves commanders of concerns about their well-being. Seeking deliverance from their previous lives, salvation in the next, all fighters are presumed martyrs.

But the Islamic State group goes beyond this bloody tradition. Its leaders have elevated the slaughter of others to a strategic principle, while murder of its own and collective suicide are keys to its defense strategy. One cannot expect an organization that celebrates mass executions, kills in horrific ways and casually murders women and children to behave differently toward its own ranks. Those defending the shrinking frontiers of the Islamic State's territory as well as those abroad who carry out terrorist attacks on its behalf are a disposable commodity.

People in Europe and the United States who feel as if they are under siege from terrorists may find some comfort in the fact that the Islamic State group itself is being devastated. Tens of thousands of its fighters in Syria and Iraq have been killed in the past 30 months. Few of the rest are likely to survive the final battles. Their behavior as conquerors makes it difficult to muster sympathy for them.

Estimates of the group's peak strength as of the beginning of 2015 vary wildly, with between 80,000 and 100,000 fighters regarded as a fair guess. By the end of 2016, American officials were claiming 50,000 fighters had been killed, although British estimates were half that. In February, the head of U.S. Special Operations Command claimed that the United States and its allies had killed 60,000 fighters. By late May, the Islamic State group was down to fewer than a thousand fighters holed up in Mosul, Iraq, while between 4,000 and 5,000 were defending Raqqa, Syria. Whatever the precise numbers, this is a spectacular decline.

Although estimates of foreign fighters who joined vary as well, there are as many as 30,000, with around 4,000 to 5,000 coming from Western Europe, and perhaps a hundred or two from North America. Most of them are doomed.

The Islamic State group further increased its ranks by enlisting impoverished and desperate locals or by simply pressing them into its service under threat. Although many of its fighters were jihadist fanatics who may have welcomed death, not all are zealots.

U.S.-supported ground forces in Iraq and Syria have steadily pushed the Islamic State group back into its two remaining strongholds in Mosul and Raqqa. Much of Mosul, where it declared its caliphate three years ago, has been recaptured, although clearing out the last neighborhoods could still take months. And the battle for Raqqa, the capital of the group's territory in Syria, has just begun. But these are the end times for the Islamic State.

No white flags of surrender will replace the Islamic State group's black flags. There will be no retreat. There will be no evacuation of civilians. Young boys and old men are being fitted with suicide vests. It is a fight to the finish.

The fall of Mosul and Raqqa will not end the armed struggle. The Islamic State's leaders operated underground in Iraq for years and can revert to a clandestine terrorist campaign. Reports indicate that many of them have already taken off to other fronts, leaving lieutenants to oversee the last stand. Surviving an underground contest will be more difficult for the foreign fighters who cannot easily blend into the local population. After the fall of Raqqa, they will be useless.

Some foreign fighters have figured this out and already left. European authorities report that about 30 percent of those who went to Syria already have returned. Others may have gone to jihadist fronts elsewhere. Still others may want to get out, but will be killed if they try  there have been numerous reports of mass executions of both fighters and civilians for attempting to leave. The fighters may serve as human bombs, the civilians as human shields.

Most of the fighters, local and foreign, will die in the rubble where they are.

If they manage to successfully escape their minders, fleeing jihadists must then get through the forces encircling Mosul and Raqqa. Secretary of Defense James Mattis recently announced an annihilation campaign to eliminate the foreign fighters. At large, they pose a threat to the rest of the world. It is better to eliminate them where they are. Whether they believe in Islamic State group notions that this is the Muslim Armageddon that heralds the return of the spiritual leader Mahdi or that paradise awaits them in the afterlife, most of the fighters, local and foreign, will die in the rubble where they are.

Being outside the Islamic State's territory does not prevent participation in the final battle. Others can take part remotely. Unlike al-Qaida, the Islamic State group has not focused its campaign on the far enemy, which means the United States and other Western nations, but like al-Qaida, it inspires followers abroad to carry out attacks where they are.

This does not mean that it recruits in any traditional sense. There is no vetting, no investment, no risks  volunteers cost nothing. Individuals are not persuaded to join, they are exhorted to kill. The Islamic State group targets malcontents, misfits, those with mental disorders, the most suggestible, those desperate to belong to something. Those who carry out an attack are rewarded with membership, recognition, and applause  a prestige suicide. Most Islamic State group terrorists abroad don't join it and kill. Instead, they kill and join, in most cases posthumously. They too are one-time use products.

Closing the ring on the Islamic State will likely prompt a barrage of homegrown terrorist attacks. Unable to make it to Syria, those left behind may believe that this is the final battle prophesied in Muslim tradition and seek participation to save their souls. Or they may be moved to avenge the deaths of their adopted brothers. The last days of the Islamic State group, like the demise of other fanatical enterprises in history, promises to be a cruel spectacle.

Brian Michael Jenkins is a senior adviser to the president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and an author of numerous books, reports and articles on terrorism-related topics.

This commentary originally appeared on U.S. News & World Report on June 16, 2017. Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Court dismisses art collectors $276,000 claim against prominent art expert Basner

MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov)  The Dzerzhinsky District Court in St. Petersburg has dismissed a lawsuit filed by art collector Andrey Vasilyev, who sought to recover 16.2 million rubles ($276,000 at the current rate) from prominent Russian art expert Yelena Basner, acquitted of fraud earlier, for value appraisal of a painting, RAPSI reports from the courtroom on Tuesday.

Basner, a former employee of the Bukowskis Auction House as well as the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, was investigated over a painting, In restaurant, attributed to Boris Grigoryev, a well-known Russian artist of the first half of the 20th century. The painting, which was allegedly examined by Basner in 2009 and sold for $250,000, was proven to be a fake in 2011.

The art expert was arrested on January 31, 2014. She was charged with large-scale fraud. On February 5, 2014, she was placed under house arrest. In January 2015, a court in St. Petersburg released Basner from the house arrest.

According to investigators, in the summer of 2009 Mikhail Aranson, who is now wanted by police, in collaboration with unknown co-conspirators invited Basner to the criminal conspiracy of selling the fake painting. Investigators allege that Basner made up a sham story about the paintings history and found the buyer, a publisher Leonid Shumakov. He, convinced of the paintings authenticity, proposed his close friend, St. Petersburg art collector Andrei Vasilyev, to buy the painting.

Eventually, Vasilyev bought the fake painting for 180,000 (11.8 million rubles at the current exchange rate), whereas its real price was 12,000 rubles (183).

Prosecutors have asked the court to sentence Basner to 4 years in prison, impose a fine of 500,000 rubles (about $8,500 at the current rate) on her and order to pay the collector 16.5 million rubles ($280,000) in compensation.

However, Basner was found not guilty on May 17, 2016. The St. Petersburg City Court upheld her acquittal on August 11.

Vasilyev in his lawsuit claimed that Basner was a seller of the painting.

Her defense lawyers in turn insisted that the seller was Shumakov. Vasilyev made the deal with the publisher. Basner had exercised mediation functions and was not a party of the transaction, according to her attorneys.
Misanthropic Division members sentenced to up to 3.5 years behind bars

MOSCOW, June 20 (RAPSI, Yevgeniya Sokolova)  The Moscow District Military Court has given to three members of Misanthropic Division organization prohibited in Russia sentences ranging from 3 to 3.5 years in jail for committing nine extremism and terrorism related crimes, the Russian Investigative Committee reports on its official web site on Tuesday.

Thus, Vitaly Tsaruk was sentenced to 3 years and 2 months, Victor Pekhterev  to 3 years and 6 months, and Cyril Khalepo  to 3 years in custody.

This May, the defendants admitted that they had created and administrated groups in Vkontakte social network and published messages propagating violence against people of certain races and people who did not conform to moral principles and worldview of white racists. However, they claimed that their actions could not be recognized as crimes of extremist nature.

In the summer of 2016, Russian investigators launched probe into Dmitry Pavlov, citizen of Belarus and an alleged organizer of the Misanthropic Division extremist online community. The organization was allegedly founded in October 2013 and in 2014, when revolutionary movements started in Ukraine, the organizations activity assumed an international character and became more radical, according to Russias Investigative Committee.

Misanthropic Division created branches in 19 countries including Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Germany, France, Poland, England and other European states. Alleged leader of the organization Dmitry Pavlov and his associates promote on the social media racist and neo-Nazi ideas; publicly call to terrorism and extremism; incite hatred and enmity for a number of nationalities; speak disrespectfully of the Days of War Glory and memorable dates in Russia connected with defense of fatherland, former spokesman for the Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said earlier.
The C.S.S. Alabama was the most successful Confederate commerce raider of the American Civil War. In a career that lasted for nearly two years, she sank or captured 66 Union ships, including the warship Hatteras.

The Alabama had been built through the efforts of James D. Bulloch, one of the more successful Confederate agents in Europe. He had placed orders for two ships soon after his arrival in Britain in June 1861. The Alabamawas built in the Laird's shipyard at Birkenhead, Liverpool. She was a combined steam and sail ship, with a propeller that could be raised from the water to turn her into a pure sailing ship if needed. When everything was working well she could make 15 knots under a combination of steam and sail power. She also had a combination of types of gun, with six 32-pounder broadside guns as well as two pivot guns  one a 100 pounder rifled gun, the second an 8-inch solid shot gun. The Alabama demonstrates clearly how much naval warfare was in transition during the Civil War.

The building of the Alabama caused a great deal of friction between the United States and Great Britain. The British government was generally committed to her policy of neutrality, but early in the war did not always implement it well. The relevant official in Liverpool did nothing, despite being presented with plenty of evidence. Lord Russell, whose responsibility it was, delayed fatally, passing the evidence on to Sir John Harding, who was the chief law officer of the government, but sadly declining into insanity. Five days were lost, before on 29 July 1862 it was officially decided to detain the ship. Unfortunately, news of this reached the Confederate agents at Liverpool, and on the same day the ship was launched. Officially on a trial run, she actually headed out to sea, heading for the Azores.
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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

star Rachel Lindsay eliminated Bryce Powers Kenneth "Diggy" Moreland and Brady Ervin during Monday night's episode of 's thirteenth season on ABC.Bryce, a 30-year-old firefighter from Orlando, FL; Diggy, a 31-year-old senior inventory analyst from Chicago, IL; and Brady, a 29-year-old male model from Miami, FL, were all eliminated at the Rose Ceremony that took place at the beginning of last night's broadcast."Rachel was somebody that -- even though I didn't get the chance to get to know her that well -- I could tell she is an amazing woman. I don't think it's really hit home yet," Diggy said following his ouster."Obviously there's tears, but I'm crying because I'm going to miss seeing Rachel and talking to Rachel. I definitely wish I would've had more time with Rachel. It would've helped her realize, 'I need to keep Diggy around and he's an awesome guy,' but at the end of the day, I hope she gets what she's looking for. That's all that really matters."The episode began with testosterone high in the mansion at the cocktail party and Eric Bigger warning his fellow bachelors to keep his name out of their mouths and focus on themselves and their relationships with Rachel instead. Lee Garrett admitted to cameras he enjoyed pissing Eric off, adding in a confessional that he didn't come on the show to make friends and he didn't care about any of the guys he was competing against."I think Lee is a moron. I think he's an idiot," Dean Unglert said, later telling the cameras that Lee is just "a b-tch."Lee then interrupted alone time Kenny Layne was having with Rachel before the Rose Ceremony for a second conversation. Kenny was clearly ticked off and looked like he was going to flip out.Rachel sat down with Bryan Abasolo afterwards. Bryan felt that Rachel was everything he was looking for in a woman -- great personality, smart, beautiful, and more. It was clear Rachel was smitten with Bryan, as she confessed it scared her that he's so charming. Rachel wondered if Bryan was "too good to be true," but he assured her that the situation was "one thousand percent real" and his intentions were pure.Bryan told Rachel that he was going to give her the fairy take and he'd be there for her whenever she felt weak. Bryan explained to the Bachelorette how he saw a future with her and didn't care about any of the drama in the house.And that's when Kenny began yelling at Lee for allegedly using their friendship as a tool to get ahead with Rachel and receive more time with her. Lee knew he looked like the bad guy, but it didn't phase him at all."I get tickled when I smile and an angry man gets angrier," Lee noted in a confessional.Dean suggested during the episode that Lee's antics were a form of racial targeting."The only people that I've seen Lee pick fights with have been not the people that he's used to seeing on a daily basis, from a cultural perspective. You know exactly what I mean when I say that," said Dean, referencing the fact Eric and Kenny are both African American while Lee is Caucasian. "The longer Lee sticks around, the more everyone will become aware of his intolerance."Rachel could actually hear Kenny and Lee arguing, and she was "ridiculously annoyed" by it. She was disappointed in the guys, and the drama threw off her conversations and was very distracting."The pressures I feel about being a black woman and what that is and how -- I get pressure in so many different ways being in this position... I already know what people are going to say about me and judge me for the decisions I'm making. I'm going to be the one who has to deal with that, and nobody else, and that's a lot," Rachel cried in a confessional.host Chris Harrison then walked into the room and informed the men that the cocktail party was being cut short because Rachel knew what decisions she needed to make.Diggy thought Lee should be worried because he was constantly stirring the pot and nobody liked him. In the meantime, Lee vented about how Kenny was a meathead and he didn't appreciate how Eric got all up in his face.It then became time for the Rose Ceremony, and Rachel handed out roses in the following order: Will Gaskins , Dean, Jonathan Treece Adam Gottschalk , Bryan, Matthew "Matt" Munson Ignacio "Iggy" Rodriguez , Kenny and finally Lee.Diggy hoped Rachel was going to see how Lee knocked other guys down in order to build himself up. On his way out, Diggy thanked Rachel for allowing him to be open.When Rachel cheered and toasted champagne with her remaining bachelors, she asked them to leave all the drama behind. She then informed the group they'd be traveling to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina for the next week of dates. Once there, Rachel called it "breathtaking atmosphere."Dean received the first one-on-one date of the week. His date card read: "Our love is about to take off."Dean and Rachel headed to Bluffton, and Rachel said she had high expectations for Dean and the bar had also been set very high for him because of the great interactions they already had. Despite Dean's paralyzing fear of heights, the couple took a ride in the Good Year blimp and even took turns in the co-pilot's seat.Rachel thought Dean was a great sport on the date, and she loved how their conversation was always easy and comfortable. They also both enjoy adventures and taking risks.While Rachel seemed impressed with Dean, Bryan was shown telling the other guys that Rachel probably needed to see maturity from him since he's such a young guy at age 26. Bryan knew Rachel would be attracted to Dean, but he knew Dean would have to step up to the plate and peel back some deep layers.And Dean did just that. During a romantic dinner outside with trees all lit with sparkly lights, Rachel wanted to learn more about Dean and determine whether he was truly ready to settle down and get married.Dean then revealed to Rachel how he comes from a strict religious family and his mother passed away from breast cancer when he was only 15-years-old. Dean told the emotional story of losing his mother and how her absence basically tore his family apart. Dean lived alone in his house from age 15-18.Dean started crying during the conversation, but Rachel was so thankful he opened up to her in that way. Dean expressed how he can't wait to have a close-knit family like the one he grew up in, adding that he's extremely excited to become a father. Rachel told Dean that his character was shining through and she really appreciated his great outlook on life. Dean was the type of guy she wanted as a partner in life.Rachel then gave Dean the date's rose and the pair danced to the music of Russell Dickerson at one of his outdoor concerts. Dean never expected to develop feelings for Rachel so quickly."I can feel myself falling in love with her and it feels really good," Dean told the cameras. "This is the best day of my life."Rachel anticipated her date would be "good" and "fun," but she didn't expect her connection with Dean to be "so real." They could absolutely envision a future with each other.The next day, the following guys embarked on a group date with Rachel: Alex Bordyukov Anthony Battle , Peter, Bryan, Jonathan, Adam, Matt, Kenny, Lee, Iggy, Eric, Will and Josiah.Lee said he wanted to win the competition even if it meant hurting other people's feelings.For the group date, the guys first sailed around on a yacht on which they drank cocktails, danced, rapped and more. Josiah was extremely confident that he was the sexiest man on the boat.Afterward, the guys participated in a "Bachelor Nation Spelling Bee." Most of the guys were actually wishing this portion of the date was a wet T-shirt contest instead, but Josiah bragged how extensive his vocabulary happens to be, and he said he was "born ready" for this challenge.The last person to correctly spell a word would win the date's trophy. Kenny was out on the word "champagne," Iggy failed to spell "boudoir" correctly, Eric lost on the word "facade," Peter was out on "coitus," Anthony stumbled over the word "boutonniere," and Will couldn't spell "physiological."Josiah ended up winning the Spelling Bee by spelling the word "polyamorous" correctly. Throughout the rounds, Josiah would flirt and compliment Rachel to the point everyone else was annoyed, especially Iggy, who seemed to think Josiah crossed the line from confident to cocky. Josiah wasn't sure if he could win Rachel's heart, but he said he had the "intellectual part" of the competition "in the bag."That night, Josiah told the cameras that if he received the group-date rose that night, he'd probably end up in Rachel's Final 2.Rachel then sat down with Peter to chat. She thought they had an organic, easy-flowing relationship, and the pair discussed how they'd both be willing to move and relocate for love. Rachel even pointed out that she is licensed to practice law in his hometown of Wisconsin. Peter didn't seem willing to move to Texas, however, he suggested maybe starting fresh in a new place together.Rachel was the woman whom Peter wanted to be in love with and could see himself marrying.Eric got to talk to Rachel next, and the Bachelorette acknowledged that he always made her laugh and feel comfortable. She was happy to be around him and thought they "could really be something."Iggy was up next, but instead of furthering their connection, he decided to warn Rachel about Josiah, saying he attempted to cover up his insecurities with "a false sense of bravado." Iggy felt protective of her, which Rachel liked, but he had also spent a previous conversation with Rachel warning her about Eric's attitude.When Iggy was finished with his conversation with Rachel, he confronted Josiah to let him know that his name had come up. Josiah was really frustrated and called Iggy "a b-tch" behind his back, along with "wack" and "lame." Josiah then accused Iggy of doing drugs and inserting steroids into his genitals.Eric also called Iggy "a gossip queen," telling the suitor that he was part of the problem when it comes to the constant drama and tension in the group.Rachel then approached both Lee and Kenny about their feud. Lee told Rachel that Kenny yelled at him in an aggressive manner for about 30 minutes, while Kenny promised Rachel that, while he overreacted a bit and sincerely regretted that, Lee had been throwing shade at him and was acting dismissive and disingenuous. Kenny, who initially thought Lee was his friend, said that Lee's smile didn't match his handshake."I don't give a f-ck about Kenny. I'm going to smile and if it pisses him off, it pisses him off," Lee told the cameras, later calling Kenny a "fake" pro wrestler and "a ballerina" instead.Kenny told Rachel that he shook hands with Lee and everything was fine, but then Rachel didn't understand why Lee threw him under the bus again. Kenny argued that Lee may not be honest with Rachel and telling her the truth. Kenny felt robbed of his time with Rachel to advance their relationship forward. He felt, instead, that he spent all of his time defending himself about how he's not an aggressive or dangerous man.Kenny believed that Rachel's body language was "in Lee's corner" during their conversation, so he assumed his side of the story didn't really register with her."If I go home, I'm going to feel real f-cked up about this entire process," Kenny said in a confessional. "He's a reptilian piece of garbage and I'm done with that."But Kenny wasn't the only person whom Lee was rubbing the wrong way. Peter also vented about how Lee made him feel uncomfortable because he didn't act in a genuine manner.The episode concluded with Kenny pulling Lee aside for a conversation. Adam said it looked like a fight was going down and blood was going to be shed."What the hell is happening now?" Lee could be heard saying.
Every street in the Classic City tells a story, and behind every business there is a founder who had the ambition to create something they wan
'A lot of people -- whether farmers, students or businessmen -- think when they take a loan, that everything will go well and they will pay back.'

'Sometimes, things don't go well.'

IMAGE: 'With the economy doing well,' says Naveen Jindal, 'within four to five years we hope to be relatively debt-free.'

Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo

The Jindal Steel and Power group, with a combined loan burden of Rs 46,500 crore (Rs 465 billion), has stayed out of the Reserve Bank's 'top defaulters' list. \

Naveen Jindal, group chairman, speaks to Dillip Satapathy about his plans.

Your company has been financially stressed for some years because of a high debt burden.

We never faced these problems earlier. But after the coal block cancellations (part of the general order issued by the Supreme Court), we were made to pay an additional levy of Rs 3,500 crore (Rs 35 billion).

Contrary to the CAG's (Comptroller and Auditor General) recommendation for incentivising those who operated their blocks, we were unfairly penalised for producing.

So we had to borrow Rs 3,500 crore, which today is more like Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion). And, paying paying interest on it. This has been completely unproductive.

So, a huge debt burden on us which we had a hard time serving for the past few years.

In the future, we will be very careful, very conservative, in borrowing.

It's not only us -- everybody should be cautious about debt.

Are you going to launch some sort of campaign against incurring of debt?

(Laughs) A lot of people -- whether farmers, students or businessmen -- think when they take a loan that everything will go well and they will pay back.

Sometimes, things don't go well. And, the lender keeps mounting the pressure.

Shakespeare had said, 'Neither a borrow nor a lender be.

It is very important for people to realise the need to borrow really less.

Wherever I get an opportunity to speak or talk to people or giving an interview, I must express this view.

How are you planning to cut your huge loan burden of Rs 46,500 crore?

The whole debt is not for steel.

Of the Rs 46,500 crore total, Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) is for Jindal Power, a subsidiary of JSPL, having a 3,400 Mw power plant in Chhattisgarh.

Another Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 140 billion) is for international operations.

We have a two million tonne steel plant in Oman, and coking coal mines in Mozambique and Australia.

Only Rs 24,000 crore (Rs 240 billion) is for the standalone JSPL which has invested in steel operations in India. That way, it is not too much.

Any target for debt reduction?

It depends on so many factors.

Other things being equal and the economy doing well, within four to five years we hope to be relatively debt-free.

If the debt, whatever the total, comes down to less than 50 per cent of today's level, we are in good shape.

We hope to do this in the next five years.

We have not made any bank lose anything and we are going to honour all our commitments.

Whatever defaults were there have also come down.

I am sure in a year's time, we will start reducing our debt.

Is the newly commissioned Angul (in Odisha) steel project going to play a major role in these efforts?

We have spent more than Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) at Angul. The plant was not earning anything.

On the contrary, we have made a loss of Rs 7,000 (Rs 70 billion) to Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) here till date.

Now, the blast furnace for 4.2 mt capacity has been commissioned. It will take some time to ramp up production.

We hope in a couple of months this plant will start paying interest on the investment.

Using the earnings from here and other places, we hope to reduce our debt and have a healthy balance sheet.

How are your overseas ventures doing?

Coal mines in Mozambique and Australia are doing well.

There are some challenges in Australia.

We hope to overcome those. The main challenge is getting approvals.

One of the mines is working; the other mine is to start operation.

It is taking time to get the approvals. We hope to get these by the end of this year.

The Oman steel project is doing very well. So, things have improved internationally.

What is your take on the possible impact of the goods and services tax on the steel industry?

With key raw materials -- iron ore and coal -- in the lower GST slab of five per cent, steel industries will have lower input cost.

Together with an expected reduction in transport cost due to unified and standard rates under GST, this is likely to help steel companies, which are otherwise under the pressure of debt.

GST should bring seamless credit of all taxes, efficiency and an equitable platform.

So, there ought to be an overall positive impact on the industry.
To tap into the growing demand for offices, several global and Indian co-working entities are creating stock in the top cities.

At least one central minister is taken by the latest fad among start-ups, of promoting co-working spaces.

On Monday, Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said she planned to write to MPs in states where there has been a surge of start-ups, urging them to open such co-working spaces.

She had, she said, used her own Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme fund to create a co-working space for start-ups in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

It houses a 60-seater complex, enabling at least 120 companies in two shifts to operate from.

The minister wants more such complexes to come up in tier-II and tier-III cities, so that start-ups do not have to worry about office space.

I will write to all the MPs in districts where people are approaching their MPs asking if they can have some space and where there is a demand of start-ups, she said at the launch of a Startup India Hub portal.

The minister says as this idea is part of the prime minister's Startup India project, it would find many takers.

Coupled with a significant proportion of young freelance professionals, the co-working spaces sector would see more than 50 per cent growth in the year 2017, according to IndiQube, a workspace solutions provider.

It also predicts that the demand for new office space in the country would reach 40 million sq ft by the end of the year.

According to realty entity Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), to tap into the growing demand for offices, several global and Indian co-working entities are creating stock in the top cities.

Bengaluru, the Delhi region and Mumbai see the highest concentration of co-working centres; Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune are also seeing some activity.

Co-working spaces are becoming important, given that start-ups are mushrooming across sectors and businesses as Indias millennial workforce increases in size and becomes increasingly entrepreneurial, says Anshul Jain, managing director in India for C&W.

The government plans, said Sitharaman, to organise a meet of start-ups from the South Asian region for exchange of ideas and promoting of interaction.

She sought the views of Indian start-ups in this regard, saying the event could be a platform for beneficial exchange.

I will be working towards having a Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) country meet for start-ups. There are so many complementarities among us in the region," she said.

If the ministry could get feedback and suggestions in the next couple of months, the meet could happen by December, she said.

The ministry is also planning to work in certain districts, identify schools and help them qualify to get laboratories under the Atal Innovation Mission.

She added the ministry was working on ways to facilitate exchange of ideas between start-ups here and in Germany.

As for the Startup India Hub, launched by the department of industrial promotion and policy, the aim is to help such entities get easier access to funding, lessen their tax burden and provide the right infrastructure, among other things.

Photograph: Clare Jim/Reuters
On issues like the extradition of tycoon Vijay Mallya, which was already proceeding slowly, further delays should be expected, says Aditi Phadnis.

With a hung Parliament that will make UK Prime Minister Theresa May vulnerable to criticism and attack from within her party, and subject to external pressures as well, India's concerns is its dealings with the UK will likely take a back seat.

New Delhi and London enjoy a relationship that ain't broke and needs no fixing. During her India visit in November 2016, Theresa May described India as UK's "most important and closest" friend and a leading power in the world.

But on issues like the extradition of tycoon Vijay Mallya, which was already proceeding slowly, further delays should be expected.

The matter has been heard by the courts and even as Mallya petitions the Supreme Court against his extradition, Britain's interior minister now has to make a judgment on whether his life will be at risk if he is forced to return home.

Faced with multiple pressures, it is likely, but not certain, that Amber Rudd (who won her seat by the skin of her teeth) will continue to be interior minister.

Sources in the British Conservative Party headquarters told Business Standard: "Amber Rudd will retain one of the great offices of state. There will be a lot of continuity, but some moves, some demotions and some promotions."

Given the importance the Narendra Modi government accords to public punishment of tax evaders and the way it is being played up in Indian domestic politics, the Mallya extradition could well become a touchstone for the success of Indo-UK relations.

The election was held against a background of violence and issues of visas and immigration were positioned in relation to Britain's exit from the EU. A special visa system to bring in low-skilled and unskilled labour from outside Britain was on every party's immigration policy list. But with a less than convincing mandate for the Tories, will Theresa May stick to her conviction that Indian business travelers who frequently visit the UK should have simpler visa processes?

Addressing the India-UK Tech Summit in New Delhi on November 7, 2016, she said that as home secretary, she made the visa process for Indians much easier and proposed a 'registered travelers scheme' for Indian businessmen wanting to visit the UK frequently.

In the course of the ongoing Brexit debate, a proposal was mooted during the campaign, that rather than EU, it is the Commonwealth countries that Britain ought to tap to allow low-skilled and unskilled labour. Now that she is back in the saddle but weakened, how will May address this issue?

During her India visit, she had also asked New Delhi to do something about those who were in Britain illegally, flagging specific Indian government action on the "speed and volume of the return of Indians with no right to remain in the UK". To this, India responded that this was an international procedure and it would have to go through its own checklist and make sure only genuine Indians are admitted back.

During her last tenure, in the post-Brexit context, May had made trade the talking point in relations between India and Britain. But former Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh said this was not likely to change much, regardless of a new government in the UK.

"India-British trade has never been high, despite the claims political leaders make. The figures have hovered at 15 to 20 billion British pounds annually. Despite efforts, it has remained in this zone for decades. In contrast, India-US trade has gone up from around $20 billion to over $100 billion now. I don't see much prospect of this changing," Mansingh was quoted as saying.

Image: British Prime Minister Theresa May wore a sari to visit the Halasuru Someshwara temple in Bengaluru in November 2016. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.
For the PMO this is urgent as the Digital India framework would depend on how the telecom companies perform. It is also linked to the proposed auction of 5G airwaves.



While AGR is administered by DoT, spectrum and tariffs are set by Trai and each blames the other for the impasse the sector finds itself in. Photograph: Himanshu Sharma/Reuters

To get the telecom sector a stable financial base, the government is waiting for a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court on the longest dispute in the sector, instead of tweaking interconnect charges or setting tariff rules, according to a top bureaucrat.

As Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha is set to meet telecom company chiefs this week, the officials in the know said none of the options on the table, including changes in interconnect charges and tweaking of the tariff regime, would work without settling the adjusted gross revenue (AGR) controversy.

They are optimistic it can happen as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) are now working together to resolve this knot.

While AGR is administered by DoT, spectrum and tariffs are set by Trai and each blames the other for the impasse the sector finds itself in.

Settling AGR is also convenient while setting tariff rules that Trai has proposed or demanding a softer reserve price for airwaves are politically difficult calls.

Trai incidentally has made a presentation to the government on changing the tariff rules for the sector.

It has also helped that the Prime Ministers Office has asked the two to ensure a viable and long term solution to the sectors financial distress is hammered out.

For the PMO this is urgent as the Digital India framework would depend on how the telecom companies perform. It is also linked to the proposed auction of 5G airwaves.

The DoT is now headed by Aruna Sundararajan, who is holding it as an additional charge.

Interestingly, the inter-secretary panel, the telecom commission which takes the final call on most policy issues includes, Tapan Ray, who has joined as secretary in the department of economic affairs, recently.

The one holding the longest tenure at the policy making levels now is Trai chairman R S Sharma.

The AGR problem has a long history. It is about what constitutes gross revenue for a telecom company.

In 11 years it has travelled through all courts in the country, including the Supreme Court, several high courts -- the latest one being distant Tripura -- to the telecom appellate body, the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal.

It is again pending in the Supreme Court, and expected to come up after the vacations.

Telecom companies with a licence need to pay about 8 per cent of their total revenue to the government and that includes all the lines of business they may be involved in.

It is in addition to the price they pay to buy spectrum, their usage and others but they have no ability to partner with any content player to earn additional revenue.

A company offering the same bouquet of services but as a non-licensee freely replicates the same services.

This means the latter can offer his consumers both voice and data services at a far less cost. The former regime, companies say, militates against fair play.

DoT has long held that the simplicity of the AGR regime has ensured no disputes about revenue payable from the sector, something which has been the bane for several sectors.

Also, it has argued that the current stress in the sector has little to do with AGR per se and more with the high reserve price set for spectrum.

The government has so far collected over Rs 3.6 lakh crore from the successive rounds of auctions which has been close to 25 per cent of its total non-tax revenue in the past seven years, a report by rating agency Icra notes.

To make life easier for the telecom companies, DoT has suggested Trai could consider a softer reserve price in the ensuing auctions.

Sharma has suggested that AGR rules should be eased to carve out non-telecom revenues from the calculation.

The regulator in a consultation paper said receipts from USO Fund, meant to finance expansion of rural telephony, capital gains from sale of fixed assets and securities, bad debts and dividend and interest income, should also be out of the revenue base. It had argued these will still not make the calculation of AGR difficult, something that DoT has repeatedly argued against.

Telecom sector analyst Mahesh Uppal says linkage of the fees payable by the telecom companies with realistic calculation of yearly revenues will reduce dependence on high reserve prices.

This will help design better spectrum auctions, he adds.
'Civilians are disrupting army operations.'

'When they go to capture terrorists, stones, petrol bombs are thrown.'

'Which country in the world deals with this situation with the gloves that we deal with?'

IMAGE: Soldiers during a major anti-terror operation in Shopian, south Kashmir, May 4, 2017.

Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com

Was it right to strap a civilian to an army jeep in Kashmir?

What did the army chief mean when said civilians should 'fear' the army?

What is the fallout of high-pitched television debates on the army?

Lieutenant General K T Parnaik was the Northern Army commander, the highest ranking army officer responsible for defending the Line of Control and security of Jammu and Kashmir for three years.

The retired general tells Rediff.com's Archana Masih how soldiers sit on a razor's edge to guard the LoC, the damage media noise brings to the army and the dilemma soldiers face in Kashmir.

Part I of the Interview: 'The separatists have to be made irrelevant'

IMAGE: Major Leetul Gogoi, the officer who ordered a man to be strapped to an army jeep so that his troops could make it safely past a group of hostile stone pelters

How would you have dealt with the situation had Major Leetul Gogoi strapped a Kashmiri to the bonnet of his jeep when you were army commander?

Even if I was not an army commander, I want to tell you as a military professional, how I judge and assess the situation.

The first thing I would understand is that these are not normal methods of conducting operations, we don't risk the lives of civilians to fight our battles.

But in a given situation which is time sensitive, where the lives of your own men are at stake, when there is a violent mob ready to lynch anybody -- if I was in his place I would find it very hard to figure out how I was going to deal with it.

I could have either called my superiors to say that I need reinforcements.

I could have appealed to those people on a mike and said 'Please let me get my guys out', I could have left the place and called the police to handle it -- I think the method he thought of -- though unconventional and not desirable -- was an effective one.

Effective because it saved lives, effective because it prevented a carnage.

It is not a tactic that the army is going to use every time.

Under different conditions if anybody did anything like this, he would be court martialled -- I have no doubt about it.

But sometimes difficult situations demand difficult and innovative actions.

If I felt this I would have said that there and then itself.

At the spur of the moment I would have asked my corps or divisional commander to make that statement that this was done with good intentions to save lives.

I would not have made it into a huge issue of eugolising this chap.

He goes back to doing his duty and that is good enough.

Some observers believe Major Gogoi should not have been given the army chief's commendation before the court of inquiry had concluded.

Commendation card is given to officers, jawans who have continuously performed tasks dutifully and with dedication throughout the year.

It is not given for one specific incident. Because this incident had happened before it was given to him, it was highlighted as if he was given for this incident.

If I had to judge if this officer deserved to be awarded, I would have given him a higher award -- and I would have said I am giving it for saving lives.

Why should I hide that?

The court of inquiry is an internal organisational issue. The defence services is the only institution that conducts inquiries quickly and takes action.

These CoI are not public unless they are conducted under the order of the Supreme Court, high court.

Pathribal happened in my time and we did it openly.

The moment you call all kinds of people (on television debates on Major Gogoi's actions) including retired guys like me and make us speak in the heat of the moment we get emotional and say all kinds of things.

What does it convey to the country and the people at large?

I think we are misleading them. We don't have to become so emotional.

It is one incident, it has to be seen in the circumstances under which it happened.

No more. No less.

IMAGE: A candlelight vigil at India Gate for Lieutenant Umar Fayyaz who was murdered in his native Kashmir by terrorists in May.

Photograph: Atul Yadav/PTI Photo

You believe it has got more attention than deserved?

My message to my men would be plain and simple: You are professionals, you will behave and conduct yourself professionally.

I wouldn't be saying that the next time it happens you do the same. That will be wrong and I wouldn't want that message to go to anybody.

In a sub-conventional war, when there are no rules of engagement, where your own people are wanting your blood, we are fighting.

Which country in the world deals with this situation with the gloves that we deal with?

We never use helicopters, tanks, mechanised forces, artillery bombardment.

The neighbour who makes such a loud noise, see what he is doing in NWFP (Pakistan's North West Frontier Province), FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Area), KPK (Khyber Pakhthunkhwa).

Their military court can catch a civilian and hang him.

They have no moral right to even talk of what we do.

What hurts is when your own people from your own country make an issue out of it.

On this issue, there have been voices from both sides criticising and defending the army.

For me it was a stray, exceptional incident. '

We are not saying all our troops will act like this, but you can't hang a soldier for saving lives.

I am also not saying parading a man like that is the right thing, absolutely not.

It is inhuman. I recognise it.

We have our internal mechanism to ensure that such acts don't happen.

Otherwise, a force which is battling so closely with the population for years --- how many such incidents can you recount?

Compare this with what is happening around the world -- China, Pakistan, some African countries.

With the pressure under which soldiers serve in the Kashmir valley, could there be more incidents like this? There is also media scrutiny.

There is pressure on men and officers because they are operating in difficult circumstances.

They are worried if they make a mistake your own organisation will hang you and if you let things go you may get bodily harmed yourself.

There is the dilemma of that thin line that you cannot cross.

That thin line is a permanent dilemma with soldiers.

You have to appreciate that in that dilemma and chaos there are officers who stand and lead their men. They are taking responsibilities.

There are men who are taking initiative to show that they follow instructions, but what the media pressure, this debate, is doing is that from the commanding officer to the last man -- who is at the cutting edge -- hears it on TV/radio.

IMAGE: A soldier questions girls during a search operation following information about the presence of terrorists in Srinagar's Lal Chowk.

Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com

What is the fallout?

One fallout of that is that the jawan has realised that the media is a powerful tool.

They start speaking to the media and incidents have happened. That is demoralising.

We have methods of addressing these grievances and believe me, 99% grievances are addressed, but there are bad eggs everywhere.

Tolerance levels for bad hats is low in the armed forces. He has to be disciplined and there are cases of them going to the media.

There could be some truth to it, but is that the method of seeking justice?

That is wrong. That is the adverse fallout of the pressure you are talking about.

I don't see adverse pressure making them do what Major Gogoi did.

They will find other methods to save themselves and protect others. I've mentioned innovative ideas that have come up by junior officers.

The pressure is whether they should cross that thin line or not.

If this pressure is allowed to afflict the higher leadership, then there is a cause of worry.

But in most cases the pressure remains in certain levels, others come and remove it.

And you are confident that the Indian Army has the professionalism and discipline to withstand that pressure.

It is the ethos of the armed forces and will be very difficult for anybody to try and break it.

It is very well entrenched and encapsulated.

Our army has been under civilian control since Independence.

It will continue to withstand the pressures that come from local situations in which the army is put in the last minute, but the sense of pride, belonging and nationalism they carry in their hearts and minds is to be seen to believed.

I say that with great conviction, you might find stray incidents, but it cannot shake you.

For the last 70 years, particularly the last 30 years, the way we have tackled terrorism, insurgency, proxy war, we have succeeded.

If we don't contribute, there will be a big problem.

If the country fails, we will fail or vice versa.

Has the army been failing in perception management since Burhan Wani's killing?

There is a momentum to this whole thing.

If there is a break in the momentum, you need to catch up and catch up fast.

If you don't, events will overtake you.

There are far too many events happening today that are overtaking the army because there is no one else to address them.

When (former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed) passed away, Mehbooba Mufti did not get elected for months.

These are the interludes they are waiting for.

Ultimately it becomes the governor's responsibility, but here governor's rule was also not proclaimed.

In this situation, you allow your initiative to go away.

The same thing happens with the army.

If you make senior commanders feel apologetic publicly, it is not a good thing to happen to the military.

The moment something happens, the human rights people, pseudo seculars start commenting on TV chats shows -- how much confusion it creates.

If this could be done with informed people, probably the people who hear them will also benefit.

But the rhetoric and noise is so loud that it distorts everything else.

IMAGE: A soldier near the Line of Control in Charunda village, 129 km from Srinagar. Photograph: Danish Ismail/Reuters

When incidents of beheading of our soldiers take place, national emotion runs high.

Beheading incidents will happen from time to time because look at the borders -- the fence cannot be put exactly on the Line of Control, because the LoC sometimes goes inside a nullah or jungle.

A fence which is not directly under your observation and domination is of no use.

When the fence was made, it was made with a view that a forward line of troops would dominate the fence, so in many areas there is a huge gap between the fence and the actual LoC.

If you don't move from your main positions and go beyond the fence, you are almost ceding that area -- after sometime they will dig a trench, make some construction and say 'hamara hai'.

To guard every inch of that land is a very difficult task.

Any construction that you do ahead of your permanent line is under observation from both sides.

If Pakistan starts constructing a bunker close to the LoC we fire, so do they.

How do we dominate the area across the fence up to the LoC without constructing any defences or protection -- that's the challenge.

And Pakistan is on the lookout for gaps in the LoC where they can send terrorists through.

They send their terrorists, they lay an ambush with their SSGs (Special Services Groups), kill and indulge in these acts (beheadings).

These incidents erupt into anger, frustration, hatred, kill them, cut them -- the army cannot be allowed to drown in this cacophony. They have to get a space to deal with this.

A good army commander, at whatever level, will bide his time.

He knows where to strike and he will get even.

But that 'getting even' is also momentary because after a few days something else will happen.

That is what has been happening at the LoC recently.

The first thing is to prevent infiltration to the best you can.

If you discover a point where infiltration took place, retribution should go against the Pakistani troops opposite that area. Not civilians.

The message is that is you allow people to come to our area through your area, we will knock them off, but we will also knock you.

It is an indication that we know you are supporting and aiding these terrorists.

If you are able to inflict 3-4-5 casualties on the Pakistani troops it is a great deterrence.

Their morale can shoot down to their boots as quickly as it can shoot up.

There are many places in J&K where we can dominate areas across and so can they.

A good plan can deny them some spaces permanently.

We have done it in the past -- like not allowing their vehicles to move when they have to stock up for the winter.

We would literally command that their vehicles could move from 6 am to 6 pm -- but after that, movement must stop.

There are ways and means to send messages.

IMAGE: People watch as the army and police conduct search operations following information about the presence of terrorists in Srinagar's Lal Chowk. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff.com

What do you think of the army chief's statement that civilians should be afraid of the army?

The person you referred to served with me. I know him very well.

As a chief he is an institution. There is great respect and regard for the institution.

The purport of what he said and meant has been distorted. I don't think it's the literal meaning that people should be afraid of us, otherwise we will shoot them. That was not his purport at all.

Secondly, he is an army chief. In difficult times when events overtake you, the people at the ground level who are deeply into combat, their vision is shrouded by what is going on in front of them.

Sometimes they have to look back to see if they are getting the necessary support or not.

It is a pattern many chiefs have used, many haven't depending on their personalities.

They make a statement which is more for their own people, which is to say that we support you, do your job.

It also sends a message to the people -- arsonsists, those using human shields among terrorists and targeting people.

It is to caution them not to take us for granted. I would interpret his message in that manner.

It was a bold statement to make by an army chief. I don't think chiefs in the recent past have said something like that.

I would say he was bold enough to say it. I see no malice in his statement.

It is not an instigatory statement as it was made out to be.

Nothing has happened on the ground that suggests that the army has suddenly started shooting people.

Nothing has happened in the environment to show if you throw stones, we will fire guns.

It is a mannerism in which the army chief has conveyed the strength of the army which backs the people doing this difficult job.

He is a professional soldier and knows what he says.

Historically, you have had commanders who called a spade a spade, even speak down and could achieve what they wanted.

There were other chiefs who were discreet, who did not say things lest they were misinterpreted politically or socially -- so it is a command style. I don't think there is a need for debate to dissect what he said.

I would have been worried if after the statement, there were more statements from junior commanders -- divisional commanders, corps commanders.

What he said is not a doctrine, but a sense of what he was conveying.

Civilians are disrupting army operations.

When they go to capture terrorists, stones, petrol bombs are thrown.

Our teaching is to deal with them with velvet gloves -- iron fist with velvet gloves -- but if the velvet glove comes off, the iron fist will show.

What he (General Bipin Rawat, the army chief) is saying is don't meddle with us because that glove can come off anytime.

He has said it, see for yourself what happens if after 6 months if what he said was not what you thought he meant, you will undretsand that.

The army is not a shallow organisation. It is a deep mature organisation.

Lot of things which are said convey things. If we articulate our views we can still hold our positions.
'This is the first time a majority ruling government is nominating a Dalit for President.'

'So, the moral credibility definitely will go with the BJP, particularly Narendra Modi.'

IMAGE: Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd believes that the Modi-Shah decision to nominate Ram Nath Kovind as the BJP's presidential candidate is a shrewd political move. Photograph: Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters

Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd, professor and director at the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University in Hyderabad, has been a staunch critic of Narendra Modi.

Before the 2014 general election, he had urged the youth belonging to the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes to avoid voting for Modi.

As a person who changed his name to Kancha Ilaiah Shepherd in protest against the violence meted out to the Dalits -- "To tell the Brahmin: I am now no longer interested in working to reform your spiritual culture" -- he tells Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier that he welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah's decision to name Ram Nath Kovind as the National Democratic Alliance's Presidential nominee.

Do you think it is a masterstroke by Narendra Modi and Amit Shah to name a Dalit as the Presidential candidate?

Yes.

It serves two purposes.

One, the BJP has been facing a national crisis with regard to the Dalits.

Ever since the BJP came to power, more than the Muslim issue, it is the Dalit issue that has been putting the party in the dock.

Today, hundreds of Dalits are leaving Hinduism and embracing Buddhism and Christianity; they are protesting publicly too.

Second, the cow issue -- which is being raked up by all Brahmins, sanyasis, matathipathis (head priests of a mutt) and the RSS -- is hitting the Dalits more than anybody else.

Since Narendra Modi and Amit Shah are political baniyas, rather chatur baniyas, they have to buy the goodwill of the Dalits and change this atmosphere.

Do you feel they will be able to buy this goodwill by nominating a Dalit for President?

Of course.

Anyway, the moral goodwill will come though.

But this is not the first time that we are going to have a Dalit President.

K R Narayanan (1997-2002; India's 10th President) was a much more brilliant man, but you must remember that he was nominated when the Congress was not in power.

It was a minority government under I K Gujral (prime minister from 1997-1998) and it was the Socialists, the Communists and the progressive Congress people who suggested K R Narayanan's name and the Congress supported it.

This is the first time a majority ruling government is nominating a Dalit for President.

So, the moral credibility definitely will go with the BJP, particularly Narendra Modi.

Won't people look at this as tokenism?

Giving so much power to a Dalit is not tokenism.

If the Congress were to say tomorrow that they would make a Dalit the prime minister of India, can you say it is tokenism?

In politics, tokenism and agendas go hand in hand.

Here is a Dalit President and he will open up the gates to many Dalits and people from the lower castes, more than any Brahmin President did till now.

Dalits had no access to Pranab Mukherjee. But when you have a Dalit President, Dalits will have access to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

You must understand that access is very important.

The BJP also can claim that they are not anti-Dalit and they will sort out the cow and other such issues.

Yes, the Congress had supported the first Dalit President, the first Dalit Opposition leader (Mallikarjun Kharge), the first Dalit Lok Sabha Speaker (Meira Kumar) and the first Dalit home minister (Buta Singh).

Mallikarjun Kharge, as the Opposition leader, described the RSS as an Aryan organisation.

He also said, 'We are Dravidians and hence more Indian'. Do you think any Brahmin from the Congress will say that?

Like Mallikarjun Kharge and K R Narayanan, Ram Nath Kovind can also say similar things tomorrow.

For example, if he says, 'No, you can't impose a food ban on Dalit people. Our culture is ours and we can eat whatever we want', you can imagine the kind of change it can bring to Indian society.

IMAGE: 'All Dalits will have a common ground, whichever party they belong to. So, a Dalit as President will change everything,' believes Professor Shepherd.

Seen above, Ram Nath Kovind, the National Democratic Alliance candidate for President, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Photograph: Press Information Bureau

Do you think he will take such courageous decisions?

It depends on individuals.

Can we compare him to K R Narayanan?

Yes. This man is a lawyer who has practised in the Supreme Court and perhaps knows the law better than K R Narayanan. He has been in party politics for a long time.

The question is: If the Brahmins and the baniyas try to amend the Constitution on issues like cow slaughter, would he oppose it like K R Narayanan did in 2000-2001 when they tried to amend the Constitution?

K R Narayanan opposed some proposals of the Congress also.

When a man becomes the President, he becomes the most powerful person in the country.

They will want to leave behind a name in history.

That will happen only if you take bold steps and oppose certain ruling class agendas. You don't know; this man might do that.

Ram Nath Kovind was not known till the BJP announced that he was the NDA's Presidential candidate.

Do you think Modi and Shah took everyone by surprise?

Yes, they did.

I thought they would name Draupadi Murmu, the tribal woman from Odisha (currently, the Jharkhand governor).

Even the name Draupadi is very reformist; no upper caste woman has this name.

I think they must have chosen him (Kovind) because he knows the law.

Of course, the Uttar Pradesh issue also must have weighed on their mind as the Dalits in UP are on the warpath.

If the UP Dalit issue catches fire, it will spread to all parts of India.

That could be why they named a Dalit from UP.

Do you think the cattle slaughter bill and cow politics will affect the BJP badly?

It is a major issue and that's why the farmers are rebelling now.

The farmers' economy got hit by two things -- demonetisation and the cattle slaughter rule.

Now, farmers are burdened with all the old animals in their house, unable to even feed them.

Narendra Modi is also helpless.

The RSS Brahmins, the priests and the sanyasis are behind the cattle slaughter issue.

I would say Modi was caught unawares on this issue.

The rule was issued when he was abroad.

It was (Union Minister of Science And Technology; Earth Sciences; Environment Forest and Climate Change) Harsh Vardhan, with the support of the RSS chief (Mohan Bhagwat) who went ahead with the rule.

They want to satisfy the ideological Brahmin agenda.

Modi is the vote mobiliser and he has to meet the farmers.

So, in order to show them that he will not accept all that they (the RSS) do, he has brought in Ram Nath Kovind as the Presidential nominee.

If you look at Modi's tweet, you will know what he feels.

He wrote, 'I hope you will take up the cause of the backwards and the downtrodden. I hope you will speak for them.'

You mean Modi is telling Kovind to speak for them?

Yes, that is what we understand from his tweets.

It also means Modi hopes he will oppose all these things.

Pranab Mukherjee is friendlier with the Brahmins of all parties than the Dalits of every party. He even invited Mohan Bhagwat for lunch.

All Brahmins are united, whichever party they are from.

And all Dalits will have a common ground, whichever party they belong to.

A Dalit as India's President will change everything.

That is the reason why I welcome the decision of Modi and Amit Shah.

Now, the Opposition must nominate a Dalit woman or a tribal woman as the candidate to conduct a good debate.

Not Meira Kumar, as she represents a dynasty.

Sitaram Yechury (general secretary, Communist Party Of India-Marxist) is supporting a Brahmin when Narendra Modi is supporting a Dalit!

Why is Yechury supporting Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the grandson of (Chakravarti) Rajagopalachari?

Captain Lakshmi Sehgal (who was nominated as the Presidential candidate opposite A P J Abdul Kalam by the Communist Party of India, CPI-M, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All India Forward Bloc in 2002) also was a Brahmin.

It is a Brahmin alliance.

Why didn't Yechury suggest the name of a Dalit or a tribal person?

It is very bad that the Communists are playing Brahmin politics in Delhi.

IMAGE: Ram Nath Kovind, then the Bihar governor, right, with the man he will likely succeed as President Pranab Mukherjee at the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha in Patna, April 2017. Photograph: Kind courtesy @presidentofindiarb/Facebook

You called Modi and Shah chatur baniyas.

Both are chatur baniyas and have therefore nominated a Dalit.

In my view, it is a very good move.

It is good that they avoided (Lal Kishinchandas the NDA's Presidential nominee).

I would say these two chatur baniyas are more chatur than Gandhi.

They played a wonderful game!
A 47-year-old man arrested after a terror attack near a London mosque had been kicked out of a pub for cursing Muslims just a day before the incident, a media report said.

Father-of-four Darren Osborne was arrested by police after a van ploughed into pedestrians outside the Mosque on Seven Sisters Road in Finsbury Park, North London. One person was killed and 11 others injured in the attack.

The victims were all Muslims and the incident was declared a terror attack on the Muslim population. Witnesses said the driver shouted: I want to kill all Muslims, before onlookers pinned him to the ground.

Shocked neighbours said Osborne had recently been kicked out by partner Sarah Andrews -- and was forced to live in a tent.

Others claim that he was ejected from the towns Hollybush pub on Saturday night for drunkenly cursing Muslims.

He got chucked out as he was so drunk, The Sun quoted a regular visitor at the pub as saying.

He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage, he said.

However, his mother Christine said her son was not a terrorist and had never shown any hatred towards Muslims.

This is every mothers worst nightmare, she said.

Christine said she screamed in horror after spotting her son in TV footage of the attack.

As a mum my heart goes out to everyone in Finsbury Park, she said.

Two Muslim neighbours of Osborne said he had never showed any animosity towards them.

Mum-of-six Khadijah Sherazi, a British Islamic convert, moved next door to Osborne six months ago.

This is a complete shock, I thought he was a normal neighbour, laughing and joking. He fixed my leaky tap the other day, she said.

He seemed like a good dad, he takes the kids to school and back every day and walks the dogs, she said.

Saleem Naema, who is from Iraq, lives on the same road.

He said: I couldnt believe when I realised it was him who was accused. Wed say hello everyday when dropping the kids off at school and he never had a problem with me at all. Im a Muslim and he was never nasty or racist towards me, he said.

Image: Armed police officers attend to the scene after a vehicle collided with pedestrians near a mosque in Finsbury Park area. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
The electoral college numbers seem to be stacked in favour of National Democratic Alliance's nominee Ram Nath Kovind and he may well end up getting more votes than incumbent President Pranab Mukherjee and his predecessor Pratibha Patil.

With Shiv Sena on Tuesday joining other NDA allies in backing Kovind and Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal, the YSR Congress and Telangana's ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi too extending support, the 71-year-old Dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.

The Bharatiya Janata Party may also seek the support of rival factions of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam or Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam -- parties dominating Tamil Nadu.

The opposition parties are meeting on June 22 to decide on fielding a consensus candidate for the presidential election.

Communist Party of India General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said that the opposition parties would "certainly" field a nominee.

The total strength of the electoral college which votes to elect the President comprises all elected MPs and members of legislative assemblies of all states and UTs of Delhi and Puducherry.

The total comes to 10,98,903 votes with each MP carrying a vote value of 708. The vote weight of an MLA depends on the population of the state he or she represents.

A candidate needs 50 per cent plus votes to win the poll. Halfway mark comes to 5,49,452.

The NDA, led by the BJP, has 5,37,683 votes and this is including the Shiv Sena, and the shortage is around 12,000 votes.

But the promised support from the BJD, the TRS and the YSR Congress and likely backing from the AIADMK could offset the shortfall of the presidential votes by a substantial margin.

The voting is through a secret ballot, and party whip does not apply.

In the 2012 elections, Pranab Mukherjee garnered 7,13,763 votes while Pratibha Patil secured 6,38,116 votes in the previous polls in 2007. Both Mukherjee and Patil were Congress nominees.

IMAGE: NDA's presidential nominee Ram Nath Kovind arrives at Bihar Niwas in New Delhi. Photograph: Vijay Verma/PTI Photo
Opposition parties are likely to field their own consensus candidate against National Democratic Alliance's nominee Ram Nath Kovind for the July 17 presidential polls, sources in the Left parties said on Tuesday.

Leaders of the non-NDA parties, including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar and Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury, will meet on June 22 to discuss the matter, they added.

According to the sources, former Lok Sabha speaker Meira Kumar, ex-Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, CPI national secretary D Raja, Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader and grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, Prakash, and retired diplomat Gopal Krishna Gandhi are some of the probable contenders whose names the Opposition parties are considering.

Sources in the CPI said Raja's name has been proposed by "some individuals and not any non-NDA parties".

The Left party will discuss the issue wihin itself before opposition leaders meet on June 22, the sources added.

They also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party fielding Kovind has "not hurt" the unity among the 17 opposition parties. "These are very crucial polls and we will have to ensure we protect the Constitution. There will be a contest," a source said.

The sources reiterated that since the BJP has named Kovind, a Dalit leader, the Opposition may also zero in on a candidate from the same community.

They alleged the BJP made the "unilateral" decision probably to remake its image in the wake of alleged attacks on the Dalits in recent past.

They also said the party picked a candidate from politically crucial state keeping in mind the the next general election. Kovind hails from Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh.

The sources said the BJP's decision to nominate the 71-year-old without consulting the opposition has not "surprised" them. They, however, said the opposition should have declared their consensus candidate before the BJP announced the NDA nominee on Monday.

Asked if there was a division among the opposition parties, particularly after Mayawati said that the Bahujan Samaj Party was "positive" about Kovind's nomination, the sources said, the unity is not hurt. "It is very much there."

The sources also said that before the ruling party announced Kovind's name, the opposition parties had thought of fielding a tribal candidate after reports that the NDA would field Jharkhand Governor Draupadi Murmu, a tribal leader.

"But now that they have named a Dalit leader, the equation has changed altogether, one of the sources added.

Meanwhile, Raja termed the presidential election as "very critical" and one that will have "far-reaching" impact on the country's future.

"It has become critical election, it has become battle of ideology, it has become battle for safeguarding the Constitution, safeguarding the secular democracy," he added.
Russia on Tuesday said it could not yet confirm that the elusive Islamic State chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed in a targeted air strike by its military in strife-torn Syria last month.

The liquidation of the leader of the Islamic State al-Baghdadi has not yet been confirmed, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said.

"Not yet," the state-run TASS news agency quoted Russian diplomat as saying while responding to a question on the possible death of the ISIS leader, four days after the Russian Army announced that it may have killed Baghdadi on May 28 during an airstrike on the outskirts of the dreaded militant group's de facto capital Raqqa.

US defense officials last week said they were unable to confirm the reports about Baghdadi's death.

Col. Ryan Dillon, a spokesman for the US-led coalition's operation against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, said the coalition "cannot confirm these reports at this time."

There have been a number of previous reports of Baghdadi's death or him being critically injured by US-led coalition air strikes.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, which is a nom de guerre, was born Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al Samarrai.

Baghdadi has not been seen in public since proclaiming himself "caliph" in the Iraqi city of Mosul three years ago.

In October 2011, the US officially designated Baghdadi as a "terrorist". It has offered a reward of up to USD 25 million for information leading to his capture or death.

The ISIS terror group is known for imposing a hard-line form of Islam that has included stonings, amputations and beheadings.

The ISIS seized Mosul, Iraq's second-biggest city, in June 2014 before claiming swathes of territory and launching deadly attacks on Western cities, including Paris and London.
A tribal woman has moved a court in Assam's Biswanath accusing Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Assam Lok Sabha MP Ram Prasad Sarma of posting in social media her bare photograph, taken during a stir in Guwahati ten years ago.

Laxmi Orang filed the complaint in in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate court under various sections of the Indian penal Code and the Information Technology Act.

She filed the case against Adityanath for allegedly posting in his social media page on June 13 her bare picture, taken during an agitation by All Adivasi Students Association of Assam at Beltola in Guwahati on November 24, 2007 without blurring.

The woman filed the case against Sarma for allegedly sharing the post in his social media page.

Sub-divisional judicial magistrate A Sattar recorded Orang's statement during the day and fixed the next date of hearing on June 22.

Later, Orang told the media that she was not present at the rally on behalf of any political party as claimed by Adityanath in his post but to press for the demand for scheduled tribe status for the Adivasi community.

"Yogi Adityanath, without knowing any fact, commented in the social media that the rally was on behalf of the BJP and the Congress workers attacked it.

"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi is campaigning for Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao at the same time his party chief minister (Adityanath) is doing this type of work. Is this democracy?"

When contacted, Sarma said "it (the stripping) was a fact and a true incident during that time. I shared it so that people know that an unfortunate girl was a victim and no justice has been given to her till now.

"I have not given any comment with the shared post," Sarma said adding he had asked Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal a few days ago to reopen her case so that she gets justice.

"Now I am writing an official letter to the chief minister for the case to be re-investigated as the culprits of the 2007 Beltola incident need to be punished."

Meanwhile, Additional Director General of Police (Special Branch) Pallab Bhattacharya said investigations have revealed that the Facebook account in which pictures of Orang, stripped of her clothes and being beaten during the Beltola violence, were posted was a fake one created in the name of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Aditya Nath.

"We will take the help of the Uttar Pradesh police in investigation," he said.

AASAA president Pradeep Nag in a press release said, "Yogi Aditya Nath's post is illegal and great injustice to the Adivasi community and AASAA."
The BJP has chosen a Dalit to be India's next President.

How will that momentous decision change the lives of the nation's Dalits?

Agnibhaskar Buddh lives in Shabbirpur village, a Dalit area in Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district.

On May 5, his village was ransacked and burnt by a mob of upper caste men.

Buddh's story reveals that while Ramnath Kovind's ascension to the Presidency is an encouraging sign, little may change for the Dalits who encounter discrimination and violence on a frequent basis.

IMAGE: Most of the homes, like this home owned by Agnibhaskar Buddh in Shabbirpur, were ransacked and burnt down by rioters.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Suresh Gautam

The evening Yogi Adityanath became Uttar Pradesh chief minister (March 26, 2017), about 200 young boys on motorcycles came from Maheshpur, 2 km south of Shabbirpur, shouting slogans like, 'If you have to stay in Hindustan, then you will have to sing paeans to Modi; if you want to stay in Uttar Pradesh, then you will have to sing paeans to Yogi.'

Earlier, on March 4, Yashpal Singh, the station in-charge of the Shabbirpur police station, raised objections that the construction on the land that the village owned, and keeping a statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, was illegal.

The police said they were under pressure from the (Bharatiya Janata Party) MP and MLA of the region to stop the work on construction of Babasaheb's statue in the Ravidas temple.

They asked us to take permission from the local tehsildar for this construction. So we stopped the construction and wrote to the tehsildar for permission.

After this, young Rajput boys started harassing our girls and womenfolk.

We saw Congress, Samajwadi Party, BJP governments before this one (Yogi Adityanath's government), but under no dispensation did these Rajput youth ever misbehave with our mothers, sisters and daughters.

They started doing this soon after Yogi Adityanath's government came to power in UP.

When we complained about the youths' behaviour to their elders, they condoned their actions, saying they were just 'small children'.

We told them that small children don't brandish swords and fire guns in the air, but their elders and the police ignored our concerns and fears.

We complained about this harassment to Deoband BJP MLA Brijesh Kumar, but instead of giving us a patient hearing, more than 200 members of the VHP (Vishwa Hindu Parishad) and Shiv Sena surrounded five of us and started shouting slogans.

We were insulted; our elders were abused and threatened with dire consequences if we went ahead with the construction of the (Ambedkar) statue.

IMAGE: The home of Agnibhaskar's neighbour Neetu Gautam, who was away in Haridwar -- where he works -- when the attack took place on May 5. Photograph: Kind courtesy Suresh Gautam

Later, on April 4, the SO (station officer) called on our gram pradhan (village head) Shiv Kumar and threatened him.

The same day, the tehsildar called the gram pradhan and said we would get the permission for raising the statue on April 12 (April 14 was Ambedkar Jayanti) and we could go ahead with the construction.

Before this could move any further the district administration transferred all the officers who had promised to give us the permission.

Despite these tensions we went ahead with our Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on April 14.

The same night, about 50 Rajput boys came to our village and shouted slogans against Babasaheb Ambedkar.

That day we realised they were up to something more sinister in the days ahead.

On April 20, six days after Ambedkar Jayanti, these very people who opposed Dr Ambedkar's statue in Shabbirpur, took out a rally to celebrate Ambedkar Jayanti.

Their motive was clear: They wanted to drive a wedge between the Dalits and Muslims in Sadak Dudhli (an area close to Shabbirpur that has a mix of Dalits and Muslims) so that the Dalits would fall into the BJP's lap.

You have the country's Prime Minister Narendra Modi encouraging people to celebrate an entire week in remembrance of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and his own partymen raise objections against building his statue, abuse him and his wife Ramabai, and kill people who want to celebrate his birthday.

This proves that the BJP government at the Centre or the state don't want the welfare and well-being of Dalits.

Manuwad has taken over the system and Dalits will only suffer in the days to come.

IMAGE: Two of the bikes belonging to Neetu's family were burnt down.

Neetu fears arrest if he returns to his village or fears being branded a Naxalite.

He had accompanied Agnibhaskar to Mumbai.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Suresh Gautam

On May 5, the Rajputs organised a big meeting in Shimlana village.

Rajputs from across India were attending this sammelan (meeting).

The chief guest was Sher Singh Rana (the man convicted of killing Phoolan Devi, the dacoit-turned-MP), who was on parole from prison, and they wanted to commemorate him.

Their main agenda, though, was to spread terror among the Dalit villages of Maheshpur and Shabbirpur after the commemoration and that's why they had come prepared with swords and firearms.

Their main aim is now to dominate Dalits and make us their slaves.

Will you keep quiet, do nothing, if people come to your village and abuse your girls, mistreat your women, and for no reason start demolishing your worship places?

Though they had no permission to do so, the new SO of the area sided with them and said that their procession would travel through our localities.

They came with a DJ band, accompanied by policemen and when they passed through our locality they asked us to clear the road for the procession.

As they were passing by our village they kept heaping abuses on Babasaheb and Dalits.

Hearing the commotion, about 10, 15 people from our locality gathered and confronted them.

We requested the police to intervene, but they remained spectators.

Since we were small in numbers, we did not protest against their slogans and abuses.

IMAGE: Another house ransacked during the riots on May 5. Photograph: Kind courtesy Suresh Gautam

After this group went away, another batch of thugs came along with policemen.

Immediately, about 1,000 people who were following them swept down upon our village and started burning our houses, demolishing them, attacking the Ravidas temple, and molesting our mothers, sisters and daughters.

I returned from the jungle along with my children and witnessed what was happening.

To save the honour of our women and gods, the 40, 50 people who were there in the village began collecting stones and began pelting them at the marauders.

We knew we were outnumbered and would meet a terrible fate.

We also contemplated begging for our lives, but knew that even if we begged, they would not let us go unharmed.

So, most of us started running away.

About seven of us, including me, could not escape and had to face the worst humiliation of our lives from these attackers.

They attacked me, my brothers, their wives, my mother and my daughters with swords and molested them.

We knew we were going to die, so we decided to fight back with whatever courage we could gather.

In this melee, one of the thakur (Rajput) boys, came out of the temple, which was in flames, and collapsed outside.

None of us is responsible for his death. Even the post mortem report states that he died of asphyxiation.

But they disrobed us, slashed my wife's chest and my head with swords.

They even attacked our cows with swords.

We called the district magistrate, SDM, police, but nobody came to rescue us.

Even those from neighbouring villages who came to douse the flames were stopped by this mob.

They even closed the jungle routes so that none of our brothers could come to help us.

IMAGE: Even the cowsheds were not spared by the marauding mobs, alleges Agnibhaskar.

One of his cows, which was slashed by the rioters, died later, he said.

Photograph: Kind courtesy Suresh Gautam

My wife, my sons and I were in hospital for almost 20 days.

I plead with the state government that let these people attack us when we are in full force.

Let them also come in large numbers. We are not worried.

Give us an equal chance to fight these marauders.

Why should the police help them and not us?

Let the police remain neutral, but give us a chance to face these attackers when we are also in equal numbers.

Let our women and small children be taken to safety and then give us a chance to fight them for our security.

We know we will die because we will be small in numbers, but we will at least get a fair chance to fight for our survival.

What kind of bravery is this when you fight 100 to 10?

What bravery is it that you molest our women, disrobe them?

What kind of people are these who talk about Maharana Pratap and molest our women, attack our cows in the same breath?

These are not brave people, but eunuchs.

We have not worn bangles.

If we cannot save our honour, we can at least die fighting these men.

They didn't spare our cows.

They called them Dalit cows and tried to burn their sheds too; the cows were slashed with swords.

What kind of cow bhakti is this that you label even animals as Dalits and inflict pain and atrocities on them?

What kind of government is this that connives with such attackers against the powerless?

They must understand that our children are well educated now and can give them a tough fight on their terms.

And that is what makes these upper castes insecure.

They fear that if our children get good education, then they will surpass theirs.

They just can't stop us now.

Try stopping us and see how it boomerangs on you.

If you have guts, then try stopping us.

Yeh toh do din ki chandni hai, phir andheri raat hai (The political power that you have acquired will not last long; what follows will be darker nights).

It was only a miracle that we survived that day.

Instead of arresting and filing cases against the attackers, the police filed cases against people like me and my wife.

What kind of governance is this? This is daylight terrorism.

I want justice.

Those responsible for attacking our village should be punished by the law.

Lead photograph: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

Agnibhaskar Buddh, who was in Mumbai last week, spoke to Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore
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.
Statement by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi on World Refugee Day 2017

Publisher UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Author Filippo Grandi Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Statement by UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi on World Refugee Day 2017 , 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948db674.html [accessed 11 November 2022]

On June 20, World Refugee Day, we honour the resilience and courage of more than 65 million people who have been forced to flee war, persecution and violence. But it's also a moment to recognise those communities and people around the world who receive refugees and the internally displaced in their midst, offering them a safe place, and welcoming them in their schools, their workplaces and their societies.

Today we live in a world in which uncertainty often abounds; economic instability, political upheaval and violence close to home can make us want to shut our eyes or close our doors. But fear and exclusion will not lead us to a better place - they can only lead to barriers, alienation and despair.

It's time to change this trajectory. And for the better.

In countless communities around the world, including in the poorest countries that host the vast majority of the world's refugees, business people, faith communities, teachers, journalists and many more are joining together to provide refuge to the displaced and foster their inclusion in their societies.

Through UNHCR's work - often on the front lines of conflict -we witness the courage, tenacity and brilliance of refugees every single day.

Having lost their homes, their work, and sometimes their families - they don't give up - they find a way to start again. Striving to belong, and to contribute, they reach out to their new neighbours, building connections, and creating new opportunities. Given the right environment, our experience is that refugees bring solutions, not problems.

Inclusion requires opening our minds, hearts and communities to refugees. It requires a whole of society approach - joining up students, business leaders, athletes, activists, religious leaders, politicians and artists - to share responsibility. And welcoming refugees cannot be at the expense of helping others, but should broaden support to all who need a hand.

There are outstanding examples of this in villages, towns and cities in countries on every continent. In big and small ways, communities around the world are standing together #WithRefugees - recognising that when people work together, everyone wins.

So on World Refugee Day, when we pause to contemplate the fate of the millions of people who cannot return to their homes tonight because of war or persecution - it's also a moment to ask ourselves what each of us can do to overcome indifference or fear and embrace the idea of inclusion, to welcome refugees to our own communities, and to counter narratives that would seek to exclude and marginalize refugees and other uprooted people.

Because, when we stand together #WithRefugees, we also stand for respect and diversity for all.
UN in Colombia strongly condemns attack on shopping centre in Bogota

Publisher UN News Service Publication Date 19 June 2017 Cite as UN News Service, UN in Colombia strongly condemns attack on shopping centre in Bogota, 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948dbbd4.html [accessed 11 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

United Nations entities based in Colombia have strongly condemned Saturday's terrorist attack at a shopping centre in the capital, Bogota, and underscored that they remain determined to support the country and its peace process.

The UN in Colombia regrets and repudiates this act of violence and reiterates that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes a threat to peace and security, read a statement (in Spanish) issued by the UN Country Team over the weekend.

We remain determined to continue to support Colombians and their government in their efforts to build sustainable and lasting peace in the country, the statement added.

At least three people (one French citizen and two Colombians) were killed and another nine wounded in the terrorist attack that struck the Andino shopping centre, located in Bogota's Chapinero district.

The blast occurred at around 5 pm local time (GMT -5:00) on a busy Saturday, with many people shopping for Father's Day, the next day.

In the UNCT statement, the agencies also expressed their condolences to the families of the victims as well as to the people and Government of Colombia and of France and wished for a speedy recovery of those injured.
Thailand: Amnesty International calls on Thailand to extend legal protections to refugees and asylum seekers in 2017

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 19 June 2017 Reference ASA 39/6539/2017 Other Languages / Attachments Thai Cite as Amnesty International, Thailand: Amnesty International calls on Thailand to extend legal protections to refugees and asylum seekers in 2017, 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948dc7a4.html [accessed 11 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.

On World Refugee Day 2017, Amnesty International acknowledges the role the Royal Thai Government has played in hosting and supporting large refugee populations over several decades and welcomes its recent commitments to improve the protection of the rights of refugees and asylum seekers in the country. However, despite these undertakings, Thailand has failed to consistently protect the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, who lack domestic legal status in Thailand and are vulnerable to arbitrary and indefinite detention and forcible returns. Amnesty International calls on the Royal Thai Government to adopt a robust administrative and legislative framework that protects refugees and asylum seekers in line with international human rights law.

Thailand has long welcomed individuals fleeing violence and persecution in neighbouring countries and more distant locations. Beginning in the 1970s, Thailand hosted hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos. More recently, Thailand has received populations threatened by armed conflict and ethnic persecution in Myanmar. Thai authorities have regularly been involved in the provision of humanitarian support to individuals arriving on Thai soil. Today, approximately 100,000 Myanmar nationals reside in refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border. Additionally, about 8,000 urban refugees and asylum seekers reside in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand.

Although Thailand is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, Thai officials have regularly affirmed their commitment to providing for the humanitarian needs of refugees and asylum seekers. In recent years, Thai authorities have reportedly not made any efforts to forcibly repatriate residents of refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border and have repeatedly affirmed their commitment to ensuring that returns are carried out in a voluntary and dignified manner. At the United Nations Leaders' Summit on Refugees in September 2016, and in various other international fora, Thailand has reiterated its commitment to protecting the rights of refugees, including by enacting a system for screening refugees and other undocumented migrants and by adopting anti-torture legislation to strengthen implementation of the principle of non-refoulement.

Despite these stated commitments, refugees and asylum seekers in Thailand are not afforded any legal status under Thai law and remain extremely vulnerable to arrest, detention, forcible deportation and exploitation. Under Thailand's 1979 Immigration Act, all undocumented migrants and refugees are considered to be illegal immigrants and thus vulnerable to criminal charges and indefinite detention. In line with international human rights law and standards,refugees should not be punished for their illegal entry into a territory in order to seek asylum, and no one - including migrants and refugees - should be subject to indefinite detention. Approximately 330 UNHCR-registered refugees and asylum seekers are currently being held in immigration detention centres. Some have been detained in appalling conditions for years in these notoriously overcrowded facilities. Moreover, individuals of certain nationalities and ethnicities, including ethnic Hmong from Laos, have not reportedly not been able to register with UNHCR, cutting them off from opportunities to resettle in third countries.

The Royal Thai Government has continued to violate its obligations under international human rights law - including the customary international law principle of non-refoulement - by forcibly returning asylum seekers and UNHCR-registered refugees to countries where they have subsequently faced torture and extreme persecution. Most recently, on 26 May 2017, Thai authorities facilitated the extradition to Turkey of M. Furkan Sokmen, a Turkish national with alleged links to exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, despite warnings by UN agencies that he would face human rights violations if returned. These cases constitute grave human rights violations and perpetuate fears and insecurity for other refugees and asylum seekers residing in Thailand.

Amnesty International urges the Royal Thai Government to build on its recent commitments by ensuring its immigration policies fulfil the rights of all individuals fleeing serious human rights violations and uphold Thailand's obligations under international human rights law. Thailand should adopt a legislative and administrative framework that gives refugees and asylum seekers secure legal status and other rights consistent with international human rights law, including the right to temporarily reside in Thailand while their refugee claims are being considered. Thailand should also ensure that refugees are never detained and that detention of asylum seekers is used only as an exceptional measure authorized by law for the shortest possible time period.

Amnesty International further calls on Thailand to ensure in both law and practice that individuals in need of international protection are not returned to a country where there are substantial grounds to believe they may be at risk of torture, persecution or other grave human rights abuses. The Thai government's initiative to develop a screening process for asylum seekers and other foreign nationals-as endorsed by a 10 January Cabinet resolution-provides an opportunity in this regard. When developing screening procedures, Thai authorities should adopt a definition of "refugee" in line with international standards and ensure that asylum claims are processed fairly and efficiently. No individual or class of persons should be denied refugee status for political reasons. A screening mechanism that fails to uphold these principles could entrench rather than resolve outstanding concerns regarding asylum protections in Thailand.

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Mexico: human rights defenders and journalists should be protected against illegal surveillance

Publisher Amnesty International Publication Date 19 June 2017 Cite as Amnesty International, Mexico: human rights defenders and journalists should be protected against illegal surveillance, 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948de154.html [accessed 11 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.

Responding to a NYT's article that disclosed the use of software to spy on Mexican journalists and human rights defenders, Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas Director at Amnesty International, said:

"This new chilling evidence confirms that Mexican journalists and human rights defenders are a target of illegal practices designed to interfere and hinder their work. These findings are consistent with Amnesty International's previous research and show a clear pattern of illegal use of technology in an attempt to control any criticism against those in power."

"Journalists and human rights defenders constantly put their lives at risk in order to defend everybody's rights and to inform the public. This is not a crime and surveillance into these activities is illegal and cannot be justified. These actions should be promptly and adequately investigated."

Copyright notice:  Copyright Amnesty International
China: Tibet Propaganda Masks Repression

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 19 June 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, China: Tibet Propaganda Masks Repression, 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948de724.html [accessed 11 November 2022] Disclaimer This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States.

Chinese authorities are increasingly using opaque policy terms in official media to tighten repression in Tibet, Human Rights Watch said in an illustrated glossary released today.

Tibet: A Glossary of Repression explains and illustrates a dozen terms that appear benign or even positive but are in fact used to ensure total compliance and surveillance by officials of ordinary Tibetan people. The glossary includes terms that relate to political and social control, such as "comprehensive rectification," "no cracks, no shadows, no gaps left," and "every village a fortress, everyone a watchman."

"Orwell himself would be hard pressed to invent a better vocabulary of totalitarian management," said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch. "But ultimately the message of the Chinese authorities' terms for Tibetans is clear: political nonconformity will be punished, severely."

These terms are used - and frequently repeated - not only to persuade populations inside and outside Tibet of the correctness of the Chinese Communist Party's rule and its policies, but also to deter criticisms of the Party and any challenge to its rule. These terms - few of which are explained in a manner comprehensible to the general public - reflect a profoundly repressive approach to governance in Tibet.

In Tibetan areas within China, and particularly in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), officials have long adhered to the "stability maintenance" policy: a range of policing and administrative systems aimed at preventing, controlling, or punishing social dissent and social disorder used across China - as one way to eradicate support for the Dalai Lama. But when a new wave of protests in support of the Dalai Lama broke out across the Tibetan plateau in spring 2008, Party leaders commissioned researchers to develop new methods to prevent future unrest.

This led to the introduction, from 2011 onward, of new administrative and security mechanisms in the TAR, including permanent teams of cadres installed as managers in every monastery and religious institution, teams of cadres deployed for three years in every village to organize security operations and political education, and "grid system" offices set up to monitor and manage each block or group of homes in every town and many villages.

"Understanding terms like 'social rectification' makes clear Chinese authorities' intentions in Tibet: that all life and daily behavior will be under surveillance, and any problematic conduct will be identified and swiftly punished," Richardson said.

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Sri Lanka: Minister Threatens Defender of Minority Rights

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 19 June 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Sri Lanka: Minister Threatens Defender of Minority Rights, 19 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948df004.html [accessed 11 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 Sri Lankan government should immediately repudiate statements by the country's justice minister threatening to disbar a prominent lawyer for speaking out against attacks on religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said today. The incident highlights the government's failure to fully investigate and prosecute recent attacks on Muslims and Christians in the Buddhist-majority country.

On June 17, 2017, Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe threatened to "take necessary steps to remove Mr. Lakshan Dias from the legal profession" unless Dias apologized for remarks on a television program three days earlier about attacks on the Christian community. Dias had cited a report by church groups that there were nearly 200 attacks and other harassment against Christians and their places of worship since 2015. The government of President Maithripala Sirisena, which took office in January 2015, has failed to meet its pledge to protect the rights of religious minorities, Human Rights Watch said.

"The government needs to put a quick end to Justice Minister Rajapakshe's attempts to bully Lakshan Dias, a leading human rights lawyer who stands up for Sri Lankans at greatest risk," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "By threatening Dias's license, the government is threatening all marginalized groups that depend on him and other rights defenders for protection."

Sri Lanka has witnessed a spate of attacks against Muslims and Christians in recent years, with the government doing little to stop the violence. On May 18, in Devinuwara in Matara district, for example, some 2,000 people, including about 30 Buddhist monks, protested against a Christian place of worship, according to the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka.

In June 2014, Buddhist militants attacked the Muslim community in Aluthgama, leaving four dead and nearly 80 injured, and many homes and businesses destroyed. The authorities have yet to arrest those responsible, although the leaders behind the attack are well known to the authorities.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on May 31 expressed concern over "acts of violence and aggression" against Muslims, and urged law enforcement agencies to "take all necessary action" against the instigators and perpetrators of violence against religious minorities.

The Sri Lankan constitution grants everyone the right to freedom of religion or belief in worship, observance, practice, or teaching. The right is also protected in international human rights treaties to which Sri Lanka is a party, notably the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Human Rights Watch said.

Lawyers like Dias are protected by the right to freedom of expression. According to the United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, lawyers "have the right to take part in public discussion of matters concerning the law, the administration of justice, and the promotion and protection of human rights without suffering professional restrictions by reason of their lawful action."

"Government inaction in the face of the justice minister's threat to revoke the license of a prominent rights lawyer for speaking out on behalf of an embattled community will have reverberations beyond Sri Lanka," Adams said. "Sri Lanka's friends should be clear they are watching the government's response closely."

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Libya: Ensure Safe Return of Displaced Tawerghans

Publisher Human Rights Watch Publication Date 20 June 2017 Cite as Human Rights Watch, Libya: Ensure Safe Return of Displaced Tawerghans, 20 June 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5948dff64.html [accessed 11 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 Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) has ratified an agreement to allows for the return of the displaced population of the city of Tawergha and should implement it swiftly, Human Rights Watch said today. Some Tawerghan families intend to commence the effort to return home starting on June 22, according to activists involved in the efforts.

In 2011, militias mostly from the coastal city of Misrata ransacked Tawergha, demolishing and burning many buildings in that city, which is situated 50 kilometers south of Misrata. They have since prevented the return of the city's population, which fled en masse before their arrival. The displacement came in apparent retaliation for the support Tawerghans gave to then-leader Muammar Gaddafi during the 2011 conflict, and for crimes they allegedly committed in Misrata.

"Tawerghans have been scattered for six years, far from home and often living in abject conditions," said Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "Now that Libya's Government of National Accord has finally confirmed an agreement between the factions, it should waste no time to make concrete arrangements for the people of Tawergha to return home and resume their lives safely."

On June 19, the Presidential Council of the GNA announced that it had ratified a United Nations-brokered agreement between representatives of the towns of Misrata and Tawergha on settling their conflict and allowing for the return of Tawerghans to their homes. Mohamed Ishtewa, the mayor of Misrata said that "further discussions would be held in coming days with our brothers in Tawergha during which the final arrangements will be made before their return to their city."

In 2016, UNSMIL helped launch a reconciliation process between the people of Tawergha and Misrata with the aim of ending the displacement and compensating victims. The two sides signed an agreement on August 31, which stipulated as a main condition for the return home of Tawerghans the establishment of a fund by the UN-backed GNA to compensate victims of the 2011 uprising.

In April 2017, representatives of Misrata requested modifications to substantially increase the payments to seemingly benefit mostly Misratan victims. A second demand, to prevent compensation for any pro-Gaddafi fighters or sympathizers, would mostly affect Tawerghans.

The agreement includes a sole provision on justice: "The Libyan State shall take all necessary legal action to prosecute those accused" of crimes.

Libyan courts have yet to establish a measure of accountability. They have prosecuted only crimes attributed to Tawerghans, convicting them mostly for killings and unlawful possession of weapons, handing out prison and even death sentences. No Libyan court has yet prosecuted anyone for the forced displacement of Tawerghans, or for acts committed by militias, mostly from Misrata, against Tawerghans, including long-term arbitrary detention, torture, and enforced disappearance.

About 40,000 people from Tawergha live displaced around Libya, many in makeshift housing, camps or schools, prevented by civil and military authorities in Misrata from accessing their homes and lands.

Factions in Misrata, including the civilian administration and armed groups allied with it, control the area between Misrata and Tawergha, and have been physically preventing Tawerghans from returning to their hometown, insisting that the GNA and local Misrata authorities first approve a comprehensive compensation package for those killed, detained, harmed, or missing during the 2011 uprising.

In the aftermath of the 2011 uprising militias, mostly from Misrata, who had displaced Tawerghans then arbitrarily detained, tortured, disappeared, and harassed them with impunity. Although about 350 detainees have been freed since 2016, about 160 remain detained, some without charge, and 300 others are missing, according to Mohamed Radwan, the head of the Tawerghan association for families of missing and detained.

Miftah Almabrouk, who represents families of detainees from Tawergha held in prisons in Misrata and communicates with the prison authorities on behalf of the families, met with Human Rights Watch in Tripoli. He said that only some of the remaining 160 detainees from Tawergha have been convicted by civil and military courts in Misrata, while many remained in precharge detention. Human Rights Watch documented serious due-process violations of detainees held in Misrata, including men from Tawergha.

Although there had been fewer attacks on Tawerghans living in camps for displaced people in Tripoli in recent years, their situation is precarious. Militias guarding the Janzour camp for displaced Tawerghans in Tripoli fired shots on May 31 after disagreements with residents, although there were no injuries reported. On May 26, clashes between militias injured one resident of al-Fallah II camp in Tripoli, according to the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).

The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement provide that displacement of people needs to be limited in time and should not last "longer than required by the circumstances." International law further stipulates that civilians who were forcibly displaced from their homes during a conflict should be allowed to return home as soon as possible without conditions.

In June 2013, residents attempted to return to Tawergha without an agreement with Misrata groups. Local and international actors, including UNSMIL, cautioned against it after armed groups in Misrata issued threats against Tawerghans planning to return. Authorities in the eastern city of Ajdabiya turned back a convoy of Tawerghans trying to make the journey from Benghazi.

Certain abuses committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack on a civilian population, including torture, arbitrary detention, and forced displacement, may constitute crimes against humanity. The UN International Commission of Inquiry on Libya concluded in its March 2012 report that Misrata militias had committed crimes against humanity against Tawerghans and that the deliberate destruction of Tawergha "has been done to render it uninhabitable."

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has jurisdiction over war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Libya since February 15, 2011. The prosecutor of the ICC has not started an investigation nor announced the intent to investigate crimes against Tawerghans.

"While the priority is to end the six-year-old collective punishment of people from Tawergha, the victims from both sides should also see justice for the crimes they have suffered." Goldstein said.

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Li Aijie, wife of detained Chinese rights lawyer Zhang Haitao, says she wanted to travel to Shaya Prison in northwestern China's Xinjiang region, but was told that prison officials called off her visit in June. She appears here with her son in an undated photo.

Recent proposals to reform China's police-run detention centers are unlikely to do much to address a nationwide "human rights disaster" for police suspects in detention, human rights lawyers told RFA.

The country's Ministry of Public Security issued a call for consultation this week on a replacement for its Detention Center Law, saying the legislation lags behind in term of human rights protection, and that the ministry wishes to update it to "ensure the legitimate rights and interests of detainees."

Prominent human rights lawyer Wen Donghai said human rights abuses are rife within the police detention system.

"This form of detention has taken the form of a widespread disaster for human rights," Wen said. "Prosecution authorities, rather than solving the problem, often try to cover it up instead."

"The police are both investigators and jailors, which means that they will often resort to methods such as forcing a confession through torture," he said.

"The best plan in the current system would be to separate the detention system from the police, but the ministry of public security wants to control all of it," he said.

Wen said the consultation process meant little if any new laws weren't properly enforced.

"It is very unlikely to be able to take an even-handed view when making such a law, which will become embroiled in all kinds of ministerial considerations," he said.

Meanwhile, rights attorney Yu Wensheng, whose lawyer client Wang Quangzhang has been held incommunicado in police detention for nearly two years, said he is very angry at the widespread lack of respect for human rights in the police detention system.

"Actually, respect for human rights is in itself a constitutional right, so we don't need it to be written specifically into a detention center law," Yu said.

He said no law in China has much effect in cases that are regarded as political.

"The detention centers pay no heed whatsoever to any laws when it comes to political cases, not even the criminal procedure law," Yu said.

"So how will a detention center law make any difference to them? I think this is just for cosmetic effect," he said.

Denied access to attorneys

Human rights lawyers detained on subversion charges since a nationwide police operation launched in July 2015 have routinely been denied access to attorneys hired by their families and have been assigned government lawyers instead.

Many, including Wang Quangzhang and Jiang Tianyong, are being held in an unknown location under police detention with no access to family visits.

Detained Xinjiang rights activist Zhang Haitao has been denied the right to receive or send mail to his family while being held in the relatively isolated Shaya Prison in the northwestern region.

Zhang's wife Li Aijie said he has also been prevented from appealing his 19-year prison sentence on subversion and spying charges in January 2016.

Sichuan-based activist Huang Xiaomin said detainees and prison inmates should be permitted to send and receive mail according to existing laws.

"According to the detention center law, and the prison management law, regardless of the circumstances of the case, prisoners and suspects should be allowed to send and receive mail in a free and normal manner," Huang said.

Reported by Ng Yik-tung and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Tensions rose on Tuesday in a dispute over China's restrictions on free movement of Kazakhs across the shared border with neighboring Kazakhstan, as a number of leading academics from the Central Asian nation called on China to guarantee the rights of ethnic Kazakhs within China's borders.



A group of state scientists and other scholars hit out at the "persecution" of ethnic Kazakhs by Chinese authorities in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, and called on Astana to put pressure on Beijing.



"We protest the atrocities committed against Kazakhs in China by the Chinese government," the scholars told a news conference on Tuesday.



"We call on the Kazakhstan foreign ministry to initiate contact with the Chinese government, to guarantee the freedoms of this country's permanent residents, so that Kazakhs in China are able to cross the border freely and visit with their families," they said.



The strongly worded protest comes after residents of Kazakhstan told RFA last week that they are being prevented from seeing their families after Chinese authorities began confiscating the passports and residence permits of ethnic minority Kazakhs whose family members live across the border, sources told RFA.



"The Kazakh foreign ministry and leaders at the ministry of civil affairs, politician, and the whole social elite are very concerned that Kazakhs in Xinjiang lead miserable lives," a Kazakh source who declined to be identified told RFA.



"The [news conference] listed a lot of examples, including the confiscation of passports and green cards," the source said.



A second Kazakh source in Xinjiang said young Kazakhs especially are being constantly threatened by local police, who prevent them from studying across the border in Kazakhstan.



"The families of young Kazakhs are living under every kind of terror and suppression from the authorities, who are trying to force them to return to China so they can't complete their degrees in Kazakhstan," the source said.



"There are also countless cases of them being treated very cruelly, and this news conference made them public."



Passports held, returned



Some 200,000 Kazakhs who hold Chinese passports and permanent residence cards for Kazakhstan were told to hand in their Kazakhstan-issued residency cards to Chinese police "for safekeeping," although sources said on Monday that officials in some parts of Xinjiang were rapidly backpedaling on the policy and working round the clock to send Kazakh green cards and passports back to their owners.



An anonymous source in Xinjiang's Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture said authorities there had issued an urgent directive on Monday to return all confiscated passports to Kazakhs, but not to "other ethnic groups."



"The authorities have somewhat relaxed their policy, telling people to return Kazakh green cards, but some haven't had their passports back yet," the source said.



"And the strange thing is that, since yesterday, they have been getting their passports back accompanied by a travel ban, so they can't leave the country," the source said. "So their passports aren't worth the paper they are written on."



Meanwhile, an online video posted to the news platform Toutiao has prompted widespread anger among Kazakhs after it claimed that "the country continues to occupy Chinese territory which has yet to be recovered."



"One [country] has never made war on China, but has always occupied a large part of its territory," the video said, blaming an unequal treaty made between Russia and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the 19th century.



It said the independent country of Kazakhstan, formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, now "occupies" some 44 million square kilometers of land claimed by Beijing.



Ambition to expand



Kazakh sources said many in the country are concerned that the video may herald a bid to extend Chinese territory beyond the existing border.



"The video was initially published on a Chinese website, where Kazakhs found it, and many of them now see it as a signal of China's ambition to expand its territory into Kazakhstan," a Kazakh historian who asked to remain anonymous told RFA on Tuesday.



"This website also gives the impression to Chinese people that Barkash Lake on the Kazakh side of the border should be in China," he said.



A second Kazakh commentator who requested anonymity said the Chinese government is trying to influence young people through such videos.



"There is strong condemnation coming from the Kazakh community, because Kazakhs are very sensitive on the issue of territory ... having fought countless wars with the Chinese over territory in their recent history," he said.



"In the last 300 years, we were gradually taken over by the Russians, and much of our territory was ceded away by the Russians."



"And now, Toutiao in China puts out a video like this."



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.




The death of Ohio college student Otto Warmbier just days after was returned in a comatose state after 17 months in a North Korean jail drew widespread condemnation in the United States and vows to hold Pyongyang accountable.



Human rights advocates who work on North Korea said the death on Monday of the 22-year-old University of Virginia student underscored the severity of the problems posed by the regime of leader Kim Jong Un.



Warmbier died Monday at a Cincinnati hospital, nearly a week after his return to the United States in what doctors called a "state of unresponsive wakefulness" caused by a prolonged cutoff of oxygen to the brain.



"Unfortunately, the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today," Warmbier's parents said in a statement.



Warmbier was detained in January 2016 at the end of a short package tour of North Korea for what authorities said was trying to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel. He was charged with hostile acts and given a sentence of 15 years hard labor in a show trial in March of last year, then not heard from until North Korea told a U.S. diplomat he was in a coma.



Response in Washington was swift across the political spectrum and held North Korea to blame for the death.



"Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim," said President Donald Trump.



Sen. Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said "Otto is dead because of Kim Jong-un's repressive, murderous regime," and that North Korea "must be held accountable for their continued barbaric behavior."



Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement saying: "Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime. . . . The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers."



"We hold North Korea accountable for Otto Warmbiers unjust imprisonment, and demand the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained," added Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.



Tillerson was referring to two teachers from Pyongyang University of Science and Technology: accounting teacher Tony Kim, who was arrested in April; and agriculture researcher Kim Hak-song. Businessman Kim Dong-chul has been serving a 10-year sentence of hard labor on spying charges since April 2016.



Making a bad relationship worse

In South Korea, activists who advocate for better human rights in North Korea urged people to think about how Pyongyang treats its own citizens in light of Warmbier's death.



How are North Koreans doing if the regime commits human rights violations against foreigners? I think the North Korean people are suffering more and more everyday violence," Mun Dong-hee, a North Korean Human Rights Student Solidarity representative, told RFA's Korean Service.



"The death of Warmbier has given us once again an indication of how cruel the North Korean regime is,' said Peter Cheong, of the group Justice for North Korea.



"North Korean authorities are still systematically violating human rights at the national level," he told RFA.



Warmbier's return and death occurred as the Trump administration was rethinking the U.S. approach to North Korea, considering opening contacts with Pyongyang, while also stepping up pressure on China to do more to curb its ally's missile and nuclear programs. The U.S. Congress is also debating ways to tighten financial sanctions on the Kim regime to deny it resources to advance its weapons programs.



The U.S. Congress is now weighing ways to stop Americans from traveling to North Korea, including North Korea Travel Control Act, which would require licenses for travel to North Korea and exclude tourists from being eligible for such permits.



"We have been evaluating whether we should put some type of travel visa restriction to North Korea," Tillerson told a House of Representatives committee last week. "We haven't come to a final conclusion, but we are considering it."



McCain said Americans should be required to sign a waiver before going to North Korea, arguing that "if people are that stupid that they still want to go to that country, then at least they assume the responsibility for their welfare."



"There should at least be a form for them to fill out that says, 'If I go to North Korea, I understand I am taking great risk, and I do not hold the American government responsible,'" McCain was quoted by the Associated Press as saying on Tuesday.



Whatever gain North Korea had hoped to extract from the United States seizing and later releasing Warmbier, the plan has failed, said Ken Gause, of the Virginia think tank CNA's Center for Strategic Studies.



"The relationship was already bad. This just makes it worse," he told RFA.



"North Korea was trying to play its normal game -- take somebody hostage and release them at an opportune time in order to try to bolster the relationship. But of course, Otto Warmbier was in a coma and now he's dead and that pretty much undermines the relationship for the foreseeable future," added Gause.



Reported by RFA's Korean Service. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
Myanmar residents wait at the border immigration crossing in the town of Muse in Myanmar's northern Shan state to cross into southwestern China's Yunnan province, Nov. 22, 2016.

UPDATED at 2:46 P.M. EST on 2017-06-20

Chinese authorities have frozen 132 bank accounts owned by Myanmar traders who do business along the border area, claiming that the funds they contain are linked to illegal drugs and gambling activities, according to a local Myanmar administrator in the town of Muse in northern Shan state.

Initial reports on Monday indicated that authorities had frozen around 1,000 bank accounts, based on comments by Myanmar traders whose accounts had been blocked.

The 132 accounts are among a total of 349 accounts that Chinese authorities have frozen, Muse district administrator Kyaw Kyaw Tun told RFA's Myanmar Service.

The banks began freezing the accounts on June 14, and now have blocked estimated deposits worth 40 billion kyats (U.S. $28.8 million), according to a report by Eleven Myanmar media group.

Traders told RFA on Monday that the situation has made it difficult, if not impossible, for them to do business.

The banks did not inform the merchants that their accounts would be frozen, and the Chinese government has yet to comment on the matter, they said

Chinese police have questioned Myanmar people who have withdrawn money from Chinese bank accounts, they said.

Importers and exporters set up bank accounts to conduct cross-border business in Muse, which is situated across the Shweli River from a road to Ruili, a key border town in southwestern Chinas Yunnan province.

Sources told RFA that the Chinese government will not accept sugar exports from Myanmar, though it does accept rice, corn, sesame, and bean exports, so traders have to export sugar illegally. To do this, they must open bank accounts with fake names.

They froze the bank accounts of exporters and importers, a trader from Muse told Eleven Myanmar.

For instance, if we transfer money to buy goods, the Chinese trader, who accepts the transfer, is also banned, so we cannot issue the goods.

Myanmar lawmakers, representatives from nongovernmental organizations, and members of the Myanmar Pulses, Beans & Sesame Seeds Merchants Association met in Muse on June 17 to discuss the frozen bank accounts.

A woman surnamed Phyu, who is the association's chairperson, said that although traders bank accounts have been frozen in the past, this time it is worse.

We are in trouble and business could be delayed, she told RFA.

Sai Kyaw Hein, a lawmaker in eastern Myanmars Shan State, said the Chinese banks must check the types of businesses their account owners are operating before they subject them to an asset freeze.

If not, not only Myanmar people but also Chinese people will be harmed, he told RFA.

When the traders are hurt, the farmers will suffer, and ultimately the countrys economy will be affected, he said. I want them [the authorities] to solve this problem.

Traders said they have demanded that the Myanmar government negotiate with the Chinese government to create a system of legal money transfers and legal trade between the two countries.

If the authorities fail to respond to their demands, they will protest at the border crossings, they said.

Reported by Kan Thar for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Myanmar traders meet to discuss bank accounts frozen by Chinese authorities along the 105-mile border trade zone in Muse township in Myanmar's northern Shan state, June 17, 2017.

Myanmar officials have been negotiating with the Chinese embassy to reopen Chinese bank accounts held by Myanmar traders in the border area of northern Shan state, which were frozen last week over possible links to illegal activities, a local Myanmar administrator from the town of Muse said Tuesday.

Last week, the Shweli branches of the Agricultural Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China began freezing the accounts of more than 300 clients suspected of laundering money from illegal activities.

The freeze included the accounts of more than 100 Myanmar businesspeople who operate in the 105-mile Muse border trade zone in northern Shan across the Shweli River from southwestern Chinas Yunnan province.

A delegation led by Myanmars commerce minister Than Myint met with the consulate-general of China on June 15 to negotiate the reopening of the accounts, according to an article in state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Tuesday.

Ministry officials also contacted Chinas Communist Party secretary in Shweli and an official from the towns Foreign Affairs Department to explain why the bank accounts were frozen and to discuss the reopening of the accounts, the report said.

Muse district administrator Kyaw Kyaw Tun, who was present at the meeting, told RFAs Myanmar Service on Tuesday that Chinese officials gave their Myanmar counterparts a list of 336 bank accounts belonging to Myanmar citizens, that have been frozen.

We have informed the Chinese police, Foreign Affairs Department, and Chinese banks about it, he said.

They [the Chinese] said they did it to combat illegal border activities, such as internet gambling, money laundering, and depositing money from drug deals, he said.

We told them to take action against people who are engaging in illegal business activities, but not to close the bank accounts of others who are not involved in them, Kyaw Kyaw Tun said.

Myanmar traders held an emergency meeting in Muse township on June 17 to discuss the frozen accounts.

Shwelis deputy mayor said an investigation of the frozen bank accounts is ongoing, but that officials would work to reopen those not associated with criminal activities, The Global New Light of Myanmar report said.

Reported by Kyaw Thu for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Members of the central executive committee of Myanmar's United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) hold a meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Jan. 23, 2017.

UPDATED at 9:37 A.M. on 2016-06-23

Three members of a Myanmar umbrella organization that represents ethnic armed groups that have not signed a nationwide peace agreement with the government want to split from the organization over a disagreement about the pact, the groups chairman said on Tuesday.

Some members of the United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC) have decided to stick with the governments nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) as the country advances in its peace process, while others have not, objecting that the accord is not all-inclusive, said UNFC Vice Chairman Naing Han Thar at a news conference in Chaing Mai, Thailand.

The organizations central executive committee will discuss and decide what to do about the request made by the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA), Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), and Kachin Independence Organization/Kachin Independence Army (KIO/KIA) to leave the UNFC.

The three ethnic militias, which are still engaged in ongoing separatist conflicts with the Myanmar military, have not signed the NCA.

The committee will also discuss a request by the Chin National Front (CNF), Kachin National Organization (KNO), Kuki National Organization (Burma), Zomi Group, and Democratic Karen Buddhist Army to accept them as members.

UNFC chairman Lieutenant General NBan La said the countrys peace process cannot be achieved because the current NCA is not all-inclusive.

The "northern allies, or Pangkham Alliesa group of seven ethnic armed militias that has formed a coalition led by the United Wa State Army (UWSA)have made several unsuccessful attempts to join the UNFC as a unified force, he said. The alliance includes the KIA, TNLA, and MNDAA.

Thats why they had to form an alliance with the China-backed United Wa State Army (UWSA), Myanmars largest nonstate militia which has emerged as a key player in Myanmars peace process, he said.

We have some groups that will work on the peace process according to the way of the NCA, and others that will not by allying with the Wa group, said Naing Han Thar.

Policies were ignored

NBan La attended the second session of the governments Panglong Conference, which brought government officials, the military and ethnic armed groups to the negotiating table in May, as a guest of the Chinese governments delegation.

Though the delegates approved 37 of 41 points raised at the summit, the process was not all-inclusive because ethnic militias that have not signed the NCA were invited as observers rather than participants, NBan La said.

He also said the UNFCs policies on federal union and security were ignored.

The northern allies groups have to be united because we are discriminated against and pressured by the government and military, NBan La said. Thats why we dropped out of the UNFC.

The KIOs policy is to participate in the peace process, but the peace process cannot be accomplished without the northern allies groups" he said. "Thats why KIO has to ally with the them [on this issue].

Eight ethnic militias signed the NCA with the previous government in October 2015.

Myanmars de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose national League for Democracy government has been in power for more than a year, is spearheading efforts to end the countrys long-running civil wars and forge peace.

The 21st-Century Panglong Conference, the first session of which was held in late August 2016, is her key initiative to bring warring factions to the negotiating table.



Reported by Aung Moe Myint for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
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COVINGTON  After a day of kayaking and drinking beer on the Jackson River, Stephanie Hicks climbed behind the wheel of a Nissan pickup truck loaded with seven passengers in the bed and one in the cab.

The drive back to where the float trip began June 12, 2016, in Alleghany County was supposed to be the end to a fun day with friends on the river, Hicks testified Monday.

But Hicks was driving drunk, for at least the second time in five years.

Reaching to turn up the volume on the radio, she lost control of the truck as it veered off Virginia 687, down a 30-foot embankment and into the river. The truck came to rest upside down  as did the lives of seven people who suffered grievous injuries and memories they cannot shake.

Ill never get back to the girl I was before, testified 18-year-old Hope Hugus, describing injuries that left her brain-damaged, with more broken bones than she can count, and with what doctors initially said was a 10 percent chance of survival.

Because like my Mom has said, that girl did die, Hugus said. Im Hope part two.

Following nearly three hours of graphic and emotional testimony, Circuit Judge Chapman Goodwin sentenced Hicks, 30, to 3 years in prison on seven counts of DUI maiming. Hicks received an additional 30 days for drunken driving as a second offense.

Commonwealths Attorney Ed Stein said the case very easily could have been seven counts of vehicular manslaughter. It was touch and go for many of these victims.

Several of the injured  who were either friends or acquaintances of Hicks when they piled into the pickup truck  described injuries that included severe head trauma, gaping cuts, internal injuries, broken bones, concussions and even sticks embedded in their skin from when the truck crashed through a tree on its way to the river bottom.

Three medical helicopters were deployed to rush the victims to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, some of them making repeat trips.

Almost as hurtful for the victims was the emotional toll, which included anxiety, sleep loss, flashbacks and post-traumatic stress disorder.

If I couldnt remember it, that would be lovely, said Brandon Rice, one of the few victims to testify Monday who could recall details of the crash.

I heard some screaming, and the next thing I knew Im hitting the water, he testified.

Levi Hugus, Hopes older brother, said he had a more limited memory. But two things stuck in his mind: seeing his friends covered in blood and his sister lying facedown in the water.

I grabbed her and shook her, but she wouldnt wake up, he recalled.

One year later, most of the victims are still dealing with the wrecks aftermath. Some described extensive surgeries and rehabilitation for their injuries; others still suffer flashbacks when they pass the scene of the wreck, near the Clearwater Park community off U.S. 220 north of Covington.

Hicks was also injured. Blood tests taken at the hospital showed her blood-alcohol content to be 0.16 percent, or twice the level at which someone is considered too intoxicated to drive.

Hicks testified that she had three or four beers during a day of kayaking  sticking to that story despite a tough cross-examination by Stein.

We set out to have fun, and a few of us were drinking a few beers, Hicks testified. It was supposed to be a fun day for us, and it was a nightmare.

Hicks is seven months pregnant and had hoped for a more lenient sentence or house arrest that was suggested by defense attorney Craig Leisure. She could be heard sobbing after she was led from the courtroom on her way to the county jail.
Watching Attorney General Jeff Sessions confound Senate Democrats during his Intelligence Committee testimony was like watching a puppet show.

Sessions was the hand. And the Democrats were the socks.

Oh, they flapped their mouths, occasionally twisting their necks, and grimaced before the TV cameras as part of their performance.

But that was about it. It is the way of things in a sock puppet show. The socks are limited. Republicans know what thats like. Theyve played the sock puppets, too.

But on Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, it was the Democrats turn. They didnt like it. But there was little they could do.

Sessions challenged them by refuting unfounded allegations that he may have colluded with the Russians in the 2016 election, invoking his honor and his service and using that Alabama drawl, and after that they couldnt really push back.

Let me state this clearly, colleagues, said the former Alabama senator. I have never met with or had any conversation with any Russians or foreign officials concerning any type of interference in any campaign or election in the United States.

I was your colleague in this body for 20 years, he said. And the suggestion that I participated in any collusion, that I was aware of any collusion with the Russian government, or hurt this country which I have served with honor for 35 years, or to undermine the integrity of our democratic process, is an appalling and detestable lie.

And Democrats just sat there, turning their sock heads this way and that, moving their mouths, perplexed.

They tried pushing him on what the president told him about firing former FBI Director James Comey. Trump had publicly stated that he had wanted Comey fired for his handling of the investigation into Russian collusion.

Comey had testified to the fact he told the president three times that he was not a target of the investigation, but Comey wouldnt go public with the information. And Trump sacked him.

But Sessions declined to answer particulars, preferring to reserve the presidents right to perhaps later claim executive privilege. Such confidentiality was respected by Democrats when they had the White House.

So Democrats sputtered on, some accusing Sessions of obstruction and stonewalling, though many of them are lawyers. As such, they knew there were no sharp teeth in their arguments. Then again, sock puppets have no teeth.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich, Kamala Harris, Angus King and the theatrically disgusted Ron Wyden tried repeatedly to have Sessions break that confidence. He refused.

At least Harris, a former prosecutor and potentially a Democratic candidate for president in 2020, had the smarts and the style to smirk a bit. She understands how this works.

Unfortunately, a few journalists apparently do not, and while scanning a few of their tweets, I could feel the absolute rage emanating from their sockless thumbs on Twitter.

Executive privilege isnt absolute. And it is historically a point of contention between the legislative and executive branch. But its been that way almost since the beginning of the republic.

Washington Democrats werent all that upset a few years ago, when one of their own, Attorney General Eric Holder, and others from the Obama White House didnt want to say much about their failed and tragic Mexican gunrunning operation in the Fast and Furious scandal.

And there was a loud silence about Republican allegations that the White House used the Internal Revenue Service to target and intimidate grassroots conservative groups before the 2012 elections.

The interesting thing that probably wont make headlines was this: The Senate committee is investigating alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians, but few if any questions about this were asked by Democrats.

For months and months, and 24/7 on breathless cable news networks, all we heard and read were allegations  without evidence  that Trump colluded with the Russians.

It helped derail his legislative agenda. And it provided cover for Hillary Clintons pathetic campaign. But now the Russian thing doesnt seem to excite Democrats anymore.

Theyve moved away from collusion with Russians to process, and have pushed the obstruction of justice angle.

But what happened to the Russians and those damning emails hacked out of the Democratic National Committee  the emails that demonstrated collusion between Democrats and Beltway journalism  that so embarrassed Hillary Clinton?

Thats what Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton wanted to know.

Did Donald Trump or any of his associates in the campaign collude with Russia in hacking those emails and releasing them to the public? Cotton asked. Thats where we started six months ago, and we have now heard six of the eight Democrats on this committee, and to my knowledge I dont think a single one of them asked that question.

Theyve gone down lots of other rabbit trails, but not that question, Cotton said.

Cotton did ask Sessions about his favorite spy fiction, John le Carre or Jason Bourne movies, and that got a laugh.

Its just like Through the Looking-Glass, Sessions said.

No, actually, its more like a puppet show.

And in Washington, every few years depending on whos in and whos out, the socks change hands.
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
AIRBAGS

Bankruptcy to leave little money for suits

DETROIT  A bankruptcy filing by Japanese air bag maker Takata will leave little money for dozens of people who sued the company over deaths and injuries caused by its exploding air bag inflators, according to outside legal experts and lawyers suing the company.

Takata Corp. and its U.S. operations are likely to seek bankruptcy protection by the end of June in a deal that would sell its assets to competitor Key Safety Systems Inc., a person briefed on the talks said. The person didnt want to be identified because discussions are in progress.

MEDIA

Ex-politician, unions bid for Sun-Times

CHICAGO  An investor group headed by a former Chicago city council member and labor unions has submitted a bid to buy the Chicago Sun-Times  a move that, if successful, would prevent the papers biggest rival from purchasing it.

The $15 million bid led by Edwin Eisendrath and the Chicago Federation of Labor comes a month after the owner of the Sun-Times, Chicago-based-Wrapports LLC, announced it had agreed to enter into discussions with Tronc, which owns the rival Chicago Tribune and several other major newspapers, to acquire the paper.
December 30, 1972 June 17, 2017 Jennifer Spearin Powers, 44, passed away Saturday, June 17, 2017 at her home in Pulaski. She was the Director of the New River Community Corrections and Pretrial Services and a member of Thornspring United Methodist Church. She was preceded in death by her late husband, Thomas Lindamood. Survivors include her husband, Eric Powers; parents, Jack and Dorothy Spearin; stepchildren, Andrew and Ashleigh Powers; brothers, Wesley and Jeff Spearin; sister and brother-in-law, Becky and Kenny Pennington; nieces, Kaitlyn Pennington, Tanya Spearin and Brook Spearin; nephews, Jake and James Spearin; three great-nieces; and her puppies, Cooper and Charlie. The family will receive friends from noon until 1p.m. on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at Thornspring United Methodist Church. Memorial services will begin at 1 p.m. with the Rev. Teresa Tolbert and the Rev. Darlene Marshall officiating. Flowers will be appreciated or contributions be made to Pulaski- Radford Relay for Life, American Cancer Society, 2840 Electric Road, Suite 106A, Roanoke, Va. 24018 or at www.cancer.org The Powers family is in the care of Mullins Funeral Home & Crematory in Radford. www.mullinsfuneralhome.com
The federal agency that governs interstate natural gas pipelines is scheduled to release its final environmental impact statement on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline on Friday.

No one should be surprised by what it has to say.

Fridays document will set the clock ticking for a 90-day period, during which other federal agencies are supposed to decide whether to issue permits. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will surely give the go-ahead. We can be certain of this because FERC has rarely turned down pipeline projects  and thats when it was dominated by Democratic appointees.

The commission currently lacks a quorum, but the Senate is expected to confirm President Trumps nominees before it recesses for the July 4th holiday. Given Trumps views on fossil fuels, there is no reason to believe that FERC will come to any different conclusion. Agencies such as the Forest Service could complicate things. However, does anyone really expect a federal agency under the Trump administration to block a pipeline?

Likewise, the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality must issue certain permits. However, DEQ has opted against performing a stringent review, leaving that to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Some see the dark hand of Dominion Energy at work because Dominion also needs permits for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and Gov. Terry McAuliffe has enthusiastically supported both pipelines.

Pipeline opponents had hoped that Democrats would nominate Tom Perriello for governor, and that he would go on to be elected. Perriello had run as a strident opponent of both pipelines. Instead, Perriello lost to Ralph Northam. Even if Perriello had won, though, the permits likely will have been issued before he would have even taken office.

This is the essential frustration for pipeline opponents: The whole system for pipelines is basically rigged against them. That system is so impervious to political pressure that none of our federal officeholders  neither Democrats nor Republicans  could persuade FERC to do something so simple as hold more public hearings.

On the one hand, its good that what is supposed to be a technical decision wont be politicized. That was always the problem with Perriellos position; he essentially said he was willing to politicize DEQs decision-making. On the other hand, maybe it is already, if you believe the conspiracy theories about McAuliffe and Dominion.

The position that Northam has taken on pipelines is technically correct: Let DEQ do its work without gubernatorial interference, but this is mostly a federal decision, so whats the point of declaring support or opposition? He just didnt get any credit for that with either side.

In any case, its still worth asking two big questions:

Why does FERC so adamantly refuse to look at the broader context of pipelines? Pipeline companies get to decide their own routes. FERC does not look at their desirability. Here  with the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast lines  we have a curious situation. Both start in essentially the same place, in northwest West Virginia, and travel in basically the same direction, east. The Mountain Valley line would end near Chatham in Pittsylvania County. The Atlantic Coast line continues on to Hampton Roads and into North Carolina. The point is, they could take the same route. They dont. Pipeline opponents dont want either line; they object to both the ugly scar across the landscape and the fact that the pipelines will lock in fossil fuels for decades. However, if were going to have both lines, do we need both routes? Could these two pipelines not share the same route?

FERC looked at this in the draft environmental studies for both projects. The commission found a single route had fewer environmental impacts, but then dismissed the idea as unworkable. The reasons it gave deserve more inquiry. First, the commission cited some topographical problems in certain parts of West Virginia where there is insufficient space to locate two pipelines side-by-side, regardless of whether the MVP route or Atlantic Coast route were used. Its hard to argue against topography. Its also hard to believe there couldnt be a way to work around those problematic ridgelines. If there were a single route, maybe there could still be a few places where the two pipelines diverge?

However, FERC went on to say the implementation of this alternative would require significant planning and design, which would significantly delay the delivery of gas to Atlantics customers. Since FERC doesnt say more, its hard to know more. How significant would the additional planning and design for a single route be? And how significantly would the delay be for customers?

A big-picture question here: Were talking about a generational decision here. How long would any delay be in the context of a project that would cut across the landscape for decades? What are a few years compared to 40 or more? You dont have to be a pipeline opponent to want to be sure this is a decision we wont regret for years to come. Did FERC too hastily dismiss a question that deserves more conversation?

Why isnt the coal industry joining with environmentalists to oppose natural gas pipelines? Its not federal regulations that are putting coal miners out of work. Its the free market. Its natural gas. Natural gas is a lot cheaper and, thanks to the exploitation of the Marcellus and Utica shale formations, quite plentiful. Thats why utilities such as Dominion are retiring coal plants, and switching to natural gas (and renewables). Its why Celanese in Giles County retired its coal-fired boilers and switched to natural gas instead. Its why lots of others are doing the same. Coal is never coming back, but its decline wouldnt be as steep if natural gas cost more or if it were harder to obtain.

West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice recently asked the new president of Appalachian to build new coal plants. Appalachian said no  it intends to burn less coal, not more. Why isnt Justice leading the charge against natural gas? Hes trying to have it both ways, by supporting both fossil fuel industries. In reality, though, the natural gas being piped out of the ground in northern West Virginia is putting coal miners in southern West Virginia (and lots of other places) out of business.

We dont know how pipeline opponents can stop these pipelines. But if coal companies told President Trump that to really bring back coal, he needs to put a halt to natural gas pipelines. That would sure be interesting.
The Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) joins the "Start-Up Nation" with the opening of Diamond Tech Innovation Center  a technological incubator for Israeli and international diamond-related start-ups.

Diamond Tech will provide a home and financial support for start-ups that are in the initial stages of development, says a press note from IDI.

In establishing the Innovation Center, IDE is partnering with Sarine, the Israel-based world leader in developing technologies for the diamond industry and the Hennig Diamond group, which has an international investment arm specializing in diamond technologies. The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has signed on as a strategic partner for research and development.

IDE President Yoram Dvash said, "We made a strategic decision to establish Diamond Tech Innovation Center because we are convinced that the diamond industry must advance technologically.The IDE will invest all of its resources to ensure the success of these start-ups and their contribution to the diamond industry."

Sarine CEO David Block said,  As partners in this venture, Sarine is proud to support and nurture the next generation of innovators in the industry."

Hennig Israel CEO Arik Sela said: We are convinced the diamond industry can benefit from new technologies and applications for diamonds and that this innovation center has the right ingredients to succeed.

Through this initiative IDE plans to promote new technologies for diamonds in the broadest sense, reaching beyond gems and jewelry. This includes the use of diamonds in industrial platforms, robotics, semi-conductors, medical technologies, space technology, as well as software, finance, and B2B and B2C marketing platforms.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




Singapore jeweller TLV Holdings has entered into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Guangdong-based Maoming LiuTao Zhubao Chuangyi Chanye Co to set up retail outlets in Maoming and other parts of China, as per media report.

In Singapore, TLV has a retail network of 17 outlets under its Taka Jewellery brand; it also provides pawnbroking services as well as the retail of pre-owned jewellery and watches under the Top Cash brand.

TLV, which was previously selling its jewellery to China on a wholesale basis through jewellery exhibitions, makes its foray into China's retail segment.

The JV partners will jointly manage and operate the Liutao-Taka Jewellery brand, opening a chain of retail stores and series of retail counters in the Maoming area. There are also plans to expand into other parts of China.

The proposed JV company, Maoming Liutao Gaoda Zhubao Co, will have an initial registered capital of 20 million yuan (S$4 mn), with Taka HK Venture subscribing for a 49 per cent stake.

Taka HK Venture's investment in the JV will clock 9.8 mn yuan and will be funded through internal resources.

Michael Teo, managing director of TLV, said: "With this strategic partnership, our aim is to expand our brand and products in the China market, initially focusing on the Maoming area.This will also provide us access to a different and larger retail market, in addition to our retail presence in Singapore.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished




Office of Governor Andrew Cuomo

An expanded West End Concourse, the first phase of the modernization and transformation of New York Penn Station, is open.

The new concourse will provide direct access to 17 of the stations 21 tracks, will connect the future Moynihan Train Hall to Penn Station underground via 33rd Street and provide a direct connection to the 8th Avenue Subway.

The West End Concourse Expansion is part of the Pennsylvania Station-Farley Complex plan to redevelop the Farley Building, creating a new 255,000 square foot Train Hall to house passenger facilities for the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak. A final agreement on the $1.6 billion redevelopment of the Penn-Farley Complex allowing for major construction to begin has been reached.

The state-of-the-art-infrastructure, technology upgrades and wayfinding improvements of the expanded West End concourse will provide immediate relief for passengers enduring increasing congestion and overcrowding in Penn Station and help New Yorkers get to where they need to go better and faster, said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. With the final agreement allowing for major construction to begin, we are moving full speed ahead in our work to build a bolder, fully modernized Penn-Farley Complex, bringing Penn Station out of the Dark Ages and into the 21st century.

The new West End Concourse increases passenger circulation and streamlines train operations by doubling the length and width of the original concourse, providing new stairways connecting with nine of Penn Stations eleven train platforms and adding an additional passenger elevator on each platform for comfort and increased ADA accessibility. These new vertical access points will allow passengers to enter and leave the platforms faster and more easily, reducing dwell time for the trains on these platforms during boarding and disembarking.

The expanded West End Concourse also features state-of-the-art facilities and technology designed to improve overall passenger experience, including digital media screens for train information, graphic way-finding to improve navigation for riders, upgraded high-tech and energy-efficient LED lighting and year-round climate control.

The expanded West End Concourse will take tremendous pressure off of the overcrowded Penn Station complex, and attract visitors and community residents to the food, shopping and grandeur of the entire complex. Once complete, Moynihan Station is poised to be one of the greatest transportation and infrastructure legacies of our generation, said U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-NY).
Office of Sen. Eric Lesser

A state senator from Massachusetts is tapping into a mode of public communication not seen since last century: The whistle-stop tour (but by car).

Sen. Eric Lesser (D-1-Hampden & Hampshire) went on the tour to rally support for his proposal to study the feasibility and economic benefits of a high-speed rail link between Springfield and Boston.

The one-day tour began in Boston on June 19 before moving on to stops in Framingham, Worcester, Palmer and concluding in Springfield.

In May, Sen. Lesser reintroduced his budget amendment in the Massachusetts State Senate to require the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to move forward with a feasibility study of Springfield-to-Boston high-speed rail. The same amendment passed both the House and Senate last year but was vetoed by Gov. Charlie Baker. Sen. Lesser has also taken his argument national, with a letter sent to the Trump Administration in January asking for the proposed high-speed line to be included in future infrastructure priority lists.

Why perform a whistle-stop tour mostly by car? As Sen. Lessers office explained, there is only one train per day between Boston and Springfield. Sen. Lesser did take a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority train between Boston and Framingham.
We believe the shares of Boeing Co. (BA) are gearing to scale new horizons in the next few months. We think the stock has at least 25% upside from current levels.

Let us tell you why?

*Strong interest in Boeing's 737 MAX 10

This new Boeing model unveiled at the 2017 Paris Airshow to take on rival Airbus' A321neo, is expected to be the most profitable single-aisle airplane, offering the lowest seat costs ever. The operating cost per seat for the MAX 10 is expected to be 5% lower than that of A321neo, resulting in 5% lower trip costs as well. The maximum seating capacity of the MAX 10 is 230, 10 more than that of the MAX 9 series. Boeing says it already has more than 240 orders for the new series with commitments from 10+ customers, including BOC Aviation, GE Capital, CDB Aviation, TUI Group, Tibet Financial Leasing, and SpiceJet.

* Better-than-expected Growth in Demand

Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Kevin McAllister forecast that the world would need 41,000 commercial jets over the next 20 years. This represents, a 4% increase from Boeing forecast last year. A detailed forecast will follow from Boeing on Tuesday. Last week, rival Airbus projected the need for 34,899 jets over the next 20 years. This outlook was 6% above its own 2016 guidance.

*Defense Sparking up

Boeing is shaking up its $29.5 billion defense business, by eliminating 50 executive positions and splitting its defense, space and security division (BDS) into smaller entities. The move, according to the division's boss, Leanne Caret, will speed decision-making and help the business better anticipate the needs of defense customers. The business accounted for nearly a third of Boeing's total revenue in 2016.

Boeing's BDS revenues have declined from $33.2 billion in 2013 to $30.9 billion in 2014, $30.4 billion in 2015 and $29.5 billion in 2016, due to loss of key contracts and reduced defense spending. Backlog at BDS at the end of Q4-2016, was $57 billion, of which 37% represented orders from international customers. However, backlog at BDS at the end of Q1-2017 was $63 billion, of which 34% represented orders from international customers. The company has reaffirmed its BDS revenue guidance for 2017 to be between $28 billion and $29 billion.

Last week, Qatar's Ministry of Defense said it signed a deal to buy F-15 fighter jets from the United States for $12 billion, amid escalating tensions with its neighbors. The deal went through despite U.S. President Donald Trump criticizing the country for supporting terrorism. November last year, the Obama administration approved possible sale of up to 72 F-15QA aircraft to Qatar for $21.1 billion. Boeing is the prime contractor on the fighter jet sale deal. The deal happening is a plus for Boeing.

Boeing also has its eyes set on the contract for the next generation of the Global Positioning System: GPS3. Although, Lockheed Martin has been contracted to supply the first batch, due to some delay and snags, the U.S. Airforce has solicited other contenders to build the next batch of satellites. Boeing has responded to this solicitation stating that it continues to believe in affordable low-risk alternate GPS solutions. Boeing has the scale to deliver the solutions for this mission and has already built the platform and major payload components for the GPS 2F satellites. Chances of Boeing landing the deal are likely, although one can never be too sure.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
An American student, whom North Korea released last week in a coma after 18 months of captivity, has died.

Otto Wambier's death evoked widespread outrage and criticism in the United States. Describing North Korea as "a brutal regime," President Donald Trump said, "We will be able to handle (the regime.)"

Warmbier, the 22 year-old University of Virginia student, was arrested in January 2016 at the end of a brief tourist visit to the isolated country for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel.

He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor.

North Korea returned Warmbier, who was suffering from severe brain damage, to the United States on June 13, saying he had been in a coma for a year and that it was acting on humanitarian grounds.

Warmbier was admitted at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center but was not responding to treatment.

Doctors revealed that Otto had suffered severe neurological injuries and described him as being in a state of "unresponsive wakefulness," opening his eyes and blinking but showing no signs of understanding language or of being aware of his surroundings.

He died Monday afternoon, his parents announced.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier said their son died as a result of the "awful torturous mistreatment" by the North Koreans.

"Otto's fate deepens my Administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency," Trump said in a statement.

John McCain, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, accused the Kim Jong-un regime of murdering Warmbier.

Senators Benjamin L. Cardin and Marco Rubio said North Korea must be held accountable for the "murder."

In a message condoling the death of Warmbier, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson demanded the release of three other Americans who have been illegally detained in North Korea.

They include two men who taught at a Pyongyang university funded by overseas Christian groups and a Korean-American pastor who was accused of espionage for South Korea.

Meanwhile, Young Pioneer Tours, the China-based travel agency that organized Wambier's trip to North Korea, said it would no longer take U.S. citizens to the reclusive Communist country.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Three people died, and nine were injured in a bomb explosion occurred on Saturday in a women's bathroom in Centro Comercial Andino, a shopping mall in the northern part of the Colombian capital Bogota.

Right after the bombing, Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos canceled a state visit to Portugal to take charge of the investigations. He offered a 100 million pesos (US$ 33,790) reward to whoever provides information leading to those responsible for the attack.

Santos stated that the authorities are working with three lines of investigation about the perpetrators of the attack, but refused to disclose them. "The investigative team has three specific hypotheses, and I will not mention them so as not to damage investigations," he said.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the two guerrillas of the country, both condemned the bombing.

The "ELN repudiates the attack against civilians targets on Centro Comercial Andino," the militia wrote on Twitter. The guerrilla called for "seriousness to those who make unfounded and reckless allegations" after some sectors identified that group as responsible for the attack.

Meanwhile, FARC commander, Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, alias "Timochenko," wrote on Twitter that the bombing in the shopping mall could only come from sectors that want to "close the roads of peace and reconciliation."

by Agencia CMA Latam

For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
As voters head to the polls in the closely watched special House election in Georgia on Tuesday, President Donald Trump has continued to lash out at the Democratic candidate in the race.

Trump attacked Democrat Jon Ossoff several times on Twitter, claiming the documentary filmmaker and former congressional staffer "wants to raise taxes and kill healthcare."

"Democrat Jon Ossoff, who wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district," Trump tweeted.

Trump also expressed his support for Republican Karen Handel, who is hoping to hold on to the seat previously held by Health And Human Services Secretary Tom Price.

"KAREN HANDEL FOR CONGRESS. She will fight for lower taxes, great healthcare strong security-a hard worker who will never give up! VOTE TODAY," the president tweeted.

The race, which is seen as an early referendum on Trump's performance in the White House, is expected to be narrowly decided.

Several recent polls have shown the race essentially tied, with the RealClearPolitics average showing Handel at 49.0 percent and Ossoff at 48.8 percent.

Price won re-election in the conservative-leaning district by more than 23 percentage points just last November.

However, even a narrow victory by Handel is likely to be touted by Trump as a sign of broad support for his agenda.

National Democrats and Republicans have both been pumping money into the race, making it the most expensive congressional contest in history.

(Photo: Michael Vadon)

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Tecumsehsbones said: Will it be full of lies like Yanez was alone and Philando Castile wasn't driving?



Your toque's too tight, Dougie McKenzie. Click to expand...

JUst for you little T-gurly I will REPOST the professor Gates comment- in case you missed it the first time as I think you might learn something- though we KNOW you will never admit it! Oh- and you have not responded to my reference to the TWO SEPARATE VIDEO statement Or shall I look fopr thaqt tomorrow as your shift as a paid shill is about over for the day?I stand by my assertion that too many black people simply do not know how to deal with cops. The best example is that of professor Gates- the black guy who got arrested early in the first term of Barak Obama. There was a big fuss and to quell the complaints, Obama invited the cop and Gates to the White House to make peace and smooth things over and sadly Obama did NEITHER! He simply PROVED that black people- even a President- dont understand their civil rights and obligations!Consider: Gates is wealthy and a little famous. He is the author of The Classic Slave Narratives- a book documenting the life of some slaves living in the American South. The book was well researched and well received. Gates was already a history professor at some well known university and lived in an upscale neighbourhood someplace outside Washington DC. It is one of those neighbourhoods with houses set well back from the road and with lots of high hedges and such. The sort of place where few people apparently know their neighbours.One weekday morning, Gates was working from home and went out at mid morning to collect his mail. A random gust of wind blew his front door shut and it locked and there he was on the doorstep with no keys. And there was nobody home- wife gone for the day, kids in school etc.So a very angry and frustrated Gates starts circling the house, looking for a way in. Maybe a window lock he can force open , a back door carelessly left unlocked. But there is nothing to be seen and he ends up back at the front door. Gates does not know that a near sighted neighbor has been watching him and does not recognize him as her neighbor. All the old girl can see is some guy trying to break into the house- and that IS what Gates is trying to do! So she phones the cops and reports a prowler and a cruiser with 2 cops arrives at the scene.The 2 cops immediately spot the `prowler` trying to jimmy open the front door and they approach and ask the usual questions: who are you ; where do you live ; why are you trying to break into this house; show us ID? Obvious questions of a SPECIFIED legal sort!And Gates, being an angry black guy- and yeah, being locked out of your own house will provoke a guy- with lots of book learning and NO street smarts at all answers back unwisely! Any white guy in such a situation is smart enough to know that an answer such as : mind your own `fcuking` business will not fly! But that is Gates response and he sticks to it! Because of course the cops ARE taking care of business. They have a prowler on their hands and are LEGALLY required to get an explanation- its their JOB to protect people and property!So they get uncooperative Gates in handcuffs and search him and he has no ID on him and no way to get into the house to retrieve it and prove that he has a right to fiddle with his door locks if it suits him. And the cops cannot simply let Gates go because he WAS CAUGHT red handed trying to break into a house and has offered no explanation and no identification- he has only been loud mouthed and obnoxious! So Gates gets a free ride down to the local station and is held there till he can be identified and then released once he can prove that the whole mess is a screwup brought on by a random gust of wind and his own stupidity!If Gates had immediately told the cops who he was and that he had locked himself out, the cops could have maybe looked up his drivers license, credit cards or other documents and maybe got some proof of identity that way and it would have simplified things. But with Gates being a belligerent and uncooperative prick telling cops nothing, he made the cops do things the hard way. The cops cannot simply let the un-identified prowler/suspect go just because HE demands it! And some knuckleheads want to call this an act of police bigotry? HAHAHAHAHA!Then, to make matters worse, the numbskull Obama has to get involved and act as if it is the cops who have screwed up by arresting a prowler! The cops caught a prowler red handed, one who refused to identify himself and was belligerent and refused to even give his name. Those cops did not know or care whose property they were defending- they were focused only on the attempted break in. Gates got exactly the same treatment as any other suspected felon and ought to be grateful the cops are doing their duty in guarding HIS property! Though cops may not be so quick to rush to that property to answer any future calls since the owner is such a troublesome jackass!Gates was the author of his own misfortune and for him or Obama to say otherwise is clear proof that too many black people do not understand their rights and civil obligations!
PLATTSMOUTH  A Weeping Water woman admitted Monday morning that she had fraudulently collected Medicaid and supplemental assistance money by not being truthful on application forms.

Alisha M. Ridge, 30, pled guilty to one Class IV felony charge of obtaining public services unlawfully during an appearance in Cass County District Court. The state agreed to dismiss a second similar charge in exchange for her plea. The state also agreed to recommend probation at the time of sentencing.

Deputy County Attorney Steven Sunde told the court Ridge had applied for money from Medicaid and the Nebraska Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at various points from April to December 2016. She received $7,771.17 from the two programs through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services during that time.

Applicants for the two programs must fill out multiple forms with information proving they are truly in need of assistance. Sunde said Ridge lied about the amount of income her household was receiving. He said Ridge wrote on the forms that her husband was unemployed and that he did not live at home. Sunde said an investigation revealed Ridges husband was employed at a local business and did live with the family.

Sunde said Ridge had agreed to repay $2,302 of SNAP funds and $5,469.17 of Medicaid funds she had fraudulently obtained. Ridge remains free on bond. The court set a sentencing date of Aug. 14.
This dynamic helped Gov. Laura Kelly win reelection in Kansas

Gov. Laura Kelly won a second term in a historic win in the Kansas governor's race. Her performance in Johnson County helped deliver a narrow victory.
The Samoa Observer Newspaper has filed a statement of defense against a $700,000 lawsuit brought by former E.F.K.S Reverend Opapo Soanai Oeti and his daughter, Toaipuapuaga Patrick.

The matter was called before the Supreme Court yesterday.

The Samoa Observer is represented by Sua Helene Wallwork, of Wallwork Lamb Lawyers.

Mr. Oeti and his daughter are represented by Muriel Lui and Mauga Precious Chang.

The lawsuit targets the publication by the Samoa Observer of a letter to the editor titled Stop this madness by M.R in the Samoa Observers edition of 29 March 2017.

According to the statement of claim, the plaintiffs claim that the letter is defamatory.

As a result, they are asking for general damages of $400,000, aggravated damages of $200,000, punitive damages of $100,000 and costs.

The letter in question was an online comment, in response to a story titled Church stigmata row deepens.

The letter was also the subject of a search warrant by the Police served on the Samoa Observer.

The Samoa Observers statement of defense strongly denies the allegations made by the plaintiffs statement of claim.

Since Easter in 2015, Toaipuapuaga Patrick, has maintained she is carrying the marks of Jesus Christs crucifixion, also commonly referred to as the stigmata.
The woman driving the success of the ANZ Bank in the Pacific region is pleased about the progress of women in the banking sector on these shores.

Tessa Price, who was in Samoa last week for an ANZ Bank conference, told the Samoa Observer that women have come a long way in the Pacific.

Its a great responsibility as a female leader to try and champion diversity, she said.

Price, the first female regional bank leader in the Pacific is very impressed with the number of Samoan women rising to the top level.

I would say coming to the Pacific, females in management roles and leadership roles particularly in Samoa is very, very strong.

However that does not take away the accountability in terms of improving and making sure we create quality for all people.

Price, a dynamic financial services executive with 18 years of experience, believes communication is a vital tool in her line of work.

Price was a recipient of an award of Women in Business in Fiji recently.

I look back and reflect on why we won that award, yes we were champions were talking and were promoting however there are some simple things that made a real difference to a working mom.

Such as having a nursing room, where a working mom can breastfeed and we hadnt had that 12 months prior, we simply created a room.

This is a result of observation of breastfeeding in the car park.

Despite her many roles, at work, Price is a mother of an 11-year-old girl and juggling the schedule between home and work is difficult.

Its really tough, Im not going to lie. My mother is looking after my 11-year- old daughter.

What you try and focus on are the things that are important, that can make a difference. I dont try and be everywhere. I dont believe that just being present is enough.

Price said for her family to work, teamwork is critical.

I do leverage my family in terms of helping me as well. I dont think anyone can do their roles without leaning on their families for help and support.

If theres one thing Price doesnt do is micromanage.

I delegate. You wont hear from me everyday. Because I believe that you hire people for their capability and you allow them to play a role.

She said that method has made her job very easy.

A large part of my job is actually people, people and people. If you get the right people, you get the successful people around you then it makes your role and the organization a lot better as well.

Juggling is hard, its tough, you do miss out on things. And you make choices about what you attend and what you dont attend. You wont see me at all events, but you will see me at the important events that I think either I can make a difference and have a voice that will help the organization in the communitys perspective.

When Price does make time for her daughter, the 11-year-old is the focus, nothing more.

I absolutely, spend time with my daughter. There are certain things, youll never see me do such as talking to my daughter and clearing out my emails.

If Im in a room with my daughter I wont be looking at my phone, if I have to answer a call, Ill excuse myself. She has my full attention when Im with her.
Thank you.

Those two words summed up Aiga Malagas feelings perfectly when she spoke with the Village Voice yesterday.

The 47-year-old of Fasitoo-uta was featured in the Village Voice with a request to the public for a job. Today she is an employed woman.

She has been given a job by the Goshen Trust at Moamoa.

Prior to her current role, she used to work but when she got sick the family decided to hire another person.

But now all her stress and struggles have been taken away because an opportunity has been given to her to work again.

A few days after her interview with the Village Voice team, Aiga said an organisation contacted her.

Im really thankful to the organisation that I now work for, she said.

Im also thankful for the fact that your Village Voice team had visited families in villages back here and not just around the town area.

You know, good jobs are not easy to find. I thank God everyday because I really didnt expect this.

So I got a call two days later after our interview and the manager of Goshen Trust Healthcare asked me to come over.

She started training right away and now she is working.

As you can see, Im on my way to work. I start at 3 and finish at 11.

I love my job and Im very thankful for the second chance to be able to provide for my family.

God bless the Samoa Observer and the Goshen Trust. Thank you.
Always be happy despite the difficult times in life.

Akenese Tuitea Talavou of Tuanai and Salua Manono believes optimism is the key to getting through the tough times.

The 69-year-old is not only full of life but is also a courageous soul for doing everything on her own.

I stay by myself right here where my plantation of koko Samoa (Samoan cocoa) and bananas is, she told the Village Voice team.

I dont have a husband or any children so Im always on my own.

Im not sad about it or anything, thats life.

Im good with food, drinks and everything else because of Gods love.

Its also because of his love that Im still alive today, stronger everyday and I know he never abandons his people.

Akenese has 13 other siblings who have their own families and they are there to help her when needed.

I grew up in a big family who are now living in different parts of the world and most of the time; they send over some stuff for me especially one of my brothers children.

My other brother who stays just down the road from me is a chief.

I think thats the only family I have here.

I do everything on my own but when theres a time that I need help with something, I always ask my brothers but never about money though, because its not in my nature to depend on other people for money.

Im a farmer so I make my money from selling koko and bananas at the market.

I also have my pension which Im saving in case I get sick or need it for emergencies or faalavelave.

I work to develop my own plantation but if I need help with cleaning the lands, then I pay our youth community $50 an hour to help out.

Akenese said she has nothing to worry about because shes strong enough to work for herself.

I have water and electricity but I think the only problem I face sometimes is people stealing from my plantation.

And when they do that, they always ruin my fence, its frustrating.

You know before I had a fence set up, my television got stolen.

So my brothers children were the ones who helped me out and they bought another t.v. for me.

Whenever I need something besides money, I always call them and they provide for me.

We all have bad days but I think bad days build better days.
Its been tough reading the paper during the past few days. Some headlines have certainly grabbed the attention with the lingering question being, what is wrong with some of our people today?

The first story was in the Sunday Samoan under the headline Brother and sister investigated for incest. Well the headline says it all, doesnt it?

According to Acting Police Commissioner, Salaa Moananu Sale, the brother and sister go to the same church where the Pastor has become suspicious about their activities. As a result, he has reported the matter to the Police who have since launched an investigation. If the Police confirm the allegation, the brother and sister will be charged.

Keep in mind that if charges are filed, they will not be the first case in Samoa of this nature. We have had similar cases in the past where we thought it would be the last. But the idea that in 2017 and these incidents are continuing in Christian-state Samoa really does boggle the mind.

As if that wasnt bad enough, another story on the front page of the Samoa Observer on Monday was equally disturbing. Under the headline Man charged for making 13-year-old girl his wife, the story details how the Police had charged a man in his early 40s for sexually violating a 13-year-old girl whom he has made his wife.

Initially the matter was reported to the police at Tuasivi as assault, Salaa told the media.

However the police found out that the accuseds wife is a 13-year-old victim. The accused has been in prison before and he has had previous convictions of theft and burglary.

So how did the Police find out about this little secret?

The victim is the wife of the accused. He assaulted her and she reported the incident to the police, Salaa explained. So when the police investigated the matter they found out through her birth certificate that she is just 13-years-old but they are living as a couple.

This is even more troubling.

So if the girl did not report the matter to the Police when she was assaulted, this would never have surfaced. Which begs the question, where are her parents? What kind of parents would allow their 13-year-old daughter to be made the wife of anyone? This is absolutely sickening. Here is a young girl who could possibly still be in primary school and yet she has already become a housewife? What is wrong with these people?

And if that did not make you angry, this next story will certainly do that.

Yesterday, a story titled Police furious about new baby sex case was beyond this writer. The story is about the sexual violation of two babies, aged two and six, by their male babysitter.

The mother of the victims informed the police that her two daughters ages six and two have been sexually violated by the accused, Salaa said.

The accused is said to be a friend of the mother. Its unclear whether hes the boyfriend, but one thing for sure is that hes a friend of the mother who was babysitting the girls.

According to Salaa, the mother works, leaving her girls with the man.

This is the time the alleged sexual violation occurs.

The mother could also face charges of being negligent with her children.

In the meantime, the Police has issued a stern warning to parents to be vigilant about whom they leave their children with. Salaa stressed that children should be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury or abuse, neglect or negligent treatment, including sexual abuse, while in the care of parents and legal guardians.

We couldnt agree more with the Police.

But in looking at all these three cases, you really have to ask the question, what has become of morality in Samoa today?

Where is the church? What is it doing to stop such repulsive incidents involving immorality of the worst form and violation of basic human rights for these girls?

Let us be reminded today that Samoa has just become an official Christian state.

Dont get us wrong. We dont oppose Samoa becoming a Christian state.

The decision is not necessarily a bad thing and when the actions of this country follow our declaration it can be a most wonderful development.

But lets stop kidding ourselves.

Samoa today is a mess if you use these cases as a measuring stick. Thats because the leaders have allowed corruption and abuse of power to flourish. And enshrining Christianity in our Constitution does not automatically weed out the corruption, abuse and collusion weve been talking about for years, which continues to hurt our people on a daily basis.

The fact is Christianity is not supposed to be a label you wear. It is a daily lifestyle that reflects a persons intimate relationship with his God. Its a personal matter that you dont need to shout from the rooftop.

Anybody can claim to be a Christian, which is probably the biggest problem in Samoa today. But its their integrity and actions which prove who they really are. And thats what matters.

If Samoa wants to make a point about being a Christian state, our behaviour would do a better job to reflect that than another change to the Constitution.

Truth be told, there are far too many dysfunctional families in this country.

In these families, wives are constantly beaten by their abusive husbands for one reason or another. The same men cheat on their wives as if thats normal.

Women are not blameless though. Some also cheat on their husbands and somehow weve developed an attitude of complacency that says its part of life.

All this happens before the eyes of young children.

We live in a time where the moral fibre of society is truly being tested. There are problems with violence, drugs, sex and all sorts of issues involving young people. The question is; where do they learn such behaviour?

If you are a parent, dont blame anyone else. Stop blaming Kopai, Koko and Kalotis children for your childrens behaviour. Look at yourself. I need to look at myself, do a self-inventory first before I look elsewhere.

The truth is that what is happening at home determines a lot of what is happening in Samoa today. Charity after all starts at home. Think about it.
More than 20 years in the making, a billion-dollar Chula Vista hotel and convention center is finally poised to take shape on the citys waterfront.

The San Diego Unified Port District board and Chula Vista City Council will meet Tuesday in a rare joint meeting to approve an agreement with a Houston developer to build a 1,450-room hotel and 275,000-square-foot convention center where aircraft manufacturing and a power plant once existed at the foot of H Street.

If all goes according to plan, construction could begin by the end of 2019 with opening targeted for 2022, officials said. They project an annual economic impact of nearly $400 million with two-thirds going to Chula Vista, plus 3,690 permanent jobs.

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That benefit, though, comes with a cost. The port and city could be on the hook for roughly one-third of the projects pricetag. It is anticipated that roughly $300 million in subsidies would be required, not including interest costs on bonds that would be issued to finance the convention center and infrastructure.

Port Commissioner Ann Moore, who represents Chula Vista on the seven-member board, said the subsidies are necessary to spur development in the remainder of the 550-acre Chula Vista bayfront area and western Chula Vista.

Under the plan, the already existing Bayside Park would be expanded to 24 acres and new bikeways and promenades are planned.

It will be a game changer for the entire region, she said.

City Manager Gary Halbert said that the subsidies will be drawn from tax revenues generated by the development.

From an economic standpoint, its a clear catalyst project and we expect well see on the bayfront itself some very near-term investment, he said.

The port chose Houston-based RIDA Development in 2014 to carry out the project, and RIDA is in discussions with Gaylord Hotels, a large convention hotel brand of Marriott International, to manage the hotel and convention center. Gaylord had previously applied to tackle the project in 2005 but backed off during the recession and several years later was acquired by Marriott.

The port and city are being asked to authorize a non-binding letter of intent with RIDA and follow that up later this year with a development agreement. RIDA would then refine the architectural designs and other details over the next 18 months and the port would approve a coastal development permit that could be appealed to the California Coastal Commission, which Okd the bayfront master plan in 2012.

Under the financing agreement analyzed by Keyser Marston Associates, RIDA and its financial partner, ARES Management, would spend $688 million on the project. The port and Chula Vista would contribute an additional $225 million toward the convention center, $56.3 million on infrastructure and an unstated amount for a 1,500-space public parking garage.

The Chula Vista project comes at a time when San Diego is still pressing for an expansion of its much larger, 28-year-old San Diego Convention Center on the downtown waterfront, although that project remains stalled. Mayor Kevin Faulconer had hoped to ask voters this November to approve a hike in the citys hotel room tax to finance a more than $600 million convention center enlargement, but the City Council has rejected his request to hold a special election this year.

The Gaylord project, say local tourism leaders, is not likely to have much of an effect on the meetings business in San Diego, whether its at the convention center itself or in large downtown hotels that cater to corporate groups and associations.

For one thing, the conventions that could be accommodated in Chula Vista  most likely attracting no more than 1,000 to 2,000 attendees  would not normally gravitate to a large convention center like San Diegos, said Joe Terzi, CEO of the San Diego Tourism Authority. Even the enticement of lower hotel rates than those typical of the citys downtown hotels is not likely to cut into their convention business, Terzi believes.

If Im a group that can afford San Diego, Im not going to be in Chula Vista, said Terzi, who oversees the booking of larger conventions at the San Diego center. The majority of customers were soliciting in San Diego are premium customers who can spend the money in San Diego. I dont see them saying now I can go to Chula Vista and save $50 a night (for a hotel stay).

The size of the project being planned for the Chula Vista bayfront is actually smaller than other Gaylord hotel-convention center complexes it currently operates in Florida, Texas, Tennessee and the Washington, D.C. area. It is partnering with RIDA on a fifth such complex outside of Denver. Those projects offer meeting space that ranges between 400,000 and 600,000 square feet.

The Colorado project, like the one proposed for Chula Vista, received a public subsidy that angered area hoteliers who felt the financial aid helped give the development a competitive advantage in attracting conventions. Their legal challenges to the project funding ultimately failed last year.

Meetings planner executive Deborah Sexton pointed out that the Gaylord hotel and convention center developments have been successful in catering to a fast-growing niche of smaller group meetings and in the process have developed a loyal cadre of return business.

They have a corner on that market and build facilities to fit that 1,000- to 3,000-attendee conference, said Sexton, CEO of Professional Convention Management Association, which represents meeting planners across the country. There are a lot of national sales meetings that fall into this category, smaller medical associations, technology user conferences. And they manage to spin from one destination to another because the projects are all about the same size.

Chula Vista and the port are pledging the projects hotel, sales and property taxes and development fees to cover more than $30 million in anticipated annual bond debt payments. But officials believe the income will exceed those payments after seven years. The city will cover roughly two-thirds of the debt payment. RIDA would not pay ground rent for the tidelands site for the first 18 years but could start sharing profits with the port and the city by the 12th year, according to the port.

Although the port would build and operate the parking garage, RIDA would receive 90 percent of the gross revenues, according to the port staff report.

Keyser Marston said without the subsidy, RIDA would earn only 7.6 percent return on investment, when 10 to 11 percent is the industry standard for developers of large-scale, new resort hotel and convention center projects.

Adam Meyer, the ports director of redevelopment, said a subsidy was always anticipated to get the Chula Vista Bayfront master plan off the ground.

The project can only support a certain amount of equity and debt, added Shaun Sumner, the ports assistant vice president for real estate development, and the port, together with the city, helps fill the missing piece.

Historically, the project began as a counterpoint to the ports funding of the San Diego Convention Center that opened in 1989 and its expansion, completed in 2001. In 1996 the port approved a funding agreement to help underwrite projects in the four other port cities. Chula Vista used its share to plan its port-owned bayfront tidelands. In 1999 the city and port engineered the relocation of the former Rohr Industries operations, which started as an aircraft manufacturer, and the 2013 demolition of the South Bay power plant.

After the original Gaylord plan was abandoned in 2008, the port worked out an exchange, completed last year, of 97 acres owned by Pacifica for a 35-acre parcel on the bayfront where the company plans 1,500 condominiums. The port and city also reached an agreement with several environmental groups to govern wildlife habitat areas and establish design guidelines.

Besides the Gaylord hotel and convention center, RIDA also is seeking priority rights to build a 550-room hotel next door. Another 1,000 rooms in four other hotels are planned elsewhere at the bayfront site.

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roger.showley@sduniontribune.com; (619) 293-1286; Twitter: @rogershowley
PLATTSMOUTH  An Omaha man who stole four bottles of alcohol from a Cass County business will spend time in jail because of a lengthy criminal record.

Charles E. Derrick, 67, appeared in Cass County District Court on Monday morning for a sentencing hearing. He pled guilty in January to one Class IV felony charge of theft by shoplifting-less than $500-third or subsequent offense.

A Cass County Sheriffs Office deputy traveled to the Cubbys convenience store near Greenwood in October for a report of a theft. The deputy learned several people in a Lincoln Town Car had driven away from the store and were westbound on Interstate 80.

Authorities stopped Derricks car after it exited I-80 at the Waverly interchange. Derrick gave a false last name at the beginning of the interview. Other people in the car then told authorities that his real name was Charles Derrick.

Derrick admitted he had taken four bottles of alcohol from Cubbys and placed them inside his coat. Two bottles contained whiskey and two others contained another brand of hard liquor. He then left the store without paying for the items. The bottles were valued at $89.96.

Deputy County Attorney Colin Palm told the court he recommended a prison sentence because of Derricks very long record. He said Derrick had accumulated nearly three dozen convictions for burglary and theft during his lifetime. His criminal history also included charges such as driving under suspension and driving without insurance.

I dont know if Ive ever seen as many charges of burglary, Palm said. Ive counted 35 prior convictions for burglary and theft over the years. Thats as high as I can remember seeing.

Defense attorney Julie Bear said Derrick had several medical issues that needed to be taken into consideration. She said he had been in and out of the hospital for significant medical conditions over the past two years. She said a short jail sentence would also allow Derrick to address chemical dependency issues that had resurfaced.

At first blush a prison sentence may seem to be appropriate, but I do think from a humanitarian standpoint that there is a different route to go, Bear said.

Judge Michael Smith told Derrick that probation was not an option because of his poor performance in a pre-trial release program. He said a sentence in Cass County Jail was also warranted because of his criminal record.

Smith said he chose to limit Derricks jail term to 180 days because of his medical conditions. He said taxpayers would shoulder the burden of Derricks treatment costs if there was a longer period of incarceration. He said he felt 180 days would allow Derrick to repay his debt to society but would limit the cost to taxpayers.

Derrick will spend nine months on post-release supervision after he completes the jail term. He will be required to obtain drug and alcohol treatment services during the post-release supervision process.
Amazon.coms plan to buy Whole Foods Market Inc. sparked an avalanche of discussion about how the online retail giant could transform the U.S. grocery industry in the years ahead.

But Amazons $13.7-billion deal might not be the last word on the merger itself.

Wall Street signaled Monday that it expects a rival offer for Whole Foods to surface, and many industry and merger experts agreed.

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Highly likely, said Lloyd Greif, whose investment firm Greif & Co. specializes in mergers and acquisitions but isnt involved with Whole Foods. Amazon didnt put this out of reach for everybody else in terms of price, he said.

Amazon agreed to pay $42 for each Whole Foods share under their agreement announced Friday. But in trading Monday, Whole Foods closed at $43.22 a share, up 54 cents on the day, indicating that investors expect a higher offer to arrive.

We would not be surprised if there is a bidding war for Whole Foods, the 465-store chain that focuses on natural and organic groceries, analyst Karen Short of Barclays Capital Inc. said in a note to clients Friday.

But Short and others noted that even if Whole Foods gets an alternative offer, the other suitor will be hard-pressed to win a bidding war against Amazon, whose deep pockets include having a total stock-market value of $475 billion. Amazons stock closed Monday at $995.17 a share, up $7.46.

Very few entities could outbid Amazon, Short said.

Nonetheless, she said many will do anything to either make this acquisition more costly for Amazon or to prevent the asset from landing in [Amazons] lap. Thats because Amazon poses such a competitive threat, especially when it comes to putting downward pressure on prices and profit margins.

Short and others suggested other potential bidders include Kroger Co., the parent of the Ralphs and Food4Less supermarket chains; Albertsons, which also owns Vons and Pavilions; and retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc., among others.

Whole Foods, Kroger, Albertsons and Wal-Mart all declined to comment. Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

Whole Foods also might draw a rival offer from one or more large private-equity firms because theres a tidal wave of money thats sloshing around in that industry, said Eric Schiffer, chief executive of the Patriarch Organization, a private-equity firm that isnt involved with Whole Foods.

Amazons $42-a-share offer amounted to a 27% premium above where Whole Foods stock had closed the prior day, at $33.06.

But Whole Foods has struggled in recent years, and the $33.06 price was about half where Whole Foods stock was trading at its peak in October 2013. One problem facing the chain: Conventional supermarkets are stocking more natural and organic products at lower prices than Whole Foods, draining away some of its customers.

Regardless, given the track record of how Amazon and its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, have transformed other retail industries, theres likely concern among grocery executives about Amazons entry into the market. That might result in a rival offer for Whole Foods, analysts said.

Any smart board recognizes its probably smarter to try to pay more for Whole Foods to keep Bezos out of this game, Schiffer said. He could make some shocking changes that could be deadly to some of these [existing] brands.

Rival supermarket chains also would see Whole Foods as a strategic play where they can expand their customer base while trimming duplicate distribution, purchasing and overhead costs, Short said, adding that the savings could total up to $600 million a year.

The Amazon deal was struck after the companies agreed that John Mackey would remain Whole Foods chief executive. That might not be the case if Whole Foods was bought by another grocery chain.

Whole Foods board, of course, has a fiduciary duty to its stockholders to consider any viable takeover offer.

As for Amazons current offer, give Jeff [Bezos] credit, hes getting a great deal here, Greif said.

Whole Foods is part of the creme de la creme of the supermarket industry and is a hand-in-glove fit with the educated, relatively affluent demographic of Amazon customers who pay $99 a year for the sites Prime membership that includes free shipping, video streaming and other services, Greif said.

Ultimately theres nobody who can take it away if [Bezos] really wants it, Greif said, and I think he really wants it.

james.peltz@latimes.com

Twitter: @PeltzLATimes

ALSO

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San Diegos Qualcomm has made a strategic investment in Amionx, a Carlsbad company that has developed technology to prevent fires and explosions in lithium-ion batteries.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed. Qualcomm President Derek Aberle will join Amionxs board of directors.

Amionx is a spin-out of Carlsbad-based American Lithium Energy, which manufacturers portable batteries for the Department of Defense. The company was founded in 2006 by Jiang Fan and Robert Spotnitz, both Ph.D.s with extensive experience in the battery industry.

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American Lithium came up with its patented Safe Core technology during work on a U.S. Department of Energy project to deliver electric vehicle batteries that wont catch fire in a crash. Safe Core acts like a circuit breaker to prevent battery fires. It has been applied to American Lithiums wearable, bullet-safe batteries for the military.

Amionx aims to license its Safe Core technology to other battery makers. The company claims that technology can be added to existing battery manufacturing factories without new equipment and at minimal bill of material expense.

Rechargeable lithium ion batteries are widely used these days, powering everything from smartphones to laptops to electric vehicles.

Though it doesnt happen often, lithium ion batteries can burst into flames if there is a design flaw in the electronic device or the battery itself. In 2006, millions of Dell laptops were recalled when a few Sony-made lithium ion batteries in the computers exploded. Last year, Samsung recalled Galaxy Note 7 after a manufacturing defect caused some to overheat and catch fire.

Battery makers have taken steps to improve safety, but these techniques tend to boost costs and reduce performance  and they still dont guarantee that overcharging, internal shorts or high temperatures wont cause a fire.

As the use of lithium-ion batteries continues to be more pervasive, we will undoubtedly see more incidents of battery fires and explosions  something which Safe Core can prevent, said Jenna King, chief executive of Amionx.

While Qualcomm is known for its smartphone processors and cellular patents, the San Diego company has made investments in wireless charging technology  mostly notably with its Halo system that wirelessly charges electric vehicles.

Retired Qualcomm executive Steve Altman made a personal investment in Amionx earlier this year.

We are excited about the potential for Amionx Safe Core to deliver significant value to suppliers and consumers of lithium-ion batteries across multiple industries, said Aberle, Qualcomms president, in a statement. We believe Safe Core can open new product opportunities for lithium-ion batteries where safety concerns have limited their use to date.

Business

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973
San Diego Union-Tribune real estate reporter Phillip Molnar was honored last week with a Gold Award (first place) for Best International Real Estate Story from the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) at its annual summer conference in Denver.

The judges called Molnars story, which examined a residential building boom in Tijuana and its impact on nearby San Diego, a good example of enterprise reporting considering that Mexico does not have extensive open records laws.

Publications from across the country compete in NAREE awards regardless of their circulation or staff size. Hundreds of entries were filed in the 67th annual NAREE Journalism Competition this past spring, with awards given in 32 categories.

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Apple has latched onto a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that restricts patent holders rights to bolster its increasingly bloody legal war against San Diegos Qualcomm.

The iPhone maker on Tuesday amended its January lawsuit in San Diego federal court that alleges Qualcomm illegally charges too much to license its cellular patents. The amendments include arguments from a May Supreme Court decision that details when certain patent rights are exhausted, which Apple contends is favorable to its case.

In addition, Apple beefed up the penalties it is seeking from Qualcomm by asking for restitution of all excessive (patent) license fees that Apple paid, which could be a large amount if Apple wins and is awarded that remedy.

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The filing increases the pressure in this complicated legal fight between Apple, the worlds largest technology company, and Qualcomm, the top smartphone technology provider. The dispute shows no sign of ending soon.

Apple aims to break Qualcomms technology licensing business model, which would cut its iPhone supply costs.

Apple claims Qualcomm has concocted a scheme that allows it to overcharge for patents. Qualcomm has to top market share in cellular modems that link smartphones to wireless networks. According to Apple, smartphone makers overpay for patent licenses for fear that Qualcomm will cut off their modem supply. Regulators in South Korea and the U.S. have made similar claims.

While Qualcomm wont sell chips to smartphone makers unless they first license its patents, the company denies that it uses its chip business as leverage to extract higher patent fees.

The company points out that smartphone makers pay the same royalty rate  which tops out at 5 percent of the device price  even it they buy modems from Qualcomms rivals such as Intel or MediaTek.

By widely licensing its patents to all smartphone makers, Qualcomm contends it helped grow the wireless industry. That includes enabling Apple to launch the highly profitable iPhone a decade ago with little or no investment in core cellular technology.

Apples amended lawsuit leans on the U.S. Supreme Court decision involving a dispute between copier maker Lexmark International and Impression Products, a third party that refills empty laser toner cartridges.

The ruling centered on when patents are exhausted. The court found that Lexmark couldnt sue for patent infringement once it sold a toner cartridge to a retail buyer because it had exhausted its patent rights with the sale.

Apple argues that once Qualcomm sells chips to a smartphone maker, it cant charge a separate patent licensing fee. Doing so is double dipping. Apple argues that Qualcomm is entitled to just one reward under the Supreme Courts Lexmark decision.

This one reward is either a license fee or the sale price, not both, according to the amended complaint. The Lexmark decision makes it clear that Qualcomms separate sale and license business model is an illegal practice.

In a statement, Qualcomm General Counsel Don Rosenberg said Apple knowingly distorts the large amount of Qualcomm technology thats used in iPhones and iPads.

The companys patents  130,000 worldwide  cover much more than a single modem chip. They read on system level technologies for the entire mobile network, including techniques that boost download and upload speeds,allow high precision GPS navigation, app store operations, power management and battery efficiency, mobile video, including advanced compression, graphics, camera and facial recognition technologies, sound quality and audio file compression, airplane mode, auto lock, mobile hot-spot technology and more.

For this, Qualcomm charges Apples contract iPhone manufacturers a per device royalty fee that is less than what Apple charges consumers for a single wall plug, said Rosenberg.

Qualcomms innovations are at the heart of every iPhone and enable the most important use cases and features of those devices, he said.

Qualcomms shares ended trading Tuesday down 82 cents at $56.79 on the Nasdaq exchange.

ALSO:

Samsung sides with FTC in anti-trust case against Qualcomm

Apples lawsuit against Qualcomm signals escalating war on business model

Under Trump administration, FTC lawsuit against Qualcomm could disappear

Qualcomm faces FTC lawsuit over patent licensing

Qualcomm slapped with $865 million fine from S. Korea regulator

Qualcomm to pay $975 million in China probe

Business

mike.freeman@sduniontribune.com;

Twitter:@TechDiego

760-529-4973

UPDATES:

This article was updated at 2 p.m. Tuesday..
Its a new era for Uber. Tuesday, the company announced a fundamental shift in policy that grants its independent contractors the thing theyve requested most: an in-app tipping feature.

With the change, drivers in Seattle, Minneapolis and Houston can now accept e-tips, should customers opt to leave them, following each ride or delivery.

The company says it is testing app-based tipping in these markets to identify the best experience, but expects to extend the long-requested perk to its drivers in all U.S. markets by the end of July.

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Youve told us what you want, and now its time we step up and give you the driving experience you deserve, because simply put, Uber wouldnt exist without you, the company said in an email sent to all of its U.S. drivers.

The email also promises drivers 180 Days of Change, which Uber describes as a six-month period where it will make meaningful changes to the driving experience.

The first batch of improvements is meant to help drivers make more money. Beyond tipping, drivers can expect to be paid for waiting more than two minutes for a rider and will now get a cancellation fee if a rider cancels after after more than two minutes (versus five minutes before).

But tipping is the biggest change of all. Since its founding, Uber has held steadfast to the position that adding an electronic tipping function would complicate the convenience of its mobile app.

The company continued to maintain that policy even in light of a class-action settlement with drivers last year that required Uber to amend its driver policy to allow Uber drivers to accept cash tips. The new language, however, seemed deliberately ambiguous, with Uber noting to riders and customers of its offshoot app, UberEats, that tipping is not included, nor is it expected or required.

Coincidentally or not, the about-face comes just a week after Ubers CEO Travis Kalanick retreated on an indefinite leave of absence from the company. His temporary departure is part of a business-wide restructuring designed to address cultural problems, which were publicized in February by a former female engineer who described a sexually charged and hostile work environment.

By adding in-app tips, Uber cant erase months of bad publicity, but it can win some favor with drivers, who have long criticized Uber for treating them poorly. Drivers, who often moonlight for multiple companies, have also had the option of collecting tips through rival service Lyft, and are primarily motivated to drive more for the app that makes them the most money.

Business

jennifer.vangrove@sduniontribune.com (619) 293-1840 Twitter: @jbruin
Lemon Grove is providing lunches all summer long to kids 18 and under thanks to a $20,000 grant awarded earlier this year through the National League of Cities.

The league works with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers several federally-funded afterschool and summer meal programs. Funding is guaranteed year-to-year, and organizations operating the programs are fully reimbursed for the cost of the meals.

Funds are provided by CHAMPS, Cities Combating Hunger through Afterschool and Summer Meals Programs.

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The lunches, offered Monday through Friday, are prepared by employees of the Lemon Grove School District and the Grossmont Unified High School District as well as the nonprofit Heavens Windows, based out of Spring Valley.

Meal sites, dates and locations are as follow:

Lemon Grove Academy Middle School, 3121 School Lane, Noon to 12:30 p.m., June 19-July 14

Vista La Mesa Academy Auditorium, 3900 Violet St., La Mesa, 12:15 to 12:45 p.m., June 19-July 14

San Miguel Elementary Auditorium, 7059 San Miguel Ave., Lemon Grove, 12:20 to 12:40 p.m., June 19-30

San Altos Elementary, 1750 Madera St., Lemon Grove, 12:05 to 12:25 p.m., June 19 to July 14

Citronica Community Room, 7775 North Ave., Lemon Grove, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., June 19-Aug. 22

Lemon Grove Recreation Center, 3131 School Lane, 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. July 17-Aug. 22

No meals will be served on July 4 in observance of Independence Day.

The program is also available to children who live outside Lemon Grove, as long as they are 18 or under, said management analyst Miranda Evans.

According to the League of Cities, during the 2015-16 school year, more than 20 million children received free or reduced-price school lunches and more than 12.1 million children received free or reduced-price school breakfasts.

On an average day in July 2016, 3 million children participated in summer nutrition programs, the league said.

The National League of Cities and the Food Research and Action Center supported more than 70 cities, 100,000 kids and served more than 10 million meals to children across the country last summer.
Farmers hoping to grow pot for profit spoke up this week in Oceanside at the first in a series of workshops looking at how the city might legalize the cultivation of medical marijuana.

This could be the turning point for at least our local farmers, said Larry Molina, a longtime grower outside the city and an Oceanside resident for 20 years.

Molina and others in the agriculture business said cannabis could replace tomatoes, avocados and other crops that are being pushed out of North County by the high costs of real estate, water and labor. Marijuana promises big profits for farmers and healthy tax revenue for cities, and has been discussed as a potential agri-tourism attraction in the Morro Hills area of northeastern Oceanside.

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Speakers at Mondays workshop  hosted by an ad hoc committee studying the issue  included Molina, who said hes grown marijuana in Northern California for 15 years; Oceanside activists David and Amber Newman, who already operate a cannabis nursery in unincorporated North County; and Eric Larson, executive director of the nonprofit San Diego County Farm Bureau.

The Farm Bureau strongly supports cannabis cultivation, Larson said. There is a strong local demand for the product that needs to be supplied, he added.

If its not produced here, its going to be produced somewhere else, he said.

Legalized cultivation will ensure that growers follow environmental regulations concerning things such as pesticides, fertilization, irrigation and testing, he said. Individual plants will be traced from seed to sale.

About 80 people attended Mondays meeting, which was focused on cultivation. The committee has scheduled four more sessions to discuss production-related subjects including banking, testing, dispensaries and distribution, with plans to report back to the City Council in September.

We are in the information-gathering stage, said Councilman Jerry Kern, who serves on the ad hoc committee with Councilman Chuck Lowery and city Treasurer Rafe Edward Trickey Jr. The more I hear, the more I need to know.

Proposition 64, passed by voters in November, allows the sale and cultivation of recreational marijuana and says the state can begin issuing licenses to marijuana businesses Jan. 1, unless local jurisdictions prevent them.

Several North County cities including Carlsbad, Escondido, Poway and San Marcos prohibit marijuana dispensaries. Oceanside has banned dispensaries, but allows medical marijuana deliveries in the city.

Vista is considering an ordinance that would allow medical marijuana dispensaries.

philip.diehl@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @phildiehl
Palomar Health will pay Poway $300,000 to settle a lawsuit linked to a billing snafu in which the city charged Pomerado Hospital only a fraction of the water the facility used over a seven-year period.

The error began in 2008 after a new water meter was installed at the hospital, and persisted until 2015 when city officials realized the numbers didnt add up. By then the shortfall was estimated at $800,000.

After the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Poway filed a lawsuit in December against Palomar Health  the public healthcare district that owns the hospital  to recoup the money.

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The settlement announced this week avoids future costly litigation, city officials said; both sides agreed to pay their own legal fees.

Poway City Manager Tina White confirmed the terms of the deal Tuesday and said the city appreciates our long-standing relationship with the hospital board and leadership and looks forward to moving past this matter.

Mayor Steve Vaus said it was good to have the dispute in the rear-view mirror.

A spokesman for Palomar Health declined to comment because the settlement has not yet been officially entered into court records.

Californias statute of limitations restricts how many years back billing errors can be remedied. City officials previously estimated they could legally recover three- to four-years in underpayments.

City officials have said the problem began when workers installed a new consolidated water meter at the hospital, then incorrectly entered data from the meter into the citys computer system. Instead of the six digits reflected on the meter, only five digits were recorded in the citys database  the maximum number the program allowed. The result: 100,000 units of water became 10,000, for example.

The city acknowledged the fault was its own, but it strongly suggested that Palomar Health must have noticed the drastic decrease in its water bills.

Before the new meter was installed, Pomerado Hospitals annual water bills averaged $150,000 to $200,000. After the meter was installed they were only charged $15,000 to $20,000 each year.

The city made a mistake in reading the meter, Vaus said shortly after the lawsuit was filed in December. However that doesnt change the fact that they used the water and they need to pay for the water.

jharry.jones@sduniontribune.com; 760/529-4931; Twitter: @jharryjones
In summertime, school may be on pause, but the need to feed hungry children is not.

To that end, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Summer Food Service Program has launched its annual effort to make sure that children continue to eat nutritious meals when school is out.

This summer, the program plans to serve breakfasts and/or lunches to children up to age 18 at approved sites, including schools, libraries and community centers. The meals are free to any children in the community, regardless of which schools they attend, and no forms or paperwork are required.

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To find free meals near you, text FOOD (or COMIDA) to 877-877, call 211, visit https://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sh/sn/summersites17.asp or check with your local school district, library, Boys & Girls Club or community center. Most locations will be closed July 4.

Among the sites offering free daily meals (except as noted):

Carlsbad Unified School District

Jefferson Elementary, 10:45-11:15 a.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, June 27 through July 28.

Also: Boys and Girls Club of Carlsbad, noon-12:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, now through Aug. 18. Call (760) 331-5060.

Escondido Union High School District

No Fridays at most sites.

Escondido High School, 7-8 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. through July 13

Orange Glen High School, 7-8 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.-12:30 p.m. through July 10

San Pasqual High School, 7-8 a.m. and 9:45 a.m.-1 p.m. through July 10

Valley High School, 9:45 a.m.-1 p.m. through July 10

Del Lago Academy, 10:15-10:45 a.m. through June 29

Also: Washington Park, 8-9 a.m., 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. June 26 through Aug. 8, Monday through Friday; Grove Park, noon-12:30 p.m. June 27 through Aug. 4, Tuesdays through Thursdays only; Iglesia Latina Emanuel, 152 E. Fifth Ave., 5:30-6 p.m., July 31-Aug. 3, no Fridays.

Fallbrook Union Elementary School District

Monday through Friday.

Fallbrook Street School, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. through July 14

La Paloma School, 11 a.m.-noon, through July 14.

Also: Boys & Girls Club, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. through July 28

Oceanside Unified School District

Launching with family-friendly barbecues from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. June 22 at Balderrama Park (709 San Diego St.) and June 29 at Libby Lake Park (504 Calle Montecito).

Mealtime is usually 30 minutes at the following sites:

Abby Reinke Youth Center, Camp Pendleton: 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., now through Aug. 10

Balderrama Park, 12:30 p.m. through Aug. 10

Boys & Girls Club, 401 Country Club Lane, noon and 3 p.m. through Aug. 10

Oceanside Library, 11:30 a.m. through Aug. 10

Clair Burgener Academy, 8:20 a.m., through June 30

Crown Height Recreational Center, 7:45 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., through Aug. 10

El Camino High School, 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. Monday through Thursday, through July 19

Fireside Park, 10 a.m. through Aug. 10

Laurel Elementary, 7:30 a.m. and 10 a.m., through Aug. 10

Libby Lake Park, 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. through Aug. 10

Libby Elementary, 9 a.m. and noon, through July 28

McAuliffe Elementary, noon and 4 p.m. through Aug. 10

Melba Bishop Center, 9 a.m. and noon, through Aug. 10

Nichols Elementary, 8:10 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. through July 12, closed July 3

North Terrace Elementary, 8:30 and 11 a.m. through July 13

Oceanside High School, 7:30 and 10 a.m. through July 19

Palmquist Elementary, noon and 3 p.m. through Aug. 10

Ramona Unified School District

Ramona Elementary, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and Ramona High School, 10-11:30 a.m. through July 14; closed July 3-4. Adults can buy lunch for $4.

Also: Ramona Public Library: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. through Aug. 17

San Marcos Unified School District

Mealtimes generally one hour. Call (760) 752-1253.

Joli Ann Elementary, 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. June 26-July 28

San Marcos Elementary, 8 and 11 a.m. June 26-Aug. 4

Twin Oaks Elementary, 7:45 and 11:30 a.m. June 30-July 28

Mission Hills High School, 9:30 a.m. June 26-Aug. 3

San Marcos High School, 9:30 a.m. July 31-Aug. 16

Valley Center

Valley Center Public Library: noon (lunch) and 3 p.m. (snack), through Aug. 4; also, free produce drop all day Tuesdays and Thursdays through Aug. 4

Vallecitos Elementary School District

Free summer school program serves breakfast and lunch from July 5 through Aug. 11. Hours are 8:15 a.m.-2 p.m. daily at the elementary school, 5211 Fifth St., Rainbow.

Vista Unified School District

Mealtimes Monday through Friday, generally one hour. Call (760) 726-2170, ext. 92400; visit www.WaveCrestCafe.com.

Alta Vista High School, Maj. Gen. Murray High, Rancho Buena Vista High, 10 a.m. through June 30

Bobier Elementary, 8 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. through June 30

Breeze Hill Elementary, Temple Heights Elementary, 11:30 a.m. through July 14, also July 17 through Aug. 11

Foothill-Oak Elementary, 10:30 a.m. through July 31

Hannalei Elementary, 11:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. through July 7

Maryland Elementary, 11:30 a.m. through July 21

Monte Vista Elementary, 10:30 a.m. through July 14

Olive Elementary, 10:45 a.m. through July 7

Vista Academy (VAPA), 11 a.m. through Aug. 4

Vista Adult Transition Center, 11 a.m. through July 14

Vista Magnet Middle School, noon through June 30

Also: Luz Duran Park, 11 a.m. through Aug. 4; Boys & Girls Club, noon through Aug. 11; Vista Public Library, noon-1 p.m. through Aug. 4

laura.groch@sduniontribune.com
The music world is still in shock over the May 17 suicide of Chris Cornell, the veteran solo artist and lead singer in the bands Soundgarden and Audioslave.

Now comes The Promise, which is apparently the last video Cornell worked on before his death at the age of 52. Inspired by the plight of refugees worldwide, the video for the song was released Tuesday to coincide with World Refugee Day. You can watch the video here and learn more about the song below.

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Cornell wrote the song for the 2016 feature film, The Promise. A lyric video came out in March, but the newly released version is the official video for the song. He filmed it in Brooklyn, N.Y., shortly before his passing.

At the time its release Cornell said:  The Promise to me is mainly about paying homage to those we lost in the Armenian Genocide, but its also about shining a light on more recent atrocities. The same methods used in the Armenian genocide were used to carry out crimes against humanity in Bosnia, Darfur, Rwanda and right now in Syria on multiple fronts, contributing to a massive global refugee crisis.

Unfortunately, the words never again seem like just words when we recall these mass executions of the twentieth century, as well as renewed racism and prejudice around the world. Even in the U.S., the warning signs  isolating groups based on race and religion  are evident.

We really need to tell these stories and keep telling them in as many different ways as we can. As humans, we have a tremendous capacity to trudge ahead in our lives and not look at the difficult and challenging moments... but I think its important. Educating ourselves on the past is the best way to understand the present and avoid future atrocities by understanding and intervening. We must educate and stand as one to combat this fear and violence, and as citizens of the world, work to protect each others human rights.

In a separate statement released Tuesday, The Promise film producer Eric Esrailian said: Although it is bittersweet because Chris filmed his performance in Brooklyn, N.Y., shortly before his passing, he wanted his video to be released on World Refugee Day, and he was passionate about helping people through this project.

True to Chriss charitable spirit, he made a commitment to donate all of his proceeds from The Promise to support refugees and children, and to further the conversation about the refugee crisis the world continues to endure.

Twitter @georgevarga

george.varga@sduniontribune.com
Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD) is working hard to turn the lights back on following a supercell of thunderstorms that produced hurricane-level straight winds, hail and downpours of precipitation last Friday evening.

NPPD, which serves 80 communities in Nebraska including Plattsmouth, is progressing with restoration of its services. Were anticipating by tonight (June 19) the bulk of our customers will be back on, said NPPD Accounts Manager Craig Vincent. Based on our outage map, we had 31 customers without power, so we4 are getting the numbers down. We started with 2,700 out Friday night.

NPPD Corporate Media Supervisor Mark Becker said crews are working into the evening on outages. Tomorrow, they will walk down all the circuits to double check them, he said.

Becker said residents with a downed service line running from a pole to their home need to contact a licensed electrician to do the repairs.

We have heard reports that electricians are having a hard time staying ahead of us, and materials and supplies are running short, Vincent said.

Vincent said most of the damage was in the north and west in Plattsmouth. It was primarily all tree damage, he said. Most of our primary feeders were not impacted, but we have a lot of areas we had to go in and clear trees.

NPPD hired a professional tree trimmer from Red Oak, Iowa, to clear the trees. We had to get trees out of the way so we could follow lines behind the tree debris, he said.

NPPD, as a state-wide utility company, calls on all of its resources when traumatic events impact services. When we have an outage of this magnitude, we call on our resources. We typically do that to get power restored quickly, Becker said.

NPPD crews from Norfolk, Kearney, York, Bloomfield, Milford, Hartington, Lexington, Tekamah, Humboldt, Pawnee City, Homer and South Sioux City came to Plattsmouth to help.

We had crews on the ground working Friday evening. Even our own people in Plattsmouth were impacted. They had damage to their homes and service outages, so our initial response team came from York, South Sioux City and Kearney. We draw on a number of resources. No community wants to go through what youre going through.

Becker and Vincent thanked Plattsmouth patrons for their patience.

Patience is not always available, but we monitor a lot of our Facebook comments and basically, 95 percent of them were positive, Becker said.

Plattsmouth High School athletes gave up their training time Monday morning to help with the cleanup efforts. Jennifer Serkiz organized volleyball team members in buying lunches for NPPD crew members from Plattsmouth Hy-Vee.

That was a great gesture on the communitys part, Vincent said.

Serkiz said Hy-Vee was very generous in its donation to the cause.

Plattsmouth Hy-Vee Store Director Craig Todd understood the panic and damage the storm caused. Todd was working in the store Friday night. People scrambled to get in the store when it hit.

It looked like a lot of people were coming in for shelter, he said.

Hy-Vee lost its power at 8:15 p.m. as well. We used a back-up generator. Any time there is an interruption, the generator will start running, he said.

The back-up generator kept the lights on, phones ringing and cash registers running, but it was not enough to power the ovens, refrigerators and air-conditioning.

Todd said a second generator was hooked up to the store as quickly as possible. It was huge. It was the size of a U-Haul truck, he said.

Before it arrived, some food items were potentially ruined without the power. We lost a little bit, but at midnight Friday we had Highland Roberts deliver a refrigerated trailer. We put our milk products on it and when the power came back, we put it back on the shelves. It was nice to get the generator to take care of it, he said. Without it we wouldnt have been able to serve customers like we did.

People came in to purchase dry ice, breakfast and coffee. It was nice that we were able to provide that. For many of them getting a cup of coffee was just peace of mind. They had other things on their minds like not having power, damaged homes and downed trees. They needed a hot cup of coffee or a warm breakfast, he said.
The Navy has filed criminal charges against an officer in the Fat Leonard scandal, setting the stage for the first military trial in a corruption investigation that has consumed the service for the past four years, documents show.

Navy officials have kept the officers name a secret since he was charged in March with conspiring with Leonard Glenn Francis, a rotund Malaysian defense contractor, to recruit and bribe other Navy officials to join a massive scheme to defraud the Navy.

On Monday, the Navy released charging documents that deleted the officers name but listed his rank as an active-duty commander and said he allegedly accepted prostitutes, travel and other gifts worth about $5,000 from Francis in 2012 and 2013.

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Among the alleged bribes were a gift of four suckling pigs, as well as tickets to a Julio Iglesias concert and a Gucci fashion show for the officer and his wife, according to the charging documents.

Navy officials said the commanders name would be made public at a preliminary hearing next week in Norfolk. If the case proceeds to trial, it would mark the first time the Navy has court-martialed anyone in the scandal.

Francis was arrested by federal agents in 2013 in a sting operation in San Diego and has since pleaded guilty to bribing scores of Navy officials in a decades-long scam to overcharge the Navy at least $35 million for resupplying its ships in Asia.

Since then, the Justice Department has filed federal criminal charges against 21 current and former Navy officials, as well as Francis and five of his employees.

In court filings, the federal investigation has exposed an extensive level of corruption in the Navys 7th Fleet, which covers maritime operations throughout Asia. Francis ingratiated himself with senior officers and contracting personnel by throwing extravagant parties with prostitutes and, in some cases, bribing Navy officials with envelopes of cash.

In addition to those facing federal criminal charges, the Justice Department has referred 200 cases involving Navy personnel to the Pentagon for possible discipline or prosecution under military law.

The Navy, however, has been secretive about its investigations and has said little publicly about one of the most embarrassing episodes in its history.

Records show that four admirals have been reprimanded or disciplined for their ties to Francis since 2015, but Navy officials have declined to say how many other personnel have been punished or fined.

Two defense lawyers familiar with the Navys investigations said that charges have been filed against at least three other Navy officials and that more potential courts-martial are expected in the coming weeks.

In addition to conspiracy, the Navy commander who faces a military court hearing next week has been charged with graft, bribery, making a false official statement, violation of lawful orders and adultery, which is illegal under military law. He is currently assigned to the Naval Air Force Atlantic.

According to the charging documents, the commander accepted bribes from Francis in Singapore, Thailand, South Korea and Hawaii between March 2012 and September 2013.

The last specific offense described in the documents occurred in August 2013, when the commander allegedly sent a message to Francis asking him for a bottle of Cristal Champagne.

Francis was arrested about a month later in San Diego, along with several other defendants in the case.

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cprine@sduniontribune.com
Fearing the brass might have doomed a San Diego SEALs defense against rape allegations, a military appeals court has taken the unusual step of barring all Navy and Marine Corps judges from rehearing the case.

Issued Monday by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., the order remands the case to a special master in San Diego.

That investigator, drawn from another military branch, will probe whether the Navys top lawyer  Vice Adm. James Crawford III  illegally conspired with then-Rear Adm. Patrick Lorge, commander of the San Diego-based Navy Region Southwest. The two men allegedly agreed to scuttle the defense of Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator Keith Barry, who was convicted in a 2015 court-martial.

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That the court saw fit to prevent any naval officer from presiding over the case speaks volumes about the impropriety of (Crawfords) actions, said David Sheldon, Barrys attorney in Washington, D.C. Senior Chief Barry remains confident that justice will prevail in the end. It is high time that those in the Navy responsible for this unprecedented action are held accountable.  A war hero has been wrongly convicted because of the Navys top lawyers unlawful actions. The time is now for justice.

No longer in the military, Barry was sentenced to three years imprisonment and a dishonorable discharge. But he has never stopped fighting to clear his record and his name.

As a member of Seal Team 8, Barry went on nine overseas deployments. In the battle for Fallujah, Iraq, he conducted more than 150 combat missions, according to the testimony of fellow sailors.

He was twice awarded the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor but suffers from brain injuries after repetitive exposure to roadside mines, grenades and other explosions.

His court-martial stems from a brief romance he had with a civilian woman. In court, she said Barry raped her. He said she lied about their consensual relationship to get even with him after he refused to continue dating her.

Military law allows commanders who convene court-martial proceedings to nix a ruling they believe is unjust.

Lorge approved the court-martial conviction against Barry. However, he claimed in an affidavit filed recently in the case that he actually wanted to overturn it based on serious misgivings about the evidence against Barry, because that evidence failed to support the alleged victims account of events.

Lorge has alleged that Crawford encouraged him to let the verdict stand so it would appease congressional critics of the military justice system and the administration of President Barack Obama. Crawford believed the Navy needed to project a tougher face against sexual assault and warned Lorge that repealing the verdict likely would end his career, Lorge claimed.

Sworn statements by two junior Navy attorneys assigned to Lorges command appear to back up his version of events, alleging that he confided to them that Crawford wanted him to let Barrys conviction stick.

Now retired, Lorge hasnt commented publicly about his own affidavit or the Barry case. He apologized in his May 5 affidavit, asking the appellate judges to forgive my failure in leadership and right the wrong that I committed in his case and allow a man to remain innocent.

Although The San Diego Union-Tribune continues to press senior Navy officials for statements about actions by Crawford and other commissioned officers in the Barry case, they have declined to comment.

At Navy Region Southwest, officials have said they cannot comment on the case while its still being litigated.

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The bodies of seven sailors, including two from San Diego County, left Japan yesterday bound for Dover Air Force Base in the United States.

The sailors were killed on Saturday when their ship, the Navy destroyer Fitzgerald, collided with a massive container ship off of Japan.

The commander of Naval Forces Japan shared the news on social media.

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Fitzgerald 7 are headed home; just left Japan via @374AirliftWing. #FITZ crew, family on hand to say goodbye w @CNORichardson, @NavyMCPON  COMNAVFORJAPAN (@COMNAVFORJAPAN) June 20, 2017

Two San Diego County sailors are among the dead. They are Petty Officer 2nd Class Carlos Victor Ganzon Sibayan, 23, from Chula Vista and Petty Officer 3rd Class Shingo Alexander Douglass, 25, from San Diego.

Theres no information yet on local services.

The ships commanding officer and two other crew members were medically evacuated after the cargo ship Crystal ran into the destroyers starboard side at night. They have since been released from the hospital, officials said.

Welcome to The Intel, a blog examining the hot military news of the day

Volunteers have rushed to help the remaining crew members, after the ship limped back to port in Yokosuka, Japan, this weekend.

Sailors from other units have pitched in to stand watches on the ship, freeing up the Fitzgerald crew to recover.

The mangled destroyer suffered flooding in two berthing compartments, where sailors were asleep in their bunks. As a result, some sailors lost all of their belongings.

Fingers are flying in Yokosuka to prepare new uniforms for the Fitzgerald sailors. The Navy released photos of volunteers sewing USS Fitzgerald patches on dress-white uniforms, blue working uniforms and other gear.

Support ranged across the board, whether its providing berthing for sailors or having uniform drives, said Cmdr. Douglas Pegher, commanding officer of guided-missile destroyer Stethem, another Yokosuka-based ship.

Some sailors lost everything. And the base really pulled together.

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Facebook: U-T Military

Twitter: @jensteeley

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Rep. Susan Davis will host a forum where combat veterans can share with the communities they left for the battlefield some of their experiences from the wars they fought.

The San Diego Democrat will hold the event on Saturday in El Cajon. Her office said combat veterans will share their stories with civilians who might not understand their experiences in the military.

Its a chance for veterans to talk about how war affects their relationship with their family, friends and communities, and for civilians to become more compassionate and understanding by hearing their experiences, Davis office said.

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Davis had a similar event last year just before Veterans Day. Veterans were given 10 minutes to speak to tell a story, read a letter home or a part of a journal, or explain a photograph. They would talk about their pride, grief, rage, or quiet appreciation of life that their experience caused.

Her office said combat veterans from World War II to the war on terrorism and several U.S. conflicts in between spoke at last years event.

The forums are inspired by a Vanity Fair essay by Sebastian Junger, the director of Restrepo, a documentary about an Army platoon in Afghanistans Korengal Valley.

Junger wrote that people who fight in wars sometimes feel like their experiences arent appreciated by people who havent.

The shocking disconnect for veterans isnt so much that civilians dont know what they went through  its unrealistic to expect anyone to fully understand another persons experience  but that what they went through doesnt seem relevant back home, he wrote.

There are several ways to help a community better understand veterans experiences, encourage them and help them with smoother transition into civilian life after a war. Junger said such forums is one of them.

 a community ceremony like that would finally return the experience of war to our entire nation, rather than just leaving it to the people who fought, Junger wrote.

The event runs from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 24. It will be held at the Ronald Reagan Community Center at 195 E. Douglas Ave. in El Cajon.

People who wish to attend should RSVP through Davis website. Seating is limited.

Davis asks that veterans who are interested in sharing their combat experience to contact her office at 619-280-5353.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
A long-standing plan to build a new Roman Catholic cathedral in Tijuana got a new push on Monday, with the launching of a design competition by Archbishop Francisco Moreno Barron.

The schedule calls for the selection of the winning design by mid-November. The idea is to present the architectural plan as an offering to Mexicos patron saint, the Virgin of Guadalupe, on her Dec. 12th feast day.

The future cathedral will be an emblematic work, majestic and representative of the Archdiocese of Tijuana and all of California, on the worlds largest border, the archbishop said.

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Tijuanas current Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe Cathedral, was built in 1909 as a parish church, and designated as a cathedral in 1964. The new cathedral would be located in the Rio Zone, across from Tijuana City Hall, and also carry the saints name.

The vision for a new Tijuana cathedral goes back some four decades. Moreno scrapped the latest design in April, and replaced the board, he said, after finding little support for the project.

The archbishop said at the time that the design does not seem like a Catholic temple, and even less like a cathedral, according to the website La Jornada.

Unlike other Mexican cities that were built in the Spanish colonial model, Tijuana has always lacked a central gathering place, said historian David Pinera Ramirez, who will join the archbishop and four others on the jury charged with selecting the final design.

The new cathedral will give the city the hub that it has continued to lack, Pinera said.

For the new structure, the archdiocese is inviting proposals for a plan that includes a main chapel with room for 2,500 people.The successful submission would also include an atrium, possibly with sculptures of the apostles and saints connected to the region, including Saint Juniper Serra and Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

Foreign architects are invited to participate, but only if they are associated with a Mexican architect or studio.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com

@sandradibble
A Los Angeles County coroners report released on Monday revealed a mixture of drugs that were in actress Carrie Fishers system when she went into cardiac arrest on an L.A.-bound flight and later died.

Fishers toxicology review found evidence of cocaine, methadone, MDMA (better known as ecstasy), alcohol and opiates when she was rushed to Ronald Reagan UCLA Hospital on Dec. 23, a toxicology report showed.

The test results suggests there was an exposure to heroin, but that the dose and time of exposure cannot be pinpointed. Therefore we cannot establish the significance of heroin regarding the cause of death in this case.

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The tests revealed that the cocaine would have been consumed within the previous 72 hours, according to the autopsy.

Four days later on Dec. 27, Fisher went into cardiac arrest. After 90 minutes of attempting to revive her, officials declared the Star Wars actress dead just before 9 a.m.

Her cause of death was listed as sleep apnea with other factors.

In addition to the listed cause of death, the coroners statement cited other conditions: atherosclerotic heart disease, drug use.

It also said: How Injury Occurred: Multiple drug intake, significance not ascertained.

Carrie Fisher opened up about her demons  and knew she wouldnt have a Hollywood ending

At familys request, medical examiners did not dissect the corpse. Instead, they conducted CT scans of the body.

In this case the family requested no autopsy, said Brian Elias, chief of investigations. We try to honor the familys wishes when possible.

Among other observations, examiners noted a tattoo of a moon and stars on the bodys right ankle, and extensive metallic dental restoration.

Fishers daughter, Billie Lourd, issued a statement to People magazine Friday night linking her mothers death to drug use.

My mom battled drug addiction and mental illness her entire life. She ultimately died of it. She was purposefully open in all of her work about the social stigmas surrounding these diseases, Lourd told People.

Fishers brother, Todd Fisher, responded to the official cause of death on Friday.

His sisters battle with drugs and bipolar disorder slowly but surely put her health in jeopardy over many, many years, he said. I honestly hoped we would grow old together, but after her death, nobody was shocked.

Drug use can exacerbate sleep apnea with potentially fatal results, but the report does not make clear whether Fisher took any drugs on the day in December when she suffered a cardiac incident on the international flight.

1 / 9 The Gay Mens Chorus of Los Angeles sings during the memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher near their grave at Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood Hills. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 9 R2-D2 says goodbye under a giant photograph of Carrie Fisher during the memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher at the Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in the Hollywood Hills. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 9 Actress Ruta Lee speaks during memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 9 Students from the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio perform during the memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 9 The Gay Mens Chorus Los Angeles sings during the memorial Under one of the many images that was flashed on a screen in the background. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 9 Dan Aykroyd speaks during the memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 9 Todd Fisher hugs R2D2 at a memorial for Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds at Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood Hills. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 9 After the memorial, friend Shari Wilson of Los Angeles touches the Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher grave site at Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 9 Katie Walker, 35, Of Joshua Tree, has a Princess Leia tattoo on her shoulder. After a memorial for Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher, fans visited the grave site at Forest Lawn Memorial Park-Hollywood Hills. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)

Her assistant told authorities that Fisher slept most of the flight and had a few apneic episodes during the journey, which was usual, the coroners report said. Toward the end of the flight, Fisher could not be stirred awake, the report states. A few minutes later, she began vomiting profusely and slumped over, the report stated.

Before arrival, a pilot told the control tower that nurses onboard were attending to an unresponsive passenger.

Theyre working on her right now, the pilot said in a public recording of the conversation on liveatc.net.

The daughter of Hollywood couple Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, Carrie Fisher was essentially born into show business.

She made her film debut in 1975, starring in the comedy Shampoo with Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn. But she etched herself permanently into the consciousness of the movie-going public as Princess Leia in the 1977 sci-fi classic Star Wars.

While she never quite escaped that role, which made her a sex symbol to a generation of geeky adolescents, she gained a degree of literary respect a decade later with the publication of Postcards From the Edge, a novel about an actress battling drug addiction.

A series of nonfiction books, including Wishful Drinking and The Princess Diarist, cemented her reputation as a serious author.

In her books and at public speaking events, Fisher was open about her struggles in the movie business and her prickly relationship with her mother. She was also outspoken about her mental health issues and the drastic solution she found: electric shock therapy.

Reynolds had a stroke after her daughters death and died Dec. 28.

joseph.serna@latimes.com

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna on Twitter.

ALSO

Remembering Carrie Fisher: actress, writer, icon

After Carrie Fishers death, her books are flying off shelves

Go inside Carrie Fishers home to see what will soon be up for auction

UPDATES:

2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with comments from Elias.

This article was originally posted at 9 a.m.
Members of San Diegos Chaldean community are supporting a fight to free Iraqis who have been arrested by immigration officials across the U.S., pending deportation.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit late last week on behalf of Iraqis arrested in Detroit. Mark Arabo, of the Minority Humanitarian Foundation, said his San Diego-based organization has been helping coordinate efforts for the lawsuit.

Our community has really unified in the face of this adversity, Arabo said via email. We only hope that some form of resolution is achieved in the coming days.

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Iraq agreed in March that it would provide travel documents for its citizens and allow the U.S. to repatriate them if they are ordered deported. The agreement came as part of a deal to get Iraq off the list of nations affected by President Donald Trumps ban on travel from several majority Muslim countries.

Immigration officers have started arresting Iraqis  about 199 across the U.S., according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Though the largest number of arrests happened in Detroit, this has caused concern among San Diegos Chaldean community, as many of those arrested so far across the country are Chaldean Christians, a group that has a history of being persecuted for its religious beliefs.

Arabo said his organization has been hearing about local Chaldeans arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as well, but he didnt know how many and was unable to identify specific cases.

ICE took the Iraqi Christian community by storm, Arabo said. We really had no idea that this was happening.

As of April, 1,444 Iraqis living in the U.S. have final orders of removal and could be arrested and deported, according to ICE. So far, eight people have been deported to Iraq since the new agreement was signed. ICE did not say where in the U.S. those deported had been living.

Khaalid Walls, spokesman for ICE, in an emailed statement that the agency focuses its enforcement on those who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.

ICE will not exempt classes or categories of removable aliens from potential enforcement, Walls said via email. All of those in violation of the immigration laws may be subject to immigration arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removal from the United States. These arrests are consistent with the routine, targeted enforcement action carried out by ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations on a daily basis. All enforcement activities are conducted with the same level of professionalism and respect that ICE officers exhibit every day.

The lawsuit to stop further deportations was filed late last week as a class action arguing that because of conditions in Iraq  including the Islamic States continued presence there  those ordered deported may face persecution or torture if they return home. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Eastern Michigan, called for the court to block deportations and give the detainees new hearings based on changed conditions from when they left Iraq years ago.

While the proposed class would only apply to Iraqis in the Detroit area, Arabo said that he hopes the case will set a precedent for Chaldeans in other parts of the U.S. to be protected from deportation.

ICE planned to file a response to the lawsuit late Monday.

The operation in this region was specifically conducted to address the very real public safety threat represented by the criminal aliens arrested, said Rebecca Adducci, field office director for ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations Detroit, in an emailed statement. The vast majority of those arrested in the Detroit metropolitan area have very serious felony convictions, multiple felony convictions in many cases. I applaud the efforts of the law enforcement personnel who, day in and day out, put their lives on the line to protect this community.

Arabo equated deporting Chaldeans for these convictions to issuing them a death sentence from the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The detention of these Iraqi Christians is unfathomable, unethical, and un-American, Arabo said. Some of these individuals have been in the United States for over 30 years and were caught up in a possession charge when they were 17. Tell me, is that worth death by the sword of ISIS? Because if these individuals are sent to Iraq, they will be walking targets for ISIS.

A judge will hear arguments in the case on Wednesday.

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kate.morrissey@sduniontribune.com, @bgirledukate on Twitter
As the regions homeless population continues to grow, San Diego County Supervisors on Tuesday approved a series of initiatives to increase the supply of low-cost housing.

The three measures they unanimously approved use government-owned properties and more than $25 million in public money to work with private organizations and real estate developers to create new homes for low-income people, particularly seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and others who are financially vulnerable and at risk of becoming homeless.

Unfortunately, I think that everybody in this room recognizes that we live in a time where housing needs have outgrown our ability to meet demand, Supervisor Ron Roberts said. He introduced the measures with board Chairwoman Dianne Jacob.

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The approach has three components:

A total of $500,000 will be transferred from a community grants program toward studies and pilot programs to test innovative ways to provide affordable housing. These funds are coming out of an account that Roberts controlled. Each supervisor can allocate $2 million in grants each year.

Supervisors took the first steps to establish a $25 million trust fund that can be used to purchase services and supplies, pay for permits and regulatory fees, repay loans, buy property, lease equipment, and and use for other expenses related to creating affordable housing. Supervisors said the money will be used to leverage more funds from other organizations. Within 90 days county staff will develop an ordinance to establish this trust fund, and they will also develop criteria for how these funds can be disbursed from the trust. The money would come from county reserves.

They also designated 11 excess properties for the development of new affordable homes. Eight of the properties are in San Diego, while one is in El Cajon, one is in Descanto, and another is in Escondido.

The hope is the efforts to keep people out of homelessness will allow them to become more stable, Jacob said.

The whole goal is to promote self-sufficiency, not dependency on government handouts, she said.

The countys initiatives do not include any new or expanded social services, but many agencies and nonprofits often work with safety-net programs in order to make sure their residents are secure. The county also has not selected which organizations it will partner with to increase the affordable housing stock.

The proposals were warmly received by the heads of groups that serve homeless people and other vulnerable San Diegans.

The lack of affordable housing is preventing us from addressing our severely disabled, long-term homeless population, said Thomas Theisen, the immediate past president of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless. The only reasonable way we can address this problem and help these people is through supporting housing. Nothing else works.

The most recent annual point-in-time count in January found that there are 9,116 homeless people living in the county, an increase of 5 percent. The number of unsheltered homeless has grown even more dramatically.

Dr. John Kitchen, the publisher of San Diego Homeless News and a homelessness researcher, said the problem is greater than the count shows. The official tally, he said, did not consider people who are in jail but would otherwise be homeless, or homeless people who are hard to count, or women who receive housing in exchange for sex absent of a romantic relationship.

Supervisors warned that the homelessness situation is at risk of becoming even more dire, particularly for some of the most vulnerable residents. Jacob noted that the the fixed-income, senior population is growing, increasing the number of people who are susceptible to homelessness due to rising housing costs.

As their population grows, so will their affordable housing needs, she said.

As demand for affordable housing increases, research shows the supply is shrinking. A study by the nonprofit California Housing Partnership released in May found that the county needs 142,052 more affordable homes. An earlier study by the group found that the stock of affordable housing has declined over the last 20 years and is expected to continue to drop. The think-tank defined affordable as housing that costs a household 30 percent or less of its income.

Roberts cautioned that their effort to increase the supply of affordable housing doesnt address any of the underlying factors that cause rent to rise. It didnt consider properties that owners choose to rent on AirBnB and other hospitality platforms rather than traditional leases, nor did it consider the reduction in the supply of single room occupancy units. SROs are a type of housing where residents have their own room but several people share a kitchen, bathroom and other amenities.

Theres something fundamentally wrong and we need to recognize that. Thats the bigger picture, Roberts said.

Twitter: @jptstewart

joshua.stewart@sduniontribune.com

(619) 293-1841
A federal investigation in San Diego has led to drug-related charges against three people in what authorities said was one of the largest seizures of fentanyl in the U.S.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents seized nearly 100 pounds of the potent synthetic drug, most of it from a house in Lemon Grove, according to an indictment unsealed Monday.

The load represents millions of lethal doses, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. Fentanyl is a painkiller that can be up to 50 times stronger than heroin. Authorities say even trace amounts can be fatal.

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Three people  Jonathan Ibarra, 45, of Lemon Grove; Hector Fernando Garcia, 46, of San Diego; and Anna Baker, 30, of Lemon Grove  were indicted on charges of possession of fentanyl with the intent to distribute.

Last November, the defendants allegedly discussed having Baker smuggle the drugs during three consecutive days, according to court documents. Based on that information, authorities pulled over a rental vehicle Baker was driving. Agents seized about 33 pounds of fentanyl.

Roughly 66 more pounds of the drug were found in her home when agents later served a search warrant, the U.S Attorneys Office said.

According to the DEA, the quantity of fentanyl seized represents the largest amount ever sent to its labs nationwide.

Authorities have said Mexican drug cartels produce the drug in labs using precursor chemicals from China. On the streets, fentanyl is sold alone as powder, added to heroin or made into counterfeit painkiller pills.

Breaking News

Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

Twitter: @D4VIDHernandez
A Cal Fire crew searched unsuccessfully for a swimmer who vanished in Lake Henshaw near Warner Springs Monday, a fire official said.

A sheriffs search-and-rescue team planned to comb the lake Tuesday morning.

The man disappeared after he ran into the water from the shore, apparently in an attempt to swim out to a raft that he and a group of three or four other people had been using, Cal Fire Capt. Issac Sanchez said.

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He said Cal Fire received a report of a possible drowning about 6:10 p.m.

Firefighters on boats, assisted by a sheriffs helicopter crew, combed the water. Their efforts were suspended when night fell.

The search was turned over to the Sheriffs Department and was expected to resume in the morning, sheriffs officials said.

The lake, located about 70 miles northeast of San Diego, covers about 1,140 acres and holds roughly 50,000 acre-feet. The volume stands at about 12,300 acre-feet, or about 24 percent of capacity, according to the Vista Irrigation District, which owns the lake.

Lake Henshaw provides water to Vista, Escondido and to the San Luis Rey Indian Water Authority.

Breaking News

Email: david.hernandez@sduniontribune.com

Phone: (619) 293-1876

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An American Red Cross blood drive to honor Drake Hegy will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 1440 E. Military Ave., in Fremont.

Shortly after his second birthday, Drake was diagnosed with leukemia. During treatment, he depended on blood and platelet transfusions from generous donors.

To celebrate Drakes successful treatment and ongoing good health, the Hegy family has partnered with the American Red Cross to hold an annual blood drive in his honor. During the past five years, the Red Cross has collected almost 170 blood donations at Drakes drives.

All blood types are needed to ensure a reliable supply for patients. To make an appointment, download the American Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit www.redcrossblood.org or call 800-733-2767.
Two men knifed and robbed a man who had stopped at Morley Field in Balboa Park to relieve himself early Tuesday.

The victim, 43, ran to his car, called 911 and drove himself to a hospital, San Diego police said.

He told police he drove to the park along Upas Street at Villa Terrace and walked behind a tree to urinate. A man started walking toward him, so he had second thoughts about using the tree and started walking toward a restroom to see if it was open, police Officer John Buttle said.

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The second man pulled a knife and demanded the victims bracelet when an accomplice showed up with a pistol. The victim told police he handed over the $40 bracelet and said hed give them money if they followed him to his car. He turned to walk that way, and was stabbed in the abdomen.

He called police about 12:30 a.m. and drove to a hospital with a wound believed not life-threatening.

He described the robbers as a Latino man possibly in his 50s, 5 feet 5 inches tall and heavyset, and a black man in his 20s, about 6 feet tall. They wore dark clothes.
Political committees representing Fallbrook firefighters and San Ysidro teachers have agreed to pay penalties for failing to file campaign disclosure reports on time in recent elections, according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

Election regulators plan to fine the Fallbrook Firefighters Legislative Action Group $2,501 and the San Ysidro Association PAC $1,480. The groups have agreed to the penalties, which are up for commission approval on June 29. Commission staff did not find either committee intended to conceal anything by failing to file reports on time.

The Fallbrook Firefighters Legislative Action Group and its treasurer, Eddie Jones, failed to file nine semiannual campaign statements for the reporting period Jan. 1, 2013 through Dec. 31, 2016, according to commission documents. The Fallbrook Firefighters groups late reports covered $23,775 in contributions, and $6,727 in expenditures, according to the penalty order.

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Most of the groups expenditures were for professional services. There were also $400 contributions to Jeff Griffith, a successful candidate for Palomar Health Board, and Cody Campbell, an unsuccessful candidate for Vista City Council.

The San Ysidro Association PAC, its treasurer, Guillermina Sandez, and its assistant treasurer, Martin Galante, failed to file two semiannual campaign statements, two pre-election statements and two 24-hour disclosure reports during reporting periods in 2016, according to the commission.

The San Ysidro Associations reports covered $21,056 in contributions to the group, and another $7,278 in contributions the group made to Steven Kinney in his unsuccessful campaign for San Ysidro School Board Trustee, according to election records.

Martin Galante, a kindergarten teacher who acted as assistant treasurer for the political committee, told The San Diego Union-Tribune on Monday that he had little experience with campaign finance rules and didnt fully understand the reporting requirements. He said the San Diego County Registrar of Voters has helped educate him about reporting requirements so he can avoid repeating the filing mistakes.

A representative for the Firefighters Legislative Action Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

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morgan.cook@sduniontribune.com
A San Diego street in a galaxy not too far away will soon bear the name of a famous former resident who blasted to fame as Luke Skywalker.

Mark Hamill, who immortalized the famous Star Wars character, lived on Castleton Drive between Mt. Abernathy and Clayford Street in Clairemont for four years in the 1960s. He attended the now-closed Hale Junior High and then spent his freshman year at James Madison High School before his family moved to Virginia.

On Tuesday, the San Diego City Council voted to honor the actor as part of the citys honorary street naming program by dubbing the street Mark Hamill Drive.

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The actor has already reacted to the news on Twitter.

Councilman Chris Cate brought the idea to the council after Clairemont residents, who were upset that the Chargers moved to Los Angeles, asked that the name of Charger Blvd. be changed, said his spokeswoman Rebecca Kelley.

Resident Chuck Bencik told the San Diego Union-Tribune at the time: I wish this area was better known for the actor who played Luke Skywalker living here.

Kelley said instead of changing the name of the boulevard, which city officials did not believe was actually named for the former San Diego team, it was decided it would be less disruptive and costly for residents to honor the actor by putting his name on the street he lived on.

Cate said in a statement that he was pleased that the council voted for the change.

Now that it has been officially approved, two brown signs will be erected at the intersection of Mt. Abernathy and Castleton.

Kelley said the actor approved of the idea and wants to be there for the unveiling. A date has not been set, the spokeswoman said.

Kelley said signs will be honorary markers and that the official name of the roadway will still be Castleton. Residents will not have to make changes to their addresses.

The markers, which will cost about $200, will be paid for out of Councilman Cates District 6 budget.

619-293-1710

debbi.baker@sduniontribune.com

twitter.com/Debbi_Baker
Jessica Calefatis comprehensive new investigation for CALmatters  a Sacramento-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism group  details how a much-ballyhooed 2013 education reform measure hasnt panned out. The state Department of Education said that the piece makes sweeping generalizations based on narrow metrics. But it actually makes a powerful case that the Local Control Funding Formula  which has funneled $31 billion to schools with relatively more English-language learners, students from poor families and foster children  has failed to close the academic gap between these students and others with more advantageous backgrounds. That was the stated goal of Gov. Jerry Brown and Democratic legislative leaders who billed the law as a revolutionary measure symbolizing their commitment to social justice.

Yet six of 15 districts reviewed by CALmatters saw their achievement gap widen in reading and math for both low-income and English-learner students. And it widened in at least two of those four categories in all 15 districts. This despite an average budget increase of 63 percent over four years.

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Heres a cynical view: Maybe the laws stated goal wasnt its real goal. Maybe influential teachers unions wanted to shower big districts with money to pave the way for teacher pay raises denied during the states long revenue recession. Want evidence?

On the micro level, consider what happened in Los Angeles Unified, the states largest district. In August 2014, the United Teachers Los Angeles issued a statement calling for a 17.6 pay increase and asserting the raise was affordable because of all the extra dollars [that] have already flowed into the district as part of the states new funding formula. In May 2015, the union ended up winning a 10 percent, two-year raise, and a year of retroactive higher pay. The following month, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson overruled an underling and said that Local Control Funding Formula money could be used for teacher raises. As Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, D-San Diego, immediately pointed out, this is not what the Legislature intended when it passed the law.

On the macro level, consider whats happened in Sacramento. The Brown administration has been implacably opposed to attempts led by Weber and Assemblyman Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, to determine how school districts have spent their Local Control funds. It doesnt want the public to know.

Assembly Bill 1321, introduced by Weber, would require the state to keep detailed records on how schools spend Local Control dollars and other funds. It passed the Assembly 77-0 last month. Senate approval should follow, and Brown should sign it into law. Hows the money being used? Show us.

Twitter: @sdutIdeas

Facebook: San Diego Union-Tribune Ideas & Opinion
One Phamatech employee was in critical condition and another in police custody following a workplace shooting in Carmel Mountain Ranch on Tuesday afternoon, according to San Diego Police Lt. Charles Lara.

A 911 call was received at 1:44 p.m. with the caller reporting an assault with a deadly weapon, Lara said during a press conference shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday.

The suspect is Julio Riel Narvaez III, 54. He is scheduled to be arraigned on a charge of attempted murder at 1:30 p.m. Thursday.

Narvaez reportedly shot a male coworker in the head, firing a small caliber handgun possibly twice, Lara said. Other employees at the business were able to subdue him near the HR department and by the time police arrived had Narvaez on the ground and zip-tied, he said.

They took really quick  decisive action, Lara said, adding that while police never recommend people take matters into their own hands, we are grateful he was subdued.

Lara said the unidentified victim was in critical condition, but lucid and talking when taken via ambulance from the scene to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido.

It appears to be workplace violence, interpersonal conduct, Lara said. Both individuals involved are Phamatech employees, but Lara could not say if Narvaezs employment status had changed shortly before the incident. The motive is not yet known and police are still investigating the situation.

Phamatech, located at 15175 Innovation Drive in Carmel Mountain Ranch, is a global manufacturer of rapid diagnostic devices and provider of laboratory testing for medication monitoring, illicit drugs, alcohol and  Pharmacogenetic testing, according to its website. It also manufactures its own on-site testing products.

UPDATES:

11 a.m. Wednesday: This article was updated with additional details about the suspect.
A 15-year-old male student was stabbed by another student at Ramona High School around 11:40 a.m. Tuesday and transported to a local hospital, reported the sheriffs department. The injuries are not reported to be life-threatening.

Sheriffs deputies responded within minutes after being notified by Ramona High staff and found the teenager in front of the school being attended to by several staff members, said Ryan Keim, sheriffs public information officer. The victim was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken by ambulance to a hospital for further treatment.

The initial investigation revealed the victim and the suspect, a 16-year-old male student, were both in summer classes and knew each other, said Keim. They became involved in a physical altercation and at some point during the fight, the suspect stabbed the victim and walked away from the scene, he reported.

The suspect was immediately identified and taken into custody at his home by deputies within the hour, stated the report.

Keim said this appears to be an isolated incident and there is currently no danger to students attending summer classes.

According to Ramona Unified School Superintendent Anne Staffieri, Ed.D, the victim is a Montecito High School student and the 16-year-old is a Ramona High student.

Appropriate actions are being taken by officials at both schools as they continue to work closely with our community law enforcement to provide a safe campus for all Ramona Unified students, she said in a press release.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the San Diego Sheriffs Department at 858-565-5200.
This World Refugee Day, Your Support Is Needed More Than Ever

Today, for the first time on record, the number of people forced to flee conflict and persecution has reached 100 million. New waves of violence or protracted conflict across the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria and Afghanistan have contributed to this unprecedented global refugee crisis.



In Ukraine alone, relentless bombardment has forced nearly 7 million people to flee the country since the start of the war  around half of them children. Sadly, we are facing the fastest and largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.

Save the Children works tirelessly to provide refugees with lifesaving aid, improve access to education and quality health care, and protect children from exploitation. For World Refugee Day, you can help refugee children around the world, in the hardest-to-reach places. When you sponsor a child this World Refugee Day, you can be sure youre joining a growing, global community dedicated to doing whatever it takes for refugee children  children like 12-year-old Provy*.
Sarasota, FL -- (SBWIRE) -- 06/19/2017 -- Zion Market Research has published a new report titled "Cosmetic Packaging Market by Material Type (Plastic, Glass, Paper and Others), by Container Type (Jars, Bottles, Tubes, Sachets and Others) for Hair Care, Nail Care, Skin Care, Makeup and Other Applications: China Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2016  2022" According to the report, the demand for cosmetic packaging market in China was valued at over USD 5.87 billion in 2016, is expected to reach above USD 7.75 billion in 2022 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of slightly above 4.8% between 2017 and 2022.



Packaging is the key intermediate between the product and its target consumers. Packaging is vital in retaining loyal customers as well as inspiring new ones. Changes in packaging can expand a customer base by capturing new market segments and can manipulate shopping manners. Cosmetic packaging plays a crucial role in protecting the contents from outer environment and broadens its shelf life. Packaging helps in preventing the contamination of the contents and avoids microbial growth.



Request Free Sample copy of Research Report @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/sample/cosmetic-packaging-market



Rapidly escalating cosmetic industry in China is expected to drive the cosmetic packaging market in coming years. Furthermore, there has been the intense rise in demand for color cosmetic which may positively influence the growth of the cosmetic packaging market in the forecast period. On the flip side, fluctuations of the raw material prices may limit the growth of cosmetic packaging market. Nevertheless, ongoing research for developing innovative, eco-friendly packaging techniques is expected to accelerate the growth of the cosmetic packaging market in coming period.



The cosmetic packaging market can be segmented on the basis of material type into plastic, paper, glass, and others. Plastic was the leading segment in 2016 and is expected to maintain its traction in the forecast period. Plastic is the most preferred material in the cosmetic packaging due to its cost-effectiveness, good performance, reliable protection, color versatility, flexibility and easy transportation and storage. Some of the major container types used in cosmetic packaging market are jars, tubes, bottles, sachets, and others. Bottles curled the cosmetic packaging market in 2016 owing to their ease of handling and greater volume capacity. Tubes are expected to exhibit the fastest growth in the forecast period. Some of the major applications of the cosmetic packaging are hair care, skin care, nail care, make-up, and other applications. Skin care segment is expected to be the most attractive application segment of the market over the forecast period. Continuous product innovation in skin care products and development of more effective anti-aging and sun protection product trends in the cosmetic market is expected to drive the market in the upcoming future. Makeup is expected to prosper the market growth in forecast period owing to growing demand for color cosmetics in China.



Browse the full "Cosmetic Packaging Market by Material Type (Plastic, Glass, Paper and Others), by Container Type (Jars, Bottles, Tubes, Sachets and Others) for Hair Care, Nail Care, Skin Care, Makeup and Other Applications: China Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis and Forecast, 2016  2022" report at https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/report/cosmetic-packaging-market



Per capita income levels are elevating continually in China, thus, the country is experiencing higher interest and shifting from the product. The rapid development of domestic cosmetics manufacturers in China has boosted the growth of domestic brands. The market share of domestic brands is growing gradually, posing competition to their foreign counterparts. Thus, the domestic cosmetic packaging industry is likely to boost the market in the coming years. Moreover, growing demand in the cosmetic market is the rapidly expanding middle class in China.



Key players operating in the cosmetic packaging market are Jiangyin Bonus Cosmetics Packaging Co., Ltd., Guangzhou Taimei Cosmetic Packaging Co., Ltd, QUEENSPACK Co. Ltd, JUMBO, Alovey Cosmetic Packaging Co.,Ltd, Rise Cosmetic Packaging Co., Ltd., BI-packaging, IMS NINGBO LIMITED, Rayuen Packaging Co., Limited , Fine Cosmetic Packaging Co. Ltd., HCP Packaging and Auber Packaging Co., Ltd among others.



Inquire more about this report before purchase @ https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/inquiry/cosmetic-packaging-market



About Zion Market Research

Zion Market Research is an obligated company. We create futuristic, cutting edge, informative reports ranging from industry reports, company reports to country reports. We provide our clients not only with market statistics unveiled by avowed private publishers and public organizations but also with vogue and newest industry reports along with pre-eminent and niche company profiles. Our database of market research reports comprises a wide variety of reports from cardinal industries. Our database is been updated constantly in order to fulfill our clients with prompt and direct online access to our database. Keeping in mind the client's needs, we have included expert insights on global industries, products, and market trends in this database. Last but not the least, we make it our duty to ensure the success of clients connected to usafter allif you do well, a little of the light shines on us.
[RIO DE JANEIRO] A genetically modified (GM) cane variety that can kill the sugarcane borer (Diatraea saccharalis) has been approved in Brazil, to the delight of some scientists and the dismay of others, who say it may threaten Brazilian biodiversity.

Brazil is the second country, after Indonesia, to approve the commercial cultivation of GM sugarcane. The approval was announced by the Brazilian National Biosafety Technical Commission (CTNBio) on June 8.

Sugarcane borer is one of the main pests of the sugarcane fields of South-Central Brazil, causing losses of approximately US$1.5 billion per year.

Breeding programmes could not produce plants resistant to this pest, and the existing chemical controls are both not effective and severely damaging to the environment, says Adriana Hemerly, a professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in an interview with SciDev.Net.

Studies conducted outside Brazil prove that protein from genetically modified organisms harms non-target insects, soil fauna and microorganisms. Rogerio Magalhaes

Therefore, the [GM variety] is a biotechnological tool that helps solve a problem that other technologies could not, and its commercial application will certainly have a positive impact on the productivity of sugarcane in the country.

Jesus Aparecido Ferro, a member of CTNBio and professor at the Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho State University, believes the move followed a thorough debate that began in December 2015  that was when the Canavieira Technology Center (Sugarcane Research Center) asked for approval to commercially cultivate the GM sugarcane variety.

The data does not provide evidence that the cane variety has a potential to harm the environment or human or animal health, Ferro told SciDev.Net.

To develop the variety, scientists inserted the gene for a toxin [Cry] from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) into the sugarcane genome, so it could produce its own insecticide against some insects larvae.

This is a technology that has been in use for 20 years and is very safe, says Anibal Eugenio Vercesi, another member of the CTNBio, and a professor at the State University of Campinas.

But Valerio De Patta Pillar, also a member of the CTNBio and a professor at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, points to deficiencies in environmental risk assessment studies for the GM variety  and the absence of assessments of how consuming it might affect humans and animals.

According to Pillar, there is a lack of data about the frequency with which it breeds with wild varieties. Data is also missing on issues such as the techniques used to create the GM variety and the effects of its widespread use.

Rogerio Magalhaes, an environmental analyst at Brazils Ministry of the Environment, also expressed concern about the approval of the commercial transgenic cane.

I understand that studies related to the impacts that genetically modified sugarcane might have on Brazilian biodiversity were not done by the company that owns the technology, said Magalhaes in an interview with SciDev.Net. This is very important because Brazils climate, species, and soils differ from locations where studies might have taken place, he explained.

Among the risks that Magalhaes identified is contamination of the GM varietys wild relatives. The wild relative, when contaminated with transgenic sugarcane, will have a competitive advantage over other uncontaminated individuals, as it will exhibit resistance to insect-plague that others will not have, he explained.

Another risk that Magalhaes warns about is damage to biodiversity. Studies conducted outside Brazil prove that Cry protein from genetically modified organisms harms non-target insects, soil fauna and microorganisms.

Magalhaes added that some pests have already developed resistance to the Bt Cry protein, prompting farmers to apply agrochemicals that are harmful to the environment and human health.

This piece was originally published by SciDev.Nets Latin America and Caribbean desk.
NASA scientists have introduced 219 new planet candidates, in which 10 of them are the near-Earth size and orbiting in their star's habitable zone. They were identified by Kepler space telescope and have been added to its discoveries that reach a total of 4,034 candidate planets.

The findings of the new catalog study were presented at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley on Monday. The study was led by Susan Thompson, a Kepler scientist for the SETI Institute in California, and other colleagues.

NASA stated that this is the most comprehensive and detailed catalog release of candidate exoplanets that are planets outside the solar system. This is also the final catalog from the view of Kepler of the patch of sky in the Cygnus constellation.

About 2,335 have been confirmed as exoplanets among the total of the discovered 4,034 candidate planets detected by Kepler. Among the 50-near-Earth-size habitable zone candidates, there were 30 that have been verified.

Thompson said that with this catalog they are able to extend their analysis of planets' demographics out of the longest periods. These periods are like the planet Earth. This catalog will also help the scientists calculate how many planets like the planet Earth are in the galaxy, according to Space.com.

Meanwhile, Mario Perez, Kepler program scientist in the Astrophysics Division of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, described the Kepler data set as unique. This is because it contains the population of these near-Earth-size catalog of planets that have almost the same size and orbit as Earth. He further said that understanding their frequency in the galaxy will help inform the design of the future NASA missions to directly image another Earth.

This catalog is the latest release of Kepler during the first four years of its mission. Kepler identifies planets through determining the minuscule drop in the brightness of the star that could happen when a planet crosses in front of it, in which it is called a transit.
Yellowstone has been hit by a magnitude 3 earthquake on June 19, Monday, totaling about over 230 earthquakes since June 12. This swarm of earthquakes that hit Yellowstone has been attributed to the end of days, according to a rabbi in Israel.

Scientists from the University of Utah, who monitor the Yellowstone Volcano, stated that the epicenter of the shock was in the Yellowstone National Park that is about eight miles north-northeast of the town of the West Yellowstone in Montana. The series of earthquakes that began on June 12 includes a 3.5 earthquake. The series of quakes also included about 30 earthquakes with magnitude 2 and bigger and four earthquakes of magnitude 3 and bigger.

This seismic activity could signify that an eruption might take place. On the other hand, it is unclear when the Yellowstone supervolcano will erupt.

The spokesperson from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and YVO stated that the current activity seems to be "slowly winding down" and there is no other geological activity that has been identified. On the other hand, the possibility of the eruption at Yellowstone next year is now gauged at 1 in 730,000, according to Newsweek.

Meanwhile, a rabbi from Israel attributed this seismic activity in the Yellowstone to end of days. Rabbi Yosef Berger, the rabbi of King David's Tomb on Mount Zion, said that disasters, natural and manmade, appear to be striking faster and harder than the previous generations. He further said that now, scientists tell people of threats they absolutely cannot protect them against like the volcano that threatens the world, as noted by the Breaking Israel News.

He also emphasized that volcanoes have a significant role in the end of days as mentioned by the prophets. He cited Zechariah 13:9 that says, "And I will bring the third part through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and will try them as gold is tried." It further said that "they shall call on My name and I will answer them; 'It is My people' and they shall say: 'Hashem is my God'."
Summer has arrived and temperature in Death Valley National Park reached up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (49 degrees Celsius). However, this did not stop tourists from visiting the desert valley located in Eastern California.

National Weather Service stated that the park rangers at Death Valley National Park recorded the first 120-degree day of the year on Saturday. Hotter temperatures are forecasted through at least Sunday and expected to reach about 128 degrees. The park rangers are urging the tourists and other visitors to take precautions because of these soaring temperatures in the area, according to Los Angeles Times.

John Adair, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said that there are very few places on Earth to go to experience those temperatures and Death Valley is one of those. This refers to the tourists who are still flocking the place despite the intense temperature. With this, business booms alongside the Dearth Valley National Park, according to CBS News.

Mike Orozco, who works at the Panamint Springs Resort located near the entrance of Death Valley, said that when it is 120 to 125 degrees, there are more customers than there ever is. Meanwhile, Ed Carreon, a commercial photographer who always visits the park and likes the scorching summer months, said that some people consider being out there in those conditions a kind of suffering. He further said that other people could get a kind of euphoria or a reward out of it.

If one would like to experience this soaring heat in the Death Valley National Park, the park rangers have recommended some precaution tips. Among them are the following:
There are a number of mass shootings reported in the United States in the past few years. But these killings mask an even more terrifiying reality: Handguns and firearms actually cause the deaths of many children every year than flu or asthma.

According to the Los Angeles Times, an average of 3.5 people under the age of 18 are shot in the U.S. every day. Another 15.5 are treated in a hospital emergency department for gunshot wounds. In fact, according to the report, an average of 1,287 children and adolescents died each year between 2012 and 2014. This makes firearms the second most common cause of death, following only motor vehicles.

Another way to look at it is that a gun is the cause of more than one in 10 deaths of those under 18. This makes the U.S. the highest in any other high-income country to have child fatalities regarding to guns.

In a new analysis published in the journal Pediatrics showed an unusually comprehensive look at how guns take a toll on children. The majority of these deaths are boys between the ages of 13 and 17. Homicides, on the other hand, constitute an average of 53 percent of the gun-related deaths in children, and African-American youths are the usual victims of such violence.

The states with the highest rates of gun-related homicides in the years 2010 and 2014 include southern states such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee. States in the Midwest also nearly topped the list, including Illinois, Missouri, Michigan and Ohio. In the west, the highest rates are from California and Nevada, while Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania take the lead in the Northeast.

While these numbers are alarming on their own, new analysis also noted a disturbing rise in gun-related child suicides. This accounted for 38 percent of all the deaths, mostly children who are white or Native American.
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Talks have started over a reported 130million take-over by supermarket giants Sainsburys of the retail wholesale co-operative Nisa which employs 1,100 people in Scunthorpe.

The talks comes as the work-force on the towns Normanby Enterprise Park celebrate 40 years in business.

Two years ago Nisa reported a pre-tax loss of 2.8 million.

Then Nick Read was brought in as chief executive to turn around the business.

The move worked as last year the business reported a pre-tax profit of 7.3 million.

Last year Mr Read also announced a three-year plan to increase sales from the Scunthorpe depot to around 2 billion a year.

With current trading strong, he and his colleagues are forecasting an 8.5 million profit this year.

Nisa which is owned by independent retailers currently supplies more than 3,000 stores across the UK, some under its own brand name.

The company has traded in Scunthorpe since 1990 and in 2005 relocated to the present 40-acre site on Normanby Enterrise Park at a cost of 30 million.

Some 300 employees work in the Nisa head office and a further 800 people are employed by the freight operators DHL in the warehouse.

Sainsburys has traded in Scunthorpe since the summer of 2004 on the site of the former old Show Ground on Doncaster Road.

A Nisa spokesman declined to comment.
The brokerage estimates capacity in those regions will rise by 6% to 10%, compared to the Caribbean and Mediterranean's more moderate growth of 3% to 4%.

'We believe Asia/Australia/New Zealand capacity will increase 5% to 8%, with China flattish, given growing diversification to Singapore/Southeast Asia and, in the winter [austral summer] season, Australia/New Zealand,' Wells Fargo analyst Tim Conder said in a note.

Deployment may continue to change, Conder said, particularly for China, given the close-in booking tendencies of cruisers there.

The Wells Fargo research looked at available lower berth days based on announced deployments by the major cruise operators.

Given the strong cruise industry fundamentals from 2015 to 2017 and accelerated year over year 2018 capacity growth, the impact of any increase in negative geopolitical/terrorist events could be magnified, Conder cautioned investors, especially in Europe. Alaska will bear watching given capacity growth, while Asias more moderate growth could precipitate pricing upside, he added.

Capacity growth of 8% to 10% in Australia next year is driven by Majestic Princess, customized for the China market but scheduled to operate a season in Australia/New Zealand, while P&O Cruises Australia has an additional ship and Ovation of the Seas will be returning slightly earlier for a second season.

Wells Fargo projects 3% to 4% capacity growth in the Caribbean, driven by Mariner of the Seas' redeployment from Asia, plus changes for Freedom of the Seas, Celebrity Infinity and Norwegian Getaway, along with the arrival of newbuilds Nieuw Statendam, Symphony of the Seas and MSC Seaside. These additions are partially offset by Royal Princess and Oosterdam moving to the Mexican Riviera, and changes for Rhapsody of the Seas and Norwegian Escape.

Mediterranean capacity growth will be a modest 1% to 3%, Wells Fargo said, with newbuilds Symphony of the Seas, MSC Seaview and Seabourn Ovation in the Mediterranean next year, along with Rhapsody of the Seas for the summer season.

Europe, excluding the Mediterranean, should see an 8% to 10% capacity spike, considering newbuilds AIDAnova, Seabourn Ovation and Mein Schiff 1, along with the Sapphire Princess redeployment.

Wells Fargo estimates a 6% increase in Alaska capacity due to notable drivers like a seventh Princess Cruises ship, Golden Princess, plus newbuild Norwegian Bliss.

Asia capacity is projected to grow 5% to 8%, with Dream Cruises, Princess and Royal Caribbean all allocating more berths to Asia/Singapore and Australia in 2018, diversifying sourcing in the region and maximizing yields across two summer seasons. Costa, MSC, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Star Cruises and Dream Cruises are among the major brands that are maintaining year-round deployment in China. Specifically, China capacity could be down 5% to up 15% year over year.

Wells Fargo rates CCL, RCL and NCLH 'outperform' (buy).
The LNG gas-up/cool-down and reload operation was carried out from 18-20 June for the newly-built 6,500 cu m Cardissa, a LNG bunker vessel owned by Shell and co-financed by the EUs Connecting Europe Facility that will serve customers in Northwest Europe.

Prior to this, the smallest LNG carrier that had called at the SLNG terminal for unloading or reloading was about 65,000 cu m in size.

The successful completion of our first small scale LNG reload operation is significant as it demonstrates the SLNG terminals ability to play the role of LNG supply hub for the region, said John Ng, ceo of SLNG.

The terminal is able to break LNG cargoes into smaller parcels and facilitate deliveries of small volumes of LNG to other terminals in the region, or as bunker fuel to ships in our port, Ng said.

He added that SLNG is already looking ahead to further enhance its capabilities in this area by exploring possible modifications to its secondary jetty to accommodate LNG vessels as small as 2,000 cu m.

This is expected to come onstream in 2019, Ng said.

The secondary jetty is originally designed to accommodate LNG vessels from 60,000 cu m to 265,000 cu m in size.
Qatar Petroleum said the bunkering facility was available from Monday for all vessels carrying Qatari imports and exports. It also said several shipments of bunker fuel oil had arrived at Ras Laffan anchorage. Bunkering operations are managed in cooperation with Qatar Fuels (WOQOD) unit WOQOD Marine.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, the president and ceo of Qatar Petroleum said: due to the unfortunate ongoing crisis, many of our clients were impacted by regional decisions limiting their ability to meet their commitments in a timely and cost-effective manner. We took it upon ourselves to assist our clients overcome this challenge by introducing measures to ensure the continuous and reliable energy supplies.

Vessels that call Qatari ports have been barred from calling at ports in UAE, Saudi and Bahrain, although the UAE appears to have relaxed sanctions against international vessels calling at Qatari ports bunkering in Fujairah.

This temporary ship-to-ship fuel bunkering facility will meet our clients safety and commercial expectations, and will continue until a permanent solution is implemented. Qatar Petroleum is fast-tracking required studies and investments to provide independent, safe, and reliable bunkering capabilities, Al-Kaabi added.

Get the full story on shipping and the Qatar crisis
Approved loans for small businesses thanks to Credit Surety Fund Act - Sen. Bam

Small enterprises will now benefit from the Credit Surety Fund Cooperative Act of 2015 with the signing of its implementing rules and regulations (IRR), according to Sen. Bam Aquino.

"Finally, small enterprises can access loans and financing with the full implementation of the Republic Act 10744," said Sen. Bam.

Sen. Bam was the author and principal sponsor of the measure in the Senate during his time as chairman of the Committee on Trade, Commerce and Entrepreneurship in the 16th Congress.

The law institutionalizes the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas' Credit Surety Fund (CSF) program, which provides small businesses loans ranging from P200,000 to P5 million.

Sen, Bam pointed out that loan needs for small businesses usually range from P500,000 to P5 million, which is too big for microfinance institutions and perceived as too risky by banks, which usually ask for collateral.

"Through this measure, we hope more small enterprises will have access to the capital they need to grow their business," Sen. Bam said.

The law mandates the BSP, local government units, cooperatives, microfinance NGOs and government financing institutions (GFIs) to create an initial fund.

This initial fund may be used by entrepreneurs and businessmen belonging to cooperatives and microfinance NGOs, which helped establish it, as collateral or guarantee for bank loans.

Currently, the BSP's CSFs exist in 46 provinces and cities with two more to be launched next week. As of April 30 2017, the total amount released through CSFs is P3.25 billion to 16,360 MSMEs.

Republic Act 10744 aims to build the capability of MSMEs, cooperatives and non-government organizations in the areas of credit evaluation, loan and risk management, and good governance.

It also seeks to enhance the MSMEs' credit worthiness and broaden access to credit facilities, and sustain the continuous flow of credit in the countryside.

"This will generate more employment and alleviate poverty through increased investments and economic activities," Sen. Bam pointed out.
Press Release

June 20, 2017 Drilon hits Aguirre for downgrading charges vs suspects in Espinosa slay Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, a former justice secretary, slammed Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre's decision to downgrade charges against the policemen involved in the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr., calling it "anomalous and suspicious." "The abrupt downgrading of the case against Supt. Marvin Marcos and his cohorts from murder to homicide is a big blow to the justice system in the country," Drilon said. "This is a very disappointing development insofar as the ability of the government to prevent and prosecute police abuses and irregularities is concerned," he stressed. The minority leader said the decision is an "insult to the Senate," which conducted a thorough investigation on the killing of Espinosa and recommended the filing of murder charges against the policemen led by Marcos. He pointed out that during the Senate investigation, Aguirre said that the killing of Espinosa would qualify as a "premeditated killing." The former justice secretary said that under the law, premeditation qualifies a killing to murder. "Secretary Aguirre told us under oath here in the Senate that he himself considers the killing as premeditated. He even pointed out that the conduct of Espinosa's arrest was not consistent with the PNP's procedures," he said.



In particular, Aguirre said it was "unusual" that a warrant was obtained belatedly or one week after receiving information that there was a weapon inside Espinosa's cell and that the warrant was served at 4:30 in the morning. Aguirre said that if the police had nothing to hide, the search would usually be conducted during daytime. Drilon recalled that Aguirre even labeled the operation as an "overkill" considering that 19 policemen served the search warrant for a single weapon at a provincial jail when only three or four persons could have done the job. "It begs now the question: Why did the DOJ suddenly reverse its earlier decision,which was supported by ample evidence? Why not allow the court to determine if it's murder or homicide?" Drilon asked. He added the action would only "fuel speculations and fears of a growing police impunity in the country." He thus urged the Senate to make a stand and condemn the action by the DOJ. "I agree with Senator Lacson that the Senate should denounce this maneuvering of the DOJ. Otherwise, no one would believe any investigation that the Senate will be conducting in the future," Drilon concluded.
Press Release

June 20, 2017 Hontiveros brands Aguirre "flip-flop king" on Espinosa killing, calls it "the last straw" Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday assailed anew Department of Justice (DoJ) Secretary Vitalliano Aguirre and called him a "flip-flop king" for approving the downgrading of charges against the policemen accused in the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa. Hontiveros said that prior to the downgrading of charges against the accused policemen, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos, Aguirre's department issued a resolution on March 2017 supporting the findings of both the Senate and National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) that the Espinosa killing was a clear case of premeditated murder. "This is an obvious attempt at a cover up through an unabashed flip-flop. It is an act of impunity to cover up another act of impunity," Hontiveros said. The Senator said that by downgrading the charges against the accused in the Espinosa killing, Secretary Aguirre also effectively further downgraded his reputation and integrity before the public's eyes. "From being the fake news king of Padre Faura, Secretary Aguirre is also now immortalized as the DoJ's flip-flop king, a would be absolver of murderers," Hontiveros said. Hontiveros said that she will ask the Senate to invite Aguirre to explain his department's decision to downgrade the charges of the accused. "This may be the last straw for many of us. We cannot allow Secretary Aguirre to continue to toy around with our justice system. Enough's enough," Hontiveros said. It was reported that the Senate committee on public order and dangerous drugs recommended last March the filing of murder charges against the policemen, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos. The Committee, led by Senator Panfilo Lacson, concluded that the policemen murdered Espinosa inside a jail in Baybay, Leyte. The NBI also reached the same findings saying that the Espinosa killing was a rubout and not a shootout.
Press Release

June 20, 2017 Private sector support crucial in government rebuilding efforts in Marawi - Koko With the government poised to invest billions of pesos to rebuild Marawi City, Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel on Tuesday said that the private sector's support would be a critical element in efforts to help the residents of Marawi recover from the armed conflict that has devastated the city. "With government forces getting close to resolving the conflict in Marawi City, we must now start planning for the rehabilitation of the city," said the Mindanao-born senator, who was responding to the latest update from Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, who revealed that government forces were now in control of 96 of Marawi's barangays and were now working to neutralize the remaining members of the Maute group still hiding in isolated sections of the city. Pimentel said that the government is prepared to invest as much as 20 billion pesos to rebuild Marawi, but added that the private sector's assistance would be needed to provide livelihood and economic opportunities for Marawi's 200 thousand-plus population. "The financial resources the government is committing for Marawi City will help repair the infrastructure damage and aid residents get back on their feet," said Pimentel. "But after we help the residents and the city heal, we must provide them with jobs and economic opportunities because while recovery is our initial objective, prosperity should be the ultimate goal. In this regard, the private sector can play a significant role," explained Pimentel. Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella had earlier announced that the Executive Order for Bangon Marawi was now being prepared for the President's signature. The 10 billion-peso project will be led by the Department of National Defense and will also include the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Education, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Departmenyt of Energy, and the Department of Information and Communications Techonology, among others. Abella explained that the project would begin after clearing the city. In addition to this, Malacanang has also endorsed a proposed 10 billion-peso supplemental budget to finance the rebuilding efforts in Marawi City. Abella said the "Tindig Marawi" bill filed in Congress would allot another 10 billion pesos for the city. Pimentel said that business groups in Mindanao like the Mindanao Business Council could take the lead in exploring investment opportunities in Marawi City after government secures the area and restores normalcy in the city. "I believe that if the government and business community successfully rebuild Marawi City and show that we care for our distressed countrymen in Mindanao, this will help prevent the seeds of extremism from taking root--and this in turn will contribute to ensuring stability and security in the region and the rest of the country."
Matt Chapman came up last week and helped Oakland sweep the Yankees in his first four big-league games.

Now the rookie third baseman is dealing with a left knee infection and the As will not know when hell be back in action for at least 24 hours while they wait to see how the joint responds to antibiotics.

Hopefully its nothing major and Ill be back in there in a few days, Chapman said.

Trainer Nick Paparesta said he has dealt with knee infections before, without being specific, and he mentioned that the last one he recalled required surgical intervention.

Well keep him out of activity until we see how this thing responds, Paparesta said, adding later, Hopefully thats all we need to do.

Paparesta said it isnt known how Chapman incurred the knee infection. He came to us late in the day (Sunday) and it had basically just swelled up on him, Paparesta said.

We just figured it happened from playing and wrapped it up and were hoping it looked better in the morning, thinking it was nothing, Chapman said. This morning, I had some swelling, went and saw the doc and he seemed to think there was an infection so Im just taking some antibiotics to be careful and just taking it day by day.

Chapman recalls sliding into a fence on a play at Triple-A Nashville two weeks ago, and hes made several diving plays since being promoted Thursday and hes slid into bases.

Youre always kind of cut up and banged up from playing ball, Chapman said. Theres nothing I can put my finger on where I thought I should say something let alone miss some time. Its just one of those freak things.

Wilmer Flores of the Mets missed two weeks with a knee infection in April and May but his was as staph infection and so severe at the outset that he had to be hospitalized. Paparesta said the bacteria affecting Chapman has not been identified.

Paparesta said that Kendall Graveman (shoulder) could be throwing off the mound this weekend and Chris Bassitt, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, will do an up-down bullpen, which simulates inning breaks and some hitters will stand in, including shortstop Marcus Semien. Semien will head on a minor-league rehab Friday; Semien said hell be going to Class-A Stockton.

Ryan Dull (knee) will be checked by team doctor Will Workman on Monday evening and if that goes well the reliever could be throwing off the mound later in the week.

Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser
BART directors will consider a policy Thursday that seeks to protect people from immigration raids while riding the transit system or while trying to get a job with it. But the proposal doesnt use the word sanctuary or advocate ignoring federal law.

When Board of Directors member Lateefah Simon broached the idea of making BART a sanctuary transit agency in March, some directors and staff members bristled. They pointed out that the system depends on federal money to help pay for some of its largest projects and said that they were concerned the Trump administration could move to cut off the flow if BART appeared to be shielding immigrants living in the Bay Area without legal permission from possible deportation.

The resolution that the BART board will consider Thursday at its meeting in Oakland avoids the word sanctuary and says BART will yield to any federal or state law or court order regarding such immigrants. Its supporters say the policy would still achieve the goal of assuring riders that BART police officers wont seek out those living here without legal permission or go out of their way to enforce federal immigration law.

The policy would prohibit BART from spending money or directing employees to help enforce immigration law. BART police would be barred from asking riders about their immigration status.

It also would restrict BART from gathering immigration information about potential employees. But the policy includes a caveat, which it repeats several times: except as required by federal or state law or court order.

Board President Rebecca Saltzman said she considered the policy a strong statement that all riders are welcome aboard BART trains.

I think it strikes a balance, she said. Its strong enough to make sure law enforcement at BART is not going to be going after immigrants, but avoids threatening to flout federal law and potentially risking funding.

I dont think it matters whether we use the word sanctuary or not, Saltzman said.

Simon came up with the idea for the policy and worked on it with BART staff and community groups for months.

The intention was to make a very strong statement to the BART community that police are going to focus on police business, she said. If the federal government has proclaimed that it has another job to do, enforcing immigration laws, thats not our work.

Simon said the policy also makes it clear that people of all races, genders, cultures, religions and ethnicities are welcome on BART and that hateful behavior wont be tolerated.

I want everyone, regardless of their immigration status or ethnicity, to get where they want to go on BART, she said. I want them to feel safe on our system.

Director Debora Allen said she is still studying the proposal, and hasnt decided whether shell support it. But she said she would prefer that BART directors concentrate less on social issues and more on making trains run on time.

The policy has been watered down. It says were going to provide safe transit for all types of people. Am I against that? No, Allen said. But all this focus has gone into this policy instead of track repairs (and) new BART cars that have not yet been certified to carry passengers. I would rather focus on those problems. I would rather focus on homeless people on trains, on fare evasion.

The policy requires a majority vote of the nine-member board for passage.

BART directors will also consider adopting their nearly $2 billion operating and capital budgets for the coming year Thursday and rescinding an ordinance that allows police to fine riders who take more than a single seat on trains during commute hours.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
With another hot streak expected to send inland Bay Area temperatures soaring to triple digits and prompt sweltering residents to crank up air conditioners and fans, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews are bracing for record use of electricity Thursday and hoping it doesnt short-circuit the power grid.

Blistering temperatures, which have already topped the century mark this week in the East Bay cities of Livermore, Concord and Antioch, are expected to hit 106 degrees Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. It will be more miserable in the north bay, where temperatures at Lake Berryessa and Cloverdale will flirt with 110.

The farther you get inland, the more likely you are to approach that 110 degrees, Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Tuesday. We increase 2 degrees almost every day through Thursday.

The California Independent System Operator, which runs the states electrical grid serving 39 million people, issued a statewide Flex Alert on Monday, calling on residents to voluntarily conserve electricity from 2 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday to help prevent an overload of the grid on Thursday.

People are advised to turn off unnecessary lights during the day, refrain from using major appliances and keep air conditioners at 78 degrees or higher.

Mehle said the temperature in San Francisco will spike to at least 81 degrees on Thursday, while Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro are forecast to reach the low 90s. San Jose is forecast to hit 97 on Thursday.

The hot spell has PG&E and the experts who run the state electrical grid worried about a power overload.

PG&E, which serves 5.4 million electrical customer accounts in Northern and Central California, expects to set a record for electricity demand on Thursday, surpassing the mark of 22,468 megawatts set 11 years ago. A megawatt is a snapshot representing the amount of electricity used by 760 typical homes at any given moment.

Its very much an all-hands-on-deck situation for us, said Lynsey Paulo, PG&E spokeswoman.

The utility set the usage record in July 2006 during Californias infamous heat storm that was blamed for more than 160 deaths.

The recent hot spell has already tested PG&Es ability to keep the power going. From Friday, when temperatures began rising across the state, through Tuesday morning, 236,400 of the utilitys customers lost electricity. By midmorning Tuesday, the number was down to 5,500 of those customers without power, 4,700 of them in the Bay Area, officials said.

In Walnut Creek, where it got close to 100 degrees on Monday, nearly 2,600 PG&E customers struggled with power outages into the early hours of Tuesday, according to the utility company. Similarly, in Fremont, 3,833 people lost power.

Many outages were caused by overloaded transformers, which are devices that change the voltage on a line. The devices typically look like squat metal canisters near the top of power poles.

Unusually high night-time temperatures this week have prevented the transformers from cooling, said Rod Robinson, PG&E grid manager.

As equipment heats up, theres a natural cooling period at night, but thats not happening right now, Robinson said.

Although inland portions of PG&Es territory have suffered higher temperatures this week, outages appeared to disproportionately affect the Bay Area. Just over half of the customers who have lost power in PG&Es service area since the heat wave started Friday have been in the Bay Area.

Utility spokeswoman Jennifer Robison said that PG&Es electricity delivery system in the Bay Area isnt designed to deal with frequent heat and warm nights. In other places like Shasta County or Kern County, it is.

Triple-digit temperatures and relatively high evening temperatures are common there, so the infrastructure is built for that, she said.

Overnight lows in the East Bay and South Bay are expected to be in the 60s on Wednesday and Thursday, said Mehle, the meteorologist.

When you dont get cooling at night, thats when it becomes dangerous, Mehle said.

California Independent System Operator executives have estimated the peak usage of appliances like air conditioners on Wednesday to exceed 47,000 megawatts throughout the state and could be higher on Thursday  putting a strain on the electrical grid. The systems peak usage of 50,270 megawatts was on July 24, 2006, also during the heat storm.

While PG&E has an army of crews ready to respond to outages, the utility can also call on more than 290,000 customers who have agreed to cut their electricity use when needed, in exchange for paying lower rates. Together, those customers, which includes businesses, can shave as much as 673 megawatts off PG&Es peak demand on hot days, Paulo said, which is roughly the output of a mid-sized power plant.

On Wednesday, the forecast calls for a gradual uptick in temperatures, with San Francisco rising to 77 degrees and the upper 80s in Oakland and Berkeley, Mehle 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.

Inland areas like Livermore, Concord and Antioch will remain in the low 100s before jumping at least five degrees on Thursday.

If you have kids and pets, make sure they are not left in vehicles. Look before you lock. Check the backseat, Mehle said. Wear light-colored clothing.

Cooling centers have been set up in some of the Bay Areas hottest locations to help residents withstand the heat and save electricity.

Community centers and public libraries throughout Santa Clara County  including Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, Los Altos, Campbell and Milpitas  will have doors open, as well as in San Jose.

Senior centers in Antioch, Livermore and Concord will also be available to residents escaping the heat.

The National Weather Services heat advisory will remain in effect until 9 p.m. Thursday. Officials advised people to be aware of an increased risk of drownings as people attempt to escape the sun by flocking to the ocean.

Instead, officials suggest spending time at air-conditioned malls, libraries, movie theaters, community centers and designated cool centers.

The peak heat period for any given day of summer, which officially arrived at 9:24 p.m. on Tuesday, is from 2 to 4 p.m., Mehle said.

Temperatures for most of the Bay Area will start to go down on Friday, but some East Bay cities will continue to be in the 100-degree range.

I will say, if theres any silver lining, the heat is going to break as we get toward Pride, said Mehle, referring to this weekends gay Pride celebrations.
San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon is pushing for $588,000 to hire new attorneys for the citys jails so that people arrested on Friday nights dont have to wait until Monday morning to get out.

Mayor Ed Lee included the funding for a weekend unit in his proposed budget, which went before the Board of Supervisors last week. The money would support two attorneys and two paralegals who would review the incident reports and booking sheets of those arrested to determine whether or not they should be charged.

Under the current system, the district attorney has two full business days to conduct these reviews. A person arrested early on Thursday morning before a holiday weekend might not get through the process until Tuesday morning.

To Sheriff Vicki Hennessy, who advocated for the funding, that seems unfair. She helped lead a working group that the supervisors convened last year on ways to reduce San Franciscos jail population and prepare for the sixth- and seventh-floor Hall of Justice jails to be shut down permanently.

I dont think people should be in jail any longer than theyre supposed to be, and they certainly shouldnt stay there if theyre not going to be charged, she said Monday.

No action was taken in at least a quarter of the 4,418 cases that came before the district attorney in 2015, according to the offices annual report.

Its obvious to us that some people are staying in jail two or three days without being charged, Hennessy said.

The weekend rebooking unit is among several changes that Lee has proposed for San Franciscos criminal justice system, with the idea of shifting away from incarceration and toward social services that can help keep people out of jail.

This investment will ensure that no one spends time in jail unnecessarily, Lee said. We are always striving to improve our criminal justice system, and this pilot program will help individuals get back to work and back with their families as soon as possible.

 Rachel Swan

Email: cityinsider@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @sfcityinsider, @rachelswan
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Many of the 36 victims of the Ghost Ship fire were found in clusters  some in areas never touched by flame and others amid severely charred debris, according to an investigative report released Monday detailing the difficulties recovery teams faced after the Dec. 2 blaze in the artist collective.

Only seven of the victims were found on the second floor of the converted warehouse, in a section that did not collapse or burn but had extensive smoke damage, according to the report on Oaklands deadliest fire.

The rest of the victims were found either on the ground floor or in the rubble from the partial collapse of the second floor. All 36 victims died of smoke inhalation.

The report is the first official account of what witnesses told investigators, how fire crews fought the inferno and where the bodies of victims were located. It also provides a detailed description of the artist collective that former residents described as a jumbled labyrinth, and where everything was positioned during the blaze.

In two instances, recovery teams found victims wrapped within large rugs that had collapsed from the upper level into the first floor, including onto motor homes parked inside.

In the space between the two motorhomes a large area rug was suspended among partially collapsed debris from the second floor. Eight victims were recovered from within this rug and next to it, the report said.

Nearby, atop one of the trailers, three victims were found within another large rug that had fallen with the second floor collapse.

Authorities spent five round-the-clock days combing through rubble before calling off search-and-recovery efforts.

The details were laid out in the 50-page Origin and Cause Report by federal and local officials. The report identified the fire origin  the northwest corner of the ground floor, and explained why investigators were unable to determine how the fire began. Even after considering factors such as fire pattern, ventilation effect, fuel load and potential heat sources, the extensive damage around the fires origin made a ruling on cause impossible, the report said.

The collectives primary tenant, Derick Almena, and second-in-command, Max Harris, were arrested and charged this month with involuntary manslaughter in the deaths. Officials said the pair had created a fire trap and then packed the building with paying guests for music shows like the one held the night of the fire.

The report described the complicated, makeshift electrical system that had failed in the day or two prior to the fire. Tenants told investigators they didnt know where their power supply originated but were aware that the electrical system was faulty.

City officials had previously refrained from releasing the documents, citing the criminal investigation by the Alameda County district attorneys office.

Absent from the more than a half dozen witness interviews included in the report was any statement from Almena. Harris, however, told investigators that as the warehouses creative director and handyman, he didnt allow smoking, candles, incense or space heaters.

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.

Harris stated the warehouse was supplied electricity from the body shop next door so if one of the fuses blew, they would have to wait for the body shop to open to restore power, the report said. Harris stated the breaker and the fuses popped a few days prior to the fire.

The interviews with firefighters, paramedics and survivors show that most were initially unaware of how many people were trapped inside, as The Chronicle previously reported. No one gathered outside seemed overly excited or distraught, the report said, and firefighters called into the building for a response from people possibly inside but got no answer.

By the time firefighters entered the warehouse the next morning, the second floor in the back of the warehouse had collapsed.

Although investigators ruled out propane and natural gas as heat sources, everything from candles and incense to cigarettes and electrical failure were possible, the report said. Even an open flame, set intentionally or carelessly, couldnt be eliminated as the potential ignition source. No one who may have witnessed the incipient stage of the fire could be located, the report said.

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov
July 1 will bring two small but significant developments to the Outer Mission District block ravaged by fire a year ago: the return of the first residents and the reopening of the first business.

At 3322 Mission St., El Paisa, a Honduran family restaurant, will reopen its doors after water and smoke damage forced it to close last year, along with seven other businesses. Around the corner, at 33 29th St., a family of four will move into the three-bedroom unit they fled during the fire, leaving behind everything  school books, iPads, laptops, photo albums.

The two milestones are modest, considering the fire wiped out eight businesses and the homes of 58 residents. But its a start.

The last year has been daunting and unfortunate for a lot of the businesses, and we are definitely looking forward to starting the next phase, said Ana Rivera, who does outreach for the Mission Bernal Merchants Association.

On June 18, 2016, a blaze  likely sparked by a discarded cigarette or barbecue coals dropped in a trash bin at the residential hotel above the bar at 3300 Mission St.  tore through a key commercial block of the Outer Mission business district, destroying six buildings. Burned beyond repair was Cole Hardware  the go-to home improvement source for residents of the Outer Mission, outer Noe Valley and Bernal Heights. The historic, family-owned 3300 Club bar was badly damaged, along with the 28 units of housing upstairs. Other businesses damaged include Playa Azul, El Gran Taco Loco and El Paisa.

Since then, despite vows to rebuild, progress has been slow. The charred remains of the Cole Hardware building were knocked down and winter rain collected in the old foundation. Mosquitoes bred in the stagnant water, causing the Department of Public Health to put the property under regular surveillance. Someone put a sign on the chain-link fence renaming the property the Mission Memorial Manmade Marsh.

Meanwhile the fate of the adjacent, partially charred 3300 Club and Graywood Hotel was not much better. The rear of the building, which was open to the rains all winter, became a canvas for graffiti taggers. The building has now been gutted. The landlord terminated the 3300 Club lease and hired a broker to sell it. The marketing materials highlighted the building as a great opportunity for a developer to reposition the property.

The interiors are down to the studs with the beautiful exterior facade intact, reads the brochure. Great corner location in Bernal Heights near the Mission!

Mark Macy, an architect hired by a developer who had the property under contract, concluded it would need to be stabilized or it would face the same fate as the structure at 22nd and Mission streets  site of another big Mission District fire, in January 2015. The building, which had a food hall and housing upstairs, was condemned and torn down after more than a year of neglect.

Give it another season and its going to be like the 22nd Street property  its clear that any further delay would result in the building not being saved, he said. The parties involved should really be moving quickly, and that would include the city.

To the south of the hardware store, Playa Azul, the Mexican seafood restaurant at 3318 Mission, is waiting for building permits. Alejandra Sanchez, whose parents own Playa Azul, said city officials assured them their rebuild would be a priority. But six months after filing for their building permits, they are still waiting for paperwork to go through.

Its been one thing after another, she said. We thought we would be in the middle of construction by now. At this rate its going to be two or three years before we can open. Frustration is mostly what my parents are feeling at this point.

But while the progress has been slow, lately both the owners of the 3300 Club and Cole Hardware have fresh reason for optimism. The nonprofit Mission Economic Development Agency is in contract to buy the 3300 Club building and, if the deal goes through, would seek to bring back the bar and rebuild affordable housing upstairs.

Theresa Keane, whose family owns the 3300 Club business, said she is hopeful the development agency will be able to buy the building and work out a deal with the bar.

Its not a done deal, but everybody says they miss it and want it back, she said. But I dont want to get my hopes up. Im going to play it cool and wait and see. Even if MEDA is going to come  how much is it going to cost us? Will we be able to afford it? We are still dealing with our insurance company. We still have debts we have to pay back once we get the money.

And Rick Karp, owner of Cole Hardware, said he has had productive conversations with developer John Stricklin, who bought the site and is proposing eight units above retail on the site. Karp, the second-generation owner of Cole Hardware, said he never completely gave up on opening a new store in the Outer Mission but that it was looking unlikely before the new property owner came into the picture.

We dont have anything signed on the dotted line, but we have been working with him since before he purchased the property, Karp said. He is a great guy, very community-oriented, very interested in us going back in and is designing the retail space around our needs.

Supervisor Hillary Ronen, who represents the neighborhood, said bringing back Cole Hardware and the 3300 Club are top priorities, along with rebuilding the affordable units. Her office is working with the Economic Development Agency and the business owners.

Were going to help make sure both those things happen, Ronen said. These are legacy businesses that are beloved in the neighborhood.

Having a dead 3300 block on Mission Street has hurt all the merchants in the neighborhood, said Mission Bernal Merchants Association founder Eden Stein, who owns the gift shop and gallery Secession Art and Design on Mission near Valencia Street.

There is not a day that goes by when someone doesnt ask me, When is Cole Hardware coming back? she said. Can you please let them know that we need them in our community? Its love notes for days. They were such a core part of our community.

Editors note: This story has been corrected with the proper spelling of the name of the Cole Hardware sites developer. He is John Stricklin.

J.K. Dineen is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jdineen@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SFJKDineen
Its 10 p.m. on a recent Thursday, and Daniel Kravtsov still has a long night ahead.

Over the next five hours he will sit in his Hayes Valley apartment, directing a team of developers in Russia via Skype. While long hours come with the territory of being an entrepreneur, foreigners like Kravtsov feel that almost everything about growing a startup would be easier if they werent so tied up by the red tape of the U.S. immigration system.

If we have technical problems, we need to wait several hours until my developers wake up, said Kravtsov, CEO of Improvado, which helps advertisers process data. If the prospect of sponsoring visas for his employees wasnt so hopeless, Kravtsov said he would bring some of his developers  who he said have irreplaceable skills  to the U.S.

Despite the frustrations entrepreneurs like Kravtsov face, his company is part of a historically large class of founders from abroad going through 500 Startups, a highly competitive tech incubator. Another well-known startup finishing school, Y Combinator, has been hosting more foreigners than since it started keeping records about its founders nationality.

These incubators and others like them admit classes of early-stage companies every year and give them a small amount of financing as well as direction on how to succeed. Entering these programs is often seen as a mark of prestige for nascent companies around the world.

The founders in 500 Startups current class are about 43 percent international, up from the past average of 33 percent. Y Combinators previous class was 41 percent international  a big jump from prior years. Its current class is closer to the historical average of 29 percent, but includes entrepreneurs from Nigeria, Singapore, India and Finland.

Foreign entrepreneurs, investors said, are often highly motivated. When the companies from overseas are trying to tackle a global problem, in some cases youre getting a better deal because they want to come over here and work harder, said Marvin Liao, a partner at 500 Startups.

But just because these entrepreneurs are in the U.S. doesnt mean it is easy for them to stay and thrive here. There is no straightforward path for a foreign entrepreneur to reside in the U.S. as they build a company. It is still unclear how that will change under President Trump, who has talked about a merit-based system for immigration that could favor entrepreneurs, but whose moves so far seem designed to broadly limit the number of foreigners coming into the country.

The International Entrepreneur Rule is the closest Silicon Valley has come to the startup visa some here have called for. But that rule will likely be amended or dropped before it is set to go into effect July 17, experts said.

This lack of clarity and direction in the U.S. forces foreign-born founders to get creative.

Some work at other companies on an H-1B visa (which allows them to live and work in the U.S. for up to six years) and build their startups on the side, during work breaks or late into the night. Others go through mountains of paperwork to convince immigration services they qualify for other visas, such as an O-1 or L-1. Then there are founders like Ignacio Harriague from Argentina. His answer? Spend thousands of dollars on plane tickets, keeping his stays under the legal limit.

It would be a lot easier, a lot faster, if we could be here on a consistent basis, said Harriague, who is part of 500 Startups as the co-founder of content-distribution company Croma. Its an expenditure you dont want to have in the nascent stages of a company.

Visas arent the only problem, said Elizabeth Jamae, an immigration attorney at DAlessio Law Group. There are the steep U.S. taxes. And venture capitalists often dont want to invest in a company if the founders status in the U.S. is in flux.

The one thing I hear repeatedly from venture capitalists outside of the U.S. is that if startups want to grow their company, they have to be in the U.S. market  the rest of the world is just not big enough, she said. But our government hasnt been proactive in putting forth legislation that would support entrepreneurs coming here.

While other countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, Ireland, France and New Zealand, have programs to attract entrepreneurs, Silicon Valley and other U.S. innovation hubs remain attractive to company founders.

But experts say the allure of the U.S. will falter if the administration continues to clamp down on foreigners. And if the perception of a crackdown lingers, will the extra hassle that comes with being in the U.S.  the late hours, the extra expenditures, the stress and uncertainty  be worth it?

Kravtsov say yes: Staying up late into the night is easy to justify if it means you can also take advantage of the U.S. market and make connections with American investors and partners.

But others would rather spend their energy elsewhere.

We dont have that much time to spend on applications and processes when were building a business, said Juan Melano, a co-founder of Croma and native of Argentina. What am I going to be using my time for? Getting my business to grow, or to live somewhere?

His answer: Grow the business.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
Bill Hutchinson / Bill Hutchinson / The Chronicle

A 32-year-old man accused of setting his mobile home on fire in an unincorporated area near Santa Rosa, killing his mother, was arrested and held without bail, police said Monday.

Ian Stamp was arrested Sunday afternoon following the fire that was reported around 2 p.m. in the 400 block of Bejay Avenue east of Highway 101, according to the Sonoma County Sheriffs Office.















Its easy to read the latest headline about a shooting somewhere in the United States  a movie theater or a school or office  and think, Thats too bad, sigh and click on the next story.

But when the days mass shooting involves someone you know, someone pivotal in your neighborhood, its like a punch in the gut.

So it is for Diamond Heights, the San Francisco neighborhood you wont find in guidebooks and that doesnt have a famous bridge or museum or high-rise tower. Its just a collection of everyday people living in everyday homes who gather every day in the Diamond Heights shopping center to eat doughnuts at Creightons Bakery & Cafe, shop at Safeway and push their kids on the swings at George Christopher Playground.

Every lunchtime, Mike Lefiti stopped at Creightons, too. The UPS driver always parked his big brown truck in the no-parking zone outside the bakery and ordered lunch  sometimes a ham-and-cheese croissant, sometimes sausage, cheese and tomato on an English muffin  to eat in his truck.

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And always a large hot chocolate. Hed say, 300 degrees hot! said Moi Ly, who works at Creightons. Every day.

Every day until Wednesday, when Lefiti and two other UPS drivers were shot and killed at the UPS distribution center on Potrero Hill by another UPS driver, Jimmy Chanh Lam, who then killed himself. Also slain were Benson Louie, who delivered packages in the Sunset, and Wayne Chan, who worked in the Haight and Cole Valley.

I live in Glen Park, but shop at the Diamond Heights Safeway every week and am a regular at Creightons. Id seen the smiling Lefiti, but our beloved UPS guy is Leo Parker, who witnessed Lam shoot Louie execution-style in the head before turning the gun on the others. By a stroke of luck, Parker survived unscathed  in the physical sense, anyway.

On Thursday morning, I saw that a spontaneous memorial of flowers, candles, Warriors gear and notes had sprung up outside Creightons. By Monday morning, it had exploded in size, stretching down a brick wall three storefronts long. Neighbors kept coming, adding to the pile and stopping to read the messages to Lefiti, the big man known as Mikey or Big Mike, and described as a gentle giant and the Samoan Saint Nick.

The 46-year-old Hercules resident grew up in Daly City and leaves behind a wife and three children. One message at the memorial says its from his daughter and includes the Samoan phrases Ou te alofa ia te ou and tofa soifua. I love you. Goodbye.

In a big, bustling city where many residents live far from their families and hometowns, its the daily touchstones like Lefiti who make a neighborhood feel like home. Neighbors said he was that one person who always had a smile and time to chat, and who knew the names of all his customers, their kids and even their dogs.

Brenda Joyce Smith, who has lived in Diamond Heights for 40 years, works as an Avon representative and had packages delivered by Lefiti just about every day.

Ive been knowing him at least over 10 years, Id say. He called me Mama, Smith said, noting with a twinkle in her eye that she liked seeing Lefiti in his brown shorts. He had beautiful legs.

When Smith learned of Lefitis death from TV news, she didnt know what to do. So, like many others, she went to the shopping center. Lefitis unofficial parking space was empty.

Enough is enough  theres too much violence and tragedy, Smith said. I wish they would take all guns away. Then it would be like when I was young. If you had an altercation, youd fight. That way, nobody is gone forever.

According to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to reducing gun violence, an average of 100 Americans are killed by guns every day. Seven of those are children and teenagers. Many of the rest are adults like Lefiti, who were just going about their business and struck down for no clear reason. And yet, nothing changes.

Frankly, if the 2012 slaying of 20 first-graders and six staff workers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., didnt prompt change in gun control at the national level, the killing of three UPS drivers wont either. And that knowledge is gut-wrenching to many of those in Diamond Heights.

If someone dies of old age or an accident ... said Jose Barrios, a maintenance worker at the shopping center, his voice trailing off. But if someone gets shot, its different. This one is different.

Barrios said Lefiti was always offering to share his lunch or the Gatorade he bought every day at Walgreens. If he saw Barrios working outside in the wind or rain, hed bring him a hot coffee. Barrios said he couldnt help but research what happens to a body when its shot.

What was going on in his mind? Barrios asked. What was he feeling in those last few seconds? You get philosophical. Why did it happen?

John Jordan, a video producer, has the same questions. He moved to Diamond Heights 11 years ago and said Lefiti was the first real friend he made. During the tech boom, the neighborhood started gentrifying, but Lefiti never changed.

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.

What used to be a Toyota Corolla was now a brand-new Tesla, Jordan said. He was so not that. He had an appeal to everybody, he really did.

Jordan bought a house in Pacifica a year ago, but came back to the Diamond Heights shopping center on Thursday to pay his respects. The way Lefiti died, he said, is an outrage.

Its never hit home like this before, Jordan said. Hes now a national statistic.

The rest of the country has already moved on. After all, there have been at least 10 mass shootings in the United States since Wednesdays rocked our city, according to the online Gun Violence Archive. Thats 10 more headlines that prompt a moment of sorrow, but not much else.

But the neighbors of Diamond Heights havent moved on and wont, not for a long time. The memorial keeps growing. The tears keep coming.

You were part of our neighborhood, a friendly face in this sea of strangers, reads an anonymous note left among the flowers and candles. And now you are gone, gone in the cruelest, most heartless way, shot for no reason, as this world descends into more madness every day. All I can say is, I will remember your big smile, your big wave, your big truck. Goodbye, Big Mike.

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Heather Knight appears Tuesdays and Fridays. Email: hknight@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @hknightsf

How to help

A GoFundMe drive to benefit Mike Lefitis wife and children has been established at https://www.gofundme.com/in-honor-of-mike-Lefiti-big-mike.

A Wells Fargo savings account has also been established to benefit his children. The fund number is 11819-33852.
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The inspired nuttiness of GLOW, the new Netflix comedy series about female wrestlers, makes the show entertaining. The focus on women learning to take control of their own lives provides the real grounding for the series, whose 10-episode first season is available on Friday, June 23.

The show was created by Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, and produced by Jenji Kohan (Orange Is the New Black). Its easy to see why Kohan was attracted to the project: Its themes echo those of both OITNB and Kohans previous hit, Weeds.

The series follows the development of the womens wrestling team known as the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling in the 1980s. The real GLOW was created by Jayne Mansfields ex-husband and still exists today, although, appropriately enough, its owned by a woman.

The fictionalized GLOW is the brainchild of a spoiled rich kid named Bash Howard (Chris Lowell) who recruits a struggling grind house movie director named Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron) to create a womens league whose matches will be broadcast on TV. Naturally, they set up shop in the San Gabriel Valley, whose bargain-basement-Babylon look provides the perfect backdrop for the fledgling league.

Sam recruits a decidedly oddball mix of women for his team. Ruth (Alison Brie) fancies herself a serious actress, but her career is going nowhere because shes not very good. Ruths former best friend Debbie (Betty Gilpin) quit her long-running soap opera gig to have a baby.

Sam creates absurd and hilariously offensive backstories for the characters each of the women will play in the choreographed bouts. African American Tamee (Kia Stevens) will be Welfare Queen, pulling food stamps out of her cleavage. Jenny (Ellen Wong), although of Cambodian heritage, will be the Chinese wrestler Fortune Cookie. Indian American Arthie (Sunita Mani) will be a Middle Eastern terrorist known as Beirut.

Carmen Wade (Britney Young) comes from a family of well-known wrestlers who would not want their daughter or sister going into the family business. Nonetheless, she wants to do what her dad and brothers do, so she is cast as Andean powerhouse Machu Picchu.

The plot framework, of course, is whether Sams ragtag misfits can perfect the fake body slams and harmless headlocks to become convincing in the ring, and whether the wrestling show can make it to TV before Bashs icy mother (Elizabeth Perkins) turns off the money spigot.

But really, its about the women finding their own strength and identity through the cheesy fakery of GLOW.

The performances are superb, especially those of Maron, Young, Brie and Gilpin, all of whom do justice to mostly exceptional scripts.

That said, the show doesnt really find its footing until the third episode. It also falls back on a number of threadbare cliches to wrap things up in the last episode.

The most important thing about that last episode, though, is that it leaves the door wide open for the second season. After Debbie and Ruth finish faking it in the ring, Ruth asks if her former friend wants to grab a drink.

Were not there yet, Debbie says, but theyre not far away either. You can bet well be ringside to see how this plays out next season.

David Wiegand is an assistant managing editor and the TV critic of The San Francisco Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook. Email: dwiegand@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @WaitWhat_TV

GLOW: Comedy series, first season available for streaming on Netflix on Friday, June 23.
With another hot streak expected to send inland Bay Area temperatures soaring to triple digits and prompt sweltering residents to crank up air conditioners and fans, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews are bracing for record use of electricity Thursday and hoping it doesnt short-circuit the power grid.

Blistering temperatures, which have already topped the century mark this week in the East Bay cities of Livermore, Concord and Antioch, are expected to hit 106 degrees Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. It will be more miserable in the north bay, where temperatures at Lake Berryessa and Cloverdale will flirt with 110.

The farther you get inland, the more likely you are to approach that 110 degrees, Matt Mehle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Tuesday. We increase 2 degrees almost every day through Thursday.

The California Independent System Operator, which runs the states electrical grid serving 39 million people, issued a statewide Flex Alert on Monday, calling on residents to voluntarily conserve electricity from 2 to 9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday to help prevent an overload of the grid on Thursday.

People are advised to turn off unnecessary lights during the day, refrain from using major appliances and keep air conditioners at 78 degrees or higher.

Mehle said the temperature in San Francisco will spike to at least 81 degrees on Thursday, while Oakland, Berkeley and San Leandro are forecast to reach the low 90s. San Jose is forecast to hit 97 on Thursday.

The hot spell has PG&E and the experts who run the state electrical grid worried about a power overload.

PG&E, which serves 5.4 million electrical customer accounts in Northern and Central California, expects to set a record for electricity demand on Thursday, surpassing the mark of 22,468 megawatts set 11 years ago. A megawatt is a snapshot representing the amount of electricity used by 760 typical homes at any given moment.

More for you Why rising temperatures dont make solar power rise

Its very much an all-hands-on-deck situation for us, said Lynsey Paulo, PG&E spokeswoman.

The utility set the usage record in July 2006 during Californias infamous heat storm that was blamed for more than 160 deaths.

The recent hot spell has already tested PG&Es ability to keep the power going. From Friday, when temperatures began rising across the state, through Tuesday morning, 236,400 of the utilitys customers lost electricity. By midmorning Tuesday, the number was down to 5,500 of those customers without power, 4,700 of them in the Bay Area, officials said.

In Walnut Creek, where it got close to 100 degrees on Monday, nearly 2,600 PG&E customers struggled with power outages into the early hours of Tuesday, according to the utility company. Similarly, in Fremont, 3,833 people lost power.

Many outages were caused by overloaded transformers, which are devices that change the voltage on a line. The devices typically look like squat metal canisters near the top of power poles.

Unusually high night-time temperatures this week have prevented the transformers from cooling, said Rod Robinson, PG&E grid manager.

As equipment heats up, theres a natural cooling period at night, but thats not happening right now, Robinson said.

Although inland portions of PG&Es territory have suffered higher temperatures this week, outages appeared to disproportionately affect the Bay Area. Just over half of the customers who have lost power in PG&Es service area since the heat wave started Friday have been in the Bay Area.

Utility spokeswoman Jennifer Robison said that PG&Es electricity delivery system in the Bay Area isnt designed to deal with frequent heat and warm nights. In other places like Shasta County or Kern County, it is.

Triple-digit temperatures and relatively high evening temperatures are common there, so the infrastructure is built for that, she said.

Overnight lows in the East Bay and South Bay are expected to be in the 60s on Wednesday and Thursday, said Mehle, the meteorologist.

When you dont get cooling at night, thats when it becomes dangerous, Mehle said.

California Independent System Operator executives have estimated the peak usage of appliances like air conditioners on Wednesday to exceed 47,000 megawatts throughout the state and could be higher on Thursday  putting a strain on the electrical grid. The systems peak usage of 50,270 megawatts was on July 24, 2006, also during the heat storm.

While PG&E has an army of crews ready to respond to outages, the utility can also call on more than 290,000 customers who have agreed to cut their electricity use when needed, in exchange for paying lower rates. Together, those customers, which includes businesses, can shave as much as 673 megawatts off PG&Es peak demand on hot days, Paulo said, which is roughly the output of a mid-sized power plant.

On Wednesday, the forecast calls for a gradual uptick in temperatures, with San Francisco rising to 77 degrees and the upper 80s in Oakland and Berkeley, Mehle said.

Inland areas like Livermore, Concord and Antioch will remain in the low 100s before jumping at least five degrees on Thursday.

If you have kids and pets, make sure they are not left in vehicles. Look before you lock. Check the backseat, Mehle said. Wear light-colored clothing.

Cooling centers have been set up in some of the Bay Areas hottest locations to help residents withstand the heat and save electricity.

Community centers and public libraries throughout Santa Clara County  including Gilroy, Morgan Hill, Saratoga, Los Altos, Campbell and Milpitas  will have doors open, as well as in San Jose.

Senior centers in Antioch, Livermore and Concord will also be available to residents escaping the heat.

The National Weather Services heat advisory will remain in effect until 9 p.m. Thursday. Officials advised people to be aware of an increased risk of drownings as people attempt to escape the sun by flocking to the ocean.

Instead, officials suggest spending time at air-conditioned malls, libraries, movie theaters, community centers and designated cool centers.

The peak heat period for any given day of summer, which officially arrived at 9:24 p.m. on Tuesday, is from 2 to 4 p.m., Mehle said.

Temperatures for most of the Bay Area will start to go down on Friday, but some East Bay cities will continue to be in the 100-degree range.

I will say, if theres any silver lining, the heat is going to break as we get toward Pride, said Mehle, referring to this weekends gay Pride celebrations.
Refugees event: A briefing, Helping Refugees Today: What We Need to Know, What We Need to Do, by immigration and refugee resettlement professionals. The event is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at St. Marks Lutheran Church, 1111 OFarrell St. in San Francisco. Information: http://gracecathedral.org/refugees.

Environmental action: A conversation on what actions to take against President Trumps environmental agenda, hosted by the Sierra Club. The event is from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the International Hotel Manilatown Center, 868 Kearny St. in San Francisco. For information: (510) 848-0800.

Coal film: A free screening of From the Ashes, a National Geographic documentary about coal, followed by a discussion on the environment and climate. 7 p.m. at La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. For information: www.nocoalinoakland.info.

Democratic Party forum: A conversation on the rifts within the Democratic Party, hosted by Progressive Democrats for America. The event is at 7 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Center, Fireside Room, 1187 Franklin St. in San Francisco. For information: (415) 516-9625 or jlcowan@mindspring.com.

Climate change: Hosted by the Older Womens League of California, a discussion and postcard writing to elected representatives to push for climate change support. 10 a.m.-noon at the Northern Police Station Community Room, 1125 Fillmore St. in San Francisco. For information:info@owlsf.org.

Impeachment march: Nationwide marches will call for President Trumps impeachment. The march in San Francisco begins at 1 p.m. along the Embarcadero and will head to Powell and Market streets. For information: http://bit.ly/2sYoEER.
Photo: Lance Knobel

A car leaped the median on University Avenue, crashing into 85 Degrees Bakery Cafe, following a collision shortly after 10 a.m. this morning in downtown Berkeley. The black Toyota Camry, driven by a young woman with her two children in the car, was heading west on University when it was hit by a car turning left from Shattuck. Only minor injuries were reported, according to emergency responders on the scene.

Keerthik Omanakuttan was sitting in the cafe, right at the window where the Camry plowed into the building.
A federal appeals court has upheld the Richmond Police Departments firing of a longtime employee who claimed the department discriminated against her because of her religious disapproval of homosexuality.

The Police Department had valid reasons for dismissing records clerk Loudesia Flanagan, including her mistreatment of a volunteer intern who was lesbian, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Monday. Any rights Flanagan had to express her Christian viewpoint at work were outweighed by the departments need for maintaining a discrimination- and harassment-free work environment, the court said.

Flanagan worked for Richmond as a police records specialist from 1989 until she was fired in 2013. Her lawyers could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Flanagan had high job-performance ratings but also had some run-ins with supervisors and was disciplined several times over the years, according to records cited by U.S. District Judge Edward Chen, who heard her lawsuit seeking reinstatement. On one occasion in December 2011, Chen said, she wore a Santa Claus hat on duty, refused a supervisors repeated orders to take it off and later accused the supervisor of harassing her.

The volunteer intern told a supervisor in March 2012 that Flanagan was not allowing her to enter secured areas of the building and reported in April 2013 that Flanagan was making her wait in the lobby or acting as if she wasnt there, Chen said.

A colleague quoted Flanagan as saying the intern wont be going to heaven ... because God does not like gays. A former co-worker said Flanagan had commented that then-Police Chief Chris Magnus, who is gay, was cultivating a gay environment.

The department suspended Flanagan with pay in May 2013 and fired her five months later, saying she had been discourteous and disrespectful to the intern, had falsely denied making discriminatory comments, and had created a hostile work environment by speaking openly about her dislike for gay people.

Her lawsuit contended the department had retaliated against her for complaining about police corruption under Magnus and for expressing her religious beliefs. Chen dismissed the suit in 2015, saying Flanagan had not pointed to any instances of corruption and had been dismissed for her conduct, not her beliefs.

Upholding Chens ruling, the three-judge appeals court panel said Monday that Flanagan had presented no evidence that the departments stated reasons for firing her were a pretext for religious bias.

Flanagan is free to declare her opinions about homosexuality as a private citizen, the panel said, but her freedom to express such views, in the particular circumstances of this case, gives way in the workplace.

Christine Maloney, Richmonds lawyer in the case, said the timing of the ruling, though coincidental, was a fitting and affirming start to Pride Week and its celebration of gay rights.

No matter a persons personal beliefs, religious or otherwise, the decision reaffirms workplace rules that require equality and fair treatment in the workplace, Maloney said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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A group of Jewish students and local residents sued San Francisco State University over alleged anti-Semitism on Monday, accusing school officials of tolerating and encouraging hostility toward Jews and enabling the disruption of an April 2016 campus speech by the mayor of Jerusalem.

SFSU has fostered and sanctioned anti-Semitism from the highest levels and affirmed the actions of hostile, aggressive and disruptive students to regularly violate the rights of Jewish students, lawyers for three leaders of the campus Jewish group Hillel and three nonstudents said in the federal court lawsuit.

They cited incidents dating back to 1994  when a mural showing stars of David intertwined with dollar signs was displayed at the student union, then painted over after protests  and said Jewish students feel fearful, intimidated and threatened on campus.

The suit seeks unspecified damages and court orders barring the alleged anti-Semitic policies at San Francisco State.

The university said it had not been aware of the suit or its allegations. In a statement, university attorney Daniel Ojeda said, We have been working closely with the Jewish community, among other interest groups, to address concerns and improve the campus environment for all students. Those efforts have been very productive and will continue notwithstanding this lawsuit.

San Francisco State, like many other campuses, has been torn by conflicts over Israel, Zionism and Palestinians. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, focused on the disruption of an April 2016 appearance by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

Speaking at a location far from the center of campus  due to discriminatory treatment by school officials, the suit claims  Barkat was six minutes into his remarks when about 20 students stood and started shouting, Free Palestine, Israel is an apartheid state and other chants, according to a report commissioned afterward by the university.

The protesters soon began using a microphone and prevented listeners from hearing most of Barkats speech, the report said.

The report, by an outside law firm, found that the protest was disruptive and violated school policies but posed no physical threat to Barkat or others.

The lawsuit said, however, that the protesters had threatened violence, that Jewish students felt frightened, and that school officials contributed to the hateful atmosphere by instructing campus police to stand down rather than halting the protest. Later, the suit said, officials showed their bias by letting the demonstrators off with a warning and no formal discipline.

The suit also cited the exclusion of Hillel from a campus Know Your Rights fair in February  a discriminatory action that school officials defended with a false claim that the group had missed a registration deadline, the plaintiffs lawyers said.

They said university President Leslie Wong, a defendant in the suit, acknowledged in a May 30 letter to five Jewish students that institutionalized anti-Semitism is part of what we at S.F. State must confront and mitigate.

Wongs empty and overly general statements failed to address Jewish students concerns about their rights and safety, the suit said.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
YouTube has struggled for years with videos that promote offensive viewpoints but do not necessarily violate the companys guidelines for removal. Now it is taking a new approach: Bury them.

The issue has gained new prominence amid media reports that one of the London Bridge attackers became radicalized by watching YouTube videos of an American Islamic preacher, whose sermons have been described as employing extremely charged religious and sectarian language.

On Sunday, Google, YouTubes parent company, announced a set of policies to curb extremist videos. For videos that are clearly in violation of its community guidelines, such as those promoting terrorism, Google said it would quickly identify and remove them. The process for handling videos that do not necessarily violate specific rules of conduct is more complicated.

Under the policy change, Google said offensive videos that did not meet its standard for removal  for example, videos promoting the subjugation of religions or races without inciting violence  would come with a warning and could not be monetized with advertising, or be recommended, endorsed or commented on by users. Such videos were already not allowed to include advertising, but they were not restricted in any other way.

That means these videos will have less engagement and be harder to find, Kent Walker, Googles general counsel and senior vice president, wrote in a company blog post. We think this strikes the right balance between free expression and access to information without promoting extremely offensive viewpoints.

Google, which has relied on automated video analysis for the removal of most of its terrorism-related content, said it would devote more engineers to help identify and remove potentially problematic videos. It also said it would enlist experts from nongovernmental organizations to help determine which videos were violent propaganda and which were religious or newsworthy speech.

The Mountain View company said it would rely on the specialized knowledge of groups with experts on issues like hate speech, self-harm and terrorism. The company also said it planned to work with counterextremist groups to help identify content that tried to radicalize or recruit extremists.

By allowing anyone to upload videos to YouTube, Google has created a thriving service that appeals to people with a wide range of interests. But it has also become a magnet for extremists, who can reach a wide audience for their racist or intolerant views.

Google has long wrestled with how to curb that content without inhibiting the freedom that makes YouTube popular.

Part of the challenge is the sheer volume of videos uploaded. The company has said that more than 400 hours of video content is uploaded every minute, and YouTube has been unable to police that in real time. Users flag offensive videos for review, while the companys algorithms comb the site for potential problems. Videos with nudity, graphic violent footage or copyrighted material are usually taken down quickly.

Companies throughout the tech industry are working on how to keep services for user-generated content open without allowing them to become dens of extremism. Like YouTube, social media companies have found that policing content is a never-ending challenge. Last week, Facebook said it will use artificial intelligence and human moderators to root out extremist content. Twitter said it suspended 377,000 accounts in the second half of 2016 for violations related to the promotion of terrorism.

In the aftermath of terror attacks in Manchester and London, British Prime Minister Theresa May criticized large Internet companies for providing the safe space that allows radical ideologies to spread. According to news media reports, friends and relatives of Khuram Shazad Butt, identified as one of the three knife-wielding attackers on London Bridge, were worried about the influence of YouTube videos of sermons by Ahmad Musa Jibril, an Islamic cleric from Michigan.

Jibrils sermons demonstrate YouTubes quandary because he does not explicitly call to violent jihad, but supports individual foreign fighters and justifies the Syrian conflict in highly emotive terms, according to a report by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence.

A spokesman for YouTube said the new policies were not the result of any single violent episode, but part of an effort to improve its service. Google did not respond to a question about whether Jibrils videos would fall under Googles guidelines for videos containing inflammatory language but not violating its policies. Jibril still has videos on YouTube, but without ads.

In its blog post, Google acknowledged that more needs to be done to remove terrorism-related content. YouTube said it would do more in counter-radicalization efforts, including targeting potential Islamic State recruits with videos that could change their minds about joining the organization. Google said that in previous counter-radicalization attempts, users clicked on ads at an unusually high rate to watch videos that debunk terrorism recruitment messages.

Google also announced a series of measures to identify extremist videos more quickly, an effort that the company started this year as YouTube tries to assure advertisers that it is safe for their marketing dollars.

YouTube came under fire this year when the Times of London and other news outlets found examples of brands that inadvertently funded extremist groups through automated advertising  a byproduct of YouTubes revenue-sharing model that provides content creators a portion of ad dollars.

Brands such as AT&T and Enterprise Rent-A-Car pulled ads from YouTube. Google responded by changing the types of videos that can carry advertising, blocking ads on videos with hate speech or discriminatory content. Google also created a system to allow advertisers to exclude specific sites and channels in YouTube and Googles display network.

Daisuke Wakabayashi is a New York Times writer.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren renewed her attack on Wells Fargo & Co., urging the Federal Reserve to remove the 12 directors who were on the board when bank employees set up legions of fake customer accounts.

Congress empowered the Fed to remove board members if they violate the law or engage in unsafe business practices that cause banks with federal deposit insurance to suffer losses, Warren, D-Mass., wrote in a letter Monday to Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen.

I urge you to exercise your legal authority to remove the holdover Wells Fargo board members, Warren wrote. The board did nothing to stop rampant misconduct that led to more than 5,000 bank employees creating more than 2 million fake accounts between 2011 and 2015, Warren added.

Eric Kollig, a Fed spokesman, said, We have received the letter and plan to respond.

Wells Fargo has faced a barrage of criticism from Warren and others since it was fined $185 million by regulators in September for opening retail bank accounts without customer approval. The scandal triggered public complaints and congressional hearings, prompting the San Francisco bank to name new leaders, claw back pay and find new ways to encourage sales. In April, shareholders voted narrowly to re-elect all 15 board members after some proxy advisers and large investors had urged that the majority be voted off.

Wells Fargo has taken many actions in response to its retail sales practices issues, including changes in senior leadership, executive accountability actions and numerous steps to ensure we make things right with any customer affected, spokeswoman Jennifer Dunn said in an email. That work continues and remains a core part of our efforts.

Warrens real goal probably isnt to oust the firms board, but to use the Wells Fargo scandal as a means of rebutting Republican calls for broad bank deregulation, said Isaac Boltansky, an analyst at Compass Point Research & Trading.

Its about defending the regulatory regime, Boltansky said in a phone interview. Senator Warrens big fear is that the call for medium-size and smaller bank deregulation will be used as a Trojan horse for easing rules against the biggest lenders.

Laura J. Keller and Craig Torres are Bloomberg writers. Email: at lkeller22@bloomberg.net, ctorres3@bloomberg.net
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An argument could be made that Uptown Oakland has the East Bay's most active restaurant scene these days. The cavalcade of new projects marching toward Broadway seems to grow by the day and the most recent addition to the list is a new project from the husband and wife duo of Anjan and Emily Mitra, the same folks behind San Francisco's Dosa, which has locations on Valencia and Fillmore.

Anjan Mitra said he's hoping to have the Oakland concept open by fall at 2310 Broadway, an address that was the former home of an appliance store and before that, a pet store.
1 Genital mutilation: Doctors and parents involved in female genital mutilation could go to prison for up to 15 years under bills overwhelmingly approved Tuesday by lawmakers in Michigan, who said harsher penalties are needed in a state where the first federal prosecution of the practice is ongoing. Gov. Rick Snyder is expected to sign the legislation, which would make Michigan the 26th state to ban female genital mutilation. It has been a federal crime for 20 years, punishable by five years in prison. The legislation was introduced after two doctors and one of their wives were indicted in an alleged scheme to perform genital mutilation on two girls at a Detroit-area clinic.

2 Prosecutor on trial: Federal prosecutors say Philadelphias district attorney was constantly on the take. District Attorney Seth Williams is accused of taking bribes worth tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for legal favors. Federal prosecutors opened the Democrats bribery trial by telling jurors about what they allege were five criminal schemes. Authorities said the citys top prosecutor accepted gifts including an all-inclusive Dominican Republic vacation, a couch and a Jaguar convertible from two business owners. They say in return, he intervened in legal matters on their behalf.
COVA / /

Close to 200 children in Oakland will have to find a new school in the fall after the district yanked their schools charter due to poor performance by the students and incompetence by administrators, officials said Tuesday.

The board of the Oakland Unified School District voted last week to not renew the charter for the Conservatory of Vocal and Instrumental Arts after officials said the K-8 school showed significant deficiencies in students academic performance compared with other schools in the district.
Getty Images / /

A broken gas main prompted a shelter in place order for just over an hour Tuesday in San Franciscos Eureka Valley neighborhood on Tuesday, officials said.

San Francisco firefighters reported the broken pipe at 20th and Douglas streets around noon. Residents were told to stay in their homes to avoid exposure to the gas.
Amazons $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market, the largest acquisition in the Seattle companys history, will give the e-commerce giant a much bigger presence in physical retail, including nearly 450 stores across the United States.

But a GeekWire analysis of existing Whole Foods stores and Amazon distribution locations shows that Amazon wont be dramatically expanding its geographic footprint into new areas of the country as a result of the deal. In fact, the footprints of Amazon and Whole Foods are strikingly similar in many respects.

Use the map below to compare the concentration of Whole Foods stores (in green shading) with Amazons distribution and fulfillment network (use the menu drop-down option to change views).

In many ways, this result makes sense. Both Amazon and Whole Foods are concentrated in the countrys major population centers, including California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania and New York. The proximity of many Whole Foods stores to existing Amazon locations could be one of the factors that attracted Amazon to the deal  making it easier to integrate its existing delivery infrastructure with its new retail presence.

MORE FROM GEEKWIRE:

On the other hand, a more complementary geographic pattern might have given Amazon the ability to better serve new areas of the country from existing Whole Foods locations. The companies havent detailed their integration plans  the deal wont be completed until later this year  but its easy to imagine possibilities such as an expansion of the AmazonFresh Pickup grocery concept to Whole Foods locations.

In a transcript of a town hall meeting with employees, Whole Foods CEO John Mackey made it clear that there will be integrations of Amazon technology into Whole Foods locations, citing the tech giants reputation for innovation. I think were gonna get a lot of those innovations in our stores. I think were gonna see a lotta technology. I think youre gonna see Whole Foods Market evolve in leaps and bounds, he said, according to the transcript.

For this analysis, we counted Whole Foods stores, state by state, and matched them up against Amazons network of fulfillment centers, sortation facilities and delivery stations, in addition to Amazon Fresh and Pantry hubs, Prime Now Hubs and the growing chain of Amazon Books stores across the country.

This updated map, created with the help of Tableau Software, builds on our past United States of Amazon project, using the latest data from third-party sources such as logistics consultants MWPVL Internationals unofficial list of Amazon distribution locations.

This story originally appeared on GeekWire.
A federal judge has upheld most of Californias pioneering low-carbon fuel standard but allowed oil companies and other fuel suppliers to challenge rules that may favor California ethanol producers over their Midwest competitors.

The standard, part of a 2006 state law intended to reduce air pollution that causes global warming, requires suppliers of transportation fuel sold in California to achieve a 10 percent reduction by 2020 in the amount of carbon released from their products.

Ruling in lawsuits originally filed in 2009 by oil refiners and ethanol producers, U.S. District Judge Lawrence ONeill of Fresno rejected their broadest arguments: that the California rules conflicted with milder federal clean-air laws and were an unconstitutional attempt to shield the states energy producers from competition.

Federal law expressly preserves the right of the states to enact their own legislation that is more restrictive, ONeill said in a 48-page decision Thursday.

In 2011, ONeill had blocked enforcement of the low-carbon standard, saying it appeared to establish a preference for California-produced biofuels. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco quickly allowed the state to resume enforcement of the rules and later overturned ONeills decision, in language he quoted in his latest ruling.

There was no protectionist purpose, no aim to insulate California from out-of-state competition, he said, citing the appeals courts findings.

But he said ethanol companies in the Midwest, where nearly all of the nations supplies of the fuel are produced, could proceed with their claim that the California rules, though neutral in purpose, had a discriminatory effect.

The California Air Resources Board assigns carbon intensity scores to ethanol sold in the state, ratings that determine the price that producers can charge. Although some California-produced ethanol has been given a higher score  and thus a lower value  than out-of-state products, many producers from other states have contended their fuels are assigned higher scores than identical ethanol from California, ONeill said.

It is plausible that Midwestern ethanol producers will be disproportionately burdened by the (low-carbon standard) compared to their California counterparts, the judge said.

Because state officials have conceded that the carbon standard, by itself, will not significantly reduce global climate change, he said, the Midwestern producers plausibly have alleged that the ethanol standard imposes burdens on interstate commerce that outweigh the local benefits it provides.

Air Resources Board spokesman David Clegern said Tuesday the board was still evaluating ONeills order. But overall, he said, the ruling closely tracked the earlier appeals court decision in the states favor.

Lawyers for the fuel companies could not be reached for comment.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko
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Mahershala Ali, an Oscar-winning actor best known for his recent roles in "Moonlight," "Hidden Figures," and Netflix shows "Luke Cage" and "House of Cards," told GQ in a profile interview released this week that he still experiences the effects of racism when he visits the East Bay, where he grew up.

Ali, who grew up in Hayward and attended Mount Eden High School, says that, despite his success, he feels the glare of racial profiling.

"When suddenly you go from being followed in Barneys to being fawned over, it will mess with your head," told Oakland-based writer Carvell Wallace.

He told GQ that even the Bay Area he gets treated differently.

More Information site:* AND amazon See More Collapse

"Walking down the street in Berkeley, and some cops roll up on you and say straight up, 'Give me your ID,' and you're like, 'What the f---?'"

Ali also relayed memories about riding public transit as a child, wherein he remembered watching passengers hide their rings from him. "Those experiences that you have from age 10," he said, "you start getting these little messages that you are something to be feared."

It's not the first time Ali has discussed his life growing up in the Bay Area. Last August, the actor told the Daily Beast about perceived vast differences between people in San Francisco, Oakland, and Richmond.

"I've tried to explain how you'll meet someone from San Francisco and they're different from Oakland people, or even folks in Berkeley and all the way out to Richmond," he said. "There's this sense that, 'Oh, those brothers over there are CRAZY in a way,' but brothers from Oakland might feel the same way about folks from Richmond."

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


The Trump administration on Monday threw out a new rule intended to limit the number of endangered whales and sea turtles caught in fishing nets off the West Coast, saying existing protections were already working.

Economically, the rule would have had a much more substantial impact on the fleet than we originally realized, said Michael Milstein, a spokesman with the National Marine Fisheries Service, which killed the rule.

The rule would have applied to fewer than 20 fishing vessels that use mile-long fishing nets to catch swordfish off California and Oregon, shutting down the drift gillnet fishing for swordfish for up to two seasons if too many of nine groups of whales, sea turtles or dolphins were caught in the nets.

The Pacific Fishery Management Council, which includes representatives of the fishing industry as well as state and tribal governments and federal regulators, proposed the rule in 2015.

But the fisheries service said that safety measures already taken by the fishing industry, such as pinging warning devices on the nets that can be heard by some of the animals, were drastically cutting the numbers of whales and turtles becoming tangled in the nets, Milstein said.

The bottom line is this is a fishery thats worked hard to reduce its impact, Milstein said.

Environmental groups protested Mondays decision.

Catherine Kilduff, an attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity environmental group, said any accidental harm to endangered populations of humpback whales and leatherback turtles would be particularly dangerous given their low numbers  as low as 411 for one group of humpbacks.

If they catch one, its a huge problem for the population, Kilduff said.

The rule would have applied to endangered fin, humpback and sperm whales, short-fin pilot whales, common bottlenose dolphins, and endangered leatherback, loggerhead, olive-ridley and green sea turtles.

Ellen Knickmeyer is an Associated Press writer.
From her very first San Francisco Chronicle recipe in 1989 (a simple apricot pound cake) to her finale in 2012 (a classic French far breton), Flo Braker and her "The Baker" column served up recipes that were were approachable, educational and, above all, guaranteed to be delicious.

As Chronicle restaurant critic Michael Bauer wrote in a 2012 piece celebrating Braker's final column, she was "one of our biggest supporters and helpmates," always there to answer questions about baking and pastry techniques.
The Bay Area is already well-versed in the food-wine-outdoor activity trifecta that Sonoma has going for it, but the city's attributes are being recognized others: Sonoma has earned a top spot in one of U.S. News & World Report's newly released Best Vacation rankings for 2017-2018.

The news site selected the Northern California city as the "Best Small Town to Visit in the USA," suggesting Sonoma is a better wine destination than Napa. U.S. News & World Report described Sonoma in glowing terms, calling it a county known for "its bucolic charms and array of wineries" but also "Napa's rustic, less-refined and more-relaxed sister."
1 West Bank settlement: Ground was broken in the West Bank for the first new Israeli settlement in two decades, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday as President Trumps Mideast envoy, as well as son-in-law Jared Kushner, arrive for talks with Israel and Palestinian leaders. Netanyahu had vowed to build the settlement to replace Amona, a settlement outpost built on private Palestinian land that was dismantled in February following an Israeli Supreme Court ruling. Pro-settlement hard-liners who dominate Netanyahus coalition and oppose Palestinian statehood on security or religious grounds had pressed him to keep that promise.

2 Police accuse president: Brazils federal police said Tuesday that investigators have found evidence President Michel Temer received bribes to help businesses, raising a new threat that the embattled leader could be suspended from office pending a corruption trial. If Brazils top prosecutor agrees with the police recommendation, Congress will decide whether Temer should be investigated by the Supreme Court, which is the only body that can formally investigate the president.
1 Paris attack: A car exploded as it crashed into a police vehicle on Paris famed Champs Elysees on Monday in what authorities called a possible terrorist attack. The driver was killed, but no police officers or passersby were hurt, authorities said. Police are treating the incident as a deliberate attack, and the Paris prosecutor opened an antiterror investigation. Police said the driver was a 31-year-old man from a Paris suburb who had been flagged for extremism. The officials said he had an S file, which means authorities had been aware of potential links to extremism. In late April, before the first round of voting in Frances presidential elections, there was a similar incident on the Champs Elysees, when a gunman opened fire on French police parked on the street, killing one and wounding two.

2 Croatia fires: Hundreds of tourists and residents have been evacuated from areas threatened by wildfires along the central Adriatic coast. About 300 firefighters are battling the fires, which have been spreading because of strong winds near the resorts of Makarska and Tucepi. The fires started over the weekend and spread from the mountain national park of Biokovo. Around 800 visitors were evacuated Monday from three hotels, as well as hundreds of residents whose houses were endangered. There have been no reports of casualties.
The death of a 22-year-old college student in Ohio on Monday has dashed any hopes of a quick detente between the U.S. and North Korea.

Otto Warmbier, who spent more than a year imprisoned in the isolated nation after allegedly stealing a propaganda banner, died Monday after he was returned to the U.S. last week in a coma.
NMSP chief calls for halt to treasure hunt

"Stop this nonsense." Those were the words of New Mexico State Police Chief Pete Kassetas after rescue crews pulled a body from the Rio Grande near Taos this month. It's believed to be that of a Colorado pastor who was searching for Forrest Fenn's hidden treasure. It would be the second death of a treasure hunter in roughly a year. While Fenn says the deaths have hit him hard, he hasn't decided whether to reclaim the treasure and call off the chase.

Money. That's what we want.

New Mexico is poised to collect $130 million above state expenses when it closes the book on the fiscal year at the end of this month. That's according to

yesterday. The increase is due largely to oil and natural gas prices, but gross receipts taxes are up, too. At least in the near term, the money serves to bolster New Mexico's cash reserves.

LANL safety under the microscope

In a jaw-dropping look back at the four-year shutdown of parts of Los Alamos National Labs' plutonium metallurgy facility, Patrick Malone at the Center for Public Integrity reveals just how

the lab has come in recent years. The cost of those shutdowns could easily eclipse $1 million a day in lost productivity. And nearly all of the engineers who were supposed to monitor safety at the facility quit over what they thought was lack of support for safe nuclear practices.

Former state senator faces 22 more charges

Perjury, embezzlement, fraud, filing false campaign reports and even using campaign money to pay for auto repairafter he resigned from officethose are

, mostly felonies, against former state Sen. Phil Griego. A grand jury handed them up last week. They'll be added to nine counts he faces already that focus on his brokering the sale of a state-owned building near the Capitol. That earned him a $50,000 commission.

Air supremacy

Albuquerque's Mark Smith, a colonel in the Civil Air Patrol,

as its chief executive and commander. The Civil Air Patrol assists with searches, especially for downed aircraft, as well as promoting civilian flight. Add that to former congresswoman Heather Wilson's post as Secretary of the Air Force and New Mexico's air chops are notable.

$881 flu swab miffs local family

And why wouldn't it? In the latest example of how well things are working in the healthcare and insurance world, a Rio Rancho family

after what they thought was a routine test for the flusomething akin to the $85 they were charged for a strep test. The family is calling for greater transparency in medical costs, especially before they're incurred.

Dust storm closes Interstate 10 after pileup

A 25-vehicle pileup along

is being blamed on a massive dust storm rolling off the desert. Highway officials from both New Mexico and Arizona

because of the low visibility.

Hotter and hotter

Santa Fe will stay

while the rest of state bakes in near-record heat. Highs in our fair city should be around 90, while Albuquerque could hit 100. Tomorrow, that's Santa Fe's fate, or close to it, as there's

.

Thanks for reading! The Word thinks China can stop messing with our weather now.

Subscribe to the Morning Word at sfreporter.com/signup

Santa Fe Reporter
So does Stein, with the benefit of hindsight, have any regrets? "I don't think so," she tells me by phone from her home in Lexington, Massachusetts. Decrying "fake news," citing the "sabotage of Bernie Sanders," and talking up the "tremendous" campaign she could have run with more money, Stein is projecting a Trump-worthy level of defiance. "I consider it a great honor that the party and our prior campaign for president is suddenly being attacked outside of an election season," she says.

I thought I might be able to find some daylight between Stein and other Green Party leaders, who I expected might be troubled at any role they might have played in helping elect a man who once claimed climate change was a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.



I was wrong.



"In some ways, Trump is one of the best things to happen to this country because look at how many people are getting off their posteriors," says Sherry Wells, the Green Party's Michigan chairwoman. "So part of me is giggling."

At Politico, Ben Schreckinger has written a profile of 2016 Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein, who continues to be just as aggressive an asshole as she was before the election.There is a lot more where that came from, including Stein dismissing serious questions about her own possible collusion with Russia as just one of the Democrats' "pathetic excuses" for losing.And she continues to insist that there isn't more than a slim stream of daylight between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton: "There are differences between Clinton and Trump, no doubt, but they're not different enough to save your life, to save your job, to save the planet. We deserve more than two lethal choices."That is a truly incredible contention from the Green Party candidate, given that one of the supposedly insignificant and not-lifesaving differences between Clinton and Trump is that Clinton gives a shit about climate change and Trump does not.Maybe it helps Stein sleep at night to assert that there would have been no discernible difference between a Clinton presidency and Trump's presidency, or maybe she's just too actually stupid to understand how very different they would have been, but, either way, this oft-repeated assertion is notthe way she and so many of her dead-ender compatriots believe it is. To the absolute contrary, it is pompous as hell.It is the height of self-aggrandizing bullshit to claim to have voted one's "conscience" to justify a vote that will cause harm to millions of people.I am no stranger to making principled choices, even and especially when they have meaningful and material consequences for(like earning less money). A choice that would soothe my conscience but have deleterious consequences forisn't a principled choice. It's a shitty, vainglorious, harmful choice.And that fact doesn't change no matter how many lies one tells about the sameness of Hillary Clinton's policies to Donald Trump's.It also doesn't change no matter how much one insists that the horror show of the Trump presidency has a "silver lining" for leftist activism.What an asshole.One really has to be safely ensconced in a bubble of privilege to "giggle" at the thought that Trump's being one of the worst things to happen to this country is somehow one of the best things to happen to this country.I know quite a number of long-time activists who haveoff our posteriors, and not a one of us is feeling "energized" by Trump. Perhaps that's because we know how fucking hard this is going to be, from years of fighting for progress inch by precious inch.I don't have the luxury of believing that a leftist utopia will rise from the ashes of Trump's presidency. As I've written previously : "Let him tear it down and then we'll build something better than we ever had" was always an incredibly dangerous gambit. And an incredibly foolish one.I will never stop being angry at the people who thought that was a risk worth taking, at the cost of millions of people's safety and lives.They're giggling many of us right into the fucking grave.
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KOCHI: Thirty-one student startup founders from six states are on a week-long visit to Silicon Valley to pitch, network and learn from the best at the tech Mecca under a flagship #StartInCollege programme instituted by the Startup Village Collective SV.CO in partnership with Facebook.

The students from various engineering colleges, who have built their startup products while enrolled inSV.CO's digital learning program, are on a week-long visit to showcase their prototypes, learn product development and skills, and get exposure to the world class startup ecosystem in Silicon Valley, according to a release here.

SV.CO's startup program for first-time founders is supported by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India,the U.S. Embassy in India and has multiple state partners giving support to their respective students.

Startup industry leaders Paytm and Freshworks are on board as partners providing scholarships and mentoring to students.

In the U.S., the team, the largest single Indian student startup delegation to visit the Silicon Valley, were welcomed by the City Council of Menlo Park and housed at Menlo College.

On Tuesday (June 20) the founders will visit the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park where they will have a pitch session and get feedback from experts at the social media giant.

"At Facebook, we believe the student community has a central role to play in helping build a world class startup ecosystem in India. We are pleased to support the Start-in-college program that cultivates a sense of purpose amongst students and enables them to build meaningful projects from their college campus," said Satyajeet Singh, Platform Partnerships, Facebook India.

Read Also:

14 Tech Startups Graduate From Microsoft Accelerator

NetApp Launches Its First Startup Accelerator In Bengaluru
Sister Nancy Meyerhofer, member of the Sisters of St. Francis, of Dubuque, Iowa, will celebrate her Golden Jubilee (50 years) on Saturday, June 24, at Mount St. Francis Center in Dubuque.

Sister Nancy was born to Clem and Rose Meyerhofer in February of 1948 and lived her first 14 years on their family farm in the Meyer, Iowa, parish. In the fall of 1962 she began to attend the congregations aspirancy for three years and finished her high school in Riceville, Iowa.

She entered the congregation in the fall of 1966 and graduated from Loris College in the spring of 1971. Her career as a high school teacher included five years at Garrigan in Algona, Iowa, and two years in Holy Cross, Iowa. During these years she studied at Boston College in the summertime and acquired a masters degree in religious education.

After a year of pastoral ministry in San Antonio, Texas, she began her missionary career first in Arica, Chile for 10 years, then in Suchitoto, El Salvador for 12 years, followed by three years at the University of San Diego, obtaining a masters degree in pastoral counseling and a certificate degree in spiritual direction and working half-time in a factory in Tijuana, Mexico. She is currently completing her 12th year in Honduras.

I have been privileged to happily serve the Gospel in all my ministries, especially among poor people in Latin America, said Sister Nancy of her Jubilee.
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WATERLOO  A Waterloo man who was arrested earlier this month after police found drugs and guns is now facing child endangerment charges.

Todd Deangelo Goodson, 27, was arrested Saturday for three counts of child endangerment.

He was originally arrested on June 8 for possession of a weapon by a felon, possession with intent to deliver cocaine in proximity to a school, drug tax stamp violation and possession with intent to deliver marijuana following a traffic stop and a search of a home.

Officers stopped a car Goodson was driving on June 8 and found a stolen 9mm Glock handgun under a seat. Police then searched a home at 1240 Downing Court and found a .45-caliber Beretta pistol and a short-barrel 5.56-caliber rifle.

A woman and three children -- ages 4, 5 and 13 -- were inside the home, and police allege drugs and one of the weapons were accessible to the children.

The handgun, ammunition and a marijuana cigarette were in a gym bag on the floor of a utility closet, court records state.

Cocaine and marijuana were on a TV stand in the living room.

The open bag of cocaine partially spilled onto stand within arms reach of a toddler, and the bag of marijuana was also open, records state.

Goodson remains in the Black Hawk County Jail with bond set at $152,325.
"It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century," the IPCC said in a 2013 report. Citing the IPCC report, the EPA said on its website, now removed, that "recent climate changes, however, cannot be explained by natural causes alone. Research indicates that natural causes do not explain most observed warming, especially warming since the mid-20th century." The EPA added, "it is extremely likely that human activities have been the dominant cause of that warming."
The three had likely been dead at least three days based on the advanced state of decomposition, Dashiell said. Their genders and ages were not yet known, and investigators had not yet determined if the bodies belonged to the people who were living at the home.
A roundup of Capitol news items of interest for Tuesday, June 20, 2017:

500-PLUS RETAILERS SELLING FIREWORKS: More than 500 locations in Iowa have been approved by the state to sell consumer fireworks under the states new law, according to the state fire marshals office. Approved businesses may sell fireworks until July 8. State law permits fireworks to be displayed until July 8 from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. on July 4 and the preceding and following Saturdays and Sundays. But local governments are able to establish their own display times and restrictions. Thanks to the dedication of our employees, we have been able to establish a program and issue more than 500 licenses since this law took effect on May 9, state fire marshal Jeff Quigle said in a press release. Most states have several months to set up their programs. Our local fire service partners have been an integral part of this program, and the fireworks sellers have worked with us throughout this process to address both the public safety concerns and the business needs of the industry. Quigle also encouraged fireworks users to be safe by reading labels, avoiding aerial fireworks in populated areas, keeping fireworks away from buildings, among other suggestions.

Business is ka-booming at Forest City fireworks outlet FOREST CITY | Tim Petersen doesn't understand what all the fuss is about concerning the sale

REYNOLDS TO ISRAEL: Gov. Kim Reynolds will lead a trade mission to Israel in September, the administration announced. The goal of the trip, which will include visits to Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, is to expand trade and investment opportunities for Iowa, according to the states economic development office. Iowa exports to Israel increased 14.5 percent and exceeded $30 million in 2016, the economic development office said. Trade and investment missions such as this uncover untapped opportunities for Iowa companies and serve as a forum to exchange ideas and promote collaboration, Reynolds said in a press release. Our goal is to open doors for Iowa companies, promote Iowa as a place to do business and ultimately create jobs in our great state. Iowa companies from all industry sectors are invited to participate, and must apply by July 7.

DES MOINES WELCOMES HIRING VETERANS: The city of Des Moines became the 66th community under the states Home Base Iowa program, which seeks to attract retiring veterans to live and work in Iowa by offering local incentives. Des Moines incentives include a one-time waive of a $40 trash bin fee, free dog park passes for up to two dogs, and more. The administration said Home Base Iowa has helped land 2,750 veterans over the past three years, although there is no way for the program to determine whether a veteran moved to Iowa because of the program or for other reasons. To participate, local communities must have the support from 10 percent of local businesses, create a custom incentive package, prominently display signage, and have a resolution from a local governing body.

REYNOLDS DISPUTES REGISTER REPORT: Gov. Kim Reynolds said extra steps to prevent fraud and identity theft were why some Iowans tax returns were delayed this year. Reynolds was responding to a Des Moines Register report that found the state, during 11 days in April, had a cash balance that was below what it had paid out in tax returns at the same point during the previous year. The bottom line is everyone will get their refunds, and were on par to be able to manage that, Reynolds said.
Bangerter says he would have the full support of the Trump administration if he chooses to run  which could be valuable in the predominantly conservative 1st Congressional District. However, he doesn't have a deadline when he'll make a decision on running for Congress.
Kimberly Strassel;

[W]e've experienced over the past eight years a profound shift in our political culture, a shift that has resulted in a significant portion of our body politic holding a five-year-old's view of free speech. What makes this shift notable is that unlike most changes in politics, you can trace it back to one day: January 21, 2010, the day the Supreme Court issued its Citizens United ruling and restored free speech rights to millions of Americans.

For nearly 100 years up to that point, both sides of the political aisle had used campaign finance laws--I call them speech laws--to muzzle their political opponents. The Right used them to push unions out of elections. The Left used them to push corporations out of elections. These speech laws kept building and building until we got the mack daddy of them all--McCain-Feingold. It was at this point the Supreme Court said, "Enough." A five-judge majority ruled that Congress had gone way too far in violating the Constitution's free speech protections.

The Citizens United ruling was viewed as a blow for freedom by most on the Right, which had in recent years gotten some free speech religion, but as an unmitigated disaster by the Left. Over the decades, the Left had found it harder and harder to win policy arguments, and had come to rely more and more on these laws to muzzle political opponents. And here was the Supreme Court knocking back those laws, reopening the floodgates for non-profits and corporations to speak freely again in the public arena.
An ACT prosecutor has labelled a Canberra man's claim he was part of a bulk-buying group of heroin users, not a drug dealer, "simply implausible" during a heroin trafficking trial.

The ACT Supreme Court heard the fourth day of the trial of Chang-Kee Song on a charge each of heroin trafficking and money laundering on Tuesday.

Canberra man Chang-Kee Soon is on trial for heroin trafficking and money laundering in the ACT Supreme Court.

Mr Song was arrested in June last year during a police raid on his home, where officers found nearly $400,000 in cash hidden in a safe in an underground storage room, just under five grams of heroin and drug-related paraphernalia.

He had told the court that about $250,000 of the cash found at his Phillip home was derived from gambling and the rest from personal savings.
Ms Berry said this week that the group had aimed to gather ideas and bust myths about the high-performing education systems of each country. Singapore ranked first in the 2016 PISA rankings, Finland fifth and Australia 14th.

In the short-term, the ACT government will look at teacher exchanges with Singapore, Ms Berry said, and Ms Read will speak to other Canberra principals about programs that could be implemented in territory schools.

Learnings from the mission will also inform later stages of the Future of Education project.

"This visit to Finland and Singapore was information-gathering so we could firm up our own understanding of the school systems over there, how we compared - and we compared very well - and all the kinds of things that we could adopt around how we value our teachers, how we engage parents in the school community better than we are, how we can improve equity and outcomes for our students better than we do now, and we can learn once we have an English copy of their (Finland's) curriculum what we can do here," Ms Berry said.

"There's no miracle cure, but there are some differences in the way things are done we could adopt which could be simple."
A former chairman of Icon Water and ActewAGL Michael Easson will chair the powerful new agency charged with developing Northbourne Avenue, the city centre and the lake, Chief Minister Andrew Barr will announce on Tuesday.

Mr Easson heads the board of the City Renewal Authority, which begins work on July 1, replacing the troubled Land Development Agency.

Sydney lawyer Christine Covington, who becomes deputy chairwoman of the City Renewal Authority. Credit:Tamara Voninski

The Suburban Land Agency, which will take over the job of developing new suburbs, will be chaired by the chairman of the light rail project board, John Fitzgerald.

Mr Barr has appointed five members to the Suburban Land Agency and six to the City Renewal Authority board, with a woman in the deputy chair's role for both. A seventh spot on the City Renewal Authority will be filled by a National Capital Authority appointment made by the federal territories minister.
Queanbeyan schools and roads emerged as beneficiaries to the New South Wales budget's $4.5 billion surplus on Tuesday.

More than 120 schools will be built or upgraded across NSW as part of a $4.2 billion education spend in the next four years, while a further $38 million was promised locally to build roads.

Never before has a NSW Government invested so much in this often overlooked region": John Barilaro. Credit:Janie Barrett

In John Barilaro's first budget as deputy premier, he said schools in the Monaro would receive tens of millions of dollars to get kids out of demountable classrooms.

Queanbeyan East Public School, Karabar High School and Queanbeyan High School will be upgraded.
Good morning readers,

Another freezing start to the day. This morning was minus 4 degrees with fog and frost but we'll reach a relatively balmy 15 degrees by the afternoon. And we're on the downward journey to the weekend. Hooray!

Let's take a look at what's making news today.

Budget surplus in doubt
Master Builders Association ACT executive director said to the best of his knowledge, the march did not disrupt construction sites across the ACT to that extent.

The march was one of several around Australia to protest the revival of Australian Building and Construction Commission and a new building code, which unions believe will erode wages and safety.

Construction union boss Dean Hall says the ACT must instate an independent work safety commissioner as dozens of tradies and union officials marched on the ACT Legislative Assembly to push the government for action on workplace safety laws.

But the Canberra rally homed in on recent changes to the administration of WorkSafe ACT.

A motion passed by Unions ACT last week claimed there was there was increasing evidence that workers were "not well served" by the absorption of WorkSafe ACT into Access Canberra, an agency which takes in all of the government's regulatory authorities.

Unions ACT Alex White told the rally the ACT was one of the most "dangerous" jurisdictions in Australia to work, and that 3000 private sector workers were injured on the job per year.

"We're not talking about a paper cut, we're not talking about a stubbed toe, these are serious injuries. If you are a construction worker Canberra is the most dangerous place to work in Australia. You are twice as likely to be seriously injured as the rest of the workforce," Mr White said.

Mr Hall said WorkSafe agency was "broken" and needed to be "fixed".
A cheeky social media campaign is aiming to whip up support to keep Canberra's billboard ban as an inquiry into the possible relaxation of rules governing outdoor advertising in the ACT enters its next stage.

'Naked' photos of women calling on lawmakers to "keep Canberra nude" around some of the city's most recognisable locations hit Facebook last Friday.

Deb Clelend poses in a cheeky social media campaign hoping to keep Canberra 'nude' - billboard-free. Credit:Lisa Petheran

Green Institute executive director and one of the coordinators of Ad Free Canberra Tim Hollo said while there was no actual nudity, just some "carefully posed photography", the message was clear - keep the billboard ban.

"Everyone I talk to about [the billboard inquiry] says it's nuts, why would we want more advertisements?" Mr Hollo said.
There are 87 public schools in Canberra and thousands throughout Australia. But there's something really special about Mawson Primary, says principal Amanda Andrews.

"We're the best in the universe," she said.

Mawson Primary School is the fasted growing primary school in the ACT. From left, Mary Alem and Ellijah Birrell, both 7. Credit:Jamila Toderas

It would seem that many Canberra families agree. Enrolments at the Woden school have more than doubled in the past five years, growing from 188 students in 2012 to 460 by February this year.

The increase has earned Mawson Primary the title of Canberra's fastest-growing public primary school, excluding those that have recently opened in Gungahlin and Weston.
MASON CITY | Ashley Furniture plans to open a store in the vacant Kmart building, city officials confirmed Tuesday.

With 700 stores, it is the largest furniture outlet in the world, according Troy Eichmann, chief operating officer of Furniture Mart of America/Ashley Furniture. Furniture Mart of America is the parent company.

A building permit was issued June 8 for an estimated $500,000 in renovations for 2006 Fourth St. S.W.

Furniture Mart still evaluating former Mason City Kmart structure MASON CITY  Crews are inside the former Kmart store in Mason City, but a final decision has

The plan is to open an Ashley HomeStore in part of the building and find tenants for the rest of it, according Eichmann.

Work has already started on revamping the building, he said. The interior has been completely gutted and extensive work will be done on a new facade, he said.

"We want to make this building pop  be something the community can be proud of," he said.

The store will occupy about 37,000 square feet, said Eichmann. That leaves about 100,000 square feet which will be leased, he said.

Weather permitting, the store should be open by the end of the year, said Eichmann.

Ashley Furniture store may be coming to former Mason City Kmart location MASON CITY  An Ashley Furniture HomeStore could be coming to the former Kmart property in M

Steven VanSteenhuyse, the city's director of development, said he has been told the store will take up about a third of the of the old Kmart building, with the rest available for tenants.

The former Kmart building sold for $3 million in October 2016. The buyer was a LLC whose managing member is Furniture Mart Founder Bill Hicks. Many of the company's stores operate as Ashley Furniture HomeStore.

Furniture Mart is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

 John Skipper
Rio Tinto selected Yancoal on Tuesday to buy its Coal & Allied division in Australia for $US2.45 billion ($3.23 billion), surprising commodities trading giant Glencore, which had put in a higher bid.

Glencore offered $US2.55 billion cash this month for Rio's coal mines in NSW's Hunter Valley region, beating a previous offer from Yancoal, which is based in Australia and owned by China's Yanzhou Coal Mining Company.

The dramatic coal price rally of 2016 was not enough to bring Yancoal into profitability. Credit:AP

Glencore has long sought Rio's high-quality thermal coal assets in the Hunter Valley. Despite environmental concerns about the carbon-intensive fossil fuel, Glencore expects continued demand, especially in Asia, as coal can still be the cheapest form of baseload power.

Rio said it was favouring Yancoal's offer in the light of additional information, including confirmation of Yancoal's funding plans - although it did not publish details - confirmation of regulatory approvals and improved terms.
If there is a clear loser from Tabcorp's successful appeal  directly to the Australian Competition Tribunal over its Tatts merger proposal  it is Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) boss, Rod Sims.

"Clearly there's a lot of overlap between what Tatts and Tabcorp do  so on the overlap issue there's major concern," he said at a conference not long after the merger was proposed last year.

Sims changed his mind on the overlap issue this year, but insisted that the public benefits would not outweigh the damage to competition in the wagering market. He also outlined a torturous process for competition approval for Tabcorp.

Tabcorp boss, David Attenborough, chose to directly appeal to the referee.
Whole Foods Market chief executive John Mackey, who agreed to sell the company to Amazon.com last week, said he was first set up with the e-commerce giant on a "blind date" about six weeks ago and fell in love after conversing for hours.

The deal was set in motion when Mackey and fellow executives Jason Buechel, Ken Meyer and David Lannon flew up to Amazon's Seattle headquarters, according to a transcript of a town-hall meeting held on Friday with employees. Mackey was assured that Whole Foods' quality standards wouldn't be compromised, he said.

Whole Foods' 63-year-old CEO, who has raised eyebrows in the past for his shoot-from-the-hip style, compared his new relationship to a romance. The remarks, released by Whole Foods on Monday, helped shed new light on a deal that was presented on Friday with a relatively terse, five-paragraph statement.
Australian gambling giant Tabcorp hopes its $11 billion merger with Tatts Group will be completed within the next two months, after the proposal was given the go-ahead on Tuesday.

The competition tribunal's highly anticipated decision, delivered eight months after the companies announced the intended multibillion-dollar mega-merger, will anger rival betting companies, Racing Victoria and the national consumer watchdog, which all objected to the ambitious proposal.

Rival betting companies, Racing Victoria and the national consumer watchdog, had all objected to the proposal. Credit:Getty Images

One of the main objections to the tie-up has centred on Tabcorp's racing broadcast business, Sky Racing, which competitors fear could inflate the merged company's market power in dealings with pubs and clubs.
You want to see a "two-speed economy"? Try NSW accounting for 91.8 per cent of the growth in national domestic spending in 2016.

That's just one line of a brief on the NSW budget by lobbyists Barton-Deakin  the budget hailed by Treasurer Dominic Perrottet as "the envy of the western world".

Being able to invest $73 billion in infrastructure over the next four years with no net debt certainly is enough to make other treasurers envious. Just as Western Australia and Queensland provided disproportionate growth during their time in the resources sun, now NSW is unchallenged as the star state, preventing the national economic statistics being embarrassing. Unemployment is lower and wages are higher and growing faster than the rest of the country.

Yet hubris is a dangerous thing. There have been other treasurers who rode high on surpluses as revenue gushed in. Peter Costello comes to mind  but the resources construction boom ended and the tax cuts and spending largesse stayed.
Victorian construction union leader John Setka has threatened to hunt down and "expose" Australian Building and Construction Commission inspectors, warning: "When we come after you, you'd better be careful."

Speaking to a crowd of 20,000 protesters at a rally outside Flinders Street Station on Tuesday, the Victorian CFMEU secretary said the union would campaign to personally humiliate ABCC inspectors.

Mr Setka told the rally: "You know what we're going to do? We're going to expose them all. We will lobby their neighbourhoods. We will tell them who lives in their house and what he does for a living, or she.

"We'll go to their local footy club, we'll go to their local shopping centre.
Since Apple released the iPad in 2010, the device has been the revolution that wasn't. Ostensibly just a bigger version of the iPhone, it rocketed in popularity at first when consumers began to understand that its big screen, portability and battery life made it the ideal device for reading ebooks, watching videos or playing simple games.

Early sales of the iPad easily outstripped those of the iPhone. Rupert Murdoch launched an iPad-only newspaper, The Daily, so confident was he about its promise to transform media. Apple released a smaller "mini" model in 2012 to broaden the iPad's appeal.

Steve Jobs, in one of the final interviews before his death in 2011, said as consumers become more mobile they would move from PCs to tablets in the same way that as America became an urban nation, people had moved from using trucks, which were multi-purpose but clunky and expensive, to cars, which were more efficient.

This prophecy hasn't quite been realised. Sales of the iPad hit a peak in the last quarter of 2013, when Apple sold 26 million of them. In the same quarter last year, it sold half that number.
Decades of under-investment in Victoria's public housing has left a legacy of housing estates that have gone well beyond repair and maintenance. A creative approach to the revitalisation of these major state assets is the best option.

Given this, news the state government has set aside $185 million for its Public Housing Renewal Program should be cause for celebration. Yet the plan to open several aged estates up for public-community-private partnerships has generated disapproval from various parties.

Anyone who visits the estates targeted for renewal  in suburbs such as Preston, Prahran, Flemington and North Melbourne  will see that the housing on these sites is no longer fit-for-purpose. Credit:Angela Wylie

Criticism includes that it is a bad deal for tenants, the public purse and the community. The less-than-ideal result of the renewal project in Carlton, which is said to have created a development that segregates public housing tenants from those in the private market, is cited as evidence that mixing public and private housing is doomed to fail.

No doubt some concerns are valid, but this opportunity is too vital to be squandered for a lack of vision of what is possible.
MASON CITY | A Mason City man who stabbed the mother of his child in the throat last year was sentenced to up to 30 years in prison Tuesday.

Jason M. Clausen, 44, was sentenced to up to 25 years for attempted murder. He must serve a mandatory minimum of 17 years before being eligible for parole.

He also was sentenced to up to five years for felony domestic abuse assault, third or subsequent offense. He must serve a mandatory minimum sentence of one year on that conviction.

District Court Judge James Drew ordered the two sentences be served consecutively.

Mason City man accused of attempted murder, kidnapping MASON CITY  A Mason City man accused of attempting to kill his girlfriend remained in jail 

The victim was present in the courtroom, but chose not to address the court before sentencing. Clausen also declined to make a statement.

"We are all very pleased by the outcome," Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen told the Globe Gazette following the hearing. "The victim is ready to move on."

Investigators say Clausen forced his way into a residence on Maple Drive in Mason City and used a knife to stab the victim in the throat on May 28, 2016. The following six hours, he then allegedly refused to let her get medical treatment, according to court documents.

In July 2016 public defender Steven Kloberdanz filed notice in Cerro Gordo County District Court that diminished responsibility would be used as a defense during trial.

At the time of the stabbing, Clausen wasn't taking medication for the mental illness he has battled throughout his life, according to public defender Letitia Turner.

Mason City attempted murder suspect to claim diminished responsibility MASON CITY  A Mason City man accused of stabbing his girlfriend in the throat earlier this 

When Clausen doesn't take his medication, "he is not himself," she said.

However, Kloberdanz said they decided accepting a plea bargain from the state would be the best option.

Clausen entered an Alford plea in April to the attempted murder charge. In an Alford plea a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges the state can likely prove the charge.

The state agreed to dismiss charges of first-degree kidnapping, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole; and first-degree burglary, which is punishable by up to 25 years in prison.

Mason City man enters Alford plea to attempted murder charge MASON CITY | A Mason City man accused of stabbing his girlfriend in the throat last year and

During Tuesday's hearing, Clausen formally pleaded guilty to the felony domestic assault charge, which stems from a separate incident about a month before the stabbing, but involved the same victim.

The defense recommended he receive concurrent sentencing on the two counts, making his maximum sentence up to 25 years rather than up to 30 years.

Turner said Clausen has been in jail for more than a year since his arrest, and he has been on medication the whole time.

"He's a different person," she said.

Dalen recommended consecutive sentencing.

"This is a very, very serious and nasty circumstance," he said, noting the victim "is lucky to be alive here today."

Drew said he understands Clausen has mental health issues, but he also has "a significant history of engaging in domestic violence."

Clausen was ordered to pay a $100 surcharge, as well as $85 restitution to the Crime Victim Assistance Program. A $750 fine was suspended.
Following intense lobbying from the tobacco and electronic cigarette industries and their supporters, the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, has established a parliamentary committee to report on the regulation of nicotine vapourisers or e-cigarettes as they are widely known.

This move follows Australia's peak health and medical agencies, the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the National Health and Medical Research Council, recently conducting an inquiry and a publishing a statement on nicotine used in e-cigarettes.

Their decisions and conclusions angered e-cigarette lobbyists who argue that the nicotine liquid for use in e-cigarettes should be subject to "light touch" regulation, including removal from control of the TGA, which currently schedules nicotine in anything but cigarettes and tobacco as a poison. This would open the way for e-cigarettes to be sold openly alongside groceries and confectionary; the door opened to what are now over 8000 flavouring chemicals, many with beguiling kid-friendly names; low tax to encourage use; advertising allowed to adults (some magic barrier prevents such advertising also being seen by children); and vaping permitted in any place where smoking has long been banned.

The two core claims made about e-cigarettes are that in the 10 or so years since their debut, they have proved highly effective in stopping smoking and that they are "95 per cent safer than cigarettes".
The accusation that low-fee Catholic schools are somehow involved in a reverse Robin Hood rankles. So does the fanciful suggestion of a so-called "sweetheart deal" of capped parent fee contributions . Fees and fee structures vary across Catholic school systems in order to meet local needs. That is how it has always been.

I'd like to see more politicians and policymakers walk a mile in these kids' scuffed lace-ups. Together with public education leaders, Catholic educators are at the frontline on the need for significant investment in the future of these young people.

The schoolyard scrap that masquerades as public debate about funding has again pitted school system against school system. I had hoped that the days of education sectarianism were over. Reports that Education Minister Simon Birmingham will maintain the current arrangements for Catholic schools for another 12 months to further assess the impact of the revised funding model is a good idea. I hope this does not prompt a backlash from other sectors. Surely our focus should be on providing a quality education for every Australian child, especially the most vulnerable kids in our communities, rather than which system is more worthy of funding?

In Western Sydney, one in four school students attends a Catholic school. Some sections of the commentariat might not like it, but Catholic education is mainstream and we're here to stay. Penny-pinching packs a punch on school spending, whether a student attends a low-fee systemic Catholic school or the state school over the road. School spending is smart money and needs-based funding that stands up to scrutiny is even smarter.

The socio-economic status formula used to calculate funding by the government is a blunt instrument that doesn't capture need. All sectors acknowledge that, as does the government.

It is now being reported that the government will spend the next year reviewing the socio-economic status methodology underpinning its funding model. I think this review will show how poorly it has measured need. Like our state school counterparts, our constant work with disadvantaged people at a local level gives us a deeper understanding of need in individual schools. The funding that Catholic schools receive goes to where it is most needed.

Clearly, it's not easy to come up with an approach to funding schools that is simple and fair, but in education we're big on the growth mindset. There have been different numbers and different modelling, and the government's lack of consultation with Catholic school leaders early on hasn't helped.

With the Senate vote on the funding package looming, it's time for a policy debate on education that goes beyond cold, hard cash. Instead of arguing about money, we'd be able to invest time and intellect into the best way to use our resources to make a difference to the lives of young Australians. We need to be talking about how education needs to be transformed, about the skills and strengths our young people will need in an information age unlike any other, about learning and teaching that meet the individual needs of every child, about supporting teachers to provide personalised learning, using the best we know about education to give every Australian child an opportunity.

I know that families in Western Sydney cannot afford higher fees. Mortgage and rental stress, as well as the soaring cost of living have many budgets at breaking point. For most families who choose a Catholic school for their child, the decision is considered deeply and represents a significant household expense. Western Sydney is the home of one of Australia's most diverse communities, and families work hard for the future of their children. They are no different to families all over Australia who value education as one of the most life-changing experiences a young person can have.
Sam Panopoulos, who has died aged 82, was widely credited with inventing the Hawaiian pizza; his addition of pineapple to the dish's prospective toppings in 1962 has sharply divided aficionados since, the numbers of those revelling in the combination of sweet and savoury flavours at least matched by those who consider it a culinary abomination.

Panopoulos migrated from his native Greece to Canada in the mid-1950s. On the journey, he stopped at Naples and there first tasted pizza. By the early '60s, he had opened a restaurant at Chatham, Ontario, called The Satellite.

The inventor of the Hawaiian pizza, which enjoyed a rapid spread in popularity after its creation, has died.

This served conventional fare as well as Chinese food. To satisfy his craving for pizza, Panopoulos had to drive 80 kilometres across the US border to Detroit. So widespread is it now, that it is often forgotten that even in Italy pizza remained a regional speciality until well after the Second World War.

Southern immigrants had brought it to America before then but it was veterans returning from spending time in Naples who spread a taste for it across the continent. Even so, the first chains would not open in Canada until the mid-1960s, and Panopoulos had to teach himself to make pizza by imitating what he saw in Detroit.
Illustration: Ron Tandberg I wonder how many Australians realised that the Coalition's ideological drive towards outsourcing and privatisation included having classified defence files stored by a private company. That company has now been partially bought by a Chinese firm, so the government has decided it would be a good idea to bring the classified material back under its own control. Whoever thought the outsourcing was a good idea in the first place? Mind-boggling! Rob Phillips North Epping I wish the NSW government was as good at protecting public assets as it seems to be at making buckets of money from the nonchalant sale of them. John de Bres Rose Bay

The endless plundering of prime public heritage assets such as Sydney GPO, and horrors such as the Grenfell Tower fire in London, should come as no surprise. After 30 years of neoliberalism, when the market has been sanctified, public spending demonised, big corporations idealised, public service ridiculed, and government white-anted by the corrupt and venal, the entirely predictable outcome is now before us. No use blaming politicians  we elect them, and we allow ourselves to be distracted with shiny things. Now we can see, in all its glory, the true triumph we have allowed of the private interest over the common good. All hail the Hollow State. Bruce Baskerville Blackheath How about some 'time out' to plan properly? I recall school principals having to provide very accurate school enrolments to the Department of Education, always problematic at the beginning of the year until numbers settled, so literally a head count. How could they now be so shortsighted that many new schools are suddenly needed? Plus a number of inner-city schools were closed about a decade ago, and I remember thinking  not a good move. With land so much more expensive, it has become even more difficult. And where will all these young people find jobs in the future? Growth is an obvious answer but if this is through continued high immigration, as it has largely been in recent years, it is time for a rethink. It only adds to the problem. Maybe it is time we took some "time out" to consolidate and plan more successfully for our future. Glenys Quirk Forster

I respond to Janice Creenaune (Letters, June 20) and her comments on Mr Piccoli that "perspective is needed on his leadership". The challenge of over-crowded schools is not of his making. I recall a federal treasurer who some years ago urged people to have "one for mum, one for dad and one for the country". I also recall he made no comment on future funding to cope with the ensuing population increase. The over-crowding is a failed federal policy outcome and must be remedied by the federal government. Brian Roach Whitebridge Minister puts party ahead of the planet So Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg is in no hurry to respond to the Finkel Review: "We have to proceed carefully, and I'm not going to be rushing the Commonwealth's position or in any way pre-empting the party room's deliberations of this because my colleagues come first..." ("Frydenberg lashes states on power bills", June 19). Not the people, not the country, not the planet, but his Coalition colleagues come first. Says it all really. John Ure Mount Hutton

At the moment the companies that are producing and selling our electricity to us all along the chain of supply are charging what the market will bear. This price has nothing to do with the cost of production. What is needed is for someone with influence to pressure them into charging only costs and a 5 per cent profit on turnover. This will greatly reduce the price paid by the consumer. The companies cannot be forced to do this but if the public is made aware that they are charging what the market will bear, which has nothing to do with their costs, pressure may be enough. Company reputation may be a stake they will listen to. Ken Morehouse Wangaratta We installed 18 solar panels in 2010, it took six years to recoup the cost. Recently we paid many thousands to install a Tesla battery. Our last electricity bill was $23 for three months of electricity used (in autumn) and $82 to stay on the grid. At this rate our battery will be paid off in six years, unless prices keep rising, in which case it will be quicker. It confounds me as to why there is not a massive take-up of solar; forget nuclear and coal. Neil Duncan Balmain Why isn't this story on the front page? ("Tropics face 'cooking' from deadly climate shift: research", June 20). One billion people within a boat ride of us are about to become homeless and all our leaders care about is mining coal and gutting the renewables industry?

David Neilson Invergowrie Susie Eisenhuth of Paddington (Letters, June 19), are you aware you have had a nuclear reactor safely operating within 20 odd kilometres of your home since 1958? Should you ever decide to risk travelling to France then 75 per cent of the electricity you consume while visiting will be generated by nuclear power. France also is the largest exporter of electricity in Europe. This forward planning by the French government has provided the country with the least expensive commercial and domestic electricity in Europe. John Parsonage Bella Vista Language skills In relation to the proposed changes to citizenship tests it would appear there are a few questions that need to be answered before our parliamentarians take their votes. Is Peter Dutton proficient to the equivalent level six of any language other than English? If he is then how long did it take for him to reach that level? If he cannot speak and write in any language other than English how can he judge how long a new citizen would require to become proficient? Is level six proficiency in English a standard that all Australians born and educated here could pass? I suspect truthful answers to these two questions would sway quite a few votes.

Mary Lawson Marrickville Two point oh nonsense What's this "two point oh" nonsense? The Government has labelled projects Snowy two point oh and Gonski two point oh and Mark Kenny writes about Liberal government 2.0. The Apple Watch-wearing types seem to think that this sounds progressive and modern. It sounds foolish. If you must vocalise this inanity then it is "two point zero". SMH and the ABC have jumped on the wagon and yet the "less intellectual" Channel Seven News sensibly says Gonski 2. By the time the new Gonski plan is passed (if ever) it will probably be up to Gonski 2.325. Gary Sullivan Sans Souci Genetic testing limits

It would be wiser of those "simply curious about what their genome holds, and if they have any genetic predispositions they want to know about" to be more curious about implications for their life insurance before buying the $6400 products being sold by Genome.One ("Genome sequencing opens door to future", SMH, June 20). There should be appropriate caution about heralding in a transformative new age of healthcare solutions through commercial genetic sequencing. Lastly, genome sequencing is only part of the complex of health and disease status. How can Genome.One possibly claim they will transform anything when lifestyle disease is epidemic, and only the privileged of the population could buy this product, and are possessed of the many resources to ameliorate risk? Robyn Dalziell Kellyville World without litter Sue Bailey (Stop treating your country like a tip, SMH, June 20) is right to rail against litter. But more bins aren't the answer; they consume money, and litterers don't use bins anyway. Two per cent of the people drop 90 per cent of the litter. The other 98 per cent of the people ignore litter, and deplore it at the same time. I pick up around 10 pieces of a litter a week, and put it in my own bin. If 50 per cent of the people did likewise, they couldn't fill their quota because litter would disappear.

Jeremy Lattin Narrabeen If you escaped from a prison in Bali ("Australian one of four inmates to tunnel out of Kerobokan prison", June 20) just where do you escape too? Brian Collins Cronulla Regarding the vote on the exclusion of tampons and sanitary pads ("Vote fails: 'luxury' tampon tax to stay", June 20). I want a hands up from all federal politicians (especially those of a female persuasion) who really regard monthly periods as a luxury. If it is such a luxury then perhaps it should be taxed further. All I can say is that I hold my breath waiting until I see which is the stronger ... party alliances or sheer logic. John Garretty Kelso

Judges streets ahead Steve Ngeow (Letters, June 20), lost me with his initial premise, that politicians and judges have equal abilities to reason. Spend a day in court, Steve, and you will be in awe of the judge's ability to remain in command of the details of a complex case. By contrast, most pollies cannot even answer a straight question. John Christie Oatley Back to basics Dominic Perrottet holding an abacus on the front page today: Another sign of Chinese influence in our politics?
Warning: distressing images

Australian tourists are unwittingly eating dog meat in Bali and supporting a racket that steals and brutally kills the animals, an investigation has uncovered.

A dog screams as it's captured. Credit:Animals Australia

In distressing footage, shot by animal rights organisation Animals Australia, dogs are seen being cruelly captured and killed before their meat is served on the Indonesian island's beaches.

Balinese gangs are seen trapping dogs with wire nooses before the animals are bound and bagged and taken to crude slaughterhouses.
Labor has drawn a dramatic line in the sand on Australian citizenship, vowing to block the Turnbull government's proposed crackdown and resolutely denying any link between citizenship policy and national security.

In a move the government swiftly linked to old battles over boats and border protection, Labor MPs unanimously agreed to oppose the controversial citizenship bill, which frontbencher Tony Burke warned would be "a fundamental change in who we are as a country".

The opposition's main concerns, previously flagged by some left-wing MPs, included a tough English language test for aspiring citizens and a four-year wait for permanent residents before they could claim citizenship.
The world may seem to be retreating into panic and tribalism but Australians remain pragmatic  if cautious  about the state of things.

That's the picture that emerges from the latest Lowy Institute poll of 1200 Australians on major international issues.

Australians dislike Donald Trump but have accepted he's in power and remain wedded to the US alliance. Credit:AP

Despite 79 per cent of Australians feeling dissatisfied about the way the world is going and nearly half feeling the same way about their own country, optimism about the national economy is rising.

Many fear China may become a military threat but a large majority feel that for now it is first and foremost an economic partner.
The RAAF has halted air operations over Syria amid rising tensions with Russia, after the United States shot down a Syrian regime fighter jet.

Defence said in a statement that operations had ceased temporarily as a "precautionary measure" and a decision on resuming air strikes would be made "in due course". Operations in Iraq will continue.

The move follows Russia's declaration that it may view US planes flying in its own area of operations as targets. Tensions have risen rapidly since the US shot down a Syrian regime jet on Sunday near al-Raqqa, the heartland of the so-called Islamic State. The Syrian fighter had been bombing too close to US-backed fighters.

That triggered the bellicose response from Russia, which supports the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.
The Turnbull government has announced measures to force down electricity prices and could even invest in a new coal-fired power plant, after the Coalition party room ticked off on most recommendations in the Finkel review.

Tuesday's party room meeting backed the review's recommendations relating to the security and reliability of the power system, consumer prices, the gas market, cyber-readiness of the electricity system and governance  but not the implementation of a post-2020 Clean Energy Target, a proposal that caused a backbench revolt a week ago.

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg told the party room further consideration and analysis of a CET would be carried out and that the rest of the Finkel recommendations, which are largely uncontroversial, would be advanced through the Council of Australian Governments energy council.
The Turnbull government has put its bill to prevent worker exploitation on the backburner, delaying a vote until at least August - a full two years after the 7-Eleven wage scandal was exposed.

The move comes amid an extensive behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign by the Franchise Council of Australia, led by former Liberal minister Bruce Billson, aimed at watering down the legislation.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Employment Minister Senator Michaelia Cash. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The government originally said it wanted to pass the bill in May, shortly after a Senate inquiry report.

When that didn't happen, Employment Minister Michaelia Cash signalled she would seek to pass it before Parliament's long winter break - but her office now concedes that will not happen either.
MEETINGS

CHARLES CITY | Floyd County Board of Supervisors will meet at 9 a.m. in the courthouse.

FOREST CITY | Forest City Airport Commission will meet at 5:30 p.m. at the airport terminal.

GARNER | Garner City Council will meet at 7 p.m. at city hall.

MASON CITY | Cerro Gordo County Board of Supervisors will meet at 10 a.m. in the board room at the courthouse.

MASON CITY | Mason City Park and Recreation Board will meet at 6 p.m. at the recreation department.

NORA SPRINGS | Nora Springs City Council will meet at 7 p.m. at city hall.

OSAGE | Mitchell County Board of Supervisors will meet at 8:30 a.m. at the courthouse.
Two Turnbull government ministers facing the threat of contempt of court charges have deleted tweets criticising Victorian judges for being weak on terrorists.

Human Services Minister Alan Tudge, Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar and Health Minister Greg Hunt were threatened with contempt after making comments that the judiciary were handing down light sentences on terror as part of "ideological experiments".

The statements were made as the Court of Appeal considers a federal prosecutor's appeal over the sentence of convicted terrorist Sevdet Ramadan Besim and another teenager jailed for terrorism offences known as MHK.

If convicted, the ministers face fines and potential jail terms.
JAY-Z is the father of at least one child. If you believe the internet rumours that Beyonce has indeed given birth to the couple's long-awaited twins, then the artist formerly known as (the very different) Jay Z* might be the father of three.

Yet the rapper ushered in Father's Day in an unusual way: by writing an essay in Time magazine about the "injustice of the profitable bail bond industry."

Jay-Z wrote about the "injustice of the profitable bail bond industry." Credit:Getty Images

Writing under his given name, Shawn Carter, JAY-Z lamented the many fathers who spent Sunday's holiday away from their children because they couldn't afford bail.

"If you're from neighbourhoods like the Brooklyn one I grew up in, if you're unable to afford a private attorney, then you can be disappeared into our jail system simply because you can't afford bail," JAY-Z wrote. "Millions of people are separated from their families for months at a time - not because they are convicted of committing a crime, but because they are accused of committing a crime."
Mental health issues are one of the most common forms of illness in Australia with 3 million of us currently living with anxiety or depression alone. But it's not just our personal lives that are affected by mental health. It's our work and careers, too.

A recent report conducted by Beyond Blue showed that one in every five Australians took time off in the last 12 months due to mental health issues.

It's important to understand that it's not your job to "fix" her. Credit:Stocksy

Similarly, a Safe Work Australia report showed that mental health compensation claims are fast becoming one of the most costly problems in the Australian workplace.

However, despite these stats, mental health issues in the workplace are often overlooked, with employers focusing more on physical health. Mental health remains a taboo. Therefore, when it comes to calling in sick, people are unlikely to disclose the true purpose for their absence.
Clutching her two children close, young Congolese woman Jeanette Johari recalls being sexually assaulted and forced to flee her village after discovering she was pregnant. Ugandan woman Vickie Hope Amwikiriza was sexually assaulted by family members, threatened with beatings and eventually exiled out of her village for being a lesbian.

Rani, is an elderly Indian woman who was disowned by her family and forced to flee her home, because she took a stand against her violent husband. Mustariya Jamal from Kenya is 22 and has lived her whole life in a Kakuma refugee camp in Ethiopia. She has just completed 12 years of study in the camp and is now awaiting her final grades to find out whether she can leave to attend university.

Mustariya Jamal, a 22 year old Kenyan woman who has lived her whole life from birth in Ethopia's Kakuma refugee camp. Credit:Fund for Peace

These stories are among the hundred captured by "passionate" photo journalists across five continents and 23 different nationalities. The stories were collected over two years on behalf of Fund for Peace, which launched a pop-up exhibition in Sydney's Surry Hills this week - the Bottom 100 project.

The organisation, which works with policy makers and local communities, towards preventing violent conflict and promoting sustainable security, launched the world-first list with a difference on Tuesday. In response to many global 'rich lists' that are published each year, the project explores the other side of the wealth spectrum.
Emma Jane, cyberhate expert from the University of NSW. While Priscilla can't say for sure who was responsible for instigating the storm of harassment, she suspects it started in the male-dominated, toxic culture of her former workplace. "I have had my whole life destroyed. I went from a thought leader in my professional field to oblivion, which I guess was the intention," she says. In a downward spiral, Priscilla lost her job while she was on sick leave in the middle of that same year and attempted suicide a number of times. "After receiving a whole lot of vile Facebook messages, I just couldn't take any more," she says, adding: "Thankfully I'm now in a slightly better space. I've spent a lot of time in therapy."

More and more attacks which begin exclusively online are spilling into offline domains. Dr Emma A. Jane Despite this, her road back to some form of normality is a long and rocky one. "I still suffer extremely from PTSD and acute depression and wake up often with nightmares and they are so terrifying that I have to change the sheets because the perspiration is so bad." Sadly, Priscilla's story is not unusual. Dr Emma A. Jane, a senior research fellow at the University of NSW, outlines a multitude of negative impacts cyberhate has on women in her book Misogyny Online. "Among other impacts it silences women, and constrains their ability to find jobs, market themselves, network, socialise, engage politically, and partake freely in self-expression and self-representation," she says.

After spending nearly 20 years looking into this issue, Jane notes that some trolls make a point of going after people who are "known to be struggling with mental illness" and says these individuals "are decidedly vulnerable, especially when attackers incite suicide". Echoing Priscilla's experience, Jane states: "More and more attacks, which begin exclusively online, are spilling into offline domains." A 2015 survey of 3000 Australian adults by academics at RMIT University suggests men are just as likely as women to experience digital harassment and abuse. However as always, the devil is in the detail. The research goes on to point out women (21.8 per cent) experience more sexual harassment online compared to men (17.7 per cent). Furthermore, female targets of online abuse are significantly more likely to be "very or extremely" upset by it. Perpetrators of digital harassment are twice as likely to be male than female.

For Priscilla's part, she tried every avenue she could think of to get assistance, including writing to the chairman of her former workplace, politicians, and state and federal government agencies. But she found herself alone. "I mattered little to the system and it failed miserably on every level: occupational health and safety, police, agencies, the law and workplace policies," she says. A NSW Police spokesperson said police had received a report from a woman concerning alleged hacking into social media applications. "A report was created and police conducted a number of inquiries; however on the information supplied, police were unable to investigate any further. She was advised of police action. "NSW Police treat these offences very seriously and encourage anyone who believes they are a victim of cybercrime to report the matter to police or via acorn.gov.au."

However the trolls, academics and digital abuse targets interviewed for this project believe policing agencies around the country are ineffective when it comes to combating cyberhate. Nigel Phair, director of the Centre for Internet Safety at the University of Canberra (and prior to that, he had a 21-year career in with the Australian Federal Police) describes the law enforcement response as "pathetic". "Considering how much time individuals spend online, law enforcement capability  whether that be crime prevention investigation or anything in-between  is completely inadequate," he says. "We have lots of piecemeal action across the whole online spectrum  but nothing properly sustained or joined up. These issues are all inter-related," he says. Phair is especially scathing of ACORN (the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network), saying: "Apart from being a bad user experience, the website provides no value to stop future victimisation.

"It would be good to see the statistics emanating from the number of reported crimes, through to active investigations and finally court action." ACORN staff did not provide statistics to Fairfax because "investigating cybercrime is the responsibility of Australia's law enforcement agencies". However the network did email a statement explaining: "Once a report has been submitted, the ACORN system automatically refers suitable reports to law enforcement agencies for consideration and possible investigation. "Not all ACORN reports result in police action, however, the information provided helps government to understand and assess the threat, in an effort to prevent and disrupt future cybercrime activity." Julie Inman Grant, eSafety Commissioner said there were a lot of people in the law enforcement community who were "concerned about the escalation of trolling, the level of violence, harm, death threats and incitement to suicide that they're seeing.

"I think training, that really filters down to the coalface, particularly those that are dealing with citizens that may be calling or walking into the local station would be helpful," Inman Grant says. "I do want to see some significant change in this area so that all institutions are treating targeted online harassment seriously." Apart from being a criminal act, Jane increasingly sees cyber abuse as an occupational health and safety issue. "After interviewing 52 Australian women targeted for gendered cyberhate, it is clear that this sort of abuse constitutes a new form of workplace harassment and/or a type of economic vandalism," she says. Cove Legal's Roger Blow, a commercial litigator with specific expertise in online liability, suggests employers who haven't protected their staff from the harm caused by cyberhate may pay a hefty price for this in the future.

"An employer has a duty to provide a safe work place for all of their employees," Blow says, and if "an employee's work duties require them to engage on social media as part of their job and there are no measures or training in place to address any abuse that they might then, perhaps predictably, encounter this could conceivably give rise to a claim from the employee." Jane would like to see a complex solution encompassing police training, legislative review, cyber ethics education for school children, ethics-driven software design and a concerted effort by social media companies to take "more responsibility for the discourse that circulates on their platforms, and respond faster and more efficiently to those who make complaints". She also calls on men to "take responsibility for their bad behaviour". "I suspect that gendered cyberhate is offering us a window into the sorts of conversations men have been having about women in private for a very long time." *Names have been changed
Some of the money allegedly raised by a $130 million tax fraud scheme was laundered through Lebanon by a north shore builder before eventually finding its way to an eastern suburbs extortionist, new court documents reveal.

Nine people, including the son and daughter of former Tax Office deputy commissioner Michael Cranston, have been charged with running the syndicate that allegedly skimmed PAYG tax from legitimate employees using a web of payroll administration companies.

North shore builder Glen Saikali has been accused in court documents of laundering money for the tax fraud syndicate. Credit:Facebook

Syndicate member Daniel Rostankovski, 24, allegedly turned on the group in February when he believed someone had been taking money.

Police allege he successfully blackmailed them for $24 million in return for not going to the media or the authorities, enlisting the help of TV journalist Steve Barrett and Woollahra property developer and wheeler dealer Daniel Hausman.
A "once-in-a-generation" spike in enrolments in NSW schools will see the state government spend $4.2 billion over four years on new and upgraded schools, including an extra $11 million on building grants to help private schools cope with ballooning student numbers.

The government will also spend $747 million over the next four years on the maintenance backlog in the state's schools, including $411 million in the next financial year, and will employ 1000 more teachers.

There will also be $6.1 million spent over three years on a new anti-bullying strategy and resources for teachers, students and parents to replace the controversial Safe Schools Program, which the state's education minister, Rob Stokes, axed from NSW schools earlier this year.

This year's budget, released on Tuesday, also sets aside $1.2 billion in funding for private schools, including an increase to the Building Grants Assistant Scheme.
Health Minister Brad Hazzard said roughly 60 per cent of the hospital's buildings were more than 30 years old. Premier Mike Baird announces a major refurbishment of the Prince Of Wales hospital at Randwick on March 16, 2015. Credit:Ben Rushton During the 2015 election campaign the Baird government promised the major Sydney hospital would get a $500 million upgrade, and allocated $4 million for planning in 2016. Hospital upgrades announced pre-budget include: $632 million for Campbelltown Hospital, including more paediatric patient beds and expanding its mental health services, emergency department and intensive care unit

$576 million Nepean Hospital's redevelopment including maternity and neonatal care, emergency, surgical, and inpatient and outpatient services.

$341.2 million for Concord Hospital, including a comprehensive care centre for defence force personnel and their families

Just over $534 million for a new Tweed Hospital on the north coast.

"The funding in this year's budget will take things to a new level with four new hospitals, five new car parks, 15 upgrades or redevelopments in the pipeline, as well as planning funds for five hospitals," Minister Perrottet said. Staffing on the coalface A total of 4500 frontline staff will join the state's health workforce  upping the government's 2015 commitment by 1000 - including 2250 nurses and midwives, 850 doctors, 600 allied health professionals and 800 hospital support staff. The ranks include an additional 55 specialist nurses and midwives, 30 clinical health support workers and training positions for 15 medical specialists and five rural GPs. "We're not just investing in bricks and mortar," the treasurer said.

"While our hospitals will receive a significant funding injection, we will also provide training for increased numbers of medical staff on the ground," he said. An extra $1 billion has been allocated to health services in 2017-2018, including $36 million to emergency services that will enable hospital EDs to handle an additional 28,000 more presentations. The additional funding will also cater for an extra 45,900 more acute admissions, according to the budget papers. Palliative care services will receive a $100 million injection over the next four years, including community based services in Western Sydney, 30 specialist palliative care nurses and eight rural and regional specialists. Roughly 17,000 more patients will have access to dental care due to a $10 million boost in dental services over four years, according to budget estimates.

AMA NSW president Dr Brad Frankum commended the state government for continuing to follow through on its promise to invest in hospital redevelopments, but stressed recurrent funding for equitable resourcing across all NSW hospitals and appropriate staffing levels needed to keep apace. Dr Frankum said some hospitals that have recently received significant upgrades and new builds were understaffed and underutilised. "The buildings may be bigger and the beds may be physically present but there just aren't the staff numbers to open them to patients. "Demand for hospital services is increasing rapidly with larger numbers of patients arriving in sicker or more gravely injured conditions and our hospitals' performance is plateauing," he said. Healthy kids

In a measure the treasurer called the "soul of this budget", NSW families will be eligible to receive up to $100 for every school aged child from January 1, 2018 to help meet the cost of sport and fitness activities each year, covering expenses like registration and learn-to-swim lessons. Coupled with a previously announced $3 million for childhood obesity programs, the budget measures were in line with the Premier's priority of reducing overweight and obesity rates by 5 per cent over ten years. The budget has also allocated $4.5 million for the roll out of the new meningococcal W vaccination among year 11 and 12 students. Mental health services An extra $87 million will be spent on mental health services raising the total to $1.9billion in 2017-2018, including $20 million for community mental health reform.

An additional $23 million will go towards increasing admitted and non-admitted mental health patient services in 2017-2018. A further $22.5 million will be used to fund a new mental health unit at Port Macquarie and improve mental health services at Campbelltown. Ambulance services A total of $892 million in 2017-2018 for ambulance services will include $7.5 million for an additional 50 relief paramedics in rural and remote areas, and $10 million to protect the health and wellbeing of NSW Ambulance staff and income protection for injured paramedics. The extra $74 million for ambulance emergency services in 2017-2018 will also help fund $30 million for the 24.7 Helicopter Retrieval network service and a fleet of 12 helicopters
The long-awaited new payment system for Australia's $3 billion child support program has run into trouble almost immediately after its launch, with one frustrated operator dubbing the roll-out a "sh*t show".

Child Support Agency staff report the new system, called Pluto, is slower and clumsier than the obsolete technology it was supposed to replace.

Pluto is not a dog, says Department of Human Services spokesman Hank Jongen.

Both frontline public servants and the main workplace union has told Fairfax Media that large numbers of CSA public servants being ordered to drop everything to help with "emergency escalations" as the agency's phone lines are swamped with irate clients.

But the Department of Human Services, which runs the Child Support Agency says the roll-out of the new system is going smoothly and has denied that any "emergency escalations" have occurred during the "implementation" period.
Former Roosters star Shaun Kenny-Dowall has escaped conviction for possessing cocaine, after making the "monumental mistake" of accepting a small amount of the drug at Sydney's Ivy nightclub.

Kenny-Dowall appeared in Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, and pleaded guilty to possessing 0.29 grams of cocaine.

Tough times: Former Sydney Roosters player Shaun Kenny-Dowall leaves Downing Centre Court after pleading guilty of drug possession. Credit:Daniel Munoz

Defence solicitor Bryan Wrench told the court the 29-year-old underwent urine and hair testing soon after he was caught with a resealable bag of cocaine on May 5, proving he did not take the drug, and had not used drugs in previous weeks.

"It still doesn't excuse what he did, but this is a case where we can say it's a one-off," Mr Wrench said.
MANLY | A fire destroyed one residential building in Manly and damaged the one next door Monday afternoon.

Fire departments from at least seven different towns were still on the scene at 6 p.m.

Both buildings were on East North Street, near the intersection with Broadway.

Officials reported that all occupants from both buildings were evacuated safely.

Worth County Emergency Manager Ray Huftalin said the Salvation Army made arrangements for a place to stay for three nights for the occupants of one building. The residents of the other building had a place to stay, he said.
The first of 24 new suburban trains for Sydney will arrive late next year as the city experiences unprecedented demand for public transport.

The state budget lacked any new major commitments for public transport as bureaucrats focus on delivering previously announced projects such as the second stage of a new $20 billion metro train line and light rail services.

Sydney Trains Credit:Fiona Morris

The government will spend $658 million this year on 24 suburban trains, the purchase of which was announced last June. The total cost of the trains is estimated at $1 billion, and their delivery due to be completed by 2019.
A family is in mourning after the death of an "artistic princess" said to be loved by everyone she met, who lost her life in a tragic accident in Brisbane's south-east last week.

Yasmin McAllister, 27, was walking to a bus stop at Camp Hill last Wednesday morning on her way to work when two cars collided at Thomas Street and Samuel Street.

Mrs McAllister was on her way to work in the city when the incident occurred. Credit:Facebook

The crash forced one of the cars into the path of the interior designer as she was crossing the road and she was rushed to Princess Alexandra Hospital with severe head trauma.

Her husband Aaron called her father, Glynn Harnell, who was supposed to catch up with them both for dinner that evening.
Power bills are such a struggle for some Queenslanders, they are using candles to light up their homes.

Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive officer Mark Henley said cost of living was one of the biggest pressures facing families.

Energy Minister Mark Bailey and Queensland Council of Social Service chief executive officer Mark Henley at the Cost of Living Showcase. Credit:Felicity Caldwell

"It is about keeping the lights on," Mr Henley said.

"Some are using candles at night to cut back on electricity costs, turning off hot water systems or turning them down because they think it will save costs - that's not the life that we want for people."
One million Queenslanders who live in apartments want assurances from the state's building watchdog that units are safe, in the wake of London's Grenfell Tower fire disaster.

Reports suggest the cladding used on Grenfell Tower had been banned in Britain.

Unit Owners of Queensland president Wayne Stevens calls for immediate audit of all strata title developments in Queensland for fire safety. Credit:Glenn Hunt

Wayne Stevens, president of the Unit Owners Association of Queensland, said its members had also raised concerns there were problems with inadequate fire systems in some Queensland apartment buildings.

"We will support any proposal for a statewide audit as a matter of urgency," Mr Stevens said.
ATLAS, one of two main detectors in the CERN tunnel that was the research experiment site in the race to discover the Higgs boson. Credit:Leslye Davis/New York Times "The feeling in the field is at best one of confusion and at worst depression," Adam Falkowski, a particle physicist at the Laboratoire de Physique Theorique d'Orsay in France, wrote recently in an article for the science journal Inference. "These are difficult times for the theorists," Gian Giudice, the head of CERN's theory department, said. "Our hopes seem to have been shattered. We have not found what we wanted." What the world's physicists have wanted for almost 30 years is any sign of phenomena called supersymmetry, which has hovered just out of reach like a golden apple, a promise of a hidden mathematical beauty at the core of reality. Theorists in the 1970s posited a relationship between the particles that carry forces, like the photon that conveys electromagnetism or light, and the basic constituents of matter, electrons and quarks.

If the theory of supersymmetry is correct, there should be a whole new set of elementary particles to be discovered, so-called super-partners of the quarks and the electrons and the other particles we already know and love. Clouds of them left over from the Big Bang, moreover, could make up the mysterious dark matter that astronomers say constitutes a quarter of the universe and whose gravitational pull controls the fates of galaxies. Colliders get their mojo from Einstein's equivalence of mass and energy. When a pair of protons collide in the Large Hadron Collider, they recreate a smidgen of the original Big Bang that jump-started the cosmos. Whatever forms of matter can be made from that bank of energy - particles and forces that held sway when the universe was young - can reappear and briefly strut their stuff through labyrinths of electronic detectors and computers. Every time colliders get a little more energy to spend, scientists get access to realms of time, nature and possibility we have never experienced, and we get a little closer to the mathematical bones of reality. The Large Hadron Collider was designed to collide protons with energies of seven trillion electron volts apiece. That was enough, physicists knew, to discover the Higgs or to prove that it was wrong. Many theorists had also hoped that supersymmetrical particles would show up when the Large Hadron Collider was finally turned on in 2010. Indeed the mystery particles could have shown up even earlier, in the collider's predecessors, according to some versions of the theory.

As a headline in The New York Times put it in 1993: "315 Physicists Report Failure in Search for Supersymmetry." So far they are still failing. In May, a new analysis by the 3000 physicists monitoring the big Atlas detector (one of two main detectors in the CERN tunnel) reported no hints of superparticles up to a mass of almost two trillion electron volts. In other experiments, meanwhile, increasingly sensitive efforts to capture the putative dark matter particles drifting in space (and through our bodies) have also come up empty, and theorists have started turning to more complicated ideas for what nature might be doing in the dark. Last year, some scientists gathered in Copenhagen to pay off bets, with bottles of expensive cognac, they had made that supersymmetry would appear by now. "Many of my colleagues are desperate," said Hermann Nicolai of the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Potsdam, Germany. "They have invested their careers in this."

The idea that the Large Hadron Collier would discover the Higgs boson but nothing else has long been physicists' worst nightmare. Among other things, it would leave them with no explanation for their greatest achievement: the Higgs itself. According to CERN, the long-sought boson, the keystone to the Standard Model, weighs 125 billion electron volts, or as much as a whole iodine atom. But that is too light, according to theoretical calculations. The mass of the Higgs should be some thousands of quadrillion times as high. The cause is quantum weirdness, one principle of which is that anything that is not forbidden will happen. That means the Higgs calculation must include the effects of its interactions with all other known particles, including so-called virtual particles that can wink in and out of existence. Theorists have to doctor their equations for the Higgs and other numbers to come out right under the Standard Model. But when the alleged supersymmetric particles are inserted in the mix, a miracle occurs. They cancel out the effects of the other particles, leaving the Higgs with a perfectly finite, normal mass. This is the way nature should be, they say.

Supersymmetry is such a general idea that there is always another version that can be proposed. Not everybody is ready to give up on supersymmetry or to pay off bets. Gordon Kane, a superstring theorist at the University of Michigan who is well known in the community for his optimism about supersymmetry, said his calculations predicted that the lightest superparticle should show up around about 1.6 trillion electron volts once enough data was properly analysed. "Sadly," he wrote in an email, "the experimenters have not done realistic searches". Another staunch supporter is John Ellis, a veteran CERN theorist and professor at Kings College London, whose office at the lab displays a cardboard skeleton holding a sign that says this is what happened to the last person who criticised "Susy," short for supersymmetry. "Obviously I'm disappointed Susy didn't show up when the LHC was turned on," he said, adding that there were still plenty of chances for it to show up. Guido Tonelli, a professor at the University of Pisa in Italy who was one of the leaders of the Higgs hunt, said, "For a while we thought we could discover the Higgs and new physics at the same time -that was very exciting." But he said he did not share his colleagues depression that it did not happen: "The fact that the Higgs fits the Standard Model means new physics is farther up the energy scale. We know it is there, we just don't know if it is tomorrow or the next decade."

He added, "We need to explore; don't be timid." By the end of 2018, the collider will have logged some 15,000 trillion collisions. If something does not show up by then, Giudice said, it will be time to go back to the drawing board. "It's a high point of research when we have confusion," he said. "Certainly this is a moment of confusion." "Confusion," he explained, "means an opportunity for new ideas." Among the other ideas, Giudice suggested with a few quick squiggles and scrawls on this blackboard, is that the Higgs mass is fixed not by some deep symmetry principle, but rather by the continuing dynamics of fields and forces. As the universe expands and evolves during the Big Bang, the Higgs field, of which the boson is an expression, undergoes phase transitions, like water turning to ice. At some point, it gets stuck.

"What fixes the value of the Higgs is the history of the universe," he said. But that would make the Higgs field unstable over very long time frames - much longer than the age of the universe - and could eventually collapse, dissolving what we think of as reality. Another possibility, which is anathema to many card-carrying Einsteinians, is that these problematic numbers are due to random chance. There are virtually an infinite number of possible universes with different Higgs masses, but only one that has the capability of evolving into stars, planets, us. CERN has begun laying plans for a truly giant successor to the Large Hadron Collider: It would be 100 kilometres around and collide protons at 100 trillion electron volts. China is also exploring a "Great Collider" along those lines. At 14 trillion electron volts, the Large Hadron Collider would either find the Higgs boson or something else because the Standard Model broke down at those energies. The Future Circular Collider, as CERN refers to it, has no such specific purpose because under the Standard Model, that higher energy range is barren of new particles - a desert in the parlance. But nobody really believes that the Standard Model, with no mention of gravity, is the last word about the universe.

There are trillions upon trillions of proton smash-ups to go before we sleep. One encouraging hint has come from recent CERN studies of a weird short-lived little particle called a B-meson, which among other things flips back and forth from being itself and its antimatter opposite trillions of times a second. According to the Standard Model, these particles should have an equal chance of producing electrons as their fat cousins the muons, when they decay in certain ways. However, measurements at the CERN collider have shown a definite propensity for the mesons to underproduce muons, as reported at CERN in April. The same quantum weirdness that blows up the theoretical mass of the Higgs might also be at work here, physicists say, hinting at a new very massive particle called a leptoquark. Or it could just be a fluke. "Needless to say, if these signals hold up then it would be an extremely big deal, but it is too soon to say," said Guy Wilkinson, an Oxford professor who is the spokesman for the LHCb collaboration. It was only six years ago that the collider was on the verge of ruling out the Higgs boson, at least as prescribed by the Standard Model. Scientists prepared to explain to the public why failing to find the Higgs boson would be more exciting than finding it: another chance at creative confusion.
Twenty years ago, graffiti in a school would have involved a delinquent spray painting their nickname on a wall in the dead of night.

But times change. Now a former teenage train tagger is teaching graffiti to children in class.

Former train tagger Ashley Goudie with year six students at Brighton Beach Primary School. Credit:Jason South

Ashley Goudie, a scourge of the Lilydale train line in the 1980s, is today a legal street artist painting cafes, garage walls and kids' bedrooms.

This week he demonstrated his craft to rapt Year Sixers in Brighton Beach Primary's art room.
Six taxis and a factory facade have been destroyed in a suspicious blaze which engulfed a taxi depot in Tullamarine.

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade was called to Derby Street about 12.30am on Wednesday morning after neighbours noticed a taxi on fire.

The blaze quickly spread to five other taxis parked along the street before it moved to the factory.

"Several calls were received from neighbours for a car well alight up against a factory," MFB spokeswoman Meg Rayner said.
For years Yarraville residents campaigned to get trucks off their streets and  with construction of the proposed West Gate Tunnel  they might finally have some success.

But their gain will come at the cost of a little-known suburb that was on the rise. Until now.

Brooklyn in Melbourne's inner west has just 1951 residents.

Much of Melbourne would barely know the suburb, wedged between the West Gate Freeway and Geelong Road, exists but for the odd gangland shooting.
If you were intending to book a return flight from Perth to Broome for the July school holidays, it may be time to re-think.

For $1009, return flights to Phuket, Bangkok and even Japan could be cheaper options for your family holiday - in fact, heading overseas could save you more than $100 than if you were to travel just 2500 kilometres along the WA coast.

Fly-in, fly-out workers have been blamed for pushing up prices for regional airline seats. Credit:Glenn Hunt

These airfares are from July 11th to July 15th, pulled from Skyscanner.

This kind of pricing has prompted an investigation into the high cost of regional airfares in Western Australia, and Tourism Minister Paul Papalia announced a parliamentary inquiry into the high cost of regional fares on Tuesday.
Never before released figures show more than 12,000 Western Australians received debt notices as part of the Turnbull government's bungled Centrelink debt-recovery program, according to the Greens.

In January, it was revealed more than 17,000 debt notices were sent out by the Federal government over the Christmas break, with hundreds of people around Australia complaining they were wrongly hounded for repayments.

A Perth woman claims Centrelink said she owed $26,000 - but they owed her $5k.

Now, WA Greens senator Rachel Siewert has obtained information from the Department of Human Services as part of the Centrelink senate inquiry, which found 12,021 Western Australians were issued robo-debt notices between July 2016 and February 2017.

During the same period 132,764 debt notices were sent out to people around Australia.
MASON CITY | Mason City School Board approved a supplemental contract Monday for a temporary finance director.

Cherie Yoder, a district accountant, was appointed to fill John Berg's position temporarily until someone else is hired. The contract will provide $4,260 in additional pay to compensate Yoder for extra work over the next three months.

The duties are above and beyond her current role, Interim Superintendent Mike Penca said.

The leave is effective through June 30, the end of his current 1-year contract with the district. His salary is $82,250, according to his contract.

Penca said the district hopes to fill the position by Sept. 1, when Yoders supplemental contract expires.

Mason City School finance director 'disappointed,' expects to be fired MASON CITY | The finance director of Mason City Schools has issued a statement regarding his

Berg had been serving as school board secretary and treasurer in addition to being the district's finance director.

Penca said he is working with several officials, including incoming Superintendent Dave Versteeg, on the job description for finance director. He hopes to have that job posted within the next week or so.

School Board President Janna Arndt continued to decline to comment on Bergs contract Monday.

Arndt would not say whether there would be a special meeting to discuss Bergs contract saying, no comment.

Arndt also declined to comment when asked if Berg is suspected of doing anything illegal or unethical.

I know what 'no comment' looks like, Arndt said.

James Scharff, executive director of the Iowa Association of School Business Officials, said via phone Monday business managers are fired a couple times a year by Iowa school boards that want to go in a different direction.

According to Scharff, Berg is an at-will employee, meaning the school board can terminate his contract without reason and without a closed hearing.

Penca said that he, Versteeg and other officials have consulted the Iowa Association of School Business Officials during the transition.

Berg released a statement last week saying he was disappointed with the boards decision and that he "would likely not be issued a contract for future employment" following a closed-session board meeting June 1.

Berg has been in his position since 2015. Before that he was an accountant with the district for three years.

The Globe Gazette has filed an open records request with the district seeking more information on what may have prompted Berg's departure. The district, by law, is required to respond within 10 to 20 business days.
McPherson chased the quokka around a tree and kicked it at least twice into a courtyard wall during a trip to the popular holiday destination on February 11.

The 20-year-old had previously pleaded guilty in May to being cruel to an animal.

Harrison Angus McPherson pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after he was caught on camera kicking a quokka.

Harrison McPherson was sentenced in Fremantle Magistrates Court on Tuesday morning.

The Perth man caught on video kicking a quokka at Rottnest Island has been fined $4000.

He was filmed by his friend Corey Douglas James, 21, who laughed as he captured the attack on his mobile phone.

The recording was widely shared online, sparking a social media name-and-shame campaign that quickly led police to the men.

According to Radio 6PR reporter Michael Stamp, the court heard McPherson had received death threats since the incident and it had impacted his employment.

His lawyer said his actions were out of character for McPherson, who refused to speak outside court.

It is not the first time there has been issues with animal cruelty from tourists on the island.
Brussels: Belgium troops shot dead a suspected suicide bomber in the Brussels city centre on Tuesday after a small explosion at Central Station.

There were no other casualties, police said. Ten minutes earlier, police had cordoned off the area after reports of an explosion.

Federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt told reporters some three hours after the incident that the small blast was being treated as a "terrorist attack".

Only hours later, after bomb disposal teams had cleared the area, was the man confirmed dead. There was no word on his identity. Associated Press reported it was a "foiled terror attack".
Washington: US President Donald Trump has denounced the death of Otto Warmbier, the student who spent more than a year imprisoned in North Korea, as the consequence of mistreatment by a "brutal regime".

"At least he got home to his parents," Mr Trump said on Monday during an event with technology chief executives at the White House, speaking just hours after Mr Warmbier died.

The 22-year-old student's death potentially escalates already high tensions between the US and North Korea over the pariah state's push to secure a nuclear-armed missile capable of threatening the US.

Mr Warmbier's fate has brought home the cruelty and capriciousness of the North Korean regime in a way that dozens of ballistic missile tests and nuclear explosions never did. Arrested for trying to steal a political banner, Mr Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor, a punishment that seemed grossly out of balance with the alleged crime.
Karen Handel, Republican candidate for Georgia's 6th congressional district at a campaign stop on Monday. The seat has been in her party's hands since 1979. Credit:AP The Republican win could have a more immediate impact on Trump's priorities. Republicans are labouring to agree on legislation to revise the Affordable Care Act known as Obama Care. A GOP win on Tuesday could bring new momentum to their push to pass a bill in the Senate, while a defeat could embolden those who are concerned about the bill they call Trumpcare to more forcefully oppose it. Handel and Ossoff were vying to fill the seat vacated by Tom Price, who held it from 2005 until he joined Trump's Cabinet this year as health and human services secretary. Jon Ossoff talks to supporters on Monday. Credit:AP A record turnout was expected.

In another early tweet, Trump took a swipe at Ossoff's centrist positioning and dismissed him as a liberal who "wants to raise your taxes to the highest level and is weak on crime and security, doesn't even live in district." Ossoff lives just outside the district with his fiancee. Karen Handel, Republican candidate for Congress, waits while her husband, Steve, completes his voter form. Credit:Atlanta Journal-Constitution/AP Despite the contest's national sheen and implications, many voters here said they will make their decision based less on Trump and more on how they view the two candidates, whose salvos have inundated televisions in a clash that has grown bitter and tense. That dynamic could complicate the import that this race will carry beyond Tuesday. Special elections are often seen as instant microcosms of the national mood, but they are not always indicative of coming political waves. A voter casts his ballot in Georgia's 6th Congressional District special election in Sandy Springs on Tuesday. Credit:David Goldman

Strategists on both sides note that the amount of resources and attention this race received cannot be replicated across the map. "The likelihood is the margin is going to be one or two points either way, so it is very easy to over-interpret the outcome," said Matt Bennett, senior vice president of the centrist Democratic organisation Third Way. "But a 20-point swing in a House vote between November and June - that's a lot." In this race, Trump has been everywhere and nowhere. Both contenders have mostly avoided talking about him at length in the final days. Handel has focused on turning out establishment, Trump-wary Republicans with classic GOP appeals, while Ossoff has talked up his willingness to be a bipartisan voice. "As I've gone door-to-door for Jon, I've been speaking mom-to-mom on issues like health care, not about Trump," Jennifer Wilson, 52, a school counsellor, said as she gathered with fellow volunteers on Monday in nearby Roswell for Ossoff's election eve event. Wilson said Ossoff's age, as well as GOP attacks on his residency, have been hurdles.

"Some people say, 'Oh, he's only 30.' But I tell them that Jon is someone who understands the area," she said. "He grew up here and wants what they want: to bring high-tech and bio-tech jobs to our community." On Monday night, Ossoff never mentioned Trump once, even as TV trucks parked outside the shopping centre where his campaign office is located and cable channels took the scene live in prime time. Homemade posters on the wall - scribbled in thick strokes with the slogan "Humble. Kind. Ready to fight" - did not mention Trump, either. Ossoff - standing before a raucous crowd of hundreds, his sleeves rolled up - spoke passionately about women's rights, gay rights and the urgency of addressing of climate change. He knocked "those cynics in Washington, DC". "There are people across this district, across this state, across this country who have lost faith," Ossoff said, his voice quieting. "In this room, right now, is the team that can help to begin to restore that faith." Volunteers chanted, "Flip the 6th! Flip the 6th!" and waved blue signs in the air as Ossoff and his fiancee, Alisha Kramer, shook hands as they left.

"It's a huge moment," Mike Magallenes, 67, said as he looked on. A retired carpenter who lives in San Diego, he flew here over the weekend to offer Ossoff his time and perhaps witness a Democratic upset. "I want to send a message even if that's not what this is all about," he said. "It's got to start somewhere. Win or lose, it's got to be the start." Steve Levine, 60, a salesman from Marietta, said Ossoff's chances would be tied to turnout in cities such as Chamblee in the district's southern tier, which is home to many younger and minority voters. "The suburbs of Atlanta are changing dramatically," Levine said. "Chamblee and other spots have significant Asian and Hispanic communities. They're full of people who have moved here from all around America." Other Democrats worried that the district's Republican voters would come around on Tuesday, even as Trump's controversies cause headaches.

"Karen is going to get support because this is a place where Fox News is on all the time, whether it's a doctor's office or at the gym," Evelyn Lewis-Wilson, a real estate broker in Roswell, said. "That's the way it is." Her friend, Sandra Jackson, agreed - with a caveat. "Is this Fox News land? Of course," Jackson said. "But I do think there is a hidden Democratic vote out there who won't talk about it at work but aren't too happy with Trump or what the Republicans are up to." Loading Win or lose, Ossoff's campaign will provide a frame for an ongoing debate within the Democratic Party as it struggles to find its way back to power, having been shut out in Washington and decimated on the state and local levels. That its candidate in this race is the unseasoned Ossoff is evidence of how thin its ranks have become.
New York: An Ohio coroner will not perform an autopsy on the American student who died after being held prisoner in North Korea for 17 months. He will perform an external examination of the body at the family's request.

The Hamilton County Coroner's Office was conferring with doctors at the Cincinnati hospital where Otto Warmbier, 22, died on Monday, before reaching any conclusions about his death, investigator Daryl Zornes said.

Investigators were still reviewing radiological images and awaiting additional medical records requested by the coroner, Zornes said.

Earlier in the day, the coroner's office said it had received Warmbier's body for an autopsy examination and was expecting to release preliminary findings later on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Honiara: At least 17 people including 13 children from a village church group in the Solomon Islands have drowned after a rescue mission was reportedly delayed for lack of funds when their boat sank between islands.

The group, which was travelling from the island of Malaita to the nation's main island, Guadalcanal, set off in an open "banana" boat powered by outboard engines when it was swamped while changing petrol tanks and sank shortly before midday last Wednesday.

The victims ages are unknown, though the children were all between the sixth and ninth school grades.

Hours after the group's boat failed to arrive, a second boat travelled back along its route, before returning to shore and raising the alarm.
Anchorage: A 16-year-old runner who was fatally mauled by a black bear during a weekend mountain race in Alaska reportedly called his brother while he was being chased by the animal in a rare predatory attack, officials say.

A mine contractor was killed in a separate bear attack in the state a day later.

Patrick Cooper, 16, died on Sunday while competing in the Robert Spurr Memorial Hill Climb south of Anchorage. He had become lost during the race after somehow veering off the trail.

At one point he reportedly placed a frantic phone call to his brother saying he was being chased by a bear. His brother then alerted race organisers who began searching for the boy.
An American F-15E fighter jet shot down an Iranian-made armed drone over southeast Syria on Tuesday that was flying toward US-backed Syrian fighters and their advisers, Pentagon officials said.

The episode was a fresh indication that the air war between forces loyal to Syria President Bashar al-Assad and the US military is likely to continue, and perhaps even escalate, even as the United States has sought to keep its focus on defeating the Islamic State militants operating in Syria and Iraq.

The F-15E intercepted the drone and tried to get it to change course, but it continued to fly toward the fighters and was shot down. US officials said that the aircraft was a Shahed 129, the same type of Iranian drone that a US warplane blasted on June 8 after it dropped a bomb near US-supported Syrian fighters and their coalition advisers.

Tuesday's episode occurred shortly after midnight local time as the drone approached a so-called deconfliction zone the Americans have declared around the town of al-Tanf, the same place where the first drone had ventured. A garrison of Syrian fighters and their US and allied advisers are based near the town, which is near the intersection of the Syrian, Iraqi and Jordanian borders.
WILLEMSTAD:--- Worldwide almost daily Cyber-attacks are experienced by companies with most of the time severe consequences for the continuity of the business and its services to clients. The major impact of Cyber-attacks would certainly justify putting Cyber Security high on the boardroom agenda. KPMG Dutch Caribbean & Suriname (KPMG DC&S) advises her clients structurally to incorporate cyber security efforts in annual reports. A benchmark study by KPMG in 800 companies across 28 countries shows however that few companies give Cyber Security the attention it requires.

Diligence

Investors, governments, and global regulators are increasingly challenging Board Members to actively demonstrate diligence in the area of Cyber Security. They expect sensitive information to be protected and systems to be resilient to both cyber incidents as deliberate attacks. Clients expect that services are available and data is protected when it is being stored or processed.

However, the KPMG research shows that 84% of the surveyed companies in the Caribbean pay insufficient attention to Cyber Security. Taking the recent global and regional cyber-attacks into consideration, one may wonder why the sense of urgency of Boards of Directors and Senior Executives is not much higher, says, Mrs. Elaine Oleana, in charge of the Cyber Security services at KPMG DC&S.

The most important highlights of the KPMG benchmark study results for the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname are:

 Cyber Security as a Board Responsibility is reported in only 6% of the cases, which is significantly lower than in the rest of the Caribbean (11%) and in the total of companies surveyed (20%).

 In only 6% of the companies operating in the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname, Cyber Security is mentioned as a sentence or as a full paragraph. In this respect the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname are not keeping pace with the rest of the Caribbean or the rest of the world, with averages of 16% and 44% respectively.

 Security Awareness, Privacy, Security Monitoring, Threat Intelligence and ICS/SCADA are the only Cyber Security topics mentioned in the Dutch Caribbean and Suriname annual reports.

 The Financial Industry in our region is more leading in Cyber Security governance then other industries, but still, the percentage is remarkably lower, compared to the overall average.

Mrs. Oleana points out that there is much room for improvement on cyber security governance and in the explicit recognition of board level responsibility. She adds that It is no longer a question of whether an organization will be attacked, but rather when it will be attacked. Will our companies be ready to respond?



For more information about this benchmark study, please visit our website: www.kpmg.cw or http://bit.ly/2txbtdw for direct access.
ALGONA | One person was pronounced dead at the scene of a house fire in Algona early Tuesday.

Two others were taken to the hospital, according to a news release from the Kossuth County Sheriff's Office.

The Algona Fire Department received a 911 call at 2:33 a.m. reporting a house fire at 211 Brookridge. The house is owned by a trust, according to online property records.

Upon arrival, the fire department discovered heavy smoke and located the fire in a bedroom in the house.

The house was occupied by three female residents. Two were taken to the Kossuth Regional Health Center in Algona and one was pronounced dead at the scene, according to authorities.

Authorities haven't identified the people who live in the home.

The fire is under investigation by the State Fire Marshals Office.

 Mary Pieper
Barbados/PHILIPSBURG:--- St. Maarten Toastmasters continue to soar as they maintain strong presence in the leadership of District 81. Toastmasters International is a world leader in communication and leadership development. District 81, which encompasses all Caribbean islands, hosted its May 2017 conference on the island of Barbados, during which the international speech contest and elections for district leaders took place.

The prominence of territory St. Maarten did not go unnoticed as its Toastmasters were elected and/or nominated in key leadership positions in the District. Thus congratulations are certainly in order and extended to the following persons (in alphabetical order of first name):

Mrs. Alicia Etienne-Seaton, dual member of the Disciples and Evolution Toastmasters clubs, and dubbed the energizer bunny by her peers because of her unfailing consistency and commitment to serve, was elected as Area Director. She will endeavor to help her fellow Toastmasters understand the core values of the Organization and promise to do her utmost to create awareness of the Toastmasters educational program because she believes that learning active listening techniques through Toastmasters assists greatly in conflict resolution. Less conflict equates into a better community.

Ms. Brenda Maynard, member of the civil servants Soualiga Corporate Toastmasters Club and 2015 recipient of the coveted Triple Crown Award, was elected as Division E Director. She will be guiding Area Directors for clubs on the islands of Anguilla, Antigua, USVI, BVI, St. Martin French and Dutch, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts & Nevis.

TM Maynard expresses a huge thank you to the outgoing Division E Director, Kathia Magdeleine, for her dedicated work, accomplishments, and assistance. She aims to motivate and assist her Area Directors in achieving their greatest potential through club and membership development, as she will have big shoes to fill!

Ms. Daisiray Tracy Lake was appointed Administration Manager for District 81, succeeding Ms. Delice Connor from Anguilla.

Having a sensational desire for self-improvement she intends to complete her administrative tasks accurately and timely while gaining a comprehensive understanding of the responsibilities of her fellow district leaders.

Mrs. Patricia Peters, dual member of the Disciples and Cupecoy Toastmasters clubs, faced her fear of public speaking by representing the territory in front of hundreds of people in the international speech contest. The experience was phenomenal and made her a better person.

Ms. Tamara Groeneveldt, President of the Soualiga Corporate Toastmasters Club, was elected as Area Director and aims to actively do her best to firmly strengthen the clubs by assessing their current functioning and obtaining all the help, ideas, and advice from the wealth of resources within her reach, all while building rapport with members. Ms. Groeneveldt also plans to accompany her efforts with lots of prayers.

All district leaders will officially begin their tenure on July 1st 2017. Outgoing leaders from Territory St. Maarten are Area Director Vernicia Brooks, Area Director Elroy Hughes and Area Director Priscilla Bell.

For more information about toastmasters and means of joining a club kindly visit https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club or contact TM Brenda Maynard, Division E Director Elect at +1721-527-2884 for more information on joining or visiting a club, or to enquire on establishing a company corporate club.
PHILIPSBURG:---The Court of Appeal decided ON Tuesday afternoon that the extradition of Francesco Corallo (1960) is permissible.

The decision was taken after a request by Italy on January 12th. 2017 for his extradition.

Corallo has been locked up in a police cell since December 2016. While the Italian Government requested the extradition of Corallo, there is a civil case pending in St. Maarten between Corallo and his father.

Besides that just recently the lawyers representing Corallo file a case with the United Nations regarding his detention in a police holding cell for almost seven months.

Even though the Court of Appeals handed down a verdict on Tuesday, the process for the extradition is still not over since Corallo could still file an appeal with the Supreme Court in the Netherlands.
Claim: Calling #77 or 112 on your cell phone will connect you to emergency services no matter where you are. Rating: About this rating False

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[Collected via e-mail, March 2002] This is an actual true story and not one of those Internet stories that are passed on and on. This actually happened to one of my dearest nw friend's daughter. Her daughter, Lauren, is 19 yrs. old and a sophomore in college. This happened to her over the Christmas/New Year's holiday break. It was the Saturday before New Year's and it was about 1 pm in the afternoon. Lauren was driving from here (Winchester, Va.) to visit a friend in Warrenton. For those of you who are familiar with the area, she was taking Rt. 50 East towards Middleburg and then was going to cut over to I-66 via Rt. 17. Those of you who aren't familiar with this area, Rt. 50 East is a main road (55 mph and two lanes each side with a big median separating East/West lanes), but is somewhat secluded, known for it's big horse farms and beautiful country estates. Lauren was actually following behind a state police car shortly after she left Winchester and was going just over 65 mph since she was following behind him. An UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put his lights on. My friend and her husband have 4 children (high school and college age) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get to a gas station, etc. So Lauren actually listened to her parents advice, and promptly called #77 on her cell phone to tell the dispatcher that she would not pull over right away. She proceeded to tell the dispatcher that there were 2 police cars, one unmarked behind her and one marked in front of her. The dispatcher checked to confirm that there were 2 police cars where she was. There wasn't and she was connected to the policeman in front of her. He told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back-up already on the way. Ten minutes later, 4 police cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground  the man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. Thank God Lauren listened to her parents! She was shaken up, but fine. I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you should NEVER pull over for an unmarked car in a secluded area. In fact, even a marked car after dark should follow you to a populated area. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them (i.e. put on your hazard lights) or call #77 like Lauren did. I am so thankful that my friend was sitting at our book club meeting telling us this scary story, rather than us at her house consoling her had something tragic occurred! Be safe and pass this on to your friends. Awareness is everything!

[Collected via e-mail, March 2006] A bit of useful advice  verified by the Dorset Police. The number does work from a mobile. This actually happened to someones daughter. Lauren was 19 yrs old and in college. This story takes place over the Christmas/New Years holiday break. It was the Saturday before New Year and it was about 1.00pm in the afternoon, and Lauren was driving to visit a friend, when an UNMARKED police car pulled up behind her and put its lights on. Laurens parents have 4 children (of various ages) and have always told them never to pull over for an unmarked car on the side of the road, but rather wait until they get to a service station, etc. So Lauren remembered her parents advice, and telephoned 112 from her mobile phone. This connected her to the police dispatcher she told the dispatcher that there was an unmarked police car with a flashing blue light on his rooftop behind her and that she would not pull over right away but wait until she was in a service station or busy area. The dispatcher checked to see if there was a police car where she was and there wasnt and he told her to keep driving, remain calm and that he had back-up already on the way. Ten minutes later 4 police cars surrounded her and the unmarked car behind her. One policeman went to her side and the others surrounded the car behind. They pulled the guy from the car and tackled him to the ground.. the man was a convicted rapist and wanted for other crimes. I never knew that bit of advice, but especially for a woman alone in a car, you do not have to pull over for an UNMARKED car. Apparently police have to respect your right to keep going to a safe place. You obviously need to make some signals that you acknowledge them I.e., put on your hazard lights) or call 112 like Lauren did. Too bad the mobile phone companies dont give you this little bit of wonderful information. So now its your turn to let your friends know about 112 (112 is an emergency number on your mobile that takes you straight to the police because 999 does not work if you have no signal). This is good information that I did not know! Please pass on to all your friends, especially any females. As far as I am aware, 112 uses a system called triangulation so they can also pinpoint exactly where you are phoning from.

Whether the accounts reproduced above really represent an "actual true story and not one of those Internet stories that are passed on and on" is unknown, but the main point that most readers have taken from them is undeniably not true: calling #77 or 112 from your cell phone will not connect you to emergency services no matter where you are, nor doing so connect you with emergency services even when your cell phone does not have an adequate signal to place outgoing calls.

Although in a few states in the U.S. calling #77 on a cell phone will immediately connect you to that state's highway patrol, that code is far from universal. Some states use #77, but others use *55, *47, *77 or *HP, and some don't have any special code at all. Rather than frantically try to figure out which one will work in the area you're in, police generally recommend that the best approach is to get around the problem by trying 911 first:

"Just call 9-1-1," said Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste. "There's no reason to use another number. 9-1-1 is always the best way to reach the police when you need our assistance."

The phone number 112 is used as a global emergency phone number in a number of countries, primarily in the European Union. In some parts of the United States a call to 112 will roll over to the local 911 system, but since 112 is not implemented as a universal emergency number in the U.S., calling 911 directly is the better option.

Some police agencies have even issued social media warnings advising the public not to call 112 at all, saying that "the (idea) that calling 1-1-2 is somehow faster than calling 9-1-1 is utterly false."

Regarding the scenario described in the examples at the head of this page, police advise motorists to immediately pull over when signaled to do so, suggesting those concerned about their safety keep their doors locked and crack their windows to speak with persons presenting themselves as officers of the law. They suggest sidelined drivers who are suspicious of their detainers' demands should request to examine the officers' photo IDs and ask them where they work, then place calls to 911 to verify their identities. While this would certainly be the right way to handle genuine police officers making bona fide traffic stops, this method may fail to protect motorists from the ill-intentioned. Real bad guys often carry guns, against which locked car doors and cracked windows would avail little by way of protection.

The instance of rapists and murderers pretending to be police officers is not of epidemic proportions, but enough incidents of this nature have occurred that precautions are warranted. In 1948 in Los Angeles, Caryl Chessman successfully robbed couples and sexually assaulted a number of women in California after first fooling them into believing he was a police officer by flashing a red light at their vehicles. (Though often he approached parked cars this way, in at least one case he managed to pull over a car that was driving on Pacific Coast Highway.) His method of approach earned him the nickname of "The Red Light Bandit." Chessman was executed on a kidnapping charge in 1960, but only after gaining fame for writing three books while in prison (most notably Cell 2455 Death Row) and becoming the focus of the then nascent movement to abolish the death penalty.

Since then others have used similar ruses to isolate their victims. More recently, in 1997 Arkansas was plagued by its "blue light rapist" who assaulted three women after first luring them to the side of the road with the help of a police-style blue light mounted on his car. Robert Todd Burmingham was sentenced in 1998 to 80 years in prison for rape, kidnapping, and aggravated robbery.

In 2000, a Tampa woman was sexually assaulted by a man who had put a flashing blue and red light atop his car and motioned her off the road as if he was a police officer. After she admitted she had been drinking, he offered to drive her home; she got into his car, and he took her to an isolated location where he raped her. That case is still open.

Someone who has taken to impersonating a police officer for nefarious purposes is counting upon his intended victim's unquestioning cooperation. Because he appears in the guise of a trusted authority figure whose commands must be obeyed, he expects automatic reaction to kick in even if it overrides common sense. That could prove a fatal error to make.

In 1996 Governor Pataki of New York issued an executive order to prevent unmarked state police cars from stopping motorists for routine traffic violations, citing "a growing number of cases around the country in which criminals trap their victims by posing as police officers."

A March 2002 version of the story changed the girl's name from Lauren to Lisa. An October 2003 version moved the action to Australia. Once again, 19-year-old Lauren barely escaped disaster, but she did so by using the "No. 112 feature" on her cell phone to summon help. A July 2004 version shifted the story to Canada, but in this instance Lauren dialed *677. (The number *677, aka *OPP, is the non-emergency cell phone caller line of the Ontario Provincial Police.)
Komutels SIT2 IP Console Release 2.5.4 Now Rated Avaya Compliant

ST-GEORGES, QUEBEC  (Marketwired)  06/19/17  Komutel, a leading unified communication solution developer, today announced that its SIT2 IP Console is compliant with key team engagement solutions from Avaya, a global provider of business communications software, systems and services.

The SIT2 Console helps businesses integrate their telephone system with their corporate directory and other data sources to simplify professional call handling. The application is now compliance-tested by Avaya for compatibility with Avaya Aura Session Manager 7.0 and Avaya Aura Communication Manager 7.0.

Komutel is a Technology Partner in the Avaya DevConnect program-an initiative to develop, market and sell innovative third-party products that interoperate with Avaya technology and extend the value of a companys investment in its network. Its SIT2 Console solution is available for order through the DevConnect Select Product Program.

As a Technology Partner, Komutel is eligible to submit products for compliance testing by the Avaya Solution Interoperability and Test Lab. There, a team of Avaya engineers develops a comprehensive test plan for each application to verify whether it is Avaya compatible. Doing so enables businesses to confidently add best-in-class capabilities to their network without having to replace their existing infrastructure-speeding deployment of new applications and reducing both network complexity and implementation costs.

Quotes:

We are very proud that our console SIT2 has passed compliance testing with the Avaya Aura Platform. The SIT2 Console is a powerful solution for enterprises of all sizes looking to improve their customer relationships as well as employee productivity. With this testing, customers can confidently deploy the SIT2 Console in their Avaya network.

 Richard Poulin, CEO, Komutel

Komutels SIT2 Console has undergone formalized interoperability testing. Working with leading technology companies like Komutel to confirm compatibility through the Avaya DevConnect program helps us extend the range of complementary solutions available to Avaya customers, helping maximize their investment in Avaya platforms.

 Eric Rossman, vice president, Developer Relations, Avaya

Additional Resources

About Avaya

Avaya enables the mission critical, real-time communication applications of the worlds most important operations. As the global leader in delivering superior communications experiences, Avaya provides the most complete portfolio of software and services for contact center and unified communications with integrated, secure networking- offered on premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid. Todays digital world requires some form of communications enablement, and no other company is better positioned to do this than Avaya. For more information please visit .

About Komutel

Komutel is an Enterprise Communication Software Developer, specializing in the development and marketing of open-ended and innovative solutions in the telecommunications sector. Komutel, leader in network and platform integration solutions (IT, VoIP, UC, Voice Mail, Mobility, Radio), is a recognized provider of user-friendly, versatile and value added solutions. Komutel customers span across many industry sectors such as Health Care, Finance, Insurance, Public Safety, Education and more. Komutel Kloud solutions portfolio includes: call center applications, Inbound Intelligence Integration, CDR reporting, PC Consoles, IVR, Call Recording, as well as various business specific modules, respectively maximizing communication performance in their industry sectors. Komutel suite of products, available in the cloud or as a premise based, reinvents the basics and adds significant meaning to customers unified communications solutions. For more information, visit our website:

Contacts:

Media Inquiries:

Ann-Marie Morin

418-225-9988

Media Inquiries:

DevConnect PR

613-595-9223
Openwave Mobility Achieves VMware Ready for NFV Status

Posted by Publisher Telecommunication

REDWOOD CITY, CA 20 June 2017  Openwave Mobility, a software innovator enabling operators to manage and monetize encrypted mobile data, today announced that its User Data Repository (UDR) for virtualized networks has achieved VMware Ready status for Network Functions Virtualization (NFV). This designation indicates that after a detailed validation process, Openwave Mobilitys UDR solution, Subscriber Data Management Cloud Edition (SDM-CE) has achieved VMwares highest level of endorsement and can now be found on the VMware Solution Exchange (VSX).

SDM-CE offers built-in federation and replication, which means that network applications can read and write data from any data center or even data silos. The solution enables operators to onboard new applications in just two weeks, compared to the average subscriber data provisioning integration of nine months. Compared to other competing solutions, SDM-CE requires 60 percent fewer virtual machines. With Openwave Mobilitys solution, network providers can create and deliver value in the OTT and Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems and achieve increased service agility and harness the benefits of virtualization.

Aman Brar, vice president of Global Solutions & Global Alliances at Openwave Mobility said: Mobile operators have critical decisions to make if they want to use NFV to drive down expenditure and reduce time to market for new applications. Through a robust SDM-CE UDR solution, operators can truly benefit from the agility of NFV, secure and scale IoT networks, and lay the foundation for an ultra-low latency 5G edge. And now, we are making SDM-CE available on VMware vCloud NFV

The effective management of subscriber data underpins the success of an operators IoT and virtualization strategy, said Gabriele Di Piazza, vice president, Solutions, Telco NFV Group at VMware. Operators deploying SDM-CE on VMware can now fill this gap and benefit from cost savings, faster time to market and flexibility.

The VMware Ready program is a co-branding benefit of the Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) program that makes it easy for customers to identify partner products certified to work with VMware infrastructure. Customers can use these products and solutions to help lower project risks and realize cost savings over custom-built solutions. With thousands of members worldwide, the VMware TAP program includes best-of-breed technology partners with the shared commitment to bring the best expertise and business solution for each unique customer need.

Openwave Mobilitys SDM-CE is available via the VMware Solution Exchange (VSX) and on the Telco NFV Solution Exchange.
iMiller Public Relations Honored for Its Business Growth and Global Expansion

MAMARONECK, NY  (Marketwired)  06/20/17  , an international results-driven, independent public relations and content marketing consulting firm focused on the technology sector, announces today that it has been recognized as the Gold winner in the Business Expansion of the Year category by the 10th Annual Women World Awards.

The honor comes as iMPRs overall revenue grew 38 percent in 2016 while the company developed a greater global presence, expanding its client base from the United States and Ireland to multiple clients throughout Europe and Asia. Also, during 2016, iMPRs business experienced 300 percent growth supporting businesses with headquarters outside the U.S., and increased its global affiliate partners from 13 to 25.

Throughout 2016, iMPR focused on business transformation, transitioning from a small consulting firm to a mid-size firm in a few short years. The agency expanded its business from serving emerging small and medium-sized companies to medium and large, established organizations, including publicly-traded companies, increasing revenue by 57 percent. Today, iMPR works with global telecom and technology companies that, when coalesced, represent more than $100 billion in revenue.

Its an honor to be a Gold winner in the Business Expansion of the Year category, states Ilissa Miller, Founder and CEO, iMiller Public Relations. Receiving this recognition is a testament to the reach and effectiveness of iMPRs services following a milestone year of global expansion and new client acquisitions. I share this award not only with the stellar team of iMPR, but also with the companies that continue to place their trust and confidence in our strategic marketing, event services, social media and content programs.

The coveted annual Women World Awards program encompasses the worlds best in leadership, innovation, organizational performance, and new products and services from every major industry in the world. Organizations from all over the globe are eligible to submit nominations including public and private, for-profit and non-profit, largest to smallest, and new start-ups.

iMPR and other winners of the Women World Awards will be honored in San Francisco on Monday, June 26, 2017 during the annual SVUS Red Carpet Awards Ceremony Dinner. For more information, visit .

iMiller Public Relations (iMPR) is an international results-driven, independent public relations and marketing consulting firm. iMPR works with global telecom and technology companies that, when coalesced, represent more than $100 billion in revenue. At the forefront of our market leadership positioning is iMPRs industry thought-leadership, where our consultative, industry-insider perspective helps clients propel their messages more effectively. Our services include: Strategic Media Relations, Digital Marketing, Product Marketing, Social Media, Event Planning, Creative and Content Development, and more. For more information about iMPR, visit .

Women World Awards are an annual industry and peers recognition program honoring women in business and the professions and organizations of all types and sizes in North America, Europe, Middle-East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Latin-America. The Annual Women World Awards is part of the SVUS Awards recognition program from Silicon Valley in the United States of America which also includes other programs such as CEO World Awards, Consumer World Awards, Customer Sales and Service World Awards, Golden Bridge Awards, Globee Fastest Growing Private Companies Awards, Info Security PGs Global Excellence Awards, Network Products Guides IT World Awards, Pillar World Awards, and PR World Awards. Learn more about The Women World Awards at .

Jennifer Handshew

Tel: 917-359-8838

Email:
Big Switch Networks Appoints Claudio Perugini As VP Worldwide Channels

SANTA CLARA, CA  (Marketwired)  06/20/17  Big Switch Networks, The Next-Generation Data Center Networking Company, today announced it has appointed Claudio Perugini as Vice President, Worldwide Channels.

Im thrilled to welcome Claudio to the Big Switch team to drive the expansion of our worldwide channel program, said Mike Hoffman, VP of Worldwide Sales and Chief Revenue Officer. He brings channel expertise, leadership experience and a proven track record in sales and channel strategy and I look forward to partnering with him as we continue to scale our global GTM efforts.

Perugini has extensive channel and sales experience in the networking industry, which spans more than 30 years. Most recently Perugini was EVP, Worldwide Sales at LightCyber (acquired by Palo Alto Networks, February 2017). Prior to LightCyber, Perugini spent nearly five years at Gigamon, as VP of Sales, Americas. Perugini began his career as a founding member at Fluke Networks, a division of Danaher, where he spent more than 25 years.

Claudio is uniquely qualified to expand our global channel program to support continued growth at Big Switch, said Susheel Chitre, VP of Business Development, Big Switch Networks. He will play a meaningful role at Big Switch as we expand our programs to further support our global customer base with differentiated technology and choice that will enable transformation of legacy data centers.

At LightCyber, Perugini significantly contributed to the companys overall growth and resulting acquisition, evidenced by a 2.5x increase in bookings as well as a 2x increase in customer logo count. Perugini was also responsible for the build-out of LightCybers worldwide sales and engineering teams to support growing demand.

During his tenure at Gigamon, the companys revenue increased from $30M to $180M, and under his leadership, the Americas sales team contributed more than 80% of total company revenue per quarter and had the highest producing region per sales person for four consecutive years. At Gigamon, Perugini grew the Americas sales organization from a 6 person to an 85 person, multi-tier leadership team, which had a 98% retention rate.

As a veteran of the networking industry I was incredibly impressed with the technology offerings in Big Switchs portfolio, which enable customers to experience benefits that are not delivered via other solutions currently in the market, said Claudio Perugini, VP of Worldwide Channel Sales, Big Switch Networks. Given my 30-plus years in sales and sales management, my success has always been in working with the channel and partners. I look forward to growing the BSN channel program so that partners and end-users around the world can experience the flexibility, agility and intelligence of Big Switchs next-gen products.

Big Switch Networks is the Next-Generation Data Center Networking Company. We disrupt the status quo of networking by designing intelligent, automated and flexible networks for our customers around the world. We do so by leveraging the principles of software-defined networking (SDN), coupled with a choice of industry-standard hardware. Big Switch Networks has two solutions: Big Monitoring Fabric, a Next-Generation Network Packet Broker, which enables pervasive security and monitoring of data center and cloud traffic for inline or out-of-band deployments and Big Cloud Fabric, the industrys first Next-Generation switching fabric that allows for choice of switching hardware for OpenStack, VMware, Container and Big Data use cases. Big Switch Networks is headquartered in Santa Clara, CA, with offices located in Tokyo, Melbourne, London and Istanbul. For additional information, email , follow Big Switch on and , or visit .

Big Switch Networks, Big Cloud Fabric, Big Monitoring Fabric, BigSecure, Big Chain, Switch Light OS, and Switch Light VX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Big Switch Networks, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered marks, or registered service marks are the property of their respective owners.

Kate Lehman
oneM2Ms First U.S.-Based Industry Day Will Advance IoT Solutions Development Through Collaboration

Vertical industries encouraged to attend and be part of the standards collaboration that can boost the effectiveness of companies IoT solutions

Washington, DC, and Memphis, TN, 20 June 2017: Technology giants and industry-renowned Internet of Things (IoT) experts will come together in Memphis, TN, on July 12, as oneM2M hosts its second Industry Day to further progress the IoT and M2M industries.

As a oneM2M founding Partner, ATIS knows first-hand how oneM2M architecture and standards are helping a variety of vertical industries advance the effectiveness of their IoT solutions, said ATIS President and CEO Susan Miller. We are proud to host the Memphis Industry Day and are actively encouraging a broad range of U.S. companies to attend; eHealth and telemedicine, industrial automation, home automation and more.

Industry Day keynotes offer insight into the latest real-world IoT implementations using oneM2M standards and show how oneM2M s work complements that of other IoT standards development organizations (SDOs). Speakers from oneM2M member organizations and SDOs will be featured, including Thread, Qualcomm, HPE, iconectiv and ATIS.

oneM2M created the Industry Days to increase collaboration in the industry and demonstrate the success of oneM2Ms deployments and progress  as well as jumpstart collaboration toward new and innovative future industry deployments.

The aim of the Industry day is to give oneM2M experts and other stakeholders and verticals in the M2M and IoT industry the chance to share information, ideas and requirements, said Dr. Omar Elloumi, of Nokia Bell-Labs and CTO group, and Chair of oneM2M Technical Plenary. Through this collaboration we can further highlight how standardization can accelerate the IoT across all vertical markets. This is a really good opportunity for both members of the industry and non-members to meet, share their experiences of the oneM2M standards and hear from experts what requirements they should be meeting.

The first Industry Day was held in Shenzhen, China, in May. Tech Mahindra, ADLINK, Huawei, the China Communications Standard Association and the China Electronics Standardization Institute were among companies and organizations taking part.

Due to the success of the China event, the Industry Day in Memphis is being held as part of oneM2Ms Technical Plenary, which takes place the same week. Anyone interested in attending the event should contact the Technical Plenary Chair.

For more information about the oneM2M Industry Day, please click here http://www.onem2m.org/news-events/events/eventdetail/59/-/onem2m-industry-day. For more information about oneM2M, please visit www.onem2m.org.
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MASON CITY | Third Ward Councilman Brett Schoneman has resigned, effective immediately, according to a statement he issued Monday.

Schoneman, a real estate broker and developer, was elected to his first four-year council term in November 2015. He took office in January 2016.

"A new opportunity will have me moving outside of Ward 3, thereby not allowing me to serve on the City Council," Schoneman said in the statement. "I've enjoyed serving the city in this position and I will continue to serve North Iowa as I did before I was elected."

Schoneman elected to City Council MASON CITY | Brett Schoneman, a Mason City real estate broker and developer, won election to

Schoneman didn't say where he is moving.

Mason City is an outstanding community with a lot of potential, Schoneman said.

"I've lived in several communities and there is really something special here. I challenge the incoming City Council and incoming mayor to take the the vision of the community as they always have and to not be afraid of opportunities as they come up.

"This town is strong enough that no one project can make or break it but we need to stop being a 'glass half-empty' type of city and figure out what we can be successful at, then charge the elected officials to go get it," he said.

Two political newcomers vie for Third Ward council seat MASON CITY | Two newcomers to Mason City politics are competing for the Third Ward seat on t

Schoneman was elected in 2015, defeating Joshua Masson for the Third Ward council seat left open when Jean Marinos, the incumbent, chose not to run for re-election.

Schoneman has 2 1/2 years left on his term. The City Council can appoint someone to fill out the term or call for a special election to fill the vacancy. If the council chooses to appoint someone, the public can petition to hold a special election.

This is the third time in the past two years at a City Council position has become open in mid-term.

Schoneman makes bid for Mason City Council seat MASON CITY | Real estate broker Brett Schoneman of Schoneman Realtors announced Thursday his

In 2015, Bill Schickel was elected to fill the unexpired term of Scott Tornquist who moved out of state. In 2016, Paul Adams was elected to serve the remainder of term of Alex Kuhn, who died.
Everything you need to know about high school football regional playoff games Friday
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Doug Ommen's chances are slim. But one can't fault his last-ditch effort.

Iowa's health commissioner is watching a slow motion car wreck as the state's health insurance exchange crumbles. It's a reality brought on, in part, by the very party to which he answers, the GOP, that dominates Iowa and Washington. And Ommen is doing everything he can to clear out the bystanders.

All three statewide insurers, Medica, Aetna and Wellmark Blue Cross & Blue Shield, have either said that they will leave Iowa's insurance in 2018 or that they're seriously considering it. It would be a tragic result of national political chaos that would leave 72,000 Iowans without access to health care.

In a very real sense, this is about lives.

A dearth of young, healthy customers of the Obamacare market predate the uncertainty now sowed by Republican dysfunction in Washington. That fact is a structural failure within President Barack Obama's hallmark domestic policy. But make no mistake, the recent announcements by the three insurance providers are directly tied to the GOP's breathless attempts to, somehow, do away with the Affordable Care Act.

Without Obamacare, the financial incentives for the carriers probably disappear. One can't fault the insurance executives for the sudden pivot after Republicans seized total federal control. They have shareholders and boards to whom they answer.

Enter Ommen, who last week petitioned the federal government to allow him to tinker with how Affordable Care Act subsidies are distributed. In effect, Ommen's stop-gap would shift subsidies from those who most benefit, primarily  the elderly and infirm  to that young, cheap population that never bought it. The pitch would, for now, cost those most reliant on the system but could, potentially, keep it operational into 2018.

It's not even clear whether Ommen's move would work. The reactions among the three providers ranged from full-throated support to non-committal dismissiveness. It's also unclear if the subsidy shift is legal under ACA. Ommen could be setting himself and the state up for a lawsuit.

All that said, Ommen is a man with few options.

Think about the reality within which Ommen is operating. ACA has deep-seated structural shortcomings, because of its reliance on healthier populations. It's stated Republican policy that ACA should die. But the version approved by the House of Representatives was immediately rejected by the Senate. In turn, whatever the more moderate Senate comes up with is almost bound to face pushback from House conservatives, a key block. And, all the while, the corporations through which more than 70,000 Iowans receive health care hate nothing more than market instability.

Ommen admits that his waiver is nothing but a crutch, which would hopefully keep the Iowa exchange breathing through 2018. After that, it's up to Congress and the White House to keep all the many promises, which appears more impossible by the day. It's increasingly likely that congressional Republicans are unwittingly laying the ground work for single-payer system with their flailing attempts at drafting an alternative to Obamacare.

Federal regulators should, at the bare minimum, grant Ommen's request and let him respond to the burdens outside his control. The very well-being of thousands of Iowans depend on it.

This editorial appeared in the June 17 edition of the Quad-City Times, another Lee Enterprises publication.
Stamford Dollars for Scholars awarded 29 city high school graduates scholarships worth $97,500 at its sixth annual ceremony last week.

More than 180 family, friends and guests attended the ceremony, which featured a keynote address from Gary Freeman, president of Stamford Dollars for Scholars. Twenty-three of the scholarships, valued at $44,000 were sponsored by generous individuals and organizations in the community.

Seven Stamford Dollars for Scholars scholarships, valued at $53,500 were awarded. These are made possible by donations from those in the Stamford community, and the organizations fundraising activities throughout the year. One of these scholarships, the Aspire Award, is co-sponsored by Scholarship America. Another award is co-sponsored by the Connecticut Credit Union Charitable Foundations #CUSGIVEBACK social media fundraising campaign.

Below is an alphabetical listing of scholarship winners:

Sponsors included: Connecticut Business Systems, Cook Group Solutions, D'Amelio Network, Exchange Club of Stamford, Callari Auto Group, Global Organization for People of Indian Origin, Dr. Robert Goldman , The John & Betty Burkhardt Memorial Fund, Eastern Land Management, The Karina Tinajero Memorial Fund, MAS Construction, Mezzapelle & Associates, The Nancy J. Heron Memorial Fund, Nestle Waters North America, Joanne and Tony DAmelio, Omnicom Capital Inc, The Remus M. Brice Jr. Memorial Fund, Stamford Business Network, Stamford Federal Credit Union, Stamford Public Education Foundation, The Tarzia Group, UBS, UCONN Connecticut Information Technology Institute and The Whittingham Family Foundation.

Mayor David Martin was in attendance and offered his congratulations to the students on their achievements and encouraged them to make a difference not only in their local community but also in the larger environment.

Stamford Dollars for Scholars is a local organization providing scholarships for students who reside or attend high school in Stamford. Since its inception, Stamford Dollars for Scholars has awarded scholarships to 136 local high school graduates with a total value of $451,500.

Individuals and companies interested in sponsoring scholarships should contact us at

info@sd4s.org.
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STAMFORD  Minasdine Rene was just 10 when a catastrophic earthquake hit her home country of Haiti.

Ever the diligent student, Rene was in her local church doing homework when the magnitude-7 quake rumbled beneath her feet.

The building started shaking, but no one thought it was an earthquake, so we stayed inside, she said. When we finally got outside, the building fell.

She said her home was not significantly damaged, which she considers fortunate since some areas are still digging out seven years later. But the natural disaster gave her mother the final push needed to relocate to Stamford, where her father had already been working for several years.

Rene started midway through fifth grade at Roxbury Elementary School, moved on to Cloonan Middle School and graduated Tuesday from Stamford High School with an academic scholarship to Fairfield University.

She will be the first in her family to attend college.

Haiti didnt have as much opportunity for my family. Education was limited, Rene said. Im lucky we came here and I got a great education. There are a lot of students like me (back home) who dont have the same opportunities, and theyre not going to college.

Rene immersed herself into the life of her school, racking up straight-As and navigating a rigorous AP class schedule.

Living through the earthquake taught me to never take life for granted, she said. I felt I always had to do whatever I can to succeed.

More Information Stamford High School June 20 Number of graduates: 444 Keynote speaker: Gary Cobb, Stamford High School class of 1975 See More Collapse

After school, she competed on the SHS track and field team in shot put and javelin and worked with counselors and students at Future Five, an outreach program that helps first-generation students prepare for higher education.

Rene also joined SHSs AVID chapter, an education-focused nonprofit dedicated to encouraging more students to pursue post-secondary educational opportunities. It was her work with AVID that inspired Rene to start her own outreach program, dubbed the Advancement Club.

This Stamford-based club piggy-backs off of AVIDs focus on post-secondary education while encouraging SHS students to give back to the community.

Were telling students there is more than just going to school, Rene said. We talk about different community service activities, we did a clothing drive ... all while working with students on the college application process.

Rene heads to Fairfield University in the fall, where she hopes to study in the nursing program. She graduated in the top-five percent of her 444-student SHS class as a member of the National Honors Society, the TRI-M Music Honors Society and as a Knight of Valor with more than 30 hours of community service this year.

nnaughton@stamfordadvocate.com; @noranaughton
NEW ORLEANS, June 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC ("KSF") and KSF partner, the former Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles C. Foti, Jr., remind investors that they have until August 18, 2017 to file lead plaintiff applications in a securities class action lawsuit against Aaron's, Inc. (NYSE:AAN), if they purchased the Companys shares between February 6, 2015 and October 29, 2015, inclusive (the Class Period). This action is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.



What You May Do

If you purchased shares of Aarons and would like to discuss your legal rights and how this case might affect you and your right to recover for your economic loss, you may, without obligation or cost to you, call toll-free at 1-877-515-1850 or email KSF Managing Partner Lewis Kahn (lewis.kahn@ksfcounsel.com). If you wish to serve as a lead plaintiff in this class action, you must petition the Court by August 18, 2017.

About the Lawsuit

Aarons and certain of its executives are charged with failing to disclose material information during the Class Period, violating federal securities laws.

On October 30, 2015, Aarons revealed that a software glitch affecting the credit qualification algorithm utilized by its subsidiary, Progressive Finance Holding, LLC, had resulted in the loss of critical data as well as the Companys ability to make lease qualification determinations and collect payments. Aarons further announced that the problems had first been discovered in February, nine months prior to the revelation.

On this news, the price of Aarons shares plummeted.

About Kahn Swick & Foti, LLC

KSF, whose partners include the Former Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti, Jr., is a law firm focused on securities, antitrust and consumer class actions, along with merger & acquisition and breach of fiduciary litigation against publicly traded companies on behalf of shareholders. The firm has offices in New York, California and Louisiana.

To learn more about KSF, you may visit www.ksfcounsel.com.
The 2016 presidential election exposed Americans anger about our failed trade policies  especially in areas where job offshoring has hollowed out a once thriving manufacturing sector, leaving behind few opportunities for well paying jobs for many hard working Americans. On the campaign trail, Donald Trump promised to bring down our massive trade deficit and bring back American manufacturing jobs. Now that he is president, will he deliver on this promise?

On May 18, Trumps newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, sent Congress a letter notifying them of the administrations intent to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). This action sets in motion a 90-day period of consultation before the administration can actually begin negotiations with Canada and Mexico. Lighthizers letter was just more than one page in length and it was short on details and long on vague generalities. It is up to all of us and our congressional representatives to make sure a NAFTA renegotiation makes things better and doesnt double down on corporate driven provisions that have already done so much harm.

At the core of NAFTA toxic policies are special protections for investors (i.e. corporations) known as the Investor-State Dispute Settlement provisions (ISDS). ISDS makes it easier for corporations to offshore jobs to Mexico, where workers make less per day than many Connecticut workers are paid per hour. By eliminating many of the usual risks that make firms think twice about moving to low-wage countries, and explicitly forbidding us to use Buy American procurement rules that would reinvest our tax dollars into creating jobs here, NAFTA incentivizes American job offshoring and it has been doing so for more than 20 years.

NAFTAs ISDS provisions grant rights to thousands of multinational corporations to bypass domestic courts and directly sue governments before a panel of three corporate lawyers. These lawyers can award the corporations unlimited sums to be paid by taxpayers, including for the loss of expected future profits. To win monetary damages, a corporation need only convince these lawyers that a Wall Street regulation or environmental or health policy violates their extreme NAFTA rights. The corporate lawyers decisions are not transparent and are not subject to outside appeal. Under NAFTA, tribunals have ordered nearly $3 billion in taxpayer compensation to multinational firms, and nearly $70 billion more is pending.

When NAFTA was implemented in 1994, it was a boon for multinational corporations, but for millions of citizens in the United States, Mexico and Canada, the agreement left a trail of devastation. Hundreds of thousands of U.S. jobs moved south of the border. In Mexico, cheap subsidized U.S. corn flooded the market and wiped out millions of Mexican farmers  pushing them off their land and forcing them into city slums or north across our border creating serious immigration problems here in the U.S. Canada has also suffered from dozens of corporate lawsuits allowed by NAFTAs ISDS regime. Canada has now been sued more times through the ISDS process than any other developed country in the world  costing the Canadian people hundreds of millions of dollars in payouts to foreign corporations, most of these suits were challenging Canadian environmental regulations which were put in place to protect Canadian citizens.

Here in Connecticut, more than 34,500 specific jobs  almost all in manufacturing  have been certified as lost to offshoring and import surges from NAFTA and other corporate-rigged trade deals under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program alone and that accounts for only a subset of jobs lost to bad trade policies.

Economists widely agree that all of us face lower wages because of NAFTA and similar deals. The workers who lost well paying manufacturing jobs and were lucky enough to find work in other sectors took significant pay cuts in most cases. This dynamic has exacerbated the increasing income inequality in the U.S. that has further hampered our recovery from the Great Recession.

Any NAFTA replacement must benefit working people in all three NAFTA countries, not just multinational corporations. In the strongest possible terms, this means ending the NAFTA ISDS provisions and the ban on Buy American/Buy Local procurement. It means getting rid of rules that require us to import food that doesnt meet U.S. safety standards and intellectual property terms that drive up the price of medicines for our citizens. It also means that any new deal must only go into effect if all three countries enact and enforce strong labor, wage and environmental standards to truly level the playing field for trade.

The Connecticut Fair Trade Coalition is calling on our entire congressional delegation to get out in front and make our demands for a new NAFTA loud and clear. The Citizens Trade Campaign has outlined specific changes that must be made if a NAFTA renegotiation is to deliver for working people. Their letter to the president can be found at: bit.ly/CTC-NAFTA-Priorities. Our representatives and senators should make it clear to the Trump administration that anything less than a NAFTA replacement based on these principles will NOT be acceptable.

Douglas Sutherland is the Fairfield County chairman of Democracy for America, and a member of the Connecticut Fair Trade Coalition.
Its time to start debunking the many falsehoods and distortions disseminated by Connecticut Republicans and the press corps about the states economy.

A good place to start is with Hearst reporter Alexander Soules recent article (business story, May 25: Move raises questions about CEOs future) that speculated whether Connecticut billionaire Steve Hafner, the founder of Kayak and a Norwalk resident, would move out of Connecticut. Soule wrote that Connecticut is reeling from the exodus of multiple billionaires the past few years.

Lets look at the facts. In the fall of 2010, just before Democratic governor-elect Dannel Malloy took office, Forbes reported that there were 11 billionaires living in the state of Connecticut. This spring, as Malloy began his seventh year in office, Forbes revealed that there are now 17 billionaires in the state, of whom an even dozen live in Greenwich. In other words, there are now more billionaires living in the town of Greenwich than there were in the entire state just before Governor Malloy took office. That means that the number of billionaires created in this state has gone up by more than half during Malloys term as governor. So, far from reeling from the exodus of multiple billionaires, the truth is that the state is growing billionaires at a fast pace.

And its not just billionaires who are flourishing in Connecticut. CNBC reported this year that Connecticut ranks second in the nation in the percentage of millionaires in its population. Only Maryland surpasses Connecticuts percentage of 7.44 percent of residents who have investable assets of $1 million or more. And while Maryland saw its percentage of millionaires dip last year, Connecticut experienced an increase.

According to The Economic Policy Institute, the top 1 percent of the population of Fairfield County, based on income, earn more than $6 million, ranking the countys one-percenters as the third wealthiest among the nations more than 3,000 counties. Only in Teton County, Wyoming, and New York County (Manhattan), New York, do the wealthiest 1 percent earn more than in Fairfield County. Those data clearly refute the claim that Connecticut is reeling from some fictional exodus of the uber-wealthy.

The press has also been relentless in downplaying job growth in Connecticut. In fact, in the six years and three months since Malloy took office, the state has added more than 80,000 private sector jobs, including more than 10,000 since the start of this year. That means that the state has added twice as many private sector jobs under Malloy than were created during the entire 16 years under Republican governors John Rowland and Jodi Rell. Indeed, under Malloy, Connecticut has added private sector jobs year-over-year (YOY) for 77 straight months. That streak is now approaching the 82 straight months of YOY private sector job growth set during the late 1990s.

Where employment hasnt kept pace with Rowland-Rell is in the government sector. While under Rowland-Rell, Connecticut added more than 22,000 government jobs, under Malloy, the state has reduced government sector employment by 10,000 jobs, reducing the government sector to its lowest level in 19 years. Malloy has cut the state workforce by more than 10 percent.

In short, contrary to Hearsts contention that Connecticut is reeling from the exodus of multiple billionaires, there are more billionaires in the state than ever. The state features a higher percentage of millionaires than any state but Maryland, and the percentage of millionaires is rising. And contrary to the specious narrative that Connecticut corporations are heading for the exit, the truth is that Connecticuts private sector is adding jobs at a brisk pace.

Instead of parroting right-wing Republican talking points, its time for Hearst and the rest of the Connecticut press corps to begin reporting the facts.

Sean Goldrick served two terms on the Board of Estimate and Taxation, the Greenwich finance board. He lives in Riverside.
T he Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation think tank has just held a seminar with the latest views on how the City can adapt to Brexit. Problem was, the first thing to emerge was that even now, one year after the referendum, it was obvious that City firms still cannot agree among themselves about what they want.

One speaker said everything revolved around equivalence. The key was to get the EU to accept that regulation in the City was equivalent to the regime within the EU so City firms could continue to do business within EU countries as they do now.

But then another speaker said equivalence absolutely did not work for the asset management industry. It needed a bespoke trade deal.

But perhaps it does not matter because the Government is not listening anyway. City lobbying has been astonishingly ineffective so far.

Nor does it help that those politicians are themselves in disarray  four ministerial resignations from the team in the past fortnight, and relief in Downing Street that the last-minute cancellation of the Lord Mayors banquet out of respect for the Grenfell Tower tragedy denied Chancellor Philip Hammond the platform to bring these differences out into the open.

EU procedural directives limit the ability of the EU negotiators to be pragmatic and flexible even if they want to be. This makes untenable the Government position that both sets of talks can run in parallel.

This constraint in turn makes it virtually impossible to achieve anything binding and permanent in the time available, so it becomes essential to secure agreement on some period of transition. The EU is under no obligation to offer this.

Then there is the elephant in the room: this is the strong possibility that the Government will fall during the two-year negotiating period, to be replaced by a left-wing Labour-led administration.

A Prime Minister and government less sympathetic to the financial sector than the current lot is hard to imagine but Jeremy Corbyn might just be it.

Now there is a strand of opinion running through the City and business which rejoices in the power of positive thinking. It believes relentless optimism plus collaboration with the most extreme drivers for Brexit is the key to securing a good outcome for the UK.

But positive thinking became wishful thinking when the panellists in summing up described the widespread chaos but said nevertheless it would be all right on the night. No one asked what they had been smoking.

The real issue is that sensible discussion about Brexit and its consequences is impossible because the Government is not being honest with its citizens about what the options and benefits and costs would be of each.

People dont even go on holiday without first having a good healthy argument about what they like, dislike and hope for from any given destination.

There is, however, a faint hope that the grown-ups on the other side might save us.

Writing for the Centre for European Reform, Simon Wilford suggested last week that once we have agreement on citizens rights and the 60 billion-plus exit fee, which presumably Boris Johnson will suggest should be paid with funds sucked out of the NHS, then the EU should spell out publicly for British consumption the remaining options to fuel an informed debate.

The authors reckon there are four possible paths.

The first option would be to join the economic area in a deal close to that of Norway. The EU would have to make clear this is the only soft Brexit on offer and Britain would need to continue to abide by the four freedoms, including freedom of movement.

It should also spell out what Britains continuing annual payments would be, and what else would be lost, for example, continuing to have to accept EU regulation. By laying out what a soft Brexit would look like it would make us focus on the trade-offs compared with not leaving.

Second, it should spell out what a free trade deal could mean  the formidable economic costs in terms of the loss of passporting for financial firms and the failure to make any provision for services, in return for some control over migration and some greater sovereignty.

It should also spell out that this would require a long-term transition period during which we would continue to be under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in areas of EU law, abide by freedom of movement and continue to pay in.

The third option would be to leave with no deal and no transition period. Trading under WTO rules the EU would have to make it clear that not only would all British goods be subject to the EU external tariff but they would also have to comply with all European standards to be sold.

And the fourth option is of course not to leave at all, to withdraw our notice to quit and the carry on as we were before on the grounds that the other options are less attractive.

Eurosceptics would no doubt howl in outrage that the EU should spell out Britains options in this way.

The think tank believes, however, that it would bring clarity to the British debate by making it impossible for British politicians to persist with their strategy of ignoring the choices.

It would strengthen the liberal wing of the Conservative party and it would force the Labour party to outline how much economic damage it is prepared to inflict on the country to control free movement.

The EU can only negotiate once the UK has come to a consensus on how to proceed. And this will only happen once British politicians openly debate Brexits dilemmas.
B ank of England Governor Mark Carney has warned Brussels that a Brexit land grab for crucial City of London business could damage financial stability.

Around 98% of all euro-denominated derivatives are handled in London by UK-based clearing houses like LCH.Clearnet, which stand between buyers and sellers to settle trades and bear risk.

But the European Commission has proposed giving itself powers to move euro clearing away from London after Britain leaves the bloc in 2019 and wants UK-based clearing houses to stick to EU regulations and accept requirements set by the European Central Bank.

Carney pushed back against the commission, warning that splitting the market for clearing euro-denominated derivatives would bump up costs for users and do little to improve financial stability.

He said: Fragmentation is in no ones economic interest. Nor is it necessary for financial stability. Indeed it can damage it.

He added that higher costs, such as those seen in Japan where yen-denominated swaps by some companies must be completed onshore, could potentially add 22 billion (19.3 billion) a year to the bills of EU businesses, which would ultimately be passed on to European households and businesses.

Higher costs would reduce the incentives to hedge risks, increasing the amount of risk that the real economy would have to bear, Carney said.

The Governor stressed that regulators should instead work with each other to forge a new robust form of cross-border supervision of clearing houses, maintaining the resilience of the UK and global financial systems.

It would produce far superior outcomes to other elements of the commissions proposals, which would fragment global clearing activity and raise costs and risks, he added.

He also underlined the importance of trade liberalisation, especially in financial services, and said it was all too easy to give into protectionism.
T he Barclays Four comes from a variety of units across across the bank, from wealth management to investment banking. But who are they?

John Varley, 61: Now on the board of miner Rio Tinto, Varley has kept a low profile since leaving Barclays. A lawyer who rose through the ranks at Barclays, he became chief executive in 2004. His connections to the bank are deep. He married into the Quaker Pease family, whose bank merged into Barclays in 1902. He made an audacious 45 billion bid for Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007 but lost out to Royal Bank of Scotland. His position at Rio is unclear. The company declined to comment but the issue is likely to crop up its next board meeting.

Roger Jenkins, 61: Once regarded as the best-paid banker in London  a title for which he vied with colleague Bob Diamond  Jenkins is one of the more glamorous financiers. An expert in tax arbitrage, he has run his own consultancy since leaving Barclays. He has been linked to numerous famous women including Venezuelan TV presenter Aida Yespica and the model Elle Macpherson. Well-connected and charismatic, Jenkins is a backer of an investment fund that has bought land in California to grow marijuana.

Thomas Kalaris, 61: The American former boss of Barclays wealth management arm, Kalaris set up a fund business called Saranac Partners, hiring several Barclays alumni. The future of the venture is unclear in light of todays criminal charges. Regarded as one of the four musketeers during the Diamond era. Saranac has attracted big names in wealth management to lead the launch. They include former head of BlackRocks fiduciary team Richard Urwin, who is chairman of Saranacs investment committee.

Richard Boath, 58: The former global co-head of finance is still pursuing a wrongful dismissal claim against Barclays. Boath claims he was sacked for whistleblowing over the Qatar matter. The SFO handed over transcripts of what he said to them. His lawyer Jonathan Cohen said in 2016: Thats why he was out on his ear. Boath said: The decision to charge me is based on a false understanding of my role and the facts. I was not a decision-maker and had no control over what the bank did in 2008. l contest these charges vigorously.
J ohn Varleys future as a senior independent director at Rio Tinto was under the microscope today in the wake of the criminal charges against him and Barclays bank, where he was chief executive.

Rio did not give an official comment but it is understood the charge against him is likely to be discussed at the mining giants next board meeting.

Varley is also on the board of funds giant BlackRock as a non-executive director and was formerly on pharmaceuticals firm AstraZenecas board.

While he and the other three bankers charged will fight todays allegations vigorously, the issue will put a cloud over their entire careers, even if they are cleared.

Others were racing to distance themselves from the allegations.

Marcus Agius, the Barclays chairman at the time of the controversial Qatar fund-raising, insists he had no knowledge of the alleged fraud.

Bob Diamond, the top Barclays banker who became chief executive after Varley, is building new businesses in Africa and the City.

He recently secured a deal to take over broker Panmure Gordon, one of the oldest and grandest names in the City.

In the City today, there was considerable sympathy for both the bank and the individual bankers.

Barclays shares slipped just 1p to 205p. Ian Gordon at Investec said the banks move to raise capital from Qatar was merely a function of its financial position.

A further headache for Barclays will be lawsuits from shareholders who will claim they were misled over the 2008 fund-raisings.

City law firm RPC said it is actively reviewing the prospects for civil claims.

Simon Hart, a partner at RPCs banking litigation team, said: The SFOs case is that Barclays and the individuals charged falsely represented the true position with regard to the terms of the Qataris involvement in the fund raisings. Shareholders who subscribed for shares and suffered losses as a result of any deliberately misleading information or omissions deserve redress.
M ichael OLeary has sounded the alarm for the UKs 127-billion-a-year tourist industry, saying a hard Brexit could cause catastrophic disruption and hit tens of thousands of jobs.

The chief executive of Ryanair has fired off a warning that flights between the UK and the EU could stop for a period from April 2019 onwards, if a new open-skies agreement is not prioritised in Brexit negotiations.

Ryanairs warning comes as tourism chiefs fear that record numbers of overseas tourists to Britain could collapse after three terrorist attacks in three months. Last week, Merlin warned visitors were staying away from some of the UKs biggest attractions.

The obvious consequence of any such cessation of all flights between the UK and the European Union for a period of time from the end of March 2019 would be deeply damaging for UK tourism, traffic, and tens of thousand jobs at UK airports, within British tourism and the UK economy for as long as such a catastrophic disruption would persist, OLeary told the Standard.

Ryanair believes flights between the UK and the rest of the EU could only continue if a new aviation agreement between Britain and the rest of Europe has been reached by March 29, 2019, because aviation is not covered by WTO rules.

The airline is urging that the UK and the EU come to an interim deal over aviation to avoid huge disruption, even though this would mean accepting all EU transport regulations and European Court of Justice rulings during the transition period.

There are concerns that France and Germany want to trigger disruption to UK flights, because British and Irish airlines including IAG, easyJet, Ryanair and UK charters would be disproportionately affected.

Airlines4Europe, a lobbying group for all European airlines, was apparently blocked from taking a common position on Brexit at the insistence of the French and German state-owned carriers.
S ainsburys has opened a Crussh food and juice bar in its Pimlico store as it scrambles to fill excess space to counter shoppers shifting habits.

As online shopping grows in popularity, supermarkets have been adding to their stores to lure customers back through the doors.

Sainsburys, which bought Home Retail Group last year, has already introduced Argos and Habitat concessions into a slew of its stores, as well as 17 Sushi Gourmet counters.

Tesco, meanwhile, is hosting Arcadia brands such as Dorothy Perkins.

The Pimlico Crussh, which serves healthy meals and drinks like turmeric lattes, opened earlier this month. Demand has so far been strong and Sainsburys is likely to bring the brand to other branches.

The move comes as Sainsburys closes in on a 130 million deal to buy convenience store chain Nisa amid a wider shake-up of the grocery industry.

Tesco has agreed to buy wholesaler Booker, while Amazon is to take over upmarket chain Whole Foods.
I t was total humiliation. Yesterday, as the dust began to settle around the Grenfell Tower site, six London borough bosses met to co-ordinate rescue efforts and struggle to repair the reputation of local government. They did not include the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, on whose patch the tragedy occurred. In the chair was the chief executive of the City Corporation, John Barradell, with leadership roles for Westminster, Southwark, Ealing, Hounslow, Bromley and Harrow. I am told they did not even meet in the royal borough.

Meanwhile, some sign of efficiency was descending on the Westway relief centre. Scribbled notices directed victims to help tables. They had Whitehall titles: housing, work and pensions, mental health, schools, transport, even passports and the Home Office. The only table I could see for the local council was labelled voluntary co-ordination. That summed it up. As I joined volunteers sweltering on a Red Cross donations line, I can only say co-ordination did not come from the RBKC.

I am told that the initial response of many local council staff on Wednesday was rightly to rush to the north of the borough to see what they could do. The answer was precious little. The environs of the block were swamped by police, fire and ambulance services. There was a resulting sense that things were under control. They were not.

London boroughs are supposed to have disaster response teams permanently on standby. No one has been able to tell me what happened to the RBKC team or even if there was one. The councils leader, Nick Paget-Brown, was certainly courageous in walking the site and being interviewed against the Latimer Road flower wall. But courage has no answers. Something had gone terribly wrong, and Paget-Brown could only feel like everyone else, traumatised by the enormity of the tragedy.

As the council was overwhelmed by its trauma, charities, churches, mosques and community groups had to fill the vacuum, not least in handling donated clothes, food and cash. The obvious solution for RBKC was to cry for help. Councils can call on each other and a body called London Gold Command, a network of boroughs given the task of offering assistance in emergencies. Such help was in place, and was activated after the 7/7 bombings and the 2009 Thames floods. The most serious accusation against RBKC is that it rejected offers of help on Wednesday from its surrounding boroughs. They simply did not return our calls, said one.

Protesters storm Kensington town hall 1 /36 Protesters storm Kensington town hall Protesters crowd onto a staircase as they enter Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Protesters storm Kensington Town Hall Getty Images Protesters call for a response from council officials AFP/Getty Images Fighting breaks out on the stairs of the town hall Getty Images Protesters entered Kensington Town Hall during a demo following the fire that destroyed Grenfell Tower block REUTERS Demonstrators enter Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Singer Lily Allen joins a march at Kensington Town Hall REUTERS A protester bangs on a glass door REUTERS Protesters enter Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Protesters are watched by security guards on a staircase REUTERS Getty Images REUTERS REUTERS PA REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS REUTERS Demonstrators confront a man they believe to be Robert Black, the Chief Executive of KCTMO REUTERS Demonstrators confront a man they believe to be Robert Black, the Chief Executive of KCTMO, outside Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Demonstrators confront a man they believe to be Robert Black, the Chief Executive of KCTMO, outside Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Demonstrators confront a man they believe to be Robert Black, the Chief Executive of KCTMO, outside Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Demonstrators confront a man they believe to be Robert Black, the Chief Executive of KCTMO, outside Kensington Town Hall REUTERS Demonstrators confront a man they believe to be Robert Black, the Chief Executive of KCTMO, outside Kensington Town Hall REUTERS

Again, no one can explain why it took Gold Command and its borough chief executives until Friday to activate its own arrangements, when it was clear that one of its members could not cope. Tony Travers, of the London School of Economics, has pointed to probably a key factor. The Grenfell Tower was seen as a local borough asset. Had it been a plane crash or a terrorist incident, he says, it would have been a national disaster and the nation would have responded. As it was, these were Kensingtons tenants and Kensingtons responsibility. If the borough did not ask for help, it presumably did not need any.

In truth, sheer bureaucracy seems to have played its part. A classic was the affair of rehousing the Grenfell survivors. Many have been placed outside the area, some reputedly as far as Lancashire. This is absurd. North Kensington has an active rental market. Estate agents Winkworth and Marsh & Parsons are on hand. One council official with Zoopla and a team of removal volunteers could have rehoused the Grenfell survivors in a day. His cheque book would have been already fat with public donations. There are plenty of flats in north Kensington, and plenty of money to pay for them. No one need go to Lancashire.

The reality is that Kensington is an oddity among London boroughs. It is the smallest in area and population, and its council has often seemed more like a residents association than a proper borough administration. The wealth of the southern wards contrasts with the poverty of the north, with the latter earlier this month electing a Labour MP, Emma Dent Coad. Local government austerity, coupled with central grant transfers, have tilted resources within London from richer to poorer boroughs. As a result, the RBKC budget, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, has been cut by a swingeing 38 per cent since 2010. That must have had an impact on services.

Nor is the council in control even of its cuts. Ever since Mrs Thatchers day councils have been impeded in switching money from one service to another, such as from parking revenue into hard-pressed housing. RBKC receives roughly 1,000 applicants for social housing at its front door each year. If they have children with no breadwinner, the council is obliged to find them accommodation. It currently has 1,800 in temporary or short-lease accommodation. Some time ago it found itself housing an eight-child family, smuggled into the country from Kosovo, in costly Portobello, ahead of hundreds on the waiting list.

Councils such as RBKC may be too small to handle the pressure on a modern urban economy  though this seems more a matter of outlook than of size. As it is, whole streets are emptying as foreigners buy them as assets, signified by drawn window blinds and empty parking bays. RBKC is probably the only place south of Hull with a declining population. Jeremy Corbyns requisitioning may not be an answer but some version of it must be considered.

For RBKC, the nemesis is awful. Back in 2014 it foolishly boasted about its own austerity, underspending its budget by 30 million and adding to its cash reserves of 300 million. It had also delegated upkeep of its social housing to corner-cutting private contractors. Someone had blundered.

The iron law of sub-contracting is that cheapest is rarely best. As I watched the sun set over north Kensingtons terrible tower, I realised that RBKC has learnt that lesson in the worst possible way.
NEW YORK, June 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (Booz Allen or the Company) (NYSE:BAH) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in United States District Court, Eastern District of Virginia, is on behalf of a class consisting of investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Booz Allens securities, seeking to recover compensable damages caused by defendants violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.



If you are a shareholder who purchased Booz Allen securities between May 19, 2016 and June 15, 2017, both dates inclusive, you have until August 18, 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]

Booz Allen is an American management consulting firm. The Company purports to provide management and technology consulting, engineering, analytics, digital, mission operations, and cyber solutions to governments, corporations, and not-for-profit organizations in the United States and internationally. At all relevant times, Booz Allen has derived substantially all of its revenues from services provided to the U.S. government.

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) Booz Allen engaged in improper accounting practices in its contracts with the U.S. government; (ii) consequently, the Companys revenues derived from services provided to the U.S. government were inflated and unsustainable; (iii) discovery of the foregoing conduct would subject the Company to heightened regulatory scrutiny, potential criminal sanctions, and jeopardize its business relationship with the U.S. government; and (iv) as a result of the foregoing, Booz Allens public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On June 15, 2017, post-market, Booz Allen disclosed that on June 7, 2017, the Companys subsidiary Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. was informed that the U.S. Department of Justice is conducting a civil and criminal investigation relating to certain elements of [its] cost accounting and indirect cost charging practices with the U.S. government.

On this news, Booz Allens share price fell $7.43, or 18.89%, to close at $31.90 on June 16, 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
W inston Churchill, writing about the aftermath of the First World War, famously described how, as the flood of change receded, the dreary steeples of Fermanagh and Tyrone reappeared from the waters. The feeling was similar when Arlene Foster and her comrades emerged outside 10 Downing Street last week. Now theyre striking terms for a confidence and supply deal that may keep Theresa May in office. But who are they?

The Democratic Unionist Party was founded by the fundamentalist, anti-Catholic Ian Paisley in 1971 to articulate the feelings of working-class unionists who felt unrepresented by the bourgeois Terence ONeills official Unionist Party. It became the machine which would drive Paisley to power and eventually displace reforming unionists under David Trimble by stealing their clothes in entering a power-sharing agreement with Sinn Fein in the Good Friday Agreement.

This about-face was enabled by similar musical chairs among nationalists. Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, had been replacing the constitutional-nationalist SDLP by (though this could not be admitted) appropriating their policy of working for a united Ireland while accepting the structures of the Union pro tem.

Many observers marvelled at the warm relationship between Dr Paisley and the late Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein, and ex-IRA commander. Their alliance was logical. They had conspired to drive the centrist parties into oblivion, a process confirmed in the June general election, and preside over a political stitch-up based on sectarian identity. Their successors are much less adept at political window-dressing, and far franker about loathing each other.

Thus power-sharing in Northern Ireland has been at least temporarily stymied by Sinn Feins antipathy to Foster, whose policy of encouraging so-called green energy turned into a scam. One unintended consequence of Mays Brexit election has been to strengthen Fosters position as a power-broker at Westminster, recalling how the old Home Rule party could pressurise prime ministers such as Gladstone and Asquith. But the DUP already has one thing it wants: the Union is guaranteed until a majority of Northern Irish people want to do away with it: that day has not dawned.

Theresa May responds to John Major criticism over DUP deal

The DUP are not all creationists, climate change-deniers and homo-phobes but they represent values far from the mainstream UK. Their price for supporting May? It could involve the right to march and will entail lots of money. Churchills successors may find the dreary steeples just as incomprehensible as he did but they will have to bow before them.

Roy Foster is Emeritus Professor of Irish History at Oxford and Professor of Irish History and Literature at Queen Mary University of London.
I know were all meant to be stoic, British and unflappable, and I feel weak and a bit pathetic for admitting it, but for the first time in my life I feel frightened. It feels like the country is on fire. Westminster, Manchester, Borough Market, Grenfell, and now Finsbury Park.

I steel myself before I look at Twitter first thing, or turn on the news for fear of yet more stomach-turning news  and yesterday was no exception.

The Islamophobic terrorist attack at Finsbury Park is close to home for me for two reasons. I have lived near there for many years as have close friends. The rich mix of different communities is its essence and anyone whos ever been there late at night, especially during Ramadan, will know the streets erupt with people going out to pray before breaking their fast and making their way to see their friends for Iftar dinners.

Its an area that is always bustling and so alive  especially in the small hours. It is sickening that someone would pre-meditate that time of night to try and murder Muslims who would be tired and hungry after a long days fast in this heat and looking forward to some food and water.

The second reason is because around 10 years ago, I spent some time at Finsbury Park Mosque making a documentary for the BBC called The Funny Thing about Ramadan. It was a self-authored piece where I, as a not very good or knowledgeable Muslim, educated myself about the religion, and Ramadan in particular, and heard the stories of how modern British Muslims viewed their faith in multicultural Britain.

It was in wake of the 7/7 terror attacks and we had all hoped that they would be the last such attacks. I spoke to British Muslims of all ages and backgrounds  from students to police officers  who were fiercely proud of their religion and customs, and equally proud of being British and everything about this country.

One of the people I interviewed was the then Imam of Finsbury Park Mosque. I remember being nervous about going there to film as I was familiar with the controversy around Abu Hamza, but I met with the new Iman who was a kind, gentle, clever, open and self-aware leader. He was open about the trouble they had had with hate preaching. He told me that most of the local Muslims who worshipped at the mosque had hated it, refused to recognise it and that it put off women and children getting involved in activities. He explained how they were working really hard to try to remove the stigma that been associated with Finsbury Park.

He told me that the religion was peaceful, kind and part of the fabric of the community and country. I believe he and others since him at the mosque have been working really hard to open their doors and their hearts to the local community, which makes this attack all the more tragic. It was no doubt chosen because of its past. The Islamicist hate preacher with the hook had more in common with the Islamophobic far-Right terrorist driving the van  oh the irony.

They would both hate the idea of Finsbury Park Mosque now being a peaceful place nestling happily in the community. Far better for it be a symbol of division to serve their mutual purposes of dripping poison and turning people against each other until we are at war, which is what they want.

Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack 1 /14 Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN A line of people who have come to pay their respects observe a moment of silence Londoners make their way to a vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque Men, women and children observe a moment of silence Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins the crowd A woman wipes away a tear at a vigil for those affected by the Finsbury Park mosque attack Signs bearing messages of solidarity were held aloft at the vigil JEREMY SELWYN Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins faith leaders for the vigil JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque JEREMY SELWYN

Its understandable to be angry and scared right now, but we must bind together as a society and as a city. We will defeat these evil, pathetic losers  men from both ends of the terrorist spectrum  not by matching their madness but through the thing they fear the most  small acts of kindness, community, friendship and humanity.

Finsbury Park mosque attack: Imam hailed 'hero'

Grime is more than just good music

When it comes to music, its definitely time for grime. While its origins can be traced to the turn of the millennium, and the genre has had a profound cultural impact, its now fast becoming a powerful commercial force to be reckoned with.

A new study by the record labels body, the BPI, shows that grime has gone from underground to mainstream. Skepta won the Mercury Music Prize, Ivor Novello song writing awards and performed at the BRIT Awards. The genre is now defying the market with increases in both physical and digital albums sales, consumption went up by a staggering 93 per cent and although its roots lie in London, its stars like Kano and Stormzy, pictured, are storming it all over the world. But its not just music where the genre is flexing its muscle. Grime just got political. Its worth noting that many grime artists used the might of their massive social media followings to support Jeremy Corbyn. Perhaps if he ever makes it to No 10, hell recreate Tony Blairs famous Cool Britannia reception?
H awksmoor, Hutong and Texas Joes are among the local restaurants which will set up stalls at the foot of The Shard next week for a food festival in celebration of the diversity of the London Bridge area.

London Bridge Open Kitchen will run from 5-9pm on St Thomas Street on Wednesday June 28, and will be free to attend.

Although the event was originally planned before the Borough Market attack on June 3, traders made the decision not to postpone it, but rather make it bigger and better in a show of strength and defiance.

It will see each stall serve one or two of their signature dishes, including prawn wontons from Hutong, smoked brisket from Texas Joes, and a burger studded with bone marrow from Hawksmoor.

Brilliant Borough Market 1 /13 Brilliant Borough Market Borough Market by night Alamy Sweet French treats from Comptoir Gourmand The famous cheese toastie from Kappacasein King Prawns and aioli The falafel wrap from Nana Fannys stall Borough Market has been operating since 1756 Getty Images A pie trader at Borough Getty Images Fresh bread at Borough Getty Images Cheese sampling Getty Images Duck sandwiches on offer at Borough Getty Images

Aqua Shard, Village East, The Hide and Bermondsey-based breweries Fourpure and Hiver will also be among the sixteen plus stalls.

Nadia Broccardo from Team London Bridge, which is organising the event, said: London Bridge has seen a great many changes in recent years and London Bridge Open Kitchen is our homage to the creativity and passion with which the local community welcome people from across the globe.

Visit atlondonbridge.com/open-kitchen.
C hef Tom Sellers has turned to the Bard for inspiration to create a special tasting menu as part of London Food Month.

The Michelin-starred chef will serve a menu honouring Shakespeares A Midsummer Nights Dream at Restaurant Story in London Bridge. The dinner, featuring at least seven courses, will be inspired by the journeys the characters make in the play, a comedy about the marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to Hippolyta, the former queen of the Amazons.

Guests will be treated to experimental dishes that play with flavour, texture and temperature to give our guests an experience to remember.

Sellers said: I want to keep it as much of a surprise as possible. But it will tell the story and also a bit about Shakespeare himself. I wanted to do something that was a challenge, that is the main reason. It is exciting for us to think of something new and come up with new dishes. I always want to learn something new. [The play] is one of my favourites, other than Romeo And Juliet. I think it lends itself to a creative and imaginative menu.

The dinner will cost 140 including a welcome cocktail. Wine pairing is 80 extra. Sellerss other venue, Restaurant Ours in Knightsbridge, is also getting involved in London Food Month by hosting a 30 three-course lunch plus welcome cocktail on Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout June.

Others involved in the Standards month-long culinary celebration have also been inspired by Shakespeares play  and tomorrows summer solstice.

Swedish restaurant Aquavit London, in Piccadilly Circus, will celebrate midsummer with special dishes on their a la carte menu and a Midsummers Eve event on Friday. The arrival of summer is one of the most important days of the year in Sweden and is celebrated with singing, dancing and food at festivals across the country.

Dishes include four types of herring served with Vasterbotten tart (cheese tart from the Vasterbotten region) and a dessert of strawberries and cream, paired with schnapps.

A maypole will be installed outside the main entrance of the restaurant for Fridays event. There will also be live music, a pop-up bar and a food stand offering authentic drinks and snacks.
A man holding the body of his drowned son on a Turkish beach, riots and chaos in the now derelict Jungle Camp, a young boy sat bloodied, dusty and shell shocked after an air strike on Aleppo.

The coupling of these haunting images with the latest figures from the UN showing that every three seconds, one person is forced to flee their home because of war and violence, makes the plight of the refugee more pertinent than ever.

Here, we take a look at World Refuge Day and how we can support it.

When is it?

It is marked annually on June 20 all over the world.

What is it?

World Refugee Day commemorates the strength and courage of those forced to flee persecution and gives the global community an opportunity to show their support for these people.

When did it start?

At the United Nations General Assembly on December 4 in the year 2000, it was decided that June 20 would mark the day the world would honour refugees from across the world. The date was chosen because it was exactly 50 years after the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, where seminal legislation regarding the criteria and rights of a refugee was passed.

Why is it important?

According to the UN Refugee Agency, the number of refugees is at the highest ever recorded, with a staggering 65.6 million people currently fleeing from conflict or persecution. This translates to roughly one in every 113 people who have been forcibly displaced. Such a figure is undeniably shocking and forces us to ponder how many refugees we must pass every day.

London student's unseen photos show life inside a Paris refugee camp 1 /8 London student's unseen photos show life inside a Paris refugee camp Paris: The disposable camera captured moments from the young men's lives. Smiling: A group of men in the camp. Porte de la Chappelle: The tents in the camp in northern Paris. Iconic: The cameras came back with a range of pictures. Grinning: Young men posing for the camera. Tents: The Porte de la Chappelle camp in Paris.

Its often easy to forget, when caught up in the minutiae of daily living, that millions of people all over the world have had their own lives ripped away from them; losing their homes, their jobs and even their families. So, on this day every year, it is important to once again bring their plight to the forefront of our minds and do everything in our power to help them.

How can we help?

There are several events happening in London in support of Refugee Week, which you can read about here .

The UN Refugee Agency has set up the #WithRefugees petition, entreating world leaders to ensure every refugee child gets an education, every refugee family has somewhere safe to live and every refugee can work or learn new skills to support their families. You can sign the petition here .

Several charities work to support the rehabilitation of refugees, including Oxfam , the Salvation Army , Red Cross and Refugee Action ; all of which you can donate to.
B arclays and four former executives - including former boss John Varley - have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud relating to the bank's emergency fundraising during the financial crisis.

The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said it had brought the charges against the bank itself as well as ex-chief executive Mr Varley, 61, Roger Jenkins, also 61, who is the former executive chairman of Investment Banking and Investment Management in the Middle East and North Africa for Barclays Capital, as well as two former senior executives, Thomas Kalaris, 61, and Richard Boath, 58.

The SFO has also charged Barclays plc, Mr Varley and Mr Jenkins with the provision of unlawful financial assistance.

It said the charges relate to the bank's fundraising in 2008, which saw Barclays raise emergency capital from Qatari investors as the financial crisis sent the sector into meltdown.

John Varley who is one of four people who have been charged by the Serious Fraud Office / PA

The SFO charges come after a five-year investigation and centre on the bank's move to raise cash from Qatari investors Qatar Holding and Challenger Universal in June and October 2008, and a 3 billion US dollar (2.4 billion) loan made available to the State of Qatar in November of that year.

Barclays said it is "considering its position in relation to these developments".

The bank added: "Barclays awaits further details of the charges from the SFO.

"The SFO has informed Barclays that it has not made a decision as to whether it will also bring charges against Barclays Bank Plc in respect of the loan."

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has also reopened its probe into the Qatari fundraising deal and is understood to be reviewing new evidence which could prompt it to reconsider a 50 million fine against the banking giant four years ago.

The emergency funds raised by Barclays allowed it to avoid a government bailout in 2008 at a time when rivals Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland were forced to rely on a taxpayer rescue.

Mr Varley, who was chief executive between 2004 and 2011, headed the bank at the time of the fundraising, while Mr Jenkins is also said to have played a key role in orchestrating the deal.

Mr Kalaris - an American banker living in London - used to lead the bank's wealth and investment management division, while Mr Boath was the former European head of financial institutions group at Barclays.

The defendants will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on July 3.

Additional reporting by Press Association.
J eremy Corbyn has called for unity and dubbed any terror attack an attack on us all as he spoke at a vigil outside the Finsbury Park Mosque.

The mosque is located metres from the scene of a suspected terror attack which saw Muslim pedestrians mown down with a van.

One man was pronounced dead at the scene of the incident and nine other people were taken to hospital with injuries.

The Labour leader and local MP for Islington North addressed crowds gathered in support for the mosque and local community.

He said: "If this mosque is attacked, if a synagogue is attacked, if any person is attacked, we are all under attack because of it.

"Let us have a sense of solidarity in all communities, bringing all together and a sense of unity."

Organisers, who arranged the event under the banner of "No To Islamophobia - Unity with Finsbury Park Mosque", say the attack occurred in a climate of attempts to demonise Muslims by sections of the press, commentators and some politicians.

Vigil: Corbyn described the attack as 'despicable' / PA

Mr Corbyn described the incident as an "annoying, appalling and despicable act of terror against a wholly innocent local community".

He said the response of the community had been "extraordinary" starting from the people who were attending the man who died and those who prevented anyone injuring a suspect so that "he was properly arrested, taken away".

Hundreds gather outside Finsbury Park Mosque in solidarity with terror victims

Mr Corbyn said he was proud to represent Islington in all its faiths, diversity and differences as it makes us "more united than anybody could ever do (in trying) to divide us".

Finsbury Park Mosque chairman Mohammed Kozbar, who was surrounded by other faiths leaders, read out some of the messages of support that have flooded in since the attack.

Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack 1 /14 Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN A line of people who have come to pay their respects observe a moment of silence Londoners make their way to a vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque Men, women and children observe a moment of silence Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins the crowd A woman wipes away a tear at a vigil for those affected by the Finsbury Park mosque attack Signs bearing messages of solidarity were held aloft at the vigil JEREMY SELWYN Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins faith leaders for the vigil JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque JEREMY SELWYN

Wellwishers of different backgrounds have said "I stand with you, nobody can destroy such a strong community" and that "love will always be stronger than hate".

Speaking during the last 10 days of Ramadan, which is one of the most holy periods in the Islamic calendar, Mr Kozbar told the crowd: "I would like to welcome all of you.

"The mosque and all the community here admire your support and solidarity."

The suspect used a white van to target an area busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at a nearby mosque in the early hours of Monday.

Video shows moment of Finsbury Park attack suspect's arrest

Makram Ali, 51, had been taken ill and was receiving first aid from the public near the Muslim Welfare Centre when the van was driven at people helping him.

In tense and quickly unfolding scenes, a suspect was pinned to the ground by passers-by until police arrived.

Darren Osborne, 47, has been arrested on suspicion of the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism, including murder and attempted murder.

Finsbury Park attack June 19 1 /33 Finsbury Park attack June 19 Treating the wounded: Paramedics and police at the scene of the crash in Finsbury Park James Gourley/Rex The suspect is pinned to the ground by brave members of the public Forensic investigators examine the van Jeremy Selwyn James Gourley/Rex Features Injured: Paramedics take one of the wounded away James Gourley/Rex Features Rescuers: Emergency services staff treat victims after a vehicle hit pedestrians in Finsbury Park Thomas van Hulle/PA Crash: The scene in Seven Sisters Road PA Response: An armed police officer mans a cordon on the Seven Sisters Road at Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA Shock: Local people observe prayers at Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA Emergency service workers at Finsbury Park in north London Yui Mok/PA Fears: Police officers talk with local people at Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA Paramedics: Ambulances in Finsbury Park Jennifer Heape/PA Police on one of the cordons in north London Yui Mok/PA Patrol: Armed officers near Seven Sisters Road Yui Mok/PA Cordon: Police in Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA People scuffle near a police cordon near Finsbury Park EPA PA Muslims pray on the street NIGEL HOWARD  Armed Police at the scene in Seven Sisters Road Nigel Howard Finsbury Park attack: The scene at Seven Sisters Road where a van believed to be involved mounted the pavement Jeremy Selwyn Forensic investigators at Finsbury Park PA The suspect is put in the back of a police van after being restrained at the scene Police at the scene neat Seven Sisters Road Chloe Chaplain Aerial view of forensics at the scene of Seven Sisters Road Jeremy Selwyn Flowers are left near the scene at Seven Sisters Road Chloe Chaplain

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has said the incident was quite clearly an attack on Muslims and Scotland Yard said extra police will be deployed to reassure the public and those observing Ramadan.
F our former Barclays executives were today charged with conspiracy to commit fraud  the first bankers to face criminal charges in relation to the 2008 financial crash.

In a move that sent shockwaves across the City, the Serious Fraud Office accused former chief executive John Varley, former investment banking chief Roger Jenkins, former wealth management chief Thomas Kalaris, all 61, and former European boss Richard Boath, 58, of fraud.

Varley and Jenkins are also charged with provision of unlawful financial assistance contrary to the Companies Act of 1985.

Jail sentences are highly possible if the four men are found guilty, although the cases are likely to take years. They will face Westminster magistrates on July 3 for the first time.

At issue is a near 12 billion fundraising exercise in 2008 that saw Barclays avoid a bailout by the UK Government by taking an injection of cash from Qatar.

Former European boss Richard Boath, 58 / Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg

With the banking system in crisis, Barclays sought outside help to stay afloat. It has long been rumoured that the bank paid money to Qatar illegally in return for the investment.

Neither Bob Diamond  another former senior Barclays man  nor then-chairman Marcus Agius, a City grandee, have been charged.

The SFO has been investigating for five years. The leading City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority, has already fined Barclays 50 million over the issue.

That fine was on hold while the SFO investigated. The FCA is likely to reopen its own probe.

Roger Jenkins, with supermodel Elle Macpherson / Stephanie Green/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Barclays, which has also been charged, said it was considering its position. Under new American chief executive Jes Staley, it has been keen to settle old matters.

That puts the bank, a stalwart of the City and the UK high street which has roots dating to 1690, at odds with its former employees, who will want to fight the allegations.

Today, Jenkins said he would vigorously defend himself against the charges. As one might expect in the challenging circumstances of 2008, Mr Jenkins sought and received both internal and external legal advice on each and every topic covered by the SFOs accusations, said his lawyer Brad Kaufman, from American firm Greenberg Traurig.

Jenkins, once regarded as the best-paid banker in Britain, with a pay deal that hit 40 million a year, played a key role in the Qatar fundraising.

A colourful character regarded as a tax expert, he made headlines over his marriage to entrepreneur Sanela Diana Catic. They divorced in 2011, after which Jenkins was linked to supermodel Elle Macpherson.

Boath said: The SFOs decision to charge me is based on a false understanding of my role and the facts. I was not a decision-maker and had no control over what the bank did in 2008.

I repeatedly raised concerns about the decisions taken by the bank with both senior management and senior lawyers and was reassured that those decisions were lawful.

I have co-operated fully with the SFO and FCA throughout their investigations. The evidence I have supplied is very clear: there is no case for me to answer. I will contest these charges vigorously.

The SFO said the charges related specifically to a 2.3 billion loan facility made available to Qatar, acting through the ministry of economy and finance, in November 2008.

There was no immediate comment from Varley or Kalaris but both men are expected to protest their innocence.

In the City today, there was sympathy with the bank. Ian Gordon, of investment bank Investec Securities, said: Barclays largesse seemingly reflected an urgency to bolster its capital position (by early 2009) in order to meet FCA requirements and thereby avoid possible conscription into the UK Governments costly Asset Protection Scheme.

Laith Khalaf, at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: The SFO hasnt pulled any punches, and Barclays now finds itself facing yet another regulatory battle.

The bank is already facing litigation from the US Department of Justice and an FCA investigation into its current boss, Jes Staley, for trying to uncover the identity of a whistleblower.

Skeletons seem to be jumping out of lots of closets at once for Barclays.
T he director of the van hire company whose vehicle was involved in the Finsbury Park attack has disowned alleged comments by his son saying he wished they hired out tanks.

Richard Evans, the son of Pontyclun Van Hire director Len Evans, allegedly posted on social media: "It's a shame that van was a nice drive as well.

".. Glad I'm not running the van hire the police wouldn't like what my answer would be.

"It's my Dad's company I don't get involved it's a shame they don't hire out a Steam Rollers or Tanks could have done a tidy job then."

Finsbury Park attack: The scene at Seven Sisters Road / Jeremy Selwyn

Len Evans runs the company in the Rhondda valley, south Wales, with four brothers.

In a statement, he said: "I want to condemn in the strongest possible terms these ill-considered Twitter comments, which in no way reflect my own view or indeed those of anyone else in the family.

Suspect Darren Osborne is pinned to the ground

"The attack in Finsbury Park was shocking and cowardly. Together with all the staff at Pontyclun Van Hire, I am doing everything I can to assist the Metropolitan police in their inquiries."

Co-director Paul Evans said company staff and directors were "horrified" by what his nephew had allegedly written.

"I'd like to make it clear that my nephew Richard is not involved in any way in this company, and all of us here were horrified by his despicable comments," he said.

"The directors have written to Finsbury Park mosque and all those affected by this crime to offer our sympathy on behalf of all our staff, and to thank them for their calm response.

South Wales Police said on Tuesday evening that a 37-year-old man was being held on suspicion of displaying threatening, abusive, insulting written material with intent that is likely to stir up racial hatred.

Father-of-five Makram Ali, 51, who had collapsed near the Finsbury Park Mosque was crushed by the 3.5-ton van when Darren Osborne allegedly drove into a group of Muslims early on Monday morning.

Ten other people were injured. Osborne, 47, from Cardiff, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of terror offences and attempted murder.
NEW YORK , June 19, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For a third straight year, Morgan Stanley claims top honors on the All-Asia Research Team, Institutional Investor's annual ranking of the region's most highly regarded sell-side analysts. This is the first time the firm has earned a place in all 35 sectors covered by the survey.



Complete results can be found at 2017 All-Asia Research Team.

UBS, with 32 team positions, jumps two places to No. 2. Bank of America Merrill Lynch slips from second to third place overall, but still retains the top spot in 29 sectors, while Credit Suisse and Citi tie for the No. 4 spot with 28 places.

With a record number of votes this year in our survey, and strong interest in both country and economic research, it demonstrates that investors are active in searching for value beyond their traditional investment choices, observes Will Rowlands-Rees, managing director of Institutional Investor Research. In a challenging operating environment, Id like to personally congratulate all of the winning individuals and firms.

The 2017 All-Asia Research Team reflects the opinions of 4,020 investment professionals at 1,060 institutions that collectively manage an estimated $1.7 trillion in Asia ex-Japan equities. Directors of research and heads of investment at institutions with major securities holdings in Asia ex-Japan were polled to deliver complete results across a total of 35 sectors, including 18 industry sectors, 11 countries and regions, and six macroeconomic categories.

Twelve firms are represented among this years leaders, including two that didn't appear last year: BOCI Research and China International Capital Corp.

A total of 194 individuals are cited on this year's ranking, which is limited to the top three analysts or squads in each sector, plus runners-up where applicable. Among the highlights of this year's results:

Morgan Stanley is distinguished for its coverage of the all-important Chinese economy, with its team led by analysts Edward Xu and Richard Xu coming in first place.

UBS bolsters its quantitative capabilities, sees the return of one of its star analysts, and lands top positions in consumer staples, technology and IT services, and transportation.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts are chosen as the top providers of research on basic materials and internet companies, and claim a first-team position for their Thailand coverage and currency and rates strategy research.

The 2017 All-Asia Research Team Leaders

1 Morgan Stanley 2 UBS 3 Bank of America Merrill Lynch 4 Citi 4 Credit Suisse 6 Deutsche Bank 6 J.P. Morgan 8 Macquarie 9 CLSA 10 BOCI Research 10 China International Capital Corp. 10 Nomura

For more information contact Esther Weisz at 212-224-3307 or eweisz@iiresearchgroup.com.

About Institutional Investor

For 50 years Institutional Investor has consistently distinguished itself among the worlds foremost media companies with groundbreaking journalism and incisive writing that provides essential intelligence for a global audience. In addition, Institutional Investor offers a host of proprietary research and rankings that serve as respected industry benchmarks. For more information visit institutionalinvestor.com.
T wo young women were rushed to hospital after an apparent drive-by shooting on a residential road in east London.

Emergency services were scrambled to the scene in Romford shortly before 10pm on Monday night.

The two women were believed to have been sitting in a car when a silver vehicle pulled up alongside it and shots were fired.

The women got out of the car before running up the road to seek help.

Brett Connors, who lives next to where the shooting happened, told the Standard: I heard four or five shot gun bangs and two cars speeding off past my window, and then two woman running up the road.

Double shooting: Brentwood Road was cordoned off after the incident / Dilwar Wahid

I now understand the two woman running away were injured and the ones that got shot in the car.

Meanwhile shocking pictures have emerged showing a black car on the pavement next to a bus stop, riddled with bullet holes.

The two victims were rushed to an east London hospital by a member of the public  a man who left the hospital before police arrived.

A Met Police spokesman said: Officers, including armed officers, attended the scene in Brentwood Road and found evidence of a discharge of a firearm.

A crime scene is now in place. The victims  aged 24 and 23  have injuries described as not life threatening, but remain in hospital at this time.

There have been no arrests at this stage.

The Trident and Area Crime Command has been informed and will be investigating.

Any witnesses, or anyone with any information, can contact police via 101, or via Twitter @MetCC. To give information anonymously call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.
T he sister of the man suspected of mowing down Muslims at an attack near a mosque in north London has said he's not a racist and never expressed views on Muslim people.

Darren Osborne, 47, is accused of deliberately mowing down worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House near Finsbury Park mosque in a van rented 160 miles away in his hometown of Cardiff.

Speaking to the Standard from her home in Weston-super-Mare, Mr Osbornes sister Nicola said: Obviously Im really sad about whats happened. Its terrible, I cant believe it. I think Im in shock.

Asked whether she had recognised her brother in the video of his arrest, she said: No I havent seen it, I dont want to. My son told me about it this morning.

The crashed van near the mosque in Finsbury Park / Jeremy Selwyn

It emerged today that jobless handyman Mr Osborne had been living in a tent for the past three weeks after splitting with his long term partner Sarah Andrews, 42.

Moment the Finsbury Park mosque attacker is arrested

Ms Osborne said her brother had called her earlier on the day of the attack to wish her a happy 50th birthday.

She said: Hes not political. He wouldnt even know who the Prime Minister is. Ive never heard him say anything about Muslims or anything racist.

I feel terribly sorry for all of the families hurt by this and for our family too  my mum is going to be broken for life.

Osborne's nephew Ellis Osborne, 26, said in a statement: "We are massively shocked. It's unbelievable. It still hasn't really sunk in.

"We are devastated for the families. Our hearts go out to the people who have been injured."

Suspect Darren Osborne is pinned down and arrested

Nicola Osborne added: "I'm sorry that my brother has been that troubled that it has taken him to this level of troubledness. He has just been troubled for a long time."

In a telephone interview with ITV News, his mother described him as a "complex" person but said "that's all I can say".

She said: "It's a terrible, terrible shock."

Neighbours In Pentwyn on the outskirts of Cardiff where Mr Osborne had lived until three months ago shared differing views of the father-of-four, who was born in Singapore but grew up in Weston-super-Mare.

Sadiq Khan and Jeremy Corbyn at the scene / Victoria Jones/PA

One said: He had lived on the estate for a few years. Hes always been a complete c*** but this is surprising.

Another neighbour said: Sadly he is a bit of a troublemaker. He is always arguing with neighbours in the street, shouting.

The day before the attack Mr Osborne was reportedly thrown out of his local pub for ranting about Islam.

A line of police at the scene in the small hours of yesterday morning / PA

One drinker said: He got chucked out as he was so drunk. He was cursing Muslims and saying he would do some damage.

Another added: Hes a loud and aggressive person. Hes always shouting the odds if anyone disagrees with him.

Jeremy Corbyn at the scene of the attack / Jeremy Selwyn

A woman who knew Mr Osborne in Weston-super-Mare said: The words I would use to describe Darren would be a bloody psycho. He would just drink too much and flip.

Last night, his mother Christine Osborne, 72, insisted her son was not a terrorist, adding: It is him, he did it  but there are mental health issues.

Osborne was pinned to the ground and restrained by shocked crowd outside the mosque before being arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly shouting: I want to kill all Muslims.

One man, who is believed to have fallen ill before the van hit, has been confirmed dead following the attack, while nine others remain in hospital.

Scotland Yard later confirmed they were investigating Mr Osborne for terrorism offences as commissioner Cressida Dick described the incident as quite clearly an attack on Muslims who had been celebrating the holy month of Ramadan.

Mr Osborne was initially arrested for attempted murder and later further arrested for the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder. He is being held in a south London police station.
T his is the shocking moment a gang of thugs savagely beat a man in a racist attack at a north London pub.

Detectives have released CCTV footage of three men approaching the man at the bar, before one of the attackers punches him and violently throws him to the floor.

The attackers bowl over tables and chairs as they savagely beat the man while he lies helplessly on the pubs floor.

One can been kicking him repeatedly as the other attackers watch on.

Police are hunting these three men / Met Police

The victim, a 47-year-old man, fractured his ribs in the unprovoked attack, police said.

He had been approached by the men and racially abused while drinking in a pub in Wood Green and suffered multiple injuries.

The vicious attack took place at a pub in West Green Road just after 12am on Monday, February 27.

No arrests have been made.

If you witnessed the incident or have any information that can assist police, call 101, tweet @MetCC or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
N early 2,000 extra police officers in London are to be armed with Taser stun guns to meet the threat of terrorism and knife crime, Scotland Yard announced today.

The move will mean more than 6,400 officers in London will now be equipped with Taser, nearly a third of all the Mets frontline officers.

Met chief Cressida Dick said her decision to increase the number of Taser armed officers was in response to an increase in violence and knife crime in London but she said the weapon would also be another tool in the fight against terror.

She said : There are undoubtedly situations in which people who are carrying a knife and are intent on a terrorist motivated attack might be dealt with very effectively by Taser and indeed we have seen that in the past few weeks.

This is not a direct response to that but Im sure it will assist with that.

2,000 more police are to be equipped with Taser / PA

She pointed to the man arrested on Westminster Bridge last week who was allegedly stopped while carrying a knife near the entrance to Parliament.

A 27-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences but appeared in court today charged with possession of an offensive weapon. He was released without charge on any terrorist offence.

The commissioner also revealed that police chiefs were considering a rise in the number of officers armed with lethal firearms.

She told the Standard: As a result of what has happened we are talking both to colleagues across the country and to the Government about whether we need any change in our armed policing numbers or posture.

As you will have seen at Borough market we have very highly trained, very mobile, highly equipped people who are able to respond incredibly quickly, but we need to see if there is a requirement for anything further.

Met Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said if the first officers on the scene of the London Bridge terror attack had been armed with Taser they could have ended the attack more quickly.

An unarmed British Transport Police officer took on the three knifemen armed only with a baton while an off duty Met cop came to his aid and fought them with his bare hands. Both were seriously injured.

Mr Marsh said : We welcome these extra Taser officers given the scale of the threats that we are facing. I think there is also a greater understanding of why we need Taser because of these threats.

The extra Tasers are to be handed out to borough response officers who are often the first on the scene of violent attacks and major incidents.

Around 1,730 of the newly-trained Taser officers will be from boroughs, with the remainder will be based with specialist units.

Ms Dick added : Its a less lethal option so all our armed officers will carry Taser and taser in some situations it will save the suspects life as otherwise they might have been shot. It is always the preferred option.

She added: We have had an increase in violent crime, including knife crime and also an increase in assaults on officers.

 When I arrived I said I wanted to be a commissioner whose officers were as well protected as they could be. The very drawing of the Taser allows the incident to be resolved very quickly. With this uplift, my officers will be better equipped to protect the public and themselves.

All firearms officers will carry Taser and Ms Dick added: Taser in some situations it will save the suspects life as otherwise they might have been shot. It is always the preferred option.

Tasers, which deliver an electric shock to temporarily incapacitate a suspect, were introduced in Britain in 2003 to help police tackle armed suspects. However, concerns have been raised about deaths and serious injuries connected with their use.

In 2016, Taser was deployed, meaning it was drawn or fired, a total of 2,071 times in London. On most occasions - around 1,810 - it was not fired but pointed at suspects. Tasers were fired on 13% of occasions, a level that has remained steady for the past three years.

The announcement came as a former Met commissioner said it would be an absurdity to further cut the forces funding after recent events in London.

Lord Blair called for a rethink over plans to cut hundreds of millions of pounds from the forces budget, saying this would leave the Met a quarter of the size it was when he left office in 2008.

The Met, which has made 600 million cuts in the last four years, is expected to face a further 400m of savings by 2021. Mayor Sadiq Khan said it could mean the loss of a further 8,000 officers.

He said police had been forced to cancel leave to boost reassurance patrols around London following the Finsbury Park attack.

Ken Marsh, of the Met Police Federation, said the Met had not received mutual aid and officers were having rest days cancelled. Eventually they will be completely exhausted, he said.  If we go on like this we will have to re-think how we do things.
D onations to the Evening Standards appeal for the Grenfell Tower victims today approached 3.6 million.

The huge generosity of readers has seen about 33,500 people donate almost 2.3 million online, with a further 1.3 million from corporate donors.

The first payments of 1,000 per flat were being made yesterday. The cash can be collected from two trusted community centres, The Rugby Portobello Trust and the Al-Manaar mosque, where payments will be distributed by the National Zakat Foundation.

This is separate to payments of 5,500 per household from a 5 million relief fund set up by the Government last week.

CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO THE FUND

The money from the Dispossessed Fund, which is administered by the London Community Foundation for the Standard, has also resulted in payments of 5,000 to 20 local voluntary organisations and church groups involved in the frontline relief effort in North Kensington.

Significant donations to the Dispossessed Fund include 250,000 each from NEX Group (formerly ICAP) and Sky, 105,000 from Pret a Manger and 100,000 from The Sun, HSBC, Hiscox UK and LYCA Mobile.

Other corporate donors include Westfield UK, Battersea Power Station Corporation, Burberry and law firms Allen & Overy and Linklaters.

Vodafone is to match up to 100,000 of donations made via JustTextGiving and fundraising by staff is being matched at Adobe and Microsoft.

Fitness company Yoga Haven, which has branches in Clapham, Angel and Richmond, is to ask users to make a donation in aid of the Grenfell Tower victims rather than paying for classes on Sunday July 2.

Today lawyers expressed concern that Grenfell residents who had refused an offer from Kensington and Chelsea to be rehoused outside the borough may now be considered intentionally homeless.

How to donate You can give 5 or 10 by texting GREN88 + amount to 70070 (eg GREN88 5) To donate online visit www.dispossessedfund.org.uk

Jayesh Kunwardia, partner at London law firm Hodge Jones & Allen, said the council needed to provide clarity to residents searching for a new home.

He said: Ive already spoken to a number of former Grenfell Tower residents who have refused the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelseas offer of temporary accommodation outside of the borough and have opted to stay with family or friends instead.

However, by doing so, this means that under the councils current policy, RBKC could now refuse to accept a duty to house them under the Housing Act as they have made themselves intentionally homeless.

Im worried that former Grenfell Tower residents, who have very good reasons for refusing an offer of accommodation, because of potential difficulties with work, schooling, medical appointments or their social network, may be penalised as a result.

"It seems to me that there is a lack of transparency by RBKC on the legal rights available to the victims of this tragic disaster.
A victim of the terror attack near Finsbury Park mosque was left with a fractured skull and does not remember what happened, a relative has said.

One man was killed when a van driver ploughed into a crowd of worshippers who had just finished prayers at the mosque in Seven Sisters Road early on Monday morning.

One relative, who wished to remain anonymous, said his Uncle Hamza Sharif is one of nine people taken to hospital having been hit by the van.

Dad-of-four Darren Osborne, 47, from Cardiff, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and terrorism offences having allegedly carried out the horrific attack.

Finsbury Park attack June 19 1 /33 Finsbury Park attack June 19 Treating the wounded: Paramedics and police at the scene of the crash in Finsbury Park James Gourley/Rex The suspect is pinned to the ground by brave members of the public Forensic investigators examine the van Jeremy Selwyn James Gourley/Rex Features Injured: Paramedics take one of the wounded away James Gourley/Rex Features Rescuers: Emergency services staff treat victims after a vehicle hit pedestrians in Finsbury Park Thomas van Hulle/PA Crash: The scene in Seven Sisters Road PA Response: An armed police officer mans a cordon on the Seven Sisters Road at Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA Shock: Local people observe prayers at Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA Emergency service workers at Finsbury Park in north London Yui Mok/PA Fears: Police officers talk with local people at Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA Paramedics: Ambulances in Finsbury Park Jennifer Heape/PA Police on one of the cordons in north London Yui Mok/PA Patrol: Armed officers near Seven Sisters Road Yui Mok/PA Cordon: Police in Finsbury Park Yui Mok/PA People scuffle near a police cordon near Finsbury Park EPA PA Muslims pray on the street NIGEL HOWARD  Armed Police at the scene in Seven Sisters Road Nigel Howard Finsbury Park attack: The scene at Seven Sisters Road where a van believed to be involved mounted the pavement Jeremy Selwyn Forensic investigators at Finsbury Park PA The suspect is put in the back of a police van after being restrained at the scene Police at the scene neat Seven Sisters Road Chloe Chaplain Aerial view of forensics at the scene of Seven Sisters Road Jeremy Selwyn Flowers are left near the scene at Seven Sisters Road Chloe Chaplain

During a visit to his uncle in hospital, the relative said: "He is bleeding out of his ear, but in general his health was stable.

"He has a fracture in his skull - but they still don't know why the bleeding from his ear is not stopping yet," the Somali-born man said.

He added that Mr Sharif "does not remember anything" of the attack and kept asking immediately after the incident "what was wrong".

Finsbury Park mosque attack: Imam hailed 'hero'

The man said: "I have been living in London now almost eight years - it is a good place, a safe place, but after what happened it doesn't seem to be as we thought it was."

He added: "Hopefully we won't see what we saw again."

All of the casualties injured in the attack, which happened at around 12.20am, were Muslim and the area was busy after Ramadan night prayers.

Witnesses described hearing the van driver, who was detained by members of the public at the scene, shout: "I'm going to kill Muslims."

Police said the attack happened while a man, who later died, was receiving first aid after being taken ill in Seven Sisters Road.

It is not clear whether there is any link between his death and the attack.

The sister of terror suspect Mr Osborne said she is "very sorry" for what happened and that the family were "massively shocked" by the attack.
O ne person has been taken to hospital with burns after a small fire broke out at a tower block near the site of the Grenfell blaze.

London Fire Brigade received multiple reports a fire at Trellick Tower - a block located close to Westbourne Park Tube station.

Four engines and 21 fire-fighters were sent to tackle the blaze but it had been extinguished before they arrived.

One person was taken to hospital and a second was treated for minor burns at the scene and later discharged.

A spokeswoman for LFB said: "We received multiple calls and arrived at the scene at 6.54pm.

"The fire was located on a balcony on the 15th floor but it had been extinguished by the time we arrived. The incident was over by 7.25pm."

The building is within view of Grenfell Tower where the devastating fire broke out last week - killing an estimated 79 people and displacing hundreds of families.

In April, 200 people were evacuated from Trellick Tower after a fire broke out on the 27th floor.

Previous incidents: the tower block was evacuated in April after a fire on the 27th floor / London Fire Brigade

Fire-fighters said the blaze was probably caused by the careless disposal of a cigarette on the balcony which set bedding and towels alight.

A woman a two children were evacuated from the flat when the fire broke out but there were no reports of injuries.

Eight fire engines from North Kensington and surrounding areas with 58 firefighters tackled the blaze, which left the 27th floor of the building badly damaged.

This page is being updated.
F irefighters helped to deliver a baby boy after a mother unexpectedly starting giving birth on the back seat of a car in south-east London.

The fire crew at Lee Green fire station were coming to the end of their shift at 8am on Tuesday when a police community support officer knocked on the door.

They raced across the busy Eltham Road to help the woman, who had gone into labour in the back seat of her car.

Later claiming their only knowledge of giving birth came from Channel 4s One Born Every Minute, the firefighters quickly set up a sheet for privacy and helped the father to deliver a baby boy.

Roadside birth: A woman gave birth on the roadside in south-east London / London Fire Brigade

Crew Manager Liz George, who helped with the birth, said: I arrived just as the babys head was appearing. Ive had no kids myself and the only knowledge I have is from watching Channel 4s One Born Every Minute.

I kept the lady calm and reassured her and twenty minutes later the baby boy was born and I caught the baby.

Thankfully an ambulance arrived soon after to cut the chord.

I feel so happy and honoured to be part of this really important event in this familys life. Both the new mum and dad were absolutely thrilled. They called the baby Jeremy.

This happy event just goes to show always expect the unexpected in this job. One day you are a firefighter and the next you are a midwife.
T he full extent of residential blocks with cladding in London which need urgent investigation after the Grenfell Tower disaster started to emerge today.

Many town halls have called in specialist teams to carry out checks on high rise towers to ensure they do not pose a fire risk.

As firefighters continued to search through the wreckage of the 24-storey Grenfell Tower following the blaze, in which 79 people died or are missing presumed dead, London Mayor Sadiq Khan today demanded residents are given a say in the public inquiry from day one to make sure they retain confidence in the process.

He warned there was already considerable mistrust and anger among the local community, in particularly towards those in positions of authority.

Across London, in Newham, the council has identified that the same company which carried out the cladding work at Grenfell Tower also refurbished one of its blocks, Ferrier Point.

Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures 1 /18 Grenfell Tower aftermath - In pictures The top section of the death trap Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn The tower today, after the flames were extinguished Jeremy Selwyn A close up of the tower's damaged windows PA Fire service personnel survey the damage PA The tower today, after it emerged at least 17 were killed Jeremy Selwyn Rows of blackened windows after the fire Jeremy Selwyn Police sent in sniffer dogs today to search for bodies Jeremy Selwyn PA The Grenfell Tower at dawn today Jeremy Selwyn Donations have flooded in for victims Jeremy Selwyn Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower PA Rows and rows of blackened windows. It is feared over one hundred people may have perished Jeremy Selwyn Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Fire crews examine the wreckage PA

However, an initial investigation shows that the material used is of a different type.

The council stressed that it can tolerate high temperatures, is used to create firewalls and meets industry safety standards for external insulation on walls of multi-storey buildings.

Hounslow is liaising with the Communities Department on testing and inspections of seven out of the 35 tower blocks in its area, which have had rain screen cladding systems installed on them.

Councillor Katherine Dunne, its Cabinet Member for Housing, has written to residents to stress the significant differences in the cladding used compared with that reportedly on Grenfell Tower.

Fire tore through the west London tower block in the early hours of Wednesday morning / Jeremy Selwyn

In Barnet, three blocks have been fitted with external rain screen panels of aluminium composite material which is similar to what media reports say was used on Grenfell, but the insulation used for them is non-flammable, said the local authority.

Enfield said external insulation cladding is installed on five blocks, three of which are fully clad and two partially clad.

From the technical information we have from the time of the installation, we believe that the cladding used is non flammable Rainscreen but we are removing some panels from the buildings this week in order to confirm this by laboratory analysis, said a council spokesman.

Aerial footage shows the full scale of the fire

In Haringey, 12 of the tower blocks owned by the council have been externally clad.

But it stressed tht none of these blocks have the aluminium cladding system reportedly used on Grenfell.

In Barking and Dagenham, the council has identified four residential blocks with cladding but stressed it was different to the Grenfell type.

Waltham Forest said it had a number of blocks with external insulation, but none using the same cladding as Grenfell.

Greenwich is checking cladding on 11 high rise blocks, five of the blocks are so far known to meet Class 0 fire safety regulations.

Enfield has two fully and one partially clad residential block, with the cladding believed to be non flammable.

Camden has 13 cladded blocks but says it is a different design to Grenfell.

Lambeth has 14 residential blocks over six storey high with cladding, in Richmond there are two social housing 15-storey blocks with cladding but insulation is said to be non-flammable rockwool, while in Brent there is one high rise with cladding but it is different to Grenfell.

The figures for the boroughs are just for social housing and not private sector developments.

Islington Council has put on hold all planned work to install cladding on council properties including on Ilex House, Gambier House, Halliday House and Arlington House.

Croydon council announced it will install sprinklers inside all 25 tower blocks in the borough higher than ten storeys, at an estimated cost of 10 million, in direct response to the Grenfell Tower tragedy.

The council has already begun a review of its estate to test materials used to clad 16 blocks.

A spokesman said the independent checks have so far confirmed materials used in four of these blocks are good-quality and fire retardant. The review is expected to conclude by the weekend.

Meanwhile, a family who escaped the Grenfell Tower blaze today described being 15 minutes from death as they were declared safe and well.

Jose Suarez, 60, and his wife Dorinda, 58, were asleep in their flat on the 13th floor when a neighbour alerted them to the blaze at 1.15am - minutes before the fire intensified and spread.

The Portugese neighbour was hailed as a hero for the early warning he gave to the Suarez family and others on the floor.

The couple, who moved to London in 1989 from Coruna, in north west Spain, managed to make their way down the stairs to the ground before smoke overcame the building.
O ne week on from the devastating Grenfell Tower blaze, London firefighters have been sharing stories of their heroic rescues at the burning block.

In posts shared on social media, one man described his impossible decision on whether to save a couple or risk climbing further floors to find a family of five.

Another described how a colleague, finding his vision impaired by the thick smoke, mistakenly ended up on the 11th rather than the 9th floor and discovered another family trying to survive.

The unnamed man found Natasha Elcock, 39, along with her boyfriend and six-year-old daughter who had deliberately overflowed their bath to keep back the flames.

Startling video of the inside of Grenfell Tower after it was destroyed

His colleague explained : "His brief was to make it up to the 9th floor and search the flats on that floor.

"He could not see further than six inches in front of his breathing mask and the heat was intense. He passed firefighters attending to casualties on the stairwell.

"Past floor five there were no actual markings on the stairs to tell them what floor they were on. Communications broke down between him and officers outside the building.

"He arrived on what he thought was the 9th floor which he later learnt was the 11th floor.

"He broke into a flat and rescued a family that had actually filled a bath full of water and let it overflow so they could lie in puddles of water to keep cool and avoid the poisonous gases caused by the fire above their heads.

"He led them down to safety and then re-entered the building to continue searching having confirmed that other crews were searching the 9th floor."

Grenfell Tower Firefighters - In pictures 1 /32 Grenfell Tower Firefighters - In pictures A firefighter pours water over his head after battling a huge fire at the Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey apartment block in North Kensington, London EPA Firefighters spray water after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west Londo PA A firefighter investigates a floor after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Firefighters rest as they take a break in battling a massive fire that raged in a high-rise apartment building in London AP A firefighter close at the scene after a fire engulfed the 27-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Emergency services close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Alex Lentati The moment a resident is carried out of the Grenfell Tower block by fire bridgae and riot police carrying shield Sky News Emergency services close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Emergency services close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Alex Lentati Emergency services gather close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Firefighters rest as they take a break in battling a massive fire that raged in a high-rise apartment building in London AP Firefighters wait to start their shift after a massive fire raged in a 27-floor high-rise apartment building in London AP Firefighters stand amid debris in a childrens playground near a tower block severly damaged by a serious fire, in north Kensington, West London REUTERS Emergency services gather close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Firefighters react as a huge fire engulfs the Grenfell Tower AFP/Getty Images Emergency personnel operate during the fire at the Grenfell Tower, a 27-storey apartment block in North Kensington, London EPA A firefighter rests during the ballte against the blaze at Grenfell Tower Jeremy Selwyn Emergency services close to the scene after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London Nigel Howard A London Fire Brigade worker moves air tanks close to the scene of a fire that engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Firefighters spray water after a fire engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA Fire crews rest as they take part in the operation to put out a fire in a high rise apartment block in London AP A firemen reacts after battling a huge fire at the Grenfell Tower, a 24-storey apartment block in North Kensington, London EPA Residents were trapped "screaming for their lives" as flames raged through a 27-storey tower block in Notting Hill Alex Lentati Emergency services spray water towards a fire that engulfed the 24-storey Grenfell Tower in west London PA

The colleague said he was bowled over by the upset firefighter's reaction when he told him he was a hero.

"His reply was 'no, my brief was to search the 9th floor and I searched the 11th floor'.

"He struggled to accept that he probably saved the lives of the family on the 11th and other crews had searched the 9th floor anyway.

"What an understated legend and a hero."

Pete Drummond, a West Midlands fire officer, shared another anonymous account of the brigade's experience inside the inferno and a crew's desperate attempt to make it to the 23rd floor with just one cylinder of air.

Discovering a couple several floors below, he described the harrowing decision of whether to save them or to still try and make it up to help a family of five.

The blaze in Notting Hill / Jeremy Selwyn

The firefighter wrote: "We made our way up a crowded stairwell struggling to make progress, at times unable to pass because of the amount of people on the stairs.

"The stairwells were full of other breathing apparatus (BA) crews bringing people down all in various states and conditions.

"The smoke grew thicker with each floor we went up. No proper floor numbers on the stairwells after about the 5th floor made it hard to know where you were.

"Someone before us had tried to write them on the wall with chinagraph pencil but this didn't last long. The dirty smoke was covering the walls with a film of blackness."

The scene of the major fire in Notting Hill. (Nigel Howard) / NIGEL HOWARD 

He went on: "Around the 9th floor we lost all visibility and the heat was rising. Still we continued up and up through the blackness.

"We reached what we believed to be the 19th/20th floor but there was no way to tell. It was here where we found a couple trying to find their way out, panicking, choking, blinded by the thick toxic air.

"A quick gauge check showed us that the amount of floors we'd climbed had taken its toll, we were getting low on air. There's no way we could make it to the 23rd and back to the bridgehead.

"The couple were shouting and screaming at us through the coughing, trying to tell us there were 5 more people on the floor above!

"Now I had horrible decisions to make and a very short amount of time to make them."

He ran through all the ramifications of his decision - would he have enough air to get to the next floor, would he even find the family, could the couple get out unaided?

Heartbreakingly, he had to ask: "Can I accept/live with the thought that saving two lives is better than taking the risk to go up and potentially saving no one?"

In the end, he and a couple decided on taking the couple. He wrote: "Taking a casualty each, we set off.

"Within two floors both of us had been pushed down one of the flight of the stairs by our casualties. They are screaming at us that they couldn't breath.

"We try to reassure them. Stay with me! We are going to get you out! Please stay with me!

Fire service personnel survey the damage to Grenfell Tower / PA

He went on: Down and down we go... I hear a shout from behind me from my partner, the female casualty has become unconscious. My partner is now having to drag her down alone. I can't help at this time.

"Two floors later we find another crew making their way out. One of them is carrying a little girl. I hand off my casualty to the firefighter who has a free set of hands, please take him out I shout, we'll be right behind you.

"I turn to go but with that he hands me something I'd not seen initially. Wait! What! I'm handed a firefighters helmet!

"This can't be good! Why does he have this? Where is the firefighter it belongs to!

"As I turn round and go back up one turn of the stairs I see him. He's missing his helmet but he's with my BA partner.

"He's got no helmet and no breathing apparatus. Are you ok? Where's your BA set!?

Inside Grenfell Tower 1 /17 Inside Grenfell Tower Water is sprayed on Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Sniffer dogs were sent inside to the tower today PA Fire service personnel inside Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA Part of the scorched facade of the Grenfell Tower in London as firefighting continue to damp-down the deadly fire AP Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA A view inside the Grenfell Tower in west London after a fire engulfed the 24-storey building PA

"He's given it to a casualty.. he's coughing as he tells us, he's delirious from the heat and smoke.

"Still he tries to help carry the casualty! Helping others is still his first thought.

"I shout at him.. 'Get down those stairs, get down to the bridgehead!' I take the casualties arms my BA partner has her legs.

The firefighter described his relief as he made it outside, seeing his watch manager's white helmet through the blackness.

He wrote: "Some time later, I couldn't say how long, we are all grouped together waiting for news. A senior officer is telling us he knows we've already broken all the policies we have.

"He knows the risks we've taken but thats not enough we are going to have to take more! There are still a lot more people who need us.

"He says he's going ask us to do things that would normally be unimaginable. To put our lives at risk even more than we already have.

"Everyone is looking round at each other listening to this officer try to motivate us into action again. He didn't need to though, we are ready for it! This is what we train for.

"Those colleagues who a little while ago were collapsed and broken from on the grass from their first entry are back up, ready, stood in full kit waiting for their orders to go in again."

"Now lots of things happened during the time I was outside," he wrote.

"Some people were rescued alive, some unfortunately weren't. People jumped, a mother threw a baby from a floor high up, caught by a complete stranger arms just so she could get it away from the fire.

"All this time hour after hour my colleagues were pushing themselves above and beyond what you'd think was humanly possible."
SAN JOSE, Calif., June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bridge Bank today announced it has provided MediaAlpha with a new $20 million credit facility, specifically a $5 million term loan and $15 million line of credit along with a range of customizable products and services. The facility and services will provide working capital flexibility and ample capacity to fund growth opportunities.



Based in Los Angeles, MediaAlpha is a pioneer in online advertising technology, providing the industrys only real-time bidding platform for the transparent, programmatic buying and selling of vertical-specific search and performance media. MediaAlphas platform supports multiple transactional models, including private marketplaces, open exchanges, and demand-side platform-only implementations.

MediaAlphas exceptional technology enables advertisers to effectively target and acquire high-intent consumers at the bottom of the funnel, said Victor Le, vice president in Bridge Banks Southern California Technology Banking Group. Were excited to be a part of their continued success and to support their strategic growth initiatives, Le added.

It was important to us to work with a financial institution that understands the fast-paced technology sector. Bridge Bank's strong experience in our industry was clear and we knew we had found a supportive partner, said Tigran Sinanyan, AlphaMedia chief financial officer. As we expand in new verticals and deepen our relationships in existing verticals, having a flexible credit facility will help us accelerate growth and drive continued platform adoption, Sinanyan added.
M et Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joined hundreds of Londoners for a poignant vigil in the wake of a terror attack which saw Muslims mowed down by a van.

A vigil held outside Finsbury Park mosque, just a stone's throw from the place where the attack unfolded, saw the surrounding streets on Monday evening engulfed by people wishing to show their support.

Crowds gathered for a show of solidarity, bringing flowers and homemade signs which read: united against all terror.

Moving images showed men, women and children in the crowd, many holding bunches of brightly coloured roses, observing a moment of silence.

People carrying bunches of colourful roses gather for a vigil after an attack on a mosque near Finsbury Park / JEREMY SELWYN

Other signs held aloft carried messages of solidarity which read: love will win, terror will lose and we stand by you.

Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack 1 /14 Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN A line of people who have come to pay their respects observe a moment of silence Londoners make their way to a vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque Men, women and children observe a moment of silence Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins the crowd A woman wipes away a tear at a vigil for those affected by the Finsbury Park mosque attack Signs bearing messages of solidarity were held aloft at the vigil JEREMY SELWYN Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins faith leaders for the vigil JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque JEREMY SELWYN

The latest terror attack to hit the capital saw a white vehicle used by a man to deliberately target an area busy with worshippers attending Ramadan night prayers at a nearby mosque on Monday.

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins faith leaders outside Finsbury Park mosque / JEREMY SELWYN

One man was pronounced dead at the scene on Seven Sisters Road, and nine others were taken to hospital.

Following a meeting with the chairman of the mosque, Mohammed Kozbar, Met Commissioner Ms Dick stood with him to observe a short silence, and as he addressed the large crowd which had gathered, he praised the "great response" from the community.

"Yesterday we all experienced a horrific attack on our families, on our freedom, on our dignity. A man, a father of six children, being killed in cold blood and many injured by an extremist, by a terrorist," Mr Kozbar said.

Men, women and children gather for the vigil (Jeremy Selwyn)

He said the attack was one of terror and that it was "similar" to those which have recently happened in Manchester, Westminster and London Bridge.

"These people, these extremists, their aim is to divide our communities, is to spread hatred, fear and division among our communities," he said.

"We all have harmony in this area, and these people try to divide us, but we tell them that we will not let you do that."

A woman named Tara who attended the vigil / JEREMY SELWYN

As Mr Kozbar finished speaking there were cheers and shouts of Allahu Akbar from the throng of people, with many holding signs which said "united against all terror".

Other faith leaders from the community also spoke at the vigil, including the Bishop of Stepney the Rt Rev Adrian Newman, who told the crowd "an attack on one faith is an attack on us all".

Rabbi Herschel Gluck said the incident hurt and was an attack on "every single Muslim in the UK and beyond".

Treating the wounded: Paramedics and police at the scene of the crash in Finsbury Park (James Gourley/Rex Features) / James Gourley/Rex

"But really an attack on the Muslim community is an attack on every single citizen in Great Britain, because we are one nation, under one god, living together, working together, co-operating together in this country," he added.

Ms Dick said earlier on Monday that the incident was quite clearly an attack on Muslims, but she did not address the crowds that had gathered for the vigil.

Scotland Yard said extra police patrols will be deployed to reassure the public and those observing Ramadan.

The van at the scene in Finsbury Park, next to a police forensic tent where a victim died

Suspect Darren Osborne, 47, from Cardiff, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and later further arrested over "the commission, preparation or instigation of terrorism including murder and attempted murder.

Officers raided a house in Cardiff on Monday evening while Osbornes family, speaking in Weston-Super-Mare said their hearts were with those injured in the incident.

The alleged attacker was pinned to the ground by bystanders following the incident while heroic imam Mohammed Mahoud protected him from an angry mob.

He was not known to security services and Scotland Yard said officers believed he was acting alone.
B REXIT Secretary David Davis loves accountability. Ever since the Freedom of Information Act was introduced in 2000, Davis has been there on the front line, trumpeting its merits as the strongest constitutional legacy of the Blair government. Great, thought The Londoner, lets fire off a Freedom of Information request to find out our negotiating position on Brexit.

But not so fast. Yesterday Michel Barnier and Davis pledged transparency in their negotiations. The EU is already publishing negotiating documents but the British team is keeping its cards close to its chest. An initial visit to the Department for Exiting the EU website shows that it has, like all departments, an FoI correspondence address, with its own email. But follow the link to check our previous releases to see if weve already answered your question and absolutely nothing comes up.

An expert tells us any request about the matter would likely fall flat. They will throw every exemption at you in the book, including commercial sensitivity, public affairs exemptions and even the reason that it will be published in the future anyway.

When The Londoner called the DExEU press office today to enquire if we could put in a FoI request, the response was basically by all means try.

Davis is on record as saying that attempts to avoid the Freedom of Information Act ... will lead to scandal and embarrassment. If he was sitting on the Opposition benches now, hed be hopping up and down with fury.

--

El Pais rolls off the printing presses

So David Davis has set out, crusading across the Channel to negotiate Brexit in Brussels. But how did our European cousins react? Germanys Suddeutsche Zeitung painted a dystopian picture of Grobritannien, im Juni des Jahres 2017  Great Britain, June 2017: The country is ruled by a talking robot, called the MayBot ... Boris Johnson is foreign secretary. What in the world is going on with this country? the article asked.

French paper Le Monde noted the faiblesse  weakness  of the British team, while Spanish daily El Pais celebrated that el primer capitulo del Brexit had come as a victory for the EU. Looks like payback for all those hostile front pages we gave them.

--

Davis and Barnier  new running mates?

David Davis and Michel Barnier

DAVID Davis and Michel Barnier exchanged hiking gifts yesterday  Barnier gave Davis a walking stick, while Davis offered a French book about the Himalayas, on Amazon for 10.79. But is Barnier leading Davis down the rocky path?

The Londoner took a hike down memory lane to the 1990s, when Davis and Barnier served as Europe ministers for Britain and France. An item in The Telegraphs Peterborough column just after Blairs 1997 win lauded the deeply cunning way Daviss successor, Doug Henderson, got Barnier on side. It went on to report: Barnier has been intimating that he would rather like to join Henderson on his early morning runs, and that their Swedish counterpart, another athlete, might well be interested in joining them. Dig out those running shorts, Dave.

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Quote of the day: Two per cent of the older part of the electorate die every year  they are 70 per cent Conservative

Lord Michael Heseltine

Tory grandee Michael Heseltine says the Conservatives should keep an eye on the clock when calling an election.

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Racy night out for the Ecclestone clan

Petra Stunt and Tamara Ecclestone / Dave Benett/Getty Images for Pet

TO THE Corinthia Hotels Petra Stunt Foundation auction dinner in aid of autism charity PS Place. Stunt and her sister Tamara ended up in a bidding war over a David Yarrow painting, while their dad Bernie Ecclestone failed in his 10,000 bid for Formula 1 paddock passes. Rory Bremner had a special extra lot to offer guests during his post-auction performance: If youve ever wanted to be prime minister, nows your chance  thats been donated by Theresa May, shes very keen to get rid of that.

A tenner, anyone? Anyone?

-----

Sir George Young as Chief Whip

YESTERDAY, we reported that Michael Gove has given up his Times column on becoming Environment Secretary. Hes not the first: veteran Tory Sir George Young also gave up his Ealing Gazette column on becoming a Cabinet minister  and was replaced by his wife, writing the Not The George Young Column. Young admitted later he never actually stopped writing the pieces, he just gave his wife the byline. Perhaps The Times should try to hire Sarah Vine.

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Cressida Bonas / Dave Benett / Getty Images for T

Cressida Bonas is making a fairytale return. The Londoner had heard that the acting career of Prince Harrys former squeeze had hit a wall, due to delays in filming Tulip Fever. But now the movie is set for release.

While she was splitting up with the Prince in 2014, Cressida, pictured right, got her break, cast in the big budget period drama with Judi Dench, Alicia Vikander and Cara Delevingne.

Backed by uber producer Harvey Weinstein, who called Cressida fantastic for the role, Tulip Fever was set for a June 2016 release before being pushed back to July, and then February of this year. A friend of Cressida told The Londoner that the film might never see the light of day: it was originally meant to be filmed in 2004.

Like The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Tulip Fever is based on a novel by Deborah Moggach. The love story, set in 17th- century Amsterdam, is now set to be released in the US in August, and the UK soon after. Good to see Cressida got one happy ending.

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Tweet of the day: If you cant put on a pair of denim shorts by yourself you should be in the Cabinet, not larking around at large music venues unsupervised

After endless articles explaining how to get Glastoready for festival season, Tatlers Sophia Money-Coutts is fed up.

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Who wants to be in Sadies gang?

Best wishes to Sadie Frost, who celebrated her 52nd birthday in style yesterday with cake and tea. Among the guests were Kate Moss and her daughter Lila Grace, bottom left, and what looked like Sadies ex, Jude Law, top left. A nice old-fashioned birthday tea, Frost wrote on Instagram.

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Author Wilbur Smith / Getty Images

Deal of the day: author Wilbur Smith, 84, has signed an eight-novel deal for at least 10 million. Theres a publisher with confidence.

Follow The Londoner on Twitter and Facebook here.
A change in prime minister should not be on the Government's agenda as it prepares to negotiate Brexit, Transport Minister Chris Grayling said today.

He becomes the latest Cabinet minister to publicly support Theresa May staying in office, despite the Prime Minister failing to secure an overall majority in the General Election.

Mr Grayling told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't think a change of prime minister should be on our agenda.

"What we've got to do is to go into the Brexit talks, deliver the right outcome.

"That's what she's committed to, it's what we all want to see happen, it's really important for our country that that's what happens."

Chris Grayling said a change in Prime Minister should not be on the agenda / AFP/Getty Images

On Monday, Environment Secretary Michael Gove said he expected Mrs May to still be Prime Minister at the end of Brexit negotiations in March 2019.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson also backed the PM staying on, saying there was no appetite for further elections.

"I think it's really important that what we have now in the wake of the General Election, which was a disappointing result, but we do need Government to carry on with the job," Mr Grayling told Today.

"We're dealing with some major issues at the moment, around security, around Brexit - we've got to get on with the job.

"We were by far the largest party. Theresa May saw our vote share increase from 36% to 43%.

"The Labour Party is strutting round as if it won the election, we have the shadow chancellor calling people on to the streets to try and overthrow the result of a democratic election, which is an extraordinary place to be, absolutely unacceptable."

Additional reporting PA
T he Government's anti-terror strategy needs to focus on far-right extremism as much as Islamic extremism, the shadow home secretary has said.

Diane Abbott said there has been a perception in the Islamic community that the Government's deradicalisation programme, Prevent, has been targeting Muslims.

In her first interview since returning to her shadow cabinet post following a break due to her type 2 diabetes, the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington set out what Labour would do differently to tackle terrorism.

"Our response would be to emphasise that the Prevent programme needs to be as much about far-right extremism as about Islamic extremism," she told BBC Breakfast.

"There has been a sense in the Islamic community in the past that Prevent and counter-terrorism strategy generally was targeted on them.

"But we are seeing this rise in far-right extremism. It's about a year since the murder of my late colleague Jo Cox by a far-right extremist and we do have to take these issues more seriously."

Ms Abbott was speaking in the wake of an attack on worshippers near Finsbury Park Mosque in north London.
D iane Abbott has said she is feeling a lot better after she was forced to take time out from the Labour campaign trail as she struggled to control her diabetes.

The shadow home secretary was removed from the Labour Party frontbench in the final days of the General Election campaign, after she revealed her type 2 diabetes was out of control.

Ms Abbott had been fiercely criticised for a series of car-crash interviews in the lead up to the election, having struggled to answer questions on police funding and security.

But despite being replaced as shadow home secretary, leader Jeremy Corbyn re-appointed Ms Abbott following the election.

Jeremy Corbyn re-appointed Diane Abbott after she was removed in the final days of the campaign / PA

In an interview with BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, Ms Abbott said: Im feeling a lot better. Im a type 2 diabetic, its a very manageable condition but I wasnt managing it.

It took my brother to ring me up and tell me off and tell me about the importance of eating properly and glucose tablets.

The Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP was diagnosed with the condition two years ago.

She was replaced by West Ham parliamentary candidate Lyn Brown in the role just 24 hours before voters took to the polls.

Despite predictions of a Tory landslide, Labour managed to gain 30 seats in the election, piling pressure on under-fire Prime Minster Theresa May.

But Ms Abbott was blasted for a series of gaffes during on the campaign trial, including forgetting the costs of a plan to introduce an extra 10,000 police officers onto the countrys streets.

She returned to parliament with a 35,139 vote majority.

Former Newsnight journalist and Jeremy Corbyn supporter Paul Mason accused critics of Ms Abbott of dog-whistle racism.

When asked about media scrutiny, Ms Abbott said: I think politicians complaining about media is like sailors complaining about the weather.

I wasnt well for some part of the campaign, but Im a lot better now and looking forward to working with the Labour shadow cabinet team to bring accountability and to bring the right policy message forward in the coming months and years.

On Tuesday, Ms Abbott said the Government's anti-terror strategy needs to focus on far-right extremism as much as Islamic extremism in the wake of the terror attack on the Finsbury Park Mosque.
F ormer business minister Jo Swinson is the new deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats.

She was elected unopposed after no other candidates were declared by Tuesday's 5pm deadline, a spokesman for the party said.

Ms Swinson, who regained her East Dunbartonshire seat from the DUP in the general election, had been an early favourite to succeed Tim Farron as leader following his resignation.

However, she opted instead to stand as deputy.

Who are the contenders to replace Tim Farron as leader of the Lib Dems?

On Tuesday, Sir Vince Cable launched his bid to lead the party by saying he had the experience for the job.

The 74-year-old rebuffed claims he is too old to succeed Tim Farron by arguing he could inject hard-won credibility to the third party.

Mr Farron announced he was stepping down from the role on Wednesday, citing scrutiny over his Christian faith as reasons contributing to his decision.

Leadership bid: Sir Vince Cable / Alex Lentati

At a speech to staff in party HQ in London, Mr Farron said: From the very first day of my leadership, I have faced questions about my Christian faith.

At the start of this election, I found myself under scrutiny again - asked about matters to do with my faith.

I felt guilty that this focus was distracting attention from our campaign, obscuring our message.

Tim Farron steps down as Liberal Democrat leader

Journalists have every right to ask what they see fit. The consequences of the focus on my faith is that I have found myself torn between living as a faithful Christian and serving as a political leader.

A better, wiser person than me may have been able to deal with this more successfully, to have remained faithful to Christ while leading a political party in the current environment.

To be a political leader - especially of a progressive, liberal party in 2017 - and to live as a committed Christian, to hold faithfully to the Bible's teaching, has felt impossible for me.

I'm a liberal to my finger tips, and that liberalism means that I am passionate about defending the rights and liberties of people who believe different things to me.

There are Christians in politics who take the view that they should impose the tenets of faith on society, but I have not taken that approach because I disagree with it - it's not liberal and it is counterproductive when it comes to advancing the gospel.

Even so, I seem to be the subject of suspicion because of what I believe and who my faith is in.

In which case we are kidding ourselves if we think we yet live in a tolerant, liberal society.

That's why I have chosen to step down as leader of the Liberal Democrats.
T heresa May's plan to axe universal free school meals for four- to seven-year-olds has been dumped from the Queens Speech.

Campaigners, including parents, teachers, Tory backbenchers and chef Jamie Oliver, had been outraged by the cost-saving proposal, describing it as robbing the most vulnerable.

After Mrs May lost her majority in the election it has now been axed from the Governments legislative agenda, which is due to be unveiled in Parliament tomorrow.

A government source said: It would have involved going back to the House of Commons to try to change the Children and Families Act.

Its just not doable with the parliamentary arithmetic.

Outraged: Jamie Oliver hit out at Theresa May over plans to scrap free school meals for four to seven year olds / Tim P. Whitby/Getty

Head teacher Emyr Fairburn, of Kings Cross Academy  a leading school in the campaign against the proposals  said the lunches were having a positive impact on childrens learning and improving the health of the nation.

The decision came as a senior cabinet figure conceded the Government was unlikely to strike a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party before the Queens Speech tomorrow.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said his party did not need agreement on Mrs Mays legislative agenda until the final vote on the speech on June 27. He said: Im sure we will have a sensible agreement when that time comes.

But he ramped up the pressure on the Unionists, telling the BBC that another election risked making Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn prime minister. He said: Talks are going on but one thing Im absolutely certain about is the DUP dont want to see another election and Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street.

Tories have been told to prepare for a Queens Speech about a third of the size of the one originally planned by Mrs May, now she is leading a minority government reliant on the DUP.

David Camerons speech in 2015 had 26 pieces of legislation, including new counter-terror measures and an increase in free childcare.

One MP said: Weve had enough surprises. It will be very safe and measured Queens Speech.

Sources said the manifesto had essentially been ripped up after the party lost its majority in the general election. Pension reforms, capping energy bills, means testing winter fuel payments and the proposed expansion of the domestic shale gas industry are also potentially off the agenda.

Deeply unpopular social care proposals  dubbed the dementia tax  will be abandoned, although Tories are still bracing themselves for changes and a consultation into how elderly care is funded. Mrs May has also conceded that her personal ambition to roll out more grammar schools will now struggle to get through the Commons.

Areas considered safe for the Prime Minister to legislate on tomorrow are security and defence. Backbenchers have been pushing hard for an enhanced Investigatory Powers Bill in the wake of the recent terror attacks.
B russels Central station wasevacuated after reports of an explosion and a person wearing a suicide belt being shot by soldiers.

Trains in and out of the transport hub were halted on Tuesday evening as police descended on the building.

Local media said a person wearing an explosive belt was "neutralised" inside the station by soldiers who were on duty.

Paper Het Laatste Nieuws quoted witnesses saying a man shouted "Allahu Akbar" in Arabic before a small explosion.

Lockdown: Soldiers at the station / Arash Aazami

Soldiers ran toward the spot, saw wires protruding from the man's clothes, and shot him, it was reported.

Belgian newspaper La Libre, quoting prosecutors, said the man who was shot was wearing a rucksack and a bomb belt.

Investigation: Police cars block a road near the train station / AP

He detonated thr device when soldiers at the station saw him, the paper wrote.

Nicolas Van Herrewegen, a station employee, told public broadcaster RTBF that he saw a man shouting in a lower level of the 1930s station, which serves lines running under the city centre.

He then appeared to yell "Allahu Akbar" in Arabic and to detonate something on a luggage trolley. People standing within three metres of the trolley were unhurt, he said.

Police have not confirmed those reports and it was not clear whether the person shot was still alive. They said no one else had been hurt during the incident.

Prime Minister Charles Michel urged people via Twitter to follow instructions from the authorities.

Bystander Remy Bonnaffe tweeted there had been two loud detonations at the airport in quick succession.

Belgian police said an "incident involving an individual" at the station was under control.

The Belgian capital's Grand Place, a major tourist site, was evacuated along with the station about 200 metres away.

One passenger tweeted: "Explosions at Brussels Central.

"We missed them by practically nothing, evacuated into restaurant for now. Hoping for no casualties."

A police spokesman said: "There was an accident at Central Station. There was an explosion around a person.

"That person was neutralised by the soldiers that were on the scene.

"At the moment, the police are in numbers at the station and everything is under control."

Belgium has been on high alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people on the Brussels subway and at an airport on March 22, 2016.
F rench president Emmanuel Macron was today preparing to use his massive new parliamentary majority to secure the best deal for his country in a Brexit Europe.

The passionately pro-EU head of state will travel to Brussels on Thursday for his first meeting with counterparts including Prime Minister Theresa May, following his latest election win.

Mr Macrons Republic on the Move (LREM) party and its voting allies won at least 351 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly yesterday.

The party was founded in April last year, and now has one of the biggest majorities in recent French history  the kind Mrs May was unable to win in this months general election.

Mr Macrons prime minister, Edouard Philippe, said: A year ago, no one would have imagined such a political renewal. It is down to the presidents desire to breathe new life into democracy and to the French people who wanted to give parliament a new face.

Mr Macron has described Brexit as a crime, and favours a hard exit, with Britain leaving the single market and ending free movement. The president does not want to encourage other EU members to leave by rewarding the UK for its decision to quit the union.

Talks at the Council of Europe in Brussels on Thursday will focus on migration and security  both key issues that will play a central part in Brexit talks.

Mr Macrons success yesterday was tempered by a record low turnout of just under 44 per cent, leading opposition leaders to claim that he had no groundswell of support.

LREM routed the Socialists, who were punished for five years of mediocre government that ended last month with unemployment at over 10 per cent.

The party of former president Francois Hollande lost about 200 seats, leaving them with around 46, and the conservative Republicans ended up with about 115 seats.

The far-Right National Front (FN) of Marine Le Pen  whom Mr Macron defeated in the presidential run-off on May 7  also had a bad night.

Ms Le Pen entered parliament for the first time as her party won at least eight seats, but this fell well short of its 15-seat target.
D onald Trump has led global condemnation of the brutality of the North Korea regime after a US student held there died just six days after being brought home in a coma.

Otto Warmbier had been serving 15 years hard labour in North Korea having been accused of stealing a propaganda sign from a hotel.

The 22-year-old was sent home 15 months into his sentence on humanitarian grounds on Tuesday, June 13, with the regime claiming he had contracted botulism and fell into a coma last year.

However, his family blamed the awful torturous treatment he allegedly suffered at the hands of North Korean officials when announcing his death on Monday.

Otto Warmbier cries while speaking to reporters in Pyongyang last year / AP

His death has sparked outrage from US politicians and past school friends, who also paid tribute to Mr Warmbier as a kind, generous and promising young man.

US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to his family, describing Mr Warmbier as the latest victim of North Korean brutality.

Fred and Cindy Warmbier said in statement on Monday: It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2:20pm.

"The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.

Mr Warmbier, an economics student from the University of Virginia, had travelled to North Korea as a tourist in December 2015.

He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport days later after he tried to leave the country, with North Korea announcing it would be holding him for a hostile act.

During a trial in in March 2016, Mr Warmbier confessed to stealing the poster during a tearful news conference.

He said he was trying to take a sign from his hotel as a "trophy" for a US church, amid allegations he had been pressured into the confession by the brutal regime.

US President Donald Trump / Getty Images

A team of US doctors has disputed North Koreas account of Mr Warmbiers death.

A statement from Mr Trump read: There is nothing more tragic for a parent than to lose a child in the prime of life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Otto's family and friends and all who loved him.

Otto's fate deepens my administration's determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

'The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

US Vice-President Mike Pence said his death served as a 'tragic example' of the country's 'disregard for human life.'

North Korean officials blamed Mr Warmbiers condition on botulism - a severe form of food poisoning which they said he contracted while in their custody.

United States senator Rob Portman said: "He was kind, generous and accomplished.

He had all the talent you could ever ask for and a bright future ahead of him. His passing today is a loss for Ohio and for all of us.

Jane and I are lifting up the Warmbier family in our prayers at this difficult time, and we are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of this remarkable young Ohioan."

Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, said he will be "missed by all those who knew and loved him."

She added: "It is with great sadness that we learned of Ottos passing this afternoon. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with his family and friends during what has been an incredibly difficult time."

In an emotional blog post, high school classmate Sallee Ann Ruibal said: I don't have the privilege either of having Otto as a best friend, brother or son. I can't imagine the weight that is on all of his loved ones. I'm not going to pretend to.

He was a person who deserved to be talked about in the same exuberant, personal way he talked about others. It saddens me that a terrible regime damaged an essential part of Otto  his brain.
CALGARY, Alberta, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE) (NYSE:CVE) today announced that its President & Chief Executive Officer Brian Ferguson will be retiring as an officer and director of the company on October 31, 2017. Ferguson will continue in his roles leading the company and serving on the Board of Directors until that time.



The Board will engage immediately in a broad global search for a new President & Chief Executive Officer. Following his retirement at the end of October, Ferguson will continue in a transition advisor role reporting to the Board Chair until March 31, 2018 to minimize disruption to Cenovus's business and support the Board during the leadership transition.

My time at Cenovus has been an amazing experience and now I am ready for the next adventures in my life, said Ferguson. Cenovus has a bright future ahead and I am confident in the abilities of the leaders and staff to rise to any challenges and continue to evolve the company.

On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Brian for the significant contribution he has made to Cenovus, said Patrick Daniel, Chair of the Cenovus Board. His leadership, from the establishment of the company through the ups and downs of the commodity price cycle, to the transformation of Cenovus with the recent acquisition, has the company well positioned for the future.

Ferguson has been at the head of Cenovus since the company launched in December of 2009. He joined a predecessor company in 1984 and became a member of the Management Team in 1994. He has held roles in a variety of areas including finance, business development, reserves, strategic planning, investor relations and communications. Ferguson has been a committed supporter of the oil and gas industry through activities such as Board membership for the Business Council of Canada and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers and participation on the federal Minister of Finances Advisory Council on Economic Growth. He also dedicates considerable time to the community, including as Chair of the Calgary Police Foundation Board.

Cenovus Energy Inc.

Cenovus Energy Inc. is a Canadian integrated oil company. It is committed to applying fresh, progressive thinking to safely and responsibly unlock energy resources the world needs. Operations include oil sands projects in northern Alberta, which use specialized methods to drill and pump the oil to the surface, and natural gas and oil production in Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan. The company also has 50% ownership in two U.S. refineries. Cenovus shares trade under the symbol CVE, and are listed on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges. For more information, visit cenovus.com.

Find Cenovus on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.
R ussia has threatened to target military planes working alongside the US army after American forces shot down a Syrian jet.

US forces targeted the plane close to Raqqa on Sunday following a bombing on US-allied forces working on the ground.

The Syrian army said the jet was brought down while flying a mission against Isis.

A statement released by the Syrian army said the jets pilot was missing following the crash.

It is not yet clear if he has been found.

Tensions rose as Iran also launched missiles at Isis targets in the east of the country, reigniting a row with Washington over a section of the Syria-Iraq border.

A pro-Damascus commander said threats to target US-allied planes sent a clear message to all sides in the war and added that both Tehran and Washington had set "red lines.

Russia, an ally of President Bashar al-Assad, issued a further warning to the United States after the jet was hit.

The country would view any planes flying west of the Euphrates River as targets, it said on Monday.

It stopped short of saying it would shoot any down.

The fresh threats came as Prime Minister Theresa May called on Russia to reduce measures of conflict with Syria.
A Russian fighter jet came within five feet of a US military plane flying above the Baltic Sea, officials confirmed.

The Russian RC-135 U carried out the unsafe manoeuvre involving an America FU27 on Tuesday afternoon, a spokeswoman for the US European air command said.

Meghan Henderson told the Standard that the proximity of the Russian aircraft to the US plane was deemed to be an unsafe intercept.

The report came just days after Russia threatened to target US-allied aircraft after American forces shot down a Syrian plane on Sunday.

US forces targeted the plane close to Raqqa on Sunday following a bombing on US-allied forces working on the ground.

The Syrian army said the jet was brought down while flying a mission against Isis.

A statement released by the Syrian army said the jets pilot was missing following the crash.

It is not yet clear if he has been found.
O tto Warmbier, a US student who was sentenced to 15 years in a North Korean prison, has died six days after returning to America in a coma.

The 22-year-old returned home on June 13, after serving 17 months of his prison sentence for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster from his hotel room.

On Monday his family announced that he had died. This is everything we know about him:

Who is he?

Mr Warmbier, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, was an economics student from the University of Virginia.

He was described as a kind, generous and promising by classmates, while his family called him a warm, engaging, brilliant young man whose curiosity and enthusiasm for life knew no bounds.

Trump responds to Otto Warmbier death

He had planned to study in China during his third year at college, and booked a five-day trip across the border to North Korea in December 2015 as part of an organised tour.

He was on his way back to China when he was detained.

Why was he arrested?

He was arrested at Pyongyang International Airport in January 2016, with North Korea announcing it would be holding him for a hostile act.

He had allegedly taken a propaganda poster from his hotel room.

During trial in March 2016, which reportedly lasted less than an hour, Mr Warmbier confessed to stealing the poster.

He was found guilty in March to 15 years hard labour. He wept at his sentencing, saying: I have made the worst mistake of my life.

How did he die?

North Korea freed Mr Warmbier for humanitarian reasons in June 2017. After his release it emerged that he had been in a coma for almost a year.

The 22-year-old returned to the US on June 13, after serving 17 months of his prison sentence, and on Monday his family announced that he had died.

Otta Warmbier / Reuters

A statement read: It is our sad duty to report that our son, Otto Warmbier, has completed his journey home. Surrounded by his loving family, Otto died today at 2.20pm.

When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on 13 June he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands.

He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home and we believe he could sense that.

North Korean officials blamed Mr Warmbiers condition on botulism - a severe form of food poisoning which they said he contracted while in their custody.

However, his family has blamed the awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Korean for his death.

And American doctors found no evidence to support the regime's explanation, but confirmed that Mr Warmbier had suffered extensive and unexplained brain damage that had left him in a vegetative state.

Political outcry

His death has sparked outrage from his family, US politicians and past school friends.

US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to his family, describing Mr Warmbier as the latest victim of North Korean brutality.

In a statement, he said: Ottos fate deepens my administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency.

Vice-President Mike Pence said his death served as a "tragic example" of the country's "disregard for human life."

Republican senator Rob Portman, who is from Cincinnati, said North Korea should be universally condemned for its abhorrent behaviour.

Human Rights Watch said Mr Warmbiers death "reflects a reality that the North Korean people know all too well: the Kim family leadership... will not hesitate to brutalise and kill to maintain their hold on power."
F rom the beaches of French Polynesia to the docks of Sydney Harbour, Pippa Middletons wardrobe staple has graced the soil of more countries than most of us will visit in a lifetime.

A long time fashion favourite, the black espadrille made several appearances on her recent honeymoon and we can see why- both comfortable and stylish, theyre easy to walk in without looking dowdy.

Whilst you might expect them to be the same calibre as the rest of her wardrobe (she was spotted wearing Kate Spade and Aspinal amongst other luxury labels) Pippas favourites are actually a lot more reasonable than youd think.

Much like her sister, the Duchess of Cambridge , she likes to dabble in high street fashion now and again; the espadrille being a particular style she has on repeat.

Here, we round up the best of the high street, including her favourite pair.

Castaner Canvas Espadrilles

Spotted adorning her tanned feet on their way to dinner with husband James Matthews, the Castaner Canvas pair is the exact shoe that Pippas been sporting. With a modest four inch wedge and slight platform, this Spanish crafted pair is both elegant and diverse. The ankle ties can be styled several ways, helping to create a look that flatters the wearer.

75, Net  a  Porter, Buy it now

Toni Pons Valencia

Almost an exact replica of the Castaners, these are slightly more budget friendly. A four inch wedge and two inch platform give them height whist the cotton canvas finish will help keep feet cool on hot summer days.

 37, Espadrilles Barcelona, Buy it now

H & M Espadrilles

Long days of exploring call for flats, rather than heels. This pared down pair will get your round the city no problem. With a rope sole and canvas upper, theyre just like the pair Grace Kelly wore back in the fifties.

19.99, H & M, Buy it now

ASOS Jump In Espadrilles

Want to show off that pedi? The ASOS version has a peep toe perfect for presenting beautiful nails. A faux suede upper adds extra comfort and they can even be wiped clean after a day of serious pavement (or beach) pounding.

16, ASOS, Buy it now

Carvela

If ankle ties arent really your thing, opt for an elegant strap instead. The fastening on this Carvela pair sits just below the ankle, making it flattering for every leg shape.

69, Debenhams, Buy it now

Nasty Gal

Giving these otherwise quite simple sandals a facelift, the pom pom is the detail of the moment - much to our delight  adding playfulness and fun to whatever they adorn.
B rian May has flown into a rage over the horrible first-class seating on British Airways planes, which he said completely sucks.

The Queen guitarist posted a lengthy rant about how much he hates the new three feet gap between the recliner seats and the windows as it has left him bored and frustrated on flights.

May took to venting his own frustrations on his website: Travelling on planes has for years been something I have had to do, as part of my job, but I never got bored with enjoying the views.

But  as I fly today with British Airways  I wonder if I am the only person left in the world who likes to relax in a comfortable seat and dreamily turn my head to the window and get lost in the ever-changing wonders of the planet, as they drift by?

Frustrated: Brian May with his wife Anita Dobson / PA Wire/PA Images

May said he is not aware of anyone except [himself] complaining about the new way the seats are configured.

He continued: I hate it. It costs an arm and a leg to travel this way and I feel that we no longer get our money's worth. In the old days you sat right next to the window and the view was wide and spectacular.

Brian May attends unveiling of English Heritage plaque at Freddie Mercury's childhood home

Now they sit you about three feet from the window and so low down all you can see from your seat is a small patch of sky. It's boring - frustrating.

He bemoaned the fact that even if he does make an effort to clamber closer to the window to get a better view he is thwarted by the junk between the seat and the window.

Keen to ensure his frustration was felt, May shared a before and after picture of the redesign, before calling on British Airways to take note of his concerns.

He finished: It completely sucks!! I ask you... what would you rather see from your seat?

Its horrible, guys. And I hope at least someone in your vast organisation will see this and give it some thought.

And if anyone out there agrees please let me (and British Airways) know  OK? Who designs this stuff? Did they lose their mind?

A spokesperson for BA addressed May's dislike - and couldn't resist dropping in a Queen lyric.

In a statement they told Standard Online: Brian May is a fantastic guitarist and it's great to welcome him on board. Very many customers praise our spacious and luxurious First cabin and we hope that Brian in time will still feel we are somebody to love.
J ohnny Depp was more than 3 million in the red eight years ago despite being one of the worlds best-paid film stars, according to court documents.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor, 54, is suing his business managers for 22 million, claiming they mishandled his earnings over almost two decades.

But an email exchange disclosed yesterday appears to show that Depp was being warned to curtail his spending as long ago as 2009. He is said to have replied: What else can I do??? You want me to sell some art??? you want me to sell something else??? sure ... what???

I got bikes, cars, property, books, paintings, and some semblance of a soul left. Where would you like me to start???

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 5 - Official International Trailer 2

Depp was replying to an email sent in December 2009 by his then-business manager Joel Mandel. It has been filed as evidence by lawyers in Los Angeles superior court. Mr Mandel wanted Depp to take it easy with holiday spending. Depp replied the next day to say he was lined up to get 16 million for The Tourist, 27.5 million for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and another 16 million for Dark Shadows.

I am doing my very best on holiday spending, but there is only so much I can do, as I need to give my kiddies and famille [sic] as good a Christmas as possible, obviously within reason, Depp wrote, according to the court file.

He also said the last proper paycheck was Public Enemies, referring to the gangster thriller he filmed in 2008. His lawsuit claims that The Management Group and its owners, Joel and Robert Mandel, actively concealed the true state of Mr Depps finances while driving him deeper and deeper into financial distress.

The correspondence included in the filing shows Depps accounts were overdrawn by more than 3 million in late 2009 and that he was on the verge of a deal to borrow 1.5 million from a bank in 2015, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The Mandels filed a countersuit last January, claiming that the company did everything within its power over the last 17 years to protect Depp from himself and to keep Depp financially solvent.
The former English Defence League leader was confronted on Good Morning Britain over his tweets in the wake of Mondays attack which saw a white van mow down worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House near the Finsbury Park mosque.

One person was killed and 10 people injured.

The far-right activist  who accused the mosque of creating terrorists and being a centre of hate  riled Morgan as he refused to call Islam a religion and claimed Islamophobia is not real.

Clash: Piers Morgan, Susanna Reid and Tommy Robinson on Good Morning Britain / ITV

Morgan told Robinson, real name Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, that he was a disgrace for waving the Koran around on live TV and claiming it incites hatred and violence.

Youre sounding like a complete lunatic, Morgan said. Youre sounding like a bigoted lunatic. You are an Islamophobe who hates Islam.

Riled up: Piers Morgan clashed with the ex EDL leader / ITV

What youre doing now is deliberately inflammatory. Youre stirring up hatred. You are abusing peoples religion. You are abusing their faith.

You are being a complete disgrace.

Robinson replied: This book is the reason we are in such a mess.

Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack 1 /14 Vigil after Finsbury Park mosque attack People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN A line of people who have come to pay their respects observe a moment of silence Londoners make their way to a vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque Men, women and children observe a moment of silence Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins the crowd A woman wipes away a tear at a vigil for those affected by the Finsbury Park mosque attack Signs bearing messages of solidarity were held aloft at the vigil JEREMY SELWYN Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick joins faith leaders for the vigil JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN People in the crowd hold bunches of brightly coloured roses JEREMY SELWYN Hundreds of people gathered for the vigil outside Finsbury Park mosque JEREMY SELWYN

The TV presenter responded: Were in this mess because people take Islam, they are terrorists and they abuse the nature of Islam and perpetrate evil.

Susanna Reid pushed Robinson on whether or not he sees himself as an Islamophobe, to which he replied: Islam is an idea. A bad idea. Like Scientology. Theres no such word as Islamophobia. A phobia is an irrational fear. Its not irrational to fear these things.

Several viewers branded Robinson a fool and questioned why the ITV breakfast show invited him on.

One viewer tweeted: Muslim community is expected to not give hate preachers platforms. Meanwhile, we'll happily put Tommy Robinson on #gmb..

Another posted: Utter filth from Tommy Robinson, let him speak you say, he should not have air time. Free speech great until it incites hatred #gmb (sic).
T his years Pride in London festival is to get its own playlist following a sponsorship deal with Amazon Music. Revellers will be able to stream or download a 50-track set list featuring LGBT+ anthems including Sister Sledges We Are Family, George Michaels Freedom and Beyonces Run The World (Girls).

The festival starts on Saturday and continues until July 9. Amazon Music will also be sponsoring the Radio Diva womens stage in Leicester Square on July 8 and the Prides Got Talent contest.

Pride in London development and partnership director Polly Shute said: Were delighted to welcome Amazon Music to this years Pride in London.

They have already provided vital support to our Prides Got Talent competition which gives new and emerging talent in the LGBT+ community the chance to perform onstage at Pride in London.

Pride over the years - In pictures 1 /93 Pride over the years - In pictures Click through our gallery to see pictures of Pride over the years... Rob Stothard/Getty Images A picnic in Victoria Gardens by the Houses of Parliament during what was then called 'Gay Pride Week', August 5, 1976 Peter Cade/Central Press/Getty Images Members of the Gay Liberation Movement protesting outside the Old Bailey over Mary Whitehouse's court action against the Gay News Magazine on July 4, 1977 Malcolm Clark/Hulton Archive/Getty Images The march goes on at Pride in 1984 Rex Revellers in fancy dress at Lesbian & Gay Pride, London 1984 Rex Lesbian & Gay Pride, London 1985 The sun shines down on Pride in 1992 Rex Men in corsets perform a dance at Pride in 1993 A lesbian couple on Horseguards Parade at Pride in July 1994 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images A man applies lipgloss during Pride in June 1995 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Men in camouflage trousers ride a pink tank and carry rainbow flags during Pride in June 1995 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images A man sashays down the street with pride in 1995 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Demonstrators dressed in hot pants and crop tops at Pride in 1995 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Two supporters of the Socialist Workers Party amongst the marchers at Pride in July 1996 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Two young men share a tender moment on the grass during a Pride in London in 1996 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Male dancers standing with their arms raised above their heads, donning black t-shirts with a heart logo, during Pride in 1996 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Comedian Rhona Cameron and political activist Peter Tatchell help to hold a banner at Pride in July 1998. The banner called for an end to Section 28 which refers to the teaching and promotion of homosexuality by local authorities Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images The London Gay Men's Chorus perform at the Pride Mardi Gras parade in London, in July 1999 Steve Eason/Getty Images Members of Outrage! carry pictures of Tony Blair with the title 'Broken Promises' at the parade in 1999 Steve Eason/Getty Images Women share the love at Pride in 1999 Steve Eason/Getty Images Two men wearing silver underpants and spiky collars take part in the London Pride march in 2000 Steve Eason/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Men share a kiss in front of spectators at Picadilly Circus in July 2002 AFP/Getty Images A man wearing leather hot pants and harness makes his way through the streets of London to a party to celebrate the Mardi Gras in 2002 Scott Barbour/Getty Images Policemen in uniform march along the Embankment at Pride in 2003 Bruno Vincent/Getty Images Marchers, alongside more than 40 floats, bands and drummers are seen during the rally for Pride in 2005 Jeremy O'Donnell/Getty Images London Mayor Ken Livingstone walks with the EuroPride parade as it makes its way down Oxford Street in July 2006 Scott Barbour/Getty Images A man poses in a white feathered neckdress during the Pride march held in central London in June 2007 Mark Wieland/Getty Images A Drag Queen poses during the Gay Pride in London, on June 30, 2007 Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images The Gay Pride parade passes down Lower Regent Street on July 5, 2008 Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Two men in drag costumes with bouffant blonde hair pose at Pride in 2008 Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Police pose for a photograph before marching on the Pride parade in 2008 in London Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images A man wears a home made costume at Pride in july 2008 Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images Actor Sir Ian McKellen (left) waves at the parade in 2008 Boris Johnson, then Mayor of London, wears a pink stetson hat at Pride in 2008 A man decorated with neon face paint blows his whistle at Pride in July 2009 Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Marchers in 2009, when the theme of Pride was 'Come Out and Play' Dan Kitwood/Getty Images A reveller stands proud in a Union Jack-themed outfit in 2009 Dan Kitwood/Getty Images More Union Jack-festooned outfits on show at Pride in 2009 Dan Kitwood/Getty Images A man in butterfly wings at Pride in 2009 Dan Kitwood/Getty Images A canine gets in on the action at Pride in 2009 Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Revellers in hot pink dresses and blonde beehives at Pride in 2011 Warren Allott/AFP/Getty Images Members of the British Armed Forces march alongside members of the parade through London's streets to celebrate the World Pride Festival on July 7, 2012 Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images A man dressed as 'Mister Universe' marches in July 2012 Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images Members of the LGBT community parade through London in 2012 Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images People carry 'Proud to be Trans' signs as they march in July 2012 Andrew Cowie/AFP/Getty Images The Pride parade weaves its way down Regent Street on June 29, 2013 Will Oliver/AFP/Getty Images A fabulous carnival costume on display in 2013 Will Oliver/AFP/Getty Images A man dressed as a Dalmatian at Pride in 2014 Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images The rainbow gay pride flag flies on Whitehall in front of Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square in March 2014 Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Leather-clad marchers at the Pride Parade in London on June 27, 2015 AFP/Getty Images Girls carrying rainbow flags at Pride in June 2015 Rob Stothard/Getty Images Arm in arm, people celebrate the annual parade in 2015 Rob Stothard/Getty Images People gather in Soho outside the Admiral Duncan following Pride in 2015 Rob Stothard/Getty Images The London Gay Men's Chorus take part in Pride in 2015 Rob Stothard/Getty Images A dog dressed in a rainbow coat as people gather to watch the parade in 2015 Rob Stothard/Getty Images A giant rainbow flag is carried along with the parade at Pride in 2015 Rob Stothard/Getty Images Steven Choo, aka 'Eva' walks in front of a marching band as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images Pride marchers wave American and rainbow flags from the top of a double decker bus with Parliament behind as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images Pride marchers wave American flags and dress as Hilary Clinton as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images 'Queen Alexandra' aka Stephen Stephenson-Spencer, makes his way to the march as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, and his wife Saadiya Khan lead the Pride march as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images Mitzi Macintosh gets ready to march as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images Shiro, a Siberian Husky, plays with a rainbow flag as the LGBT community celebrates Pride in 2016 Getty Images Parade goers during Pride In London on July 7, 2018 Getty Images for Pride In London Parade goers on and around the statue of Eros, Piccadilly Circus, 2018 Getty Images for Pride In London A proposal of marriage is accepted during the parade, 2018 Getty Images for Pride In London Pride in London, 2018 AFP/Getty Images Parade goers at the start during Pride In London at Portland Place, 2018 REUTERS Many countries represented at Pride in London, 2018 Niklas Halle'n/AFP/Getty Images Mayor of London Sadiq Khan opens the Pride In London parade, 2018 Getty Images for Pride In London

Steve Boom, vice president of Amazon Music, added: At Amazon Music, were proud to support Pride in London 2017 As well as a host of internal events across all UK Amazon offices, well be proudly marching in the Parade with glamazon  our employee LGBT+ network.

Pride in London takes place in the capital from June 24-July 9.
Helsinn Group Announces Upcoming Presentation of Phase III data in NEPA (netupitant/palonestron) at MASCC/ISOO Congress in Washington DC

Data demonstrates the non-inferiority of NEPA versus an aprepitant (APR)/granisetron (GRAN) regimen

Lugano, Switzerland, June 20, 2017 - Helsinn, a Swiss pharmaceutical group focused on building quality cancer care products, today announces that data showing the non-inferiority of NEPA (netupitant/palonestron) versus a 3-day oral aprepitant (APR)/granisetron (GRAN) regimen, have been accepted for presentation at the upcoming Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer (MASCC/ISOO) Congress, on June 22-24 2017.

NEPA is the first fixed combination of the selective NK 1 RA, netupitant (300 mg), and the clinically and pharmacologically active 5-HT 3 RA, palonosetron (0.5mg) for the prevention of CINV, in a convenient single capsule.

This randomized, double-blind, Phase 3 study conducted in 828 chemotherapy-naive Asian patients receiving cisplatin-based emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC) agents, is the first head to head study comparing NK 1 RA regimens. Patients received a single oral dose of NEPA on day 1 or a 3-day oral APR/GRAN regimen (days 1-3). All patients received oral dexamethasone on days 1-4. The primary efficacy endpoint was complete response (CR: no emesis/rescue medication) during the overall (0-120h) phase. Non-inferiority was defined as a lower 95% CI greater than the non-inferiority margin set at -10%. Secondary endpoints included no emesis no rescue medication and no significant nausea (NSN: <25mm on 100mm VAS).

For the primary efficacy endpoint of overall CR, NEPA on day 1 was non-inferior to 3-day oral APR/GRAN regimen with a comparable safety profile. In addition the daily CINV events (emesis and/or rescue medication use) declined numerically over time with NEPA reaching the statistical significance at day 5 compared to APR/GRAN arm suggesting a benefit for delayed CINV.

Zhang Li, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China, the author of the study, commented: "The Phase 3 data suggest that NEPA, in a single dose, has equivalent efficacy to a 3-day oral aprepitant/granisetron regimen."

Title: Phase 3 study of NEPA versus 3-day oral aprepitant regimen for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in highly emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC) setting

Phase 3 study of NEPA versus 3-day oral aprepitant regimen for prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV) in highly emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC) setting Author: Li Zhang, Shun Lu, Jifeng Feng, Arunee Dechaphunkul, Salvatore Chessari, Corinna Lanzarotti, Karin Jordan, Matti Aapro

Li Zhang, Shun Lu, Jifeng Feng, Arunee Dechaphunkul, Salvatore Chessari, Corinna Lanzarotti, Karin Jordan, Matti Aapro Abstract Number: PS049

Session Title: Nutrition, Cachexia and Antiemetics

Nutrition, Cachexia and Antiemetics Date and Time: Saturday June 24th, 11:30 - 12:30

The full Abstract is now available here (pp. S55-S56).

About NEPA

NEPA, Akynzeo (netupitant 300mg/palonosetron 0.5mg) capsules for oral use was approved in April 2015 in the United States for the prevention of acute and delayed nausea and vomiting associated with initial and repeat courses of cancer chemotherapy, including, but not limited to, highly emetogenic chemotherapy. Akynzeo is an oral fixed combination of palonosetron and netupitant: palonosetron prevents nausea and vomiting during the acute phase and netupitant prevents nausea and vomiting during both the acute and delayed phase after cancer chemotherapy. The fixed combination of NEPA IV is currently under FDA evaluation, this formulation is not approved for commercial use.

Akynzeo has been recommended by various antiemetic guidelines: the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) antiemetic guidelines, both in Highly Emetogenic Chemotherapy (HEC, AC and carboplatin AUC>4) and Moderately Emetogenic Chemotherapy (MEC); the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in HEC and AC regimens and the MASCC/ESMO Guidelines in HEC, AC and carboplatin based chemotherapy. Helsinn currently has 20 licensing partners for Akynzeo in 167 countries.

Important Safety Information about Akynzeo

Warnings and Precautions

Hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, have been reported with or without known hypersensitivity to other 5-HT3 receptor antagonists

Serotonin syndrome has been reported with 5-HT3 receptor antagonists alone but particularly with concomitant use of serotonergic drugs. Serotonin syndrome can be life threatening. Symptoms associated with serotonin syndrome may include the following combination of signs and symptoms: mental status changes, autonomic instability, neuromuscular symptoms, seizures, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Patients should be monitored for the emergence of serotonin syndrome, and if symptoms occur, discontinue Akynzeo and initiate supportive treatment. Patients should be informed of the increased risk of serotonin syndrome, especially if Akynzeo is used concomitantly with other serotonergic drugs.

Adverse Reactions

Most common adverse reactions: headache, asthenia, dyspepsia, fatigue, constipation and erythema

Drug Interactions

Use with caution in patients receiving concomitant medications primarily metabolized by CYP3A4. The plasma concentrations of CYP3A4 substrates can increase when co-administered with Akynzeo  . The inhibitory effect on CYP3A4 can last for multiple days

. The inhibitory effect on CYP3A4 can last for multiple days Dexamethasone doses should be reduced when given with Akynzeo  . A two-fold increase in the systemic exposure of dexamethasone was observed 4 days after single dose of netupitant.

. A two-fold increase in the systemic exposure of dexamethasone was observed 4 days after single dose of netupitant. Consider the potential effects of increased plasma concentrations of midazolam or other benzodiazepines metabolized via CYP3A4 (alprazolam, triazolam) when administering with Akynzeo  . When administered with netupitant, the systemic exposure to midazolam was significantly increased.

. When administered with netupitant, the systemic exposure to midazolam was significantly increased. Avoid concomitant use of Akynzeo in patients on chronic use of a strong CYP3A4 inducer such as rifampin as this may decrease the efficacy of Akynzeo

Use in Specific Populations

Avoid use of Akynzeo in patients with severe hepatic impairment, severe renal impairment, or end stage renal disease

For additional information about Akynzeo please see the US full Prescribing Information at www.akynzeo.com

About the Helsinn Group

Helsinn is a privately owned pharmaceutical group with an extensive portfolio of marketed cancer care products and a robust drug development pipeline. Since 1976, Helsinn has been improving the everyday lives of patients, guided by core family values of respect, integrity and quality. The Group works across pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and nutritional supplements and has expertise in research, development, manufacture and the commercialization of therapeutic and supportive care products for cancer, pain and inflammation and gastroenterology. In 2016, Helsinn created the Helsinn Investment Fund to support early-stage investment opportunities in areas of unmet patient need. The company is headquartered in Lugano, Switzerland, with operating subsidiaries in Switzerland, Ireland and the U.S., a representative office in China as well as a product presence in approximately 190 countries globally.

For more information:

Helsinn Group Media Contact

Paola Bonvicini

Group Head of Communication

Lugano, Switzerland

Tel: +41 (0) 91 985 21 21

Info-hhc@helsinn.com
FORM 8.3

PUBLIC OPENING POSITION DISCLOSURE/DEALING DISCLOSURE BY A PERSON WITH INTERESTS IN RELEVANT SECURITIES REPRESENTING 1% OR MORE

Rule 8.3 of the Takeover Code (the "Code")

1. KEY INFORMATION

(a) Full name of discloser: MMCAP International Inc. SPC (b) Owner or controller of interests and short positions disclosed, if different from 1(a):

The naming of nominee or vehicle companies is insufficient. For a trust, the trustee(s), settlor and beneficiaries must be named. (c) Name of offeror/offeree in relation to whose relevant securities this form relates:

Use a separate form for each offeror/offeree Mariana Resources Limited (d) If an exempt fund manager connected with an offeror/offeree, state this and specify identity of offeror/offeree: (e) Date position held/dealing undertaken:

For an opening position disclosure, state the latest practicable date prior to the disclosure 19 June 2017 (f) In addition to the company in 1(c) above, is the discloser making disclosures in respect of any other party to the offer?

If it is a cash offer or possible cash offer, state "N/A" Sandstorm Gold Ltd





2. POSITIONS OF THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

If there are positions or rights to subscribe to disclose in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 2(a) or (b) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security.

(a) Interests and short positions in the relevant securities of the offeror or offeree to which the disclosure relates following the dealing (if any)

Class of relevant security:



ORD GBP.01



Interests Short positions Number % Number % (1) Relevant securities owned and/or controlled:



15,789,063



12.08% (2) Cash-settled derivatives:



(3) Stock-settled derivatives (including options) and agreements to purchase/sell:



TOTAL:



15,789,063



12.08%

All interests and all short positions should be disclosed.

Details of any open stock-settled derivative positions (including traded options), or agreements to purchase or sell relevant securities, should be given on a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions).

(b) Rights to subscribe for new securities (including directors' and other employee options)

Class of relevant security in relation to which subscription right exists: Details, including nature of the rights concerned and relevant percentages:

3. DEALINGS (IF ANY) BY THE PERSON MAKING THE DISCLOSURE

Where there have been dealings in more than one class of relevant securities of the offeror or offeree named in 1(c), copy table 3(a), (b), (c) or (d) (as appropriate) for each additional class of relevant security dealt in.

The currency of all prices and other monetary amounts should be stated.

(a) Purchases and sales

Class of relevant security Purchase/sale



Number of securities Price per unit



ORD GBP.01



Purchase



3,500



1.6800 CAD



ORD GBP.01



Purchase



107,000



1.6908 CAD



ORD GBP.01



Purchase



50,000



1.0020 GBP

(b) Cash-settled derivative transactions

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. CFD Nature of dealing

e.g. opening/closing a long/short position, increasing/reducing a long/short position Number of reference securities Price per unit





(c) Stock-settled derivative transactions (including options)

(i) Writing, selling, purchasing or varying

Class of relevant security Product description e.g. call option Writing, purchasing, selling, varying etc. Number of securities to which option relates Exercise price per unit Type

e.g. American, European etc. Expiry date Option money paid/ received per unit

(ii) Exercise

Class of relevant security Product description

e.g. call option Exercising/ exercised against Number of securities Exercise price per unit





(d) Other dealings (including subscribing for new securities)

Class of relevant security Nature of dealing

e.g. subscription, conversion Details Price per unit (if applicable)





4. OTHER INFORMATION

(a) Indemnity and other dealing arrangements

Details of any indemnity or option arrangement, or any agreement or understanding, formal or informal, relating to relevant securities which may be an inducement to deal or refrain from dealing entered into by the person making the disclosure and any party to the offer or any person acting in concert with a party to the offer:

Irrevocable commitments and letters of intent should not be included. If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"









(b) Agreements, arrangements or understandings relating to options or derivatives

Details of any agreement, arrangement or understanding, formal or informal, between the person making the disclosure and any other person relating to:

(i) the voting rights of any relevant securities under any option; or

(ii) the voting rights or future acquisition or disposal of any relevant securities to which any derivative is referenced:

If there are no such agreements, arrangements or understandings, state "none"









(c) Attachments

Is a Supplemental Form 8 (Open Positions) attached? NO





Date of disclosure: 20 JUNE 2017 Contact name: HUGH MACLEAN Telephone number: 001 416 408 2008

Public disclosures under Rule 8 of the Code must be made to a Regulatory Information Service and must also be emailed to the Takeover Panel at monitoring@disclosure.org.uk. The Panel's Market Surveillance Unit is available for consultation in relation to the Code's disclosure requirements on +44 (0)20 7638 0129.

The Code can be viewed on the Panel's website at www.thetakeoverpanel.org.uk.
AUSTIN, Texas, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- IntelliClear today announced the selection of the American Refugee Committee (ARC) as the 2017 recipient of its annual Clarity Trust donation. Under the yearly program, IntelliClear contributes 1% of its corporate profits to an outstanding charity as part of an on-going corporate commitment to supporting worldwide communities and charitable activities.

The Pew Research Center reports there are over 60 million displaced people globallyover half of which are childrenwho have fled their native homes to escape war, persecution and other life-threatening circumstances, many with nowhere to go and little resources available, says Eric Shuster, President and CEO of IntelliClear. The suffering of the worlds refugees is profound and the availability of relocation options is getting smaller, making the need for organizations like the ARC tremendous, adds Alex Kalamarides, Ph.D., Managing Director and General Partner of IntelliClear.

At ARC we work on impossible problems, difficult challenges that require a new approach, says ARCs President and CEO, Daniel Wordsworth. But we also believe in the power of everyday people to make the most meaningful changeits incredible what people can do when they set their minds to make a difference. That's just what IntelliClear has done here with Clarity Trust; they've seized an opportunity to support the most vulnerable people in the world, and they're empowering us to continue the work we do.

Past recipients of the IntelliClear Clarity Trust have included the Red Cross, Springs Rescue Mission, Doctors without Borders, Heartgift, Choice Humanitarian, SOS Childrens Villages of Greece, Childrens Aid Society of New York, UNICEFs Fund for the Children of Syria, Disabled American Veterans and the Global Orphan Project. IntelliClear encourages companies of all sizes to exercise corporate responsibility in making regular charitable donations to worthy causes.



About the American Refugee Committee (www.ARCrelief.org)

American Refugee Committee programs are built from the ground up, working with people at the most vulnerable points in their lives. ARC programs are as diverse as the people they serve, but all work together for the same goal: to help people take back control of their lives. ARC has worked with refugees around the world for more than 30 years, helping nearly 3 million people annually throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East.

About IntelliClear (www.intelliclear.com)

IntelliClear is a market research and business consulting firm committed to the delivery of actionable market intelligence to the global IT community. IntelliClears mission is to bring clarity to IT market intelligence by delivering results-oriented research, responsive industry experience, and effective data synthesis - leading to confident go-to-market plans. IntelliClear leverages the experiences of seasoned IT and market research professionals, while utilizing its global network of industry consultants and research partners to execute projects across a broad spectrum of disciplines and geographies.
SCOTTSBLUFF  The Scottsbluff City Council voted unanimously Monday to forward a positive recommendation to the Nebraska Liquor Control Commission for a Class C liquor license to a downtown business owner.

Peggy McVay, owner of A Little Bit of Everything on Broadway in Scottsbluff, has been in business a little more than two years. Her store sells unique wine accessories and kitchen and interior decor. She told the city council she is seeking the license to sell a small selection of wines and to be able to host wine tastings at her store.

McVay said she attended a three-hour Responsible Beverage Service Training course hosted by the Nebraska State Patrol at the John Harms Advanced Technology Center last week and will keep the wine on display close to the register in her business to ensure that it stays under close watch. McVay said that while she is currently the stores only employee, in the future, if one of her employees were caught selling to a minor they would be terminated on the spot.

Scottsbluff Police Chief Kevin Spencer said that during the course of his background investigation into McVay, he found nothing in her background that would disqualify her from obtaining the license.
GERING  As Scotts Bluff County awaits approval if its plan for major renovations to the County Detention Center, the Board of Commissioners got a jump on the project by authorizing the preparation of shop drawings on the project.

The shop drawings are for the basic steel structure, which well need to have anyway, said County Board Chairman Mark Masterton. If there are some things that need to be changed in the plans, we dont have to alter the shop drawings. The decision isnt so much anticipating as getting a jump on the construction season.

The shop drawings will be prepared by FCI Construction of Cheyenne, construction manager at risk for the project.

Plans for new construction and renovation of the jail must be approved by the Nebraska Jail Standards Board. It was created in 1978 with statutory authority to develop and implement minimum standards for adult jails and temporary holding facilities throughout Nebraska. Its under the jurisdiction of the Nebraska Crime Commission.

County Corrections Director Joe Gaul told commissioners he has a special conference call and vote scheduled with members of the Jail Standards Board for later this week.

The board has already told me all the documents Ive submitted are very positive and meet all their requirements, Gaul said. Im confident they will approve the plan, but Im still waiting until they vote.

The estimated $4.5 million price to expand the jail will add 71 beds to the existing facility, expand the medical area and add a number of security features.

Were a little bit behind schedule in terms of getting everything approved by Jail Standards, Masterton said. The shop drawings dont affect the basic footprint of the building.

One of the areas the county was asked to justify was the expanded need for medical facilities. Masterton said he thinks the countys explanation to Jail Standards is a good one.

Right now, we have one medical bed in the facility, he said. Thats not good enough because were using the booking area for medical beds. Thats not appropriate.

Masterton explained that when the detention center was originally built, the county was to contract with Regional West Medical Center for placement of inmates in need of medical attention. That opportunity is no longer available.

In the newly designed facility, there will be 10 available medical beds in its own area on the northeast side of the building.

The county is financing the project on its own without asking for bonding. Savings from not having to send inmates to other jails will help cover the cost. Also, the county has finalized a contract with Goshen County, Wyoming, to house some of the inmates from the local jail to help decrease overcrowding.

The Goshen County Jail can hold 30 inmates and would charge Scotts Bluff $47 per day for each inmate it houses. Goshen County would cover any medical expenses.

Masterton said theyre trying to get as much of the project completed before winter, which will help cut down heating expenses. He estimated construction will be completed in late March or early April in 2018, depending on how fast they can get the project moving forward.
GERING  Construction continues at a fast pace on the new Gering Cobblestone Hotel and the Gering City Council met in special session June 15 to get the next part of funding in place.

Council members unanimously authorized the mayor to sign the Economic Development Assistance agreement, transferring $273,000 in LB 840 economic development low-interest loan funds to Gering Hospitality Group, redevelopers for the project.

The LB 840 loans also authorize the creation of up to 10 full time jobs between now and November 2018.

The bulk of the loan will be completed and closed through a local bank, said Gering City Attorney Jim Ellison. We hoping to close next week, so thats why we had to call a special meeting so we could get everything in place.

Funding approval was scheduled for a vote at the councils regular June 12 meeting, but was canceled when a dangerous storm brought severe weather to the area that evening.

Council members also passed an ordinance authorizing the issuance and sale of $902,000 of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) bonds to pay all or part of the cost of work done so far.

Gering will work with Cattle National Bank and Trust in Seward on the $902,000 in TIF funds. Ellison said Gering would issue the bonds, which mature in 15 years. The bank will purchase the bonds and lend the money from the proceeds.

Getting the financing in place is part of the construction loan, Ellison said. We have to have that done before we can go to the bank to start tapping the assets for paying the contractors and for materials.

Ellison said he observed construction crews working on the hotel even on weekends. Its estimated the builders would like to have the project completed by November to take advantage of the holiday travel season.
GERING  Members of the Gering School Board have approved an agreement for a construction manager for the high school renovation project.

Gering Schools will enter into agreement with Hausmann Construction of Lincoln, who will serve as construction manager at risk.

Hausmann, which is also the construction manager for the expansion at Scottsbluff High School, has opened a home office in Scottsbluff to handle both projects locally.

Gering Schools Bob Hastings said most of the contract is standard for the construction manager to provide personnel, supervision and oversight for the entire project.

We negotiated a guaranteed maximum cost for the personnel based on an hourly rate, Hastings said. Our cost is $523,000, which gives us enough support for the entire length of the project.

Hastings said the second piece of the financial package with Hausmann is for the overhead and risk they assume in working through all the insurance theyll need to protect their interests and their profit. That negotiated price came to 3.5 percent of the project.

Hausmann has done a lot of schools around the state, Hastings said. They just finished a high school in Columbus and have done work for Lincoln Public Schools and the University of Nebraska. They came to us highly recommended.

In conjunction with the high school project, the school board approved an initial invoice from architects RB+B Architecture for just over $139,000 for work done in initial schematic designs and construction documents.

The architect will work closely with Hausmann on development of all the designs, Hastings said. We received a lot of great ideas and input from staff and faculty during the initial meetings. The architects are now incorporating those ideas into the overall design as we get farther and farther down the road toward a final design.

He said the large pieces of the project are well in place and the architects have provided some 3D renderings and virtual walk-throughs.

In a special election on March 14, Gering voters approved a $24 million bond issue to add a Freshman Academy on the north side of the high school, plus renovating the existing high school building, adding more security and upgrading the physical plant, such as the heating and air conditioning system.

Hastings said that when the high school was built in the early 1960s and opened in 1965, major systems were designed a lot differently and over the years theyve just worn out.

When remodeling, we expect to encounter problems we dont know about until we see them, he said. Thats just the nature of construction.

The entire project should include about 50,000 to 60,000 square feet of new construction and another 40,000 square feet of renovations.

The project should begin in winter 2017 or early spring 2018, with an estimated completion at the end of summer 2019.
SCOTTSBLUFF  Pheasants Forever, NRCS, NPNRD, and Nebraska Game and Parks will be hosting the Diversity and Your Farm Habitat Tour in Scottsbluff on Thursday, June 22.

The event will begin at the Scottsbluff North Platte Natural Resource District office at 9 a.m. This tour will include information about changes in the Conservation Reserve Program, new opportunities through Pheasants Forever and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, and how diversity can make the difference in your conservation projects. During the tour, organizers will also discuss how diversity can be used in this area to help attract Monarch butterflies, honey bees, native bees and other pollinators.

If you are interested in learning more about annual and perennial plants, native forbs, and other species to include in your own backyard, consider attending the tour at the Scottsbluff North Platte Natural Resource District office located at 100547 Airport Road at 9 a.m. A presentation will be given and a tour of some local sites where diverse habitat management activities have been implemented in Scottsbluff County. Free lunch will follow at the NPNRD office.

Topics that will be presented at the tour will include: CRP changes and design procedure requirements, benefits of diversity in habitat and conservation seedings, and seeding recommendations. This tour is during National Pollinator Week June 19  June 25 and will include a look at some of the grasses and native forbs that can work in the panhandle of Nebraska.

If you are interested in additional information or attending this habitat tour, contact Mike Klosterman, farm bill wildlife biologist at the Scottsbluff NRCS office, 308-632-2195, extension 123.

Please RSVP by Wednesday, June 21 for a meal count.
NEW YORK, June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The following statement is being issued by Levi & Korsinsky, LLP:



To: All persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired securities of Eco Science Solutions, Inc. ("Eco Science Solutions") (OTCMKTS:ESSI) between May 1, 2017 and May 19, 2017 . You are hereby notified that a securities class action lawsuit has been commenced in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. To get more information go to:

http://www.zlk.com/pslra-sb/eco-science-solutions-inc?wire=3

or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212) 363-7500, toll-free: (877) 363-5972. There is no cost or obligation to you.

The complaint alleges that throughout the class period Defendants issued materially false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) the Companys plan for strategic acquisitions lacked veracity; and (ii) as a result, Defendants statements about the Companys business, operations and prospects were materially false and misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis at all relevant times. On May 19, 2017, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued an order of suspension of trading, halting trading of the Companys securities.

If you suffered a loss in Eco Science Solutions you have until July 24, 2017 to request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff. Your ability to share in any recovery doesnt require that you serve as a lead plaintiff.

Levi & Korsinsky is a national firm with offices in New York, California, Connecticut, and Washington D.C. The firms attorneys have extensive expertise and experience representing investors in securities litigation, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
This page is archived. Data published after 5 April 2022 can be found on the renewed website. Go to the new statistics page

Published: 20 June 2017

Road traffic accidents claimed 26 lives in May

According to preliminary data of Statistics Finland, 404 accidents involving personal injury happened in road traffic in May. In them, 26 persons were killed and 487 persons injured. The number of persons killed was eight higher and that of persons injured 98 lower than in May 2016.

Persons killed in road traffic accidents 1/1985 - 5/2017. Deaths in the past 12 months by month

Of the persons who were killed, 20 travelled by passenger car, one by motorcycle and one by lorry. Pedestrians killed in road traffic accidents numbered three and cyclists one. Among those who died, 20 were men and six were women.

A total of 1,571 road traffic accidents involving personal injury happened in January to May period. In them, 91 persons were killed and 2,000 persons injured. The number of persons killed was 10 higher and that of persons injured 35 lower than in the corresponding period of 2016. Of the persons who were killed, 56 travelled by passenger car, five by van, one by moped, one by motorcycle and four by lorry. Pedestrians killed numbered 13 and cyclists four. In addition, seven other road users were killed.

Source: Transport and Tourism: Statistics on road traffic accidents. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Irmeli Segerholm 029 551 3219, Matti Kokkonen 029 551 3770, liikenne.matkailu@stat.fi

Director in charge: Sami Saarikivi

Publication in pdf-format (189.8 kB)

Updated 20.6.2017

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Statistics on road traffic accidents [e-publication].

ISSN=2342-3846. May 2017. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 11.11.2022].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/ton/2017/05/ton_2017_05_2017-06-20_tie_001_en.html
A white University of Kentucky student accused of physically assaulting a Black student worker while repeatedly using racial slurs says she will withdraw from the school. The decision announced Tuesday by a lawyer for 22-year-old Sophia Rosing came after hundreds of students rallied on campus the night before. News outlets report the students called for unity and for the university to quickly address the situation. Officials say Rosing has been charged with assault, public intoxication and disorderly conduct. She pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Monday afternoon. The altercation at Boyd Hall was captured on video and posted to multiple social media platforms.
In the first public meeting held since an altercation erupted between Statesville City Council members Roy West and Jarrod Phifer, West offered to resign his position.

I publicly embarrassed myself, the city and the city council, West said during closing remarks at Mondays Statesville City Council meeting. If it is the wish of the council that I resign, I will be glad to comply.

Mayor Costi Kutteh, the only member to respond, said that its ultimately Wests decision and council did not have the legal authority to tell him how to proceed.

Phifer, the Ward 3 representative, did not attend the meeting.

Phifer and West, the Ward 1 representative, were involved in a scuffle during a closed meeting on June 3 over the location of a proposed splash pad.

A week before to the altercation, West cited recent violence and proximity to a homeless shelter as reasons the splash pad should be built somewhere besides the Bentley Center, which is on Wilmington Avenue in Southside.

Phifer, who represents that area, responded to Wests remarks in a guest column published in the Record & Landmark (June 4).

Among other things, Phifer wrote Im sure Mr. West hasnt lived in any type of living conditions that persist in South Statesville. His point of view illustrates how ignorant comments can be.

West said he took offense to the comments.

West maintains he never touched Phifer because other councilmen restrained the two. Phifer claims that he suffered a broken knee and sprained thumb during the altercation.

Phifer obtained private warrants for misdemeanor assault and battery and misdemeanor communicating threats, according to his attorney, Todd Hollis of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

West has a court date of July 27, court records show.

Hollis initially said they would try to mediate the issue.

Phifer said Tuesday he had not received any paperwork to start the mediation process, but at this point he would decline any invitation because he feels uncomfortable around West.

Following the brief discussion on Monday, West chose to stay on the board.
MELVILLE, N.Y., June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Park Electrochemical Corp. (NYSE:PKE) announced the introduction of M-Ply, a prepreg designed specifically for Radio Frequency (RF)/digital hybrid bonding. M-ply is the newest member of the Meteorwave Family of materials, as well as the newest addition to Parks line of Very Low Loss and Ultra Low Loss electronic materials. M-Ply is available globally in multiple fiberglass styles and resin contents. M-Ply is designed to perform very well in Multi-layer RF, Multifunction Antennae, 5G Antennae and Multi-layer PTFE applications.

M-Ply prepreg is very well suited for hybrid RF/digital constructions, including bonding PTFE to PTFE and PTFE to digital substrates. It enables combinations of RF circuitry and high speed digital circuitry on the same circuit board. M-Ply provides excellent bonding to PTFE substrates, has a T300 of greater than 120 minutes and offers very tight thickness control. M-Ply also meets NASA outgassing requirements.

M-Ply is a member of the UL-designated Meteorwave Family of materials. It has a UL 94V-0 designation and a 130C MOT Rating. M-Ply meets IPC-4101/91 and /102 specifications, and is RoHS compliant.

For information regarding M-Ply in North and South America, please contact Neltec, Inc. at +1-480-967-5600; for information in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, please contact Neltec SA at +33-562-985290; and for information in Asia and Australia, please contact Nelco Products Pte. Ltd. at +65-686-17117.

Certain portions of this news release may be deemed to constitute forward looking statements that are subject to various factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from Parks expectations. Such factors include, but are not limited to, general conditions in the electronics and aerospace industries, Parks competitive position, the status of Parks relationships with its customers, economic conditions in international markets, the cost and availability of raw materials, transportation and utilities, and the various factors set forth in Item 1A Risk Factors and under the caption Factors That May Affect Future Results after Item 7 of Parks Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 26, 2017.

Park Electrochemical Corp. is a global advanced materials company which develops and manufactures advanced composite materials, primary and secondary structures and assemblies and low-volume tooling for the aerospace markets and high-technology digital and RF/microwave printed circuit materials principally for the telecommunications and internet infrastructure, enterprise and military markets. The Companys manufacturing facilities are located in Kansas, Singapore, France, Arizona and California. The Company also maintains R & D facilities in Arizona, Kansas and Singapore.

Additional corporation information is available on the Companys web site at www.parkelectro.com.
By MARK EVANS mevans@stegenherald.com Westover and Smith roads, on the far western edge of the county, will get paving priority for 2023. Country commissioners and Scott Schmieder, county road and bridge foreman, decided at last Thursdays commission meeting to go ahead and seal up that corner of the county. That way, graders will not have
Spread the love





(Cathy OBrian) Have you considered the correlation between the Clinton Foundation,

World Vision, and CIA/Jesuit Black Ops in Haiti? Or is that simply

semantics for more of the same crimes against humanity perpetrated under

the illusion of charity to fund a global domination agenda?



Related WATCH: Mainstream Media Finally Admits Russiagate is Clintons Conspiracy Theory





Source  Trance Formation

by Cathy OBrian, June 16th, 2017

My experiences carrying out Black Ops in Haiti under MK Ultra mind control gave me deep insight into the plight of this traumatized nation. Haiti was being used as a testing ground for trauma-based mind control, multi-generational genetic alteration, infestation of AIDs, human trafficking, and an epicenter for CIA cocaine and heroin drug ops.

I know from personal experience on a White House/Pentagon level that mind control is used to enforce actions contrary to innate human nature. Mind controls sliding scale extends to Psychological Warfare, which is a missing piece of the puzzle that brings the Big Picture into focus as to what in the world is really going on with Haiti.

Related Fabricated Social Change: Drug Counter Culture, New Age Movement (a Course on Miracles), and many more, were Manufactured (MK Ultra) | Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering

Several years ago when I learned of Rep Maxine Waters deep Haitian political connections, I turned over vast amounts of detailed testimony to her with renewed hopes and expectations of exposing CIA drug ops and helping the plight of the Haitians. This was not to be the case any more than was Maxine Waters handling of Gary Webbs testimony that inspired the CIA to investigate and clear themselves of drug ops despite over 500,000 documents proving otherwise. This raises questions that demand answers.

Bill Clintons infamous Mena cocaine operations that Id been exposed to since the late 1970s extended internationally to include Haiti and expanded into related criminal activity such as human trafficking. Bill and Hillarys complicity in crimes against humanity are rooted deeply with absolute power corrupting absolutely.

The Clintons are no strangers to charities being used as cover for their criminal operations. Charities like World Vision and various Christian missions collecting money under the guise of helping Haitians instead notoriously lined pockets while funding black ops.

Churches including the Lords Chapel in Brentwood, Tennessee and Hendersonville, Tennessees Mormon church are among those missions I had experience to know merged with CIA cocaine ops. Like many others, these cult churches sent their mind controlled followers out on missions to Haiti as cover for muling cocaine for the CIA.

Related Declassified Documents Disclose CIA Mind Control Programs

When a Lords Chapel mind controlled missionary was busted for cocaine he was not aware was in his suitcases, the church let him take the fall akin to Roger Clintons case. Prison ministries commenced thereafter, making the church appear compassionate the same way Bill Clintons pardon of Roger made it appear he cared. Same game for public appearance, and charities were providing the perfect cover.

During my tenure under MK Ultra mind control carrying out White House/Pentagon level black ops for Shadow Government globalists like the Clintons in the 1980s, AIDs was deliberately introduced into Haiti through World Vision vaccines.

Hillary Clintons perverse sexual abuse of me (detailed in TRANCE) was predicated on her understanding that I was immune from AIDs as necessary for working Haitian black ops. With Bill Clintons cocaine operations well entrenched in Haiti, and Hillarys accepted knowledge of World Visions AIDs operations, questions must be raised as to how this interfaces with the Clinton Foundations Haitian operations.

Charities have been used for decades to perpetuate CIA/Jesuit black ops since it is known that anyone emotionally donating to charities does not want to face the reality that their well intentioned monies were only used against humanity. Such anticipated natural human reactions are a powerful component of Psychological Warfare.

The Psych Warfare impact of AIDs genocide reverberates today, changing the very nature of human sexuality as anticipated.

With AIDs impacting heterosexual procreation and pedophilia being sanctioned by Shadow Government globalists in order to heighten suggestibility and confuse gender, human sexuality is in crisis. Understanding why is key to reclaiming our freedom to evolve as a society unhindered by mind controls agenda.

Related Another Side of The Music Industry: Monarch Mind Control

Psych Warfares hold on sexuality was deliberately introduced into Global Ed/Common Core. While Bill Clinton claimed the office of President, Gay Celebration month was forced into the school system. Transgender bathrooms would have become the norm under Hillary had this plan not been derailed this past election.

Why confuse sexuality and inhibit procreation? Why genetically cleanse through AIDs? It was my experience under mind control to have overheard much discussion regarding genetic engineering and cloning to replace natural procreation in order to accelerate intellect to keep up with AI (artificial intelligence).

It was also my experience that Bush Sr. adhered to Hitler/Himler research that sexually abusing a child would heighten their suggestibility and intelligence in accordance with creating the perfect race. This formula was used on his own son for Presidential placement to ensure the 100 year plan for global domination was ushered in. I was present during his discussion on this with close friend Bill Clinton at the Swiss Villa compound as detailed in TRANCE and ACCESS DENIED. My young, programmed daughter Kelly and I were being perversely used for covert filming/blackmail purposes at this Swiss Villa event.

When Bill Clinton stopped Bushs intent to covertly film him with my daughter, he further stated sexually abusing his child was not necessary when genetics were already in place to perpetuate the New World Order agenda. Regardless, both Bush and Clinton adhered to means of overriding innate free thought soul expression in favor of robotic compliance to their global agenda. Clintons denial of incest with Chelsea combined with stopping sex with my daughter, albeit for the cameras, formed my perception that pedophilia was not his personal perversion at that time.

Given the reality of the Clintons involvement in drug ops and human trafficking, my formed perception is certainly not conclusive. Perpe-traitors perversions notoriously extended past bi-sexual to tri-sexual -meaning they would try anything including children. Additionally, my daughters memory and subsequent testimony as to her personal exposure to the Clintons on this and other occasions was deliberately disrupted while she was a political prisoner in custody at Vanderbilt.

Reverberations of Psych Warfare that began in Haiti under the guise of charities has permeated our society on many levels for decades, even to the point of altering human sexuality. As more and more truth comes to light in view of Hillarys defeat, understand that roots of corruption run deep. We-the-people may have plucked the rosebud from the bush this past election, yet we still need to uproot the whole PLANt in order to render the thorns ineffective.

Remember that the proverbial road to Hades is paved with good intentions. Rather than contribute to shady charities or rely on governments to act on our behalf, begin personally reaching out to give a hand up to those in need. Dare to care.

And Dare to prosecute the Clintons for their complicity in crimes against humanity that have disrupted free thought and altered human evolution. Move beyond their diversionary blame game obstructions and Lock Clintons up!!!

Related Clintons FBI Files Literally Mention The Shadow Government at the State Dept.

_________________________

Stillness in the Storm Editors note: Did you find a spelling error or grammar mistake? Do you think this article needs a correction or update? Or do you just have some feedback? Send us an email at sitsshow@gmail.com with the error, headline and url. Thank you for reading.
From the monetary policy perspective there is no other option for Romania but to join the Eurozone, and the question is when and how, stated Liviu Voinea, Deputy Governor of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) on Wednesday, during "Romania 10 years in the EU. Progress, development perspectives, challenges" forum.

"I would like to clearly express the National Bank's point of view regarding Romania joining the Eurozone. From the monetary policy perspective there is no other option for Romania but to join the Eurozone. We can discuss as to how and when, not in order to postpone sine die, but from our desire to achieve a smooth transition when the economy is sufficiently competitive and prepared," said Liviu Voinea.

The Deputy Governor recounted a discussion he held with a security agent at a pharmacy who asked him whether the transition to the euro will lower his salary. Voinea explained to the latter that by adopting the euro, his salary will not decrease because the local currency, the leu, will disappear, and that way, the salary can only decrease in comparison to other currencies.

"Here we have people preoccupied with the euro transition issue and it is useful to explain what this transition involves in the smallest details. It is not the first time I am being asked about palpable things in relation to the euro transition. For example I have a cousin in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, pensioners, both him and his wife, who is concerned by the fact that his wife's pension, of 900 lei, will be turned into two 100-euro banknotes. Although having the same value, the psychological impact of seeing that after a life time's work one receives two pieces of paper is not to be underestimated. And these real-life examples speak about the fact that the transition to the euro is not just a simple replacement of banknotes or change. It is a complex process, with the most diverse and profound implications and undoubtedly it can only be triggered by a political decision relying on a widespread consensus in society," added Liviu Voinea.

agerpres.
KANSAS CITY, Mo., June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Smithfield Foodservice continues to innovate traditional BBQ offerings with the introduction of two new SmokeNFast products: Farmland SmokeNFast Roasted & Seared Chicken and Farmland SmokeNFast Smoked BBQ Pork Belly. These new products deliver the authentic, slow-smoked flavors of BBQ for chefs to incorporate into their menu applications without having to put in the hours and labor to season, slow-roast and smoke raw meat.



A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a56edf9c-b6c0-4a53-b9e4-68511d4e62eb

The SmokeNFast line features fully cooked products that boast quality flavors and quick preparation, saving operators time and money on back-of-house operations. Chefs can heat and serve the product and incorporate it into a variety of different applications, using their own signature flair.

The Smoked Pork Belly is made from squared, center-cut, ultra-trimmed, uncured pork belly that is dry-rubbed with BBQ seasoning and smoked to deliver rich, hickory-smoked flavor.

The Roasted & Seared Chicken is made from 100% boneless, skinless chicken thighs. It is tumble marinated and then flash fried to sear. After searing, it is vacuum-packaged and cooked sous vide until tender.

It is our understanding that operators want to keep their menu competitive, but staying up-to-date takes a lot of time for many of them. To help chefs maintain their creativity, we need to save them some time in the kitchen. SmokeNFast allows operators to create inspiring menu options in a limited amount of time, said Chip Morgan, director of marketing, foodservice & industrial marketing for Smithfield Foods. Our goal with SmokeNFast is to empower operators to create great meals with ease.

The newest SmokeNFast products are now available. For more information, please visit smokenfast.com or smithfieldfarmlandfoodservice.com.

About Smithfield Foods

Smithfield Foods is a $15 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.
DUSSELDORF  Bayer's chief executive said talks with the EU Commission over the antitrust scrutiny of the German drugmaker's planned takeover of U.S. seeds maker Monsanto were "very good and constructive," confirming a target to wrap up the deal by year-end.

Bayer still expects to be able to file for regulatory approval in Europe by the end of June, and CEO Werner Baumann reiterated that EU regulators would likely launch an in-depth analysis of the transaction, which will create the world's largest supplier in the combined seeds and crop chemicals market.

"We are in very good and constructive talks with the EU Commission's Competition Department. But we are not quite there yet," Baumann told journalists.
Updated at 3:50 p.m.

DETROIT  Ford Motor Co. will export vehicles from China to the U.S. for the first time starting in 2019.

Ford said Tuesday it plans to move production of its Ford Focus small car from the U.S. to China, where it already makes the Focus for Chinese buyers. Ford will continue to make the Focus in Europe, and will also export some variants of the Focus from Europe to the U.S.

Sales of small cars have dropped sharply in the U.S. and companies are seeking to cut costs making them. Ford's president of global operations Joe Hinrichs said the move to China will save the company $1 billion, including $500 million for canceling plans to build the Focus in Mexico.

Wary of the response from President Donald Trump, who has criticized Ford for making vehicles outside the U.S., Ford said the move won't cost U.S. jobs. The suburban Detroit plant that currently makes the Focus will be converted late next year to produce the Ford Ranger pickup and Ford Bronco SUV.

Ford also said Tuesday that it plans to invest $900 million in its Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, Ky., to make the new, aluminum-sided Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. Those vehicles will go on sale this fall and will be exported to more than 55 markets globally, the company said. The investment will secure 1,000 jobs there.

But the White House response was muted. Asked Tuesday whether Trump plans to get tougher on China or on automakers who leave the U.S., White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said the president wants to lower business taxes and reform the tax code so businesses will want to "come back to the United States, grow in the United States, manufacture more in the United States."

Hinrichs said Ford's research shows that customers  who are used to phones and other gadgets from China  care more about product quality than where their vehicles are made.

Plans for production of the 2019 Focus  which will be larger and have some significant updates  have bounced around over the last few months as Ford tries to squeeze some profits from the ailing small car segment. U.S. Focus sales were down 20 percent through May, hurt by low gas prices and consumer preference for SUVs.

In January, the company announced it would cancel a new plant in Mexico and instead use capacity at another plant in Mexico to build the Focus. But over the last few months, Hinrichs said, Ford decided it could save another $500 million in tooling and other manufacturing costs if it moved production to China.

Hinrichs said last month's departure of former CEO Mark Fields had no bearing on the decision, which was in the works for some time.

Hinrichs said Chinese wages are lower than wages in Mexico, although the cost to ship the vehicles erases some of that advantage. It's still cheaper to make cars for the U.S. in Mexico, he said, but Ford has extra capacity in China and the move frees up capital for the company immediately.

Ford isn't the first car company to export vehicles to the U.S. from China. Volvo Cars made the move in 2015. General Motors Co. started importing the low-volume Buick Envision midsize SUV from China in 2016. GM also imports some plug-in hybrid-electric Cadillac CT6 sedans from China.

Hinrichs said he didn't know other automakers' plans, but as of now, the Focus would be the highest-volume vehicle exported from China to the U.S.

Ford shares fell 1 percent to close at $11.12 Tuesday.
VANCOUVER, B.C., June 20, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nickel North Exploration Corp. (TSX-V:NNX) (the Company or Nickel North) announces that following the Annual General Meeting held on June 16, 2017, Ge (Anna) Mao and Walter Coles, Jr. retired from the board of the Company as they did not stand for re-election. The Company wishes to sincerely thank Ms. Mao and Mr. Coles for their tremendous contribution over the years. The Company also is pleased to announce that Mr. Zhijun He and Nick Watters were elected as new directors of the Company at the Annual General Meeting to replace Ms. Mao and Mr. Coles.



Dr. Zhijun He is a professional geologist with over 20 years of experience in geological research, mineral exploration and geological service. He holds a PhD degree in Petrology and Economic Geology from China University of Geosciences (Beijing) and is a member of AusIMM. Dr. He is the winner of the 11th Silver Hammer Prize in Geological Science awarded by Geological Society of China, and has won several provincial and ministerial Technology Awards for mineral exploration and scientific research, including two First Prizes of the Prospecting Achievement Award from China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association. He currently serves as Deputy General Manager of Sinotech Minerals Exploration Co., Ltd. (Sinotech) and holds the positions as director or supervisor for six major subsidiaries of Sinotech. Dr. He has been guiding the exploration and has pioneered the market development of geological service in China, Asia, Canada and Africa, and has led the discoveries of several large-sized multi-metallic deposits for clients of Sinotech in Africa.

Mr. Watters is a co-founder of several successful mining enterprises. He has been an integral part of raising nearly $260 million for various start-up and development opportunities in his career and has been part of a team that have brought several projects from initial discoveries to full development situations. Beginning in the corporate communications field, he has worked with several public and private companies in a wide variety of sectors including mining, high-tech and the biotech industries. Mr. Watters helped create the corporate identities for a number of small start-ups as well as heading up their corporate communications departments. Mr. Watters is currently the Director of Business Development for East Africa Metals Inc. as well as serving as a director to other public companies. He has been the President of his private investment company, Talisman Venture Partners, since 1999.

On behalf of Nickel North Exploration Corp.

SIGNED

Andrew Lee Smith, Interim President and CEO

About Nickel North Exploration Corp.

Nickel North Exploration is a Canada-based exploration company focused on defining a Cu-Ni-PGE mineral resource at its Hawk Ridge Project in Northern Quebec. The board of directors, advisor committee and management team are experienced, successful mine finders. The property consists of a 50 km long belt of magmatic Cu-Ni-PGE occurrences covering 30,658 hectares. The project is located near tidewater. Quebec is a mining friendly jurisdiction. Nickel North Exploration is a conscientious corporate citizen maintains good relations with local Inuit communities and is committed to sustainable development. For more information on the company, please visit www.nickelnorthexploration.com.

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.
Boeing dominated the deal flow at the Paris Air Show, overwhelming rival Airbus on the back of Asian demand for the new Max 10, the biggest version of its 737 workhorse.

The U.S. planemaker secured orders and expressions of interest for more than 500 jets worth as much as $66 billion through Tuesday, compared with Airbus's tally of 227 airliners for about $24 billion.

Airbus could still fire back, as the Toulouse, France-based manufacturer's veteran sales chief John Leahy will be loath to be outdone in what's set to be his last appearance at the aviation industry's biggest gathering.

Boeing's 737 Max 10, rolled out to combat Airbus's hot-selling A321neo, has secured $30 billion in commitments alone at the show. While many deals were tentative or involve conversions of existing contracts, the overall haul looks set to surpass the total $50 billion signed at the 2016 show in Farnborough, England, which was the lowest figure since 2010. Asian purchasers were particularly active as they gird for an accelerating travel boom. That's a contrast to the relatively restrained buying from crowded markets in the U.S. and Europe.

"We have never seen a demographic shift like that ever in the world, in terms of the scale but also the purchasing power," Domhnal Slattery, chief executive officer of Avolon, said after the world's third-largest lessor ordered $8.4 billion of Boeing planes. "We're backing that global trend."

The leasing company, which is now owned by Bohai Capital Holding Co., was joined by other Asian buyers of Boeing planes, including SpiceJet Ltd. of India, Chinese carrier Okay Airways Co. Ltd., Japan Investment Adviser Co. and BOC Aviation Ltd. The leasing arm of China Development Bank signed agreements to buy planes from both Airbus and Boeing.

Avolon decided to lock in deliveries of as many as 125 of Boeing's upgraded narrowbody jets because production slots are "very valuable real estate." The Max family of planes is oversold through 2020, and capacity is finite for the model favored by budget carriers, Slattery said in an interview. He projects the middle class in Asia to eventually swell by more than 1 billion people in the coming years.

"These people are going to get on planes," said Slattery. "And there's no going back."

Boeing said demand for single-aisle planes as well as wide-bodies remains buoyant, despite concerns about economic and political turbulence in the Middle East and low fuel prices serving as disincentive to invest in more efficient aircraft.

"We are continuing to see strong energy in the marketplace," said Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg, predicting that new orders should roughly match deliveries this year. "I think there's a little upside here this week" at the Paris show.

The Max 10, the first new model from Chicago-based Boeing since the 777X series was unveiled at the Dubai Air Show in 2013, will be 5 feet (1.68 meters) longer than the $119.2 million Max 9, currently the biggest member of the re-engined 737 family, which was launched in 2011.

With numerous conversions among the Boeing orders, "that wouldn't qualify as a launch as far as we're concerned at Airbus," said sales head Leahy, who earlier quipped that the Max 10's biggest competitor is the sister Max 9. "Let's talk about the actual incremental orders they've got, and I think our numbers are looking pretty good. But you can't go home early."
Q  I would love to have the recipe for the naked pig from Macs Local Eats. Its amazing how they get something so delicious out of something so simple. Brian Hamilton, Manchester

A  When Chris Mac McKenzie, chef and owner of Macs Local Eats, envisioned the Naked Pig sandwich as porks answer to a classic French dip. Cold, thinly sliced pork on buttery, cheesy bread and horseradish aioli  dip that in really good, hot pork broth  how could that not be delicious?

The Naked Pig sandwich quickly garnered a fan following at his counter-service restaurant located in the Tamm Avenue Grill. McKenzie slowly cooks pork loin vacuum packed with fresh thyme and garlic in a 135-degree circulating water bath three hours. The cooking method, known as sous vide, produces tender meats cooked perfectly to temperature with predictable results every time.

The pork comes out the color of rose petals and so tender, he says. Sous vide circulators have dropped in price to affordable levels for home cooks in the past few years. Home cooks can roast the pork loin for this sandwich as well, he says.

McKenzie doesnt cut corners on his roasted pork bone broth, either. You get the full flavor of the bones with roasting them first and cooking them for a long time. He makes the horseradish aioli in-house. You can mix a good mayonnaise with horseradish, but its pretty easy to make a good aioli once you get the hang of it, he says.

McKenzie credits Meadowlark Farms with humanely and sustainably raising the best pork for this popular sandwich. For the past five years McKenzie has supplied local home cooks with high-quality proteins, the freshest fruits and vegetables, and interesting artisan food products through Macs Local Buys, his Community Supported Agriculture business.

His solid contacts with local farmers and with the food community served him well when he opened Macs Local Eats. Although he hadnt planned to open a restaurant, when the opportunity arose to do so, he was ready  sort of.

I used one of my own dry-aged beeves for opening  you just cant call up and order one of those without a plan. Our burgers taste so good because of the dry-aging, and also we use the entire cow in the beef  not just selected cuts, he says. He seasons the burgers simply, with only salt and pepper.

His approach to cooking is simple. Use the best locally available ingredients in season. Keep preparations simple and allow the flavors of the foods to shine.

Macs Local Eats (in Tamm Avenue Bar)

1225 Tamm Avenue

To request a recipe

Would you like to request a recipe from a restaurant that is still open in the St. Louis area? Send your request along with your full name and the city you live in to reciperequest@ post-dispatch.com.
ST. LOUIS  A St. Louis judge declared a mistrial Monday in a talcum powder trial underway in St. Louis Circuit Court after the U.S. Supreme Court imposed limits on where injury lawsuits may be filed.

It was the second time in three weeks that the court had sided with businesses that want to prevent plaintiffs from venue shopping for friendly courts for their cases.

In an 8-1 ruling, the justices overturned a lower courts decision that had allowed hundreds of out-of-state patients who took Bristol-Myers Squibbs blood-thinning medication Plavix to sue the company in California.

State courts cannot hear claims against companies that are not based in the state when the alleged injuries did not occur there, the justices ruled.

The Supreme Court on May 30 reached a similar conclusion in a separate case involving out-of-state injury claims against Texas-based BNSF Railway Co.

The mistrial in St. Louis was declared in a trial that started June 5 in front of St. Louis Circuit Judge Rex Burlison. A Webster Groves man and two out-of-state plaintiffs sued Johnson & Johnson and its supplier Imerys Talc America over a claim that talcum powder in its products caused ovarian cancer.

In Burlisons courtroom Monday, Jim Onder, whose firm has represented plaintiffs in each of the six trials that have been held in St. Louis, and other plaintiffs lawyers argued that the latest talcum powder trial should continue because Johnson & Johnson and Imerys use a company with a plant in Union in Franklin County to package and label talc products. That company is Pharma Tech Industries. The plaintiffs lawyers also said they believed the court had jurisdiction because one of the three plaintiffs for this trial is a Webster Groves man whose wife died of ovarian cancer in 2011.

Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson and Imerys argued that Pharma Tech was simply one of the companys contractors, playing no role in establishing a courts jurisdiction over out-of-state plaintiffs.

Were pleased our request for a mistrial was granted, a Johnson & Johnson spokeswoman said.

Onder said the U.S. Supreme Court decision is horrible to judicial economy, because it means cases cannot be consolidated and tried in one place, slowing the system down.

He said he still believes Burlisons ruling gives plaintiffs a chance to try to prove that actions by Pharma Tech hurt his clients. That would allow claims for some 1,100 other plaintiffs to still be heard in St. Louis.

The judge said he did not believe it was fair for Johnson & Johnson to have to defend what are new claims over Pharma Techs involvement in the plaintiffs attempts to establish jurisdiction.

Onder said Pharma Tech probably would be added as a defendant in future lawsuits. A Pharma Tech representative could not immediately be reached Monday.

In light of Burlisons ruling, talcum powder plaintiffs in St. Louis will try to prove that they used and were injured by Johnson & Johnson products actually processed in Missouri, according to former St. Louis University Dean Mike Wolff.

Missouris joinder rule says that two or more plaintiffs who live either in- or out-of-state can join the same lawsuit if their claims arise out of the same transaction or occurrence or series of transactions or occurrences, Wolff said. The Supreme Courts decision challenges the rule and requires a stronger connection between a plaintiff and the state where they sue.

What the talcum powder plaintiffs are trying to do is say that theres a Missouri connection, Wolff said. In the Bristol-Myers Squibb case, the plaintiffs could not show any connection between the injured plaintiffs outside the state of California and any activity in the state.

The Supreme Court ruling Monday could wipe out five previous verdicts from trials in St. Louis against Johnson & Johnson. Four of five trials over the past 16 months ended in plaintiffs verdicts exceeding $300 million. The four verdicts against the company have been appealed, and the appeals court had said it would await the Bristol-Myers Squibb decision before ruling.

Companies typically can be sued in a state where they are headquartered or incorporated, as well as where they have important ties. Businesses want to limit the ability of plaintiffs to shop for courts in states with laws conducive to injury lawsuits.

Plaintiffs contend that corporations are seeking to squeeze their access to compensation for injuries by denying them their day in state courts.

The underlying lawsuits filed in 2012 against Bristol-Myers and California-based drug distributor McKesson Corp. involved 86 California residents and 575 non-Californians, alleging Plavix increased their risk of stroke, heart attack and internal bleeding.

Bristol-Myers argued it should not face claims in California by plaintiffs who do not live in the state. The company is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in New York.

The California Supreme Court ruled in August 2016 that it could preside over the case because Bristol-Myers conducted a national marketing campaign and sold nearly $1 billion of the drug in the state.

Writing for the Supreme Court majority on Monday, Justice Samuel Alito said the California court was wrong to rule that it could hear the case without identifying any adequate link between the state and the nonresidents claim.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor predicted that the Supreme Courts ruling will make it harder to consolidate lawsuits against corporations in state courts and lead to unfairness for individual injury plaintiffs.

There is nothing unfair about subjecting a massive corporation to suit in a state for a nationwide course of conduct that injures state residents and nonresidents alike, Sotomayor wrote.

Joel Currier of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
ST. LOUIS  Missouri Highway Patrol troopers will soon be patrolling interstates in St. Louis as part of a 90-day pilot program to free up city police officers to focus on violent crime.

Between 20 and 30 troopers will be assigned to the special detail, which will focus on the stretches of Interstates 55 and 70 that fall within the city limits, said Missouri Highway Patrol Cpl. Juston Wheetley. About eight troopers will be on each shift.

The troopers also will be available to back up city police officers if theyre ever in need of assistance, but their primary focus will be traffic enforcement, Wheetley said.

Theres a lot of violent crime in that area, and we will be aggressively enforcing all traffic and hazardous movement to free up city officers to focus on the violent crime in those areas, he said. Were really looking forward to partnering with the city and assisting them in any role that we can.

Troopers were originally scheduled to begin patrolling the interstates this week, but the plan was postponed as leaders continue to work out some details, Wheetley said. Troopers are now set to begin patrolling in the city in early July, he said.

Its unclear how many city officers the plan will free up, and how they will be repurposed. St. Louis Interim Chief Lawrence OToole was unavailable for comment Monday, and the department did not make anyone else available for comment.

Tested before

The idea of partnering with the highway patrol has been floated for years.

It was tested at least once, several years ago, when troopers paired up with city police officers for an entire summer during a particularly high crime spike, according to an internal St. Louis police memo obtained by the Post-Dispatch.

Following a surge in violent crime in February 2015, then-Chief Sam Dotson approached the state to help with patrols downtown and along interstates, envisioning a six-month pilot program using about a dozen troopers.

The idea didnt go over well with some of the rank and file, said St. Louis Police Officers Association business manager Jeff Roorda, and the same can be said for some this time around.

For decades the city has taken care of its own turf, and this kind of feels like the National Guard is being called in, he said.

Roorda said the plan wouldnt be a magic bullet for the citys crime problems, which he said can only be addressed by raising salaries.

I hope this doesnt distract from that, he said.

Former Highway Patrol Superintendent Ron Replogle said during his tenure his agency contemplated sending eight troopers to help, but ultimately the agency didnt have the money to spare to make it happen.

What changed is unclear. Parker Briden, a spokesman for Gov. Eric Greitens, did not return an email seeking comment for this story.

Push from Greitens

Public safety officials within the Greitens administration said in March that the governor wanted the patrol to have a bigger role in law enforcement in St. Louis and Kansas City, given their standing among the countrys most dangerous cities. The robbery in December of Greitens wife outside a St. Louis cafe also propelled the governor to look for ways to address crime.

Crime in St. Louis has escalated in recent weeks. The latest crime statistics show overall crime in the city is down about 1 percent, but aggravated assaults with a gun are up about 27 percent over the same time frame last year. Homicides are running at about the same pace as last year, but seven people were killed during Fathers Day weekend.

There have been 11 officer-involved shootings so far this year. There were 12 in all of 2016.

Greitens and then-Mayor Francis Slay met in February to discuss having the patrol come into the city. Greitens said then that should the citys next mayor be open to it, he would pursue it.

Mayor Lyda Krewson, who succeeded Slay in April, declined to be interviewed for this story but issued a statement saying: Were in conversations with the governors office about the Missouri Highway Patrol patrolling parts of Interstates 70 and 55. Some communications details still need to be worked out, but we hope to move forward soon.

State troopers dont currently patrol the portions of five interstates that crisscross the city.

Wheetley said the troopers being assembled for the city detail are being pulled from areas of Troop C that have abundant manpower, and that several zones are being combined and schedules adjusted to maintain the current level of coverage.

Troopers will report to highway patrol commanders, who will work with city commanders throughout the pilot program, Wheetley said.

This will be reviewed by our colonel and the governor and city staff to determine the effectiveness and what role it will have or if it will continue in the future, Wheetley said.
WASHINGTON  Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin said Tuesday that he believes veterans who say they were harmed by mustard gas exposure during World War II but have had claims denied by the VA, and that he will work with Sen. Claire McCaskill on a remedy.

I think the government can and should do better than it has done on this issue, said Shulkin, who was appointed by President Donald Trump to head the 350,000-employee veterans health care system that was rocked in 2014 by allegations of poor service and long waits for appointments at some VA facilities.

Shulkin said he was behind the efforts of McCaskill, D-Mo., to pass legislation that would deal with a dwindling number of these World War II veterans, including Arla Wayne Harrell of Macon, Mo., who says he was exposed to mustard gas experiments at Camp Crowder in Missouri in the waning days of World War II, but kept quiet for decades under threat of being thrown in military prison for exposing military secrets.

We believe him, and we are going to act as quickly as we can to make sure that he is recognized and gets what he clearly deserves, Shulkin said at a breakfast with reporters sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.

Harrell, 90, was 18 when he says he was twice exposed in mustard gas experiments at Camp Crowder in southwest Missouri in 1945. The VA has repeatedly denied his claims, saying he did not prove that his medical problems were caused by exposure to experiments that the Pentagon for years did not acknowledge.

The bill introduced by McCaskill would set aside $1 million annually to take a fresh look at the chemical agent exposure claims of World War II vets who had those claims denied. She estimated that no more than 400 are still alive.

Harrells family say their claims on his behalf are mainly for their fathers peace of mind; they say he is troubled that his government does not believe him.

Shulkin, the former president and CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and a veteran administrator in other private health care systems, is Trumps point person in trying to make it easier to fire bad employees and to offer veterans private-care assistance in areas where the VA does not provide adequate care.

That veteran choice push began before Shulkin took office. Some Democrats call it a beachhead toward privatizing the entire system. The issue has become more politically charged in recent weeks because Shulkin has said the $10 billion set aside during the 2014 VA scandal to cover veterans seeing private doctors is running out. He has asked Congress for the authority to shift money from other programs to cover the veterans private choice initiatives.

This concept of having funds in silos makes no sense to me, Shulkin said.

He said he believes the VA needs much more than incremental change. Shulkin said that after serving as an undersecretary at the VA under former President Barack Obama, he believes that the VA will work best for veterans by combining the best of what the agency does, in areas like traumatic brain injury and catastrophic injury, while covering veterans who get medical treatment in areas where the private sector does a better job.

He used an example of paternity care, an issue that has arisen as more women serve in the military. It makes no sense, he said, for the VA to build maternity wards when it can pay for coverage in established maternity hospitals.

There has been concern particularly expressed by some on the Senate is taking money that should be invested in the VA and moving it into the community and that could be called privatization, Shulkin said.

That is not my intention to do that. My intention is to make the best decisions in each region for how veterans get those services. In some places we are going to need to buy more community care. In others, we are going to have to invest more money in the VA. ... I need the flexibility to make those decisions.

Trump this week is expected to sign legislation giving Shulkin more authority to fire bad employees. Shulkin has complained that his hands are largely tied to get rid of employees who do poor work or, in some cases, no work at all. He cited a VA psychiatrist who was caught watching pornography while treating a patient but still works at the facility.

Critics have said the bill Trump is expected to sign would erode due-process claims of employees, and give the VA secretary too much power.

But Shulkin said Congress and Trump are about to give him the authority to run the VA more like a private business.

This will improve recruitment, not hurt recruitment, because there is nothing more demoralizing than being in an organization (with a co-worker) that everybody knows no longer shares the values, the morals, the ethics of the vast majority of people who go to work every day for the right reasons, and to serve veterans, he said.

Shulkin has also announced initiatives to combine electronic VA records with those at the Department of Defense so that there is a seamless medical history of a person from the day of enlistment to end of life care. Shulkin said the cumbersome process of getting recently retired veterans into the VA system has created a vulnerability in dealing with suicide, which he said was at crisis proportions right now.

He also would like to improve telehealth services at the VA, which he called the largest user of such services in the world, with more than 700,000 cases handled through telehealth.

Shulkin also is trying to close down or repurpose about 1,100 VA facilities he said no longer are being used or only are partially used. But 492 date to the Civil War or earlier, and the VA may have trouble shutting some down because of their historical significance, Shulkin said.
Imagine receiving a raise that would change your life. Now imagine that extra money being torn away from you just a few months later.

About 35,000 working people across St. Louis face that prospect after finally receiving a little relief, and I am one of them. Ive worked as a janitor for nine years, helping to support my grandchildren, and I know what its like trying to raise a family while the cost of living keeps going up. At $8.30 an hour, scraping by was tough. But in May, the minimum wage in St. Louis rose to $10, and my life changed immediately. I can pay the bills and have a bit to spare for my granddaughters, for their back-to-school supplies, for our groceries. The higher wage, which are supposed to rise again to $11 in 2018, helps me and so many other working families afford the everyday necessities that others may take for granted.

Now, families can spend money on things we need while putting money back into our communities. Businesses in our neighborhoods will make more money and grow. We know when wages rise for one group of people, they rise for everyone. This change has the power to transform St. Louis for the better, especially in the neighborhoods left behind where change is most needed.

Poverty isnt a state of mind. Its a trap far too many St. Louis families, nearly one in four, find themselves stuck in, and a higher minimum wage helps to give us the tools to climb out. It will help St. Louis residents from all backgrounds. Across the country, cities that have raised the minimum wage have seen job growth go up and wages rise for more than just for minimum-wage workers.

But Republicans in Jefferson City passed a bill, HB 1194, that would reverse the progress weve made. If Gov. Eric Greitens signs the bill like his rich dark-money donors want him to, the St. Louis minimum wage would drop from $10 back down to $7.70 on Aug. 28. That means a summer of hope followed by a massive pay cut for 35,000 people.

It means taking home $1,800 less every year for thousands of working people across our city. The governor and other Jefferson City politicians would take money out of my familys pocket to satisfy the super-rich donors contributing to their political campaigns and PACs.

I pick up my granddaughters from school after work every day, and on our way home we discuss all the normal stuff  what they learned in class, and what they want to be when they grow up. With a little extra money in my pocket I can support their dreams. For the first time in so long, Ive felt more hope for what the future could bring for my family.

But thats hope that would be dashed if the minimum wage is slashed. How can we save for college when my entire check gets eaten up by rent, bills and gas? How can we work and save for a better future when we cant even afford the present? How can we tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps when we dont even have the shoe leather?

Gov. Greitens and other politicians who are out of touch want to take away my peace of mind and a brighter future for my family and do the same to tens of thousands of others. Working people in our cities should be able to decide what is best for our own future. We need a voice in deciding a minimum wage that reflects our needs and addresses the cost of living in our communities. I know whats best for my family and my neighborhood. My neighbors know whats best for theirs. Politicians all the way out in Jefferson City do not.

Dont take away the tools we need to change our lives, Gov. Greitens. Dont take money out of our paychecks  my family and so many others in St. Louis are already on the brink. Making HB 1194 the law and lowering the minimum wage would be unimaginably cruel.

Cynthia Sanders is a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 janitor at the Wells Fargo Building in St. Louis.
Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was awarded a Legion of Merit for promotion of defence ties between Islamabad and Ankara during an official visit to Turkey, an Inter-Services Public Relation (ISPR) press release said Tuesday.

During his visit, Gen Bajwa met with Commander of Turkish Land Forces General Salih Zeki Colak and visited the Turkish Land Force Headquarters where he was received by his Turkish counterpart and presented with a guard of honour.

The army chief was briefed on the regional security situation as well as the Turkish Land Forces and their various undertakings in the field of training, defence production and peacekeeping operations.

The Pakistan Army chief called on the Chief of Turkish General Staff General Hulusi Akar and discussed matters related to regional security and the role armed forces of both countries play towards peace and stability, the ISPR statement said.

The two military leaders agreed to further enhance defence cooperation in multiple fields.

The Turkish military leadership appreciated the role the Pakistan Army plays against terrorism as well as in peacekeeping operations and as a factor of stability in the region.

The COAS was awarded the Legion of Merit during a ceremony in recognition of his services for promoting Pakistan-Turkey defence ties.

Speaking on the occasion, Gen Bajwa underscored the special place that Turkey enjoys in the hearts of Pakistanis and dedicated the award to the martyrs of both the Pakistani and Turkish armed forces, the ISPR statement said.

General Bajwa also visited the Ataturk Mausoleum and laid a floral wreath to pay homage to the father of Turkish nation and penned down his respects on the visitors book.
Unidentified gunmen have attacked Afghan troops working at the largest US military base in Afghanistan, killing eight.

The attack occurred near the Bagram Airbase in Shah Kah Village on Monday night, also injuring two Afghan forces. The

The incident reportedly took place when a group of troops were on their way to work, Tolo News reported.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack. But both Taliban and Daesh militant groups are active in Afghanistan.

On Sunday, Taliban militants staged a deadly two-phase attack on a police headquarters in Gardez City, the capital of Paktia Province. Two police officers were killed and five others were wounded in that attack.

Afghanistan has been gripped by insecurity since the United States and its allies invaded the country in 2001. Many parts of the country remain plagued by militancy despite the presence of foreign troops.

During the past 16 years, the Taliban militants have been conducting attacks across the country, killing, wounding, and displacing civilians.

In addition, the Daesh terrorist group, which is mainly active in Syria and Iraq, has more recently managed to take recruits from Afghan Taliban defectors. Daesh militants are now launching attacks of their own on Afghan soil.
Emir of terrorist group Ansar Al-Furqan has been killed in clashes with Irans Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, a provincial security official says.

Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces deputy governor for security affairs, Ali Asghar Mir-Shekari, said on Monday that Molavi Jalil Ghanbar Zehi, the ringleader of the so-called Ansar al-Furqan group, had been killed during the recent clashes with the IRGCs Qods forces in Qasr-e Qand Heights.

He added that the body of this international terrorist along with four of his associates are now in the hands of the IRGC Ground Forces.

The official noted that Iranian security forces had been conducting measures for the past 25 years to arrest this terrorist due to his numerous crimes committed in the southeastern Iranian border areas.

Ansar Al-Furqan is a Balochi islamist group formed in 2013 by merging of two jihadist organizations, Harakat Al-Ansar and Hizbul-Furqan.

The group, designated as a terrorist organization by Iranian authorities, is believed to have links to several foreign jihadist movements, including Syrias Al-Nusra Front (now  Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham).

Via AMN
Police have launched a homicide investigation following a fire which killed a 58-year-old woman.

Roma Midwood died in a house fire on May 1 in Tirau.

Based on investigations to date, police believe the fire was deliberately lit.

The fire occurred between 3am and 3.30am on Monday, May 1, at the Little Street house where 58-year-old Roma lived alone.

Police believe the fire at the Tirau home was deliberately lit.

Roma was a mother, grandmother and loved by those who knew her, says Detective Senior Sergeant Matt Cranshaw.

This was a shocking incident which has had a devastating impact on her family.

It is important that those responsible are held accountable. Someone in the community will know what occurred in the house and the circumstances that led to Romas death.

Police would like to hear from them, says Matt.

Police want to hear from those people who were out and about or travelling through Tirau in the early hours of May 1.

Of particular significance, police are seeking information on a silver four door sedan seen leaving the scene that morning.

An 0800 number has been set up for members of the public to share information in relation to the death of Roma.

Anyone with information should call 0800 766 211, where they will be able to speak directly with a member of the inquiry team.
New Zealand looks likely to have a rough ending to the week as a developing and deepening low tracks our way.

While WeatherWatch.co.nz doesnt yet consider it to be a storm it may produce pockets of stormy weather, created by the squash zone between this deepening low and a big belt of high pressure currently over New Zealand.

Tuesday and Wednesday remain dominated by high pressure for the most part, with late rain reaching Northland on Wednesday.

By Thursday much of the North Island has rain, showers or drizzle patches and rain moves into the South Island turning to snow in the ranges - where it may be heavy.

By Friday the low is crossing the North Island bringing wind and rain - but also calm areas and dry spells thanks to the large centre of this system.

Saturday looks to be cooler with south to south west winds nationwide.
The Port of Taurangas successful establishment as the only New Zealand port call for Maersk and Hamburg Suds big ship services is going to change New Zealands ports, says board chariman David Pilkington today.

Speaking at an on-wharf celebration today of the ports handling one million twenty foot equivalent containers in one year, David says that not only is the milestone a direct reflection of a huge amount of work over a considerable period, but that the result will change the countrys historic approach to ports.

The introduction of a hierarchy of fewer hub ports and second tier feeder ports, supported by more coastal shipping, is unquestionably the way of the future, says David.

The sums of capital required and the aggregation of sufficient cargo and supporting transport infrastructure is clearly not something port owners can afford to replicate in 13 regional container ports across the country.

But there are signs this has not been fully grasped, he says. Ports are generally local government owned and viewed emotionally as being essential to regional development

We continue to see plans to pour ratepayers capital into ports that has little chance of returning the cost of that capital, says David.

While the Ports Act specifically references the need to manage port facilities to achieve a return over and above the cost of capital, emotional and parochial behaviour threatens to prevent good strategic long term planning around regional infrastructure to support efficient feeder services.

He gave as example Centreport Wellington which he says is considering a multi-million dredging programme to attract bigger ships, even though it does not have the land available to aggregate sufficient containers to make a big ship port call worthwhile.

When I challenged the people involved, they said; Well if we dont dredge they cant come. If we dredge, they might come.

Thats the basis on which some of these councils are making decisions to upgrade the facilities. Its a hard sell because its such an emotional thing.

Tauranga moves most of the extra containers by rail. Train numbers between Auckland and Tauranga have increased from 54 a day to 78 a day - taking about 450,0000 truck-loads. Off the roads.

Auckland by comparison shifts less than five percent of its cargo by rail.

You would think with all the congestion problems in Auckland, something should be addressed, says David.

Councils seeking to replicate blue water port facilities should focus on investing in where they can make efficiencies, says David.

For the Board, Management and every member of staff of the Port of Tauranga, the milestone being celebrated is a direct reflection of a huge amount of work over a considerable period, says David.

Preparing the port to be able to handle the container volume began ten years ago, extending over $350 million, dredging the port, extending the wharf and buying new tugs, new cranes, and straddle carriers.

This was a major undertaking, the magnitude of which gave the Board and Management more than a few sleepless nights.

We know that our shareholders would not thank us for taking a simplistic build it and they will come approach.

We needed to ensure that we not only had the facilities and equipment, but we also had to have sufficient confidence in being able to put together a compelling rationale for our key shippers to enter into long term commitments, and for shipping companies such as Maersk and Hamburg Sud to have the confidence to introduce their single-port large-ship services.

He says the port is far from reaching capacity.
By Cara Luddy, Communications Assistant at Central Library

Throughout the month of June we'll be showcasing events happening at Onondaga County Public Libraries that are a part of our Summer Learning programming. Each week we'll highlight programming from various libraries around the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County.

The theme for Summer Learning at New York Libraries this year is "Build a Better World." Children and teens can participate by signing up at a nearby OCPL location, or going online. When they log the books they read into their account they will earn badges and can win prizes.

Help your children beat the summer learning slump with the activities going on at the following libraries! To see a full list of Summer Reading events at City Libraries, visit our online calendar. Check our list of Suburban Libraries for specific events and contact information on each independent library in the county.

Hazard Branch Library

Hazard Branch Library on the west side of Syracuse will have Drawing Basics with Phil McAndrew on Wednesday, July 12 at 2 p.m. Teens will learn the basics of cartooning and how to create their own comics from this local illustrator. For more information, call 315-435-5326.



White Branch Library

White Branch Library, located on the north side of Syracuse is hosting a Teen Hula Hoop Party on Monday, July 17 at 2 p.m. Instructor Dawnmarie Raymond will show students easy hoop skills, including hand movements and hoop placements to get a good workout and have some fun. Call 315-435-3519 for more information.

Fairmount Community Library

The Fairmount Community Library is hosting Eureka! Discover, Understand, Build with the MOST on Friday, July 21 at 10:15 a.m. Children will build simple machines and learn more about science in the world around them. For more information, call 315-487-8933.



Baldwinsville Public Library

The Baldwinsville Public Library invites you to Tunes Along the Towpath on Monday, July 24 at 2 p.m. Children can celebrate the legacy of the Erie Canal with Merry Mischief, a singing and storytelling duo. Call 315-635-5631 for more information.

Liverpool Public Library

The Liverpool Public Library will have A Better World with Music on Tuesday, July 25 at 7 p.m. Visiting Professor Marco Antonio Mazzini from Peru and the Silverwood Clarinet Choir will present an entertaining and informative evening of multicultural music for all ages. For more information, call 315-457-0310.

Jordan Bramley Library

The Jordan Bramley Library will host Zoo-to-You on Wednesday, July 26 at 1:30 p.m. Children will come face-to-face with live zoo animals at the library and learn about how to help wildlife. Call 315-689-3296 for more information.

Salina Library

The Salina Library invites you to Travel to Mars on Monday, July 31 at 2:30 p.m. Children, ages 8-12 will learn about the challenges and wonders that face scientists as they study this red planet in our solar system. Call 315-454-4524 for more information.



Elbridge Free Library

The Elbridge Free Library will host Gravitational Bull on Wednesday, August 2 at 6:30 p.m. David and Kyle Fultz, a father/son team will delight your family with an evening of comedy and juggling. Call 315-689-7111 for more information.

Skaneateles Library

The Skaneateles Library will have the Merry-Go-Round Youth Theater perform Huff and Puff: A Pig Tale on Thursday, August 3 at 10:30 a.m. This production is a reimagining of the classic fairytale, the Three Little Pigs. For more information, call 315-685-5135.

Teen Hula Hooping is supported with funds from the M&T Charitable Foundation. Eureka! Discover, Understand, Build with the MOST and Zoo-to-You are made possible in part by a state grant secured by Senator John A. DeFrancisco.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A committee assembled by Onondaga County is gearing up to award $30 million to community groups that come up with the best ideas for fighting poverty in Central New York.

The newly formed committee, called the Alliance for Economic Inclusion, will include 24 members recruited from throughout the 5-county Central New York region.

Their mission is to oversee $30 million of state money that was earmarked for anti-poverty measures in the $500 million Upstate Revitalization Initiative. Central New York won the URI money in December 2015 based on a development plan that made fighting poverty a major goal.

The Alliance for Economic Inclusion will solicit proposals and select the most promising ideas for funding, said Ann Rooney, deputy Onondaga County executive for human services. Rooney will work as a staff liaison to the group.

The full $30 million is expected to be distributed over five years, Rooney said. Onondaga County will front the money for projects and get reimbursed by state agencies.

The group, which has yet to hold its first meeting, is likely to issue a request for proposals this autumn, Rooney said. The RFP will seek anti-poverty projects from community groups, nonprofit institutions or others.

Syracuse Common Councilor Helen Hudson, who is one of the 24 representatives on the panel, said the initiative is sorely needed. Hudson co-founded Greater Syracuse HOPE nearly two years ago to address poverty.

"We have a lot of issues,'' Hudson said.

Syracuse has some of the most concentrated poverty in the nation. But other areas of Central New York also suffer. Some 44 percent of the region's population lives "at or near the poverty line,'' according to CNY Rising, the URI plan drawn up by the Central New York Regional Economic Development Council.

The logistics for spending the poverty money took months to work out, Rooney said.

That's because state agencies typically hand over economic development grant money only after a project is complete and results can be measured. Small community organizations and nonprofits that are likely to undertake anti-poverty projects don't have the financial resources to front the money and wait to be reimbursed, Rooney said.

Onondaga County stepped in to grease the wheels.

County officials have agreed to pay upfront for $6 million a year in poverty-fighting ventures, then seek state reimbursement. The 2017 county budget includes $6 million for the purpose, and county officials anticipate allocating the same amount each year for five years, Rooney said.

"By the sheer size of the county, we are able to front-load a program and then get reimbursed,'' she said.

Officials from Empire State Development, the state economic development arm, approved the process, Rooney said. It mirrors the workings of the Syracuse/Onondaga County Youth Bureau, which relies on a 24-person volunteer board to set priorities and recommend projects. The county pays for the projects and subsequently gets reimbursed by the state.

The Alliance for Economic Inclusion is expected to begin meeting this month, as soon as all members have been appointed, Rooney said. By autumn, the group should be ready to solicit proposals, she said.

The group will seek projects to address the broad goals outlined in CNY Rising: improving career pathways for adults and youth; attracting jobs to distressed communities; building tools and incentives for educational attainment; and increasing entrepreneurship and business ownership in underserved communities.

The $30 million for anti-poverty work is in addition to $20 million the state awarded to the endowment for Say Yes to Education, which provides college scholarships to city school graduates.

Members of the alliance are appointed by public officials based on population, Rooney said.

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney will appoint 11 of the 24 members; Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner gets four appointments. One member each will be appointed by the executives of Auburn; Cayuga County; Cortland; Cortland County; Oneida; Madison County; Oswego; Fulton; and Oswego County.

The full list of appointees was not available as of Monday. Among the alliance members will be Ryan McMahon, county Legislature chairman; Helen Hudson, Syracuse councilor at large; Sharon Owens, CEO of Syracuse Community Connections; Rickey Brown, executive director of the Upstate Minority Economic Alliance; and Rita Paniagua, of Molina Healthcare, former executive director of the Spanish Action League,

McMahon, the county legislature chairman, said he wants the alliance to achieve significant results. Besides awarding grants, the alliance might also make policy recommendations that address poverty, he said.

"I just want to make sure that, 10 years from now when people look back on it there will be statistical data that shows what was done had an impact,'' he said.

Miner said she was skeptical that the alliance would have independent authority over how the money gets spent. She pointed out that final decisions about grants for economic development projects are made by state agencies, after advisory input from the regional council.

Miner predicted the same relationship will hold for poverty initiatives, with final decisions made by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration.

But Rooney said the 24-member alliance will have authority to pick projects and award grants. Onondaga County will review each project before issuing a contract.

"Every indication we have is, the process we have set up, which the state has given their approval to, will allow that group of 24 to actually make decisions about which contracts would be awarded,'' Rooney said.

Contact reporter Tim Knauss anytime | email | Twitter | 315-470-3023
To the Editor:



Rep. John Katko, R-NY24, held another no-advance-notice "telephone town hall" at dinnertime on Tuesday, June 13, 2017. An apparently random group of constituents suddenly got the call, including members of the CNY Solidarity Coalition. Since late last year, CNY Solidarity has been urging Katko to hold in-person interactive public town halls scheduled in advance, but he continues to make excuses for why he won't.



All questioners on June 13 were screened by Katko staffers. Almost all of the questions the staff accepted led smoothly into Katko's standard talking points. From the experience of those signing this letter, his staff screened out our honestly critical calls. We did not get to ask challenging questions regarding his support for President Donald Trump withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, his vote June 8 to gut the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, his vote against internet privacy, his support for an FCC proposal to kill internet neutrality, his co-sponsoring the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act (HR 38) against the interests of New York state residents, and his procedural votes against requiring Trump to release his tax returns (despite publicly promising to vote for their release).



Katko showed again that he only wishes to "answer" questions on his own terms. He will not engage with detailed and informed criticism of his record, which is most often reactionary and not, as he claims in his never-ending campaign, moderate.



We all hope Katko will finally participate in real, unscripted communication with his constituents at a public town hall, accepting the CNY Solidarity Coalition's pledge of courteous engagement to address the difficult issues our congressional representative so ably dodges.



Paul Weichselbaum, Syracuse

Barry and Barbara Gordon, Baldwinsville

Thomas Gokey, Syracuse

Thomas M. Keck, Syracuse

Becky Howard, Syracuse

Marthe Reed, Syracuse

Sarah B. Pralle, Fayetteville

Deborah Rose, Syracuse

Judy Tarrants, Fabius

Jennifer Blusk, Syracuse



Blame treaty with Canada for Lake Ontario flooding (Your letters)
ColgateU.JPG

Colgate University is among at least two private schools in Central New York that will opt out of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new tuition assistance program.

(David Tobin | File photo)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Colgate University has decided to join Le Moyne College in declining to take part in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's new initiative that offers tuition assistance for students in New York private schools.

Colgate, a prestigious private school in Hamilton, believes the program's requirements for graduates to live in New York for up to four years are too restrictive, a school administrator said Tuesday.

At the same time, Cornell University in Ithaca and Wells College in Aurora said Tuesday the school will take part in Cuomo's Enhanced Tuition Award program beginning in the fall.

Private, nonprofit colleges and universities in New York faced a deadline Monday to inform the state if they will take part in the new program.

The Enhanced Tuition Award program provides up to $6,000 per academic year in tuition assistance to private college and university students whose schools participate in the program. The schools must provide matching funds for a portion of the costs.

The program has received less attention than the state's Excelsior Scholarship initiative, which provides free tuition for eligible students enrolled in public colleges and universities in New York.

A Colgate administrator told Syracuse.com on Tuesday that the program is unlikely to be of use to its 2,922 students.

"In reviewing the details of the New York State Enhanced Tuition Award program, it was determined that the limitations and restrictions imposed upon students, including a strict residency requirement, outweigh the potential benefits," said Gina Soliz, Colgate's senior associate dean and director of financial aid.

"Consequently, Colgate University has opted out of participating in this program and, instead, will continue to award financial aid from other state, federal, and institutional resources," Soliz said.



The school said it already meets 100 percent of the "demonstrated financial need" of accepted students. Among incoming freshmen, 41 percent receive financial aid, with an average award of $52,075.

Le Moyne College, a private Jesuit school in DeWitt, also cited the New York residency requirement as a key factor in its decision to opt out of the program. Students who leave New York prior to fulfilling their commitment after graduating would be required to pay back their tuition awards to the state.

But officials at Cornell University in Ithaca and Wells College in Aurora, Cayuga County, said they will offer the new state program as an option for their students.

"We applaud Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers for making access to higher education a leading issue this legislative session, and Cornell is pleased to partner with the state in making even more financial aid available to income-eligible New York state resident students," said Joel Malina, Cornell's vice president for university relations.

All in-state students at Cornell will be eligible for the tuition aid as long as they meet the program's requirements, Malina said.

To qualify this year, students must have lived in New York continuously for 12 months before applying and come from a household that makes less than $100,000 in adjusted gross income.

At Wells College, about half of the 550 enrolled students come from New York state and are potentially eligible for the aid, said Ann Rollo, speaking for the college.

Contact Mark Weiner anytime: Twitter | Facebook | 571-970-3751
2015-04-18-sdc-senecani_9.JPG

Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls. The Seneca Nation of Indians has halted the $110 million in annual payments to the state and communities that host its three casinos. The Senecas had been paying about $12 million per year to the city of Niagara Falls.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli)

It's been three months since the Seneca Nation of Indians announced it would halt the payments from gaming revenues that it makes to New York state and the communities that host its three casinos.

The next quarterly payment -- roughly $28 million -- would be due by the end of this month. The state and the three host cities -- Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca -- had been splitting about $110 million per year.

But there is no resolution in sight. The Senecas contend the compact they signed with the state in 2002 to open their Las Vegas-style casinos allowed them to end the payments at the end of 2016.

In 2013, then-Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder, left, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo sign an agreement to end the last dispute over casino revenue payments between the state and the Indian nation. The Senecas are once again withholding payments.

The state disagrees. It cites the original compact, and a follow-up memo agreed to in 2013, to argue that the payments should continue.

"Discussions are ongoing," according to an email from Lee Park, spokesman for the New York State Gaming Commission. "The State has made its position clear that payments must continue. Nothing more we can add at this time."

Seneca Nation spokesman Philip Pantano, however, said "There are currently no discussions taking place with the Governor's office.

"The language of the Compact signed by the Seneca Nation and New York State in 2002 is clear and has not changed in 15 years," said Pantano, of the nation's public relations firm, Pantano & Associates of Buffalo, in an emailed statement. "The Seneca Nation had a 14-year obligation to share a portion of its slot revenues with New York State. That obligation has been faithfully fulfilled and has now ended. When the Nation made its final payment in March, President (Todd) Gates agreed to accept Governor (Andrew) Cuomo's request to meet. Since then, the Nation has heard nothing from the Governor's office regarding a specific meeting date."

In announcing their decision to stop the payments in March, the Senecas issued a statement in which they said they remain "committed to being good neighbors," and specifically said they would be willing to work the host communities ""to ensure the long term viability of our casino properties and the thousands of local jobs they support."

The Seneca Nation operates three casinos under the compact with the state: Seneca Niagara Casino & Hotel in Niagara Falls; the Seneca Allegany Casino in Salamanca; and the Seneca Buffalo Creek Casino in downtown Buffalo.

The nation's payments go to the state, which then sends a portion to the cities of Niagara Falls, Salamanca and Buffalo. The total payments have come to more than $1.5 billion since 2002.

The 2002 compact gave the Senecas exclusive rights to operate full-service, or Vegas-style, casinos west of state Route 14 (from Sodus Point on Lake Ontario to Elmira in the Southern Tier).

This is the second time the Senecas have withheld gaming payments. Starting in 2009, they halted payments for four years after the state authorized video gaming machines at state racetracks, including at least one within the Senecas' "exclusive" territory. That dispute was resolved by the "memorandum of understanding" the nation agreed to with Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2013.

The state, meanwhile, in recent years authorized four new non-Indian operated casinos in territories not covered by the existing compact with the Senecas and two other Indian nations, the Oneidas and the St. Regis Mohawks.

One of the new casinos is del Lago Resort & Casino, about seven miles east of Route 14 at state Thruway exit 41 near Waterloo. The Senecas have indicated they are not happy with that location.

Continued failure to resolve the issue is particularly critical to the host cities, which have smaller budgets than the state and depend on the gaming revenues.

At hearing in Niagara Falls last week, city councilman Andrew Touma said the halted casino payment is the "number one question" he gets from his constituents, according to a report at casino.org.

"Obviously, the concern is there's a history there," Touma told Niagara Falls Mayor Paul Dyster, according to the casino.org report. "The city can't afford to be in that situation again."

Don Cazentre writes about Upstate New York casinos for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
Syracuse, N.Y. -- The Greater Syracuse Land Bank is offering a second chance for volunteers to paint the boards that cover windows of blighted houses seized by the Land Bank in Syracuse.

The first Vacant Mural Paint the City project on June 3 resulted in more than 90 boards being painted. The boards are being installed in vacant houses around the city. The next one will be July 15 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 2110 S. Salina St., the vacant South Presbyterian Church now owned by the Land Bank.

Syracuse school kids also participated in the project. Several art classes painted boards that were installed in vacant Land Bank-owned buildings near their schools.

Liam Kirst and Logan Reidsma, outreach coordinators at the Land Bank, came up with the project idea.

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246
Barclays is facing criminal charges in England over its deal with Qatar.

The New York Times reports the British bank, its former chief executive and three other former senior managers were charged Tuesday by the Serious Fraud Office over agreements struck in 2008 to avoid a government bailout during the global financial crisis. The bank raised nearly 12 billion pounds, or more than $15 billion at today's exchange rates, from a Qatari sovereign wealth fund and other investors.

According to the Guardian, former Barclays CEO John Varley and Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath, are facing accusations of fraud and lengthy jail sentences after a five-year investigation. Along with a current bank representative, they're all scheduled to appear at Westminster magistrates court on July 3.

Boath and Jenkins have both vowed to fight the charges. "Barclays is considering its position in relation to these developments," the bank said in a statement.

The case is also expected to be a big test for the UK's Serious Fraud Office, which Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed merging into a larger crime-fighting body.

"This is the most significant charging decision for the SFO in recent times, if not ever," Sarah Wallace, a partner and head of regulatory and criminal investigations at Irwin Mitchell law firm, told the Guardian. "In taking on Barclays, one of the largest banks in the world, and its most senior officials who literally were at the very top, sends a very strong message that the SFO is now fearless in terms of the companies and individuals it pursues."

The Times reports Barclays also faces regulatory issues in the U.S. The Justice Department sued in December, accusing the bank of fraudulently misleading the public in the sale of tens of billions of dollars in securities backed by home mortgages.

The U.S. Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission are also investigating Barclays' Qatar agreement.
Apple quietly has been strategizing to expand its growing healthcare business to include the management of digital health records, with the iPhone operating as a central data hub, CNBC reported last week.

Apple has been in talks with numerous health industry groups that are involved in setting standards for the storage and sharing of electronic medical records, in a way that would help consumers gain more control over their private medical information, according to the network.

The plan appears to be a natural extension of Apples recent health industry strategy, which includes its Research Kit, CareKit and HealthKit  platforms that allow developers to create apps that help patients, hospitals and researchers find new ways to collect, manage and deliver health data efficiently and directly.

This has been an interest point as part of Apples strategy in the healthcare vertical for some time, said Daniel Ruppar, digital health global program director at Frost & Sullivan.

Apple last year acquired Gliimpse, a medical records startup that helped collect data from different platforms and organized the information for patients.

Thus far, Apples efforts largely have focused on fitness information, but in recent years it has moved into more focused healthcare delivery. For example, the company recently began work on developing sensors that could help diabetic patients manage blood glucose levels.

Theyve shown on a number of fronts theyve been tackling health and well being, said Ian Fogg, senior director, mobile and telecoms at IHS Markit.

Regulatory Challenge

The challenge for Apple going forward is that it tends to attack new businesses on a global scale, and healthcare data requires dealing with a myriad of regulatory and privacy issues that cannot easily be synchronized across a single platform, Fogg told TechNewsWorld.

Also, the sensitivity of personal health data demands a high level of security and transparency, so that hospitals and patients can feel comfortable allowing that type of information to be controlled by an outside party, he said.

I would hope that Apple is planning to use the iPhone to securely communicate personal medical information from sensor to a HIPAA-compliant cloud service, and that medical records are only permanently retained in the cloud service, said Paul Teich, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

While temporary secure viewing on an iPhone would be nice, it would be better to have another layer of device security sitting between the attacker and the EMR repository, he told TechNewsWorld.

Its questionable that health information ever will become a big driver of device sales unless medical systems or insurance companies are going to get into the iPhone distribution game, Teich said.

The real revenue driver for Apple would be to use a secure back-end EMR cloud service to sell Apple gear to medical institutions, he suggested.

Protected healthcare information is valuable data, observed Ed Cabrera, chief cybersecurity officer at Trend Micro.

Arguably, any time you transition this type of data into another platform, theres an inherent risk associated with it, he told TechNewsWorld. However, Apple has a history of developing security and privacy into their products that leads to better overall protection for their users.

Business Case

With a healthcare records system on board, Apple likely would see a slight shift in how iPhones were sold and a slight uptake in the medical industry as companies started promoting the iPhone as a tool for doctors, said Jitesh Ubrani, senior research analyst for worldwide mobile device trackers at IDC.

However, it wouldnt be a game changer for iPhone sales, he said.

Rather, this would further solidify Apples stance as a leader in privacy and security, and would put pressure on Android as a whole, as well as Samsung, to step up their game, Ubrani told TechNewsWorld.

Rival tech companies have made efforts to capture medical data for research, consumer applications and other business opportunities.

Verily Life Sciences, a unit of Google parent Alphabet, this spring partnered with Duke University School of Medicine and Stanford Medicine to launch Project Baseline, a project to collect broad, phenotypic health data from 10,000 volunteers.

After screening it to ensure the privacy of volunteer participants, the data will be hosted on Google Cloud Platform and available for researchers to gain a better understanding of disease risk factors and other information.

Nokia recently acquired Paris-based Withings, a digital health company that sells smart health products like digital scales, smartwatches and thermometers, and tracks activities as well. Nokia launched a digital health unit led by former Withings CEO Cedric Hutchings.
Microsoft on Thursday said it has agreed to buy a Hexadite, which incorporates artificial intelligence in its automated responses to cyberthreats.

Microsoft was in talks to buy the firm for US$100 million, according to earlier published reports. However, Microsoft and Hexadite did not disclose terms of the official agreement.

The acquisition will help bolster the companys efforts to help commercial Windows 10 customers deal with advanced attacks on their networks, Microsoft said. It currently offers Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection to detect zero-day attacks, ransomware and other advanced threats, and the Hexadite technology will build on that.

The acquisition will include Hexadites endpoint security automated remediation. Support for activations of WDATP, which currently protects 2 million devices, will continue.

Our vision is to deliver a new generation of security capabilities that helps our customers protect, detect and respond to the constantly evolving and ever-changing cybersecurity landscape, said Terry Myerson, EVP of the Windows and devices group at Microsoft.

Hexadites technology and talent will augment our existing capabilities and enable our ability to add new tools and services to Microsofts robust enterprise security offerings, he said.

Automation and Orchestration

Hexadite is not detection technology, said Dan Cummins, senior analyst for security at 451 Research.

Rather, it is incident response automation and orchestration, fed by data that originates  usually  on detection sensors or systems and then is processed by a SIEM, where its correlated and perhaps enriched with other data, internal or external, he explained.

Hexadite further enriches and prioritizes, Cummins told the E-Comerce Times.

Their primary differentiation, I believe, is their belief in nearly full automation of investigation, response and closeout, even for complex incidents, he noted.

Good Fit

Broadly speaking, IT vendors pursue acquisitions because buying existing technology is generally faster and cheaper than building it themselves, noted Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT.

The technology being acquired should fit well within the buyers strategy and skill sets. Thats clearly the case here, given both companies focus on and innovative work in proactive security services, AI, machine learning and the needs of enterprise customers, he told the E-Commerce Times.

In addition, it helps if there are existing connections between the companies, King continued.

One of Hexadites early investors is Moshe Lichtman of Israel Venture Partners, who spent two decades as a senior executive with Microsoft, including five years running the companys Israel R&D center, he noted. It doesnt require a stretch of the imagination to consider how Lichtman may have vetted and facilitated the deal.

Rapid Detection

Hexadite was cofounded in 2014 by CEO Eran Barak, Chief Product Officer Barak Klinghofer and CTO Idan Levin. The three executives previously worked at Elbit Systems, where Barak led the companys cybertraining and simulation team, Klinghofer was cybersolutions architect, and Levin was a cybersoftware engineer.

The founders developed a new ground-up method of rapid detection and response to cyberthreats after working on military and other threat scenarios.

After seeing first hand how companies around the world investigated threats and anticipated a massive increase in subsequent alerts compounded by a global skills shortage, they knew that automation would be the only way security teams had a chance, said Nathan Burke, marketing director for Hexadite.

The companys Automated Incident Response Solution uses technology that is able to detect, investigate and respond to cyberthreats within minutes, compared to more traditional methods, which could take weeks to deal with similar situations.

Hexadite early last year received $8 million in series A funding from Hewlett Packard Ventures, Ten Eleven Ventures and YL Ventures, which also had invested in the companys seed round.

At the time, Hexadite had grown to protect more than 500,000 devices worldwide across various industries, based on initial seed money of about $2.5 million. Hexadites customers include IDT, Nuance and Telit.

In connection with that early investment, Mark Hatfield, cofounder of Ten Eleven Ventures, joined the Hexadite board. Hatfield has a strong track record in the technology industry, with prior investments in Cylance, CounterTack, Trust Digital, Resilient Systems (CO3) and Digital Guardian.

Hexadite and HPE last year entered a reseller agreement, which [provided that Hexadites AIRS technology would be offered in combination with HPEs Arcsite detection technology, using AI to manage cyberthreats.

The acquisition of Hexadite provides Microsoft with important resources for enterprise security based on AI, said Jim McGregor, principal analyst at Tirias Research.

Hexadite appears to provide multiple benefits to Microsoft, he told the E-Commerce Times, including a security service for enterprise and cloud solutions, customers for security services, and valuable IP and expertise for AI applications.

Automation/orchestration is a growing area in cybersecurity, noted Ed Cabrera, chief cybersecurity officer at Trend Micro.

Trend Micro earlier this year entered a partnership with CyberSponse to provide automated incidence response to cyberthreats, he told the E-Commerce Times.

Main Focus

The deal represents one of Microsofts most important cybersecurity acquisitions since its 2015 purchase of Adallom, a specialist in cloud security, for about $250 million. Microsoft used Adalloms technology to bolster its ability to protect its Azure and Office 365 services from cyberthreats.

Dealing with security threats has been top of mind a Microsoft. The company was at the center of the massive Wannacry Ransomware attack in May, which hit more than 300,000 computers in at least 150 countries worldwide. The attack was linked to the Shadow Brokers suspected theft of hacking tools  originally developed by the National Security Agency  that attacked legacy Windows systems that were not properly patched.

Microsoft earlier this year announced a series of upgrades to its enterprise security toolkit, including Azure SQL Database Threat Detection, which uses machine learning to find suspicious database activity; and Enterprise Threat Detection, which uses machine analytics and proprietary telemetry sources to monitor for advanced threats. The rollout was part of a $1 billion annual investment that Microsoft made in addressing security threat issues.

Microsoft has called for a Digital Geneva Convention, which would create a global regulatory system to manage cybersecurity issues.

Hexadite, which has a team of researchers in Tel Aviv, will be fully absorbed into Microsofts Windows and Devices group at the close of the acquisition.
Dropbox is significantly expanding its network edge infrastructure designed to drastically improve network syncing speeds. Dropbox network engineer Raghav Bhargava laid out a roadmap that takes advantage of in-house infrastructure and networking partnerships to improve service.

In a previous announcement, Dropbox had explained why they were moving away from Amazon Web Services (AWS). According to the post, "Bringing storage in-house allows us to customize the entire stack end-to-end and improve performance for our particular use case. Second, as one of the world's leading providers of cloud services, our use case for block storage is unique. We can leverage our scale and particular use case to customize both the hardware and software, resulting in better unit economics."

Bhargava explains that 75 percent of Dropbox users are located outside of the United States, but all their servers and point of presence (PoPs) were located inside the US. This could potentially affect network performance as international users would often have to use high latency transport networks back to the origin.

The blog post gets pretty technical when it comes to the Dropbox routing architecture, but basically the old network architecture used a mixture of border gateway protocol (BGP) and open shortest path first (OSPF) routing protocols to peer with external networks and manage internal networking information. In 2015, they switched from OSPF to IS-IS for internal network traffic and implemented a protocol called multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), a more efficient way of forwarding traffic using layer-2 tags (or labels). From there, it was a matter of establishing PoPs in Europe and Asia and form peering relationships with the ISPs in those regions.

Once the PoPs were in place, Dropbox created an edge proxy to speed up network transfers: "The edge proxy stack handles user facing SSL termination and maintains connectivity to our backend servers throughout the Dropbox network. Edge proxy stack comprises of IPVS and NGINX machines."

The post explains more in-depth routing information (and as a CCNP, I love the details), but needless to say, the improvements that Dropbox is making to its network will drastically improve performance for international customers.

By placing emphasis at the edge, Dropbox gets closer to the user and effectively acts like its own content delivery network (CDN) not unlike how traditional CDN providers such as Akamai work. Companies that rely on content delivery on a massive scale such as Netflix also place emphasis on their edge network to deliver the best possible performance. Instead of utilizing hundreds of gigabits of bandwidth, Dropbox is now dealing in terabits. European users are getting 40 percent faster download speeds, while Japanese users have had their download speeds doubled.

Not only is content delivered faster, Dropbox claims it cuts their overall networking costs in half, which is significant for a company whose primary business is network storage.
Another meeting between Donald Trump and some of the tech industry's top CEOs took place yesterday. The inaugural gathering of the American Technology Council saw the president call for a "sweeping transformation of the federal government's technology."

Trump signed an executive order in May that established the council, which was created to modernize the government's technological systems, cut costs, and improve services.

"Government needs to catch up with the technology revolution," said Trump. "America should be the global leader in government technology just as we are in every other aspect, and we are going to start our big edge again in technology - such an important industry."

CEOs from firms such as Adobe, Akamai, Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, and Qualcomm were in attendance, along with investors such as Peter Thiel, who was one of the few Silicon Valley execs to show support for Trump during his presidential campaign.

Nadella, Cook get seats flanking @POTUS at tech council pic.twitter.com/wHgA1azHMw --- Kayla Tausche (@kaylatausche) June 19, 2017

One notable absentee was Facebook. While it was COO Sheryl Sandberg, rather than Mark Zuckerberg, who represented the company at December's meeting with Trump, the social network sent no representatives to yesterday's summit. It did receive an invitation, but the firm blamed "scheduling conflicts" for its absence. Former advisers Travis Kalanick, on a leave of absence following the death of his mother, and Elon Musk, who promised to quit Trump's councils in protest against leaving the Paris Agreement, were also missing.

Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, highlighted some of the outdated systems still used by the government, including parts of the Pentagon that rely on floppy disks, and over 6000 decades-old datacenters maintained by federal agencies.

"Together we will unleash the creativity of the private sector to provide citizen services in a way that has never happened before," said Kushner, before the session began.

Recode reports that many of those in attendance were pushing their own agendas. Amazon's Jeff Bezos called on the government to take advantage of the type of commercial technology his company sells. Palantir CEO Alex Carp spoke about how big data could help stop fraudulent federal spending. And Tim Cook said that the US should make coding a requirement in schools. The Apple CEO also talked about the importance of immigration, encryption, human rights, and serving veterans through medical care and hiring policies.

More meetings are scheduled during the White House's "tech week," including one that will cover drones this Thursday and the announcement of "additional tech reforms at the Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday."
Most security experts agree that paying a ransomware demand isn't a good idea. There are often tools available that can decrypt the malware, and even if you do hand over the Bitcoins, it's no guarantee that the hackers will give you a decryption key, or that they won't come back and hit your system again. Sometimes, however, paying a ransom is the only choice.

According to a blog post published last week, giving in to ransomware demands was the only option for South Korean Web host company Nayana. It had been infected with malware that encrypted data stored on 153 Linux severs and 3400 of its customers' websites.

Trend Micro reports that the company was attacked on June 10 by a variant of ransomware known as Erebus, which first emerged in September last year when it was being spread through malicious ads.

Erebus had only targeted computers running Windows, but this version was modified so it could attack Linux systems. How it infected Nayana is unclear, but it's thought the hackers exploited a vulnerability in the unpatched systems it was using - an old Linux kernel (2.6.24.2) compiled in 2008, along with Apache 1.3.36 and PHP 5.1.4, both of which date from 2006.

The ransom demand was originally 5 billion won worth of Bitcoin, which works out at around $4.4 million. But this was negotiated down to 1.8 billion won, before being further reduced to 1.2 billion won (just over $1 million).

Nayana said it would raise the money by lending shares to a firm that had previously offered to acquire the web hosting company. It is now working with the Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) and other "cyber criminal investigators."

An updated post over the weekend stated that Nayana's engineers were in the process of recovering the data. Another recovery status announcement is due later today.

For firms that don't want to hand over a ton of cash, remember to make sure your systems are secure and always keep backups.
Apple recently held a presentation on one of its campuses regarding how to control information leaks within the company. A recording of the presentation titled "Stopping Leakers - Keeping Confidential at Apple" was obtained by The Outline. The briefing did not reveal anything earth shattering, but it did provide a fascinating insight into how Apple handles product security.

Director of Global Security David Rice, Director of Worldwide Investigations Lee Freedman, and Global Security Communications Trainer Jenny Hubbert conducted the hour-long briefing. The presentation discussed ways in which the company prevents and handles leaks. The team also provided tips on how to avoid accidentally leaking information. They even shared some examples of leaks that they have had to handle.

Rice, who is a former NSA agent, related various ways that parts have been smuggled out of factories including being hidden in bras and flushed down the toilet to be retrieved from the sewer later.

"[Apple uses] former NSA agents, secrecy members on product teams, and a screening apparatus bigger than the TSA."

David also described the screening process that goes on in Apple's supply chain. Factory workers in China are checked coming in and going out daily. On just 40 plants, Apple conducts 2.7 million screenings on employees per day, which is more than the TSA. Rice referred to Apple as "one big theme park."

"In aggregate, we do about 221 million transits a year. For comparison, 223 million is the top level volume for the top 25 theme parks in the world. So this is just one big theme park. People coming in, coming out, there's billions of parts flying around at any given instance. So you marry up a bunch of parts moving around plus a lot of people moving around and it's no wonder that we don't leak even more."

Often it only takes one part of a device to slip out for engineers (amateur and professional) to flesh out the rest of the device. Rice says that enclosures are particularly useful to leakers.

"If you have a housing [or even just the back], you pretty much know what we're going to ship," he said.



Alleged photo of the back of an iPhone 8 enclosure. AppleInsider debunked it as a render based on rumored schematic leaks.

When leaks are discovered, Apple is careful not to jump the gun. They will start an investigation into a leak, and sometimes these probes will take a very long time. Lee Freedman related how a three-year investigation finally led to a leaker on one of the campuses. Regardless of how long an investigation takes, the company does not just let it go.

"We don't take a defeatist mentality and say, 'Oh well, it's going to leak anyways,'" said Freedman. "For us, it's not, 'Oh well, it just keeps showing up in the blogs and we have to live with it.'"

Lee also said that leakers are not easy to detect. "The common thread is they look just like you guys," he said.

"They come to work, they don't appear any different, and they start off with the exact same motivation."

The way they handle leakers differs case-to-case. Ones who come forward first and say they may have leaked something tend to be dealt with leniently. However, often employees try to cover up their leak and those are the ones who end up in trouble.

Jenny Hubbert stressed how leaks are "a direct hit to all of us" because it removes the "surprise and delight" of a product announcement. That surprise, as masterfully demonstrated so many times by the late Steve Jobs, carries quite an impact with Apple's customer base.

"Surprise and delight when we announce a product to the world that hasn't leaked. It's incredibly impactful, in a really positive way. It's our DNA. It's our brand. But when leaks get out, that's even more impactful. It's a direct hit to all of us."

Jenny pointed out that social media is a common place where employees may inadvertently leak information. It is easy to get caught up in the excitement of a new Apple product and accidentally say something on Twitter or Facebook. Employees are encouraged to be extra careful with their social media accounts. Some employees even delete or shut down their Twitter and Facebook accounts to protect themselves from accidentally leaking, but Apple does not require this measure.

We have always known Apple to be a very secretive company, but it is absorbing to read or hear of a few of the inner workings behind this secrecy. The Outline article covers it much more in-depth. There is also a detailed discussion on the World Dispatch podcast.
Samsung has announced the launch of a preview program for Bixby Voice, just almost two months after releasing the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.

Bixby Voice Early Access

Today, Samsung announced that some S8 and S8 Plus owners can preview Bixby Voice before the software goes live on other Samsung devices.

Those who are interested in Bixby Voice can sign up on Samsung's website, but there is no guarantee that they will be selected. Samsung hasn't given any details regarding the selection process or how many users will be chosen. The site merely says that "participation is limited," but a spokesperson for Samsung told us that the company was not prepared to elaborate on their selection process. Samsung has also provided no details regarding when the program will begin, though we are expecting it to launch within the coming months.

Bixby Voice

Bixby Voice will allow users to send texts, make calls, and change their phone's settings simply by speaking. The Bixby Voice launch in the United States was delayed due to difficulty in optimizing it for the English language. Given that Bixby Voice is already available in South Korea, the language barrier is as good as an explanation as any.

Currently, users from the United States do have limited access to Bixby features such as Bixby Home and Reminders. Most interesting of all  at least to us  is Bixby Vision, which is used for augmented reality. Given the popularity of augmented reality games such as Pokemon GO, this feature has a lot of potentials that app developers could use in interesting ways. Samsung claims that Bixby Voice will learn and grow more accurate over time.

Once they implement Bixby Voice, Samsung has plans to integrate Bixby into all of their smart products such as TVs and appliances. The ability to control devices from a smartphone definitely has a potential to make everyday tasks easier.

Is Bixby Voice Needed?

Unlike the iPhone, which for years relied solely on Siri, Android devices have a wide range of digital assistants, including Google Assistant. From what we've seen, aside from controlling Samsung appliances, Bixby brings little to the table. That being said, we haven't seen the software in action, so it could represent an improvement over similar services. In terms of products such as these, small improvements can make all the difference. The basic template has been established so now it's mainly a matter of polish and refinement.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Shootings are responsible for killing or injuring at least 19 children in the United States every day, a new government study has warned.

Most at risk, the report revealed, are boys, teens, and blacks.

Report Details: A Grim Picture Of Violence In America

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions analysis of U.S. data from 2002 to 2014, dubbed the most comprehensive yet on the topic, underscored gun violence as an urgent public health concern.

"Public health research is fundamental for understanding the problem and developing scientifically sound solutions," said Katherine Fowler, study lead author.

The CDC report, which covered kids and teens until age 17 and gathered data from death certificates as well as emergency room reports, anchored the annual toll at almost 1,300 deaths and nearly 6,000 non-deadly gunshot wounds. Most of them were intentionally inflicted.

Most of the deaths, too, were the result of homicides as well as suicides. In the case of non-fatal injuries, assaults were the leading cause.

The yearly death toll was almost two out of 100,000 kids, with double the rate for blacks. In non-fatal gunshot wounds, nearly eight out of 100,000 children were injured every year.

While homicides fell from 2007 to 2014 at 699 from its previous count of 1,038, suicides increased in the same period  from 325 to 532. Suicide rates had an increase of 60 percent, with one-third of victims depressed and most have recently suffered crisis such as a breakup or school problems.

Unintentional deaths remain a concern, with most of them resulting from gunplay and unintentional pulling of the trigger. Most of the victims were found out to be bystanders, yet more than 40 percent among kids up to age 10 shot themselves accidentally.

Vastly Underreported?

According to the AP and USA Today Network, fatalities from unintentional shootings may be significantly underreported.

The organization saw that in the first six months of 2016, minors died from accidental shootings  either at their own hands or the hands of other kids and adults  at a rate of one every other day. This is more than the current indications from federal data.

Gun accidents pose a particular challenge for police and prosecutors who must decide whom, if anyone, to hold responsible. One of the reasons why its so difficult is that its not always clear what criminal charges would accomplish, the report stated, noting prosecutors' worry that punishment wouldnt make a dent in how other parents store their guns.

The report also mentioned the 2015 case of a North Carolina babysitter who was charged with involuntary manslaughter. The 2-year-old, which the babysitter was taking care of, accidentally shot herself with a shotgun that was left on a kitchen table.

Two months after the incident, Colorado police and prosecutors chose not to charge another babysitter after a 9-year-old boy was shot by his brother. The sitter, who briefly left the kids unattended, left his gun loaded in his pickup.

Congress has barred the CDC from using federal funds to promote or advocate gun control, although the health agencys spokesperson Courtney Lenard said the directive is not prohibitive of their efforts to conduct research into gun violence.

An editorial that accompanies the new study considered it both reasonable and wise for physicians to discuss gun safety with parents, especially those who store their firearms at home.

The findings were detailed in the journal Pediatrics.

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An alternative medical procedure developed in ancient China could soon find its way into emergency rooms as a long-term relief for patients.

Researchers from the RMIT University in Australia have found that acupuncture, a component of traditional Chinese medicine, could provide relief for ER patients suffering from considerable pain.

However, while the procedure was able to relieve people's pain, in the long run, its effects weren't as immediate as scientists had hoped for.

What Is Acupuncture?

The origins of acupuncture can be traced in China some 3,000 years ago. Practitioners believed that they can improve bodily functions and promote natural self-healing by stimulating specific parts of the body known as acupuncture points. This can be done by inserting fine, sterile needles into the patient's skin. Sometimes pressure, heat, or even electrical stimulation is used to enhance this effect.

Acupuncture's popularity in the United States grew in 1997 when the National Institutes of Health recorded and publicized the safety and efficacy of the procedure to treat various medical conditions.

Professor Marc Cohen, from the School of Health and Biomedical Sciences at RMIT, explained that while many practitioners used acupuncture to treat pain in community settings, the procedure is rarely used by doctors in emergency departments.

He said that nurses and doctors in such emergency settings need to have a variety of pain-relieving options for their patients given the risk of using opioids such as morphine. Opioids have been shown to have addictive properties, especially when used for long-term treatment.

Cohen pointed out that people who come to emergency often claim of suffering from considerable pain. However, this was often inadequately managed by care providers. This limitation is what inspired the researchers to look for alternative forms of pain relief for patients.

Acupuncture As Long-Term Pain Relief

In a study featured in the Medical Journal of Australia, Cohen and his team examined data from 528 emergency patients from four Australian hospitals between January 2010 and December 2011. The patients suffered from various forms of body pain such as acute low back pain, migraine or ankle sprains.

The researchers used a 10-point scale to determine the level of pain that the patients claim to have been suffering. Patients who said their pain levels were at least 4 on the scale were randomly given either acupuncture alone, acupuncture along with drug therapy, or drug therapy alone.

After receiving treatment for an hour, about 80 percent of the patients in all three treatment groups said they still had pain levels of at least 4, while less than 40 percent of them said they experienced a significant reduction in their pain levels.

However, after 48 hours, 82.8 percent of participants who received acupuncture treatment alone said they would probably or definitely seek the same procedure again, while 80.8 percent of those in the combined group said that they would repeat their treatment. About 78.2 percent of patients who received the drug therapy alone said they would seek the treatment again.

"Our study has shown acupuncture is a viable alternative, and would be especially beneficial for patients who are unable to take standard pain-relieving drugs because of other medical conditions," Cohen said.

"But it's clear we need more research overall to develop better medical approaches to pain management, as the study also showed patients initially remained in some pain, no matter what treatment they received."

Cohen added that some emergency departments in Australian hospitals offer acupuncture treatment. However, more studies are needed to determine how pain management can be improved overall in such settings, and how acupuncture can help carry this out.

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Cats are currently found on every continent except Antartica, but now we know the origins of everyone's favorite felines.

All modern domestic cats descend from a single type of wild cat known as Felis silvestris lybica. This cat's descendants now inhabit every corner of the globe and are among the most popular pets in the world.

The Near East

Roughly 9,000 years ago, farmers in what is now known as Turkey began domesticating cats as a means of protecting their stores of grain from rodents. This was the first event in the long history of the domesticated cat, but it was far from the last.

Cats In Ancient Egypt

Many years later, a second domestication effort occurred in ancient Egypt. This is likely not surprising to those with an interest in Egyptian history as the people of ancient Egypt considered cats to be sacred animals. The exact reason for this veneration is unknown, but it likely had to do with the fact that cats would often hunt and kill some of the more dangerous creatures found in Egypt, so cats were seen as protective.

Revealing The Origins Of Modern Domestic Cats

Determining the origin of the modern house cat is difficult due to the fact that cats have been one of mankind's constant companions. Wherever humans went, cats followed and interbred with other species along the way. This has resulted in modern cats, whether they are found in America or Australia, sharing the same genes.

In order to unravel the mystery of the modern house cat, researchers examined the DNA of 200 cat skeletons which spanned nearly 9,000 years of history. The cats of Eygpt eventually spread to Rome and the rest of Europe where they became welcome companions to sailors. Not only would rodents ruin food supplies, they could also chew through a ship's ropes making them a major problem.

As for modern domesticated cats, many of the so-called "fancy" breeds were the result of selective breeding that became very popular in 19th century France, but the moment of domestication is difficult to determine. In fact, some researchers have argued that modern house cats still aren't fully domesticated.

The First Cats

While this study does shed some light on the origins of domestic cats, the researchers involved are still puzzled as to where the original Egyptian cats came from. Researchers would need to find intact DNA from even older Egyptian cats, which is easier said than done.

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Among all U.S. carriers, Verizon has come out on top in a recent study as the fastest network  but not in all U.S. regions, keep in mind.

For instance, northeast and northwest folks would probably fare better with T-Mobile as their network, and AT&T rose on top in the south central region of Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana.

The results come amid the fierce competition between networks, all of them aggressively aching to trumpet the next in mobile network technology  5G. AT&T's 5G Evolution plan, which it's been boasting quite proficiently, has come under fire for pretending to be something it isn't. No one can really be sure when 5G will arrive but expect these major carriers to fight their way to be the first.

Aside from the path toward 5G, the big four have also been aggressively competing in current plans and services. Both Verizon and AT&T introduced broad, low-cost unlimited data plans this year, following T-Mobile and Sprint's plans introduced last summer, which included data caps. Price slashing soon followed, and now even Sprint is offering users a year's worth of free service for anyone who switches to its network by June 30.

Results Show Verizon Is The Fastest Network, But Only Slightly

Price wars, however, don't matter much if a network can't offer impressive network coverage. In late 2016, Verizon came out on top nationally in tests performed by Rootmetrics. PCMag deployed testers around the United States and had them measure the network quality in that given area. Testing in 36 cities and rural areas, PCMag found that nearly all spots were seeing improved network quality.

"This was the tightest contest ever," according to the publication. AT&T had the highest average download speed nationally at 32.6 Mbps, and Verizon followed close behind at 31.1 Mbps. T-Mobile and Sprint delivered 29.3 and 20.5 Mbps, respectively.

"Verizon understands that it isn't quite enough just to install fast LTE technologies. You have to have the nation's most reliable 4G network as well, and that's where it came out ahead," according to PCMag

Samsung Galaxy S8 Beats The iPhone 7 In Network Speeds

PCMag's testing also found that the Samsung Galaxy S8, thanks to Qualcomm's latest modem packed under the hood, far outperformed the iPhone 7, which is packed with older chips from Qualcomm, or Intel in some models. This might be because of Apple and Qualcomm's legal battle, which roots back to Apple's deliberate move to limit the performance of iPhone units packed with Qualcomm's modems, so as not to outperform iPhone units with Intel modems baked inside.

That aside, the Galaxy S8 conclusively rendered a higher performance on all networks with the exception of Sprint in average download and upload speeds. Apple's rumored flagship could come in September, but it probably still won't beat the Galaxy S8 in terms of network capabilities.

Thoughts about Verizon being the fastest network out of all major carriers? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!

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Fidget spinners are one of the hottest toys this summer, but parents should think twice about giving this plaything to their kids after several reports of children choking on parts of this gadget have emerged.

Fidget Spinner Metal Piece Choking Incidents

Last month, a 10-year-old girl required surgery to remove one of the metal pieces of the fidget toy that she accidentally swallowed. The incident happened after the child put the toy in her mouth to "clean it."

In another case, a professional firefighter had to rescue his daughter after a freak incident with the plaything. The child was playing with the toy when one of the metal bearings came loose, flew, and went into the child's mouth.

The child started choking. Fortunately, her father managed to give her back blow until she was able to breathe. An X-ray at the hospital revealed that the child swallowed the metal piece, which was about the size of a quarter.

Not For Young Children

The Consumer Product Safety Commission now investigates incidents that involve fidget spinners. Doctors also warn parents about the dangers of fidget spinners, advising them not to give the toy to very young kids and to tell older children about the risk of these items.

"I think parents need to educate their children about the danger of these," said Nina Shapiro from UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital. "So I think just not to give these to younger children, children under six, and for older children to really explain that these are toys, but they also have risks. They should not be put in their mouths, they should not be taken apart."

Based on tests conducted by the Good Housekeeping Research Institute of different fidget spinners sold in the market, both brand-name spinners and knock-offs, come with parts that can potentially choke children below 3 years of age if the toys broke off.

Toys with choking hazards are also supposed to be labeled, but researchers at the institute discovered that some of the products do not have age ratings and warnings about the choking hazards for young kids. Experts nonetheless advise parents to keep the toy away from their children, particularly those under 6 years old.

Stress-Relieving Toy For Children And Adults With ADHD And Anxiety

Fidget spinners are marketed as a stress-relieving toy that can help people with "restless energy" to focus. Some parents decide to buy them to help their kids concentrate, but clinical psychologist Scott Kollins said that there is no evidence that supports these supposed benefits of fidget spinners.

Kollins said that there has been no study on the efficacy and safety of these toys for helping children, adolescents, and even adults to manage symptoms of ADHD, anxiety, and other mental health conditions.

"The observations by parents or teachers are interesting but without carefully controlled studies, it's impossible to draw any sorts of conclusions about whether these toys are useful, and it's hard to imagine any sort of reasonable rationale as to why they would offer benefit," Kollins said.

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The Google Store has launched a promotion featuring two of Google's major hardware products, offering a free Google Home for every purchase of the Google Pixel XL.

For customers who were thinking about buying a Pixel XL, the offer should help eliminate any reservations that you may have in acquiring Google's 5.5-inch Android smartphone.

Free Google Home For Every Google Pixel XL

The offer is visible on the Pixel page of the Google Store, where Google lists the terms and conditions for getting a Google Home for free for every purchase of the Pixel XL.

According to the pop-up screen after clicking the offer's terms and conditions, the deal is only available for customers in the United States and is only available while supplies last. Customers will need to add both the Pixel XL and Google Home in their shopping carts, after which the $129.99 price tag of the Google Home will be deducted upon checkout.

Google also noted that customers who return the Pixel XL or cancel their order should also return the Google Home device they received to be eligible for a full refund.

The 32 GB version of the Pixel XL costs $769, which may be too steep of a price to pay in one go. Fortunately, Google offers a financing option of $32.04 for 24 months for the 32 GB Pixel XL, and $40.33 for 24 months for the 128 GB Pixel XL with two-year device protection. Customers who avail the Google Store Financing are also eligible to receive the free Google Home.

As the offer only lasts while the earmarked Google Home units are still available, customers are highly recommended to make their purchases now to be able to avail it.

Why Buy The Pixel XL And Google Home?

The Pixel XL, originally released in October last year, has received rave reviews as a pure Android experience. The Google Home, meanwhile, was released a month after in November 2016.

While there are rumors that Google is already working on the next-generation Pixel smartphones, the Pixel XL remains a very capable Android device. Powered out of the box by Android 7.1 Nougat, the Pixel XL comes with a 12.3-megapixel rear-facing camera, an 8-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5.5-inch AMOLED screen. The smartphone packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor that is supported by 4 GB of RAM.

The Google Home, on the other hand, has found itself in a suddenly tight smart speaker market due to the continued success of the Alexa-powered Amazon Echo and the announcement of the Siri-powered Apple HomePod.

Google, however, unveiled massive updates for Google Home at the company's annual I/O developers' conference, evolving the smart speaker into a more powerful device. Among the new features added to the smart speaker include the ability to make phone calls, schedule calendar appointments, and create reminders. Google Home will also soon support Bluetooth connections and visual responses through Chromecast-enabled TVs.

Purchasing a Google Pixel XL with a free Google Home is definitely a good offer, so customers who have their eye on these two devices should send in their order as soon as they can.

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Thirty percent of the worlds population is now exposed to potentially fatal heat waves for at least days each year, and as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere, more sections of the planet could experience deadly high temperatures.

This is the grim picture painted by a new study, which also discovered that up to three in four individuals will be exposed to death risks from heat by 2100 if there will be no dramatic reductions in emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Yet even with such decreases, one in two people by centurys end will still face 20 days or more of extreme heat.

Study Findings

Heat waves are already killing people around the globe today, in incidents including the 2010 Moscow event with its at least 10,000 casualties, as well as in the last few weeks in India and Pakistan where dozens died.

Lethal heat waves are very common, said lead author Camilo Mora of the University of Hawaii in a National Geographic report. I dont know why we as a society are not more concerned about the dangers.

Mora cited a European heat wave in 2003 that killed about 70,000, or 20 times the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

For the analysis published in the journal Nature Climate Change, Moras team pored over more than 30,000 publications to find data on almost 2,000 case studies of places with heat and human death links. Cities with deadly heat waves range from New York City and Los Angeles to London and Toronto, and as far as Tokyo and Beijing.

The research showed that overall heat-related illness or death risk has increased steadily since 1980. About 30 percent of the global population too now lives in conditions packing a punch in high temperatures at least 20 days each year.

Most heat-related fatalities, however, do not take place during widely known disasters. In Phoenix, for instance, June saw an unusually hot spell that killed at least four.

Human Threshold To Deadly Temperatures, Prospects For Safety Amid Climate Change

The internal temperature of the human body likely lies between 98.6 to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit. If this temperature moves close to 104 degrees Fahrenheit, ones cellular network may begin to break down, and any higher will require urgent medical attention.

According to Mora, threshold to fatal conditions varies from one place to another, where some people could die in 23 degrees Celsius.

Left most vulnerable are the young and elderly, and climbing inequality could result in greater deaths from extreme heat, warned medical history professor Richard Keller of University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A crucial thing to determine: humidity paired with the heat.

Your sweat doesnt evaporate if it is very humid, so heat accumulates in your body instead, Mora explained in a Guardian report, warning of heat toxicity or sunburn wreaking havoc on the bodys insides.

Deadly heat is expected to kill and harm more people and environments in the face of global warming, which has also brought about changes to human lives including sleep problems and altered mental health.

While India and other sections of the global south, for example, didnt find heat a massive concern previously, extreme heat has now become more frequent and intense with climate change.

A University of California Irvine study published this month discovered that the likelihood of a heat wave killing more than 100 people in India has doubled because of a 0.5 degrees Celsius climb in temperature in the last half century. This means temperature increase is deemed as only mild compared to other countries and regions.

Small increases in temperature could translate to major effects, particularly among the poorest nations. Even among rich nations, the increased use of air-conditioning is hardly seen as a long-term solution.

Greater use of AC systems means failure of electrical grids, Mora said.

We need to prevent heat waves rather than just trying to adapt to them, he said.

2016 has been declared one of the hottest years on Earth. An official report has predicted that the drastic climatic change seen in that year is looking to make a comeback in 2017, even without a strong El Nino phenomenon.

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is serious about building a Mars colony, firm in his belief that human colonization of the Red Planet can actually happen in the future.

But why has Mars always been part  or the main target  of the visionarys space ambitions? Blame it on the possibility of the apocalypse that could easily wipe out civilization and hinder our future survival as a species.

Why Relocate To Mars?

In his blueprint titled Making Humans a Multi-Planetary Species, Musk believes that humanity is heading into the pits of destruction.

One path is we stay on Earth forever, and then there will be some eventual extinction event, Musk said. I do not have an immediate doomsday prophecy, but eventually, history suggests, there will be some doomsday event.

What he proposes is creating a space-bearing civilization as well as a multi-planetary species, with a self-sustaining city and not just a mere outpost on Mars.

Despite the existence of a few planets in our own solar system as well as exoplanets close to home, Mars is singled out due to the innate difficulties of colonizing others: Venus is too hot and acidic, Mercury needs to be a bit farther from the sun to be livable, and Jupiter and Saturn, on the other hand, are much too far from it.

The moon, Musk added, is too small, lacks an atmosphere, and not quite as resource-laden as Mars.

Despite its distance to Earth, Mars remains a viable primary option given its day-and-night cycle resembling ours, along with the possibility of warming the planet to thicken its atmosphere and access its frozen oceans, and cultivate plants on the terrain.

You would have gravity that is about 37 percent of that of Earth, so you would be able to lift heavy things and bound around, Musk noted.

Ultra-Rich Prepper Movement

The ultra-rich from Silicon Valley and Wall Street are among those known to have prolific doomsday preparations. The survivalism movement can count Reddit CEO and cofounder Steve Huffman, former Yahoo executive Marvin Liao, and Soros Fund Managements managing director Robert A. Johnson among its members.

The 36-year-old Huffman went through laser eye surgery in November 2015, not for nearsightedness but to be well-equipped for a natural or man-made disaster. Liao has acquired weapons and began taking archery classes, while Johnson has started to take notice of hedge fund managers buying airstrips and farms in countries like New Zealand.

Then theres Musk as another doomsday prepper among Americas liberals, seeking to help humanity populate Mars as soon as it can as an answer to inevitable extinction on the planet.

A 2014 profile on PopSci compared Musks efforts to those of his fellow billionaires. If the man is to be believed, Musk must have forged an entirely philanthropic life through his range of professional activities, from the proposed 700-mph Hyperloop system in response to climate changes threat to the undisclosed amount of money he has poured into AI companies Deepmind and Vicarious in view of a doomsday scenario.

The man behind SpaceX and Tesla simply thinks a Mars colony is the answer. While vague on the timing of these efforts, he revealed that SpaceX will start testing the first development spaceship in suborbital flights.

If things go super-well, it might be in the 10-year timeframe, but I do not want to say that is when it will occur, he said, citing a huge amount of risk and cost necessary to make the dream a reality.

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The generational clash in the workplace between Millennials and Baby Boomers gets all the hype. It reminds me of the debate over who would win  Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson in his prime, because both have completely different styles and valid reasons why they would win.

However, a forgotten and unheralded challenger is primed to emerge as the next Champion of the business world. It is the GenXers born between 1965-1980, and nobody seems to see them coming. When CNBC recently analyzed 17,776 transcripts from Wall Street earnings calls, Generation X was mentioned only 16 times compared to 620 times for Millennials.

However, new studies and savvy business leaders are realizing that the Jan Bradys of our society are the most influential, have the most spending power and are about to take over the C-Suite.

A study from Pew Research Center called Americas Neglected Middle Child sums up exactly why. It analyzed 10 categories in which Gen X bridges the wide chasm that exists between Millennials and Baby Boomers, including racial diversity, technological fluency, political persuasions, position on gay marriage, feelings on government and use of social media.

As the Head of Marketing of Peak Sales Recruiting, I am seeing first-hand that the retiring of Baby Boomers is leaving a huge vacuum in the C-Suite that is being filled by Gen X.

Here are five reasons why Gen Xers are becoming the champions of the business world:

They Know Technology and Wear Ties: Generation X currently has the most applicable experience in todays rapidly evolving global economy. Having been key contributors to the evolution of the tech sector, they not only understand technology but have also managed the teams and created the strategies that have led to the creation of some of the worlds most innovative and disruptive companies. They Have Underestimated Influence and Spending Power: Marketers are beginning to realize a best kept secret: that Gen Xers have enormous spending power. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Generation X spends more money per household than any other generation at $66,981. AdAge concurs, noting that Gen X has more spending power than any other generation, representing 31 percent of total U.S. income. Sean Mahoney, VP at Sparks & Honey, said all eyes are on Millennials and Boomers, and no one is paying attention to Gen X. They're actually the people in power  power of the purse, they're running households, they're moving into political power, they're in the center of everything. Bill Gates and Other World Class Brands Gave Them the Keys to the Kingdom: Bill Gates, one of the most successful innovators of all time, is in his 60s; which means hes a Baby Boomer. In yet another stroke of genius, he turned the reins of Microsoft over to Satya Nadella, a Generation Xer that has received rave reviews for taking Microsoft further into the future by attracting talent from young startups. If Bill Gates, the richest man on the planet, believes in Generation X, then you can too. McDonald's, 21st Century Fox and Harley-Davidson, among others, have put Gen Xers in the corner office. There is going to be a sea change in terms of the ways that individuals in the corner office lead, Sandra Davis of MDA Leadership Consulting said in an interview with the WSJ. They (Gen Xers) are far more nimble and agile. Gen X Has Produced Some of the Best Entrepreneurs: In between former General Motors CEO and Baby Boomer Jack Welch and Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg, there have been enormously influential Gen X CEOs that have helped the United States maintain its position as the best economy in the world. This includes a list of innovators often overlooked as Gen Xers such as Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Twitters Jack Dorsey and Dells Michael Dell. Theyre Paving the Way for Millennials to Achieve Even Greater Success: As a Millennial, I admire my Gen X colleagues and am constantly blown away by their ingenuity, intelligence and innovation. Their insights and knowledge guide todays businesses and are opening the doors for Millennials to achieve even greater success in the years to come.

The Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers and Millennials have all made tremendous contributions to our society. Not to be outdone are the contributions, influence and power that Generation X holds today. Due to a confluence of socio-economic issues and experience, Gen Xers are beginning to dominate the C-Suite and drive our economy forward until Millennials are ready to take us to even greater heights down the road.

About the Author

Keith Johnstone is the Head of Marketing at Peak Sales Recruiting, a leading B2B sales recruiting company launched in 2006. Keith leads all marketing activities and has successfully grown revenue and lead volume every quarter. He plays a key role in driving Peak Sales Recruiting, which leads the industry with a success rate 50 percent higher than the industry average, working with a wide-range of clients including boutique, mid-size and world-class companies including P&G, Gartner, Deloitte, Merck, Taser and others. Follow @KJ_Peak







Edited by Alicia Young
The Court of Appeals of the National Court of Justice announced Thursday the annulment of the eight-year sentence against the former vice-president of Ecuador Jorge Glas and six others... | Read More
A Staten Island man who drunkenly jumped out of a moving ambulance and injured himself is suing the city, claiming the emergency medical workers tending to him should have stopped him from unstrapping himself from a gurney and throwing himself out of the vehicle.

As first reported by the Times, Yaugeni Kralkin, 56, is suing the city, the FDNY, and four EMTs for the June 11th, 2016 incident. According to the suit, that day Kralkin, a truck driver, got home from a long-haul drive from San Diego, downed a bottle of cognac, went for a walk, and blacked out in front of a neighbor's house. That's when EMTs picked him up, according to the suit, escorting him into the ambulance because he was being "uncooperative." But when Kralkin woke up strapped to a gurney in an ambulance, he says he freaked out.

He unbuckled the gurney's straps, opened the doors to the ambulance and jumped onto the concrete road, according to the lawsuithe reportedly suffered a seizure, cuts and bruises, and was knocked unconscious by the impact. And while one might consider such an incident the fault of the person who got too drunk to realize it was a bad idea to toss themselves out of a moving vehicle, Kralkin and his attorney say the EMTs should have done more to prevent him from injuring himself.

"The facts are very unusual in this case, but our position is that my client was so inebriated, and the level of toxicity of alcohol in his body was so high, that he was equivalent to being helpless," attorney Borislav Chernyy told Gothamist. "The EMTs from the City of New York had a duty to protect him, even from himself, as they have a duty to protect any other patient they're caring for."

Kralkin is seeking compensation for his medical costs and undisclosed damages. Meanwhile, the union that represents EMTs says they're not responsible for Kralkin's actions. "What is this E.M.T. supposed to do to stop somebody who loses control of themselves and does something crazy like that?" Robert Ungar, the spokesman for the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors F.D.N.Y. Local 2507, said. "Its not their job to get into a physical altercation with somebody who decides they are going to try and jump out of the ambulance."
[UPDATE BELOW] Last month, the city of New Orleans completed the removal of four Confederate statues. The two-year-old process was steeped in controversywhile many in New Orleans were happy to see symbols of white supremacy eradicated, others saw an "Orwellian attempt to erase history," as the NY Times reported.

Of course, controversial symbols of the Confederacy endure north of the Mason-Dixon line; even New York City has lingering Confederate legacies. One, a "General Lee Avenue" that runs through Fort Hamilton in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, is an homage to Confederate general Robert E. Lee. And Stonewall Jackson Drive, also in Fort Hamilton, is named in honor of fellow Confederate general Stonewall Jackson. Now one local Congresswoman is determined to erase them both.

Last week, U.S. Representative Yvette Clarke told the New Yorker it was time to do away with General Lee Avenue, named in honor of Lee's time serving at Fort Hamilton from 1841 to 1846. Though the street sign, installed by the now-defunct local chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, has largely gone unnoticed, there was a previous push to rename it after white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine people at a predominantly black church in Charleston in 2015.

Clarke told Gothamist the street names, which were brought to her attention by her staff, make no sense in a city that was solidly part of the Union. "To me it should be a no brainer, particularly on a military installation, that it's inappropriate to commemorate individuals who were part of the Confederacy in New York," she said. "Brooklyn has to be one of the most diverse boroughs in the city of New York. Brooklynites would not embrace the naming, particularly on a military installation, commemorating individuals who fought a war to keep slavery."

She added, "When you think about, for quite some time now, there have been people who are fighting in our wars, who are part of our military, that there are people of color who were stationed at Fort Hamiltonit's really disrespectful to have these individuals who would deny their humanity, commemorated somewhere they're fighting for the liberties of all Americans."

Yesterday, Clarkealong with local Congressional representatives Jerrold Nadler, Nydia Velazquez and Hakeem Jeffriessent a letter to Army Secretary Robert Speer asking for his help in renaming both the avenue and the smaller Stonewall Jackson Drive:



We are writing to request your full and fair consideration of our proposal to rename two streets at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn that are currently named for prominent Confederate Army generals, General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive. To honor these men who believed in the ideology of white supremacy and fought to maintain the institution of slavery constitutes a grievous insult to the many thousands of people in Brooklyn who are descendants of the slaves held in bondage. Both Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson disavowed their loyalty to the United States and their commitment to our Army, inflicting hundreds of thousands of casualties on soldiers wearing the blue uniform of our nation. The usage of General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive effectively honors two individuals who fought to deny our humanity. The names are a continuing insult to many Brooklyn residents, including members of the armed forces stationed at Fort Hamilton. Other monuments to Confederate leaders  most recently a statue of Robert E. Lee in New Orleans - have been removed for this very reason. Therefore, we ask that you consider renaming General Lee Avenue and Stonewall Jackson Drive. There are many alternatives available that would celebrate the contributions of our armed forces. We thank you for your consideration.

The date of the letter coincided with yesterday's Juneteenth celebration, which marks the date Union Major General Gordon Granger announced at Galveston, Texas that the United States' slaves were free, officially commemorating the end of slavery.

Though there was considerable pushback when the city of New Orleans first announced they'd be removing Confederate monuments, Clarke says she isn't concerned about any controversy over her push to rename the streets. "I think the sentiment is clear. People are far more awakened to the hypocrisy that many in our country are confronting right now. One of those has been the hypocrisy around the type of racial hatred that is generated by the imagery of the Confederacy," she said. "It's very clear to me that the average Brooklynite would not be in favor of there being commemorative roads or streets in our borough."

Clarke also proposed some other notable Americans who might be honored instead of Lee and Jackson, including Colin Powell and Harriet Tubman. "She did a lot to help the Union army as a former slave," Clarke said. "There's a very long list of individuals, contemporary or not, who've added more value to the growth and development of our military, and who have done their work in the spirit of a strong United States, of keeping our nation safe."

General Lee Avenue isn't Bay Ridge's only commemoration of the Confederate general. St. Johns Episcopal Church on Fort Hamilton Parkway boasts a maple tree with a plaque claiming a previous version of the tree was planted by Lee during his time at Fort Hamilton. That plaque was also installed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy long after the Civil War ended, in 1912. (The original Maple died in 1935 and was replanted by the UDC, the New Yorker reports.) Asked if that plaque should also be removed, Clarke said, "I would leave it to the people to live in that community to search themselves."



(Click here for a larger version of the letter.)

Update 4:32 p.m.: A spokesperson with the U.S. Army tells Gothamist, "When the Army receives the letter, the Army will respond accordingly."
President Trump's nominee to become the next FBI director has billed New Jersey taxpayers $2.1 million while representing Governor Chris Christie in connection with the Bridgegate investigations.

WNYC and the Asbury Park Press report, based on records provided in response to public records requests, that Wray and his firm's near-secret legal work for Christie continued at least until late April, and may be ongoing. Christie has maintained his innocence throughout the federal investigation and the prosecutions that earned his high-ranking allies prison terms, even as those convicted said he was directly involved in the George Washington Bridge lane closures. The closures were meant as political retribution after the mayor of Fort Lee declined to endorse Christie.

Wray billed New Jersey taxpayers $340 an hour, and spent more than $14,000 on travel and meals, including one $1,963.40 plane ticket after the aides' trial ended last November, according to the reports.

Wray is a partner at the firm King & Spalding and has phone numbers at its offices in Washington, New York, and Atlanta. First-class, next-day, round-trip tickets from Atlanta to Newark currently start at $1,009, according to a Kayak search.



(Getty)

Speaking to reporters about Wray following Trump's announcement earlier this month, Christie said, "When I had to retain legal counsel during a very, very troubling, confusing, difficult time for me, I made one phone call, and that was to Chris Wray."

Wray's work in the Bridgegate case didn't become public until 2016, nearly two years after his hiring, when a Christie spokesman informed reporters that a cellphone that Christie had said prosecutors had was actually in Wray's possession. Two of the three former Christie aides indicted tried to get their hands on the phone to show what they said was Christie's direction of the lane-closure plot, but a judge blocked their subpoenas.

Wray's millions in bills come on top of the more than $11 million Christie spent of New Jersey taxpayer money on an internal "investigation" by the white-shoe firm Gibson Dunn. The investigation cleared Christie and blamed his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly. The lawyers who conducted the probe conveniently failed to take notes memorializing the interviews that led them to this conclusion.

Wray is not the only Bridgegate attorney in the running for a job in federal law enforcement. NJ.com reports that Craig Carpenito, who was paid $150 an hour in taxpayer money to defend Christie against a criminal complaint by a Jersey activist alleging official misconduct, is Christie's recommendation to be the next U.S. attorney for New Jersey.



Trump goes in for a hug that Comey doesn't want at a January function after Comey's plan to blend into the drapes failed. (Getty)

Lawmakers have praised Wray as an accomplished federal law enforcement official, but some also note that his work in private practice could pose serious conflicts of interest as leader of the FBI. Under President George W. Bush, Wray ran the Justice Department's criminal division, working closely with deposed FBI director James Comey, among others. During his tenure, he oversaw an investigation into Enron. He also declined to prosecute two men who tortured a prisoner to death at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and apparently worked on the federal media messaging in response to the Abu Ghraib scandal.

As far as his private sector work, Wray's connections to Russia in particular have Trump critics reaching for the torches. (Trump, if you'll recall, has said he decided to fire James Comey after deciding, "You know, this Russia thing with Trump and Russia is a made-up story," and reportedly told Russian officials at the White House, "I faced great pressure because of Russia. Thats taken off.")

At King & Spalding, Wray represented "an energy company president in a criminal investigation by Russian authorities," according to an old version of his corporate bio. That detail has been deleted between December and this month, CNN reported today. The firm where he is a partner also represents Rosneft and Gazprom, two major state-owned Russian oil companies. President Obama's sanctions on Russia hampered a $500-billion drilling deal the company had with Exxon, where now-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was CEO, and lifting them would be a boon to both companies. Rosneft also comes up in former British MI6 agent Christopher Steele's unverified dossier as a possible source of bribes for Trump to lift sanctions.

Gazprom has worked closely with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and is run by people close to Russian President Vladmir Putin. A Ukrainian partner of Gazprom's is under federal indictment in Chicago.

In his tweet announcing Wray's nomination, Trump called Wray, "a man of impeccable credentials."

Christie's office did not respond to an email seeking comment.
The St. Helena's Sheriff's Office is searching for a man who held up a truck stop in Amite early Monday morning.
Amid a wearying legislative session on the budget, precious little was done to restore state finances. But although it will take time to mature, a landmark package of bills aimed at whittling away at the state's prison population could be good for both public safety and the taxpayers' pockets.

Gov. John Bel Edwards signed the bills amid some hoopla, with an array of advocates for prison reform on hand to celebrate a bipartisan success in the legislative process.

"I'm not proud of our title as the most incarcerated state, but that is now going to be a part of our history," Edwards said.

One day, but not yet. While we commend the legislators and citizen groups who drove these reforms, Louisiana today still locks up a larger percentage of its people than any other state, and changing that will require a long-term commitment, including follow-through in a complex system that includes not only state prisons but local jails, and the courts.

The "historic achievement" of the 2017 Legislature is undoubtedly significant. "I've been around and near the halls of this Capitol for 20 years now ... I am not sure I have seen more impactful legislation passed," said Flozell Daniels, of the Foundation for Louisiana, a criminal justice reform advocate. "We have made a way for us to impact thousands of people's lives."

Daniels served on the Justice Reinvestment Task Force, appointed by Edwards to bring best practices and data-driven policy to the prison system. The 10 bills in the package involved political risks, and several of them were contentious.

The goal is to reduce the state's prison population by 10 percent over the next decade. The savings the state will generate for no longer housing those inmates is projected to be $262 million, of which 70 percent has been obligated for programs to rehabilitate offenders and support victims.

The new laws will reduce mandatory minimums, trim some sentences and give some inmates access to parole eligibility sooner  although a more comprehensive rewrite of the felony charges was deferred on the demand of district attorneys.

The bills create a medical furlough program, which allows the sickest inmates to temporarily receive treatment off site, and be eligible for Medicaid, which saves the state on medical costs. The package overhauls drug sentencing, allowing lighter sentences based on weights, and streamlines the state's many incongruous theft penalties. One bill in the package will limit how often juvenile offenders can receive life without parole sentences.

"Today, we begin building the system we want rather than continue to settle for the system we have," Edwards said.

That will only happen if inmates are better prepared for life on the outside, with job skills and a chance to reintegrate into society, rather than joining the grim parade of re-offenders back in Angola or other prisons.

We commend the citizen activists from across the state, including faith leaders, who helped to make such a sweeping reform package possible. But the band should not be packed away after the signing celebration, because political momentum for change is going to be needed in the months and years ahead, not least in the debates over felony sentencing, deferred this year.

The governor is exactly correct: We have begun to build the system we want, but the system we have is used to doing things the way it always has.
Residents from Florida to Texas braced Tuesday night for the expected arrival of Tropical Storm Cindy, which threatened to bring high winds an
Shameful though it might be to rejoice in criminal undertakings, the art forger must always command sneaking admiration.
Twenty women in red cloaks and white bonnets walked silently into the State Capital in Albany on Monday, evoking Margaret Atwood's dystopian handmaidswomen stripped of their rights and reduced to involuntary childbearing. The activists, from Planned Parenthood and the National Institute for Reproductive Health, hope to sway Republicans to expand abortion rights and secure broad access to copay-free contraceptives before the legislative session ends on Wednesday. They plan to line the hallway between the Senate conference room today and tomorrow, as well.

"The Handmaid's Tale makes it very clear that what allows for this really repressive future, and really oppressive future, is inaction," said Danielle Castaldi-Micca, an organizer with NIRH. "From our perspective, inaction is really unacceptable, here because [New York] is a place where we could be securing real proactive rights and access to contraception."

This week's actions in New York follow similar handmaid demonstrations in Texas, Ohio, and Missouri. According to Castaldi-Micca, the women got the attention of Senators on both sides of the abortion debate. "I think there was definitely a generational divide of like, 'Oh, sure, Handmaid's Tale,' and people who were like, 'Are you nuns? Are you a choir?" she said. "And definitely some people were like, 'This is super creepy.' Well, the idea of a time where women are used solely for breeding is very creepy."

While the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade enshrines a woman's right to an abortion after 24 weeks if the pregnancy threatens her health, New York's law is more strict: currently, it criminalizes late-term abortions unless the doctor believes beyond a doubt that the pregnant woman could die. As a result, advocates say, women facing health risks, or whose fetuses are at risk, are left without an in-state option. Those with means travel to a handful of states that offer the procedure, including Colorado and Kansas.



(Annie Zegers)

In January New York's Democratic-majority Assembly passed the Reproductive Health Actlegislation that would codify Roe v. Wade at the state level, protecting the right to abortion in New York in the face of conservative Supreme Court appointments.

It also passed the Comprehensive Contraception Coverage Act, which would require insurers in New York to provide copay-free coverage for all FDA-approved contraceptives. Emergency contraception like Plan B, which typically costs at least $50 without a prescription, would be covered over the counteran expansion on the ACA. Male contraception would be covered, as well. Proponents say the law is a crucial protection for women as federal funding for Planned Parenthood continues to hang in the balance.

But both the RHA and CCCA are loitering in Senate committee on Tuesday, with less than two days left in the legislative session. And while the CCCA has Republican supportthe primary sponsor is Republican Senator John Bonacicthe RHA has met resistance on both sides of the aisle. Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan did not immediately comment on the bill, but in the past Republicans have dismissed it as harmful to the mother.

"We're going to continue to work against this extreme legislation," Barbara Meara, chairman of New York State Right To Life, told Gothamist last fall. "We think it's very dangerous."

There are also three New York City Democrats who have not signed on as co-sponsors to the RHA: Simcha Felder of Brooklyn; Ruben Diaz of the South Bronx; and Joseph Addabbo of Queens. A spokesman for Felder declined comment, saying that it is the senator's policy not to comment on legislation in committee. A spokeswoman for Diaz, who has long been a vocal opponent of abortion, said, "Senator Diaz's position on these issues is still unchanged." Addabbo's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Governor Cuomo, who has endorsed the RHA and CCCA, proposed regulations in January that would require insurance companies in New York to continue offering birth control for no co-pay, even if the Affordable Care Act is repealed. But those regulations have yet to be finalized, and advocates say they're less comprehensive than the CCCA. They don't cover emergency contraception, for example, and would only cover one type of contraception in each category (IUD, pill, etc.).

The Governor's Office did not immediately comment on whether his office plans to make a final push for floor votes on the RHA and CCCA this week.

"We are hopeful that the leadership of the NYS Senate will see the light," said Castaldi-Micca of the NIRH. "We hope this rather dramatic message of The Handmaid's Tale will help them understand how serious the women of New York are about this, and how frightened they are about losing their rights under this new federal administration."
AFL players have agreed to a $1.84 billion pay deal Credit:AFL Media/Getty Images However, as reported by Fairfax Media, for players to immediately share in the spoils, they will need a clause in their current contracts enabling them to get the rise. Marsh said only 50 per cent of players had this clause. Contract negotiations with players this year had been held up by the lack of clarity over the new collective bargaining agreement but these can now also proceed. Marsh said it was up to clubs how they would spend the windfall. "At the bottom end, what we have done to try and make sure it is equally shared is we have increased the minimum salaries by an amount than greater than what the Total Player Payments is," he said.

"We have set the benchmark of the bottom a bit higher. Ultimately, it is up to clubs how they choose to spend their salary caps. That is not our job." There has also been a change to free agency, with players no longer needing to have been a restricted free agent before becoming unrestricted. There will be another tweak made by October. It's understood between 27 and 28 per cent of league revenue will flow to the players, including an extra 28 per cent of un-budgeted AFL revenue and 11.2 per cent of club revenue. While there is an immediate salary jump, the increase will dip to 1.2 per cent in 2018, 1.3 per cent in 2019 and two per cent in 2020, 2021 and 2022, taking the salary cap to $13.54 in the final year of the deal.

Players, including AFLPA board members Patrick Dangerfield, Scott Pendlebury and Leigh Montagna, had been steadfast in their determination to gain a share of un-budgeted revenues. Dangerfield had last year even raised the prospect of strike action through the pre-season competition when negotiations stalled but that did not eventuate. "I reckon we have been consistent from the start that we believe in the theory of (the CBA) being tied in a binary way to the success of the industry," McLachlan said. "We have had three to four issues. One is that half of our industry revenue came from the clubs, which we had no control over. We needed a model that actually gave us some flexibility. If it is something with a 100 per cent margin, like wagering, they (players) will get a straight 28 per cent. Something with less margin ... they will get a different percentage. "The players have had a win and got what they want, which is a percentage model that is fair and ties them in in a partnership sense with the success of our game and we have got what we want, which is industry protection and flexibility and ensures our game goes ahead for the next 100 years and doesn't put it at risk." Pavlich said the players had 10 points of concern heading into talks. Promotional and marketing allowance money will also jump, while the players had a win in their bid for better travel and accommodation measures. There are also improved welfare and injury provisions, particularly for past players, and an added focus on concussion.

McLachlan and Goyder stressed the four pillars of the sport - players, clubs, community and supporters - would benefit from the $2.508 billion broadcast rights deal signed in 2015. Goyder insisted clubs were happy with the new deal. McLachlan also confirmed the AFL Commission had agreed Port Adelaide would again stage a clash in China next year. MONEY MATTERS: HOW THE NEW CBA SHAPES UP Player payments: * Total player payments will increase by 20 per cent in 2017, to $12.45 million per club ($224m in total), with increases of 1.2%, 1.3%, 2%, 2%, 2% in years 2018-2022.

* Players receive 28 per cent of forecast defined football revenue; * Players benefit from a review mechanism that captures a share of additional AFL and club revenue; * Players are entitled to receive 28% of AFL revenues and 11.2% of club revenues above forecasts; * Exclusions to the model includes bequests, donations, government grants, non-football revenues and AFLW revenue; * The minimum rookie payment will increase to $71,500 in 2017, while the base payment for a first-round draft pick will rise to $88,200 in 2017.

Education, Development, Wellbeing and Retirement: * An extra $6 million of funding into player retirement accounts; * Increased funding to $13 million for player development; * Revamped injury payments model, guaranteed funding of $250,000 annually for concussion research; * Improved travel and accommodation conditions;

* Past players to benefit from the establishment of a Lifetime Health Care program; * Category-A rookie-listed players will be eligible to play senior football from 2018. Free Agency: * Players no longer need to be restricted free agents before becoming unrestricted; * Free agency qualification periods remain as is - 8 years restricted (if in top 25% of paid players at club); 10 years unrestricted.

Also, at least one additional free agency provision to be adopted by October 2017, from: * Free agency for life; * Free agency portability; * Restricted free agency at 4 years for any players under median salary; * Such other change proposed by AFL and agreed by AFLPA.
Efforts by well-meaning apologists to absolve Islam when Muslims in Australia turn to violence are ultimately futile, as the tragic case of Yacqub Khayre in the recent Brighton siege demonstrates.

As a refugee worker among Khayre's Somali community, I was among the many Melburnians who welcomed his family from the horrors of civil war. In that decade, I grew to deeply love the Somali people  including Khayre's family. My heart was continually rent by the stories of unimaginable pain and loss so many of my friends had suffered. It was rent again as refuge in Australia failed to break the cycle of violence for the troubled Khayre.

Police responding to the hostage crisis in Brighton. Credit:Luis Ascui

Khayre was clearly sending (yet another) salvo across the bows of the narrative that "this has nothing to do with Islam". Surely this has at least something to do with Islam.

I know this because I have discussed theology with the people Khayre hung out with; listened to the Islamic teachers Khayre was influenced by; been to the Islamic centres Khayre has been to; and read the theologians that outline the traditional Islamic approach to politics. In short, whatever social or personal factors drove Khayre's act it was, to some degree, also driven by a traditional Islamic political theology.
Time for me to wrap up. What happened?

the Turnbull government has secured enough support from the crossbench to pass its education funding changes ;

has secured enough to ; this is a big win for the government ;

; the Nick Xenophon Team , One Nation , Derryn Hinch , Jacqui Lambie and Lucy Gichuhi are voting with the government;

, , , and are voting with the government; despite being willing to negotiate the Greens found themselves out in the cold ; and

; and the vote could take place late tonight.

My thanks to Alex Ellinghausen and Andrew Meares for their magnificent work and to you for reading and commenting.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Alex, Andrew and I will be back in the morning. Until then, good evening.
Pheobe's Fall has achieved significant success in Australia, and built a solid following internationally, knocking Serial off the top of the local iTunes chart within days of launching last September, and continuing to notch up over 50,000 downloads a month nine months later. Importantly, it also triggered a review of the Coroner's Act in Victoria.

Additionally, The Age's hit podcast also served as an audio skills development exercise for the Investigations team led by Michael Bachelard, who co-presented Phoebe's Fall.

The series was adopted by Fairfax Media's Digital Editorial Capability team as an exercise in 'project-based learning'. "We weren't used to working in audio so we had to learn to listen. It's very clear to me that audio is this incredibly honest medium that really puts your nose to the grindstone and makes you structure things in ways that make sense to people. It's a real discipline and I don't think we really knew that when we started," Bachelard says of the learning curve.

For Baker, the feedback from Phoebe's Fall listeners who spoke of "addiction" to the series, and a desire to see justice in the case, was inspiring. "If we want people to spend time, invest in whatever it is we're doing, the return is we've got to put a lot of thought and a lot of effort into making what we do as original and as engaging as possible."

Collaboration across divisions within Fairfax was one of the best outcomes of the project, according to Bachelard: "Print journalists traditionally tend to be somewhat individualistic types, all working in very small teams. This is a different thing. You really have to admire the skills of the people that we have around us and respect them, and call on them, and work with them, and it's been a very powerful engine for this new kind of storytelling that we're discovering."
Two years ago, John Wallace Edwards fronted a wall of cameras to launch a tearful appeal about his missing wife.

"We had plans for the future," he said while embracing his sons outside Grafton Police Station on the NSW North Coast in 2015.

John Edwards is expected to be charged with the murder of estranged wife Sharon Edwards.

"It is really out of character, really out of character for Sharon to disappear like this."

On Tuesday evening, the 61-year-old was sitting in a cell in a Queensland watch house with detectives alleging he was the reason for Mrs Edwards' disappearance.
Nearly three years ago, Sayle Kenneth Newson demanded to know the truth about what happened to his then girlfriend, Lake Macquarie woman Carly McBride.

He would offer $10,000 cash as a reward. He would maintain a Facebook page that encouraged tip-offs from the community. And he would speak candidly to the media about how the couple's lives were just "taking off".

On Monday, police alleged Mr Newson knew the truth all along: that he had killed Ms McBride, robbing two children of their mother, and plunging her heartbroken parents into despair as years went by without receiving any answers.

In a breakthrough in a murder mystery that has rattled the Hunter since September 30, 2014, Mr Newson, who had been in a relationship with Ms McBride for the eight weeks prior to her disappearance, was arrested at San Remo on the Central Coast and charged with her murder.
With Senate Republicans determined to pass legislation repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act, Democrats are trying to slow down the GOP's secretive efforts by gumming up operations in the Senate. Likewise, many of the protests planned in New York over the coming days concern the undead AHCA, with other events also centered around World Refugee Day, the climate, and the final days of Gay Pride. As always, we've rounded up the week's most notable protestsfeel free to leave anything we've missed in the comments.

World Refugee Day Action



African Communities Together and City of Refuge Coalition lead this march to Trump Tower on Tuesday to demand the president cease the refugee ban and uphold Temporary Protected Statusa protection currently afforded to thousands of Haitian New Yorkers. The march, organized as part of World Refugee Day, will conclude with the ceremonial Iftar, or breaking of fast, observed during Ramadan.

Tuesday, June 20th, 6 p.m. // Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, 245 East 47th Street



Protest Scott Pruitt At The Harvard Club

On Wednesday, one week after the Associated Press obtained emails that underscore Scott Pruitt's close ties to the fossil fuel industry, Trump's EPA Administrator is set to deliver a speech at the Harvard Club in Midtown on the subject of the "The EPA After Paris." Activist group Rise & Resist will picket the event, with the intention of telling the nation's top environmental watchdog/climate change denialist "that the planet is in a state of emergency, that climate change is real, and that access to clean air and clean drinking water are human rights."

Wednesday, June 21st, 11 a.m. // Harvard Club, 35 West 44th Street, Manhattan



Vigil To Save U.S. Health Care



A vigil outside the Trump International Hotel seeks to gather stories from those personally helped by the Affordable Care Act, and to amplify the struggles they'd face under the Republicans' proposed plan. Organized by Rise & Resist, the vigil will last for 24 hours and feature speeches from a number of religious leaders. Attendees are encouraged to bring candles and personal stories.

Wednesday, June 21st, 5 p.m. // Trump International Hotel, 1 Central Park West, Manhattan

Stand Up To Schumer: Withhold Consent 'til AHCA has Public Hearings



As Senate Republicans prepare their version of Obamacare repeala bill that some worry could be passed with almost no public reviewSenate Democrats are their procedural options for stalling the legislation. On Thursday, progressive activists affiliated with Indivisible will gather outside Chuck Schumer's Manhattan office to demand that the Senate Minority Leader either withhold his consent for the bill or filibuster through an unlimited string of amendments. You can find out more about Indivisible's "Plan to Stop Trumpcare" here.

Thursday, June 22nd, 5 p.m. // 780 3rd Avenue, Manhattan



Bash Back For London Jade and Jasmine Infiniti



Two weeks after two trans women were beaten outside a liquor store in Bushwick, queer activist group Bashback will host a rally in Bushwick's Freedom Triangle Park to condemn the attack. The event, scheduled on the Trans Day of Action and two days before the Pride parade, is organized under the hashtag #NoJusticeNoPride.

Thursday, June 22nd, 7 p.m. // Freedom Triangle Park, Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn



Trans Day of Action



Now in its 13th year, the annual NYC Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Justice comes to Washington Square Park on Thursday. The event, organized by the Audre Lorde project, will call attention to the "erasure of Trans and Gender Nonconforming people" during Pride season, while also celebrating the launch of a campaign to address housing issues within the TGNC community. Over one thousand people are expected to attend, and a march to a not-yet-named location will follow the rally.

Friday, June 23rd, 2 p.m. // Washington Square Park



Single Payer Rally to Greet Nancy Pelosi



Universal health care advocates will "say no" to Nancy Pelosi when she arrives for a speech at the 92Y on Sunday, with a protest intended to push the House Minority Leader toward supporting single payer health care. Thus far, Pelosi has refused to back single payer, and has responded to reporters' questions by saying that "states are laboratories" for such health care reforms. In New York, a single payer bill has gained momentum in recent months alongside the looming threat of Obamacare repeal, though it looks increasingly likely the legislative session will wind down this week without a vote in the state Senate.

Sunday, June 25th, 7 p.m. // 92Y, 1395 Lexington Avenue, Manhattan


Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale is facing three charges, including one count of extortion, after he was arrested by the Crime and Corruption Commission.

The 65-year-old is due to front the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning after being remanded in custody overnight.

Earlier, a CCC spokesman said the charges had "nothing to do with the fifty grand" found on Mr Pisasale at Melbourne airport on May 12 or Operation Belcarra, the organisation's investigation into the 2016 local elections.

Asked whether anyone else could become the subject of CCC action, the spokesman said: "I can't say at this stage. The investigation remains ongoing."
Former Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale, who resigned from office a fortnight ago, has appeared in court on three charges, including extortion.

Mr Pisasale, 65, was arrested by Queensland's Crime and Corruption Commission and taken to the Brisbane watchhouse on Tuesday where he was formally charged.

He appeared in the Brisbane Magistrates Court on Wednesday morning in a standard-issue brown watch-house tracksuit after being remanded in custody overnight.



Police opposed his bail application, citing concerns for his welfare and that he might interfere with witnesses.

Deputy Chief Magistrate Terry Gardiner granted bail on a number of conditions including that he hand in his passports and not contact or approach the alleged victims involved in his charges.
One passenger has died and 12 others have been injured after a collision between a mini bus and a taxi in the state's north.

Police believe the taxi T-boned the bus about 3.30pm at the intersection of Pyke and Turnbull roads at Ardmona, near Shepparton.

The mini bus was carrying 12 adult passengers at the time of the crash.

The taxi had two passengers.
A repeat sex offender once bashed in his home by vigilantes has had his spell in prison extended after being convicted of more historic child-sex offences.

Douglas Norman Povey, 71, was on Tuesday jailed for six years for sexually assaulting three girls in country Victoria: one between 1975 and 1977 and the others in 1989 and 1990.

All three girls knew him as a friend of their families.

Povey's latest sentence adds to a six-year jail term imposed in 2014, for sexually assaulting a boy, and means the earliest he can be released on parole is in February 2023.

The former shearer has significant health problems, including a serious cardiac condition.
A drug dealer who rammed two police cars, threw handfuls of cash out of a car window and waved an imitation pistol at pedestrians during a police pursuit through Melbourne has been jailed for six years.

County Court judge Wendy Wilmoth said the sight of Sean Murphy driving his BMW on the footpath in the central business district on the afternoon of March 29 last year would have been a "horrifying scenario" which had the potential to injure or kill people.

Sean Paul Murphy will spend at least four years behind bars. Credit:Victoria Police

That no one was seriously hurt was only down to good luck, Judge Wilmoth said on Tuesday in jailing Murphy for six years. It will be at least four years before the 28-year-old is eligible for parole.

Murphy threw more than $2000 in cash out the car window as he tore along Flemington Road in Kensington, having moments earlier rammed a police car in front of him and one behind after he was seen by officers using drugs near Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market.
Geneva/Kinshasa: The UN rights chief said on Tuesday a militia linked to Democratic Republic of Congo's government has committed a string of ethnically-motivated attacks in recent months, including cutting off toddlers' limbs and stabbing pregnant women.

Zeid bin Raad al-Hussein called for an international investigation, saying the Kinshasa government had not done enough to look into the atrocities. Congo's human rights minister dismissed that statement.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein. Credit:AP

Prince Zeid, from Jordan, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva he had reports the Bana Mura militia was backing the government in its fight against insurgents in the central Kasai region, and had focused attacks on two ethnic groups, the Luba and Lulua.

"Refugees from multiple villages in the Kamonya territory indicated that the Bana Mura have in the past two months shot dead, hacked or burned to death, and mutilated, hundreds of villagers, as well as destroying entire villages," he said.
Eight year old Gowanus venue Littlefield recently uprooted from Degraw Street to new and larger digs a block away on Sackett Street. Joining them in this new venture: El Atoradero, the Prospect Heights darling serving some of the city's best Mexican fare.

Owner Noah Arenstein and Chef Denisse Lina will run Taqueria El Atoradero inside the venue's "Parklife," an adjacent bar and 4,000-square-foot outdoor area next to the main venue space. "We've been wanting to do a taqueria version of El Atoradero for a little while and the timing kind of worked out really well," Arenstein told Gothamist. "We wanted to use this as a test to see if we could start doing taquerias like that."

The Taqueria will be a walk-up window in a shipping container in the outdoor space. Guests can place an order there and, eventually, there will be a kiosk on the Littlefield side where event goers can place an order to be delivered to that side of the venue.

The superb homemade tortillas and taco fillings that garnered Lina success at her first restaurant in the Bronx will now be on offer in Gowanus, including her famed carnitas. "We're doing campechano...which is a little more free-wheeling," Arenstein explains. "Campechano usually means 'more than one topping,'" which at the taqueria could mean tacos topped with chorizo, cheese and french fries; or chorizo and steak.

A post shared by El Atoradero Brooklyn (@elatoraderobk) on Oct 31, 2016 at 12:19pm PDT

El Atoradero's superlative nachos will be served at Littlefield, too. Their classic, with a base of house-made blue corn chips, can be upended with a french fries substitution, a riff the restaurant experimented with as an off-menu item last summer. Crisp, fast food-style fries are topped with all the fixings, including beans, cheese and pickled jalapenos.

"I've been to Mexico City a couple times for research and there's this great taqueria in La Merced that calls themselves McTio, with big golden arches, and one of their taco options is french fries," Arenstein says. "We were playing around with hamburger tacos last year with friends and french fries and tacos taste really good, french fries and burritos is kind of a thing already, so we wanted to offer [french fry nachos]."

Finally, they'll be creating a salsa bar that takes a page from a similar setup at Los Tacos No.1 in Chelsea Market. There will be four salsas on the menu, including cucumber verde (pepino verde) and a mango habanero, both new, joining molcajete and roja.

The Taqueria is slated to open on Friday.

Taqueria El Atoradero will be located inside Littlefield's Parklife bar at 636 Sackett Street in Gowanus; Instagram. The Taqueria will be open Monday- Thursday 5 p.m. to midnight, Friday 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Saturday noon to 2 a.m., and Sunday noon to midnight.

El Atoradero Taqueria Menu by Nell Casey on Scribd
Car Review: 2017 Honda CR-V One Of The Best Gets Better - Review By Larry Nutson

2017 Honda CR-VOne of the best gets better

- 5 Star Rating by The Auto Channel

By Larry Nutson

Senior Editor and Bureau Chief

Chicago Bureau

The Auto Channel

Theres a sales-king battle going on this year in the very popular compact SUV segment between the 2017 Honda CR-V and the 2017 Nissan Rogue. Both vehicles are quite good and very popular in the marketplace. The CR-V has held the crown for many years. So, well see.

The 2017 Honda CR-V is all-new for this year. Its been completely redesigned with more style and flair. The interior has been revised and made more spacious, and theres a new turbo engine.

The new CR-V is much better looking on the outside than the previous model. Its been sculpted, has a new front fascia and new rear window shape. On the inside its also more modern with higher quality materials. And--wait for it, we now get a volume knob for the audio system. You wouldnt think this simple item is a big deal, but it is.

Now with a longer wheelbase and wider track, the ride remains very compliant and yet a bit more comfortable.

The five-passenger CR-V is offered in five trimsLX, EX, EX-L, EX-L with Navigation and Touring. Prices run from $24,045 to $33,795. All five models are offered in either front-wheel or all-wheel drive.







The lowest price LX is powered by a 184-HP, 2.4-L four-cylinder thats a carry-over from the previous generation. The other top-four models now get Hondas 190-HP turbo 1.5-L four. Both engines use a CVT.

The 1.5-L engine is the better performer and has the better fuel economy ratings.

Front-drive models have EPA test-cycle ratings of 30 mpg combined, with 28 city mpg and 34 highway mpg. All-wheel drive models are rated one mpg lower. By the way, the 1.5-L engine is certified as low-emission which may pay off if you park at work in a LEED certified building that provides closer-in parking spaces for green vehicles.

The 60/40 split-folding rear seat folds flat. Cargo space is very ample at 39.2 cuft and it then grows to 75.8 cuft with the seatback down. Also, theres a two-step load floor that can be raised or lowered to fit tall items. Plus, theres an available hands-free power liftgate.

The Honda Sensing suite of driver-assistance safety features has been made standard on EX and higher trims. Road Departure Mitigation and Adaptive Cruise Control with Low-Speed Follow are now available. Additional new available driver-assistance features include Rear Cross Traffic Monitor, Blind Spot Information System, Auto High-Beam and a new Driver Attention Monitor.

Noteworthy is the 2017 Honda CR-V has earned the highest possible safety rating of TOP SAFETY PICK+ from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) when equipped with available Honda Sensing and LED headlights.

Other features include remote engine start, rain-sensing wipers, dual-zone automatic climate controls, heated power mirrors, automatic high-beam headlamps and a 180-degree rear camera.

An available 7-inch touch-screen infotainment system offers Android Auto and Apple CarPlay compatibility.

For my test-driving in the CR-V I drove an all-wheel drive Touring model. On a 150-mile road trip from Chicago to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin I got around 33 mpg driving at steady interstate speeds on a light traffic day. The turbo engine performs well with good torque on hand to deliver reasonable all-around performance, although it was always with just me on-board. Im not real fond of CVTs but they get the job done and with the turbo engine you dont need to rev very high to get going.

Honda did a decent job with interior cabin noise management as my road trip proved out with tire and wind noise not being too disturbing. The overall refinement of the CR-V over the previous model is noteworthy. I was impressed by details like the interior wood trim on the Touring model and the illumination in the engine stop/start button makes it easy to see and locate.

Like most all SUVs the high seating position provides good outward visibility. At the end of my little road trip the seats proved their worth in not leaving me fatigued or stiff.

In drives around my Chicago home the CR-V handled the rough-and-tumble city streets nicely soaking up road imperfections and what-have-you. At the recent Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) Spring Rally based at Road America in Elkhart Lake I drove the CR-V on some local twisty-windy roads to test out the overall driving dynamics, which proved to be comfortable and able to handle the routines it would typically be put through.

The 2017 Honda CR-V is a candidate for the MAMA Family Vehicle of the Year award that will be announced at the 2018 Chicago Auto Show in February.

More information, specifications and model details can be found at www.automobiles.honda.com. You can cross-shop and compare to other compact SUVs right here at The Auto Channel.

The new CR-V has already received a number of worthy awards from the automotive media and is well regarded. It is a must-test-drive vehicle if you are shopping for a compact SUV. With its compact size and roomy interior it is poised well to fit in with the re-urbanization trend.

 2017 Larry Nutson, the Chicago Car Guy

Make The Auto Channel Your First Web Stop Before You Shop: More Unbiased "Tell Not Sell" Independent Honda Vehicle Information Than Anywhere!
Driver Killed At Calais Due To Migrant Action







LONDON - June 20, 2017: At 3.45 this morning the worst fears of the Road Haulage Association became a reality when a Polish van driver was killed as a result of migrant action.

The van collided with three trucks that had be forced to stop on one of the Ports main approach roads, the A16, as a result of migrants blocking the road with trees trunks.

The van subsequently caught fire and the driver died. 9 Eritrean migrants were found in the back of one of the trucks.

Commenting, RHA chief executive Richard Burnett said: Our worst fears have become a reality. We have been predicting this for two years.

The lives of innocent people, who want no more than to be able to go about their daily business in safety are being put at risk by those whose only aim in life is to reach the UK. They dont care about anyone but themselves and as a result a life has been lost.

The security forces currently in place just cannot cope. Its not just Calais itself that need protecting; its the approach roads too. President Macron must get a grip of this situation and we urge him to deploy the French military to provide safe passage for the thousands of UK-bound hauliers that use this route every day.
Press Promotion

Glencairn celebrates its most profitable year

Glencairn Crystal is celebrating its most profitable year on record with unprecedented international growth across both packaging and glassware sectors.

The family run business, renowned for the creation of the much-loved Glencairn whisky glass, is celebrating success, despite a global contraction in the crystal market  demonstrating the importance of getting business formula and customer base right.

The company has reported a 10% increase in sales, most notably coming from international expansion that has risen by 14% over the past year  making international sales larger than those in the UK for the first time in Glencairns history. Of this international expansion, Asia has proven the largest increase market, up by 74%.

This uplift means that turnover has also grown from 7.8 million in 2015, to 8.6 million in 2016  showcasing the businesss drive and passion for continued global presence.

Of this growth, 52% of sales volume in the last year has been through direct international sales with drinks businesses looking to create bespoke packaging and glassware for their brands. Having always been ahead of the curve on spirits packaging trends, Glencairn has continued to identify opportunities with emerging brands and be part of their growing and evolving teams. The craft spirit sector is a great example of this - over 300 craft distilleries are now Glencairn clients including Balcones and Ironroot in Texas and Hudson in New York.

This, combined with a number of established medium and large-scale clients, has helped to make the company what it is today  including a recent large contract with Brown Forman in the USA, Tomatin, Glemorangie and Stolichnaya Group.

Scott Davidson, director at Glencairn says: We have worked tirelessly as a family owned company to ensure that we offer extraordinary customer service and innovation at every stage of our business. We are proud of what Glencairn has achieved  particularly on a global scale.

Our success internationally stems from our focus on relationship building and truly understanding our clients demands and needs, across spirit sectors and markets. We are fully focused on building this area of sales to ensure that Glencairn is synonymous with the worlds leading spirits brands, packaging and drinking experiences.

The companys defining product within the consumer whisky market  the Glencairn Glass  has also continued to be a success story, with over three million sales worldwide: a 22% increase in sales value the previous year.

Created in 2001, the Glencairn Glass has seen a year on year global sales increase. Often referred to as the official tasting glass, the company sells over three million glasses annually to hundreds of brands, distributed to over 65 countries.

In April, Glencairn received its third Queens Award for International Enterprise.

20 June 2017 - Sam Coyne The Drinks Report, news editor
Why are some foods cheap and other foods expensive?

Hint: It's (mostly) not subsidies. Although they've certainly played a role in shaping our food supply such that we have huge quantities of just a few crops - a recipe for low prices - the discrepancy that seems to be at issue is the one between commodity crops such as corn and soy, and the fruits and vegetables that everyone's trying to get us to eat more of. There's a factor there that plays a much larger role than subsidies, and it doesn't get much airtime.

It's machines.

In general, if you can use machines instead of people, you can produce a crop for less. But let's not talk in general. Let's talk about tomatoes.

The beautiful, ripe, in-season tomato will set you back up to $5 a pound, but you can buy a 28-ounce can of perfectly tasty tomatoes for as little as a dollar? The latest data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture have beefsteak tomatoes at $3.16 per pound and canned tomatoes at 92 cents per pound.

A big part of that difference is machines.

The fresh tomatoes we buy are harvested by hand, which is still the only way to guarantee the blemish- and bruise-free specimens that picky American consumers demand. The canned tomatoes we buy are harvested by machine, because a few blemishes and bruises don't much matter when the tomatoes are going to be processed.

This wasn't always the case. Until about 50 years ago, all tomatoes were harvested by hand because there was no such thing as a tomato harvester. (The price difference between canned and fresh wasn't quite as stark then, either: In 1955, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fresh tomatoes were 27.4 cents a pound, compared to 15.1 cents for canned.) But an agronomist and an engineer at the University of California at Davis set out to change that. The engineer, Coby Lorenzen, designed a machine to automate the harvest, while the agronomist, Jack Hanna, developed a less-delicate variety of tomato that ripened uniformly and could be easily plucked from the plant, qualities that made machine harvesting feasible.

The first few iterations of the harvester, introduced in the 1960s and refined in the decades following, reduced the labor required by 92 percent, to about 24 minutes per ton. (Tomatoes for processing also don't require the labor and materials needed to be boxed, a step that eats up over a third of the price that farmers get for tomatoes, according to a study done at UC-Davis.)

Other things happened, too. In the first decade of machine harvest, yields increased from 20 tons to 33 tons per acre. Fewer workers had jobs, of course, but the ones who did earned more money (by 22 percent) than field workers, because operating a harvester was considered more skilled labor.

A modern tomato harvester costs nearly $500,000 and can harvest 70 tons per hour. It's one reason your canned tomatoes cost less than a third of your fresh tomatoes.

That's just one crop, of course. What, more generally, have machines done for food prices? Sun Ling Wang, agricultural economist with the USDA, laid out the most basic principle: "On the supply side, technology can help produce more products. If farmers produce more products, other things being equal, prices will decrease." But she - and several other economists I spoke with - emphasized the difficulty of teasing out the impact of mechanization from the large pool of factors that affect price.

Case in point is the machine that has probably had the biggest impact on American agriculture: the combine.

A combine is for row crops (grains and legumes), and it does, as its name implies, a combination of things: harvesting (removing the plant from the ground), threshing (removing the grain from the plant and cleaning (removing the schmutz from the grain). What isn't grain - the stalks and leaves - the combine can either chop up and leave on the field to provide cover and organic material, or bale for animal feed.

It does it all at once. At speed. Even when it's 32 rows at a time. It's an astonishing thing to watch. I got to drive a combine once, on an Illinois soy field, and I consider it a highlight of my ag journalism career. (To see a variety of big-farm machinery in action, try the YouTube channel of Brian Scott, a fourth-generation Indiana farmer whose family farms 2,200 acres of corn, soy, wheat and popcorn. He has a drone, and he's not afraid to use it.)

Since tractors replaced horses, and then combines replaced tractors - in a period of about a century - the price of row crops has dropped fairly steadily. Although replacing horses was important because farmers no longer had to grow the grain to feed them, the biggest factor in the price drop, according to Prabhu Pingali, professor of applied economics and management at Cornell, was better-yielding crop varieties.

The combine had other effects, though: It led to larger farms and standardization of growing practices. "Combines give you scale economies to expand farms," says Pingali, but he notes that these effects aren't universal. In India, for example, mechanization hasn't increased farm size, partly because farmers rent the equipment, which goes from farm to farm. But in the United States - and particularly in the Midwest, where the flat, uniform geography lends itself to large swaths of cropland - machines have been a major part of the dynamic that has more than doubled the size of the average farm and reduced the number of them by about two-thirds.

And then there's jobs. While machines have clearly eliminated jobs in some areas, the dynamic is often the other way around: Lack of labor forces farmers to turn to machines. In the period after World War II, says Wang, workers left the fields for higher-paying manufacturing jobs. And now, in California, a labor shortage is driving wages up, and farmers are looking to machines that were prohibitively expensive when labor was cheap (like lettuce bots).

Among people who care about our food system, there's often hostility toward the suite of changes to American agriculture that can reasonably be called "industrialization." Machines are part of that, but so is specialization (a focus on just a few crops), dependence on pesticides and chemical fertilizer, large size, and the uniformity that enables just a few people - with the help of John Deere - to farm thousands of acres.

I understand the hostility, as the most serious problems we face (my list: fertilizer runoff, soil degradation, lack of crop variety) are wrapped up in industrialization. But industrialization brings with it some very significant benefits. The ability for fewer people to grow more food is one of them, and machines are a part of that. While people's livelihoods still depend on farm jobs, it's important that we safeguard those livelihoods, but field work is grueling drudgery. Post-Industrial Revolution modernization has brought its share of problems, but freeing humans from grueling drudgery is a big win. I do just enough farm labor to be reminded regularly that the world's a better place if farm labor is done by tractors and harvesters and combines, rather than people.

---

Haspel writes about food and science and farms oysters on Cape Cod, Mass. On Twitter: @TamarHaspel.
Rudder High School is one step closer to becoming home to the Bryan school district's first barbershop class along with expanded agricultural facilities.

The school board approved hiring a contractor to take on its $3.3 million plan to expand career and technical education space at the school during its meeting Monday. The approval was one of few actions from a meeting that largely took place behind closed doors.

The board visited with the district's attorney in closed session for several hours to discuss items, including the district's appeal to the state's environmental agency to block a local manufacturing plant's expansion and the possibility of a tax ratification election.

The district has requested that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality not allow Saint-Gobain Ceramics & Plastics Inc. to expand its Independence Avenue ceramic catalyst manufacturing plant. The plant would increase annual emissions by 11 tons under the expansion, and the district is concerned about the effect the emissions would have on nearby Jane Long Middle School.

School officials declined to comment on the tax ratification election item in Monday's agenda, but it may have to do with whether the Bryan school district needs voter approval to shift two cents from the district's debt service rate to the maintenance and operations rate. The shift would not change the total tax rate residents pay, but it would bring in nearly $3 million more state funding through a system referred to as "golden pennies." District officials have previously said it's not clear if changing the tax rate in this way would require voter approval.

No action was taken on any items discussed in closed session.

Built Wright Construction was chosen from six companies that made bids for a contract to construct a new free-standing agriculture center and three portable buildings for cosmetology classes and a new barber class. The district will pay the Waco-based construction company $3.04 million, which is $250,000 under what the board authorized spending on the project.

The portable buildings will be ready by the start of school, but the agricultural center will not be finished until sometime in the fall. Students are expected to start classes in the structure in the spring.

The new structure will make room for a larger welding shop in the main building on Rudder's campus. It will feature a larger agriculture shop and house classes in animal science, horticulture and a few non-CTE subjects.

The construction is part of the 2014 bond project, although renovations to the campus originally included plans for more non-CTE classrooms. The renovation plans were changed in part because lower-than-expected growth reduced the need for classrooms.

Trey Moore, the school board president, said during the meeting that the expansion allows the district to emphasize programs that reflect the real needs of students.

"This is one of the best CTE ag programs in the nation, when you go over there and talk to them, and the one thing they need is space," Moore said. "I think this is going to be a tremendous boost, and I'm excited that we are going to bring barbering here. We're one of the first school districts in Texas to do that."
Texas A&M University has selected University of Michigan administrator Carol A. Fierke as its new provost and executive vice president, ending a nearly 10-month search to replace Karan Watson.

The move was announced Monday following a special telephonic meeting of the Texas A&M University Board of Regents in which Fierke was awarded academic tenure upon her arrival at the university.

Officials said Fierke was selected from more than 140 applicants by a search advisory committee led by College of Liberal Arts dean Pamela Matthews and university distinguished professor and statistics department head Valen Johnson.

A&M President Michael K. Young said he is "exceptionally pleased" to see Fierke join the university and has high hopes for the impact she will have.

"As chief academic officer and as the second in charge for the university, she will contribute greatly to the leadership of Texas A&M," Young said in a statement. "We look forward to benefitting from her experiences as an academic leader, scholar and advocate for higher education."

Fierke serves as dean of the Rackham Graduate School and vice provost for academic affairs for graduate studies at the University of Michigan. She also holds the Jerome and Isabella Karle Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry in the College of Literature, Science & Arts and serves as professor of biochemistry at the medical school.

Fierke is expected begin her new role Oct. 16.

In a statement to the university community, Fierke said she is honored by the appointment and looks forward to getting to work this fall.

"I was very impressed with everyone that I met during my visits and the outstanding work that is being done to enhance the research, teaching and service mission of the university," Fierke said. "I am honored to join you in continuing to lead the University on a positive trajectory in making a significant impact on students and society."

In addition to approving academic tenure for Fierke, the Board of Regents also appointed Ruth Simmons as the interim president at Prairie View A&M University.

Simmons' appointment follows last week's announcement that current President George Wright would step down and return to teaching full-time after 14 years in the position.

A Houston native, Simmons served as president of Brown University for more than a decade before retiring in 2012.

A&M System Chancellor John Sharp praised Simmons' interim appointment as a strong first step toward determining the university's next phase of leadership .

"We are fortunate to have such a high-caliber scholar and administrator who can step in without missing a beat," Sharp said in a statement. "Dr. Simmons has been an important figure on the national stage for decades. She has the credentials to be the president of any university in America. I am so excited to have her join us."

She is expected to begin July 1.

The regents also named a sole finalist for the position of president at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. Kelly M. Quintanilla is expected to take over the position vacated by former President Flavius Killebrew when he retired in January. She has served as interim president since that time.
November 30, 1937 - June 18, 2017

Nancy Jo Patton, 79, of College Station, went to be with her Lord on Sunday, June 18, 2017. A time for family to receive friends will be from 6-8 PM on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 at Hillier Funeral Home of College Station. Funeral services will be held at 10 AM on Wednesday, June 21, 2017 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 3333 Oak Ridge Drive in Bryan with Pastor Wade Coleman officiating. Interment will follow at College Station Memorial Cemetery.

Nancy was born on November 30, 1937 to Jack and Elizabeth Elder in San Angelo, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin and graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a Bachelor's of Science in Microbiology in 1961. Nancy was a founding and active member of Westminster Presbyterian Church. She also loved to shop, play the piano, listen to music, and dance, but Nancy especially loved spending time and caring for her family, her church, and her spiritual health by studying God's word.

She is preceded in death by her parents.

Nancy leaves behind her loving husband of 58 years, Alton DeWitt "D" Patton; two daughters, Elizabeth Ann Hill (Danny) of Muldrow, OK, and Carolyn Suzanne Carlson (Maurice) of College Station; five grandchildren, Rachel Lyon (Logan), Sarah Currivean (Keith), Nancy Carlson, Andrew Carlson (Sarah), and Benjamin Hill; one great-granddaughter, Lillian Carlson; and two sisters, Patricia Elder and Rita McWhorter.

As an expression of sympathy, memorial contributions may be sent to Westminster Presbyterian Church.

Please share memories and tributes to Nancy at www.hillierfuneralhome.com.
As well as working on projects together, there are shared values between environmentalists and scientists; FoE is "aligned with the value of international collaboration" and has "always been informed by scientific research, together with the values of social justice and intergenerational justice," says Childs. Greenpeace is also "committed as an organisation to working collaboratively with people across the world," says Johnston.

Seeing eye to eye

But while there are good relationships and shared values, "that doesn't mean we see eye to eye with all scientists," says Childs, "not all scientists consider the social and economic impact of their research."

There are disagreements on a multitude of issues between scientists and environmentalists, from fracking and pesticides, to nuclear power and GMOs.

Whether caused by hypes of world-saving' technology, corporate sponsored science or vested interests, scientific disputes should not be ignored, says Childs, "we mustn't pretend that science' has one clear view."

Using GMOs as an example, Childs says although GMOs are scientifically proven to be safe for human consumption, there are still important questions environmental groups ask, such as, "who has control of our food chain?"

These differences in approach seem to balloon into conflict most often when scientific work is translated into policy. Like when the UK government championed fracking on the basis of one scientific paper (which has since been discredited), or when US scientists caution themselves on researching geoengineering, in fear that their work is misused to justify delayed action on climate change. Scientists "need to inform policy, but they also need to stand up and say if a policy is not informed by the best science," says Johnston.

Scientists need to lose the "naive", "ivory tower" perception of not getting involved in politics, as "once you've informed policy, you are involved in the political process...[science] defacto becomes political, you can't get away from it...Value-free science doesn't exist," says Johnston.

Rapley puts much of the confusion between environmentalists and scientists - and politicians and the public - down to communication. "The classic way science delivers its message is doomed to fail," says Rapley.

"We need to engage people and engage emotions; generally, scientists strive to eliminate emotions, but the subject of climate change can be alarming and scary. The story of climate change has clearly raised anxiety and cognitive dissonance, which has then been [politically] exploited."

While there is "an obligation to speak up" about scientific findings such as polar ice melting, says Rapley, scientists should also offer their opinions publicly, as "an off-duty comment."

"The role of science in society is to offer positive answers to positive questions. Not to use scientific authority to muddle statements. If I'm asked what is dangerous climate change, for example, I can't answer as a scientist [as danger is subjective], but I can give my own opinion, as a human," says Rapley.

To continue raising the public's awareness and literacy of environmental issues, both movements have a role to make their work "accessible and truthful," says Johnston. "How does their work relate to the public? What captivates [the public]?" Environmentalists and scientists, Johnston says, should be repeatedly asking these questions to avoid some of the "nightmare" of explaining the nuances within climate science.

Scientists finding a "joint language" they can use to communicate with environmentalists would also aid climate science literacy, says Kurths.

One barrier Johnston identifies as halting this joint language is a reluctance from mainstream academics to be associated, or funded, by environmental groups such as Greenpeace. Scientists should reconsider, and "do more work" with environmentalists, says Kurths.

Both scientists and environmentalists need to "look more deeply at the interests related to environment and climate change," to identify overlapping values, says Johnston. Collaboration, on the basis of shared interests, could lead to more scientific solutions and greater political will in the fight against climate change.

If neither the environmentalist movement, nor the pro-science movement is working to identify and communicate based on shared values, says Johnston, "people don't realise this synergy exists, and then they don't exploit it."

This Author

Lucy EJ Woods is a freelance journalist specialising in energy and environment reporting. Currently based in London she has reported on environmental issues from Russia, Mongolia, Indonesia, Nepal and the Philippines and has been published in various titles, including The Guardian, Climate Home, Mongabay and many others. You can find more of her work at: lucyejwoods.com, or follow her on Twitter: @lucyejwoods
There is one surefire way to keep your life as an activist: give up.

Those who don't, often pay the price - persistence kills in the high stakes world of environmental defense. And more often than not, those at the frontlines protecting our forests, waterways and ancestral lands are Indigenous people. They have the most to lose from the deforestation, mining, agribusiness, send dredging and poaching devastating Latin America, Africa and Southeast Asia without parallel.

In 2015, at least 185 environmental activists were murdered for speaking out, protesting or threatening to expose the often corrupt and exploitative development threatening their livelihoods. Of those, nearly half were Indigenous people, mostly from Central and South America.

It's hard to imagine the murder of 185 people in one year all around the world. You don't see people, you see a number. But I saw a face, a body, a bloody leg. I saw a defender die. It was five years ago and I was a reporter in Cambodia. Chut Wutty was a well-known illegal logging activist who'd asked me to join him on a trip to the country's Cardamom mountains, a 14,354-square-kilometer range containing at least 450 species of birds and 50 species of endangered animals, including the clouded leopard and the Siamese crocodile. We went, and the beauty was bewildering. Three days later, Wutty would be murdered by military police angry at our intrusion into their logging site.

Wutty ran his own environmental organization, had Western financial backers, the support of high ranking Cambodian military officials, hundreds of local supporters who watched out for him and tools - multiple cell phones, a GPS tracker, a Cannon camera and access to aerial surveillance. He was still murdered. Much less organized and prepared defenders, people who might be forced unexpectedly into protecting their lands due to evictions or enormous infrastructure developments, are up against the same violence.

Coming from the most rural, isolated and underdeveloped places in the world, untouched by 5G, drones and GoPros, defenders are often teenagers, mothers and grandfathers who lack cell phones, email access and powerful friends on which to call. They even lack basic necessities like water canisters and reliable footwear. Still, they set out peacefully for the forest, the elephant sanctuary or mining site and make their voices heard. Their demands are varied - an end to the hydro dam whose construction requires the clearcutting of trees, to the mine polluting their waterways, to the encroachments of the wealthy and powerful on their hunting lands. The response to their demands is also varied - they are told to stop, they are threatened, they are kidnapped, they are killed.

Understanding defenders' daily realities and finding strategies to address these risks is the task for a group of environmental activists, investigators, human rights leaders, researchers and lawyers gathering at the Forest Defenders Conference in Oxford, UK, June 21-22.
WACO gets a crack at the first state championship game in school history
Amazon.com is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, a deal that comes as the online retail giant makes a big bet on brick-and-mortar stores to get a bigger chunk of consumer spending.

The online juggernaut will gain 400-plus Whole Foods Market stores around the country  about 30 of which are in the Bay Area. Experts say this is a groundbreaking move that will likely upend the grocery industry, putting major pressure on traditional stores and rival online-delivery services to keep up.

The 40,000-square-foot market as we know it is a dinosaur, said Phil Lempert, the food trends editor for NBCs Today show whos known as the Supermarket Guru. This is going to be a great shot in the arm for the industry.

Whole Foods Market will continue to operate stores under that name. John Mackey, co-founder of the chain based in Austin, Texas, will remain as CEO of the company.

Whole Foods caters to higher-income customers, a demographic that matches subscribers to Amazons Prime membership program. Experts say this acquisition is a smart way to expand Amazons physical footprint and enter the hypercompetitive grocery industry. But critics worry it gives the online behemoth too much control of a burgeoning sector. The market for Internet food sales could grow fivefold to $100 billion by 2025, according to the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen Co.

Amazon has been in the grocery delivery service for years. AmazonFresh, launched a decade ago as a test in a single city near Seattle, offers same-day delivery in a dozen U.S. cities and four cities overseas with a limited selection of groceries.

But its brick-and-mortar experiments have been slow to spread beyond a handful of outposts. It has a single Amazon Go store, a basics-only grocery with no checkout line, and two AmazonFresh Pickup locations where online purchases are loaded into customers cars. There are eight Amazon bookstores in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon and Washington. The company will soon open another bookstore in Walnut Creek.

Amazon has seen setbacks in trying to bring grocery stores to the Bay Area. Sunnyvale officials approved plans for a store last fall, but the project shows few signs of moving forward. The developer of a San Carlos location put the application on hold after seeing neighborhood opposition over truck deliveries. Buying Whole Foods gives Amazon stores from coast to coast, and a real estate team experienced in getting approval for stores.

This deal is also seen as a win for Whole Foods, which recently announced a board shakeup and a cost-cutting plan amid falling sales. The chain, sometimes called Whole Paycheck by customers, is known for pricey fare. It has struggled to compete with cheaper sellers of organic food like Trader Joes. Its new 365 chain, with locations planned for Oakland, San Francisco and Concord, emphasizes lower prices.

The biggest loser in this deal could be Instacart, which sends shoppers into Whole Foods stores to pick and deliver groceries for customers.

Thats for two reasons, said Arun Sundararajan, a New York University business professor: It will lose Whole Foods as a grocery partner, and it is likely that Amazon will compete directly with Instacart by offering its own home deliveries of Whole Foods groceries. (A person familiar with Instacarts relationship with Whole Foods says the companies have a multiyear, exclusive contract.)

As Amazon injects its logistical wizardry into Whole Foods, each store will serve the dual purpose of being a retail destination and also an intelligent local warehouse, he said.

While Instacart, Uber and Postmates in San Francisco and Palo Altos DoorDash all have expertise in local last-minute delivery, their operations pale in comparison to the immense organizational expertise Amazon has in delivering to households, Sundararajan said.

For artisanal food vendors and upstart consumer brands, Whole Foods has also been a place to launch products and gain exposure to a mainstream market. Rather than displace them with mass-market brands, Amazon could very well tap those suppliers to boost its offerings.

Amazon is great, said Kara Goldin, CEO of Hint Inc., which sells flavored waters through Whole Foods and Amazon as well as directly to consumers online. They deliver product quickly and effectively and Whole Foods will give them access to more food product and local delivery.

Goldin said the real key to the deal was Whole Foods customer data, which Amazon could exploit.

Bob Hetu, a retail-industry research director for Gartner, said Whole Foods now has the ability to make use of Amazons technology and cost-cutting mind-set. That may help the store drive prices down and appeal to a wider demographic.

Amazon will likely look at the Whole Foods model and see where its broken  pricing, inefficiencies on the inventory management side, Hetu said. They could fix that stuff, and see where they can add automation and where the human element is required.

Shares of Whole Foods and Amazon both jumped on the announcement. The deal is expected to close by the end of the year.

While experts and investors largely view the deal as positive for the two companies, they point out how competitors and partners could be hurt. It could give Amazon, already a dominant player in online sales of books, electronics and other goods, an edge in food delivery as well. Whole Foods had 1.2 percent of the food and grocery market in 2016, according to GlobalData Retail, and Amazon had 0.19 percent.

Amazons acquisition of Whole Foods raises significant anticompetitive issues that should be deeply concerning to federal antitrust regulators and the public, said the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, an advocacy group that focuses on community development and is a frequent critic of the online retailer. This deal would give Amazon, which already sells more clothing, books, toys and consumer electronics than any other retailer, a substantial share of an even bigger consumer goods category, groceries.

I am concerned about what this deal means for suppliers and neighborhood grocery stores, said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, in a statement. The Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission must undertake a review that considers not just the mergers impact on prices, but also the impact on jobs and wages. We need to reorient antitrust policy to factor in the harm that economic concentration causes for American workers.

This will cause some consolidation in the retail market, as it tries to figure out how to confront this shift, Hetu said. But it all depends on how well (Amazon and Whole Foods) manages this connection. ... Weve seen a lot of these visionary mergers go bad before.

Chronicle staff writer Carolyn Said contributed to this report.

Trisha Thadani is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tthadani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @TrishaThadani
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The enormous number of ways criminals can defraud shoppers and business owners requires increasing awareness about how to combat their efforts, Greenwich police detective and state financial crimes task force member Mark Solomon told attendees of a Monday panel on how to combat identity theft and retail fraud.

Its a constant cat-and-mouse game  theres always a vulnerability criminals will learn to exploit, Solomon said during his presentation. Its not if (criminals) do have our information, but how many times over they have it.

Due to its wealth and slowness to adopt more secure credit card technology, the United States has become a prime target for cybercrime and fraud, according to Solomon and his co-presenter Christopher Riley, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Services Connecticut financial crimes task force.

The Greenwich Chamber of Commerce co-hosted the event with the police department, and a variety of local business people expressed alarm while learning about the many ways criminals could take advantage of them.

The presentation primarily covered topics such as counterfeit money, network intrusions, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, skimming techniques and how to identify and prevent shoplifting.

Despite the decrease in cash payments, local business people have important roles in spotting counterfeit money, Riley said. The bottom line is know your money, he said. You guys are the best fighters against counterfeiters because youre on the front lines.

The U.S. Treasury and the Secret Service host websites that show ways to identify counterfeit bills, Riley told attendees while showing them several methods.

Probably the best way to check a bill for authenticity is by noticing whether the optically varying ink of the bills number on its lower right side fades copper to green as its passed through the light, he said. Other distinguishers are the watermark, the feel of its cotton blend, crisp printing and how the ink on real cash bills never dries, which means it can leave smudge marks when rubbed against paper without defacing the bill.

Around half of counterfeit bills made in the U.S. are printed from all-in-one ink-jet printers, Riley said, and they cant re-create those tells.

The financial crime task force presenters encouraged business owners to ensure they are Payment Card Industry compliant, because otherwise they could be prime targets for fraud. Criminals are looking for businesses who are slow to change, Riley said.

Law enforcement officers have noticed criminals are trying to take advantage of businesses that havent yet switched to accepting chip credit cards, Solomon said, because its much more difficult to hack chip cards. Chips are much safer than magnetic stripes, but many businesses are not ready to accept chip cards, Solomon said. The result is more than 170 business locations in Connecticut that have been identified as possible breach points for fraud in six months, he said.

Skimming machines used to collect shoppers credit card information have also been used across Connecticut and in many places in Greenwich, Solomon said, adding some local businesses have already begun thwarting skimmers by marking their credit card machines with tape or ultraviolet markings.

When it comes to preventing shoplifting, Solomon said, the best way to foil thefts is with great customer service.

Contact the writer at mbennett@greenwichtime.com
In today's world where foregoing a paycheck is often not an option, many parents work outside the home while raising their kids. Two-thirds of family households depend on two incomes, according to financial site WalletHub. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 93 percent of dads with kids younger than 18 are employed.

Luckily for fathers in Connecticut, a recent WalletHub study found that the state is the best one in the country for working dads. WalletHub ranked each state and Washington, DC based on economic and social well-being, work-life balance, child care and health.
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The heir to Dannel P. Malloy should have to make do with lodgings at the governors residence and a state trooper detail  but no pension  if Republican Tim Herbst has his druthers.

The Trumbull first selectman, now a declared candidate for governor, is calling on his potential rivals to forgo the traditional trappings that come with the states highest office.

Herbst wants to eliminate pensions for state legislators and to move all state agency heads and political appointees to a defined contribution plan such as a 401(k). Candidates for governor should also forgo contributions from lobbyists, Herbst said in a pledge he recently issued to Republicans and Democrats who are in the mix for 2018.

Hartford insiders continue to protect untenable perks for themselves while struggling Connecticut families are continually asked to sacrifice more, Herbst said.

Herbsts pledge didnt exactly resonate with Dan Drew, the Democratic mayor of Middletown, who is exploring a run for governor.

This Lead By Example Pledge is a gimmick designed to bolster one candidates political prospects, Drew wrote on his Facebook page. Its disingenuous, and its tissue-paper thin. The conceit of it is that it Mr. Herbst believes that people will believe him, and thats a tacit way of him telling us that he thinks were naive.

Ganim marches with fellow former inmates

Whether its Tom Pettys I Wont Back Down (Dan Malloy) or the Stones You Cant Always Get What Your Want (Donald Trump) or Rachel Plattens Fight Song (Hillary Clinton), every politician needs an anthem.

But Public Enemys Fight the Power?

Somewhat overlooked last week in Twitterverse was a highlight reel of Bridgeports Mayor Joe Ganim marching with other convicted felons in Hartford to draw attention to the plight of former inmates like himself re-assimilating into society.

Curated by Ganims political adviser Av Harris, the 11:30-second video is set to the hip hop theme.

Ganim, who served seven years in prison for accepting bribes during his first mayoral stint, is exploring a run for governor. He marched the entire route, which descended on the Hartford Marriott Downtown, where the current governor was holding a Reimagining Justice Conference on criminal justice reform.

Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin joined the march for part of the route.

Conference organizers faced criticism that they did not have any former inmates on the speaker panel of the event.

A Malloy spokesman pointed out that Noah Kilroy, now an attorney in Providence and who previously spent 18 months in prison for drug dealing, delivered the closing keynote address.

Stamford mayor

opens re-election HQ

Incumbent Democrat David Martin will christen his mayoral re-election headquarters  housed in the same building as the party offices  from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday at 1250 Summer St.

He is expected to face a challenge from Republican Barry Michelson, a former Zoning Board member who clashed with Martin over a developers plans for the citys only boatyard.

 An earlier version of this story did not include a response from Malloys office about the panelists for his criminal justice reform conference.

nvigdor@hearstmediact.com; 203-625-4436; twitter.com/gettinviggy
Her advice goes far beyond wizards and witches.Copyright 2017 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved



This article originally appeared on entrepreneur.com


NORWALK  The city is working on a settlement in a lawsuit in which a Norwalk man, who allegedly sustained multiple injuries during a 2012 arrest, filed a $10 million lawsuit in federal court against the city and four Norwalk police officers.

The 19-page lawsuit, filed by Greenwich attorney Phillip Russell on behalf of now 26-year-old Cody Greene, alleges that police officers violated Greenes civil rights and caused a series of injuries, some of which were deemed permanent.

An agenda item listed on the city website for a Common Council special meeting authorizes Mayor, Harry W. Rilling, acting on behalf of the City to execute an Agreement in the case of Cody Greene v. City of Norwalk pending in the U.S. District Court, District of Connecticut. 

That meeting was scheduled for Wednesday, but was canceled. Sources say that the matter will be taken up at the regular council meeting on June 27.

Russell declined comment Tuesday morning and would say only, The case is not subject to public discussion to my knowledge.

In addition to the city of Norwalk, defendants in the suit are police officers Steven Luciano, Felipe Taborda, Adam Mulkern, and Julio Rodriguez.

Those officers were cleared of wrongdoing in an internal investigation.

According to the lawsuit, Greene was visiting a friend at 16 School St. on July 19, 2012, when a black vehicle with tinted windows pulled up next to him and the four officers exited their vehicle and began asking him questions.

At no point in time did the individual defendants identify themselves as police officers, nor were the individual defendants wearing and/or displaying any clothing or badging that identified them as such, Russell said in 2014. At that point, and for no reason, defendant Mulkern attempted to pat down the plaintiff.

The complaint further alleges that the Greene ran from the scene and the police officers engaged in a foot pursuit.

According to a July 2012 police report, the officers claimed they were dressed in black Raid type uniforms with POLICE in bright yellow letters, making them immediately identifiable as Norwalk police officers.

The lawsuit is not unexpected based upon the initial posturing of Attorney Russell in this case, Norwalk Police Chief Thomas Kulhawik said in 2014. However, I am confident that our assistant corporation counsel will vigorously defend the officers who our investigation found had acted within the law and within department policy.

At the time of the arrest, Kulhawik said that he had no reason to suspect the officers involved in the apprehension used excessive force.

Kulhawik noted that the investigation was hampered by Attorney Russells decision to not allow his client to be interviewed nor would he allow the release of any medical records in the case.

Greene was charged at the time with two felonies: possession with intent to sell, a possession of a controlled substance within 1,500 feet of a school or housing complex, and four misdemeanors, including two counts of interfering with a police officer, possession of a controlled substance, and criminal trespass.

He was arraigned in his hospital bed on allegations of selling marijuana in a housing complex and leading police on a foot chase in which three officers were injured. Two of the officers were hospitalized; one with a gouge to his leg requiring 15-20 stitches and another officer with a hamstring injury, police said.

llake@hearstmediact.com
MISSOULA  Former University of Montana president Royce Engstrom will teach chemistry as a full professor at UM for a salary of $119,106.

University Relations made the announcement late last week in a news release that noted Engstrom most recently taught in 2007 as provost at the University of South Dakota before he took a job as provost and vice president for academic affairs at UM.

"I am really enjoying reading chemistry again and preparing materials for my classes," Engstrom said in a statement.

Engstrom also will teach in the Davidson Honors College, according to UM.

UM's Human Resource Services does not have a contract on file for Engstrom, but associate vice president Terri Phillips said the document is not necessary until middle to late July.

Engstrom left his post as president in December 2016 at the request of Commissioner of Higher Education Clayton Christian, and a recruitment is underway for a permanent president. The president's departure came after years of declining enrollment and ensuing and lingering budget trouble at UM.

To try to shore up its finances, UM is in the midst of trying to reduce its number of faculty members. The campus is in the midst of a second round of early retirement buyout offers with the goal of saving $4 million a year by the 2019 fiscal year.

UM has made offers to nearly 100 employees in all. So far, 12 to 14 faculty members expressed interest in the first round of offers, according to UM; last week, UM made a second round of offers to some 50 employees.

A rough estimate of the average salary of the first 48 people offered buyouts is some $83,000.

Kevin McRae, deputy commissioner for communications in the Montana Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education, said Engstrom is protected by tenure and the faculty union. He said administrators who cease to hold their positions but have tenure still have the right to an offer of a contract.

"Royce is a tenured full professor in the chemistry department," McRae said.

Engstrom will become the third-highest-paid faculty member among 10 in the chemistry department, McRae said. He said the average salary among the nine faculty members who were already teaching is $109,160, and he noted the following pay information in the department as well:

The highest salary is $137,000.

The other two highest were $135,000 and $117,000.

McRae said he and Phillips reviewed other compensation in the department and Engstrom's seniority level in order to determine his salary as a teacher. He said Engstrom has substantial teaching experience in South Dakota and also has served as a tenured dean and provost.

According to UM, Engstrom has 20 years of teaching experience and served 28 years at the University of South Dakota. His positions included assistant professor, chair of the chemistry department, graduate school dean, vice president for research, and provost.

In September 2016, the Montana Board of Regents approved compensation for administrators including a base salary of $309,207 and a $9,600 stipend for Engstrom in his capacity as president.

Since he left his post at the helm of the university, Engstrom gave the commencement address at the University of South Dakota in May, and he has been conducting accreditation visits "at various universities," according to UM. He completes a term this month as a commissioner of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and serves on the board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

The chemistry department is part of the College of Humanities and Sciences. Dean Chris Comer was out of the country Monday and unavailable for comment, according to a receptionist; associate dean Jenny McNulty could not be reached via a voicemail the same afternoon.
The outgoing president of Central Community College says hes pleased the CCC Board of Governors chose Matt Gotschall as his successor.

Greg Smith said Gotschall knows the college, loves the college and is dedicated to students and their success.

Since 2005, Gotschall has been the campus president of CCC-Columbus. At a news conference on Monday, Gotschall said CCC has a great history of serving the area for more than 50 years.

Smith, 68, will step down from the CCC post on Jan. 2. He became the schools fourth president in 2008.

In terms of planning and accreditation, Smith said CCC is in really good shape and positioned well for the future.

Last year, following a major accreditation visit, we essentially got the longest continuing approval that the Higher Learning Commission is able to offer, Smith said. The commission gave the school an additional eight years of accreditation.

CCC has a five-year strategic plan that runs through 2020. The board recently approved a five-year facilities master plan.

When you do a facilities master plan, that also requires a new academic master plan, Smith said.

CCC is pretty healthy financially, even with the slight reduction in state aid funding that was a result of this years (legislative) session, Smith said.

Last Thursday, the board gave tentative approval to CCCs 2017-18 budget.

In terms of operating dollars, the budget contains a slight decrease over last year. For the sixth year in a row, CCC has lowered its levy rate.

Were allowed by law to assess a total of 12 cents, Smith said. We are assessing 9.43 cents, which is more than 20 percent below what we could be assessing. Weve also been able to keep student tuition and fees extremely low.

Those costs are $100 per credit hour, which is about 85 percent of the national average, and its also low by Nebraska community college standards, Smith said. So we are a low-cost institution.

We realize, being largely locally funded, that taxpayers do pay attention to our assessments and what we do, Smith said. But were doing the best we can to keep costs low for everybody and deliver a high-quality learning experience to our students.

The CCC Foundation is also in great shape, Smith said. When he became CCC president, the foundations valuation was between $3 million and $4 million. Now its more than $40 million. The amount of money available for scholarships each year has risen substantially, Smith said.

Last year, we were able to give more than three-quarters of a million in scholarships to students just from our foundation alone.

CCC has between 19,000 and 20,000 students. In the fall semester, the CCC-Grand Island campus has an enrollment of 2,000 to 3,000.

Central Community College has about 170 full-time faculty and 460 to 470 full-time employees. CCC has full-service campuses in Grand Island, Columbus and Hastings and learning centers in Lexington, Holdrege, Kearney and Ord.

Theres quite a range of majors offered at CCC, Gotschall said. But a lot of them center around health care, including nursing and pre-nursing. Business administration is also popular.

The popularity of certain majors varies by campus.

For example, we have about 100 students in diesel technology on the Hastings campus, Gotschall said.

Smith said he gets excited about the schools mission.

Its to maximize student and community success, he said. In the future, the school will have to continue to look to our communities in our 25 counties and make sure that were meeting their needs  that theyre seeing a return on their investment in helping students succeed in their goals so they come back and stay in our communities.

CCC presents classes in 90 communities, Gotschall said.

I think our faculty and staff, our employees in general, are one of our great strengths, Gotschall said. We have a lot of people who are always willing to go above and beyond for our students.

In addition, the school has a relatively low turnover rate, he said. We have a lot of long-term employees.

Gotschall noted that CCC and the University of Nebraska at Kearney are the only schools in the state that are designated as Hispanic-serving institutions. The student bodies are 19 percent Hispanic at both the Columbus and Grand Island campuses and 12 percent on the Hastings campus.

Gotschall, 50, graduated from Atkinson-West Holt High School in 1985. He earned his bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He and his wife, Michele, have five daughters, the youngest of whom is 18.

Smith said he and his wife plan to move to Denver, where they lived for 29 years before coming to Nebraska. Denver has good travel connections to the rest of the country, he said. He also plans to look for volunteer opportunities at the University of Denver, his alma mater, and two places he worked before  the Community College of Denver and the Colorado Community College System.
Economic forecasts recently released by the UNL Bureau of Business Research and Creighton University point to continued weakness in the farm sector but strength in non-farm job employment and economic expansion.

Eric Thompson, director of UNLs Bureau of Business Research, noted, Farm incomes have been driven down over the last four years and are expected to bottom out in 2017. Weakness ... will cap growth in the Nebraska economy, despite strong performances in select sectors like construction and business services.

The Creighton University Rural Mainstreet Index pointed to neutral growth in its latest report. The monthly survey of rural banks in a 10-state region dependent on agriculture or energy indicated a slight improvement for May and June after 20 months of below-neutral ratings.

Nebraskas net farm income is in the fourth year of decline following the peak of $7.5 billion in income in 2011. The anemic forecast of $3.7 billion this year is being felt across the state as retail spending and acquisition of heavy equipment, trucks and farm improvements have fallen. The report notes that farm equipment sales have fallen for the 46th consecutive month. Federal supports for agriculture have also fallen.

There is a glimmer of positive news on the horizon, though, as the economic forecast indicates farm income will rise by approximately 4 percent in 2018 and an additional 7 percent in 2019. With crop prices expected to remain stagnant, the income boost will come from gains in productivity and leave many farm families still struggling to make ends meet as only incremental progress will be made to reach pre-2017 levels. Beef and pork producers are doing better, with strong prices holding for those commodities.

Fortunately, Nebraskas economy is diversified enough that non-farm economic activity is offering some relief to the states forecast. As the states service sector continues to grow, new roads, homes and construction are expected to add 4,500 jobs by the end of 2019, an increase of approximately 9 percent.

The professional, hospitality and business sectors are also expanding and are forecast to add some 19,000 jobs by the end of 2019.

Growth in retail employment will continue to be hampered by automation, sluggish sales on main street and rapid growth in online sales. Retail sales tax revenue continues to fall short of the states budget forecast.

Overall, Nebraskas economic performance is healthy. Optimism is warranted due to slow but steady population growth, improvement in the national economy, foreign market opportunities for Nebraska products and commodities, improved new home sales, increase in manufacturing output and other key economic indicators that foster optimism for business growth.
Is another landfill by Grand Island a good use of public tax dollars? Not if you believe tax money should support the general public and not just one privately owned company.

The Regional Planning Commission has approved the private development of a new landfill, which is to be built with TIF (tax increment financing), your tax dollars. This proposal may fit the TIF criteria and commission members will say it is legal, but a new landfill is not a good plan for the city of Grand Island because:

(1) It increases the tax burden.

(2) It competes with the current city owned landfill.

(3) It can divert public tax money from the local school districts.

(4) It creates a conflict of interest for a private company.

With TIF, property assessments are raised with presumption that development will add value to the community. However, this entity will be exempt from property tax for some years. Public schools may get less because schools and TIF subsidies are vying for the same tax dollars. Grand Island already has a city-owned and operated landfill capable of handling all materials. The city would lose two ways with a competing private landfill. City employees jobs could be at risk and money currently made off the city landfill could be lost, while at the same time the citys tax money would be subsidizing the competitor.

A private-owned landfill could create a conflict of interest for the developer. The proposed developer is normally contracted by the city as an inspector to identify asbestos. His family member is in the asbestos removal business and the inspector has a construction business that does demolition. A Nebraska government website shows 24 complaints against this contractor, so should tax money support this business?

Contact your county supervisor with concerns.
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Linkedin Bhayu Purnomo (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 16:20 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a60bd76 3 Opinion investment-grade,economic-growth,economic-package,Standard-and-Poor Free

The announcement of Standard & Poors (S&P) to award Indonesia an investment grade rating on May 20 was a relief for many.

The rating upgrade provided positive news for investors for at least two reasons. Firstly, it ended the long speculation for Indonesias sovereign rating position. S&P was the last of the three big credit rating agencies to award investment grade rating for Indonesia.

Secondly, the upgrade for Indonesia was made when some large emerging economies experienced either downward outlook revision or a rating downgrade.

After more than 20 years, with the last five years being held at BB+ or one level below investment grade, Indonesia is now back to investment grade rating from S&P. Before assessing any future impact of this rating adjustment, we should look first what are the reasons for this upgrade.

Last year, after S&P conducted its annual assessment to Indonesia, which included a meeting with the president, the market expected a rating upgrade. Nevertheless, S&P kept Indonesias BB+ rating. Low GDP per capita compared to peer countries, a perception of an anemic fiscal performance, and high external vulnerabilities were some reasons behind no rating upgrade in 2016 for Indonesia by S&P.

The condition upturned in 2017. Indonesian governments relentless effort to improve fiscal credibility generated high appraisals from rating agencies. After Fitch decision to upgrade Indonesia rating outlook from stable to positive in December 2016 and in the first quarter of 2017, Indonesia was given positive outlook from Moodys in February, the Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) in March and Rating and Investment Information, Inc. (R&I) in April.

Positive fiscal performance was Indonesias strong point on these reports. Similar point was also echoed by S&P in its latest report. It is obvious that Indonesias strong public finance was the cornerstone of the rating upgrade.

Credit ratings are opinions about risks. A textbook definition of credit rating is a measurement of creditworthiness of an entitys financial commitments for a medium to long term. For portfolio investors, especially conservative ones, this creditworthiness is an important factor for their investments decision. This type of investors is favorable and rarely associated with hot money because they tend to keep their investment long term. Better quality of portfolio flows will evidently promote stability in capital market.

The potential impacts of a strong credit rating, however, are more than capital market stability. Lower risk perception should help reduce borrowing cost for government, including quasi-government. Since government bonds are often used as a benchmark in the domestic market, a declining yield could prompt rate adjustment in credit market which help spur more investments.

Additionally, although started as, and still is, a system for financial market instruments, credit ratings are also used by real sector investors as proxies of a country stability and economic potentials. An upgrade to investment grade could be read as high market growth potential in the future.

These potentials are applicable for Indonesia. Being in the new rating group, Indonesia should further push the throttle to improve investment and expand its investor base. Nevertheless, fundamentals will always matter. Investment climate needs to be improved, including supporting regulation, government services, and the quality of human resources.

Indonesia is currently on the bottom of the investment grade ladder. The question is what Indonesia will do to reap the maximum potential.

The potential reduction of borrowing cost is a positive factor for creating a credible and sustainable budget. This will enable the government to fund programs at lower costs and freeing up fiscal space to be used in productive development programs. The new exposure to investor also creates potential to attract more funding for infrastructure development.

The current administration has provided a clear position for future investment development plan. But from what we have seen so far, the untouched potentials are still there.

We have already seen how the tax amnesty program created sizeable result for Indonesia. More innovative programs should be developed. Government policy packages need to be continued with more focus on productive sectors. Prudent and credible budget, including debt management, also need to be continued.

As what the president have mentioned, the final beneficiaries of S&P upgrade should not only be the financial market investors but all Indonesians.

***

The writer is an analyst at the Finance Ministrys Fiscal Policy Agency.

---------------

We are looking for information, opinions, and in-depth analysis from experts or scholars in a variety of fields. We choose articles based on facts or opinions about general news, as well as quality analysis and commentary about Indonesia or international events. Send your piece to academia@jakpost.com. For more information click here.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin Inforial (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta, Indonesia  Wed, June 21, 2017

Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BIFZA or BP Batam) chairman Hatanto Reksodipoetro, along with representatives from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industrys (Kadin) Singapore committee, has just become the main speaker during a business dialogue between the Singaporean Business Federation (SBF) and Kadins Singaporean committee.

The business dialogue was conducted on May 30 in the SBF Center, Robinson Road, Singapore, and was attended by approximately 50 Singaporean businesspeople from various sectors. It was a follow-up to the SBF delegations recent visit to Batam, with delegates explaining that the city was still a very lucrative investment area in the Asian market.

-(Photo courtesy of BP Batam/-)

During his presentation, Hatanto explained a number of breakthroughs by BP Batam to lure investors to do business in the city.

We are very optimistic about the effectiveness of BP Batams breakthroughs, which include transforming the system of its investor service platform from manual to online. Examples of such online platforms are the i23J [three-hour investment permit issuance] and KLIK [accelerated direct investment for construction programs] services, which are highly appreciated by investors, Hatanto said during the seminar.

While the i23J service seeks to cut red tape and make the permit issuance process simpler, the KLIK service seeks to provide incentives to attract direct investments for construction projects.

According to Hatanto, other facilities and services that seek to encourage direct investments include the host-to-host online port operation permit system, as well as the Geographical Information System (GIS) application for mapping technology conducted through drones to make land management more efficient, which has already been applied in Singapore.

-(Photo courtesy of BP Batam/-)

During the business dialogue, Hatanto also explained numerous aspects of Batams economy, including the citys economic growth currently dominated by the export-oriented manufacturing industry. He also said that in 2016 the citys investment worth, based on Investment Coordinating Board data, amounted to US$471 million, dominated by investments from Singapore.

Singapore has an important position as a country that has actively been investing in Batam within the last five years. A number of system improvements and transformations that have been applied by BP Batam could hopefully accelerate the process of turning Batam into a window for global investments in Indonesia, Hatanto said.

The business dialogue was also attended by Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore Ngurah Swajaya, Kadin Singapore committee chairman Michael Goutama and Singapore Business Federation executive director Thian Tai Chew.

We hope that the tight-knit bilateral relations between Singapore and Indonesia, which have been maintained for the last 50 years, could continuously be upgraded, mainly through Singapores joint working group forum, considering that Singapore remains on top of the list of countries with the biggest foreign direct investment in Batam for the time being, Ngurah said.

Meanwhile, Chew said that Batam was still a lucrative investment destination for Singaporean investors.

Batam has its own advantages, as does Singapore. If the strengths of the two countries were combined, they could bring massive results. Currently, Batam is still prime for Asias ecology of investment, Chew said.

Michael added that Batam had additional potential advantages as an investment destination thanks to its strategic geographic location as well as numerous attractive facilities for investors. These potential advantages, however, could only turn into real ones if they were supported by a number of policy reforms by the central government, as well as by system transformation by BP Batam, Michael said.

Hopefully, if both parties  Batam and Singapore  could continue their tight-knit cooperation in the business sector and the political interests of several parties could be put aside for a while, then Batam could serve its primary role as a window to global investments in Indonesia, Michael added.
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Linkedin Albee Zhang (Agence France-Presse) Shanghai, China  Tue, June 20, 2017 08:04 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5f3077 2 Lifestyle China,university,viral,students,Internet,Streaming,live-streaming,millenials Free

A 21-year-old student walked around her campus in China using invaluable skills she learned in class: Holding a selfie stick aloft, she livestreamed her random thoughts and blew kisses at her phone.

Jiang Mengna is majoring in "modelling and etiquette" at Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College near Shanghai, aspiring to join the growing ranks of young Chinese cashing in on internet stardom.

Hordes of Chinese millennials are speaking directly to the country's 700 million smartphone users, streaming their lives to lucrative effect, fronting brands and launching businesses.

They are known as "wanghong" -- literally hot on the web -- and they now represent an industry worth billions and so big it even has its own university curriculum.

At Yiwu Industrial & Commercial College, the classrooms for Jiang and the other 33 mostly female students are typically dance studios, catwalks strafed by flashing lights, and bustling makeup rooms.

The skills taught include dressing fashionably, applying make-up, performing on camera, and knowing various luxury brands.

"I like dressing myself up really pretty and take pictures. I feel like this major really suits me," Jiang said.

Read also: When fashion meets social media

She spent 30 minutes at lunch musing about her day to her internet audience.

She was rewarded with a quick 60 yuan in "virtual gifts" -- emoticons with small digital values that comprise the main income for many aspiring wanghong, at least until they go viral.

"The requests and demands for our major are rising because the e-commerce industry is developing rapidly," said Hou Xiaonan, a dance teacher.

Wang Xin, 20, switched from accounting to a major in wanghong.

"I have always had an idea, a dream to be on stage with the lights on me and the crowd watching me," Wang said.

Read also: Making money the millennial way

Nobodies behind $7.7bn industry

The students are trying to follow in the footsteps of people like Wang Houhou, a self-described shopaholic, and her friend Wang Ruhan.

When they began posting tips on China's social media about good fashion and where to find it last year, the pair had no idea that their new hobby would make them money.

But soon enough, the Shanghai-based duo's posts and videos won hundreds of thousands of viewers, and retailers followed, vying for their endorsements.

Like other wanghong, they are now leveraging their cyber-fame with an e-commerce fashion business which they launched earlier this month.

"I would just find a very interesting item that I would wear, and I would take weird photos of it and post it on the blog, and people really go and buy this stuff," Wang Houhou said, almost in disbelief.

Internet consultancy Analysys International estimated China's wanghong industry was worth 53 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) last year and would double by 2018.

"A nobody can suddenly become prominent and average people can become celebrities," said Yuan Guobao, author of "The Wanghong Economy."

Read also: Instagram killed the retail store

A wanghong is born

The patron saint of wanghong is Shanghai's Jiang Yilei, 30, a graduate of a top China drama academy whose low-budget comedic video rants on everything from urban life to relationships went viral last year.

"Papi Jiang", as she is known, now has 23 million followers and product endorsements including New Balance footwear and luxury watchmaker Jaeger-LeCoultre.

Wanghong content is typically bland day-in-the-life livestreaming that earns small digital monetary gifts from fans.

But many wanghong are profoundly impacting China's bustling e-commerce as retail "influencers", said Zhang Yi, head of mobile-internet consultancy iiMedia Research Group.

The phenomenon provides businesses with a powerful new, highly visual, promotional alternative and is eating into the business of Chinese internet goliath Baidu, which dominates online advertising.

"Now someone will wear (the product), try it, use it, and persuade you to buy it," said Zhang, who estimates wanghong now influence up to 20 percent of online purchases.

"It's a booming business. Wanghong have their own followers who can easily be made consumers of the brands they recommend."

Read also: 5 popular world leaders on social media

New incubator companies, formed to find and groom wanghong, are cashing in, such as Ruhan Holdings, which last year drew 300 million yuan in investment from e-commerce leader Alibaba.

Wang Houhou returned from studying English literature at a US university last year to discover that attractive fashions she saw overseas were hard to find at home.

Young Chinese women lapped up her playful posts about navigating Taobao, China's Amazon, and other e-commerce platforms, and clothing brands began paying her and Wang Ruhan to showcase their items.

"If we hadn't started the blog, I would probably be in investment or finance," said Wang Ruhan, 24, who never expected to be an entrepreneur so early in her life.

"We have to do this without much experience and just figure out the right way to do it."

She spoke as they prepared for the launch in Wang Ruhan's Shanghai apartment, with Ruhan dressing amateur models in various outfits and Houhou snapping pictures as music played and mist from a clothes steamer filled the air.
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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Seoul  Tue, June 20, 2017 07:08 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5ede1a 2 Science & Tech octopus,South-Korea,adhesive-patch,Science,research,#research Free

The clinging power of octopus tentacles has inspired a breakthrough new adhesive patch that works on wet and oily surfaces with potentially huge medical and industrial uses, according to South Korean researchers.

Octopuses are among the most intelligent and behaviorally diverse of all invertebrates, but it was their extreme strength that attracted the interest of the research team from Sungkyunkwan University.

"Two years ago, we bought an octopus from a Lotte Supermarket, put its suction cups under a microscope and analyzed how they worked," researcher Sangyul Baik told AFP.

The team found the octopus' impressive suction power was thanks to small balls inside the suction cups that line each of their tentacles.

The new "wet-tolerant" adhesive patch has been hailed as a breakthrough by the country's science and technology ministry and there are hopes it will be able to be used for everything from heavy industry to dressing wounds.

Professor Changhyun Pang said they had managed to fabricate polymer patches covered with micro suction cups with suction patch so strong that a patch the size of a thumbnail could lift an object of up to 400 grams (14.1 ounces) in water.

Read also: Octopus species that's weirdly social, romantic

In a file photo taken on July 4, 2013 a fishmonger prepares octopus at his stall at the Noryangjin Wholesale Fish Market in Seoul.(AFP/Ed Jones)

It can also be used repeatedly, with one patch surviving more than 10,000 cycles of attachment and detachment without losing its suction power, he said.

"This octopus-inspired system exhibits strong, highly repeatable adhesion to silicon, glass, and rough skin surfaces under various conditions -- dry, moist, underwater, and under oil", according to the research paper, which was published in Nature last week.

The team released video footage demonstrating how the patches work on both dry and wet surfaces, including human skin.

The patch could be used for medical purposes, including to help suture wounds, as they do not contain any chemical adhesives so will not irritate skin, Pang said, adding there is currently no adhesive system that can maintain its grip in water without using strong chemicals.

The research team expect it to take around three years for the breakthrough to come into commercial use.

Octopus are widely available in South Korea's supermarkets and restaurants, where they are considered a delicacy by some when eaten raw.
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Linkedin Ade Rizal (The Jakarta Post) Surakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 08:53 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5f35b2 4 Art & Culture batik,quran,Islam,art-and-culture,surakarta Free

Sarwono was gently stroking hot wax from a canting (spouted pot) on a sheet of white cloth measuring 90 cm by 70 cm.

Unless [the wax] fully penetrates, the batik designs wont appear perfectly, he said while working at the Batik Mahkota Workshop in Laweyan village, a tourist zone in Surakarta, Central Java, known for producing batik.

The 62-year-old, better known as Nono, was not drawing the traditional batik motifs of Surakarta or other regions of Java. Instead, he was completing a batik-inspired Quran that is being created by a group of batik craftspeople based in Laweyan. Verse by verse, he scribed the Islamic holy book using the Kudus khat (calligraphy) system, which is more difficult than the Uthmani method.

The Uthmani method needs only one stroke per letter, while the Kudus system, with certain parts being thicker, can take two to three strokes to complete, he explained, adding that the latter takes longer and requires five days for the Laweyan team to create one page of Quranic verses.

Before applying the wax, Arabic letters are drawn with a pencil according to standards provided by the Religious Affairs Ministry. These are then checked by members of the production team and further processed when no mistakes are found.

There can be no mistakes when writing out Quranic verses, so after the letter are traced with wax, we examine them once again before passing the material along to be dyed, Nono said.

In the dyeing process, the sheet is immersed five times in a dark-red solution containing soga wood to produce Surakartas signature, brownish batik color.

Read also: Indonesian batik heritage on display in Surakarta batik museum

Crafting of the batik Quran started during Ramadhan last year. So far, the group has completed 90 pages.

The work has reached juz [section] 6, said Nono, who has been making batik since 1985.

His team is targeting to complete the batik-style Quran by 2021.

The project was initiated out of fear from batik artisans and Laweyan community figures that Indonesia might lose sight of the Qurans values in its fast-paced progress toward modernity.

This effort serves as a reminder to the public not to ignore the requirements of the Quran as our holy book, said another member of the Laweyan-based team, Taufan Wicaksono.

The team plans to involve students from an Islamic school in Surakarta to complete the project.

We hope the craft of batik Quran will turn into an expanding movement that includes many other parties, Taufan said.

The method in which the team writes Quranic verses in wax was inspired by a method called Follow the Line, which follows specific learning stages for students to master reading and writing Arabic letters.

Read also: Batik: a cultural dilemma of infatuation and appreciation

At first, people are expected to at least be able to read the Quran, then later, write the verses. After that, they would grasp the meaning behind the verses and implement them in their daily lives, Taufan said.

He added that writing the Quran certainly means reading its verses; the action of writing while reading also stimulates the right brain and promotes ones intellect and creativity.

The order to read and write is also contained in this holy book, he said.

When every sheet of the batik Quran is completed, they will be bound into a book.

Then, the batik book will be handed over to the Laweyan Mosque, where it can be enjoyed by the public as a piece of our cultural heritage, Taufan explained.

Laweyan community leader Alpha Fabela described the project as the acculturation if Islam and Java. The Qurans verses are decorated with traditional Javanese motifs produced in conformity with strong batik-making traditions, making the batik Quran a manifestation of harmony between Islamic teachings and traditional values.

Laweyan has long been steeped in Islamic tradition. Laweyan Mosque, a landmark of Islamic propagation in Java, was built in 1546 by Ki Ageng Henis, the ancestor of Islamic Mataram kings and a close friend of Sunan Kalijaga, one of Javas early Islamic preachers. The mosque is even older than the Grand Mosque of Surakarta built in 1763.

In the 1540s, the tourist zone now called Laweyan used to be known as a lawe(weaving yarn) industrial center in the Pajang Kingdom era. It has since been developed into a textile and batik village.

With the Bengawan Solo River passing the village, it was a major trading area in Java that grew into an elite zone in the Islamic Mataram era.

Laweyan has long been a center of Islamic eminence in Java, Alpha said.
A lawsuit filed with the Montana Supreme Court on Tuesday says Marsys Law, a so-called victims bill of rights passed by voters in November, is unconstitutional.

The ACLU of Montana, joined by the the Montana Association of Counties, Montana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a county attorney and a victims rights advocate, are asking the state's highest court to void the law about a week and a half before its July 1 implementation date.

Voters approved Marsys Law, also known as Constitutional Initiative 116, last November with 66 percent of the vote. It creates a new section of the state Constitution enumerating 18 rights for crime victims, including the right to refuse an interview or deposition and to receive notification for all steps of a criminal proceeding. Cities and counties around the state are concerned about the costs of complying with the new law, saying they dont have enough staff to do what will be required.

ACLU of Montana, in the lawsuit, argues that since the initiative amended multiple sections of the Montana Constitution, it required a separate vote for each amendment. The lawsuit asks the court to void the enactment of Marsy's Law, halt all enforcement and decertifiy its passage.

Alex Rate, ACLU of Montana's legal director, said the lawsuit was filed so close to the July implementation date because it took a significant amount of time to gather a diverse group of petitioners. It's also taken a chunk of time to understand all the unintended consequences of Marsy's Law, he said.

In a press release sent Tuesday, Caitlin Borgmann, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, said the ACLU supports rigorous enforcement of existing legal protections for victims, but CI-116s expansive redefinition of victim gives new rights to family, friends, corporations and other non-human entities at the expense of constitutionally enshrined rights.

Chuck Denowh, spokesperson for Marsy's Law for All, said Tuesday simply that "there will always be a handful of people that simply don't believe crime victims should have equal constitutional protections to their offenders."

Lewis and Clark County Attorney Leo Gallagher, a petitioner in the lawsuit, said in a release that he didnt think Montana voters understood the initiative amended multiple sections of the state Constitution and that the new law is expensive to enact, in some counties costing about $95,000.

Marsys law will force me to make the impossible choice between seeking justice for all Montanans and enforcing long-standing constitutional protections or serving the narrow, competing interests of Marsys Laws newly expanded pool of victims harmed or allegedly harmed by even the most petty of offenders, he said.

Adrian Miller, another petitioner in the suit, said the initiative was inaccurately promoted to voters as necessary to protect victims' rights. California millionaire Henry Nicholas, a founder of Broadcom, spent $2.4 million in support of Marsys Law last fall, promoting it as a victims bill of rights.

Rate said while the ACLU fully supports the rigorous enforcement of laws already on the books, voters didn't understand the unintended effects of Marsy's Law.

"From our prospective there was minimal discussion in the press or with various constituencies that are impacted about what the unintended results of the amendment would be. We don't believe local victims organizations or victims' rights groups were adequately consulted. I don't think the title of the constitutional amendment adequately described what the impact would be. I don't fault the voters for voting for something like this, but I do believe nobody quite understood exactly how this would fundamentally rearrange the Montana Constitution."

In December, the ACLU filed a suit with the Montana Supreme Court asking the law take effect in July and not immediately. That lawsuit came over confusion between the ballot, which called for an immediate start date, and the language of the initiative itself, which did not set a start date. In that case, the court sided with the ACLU on a 5-0 vote. That same month the state Board of Canvassers twice delayed validating the passage of the initiative over concerns about the ballot title language and counties not being able to comply with the law immediately.

The Legislature this spring passed a law that limits the applicability of Marsys Law to certain crimes, allowed victims to waive their rights and standardized what must be on a Marsys Law card handed out to victims.

The law also limited the types of crimes that fall under Marsys Law to those under a specific section of Montana code that includes homicides, assaults, sexual assaults, burglary, theft, robbery, arson and kidnapping, as well as certain discrimination laws, elder abuse, abuse of the developmentally disabled, child labor laws and securities fraud.

Notably, the new law removed any traffic crimes from falling under Marsys Law, something Denowh opposed.

The group who filed the lawsuit is represented by Kyle Gray and Brianne McClafferty with Holland and Hart, LLP, James Molloy with Gallick, Bremer and Molloy, P.C., and Rate.
When most Muslims return to their home villages for family gatherings during Ramadhan and the Idul Fitri holiday, hundreds of youths and students from various regions are studying from Kitab Kuning (classical Islamic textbooks written in Arabic) at the Pesantren Lirboyo school in Kediri, East Java.

Founded in 1910 by Kyai Sholeh Banjarmelati with his son-in-law KH Abdul Karim in Lirboyo village, Mojoroto district, the pesantren (Islamic boarding school) is famous for the study of Kitab. Lirboyo is one of the largest schools of the Salafiyah group still teaching Kitab Kuning, which discusses the Quran and Hadith (the Prophets sayings) from various angles.

It is called Kitab Kuning, or yellow book, because at the time of writing there was only yellow paper. As a product of Islamic scholars of the past and written in the pre-modern style common before the 17th century, it is a major religious reference for present-day ulemas.

Read also: Malang mosque guides the blind with braille Quran

At a cost of Rp 50,000 (US$3.84) Pesantren Lirboyo welcomes anybody to participate and stay in modest rooms for the whole month of Ramadhan. Inevitably, a large number of people throng the boarding school to study the book, along with students of the pesantren. The boarding school management imposes no age limits on those interested in delving into the highly valued book, attracting participants from various levels of education.

The overwhelming interest exceeds the capacity of the schools 15-square-meter rooms, each occupied by 30 to 50 people. Many other participants stay on the schools terraces or at the local mosque. For them, the opportunity to study the book at Lirboyo is of primary importance.
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Linkedin Bagus Saragih (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 20:38 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a614310 1 National Bengkulu,corruption,KPK,red-handed-operation Free

Ramadhan marks busy month for countrys top graft busters.

While many Muslims across the country were gearing up for Idul Fitri next week, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators arrested Bengkulu Governor Ridwan Mukti and his wife Lily Maddari in Bengkulu on Tuesday.

The operation began after Lily was reportedly caught accepting cash amounting to around Rp 1 billion (US$75,200) in bribes from a contractor at the governors official residence. The money was kept in a cardboard box.

It was the second KPK operation in Bengkulu this month, and the fourth across Indonesia.

The arrest was made amid heated political tension centering on the House of Representatives controversial inquiry into the KPK.

Lawmakers have accused the antigraft body of committing unprofessional conduct after the KPK began investigating the multi-trillion rupiah e-ID case, which has implicated dozens of politicians across all parties.

Read also: KPK should ignore "legally flawed" House inquiry: Constitutional experts

Also on Tuesday, members of the inquiry committee threatened to stall the budget deliberation of the KPK.

But the KPK, riding on the wave of support from experts and activists across Indonesia, got a morale boost and even intensified its crack-down on corruption.

Ridwan, a Golkar politician, as well as three other people who were also arrested in the operation, were taken to the KPKs headquarters in Jakarta after temporarily being held at Bengkulu Police headquarters.

Bengkulu Governor Ridwan Mukti (left) and Vice Governor Rohidin Mersyah pose at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on Feb. 12, 2016.(Tempo/Aditia Noviansyah)

Two of the arrested individuals were reportedly contractors.

KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah confirmed a total of five individuals were arrested but refused to go into details, saying the investigation was still ongoing.

As of Tuesday evening, the KPK had yet to name any suspect.

Only four days before, KPK deputy chair Basaria Panjaitan warned that the antigraft body expected other potential bribery cases.

If you dont stop committing corruption, there will be more arrest operations, she said during a press conference on the arrests of three Mojokerto Legislative Council speakers, an alleged middleman, and a local agency head in Mojokerto, East Java, on June 16.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairs Basaria Panjaitan (right) and Laode M. Syarif (center) and KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah host a press conference on Jan. 26.(Antara/Wahyu Putro A)

Investigators also seized Rp 470 million (US$35,300) allegedly related to budget manipulation.

This was the second arrest made by the antigraft body in the province, this month.

On June 5, KPK investigators arrested six people, including East Java Provincial Legislative Council member Mochamad Basuki. Mochamad allegedly accepted Rp 150 million in illegal levies from the provinces agriculture agency head, Bambang Heryanto, who was also arrested.

Read also: Upeti corruption remains rampant across country

Four days later, the KPK arrested Parlin Purba, an intelligence officer of the Bengkulu Prosecutors Office in Bengkulu, for allegedly accepting bribes.

Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said he would decide on the fate of Ridwan pending an official announcement by the KPK.

Read also: House inquiry obstruction of justice: KPK

Meanwhile, Golkar Party secretary general Idrus Marham said he had talked to the chairman of Golkar's Bengkulu chapter, Imron Rosyadi, to monitor the case and provide legal assistance to Ridwan.

One of the principles Golkar has adopted is that if a member is involved in a case, the partys central executive board will have the head of its law and human rights division oversee and assist the individual in question to make sure the legal process is conducted justly, he said in Jakarta on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com.

The arrest led to Gubernur Bengkulu being one of Twitter Indonesias trending topics on Tuesday.

Former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD, tweeted in his Twitter account @mohmahfudmd, Ridwan Mukti is a good friend of mine. I supported his candidacy during the Bengkulu gubernatorial election. But the law must be upheld. We support the KPK.

Ridwan Mukti adl teman baik sy. Sy ikut mendukung waktu bertarung dlm Pilgub Bengkulu. Tapi hukum hrs ditegakkan. Kita dukung KPK. https://t.co/V0gLKDY7FA  Mahfud MD (@mohmahfudmd) June 20, 2017

Gubernur Bengkulu, Ridwan Mukti, yg kena OTT KPK pernah menerima penghargaan "Akhlak Mulia". pic.twitter.com/kKWYp7JfIA  Crimson Hags (@JokoHQ) June 20, 2017

(ecn)
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Linkedin (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20 2017

The Jakarta Polices Mobile Brigade (Brimob) has apologized to the Antara news agency and its reporter Ricky Prayoga, a victim of alleged misconduct by several of its members.

Ricky said he was abused by the Brimob members while covering the Indonesia Open Super Series badminton tournament at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Sunday.

He said he was dragged by force from a queue for an ATM and around the event location at about 3 p.m. on Sunday.

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Linkedin Nethy Dharma Somba (The Jakarta Post)  Tue, June 20 2017

Lectures at the Papua University (UNIPA) School of Medicine in Sorong, West Papua, have been halted since April 29, after the University of Indonesia (UI) in Jakarta stopped sending visiting lecturers as UNIPA was no longer able to provide them with standard allowances.

We only have two lecturers while the lecturers from the UI School of Medicine [FKUI] are no longer coming, chairman of the student executive body of the UNIPA School of Medicine, Indah Ein Fajarwati Wainsaf, told The Jakarta Post, on Saturday.

The fate of 102 students of the UNIPA School of Medicine is in limbo. They previously staged demonstrations and held negotiations to prevent their school from closing down.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 12:53 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5ff6ad 1 Politics #KPKInquiry,KPK,anti-corruption,academics Free

Hundreds of professors from Indonesia's top universities have declared support for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) while it is undergoing a controversial inquiry by the House of Representatives.

A political science professor with Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Muhadjir Darwin, said the declaration was endorsed by 152 professors from 22 universities, including the University of Indonesia (UI), the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and Bandung-based Padjadjaran University.

"We call on President Joko ['Jokowi'] Widodo, as well as political parties and legislative leaders, to remain important parts of the efforts to eradicate corruption [...] the inquiry should be cancelled because the procedure is legally incorrect," it states.

"We reiterate that we will remain supportive of the KPK, which is the hope for a cleaner Indonesia."

Read also: House inquiry obstruction of justice: KPK

Muhadjir said the move was made especially after reformasi activist and National Mandate Party (PAN) founder Amien Rais pushed toward supporting the establishment of the inquiry following a court hearing that implicated him in a graft case. In addition, Amien has also blatantly accused the KPK of being a rotten institution.

Staying firm: National Mandate Party (PAN) patron Amien Rais (center) says he is ready to clarify information about an alleged transfer of funds from the Soetrisno Bachir Foundation.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)

He also said that the House of Representatives was using the inquiry because several of its members had been implicated in the e-KTP graft case, making the public give more support to the KPK.

These kind of things will not cause public distrust of the KPK. Instead, support from the public grows, including from us, he said, adding that parties that support the inquiry could lose votes ahead of the 2019 elections. (ecn/bbs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Surabaya  Tue, June 20, 2017 17:20 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a60e0fa 1 National Idul-Fitri-2017,#IdulFitriExodus,boat,travel Free

A baby boy was born aboard a ship sailing from Sampit in East Kalimantan to Surabaya, East Java, on Monday.

The baby and his mother, 21-year-old Maria Elevina, who boarded the vessel belonging to shipping company PT. Dharma Lautan Utama (DLU) with her husband Ferinandos, 23, were in a healthy condition after the birth.

The manager of DLUs office at Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, Donie Surya Putra, said the baby had been born when the ship was near Bawean Island, East Java, early on Monday morning.

She was eight months pregnant when the baby was born. The medical team on board helped her, and the mother and the baby are healthy he said, as reported by antaranews.com.

Immediately after the boat arrived at Tanjung Perak Port in the afternoon, the medical team brought Maria and her son to the Primasatya Husada Citra hospital to undergo a health examination.

Read also: Police on full alert over terrorism threats ahead of Idul Fitri

Donie said the baby was named Chandra Kirana, based on suggestions from crew members.

The parents had not prepared a name for the baby, therefore, we gave them suggestions and they accepted them, he said.

Maria and Ferinandos were on their way to their hometown in Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) to spend the Idul Fitri holiday season. They had planned to continue overland to Manggarai from Surabaya.

However, after the birth, the couple opted to stay at a relatives house in Kapasan, Surabaya. (ecn/bbs)
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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 10:37 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5ffcdf 1 National 5-day-school,Maruf-Amin,MUI,Nahdlatul-ulama,Muhammadiyah Free

Indonesia is getting closer to instigating a five-day school week, as President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has decided to issue a regulation (Perpres) to protect the private after-school religious tutoring that a new schedule would endanger.

Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) chairman Ma'ruf Amin said the Perpres would be formulated not only by the Culture and Education Ministry, the Home Ministry and the Religious Affairs Ministry, but also by Islamic organizations such as the MUI and Muhammadiyah, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

Their involvement was related to the protest against a longer school day they said would "kill" madrassa diniyyaa (after-school courses) for teenaged Muslims to learn about moderate Islamic knowledge, history and practices. With a five-day school week, they pointed out, students would have to spend more hours every day in class and would have no time to attend the madrassa diniyyaa.

"With the involvement of Islamic organizations, the problem can be solved. Madrassa diniyyaa will not only be protected but also strengthened. They are supposed to act as a buffer against radicalism," Ma'ruf said at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.

Officials said the upcoming Perpres would revise the timetable for the implementation of a five-day school week. However, both Ma'ruf and Culture and Education Minister Muhadjir Effendy said that the revision would be subject to the Presidents approval.

"It depends on the Perpres. We are currently formulating the guidelines with the Religious Affairs Ministry and other agencies," Muhadjir said. Previously, a Culture and Education Ministry regulation planned for the five-day school week to begin in the new academic year this July. (ags)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 14:22 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a605def 1 National Bengkulu,corruption,KPK,red-handed-operation Free

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested on Tuesday Bengkulu Governor Ridwan Mukti and his wife Lili Madari, along with several local contractors. They were temporarily held at the Bengkulu Police headquarters.

"Yes, a team from the KPK has arrested Ridwan and his wife and have taken them to the police headquarters," Bengkulu Police spokesman Comr. Mulyadi said in Bengkulu on Tuesday as quoted by kompas.com.

However, Mulyadi went on to say that the police had yet to know what case had led to the arrest. The police, he said, were only responsible for securing them at the headquarters.

It was Lili and the contractors who were first arrested by the graft busters. Ridwan was arrested shortly after.

Read also: KPK uncovers another upeti case in East Java

Their arrest reportedly involved a bribery-related case.

Contacted separately, KPK spokesman Febri Diansyah said he had yet to get information about the arrest.

"The team has several activities. I need to check what it is precisely about," Febri said.

The KPK has at least made four arrests this month.

Early this month, the KPK arrested Parlin Purba, the chief of intelligence section 3 of the Bengkulu Prosecutors Office in Bengkulu, for allegedly receiving bribes. (foy/bbs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 17:47 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6100b2 1 National Bengkulu,corruption,KPK,Golkar Free

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators confiscated a cardboard box filled with money during the arrest of Bengkulu Governor Ridwan Mukti and his wife Lili Madari in Bengkulu on Tuesday.

It was later reported that the cash amounted to around Rp 1 billion (US$75,200) in bribes from a contractor.

Ridwan is also a Golkar Party politician.

KPK spokesman Febri Diansyaha said a total of five individuals were arrested in the operation. As of Tuesday afternoon, no one had been declared a suspect.

Read also: KPK uncovers another upeti case in East Java

The five have been brought to KPK headquarters in Jakarta after temporarily being held at Bengkulu Police headquarters.

The other three were reportedly contractors.

The KPK will conduct further examinations for at least 24 hours before announcing their status.

They were second bribery-related arrests in Bengkulu and the fifth in Indonesia by the KPK this month.

Earlier this month, the KPK arrested Parlin Purba, the chief of intelligence section 3 of the Bengkulu Prosecutors Office in Bengkulu, for allegedly receiving bribes. (ecn/bbs)

Topics : Bengkulu corruption KPK Golkar
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 13:59 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6044b5 1 Business Mandiri-Capital-Indonesia,PrivyID,start-up,startup-incubator Free

PT Mandiri Capital Indonesia (MCI), a subsidiary of state-owned lender Bank Mandiri, partnering with Metra Digital Innovation, Mahanusa Capital and Gunung Sewu, will invest US$500,000 in financial technology (fintech) startup PrivyID.

MCIs chief financial officer, Hira Laksamana, said that MCI led the investment in PrivyID, which provides electronic signature services for its clients, but he declined to disclose how much each company holds in the joint investment.

Hira said that PrivyID, which was founded in October last year, was chosen as a target for investment because of the promising prospects of the companys business. As an electronic signature service provider, the companys service would be needed in the future in line with the growing use of paperless documentation, he added.

Hira said that following the investment, PrivyIDs electronic signature solution would be first used in Bank Mandiris internal document management system, before adopting the digital signature services for Bank Mandiris customers.

In the future, we aim to use [PrivyIDs services] for our services to Bank Mandiris customers. However, we need to be careful as there are regulations from the Financial Services Authorities [OJK] that need to be complied with, said Hira.

PrivyIDs chief executive officer, Marshall Pribadi, said that the startup would use 80 percent of the funds to focus on upgrading its security infrastructure.

He also said that PrivyID is currently serving about 49 enterprises and 550,000 individual customers. He added that PrivyID aims to grab up to 4 million new customers by the end of next year. (mrc/ags)
PHILIPSBURG  Founded on June 22, 1867, Philipsburg will kick off its sesquicentennial summer celebration at noon Thursday, June 22, with school and church bells ringing.

Displays and activities will be ongoing through mid-September.

The opening ceremony will be followed by birthday cake and lemonade, historical displays and tours at the school and museum, live music, silent auctions, pint night at Philipsburg Brewing Co., opening night at the Opera House Theatre and a fireworks display at dusk.

Attendees are encouraged to dress in vintage clothing from whatever decade they would like.

Thirty years ago, Philipsburg was nearly a ghost town. Mining and timber were dying and so was much of the town, according to a news release from organizers. Once proud buildings in the historic downtown were boarded up, empty and sold for a few thousand dollars.

Due to forward thinking by a few hopeful diehards, combined with investments by natives and newcomers, Philipsburg pulled itself up and now, some three decades later, this newly vibrant small town continues to work harder than ever.

Thursdays schedule follows:

Noon: Opening ceremony at Town Hall

1-2 p.m.: Birthday party at the old Fire Hall

4-8 pm: Pint Night and silent auctions will be at the old Fire Hall & Philipsburg Brewery

Throughout the day: Tours of school and museum, display of old fire truck, and viewing a display of historic business posters

Opera House Theater opening night

Dusk: Fireworks, Chamber of Commerce
The government is looking to roll out several fiscal incentives, including a tax holiday, for the buyers of gas to be produced at the Masela block in the Arafura Sea at a fixed price of US$5.86 per million British thermal unit (mmbtu).

Japan-based oil and gas firm Inpex Corp., which holds 65 percent majority stake in the block, came with the fixed price proposal after conducting a preliminary study and submitted it as a recommendation to the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

The Industry Ministrys director of upstream chemical industry, Muhammad Khayam, said Monday the government in addition to using the price proposal would also provide fiscal incentives, such as tax holiday.

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Linkedin News Desk (Agence France-Presse) Washington DC  Tue, June 20, 2017 10:30 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5f7be5 2 World violence,Muslim,Virginia,mosque,violence-against-women Free

A tight-knit Muslim community in the suburbs of Washington was in shock Monday after a 17-year-old girl was apparently beaten to death and dumped in a pond following late-night prayers at the local mosque.

Police in Fairfax County, Virginia, have charged a 22-year-old local man, Darwin Martinez Torres, with the teenager's killing but said it was an apparent road rage incident.

Authorities are "NOT investigating this murder as a hate crime," police said on Twitter.

Social media lit up with anger over the crime, which follows a series of deadly attacks on Muslims in North America.

While the teen has yet to be officially named by police, friends and worshippers at the mosque in Sterling, known as the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, identified her as Nabra Hassanen, from the nearby community of Reston.

The attack occurred in the early hours of Sunday, June 18, as a group of young Muslims were walking back from the town center plaza after midnight prayers at the mosque, according to accounts by police and worshippers.

"A man who appeared to be drunk got out of his car with a bat," one of the youths, Tasneem Khan, wrote on social media.

All of the youths with the exception of Hassanen managed to run back to the mosque upon seeing the assailant.

The police department said "this tragic case appears to be the result of a road rage incident involving the suspect, who was driving and who is now charged with murder, and a group of teenagers... walking and riding bikes in and along a roadway."

The statement appealed for "patience" as an autopsy and inquiry were being conducted.

Fairfax County police spokesman Don Gotthardt told Agence France-Presse the assault is not being treated as a hate crime because "there is no information connecting the victim's faith or religion to the crime."

Still, on Twitter, many people expressed incredulity.

"Anyone want to explain to me why this isn't being investigated as a hate crime? I am disgusted and so very saddened by this," wrote a user with the handle @MaisieRae.

"We need strong leaders in this country condemning hate crimes or we need new leaders who will," added @paulshread.

Last days of Ramadan

A vigil for the slain girl has been scheduled for Wednesday evening, June 21, in Reston.

The attack occurred during the waning days of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when observant Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. In North America, Ramadan is due to end with Eid al-Fitr celebrations starting Saturday.

The teens had apparently gone out to eat at a restaurant before starting their fast at sunrise. Hassanen was reported missing around 4 am and her remains were found at a nearby pond around 3 pm.

Police would not immediately confirm the exact manner of her death, pending a review by the chief medical examiner.

A widely distributed Snapchat photographic montage showed Hassanen smiling, sporting a Muslim veil as well as a golden nose ring.

Last month, two men were fatally stabbed in Portland, Oregon as they intervened to stop a man hurling anti-Muslim slurs at two teenage girls, one of whom was wearing a hijab. Another man who tried to halt the attack was also wounded.

In Quebec, six worshippers were shot dead in an attack on a mosque in January.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 13:16 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6024ba 1 National Tito-Karnavian,terrorism,security Free

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said the force has been heightening security measures over any possible terrorist attacks with Idul Fitri just around the corner.

He said he had ordered all police personnel to watch for terrorist networks, especially the ones suspected of planning attacks during the Islamic celebration next week.

I dont want to take a risk, especially after the Kampung Melayu [twin suicide bombing in East Jakarta in late May]. If theres any movement, even if it is just little, [we will] catch them! Tito said during a press conference at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters in South Jakarta on Monday.

National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) head Agus Rahardjo get ready to host a press conference at the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta on Monday.(The Jakarta Post/Wendra Ajistyatama)

He added that the police had detained at least 36 alleged terrorists across the country following the Kampung Melayu attack.

The latest was in Central Java, where the police arrested three alleged terrorists in Kendal and Temanggung regency. During the arrests, the police confiscated several cellphones, laptops, a bag full of chemical substances and propaganda books.

Read also: Lawmakers get tough on terror

The day before, the West Nusa Tenggara Police apprehended two people allegedly linked to the Islamic State terrorist group and discovered bomb-making parts. According to an initial investigation, the suspects intended to detonate other bombs in several police headquarters, the police said.

Tito said, The police guarantee that all citizens can have a safe and secure Ramadhan fasting month and Idul Fitri celebration. (kuk/bbs)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 15:45 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a609f15 1 City Rizieq-Shihab,pornography Free

The Jakarta Police have postponed the investigation into the pornography case involving Islam Defenders Front (FPI) cleric Rizieq Shihab.

There are other important things to do, such as the humanitarian 'Ramadniya' operation. The [Rizieq] case is currently on hold, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mochammad Iriawan said on Monday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The police have taken measures to investigate this case by questioning people involved, including suspect Firza Husein who allegedly shared pornographic material with Rizieq.

Rizieq is presently in Saudi Arabia and has not yet been questioned by the police.

Iriawan said the police might issue a blue notice to Interpol to track Rizieq's whereabouts and movements. The police may also conduct "Police to Police' communication to urge Rizieq to return to Indonesia. (cal)
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 15:11 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a60847e 1 City Davidson-Tantono,robbery,Lampung-gang,West-Jakarta Free

Police have shot dead a man they claim was planning to attack them while he was under arrest in connection with the death of Davidson Tantono, who was killed in Daan Mogot when he tried to stop several men from stealing a large sum of money from him.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Argo Yuwono said on Tuesday that the man they shot, identified only as SFL, 30, was arrested in Banyuwangi, East Java, and had confessed that he had dumped the murder weapon, a gun, on Jl. Arteri Porong Sidoarjo in East Java.

When we found the weapon he tried to seize it. Hence, we did a justifiable action there, Argo said.

He added that SFL was immediately transported to the Dr. Sutomo Hospital in Surabaya but he died at the hospital.

On Saturday, the police shot another man, IR, who was allegedly acting as the deputy of a gang, in Karawang, West Java.

The police announced they have arrested seven people allegedly involved in the Daan Mogot case so far. SFL, who they said acted as the gang leader and who they accuse of shooting Davidson, 30, was arrested on Monday night along with another man they said hindered the chase and SFLs girlfriend, who police allege managed a hideout for the gang members.

During the arrests, the police confiscated Rp 6 million (US$452), six cellphones and jackets allegedly worn during the fatal robbery.

On June 9, Davidson was shot in the head at a gas station when he tried to get his bag of money back from robbers. The bag contained Rp 350 million he had just withdrawn from a bank. (wnd)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 22:33 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a615bf7 1 National yoga,health,wellness,WHO,PoonamKhetrapalSingh,lifestyle Free

The World Health Organization (WHO) is striving to promote yoga to create better health in the society.

WHO South-East Asia regional director Poonam Khetrapal Singh said yoga could be practiced at all ages and the only requirement was a commitment to better health and a willingness to gently stretch, exercise and invigorate ones body and mind.

It can help kids get the 60 minutes of daily activity needed to set up a lifetime of good health. It can help adults reach the 150 minutes of weekly activity needed to stave off non communicable diseases. For persons aged 65 and above it can help reduce the risk of depression and maintain cognitive functioning, she said in a statement on International Yoga Day on Tuesday. .

This years International Day of Yoga drew a critical link between healthy lifestyles, physical activity and individual and public health.

According to WHO, non communicable diseases cause an estimated 8.5 million deaths in the South-East Asia region every year. Many of the deaths are premature and nearly all are lifestyle related. Around 70 percent of boys and 80 percent of girls in the region report insufficient physical activity.

Khetrapal Singh said finding time for exercise could be challenging but it was fundamental to life-long health and well being.

The 5000-year-old practice of yoga is considered an effective way to increase strength and flexibility, enhance cardio-fitness, burn calories and relax the mind. It has also been known to help cultivate routine and integrate physical activity into daily life. (ebf)

Topics : yoga health wellness WHO PoonamKhetrapalSingh lifestyle
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 19:59 1969 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a612a70 1 City crime,Central-Jakarta,guns Free

A woman claims to have been robbed by an armed man at Mega Glodok Kemayoran (MGK) Mall in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta on Monday.

Please share [this], everyone, I was just mugged by [a man with] a gun at MGK Mall Kemayoran while waiting for the elevator and my cell phone was taken, the woman, named Gesty Acyka Clourin, claimed on her Facebook account.

Gesty also uploaded footage from the malls CCTV camera and a still photo of the alleged robber.

In the 31-second video, the alleged robber stood behind Gesty and seemed to look around the vicinity before approaching the victim and forcing her to go to an emergency door.

Kemayoran Police chief Comr. M. Rosid confirmed the attack on Tuesday, saying he had questioned several witnesses in the effort to find the perpetrator.

We have questioned witnesses in relation to the case and had some headway and have therefore handed the case to the [Central Jakarta] police, Rosid said as quoted by kompas.com.

Other media have reported that a toy gun was used in the mugging. (wnd)
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, June 21 2017

Indonesia has initiated the second stage of an ongoing cooperation mechanism with Malaysia and the Philippines focusing on preventing the spread of terrorism and violent extremism in the region, days after an overdue trilateral military response kicked off in North Kalimantan.

Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi called for a multi-stakeholder trilateral meeting in Manila on Thursday that would gather her Malaysian and Philippine counterparts, as well as the neighbors top brass, security and counterterror chiefs in an immediate response to the siege of Marawi city in the Philippines.

The main objective of the trilateral meeting will be to discuss the security situation in the southern Philippines, especially Marawi, and its implications for Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir told a press briefing on Tuesday.

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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 15:39 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a60966a 1 News Ancol,bicycle,travel,Ancol-Dreamland-Park,Idul-Fitri Free

Those who will be spending time at the Ancol Dreamland Park in North Jakarta during Idul Fitri can consider utilizing an app-based bicycle service provided by the park management until August this year.

Dubbed Ourbike, the service is a collaborative effort between Ancol and China-based app, OURBIKE.

In order to use it, visitors will first need to install an app that is available for Android and iOS devices. Afterwards, they will be required to input the bicycle numbers or scan the barcode provided before receiving a passcode to unlock the bike.

Read also: Modangan Beach in Malang a haven for paragliding

Kini kalian bisa berkeliling ANCOL TAMAN IMPIAN dengan OURBIKE, fasilitas sepeda untuk kalian semua.. pic.twitter.com/6WRkvpAeNO  Ancol Taman Impian (@ancoltmnimpian) June 13, 2017

The bicycle can be used within the Ancol area, Ancol Dreamland Park director Teuku Sahir Syahali told kompas.com, adding that the management has prepared 1,000 bikes for the service.

Ancol Dreamland Parks corporate communications officer, Rika Lestari, said that the bicycles could be found in some areas, such as the pedestrian walkways at the West Gate, East Gate, the busway station and throughout Lagoon Beach.

"During this Idul Fitri holiday, the bicycle will provide alternative transportation for visitors to explore park areas, aside from the Sato-Sato Train and Wara-Wiri Bus," said Rika. (wir/kes)
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Linkedin Lee Min Kok (The Straits Times/Asia News Network) Singapore  Tue, June 20, 2017 15:58 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a60a6df 2 News Changi,Changi-airport,Terminal-4,Singapore,#singapore,Airport,#airport Free

Changi Airport on Monday revealed the interior of the new Terminal 4 - set to begin operations in the second half this year - for the first time.

It posted a series of photos on Facebook, which showed T4's departure and arrival halls, as well as transit and boarding area.

The departure hall, for instance, is a vast space devoid of columns, and has a high ceiling with petal-shaped skylights to allow natural light into the terminal.

Greenery is a key feature - its greenwall facade on the exterior consists of 16,000 plants, while the arrival hall also has a green theme.

Read also: What to anticipate at Changi's Jewel complex slated for 2019

Changi Airport's last update on T4 in May said that more than 80 retail outlets will be spread over 16,000 sqm, describing the terminal as a shopping and dining haven featuring popular brands, innovative concepts and unique experiential zones.

Two core duty-free categories - Liquor and Tobacco and Cosmetics & Perfume will combine and operated in a single zone, while there will also be a heritage zone inspired by Peranakan shophouses.

Retails shops opening their first outlet in Changi include paper maker Moleskine, British retailer WHSmith and home-grown footwear label PAZZION.

The Straits Times reported in March that the T4 will be Singapore's first checkpoint with multiple biometric capabilities.

Topics :

This article appeared on The Straits Times newspaper website, which is a member of Asia News Network and a media partner of The Jakarta Post
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 14:02 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a604ade 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Tourism-Ministry,Indonesia-Australia,Australia,foreign-tourists,tourism-promotion Free

The first leg of the Australia Sales Mission initiated by the Tourism Ministry has attracted 7,424 prospective visitors, organizers claim, and the second leg of the event is set to be conducted at the Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney on July 4 and the Hotel Grand Chancellor Brisbane on July 6.

Read also: Australians named worlds fittest travelers

Were going to bring together 20 sellers from Indonesia and from 80 to 100 Australian buyers. The sellers will offer several tourism packages to Bali, Lombok and other places, said the ministry's deputy for overseas promotion, I Gde Pitana.

The first leg of the sales mission was conducted on Feb. 7 to 9 in Melbourne and Perth.

Read also: Five-star hiking trips around the globe, from Australia to Amalfi

The ministry's deputy assistant for Asia-Pacific tourism promotion, Vinsensius Jemadu, said the event seeks to attract more tourists from eastern Australia as most tourists who come to the archipelago are from the western part of the country, particularly Perth.

We have set a target of attracting at least 1,816,000 Australian tourists in 2017; hopefully we can reach it, Vinsensius added. (kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 11:24 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a5f9d5f 1 News Lion-Air,lion-air-group,jakarta,India,travel,Airlines,flight,#airlines,Chennai Free

The Lion Air Group is set to offer a new service between Jakarta and Chennai, India, on July 10 to attract more Indian tourists to the archipelago.

The upcoming flights will operate once a day and transit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

During a recent event in Paris, France, Lion Air president director Edward Sirait told Antara news agency that, The number of Indian tourists who travel to Indonesia has grown rapidly and this is what we want to focus on using our airlines.

Read also: Indonesia Airports app to assist travelers during Idul Fitri exodus

He added that many Indian tourists like to spend their vacations in Bali to enjoy its nature and religious tourism. Aside from Bali, they also visit other provinces in Indonesia that are served by the airlines.

Hopefully this new service will allow Indian tourists to enjoy easier access to explore Indonesia and at the same time also support the governments program of attracting as many foreign tourists as possible, said Edward. (wir/kes)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, June 20, 2017 15:05 1970 4065a5a8898c7cc661d4adf97a6079e7 1 News Tourism-Ministry-Pesona-Indonesia,tourism-ministry-wonderful-Indonesia,Biak,Papua,festival Free

The people of Biak, Papua will mark the beginning of July with the Biak Munara Wampasi (BMW) Cultural Festival that will be held for four days from July 1 to 4.

The festival will feature plenty of activities such as fishing, apen byaren (walking on hot rocks) cultural attractions, a traditional Waimansusu boat competition, an underwater photo competition and a tour to the Padaido Islands.

Read also: Garuda Indonesia to offer new routes within Papua

Thirty-nine people have already signed up for the underwater photo competition that will be conducted for five days, which means the participants will get to go diving five times to capture the best underwater photos.

Locations for the competition will be from Catalina Wreck, Wundi Island , Small Rurbas Island, Barracuda Point to Owi Island.

Not only that, participants will join the Land Tour to three tourist attractions that weve already prepared: Japanese Cave, the World War II Monument and Five Chambers Cave, said Biak tourism department head Turbey Ony Dangeubun.

Read also: Whale sharks draw tourists to Nabire

Runners can also take part in the festival by joining the Biak 10k International race. The track is very challengin;, at one point they will pass through the cross-border area of Papua Nugini, Dangeubun added

Biak Numfor regency has a story of its own. In the beginning, the Sultanate of Tidore ruled over the place, then it became a battlefield during World War II. On May 29, 1944, United States military bombarded the place and in 2005 the Russian government wanted to make Biak the location for rocket launches because of its strategic location. (asw)
A hearing (watch the video) was held last week on City Council member Margaret Chins legislation that would require the city to notify communities when urban renewal areas are set to expire. The public meeting of the Councils land use committee also offered local lawmakers an opportunity to grill representatives of city agencies about several proposed Two Bridges mega-towers.

Those projects would add about 2,000 mostly market-rate apartments in towers ranging in height from 62-80 stories along the East Side waterfront. A joint environmental review is now underway for the large-scale towers, which are located in an urban renewal area that expired in 2007. The review does not include Extell Developments One Manhattan Square, an 80-story luxury condo project that will add another 1,000 apartments to the immediate area.

During the hearing, Council member Chin argued that public notification would have given her community an important tool to fight over-development. Residents would have been able, she explained, to ask for an extension of the urban renewal area or a rezoning if they had known restrictions on development were set to expire. In a press release, she stated, We must take action now to ensure that all communities, especially those that are predominately low income and of color, are equipped with the knowledge and tools to protect their neighborhoods. Though we cannot turn back time to prevent the expiration of the Two Bridges URA, this legislation is integral to my mission to keep similar situations from happening again, and to carry on the fight by continuing to demand a full public review, including an up-or-down City Council vote, on the mega-towers at Two Bridges.

Last summer, the Department of City Planning rejected Chins request for a ULURP in the Two Bridges area, a full land use review that would have given the Council a formal role in deciding whether the projects move forward. The agency said proposed changes in the Two Bridges Large Scale Residential Plan amounted to a minor modification as opposed to a major modification of the plan, meaning a ULURP was not required.

At last Thursdays hearing, Chin noted that the underlying zoning along the waterfront (C6-4a) permits what she called humungous towers. But she argued that the new buildings are definitely not in the spirit of the original urban renewal area. Every time she sees photos of the Extell tower, said Chin, it makes me sick to my stomach. She added, What is being proposed is totally out of scale. We cannot allow (the plan) to go forward. Addressing officials from the Department of City Planning and Department of Housing Preservation and Development, Chin asserted, You share responsibility with us. Something has got to be done.

The officials said they agreed in principle with Chins proposal for public notification, but they pushed back on the notion that the towers in the Two Bridges area are inappropriate for the neighborhood. The chairman of the land use committee, David Greenfield, asked a series of pointed questions of the city bureaucrats and argued that stronger legislation is required to protect local communities.

Representatives from the Department of City Planning said the Lower East Side plans were deemed to be minor modifications because the developers were not asking for new or modified waivers. They were simply asking the city to lift floor area limits. Greenfield, however, made the case that any plan adding 2.2 million square feet and 2,000 apartments to an existing neighborhood, amounts to a pretty big modification.

Erik Botsford, deputy Manhattan director of City Planning, said, We understand the communitys concerns (about these projects). He conceded that the phrase, minor modification, is perhaps an unfortunate term in reference to one-thousand foot towers. The officials, however, insisted that the projects are allowable under New Yorks land use rules.

Greenfield countered by asking, Would you agree that this is a major change to the original plan? He also asked why Mayor de Blasio would not have insisted on a rezoning in the area to require affordable housing in the new projects (the developers are voluntarily setting aside 25% of their units for affordable housing in exchange for tax benefits). City Plannings Joel Kolkmann responded, These are obviously large buildings. He said the citys new Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program (MIH) is only feasible in neighborhoods that can be upzoned (Two Bridges is already zoned for maximum density). These types of large-scale districts are not unusual along the waterfront, said Kolkmann, arguing that the large-scale towers under review are appropriate for the community.

There was also testimony from Trever Holland, a tenant leader who read a statement on behalf of neighborhood advocacy groups GOLES and CAAAV. He said there are serious concerns about the threat of displacement of low-income tenants as a result of the luxury developments. He also cited worries about flood protection in the low-lying area and noted the citys refusal to consider a large-scale rezoning of the community as proposed by the Chinatown Working Group.

In the end, Greenfield told city officials he believes theres obviously a flaw in the law if massive development projects like the ones under review in the Two Bridges arent subject to public review. He called it a loophole that needs to be closed.

On a related note, a community engagement meeting will be held Saturday, June 24 to discuss the Two Bridges environmental review. It will take place at the Manny Cantor Center, 197 East Broadwaay, from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

The projects include a 79-story tower at 247 Cherry St. from JDS Development Group; 62 ad 69 story towers from L+M Development Partners and the CIM Group at 260 South St.; and a 62-story building by the Starrett Group at 259 Clinton St.
On 2 January 2016 as he getting ready to board a plane to leave North Korea, Otto Warmbier was arrested and detained by government officials of the Kim Jong-un regime.

Warmbier was a third-year business major at the University of Virginia, who was touring the country with Young Pioneer Tours, a China-based travel company that has since ceased taking American students to North Korea.

Following over 17 months of imprisonment for a hostile act, the last 15 of which were spent in a coma, an unresponsive and unconscious Warmbier was returned to the United States last Tuesday. He died Monday night.

Warmbier was accused by North Korea of searching the Internet to learn about different political slogans and stealing a sign or banner with said slogan. A North Korean official said, around the time of Warmbiers detainment, that the American student put on quiet shoes that he had purchased in the US and entered the staff-only second floor of the hotel just before 2am on 1 January 2016 with the intention of stealing a political print. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour.

The strange allegations included that Warmbier was encouraged to commit the crime by a member of an Ohio church, a secret University of Virginia organization and the CIA.

In a press conference two months after his detainment, Warmbier said the following, although it appeared that he was reading a prepared statement.

I committed the crime of taking down a political slogan from the staff holding area from the Yanggakdo International Hotel. I apologize to each and every one of the millions of the Korean people, and I beg that you see how I was used and manipulated. My reward for my crime was so much smaller than the rewards that the Z Society and the Friendship United Methodist Church get from the United States administration. I never, never should have allowed myself to be lured by the United States administration to commit a crime in this country. I wish that the United States administration never manipulate people like myself in the future to commit crimes against foreign countries. I entirely beg you, the people and government of the DPRK, for your forgiveness. Please. I made the worst mistake of my life.

A North Korean official with direct knowledge of the case told CNN in February 2016 that Warmbier was accused of meeting in 2015 with a member of the Friendship United Methodist Church, who offered him a $10,000 used car to take an important political slogan from North Korea in order to weaken the ideological unity of the North Koreans because North Korea is an anti-Christian communist state and communism should be ended.

Upon speaking with the churchs Senior Pastor Meshach Kanyion, CNN discovered that the person whom North Korean officials named as the Warmbiers motivator was not known of and that the Warmbiers were not members of the churchs 500 person congregation.

North Korean officials said that Wambier was allegedly told that he could become a member of University of Virginias selective Z Society if he stole the slogan and the officials allege that Z Society has links to the CIA.

A member of Z Society denied that the group has connections to the CIA and said that the group was never in contact with Warmbier and it never approached him about the possibility of joining.
Less than a week after arriving back in the United States in a comatose state following his 17-month imprisonment in North Korea by Kim Jong-uns regime, University of Virginia student Otto Warmbier was pronounced dead on Monday.

The 22-year-old Wyoming, Ohio native was returned to the US only a month after the North Koreans, who upon the release said that they were acting on humanitarian grounds, notified American authorities that Warmbier had been in a coma for over a year. He never regained consciousness.

Warmbier was jailed for attempting to steal a propaganda sign from a hotel and, according to North Korean officials, he contracted botulism, a rare illness that causes paralysis, shortly after his March 2016 trial. Afterwards, he was apparently given a sleeping pill and had been in a coma ever since.

The team of doctors in Cincinnati, Ohio that examined and aided Warmbier since his return could not find any sign of botulism, which would not be unusual after more than a year, but did discover that he suffered from respiratory stress and that the oxygen supply to his brain was cut off.

Scans of the brain conducted by University of Cincinnati doctors showed severe damage that led to Warmbiers condition of unresponsive wakefulness, which allowed him to open his eyes but show no sign of response to communication.

Warmbiers parents, Fred and Cindy, released a statement Monday following the passing of their son, saying that he had completed his journey home.

When Otto returned to Cincinnati late on June 13, he was unable to speak, unable to see and unable to react to verbal commands. He looked very uncomfortable  almost anguished. Although we would never hear his voice again, within a day, the countenance of his face changed  he was at peace. He was home, and we believe he could sense that.

They continued, The awful torturous mistreatment our son received at the hands of the North Koreans ensured that no other outcome was possible beyond the sad one we experienced today.

The usually outspoken US President Donald Trump remained somewhat mum about how he will handle discussions with North Korea after this latest incident. Three other US citizens are currently being held by Kim Jong-uns regime.

At least we got him home to be with his parents where they were so happy to see him even though he was in a very tough condition, Trump said.

Ottos fate deepens my administrations determination to prevent such tragedies from befalling innocent people at the hands of regimes that do not respect the rule of law or basic human decency. The United States once again condemns the brutality of the North Korean regime as we mourn its latest victim.

US congressmen on both sides of the aisle came out much harsher in their criticism of North Korea and wish to see more of a bold reaction from the US side towards North Korea. Multiple lawmakers ventured to call Warmbiers death a murder.

Let us state the facts plainly: Otto Warmbier, an American citizen, was murdered by the Kim Jong-un regime, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, a war hero and former presidential candidate who also serves as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said.

Now it has escalated to brutalizing Americans, including three other citizens currently imprisoned in North Korea. The United States of America cannot and should not tolerate the murder of its citizens by hostile powers.

Democratic Senator and House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland shared McCains sentiment.

The brutal dictatorship in North Korea is responsible for his murder, and the United States and our allies must continue to apply pressure on the Kim regime and make it clear that such actions are unacceptable, Hoyer said.
Jeremy Corbyn will take to the Pyramid Stage at this years Glastonbury Festival, organiser Michael Eavis has confirmed.

The Labour leader will be addressing the crowds on June 24th before introducing rap duo Run The Jewels, who are known for their politically charged lyrics.

Speaking to The Guardian, Eavis said Were Corbyn fans, while his daughter Emily, whos also in charge of organising the festival, added: Its great to see somebody whos engaging young people so much.

Corbyn was scheduled to appear at Glastonbury last year but was forced to cancel as it clashed with the announcement of the EU Referendum result.

Its anticipated that his appearance will prove incredibly popular with young festival goers, as the Islington North MP has an unprecedented following and support from young people.

Hes got something new and precious, and people are excited about it. He really is the hero of the hour, said Eavis, whos eagerly looking forward to welcoming Corbyn.

In this year's snap General Election a YouGov poll estimates a huge 63% of voters aged 18 to 29 voted for Labour, up from 36% in 2015. This election surge has been put down to Corbyns growing popularity among millennials.

The MP for Norwich South, Clive Lewis, is also set to attend Glastonbury on June 24th and will be taking part in a talk on the Leftfield stage  its believed Corbyn may be joining him.

In a recent interview with NME Corbyn admitted hes not very musical but loves music, confessing:

"When Im at home late in the evening I have Classic FM on or I have Radio 3 on, adding:

I do love much classical music I also like folk music, I like listening to some jazz, I like listening to world music as well.

For people not lucky enough to be heading to Worthy Farm, you can listen to coverage across BBC radio stations or watch online on the BBCiplayer.
A team of researchers recently came back from a month-long expedition that involved scouting the deep-sea for creatures that live 4,000 metres below sea level.

Led by Museums Victoria in Australia, scientists returned to the shores with strange-looking species from the dark abyss of the sea, and among them, was a peculiar-looking creature called the peanut worm.

Peanut worms (Asher Flatt/Museums Victoria)

The spineless creature, however, appears to bear an unfortunate resemblance to a male appendage and as youd expect, the internet just cant help itself

Friend telling me about a #peanutworm

Me: Aww that sounds adorable, let me look it up.. pic.twitter.com/dkLSIEg8QV  Ashley Lukes (@a_lukes8) June 18, 2017

Swear to god it's called the peanut worm.  Ian Froeb (@ianfroeb) June 18, 2017

This is apparently a peanut worm. No. Stop. This should be called Mermaid's Toy. "Oh mom look! A Mermaid's Toy!" Now that sounds better. pic.twitter.com/HPR5rVAyLy  Marquis de Carabas (@TheRobDyke) June 18, 2017

Left: spongebob peanut worm. Right: rl peanut worm. In the episode they squirted on Mr. Krabs oh god realization o'clock pic.twitter.com/841BxlYhqX  (@toxic_bumbum) June 18, 2017

Google peanut worm You're welcome  The Hermit (@JeffBaum13) June 19, 2017

Its Latin name is 'sipuncula'. Which, when spoken quickly, sounds like 'spunkula'.  David Round (@master_at_work) June 17, 2017

In case you are wondering what exactly a peanut worm is, Museums Victoria explains: The peanut worm, not to be confused with the penis worm (despite appearances), is a deep sea worm resembling a  Ill leave it up to your imagination.

When threatened they can contract their long head inwards and more resemble a peanut. They can reproduce both sexually and asexually.

Now thats all cleared up, lets get back to some science, shall we?
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DECATUR  Richland Community College is set to approve a budget that will cut nearly $1 million from its current budget year level.

The proposed budget, which will be voted on during Richlands board of trustees meeting, will be $32,837,590, down from $33,807,832 this current fiscal year, which ends June 30.

The board meeting will be at 5:15 tonight in the the National Sequestration Education Center's Exhibit Hall.

The budget has $13,736,894 dedicated to the education fund, which covers the core mission of the college. That is down from $14,035,010 in the education fund in the current budget.

Due to the Illinois budget impasse nearing its third year, Richland has not budgeted any revenue from the state for the second straight year. Before the impasse, state funds made up 14 percent of Richlands total revenue.

The budget packet provided before the meeting does not lay out specific cuts. Richand President Cris Valdez has said in the past that officials will evaluate any changes during the next school year.

The proposed budget is another effort to confront what officials say is a two-year, $2,600,000 (13 percent), decrease in revenue caused by the state budget impasse and several years of dwindling enrollment.

Since the start of spring, the college has eliminated five administrative positions, laid off 18 employees (8 full time and 10 part time), and offered buyouts to an additional 14 full-time staff. It has also closed its child care center, with administrators pointing to the state situation and declining enrollment as factors.

To help find new revenue, the board voted in February to increase the average tuition rate about 3 percent per credit hour for the coming school year.

The tuition for standard in-district students will be $133 per hour, an increase of $4 from the current year. Tuition for students taking health profession and online classes will go up $5 starting next semester, to $160 and $168, respectively.
DECATUR  The green DSI van has been a familiar sight around Decatur, particularly at elementary schools.

Decatur Science Investigation assemblies and shows in schools and at Decatur Celebration and the Children's Museum of Illinois always engaged kids and made science fun, but the van and the shows, and the people who were behind it, are retiring after a 12-year run.

Nola Wilkinson, who taught science in Decatur schools until her retirement, and her husband, Harold, a retired professor of biology at Millikin University, have handled the van for the last several years. The program began with Millikin students manning the shows as a way to introduce kids to the fun side of science.

The (Decatur Public Schools) Foundation came up with the idea of having a science van that went from school to school, and they did it in conjunction with Millikin, Wilkinson said. They started out trying to get most of it done with Millikin students, and ran into problems because the public schools are open the same time as Millikin students have classes. They weren't able to do as much as they wanted to.

Our organization worked out the concept in partnership with The Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which provided funding for the entire span of the program, said Zach Shields, Decatur Public Schools Foundation executive director. Howard has been so supportive of our students, especially in terms of promoting the importance of science as a core component of every childs education.

Elementary schools' family nights helped somewhat, because by the evening hours the university students were finished with classes. The Wilkinsons came on board and took over for a while through Millikin. For the last couple of years, the couple has handled it independently, with some assistance from college students.

Nola Wilkinson came up with most of the experiments and activities from her teacher's bag of tricks. A favorite with the kids was always the nitrogen explosion, which made a big boom and a lot of smoke, and the fire-extinguisher-powered rocket car. Each year the Wilkinsons chose a branch of science as a theme, from chemistry to physics, and tailored the demonstrations to that theme.

From years of teaching, she had a lot of ideas of ways to teach various science concepts, Harold Wilkinson said.

The focus in the last year has been more on classrooms than assemblies, Nola Wilkinson said, where they did activities directly with children. The Wilkinsons have collected quite a stack of thank-you notes from teachers and kids in that time, including a book put together by Harris School students on their favorite experiments.

Their favorite thing was the flying toilet paper, because it's on almost every page, Nola Wilkinson said, laughing.

The flying toilet paper experiment demonstrates how air pressure differences can empty a roll in just seconds, to the delight of the kids.

The satisfaction of seeing how much children loved the program was what kept them going, she said, and kids always remembered them if they'd seen them before.

I was at the swimming pool one day and this little girl is dancing around the pool, and she was cute and bubbly, and all of a sudden, she goes, 'Science!'  Nola Wilkinson said, striking a pose like the child did, with both hands pointing. I don't think she even knew I was there.

Harold Wilkinson is 76 and ready to do something different now. Some weeks they were busy every day, some weeks not at all.

It takes a lot of time, and it's sort of unpredictable in terms of commitments, he said.

Nola Wilkinson isn't quite ready to give up teaching science, however, and has talked to Decatur Public Schools Foundation about occasional makerspace days or an inventors fair, events where kids come to them or that are onetime events.

I'd still like to keep my hand in, she said.

Shields said the equipment will be held in safekeeping as future science activities are designed and funded. The program cost about $25,000 a year.
He offers no information at all about how, where and when he was shot.
DECATUR  A delegation of Decatur-area business and labor leaders are joining Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe in Washington this week to lobby for transportation money. The hope is to generate support for a slew of big-ticket infrastructure projects that would establish Decatur as a major Midwest trade hub.

The trip comes after the Decatur City Council during Monday's meeting approved an extension of an engineering study regarding improvements for the Midwest Inland Port. The study was first greenlighted in 2014, but state funding fell through before it was completed.

The potential to improve access to the multi-modal port is just one item in the larger vision to increase road, rail, and air shipping in Decatur. The local coalition will be meeting with both U.S. senators from Illinois, U.S. Department of Transportation officials, and two congressmen  Rep. Mike Quigley D-Chicago, and Rep. Rick Nolan, D-Minn., who both serve on committees with the keys to federal transportation dollars.

Wolfe said she wanted to include big business, labor unions and officials from Macon County to show how unified the area's players are around the infrastructure vision.

"It's a pretty powerful message when you have business and labor, city and county together with one purpose and one goal, all on the same page," Wolfe said.

City Manager Tim Gleason said it's important to make their case with a new administration in Washington.

"Even if we wouldn't get what's in play now, we're telling a compelling story. People take notice," he said.

The Obama administration extended a grant program for such projects. Decatur became a finalist last year, but ultimately did not win out.

Gleason said the Trump administration has shrunk that program, which means competition for federal dollars in the short-term even more tight.

But President Donald Trump has called at times for a major federal infrastructure plan. "I think they're gearing up for their own infrastructure plan," Gleason said.

In the meantime, Gleason is reaching out to organizations and businesses in the area to help fill the funding hole left for the Inland Port study. The extension of the city's permission to conduct the study allows Decatur to keep $180,000 from the Illinois Department of Transportation. Gleason and Wolfe are hoping they'll be able to come up with the $45,000 needed in short order.

"I have full faith in the city manager to come up with that money. He might have a bake sale or something," Wolfe said.

Gleason said he's already reached out to the Economic Development Corporation of Decatur and Macon County.
'That's madam governor to you': Record 12 women elected to serve in 2023
While American foreign policy has for years fixated on the conflict in Syria and the Middle East, just across the border in Mexico and throughout Central America tens of thousands of people lost their lives last year because of the conflict between drug cartels competing to deliver illicit drugs into the United States.

According to a recent report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, whereas approximately 50,000 lives were lost in Syria last year, approximately 39,000 were killed in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, much of which is attributable to drug-war violence.

Mexicos homicide total of 23,000 for 2016 is second only to Syrias, and is only the latest development in a conflict that stretches back to 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed the military to combat drug cartels.

Although the exact number of people killed because of the drug war in Mexico is unlikely to ever be known, a recent report from the Congressional Research Service cited estimates from 80,000 to more than 100,000 in that country alone.

The cause of this violence is obvious, and it is a direct, predictable consequence of our failed policy of drug prohibition. In the near-half century since President Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been killed in conflicts fueled by a lucrative illicit drug trade made possible by our prohibition of drugs.

This is an insight a certain New York developer possessed 27 years ago. Were losing badly the war on drugs, Donald Trump said in 1990. You have to legalize drugs to win that war. You have to take the profit away from these drug czars.

While Trump may have since lost this insight, the fact remains that the war on drugs does more harm than drugs themselves.

Last year, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos used his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech to call for a rethink of the drug war, which contributed to decades of conflict in Colombia that killed hundreds of thousands.

Rather than squander more lives and resources fighting a War on Drugs that cannot be won  including in our inner cities  the United States must recognize the futility and harm of its drug policies.

 The Orange County Register
When you ask a former repatriate to Soviet Armenia about OVIR, the person most likely responds with a grin. Today, we cant understand how a person can crack a grin when hearing the name of OVIR (the passport and visa subdivision of the Soviet Ministry of the Internal Affairs), even after living overseas for half a century. In fact, its a self-defense mechanism against the not too distant past.

OVIR was that needle-like corridor through which Soviet citizens had to pass to travel or resettle overseas.Created at the end of 1935, OVIR seemed to be on a paid vacation until the death of Stalin and the denouncement of the cult of personality.It only serviced Soviet citizens going abroad on special, important, work, or foreigners visiting the Soviet Union. The number of both was quite limited. Wary citizens of the USSR, with a modicum of rationality, would never even dare approach the OVIR office.

To be sincere, there was no great desire to visit the office anyway, given that communist propaganda had created a mindset according to which the world was black and white, light and dark, good or evil. So, what sense did it make to leave the white for the black, the light for the dark, and prefer evil over good?

The advent of WWII lessened the existing antagonism to a certain degree. When the U.S. and Great Britain allied themselves with the USSR to battle Nazi Germany, Soviet propaganda began to speak in reverentially about the lands on the other side of the Iron Curtain. This didnt last long. Friendship was temporary and targeted against the common threat.

OVIR wasnt a welcoming haven even in the early Khrushchev period. Over the years, the department was periodically transferred to the control of the KGB or the Ministry of the Internal Affairs. Even this wandering and the name of the KGB was enough to keep OVIR, intimidating on its own, completely inaccessible.

In the 1950s, certain repatriates, buoyed by the freedoms of the post-Stalin era, started to petition US and French consular services in the USSR. Requesting permission to leave, they were surprised and disheartened when told to apply to the local authorities. Apply to whom? How? Who would listen to them? What reason could they give that wouldnt be regarded as a stab in the back to the fatherland?

Given that the Soviet Union implemented a relatively open international policy during the Khrushchev era and attempted to play the role of initiator in global peace and security issues, it was forced to make certain concessions. While frequently made for show and to pull the wool over the eyes of the West, even in this case, the official ideological resistance of the USSR gradually weakened.

By the end of the 1950s, OVIR was no longer off limits or inaccessible. Many repatriates, especially Armenians from America and France, steadfastly attempted to leave. OVIR had truly become something of a game of chance. One could gamble, but winning wasnt ensured. That people could attempt to leave allowed Soviet authorities something of an argument it could provide its Western partners. Look, the Soviets explained, people are not deprived of their right to express a desire to leave. Whether permission is granted or not, the argument went, was merely a procedural, not a political, matter.

To apply to OVIR, one needed an invitation from a close relative living overseas. To get that invitation, a person had to first write to the relative. Writing such a letter and sending it by post wasnt the smartest thing to do. Everyone knew that the mail was inspected and that undesirable letters often never reached their destination.

Harout Barsamian, a former professor at the University of Irvine, California, now deceased, recounted that the family sent a letter in 1964 to a cousin living in America for an invitation with a drummer in Charles Aznavours group that was on a concert tour in Armenia. But even then, we didnt write openly about the invitation. We wrote that if it was possible, my uncle should come to Armenia. He had the money and came. It was in Yerevan that we told him to send an invitation, Barsamian recounted.

But even having an invitation wasnt enough of a guarantee that an exit permit would be granted. There were a thousand reasons for refusal. For example, lets say there were two brothers. One lived in Soviet Armenia, the other, overseas. If the brother on the outside died before sending the invitation, the family back in Armenia lost its chance to leave. The invitation sender had to be a relative of the first order.

In the case of an acceptable invitation, any past dealings with Soviet security services could be used as a reason for refusal. If a person became the target of KGB attention, whether for serious or minor reasons, that person would be classified unqualified for leaving (Russian )

Mardiros Vartanian, who immigrated to Armenia from Syria in 1946 and now lives in Glendale, California, was a lecturer at Yerevans Polytechnical Institutes Department of Mechanical Engineering. He had problems with the KGB for telling his students stories about the Armenia fedayee (volunteer fighters) during class. He was issued several warnings, summoned for a talk, and later was forced to leave the institute. He applied to leave for America. They denied my request for years. I was ready to resolve the matter with money, a bribe. But it didnt happen. I had given up on the idea of leaving and wanted to get a job somewhere.

My friend, who was also a friend of Karen Demirchyan (the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia, 1974-1988), paid Demirchyan a visit and told him that I wanted to leave and was refused. My friend told him I was a specialist and asked for a job. Demirchyan also knew me quite well. Demirchyan said, If he wants to leave, good riddance. What kind of work will he do?

Even if one had an acceptable invitation, having any ties to secret organizations was an even greater reason for being denied an exit permit. There were many in this category and denying them an exit permit didnt take much. Refusals were on the level of state security, even though Harout Barsamian told us differently in our interview.

He said that a special five-member committee would discuss the cases of those possessing state secrets. On the committee were representatives from the Communist Party of Armenias Central Committee, from the Council of Ministers, the KGB, and the interior and justice ministries. It turned out that all those representatives knew me and said that I should be permitted to leave. It was later that I found out who they were, Barsamian recounted.

We have no reason to doubt what he says, but out comprehensive searches and meetings with former Soviet officials have not confirmed the existence of such a committee.

To be continued

.

This article is prepared within the framework of Two Lives: The Cold War and the Emigration of Armenians project financed by National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
Armenian Minister of Education and Science visited the countrys Ararat Province and discussed ways to bolster the instruction of chess in schools with provincial public school principals.

Also attending the meeting were Ararat Provincial Governor Aramayis Grigoryan and Chess Academy of Armenia President Smbad Lpoutyan.
Veteran actor Anupam Kher says he was more than happy to represent India at the Legionnaires of Laughter Awards here.

Anupam, who has lit the United Nations building in preparation of International Day of Yoga, took to Twitter on Tuesday to thank American actor Jerry Lewis for inviting him to the event.

"Thank you Mr Jerry Lewis for inviting me to Legionnaires of Laughter Awards night in New York. Happy to represent India at this prestigious event," Anupam tweeted.

The event was held to honour world recognised comedians and entertainers for their contribution to the art of comedy and their global impact on the world. It was hosted by actors Colin Mochrie and Brad Sherwood.

On the movie front, Anupam will soon be seen in Toilet: Ek Prem Katha with actors Akshay Kumar and Bhumi Pednekar.

The actor is also prepping for his next The Accidental Prime Minister, where he will be seen playing the role of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, written and co-produced by Hansal Mehta. The film is based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Sanjaya Baru.
Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor will open the 8th edition of the Jagran Film Festival here on July 1.

Beginning with New Delhi, the festival will travel to 16 other cities including Kanpur, Lucknow, Allahabad, Varanasi, Patna, Bhopal, Ranchi, Indore, Ludhiana and Dehradun before culminating in Mumbai with the award ceremony in September.

The actor will also participate in a few discussions during the course of the festival in some of the cities, read a statement from the organisers.

During the festival, which will be held at Siri Fort Auditorium here, a retrospective of Rishi Kapoor's films would be presented in all cities.

Some of the films to be featured are Mera Naam Joker, Bobby, Amar Akbar Anthony, Agneepath and Do Dooni Chaar.

Talking about the actor's participation in the festival, Basant Rathore, Senior Vice President, Jagran Prakashan, said: "It's a matter of great pride for us that Rishi Kapoor has consented to be part of the festival. We look forward to it".

Over 130 films from across the world will be screened during the festival.
In these days of low-budget airlines, it is only thought a common, time-taking mode of travel. But given Mahatma Gandhi, the Kakori conspiracy, the Partition refugees' trains, Godhra, or even films from "Aradhana" to "Dilwalwe Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" and "Sonar Kella" to "Sholay", would India have had the same trajectory to its nationhood, freedom, politics and culture without its railways?

It seems difficult, says scholar Arup K. Chatterjee in this fairly comprehensive account of the impact of the railways' over century and a half old presence in the subcontinent.

Citing a British author, who had in 1865  when the railways had just begun to come up in India  held that they could do the task of making India a nation which any native ruler, be it Akbar or Tipu Sultan, had not managed, Chatterjee notes that "how efficiently the railways did, or did not, nationalise India has occasionally come under scrutiny".

"But what has been of perennial interest, in the life of Indian Railways, is the wealth of culture, literal, cinema  in short representational media that have frequently conjured the media," he says.

It is this aspect that Chatterjee, currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Law of the O.P. Jindal Global University, seeks to explore threadbare, though politics, and its rather extreme manifestation of terrorism creeps up, especially in the modern era.

But the author, who at the outset, cites an anecdote to about a British author approaching George Bernard Shaw to ask if he should attempt a biography of Oscar Wilde, says this may "appear bewildering and obscure" but there are "two decisive reasons".

"First is, of course, reading and literature almost always complete a train journey," he holds (of course before electronic devices crowded them out) and secondly, and the "underlying rationale" of the book about how "trains are not always experienced directly but through their interstitial nodes and operating indices".

For those who have been left a bit winded by the last sentence must know that this is also one of the book's challenges. While Chatterjee has been most assiduous and diligent in his research and usually lucid in his account, some parts of it use too much of an academic approach, with its own arcane language.

And while he notes that his work straddles both worlds  "the open-ended galaxy of nonfiction and the closed universe of academic writing" but is "passionately different" from either as well as that it may attract criticism from both sections.

But as noted, he has been most through and sketches the railways from the time there were impassioned debates in Britain if they were suitable for India, the mammoth task of building them  quite evocatively expressed through Rudyard Kipling's short story "The Bridge Builders" he cites, and the critiques of their utility.

This is complemented by Indian reactions from acceptance, mishaps (as happened to Okhil Chandra Sen, as per his 1909 complaint, when "the guard making whistle blow for train to go off and I am running with lotah in one hand and dhoti in other"), or subversive utilisation, as the Mahatma did in his third-class journeys across India to interact with people, and later revolutionaries who targetted trains as a symbol of imperial rule.

And after the unsettling chapter on trains during Partition, Chatterjee really hits his stride as he chronicles half a century over intense cultural presence of railways from the stories and films of Satyajit Ray, to a whole yard of Bollywood films, and the novellas of Ruskin Bond. There is hard to find any cultural manifestation he has left out, save say that excellent edgy Partition film "Lal Batti" or the opening of "Jaani Dushman".

Politics wise, the mysterious death of rightwing ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay and Congress Minister Lalit Narayan Mishra at railway stations are omissions.

But for any train buff who can endure the academic dissections of "Dilwale.." and some other aspects, it is a repository of rare treasures about our lives' intersections with railways down the years  which will survive phasing of steam engines and meter gauge lines.

Title: The Purveyors of Destiny  A Cultural Biography of the Indian Railways; Author: Arup K Chatterjee; Publisher: Bloomsbury India; Pages: 322; Price: Rs 599
Defending the recent 25 per cent hike in tuition fees, PC Tulsian, Principal of Ramjas College, said, "Boys and girls go to Pizza Hut and McDonalds, easily spending between Rs. 2500 to Rs. 3000 at one go, but our fees is only to be paid once for the whole year.

He stressed that there is need to see the hike as an absolute amount rather than in percentage terms. Comparing the fees of Ramjas with that of other Delhi University colleges, Tulsian said: "In how many colleges the fees is close to Rs.31,000, in St Stephen's itself the fees is up to Rs 42000. In our college it is not even one-third of that amount even after the hike."

Recently, the Ramjas staff council decided to enhance the fees by a minimum of 25 per cent. Student organisations have been protesting, demanding a roll-back of the hike. On Monday, NSUI members submitted a memorandum to the principal. The ABVP is planning to stage a big protest against the fee hike in coming days.

Tulsian said the fee hike is necessary to meet the costs incurred in maintenance of the new building, buying furniture, air-conditioning, maintaining laboratories, paying salary of contractual employees, etc. He said that even the recent hike is not sufficient to meet the entire expenses. Tulsian said the University Grants Commission (UGC) cannot fund each and everything and colleges/universities charging fees is a legacy of the past. "If UGC will provide each and everything then going by that the fees should be made zero. If UGC provides every single penny then what is the need for the university to have fees," he said. "Fees to Angrezo ke jamane se chali aa rahi hai," he added.

He said the controversy over the fee hike has been created by those who want to make an issue out of everything. "Only three teachers dissented in the staff council meeting. However, one among them issued a statement that the fee should be increased by 25 per cent of the amount," Tulsian said.

Ramjas College will soon have a 100 foot high national flag in its campus, the principal said. He said the total cost would be close to Rs 10 lakh. The college will also have 2 food huts and an Amul outlet. "At subsidised rates in the canteen we cannot serve pizzas and burgers. As students from a well-off background and those who are poor also want to eat fast food sometimes, we will have 2 food huts," said Tulsian.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has set aside an income tax department order holding the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) at fault for failing to deduct tax at source in respect of settlement or withdrawals of accumulated balances of members.

The New Delhi bench of the tribunal was deciding an appeal filed by the EPFO against the income tax authorities challenging the income tax demand, imposed in hundreds of crores, for not deducting the tax at source.

"We find considerable force in the submission of counsel for the EPFO that Assessing Officer (AO) was not justified in estimating 50 per cent of the withdrawals as being employees who had rendered less than five years of continuous service thereby coming within the ambit of Rule 9 and 10 of Part A of Schedule IV of the Income Tax Act," a bench headed by Vice President RS Syal said.

Rule 9 and 10 of Part A of Schedule IV of the Income Tax Act deal with tax on accumulated balance and deduction at source of tax payable on accumulated balance respectively.

Tax jurist Pankaj Garg, assisted with advocate Milind Garg, who appeared for the EPFO, submitted that "any payment received under the scheme of EPF Act, 1952 is covered under Section 10(11) of the Income Tax Act".

Section 10(11) of the Income Tax Act deals with the Employer's contribution, which were exempted from deduction as it is not considered as employees income.

"We, therefore, set aside the order of CIT(A) and restore the matter to the file of AO with a direction that assessee (EPFO) will furnish the required details before the AO in respect of withdrawals made by employees within five years of rendering continuous service with his employer.

"The AO will also take into consideration the effect of decision of the Supreme Court in the case of Hindustan Coca Cola. Accordingly, if employee has included the accumulated balance in its total income, then the same is to be excluded while making the computation," the tribunal said.

"Further, he will take guidance from the provisions of Section 192 A and, accordingly, no deduction should be made where the amount of such payment or, as the case may be, the aggregate amount of such payment to the payee is less than Rs.30,000. The short deduction is to be computed at the rate of 10 per cent in all cases where the PAN is furnished by assessee in respect of the employees from whose income tax was to be deducted," the bench added.
Although many in the political sphere had written off the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab after it failed to match up to the hype and expectations of winning the assembly elections in Punjab earlier this year, things are turning out to be different.

The party, which virtually went into a shell for a few weeks after the electoral results in early March, is clearly trying to get its act together and is making its presence felt in Punjab's political scene on the ground and in the assembly.

The AAP is making itself heard with a louder voice. This can be seen after the suspension of its lawmaker Sukhpal Singh Khaira and another lawmaker, Simarjeet Singh Bains, of the Lok Insaaf Party, which is an alliance partner of the AAP, from the Punjab assembly for the remainder of the ongoing budget session which is under way.

Both Khaira and Bains are relatively young leaders and quite vocal and aggressive in their demeanor. While Khaira has termed his ouster from the assembly as a "pre-meditated" move by the ruling Congress, Bains has said that the Congress government will not be able to "silence his voice".

Both these leaders, as also other AAP leaders like legislator and lawyer-activist H.S. Phoolka and Punjab AAP president and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, have been politically active and vocal on Punjab's political scene in recent days.

"There is an attempt to muzzle the voice of the AAP legislators. We will not allow that to happen. We will raise all issues which are relevant to the people of Punjab," said Phoolka, AAP leader in the Punjab assembly.

Khaira has been particularly vociferous after a multi-million rupee sand mining scam was "unearthed" recently, alleging involvement of Punjab's senior cabinet minister and millionaire industrialist Rana Gurjit Singh.

The AAP accused the minister, who holds important departments of power and irrigation, of benami transactions in mining and money laundering. Former employees of Rana's companies, including an alleged cook, invested crores of rupees to pick up lucrative mining contracts allotted under the new Punjab government headed by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

Amarinder Singh is hardly amused by the actions of AAP leaders. Last week, he lashed out at the AAP for the "unruly and obnoxious conduct" of its MLAs inside the assembly. Terming it an "unprecedented act amounting to 'Constitutional sacrilege'", Amarinder said: "I have not seen such disrespect being shown to the chair (assembly speaker) in my 50 years in politics."

The party, which emerged as the single largest group in the assembly, with 20 legislators (plus two legislators of the Lok Insaaf Party), after the ruling Congress, is taking its role as the principal opposition party quite seriously. The Shiromani Akali Dal, which ruled Punjab for 10 years (2007-2017), was relegated to a poor third position in the assembly polls.

It was widely speculated that in Punjab the AAP would disintegrate soon, after its shocking defeat. But the party's leadership in the state is trying to project a united face inside and outside the assembly.

Some AAP leaders still have issues on who should be the party leader in Punjab, how much control should the AAP central leadership have on the Punjab unit and also what is the future of the party in the state.

The party which comes from nowhere to wrest decisive power in Delhi has still a long way to go in Punjab. But a beginning has been made.